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diff --git a/32461.txt b/32461.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..870e6a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/32461.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10875 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scarlet Banner, 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: The Scarlet Banner + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Mary J. Safford + +Release Date: May 20, 2010 [EBook #32461] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCARLET BANNER *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's notes: +1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/scarletbanner00dahngoog +2. The diphthongs OE and oe is represented by [OE] and [oe]. + + + + + THE SCARLET BANNER + + + + + + + _Novels by Felix Dahn_ + + TRANSLATED BY MARY J. SAFFORD + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES. $1.50 + + FELICITAS. $1.50 + + THE SCARLET BANNER. $1.50 + + + PUBLISHED BY A. C. MCCLURG & CO. + + + + + + + The Scarlet Banner + + + _By_ FELIX DAHN + + + + Translated from the German by + MARY J. SAFFORD + + TRANSLATOR OF + "A Captive of the Roman Eagles," "Felicitas," etc. + + + + + Chicago + A. C. McClurg & Co. + 1903 + + + + + + + COPYRIGHT + A. C. MCCLURG & CO. + 1903 + + _Right of Dramatization Reserved_ + + + Published October 14, 1903 + + + + + + + UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON + AND SON . CAMBRIDGE . U.S.A. + + + + + + + DEDICATED + IN DEEP REVERENCE AND WARM FRIENDSHIP + TO + HIS EXCELLENCY + ACTING PRIVY-COUNCILLOR AND PROFESSOR + HERR DR. KARL HASE + OF JENA + + + + + +_Only through the same virtues by which they were founded will kingdoms +be maintained._ + SALLUSTIUS, Catilina. + +_O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!_ + SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet. + + + + + PREFACE + +This story, published in Germany under the title of _Gelimer_ is the +third volume in the group of romances to which "Felicitas" and "The +Captive of the Roman Eagles" belong, and, like them, deals with the +long-continued conflict between the Germans and the Romans. + +But in the present novel the scene of the struggle is transferred from +the forests of Germania to the arid sands of Africa, and, in +wonderfully vivid pen-pictures, the author displays the marvellous +magnificence surrounding the descendants of the Vandal Genseric, the +superb pageants of their festivals, and the luxury whose enervating +influence has gradually sapped the strength and courage of the rude, +invincible warriors--once the terror of all the neighboring coasts and +islands--till their enfeebled limbs can no longer support the weight of +their ancestors' armor, and they cast aside their helmets to crown +themselves with the rose-garlands of Roman revellers. + +The pages glow with color as the brilliant changeful vision of life in +Carthage, under the Vandal rule, rises from the mists of the vanished +centuries, and the characters which people this ancient world are no +less varied. The noble king, the subtle Roman, Verus, the gallant +warrior, Zazo, Hilda, the beautiful, fearless Ostrogoth Princess, the +wily Justinian, his unscrupulous Empress, Theodora, and their brave, +impetuous general, Belisarius, are clearly portrayed; and, underlying +the whole drama, surges the fierce warfare between Roman Catholic and +Arian, while the place and the period in which the scenes of the +romance are laid, both comparatively little known, lend a peculiar +charm and freshness to the gifted author's narrative. + + MARY J. SAFFORD. + +HIGHFIELD COTTAGE, + DOUGLAS HILL, MAINE, + August 24, 1903. + + + + + + + THE + SCARLET BANNER + + + + + _BOOK ONE_ + BEFORE THE WAR + + + + CHAPTER I + +TO CORNELIUS CETHEGUS CAESARIUS, A FRIEND: + +I send these notes to you rather than to any other man. Why? First of +all, because I know not where you are, so the missive will probably be +lost. Doubtless that would be the best thing which could happen, +especially for the man who would then be spared reading these pages! +But it will also be well for me that these lines should lie--or be +lost--in some other place than here. For here in Constantinople they +may fall into certain dainty little well-kept hands, which possibly +might gracefully wave an order to cut off my head--or some other useful +portion of my anatomy to which I have been accustomed since my birth. +But if I send these truths hence to the West, they will not be so +easily seized by those dangerous little fingers which discover every +secret in the capital, whenever they search in earnest. Whether you are +living in your house at the foot of the Capitol, or with the Regent at +Ravenna, I do not know; but I shall despatch this to Rome, for toward +Rome my thoughts fly, seeking Cethegus. + +You may ask derisively why I write what is so dangerous. Because I +must! I praise--constrained by fear--so many people and things with my +lips that I condemn in my heart, that I must at least confess the truth +secretly in writing. Well, I might write out my rage, read it, and then +throw the pages into the sea, you say. But--and this is the other +reason for this missive--I am vain, too. The cleverest man I know must +read, must praise what I write, must be aware that I was not so foolish +as to believe all I extolled to be praiseworthy. Later perhaps I can +use the notes,--if they are not lost,--when at some future day I write +the true history of the strange things I have experienced and shortly +shall undergo. + +So keep these pages if they do reach you. They are not exactly letters; +it is a sort of diary that I am sending to you. I shall expect no +answer. Cethegus does not need me, at present. Why should Cethegus +write to me, now? Yet perhaps I shall soon learn your opinion from your +own lips. Do you marvel? + +True, we have not met since we studied together at Athens. But possibly +I may soon seek you in your Italy. For I believe that the war declared +to-day against the Vandals is but the prelude to the conflict with your +tyrants, the Ostrogoths. Now I have written the great secret which at +present is known to so few. + +It is a strange thing to see before one, in clear, sharp letters, a +terrible fate, pregnant with blood and tears, which no one else +suspects; at such times the statesman feels akin to the god who is +forging the thunderbolt that will so soon strike happy human beings. +Pitiable, weak, mortal god! Will your bolt hit the mark? Will it not +recoil against you? The demi-god Justinian and the goddess Theodora +have prepared this thunder-bolt; the eagle Belisarius will carry it; we +are starting for Africa to make war upon the Vandals. + +Now you know much, O Cethegus. But you do not yet know all,--at least, +not all about the Vandals. So learn it from me; I know. During the last +few months I have been obliged to deliver lectures to the two gods--and +the eagle--about these fair-haired fools. But whoever is compelled to +deliver lectures has sense enough bestowed upon him to perform the +task. Look at the professors at Athens. Since the reign of Justinian +the lecture-rooms have been closed to them. Who still thinks them wise? + +So listen: The Vandals are cousins of your dear masters, the +Ostrogoths. They came about a hundred years ago--men, women, and +children, perhaps fifty thousand in number--from Spain to Africa. Their +leader was a terrible king, Gizericus by name (commonly called +Genseric); a worthy comrade of Attila, the Hun. He defeated the Romans +in hard-fought battles, captured Carthage, plundered Rome. He was never +vanquished. The crown passed to his heirs, the Asdings, who were said +to be descended from the pagan gods of the Germans. The oldest male +scion of the family always ascends the throne. + +But Genseric's posterity inherited only his sceptre, not his greatness. +The Catholics in their kingdom (the Vandals are heretics, Arians) were +most cruelly persecuted, which was more stupid than it was unjust. It +really was not so very unjust; they merely applied to the Catholics, +the Romans, in their kingdom the selfsame laws which the Emperor in the +Roman Empire had previously issued against the Arians. But it was +certainly extremely stupid. What harm can the few Arians do in the +Roman Empire? But the numerous Catholics in the Vandal kingdom could +overthrow it, if they should rebel. True; they will not rise +voluntarily. But we are coming to rouse them. + +Shall we conquer? There is much probability of it. King Hilderic lived +in Constantinople a long time, and is said to have secretly embraced +the Catholic faith. He is Justinian's friend: this great-grandson of +Genseric abhors war. He has dealt his own kingdom the severest blow by +transforming its best prop, the friendship with the Ostrogoths in +Italy, into mortal hatred. The wise King Theodoric at Ravenna made a +treaty of friendship and brotherhood with Thrasamund, the predecessor +of Hilderic, gave him his beautiful, clever sister, Amalafrida, for his +wife, and bestowed upon the latter for her dowry, besides much +treasure, the headland of Lilybaeum in Sicily, directly opposite +Carthage, which was of great importance to the Vandal kingdom. He also +sent him as a permanent defence against the Moors--probably against us +too--a band of one thousand chosen Gothic warriors, each of whom had +five brave men under him. Hilderic was scarcely king when the royal +widow Amalafrida was accused of high treason against him and threatened +with death. + +If Justinian and Theodora did not invent this high treason, I have +little knowledge of my adored rulers: I saw the smile with which they +received the news from Carthage. It was the triumph of the bird-catcher +who draws his snare over the fluttering prey. + +Amalafrida's Goths succeeded in rescuing her from imprisonment and +accompanying her on her flight. She intended to seek refuge with +friendly Moors, but on her way she was overtaken and attacked by the +King's two nephews with a superior force. The faithful Goths fought and +fell almost to a man; the Queen was captured and murdered in prison. +Since that time fierce hate has existed between the two nations; the +Goths took Lilybaeum back and from it cast vengeful glances at Carthage. +This is King Hilderic's sole act of government! Since that time he has +seen clearly that it will be best for his people to be subject to us. +But he is almost an old man, and his cousin--unfortunately the rightful +heir to the throne--is our worst enemy. His name is Gelimer. He must +never be permitted to reign in Carthage; for he is considered the +stronghold and hero, nay, the soul of the Vandal power. He first +defeated the natives, the Moors, those sons of the desert who had +always proved superior to the weak descendants of Genseric. + +But this Gelimer--it is impossible for me to obtain from the +contradictory reports a satisfactory idea of him. Or could a German +really possess such contradictions of mind and character? They are all +mere children, though six and a half feet tall; giants, with the souls +of boys. Nearly all of them have a single trait,--the love of +carousing. Yet this Gelimer--well, we shall see. + +Widely varying opinions of the entire Vandal nation are held here. +According to some they are terrible foes in battle, like all Germans, +and as Genseric's men undoubtedly were. But, from other reports, in the +course of three generations under the burning sun of Africa, and +especially from living among our provincials there--the most corrupt +rabble who ever disgraced the Roman name--they have become effeminate, +degenerate. The hero Belisarius of course despises this foe, like every +other whom he knows and does not know. + +The gods have intrusted to me the secret correspondence which is to +secure success. I am now expecting important news from numerous Moorish +chiefs; from the Vandal Governor of Sardinia; from your Ostrogothic +Count in Sicily; from the richest, most influential senator in +Tripolis; nay, even from one of the highest ecclesiastics--it is hard +to believe--of the heretical church itself. The latter was a +masterpiece. Of course he is not a Vandal, but a Roman! No matter! An +Arian priest in league with us. I attribute it to our rulers. You know +how I condemn their government of our empire; but where the highest +statecraft is at stake,--that is, to win traitors in the closest +councils of other sovereigns and thus outwit the most cunning, there I +bow the knee admiringly to these gods of intrigue. If only-- + +A letter from Belisarius summons me to the Golden House: "Bad news from +Africa! The war is again extremely doubtful. The apparent traitors +there betrayed Justinian, not the Vandals. This comes from such false +wiles. Help, counsel me! Belisarius." + +How? I thought the secret letters from Carthage were to come, by +disguised messengers, only to me? And through me to the Emperor? That +was his express order; I read it myself. Yet still more secret ones +arrive, whose contents I learn only by chance? This is your work, O +Demonodora! + + + + CHAPTER II + +The Carthage of the Vandals was still a stately, brilliant city, still +the superb "Colonia Julia Carthago" which Augustus had erected +according to the great Caesar's plan in the place of the ancient city +destroyed by Scipio. True, it was no longer--as it had been a century +before--next to Rome and Constantinople the most populous city in the +empire, but it had suffered little in the external appearance and +splendor of its buildings; only the walls, by which it had been +encircled as a defence against Genseric, were partially destroyed in +the assault by the Vandals, and not sufficiently restored,--an +indication of arrogant security or careless indolence. + +The ancient citadel, the Ph[oe]nician "Byrsa," now called the Capitol, +still overlooked the blue sea and the harbor, doubly protected by +towers and iron chains. In the squares and the broad streets of the +"upper city," a motley throng surged or lounged upon the steps of +Christian basilicas (which were often built out of pagan temples), +around the Amphitheatre, the colonnades, the baths with their beds of +flowers and groups of palms, kept green and luxuriant by the water +brought from long distances over the stately arches of the aqueduct. +The "lower city," built along the sea, was inhabited by the poorer +people, principally harbor workmen, and was filled with shops and +storehouses containing supplies for ships and sailors. The streets were +narrow, all running from south to north, from the inner city to the +harbor, like the alleys of modern Genoa. + +The largest square in the lower city was the forum of St. Cyprian, +named, for the magnificent basilica dedicated to this the most famous +saint in Africa. The church occupied the whole southern side of the +square, from whose northern portion a long flight of marble steps led +to the harbor (even at the present day, amid the solitude and +desolation of the site of noisy, populous Carthage, the huge ruins of +the old sea gate still remain), while a broad street led westward to +the suburb of Aklas and the Numidian Gate, and another in the southeast +rose somewhat steeply to the upper city and the Capitol. + +Into this great square one hot June evening a varied crowd was pouring +from the western gate, the Porta Numidia,--Romans and provincials, +citizens of Carthage, tradesmen and grocers, with many freedmen and +slaves, moved by curiosity and delight in idleness, which attracted +them to every brilliant, noisy spectacle. There were Vandals among +them, too; men, women, and children, whose yellow or red hair and fair +skins were in strong contrast to those of the rest of the population, +though the complexions of many were somewhat bronzed by the African +sun. In costume they differed from the Romans very slightly; many not +at all. Among these lower classes numbers were of mixed blood, children +of Vandal fathers who had married Carthaginian women. Here and there in +the concourse appeared a Moor, who had come from the border of the +desert to the capital to sell ivory or ostrich feathers, lion and tiger +skins, or antelope horns. The men and women of noble German blood were +better--that is, more eager, wealthy, and lavish--buyers than the +numerous impoverished Roman senatorial families, whose once boundless +wealth the government had confiscated for real or alleged high treason, +or for persistent adherence to the Catholic faith. Not even a single +Roman of the better class was to be seen in the noisy, shouting crowd; +a priest of the orthodox religion, who on his way to a dying man could +not avoid crossing the square, glided timidly into the nearest side +street, fear, abhorrence, and indignation all written on his pallid +face. For this exulting throng was celebrating a Vandal victory. + +In front of the returning troops surged the dense masses of the +Carthaginian populace, shouting, looking back, and often halting with +loud acclamations. Many pressed around the Vandal warriors, begging for +gifts. The latter were all mounted, many on fine, really noble steeds, +descendants of the famous breed brought from Spain and crossed with the +native horses. The westering sun streamed through the wide-open West +Gate along the Numidian Way; the stately squadrons glittered and +flashed in the vivid light which was dazzlingly reflected from the +white sandy soil and the white houses. Richly, almost too brilliantly, +gold and silver glittered on helmets and shields, broad armlets, +sword-hilts, and scabbards, even on the mountings which fastened the +lance-heads to the shafts, and, in inlaid work, on the shafts +themselves. In dress, armor, and ornaments upon rider and steed the +most striking hues were evidently the most popular. Scarlet, the Vandal +color, prevailed; this vivid light-red was used everywhere,--on the +long, fluttering cloaks, the silken kerchiefs on the helmets, which +fell over the neck and shoulders to protect them from the African sun, +on the gayly painted, richly gilded quivers, and even on the saddles +and bridles of the horses. Among the skins which the desert animals +furnished in great variety, the favorites were the spotted antelope, +the dappled leopard, the striped tiger, while from the helmets nodded +and waved the red plumage of the flamingo and the white feathers of the +ostrich. The procession closed with several captured camels, laden with +foemen's weapons, and about a hundred Moorish prisoners, men and women, +who, with hands tied behind their backs, clad only in brown and white +striped mantles, marched, bareheaded and barefooted, beside the +towering beasts, driven forward, like them, by blows from the spears of +their mounted guards. + +On the steps of the basilica and the broad top of the wall of the +harbor stairs, the throng of spectators was unusually dense; here +people could comfortably watch the glittering train without danger from +the fiery steeds. + +"Who is yonder youth, the fair one?" asked a middle-aged man, with the +dress and bearing of a sailor, pointing over the parapet as he turned +to a gray-haired old citizen. + +"Which do you mean, friend Hegelochus? They are almost all fair." + +"Indeed? Well, this is the first time I have been among the Vandals! My +ship dropped anchor only a few hours ago. You must show and explain +everything. I mean the one yonder on the white stallion; he is carrying +the narrow red banner with the golden dragon." + +"Oh, that is Gibamund, 'the handsomest of the Vandals,' as the women +call him. Do you see how he looks up at the windows of the palace near +the Capitol? Among all the crowd gazing down from there he seeks but +one." + +"But"--the speaker suddenly started--"who is the other at his +right,--the one on the dun horse? I almost shrank when I met his eye. +He looks like the youth, only he is much older. Who is _he_?" + +"That is his brother Gelimer; God bless his noble head!" + +"Aha, so he is the hero of the day? I have often heard his name at home +in Syracuse. So he is the conqueror of the Moors?" + +"Yes, he has defeated them again, the torments. Do you hear how the +Carthaginians are cheering him? We citizens, too, must thank him for +having driven the robbers away from our villages and fields back to +their deserts." + +"I suppose he is fifty years old? His hair is very gray." + +"He is not yet forty!" + +"Just look, Eugenes! He has sprung from his horse. What is he doing?" + +"Didn't you see? A child, a Roman boy, fell while trying to run in +front of his charger. He lifted him up, and is seeking to find out +whether he was hurt." + +"The child wasn't harmed; it is smiling at him and seizing his +glittering necklet. There--he is unfastening the chain and putting it +into the little fellow's hands. He kisses him and gives him back to his +mother. Hark, how the crowd is cheering him! Now he has leaped back +into the saddle. He knows how to win favor." + +"There you wrong him. It is his nature. He would have done the same +where no eye beheld him. And he need not win the favor of the people: +he has long possessed it." + +"Among the Vandals?" + +"Among the Romans, too; that is, the middle and lower classes. The +senators, it is true, are different! Those who still live in Africa +hate all who bear the name of Vandal; they have good reason for it, +too. But Gelimer has a heart to feel for us; he helps wherever he can, +and often opposes his own people; they are almost all violent, prone to +sudden anger, and in their rage savagely cruel. I above all others have +cause to thank him." + +"You? Why?" + +"You saw Eugenia, my daughter, before we left our house?" + +"Certainly. Into what a lovely girl the frail child whom you brought +from Syracuse a few years ago has blossomed!" + +"I owe her life, her honor, to Gelimer. Thrasaric, the giant, the most +turbulent of all the nobles, snatched her from my side here in the open +street at noonday, and carried the shrieking girl away in his arms. I +could not follow as swiftly as he ran. Gelimer, attracted by our +screams, rushed up, and, as the savage would not release her, struck +him down with a single blow and gave my terrified child back to me." + +"And the ravisher?" + +"He rose, laughed, shook himself, and said to Gelimer: 'You did right, +Asding, and your fist is heavy.' And then since--" + +"Well? You hesitate." + +"Yes, just think of it; since then the Vandal, as he could not gain her +by force, is suing modestly for my daughter's hand. He, the richest +noble of his nation, wishes to become my son-in-law." + +"Why, that is no bad outlook." + +"Princess Hilda, my girl's patroness--she often sends for the +child to come to her at the Capitol and pays liberally for her +embroideries--Princess Hilda herself speaks in his behalf. But I +hesitate; I will not force her on any account." + +"Well, what does she say?" + +"Oh, the Barbarian is as handsome as a picture. I almost believe--I +fear--she likes him. But something holds her back. Who can +read a girl's heart? Look, the leaders of the horsemen are +dismounting--Gelimer too--in front of the basilica." + +"Strange. He is the hero,--the square echoes with his name,--and he +looks so grave, so sad." + +"Yes, there again! But did you see how kindly his eyes shone as he +soothed the frightened child?" + +"Certainly I did. And now--" + +"Yes, there it is; a black cloud suddenly seems to fall upon him. There +are all sorts of rumors about it among the people. Some say he has a +demon; others that he is often out of his mind. Our priests whisper +that it is pangs of conscience for secret crimes. But I will never +believe that of Gelimer." + +"Was he always so?" + +"It has grown worse within a few years. Satanas--Saint Cyprian protect +us--is said to have appeared to him in the solitude of the desert. +Since that time he has been even more devout than before. See, his most +intimate friend is greeting him at the basilica." + +"Yonder priest? He is an Arian; I know it by the oblong, narrow +tonsure." + +"Yes," replied the Carthaginian, wrathfully, "it is Verus, the +archdeacon! Curses on the traitor!" He clinched his fists. + +"Traitor! Why?" + +"Well--renegade. He descends from an ancient Roman senatorial family +which has given the Church many a bishop. His great-uncle was Bishop +Laetus of Nepte, who died a martyr. But his father, his mother, and +seven brothers and sisters died under a former king amid the most cruel +tortures, rather than abjure their holy Catholic religion. This man, +too,--he was then a youth of twenty,--was tortured until he fell as if +dead. When he recovered consciousness, he abjured his faith and became +an Arian, a priest,--the wretch!--to buy his life. Soon--for Satan has +bestowed great intellectual gifts upon him--he rose from step to step, +became the favorite of the Asdings, of the court, suddenly even the +friend of the noble Gelimer, who had long kept him coldly and +contemptuously at a distance. And the court gave him this basilica, our +highest sanctuary, dedicated to the great Cyprian, which, like almost +all the churches in Carthage, the heretics have wrested from us." + +"But look--what is the hero doing? He is kneeling on the upper step of +the church. Now he is taking off his helmet." + +"He is scattering the dust of the marble stairs upon his head." + +"What is he kissing? The priest's hand?" + +"No, the case containing the ashes of the great saint. He is very +devout and very humble. Or shall I say he humiliates himself? He shuts +himself up for days with the monks to do penance by scourging." + +"A strange hero of Barbarian blood!" + +"The hero blood shows itself in the heat of battle. He is rising. Do +you see how his helmet--now he is putting it on again--is hacked by +fresh blows? One of the two black vulture wings on the crest is cut +through. The strangest thing is,--this warrior is also a bookworm, a +delver into mystic lore; he has attended the lectures of Athenian +philosophers. He is a theologian and--" + +"A player on the lyre, too, apparently! See, a Vandal has handed him a +small one." + +"That is a harp, as they call it." + +"Hark, he is touching the strings! He is singing. I can't understand." + +"It is the Vandal tongue." + +"He has finished. How his Germans shout! They are striking their spears +on their shields. Now he is descending the steps. What? Without +entering the church, as the others did?" + +"Yes, I remember! He vowed, when he shed blood, to shun the saint's +threshold for three days. Now the horsemen are all mounting again." + +"But where are the foot soldiers?" + +"Yes, that is bad--I mean for the Vandals. They have none, or scarcely +any: they have grown not only so proud, but so effeminate and lazy that +they disdain to serve on foot. Only the very poorest and lowest of the +population will do it. Most of the foot soldiers are Moorish +mercenaries, obtained for each campaign from friendly tribes." + +"Ah, yes, I see Moors among the soldiers." + +"Those are men from the Papua mountain. They plundered our frontiers +for a long time. Gelimer attacked their camp and captured their chief +Antalla's three daughters, whom he returned unharmed, without ransom. +Then Antalla invited the Asding to his tent to thank him; they +concluded a friendship of hospitality,--the most sacred bond to the +Moors,--and since then they have rendered faithful service even against +other Moors. The parade is over. See, the ranks are breaking. The +leaders are going to the Capitol to convey to King Hilderic the report +of the campaign and the booty. Look, the crowd is dispersing. Let us go +too. Come back to my house; Eugenia is waiting to serve the evening +meal. Come, Hegelochus." + +"I am ready, most friendly host. I fear I may burden you a long time. +Business with the corn-dealers is slow." + +"Why are you stopping? What are you looking at?" + +"I'm coming. Only I must see this Gelimer's face once more. I shall +never forget those features, and all the strange, contradictory things +which you have told me about him." + +"That is the way with most people. He is mysterious, +incomprehensible,--'daimonios,' as the Greeks say. Let us go now! Here! +To the left--down the steps." + + + + CHAPTER III + +High above, on the Capitolium of the city, towered the Palatium, the +royal residence of the Asdings; not a single dwelling, but a whole +group of buildings. Originally planned as an acropolis, a fortress to +rule the lower city and afford a view over both harbors across the sea, +the encircling structures had been but slightly changed by Genseric and +his successors; the palace remained a citadel and was well suited to +hold the Carthaginians in check. A narrow ascent led up from the quay +to a small gateway enclosed between solid walls and surmounted by a +tower. This gateway opened into a large square resembling a courtyard, +inclosed on all sides by the buildings belonging to the palace; the +northern one, facing the sea, was occupied by the King's House, where +the ruler himself lived with his family. The cellars extended deep into +the rocks; they had often been used as dungeons, especially for state +criminals. On the eastern side of the King's House, separated from it +only by a narrow space, was the Princes' House, and opposite to this, +the arsenal; the southern side, sloping toward the city, was closed by +the fortress wall, its gateway and tower. + +The handsomest room on the ground-floor of the Princes' House was a +splendidly decorated, pillared hall. In the centre, on a table of +citrus wood, stood a tall, richly gilded jug with handles, and several +goblets of different forms; the dark-red wine exhaled a strong +fragrance. A couch, covered with a zebra skin, was beside it, on which, +clinging together in the most tender embrace, sat "the handsomest of +the Vandals" and a no less beautiful young woman. The youth had laid +aside his helmet, adorned with the silvery wing-feathers of the white +heron; his long locks fell in waves upon his shoulders and mingled with +the light golden hair of his young wife, who was eagerly trying to +unclasp the heavy breast-plate; at last she let it fall clanking beside +the helmet and sword-belt upon the marble floor. Then, gazing lovingly +at his noble face, she stroked back, with both soft hands, the +clustering locks that curled around his temples, looking radiantly into +his merry, laughing eyes. + +"Do I really have you with me once more? Do I hold you in my embrace?" +she said in a low, tender tone, putting both arms on his shoulders and +clasping her hands on his neck. + +"Oh, my sweet one!" cried the warrior, snatching her to his heart and +covering eyes, cheeks, and pouting lips with ardent kisses. "Oh, Hilda, +my joy, my wife! How I longed for you--night and day--always!" + +"It is almost forty days," she sighed. + +"Quite forty. Ah, how long they seemed to me!" + +"Oh, it was far easier for you! To be ever on the move with your +brother, your comrades, to ride swiftly and fight gayly in the land of +the foe. While I--I was forced to sit here in the women's rooms; to sit +and weave and wait inactive! Oh, if I could only have been there too! +To dash onward by your side upon a fiery horse, ride, fight, and at +last--fall, with you. After a hero's life--a hero's death!" + +She started up; her gray-blue eyes flashed with a wonderful light, and +tossing back her waving hair she raised both arms enthusiastically. + +Her husband gently drew her down again. "My high-hearted wife, my +Hilda," he said, smiling, "with the instinct of a seer your ancestor +chose for you the name of the glorious leader of the Valkyries. How +much I owe old Hildebrand, the master at arms of the great King of the +Goths! With the name the nature came to you. And his training and +teaching probably did the rest." + +Hilda nodded. "I scarcely knew my parents, they died so young. Ever +since I could remember I was under the charge and protection of the +white-bearded hero. In the palace at Ravenna he locked me in his +apartments, keeping me jealously away from the pious Sisters, the nuns, +and from the priests who educated my playmates,--among them the +beautiful Mataswintha. I grew up with his other foster-child, +dark-haired Teja. My friend Teja taught me to play the harp, but also +to hurl spears and catch them on the shield. Later, when the king, and +still more his daughter, the learned Amalaswintha, insisted that I must +study with the women and the priests, how sullenly,"--she smiled at the +remembrance,--"how angrily the old great-grandfather questioned me in +the evening about what the nuns had taught me during the day! If I had +recited the proverbs and Latin hymns, the _Deus pater ingenite_ or +_Salve sancta parens_ by Sedulius--I scarcely knew more than the +beginning!"--she laughed merrily--"he shook his massive head, muttered +something in his long white beard, and cried: 'Come, Hilda! Let's get +out of doors. Come on the sea. There I will tell you about the ancient +gods and heroes of our people.' Then he took me far, far from the +crowded harbors into the solitude of a desolate, savage island, where +the gulls circled and the wild swan built her nest amid the rushes; +there we sat down on the sand, and, while the foaming waves rolled +close to our feet, he told me tales of the past. And what tales old +Hildebrand could tell! My eyes rested intently on his lips as, with my +elbows propped on his knee, I gazed into his face. How his sea-gray +eyes sparkled! how his white hair fluttered in the evening breeze! His +voice trembled with enthusiasm; he no longer knew where he was; he saw +everything he related, or often--in disconnected words--sang. When the +tale ended, he waked as if from a dream, started up and laughed, +stroking my head: 'There! There! Now I've once more blown those saints, +with their dull, mawkish gentleness, out of your soul, as the north +wind, sweeping through the church windows, drives out the smoke of the +incense.' But they had taken no firm hold," she added, smiling. + +"And so you grew up half a pagan, as Gelimer says," replied her +husband, raising his finger warningly, "but as a full heroine, who +believes in nothing so entirely as the glory of her people." + +"And in yours--and in your love," Hilda murmured tenderly, kissing him +on the forehead. "Yet it is true," she added, "if you Vandals had not +been the nearest kinsfolk of my Goths, I don't know whether I should +have loved you--ah, no; I _must_ have loved you--when, sent by Gelimer, +you came to woo me. But as it is, to see you was to love you. I owe all +my happiness to Gelimer! I will always remember it: it shall bind me to +him when otherwise," she added slowly and thoughtfully, "many things +might repel me." + +"My brother desired, by this marriage, to end the hostility, bridge the +gulf which had separated the two kingdoms since--since that bloody deed +of Hilderic. It did not succeed! He united only us, not our nations. He +is full of heavy cares and gloomy thoughts." + +"Yes. I often think he must be ill," said Hilda, shaking her head. + +"He?--The strongest hero in our army! He alone--not even Brother +Zazo--can bend my outstretched sword-arm." + +"Not ill in body,--soul-sick! But hush! Here he comes. See how +sorrowful, how gloomy he looks. Is that the brow, the face, of a +conqueror?" + + + + CHAPTER IV + +A tall figure appeared in the colonnade leading from the interior of +the dwelling to the open doorway of the hall. + +This man without helmet, breastplate, or sword-belt wore a +tight-fitting dark-gray robe, destitute of color or ornament. He often +paused in his slow advance as if lost in meditation, with hands clasped +behind his back; his head drooped forward a little, as though burdened +by anxious thought. His lofty brow was deeply furrowed; his light-brown +hair and beard were thickly sprinkled with gray, which formed a strange +contrast to his otherwise youthful appearance. His eyes were fixed +steadily on the floor,--their color and expression were still +unrecognizable,--and pausing again under the pillared arch of the +entrance, he sighed heavily. + +"Hail, Gelimer, victorious hero!" cried the young wife, joyously. "Take +what I have had ready for you ever since your return home was announced +to-day." Seizing a thick laurel wreath lying on the table before her, +she eagerly raised it. A slight but expressive wave of the hand stopped +her. + +"Wreaths are not suited for the sinner's head," said the new-comer in a +low tone, "but ashes, ashes!" + +Hilda, hurt and sorrowful, laid down the garland. + +"Sinner?" cried her husband, indignantly. "Why, yes; so are we all--in +the eyes of the saints. But you less than others. Are we never to +rejoice?" + +"Let those rejoice who can!" + +"Oh, brother, you too can rejoice. When the hero spirit comes, when the +whirl of battle surrounds you, with loud shouts (I heard it myself and +my heart exulted in your delight), you dashed before us all into the +thickest throng of the Moorish riders. And you cried aloud from sheer +joy when you tore the banner from the hand of the fallen bearer; you +had ridden him down by the mere shock of your charger's rush." + +"Ay, that was indeed beautiful!" cried Gelimer, suddenly lifting his +head, while a pair of large brown eyes flashed from under long dark +lashes. "Isn't the cream stallion superb? He overthrows everything. He +bears victory." + +"Ay, when he bears Gelimer!" exclaimed a clear voice, and a +boy--scarcely beyond childhood, for the first down was appearing on his +delicate rosy cheeks--a boy strongly resembling Gibamund and Gelimer +glided across the threshold and rushed with outstretched arms toward +the hero. + +"Oh, brother, how I love you! And how I envy you! But on the next +pursuit of the Moors you must take me with you, or I will go against +your will." And he threw both arms around his brother's towering +figure. + +"Ammata, my darling, my heart's treasure," cried Gelimer, tenderly, +stroking the lad's long golden locks with a loving touch, "I have +brought you from the booty a little milk-white horse as swift as the +wind. I thought of you the instant it was led before me. And you, fair +sister-in-law, forgive me. I was unkind when I came in; I was foil of +heavy cares. For I came--" + +"From the King," cried a deep voice from the corridor, and a man in +full armor rushed in, whose strong resemblance to the others marked him +as the fourth brother. Features of noble mould, a sharp but finely +modelled nose, broad brow, and yellow, fiery eyes set almost too deeply +beneath arched brows were peculiar to all these royal Asdings, the +descendants of the sun-god Frey. + +Gelimer's glance alone was usually subdued as if veiled, dreamy as if +lost in uncertainty; but when it suddenly flashed with enthusiasm or +wrath its mighty glow was startling; and the narrow oval of the face, +which in all was far removed from roundness, in Gelimer seemed almost +too thin. + +The man who had just entered was somewhat shorter than the latter, but +much broader-chested and larger-limbed. His head, surrounded with +short, close-curling brown hair, rested on a strong neck; the cheeks +were reddened by health and robust vitality, and now by fierce anger. +Although only a year younger than Gelimer, he seemed still a fiery +youth beside his prematurely aged brother. In furious indignation he +flung the heavy helmet, from which the crooked horns of the African +bull buffalo threatened, upon the table, making the wine splash over +the glasses. + +"From Hilderic," he repeated, "the most ungrateful of human beings! +What was the hero's reward for the new victory? Suspicion! Fear +of rousing jealousy in Constantinople! The coward! My beautiful +sister-in-law, you have more courage in your little finger than this +King of the Vandals in his heart and his sword-hand. Give me a cup of +wine to wash down my rage." + +Hilda quickly sprang up, filled the goblet, and offered it to him. +"Drink, brave Zazo! Hail to you and all heroes, and--" + +"To hell with Hilderic!" cried the furious soldier, draining the beaker +at a single draught. + +"Hush, brother! What sacrilege!" exclaimed Gelimer, with a clouded +brow. + +"Well, for aught I care, to heaven with him! He'll suit that far better +than the throne of the sea-king Genseric." + +"There you give him high praise," said Gelimer. + +"I don't mean it. As I stood there while he questioned you so +ungraciously, I could have--But reviling him is useless. Something must +be done. I remained at home this time for a good reason: it was hard +enough for me to let you go forth to victory alone! But I secretly kept +a sharp watch on this fox in the purple, and have discovered his +tricks. Send away this pair of wedded lovers, I think they have much to +say to each other alone; the child Ammata, too; and listen to my +report, my suspicion, my accusation: not only against the King, but +others also." + +Gibamund threw his arm tenderly around his slender wife, and the boy +ran out of the hall in front of them. + + + + CHAPTER V + +Gelimer sat down on the couch; Zazo stood before him, leaning on his +long sword, and began,-- + +"Soon after you went to the field, Pudentius came from Tripolis to +Carthage." + +"Again?" + +"Yes, he is often at the palace and talks for hours, alone with the +King. Or with Euages and Hoamer, the King's nephews, our beloved +cousins. The latter, arrogant blockhead, can't keep silent after wine. +In a drunken revel he told the secret." + +"But surely not to you?" + +"No! To red-haired Thrasaric." + +"The savage!" + +"I don't commend his morals," cried the other, laughing. "Yet he has +grown much more sedate since he is honestly trying to win the dainty +Eugenia. But he never lies. And he would die for the Vandal nation; +especially for you, whom he calls his tutor. You begin education with +blows. In the grove of Venus--" + +"The Holy Virgin, you mean," Gelimer corrected. + +"If you prefer?--yes! But it does the Virgin little honor, so long as +the old customs remain. So, at a banquet in the shell grotto of that +grove, Thrasaric was praising you, and said you would restore the +warlike fame of the Vandals as soon as you were king, when Hoamer +shouted angrily: 'Never! That will never be! Constantinople has +forbidden it. Gelimer is the Emperor's foe. When my uncle dies, _I_ +shall be king; or the Emperor will appoint Pudentius Regent of the +kingdom. So it has been discussed and settled among us.'" + +"That was said in a fit of drunkenness." + +"Under the influence of wine--and in wine is truth, the Romans say. +Just at that moment Pudentius came into the grotto. 'Aha!' called the +drunken man, 'your last letter from the Emperor was worth its weight in +gold. Just wait till I am King, I will reward you: you shall be the +Emperor's exarch in Tripolis.' + +"Pudentius was greatly startled and winked at him to keep silence, but +he went on: 'No, no! that's your well-earned reward.' All this was told +me by Thrasaric in the first outbreak of his wrath after he had +rushed away from the banquet. But wait: there is more to come! This +Pudentius--do you believe him our friend?" + +"Oh, no," sighed Gelimer. "His grandparents and parents were cruelly +slain by our kings because they remained true to their religion. How +should the son and grandson love us?" + +Zazo went close up to his brother, laid his hand heavily on his +shoulder, and said slowly: "And _Verus_? Is _he_ to love us? Have you +forgotten how his whole family--?" + +Gelimer shook his head mournfully: "Forget _that_? I?" He shuddered and +closed his eyes. Then, rousing himself by a violent effort from the +burden of his gloomy thoughts, he went on: "Still your firmly rooted +delusion! Always this distrust of the most faithful among all who love +me!" + +"Oh, brother! But I will not upbraid you; your clear mind is blinded, +blinded by this priest! It seems as if there were some miracle at +work--" + +"It _is_ a miracle," interrupted Gelimer, deeply moved, raising his +eyes devoutly. + +"But what say you to the fact that this Pudentius, whom you, too, do +not trust, is admitted to the city secretly at night--by whom? By +Verus, your bosom friend!" + +"That is not true." + +"I have seen it. I will swear it to the priest's face. Oh, if only he +were here now!" + +"He is not far away. He told me--he was the first one of you all to +greet me at the parade--that he longed to see me, he must speak to me +at once. I appointed this place; as soon as the King dismissed me I +would be here. Do you see? He is already coming down the colonnade." + + + + CHAPTER VI + +The tall, haggard priest who now came slowly into the hall was several +years older than Gelimer. A wide, dark-brown upper garment fell in +mantle-like folds from his broad shoulders: his figure, and still more +his unusually striking face, produced an impression of the most +tenacious will. The features, it is true, were too sharply cut to be +handsome; but no one who saw them ever forgot them. Strongly marked +thick black brows shaded penetrating black eyes, which, evidently by +design, were always cast down; the eagle nose, the firmly closed thin +lips, the sunken cheeks, the pallid complexion, whose dull lustre +resembled light yellow marble, combined to give the countenance +remarkable character. Lips, cheeks, and chin were smoothly shaven, and +so, too, was the black hair, more thickly mingled with gray than seemed +quite suited to his age,--little more than forty years. Each of his +rare gestures was so slow, so measured, that it revealed the rigid +self-control practised for decades, by which this impenetrable man +ruled himself--and others. His voice sounded expressionless, as if from +deep sadness or profound weariness, but one felt that it was repressed; +it was a rare thing to meet his eyes, but they often flashed with a +sudden fire, and then intense passion glowed in their depths. Nothing +that passed in this man's soul was recognizable in his features; only +the thin lips, firmly as he closed them, sometimes betrayed by a +slight, involuntary quiver that this rigid, corpse-like face was not a +death-mask. + +Gelimer had started up the instant he saw the priest, and now, hurrying +toward him, clasped the motionless figure, which stood with arms +hanging loosely before him, ardently to his heart. + +"Verus, my Verus!" he cried, "my guardian angel! And you!--_you_!--they +are trying to make me distrust. Really, brother, the stars would sooner +change from God's eternal order in the heavens than this man fail in +his fidelity to me." He kissed him on the cheek. Verus remained +perfectly unmoved. Zazo watched the pair wrathfully. + +"He has more love, more feeling," he muttered, stroking his thick +beard, "for that Roman, that alien, than for--Speak, priest, can you +deny that last Sunday, after midnight, Pudentius--ah, your lips +quiver--Pudentius of Tripolis was secretly admitted by you through the +little door in the eastern gate and received in your house, beside your +basilica? Speak!" + +Gelimer's eyes rested lovingly on his friend, and, smiling faintly, he +shook his head. Verus was silent. + +"Speak," Zazo repeated. "Deny it if you dare. You did not suspect that +I was watching in the tower after I had relieved the guard. I had long +suspected the gate-keeper; he was once a slave of Pudentius. You bought +and freed him. Do you see, brother? He is silent! I will arrest him at +once. We will search for secret letters his house, his chest, the +altars, the sarcophagi of his church, nay, even his clothes." + +Now Verus's black eyes suddenly blazed upon the bold soldier, then +after a swift side-glance at Gelimer were again bent calmly on the +floor. + +"Or do you deny it?" + +"No," fell almost inaudibly from the scarcely parted lips. + +"Do you hear that, brother?" + +Gelimer hastily advanced a step nearer to Verus. + +"It was to tell you this that I requested an immediate interview," said +the latter, quietly, turning his back on Zazo. + +"That's what I call presence of mind!" cried Zazo, laughing loudly. +"But how will you prove it?" + +"I have brought the proof that Pudentius is a traitor," Verus went on, +turning to Gelimer, without paying the slightest attention to his +accuser. "Here it is." + +He slowly threw back his cloak, passed his hand through the folds of +his under garment, and after a short search drew from his breast a +small, crumpled strip of papyrus, which he handed to Gelimer, who +hurriedly unfolded it, and read,-- + +"In spite of your warning, we shall persist. Belisarius is perhaps +already on the way. Give this to the King." + +Both Vandals were startled. + +"That letter?" asked Gelimer. + +"Was written by Pudentius." + +"To whom?" + +"To me." + +"Do you hear, brother?" exclaimed Zazo. + +"He betrays--" + +"The betrayers," Verus interrupted. "Yes, Gelimer, I have acted while +you were hesitating, pondering, and this brave fool was sleeping, +or--blustering. You remember, long ago I warned you that the King and +his nephews were negotiating with Constantinople." + +"Did he do so really, brother?" asked Zazo, eagerly. + +"Long ago. And repeatedly." + +Zazo shook his brown locks, angry, wondering, incredulous. But he said +firmly,-- + +"Then forgive me, priest,--if I have really done you injustice." + +"Pudentius," Verus continued, without replying, "was, I suspected, the +go-between. I gained his confidence." + +"That is, you deceived him--as you are perhaps deluding us," muttered +Zazo. + +"Silence, brother!" Gelimer commanded imperiously. + +"It was not difficult to convince him. My family, like his, had by your +kings--" he interrupted himself abruptly. "I expressed my anguish; I +condemned your cruelty." + +"With justice! Woe betide us, with justice!" groaned Gelimer, striking +his brow with his clenched fist. + +"I said that my friendship for you was not so strong as my resentment +for all my kindred. He initiated me into the conspiracy. I was +startled; for, in truth, unless God worked a miracle to blind him, the +Vandal kingdom was hopelessly lost. I warned him--to gain time until +your return--of the cruel vengeance you would take upon all Romans if +the insurrection should be suppressed. He hesitated, promised to +consider everything again, to discuss the matter once more with the +King. There--this note, brought to me by a stranger to-day in the +basilica, contains the decision. Act quickly, or it may be too late." + +Gelimer gazed silently into vacancy. But Zazo drew his sword and was +rushing from the hall. + +"Where are you going?" asked the priest, in a low tone, seizing his +arm. The grasp was so firm, so powerful, that the Vandal could not +shake it off. + +"Where? To the King! To cut down the traitor and his allies! Then +assemble the army and--Hail to King Gelimer!" + +"Silence, madman!" cried the latter, startled, as if his most secret +wish were revealed to him, "you will stay here! Would you add to all +the sins which already burden the Vandal race--especially our +generation--the crime of dethronement, regicide, the murder of a +kinsman? Where is the proof of Hilderic's guilt? Was my long-cherished +distrust not merely the fruit, but the pretext,--inspired by my own +impatient desire for the throne? Pudentius may lie--exaggerate. Where +is the proof that treason is planned?" + +"Will you wait till it has succeeded?" cried Zazo, defiantly. + +"No! But do not punish till it is proved." + +"There speaks the Christian," said the priest, approvingly.--"But the +proof must be quickly produced: this very day. Listen, I have reason to +believe that Pudentius is in the city now." + +"We must have him!" cried Zazo. "Where is he? With the King?" + +"They do not work so openly. He steals into the palace only by night. +But I know his hiding-place. In the grove of the Holy Virgin--the warm +baths." + +"Send me, brother! Me! I will fly!" + +"Go, then," replied Gelimer, waving his hand. + +"But do not kill him," the priest called after the hurrying figure. + +"No, by my sword! We must have him alive." He vanished down the +corridor. + +"Oh, Verus!" Gelimer passionately exclaimed, "you faithful friend! +Shall I owe you the rescue of my people, as well as the deliverance of +my own poor life from the most horrible death?" He eagerly clasped his +hand. + +The priest withdrew it. + +"Thank God for your own and your people's destiny, not me. I am only +the tool of His will, from the hour I assumed the garb of this +priesthood. But listen: to you alone dare I confide the whole truth; +yonder blockhead would ruin everything by his blind impetuosity. Your +life is threatened. That does not alarm the hero! Yet you must preserve +it for your people. Fall if fall you must, in battle, under the sword +of Belisarius" (Gelimer's eyes sparkled, and a noble enthusiasm +transfigured his face), "but do not perish miserably by murder." + +"Murder? Who would--?" + +"The King. No, do not doubt. Pudentius told me. The nephews overruled +his opposition. They know that you will baffle their plans so long as +you live. You must never be permitted to become King of the Vandals." + +Here the black eyes shot a swift glance, then fell again. + +"We shall see!" cried Gelimer, wrathfully. "I _will_ be King, and +woe--" + +Here he stopped suddenly. His breath came and went quickly. After a +pause, repressing his vehemence, he asked humbly,-- + +"Is this ambition a sin, my brother?" + +"You have a right to the crown," the other answered quietly. "If you +should die, then, according to Genseric's law of succession, Hoamer, as +the oldest male scion of the race, would follow. So they have persuaded +the King to invite you on the day of your return to a secret interview +in the palace--entirely alone--and there murder you." + +"Impossible, my friend. I have already seen the King. He received me +ungraciously, ungratefully; but," he smiled, "as you see, I am still +alive." + +"You went to see the King, surrounded by all the leaders of your troops +fully armed. But beware that he does not summon you again alone." + +"That would be strange. We discussed every subject of moment." + +At that instant steps echoed in the corridor. A negro slave handed +Gelimer a letter. "From the King," he said, and left the hall. + +The hero tore the cord that fastened the little wax tablet, glanced at +the contents, and turned pale. + +It is true. Come at the tenth hour in the evening to my sleeping room, +with no companion. I have a secret matter to discuss with you. + HILDERIC. + +"You see--" + +"No, no! I will not believe it. It may be accident. Hilderic is weak; +he hates me; but he is no murderer." + +"So much the better if Pudentius lied. But it is the duty of the friend +to warn. Do not go there!" + +"I must! I fear for myself? Does my Verus know me so little?" + +"Then do not go alone. Take Zazo with you, or Gibamund." + +"Impossible, against the King's command! And no one is permitted to +have a private interview with the King except unarmed." + +"Well, then, at least wear _under_ your robe the cuirass, which will +protect you from a dagger-thrust. And the short-sword? Cannot you +conceal it in your sleeve or girdle?" + +"Over-anxious friend!" said Gelimer, smiling. "But for your sake I will +put on the cuirass." + +"That is not enough for me. However, I will consider; there is one way +of helping you in case of need. Yes, that will do." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Hush! I will pray that my thoughts may be fulfilled. You, too, my +brother, pray. For you, we all, are to meet great dangers; and God +alone sees the--" + +Here he stopped suddenly, clasped both hands around his head, and with +a hoarse cry sank upon the couch. + +"Alas, Verus!" exclaimed Gelimer. "Are you faint?" Hastily seizing the +mixing vessel, he sprinkled water on the insensible man's face, and +rubbed his hands. + +The priest opened his eyes again, and by a great effort, sat erect. + +"Never mind; it is over! But the strain of this hour--was probably--too +much. I will go--no, I need no support--to the basilica, to pray. Send +Zazo there as soon as he returns--before you go to the King; do you +hear? God grant my ardent desire!" + + + + CHAPTER VII + +TO CETHEGUS, A FRIEND. + +The Vandal war has been given up, and for what pitiable reasons! You +know that I have thought it far wiser for our rulers to attend to the +matters immediately around us than to meddle with the Barbarians. For +so long as this unbearable burden of taxation and abuse of official +power continues in the Roman Empire, so long every conquest, every +increase in the number of our subjects, will merely swell the list of +unfortunates. Yet if Africa could be restored to the Empire, we ought +not to relinquish the proud thought from sheer cowardice! + +There stands the ugly word,--unhappily a true one. From cowardice? Not +Theodora's. Indeed, that is not one of the faults of this delicate, +otherwise womanly woman. Two years ago, when the terrible insurrection +of the Greens and Blues in the Circus swept victoriously over the whole +city, when Justinian despaired and wished to fly, Theodora's courage +kept him in the palace, and Belisarius's fidelity saved him. But this +time the blame does not rest upon the Emperor; it is the cowardice of +the Roman army, or especially, the fleet. True, Justinian's zeal +has cooled considerably since the failure of the crafty plan to +destroy Genseric's kingdom; almost without a battle, principally by +"arts,"--treachery, ordinary people term them. Hilderic, at an +appointed time, was to send his whole army into the interior for a +great campaign against the Moors; our fleet was to run into the +unprotected harbors of Carthage, land the army, occupy the city, and +make Hilderic, Hoamer, and a Senator the Emperor's three governors of +the recovered province of Africa. + +But this time we crafty ones were outwitted by a brain still more +subtle. Our friend from Tripolis writes that he was deceived in the +Arian priest whom he believed he had won for our cause. This man, +at first well disposed, afterwards became wavering, warned, +dissuaded--nay, perhaps even betrayed the plan to the Vandals. So an +open attack must be made. This pleased Belisarius, but not the Emperor. +He hesitated. + +Meanwhile--Heaven knows through whom--the rumor of the coming Vandal +war spread through the court, into the city, among the soldiers and +sailors; and--disgrace and shame on us--nearly all the greatest +dignitaries, the generals, and also the army and the fleet were seized +with terror. All remembered the last great campaign against this +dreaded foe, when, two generations ago--it was under the Emperor +Leo--the full strength of the whole empire was employed. The ruler of +the Western Empire attacked the Vandals simultaneously in Sardinia and +Tripolis. Constantinople accomplished magnificent deeds. One hundred +and thirty thousand pounds of gold were used; Basiliscus, the Emperor's +brother-in-law, led a hundred thousand warriors to the Carthaginian +coast. All were destroyed in a single night. Genseric attacked with +firebrands the triremes packed too closely together at the Promontory +of Mercury, while his swift horsemen at the same time assailed the camp +on the shore; fleet and army were routed in blood and flame. Even to +the present day do the Prefect and the Treasurer lament the loss. "It +will be just the same now as it was then. The last money in the almost +empty coffers will be flung into the sea!" But the generals (except +Belisarius and Narses), what heroes they are! Each fears that the +Emperor will choose him. And how, even if they overcome the terrors of +the ocean, is a landing to be made upon a hostile coast defended by the +dreaded Germans? The soldiers, who have just returned from the Persian +War, have barely tasted the joys of home. They are talking mutinously +in every street; no sooner returned from the extreme East, they must be +sent to the farthest West, to the Pillars of Hercules, to fight with +Moors and Vandals. They were not used to sea-battles, were not trained +for them, were not enlisted for the purpose, and therefore were under +no obligations. The Prefect, especially, represented to the Emperor +that Carthage was a hundred and fifty days' march by land from Egypt, +while the sea was barred by the invincible fleet of the Vandals. "Don't +meddle with this African wasp's nest," he warned him. "Or the corsair +ships will ravage all our coasts and islands as they did in the days of +Genseric." And this argument prevailed. The Emperor has changed his +mind. How the hero Belisarius fumes and rages! + +Theodora resents--in silence. But she vehemently desired this war! I am +really no favorite of hers. I am far too independent, too much the +master of my own thoughts, and my conscience pricks me often enough +for my insincerity. She certainly has the best--that is, the best +trained--conscience: it no longer disturbs her. Doubtless she smoothed +down its pricks long ago. But I have repeatedly received the dainty +little papyrus rolls whose seal bears a scorpion surrounded by +flames,--little notes in which she earnestly urged me to the "war +spirit," if I desired to retain her friendship. + + + + CHAPTER VIII + +Since I wrote this--a few days ago--new and important tidings have come +from Africa. Great changes have taken place there, which perhaps may +force the vacillating Emperor to go to war. What our statecraft had +striven in the most eager and crafty manner to prevent has already +happened in spite of this effort, perhaps in consequence of it. Gelimer +is King of the Vandals! + +The archdeacon Verus--all names can be mentioned now--had really spun +webs against, not for us. He betrayed everything to Gelimer! Pudentius +of Tripolis, who was secretly living in Carthage, was to have been +seized; Verus had betrayed his hiding-place. It is remarkable, by the +way, that Pudentius hastily fled from the city a short time before, on +the priest's swiftest horse. + +That same day a mysterious event occurred in the palace, of which +nothing is known definitely except the result--for Gelimer is King of +the Vandals; but the connection, the causes, are very differently told. +Some say that Gelimer wanted to murder the King, others that the King +tried to kill Gelimer. Others again whisper--so Pudentius writes--of a +secret warning which reached the King: a stranger informed him by +letter that Gelimer meant to murder him at their next private +interview. The sovereign, to convince himself, must instantly summon +him to one; the assassin would either refuse to come, from fear +awakened by an evil conscience, or he would appear--contrary to the +strict prohibition of court laws--secretly armed. Hilderic must provide +himself with a coat of mail and a dagger, and have help close at hand. +The King obeyed this counsel. + +It is certain that he summoned Gelimer on the evening of that very day +to an interview in his bedroom on the ground-floor of the palace. +Gelimer came. The King embraced him, and in doing so, discovered the +armor under his robe and called for help. The ruler's two nephews, +Hoamer and Euages, rushed with drawn swords from the next room to kill +the assassin. But at the same moment Gelimer's two brothers, whom Verus +had concealed amid the shrubbery in the garden, sprang through the low +windows of the ground-floor. The King and Euages were disarmed and +taken prisoners; Hoamer escaped. Hastening into the courtyard of the +Capitol, he called the Vandals to arms to rescue their King, who had +been murderously attacked by Gelimer. The Barbarians hesitated: +Hilderic was unpopular, Gelimer a great favorite, and the people did +not believe him capable of such a crime. The latter now appeared, gave +the lie to his accuser, and charged Hilderic and his nephews with the +attempt at assassination. To decide the question he challenged Hoamer +to single combat in the presence of the whole populace, and killed him +at the first blow. + +The Vandals tumultuously applauded him, at once declared Hilderic +deposed, and proclaimed Gelimer, who was the legal heir, their King. It +was with the utmost difficulty that his intercession saved the lives of +the two captives. Verus is said to have been made prothonotary and +chancellor, Gelimer's chief councillor, since he saved his life! We +know better, we who were betrayed, how this priest earned his reward at +our expense. + +But I believe that this change of ruler will compel the war. It is now +a point of honor with Justinian to save or avenge his dethroned and +imprisoned friend. I have already composed a wonderful letter to the +"Tyrant" Gelimer which closes thus: "So, contrary to justice and duty, +you are keeping your cousin, the rightful King of the Vandals, in +chains, and robbing him of the crown. Replace him on the throne, or +know that we will march against you, and in so doing (this sentence the +Emperor of the Pandects dictated word for word)--in so doing we shall +not break the compact of perpetual peace formerly concluded with +Genseric, for we shall not be fighting against Genseric's lawful +successor, but to avenge him." Note the legal subtlety. The Emperor is +more proud of that sentence than Belisarius of his great Persian +victory at Dara. If this Gelimer should actually do what we ask, the +avengers of justice would be most horribly embarrassed. For we _desire_ +this war; that is, we wanted Africa long before the occurrence of the +crime which we shall march to avenge--unless we prefer, with wise +economy and caution, to remain at home. + + * * * * * + +We have received the Vandal's answer. A right royal reply for a +Barbarian and tyrant. "The sovereign Gelimer to the sovereign Justinian +"--he uses the same word, "Basileus," for Emperor and for King, the +bold soldier. + +"I did not seize the sceptre by violence, nor have I committed any +crime against my kindred. But the Vandal people deposed Hilderic +because he himself was planning evil against the Asding race, against +the rightful heir to the throne, against our kingdom. The law of +succession summoned me, as the oldest of the Asding family after +Hilderic, to the empty throne. + +"He is a praiseworthy ruler, O Justinianus, who wisely governs his own +kingdom and does not interfere with foreign states. If you break the +peace guarded by sacred oaths, and attack us, we shall manfully defend +ourselves, and appeal to God, who punishes perjury and wrong." + +Good! I like you. King Gelimer! I am glad to have our Emperor of +lawyers told that he must not blow what is not burning him: a proverb +which to me seems a tolerably fair embodiment of all legal wisdom. +True, I have my own thoughts concerning the divine punishment of all +earthly injustice. + +The Barbarian's letter has highly incensed Justinian, another proof +that the Barbarian is right. But I believe we shall put this answer in +our pockets just as quietly as we returned to its sheath the sword we +had already drawn. The Emperor inveighs loudly against the Tyrant, but +the army shouts still more loudly that it will not fight. And the +Empress--is silent. + + + + CHAPTER IX + +Meanwhile King Gelimer was moving forward with all his power to +preparations for the threatening conflict. He found much, very much, to +be done. The King, assuming the chief direction, and working wherever +he was needed, had given Zazo charge of the fleet and Gibamund that of +the army. + +One sultry August evening he received their reports. The three brothers +had met in the great throne-room and armory of the palace, into which +Gelimer had now moved; the open windows afforded a magnificent view of +the harbors and the sea beyond them; the north wind brought a +refreshing breath from the salt tide. + +This portion of the ancient citadel had been rebuilt by the Vandal +kings, changed to suit the necessities of life in a German palace. The +round column of the Greeks had been replaced, in imitation of the wood +used in the construction of the German halls, by huge square pillars of +brown and red marble, which Africa produced in the richest variety. The +ceiling was wainscoted with gayly painted or burned wood, and, on both +stone and timber, besides the house-mark of the Asdings,--an A +transfixed by an arrow,--many another rune, even many a short motto, +was inscribed in Gothic characters. Costly crimson silk hangings waved +at the open arched windows; the walls were set with slabs of polished +marble in the most varied contrast of often vivid colors, for the +Barbarian taste loved bright hues. The floor was composed of polished +mosaic, but it was rough and not well fitted. Genseric had simply +brought whole shiploads of the brightest hues he could drag from the +palaces of plundered Rome, with statues and bas-reliefs, which were put +together here with little choice. + +Opposite to the side facing the sea, rose, at the summit of five steps, +a stately structure, the throne of Genseric. The steps were very broad; +they were intended to accommodate the King's enormous train, the +Palatines and Gardings, the leaders of the thousands and hundreds, +stationed according to their rank and the ruler's favor. In their rich +fantastic costumes and armor, a combination of German and Roman taste, +they often gathered closely around the sovereign and stood crowding +together; the scarlet silk Vandal banners fluttered above them, and a +golden dragon swung by a rope from the tent-like canopy of the lofty +purple throne. When from this throne, at whose feet, as a symbolical +tribute from conquered Moorish princes, lion and tiger skins lay piled +a foot high, the mighty sea-king arose, swinging around his head with +angry, threatening words the seven-lashed scourge (a gift from his +friend Attila), many an envoy of the Emperor forgot the arrogant speech +he had prepared. + +The wonderful splendor of this hall fairly bewildered the eye; but its +richest ornament was the countless number of weapons of every variety, +and of every nation, principally German, Roman, and Moorish; but also +from all the other coasts and islands which the sea-king's corsair +ships could visit. They covered all the pillars and walls; nay, the +shields and breastplates were even spread over the entire ceiling. + +A strange, dazzling light now poured over all this bronze, silver, and +gold, as the slanting rays of the setting sun streamed from the +northwest into the hall. A broad white marble table was completely +covered with parchment and papyrus rolls, containing lists of the +bodies of troops, by thousands and hundreds, drawings of ships, maps of +the Vandal kingdom, charts of the Bay of Gades and the Tyrrhenian Sea. + +"You have accomplished more than the possible during the weeks I have +been in the west, trying to bring the Vandals thence to Carthage," said +the King, laying down a wax tablet on which he had been computing +figures. "True, we are far, far from possessing the numbers or the +strength of the ships which formerly bore 'the terror of the Vandals' +to every shore. But these hundred and fifty will be amply sufficient, +and more than sufficient, to defend our own coast and to prevent a +landing, if behind the fleet there stands a body of foot soldiers on +the shore." + +"No, do not sigh, my Gibamund," cried Zazo. "Our brother knows it is no +fault of yours that the army is not--cannot accomplish what--" + +"Oh," exclaimed Gibamund, wrathfully, "it is all in vain! No matter +what I do, they will not drill. They want to drink and bathe and +carouse and ride and see the games in the Circus, indulge in everything +that consumes a man's marrow in that accursed grove of Venus." + +"But that abomination ended yesterday," said the King. + +"Much you know about it, O Gelimer," said Zazo, shaking his head. "You +have accomplished miracles since you wore this heavy crown; but to +cleanse the grove of Venus--" + +"Not cleanse; close!" replied the King, sternly. "It has been closed +since yesterday." + +"I must complain, accuse many," Gibamund went on, "especially the +nobles. They refuse to fight on foot, to take part in the drill of the +foot soldiers. You know how much we need them. They appeal to the +privileges bestowed by weak Sovereigns; they say they are no longer +obliged to enter the ranks of the foot soldiers! Hilderic permitted +every Vandal to buy freedom from it, if he would hire in his place two +Moorish or other mercenaries." + +"I have abolished these privileges." + +"Oh, yes. And during your absence there was open rebellion; blood +flowed on that account in the streets of Carthage. But the worst thing +is, that these effeminate nobles and the richer citizens _can_ no +longer fight on foot. They say--and unfortunately it is true--that they +can no longer bear the weight of the heavy helmets, breastplates, +shields, and spears, no longer hurl the lances which I had brought out +again from Genseric's arsenal." + +"They are of course required to arm themselves," said Zazo. "So why--" + +"Because most have sold the ancient weapons or exchanged them for +jewels, wine, dainties, or female slaves; or else for arms that are +mere ornaments and toys. I allow no one to enter the army with this +rubbish; and before they are properly equipped, the victory and the +Empire might be lost. But it is true: they can no longer carry +Genseric's armor. They would fall in a short time. They are swearing +because we are now in the very hottest months." + +"Are we to tell the enemy that the Vandals fight only in the winter?" +cried Zazo, laughing. + +"Therefore to fill the ranks of our foot soldiers I have already +obtained many thousand Moorish mercenaries," the King replied. "Of +course these sons of the desert, variable, impetuous, changeful, like +the sands of their home, are a poor substitute for German strength. But +I have gained twenty chiefs with about ten thousand men." + +"Is Cabaon, the graybeard of countless years, among them?" asked +Gibamund. + +"No, he delays his answer." + +"It is a pity. He is the most powerful of them all! And his prophetic +renown extends far beyond his tribe," observed Zazo. + +"Well, we shall have better assistants than the Moorish robbers," said +Gibamund, consolingly. "The brave Visigoths in Spain." + +"Have you yet received an answer from their king?" + +"Yes and no! King Theudis is shrewd and cautious. I urged upon him +earnestly (I wrote the letter myself; I did not leave it to Verus) that +Constantinople was not threatening us Vandals solely; that the imperial +troops could easily cross the narrow straits from Ceuta, if we were +once vanquished. I offered him an alliance. He answered evasively: he +must first be sure of what we could accomplish in the war." + +"What does he mean by that?" cried Zazo, angrily. "I suppose he wants +to wait till the end of the conflict. Whether we conquer or are +vanquished, we shall no longer need him!" + +"I wrote again, still more urgently. His answer will soon come." + +"But the Ostrogoths?" asked Gibamund, eagerly. "What do they reply?" + +"Nothing at all." + +"That is bad," said Gibamund. + +"I wrote to the Regent: I stated that I was innocent of Hilderic's +shameful deed. I warned her against Justinian, who was threatening her +no less than us; I reminded her of the close kinship of our nations--" + +"You have not yet stooped to entreaties?" asked Zazo, indignantly. + +"By no means. I besought nothing. I merely requested, as our just +right, that the Ostrogoths at least would not aid our foes. As yet I +have had no answer. But worse than the lack of allies, the most +perilous thing is the utter, foolish undervaluation of the enemy among +our own people," added the King. + +"Yes! They say, Why should we weary ourselves with drilling and arming? +The little Greeks won't dare to attack us! And if they really do come, +the grandsons of Genseric will destroy the grandsons of Basiliscus just +as Genseric destroyed him." + +"But we are no longer Genseric's Vandals!" Gelimer lamented. "Genseric +brought with him an army of heroes, brave, trained by twenty years of +warfare with other Germans and with the Romans in the mountains of +Spain, simple, plain in tastes, rigid in morals. He closed the houses +of Roman pleasure in Carthage; he compelled all women of light fame to +marry or enter convents." + +"But how that suited the husbands and the other nuns is not told," +replied Zazo, laughing. + +"And now, to-day, our youths are as corrupt as the most profligate +Romans. To the cruelty of the fathers"--the King sighed deeply--"is +added the dissipation, the intemperance, the effeminate indolence of +the sons. How can such a nation endure? It must succumb." + +"But we Asdings," said Gibamund, drawing himself up to his full height, +while his eyes sparkled and a noble look transfigured his whole face, +"we are unsullied by such stains." + +"What sins have we--you and we two committed," Zazo added, "that we +must perish?" + +Again the King sighed heavily, his brow clouded, he lowered his eyes. + +"We? Do we not bear the curse which--But hush! Not a word of that! It +is the last straw of my hope that I, the King, at least wear this crown +without guilt. Were I obliged to accuse myself of that, woe betide me! +Oh--whose is this cold hand? You, Verus? You startled me." + +"He steals in noiselessly, like a serpent," Zazo muttered in his beard. + +The priest--he had retained, even as chancellor, the ecclesiastical +robe--had entered unobserved; how long before, no one knew. His eyes +were fixed intently upon Gelimer, as he slowly withdrew the hand he had +laid upon his friend's bare arm. + +"Yes, my sovereign, keep this anxiety of conscience. Guard your soul +from guilt. I know your nature; it would crush you." + +"You shall not make my brother still more gloomy," cried Zazo, +indignantly. + +"Gelimer and guilt!" exclaimed Gibamund, throwing his arm around the +King's neck. + +"He is only too conscientious, too much given to pondering," Zazo went +on. "Really, Gelimer, you, too, are no longer like Genseric's Vandals. +You are infected also; not by Roman vices, but by Roman or Greek or +Christian brooding over subtle questions. To put it more courteously: +gnosticism, theosophy, or mysticism? I know nothing about it, cannot +even think of it. How glad I am that our father did not send me to be +educated by the priests and philosophers! He soon discovered that +Zazo's hard skull was fit only for the helmet, not to carry a reed +behind the ear. But you! I always felt as though I were going into a +dungeon when I visited you in your gloomy, high-walled monastery, in +the solitude of the desert. Many, many years you dreamed away there +among the books--lost." + +"Not lost!" replied Gibamund. "He found time to become the chief hero +of his people. On him rests the hope of the Vandals." + +"On the whole House of the Asdings! We are not degenerates," answered +the King. "But can a single family--even though it is the reigning +one--stay the sinking of a whole nation? Uplift one that has fallen so +low?" + +"Hardly," said Verus, shaking his head. "For who can say of himself +that he is free from sin? And," he added slowly, suddenly raising his +eyes and fixing them full upon Gelimer, "the sins of the fathers--" + +"Stay," exclaimed the King, groaning aloud, as if in anguish. "Not that +thought now--when I must act, create, accomplish. It will paralyze me." +He pressed his hand over his eyes and brow. + +"Even at the present time," the priest continued, "sin is dominant +everywhere among the people. It cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance. +Just now I was obliged, to comfort a dying man--" + +"Even as Chancellor of the Kingdom, he does not forget the duties of +the priest," said Gelimer, turning to his brothers. + +"To go near the southern gate. Again, from that grove devoted to every +vice, there fell upon my ear the uproar, the infernal jubilee of evil +revel. Those shameless songs--" + +"What?" cried the King, wrathfully, striking the marble table with his +clinched fist. "Do they dare? Did I not order, before my departure for +Hippo, that all these games and festivals should cease? Did I not fix +yesterday as the final limit, after which the grove must be cleared and +all its houses closed? I sent three hundred lancers to see that my +commands were obeyed. What are they doing?" + +"Those who are no longer dancing and drinking are asleep, weary of +carousing, full of wine, which they drank, like all who were there. I +saw a little group snoring under the archway of the gate." + +"I will give them a terrible awakening," cried the King. "Must sin +actually devour us?" + +"That grove is beyond cure," said Zazo. + +"What the sword cannot do, the flames will," exclaimed the King, +threateningly. "I will sweep through them like the wrath of God! Up, +follow me, my brothers!" He rushed out of the room. + +"Order the hundreds of horsemen to mount, Gibamund," said Zazo, as they +crossed the threshold,--"the household troop, under faithful Markomer. +For the Vandals no longer obey the King's word unless at the same time +they see the glitter of the King's sword." + +The archdeacon, muttering softly to himself and shaking his head, +slowly followed the three Asdings. + + + + CHAPTER X + +The "lower city" of Carthage extended northward to the harbor, westward +to the suburb of Aklas, the Numidian, and eastward to the Tripolitan +suburb. Directly beyond its southern gate, covering a space more than +two leagues long and a league wide, lay the oft-mentioned "Grove of +Venus" or "Grove of the Holy Virgin." From the most ancient pagan times +this grove was the scene of the sumptuous, sensual revels which were +proverbial throughout the Roman Empire. "African" was the word used to +express the acme of such orgies. + +The whole coast of the bay in this neighborhood, kept moist by the damp +sea-air, had originally been covered with dense woods. The larger +portion had long since yielded to the growth of the city; but, by the +Emperor's order, a considerable part was retained and transformed into +a magnificent park, adorned with all the skill and the lavish +expenditure which characterized the time of the Caesars. + +The main portion of this grove consisted of date palms. These were +introduced by the Phoenicians. The palm, say the Arabs, gladly sets her +feet as queen of the desert into damp sand, but lifts her head into the +glow of the sun. It thrived magnificently here, and in centuries of +growth the slender columns of the trunks attained a height of fifty +feet; no sunbeam could penetrate vertically through the roof of +drooping leaves of those thick crowns, which rustled and nodded +dreamily in the wind, wooing, inviting to sleep, to unresisting +indolence, to drowsy thoughts. + +But they stood sufficiently far apart to allow the light and air to +enter from the sides and to permit smaller trees (dwarf palms), bushes, +and flowers to grow luxuriantly beneath the shelter of the lofty +crowns. Besides the palms, other noble trees had been first planted and +fostered by human hands, then had increased through the peerless +fertility of nature: the plane-tree, with its lustrous light bark; the +pine, the cypress, and the laurel; the olive, which loves the salt +breath of the sea; the pomegranate, so naturalized here that its fruit +was called "the Carthaginian apple"; while figs, citrus-trees, +apricots, peaches, almonds, chestnuts, pistachios, terebinths, +oleanders, and myrtles,--sometimes as large trees, sometimes as +shrubs,--formed, as it were, the undergrowth of the glorious palm +forest. + +And the skill in gardening of the Roman imperial days, which has +scarcely been equalled since, aided by irrigation from the immense +aqueducts, had created here, on the edge of the desert, marvels of +beauty. "Desert" was a misnomer; the real desert lay much farther in +the interior. First there was a thick luxuriant green turf, which, even +in the hottest days of the year, had hardly a single sunburnt patch. +The wind had borne the flower-seeds from the numerous beds, and now +everywhere amid the grass blossoms shone in the vivid, glowing hues +with which the African sun loves to paint. + +The parterres of flowers which were scattered through the entire grove +suffered, it is true, from a certain monotony. The variety that now +adorns our gardens was absent: the rose, the narcissus, the violet, and +the anemone stood almost alone; but these appeared in countless +varieties, in colors artificially produced, and were often made to +blossom before or after their regular season. + +In this world of trees, bushes, and flowers the lavishness of the +emperors (who had formerly often resided here), the munificence of the +governors, and still more the endowments of wealthy citizens of +Carthage had erected an immense number of buildings of every variety. +For centuries patriotism, a certain sense of honor, and often vanity, +boastfulness, and a desire to perpetuate a name, had induced wealthy +citizens to keep themselves in remembrance by erecting structures for +the public benefit, laying out pleasure-grounds, and putting up +monuments. This local patriotism of the former citizens, both in its +praiseworthy and its petty motives, had by no means died out. Solemn +tombs separated by very narrow spaces lined both sides of the broad +Street of Legions, which ran straight through the grove from north to +south. Besides these there were buildings of every description, and +also baths, ponds, little lakes with waterworks, marble quays, and +dainty harbors for the light pleasure-boats, circus buildings, +amphitheatres, stages, stadia for athletic sports, hippodromes, open +colonnades, temples with all their numerous and extensive outbuildings +scattered everywhere through the grounds of the whole park. + +The grove had originally been dedicated to Aphrodite (Venus), therefore +statues of this goddess and of Eros (Cupid) appeared most frequently in +the wide grounds, though Christian zeal had shattered the heads, +breasts, and noses of many such figures and broken the bow of many a +Cupid. Since the reign of Constantine, most of the pagan temples had +been converted into Christian oratories and churches, but by no means +all; and those that had been withdrawn from the service of the pagan +religion and not used for the Christian one had now for two centuries, +with their special gardens, arbors, and grottoes, been the scenes of +much vice, gambling, drunkenness, and matters even worse. The gods had +been driven out; the demons had entered. + +Among more than a hundred buildings in the grove, two near the Southern +Gate of the city were specially conspicuous: the Old Circus and the +Amphitheatre of Theodosius. + +The Old Circus had been erected in the period of the greatest +prosperity of Carthage, the whole spacious structure, with its eighty +thousand seats, was planned to accommodate its great population. Now +most of the rows stood empty; many of the Roman families, since the +Vandal conquest, had moved away, been driven forth, exiled. The rich +bronze ornaments of numerous single seats, rows, and boxes had been +broken off. This was done not by the Vandals, who did not concern +themselves about such trifles, but by the Roman inhabitants of the city +and by the neighboring peasants; they even wrenched off and carried +away the marble blocks from the buildings in the grove. The granite +lower story, a double row of arches, supported the rows of marble +seats, which rose from within like an amphitheatre. Outside, the Circus +was surrounded by numerous entrances and outside staircases, besides +niches occupied as shops, especially workshops, cookshops, taverns, and +fruit booths. Here, by night and day, many evil-minded people were +always lounging; from the larger ones, hidden by curtains from the eyes +of the passing throng, cymbals and drums clashed, in token that, +within, Syrian and Egyptian girls were performing their voluptuous +dances for a few copper coins. South of the Circus was a large lake, +fed with sea-water from the "Stagnum," whose whole contents could be +turned into the amphitheatre directly adjoining it. + + + + CHAPTER XI + +The sultry heat of an African summer day still brooded over the whole +grove, although the sun had long since sunk into the sea, and the brief +twilight had passed into the darkness of night. But the full moon was +already rising above the palm-trees, pouring her magical light over +trees, bushes, meadows, and water; over the marble statues which +gleamed fantastically out of the darkest, blackish-green masses of +shrubbery; and over the buildings, which were principally of white or +light-colored stone. + +In the more distant portions of the grove Diana's soft silvery light +ruled alone, and here deep, chaste silence reigned, interrupted only +here and there by the note of some night bird. But near the gate, in +the two great main buildings, and on the turf and in the gardens +surrounding them, the noisy uproar of many thousands filled the air. +All the instruments known at the time were playing discordantly, +drowning one another. Cries of pleasure, drunkenness, even rage and +angry conflict, were heard in the Roman, the Greek, the Moorish, and +especially the Vandal tongue; for perhaps the largest and certainly the +noisiest "guests of the grove," as the companions in these pleasures +called themselves, belonged to the race of conquerors, who here gave +vent to all their longing and capacity for pleasure. + +Two men, wearing the German costume, were walking down the broad street +to the Circus. The dress was conspicuous here, for nearly all the +Vandals, except the royal family, had either exchanged the German garb, +nay, even the German weapons, for Roman ones, or for convenience, +effeminacy, love of finery, adopted one or another article of Roman +attire. These two men, however, had German cloaks, helmets, and +weapons. + +"What frantic shouts! What pushing and crowding!" said the elder, a man +of middle height, whose shrewd, keen eyes were closely scanning +everything that was passing around him. + +"And it is not the Romans who shout and roar most wildly and +frenziedly, but our own dear cousins," replied the other. + +"Was I not right, friend Theudigesel? Here, among the people +themselves, we shall learn more, obtain better information, in a single +night, than if we exchanged letters with this book-learned King for +many months." + +"What we see here with our own eyes is almost incredible!" + +Just at that moment loud cries reached their ears from the gate behind +them. Two negroes, naked except for an apron of peacock feathers about +their loins, were swinging gold staves around their woolly heads, +evidently trying to force a passage for a train behind them. + +"Make way," they shouted constantly; "make way for the noble, +Modigesel." + +But they could not succeed in breaking through the crowd; their calls +only attracted more curious spectators. So the eight Moors behind, who +were clad, or rather _un_clad, in the same way, were compelled to set +down their swaying burden, a richly gilded, half open litter. Its back +was made of narrow purple cushions, framed and supported by ivory rods; +white ostrich feathers and the red plumage of the flamingo nodded from +the knobs of the ivory. + +"Ho, my friend,"--the younger man addressed the occupant of the litter, +a fair-haired Vandal about twenty-seven years old in a gleaming silk +robe, richly ornamented with gold and gems,--"are the nights here +always so gay?" + +The noble was evidently surprised that any one should presume to accost +him so unceremoniously. Listlessly opening a pair of sleepy eyes, he +turned to his companion; for beside him now appeared a young woman, +marvellously beautiful, though almost too fully developed, in a +splendid robe, but overloaded with ornament. Her fair skin seemed to +gleam with a dull yellow lustre; the expression of the perfect +features, as regular as though carved by rule, yet rigid as those of +the Sphinx, had absolutely no trace of mind or soul, only somewhat +indolent but not yet sated sensuousness: she resembled a marvellously +beautiful but very dangerous animal. So her charms exerted a power that +was bewildering, oppressive, rather than winning. The Juno-like figure +was not ornamented, but rather hung and laden, with gold chains, +circlets, rings, and disks. + +"O-oh-a-ah! I say, Astarte!" lisped her companion, in an affected +whisper. He had heard from a Graeco-Roman dandy in Constantinople that +it was fashionable to speak too low to be understood. "Scarecrows, +those two fellows, eh?" And, sighing over the exertion, he pushed up +the thick chaplet of roses which had slipped down over his eyes. "Like +the description of Genseric and his graybeards! Just see--ah--one has a +wolfskin for a cloak. The other is carrying--in the Grove of Venus--a +huge spear!--You ought to show yourselves--over yonder--in the +Circus--for money, monsters!" + +The younger stranger drew his sword wrathfully. "If you knew to whom +you were--" + +But the older man motioned him to keep silence. + +"You must have come a long distance, if you ask such questions," the +Vandal went on, evidently amused by the appearance of the foreigners. +"It is the same always in this grove of the goddess of love. Only +possibly it may be a trifle gayer to-night. The richest nobleman in +Carthage celebrates his wedding. And he has invited the whole city." + +The beauty at his side raised herself a little. "Why do you waste time +in talking to these rustics? Look, the lake is already shining with red +light. The gondola procession is beginning. I want to see handsome +Thrasaric." + +And--at this name--the inanimate features brightened, the large, dark, +impenetrable eyes darted an eager, searching glance into the distance, +then the long lashes fell. She leaned her head back on the purple +cushions; the black hair was piled up more than two hands high and +clasped by five gold circlets united by light silver chains, yet the +magnificent locks, thick as they were, were so stiff and coarse in +texture that they resembled the hair of a horse's mane. + +"Can't you content yourself for the present, Astarte, with the less +handsome Modigisel?" shouted her companion, with a strength of voice +that proved the affectation of his former lisping whisper. "You are +growing too bold since your manumission." And he nudged her in the side +with his elbow. It was probably meant for an expression of tenderness. +But the Carthaginian slightly curled her upper lip, revealing only her +little white incisors. It was merely a light tremor, but it recalled +the huge cats of her native land, especially when at the same time, +like an angry tiger, she shut her eyes and threw back her splendid +round head a little, as if silently vowing future vengeance. + +Modigisel had not noticed it. + +"I will obey, divine mistress," he now lisped again in the most +affected tone. "Forward!" Then as the poor blacks--he had adopted the +fashionable tone so completely--really did not hear him at all, he now +roared like a bear: "Forward, you dogs, I tell you!" striking, with a +strength no one would have expected from the rose-garlanded dandy, the +nearest slave a blow on the back which felled him to the ground. The +man rose again without a sound, and with the seven others grasped the +heavily gilded poles; the litter soon vanished in the throng. + +"Did you see _her_?" asked the wearer of the wolf-skin. + +"Yes. She is like a black panther, or like this country: beautiful, +passionate, treacherous, and deadly. Come, Theudigisel! Let us go to +the lake too. Most of the Vandals are gathering there. We shall have an +opportunity to know them thoroughly. Here is a shorter foot-path, +leading across the turf." + +"Stay! don't stumble, my lord! What is lying there directly across the +way?" + +"A soldier--in full armor--a Vandal!" + +"And sound asleep in the midst of all this uproar." + +"He must be very drunk." + +The older man pushed the prostrate figure with the handle of his spear. + +"Who are you, fellow?" + +"I?--I?" The startled warrior propped himself on one elbow; he was +evidently trying to think. "I believe I am--Gunthamund, son of +Guntharic." + +"What are you doing here?" + +"You see. I am on guard. What are you laughing at? I am on guard to +prevent any carousing in the grove. Where are the others? Have you no +wine? I am horribly thirsty." And he sank back in the tall soft grass. + +"So these are the guards of the Vandals! Do you still counsel, my brave +duke, as you advised,--beyond the sea?" + +The other, shaking his head, followed silently. Both vanished in the +throng of people who were now pressing from every direction toward the +lake. + + + + CHAPTER XII + +ON the southern shore of this tree-girdled water, opposite to the +little harbor, walled with marble, into which it ran at the northern +end, were high board platforms hung with gay costly stuffs, erected for +specially distinguished guests, who were numbered by hundreds; a +balcony draped with purple silk, extending far out into the sea, was +reserved for the most aristocratic spectators. + +Now the soft moonlight resting on the mirrorlike surface of the lake +was suddenly outshone by a broad red glare, which lasted for several +minutes. As it died away, a blue, then a green light blazed up, +brilliantly illuminating the groups of spectators on the shore, the +white marble buildings in the distance, the statues among the +shrubbery, and especially the surface of the lake itself and the +magnificent spectacle it presented. + +From the harbor, behind whose walls it had hitherto remained concealed, +glided a whole flotilla of boats, skiffs, vessels of every description: +ten, twenty, forty vessels, fantastically shaped, sometimes as +dolphins, sometimes as sharks, gigantic water birds, often as dragons, +the "banner-beast" of the Vandals. Masts, yards, sails, the lofty +pointed prow, as well as the broad stern, nay, even the upper part of +the oar handles, were wreathed, garlanded, twined with flowers, gay, +broad ribbons, even gold and silver fringes; magnificent rugs covered +the whole deck, which had been finished with costly woodwork; some of +them hung in the water at the stern and floated far, far behind the +ships. + +On the deck of every vessel, at the mast or at the stern, picturesquely +posed on several steps Vandal men and youths. They were dressed in +striking costumes, often copied from various nations, and beside them +reclined young girls or beautiful boys. The fair or red locks of the +Vandals fell on the neck of many a brown-skinned maid, and mingled with +many black tresses. + +Music echoed from every ship; busy slaves--white, yellow Moors, +negroes--poured out unmixed wine from beautifully formed jars with +handles. No matter how the vessels rocked, they bore the jars on their +heads without spilling the contents, and apparently with no great +exertion, often holding them with only one hand. So the dark fleet +glided over the redly illumined lake. + +But suddenly the centre opened and out shot, apparently moving without +oars,--the slaves were concealed under the deck,--the great wedding +ship, far outshining all the others in fantastic, lavish splendor. It +was drawn seemingly only by eight powerful swans, fastened in pairs +with small gold chains attached to collars. These chains passed under +the wings of each pair, uniting them to the next. The magnificent +birds, which had been carefully trained for this purpose, heeded not +the uproar and light around them, but moved in calm majesty straight +toward the balcony at the southern end. + +On the deck, piled a foot high with crimson roses, an open arbor of +natural vines had been arranged around the mast. In it lay the +bridegroom, a giant nearly seven feet tall, his shining mane of red +locks garlanded with vine leaves and--in violation of good taste--red +roses. A panther-skin was around the upper portion of his body, a +purple apron about his loins, a thyrsus staff in his huge but loosely +hanging right hand. Nestling to his broad, powerful breast reclined an +extremely delicate, fragile girl, scarcely beyond childhood, almost too +dainty of form. Her face could not be seen; the Roman bridal veil had +been fastened on the deserted Ariadne--very unsuitably. Besides, the +child seemed frightened by all the uproar, timidly hiding her face +under the panther-skin and on the giant's breast; true, she often with +a swift, upward glance tried to meet his eyes; but he did not see it. + +A nude boy about twelve years old, with golden wings on his shoulders, +a bow and quiver fastened by a gold band across his back, was +constantly filling an enormous goblet for the bridegroom, who seemed to +think that his costume required him to drain it at once,--which +diverted his attention more than was desirable from his bride. On a +couch, somewhat above the bridal pair, a very beautiful girl about +eighteen lay in a picturesque attitude. Her noble head, with its golden +hair simply arranged in a Grecian knot, rested on the palm of her left +hand. Her Hellenic outlines and Hellenic statuesque repose rendered her +infinitely more noble and aristocratic than the Carthaginian Astarte. +Two tame doves perched on her right shoulder; she wore a robe of white +Coan gauze, which fell below the knee, but seemed intended to adorn +rather than to conceal her charms. The thin silken web was held around +the hips by an exquisitely wrought golden girdle half a foot wide, from +which hung a purple Ph[oe]nician apron weighted with gold tassels; on +her gold sandals were fastened "sea waves" made of stiff gray and white +silk, which extended to the delicate ankles of the "Foam-born," and at +the right and left of each one, the gleam of two large pearls was +visible at a great distance. + +As the ship, drawn by the swans, now came into full view of all the +many thousands, the dazzling sight was greeted with deafening shouts. +As soon as the vessel emerged from the dim light into the radiant +glare, the Aphrodite hastily, desperately, tried to conceal herself; +finding a large piece of coarse sail-cloth lying near, she wrapped it +around her figure. + +"How barbaric the whole thing is!" whispered, but very cautiously, one +Roman to another in the harsh throat tones of the African vulgar Latin, +as they stood together under the staging on the opposite side of the +harbor. + +"I suppose that is intended to represent Bacchus, neighbor Laurus?" + +"And Ariadne." + +"I like the Aphrodite." + +"Yes, I believe you, friend Victor. It is the beautiful Ionian, Glauke. +She was stolen from Miletus a short time ago by pirates. She is said to +be the child of prosperous parents. She was sold in the harbor forum to +Thrasabad, the bridegroom's brother. They say she cost as much as two +country estates!" + +"She is gazing very mournfully, under her drooping lashes, into the +lake." + +"Yet her buyer and master is said to treat her with the utmost +consideration, and fairly worships her." + +"I can easily believe it. She is wonderfully beautiful,--solemnly +beautiful, I might say." + +"But imagine this bear from Thule, this buffalo from the land of +Scythia, a Dionysus!" + + +"With those elephant bones!" + +"With that fiery-red beard, two spans wide!" + +"He probably wouldn't have that and the shaggy fleece on his head cut +off, if thereby he could become a god in reality." + +"Yes, a Vandal noble! They think themselves greater than gods or +saints." + +"Yet they were only cattle-thieves and land and sea robbers." + +"Just look, he has buckled his broad German sword-belt over the vine +drapery about his loins." + +"Perhaps for the sake of propriety," cried the other, laughing; "and +actually, Dionysus is wearing a Vandal short-sword." + +"The Barbarian seems to be ashamed of being a naked god." + +"Then he has not yet lost _all_ shame!" exclaimed a man who had also +understood the cautious whisper, striding rapidly on. "Come, +Theudigisel!" + +"Did you understand that? It was the man with the spear. It did not +sound like the Vandal tongue." + +"Yes, exactly like it. That's the way they speak in Spain! I heard it +in Hispalis." + +"Hark, what a roaring on the ships!" + +"That must be a hymenaeus, Victor! The bridegroom's brother composed it. +The Barbarians now write Latin and Greek verses. But they are of their +stamp." + +"Yes, listen, Lauras," cried the other, laughing; "you are prejudiced, +as a rival! Since you failed in your leather business, you have lived +by writing, O friend! Weddings, baptisms, funerals, it was all the same +to you. You have even sung the praises of the Vandal victories over the +Moors, and--the Lord have mercy on us!--'the brave sword of King +Hilderic.' Yes, you wrote for the Barbarians even more willingly and +frequently than for us Romans." + +"Of course. The Barbarians know less, require less, and pay better. For +the same reason, friend Victor, you too must wish, for the sake of your +wine-shop, that the Vandals may remain rulers of Carthage." + +"How so?" + +"Why, the Barbarians know as little about good wine as they do about +good verses." + +"Only half hit. They probably have a tolerably fair judgment of it. But +they are always so thirsty that they will enjoy and pay for sour wine +too--like your sour verses. Woe betide us when we no longer have the +stupid Barbarians for customers! We should be obliged, in our old age, +to furnish better wine and better poetry." + +"The ships will soon be here! We can see everything distinctly now. +Look at the bridegroom's enormous goblet; the little Cupid can scarcely +hold it; it seems familiar to me." + +"Why, of course. That's surely the immense shell from the Fountain of +Neptune in the Forum,--larger than a child's head!" + +"Yes, it has been missing for several days. Oh, the Germans would drain +the ocean if it were full of wine." + +"And just see the hundred weight of gold which they have hung on poor +Aphrodite." + +"All stolen, plundered Roman property. She can hardly move under the +weight of her jewels." + +"Modesty, Victor, modesty! She has not much clothing except her +jewels." + +"It's not the poor girl's fault apparently. That insolent Cupid just +snatched off the sailcloth and flung it into the sea. See how confused +she is, how she tries to find some drapery. She is beseeching the +bride, pointing to the large white silk coverlet at her feet." + +"Little Ariadne is nodding; she has picked it up; now she is throwing +it over Aphrodite's shoulders. How grateful she looks!" + +"They are landing. I pity the poor bride. Disgrace and shame! She is +the child of a freeborn Roman citizen, though of Greek origin. And the +father--" + +"Where is Eugenes? I do not see him on the bridal ship." + +"He is probably ashamed to show himself at the sacrifice of his child. +He went to Utica with his Sicilian guest on business long before the +marriage, and after his return he will go with the Syracusan to Sicily. +It is really like the ancient sacrifice of the maidens which the +Athenians were obliged to offer to the Minotaur. He gives up Eugenia, +the daintiest jewel of Carthage." + +"But they say she wanted to marry him; she loved the red giant. And he +is not ugly; he is really handsome." + +"He is a Barbarian. Curses on the Bar--oh, pardon me, my most gracious +lord! May Saint Cyprian grant you a long life!" + +He had hastily thrown himself on his knees before a half-drunken +Vandal, who had nearly fallen over him, and without heeding the Roman's +existence had already forced his way far to the front. + +"Why, Laurus! The Barbarian surely ran against you, not you against +him?" said Victor, helping his countryman to his feet again. + +"No matter! Our masters are quick to lay their hands on the +short-sword! May Orcus swallow the whole brood!" + + + + CHAPTER XIII + +Meanwhile the ships had reached the shore: they were moored in a broad +front, side by side, greeted with a loud burst of music from pipes and +drums in the balcony. Instantly all flung from their lofty prows +step-ladders, covered with rich rugs. Slaves scattered flowers +over the stairs, down which the bridal pair and their guests now +descended to the land, while, at the same moment, by similar steps the +spectators descended from the platforms. The two groups now formed +in a festal procession upon the shore, A handsome though somewhat +effeminate-looking young Vandal, with a winged hat on his fair locks +and winged shoes on his feet, hurried constantly to and fro, waving an +ivory staff twined with golden serpents. He seemed to be the manager of +the entertainment. + +"Who is that?" asked Victor. "Probably the master of the beautiful +Aphrodite. He is nodding; and she smiles at him." + +"Yes, that is Thrasabad," cried Laurus, angrily, clinching his fist, +yet lowering his voice timidly. "May Saint Cyprian send scorpions into +his bed! A Vandal writer! He is spoiling my trade. And I am the pupil +of the great Luxorius." + +"Pupil? I think you were--" + +"His slave, then freedman. I have covered whole ass's skins with copies +of his verses." + +"But not as his pupil?" + +"You don't understand. The whole art of composition consists of a dozen +little tricks, which are best learned by copying, because they are +constantly recurring. And this Barbarian composes gratis! Of course he +must be glad to have any one listen to him." + +"He is leading the procession--as Mercury." + +"Oh, the character just suits him. He understands how to steal. Only in +doing so they kill the owners. 'Feud' is what these noble Germans call +it." + +"Look! he has given the signal; they are going to the Circus. Up! Let +us follow." + +Mercury held out his hand to Aphrodite to help her to land. + +"Do I have you again?" he whispered tenderly. "I have missed you two +long hours, fair one. Dearest, I love you fervently." + +The girl smiled charmingly, raising her beautiful eyes to his with a +grateful, even tender expression. + +"That is the only reason I still live," she murmured, instantly +lowering her long lashes sorrowfully. + +"But so completely muffled, my Aphrodite?" + +"I am not your Aphrodite; I am your Glauke." + +Hand in hand with her, Thrasabad now led the procession, which, not +without occasional pauses, forced its way through the staring +multitude. + +As soon as the Circus was reached, numerous slaves showed the guests to +seats, assigned according to their rank or the regard in which they +were held by the giver of the entertainment. The best were in the front +row, originally intended for the Senators of Carthage; the structure on +the southern side, the pulvinar, the imperial box which had been +occupied by many a predecessor of Gelimer, remained empty. On the +northern side, not directly opposite to the pulvinar, but considerably +nearer the eastern end, the "Porta Pompae," there were projecting boxes +for the bridegroom, his most intimate friends, and his most +distinguished guests. Through this gate, in the midst of the stalls +and sheds for the horses and chariots,--the "oppidum" and the +"carceres,"--the circensian procession passed before the beginning of +the races. From this gate the course ran westward in a semi-circle. The +victors made their exit through the "Porta Triumphalis." Extending the +entire length from east to west, the "spina," a low wall richly adorned +with small columns, dark-green marble obelisks, and numerous statuettes +of victors in former races, divided the course into two parts like a +barrier. At the eastern and western ends a goal "Meta" was erected, the +former called the "Meta prima," the latter the "Meta secunda." The +chariots drove into the arena from the southern and northern ends of +the stables, through two gates in the east. Lastly, on the southern +side, midway between the stables and the imperial box, partly concealed +from view, was the sorrowful gate, the "Porta Libitinensis," through +which the killed and wounded charioteers were borne out. The length of +the course was about one hundred and ninety paces, the width one +hundred and forty. + +After the bustle had subsided, and the guests were all in their seats. +Mercury appeared in the principal box, which contained about twelve men +and women, among them Modigisel and his beautiful companion. He bowed +gracefully before the bridal pair, and began,-- + +"Allow me, divine brother, son of Semele--" + +"Listen, my little man," interrupted the bridegroom. (Mercury measured +a few inches less than Bacchus, but was considerably over six feet +tall.) "I believe you have had too much wine, and especially the dark +red, which I drank from the 'Ocean'; in short, you share my +intoxication. Our brave father's name was Thrasamer, not Semele." The +poetic Vandal, with a superior smile, exchanged glances with Aphrodite, +who was also in the box, and continued,-- + +"Allow me, before the games begin, to read my epithalamium--" + +"No, no, brother," interrupted the giant, hastily. "Better, far better +not! The verses are--" + +"Perhaps not smooth enough? What do you know about hiatus, and--" + +"Nothing at all! But the sense--so far as I understood it--you were +good enough to read it aloud to me three times--" + +"Five times to me," said Aphrodite, softly, with a charming smile. "I +entreated him to burn the verses. They are neither beautiful nor good. +So what is their use?" + +"The meaning is so exaggerated," Thrasaric went on; "well, we may say +shameless." + +"They follow the best Roman models," said the poet, resentfully. + +"Very probably. Perhaps that is the reason I was ashamed when I +listened to them alone; I should not like, in the presence of these +ladies--" + +A shrill laugh reached his ears. + +"You are laughing, Astarte?" + +"Yes, handsome Thrasaric, I am laughing! You Germans are incorrigible +shamefaced boys, with the limbs of giants." + +The bride raised her eyes beseechingly to him. He did not see it. + +"Shamefaced? I have seemed to myself very shameless. My part as a +half-nude god is most distasteful to me. I shall be glad, Eugenia, when +all this uproar is over." + +She pressed his hand gratefully, whispering, "And to-morrow you will go +with me to Hilda, won't you? She wished to congratulate me on the first +day of my happiness." + +"Certainly! And _her_ congratulations will bring you happiness. She is +the most glorious of women. She, her marriage with Gibamund, first +taught me to believe once more in women, love, and the happiness of +wedded life. It was she who--What do you want, little man? Oh, the +games! The guests! I was forgetting everything. Go on! Give the signal! +They must begin below." + +Mercury stepped forward to the white marble railing of the box and +waved his serpent wand twice in the air. The two gates at the right and +left of the stables swung open: from the former a man, clad in blue, +carrying a tuba, entered the arena; from the latter one dressed +entirely in green; and two loud blasts announced the entrance of the +circensian procession. In the brief pause before the appearance of the +chariots Modigisel plucked the bridegroom lightly by his panther-skin. + +"Listen," he whispered, "my Astarte is fairly devouring you with her +eyes. I believe she likes you far better than she does me. I suppose I +ought to kill her, out of jealousy. But--ugh!--it's too hot for either +jealousy or beating." + +"I believe she is no longer your slave," replied Thrasaric. + +"I freed her, but retained the obligation of obedience, the obsequium. +Pshaw! I would kill her for that very reason, if it weren't so hot. But +how would it do if we--I am tired of her, and I've taken a fancy to +your slender little Eugenia, perhaps on account of the contrast--how +would it do if we should--exchange?" + +Thrasaric had no time to answer. The tuba blared again, and the +chariots entered in a stately procession. Five of the Blues rolled +slowly in from the right gate, five of the Greens from the left; the +chariots themselves, the reins and trappings of the horses, and the +tunics of the charioteers were respectively leek-green and light-blue. +The first three chariots of each party were drawn by four horses, the +usual number; but when the fourth appeared with five, and the last on +both sides actually had seven steeds, loud shouts of surprise and +approval rang from the upper seats, to which, though many better ones +stood empty, the Vandal directors had sent the middle and lower classes +of the Roman citizens. + +"Just look, Victor," Laurus whispered to his neighbor. "Those are the +colors of the two parties in Constantinople." + +"Certainly. The Barbarians imitate everything." + +"But like apes playing the flute!" + +"No one should attend the Circus except in a toga." + +"As we do," said Victor, complacently. "But these people!--some in +coats of mail, the majority in garments as thin as spider-webs." + +"Of course they will never be true residents of the south; only +degenerate northern Barbarians." + +"But just look: the magnificence, the lavishness. The wheels, the very +fellies, are silvered and then twined with blue or green ribbons." + +"And the bodies of the chariots! They glisten like sapphires and +emeralds." + +"Where did Thrasaric get all this treasure?" + +"Stolen, friend, stolen from us all. I've often told you so. But not he +himself; this generation has grown almost too lazy even for stealing +and robbing. It was his father Thrasamer and especially his +grandfather, Thrasafred. He was Genseric's right hand. And what that +means in pillaging as well as fighting cannot be imagined." + +"Magnificent horses, the five reddish-brown ones! They are not +African." + +"Yes, but of the Spanish stock, reared in Cyrene. They are the best." + +"Yes, if there is a strain of Moorish blood. You know, like the Moorish +chief Cabaon's famous stallion. A Vandal is said to have him now." + +"Impossible! No Moor sells such a horse." + +"The procession is over; they are moving side by side, to the white +rope. Now!" + +"No, not yet. See, each Green and Blue is approaching the hermulae on +the right and left, to which the rope is fastened. Hark! What is +Mercury shouting?" + +"The prizes for the victors. Just listen: fifteen thousand sestertii, +the second prize for the team of four; twenty-five thousand the first; +forty thousand for the victorious five-span; and sixty thousand--that's +unprecedented--for the seven." + +"Look, how the seven horses harnessed to the green chariot are pawing +the sand! That is Hercules, the charioteer. He has five medals +already." + +"But see! His opponent is the Moor Chalches. He wears seven medals. +Look, he is throwing down his whip; he is challenging Hercules to drive +without one, too. But he will not dare." + +"Yes; he is tossing the whip on the sand. I'll bet on Hercules! I side +with the Greens!" shouted Victor, excitedly. + +"And I with the Blues. It ought--but stop! We--Roman citizens--betting +on the games of our tyrants?" + +"Oh, nonsense! you have no courage! Or no money!" + +"More than you--of both! How much? Ten sestertii?" + +"Twelve!" + +"For aught I care. Done!" + +"Look, the rope has fallen!" + +"Now they are rushing forward!" + +"Bravo, Green, at the first meta already--and nearest--past." + +"On, Chalches! There, Blue! Forward! Hi! at the second meta Chalches +was nearest." + +"Faster, Hercules! Faster, you lazy snail! Keep more to the right--the +right! or--O, Heaven!" + +"Yes, Saint Cyprian! Triumph! There lies the proud Green! Flat on his +belly, like a crushed frog! Triumph! The Blue is at the goal. Pay up, +friend! Where is my money?" + +"That isn't fair. I won't pay. The Blue intentionally struck the horse +on the left with his pole. That's cheating!" + +"What? Do you insult my color? And won't pay either?" + +"Not a pebble." + +"Indeed? Well, you rascal, I'll pay _you_." + +A blow fell; it sounded like a slap on a fat cheek. + +"Keep quiet up there, you dwellers in the clouds," shouted Mercury. "It +is nothing, fair bride, except two Roman citizens cuffing each other. +Friend Wandalar, go; turn them out. Both! There! Now on with the games. +Carry the Green out through the Libitinensis. Is he dead? Yes. Go on. +The prizes will be awarded at the end. We are in a hurry. If the King +should return from Hippo before the time he named--woe betide us!" + + + + CHAPTER XIV + +"Pshaw!" said Modigisel's neighbor, a bold-looking, elderly nobleman +with a haughty, aristocratic bearing. "We need not fear. We Gundings +are of scarcely less ancient nobility. I do not bow my head to the +Asdings. Least of all before this dissembler." + +"You are right, Gundomar!" assented a younger man. "Let us defy the +tyrant." + +The giant Thrasaric turned his head and said very slowly but very +impressively: "Listen, Gundomar and Gundobad; you are my guests but +speak ill of Gelimer, and you will fare like those two Romans. So much +wine has gone to my head; but nothing shall be said against Gelimer. I +will not allow it. He, so full of kindness, a tyrant! What does that +mean?" + +"It means a usurper." + +"How can you say that? He is the oldest Asding." + +"After King Hilderic! And was he justly imprisoned and deposed?" asked +Gundomar, doubtfully. + +"Was not the whole affair a clever invention?" added Gundobad. + +"Not by Gelimer! You do not mean to say that?" cried Thrasaric, +threateningly. + +"No! But perhaps by Verus." + +"Yes; all sorts of rumors are afloat. There is said to have been a +letter of warning." + +"No matter. If your saintly devotee should discover this festival--" + +"Then woe betide us! He would deal with you as--" + +"He did at the time you wanted to wed your little bride without the aid +of the priest," cried Modigisel, laughing. + +"I shall be grateful to him all my life for having struck me down then! +Eugenias are not to be stolen; we must woo them gently." Nodding to the +young girl, he covered her little head and veil with his huge right +hand and pressed it tenderly to his broad breast; a radiant glance from +the large dark antelope eyes thanked him. + +But Modigisel had also discovered the charm which such an expression +bestowed upon the innocent, childlike features; his gaze rested +admiringly upon Eugenia. The latter raised herself and whispered in her +lover's ear. + +"Gladly, my violet, my little bird," replied Thrasaric. "If you have +promised, you must keep your word. Go with her to the entrance, +brother. To keep one's promise is more necessary than to breathe." + +The bride, attended by a group of her friends, was led by Thrasabad +through one of the numerous cross passages out of the Circus. + +"Where is she going?" asked Modigisel, following her with ardent eyes. + +"To the Catholic chapel close by, which they have made in the little +temple of Vesta. She promised her father to pray there before midnight; +she was forced to resign the blessing of her church at her marriage +with a heretic." The bride's graceful figure now vanished through the +vaulted doorway. + +Modigisel began again: "Let me have your little maid, and take my big +sweetheart; you will make almost a hundred pounds by the bargain. True, +in this climate, one ought to choose a slender sweetheart. Is she a +free Roman? Then I, too, will _marry_ her. I won't stop for that." + +"Keep your plump happiness, and leave me my slender one. I have by no +means drunk enough from the ocean to make that exchange." + +Suddenly Astarte said loudly, "She's nothing but skin and bones!" Both +men started; had she understood their low whispers? Again the full lips +curled slightly, revealing her sharp eye-teeth. + +"And eyes! those eyes!" replied Modigisel. + +"Yes, bigger than her whole face. She looks like a chicken just out of +the shell!" sneered Astarte. "What is there so remarkable about her?" +The beauty's round eyes glittered with a sinister light. + +"A soul, Carthaginian," replied the bridegroom. + +"Women have no souls," retorted Astarte, gazing calmly at him. "So one +of the Fathers of the Church taught--or a philosopher. Some, instead of +the soul, have water, like that pygmy. Others have fire." She paused, +her breath coming quickly and heavily. Astarte was indeed beautiful at +that moment, diabolically, bewitchingly beautiful; the exquisitely +moulded, sphinxlike countenance was glowing with life. + +"Fire," replied Thrasaric, averting his eyes from her ardent +gaze,--"fire belongs to hell." + +Astarte made no answer. + +"Eugenia is so beautiful because she is so chaste and pure," sighed +Glauke, who had heard a part of the conversation. Gazing sorrowfully +after the bride, she lowered her long lashes. + +"No wonder that you hold her so firmly," Modigisel now said aloud in a +jeering tone. "After your attempt to abduct her failed, you besought +the old grain-usurer to give you the dainty doll as honorably as any +Roman fuller or baker ever wooed the daughter of his neighbor, the +cobbler." + +"Yes," assented Gundomar; "but he has celebrated the wedding with as +much splendor as though he were wedding the daughter of an emperor." + +"The splendor of the wedding is more to him than the bride," cried +Gundobad, laughing. + +"Certainly not," said Thrasaric, slowly. "But one thing is true: since +I have known that she is--that she will be mine--the frantic longing +for her--yet no--that is not true either, I love her fondly. I suppose +it is the wine! The heat! And so much wine!" + +"Nothing but wine can help wine," laughed Modigisel. "Here, slaves, +bring Bacchus a second Oceanus." + +Thrasaric instantly took a deep draught from the goblet. + +"Well?" whispered Modigisel. "I will give you for make-weight to +Astarte my whole fishpond full of muraense, besides the royal villa at +Grasse, for--" + +"I am no glutton," replied Thrasaric, indignantly. + +"I will add my villa in Decimum; true, I bequeathed it to Astarte; but +she will consent. Won't you?" + +Astarte nodded silently. Her nostrils were quivering. + +Thrasaric shook his shaggy head. + +"I have more villas than I can occupy. Hark, the blast of a tuba. The +races ought to begin. Here, little brother! He has gone. Horses, wine, +and dice are the three greatest pleasures. I would give the salvation +of my soul for the best horse in the world. But--" he took another +draught, of wine--"the best horse! It has escaped me. Through my own +folly! I would give ten Eugenias in exchange." + +Astarte laid an ice-cold finger on Modigisel's bare arm; he looked up; +she whispered something, and he nodded in pleased astonishment. + +"The best horse? What is its name? And how did it escape you?" + +"It is called--the Moorish name cannot be pronounced; it is all _ch_! +We called it Styx. It is a three-year-old black stallion of Spanish +breed, with a Moorish strain, reared in Cyrene. A short time ago, when +the valiant king so eagerly began his preparations for war, the Moors +were informed that we nobles needed fine horses. Among many others, +Sersaon, the grandson of the old chief Cabaon, came to Carthage; he +brought of all the good horses the very best." + +"Yes! we know them!" the Vandals assented. + +"But among the very best the pearl was Styx, the black stallion! I +cannot describe him, or I should weep for rage that he escaped me. The +Moor who rode him, scarcely more than a boy, said that he was not for +sale. As I eagerly urged him, he asked, grinning in mockery, an +impossible price, which no one in his sober senses would pay,--an +unreasonable number of pounds of gold; I have forgotten how many. I +laughed in his face. Then I looked again at the magnificent animal, and +ordered the slave to bring the money. I placed the leather bag at once +in the Moor's hand; it was in the open courtyard of my house on the +Forum of Constantine. Many other horses were standing there, and +several of our mounted lancers were in the saddle, inspecting them as +they were led up. Then, after I had closed the bargain, I said to my +brother with a sigh: 'It's a pity to pay so much money. The animal is +hardly worth it.' 'It is worth more, and you shall see!' cried the +insolent Moor, as he leaped on the horse and dashed out of the gate of +the courtyard. But he still held the purse in his hand." + +"That was too much!" said Modigisel. + +"The insolence enraged us all. We followed at once,--at least twenty +men,--our best horses and riders, some on the splendid Moorish steeds +we had just purchased. At the corner of the street he was so near that +Thrasabad hurled his spear at him, but in vain! Though at our cries +people flocked from all the cross streets to stop him in the main one, +there was no checking him. The guards at the southern gate heard the +uproar; they sprang to close the doors, were in the act of shutting +them, but the superb creature darted through like an arrow. We pursued +for half an hour; by that time he had gained so much on us that we +could just see him in the distance like an ostrich disappearing in the +sands of the desert. + +"Enraged, loudly berating the faithless Moor, we rode slowly home on +our exhausted steeds. When we reached the house, there in my courtyard +stood the Moor, leaning against the black horse; he had ridden in again +at the western gate. Throwing the gold at my feet, he said: 'Now do you +know the value of this noble animal? Keep your gold! I will not sell +him.' He rode slowly and proudly away. So I lost Styx, the best horse +in the world. Ha, is this a delusion? Or is it the heavy wine? Down +below--in the arena--beside the other racers--" + +"Stands Styx," said Astarte, quietly. + +"To whom does the treasure belong?" shrieked Thrasaric, frantically. + +"To me," replied Modigisel. + +"Did you buy him?" + +"No. In the last foray the animal was captured with some camels and +several other horses." + +"But not by you?" roared Thrasaric. "You were at home as usual, in +Astarte's broad shadow." + +"But I sent thirty mercenaries in my place; they captured the animal, +tied in the Moorish camp; and what the mercenary captures--" + +"Is his employer's property," said Thrasabad, who had entered the box +again. + +"So--this wonder--belongs to--you?" exclaimed Thrasaric, wild with +envy. + +"Yes, and to you as soon as you wish." + +Thrasaric emptied a huge goblet of wine. + +"No, no," he said; "at least not so--not by my will. She is a free +woman, no slave, whom I could give away, even if I should ever desire +it." + +"Only resign your right to her. It will be easy--for money--to find a +reason for annulling the marriage." + +"She is a Catholic, he an Arian," whispered Astarte. + +"Of course! That will do! And then merely let me--Gelimer cannot always +strike down her abductor." + +"No! Silence! Not so! But--we might throw dice! Then the dice, chance, +would have decided--not I! Oh, I can, I can--think no longer! If I +throw higher, each shall keep what he has; if I throw lower, I +will--no, no! I will not! Let me sleep!" And overcome by the wine, in +spite of the uproar around him, he dropped his huge rose-garlanded head +on both arms, which lay folded on the marble front of the box. + +Modigisel and Astarte exchanged significant glances. + +"What do you expect to gain by it?" asked Modigisel. "He won't exchange +for you; only for the horse." + +"But she--that nun-faced girl--shall not have him! And my time will +come later!" + +"If I release you from my patronage." + +"You will." + +"I don't know yet." + +"Oh, yes, you will," she answered coaxingly. + +But even as she spoke, she again threw back her head and closed her +eyes. + + * * * * * + +After a brief slumber the bridegroom was shaken rudely by his brother. + +"Up!" cried the latter; "Eugenia has come back. Let her take her +place--" + +"Eugenia! I did not throw dice for her. I don't want the horse. I made +no promise." + +He started in terror; for Eugenia was standing before him with the +Ionian; her large dark-brown eyes, whose whites had a bluish cast, were +gazing searchingly, anxiously, distrustfully, into the very depths of +his soul. But she said nothing; only her face was paler than usual. How +much had she heard--understood? he asked himself. + +Thrasabad's slave humbly made way for her. + +"I thank you. Aphrodite." + +"Oh, do not call me by that name of mockery and disgrace! Call me as my +dear parents did at home before I was stolen,--became booty, a +chattel." + +"I thank you, Glauke." + +"The races cannot take place," lamented Thrasabad, to whom a freedman +had just brought a message. + +"Why not?" + +"Because no one will bet against the stallion which Modigisel entered +last of all. It is Styx; you know him." + +"Yes, I know him! I made no promise, did I, Modigisel?" he asked in a +low, hurried tone. + +"Yes, certainly! To throw the dice. Recollect yourself!" + +"Impossible!" + +"You said: 'If I throw higher, each shall keep what he has; if I throw +lower--'" + +"Oh, God! Yes! It's nothing, little one! Don't heed me." + +He turned again to Modigisel, whispering, "Give me back my promise!" + +"Never!" + +"You can break it," sneered Astarte. + +"Serpent!" he cried, raising his clinched fist, but he controlled +himself; then, helpless as a bear entangled in a net, the giant turned +beseechingly to Modigisel: "Spare me!" + +But the latter shook his head. + +"I will withdraw the stallion from the races," he said aloud to +Thrasabad. "I am satisfied with the fact that no one dares to run +against him." + +"Then the race can take place, but at the end of the entertainment. +First, there are two surprises which I have prepared for you in another +place. Come, Glauke, your hand; up, rise! Follow me, all you guests of +Thrasaric, follow me to the Amphitheatre." + + + + CHAPTER XV + +Heralds, with blasts of the tuba, announced the invitation throughout +the whole spacious building, and, thanks to the admirable arrangements +and the great number of exits, the arena was very quickly emptied. The +thousands of spectators, amid the music of flute-players, now moved in +a stately procession to the neighboring Amphitheatre. + +This was an oval building, the axis of its inner ellipse measuring two +hundred and forty feet. The plan resembled that of the Circus, an outer +wall in two stories of arches, each story adorned with statues and +pillars. Here, too, from the oval arena, the rows of seats ascended in +steps divided by vertical walls, separated into triangles by the stairs +leading to the exits, or vomitories. + +The host and his most distinguished guests were assigned places in the +raised gallery on the podium directly adjoining the arena, formerly +occupied by the Senators of Carthage. + +The Amphitheatre had a subterranean connection with the adjacent lake. +From the grated cellars, concealed by curtains, the mingled cries of +various animals greeted the entering spectators. Often the snarls and +yells partially died away, and a mighty, ominous howl, or rather roar, +rose from the farthest cellar, dominating the voices of the smaller +beasts, which sank into silence, as if from fear. + +"Are you afraid, my little bird?" asked Thrasaric, who was leading his +bride by the hand. "You are trembling." + +"Not of the tiger," she answered. + +When the seats of honor were occupied, Thrasabad again appeared before +them, and, bowing, said: "The Roman emperors long ago prohibited +contests between gladiators and fights between animals. But we are not +Romans. True, our own kings--especially our present sovereign, King +Gelimer--repeated the command--" + +"If he should hear of this!" interrupted Thrasaric, in a tone of +warning. + +"Pshaw! He is not expected here until tomorrow morning. Even if he +returns sooner--he is now staying in the Capitol; it is two full +leagues distant. The noise of the festival will not reach there for a +long time; and we shall not tell him to-morrow." + +"And the gladiators?" + +"Nor they either. Dead men do not gossip. We will keep them fighting +until none are left to betray us." + +"Brother, that is almost too--Roman!" + +"Ah, only the Romans knew how to live; our bear-like ancestors, at the +utmost, only how to die. Do you suppose I have studied merely the +_verses_ of the Romans? No, I boast of vying with them in their +customs. Speak, Gundomar; shall we fear King Gelimer?" + +"We Vandal nobles will allow ourselves to be denied nothing that gives +us pleasure. Let him try to keep us away from here!" + +"And at my brother's wedding an exception is permitted, nay, required. +So I will feast your eyes with old Roman 'hunts' and old Roman +gladiatorial combats." + +Roars of applause greeted this announcement. Thrasabad disappeared to +give his orders. + +"It is easy to say where he obtained the animals," remarked Gundomar. +"Africa is their breeding-ground. But the gladiators?" + +"He told me the secret," replied Modigisel. "Some are slaves; some are +Moors captured in the last expedition. The white sand of the arena will +soon be stained crimson." + +"How I shall rejoice!" panted Astarte, who rarely spoke. Modigisel +looked at her with an expression almost of horror. + +"Gladiators!" cried Thrasaric, wrathfully. "Eugenia, do you want to go +away?" + +"I will shut my eyes--and stay. Only let me remain with you! Do not +send me from you--I beseech!" + +The roll of drums was heard, and a cry of astonishment from thousands +of voices filled the Amphitheatre. The arena suddenly divided, moving +to the right and left, in two semi-circles which, drawn sideways, +disappeared in the walls. Twenty feet below, a second space, covered +with sand, appeared, and over this poured from every direction, foaming +and dashing, a flood of seething water. The bottom was swiftly +transformed into a lake. Then two wide gateways at the right and left +opened, and toward each other swept, fully manned and equipped for +battle, two stately war-ships with lofty masts. These vessels, it is +true, carried no sails, for there was no wind in the walled enclosure, +but they were supplied with archers and slingers. + +"Aha! a naumachia! A naval battle! Capital! Glorious!" shouted the +spectators. + +"Look, a Byzantine trireme!" + +"And a Vandal corsair ship! How the scarlet flag glows!" + +"And above it, at the mast-head, the golden dragon." + +"The Vandal is attacking! Where are the rowers?" + +"Out of sight. They are working under the deck. But above--look, in +front, on the prow, stand the crew with spears and axes uplifted!" + +"See, the Byzantine is going to ram. He is dashing forward with +tremendous force." + +"Look at the sharp spur close to the water line!" + +"But the Vandal is turning swiftly. The ship has escaped the shock. Now +the spears are flying." + +"There! A Roman falls on the deck. He doesn't stir." + +"A second is flung overboard. He is still swimming--" + +"He is throwing his arms out of the water--" + +"There he sinks." + +"The water around him is stained with blood," said Astarte, bending +eagerly forward. + +"Let me go! oh, let me go, and come with me!" pleaded Eugenia. + +"Child, not now; you must stay now. I must see this," replied +Thrasaric. + +"Now the Vandal is alongside of the Byzantine." + +"They are leaping across--our men. How their fair locks fly! Victory, +victory to the Vandals!" + +"Why, Thrasaric! They are only slaves in disguise." + +"No matter! They bear our flag. Victory, victory to the Vandals! But +look, there is a terrible hand-to-hand conflict--man to man! How the +shields crash! How the axes glitter! Alas! the Vandal leader is +falling! Oh, if I were only on that accursed Roman ship!" + +"There! Another Vandal falls! More Romans are coming up from the lower +deck. Alas! That is treachery!" + +"The Romans have the superior force. Two more Vandals have fallen." + +"They lured our men on board by stratagem." + +"Brother! Thrasabad! Where are you?" + +"On a boat over yonder, beside the two ships," cried Glauke, full of +terror. + +"It is no use! The Vandals are overpowered; they are leaping into the +water!" + +"The others on the Roman ship are bound." + +"The Romans are throwing fire into our ship. It is burning!" + +"The mast is blazing brightly." + +"The helmsman and rowers are jumping overboard." + +"Where is Thrasabad?" + +Mercury again appeared in the podium. + +"Look you, brother, that is a bad omen," said Thrasaric. + +Thrasabad shrugged his shoulders. + +"The fortune of war. I did not allow myself to interfere. No agreement +was made about the result. Five Romans and twelve Vandals are dead. +Away, away with the whole! Vanish, sea!" + +He waved the Hermes staff; the water sank rushing into the depths, with +the corpses it had swallowed. The Roman ship, amply manned and obeying +her helm, succeeded, by rowing powerfully to the right, in passing +through the gate by which it had entered. The empty, burning, unguided +Vandal vessel was drawn into the seething, whirling funnel; it turned +more and more swiftly on its own axis; the water dashed over the deck, +extinguishing the flames as far as it reached them; the mast leaned +farther and farther to the right, still blazing brightly. Suddenly it +fell completely over on the right side and disappeared in the abyss. +Gurgling, whirling, and foaming, the rest of the water followed. + +"The sea has vanished!" cried Thrasabad. "Let the desert and its +monsters, warring with each other, appear in its place!" + +And at the height of the former flooring, far above the level of +the sea, the two halves of the arena, covered with white sand, were +again pushed together from the right and left. Slaves, clad only +with aprons--fair-skinned ones, yellow-complexioned Moors, and +negroes--appeared in countless numbers and drew back the curtains which +covered the gratings of the cages containing the wild animals. + +"We will present to you--" Thrasabad cried amid the breathless silence. + +But his voice died away; the terrible roar, which had either ceased or +been drowned during the tumult of the naval battle, again echoed +through the Amphitheatre, and a huge tiger leaped with such force and +fury from the back of its tolerably long cage against the grating in +front that its bars bent outward, splinters of the wood in which they +were imbedded were hurled into the arena. + +"Brother," said Thrasaric, in a low tone, "that cage is too long. Take +care! The animal has too much space to run. And the wooden floor is +rotten. Are you afraid, Eugenia?" + +"I am with _you_," the young bride answered quietly. "But I want to +know no more about men fighting--dying. I did not look at them." + +"Only at the end, little sister-in-law, a captive Moor." + +"Where did you get him?" asked Modigisel. + +"Hired, like most of the others, from a slave-dealer. But this one is +sentenced to death." + +"Why?" + +"He strangled his master, who was going to have him flogged. He is a +handsome, slender fellow, but very obstinate; he will name neither his +tribe nor his father. The brother and heir of the murdered man offered +him to me cheap for the naumachia, and if he survived--for the tiger. +He could not be induced, no matter how many blows he received, to fight +in the naval battle. His master was obliged to bind him hand and foot +behind the scenes. Well, he will probably be compelled to fight when he +stands fully armed in the arena, and we let loose the tiger; it has +been kept fasting for two days." + +"Oh, Thrasaric, my husband! My first entreaty--" + +"I cannot help you, little bird! I promised to let him rule without +interference to-day; and one's word must be kept, even though it should +lead to folly and crime." + +"Yes," whispered Modigisel, bending forward. "One's word must be kept. +When shall we throw the dice?" + +Thrasaric sprang up in fury. + +"I will kill you--" + +"That will be useless. Astarte knows it. Keep your word! I advise you +to do it. Or to-morrow all the Vandal nobles shall know what your honor +and faith are worth." + +"Never! I will sooner kill the child with my own hands." + +"That would be as dishonorable as if I should slay the horse from envy. +Keep your word, Thrasaric; you can do nothing else." + +Then a glance from Eugenia rested on Modigisel. She could not have +understood anything; but he was silent. + +"But when you have her," Astarte murmured under her breath to her +companion, "you will set me wholly free?" + +"I don't know yet," he growled. "It doesn't look as if I should win +her." + +"Set me free!" Astarte repeated earnestly. + +It was meant for an entreaty, but the tone conveyed so sinister a +threat that the nobleman gazed wonderingly into her black eyes, in +whose depths lurked an expression which made him afraid to say no. He +evaded an answer by asking rudely: "What is there in the giant that +attracts you as a magnet draws iron?" + +"Strength," said Astarte, impressively. "He could wrap you around his +left arm with his right hand." + +"_I_ was strong enough, too," replied the Vandal, gloomily. "Africa and +Astarte would suck the marrow out of a Hercules." + +The whispering was interrupted by Thrasabad, who now, the tiger being +silent, addressed the audience: "We will have brought out to fight +before you six African bears from the Atlas, with six buffaloes from +the mountain Valley of Aurasia! a hippopotamus from the Nile, and a +rhinoceros; an elephant and three leopards, a powerful tiger--do you +hear him? Silence, Hasdrubal, till you are summoned--with a man in full +armour, who has been condemned to death." + +"Aha! Good! That will be splendid!" ran through the Amphitheatre. + +"And lastly,--as I hope Hasdrubal will be the victor,--the tiger will +fight all the survivors of the other conflicts, and a pack of twelve +British dogs." + +Loud shouts of delight rang through the building. + +"I thank you!" replied the director of the festival. "But we cannot +live by gratitude alone. Your Mercury also desires nectar and ambrosia. +Before we witness any more battles, let us enjoy a light luncheon, some +cool wine, and a graceful dance. What say you, my friends? Come, fair +Glauke!" + +Without waiting for an answer--he seemed to be tolerably sure of it, +and it came in the form of still more vehement applause--he again waved +his staff. The heavy stone walls, separating the podium and the higher +rows of seats from the arena and the lower rows, sank and were +transformed into sloping stone steps that led down to the arena, into +which at the same time invisible hands lifted long tables, hung with +costly draperies and set with magnificent jugs, vessels, and goblets of +gold and silver, and large shallow dishes filled with choice fruit and +sweet cakes. In the centre of the arena rose an altar, its three steps +thickly garlanded with wreaths of flowers, the top crowned by a figure +closely wrapped in white cloths. From the sides of the building a +hundred Satyrs and Bacchantes flocked in, who instantly began a +pantomimic dance of pursuit and flight, whose rhythm was accompanied +by the noisy, stirring music of cymbals and tympans from the open, +wing-like sides of the Amphitheatre. Enraged by the uproar, more and +more furiously roared the Hyrcanian tiger. + + + + CHAPTER XVI + +Many of the guests--all who had been seated in the podium--descended to +the arena, helped themselves from the dishes, and ate the fruit and +cakes. Gayly dressed slaves carried the refreshments to others, who had +remained in the rows of seats. + +As soon as the barriers between the arena and the spectators were +removed, the guests passed freely to and fro, sometimes down to the +arena, sometimes back to their places; nay, they even mingled in the +dance of the Satyrs and Bacchantes. Many of the latter were suddenly +embraced by the Vandals, who swung with them in the frantic whirl. + +The confusion grew more chaotic. Cheeks glowed with a deeper crimson, +fair and dark locks fluttered more wildly, and the musicians were +constantly obliged to play faster to keep pace with the increasing +excitement of the dancers. + +Thrasabad now poured the wine most freely, for he was exhausted by his +exertions, and his vanity was stirred by the applause bestowed upon his +arrangements for the festival. Reclining on a soft panther-skin, in +front of a low drinking-table, he drained one goblet after another. + +Glauke, whom he clasped with one arm, gazed anxiously at him, but dared +not utter a warning. + +Thrasaric noticed her expression. + +"Listen, brother," he said; "take care. The director of the festival is +the only one who must remain sober. And the wine is heavy, and you +know, little brother, you can't stand much because you talk too fast +while you are drinking." + +"There--is--no--no danger!" replied the other, already stammering the +words with difficulty. "Come forth. Iris and ye gods of love!" He waved +the staff; it fell from his hand and Glauke laid it by his side. + +Suddenly the arched roof of the large silk tent which spanned the arena +opened. A rain of flowers--principally roses and lilies--fell upon the +altar, the tables, the dancers; a fragrant liquid, scarcely perceptible +as a light mist, was sprinkled from invisible pipes over the arena and +the seats of the spectators. All at once, breaking through a gray cloud +high up at the back of the arena, appeared a sun, shedding a soft +golden light. + +"Helios is smiling through the shower of rain," cried Thrasabad; "so +Iris is probably not far distant." + +At these words the seven-striped bow, glowing magnificently in vivid +colors, arched above the whole arena. A young girl, supported by golden +clouds, and holding a veil of the seven hues draped gracefully about +her head, flew from the right to the left high above the stage. As soon +as she had vanished, the rainbow and the sun disappeared too, and +while shouts of surprise still rang through the Amphitheatre, a band +of charming Loves--children from four to nine years old, boys and +girls--were seen floating by chains of roses from the opening of the +tent to the steps of the altar. Received by slaves, who released them +from the flowery fetters, they grouped themselves on the steps around +the muffled figure, toward which all eyes were now directed with eager +curiosity. + +Then Thrasabad, still clasping Glauke, sprang from the drinking table +to the altar. The Ionian had just taken a freshly filled goblet from +his hand. The roars of applause which now burst forth fairly turned the +vain youth's head; he staggered visibly as he stood on the highest +step, dragging the struggling girl with him. "Look, brother," he called +in an unsteady voice; "this is _my_ wedding gift. In the senator's +villa at Cirta--what is his name? He was burned because he clung +obstinately to the Catholic faith. Never mind. I bought the villa from +the fiscus; it stands on the foundations of a very ancient one, adorned +with imperial splendor, superb mosaics, hunting scenes, with stags, +hounds, noble horses, beautiful women under palm-trees! In repairing +the cellar this statue was dug out from beneath broken columns; it is +said to be more than five hundred years old,--a gem of the best period +of Greek art. So my freedman says, who understands such things, an +Aphrodite. Show yourself, Queen of Paphos! I give her to you, brother." + +He seized a broad-bladed knife which lay on the pedestal, cut a cord, +and dropped the knife again. The covers fell; a wonderfully beautiful +Aphrodite, nobly modelled in white marble, appeared. + +The Loves knelt around the feet of the goddess, and twined garlands of +flowers about her knees. At the same moment a dazzling white light fell +from above upon the altar and the goddess, brilliantly irradiating the +arena, which was usually not too brightly illumined by lamps. + +The acclamation of thousands of voices burst forth still more +tumultuously, the dancers whirled in swifter circles, the drums and +cymbals crashed louder than ever; but the sudden increase of uproar and +the vivid, dazzling light also reached the open grating of the tiger's +cage. He uttered a terrible roar and sprang with a mighty leap against +the bars, one of which fell noiselessly out on the soft sand. No one +noticed it, for another scene was taking place around the goddess on +the high steps of the altar. + +"I thank you, brother," cried Thrasaric. "She is indeed the fairest +woman that can be imagined." + +"Yes," replied Modigisel. "What do you mean, Astarte? Are you sneering? +What fault can you find there?" + +"That is no woman," said the Carthaginian, icily, scarcely parting her +lips; "that is only a stone. Go there, kiss it, if it seems to you more +beautiful than--" + +"Astarte is right," shouted Thrasabad, madly. "She is right! What use +is a stone Aphrodite? A lifeless, marble-cold goddess of love! She +clasps her arms forever across her bosom; she cannot open them for a +blissful embrace. And what a stern dignity of expression, as though +love were the most serious, deadly-earnest, sacred thing. No, marble +statue, you are _not_ the fairest woman! The fairest woman--far more +beautiful than you--is my Aphrodite here. The fairest woman in the +world is mine. You shall acknowledge it with envy! I will, I will be +envied for her! You shall all confess it!" + +And with surprising strength he dragged the Greek, who resisted with +all her power, up beside him, swung her upon the broad pedestal of the +statue, and tore wildly at the white silk coverlet which, while on the +ship, Glauke had thrown over her shoulders, and the transparent Coan +robe. + +"Stop! Stop, beloved! Do not dishonor me before all eyes!" pleaded the +girl, struggling in despair. "Stop--or by the Most High--" + +But the Vandal, who had lost all self-control, laughed loudly. "Away +with the envious veil!" + +Once more he pulled down the coverlet and the robe. Steel flashed in +the light (the Ionian had snatched the knife from the pedestal), a warm +red stream sprinkled Thrasabad's face, and the slight figure, already +crimsoned with blood, sank at the feet of the marble statue. + +"Glauke!" cried the Vandal, suddenly sobered by the shock. + +But at the same moment, outside the Amphitheatre rose in a note +of menace a brazen, warlike blare, dominating the loudest swell +of the music,--for the dance of Satyrs and Bacchantes was still +continuing,--the blast of the Vandal horns. And from the doors, as well +as from the highest seats, which afforded a view of the grove, a cry of +terror from thousands of voices filled the spacious building: "The +_King_! King Gelimer!" + +The spectators, seized with fear, poured out of all the exits. + +Thrasaric drew himself up to his full height, lifted the trembling +Eugenia on his strong arm, and forced his way through the throng. The +voice of the director of the festival was no longer heard. Thrasabad +lay prostrate at the feet of the silent marble goddess, clasping in his +arms the beautiful Glauke--lifeless. + +Soon he was alone with her in the vast deserted building. + +Outside--far away--rose the uproar of voices in dispute, but the +silence of death reigned in the Amphitheatre; even the tiger made no +sound, as if bewildered by the sudden stillness and emptiness. + +It was past midnight. + +A light breeze rose, stirring the silk roof of the tent, and sweeping +together the roses which lay scattered over the arena. + + + + CHAPTER XVII + +Thrasaric's guests were standing in the large open square of the grove, +directly in front of the Amphitheatre they had just left, most of them +with the expression and bearing of children caught by their master in +some forbidden act. + +Thrasaric had shaken off the last vestige of intoxication. + +"The King?" he murmured in a low tone. "The hero? I am ashamed of +myself." He pulled at the rose-wreath on his shaggy locks. + +Gundomar, sword in hand, approached him with a defiant air. + +"Fear was ever a stranger to you, son of Thrasamer. Now we must defy +the tyrant. Face him as we do." + +But Thrasaric made no answer; he only shook his huge head, and repeated +to Eugenia, whom he had placed carefully on the ground by his side: "I +am ashamed in the King's presence. And my brother! My poor brother!" + +"Poor Glauke!" sighed Eugenia. "But perhaps she is to be envied." + +Now the Vandal horns blared again, and nearer. The King, whose approach +along the straight Street of the Legions was distinctly seen from a +long distance, dashed into the square, far in advance of his soldiers. +Only a few slaves bearing torches had succeeded in following him; his +brothers, who had summoned a troop of horsemen, were behind with them. +The King checked his snorting cream-colored charger directly in front +of Thrasaric and the nobles so suddenly that it reared. + +"Insubordinate men! Disobedient people of the Vandals!" he shouted +reproachfully. "Is this the way you obey your sovereign's command? Do +you seek to draw upon your heads the wrath of Heaven? Who gave this +festival? Who directed it?" + +"I gave it, my King," said Thrasaric, moving a step forward. "I deeply +repent it. Punish me. But spare him who at my request directed it, my +brother. He has--" + +"Vanished with the dead girl," interrupted Gundobad. "I wanted to +appeal to him also to support with us Gundings the cause of the nobles +against the King--" + +"For this hour," added Gundomar, "will decide whether we shall be serfs +of the Asdings or free nobles." + +"Yes, I am weary of being commanded," said Modigisel. + +"We are of no meaner blood than his," cried Gundobad, with a +threatening glance at the King. Already a large band of kinsmen, +friends, and followers, many of whom were armed, was gathering round +the Gundings. + +Thrasaric was stepping into their midst to try to avert the impending +conflict, but he was now surrounded by throngs of his own and his +brother's slaves. + +"My Lord," they cried, "Thrasabad has disappeared. What shall be done? +The festival--" + +"Is over. Alas that it ever began!" + +"But the races in the Circus opposite?" + +"Will not take place! Lead the horses out! Return them to their +owners." + +"I will not take the stallion until after we have thrown the dice," +cried Modigisel. "Ay, tremble with rage. I hold you to your word." + +"And the wild beasts?" urged a freedman. "They are roaring for food." + +"Leave them where they are! Feed them!" + +"And the Moorish prisoner?" + +He could not answer; for while the racehorses, the stallion among them, +were being led from the Circus into the square between it and the +Amphitheatre, loud shouts rang from the exits of the latter. + +"The Moor! The captive! He has escaped! He is running away! Stop him!" + +Thrasaric turned, and saw the figure of the young Moor coming toward +him. He had been bound hand and foot, and though successful in breaking +the rope around his ankles, he had been unable to sever the one firmly +fastened about his wrists, and was greatly impeded in forcing a way +through the crowd by his inability to use his hands. + +"Let him go! Let him run!" ordered Thrasaric. + +"No," shouted the pursuers. "He has just knocked his master down by a +blow of his fist. His master commanded it! He must die! A thousand +sestertii to the man who captures him." + +Stones flew, and here and there a spear whizzed by. + +"A thousand sestertii?" cried one Roman to another. "Friend Victor, let +us forget our quarrel and earn them together." + +"Done. Halves, O Laurus!" + +The fugitive now darted like an arrow straight toward Thrasaric. His +lithe, noble figure came nearer and nearer. Lofty wrath glowed on the +finely moulded young face. Then, close beside Thrasaric, Laurus grasped +at the rope hanging from the Moor's wrists. A violent jerk, the youth +fell. Victor grasped his arm. + +"The thousand sestertii are ours," cried Laurus, drawing the rope +toward him. + +"No," exclaimed Thrasaric, snatching his short-sword from its sheath. +The weapon flashed through the cord. "Fly, Moor!" + +The youth was instantly on his feet again; one grateful glance at the +Vandal, and he was in the midst of the race-horses. + +"Oh, the stallion! My stallion!" shouted Modigisel. But the Moor was +already on the back of the magnificent animal. A word in its ear, the +horse sprang forward, the crowd scattered shrieking, and already Styx +and his rider were flying over the road to Numidia in the sheltering +darkness of the night. + +"The stallion," muttered Modigisel. "That will cost me the casting of +the dice for the young wife." + +Thrasaric gazed after the horse in amazement. "O God, I thank Thee! I +will deserve it; I will atone. Come, little one. To the King! He seems +to need me." + +Meanwhile the nobles and their followers had pressed forward +threateningly against the King, who did not yield a step. + +"We will not be ruled by you," cried Gundomar. + +"We will not be forbidden to enjoy the pleasures of life!" exclaimed +Modigisel. "To-morrow, whether you are willing or not, I will invite my +friends. We will meet again in this arena." + +"No, you will not," said the King, quietly, and taking the torch from +the hand of the nearest slave he rose in his stirrups, and, with a sure +aim, hurled it high over the heads of the crowd into the silk tent, +which instantly caught fire and blazed up brightly. Loud roars came +from the cages of the wild beasts. + +"Do you dare?" shrieked Gundobad. "This house is not yours. It belongs +to the Vandal nation! How dare you destroy their pleasures, merely +because you do not share them?" + +"And why do you not share them?" added Gundomar. "Because you are no +true man, no real Vandal." + +"An enthusiast--no king of a race of heroes!" + +"Why do you so often tremble?" + +"Who knows whether some secret sin does not burden you?" + +"Who knows whether your courage will not fail when danger--" + +Just at that moment, drowning every other sound, a shrill shriek of +horror, of mortal fear, rang from many hundred throats; a short, +exulting roar could scarcely be heard through the tumult. "The tiger! +The tiger is free!" rose from the arena. + +And rushing thence in a dense crowd, frantic with terror, came men, +women, and children, all struggling together. Everywhere they met other +throngs, and, unable to go farther, jostled, pushed, stumbled, fell, +and were trampled under foot. + +Above them, on the first story of the Amphitheatre, directly opposite +to the King, the broken chain trailing from its collar, crouched the +huge tiger, lashing his flanks with his tail, his jaws wide open, +hesitating between the spur of his fierce hunger and the fear of the +torches and human beings. At last hunger conquered. The beast's eyes +had rested upon one of the race-horses in front of the Amphitheatre, +and lingered on it as though spellbound. A throng of people surged +between the animal and its prey. The leap was almost beyond its powers; +but greed urged on the monster and, with a low cry, it sprang over the +heads of the multitude upon its chosen victim. + +All the shrieking people pressed in the same direction. The horses +shied; the tiger's leap fell short; he reached the ground scarcely two +feet from the racer, which broke its halter and dashed away. The tiger +never repeats a spring it has missed. Hasdrubal was shrinking back, as +if ashamed; but as he stretched out his right fore-paw, it fell upon +warm, soft, living flesh. A child, a little girl about four years old, +in the gay, spangled dress of a Love, had been torn from the side of +her mother and thrown down by the fugitives. There she was, lying on +her face in the soft grass, the delicate rosy flesh between her head +and shoulders rising above her little white dress. The tiger thrust his +paw forward and held the child down by the neck--but only for an +instant. Suddenly he drew back the length of his body, uttering a roar +whose fury far exceeded any previous one, for an enemy advancing on +foot dared to dispute possession of his prey. The great cat gathered +himself to leap, the terrible leap which must overthrow any man. But +before the beast could straighten himself for the bound, his adversary +thrust a Vandal sword between the yawning jaws to the very hilt, and +pierced the spine. + +Carried down by the impetus of the blow, the man fell for a moment on +the dead tiger; but he instantly sprang up, stepped back, and lifted +the stupefied child from the ground. + +"Gelimer! Hail to King Gelimer! Hail to the hero!" shouted the crowd. +Even the Romans joined in the acclamation. "Are you unharmed, O King?" +asked Thrasaric. + +"As the child," said the latter, calmly, placing the little one in the +arms of its weeping, trembling mother, who kissed the hem of the white +royal mantle, stained with the wild beast's blood. + +Gelimer wiped his sword-blade on the tiger's soft skin and thrust it +into the sheath. Then he went back to his horse and stood drawn up to +his full height, leaning against its shoulder, his helmeted head held +proudly erect. He had retained as king the old helmet with the wings of +the black vulture (they seemed now to stir in menace), and merely added +Genseric's pointed crown. A look of sorrowful contempt rested on the +throng; Deep silence reigned for the moment; speech failed even the +boldest of the nobles. + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + +The King's brothers, at the head of their horsemen, now entered the +square; they had witnessed the horrible incident from their saddles. +Springing to the ground, they passionately clasped Gelimer's hands. + +"What troubles you, brother?" asked Gibamund. "That is not the glance +of the rescuer." + +"O my brother," sighed Gelimer, "pity me! I feel a loathing for my +people; and that is hard." + +"Yes, for it is the best thing we possess," replied Zazo, gravely. + +"On earth," answered the King, thoughtfully. "Yet is it not a sin to +love even this earthly thing so ardently? All earthly possessions are +but vanity. Is it not true of our people and our native land?--" He +sank into a deep reverie. + +"Wake, King Gelimer!" called a voice from the throng in friendly +warning. + +It was Thrasaric. The sudden change had roused his wonder. He, too, had +turned to meet the tiger, but the King, who, from his seat on +horseback, had seen the animal crouching to spring, anticipated him. +Him--and another. + +The older of the two foreigners had stood still, his spear poised to +hurl. + +"That was a good thrust, Theudigisel," he whispered. "But let us see +how it will end. This King is losing the best moment." + +And so it seemed. For meanwhile the nobles had somewhat recovered from +their confusion, and, though no longer quite so insolently as before, +but still defiantly enough, Gundomar stepped forward, saying: "You are +a hero, O King! It was ungrateful to doubt it, but you are not easy to +understand, yet we neither will nor can serve and obey even a hero as +our ancestors, Genseric's bears, served him." + +"It is neither necessary nor possible," Modigisel added. He attempted +to lisp and drawl according to the Roman fashion, but, carried away by +genuine emotion, soon forgot the affectation. "We are no longer +Barbarians, like the comrades of the bloody sea-king. We have learned +from the Romans to live and to enjoy. Spare us the heavy weapons. Ours, +indisputably, securely ours, is this glorious country, where men can +only revel, not toil. Pleasure, pleasure, and again pleasure is alone +worth living for. When death comes, all will be over. So, as long as I +live, I will kiss and drink, will not fight, and will--" + +"Become a slave of Justinian," the King angrily interrupted. + +"Pshaw, those little Greeks! They will not dare to attack us." + +"Let them come! We will drive them pell-mell into the sea." + +"Ah, if the kingdom were in peril--the Gundings know that honor calls +them to the head of the wedge in every Vandal battle." + +"But no war is threatening." + +"No one is trying to quarrel with us." + +"Only it pleases the Asdings to make it a pretext for ordering the +noblest of the Vandals hither and thither like Moorish mercenaries or +ready slaves." + +"But we will no longer--We--" + +Modigisel could not finish; the loud blast of a horn and the noise +of galloping horses drowned his voice; a white figure on a dark +charger was dashing forward at the head of several mounted men. Two +torch-bearers were on the right and left, but could barely keep up with +her; long golden locks were fluttering in the wind, and a large white +mantle enveloped both horse and rider. + +"That is Hilda," cried Gibamund. + +"Yes, Hilda and war!" exclaimed the Princess, exultingly, instantly +checking her snorting steed. Her eyes were blazing, and in her right +hand she waved a parchment, crying: "War! King of the Vandals. And I--I +was permitted to be the first to announce to you the fateful word +which, like the brazen voices of the battle horns, summons you, all you +Asdings, to victory and honor." + +"She is glorious," said Thrasaric to Eugenia. + +The bride nodded. + +"A cloak," he went on. "She--Hilda--must not see me in this absurd, +disgraceful guise. Lend me your cloak, friend Markomer." + +Stripping off the panther-skin, and throwing down the thyrsus, he flung +the brown cloak of the leader of the horsemen over his bare shoulders. + +"How do you, a woman, come with such a message?" asked Gelimer, taking +the parchment from her hand. + +Hilda now sprang from the saddle into her husband's open arms. "Verus +sends me. The swift-sailing ships which he expected have just run into +the harbor. He intended to bring you this letter--the first one he +received--himself. But several other important ones were immediately +delivered,--some from the King of the Visigoths,--which he was obliged +to translate in part from cipher. So he ordered that I should be waked. +'To wake Hilda means to wake battle,' my ancestor Hildebrand taught +me," she added, laughing, with sparkling eyes. + +"And in truth she came dashing among us like the leader of the +Valkyries," said Thrasaric, rather to himself than to Eugenia. + +"Verus of course knows nothing of that," Hilda went on. "Yet he smiled +strangely as he said: 'You are the right bearer of this message and my +errand to the King.' I did not linger. I bring you war, and--I feel it, +O King of the Vandals--certain victory; read." + +Gelimer unrolled the parchment, whose seal had been broken, and +motioning to a torch-bearer, read aloud: + +"'To Gelimer, who calls himself the King of the Vandals--'" + +"Who is the insolent knave?" interrupted Zazo. + +"Goda, formerly Governor, now King of Sardinia." + +"Goda? The scoundrel! I never trusted him," cried Zazo. + +"'Since, by a false accusation, you have dethroned and imprisoned King +Hilderic, I refuse you allegiance, usurper. You credulous fools forgot +that I am an Ostrogoth; but I never did. Almost the only one left alive +in the massacre of my people, I have since thought only of vengeance. +In blind confidence you gave me this governorship; but I have won the +Sardinians, and shall henceforth rule this island as its sovereign. If +you dare to attack me, I shall appeal, and I have received the promise +of the great Emperor Justinian's protection. I would far rather serve a +powerful Imperator than a Vandal tyrant.' + +"Ay, this is war!" said Gelimer, gravely. "Certainly with Sardinia. +Perhaps also with Constantinople, though the last letters from there +spoke only of peace. Did you hear it?"--he now turned with royal +dignity to the nobles. "Did you hear, you nobles and people of the +Vandal race? Shall I tell the rebel, shall I write to the Emperor: +'Take and keep whatever you desire! Genseric's descendants shrink from +the weight of their weapons'? Will you now continue to hold festivals +in the Circus, or will you--" + +"We will have war!" loudly shouted the giant Thrasaric, forcing his way +swiftly through the group of nobles. "O King Gelimer, your deed, your +words, the sight of this glorious woman, and that bold traitor's +insolent letter have again waked in me--surely, in us all--what, alas! +has slumbered far, far too long. And like the effeminate ornament of +these roses,"--he snatched the wreath from his head and hurled it on +the ground,--"I cast from me all the enervating, corrupting pleasures +and luxuries of life. Forgive me, my King, great King and hero. I will +atone. Believe me, I will make amends in battle for the wrongs I have +done." + +Stretching out both hands, he was bending the knee. But the King drew +him to his breast: + +"I thank you, my Thrasaric. This will rejoice your ancestor, the hero +Thrasafrid, who now looks down upon you from heaven." + +But Thrasaric, breaking from the embrace and turning to the nobles, +cried: "Not I alone; I must win back all, all of you around me, to +duty, to heroic deeds! Oh, if my brother were only here! Comrades, +kinsmen, hear me! Will you, like me, aid the valiant King? Will you +obey him? Follow him in battle loyally unto death?" + +"We will! We will! To battle and death!" shouted the nobles. +Modigisel's voice was louder than any of the rest. Gundomar alone +hesitated a moment; then, drawing himself up to his full height, he +stepped forward, saying, "I did not believe that war was threatening. I +really thought it only a pretext of the over-strict King to force us +from our life of pleasure to the pursuit of arms. But this Goda's +insolence and the treacherous Emperor's promised aid to him are not to +be borne. Now it is in truth a conflict for our kingdom. There the +Gundings will stand on the shield side of the Asdings, now, as in +former days and forever. King Gelimer, you are right. I was a fool. +Forgive me!" + +"Forgive us all," cried the nobles, surging in passionate excitement +toward the King. Gelimer, deeply moved, held out both hands, which they +eagerly clasped. + +"Oh, Hilda," said Thrasaric, "you were waked at the right time. This +is, in great measure, your work." + +Before the Princess could answer, he drew Eugenia from the clump of +myrtles, into which she had shyly retreated. + +"Do you remember this little maid, my King? You nod? Well--I have won +her for my wife. Not by force! She will say so herself; she loves me. +It is hard to believe, isn't it? But she will say so herself. The +priest has blessed our union in the presence of all the people. Marry +us according to your ancient royal right." + +The King smiled down upon the bride. "Well, then! Let this marriage be +the symbol of reconciliation, the uniting of the two nations. I will--" + +But a woman's haughty figure had forced a way through the crowd to +Eugenia's side; a purple mantle gleamed in the red glare of the +torches. Bending to the delicate, slender girl, she whispered something +in her ear. Eugenia turned pale. The woman's low, hissing tones ceased, +and she pointed with outstretched arm to the Numidian road, down which +the stallion had vanished. + +"Oh, can it be?" moaned the bride, interrupting the King's words; she +tried to move away from Thrasaric's side, but her feet faltered. She +sank forward fainting. + +Soft arms received her. It was Hilda, the Valkyria who had just exulted +so eagerly in the thought of battle. Holding the light figure to her +bosom with her left arm, she extended her right hand as if to protect +her against Thrasaric, who in bewilderment wished to seize her. + +"Back," she said sternly. "Back! Whatever it may be that has bowed this +lily's head, she shall first lift it again upon my breast and under my +protection. It was a wrong not easy to forgive to celebrate a wedding +with a Eugenia here in the Grove of Venus." A withering glance wandered +over Astarte, without resting upon her. "Thrasaric, decide for +yourself. Are you worthy to lead this bride home now, from this place?" + +The giant's powerful figure trembled; his broad chest heaved; he panted +for breath, then, sighing deeply, he shook his head and buried it in +the folds of his cloak. + +"Eugenia shall stay with me," said Hilda, gravely, pressing a kiss on +the pale brow of the reviving girl. Thrasaric cast one more glance at +her, then vanished in the throng. + +Modigisel rushed angrily toward Astarte. + +"Serpent!" he cried with no trace of lisping. "Fiend! What did you +whisper in the poor girl's ear?" + +"The truth." + +"No! He never really, seriously meant it. And the stallion has gone to +the devil; my game is over." + +"Mine is not." + +"But you shall not. I am ashamed of the base trick." + +"I am not," she answered with a short laugh, gazing after Thrasaric. + +"Obey, slave, or--" + +He raised his arm for a blow. Again she threw back her beautiful head, +but now so violently that the magnificent black hair burst from the +gold fillets and fell over her rounded, dazzling shoulders; she closed +her eyes and this time actually gnashed her beautiful little white +teeth. + +The Vandal dared not strike this threatening creature. + +"Just wait till we reach home. There--" + +"There we will make friends again," she answered, smiling, flashing a +side glance at him from her black eyes. It was open mockery. But a +feeling of horror stole over him, and he shuddered as if from fear. + +"But grant me, my brother and my King, the joy of punishing this Goda," +cried Zazo, who had long been struggling with his impatience, and could +no longer control himself. "The fleet is ready to sail; let me go. Give +me only five thousand picked men--" + +"We Gundings will join you," cried Gundomar. + +"And I will promise to force Sardinia back to allegiance in a single +battle and to bring you the traitor's head." + +Gelimer hesitated. "Now? Send away the whole fleet and the flower of +the foot-soldiers? Now? When the Emperor may threaten us here on +the mainland at any moment? This must be considered. I must consult +Verus--" + +"Verus?" cried Hilda, eagerly. "I forgot to tell you. Verus bade me say +to you that he advised trampling out these first sparks without delay. +'I send you, Hilda,' he said with a peculiar smile, 'because I know +that you will urge and fan the flame of a swift warlike expedition.' +You, O King, ought at once, before you return to the Capitol, to +prepare the fleet in the harbor for departure and send it to Sardinia +under Zazo." + +"It is prepared," cried the latter, joyously. "For three days it has +been ready to meet the Byzantines. But the nearest foe is the best one. +Oh, give the command, my King." + +"Did Verus counsel it?" said the latter, gravely. "Then it is +advisable, is for my welfare. Then, Zazo, your wish shall be +fulfilled." + +"Up! to the ships! to the sea! to battle!" shouted the latter, +exultingly. "Up, follow me. Vandals! Tread the decks of the +fame-crowned vessels again! The sea, the ocean, was ever the heaving +blue battlefield of your greatest victories. Do you feel the breath of +the morning wind, the strong south-southeast? It is the fair one for +Sardinia." + +"The god of wishes himself, who breathes in and rules the wind, is +sending it to you, descendants of Genseric. Follow it; it is the breath +of victory that fills your sails. To battle! To battle! On to the sea! +On to the sea! On to Sardinia!" a thousand voices shouted tumultuously. +Full of passionate excitement, overflowing with warlike enthusiasm, the +Vandals poured out of the Grove of Venus toward Carthage and the +harbor. + +The Romans gazed after them in amazement; the whole living generation +had never witnessed any trace of this spirit in their luxurious, +effeminate rulers. + +"What do you say now, my Lord?" asked the younger stranger. "Have you +not changed your opinion?" + +"No." + +"What? Yet you saw--" he pointed to the dead tiger. + +"I saw it. I heard the war-cry of the crowd too. I am sorry for the +brave King and his family. Let us go to our ship. They will all be lost +together." + + + + CHAPTER XIX + +During the day following the nocturnal festival the fleet sailed out of +the harbor of Carthage; it was only necessary to choose the troops +intended for the campaign and to send them on board. + +On the evening of this day Gibamund, Hilda, and Verus had gathered +around Gelimer in the great hall of the palace, whose lofty arched +windows afforded a wide view of the sea. Beside the marble table, +heaped with papers, stood Gelimer, his head bowed as if by deep +anxiety; his noble features expressed the gravest care. + +"You sent for me, friend Verus, to listen with Gibamund to important +tidings which had arrived within the few hours since Zazo left us. They +must be matters of serious moment, from the expression of your face. +Begin; I am prepared for everything. I have strength to bear the news." + +"You will need it," replied the priest, in a hollow tone. + +"But shall Hilda also?" + +"Oh, let me stay, my King," pleaded the young wife, pressing closer to +her husband. "I am a woman; but I can keep silence. And I wish to know +and share your dangers." + +Gelimer held out his hand to her. "Then brave sister-in-law! And bear +with us whatever may be allotted by the stern Judge in heaven." + +"Yes," Verus began, "it seems as if the wrath of Heaven indeed rested +on you, King Gelimer." Gelimer shuddered. + +"Chancellor," cried Gibamund, indignantly, "cease such words, such +unhallowed thoughts. You are always thrusting the dagger of such +sayings into the soul of the best of men. It seems as if you tortured +him intentionally, fostered this delusion." + +"Silence, Gibamund!" said the King, with a deep groan. "It is no +delusion. It is the most terrible truth which religion, conscience, the +history of the world teach; sin will be punished. And when Verus became +my Chancellor, he remained my confessor. Who but he has the right and +the duty to bruise my conscience and, by warning me of the wrath of +God, break the defiant pride of my spirit?" + +"But you need strength. King of the Vandals," cried Hilda, her eyes +sparkling wrathfully, "not contrition." + +Gelimer waved his hand, and Verus began: + +"It is almost crushing, blow upon blow. As soon as the fleet had left +the roadstead (the last sail had barely vanished from our sight), the +messages of evil came. First, from the Visigoths. Simultaneously with +the news from Sardinia a long, long letter from King Theudis arrived. +It contained merely the repetition in many words it came from +Hispalis--that he must consider everything maturely, must test what we +could do in war." + +"Test from Hispalis!" muttered Gibamund. + +But Verus went on: "A stranger delivered this letter at the palace soon +after our fleet went out to sea. It ran as follows:-- + +"'To King Gelimer King Theudis. + +"'I am writing this in the harbor of Carthage--'" + +"What? Impossible!" cried the three listeners. + +"'--which I am just leaving. I wished to see the condition of affairs +with my own eyes. For three days I remained among you unrecognized. +Only my brave General, Theudigisel, accompanied me in the fishing boat +which bore me across the narrow arm of the sea from Calpe, and will be +carrying me home again when you read this, Gelimer. You are a true +king, a true hero. I saw you slay the tiger to-night; but you cannot +kill the serpent of degeneration which has coiled around your people. +Your guards sleep at their posts; your nobles go naked, or in women's +garb. I saw them flame up at last, but it is a fire of straw. Even if +they really desired to improve, they could not change in a few weeks +what the slothfulness of two generations has accomplished. The +punishment, the recompense, for our sins does not fail.'" The King +sighed heavily. "'Woe betide him who sought to unite his destiny to +your sinking race! I offer you not alliance, but refuge. If after the +battle is lost, you can escape to Spain,--and I will gladly aid you to +do so,--no Justinian, no Belisarius shall reach you with us. +Farewell!'" + +"The subterfuge of cowardice," said Gibamund, resentfully. + +"This man is no coward," replied Gelimer, sadly. "He is wise. Well, +then, we will fight alone." + +"And invite this wise King Theudis to be our guest at our banquet to +celebrate the victory!" exclaimed Hilda. + +"Do not challenge Heaven by idle boasting," warned Gelimer. "But be it +so. The aid of the Visigoths in the war is of less value to us than to +have the Ostrogoths at least remain neutral; to have Sicily--" + +"Sicily," interrupted Verus, "if war should be declared, will be the +bridge over which the enemy will march into Africa." + +The King's eyes opened wider in astonishment; Gibamund started up, but +Hilda, turning pale, exclaimed,-- + +"What? My own people? The daughter of the Amalungi?" + +"This letter from the Regent has just arrived; Cassiodorus composed it. +I should know by the scholarly style if he had not affixed his +signature. She writes that, too weak to avenge, by her own power, the +blood of her father's sister and many thousand Goths, she will joyfully +see the vengeance of Heaven executed by her imperial friend in +Constantinople." + +"The vengeance of Heaven,--retribution," Gelimer repeated in a hollow +tone. "All, all, unite in that!" + +"What?" cried Gibamund, in an outburst of rage. "Has the learned +Cassiodorus grown childish? Justinian, the wily intriguer, an avenging +angel of God! And especially that she-devil, whose name I will not +utter in my pure wife's presence! That pair the avengers of God!" + +"That proves nothing," Gelimer murmured, talking to himself as if lost +in reverie. "The Fathers of the Church teach that God often uses evil, +sinful men for His deeds of vengeance." + +"A wise utterance," said the priest, nodding his head gravely. + +"I cannot believe it," cried Gibamund. "Where is the sentence?" +Snatching the letter from Verus's hand, he rapidly glanced through it. +"Sicily shall stand open to the Byzantines,--Justinian her only real +friend, her protector and gracious defender." + +"Ah," cried Hilda, sorrowfully, "does the daughter of the great +Theodoric write that?" + +"But," Gibamund went on in astonishment, "the sentence about the +vengeance of Heaven--it is not here at all--not one word of it." + +"Not in the mere wording, but the meaning is there," said the priest, +taking the letter again and concealing it in the folds of his robe. + +The King had not noticed the incident. He was pacing up and down the +spacious hall with slow, hesitating steps, talking to himself. Now he +again approached the table, saying wearily: "Go on. I suppose this is +not all? But the end is coming," he added, unheard by the others. + +"Your messenger. King Gelimer, sent to Tripolis to bring Pudentius here +to be tried before your tribunal, has returned." + +"When did he arrive?" + +"Within an hour." + +"Without Pudentius?" + +"He refuses to obey." + +"What? I gave the messenger a hundred horsemen to bring the traitor by +force if necessary." + +"They were received with a discharge of arrows from the walls. +Pudentius had locked the gates, armed the citizens; the city has +forsworn its allegiance to you. The whole province of Tripolitana has +also risen, probably relying upon aid from Constantinople. Pudentius +called from the battlements to your messenger, 'Now Nemesis is +overtaking the bloody Vandals.'" + +The King made a gesture as if to ward off invisible powers assailing +him. + +"Nemesis?" cried Gibamund. "Yes, she will overtake--the traitor. And +while such peril threatens us close at hand in Africa itself, we send +our best weapon,--the fleet,--the flower of our army, and the hero Zazo +to distant Sardinia! How could you counsel that, Verus?" + +"Am I omniscient?" replied the priest, shrugging his shoulders. "I told +you that the messenger returned from Tripolis only an hour ago." + +"Oh, brother, brother," urged Gibamund, "give me two thousand men,--no, +only one thousand. I will fly to Tripolis on the wings of the wind and +show the faithless wretch Nemesis as she looks in the Vandal dragon +helmet." + +"Not until Zazo returns," replied the King, who had drawn himself up to +his full height. "We will not divide our strength still more. Zazo must +come back at once! It was a grave error to send him. I wonder that I +did not perceive it. But your counsel, Verus--Hush! That is not meant +for a reproach. But a swift sailing ship must follow the fleet +instantly to summon it back." + +"Too late, my King," cried Gibamund, who had hurried to the arched +window. "See how high the sea is running, and from the north! The wind +has veered since we came in here, shifted from the southeast to the +north. No ship can overtake the fleet which, borne by a strong south +wind, has a start of many hours." + +"O God," sighed Gelimer, "even Thy storms are against us. Only--" and +again he drew himself up--"who knows whether we may not err in +believing the peril so close at hand? Constantinople may send a small +body of troops to aid Sardinia, but whether Justinian will really dare +to attack us on our own soil here in Africa--" + +"Oh, if he would but dare!" cried Gibamund. + +Just at that moment a priest--he was a deacon from Verus's +basilica--hastened in, and, bowing humbly, handed to his superior a +sealed letter, saying: "This has just been brought by a swift-sailing +ship from Constantinople." He bowed again and left the hall. + +At the first sight of the cord fastening the papyrus Verus started so +violently that neither of the three could fail to notice it as +extraordinary in the man who, usually possessing almost superhuman +self-control, never betrayed his emotion by a glance or even a vehement +gesture. + +"What fresh misfortune has happened?" cried even the brave Hilda. + +"It is the sign agreed upon," said Verus, now gazing at the letter +again with such icy calmness that the very transition from such +agitation to such composure could not fail to perplex the witnesses +afresh. But the little group were not overwhelmed with astonishment +long, and waited impatiently while Verus, with a sharp dagger which he +drew from the breast of his cloak, severed the brownish-red cord. The +pieces, with the dainty little wax-seal fastening them, fell on the +floor. Casting a single glance at the letter, the priest instantly +handed it, without a word, to Gelimer. The King read,-- + +"You will receive a visit in Africa; the grain ship has sailed. The +Persian merchant is in command." + +"This was the agreement between me and my spy in Constantinople: the +brownish-red cord means that war is certain; 'visit' is landing; 'grain +ship' is the fleet; 'the Persian merchant' is Belisarius." + +"Ah, that sounds like a war-song," cried Hilda. + +"Welcome, Belisarius," cried Gibamund, grasping his sword. + +The King threw the letter on the table. His expression was grave but +calm: "Had this paper been in my hand only a day, only a few hours +earlier, all would have been different. I thank you, Verus, that you +obtained the news today, at least." + +An almost imperceptible smile--did it mean pride? or was it flattered +vanity?--flickered over the priest's pallid, bloodless lips. "I have +old connections in Constantinople; since this danger threatened I have +eagerly fostered them." + +"Well, then," said the King, "let them come! The decision, the +certainty, exerts a soothing, beneficial influence after the long +period of suspense. Now there will be work, military work, which always +does me good; it prevents pondering, thinking." + +"Yes, let them come," cried Gibamund; "they break into our country like +robbers, and we will resist them as if they were robbers. What right +has the Emperor to interfere with the succession to the Vandal throne? +Right is on our side; God and victory will also be with us." + +"Yes, right is on our side," said the King. "That is my best, my sole +support. God defends the right. He punishes wrong; so He will. He must, +be with us." + +This praise of justice, and this joyous confidence in their own cause +seemed by no means to please the priest. With a gloomy frown on his +brow he raised his sharp, penetrating voice, fixing his eyes +threateningly on Gelimer,-- + +"Justice? Who is just in the eyes of God? The Lord finds sin where we +see none. And He punishes not only present--" + +At these words the King relapsed into his former mood; his eyes lost +the bright sparkle of resolution. But Verus could not finish. A loud +noise of voices in angry dispute rose in the corridor leading to the +hall. + + + + CHAPTER XX + +"I know those tones," said Gelimer, anxiously, turning toward the +entrance. + +"Yes; it is our boy," cried Gibamund. "He seems very angry." + +Even as he spoke young Ammata rushed in, dragging with him by his short +hair and the open neck of his robe a lad considerably larger, clad in a +richly ornamented tunic, who struggled vainly as the other jerked him +with both hands through the entrance, which was closed only by a +curtain. The dark eyes, clear-cut features, and round, short head of +Ammata's foe indicated his Roman lineage. + +"What is it, Ammata?" + +"What has happened, Publius Pudentius?" + +"No, no! I won't let you go," shouted the Vandal prince. "You shall +repeat it in the presence of the King! And the King shall give you the +lie! Listen, brother! We were playing in the vestibule; we were +wrestling together. I threw him. He rose angrily, and, grinding his +teeth, said, 'That doesn't count. The devil, the demon of your race, +helped you.' + +"'Who?' I asked. + +"'Why, that Genseric, the son of Orcus. You Asdings boast of your +descent from pagan gods; but these, so the priest taught us, were +demons. That is the reason of his luck, his victories.' + +"I laughed, but he went on: 'He said so himself. Once, when Genseric +left the harbor of Carthage on his corsair ship and the helmsman asked +where he should turn the prow, the wicked tyrant answered: "Let us +drift with the wind and waves toward whomsoever God's anger is directed +against."' Is that true, brother?" + +"Yes, it is true!" retorted the young Roman. "And it is also true that +Genseric was as cruel as a demon to the defenceless and the prisoners. +From rage because he was defeated in an attack upon Taenarus he landed +at Zacynthus, dragged away as captives five hundred noble men and +women, and, when out at sea, ordered them the whole five hundred--to be +hacked into pieces from the feet upward, and flung into the waves." + +"Brother, surely this is not true?" cried Ammata, pushing back his +waving locks from his flushed face. "What? You are silent? You turn +away? You cannot--" + +"No, he cannot deny it," cried Pudentius, defiantly. "Do you see how +pale he turns? Genseric was a demon. You have all sprung from hell. He +and his successors have committed horrible deeds of cruelty upon us +Romans, us Catholics! But wait! It will not remain unpunished. As +surely as there is a God in Heaven! This curse of sin rests upon you. +What do the Scriptures say? 'I will visit the sins of the fathers upon +the children unto the third and fourth generation.'" + +A hollow groan escaped the lips of the King. He tottered, sank upon the +couch, and covered his face with the folds of his purple mantle. Ammata +gazed at him in terror. Hilda hastily pushed him and the young Roman +away. + +"Go!" she whispered. "Make friends with each other; you must stop +quarrelling. What have you boys to do with such things? Make friends, I +say." Ammata held out his right hand pleasantly; the Roman clasped it +slowly, angrily. + +"Look," said Ammata, stooping, "how lucky!" He lifted from the floor +the bit of brownish-red cord, to which the little wax seal hung. + +"Yes, indeed," exclaimed Pudentius, in surprise; "the same seal that +Verus would not give us for our collection of seals and impressions." + +"It is very odd,--a scorpion surrounded by flames." + +"Last week, when I saw the open letter lying on his table with the seal +and cord, how I begged him for it!" + +"He struck my fingers when I seized it." + +"I wondered why it should be so valuable." + +"And to-day we find it thrown away, on the floor." + +"He might have given it to us, then, after the letter was opened." + +"He do a kind act? He looks as though he came straight from the nether +world." + +"Come, let us go." + +The two lads left the hall together, apparently friends again. But for +how long a time? No one had heard their whispered conversation. + +Gibamund bent over his brother. + +"Gelimer," he cried sorrowfully, "rouse yourself! Calm yourself! How +can the words of a child--" + +"Oh, it is true, all too true! It is the torture of my life. It is the +worm boring into my brain. Even the children perceive it, utter it! +God, the terrible God of vengeance, will visit the sins of our fathers +upon us all,--on our whole nation, especially on Genseric's race. We +are cursed for the guilt of our ancestors. And on the Day of Judgment, +even from the depths of the sea, accusers will rise against us. When +the Son of Man returns in the clouds of Heaven, when the summons is +heard: 'Earth, open thy heights! mighty ocean, give up thy dead!' those +mutilated forms will bear witness against us." + +"No, no, thrice no!" cried Gibamund. "Verus, do not stand there with +folded arms, so cold, so silent. You see how your friend, your priestly +charge, is suffering. You, the shepherd of his soul, help him! Take his +delusion from him. Tell him God is a God of Mercy, and every man +suffers for his own sins only." + +But the priest answered gloomily: "I cannot tell the King that he is +wrong. You, Prince, talk like a youth, like a layman, like a German, +almost like a pagan. King Gelimer, a mature man, has acquired the +ecclesiastical wisdom of the Fathers of the Church and the secular +knowledge of the philosophers. And he is a devout Christian. God is a +terrible avenger of sin. Gelimer is right, and you are wrong." + +"Then I will praise the folly of my youth." + +"And I my paganism!" said Hilda. "They make me happy." + +"The King's (or your) Sacred Wisdom makes him miserable." + +"It might paralyze his strength!" + +"Had he not inherited such unusual vigor from his much-despised +ancestors." + +"And with it the curse of their sins," said Gelimer to himself. + +"We might consider," said Verus, slowly, "whether it would not be wise +to cast into prison, with the other captives, this Publius Pudentius, +the son of Pudentius the rebel, whom he could not take with him in his +hasty flight." + +"The lad? Why?" asked Hilda, reproachfully. + +"With shrewd caution, your former kings reared the sons of aristocratic +Romans at their courts, in the palace," Verus went on quietly, +"apparently to do honor to their fathers; really as hostages for their +fidelity." + +"Shall Gelimer the Good visit the father's guilt on the innocent son, +like your terrible God?" cried Gibamund. + +"That I would never do," said Gelimer. + +"The traitor knew it," replied Verus. "He calculated on your mildness; +that is why he dares to rebel while his son is in your hands." + +"Let all these boys go in peace to their families." + +"That will not do. They are old enough, and have seen enough of our +preparations and our weak points to do us serious injury if they should +talk of them to our foes. They must remain in the city, in the palace. +I will leave you now; my work summons me." + +"One thing more, my Verus. It grieves me that I could not extort from +Zazo before his departure a consent which I have long striven to win +from him." + +"What do you mean?" asked Hilda. + +"I can guess," said Gibamund. + +"It concerns the prisoners in the dungeons of the citadel. When, +against the entreaties of the whole nation and Zazo's urgency +especially, Gelimer protected the lives of Hilderic and Euages, +changing the sentence of death pronounced by the Council of the Nation +to imprisonment, he was obliged to promise Zazo that at least he would +never liberate the prisoners without his consent." + +"I wished to release them now. But Zazo has my promise, and he could +not be softened." + +"He is right,--a rare instance," said Verus. + +"What? You, the priest, counsel against pity and pardon?" asked Hilda, +in astonishment. + +"I am also chancellor of this kingdom. The former King would be far too +dangerous if he were set at liberty. Romans, Catholics,--he is said +secretly to have joined this church,--might gather round him, and 'the +rightful King of the Vandals' would be a much-desired weapon against +the 'Tyrant' Gelimer. The prisoners will be better off where they are. +Their lives are safe--" + +"They have repeatedly requested an audience; they wish to justify +themselves. These petitions--" + +"Were always granted. I have heard them myself." + +"What resulted from them?" + +"Nothing that I did not already know. Did you not feel the armor under +Hilderic's robe, wrest the dagger from his hand yourself?" + +"Alas, yes! Yet I so easily distrust myself. Ambition, desire for this +crown (one of my heaviest sins), made me only too ready to believe in +Hilderic's guilt. And now the captive King, protesting his innocence, +appealing to a warning letter received by him on that day, which would +explain and prove everything, requests another trial. Yet you have +fulfilled the prisoner's wish and searched for it in the place he +named?" + +"Certainly," said Verus, quietly, his lifeless features growing even +more rigid, more sternly controlled. "That letter is an invention. As +Hilderic repeatedly asserted that he had concealed it in a secret +drawer of 'Genseric's Golden Chest,'--you know the coffer, Gibamund?--I +searched the whole chest with my own hands and alone. I even found the +secret drawer and opened it; nothing of the kind was there. Nay, at the +prisoner's earnest entreaties, I had the coffer carried to his dungeon +and examined by himself in the presence of witnesses. He, too, found +nothing." + +"And no one could have previously removed the letter?" asked Gelimer. + +"You and I alone have the keys to the chest which contains the most +important documents. But I must leave you now," said the priest. "I +have many letters to write to-night. Farewell!" + +"I thank you, my Verus. May the angel of the Lord watch over me in +Heaven as faithfully as you watch and care for me on earth." + +The priest closed his eyes a moment, then smiling faintly, nodded, +saying: "That is my prayer also." + +He glided noiselessly across the threshold. + + + + CHAPTER XXI + +Hilda followed Verus's retreating figure with a long, long look; at +last, with a slight shake of her beautiful head, she went up to Gelimer +and said: "Do not be angry, my King, if I ask a question which nothing +gives me the right to utter, except my anxiety for your welfare, and +that of all our people." + +"And my love for you, brave sister-in-law," replied Gelimer, gently +stroking her flowing golden hair, and seating himself on the couch +again. "For," he added, smiling, "though you are a wicked pagan and +often cherish--as I well know--secret resentment, nay, animosity, +against me, I love you, foolish, impetuous young heart." + +She sank down at his feet, on a high, soft cushion covered with leopard +skins, while Gibamund paced slowly up and down the spacious hall, often +gazing out through the lofty arched window over the wide sea. No light +was burning in the apartment; but the full moon, which meanwhile had +risen above the dark flood and the harbor wall, poured in the full +splendor of her rays, which, falling on the features of the three noble +human beings, illumined them with a spectral light. + +"I will not," Hilda began, "as Zazo and my Gibamund have repeatedly +done, until you wrathfully forbade it, warn you against this priest, +who--" + +With neither impatience nor anger, Gelimer interrupted: "Who first +discovered the wiles of Pudentius; who revealed to us the treachery of +Hilderic; to whom alone I am indebted for my escape from assassination +that night; who has saved the kingdom of the Vandals from the snare." + +Gibamund paused in his walk. + +"Yes, it is true. I had almost said, _unfortunately_ true. For I would +rather have owed it to any other man." + +"It is so strikingly true that even our Zazo, who at first accused him +harshly to me, could scarcely find any objection to mutter, when I took +the brilliant man among my councillors and intrusted to him (for he is +an expert in letter-writing) the care of the correspondence. And how +unweariedly he has toiled since, priest and chancellor at the same +time! I marvel at the number of papers he lays before me every morning; +I do not believe he sleeps three hours." + +"Men who neither sleep nor fight, drink nor kiss, are unnatural to me," +cried Gibamund, laughing. + +"I do not warn," said Hilda, "but I ask"--she laid her hand lightly on +the King's arm--"how does it happen, how is it possible, that you, the +warlike Prince of the Vandals, loved this gloomy Roman, this renegade, +better than all who stood nearest to you?" + +"There you are mistaken, fair Hilda," smiled the King, stroking her +hand. + +"Yes," she answered, correcting herself; "doubtless you love Ammata +better; he is the apple of your eye." + +"My father, on his death-bed, confided this brother (he was then only a +prattling boy) to my care. I cherished him in my inmost heart, and +reared him as though he were my own child," said Gelimer, tenderly. "It +is not love," he went on, "that binds me to Verus. What constrains me +to revere in him my guardian spirit on earth, to look up to him with +ardent gratitude, with blind, credulous trust, is the confidence, nay, +the superhuman certainty: yes," here he shuddered slightly, "it is a +revelation of God, a miracle." + +"A miracle?" Hilda repeated. + +"A revelation?" Gibamund asked incredulously, stopping before them. + +"Both," replied the King. "Only, to understand it, you must know more, +you must know all, you must learn how my mind, my soul, was tossed to +and fro by conflicting powers; you must live through with me once more +my wanderings, my perils, and my deliverance. Yes, and you shall, you +who are my nearest and dearest, now and here; who knows when the +impending war will grant us another hour of leisure? + +"Even in my earliest childhood, my father told me, I was not like +ordinary children; I dreamed, I asked questions beyond my years. Then, +it is true, came the happy days of boyhood: arms, arms, and again arms, +my only sport, my only labor, my only study. At that time I grew to the +power and the pleasure in the use of weapons--" his eyes flashed in the +moonlight. + +"Which made you the hero of your people," cried Gibamund. + +"But suddenly an end came. By chance the leader of the hundred who was +commanded to execute the order fell sick, and I was next in the list: +I, a lad of sixteen, was sent with my troop to witness the terrible +tortures of Romans, Catholics, who would not abjure their faith, in the +courtyard of this citadel. The shrieks of agony which pierced through +the thick walls had repeatedly roused the Carthaginians to +insurrection; it was absolutely necessary to guard the dungeons. I had +heard that such things were done; I was told that they were needful; +that the Catholics were all traitors to the kingdom, and the rack was +used only to compel them to reveal the secrets of their disloyal plans. +But I had never witnessed the scene. Now suddenly I beheld it. The boy +of sixteen was himself the commander of the executioners. Horrible! +horrible! About a hundred persons, among them women, old men, boys and +girls scarcely as old as I. I commanded a halt. 'By order of the King!' +replied the Arian priest. I wanted to rush to the aid of the tortured +prisoners. Alas! Verus's whole family were among the victims. I wanted +to tear his gray-haired mother from the stake, from the ascending +flames, amid which, in spite of her iron chains, she writhed, shrieking +in unutterable agony. My own soldiers held me! 'By order of the King!' +they shouted. I struck about me, I foamed, I raged. In vain! I shut my +eyes that I might see the terrible scene no longer! But ah--" + +The King hesitated and passed his hand across his brow. Then he went +on,-- + +"My name, in a shrill scream, reached my ear. I involuntarily opened my +eyes again and saw, stretched toward me, the naked, fettered, arm of +the gray-haired woman. 'Curses on you, Gelimer!' she shrieked. 'Curses +on you upon earth and in hell! Curses on all you Asdings! Curses on the +Vandal people and kingdom! God's vengeance for your own and your +fathers' sins shall pursue you from childhood to old age. Curses, +curses on you, murderer Gelimer!' And I saw her eyes, horribly +disfigured by suffering and hate, piercing mine. Then I sank down in +the convulsions which, later, often attacked me, and lay gasping under +the burden of the thought: even though I myself am free from sin, the +despairing woman cursed me as she died; she bore the curse to the +throne of God. I must bear the burden of guilt of all our family." He +trembled, beads of perspiration stood on his brow. + +"For God's sake, brother, stop! Your illness might return." + +But Gelimer continued: "When I came to my senses, I was no longer a +youth; I was an old man; or crushed, half mad, as you will call it. I +threw off my sword-belt, helmet, shield, and all my weapons, and--oh, +never shall I forget it--that one terrible word alone pressed through +my poor brain, deadening all else: 'Sin--the curse of sin rests upon +me, my family, my people!' + +"I sought comfort. I seized the Bible. I had been taught that God +speaks to us through the oracles of the Sacred Book. With a sharp +dagger in my hand I unrolled the passages of Holy Writ. I appealed to +God. 'O Lord, wilt Thou really punish me for the sins of my ancestors?' +I struck haphazard with my dagger at the open page; it pierced the +verse: 'For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity +of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.' + +"I almost died of terror. Once more I controlled myself. From the +street below rose the blast of the Vandal horns; glittering in +brilliant armor, our horsemen were going out to battle with the Moors. +That was my joy, my pride. Twice already I myself had mingled in the +victorious conflict. My heart, my courage, my joy in life, revived. I +said to myself: 'Even though all pleasure is forever dead to me, my +people, the Vandal kingdom, the hero's duty to live, to fight, to die +for his country, summon me. Is this, too, nothing? Is sin, too, an idle +nothing?' Again, in another place, I questioned the word of God. I +closed the roll, opened it again, and my dagger's point touched the +words: All is vanity! + +"Then I sank down in despair. So people and country and heroism, which +our ancestors had fostered and praised as at once the highest duty and +the greatest pleasure,--this, too, is vanity, is sin before the eyes of +the Lord." + +"It is a cruel chance," said Gibamund, wrathfully. + +"And it is folly to believe it," cried Hilda. "O Gelimer, thou hero, +grandson of Genseric, does not every pulsation of your heart give the +lie to this gloomy delusion." She sprang up, throwing back her flowing +hair and fixing a fiery glance upon him. + +"Sometimes, doubtless, fair leader of the Valkyrie," replied Gelimer, +smiling. "And especially since--since God saved me by a miracle. And +fear not, granddaughter of Hildebrand, you will have no cause to be +ashamed of your brother-in-law, the Vandal King, when the tuba of +Belisarius summons us to battle." He raised his noble head, clenching +his fist. + +"Oh, joy to us, my husband," cried Hilda, "that is still the inmost +care of his being--the hero!" And she eagerly pressed her husband's +hand. + +"Who knows the inmost care of his own being?" Gelimer went on. "At that +time--and for years after--all joy in the pomp and glitter of arms was +over for me. I was so ill! At that second oracle the convulsions +returned; and later they came very frequently, so that my father was +compelled to yield to my earnest desire, for I was not yet fit for +military service. I was permitted to enter a monastery of the monks of +our religion as a pupil, and to remain there in the solitude of the +desert. I spent many years within those walls, and during that time I +burned all the war songs which I had written in our language to sing to +the accompaniment of the harp." + +"Oh, what a shame!" exclaimed Hilda. + +"But a few were preserved by the lips of our soldiers," said Gibamund, +consolingly; "for instance,-- + + "'Grandsons most noble + Of ancestors noblest, + Ancient blood of the Asdings, + Gold-panoplied race + Of mighty Genseric, + To ye hath descended + The Sea-Kings' power.'" + +"And the fatal harvest of his sins!" said Gelimer, bowing his head +gloomily. He was silent for a time, then he began again,-- + +"Instead of the Vandal verse, I now composed Latin penitential hymns. +My brothers thought that the tortures of the condemned groaned, the +flames of hell darted through these trochees. Doubtless there were +flames--those which I had seen consume living human beings. There was +no mortification, no asceticism, which I did not practise to excess. I +raged against my flesh; I hated myself, my sinful soul, my body, which +dragged with it the curse of mortal sin. I fasted, I scourged myself, I +wore the nail-studded belt till it pierced deep wounds. I secretly +invented fresh tortures, when the abbot forbade the undue infliction of +the old ones. At the same time I devoured all the books in the +monastery and the libraries of Carthage. I persuaded my father to let +me go to Alexandria, to Athens, to Constantinople, to hear the teachers +there. I had become more learned, not wiser, when I returned from those +schools to the monastery in the desert. At last my father summoned me +from this monastery to his deathbed; he committed to me, as a sacred +legacy, the care of my youngest brother, the child Ammata. I could not +selfishly hasten from my father's grave to the desert, as I desired; +the care of the child was a human, healthy duty which restored me to +the world. I lived for the darling boy." + +"No father could watch over him more tenderly," cried Gibamund. + +"At that time I was urged to marry. The King, the whole nation wished +it. The lady belonged to the royal race of the Visigoths, and came to +visit Carthage. A beautiful, noble, brilliant Princess, she charmed my +heart and ray eyes. I ruled both, and said, No." + +"To live solely for Ammata?" asked Hilda. + +"Not that alone. The thought entered my mind," his brow clouded again, +"the curse which the old woman had called down upon my head should not, +according to those terrible words of Scripture, be transmitted by me +from generation to generation. I should tremble to see in my children's +faces the features of their accursed father. So I remained unwedded." + +"What a gloomy idea!" Gibamund whispered in the ear of his beautiful +wife, as, drawing her tenderly toward him, he kissed her cheek. + +"I suppose it was at that time," said Hilda, "that you composed that +denunciation which condemns all love as sin?" + + "Maledictus amor sextus, + Maledicta oscula, + Sint amplexus maledicti + Inferi ligamina." + +"It is all untrue," she added smiling, warmly returning her husband's +embrace. + +But Gelimer went on: "The result will teach us the truth--on the Day of +Judgment. The care of the boy cured me. I again turned to the practice +of arms; it would soon be necessary to teach my pupil their use. But a +still greater aid was the duty--" + +"You owed your people and your native land," interrupted Hilda. + +"Yes," added Gibamund. "At that time the Moors had proved greatly +superior to our effeminate troops, and especially our unwarlike King. +We were defeated in every battle, and could no longer hold our own in +the open field against the camel-riders. Our frontier was harried year +after year. Nay, the robbers of the desert grew bold enough to +penetrate deep into the heart of the proconsular province, till they +made forays to the very gates of Carthage. Then I was summoned to +become the shield of my people; I did so gladly. The old love of arms +waked anew, and I said to myself: 'No vain, sinful greed for fame urges +you on.'" + +"What? Is heroism called a sin?" cried Hilda. "You were fighting only +to defend your people." + +"Ah, but he found much pleasure in it," replied Gibamund, smiling at +his wife. "And he often pursued the Moors farther into the desert, and +in following them killed many more with his own hand than the +protection of Carthage would have required." + +"May Heaven pardon all that I did beyond what was necessary," said +Gelimer, in a troubled tone. "The thought, 'It is a sin,' often +paralyzed my arm, even in the midst of battle. Often, too, I was +overwhelmed by the old melancholy, the torturing fear of sin, the +consciousness of guilt, the burden of the curse of the burning woman, +the words piercing to the quick: 'All is sin, all is vanity!' + +"Then came the day which brought to me the most terrible +ordeal,--tortures little less than those suffered by the Catholics, the +parents and relatives of Verus, and at the same time the decision, +rescue, deliverance, through Verus. Yes, as Jesus Christ is my Redeemer +in Heaven, this priest became my savior, my redeemer on earth." + +"Do not blaspheme," warned Gibamund. "I, unfortunately, am not so +devout a Christian as you; but the Saviour is only like unto, not equal +with, God--" + +"You have learned your Arian creed by heart, my dear one," cried Hilda, +laughing. "But old Hildebrand said he was neither like nor equal to the +gods of our ancestors." + +"No, for they are demons," said Gelimer, wrathfully, making the sign of +the cross. + +"Yet I should not like to compare the gloomy Verus with Christ," +replied Gibamund. + +"I had felt toward him as you, as Zazo, as almost all did; he did not +attract, he rather repelled me. That he--he alone of all his kindred, +whose death for their faith he had witnessed, should have adopted the +religion of their executioners! Was it from fear, or really from +conviction? I distrusted him! It displeased me, too, that King +Hilderic, the friend of the Byzantines, whose plots against my own +succession to the throne I already suspected, so greatly favored him. +How greatly I wronged Verus there he has now proved; he--he alone saved +me and the Vandal kingdom. Thus he has done visibly what God's sign +announced to me in the most terrible moment of my life. Now listen to +what only our Zazo yet knows; I told him, as an answer to his warning. +Hear, marvel, and recognize the signs and wonders of God." + + + + CHAPTER XXII + +It was three years ago. We had again marched against the Moors, this +time to the southwest to meet the tribes which pitch their tents at the +foot of the Auras Mountains. We passed through the Proconsularis, then +Numidia, and from Tipasa forced the foe out of the level country up the +steep mountains, where, amid inaccessible rocks, they sought refuge. We +encamped on the plain, keeping them surrounded until hunger should +force them to yield. Days, weeks elapsed. The time grew too long for +me, and often, riding along the mountain chain, I sought some spot +where lower cliffs might render it possible to scale or storm them. + +"On one of these lonely rides (I needed no companion, for the enemy did +not venture down into the valley) I had gone a long, long distance from +our camp. Riding in a wide circuit around a projecting cliff, I lost +the right direction in the vast, monotonous desert. I had never +examined this side of the mountains, they seemed less difficult to +scale; I felt no anxiety about returning, though my panting horse had +covered many a mile,--the prints of his hoofs would guide me back. +Already the rays of the ardent sun were falling more aslant, and brown +mists were gathering around the glowing disk. I wished to see what lay +beyond the nearest cliff, and, guiding my horse close to the rocky +base, I turned the corner. Instantly a terrible sound deafened my +ears,--a roar that made every nerve quiver. My horse reared in terror; +I saw, only a few paces in front of me, a huge lion, a monster in size, +crouching to spring. I hurled my spear with all my force; but at the +same moment my horse, frantic with fear, reared still higher, +overbalanced himself, and fell backward, burying me under his weight. A +sharp pain in the thigh was the last thing I felt. Then my senses +failed." + +He paused, deeply agitated by the remembrance of the scene. + +Hilda, her lips half parted, gazed at him in breathless suspense. "A +lion?" she faltered. "They usually shun the desert." + +"Yes," said Gibamund. "But they like to prowl among the mountains close +to the border. I know that you were brought back to Carthage with a +broken thigh," he added. "Many, many weeks passed before you were +cured; but I was not aware--" + +"When I recovered consciousness the sun was setting. It was burning +hot--everything--the air, the dry sand on which the back of my head +rested (for the helmet had slipped off in my fall), the heavy horse +which lay motionless on my right leg and thigh. He had broken his neck. +I tried to drag myself from beneath the heavy burden. Impossible; I +could not move the broken limb. By bracing my right hand and arm on the +sand, I attempted to raise the upper part of my body above the carcass +of the horse. I succeeded. Directly in front of me was the lion! The +animal lay motionless on his belly a few feet away; the handle of my +spear protruded from his breast just beside his right fore-paw. My +heart exulted at his death. But alas, no! Now that I had stirred, a low +angry growl came from his half-open jaws. The mane bristled; he tried +to rise, but could not, and remained lying where he had fallen. Then +the claws clenched the sand deeper, evidently in the attempt to drag +the body nearer, while the monster's glittering eyes were fixed full on +mine. And I?--I could not draw back a single inch. Then--I will not +deny it--fear, base, abject, trembling terror seized me. I let myself +fall back upon the sand; I could not bear the horrible sight. Through +my brain darted the thought: 'Woe betide you, what will be your fate?' +And in my despair, my mortal terror, I shrieked as loud as I could, +'Help, help!' But I repented horribly; my voice must have roused the +fury of the wounded animal; a roar answered me,--a roar so frightful in +its rage and menace that my breath failed. When silence followed, my +blood rushed, seething, through my veins. What threatened me? What end +awaited me? No cries for aid would be heard by our troops; many, many +miles of untrodden desert sands separated me from our farthest +outposts. I had not seen during my whole ride a single trace of the foe +among the mountains; how gladly would I have surrendered myself into +their hands as a captive! But to languish here, under the scorching +sun, on the burning sands--to perish slowly, for already thirst was +torturing me with its terrible pangs! Ah, and I had heard that this +agonizing death by thirst might drag along for days in the lonely +wilderness. + +"Then, looking up to the pitiless, leaden sky, I asked in a whisper,--I +confess that I was afraid to wake the lion's voice again,--'God, God of +Justice, why? What sin have I committed to be forced to suffer thus?' + +"Then through my brain darted the terrible answer of Holy Writ: 'I will +visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and +fourth generation.' You are atoning, I groaned, for the sins of your +ancestors; the curse of those who were burned at the stake is burning +you here. You are condemned upon earth and in hell. Is this already +hell that compasses me with such scorching heat, that sears my eyes, my +throat, my chest, nay, my very soul? And hark! More terrible, louder +still, it seemed to me, nearer, rose the roar of the monster. My senses +failed again. + +"I lay unconscious all night, probably passing from the fainting fit +into a dream. In my half-doze I again saw everything that had happened. +'Ah,' I murmured, smiling, 'it is only a dream; it can be nothing but a +dream. Such things do not belong to the world of reality. You are lying +in your tent, with your sword by your side.' Rousing, I grasped at the +hilt. Oh, horrible! I clutched the desert sand. It was no dream. + +"Day had already dawned, and the sun again shone pitilessly with its +scorching rays upon my unprotected face. Now the thought came, 'My +sword! A weapon!' Bear the same torture, the same mortal anguish, for +long hours? No! God forgive the heavy sin, but I would end my life; I +was already condemned to hell! I grasped my sword-belt; an empty sheath +hung from it. The blade had dropped out in the fall. I glanced around +and saw the trusty weapon lying very near. Never had I loved it as I +did at that moment; it was just at my left; I tried to seize it--in +vain. Far as I could stretch my arm, my fingers, the faithful blade +lay--perhaps barely six inches away--but beyond my reach. Then a low +growl reminded me of the lion, and by a great effort (my strength was +failing) I raised myself high enough to see the animal. + +"Alas! Was it an illusion, indicative of approaching madness? For my +thoughts were darting through my brain like clouds whirling before the +blast of the coming storm. No! It was true. The monster had moved +nearer, much nearer than the day before. It was no illusion. I could +estimate clearly. Yesterday, no matter how far he stretched his paw, he +could not reach the large black stone which had fallen from the cliff +directly in front of my horse; now it lay almost by the wild beast's +hind leg. During these hours, urged by increasing hunger, the lion had +pushed himself forward almost the entire length of his body, and now +lay only a foot and a half or two feet from me. If he should advance +still farther--if he should reach me? Helpless, defenceless, I must +allow myself to be devoured alive! Then terror darted through my heart. +In mortal anguish I prayed aloud to God, struggled with Him in appeal: +'No, no, my God, Thou must not abandon me! Thou must save me, God of +Mercy!' At this moment I suddenly remembered the belief of our whole +people concerning the guardian spirits whom God has allotted to us in +the form of helpful human beings. Do you remember? The attendant +spirits." + +"Yes," said Gibamund. "And by fervent prayer we can, in the hour of +supreme peril, constrain God to show us the guardian spirit sent by Him +to our rescue." + +"My ancestor, too," said Hilda, "believed in them firmly. He said that +our forefathers imagined the guardian spirits in the form of women who +invisibly followed the chosen heroes everywhere to protect them. But +since the Christian religion came--" + +"These demon women have left us," said Gelimer, crossing himself, "and +God has assigned to us _men_, who are our keepers, counsellors, +saviors, and guardian spirits here on earth. 'Send me, O God,' I cried, +in an agony of entreaty, 'send me in this hour of utmost need the man +whom Thou hast appointed to be my guardian spirit here on earth. Let +him save me! And so long as I breathe, I will trust him as I would +Thyself, will revere in him Thy wondrous power.' + +"When I had ended this fervent prayer, my heart suddenly grew lighter. +True, great weakness, almost faintness, stole over me; but there +blended with it something infinitely sweet, inexpressedly happy and +full of relief And now, in my feverish illusion, I suddenly beheld +alluring visions of deliverance; the terrible thirst which tortured me +painted a spring of delicious water gushing from the rocks close beside +me. The rescuers, too, were already coming! Not Zazo, not Gibamund; I +knew that they had marched against other Moors, far, far westward of my +camp. No, it was some one else, whose features I could not see +distinctly. He dashed forward on a neighing horse; he slew the lion; he +dragged the constantly-increasing weight of my dead horse from my body. +Then I heard only a rushing, ringing noise in my ears, which said: +'Your deliverer is here! Your guardian spirit.' Suddenly the ringing +died away, and--it was no fevered dream--I heard in reality behind me, +from the direction of our camp, the neighing of a horse. With my last +strength I turned my head and saw a few paces behind me a man who had +just sprung from his horse. He was standing in a hesitating, doubting +attitude, as if reflecting, with his hand clenched on his sword-hilt, +gazing at me and the lion." + +"He hesitated?" cried Hilda. "He reflected; A Vandal warrior?" + +"He was no Vandal." + +"A Moor? A foe?" + +"It was Verus, the priest." + +"'My guardian spirit,' I cried, 'my preserver! God has sent you. Take +my whole life!' Then my senses failed again. + +"Verus told me afterwards that he cautiously approached the lion, and, +seeing how deeply the weapon had penetrated, he hastily tore the spear +from the wound; a tremendous rush of blood followed, and the monster +died. Then he dragged me from under the dead horse, lifted me with +difficulty on his own, bound me firmly on its back, and carried me +slowly to the camp. My soldiers had sought me solely in the path along +which they saw me ride out; Verus, who accompanied our army, was the +only one who noticed that, after leaving the encampment that morning, I +turned eastward. And when I was missed, he searched until he found me." + +"Alone?" + +"Entirely alone." + +"How strange!" said Hilda; "how easily, alone, he might have failed in +his purpose!" + +"God enlightened and sent him." + +"And did you--did he never tell others?" + +Gelimer shook his noble head gravely. "The miracles of God are not to +be the subject of idle talk. I earnestly besought his forgiveness that, +formerly, I had almost distrusted him. He generously pardoned me. +'True, I felt it,' he said. 'It grieved me. Now atone by trusting me +fully. For in truth you are right. God really did send me to you; I +_am_ your fate, I am the tool in God's hand that watches over your life +and guides it to its predestined goal. I saw you--as if in a dream, +though I was awake--lying helpless in the desert, and a secret voice +urged me on, saying: "Seek him. Thou shalt become his fate!" And I +could not rest until I had found you.' + +"Now I have confided this to you that you may no longer wound me by +your doubts. No, Hilda, do not shake your head. No objection; I will +suffer none. How your distrust angers me! Has he not saved me a second +time? Do you want a third sign from God, unbeliever? I would not wish +to be incensed against you, so I will leave you. It is late. Believe, +trust, and keep silence." With a bearing of lofty dignity, he left the +room. + +Hilda gazed after him thoughtfully. Then she shrugged her shoulders. +"Mere chance," she said, "and superstition! How can delusion ensnare +such a mind?" + +"Such danger threatens just such minds. I rejoice that mine is less +exalted." + +"And that your soul is healthy!" cried Hilda, starting from her reverie +with a gesture of relief, and throwing both arms around her beloved +husband. + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + +Early on the morning of the third day after the meeting in the great +hall of the palace, Hilda and her young charge, Eugenia, were sitting +together in one of the women's apartments, talking eagerly over the +work at which they were industriously toiling. + +The narrow but lofty arched window afforded a view of the large square +courtyard of the palace. In which there was an active stir of military +preparation. In one portion of the wide space newly arrived Vandal +recruits were being divided into bands of tens and hundreds; in another +they were discharging arrows and hurling spears at targets made of +planks which, in height, width, and general appearance, resembled as +closely as possible Byzantine warriors in full defensive armor. A +special oval enclosure was reserved for the inspection of horses and +camels offered for sale by Moorish traders. The King, Gibamund, and the +Gundings went from group to group. Hilda was sitting on a pile of +cushions, from which, whenever she looked up, she could see the whole +courtyard without the least difficulty. She was working industriously +upon a large piece of scarlet woollen cloth which lay spread over the +laps of both women. Often the needle fell from her hand, while a +radiant glance flashed down at the noble figure of her slender husband. +If he met it and waved his hand to her,--few of her glances escaped his +notice,--a lovely flush of shy, sweet happiness glowed on the young +wife's cheeks. + +Hilda saw that Eugenia stretched her delicate neck forward several +times to obtain a glimpse of the courtyard. But she did not succeed; +her seat was too far back from the window; and when at another attempt +she perceived that her effort had been noticed, she crimsoned with +alarm and shame far more deeply than Hilda had just done from pleasure. + +"You have finished the lower hem," said Hilda, kindly. "Push another +cushion on the stool. You must sit higher now, on account of the work." +The young Greek eagerly obeyed, and a stolen glance flew swiftly down +into the courtyard. But her lashes drooped sorrowfully, and she drew +her gold-threaded needle still faster through the red cloth. + +"New hundreds will soon arrive," remarked Hilda, "and then other +commanders will come into the courtyard." + +Eugenia made no reply, but her face brightened. + +"You have been so diligent that we shall soon finish," Hilda went on. +"The setting sun will see Genseric's old banner floating again in +restored beauty from the palace roof." + +"The golden dragon is nearly mended, only one wing and the claws--" + +"They probably grew dull during the long years of peace, when the +banner lay idle in the arsenal." + +"There were frequent battles with the Moors." + +"Yes, but Genseric's old battle-standard was not shaken from its proud +dreams on account of those little skirmishes. Only small bodies of +mounted troops rode forth, and the majestic signal of war was not +unfurled on the palace. But now that the kingdom is threatened, Gelimer +has commanded that, according to ancient custom, the great banner +should be unfurled on the roof. My Gibamund brought it to me to replace +the worn embroidery with fresh gold." + +"We should have finished it before, if you had not placed those strange +little signs half hidden along the hem--" + +"Hush," whispered Hilda, smiling, "he must not know it." + +"Who?" + +"Why, the pious King. Alas, we shall never understand and agree with +each other!" + +"Why must he know nothing about it?" + +"They are the ancient runes of victory of our people. My ancestor +Hildebrand taught them to me. And who can tell whether they may not +help?" + +As she spoke, she passed her hand over her work with a tender, +caressing motion, humming softly,-- + + "Revered and ancient + Runes so glorious, + Magical symbols + Of victory's bliss, + Float ye and sway + With the fluttering banner + High o'er our heads! + Summon the swift, + Lovely, and gracious + Maids, brave and bold, + Hovering swan-like + Our heads far above! + Givers of victory, + Radiant sisterhood, + Fetter the foe, + Stay their proud columns, + Weaken their sword-strokes, + Shiver their spears, + Break their firm shields, + Shatter their breastplates, + Hew off their helmets!-- + Unto our warriors + Victory send ye; + Joyous pursuit, + Speeding on swift steeds, + Shouting in glee, + After the flying + Ranks of the vanquished!" + +"There! The ancient rune has often helped the Amalungi; why should it +not aid the Asdings? Aha! Now let the dragon fly again. He has +moulted," she added, laughing merrily; "now his wings have grown new." + +Springing to her feet, she raised the long heavy shaft, terminating in +a sharp point, to which the square scarlet cloth was fastened with +gold-headed nails, and with both hands she waved the banner joyously +around her head. It was a beautiful picture: Gibamund and many of the +warriors below saw the floating banner and the lovely woman's head +surrounded by her flowing golden hair. + +"Hail, Hilda, hail!" rose in an echoing shout. + +Startled, the young wife sank on her knees to escape their eyes. Yet +she had heard _his_ voice, so she smiled, happy in her embarrassment, +and charming in her confusion. + +Eugenia, doubtless, felt the winsome spell, for, suddenly slipping down +beside the Princess, she covered her hands and beautiful round white +arms with ardent kisses. "Oh, lady, why are you so glorious? I often +look up to you with fear. When your eyes flash so, when, like Pallas +Athene, you talk so enthusiastically of battle and heroic deeds, fear +or awe steals over me and holds me away from you. Then again, when--as +has so often happened during these last few days--I have seen your shy, +sweet happiness, your love, your devotion to your husband, then, oh, +then--pardon my presumption--I feel as near, as closely akin to you, +as--as--" + +"As a sister, my Eugenia," said Hilda, clasping the charming creature +warmly to her heart. "Believe me, brave, fearless heroism does not +exclude the most loyal, the most devoted wifely love. I have often +argued that question with the most beautiful woman in the whole world." + +"Who is that?" asked Eugenia, doubtfully; for how could any one be +fairer than Hilda? + +"Mataswintha, granddaughter of the great Theodoric, in the laurel-grown +garden at Ravenna. She would have become my friend; but she desired to +hear only of love, nothing of heroism and duty to people and kingdom. +She knows only one right, one duty--love. This separated us sharply and +rigidly. Yet how touchingly both may be united, a beautiful old legend +celebrates. My noble friend, Teja, once sang it for my grandfather and +me to the accompaniment of his harp, in measures so sorrowful and yet +so proud--ah, as only Teja can sing. I will translate it into your +language. Come, let us mend this corner of the golden hem; meanwhile, I +will tell you." + +Both took their seats by the open window again. Once more Eugenia's +glance, still in vain, often flitted over the courtyard, and while the +two were industriously embroidering, the Princess began: + +"It was in ancient times: when eagles shrieked, holy waters flowed from +heavenly mountains. Far, far away from here, in the Land of Thule in +Scandinavia, a noble hero was born of the Woelsung race. His name was +Helgi, and he had no peer on earth. When, after great victories over +the Hundings, the hereditary foes of his family, he sat resting on a +rock in the fir-woods, light suddenly burst from the sky, from whose +radiance beams darted like shining lances, and from the clouds rode +the Valkyries, who--according to the beautiful religion of our +ancestors--are hero-maidens who decide the destinies of battle, and +bear the fallen heroes up to the shield-wainscoted halls of the god of +victory. They rode in helmets and breastplates; flames blazed at the +points of their spears. One of them, Sigrun, came to the lonely +warrior, clasped his hand, greeted him, and kissed his lips beneath his +helmet, and they loved each other deeply. + +"But Sigrun's father had betrothed her to another, and Helgi was +compelled to wage a hard battle for his love. He killed her lover, her +father, and all her brothers except one. Sigrun herself, hovering in +the clouds, had given him the victory, and she became his wife, though +he had slain her father and her brothers. But soon Helgi, the beloved +hero, was murdered by the one brother whom he had spared. True, the +assassin tried to make amends to the widow; but she cursed him, saying: +'May the ship that carries you never move forward, though a fair wind +is blowing! May the steed that bears you stop running, when you are +fleeing from your foes! May the sword you wield cease to cut, and may +it whirl around your own head! May you live in the world without peace, +as the hunted wolf wanders through the forest!' Disdaining all comfort, +she tore her hair, saying: 'Woe betide the widow who accepts +consolation! She never knew love, for love is eternal. Woe to the wife +who has lost her husband! Her heart is desolate; why should she live +on?'" + +Eugenia softly repeated the words: "Woe betide the widow who accepts +consolation! She never knew love, for love is eternal. Woe to the wife +who has lost her husband! Her heart is desolate; why should she live +on?" + +"'Helgi towered above all other heroes, as the ash towers above thorns +and thistles. For the widow there remains but one spot on earth--her +husband's grave. Sigrun will no longer find pleasure in this world, +unless perchance a light should burst from the doors of his tomb, and I +might again embrace him.' + +"And so mighty, so all-constraining is the longing of the true +widow, that it will even break the power of death. In the evening a +maid-servant came running to Sigrun, saying: 'Hasten forth, if you wish +to have your husband again. Look! the mound has opened; a light is +streaming from it; your longing has brought the hero from the heaven of +the god of victory; he is sitting in the mound and beseeches you to +stanch his bleeding wounds.'" + +Eugenia, in a low, trembling voice, repeated: "The longing of the true +widow will even break the power of death." + +"Sigrun went in to Helgi, kissed him, stanched his wounds, and said: +'Your locks are drenched with moisture; you are covered with blood; +your hands are cold--how shall I keep you?' 'You are the sole cause,' +he replied. 'You shed so many tears, and each fell a blood-stain upon +Helgi's breast.' 'Then I will weep no more,' she cried; 'but will rest +upon your heart, as I did in life.' 'You will remain in the mound with +me, in the arms of the dead, though you still live,' cried Helgi, +exultingly. + +"You will remain in the mound, in the arms of the dead, though you +still live," Eugenia repeated. + +"But the legend relates that when Sigrun also died, both were born +again: he a victorious hero, but she a Valkyrie. This is the ballad of +how a woman's true love, a widow's true anguish, conquers death, and, +in omnipotent yearning, even forces a passage into the grave to the +beloved one." + +"And in omnipotent yearning forces a passage into the grave to the +beloved one." + +Hilda looked up suddenly. "Child, what is the matter?" The Princess had +spoken with such enthusiasm that at last she paid no heed to her +listener. But now she heard a low sob, and, in bewilderment, saw the +Greek kneeling on the floor, bending forward over the stool, hiding her +lovely face in both hands; tears were streaming between the slender +fingers. + +"Eugenia!" + +"O Hilda, it is so beautiful. It must be so blissful to be loved! And +it is also happiness to love unto death. Oh, happy Gibamund's Hilda! +Oh, happy Helgi's Sigrun! How this song makes the heart ache and yet +rejoice! How beautiful and, alas, how true it is, that love conquers +all things, and draws the loving woman to her beloved, even to his +grave! They are united in death, if no longer in life. That thought +possesses stronger power than spell or magnet." + +"O sister, does this little heart love so strongly, so fervently, so +genuinely? Speak freely at last. Not a single word during all these +days have you--" + +"I could not! I was so ashamed for myself, and, alas! for him. And I +dare not speak of my love! It is a disgrace and shame. For he, my +bridegroom,--no, my husband,--does not love me!" + +"Indeed he does love you, or why should the reckless noble have wooed +you so humbly?" + +"Alas, I do not know. Hundreds of times during the last few days have +I asked myself that question. I do not know. True, I believed--until +the day before yesterday--it was from love. And often this foolish +heart believes it still. But, no, it was not love. Caprice +weariness--perhaps," and now she trembled wrathfully, "a wager,--a game +that he desired to win and which lost its charm as soon as he +succeeded." + +"No, my little dove! Thrasaric is incapable of that." + +"Oh, yes, oh, yes!" Eugenia sobbed despairingly. "He is capable of it." + +"I do not believe it," said the Princess, and, sitting down beside her, +she lifted the forsaken little bride into her arms as if she were a +child, dried her wet cheeks with the folds of her own white mantle, +stroked her burning lids, smoothed her tangled hair, pressed the +little head to her soft bosom, and rocked gently to and fro, saying +soothingly: "Everything will be well again, little one, and soon; for +he does love you. That is certain." + +A suppressed sob and a slight shake of the head said, No! + +"Certain! I do not know, nor do I wish to know, what that woman hissed +into your ear. But I saw how it wounded you, like a poisoned arrow. +Whatever it may be--" + +"I will never, never, never tell!" the girl fairly shrieked. + +"I do not wish to know, I told you. Whatever his guilt may be, the +Christians have a beautiful saying: 'Love beareth all things.'" + +"Love beareth all things," murmured Eugenia. "But, of course, love +only. Tell me, little sister, do you really love him?" + +The weeping girl, springing from the Princess's clasping arms, stood +erect, and stretching both arms wide exclaimed, in a low tone, "Alas! +Unspeakably!" and threw herself again on her friend's breast. Her large +soft eyes sparkled through her tears as she went on in a low whisper, +as though fearing that strangers might hear in the secluded chamber: +"That is my sweet secret,--the secret of my shame." She smiled +radiantly. "I loved him long ago, I believe even as a child. When he +came to my father to buy grain for his villas, he lifted me in his +strong arms like a feather, until I--gradually--forbade it. The older I +grew, the more ardently I loved, and therefore the more timidly I +avoided him. Oh, do not betray it as long as you live--when he +seized me, bore me away in the public street--fiercely as my wrath, my +honor rebelled, deeply as I suffered from pity for my father--yet +yet--yet! While struggling desperately in his iron arms, screaming for +help--yet!--in the midst of all the mortal fright and anger, there +blazed here in my heart, secretly, a warm, happy, blissful emotion: 'He +loves me; he tortures me from love!' And, amid all the keen suffering, +I was happy, nay, proud, that he dared so bold a deed for love of me! +Can you understand, can you forgive that?" + +Hilda smiled bewitchingly: "Forgive? No! I am utterly bewildered with +sheer pleasure. Forgive _me_, little one. I had not expected from you +so much genuine, ardent woman's love! But, you obstinate little +creature, you hypocrite,--why did you so long conceal and deny your +feelings toward him from your father and your friend?" + +"Why? That is perfectly plain," exclaimed the girl, indignantly. "From +embarrassment and shame. It is terrible, it is a frightful disgrace, +for a young girl, instead of hating the man who seized her in the +public market-place, and even kissed her at the same time, to love him. +It is utterly abominable." + +Half weeping, half smiling, she hid her face on her friend's breast, +tenderly kissing a little gold cross that she wore round her neck +attached to a thin silver chain, and lovingly pressing to her bosom a +bronze semi-circle, inscribed with runes, that she wore on her arm. + +"His betrothal and, alas, his marriage gift," she sighed. + +"Yes, you love him deeply," said Hilda, smiling. "And he? He sent my +Gibamund to me with frequent messages of the anguish he was suffering, +and he was as grateful as a blind man who has been restored to sight +when I told him that he was indeed wholly unworthy of you; but if he +really desired to win you for his wife, he must ask you if you would +wed him, and then beg your father for your hand. This simple bit of +wisdom made him as happy as a child. He followed the counsel, and +now--" + +"Now?" Eugenia interrupted, in almost comical indignation. "Now he has +not been seen at all for nearly three days. Who knows how far away he +may be?" + +"Not very far," cried Hilda, laughing; "he is just riding into the +courtyard below." + +Eugenia's little head was at the window like a flash of lightning. A +half-stifled cry of joy escaped her lips, then she instantly stooped +again. + +"Oh, oh, how magnificent he looks!" cried Hilda, clasping her hands +with the most joyful surprise. "In full, heavy armor, a huge bear-head +with gaping jaws on his helmet--" + +"Oh, yes! He killed it himself on the Auras Mountain," murmured the +little bride. + +"And how the skin floats around his mighty shoulders! He carries a +spear as thick as a sapling, and on his shield--What is the emblem? A +stone-hammer?" + +"Yes, yes," cried Eugenia, eagerly, lifting her head cautiously to the +window-sill, "that is his house-mark. His family descends, according to +ancient tradition, from a red-bearded demon with a hammer--I don't +remember the name." + +"What demon?" exclaimed Hilda. "The god Donar is his ancestor, and +Thrasaric does him honor. He is talking with Gibamund. They are looking +up; he is saluting me. Oh dear, how pale and sad the poor giant looks!" + +"Is that true?" The little brown head flew up again. + +"Stoop, little one! He must not see that we are far less able to bear +the yearning than he. My husband is waving his hand to me. He is coming +upstairs; Thrasaric seems to be following him." + +Eugenia had already vanished in the next room. + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + +Hilda flew to the threshold to meet her husband, and the young couple +tenderly embraced. + +"Are you alone?" asked Gibamund, glancing around him. "I thought I saw +your little antelope at the window." + +Hilda pointed silently to the curtains at the door of the adjoining +room; her husband nodded. "You will have a visitor presently," he said, +raising his voice. "Thrasaric wishes to speak to you. He has all sorts +of important things to say." + +"He will be welcome." + +"Have you finished the banner?" + +"Oh, yes." + +Seizing the pole, she raised the heavy standard aloft; the scarlet +cloth, more than five feet long and two and a half feet wide, flowed in +long heavy folds around the two slender figures. It was a beautiful, +solemn sight. + +Gibamund took the banner from her. "I will place it on the battlements +of the loftiest tower, that it may wave a bloody welcome to our foes. +Oh, thou choicest jewel, shield of the Vandal fame, Genseric's +victorious standard, never shalt thou fall into the hands of the foe so +long as I draw breath!" he cried enthusiastically. "I swear it by the +head of the beloved wife over which thy folds are floating." + +"Neither your eyes nor mine shall ever witness that. I, too, swear it," +said Hilda, with deep earnestness, and a slight shiver ran through her +limbs as a gust of wind blew the scarlet cloth closely around her +shoulders and breast. + +Gibamund kissed the fair brow and the beautiful eyes which were lifted +with a radiant light to his own, and hurried out of the room with the +banner. On the threshold he met Thrasaric. Hilda sat down again beside +the window. + +"Welcome, Thrasaric!" she said loudly, as the curtain in the doorway of +the adjoining room waved to and fro. "I commend you. In full armor! It +suits you better than--other costumes. I hear that you have been made +commander of many thousand men. You are to fill Zazo's place until his +return. What brings you to me?" + +These friendly words evidently soothed the embarrassment of the giant, +whose face had crimsoned when he entered the apartment. He cast a +searching glance around the room, hoping to discover some trace--some +article of clothing; but he did not find it. His whole soul was burning +with the desire to speak of Eugenia, to ask about her, to learn her +feelings. Yet he so feared to approach the subject. He did not know +whether his bride had told her friend of his heavy, heavy sin. He +feared it. Surely it was probable that the Princess had asked the girl +the cause of her terror; and why should Eugenia keep silence? Why +should she spare him? Had he deserved it? Had not the indignant girl, +with the utmost justice, cast him off forever? All these questions, +over which he had been pondering, now pressed at once on his bewildered +brain. He was so bitterly ashamed of himself, he would rather have +marched alone to meet Belisarius's entire army than talk now with this +noble woman; yet he had boldly encountered harder things. As he made no +reply, but merely stood with laboring breath, Hilda repeated the +question,-- + +"What brings you to me, Thrasaric?" + +He must answer--he saw that. So he replied, but Hilda was almost +startled when he cried loudly, "A horse." + +"A horse?" asked the Princess, slowly. "What am I to do with it?" + +Thrasaric was glad to be able to speak, and at some length, of subjects +not connected with Eugenia. So he now answered, quickly and easily: "To +ride it." + +"Yes," laughed Hilda, "I suppose so! But to whom does the horse +belong?" + +"To you. I give it to you. Gibamund has permitted it. He commands you +to accept it from me. Do you hear? He commands." + +"Well, well! I haven't refused yet. So I thank you cordially. What kind +of horse is it?" + +"The best one on earth." + +The answers now came with the speed of lightning. + +"Gibamund and my brother-in-law said that of Cabaon's stallion." + +"It is the very horse." + +"That belongs to Modigisel." + +"Not now." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, for many reasons. In the first place, it is now yours. Secondly, +the animal lately ran away from Modigisel at night, was carried off. +Thirdly, Modigisel is dead. And, fourthly, the stallion belongs to me." + +These replies had come almost too rapidly. Hilda gazed at him without +understanding. + +"Modigisel dead? Incredible!" + +"But it is true. And really--except for himself--no great misfortune. A +short time ago, at night, I helped a young Moorish prisoner to escape. +I could not foresee that he would use the horse in doing so. But +afterwards I rejoiced over it, very, very deeply. Early this morning, a +Moor, not the fugitive, brought the stallion into my courtyard. The lad +I had saved was Sersaon, Cabaon's famous grandson. Cabaon, in his +gratitude, sent me the magnificent horse." + +"But must not you return him to Modigisel?" + +"Perhaps so. On no account--never, never--would I have kept the animal. +I would rather have the devil in my stable; I would rather ride the +steed of hell!" + +"Why?" + +"Why? Why? You ask why?" cried Thrasaric, joyously. "Then you do not +know?" + +"If I knew, I would not ask," said Hilda, calmly. + +But she was startled by the effect of these words; the gigantic man +threw himself on his knees before her, pressing her hands till she +could almost have screamed with pain, as he cried: "That is glorious, +that is divine!" But the next instant he sprang up again, saying +mournfully, "Alas! This is even worse. Now I must tell her myself. +Forgive me. No, I am not mad. Just wait. It is coming.--So I ordered +the horse to be led at once to Modigisel. The slave returned +immediately with the message that Modigisel was dead." + +"Then it is true? The day before yesterday in perfect health! How is it +possible?" + +"Astarte, of course. You know nothing about such creatures. His +freedwoman and friend; she lived in the next house. It is very strange. +The slaves say that after--after returning from the Grove of the Holy +Virgin," he stammered the words with downcast eyes, "Modigisel and +Astarte had a violent quarrel. That is, she did not make an outcry--she +said very little; but she demanded for the thousandth time her complete +freedom. Modigisel had reserved numerous rights. He refused, shouted, +and raged; he is said to have beaten her. But yesterday they made +friends again. Astarte and the Gundings dined with him. After the +banquet they strolled about the garden. Before their eyes Astarte broke +four peaches from a tree. She and the two Gundings ate three of them; +Modigisel the fourth. And, after eating it, he dropped dead at +Astarte's feet." + +"Horrible! Poison?" + +"Who dares to say so? The peach grew on the same tree with the others. +The Gundings bear witness to it; they do not lie. And the Carthaginian +is impenetrably calm, even now." + +"You have seen her, have talked with her?" + +The powerful warrior flushed crimson: "She came to my house at once, +from the dead man. But I--well--she went away again very soon. She was +hastening to take possession of the villa at Decimum, which Modigisel +bequeathed to her long ago." + +"What a woman!" + +"Nay, no woman,--a monster, but a beautiful one. So the horse remained +in my possession. But I--will not keep the animal. Then I thought that +of all the women of our nation you are the most glorious--I mean, the +best rider. And I believe war will soon break out, and, from what I +know of you, I believe that nothing will prevent you from going with +Gibamund to the field." + +"There you are right," laughed Hilda, with sparkling eyes. + +"Then I begged Gibamund--and so the stallion is yours, do you see? He +is just being led into the courtyard." + +"A magnificent creature indeed! I thank you." + +"So that is the story of the horse." + +He spoke very sorrowfully, for he did not know what to say next. + +Hilda came to his assistance. + +"And your brother?" she asked. + +"Unhappily he has disappeared. I have searched for him everywhere--in +his own villas and mine. There was not a trace. The body of the +beautiful Ionian who--died that night, could not be found either. There +was no sign of it in the city or country. It is possible that he left +Carthage by ship. So many have gone out of the harbor during these last +few days, even--" he suddenly turned pale--"even bound for Sicily." + +"Yes," said Hilda, carelessly, glancing out of the window. "The horse +is a splendid animal." + +"She is changing the subject," thought Thrasaric. "Then it is so." + +"Several sailed also for Syracuse," he went on, watching her intently. + +The Princess leaned from the casement. "Only one, so far as I know," +she replied indifferently. + +"Then it is true," cried the Vandal, suddenly, in despair. "She has +gone. She has gone to her father in Syracuse. She has deserted me +forever! O Eugenia! Eugenia!" Pressing his arm against the window-frame +in bitter anguish, he laid his face on it. + +So he did not see how violently the curtains at the door of the next +room swayed to and fro. + +"O Princess," he cried, controlling himself, "it is only just. I ought +not to blame you, I must praise you for having snatched her from my +arms on that wild night. Nor can I condemn her for casting me off. No, +do not try to comfort me. I know I am not worthy of her. It is my own +fault. Yet not mine alone; the women--that is, the maidens of our +nation--are also to blame. Do you look at me in wonder? Well, then, +Hilda, have you taken a single Vandal girl to your heart as a friend? +Eugenia, the Greek, the child of a plain citizen, is far more to you +than the wives and daughters of our nobles. I will not say--far be it +from me--that the Vandal women are as corrupt and degenerate as, alas, +most of us men. Certainly not! But under this sky, in three +generations, they, too, have deteriorated. Gold, finery, luxury, and +again gold, fill their souls. They long for wealth, for boundless +pleasure, almost like the Romans. Their souls have grown feeble. No one +understands or shares Hilda's enthusiasm." + +"Yes, they are vain and shallow," said the Princess, sadly. + +"Is it any wonder, then, that we men do not seek to wed these +pretentious dolls? Because I am rich, fathers and, still more, eager, +anxious mothers, and even--well, I will not say it! In short, I might +have married many dozen Vandal girls, had I desired to do so. But I +said, no. I loved no one of them. I cared only for this child, this +little Greek. Her I love ardently, from the very depths of my soul, and +faithfully too. For my whole life!" + +Hilda's glance darted over him from her high seat to the swaying +curtains. + +"And now--now, I love even more than ever the pearl I have lost. She +honors the love she once felt for me by sparing the unworthy man. She +has not told you the wrong I did her, the crime I committed. But--" he +straightened himself to his full height, his manly, handsome +countenance illumined by the loftiest feeling--"I have imposed it upon +myself as a penance, if she said nothing, to confess it to you with my +own lips. Write and tell her so; perhaps then she will think of me more +kindly. It is the heaviest punishment to tell you; for, Princess Hilda, +I revere you as I would a goddess, aye, the protecting goddess of our +people. The thought that you will now despise me is like death. But you +shall know! I have--so I am told; I do not know, but it is doubtless +true--I have Eugenia--I did it while intoxicated, after drinking an +ocean of wine--but I did it! And I am not worthy ever to see her again. +I have--" + +"Not you, my beloved, it was the wine," cried an exultant voice, and a +slender figure clung passionately yet shyly to his broad breast, and, +while ardently embracing him with her right arm, she laid the little +fingers of her left hand upon his mouth to stay his words. + +"Eugenia!" exclaimed the giant, flushing crimson. "You heard me? You +can forgive? You still love me?" + +"Unto death! Unto the grave! No, beyond death. I would seek you in the +grave if I lost you! With you, in life and in death! For I love you!" + +"And that is eternal," said Hilda, passing her hand lightly over the +young wife's hair. Then she floated out of the room, leaving the happy +lovers alone with their joy. + + + + + _BOOK TWO_ + + IN THE WAR + + + + + CHAPTER I + + +PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA TO CORNELIUS CETHEGUS CAESARIUS: + +There is no longer either sense or reason in concealing my name; the +bird would still be recognized by its song. And now I am almost certain +that these sheets will not be seized in Constantinople; for we shall +soon be swimming on the blue waves. + +So it is war with the Vandals! The Empress has accomplished her design. +She treated her husband, after he hesitated, very coldly, even +insolently. That is always effectual. What motive urged and still +impels her to this war, Hell knows certainly, Heaven vaguely, and I not +at all. + +Perhaps the blood of the heretics must again wash away a few spores of +her sins. Or she expects to gain the treasures brought to the capitol +in Carthage from every land by Genseric's corsair ships,--the riches of +the temple of Jerusalem are among them. In short, she wanted war, and +we have it. + +A devout bishop from an Asiatic frontier city--his name is +Agathos--came to Constantinople. The Empress summoned him to a private +audience. I heard it from Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, who was the +only person present. Theodora showed him a letter which he had written +to the Persian King. The Bishop fell prostrate on the floor with +fright. She pushed him with the tip of her golden slipper. "Rise, O +Agathos, man of God," she said, "and dream to-night of what I now say +to you. If you do not tell this dream to the Emperor, before tomorrow +noon I will give him this letter to-morrow afternoon, and before +to-morrow evening, O most holy man, you will be beheaded." + +The Bishop went out and dreamed as he had been commanded--probably +without sleeping. Before the early bath on the following day he sought +Justinian, and, in the utmost excitement,--which was not feigned,--told +him that Christ had appeared to him the night before in a dream and +said: "Go to the Emperor, O Agathos, and rebuke him for having +faint-heartedly given up the plan of avenging me upon these heretics. +Tell him: Thus saith Christ the Lord: 'March forth, Justinian, and fear +not. For I, the Lord, will aid thee in battle, and will force Africa +and its treasures beneath thy rule.'" + +Then Justinian was no longer to be restrained. War was determined. +The opposing Prefect was thrown into prison. Belisarius was made +commander-in-chief. The priests proclaimed the pious Bishop's dream +from the pulpits of all the basilicas. The soldiers were ordered by +hundreds to the churches, where courage was preached to them. Court +officials told the dream in the streets, in the harbor, and on the +ships. By the command of the Empress, Megas, her handsomest court poet, +put it into Greek and Latin verses. They are astonishingly bad, worse +than even our Megas usually writes; but they are easy to learn, so by +day and night soldiers and sailors sing them in the streets and the +wine-shops, as children sing in the dark to keep their courage up; for +our heroes really do not yet feel very anxious to make the holy voyage +to Carthage. So we shout incessantly,-- + + "Christus came to the holy Bishop; Christus warned Justinian: + 'Avenge Christus, Justinianus, on the wicked Arian. + Christus himself will slay the Vandals, Africa give to thy hand!'" + +The poem has two merits: first, it can be repeated as often as you +please; secondly, it makes no difference with which verse you begin. +The Empress says--and of course she must know--that the Holy Ghost +inspired Megas. + +We are working night and day. The shaggy little nags of the Huns are +neighing in the streets of Constantinople. Among these troops are six +hundred excellent mounted archers, commanded by the Hunnish chiefs, +Aigan and Bleda, Ellak and Bala. There are also six hundred Herulians, +led by Fara, a Prince of that people. They are Germans in Justinian's +pay; for "Only diamond cuts diamond," Narses says: "always Germans +against Germans is our favorite old game." + +Strong bands of other Barbarians march also through our streets: +Isaurians, Armenians, and others, under their own leaders. We call them +our allies; that is, we "give" them money or grain, for which they pay +with the blood of their sons. Among the nations of our own empire, the +Thracians and Illyrians are the best soldiers. In the harbor the ships +are rocking, impatiently tugging at their anchors in the east wind, +their eager prows turned toward the west. + +The army is gradually being placed on board of the fleet: eleven +thousand foot, five thousand horse, upon five hundred keels, with +twenty thousand sailors. Among them, as the best war-ships, are one +hundred and two swift-sailing galleys manned by two thousand rowers +from Constantinople; the other sailors are Egyptians, Ionians, and +Cilicians. The whole array presents a beautiful warlike spectacle which +I would rather gaze at than describe; but the most glorious part of it +is the hero Belisarius, surrounded by his bodyguard, the shield and +lance bearers, battle-tried men, selected from all the nations of the +earth. + + * * * * * + +Already half the voyage lies behind us. I am writing these lines to you +in the harbor of Syracuse. + +Hitherto everything has been wonderfully successful; the goddess Tyche, +whom you Latins call Fortuna, is certainly blowing our sails. The +embarkation was completed by the end of June. Then the General's ship, +which was to convey Belisarius, was summoned to the shore in front of +the imperial palace. Archbishop Epiphanius of Constantinople appeared +on board; an Arian whom he had just baptized into the Catholic faith +was brought on deck as the last man; then he blessed the ship, +Belisarius, and all the rest of us, including the Pagan Huns, went down +into his boat again, and, amid the exulting shouts of thousands, led +the way, in advance of the General's vessel, for the whole fleet. We +are very pious people, all of us whom the Empress and the dutifully +dreaming Bishop and Justinian send forth to extirpate the heretics. It +is a holy war--we are fighting for the Christus. We have said it so +often that we now believe it ourselves. + +Our course led past Perinthus--it is now called Heraclea--to Abydos. +There some drunken Huns began to fight among themselves, and two of +them killed a third. Belisarius instantly ordered both to be hung on a +hill above the city. The Huns, especially the kinsmen of the two who +were executed, made a great outcry: according to their law murder is +not punished with death. I suppose the justice of the Huns permits the +heirs of the murdered man to carouse with the murderers at their +expense till they all lie senseless on the ground together. And when +they wake, they kiss each other, and all is forgotten; for the Huns are +worse drinkers than the Germans--and that is saying a great deal. Their +pay contract only requires them to fight for the Emperor; he is not +permitted to deal with them according to the Roman law. Belisarius +assembled the Huns under the gallows from which the two were dangling, +surrounded them with his most loyal men, and roared at them like a +lion. I don't believe they understood his Latin, or rather mine, for I +taught him the speech; but he pointed often enough to the men on the +gallows: they understood that. And now they obey like lambs. + +The voyage continued past Sigeum, Taenarum, Metone, where many of our +men died, for the commissary at Constantinople, instead of baking the +soldiers' bread twice, had lowered it, as raw dough, into the public +baths (how appetizing! but, to be sure, it cost nothing); and when it +was completely saturated with water, had it browned quickly on the +outside upon red-hot plates. So it weighed much heavier (the Emperor +pays for it by weight), and he gained several ounces in every pound. +But it gently melted into most evil-smelling mush, and five hundred of +our men died from it. The Emperor was informed; but Theodora interceded +for the poor commissary (he is said to have paid one-tenth of his +profits for her Christian mediation), and the man received only a +reprimand, so we heard later. From Metone we went past Zacynthos to +Sicily, where, at the end of sixteen days, we dropped anchor in an old +roadstead, now unused,--the place is called Caucana,--opposite Mount +AEtna. + +Now heavy thoughts assailed the hero Belisiarius. He so thirsts for +battle that he dashes blindly wherever a foe is pointed out. Yet +anxiety is increasing. Not one of the numerous spies who were sent +from Constantinople to Carthage long before our departure has +returned--neither to Constantinople, nor to any of the stopping-places +on our route that were assigned to them. So the General knows as much +about the Vandals as he does of the people in the moon. + +What kind of people they are, their method of warfare, how he is to +reach them--he has no idea. Besides the soldiers have fallen back into +their old fear of Genseric's fleet, and there is no Empress on board +who might order some one to dream again. The limping trochees of the +court poet are rarely sung; the men have grown disgusted with the +verses; if any one strikes up the air half unwillingly, two others +instantly drown his voice. Only the Huns and the Herulians--to the +disgrace of the Romans, be it said--refrain from open lamentations; +they remain sullenly silent. But our warriors, the Romans, do not +shrink from loudly exclaiming that they would fight bravely enough on +land, they are used to it; but if the enemy should assail them on the +open sea, they would force the sailors to make off with sails and oars +as fast as possible. They could not fight Germans, waves, and wind, all +at the same time, upon rocking ships, and it was not in their contract +for military service. Belisarius, however, feels most disturbed by his +uncertainty concerning the plans of the enemy. Where is this +universally dreaded fleet hiding? It is becoming mysterious now that we +see and hear nothing of it. Is it lying concealed behind one of the +neighboring islands? Or is it lurking, on the watch for us, upon the +coast of Africa? Where and when shall we land? + +I said yesterday that he ought to have considered this somewhat +earlier. But he muttered something in his beard, and begged me to atone +for his errors to the best of my ability. I must go to Syracuse and, on +the pretext of buying provisions from your Ostrogoth Counts, inquire +everything about these Vandals, of whom he is ignorant and yet ought to +know. So I have been here in Syracuse since yesterday, asking everybody +about the Vandals, and they all laugh at me, saying: "Why, if +Belisarius does not know, how should we? We are not at war with them." +It seems to me that the insolent fellows are right. + + + + CHAPTER II + +Triumph, O Cethegus! Belisarius's former good fortune is fluttering +over the pennons at our mast-heads: the gods themselves are blinding +the Vandals; they are depriving them of their reason, consequently they +must desire their destruction. Hermes is breaking the path for us, +removing danger and obstacles from our way. + +The Vandal fleet, the bugbear of our valiant warriors, is floating +harmless away from Carthage toward the north; while we, with all sails +set--the east wind is filling them merrily--are flying from Sicily over +the blue flood westward to Carthage. We cut the rippling waves as if on +a festal excursion. No foe, no spy, far or near, to oppose us or give +warning of our approach to the threatened Vandals, on whom we shall +fall like a meteor crashing from a clear sky. + +That all this has come to the General's knowledge, and that he can make +instant use of it, is due to Procopius, or--to speak more honestly--to +blind chance, the capricious goddess Tyche. It seems to me, though I am +no philosopher, that she rather than Nemesis guides the destinies of +nations. + +I wrote last that I was running about the streets of Syracuse, somewhat +helplessly, not without being laughed at by the mockers, asking all the +people whether no Vandals had been seen. One--this time it was a Gothic +count named Totila, as handsome as he was insolent--had just answered, +laughing and shrugging his shoulders: "Seek your enemies yourselves. I +would far rather go with the Vandals to find and sink you." I was +thinking how correctly this young Barbarian had perceived the advantage +of his people and the folly of his Regent, when, vexed with the Goths, +with myself, and most of all with Belisarius, I turned a street corner +and almost ran against some one coming from the opposite direction. It +was Hegelochus, my schoolmate from Caesarea, who, I knew, had settled as +a merchant, a speculator in grain, somewhere in Sicily, but I was +ignorant in which city. + +"What are you doing here?" he asked, after the first exchange of +greetings. + +"I?--I am only looking for a trifle," I answered rather irritably, for +I already heard in imagination his jeering laugh. "I am searching +everywhere for a hundred and fifty to two hundred Vandal war-ships. Do +you happen to know where they are?" + +"Certainly I do," he replied, without laughing. "They are lying in the +harbor of Caralis in Sardinia." + +"Omniscient grain-dealer," I cried, rigid with amazement, "where did +you learn that?" + +"In Carthage, which I left only three days ago," he said quietly. + +Then the questioning began. And often as I squeezed the shrewd, +sensible man like a sponge, a stream of news most important for us +flowed out. + +So we have nothing to fear for our fleet from the Vandal war vessels. +The Barbarians as yet have no suspicion that we are advancing upon +them. The flower of their army has gone on the dreaded galleys to +Sardinia. Gelimer feels no anxiety for Carthage, or any other city on +the coast. He is in Hermione, in the province of Byzacena, four days' +journey from the sea. What can he be doing there, on the edge of the +desert? We are, therefore, safe from every peril, and can land in +Africa wherever wind, waves, and our own will may guide us. + +During this conversation, and while I was constantly questioning him, I +had wound my arm around my friend's neck, and now asked him to come to +the harbor with me and look at my ship, which lay at anchor there. It +was a very swift sailer of a new model. The merchant agreed. As soon as +I had him safely on board, I drew my sword, cut the rope which moored +us to the metal ring of the harbor mole, and ordered my sailors to take +us swiftly to Caucana. + +Hegelochus was startled; he scolded and threatened. But I soothed him, +saying: "Forgive this abduction, my friend; it is absolutely necessary +that Belisarius himself, not merely his legal adviser, should talk with +and question you. He alone knows everything that is at stake. And I +will not undertake the responsibility of having failed to inquire about +some important point or of having misunderstood some answer. Some god +who is angered against the Vandals has sent you to me; woe betide me if +I do not profit by it. You must tell the General everything you have +learned; you must accompany our ships, nay, guide them to Africa. This +one involuntary voyage to Carthage will bring you richer profits from +the royal treasures of the Vandals than sailing to and fro with wheat +many hundred times. And the reward awaiting you in Heaven for your +participation in the destruction of the heretics--I will not estimate." + +He grinned, calmed down, then laughed. But the hero Belisarius smiled +far more joyously when he saw before him the man "just from Carthage," +and could question him to his heart's content. How he praised me for +the accident of this meeting! The command to sail was given with the +blast of the tuba. How the sails flew aloft! How proudly our galleys +swept forward! Woe to thee, Vandalia! Woe to the lofty towers of +Genseric's citadel! + + * * * * * + +The swift voyage continued past the islands of Gaulos and Melita, which +divide the Adriatic from the Tyrrhenian Sea. At Melita the wind, as if +ordered by Belisarius, grew still fresher,--a strong east-southeast +gale which, on the following day, drove us upon the African coast at +Caput Vada, five days' march from Carthage. That is, for a swift walker +without baggage; we shall probably require a much longer time. +Belisarius ordered the sails to be lowered, the anchors dropped, and +summoned all the leaders of the troops to a council of war on his own +ship. It was now to be decided whether we should disembark the troops +and march against Carthage by land, or keep them on the fleet and +conquer the capital from the sea. Opinions were very conflicting. + + * * * * * + +The decision has been reached; we shall march against Carthage by land. +True, Archelaus, the Quaestor, protested, saying that we had no harbor +for the ships without men, no fortress for the men without ships. Every +storm might scatter them upon the open sea, or hurl them against the +cliffs along the shore. He also called attention to the lack of water +along the coast region, and the want of means to supply food. "Only let +no one ask me, as quaestor, for anything to eat," he cried angrily. "A +quaestor who has only the office, but no bread, cannot satisfy you with +his position." He advised hastening by sea to Carthage, to occupy the +harbor of Stagnum, which could hold the entire fleet, and was at that +time entirely undefended; thence to rush from the ships upon the city, +which could be taken at the first attack, if the King and his army were +really four days' march from the coast. + +But Belisarius said: "God has fulfilled our most ardent desire; He has +permitted us to reach Africa without encountering the hostile fleet. +Shall we now remain at sea, and perhaps yet meet those ships before +which our men threaten to fly? As for the danger of tempests, it would +be better to have the galleys lost when they are empty, than while +filled with our troops. We have still the advantage of surprising the +unprepared foe; every delay will enable them to make ready to meet us. +Here we can land without fighting; elsewhere and later we must perhaps +battle against the wind and the enemy. So I say, we will land here. +Walls and ditches around the camp will supply the place of a fortress. +And have no anxiety about stores: if we defeat the foe, we shall also +capture his provisions." Thus spoke Belisarius. I thought that, as +usual, his reasoning was weak, but his courage strong. The truth is, he +always chooses the shortest way to the battle. + +The council of war closed. Belisarius's will was carried out. + +We brought the horses, weapons, baggage, and implements of war to land. +About fourteen thousand soldiers and nineteen thousand sailors began to +shovel, to dig, to drive stakes into the hot, dry sand; the General not +only threw out the first spadeful, but, working uninterruptedly, the +last. His perspiration abundantly bedewed the soil of Africa, and the +men were so spurred by his example that they vied with each other +valiantly. Before night closed in, the ditch, the wall, and the +palisade were completed around the entire camp. Only one-fifth of the +archers spent the night on the ships. + +So far all was well. Our galleys still contained an ample store of +provisions, thanks to the hospitality of the Ostrogoths in Sicily. +These simpletons, by the learned Regent's command, almost gave us +everything an army needs for man and horse (the troublesome Totila, who +is no well-wisher of ours, was instantly recalled). In reply to our +amazed questions, they answered, by the learned Cassiodorus's +instructions: "You will pay us by avenging us upon the Vandals." Well, +Justinian will reward them. I wonder if the scholar knows the fable of +how the horse, because he hated the stag, carried the man upon his back +and hunted the stag to death? The free animal had taken the man on his +back for this ride only, but never again was he rid of his captor. But +the water is giving out. What we have with us is scanty, foul, and +putrid; and to march for days under the African sun with no water for +men and beasts--how will it end? + + * * * * * + +I shall really soon believe that we are God's chosen favorites--we, the +chaste-hearted warriors of Justinian the truthful and Theodora! Or have +the Vandals and their King called down upon themselves the wrath of +Heaven so heavily that miracles continually happen against these +Barbarians and in our favor? + +Yesterday evening we all, from the General to the camel, were in sore +anxiety about water. To-day the slave Agnellus--he is a countryman of +yours, O Cethegus, and the son of a fisherman from Stabiae--brought to +my tent whole amphorae of the most delicious spring water, not only for +drinking, but amply sufficient for bathing. With the last strokes of +the spade our Herulians opened a large bubbling spring on the eastern +edge of the camp--an unprecedented thing in the Byzacena province, +between the sea and the "desert,"--so the people here call all the +country southwest of the great road along which we are marching, and +surely quite unjustly, for some of it is very fertile; yet it is old +desert ground and often merges imperceptibly into the real wilderness. +At any rate, this spring gushed forth for us from the surrounding dry +sand. The stream of water is so abundant that men and animals can +drink, boil, and bathe, pour out the foul water from the ships, and +replace it with the best. I hastened to Belisarius and congratulated +him, not only because of the actual usefulness of this discovery, but +because it is an omen of victory. "Water gushes out of the wilderness +for you. General," I exclaimed. "That means an effortless victory. You +are the favorite of Heaven." He smiled. We always like to hear such +things. + + * * * * * + +Belisarius commissioned me to compose an order to be read aloud at the +departure of each body of troops. + +A few dozen of our precious Huns dashed out into the country and seized +some of the harvests just ripening in the fields, over which they +became involved in a discussion with the Roman colonists. As the +Huns, unfortunately, speak their Latin only with leather whips and +lance-thrusts, there were several dead men after the conference,--of +course only on the side of the wicked peasants, who would not let the +horses of the Huns eat their fill of their best grain. Our beloved Huns +cut off the heads of the men whom they had thus happily liberated from +the Vandal yoke, hung them to their saddles, and brought them to the +General for a dessert. Belisarius foamed with rage. He often foams; and +when Belisarius lightens, Procopius must usually thunder. + +So it was now. So I wrote a proclamation that we were the saviors, +liberators, and benefactors of the provincials, and therefore would +neither consider their best grain-fields as litter for our horses nor +play ball with their heads. "In this case," I wrote convincingly, "such +conduct is not only criminal, but extremely stupid. Our little body of +troops could venture to land only because we expect that the +inhabitants of the provinces will be hostile to the Vandals and helpful +to us." But I appealed to our heroes still more impressively, +addressing not their honor or their conscience, but their stomachs! "If +ye die of hunger, O admirable men," I wrote, "the peasants will bring +us nothing to eat. If ye kill them, the dead will sell you nothing more +and the living almost less. You will drive the provincials to be the +allies of the Vandals--to say nothing of God and His opinion of you, +which is already somewhat clouded. So spare the people, at least for +the present, or they will discover too early that Belisarius's Huns are +worse than Gelimer's Vandals. When the Emperor's tax-officers once rule +the land, then, dear descendants of Attila, you will no longer need to +impose any constraint upon yourselves; then the 'liberated' will have +already learned to estimate their freedom. You cannot go as far as +Justinian's tax-collectors, beloved Huns and robbers." The proclamation +was of that purport, only dressed in somewhat fairer words. We are +marching forward. No sign of the Barbarians. Where are they hiding? +Where is this King of the Vandals dreaming? If he does not wake soon, +he will find himself without a kingdom. + + * * * * * + +We were still marching on. One piece of good fortune follows another. + +A day's march westward from our landing place at Caput Vada on the road +to Carthage near the sea, is the city of Syllektum. The ancient walls, +it is true, had been torn down since the reign of Genseric, but the +inhabitants, to repel the attacks of the Moors, had again put nearly +the whole city in a state of defence. Belisarius sent Borais, one of +his bodyguard, with several shield-bearers, to venture a +reconnoissance. It was entirely successful. After nightfall the men +stole to the entrances (they could not be called gates, only openings +of streets), but found them barricaded and guarded. They spent the +night quietly in the ditch of the old fortifications, for there might +still be Vandals in the city. In the morning peasants from the +surrounding country came driving up in carts with racks: it was market +day. Our men threatened the terrified rustics with death if they +uttered a word, and forced the drivers to conceal them under the tilts. +The watchmen of Syllektum removed the barricades to admit the wagons. +Then our soldiers jumped down, took possession of the city without a +sword-stroke. There was not a Vandal in it. We occupied the Curia and +the Forum; we summoned the Catholic Bishop and the noblest inhabitants +of Syllektum,--they are remarkably stupid people,--and told them that +they were now free; happy also, for they were the subjects of +Justinian. At the same time, with swords drawn, our men asked for +breakfast. The Senators of Syllektum gave Borais the keys of their +city, but unfortunately the gates for them were missing; the Vandals or +Moors had burned them long ago. The Bishop entertained them in the +porch of the basilica. Borais said the wine was very good. At the end +of the repast, the Bishop blessed Borais, and asked him to restore the +true, pure faith quickly. The warrior, a Hun, is unfortunately a pagan; +so he had little comprehension of what was expected of him. But he +repeated to me several times that the wine was excellent. So we have +already saved one city in Africa. In the evening we all marched +through. Belisarius enjoined the most rigid discipline. Unfortunately, +a large number of houses burst into flames. + + * * * * * + +Beyond Syllektum we again made a lucky capture. The chief official of +the whole Vandal mail service, a Roman, had been sent out from Carthage +by the King several days before with all his horses, numerous wagons, +and many slaves, to carry the sovereign's commands in all directions +through his empire. On his way to the east he had heard of our landing, +and he sought us out with everything he still had in his possession. +All the letters, all the secret messages of the Vandals, are in the +hands of Belisarius--a whole basket of them, which I must read. + +It really seems as if an angel of the Lord had led us into the +writing-room and the council hall of the Asdings. Verus, the Archdeacon +of the Arians, dictated most of the letters. But we were thoroughly +deceived in this priest. Theodora believed him to be her tool, yet he +has become Gelimer's chancellor. Strange that these secrets were +intrusted to a Roman for conveyance and protection, not to a Vandal. +Besides, must not Verus have known how near we were, when he sent the +papers, unguarded, directly to us. + +True, the most important thing for us to know,--namely, where the King +and his army are at present,--does not appear in these letters, which +were written a week ago. Yet we learn from them at last what induced +him to remain so far from Carthage and the coast, on the edge of the +desert and within it. He has made contracts with many Moorish tribes, +and been promised thousands of foot-soldiers--almost equal in number to +our whole army. These Moorish auxiliaries are gathering in Numidia, in +the plain of Bulla. That is far, far west of Carthage, near the border +of the wilderness. Could the Vandal intend to abandon his capital and +all the tract of country for such a distance, without striking a single +blow, and await us there, at Bulla? + +Belisarius--what a trick of chance!--is now sending to Gelimer by the +Vandal mail system Justinian's declaration of war, and despatching in +every direction to the Vandal nobles, army leaders, and officials an +invitation to abandon Gelimer. The summons is well worded (I composed +it myself): "I am not waging war with the Vandals, nor do I break the +compact of perpetual peace concluded with Genseric. We desire only to +overthrow your Tyrant, who has broken the law and imprisoned your +rightful King. Therefore help us! Shake off the yoke of such shameless +despotism, that you may enjoy liberty and the prosperity we are +bringing you. We call upon God to witness our sincerity." + +Postscript, added after the close of the war: "Strange, yet it is +certainly noble. This appeal did not win a single Vandal to our side +during the entire campaign. These Germans have become enfeebled. But +there was not even _one_ traitor among them!" + + + + CHAPTER III + +Many days' march westward from the road which the Byzantines were +following toward Carthage, and a considerable distance south of Mount +Auras, the extreme limit of the Vandal kingdom in Africa, lay a small +oasis. It was within the sandy desert which extended southward into the +unknown interior of the hot portion of the globe. A spring of drinkable +water, a few date-palms in the circle around it, and, beneath their +shade, a patch of turf of salt grass, affording sufficient fodder for +the camels--that was all. The ground in the neighborhood was flat, +except that here and there rose waves of the yellow, loose, hot sand +swept together by the wind. Nowhere appeared shrub, bush, or hillock; +as far as the eye could rove in the brightest light of day, it found no +resting-place till, wearied by the quest, it sought some point close at +hand. + +But it was night now, and wonderfully, indescribably magnificent was +the silent solitude. Over the whole expanse of the heavens the stars +were glittering in countless multitudes with a brilliancy which they +show only to the sons of the desert. It is easy to understand that +deity first appeared to the Moors in the form of the stars. In them +they worshipped the radiant, beneficent forces which contrasted +benignly with the desert's scorching heat, the desert's storms. From +the course, position, and shining of the stars, they augured the will +of the gods and their own future. + +Around the spring were pitched the low goatskin tents of the nomad +Moors, only half a dozen of them, for the whole tribe had not gathered. +The faithful camels, carefully tethered by the feet among the tent +ropes, and covered with blankets to protect them from the stings of the +flies, were lying in the deep sand with their long necks outstretched. +In the centre of the little encampment were the noble racers, the +battle stallions, and the brood mares, confined in a circle made with +ropes and lances thrust into the sand. On the round top of one of the +tents towered a long spear, from whose point hung a lion's skin; for +this was the shelter of the chief. + +The night wind, which blew refreshingly from the distant sea in the +northeast, played with the mane of the dead king of the wilderness, +sometimes tossing the skin of the huge paw, sometimes the tuft of hair +at the end of the tail. Fantastic shadows fell on the light sandy soil; +for though the moon was not in the sky, the stars shone bright. A deep, +solemn stillness reigned. Every living creature seemed buried in sleep. +Four huge fires, one at each of the four points of the compass, were +blazing, a bow-shot from the tents, to frighten the wild beasts from +the flocks; from them arose at long intervals the only sound that broke +the stillness; namely, the cry of some shepherd who thus kept himself +awake and warned his companions to be watchful. This solemn silence +continued for a long, long time. + +At last a couple of stallions neighed, a weapon clanked outside from +the direction of the fires, and directly thereafter a light, almost +inaudible footstep came toward the centre of the camp,--toward the +"Lion Tent." Suddenly it paused; a slender young man stooped to the +ground before the entrance. + +"What? Are you lying in front of the tent, grandfather?" he asked in +astonishment. "Are you asleep?" + +"I was watching," a low voice answered. + +"I should have ventured to rouse you. There is a fateful star in the +heavens. I saw it appear when I was keeping the eastern fire-watch. As +soon as I was relieved, I hastened to you. The gods are sending a +warning! But youth does not understand their signs; you do, wise +ancestor. Look yonder, to the right--the right of the last palm. Don't +you see it?" + +"I saw it long ago. I have expected the sign for many nights, ay, for +years." + +Awe and a slight sense of fear thrilled the youth. "For years? You knew +what would happen in the heavens? You are very wise, O Cabaon." + +"Not I. My grandfather told my father, and he repeated the marvel to +me. It was more than a hundred years ago. The fair-faced strangers came +from the North across the sea in many ships, led by that King of +terrors with whose name our women still silence unruly children." + +"Genseric!" said the youth, softly; his tone expressed both hate and +horror. + +"At that time, from the same direction as the ships, a terrible star +mounted into the heavens--blood-red, like a flaming scourge with many +hundred thongs; it swung menacingly over our country and people. And my +grandfather, after he had seen the terrible war-king in the harbor of +Tsocium, said to my father and to our tribe: 'Unfasten the camels! +Bridle the noble racers, and set forth. Go southward, into the +scorching bosom of the protecting Mother! This King of Battles and his +war-loving nation are what the terrible star announced. For many, many +years, and tens of years, all who oppose them will be lost; the armies +of Rome and the galleys of Constantinople will be swept away by these +giants from the North, like the clouds which seek to oppose the star.' +And so it came to pass. The sons of our tribe, though they would far +rather have discharged their long arrows at the fair-haired giants, +obeyed the old man's counsel, and we escaped into the sheltering +desert. Bonifacius, the Roman General, fell. Our ancestor had foretold +it in the prophetic saying: 'G will destroy B. But,' he added, 'some +day, after more than a hundred years, a star will rise in the east, and +then B will overthrow G. Other tribes of our race who, with the +imperial troops, tried to resist the invaders, were mowed down like +them by Genseric, the son of darkness. And when they came howling to +our tents, raising the death-wail, and summoned us to a war of +vengeance, my grandfather and afterwards my father refused, saying: +'Not yet! They cannot yet be conquered. More than two or three +generations of men will pass, and no one will be able to stand before +the giants from the North, neither the Romans by sea, nor we sons of +the desert. But the children of the North cannot remain permanently in +the land of the sun! Many of those who came to our native country to +conquer and rule us, mightier warriors than we, have vanquished us, but +not this land, this sun, these deserts. Sand and sun and luxurious +idleness have lessened the strength of the strangers' arms, the might +of their will. So will also fare these tall, blue-eyed giants. The +vigor will leave their bodies, and the lust for battle their souls. And +then--then we will again wrest from them the heritage of our +ancestors.' So it was predicted, so it has been. + +"For tens of years our archers, our spearmen could not withstand the +fierce foes; then their strength decayed, and we often drove them back +when they entered the sacred desert. When, some day, a star like this +returns, my ancestor declared, the reign of the strangers will be over. +Take heed whence a scourge-like star comes again; for from that +direction will come the foe that will hew down the yellow-haired men. +The star to-night came from the east; and from the east will come the +conquerors of Genseric's people! + +"We have news that the Emperor has made war upon the Vandals, that his +army has landed in the far East! But it does not agree--the other sign! +G doubtless means Gelimer, the fair-haired King. But the Emperor of the +Romans is J, Justinian. Speak, have you chanced to hear the name of the +Roman. General?" + +"Belisarius." + +The old man started up. "And B will overthrow G,--Belisarius will +vanquish Gelimer! Look, how blood-red the scourge-like star is shining! +That means bloody battles. But we, son of my son, we will not interpose +when Roman sword and Vandal spear are clashing against each other. The +conflict may easily extend as far as the Auras Mountain; we will plunge +deeper into the wilderness. Let the aliens fight and destroy one +another. The Roman eagle, too, will not long have its eyrie here. The +star of misfortune will rise for them as well as for these tall +sea-kings. The intruders come--and pass away; we, the sons of the +country, will remain. Like the sand of our deserts we wander before the +wind, but we shall not pass away; we always return. The land of the sun +belongs to the sons of the sun. And, as the sand of the desert covers +and buries the proud stone buildings of the Romans, so shall we, ever +returning, bury the alien life which forces itself into our country, +where it can never thrive. We retire--but we return." + +"Yet the fair King has obtained ten thousand of our men for the war. +What must they do?" + +"Give back the money; leave the Vandal army, which the gods have +abandoned! Order my messengers to-morrow to dash with this command to +every tribe where I rule--with this advice, where I can counsel." + +"Your counsel is a command wherever the desert sand extends. Only I +grieve for the man with the mournful eyes. He has shown favor to many +of our people, granted hospitality to many of our tribes; what return +shall they make to their friend?" + +"Hospitality unto death! Not fight his battles, not share his booty; +but if he comes to them seeking shelter and protection, divide the last +date with him, shed the last drop of blood in his defence. Up, strike +the basin! We will depart ere the sun wakes. Untether the camels!" + +The old man rose hastily. + +The youth dealt the copper kettle that hung beside the tent a blow with +his curved scimetar. The brown-skinned men, women, and children were +astir like a swarm of ants. When the sun rose above the horizon, the +oasis was empty, desolate, silent as death. + +Far in the south whirled upward a cloud of dust and sand which the +north wind seemed to be driving farther and farther inland. + + + + CHAPTER IV + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +We are still marching forward, and certainly as if we were in a +friendly country. Our heroes, even the Huns, have understood, thanks +less to my marching orders than to actual experience, that they cannot +steal as many provisions as the people will voluntarily bring if they +are to be paid instead of being robbed. Belisarius is winning all the +provincials by kindness. So the colonists flock from all directions to +our camp and sell us everything we need, at low prices. When we are +obliged to spend the night in the open fields we carefully fortify the +camp. + +When it can be done we remain at night in cities, as, for instance, in +Leptis and Hadrumetum. The Bishop, with the Catholic clergy, comes +forth to meet us, as soon as our Huns appear. The Senators and the most +aristocratic citizens soon follow. The latter willingly allow +themselves to be "forced "; that is, they wait till we are in the +forum, so, in case we should all be thrown by our undiscoverable foes +into the sea before we reach Carthage, they can attribute their +friendliness to us to our cruel violence. With the exception of a few +Catholic priests I have not seen a Roman in Africa for whom I felt the +slightest respect. I almost think that they, the liberated, are even +less worthy than we, the liberators. + +We march on an average about ten miles daily. To-day we came from +Hadrumetum past Horrea to Grasse, about forty-four Roman miles from +Carthage,--a magnificent place for a camp. Our astonishment increases +day by day, the more we learn of the riches of this African province. +In truth, it may well be beyond human power to maintain one's native +vigor beneath this sky, in this region. And Grasse! Here is a country +villa--to speak more accurately, a proud pillared palace of the Vandal +King--gleaming with marble, surrounded by pleasure-gardens, whose like +I have never seen in Europe or Asia. About it bubble delicious springs +brought through pipes from a distance, or up through the sand by some +magical discoverer of water. And what a multitude of trees! and not one +among them whose boughs are not fairly bending under the burden of +delicious fruit. Our whole army is encamped in this fruit grove, +beneath these trees; every soldier has eaten his fill and stuffed his +leather pouch, for we shall march on early to-morrow morning; yet one +can scarcely see a difference in the quantity. Everywhere, too, are +vines loaded with bunches of grapes. Many, many centuries before a +Scipio entered this country, industrious Ph[oe]nicians cultivated vines +here, between the sea and the desert, training them on rows of stakes a +few feet high. Here grows the best wine in all Africa; they say the +Vandals drink it unmixed, from their helmets. I only sipped the almost +purple liquor, to which Agnellus added half the quantity of water, yet +I feel drowsy. I can write no more. Good-night, Cethegus, far away in +Rome! Good-night, fellow-soldier! Just half a cup more; it tastes so +good. Pleasant dreams! Wine makes us good-natured, so pleasant dreams +to you, too. Barbarians! It is so comfortable here. The room assigned +to me (the slaves, all Romans and Catholics, have not fled, and they +serve us with the utmost zeal) is beautifully decorated with wall +paintings. The bed is so soft and easy! A cool breeze from the sea is +blowing through the open window. I will venture to take a quarter of a +cup more; and to-night, dear Barbarians, if possible, no attack. May +you sleep well. Vandals, so that I, too, can sleep sweetly! I almost +believe the African sickness--dread of every exertion--has already +seized upon me. + + * * * * * + +Four days' march from the wonder-land of Grasse. We are spending the +night in the open country. To-morrow we shall reach Decimum, less than +nine Roman miles from Carthage, and not one Vandal have we seen yet. + +It is late in the evening. Our camp-fires are blazing for a long +distance, a beautiful scene! There is something ominous in the soft, +dark air. Night is falling swiftly under the distant trees in the west. +There is the blast of the shrill horns of our Huns. I see their white +sheepskin cloaks disappearing. They are mounting guard on all three +sides. At the right, on the northeast, the sea and our ships protect +us; that is, for to-day. To-morrow the galleys will not be able to +accompany our march as they have done hitherto, on account of the +cliffs of the Promontory of Mercury, which here extend far out from the +shore. So Belisarius ordered the Quaestor Archelaus, who commands the +fleet, not to venture as for as Carthage itself, but, after rounding +the promontory, to cast anchor and wait further orders. So to-morrow we +shall be obliged, for the first time, to advance without the protection +of our faithful companions, the ships; and as the road to Decimum is +said to lead through dangerous defiles, Belisarius has carefully +planned the order of marching and sent it in writing this evening to +all the leaders, to save time in the departure early in the morning. + + * * * * * + +The warlike notes of the tuba are rousing the sleepers. We are about to +start. An eagle from the desert in the west is flying over our camp. + +It is reported that the first meeting with the enemy--only a few +mounted men--took place during the night at our farthest western +outpost. One of our Huns fell, and the commander of one of their +squadrons, Bleda, is missing. Probably it is merely one of the camp +rumors which the impatience of expectation has already conjured up +several times. To-night we shall reach Decimum; to-morrow night the +gates of Carthage. But where are the Vandals? + + + + CHAPTER V + +When Procopius wrote the last lines, those whom he was seeking were far +nearer than he imagined. + +The first rays of the morning sun darted above the sea, glittered on +the waves, and shone over the yellowish-brown sand of the edge of the +desert, as a dozen Vandal horsemen dashed into the King's camp a few +leagues southwest of Decimum. + +Gibamund, the leader, and the boy Ammata sprang from their horses. +"What do ye bring?" shouted the guards. + +"Victory," answered Ammata. + +"And a captive," added Gibamund. + +They hastened to rouse the King. But Gelimer came in full armor out of +his tent to meet them. + +"You are stained with blood--both. You, too, Ammata; are you wounded?" +His voice was tremulous with anxiety. + +"No," laughed the handsome boy, his eyes sparkling brightly. "It is the +blood of the enemy." + +"The first that has been shed in this war," replied the King, gravely, +"sullies your pure hand. Oh, if I had not consented--" + +"It would have been unfortunate," Gibamund interrupted. "Our child has +done well. Go to the tent for Hilda, my lad, while I deliver the +report. So, chafing with impatience, we long endured your keeping us so +far away from the foe; we have followed their march at a great +distance, unsuspected even by their farthest outposts. When to-night +you finally permitted us to ride nearer to their flank than usual, in +order to discover whether they really intended to go to Decimum to-day +unprotected by the fleet, and to pass at noon through the Narrow Way, +you said that if we could obtain a captive without causing much +disturbance, it would be desirable. Well, we have not only a prisoner, +but more; we found an important strip of parchment on him. And it is +fortunate; for the man refuses to give any information. See, they are +bringing him yonder. There come Thrasaric and Eugenia; and Ammata is +already drawing Hilda here by the hand." + +"Welcome," cried the young wife, hastening toward her beloved husband, +but she shrank in embarrassment from his embrace, for the captive was +already standing before the King. With hands bound behind his back, he +darted savage glances from beneath his bushy brows at the Vandals, +especially at Ammata. Blood trickled from his left cheek upon the white +sheepskin that covered his shoulders; his lower garment also--it +reached only to the knee--was of untanned leather; his feet were bare; +a huge spur was buckled with a thong on his right heel, and four gold +disks, bestowed by the Emperor and his generals in honor of brave deeds +(like our orders), were fastened on his heavy leather breastplate. + +"So," continued Gibamund, "toward midnight, with only ten Vandals and +two Moors behind us, we rode out of camp toward the distant light of +the hostile campfires, cautiously concealing ourselves behind the long +mounds of sand, stretching for half a league, which the desert wind is +constantly heaping up and blowing away again, especially just on the +edge of the wilderness. Under the protection of this cover, we +advanced unseen so far eastward that we saw by the glare of a +watchfire--probably lighted to drive away the wild beasts--four +horsemen. Two sat crouching on their little nags, with their bows bent, +gazing intently toward the southwest, whence we had come; the other two +had dismounted and were leaning against the shoulders of their horses. +The points of their lances glittered in the flickering light of the +fire. + +"I motioned to the two Moors, whom I had taken with us for this clever +trick. Slipping noiselessly from their steeds, they threw themselves +flat on the ground and were scarcely distinguishable in the darkness +from the surrounding sand. They crept on all fours in a wide circle, +one to the left, the other to the right, around the fire and the +sentinels, until they stood northeast and northwest of them. They had +soon vanished from our sight, for they glided as swiftly as lizards. + +"Soon we heard, on the other side of the watchfire, toward the north, +the hoarse, menacing cry of the leopardess going out with her cubs on +the nocturnal quest of prey. The mother was instantly answered by the +beseeching cry of her young. The four horses of the sentinels shied, +their manes bristled; the scream of the leopardess came nearer, +and all four of the strangers--they had probably never heard such a +sound--turned in the direction of the noise. One of the horses reared +violently, the rider swayed, clinging to its mane; another, trying to +help him, snatched at the bridle, his bow falling from his hand. +Profiting by the confusion of the moment, we glided forward in perfect +silence from behind the sand-hill. We had wrapped cloth around the +horses' hoofs, and almost reached them unseen; not until we were close +by the fire did one of the mounted men discover us. 'Foes!' he shouted, +darting away. The other rider followed. The third did not reach the +saddle; I struck him down as he was mounting. But the fourth--this man +here, the leader--was on his horse's back in an instant; he ran down +the two Moors who tried to stop him, and would have escaped, but +Ammata--our child"--he pointed to the boy; the captive gnashed his +teeth furiously--"shot after him like an arrow on his little white +steed--" + +"Pegasus!" Ammata interrupted. "You know, brother, you brought him to +me from the last Moorish war. He really goes as though he had wings." + +"--reached him, and before any one of us could lend assistance, with a +swift double thrust--" + +"You taught me, Gelimer!" cried Ammata, with sparkling eyes, for he +could no longer restrain himself. + +"--of the short-sword, he thrust the enemy's long spear aside and dealt +him a heavy blow on the cheek. But the brave fellow, heedless of the +pain, dropped the spear and gripped the battle-axe in his belt. Then +our child threw the noose around his neck--" + +"You know--the antelope cast!" Ammata exclaimed to Gelimer. + +"And with a jerk dragged him from his horse." + +Gibamund spoke in the Vandal tongue, but the captive understood +everything from the accompanying gestures, and now shrieked in the +Latin of the camp, "May my father's soul pass into a dog if that be not +avenged! I, the great-grandson of Attila--I--dragged from my horse by a +boy--with a noose! Beasts are caught thus, not warriors!" + +"Calm yourself, my little friend," replied Thrasaric, approaching him. +"There is a good old motto among all the Gothic nations: 'Spare the +wolf rather than the Hun.' Besides, that royal bird, the ostrich, is +captured in the same way when he is overtaken. So it's no disgrace to +you." Laughing heartily, he straightened the heavy helmet with the +bear's head. + +"We reached the two at once," Gibamund continued, "bound the man, who +fought like a wild boar, and snatched from his teeth this strip of +parchment which he was trying to swallow." + +The prisoner groaned. + +"What is your name?" asked the King, glancing hastily at the parchment. + +"Bleda." + +"How strong is your army in horsemen?" + +"Go and count them." + +"Friend Hun," said Thrasaric, in a threatening tone, "a king is +speaking to you. Behave civilly, little wolf. Answer politely the +questions you are asked, or--" + +The prisoner glanced defiantly toward Gelimer, saying, "This gold disk +was given to me by the great General with his own hands after our third +victory over the Persians. Do you think I would betray Belisarius?" + +"Lead him away," said Gelimer, waving his hand. "Bind up his wound. +Treat him kindly." + +The Hun cast another glance of mortal hate at Ammata, then he followed +his guards. + +Gelimer again looked at the parchment. "I thank you, my boy," he said, +"I thank you. You have indeed brought us no trivial thing, the order of +the enemy's march to-day. Follow me to my tent, my generals; there you +shall hear my plan of attack. We need not wait for the arrival of the +Moors. I think, if the Lord is not wrathful with us--but let us have no +sinful arrogance--Oh, Ammata, how I rejoice to have you again alive! +After your departure I had a terrible dream about you. God has restored +you to me once--I will not tempt Him a second time." Going close to the +boy and laying his hand on his shoulder, he said in his sternest tone: +"Listen; I forbid you to fight in the battle to-day." + +"What?" cried Ammata, furiously, turning deadly pale. "That is +impossible! Gelimer, I beseech--" + +"Silence," said the King, frowning, "and obey." + +"Why," cried Gibamund; "I should think you might let him go. He has +shown--" + +"Oh, brother, brother," exclaimed Ammata, tears streaming from his +eyes, "how have I deserved this punishment?" + +"Is this his reward for to-night's deed?" warned Thrasaric. + +"Silence, all of you," Gelimer commanded sternly. "It is decided. He +shall _not_ fight with us. He is still a boy." + +Ammata stamped his foot angrily. + +"And oh, my darling," Gelimer added, clasping the vehemently resisting +lad in his arms, "let me confess it. I love you so tenderly, with such +undue affection, that anxiety for you would not leave me for a single +instant during the battle, and I need all my thoughts for the foe." + +"Then let me fight by your side; protect me yourself!" + +"I dare not. I dare not think of you. I must think of Belisarius." + +"Indeed, I pity him from my inmost soul," cried Hilda, in passionate +excitement. "I am a woman, and it is hard enough for me not to go with +you: but a boy of fifteen!" + +Eugenia timidly pulled her back by the robe, stroking and kissing her +hand; but Hilda, smoothing the boy's golden locks, went on: "It is a +duty, it is a patriotic duty, that every man who can--especially a son +of the royal house--should fight for his people. This lad can fight; he +has proved it. So do not refuse him to his people. My ancestor taught +me that only he who is to fall will fall." + +"Sinful paganism!" exclaimed the King, wrathfully. + +"Well, then, let me address you as a Christian. Is this your trust in +God, Gelimer? Who in the two armies is as guiltless as this child? O +King, I am less devout than you, but I have confidence enough in the +God of Heaven to believe that he will protect this boy in our just +cause. Ay, should this purest, fairest scion of the Asding race fall, +it would be like a judgment of God, proclaiming that we are indeed +corrupt in His eyes!" + +"Hold!" cried the King, in anguish. "Do not probe the deepest wounds of +my breast. If he _should_ fall now? If a judgment of God, as you called +it, should so terribly overtake us? Doubtless he is free from guilt as +far as human beings can be. But have you forgotten the terrible words +of menace--about the iniquity of the fathers? If I experienced _that_, +I should see in it the curse of vengeance fulfilled, and I believe I +should despair." + +He began to pace swiftly up and down. + +Then Gibamund whispered to his wife, who shook her proud head silently +but wrathfully, "Let him go. Such anxiety in the brain of the +commander-in-chief will do more harm than the spears of twenty boys can +render service." + +"But arrows fly far," cried Ammata, defiantly. "If, like a miserable +coward, I remain behind your backs, I can fall here in the camp if the +foes conquer. I certainly will not be taken captive," he added +fiercely, seizing his dagger, and throwing back his head till his fair +locks floated over his light-blue armor. "Better put me in a church at +once--but a Catholic one; that would be a safe sanctuary, devout King." + +"Yes, I _will_ lock you up, unruly boy," Gelimer now said sharply. "For +that insolent jeer, you will give up your weapons at once--at once. +Take them from him, Thrasaric. You, Thrasaric, will assail the foe in +the front, from Decimum. In Decimum stands a Catholic church; it will +be inviolable to the Byzantines. There you will keep imprisoned during +the battle the boy who desires to be a soldier and has not yet learned +to obey his King. In case of retreat, you will take him with you. And +listen, Thrasaric: that night--in the grove--you promised to atone for +the past--" + +"I think he has done so," cried Hilda, indignantly. + +"Whose troops are the best drilled?" added Gibamund. "Who has lavished +gold, weapons, horses, like him?" + +"My King," replied Thrasaric, "hitherto I have done nothing. Give me +to-day an opportunity." + +"You must find it. I rely upon you. Above all, that you will not +impetuously attack too soon and spoil my whole plan. And this +rebellious boy," he added tenderly, "I commend to your care. Keep him +out of the battle; bring him to me safe and unhurt after the victory, +on which I confidently rely. I also commit to your charge all the +prisoners, among them the hostages from Carthage; for, in case of +retreat, you will be at its goal--you will learn it at once, the first +man; therefore the captives will be most securely guarded with you. I +intrust to you Ammata, the apple of my eye, because, well--because you +are my brave, faithful Thrasaric." He laid both hands on the giant's +broad shoulders. + +"My King," replied the Vandal, looking him steadfastly in the eyes, +"you will see the Prince again, living and unhurt, or you will never +see Thrasaric more." + +Eugenia shuddered. + +"I thank you. Now to my tent. Vandal generals, to hear the plan of +battle!" + + + + CHAPTER VI + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +We are actually still alive, and we are spending the night in Decimum, +but we have had a narrow escape from passing it with the sharks at the +bottom of the sea; never before, Belisarius says, was annihilation so +near him. This mysterious King brought us into the greatest peril by +his admirable plan of attack. And when it had already succeeded, he +alone, the King himself, cast away his own victory, and saved us from +certain destruction. I will tell you briefly the course of recent +events, partly from our own experiences, partly from what we have +learned through the citizens of Decimum and the Vandal prisoners. + +The King, undiscovered by us, had accompanied our march from the time +of our landing. The place where he suddenly attacked us had been wisely +chosen long before. Belisarius says that not even his great rival, +Narses, could have made a better plan of battle. As soon as we left our +last camp outside of Decimum, we lost, as I wrote in my former letter, +the protection of our fleet. If a superior force assailed us here +from the west, it would hurl us, not--as along the whole previous +march--upon our sheltering galleys, but directly into the sea from the +road running along the steep hills close to the coast. Just before +Decimum this road narrows greatly; for lofty mountains tower at the +southwest along the narrow highway. Over the loose sand, heaped on the +mountains by the desert winds, neither man nor horse can pass without +sinking a foot deep. Here, attacked from all three sides at the same +moment, we were to be driven eastward into the sea at our right. + +A brother of the King, Gibamund, was to rush with two thousand men from +the west upon our left flank; a Vandal noble with a still stronger +force was to attack us from Decimum in the front; the King, with the +main body, was to fall upon us in the rear from the South. + +Belisarius had carefully planned the order of our march through this +dangerous portion of the way. He sent Fara with his brave Herulians and +three hundred picked men of the bodyguard two and a half Roman miles in +advance. They were to pass through the Narrow Way first alone, and +instantly report any danger back to the main body led by Belisarius. On +our left flank the Hun horsemen and five thousand of the excellent +Thracian infantry under Althias were thrown out to guard us from any +peril threatening in that quarter and report it to Belisarius, to +prevent a surprise of the main body during the march. + +Then, to our great good fortune, it happened that the attack from the +north, from Decimum, came far too early. Prisoners say that a younger +brother of the King, scarcely beyond boyhood, taking part in the +battle against Gelimer's orders, dashed out of Decimum with a few +horsemen upon our ranks as soon as he saw us. The noble wished to save +him at any cost, so he also attacked with the small force at his +disposal,--four hours too soon,--only sending messengers back to +Carthage to hasten the march of his main body. The youth and the noble +made the most desperate resistance to the superior force. Twelve of +Belisarius's bravest bodyguard, battle-tried men of former wars, +were slain. At last both fell, and now, deprived of their leader, +the Vandals turned their horses, and, in a mad flight, ran down +and overthrew those who were advancing from Carthage to their +support,--true, in little bands of thirty and forty men. Fara with his +swift Herulians dashed after them in savage pursuit to the very gates +of Carthage, cutting down all whom he overtook. The Vandals, who had +fought bravely so long as they saw the Asdings and the nobles in their +van, now threw down their weapons and allowed themselves to be +slaughtered. We found many thousand dead bodies on the road and in the +fields to the left. + +After this first onset of the Vandals had resulted in defeat, Gibamund, +knowing nothing of it, attacked with his troops the greatly superior +force of the Huns and Thracians. This happened at the Salt Field,--a +treeless, shrubless waste on the edge of the desert five thousand paces +west of Decimum. With no aid from Carthage and Decimum, he was +completely routed; nearly all his men were slain; their leader was seen +to fall, whether dead or living, no one knows. + +Meanwhile, entirely ignorant of what had happened, we were marching +with the main body along the road to Decimum. As Belisarius found an +excellent camping-ground about four thousand paces from this place, he +halted. That the enemy must be in the neighborhood he suspected; the +disappearance of the two Huns during the night had perplexed him. He +established a well-fortified camp, and said to the troops, "The enemy +must be close at hand. If he attacks us here, where we lack the support +of the fleet, our escape will lie solely in victory. Should we be +defeated, there is no stronghold, no fortified city, to receive us; the +sea, roaring below, will swallow us. The intrenched camp is our only +protection, the camp and the long-tested swords in our hands. Fight +bravely! Life, as well as fame, is at stake." + +He now ordered the infantry to remain in camp with the luggage as the +last reserve, and led the whole force of cavalry out toward Decimum. He +would not risk everything at once, but intended first to discover the +strength and plans of the Barbarians by skirmishing. Sending the +auxiliary cavalry in the van, he followed with the other squadrons and +his mounted bodyguard. When the advance body reached Decimum, it found +the Byzantines and Vandals who had fallen there. A few of the citizens +who had hidden in the houses told our troops what had happened; most of +them had fled to Carthage on learning that their village had been +chosen for the battleground. + +A wonderfully beautiful woman,--she looks like the Sphinx at +Memphis,--the owner of the largest villa in Decimum, voluntarily +received our men. It was she who told us of the noble's death. He fell +before her eyes, just in front of her house. + +The leaders now consulted, undecided whether to advance, halt, or +return to Belisarius. At last the whole body of cavalry rode about two +thousand paces west of Decimum, where they could obtain from the high +sand-hills a wider view in every direction. There they saw rising in +the south-southwest--that is, in the rear and on the left flank of +Belisarius--a huge cloud of dust, from which sometimes flashed the arms +and banners of an immense body of horsemen. They instantly sent a +message to Belisarius that he must hasten; the enemy was at hand. + +Meanwhile the Barbarians, led by Gelimer, approached. They were +marching along a road between Belisarius's main body in the east and +the Huns and Thracians, our left wing, who had defeated Gibamund and +pursued him far to the west. But the high hills along the road +obstructed Gelimer's view, so that he could not see Gibamund's +battlefield. Byzantines and Vandals, as soon as they saw each other, +struggled to be first to reach and occupy the summit of the highest +hill in the chain which dominated the whole region. The Barbarians +gained the top, and from it King Gelimer rushed down with such power +upon our men, the auxiliary cavalry, that they were seized with panic, +and fled in wild confusion eastward, toward Decimum. + +About nine hundred paces west of the village the fugitives met their +strong support, a body of eight hundred mounted shield-bearers, led by +Velox, Belisarius's bodyguard. The General and all of us who had +tremblingly witnessed the flight of the cavalry consoled ourselves with +the hope that Velox would check their flight and march back with them +to the enemy. But--oh, shame and horror--the weight of the Vandal +onslaught was so tremendous that the fugitives and the shield-bearers +did not even wait for it; the whole body, mingled together, swept back +in disorder to Belisarius. + +The General said that at this moment he gave us all up for lost: +"Gelimer," he said at the banquet that night, "had the victory in his +hands. Why he voluntarily let it escape is incomprehensible. Had he +followed the fugitives, he would have pursued me and my whole army into +the sea, so great was the alarm of our troops and so tremendous the +force of the Vandal assault. Then the camp and the infantry would both +have been destroyed. Or if he had even gone from Decimum back to +Carthage, he could have destroyed without resistance Fara and his men, +for expecting no attack from the rear, they were scattered singly or in +couples along the streets and in the fields, pillaging the slain. And +once in possession of Carthage he could easily have taken our ships, +anchored near the city,--without crews,--and thus cut off from us every +hope of victory or retreat." + +But King Gelimer did neither. A sudden paralysis attacked the power +which had just overthrown everything in its way. + +Prisoners told us that, as he dashed down the hillside, spurring his +cream-colored charger far in advance of all his men, he saw in the +narrow pass at the southern entrance of Decimum the corpse of his young +brother lying first of all the bodies in the road. With a loud cry of +anguish, he sprung from his horse, threw himself upon the lifeless boy, +and thus checked the advance of his troops. Their foremost horses, held +back with difficulty by the riders that they might not trample on the +King and the lad, reared, plunged, and kicked, throwing those behind +into confusion, and stopped the whole chase. The King raised in his +arms the mangled and bloody body (for our horsemen had dashed over it); +then breaking again into cries of agony, he placed it on his charger +and ordered it to be buried by the roadside with royal honors. The +whole did not probably occupy fifteen minutes, but that quarter of an +hour wrested from the Barbarians the victory they had already won. + +Meanwhile Belisarius rushed to meet our fugitives, thundered at them in +his resonant leonine voice his omnipotent "Halt," showed them, lifting +his helmet, his face flaming with a wrath which his warriors dreaded +more than the spears of all the Barbarians, brought the deeply shamed +men to a stand, arranged them, amid terrible reproaches, in the best +order possible in the haste, and, after learning all he could +concerning the position and strength of the Vandals, led them to the +attack upon Gelimer and his army. + +The Vandals did not withstand it. The sudden, mysterious check of their +advance had bewildered, perplexed, discouraged them; besides, their +best strength had been exhausted in the furious ride. The sun of +Africa, burning fiercely down, had wearied us also, but at the first +onset we broke through their ranks. They turned and fled. The King, who +tried to check them, was swept away by the rush, not to Carthage, not +even southwest to Byzacena, whence they had come, but towards the +northwest along the road leading to Numidia, to the plain of Bulla. + +Whether they took that course by the King's command or without it and +against it, we do not yet know. + +We wrought great slaughter among the fugitives; the chase did not end +until nightfall. When, as the darkness closed in, the torches and +watchfires were lighted, Fara and the Herulians came from the north, +Althias with the Huns and Thracians from the west, and we all spent the +night in Decimum celebrating three victories in a single day: over the +nobleman, over Prince Gibamund, and over the King. + + + + CHAPTER VII + +The flying Vandals, leaving Carthage far on the right, had struck into +the road which at Decimum turns toward the northwest, leading to +Numidia. + +In this direction also the numerous women and children, who had left +Carthage many days before with the army, had gone from the camp on the +morning of the day before, under safe escort, to the little village of +Castra Vetera, half a day's march from the battlefield. Here, about two +hours before midnight, they met the fugitives from Decimum; the pursuit +had ceased with the closing in of darkness. The main body of troops lay +around the hamlet in the open air; the few tents brought by the women +from the other camp, and the huts in the village, were used to shelter +the many wounded and the principal leaders of the army. In one of these +tents, stretched on coverlets and pillows, was Gibamund; Hilda knelt +beside him, putting a fresh bandage on his foot. As soon as she had +finished, she turned to Gundomar, who was sitting on the other side of +the narrow space with his head propped on his hand. Blood was trickling +through his yellow locks. The Princess carefully examined the wound, +"It is not mortal," she said. "Is the pain severe?" + +"Only slight," replied the Gunding, clenching his teeth. "Where is the +King?" + +"In the little chapel with Verus. He is praying." + +The words fell harshly from her lips. + +"And my brother?" asked Gundomar. "How is his shoulder?" + +"I cut the arrow-head out. He is doing well; he is in command of the +guards. But the King, too, is wounded." + +"What?" asked both the men, in startled tones. "He said nothing of it." + +"He is ashamed--for his people. No foe; flying Vandals whom he stopped +and tried to turn hacked his arm with their daggers." + +"Dogs," cried Gundomar, grinding his teeth; but Gibamund sighed. + +"Gundobad, who witnessed it, told me; I examined the arm; there is no +danger." + +"And Eugenia?" he asked after a pause. + +"She is lying in the next house as if stupefied. When she heard of her +husband's death, she cried: 'To him! Into his grave! Sigrun--' (I once +told her the legend of Helgi) and tried to rush madly away. But she +sank fainting in my arms. Even after she had recovered her senses, she +lay on the couch as if utterly crushed. 'To him! Sigrun--into his +grave!--I am coming, Thrasaric!' was all that she would answer to my +questions. She tried to rise to obtain more news, but could not, and I +sternly forbade her to attempt it again. I will tell her cautiously all +that it is well for her to know--no more. But speak, Gundomar, if you +can; I know all the rest--except how Ammata, how Thrasaric--" + +"Presently," said the Gunding. "Another drink of water. And your wound, +Gibamund?" + +"It is nothing," replied the Prince, bitterly; "I did not reach the +enemy at all. I sent messenger after messenger to Thrasaric, as I did +not receive the promised report that he was leaving Decimum. Not one +returned; all fell into the hands of the foe. No message came from +Thrasaric. The time appointed by the King when I was to make the attack +had arrived; in obedience to the order I set forth, though perfectly +aware of the superior strength of the enemy, and though the main body +of the troops under Thrasaric had not come. When we were within an +arrow-shot, the horsemen, the Huns, dashed to the right and left, and +we saw behind them the Thracian infantry, seven ranks deep, who +received us with a hail of arrows. They aimed at the horses; mine, the +foremost, and all in the front rank instantly fell. Your brave brother +in the second rank, himself wounded by a shaft, lifted me with great +difficulty on his own charger--I could not stand--and rescued me. The +Huns now bore down upon us from both flanks; the Thracians pressed +forward from the front with levelled spears. Not a hundred of my two +thousand men are still alive." He groaned in anguish. + +"But tell me how came Ammata,--against Gelimer's command, in spite of +Thrasaric's guard--?" asked Hilda. + +"It happened in this way," said the Gunding, pressing his hand to the +aching wound in his head. "We had put the boy, unarmed, in the little +Catholic basilica at Decimum, with the hostages from Carthage, among +them young Publius Pudentius." + +"Hilderic and Euages too?" + +"No. Verus had them taken to the second camp near Bulla. Bleda, the +captured Hun, had been tied with a rope outside to the bronze rings of +the church doors; he lay on the upper step. On the square, in front of +the little church, were about twenty of our horsemen. Many, by +Thrasaric's command,--he rode repeatedly across the square, gazing +watchfully in every direction,--had dismounted. Thrusting their spears +into the sand beside their horses, they lay flat on the low roofs of +the surrounding houses looking toward the southwest to see the +advancing foe. I sat on horseback by the open window of the basilica. +From the corner one can see straight to the entrance of the main road +from Decimum, where Astarte's--formerly Modigisel's--villa stands. So I +heard every word that was spoken in the basilica. Two boyish voices +were disputing vehemently. + +"'What?' cried one. 'Is this the loudly vaunted heroism of the Vandals? +You are placed here, Ammata, in the asylum of the church of the +much-tortured Catholics? Do you seek shelter here?' 'The order of the +King,' replied Ammata, choking with rage. 'Ah,' sneered the other; it +was Pudentius--I now recognized the tones--'I would not be commanded to +do that by king or emperor. I am chained hand and foot, or I would have +been outside long ago, fighting with the Romans.' 'The order of the +King, I tell you.' 'Order of cowardice. Ha, if _I_ were a member of the +royal house for whose throne men were fighting, nothing would keep me +in a church, while--Hark! that is the tuba. It is proclaiming a Roman +victory.' + +"I heard no more; the Roman trumpets were blaring outside of Decimum." + +Just at that moment the folds of the tent were pushed softly apart. A +pale face, two large dark eyes, gazed in, unseen by any one. + +"At the same instant," continued the Gunding, "a figure sprang from the +very high window of the basilica,--I don't yet understand how the boy +climbed up to it,--ran past me, swung himself on the horse of one of +our troopers, tore the spear from the ground beside it, and with the +exulting shout, 'Vandals! Vandals!' dashed down the street to meet the +Byzantines. + +"'Ammata! Ammata! Halt!' Thrasaric called after him. But he was already +far away. 'Follow him! Gundomar! Follow him! Save the boy!' cried +Thrasaric, rushing past me. + +"I followed; our men--a slender little band--did the same. 'Too soon! +Much too soon!' I exclaimed, as I overtook Thrasaric. + +"'The King commanded me to protect the lad!' + +"It was impossible to stop him; I followed. We had already reached the +narrow southern entrance of Decimum. On the right was Astarte's villa, +on the left the high stone wall of a granary. Ammata, without helmet, +breastplate, or shield, with only the spear in his hand, was facing a +whole troop of mounted lancers, who stared in amazement at the mad boy. + +"'Back, Ammata! Fly, I will cover the entrance here,' shouted +Thrasaric. + +"'I will not fly! I am a grandson of Genseric,' was the lad's answer. + +"'Then we will die here together. Here is my shield.' + +"It was high time. Already the lances of the Byzantines were hurtling +at us. Our three horses fell. We all sprang up unhurt. A spear struck +the shield which Thrasaric had forced upon the boy, penetrating the +hammer on it. A dozen of our men had now reached us. Six sprang from +their horses, levelling their lances. We were enough to block the +narrow entrance. The Byzantines dashed upon us; only three horses could +come abreast. We three killed two horses and one man. Our foes were +obliged to remove the dead animals, our three and the fourth, to gain +space. While doing this Ammata sprang forward and struck down another +Byzantine. As he leaped back an arrow grazed his neck; the blood burst +forth; the boy laughed. Again the foes dashed forward. Again two fell. +But Ammata was obliged to drop the hammer shield, there were now so +many spears sticking in it, and Thrasaric received a lance-thrust in +his shieldless left arm. Behind the Byzantines we now heard German +horns; the sound was like the blast announcing the approach of our +Vandal horsemen. 'Gibamund, or the King!' our men shouted. 'We are +saved.' + +"But we were lost. They were Herulians in the Emperor's pay. Their +leader, a tall figure with eagle wings on his helmet, instantly assumed +command of all the forces. He ordered several men to dismount and climb +the wall of the granary at his right; others trotted toward the left, +to ride around the villa, and at the same time they overwhelmed us with +a shower of spears. The boar's helm flew from my head, two lances had +struck it at the same moment; a third now hit my skull and stretched me +on the ground. At that moment, when our eyes were all fixed upon the +enemy in front, a man on foot forced his way through our horsemen from +the basilica behind. I heard a hoarse cry: 'Wait, boy!' and saw the +flash of a sword. Ammata fell forward on his knees. + +"It was Bleda, the captive Hun. The torn rope still dragged from his +ankle. He had wrenched himself free and seized a weapon; before he +could draw the sword from the boy's back Thrasaric's spear pierced him +through and through. But the noble had forgotten the foes in front, and +no longer struck the flying lances aside. Two spears pierced him at +once; he received a deep wound in the thigh and staggered against the +wall of the villa. + +"A narrow door close beside him opened, and on the threshold stood +Astarte. 'Come, my beloved, I will save you,' she said, seizing his +arm. 'A secret passage from my cellar--' + +"But Thrasaric silently shook her off and threw himself before the +kneeling boy. For now Herulians and Byzantines, on foot and on +horseback, were pressing forward in dense throngs. The door closed. + +"I tried to rise, but could not; so, unable to aid, helpless myself, +but covered by a dead horse behind which I had fallen, I saw the end. I +will make the story brief. So long as he could move an arm, the +faithful giant protected the boy with sword and spear; finally, when +the spear-head was hacked off, the sword broken, he sheltered the boy +with his own body. I saw how he spread the huge bearskin over him as a +shield, and clasped both arms around the child's breast. + +"'Surrender, brave warrior,' cried the leader of the Herulians. But +Thrasaric--hark! What was that?" + +"A groan? Yonder! Does your foot ache, my Gibamund?" + +"I made no sound. It was probably a night-bird--outside--before the +tent." + +"But Thrasaric shook his huge head and hurled his sword-hilt into the +face of the nearest Byzantine, who fell, shrieking. Then so many lances +flew at the same instant that Ammata sank lifeless on the ground. +Thrasaric did not fall, but stood bending forward, his arms hanging +loosely. The Herulian leader went close to him. 'In truth,' he said, +'never have I seen anything like this. The man is dead; but he cannot +fall, so many spears, with handles resting on the ground, are fixed in +his breast.' He gently drew out several; the strong noble slid down +beside Ammata. + +"Our men had fled as soon as they saw us both fall. Past me--I lay as +though lifeless swept the foe in pursuit. Not until after a long time, +when everything was still, did I succeed in raising myself a little. So +I was found beside Ammata by the King, to whom I told the fate of both. +The rest--how he lost the moment of victory, nay, threw away the +victory already won, you know." + +"We know it," said Hilda, in a hollow tone. + +"And where is Ammata--where is Thrasaric buried?" questioned Gibamund. + +"Close beside Decimum, in two mounds. The land belongs to a colonist. +According to the custom of our ancestors, our men placed three spears +upright upon each hillock. The King's horsemen then carried me back, +and placed me on a charger, which bore me through this pitiable flight. +Shame on this Vandal people! They let their princes and nobles fight +and bleed--alone! The masses have accomplished nothing but a speedy +flight." + + + + CHAPTER VIII + +The intense darkness of the night was already yielding in the eastern +sky to a faint gray glimmer of twilight, but the stars were still +shining in the heavens, when a slender little figure glided +noiselessly, but very swiftly, through the streets of the camp. + +The shaggy dogs watching their masters' tents growled, but did not +bark; they were afraid of the creature slipping by so softly. A Vandal, +mounting guard at a street-corner, superstitiously made the sign of the +cross and avoided the wraith floating past. But the white form +approached him. + +"Where is Decimum? I mean, in which direction?" it asked in low, +hurried tones. + +"In the east, yonder." He pointed with his spear. + +"How far is it?" + +"How far? Very distant. We rode as fast as the horses could run; for +fear pursued us,--I really do not know of what,--and we did not draw +rein till we reached here. We dashed along six or eight hours before we +arrived." + +"No matter." + +The hurrying figure soon reached the exit of the camp. The guards +stationed there let her pass unmolested. One called after her: + +"Where are you going? Not that way! The enemy is there." + +"Don't stay long!" a Moor shouted after her; "the evil wind is rising." + +But she was already gone. Directly behind the camp she turned from the +path marked by many footprints, also by weapons lost or thrown +away,--if that name could be given to this track through the desert. +Running several hundred paces south of the line extending from west to +east, she plunged into the wilderness, crossing, meanwhile, several +high, dome-like sand-hills. These mounds are piled up by the changing +winds blowing through the desert in every direction, but most +frequently from the south to north; and the narrow sand ravines beside +them often, for the distance of a quarter of a league, obstruct the +view of the person passing through them over the nearest sand-wave. + +Not until she believed herself too far from the road to be seen, did +she again turn in her original direction, eastward, or what she thought +was east. Meantime, it is true, the fiery, glowing rising sun had +extinguished the light of the stars and marked the east; but soon +thereafter the crimson disk vanished behind vaporous clouds, the +exhalations of the desert. She ran on and on and on. She was now +entirely within the domain of the desert. There was no longer any +distinguishing object,--no tree, no bush, nothing but sky above and +sand below. True, there were sometimes sand valleys, sometimes sand +heights, but these, too, were perfectly uniform. On, on she ran. "Only +to reach his grave!" she thought. "Only his grave. Always straight on!" +It was so still, so strangely still. + +Once only she fancied that she saw, far, far away on her left, +corresponding with the "path," hurrying cloud-shadows; perhaps they +were ostriches or antelopes. No, she thought she heard human voices +calling, but very, very distant. Yet it sounded like "Eugenia!" + +Startled, she stooped down close to the sand-hill at her left; it would +prevent her being seen from that direction. Even if the valley in which +she was now cowering could be overlooked from a hillock, the back of +the mound would protect her. "Eugenia!" Now the name seemed to come +again more distinctly; the tones were like Hilda's voice. The low, +distant sound died tremulously away, sorrowful, hopeless. All was still +again. She started up, and ran on breathlessly. + +But the fugitive now grew uneasy, because she had lost her direction. +What if she was not keeping a perfectly straight course? Then she +thought of looking back. The print of every one of her light footsteps +was firmly impressed upon the sand. The line was perfectly straight; +she rejoiced over her wisdom. Then she often glanced behind--at almost +every hundred steps--to test. Only forward, forward! She was growing +anxious. Drops of perspiration had long been falling from her forehead +and her bare arms. It was growing hot, very hot, and so strangely +sultry--the sky so leaden gray. A light, whistling wind sprang up, +blowing from south to north. + +Eugenia glanced back again. Oh, horror! She saw no sign of her +footsteps. The whole expanse lay behind her as smooth as though she +were just starting on her way. As if dazed by astonishment, she stamped +on the sand; directly after, before her eyes, the impression was filled +up, completely effaced by the finest sand, which was driven by the +light breeze. + +Startled, she pressed her hand upon her beating heart--and grasped +sand; a fine but thick layer had incrusted her garments, her hair, her +face. Through her bewildered thoughts darted the remembrance of having +heard how human beings, animals, whole caravans, had been covered by +such sand-storms, how, heaped by the wind, the sand often rose like +huge waves, burying all life beneath it. She fancied that on her right, +on the south, a hill of sand was towering; it seemed moving swiftly +onward, and threatened to bar her way. So she must run yet faster to +escape it. Her path was still open. Just at that moment, from the +south, a gust of wind suddenly blew with great force. Snatching the +braided hat from her head, it whirled it swiftly northward. In an +instant it was almost out of sight. To overtake it was impossible. +Besides, she must go toward the east. Forward! + +The wind grew stronger and stronger. The sun, rising higher, darted +scorching rays upon her unprotected head; her dark-brown hair fluttered +wildly around. Incrusted with salt, it struck her eyes or lashed her +cheeks and stung her keenly. She could scarcely keep her eyes open; the +fine sand forced its way through their long lashes. On. The sand +entered her shoes; the band across the instep of the left one broke. +She lifted her foot; the wind tore off the shoe and whirled it away. It +was certainly no misfortune, yet she wept--wept over her helplessness. +She sank to her knees; the malicious sand rose slowly higher and +higher. A shrill, harsh, disagreeable cry fell on her ear,--the first +sound in the tremendous silence for many hours; a dark figure, flying +from north to south, flitted for a moment along the horizon. It was an +ostrich, fleeing in mortal terror before the simoom. With head and long +white neck far outstretched, aiding the swift movement of its long legs +by flapping its curved dark wings like sails, it glided on like an +arrow. Already it was out of sight. + +"That bird is hurrying with such might to save its life. Shall my +strength fail when I am hastening to the man I love? 'For shame, little +one!' he would say." Smiling through her tears, she ran forward. So an +hour passed--many hours. + +Often she thought that she must have lost the right direction, or she +would have reached the battlefield long ago. The wind had risen to a +tempest. Her heart beat with suffocating strength. Giddiness seized +her; she tottered; she must rest. Now, here, no Vandal could overtake +her to keep her by force from her sacred goal. + +Just at that moment something white appeared above the sand close +beside her. It was the first break for hours in the monotonous yellow +surface. The object was no stone. Seizing it, Eugenia dragged it from +the sand. Oh, despair and horror! She shrieked aloud in desperation, in +terror, in the sense of cheerless, hopeless helplessness. It was her +own shoe, which she had lost hours before. She had been wandering in a +circle. Or had the wind borne it far away from the place where she lost +it? Yet, no! The shoe, which she now flung down, weeping, was swiftly +covered with sand, instead of being carried away by the wind. After +exhausting the last remnant of her strength, she was in the same spot. + +To die--now--to give up all effort--to rest--to sleep--now sweet was +the temptation to the wearied limbs. + +But, no! To him! What were the words? "And it _constrained_ the +faithful one and drew her to the grave of the dead hero." To him! + +Eugenia raised herself with great difficulty, she was already so weak. +And when she had barely gained her feet, the storm blew her down once +more. Again she rose, trying to see if some human being, some house, if +not the path, was visible. Just then she perceived before her in the +north a sand-hill, higher than any of the others. It was probably more +than a hundred feet. If she could succeed in climbing it, she would be +able from the top to get a wide view. With inexpressible difficulty, +sinking knee-deep at nearly every step in the looser sand, until her +foot reached the older, firmer soil, she pressed upward, often falling +back several paces when she stumbled. While she did so the strangest, +most alarming thing happened,--at every slip the whole sand-hill +creaked, trembled, and began to slide down in every direction. At +first Eugenia stopped in terror; she thought the whole mountain would +sink with her. But she conquered her fear, and at last climbed +upward on her knees, for she could no longer stand; she thrust her +hands into the sand and dragged herself up. The wind--no, it was now a +hurricane--assisted her; it blew from south to north. At last--the +climb seemed to her longer than the whole previous way--at last she +reached the top. Opening her eyes, which she had kept half closed, she +saw--oh, bliss! she saw deliverance. Before her, at a long distance, it +is true, yet plainly visible, glittered a steel-blue line. It was the +sea! And at the side, eastward, she fancied she saw houses, trees. +Surely that was Decimum; and a little farther inland rose a dark hill-- +the end of the desert. She imagined,--yet surely it was impossible to +see so far,--she believed or dreamed that, on the summit of the hill, +she beheld three slender black lines relieved against the clear +horizon. Surely those were the three spears on the grave. "Beloved One! +My hero!" she cried, "I am coming." + +With outstretched arms she tried to hurry down the sand-hill on the +northeastern: side, but, at the first step, she sank in to the +knee,--deeper still, to the waist. She could still see the blue sky +above her. Once more, with her last strength, she flung both arms high +above her head, thrusting her hands into the sand to the wrists +to drag herself up; once more the large beautiful antelope eyes +gazed beseechingly--ah, so despairingly--up to the silent sky; another +wild, desperate pull--a hollow sound as of a heavy fall. The whole +sand-mountain, shaken by her struggles and swept by the hurricane from +the south, fell over her northward, burying her nearly a hundred feet +deep, stifling her in a moment. Above her lofty grave the desert storm +raved exultingly. + + * * * * * + +For decades the beautiful corpse lay undisturbed, unprofaned, until +that ever-changing architect, the wind, gradually removed the sand-hill +and, one stormy night, at last blew it away entirely. + +Just at that time a pious hermit, one of the desert monks who begged +his scanty fare in Decimum and carried it to his sand cave, passed +along. Often and often he had come that way; the hurricane had bared +the skeleton only the day before. The old man stood before it, +thoughtful. The little dazzlingly white bones were so dainty, so +delicate, as if fashioned by an artist's hand; the garments, like the +flesh, had long been completely consumed by the trickling moisture; but +the lofty sand ridge had faithfully kept its beautiful secret, not a +bone was missing. For a human generation the dry sand of the desert, +though garments and flesh had gone to decay, had preserved uninjured +the outlines of the figure as it had been pressed into the sand under +the heavy weight. One could see that the buried girl had tried to +protect eyes and mouth with her right hand; the left lay in a graceful +attitude across her breast; her face was turned toward the ground. + +"Who were you, dainty child, that found a solitary death here?" said +the holy man, deeply touched. "For there is no trace of a companion +near. A child, or a girl just entering maidenhood? But, at any rate, a +Christian--no Moor; here on her neck, fastened by a silver chain, is a +gold cross. And beside it a strange ornament,--a bronze half-circle +with characters inscribed on it, not Latin, Greek, nor Hebrew. No +matter. The girl's bones shall not remain scattered in the desert. The +Christian shall sleep in consecrated ground. The peasants must help me +to bury her here or in the neighborhood." + +He went to Decimum. The traces of the Vandal battle had long since +vanished. The village children who had then fled were now grown men, +the owners of the houses and fields. The peasant to whom the hermit +related his touching discovery listened attentively. But when the +latter spoke of the bronze half-circle with the singular characters, he +interrupted him, exclaiming: + +"Strange! In the hill-tomb, the great stone vault outside of our +village,--I own the hill, and vines grow on the southern slope,--there +lies, according to trustworthy tradition, a Vandal boy-prince who fell +here, and beside him a mighty warrior, a terrible giant, who is said to +have remained faithfully by his side. The priests say he was a monster, +a god of thunder, one of the old pagan gods of the Barbarians, with +whose fall fortune deserted them. Well, the giant has hanging on his +arm a half-circle exactly like the one you describe. Perhaps the two +belonged together? Who knows? We cannot dig a grave in the desert; even +if we try, the wind will blow it away. Come, I'll harness the horses to +my wagon; we will go out to the dead woman and lay her beside the +giant; his grave has already been consecrated by the priests." + +This was done. But when they had placed the delicate form beside the +mighty one, and the monk had muttered a prayer, he asked: "Tell me, +friend,--I saw with joyful surprise that you had left all the ornaments +upon the dead; and that you should receive nothing for your trouble +with the poor girl's skeleton is not exactly--" + +"Peasant custom, do you mean? You are right, holy father. But you see. +King Gelimer, who once reigned here, enjoined upon my father after the +battle to take faithful care of the graves; he was to keep them as if +they were a sanctuary until Gelimer should return and carry the bodies +to Carthage. King Gelimer never returned to Decimum. But my father, on +his deathbed, committed the care of this tomb to me; and so shall I, +before I die, to the curly-headed boy who helped us to carry the +little skeleton. For King Gelimer was kind to every one,--to us Romans, +too,--and had done my father many a favor in the days of the Vandals. +Already many say he was no man, but a demon,--a wicked one, according +to some, a good one, most declare. But, man or demon, good he certainly +was; for my father has often praised him." + +So little Eugenia at last reached her hero's side. + + + + CHAPTER IX + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +I am writing this--really and truly, though it is not yet three months +since we left Constantinople--in Carthage, at the capitol, in the royal +palace of the Asdings, in the hall of Genseric the Terrible. I often +doubt the fact myself--but it is so! On the day after the battle at +Decimum the infantry, coming from the camp, joined us, and the whole +army marched to Carthage, which we reached in the evening. We chose a +place to encamp outside of the city, though no one opposed our +entrance. Nay, the Carthaginians had opened all their gates and lighted +torches and lanterns everywhere in the streets and squares. All night +long the bonfires shone from the city into our camp, while the few +Vandals who had not fled sought shelter in the Catholic churches. + +But Belisarius most strictly prohibited entering the city during the +night. He feared an ambush, a stratagem of war. He could not believe +that Genseric's capital had actually fallen into his hands with so +little trouble. + +On the following day, borne by a favoring breeze, our ships rounded the +promontory. As soon as the Carthaginians recognized our flag, they +broke the iron chains of their outer harbor, Mandracium, and beckoned +to our sailors to enter. But the commanders, mindful of Belisarius's +warning, anchored in the harbor of Stagnum, five thousand paces from +the city, waiting further orders. Yet that the worthy citizens of +Carthage might make the acquaintance of their liberators on the very +first day, a ship's captain, Kalonymos, with several sailors, entered +Mandracium, against the orders of Belisarius and the Quaestor, and +plundered all the merchants--Carthaginians as well as strangers--who +had their homes and storehouses on the harbor. He took all their money, +many of their goods, and even the beautiful candlesticks and lanterns +which they had brought out in honor of our arrival. + +We had hoped--Belisarius gave orders for a diligent search--to liberate +the captive King Hilderic and his nephew. But this, it appears, was not +accomplished. In the royal citadel, high up on the hill crowned by the +capitol, is the gloomy dungeon where the usurper held the Asdings +prisoners, as he barred all his foes here. The executioner supplied the +place of a jailer to his predecessors. He also held captive many +merchants of our empire, fearing (and my Hegelochus showed with what +good reason; the General sent him to-day with rich gifts to Syracuse) +that, if allowed to sail thither, they might bring us all sorts of +valuable information. When the jailer, a Roman, heard of our victory at +Decimum, and saw our galleys rounding the promontory, he released all +these captives. He wanted to set the King and Euages free also, but +their dungeon was empty. No one knows what has become of them. + +At noon Belisarius ordered the ships' crews to land, all the troops to +clean their weapons and armor, to present the best appearance, and now +the whole army marched in full battle-array--for we still feared an +ambush of the Vandals--through the "Grove of the Empress Theodora" (so +I hear the grateful Carthaginians have rebaptized it); then through the +southern Byzacenian gate, and finally through the lower city. +Belisarius and the principal leaders, with some picked troops, went up +to the capitol, and our General formally took his seat upon Genseric's +gold and purple throne. Belisarius ordered the noonday meal to be +served in the dining-hall where Gelimer entertained the Vandal nobles. +It is called "Delphica," because its principal ornament is a beautiful +tripod. Here the General feasted the leaders of his army. A banquet had +been prepared in it the day before for Gelimer, but we now ate the +dishes made to celebrate his victory; spiced by this thought, their +flavor was excellent. And Gelimer's servants brought in the platters, +filled the drinking vessels with fragrant wine, waited upon us in every +way. This is another instance of the goddess Tyche's pleasure in +playing with the changing destinies of mortals. You, O Cethegus, I am +well aware, have a different opinion of the final causes of events; you +see the fixed action of a law in the deeds of human beings, as well as +in storms and sunshine. This may be magnificent, heroic, but it is +terrible. I have a narrow mind, and am precisely the opposite of a +hero; I cannot endure it. I waver skeptically to and fro. Sometimes I +see only the whimsical ruling of a blind chance, which delights in +alternately lifting up and casting down; sometimes I think an +inscrutable God directs everything to mysterious ends. I have renounced +all philosophizing, and enjoy the motley current of events, not without +scorn and derision for the follies of other people, but no less for +those of Procopius. + +And yet I do not wish to break off entirely all relations with the +Christian's God. We do not know whether, after all, the Son of Man may +not yet return in the clouds of heaven. In that case, I would far +rather be with the sheep than with the goats. + +The people, the liberated Romans, the Catholics, in their delight over +their rescue, see signs and wonders everywhere. They regard our Huns as +angels of the Lord. They will yet learn to know these angels, +especially if they have pretty wives or daughters, or even only full +money-chests. The comical part of it is that (except Belisarius's +body-guard), our soldiers, with all due respect to the Emperor, are +principally a miserable lot of rascals from all the provinces of the +empire, and all the Barbarian peoples in the neighborhood; they are +always as ready to steal, pillage, and murder as they are to fight. Yet +we ourselves, in consequence of the amazing good fortune which has +accompanied us throughout this whole enterprise, are beginning to +consider ourselves the chosen favorites of the Lord, His sacred +instrument--thieves and cut-throats though we are! So the entire army, +pagans as well as Christians, believe that that spring gushed out for +us in the desert only by a miracle of God. So both the army and the +Carthaginians believe in a lantern miracle in the following singular +incident. + +The Carthaginians' principal saint is Saint Cyprian, who has more than +a dozen basilicas and chapels, in which all his festivals, "the great +Cypriani," are magnificently celebrated. But the Vandals took nearly +all the churches from the Catholics, and dedicated them to the Arian +worship. This was the case with the great basilica of Saint Cyprian +down by the harbor, from which they drove the Catholic priests. The +loss of this cathedral caused them special sorrow, and they said that +Saint Cyprian had repeatedly appeared to devout souls in a dream, +comforted them, and announced that he would some day avenge the wrong +committed by the Vandals. This seems to me rather _un_saintly in the +great saint; we poor sinners on earth are daily exhorted to forgive our +enemies, and the wrathful saint ought to let his vengeful feelings +cool, and thus remain the holy Cyprian. The pious Catholics, thus +pleasantly strengthened and justified in their thirst for revenge by +their patron saint, had long waited, in mingled curiosity and anxiety, +for the blow Saint Cyprian was to deal the heretics. On this day it +became evident. The festival of the great Cyprian was just at hand; it +fell on the day following the battle of Decimum. On the evening before, +the Arian priests themselves had decorated the entire church +magnificently, and especially arranged thousands of little lamps, in +order to have a brilliant illumination at night to celebrate the +victory; for they did not doubt the success of their own army. By the +written order of the Archdeacon Verus,--he had accompanied the King to +the field,--all the church vessels and church treasures of every +description were brought out of the hidden thesauri and placed upon the +seven altars of the basilica. Never would these unsuspected riches have +been found in the secret vaults of the church, had not Verus given +these directions and sent the keys. + +But we, not the Vandals, won the battle of Decimum. At this news the +Arian priests fled headlong from the city. The Catholics poured into +the basilica, discovered the secret treasures of the heretics, and +lighted their lamps to celebrate the victory of the champions of the +true faith. "This is the vengeance of Saint Cyprian!" "This is the +miracle of the lamps!" Through the city they went, roaring these words +and cuffing and pounding every doubter until he believed and shouted +with them: "Yes, this is Saint Cyprian's vengeance and the miracle of +the lamps!" + +Now I have not the least objection to an occasional miracle. On +the contrary, I am glad when something often happens that the +all-explaining philosophers who have so long tormented me cannot +understand. But then it must be a genuine, thorough-going miracle. If a +miracle cannot present itself as something entirely beyond the limits +of reason, it would better not attempt to be a miracle at all; it isn't +worth while. And this miracle appears to me far too natural. Belisarius +reproved my incredulous derision. But I replied that Saint Cyprian +seems to me the patron saint of the lamplighters; I don't belong to +that society. + + * * * * * + +Fara, the Herulian, captured the fairest booty at Decimum. True, he +received from the noble a sharp lance-thrust in the arm through his +brazen shield. But the shield had done its duty; the point did not +penetrate too deeply into the flesh. And when he entered the nearest +villa,--he was just breaking in,--the door opened, and a wonderfully +beautiful woman, with superb jewels and scarlet flowers in her black +hair, came to meet him. Except the flowers and gems, she was not +burdened with too much clothing. + +The vision held out a wreath of laurel and pomegranate blossoms. + +"Whom did you expect?" asked the Herulian, in amazement. + +"The victor," replied the beautiful woman. + +A somewhat oracular reply! This Sphinx--she looks, I have already told +you, exactly like one--would undoubtedly have given her wreath and +herself just as willingly to the victorious Vandals. After all, what +does the Carthaginian care for either Vandals or Byzantines? She is the +prize of the stronger, the conqueror--perhaps to his destruction. But I +think the Sphinx has now found her [OE]dipus. If one of this strange +pair of lovers must perish, it will hardly be my friend Fara. He took +me to her; he has some regard for me, because I can read and write. He +had evidently praised me. In vain. She scanned me from head to foot, +and from foot to head, it did not consume much time; I am not very +tall,--then, with a contemptuous curl of her full red lips, she moved +far away from me. I will not assert that I am handsome, while Fara, +next to Belisarius, is certainly the stateliest of all our six and +thirty thousand men. But I was indignant that my mortal part at once so +repelled her that she did not even desire to know the immortal side. I +am angered against her, I wish her no evil; but it would neither +greatly surprise, nor deeply grieve me, if she should come to a bad +end. + + + + CHAPTER X + +Belisarius is pushing the work on the walls day and night. Besides the +whole army and the crews of the ships, he has employed the citizens. +They grumble, saying that we came to liberate them, and now compel them +to harder labor than Gelimer ever imposed. The vast extent of the city +wall shows many gaps and holes; we think that may be the reason the +King did not retreat into his capital after the lost battle. Verus, +who, even in secular matters, holds a high place in the esteem of the +"Tyrant" (this, according to Justinian's command, is the name we must +give the champion of his people's liberty), is said, according to the +statements of the prisoners, to have advised the King from the first to +shut himself up in Carthage and let us besiege him there. If that is +true, the priest knows more about lamps than he does of war, but that +is natural. The very first night, our General says, we could have +slipped in through some gap, especially as many thousand Carthaginians +were ready to show us such holes. And we should have captured the whole +Vandal grandeur at one blow, as if in a mouse-trap; while now we must +seek the enemy in the desert. The King instantly rejected the counsel. + + * * * * * + +The goddess Tyche is the one woman in whom I often really feel tempted +to believe. And also in Ate,--Discord. To you, Ate and Tyche, mighty +sisters, not to Saint Cyprian, we must light lanterns to show our +gratitude. The goddess of Fortune is not weary of playing ball with the +destinies of the Vandals, but she could not do it, if Ate had not +placed this ball in her hands. + +Yesterday a little sail-boat ran into the harbor from the north. It +bore the scarlet Vandal flag. Captured by our guard-ships, which were +lurking unseen behind the high wall of the harbor, the Barbarians on +board were frightened nearly to death; they had had no idea of the +capture of their capital. They had come directly from Sardinia! To send +the flower of their fleet and army there, while we were already lying +off Sicily, was surely prompted by Ate. On the captain was found a +letter with the following contents: + +"Hail, and victory to you, O King of the Vandals! Where now are your +gloomy forebodings? I announce victory. We landed at Caralis, the +capital of Sardinia. We took harbor, city, and capitol. Goda, the +traitor, fell by my spear; his men are dispersed or prisoners; the +whole island is again yours. Celebrate a feast of victory. It is the +omen of a greater day, when you will crush the insolent foes who, as we +have just heard here, are really sailing against our coasts. Not one +must return from our Africa! This writes Zazo, your faithful General +and brother." + +That was yesterday; and to-day one of our cruisers brought into the +harbor a Vandal galley captured on its way to Sardinia. It bore a +messenger from Gelimer with the following letter: + +"It was not Goda who lured us to Sardinia, but a demon of hell in +Goda's form, whom God has permitted to destroy us. You did not set +forth that we might vanquish Sardinia, but that our foes might conquer +Africa. It was the will of Heaven, since God ordained your voyage. You +had scarcely sailed, when Belisarius landed. His army is small, but +fortune as well as heroism abandoned our people. The nation has no +good-luck, and its King no discernment; even wise plans are ruined by +the impetuosity of one or the kind heart of another. Ammata, our +darling, has fallen; Thrasaric the faithful has fallen; Gibamund is +wounded; our army was defeated at Decimum. Our ship-wharves, our +harbors, our armory, our horses, Carthage itself are in the hands of +the enemy. But the Vandals whom I still hold together seem to have been +stupefied by the first blow; they cannot be roused, though everything +is at stake. The short-lived outburst of energy has vanished from +nearly all. It is shameful to say, but there is far more capacity for +war in the twelve thousand Moorish mercenaries, whom I hired with heavy +gold and have assembled in a strong camp at Bulla, than in our whole +intimidated army. Should these men also fail me, the end would soon +come. Our sole hope is on you and your return. Let Sardinia and the +punishment of the rebellion go; fly hither with the whole fleet. Do not +land at Carthage, however, but far to the left, on the boundary between +Mauritania and Numidia. Let us avert or bear together the threatening +destruction. + GELIMER." + +The letters of the brothers cross each other, and both fall into our +hands! And now the King will vainly await his fleet in the west. Come, +Goddess Tyche, puff out your cheeks, blow upon the sails of the Vandal +galleys, and bring them all in safety with the victorious army, +Gelimer's last hope, into the harbor of Carthage--to captivity. + + * * * * * + +The Goddess Tyche, too, is just a woman, like the rest. Suddenly she +turns her back upon us--at least a little--and coquets with the +fair-haired warriors. I might be inclined to turn again to the +holy lamplighter. The "Tyrant" is making progress. How? By his kind +heart and friendliness, people say. He is winning the country +population,--not the Moors, no,--the Romans, the Catholics. Hear and +help, O Saint Cyprian! He is drawing them from us to his side. He +maintains strict discipline; but the only time our Huns do not rob, +plunder, and steal is when they are standing in rank and file before +Belisarius--or when they are asleep; but then they at least dream of +pillaging. So the peasants whom we have liberated flee in throngs from +their deliverers to the camp of the Barbarian King. They prefer the +Vandals to the Huns. They collect together, fall upon our plundering +heroes (true, they are largely camp-followers), cut off their pagan, +nay, even their Christian heads, and receive in exchange from the +"Tyrant" a heretical gold-piece. That alone would not be so bad, but +the peasants serve the Vandal as spies, and tell him everything he +desires to know, so far as they know it themselves. This kindness of +heart is undoubtedly hypocrisy, but it helps,--perhaps more than if it +were genuine. + + * * * * * + +I am really almost sorry for the Sphinx. She was so wonderfully +beautiful! Only it is a pity that she did not become an animal instead +of a woman. Fara discovered that she also allowed Althias the Thracian +and Aigan the Hun to divine the mystery of her nature. At first the +three heroes intended to fight to the death for the marvel. But this +time the Hun was wiser than either the German or the Thracian. By his +suggestion, they fraternally divided the woman into equal portions by +strapping her on a board, and, with two blows of an axe, separating her +into three parts. Fara received the head, as was fair; he had the best +right to it. For when she noticed his distrust, she tried to soothe him +by the offer of some fruit which she broke fresh from the tree. But she +made a mistake there; Fara, the Herulian and pagan, likes horse-flesh +far better than he does peaches. He gave it to her ape. The animal bit +it, shook itself, and lay dead. This disturbed the German, and he did +not rest until he had solved all the riddles of the many-sided Sphinx, +even her natural faithlessness. Then, as I said, they divided the +beautiful body into three parts. I advised them to bury the corpse very +deep, or at night scorching red flames would burst from her grave. + + * * * * * + +A little defeat. + +Belisarius was complaining he knew too little of the enemy. So he sent +one of the best men of his body-guard, Diogenes, towards the southwest +to obtain news. He and his men spent the night in a village. The +peasants swore that there was not a Vandal within two days' march. Our +heroes slept in the best house,--it belonged to the villicus,--in the +second story; of course they had first been a long time under the lower +story, that is, in the cellar. They posted no sentinels, certainly not; +they are the liberators of the peasants. The fact that they had just +drunk all the wine contained in all the amphorae in the village, killed +the people's cattle, embraced their wives, had nothing to do with the +matter. Peasants must expect such things. + +Soon they were all snoring, Diogenes in the lead. Night fell. The +peasants quickly brought the Vandals,--from the immediate +neighborhood,--who surrounded the house. But Saint Cyprian is stronger +than the heaviest drunken sleep. He caused a sword to drop on a metal +shield below; it waked--this is a miracle in which I believe, for no +mortal could accomplish it--it waked one of the sleepers. Under cover +of the darkness most of the men succeeded in escaping; Diogenes came +back, too--with three wounds in his face and neck, minus the little +finger of his sword-hand, and without a single piece of useful +information. + + * * * * * + +The Goddess Tyche is blowing badly. The Vandal fleet has not yet run +into Carthage to its destruction. + + * * * * * + +The Tyrant seems to have roused his army from its stupor. Our outposts, +horsemen whom we send forth around the city, report: "Vast clouds of +dust are rising in the southwest, which can be caused only by an +approaching army." + + * * * * * + +No Zazo. Has he, in spite of the capture of that letter, received +warning and chosen another landing-place? The Vandals were undoubtedly +hidden in that cloud of dust. Our Herulians have captured a few +peasants; we have already perceived in this almost liberated Africa +that the peasants must be captured by their deliverers, if we wish to +get sight of them. They seek refuge with the Barbarians from liberty. +The prisoners say that the King himself is marching against us. He +ordered a Vandal noble who had stolen a colonist's wife to be hanged on +the high door of the colonist's house. And this nobleman's +shieldbearer, who had taken two of the colonist's geese, to be hanged +on the low stable door, beside his master. Strange, is it not? But it +pleases the peasants. "Equalizing justice," Aristoteles calls it. This +wonderful Vandal hero must surely have studied philosophy, as well as +the art of throwing spears. + +Belisarius has sent an urgent warning to Constantinople concerning the +long-delayed pay of the Huns. They are growing troublesome. It is now +six months since we left the city; December has come. Desert storms +sweep over Carthage to the leaden-hued sea, which long since lost its +beautiful blue. The Huns are threatening to leave the service. They +excuse their pillaging on the ground that the citizens of Carthage and +the peasants will trust neither them nor the Emperor (in which they are +not wrong). We cannot pay with money lying in Constantinople, they say. +To-day a ship arrived from there, but did not bring a single solidus in +money. There were, however, thirty tax-collectors, and a command to +send the first taxes from the conquered province. + + * * * * * + +If King Gelimer hangs, we hang too. But we hang Romans, not Vandals. +The resentment against us is no longer confined to the peasants. It is +seething in Carthage, under our own eyes. The common people, the +tradesmen and the smaller merchants especially, who did not feel the +oppression of the Barbarians as heavily as the wealthy Senators, are +growing rebellious. A conspiracy has been discovered. Gelimer's army is +not far from the western, the Numidian gate. His horsemen range at +night as far as the walls of the suburb of Aklas. The Vandals were to +be admitted under cover of the darkness through the gaps still +remaining in the walls of the lower city. Belisarius ordered two +Carthaginian citizens convicted of this agreement, Laurus and Victor, +to be hanged on the hill outside of the Numidian gate. Belisarius likes +hills for his gallows. Then the General's administration of justice can +be seen for a long distance swaying in the wind. But Belisarius does +not dare to leave the city with the army while the Carthaginians are in +such a mood. At least the walls must first be repaired. The citizens +are now compelled to work on them at night too; it is making them very +discontented. + + * * * * * + +No Zazo! and the Huns are on the brink of open mutiny. They declare +that they will not fight in the next battle; that they have had no pay +yet, and that they have been lured here across the sea, contrary to the +agreement for military service. They are afraid that, after the defeat +of the Vandals, they will be left here to do garrison duty, and never +be taken home. Belisarius has already looked for a more spacious hill, +but has not found one that would be large enough. There are too many of +them. And the rest of us are, on the whole, too few. Besides, they are +among our best troops. So the General invited their leaders (the order +to hang them was written yesterday) to dine with him to-day. This is +the greatest honor and pleasure to them; unfortunately it is much less +pleasant to the regular guests of Belisarius. He praised them, and +offered them wine. Soon all were drunk and perfectly content. + + * * * * * + +They have slept off their carouse, and now are more dissatisfied than +ever,--thirstier too. We have an ample supply of wine, but, during the +last three hours, no water. The Vandals have cut the magnificent +aqueduct outside the Numidian gate. The Huns can do without it, easily; +but not we, the horses, the camels, and the Carthaginians. So the King +will thus force a decisive battle in the field. He cannot surround the +city, as we control the sea. He cannot storm it, since at last the +fortifications are completed according to Belisarius's plan. He +desires, he seeks a battle in the open field. His confidence, or that +of his "stupefied army," must have returned mightily since that +sorrowful letter. + +Belisarius has no choice; he will lead us out early to-morrow morning +to meet the foe. He is anxious lest the Huns may secretly harbor some +evil design, and has charged Fara to keep a sharp watch upon them. If +the battle should waver, the Huns will waver too. Then we shall see in +the van a conflict between Byzantines and Vandals, and in the rear a +struggle between Herulians and Huns. That may become exciting. But this +very suspense, this charm of danger, attracted me to Belisarius's +service, drew me to his camp. Better a Vandal arrow in my brain than +the philosophy over which I had studied myself ill.--To-morrow! + + + + CHAPTER XI + +The following day, after again inspecting the restored fortifications +of Carthage, and finding them sufficiently strong to receive, in case +of necessity, his defeated army and defy a siege, Belisarius sent all +the cavalry, except five hundred picked Illyrians, out of the gates to +meet the foe. To Althias the Thracian he assigned the chosen body of +shield-bearers with the imperial banner. They were not to shun, but +rather invite a skirmish with the outposts. He himself was to follow +the next day with the main body of the infantry and the five hundred +Illyrian horsemen. Only the few soldiers absolutely required to guard +the gates, towers, and walls remained in the city. + +At Trikameron, about seventeen Roman miles--seventeen thousand +paces--west of Carthage, Althias met the foe. + +The front ranks of both troops exchanged a few arrow-shots, and +returned to their armies with the report. The Byzantines pitched +their camp where they stood. Not far from them blazed the numerous +watch-fires of the Vandals. A narrow brook ran between the two +positions. The whole region was flat and treeless, with the exception +of one hill of moderate size that rose from the sandy soil very near +the stream on the left wing of the Romans. + +Without waiting for Althias's command or permission, Aigan, the +principal leader of the Huns, dashed up the hill as soon as he heard +that the men were to encamp here to-day and fight on the morrow. The +other leaders and their bands darted after him with the speed of an +arrow. He sent a message to Althias that the Huns would spend the night +on the hill, and take their position the next day. Althias avoided +forbidding what he could not prevent without bloodshed. But the hill +dominated the surrounding neighborhood. + +At a late hour of the night, the chieftains of the Huns met on the top +of the hill. + +"Is there no spy near?" asked Aigan. "This Herulian Prince never leaves +us." + +"My lord, I obeyed your commands. Seventy Huns are lying on guard in a +circle around our station; not a bird can fly over them unnoticed." + +"What shall we do to-morrow?" asked a third, leaning against his +horse's shoulder and patting its shaggy mane. "I no longer trust the +word of Belisarius. He is deceiving us." + +"Belisarius is not deceiving us. His master is deluding _him_." + +"I saw a strange sign," the second leader began anxiously. "Just as +darkness closed in, little blue flames danced upon the points of the +Romans' spears. What does that mean?" + +"It means victory," cried the third, greatly excited. "There is a +tradition in our tribe, my great-grandfather saw it himself, and it was +transmitted from generation to generation, before the terrible day in +Gaul when the scourge of the great Attila broke." + +"Atta in the clouds, great Atta, be gracious to us," murmured all +three, bowing low toward the east. + +"My ancestor was on guard duty one dark night beside a rushing stream. +On the opposite shore two men, with spears on their shoulders, were +riding to examine the neighborhood. My great-grandfather and his +companions slipped among the tall rushes and bent their bows, which +never failed. They took aim. 'Look, AEtius,' cried one, 'your spear is +shining.' 'And yours too, King of the Visigoths,' replied the other. +Our ancestors looked up, and, in truth, blue flames were dancing around +the spears of the enemy. Our people fled in terror, not daring to shoot +those whom the gods protected. And the day after Atta--" + +"Atta, Atta, be not angry with us!" they again whispered, gazing in +terror up at the clouds. + +"What then meant victory to the Germans and misfortune to their foes," +replied Aigan, distrustfully, "may have the same meaning now. We will +wait. Wherever victory turns, we will turn too; that is why I chose +this hill for our station. From here we can see clearly the whole +course of the battle. Either straight across the brook on the Vandals' +left flank--" + +"Or to the right on the Romans' centre--like a whirlwind!" + +"I would rather plunder the Vandals' camp. It is said to be very rich +in yellow gold." + +"And in white-bosomed women." + +"But all Carthage has more gold than the Vandal Prince in his tent." + +"But the best part is, the decision will probably come before the Lion +of the Romans arrives." + +"You are right: I would not willingly spur my horse against the +wrathful lightning of his eyes." + +"Patience. Wait quietly. Wherever I send an arrow, we will rush; and +Atta will hover, high in the air, above his children." + +Removing his helmet of thick black sheepskin, he threw it upward, +singing softly: + + "Atta, Atta, booty grant us, + Booty to thy much-loved children, + Yellow gold and shining silver, + And the red blood of the vineyard, + And the foeman's fairest women." + +All, with bared heads, repeated the words in the deepest, most fervent +reverence. Then Aigan replaced his helmet: + +"Silence! Let us separate." + + + + CHAPTER XII + +In the Vandal camp on the left bank of the stream, Genseric's great +banner floated from the royal tent, its folds often lifted by the night +wind, rustling softly in the warm, dark air. In a somewhat lower tent, +close beside the King's, Gibamund and Hilda sat silent, hand in hand, +upon a couch. The table before them was covered with Gibamund's +weapons; the lamp hanging from the roof cast a dim light upon them, +which was reflected by the polished metal. Beside these bright arms lay +a dark dagger with a beautiful hilt in a black leather sheath, all of +very artistic work. + +"It was hard for me," said Gibamund, starting up impatiently, "to +obey the King's order and take command in the camp to-day until his +return,--the suspense, the expectation is so great." + +"Yes, if the Moors should fail us! How many are there, did you say?" + +"Twelve thousand. They ought to have arrived the day before yesterday, +if they had hastened here from the camp at Bulla, according to the +agreement. The King sent messenger after messenger, urging haste, +in vain. At last, full of impatience, he himself rode along the +Numidian road to meet them. For if twelve thousand infantry fail us +to-morrow,--they were to form our whole left wing,--our position will +be--hark! that is the horn of the camp-guard. The King must have +returned. Let me ask." + +But already footsteps and the clank of weapons were heard close at +hand; the husband and wife, springing up, hurried to the entrance of +the tent. The curtains were drawn back from the outside, and before +them, the helmet on his lofty head, stood Zazo. + +"You, brother?" + +"You back again, Zazo! Oh, now all is well!" + +Graver, quieter than usual, but resolute and calm, the strong warrior +stood between the two who clung to him, pressing his hands. It was a +joy, a consolation, to look at the erect, steadfast man. + +"All is not well, my sweet sister-in-law," he answered sadly though +firmly. "Alas for Ammata, and the whole day of Decimum! I do not +understand it," he added, shaking his head, "but much may yet be +retrieved." + +"Whence came you so suddenly? Have you seen Gelimer?" + +"He will be here soon. He promised me. He is still praying in his tent, +with Verus." + +"You are from--?" + +"Sardinia, direct. A letter from the King, sent by Verus, urging me to +a speedy return and warning me not to enter the harbor of Carthage, did +not reach me. But a second, despatched by my brother himself, brought +the whole tale of disaster. I landed at the point named, and marched to +Bulla to meet the Moorish mercenaries and lead them here. I reached +Bulla and found--" He stamped his foot. + +"Well, what?" + +"The empty camp." + +"Had the Moors started to come here?" + +"They have scattered, the whole twelve thousand, into the desert." + +"For God's sake--" + +"The traitors!" + +"Not traitors. They sent the money back to the King. Cabaon, their +prophet and chief, warned them, forbade them to take part in this +battle. All obeyed. Only a few hundred men from the Pappua Mountains--" + +"They are bound by the ties of hospitality to Gelimer, to the whole +Asding race." + +"--accompanied us, led by Sersaon, their chief." + +"This destroys the King's whole plan for to-morrow's battle." + +"Well," said Zazo, quietly, "to make amends he has unexpectedly +received my troops. Not quite five thousand, but--" + +"But you are their leader," cried Gibamund. + +"He met on the Numidian road, first, the messengers I had sent in +advance, then me and my little army. What a sorrowful hour! How I had +rejoiced over my victory! But now Gelimer's tears flowed fast as he lay +on my breast, and I myself--Oh, Ammata! Yet, no, we must remain firm, +calm, and manly, ay, hard; for this King is far too soft-hearted." + +"Yet he has recovered himself since the battle of Decimum," said +Gibamund. "At that time he was utterly crushed." + +"Yes," cried Hilda, resentfully, "more than a man should permit himself +to be." + +"I loved Ammata scarcely less than he," replied Zazo, and his lips +quivered. "But to let certain victory escape him merely to mourn for, +to bury the boy--" + +"You would not have done so, my Zazo," said a gentle voice. + +Gelimer had entered. He uttered the words very quietly; the others +turned, startled. + +"Your censure is just," he added. "But I saw in this dispensation--he +was the first Vandal who fell in the war--a judgment of God. If the +most innocent of us all must die, God's punishment for the iniquity of +the fathers rests upon us all." + +Zazo shook his head angrily and set his buffalo helmet on the table so +heavily that it rattled. "Brother, brother! This gloomy, brooding +delusion may destroy you and your whole people. I am not learned enough +to argue with you. But I, too, am a Christian, a devout one,--no pagan +like beautiful Hilda yonder, and I tell you--No, let me finish. How +that terrible verse concerning God's vengeance is to be interpreted I +do not know. It troubles me very little. But this I do know: if our +kingdom fall, it will fall not on account of the sins of our ancestors, +but of our own. The iniquity of the fathers--of course it, too, will be +avenged. Vices and disease are also hereditary. Enfeebled themselves, +they have begotten a feeble generation. They have bequeathed to their +children their love of pleasure and fostered it in them. And the +iniquity of the fathers is also avenged upon us in other ways, but +without any miracle of the saints. That the Catholics, tortured for +years, turned to the Emperor against us; that the Ostrogoths aid our +foes, are certainly punishments for the iniquity of our fathers. But +God needs to work no miracle for that; indeed, he would be compelled to +work a miracle to prevent it. And Ammata--is he innocent? Against your +command he dashed recklessly into the battle. And Thrasaric? Instead of +leaving the disobedient boy to his fate, according to his duty as +General, and not attacking until Gibamund was at hand, he followed only +the ardent desire of his heart to save your darling. And--" + +He hesitated. + +"And the King?" Gelimer went on. "Instead of doing his duty, he +succumbs at the sight of the dead. But that is the curse, the vengeance +of the Lord." + +"No," replied Zazo. "This, too, is no miracle. This is because you, +also, O brother, are no longer a true Vandal; I have said so before. +You are absorbed,--not like the people, in luxury and pleasure,--but in +brooding. And again it is a consequence of the misdeed of the father; +if you had not when a boy witnessed that horrible scene of torture--But +it is useless to ask how the past is to blame for the present; the aim +should be to do our duty to-day, to-morrow, every day, firmly, +faithfully, and without brooding. Then we shall conquer, and that will +be well; or we shall fall like men, and that, too, is no evil thing. We +can do no more than our duty. And the dear Lord in Heaven will deal +with our souls according to His mercy. I am not anxious about mine, if +I fall in battle for my people." + +"Oh," cried Hilda, joyously, "that does one good. It is like the fresh +north wind scattering the sultry mists." + +Sorrowfully but with no reproach in his tone, Gelimer answered: "Yes, +the sound man cannot understand why the sick man does not sing and +leap. I _must_ 'brood,' as you call it; I cannot do otherwise. Yet +often I think my way through. Often I, too, in my way, break through +the mists. So now, by fervent prayer, I have again won my way to the +old strong consolation. Verus, my confessor, knows these conflicts and +the cause of my victory: right is on my side. I am not a usurper, as +the Emperor falsely calls me. Hilderic, the assassin, was justly +deposed. No guilt cleaves to me; I have done Hilderic no wrong; the +Emperor has no injustice to avenge on me. This is my stay, my support, +and my staff.--Ah, Verus, we never hear you enter." + +Zazo measured the priest with a hostile glance. + +"I came to summon you, O King. There are still some written orders to +prepare. Besides, I was to remind you of the prisoners." + +"Oh, yes. Listen, Zazo; give the consent I have so long asked. Let me +release Hilderic and Euages." + +"By no means," cried Zazo, striding up and down the narrow tent. "On no +account. Least of all on the eve of a decisive battle. Shall Belisarius +replace him on the throne of Carthage after we have fallen? Or shall +he, after we have conquered, be kept continually at the court of +Constantinople as a living pretext for attacking us again? Off with the +murderers' heads! Where are they?" + +"Here in the camp, in safe keeping." + +"And the hostages?" + +"They were--Pudentius's son among them--confined in Decimum," Verus +answered. "After the lost battle, they were freed by the victors." + +"That might be repeated to-morrow," cried Zazo, angrily. "Amid the +tumult of conflict, the foe might easily, for a short time, enter this +open camp. I entreat, my King--" + +"So be it," interrupted the latter, and turning to Verus he ordered: +"Have Hilderic and Euages taken away." + +"Where?" + +"To some safe place where no Byzantine can liberate them." + +Verus bowed and hurriedly left the tent. + +"I will follow you," the King called after him. "Do not judge me too +sternly in your hearts, you thoroughly healthy people," he now added in +a gentle voice, turning to the others. "I am a tree blasted by the +lightning. But to-morrow," he went on, drawing himself up to his full +height, "to-morrow, I hope, you shall be satisfied with me. Even you, +Hilda! Send me your little harp; I believe you will not regret it." + +Hilda brought the instrument from a corner of the tent. "Here! But you +know," she said, smiling, "its strings will break if any one tries to +play on them an accompaniment to Latin verses of penitential hymns." + +"They will not break. Good-night." + +The King left the tent. + +"I think I have seen that harp of plain black wood in some other hand. +Where was it?" asked Zazo. "In Ravenna, was it not?" + +Hilda nodded. "My friend Teja, my teacher on the harp and in the use of +arms, bestowed it on me as a wedding gift. And his noble, faithful +heart has not forgotten me. In my happiness he made no sign. But now--" + +"Well?" asked Zazo. + +"As soon as the first news of our defeat at Decimum reached Ravenna," +said Gibamund, "brave Ostrogoths, the old instructor in the use of +arms, Teja, and several others, wished to come to our assistance with a +body of volunteers; for it was rumored that I had fallen. Probably the +mistake arose through the death of Ammata. The Regent strictly forbade +it. Then Teja sent to my widow, as he supposed, this magnificent dagger +of dark metal." + +"The workmanship is exquisite," said Zazo, drawing out the blade and +examining it. "What a superb weapon!" + +"And he forged it himself," cried Hilda, eagerly. "Look here; his +housemark on the hilt." + +"And on the blade a motto inscribed in runes," added Zazo, stepping +under the lamp: "'The dead are free.' H'm, a stern consolation. But not +too stern for Hilda. Keep this carefully." + +"Yes," replied Hilda, quietly. "The dagger in my girdle, and the +consolation in my thoughts." + +"But not too soon, Hilda," said Zazo, in a tone of warning, as he left +the tent. + +"Have no fear," she answered, throwing both arms around her husband; +"it is the consolation and weapon of the _widow_." + + + + CHAPTER XIII + +At sunrise the next morning the long-drawn notes of the horns aroused +the sleeping camp of the Vandals. + +Concealed from the eyes of the Romans by the first row of tents, the +Barbarians' army was formed in order for battle within its own camp. +The leaders had received written orders the evening before concerning +their positions, and now executed them without confusion. A breakfast +of bread and wine was served to the men wherever they stood or lay. The +camp was a large one, narrow but very long, following the course of the +little stream. Besides the soldiers, it had been compelled to shelter +many women, children, and old men who had fled from Carthage and other +districts occupied or threatened by the foe. + +Now the blare of trumpets summoned the subordinate officers and the +leaders of the thousands to the centre of the camp, where the King and +his two brothers, mounted on their chargers, were in the midst of a +large open space. With them, leaning against the shoulder of her +splendid stallion, stood Hilda, a muffled spear-shaft in her hand; +beside her, in full priestly insignia, Verus sat on horseback. Outside +the leaders were massed the men with whom Zazo had reconquered +Sardinia. + +Again the blare of the trumpets echoed through the streets of tents, +then Zazo rode a few paces forward. Thundering cheers greeted him. In +loud, clear tones he began: "Listen, army of the Vandals. We shall +fight to-day, not for victory alone; we are struggling for all we are +and have,--the kingdom of Genseric and its renown, the wives and +children in yonder tents, who will become slaves if we yield. To-day we +must look death and the enemy closely in the eye. The King has +commanded that this battle is to be fought by the Vandals with the +sword only, not with bow and arrow, not with lance and spear. Look, I +cast my own spear from me; you will do the same; with sword in hand, +press close to the body of the foe." He dropped his lance; all the +soldiers followed his example. "One spear alone," he added, "will tower +aloft to-day in the Vandal army,--this." + +Hilda stepped forward. Taking the shaft from her hand, he tore off the +cover and waved high aloft a floating scarlet banner. + +"Genseric's flag! Genseric's conquering dragon!" shouted thousands of +voices. + +"Follow this standard wherever it calls you. Do not let it fall into +the hands of the enemy. Swear to follow it unto death." + +"Unto death!" came the answer in solemn tones. + +"That is well. I believe you. Vandals. Now listen to your King. You +know that he has the gift of song and harp-playing. He has planned the +order of battle wisely, skilfully; he has also composed the battle-song +which is to sweep you into the conflict." + +Then Gelimer, throwing back his long purple mantle, raised +Hilda's--Teja's--dark triangular harp, and, to the accompaniment of its +clear notes, sang:-- + + "On, on, Vandals brave, + Forward to battle! + Follow the standard, + The fame-heralded + Consort of Victory. + + "Dash on the foemen! + Strive with and strike them, + Breast 'gainst breast pressing, + In close combat down! + + "Guard ye, O Vandals, + The heritage noble + Of ancestors stainless, + Our kingdom and fame! + + "Vengeance is preparing + High in the heavens + The avenger of right: + God crown with victory + The cause that is just." + +"God crown with victory the cause that is just!" repeated the warriors, +in an exulting shout, and dispersed through the streets of the camp. + +The King and his brothers now dismounted from their horses, to hold +another short council and to drink the wine which Hilda herself offered +to them. Just at that moment, as Gelimer gave back the harp to Hilda, a +strange figure pressed through the dispersing ranks; the King and the +Princes gazed at it in astonishment. A tall man clad from head to +ankles in a gown of camel's hair, fastened around the loins, not by a +rope, but by a girdle of thick braided strands of a woman's light-brown +tresses; no sandals protected the bare feet, no covering the closely +shaven head. The cheeks were sunken; glowing eyes sparkled from deep +sockets. Throwing himself before the King, he raised both hands +imploringly. + +"By Heaven! I know you, man," said Gelimer. + +"Yes," cried Gibamund, "it is--" + +"Thrasabad, Thrasaric's brother," added Zazo. + +"The vanished nobleman whom we have long believed dead," said Hilda, +with a timid glance at him, drawing nearer. + +"Yes, Thrasabad," replied a hollow voice, "the miserable Thrasabad. I +am a murderer, her murderer. King, judge me!" + +Gelimer bent forward, took his right hand, and raised him. + +"Not the Greek girl's murderer. I have heard the whole story from your +brother." + +"No matter; her blood rests on my soul. I felt that as I saw it flow. +Lifting the beautiful body on a horse that very night, I dashed away +with it from the eyes of men. Away, always deeper into the desert, till +the horse fell. Then, with these hands, I buried her in a sand ravine +not far from here. Her wonderfully beautiful hair I cut off; how often +I have stroked and caressed it! And I prayed and did penance +ceaselessly beside her grave. Pious desert monks found me there, +watching and fasting, almost dead. And I confessed to them my heavy +sin. They promised God's forgiveness if, as one of their brotherhood, I +would do penance beside that grave forever. I took the vows. They gave +me the dress of their order; I wound Glauke's hair around it to remind +me always of my sin; and they brought me food in the lonely ravine. But +since I heard of the day of Decimum and my brother's death; since the +decisive conflict drew nearer and nearer; since you and the enemy +pitched your camp close beside my hiding-place; since, two days ago, I +heard the war horns of my people,--I have had no peace in my idle +praying! Once I wielded the sword not badly. My whole heart yearned to +follow once more, for the last time, the call of the battle trumpets. +Alas! I dared not; I knew I was not worthy. But last night, in a dream, +_she_ appeared to me,--her human beauty transfigured into an angel's +radiant loveliness, no longer any trace of earth about her; and she +said: 'Go to your brothers-in-arms, ask for a sword, and fight and fall +for your people. That will be the best atonement.' Oh, believe me, my +King! I do not lie with the name of that saint on my lips. If you can +forgive me for her sake--oh, let me--" + +Zazo stepped forward, drew the sword from the sheath of one of his own +warriors, and gave it to the monk. "Here, Thrasabad, son of Thrasamer! +I will answer for it to the King. Do you see? He, too, is nodding to +you. Take this sword and go with my men. You will probably need no +scabbard. Now, King Gelimer, let the horns bray. Forward! at the foe!" + + + + CHAPTER XIV + +The King, with a keen eye of a general, had seen that the crisis of the +battle would be decided in the centre of the two armies, where on the +southwest at the left, and on the northeast at the right of the little +stream, rose a succession of low hills. Besides, deserters from the +Huns had reported that in the next encounter these troops would either +not fight at all, or take a very inactive part; therefore Gelimer +expected from the right Roman wing no peril to his own left flank. He +stationed the right wing of the Vandal troops tolerably far back, so +that the enemy would have to march a considerable distance to reach it. +Perhaps by that time the centre might already have won the victory, and +thereby obtained the accession of the Huns. + +So the King placed the best strength of his troops in the centre. By +far the larger portion consisted of cavalry; there was a small force of +infantry, Zazo's warriors, numbering nearly five thousand; here, too, +he had posted Gibamund with his faithful two hundred men; here were the +two Gundings and their numerous kinsmen, with boar helmets and boar +shields, like their leaders; here he himself took his station with a +large body of cavalry, to which he added the few faithful Moors from +the Pappua Mountains under their young chief, Sersaon. The command of +the two wings he had intrusted to two other noblemen. Before the +beginning of the battle and during its course, Gelimer dashed in person +on a swift horse everywhere through the ranks, rousing and stimulating +the courage of his men. + +The conflict began as the King had planned, by a total surprise of the +foe. Just at the time the Byzantines were busied in preparing the +morning meal, Gelimer suddenly led the centre of his army from behind +the shelter of the row of tents to the left bank of the marshy little +brook. This stream was so small that it had no name, yet it never dried +up. And the left bank occupied by the Vandals was higher than the +right. Belisarius was not yet on the ground, but his subordinate +officers arranged their men as well as they could in their haste, where +each division happened to be standing or lying. The right Roman wing on +the hill consisted of the Huns, who did not move. Next to them, +according to secret orders, stood Fara with the Herulians, watching +these doubtful allies. Then followed, in the centre, Althias the +Thracian and Johannes the Armenian, with their picked troops of their +fellow-countrymen, and the shield and lance bearers of Belisarius's +bodyguard. Here gleamed the imperial standard, the _vexillum +praetorium_, the flag of the General, Belisarius. The left Roman wing +was formed of the other auxiliary troops except the Huns. The +Byzantines, too, had perceived that the victory would be decided in the +centre of the two armies. When Gibamund, on his white charger, led his +men forward, Hilda on her splendid stallion rode at his side. By her +husband's wish she had protected her beautiful head with a light +helmet, on which rose two white falcon wings; her bright golden locks +flowed over her white mantle. He had also pressed upon her a small, +shining shield, with a light silvery hue. Her white lower robe was +girdled with the black belt which supported the sheath of Teja's +dagger; but she had refused a breastplate on account of its weight. + +"You will not let me fight with you or even ride by your side," she +complained. + +Already the Byzantines' arrows were flying over the Vandals and +striking among Gibamund's men. + +"Halt, love," he commanded, "go no farther! Not within reach of the +arrows! Wait here, on this little hill. I will leave ten men as a +guard. From this spot you can see a long distance. Watch the white +heron's wings on my helmet, and the dragon banner. I shall follow it." +A clasp of the hand; Gibamund dashed forward; Hilda quietly checked the +docile horse. Her face was very pale. + +The first encounter came at once. + +Johannes the Armenian, one of Belisarius's best leaders, pressed with +his countrymen through the stream, which reached only to their knees, +and rushed out of it up the steeper Vandal shore. He was instantly +hurled back. Zazo, with his foremost warriors, darted upon him with the +weight with which a bird of prey strikes small game. Down the slope, +into the midst of the stream, whose water was soon dyed red, and up the +opposite bank, swept the Vandal pursuit. Hilda saw it plainly from her +station. "Oh, at last, at last," she cried, "a breath of victory!" + +But Zazo followed no farther. He prudently led his men back to the left +bank of the stream. "We will pitch them down here again," he said, +laughing; "we will profit once more by our position on the height." + +The Armenians bore their brave leader away with them in their flight. +Johannes, who had received through his shield a wound in the arm from +Zazo's sword, said grimly to Marcellus, the commander of the bodyguard: +"The devil has got into the cowards of Decimum. It confuses my spearmen +to have them fight solely with the sword. The Barbarians thrust the +long spears to the right, run under them, and cut the men down. And +this fellow with the buffalo helm actually butts like a mountain bull. +Give me your shield-bearers; I will try again." + +With the shield-bearers, led by Martinus, the Armenians renewed the +attack. Not an arrow, not a spear, flew to meet them; but as soon as +they began to climb the Vandal shore, the Germans dashed down on them +with the sword in a hand-to-hand conflict. Martinus fell by Gibamund's +sword. Then the shield-bearers fled; the Armenians hesitated, wavered, +fell into confusion, finally they, too, fled, pursued by the Vandals. + + "Dash on the foemen! + Strive with and strike them + Down in close combat!" + +rose in a roar from Zazo's troops, whom the latter again led to the +left shore. + +"They must repeatedly see the backs of the dreaded Byzantines before +they have the courage to defeat them entirely," he said to Gibamund, +who urged pursuit. "And where is Belisarius?" + +The latter, with his five hundred horsemen, had reached the centre from +Carthage just in time to see the flight of his men. When he learned +that this was the second attack which had been repulsed, he ordered all +his bodyguard, men trained to fight on foot as well as on horseback, to +dismount and advance with Althias's Thracians for the third assault. +His own special standard, the "General's banner," he commanded to be +borne before them. + +It was a mighty, a menacing spectacle. The tuba of the Romans blared to +greet the standard of the commanding General. The Byzantines, in firmly +closed ranks, advanced like a moving wall of bronze, their long lances +levelled. Zazo saw that his men hesitated. "Forward! Cross the stream! +On to the attack!" + +He dashed on in advance of his troops. But he soon perceived that only +a very few--the Gundings and their boar-helmeted kinsmen--were +following. "Forward!" he commanded again. But the Vandals delayed. They +felt that the rush down from the height had made their success far +easier; they did not wish to leave the vantage-ground, and--they had +seen Belisarius in the distance. The ranks of levelled lances, +terrible, threatening, drew nearer and nearer. + +"If we only had our spears!" cried voices in the ranks behind him. The +Byzantines had already reached the stream; now they were wading through +the marshy rivulet,--yet the Vandals on the heights did not obey the +command to charge. + +"You _will_ not cross?" cried Zazo, furiously. "Then you _must_!" With +these words he tore Genseric's dragon banner from the hand of the +horseman at his right and shouting: "Bring back the standard and your +honor!" he hurled it with all his strength across the stream into the +midst of the Byzantines. Loud cries rose from friends and enemies. + +One of the Byzantines instantly snatched the banner from the ground, +raised it aloft, and was hurrying with it to Belisarius. But he did not +go far. For when they saw the treasure of the kingdom in the hands of +the foe, all the Vandals, on horseback and on foot, following their +nobles, rushed down the slope into the stream and the midst of +the enemy. By Zazo's side, on a powerful stallion, rode a strange +figure,--a monk without helmet, shield, or breastplate; he wore a gray +cowl and carried a sword. Breaking a passage through the hostile ranks, +he reached the captor of the scarlet banner, tore it from his hand, +and, with a single sword-stroke, cleft helmet and skull. It was +Valerianus, the commander of the lance-bearers. + +The victor swung the rescued standard high aloft, and instantly fell +from his horse, pierced by five lances. But Gundobad, the Gunding, +raised the banner from the hand of the sinking figure. + +"Here, to the rescue," he shouted, "kinsmen of the Gundings! Here, you +boars!" + +Immediately his brother and the whole troop of boar helms gathered +around him; the banner and its bearer were cut out for the moment. The +ranks of the foe nearest to the Vandal banner wavered, yielded. + +"Victory!" shouted the Vandals, pressing boldly forward, singing,-- + + "Forward to battle! + Follow the standard, + The fame-heralded + Consort of victory." + +They struck their sword-blades on their shields till the sound echoed +far and wide. + +"Victory!" cried Hilda, exultantly, as she witnessed the whole +magnificent spectacle. + + + + CHAPTER XV + +Belisarius also witnessed it from his station on the hill. "Fly," he +cried to Procopius; "fly to Fara and the Herulians! They must swing to +the left and take those red rags." + +"And the Huns?" asked Procopius under his breath. "Look yonder; they +are riding slowly forward, but not westward, not against the Vandals." + +"Obey! This German war dance around the red banner must first be put to +a bloody end, or their Teutonic battle fiend will take possession of +them, and then all is over. My face alone will keep the Huns in check, +should there be need of it." + +Meanwhile the dragon banner had again changed bearers. All the lances +and arrows were aimed at the dangerous emblem, visible far and wide. +Gundobad's horse fell; its rider did not rise again. But his brother +Gundomar took the standard from the dying noble's hand and ran the +point of its shaft into the throat of Cyprianus, the second leader of +the Thracians, whose battle-axe had cleft Gundobad's helmet and head as +he tried to spring up from his dead charger. + +Hilda had seen the red banner disappear for a moment, and anxiously +gave her stallion a light blow with her hand. The fiery animal shot +forward in frantic haste; not until she reached the edge of the stream +could the Princess draw rein. Her companions gained the new position +much later. + +Althias now reached the second Gunding. Unequal, unfavorable to every +bearer of the standard was the conflict. His left hand, holding the +bridle and the heavy standard, could not use the shield, and this +burden also impeded very considerably the action of his right arm in +defence. After a short struggle Gundomar, transfixed by the Thracian's +spear, sank from his horse. But Gibamund was already on the spot, and +Zazo, dashing close behind him, no sooner saw the standard safe in his +brother's hand than he shouted, "Belisarius has a banner too." + +Turning swiftly to the left, by the mere weight of his horse he burst +through a rank of the Thracians, reached Belisarius's bodyguard, who +bore the gold-embroidered standard, and, with a sword-stroke through +the front of the helmet into his brow, felled him. The Roman General's +banner sank, while Gibamund, surrounded and protected by his band of +picked warriors, waved the scarlet dragon standard high in the air. + +Hilda saw it distinctly. Involuntarily she obeyed the impulse to go +forward after the victory. The stallion, yielding to the lightest +movement, bore her across the stream, whose water barely wet the edge +of her long white robe. She was on the other side. She was pursuing +victory. Before her, a little to the left, she already saw Gelimer and +his troops; the whole Vandal centre was advancing. It was the crisis, +the turning-point of the battle. + +Again Althias tried to force his way through the Vandal ranks to +Gibamund himself; he had almost reached him, and they had exchanged two +whizzing sword-strokes, which made the sparks fly from their blades, +when from the left cries of grief and rage fell on the Thracian's ear +from the Byzantines. He turned, and saw his General's banner sink. + +This was the second time; for Zazo had already struck down the second +man who bore it. The victor was stretching his hand toward the shaft, +which no third man seemed inclined to lift. + +Just at that moment, close at hand on the right, German horns sounded +in Zazo's ears. The Herulians, dashing on their snorting horses upon +the Vandals' flank, broke through several of their ranks to their +leader. + +A spear--well aimed, for Fara had hurled it--shattered the buffalo helm +on the hero's head. He could no longer think of Belisarius's banner. He +was obliged to consider his own safety. + +"Help, brother Gelimer!" he shouted. + +"I am here, brother Zazo," rang the answer. For the King was already at +hand. Slowly following the advance of the brothers, he had led his +Vandals and Moors nearer and nearer, and noticed the second charge and +the moment of peril. + +"Forward! Cut Zazo out," he shouted, dashing upon the Herulians at the +head of his men. A warrior sprang to meet him, clutched the bridle of +the cream-colored charger with his left hand, and aimed his spear with +the right. Before it flew, Gelimer's sword had pierced the Herulian's +throat. Hilda saw it; for, as if irresistibly attracted by the battle, +she rode nearer and nearer. + +Just at this moment she perceived Verus in full priestly robes, +unarmed, dash past her straight to the King. It was no easy task to +force a passage to his side through the Moors and Vandals. Gelimer +struck down a second spear-man, a third. Already he was close to Zazo. +The charge of his Vandals now came full upon the Herulians. The latter +did not yield, but they no longer gained a foot of ground. As two +wrestlers, with arms interlocked, each unable to move the other from +the spot, measure equal strength, the German warriors surged to and +fro. Victory hung in the balance. + +"Where are the foot-soldiers?" asked Belisarius, glancing anxiously +toward the distant heights where the Numidian road extended toward +Carthage. + +"I have sent out three messengers," answered Procopius. "There! The +Thracians are yielding! The Armenians are falling back! The Herulians +are now pressed by greatly superior numbers." + +"Forward, Illyrians, save the battle for me. Belisarius himself will +lead you--" + +And with a loud blare of trumpets, the General dashed down the hill to +the aid of the Herulians. Gelimer heard the flourish, saw the charge, +and summoned reinforcements from the rearguard. + +"There," he shouted, pointing with his sword, "and join me in the +battle-song, + + "Vengeance is preparing + The avenger of right." + +"You here, Verus? What news do you bring? Your face is--" + +"O King!" cried the priest, "what blood-guiltiness!" + +"What has happened?" + +"The messenger I sent to the prisoners--one of my +freedmen--misunderstood your words: 'Have them taken away, where no one +can free them.'" + +"Well?" + +"He has--he reported it to me, and fled when he saw my wrath." + +"Well, what is it?" + +"He has--killed Hilderic and Euages." + +"Omniscient God!" cried the King, paling. "That was not my wish." + +"But still more," Verus went on. + +"Help, Gelimer!" Zazo's voice shouted from the densest ranks of the +conflict. + +Belisarius and his Illyrians had now reached him. Gibamund was by his +side. Gelimer also spurred his horse. + +But Verus grasped his bridle, shouting in his ear: "The letter, the +warning to Hilderic--I found it just now, wedged between two drawers in +the coffer. Here it is. Hilderic did not lie! He only wished to protect +himself against you. Innocent--he was deposed, imprisoned, slain!" + +Gelimer, speechless with horror, stared for a moment into the priest's +stony face; he seemed stupefied. Then the battle-song of his men echoed +in his ears:-- + + "Vengeance is preparing + High in the heavens + The avenger of right!" + +"Woe, woe is me! I am a criminal, a murderer," the King shrieked aloud. +The sword slipped from his grasp. He covered his face with both hands. +A terrible convulsion shook him. He seemed falling from the saddle. +Verus supported him, wheeled the King's horse so that his back was +toward the foe, and gave the animal a blow on the hind quarter with all +his strength. The charger dashed madly away. Sersaon and Markomer, the +leaders of the cavalry, supported the swaying figure on the right and +left. + +"Help! help! I am being overcome, brother Gelimer!" Zazo's voice again +rose,--more urgently, nay, despairingly. But it was drowned by the +wild, frantic cries of the Vandals. + +"Fly! fly! The King himself has fled! Fly! Save the women, the +children!" And the Vandals, by hundreds, now wheeled their horses and +dashed away toward the stream and the camp. + +Then Hilda, now only a few paces from the tumult, saw Zazo's towering +figure disappear. His horse, pierced by a spear, fell; it was bleeding +from more than one wound. But the hero sprang up again. + +Fara the Herulian reached him from the left, and cleft his +dragon-shield with his battle-axe. Zazo flung the pieces at the helmet +of the Herulian, stunning him so that he swayed in his saddle. Now +Barbatus, the Illyrian leader, his long lance levelled, pressed upon +Zazo from the right. With his last strength Zazo pushed it aside, +sprang to the right, the shieldless side of the rider, and thrust his +sword into his neck between the helmet and breastplate. Barbatus sank +slowly from the saddle toward the left. But, in springing back, Zazo +had fallen on his knees. Before he could rise, two horsemen with +levelled lances stood before him. + +"Help, Gibamund!" called the kneeling Prince, raising his left arm +above his head in place of a shield. He looked around. Everywhere foes, +no Vandal. Yes,--one. Yonder still waved the scarlet banner. "Help, +Gibamund!" he cried. + +One of his two assailants fell from his horse. Gibamund was at Zazo's +side. He had struck the man under the shoulder of his upraised arm with +the spear-point of the banner staff. But now Fara, who meanwhile had +recovered from Zazo's blow, dropping his bridle, grasped with his left +hand at the shaft of the scarlet standard. With great difficulty +Gibamund defended himself with his sword against the tremendous blows +the Herulian's right arm dealt with his battle-axe. And already the +other horseman, in front of Zazo, bent a leonine face toward him. + +"Yield, brave man. Yield to me. I am Belisarius." + +But Zazo shook his head. With failing strength he sprang up, his sword +raised to strike. Then the Roman General drove the point of his spear +with all his force through his breastplate up to the handle. + +The dying warrior cast one more glance toward the left. He saw +Gibamund's white horse, covered with blood-stains, falling; he saw the +scarlet banner sink. "Woe betide thee, Vandalia!" he cried, as his eyes +grew dim in death. + +"That was indeed a hero," said Belisarius, bending over him. "Where is +Genseric's banner, Fara?" + +"Gone!" replied the latter, wrathfully. "Far away. Do you see? It is +already vanishing over there, beyond the stream." + +"Who has--?" + +"A woman. In a falcon helmet. With a shining white shield. I believe it +was a Valkyria," said the pagan, with a slight shiver of fear. "It +happened so swiftly I scarcely saw it. I had just struck down the young +standard-bearer's horse. Just at that moment a black steed--I never saw +such an animal--plunged against my own horse so that it fell back upon +its haunches. I heard a cry: 'Hilda! I thank you!' At the same moment +the black charger dashed far, far away from me. I think it now carried +two figures! A long fluttering white mantle--or was it swan-wings?--and +above floated the scarlet banner. There, now they are vanishing in that +cloud of dust. 'Hilda!' the German murmured to himself. The name suits +too. Yes, the Valkyria bore him away." + +"Forward!" shouted Belisarius. "Follow! Over the stream! There is no +longer a Vandal army. The centre is broken and defeated. Their left +wing--aha, look yonder, our right wing, the faithful Huns--" He laughed +grimly. "Now they are rushing from their hill, hewing down the flying +Barbarians. What heroism! And how they are all struggling to reach the +camp to plunder! Now, at last, our infantry have joined our left wing; +there, too, the Vandals are flying without a struggle. On, to the camp! +Do not let the Huns secure the whole booty. All the gold and silver for +the Emperor, the pearls and precious stones for the Empress! Forward!" + + + + CHAPTER XVI + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +I have witnessed many a battle, many a conflict of Belisarius,--usually +from a very safe distance,--but never have I seen so strange an +encounter. In this, which decides the fate of the Vandal kingdom, we +have lost in all only forty-nine men, but solely picked warriors, and +among them eight commanders. Fara, Althias, and Johannes,--all three +are wounded. Yet we have not many--perhaps a hundred--wounded men, as +the Vandals fought only with the sword. That yields almost as many +killed as wounded. Most of our dead and wounded may be credited to the +three Asdings, two noblemen in boar helmets, and an apparently crazy +monk. Eight hundred Vandal corpses covered the field, by far the larger +number of these fell during the flight. We have captured, sound and +wounded, about ten thousand men; women and children unnumbered. In our +two wings we did not lose a single warrior, except one Hun whom +Belisarius was unfortunately compelled to hang. He had stuffed pockets, +shoes, hair, and ears with pearls and gems which he picked up in the +Vandal camp, especially in the women's tents, and which our Empress has +honestly earned. + +Our pursuit of the Vandals was checked only by our greed. The fallen +and captive Vandals had many ornaments of gold and silver on their +persons, their horses, and themselves; our heroes plundered every one +before passing on. Our horsemen, who reached the camp first, did not +venture, in spite of their longing to pillage, to enter it at once; +they thought it impossible that a force so superior in numbers should +not defend their own camp, their wives and children. + +The King is said to have paused a moment as if stupefied; but when +Belisarius with our whole body appeared before the tents, he exclaimed, +"The avenger!" and pursued his flight toward Numidia, attended by a few +relatives, servants, and faithful Moors. Now all the Vandal warriors +who had reached the camp scattered in wild confusion, surrendering +their shrieking children, their weeping wives, their rich possessions, +without a single sword-stroke; and these men are, or were, Germans! It +would be no wonder if Justinian should now try at once to liberate +Italy and Spain from the Goths. + +Our men dashed after the fugitives. All the rest of the day and the +whole moonlight night they slaughtered the Vandals without resistance; +they seized women and children by thousands to use them as slaves. +Never yet have I beheld so much beauty. Nor have I ever seen such heaps +of gold and silver money as in the tents of the King and the Vandal +nobles. It is incredible. + +Belisarius was tortured after his victory by the most terrible anxiety. +For in this camp, filled to overflowing with the most beautiful women, +treasures of every description, wine and provisions, the whole army +forgot every trace of discipline. Fairly intoxicated with their +undreamed of good fortune, they lived solely for the pleasure of the +moment; every barrier gave way, every curb broke; they could not +satisfy themselves. The demon of Africa, pleasure, seized upon them. +They roved, singly and in couples, through the camp and its vicinity, +following the track of the fugitives wherever the search for booty or +revelry lured them. There was no thought of the enemy, no fear of the +General. Those who were still sober, laden with treasure and driving +their captives before them, tried to escape to Carthage. Belisarius +says that if the Vandals had attacked us again an hour after we took +possession of their camp, not a man of us all would have escaped. The +victorious army, even his bodyguard, had entirely thrown off his +control. + +At the gray dawn of morning with the blast of the trumpets he summoned +all the warriors; that is, all who were sober. His bodyguard now came +hastily in deep shame. Instead of thanks and praise, he gave leaders +and men a lecture such as I never before heard from his lips. We have +become mere hired soldiers, adventurers, ruffians, fierce and brave, +like greedy beasts of prey; well suited for bloody pursuit, like +hunting leopards, but not fit to leave the captured game to the hunter +or bring it in and fasten it in a cage; we must first have our share of +the blood and the food. It is by no means beautiful; yet it is far more +enjoyable than philosophy and theology, rhetoric, grammar, and +dialectics. But the Vandal War is over, I think. To-morrow we shall +doubtless capture the fugitive King. + + * * * * * + +I always say so. The most weighty decisions hinge upon the most trivial +incidents. Or, as I express it when I am in a very poetical mood, the +goddess Tyche likes to sport with the destinies of men and nations, as +boys toss coins in the air and determine gain and loss by "heads" +or "tails." + +You, O Cethegus, have condemned my philosophy of the world's history as +old wives' croaking. But judge for yourself. A bird's cry, a blind +delight in hunting, a shot sent to the wrong mark, and the result is +this: the Vandal King escapes when already within the grasp of our +fingers; the campaign, which seemed ended, continues, and your friend +must spend weeks in an extremely tiresome besieging camp before an +extremely unnecessary Moorish mountain village. + +Belisarius had committed the pursuit of the fugitive King to his +countryman, the Thracian Althias. "I choose you," he said, "because I +trust you above all others where swift, tireless action is needed. If +you overtake the Vandal before he finds refuge, the war will be over +tomorrow; if you permit him to escape, you will give us long-continued +severe toil. Choose your own men, but do not take time to breathe by +night or day until you seize the tyrant, dead or alive." + +Althias blushed like a flattered girl. He took besides his Thracians +several of the bodyguard and about a hundred Herulians under Fara. He +asked me also to accompany him, less, probably, for the sake of my +sword than my counsel. I willingly consented. + +And now a flying chase, such as I had never imagined possible, began in +the rear of the Vandals. Five days and five nights, almost without a +pause, we pursued the fugitives; their hoofmarks and footprints in the +sand of the desert were unmistakable. We gained on them more and +more, so that on the fifth night we were sure of overtaking and +stopping them the next day before they reached the protection of the +mountain--Pappua, it is called. + +But the capricious goddess did not wish to have Gelimer fall into the +hands of Althias. Uliari, one of the Alemanni bodyguards of Belisarius, +is a brave, strong man, but reckless, fond of drink like all Germans, +and, like nearly all his countrymen, a passionate lover of the chase. +He had been repeatedly punished because, while on the march, he pursued +every animal that appeared. On the morning of the sixth day, just at +sunrise, as we were remounting our horses after a short rest, Uliari +saw a big vulture perched on a prickly bush about the height of a man, +which rose alone from the desert plain. To seize his bow, snatch an +arrow from the quiver, aim, and shoot was the work of a single instant. +The cord twanged, the bird flew away, a cry rose. Althias, who had +again dashed forward in advance of us all, fell from his horse, wounded +in the back of the head under his helmet. Uliari, usually an unerring +marksman, had not yet slept off his potations of the night before. +Horrified by his deed, he set spurs to his horse and fled to the +nearest village to seek sanctuary in its chapel. + +But we were all trying to help the dying Althias, though he commanded +us by signs to leave him to his fate and continue the pursuit. We could +not bring ourselves to do it. Nay, when Fara and I, after our friend +had died in our arms, wished to go on; his Thracians demanded with +threats that the body should first be buried, otherwise the soul would +be condemned to wail around the place until the Day of Judgment. So we +dug a grave and interred the dead hero with every honor. These few +hours decided Gelimer's escape; we could not make up the lost time. The +fugitives reached their goal, the Pappua Mountains on the frontier of +Numidia, whose steep, inaccessible peaks everywhere bristle with jagged +rocks. The Moors who dwell here are bound to Gelimer by ties of loyalty +and gratitude. An ancient city, Medenus, now a mere hamlet of a few +huts on the northern crest of the mountain, received him and his train. +To storm this narrow antelope path is impossible; a single man can bar +the ascent with his shield. The Moors have scornfully rejected an offer +of a large reward to deliver up the fugitives. So the watchword is +"patience." We must pitch our tents at the foot of the mountain, bar +all the outlets, and starve the people into a surrender. + +That may occupy a great deal of time. And it is winter; the mountain +peaks are often covered in the morning with a light snow, which, it is +true, the sun soon melts when he breaks through the clouds. But he does +not always break through. On the other hand, mist and rain continually +penetrate the camel-skin coverings of our tents. + + + + CHAPTER XVII + +We are still encamped before the entrance of the mountain ravine of +Pappua. We cannot get in; they cannot get out. I have seen a cat watch +a mouse-hole a long time in the same way,--very tiresome for the cat. +But if the hole has no other outlet, the little mouse finally either +starves or runs into the cat's claws. + +To-day news and reinforcements came from Carthage. Belisarius, who had +been informed of the state of affairs, gave the chief command to Fara +in the place of Althias. Fara and his Herulians won Belisarius's most +glorious victory, in the Persian battle at Dara, when the Roman ranks +were beginning to waver and only the German boldness which is nearly +allied to madness could save the day. Fara left more than half his +Herulians dead on the field. The General himself is marching on Hippo. + + * * * * * + +Fresh news--from Hippo. + +Belisarius took the city without resistance. The Vandals, among them +numerous nobles, fled to the Catholic churches, and left these asylums +only on the assurance that their lives would be spared. And again the +wind blew, literally, rich gains into our hands. The Tyrant, +distrusting the fidelity of the citizens and the broken walls, had +prudently removed the royal treasure of the Vandals from the citadel of +Carthage, and placed it on a ship. He ordered Bonifacius, his private +secretary, in case the victory of the Vandals seemed uncertain, to sail +to Hispania to Theudis, the King of the Visigoths, with whom, if the +kingdom fell, Gelimer intended to seek refuge, perhaps with the +expectation of recovering the treasure by the aid of the Visigoths. + +A violent storm drove the ship back into the harbor of Hippo, just +after Belisarius had occupied it. The treasure of the Vandals, gathered +by Genseric from the coasts and islands of three seas, will go into the +hands of the imperial pair at Constantinople. Theodora, your piety is +profitable! + +Yet no; the royal treasure of the Vandals will not reach Constantinople +absolutely intact. And this is due to a singular circumstance, which is +probably worth relating. Perhaps, too, I may mention the thoughts which +the incident aroused in my mind. Of all the nations of whom I have any +knowledge, the Germans are the most foolish: these fair-haired giants +blindly follow their impulses and run to open ruin. True, these +impulses and delusions are in a measure honorable--for Barbarians. But +the excess, the fury with which they obey their impulses, must ruin +them, aided by their so-called virtues. "Heroism," as they term it, +they carry to the sheerest absurdity, even to contempt of death, +keeping their promises from mere obstinacy; for instance, when, in the +blind excitement of gambling, they stake their own liberty on the last +throw. They call this fidelity. Sometimes they manifest the most +diabolical craftiness, yet they often carry truthfulness to actual +self-destruction, when a neat little lie, a slight, clever manipulation +of the bald truth, or even a calm silence would surely save them. All +this is by no means rooted in a sense of duty, but in their tameless +pride, in arrogance, in defiance; and they call it honor. The key of +all their actions, their final unspoken motive is this: "Let none +think, far less be able to say, that a German does or fails to do +anything because he fears any man, or any number of men; he would +rather rush to certain death." Therefore, no matter what any one of +these stubborn fools may have set his heart upon, to go to destruction +for it is "heroic," "honorable." True, they often set their hearts on +their people, liberty, fame; but just as frequently on swilling,--it +cannot be called drinking,--on brawling, on dice-throwing. And they +pursue the heroism of swilling and gambling just as blindly as that of +battle. Anything rather than to yield! If "honor" (that is, obstinacy) +is once fixed upon anything,--wise or foolish,--then pursue it even to +destruction. Though pleasure in the game has long been exhausted, +out-drink or out-wrestle the other man; do anything but own that +strength and spirit are consumed; rather die thrice over. I can speak +thus, because I know these Germans. Many thousands of them--from nearly +every one of their numerous tribes--have I seen in war and peace, as +soldiers, prisoners, envoys, hostages, mercenaries, colonists, in the +service of the Emperor, as leaders of the army, and as magistrates. I +have long wondered how any Germans are left; for, in truth, their +virtues vie with their vices in hastening their destruction. + +Of all the nations I know, the shrewdest are the Jews, if shrewdness +consists first in the art of self-preservation, and then in the +acquisition and increase of worldly goods. They are the least, as the +Germans are the most ready, to rush upon ruin through blind passion, +through noble or ignoble impetuosity and defiance. They are the most +crafty of mortals and at the same time by no means the worst. But they +are clever to a degree which makes one marvel why they did not long ago +rule all other peoples; something must be lacking there too. + +Do you ask, O Cethegus, how in the camp of Belisarius before Mount +Pappua I have attained this singular view of the much-despised Hebrews? +Very simply. + +They have accomplished something which I consider the most impossible. +They have not plundered; by no means, not even stolen, for they steal +almost less than the Christians; but they have actually talked many +thousand pounds of gold belonging to the Vandal booty out of the +avaricious hands of the Emperor Justinian. The Emperor Titus, after +the fall of Jerusalem, brought to Rome the treasures of the Jewish +Temple,--candlesticks, vessels, dishes, jugs, and all sorts of gold and +silver articles set with pearls and precious stones. When Genseric +pillaged Rome, he bore away the Temple treasures on his corsair ships +to Carthage. The Empress knew this, and probably it was not the least +of the reasons for which the Bishop was compelled to dream. Belisarius +wished to exhibit all the booty on his entrance into Constantinople; +but when it was unloaded at Hippo, to be taken at once, with the rest +of the treasure, to Carthage, the oldest of the Jews in Hippo went to +him and said: "Let me warn you, mighty warrior! Do not convey these +treasures to Constantinople. Listen to a tale from the lips of your +humble servant. + +"The eagle stole from the sacrifice burning on the altar a piece of +meat and bore it to his eyrie. But a few glimmering coals clung to the +offering which had been consecrated to God. And these glimmering coals +set fire to the nest of the great bird of prey, and burned the young, +which were not yet able to fly, and the eagle mother. The male eagle, +trying to save the young brood, dashed into the flames and scorched his +wings. So perished miserably the strong robber that had borne to his +own abode what belonged to God. Indeed, indeed, I tell you, the capitol +of Rome fell into the hands of the foe because it contained the sacred +vessels of Jehovah; the citadel of the Vandals fell into the hands of +the foe because it concealed these treasures. Must the stronghold of +the Emperor--God bless the protector of justice--at Constantinople +become the third eyrie which is destroyed for their sake? In truth I +say unto you, thus saith the Lord: This gold, this silver, will wander +over the earth, will destroy all the cities to which the stolen +treasure is dragged, until the gold and the silver again lie in the +holy city, Jerusalem." + +And, lo, Belisarius was startled. + +He wrote to the Emperor Justinian the story of the old Jew, and--really +and truly--the patriarch Moses can work still greater miracles than +Saint Cyprian. Justinian, more greedy and avaricious than the whole +race of Jews put together, ordered these treasures to be taken, not to +Constantinople, but Jerusalem, where they are to be divided among the +Christian churches and the Jewish synagogues. + +So the old Jew has recovered a portion of the treasures of his +people,--without a single sword-stroke,--while Romans, Vandals, +Byzantines, gained them only after fierce battles and much bloodshed. +Does the old man believe in the curse that rests upon the treasure? I +think he does. He does not lie, and it is useful for his purpose to +believe it; so he credits it easily and seriously. The German says: +"Gain by blood rather than by sweat." The Jew says: "Gain by sweat +rather than by blood, and far, far rather by money than by sweat!" It +may be said in praise of the Jews that both their faults and their +virtues vie in preserving them and increasing their wealth and their +numbers, while the Germans destroy themselves, their lives, their +possessions, and their power by boundless indolence and boundless +revelling no less than by their boundless obstinacy and their stupid +heroism of honor. (True, these Vandals in their carousing have even +forgotten their obstinacy and their love of fighting!) We hate and +despise the Jews; I think we ought to fear and--in their good qualities +strive to excel them. + + * * * * * + +I have read aloud my opinion of the Germans to my friend Fara, whose +thirst for honor did not impel him toward reading and writing; he heard +me quietly to the end, drained a cup of unmixed wine, stroked his long +reddish-yellow beard thoughtfully, and said: + +"Little Greek! You are a shrewd little Greek! Perhaps you are not +altogether wrong. But to me my German faults are much dearer than the +virtues of all other nations." + +Gradually--so we learn--all the rest of the Barbarian kingdom will be +plucked leaf by leaf, like an artichoke, without a sword-stroke, for +Justinian's wide-open mouth. Belisarius's first care, after his victory +over the land forces, was to secure the hostile fleet. + +He discovered its landing-place from the prisoners, and also learned +that it was lying at anchor almost wholly without men; Zazo had taken +all his troops to his brother. A few of our triremes, sent from +Carthage, were sufficient to capture the one hundred and fifty galleys +which were occupied only by sailors; not a single spear flew. +Genseric's much-dreaded dragon-ships were towed to Carthage; they +allowed themselves to be captured without resistance, like a flock of +wild swans, which, storm-beaten, wearied, and crippled, enter an +inclosed pond; the proud birds can be grasped with the hand. One of +Belisarius's commanders obtained Sardinia; it was necessary, but amply +sufficient, to show them Zazo's head on a spear; the islanders would +not believe in the defeat of the Vandals before; now that they could +touch the head of their dreaded conqueror, they did believe it. + +Corsica, too, submitted. Also populous Caesarea in Mauritania, and one +of the Pillars of Hercules; Septa, with Ebusa and the Balearic Isles. +Tripolis was besieged by Moors, who, during the battle between the +Byzantines and the Vandals, were trying to win land and people on their +own account. The city was occupied by our troops and received from the +hands of Pudentius for the Emperor. + +One might think the whole Vandal nation existed in its royal family and +a few of the nobles. When Zazo and the nobles about him fell, after the +King vanished, all resistance ceased; it was like a bundle of sticks: +when the string that fastens them is cut, they all fall apart. Since +the day of Trikameron the Barbarians everywhere allow themselves to be +seized like sheep without defence. They are mainly to be found +weaponless in the Catholic basilicas, where, seeking refuge, they +embrace the altars which they have so often dishonored. The men are +just the same as the women and children. + +Really, if their brothers in Italy and Spain, and their cousins, the +Franks, Alemanni, or whatever else the Barbarians in Gaul and Germany +are called, were as highly educated as these Vandal writers of Greek +and Latin poetry, the Imperator Justinianus could speedily recover the +whole West through Belisarius and Narses. But I fear the Vandals alone +have attained such a degree of culture. + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + +More news! Perhaps another war and conquest close at hand. + +Am I really, O Cethegus, to be permitted speedily to seek you in your +Italy and help to free Rome by the aid of Huns and Herulians? Your +tyrants, the Ostrogoths, have made the bridge for us into this country; +it was their Sicily. Justinian's gratitude is swift-winged. By the +Emperor's command--Belisarius received it sealed, directly after our +departure from Constantinople, with the direction not to open the +papyrus until after the destruction of the Vandal kingdom--our General +has already demanded from the court of Ravenna the cession of a +considerable portion of Sicily,--Lilybaeum, the important promontory and +castle, and all that the Vandals had ever possessed in that island. For +the Vandal kingdom had now lapsed to Constantinople, so everything that +had ever belonged to that domain also fell to it. A man is not Emperor +of the Pandects for nothing. + +True, it seems to me somewhat brutal to set their limitless stupidity +before the eyes of the deluded people quite so speedily. Though of +course it is the acme of statecraft to defeat the first with the help +of the second, and then, in token of gratitude, overthrow the second. +Yet it is long since it was done so openly. Belisarius is obliged to +threaten war at once, not only upon Sicily, but all Italy, Ravenna, and +Rome. The letter to the Regent Amalaswintha concludes,--I had to +compose it for Belisarius in his tent, according to the Emperor's +secret order directly after the battle of Trikameron: "If you refuse, +you must know that you will not incur merely the _danger_ of war, but +war itself, in which we shall take from you not only Lilybaeum, but +everything you possess contrary to justice; that is, all!" To-day +came the news that there had been a revolution in Ravenna. Very wicked +men, who had already wished to support the Vandals against us, do not +love Justinian (but also unfortunately do not fear him), barbaric +names,--you will be more familiar with them than I, O Cethegus! +Hildebrand, Vitigis, Teja, have seized the helm there and flatly refuse +our demand. It seems to me that there is the blast of the tuba in the +air. + +But first of all we must subdue this Vandal King without a kingdom up +above there. The siege is lasting too long for the patience of +Belisarius. Hitherto all proposals for surrender have been refused, +even those on the most absurdly favorable conditions, made because +Belisarius desires to bring the war here swiftly to an end, as it seems +to me that he may be able speedily to celebrate a triumph in +Constantinople such as has not been witnessed there for centuries, and +then continue in Italy what he had begun here. + +And since this singular King, who sometimes seems to be soft wax, +sometimes the hardest granite, is not to be influenced by fair words, +we will address him to-morrow with spears. + +Fara hopes that hunger has so enfeebled the Vandals and Moors that they +cannot withstand a violent assault. The truth is: Fara, a German,--and +a thoroughly admirable one,--can endure everything except +long-continued thirst and inactivity. And we have very little wine +left. Poor wine too! There is nothing to do except by turns to sleep +and mount guard before the mouse-hole called Pappua. He is tired of it. +He wants to take it by force. The Herulians will fight like madmen; +that is their way. But I look at the narrow ascent in those yellow +cliffs, and have my doubts of success. I think, unless Saint Cyprian +and Tyche work in our behalf to-morrow, we shall get, not Gelimer and +the Vandals, but plenty of hard knocks. + +We have had them,--the hard knocks! And they were our just due. The +Vandals and Moors up yonder vied with each other in trying which could +serve us worst, and we paid the penalty. Fara, as leader and warrior, +managed matters as well as it is possible to do in dealing with the +impossible. He divided us into three bodies: first, the Armenians, then +the Thracians, lastly, the Herulians. The Huns--whose horses can do +much, but cannot climb like goats--remained below before our camp. In +bands of two hundred strong we rushed in a long line of two men abreast +up the only accessible path. I will make the story short. The Moors +rolled rocks, the Vandals hurled spears, at us. Twenty Armenians fell +without having even seen the crest of a foeman's helmet; the others +drew back. The Thracians, despising death, took their places. They +advanced probably a hundred feet higher; by that time they had lost +thirty-five of their number, had not seen an enemy, and also turned +back. "Cowardice," cried Fara. "It is impossible," replied Arzen, the +severely wounded leader of the Armenians,--a Vandal spear with the +house-mark of the Asdings, a flying arrow, had pierced his thigh. + +"I don't believe it," shouted Fara, "follow me, my Herulians." + +They followed him. So did I; but very near the last of the line. For, +as the legal councillor of Belisarius, I do not consider myself under +obligation to perform any deeds of special heroism. Only when he +himself fights do I often foolishly imagine that my place is by his +side. + +I have never seen such a storm. Fragments of boulders and lances +hurled by invisible hands crushed and spitted the men. But those who +were left climbed, leaped, crept higher and higher. The top of the +mountain--which neither of the two former scaling parties had +approached--was gained. The hiding-places of many of the Moors +concealed under the cliffs of the central portion were discovered, and +numbers of these lean brown fellows paid for their loyal hospitality to +the fugitives with their lives; I saw Fara himself kill three of them. +He was just ranging his breathless band, and on the point of giving the +order to rush up to the narrow gateway in the rocks that yawns in the +mountain summit, when from this gateway burst the Vandals, the King in +advance; the crown on his helmet betrayed him. I saw him very close at +hand, and never shall I forget that face. He looked like a rapturous +monk, and yet also like the hero Zazo, whom I saw fall before +Belisarius. Behind him was a youth who strongly resembled him. The +scarlet banner, I believe, was borne by a woman. Yet I am probably +mistaken; for the whole charge fell upon us with the speed and might of +a thunderbolt. The first rank of the Herulians was scattered as +completely as if it had never stood there. + +"Where is the King?" cried Fara, springing forward. + +"Here," rang the answer. + + +The next instant five of his Herulians were supporting their sorely +wounded leader. This I saw, then I fell backward. The young Vandal +behind the King had sent his spear whizzing against my firm coat of +mail; I staggered, fell, and slid like an arrow down the smooth sandy +incline, much faster and more easily than I had climbed it. When I came +to myself and rose again, Fara's faithful followers were bearing him +past me on two shields. The leader of the Armenians was leaning on his +spear. + +"Do you believe it now, Fara?" he asked. "Yes," replied the German, +pressing his bleeding head. "I believe it now. My beautiful helmet," he +went on, laughing. "But better to have the helmet cleft than the skull +under it, too." When he reached the bottom of the mountain he laughed +no longer; one hundred and twenty of his two hundred Herulians lay dead +among the rocks. I think this will be the only storming of Mount +Pappua. + + * * * * * + +Fara's wound is healing. But he complains a great deal of headache. + + * * * * * + +They must be miserably starving to death on that accursed mountain. +Deserters often come down now, but only Moors. Not a single Vandal +during the whole campaign has voluntarily joined us, in spite of my +fine invitation to treason and revolt! Of the much-lauded German +virtues fidelity seems to be almost the only one which has remained to +these degenerates. + +Fara gave orders that no more should be received. + +"The more mouths and stomachs Gelimer has, the smaller his stock of +food will be," he said. + +But now, as they will no longer be accepted as comrades in arms, the +Moors sell themselves for slaves for a bit of bread. Fara also +prohibited this sorrowful trading. He said to his men: + +"Let them starve up there; you will get them all as captives of war so +much the sooner." + +Yet it does the Vandals (it is said that there are not more than forty +of them) all honor that they still hold out while the Moors succumb. It +is the strongest contrast conceivable; for everything we heard in +Constantinople concerning the luxury and effeminacy of the Vandals was +surpassed by what we saw in their palaces, villas, and houses, and by +what the Carthaginians have told us. Two or three baths daily, their +tables supplied with the dainties of all lands and seas, all their +dishes of gold, nothing but Median garments, spectacles, games in the +Circus, the chase,--but with the least possible exertion,--dancers, +mimes, musicians, outdoor pleasures in beautifully kept groves of the +finest fruit-trees, daily revels, daily drinking bouts, and the most +unbridled enjoyment of every description. As the Vandals led the most +luxurious, the Moors led the most simple lives of all peoples. Winter +and summer, they are half clad in a short gray garment, and live in the +same low felt hut or leather tents, where one can scarcely breathe; +neither the snow of the high mountains nor the scorching heat of the +desert affects them; they sleep on the bare ground, only the richest +spread a camel-skin under them; they have neither bread, wine, nor any +of the better foods. Like the animals, they chew unground, even +unroasted barley, spelt, and corn. + +Yet now the Vandals endure starvation without yielding, while the Moors +succumb. + +It is incomprehensible! Sons of the same nation from whom, in two short +battles, we wrested Africa. To our wondering question how this can be, +all the deserters make one reply: "The holy King." He constrains them +by his eyes, his voice, by magic. But Fara says his magic cannot hold +out long against hunger and thirst. And since, as these strong Moors, +emaciated to skeletons, say that the King and his followers do not +utter a word of complaint while enduring these sufferings, Fara +thought, from genuine kindness of heart, that he would try to end this +misery. He dictated to me the following epistle: "Forgive me, O King of +the Vandals, if this letter seems to you somewhat foolish. My head was +always more fit to bear sword-strokes than to compose sentences. And +since you and my head met a short time ago, thinking has been still +more difficult than usual. I write, or rather I have these words +written, plainly, according to the Barbarian fashion. Dear Gelimer, why +do you plunge yourself and all your followers into the deepest abyss of +misery? Merely to avoid serving the Emperor? For this word, 'liberty,' +is probably your delusion. Do you not see that, for the sake of this +liberty, you are becoming under obligations of gratitude and service to +miserable Moors, that you are dependent upon these savages? Is it not +better to serve the great Emperor at Constantinople, than to rule over +a little band of starving people on Pappua? Is it disgraceful to serve +the same lord as Belisarius? Cast aside this folly, admirable Gelimer! +Think, I myself am a German, a member of a noble Herulian family. My +ancestors wore the badge of royalty of our people in the old home on +the shore of the dashing sea, near the islands of the Danes--and yet I +serve the Emperor, and am proud of it. My sword and the swift daring of +my Herulians decided the victory on the day of Belisarius's greatest +battle. I am a general, and have remained a hero, even in the Emperor's +service. The same fate will await you. Belisarius will secure you on +his word of honor life, liberty, estates in Asia Minor, the rank of a +patrician, and a leadership in the army directly under him. Dear +Gelimer, noble King, I mean kindly by you. Defiance is beautiful, but +folly is--foolish. Make an end of it!" + + * * * * * + +The messenger has returned. He saw the King himself. He says the sight +of him was almost enough to startle one to death. He looks like a ghost +or the King of Shades; gloomy eyes burn from a spectral face. Yet when +the unyielding hero read the well-meant consolation of his kind-hearted +fellow-countryman, he wept. The very man who struck down the +unconquerable Fara and endures superhuman privations wept like a boy or +a woman. Here is the Vandal's answer:-- + +"I thank you for your counsel. I cannot follow it. You have given up +your people; therefore you are drifting on the sea of the world like a +blade of straw. I was, I am King of the Vandals. I will not serve the +unjust foe of my people. God, so I believe, commands me and the remnant +of the Vandals to hold out even now. He can save me if He so wills. I +can write no more. The misery surrounding me benumbs my thoughts. Good +Fara, send me a loaf of bread; a delicate boy, the son of a dead noble, +is lying very ill, in the fever caused by starvation. He begs, he +pleads, he shrieks for bread--it tears one's heart-strings! For a long +time not one of us has tasted bread. + +"And a sponge dipped in water; my eyes, inflamed by watching and +weeping, burn painfully. + +"And a harp. I have composed a dirge upon our fate, which I would fain +sing to the accompaniment of the harp." + +Fara granted the three requests,--the harp could be obtained only by +sending to the nearest city,--but he guards even more closely than +before the "Mountain of Misery," as our people call it. + + + + CHAPTER XIX + +Dull, misty, and gray, a cold damp morning in early March dawned upon +the mountain. The sun could not penetrate the dense clouds. + +The ancient city of Medenus had long since been abandoned by its +Carthaginian and Roman founders and builders. Most of the houses, +constructed of stone from the mountain, stood deserted and ruinous. +Nomad Moors used the few which still had roofs as places of refuge in +winter. The largest structure was the former basilica. Here the King +and his household had found shelter. A scanty fire of straw and fagots +was burning in the centre on the stone floor. But it sent forth more +smoke than heat, for the wood was wet, and the damp fog penetrated +everywhere through the cracks in the walls, through the holes in the +roof, pressing down the slowly rising yellowish-gray smoke till, +trailing and gliding along the cold wall, it sought other means of +escape through the entrance, whose folding-doors were missing. In the +semicircular space back of the apses coverlets and skins had been +spread upon the marble floor. Here sat Gibamund, hammering upon his +much-dented shield, while Hilda had laid the scarlet standard across +her lap, and was mending it. + +"Many, many arrows have pierced thee, ancient, storm-tried banner. And +this gaping rent here,--it was probably a sword-stroke. But thou must +still hold together to the end." + +"The end," said Gibamund, impatiently completing the nailing of the +edge of the shield with one last blow of the hammer. "I wish it would +come. I can bear to witness the suffering--_your_ suffering--no longer. +I have constantly urged the King to put an end to it. Let us, let all +the Vandals,--the Moors can surrender as prisoners,--charge upon the +foe together, and--He would never let me finish. 'That would be +suicide,' he answered, 'and sin. We must bear patiently what God has +imposed upon us as a punishment. If it is His will. He can yet save us, +bear us away from here on the wings of His angels. But the end is +approaching--of itself. The number of graves on the slope of the +mountain is daily increasing.'" + +"Yes, the row constantly lengthens; sometimes the high mounds of our +Vandals surmounted by the cross!" + +"Sometimes the faithful Moors' heap of stones with the circle of black +pebbles. Yesterday evening we buried the delicate Gundoric; the last +scion of the proud Gundings, the darling of his brave father Gundobad." + +"So the poor boy's sufferings are over? In Carthage the child was +always clad in purple silk as he rode through the streets in a shell +carriage drawn by ostriches." + +"Day before yesterday the King brought to the miserable heap of straw +where he was lying the fragrant bread he had begged from the enemy. The +child devoured it so eagerly that we were obliged to check him. We +turned our backs a moment,--I was getting some water with the King for +the sick boy,--when a cry of mingled rage and grief summoned us. A +Moorish lad, probably attracted by the smell of the bread, had sprung +in through the open window and torn it from between the child's teeth. +It made a very deep impression on the King. 'This child, too, the +guiltless one? O terrible God!' he cried again and again. I closed the +boy's dying eyes to-day." + +"It cannot last much longer. The people have killed the last horse +except Styx." + +"Styx shall not be slaughtered," cried Hilda. "He bore you from certain +death; he saved you." + +"_You_ saved me, with your Valkyria ride," exclaimed Gibamund; and, +happy in the midst of all the wretchedness, he pressed his beautiful +wife to his heart, kissing her golden hair, her eyes, her noble brow. +"Hark! what is that?" + +"It is the song which he has composed and is singing to the harp Fara +sent him. Well for thee, Teja's stringed instrument, that thou art not +compelled to accompany such a dirge," she cried wrathfully, springing +up and tossing back her waving locks. "I would rather have shattered my +harp on the nearest rocks than lent it for such a song." + +"But it works like a spell upon the Moors and Vandals." + +"They do not understand it at all; the words are Latin. He has rejected +alliteration as pagan, as the magic of runes! He allows no one to +mention his last battle-song." + +"Of course they scarcely understand it. But when they see the King as, +almost in an ecstasy, like a man walking in his sleep, with his burning +eyes half closed, his wan, sorrowful face surrounded by tangled locks, +his ragged royal mantle thrown around his shoulders, his harp on his +arm, he wanders alone over the rocks and snows of this mountain; when +they hear the deep, wailing voice, the mournful melody of the dirge, it +affects them like a spell, though they understand little of the +meaning. Hark! there it rises again." + +Nearer and nearer, partly borne away by the wind, came in broken words, +sometimes accompanied by the strings, the chant: + + "Woe to thee! I mourn, I mourn! + Woe to thee, O Vandal race! + Soon forgot, will be thy name, + Which the world, a tempest, swept. + + "Gloriously didst thou arise + From the sea,--a meteor. + Fame and radiance lost for aye, + Thou wilt sink in blackest night. + + "All the earth's rich treasures heaped + Genseric in Carthage fair. + Starving beggar with the foe, + Now for bread his grandson pleads. + + "Let thy heroes strengthen me; + God's wrath on thee resteth sore; + Leave fame and honor to the Goths, + To the Franks:--they are but toys." + +"I will not listen; I will not bear it," cried Hilda. "He shall not +revile all that makes life worth living." + +Nearer, more distinctly, sounded the slow, mournful notes. + + "Vanity and sin are all + Thou hast cherished, Vandal race; + Therefore God hath stricken thee, + Therefore bowed thy head in shame. + + "Bow thee, bow thee to the dust, + Bruised race of Genseric; + Kiss the rod in gratitude. + It is God the Lord Who smites." + +The dirge died away. The royal singer ascended with tottering steps the +half-ruined stairs of the basilica, his harp hanging loosely from his +left arm. Now he stood between the gray, mouldering pillars of the +entrance, and, laying his right arm against the cold stone, pressed his +weary head upon it. + +Just at that moment a young Moor came hurrying up the steps; a few +bounds brought him to the top. Gibamund and Hilda went toward him in +astonishment. + +"It is long since I have seen you move so swiftly, Sersaon," said +Gibamund. + +"Your eyes are sparkling," cried Hilda. "You bring good tidings." + +The King raised his head from the pillar and, shaking it sorrowfully, +looked at the Moor. + +"Yes, wise Queen," replied the latter. "The best of tidings: Rescue!" + +"Impossible!" said Gelimer, in a hollow tone. + +"It is true, my master. Here, Verus will confirm it." + +With a slow step, but unbroken strength, the priest ascended the +mountain-top. He seemed rather to be prouder, more powerful than in the +days of happiness; he held his head haughtily erect. In his hand he +carried an arrow and a strip of papyrus. + +"To-night," the young Moor went on, "I had the watch at our farthest +point toward the south. At the earliest glimmer of dawn, I heard the +call of the ostrich: I thought it a delusion, for the bird never +ascends to such a height, and this is not the mating season. But this +call is our concerted signal with our allies among the Southern tribes, +the Soloes. I listened, I watched keenly; yes, yonder, pressing close +against the yellowish-brown cliff, so motionless that he could scarcely +be distinguished from the rock, crouched a Soloe. I softly answered the +call; instantly an arrow flew to the earth close beside me,--a headless +arrow, into whose hollow shaft, instead of the tip, this strip had been +forced. I drew it out; I cannot read, but I took it to the nearest +Vandals. Two of them read it and rejoiced greatly. Verus happened to +pass by; he wanted to tear the papyrus, wished to forbid our speaking +of it to you, but hunger, the hope of rescue, are stronger than his +words--" + +"I thought it treachery, a snare; it is too improbable," interrupted +Verus. + +Gibamund snatched the strip and read: "The path descending southward, +where the ostrich called, is unguarded; it is supposed to be +impassable. Climb down singly to-morrow at midnight; we will wait close +by with fresh horses. Theudis, King of the Visigoths, has sent us gold +to save you, and a little ship. It is lying near the coast. Hasten." + +"There is still fidelity. There are still friends in need!" cried +Hilda, exultingly, throwing herself with tears of joy, on her husband's +breast. + +The King's bowed figure straightened; his eyes lost their dull, +hopeless expression. + +"Now you see how wicked it would have been to seek death. This is the +finger which God's mercy extends to us. Let us grasp it." + + + + CHAPTER XX + +Verus, in order to make the enemy wholly unsuspicious, offered to +propose to Fara an interview with Gelimer at noon the following day, on +the northern slope of the mountain, in which the last offers of +Belisarius should be again discussed. After some scruples of +conscience, the King consented to this stratagem of war. Verus reported +that Fara was very much pleased with his communication, and would await +Gelimer on the following day. Nevertheless, the besieged band +kept a sharp watch upon the besiegers' outposts and camp--the high +mountain-top afforded a foil view of their position--to note any +movement in the direction of the descent which might indicate the +discovery of the intended flight or the Soloe hiding-place at the foot +of the mountain. Nothing of the sort was apparent; the foemen below +spent the day in the usual manner. The guards were not strengthened, +and after darkness closed in, the watchfires were neither increased nor +changed. At nightfall the besiegers also lighted their fires on the +northern side in the same places as before. + +Shortly before midnight the little procession began its march. The +Moors, who were familiar with the way, went first provided with ropes +and iron braces. At every step the fugitives were obliged to feel their +way cautiously with the handles of their spears, testing the smooth, +crumbling surface of the rock to try whether it would afford a firm +foothold. Next followed Gibamund and Hilda; the Princess had folded +Genseric's great banner closely and tied it about the pole, which she +used as a staff; then came Gelimer, behind him Verus and the small +remaining band of Vandals. So they moved for about half an hour along +the summit of the mountain, until they reached the southern side, down +which the narrow path led. Each step was perilous to life; for they +dared not light torches. + +As the little group began the descent, Gelimer turned. "Oh, Verus," he +whispered, "death may be very near to us all. Repeat a prayer--where is +Verus?" + +"He hastened back some time ago," replied Markomer. "He wished to bring +a relic he had forgot. He bade us go on, saying that he would overtake +us at the next turn in the road before we descended the ravine." + +The King hesitated, and began to murmur the Lord's Prayer. + +"Forward!" whispered Sersaon, the leading Moor. "There is no more time +to lose. We need only pass quickly around the next projecting rock--Ha! +Torches, treason! Back to--" + +He could say no more; an arrow transfixed his throat. Torches glared +with a dazzling light into the eyes of the fugitives just as they +turned the jutting cliff. Weapons flashed, and before the ranks of the +Herulians stood a man holding aloft a torch to light the group. + +"There, the second one is the King," he cried. "Capture him alive." He +took a step forward. + +"Verus!" shrieked Gelimer, falling back unconscious. Two Vandals caught +him and bore him up the height. + +"On! Storm the mountain!" Fara ordered below. But it was impossible to +storm a height which could be climbed only by clinging with both hands +to the perpendicular cliff. Fara himself instantly perceived it when, +by the torchlight, he beheld the path and saw Gibamund standing with +levelled spear on the last broader ledge of rock which afforded a firm +footing. + +"It is a pity!" he shouted. "But now this loophole will henceforth be +barred also. Surrender!" + +"Never!" cried Gibamund, hurling his spear. The man by Fara's side +fell. + +"Shoot! Quickly! All at once!" the Herulian leader angrily commanded. +Behind the Herulians were twenty archers, dismounted Huns. Their bows +twanged; Gibamund sank silently backward. Hilda, with a cry of anguish, +caught him in her arms. + +But Markomer, raising his lance threateningly, already stood in the +place of the fallen man. + +"Cease," Fara ordered. "But keep the outlet strongly guarded. The +priest said that they must yield either to-morrow or on the following +day." + + * * * * * + +Gelimer was roused from his unconsciousness by Hilda's shriek. + +"Now Gibamund, too, has fallen," he said very calmly. "All is over." + +Supported by his spear, he climbed wearily back. A few Vandals followed +him. He vanished in the darkness of the night. + +Hilda sat silent with the head of her lifeless husband in her lap, and +the staff of the banner resting on her shoulder. She had no tears, but +groped in the thick gloom for the beloved face. At last she heard a +Vandal, returning from the King, say to Markomer: + +"This was the final blow. To-morrow--I am to announce it to the +enemy--Gelimer will submit." + +Now she sprang up, and asking two of the men to help her--she would not +release the dear head from her clasping hands--carried the dead Prince +to the top of the mountain. In a little grove of pines, just outside +the city, a small wooden hut had been built which had formerly +contained stores of every kind. Now it was half empty except for a +large pile of the wood used for fires. In this hut she spent the night +and the dark morning alone with the dead. When it grew light she +sought the King, whom she found in the basilica on the spot where +formerly--the remains of some steps showed it--the altar had stood. +Here Gelimer had placed in a crack between two stones a wooden cross, +roughly made of boughs laid across each other. He lay prone on his face +before it, clasping the cross with both arms. + +"Brother-in-law Gelimer," she said in a curt, harsh tone, "is it true? +Do you mean to surrender?" + +He made no reply. + +She shook him by the shoulder. + +"King of the Vandals, do you mean to give yourself up as a captive?" +she cried more loudly. "They will lead you through the streets of +Constantinople as a spectacle! Will you shame your people--your _dead_ +people--still more?" + +"Vanity," he answered dully. "Vanity speaks from your lips! All that +you are thinking is sinful, vain, arrogant." + +"Why do you do this so suddenly? You have held out for months." + +"Verus!" groaned the King. "God has abandoned me; my guardian spirit +has betrayed me. I am condemned on earth, and in the world beyond the +grave. I can do nothing else!" + +"Yes. Here, Gelimer, here is your sharp sword." + +Stooping, she tore it from the sheath which lay with the sword-belt at +the foot of the steps. + +"'The dead are free' is a good motto." + +But Gelimer shook his head. + +"Vanity. Pride of heart. Pagan sin. I am a Christian. I will not kill +myself. I will bear my cross--as Christ bore His--until I sink beneath +it." + +Hilda flung the sword clanking at his feet and turned from him without +a word. + +"Where are you going? What do you mean to do?" + +"Do you suppose I loved less truly and deeply and fervently than that +delicate Greek child? I come, my hero and my husband." + +She walked across to a building now turned into a stable, the former +curia of Medenus, where, a short time before, many horses had stamped. +Only Styx, the stallion, now stood in it. Hilda grasped his mane, and +the wise, faithful animal followed like a lamb. The Princess went with +the horse to the hut. It hung back a moment before following her into +the narrow inclosure, which was dimly lighted by a pine torch in an +iron ring by the door. + +"Come in," Hilda said coaxingly, drawing the horse gently after her. +"It will be better for you too. You will perish miserably. Your beauty +and your strength have gone. And after serving love in that brave ride +through the battle, the enemy shall not seize you and torment you with +base labor. What says the ancient song: + + "Heaped high for the hero + Log on log laid they: + Slain, his swift steed + Shared the warrior's death. + And, gladly, his wife, + Nay, alas! his widow. + Burden of life's weary + Days sad and desolate + Would she, the faithful, + Bear on no farther." + +She led the stallion to the side of the lofty pile of wood, where she +had laid the beautiful corpse, drew Gibamund's sword from its sheath, +and, searching with her hand for the throbbing of the heart, thrust the +blade into it with one powerful blow. Styx fell lifeless. Hilda threw +down the blood-stained weapon. + +"Oh, my love!" she cried. "Oh, my husband, my life! Why did I never +tell you how I loved you? Alas! because I did not know myself--until +now! Hear it, oh, hear it, Gibamund, I loved you very dearly. I thank +you. Friend Teja! Oh, my all, I follow you." + +And now she drew from her girdle the keen black dagger. Severing with +one cut the long floating banner from its staff, she spread it over the +corpse like a pall. It was so wide that it covered the whole space +beside the body. Then, with the blazing torch, she lighted the lowest +wood, bent over the dead Prince, again kissed the pale lips fervently, +and seizing the dark weapon, which flashed brightly in the light of the +flames, buried it in her brave, proud heart. + +She fell forward on her face over her beloved husband, and the fire, +crackling and burning, seized first the scarlet banner which enfolded +the young pair. + +The morning breeze blew strongly through the half-open door and the +chinks between the logs--and the bright flames soon blazed high above +the roof. + + + + CHAPTER XXI + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +It is over! Thank God, or whoever else may be entitled to our +gratitude. Three months, full of utter weariness, we remained encamped +before the mountain of defiance. It is March; the nights are still +cool, but at noonday the sun already burns with scorching heat. An +attempted flight was baffled by treachery; Verus, Gelimer's chancellor +and closest friend, deserves the credit of this base deed. Obeying the +priest's directions we sought the Soloes concealed on the southern +slope who were to accompany the fugitives to the sea, but found only +the prints of numerous hoofs. We blocked the outlet. Then the King +voluntarily, without any farther trouble, offered to surrender. Fara +was greatly delighted; he would have granted any condition that enabled +him to deliver the King a captive to Belisarius, who was even more +impatient for the end of the war than we. At the entrance of the +ravine, which we had never been able to penetrate, I received the +little band of Vandals--about twenty were left. The Moors, too, came +down; at Gelimer's earnest entreaty, Fara immediately set them at +liberty. These Vandals--what images of misery, famine, privation, +sickness, suffering! I do not understand how they could still hold out, +still offer resistance. They could scarcely carry their arms, and +willingly allowed us to take them. + +But when I saw and talked with Gelimer--crushed though he is now--I +realized that this man's mind and will could control, rule, support +others as long as he desired. I have never seen any human being like +him,--a monk, an enthusiast, and yet a royal hero. + +I entreated Fara to let me shelter him in my tent. While we could +scarcely restrain the others from immoderately greedy indulgence in +meats and other foods of which they had long been deprived, he +voluntarily continued the fast so long forced upon him. Fara with +difficulty induced him to drink some wine; the Herulian probably feared +that his prisoner would die on the way, before he could deliver him to +Belisarius. For a long time he refused; but when I suggested that he +was probably seeking death in this way, he at once drank the wine and +ate some bread. + +Long and fully, for nearly half the night, he talked with me, full of +gentle submission, concerning his destiny. It is touching, impressive, +to hear him attribute everything to the providence of God. But I cannot +always follow his train of thought. For instance, I remarked that, +after holding out so long, the baffled attempt to escape had probably +caused the sudden resolution to surrender. He smiled sadly and replied: +"Oh, no. Had our flight been frustrated by any other reason, I would +have held out unto death. But Verus, Verus!" He was silent, then he +added: "You will not understand it. But now I know that God has +abandoned me, if He was ever with me. Now I know this, too, was sin, +was hollow vanity, that I loved my people so ardently that from pride +in the Asding blood, in our ancient warlike fame, I would not yield, +would not surrender. We must love God alone, and live only for Heaven!" + +Just at that moment Fara broke into the tent somewhat rudely. + +"You have, not kept your promise. King!" he cried wrathfully. "You +agreed to deliver up all the weapons and field flags, but the most +important prize,--Belisarius specially urged me to look to it, for he +saw it rescued from the battle, and I myself noticed it in a woman's +hand a short time ago, when we made the attack,--King Genseric's great +banner, is missing. Our people, I myself, guided by Vandals, have +searched everywhere on the mountain; we found nothing except, among the +ashes of a burned hut, with some bones, these gold nails,--the Vandals +say they belonged to the pole of the banner. Did you burn it?" + +"Oh, no, my Lord, I should not have grudged you and Belisarius the +bauble; a woman did it Hilda. She killed herself. O God, I beseech Thee +for her: forgive her!" And this is not hypocrisy. I hardly understand +it. Yet these strange events force upon me thoughts which usually I +would willingly avoid. Whoever has once meddled with philosophy--I shun +it, but carry it ever in my brain--will never again escape the +questioning concerning the Why? + +Lucky accidents have always happened in the destinies of men; +but whether any enterprise has ever been attended with such good +fortune as ours is doubtful. Belisarius himself marvels. Five +thousand horsemen,--for our foot-soldiers scarcely entered the +battle,--strangers who, after they were put on shore, had no refuge, +no citadel, possessed no spot of ground in all Africa except the +soil on which they stood, did not know where they were to lay their +heads,--five thousand horsemen, in two short conflicts, against ten +times their number, destroyed the kingdom of the terrible Genseric, +took his grandson prisoner, seized his royal citadel and royal +treasures! It is incomprehensible. If I had not witnessed it myself, I +would not have believed it. After all, is there a God dwelling in the +clouds who wonderfully guides the destinies of men? + +Belisarius's generalship, and our brave, battle-trained army did much; +something, though not a large share, was accomplished, as now appears, +by Verus's long-planned treachery, carried out to the end. Without our +knowledge, he has corresponded all this time with the Emperor, and +especially with the Empress. The most was due to the degeneracy of the +people, except the royal House, which lost three men in the struggle. +The incomprehensible, contradictory nature of this King also +contributed to the destruction. Yet all these things would not have +produced the result so speedily, but for the unexampled good fortune +which has attended us from the beginning. + +And this luck--is it blind? Is it the work of God, Who desired to +punish the Vandals for the sins of their forefathers and for their +own? It may be so. And not without reverence do I bow to such a rule. +But--and here again the mocking doubt which never entirely deserts me, +again rises in my mind--then we must say that God is not fastidious in +His choice of tools, for this Gelimer and his brothers are hardly +surpassed in virtue by Theodora, Justinian, Belisarius himself; +perhaps, O Cethegus, not even by the friend who has written you these +lines. + + + + CHAPTER XXII + +The day after Gelimer's surrender Fara's camp was broken up and the +train of victors and captives began the march to Carthage. Couriers +were despatched in advance to Belisarius. + +At the head rode Fara, Procopius, and the other leaders on horses and +camels; in the centre were led the captive Vandals, bound, for the sake +of precaution, hand and foot with chains which permitted walking and +even riding, but not running, and surrounded by foot-soldiers; the Hun +cavalry formed the rear. So, resting at night in tents, they slowly +traversed in fourteen days the road over which, in their swift pursuit, +they had gone in eight. + +Verus usually rode alone; he avoided the Vandals, and the Byzantines +shunned _him_. + +On the second day after the departure from Mount Pappua,--Fara and +Procopius were far in advance,--at a turn in the road, the priest +checked his horse and waited. The prisoners approached. Many a fettered +hand was raised against him, many a curse was called down on his head; +he neither saw nor heard. At last, holding in his manacled right hand a +staff that extended into a cross, Gelimer tottered forward on foot. +Verus urged his horse through the ranks of the guards, and now rode +close beside him; the prisoner looked up. + +"You, Verus!" + +He shuddered. + +"Yes, I, Verus. I waited for you here--you and this hour,--this hour +which at last has come, slowly, lingeringly; this hour for which I have +wished, longed, labored by prayer, by counsel and action, for which +alone I have lived, suffered, struggled during years and tens of +years." + +"And why, O Verus, why? What injury have I done you?" + +Verus uttered a shrill laugh, and reined in his horse, stopping +suddenly. + +Gelimer started. He had rarely seen this man smile, never had he heard +him laugh aloud. + +"Why? Ha! ha! You can still ask? Why? Because--But to answer this +question I should have to repeat the whole story of our--the Romans', +the Catholics'--sufferings from the first step which Genseric took upon +this soil. Why? Because I am the avenger, the requiter of the hundred +years of crime called 'the Vandal kingdom in Africa.' Hear it, ye +saints in Heaven! This man--he was present when all my kindred were +horribly murdered, and he asks why I have hated and, so far as I had +power, destroyed him and his people?" + +"I know--" + +"You know nothing! For you can ask me: _Why_? You know, you mean, of my +dying mother's curse. But this you do not know--for you had fallen +senseless,--that when she hurled the curse at you I wrenched myself +free from my ropes, from my martyr's stake, sprang to her into the +midst of the flames, clasped her in my arms, and wished to die with +her. But she thrust me back out of the fire, crying: 'Live, live and +avenge me--and all your kindred--and fulfil the curse upon that Vandal +and all his people!' Again I pressed forward, clasped the dying woman's +hand, and swore it. Your warriors tore me away from her; I saw her fall +back into the flames, and my senses failed. + +"But when I recovered consciousness, I was no longer a boy--I +was the avenger! I saw, heard, and felt nothing but that last +clasp of my mother's hand, her glance, and my vow. And I abjured my +religion--apparently. And you, miserable Barbarians, made stupid by +arrogance, you believed that I had done this from cowardice, from fear +of torture and the flames! Oh, how often in former years I have felt +your silent, scarcely-concealed contempt, you foolish simpleton, and +borne it with mortal hatred, with a fury which burned my heart. +Arrogant brood of vain fools! Cowardice, fear, to you the most infamous +of insults, you attributed to me without hesitation. Blind fools! As if +I did not suffer more, ten times more than death in the flames, during +all these years, while ruling myself, enduring without a word of +explanation the scorn of the Carthaginians, the Catholics, for my +apostasy; stifling every emotion of hate and wrath and hope in my +heart, that you might not perceive them, wearing an outward semblance +of stone, while my whole soul was seething with fury, to serve you, to +conduct your blasphemous service of God as your priest, bearing your +insufferable boasting! For you Germans, without boasting aloud (your +loud braggart is easily endured, we despise him), are silent boasters. +You walk over the earth as if you must constantly crush something; you +throw back your heads as if you were greeting and nodding to your +ancestors in heaven: 'Yes, yes, the world belongs to us!' And that you +do not know and feel it, while you are insulting us mortally by such +conduct, because it is a matter of course--is the most unbearable thing +about it. Oh, how I hate you!" He struck with his whip at the figure +walking by his side, who received the blow, but did not seem to feel +it. "You Barbarians, who, a few generations ago, were cattle-thieves on +the frontier of our empire, whom we slaughtered, enslaved, threw +to the beasts by hundreds of thousands,--naked, starving beggars +who gratefully picked up the crumbs flung to them by Roman +generosity,--hence with you all, all, you wolves, you bulls, you bears, +whom only bestial strength and God's permission--as a punishment for +our sins--allowed to break into the Roman Empire! Hence with you!" He +again raised his whip to strike, but seeing a Herulian warrior's eye +fixed threateningly upon him, he lowered his arm in embarrassment. + +Gelimer remained silent, except for frequent sighs. + +"And your conscience?" he now said very gently. "Has it never rebuked +you? I since escaping the lion--I have trusted you entirely, I laid my +heart in your hands, you became my confessor; did you feel no shame +then?" + +A scarlet flush dyed the priest's pallid face for an instant, but it +passed like a flash of lightning. The next moment he answered: + +"Yes! So foolish was my heart--often. Especially at first. But," he +went on wrathfully, "I always conquered this weakness by saying to +myself whenever I felt it, and your insulting arrogance made me feel it +daily (oh, that Zazo! I hated him most of all): They deem you so base +that, in the presence of the dead bodies of all your kindred, you +abjured your faith! These insolent, incredibly stupid Barbarians--but +it is arrogance, even more than stupidity--believe that you, you, the +son of these parents, could really be devoted to them, could forget +your martyrs, to serve them and their brutal, imperious splendor. They +think that you can be so inconceivably base! Avenge yourself, punish +them for this unbearable presumption! Oh, hate, too, is a joy, the +hatred of nation for nation! And so long as a drop of blood flows in +the veins of other nations, you Germans must be hated, unto death, +until you are trampled under foot." + +He dealt a heavy blow with his clenched fist upon the uncovered head of +the tottering King. Gelimer did not look up, did not even start. + +"What threat are you muttering in your beard?" asked Verus, bending +toward him. + +"I was only praying, 'As we forgive our debtors.' But perhaps that, +too, is vanity, sin. Perhaps--you are not my debtor. Perhaps you are +really," again he shuddered, "my angel, whom God sends, not to protect +me, as I supposed in my vanity, but in punishment." + +"I was not your _good_ angel," laughed the other. + +"But--if I may ask--?" + +"Ask on! I want to enjoy this hour to the utmost." + +"If you hated me so bitterly, desired to avenge your mother on me, +why did you carry on this game for so many long years? Often and +often,--when I lay helpless in the lion's power, you might have killed +me, so why--?" + +"A stupid question! Have you not understood even yet? Fool! True, I +hated you, but even more--your nation. To kill you had its charm. And I +struggled sorely with my hate at that time, in order not to kill you +instead of the lion." + +"I saw that." + +"But I perceived: here, in this man, lives the soul of the Vandal +people. To raise him to the throne, and then rule him, is to rule his +people. If I should kill him now, I should drive Hilderic to a secret +treaty with Constantinople. Zazo, Gibamund, others, will resist long +and bravely. But if this man, who, above all, could save his people, +should become king, and then, as king, be in my power, his countrymen +will be most surely lost. If it should become necessary to kill him, an +opportunity can probably always be found. Far better than to murder him +is through him to rule--and ruin--the Vandal nation!" + +Then Gelimer groaned aloud and, staggering, involuntarily caught at the +horse's neck for support. Verus thrust his hand aside; he stumbled and +fell on the sand, but instantly rose and pursued his way. + +"Did the priest strike you. King?" cried the Herulian, threateningly. + +"No, my friend." + +But Verus went on: + +"Hilderic must be removed from the throne, for he would not implicitly +obey my will. He demanded all sorts of indulgences for the Vandals, and +Justinianus was ready to grant them. But I desired not only to make +Gelimer and his Vandals subjects of the Emperor,--I wanted to destroy +them. Your rough brother discovered my intercourse with Pudentius; if I +had been searched at that time, if Pudentius's letter had been found, +all would have been lost. Instead, I gave it to him; I betrayed his +hiding-place, but I knew he was already outside the walls, mounted on +my best racer. + +"The King and you both entered the trap of my warnings. I rejoiced at +your readiness to believe in Hilderic's guilt, because you--desired it; +because with secret, though repressed eagerness, you longed for the +crown. Even though you dethroned Hilderic in good faith, how alert, how +ardent you were to secure the throne! I aided, I saw you strike down +poor Hoamer, who was perfectly right when he denied Hilderic's purpose +of murder. You called the duel a judgment of God, you believed you +thereby served Heaven's justice, and you served only your own lust for +power and, through it, _me_! Your passion--stimulated by Satan, not +God--gave you the impulse, the swift strength of arm, to which Hoamer +instantly succumbed. It was a devil's judgment, a victory of hell, not +a decree of God. Now I became your chancellor; that is, your destroyer. +I quarrelled openly with the Emperor; I negotiated secretly with the +Empress. I sent your fleet to Sardinia, after learning the day before +that Belisarius had set sail with his army. After the battle of +Decimum, I advised you to shut yourself with your troops in Carthage. +The game would then have been over six months earlier, but this one +move failed,--you would not accept my counsel. I was obliged to guard +against Hilderic's vindicating himself, so I took out of the chest +before I let Hilderic search it, the warning letter, which I had +dictated. But I could permit no scion of Genseric's race to live: +Justinian would have received your two captives with honors after the +victory of Belisarius! I had them killed by my freedman and secured his +escape. But you--I had long reserved it for the hour of your greatest +supremacy, in case of the most extreme peril of our plans--you I +crushed at the right moment by the revelation that you had dethroned +Hilderic without cause and then murdered him. But my mother's curse and +my oath would not be fulfilled until you walked in chains as +Justinian's captive. + +"Therefore, to prevent your escape, I shared all the suffering, all the +privations, of these last three months. Letters from King Theudis, +directly after the battle of Decimum, had offered you rescue through +the coast tribes by the galleys of the Visigoths. You never saw those +letters; I suppressed them. Not until deliverance really beckoned, when +you already stretched your hand toward it, did I strip off the mask to +destroy you utterly. Now I shall see you kiss Justinian's feet in the +hippodrome at Constantinople; this is the final consummation of my +mother's curse, my oath, and my people's vengeance." + +He ceased, his face glowing, his eyes flashing down at the prisoner. + +Gelimer stooped and kissed the shoe in Verus's stirrup. + +"I thank you. So you are God's rod which struck and felled me. I thank +God and you for every blow, as I thanked God and you when I believed +you to be my guardian spirit. And if, meanwhile, you have committed any +sin against me, against my people,--I know not how to express it,--may +God forgive you, as I do." + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + +PROCOPIUS TO CETHEGUS: + +HE went all the way to Carthage on foot, declining horse or camel, +remaining silent or praying aloud in Latin, no longer in the Vandal +language. Fara offered him suitable garments instead of the worn, +half-tattered purple mantle which he had on his bare body. The captive +declined, and asked for a penitent's girdle, with sharp points on the +inside, such as the hermits wear in the desert. We did not know how to +obtain such crazy gear, and Fara probably disapproved the wish, so the +"Tyrant" himself made one from a cast-off horse-bridle which he found +and the hard, sharp thorns of the desert acacia. Close to the gate of +his capital, his strength failed, and he fell, face downward, in the +road. Verus stopped behind him, hesitating. I believe he meant to set +his foot on the King's neck; but Fara, who probably had the same +suspicion, roughly pushed the priest forward, and raised the monarch +with kind words. Directly beyond the Numidian gate, in the spacious +square in the Aklas suburb, Belisarius had assembled the larger portion +of his army, filling three sides; the fourth, facing the gate, remained +open. Opposite the entrance, on a raised seat, the General, in full +armor, sat throned; above his head rose the imperial field standards; +at his feet lay the scarlet flags and pennons of the Vandals which we +had captured by the dozen; every thousand had them. Only the great +royal banner was missing; it was never found. Around Belisarius stood +the leaders of his victorious bands, with many bishops and priests, +then the Senators, aristocratic citizens of Carthage and the other +cities, some of whom had returned from exile or flight during the past +few months; Pudentius of Tripolis and his son were among them, +rejoicing. To the left of Belisarius, on purple coverlets at his feet, +lay heaped and poured in artistic confusion the royal treasure of the +Vandals: many chairs of solid gold, the chariot of the Vandal Queen, a +countless multitude of treasures of every description,--how the jewels +glittered under the radiant African sun,--the whole silver table +service of the King, weighing many thousand pounds, and all the rest of +the paraphernalia of the royal household, besides weapons, countless +weapons from Genseric's armories; old Roman banners, too, which, after +a captivity of years, were again released; weapons enough in the hands +of brave men to conquer the whole globe; Roman helmets with proudly +curved crests, German boar and buffalo helmets, Moorish shields covered +with panther skins, Moorish fillets with waving ostrich plumes, +breastplates of crocodile skin,--who can enumerate the motley variety? +But at the right of Belisarius, with their hands bound behind their +backs, stood the prisoners of the highest rank, men, and also many +women, beautiful in face and figure,--the whole picture, however, was +inclosed, as though in an iron frame, by our squadrons of horsemen and +the dense ranks of our foot-soldiers. How the horses neighed; how the +plumes in the helmets waved; how the metal clanked and glittered with +dazzling brightness! A magnificent spectacle which must fill with +rapture the heart of every man who did not view it as a captive. Behind +our warriors crowded eagerly the populace of Carthage, taught by many a +blow with the handle of a spear that it had nothing to say, and bore no +part in this celebration of its own and Africa's deliverance. + +Our little procession stopped within the vaulted gateway, awaiting a +preconcerted signal. A tuba blared; Fara and I, followed by some +subordinate officers and thirty Herulians, rode into the square to +Belisarius's throne. He commanded us to dismount, rose, embraced and +kissed Fara, and hung around his neck a large gold disk,--the prize of +victory for bringing as prisoner a crowned King. Then he pressed my +hand and asked me to accompany him in all future campaigns. This is the +highest reward I could receive, for I love this man who has the courage +of a lion and the heart of a boy! + +At a signal we took our places on the right and left of the throne. Two +blasts of the tuba. Clad in the richest vestments of the Catholic +priesthood,--I noticed that even the narrow Arian tonsure had been +changed to the broader Catholic one,--Verus came from the gateway into +the square, his figure drawn up to its full height, his head thrown +back proudly. He was evidently thinking: "But for me you would not be +here, you arrogant soldiers." Yet that is by no means true; we really +should have conquered without him, though more slowly, with more +difficulty. And in the degree to which it was correct--just so far it +irritated my friend Belisarius. His brow contracted, and he scanned the +approaching priest with a look of contempt which the latter could not +endure. When he bowed he lowered his lashes--arrogantly enough. "I have +a letter from the Emperor to read to you, priest," said Belisarius. He +extended his hand for a purple papyrus roll, kissed it, and began: + +"Imperator Caesar, Flavius Justinianus, the devout, fortunate, glorious +victor and triumphator, at all times Augustus, conqueror of the +Alemanni, Franks, Germans, Antae, Alani, Persians, now also the Vandals, +Moors, and Africa, to Verus the Archdeacon. + +"'You have preferred, instead of dealing with me, to conduct a secret +correspondence with the Empress, my hallowed consort, concerning the +fall of the Tyrant to be consummated, with God's assistance, by our +arms. She promised you, if we conquered, to ask me for the reward you +desired. Theodora does not intercede with Justinian in vain. After +proving that you had only apparently adopted the faith of the heretics, +while in your heart, and also to your Catholic confessor, who was +authorized to grant you dispensation for that external semblance of +sin, you had always been faithful to the true religion, you are +recognized, having secretly received the Catholic consecration, +as an orthodox priest. So I command Belisarius, immediately on the +receipt of this letter, to proclaim you at once Catholic Bishop of +Carthage.'--Hear, all ye Carthaginians and Romans: in the Emperor's +name, I proclaim Verus Catholic Bishop of Carthage, and will put on the +Bishop's mitre and deliver the Bishop's staff. Kneel, Bishop." + +Verus hesitated. He seemed to wish to receive the gold-embroidered +mitre standing; but Belisarius held it so low, so close to his own +knees, that the priest could do nothing but submit, if the desired +ornament and his head were to meet. The instant he felt it covered, he +sprang up again. Belisarius now placed in his hand the richly gilded, +crooked shepherd's staff. Then the Bishop, holding himself haughtily +erect, was about to move to the right of the throne. + +"Stop, Reverend Bishop," cried Belisarius, "the Emperor's letter is not +yet finished." And he read on: + +"'So the desired reward is yours. But Theodora, as you have learned, +does not intercede with Justinian in vain; so I will also fulfil her +second request. She thinks so bold and so crafty a man would be too +dangerous in the bishopric of Carthage; you might serve your new master +as you did the old one. Therefore she entreated me to have Belisarius, +immediately on receipt of this message, seize you,'"--at a sign from +the General, Fara, with the speed of lightning and with evident +delight, laid his mailed right hand heavily on the shoulder of Verus, +whose face blanched,--"'for you are exiled for life to Martyropolis on +the Tigris, upon the frontier of Persia, as far as possible from +Carthage. The Empress's confessor, whom she desires to have transferred +from Constantinople to Carthage, will manage the affairs of the +bishopric as your Vicarius, with the consent of the Holy Father in +Rome. There are penal mines in Martyropolis. During six hours in the +day you will care for the souls of the convicts. That you may be better +able to do this, by thoroughly understanding their state of feeling, +you will, during the other six hours, share their labor.' Away with +him!" + +Verus tried to answer, but already the tuba blared loudly again, and, +before it sounded for the third time, six Thracians had hurried the +priest far away from the square, and disappeared in the street leading +to the harbor. + +"Now summon Gelimer, the King of the Vandals," said the General, +loudly. + +And from the gateway into the square came Gelimer, his hands fettered +with a chain of gold. One of the numerous pointed crowns found in the +royal treasure had been pressed upon his long tangled locks, and over +his ragged old purple mantle and penitent's girdle was flung a +magnificent new cloak of the same royal stuff. He had submitted to +everything unresistingly, motionless and silent, only at first he had +objected to the crown; then he said gently, "Be it so--my crown of +thorns." In the same unresisting, unmoved silence he now, like a +walking corpse, crossed with slow, slow steps the space,--possibly +three hundred feet,--which separated him from Belisarius. While, at the +mention of his name, a loud whisper, mingled with occasional +exclamations, had run through the ranks, all the many thousands were +silent now that they saw him: scorn, triumph, curiosity, +vindictiveness, pity no longer found any expression; they were silenced +by the majesty of this spectacle, the majesty of utter misery. + +The captive King crossed the square entirely alone. No other prisoner, +not even a guard or warrior accompanied him. He kept his eyes, +shaded by long lashes, fixed upon the ground; they were sunk deep in +their sockets; his pale cheeks, too, were deeply sunken; the thin +fingers of his right hand were clenched around a small wooden cross. +Blood--visible when the mantle slipped back in walking--was trickling +from his girdle, down his naked limbs, in slow drops upon the white +sand of the square. + +All were silent; a deathlike stillness pervaded the wide space; the +people held their breath until the hapless King stood before +Belisarius. + +Deeply moved, the Roman General, too, found no words, but kindly +extended his right hand to the man before him. Gelimer now raised his +large eyes, saw Belisarius in all the glitter of gold and armor, +glanced quickly around the three sides of the square, beheld the +magnificence and pomp of warlike splendor, the victors' banners +fluttering high in the air, on the ground the standards and sparkling +royal treasure of the Vandals. Suddenly--we all started as this corpse +burst into such wild emotion--he flung both hands, with their long gold +chain, above his head, clasping them so that the metal clashed; the +cross slipped from his grasp; he uttered a shrill, terrible laugh. + +"Vanity! _All_ is vanity!" he shrieked, and threw himself prone upon +the sand just at the feet of Belisarius. + +"Is this illness?" whispered the General to me. + +"Oh, no," I answered in the same tone. "It is despair--or piety. He +thinks that life is not worth living; everything human, everything +earthly, even his people and his kingdom are sinful, vain, empty. Is +this the last word of Christianity?" + +"No, it is madness!" cried Belisarius the hero. "Up, my brave warriors! +Let the tubas blare again, the Roman tubas which echo through the +world! To the harbor! To the ships! And to the triumph--to +Constantinople!" + + + + + + + + F E L I C I T A S + + By FELIX DAHN + _Author of_ "_The Scarlet Banner_" + + Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford. $1.50 + + * * * * * + +It tells of a lovely wife named Felicitas, of her husband's inscription +of her name upon the threshold of her home, and of the happiness that +came to them in spite of Roman wickedness and German invasion.--_Boston +Journal_. + +A charming idyl of the period when the Germans were forcing themselves +and their ideals upon the Roman Empire.... Felix Dahn is perhaps the +greatest historical novelist of Germany.--_The Churchman_. + +Care, elevated purity of tone, and just balance distinguish it from +many hastily thrown off and perfervid romances of the day.--_Boston +Transcript_. + +The charm of it lies in this admirable picture of innocence and +happiness amid the chaos of a fallen civilization.--_The Independent_. + +The book is made in a way that commends it to lovers of the +beautiful.--_Chicago Evening Post_. + +The historical accuracy of Professor Dahn's novels is +unimpeachable.--_San Francisco Argonaut_. + +The book is dramatic. The author has evidently found a new field for +historical romance.--_Worcester Spy_. + + * * * * * + + A. C. McCLURG & CO., _Publishers_, Chicago + + + + + + + A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES + + By FELIX DAHN + _Author of_ "_Felicitas_" + + Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford. $1.50 + + +The story deals with that early period when Roman power was feeling the +inroads of Christianity, and the Pagan Teutons were not yet converted. +It has, however, little to do with religion and much with conflict. A +beautiful German girl captured by the Romans is the heroine.--_The +Outlook_. + +The book is of distinct value, as illuminating for us one of the many +dim paragraphs in the record of the mighty struggle that Rome waged for +centuries with the wild men of Europe.--_Chicago Evening Post_. + +At the present day he is considered the successor of Ebers in +historical fiction.--_Minneapolis Times_. + +A book not only worth translating, but worth translating well, and its +English version, by Mary J. Safford, must be well-nigh as satisfactory +as the original.--_Book News_. + +It has the solid excellence one finds in the stories of Dahn's +compatriot, Ebers.--_New York Commercial Advertiser_. + +A high place in the historical fiction of the year belongs to the +translation of Felix Dahn's "Bissula."--_The Churchman_. + +Such fiction is of the highest literary value. It redeems +the appellation "historical novel" from execration and +oblivion.--_Louisville Courier-Journal_. + +Miss Safford has done her work of translating well. The book is +published in attractive form, and it is a fine tale.--_Boston Times_. + + * * * * * + + A. C. McCLURG & CO., _Publishers_, Chicago + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scarlet Banner, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCARLET BANNER *** + +***** This file should be named 32461.txt or 32461.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/6/32461/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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