Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER XXXII.

  THE SLAVE-DEALER.

  The entertainment which the consul provided for his guests was of thesimplest and most frugal kind, in curious contrast with the costly plateon which it was served. His cook knew his tastes, which were those ofthe Sabine farming folk from whom he came, and catered for himaccordingly; but the furnishing of the table was naturally that of theplace where he was quartered, the official residence of the chiefmagistrate of Corinth, and this was filled with the finest specimens ofthe city's famous ware.[65]

  The repast ended, the quæstor, who had been one of the guests, explainedto Polybius what Mummius had instructed him to do. "The consul," hesaid, "has commissioned me to use forty talents of silver[66] inredeeming slaves. You are to draw up a list, and as the sale begins theday after to-morrow, you should lose no time in doing so. As to theprice, he has instructed the official agent to value the personsselected, so they will not be actually put up for sale. More than thisthe consul did not feel he could do. 'If I were to interfere with theprices,' he said, 'I should be making a very dangerous precedent. Itmust all be done on strict business principles.' A more scrupulouslyhonourable man than Lucius Mummius does not live, though it must beallowed that he does not know much about art. However, you will havefairly easy terms, I don't doubt."

  "I am greatly obliged to you," said Polybius. "And now there is anotherthing in which you can help me. My young friend here and I have beentalking the matter over, and we are agreed in wanting to do somethingmore in the same direction. He has been actually under the spear,[67]and I, though I have never gone through that experience, know somethingof the bitterness of being at another man's bidding. Well, fate hasdealt kindly with both of us, and we both want to show our gratitude.Between us we can raise another forty talents, and we want to use it inthe same way. Our idea is this. The money that comes from Diæus' estateshould, we think, be used on the public account. Our own we shouldemploy as our private feelings may suggest. In the list that I shalldraw up for the official agent I shall put the names of men whoseofficial standing, or services to their country, or any other publicreason, seem to call for their selection. In regard to our own money, weshall consider private friendship or acquaintance. Now, can you help usin laying this out to the best advantage?"

  The quæstor reflected. "You must not go," he said after a pause, "to theagent. I feel quite sure that the consul would not like it. I do not seethat you can do anything better, or, indeed, anything else than approachone of the slave-dealers. The way of these sales, I may say of allsales, is pretty much the same everywhere. There is a regular gang whichhas it all its own way. The members of it don't bid against each other,except where they have a commission to purchase this or that lot. Butwhen an outsider tries to get anything for himself, they agree to runhim up to a most extravagant price. Yes, you must get one of the dealersto take a friendly interest in you."

  "And whom do you recommend?" asked Polybius.

  "That is not so easy to say," replied the quæstor. "They are not a nicelot, as I dare say you know. Most of them would sell their own fathersand mothers. It is not an improving occupation. But, on the whole, Ishould recommend Judas the Jew. He has principles; very queer principlesthey are, but still they are something. Yes, Judas is your man. One ofmy orderlies shall bring him to you early to-morrow."

  Early the next day, accordingly, Judas presented himself, showing acurious contrast, with his slight, wiry figure and keen intelligentface, to the stoutly-built, stolid-looking soldier who accompanied him.

  "Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you?" he began. "There will be somebargains to be picked up, I dare say. But the really good things alwaysfetch their price. There is never a glut of them."

  Polybius had drawn up a list, which he proceeded to hand to the Jew. Hehad put down the names, and, as far as he knew or could guess them, theages of the persons whom he wished to purchase. The Jew's eyes openedwider and wider as he read it.

  "But what," he asked, his astonishment overcoming for the moment hisusual somewhat servile civility, "what do you want with all these oldmen and women? They can't all be your fathers and mothers, and unclesand aunts. Excuse me, gentlemen," he added, recovering himself, "butthis is not the sort of commission I am in the habit of getting from mycustomers."

  Polybius explained, to the best of his power, his own and his friend'smotives. As the Jew listened a gentler expression came into his face."By the God of my fathers," he exclaimed when the historian hadfinished, "I have never come across such a thing in my life! I don'tmean that I haven't known of sons buying back fathers and mothers andthat sort of thing, but this is quite outside my experience. Well," hewent on with a smile, "you will at all events find that your fancy won'tcost you very dear. How much do you propose to spend?"

  Polybius named the sum. "But of course," he added, "we must consideryour commission. What will that be on this amount?"

  Judas meditated a while. "By Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," he broke outafter a time, "I won't take a drachma. I have been about the world inthis line of business for thirty years, and I have never seen anythinglike it. I should not have supposed it possible," he muttered to himselfin his own language, "that these Gentile dogs should have thought ofsuch a thing. Well, I must not shame Father Abraham by behaving worsethan they do. No, gentlemen," he went on, "I shall not charge anythingfor commission. This is a quite uncommon piece of business, and you mustlet me please myself by managing it in my own way. Well, you can get awhole ship-load of the old people for this money. Some of the young menwill be more expensive. But the really costly articles are the youngwomen, and I don't see one on your list. Depend upon it, you shall haveyour money's worth. There are some of the meanest scoundrels in theworld in Corinth at this moment, but they know better than to bidagainst Judas."

  When sundry details of business had been disposed of, the old Jew grewvery communicative about his occupation. He had been a slave himself,carried away by some Syrian marauders in his childhood from a village ofGalilee. Bought by a soldier, a captain in the army of the thirdAntiochus, he had regained his liberty in the rout which followed thevictory of Magnesia. After this had come a period of service in thepatriot armies raised by the Maccabee brothers. In this he gained somedistinction, but he found himself destitute when a severe wound receivedat the battle of Elaim compelled him to give up the profession of arms.He had no relative in the world; his native place had absolutelyperished. A countryman offered him a clerk's place. When he found thathis new employer was a dealer in slaves he felt a strange thrill ofpleasure. He was to make his living out of the miseries of these heathenwho had marred his own life. To his own people he never ceased to betender and generous. To the rest of the world he seemed to be absolutelycallous and heartless. On this occasion he related to his hearersexperiences so horrible that their blood ran cold at hearing them. Hiscomments on these were often curiously cynical. "What a piece of follyit was that Flamininus committed at Chelys!" he remarked when somechance had brought the conversation round to that subject. Cleanorlistened, we may be sure, with all his ears, when he caught the name."In a fit of stupid passion he threw away at least fifty talents of goodmoney. Imagine the absolute idiotcy of a man who kills some scores ofable-bodied men when he might have sold them! What did he do it for? Forrevenge? Didn't he know that nine out of ten would far sooner have beenkilled than made slaves of? Why, I always have to watch any spiritedyoung fellow for the first month or so lest he should slip out of myhands. After that they seem to lose heart, and can't even pluck upspirit enough to stab themselves. Of course the order to kill is neverreally carried out. The soldiers have a knack of stunning those whomthey seem to kill. I have had some pretty cargoes of corpses who came tolife again when they were safely out of the way. You give a soldier ahundred sesterces,[68] and you get a stout young fellow whom you cansell for five thousand."

  Polybius and Cleanor had the satisfaction of seeing their effortscrowned with even more success than they could have expected. The publicage
nt had taken a very liberal view of his duties, and the Jew dealerhad carried out his part of the business with great success. Nearlyseven hundred of the oldest and most helpless victims of the siege wererestored to freedom. It was but a small fraction of the miserable whole,but it was something to have done. None of the rescued captives knew thenames of their benefactors, though somehow the secret leaked outafterwards, but the friends felt that their pains had been well bestowedand well rewarded when they stood by and marked, unmarked themselves,the happiness which they had been able to secure to their unfortunatecompatriots.

  If in this respect Polybius went, and was content to go, without thepraises of his countrymen, there was another matter in the conduct ofwhich he deservedly won almost universal applause. Some miserablesycophants--and sycophants were only too common among the Greeks of thetime--proposed to Mummius that the statues of Philopoemen should bethrown down. He had been always, they alleged, an energetic opponent ofRome, and it was a contradiction that monuments erected in his honourshould be permitted to stand now that Rome had finally triumphed. Theconsul, who, to tell the truth, had but the slightest acquaintance witheven recent history, was at first impressed by the argument. ThisPhilopoemen had been the chief of the Achæan League, and it was theAchæan League that had defended, or tried to defend, Corinth againsthim.

  Polybius, who, of course, knew what was meditated, begged to be allowedto defend the departed patriot, and Mummius consented to hear him. Akind of impromptu court was constituted. The consul and his quæstor,with the legates or generals of division, formed the bench of judges.Polybius, who spoke with a depth of personal feeling that touched thehearts of all who heard him, delivered a most eloquent and convincingapology for the venerable man whom he had once been privileged to callhis friend. He allowed that Philopoemen had struggled for theindependence of Greece as long as that independence was possible. Whathonest Greek, he asked, could have done less? But he had always been anhonourable enemy, and as soon as he saw that the true interests of hiscountry demanded it he had always been a loyal ally. The judges gave anunanimous verdict in his favour.

  "He was an honest man," said the consul with emphasis. "His statue shallremain standing here and everywhere, whatever may be thrown down, and ashonest men are not too common, it shall be set up in every city ofGreece."

  It was now time for the friends to part. Polybius had received acommission from Rome to arrange the affairs of the other cities of thePeloponnese, and he would gladly have taken his young friend with him inthe capacity of secretary. But Cleanor felt irresistibly called, and bymore motives than one, to Italy. There awaited him there an honourableand lucrative employment, which would be all the more welcome because itwas wholly remote from the scenes, so full of painful associations,through which he had passed during the last two years of his life. This,as my readers will remember, was the translation of the famous treatiseon Agriculture. And he never forgot for a moment that Italy nowcontained the two beings who were dearest to him in the world. Corinth,which the savage decree of the Senate had doomed to the flames, bothwere anxious to leave without delay. They parted on the deck of the_Ino_, the ship which carried Polybius to Sicyon, the first city whichhe was to visit in his official capacity, and which was to take Cleanorfurther westward to Rome. "Farewell!" said Polybius. "I shall be busywith my history when these affairs are settled. Remember that you havepromised to criticise it. I shall not like to give it to the world tillit has had your approval."

  FOOTNOTES:

  65: This was made of an alloy known as _Corinthian brass_ or _bronze_, and said to have been composed of gold, silver, and copper. In later times it was believed to have been first made, and that by accident, at this very taking of Corinth, when gold, silver, and other metals were found to have been melted by the violent conflagration and to have run together; but it had been known long before.

  66: About £9000.

  67: It was the Roman custom, and Polybius naturally uses Roman terms on this occasion, to set up a spear when an auction was going on.

  68: Something less than £1.