Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
TO ITALY.
The _Ino_ had a quick and prosperous voyage. But though Cleanor arrivedsafely at his destination, he learned, not without astonishment, that hehad been running a very considerable danger of having a different endingto his travels. The Roman Republic was extending her borders in everydirection, and was levelling to the dust the cities which had disputedwith her the empire of the world, but she suffered herself to beinsulted and her citizens and allies to be maltreated by insignificantenemies. While her legions and fleets were winning great victoriesabroad, her own coasts were harried by pirates. Near Ithaca the _Ino_picked up a boat in which were three sailors reduced to the last stageof exhaustion by hunger and thirst. The poor fellows, who were almostunconscious when they were taken on board, had a piteous story to tellwhen they had recovered sufficient strength to speak. They had beendrifting about for nine days, and were the survivors of a company ofnine, the crew of a trader of Patræ which was bound with a cargo of winefor Tarentum.
"We were overhauled," said the captain, who was one of the three, "whenwe had accomplished half our voyage by a Cilician pirate galley. Theytook what they wanted of my cargo, scuttled my ship, and being, for somereason or other, in high good-humour, instead of making us walk theplank, as is their common custom, let us take our chance in our boat,and even gave us a keg of water and a bag of biscuits. This was my firstventure on my own account," said the man, with tears in his eyes, "and Ihave lost everything I had in the world. We pay taxes to the Romans; whydon't they keep the seas safe for us?"
"Why, indeed?" said the captain of the _Ino_. "Things are far worsenow," he continued, addressing himself to Cleanor, "than they were whenI first began to sail these seas some thirty years ago. They used to befairly well kept in those days by the Rhodian ships. It was very seldomthat the pirates ever came west of Cyprus. But then Rhodes began to godown the hill. She was ruined by Delos being made a free port, and couldnot afford to keep up her fleet. Since then things have been going frombad to worse. You wouldn't believe, sir, the things that have happenedalmost in the sight of Rome. Two years ago half of a prætor'sestablishment was carried off as it was on its way along the coast-roadfrom Barium to Brundisium, and it was only by good luck that they didnot lay hands upon the great man himself. He happened to have gone on inadvance instead of being behind, as was usual. Perhaps if they hadcaught him something might have been done. As it is, nobody seems tocare."
The next day the _Ino_ herself had what looked like a narrow escape.At daybreak the look-out man descried in the offing a craft ofsuspicious-looking build, long, and low in the water. It was then almosta dead calm, and if the stranger was a pirate, as seemed only toolikely, her long sweeps would soon bring her dangerously near. "We willhave a fight for it," said the captain, as he inspected his stock ofarms.
Happily the occasion to use them never arrived. A brisk breeze sprang upas the sun rose higher, and the _Ino_, which was an excellent sailer,soon left the strange ship far behind. The same evening she was mooredto one of the quays in the harbour of Brundisium. By noon next dayCleanor was well on his way along the great Appian Road to Rome.
It was yet early in the autumn, the unhealthiest time of the year, thenas now, for the Italian capital, and the city was empty, as far at leastas its wealthier inhabitants were concerned. The translation committee,however, was about to commence its work, which was considered to beurgent. Scipio, with the thoughtful kindness which was characteristicof him, had placed a villa of his own near Ostia at the disposal of themembers, and they were able to devote themselves to their task underfavourable conditions of health and quiet. Under these pleasantcircumstances the work progressed rapidly. Cleanor's assistance wasfound to be of the greatest value. He was now equally familiar with thethree languages, Carthaginian, Greek, and Latin. The first two had beenspoken almost indifferently in his native town; the third he had learnedgrammatically in his childhood, and he had since acquired the colloquialuse of it. It is easy to understand how useful an educated man, who hadhad these unusual advantages, could be in dealing with a book which waslargely concerned with common things and the affairs of everyday life.Not one of his colleagues united in himself so many qualifications.
The time, taken up as it was with this occupation, passed quickly, and,on the whole, pleasantly enough. Still, the continuous labour, and thesedentary life, so unlike the continuous activity in which he had spentthe preceding months, began to tell upon his health and spirits, and hewas glad when the approach of the Holidays of Saturn[69] promised aninterval of rest and, possibly, a change of scene. It was with no smalldelight that early in December he received a letter from the youngerScipio. It was as follows:--
_L. Cornelius Scipio to his friend Cleanor, heartily greeting._
_This is but the third day since I arrived in Italy, and I hasten to make sure that we should meet as soon as possible. My aunt Cornelia, from whose villa at Misenum I am now writing, invites you, as I write at her request, to spend here the approaching holiday. She desires me to say that she now hears for the first time where you are and what you are doing. Other things concerning you have been told her, not without much praise, by some whose names I need not mention. Come, therefore, as soon as circumstances permit. That you will come welcome to many, and especially to me, be assured. Farewell!_
FOOTNOTE:
69: The "Holidays of Saturn" (_Saturnalia_) occurred in the early part of the latter half of December. They extended to as many as seven days. It is not improbable that they were, in a way, carried on by the Christmas festivities.