CHAPTER XXXV.
THE WORLD WELL LOST.
Cleanor had been back in Rome some four months, and had nearly completedhis work with the committee of translation, when he received a visitfrom the young Scipio. The latter had not been one of the party atMisenum during the holidays of Saturn, having been summoned to Sicily tofill a casual vacancy on the staff of the quæstor in that province.
"Well," said Cleanor, after an affectionate exchange of greetings, "andhow did you like your quæstor's work in Sicily?"
"I found it most interesting," replied the young man, "and, I must say,most agreeable. My name made me most welcome everywhere. You can hardlyimagine what an impression my uncle's action in giving back the statuesto the cities has made on the whole island. The simple fact that I washis nephew was enough to make them almost worship me. I happened to beat Agrigentum when the famous Bull was solemnly put back into its place.If I had been the founder of the city come to life again I could nothave been treated with more respect. I should be quite ashamed todescribe all the oratings and crownings and embracings that I wentthrough. In fact, if I had any complaint to make, it would be thatto a modest young man like myself the honours were just a littleoverpowering."
"And what," asked Cleanor, "are you going to do now?"
"That," replied the young Roman, "is just what I want to talk to youabout. Lentulus, who is proconsul of Sicily, as I dare say you know, hasexpressed himself very handsomely about my services, and, what is more,has offered to propose me as one of the regular quæstors for next year.This is all the more satisfactory because he is no kinsman of mine, andin fact is not on the same side in politics as my uncle. If my unclewere to nominate me, I should probably get my election, but this willmake it quite certain."
"Well," said Cleanor, "of course you won't hesitate to accept. I giveyou my congratulations in advance. It will be the first step in theladder, and we shall see you climb, as your forbears have climbed beforeyou, to be ædile, prætor, consul."
"Yes, yes," said the young man, "that is so. It is the first step, and Icould not take it under better auspices, but--" and he paused, lookinglike anything but the ambitious young man before whom the greatestcareer in the world was opening.
"What is the hindrance, then?" asked the young Greek.
Scipio's embarrassment seemed to increase. "I have been to my auntCornelia's at Misenum," he added after a long pause.
"And what was her advice?" asked Cleanor. "Surely she had nothing tosay against it. I should even have thought, as far as I know anything ofyour Roman politics, that she would have been especially well pleased tosee you come out in public life under the auspices of Lentulus."
"Oh, yes!" returned the young Roman. "That was exactly her view. But--"and the speaker paused in still greater embarrassment than ever."Well--I must say it sooner or later--I have seen your sister."
"My sister! What has my sister got to do with it?" asked Cleanor inutter bewilderment. "I don't suppose you asked her advice, and if youdid, she would not hinder you, I should suppose, from serving yourcountry."
"Well," said Scipio, "I did ask her, though not exactly for her advice,and she said exactly what you supposed she would say."
"Then where is the difficulty? You want the thing yourself; all yourfriends advise you to take the chances. What is it that hinders? Forheaven's sake, my friend, do explain what you mean, for it is quite pastmy understanding."
"Then, Cleanor, listen; if I offend you, as I can hardly help doing, bepatient with me. First and foremost, then, I love your sister Cleoné. Itis the dearest wish of my heart to make her my wife, and I think, thatis, I hope, that she cares a little for me."
"I am delighted to hear it," cried the young Greek, as he sprang up andseized his friend's hands. "I am delighted to hear it. There isn't abetter or braver girl in the world, if I may say so much of my ownsister. You have heard her story, of course. Well, she deserves a goodhusband, if ever a girl did, and I am glad to think that she is likelyto find one."
"I am delighted to hear you say so, though I don't feel anything likeworthy of her. But now comes what I find it so hard to say. Cleoné is amatch for anyone in the world, in birth as well as in herself. But, inthe eyes of our law, she is not a match for a Roman citizen. By someaccursed chance--though, indeed, but for this said chance I should neverhave seen her--she was made a slave, and is now a freed woman. Out ofthat _status_ nothing, as far as I know, can raise her, and being inthat _status_ she cannot be my wife. In one sense there may be amarriage between us, but it would not be a marriage that would give herthe rights and privileges of a Roman matron; it would not be a marriagewhich would open to our children the career of a Roman citizen. There,my dear friend, the murder is out; that is the bare fact, and if itseems an insult to you--and an insult, I fear, it must seem--prayremember that it is not of my making or doing."
"My dear friend," said Cleanor, "I won't pretend that what you have saidhasn't hurt me. We have always been accustomed to think ourselves asgood as anybody in point of birth and standing. In fact we Greeks arenot a little exclusive, and it is a blow to be told that we areourselves outside the social pale. But for you, I assure you I haven't afeeling that is not all friendship. I don't draw back from a single wordof what I said about my sister. Still we must consider; and of course,before all things, she must know."
"Yes, she must know," replied Scipio. "Of course I have said nothing.She does not know--so far at least as anything that I have said isconcerned--that I love her."
"Well," said Cleanor, "we will leave that then for the present. Nowlisten to what I have been thinking about myself and my own future. I amin love, too, and you have seen the lady. Can you guess who it is?"
"Guess!" said Scipio with a smile. "There is no need of guessing. I haveknown it a long time. Well, I will allow that your Daphne is the fairestwoman in the world,--with, of course, one exception."
"Well, when a man is in my plight, he naturally, if he is worthy ofbeing called a man, begins to think of his future. And what future haveI here in Italy? I have property enough to live upon, but that is all.But what career is there before me? I have turned the matter over in mymind, and I have asked for information from others. There seems to bepositively but one thing for a man in my situation to do. I mightbecome a teacher of rhetoric. That is the one solitary employment opento a Greek stranger, and a very precarious employment too. Theold-fashioned nobles don't like Greek rhetoricians, and it is quitepossible that some fine day I might find myself banished.[70] That, youwill allow, is not a prospect with which a man will readily contenthimself."
"And do you see any way out of it?" asked Scipio.
"I have dreams," replied the young Greek, "and I have always had, andthe dreams of to-day fit on curiously enough to the dreams of the past.When I was a boy I had an ambition to be something beyond the chiefcitizen of Chelys. As for Carthage, though no one thought that her endwas so near, I knew that there was nothing there to satisfy me, even ifher honours had been open to me. But there is a world beyond Carthage,and even beyond Rome. It is of that that I dreamed then, and of which Idream still. Say, Scipio, my friend, shall we go and look for it?"
The young men had a long talk on the subject. Cleanor poured out thestore of knowledge which, with an enthusiasm that dated back to veryearly years indeed, he had gathered from every available source. Therewas, of course, a plentiful admixture of fiction, or fact so transmutedand idealized that it almost had become fiction. There were legends andtraditions, travellers' tales, and yarns of adventurous seamen; butthere was also a solid substratum of truth. Cleanor's sheet-anchor, soto speak, was the famous _Circumnavigation_ of Hanno.[71] That famousvoyager had beyond all doubt passed into the great western ocean throughthe Pillars of Hercules, and turning southward had seen many a strangeand beautiful land, aye, and lived to bring back the report of them. Allthese things the ardent Greek dwelt upon with an enthusiasm which atlast fired the duller fancy of the Roman. Scipio left the house morethan half persuaded.
A few days afterwards Cleanor, having fairly finished his part in thework which had so long occupied his leisure, went down with Scipio toMisenum. They had agreed to say nothing of their scheme till they hadheard what their hostess had to say to it. Cornelia was doubtful.Cleanor indeed had her fullest sympathy when he declared that he couldnot be content with any career that fate had left open for him, and thathe must seek one elsewhere. It was about her great-nephew that shedoubted. She could not bring herself to think him right when he proposedto relinquish his Roman birthright. Not for any woman, not though shewas, as Cleoné, one among ten thousand, should a man give up thesplendid opportunities of service and reward which Rome held forth toher sons.
The young man found an unexpected ally in his cousin Tiberius. "Myduty," he said, "keeps me here; but if I could choose my own way, Iwould join your search. Sometimes I seem to see further into the futurethan is commonly given to man, and what I see is dark with the shadow ofdisaster and death. Our great kinsman has won splendid victories forRome, and has others to win, but I doubt whether the gods have notgranted these victories to our country more in wrath than in love. Whenwe have trodden all our foes and rivals under our feet we shall turn ourswords upon ourselves. The wealth of the world that is pouring into ourtreasury will kindle to a deadlier rage the eternal quarrel betweenthose who have and those who have not. My lot is cast in with theunhappy. The love of woman is not for me; I shall not be able even tokeep the affection of my kinsfolk. But I would not avoid my fate, evenif I could. You are happier. It would be as great a folly for you tostay, as it would be a crime for me to depart."
After this Cornelia, who was always overawed when the deeper nature ofher son revealed itself, silently withdrew her opposition. The elderScipio, who would almost certainly have used all his influence to bringit to nothing, was fortunately absent from Italy. Daphne put nohindrance in the way. She had secretly worshipped the magnificenthero--for such he seemed to her--who had rescued her and hers from thedeadliest peril, and was ready to follow him, if he willed it, to theends of the world, and, if it might be, even beyond it.
But Scipio found Cleoné far more difficult to deal with. She was veryfar from disdaining his love, but it filled her with something like rageto think that for her sake he should abandon his career. It was partlythat her pride was touched. That she, the long-descended daughter ofheroes, who reckoned Ion himself among her far-away ancestors, shouldbring humiliation and disability on the man to whom she gave her hand!The bare idea was beyond endurance. Such love was a disgrace to both ofthem. She peremptorily commanded her suitor to forget it. But this sternmood did not last. She was moved not a little by the sight of Daphne'shappiness. She was conscious of a craving in her own heart for ahappiness of her own. She had herself suffered so much, and it was hard,when at last the sunshine came, to have to shut it out, and still to sitin the darkness. Then the strongest influences were brought to bear uponher. Her brother was urgent in his entreaties that she should not martheir plan. And her refusal would mar it. He could not go if she stayedbehind. And the sight of Scipio's suffering touched her, for indeed sheloved him tenderly. In the end she gave way.
FOOTNOTES:
70: The Greek teachers of rhetoric were actually banished thirty years after this date.
71: The _Periplus_ of Hanno, probably written early in the fourth century B.C.
Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth Page 37
