CHAPTER XXIII
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."--ST. MATTHEW XXV. 21.
A tumult amongst the people?
Aye! it was here now fully aroused. The praefect of Rome was popularwith the plebs. His action in the arena had called forth unboundedenthusiasm. When he fell rolling into the sand, with the black panthersnarling above him, his steel-like grip warding for the moment thebrute's jaws from off his throat, the people broke out into regularfrenzy.
"The praefect! the praefect!" they shouted.
Men climbed down along the gradients leaping over other men, determinedto jump down twelve feet into the arena in order to rescue the praefectfrom the jaws of the ferocious beast.
But above in the imperial tribune the Caesar sat snarling like thepanther and rubbing his hands with glee. His trap had beenover-successful, one by one the arch-traitors fell headlong into it.First Hortensius Martius, that young fool! What mattered if he hadescaped from a ravenous panther? The claws of a vengeful Caesar weresharper far than those of any beast of the desert.
And now Taurus Antinor! the praefect of Rome! the man of silence and ofintegrity! the idol of the people, the scorner of Caesar's godhead. Vaguerumour had reached Caligula of the praefect's strange sayings, hisrefusal to enter the temples and to sacrifice to the gods. People saidthat the Anglicanus worshipped one who claimed to be greater than Caesarand all the deities of Rome.
Well, so be it! There he lay now in the dust, a huddled mass of man andbeast, the sand of the arena reddened with his blood. Caligula screamedlike the rest of his people, but his cry was:
"Habet! Habet! Habet!" And in a frenzy of rage and hate his thumbpointed downwards, downwards, as if it were a dagger which he couldplunge into the Anglicanus' throat.
But the city guard were the first to break their bounds. Even whilst theimperial madman exulted and shrieked forth his murderous "Habet!" theyhad rushed to the rescue of their praefect.
The powerful grasp on the panther's throat was on the point of relaxing;the brute was digging its claws in the shoulders of the fallen man, andhe, feeling faint with loss of blood, looked upon death as it stareddown at him from the beast's golden eyes, and all that he was consciousof was the feeling that death was good.
When the city guard rushed to his rescue, and by dint of numbers andstrength of steel tore the ferocious creature from the body of its prey,Taurus Antinor lay a while half conscious. He heard the cry of thepeople round him, he felt a shower of sweet-scented petals fall upon himfrom above, he heard the last dying roar of the panther and a scream ofrage from the imperial tribune.
Then the din became deafening: the trampling of feet, the rushing hitherand thither, the cries, the imprecations, and from beneath the tribunesin their distant prisons, the roar of caged beasts like the far-offrumbling of thunder.
Taurus Antinor raised himself on his knees. Both his shoulders had beenlacerated by the panther; he was bleeding from several wounds about thelegs and arms, and his whole body felt bruised and stiff.
But he struggled to his feet, and now, leaning against a large treetrunk which had formed part of the setting of the scene, he tried totake in every detail of what was going on around him. There was, ofcourse, a great deal of shouting and a general stampede in the tribunesof the plebs. In the midst of this shouting, which buzzed incessantlylike the war of a great cataract, two cries resounded very distinctlyabove all the others.
Thousands of people were shouting:
"Hail to the praefect! Hail to the god of valour and of strength! Hail!Taurus Antinor, hail!"
Whilst others cried more dully, yet equally distinctly:
"Death to the tyrant! Death to the madman! Death to Caesar! Death!"
That he himself was for the moment the object of enthusiasm of thisirresponsible crowd, he could not doubt for an instant. That this sameirresponsible enthusiasm was leading the crowd to treachery andrebellion was equally certain.
The city guard egged on by the people had forced open the heavy irongates through which Hortensius Martius had passed a while ago, and whichled up the marble steps straight to the imperial tribune.
Taurus Antinor looking up now saw the Caesar standing pale and trembling,surrounded by his standard bearers, whose attitude seemed strangelyirresolute. The Augustas were clinging together in obvious terror, theirheads were pressed close to one another, and the jewels in their hairformed a curious shimmering mass of diamonds and rubies which caught therays of the sun and threw back blinding sparks of prismatic colours.Dea Flavia was not near them. She was standing alone up against thedividing wall of the tribune, and leaning back against it, with eyesclosed, and hand pressed against her heart.
All this did Taurus Antinor see, and also that Hortensius Martius, stilldeathly pale and trembling in every limb, had succeeded in making hisway from the arcade where he had found safety, back to the patricians'tribune amongst his friends.
He was standing now in the midst of a compact group composed of thosemen who had been present two days ago at the banquet in Caius Nepos'house. They stood close to one another whispering eagerly amongstthemselves. Hortensius Martius was obviously their chief centre ofinterest, and young Escanes held his hand concealed within the folds ofhis tunic.
And Taurus Antinor no longer paused to think. He had forgotten hislacerated shoulder and his bleeding limbs; even the horrors of the pastquarter of an hour had faded from his mind. All that he saw was thatmurder and treachery were walking hand in hand, and that the murder ofthe insane Caesar now would mean the death of thousands of innocentvictims later on, that it would mean civil strife, and uncountablemisery. And all that he heard was the voice of Him Who had bidden him torender unto Caesar that which was Caesar's, namely his allegiance, hisfealty, his life.
The city guard loved him and knew his voice. He had no trouble ininducing the men to let him pass through their ranks and to mount thesteps before them which led to the imperial tribune. They let him passperhaps because they thought that their praefect would wish to take hisrevenge with his own hands. The gods themselves would have placed apoisoned dagger in the hand of him who had been so ruthlessly exposed toa most horrible death.
And as Taurus Antinor's massive figure was seen to mount the steps, theaudience broke into cheers.
"Hail Taurus Antinor! the god of valour and of strength!"
Whilst more ominous than before came that other cry: "Death to thetyrant! Death to the Caesar! Death!"
And whilst the city guard followed closely on the footsteps of theirpraefect, and men among the crowd prepared for the inevitable fightwhich they foresaw, the women and those who were feeble and pacificwaved fans and cloaks about and threw dead roses across the arena, tillthe whole place seemed like a great pageant of many-coloured flags, overwhich the midday sun had thrown its veil of gold.
When Taurus Antinor reached the topmost step Caligula caught sight ofhim, and the intensity of his rage was such that his cheeks turned lividand blotchy and hoarse inarticulate sounds escaped his panting throat.
Even at this same moment the group composed of Escanes and the othersseemed to sway in a mass toward the tribune of the Caesar. They appearedto be consulting Hortensius Martius who had nodded encouragingly. YoungEscanes was in the very centre of the group now, his hand was stillhidden in the folds of his tunic and the look in his face told TaurusAntinor all that there was to fear.
At his feet as he stepped into the tribune lay his own cloak which hehad discarded when first his instinct had prompted him to run toHortensius' aid. Now he picked it up. It was of dark-coloured stuff,unadorned with the usual insignia of dignity and rank. With it in hishand he ran quickly toward the Caesar.
Caligula saw him coming towards him, his yellow teeth were chattering inhis mouth, he stood there palsied with fear, a prey to a deadly feelingof hate and to one of abject terror.
Even as Taurus Antinor, with a quick gesture, threw his own cloak roundthe shoulders of the Caesar and whispered hurriedly:
"Let your
praetorian guard escort you quickly to your palace, graciouslord--your life is in danger from the people, and...."
"In danger at thy hands, thou infamous traitor," broke in Caligula witha maniacal yell of rage; "take this then, in remembrance of the Caesarwhom thou hast betrayed!"
And quick as lightning the madman drew a short poniard from beneath hisrobe, and, uttering a final snarl of satisfied hate and revenge, heplunged the dagger in Taurus Antinor's breast.
Then he snatched the cloak from him, and, wrapping it quickly over hishead and shoulders, he called wildly to his guard and fled incontinentlyfrom the spot.
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