Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire

by Edward Lucas White

  CHAPTER XVII

  THE FESTIVAL

  Thus most strangely, and through no fault of mine, I found myself a fullfledged formally sworn member of a conspiracy against the life ofCommodus.

  Maternus, whether from innate considerateness or because it happened tocoincide with his plans, let us have our sleep out and wake naturally. Wewoke hungry and fed with the whole band, totalling forty-nine withourselves, according to my count and to the statement of Pelops. He wasmost absurdly, but naturally, more than a little shy and bashful atfinding himself in a position of complete equality with me. As we ate henarrated his reasons for running away and how he had escaped to Clampetia,from there on a fishing-boat to Sarcapus in Sardinia, and from there on atrading ship to Marseilles. There he had attached himself to a slave-dealer and with him had travelled to Tolosa and Narbo, where he had gotteninto trouble and had fled to the mountains. There he had joined someoutlaws, who had joined Maternus.

  The fellows who had found me and Agathemer told cheerfully how theshepherd lad, their local guide, who knew nothing of them except that theywere accepted associates of some local mountain brigands, had been showingthem the inner passages of the cave, into which Agathemer and I had notventured, and, on their return, had proposed to lead them up the side-passage to the outlook-opening. There they had trodden on us and socaptured us.

  After eating we set out on our way southwards to Rome.

  On the march, inevitably, I became acquainted with Maternus and marvelledat that most amazing man. I had heard of him, of course, for his exploitsas mutineer, outlaw, insurgent and rebel had made him notorious, not onlyin Spain and Gaul, but in Italy, even among the circles of society amidwhich I moved by inheritance. His reputation for strength, vigor, valor,resolution, ruthlessness, ferocity and cunning had made me picture him asdifferent as possible from what he really was.

  He was neither tall nor burly and nothing about him gave any hint of thegreat strength for which he was reputed and which, on occasion, I haveseen him exert. Only one man of the band was shorter than Maternus and noother looked so much the reverse of hard and tough.

  Maternus, in fact, looked soft. His very outline was plump, his feet andhands small, his toes and fingers delicate. He was not a handsome man, buthe was by no means ill-looking and in some respects was almost boyish, oreven girlish. He had glossy, straight brown hair, soft brown eyes, acomplexion almost infantile in its rosy freshness, and all his featureswere small, his ears close to his head, his mouth even tiny, his noselikewise: and withal, Maternus was habitually mild, serene of expression,slow and soft of speech, and deliberate in all his movements. I neverheard him raise his voice or speak or act hurriedly or urgently.

  Of course, I had been dumbfounded to find him in Italy and in theApennines when everybody supposed him a hunted fugitive, hiding in thePyrenees or the Cevennes; or even, perhaps, in the wilds of North Spain.Still more was I amazed at the boldness of a man who could conceive suchplans for assassinating the Prince of our Republic and could feel serenelyconfident of being able to execute them.

  He was perfectly open with me. He had been a worshipper and adorer ofAurelius. If Aurelius had lived to a reasonable old age, he averred, theRepublic would have been firmly established, the Empire solidified, theadministration purified and the frontiers defended. Everything that hadhappened in the past five years he blamed on Commodus. It was theindifference of Commodus which had ruined the administration of the army,so that incompetent, dishonest, and tyrannical under-officers drove youngpatriots like himself into mutiny, outlawry and their consequences. HadCommodus been a capable ruler he and his fellow malcontents would havebeen listened to, placated and sent off, aflame with patriotic enthusiasmand bent on redeeming their past records, to hurl back from the hardest-pressed part of our frontiers the most dangerous foes of the Republic.Upon Commodus he blamed his mutiny, all the atrocities he had committed inthe course of his insurrections, and all the blood he had shed, as well asall the towns he had sacked and burnt in the course of his raids; also onCommodus he blamed the destruction of his army of insurgents.

  He freely discussed with me his plans for assassinating Commodus. I couldnot deny that they were brilliantly conceived.

  Almost equally brilliant I thought his management of his expedition. Fromwhere I joined it, near the crest of the Apennines, somewhere between thehead-waters of the Trebia and the Nura, we advanced on Rome as rapidly asfootfarers could travel. In the Ligurian Apennines, until we had crossedthe upper tributaries of the Tarus, the Macra and the Auser, and werebetween Luna and Pistoria, we travelled all together, tramping all nightin single file after a guide and sleeping all day in well hidden camps.Everywhere we were well fed. Nowhere did we lose our way or meet anyonenot forewarned and friendly. It was as if the highwaymen, brigands andoutlaws of the whole Empire had formed an association, so that any of themcould travel secretly anywhere by the help of those of the regions whichthey crossed. We advanced as if swift and reliable runners had precededus, advised of our approach the outlaws of each district and they hadprepared to entertain us and to forward us on our way.

  From somewhere between Pistoria and Luca we broke up into small parties ofthree to seven, and travelled by day like ordinary wayfarers. Somewherenot far south of the Arnus we reassembled, evidently by prearrangement andas accurately as a well-managed military-expedition. Through themountains past Arretium we marched at night as in the Apennines. Againsomewhere to the west of Clusium, before we reached the Pallia, we againdispersed. We struck the Clodian Highway about halfway between Clusium andthe Pallia. From there we proceeded like ordinary footfarers.

  Both between Pistoria and Arretium, along the byroads, and from the Palliato Rome, on the Clodian Highway, I was in the party headed by Maternushimself, a party of five besides us two. When we dispersed near Luca I hadnoted that Torix, Pelops and Cossedo with two more made a party; and thatCaburus took Agathemer with him.

  As Maternus had been open with me about his past and his plans so he wasperfectly frank about his attitude towards me.

  "I assume," he said, "that you are delighted at the opportunity whichchance and I have given you to assist in revenging yourself on Commodus. Isimilarly assume that you and Agathemer would keep any oath taken by you.But prudence compels a leader like me to take no chances. I must, as awary guardian of my associates, take all possible precautions. You willunderstand."

  We did understand. We were watched as if he assumed that we were on thealert for a chance of escape, as we were. On night marches a leathernthong was knotted about my waist and the ends knotted similarly about thewaists of the man before me and the man behind me. Agathemer was madesecure in a like fashion. When he lay down to sleep, after he had composedhimself to rest, a blanket was spread over him and a burly ruffian laydown on either side of him, the edges of the blanket under them. I sleptsimilarly guarded. On day marches Caburus kept Agathemer close to him; Iwas never out of sight of Maternus.

  Somewhere in the Etrurian hills north of Arretium I overheard part of aconversation between Maternus and Caburus. They were talking of me andAgathemer.

  "You cannot be sure," said Maternus. "By every rule of reason Hedulioought to hate Commodus consumedly. But loyalty is so inbred in senatorsand men of equestrian rank, in all the Roman nobility, that he may have asoft place in his heart for him, after all. Instead of doing his best tohelp us kill him he might try to shield him, at a pinch."

  "Just what I have been thinking," said Caburus. "I am half in doubt aboutthis enterprise, even now. Agathemer may after all, try to fool me and toshield Commodus, by pointing out some other man to me, at the crucialmoment."

  "If you suspect him of anything of the kind," said Maternus gently, "justdrive your dirk good and far into him and be done with him. I'll be on thelookout for any hanky-panky from Hedulio. If I see the wrong look in hiseye or the wrong expression on his face I'll make a quick end of him. I'lltolerate no treachery after oath given and oath taken."

  It may easily be imagine
d how nervous and uncomfortable I felt afterhearing this mild, soft-voiced utterance.

  My anxiety was accentuated within an hour. Just as I, like the othermembers of the band, was composing myself to sleep, I heard high words,raised voices, threats, an oath and a yell. With the rest I rushed towardsthe sounds. There, with the rest, I saw Caulonius Pelops in the agonies ofdeath, a dagger in his heart. One of our Spanish associates hadmomentarily lost his temper.

  Maternus, calm and unruffled, mildly inquired the causes of the quarrel,affirmed his belief in the Spaniard's account, absolved him of all blameand ordered Pelops buried. Then, as if nothing happened, we all composedourselves to sleep.

  I did not sleep much. Evidently, stabbing on small provocation was takenas a matter of course among my present comrades.

  At Vulsinii we had a sound sleep at an inn and a bountiful meal at dawn.We needed both before dark, for Maternus marched us the entire twenty-eight miles to Forum Cassii by sunset. I was in as hard condition as anyof his band and I stood the long tramp well. Next day we paused for barelyan hour, near noon, at Sutrium, and made the twenty-three miles toBaccanae easily. The third day we even more easily made the twenty-onefrom Baccanae to Rome. Rome, naturally, I approached with emotion. I hadgazed back on it from the road to Tibur, certain that I should never againbehold it. And I was now about to enter it under most amazingcircumstances, as the associate of cutthroats and ruffians, as a swornmember of a conspiracy to assassinate the Prince of the Republic, as theprisoner of a ruthless outlaw, as a suspected associate of a chieftain whomight stab me at the slightest false action, motion, word, tone or look.

  There is, I think, no view of Rome as one approaches it along the ViaClodia or the Via Flaminia which is as fine as anyone of a score frompoints on the Via Salaria and Via Tiburtina. But, on a clear, mild, mellowsummer afternoon I caught glorious glimpses of the city from the higherpoints of the road as we neared it. The sight moved me to tears, tearswhich I was careful to conceal. I could not but note the fulfillment ofthe prophecy made by the Aemilian Sibyl. I could not but hope that I mightsurvive to see Rome under happier circumstances.

  Amid manifold dangers as I was, I was not gloomy. We entered the city bythe Flaminian Gate, of course, and, in the waning light, walked boldly thewhole length of the Via Lata, diagonally across from the Forum of Trajan,under his Triumphal Arch, through the Forum of Augustus, and across, theForum of Nerva past the Temple of Minerva and so to the Subura. All theway from the City Gate to the slum district I marvelled at Maternus: henever asked his way, took every turn correctly; and, amid the splendors ofTrajan's Forum, behaved like a frequenter, habituated to suchmagnificence. Equally did he seem at home amid such crowds as he couldnever have mingled with. He comported himself so as to attract no remark.

  As we passed the Temple of Minerva I sighed and remarked that I would giveanything short of life itself for a bath.

  "You need not give that much; we can bathe for a _quadrans_, and, sinceyou mention it, we shall all be better for a bath."

  "There is no reason why you and the rest should not bathe," I rejoined,ruefully, "but with my back and shoulder a bath is no place for me."

  "Pooh!" laughed Maternus, "you grew up in Rome and I never set foot in ittill today, yet you know no bath you dare enter, while I can lead you to abath-house where no one will heed or notice brand-marks or scourge-sears."

  It was, in fact, close by and I had the first vapor bath I had enjoyedsince leaving Villa Spinella. After we left the bath Maternus bought threecheap little terra-cotta lamps and a small supply of oil.

  At the cheaper sort of cook-shop we ate a hearty meal, with plenty of verybad wine. Then we went where, manifestly, arrangements had been made forour lodging, in a seven-story rookery, such as I had never entered and hadhardly seen from outside. Its entrance was from the Subura and opened nearthe middle of one of the long sides of the courtyard, the pavement ofwhich was very uneven from irregular sinking and its many shaped stonesmuch worn. Out in it, at almost equal distances from the ends, the sidesand each other, stood two circular curb-walls, each about a yard high; onethe well, whence was drawn all the water used by the inmates; the otherthe sewer-opening, down which went all manner of refuge. The ascent to theupper stories was by an open stone stair in one corner of the court. Allround the court was an open arcaded corridor, running behind the stair inits corner. Above it were six similar arcaded galleries, one for eachupper floor. The rooms, judging from those into which I looked throughopen doors, appeared all alike. Ours were floored, walled and roofed withcoarse cement, full of small broken stone, and not very smoothly finished.The floors were worn smooth by long use. The only opening to each was thedoor, over which was a latticed window reaching to the vaulted ceilings ofthe gallery and room.

  Our rooms were on the fourth floor. There were three rooms, each withthree canvas cots. Maternus left the six others to dispose themselves asthey pleased. He and I took the middle room. Quite as a matter of coursehe bolted he door, drew his cot across it, and as soon as I had composedmyself to sleep, sat on his cot and blew out the little terra-cotta lamp.

  Next morning he quite unaffectedly discussed with me what he was to dowith me.

  "In Rome, anywhere in Rome," he said, "you are likely to be recognized anymoment. I took the risk yesterday evening; I had to, I never attemptimpossibilities or worry over manifest necessities. But I never rununnecessary risks. The natural thing to do with you is to leave you inthis room all day with two of my lads to watch you. I do not want toirritate you, but I see no other way."

  "I'll agree to come back here and stay here quietly," I said, "if you willlet me go out first for a while with you or any man or men you choose. Iwant to go to the Temple of Mercury and I want you to give me back enoughof my money to buy two white hens to offer to the god."

  "You surprise me," he said. "I shouldn't have expected a man of yourorigin to pay particular attention to gaining the favor of Mercury. He ismore in the line of men like me. I am first and always devoted to Mithras,of course. But Mercury comes high up on my list. I've a mind to take therisk, go with you and buy four hens, two for you and two for me."

  Actually we went out together shortly after sunrise, down the Subura,through Nerva's Forum, and diagonally across the Forum itself. There Iquaked, for fear of being recognized; and marvelled at the coolness ofMaternus. He feasted his eyes and mind on the gorgeousness about us, butwith such discretion that no one could have conjectured that he was aforeigner, viewing Rome for the first time.

  On down the Vicus Tuscus we went into the meat market, where he boughtfour plump, young, white hens. As we started on with them, each of uscarrying two, he asked his first question.

  "What building is that?" nodding.

  "The Temple of Hercules," I told him.

  "I thought so," he said, "they always build his circular. We'll stop inthere on our way back. I never miss a chance to ask his help."

  Whereas, when I made my offering before my flight the previous year, thestreet had been deserted, since I passed along it within an hour aftersunrise, now it was humming with unsavory life, the eating-stalls underthe vaults crowded, throngs about the Babylonian and Egyptian seers whoprophesied anyone's future for a copper, tawdry hussies leering before thedoors of their dens, unsavory louts chatting with some of them, idlerseverywhere. This festering cess-pool of humanity Maternus regarded withdisdain and contempt manifest to me, but carefully concealed behind abland expression.

  When we came out of the Temple of Mercury, after making our offering,Maternus whispered:

  "Walk very much at ease and as if your mind were as much as possible atpeace; two men opposite are watching us."

  I assumed my most indifferent air and carefully avoided looking across thestreet, except for one cautious glance from the lowest step of the Temple.Then I glimpsed, leaning against a pier of the outer arcade of the CircusMaximus, two men wrapped in dingy cloaks, for the morning had been cool.After we were in the Temple of Hercules, Maternus asked:


  "Did you recognize them?"

  "One I had never seen," I replied. "The other I have seen before, but I donot know who he is nor where I have seen him."

  Not until after midnight that night did it suddenly pop into my head thathe was the same man whom I had first seen on horseback in the rain on thecrossroad above Vediamnum, the man whom Tanno had asserted was aprofessional informer and accredited Imperial spy, the man who had glancedinto Nemestronia's garden and seen me with Egnatius Capito.

  After we left the Temple of Hercules I expected him to conduct me back toour lodgings for the day. He never suggested it, but kept me with him,strolling about the central parts of the city as if he had nothing tofear, walking all round the Colosseum and loitering through the VicusCyprius, frankly amused at the sights we saw there.

  He had no difficulty in finding shops of costumers: on the eve of theFestival they displayed placards calling attention to their wares. Thefirst we entered had no Praetorian uniforms; but, as if the request forthem were a matter of course, its proprietor directed us to the shop of acousin of his who made a specialty of them. There I was amazed that suchlaxity of law, or of enforcement of law, could possibly exist as wouldpermit such a trade. There was evidently a regular manufacture for thisfestival of costumes simulating and travestying those of the Imperial BodyGuard. We were shown scores of them and the shop had them in a great pile.

  The tunics were genuine tunics formerly worn by the actual PraetorianGuards but discarded and sold as worn or faded. There were also many suchkilts and corselets and helmets. But as helmets, corselets and even kiltswore out or lost their freshness more slowly than tunics, there were manyimitation kilts and corselets of sheepskin painted, and many cheap, lighthelmets of willow-wood, covered with dogskin. But all these had genuineplumes, as cast-off plumes were even more plentiful than second-handtunics.

  As there was a strict enforcement of the law forbidding the sale,transport, storage or possession of the weapons of any part of themilitary establishment the shields and swords which went with the costumeswere all imitations; flimsy, but astonishingly deceiving to the eye, evenat a short distance. The shields were of sheep-skin stretched over anosier frame, but painted outside so as to present the appearance of thegenuine Praetorian shields. The baldricks and belts were also of sheep-skin, the scabbards of willow-wood, and the blades of the wooden swords offig-wood, so as to be completely harmless.

  When Maternus proposed to hire twenty-one of these suits the proprietortook it as a customary transaction, inspected and counted twenty-onecostumes and stated the charge for hiring them until the day after theFestival. But he also stated that he did not hire costumes except to hisregular customers; strangers must not only make a deposit but produce asvouchers two Romans in good standing and well known. Seeing Maternus at astick he added, easily and at once, that he sold costumes to any purchaserfor cash, without question, and agreed to repurchase the same costumesafter the Festival at nine denarii for every ten of the sale price, if thecostumes were brought back in good condition; if damaged, he would even sorepurchase them, but only at their damaged value.

  Maternus at once agreed to buy on those terms and, without haggling,accepted the price asked and paid it in gold. He then arranged for portersto carry the costumes where he wanted them. This also was taken as amatter of course.

  Followed by the porters we returned to our lodging. Maternus left twoporters, with their loads, in the courtyard and with the third porter weclimbed three flights of stairs. The porter bestowed his huge pack in mycell and there Maternus left me in charge of three of the men, with ordersthat two must watch me till he returned. The third was to be at my ordersto fetch any eatables or drinkables I wanted; to this man Maternus gave ahandful of carefully counted silver coins.

  There I remained until next morning, sleeping all the time I could get tosleep and stay asleep; trying not to fret when awake; and by no meansdispleased with the food and wine brought me.

  Maternus slept that night, as the night previous, with his cot across ourdoor.

  Next morning he said to me:

  "I feel unusually reckless today. I've been thinking the matter over andit seems to me that, on the day of the Festival, there will be thousandsof sightseers in dingy cloaks and umbrella hats. I am of the opinion thatyou will run little risk on the streets anywhere in the poorer quarters ofthe city. I'm going to take you out with me to see the fun. We'll keep faraway from where Caburus and Cossedo and their helpers are to take theirstands. We'll see the morning fun and then eat a hearty meal and sleep allthe afternoon."

  Out we sallied, I and one varlet in our travelling outfit, Maternus andsix more habited as imitation Praetorians. Two of the ruffians had apretty taste in drollery and amused the crowd with buffooneries. Strangeto say the crowds seemed to think that they travestied Praetorians to anicety whereas neither had ever set eyes on a Praetorian and their anticswere the product of mere innate whimsicality.

  I found the procession really interesting, with its various wonders andmarvels. I had never been in Rome at the time of the Feast of Cybele,which was, of all the Festivals of the Gods, peculiarly the poor man'sfrolic. And I had always wondered how it was possible so to tame and traintwo healthy full-grown male lions as to have them draw a chariot withDemeter's statue through miles of crowded streets. After seeing them passI concluded that they were dazed by the glare, the crowds and the noise,and too cowed to be dangerous.

  At the license in the streets I was amazed. I saw a dozen men, eachattired as Prefect of the Palace; a score of loose women dressed in anunmistakable imitation of the Empress, consuls by scores and similarcounterfeits of every honored official or acclaimed individual. Inparticular, every corner had a laborious presentation of Murmex Lucro, themost popular gladiator in Rome. Almost equally frequent were presentmentsof Agilius Septentrio, the celebrated pantomimist; and of Palus, championcharioteer.

  And I saw, amid roars of laughter, jeers, cat-calls and plaudits, no lessthan three different roisterers got up, cautiously and in inexpensivestuffs, but recognizably, as caricatures of the Emperor himself; not, ofcourse, in his official robes, but in such garments as he wore in hissporting hours. These audacious merrymakers were ignored by the police andmilitary guards.

  Not long after noon Maternus declared that he had had enough. We ate at adecidedly good cook-shop, where we had excellent food and good mediumwine. When I waked near sunset Maternus reported that he had slept all theafternoon: certainly I had.

  He then explained to me that he was to make his attempt in the Gardens ofLucius Verus, where Commodus had this year decreed the torchlightprocession. He was again entirely frank.

  "Your part," he said, "will be merely to point out Commodus to me. If Idecide not to make any attempt on him I shall expect you to return herewith me and abide by whatever decision our association makes at its nextmeeting: I cannot foresee whether they will vote to disband or to plananother venture. If I make my attempt, and I think I shall, for,apparently, both Caburus and Cossedo have blenched or failed, since norumors of any excitement have reached us, you will be free the moment yousee me stab Commodus. You must then look out for yourself and fend foryourself: you and I are never to meet again unless by some unimaginableseries of miracles."

  And he gave me four silver pieces, saying:

  "This will keep you in food for a long time, if you are sparing. Goodluck!"

  Then, habited as in the morning, we sallied out, and ate at a cook-shop wehad never before entered, which was full of revellers dressed as votariesof Isis, as Egyptians, as cut-laws, as Arabians, as anything andeverything. And as we crossed the city on our way to the Aelian Bridge,as we were passing through a better part of it, I was struck with thecraziness of the costumes, many imitating every imaginable style of garb:Gallic, Spanish, Moorish, Syrian, Persian, Lydian, Thracian, Scythian andmany more; but many also devised according to no style that ever existed,but invented by the wearers, in a mad competition to don the mostfantastic and bizarre garb imaginati
on could suggest.

  In the torchlit gardens I perceived at once that it would be very easy forMaternus to edge close to the actual bodyguard, mingle with them, passhimself off as one, get near the Emperor and make a rush at him. He hadchosen a spot where the procession was to circle thrice about a greatstatue of Cybele set up for that occasion on a temporary base in themiddle of a round grass-plot. His idea was that I was to point outCommodus to him on the first round and he to consider the disposition ofthe participants in the procession and make his attempt on the second orthird round.

  Standing, as we did, in the front row of a mass of revellers packed asspectators along the incurved outer rim of the ring, we had a surpassinglygood view of the procession as it entered the circle. There were variousbands of votaries and then six eunuch priests, their faces whitened withflour, their garb a flowing robe of light vivid yellow, convoying a braceof panthers, pacing as sedately as the brace of lions in the morningprocession, drawing a light chariot in which sat a diademed, robed andgarlanded image of Cybele, very gaudy and garish. Behind the chariot pacedtwo priests of Cybele, not Phrygian Eunuchs, but Roman officials, in theirpontifical robes, a pair of dignified old senators, ex-consuls both,Vitrasius Pollio and Flavius Aper, full of self-importance. Then came theChief Priest, tall, full-bearded, swarthy, his robes a blaze of gold andjewels, pacing solemnly, on either side of him, as assistant priest, ayoung Roman nobleman, chosen from the college of the Pontiffs of Cybele,habited in very gorgeous robes. One was Marcus Octavius Vindex, son of theex-consul, a very handsome young man; the other, to my amazement,Talponius Pulto.

  At sight of my life-long enemy who had always rebuffed my overturestowards the establishment of courteous relations between us, who hadinsulted me a thousand times, who had sponsored the informer whoseinsinuations had caused my downfall, revengeful rage and self-congratulation at my opportunity filled me.

  For, between the two pompous old senators and this dignified, showy andimpressive trio, capered a score of eunuch priests clashing cymbals andamong them Commodus also clashing cymbals and amazingly garbed. I havenever been able to conjecture how his headgear was managed. He had a bandround his forehead and from that band rose a sphere of some lightmaterial, apparently a framework of whalebone covered with silk, a spherefully a yard in diameter, all gleaming with the sheen of silk, and whitewith an unsurpassable whiteness. His robe, or tunic or whatever it was,was of the same or a similar glossy white silk. Round his neck was agolden collar, and gold anklets of a similar pattern clanked on hisankles. From the links or bosses of the collar to the links or bosses ofthe anklets streamed silken ribbons of the same intense light yellow wehad seen in the robes of the panther-keepers. Two of the eunuch priestsfanned him with peacock feather fans, so that the ribbons fluttered andshimmered in the torchlight. He wore soft shoes or slippers of the samevivid yellow. Clashing his cymbals he shrieked and capered with the eunuchpriests.

  I was more than shocked to see the Prince of the Republic so degradehimself, to see him exhibit the acme of the craze for devisingunimaginably fantastic costumes for this Festival.

  Besides being shocked, I was terrified, even numb with terror. I knew thatMaternus would never believe me if I indicated this gaping zany andasserted that it was our Emperor: yet Maternus had such an uncanny powerof interpreting the expression of face of any interlocutor that I dreadedto tell him anything save the exact truth. I was in a dilemma, equallyafraid to tell the truth, for fear the improbability of it would infuriateMaternus and convince him of my treachery; or to take the obvious course,for fear some subtle shade of my tone or look might similarly impel him tostab me.

  As the convoy passed Maternus whispered, softly and unhurriedly:

  "Which is he?"

  In my panic I chose the less dangerous alternative. Pulto was by far themost Imperial figure in the throng; his great height, the fine poise ofhis head, his royal bearing, his regal expression, his stately port, allcontributed to make him dominate the assemblage. I felt that Maternusmight believe him Commodus and could never believe Commodus an Emperor oreven a noble.

  I indicated Pulto, haughty, dignified, handsome and magnificently habited.

  Maternus, apparently, believed me implicitly.

  He whispered again.

  "I am sure to get him when they come round again. Watch for my blow. If Iland or if I am seized, fend for yourself. Good luck and Mercury be goodto both of us. Farewell."

  As the procession came round again I could hear my heart thump; but, to mygaze, Maternus, handsome in his imitation Praetorian uniform, appeared thepersonification of calmness.

  When again the Imperial zany and his fan-bearers and posturing eunuchs hadpassed us and the High Priest and his Acolytes were opposite us, Maternusslipped forward between two of the Praetorians of the escort.

  At that instant I felt a grip on my arm and Agathemer's voice whispered:

  "Come!"

  Together we slunk back into the crowd, and when the yell arose behind us,presumably at sight of Pulto slaughtered by Maternus, we were well clearof the press and in the act of darting into the shrubbery. In fact we gotclear away unpursued, unmolested, unhindered.