CHAPTER XXXIX
THE TULLIANUM
Gloomy as is the upper cell of the Mamertine Prison there is light enoughthere for my eyes to have been utterly blinded by it as I was lowered intothe black pit beneath. I saw nothing in the brief period while I was beinglet down, while the ropes were being drawn up, while the trap-door wasshut down and fitted into place. Then I was in the pitchest darkness, intowhich no ray, no glimmer of light could penetrate. I saw nothing whatever,yet I seemed to feel a presence, seemed to hear a faint footfall, seemedto be aware of another human being standing close to me. Then I heard adeep, resonant, healthy, pleasant-sounding voice ask:
"Brother in misfortune, who are you?"
I was past any impulse towards dissimulation or any belief in its utility.
"I am Andivius Hedulio."
"You are?" the big, cheerful male voice exclaimed. "You really are? Youamaze me! I am Galvius Crispinillus, lately and for many a year King ofthe Highwaymen! Give me your hand!"
Now, whatever distaste I felt for giving my hand to such a criminal,however great was my repugnance, however utterly I felt myself lost,however certain I was of the inevitable doom hanging over me, howevershort a respite I anticipated before my inescapable death, I was not foolenough to antagonize my companion in misery, presumably a powerful andferocious brute. I held out my hand. His grasped it. Mine returned thegrip.
"Come this way!" he said. "This pit is damp and chilly, but even here abed of stale straw is better than the rock floor or the patches of mud onit or the heaps of filth. I know every inch of this hole and I know theleast uncomfortable place to sit. Come along!"
He guided me in the utter blackness to a pile of damp straw. On it we satdown, half reclining.
"If you are thirsty," he said, "I can guide you to the well. There is aspring in here and plenty of good water."
"I thank you," I said. "I shall be thirsty enough before long. Just now Iam far more interested to hear how you came here. Nobody believed that youwould ever be caught."
"No more did I!" he ejaculated. "I had so easily defied the utmost effortsof the government and officials under Aurelius, of the incompetents underCommodus, of his vaunted Highway Constabulary; had so prospered, had socome and gone as I pleased and robbed whom I pleased from the Po to theStraits, that I thought no man could lay for me any snare I could notforesee, thought myself impeccably wary and prescient, though I had alwaystaken and would always take all necessary precautions.
"But I was a fool. I comprehended Aurelius and Commodus and theirmagistrates and officials and constabulary; I was right in fearing nothingfrom Pertinax and Julianus; but I was an ass to think I could cope withSeptimius Severus. That man is deeper than the deepest abyss of mid-ocean!
"I thought I was certain of months of disorder, confusion and laxity inwhich I could go where I pleased, act as I pleased, garner a rich harvestand escape unscathed. Do you know, before he had left Aquileia, perhapsbefore he had passed the Alps, possibly before he had set out fromSabaria, that man had despatched not one but a dozen detachments toascertain my whereabouts, consider how best to take me unawares, lie inwait for me, nab me and hunt down my bands. I believe he had thought out,far back in that head of his, long before Pertinax was murdered, perhapseven long before Commodus died, every measure he would initiate if hebecame Emperor, down to the smallest detail. He had all his plans framedand thought out, I'll wager!
"His emissaries were no fools! They, first among those despatched againstme, knew their business. I was trapped near Sentinum, on the Kalends ofthis month. Never mind how; even in this plight I'm ashamed of it. Theyjust missed nabbing Felix Bulla along with me. But he got away that time.And I prophesy that now he is warned of his danger and knows thecleverness of the men on his trail, he'll show himself yet cleverer. He isa marvel, is Felix Bulla, and promises to outdo even my record."
He broke off, breathing audibly.
"By the way," he went on, "are you hungry? I have part of a loaf of breadin here, not yet stale and no damper than it must get in this foul air. Ithasn't fallen on the floor. It's eatable."
"I'll be hungry enough before long," I replied, "but I am not hungry now.I had eaten all I wanted and of the best just before I was haled here."
"Speak when you want any," he said. "It will be share and share alike herefor us till they come to finish us.
"And now, tell me about yourself. I have always been curious about you. Iheard all about you when you first got into trouble and I was told thatthe official report of your death was fictitious, invented by underlingstoo clumsy to capture you and fearful of the consequences of theirincompetence. Also I heard unimpeachable testimony that you were alivelater and had been seen in Rome with Maternus and outside Rome, the nextsummer, with the mutineers from Britain. I have often wondered how you gotinto such company. Tell me how you came to be with Maternus."
I saw no utility in any further dissimulation of anything or in anyreticence; I began with our springtime stay at the farm in the mountains,and told my story in detail, from that hour.
When I came to my visit, along with Maternus, to the Temple of Mercury andmentioned how Maternus had warned me that we were being watched, and how Ihad shot one glance towards the watchers and had recognized one of them,he interrupted me and, without enquiring where I had seen him before,asked for a description of the watcher I had recognized. I gave it as wellas I could and he said:
"That was my brother, Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, now dead. It was he whotold me that he had seen you with Maternus. Go on."
Again, when I spoke of recognizing Crispinillus by the wayside as I passedwith the mutineers he interjected:
"Yes, he told me he saw you there."
And later, when I spoke of being found with Agathemer after the massacre,separated from him and led off to the _ergastulum_ at Nuceria he remarked:
"I can't conceive how my brother missed you. Nor could he. He looked foryou among the corpses and went over the survivors twice in search of you."
"I did not see him after the massacre," I declared.
"Mercury protected you," was his comment.
When I finished the story of my giving warning of the plot in the_ergastulum_ at Nuceria I paused.
"Go on, lad!" he urged. "You have had adventures and you narrate themtellingly."
I hesitated and then, utterly reckless, I blurted out:
"If I am to go on with my story you might as well know right now, that Iam not only Andivius Hedulio, but also Felix the Horse-Wrangler."
He swore a great oath.
"Boy!" he cried, "I love you! I have admired you since I listened toBulla's account of his one failure. At first I was furious at your havingspoiled the best plan I ever laid and the most brilliant chance I everhad, at your preventing me from making the biggest haul of booty I everhad hopes of. But, as years passed, my resentment has abated and myadmiration has warmed. I bear you no grudge. I have often thought I shouldlike to meet you and find out why on earth you desired to thwart me andhow you managed to do it. Go on! Tell me the rest."
I resumed my tale.
When I came to my outlook from the crag and explained my formeracquaintance with Vedia he interrupted.
"Of course, if you knew the lady and she was an old flame of yours, Idon't wonder that you intervened to save her. My lads were so rough andfierce-looking that they had a worse reputation than they deserved. Whenthey captured prisoners rich enough to pay any profitable ransom theytreated them with the most scrupulous deference. Business is business andwe were not brigands for fun, but for profit. Also they all dreaded me andmy orders were explicit and emphatic. Your sweetheart would have been asrespected with them as in her own home. But, of course, you couldn't feelthat way. Go on with your story."
I demurred, asserting that I felt sleepy. He assented and we composedourselves on the straw. How long I slept or when I wakened I do not know:I was roused by the opening of the trap-door and by the light whichentered from above. Food was lowered to us; pork
-stew, still warm, in atwo-handled, wide-mouthed jug; bread; olives, not wholly spoiled; and asmall kidskin of thin, sour wine. Galvius received the dole andsafeguarded the containers: the ropes were drawn up, the trap-door resetand we were again in utter darkness.
To my astonishment I felt entirely myself and very hungry. We drank andate deliberately and again drank. Galvius was a careful husbander of thewine, and we drank mostly water from the spring.
Afterwards, nestled in the not unendurably damp straw, chilly, but notshivering, we sat or lay side by side and he urged me to continue mystory. I began where I had left off, and, going into the smallest details,brought my history down to the hour of my consignment to our dungeon.
When I paused he sighed, but not gloomily.
"You have had marvellous adventures," he said, "and marvellous luck, bothgood and bad. I knew that Marcia had belonged to your uncle. I wasinformed of the existence of Ducconius Furfur, of his likeness toCommodus, of his presence in the Palace, of his utilization as a dummyEmperor, to set Commodus free to masquerade as Palus, and I heard that hehad been your neighbor.
"Now go back, begin your tale at the beginning. Tell me of your gettinginto trouble at the first, of how you escaped in the first place. I haveoften wondered how you managed it."
"Give me a respite," I demurred, "my voice is tired. It is your turn totalk. Tell me how you learned about Ducconius Furfur and about Commodusmasquerading as Palus and about Marcia."
"Why," he said, "I had friends in one or more towns when I first took tothe woods. They gave me tips that helped me to make fine hauls on thehighways. As I prospered I made more friends; they helped me and mygrowing success gained more, till I had friends in every town in Italy andin Rome itself and an organized service of road-messengers. Why, Imperialcouriers often carried letters and packets, destined for me, from one townto another, or even carried onward letters from me to distant friends orparcels of my booty.
"In Rome itself I had many agents and chiefly my sister, GalviaCrispinilla, a professional procuress and poisoner, who knew the worstsecrets of the lives of all Rome's wealthy and noble debauchees, and ourbrother, Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, a professional informer and a valuedmember of the Imperial Secret Service. I never knew why he had a spiteagainst you, but he had and it was false information given by him thatcaused your proscription and ruin and thrust you into your years ofmisery. I always felt that you did not deserve what you have suffered, buthis grudges were none of my business.
"He is dead, as is Galvia, for she kept poison about her and gave a supplyto him and to me to use in case of capture. I was caught without mine, forI was certain that no danger threatened me. He and she took the poisonwhen they saw capture inevitable, as it will be for most evil-doers allover the Empire under the sway of such a man as Septimius Severus."
He paused and I meditated awhile, puzzling as to how I could have incurredthe vindictive rancor of any secret-service agent.
Presently I said:
"Tell me how you came to be King of the Highwaymen."
"My boy," he said, "my case is far different from yours. You had anhonorable origin and an honorable past. Nor were any of your adventuresdiscreditable to you, even if some situations you have been in weredistressing then and are humiliating to remember. You have nothing to beashamed of unless it be such a trifling peccadillo as impersonatingSalsonius Salinator.
"My origin I shall never disclose, not even to a brother in misfortune. Mylife has been one long series of perjuries, murders, robberies,debaucheries and ruthless cruelties. I have been deaf to allconsiderations of decency, pity and mercy; as unmoved by such feelings aswill be the savage beasts which spared you but will rend me to shreds. Iam at the end of my crimes; let me hide them. My doom is at hand. Whyshould I defile your ears with the tale of my atrocities? Let them remainuntold."
"You slander yourself," I demurred. "You cannot make me believe that a mancapable of condoning my balking of your great coup on the FlaminianHighway, capable of guiding me to this bed of straw and of offering me ashare of his bit of stale bread can be all bad. There must be much in yourpast life less dark than you indicate."
He ruminated.
"Frankly," he said, "I cannot recall anything I ever did at which a manlike you would not shudder. I have been a good sport, that is why I couldnot but chuckle, after my first wrath cooled, at your spoiling my greatcoup, as you call it. But, all my life, I have gloried in my treacheriesand cruelties. I have hated all mankind and been merciless to foes, ifthey came into my power, and have pretended friendliness I did not feel soas to make use of those who thought me friendly.
"I can well recall only one human being I really loved: my wife. She hadher weak points, for she was a despiser of the gods, mocking all religionand addicted to some contemptible Syrian cult of superstition andpuerilities. But I loved her in spite of that failing, for, in every otherway, she was a paragon. She is dead now and spared the agonies she wouldhave suffered at my capture and fate. Our two daughters are safe; bothhealthy, both with the full status of citizens of the Republic, both wellprovided with possessions, each married to a good, reliable husband,though the younger is almost too young to be a wife. I feel at peace aboutthem.
"I really loved my wife and in a way, her two girls. But, except for them,I have cheated, ensnared, robbed and killed without pity or remorse."
"You have no regrets?" I queried.
"No remorse," he corrected me. "I should do it all over again if I wereback as I was when I took to brigandage.
"Of course, while my wife was alive and I hoped for an old age with her, Ihad a dream of investing my savings in a house in some out-of-the-way townand in an estate near it and living at ease on the proceeds of myrobberies. But that was always far off in the future; I laid up a hoard tomake it possible, but I was never anywhere near ready to make use of thathoard. Now it has been divided between my daughters, for, after theirmother's death, I realized that no life but brigandage was possible forme. If I had not been captured I should have gone on as I was, I should goon now, could I escape and resume my old life. I feel no remorse.
"But I confess to one regret. I have, all my life, requited every helperand paid off every grudge. But one benefactor, my greatest benefactor, Ihave not repaid, although, when I learned of his inestimable service tome, I swore a great oath to requite him, if it ever was in my power. Ihave never been able to learn who he was, or even whether he is yetliving. If he is, I hate to die without requiting him as he deserves, inso far as I might.
"And I own that I was and am keenly curious to learn who he was. The merecuriosity gnaws at me. Perhaps you understand."
"I do," I said. "I also am extremely curious about a mystery I encounteredin the earlier part of my adventures. That memory urges me to comply withyour request for the former half of my story."
And, beginning with my uncle's death, I narrated all my earlieradventures. When I told of the cloaked and hatted horseman by the roadsidein the rain, the day of the brawl in Vediamnum and the affray near VillaSatronia, he cut in with:
"That was my brother, Marcus. He was detailed to report on your localfeud. Whether he knew of you before that, whether his queer spite againstyou originated then or earlier, I don't know. He took dislikes and likeswithout any traceable reasons."
Similarly, when I told of seeing Marcus Crispinillus peer through thepostern door of Nemestronia's water-garden he interjected some remarks.
He uttered admiring ejaculations as I told of wrestling with the leopardon the terrace at Nemestronia's and of how Agathemer and I crawled throughthe drain at Villa Andivia, also at my tale of my branding and scourgingand of the loyalty of Chryseros Philargyrus.
But, when I came to our discovery of the hut in the mountains, he stirreduneasily in the rustling straw and muttered in his throat. As I describedour winter at the hut he became more and more excited, utteringejaculations, half suppressed at first, as if not to interrupt mynarrative, later louder and louder.
When I told o
f our killing the five ruffians he sprang up.
"Say no more!" he cried. "Come to my arms. Let me embrace you! Let meclasp you close! You are he! You are my benefactor! The man who tells thatstory in such detail cannot have heard it from another, he must have livedit! To think that you are Felix the Horse-Master and also Andivius Hedulioand that you saved my Nona! My gratitude cannot be expressed, any morethan your service to me can be requited. But I shall do all I can. Thegems you took were but a trifle and you were welcome to them. In fact, Inever missed them. In any case they were but an installment on what youdeserved and now deserve. It is not yet too late for me to save you. I cancause your speedy release and probably your complete rehabilitation. Theyhave been keeping me here in the hope of extorting from me informationwhich would enable them to ferret out my confederates in the towns andcities. They have wheedled and threatened, but have hesitated to tortureme, since no one doubts that I was, by origin, a freeman. I have held outand should have held out, even if tortured. Now I'll make a voluntaryconfession, enough to delight the magistrates. Chiefly I'll emphasize yourcomplete innocence and my brother's malignity. I'll have to save someothers along with you and I shall. But, to a certainty, I'll save you!
"It seems to me there is a poplar-pole somewhere in this dungeon."
He felt about and presently I heard a dull thumping, on the trap-door, ina sort of rhythm, like the foot-beating of spectators at Oscan dances.After no long interval the trapdoor was lifted; Crispinillus called up:
"Tell them I have changed my mind. I'll confess. I'll make a fullconfession. I'll tell the whole story!"
The trap-door was replaced and we were again in complete darkness.
He settled himself beside me in the straw.
"No need to husband our provisions now," he said. "Neither of us will beleft long in this hole. Let's comfort ourselves with food and wine."
I felt inclined the same way and we munched and passed the kidskin backand forth.
"Tell me," I said, "how it was that your thumping brought such a quickresponse."
"I signalled in the code of knocking known to all jailers," he said.
I expressed my amazement and incredulity.
"Don't you fool yourself," he said. "There is a certain sort of mutualunderstanding between executioners and jailers on the one hand andcriminals on the other. There must be a give and take in all trades, evenbetween man-hunters and hunted men. They were on the watch for any signalI might give, if it really meant anything. They were pleased to hear.You'll see the results promptly."
In fact, after no long interval, the trap-door was lifted again and a ropelowered, up which Crispinillus was bidden to climb.
He embraced me time after time, saying that we should never set eyes oneach other again and that, confession or no confession, he knew his doomwas not far off; but he wanted me, as long as I lived, to remember thegratitude of Nona's husband, his thankfulness for my treatment of hisfamily and his efforts to requite the service.
"Keep up a good heart, lad," he said. "You won't be long here alone in thedark, and you'll soon be as coddled and pampered as a man can be. Longlife to you and good luck and may you be soon married and raise a finefamily. Peace of mind and prosperity to you and yours and a green old ageto you!"
And he climbed the rope, hand over hand, like the best sailor on Libo'syacht.
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 40
