Complete Works of Talbot Mundy

by Talbot Mundy

  “We only imitate this kind of thing in Rome,” said Pertinax. “A larger scale, a coarser effect. What I find thrilling is the sensation they contrive here of unseen mysteries. Whereas—”

  “There won’t be any mystery left presently! They’ll strip your last veil from imagination!” Sextus interrupted, laughing. “Men say Hadrian tried to chasten this place, but he only made them realize the artistic value of an appearance of chastity, that can be thrown off. Hark! The evening hymn.”

  The torches suddenly were lighted by attendant slaves. The stirring, shaken sistra wrought a miracle of sound that set the nerves all tingling as the high priest, followed by his boys with swinging censers and the members of the priestly college, four by four, came chanting down the temple steps. To an accompanying pleading, sobbing note of flutes the high priest laid an offering of fruit, milk, wine and honey in the midst of the heaped-up garlands (for Apollo was the god of all fertility as well as of healing and war and flocks and oracles). Then came the grand Homeric hymn to Glorious Apollo, men’s and boys’ and women’s voices blending in a surging paean like an ocean’s music.

  The last notes died away in distant echoes. There was silence for a hundred breaths; then music of flute and lyre and sistra as the priests retreated up the temple steps followed by fanfare on a dozen trumpets as the door swung to behind the priests. Instantly, then, shouts of laughter — torchlight scattering the shadows amid gloom — green cypresses — fire — color splurging on the bosom of the water — babel of hundreds of voices as the gay Antiochenes swarmed out from behind the trees — and a cheer, as the girls by the altar threw their garments off and scampered naked along the river-bank toward a bridge that joined the temple island to the sloping lawns, where the crowd ran to await them.

  “Apollo having healed the world of sin, we now do what we like!” said Sextus. “Pertinax, I pledge you continence for this one night! Good Galen, may Apollo’s wisdom ooze from you like sweat; for all our sakes, be you the arbiter of what we drink, lest drunkenness deprive us of our reason! Comites, let us eat like warriors — one course, and then discussion of tomorrow’s plan.”

  “Your military service should have taught you more respect for your seniors, as well as how to eat and drink temperately,” said Pertinax. “Will you teach your grandmother to suck eggs? I was the first grammarian in Rome before you were born and a tribune before you felt down on your cheek. I am the governor of Rome, my boy. Who are you, that you should lecture me?”

  “If you call that a lecture, concede that I dared,” Sextus answered. “I did not flatter you by coming here, or come to flatter you. I came because my father tells me you are a Roman beyond praise. I am a Roman. I believe praise is worthless unless proven to the hilt — as for instance: I have come to bare my thoughts to you, which is a bold compliment in these days of treachery.”

  “Keep your thoughts under cover,” said Pertinax, glancing at the steward and the slaves who were beginning to carry in the meal. But he was evidently pleased, and Sextus’s next words pleased him more:

  “I am ready to do more than think about you, I will follow where you lead — except into licentiousness!”

  He lay on both elbows and stared at the scene with disgust. Naked girls, against a background of the torchlit water and the green and purple gloom of cypresses, was nothing to complain of; statuary, since it could not move, was not as pleasing to the eye; but shrieks of idiotic laughter and debauchery of beauty sickened him.

  There came a series of sounds at the pavilion entrance, where a litter was set down on marble pavement and a eunuch’s shrill voice criticized the slow unrolling of a carpet.

  “What did I warn you?” Norbanus whispered, laughing in Sextus’s ear.

  Pertinax got to his feet, long-leggedly statuesque, and strode toward the antechamber on his right, whence presently he returned with a woman on his arm, he stroking her hand as it rested on his. He introduced Sextus and Norbanus; the others knew her; Galen greeted her with a wrinkled grin that seemed to imply confidence.

  “Now that Cornificia has come, not even Sextus need worry about our behavior!” said Galen, and everybody except Sextus grinned. It was notorious that Cornificia refined and restrained Pertinax, whereas his lawful wife Flavia Titiana merely drove him to extremes.

  This Roman Aspasia had an almost Grecian face, beneath a coiled extravagance of dark brown hair. Her violet eyes were quietly intelligent; her dress plain white and not elaborately fringed, with hardly any jewelry. She cultivated modesty and all the older graces that had grown unfashionable since the Emperor Marcus Aurelius died. In all ways, in fact, she was the opposite of Flavia Titiana — it was hard to tell whether from natural preference or because the contrast to his wife’s extremes of noisy gaiety and shameless license gave her a stronger hold on Pertinax. Rome’s readiest slanderers had nothing scandalous to tell of Cornificia, whereas Flavia Titiana’s inconstancies were a by-word.

  She refused to let Galen yield the couch on Pertinax’s right hand but took the vacant one at the end of the half-moon table, saying she preferred it — which was likely true enough; it gave her a view of all the faces without turning her head or appearing to stare.

  For a long time there was merely desultory conversation while the feast, restricted within moderate proportions by request of Pertinax, was brought on.

  There were eels, for which Daphne was famous; alphests and callichthys; pompilos, a purple fish, said to have been born from sea-foam at the birth of Aphrodite; boops and bedradones; gray mullet; cuttle-fish; tunny-fish and mussels. Followed in their order pheasants, grouse, swan, peacock and a large pig stuffed with larks and mincemeat. Then there were sweetmeats of various kinds, and a pudding invented in Persia, made with honey and dates, with a sauce of frozen cream and strawberries. By Galen’s order only seven sorts of wine were served, so when the meal was done the guests were neither drunk nor too well fed to carry on a conference.

  No entertainers were provided. Normally the space between the table and the front of the pavilion would have been occupied by acrobats, dancers and jugglers; but Pertinax dismissed even the impudent women who came to lean elbows on the marble railing and sing snatches of suggestive song. He sent slaves to stand outside and keep the crowd away, his lictor and his personal official bodyguard being kept out of sight in a small stone house near the pavilion kitchen at the rear among the trees, in order not to arouse unwelcome comment. It was known he was in Daphne; there was even a subdued expectation in Antioch that his unannounced visit portended the extortion of extra tribute. The Emperor Commodus was known to be in his usual straits for money. Given a sufficient flow of wine, the sight of bodyguard and lictor might have been enough to start a riot, the Antiochenes being prone to outbreak when their passions were aroused by drink and women.

  There was a long silence after Pertinax had dismissed the steward. Galen’s old personal attendant took charge of the amphora of snow-cooled Falernian; he poured for each in turn and then retired into a corner to be out of earshot, or at any rate to emphasize that what he might hear would not concern him. Pertinax strolled to the front of the pavilion and looked out to make sure there were no eavesdroppers, staring for a long time at the revelry that was warming up into an orgy. They were dancing in rings under the moon, their shadowy figures rendered weird by smoky torchlight. Cornificia at last broke on his reverie:

  “You wish to join them, Pertinax? That would dignify even our Roman

  Hercules — to say nothing of you!”

  He shrugged his shoulders, but his eyes were glittering.

  “If Marcia could govern Commodus as you rule me, he would be safer on the throne!” he answered, coming to sit upright on the couch beside her. It was evident that he intended that speech to release all tongues; he looked from face to face expectantly, but no one spoke until Cornificia urged him to protect himself against the night breeze. He threw a purple-bordered cloak over his shoulders. It became him; he looked so official in it, and majestic, that
even Sextus — rebel that he was against all modern trumpery — forebore to break the silence. It was Galen who spoke next:

  “Pertinax, if you might choose an emperor, whom would you nominate?

  Remember: He must be a soldier, used to the stench of marching legions.

  None could govern Rome whose nose goes up in the air at the smell of

  sweat and garlic.”

  There was a murmur of approval. Cornificia stroked the long, strong fingers of the man she idolized. Sextus gave rein to his impulse then, brushing aside Norbanus’ hand that warned him to bide his time:

  “Many more than I,” he said, “are ready to throw in our lot with you, Pertinax — aye, unto death! You would restore Rome’s honor. I believe my father could persuade a hundred noblemen to take your part, if you would lead. I can answer for five or six men of wealth and influence, not reckoning a friend or two who—”

  “Why talk foolishness!” said Pertinax. “The legions will elect Commodus’ successor. They will sell Rome to the highest bidder, probably; and though they like me as a soldier they dislike my discipline. I am the governor of Rome and still alive in spite of it because even Commodus’ informers know it would be silly to accuse me of intrigue. Not even Commodus would listen to such talk. I lead the gay life, for my own life’s sake. All know me as a roisterer. I am said to have no ambition other than to live life sensuously.”

  Galen laughed.

  “That may deceive Commodus,” he said. “The thoughtful Romans know you as a frugal governor, who stamped out plague and—”

  “You did that,” said Pertinax.

  “Who enabled me?”

  “It was a simple thing to have the tenements burned. Besides, it profited the city — new streets; and there was twice the amount of tax on the new tenements they raised. I, personally, made a handsome profit on the purchase of a few burned houses.”

  “And as the governor who broke the famine,” Galen continued.

  “That was simple enough, but you may as well thank Cornificia. She found out through the women who the men were who were holding corn for speculation. All I did was to hand their names to Commodus; he confiscated all the corn and sold it — at a handsome profit to himself, since it had cost him nothing!”

  “While we sit here and cackle like Asian birds, Commodus renames Rome the City of Commodus and still lives!” Sextus grumbled.

  “Nor can he be easily got rid of,” remarked Daedalus the tribune. “He goes to and fro from the palace through underground tunnels. Men sleep in his room who are all involved with him in cruelties and infamy, so they guard him carefully. Besides, whoever tried to murder him would probably kill Paulus by mistake! The praetorian guard is contented, being well paid and permitted all sorts of privileges. Who can get past the praetorian guard?”

  “Any one!” said Pertinax. “The point is not, who shall kill Commodus? But who shall be raised in his place? There are thirty thousand ways to kill a man. Ask Galen!”

  Old Galen laughed at that.

  “As many ways as there are stars in heaven; but the stars have their say in the matter! None can kill a man until his destiny says yes to it. Not even a doctor,” he added, chuckling. “Otherwise the doctors would have killed me long ago with jealousy! A man dies when his inner man grows sick and weary of him. Then a pin-prick does it, or a sudden terror. Until that time comes you may break his skull, and do not more than spoil his temper! As a philosopher I have learned two things: respect many, but trust few. But as a doctor I have learned only one thing for certain: that no man actually dies until his soul is tired of him.”

  “Whose soul should grow sick sooner than that of Commodus?” asked

  Sextus.

  “Not if his soul is evil and delights in evil — as his does!” Galen retorted. “If he should turn virtuous, then perhaps, yes. But in that case we should wish him to live, although his soul would prefer the contrary and leave him to die by the first form of death that should appear — in spite of all the doctors and the guards and tasters of the royal food.”

  “Some one should convert him then!” said Sextus. “Cornificia, can’t Marcia make a Christian of him; Christians pretend to oppose all the infamies he practises. It would be a merry joke to have a Christian emperor, who died because his soul was sick of him! It would be a choice jest — he being the one who has encouraged Christianity by reversing all Marcus Aurelius’ wise precautions against their seditious blasphemy!”

  “You speak fanatically, but you have touched the heart of the problem,” said Cornificia. “It is Marcia who makes life possible for Commodus — Marcia and her Christians. They help Marcia protect him because he is the only emperor who never persecuted them, and because Marcia sees to it that they are free to meet together without having even to bribe the police. There is only one way to get rid of Commodus: Persuade Marcia that her own life is in danger from him, and that she will have a full voice in nominating his successor.”

  “Probably true,” remarked Pertinax. “Whom would she nominate? That is the point.”

  “It would be simpler to kill Marcia,” said Daedalus. “Thereafter let things take their course. Without Marcia to protect him—”

  “No man knows much,” Galen interrupted. “Marcia’s soul may be all the soul Commodus has! If she should grow sick of him — !”

  “She grew sick long ago,” said Cornificia. “But she is forever thinking of her Christians and knows no other way to protect them than to make Commodus love her. Ugh! It is like the story of Andromeda. Who is to act Perseus?”

  (In the fable, Andromeda had to be chained to a cliff to be devoured by a monster, in order to save her people from the anger of the god Poseidon. Perseus slew the monster.)

  “There are thirty thousand ways of killing,” Pertinax repeated, “but if we kill one monster, four or five others will fight for his place, unless, like Perseus, we have the head of a Medusa with which to freeze them into stone! There is no substitute for Commodus in sight. The only man whose face would freeze all rivals is Severus the Carthaginian!”

  “We are none of us blind,” said Cornificia.

  “You mean me? I am too old,” answered Pertinax. “I don’t like tyranny, and people know it. It is something they should not know. An old man may be all very well when he has reigned for twenty years and men are used to him, and he used to the task, as was Augustus; but an old man new to the throne lacks energy. And besides, they would never endure a man whose father was a charcoal-seller, as mine was. I have made my way in life by looking at facts and refusing to deceive myself; with the exception of that, I have no especial wisdom, nor any unusual ability.”

  “If wisdom were all that is needed,” said Sextus, “we should put good

  Galen on the throne!”

  “He is too old and wise to let you try to do it!” Galen answered. “But you spoke about the head of a Medusa, Pertinax, and mentioned Lucius Septimius Severus. He commands three legions at Caruntum in Pannonia. (Roughly speaking, the S.W. portion of modern Hungary whose frontiers were then occupied by very warlike tribes.) If there is one man living who can freeze men’s blood by scowling at them, it is he! And he is not as old as you are.”

  “I have thought of him only to hate him,” said Pertinax. “He would not follow me, nor I him. He is one of three men who would fight for the throne if somebody slew Commodus, although he would not run the risk of slaying him himself, and he would betray us if we should take him into confidence. I know him well. He is a lawyer and a Carthaginian. He would never ask for the nomination; he is too crafty. He would say his legions nominated him against his will and that to have disobeyed them would have laid him open to the punishment for treason. (This is what Severus actually did, later on, after Pertinax’s death.) The other two are Pescennius Niger, who commands the legions in Syria, and Clodius Albinus who commands in Britain. We must find a man who can forestall all three of them by winning, first, the praetorian guard, and then the senate and the Romans by dint of sound ref
orms and justice.”

  “You are he! Rome trusts you. So does the senate,” said Cornificia.

  “Marcia trusts me. The praetorian guard trusts her. If I can persuade

  Marcia that her life is in danger from Commodus—”

  “But how?” Daedalus interrupted.

  “We can take the praetorian guard by surprise,” Cornificia went on, ignoring him. “They can be tricked into declaring for the man whom Marcia’s friends nominate. Having once declared for him they will be too proud of having made an emperor, and too unwilling to seem vacillating, to reverse themselves in any man’s favor, even though he should command six legions. The senate will gladly accept one who has governed Rome as frugally as Pertinax has done. If the senate confirms the nominee of the praetorian guard, the Roman populace will do the rest by acclamation. Then, three months of upright government — deification by the senate—”

  Pertinax laughed explosively — an honest, chesty laugh, unqualified by any subtleties, suggesting a trace of the peasantry from which he sprang. It made Cornificia wince.

  “Can you imagine me a god?” he asked.

  “I can imagine you an emperor,” said Sextus. “It is true; you have no following among the legions just at present. But I make one, and there are plenty of energetic men who think as I do. My friend Norbanus here will follow me. My father—”

  Noises near the open window interrupted him. An argument seemed to be going on between the slaves whom Pertinax had set to keep the roisterers away and some one who demanded admission. Near at hand was a woman’s voice, shrilling and scolding. Then another voice — Scylax, the slave who had ridden the red mare. Pertinax strode to the window again and leaned out. Cornificia whispered to Galen:

  “If the truth were known, he is afraid of Flavia Titiana. As a wife she is bad enough, but as an empress—”