Volume I Part 38 (2/2)
”Ah!” thought Theodora, ”now it is coming.”
”When we have destroyed the kingdom of the Goths, and have with the Queen's help taken Ravenna--what--what shall be done with her, the Princess?”
”What shall be done with her?” repeated Theodora with well-feigned composure. ”That which was done with the King of the Vandals. She shall come here, to Byzantium.”
Justinian breathed again.
”It rejoices me that you have at once interpreted my thought,” and he kissed her slender white hand with real pleasure.
”More than that,” said Theodora. ”She will enter into our plans all the more willingly if she can look forward to an honourable reception here.
So I will myself write her a sisterly epistle inviting her to come. In case of need she shall ever find an asylum in my heart.”
”You do not know,” interrupted Justinian eagerly, ”how much you will a.s.sist our victory by so doing. The daughter of Theodoric must be completely weaned from her people. She shall herself lead us to Ravenna.”
”But if so, you cannot immediately send Belisarius with an army. It would only awaken her suspicions and make her rebellious. She must first be completely in our power and the barbarians must have begun an internecine war, before the sword of Belisarius flies from its sheath.”
”But at least he must henceforth be in the vicinity.”
”Certainly, perhaps in Sicily. The disturbances in Africa afford the best excuse for sending a fleet into those waters. And as soon as the net is sunk Belisarius must draw it together.”
”But who shall sink it?”
Theodora reflected for a few moments; then she said:
”The most gifted man in the West; Cethegus Caesarius, the Prefect of Rome, the friend of my youth.”
”Quite right. But not he alone. He is a Roman, no subject of mine; and I am not sure of him. Whom shall I send? Once again Alexandros?”
”No,” said Theodora, ”he is too young for such a task. No.” And she became thoughtfully silent. ”Justinian,” she said at last, ”you shall see that I can sacrifice my personal dislikes for the sake of the empire, when it is necessary to choose the right man. I propose my enemy, Petros, the cousin of Na.r.s.es, the fellow-student of the Prefect, the sly rhetorician--send him!”
”Theodora!” cried the Emperor, embracing her; ”G.o.d himself has given you to me! Cethegus--Petros--Belisarius. Barbarians! you are lost!”
CHAPTER XVI.
The morning following this conversation the beautiful Empress rose in great good-humour from her swelling cus.h.i.+ons, which were filled with the delicate neck-feathers of the Pontian crane, and covered with pale yellow silk.
Before the bed stood a tripod holding a silver basin, representing Ocea.n.u.s; in it lay a ma.s.sive golden ball. The Empress lifted the ball and let it fall clanging into the basin. The clear tone roused the Syrian slave who slept in the ante-room. She entered, and, approaching the bed of the Empress with her arms crossed upon her bosom, drew back the heavy violet-coloured curtains of Chinese silk. Then she took a soft Iberian sponge, which, soaked in a.s.ses' milk, lay in a crystal dish, and carefully wiped off the coating of oily paste with which the neck and face of her mistress were covered during the night.
Next she kneeled down before the bed, her face bent almost to the earth, and stretched out her hand to the Empress, who, taking it, slowly set her foot upon the neck of the kneeling girl, and sprang elastically to the ground.
The slave rose and threw over her mistress, who, clad only in an under-tunic of the finest lawn, sat upon the palm-wood frame of the bed--a fine dressing-mantle of rose-coloured stuff. Then she made a profound obeisance, turned to the door, cried ”Agave!” and disappeared.
Agave, a young and beautiful Thessalian girl, entered the room. She rolled a washstand of citrean-wood, covered with countless boxes and bottles, close before her mistress, and began to rub her face, neck, and hands with soft cloths dipped in different wines and essences. This task completed, the Empress rose from the bedside and stepped on to a couch covered with panther's skins.
”The large bath towards mid-day,” she said.
Agave pushed an oval bath of terebinthus-wood, covered outside with tortoise-sh.e.l.l and filled with deliciously-scented water, in front of the divan, and lifted the little white feet of the Empress into it.
Afterwards she loosened the net of gold-thread which confined the luxurious hair of her mistress during the night, letting the rich dark coils fall over neck and shoulders, and departed in her turn, calling ”Galatea!”
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