Volume II Part 69 (1/2)
But it were vain to describe the astonishment of the victim. He looked almost in doubt of his own ident.i.ty, or as if he were trying to shake off the impression of some hideous dream. At length he replied--
”'Tis some device surely that ye may slay me!”
He wept; and the tears trickling down his cheek were indeed piteous to behold. ”I know not,” said he, ”your meaning. Let me depart.”
”Nay, said the soothsayer, ”thou mayest content thyself as thou list, but the cup shall be found, and that by thy ministry. The emperor hath offered rewards nigh to the value of three silver talents for the recovery, and a.s.suredly thou shalt be held in durance until it be regained.”
”And by whose authority?” inquired the Briton.
”Why, truly, it becometh thee to ask, seeing thou art a party interested in the matter. The emperor in whose care the jewel was left, hath sworn by the river Styx that unless the cup be brought back to the palace ere to-morrow's dawn, he will punish the innocent with the guilty, and that with no sparing hand. He hath already laid hands on some of the more wealthy citizens, and amerced them in divers sums; others are detained as hostages for suspected persons who are absent from the city. The loss of this cup being connected with a daring attempt on the emperor's life by some unknown hand, he doth suspect that the very palace wants purging from treason; yet where to begin, or on whom to fasten suspicion, he knoweth not. Mine art has. .h.i.therto failed me in the matter. The tools they work with baffle my skill, save that the oracle I consult commanded that I should lay hold on the first male person that came hither to-day, and by his ministry the lost treasure should be restored. Shouldst thou refuse, thou art lost; for a.s.suredly the emperor will not be slow to punish thy contumacy.”
The miserable captive fell into great perplexity at this discourse. He vowed he knew no more of the lost cup than the very stones he trod on; that he had come since nightfall from his master, Lucius Claudius, lieutenant and standard-bearer of the sixth legion, then at Isurium,[23] on a mere casual errand to the city; and that his mistress, who was a British lady of n.o.ble birth, had instructed him, at the same time, to consult the soothsayer on some matters relative to her nativity, which the sage had calculated some years back. Almost a stranger in these parts, how could he pretend to begin the search?
He begged piteously for his release; promising, and with great sincerity, that he would never set foot in this inhospitable region again. The magician inquired his name.
”Cedric with the ready foot,” was the reply. Unmoved by his entreaties, the soothsayer said he had the emperor's command for the use of every method he could devise for the recovery of this precious and priceless jewel; and that, furthermore, the safety and even lives of many innocent persons depended on the stranger's exertions, and the speedy execution of his mission. But how to begin, or in what quarter to commence the search, was a riddle worthy of the Sphinx. A most unexpected and novel situation for this rude dweller in woods and mora.s.ses, to be suddenly thrust forth into a mighty city, without guide or direction, more ignorant of his errand than any of its inhabitants. Besides, he was not without a sort of incipient and instinctive dread that the catastrophe might procure him an interview with the emperor; and he was filled with apprehension lest his own carcase might afford a special treat, a sacrifice to the brutal appet.i.te of the spectators in the amphitheatre, after the manner of the _bestiarii_, or gladiators, of whom he had often heard. Even could he have gotten word of this mishap to his master, he was by no means certain it would be attended with any beneficial result. The time was too short, and the will and mandate of the emperor would render futile any attempt to obtain deliverance from this quarter.
A few moments sufficed for these considerations. The glance of the mind, when on the rack for expedients, is peculiarly keen, and hath an eagle-like perception that appears as though it could pierce to the dim and distant horizon of its hopes and apprehensions.
”Unbind these withes,” said the captive; ”I cannot begin the search in this extremity.”
”Merodac, undo these bonds; and see thou guard thy prisoner strictly; thy life answers for his safe keeping.”
The dwarf, who seemed never so well pleased as when tormenting the more fortunate and better shapen of his species, unloosed the cords with something of the like feeling and intention as a cat when liberating some unfortunate mouse from her talons.
”There's a chance of rare sport i' the shows to-morrow,” said the ugly jailer. ”We are sure of _thee_, anyhow. Didst ever see the criminals fight with wolves, Hyrcanian bears, and such like? I would not miss the sight for the best feather in my cap.”
The cruel slave here rubbed his hands, and his yellow eyes glistened with the horrible antic.i.p.ation. His victim groaned aloud.
”I'll tell thee a rare device,” continued he, ”whereby thou mayest escape being eaten at least a full hour; and we shall have the longer sport. Mind thee, the beasts do not always get the carcases for dinner. If they be cowardly and show little fight, we give the dead bestiarii to the dogs. I remember me well the last we threw into the emperor's kennel, the dogs made such a fighting for the carrion that he ordered each of us a flagellation for the disturbance. Let me see, there was--ay”----Here the knave began to count the number of shows and human sacrifices he had seen, recounting every particular with the most horrible minuteness. Cedric felt himself already in the gripe of the savages, and his flesh verily quivered on his bones.
Brutal and demoralising were those horrid spectacles. The people of Rome, it has been well observed by a modern writer, were generally more corrupt by many degrees than has been usually supposed possible.
Many were the causes which had been gradually operating towards this result, and amongst the rest the continual exhibition of scenes where human blood was poured forth like water. The continual excitement of the populace demanded fresh sacrifices, until even these palled upon the cruel appet.i.tes of the mult.i.tude. Even the more innocent exhibitions, where brutes were the sufferers, could not but tend to destroy all the finer sensibilities of the nature. ”Five thousand wild animals, torn from their native abodes in the wilderness and the forest,” have been turned out for mutual slaughter in one single exhibition at the amphitheatre. Sometimes the _lanista_, or person who exhibited the shows and provided the necessary supplies, by way of administering specially to the gratification of the populace, made it known, as a particular favour, that the whole of these should be slaughtered. These, however, soon ceased to stimulate the appet.i.te for blood. From such combats ”the transition was inevitable to those of men, whose n.o.bler and more varied pa.s.sions spoke directly, and by the intelligible language of the eye, to human spectators; and from the frequent contemplation of these authorised murders, in which a whole people--women as much as men, and children intermingled with both--looked on with leisurely indifference, with anxious expectation, or with rapturous delight, whilst below them were pa.s.sing the direct sufferings of humanity, and not seldom its dying pangs, it was impossible to expect a result different from that which did, in fact, take place--universal hardness of heart, obdurate depravity, and a twofold degradation of human nature, the natural sensibility and the conscientious principle.” ”Here was a constant irritation, a system of provocation to the appet.i.te for blood, such as in other nations are connected with the rudest stages of society, and with the most barbarous modes of warfare.”
”Whither wilt thou that we direct our steps?” inquired Merodac, with mock submission, when the cords were unloosed.
”Lead the way--I care not,” said his moody victim; ”'tis as well that I follow.”
A bitter and scornful laugh accompanied the reply of the dwarf.
”That were a pretty device truly--to let thee lag behind, and without thy tether. Ah, ah,” chuckled the squire as they left the chamber, ”Diogenes and his lantern was a wise man's search compared with ours.”
How the slave came to be so learned in Grecian lore we know not. His further displays of erudition were cut short by the soothsayer, who cried out to him as they departed--
”Remember, thy carcase for his if he return not.”
Now, in York, at this day, may be observed, where an angle of the walls abuts on the ”Mint Yard,” a building named ”the Multangular Tower,” and supposed to have been one of the princ.i.p.al fortifications of the city. However this might be, its structure has puzzled not a little even those most conversant with antiquities. The area was not built up all round, but open towards the city. The foundations of a wall have latterly been discovered, dividing it lengthwise through the centre, and continued for some distance into the town; so that the whole may not inaptly be represented by a Jewtrump--the tongue being the division, the circular end the present Multangular Tower, continued by walls on each side. This building, we have every reason to conjecture, was the Greek _stadium_ or Roman circus, which authors tell us was a narrow piece of ground shaped like a staple; the round end called the barrier. The wall dividing it lengthwise is the _spina_, or flat ridge running through the middle, which was generally a low wall, and sometimes merely a mound of earth. This was usually decorated with statues of G.o.ds, columns, votive altars, and the like.
As a corroboration of this opinion, there have been found here several small statues, altars, and other figures, betokening a place of public resort or amus.e.m.e.nt.
The circus was not used merely for horse and chariot races, but likewise for wrestling--the _caestus_, and other athletic games. It was noted as the haunt of fortune-tellers, and thither the poorer people used to resort and hear their fortunes told.[24]