Part 25 (1/2)
She had fallen back, squatting on her heels, her hands clasped before her and her head sunk upon her bosom, bowed with shame and with horror.
Her name had been bandied about by traitors, her person been bought and sold as the price of the blackest sacrilege that had ever disgraced the patriciate of Rome.
”And thou, Taurus Antinor,” she whispered inaudibly, ”art the blackest traitor amongst them all.”
There was no need now for the Caesar to make further appeal to her loyalty. She was loyal to him--body and soul--loyal to him and to her House, ready to sacrifice her pride, her freedom if need be at a word from the Caesar, since he had said that by her action on the morrow she could help him fight the treacherous infamy.
Caligula could well be satisfied with his success; nor did he try to press his advantage further. All that he had wanted was the a.s.surance that she would not thwart him when he put into execution the plan which he had conceived. The man-trap which he had set would not now fail through Dea's obstinacy.
He thought that the time had come for ending the interview. He desired that her receptive mind should retain a solemn impression of his majesty and of his power. A charlatan to the last, he now rose to his feet and with outstretched arm pointed upwards to the small glimpse of leaden-covered sky.
”Jove's thunders still speak from afar,” he said with slow emphasis, ”but to-morrow they will crash over Rome and over the traitors within her walls. The air will be filled with moanings and with gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth; the Tiber will run red with blood, for the murdered Caesar will mayhap be crying vengeance upon the a.s.sa.s.sins. Wilt save the Caesar, O Dea Flavia? Wilt save Rome and the Empire from a deadly crime and the devastating vengeance of the outraged G.o.ds?”
He towered above her like some inspired prophet, with arms stretched out towards the fast approaching storm, and eyes uplifted to the thunderbolts of Jove.
”I await thine answer,” he said, ”O daughter of the Caesars.”
”My answer has been given, gracious lord,” she murmured, ”have I not said that my life was at thy service?”
”Thou'lt obey?”
”Command, O Caesar!”
”To-morrow at the Circus ... dost understand?... I have a plan ... and thou must obey ... blindly ... dost understand?” he reiterated hoa.r.s.ely.
”I understand, my lord.”
”I'll name thy future husband to the public ... to the plebs ... to all ... and thou'lt accept him--before them all--without demur....”
”As my lord commands.”
”This thou dost swear?”
”This do I swear.”
”Then,” said the mountebank with mock reverence as he placed his hand--blood-stained with the blood of countless innocent victims of his tyranny--upon the bowed head of the loyal girl, ”receive the blessing of Jupiter the victorious, of Juno the holy G.o.ddess, and of Magna Mater the great Mother, for thou art worthy to be of the House of Caesar.”
But even as the last of these impious words had left his lips, the long awaited storm broke out in sudden fury; a vivid flash of lightning rent the sky from end to end and lit up momentarily every corner of the room, the kneeling figure of Dea Flavia, the misshapen figure of the imperial monster, the fading flowers in the vases. Then a mighty clap of thunder shook the very foundations of Dea Flavia's palace.
Caligula uttered a wild shriek of terror, and, calling loudly for his slaves, he fled incontinently from the room.
CHAPTER XV
”As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.”--PROVERBS XXVI. 8.
From the hour of midnight the streets and ways leading to the great Amphitheatre were alive with people, all tending toward the same goal: men and women in holiday clothes and little children running beside them. The men were heavily loaded with baskets of rush or bags of rough linen containing provisions, for many hours would be spent up there waiting for amus.e.m.e.nt, whilst the body would grow faint if food were not forthcoming.
So the men carried the provisions which the women had prepared the day before--eggs and cooked fish and such fruit as was cheap this season.
And everybody was running, for though the Amphitheatre was vast and could hold--so 'twas said--over two hundred thousand people, yet considerably more than two hundred thousand people desired to be present at the opening of the games.