VICTORIN.
The son of Victoria the Great was then in his twenty-third year. I told
you, my son, that several medals were struck on which he figured in the
guise of the god Mars beside his mother, who wore on her head a casque
resembling that of the antique Minerva. Indeed, Victorin could have
served as a model for a statue of the god of war. Tall, supple, robust,
with a shape at once elegant and martial, he pleased all eyes. His
features, imprinted with the rare beauty of his mother's, differed from
them by an expression of mirthfulness and daring. The openness and
generosity of his character was clearly visible on his face. On seeing
him, one forgot, despite himself, the defects that marred that manly
being, too vivacious and too fiery to curb the impulses of his age.
Victorin doubtlessly came from a night of pleasure; yet his face looked
as fresh as if he had just left his bed. A felt coif, ornamented with a
little brooch, half covered his black hair, that fell in luxuriant
ringlets around his virile and browned face. His Gallic blouse, made of
silken fabric striped white and purple, was held around his waist by a
silver-embroidered leather belt, from which hung his curiously chiseled
gold hilted sword--a veritable masterpiece of Autun goldsmithing. Upon
entering his mother's room followed by Captain Marion, Victorin
proceeded straight to her with a mixture of tenderness and respect. He
dropped upon one knee, took and kissed one of her hands, removed his
head-cover, and, reaching up his forehead for her to kiss, said:
"Greeting to my mother!"
There was so touching a charm in the young general's features and
posture, there on his knee before his mother, that I noticed her
hesitate for a second between the desire to embrace the son whom she
adored and the inclination to express her dissatisfaction with him. She
gently pushed Victorin's head back with her hand, and said in a grave
voice while pointing at the cradle that stood near:
"Embrace your son--you have not seen him since yesterday."
The young general understood the indirect reproach; he rose sadly,
approached the cradle, took up the child in his arms, and embraced him
effusively while his eyes wandered over to his mother, as if to tell her
that he was indemnifying himself for her maternal severity.
Captain Marion had drawn close to me and said in a low voice:
"After all, Victorin has a good heart. How he does love his mother! How
he cherishes his child! He surely is as much attached to them as I am to
my friend Eustace, who constitutes my whole family. What a pity that
that pest of profligacy" (the good captain hardly ever spoke without
throwing in those words) "so frequently has the young man fast in its
claws!"
"It is a misfortune! But do you believe Victorin capable of the infamous
act that he is charged with in camp?" I inquired from the captain loud
enough to be heard by Tetrik, who, speaking with Victoria in a low
voice, seemed to be reproaching her for her severity towards her son.
"No, by the devil!" was Marion's quick answer. "I do not believe
Victorin capable of such indignities--least way when I see him there
between his mother and child."
After carefully placing his child back into the cradle and kissing its
outstretched hands, the young general said affectionately to the
Governor of Gascony:
"Greeting to Tetrik! I always love to see among us my mother's wise and
faithful friend."
And turning towards me:
"I knew that you had returned, Schanvoch. When I heard the news my heart
filled with joy--with as much joy as I felt apprehension during your
absence. These Frankish bandits have often shown us how little they
respect truces and parliamentarians."
But doubtlessly noticing the sadness that still marked the visage of
Victoria, her son approached her and said with as much frankness as
tender deference:
"Listen, mother--before you broach the matter of Captain Marion's and
Schanvoch's messages, let me tell you what I have upon my heart; it
might unwrinkle your brow, and I might no longer read on it the
displeasure that afflicts me. Tetrik is a kind relative, Captain Marion
is our friend, Schanvoch your brother--I can here speak freely. Admit
it, mother, you are annoyed that I spent the night out of the house, are
you not?"
"Your disorderly conduct grieves me, Victorin--and it grieves me still
more to see that my voice is no longer heard by you."
"Mother, I shall make a full confession to you; but I swear that I have
upbraided myself more severely for my weakness than you could have done
yourself. Last evening, faithful to my promise of discussing fully with
you the grave matters that we have in hand, I went home betimes; I had
declined--Oh! heroically declined an invitation to take supper with
three of the captains of the legions that recently arrived at Mayence
from Beziers. Vain were all their praises of the kegs of fine old wines,
of that country of wine _par excellence_, that they brought with them
carefully stowed away in their war chariots to celebrate their safe
arrival. I remained unmoved. They then tried to win me over by speaking
of two strolling Bohemian songstresses, Kidda and Flora--pardon me,
mother, for pronouncing the names of such women before you, but
truthfulness compels me to do so. These Bohemian girls, my tempters said
to me, had recently arrived in Mayence; they described them as
wondrously beautiful, frisky as demons, magnificent dancers, and singers
like nightingales! Certes, there was enough to tempt me in such a
description."
"Ah! I see it--I see it clearly approaching, that pest of profligacy--I
see it creeping towards him on its velvet feet, like a wily and hungry
tigress!" Marion cried. "How I would like to make those brazen Bohemian
she-devils dance on sheets of red-hot iron! It is only then they would
sing tunes to suit my ears--"
"I was even wiser than you, brave Marion," Victorin proceeded to say; "I
did not wish to see and hear them dance and sing in any way; I ran
precipitately away from my tempters to come here--"
"It is easy to say that; run away?--that pest of profligacy has legs as
long as its arms and teeth!" the captain said. "It surely overtook you,
Victorin!"
"Deign to listen to me, mother," Victorin resumed, seeing my
foster-sister make a gesture of disgust and impatience. "I was only two
hundred paces from the house--the night was dark--a woman wrapped in a
hooded cloak accosted me."
"Now they are three!" cried the good captain clasping his hands. "We now
have the two Bohemian girls reinforced by a hooded woman. Oh,
unfortunate Victorin! You have no idea what diabolical snares lie hidden
under those hoods--my friend Eustace would surely succumb and wind up by
being hooded himself--but I would flee!"
"'My father is an old soldier,' the woman said to me," proceeded
Victorin with his narrative. "'One of his old wounds opened, he is
dying; he knew you as a child, Victorin; he does not wish to die without
once more pressing the hand of his young general; you will not refuse
such a favor to my dying father, will you?' Such was the tale of the
unknown woman; she spoke in accents that went straight to my heart. What
would you have done, mother?"
"Despite my dread of women's hoods, I would have gone and seen the poor
old soldier," answered the captain. "Certes, I would have gone, seeing
that my presence would render death sweeter to him."
"Well, I did what you would have done, Marion. I followed the unknown
woman; we arrived at a rickety house; it was dark; the door opened; my
female guide seized my hand; led by her, I took a few steps in the
darkness. Suddenly the glare of lights fell upon my eyes and dazed me.
The three captains of the Beziers legions and other officers surrounded
me. The veiled woman dropped her wraps, and I recognized--"
"One of the cursed Bohemian girls!" cried the captain. "Ha! I told you
so, Victorin! Women's hoods hide frightful things!"
"Frightful? Alas, no, Marion! I had not the courage to shut my eyes. I
was immediately surrounded from all sides; the other Bohemian girl ran
out of a room and joined my captors. The doors were locked. I was
dragged to a seat of honor at a banquet table. Kidda placed herself at
my right, Flora at my left; and before me, upon a table loaded with
eatables, rose one of the kegs of old and divine nectar, as the accursed
fellows informed me; and--"
"And day surprised you in that fresh orgy," said Victoria interrupting
her son. "You thus forgot amidst the pleasures of the table and
debauchery the hour that summoned you to me! Is that an excuse?"
"No, dear mother, it is a confession--I was weak--but as truly as Gaul
is free, I would have come dutifully home to you, but for the ruse by
which I was misled and kept away. Will you not be indulgent towards me,
mother, this once? I pray you!" saying which Victorin again knelt down
before my foster-sister. "Be not so severe! I know my faults! Age will
cure me! I am still too young, and my blood is still too warm. The ardor
of pleasure often carries me away, despite myself--and yet, you know,
mother, I would give my life for you--"
"I believe you--but yet you will not sacrifice to me your insensate and
evil passions--"
"When one sees Victorin so respectful and repentant at his mother's
feet," I whispered to Marion, "would one think he is the celebrated
general, so dreaded by the enemies of Gaul--the general, who, at the age
of twenty-two already has won five great battles?"
"Victoria," said Tetrik in his kind and insinuating voice, "I also am a
father and inclined to indulgence. Besides, in my hours of recreation, I
am a poet, and I wrote an ode to Youth. How could I be severe? I love
Victorin's brilliant qualities so much, that I find it hard to censure
him! Could you be insensible to the tender words of your son? His only
crime is his youth. As he said, years will cure that--and his affection
for you, his deference to your wishes will hasten the cure--"
As the Governor of Gascony was saying these words, a great noise was
heard outside of the house, and the cry was soon heard:
"To arms! To arms!"
Victoria, who was seated, quickly rose to her feet, together with
Victorin.
"They cry to arms!" repeated Captain Marion anxiously, and listened.
"The Franks must have broken the truce!" I cried in turn. "Yesterday one
of their chiefs threatened me with a speedy attack upon our camp; I did
not believe they would put their threat so quickly into action."
"A truce is never broken before its expiration, without notice is given
in advance," observed Tetrik.
"The Franks are barbarians; they are capable of any act of treachery,"
cried Victoria rushing to the door.
It opened before an officer covered with dust, and so breathless that he
could not at first utter a word.
"Do you not belong to the post of the camp's vanguard, four leagues
from here?" the young general asked the officer; he knew personally all
the officers of the army. "What has happened?"
"A large number of rafts, loaded with troops and towed by barks, hove in
sight towards the middle of the Rhine, when, upon orders of the
commander of the post, I rode hither at full speed to bring the news to
you, Victorin. By this hour the Frankish hordes must have disembarked.
The post that I left is too weak to resist a whole army, and must have
fallen back upon the camp. While crossing the camp I cried to arms! The
legions and cohorts are forming in all haste."
"It is the barbarians' answer to the message that Schanvoch took to
them," said the Mother of the Camps to Victorin.
"What answer did the Franks give you?" the young general asked me.
"Neroweg, one of the principal kings of their army, rejected all idea of
peace," I said to Victorin. "The barbarians are set upon invading Gaul
and subjugating us. I threatened their chief with a war of
extermination. He answered me insolently that the sun would not rise six
times before he would fall upon our camp, set fire to our tents, pillage
our baggage and carry off Victoria the Great--"
"If they are on the march upon us, we have not a minute to spare!" cried
Tetrik in a fright addressing the young general, who, calm and
collected, with his arms crossed over his chest, was reflecting in
silence. "We must act, and act quickly!"
"Before acting," answered Victorin, "we must reflect."
"But," replied the governor, "suppose the Franks move with forced
marches upon the camp?"
"So much the better!" Victorin said impatiently. "So much the better! We
shall let them draw near to us!"
Victorin's answer astonished Tetrik, and I must admit, I would myself
have been astonished and even alarmed at hearing the young general speak
of temporizing in the presence of an imminent attack, had I not had
innumerable proofs of his unerring judgment. His mother made a sign to
the governor not to disturb her son in his meditation upon the plan of
battle, which, undoubtedly, he was revolving in his mind, and said to
Marion:
"You arrived this morning from your trip to the inhabitants on the other
side of the Rhine, who are so often pillaged by these barbarians. What
is the plan of those tribes?"
"Too weak to act single-handed, they are ready to join us at the first
call. Fires, that we are to light either by day or night on the hill of
Berak, will give them the signal. There will be men on the watch for
them. The moment the signal is given they will start on the march. One
of our best captains shall head a troop of picked soldiers across the
river and effect a junction with them, while the bulk of our army shall
simultaneously operate upon this side."
"The plan is excellent, Captain Marion," observed Victoria approvingly.
"Especially at this juncture, such an alliance is of great service to
us. Your eyes have, as usual, seen rightly."
"If one has good eyes, he must seek to put them to the best use
possible," the captain answered with his wonted affability. "That is
what I said to my friend Eustace."
"What friend is that?" asked Victoria. "Whom do you refer to?"
"I refer to a soldier--my old companion at the anvil. I took him with
me on the journey that I am now back from. Thus, instead of ruminating
over my little projects all to myself, I uttered them aloud to my friend
Eustace. He is discreet; by no means a fool; true enough, he is as
peevish as the devil, and he often grumbles at me, whereat I profit not
a little."
"I am aware of your friendship for that soldier," replied Victoria.
"Your affection does you honor."
"To love an old friend is a simple and natural matter. I said to him:
'Do you see, Eustace, one day or other those Frankish skinners will
undertake a decisive attack upon us. In order to protect their retreat,
they will leave a body of reserve to protect their camp and wagons. That
reserve will not be too large a morsel for our allied tribes to swallow,
especially if they are reinforced by a picked legion in command of one
of our own captains. So that if those skinners are beaten on this side
of the Rhine, their retreat will be cut off on the other side of the
river.' What I then foresaw is coming about to-day. The Franks are
attacking us; I think we should forthwith send word to the allied
tribes, and follow that with some picked troops, commanded by a captain
of energy, prudence and skill--"
"That captain will be yourself, Marion," Victoria quickly put in
interrupting the captain.
"I? Very well! I know the country. My plan is quite simple. While the
Franks are marching upon us, I shall cross the Rhine, and there burn
their wagons and cut the reserve to pieces. Let Victorin deliver battle
on our side of the river; the Franks will then try to re-cross the
Rhine; there they will find me and my friend Eustace ready to meet them
with something else than a glad hand to help them disembark. And their
hopes will be dashed when they learn that camp, reserves and wagons have
all gone up in flames."
"Marion," replied my foster-sister after having carefully listened to
the captain, "victory is certain if you carry out the plan with your
customary bravery and coolness."
"I have great good hopes. My friend Eustace said to me in a more than
usually querulous voice: 'Your plan is not so very stupid; it is not so
very stupid.' I know from experience that the approval of Eustace has
always brought me good luck."
"Victoria," Tetrik approached saying in a low voice and no longer able
to control his uneasiness, "I am not a man of war. I repose complete
confidence in the military genius of your son. But an enemy twice as
strong as ourselves is drawing nearer by the minute--and Victorin, still
absorbed in his meditations, decides nothing, orders nothing!"
"He told you rightly that before acting, one must think," answered
Victoria. "The power of calm reflection, at the moment of danger, is the
sign of a wise and prudent captain. Would it not be folly to run blindly
ahead of danger?"
Suddenly Victorin clapped his hands, leaped to his mother's neck,
embraced her and cried:
"Mother--Hesus inspires me. Not one of the barbarians who crossed the
river will escape, and the peace of Gaul will be assured for many years.
Your project is excellent, Captain Marion; it fits in with my own plan
of battle, as if we had jointly conceived it!"
"What! Did you hear me?" asked the astonished captain. "I thought you
were wrapped up in your own thoughts!"
"However absorbed a lover may seem to be, he always overhears what is
said of his sweetheart, my brave Marion," was Victorin's mirthful
answer. "My sovereign mistress is war!"
"Again that pest of profligacy!" Captain Marion whispered to me. "Alack!
It pursues him even in his thoughts of battle!"
"Marion," remarked Victorin, "we have on this side of the Rhine two
hundred and ten barks of war propelled by six oars--have we?"
"About that number, and well equipped!"
"Fifty of them will suffice for you to transport the reinforcement of
picked troops that you are to take to our allies. The remaining hundred
and sixty, manned by ten soldier oarsmen provided with axes, besides
twenty picked archers, will hold themselves ready to descend the Rhine
as far as the promontory of Herfel, where they will wait for further
instructions. Issue this order to the captain of the flotilla before you
embark."
"It shall be done--rely upon me!"
"Carry out your plan, brave Marion, from point to point. Cut the
Frankish reserve to pieces, burn their camp and wagons. Ours is the day
if I succeed in forcing the barbarians to retreat," said Victorin.
"And you will, Victorin! I shall run for my friend, Eustace, and carry
out your orders."
Before leaving the room Captain Marion drew his sword, presented the
hilt to the Mother of the Camps and making the military salute, said:
"Touch this sword with your hand if you please, Victoria--it will be a
good augury for the day."
"Go, brave and good Marion," answered the Mother of the Camps returning
the weapon after she had clasped the hilt with a virile hand; "go, Hesus
is with Gaul!"
"Our battle cry shall be, 'Victoria!' and it will resound from one bank
of the river to the other," Marion exclaimed with exaltation; and
leaving precipitately he added: "I shall run for my friend Eustace, and
then to our barks! to our barks!"
As Marion was rushing out of the room, several chiefs of legions and
cohorts, having learned of the landing of the Franks from the officer
who brought the tidings to the camp--tidings that rapidly spread among
the soldiers--hastened to Victorin in order to receive the orders of
their general.
"Place yourselves at the head of your detachments," he said to them,
"and march to the parade ground. I shall join you there and assign you
your posts in battle. I wish first to confer with my mother."
"We well know your valor and military genius," answered the oldest of
the chiefs of the cohorts, a robust old man with a white beard. "Your
mother, the angel of Gaul, watches by your side; we shall await your
orders confident of victory."
"Mother," said the young general in touching accents, "your pardon, here
before all, and a kiss from you will give me the needed courage for this
day of bloody battle!"
"The excesses of my son have often saddened my heart, as they have the
hearts of you all who have known him since his earliest days," said
Victoria to the chiefs of the cohorts; "I hope you will forgive him as I
do."
Saying this she clasped her son passionately to her heart.
"Infamous calumnies against Victorin have floated about the camp," the
old captain proceeded to say. "We gave them no credence; but, less
enlightened than ourselves, the soldier is ever hasty in censure as he
is in praise. Follow the instructions of your august mother, Victorin,
and no longer offer a handle to calumny. We shall wait for your orders
on the parade ground; rely upon us, as we do upon you."
"You speak to me like a father," answered Victorin deeply moved by the
simple and dignified words of the old captain. "I shall hearken to your
words as a son; your old experience guided me on the field of battle
when I was still a child; your example made me the soldier that I am;
to-day and always I shall strive to approve myself worthy of you and of
my mother--worthy of Gaul--"
"It is your duty, seeing that we glory in you and her," rejoined the old
captain; and addressing Victoria: "Will the army not see you before we
march to battle? To the soldiers and to us your presence always is a
good omen--and your good words fire our courage."
"I shall accompany my son as far as the parade ground--let the battle
and triumph follow! Once the Roman eagles circled over our enslaved
nation! The Gallic cock drove them away! And it will again drive away
this cloud of birds of prey that seek to swoop down upon our Gaul!"
cried the Mother of the Camps in so proud and superb a transport that,
at the moment, I believed I saw before me the goddess of our land and of
liberty. "By Hesus, shall the barbarous Franks conquer us? Before that
happens neither a lance, nor a sword, nor a scythe, nor a club, nor a
stone can have been left in Gaul! By Hesus! We shall triumph over the
barbarian Franks!"
At these brave words, the chiefs of the legions, sharing the enthusiasm
of Victoria, spontaneously drew their swords, struck them against one
another, and cried in chorus the war cry that they had more than once
intoned:
"By the iron of our swords, Victoria, we swear to you that Gaul shall
remain free!--or you will never see us again!"
"Yes, by your beloved and august name, Victoria, we shall fight to the
last drop of our blood."
And all left the room crying:
"To arms, our legions!"
"To arms, our cohorts!"
During the whole scene, in which the military genius of Victorin, his
tender deference for his mother, the controlling influence that both she
and he exercised over the chiefs of the army were displayed, I more than
once cast a covert look at the Governor of Gascony, who had withdrawn
into a corner of the room. Was it fear at the approach of the Franks?
Was it secret rage at witnessing how idle were his calumnies against
Victorin?--because, despite the blandness and skilfulness of his
defense, my suspicions were not lulled to sleep--I know not; but his
livid and disturbed face grew by degrees more horrid to behold.
Doubtlessly, evil thoughts and impulses, that he meant to keep
concealed, came to the surface in that moment. Immediately after the
departure of the chiefs, and as the Mother of the Camps turned to speak
with the governor, the latter strove to resume his customary mask of
mildness. Making an effort to smile he said to Victoria:
"You and your son are endowed with a sort of magic power. According to
my feeble understanding nothing can be more alarming than this march of
the Frankish army upon our camp, while neither of you seem to be
particularly concerned, and you deliberate as calmly as if the battle
was to be to-morrow. And yet, I must confess, the tranquility that you
display under such circumstances inspires me with blind confidence."
"There is nothing more natural than our tranquility," replied Victorin.
"I have calculated the time that it will take the Franks to cross the
Rhine and disembark their troops, form their columns and arrive at a
place that they are forced to cross. To hasten my movements would be a
mistake, a grave strategic error. Delay serves my purposes well."
Victorin thereupon turned to me:
"Schanvoch, go and put on your armor; I shall have orders for you after
I shall have conferred with my mother."
"You will join me here, before proceeding to the parade ground,"
Victoria said to me. "I also have some recommendations to make to you."
"I almost forgot to notify you of an important thing," said I. "The
sister of one of the Frankish kings feared that her brother would put
her to death, and fled the camp of the barbarians. She accompanied me to
ours."
"The woman can serve as a hostage," remarked Tetrik. "It is a valuable
capture. She should be kept a prisoner."
"No," I answered the governor. "I promised the woman that she would be
free in the Gallic camp, and I assured her of Victoria's protection."
"I shall keep the promise that you made," replied my foster-sister.
"Where is the woman?"
"At my house."
"Have her sent to me after the departure of our troops. I wish to see
her."
I left the room together with the Governor of Gascony. As I stepped out
several bards and druids, who, adhering to our ancient custom, always
marched at the head of the armies in order to encourage the troops with
their songs, stepped in to confer with Victoria and Victorin.