While Beric thus spent his time between his exercises and the schools
and one or other of the libraries, varied occasionally by paying a
visit with Pollio, Boduoc and his companions were not ill contented
with their life. Most of them had, during the long journey through
Gaul, picked up a few words of Latin from their guards, and as it
was the language of the gymnasium, and was the only medium by which
the men of the various nationalities could communicate with each
other, they now rapidly increased their knowledge of it, Beric strongly
urging them to become acquainted with it as soon as possible, as
it might be most useful and important to them. None of the others
besides Boduoc were, Scopus thought, ever likely to be a credit
to him in the more serious contests in the ring, but all showed an
aptitude for wrestling and boxing, and the lanista was well content
with this, as the games in the arena frequently commenced with
these comparatively harmless sports, and in many of the provincial
cities wrestlers and boxers were in great request.
Beric was much pleased when he heard from the master that he
intended to confine his teaching to these two exercises only with
regard to his companions; for although men were sometimes seriously
hurt by blows given by the masses of leather and lead, which, wound
round the fist, were used to give weight to the blows, a final
termination to the contests was rare. In the exercises the men
practised with many wrappings of wadding and cotton wound round the
caestus, answering the purpose of the modern boxing glove. Beric
himself was very partial to the exercise, and as it strengthened
the muscles, and gave quickness and activity to the limbs, Scopus
encouraged him in it.
"I do not see the use of the caestus," Beric said one day. "One
could hit and guard much more quickly without it. It is good, no
doubt, for exercise, as it strengthens the muscles, but surely for
fighting it would be better to lay it aside. What is the advantage
of it? With the bare fist one can knock an opponent down, and with
a very few blows strike him senseless. What more can you want than
that?"
"Yes, for men like you Britons that would do, for a straight blow
from any one of you would well nigh break in the bones of the face
of an ordinary man, and, as you say, you could strike much more
quickly without the weight on your hands, but with smaller men a
contest might last for hours without the caestus, and the spectators
would get tired of it; but I will try the experiment some day, and
put up one of the Britons against Asthor the Gaul, hands against
the caestus, and see what comes of it. At present he is more skilful
than any of your people, but they are getting on fast, and when
one of them is fairly his match in point of skill I will try it. If
the Briton wins, I will, when they first go into the arena, match
them against the champions of the other schools with bare hands
against armed ones, and they will get great credit if they win
under those conditions. Both at that and at wrestling you Britons
are likely to carry all before you. I should like to train you all
only for that."
"I wish you would," Beric said earnestly.
"There is less honour in winning at wrestling and boxing than in
the other contests," Scopus said.
"For that I care nothing whatever, Scopus; besides, you would
get more credit from my winning in those games than from my being
killed in the others. Strength and height count for much in them,
while against an active retiarius strength goes for very little."
"But you are active as well as strong, Beric, and so is Boduoc.
Moreover, when Caesar sent you to me to be prepared for the ring,
he meant that you should take part in the principal contests, and
he would be furious if, on some great occasion, when he expected
to see you stand up against a famous champion, it turned out that
you were only a wrestler."
"I am ready and willing to learn all the exercises, Scopus--I
should like to excel in them all--but you might put me up as a
wrestler and boxer; then if Nero insisted on my betaking myself to
other weapons, I could do so without discredit to you. But my opinion
is that every man should do what he can do best. Were we to fight
with clubs, I think that we need have no fear of any antagonists;
but our strength is for the most part thrown away at sword play,
at which any active man with but half our strength is our match.
You have told me that Nero often looks in at your school, and
doubtless he will do so when he comes back from Greece. You could
then tell him that you had found that all the Britons were likely
to excel rather in wrestling and boxing, where their strength and
height came into play, than in the other exercises, and that you
therefore were instructing them chiefly in them."
"I will see what I can do," Scopus said. "I like you Britons, you
are good tempered, and give me no trouble. I will tell you what I
will do, I will send to Greece for the best instructor in wrestling
I can get hold of, they are better at that than we are, and wrestling
has always ranked very high in their sports. Most of you already
are nearly a match for Decius; but you are all worth taking pains
about, for there are rich prizes to be won in the provincial arenas,
as well as at Rome; and in Greece, where they do not care for the
serious contests, there is high honour paid to the winners in the
wrestling games."
As time went on Beric had little leisure to spend in libraries, for
the exercises increased in severity, and as, instead of confining
himself, as most of the others did, to one particular branch, he
worked at them all, the day was almost entirely given up to exercises
of one kind or another. His muscles, and those of his companions,
had increased vastly under the training they received. All had
been accustomed to active exercise, but under their steady training
every ounce of superfluous flesh disappeared, their limbs became
more firmly knit, and the muscles showed out through the clear skin
in massive ridges.
"We should astonish them at home, Beric," Boduoc said one day.
"It is strange that people like the Romans, who compared to us are
weakly by nature, should have so studied the art of training men
in exercises requiring strength. I used to wonder that the Roman
soldiers could wield such heavy spears and swords. Now I quite
understand it. We were just as nature made us, they are men built
up by art. Why, when we began, my arms used to ache in a short time
with those heavy clubs, now I feel them no more than if they were
willow wands."
Pollio had remained but two months in Rome, and had then gone out
with a newly appointed general to Syria. Beric had missed his light
hearted friend much, but he was not sorry to give up the visits with
him to the houses of his friends. He felt that in these houses he
was regarded as a sort of show, and that the captured British chief,
who was acquainted with the Latin tongue and with Roman manners,
was regarded with something of the same curiosity and interest as
a tamed tiger might be. Besides, however much gladiators might be
the fashion in Rome, he felt a degradation in the calling, although
he quite appreciated the advantage that the training would be to
him should he ever return to Britain. He was pleased to learn from
Pollio, on the day before he started, that he had heard that his
uncle would ere long return to Rome.
"I believe," he said, "that it is entirely my aunt's doing. You
know how she hates what she calls her exile, and I hear that she
has been quietly using all her family influence to obtain his recall
and his appointment as a magistrate here. I learn she is likely to
succeed, and that my uncle will be one of these fine days astounded
at receiving the news that he is appointed a magistrate here.
I don't suppose he will ever learn my aunt's share in the matter,
and will regard what others would take as a piece of supreme good
luck as a cruel blow of fortune. However, if he did discover it,
my aunt would maintain stoutly that she did it for the sake of
the girls, whom she did not wish to see married to some provincial
officer, and condemned, as she had been, to perpetual exile; and
as she would have the support of all her relations, and even of
my father, who is also convinced that it is the greatest of all
earthly happiness for a Roman to reside at Rome, my uncle for once
will have to give in. Aemilia, too, will be glad to return to Rome,
though I know that Ennia is of a different opinion. I believe, from
what she let drop one day, that she has a leaning towards the new
sect, of which she has heard from the old slave who was her nurse. It
will be a great misfortune if she has, for it would cause terrible
trouble at home, and if any fresh persecution breaks out, she might
be involved. I am sure my aunt has no suspicion of it, for if she
had the slave would be flogged to death or thrown to the fishes,
and Ennia's life would be made a burden to her till she consented
to abandon the absurd ideas she had taken up."
But if Norbanus had returned with his family to Rome, Beric had
heard nothing of it. Had Pollio been at Rome he would at once have
taken him to see them on their return, but now that he had gone
there was no one from whom he would hear of their movements, and
Norbanus himself would be so much occupied with his new duties,
and with the society with which Lesbia would fill the house, that
he would have no time to inquire about the British captive he had
received as his guest at Massilia.
One evening, when the rest of the gladiators were engaged in a hot
discussion as to the merits of some of those who were to appear
at the games given in celebration of the funeral obsequies of a
wealthy senator, Beric asked Boduoc to accompany him for a walk.
"One gets sick of all that talk about fighting," he said as they
went out. "How men can sit indoors in a hot room heavy with the
smoke of the lamps, when they can go out on such a lovely night as
this, I cannot understand. We do not have such nights as this at
home, Boduoc."
"No," Boduoc assented reluctantly, for it was seldom that he would
allow anything Roman to be superior to what he was accustomed to
in Britain; "the nights are certainly fine here, and so they need
be when it is so hot all day that one can scarcely breathe outside
the house. It seems to me that the heat takes all the strength out
of my limbs."
Beric laughed. "It did not seem so, Boduoc, when today you threw
Borthon, who is as heavy and well nigh as strong as yourself, full
five yards through the air. Let us turn out from these busy streets
and get among the hills--not those on which the palaces stand,
but away from houses and people."
"What a night it would be for wolf hunting!" Boduoc said suddenly,
when they had walked along for some distance in silence.
"Yes, that was fine sport, Boduoc; and when we slew we knew we were
ridding the land of fierce beasts."
"Well, many of the gladiators are not much better, Beric. There
is Porus, who may be likened to a panther; there is Chresimus, who
is like a savage bull; Gripus, who, when not at work, is for ever
trying to stir up strife. Truly, I used to think, Beric, that I
could not slay a man unless he was an enemy, but I scarce feel that
now. The captives in war are like ourselves, and I would not, if
I could help it, lift sword against them. But many of the men are
malefactors, who have been sentenced to death as gladiators rather
than to death by the executioner, and who, by the terms of the
sentence, must be killed within the course of a year. Well, there
is no objection to killing these; if you do not do it, someone
else will. Then there are the Romans, these are the roughest
and most brutal of all; they are men who have been the bullies of
their quarters, who fight for money only, and boast that it is a
disappointment to them when, by the vote of the spectators, they
have to spare an antagonist they have conquered. It is at least
as good a work to kill one of these men as to slay a wolf at home.
Then there are the patricians, who fight to gain popular applause,
and kill as a matter of fashion; for them I have assuredly no pity.
"No, I hope I shall never have to stand up against a captive like
myself but against all others I can draw my sword without any of
the scruples I used to feel. I hear that if one of us can but hold
his own for three years, in most cases he is given his liberty.
I do not mean that he would be allowed to go home, but he is free
from the arena."
They were now near the summit of one of the hills, where a clear
sweep had been made of all the houses standing there in order that
a stately temple should be erected on the site. Suddenly they heard
a scream in a female voice.
"There is some villainy going on, Boduoc, let us break in upon the
game." They ran at the top of their speed in the direction from
which they had heard the cry, and came upon a group of seven or
eight men, belonging, as they could see by the light of the moon,
to the dregs of the city. A female was lying on the ground, another
was clinging to her, and two men with coarse jeers and laughter
were dragging her from her hold when the two Britons ran up.
Beric struck one of the men to the ground with a terrible blow,
while Boduoc seizing the other hurled him through the air, and
he fell head foremost among a heap of the masonry of a demolished
building. The other men drew their knives, but as Beric and his
companion turned upon them there was a cry, "They are gladiators,"
and the whole of them without a moment's hesitation took to their
heels.
Beric then turned towards the females, and as the light of the moon
fell full on his face the one with whom the men had been struggling
exclaimed, "Why, it is surely Beric!"
Beric looked at her in surprise. "It is the lady Ennia!" he
exclaimed. "Why, what are you doing at this time of night in so
lonely a place, and without other attendants than this woman?"
"It is my nurse," Ennia said; "I was on my way with her, Beric, to
a secret meeting of Christians held in an underground room of one
of the villas that stood here. I have been there several times
before and we have not been molested, but, as I gathered from what
the men said, they noticed the light fall upon my necklace and
bracelet as I passed by a lamp, and so followed us. Happily they
overtook us before we reached the place of meeting. Had they followed
us farther they might have come upon us there, and then much more
harm would have been done. They came up and roughly demanded who
we were, and bade me hand over my jewels. Lycoris answered them,
and they struck her down. I threw myself down on her and clung to
her, but they would soon have plundered and perhaps killed me had
not you arrived."
"Do not you think, Ennia, that it is foolish and wrong of you thus
to go out unprotected at night to such a place as this, and, as I
suppose, without the knowledge of your father and mother?"
"They do not know," she said, "but it is my duty to go. It is the
only opportunity I have for hearing the Word preached."
"I cannot think, Ennia, that it is your duty," Beric said gravely.
"The first duty of a young woman is to obey her parents, and I
think that you, being as yet scarce a woman, are not able to judge
between one religion and another. I know nothing of the doctrines
of this sect save what your father told me; but he said that they
were good and pure, and, being so, I am sure that they cannot
countenance disobedience to parents."
"The words are 'Forsake all, and follow Me,'" Ennia said firmly.
"That could not have been said to one of your age, Ennia. I was
reading the Jewish sacred book the other day, and one of the chief
commandments is to honour your father and mother. Well, I think,
at any rate, that it were best not to go there tonight. These men
may return, and at any rate I will not allow you thus to wander
about at night unprotected. Boduoc and I will escort you to your
house. When you get there I trust that you will think this over,
and that you will see that such midnight excursions are altogether
wrong, whatever the motive may be; but at any rate, if you must go,
I must obtain your promise that you will write to me at the school
of Scopus the gladiator, to tell me at what hour you start. I shall
not intrude my presence upon you, nor accompany you, for this would
be to make myself an accomplice in what I consider your folly; but
I shall always be near you, and if you are again disturbed on your
way Boduoc and I will be at hand to punish those who meddle with
you."
The old nurse by this time had regained her feet.
"You are the nurse of this young lady," Beric said to her sternly,
"and should know better than to bring her into danger. If Norbanus
knew what you have done he would have you cut in pieces."
"It is not the fault of Lycoris. She begged and entreated me not to
come, but I would not listen to her. You are angry with me, Beric,
but you would not be angry if you knew what it was to me. Younger
than I have died for the Faith, and I would die too if it were
necessary."
Beric made no reply, he was indeed deeply vexed at what he
considered an act of mad folly. The daughters of Norbanus had been
very friendly and kind to him at Massilia, and he felt a debt of
gratitude to their father; and this escapade on the part of Ennia,
who was as yet scarce sixteen, vexed him exceedingly. He was not
sure, indeed, but that he ought to go straight to Norbanus and tell
him what had happened, yet he feared that in such a case the anger
of the magistrate would be so great that Ennia would be forced
by him into becoming one of the vestal virgins, or be shut up in
strict imprisonment. Scarce a word was spoken as they passed down
the hill and into the streets, now almost deserted. At last Ennia
stopped at the entrance used by the slaves to her father's house.
"Will you give me your promise," he asked, "about going out at
night again? I implore you, I beseech you do not again leave the
house of your father at night unknown to him. You cannot tell the
dangers you run by so doing, or the misery you may bring, not only
on yourself, but on your parents."
"I promise you," Ennia said. "I owe you so great a debt of gratitude
that even your harsh words do not anger me. I will think over what
you have said, and try to do what may seem to me my duty."
"That is all I ask," Beric said more gently; and then turning
walked away with Boduoc, who had but faintly understood what was
being said, but was surprised at the recognition between Beric and
this girl, whom he had not particularly noticed when at Massilia.
"That is Pollio's cousin, the younger daughter of the magistrate I
stayed with at Massilia. It was well for her that it was not Pollio
who came to her rescue instead of us."
"I should say so," Boduoc said dryly. "Pollio would scarcely be a
match for eight cutthroats."
"I did not mean that, Boduoc. I meant that he would have rated her
soundly."
"It seemed to me that you were rating her somewhat soundly, Beric.
I scarce ever heard you speak so harshly before, and I wondered the
more as you are neither kith nor kin to her, while by the heartiness
with which you scolded her you might have been her own brother."
"I did not think whether I had a right to scold her or not, Boduoc.
I liked both the maiden and her sister, and their father was very
kind to me. Moreover, after all Pollio has done for us, the least
I could do was to look after his cousin. But even if I had known
nothing whatever of her or her friends, I should have spoken just
as I did. The idea of a young girl like that wandering about at
night with no one but an old slave to protect her in an unfrequented
quarter of Rome! It is unheard of."
"But what were they doing there, Beric?"
"They were going to a meeting place of a new religion there is in
Rome. The people who belong to it are persecuted and obliged to
meet in secret. The old woman belongs to it, and has, I suppose,
taught Ennia. I have heard that the sect is spreading, and that
although most of those who adhere to it are slaves, or belong to
the poorer class, there are many of good family who have also joined
it."
"Well, I should have thought," Boduoc said, "that the Romans had
no cause to be dissatisfied with their gods. They have given them
victory, and dominion, and power, and wealth. What more could they
want of them? I could understand that we, whose god did nothing
to assist us in our fight against the Romans, should seek other
gods who might do more for us. But that a Roman should have been
discontented with his gods is more than I can understand. But what
is that sudden flash of light?"
"It is a fire, and in these narrow streets, with a brisk wind
blowing, it may well spread. There, do you hear the watchmen's
trumpets giving the alarm? Let us get back quickly, Boduoc. It may
be that we shall be all turned out to fight the fire if it spreads."
They were not far from the school now, and a few minutes' run took
them there. The house was quiet, but a few oil lamps burning here
and there enabled them to make their way to the broad planks,
arranged like a modern guard bed, on which they slept with their
three comrades.
"Is that you, Beric?" Scopus, who slept in a cubicule leading off
the great room, asked.
"Yes it is; Boduoc and I."
"You are very late," he growled. "Late hours are bad for the health.
Are you sober?"
Beric laughed.
"No, I need not ask you," Scopus went on. "If it had been some of
the others who had been out so late, I should have been sure they
would have come home as drunk as hogs; but that is not your way."
"There is a fire not very far off, Scopus, and the wind is blowing
strongly."
Scopus was at once on his feet and came out into the room. "I don't
like fires," he said uneasily. "Let us go up on the roof and see
what it is like."
Short as the time had been since Beric first saw the flash of
light the fire had already spread, and a broad sheet of flame was
shooting up into the air. "It is down there in the most crowded
quarter, and the wind is blowing strongly. It is likely to be a
big fire. Listen to the din."
A chorus of shouts, the shrieks of women, and the tramp of many
feet running, mingled with the sounding of the watchmen's horns.
"The soldiers will soon be there to keep order," Scopus said.
"As every household is obliged to keep a bucket in readiness, and
there is an abundance of water; they will cope with it. At any rate
the wind is not blowing in this direction. It is half a mile away
fully."
"Can we go down and see if we can be of any assistance?" Beric asked.
"We might help in removing goods from the houses, and in carrying
off the aged and sick."
"You can if you like, Beric. I would not say as much for those who
are training hard, for the loss of a night's rest is serious; but
as it will be some months before you Britons are ready for the
arena, it will do you no harm."
Beric went below, aroused his countrymen, and went with them and
Boduoc. The streets were alive. Men were running in the direction
of the fire carrying buckets; women were standing at the doors
inquiring of the passersby if they knew what street was on fire,
and whether it was likely to spread. The sound of military trumpets
calling the soldiers to arms rose in various parts of the city,
and mingled with the hoarse sound of the watchmen's horns. As they
approached the fire the crowd became thicker.
Beric admired the coolness shown and the order that already reigned.
The prefect of the 7th Cohort of the Night Guard, always on duty
to guard the streets from thieves or fire, was already on the spot,
and under his directions, and those of several inferior officials,
the men, as fast as they arrived, were set to pass buckets along
from the fountains and conduits.
"Who are you?" the magistrate asked, as the five tall figures came
up the street in the light of the fire.
"We belong to the school of Scopus," Beric said. "We have come
down to see if we can be of assistance. We are strong, and can move
goods from houses threatened, or carry off the sick should there
be any; or we can throw water on the flames."
"The soldiers will do that," the magistrate said, "that is their
business; but, as you say, you may be of use in helping clear the
houses outside their lines. The flames are spreading. Come with
me, I will take you to the centurion commanding a company of the
Night Guard here, for if he saw you coming out of the house with
goods he might take you for plunderers."
The centurion, who was hard at work with his men, nodded an assent.
"It were well to get some more stout fellows like these," he said
to the magistrate. "In spite of our efforts the fire is making
headway, and the sooner the houses in its path are stripped the
better."
A strong body of volunteers for the work was soon organized, and
an official placed in charge of it. All night they worked without
intermission, Beric and his comrades keeping together and astonishing
those who were working with them by the strength and activity they
displayed. But fast as they worked the flames advanced faster. They
were half suffocated by smoke, and the sparks fell thickly round
them. The workers carried the goods out of the houses into the
street, where other parties conveyed them to open spaces. Lines of
men down all the streets leading to the scene of the fire passed
along buckets of water. These the soldiers carried up on to the
roofs, which they deluged, while others wetted the hangings and
furniture that had not been removed.
Parties of troops strove to pull down the houses in the path of the
flames, while others again marched up and down preserving order.
The Night Guard entered the houses, compelled all to leave, and
saw that none were left behind; while sentries kept guard over the
goods piled high in the open spaces. When morning broke, Beric gave
up the work to a fresh party and returned with his companions to
the school. They found it deserted, save by the slaves, the others
having, as they learned, gone to the fire an hour before with
Scopus.
"We will have a bath to get rid of the dust and sweat," Beric said.
"But first we will go up to the roof and have a look at the fire.
We had no time when we were working to think much of it; but as
we were always being driven back by it, it must have spread a good
deal."
An exclamation of surprise broke from them when they gained the
roof. Smoke and flames were rising over a large area. A dense canopy
overhung the town, a confused din filled the air, while momentarily
deep heavy sounds told of falling roofs and walls.
"This is terrible, Boduoc."
"Why terrible, Beric? For my part I should like to see Rome utterly
destroyed, as she has destroyed so many other towns."
"The Romans would build it up again more magnificent than before,
Boduoc. No, it would be a misfortune to the world if Rome were
destroyed; but there is little chance of that. They have had many
fires before now; this is a large one certainly, but by this time
all the troops in the city must be there, and if the wind drops
they will soon arrest the progress of the flames."
The other Britons quite agreed with Boduoc, and though ready to work
their hardest to aid in saving the property of individuals, they
looked on with undisguised satisfaction at the great conflagration.
On such a point as this Beric knew that it would be useless to
argue with them.
"You had better come down from the roof, Boduoc. There are others
watching the fire besides ourselves; and if it were reported that
some of the gladiators from the school were seen making exulting
gestures, there would be a popular tumult, and it is likely as not
we should be charged with being the authors of the fire. Let us go
down, get some food, and then have a bath and sleep for a while.
There is little chance of the fire being checked at present. At
any rate, we have done our share of work."
After a few hours' sleep Beric again went up to the roof. The
fire had made great progress, and, as he could see, was not only
travelling with the wind, but working up against it. It was already
much nearer to the school than it had been. As to the width of the
area of the conflagration the smoke prevented him from forming any
opinion; but he judged that the length was fully a mile. It was
evident that the progress of the fire was causing great dismay.
Groups were gathered on the housetops everywhere, while the streets
were crowded with fugitives laden with household goods, making
their way towards the thinly populated portions of the hills. After
eating some bread and fruit, Beric again sallied out with his four
companions. On their way down they met Scopus with several of the
gladiators returning.
"What is being done, Scopus?"
"As far as stopping the fire nothing is being done. It has been
given up. What can be done when the fire is sweeping along a mile
broad, and the heat is so great that there is no standing within a
hundred yards of it? All the soldiers are there, and the magistrates
and the guards, and all the rest of them, but all that can be done
is to prevent the scum of the city from sacking and plundering.
Scores of men have been scourged and some beheaded, but it is no
easy matter to keep down the mob. There are parties of guards in
every street. The whole of the Praetorians are under arms, but the
terror and confusion is so great and spread over so wide a space
that it is well nigh impossible to preserve order. Proclamations
have just been issued by the senate calling upon all citizens
to gather at their places of assembly in arms, enjoining them to
preserve order, and authorizing the slaying of all robbers caught
in the act of plundering. All persons within a certain distance
of the fire are recommended to send their wives and families, with
their jewels and all portable wealth, to the public gardens, where
strong guards of the Praetorians will be posted."
"It seems to me that the fire is advancing in this direction, also,
Scopus."
"It is spreading everywhere," Scopus said gloomily. "The heat
seems to draw the air in from all directions, and the flames surge
sometimes one way and sometimes another. You had better not go far
away, Beric; if the flames crawl up much nearer we shall have to
prepare for a move. We have no jewels to lose, nor is the furniture
of much value, but the arms and armour, our apparatus, clothes,
and other things must be carried off."
The scene as Beric went forward was pitiful in the extreme. Weeping
women carrying heavy burdens and with their children clinging to
their dress came along. Some searched up and down frantically for
members of the family who had been lost in the crowd. Old men and
women were being helped along by their relations. The sick were
being borne past upon doors or the tops of tables.
Among the fugitives were groups of men from the poorest districts
by the river, who were only restrained from snatching at the
ornaments and caskets of the women by the presence of the soldiers,
standing at short intervals along the street and at the doors of the
principal houses. In spite of the vigilance of the guard, however,
such thefts occasionally took place, and the screams that from
time to time rose in the side streets told of the work of plunder
going on there.
"I should like to turn down here and give a lesson to some of these
villains," Boduoc said.
"I should like nothing better, Boduoc, but it would not do to get
into a fray at present. It would only bring up the guard, and they
would not be likely to ask many questions as to who was in fault,
but would probably assume at once that we, being gladiators, were
there for the purpose of robbery, and that the row had arisen over
the division of spoil. Look, there is a centurion taking a party
of men down the street where we heard those screams. Let us move
back a few paces and see what is going to happen. Yes, there is
another party of soldiers coming in at the other end. The women
are running out of the houses to tell their grievances."
Small parties of soldiers entered the houses. Shouts and yells could
be heard even above the surrounding din. Men jumped from windows
or ran out into the street only to be cut down by the troops there,
and so each body of soldiers continued to advance until they met
in the centre of the street, and then, after a few words between
the officers, each party returned by the way it had come. They had
done their work, and the street had been completely cleared of the
plunderers.
"You see, Boduoc, had we run down there when we heard the cries it
would have gone hard with us. The troops certainly spent no time
in questioning; the women might have told them, perhaps, that we
had come to their assistance; still it is just as well that we keep
clear of the matter."
Beric's party skirted along the fire for some distance. At some
points to windward of the flames efforts were still being made to
prevent their spread, large numbers of men being employed in pulling
down houses under the supervision of the fire guard. Bodies of
troops guarded the entrances to all the streets, and kept back the
crowd of sightseers, who had assembled from all parts of the city.
Fearing that they might be impressed for the work of demolition,
the Britons returned to the school. The familia, as the members
of any school of this kind were called, were all assembled. Scopus
was walking moodily up and down the gymnasium, but it was evident
by the countenances of most of the men that they felt a deep
satisfaction at the misfortune that had befallen Rome. From time
to time Scopus ascended to the roof, or sent one of the men out
to gather news, but it was always to the same effect, the fire was
still spreading, and assuming every hour more serious proportions.
Towards evening the flames had approached so closely, that Scopus
gave orders for the men to take up the bundles that had already
been made up, containing everything of any value in the school.
"You had better not wait any longer," he said; "at any moment there
may be orders for all schools to go down to help the troops, and
then we should lose everything."
Accordingly the heavy packets were lifted by the men on to their
heads or shoulders, and they started for the Palatine, which was
the nearest hill. Here were many of the houses of the wealthy, and
the owners of most of these had already thrown open their gardens
for the use of the fugitives. In one of these the gladiators
deposited their goods. Two of the party having been left to guard
them the rest went out to view the fire.
There was little sleep in Rome that night. It was now evident to all
that this was no local conflagration, but that, if the wind continued
to blow, it threatened the entire destruction of a considerable
portion of the town. Every space and vantage ground from which a
view of the fire could be obtained was crowded with spectators.
"There were great fires when we destroyed Camalodunum, Verulamium,
and London," Boduoc said, "but this is already larger than any of
those, and it is ever spreading; even at this distance we can hear
the roar of the flames, the crash of the falling houses, and the
shouts of the workers."
"It is a terrible sight, indeed, Boduoc. It looks like a sea of
fire. So far the part involved is one of the oldest and poorest
in the city, but if it goes on like this the better quarters will
soon be threatened. If we get no special orders tomorrow, we will
go down to the house of Norbanus and give what help we can in the
removal of his goods. His library is a very valuable one, and its
loss would be a terrible blow to him. I remember that at Camalodunum
there was nothing I regretted so much as the destruction of the
books."
"It is all a matter of taste," Boduoc said. "I would rather have a
good suit of armour and arms than all the books in Rome. Why some
people should worry their brains to make those little black marks
on paper, and others should trouble to make out what they mean, is
more than I can understand. However, we shall be glad to help you
to carry off the goods of Norbanus."