The Emperor opened the tablets, and read:
"To Justinian, Emperor of the Romans, Amalaswintha, Queen of the Goths
and the Italians."
"Queen of the Italians!" laughed Justinian; "what an insane title!"
"From Alexandros you will learn how Eris and Ate haunt this land. I am
like a lonely palm-tree which is tossed by opposing winds. Each day
increases the barbarians' enmity to me, and daily I become more
estranged from them; and the Romans, however much I try to conciliate
them, can never forget that I am of Germanic origin. Till now I have
defied all danger with a firm spirit; but I can do so no longer, if my
palace and my person are not in security. I cannot rely upon any party
in this country. Therefore I appeal to you, as my royal brother.
It is the dignity of all rulers, and the peace of Italy, which
you will protect. Send me, I beseech you, a trustworthy troop, a
life-guard"--the Emperor cast a significant look at Belisarius--"a
troop of some thousand men, with a leader who will be unconditionally
devoted to me. They shall occupy the palace; it is a fortress in
itself. As to Rome, these troops must, above all things, keep from me
the Prefect Cethegus, who is as full of duplicity as he is powerful,
and who deserted me in the danger into which he himself had led me. If
necessary, they must ruin him. When I have overthrown my enemies, and
secured my kingdom, as I trust in Heaven and my own strength that I
shall, I will send back troops and leader richly laden with gifts, and
still more with warm thanks.--_Vale_."
Justinian clasped the wax-tablets tightly in his hand; his eyes shone;
his plain features were ennobled by an expression of high intellectual
power; and the present moment showed, that together with many
weaknesses and littlenesses, he possessed strength and greatness: the
greatness of diplomatic genius.
"In this letter," he cried at last, with sparkling eyes, "I hold Italy
and the Gothic kingdom!"
And, much agitated, he paced the room with long strides, even
forgetting to bow before the Cross.
"A life-guard! that she shall have! But not a few thousand men; many
thousands--more than she will like; and you, Belisarias, shall lead
them."
"Deign to look at the presents," said Alexandros, pointing to a costly
shrine of cypress-wood, inlaid with gold, which a slave had set down
behind him. "Here is the key."
And he held out a little box of tortoise-shell, which was closed with
the Queen's seal.
"Her picture is there too," he said, raising his voice as if by
accident.
At the moment in which Alexandros raised his voice, the head of a woman
was protruded gently and unnoticed through the curtain, and two
sparkling black eyes looked keenly at the Emperor.
Justinian opened the shrine, quickly pushed aside its costly contents,
and hastily caught up a simple tablet of polished box-wood, with a
small golden frame.
A cry of astonishment involuntarily burst from his lips, his eyes
sparkled, and he showed the picture to Belisarius.
"A splendid woman! What majesty on her brow! One sees that she is a
born ruler--a king's daughter!" and he gazed admiringly at the noble
features.
The curtain rustled, and the listener entered.
It was Theodora, the Empress. A seductive apparition.
All the arts of woman's inventive genius in a time of refined luxury,
and all the means of an empire, were daily called into requisition, in
order to keep the beauty of this woman--who had impaired it only too
much by a life of unbridled sensuality--fresh and dazzling. Gold-dust
gave to her blue-black hair a metallic brilliancy; it was carefully
combed up from the nape of her neck, in order to show the beautiful
shape of her head, and its fine set upon her shoulders. Her eyebrows
and eye-lashes were dyed black with Arabian antimony; and so carefully
was the red of her lips put on, that even Justinian, who kissed those
lips, never suspected an aid to Nature by means of Ph[oe]nician
scarlet. Every tiny hair on her alabaster arm had been carefully
destroyed: and the delicate rose-colour of her finger-nails was the
daily care of a specially-appointed slave.
And yet, without all these arts, Theodora, who was not yet forty years
of age, would have passed for an extremely lovely woman. Her
countenance was certainly not noble; no noble, or even proud spirit,
spoke from her fatigued and weirdly shining eyes; round her lips played
an habitual smile, the dimples of which indicated the place of the
first future wrinkle; and her cheeks, beneath the eyes, showed traces
of exhaustion.
But as she now gracefully moved towards the Emperor, delicately holding
up the heavy folds of her dark-yellow silk robes with her left hand,
her whole appearance produced a bewitching charm, similar to the sweet
and soothing scent of Indian balsam which she shed around her.
"What pleases my imperial lord so much? May I share his delight?" she
asked in a sweet and flattering voice.
Those present prostrated themselves before the Empress, scarcely less
humbly than before the Emperor.
Justinian started upon seeing her, as if he had been caught in some
culpable act, and tried to conceal the portrait in the folds of his
chlamys. But it was too late. The Empress had already fixed her quick
eyes upon it.
"We are admiring," said the Emperor, "the--the fine chasing of the gold
frame."
And, blushing, he gave her the portrait.
"Well," said Theodora, smiling, "there is not much to admire in the
frame. But the picture is not bad. It is surely the Gothic Queen?"
The ambassador bowed assent.
"Not bad, as I said before; but barbaric, severe, unwomanly. How old
may she be, Alexandros?"
"About forty-five."
Justinian looked at the picture and then at the ambassador.
"The picture was taken fifteen years ago," said Alexandros, as if in.
explanation.
"No," said the Emperor, "you mistake; here stands the date, according
to the indiction[5] and the consul, and the date of her accession; it
is of this year."
An awkward pause ensued.
"Well," stammered Alexandros, "then the artists flatter like----"
"Like courtiers," concluded the Emperor.
But Theodora came to the ambassador's aid.
"Why do we chatter about portraits and the age of strange women, when
we should think only of the empire? What news brings Alexandras? Are
you decided, Justinianus?"
"Almost. I only wished to hear your opinion, and, I know, you are in
favour of war."
Narses quietly interposed. "Wherefore, sire, did you not at once tell
us that the Empress was in favour of war? We could have spared our
words."
"What! would you insinuate that I am the slave of my wife?"
"Guard your tongue better," said Theodora angrily. "Many who seemed
invulnerable, have been stung by their own sharp tongues."
"You are very imprudent, Narses," said Justinian.
"Emperor," he answered, "I have long since ceased to be prudent. We
live in a time, in a realm, and at a court, where, for any word that we
speak or leave unspoken, we may fall into disgrace and be ruined. As
any word of mine may cause my death, I will at least die for words that
please me."
The Emperor smiled.
"You must confess, patrician, that I can bear a great deal of
plain-speaking."
"You are by nature great, O Justinianus, and a magnanimous ruler; else
Narses would not serve you. But Omphale rendered even Hercules small."
The eyes of the Empress shone with hatred.
Justinianus became uneasy.
"Go," he said, "I will consult with the Empress alone. To-morrow you
shall hear my decision."