The next day it was old Mesembrius' first care to send for his
daughter and speak to her of Manlius, whom, of course, he praised
according to his deserts.
The young girl's cheeks glowed during the conversation, and, as her
face betrayed, she confessed to her father, with sincere joy, that she
had long loved the young soldier.
Mesembrius could not find words to express his pleasure. He embraced
Sophronia again and again, and with tears of happiness placed her in
the arms of Manlius, who entered at that moment.
"My only blessing," he faltered, in tones trembling with emotion.
"O my father," said Sophronia mournfully, "do not say your only
blessing. You have another daughter."
"May my curse rest upon her head. Hasten your marriage, and then go
far, far away from here. So far that not even a cloud from this sky
can follow you. This soil is already so laden with sins that it
trembles every moment under them as if it could no longer bear the
burden. Go hence, that you may not perish with the guilty. I only wish
to live for the moment that I know you are happy and beyond the two
seas; then, for aught I care, death or Carinus may come."
That very hour Manlius returned to Rome to set his house in order, and
when he had made all the preparations for the wedding, he again
mounted his horse, and late in the evening rode to old Mesembrius'
villa.
It was already past midnight. The sky was covered with clouds. He
could only move at a walk, when, on reaching a bridge, he saw a dark
group of people coming from a side path.
It seemed to be a band of prisoners guarded by soldiers. At that time
of wars with the barbarians, robbers and thieves had increased so much
that they gave the praetorians uninterrupted work. Manlius supposed
that he had met such a company, and quietly returned the salute of the
passing soldiers.
Only one circumstance seemed strange--a woman's tall figure, with a
long white mantle floating around it, rode at the end of the train.
When she saw Manlius stop she stopped too, as if she expected
something. They remained thus a short time, looking at each other;
then they turned and rode on. It was impossible to distinguish any
one's features in the darkness.
Manlius paused again, glanced back, and considered whether to return
and ask some question; he did not know himself what.
But pleasanter thoughts soon occupied his mind, and as the clouds
parted, allowing a silvery streak to glide over the Tiber, his spirits
also brightened, and he dashed joyously forward to the beloved home of
Sophronia.
He could already see the colossal outlines of the Mesembrius villa,
when he perceived in the road a magnificent _lectica_, inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and hung with silk curtains, such as in those days
only the most aristocratic women used in traveling. Two splendidly
caparisoned sumpter mules were harnessed to the four poles, beside
which marched two slaves.
Therefore the young man's surprise was so much the greater when he saw
a man's ugly, pock-marked face thrust out between the curtains, and
instantly recognised Aevius, the base parasite, who was ready for half
a sestertia to compose a panegyric upon the last gladiator, and had
prepared for Carinus Caesar's greyhound a genealogy, according to
which, on the mother's side, it had descended directly from the
she-wolf that suckled the twin brothers Romulus and Remus.
Manlius could not repress a smile at the singular situation of the
panegyrist.
"Oho, Aevius, how long has the Caesar had you carried about in a
_lectica_ like an aristocratic courtesan?"
"Be merciful, Manlius, and do not jeer at me. I am the most miserable
writer of verse since Pegasus became the steed of poets. Just think
what a favorable opportunity presented itself to secure immortality.
Yesterday afternoon I learned that by the Caesar's command a band of
idol-worshipping Christians would be surprised at their meeting place
on the Tiber; and I instantly hired a horse--a horse that exactly
suited me, for I could not miss the chance of perpetuating so rare a
spectacle by the power of my lyre for the benefit of posterity. There
would be so many things priceless to us poets, such as killing,
crucifixion, boiling in pitch, and similar matters. And now how have I
fared! On the way the gods of Egypt threw me into the company of an
accursedly charming woman who was being borne along in this superb
traveling litter. First, this woman lured my secret from me, then she
lured me off my horse to sit by her side in the _vehiculum_; and with
Junonian perfidy to a heaven-aspiring Ixion, she sprang out on the
other side, swung herself upon my horse, which she sat with the ease
of an Amazon queen, and laughing merrily gave me the advice, if I was
a poet, to use Pegasus, then dashed along the road I had pointed out,
leaving me in this time-killing apparatus, which is more tiresome than
the hour-glass. She probably reached the scene of the spectacle in
season, while I, with these two mules and two asses, lost my way so
completely that I am obliged to return to Rome."
Manlius held his breath as he listened to the parasite's words.
"Who was this woman?" he asked in a hollow tone.
"Don't you know her _lectica_, Manlius? Ah, you are still a novice in
Rome if you do not, and doubtless come from very distant lands where
such things are not mentioned, _gelidis Scythiae ab oris_. This is the
_vehiculum_ of the unaccountable and indescribable Glyceria, and the
woman who outwitted me was no other than the Circe who has turned
goddess, is worshipped by every one, including myself and Carinus, and
who thus maltreats every one and changes her adorers, including myself
and Carinus, into calves and oxen."
Manlius did not hear the poet's last words. When the name "Glyceria"
reached him, he struck his heels into his horse's flanks, and as
though he felt the scourge of the Furies upon him, dashed wildly into
the courtyard of the Villa Mesembrius.
The old man, without noticing the expression of rage, terror, and
despair that darkened the knight's face, met him with a smile.
"Is your daughter at home?" asked Manlius, trembling in every limb,
and as the old man did not answer at once, he repeated anxiously:
"Where is your daughter, Mesembrius?"
The aged Senator drew the youth, who was impatiently awaiting his
reply, aside, and whispered:
"I will tell you the secret, but act as though you did not know it.
She is in the habit of attending the meetings of the Christians. She
has gone to one now, and has not yet returned."
Manlius, trembling, raised both clenched hands heavenward, and
shrieked:
"Cursed be the heaven which permitted this to happen!"
Mesembrius drew back in astonishment, asking in a tone of
bewilderment: "What is the matter?"
Manlius despairingly grasped the old man's hand.
"You have been robbed of your daughter."
Mesembrius' face blanched, and sinking back into his chair he faltered
with fixed eyes, "Glyceria!"
"Yes, you are right; she has robbed you of her. And I, blind fool, met
them, and these eyes did not recognize her in the darkness; this
pitiable heart did not feel that, five steps off, she was being borne
away from me. If it could happen that the sister dragged the sister to
death before the lover's eyes, what means your sovereignty, Jupiter,
Ormuzd, Zeus, Zebaoth, and the rest of ye chosen kings of destiny?
Fiends rule the earth, and fate is an evil omen! But I, too, will be
no better. Old man, gather all your curses, begin to pour them forth
at dawn, and do not cease till nightfall. Meanwhile I will act. May
Dira aid me."
The old man, as though stricken by palsy, repeated: "My daughter; oh,
my daughter--"
Manlius compressed his lips; a bloody mist flickered before his eyes.
"Your daughter? I will avenge one and kill the other! May Ate be with
us both.[2]"
[Footnote 2: The goddess who avenged evil deeds.]
As he spoke he swung himself upon his horse, and looking neither to
the right nor to the left, galloped back at frantic speed to Rome.