THE SWORD OF THE DEAD.
“It is well done,” said Eboracus in an undertone to the physician;
“Otherwise there had been the cross for you and me. The thong broke.”
“I severed it,” said Luke.
“That I saw,” said the slave, “I shall report that it yielded. One must
obey a master even to the risk of the cross. Did’st see the noble Lamia,
how ready he was? He assumed the mask of my dead master and we have
slipped by and sent a shiver through the whole company of the Trireme, and
the August too, I trow,—for they have thought us the Ship of the Dead.”
After a pause he said,—“In my home we hold that all souls go to sea in a
phantom vessel; and sail away to the West, to the Isles of the Blessed. At
night a dark ship with a sail as a thundercloud comes to the shore, and
those near can hear the dead in trains go over the beach and enter the
ghostly vessel, till she is laden, and then she departs.”
The Artemis made her way without disaster to Rhegium, and thence coasted
up Italy to the port of Rome. She had gained on the Imperial vessel, that
was delayed at Brundusium to collect the scattered fleet. Nero would not
land until he reached Neapolis, and then not till all his wreaths and
golden apples, as well as his entire wardrobe of costumes and properties
had arrived.
Then only did he come ashore, and he did so to commence a triumphal
progress through the Peninsula, the like of which was never seen before
nor will be seen again.
This was on the 19th March, the anniversary of the murder of his mother.
On the same day a letter was put into his hands announcing the revolt of
the legions in Gaul and the proclamation of Galba, at that time Governor
of Spain.
So engrossed, however, was his mind with preparation for his theatrical
procession, that he paid no heed to the news, nor was he roused till he
read the address of Vindex, who led the revolt, denouncing him as a
“miserable fiddler.”
This touched him to the quick, and he addressed an indignant despatch to
the Senate, demanding that Vindex should be chastised, and appealed to the
prizes he had gained as testimony to his musical abilities.
So he started for Rome.
Eighteen hundred and eight heralds strutted before him, bearing in their
hands the crowns that had been awarded him and announcing when and how he
had succeeded in winning the award.
He entered Rome in this leisurely manner, in a triumphal chariot, wearing
a purple robe, embroidered with gold, an olive garland about his head.
Beside him a harper struck his instrument and chanted his praises.
The houses were decorated with festoons, the streets were strewn with
saffron; singing birds, comfits, flowers were scattered by the people
before him. If the Senate expected that now the prince was in Rome, he
would attend to business, it was vastly mistaken. His first concern was to
arrange for a splendid exhibition in which he might gratify the public
with a finished study of his acting and singing.
Solicitude about his triumph, his voice, his reception, had so completely
filled the shallow mind of Nero, that he gave no further thought to the
vessel that had shot out of the darkness, nearly fouled his galley, and
which had been apparently commanded by one of his noblest victims.
Longa Duilia arrived on the Gabian estate, with the corpse of her husband,
her daughter, Lucius Lamia, and her entire “family,” as the company of
household slaves was termed, without accident and without deter.
Gabii lay eleven miles from Rome at the foot of one of the spurs of the
Alban mountains. The town stood on a small knoll rising out of the
Campagna. The stone of which it was built was dark, being a volcanic
peperino; it was perhaps one of the least attractive sites for a country
residence, which a Roman noble could have selected; but this was not
without its advantage, when Emperors acted as did Ahab, and cut off those
whose villas and vineyards attracted their covetous eyes.
A lake occupied the crater of an extinct volcano; the water was dark as
ink, but this was due rather to the character of the bottom, than to
depth, which was inconsiderable.
The villa and its gardens lay by the water’s edge. The old city not
flourishing, but maintaining a languid existence, was famous for nothing
but a peculiarity in girding the toga adopted by the men, by the dinginess
of its building stone, and by its temple of Juno, an object of pilgrimage
when the deities of other shrines had proved unwilling or unable to help,
a sort of pis-aller of devotion.
Longa Duilia hated the place; it was dull, and she would never have
frequented it, had it not been the fashion at the period for all people of
good family to affect a love of retirement into the country, and to
pretend a taste for simplicity of rural life. Some fine fops had their
“chambers of poverty” to which on occasions they retired, to lie on mats
upon the ground, and eat pulse out of common earthenware. Such periods of
self-denial added zest to luxury.
Domitia, on the other hand, was attached to the place. It was associated
with the innocent pleasures of earliest childhood. Its spring flowers were
the loveliest she had ever culled, its June strawberries the most
delicious she had ever eaten. And the lake teeming with char gave
opportunities for boating and fishing.
Here was the family burial-place; and here Corbulo was to be burnt, and
then his ashes collected and consigned to the mausoleum.
Messengers had been sent forth to invite the attendance of all relations,
acquaintances and dependents.
The invitation was couched, according to unalterable custom, in antiquated
terms, hardly intelligible. When on the day appointed for the ceremony,
vast numbers were collected, the funeral procession started.
First went the musicians under the conduct of a Master of the Ceremonies.
By law, the number of flautists was limited to ten.
Then followed the professional mourners, hired for the occasion from the
temple of Libitina, the priests of which were the licensed undertakers.
These mourners chanted the nænia, a lament composed for the purpose of
lauding the acts of the deceased and of reciting his honors. When they
paused at the conclusion of a strophe, horns and trumpets brayed.
Immediately after the wailers walked a train of actors, one of whom was
dressed in the insignia of the deceased and wore a mask representing him.
He endeavored to mimic each peculiarity of the man he personated, and
buffoons around by their antics and jests provoked the spectators to
laughter. This farcical exhibition was calculated to moderate the
excessive grief superinduced by the lament of the wailers.
Then came the grand procession of the ancestors, especially dear to the
heart of the widow. Not only did the effigies of the direct forefathers
appear, but all related families trotted out their ancestors, to attend
the illustrious dead, so that there cannot have been less than a hundred
present.
As already mentioned, the wax masks of the dead of a family ornamented
every nobleman’s hall, usually enclosed in boxes with the titles of the
defunct inscribed on them in gold characters. These were now produced. The
mimes were costumed appropriately, as senators, generals, magistrates,
with their attendants, wearing the wax masks, and artificial heads of
hair.
The idea represented was that of the ancestors having returned from the
land of Shadows to fetch their descendant and accompany him to the nether
world. The corpse, that lay on a bier in the hall, was now taken up, and
carried forth to a loud cry from all in the house of “Vale! Farewell! Fare
thee well!” Between the lips of the dead man was a coin, placed there as
payment of the toll across the River of Death in the ferry-boat of Charon.
On each side of the bier walked attendants carrying lighted torches. In
ancient times all funerals had been conducted at night. Now the only
reminiscence of this custom was in the bearing of lights; but the torches
served as well a practical purpose, as they were employed to kindle the
pyre.
Before the dead were carried the insignia of his offices, pictures of the
battles he had won and statues of the kings and chiefs he had conquered.
The corpse was followed by a number of manumitted slaves, all wearing the
cap of liberty, in token of their freedom. Finally came the members of the
family, friends, retainers, and the sympathizing public.
Longa Duilia and Domitia Longina walked in their proper place, with
dishevelled hair, unveiled heads, and in the _ricinium_ or black garment
thrown over their tunics; the men all wore the _pænula_, or short
travelling cloak.
The procession advanced into the marketplace of Gabii, where Lucius Lamia
ascended the _rostrum_ to pronounce the funeral oration.
Immediately, ivory chairs and inlaid stools were ranged in a crescent
before him, and on these the ancestors seated themselves, the bier being
placed before them.
The panegyric was addressed to the crowd outside the circle of mimes with
wax faces. Lamia had a gift of natural eloquence, his feelings were
engaged, but his freedom of speech was hampered by necessity of caution in
allusion to the death of Corbulo, lest some word should be let slip which
might be caught up and tortured into a treasonable reference to Nero.
The Laudation ended, the entire assembly arose and re-formed in procession
to the place of burning, which by law must be sixty feet from any
building. There a pit had been excavated and a grating placed above it. On
this grating the pyre was erected, consisting of precious woods, sprinkled
with gums and spices.
To this the corpse was conveyed. But, previous to its being placed on the
fagots, a surgeon amputated one of the fingers, which was preserved for
burial, and then a handful of earth was thrown over the face of the
deceased.
Anciently the Roman dead had been buried, and when the fashion for
incineration came in, a trace of the earlier usage remained in the burial
of a member and the covering of the face with soil.
And now ensued a repulsive scene, one without which no great man’s funeral
would have been considered as properly performed.
Through the crowd pushed two small parties of gladiators, three in each,
hired for the occasion of a company that let them out. Then ensued a
fight—not mimic, but very real, in front and round the pyre. Now a
hard-pressed gladiator ran and was pursued, turned sharply and hacked at
his follower. This was continued till three men had fallen and had been
stabbed in the breast. Whereupon, the survivors sheathed their swords,
bowed and withdrew.
The torches were now put into the hands of Duilia and Domitia, and with
averted faces they applied the fire to the fagot, and a sheet of flame
roared up and enveloped the dead man.
And now the mourners raised their loudest cries, tore their hair,
scarified their cheeks with their nails; pipes, flutes, horns were blown.
In a paroxysm of distress, partly real, partly feigned, a rush was made to
the pyre, and all who got near cast some offering into the flames—cakes,
flowers, precious stuffs, rings, bracelets, and coins.
Duilia, in tragic woe, disengaged a mass of artificial hair from her head,
and cast it into the fire. Then rang out the sacramental cry:—“_I, licet!_
You are permitted to retire,” and gladly, sick at heart and faint, Domitia
was supported rather than walked home.
Some hours later, when the ashes of the defunct had been collected and
deposited in an urn, which was conveyed to the mausoleum, Lucius Lamia
came to the house and inquired for the ladies.
He was informed that the widow was too much overcome by her feelings to
see any one, but that Domitia was in the _tablinum_ and would receive him.
He at once entered the hall and stepped up into the apartment where she
was seated, looking pale and worn, with tear-reddened eyes.
She rose, and with a sweet sad smile, extended her hand to Lamia.
“No, Domitia,” said he gently, “as your dear father gave me permission on
the wharf at Cenchræa, I will claim the same privilege now.”
She held her cold, tear-stained cheek to him without a word, then returned
to and sank on her stool.
“I thank you, dear friend, and almost brother,” she said. “You spoke nobly
of my father, though not more nobly than he deserved. Here, my Lucius, is
a present for you, I intrust it to you—his sword, which he used so
gallantly, on which he fell, and still marked with his blood.”