TO ITALY.
The _Ino_ had a quick and prosperous voyage. But though Cleanor arrived
safely at his destination, he learned, not without astonishment, that he
had been running a very considerable danger of having a different ending
to his travels. The Roman Republic was extending her borders in every
direction, and was levelling to the dust the cities which had disputed
with her the empire of the world, but she suffered herself to be
insulted and her citizens and allies to be maltreated by insignificant
enemies. While her legions and fleets were winning great victories
abroad, her own coasts were harried by pirates. Near Ithaca the _Ino_
picked up a boat in which were three sailors reduced to the last stage
of exhaustion by hunger and thirst. The poor fellows, who were almost
unconscious when they were taken on board, had a piteous story to tell
when they had recovered sufficient strength to speak. They had been
drifting about for nine days, and were the survivors of a company of
nine, the crew of a trader of Patræ which was bound with a cargo of wine
for Tarentum.
"We were overhauled," said the captain, who was one of the three, "when
we had accomplished half our voyage by a Cilician pirate galley. They
took what they wanted of my cargo, scuttled my ship, and being, for some
reason or other, in high good-humour, instead of making us walk the
plank, as is their common custom, let us take our chance in our boat,
and even gave us a keg of water and a bag of biscuits. This was my first
venture on my own account," said the man, with tears in his eyes, "and I
have lost everything I had in the world. We pay taxes to the Romans; why
don't they keep the seas safe for us?"
"Why, indeed?" said the captain of the _Ino_. "Things are far worse
now," he continued, addressing himself to Cleanor, "than they were when
I first began to sail these seas some thirty years ago. They used to be
fairly well kept in those days by the Rhodian ships. It was very seldom
that the pirates ever came west of Cyprus. But then Rhodes began to go
down the hill. She was ruined by Delos being made a free port, and could
not afford to keep up her fleet. Since then things have been going from
bad to worse. You wouldn't believe, sir, the things that have happened
almost in the sight of Rome. Two years ago half of a prætor's
establishment was carried off as it was on its way along the coast-road
from Barium to Brundisium, and it was only by good luck that they did
not lay hands upon the great man himself. He happened to have gone on in
advance instead of being behind, as was usual. Perhaps if they had
caught him something might have been done. As it is, nobody seems to
care."
The next day the _Ino_ herself had what looked like a narrow escape.
At daybreak the look-out man descried in the offing a craft of
suspicious-looking build, long, and low in the water. It was then almost
a dead calm, and if the stranger was a pirate, as seemed only too
likely, her long sweeps would soon bring her dangerously near. "We will
have a fight for it," said the captain, as he inspected his stock of
arms.
Happily the occasion to use them never arrived. A brisk breeze sprang up
as the sun rose higher, and the _Ino_, which was an excellent sailer,
soon left the strange ship far behind. The same evening she was moored
to one of the quays in the harbour of Brundisium. By noon next day
Cleanor was well on his way along the great Appian Road to Rome.
It was yet early in the autumn, the unhealthiest time of the year, then
as now, for the Italian capital, and the city was empty, as far at least
as its wealthier inhabitants were concerned. The translation committee,
however, was about to commence its work, which was considered to be
urgent. Scipio, with the thoughtful kindness which was characteristic
of him, had placed a villa of his own near Ostia at the disposal of the
members, and they were able to devote themselves to their task under
favourable conditions of health and quiet. Under these pleasant
circumstances the work progressed rapidly. Cleanor's assistance was
found to be of the greatest value. He was now equally familiar with the
three languages, Carthaginian, Greek, and Latin. The first two had been
spoken almost indifferently in his native town; the third he had learned
grammatically in his childhood, and he had since acquired the colloquial
use of it. It is easy to understand how useful an educated man, who had
had these unusual advantages, could be in dealing with a book which was
largely concerned with common things and the affairs of everyday life.
Not one of his colleagues united in himself so many qualifications.
The time, taken up as it was with this occupation, passed quickly, and,
on the whole, pleasantly enough. Still, the continuous labour, and the
sedentary life, so unlike the continuous activity in which he had spent
the preceding months, began to tell upon his health and spirits, and he
was glad when the approach of the Holidays of Saturn[69] promised an
interval of rest and, possibly, a change of scene. It was with no small
delight that early in December he received a letter from the younger
Scipio. It was as follows:--
_L. Cornelius Scipio to his friend Cleanor, heartily greeting._
_This is but the third day since I arrived in Italy, and I
hasten to make sure that we should meet as soon as possible. My
aunt Cornelia, from whose villa at Misenum I am now writing,
invites you, as I write at her request, to spend here the
approaching holiday. She desires me to say that she now hears
for the first time where you are and what you are doing. Other
things concerning you have been told her, not without much
praise, by some whose names I need not mention. Come, therefore,
as soon as circumstances permit. That you will come welcome to
many, and especially to me, be assured. Farewell!_
FOOTNOTE:
69: The "Holidays of Saturn" (_Saturnalia_) occurred in the
early part of the latter half of December. They extended to as
many as seven days. It is not improbable that they were, in a
way, carried on by the Christmas festivities.