"To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than
vanity."--PSALM LXII. 9.
As the day wore on, trade became more brisk and the work of the lictors
more arduous, for the crowd was dense and the bargain-hunters eager to
push to the front.
Now a bronze-skinned artisan with slender limbs and narrow tapering
hands was attracting attention. He was standing on the platform, passive
and indifferent, apparently unconscious alike of the scorching sun which
bit into his bare flesh, as of the murmurs of the dealers round him and
the eloquence of the African up on the rostrum, who was shouting himself
hoarse in praise of his wares.
"A leather worker from Hispania," he thundered with persuasive rhetoric,
"his age but two dozen years, his skill unequalled on either bank of the
Tiber ... A tunic worked by him is softer than the fleeciest wool, and
the sheath of a dagger becomes in his hands as hard as steel.... Good
health and strength, two thousand sesterces were a poor price to pay for
the use of these skilled hands.... Two thousand sesterces.... His
lordship's grace, the censor Arminius Quirinius paid four thousand for
him...."
He paused a moment whilst a couple of Jews from Galilee, in long dark
robes and black caps covering their shaggy hair, turned critically round
this paragon from Hispania, lifted his hands and gazed on each
finger-tip as if trying to find traces on these of that much-vaunted
skill.
"Two thousand sesterces, kind sirs, and you will have at your disposal
the talent of a master in the noble art of leather working; pouches and
coverings for your chairs, caskets and sword-hilts, nothing comes amiss
to him.... Come! shall we say two thousand sesterces?"
The Jews were hesitating. With a rapid glance of their keen, deep-set
eyes they consulted one with the other, whilst their long bony fingers
wandered hesitatingly to the wallets at their belts.
"Two thousand sesterces!" urged the auctioneer, as he looked with marked
severity on the waverers.
He himself received a percentage on the proceeds of the sale, a few
sesterces mayhap that would go to swell the little hoard which
ultimately would purchase freedom. The scribes stilet in hand waited in
patient silence. The praefect, indifferent to the whole transaction, was
staring straight in front of him, like one whose thoughts are strangers
to his will.
"One thousand we'll give," said one of the Jews timidly.
"Nay! an you'll not give more, kind sirs," quoth the auctioneer airily,
"this paragon among leather workers will bring fortune to your rival
dealers...."
"One thousand," repeated one of the intending purchasers, "and no more."
The African tried persuasion, contempt, even lofty scorn; he threatened
to withdraw the paragon from the sale altogether, for he knew of a
dealer in leather goods over in Corinth who would give two fingers of
his own hand for the exclusive use of those belonging to this Hispanian
treasure.
But the Jews were obstinate. With the timid obstinacy peculiar to their
race, they stuck to their point and refused to be enticed into
purposeless extravagance.
In the end the wonderful worker in leather was sold to the Jew traders
from Galilee for the sum of one thousand sesterces; his dark face had
expressed nothing but stolid indifference whilst the colloquy between
the purchasers and the auctioneer had been going on.
The next piece of goods however was in more pressing demand; a solid
German, with massive thorax half-hidden beneath a shaggy goatskin held
in at the waist by a belt; his hairy arms bare to the shoulder, his
gigantic fists clenched as if ready to fell an ox.
A useful man with plough or harrow, he was said to be skilled in smith's
work too. After a preliminary and minute examination of the man's
muscles, of his teeth, of the calves of his legs, bidding became very
brisk between an agriculturist from Sicilia and a freedman from the
Campania, until the praefect himself intervened, desiring the slave for
his own use on a farm which he had near Ostia.
Some waiting-maids from Judæa fetched goodly money; an innkeeper of
Etruria bought them, for they were well-looking and knew how to handle
and carry wine jars without shaking up the costly liquor; and the
negroes were sought after by the lanistae for training to gladiatorial
combats.
Scribes were also in great demand for copying purposes. The
disseminators of the news of the day were willing to pay high prices for
quick shorthand writers who had learned their business in the house of
Arminius the censor.
In the meanwhile the throng in the Forum had become more and more dense.
Already one or two gorgeously draped litters had been seen winding their
way in from the Sacra Via or the precincts of the temples, their silken
draperies making positive notes of brilliant colour against the
iridescent whiteness of Phrygian marble walls.
The lictors now had at times to use their flails against the crowd.
Room had to be made for the masters of Rome, the wealthy and the idle,
who threw sesterces about for the gratification of their smallest whim,
as a common man would shake the dust from his shoes.
Young Hortensius Martius, the rich patrician owner of five thousand
slaves, had stepped out of his litter, and a way being made for him in
the crowd by his men, he had strolled up to the rostrum, and mounting
its first gradient he leaned with studied grace against the block of
white marble, giving to the common herd below the pleasing spectacle of
a young exquisite, rich and well-favoured--his handsome person carefully
perfumed and bedecked after the morning bath, his crisp fair hair
daintily curled, his body clad in a tunic of soft white wool splendidly
worked in purple stripes, the insignia of his high patrician state.
He passed a languid eye over the bundle of humanity spread out for sale
at his feet and gave courteous greeting to the praefect.
"Thou art early abroad, Hortensius Martius," quoth Taurus Antinor in
response; "'tis not often thou dost grace the Forum with thy presence at
this hour."
"They told me it would be amusing," replied young Hortensius lazily,
"but methinks that they lied."
He yawned, and with a tiny golden tool he began picking his teeth.
"What did they tell thee?" queried the other, "and who were they that
told?"
"There was Caius Nepos and young Escanes, and several others at the
bath. They were all talking about the sale."
"Are they coming hither?"
"They will be here anon; but some declared that much rubbish would have
to be sold ere the choice bargains be put up. Escanes wants a cook who
can fry a capon in a special way they wot of in Gaul. Stuffed with
ortolans and covered with the juice of three melons--Escanes says it is
mightily pleasing to the palate."
"There is no cook from Gaul on the list," interposed the praefect
curtly.
"And Caius Nepos wants some well-favoured girls to wait on his guests at
supper to-morrow. He gives a banquet, as thou knowest. Wilt be there,
Taurus Antinor?"
He had spoken these last words in a curious manner which suggested that
some significance other than mere conviviality would be attached to the
banquet given by Caius Nepos on the morrow. And now he drew nearer to
the praefect and cast a quick glance around him as if to assure himself
that the business of the sale was engrossing everyone's attention.
"Caius Nepos," he said, trying to speak with outward indifference,
"asked me to tell thee that if thou wilt come to his banquet to-morrow
thou wilt find it to thine advantage. Many of us are of one mind with
regard to certain matters and could talk these over undisturbed. Wilt
join us, Taurus Antinor?" he added eagerly.
"Join you," retorted the other with a grim smile, "join you in what? in
this senseless folly of talking in whispers in public places? The Forum
this day is swarming with spies, Hortensius Martius. Hast a wish to make
a spectacle for the plebs on the morrow by being thrown to a pack of
tigers for their midday meal?"
And with a nod of his head he pointed up to the rostrum where the dusky
auctioneer had momentarily left off shouting and had thrown himself flat
down upon the matting, ostensibly in order to speak with one of the
scribes on the tier below, but who was in reality casting furtive
glances in the direction where Hortensius Martius stood talking with the
praefectus.
"These slaves," said Taurus Antinor curtly, "all belong to the imperial
treasury; their peculium is entirely made up of money gained through
giving information--both false and true. Have a care, O Hortensius
Martius!"
But the other shrugged his shoulders with well-studied indifference. It
was not the mode at this epoch to seem anything but bored at all the
circumstances of public and private life in Rome, at the simple
occurrences of daily routine or at the dangers which threatened every
man through the crazy whims of a demented despot.
It had even become the fashion to accept outwardly and without the
slightest show of interest the wild extravagances and insane
debaucheries of the ferocious tyrant who for the nonce wielded the
sceptre of the Cæsars. The young patricians of the day looked on with
apparent detachment at his excesses and the savage displays of unbridled
power of which he was so inordinately fond, and they affected a lofty
disregard for the horrible acts of injustice and of cruelty which this
half-crazy Emperor had rendered familiar to the citizens of Rome.
Nothing in the daily routine of life amused these votaries of
fashion--nothing roused them from their attitude of somnolent placidity,
except perhaps some peculiarly bloody combat in the arena--one of those
unfettered orgies of lust of blood which they loved to witness and which
have for ever disgraced the glorious pages of Roman history.
Then horror would rouse them for a brief moment from their apathy, for
they were not cruel, only satiated with every sight, every excitement
and luxury which their voluptuous city and the insane caprice of the
imperator perpetually offered them; and they thirsted for horrors as a
sane man thirsts for beauty, that it might cause a diversion in the even
tenor of their lives, and mayhap raise a thrill in their dormant brains.
Therefore even now, when apparently he was toying with his life,
Hortensius Martius did not depart outwardly from the attitude of
supercilious indifference which fashion demanded. They were all actors,
these men, always before an audience, and even among themselves they
never really left off acting the part which they had made so completely
their own.
But that the indifference was only on the surface was evidenced in this
instance by the young exquisite's scarce perceptible change of position.
He drew away slightly from the praefect and anon said in a loud tone of
voice so that all around him might hear:
"Aye! as thou sayest, Taurus Antinor, I might find a dwarf or some kind
of fool to suit me. Mine are getting old and dull. Ye gods, how they
bore me at times!"
And it was in a whisper that he added:
"Caius Nepos specially desired thy presence at supper to-morrow, O
Taurus Antinor! He feared that he might not get speech with thee anon,
so hath asked me to make sure of thy presence. Thou'lt not fail us?
There are over forty of us now, all prepared to give our lives for the
good of the Empire."
The praefect made no reply this time; his attention was evidently
engrossed by some close bidding over a useful slave, but as Hortensius
now finally turned away from him, his dark eyes under the shadow of that
perpetual frown swept over the figure of the young exquisite, from the
crown of the curled and perfumed head to the soles of the daintily shod
feet, and a smile of contempt not altogether unkind played round the
corners of his firm lips.
"For the good of the Empire?" he murmured under his breath as he
shrugged his broad shoulders and once more turned his attention to his
duties.
Hortensius in the meanwhile had spied some of his friends. Gorgeously
embroidered tunics could now be seen all the time pushing their way
through the more common crowd, and soon a compact group of rich
patricians had congregated around the rostra.
They had come one by one--from the baths mostly--refreshed and perfumed,
ready to gaze with fashionable lack of interest on the spectacle of this
public auction. They had exchanged greetings with the praefect and with
Hortensius Martius. They all knew one another, were all members of the
same caste, the ruling caste of Rome. Young Escanes was now there, he
who wanted a cook, and Caius Nepos--the praetorian praefect who was in
search of pretty waiting-maids.
"Hast had speech with Anglicanus?" asked the latter in a whisper to
Hortensius.
"Aye! a few words," replied the other, "but he warned me of spies."
"Will he join us, thinkest thou?"
"I think that he will sup with thee, O Caius Nepos, but as to joining us
in----"
"Hush!" admonished the praetorian praefect, "Taurus Antinor is right.
There are spies all around here to-day. But if he comes to supper we'll
persuade him, never fear."
And with a final significant nod the two men parted and once more mixed
with the crowd.
More than one high-born lady now had ordered her bearers to set her
litter down close to the rostrum whence she could watch the sale, and
mayhap make a bid for a purchase on her own account; the rich Roman
matrons with large private fortunes and households of their own,
imperious and independent, were the object of grave deference and of
obsequious courtesy--not altogether unmixed with irony, on the part of
the young men around them.
They did not mix with the crowd but remained in their litters, reclining
on silken cushions, their dark tunics and richly coloured stoles
standing out in sombre notes against the more gaily-decked-out gilded
youth of Rome, whilst their serious and oft-times stern manner, their
measured and sober speech, seemed almost set in studied opposition to
the idle chattering, the flippant tone, the bored affectation of the
outwardly more robust sex.
And among them all Taurus Antinor, praefect of Rome, with his ruddy hair
and bronzed skin, his massive frame clad in gorgeously embroidered
tunic, his whole appearance heavy and almost rough, in strange contrast
alike to the young decadents of the day as to the rigid primness of the
patrician matrons, just as his harsh, even voice seemed to dominate the
lazy and mellow trebles of the votaries of fashion.
The auctioneer had in the meanwhile cast a quick comprehensive glance
over his wares, throwing an admonition here, a command there.
"That yellow hair--let it hang, woman! do not touch it I say.... Slip
that goatskin off thy loins, man ... By Jupiter 'tis the best of thee
thou hidest.... Hold thy chin up girl, we'll have no doleful faces
to-day."
Sometimes his admonition required more vigorous argument. The praefect
was appealed to against the recalcitrant. Then the harsh unimpassioned
voice with its curious intonation in the pronouncing of the Latin
words, would give a brief order and the lictor's flail would whizz in
the air and descend with a short sharp whistling sound on obstinately
bowed shoulder or unwilling hand, and the auctioneer would continue his
perorations.
"What will it please my lord's grace to buy this day? A skilled horseman
from Dacia?... I have one.... A pearl.... He can mount an untamed steed
and drive a chariot in treble harness through the narrowest streets of
Rome.... He can ... What--no?--not a horseman to-day?... then mayhap a
hunchback acrobat from Pannonia, bronzed as the tanned hide of an ox,
with arms so long that his finger-nails will scrape the ground as he
runs; he can turn a back somersault, walk the tight-rope, or ... Here,
Pipus the hunchback, show thine ugly face to my lord's grace, maybe
thou'lt help to dissipate the frown between my Lord's eyes, maybe my
lord's grace will e'en smile at thine antics.... Turn then, show thy
hump, 'tis worth five hundred sesterces, my lord ... turn again ... see
my lord, is he not like an ape?"
My lord was smiling, so the auctioneer prattled on, and the deformed
creature upon the catasta wound his ill-shapen body into every kind of
contortion, grinning from ear to ear, displaying the malformation of his
spine, and the hideousness of his long hairy arms, whilst he uttered
weird cries that were supposed to imitate those of wild animals in the
forest.
These antics caused my lord to smile outright. He was willing to expend
two thousand sesterces in order to have such a creature about his house,
to have him ready to call when his guests seemed dull between the
courses of a sumptuous meal. The deal was soon concluded and the
hunchback transferred from the platform to the keeping of my lord's
slaves, and thence to my lord's household.