CHAPTER VII.
Before Titianus could open his lips to reply, the principal door of theroom was opened cautiously but widely, and the praetor Lucius AureliusVerus, his wife Domitia Lucilla, the young Balbilla and, last of all,Annaeus Florus, the historian, entered. All four were in the bestspirits, and immediately after the preliminary greetings, were eager toreport what they had seen at Lochias; but Sabina waved silence with herhand, and breathed out:
"No, no; not at present. I feel quite exhausted. This long waiting, andthen--my smelling-bottle, Verus. Leukippe, bring me a cup of water withsome fruit-syrup--but not so sweet as usual."
The Greek slave-girl hastened to execute this command, and the Empress,as she waved an elegant bottle carved in onyx, under her nostrils, wenton:
"It is a little eternity--is it not, Titianus, that we have beendiscussing state affairs? You all know how frank I am and that I cannotbe silent when I meet with perverse opinions. While you have been awayI have had much to hear and to say; it would have exhausted the strengthof the strongest. I only wonder you don't find me more worn out, forwhat can be more excruciating for a woman, that to be obliged to enterthe lists for manly decisiveness against a man who is defending aperfectly antagonistic view? Give me water, Leukippe."
While the Empress drank the syrup with tiny sips twitching her thin lipsover it, Verus went up to the prefect and asked him in an under tone:
"You were a long while alone with Sabina, cousin?"
"Yes," replied Titianus, and he set his teeth as he spoke and clenchedhis fist so hard that the praetor could not misunderstand, and repliedin a low voice:
"She is much to be pitied, and particularly just now she has hours--"
"What sort of hours?" asked Sabina taking the cup from her lips.
"These," replied Verus quickly, "in which I am not obliged to occupymyself in the senate or with the affairs of state. To whom do I owe thembut to you?"
With these words he approached the mature beauty, and taking the gobletout of her hand with affectionate subservience, as a son might wait onhis honored and suffering mother, he gave it to the Greek slave. TheEmpress bowed her thanks again and again to the praetor with muchaffability, and then said, with a slight infusion of cheerfulness in hertones:
"Well--and what is there to be seen at Lochias?"
"Wonderful things," answered Balbilla readily and clasping her littlehands.
"A swarm of bees, a colony of ants, have taken possession of the palace.Hands black, white and brown--more than we could count, are busy thereand of all the hundreds of workmen which are astir there, not one got inthe way of another, for one little man orders and manages them all,just as the prescient wisdom of the gods guides the stars through the'gracious and merciful night' so that they may never push or run againsteach other."
"I must put in a word on behalf of Pontius the architect," interposedVerus. "He is a man of at least average height."
"Let us admit it to satisfy your sense of justice," returned Balbilla."Let us admit it--a man of average height, with a papyrus-roll in hisright-hand and a stylus in the left, controls them. Now, does my way ofstating it please you better?"
"It can never displease me," answered the praetor. "Let Balbilla go onwith her story," commanded the Empress.
"What we saw was chaos," continued the girl, "still in the confusion wecould divine the elements of an orderly creation in the future; nay, itwas even visible to the eye."
"And not unfrequently stumbled over with the foot," laughed the praetor."If it had been dark, and if the laborers had been worms, we must havetrodden half of them to death--they swarmed so all over the pavement."
"What were they doing?"
"Every thing," answered Balbilla quickly. "Some were polishing damagedpieces, others were laying new bits of mosaic in the empty places fromwhich it had formerly been removed, and skilled artists were paintingcolored figures on smooth surfaces of plaster. Every pillar and everystatue was built round with a scaffolding reaching to the ceiling onwhich men were climbing and crowding each other just as the sailorsclimb into the enemy's ships in the Naumachia."
The girl's pretty cheeks had flushed with her eager reminiscence ofwhat she had seen, and, as she spoke, moving her hands with expressivegestures, the tall structure of curls which crowned her small head shookfrom side to side.
"Your description begins to be quite poetical," said the Empress,interrupting her young companion. "Perhaps the Muse may even inspire youwith verse."
"All the Pierides," said the praetor, "are represented at Lochias.We saw eight of them, but the ninth, that patroness of the arts, whoprotects the stargazer, the lofty Urania, has at present, in place of ahead--allow me to leave it to you to guess divine Sabina?"
"Well--what?"
"A wisp of straw."
"Alas," sighed the Empress. "What do you say, Florus? Are there notamong your learned and verse spinning associates certain men whoresemble this Urania?"
"At any rate," replied Florus, "we are more prudent than the goddess,for we conceal the contents of our heads in the hard nut of the skull,and under a more or less abundant thatch of hair. Urania displays herstraw openly."
"That almost sounds," said Balbilla laughing and pointing to herabundant locks, "as if I especially needed to conceal what is covered bymy hair."
"Even the Lesbian swan was called the fair-haired," replied Florus.
"And you are our Sappho," said the praetor's wife, drawing the girl'sarm to her bosom.
"Really! and will you not write in verse all that you have seen to-day?"asked the Empress.
Balbilla looked down on the ground a minute and then said brightly:"It might inspire me, everything strange that I meet with prompts me towrite verse."
"But follow the counsel of Apollonius the philologer," advised Florus."You are the Sappho of our day, and therefore you should write in theancient Aeolian dialect and not Attic Greek." Verus laughed, and theEmpress, who never was strongly moved to laughter, gave a short sharpgiggle, but Balbilla said eagerly:
"Do you think that I could not acquire it and do so? To-morrow morning Iwill begin to practise myself in the old Aeolian forms."
"Let it alone," said Domitia Lucilla; "your simplest songs are alwaysthe prettiest."
"No one shall laugh at me!" declared Balbilla pertinaciously. "In a fewweeks I will know how to use the Aeolian dialect, for I can do anythingI am determined to do--anything, anything."
"What a stubborn little head we have under our curls!" exclaimed theEmpress, raising a graciously threatening finger.
"And what powers of apprehension," added Florus.
"Her master in language and metre told me his best pupil was a woman ofnoble family and a poetess besides--Balbilla in short."
The girl colored at the words, and said with pleased excitement:
"Are you flattering me or did Hephaestion really say that?"
"Woe is me!" cried the praetor, "for Hephaestion was my master too, andI am one of the masculine scholars beaten by Balbilla. But it is no newsto me, for the Alexandrian himself told me the same thing as Florus."
"You follow Ovid and she Sappho," said Florus; "you write in Latin andshe in Greek. Do you still always carry Ovid's love-poems about withyou?"
"Always," replied Verus, "as Alexander did his Homer."
"And out of respect for his master your husband endeavors, by the graceof Venus, to live like him," added Sabina, addressing herself to DomitiaLucilla.
The tall and handsome Roman lady only shrugged her shoulders slightlyin answer to this not very kindly-meant speech; but Verus said, whilehe picked up Sabina's silken coverlet, and carefully spread it over herknees:
"My happiest fortune consists in this: that Venus Victrix favors me. Butwe are not yet at the end of our story; our Lesbian swan met at Lochiaswith another rare bird, an artist in statuary."
"How long have the sculptors been reckoned among birds?" asked Sabina."At the utmost can they be compared to woodpeckers."
; "When they work in wood," laughed Verus. "Our artist, however, is anassistant of Papias, and handles noble materials in the grand style.On this occasion, however, he is building a statue out of a very queermixture of materials."
"Verus may very well call our new acquaintance a bird," interruptedBalbilla, "for as we approached the screen behind which he is working hewas whistling a tune with his lips, so pure and cheery, and loud, thatit rang through the empty hall above all the noise of the workmen. Anightingale does not pipe more sweetly. We stood still to listen tillthe merry fellow, who had no idea that we were by, was silent again; andthen hearing the architect's voice, he called to him over the screen.'Now we must clap Urania's head on; I saw it clearly in my mind andwould have had it finished with a score of touches, but Papias said hehad one in the workshop. I am curious to see what sort of a sugarplumface, turned out by the dozen, he will stick on my torso--which willplease me, at any rate, for a couple of days. Find me a good model forthe bust of the Sappho I am to restore. A thousand gadflies are buzzingin my brain--I am so tremendously excited! What I am planning now willcome to something!'"
Balbilla, as she spoke the last words, tried to mimic a man's deepvoice, and seeing the Empress smile she went on eagerly.
"It all came out so fresh, from a heart full to bursting of happyvigorous creative joy, that it quite fired me, and we all went up to thescreen and begged the sculptor to let us see his work."
"And you found?" asked Sabina.
"He positively refused to let us into his retreat," replied the praetor;"but Balbilla coaxed the permission out of him, and the tall youngfellow seems to have really learnt something. The fall of the draperythat covers the Muse's figure is perfectly thought out with reference topossibility--rich, broadly handled, and at the same time of surprisingdelicacy. Urania has drawn her mantle closely round her, as if toprotect herself from the keen night-air while gazing at the stars. Whenhe has finished his Muse, he is to repair some mutilated busts of women;he was fixing the head of a finished Berenice to-day, and I proposed tohim to take Balbilla as the model for his Sappho."
"A good idea" said the Empress. "If the bust is successful I will takehim with me to Rome."
"I will sit to him with pleasure," said the girl. "The bright youngfellow took my fancy."
"And Balbilla his," added the praetor's wife; "he gazed at her as amarvel, and she promised him that, with your permission, she would placeher face at his disposal for three hours to-morrow."
"He begins with the head," interposed Verus. "What a happy man is anartist such as he! He may turn about her head, or lay her peplum infolds without reproof or repulse, and to-day when we had to get pastbogs of plaster, and lakes of wet paint, she scarcely picked up the hemof her dress, and never once allowed me--who would so willingly havesupported her--to lift her over the worst places."
Balbilla reddened and said angrily:
"Really Verus, in good earnest, I will not allow you to speak to me inthat way, so now you know it once for all; I have so little likingfor what is not clean that I find it quite easy to avoid it withoutassistance."
"You are too severe," interrupted the Empress with a hideous smile. "Donot you think Domitia Lucilla, that she ought to allow your husband tobe of service to her?"
"If the Empress thinks it right and fitting," replied the lady raisingher shoulders, and with an expressive movement of her hands. Sabinaquite took her meaning, and suppressing another yawn she said angrily:
"In these days we must be indulgent toward a husband who has chosenOvid's amatory poems as his faithful companion. What is the matterTitianus?"
While Balbilla had been relating her meeting with the sculptor Pollux, achamberlain had brought in to the prefect an important letter, admittingof no delay. The state official had withdrawn to the farther side of theroom with it, had broken the strong seal and had just finished readingit, when the Empress asked her question.
Nothing of what went on around her escaped Sabina's little eyes, andshe had observed that while the governor was considering the documentaddressed to him he had moved uneasily. It must contain something ofimportance.
"An urgent letter," replied Titianus, "calls me home. I must take myleave, and I hope ere long to be able to communicate to you somethingagreeable."
"What does that letter contain?"
"Important news from the provinces," said Titianus.
"May I inquire what?"
"I grieve to say that I must answer in the negative. The Emperorexpressly desired that this matter should be kept secret. Its settlementdemands the promptest haste, and I am therefore unfortunately obliged toquit you immediately."
Sabina returned the prefect's parting salutations with icy coldnessand immediately desired to be conducted to her private rooms to dressherself for supper.
Balbilla escorted her, and Florus betook himself to the "Olympiantable," the famous eating-house kept by Lycortas, of whom he had beentold wonders by the epicures at Rome.
When Verus was alone with his wife he went up in a friendly manner andsaid:
"May I drive you home again?"
Domitia Lucilla had thrown herself on a couch, and covered her face withher hands, and she made no reply. "May I?" repeated the praetor. As hiswife persisted in her silence, he went nearer to her, laid his hand onher slender fingers that concealed her face, and said:
"I believe you are angry with me!" She pushed away his hand, with aslight movement, and said: "Leave me."
"Yes, unfortunately I must leave you. Business takes me into the cityand I will--"
"You will let the young Alexandrians, with whom you revelled through thenight, introduce you to new fair ones--I know it."
"There are in fact women here of incredible charm," replied Verus quitecoolly. "White, brown, copper-colored, black--and all delightful intheir way. I could never be tired of admiring them."
"And your wife?" asked Lucilla, facing him, sternly. "My wife? yes, myfairest. Wife is a solemn title of honor and has nothing to do with thejoys of life. How could I mention your name in the same hour with thoseof the poor children who help me to beguile an idle hour."
Domitia Lucilla was used to such phrases, and yet on this occasion theygave her a pang. But she concealed it, and crossing her arms she saidresolutely and with dignity:
"Go your way--through life with your Ovid, and your gods of love, but donot attempt to crush innocence under the wheels of your chariot."
"Balbilla do you mean," asked the praetor with a loud laugh. "She knowshow to take care of herself and has too much spirit to let herself getentangled in erotics. The little son of Venus has nothing to say to twopeople who are such good friends as she and I are."
"May I believe you?"
"My word for it, I ask nothing of her but a kind word," cried he,frankly offering his hand to his wife. Lucilla only touched it lightlywith her fingers and said:
"Send me back to Rome. I have an unutterable longing to see my children,particularly the boys."
"It cannot be," said Verus. "Not at present; but in a few weeks, Ihope."
"Why not sooner?"
"Do not ask me."
"A mother may surely wish to know why she is separated from her baby inthe cradle."
"That cradle is at present in your mother's house, and she is takingcare of our little ones. Have patience, a little longer for that which Iam striving after, for you, and for me, and not last, for our son, is sogreat, so stupendously great and difficult that it might well outweighyears of longing."
Verus spoke the last words in a low tone, but with a dignity whichcharacterized him only in decisive moments, but his wife, even before hehad done speaking, clasped his right-hand in both of hers and said in alow frightened voice:
"You aim at the purple?" He nodded assent.
"That is what it means then!"
"What?"
"Sabina and you--"
"Not on that account only; she is hard and sharp to others, but to meshe has shown nothing but kindness, ever since I was
a boy."
"She hates me."
"Patience, Lucilla; patience! The day is coming when the daughter ofNigrinus, the wife of Caesar, and the former Empress--but I will notfinish. I am, as you know, warmly attached to Sabina, and sincerely wishthe Emperor a long life."
"And he will adopt."
"Hush!--he is thinking of it, and his wife wishes It."
"Is it likely to happen soon?"
"Who can tell at this moment what Caesar may decide on in the verynext hour. But probably his decision may be made on the thirtieth ofDecember."
"Your birthday."
"He asked what day it was, and he is certainly casting my horoscope, forthe night when my mother bore me--"
"The stars then are to seal our fate?"
"Not they alone. Hadrian must also be inclined to read them in myfavor."
"How can I be of use to you?"
"Show yourself what you really are in your intercourse with the Emperor"
"I thank you for those words--and I beg you do not provoke me any more.If it might yet be something more than a mere post of honor to be thewife of Verus, I would not ask for the new dignity of becoming wife toCaesar."
"I will not go into the town to-day; I will stay with you. Now are youhappy?"
"Yes, yes," cried she, and she raised her arm to throw it round herhusband's neck, but he held her aside and whispered:
"That will do. The idyllic is out of place in the race for the purple."