CHAPTER XXI
A MANUMISSION
"Blanda, what shall I do?"
AEmilius had withdrawn immediately after the interview in the citron-house,and Perpetua was left a prey to even greater distress of mind than before.
Accustomed to lean on her mother, she was now without support. She drewtowards the female slave, who had a patient, gentle face, marked withsuffering.
"Blanda, what shall I do?"
"Mistress, how can I advise? If you had been graciously pleased to takecounsel of my master, he would have instructed you."
"Alack! what I desire is to find my mother. If, as I suppose, she is inconcealment in Nemausus, he will be unable to discover her. No clue willbe put into his hand. He will be regarded with suspicion. He will search;I do not doubt his good will, but he will not find. Those who know wheremy mother is will look on him with suspicion. O Blanda, is there none inthis house who believes, whom I could send to some of the Church?"
"Lady," answered the slave, "there be no Christians here. There is a Jew,but he entertains a deadly hate of such as profess to belong to this sect.To the rest one religion is as indifferent as another. Some swear by theWhite Ladies, some by Serapis, and there is one who talks much of Mithras,but who this god is I know not."
"If I am to obtain information it must be through some one who is to betrusted."
"Lady," said the woman-slave, "the master has given strict orders thatnone shall speak of you as having found a shelter here. Yet when slavesget together, by the Juno of the oaks, I believe men chatter and aregreater magpies than we women; their tongues run away with them,especially when they taste wine. If one of the family were sent on thiscommission into the town, ten _sesterces_ to an _as_, he would tell thatyou are here, and would return as owlish and ignorant as when he wentforth. Men's minds are cudgels, not awls. If thou desirest to find out athing, trust a woman, not a man."
"I cannot rest till I have news."
"There has been a great search made after Christians, and doubtless sheis, as thou sayest, in concealment, surely among friends. Have patience."
"But, Blanda, she is in an agony of mind as to what has become of me."
The slave-woman considered for awhile, and then said:
"There is a man who might help; he certainly can be relied on. He is ofthe strange sect I know, and he would do anything for me, and would betrayno secrets."
"Who is that?"
"His name is Pedo, and he is the slave to Baudillas Macer, son of CarisiusAdgonna, who has a house in the lower town."
"O Blanda!" exclaimed Perpetua, "it was from the house of Baudillas that Iwas enticed away." Then, after some hesitation, she added: "That house, Ibelieve, was invaded by the mob; but I think my mother had first escaped."
"Lady, I have heard that Baudillas has been taken before the magistrate,and has been cast into the _robur_, because that in his house was foundthe head of the god; and it was supposed that he was guilty of thesacrilege, either directly or indirectly. He that harbors a thief isguilty as the thief. I heard that yesterday. No news has since beenreceived. I mistrust my power of reaching the town, of standing againstthe gale. Moreover, as the master has been imprisoned, it is not likelythat the slave will be in the empty house. Yet, if thou wilt tarry tillthe gale be somewhat abated and the rain cease to fall in such a rush, Iwill do my utmost to assist thee. I will go to the town myself, andcommunicate with Pedo, if I can find him. He will trust me, poor fellow!"
"I cannot require thee to go forth in this furious wind," said Perpetua.
"And, lady, thou must answer to my master for me. Say that I went at thineexpress commands; otherwise I shall be badly beaten."
"Is thy master so harsh?"
"Oh, I am a slave. Who thinks of a slave any more than of an ass or alapdog? It was through a severe scourging with the cat that I was broughtto know Pedo."
"Tell me, how was that?"
"Does my lady care for matters that affect her slave?"
"Nay, good Blanda, we Christians know no difference between bond and free.All are the children of one God, who made man. Our master, though Lord ofall, made Himself of no reputation, but took on Him the form of a servant;and was made subject for us."
"That is just how Pedo talks. We slaves have our notions of freedom andequality, and there is much tall talk in the servants' hall on the rightsof man. But I never heard of a master or mistress holding such opinions."
"Nevertheless this doctrine is a principle of our religion. Listen tothis; the words are those of one of our great teachers: 'There is neitherJew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male norfemale: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.'"
"Was he a slave who said that?"
"No; he was a Roman citizen."
"That I cannot understand. Yet perhaps he spoke it at an election time, orwhen he was an advocate in the forum. It was a sentiment; very fine,smartly put, but not to be practiced."
"There, Blanda, you are wrong. We Christians do act upon this principle,and it forms a bond of union between us."
"Well, I understand it not. I have heard the slaves declaim amongthemselves, saying that they were as good as, nay, better than, theirmasters; but they never whispered such a thought where were their masters'ears, or they would have been soundly whipped. In the forum, when lawyersharangue, they say fine things of this sort; and when candidates arestanding for election, either as a sevir or as a quatuorvir, all sorts offine words fly about, and magnificent promises are made, but they areintended only to tickle ears and secure votes. None believe in them savethe vastly ignorant and the very fools."
"Come, tell me about thyself and Pedo."
"Ah, lady, that was many years ago. I was then in the household of HelviaSecundilla, wife of Calvius Naso. On one occasion, because I had notbrought her May-dew wherewith to bathe her face to remove sun-spots, shehad me cruelly beaten. There were knucklebones knotted in the catwherewith I was beaten. Thirty-nine lashes I received. I could not collectMay-dew, for the sky was overcast and the herb was dry. But she regardednot my excuse. Tullia, my fellow-slave, was more sly. She filled a flaskat a spring and pretended that she had gathered it off the grass, and thather fraud might not be detected, she egged her mistress on against me. Iwas chastised till my back was raw."
"Poor Blanda!"
"Aye, my back was one bleeding wound, and yet I was compelled to put on mygarment and go forth again after May-dew. It was then that I encounteredPedo. I was in such pain that I walked sobbing, and my tears fell on thearid grass. He came to me, moved by compassion, and spoke kindly, and myheart opened, and I told him all. Then he gave me a flask filled with awater in which elder flowers had been steeped, and bade me wash my backtherewith."
"And it healed thee?"
"It soothed the fever of my blood and the anguish of my wounds. Theyclosed, and in a few days were cicatriced. But Pedo had been fellow-slavewith a Jewish physician, and from him had learned the use of simples. Mymistress found no advantage from the spring-water brought her as May-dew.Then I offered her some of the decoction given me by Pedo, and that had amarvelous effect on her freckles. Afterwards her treatment of me waskinder, and it was Tullia who received the whippings."
"And did you see more of Pedo?"
Blanda colored.
"Mistress, that was the beginning of our acquaintance. He was with a goodmaster, Baudillas Macer, who, he said, would manumit him at any time. But,alas! what would that avail me? I remained in bondage. Ah, lady, Pedoregarded me with tenderness, and, indeed, I could have been happy withnone other but him."
"He is old and lame."
"Ah, lady, I think the way he moves on his lame hip quite beautiful. I donot admire legs when one is of the same length as another--it gives a stiffuniformity not to my taste."
"And he is old?"
"Ripe, lady--full ripe as a fig in August. Sour fruit are unpleasant toeat. Young men are prigs and think too much of th
emselves."
"How long ago was it that this acquaintance began?"
"Five and twenty years. I trusted, when my master, Calvius Naso--he was socalled because he really had a long nose, and my mistress was wont totweak it--but there! I wander. I did think that he would have given me myfreedom. In his illness I attended to him daily, nightly. I did not sleep,I was ever on the watch for him. As to my mistress, she was at herlooking-glass, and using depilatory fluid on some hairs upon her chin,expecting shortly to be a widow. She did not concern herself about themaster. He died, but left money only for the erection of a statue in theforum. Me he utterly forgot. Then my mistress sold me to the father of mypresent master. When he died also he manumitted eight slaves, but theywere all men. His monument stands beside the road to Tolosa, with eightPhrygian caps sculptured on it, to represent the manumissions; but me--heforgot."
"Then, for all these five and twenty years you have cared for Pedo anddesired to be united to him!"
"Yes, I longed for it greatly for twenty years, and so did he, poorfellow; but, after that, hope died. I have now no hope, no joy in life, noexpectation of aught. Presently will come death, and death ends all."
"No, Blanda; that is not what we hold. We look for eternal life."
"For masters, not for slaves."
"For slaves as well as masters, and then God will wipe away all tears fromour eyes."
"Alack, mistress. The power to hope is gone from me. In a wet season, whenthere is little sun, then the fruit mildews on the tree and drops off.When we were young we put forth the young fruit of hopes; but there hasbeen no sun. They fall off, and the tree can bear no more."
"Blanda, if ever I have the power----"
"Oh, mistress, with my master you can do anything."
"Blanda, I do not know that I can ask him for this--thy freedom. But, ifthe opportunity offers, I certainly will not forget thee."
A slave appeared at the door and signed to Blanda, who, with an obeisance,asked leave to depart. The leave was given, and she left the room.
Presently she returned in great excitement, followed by Baudillas andPedo, both drenched with rain and battered by the gale.
Perpetua uttered an exclamation of delight, and rushed to the deacon withextended arms.
"I pray, I pray, give me some news of my mother."
But he drew back likewise surprised, and replied with another question:
"The Lady Perpetua! And how come you to be here?"
"That I will tell later," answered the girl. "Now inform me as to mymother."
"Alas!" replied Baudillas, wiping the rain from his face, "the news issad. She has been taken before Petronius, and has been consigned toprison."
"My mother is in prison!"
The deacon desired to say no more, but he was awkward at disguising hisunwillingness to speak the whole truth. The eager eyes of the girl readthe hesitation in his face.
"I beseech you," she urged, "conceal nothing from me."
"I have told you, she is in jail."
"On what charge? Who has informed against her?"
"I was not in the court when she was tried. I know very little. I was nearthe town, waiting about, and I got scraps of information from some of ourpeople, and from Pedo, who went into the city."
"Then you do know. Answer me truly. Tell me all."
"I--I was in prison myself, but escaped through the aid of Pedo. I tarriedin an old kiln. He advised that I should come on here, where he hadfriends. Dost thou know that Marcianus has been sentenced? He will winthat glorious crown which I have lost. I--I, unworthy, I fled, when itmight have been mine. Yet, God forgive me! I am not ungrateful to Pedo.Marcianus said I was a coward, and unfit for the Kingdom of God; that Ishould be excluded because I had turned back. God forgive me!"
Suddenly Perpetua laid hold of Baudillas by both arms, and so gripped himthat the water oozed between her fingers and dropped on the floor.
"I adjure thee, by Him in whom we both believe, answer me truly, speakfully. Is my mother retained in prison till I am found?"
The deacon looked down nervously, uncomfortably, and shuffled from foot tofoot.
"Understand," said he, after a long silence, "all I learned is by hearsay.I really know nothing for certain."
"I suffer more by your silence than were I to be told the truth, be thetruth never so painful."
"Have I not said it? The Lady Quincta is in prison."
"Is that all?"
Again he maintained an embarrassed silence.
"It matters not," said Perpetua firmly. "I will my own self find out whathas taken place. I shall return to Nemausus on foot, and immediately. Iwill deliver myself up to the magistrate and demand my mother's release."
"You must not go--the weather is terrible."
"I shall--nothing can stay me. I shall go, and go alone, and go at once."
"There is no need for such haste. It is not till to-morrow that Quinctawill be put on the rack."
"On the rack!"
"Fool that I am! I have uttered what I should have kept secret."
"It is said. My resolve is formed. I return to Nemausus."
"Then," said the deacon, "I will go with thee."
"There is no need. I will take Blanda."
"I will go. A girl, a young girl shames me. I run away from death, and sheoffers herself to the sword. Marcianus said I was a renegade. I will notbe thought to have denied my Master--to have fled from martyrdom."
"Then," said Perpetua, "I pray thee this--first give freedom unto Pedo."
Baudillas administered a slight stroke on the cheek to his slave, andsaid:
"Go; thou art discharged from bondage."