CHAPTER XIII.
THE BOOTH ACROSS THE WAY.
While I sat in my former master's stall awaiting the arrival of my newpurchaser to take me away, the cloth that covered the entrance of theopposite stall was raised.
On one side were three beautiful young women, the same, I doubted not,who a little before had filled the air with groans and supplicationswhile their clothes were being torn off them, in order to exhibit theircharms to purchasers. They were still half nude, their feet bare,plastered with chalk[29] and fastened by rings to a long iron bar.Huddled close together, these three held one another in such closeembrace that two of them, still crushed down with shame, hid their facesin the bosom of the third. The latter, pale and somber, hung her head,letting her disheveled black hair fall before her bruised and nakedbreast--bruised no doubt in the vain struggle against the keepers whodisrobed her. A short distance from them, two little children, three orfour years old, bound around their waists merely by a light cordfastened to a stake, laughed and played in the straw with theheedlessness common to their age. The children evidently did not belongto either of the three women.
At the other side of the stall I saw a matron of the noble carriage ofmy mother Margarid. Manacles were on her wrists, shackles on her ankles.She was standing, leaning against a beam to which she was chained by thewaist. She stood still as a statue; her grey hair disordered, her eyesfixed, her face livid and fearful. Time and again she gave vent to aburst of threatening and crazy laughter. Finally, at the rear of thestall, was a cage resembling the one which I myself had occupied. Inthat cage, if what the "horse-dealer" said was true, would be my twochildren. Tears filled my eyes. In spite of my weakness, the thought ofmy children, so close to me, caused a flush of warmth to rise to myface--a symptom of my returning powers.
And now, Sylvest, my son, you for whom I write this report, read slowlywhat is now about to follow. Aye, read slowly, to the end that everyword may imbue your soul with its indelible hatred for the Romans--ahatred that I feel certain must some day, the day of vengeance, breakout with terrific force. Read, my son, and you will understand how yourmother, after having given life to you and your sister, after havingheaped all her tenderness upon you, could in the end give you nostronger proof of her maternal love than by endeavoring to kill you, tothe end that she might carry you hence, to return to life in the otherworld at her side and in the circle of our family. Alas! You survivedher foresight!
This, my son, is what happened!
I had my eyes fixed on the cage in which I surmised you and your sisterwere imprisoned, when I saw an old man, richly dressed, enter the stall.It was the rich patrician Trymalcion, worn out as much by debauchery asby years. His dull, cold, corpse-like eyes seemed to look into vacancy.His hideously wrinkled visage was half hidden under a coat of thickpaint. He wore a frizzled yellow wig, earrings blazing with preciousstones, and in the girdle of his robe a large bouquet, of which his redplush mantle off and on allowed a glimpse.[30] He painfully dragged hislimbs after him, leaning on the shoulders of two young slaves fifteen orsixteen years of age, who were luxuriously dressed, but in such a style,and so effeminately, that it was impossible to tell whether they wereyoung men or girls. Two other and older slaves followed. One carriedunder his arm his master's thick cloak, the other a goldennight-vessel.[31]
The proprietor of the stall hastened to receive his patrician customerwith tokens of reverence, exchanged a few words with him, and then movedforward a stool on which the old man let himself down. As the seat hadno back, one of the young slaves immediately stationed himselfmotionless behind his master, to serve him as a support, while the otherslave lay down on the ground at a sign from the patrician, lifted hisfeet, which were encased in rich sandals, and wrapping them in a fold ofhis own robe, held them to his breast to warm them.[32]
Thus supported with his back and feet on the bodies of his slaves, theold man spoke some words to the merchant. The latter first pointedtoward the three half-naked women. At sight of them, Trymalcion turnedhalf way round and spat at them, as if to evince the most sovereigndisdain.
At this indignity, the old man's slaves and the Romans, assembled in thevicinity of the stall, broke into coarse laughter. Then the merchantpointed out to lord Trymalcion the two children playing on the straw.The senile debauchee shrugged his shoulders, while he uttered somehorrible words. His words must have been horrible, because the laughterredoubled.
The merchant, hoping at last to please so fastidious a customer, went upto the cage, opened it, and brought out three children, draped in longwhite veils which hid their faces. Two of the children corresponded inheight to my son and daughter; the other was smaller. The smallest onewas the first to be unveiled to the eyes of the old man. I recognizedher as the daughter of one of my relatives, whose husband was killed inthe defense of the chariot; the mother had killed herself with the otherwomen of the family, forgetting in that supreme moment, to kill thelittle one. The girl was sickly and without beauty. Patrician Trymalcionlooked her over rapidly and made an impatient gesture with his hand, asif annoyed that they should dare to offer to his sight so unattractivean object. She was, accordingly, taken back to the cage by a keeper. Theother two children remained, still veiled.
I was eagerly watching these events from the corner of the"horse-dealer's" stall, my arms pinioned behind my back with double ironmanacles, my legs chained and my feet fastened by fetters of enormousweight. I still felt under the influence of the sorcery that had beenpracticed upon me. Nevertheless, my blood, so long frozen in my veins,began to circulate more and more freely. A slight tremor occasionallywent through my limbs. The spell was breaking. I was not the only one totremble. The young Gallic women and the matron, forgetting their ownshame and despair, experienced in their hearts of maid, of wife, ormother, a frightful horror at the fate of the children offered to thatdetestable old man.
Although half nude, they no longer thought of withdrawing themselvesfrom the licentious looks of the spectators who were crowding at theentrance to the booth. Their eyes brooded with motherly terror upon thetwo veiled children, while the matron, bound to the post, her eyesglittering and her teeth set in impotent fury, raised her chained armsto heaven as if to call down the punishments of the gods upon suchmonstrosities.
At a sign from lord Trymalcion, the veils dropped--I recognized youboth--you, my son Sylvest and your sister Syomara. You were both paleand wan; you were shivering with fear. Anguish was depicted in yourtear-bathed faces. The long blonde hair of my little girl fell upon hershoulders. She dared not raise her eyes, neither did you; you held eachother by the hand, closely clasped. Despite the terror that disfiguredher face, I beheld my daughter in her singular and infantinebeauty--accursed beauty! At sight of her Trymalcion's dead eyes lightedup and glistened like glowing coals in the middle of his wrinkled,paint-covered visage. He stood up, stretched out his emaciated armstowards my daughter as if to seize his prey, while a shocking smiledisclosed his yellow teeth. Terror-stricken, Syomara threw herself backand clung to your neck. The merchant quickly tore you from each otherand brought Syomara to the old man. The latter impatiently pushed awaywith his foot the slave that crouched on the ground before him, andgrabbing my little girl, took her between his knees. He easily subduedthe efforts she made to escape, while she uttered piercing cries; heviolently snapped the strings that fastened my little girl's robe, andstripped her half naked in order to examine her chest and shoulders.While this was going on, the merchant was holding you back, my son, andI--the father of the two victims--I, loaded with chains, beheld thespectacle. At the sight of this crime of the patrician Trymalcion,outraging the chastity of a child, the three fettered Gallic women andthe matron made a desperate but vain effort to break from their irons,and began to pour out a torrent of imprecations and groans.
Trymalcion finished complacently his disgusting examination, and said afew words to the merchant. Immediately a keeper replaced the robe on mygirl, who was more dead than alive, wrapped her up in her long whiteveil, w
hich he tied around her, and taking the slender burden under hisarm, held himself in readiness to follow the old man, who was takingsome gold from his purse to pay the merchant. At that moment of supremedespair--you and your sister, poor little ones bewildered with terror,cried out as if you believed you would be heard and succored:
"Mother! Father!"
Up to that moment I had witnessed the scene panting, almost crazy withgrief and rage. Slowly my heart, struggling against the sorcery of the"horse-dealer," was gaining the upper hand. But at that cry, uttered byyou and your sister, the charm broke with a clap. All my intelligence,all my courage rushed back to me. The sight of you two gave me such ashock, it threw me into such a transport of rage that, unable to breakmy irons, I rose upon my feet, and, with my hands still pinioned behindme, my legs still loaded with heavy chains, I bounded out of my stallwith two leaps, and fell like a thunderbolt upon the old patrician. Theshock caused the old man to roll under me. In default of the liberty ofmy hands to strangle him, I bit him in the face, near the neck. The"horse-dealers" and their keepers threw themselves upon me; but bearingwith all my weight upon the hideous old debauchee, who was howling atthe top of his voice, I kept my teeth in his flesh. The monster's bloodfilled my mouth--a shower of whip lashes and blows from sticks andstones rained upon me--yet I budged not. No more than our old war dogDeber-Trud the man-eater did I drop my prey.--No!--Like the dog, when Idid let go, it was only to carry away between my teeth--a strip offlesh, a bleeding mouthful that I spat back into Trymalcion's hideous,tortured face, as he had spat at the Gallic women.
"Father! Father!" you cried out to me through the tumult. Wishing thento approach you two, my children, I stood up, an object of terror--aye,terror. For a moment a circle of fear surrounded the Gallic slave, withhis load of irons.
"Father! Father!" you cried again, stretching out your little arms, inspite of the keepers who held you back. I made a bound toward you, butthe merchant, from the top of the cage where you had been confined,suddenly threw a large piece of cloth over my head. At the same time Iwas seized by the legs, thrown down, and tied with a thousand bonds. Thecloth, which covered my head and shoulders, was tied down around myneck, and through it they made a gap, which unfortunately permitted meto breathe--I had hoped to smother.
I felt myself being carried across to my own booth, where I was thrownon the straw, incapable of making the slightest motion. Quite a whilelater I heard the centurion, my new master, in a sharp altercation withthe "horse-dealer" and the merchant who had sold Syomara to Trymalcion.Presently they all went out. Silence reigned around me. Some time later,the dealer returned; he approached me; he kicked me angrily; he tore offthe cover from my face, and said to me in a voice trembling with rage:
"Scoundrel! Do you know what it has cost me, that mouthful of flesh youtore out of the face of the noble Trymalcion? Do you know, ferociousbeast? That mouthful of flesh cost me twenty sous of gold! More thanhalf of what I sold you for, for I am responsible for your misdeeds,wretch! while you are in my stall, double villain! So that it is I whohave made a present of your daughter to the old man. She was sold to himfor twenty gold sous, which I paid in his stead. He insisted upon it.And even so I got off cheaply. He demanded that indemnity."[33]
"That monster is not dead! Hena! he is not dead!" I cried in despair."And my daughter is not dead either! Hesus, Teutates, take pity on mydaughter!"
"Your daughter, gallows bird! Your daughter is in Trymalcion's hands,and it is upon her he will wreak his revenge on you. He rejoices overthe circumstance in advance. He sometimes is taken with savage caprices,and is rich enough to indulge them."
I was unable to make answer to these words, save with long drawn outmoans.
"And that is not all, infamous scoundrel! I have lost the confidence ofthe centurion to whom I sold you. He reproached me with havingoutrageously deceived him; with having sold him, instead of a lamb, atiger who exercised his teeth upon rich patricians. He wanted to sellyou right back. To sell you back, as if anyone would consent tobuy--after such an exhibition! As well buy a wild beast. Luckily for me,I received the deposit before witnesses. The fierceness of your naturewill not set aside the contract; the centurion has no choice but to keepyou. He'll keep you, I warrant, but he'll make you pay dear for yourcriminal instincts. Oh, you don't know the life that awaits you in the_ergastula_! You don't know--"
"But my son," I asked, interrupting the "horse-dealer," well knowingthat he would answer out of cruelty. "Is my son also sold? To whom?"
"Sold? And who do you think would still want him? Sold? Better say givenaway. You bring bad luck to everybody, double traitor. Did not yourragings and the shrieks of that mis-born limb teach everyone that he isof your beastly blood? No one offered even an obole for him! Who wouldbuy a wolf's whelp? Anyway, I was going to speak to you about that sonof yours, to delight your father's heart. Know that he was given to bootby my partner at the end of the sale, to the same purchaser to whom hesold the grey-haired matron, who will be good to turn a mill-wheel."
"And that purchaser," I enquired, "who is he? What is he going to dowith my son?"
"That purchaser is the centurion--your master!"
"Hesus!" I exclaimed, hardly able to believe what I heard. "Hesus, youare kind and merciful. At least I shall have my son near me."
"Your son near you! Then you are as stupid as you are scoundrelly. Ah,do you imagine that it is for your paternal contentment that your masterhas burdened himself with that wolf-cub? Do you know what your mastersaid to me? 'I have only one means of subduing that savage beast yousold me, you egregious cheat.--The chances are, that madman loves hislittle one. I'll keep the wolf-whelp in a cage, and the son will answerto me for the father's docility.--At the father's first, and leastoffence, he will see the tortures which he will make his cub suffer,under my very eyes.'"
I paid no further attention to what the "horse-dealer" said--I was atleast sure of seeing you, or of knowing that you were near me, my child.That will help me to bear the awful grief caused to me by the fate of mylittle daughter Syomara, who, two days later, was carried into Italy onboard the galley of the patrician Trymalcion.
* * * * *
My father Guilhern was not granted time to finish his narrative.
Death--oh, what a death!--death overtook him the very day after hetraced the above last lines. I preserve them together with the littlebrass bell that my father got from the "horse-dealer."
The narrative of the sufferings of our race, I, Sylvest, shall continuein obedience to my father Guilhern, the same as he obeyed the behest ofhis father Joel the brenn of the tribe of Karnak.
Hesus was merciful to you, O, my father.--You died ignorant of the lifeof your daughter Syomara--
It is left to me to narrate my sister's fate.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A short distance from the town of St. Nazaire, which is still inexistence.
[2] The patriotism of the Russians in burning Moscow in order to starveand drive out Napoleon's army is justly admired. But how much moreadmirable was the heroic patriotism of these old Gauls! Not onlyBrittany, but almost a third of Gaul was delivered to the flames. SeeCaesar, _De Bello Gallico_, lib. VII, ch. XIV. Also Amedee Thierry,_History of the Gauls_, vol. III, p. 103: "The Chief of the HundredValleys was heard with calm and resignation. Not a murmur interruptedhim, not an objection was raised against the heavy sacrifice which hedemanded. It was with one voice that the heads of the tribes voted theruin of their fortunes and the scattering of their families. Thisterrible remedy was at once applied to the country which they fearedwould be occupied by the enemy ... On every hand one perceived nothingbut the fire and smoke of burning habitations. In the light of theseflames, across the ruins and the ashes of their homes, an innumerablepopulation wended their way towards the frontier, where shelter and foodawaited them. Their sorrow and suffering was not without consolation,since it would lead to the safety of their country."
[3] The shark
.
[4] A Gallic war cry, signifying "Strike at the head--down with them."
[5] A troop composed of cavalry (_mahrek_) and footmen (_droad_).
"A certain number of Gallic cavalrymen chose among the foot-soldiers anequal number of the most agile and courageous. Each of the latterattended a horseman, and followed him in battle. The cavalry fell backupon them if it was in danger, and the footmen ran up; if a woundedhorseman fell from his charger, the foot-soldier succored and defendedhim. When it became necessary to make a rapid advance or retreat,exercise had made these foot-soldiers so agile that, hanging on by themanes of the horses, they kept up with the cavalry in its rapidmovement."--Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, book I, ch. XLVIII.
[6] In this body of cavalry each horseman was followed by two equerries,mounted and equipped, who remained behind in the body of the army. Whenthe battle was on, should the horseman be dismounted, the equerries gavehim one of their horses. If then the horseman's horse was killed, or thehorseman himself dangerously wounded, he was carried from the field byone of the equerries, while the other took his place in the ranks. Thisbody of cavalry was called the _trimarkisia_, from two words which inthe Gallic tongue signify "three horses."--Amedee Thierry, _History ofthe Gauls_, vol. I, p. 130. See also Pausanius, book X.
[7] "The Gauls had also their Pindars and their Tyrteuses, bardsexercising their talent to sing in heroic verse the deeds of great men,and to inculcate in the people the love of glory."--Latour d'Auvergne,_Gallic Origins_, p. 158.
[8] "The Gauls hold that it is a disgrace to live subjugated, and thatin all war there are but two outcomes for the man of courage--to conqueror to die."--Nicolas Damasc; see also Strabo, serm. XII.
[9] "Caesar in his Commentaries, and after him the later historians,took the title of command held by this hero of Gaul for his proper name,and, by corruption, wrote _Vercingetorix_ in place ofVer-cinn-cedo-righ, Chief of the Hundred Valleys," observes AmedeeThierry (_History of the Gauls_, vol. III, p. 86). "Vercingetorix, anative of Auvergne, was the son of Celtil, who, guilty of conspiringagainst the freedom of his city, expiated on the pyre his ambition andhis crime. The young Gaul thus became heir to the goods of his father,whose name he nevertheless blushed to bear. Having become the idol ofhis people, he traveled to Rome and saw Caesar, who attempted to win hisgood graces. But the Gaul rejected the friendship of his country'senemy. Returned to his native land he labored secretly to reawaken amonghis people the spirit of independence, and to raise up enemies againstthe Romans. When the hour to call the people to arms was come, he showedhimself openly, in druid ceremonies, in political meetings; everywhere,in short, he was seen employing his eloquence, his fortune, his credit,in a word all his means of action upon the chiefs and on the multitude,to spur them on to reconquer the rights of old Gaul."--Thierry.
[10] Here are Caesar's own words on this extraordinary event, taken fromhis _Ephemerides_, or diary, wherein with his own hand he was accustomedto enter day by day what of interest had occurred to him. These wordsare transmitted to us by Servius:
"Caius Julius Caesar, cum dimicaret in Gallia, et ab hoste raptus, equoejus portaretur armatus, occurrit quidam ex hostibus qui cum nosset etinsultans ait: Ceco Caesar! quod in lingua Gallorum dimitte significat.Et ita factum est ut dimitteretur.
"Hoc autem dicit ipse Caesar in Ephemeride sua ubi propriam commemoratfelicitatem."--Ex Servio LXI. Aeneid, edit. Amstelod, type Elsevir,1650, ex antiquo Vatic. Extemp. cap. VIII.
"One can see by this passage," adds d'Auvergne, "that Caesar, havingbeen released by the Gaul who had made him prisoner and who was carryinghim off on his horse fully armed from the field of battle, believed thesaving of his life to be due to the very word which was intended to behis death sentence: to the word _sko_, which Caesar wrote _ceco_, andwhich he falsely interpreted to mean _release_ when the word in Gallicin reality means _kill_, _strike_, _beat down_. Everything points to theconclusion that fear or stupefaction having seized the Gauls, in whosepower Caesar completely was, at the mere mention of his name, he owedhis safety to the sheer astonishment of his captor."
[11] "During the fight, which lasted from the seventh hour until theevening, not a Gaul was seen turning his back (aversum hostem nemovidere potuit)."--Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, ch. XXXVII.
[12] "When the Romans drew near the chariots they came face to face witha new enemy, the war dogs. These were with difficulty exterminated bythe archers."--Pliny, book LXXII, chap. C.
[13] The total destruction of the Gallic fleet was the result of anextremely dangerous invention by the Romans, who, by means of scythesfastened to long poles, cut the stays which held the masts. These fell,and the Gallic vessels, deprived of sails and motion, were reduced toimpotence. See Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, book III, ch. XIV, XV.
[14] See Pliny, Quintilian, Seneca, etc. Cited by Wallon in his _Historyof Slavery in Antiquity_, vol. II, p. 329.
[15] About $100 or $120 in modern money. This was at the time the marketprice of a slave. (Wallon, _History of Slavery in Antiquity_, vol. II,p. 329.)
[16] Slaves had no name of their own. They were given indiscriminatelyall sorts of soubriquets, even to the names of animals. (Givin, p. 339.)
[17] It was the custom to throw in "for good measure," upon the purchaseof a lot of slaves for labor or for pleasure, a few old men who werenothing but skin and bones. See Plautus, _Bachid._ IV, _Prospera_ IV;and _Terence_, _Eun._ Cited by Wallon, _History of Slavery inAntiquity_, vol. II. p. 56.
[18] There were in the selling of slaves, as in the vending of animalsestablished grounds entitling the purchaser to recover in full or inpart his purchase price. Six months were allowed for causes of the firstclass to manifest themselves, a year for the latter.
Deafness, dumbness, short-sightedness, tertiary or quaternary ague,gout, epilepsy, polyp, varicose veins, a breath indicating an internalmalady, sterility among the women--such were the grounds accepted forcomplete abrogation of the contract. As to moral defects, nothing wassaid. Nevertheless, the merchant was not allowed to ascribe to a slavequalities he did not possess. One was bound above all to make knownwhether a slave possessed a tendency toward suicide. (Wallon, _Historyof Slavery in Antiquity_, vol. II, p. 63.)
[19] We do not dare to expatiate on these monstrosities. We shall onlycite the words of the lawyer Heterus: "Shamelessness is a crime in afree man--a duty in a freedman--and a necessity in a slave." For furtherdetails of the abominable and precocious depravity into which slaves andtheir children were dragged, see Wallon, _History of Slavery inAntiquity_, p. 266, following.
[20] "Masters disemboweled their slaves, to search for prognosticationsin their entrails."--Wallon, vol. II, p. 251.
[21] The characteristics of different nationalities of slaves had passedinto bywords with the dealers. Thus they said "timid as a Phrygian,""vain as a Moor," "deceitful as a Cretan," "intractable as a Sardinian,""fierce as a Dalmatian," "gentle as an Ionian," etc., etc. (Wallon, vol.II, p. 65.)
[22] Caesar wished to make a severe example. So "He put the Senate todeath, and sold the rest at auction."--Caesar, _De Bello Gallico_, bookIII, ch. XVI.
[23] See Wallon, vol. II, ch. III, for the singular means employed bythe "horse-dealers" to rejuvenate their slaves.
[24] The Gauls in the north and west of France attached so muchimportance and dignity to the length of their hair that the provincesthey inhabited were called "Long-haired Gaul." (Latour d'Auvergne,Gallic Origins.)
[25] When prisoners of war were sold as slaves, they were made to wearwreaths of the leaves of trees as a distinctive sign. (Wallon.)
[26] "The magic philters of Media and Circe of old were nothing butpharmaceutical brews of an action as diversified as powerful. Several ofthese narcotic or exhilarators, which threw a man into an incrediblemoral prostration, or else into a fit of frenzy, were long employedamong the Romans. The slave merchants used them to overcome and enervatetheir more unconquerable captives."--_Philosophic Dictionary_, p. 345.
[27] "The higher priced sl
aves were kept in a sort of cage, which drew,by its air of mystery, the attention of the connoisseurs."--Wallon, vol.II, p. 54.
[28] The slave was obliged to lift weights, to march, to leap, to provehis vigor and agility. (Wallon, vol. II, p. 59.)
[29] The feet of women and children were daubed with white clay.(Wallon.)
[30] See Petronius for details of Roman patrician "fashions."
[31] For these shameful manners, which respect for humanity rendersunpicturable, see Tacitus, Martial, Juvenal, and above all Petronius.
[32] See above authors.
[33] The master was civilly responsible for the acts of his slave, thesame as for those of his dog. (Wallon, vol. II, p. 183.)
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