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045 - Book 4 Chapter XVII · Last Days of Pompeii

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Speaker 1: Book four, chapter seventeen, of Last Days of Pompeii. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Last Days of Pompeii by Edward G.
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Speaker 1: Bulwer Lytton, Book four, chapter seventeen, A Chance for Glaucus.
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Speaker 1: The hours passed in lingering torture over the head of
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Speaker 1: Nidia from the time in which she had been replaced
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Speaker 1: in her cell Sosia, as if afraid he should be
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Speaker 1: again outwitted, had refrained from visiting her until late in
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Speaker 1: the morning of the following day, and then he but
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Speaker 1: thrust in the periodical basket of food and wine, and
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Speaker 1: hastily reclosed the door. That day rolled on, and Nidia
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Speaker 1: felt herself pent, barred, inexorably confined, when that day was
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Speaker 1: the judgment day of Glaucus, and when her release would
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Speaker 1: have saved him, Yet knowing almost impossible, as seemed her escape,
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Speaker 1: that the sole chance for the life of Glaucus rested
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Speaker 1: on her, This young girl, frail, passionate, and acutely susceptible,
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Speaker 1: as she was, resolved not to give away to a
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Speaker 1: despair that would disable her from seizing whatever opportunity might occur.
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Speaker 1: She kept her senses whenever, beneath the whirl of intolerable
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Speaker 1: thought they reeled and tottered. Nay, she took food and
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Speaker 1: wine that she might sustain her strength, that she might
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Speaker 1: be prepared. She revolved scheme after scheme of escape, and
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Speaker 1: was forced to dismiss all. Yet Sosia was her only hope,
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Speaker 1: the only instrument with which she could tamper. He had
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Speaker 1: been superstitious in the desire of ascertaining whether he could
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Speaker 1: eventually purchase his freedom. Blessed God's might he not be
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Speaker 1: won by the bribe of freedom itself? Was she not
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Speaker 1: nearly rich enough to purchase it. Her slender arms were
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Speaker 1: covered with bracelet the presence of Ione, and on her
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Speaker 1: neck she yet wore that very chain, which it may
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Speaker 1: be remembered, had occasioned her jealous quarrel with Glaucus, and
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Speaker 1: which she had afterwards promised vainly to wear forever. She
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Speaker 1: waited burningly till Sosia should again appear. But as hour
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Speaker 1: after hour passed and he came not, she grew impatient.
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Speaker 1: Every nerve beat with fever. She could endure the solitude
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Speaker 1: no longer. She groaned, She shrieked aloud. She beat herself
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Speaker 1: against the door. Her cries echoed along the hall, and Sosia,
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Speaker 1: in peevish anger, hastened to see what was the matter
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Speaker 1: and silence his prisoner if possible, Ho, ho, what is this?
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Speaker 1: Said he surlily, young slave. If thou screamest out, thus
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Speaker 1: we must gag thee again. My shoulders will smart for
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Speaker 1: it if thou art hurt by my master kind. Sosia
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Speaker 1: chide me not, I can not endure to be so
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Speaker 1: long alone, answered Nidia. The solitude appalls me. Sit with me,
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Speaker 1: I pray a little while, nay, fear not that I
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Speaker 1: should attempt to escape. Place thy seat before the door.
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Speaker 1: Keep thine eye on me. I will not stir from
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Speaker 1: this spot. Sosia, who was a considerable gossip himself, was
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Speaker 1: moved by this address. He pitied, one who had nobody
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Speaker 1: to talk with. It was his case too, He pitied
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Speaker 1: and resolved to relieve himself. He took the hint of Nidia,
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Speaker 1: placed a stool before the door, leaned his back against it,
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Speaker 1: and replied, I am sure, I do not wish to
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Speaker 1: be churlish, and so far as a little innocent chat goes.
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Speaker 1: I have no objection to indulge you, but mind no tricks,
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Speaker 1: no more conjuring, no no, tell me, dear Sosia, what
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Speaker 1: is the hour? It is already evening. The goats are
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Speaker 1: going home. Oh gods, how went the trial? Both condemned
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Speaker 1: Nidia repressed the shriek. Well, well, I thought it would be,
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Speaker 1: so when do they suffer tomorrow in the amphitheater? If
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Speaker 1: it were not for thee little wretch, I should be
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Speaker 1: allowed to go with the rest and see it. Nidia
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Speaker 1: leaned back. For some moments nature could endure no more.
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Speaker 1: She had fainted away. But Socia did not perceive it,
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Speaker 1: for it was dusk of eve, and he was full
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Speaker 1: of his own privations. He went on, lamenting the loss
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Speaker 1: of so delightful a show, and accusing the injustice of
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Speaker 1: Arbasses for singling him out from all his fellows to
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Speaker 1: be converted into a jailer. And ere he had half finished. Nidia,
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Speaker 1: with a deep sigh, recovered the sense of life. Thou
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Speaker 1: sighest blind one at my loss. Well, that is some comfort.
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Speaker 1: So long as you acknowledge how much you cost me,
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Speaker 1: I will endeavor not to grumble it is to be
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Speaker 1: ill treated and yet not pitied Sosia. How much dost
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Speaker 1: thou require to make up the purchase of thy freedom?
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Speaker 1: How much? Why about two thousand? Sester says the gods
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Speaker 1: be praised, not more? Seest thou these bracelets and this chain,
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Speaker 1: they are well worth double that sum. I will give
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Speaker 1: them thee if tempt me not, I cannot release thee ar.
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Speaker 1: Bassees is a severe and awful master. Who knows what
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Speaker 1: I might feed the fishes of the sarnus alice. All
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Speaker 1: the cestroces in the world would not buy me back
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Speaker 1: into life. Better a live dog than a dead lion. Sosia,
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Speaker 1: thy freedom, think well, if thou wilt let me out
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Speaker 1: only for one little hour, let me out at midnight,
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Speaker 1: I will return ere tomorrow's dawn. Nay, thou canst go
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Speaker 1: with me, No, said Sosia sturdily. A slave once disobeyed
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Speaker 1: our Bassees, and he was never more hurt of. But
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Speaker 1: the law gives a master no power over the life
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Speaker 1: of a slave. The law is very obliging, but more
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Speaker 1: polite than efficient. I know that our Bassees always gets
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Speaker 1: the law on his side. Besides, if I am once dead,
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Speaker 1: what law can bring me to life again. Nidia wrung
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Speaker 1: her hands. Is there no hope, then, said she convulsively.
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Speaker 1: None of escaped till our bassees gives the word. Well,
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Speaker 1: then said Nidia quickly, thou wilt not at least refuse
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Speaker 1: to take a letter for me? Thy master cannot kill
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Speaker 1: thee for that to whom the praytor to a magistrate, No,
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Speaker 1: not I I should be made a witness in court
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Speaker 1: for what I know. And the way they cross examine
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Speaker 1: the slaves is by torture. Pardon I meant not the
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Speaker 1: pray door. It was a word that escaped me unawares.
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Speaker 1: I meant quite another person, the gay salous. Oh, and
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Speaker 1: what want you with him? Glaucus was my master. He
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Speaker 1: purchased me from a cruel lord. He alone has been
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Speaker 1: kind to me. He is to die. I shall never
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Speaker 1: live happily if I cannot in his hour of trial
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Speaker 1: and doom, let him know that one heart is grateful
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Speaker 1: to him. Salust is his friend. He will convey my message.
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Speaker 1: I am sure he will do no such thing. Glaucus
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Speaker 1: will have enough to think of between this and tomorrow
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Speaker 1: without troubling his head about a blind girl, man, said Nidia,
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Speaker 1: rising wilt thou be come free? Thou hast the offer
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Speaker 1: in thy power. Tomorrow it will be too late. Never
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Speaker 1: was freedom more cheaply purchased. Thou canst easily and unmisst
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Speaker 1: leave home. Less than half an hour will suffice for
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Speaker 1: thine absence, And for such a trifle, wilt thou refuse liberty?
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Speaker 1: Sosia was greatly moved. It was true that the request
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Speaker 1: was remarkably silly, but what was that to him? So
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Speaker 1: much the better he could lock the door on Nidia,
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Speaker 1: and if our basse should learn his absence, the offense
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Speaker 1: was venial and would merit but a reprimand Yet should
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Speaker 1: Nidia's letter contain something more than what she had said,
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Speaker 1: should it speak of her imprisonment, as he shrewdly conjectured,
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Speaker 1: it would do what? Then it need never be known
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Speaker 1: to our bassees that he had carried the letter. At
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Speaker 1: the worst, the bribe was enormous, the risk light, the
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Speaker 1: temptation irresistible. He hesitated no longer. He assented to the proposal.
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Speaker 1: Give me the trinkets and I will take the letter.
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Speaker 1: Yet stay thou art a slave. Thou hast no right
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Speaker 1: to these ornaments. They are thy masters. They were the
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Speaker 1: gifts of Glaucus. He is my master. What chance hath
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Speaker 1: he to claim them? Who else will know they are
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Speaker 1: in my possession? Enough, I will bring thee the papyr, no,
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Speaker 1: not papyrus, a tablet of wax and a stylus. Nidia,
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Speaker 1: as the reader will have seen, was born of gentle parents.
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Speaker 1: They had done all to lighten her calamity, and her
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Speaker 1: quick intellect seconded their exertions. Despite her blindness. She had
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Speaker 1: therefore acquired in childhood, though imperfectly, the art to write
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Speaker 1: with a sharp stylus upon wax and tablets, in which
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Speaker 1: her exquisite sense of touch came to her aid. When
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Speaker 1: the tablets were brought to her, she thus painfully traced
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Speaker 1: some words in Greek, the language of her childhood, in
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Speaker 1: which almost every Italian of the higher ranks was then
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Speaker 1: supposed to know. She carefully wound round the epistle the
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Speaker 1: thread and covered its not with wax, and ere she
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Speaker 1: placed it in the hands of Sosia. She thus addressed him, Sosia,
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Speaker 1: I am blind and in prison. Thou mayst think to
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Speaker 1: deceive me. Thou mayst pretend only to take the letter
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Speaker 1: to Salust. Thou mayst not fulfill thy charge. But here
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Speaker 1: I solemnly dedicate thy head to vengeance thy soul to
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Speaker 1: the infernal powers. If thou wrongest thy trust, and I
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Speaker 1: call upon THEE to place thy right hand of faith
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Speaker 1: in mine, and repeat after me these words by the
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Speaker 1: ground on which we stand, by the elements which contain life,
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Speaker 1: and concurse life, by Orcus, the all avenging, by the
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Speaker 1: Olympian Jupiter, the all Seeing. I swear that I will
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Speaker 1: honestly discharge my trust and faithfully deliver into the hands
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Speaker 1: of Sallust this letter. And if I perjure myself in
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Speaker 1: this oath, may the full curses of heaven and Hell
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Speaker 1: be wreaked upon me. Enough, I trust THEE take thy reward.
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Speaker 1: It is already dark. Depart at once. Thou art a
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Speaker 1: strange girl, and thou hast frightened me terribly. But it
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Speaker 1: is all very natural. And if Salust is to be found,
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Speaker 1: I give him this letter, as I have sworn by
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Speaker 1: my faith. I may have my little Pacadielos, but perjury no,
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Speaker 1: I leave that to my betters. With this, Sosia withdrew,
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Speaker 1: carefully passing the heavy bolt athwart Nidia's door, carefully locking
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Speaker 1: its wards, and hanging the key to his girdle, he
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Speaker 1: retired to his own den enveloped himself from head to
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Speaker 1: foot in a huge disguising cloak, and slipped out by
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Speaker 1: the back way, undisturbed and unseen. The streets were thin
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Speaker 1: and empty. He soon gained the house of Salust. The
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Speaker 1: porter bade him leave his letter and begone, for Salust
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Speaker 1: was so grieved at the condemnation of Glaucus that he
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Speaker 1: could not, on any account be disturbed. Nevertheless, I have
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Speaker 1: sworn to give this letter into his own hands. Do
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Speaker 1: so I must, And Sosia, well, knowing by experience that
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Speaker 1: Cerberus loves a sop, thrust some half a dozen cestces
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Speaker 1: into the hand of the porter. Well, well said the latter, relenting.
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Speaker 1: You may enter if you will. But to tell you
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Speaker 1: the truth, Salust is drinking himself out of his grief.
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Speaker 1: It is his way. When anything disturbs him. He orders
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Speaker 1: a capital supper, the best wine, and does not give
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Speaker 1: over till everything is out of his head. But the
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Speaker 1: liquor an excellent plan. Excellent, Ah, what it is to
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Speaker 1: be rich? If I were Salust, I would have some
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Speaker 1: grief or another every day. But just say a kind word.
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Speaker 1: For me with the atriensis, I see him coming. Salust
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Speaker 1: was too sad to receive company. He was too sad
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Speaker 1: also to drink alone. So as was his wont he
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Speaker 1: admitted his favorite freedman to his entertainment, and a stranger
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Speaker 1: banquet never was held for ever and Anon, the kind
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Speaker 1: hearted Epicure sighed, whimpered, wept out right, and then turned
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Speaker 1: with double zest to some new dish or his refilled goblet.
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Speaker 1: My good fellow, said he to his companion. It was
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Speaker 1: a most awful judgment. Hi ho, it is not bad
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Speaker 1: that kid, eh, poor dear Glaucus. What a jaw the
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Speaker 1: lion has too. Ah ah ah, and Salust sobbed loudly.
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Speaker 1: The fit was stopped by a counteraction of hiccups. Take
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Speaker 1: a cup of wine, said the freedman. A thought too cold,
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Speaker 1: But then how cold Glaucus must be? Shut up the
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Speaker 1: house tomorrow. Not a slave shall stir forth. None of
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Speaker 1: my people shall honor that cursed arena. No, no taste
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Speaker 1: the Fullernian. Your grief distracts you, By the gods, it
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Speaker 1: does a piece of that cheesecake. It was at this
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Speaker 1: suspicious moment that Sosia was admitted to the presence of
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Speaker 1: the disconsolate carouser. Ho, what art thou merely a messenger
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Speaker 1: to Salust? I give him this billet from a young female.
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Speaker 1: There is no answer that I know of. May I withdraw?
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Speaker 1: Thus said the discreet Sosia, keeping his face muffled in
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Speaker 1: his cloak and speaking with a feigned voice, so that
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Speaker 1: he might not hereafter be recognized by the gods a pimp,
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Speaker 1: unfeeling wretch. Do you not see my sorrows go and
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Speaker 1: the curses of Panderus with you? Sosia lost not a
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Speaker 1: moment in retiring. Will you read the letter Salust, said
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Speaker 1: the freedman, letter which letter said the epicure, reeling, for
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Speaker 1: he began to see double a curse on these wenches.
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Speaker 1: Say I am I a man to think of pick
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Speaker 1: up pleasure when when my friend is going to be
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Speaker 1: eat up, eat another Tartlet no, no, my grief chokes me.
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Speaker 1: Take him to bed, said the freedman, and Salust's head
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Speaker 1: now declining fairly on his breast, they bore him off
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Speaker 1: to his cubiculum, still muttering lamentations for Glaucus and imprecations
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Speaker 1: on the unfeeling overtures of ladies of pleasure. Meanwhile, Sosius
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Speaker 1: strode indignantly homeward pimp. Indeed, quoth he to himself pimp,
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Speaker 1: a scurvy tongued fellow that salust. Had I been called
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Speaker 1: knave or a thief, I could have forgiven it. But pimp, fah,
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Speaker 1: there is something in the word which the toughest stomach
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Speaker 1: in the world would rise against. A knave is a
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Speaker 1: knave for his own pleasure, and a thief a thief
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Speaker 1: for his own profit. And there is something honorable and
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Speaker 1: philosophical in being a rascal for one's own sake, that is,
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Speaker 1: doing things upon principle, upon a grand scale. But a
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Speaker 1: pimp is a thing that defiles itself for another, a
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Speaker 1: pipkin that is put on the fire for another man's pottage,
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Speaker 1: a napkin that every guest wipes his hands upon. And
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Speaker 1: the scullion says, by your leave too, a pimp. I
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Speaker 1: would rather he had called me parricide. But the man
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Speaker 1: was drunk and did not know what he said. And besides,
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Speaker 1: I disguised myself. Had he seen it had been Sosia
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Speaker 1: who addressed him, it would have been honest Sosia and
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Speaker 1: worthy man. I warrant Nevertheless, the trinkets have been won
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Speaker 1: easily that some comfort and o Goddess Feronia, I shall
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Speaker 1: be a freedman soon, and then I should like to
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Speaker 1: see who will call me pimp, unless indeed he paid
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Speaker 1: me pretty handsomely for it. While Sosia was soliloquising in
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Speaker 1: this high minded and generous vein, his path lay along
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Speaker 1: a narrow lane that led towards the Amphitheater and its
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Speaker 1: adjacent palaces. Suddenly, as he turned a sharp corner, he
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Speaker 1: found himself in the midst of a considerable crowd, men,
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Speaker 1: women and children. All were hurrying or laughing, talking, gesticulating,
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Speaker 1: and ere he was aware of it. The worthy Sosia
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Speaker 1: was borne away with the noisy stream. What now, he
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Speaker 1: asked of his nearest neighbor, a young artificer. What now,
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Speaker 1: where are all these good folks thronging? Does any rich
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Speaker 1: patron give away alms or v ends to night? Not
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Speaker 1: so man? Better, still, replied the artificer. The noble Panza,
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Speaker 1: the people's friend, has granted the public leave to see
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Speaker 1: the beasts in their bavaria by Hercules. They will not
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Speaker 1: be seen so safely by some persons. Tomorrow tis a
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Speaker 1: pretty sight, said the slave, yielding to the throng that
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Speaker 1: impelled him onward. And since I may not go to
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Speaker 1: the sports tomorrow, I may as well take a peep
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Speaker 1: at the beast's to night. You will do well, returned
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Speaker 1: his new acquaintance. A lion and a tiger are not
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Speaker 1: to be seen at Pompeii every day. The crowd had
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Speaker 1: now entered a broken and wide space of ground, on which,
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Speaker 1: as it was only lighted scantily and from a distance,
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Speaker 1: the press became dangerous to those whose limbs and shoulders
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Speaker 1: were not fitted for a mob. Nevertheless, the women, especially
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Speaker 1: many of them with children in their arms or even
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Speaker 1: at the breast, were the most resolute in forcing their way,
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Speaker 1: and their shrill exclamations of complaint or objurgation were heard
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Speaker 1: loud above the more jovial and masculine voices. Yet amidst
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Speaker 1: them was a young and girlish voice that appeared to
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Speaker 1: come from one too happy in her excitement to be
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Speaker 1: alive to the inconvenience of the crowd. Aha, cried the
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Speaker 1: young woman to some of her companions. I always told
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Speaker 1: you so, I always said we should have a man
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Speaker 1: for the lion, and now we have one for the
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Speaker 1: tiger too. I wish tomorrow were come, Ho Ho for
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Speaker 1: the merry merry show, with a forest of faces in
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Speaker 1: every row. Lo the swordsmen bold as the son of
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Speaker 1: al Kamena sweep side by side, or the hushed arena
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Speaker 1: talk while you may. You will hold your breath when
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Speaker 1: they meet in the grasp of the glowing death tramp tramp,
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Speaker 1: How gaily they go, Ho Ho for the merry merry show.
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Speaker 1: A jolly girl, said Sosia. Yes, replied the young artificer,
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Speaker 1: A curly headed, handsome youth, Yes, replied he Enviously, the
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Speaker 1: women love a gladiator. If I had been a slave,
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Speaker 1: I would have soon found my schoolmaster in the Lnista,
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Speaker 1: would you, Indeed, said Sosia with a sneer. People's notions differ.
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Speaker 1: The crowd had now arrived at the place of destination.
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Speaker 1: But as the cell in which the wild beasts were
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Speaker 1: confined was extremely small and narrow, tenfold more vehement than
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Speaker 1: it hitherto had been was the rush of the aspirants
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Speaker 1: to obtain admittance. Two of the officers of the Amphitheater,
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Speaker 1: placed at the entrance, very wisely mitigated the evil by
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Speaker 1: dispensing to the foremost only a limited number of tickets
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Speaker 1: at a time, and admitting no new visitors till their
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Speaker 1: predecessors had sated their curiosity. Sosa, who was a tolerably
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Speaker 1: stout fellow and not troubled with any remarkable scruples of
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Speaker 1: diffidence or good breeding, contrived to be among the first
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Speaker 1: of the initiated. Separated from his companion, the artificer, Sosia
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Speaker 1: found himself in a narrow cell of oppressive heat and atmosphere,
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Speaker 1: and lighted by several rank and flaring torches. The animals,
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Speaker 1: usually kept in different bavaria or dens, were now for
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Speaker 1: the greater entertainment of the visitors, placed in one, but
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Speaker 1: equally indeed divided from each other by strong cages protected
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Speaker 1: by iron bars. There they were the fell and grim
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Speaker 1: wanderers of the desert, who have now become almost the
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Speaker 1: principal agents of this story. The lion, who, as being
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Speaker 1: the more gentle by nature than his fellow beast, had
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Speaker 1: been more incited to ferocity by hunger, stalked restlessly and
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Speaker 1: fiercely to and fro his narrow confines. His eyes were
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Speaker 1: lurid with rage and famine, and as every now and
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Speaker 1: then he paused and glared round. The spectators fearfully pressed
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Speaker 1: backward and drew their breath more quickly. But the tiger
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Speaker 1: lay quiet and extended at full length in his cage,
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Speaker 1: and only by an occasional play of his tail or
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Speaker 1: a long, impatient yawn testified any emotion at his confinement
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Speaker 1: or at the crowd which honored him with their presence.
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Speaker 1: I have seen no fiercer beast than yon Lion, even
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Speaker 1: in the amphitheater of Rome, said a gigantic and sinewy
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Speaker 1: fellow who stood at the right hand of Sosia. I
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Speaker 1: feel humbled when I look at his limbs, replied at
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Speaker 1: the left of Sosia, a slighter and younger figure, with
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Speaker 1: his arms folded on his breast. The slave looked first
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Speaker 1: at one and then at the other. Virtus in medio
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Speaker 1: virtue is ever in the middle, muttered he to himself.
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Speaker 1: A goodly neighborhood for these Sosia a gladiator on each side,
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Speaker 1: that is well, said Leiden, returned the huger gladiator. I
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Speaker 1: feel the same, and to think, observed Leiden, in a
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Speaker 1: tone of deep feeling, to think that the noble Greek
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Speaker 1: he whom we saw, but a day or two, since
22:14
Speaker 1: before us, so full of youth and health and joyousness
22:18
Speaker 1: is to feast yon monster? Why not, growled Niger savagely.
22:24
Speaker 1: Many an honest gladiator has been compelled to a like
22:27
Speaker 1: combat by the Emperor. Why not a wealthy murderer by
22:30
Speaker 1: the law. Leidon's sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and remained silent. Meanwhile,
22:37
Speaker 1: the common gazers listened with staring eyes and lips apart.
22:41
Speaker 1: The gladiators were objects of interest as well as the beasts.
22:45
Speaker 1: They were animals of the same species. So the crowd
22:49
Speaker 1: glanced from one to the other, the men and the brutes,
22:52
Speaker 1: whispering their comments and anticipating the morrow. Well, said Leidon,
22:58
Speaker 1: turning away. I thank the God, it is not the
23:00
Speaker 1: lion or the tiger I am to contend with. Even
23:03
Speaker 1: you Niger are a gentler combatant than they, but equally dangerous,
23:10
Speaker 1: said the gladiator with a fierce laugh, And the bystanders,
23:13
Speaker 1: admiring his vast limbs and ferocious countenance, laughed too. That
23:19
Speaker 1: as it may be, answered Leiden carelessly, as he pressed
23:23
Speaker 1: through the throng and quitted the den, I may as
23:27
Speaker 1: well take advantage of his shoulders, thought the prudent Sosia,
23:30
Speaker 1: hastening to follow him. The crowd always give way to
23:34
Speaker 1: a gladiator, so I will keep close behind and come
23:37
Speaker 1: in for a share of his consequence. The son of
23:41
Speaker 1: Medon strove quickly through the mob, many of whom recognized
23:45
Speaker 1: his features and profession. That is, young Leiden, a brave fellow.
23:49
Speaker 1: He fights tomorrow, said one. Ah, I have a bed
23:53
Speaker 1: on him, said another. See how firmly he walks. Good
23:58
Speaker 1: luck to thee Leiden, said a third, Leiden, you have
24:02
Speaker 1: my wishes, half whispered afourth smiling, A comely woman of
24:06
Speaker 1: the middle class. And if you win, why you may
24:10
Speaker 1: hear more of me. A handsome man by venus, cried
24:15
Speaker 1: a fifth, who was a girl scarce in her teens.
24:19
Speaker 1: Thank you, returned Socia, gravely, taking the compliment to himself.
24:24
Speaker 1: However strong the purer motives of Leiden, and certain though
24:28
Speaker 1: it be that he would never have entered so bloody
24:31
Speaker 1: a calling, but from the hope of obtaining his father's freedom,
24:34
Speaker 1: he was not altogether unmoved by the notice. He excited.
24:38
Speaker 1: He forgot that the voices now raised in commendation might
24:42
Speaker 1: on the morrow shout over his death. Pangs by nature
24:46
Speaker 1: fierce and reckless, as well as generous and warm hearted.
24:50
Speaker 1: He was already imbued with the pride of a profession
24:53
Speaker 1: that he fancied, he disdained, and affected by the influence
24:56
Speaker 1: of a companionship that, in reality he loathed. He saw
25:01
Speaker 1: himself now a man of importance. His step grew yet lighter,
25:05
Speaker 1: and his mien more elate. Niger said he, turning suddenly,
25:11
Speaker 1: as he had now threaded the crowd. We have often quarreled.
25:15
Speaker 1: We are not matched against each other, but one of
25:17
Speaker 1: us at least may reasonably expect to fall. Give us
25:21
Speaker 1: thy hand most readily, said Sosia, extending his palm. Ha,
25:27
Speaker 1: what fool is this? Why I thought Niger was on
25:30
Speaker 1: my heels. I forgive the mistake, replied Sosia, condescendingly. Don't
25:37
Speaker 1: mention it. The error was easy. I and Niger are
25:40
Speaker 1: somewhat of the same build. Ha Ha, that is excellent.
25:44
Speaker 1: Niger would have slit thy throat had he heard thee.
25:48
Speaker 1: You gentlemen of the arena, have a most disagreeable mode
25:51
Speaker 1: of talking, said Sosia. Let us change the conversation. Vah Vah,
25:58
Speaker 1: said Leidon impatiently. I am in no humor to converse
26:02
Speaker 1: with thee. Why truly returned the slave. You must have
26:07
Speaker 1: serious thoughts enough to occupy your mind tomorrow. Is I
26:11
Speaker 1: think your first essay in the arena. Well, I am
26:14
Speaker 1: sure you will die bravely. May thy words fall on
26:18
Speaker 1: thine own head, said Leidon superstitiously, for he by no
26:23
Speaker 1: means liked the blessing of Sosia. Die No, I trust
26:27
Speaker 1: my hour is not yet come. He who plays at
26:31
Speaker 1: dice with death must expect the dog's throw, replied Sosia maliciously.
26:37
Speaker 1: But you are a strong fellow, and I wish you
26:39
Speaker 1: all imaginable luck, and so BALEI. With that, the slave
26:45
Speaker 1: turned on his heel and took his way homeward. I
26:49
Speaker 1: trust the rogue's words are not ominous, said Leidon, musingly.
26:53
Speaker 1: In my zeal for my father's liberty and my confidence
26:57
Speaker 1: in my own thews and sinews, I have not come
26:59
Speaker 1: to templated the possibility of death my poor father. I
27:03
Speaker 1: am thy only son if I were to fall. As
27:07
Speaker 1: the thought crossed him, the gladiator strode on with a
27:10
Speaker 1: more rapid and restless pace, when suddenly, in an opposite street,
27:15
Speaker 1: he beheld the very object of his thoughts. Leaning on
27:18
Speaker 1: his stick, his form bent by care and age, his
27:22
Speaker 1: eyes downcast, and his steps trembling, the gray haired Medon
27:26
Speaker 1: slowly approached towards the gladiator. Leighton paused a moment. He
27:31
Speaker 1: divined at once the cause that brought forth the old
27:33
Speaker 1: man at that late hour. Be sure it is I
27:37
Speaker 1: whom he seeks thought. He he is horror struck at
27:41
Speaker 1: the condemnation of Olynthus he more than ever esteems the arena,
27:45
Speaker 1: criminal and hateful. He comes again to dissuade me from
27:49
Speaker 1: the contest. I must shun him. I cannot brook his prayers,
27:54
Speaker 1: his tears, These thoughts so long to recite, flashed across
27:59
Speaker 1: the young man like lightning. He turned abruptly and fled
28:03
Speaker 1: swiftly in an opposite direction. He paused not till almost
28:07
Speaker 1: spent and breathless, he found himself on the summit of
28:10
Speaker 1: a small acclivity which overlooked the most gay and splendid
28:14
Speaker 1: part of that miniature city. And as there he paused
28:17
Speaker 1: and gazed along the tranquil streets, glittering in the rays
28:20
Speaker 1: of the moon which had just arisen and brought partially
28:24
Speaker 1: and picturesquely into light. The crowd around the amphitheater at
28:27
Speaker 1: a distance, murmuring and swaying to and fro. The influence
28:32
Speaker 1: of the scene affected him. Rude and unimaginative though his nature,
28:37
Speaker 1: he sat himself down to rest upon the steps of
28:39
Speaker 1: a deserted portico, and felt the calm of the hour
28:43
Speaker 1: quiet and restore him. Opposite and near at hand, the
28:47
Speaker 1: lights gleamed from a palace in which the Master now
28:50
Speaker 1: held his revels. The doors were open for coolness, and
28:54
Speaker 1: the gladiator beheld. The numerous and festive group gathered round
28:57
Speaker 1: the tables in the atrium, while behind them, closing the
29:01
Speaker 1: long vista of the illumined rooms, beyond, the spray of
29:05
Speaker 1: the distant fountain sparkled in the moonbeams. There the garlands
29:09
Speaker 1: wreathed around the columns of the hall. There gleamed, still infrequent,
29:13
Speaker 1: the marble statue. There, amidst peals of jock and laughter,
29:18
Speaker 1: rose the music and the lay epicurean song. Away with
29:23
Speaker 1: your stories of hades, which the flamen has forged to
29:27
Speaker 1: affright us. We laugh at your three maiden ladies, your fates,
29:31
Speaker 1: and your sullen cocaitis. Poor Jove has a troublesome life, Sir?
29:36
Speaker 1: Could we credit your tales of his portals in shutting
29:40
Speaker 1: his ears on his wife, sir, and opening his eyes
29:43
Speaker 1: upon mortals? Oh, blessed be the bright Epicurus who taught
29:48
Speaker 1: us to laugh at such fables on Hades they wanted
29:52
Speaker 1: to moor us, and his hand cut the terrible cables.
29:56
Speaker 1: If then there's a jove or a juno, they vex
29:59
Speaker 1: not their heads about us. Man. Besides, if they did,
30:04
Speaker 1: I and you know tis the life of a god
30:06
Speaker 1: to live thus, man, what think you the gods placed
30:11
Speaker 1: their bliss a in playing the spy on a sinner,
30:15
Speaker 1: in counting the girls that we kiss a or the
30:18
Speaker 1: cups that we empty at dinner, content with the soft
30:22
Speaker 1: lips that love us, this music, this wine, and this mirth. Boys,
30:26
Speaker 1: we care not for gods up above us. We know
30:29
Speaker 1: there's no god for this earth. Boys. While Leiden's piety,
30:34
Speaker 1: which accommodating as it might be, was in no slight
30:37
Speaker 1: degree disturbed by these verses, which embodied the fashionable philosophy
30:41
Speaker 1: of the day, slowly recovered itself from the shock it
30:45
Speaker 1: had received. A small party of men in plain garments
30:49
Speaker 1: and of the middle class passed by his resting place.
30:53
Speaker 1: They were in earnest conversation and did not seem to
30:56
Speaker 1: notice or heed the gladiator as they moved on. Oh, horror,
31:01
Speaker 1: on horrors, said one Olynthus is snatched from us, Our
31:05
Speaker 1: right arm is lopped away. When will Christ descend to
31:09
Speaker 1: protect his own? Can human atrocity go farther? Said another,
31:14
Speaker 1: to sentence an innocent man to the same arena as
31:17
Speaker 1: a murderer. But let us not despair. The thunder of
31:21
Speaker 1: Sinai may yet be heard, and the Lord preserve his saint.
31:25
Speaker 1: The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.
31:29
Speaker 1: At that moment, outbroke again from the illumined palace, the
31:33
Speaker 1: burden of the reveler's song. We care not for gods
31:37
Speaker 1: up above us. We know there's no God for this earth.
31:40
Speaker 1: Boys ere the words died away. The Nazarenes, moved by
31:44
Speaker 1: sudden indignation, cut up the echo, and, in the words
31:48
Speaker 1: of one of their favorite hymns, shouted aloud the warning
31:52
Speaker 1: hymn of the Nazarenes. Around about forever near thee God,
31:58
Speaker 1: our God shall mark and hear thee on his car
32:02
Speaker 1: of storm he sweeps bow ye heavens and shrink, ye deeps.
32:07
Speaker 1: Woe to the proud ones who defy him, Woe to
32:10
Speaker 1: the dreamers who deny him, Woe to the wicked, Woe.
32:15
Speaker 1: The proud stars shall fail, the sun shall grow pale,
32:19
Speaker 1: the heavens shrivel up like a scroll. Hell's ocean shall
32:23
Speaker 1: bear its depths of despair, each wave an eternal soul.
32:28
Speaker 1: For the only thing then that shall not live again
32:31
Speaker 1: is the corpse of the giant time hark, the trumpet
32:35
Speaker 1: of thunder, low Earth, rent asunder, and forth on his
32:39
Speaker 1: angel throne. He comes through the gloom, the judge of
32:43
Speaker 1: the tomb, to summon and save his own o joy
32:47
Speaker 1: to care, and woe to crime. He comes to save
32:50
Speaker 1: his own, Woe to the proud ones who defy him,
32:54
Speaker 1: woe to the dreamers who deny him, Woe to the wicked. Woe.
33:00
Speaker 1: A sudden silence from the startled hall of revel succeeded
33:04
Speaker 1: these ominous words. The Christians swept on and were soon
33:08
Speaker 1: hidden from the sight of the gladiator. Add He Scarce
33:11
Speaker 1: knew why by the mystic denunciations of the Christians. Lidon,
33:16
Speaker 1: after a short pause, now rose to pursue his way
33:19
Speaker 1: homeward before him, How serenely slept the starlight on that
33:24
Speaker 1: lovely city, How breathlessly its pillared streets reposed in their security,
33:30
Speaker 1: How softly rippled the dark green waves beyond, how cloudless
33:34
Speaker 1: spread aloft in blue the dreaming companion skies. Yet this
33:39
Speaker 1: was the last night for the gay Pompeii, the colony
33:43
Speaker 1: of the whre Chaldean, the fabled city of Hercules, the
33:47
Speaker 1: delight of the voluptuous roman Age. After age had rolled indestructive,
33:52
Speaker 1: unheeded over its head, and now the last ray quivered
33:56
Speaker 1: on the dial plate of its doom. The gladiator heard
34:00
Speaker 1: some light steps behind. A group of females were wending
34:04
Speaker 1: homeward from their visit to the amphitheater. As he turned,
34:08
Speaker 1: his eye was arrested by a strange and sudden apparition.
34:12
Speaker 1: From the summit of Vesuvius. Darkly visible in the distance,
34:16
Speaker 1: there shot a pale meteoric livid light. It trembled an
34:20
Speaker 1: instant and was gone At the same moment that his
34:23
Speaker 1: eye caught it. The voice of one of the youngest
34:26
Speaker 1: of the women broke out hilariously in shrill, tramp tramp,
34:30
Speaker 1: How gaily they go, ho ho for the morrow's merry show.
34:36
Speaker 1: End of book four,