A Struggle For Rome Volume Iii Part 56

"The three men only came from Byzantium yesterday evening--they at once demanded your head. But Na.r.s.es said, 'No murder! A just sentence after a process in all form.' 'When is it to be?' asked Anicius. 'So soon as it is time.' 'And Rome?' asked Basiliskos. 'He will never see Rome again!' answered Na.r.s.es."

"Stop!" cried Cethegus. "Wait a moment. I must be quite clear."

He wrote a few lines upon a wax tablet.

"Has Na.r.s.es returned from his bath?"

"Long ago."

"'Tis well." He gave the tablet to the sentinel at the door. "Bring back the answer immediately.--Continue, Syphax."

But Cethegus could no longer stand still. He began hastily to pace the tent.

"O sir, something monstrous must have happened at Rome--I could not exactly understand what. Anicius put a question; in it he named your Isaurians. Na.r.s.es said, 'I am rid of the chief Sandil,' and he added, laughing, 'and the rest are well cared for in Rome by Aulus and the brothers Macer, my decoy-birds.'"

"Did he name those names?" asked Cethegus grimly. "Did he use that word?"

"Yes, sir. Then Alboin said, 'It is well that the young tribunes are gone; it would have cost a hard fight.' And Na.r.s.es replied, 'All the Prefect's Isaurians must go. Shall we fight a b.l.o.o.d.y battle in our own camp, and let King Teja burst in upon us?' O sir, I fear that they have enticed your most faithful followers away from you with evil intent."

"I believe so too," said Cethegus gravely. "But what did they say about Rome?"

"Alboin asked after a leader whose name I had never heard before."

"Megas?" asked Cethegus.

"Yes, Megas! That was it. How did you know?"

"No matter. Continue! What about this Megas?"

"Alboin asked how long Megas had been in Rome. Na.r.s.es said, 'In any case long enough for the Roman tribunes and the Isaurians.'"

Cethegus groaned aloud.

"But," continued Syphax, "Scaevola remarked that the citizens of Rome idolised their tyrant and his young knights. 'Yes.' answered Na.r.s.es, 'formerly; but now they hate and fear nothing so much as the man who tried by force once more to make them brave men and Romans.' Then Albinus asked, 'But if they were to take his part again? His name has an all-conquering influence.' Na.r.s.es answered, 'Twenty-five thousand Armenians in the Capitol and the Mausoleum will bind the Romans----'"

Cethegus struck his fist fiercely on his forehead.

"'Will bind them more strictly than Pope Pelagius, their treaty, or their oath.' 'Their treaty and their oath?' asked Scaevola. 'Yes,'

answered Na.r.s.es, 'their oath and treaty! They have sworn only to open their gates to the Prefect of Rome.' 'Well, and then?' asked Anicius.

'Well', they know, and they knew then, that now the Prefect of Rome is called--Na.r.s.es. _To me, not to him_ have, they sworn!'"

Cethegus threw himself upon his couch and hid his face in his purple-hemmed mantle. No loud complaint issued from his heaving chest.

"Oh, my dear master!" cried Syphax, "it will kill you! But I have not yet finished. You must know all. Despair will give you strength, as it does to the snared lion."

Cethegus raised his head.

"Finish," he said. "What I have still to hear is indifferent; it can only concern me, not Rome."

"But it concerns you in a fearful manner! Na.r.s.es went on to say, after a few speeches which escaped me in the noise of the waves--that yesterday, at the same time as the long-expected news from Rome----"

"What news?" asked Cethegus.

"He did not mention what. He said, 'At the same time, Zenon brought me word to open the sealed orders which I carry from the Emperor; for the latter rightly judges that any day may bring about the destruction of the Goths. I opened and'--O master, it is dreadful----"

"Speak!"

"Na.r.s.es said, 'All the great Justinian's littleness is exposed in these orders. I believe he would more easily pardon Cethegus for having enticed him to blind Belisarius, than for having been in collusion with Theodora, for having been the seducer of the Empress! A frightful anachron'--I did not understand the word."

"Anachronism!" said Cethegus, quietly righting Syphax.

"'For having deceived and outwitted him. The fate which Cethegus almost brought upon Belisarius, will now fall upon his own head--the loss of his sight.'"

"Really!" said Cethegus with a smile. But he involuntarily felt for his dagger.

"Na.r.s.es said further," continued Syphax, "that you were to suffer the punishment which, in blasphemous desecration of Christ's death, and contrary to the law of the Emperor Constantine, you had lately introduced into Rome. What can he mean by that?" added Syphax anxiously.

"Crucifixion!" said Cethegus as he put up his dagger.

"O master!"

"Softly! I do not yet hang in the air. I still firmly tread the hero-nouris.h.i.+ng earth. Conclude!"

"Na.r.s.es said that he was a general and no executioner, and that the Emperor would have to be contented if he only sent him your head to Byzantium. But oh, not that! Only not that--if we _must_ die!"

"We?" said Cethegus, who had fully gained his usual calmness. "_You_ have not deceived the great Emperor. The danger does not threaten you."

But Syphax continued:

"Do you not know then? Oh, do not doubt it. All Africa knows that if the head of a corpse is wanting, the soul must creep for ages through dust and mire, in the shape of a vile and filthy headless worm. Oh, they shall not separate your head from your trunk!"

"It still stands firm upon these shoulders of mine, like the globe on the shoulders of Atlas. Peace--some one comes."

The Isaurian who had been sent to Na.r.s.es, entered with a sealed letter.

"To Cethegus Caesarius: Na.r.s.es, the magister militum. There is nothing to prevent your carrying out your wish to go to Rome."

"Now I understand," said Cethegus, and read on:

"The sentinels have orders to let you ride forth. But, if you insist upon going, I will give you a thousand Longobardians under Alboin as an escort, for the roads are very unsafe. As, in all probability, an attempt will be made by the Goths, to-day or tomorrow, to break through our lines, and repeated foolhardy sallies on the part of my soldiers have led to the loss of leaders and troops, I have ordered that no one be permitted to leave the camp without my express permission, and have entrusted the watch, even that of the tents, to my Longobardians."

Cethegus sprang to the entrance of his tent, and tore the curtains open. His four Isaurians were just being led away. Twenty Longobardians, under Autharis, drew up before the tent.

"I had thought of escaping to-night," he said to Syphax, turning back.

"It is now impossible. But it is better so, more dignified. Rather a Gothic spear in my breast, than a Grecian arrow in my back. But I have not yet read all that Na.r.s.es writes."

He read on:

"If you will come to my tent, you will learn what measures I have taken against the probably great bloodshed which will ensue if the barbarians venture to sally, as they threaten. But I have still a painful communication to make to you. News, which reached me yesterday evening by sea from Rome, informs me that your tribunes and the greater part of the Isaurians have been killed."