BOOK
THIRD
"Cleopatra.... Our size of sorrow,
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great
As that which makes it. -
Enter, below, DIOMEDES.
How now? is he
dead?
Diomedes - His death's upon him, but not
dead."
Antony and Cleopatra (act iv., sc.
xiii.).
CHAPTER I
The city of
Misenum gave name to the promontory which it crowned, a few miles southwest of
Naples. An account of ruins is all that remains of it now; yet in the year of
our Lord 24 - to which it is desirable to advance the reader - the place was
one of the most important on the western coast of Italy.[1]
[1] The Roman government, it
will be remembered, had two harbors in which great fleets were constantly kept
- Ravenna and Misenum.
In the year mentioned, a traveller coming to the promontory to regale
himself with the view there offered, would have mounted a wall, and, with the
city at his back, looked over the bay of Neapolis, as charming then as now; and
then, as now, he would have seen the matchless shore, the smoking cone, the sky
and waves so softly, deeply blue, Ischia here and Capri yonder; from one to the
other and back again, through the purpled air, his gaze would have sported; at
last - for the eyes do weary of the beautiful as the palate with sweets - at
last it would have dropped upon a spectacle which the modern tourist cannot see
- half the reserve navy of Rome astir or at anchor below him. Thus regarded,
Misenum was a very proper place for three masters to meet, and at leisure
parcel the world among them.
In the old time,
moreover, there was a gateway in the wall at a certain point fronting the sea -
an empty gateway forming the outlet of a street which, after the exit,
stretched itself, in the form of a broad mole, out many stadia into the waves.
The watchman on
the wall above the gateway was disturbed, one cool September morning, by a
party coming down the street in noisy conversation. He gave one look, then
settled into his drowse again.
There were twenty
or thirty persons in the party, of whom the greater number were slaves with
torches, which flamed little and smoked much, leaving on the air the perfume of
the Indian nard. The masters walked in advance arm-in-arm. One of them,
apparently fifty years old, slightly bald, and wearing over his scant locks a
crown of laurel, seemed, from the attentions paid him, the central object of
some affectionate ceremony. They all sported ample togas of white wool broadly
bordered with purple. A glance had sufficed the watchman. He knew, without
question, they were of high rank, and escorting a friend to ship after a night
of festivity. Further explanation will be found in the conversation they
carried on.
"No, my
Quintus," said one, speaking to him with the crown, "it is ill of
Fortune to take thee from us so soon. Only yesterday thou didst return from the
seas beyond the Pillars. Why, thou hast not even got back thy land legs."
"By Castor!
if a man may swear a woman's oath," said another, somewhat worse of wine,
"let us not lament. Our Quintus is but going to find what he lost last
night. Dice on a rolling ship is not dice on shore - eh, Quintus?"
"Abuse not
Fortune!" exclaimed a third. "She is not blind or fickle. At Antium,
where our Arrius questions her, she answers him with nods, and at sea she
abides with him holding the rudder. She takes him from us, but does she not
always give him back with a new victory?"
"The Greeks
are taking him away," another broke in. "Let us abuse them, not the
gods. In learning to trade they forgot how to fight."
With these words,
the party passed the gateway, and came upon the mole, with the bay before them
beautiful in the morning light. To the veteran sailor the plash of the waves
was like a greeting. He drew a long breath, as if the perfume of the water were
sweeter than that of the nard, and held his hand aloft.
"My gifts
were at Praeneste, not Antium - and see! Wind from the west. Thanks, O Fortune,
my mother!" he said, earnestly.
The friends all
repeated the exclamation, and the slaves waved their torches.
"She comes -
yonder!" he continued, pointing to a galley outside the mole. "What
need has a sailor for other mistress? Is your Lucrece more graceful, my
Caius?"
He gazed at the
coming ship, and justified his pride. A white sail was bent to the low mast,
and the oars dipped, arose, poised a moment, then dipped again, with wing-like
action, and in perfect time.
"Yes, spare
the gods," he said, soberly, his eyes fixed upon the vessel. "They
send us opportunities. Ours the fault if we fail. And as for the Greeks, you
forget, O my Lentulus, the pirates I am going to punish are Greeks. One victory
over them is of more account than a hundred over the Africans."
"Then thy
way is to the Aegean?"
The sailor's eyes
were full of his ship.
"What grace,
what freedom! A bird hath not less care for the fretting of the waves.
See!" he said, but almost immediately added, "Thy pardon, my
Lentulus. I am going to the Aegean; and as my departure is so near, I will tell
the occasion - only keep it under the rose. I would not that you abuse the
duumvir when next you meet him. He is my friend. The trade between Greece and
Alexandria, as ye may have heard, is hardly inferior to that between Alexandria
and Rome. The people in that part of the world forgot to celebrate the
Cerealia, and Triptolemus paid them with a harvest not worth the gathering. At
all events, the trade is so grown that it will not brook interruption a day. Ye
may also have heard of the Chersonesan pirates, nested up in the Euxine; none
bolder, by the Bacchae! Yesterday word came to Rome that, with a fleet, they
had rowed down the Bosphorus, sunk the galleys off Byzantium and Chalcedon,
swept the Propontis, and, still unsated, burst through into the Aegean. The
corn-merchants who have ships in the East Mediterranean are frightened. They
had audience with the Emperor himself, and from Ravenna there go to-day a
hundred galleys, and from Misenum" - he paused as if to pique the
curiosity of his friends, and ended with an emphatic -”one."
"Happy
Quintus! We congratulate thee!"
"The
preferment forerunneth promotion. We salute thee duumvir; nothing less."
"Quintus
Arrius, the duumvir, hath a better sound than Quintus Arrius, the
tribune."
n such manner
they showered him with congratulations.
"I am glad
with the rest," said the bibulous friend, "very glad; but I must be
practical, O my duumvir; and not until I know if promotion will help thee to
knowledge of the tesserae will I have an opinion as to whether the gods mean
thee ill or good in this - this business."
"Thanks,
many thanks!" Arrius replied, speaking to them collectively. "Had ye
but lanterns, I would say ye were augurs. Perpol! I will go further, and show
what master diviners ye are! See - and read."
From the folds of
his toga he drew a roll of paper, and passed it to them, saying, "Received
while at table last night from - Sejanus."
The name was
already a great one in the Roman world; great, and not so infamous as it
afterwards became.
"Sejanus!"
they exclaimed, with one voice, closing in to read what the minister had
written.
"Sejanus to
C. Caecilius Rufus, Duumvir.
"ROME, XIX. Kal. Sept.
"Caesar hath
good report of Quintus Arrius, the tribune. In particular he hath heard of his
valor, manifested in the western seas, insomuch that it is his will that the
said Quintus be transferred instantly to the East.
"It is our
Caesar's will, further, that you cause a hundred triremes, of the first class,
and full appointment, to be despatched without delay against the pirates who
have appeared in the Aegean, and that Quintus be sent to command the fleet so
despatched.
"Details are
thine, my Caecilius.
"The
necessity is urgent, as thou will be advised by the reports enclosed for thy
perusal and the information of the said Quintus.
"SEJANUS."
Arrius gave
little heed to the reading. As the ship drew more plainly out of the
perspective, she became more and more an attraction to him. The look with which
he watched her was that of an enthusiast. At length he tossed the loosened folds
of his toga in the air; in reply to the signal, over the aplustre, or fan-like
fixture at the stern of the vessel, a scarlet flag was displayed; while several
sailors appeared upon the bulwarks, and swung themselves hand over hand up the
ropes to the antenna, or yard, and furled the sail. The bow was put round, and
the time of the oars increased one half; so that at racing speed she bore down
directly towards him and his friends. He observed the manoeuvring with a
perceptible brightening of the eyes. Her instant answer to the rudder, and the
steadiness with which she kept her course, were especially noticeable as
virtues to be relied upon in action.
"By the
Nymphae!" said one of the friends, giving back the roll, "we may not
longer say our friend will be great; he is already great. Our love will now
have famous things to feed upon. What more hast thou for us?"
"Nothing
more," Arrius replied. "What ye have of the affair is by this time
old news in Rome, especially between the palace and the Forum. The duumvir is
discreet; what I am to do, where go to find my fleet, he will tell on the ship,
where a sealed package is waiting me. If, however, ye have offerings for any of
the altars to-day, pray the gods for a friend plying oar and sail somewhere in
the direction of Sicily. But she is here, and will come to," he said,
reverting to the vessel. "I have interest in her masters; they will sail
and fight with me. It is not an easy thing to lay ship side on a shore like
this; so let us judge their training and skill."
"What, is
she new to thee?"
"I never saw
her before; and, as yet, I know not if she will bring me one
acquaintance."
"Is that
well?"
"It matters
but little. We of the sea come to know each other quickly; our loves, like our
hates, are born of sudden dangers."
The vessel was of
the class called naves liburnicae - long, narrow, low in the water, and
modelled for speed and quick manoeuvre. The bow was beautiful. A jet of water
spun from its foot as she came on, sprinkling all the prow, which rose in graceful
curvature twice a man's stature above the plane of the deck. Upon the bending
of the sides were figures of Triton blowing shells. Below the bow, fixed to the
keel, and projecting forward under the water-line, was the rostrum, or beak, a
device of solid wood, reinforced and armed with iron, in action used as a ram.
A stout molding extended from the bow the full length of the ship's sides,
defining the bulwarks, which were tastefully crenelated; below the molding, in
three rows, each covered with a cap or shield of bull-hide, were the holes in
which the oars were worked - sixty on the right, sixty on the left. In further
ornamentation, caducei leaned against the lofty prow. Two immense ropes passing
across the bow marked the number of anchors stowed on the foredeck.
The simplicity of
the upper works declared the oars the chief dependence of the crew. A mast, set
a little forward of midship, was held by fore and back stays and shrouds fixed
to rings on the inner side of the bulwarks. The tackle was that required for
the management of one great square sail and the yard to which it was hung.
Above the bulwarks the deck was visible.
Save the sailors
who had reefed the sail, and yet lingered on the yard, but one man was to be
seen by the party on the mole, and he stood by the prow helmeted and with a
shield.
The hundred and
twenty oaken blades, kept white and shining by pumice and the constant wash of
the waves, rose and fell as if operated by the same hand, and drove the galley
forward with a speed rivalling that of a modern steamer.
So rapidly, and
apparently, so rashly, did she come that the landsmen of the tribune's party
were alarmed. Suddenly the man by the prow raised his hand with a peculiar
gesture; whereupon all the oars flew up, poised a moment in air, then fell
straight down. The water boiled and bubbled about them; the galley shook in
every timber, and stopped as if scared. Another gesture of the hand, and again
the oars arose, feathered, and fell; but this time those on the right, dropping
towards the stern, pushed forward; while those on the left, dropping towards
the bow, pulled backwards. Three times the oars thus pushed and pulled against
each other. Round to the right the ship swung as upon a pivot; then, caught by
the wind, she settled gently broadside to the mole.
The movement
brought the stern to view, with all its garniture - Tritons like those at the
bow; name in large raised letters; the rudder at the side; the elevated
platform upon which the helmsman sat, a stately figure in full armor, his hand
upon the rudder-rope; and the aplustre, high, gilt, carved, and bent over the
helmsman like a great runcinate leaf.
In the midst of
the rounding-to, a trumpet was blown brief and shrill, and from the hatchways
out poured the marines, all in superb equipment, brazen helms, burnished
shields and javelins. While the fighting-men thus went to quarters as for
action, the sailors proper climbed the shrouds and perched themselves along the
yard. The officers and musicians took their posts. There was no shouting or
needless noise. When the oars touched the mole, a bridge was sent out from the
helmsman's deck. Then the tribune turned to his party and said, with a gravity
he had not before shown:
"Duty now, O
my friends."
He took the
chaplet from his head and gave it to the dice-player.
"Take thou
the myrtle, O favorite of the tesserae!" he said. "If I return, I
will seek my sestertii again; if I am not victor, I will not return. Hang the
crown in thy atrium."
To the company he
opened his arms, and they came one by one and received his parting embrace.
"The gods go
with thee, O Quintus!" they said.
"Farewell,"
he replied.
To the slaves
waving their torches he waved his hand; then he turned to the waiting ship,
beautiful with ordered ranks and crested helms, and shields and javelins. As he
stepped upon the bridge, the trumpets sounded, and over the aplustre rose the
vexillum purpureum, or pennant of a commander of a fleet.
CHAPTER II
The tribune,
standing upon the helmsman's deck with the order of the duumvir open in his
hand, spoke to the chief of the rowers.[1]
[1] Called hortator.
"What force hast thou?"
"Of oarsmen, two hundred and fifty-two; ten
supernumeraries.
"Making
reliefs of -”
"Eighty-four."
"And thy
habit?"
"It has been
to take off and put on every two hours."
The
tribune mused a moment.
"The
division is hard, and I will reform it, but not now. The oars may not rest day
or night."
Then to the
sailing-master he said,
"The wind is
fair. Let the sail help the oars."
When the two thus
addressed were gone, he turned to the chief pilot.[2]
[2] Called rector.
"What
service hast thou had?"
"Two-and-thirty
years."
"In what
seas chiefly?"
"Between our
Rome and the East."
"Thou art
the man I would have chosen."
The tribune
looked at his orders again.
"Past the
Camponellan cape, the course will be to Messina. Beyond that, follow the bend
of the Calabrian shore till Melito is on thy left, then - Knowest thou the
stars that govern in the Ionian Sea?"
"I know them
well."
"Then from
Melito course eastward for Cythera. The gods willing, I will not anchor until
in the Bay of Antemona. The duty is urgent. I rely upon thee."
A prudent man was
Arrius - prudent, and of the class which, while enriching the altars at
Praeneste and Antium, was of opinion, nevertheless, that the favor of the blind
goddess depended more upon the votary's care and judgment than upon his gifts
and vows. All night as master of the feast he had sat at table drinking and
playing; yet the odor of the sea returned him to the mood of the sailor, and he
would not rest until he knew his ship. Knowledge leaves no room for chances.
Having begun with the chief of the rowers, the sailing-master, and the pilot,
in company with the other officers - the commander of the marines, the keeper of
the stores, the master of the machines, the overseer of the kitchen or fires -
he passed through the several quarters. Nothing escaped his inspection. When he
was through, of the community crowded within the narrow walls he alone knew
perfectly all there was of material preparation for the voyage and its possible
incidents; and, finding the preparation complete, there was left him but one
thing further - thorough knowledge of the personnel of his command. As this was
the most delicate and difficult part of his task, requiring much time, he set
about it his own way.
At noon that day
the galley was skimming the sea off Paestum. The wind was yet from the west,
filling the sail to the master's content. The watches had been established. On
the foredeck the altar had been set and sprinkled with salt and barley, and
before it the tribune had offered solemn prayers to Jove and to Neptune and all
the Oceanidae, and, with vows, poured the wine and burned the incense. And now,
the better to study his men, he was seated in the great cabin, a very martial
figure.
The cabin, it
should be stated, was the central compartment of the galley, in extent quite
sixty-five by thirty feet, and lighted by three broad hatchways. A row of
stanchions ran from end to
end, supporting the roof, and near the centre the mast was visible,
all bristling with axes and spears and javelins. To each hatchway there were
double stairs descending right and left, with a pivotal arrangement at the top
to allow the lower ends to be hitched to the ceiling; and, as these were now
raised, the compartment had the appearance of a skylighted hall.
The reader will
understand readily that this was the heart of the ship, the home of all aboard
- eating-room, sleeping-chamber, field of exercise, lounging-place off duty -
uses made possible by the laws which reduced life there to minute details and a
routine relentless as death.
At the after-end
of the cabin there was a platform, reached by several steps. Upon it the chief
of the rowers sat; in front of him a sounding-table, upon which, with a gavel,
he beat time for the oarsmen; at his right a clepsydra, or water-clock, to
measure the reliefs and watches. Above him, on a higher platform, well guarded
by gilded railing, the tribune had his quarters, overlooking everything, and
furnished with a couch, a table, and a cathedra, or chair, cushioned, and with
arms and high back - articles which the imperial dispensation permitted of the
utmost elegance.
Thus at ease,
lounging in the great chair, swaying with the motion of the vessel, the
military cloak half draping his tunic, sword in belt, Arrius kept watchful eye
over his command, and was as closely watched by them. He saw critically
everything in view, but dwelt longest upon the rowers. The reader would
doubtless have done the same: only he would have looked with much sympathy,
while, as is the habit with masters, the tribune's mind ran forward of what he
saw, inquiring for results.
The spectacle was
simple enough of itself. Along the sides of the cabin, fixed to the ship's
timbers, were what at first appeared to be three rows of benches; a closer
view, however, showed them a succession of rising banks, in each of which the
second bench was behind and above the first one, and the third above and behind
the second. To accommodate the sixty rowers on a side, the space devoted to
them permitted nineteen banks separated by intervals of one yard, with a
twentieth bank divided so that what would have been its upper seat or bench was
directly above the lower seat of the first bank. The arrangement gave each
rower when at work ample room, if he timed his movements with those of his
associates, the principle being that of soldiers marching with cadenced step in
close order. The arrangement also allowed a multiplication of banks, limited
only by the length of the galley.
As to the rowers,
those upon the first and second benches sat, while those upon the third, having
longer oars to work, were suffered to stand. The oars were loaded with lead in
the handles, and near the point of balance hung to pliable thongs, making
possible the delicate touch called feathering, but, at the same time,
increasing the need of skill, since an eccentric wave might at any moment catch
a heedless fellow and hurl him from his seat. Each oar-hole was a vent through
which the laborer opposite it had his plenty of sweet air. Light streamed down
upon him from the grating which formed the floor of the passage between the
deck and the bulwark over his head. In some respects, therefore, the condition
of the men might have been much worse. Still, it must not be imagined that
there was any pleasantness in their lives. Communication between them was not
allowed. Day after day they filled their places without speech; in hours of
labor they could not see each other's faces; their short respites were given to
sleep and the snatching of food. They never laughed; no one ever heard one of
them sing. What is the use of tongues when a sigh or a groan will tell all men
feel while, perforce, they think in silence? Existence with the poor wretches
was like a stream under ground sweeping slowly, laboriously on to its outlet,
wherever that might chance to be.
O Son of Mary!
The sword has now a heart - and thine the glory! So now; but, in the days of
which we are writing, for captivity there was drudgery on walls, and in the
streets and mines, and the galleys both of war and commerce were insatiable.
When Druilius won the first sea-fight for his country, Romans plied the oars,
and the glory was to the rower not less than the marine. These benches which
now we are trying to see as they were testified to the change come with
conquest, and illustrated both the policy and the prowess of Rome. Nearly all
the nations had sons there, mostly prisoners of war, chosen for their brawn and
endurance. In one place a Briton; before him a Libyan; behind him a Crimean.
Elsewhere a Scythian, a Gaul, and a Thebasite. Roman convicts cast down to
consort with Goths and Longobardi, Jews, Ethiopians, and barbarians from the
shores of Maeotis. Here an Athenian, there a red-haired savage from Hibernia,
yonder blue-eyed giants of the Cimbri.
In the labor of
the rowers there was not enough art to give occupation to their minds, rude and
simple as they were. The reach forward, the pull, the feathering the blade, the
dip, were all there was of it; motions most perfect when most automatic. Even
the care forced upon them by the sea outside grew in time to be a thing
instinctive rather than of thought. So, as the result of long service, the poor
wretches became imbruted - patient, spiritless, obedient - creatures of vast
muscle and exhausted intellects, who lived upon recollections generally few but
dear, and at last lowered into the semi-conscious alchemic state wherein misery
turns to habit, and the soul takes on incredible endurance.
From right to
left, hour after hour, the tribune, swaying in his easy-chair, turned with
thought of everything rather than the wretchedness of the slaves upon the
benches. Their motions, precise, and exactly the same on both sides of the
vessel, after a while became monotonous; and then he amused himself singling
out individuals. With his stylus he made note of objections, thinking, if all
went well, he would find among the pirates of whom he was in search better men
for the places.
There was no need
of keeping the proper names of the slaves brought to the galleys as to their
graves; so, for convenience, they were usually identified by the numerals
painted upon the benches to which they were assigned. As the sharp eyes of the
great man moved from seat to seat on either hand, they came at last to number
sixty, which, as has been said, belonged properly to the last bank on the
left-hand side, but, wanting room aft, had been fixed above the first bench of
the first bank. There they rested.
The bench of
number sixty was slightly above the level of the platform, and but a few feet
away. The light glinting through the grating over his head gave the rower
fairly to the tribune's view - erect, and, like all his fellows, naked, except
a cincture about the loins. There were, however, some points in his favor. He
was very young, not more than twenty. Furthermore, Arrius was not merely given
to dice; he was a connoisseur of men physically, and when ashore indulged a
habit of visiting the gymnasia to see and admire the most famous athletae. From
some professor, doubtless, he had caught the idea that strength was as much of
the quality as the quantity of the muscle, while superiority in performance
required a certain mind as well as strength. Having adopted the doctrine, like
most men with a hobby, he was always looking for illustrations to support it.
The reader may
well believe that while the tribune, in the search for the perfect, was often
called upon to stop and study, he was seldom perfectly satisfied - in fact,
very seldom held as long as on this occasion.
In the beginning
of each movement of the oar, the rower's body and face were brought into
profile view from the platform; the movement ended with the body reversed, and
in a pushing posture. The grace and ease of the action at first suggested a
doubt of the honesty of the effort put forth; but it was speedily dismissed;
the firmness with which the oar was held while in the reach forward, its
bending under the push, were proofs of the force applied; not that only, they
as certainly proved the rower's art, and put the critic in the great arm-chair
in search of the combination of strength and cleverness which was the central
idea of his theory.
In course of the
study, Arrius observed the subject's youth; wholly unconscious of tenderness on
that account, he also observed that he seemed of good height, and that his
limbs, upper and nether, were singularly perfect. The arms, perhaps, were too
long, but the objection was well hidden under a mass of muscle, which, in some
movements, swelled and knotted like kinking cords. Every rib in the round body
was discernible; yet the leanness was the healthful reduction so strained after
in the palaestrae. And altogether there was in the rower's action a certain
harmony which, besides addressing itself to the tribune's theory, stimulated
both his curiosity and general interest.
Very soon he
found himself waiting to catch a view of the man's face in full. The head was
shapely, and balanced upon a neck broad at the base, but of exceeding pliancy
and grace. The features in profile were of Oriental outline, and of that
delicacy of expression which has always been thought a sign of blood and
sensitive spirit. With these observations, the tribune's interest in the
subject deepened.
"By the
gods," he said to himself, "the fellow impresses me! He promises
well. I will know more of him."
Directly the
tribune caught the view he wished - the rower turned and looked at him.
"A Jew! and
a boy!"
Under the gaze
then fixed steadily upon him, the large eyes of the slave grew larger - the
blood surged to his very brows - the blade lingered in his hands. But
instantly, with an angry crash, down fell the gavel of the hortator. The rower
started, withdrew his face from the inquisitor, and, as if personally chidden,
dropped the oar half feathered. When he glanced again at the tribune, he was
vastly more astonished - he was met with a kindly smile.
Meantime the
galley entered the Straits of Messina, and, skimming past the city of that
name, was after a while turned eastward, leaving the cloud over AEtna in the
sky astern.
Often as Arrius
resumed to his platform in the cabin he returned to study the rower, and he
kept saying to himself, "The fellow hath a spirit. A Jew is not a
barbarian. I will know more of him."
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