Carinus. English

by Mór Jókai

  CHAPTER X.

  Manlius remained with Carinus to amuse him; he taught the dancinggirls the dazzling arts of the Indian bayaderes, and conquered Aeviusby producing on every occasion, and at every toast, distiches more aptand beautiful than the court poet could fabricate.

  During a single evening Carinus gave the now universally enviedfavourite a hundred thousand sestertiae, and, when he learned from himthat the Teutonic women, by means of a special kind of soap, dyedtheir hair amber-yellow, he promised Manlius to appoint him Governorof Gallia that he might send him some of this soap which turned thehair yellow--at that period a hue ridiculously fashionable in thearistocratic society of Rome.

  The banquet lasted a long time. True, it was only afternoon out ofdoors, but any one who did not know that the feast had begun in themorning would have supposed it was already midnight.

  Carinus poured the wine that remained in the drinking horn upon thefloor, in token that he drank some one's health, and then handed it toManlius.

  "To the health of the beautiful Glyceria!"

  "And to yours, Carinus," replied Manlius, giving his own in exchange.

  "Manlius," said Carinus, the blood mounting to his face, "do you knowthat I have already had one husband of Glyceria slain?"

  "You did well, Carinus; but for that I could not become the second."

  "Do you know why I had him killed?"

  "Because he concealed his wife from you. Fool! Have the gods createda sun that some one may take possession of it and allow others noshare in its light? Those who snatch a beautiful woman from the world,and then demand that she shall be loved by no one else, are thievesand robbers!"

  "It might seem strange to you, Manlius, if I should take you at yourword. You must know that I love your wife madly."

  "That is your affair, Carinus. I do not keep her locked up. The way toher is open to every one."

  "It is easy for you to play the magnanimous. She herself secludesherself sufficiently. While hundreds of thousands of men tremble at awave of my hand, all my power cannot win the love of this one woman."

  "And how Glyceria _can_ love! Ah, Carinus, I know that when, in theevening, the door opens to me which you always find closed, you wouldjoyfully permit me to occupy your throne and reign in your stead solong as you fill my place as bridegroom."

  Carinus sprang up as if an electric spark had thrilled him.

  "_Hecataea!_ I will take you at your word! Take my throne, command myslaves, my empire in my name, have my favourites killed, make thelowest in Rome the highest, empty my treasure-houses, and, for allthis, merely give me the key of your bridal-chamber."

  "The bargain is made; here is my hand. Give me the parchment andstylus. Listen to what I write to Glyceria, and send it to herdwelling: 'Goddess of my love! I shall spend the hours between eveningand morning with you. My heart longs for your words of consolation.The cypress-branch has wounded my brow; your rose-wreath may subdueits flames. When the evening star, the lamp of lovers, begins toshine, extinguish yours that, if tears should dim my eyes, you may notsee them, but only feel my kisses. Until dawn I shall be with you, andin possession of my happiness. Your languishing husband, ManliusSinister.' Send this letter by a slave, and put on this ring, whichyou must show at the door. Then you will be admitted, and Glyceria'swomen will conduct you where she awaits you."

  Carinus listened greedily to every word from Manlius, who coollyhanded him the ring and the letter. Trembling in every limb, he couldnot speak, but motioned to a slave to deliver Manlius' letter toGlyceria.

  The courtiers whispered together in astonishment.

  "What a fortunate man you are," Aevius whispered in the ear of the newfavourite. "Why did not I have the good luck to possess Glyceria'slove, that I might cast it from me with the same indifference?"

  The slave soon returned with a letter from Glyceria to Manlius.

  The latter handed it to the Caesar:

  "It is yours; read it!"

  Carinus, with trembling hands, unrolled the parchment; his eyessparkled as he read:

  "Manlius! Your lines quiver in my hand. A thousand emotions are ragingin my heart; fear, longing, holy horrour, and wild love. I am underthe ban of an irresistible spell. I wish you might not come, but ifyou do, I shall be unable to resist you. I feel within my breast thepower and the desire to destroy the whole world, but at a breath fromyou all my strength fails; I am nothing more than a weak, lovingwoman, who loses her reason in her love. Oh, do not come! Glyceria."

  "That means: 'Oh, come!'" said Manlius laughing, propping himselfcarelessly on one elbow upon his couch.

  Carinus ordered his _lectica_ to be brought, and had himself liftedinto it.

  "No man has ever done that," whispered the barber, filled with envy;"given up his own bride to another."

  "Meanwhile you are the ruler of Rome," said Carinus to Manlius. "Letthe fellow who writes my name come. Whatever you command, I command.Reign over my kingdom."

  "And you over my heaven."

  The slaves closed the purple curtains of the _lectica_, raised it ontheir shoulders, and withdrew with the Caesar.

  The trembling courtiers, with humble faces, gathered around the youthwhom the Imperator's crazy whim had made for an hour the master of theworld.

  Manlius stretched himself comfortably upon the cushions of theimperial couch, sought among the throng of courtiers the man who wastrembling most violently, and beckoned to him.

  It was Marcius, the barber; by virtue of imperial favour, PraefectusPraetorio.

  "You are the commander of the praetorians?" asked Manlius.

  "Yes, my imperial master," stammered the barber, rolling his eyes.

  Manlius laughed.

  "So you really consider me the Caesar? If I _were_ the Imperator, Iwould have you beheaded because you mocked at my face; but call meyour friend. I know your merits."

  "O my Lord!"

  "I know, and will reward them. You are accustomed to bleed people, soyou will make a good soldier; you are skilled in arranging the hair,which indicates your talent for commander-in-chief; and understand howto pluck out hairs coolly, from which I perceive that you are sternand impartial. I am not satisfied with the leaders of the army in theEast, Numerian and Diocletian, and I therefore appoint you general ofthese troops. You will set out at once for Thrace. Honourable_Defraudator_! Sign our name to the document."

  Marcius's brain fairly reeled under the burden of his new dignities.

  The courtiers were rigid with astonishment, and calculated that ifManlius began to reward thus those who had mocked him, he wouldperhaps raise to the very heavens those who had looked at him withsmiles. The appointment was made out. The secretary signed the Caesar'sname, and Marcius, with a very important face, retired at once,carrying his commission.

  Urged by envy and jealousy, Aevius pressed forward to Manlius. Thelatter saw his struggle and beckoned to him.

  "You will be Praefectus Praetorio in Marcius's place, and distributefour thousand talents among this valiant band, whose sole dutyconsists in guarding our person. To be able to reward these men richlycontinually, we will lessen the numbers of the outside army. Whyshould we keep foreign countries garrisoned with our legions, payRoman gold for Roman steel, and give the leaders opportunity to rebelagainst us? In an hour you will depart for Thrace, bearing our commandto Numerian and Diocletian to dismiss half the army at once, and thesum thus saved I place at your free disposal, my noble friends. Writedown my words, honourable _Defraudator_!"

  A frantic shout of joy greeted Manlius' speech. The courtiers rushedto him, raised him on their shoulders, and amid the accompaniment ofmusic and thundering cheers, bore him around the room. The fury ofintoxication had risen to madness, Senators were no longer to bedistinguished from actors, dancers and hetaerae, slaves and bacchantesmingled in the hall, wine flowed from the skins upon the floor, thelamps were extinguished with it, and darkness covered the foul scene.

  The only window in the apartment was a round one in the ceiling whichad
mitted the fresh air. When the last lamp was extinguished, thesenseless revellers saw with terror that the window above their headsnow gave light. What if the sky had kindled into terrible flames toillumine with its awful glare the hell beneath!

  The horrible tumult of the orgy ceased as if by magic, and through thedoors, suddenly flung wide open, rushed a slave, calling in atrembling voice the message of terror:

  "Save yourselves! Rome is burning!"

  Through the round window the crimson glow shone like the flames ofthe Day of Judgment upon the evil beings caught in the midst of theirsins.

  * * * * *

  When Carinus showed the ring, he was conducted without delay toGlyceria's apartments.

  The palace already stood wrapped in silence and darkness. Carinus feltrustling garments brush him in the corridors, soft hands guided himand, amid low laughter, led him through quiet rooms until at last heclasped a hand at whose electric pressure his blood began to seethe,and a familiar voice faltered with a tenderness never heard before:

  "Manlius! So you came?"

  It was Glyceria--cruelly deceived Glyceria.

  "I expected you, and yet I hoped you would not come," she whisperedsoftly. "Do you feel the tremour of my hand in your clasp? It isquivering with love and fear. Love robbed me of my senses. One wordof tenderness from your lips made my soul your slave--all that, duringmy whole life, I had concentrated in a single thought, the goal of mylonging which I had never hoped to possess, the joy of which I hadalways dreamed, but never hoped would be mine--I now embrace! I do notunderstand it. This is not the day or the hour in which we ought tospeak of love, but you mentioned it, and can the woman who loveschoose the hour for answering the question?"

  Carinus stole the caresses of the loving woman.

  "Yet, O Manlius! I trembled lest you might come only to mock me, onlyto play a cruel game with me, obtain the deepest secrets of my heartand then jeer at me for them. No. You cannot do that. You cannottrample in the dust the only feeling which I have kept unsullied amidthe ruin of my life. Can you hate me because I love you? And if youhate me, would you not slay, rather than mock me?"

  Carinus silently drew the trembling figure toward him and covered hercheeks and lips with fervent kisses.

  Glyceria, in blissful delusion, yielded to his embrace, and in herhappiness had almost silenced the warning voice in her heart, whenCarinus' cheek suddenly touched hers, and she discovered that his facewas beardless.

  The most terrible thought darted through Glyceria's brain.

  "Ha! Who are you? You are not Manlius. Be accursed! You are Carinus."

  And, wresting herself with the strength of despair from the Caesar'sarms, she rushed toward the opposite side of the room and disappearedbehind the curtains of the niche which concealed her couch, drawingthe heavy folds together and hastily fastening the cords.

  "You will not escape me!" shrieked Carinus, dashing in the fury of hispassion toward the curtains, and tearing them down, while he toreapart the knot which confined the cords with his teeth.

  But these few seconds had sufficed for Glyceria to light a vesselfilled with some inflammable fluid and, at the instant Carinussucceeded in forcing the curtains apart, she poured the flamingcontents over her couch and, while the blaze caught the lightdraperies, she herself sprang with a single bound upon the bed, nowburning around her, whence like a terrible, destroying vision sheshouted to the terror-stricken Augustus:

  "Now, come!"

  The next moment the hall was wrapped in flames. Like the fiend whogained an entrance into Heaven and was forced to fly thence, Carinusfled from the destroying fire, while Glyceria, seizing a burningcoverlet, rushed from room to room, setting fire to each, and,dragging costly garments into the main hall, kindled those too.

  In a few minutes the whole palace was in flames and, at the end of anhour, a sea of fire was rolling through Rome.

  Carinus had been borne back to his palace senseless.

  Glyceria fled that same night to the temple of Cybele.