CHAPTER III
TENANTRY AND SLAVERY
Agathemer came in and explained that my tenants had a petition to presentto me and had gathered, hoping that I would receive them after dinner.(Doubtless, I thought, conjecturing that I would be, just after dinner, inthe most accommodating humor possible.)
"I must see this and hear what they have to say," Tanno declared. "Haveyou any objections to our going with you, Caius?" he asked.
On my saying that I should be glad to have him come along, he said:
"Come on, all of you, it will be fun, and standing out in the night coolwill freshen our zest for our wine."
All nine of us went out on the terrace. The prospect was indeed beautiful,only the brighter stars showing in the pale sky, the far hills outlinedagainst it, the nearer hills darkly glimmering in the moon-rays, thevalleys all full of pearly moonlit haze, the pleasance about the villavague in the witchery of the moon's full radiance.
In that full radiance, on the path below the balustrade of the terrace,were my nine tenant farmers. Not one, as was natural among our healthyhills, but was my elder. Yet, according to our customary mode of addressfrom master to tenant, I said to them:
"What brings you here, lads, so long after your habitual bed-time?"
Ligo Atrior acted as spokesman.
"We have a request to prefer," he said, "and we judged this an opportunetime."
"Speak out," I said, "our wine is waiting for me and my guests, and I amlistening. Speak out!"
He set forth, at considerable length and with many halts and repetitions,that all their farms were in excellent order and in an exceedingly forwardcondition, promising very well for the future in all respects; that I hadjust assured myself of all this by a minute inspection; that they werekeenly emulous of each other and each thought his farm the best of thenine; that they were and had been very curious to learn which of the ninefarms I thought the best kept; that someone had suggested that, if Ijudged any one of the nine distinctly better than his fellows', it wouldbe proper to distinguish the man of my choice by some gift, bonus,exemption or privilege, if his farm was really the best kept; that whilediscussing these matters someone had remarked that he envied me myapproaching visit to Rome, as he had never been there; that this hadbrought to their notice that not one of them had ever seen Rome, though itwas less than three days' journey away; that someone had suggested thatperhaps I might be induced not only to specify which of them I consideredthe best farmer, but to indicate my preference by allowing the best ofthem to visit Rome later in the summer, after the crops were allharvested; that they had agreed to abide loyally by my choice and thatthey prayed me to declare which of them, in my opinion, was the bestfarmer.
When Ligo paused, old Chryseros Philargyrus, his wiry leanness manifesteven in the moonlight, although he was well muffled up against thedampness of the night, pushed himself to the front and said that heclaimed that, in any such competition, he ought to stand on a level withmy eight other tenants, even if they had been life-long tenants of theestate, whereas he, like his father and grandfather, had paid rent toDucconius Furfur. He claimed that the court decision by which Ducconiushad had to refund to my uncle all the rents received from the farm indispute since the first decision of the lowest court had awarded it to aDucconius had been, in effect, an affirmation that his ancestors and hehad always been, constructively, tenants of the Andivian estate.
The old man spoke well and tersely, made his points neatly and stated hisarguments lucidly, and, in conclusion he said:
"And you must realize, Sir, that whatever my feelings have been up totoday, after what happened this afternoon I have forgotten that I or mineever owned Ducconius Furfur as master. I am your man henceforward, bodyand soul; I call you not only patron but savior and father. I make my pleafor treatment putting me on full equality with my fellows, and I valuemyself so highly that I hope for the prize. Yet if I am not the lucky man,I shall loyally and in silence abide by your decision."
I was pleased with his words and I admitted the correctness of hiscontentions, but rebuked him for his self-assertive manner.
Then Ligo spoke again.
"Please publish your opinion, Master, for we are sleepy and long to beabed. But much more do we long for your decision, for each one of usconsiders himself a better farmer than any other and expects to be thechosen man."
I smiled.
"Suppose," I said, "that I am of the opinion that no one of you is betterthan all his fellows, but that two of you are better than the other seven,but equal to each other in merit?"
Ligo stood at loss, but old Chryseros spoke out at once, saying:
"In that case, Master, it would be proper that both men go to Rome, assuch a prize could not be divided into shares."
His forwardness angered me. I told him sharply to mind his manners and tokeep his place; that Ligo had been chosen spokesman and that he was tohold his peace. I also pointed out that I had not agreed to give any suchprize for distinguished excellence, that far less had I agreed that avisit to Rome should be the prize.
All nine of them stood mute.
I was tingling with my elation over my prospects of winning Vedia, for Ifelt sure of her personal favor, and the two notes from my great neighborshad thrown me into a sort of trance of rapture. I was genuinely pleasedwith the frugality, diligence and skill of my tenants. My estate was in away to return far more than I had expected of it. I was in a position tobe liberal, I felt indulgent.
"Lads," I cried, "everyone of the nine of you is as good a farmer aseveryone of the other eight. You are the nine best farmers in Sabinum. Youare such good farmers that you have put your farms in a state where yourbailiffs can oversee the harvest as well as if under your own eyes.Everyone of you has earned a visit to Rome and everyone of you shall haveit, and not at some future time, which may never come, but now. I startfor Rome at daybreak and the whole nine of you shall go with me!"
This unexpected liberality they heard in silence: they stood dumb andmotionless.
All but Philargyrus. Gesticulating, he pressed forward among them fromwhere he had retired to the rear after my late rebuke. Gesticulating, hisvoice rising into a senile scream, he upbraided me for folly,extravagance, unthrift and prodigality. He declared that such indulgencewould ruin me, would debauch him and his fellows and would, by its evilexample, infect, corrupt and deprave the whole countryside. He railed atme. He vowed that, whatever the rest might do, he would use all his powersof persuasion to urge them to stick to their farms till harvest was overand he swore that he himself would, under no circumstances, leave his tillthe last ear of grain, the last root, the last fruit, was garnered, storedand safe for the winter.
I let him shriek himself hoarse and talk himself mute; then I spoke calmlyand sternly:
"I am master here and master of all of you. The loyalty due from a freetenant is, in Sabinum, as mandatory a bond as the obedience legally duefrom a slave. I speak. Listen, all of you. I set out for Rome at dawn. Seethat every man of the nine of you is on horseback at the east courtyardgate at dawn, with an ample pack of all things needed for a month'sabsence properly girthed on a led mule. If any of you dare to disobey Ishall find some effective means to make him smart for his temerity."
Ligo, finding his voice, thanked me for the nine, and they trudged away.
When we were back again on the dining-sofas Tanno, as was his habit, tookcharge of things after his breezy fashion.
"With the permission of our Caius," he said, without asking my permission,of which he was sure, "I appoint myself King of the Revels. Where's thehead butler?"
When my major-domo came forward, Tanno queried:
"How much water did you mix with the wine we've been drinking with ourdinner?"
The butler replied:
"Two measures of water to one of wine."
Tanno nodded to me, smiling.
"You've mighty good wine, Caius," he said. "No one is more an expert thanI and I should have conjectured three to two."
Then he instructed the butler:
"Give us no more of the mixture we have been drinking. Mix a big bowlthree to one and ladle that out to us."
When our goblets had been filled he spoke to me!
"Caius, I want to know what that old hunks of a Chryseros Philargyrusmeant when he said that after what had occurred this afternoon he was yourman, body and soul. What happened?"
"Nothing much." I said. "As Agathemer and I were riding home and werepassing his barn-yard gate, we heard yells for help. I dismounted and ranin. I found Chryseros rather at a disadvantage in handling a bull. Ihelped him get the beast into his pen. His gratitude seems exaggerated."
"Not any more exaggerated than your modesty," spoke up Neponius Pomplio,who had hardly uttered a word since he arrived. Turning to Tanno hecontinued:
"You'll never get Hedulio to tell you anything more definite than the veryvague and hazy adumbration of his exploit he has already given. I heardsome rumors of his feat as I rode down here from my house. I conjecturethat the story is worth telling, to its least detail. If you want to hearwhat really occurred, call in Agathemer; he was with Hedulio when ithappened."
"Good idea," said Tanno, "and I want Agathemer here for another reason.May I call him in, Caius?"
I assented and Agathemer came in, as smiling and obsequious as always.
"Agathemer," Tanno queried, "have you finished your dinner?"
"Long ago," said Agathemer, "and plenty too."
"Then, have a chair," said Tanno, rolling himself luxuriously on the deep,soft mattress of one of my uncle's superlatively comfortable sofas. "No!"he said sharply. "No demurring. Sit down, man! Do as I tell you! I've abatch of questions to put to you and you'll be long answering me. I wantyou entirely at ease while you talk. You can't talk as I want you tounless you forget everything else. If you stand you'll be thinking of yourtired legs instead of talking without thinking at all."
Agathemer, embarrassed, seated himself in the lowest and simplest chair inthe room.
"We called you in for something else," said Tanno, "but first of all Iwant to ask you why you were not with us at dinner? Caius has written meagain and again how he and you dine together evening after evening and howyou are so entertaining that he enjoys a dinner just with you almost asmuch as if he has novel guests. Why were you left out of this? Is Hedulioshy of more or less than nine at table, like his uncle, or does hisuncle's dining-room outfit coerce him? Or what _was_ the reason?"
Agathemer turned red and visibly writhed, mute and sweating.
I cut in.
"Here, Caius," I said to Tanno, "this isn't the torture chamber nor youthe executioner, nor yet has Agathemer deserved the rack. You are puttinghim in an excruciating dilemma. He is too courteous to tell you that youought to ask me, not him, and he is too loyal to tell you the reason."
I was nearer to being angry with Tanno than I had ever been in our lives.I comprehended why he, with all his superlative equipment of tact andintuition, had blundered; he could not but assume that circumstances wereas they should have been rather than as they were; yet the blunder was, ina sense, unforgivable, and had created a social situation than whichnothing could be more awkward.
Agathemer's face cleared as I spoke.
Tanno rounded on me.
"You tell me, then!" he said. "I guess from their faces that I haveadvertised my ignorance of what is perfectly well known to everybody elsehere. Remove my disabilities."
I hesitated and then went in with a rush.
"It does not matter a particle," I said, "how often I lie down to dinnerwith Agathemer when we are alone. Since I am then the only freeman in thevilla there are no witnesses of our dining together. But if I have him todinner with any guest he becomes thereby a freeman, as you very well know.And if I were free to set him free and chose to free him in that fashion,I should have to advise my friends in advance of my intentions and askwhether they were willing to lend themselves to such a proceeding. Onecannot invite a man without previous explanation and then, when he'salready in one's house, ask him to lie down to dinner with a slave."
"Slave!" Tanno roared at me, his face red as the back of a boiled lobster.If I had just missed being angry with him, there was no doubt that he wasin a tearing fury with me.
"Slave?" he repeated. "Agathemer still a slave? Are you joking or are youserious? Is this true?"
"Entirely and literally true." I affirmed.
Tanno, so red that I should have thought it impossible that he could growredder, grew redder.
"If your uncle," he roared, "did not free him in his will he was a hog. Ifyou haven't freed him yourself, you're a hog. Free him here and now! Showsome decency and some gratitude! Better late than never. Here, Agathemer,get off that boy's stool and lie down between me and Entedius."
"Go slow, Caius!" I admonished him. "You just confessed that you knownothing of the circumstances, yet you give orders in my house, ordersaffecting my property-rights, without first acquainting yourself with allthe conditions on which such orders should be based, even if you had askedand received my permission to issue them."
Tanno was impulsive, even headlong, but he never wrangled or quarrelledand seldom lost his temper. I had feared a still more violent outburstfrom him, but my admonition brought him to himself.
"I apologize," he said, the red fading from his face. "Tell me the wholematter, so that I may comprehend. I'll listen in silence."
"The vital fact," I said, "is that, although I fully expected my uncle, inhis will, to free Agathemer, he not only did not free him, but he enjoinedme not to free him within five years after my entrance into myinheritance."
"Well," said Tanno, "I take back what I said of you when I called you ahog, but, even if we are taught to utter nothing but good of the dead, Irepeat that your uncle was a hog. What do you think of it, Agathemer?"
Agathemer sat at ease now on his stool and his face was placid.
"Since you have asked what I think," he said, "may I assume that youaccord me permission to utter what I think, as if I were even a free man?"
"Utter precisely what you think, without any reservations ormodifications," said Tanno. "I want to have exactly what you think and allyou think."
"I think," spoke Agathemer, "that you are neither wise to speak so of thedead nor justified in speaking so of my former master. He was a just manand a wise man. Though I cannot conjecture his reason, I am sure that whathe did was, somehow, for the best."
Tanno stared at him with a puzzled expression.
He turned to me.
"Isn't it true," he queried, "that your uncle had on his hands anhereditary lawsuit of the most exasperating sort, in the course of whichthe other side had won the first decision and every appeal?"
"Everybody knows that, Socrates," I admitted.
"Didn't Agathemer," Tanno pressed me, "just before the case was heard inthe highest court, make a suggestion which your uncle's lawyers utilizedand through which they won the case?"
"That is also true," I affirmed.
"Didn't they all say, that Agathemer's suggestion was just what theyshould have thought of at the very first and didn't they admit that theyhad not thought of it until Agathemer suggested it and that they neverwould have thought of it if he had not suggested it?"
"Those are the facts," I confessed.
"In view of those facts," Tanno continued, "what did you yourself expectyour uncle to do for Agathemer in his will?"
I ruminated.
"The very least I anticipated," I said, "was that he would free Agathemerand make him a present equal to the value of half the property in disputein the lawsuit. As Ducconius had had to repay to my uncle the full amountof the rents paid since his family first gained possession of thepro
perty, that would have been a very moderate reward for Agathemer'sservice. I also conjectured that he might free Agathemer and will him asum equivalent to the net proceeds of the repaid rents, less the costs ofthe suit. I should not have been surprised if he had made him a present ofthe whole farm out and out. Many an owner has done more for a slave whohad done less for him."
"And you would have regarded it as fair if your uncle had taken any ofthose methods of recompensing Agathemer?"
"Certainly!" I affirmed.
"Then why, in the name of Mercury," he demanded, "didn't you freeAgathemer the moment the will was read?"
"I have told you over and over," I retorted impatiently, "that my uncle'swill enjoined me not to free Agathemer within five years, though he alsoenjoined that I was to make a new will at once so as to leave Agathemerfree and recompensed if I died before the five years elapsed."
"But the injunction was not binding," Tanno persisted, "either in law orby religious custom. No dead man can prevent his heirs freeing slaves heleaves them. Why heed the injunction?"
"I could not contravene so explicit a behest of the dead," I demurred,"especially of a man I loved and revered. And you must recall my uncle'squeer habit of acting on intuitions and the way he expressed them, alwayssaying:
"'It has been revealed to me that....' And his intuitions always seemed toamount to prevision, he never seemed to have acted amiss, howevereccentric his act, however baseless his premonition. I have a feeling thatin Agathemer's case he acted on some such presentiment."
Tanno turned to Agathemer.
"Do you feel that way too?" he demanded.
"I most certainly do," said Agathemer, "I have a feeling that my remaininga slave is going to be of vital service to Hedulio, somehow, sometime."
"Then you are content to remain a slave?" Tanno queried.
"No one wants to remain a slave," Agathemer confessed, "and every slavelongs to be a free man and is impatient to be free at once. But I try tobe resigned, of course, and, except that I cannot rejoice in not beingfree, I am as well fed, clothed and housed as I should be as a free manand have as much leisure."
Tanno glowered at both of us.
I cut in:
"You must remember that Agathemer was raised almost as a free man andalmost as my brother. We slept and played together from the time we couldwalk. We had the same tutors, always, when in the country, both inBruttium and in Sabinum. In Rome, while I was at school, Agathemer wastaught the same subjects at home. We love each other almost as brothers.Both of us were amazed when grandfather left Agathemer to my Uncle insteadof to my father or to me. We were more amazed at Uncle's will. But asthings are between us, Agathemer not only looks forward to freedom and anestate within five years, but knows that his interval of waiting will bepleasant, as pleasant as I can make it."
"But," Tanno objected, "think of the danger he is in while a slave. Forinstance, just suppose--(may the gods avert the omen)--that you weremurdered in your bed this very night and no clue to the murderer found.Nothing could save Agathemer from being tortured along with all your otherslaves."
"Pooh!" I cried. "You are behind the times! You may be an unsurpassableexpert on dress and manners, on perfumery and jewels, but you could knowmore law. All those ferocious old statutes have been abolished by theenactments of Antoninus and Aurelius. A slave, during good behavior, isalmost as safe as a freedman."
"It is you," Tanno countered, "who are behind the times. Commodus has hadrescinded every edict ameliorating the condition of slaves promulgatedsince the accession of Trajan. As Nerva did little for them the status ofslaves is now practically what it was at the death of Domitian."
"Anyhow," spoke up Agathemer, "whatever real or fancied perils hang overme, by my late master's will and wish, a slave I am and a slave I remaintill the five years elapse. Even thereafter I shall be Hedulio's devotedservitor, meanwhile I am his devoted slave."
"Does being his slave inhibit you from telling the truth about him?" Tannoqueried.
"If it is to his discredit, certainly," Agathemer answered.
"Suppose it is to his credit, very much to his credit," Tanno pursued.
"Then I am permitted to tell the truth," laughed Agathemer.
"Then," said Tanno, "tell us the whole truth about Hedulio and ChryserosPhilargyrus and the bull."
Agathemer laughed out loud.
"Delighted to oblige you," he bowed. Tanno looked at me.
"Hedulio is blushing," he said, "this promises to be interesting. As kingof the revels I forbid Hedulio from interrupting. Everybody drain agoblet. Boy, pour a goblet for Agathemer. Agathemer, take a good longdrink, so you may start in good voice. And, boy, fill his goblet againwhen it gets low. Keep an eye on it. Begin, Agathemer."
"It is a shorter story than you anticipate," Agathemer began.
"Hedulio and I had completed the final inspection of the estate. We hadbegun each inspection with Chryseros' farm and had taken the farms inrotation, ending up with Feliger's. We had inspected Macer's farm in themorning, had had a leisurely bath, lunch and snooze and had ridden out toFeliger's. After looking over the last details of the toolsheds andhenneries we were riding home under the over-arching elms down Bran Lane.As we passed Chryseros' entrance we heard yells for help. Hedulio spurredhis horse up the avenue and towards the yells, I after him. The yellsguided us to the lower barn-yard gate. Hedulio reined up abruptly, leapedoff, leaving me to catch his mare, and vaulted the gate. I tethered ourmounts as quickly as I could and climbed the gate. I saw old Chryserospinned against the wall of his barley-barn, in between the horns of hiswhite bull. The points of the bull's horns were driven into the wood ofthe barn and the horns were so long that Chryseros was in no immediatedanger of being crushed between the bull's forehead and the barn wall. Thebull was so enraged that he was pushing with all his might, puffing andbellowing, spraying Chryseros' legs with froth, grunting and lowingbetween bellows. As long as he kept on pushing Chryseros was more scaredthan hurt; but, sooner or later, the bull was certain to draw back, lunge,and skewer Chryseros on one or the other of his horns.
"When I first saw them Chryseros and the bull were as I have described.Hedulio was twisting the bull's tail.
"The bull paid no more attention to the tail-twisting than if Hedulio hadbeen in the moon.
"Hedulio shouted to Chryseros to hold tight to the bull's horns, as he wasalready doing, and to stand still. He let go the bull's tail and turnedround. Seeing me, he ordered me to get back over the gate and to staythere. He looked about, ran to the stable door, peered in, went in andreturned with a manure fork. With that in his hand he ran back to the bulland jabbed him with the fork.
"Then the bull did roar. He backed suddenly away from the barn, shakinghis horns loose from the futile grip Chryseros had on them, and whirled onHedulio. Hedulio jabbed him in the neck with the fork. The bull bellowedwith rage, it seemed, more than with pain, lowered his head and charged atHedulio.
"Hedulio side-stepped as deftly as a professional beast-fighter in anamphitheatre and to my amazement, well as I knew him, threw away the fork.
"The bull's rush carried him almost the whole breadth of the barn-yard.When he turned round he stood, pawing the ground, shaking his head andbellowing. I never saw a bull angrier-looking. He lowered his head tocharge.
"But he never charged.
"Hedulio was walking toward him and the bull just stood and pawed andbellowed till Hedulio caught hold of the ring in his nose and led him offto his pen.
"Chryseros, who had dodged through the little door into the barn and hadslammed it after him, had peered out of it just before Hedulio reached thebull and had stood, mouth open, hands hanging, letting the door swing wideopen.
"Hedulio led the bull into the pen, patted him on the neck and then turnedhis back on him and sauntered out of the pen, shutting the gate withouthurry.
"Chryseros ran to him, stumbling as he ran, fell on his knees, caughtHedulio's hand, and poured out a torrent of thanks."
"Did
all that really happen?" Tanno queried.
"Precisely as I have told it." Agathemer affirmed.
"Well," said Tanno, "I know why Caius did not want to tell it. He knew I'dthink it an impudent lie."
"Don't you believe it?" Agathemer asked, respectfully.
"Well," Tanno drawled, "I've been watching the faces of the audience.Nobody has laughed or smiled or sneered. I'm an expert on curios andantiques and other specialties, but I am no wiser on bulls than any othercity man. So I suppose I ought to believe it. But it struck me, while Ilistened to you, as the biggest lie I ever heard. I apologize for myincredulity."
"It would be incredible," said Juventius Muso, "if told of any one exceptHedulio and it would probably be untrue. As it is told of Hedulio it isprobably true and also entirely credible."
"Why of Caius any more than any one else?" queried Tanno.
Muso stared at him.
"I beg pardon," he said, "but I somehow got the idea that you were an oldand close friend of our host."
"I was and am," Tanno asserted.
"And know nothing," Muso pressed him, "of his marvellous powers overanimals of all kinds, even over birds and fish?"
"Never heard he had any such powers." Tanno confessed.
"How's this, Hedulio?" Juventius demanded of me.
"I suppose," I said, "that Tanno and I have mostly been together at Rome.Animals are scarcer there than in the country and human beings moreplentiful. He knows more of my dealings with men and women than with othercreatures."
"Besides," Tanno cut in, "you must all remember that our Caius not onlynever boasts but is absurdly reticent about anything he has done of such akind that most men would brag of it. Towards his chums and cronies he isopen-hearted and as unreserved as a friend could be about everything else,but especially close with them about such matters. So I know nothing ofhis powers concerning which you speak."
My guests cried out in amazement, all talking at once.
"I'm king of the revels," Tanno reminded them.
"Juventius was talking; let him say his say. Everyone of you shall talkhis fill, I promise you. I am immensely interested and curious, as Iexpect to hear many things which I should have heard from Caius any timethese ten years. Speak out, Juventius!"
"Before I say what I meant to say," Muso began, "I want to ask somequestions. What you have just told me has amazed me and what little youhave said leaves me puzzled. Surely there are dogs in Rome?"
"Plenty," Tanno assured him.
"Haven't you ever seen a vicious dog fly at Hedulio?" Muso pursued.
"Many a time," Tanno admitted.
"Did you ever see one bite him?" Muso asked.
"Never!" Tanno affirmed.
"Can you recall what happened?" queried Muso.
Tanno rubbed his chin.
"It seems to me," he said, "that every time I saw a snarling cur or anopen-mouthed watch-dog rush at Caius, the dog slowed his rush before hereached him, circled about him, sniffing, and trotted back where he camefrom."
"Did you never see Hedulio beckon such a dog, handle and gentle him, evenpet him."
"Once I did, as I now recall," Tanno confessed, "yet I thought nothing ofit at the time and forgot it at once."
"Probably," Muso conjectured, "you thought the dog was only pretending tobe cross and was really tame."
"Just about that, I suppose," Tanno ruminated.
"Well," said Muso, "I take it that any one of the dogs you saw run atHedulio was affected by him just as was the bull this afternoon; eachbegan by acting towards him as he would have towards any other man; eachwas cowed and tendered mild by the nearer sight of him. That is the wayHedulio affects all animals whatever."
"Tell us some cases you have seen yourself," Tanno suggested.
"I fear your skepticism, even your derision," Muso demurred.
"I haven't a trace of either left in me by now," Tanno declared. "What yousay has knocked the mental wind out of me, so to speak, and I see that theothers feel as you do and seem to have similar ideas to express. I vow Ibelieve you, gentlemen, though something inside me is still numb withamazement. Tell us, Juventius, the biggest story you know of these allegedpowers of our Caius."
"I told you so," said Muso. "In spite of your disclaimers you slip in that'alleged.' I don't like that 'alleged' of yours, Opsitius."
"That wasn't mine." Tanno laughed. "That was the numb something inside metalking in its sleep. I'm all sympathetic interest, with no admixture ofunbelief. I can see you have startling anecdotes to tell. Tell the moststartling."
"The most startling," Juventius began, "I most solemnly aver is literallytrue. Hedulio and I were once riding along a woodcutters' road through theforests on the Aemilian estate, in the wildest portion of it. The roadforms a part of a good short-cut from Villa Aemilia to this valley. It washot weather and very dry. We were both thirsty. There is a cool andabundant spring not many paces up a steep path on the left of that road.At the path we tethered our horses and walked to the spring. When we hadquenched our thirst and had started down the little glade below the springwe saw the head of a big gray wolf appear among some ferns at the lowerend of the glade by the path on our left. I stopped, for we had noweapons. Hedulio, however, went on, never altering his easy saunter. Thewolf came out of the ferns and paced up to Hedulio like a house dog.Hedulio patted his head, pulled his ears and the wolf not only did notattack him nor snap at him, nor even snarl, but showed his pleasure asplainly as any pet dog. When Hedulio had stopped petting him, I reachedthem. We two went on as if we were alone, leaving the wolf standinglooking after us as if he were watch-dog at the house of an intimatefriend."
"Rome," said Tanno, when Muso paused, "is rated the most wonderful placeon earth. Rome is my home. Rome rates Sabinum low, except for olives,wines, oaks, sheep and mules. Wonders are not named among the stapleproducts of Sabinum. Yet I come to Sabinum for the first time and hearwonders such as I never dreamed of at Rome."
"And you are only at the beginning of such wonders," spoke up EntediusHirnio. "That tale of Muso's is mild to one I can tell and I take oath inadvance to every word of my story."
"Begin it then, in the name of Hercules," Tanno urged him. "If it is whatyou herald we cannot have it too quickly."
"When Hedulio and I were hardly more than boys," Hirnio began, "we bird-nested and fished and hunted and roamed the woods like any pair of countrylads. Parts of our woodland hereabouts are wilder than anything on theAemilian estate, and we liked the wildest parts best. I had an uncle atAmiternum and it happened that Hedulio's uncle allowed him to go with meonce when my father visited his brother. My uncle had a farm high up inthe mountains east of Amiternum and Hedulio and I there revelled inwildness wilder than anything hereabouts. We had no fear and ranged thehillsides, ravines and pine-woods eager and unafraid.
"High up the mountains we blundered on a bear's den with two cubs in it.They were old enough to be playful and young enough not to be fierce ordangerous. I was for carrying them off, but Hedulio said that if themother returned before we were well on our way home she would certainlycatch us before we could reach a place of safety and we should certainlybe killed.
"'We had better stop playing with these fascinating little brutes,' hesaid, 'and be as far off as possible before she comes back.'
"Just as he said it we heard twigs snapping, the crash of rent underbrush,and I looked up and saw the bear coming.
"I had never seen a wild bear till then. She looked to me as big as a halfgrown calf, and as fat as a six-year-old sow. She came like a race-horse.Besides my instantaneous sense of her size, weight and speed, I saw onlyher great red mouth, wide-open, set round with gleaming white teeth, fromwhich came a snarl like the roar of a cataract.
"I sprang to the nearest tree which promised a refuge, caught the lowestboughs and scrambled up, the angry snarls of the bear filling my ears. AsI reached the first strong branch the snarls stopped.
"I settled myself and looked down.
"The bear was stand
ing still, some paces from her den, peering at it andsnuffing the air, working her nose it seemed to me, and moving her headfrom side to side.
"Hedulio had not moved. He stood just where I had left him, one cub in hisarms, the other cuddled at his feet.
"The bear, growling very short, almost inaudible growls, approached himslowly, moving only one foot at a time and pausing before she liftedanother foot. She sniffed at the cub on the ground, sniffed at Hedulio'slegs, and looked up at the cub in his arms. She made a sound more like awhine than a growl. Hedulio lowered the cub and she sniffed at it. ThenHedulio caught her by the back of the neck. She did not snarl but yieldedto his pull and rolled over on her side. He picked up the cub on theground and laid both by her nipples. They went to, nursing avidly, almostlike little pigs, yet also somewhat like puppies. Hedulio sauntered awayand to my tree, beckoned me down and we strolled away as if there were nobear near: she in fact paying no attention to either of us after the cubsbegan nursing her."
Tanno looked wildly about.
"Boys," he said, "forgive me if I am dazed, and don't be insulted. Irecall that Entedius prefaced his narrative with an oath to its veracity.I am ready to believe all this if he reaffirms it. But I have a horriblefeeling that you farmers think you have caught a city ignoramus and thatit is your duty to stuff me with the tallest stories you can invent.Please set me right. If you are stuffing me the joke is certainly on me,for these incredible tales seem true: if they are true the joke is doublyon me. As I am the butt, either way, don't be too hard on me: Please setme right."
They chorused at him that they had all heard the story, most of them soonafter the marvel took place; that they had always believed it, andbelieved it then. I corroborated Hirnio's exactitude as to all thedetails.
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 4