CHAPTER VI
A RATHER BAD DAY
Next morning, strangely enough, I wakened at my normal, habitual time forwakening when in town, and wakened feeling weak indeed and still sore inplaces, but entirely myself in general and filled with a sort of shamenergy and spurious vigor.
By me, when I woke, was Occo, my soft-voiced, noiseless-footed, deft-handed personal attendant. At my bidding he summoned Agathemer. When Itold him that I proposed to get up, dress and go out as I usually did whenin Rome, in fact that I intended to follow the conventional andfashionable daily routine to which I had been habituated, he protestedvigorously. He said that both Celsianus and Galen, the two most acclaimedphysicians in Rome, who had been called in in consultation by my ownphysician, but also he himself, had enjoined most emphatically that I mustremain abed for some days yet, must keep indoors for many days more, if Iwas to continue on the road to recovery on which their ministrations hadset me, and that all three had bidden him tell me that any transgressionof their instructions would expose me to the probability of a relapse farmore serious than my initial illness and to a far longer period ofinactivity.
I was determined and obstinate. When he added that I must not only remainquiet, but must not talk for any length of time nor concern myself withany news or any matters likely to excite me, I revolted. I commanded himto obey me and to be silent as to the physicians' orders.
I began by asking him what day it was. I then learned that I had been illfifteen days since reaching Rome, for I had left my villa on the eighthday before the Ides of June and it was now the ninth day before theKalends of July.
Next I asked after my tenants. Agathemer said that they had most dutifullypresented themselves each morning to salute me and attend my reception, ifI should be well enough to hold one; to ask after my progress towardsrecovery if I was not; that Ligo Atrior, as recognized leader among them,had also come each evening between bath-time and dinner-time to askpersonally after my condition; that, as all the physicians had, the daybefore, stated that I must by no means be allowed to see anyone save Tannoor to leave my bedroom, for some days, he had told Ligo the evening beforenot to diminish his and his fellows' time for sight-seeing by coming onthis particular morning; that Ligo had expressed his unalterable intentionof coming each evening in any case.
I commended Agathemer's discretion but told him to tell Ligo, when he camein the afternoon, that I intended to hold a reception next morning andwanted to see all nine of them at it.
I then asked about Murmex. Agathemer said that Tanno had offered to bringhim to the Emperor's notice, but that Murmex had declined, thanking him,but remarking that, as I had offered to bring him to the Emperor's notice,it would be bad manners on his part to appear under the countenance of anyother patron and would moreover be inviting bad luck instead of good luckon his presentation.
Agathemer said Murmex had called twice to ask after me and had told himwhere he lodged. I instructed him to apprise Murmex of my intention tohold a morning reception. I knew Agathemer would send out notifications toall my city clients of long standing without any admonition of mine.
He told me that no message of any kind had come from Vedia nor from VediusVedianus, the head of her clan, nor from Satronius Satro. I could notconjecture just why Vedia had remained silent, and I was not only worriedover the fact of her silence and aloofness, but felt myself wearied, evenafter a very short time, by the uncontrollable turmoil of my mind,puzzling as to why she had ignored me.
As to Vedius and Satronius, I was vividly aware of their state of mind andacutely wretched over it.
Only nineteen days before I had seen my _triclinium_ walled and flooredwith flowers presented by the local leader of one clan; had seen my dinnertable groan under the fruit sent me by the local leader of the other clan,had known that both clans were competing for my favor and that I was highin the good graces of each.
Now I felt that all men of both clans must be bitterly incensed with me,for I knew their clan-pride. No man of either clan would weigh the facts:that neither fight had been of my seeking; that both fights had beenforced on me; that I could not by any exercise of ingenuity have avoidedeither, once the onset began; that each had been the result of theheadlong impetuosity and self-deception of my assailants, that both werethe outcome of conditions which I could not be expected to recognize asdangerous beforehand, of a mistake not of my causing, for which I was inno way to blame. I knew that every man of both clans, and most of all thehead of each clan, would consider nothing except that I had participatedin a roadside brawl in which men of their clan had been roughly handled,some of them by me personally, and from which their men had fled inconfusion, routed partly by my participation.
I saw myself embroiled with both clans, conjectured that the two fightswere the staple of the clan gossip on both sides, and that animosityagainst me was increasing from day to day. I felt impelled to state mycase to both Vedius and Satronius, but I knew that even if I had been inthe best of health, even if I should be eloquent beyond my best previouseffort, there was little or no chance that anything I might say wouldavail to placate either magnate or to abate either's hostility toward me.And I knew that, in my dazed condition, the chances were that I wouldbungle the simplest mental task.
Yet I formed the purpose of attempting, that very morning, to see bothSatronius and Vedius, and of attempting, if I was admitted to either, toconvince him that he had no reason to be incensed with me, but that heshould rather be incensed against my assailants: an aim impossible ofattainment, as I knew, but would not admit to myself.
As I was to have no reception that morning I lay abed a while longer, atAgathemer's earnest solicitation.
Little good it did me. In my mind, behind my shut eyelids, I rehearsed theunfortunate occurrences on the road, I groped back to their causes.
I could see that Tanno's jesting replies to the Satronians he had met onthe road had given them the idea that Xantha was being conveyed, in a shutlitter, to Villa Vedia: similarly his quizzical words to the Vedians hehad met had given them a similar notion that Greia was being smuggledbehind slid panels and drawn curtains, to Villa Satronia.
The men of each side had spread their conjecture among their clansmen.Each side had made the forecast that the abductors would try to carry offtheir prize to Rome: each had calculated that the other side would try tofool them, that they would not travel the obvious road, but try to escapeby boldly following the route least to be expected. So the Vediansinferred that the Satronians, instead of taking their direct road to theSalarian Highway, would expect an ambush along it and would try to sneakthrough Vediamnum. Therefore they were in ambush at Vediamnum. Similarlyand for similar reasons the Satronians were in ambush below their roadentrance, calculating that the Vedians would pass that way.
I had blundered on both ambushes in succession.
I lay, eyes closed, raging at my lack of foresight and at my hideous badluck.
When Agathemer knew that I could not be kept longer abed he brought me acup of delicious hot mulled wine and a roll almost as well-flavored asOfatulena's, for my town cook was fit for a senator's kitchen. I lay stilla while longer.
When I stood up I felt dizzy and faint, but I was resolved and stubborn.Besides, I craved fresh air and thought that an airing would revive me. Infact, once out of doors and in my litter, with all Uncle's sliding panelsopen, I felt very much better. I told my bearers to take me to the Vedianmansion.
There the doorkeeper, indeed, stared, and the footmen nudged each other,but I was received civilly and was shown into the atrium, which I foundcrowded with the clan clients and with gentlemen like myself.
The atrium of the Vedian mansion had kept, by family tradition, a sort ofaffectation of old-fashioned plainness. It was indeed lined with expensivemarbles, but it was far soberer in coloring, far simpler in every detail,than most atriums of similar houses. Instead of striving for an effect ofopulent gorgeousness by every device of material, color and decoration,the heads of the Vedian family h
ad expressed, in their atrium, their cultof primitive simplicity. Compared with others of the houses of senatorstheir atrium appeared bare and bleak.
His guests gazed at me curiously as I advanced to greet our host.
Vedius, the smallest man in the throng, stood blinking at me with his redeyelids, his bald head shining from its top to the thin fringe of reddishhair above his big flaring ears, his small wizened face all screwed upinto a knot, his thin lips pursed, his little ferret eyes, close-setagainst his mean, miserly nose, peering at me under their blinking redlids.
His expression was malign and sneering, his tone sarcastic, but his merewords were not discourteous.
"I am delighted to see you, Andivius," he said, "and very much amazed tosee you here.
"I have been told that on the eighth day before the Ides, you enteredVediamnum early of a rainy morning, with an escort so numerous that nonecould have conjectured that the cavalcade was yours; that, when three orfour of the inhabitants of the village accosted you civilly and asked whoyou were and where you were going, your men, without any reply, fell onthem and beat them unmercifully; that, when the population of Vediamnumrushed to the assistance of their fellows, your convoy set upon them andstarted a pitched battle, mishandling them so frightfully that the streetwas strewn with stunned and bleeding villagers; that you not onlyparticipated in the affray, but fomented it and led it; that the two menwho have since died, fell under blows from your own quarter-staff.
"Now, the fact that I see you here leads me to conjecture that, after theoccurrences which I have rehearsed, you would not have presented yourselfbefore me and come to salute me, had you not had some version of theseevents other than that uniformly reported to me. If you have any versiondiffering from those which I have heard, speak; we listen."
I had begun to feel dizzy and faint just as soon as I was indoors, Iseemed dazed and as if my faculties were numb; at his ironical mock-courtesy I felt myself hot and cold all over. Yet I essayed to state myside of the case.
I explained all the circumstances, narrated Tanno's unexpected arrival,his quizzical bantering of the persons whom he encountered on the road, mytenants' petition, my agreement with Marcus Martins, the accretion ofHirnio and Murmex to our party, Tanno's insistence on reaching theSalarian Highway through Vediamnum, and all the other trivial factorswhich had conspired to my undoing; I described the affray in Vediamnum,both as I had seen it and as Tanno and Agathemer had told me of it;similarly the fight below Villa Satronia. I thought I was lucid andconvincing.
When I paused Vedius leered at me.
"Andivius," he said, "I am not such a fool as you take me for. I am not inany way deceived by all that rigmarole. I see through you and your wordsas I saw through your actions. I comprehend perfectly that you connivedwith the Satronians to entice my people into a roadside brawl to discreditour clan. I understand how ingeniously you made all your arrangements,even to concocting a sham fight with the Satronians to enable you to putforward the excuses you have offered.
"Your plans miscarried at only two points: you did not mean to leave anycorpses, yet you caused the deaths of two of my retainers; you did notmean to suffer anything yourself, yet in your sham fight you wereaccidentally hit on the head.
"Blows on the head often unsettle the intellect. I take that intoconsideration in dealing with you. If you go home now and recover fromyour injury your mind will clear. Then you will have wit enough to decidehow soon and how often it will be advisable for you to return here!"
His labored sarcasm was entirely intelligible. I bade him farewell asceremoniously as I could manage.
He silkily said:
"I have a bit of parting advice for you, Andivius. The climate of Bruttiumis far better than that of Rome or Sabinum in promoting a recovery fromany sort of illness; it is also far more conducive to long life. If youare wise Rome will not see you linger here, nor will either Sabinum orRome see you return; a word to the wise is enough."
Somehow I reached my litter. I understood his implied threat and sawendless difficulties and perils confronting me.
At the Satronian mansion the lackeys were insolent and it needed allAgathemer's tact and self-control, and all mine to browbeat them intoadmitting me.
As much as possible in contrast with the Vedian atrium was the Satronianatrium, a hall decorated as gorgeously, floridly and opulently as any inRome; fairly walled with statues almost jostling in their niches, soclosely were the niches set; and all behind, between and above them ablazewith crimson and glittering with gilding; every inch of walls and ceilingcarved, colored, gilded and glowing.
Satronius was similarly in contrast with Vedius, a man tall, bulky,swarthy, rubicund and overbearing.
No finesse about Satronius, not a trace.
From amid his bevy of sycophants and toadies, over the heads of hisfashionably garbed guests, he towered, his face red as a beacon, his bigbullet head wagging, his great mouth open.
He roared at me:
"What brings you here, with your hands red with the blood of three of myhenchmen? No Greek can outdo you in effrontery, Andivius. You are theshame of our nobility. To force your way into my morning reception afterhaving killed three of my men in an unprovoked assault on them on the openroad on my own land!"
I kept my temper and somehow kept my head clear, though it buzzed, and Ikept my feet though I seemed to myself to reel. I spoke up for myselfboldly and, I thought, expounded the circumstances and my version of thebrawls even better than I had to Vedius.
To my amazement Satronius, in more brutal language, all but duplicatedwhat Vedius had said to me, only reversing the clan names. He wasconvinced that I had assaulted his men by prearrangement with the Vedians,after a mock fight with them at Vediamnum.
I saw I was accomplishing nothing and endeavored to escape after a formalfarewell.
Satronius roared after me:
"You left three corpses on the roadway below my villa. I'll not forgetthem nor will any man of my name. If you have sense you'll keep away fromSabinum, you'll get out of Rome, you'll hide yourself far away. My menhave long memories and keen eyes. There'll be another corpse foundsomewhere by and by and the score paid off."
I laughed mirthlessly to myself as I climbed into my litter. I had, infact, embroiled myself hopelessly with both sides of the feud.
Then my men carried me to the Palace.
The enormousness and magnificence of the great public throne-room hadalways overwhelmed me with a sense of my own insignificance. On thatmorning, chagrined at my reception by Vedius and Satronius, weak, ill andtottering on my feet, needing all my will power to stand steadily and notreel, with my head buzzing and my ears humming, feeling large and lightand queer, I was abased and crushed by the vastness and hugeness of theroom and by the uncountable crowd which thronged it.
Necessarily I was kept standing a long time in the press, and, in myweakened condition, I found my toga more than usually a burden, which issaying a great deal.
I suppose the toga was a natural enough garment for our ancestors, whopractically wore nothing else, as their tunics were short and light. Butsince we have adopted and even developed foreign fashions in attire, weare sufficiently clad without any toga at all. To have to conceal one'sbecoming clothes under a toga, on all state and official occasions, isirritating to any well-dressed man even in the coldest weather, when theweight of the toga is unnoticed, since its warmth is grateful.
But to have to stew in a toga in July, when the lightest clothing is nonetoo light, is a positive affliction, even out of doors on a breezy day.Indoors, in still and muggy weather, when one is jammed in a throng for anhour or two, a toga becomes an instrument of torture. Yet togas we mustwear at all public functions, and though we rage at the infliction andwonder at the queerness of the fate which has, by mere force oftraditional fashion, condemned us to such unconscionable sufferings, yetno one can devise any means of breaking with our hereditary socialconventions in attire. Therefore we continue to suffer though we rail.
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bsp; If a toga is a misery to a strong, well man, conceive of the agonies Isuffered in my weakened state, when I needed rest and fresh air, and hadto stand, supporting that load of garments, the sweat soaking my innertunic, fainting from exhaustion and heat.
I somewhat revived when Tanno edged his way through the crowd and stood byme. We talked of my health, he rebuking me for my rashness in coming outso soon, I protesting that I was plenty well enough and feeling better formy outing.
There we stood an hour or more, very uncomfortable, Tanno makingconversation to keep me cheerful.
I needed his companionship and the atmosphere he diffused. For in additionto my illness and the circumstances I have described, I suffered from theproximity of Talponius Pulto, my only enemy among my acquaintances in theCity. I had seen him once already that morning, in the Vedian atrium,where he had stood beside Vedius Vedianus, towering over his diminutivehost, for he was a very tall man. Now, in the Imperial Audience Hall, hewas almost a full head taller than any man in the press about him, so thatI could not but be aware of his satirical gaze.
He was a singularly handsome man, surpassed by few among our nobility, andI had remarked how he dwarfed Vedius, how he made him appear stunted andcontemptible. He had a head well shaped and well set, curly brown hair,fine and abundant, a high forehead, wide-set dark blue eyes, a chiselednose, a perfect mouth and a fine, rounded chin. His neck was the envy ofhalf our most beautiful women. His carriage was noble and he always lookeda very distinguished man.
I could never divine why he hated me, but hate me he had from our earliestencounters. He derided me, maligned me and had often thwarted me from,apparently, mere spitefulness.
As I knew his evil gaze on me I now, in my weakened condition, somehowfelt unable to bear it.
Yet I was somewhat buoyed up, as I stood there, by a recurrence ofthoughts which I had often had before under similar circumstances. Mostmen of my rank seemed to take their wealth and position as matters ofcourse. I never could. I have, all my life, at times meditated on my goodfortune in being a Roman and a Roman of equestrian rank. While waiting inthe great Audience Hall of the Palace, especially, the emotions aroused bythese meditations often became so poignant as almost to overcome me, onthis day in particular. As I viewed the splendor of the Hall and thegorgeousness of the crowd that thronged it, my heart swelled at thethought of being part of all that magnificence. It thrilled me to feelthat I had a share and had a right to a share in Rome's glory.
The Emperor was busy with a succession of embassies, delegations and soon, and, as far as I could see, was in a good humor and trying to appearaffable and not to seem bored.
After the deputations were disposed of the senators passed before thethrone and saluted the Prince. Commodus barely spoke to most of them; itseemed to me, indeed, that he said more to Vedius and Satronius than toany other senators.
Then came the turn of us knights, far more numerous than the senators. Theushers positively hurried us along.
To me, to my amazement, the Emperor spoke very kindly.
"I am delighted to see you here today, Hedulio." he said.
"And I am sorry that I have no time for what I want to ask you and say toyou.
"I have heard of your illness and I know how it originated. Galen told meyou ought to keep your bed for days yet. Are you sure you are well enoughto be out?"
"I think it is doing me good, your Majesty," I replied. "Your words are, Iknow."
"If you feel too ill to come here tomorrow," he said, "I'll hold youexcused, but in that case send a message early. I want you here tomorrow,specially, come if you can.
"Meanwhile, tell me, has coming here to-day tired you? Can you staylonger?"
"I certainly can," I replied, elated at his notice.
"Then stay here till this tiresome ceremonial is over," he said, "andaccompany me to the Palace Stadium. I have some yokes of chariot horses tolook over and try out, and some new chariots to try. I want you there. Imay need your advice."
Flattered, I felt strength course through my veins and fatigue vanish. Ipassed completely round the lower part of the room and, with Tanno, tookmy stand near the southeastern door, by which he would pass out if on hisway to the Stadium.
Few senators passed through that door with the party of which I was one,the invitations being based on horsemanship and good fellowship, not onwealth, social prominence or political importance.
In the Stadium, of course, it was not only possible but natural to sitdown and Tanno and I took our seats in the shade and as far back as ourrank permitted.
I was amazed to find how much I needed to sit down, what a relief it was,and to realize how near I had been to fainting. In the breezy shade I soonrevived and felt my strength come back.
From my comfortable seat I watched one of those exhibitions of miraculoushorsemanship of which only Commodus was capable.
The Palace Stadium, of course, is a very large and impressive structureand its arena of no mean extent. But compared, not merely with the CircusMaximus, but with the Flaminian Circus or Domitian's Stadium it seemedsmall and contracted.
In this comparatively cramped space Commodus, divested of his officialrobes and clad only in a charioteer's tunic, belt and boots, performedsome amazing feats of horsemastery.
The pace to which he could speed up a four-horse team on that shortstraight-away, his ability to postpone slowing them down for the turn, andyet to pull them in handily and in time, the deftness and precision of hisshort turns, the promptness with which he compelled them to gather speedafter the turn, these were astonishing, enough; but far more astonishingwere his grace of pose, his perfect form in every motion, the ease of allhis manoeuvres, the sense of his effortless control of his vehicle, ofreserve strength greatly in excess of the strength he exerted; these werenothing short of dazzling. His pride in his artistry, for it amounted tothat, and his enjoyment of every detail of what he did and of the sport ingeneral, was infectious and delightful. I felt my love of horses growingin me with my admiration for so perfect a horseman, felt the like in allthe spectators.
Team after team and chariot after chariot he tried out.
Meanwhile Tanno and I, seated comfortably side by side, varied ourwatching of Commodus and our praises of his driving with talk of myembroilment with both sides of the feud, with rehearsing to each other theunseen missteps which had led me into such a hideous predicament, and withdiscussions of what might be done to set me right with both clans. Also hedescribed again to me what had occurred on the road after I was knockedsenseless and rehearsed his version of both fights, I commenting andtelling him what I recalled.
"What occupies my thoughts most," he said, "is that statuesque horsebackinformer planted by the roadside in the rain. What in the name of Mercurywas he doing in your Sabine fog so early on a wet day?"
I was unable to make any conjecture.
For some time Commodus was almost uninterruptedly on the arena, making hischanges from team to team, with scarcely an instant's interval. When helingered under the arcade at the starting end of the Stadium Tannoremarked:
"We had best join the gathering. Do you feel sufficiently rested?"
I stood up and, for the first time that day, did so without any dizziness,lightheadedness or weakness in my knees. I felt almost myself.
Under the arcade we found Commodus explaining the merits of a new chariotmade after his own design. It was a beautiful specimen of the vehicle-maker's art, its pole tipped with a bronze lion's head exquisitely chased,the pole itself of ash, the axle and wheel-spokes of cornel-wood, all thewoodwork gilded, the hubs and tires of wrought bronze, also gilded, thefront of the chariot-body of hammered bronze, embossed with figuresdepicting two of the Labors of Hercules; every part profusely decoratedand the whole effect very tasteful.
Commodus ignored all these beauties entirely and discoursed of itsmeasurements.
"Come close, Hedulio," he commanded, "this is just what I wanted you for."
The jockeys, athletes, acrobats and mim
es about him made way for Tanno andme and some other gentlemen.
"I have always had very definite theories of chariot construction,"Commodus went on. "I hold that the popular makes are all bad; in fact I ampositively of the opinion that the tendencies in chariot building havebeen all in the wrong direction for centuries. They have followed andintensified the traditions from ancient days, when chariots were chieflyused for battle and only once in a while for racing.
"For battle purposes chariots, of course, were built for speed and quickturning, but after that, to avoid upsets. When a man was going to drive apair of half-wild stallions across trackless country, over gullies andboulders, through bushes, up and down hill, often along a gravellyhillside, he saw to it that his chariot would keep right side up no matterhow it bounced and tilted and swerved. He made sure that his axle waslong, his wheels far apart, and their spokes short, so that his chariot-bed was as low as possible. He was right.
"But, after fighting from chariots was wholly a thing of the past in Italyand chariots were used, as they are used, for racing only, why cling toprovisions for obsolete uses?
"A good general thinks of winning victories, not, like the fools I havedisgracing me along the Rhine, of avoiding defeats. So a good charioteerought to think, not of avoiding upsets, but of winning races. Yet allcharioteers appear to want their vehicles as low built as possible, withshort spoked wheels, wide apart on the ends of a long axle. That makesthem feel safer on a short turn, and, so help me Hercules, I hardly blamethem, anyhow. Besides, they all want to spraddle their legs apart and settheir feet wide, so as to stand firm on the chariot bed, so they want thechariot body made as wide as possible.
"Now I don't need to plant my feet far apart when I drive. I believe Icould drive on one foot and keep my balance. So I hold a broad chariotbody is worse than unnecessary. More than that I maintain that the lowerthe axle is set, the less the team's strength goes into attaining speed.The lower the axle is set, the more sharply the pole slopes upward fromthe axle to the yoke-ring; the less of the team's energy goes into pullingthe chariot along, the more of it is wasted, so to speak, on lifting thechariot into the air at every leap forward. The higher the axle is set,the nearer the pole is to being level, the less power is wasted on thatupward pull and the more is utilized on the forward pull and goes toproduce speed.
"Then again, I maintain that the farther apart the wheels are set the moreone drags against the other, not only at the turns, where anyone can seethe outer wheel drag on the inner, but at every swerve of the team on thestraightaway. All such dragging reduces speed and tires the team withpulling which is energy utterly wasted.
"I hold the ideal racing chariot should have a chariot body as narrow aspossible, not much wider than the width of the driver's hips; should havethe wheels as close together as possible, to diminish the drag of onewheel against the other, should have the axle set as high as can bemanaged.
"All charioteers exclaim that such a chariot tends to overset. So it does.But I never have had an overset and I never expect to overset. I know howto drive and poise myself so as to keep my chariot right side up, and Inever think of oversetting, I think of winning my race, and always do.
"Anyhow, here before your eyes, is my new racing chariot and of all thechariots ever made on earth this has the longest wheel-spokes, thehighest-set axle, the closest-set wheels and the narrowest chariot body.Now I'm going to try it out and show it off."
He did to admiration, amid excited acclaims, his four cream-colored maresfairly flying along the straights and taking the turns at a pace whichmade us hold our breath.
After this thrilling exhibition he came back under the arcade and spoke tome first.
"Hedulio," he said, "you are one of the most competent horsemasters I everknew. What do you think of my idea of the best form for a racing chariot?"
"I think," I said, "that it has all the merits you claim for it, but thatnot one charioteer in ten thousand could drive in it and avoid an upset,sooner or later, at a turn."
"Right you are!" he replied, "but I am one charioteer in ten thousand."
"Say in a hundred thousand," I ventured to add. "For surely you could notfind, among all the professionals in the Empire, any other man to equalyou in team-driving."
He beamed at me.
When we left the Palace Tanno saw me in my litter and insisted onfollowing behind mine in his until he had seen me out of mine and into myown house.
There I had a very brief and very light lunch, Agathemer hovering over meand reminding me of Galen's orders for my diet, so that I found myselfforbidden every viand which I craved and asked for, and limited to thevery simple fare which had been prepared for me.
After lunch I went to bed and to sleep.
I woke soon and very wide awake. When I rolled into bed I had felt soutterly done up with the excitement of my interviews with Vedius andSatronius, with the exertion of standing in the Throne-room and throughthe Emperor's lecture on chariot design, that I had renounced my intentionof calling on Vedia and had resigned myself to postponing my attempt tosee her until the morrow.
I woke all feverish energy and restless determination to go to see her atonce. Therefore, between the siesta hour and the hour of the bath, Ipresented myself at Vedia's mansion.
I was at once ushered into her atrium, where I found myself alone andwhere I sat waiting some time.
When a maid summoned me into her _tablinum_, I found her alone, seated inher favorite lounging chair, charmingly attired and, I thought, morelovely than I had ever seen her.
"Oh, Caia!" I cried.
She bridled and stared at me haughtily.
"'Vedia,'" if you please, she said coldly. "You have no manner of right to'Caia' me, Andivius."
The distant formality of her address, her disdainful tone, the affront ofher words, chilled me like a dash of cold water.
"Caia!" I stammered, "Vedia, I mean. What has happened? What is wrong?"For I could not credit that she would be incensed with me because of myinvolvement in the affray in Vediamnum nor that she would condemn meunheard, especially as Tanno had told me, in the Stadium of the Palace,that he had taken care to call on Vedia, and give her his version of mymishap.
She glowered at me.
"Your effrontery," she burst out, "amazes me. I am incredulous that Ireally see you in my home, that you really have the shamelessness to forceyourself into my presence! It is an unforgivable affront that you shouldpretend love for me and aspire to be my husband and all the while bephilandering after a freedwoman; but that you should parade yourself onthe high road with her all the way from your villa to Rome, with the hussyenthroned in your own travelling carriage, is far worse. That you shouldget involved in roadside brawls with competitors for the possession of theminx is worse yet. Worst of all that you should advertise by all thesedoings, to all our world, your infatuation for such a creature and yourgreater interest in her than in me. I am indignant that I have consideredmarrying a suitor capable of such vileness, of such fatuity, of suchfolly."
I was like a sailboat taken all aback by a sudden change of wind. I couldnot believe my ears.
"I never took the slightest interest in Marcia," I protested, "except tokeep my uncle from marrying her, after he set her free. She made eyes atme also, of course, for she made eyes at every marriageable man withinreach. But I never had anything to do with her, never called on her bymyself, never so much as talked to her alone. I went to her dinners, ofcourse. All widowers and bachelors of our district went to her dinners.But her dinners were the pattern of propriety in every way. Your owngrandmother's famous dinners were not more decorous. Except for being aguest, with others, at her dinners, I never was at her villa. I lent mycarriage not to her but to her bridegroom, Marcus Martius, a prosperousgentleman of my neighborhood, of whom you have often heard me speak, afriend of my uncle's and a friend of mine since boyhood. The fights, asTanno explained to you, had nothing to do with Marcia and her involvementin them was as accidental as mine."
Vedia
did not look a particle mollified.
"You men," she said, "are all alike. You will philander about your nastyjades. But, at least, when you vow that you love one woman and one only,and use every artifice to induce her to marry you, you should feel itincumbent on you to keep away from such creatures as this Marcia of yours.But you must needs dangle about her and go to her dinners. That was badenough. But, while wooing me, to arrange a mock marriage for her with alocal confederate and then positively bring her to Rome with you wasinfinitely worse. I am insulted, of course. But, above and beyond yourtreachery to me, I am insulted at your bungling your clumsy intrigues andflaunting the minx in the face of all the world and setting allfashionable Rome to gossiping about you and your hussy and to wonderinghow I am going to act about it.
"I'll show them and you how I am going to act! I'm angry at your double-dealing; at your lies I am furious. I hate you. I hope I'll never set eyeson you again. The sooner you are gone, the better I'll like it. And I'llgive orders to ensure your never darkening my doors again!"
I tried to argue with her, to persuade her, to convince her, to induce herto listen to me.
She raged at me.
Dazed, I groped my way to my litter and, once in it, lost consciousnessentirely, not in a faint, but in the sleep of total exhaustion.
As I rolled into my litter, feeling utterly unfit to enjoy a bath with anynatural associates, I had ordered my bearers to take me home.
There I rested a while, for I waked before I reached home. Then I bathed,ate a simple dinner, alone with Agathemer, and went at once to bed.
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 7