CHAPTER XXIX
FELIX
From the marsh my path homewards led me past the villa, for it wasdirectly between my cottage and the swamp. The very first human being Iencountered was the _Villicus_ himself.
"Hullo, Felix," he said. "I've been looking for you. We need you. Septimasays she hasn't seen you since early yesterday. Where have you been allnight?"
"Up a tree," I replied. "Bulla told me day before yesterday that he andhis lads planned a spectacular capture and robbery on the highway south ofDiana's Crag for yesterday afternoon. Most of the days lately on which youhaven't wanted me I have spent on top of the crag, watching the traffic onthe road. I went up there about the third hour yesterday morning, to viewthe show Bulla had promised me. I expected to enjoy it, but, somehow, whenI saw the victims' coaches come in sight, the idea of a Roman lady in theclutches of Bulla's gang went against my gorge. I ran down alongside thecrag towards where Selinus was grazing in the roadside pasture. He came tome and I galloped up the highway and up the first crossroad to warn theconstabulary, who had gone up that road about noon, on some falseinformation given them by someone at Bulla's suggestion. Their officertook my horse and I had to run with the infantrymen. My breath gave outand my legs too and I dropped behind when they left the highway south ofthe crag and struck off across country after the bandits, who had beenscared off by the cavalrymen. It took me a long time to get my breath andrest my legs. When I felt able to walk it was after sunset. I can gentleany beast by daylight, but after dusk I'm no better off than any other manfacing a lion or tiger. The brigands had opened scores of cages and thefreed beasts began to roar and snarl soon after sunset. I climbed a mapleand spent the night in a fork about six yards from the ground, where Ifelt safe as long as I could keep awake. I dreaded to fall if I dozed, andI was frightfully drowsy after such a hot day and such a long run. Whenthe sun rose I started home."
"Come along, prudent youth," he said, "we need you. The sub-procurator incharge of the beast-train which the brigands interfered with is at thevilla: so are half his beast-tenders and teamsters. The animal-keepers vowthey dare not attempt to recapture their charges and the procurator isangry and worried and anxious about his responsibility and what will beexpected of him by his superiors. He does not want to lose one single lionor tiger or even hyena; wants them recaged at once. So do I. I've lostmore stock than I like to think of. The hyenas and panthers and leopardshave slaughtered a host of my sheep and goats, and the lions and tigershave banqueted on some of my most promising colts and on many of mycattle.
"Can you duplicate your feat with the panther loose on the highway?"
"I can repeat it as often as I can get anywhere near any of those beastsby daylight," I said. "Let us start at once. There is no hurry, for thebeasts will do little damage in daytime, as most of them will hide tilldark. But there seems to be a large number loose; I doubt if I can catchall of them before dusk."
"It'll take you two days, Felix, or three," the _Villicus_ laughed. "Theprocurator states that his train had in its cages twenty-five panthers, asmany leopards, fifty tigers, a hundred lions and two hundred hyenas.That's four hundred beasts for you to catch as fast as they can be locatedby their keepers, assisted by my whole force of horse-wranglers, herdsmen,shepherds, and the rest and all the farmers hereabouts, and all theirslaves. We'll have plenty of help. Three farmers are at the villa nowraving over the loss of sheep or cattle; every farmer will turn out withhis men to help us; anyhow, every bumpkin and yokel will want to enjoy thefun and they'll all flock to the scene."
I do not know how many days I spent catching the escaped beasts for theprocurator. I enjoyed the first day, did not mind the second and was notpainfully weary on the third; but the rest passed in a daze of exhaustion;though I had good horses, a fresh horse whenever I asked for it, wine andgood wine as often as I was thirsty, plenty of good food and everyconsideration; and although the various farms at which I spent the nights(for we did not once return to the villa) did all they could for mycomfort, the repetition, for hundreds of times, of dismounting,approaching a lion or tiger in his daylight lair among reeds or tall grassor bushes, catching him by the mane or the scruff of his neck, leading himto his cage and caging him, was extremely, even unbelievably exhausting.
Whenever any of our searchers located a beast in hiding the teamstersdrove their wagons with his cage as near as might be; in no case did Ilead a cowed captive half a mile; seldom two furlongs. But I walked agreat distance in the course of each of these days, rode many miles in thecourse of all the riding I did between recaptures, and was never calmedbetween my recurrent periods of tense excitement. I felt limp.
My condition was not improved by the occurrence and recurrence ofperturbing excitement from a more disquieting cause. Early on my third dayof animal-catching, just as I stepped back from bolting the door of a cageon a lion, I felt rather than saw out of the tail of my eye someone rushtowards me from behind, trip when a few yards from me and fall flat. Iwhirled to look and beheld a mere lad, one of my fellow-slaves at thevilla, a stable cleaner, scrambling to his feet. When he was half up theman nearest him, another of my fellow-slaves, an assistant colt-wrangler,apparently the man who had tripped him, dealt him a smashing blow on theear with his clenched fist and felled him again. As he went down I sawthat he had a long-bladed, keen-edged, gleaming dagger in his right hand.It flew from his grasp as he plowed up the ground with his face. The colt-wrangler picked it up.
We were on a crossroad, some distance from the highway, in the woods. Thewagon and cage were surrounded by almost a score of the slaves of theestate, with nearly as many more helpers; farm-slaves, farmers, teamsters,beast-warders, yokels and stragglers; the _Villicus_ was near.
"Napsus," he said to the colt-wrangler, "kill him with his own dagger!"
Instantly Napsus stabbed the fallen lad between the shoulders. The thrustwent home neatly, under the left shoulder-blade, deep and inclined alittle upward. It must have reached his heart, for he died after oneviolent convulsion which threw him into the air, and turned him completelyover, his corpse slapping the ground like a flopping fish on a stream-bank.
"Hand me that rope!" the _Villicus_ ordered a teamster.
He knotted a hangman's noose at one end of the rope, tried it to make sureit worked properly and ordered the estate slaves to hang the body to aconvenient limb of a near by tree. They did.
I stood, gazing questioningly, first at the swinging corpse, then at the_Villicus_.
"Felix," said he, "I perceive that you do not understand. Tiro meant tokill you, and would most likely have succeeded had not Napsus firsttripped him and then killed him. Napsus shall be handsomely rewarded inevery fashion within my power. Tiro has been dealt with as he deserved, asany similar fool deserves. I propose to protect you to the extent of myabilities and authority, which includes peremptory execution of any estateslave whom I so much as suspect; I don't have to wait for any overt act,nor for any threat, uttered or whispered or hinted. You can rely on allthe protection I can give you and I fancy it will suffice. If there is anyother fool about let him take notice."
He spoke loudly, so as to be audible to everyone of the gathering.
I stared numb, puzzled, almost dazed.
"But," I blurted out, "why did he try to kill me? Why should anyone wantto kill me?"
"You don't know Umbria, lad," spoke the _Villicus_, indulgently. "Manyeyes in addition to those of the teamsters and beast-wardens beheld you onSelinus, galloping your fastest northwards along the highroad. Many sawyou turn Selinus up the crossroad the _viarii_ had taken. Many saw theirofficer on Selinus when the cavalrymen charged down the highroad andscattered the bandits. Many saw you afoot among the infantrymen when theyturned from the crossroad into the highway and as they double-quicked downit. Every partisan of the outlaws blames you for their discomfiture, andregards you as a detestable traitor, many a one is looking for such achance at you as Tiro thought he saw. I'll give you a body-guard of men Ican trust, for the rest of this be
ast-catching job. But keep a brightlookout, yourself. You may need all your own strength and quickness tosave yourself."
The strain of this surprise and anxiety was a hundredfold as trying as themost daunting beast-catching. I felt it.
I felt it more after a second similar attempt that very afternoon. I hadthreaded a dense patch of undergrowth, approached a lurking leopard,caught her and led her out of the thicket, led her almost to her waitingcage. By this time our helpers were so used to seeing me cage lions,panthers, leopards and tigers that they no longer, as at first, hovered ata distance, gaping at me as I, completely alone with my catch, led ittowards its cage, set ready by its wagon, from which the team had beenloosed and removed: no longer drew off some yards beyond the cage andwagon and stood ready for instant flight if my capture escaped me; theynow merely drew aside as I approached and opened a lane for me and mycharge, no more afraid than if I had been leading a calf.
As I drew near the cage, my mind intent on the leopard and my eyes on theopen cage door and its fastenings, a slave of one of the neighboringfarmers dashed at me, sheath-knife uplifted. He came from my left side,from a little behind me. I whirled round to face him, pulling the leopardround roughly, so that she snarled. I let her go. She was face to facewith my reckless assailant and they were close together. She gave onejoyful, gloating, triumphant squall and one mighty leap. Her claws sankinto his shoulders, her long white fangs met, horridly crunching, in histhroat, and she bore him to the earth where she crouched flat on him,greedily gulping his blood.
The bystanders fairly fell over backwards in their panic as theyscattered. I stood by the leopard, and when she had exhausted the supplyof hot blood, succeeded in caging her; but dropped limp on the earth onceI had fastened her in her cage, for a beast of prey which had just tastedhuman blood was a ward with which I had felt very uncertain of being ableto cope.
After that no one attempted to molest me while out catching the escapedbeasts. But the night before my last day of beast-catching, as I lay abedvery fast asleep at a villa fully ten miles from the Imperial villa whereI belonged, I became gradually aware of some noises, then slowly Iwakened. There was a fight going on at my door. Soon after I got out ofbed our host and my master, the _Villicus_, came with a light and three orfour slaves. The light revealed One of my fellow-slaves flat on his backand another throttling him. A dagger lay on the floor. Evidently the onehad saved me from the other.
Late next afternoon, far up in the hills near Helvillum, I caught andcaged the last hyena. These, being smaller and more cowardly than thenobler animals, were harder to locate. It was after sunset when we reachedthe villa where we found the procurator in charge of the beast-train; andalong with, him and his men were welcomed and entertained.
After our bath and a lavish dinner the _Villicus_ exchanged a fewwhispered words with our host and then he and I had a long conferencealone. He explained that my life was in danger, not only from localfriends of Bulla and partisans of the King of the Highwaymen who all notmerely regarded me with detestation and hatred as a traitor but suspectedme of being a government spy, but also from the King of the Highwaymenhimself, who was certain to be informed by Bulla of how they had beendiscomfited and who had a long arm and countless capable and intrepidagents. He was of the opinion that the three attempts at assassinationwhich I had escaped were a mere beginning. He was emphatic that I couldnot remain on the Imperial estate and survive many days. He advised mestrongly not to return to the villa.
Then he told me that the procurator of the beast-train had sent to Rome byan Imperial courier, whom he had managed to intercept at a change-station,a letter setting forth my powers over fierce animals and asking that anorder be sent for my transfer from the horse-breeding estate to the BeastBarracks attached to the Colosseum, where the animals are housed fromtheir arrival in Rome, until their display in the arena; that this letterhad come into the hands of the same officials who already had underconsideration the requisition for me made by the procurator in charge ofthe Beast Barracks; that somehow these same officials appeared to knownothing of my identity with the slave who had foiled the conspirators whowere fomenting a mutiny in the _ergastulum_ at Nuceria, and for whosemanumission a request had been made by the aldermen of that town, andindeed appeared to know nothing of any such request for manumission; thata requisition for my transfer from the horse-breeding estate to the Beast-Barracks at Rome had been made out, approved by the higher officials,sealed, stamped and sent out by an Imperial courier and received that veryafternoon by the procurator of the beast-train, who consequently hadauthority to take me to Rome with him as one of the attendants on theanimals of his train, which was now again in order, I having recaged allthe four hundred escaped beasts, except five hyenas, one panther and onelion which had been killed by stock-owners and their slaves whileattacking stock.
The _Villicus_ went on to say that this fell out very advantageously forme, in his opinion. He advised me not only to go with the procuratorwithout demur, but to arrange with him that I drop the name of Felix andadopt some other. He pointed out that, if it was known that Felix theHorse-wrangler of Umbria had gone to Rome as Felix the Beast-Tamer, thenthe King of the Highwaymen would be able without difficulty to trace meand set on me his ruthless agents until one of them assassinated me.
I felt that he was right. The danger to my former self as AndiviusHedulio, implicated in a conspiracy against Caesar, appeared now far offand unimportant, in spite of the fact that the secret service might stillbe keen to catch me and the hue and cry out after me from the Alps toRhegium; the danger to my present self from the enmity of Bulla, of hisruffians, of their partisans in Umbria, of their Chief, the King of theHighwaymen, whoever he might be, appeared close and menacing. A change ofname would make it impossible for Tanno and Vedia to carry out her planfor my manumission by the _fiscus_, my clandestine journey to Bruttium andmy comfortable and unsuspected seclusion there until some other princesucceeded our present Emperor. I had grasped eagerly at the thought ofthis plan and had built much on it. But I realized that Bulla's admirersor the agents of the King of the Highwaymen would make an end of me longbefore Vedia's influence could obtain my manumission; and that, if she didaccomplish all she expected, I could never hope to escape the vigilance ofthe tenacious and expert pursuers who would inevitably dog my footsteps.
I thought the advice of the _Villicus_ good. I regretted that I was not tosay farewell to Septima; she deserved a most fervent expression of myesteem, gratitude, regard and good wishes; but, after my encounter withVedia, Septima seemed of very little importance. I had my amulet-bag onits thong about my neck and my coin-belt about my waist. I agreed to gowith the procurator and thanked the _Villicus_ for his solicitude for me,for his good offices and for his advice.
He said that it would be best that he should not know what name I meant toadopt. Also he said that, if I was to escape the vengeance of the King ofthe Highwaymen, it would be imperative that I be thought dead; he wouldgive out that I had been killed by one of my fellow-slaves and everybodywould assume that I had perished at the hands of some partisan of theoutlaws; Bulla and the King of the Highwaymen would feel their animositysatiated.
I reflected that whereas news of my supposed assassination would fillVedia with grief and would probably, after her grief abated, leave herfeeling free to marry, yet, if a false report of my death was not spreadabroad, a genuine report of my actual death soon would be. It was a choicebetween a lesser and a greater evil. I acquiesced.
I then ventured to ask him if he knew anything as to how far the brigandshad succeeded in spite of my intervention and how far they had failedbecause of it. He told me that they had effected their escape with thepropraetor's coin-chests, the propraetor, and the procurator and hadcarried off the widow's maid by mistake for the widow, on account of herclever device of changing clothes with her mistress.
Also that Vedia had announced that she would pay a large ransom for hermaid.
I then felt safe to ask what had become of Vedia, h
er name being knownfrom her advertisement. He said she had procured horses and mules and hadreturned to Rome, sending up agents from Nuceria to negotiate with thebandits, rescue Lydia and pay her ransom.
The next day, at dawn, I set off with the beast-train, riding by theprocurator. He and I and the _Villicus_ had had a talk. After the_Villicus_ left my name was Festus.
I asked the procurator what had become of the bullion on account of whichthe brigands had routed out the cages. He laughed and asked whether I hadnoted anything peculiar in the handling of the cages while I was returningtheir contents to them. I said I had noticed that the rollers lashed tothe wagons were never used, but fresh-cut rollers each time a cage wastaken off a wagon or put back on.
He laughed again.
"You can conjecture then," he said, "why the outlaws got no grain of thedust, let alone any nugget: six hundred rollers, even with very moderateholes bored into half of them, would hold more bullion than the procuratorwas convoying."
I laughed also.
"I suppose," I said, "it could not be told which rollers were bored outand might crush if used."
"Just so!" said he.
We journeyed to Rome with as much hurry as could be made by such a beast-train, which was very slowly for men on good horses. We made excursions upcrossroads, idled at inns, were entertained at villas and I decidedlyenjoyed the beginning of my life as Festus the Beast-Tamer. We werefourteen full days on the road.
I had time to meditate on the fifth fulfillment of the prophecy of theAemilian Sibyl. Also I had time to offer two white hens to Mercury atNuceria, at Spolitum, at Interamnia, at Narnia and at Ocriculum.
Towards sunset just before our last night's halt out of the city, from ahilltop on the highway, I had a glorious view of Rome bathed in mellowevening sunlight, much as I had viewed it when I came down the samehighroad with the mutineers from Britain. As always this unsurpassablesight filled me with intense emotions.
We entered Rome, of course, by the Flaminian Gate and at dawn. Beforesunrise I was in the great mass of buildings variously known as theChoragium, the Therotheca, the Animal Mansions and the Beast-Barracks.These were mostly of many stories, the ground-level used for the beasts,the second floor for their keepers and attendants, the cage-cleaners, theoverseers, and the rest of the army of men who cared for the animals, andthe upper floors utilized as store-rooms for all sorts of weapons, armor,costumes, implements and apparatus used in and for the spectacles; swords,spears, arrows, shields, helmets, breast-plates, corselets, kilts,greaves, boots, cloaks, tunics, poles, rope, pulleys, winches, jack-screws, derricks, wagons, carts, and the like.
The jumble of buildings was without any sort of general plan. Apparently acourtyard and the structures about it had been found necessary for housingthe beasts and their attendants and had been bought by the management ofthe Colosseum. When it was overtaxed, as the number of animals exhibitedincreased, an adjacent property had been acquired and annexed. So theChoragium had been created and extended till it now covered many acres andhad many courtyards, all arcaded on all sides. Under the arcades were setas many cages as they could accommodate; when the beasts were too numerousfor their cages to be all under the arcades some were stood out in thecourtyards.
I was comfortably housed in light, airy, roomy, clean and well-furnishedquarters on one of the biggest courtyards. From dawn after my firstnight's sleep there I was busy quelling vicious beasts so their cagescould be cleaned; keeping others quiet while the beast-surgeons dressedwounds inflicted by their captors or keepers or sores caused by theirconfinement; inducing others to swallow the remedies the animal-doctorsthought good for them; leading beasts out of their cages into others; andso on.
* * * * *
Before I had been a full day at my duties the procurator of the Beast-Barracks complimented me, declared that I was his very ideal of just thekind of man he had always needed and wanted, averred that I was alreadyindispensable and vowed that he could not conceive how he or the Choragiumhad ever gotten on without me. Within a very few days he came to myquarters and said:
"I want you to be contented here. I won't listen to a word hinting at yourleaving. Otherwise I'll do all I can to gratify every wish of yours notinconsistent with your continuing here and keeping up as you have begun.Of course, within a few days now, you'll have no such rush of all-day toilas you have been having. You have been doing in the past few days all theleft-over jobs which should have been attended to since warm weatherbegan. Once you get clear of legacies from the past you'll find a day'swork can be done in much less than a day and will neither exhaust norweary you. Now what can I do to make you as comfortable as possible?"
He had sat down and had motioned me to be seated also. I ruminated.
"In the first place," I said, "I do not want to be made to show off in thearena before audiences. I am willing to tame animals and to keep on taminganimals, but I do not want to be forced to display my powers before thepopulace and the nobility, Senate and court. I have the most powerfulantipathy to being compelled to become a performer as part of a publicspectacle."
"Set your mind at rest," he said. "I give my pledge that, unless myauthority is overridden, you shall not take part in public spectaclesexcept that you may often have to enter the arena to lead out ferociousbeasts which are not to be killed or which the Emperor, or some of thecourtiers, senators, nobles or populace have taken a fancy to for somedisplay of courage or craft and have ordered spared. The driving into acage or out of a postern of such a beast is generally an irritatingmatter, delaying the spectacle and often calling for the use of as many asa hundred muscular, agile and bold attendants. I perceive that you can doalone, quickly and easily, what a large gang of eager men has often takena long time to accomplish. Often they have to kill a recalcitrant beast. Ifeel that I need you for this and I trust that you are willing."
"Entirely," I answered.
"Good!" said he, and resumed:
"Now, what is your next point?"
"In the second place," I said, "I do not want to be pestered withvisitors; nobles or wealthy idlers who take a fancy to me and think theyare conferring a favor on me by intruding on me and wasting my time withtheir inquisitive questions and patronizing remarks. In particular I havea horror of the kind of women who have a fad for molesting with theirattentions singers, actors, gladiators, beast-fighters, charioteers and soon; if one of them gets after me and the infection spreads to more I shallfind life here in Rome altogether unendurable.
"I speak feelingly (I thought it proper to lie like a Greek, if necessary,in a situation like mine). Where I was before I suffered from theattentions of enthusiastic admirers and I have had all I want of it andfar more; enough to last half a dozen lifetimes."
"Festus," said the procurator, "where were you before?"
"If you had seen my back," I said, "you wouldn't expect me to tell you."
"I don't expect you to tell me," he laughed, "but I could not help asking;you are such a wonder that I am tormented with the desire to know allabout you, not merely where you came from and how you got into the_ergastulum_ at Nuceria. But I shall not press you for any informationabout yourself. Keep your own secrets as long as you are willing to workmiracles for me.
"I don't want to see your back; without seeing it I may say that if anyoneill-treated you he was an amazing fool. You shall not be flogged here, norill-used in any way. I'll take all the measures in my power to ensure thatno visitors bother you and that you are protected not only from genuinesporting nobles but still more from the silly loungers who think it addsto their importance to make the acquaintance of all persons of publicreputation. Especially I'll have you guarded from intrusive fine ladies."
"What next?"
"I want plenty of the best fruit," I said boldly.
"You'll get all you can eat of whatever the markets afford," he said, "andunderstand right here that I'll indulge you to any extent in anythingrelating to your food or wine, as long as you keep sober. Similar
ly youcan have anything you ask for in the way of extra clothing or bedding orfurnishings for your quarters. If you don't like the slave detailed towait on you I'll have another put in his place and keep on changing tillyou get one to suit you.
"You are to be indulged and pampered in every way in my power, except thatI mean to keep you hard at work, long hours each day, at the cages,whenever it is necessary."
I thanked him and agreed to do my best to please him.
Not many days later, as he had foretold, my work became less continuousand less burdensome. Soon afterwards I settled into a sort of dailyroutine which occupied me, but did not wear me out and which often left menot a little free time.
I found that I was entirely free to go and come as I pleased, when notoccupied. I did go to the Temple of Mercury and offer two white hensbought in the Forum Boarium, as I had done when in the City with Maternus.Otherwise I kept pretty close for more than a month. I feared to berecognized as myself by some secret-service agent; I feared almost as muchto be identified as Felix the Horse-Tamer by some henchman of the King ofthe Highwaymen. I wanted to try to communicate with Vedia, but the more Ipondered on how to do so the more I saw only betrayal, recognition anddeath as the probable results of every plan I devised.
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 30