Cleanor was soon making his way with an armful of suitable apparel to the gardener's hut. Cleoné, who seemed to be bent on making up as quickly as possible for her enforced separation from all feminine vanities, received the precious burden with a shriek of delight. When she emerged, half an hour afterwards, from her hut it would have passed all human skill to recognize in the brilliant young beauty who held Cleanor's hand the shabby deaf-mute who for many months past had plied his solitary task in Cornelia's gardens.
"HALF AN HOUR AFTERWARDS CLEONÉ EMERGED AS A BRILLIANT YOUNG BEAUTY."
All these confidences and preparations had taken time, and the house party had just assembled for the mid-day meal when the pair walked into the dining-room. Never since Misenum got its name had the place seen a more startling sight. At first it seemed as if Cleanor had found his double, for brother and sister were curiously alike. But the time that had passed since they were so tragically parted had changed them not a little. The young man had grown in height, and his frame, knit by the continual activities of an adventurous life, had developed the ampler proportions that became his sex. The girl was his very image, but now on a somewhat smaller scale. A fairer couple had never been seen in Italy.
"Cleanor has turned into Apollo," cried the little Caius, "and he has brought Diana with him."
As for the rest of the company, they gazed with an astonishment that was almost stupefaction on the scene. Cornelia was the first to recover herself. She advanced to greet the new-comer. "You are welcome," she said, "for your brothers sake—for Cleanor must surely be your brother—and, I am sure, for your own." Then Theoxena threw herself at the girl's feet and clasped her knees. "It is Cleoné," she cried. "The gods have nothing more to give me." Little Cephalus kissed her hand, and Daphne, somewhat shy at first of the splendid stranger, was not long behind with an affectionate greeting.
"Not a word," said Cornelia, "till you have eaten and drunk. For the present," she said, smiling at the little Caius, "they will have to be content without ambrosia and nectar."
The meal ended, Cornelia heard the whole story. Her mind, always eminently practical, discerned at once the first thing that had to be done.
"We must assure without delay," she said, "this young lady's civil status. At present it would be very perplexing to say who or what she is."
A message was immediately despatched to the nearest town with a letter requiring the immediate presence of the resident notary. He arrived before sunset, and by a formal act of emancipation Cleoné, slave of Cornelia, was made free.
"Pardon me, my daughter," she said, "if I speak of you as my slave. And indeed my title is a very weak one; no one, however, is likely to make out a better. Meanwhile, as far as I can secure your freedom, you are free."
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE WORLD WELL LOST.
CLEANOR had been back in Rome some four months, and had nearly completed his work with the committee of translation, when he received a visit from the young Scipio. The latter had not been one of the party at Misenum during the holidays of Saturn, having been summoned to Sicily to fill a casual vacancy on the staff of the quæstor in that province.
"Well," said Cleanor, after an affectionate exchange of greetings, "and how did you like your quæstor's work in Sicily?"
"I found it most interesting," replied the young man, "and, I must say, most agreeable. My name made me most welcome everywhere. You can hardly imagine what an impression my uncle's action in giving back the statues to the cities has made on the whole island. The simple fact that I was his nephew was enough to make them almost worship me. I happened to be at Agrigentum when the famous Bull was solemnly put back into its place. If I had been the founder of the city come to life again I could not have been treated with more respect. I should be quite ashamed to describe all the oratings and crownings and embracings that I went through. In fact, if I had any complaint to make, it would be that to a modest young man like myself the honours were just a little overpowering."
"And what," asked Cleanor, "are you going to do now?"
"That," replied the young Roman, "is just what I want to talk to you about. Lentulus, who is proconsul of Sicily, as I dare say you know, has expressed himself very handsomely about my services, and, what is more, has offered to propose me as one of the regular quæstors for next year. This is all the more satisfactory because he is no kinsman of mine, and in fact is not on the same side in politics as my uncle. If my uncle were to nominate me, I should probably get my election, but this will make it quite certain."
"Well," said Cleanor, "of course you won't hesitate to accept. I give you my congratulations in advance. It will be the first step in the ladder, and we shall see you climb, as your forbears have climbed before you, to be ædile, prætor, consul."
"Yes, yes," said the young man, "that is so. It is the first step, and I could not take it under better auspices, but—" and he paused, looking like anything but the ambitious young man before whom the greatest career in the world was opening.
"What is the hindrance, then?" asked the young Greek.
Scipio's embarrassment seemed to increase. "I have been to my aunt Cornelia's at Misenum," he added after a long pause.
"And what was her advice?" asked Cleanor. "Surely she had nothing to say against it. I should even have thought, as far as I know anything of your Roman politics, that she would have been especially well pleased to see you come out in public life under the auspices of Lentulus."
"Oh, yes!" returned the young Roman. "That was exactly her view. But—" and the speaker paused in still greater embarrassment than ever. "Well—I must say it sooner or later—I have seen your sister."
"My sister! What has my sister got to do with it?" asked Cleanor in utter bewilderment. "I don't suppose you asked her advice, and if you did, she would not hinder you, I should suppose, from serving your country."
"Well," said Scipio, "I did ask her, though not exactly for her advice, and she said exactly what you supposed she would say."
"Then where is the difficulty? You want the thing yourself; all your friends advise you to take the chances. What is it that hinders? For heaven's sake, my friend, do explain what you mean, for it is quite past my understanding."
"Then, Cleanor, listen; if I offend you, as I can hardly help doing, be patient with me. First and foremost, then, I love your sister Cleoné. It is the dearest wish of my heart to make her my wife, and I think, that is, I hope, that she cares a little for me."
"I am delighted to hear it," cried the young Greek, as he sprang up and seized his friend's hands. "I am delighted to hear it. There isn't a better or braver girl in the world, if I may say so much of my own sister. You have heard her story, of course. Well, she deserves a good husband, if ever a girl did, and I am glad to think that she is likely to find one."
"I am delighted to hear you say so, though I don't feel anything like worthy of her. But now comes what I find it so hard to say. Cleoné is a match for anyone in the world, in birth as well as in herself. But, in the eyes of our law, she is not a match for a Roman citizen. By some accursed chance—though, indeed, but for this said chance I should never have seen her—she was made a slave, and is now a freed woman. Out of that status nothing, as far as I know, can raise her, and being in that status she cannot be my wife. In one sense there may be a marriage between us, but it would not be a marriage that would give her the rights and privileges of a Roman matron; it would not be a marriage which would open to our children the career of a Roman citizen. There, my dear friend, the murder is out; that is the bare fact, and if it seems an insult to you—and an insult, I fear, it must seem—pray remember that it is not of my making or doing."
"My dear friend," said Cleanor, "I won't pretend that what you have said hasn't hurt me. We have always been accustomed to think ourselves as good as anybody in point of birth and standing. In fact we Greeks are not a little exclusive, and it is a blow to be told that we are ourselves outside the social pale. But for you, I assure you I haven't a feeling that is not all friendship. I don't draw back from a single word of what I said about my sister. Still we must consider; and of course, before all things, she must know."
"Yes, she must know," replied Scipio. "Of course I have said nothing. She does not know—so far at least as anything that I have said is concerned—that I love her."
"Well," said Cleanor, "we will leave that then for the present. Now listen to what I have been thinking about myself and my own future. I am in love, too, and you have seen the lady. Can you guess who it is?"
"Guess!" said Scipio with a smile. "There is no need of guessing. I have known it a long time. Well, I will allow that your Daphne is the fairest woman in the world,—with, of course, one exception."
"Well, when a man is in my plight, he naturally, if he is worthy of being called a man, begins to think of his future. And what future have I here in Italy? I have property enough to live upon, but that is all. But what career is there before me? I have turned the matter over in my mind, and I have asked for information from others. There seems to be positively but one thing for a man in my situation to do. I might become a teacher of rhetoric. That is the one solitary employment open to a Greek stranger, and a very precarious employment too. The old-fashioned nobles don't like Greek rhetoricians, and it is quite possible that some fine day I might find myself banished.70 That, you will allow, is not a prospect with which a man will readily content himself."
"And do you see any way out of it?" asked Scipio.
"I have dreams," replied the young Greek, "and I have always had, and the dreams of to-day fit on curiously enough to the dreams of the past. When I was a boy I had an ambition to be something beyond the chief citizen of Chelys. As for Carthage, though no one thought that her end was so near, I knew that there was nothing there to satisfy me, even if her honours had been open to me. But there is a world beyond Carthage, and even beyond Rome. It is of that that I dreamed then, and of which I dream still. Say, Scipio, my friend, shall we go and look for it?"
The young men had a long talk on the subject. Cleanor poured out the store of knowledge which, with an enthusiasm that dated back to very early years indeed, he had gathered from every available source. There was, of course, a plentiful admixture of fiction, or fact so transmuted and idealized that it almost had become fiction. There were legends and traditions, travellers' tales, and yarns of adventurous seamen; but there was also a solid substratum of truth. Cleanor's sheet-anchor, so to speak, was the famous Circumnavigation of Hanno.71 That famous voyager had beyond all doubt passed into the great western ocean through the Pillars of Hercules, and turning southward had seen many a strange and beautiful land, aye, and lived to bring back the report of them. All these things the ardent Greek dwelt upon with an enthusiasm which at last fired the duller fancy of the Roman. Scipio left the house more than half persuaded.
A few days afterwards Cleanor, having fairly finished his part in the work which had so long occupied his leisure, went down with Scipio to Misenum. They had agreed to say nothing of their scheme till they had heard what their hostess had to say to it. Cornelia was doubtful. Cleanor indeed had her fullest sympathy when he declared that he could not be content with any career that fate had left open for him, and that he must seek one elsewhere. It was about her great-nephew that she doubted. She could not bring herself to think him right when he proposed to relinquish his Roman birthright. Not for any woman, not though she was, as Cleoné, one among ten thousand, should a man give up the splendid opportunities of service and reward which Rome held forth to her sons.
The young man found an unexpected ally in his cousin Tiberius. "My duty," he said, "keeps me here; but if I could choose my own way, I would join your search. Sometimes I seem to see further into the future than is commonly given to man, and what I see is dark with the shadow of disaster and death. Our great kinsman has won splendid victories for Rome, and has others to win, but I doubt whether the gods have not granted these victories to our country more in wrath than in love. When we have trodden all our foes and rivals under our feet we shall turn our swords upon ourselves. The wealth of the world that is pouring into our treasury will kindle to a deadlier rage the eternal quarrel between those who have and those who have not. My lot is cast in with the unhappy. The love of woman is not for me; I shall not be able even to keep the affection of my kinsfolk. But I would not avoid my fate, even if I could. You are happier. It would be as great a folly for you to stay, as it would be a crime for me to depart."
After this Cornelia, who was always overawed when the deeper nature of her son revealed itself, silently withdrew her opposition. The elder Scipio, who would almost certainly have used all his influence to bring it to nothing, was fortunately absent from Italy. Daphne put no hindrance in the way. She had secretly worshipped the magnificent hero—for such he seemed to her—who had rescued her and hers from the deadliest peril, and was ready to follow him, if he willed it, to the ends of the world, and, if it might be, even beyond it.
But Scipio found Cleoné far more difficult to deal with. She was very far from disdaining his love, but it filled her with something like rage to think that for her sake he should abandon his career. It was partly that her pride was touched. That she, the long-descended daughter of heroes, who reckoned Ion himself among her far-away ancestors, should bring humiliation and disability on the man to whom she gave her hand! The bare idea was beyond endurance. Such love was a disgrace to both of them. She peremptorily commanded her suitor to forget it. But this stern mood did not last. She was moved not a little by the sight of Daphne's happiness. She was conscious of a craving in her own heart for a happiness of her own. She had herself suffered so much, and it was hard, when at last the sunshine came, to have to shut it out, and still to sit in the darkness. Then the strongest influences were brought to bear upon her. Her brother was urgent in his entreaties that she should not mar their plan. And her refusal would mar it. He could not go if she stayed behind. And the sight of Scipio's suffering touched her, for indeed she loved him tenderly. In the end she gave way.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BEYOND THE SUNSET.
THE party, which was increased by some manumitted slaves of Greek origin, sailed for Utica in the early autumn of the year, and reached that port after a quick and prosperous voyage. Their first destination was the court of King Gulussa. It so happened that their arrival coincided with a meeting of the three brothers. One of the wilder tribes on the desert border had invaded the kingdom, and it was necessary to make arrangements for an expedition of more than usual proportions. Micipsa had brought with him his two sons, and a younger lad, Jugurtha by name, his son by a wife of inferior rank, of whom we have heard before, and of whom the world was to hear a great deal more before many years had passed.
Gulussa and his brother kings gave a most complimentary welcome to their guests. But when Cleanor, who was naturally the spokesman of the party, unfolded his scheme, they took no pains to conceal their incredulity.
"It would be a thousand pities," said Gulussa, "if you were to throw away your lives on a romantic folly of this kind. Why not stop here, where you have something ready to your hands, not quite so splendid as these dreams of yours, but, believe me, a hundred times more solid and real. Now, listen to what I have got to say. We—that is, my brothers and I—have been talking matters over since you came, and we have made up our minds to make you an offer that it may be really worth your while to accept. Enter our service; you are both skilful soldiers. My father, than whom there never was a better judge of men, thought very highly of you, Cleanor; the name of Scipio would be commendation enough, even if we did not know how worthily it is borne by your friend. Details we can settle afterwards, but you may depend upon it, that you will never have to find fault with our liberality. Don't answer at once," Gulussa went on, as Cleanor was beginning to reply, "but think the matter over carefully, and let us know your decision, say, three days hence."
The princes spared no pains to make their guests' sojourn at court agreeable to them. A great hunting party was arranged for each day, and the two young men were furnished with magnificent mounts and allotted the best places. At the banquet which followed they occupied seats of honour. Meanwhile the ladies of the party were welcomed in the royal harem, received the most flattering attention from the queens and princesses, and were loaded with handsome presents.
"We might do worse than stay, Cleanor," said Scipio to his friend, for his unimaginative temper could not help comparing these present splendours with the remote prospects of Cleanor's scheme, not a little to the disadvantage of the latter.
Cleanor shook his head.
"How long do you think it would last? I don't say anything about the chances that our hosts might not always be as friendly as they are now. They are a fickle race. But let that pass. Yet how long will this Numidian kingdom stand? I remember what the old king said when I was in attendance on him before he died. He was sure that Rome would swallow it up before long. There is sure to be some quarrel sooner or later, and then who can doubt which of the two will go to the wall. And there is another thing. If the kingdom lasts, will it always be in the same hands? Have you noticed that lad Jugurtha? I remember that the old king warned me specially against him. 'That viper,' he called him; and as King Gulussa said the other day, Masinissa was an excellent judge of character. The brothers are elderly men, and, to judge from their looks, not very strong. Micipsa's two sons, who by rights should come after him, are feeble creatures; Jugurtha is his father's favourite, and he will come to the top of the tree sooner or later. And Jugurtha hates us; you first,—perhaps because you are a Roman, and his hatred for the Romans is a proverb,—and me next. No, it would not be well, I am sure, in any case to stop here; and to stop with a chance of finding ourselves under Jugurtha's thumb would be madness."
Scipio could not but acknowledge the force of these arguments, and gave way. At the appointed time the friends announced their decision to the kings. Gulussa shrugged his shoulders.
"Well," he said, "you must have your own way. If you should come back—very few do come back, I am told—and I am still alive, you will find me as ready to be your friend as ever. Meanwhile let us do what we can for you. The queen tells me that you have brought your wives that are to be with you. Let us have the honour of providing your marriage feast, and remain with us afterwards for as long as you like and may find convenient. If you are bent on this wild voyage of yours you must go prepared."
The friends gladly accepted this hospitable invitation. Preparations were at once commenced for performing the marriage ceremonies with due solemnity. While these were going on, Cleanor made his way to the coast to find a captain and crew who would be willing to take part in his adventure.
His first care was to discover Syphax, the old sailor with whom, as you may remember, he had made his voyage to Sicily. The old man listened with eager interest to his exposition of his plans, but shook his head when the question whether he would go was put to him.
"Ah!" he said, "if you had only come to me with this scheme twenty years ago! But what am I saying? old fool that I am! Twenty years ago you were little more than a baby in arms. I mean that I am too old. I am not fit for anything more now than pottering about with my fishing-lines. And there is my old wife. She couldn't go, poor thing; she hasn't set her foot outside the hut for the last ten years, and I certainly could not go without her. But there's my son Mago. He can't settle down in the new state of things, for Rome is likely to be a much harder master than Carthage ever was. Mago is your man; let me send for him."
Mago came, and Cleanor talked his plans over with him, and found him all that he wanted. The general scheme, and such particulars as the capacity of the vessel required, the stores, the cargo of articles for trade with native tribes, were settled between them, and Mago was left to carry out the details, while Cleanor returned to the court of King Gulussa.
Two months later,—for I shall not weary my readers with describing the marriage festivities,—the good ship Pallas lay ready for sea in the harbour of Utica. The piers and quays were filled with a dense crowd of spectators, for the fame of this adventurous voyage had spread through the city, and brought together a multitude of curious sight-seers. Loud and hearty were the cheers that went up as a soft breeze from the east slowly filled the sails, and the Pallas—her prow appropriately adorned with the figure of the goddess friend of Ulysses, prince of adventurous heroes—forged her way round the end of the western pier and shaped a course towards the setting sun.
Sail on, swift ship, to the region that lies beyond the darkness of the west. You leave behind you a world over which the shadows of civil strife and desolating war are gathering. Who knows what lies before you—Islands of the Blest, where nature smiles for ever, her fair face untouched by frost or storm, and where man still keeps primeval faith and innocence; or, perhaps, to a world that is but a meaner copy of that from which you are fleeing? Yet sail on, happy at least for the hour that is, in the unfaltering confidence of youth and hope.
NOTE.
I have departed, for convenience sake in the construction of my story, from historical truth in the date of Masinissa's death. This took place before the beginning of the Third Punic War. For the same reason, the Macedonian pretender is postdated. He had certainly disappeared from the scene before the autumn immediately preceding the fall of Carthage (when my hero is supposed to visit him).
If my readers fail to form a clear idea of the topography of Carthage, I must beg them not to blame me. This is a problem which no one has yet been able to solve.
Chelys is an imaginary place; the young Scipio an imaginary person.
THE END.
PRINTED BY BLACKIE AND SON, LIMITED, GLASGOW.
FOOTNOTES
1 One paid a talent (£215) per day, making an annual amount, allowing for the difference in the value of money, of not less than a quarter of a million.
2 C. Flamininus was degraded from the Senate for killing a captive in cold blood to entertain his company at dinner.
3 Hannibal carried about with him in the cavity of a ring a poison so deadly that it would destroy life in a few seconds. When about to be delivered up to the Romans by the petty sovereign—Prusias, King of Bithynia—with whom he had taken refuge, he killed himself in this way.
4 Numidia corresponds roughly to Algeria, Mauretania to Morocco.
5 In his youth Masinissa was betrothed to Sophonisba, the accomplished and beautiful daughter of Hasdrubal, son of Gisco. The engagement was broken off for political reasons. Hasdrubal made Sophonisba's hand the price of an alliance which he wished Syphax, Masinissa's rival in the struggle for the Numidian throne, to contract with Carthage. In the war that followed, Syphax was defeated, first by the Romans, afterwards by Masinissa himself, who took Cirta, his capital, and in it Sophonisba. To marry her at once seemed to the conqueror the only way of saving her from the Romans. But the marriage did not suit the policy of Rome, which dreaded the hostile influence which such a woman might exercise. Scipio (the Elder), who was in command, insisted that Sophonisba should be given up; and Masinissa, to save her the humiliation of captivity, sent her a cup of poison.
6 It is the Asiatic elephant only that has been domesticated in modern times, and taught to utilize his strength in the service of man.
7 About equivalent to a colonel in our army. There were five tribunes in the legion or brigade, and these commanded in turn.
8 Flaminius commanded at the disastrous battle of Lake Trasumennus, Varro at the still more disastrous defeat of Cannæ.
9 Carthage was Kirjath-Hadeschath, the "new town" (opposed to Tyre, which was the old); its chief magistrates were Shophetim (Latinized into Suffetes), the Hebrew word for "judges". Barca was a well-known name, corresponding to the Hebrew Barak, and meaning "lightning".
10 By the "League" Cleanor means the Achæan League, a combination originally of the cities of Achaia proper, or the southern shore of the Corinthian Gulf, but afterwards extended over the greater part of Mainland Greece.
11 The Cantabri (now the Basques), who were not subdued by Rome for more than a century after this time.
12 By the "Sea" Hasdrubal means the Mediterranean; outside the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar and Tangiers) was the Ocean (the Atlantic).
13 The ancient boxing-glove, a formidable construction fitted to the hand, of leather thongs heavily loaded with lead.
14 This consisted in throwing wine out of a cup into a bowl placed at some distance. The game was played in various ways.
15 Marcellus was the Roman general in command.
16 £27,000 in our money, reckoning by weight at five shillings per ounce for silver. This would mean a great deal more in purchasing power, not less than £100,000.
17 This narrow stripe indicated the knight; the broad stripe indicated the senator. The knights were the capitalists of Rome, farming the revenues of the state, a business becoming yearly more important as the dominions of the republic continued to grow.
18 This was the ancient aristocracy of Corinth.
19 The fourth hour, reckoned, i.e., from sunrise. As the time is supposed to be late in the autumn, sunrise would be at 7, and the fourth hour about 10.20, each hour being of fifty minutes duration, i.e. the twelfth part of the hour's day between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Whatever the length of the day it was divided into twelve hours.
20 C. Postumius was sent in the year 286 B.C. to deliver to the people of Tarentum the ultimatum of Rome. While he was speaking a buffoon bespattered his toga with some filth. He held up the robe in the sight of the Assembly, with the words, "Verily this shall be washed white".
21 It ran thus:
23 Thermopylæ—the Hot Gates; so called from the hot springs found in the neighbourhood.
24 The same Greek word stands for "purse" and "girdle". The old-fashioned long silk purse is an interesting survival of this ancient custom. Those who lead lives of adventure still carry their money in a belt fastened round the waist.
25 The legendary hero, son of Hæmon, from whom Thessalia was supposed to have received its name.
26 About fourpence farthing.
27 About five farthings; six obols went to the drachma.
28 The Chasidim, who were the backbone of the patriot party of the Maccabees, the Pharisees of the time.
29 It is impossible to give the play of words which we have in the Greek. Epiphanes, "Splendid", was the title which Antiochus assumed; Epimanes, "Crazy", was the nickname to which it was altered.
30 About £40, if we reckon, as usual, by weight of bullion at the standard price.
31 241 B.C.
32 This was a drink made out of wine (mixed with water) and honey. It was frequently taken (warm) early in the day, being considered a wholesome draught for an empty stomach.
33 The reader will remember the capture of Quebec by Wolfe's daring plan of scaling the Heights of Abraham.
34 Mancinus was elected one of the consuls for the year 145 B.C. There is a curious story, that after the conclusion of the war he exhibited in the Forum of Rome maps and plans of Carthage, showing where the various attacks had been made, and that he was never weary of explaining to the people the operations of the siege. This conduct, the story continues, made him so popular that he offered himself as a candidate for the consulship, and was successful. This story looks somewhat strange as it stands. The consulship was a very great honour, and, what is more, a serious responsibility. It would hardly have been bestowed on the giver of a popular and entertaining exhibition. But there may have been a general feeling that Mancinus had really done good service in the siege—had shown the way, so to speak, for the capture of the city.
35 Scipio was a tribune at this age. Young men of good birth were appointed to the office without previous service. Soldiers of lower origin who distinguished themselves were promoted to it, but, of course, at a later age. The great Marius was not a tribune till he was between thirty and forty.
36 The Latin latrunculi, a game somewhat resembling our "military tactics", or "fox and geese".
37 The battle which brought the Second Punic War to a conclusion in 202 B.C.
38 Lælius was as close a friend to the Younger as his father had been to the Elder Scipio. The two were born in the same year (B.C. 185), as were also the elder pair of friends (B.C. 234). It should be remembered that the Younger Scipio was nephew by marriage, though grandson by adoption, to the Elder. He was the younger son of Æmilius Paullus, whose sister was married to the Elder Scipio, and he was adopted by his sister's son, who had no children of his own.
39 "At Platæa Pausanias commanded the Spartans to change their position. All the captains but one were ready to obey, but Amompharetus refused to move. 'I will not fly,' he said, 'before the strangers, nor bring disgrace upon Sparta.' After a while the Athenians sent a horseman to learn why the Spartans did not change their place as had been agreed upon. When the man came up the dispute was waxing hot, and Amompharetus took up with both hands a huge stone, and put it at the feet of the general, saying, 'With this pebble (psephos) I give my vote not to fly from the strangers.' At last the general gave the signal for retreat, expecting that Amompharetus and his men would not like to be left behind. And so indeed it turned out, for, when he saw the rest of the army in motion, he also left his place and followed them" (Herod. ix. 53-5).
41 He was probably born about the year 204 B.C., and so would now (147 B.C.) be in his fifty-eighth year.
42 I have not ventured to interrupt my narrative with an account of the invention as it was described by Polybius in more than one conversation, but I will give it here for the benefit of such readers as may be interested in the subject. The plan which Polybius seems to have found in use was a very curious one, and, it is evident, far from being effective. The two bodies of men which would have to communicate by signal were provided with two vessels of exactly the same diameter and depth, and with outlets for the water of exactly the same size. Divisions were marked on them, and each division was appropriated to some common contingency in military affairs, as for instance, "Cavalry has arrived", "Cavalry is wanted", "Food is short", &c. The party desirous to communicate showed a torch. The other replied in the same way to indicate that they were attending. Another torch was shown by the first party. This meant that the water had been set flowing. The other replied in the same way, and set the water flowing in their vessel. When the desired point had been reached a third signal was shown. As soon as this signal was seen, the other side observed how far the water in their vessel had sunk. The defect was that only a few out of the innumerable contingencies of war could be thus communicated. The system perfected by Polybius was much more effective. The alphabet was divided into five groups of five letters each. The party wishing to communicate, which I will in future speak of as No. 1, called the attention of the other (No. 2) by raising two torches, and this signal was acknowledged in the same way. No. 1 then showed one, two, three, four, or five torches on the left to indicate which group he was about to use, and then one, two, three, four, or five on the right to indicate the letter in the group. An observing-glass with two tubes was necessary for No. 2 to enable him to distinguish between right and left. I will give an example, taking it, for convenience, from our own alphabet. "Cavalry wanted" is the message which No. 1 desires to send. The groups of letters would be—
2. f g h i j.
3. k l m n o.
4. p q r s t.
5. u v w x y.
z might be neglected, as practically of no use. (In the Greek alphabet of 24 letters the fifth group would be one letter short. This, of course, would not matter.)
C is shown by 1 left and 3 on right; a by 1 and 1; v by 5 and 2; l by 3 and 2; r by 4 and 3; y by 5 and 5.
And similarly with "wanted".
43 So Horace in his Ode, "Ad Amphoram" (To the Wine Jar):
44 The great victory of the Romans over Antiochus the Great at Magnesia was in 190 B.C. Polybius is speaking of the year 151.
45 Cato was accustomed, whatever the business before the Senate might be, to add to his opinion on the matter in hand, "I also think that Carthage ought to be destroyed". One of the Scipios, who favoured a more liberal policy, or perhaps thought that Rome would be better if she had a not too powerful rival, used to add in the same way, "I think that Carthage ought still to exist".
46 A ship of war, with a first-rate crew of rowers, making a very long day, say of fifteen hours, could travel 150 miles. From Carthage to Alexandria, by sea, is about 1100 miles. We must allow not less than ten days each way.
47 A gold piece equal to twelve shillings.
48 The Attali of Pergamum, and the Ptolemies of Alexandria, were rivals in amassing literary treasures. The house of the Attali became extinct in 133 B.C., and soon afterwards their kingdom became a Roman province. Their library remained at Pergamum till Antony presented it to Cleopatra. The word "parchment" (pergamena) remains as a reminder of its existence. Skins, of course, had long been used for writing purposes, but the manufacture was greatly improved under the patronage of the kings of Pergamum. The jealousy of the Ptolemies forbade, it is said, the export of paper (papyrus) from Alexandria, and parchment had to be used as a substitute.
49 The backward movement of the equinoctial points along the elliptic. A constellation which Hesiod describes as rising sixty days after the spring equinox, now rises one hundred days after. The equinox therefore has receded by a space equivalent to forty days.
50 A mina and a half are equivalent to £5, 5s., eight minas, therefore, to £28, and five to £17, 10s. This allows, reckoning the weight of wheat at 64 lbs. per bushel, a buying price of 3s. 3d. (about) per bushel, and a selling price of 17s. for the wheat, and 1s. 7½d. buying, and 11s. selling, for the barley. The highest price paid for wheat in England during this century has been 14s. 3d. (1812), and the lowest 2s. 3d. (1895). I will not trouble my readers with the figures for the barley. Commonly it was much cheaper in proportion to wheat than it is now. (So in Rev. vi. 6 we have, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny", a penny being the Roman denarius, or 9½d.) We may calculate the gross profit of the voyage at £6660 (nearly), taking the mina as equal to £3, 10s. 3¾d., or £5222 for the captain's share. The sum entitling a Roman citizen to equestrian rank was £4000.
51 An Attic talent, worth, by weight of silver, about £225.
52 Against Nebuchadnezzar in 598 B.C., and against Alexander in 331.
54 A treaty was made between Rome and Carthage in the year 509 B.C.
55 Cornelia, the "mother of the Gracchi", was the elder daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder. The young Scipio of my story, who is, I may say, an imaginary character, but is supposed to belong to a younger generation than Scipio Africanus the Younger, the conqueror of Carthage, would therefore be her great-nephew. Scipio himself was her nephew by adoption (being the adopted son of her brother), and her first cousin by blood. (He was a son of Æmilius Paullus, and she was the daughter of Æmilius Paullus's sister.) He was also her son-in-law. Her elder son Tiberius was born in 163 B.C., and was therefore seventeen at this time; the younger, Caius, was about nine.
56 About 10.30 p.m.
57 Ἔσσεται ἦμαρ ὅτ' ἄν ποτ' ὀλώλῃ Ἴλιος ἱρή.
58 Still called by the same name, at the south-east extremity of the Morea.
59 The inhabitants of Delos were sent away from their island by the Roman government in 167 B.C. The Athenians had done exactly the same thing in 422 B.C., but the oracle of Delphi had warned them that they must be brought back, and this was accordingly done some time afterwards.
60 In 404 B.C., when the Spartans and their allies had captured Athens, Corinth voted for the total destruction of the city.
61 The Achæan League.
62 It was the favourite plan of the Peloponnesian states in the Persian war to fortify the Isthmus and leave all Northern Greece at the mercy of the Persians; but this plan was abandoned owing to the declaration of the Athenians that, if it was persisted in, they would make terms with the Persians. A wall, of course, would have been useless, if the fleet of the enemy were free to land an army wherever it pleased. The work, however, was begun, though never completed.
63 A novus homo was one who could not reckon among his ancestors anyone who had risen to the rank of consul or prætor.
64 Five thousand sesterces would be £40, 7s. 1d., and the total price paid would be a little over £4000; the property qualification of a knight was £3600.
65 This was made of an alloy known as Corinthian brass or bronze, and said to have been composed of gold, silver, and copper. In later times it was believed to have been first made, and that by accident, at this very taking of Corinth, when gold, silver, and other metals were found to have been melted by the violent conflagration and to have run together; but it had been known long before.
66 About £9000.
67 It was the Roman custom, and Polybius naturally uses Roman terms on this occasion, to set up a spear when an auction was going on.
68 Something less than £1.
69 The "Holidays of Saturn" (Saturnalia) occurred in the early part of the latter half of December. They extended to as many as seven days. It is not improbable that they were, in a way, carried on by the Christmas festivities.
70 The Greek teachers of rhetoric were actually banished thirty years after this date.
71 The Periplus of Hanno, probably written early in the fourth century B.C.