Part 7 (1/2)
But the eager speaker, without hearing his words, continued: ”What he said concerning the permanence and spread of his own renown I will apply to the glory of Rome: it will increase and grow, so long as the priest ascends the hill to the Capitol with the silent Virgin. The Vestal,” he added in explanation.
”H'm,” observed the Illyrian, ”only it's a pity that the hypothesis is no longer apt.”
”What? How so?”
”The pious Constantine, of murderous memory (I hear they want to canonize the a.s.sa.s.sin of his mother and his wife) prohibited or restricted the offering of sacrifices at the Capitol, and your pupil and patron, Gratia.n.u.s, recently abolished the Vestals.”
CHAPTER XIII.
”Oh, that must not be taken so literally,” Ausonius remarked.
”I am not superst.i.tious. I rely possibly too much upon my sword and too little upon heaven; and I care nothing about the Vestal virgins. But I do not like the second step your pupil took last year in Rome.”
”What do you mean?”
”He removed from the council-hall of the Senate the altar of the G.o.ddess of victory, where sacrifices were offered before the opening of debates.”
”Constantine had removed it previously.”
”But Julian, the mighty conqueror of the Alemanni, restored it. And, by Jupiter!--pardon me, by G.o.d!--with good success. The priests called him 'the apostate,' but the G.o.ddess of victory was not unfaithful to him.
Now men fight stoutly, with or without the G.o.ddess of victory. But--I am a Roman--I dread the omen.”
”You see the matter in too dark colors.”
”You see it in too rosy a light. Your kind heart wishes good to all.”
”Yes, even to the Barbarians!” Ausonius nodded, raising his goblet.
”They are human beings, too. And as the Stoa, not the Galilean, first taught, all men are brothers.”
”But there are too many of these yellow-maned brothers.”
”And I believe in a deity--call him by whatever name you choose--that directs all things well. Therefore I believe that these Barbarians will listen to reason and soon offer you their submission.”
”Perhaps the little girl--what is her name? Bissula--will also surrender to Ausonius,” said the Tribune in a jesting tone.
”Oh, the dear child! If I could only see her again.”
”Do not wish it, Prefect.”
”Why?”
”Perhaps she will conquer you! She would not be the first Barbarian.
Was it Pipa--or Pipara--that the girl of the Marcomanni was called, with whom even an emperor fell desperately and hopelessly in love?”
”You forget I wanted her for a daughter, not a wife.”
”At that time. Now she is no longer a child--and you are a widower.”