The Count of the Saxon Shore; or The Villa in Vectis.<br />A Tale of the Departure of the Romans fro, Church and Putnam [summer beach reads TXT] 📗

The next morning the Count invited the Imperial messenger to a private conference. His daughter and Carna were present, as was also Claudian.

“You have the latest news,” the Count began. “Pray let us have them. Here we know nothing. But tell us first how you got here. It was noticed that you did not hoist the standard till you were within the Haven. You did not, I suppose, think it a safe flag to sail under.”

“Well,” replied the messenger, “I thought it better to have no flag at all. But, to tell the truth, the Labarum is not just now exactly the best passport in the world.”

“You crossed from Gaul, I suppose?” the Count went on. “How are matters there?”

“Constantine, with the legions he brought from here, and those that have joined him since, is pretty well master of the country, and of Spain too.”

“And what is the Emperor doing? Did he let these provinces go without a struggle? Spain was the first province that Rome ever had, and Gaul was the second. None, I take it, have been so steadily profitable, and now we are to lose them.”

He rose from his seat, and walked up and down the room in an agitation which he could not conceal.

“And the only man who could keep the Empire together is gone; butchered, as if he were a criminal!”

The messenger said nothing to this outburst. He went on, “I believe his Majesty proposes to admit Constantine to a share of the Imperial honours, to make him Cæsar of Gaul and Spain.”

“What!” said the Count. “Do not my ears deceive me? This fellow, whom I have seen wearing the collar for the neglect of duty, recognized as his colleague by Augustus!”59

“I do not pretend to know his Majesty’s purposes, I can only say what is reported at head-quarters, and, it would seem, on good authority. But,” continued the speaker, in a voice from which he had studiously banished all kind of emphasis, and looking as he spoke at the ceiling of the room, “your lordship is aware that the honours thus unexpectedly bestowed do not always turn out to the advantage of those who receive them.”

“What do you mean?” asked the Count.

“I mean that what is given may be taken away—and taken away with very handsome interest for the loan—when the proper time comes. Your lordship has not forgotten the name of Carausius.”60

“Well,” said the Count, “this is not the old way Rome had of dealing with her enemies. But, ‘other times, other manners.’ Tell me now, if the Augustus has arranged or is going to arrange with Constantine, what about Alaric?”

“Oh! he will be quiet for a time, or should be, if there is any truth in a barbarian’s oath. You have heard how he marched on Rome?”

“No, indeed,” replied the Count. “I have heard nothing here, except, quite early in the year, a vague rumour that he was on the move again. But tell me—has Augustus given him, too, a share in the Empire?”

“Not exactly; but I will tell what has taken place. He marched on Rome.”

“Yes,” interjected the Count, “and there was no Stilicho to save it!”

“The city was almost helpless. Even the walls had not been kept in repair, and if they had, there was no proper force to man them. The only thing possible was to make peace on the best terms that they could. I happened to be in Alaric’s camp with a letter, under a flag of truce, the very day that the ambassadors came out to treat with the king, and I saw the whole affair. I don’t mind saying that it was not one to make a man feel proud of being a Roman. The barbarians, it seemed to me, had not only all the strength on their side, but the dignity also. Alaric himself is a splendid specimen of humanity, every inch a king, the tallest and handsomest man in his army, and that, too, an army of giants. It was a contrast, I can tell you, between him and the two miserable, pettifogging creatures that represented the Senate. At first they tried what a little brag could do. ‘Give us an honourable peace,’ said their spokesman, ‘or you will repent of having driven to despair a nation of warriors, a nation that has conquered the world.’ The king laughed; he knew what the Romans have come to. ‘The thicker the hay,’ he said, ‘the easier to mow.’ And then he fixed the ransom that he would take for retiring from