from Olympus! I had no money, but I had strength and youth--these were
thy gifts--I could sell these in my turn for thee! I learned the amount
of thy ransom--I learned that the usual prize of a victorious gladiator
would doubly pay it. I became a gladiator--I linked myself with those
accursed men, scorning, loathing, while I joined--I acquired their
skill--blessed be the lesson!--it shall teach me to free my father!'
'Oh, that thou couldst hear Olinthus!' sighed the old man, more and more
affected by the virtue of his son, but not less strongly convinced of
the criminality of his purpose.
'I will hear the whole world talk if thou wilt,' answered the gladiator,
gaily; 'but not till thou art a slave no more. Beneath thy own roof, my
father, thou shalt puzzle this dull brain all day long, ay, and all
night too, if it give thee pleasure. Oh, such a spot as I have chalked
out for thee!--it is one of the nine hundred and ninety-nine shops of
old Julia Felix, in the sunny part of the city, where thou mayst bask
before the door in the day--and I will sell the oil and the wine for
thee, my father--and then, please Venus (or if it does not please her,
since thou lovest not her name, it is all one to Lydon)--then, I say,
perhaps thou mayst have a daughter, too, to tend thy grey hairs, and
hear shrill voices at thy knee, that shall call thee "Lydon's father!"
Ah! we shall be so happy--the prize can purchase all. Cheer thee! cheer
up, my sire!--And now I must away--day wears--the lanista waits me.
Come! thy blessing!'
As Lydon thus spoke, he had already quitted the dark chamber of his
father; and speaking eagerly, though in a whispered tone, they now stood
at the same place in which we introduced the porter at his post.
'O bless thee! bless thee, my brave boy!' said Medon, fervently; 'and
may the great Power that reads all hearts see the nobleness of thine,
and forgive its error!'
The tall shape of the gladiator passed swiftly down the path; the eyes
of the slave followed its light but stately steps, till the last glimpse
was gone; and then, sinking once more on his seat, his eyes again
fastened themselves on the ground. His form, mute and unmoving, as a
thing of stone. His heart!--who, in our happier age, can even imagine
its struggles--its commotion?
'May I enter?' said a sweet voice. 'Is thy mistress Julia within?'
The slave mechanically motioned to the visitor to enter, but she who
addressed him could not see the gesture--she repeated her question
timidly, but in a louder voice.
'Have I not told thee!' said the slave, peevishly: 'enter.'
'Thanks,' said the speaker, plaintively; and the slave, roused by the
tone, looked up, and recognized the blind flower-girl. Sorrow can
sympathize with affliction--he raised himself, and guided her steps to
the head of the adjacent staircase (by which you descended to Julia's
apartment), where, summoning a female slave, he consigned to her the
charge of the blind girl.
Chapter VII
THE DRESSING-ROOM OF A POMPEIAN BEAUTY. IMPORTANT CONVERSATION BETWEEN
JULIA AND NYDIA.
THE elegant Julia sat in her chamber, with her slaves around her--like
the cubiculum which adjoined it, the room was small, but much larger
than the usual apartments appropriated to sleep, which were so
diminutive, that few who have not seen the bed-chambers, even in the
gayest mansions, can form any notion of the petty pigeon-holes in which
the citizens of Pompeii evidently thought it desirable to pass the
night. But, in fact, 'bed' with the ancients was not that grave,
serious, and important part of domestic mysteries which it is with us.
The couch itself was more like a very narrow and small sofa, light
enough to be transported easily, and by the occupant himself, from place
to place; and it was, no doubt, constantly shifted from chamber to
chamber, according to the caprice of the inmate, or the changes of the
season; for that side of the house which was crowded in one month,
might, perhaps, be carefully avoided in the next. There was also among
the Italians of that period a singular and fastidious apprehension of
too much daylight; their darkened chambers, which first appear to us the
result of a negligent architecture, were the effect of the most
elaborate study. In their porticoes and gardens they courted the sun
whenever it so pleased their luxurious tastes. In the interior of their
houses they sought rather the coolness and the shade.
Julia's apartment at that season was in the lower part of the house,
immediately beneath the state rooms above, and looking upon the garden,
with which it was on a level. The wide door, which was glazed, alone
admitted the morning rays: yet her eye, accustomed to a certain
darkness, was sufficiently acute to perceive exactly what colors were
the most becoming--what shade of the delicate rouge gave the brightest
beam to her dark glance, and the most youthful freshness to her cheek.
On the table, before which she sat, was a small and circular mirror of
the most polished steel: round which, in precise order, were ranged the
cosmetics and the unguents--the perfumes and the paints--the jewels and
combs--the ribands and the gold pins, which were destined to add to the
natural attractions of beauty the assistance of art and the capricious
allurements of fashion. Through the dimness of the room glowed brightly
the vivid and various colourings of the wall, in all the dazzling
frescoes of Pompeian taste. Before the dressing-table, and under the
feet of Julia, was spread a carpet, woven from the looms of the East.
Near at hand, on another table, was a silver basin and ewer; an
extinguished lamp, of most exquisite workmanship, in which the artist
had represented a Cupid reposing under the spreading branches of a
myrtle-tree; and a small roll of papyrus, containing the softest elegies
of Tibullus. Before the door, which communicated with the cubiculum,
hung a curtain richly broidered with gold flowers. Such was the
dressing-room of a beauty eighteen centuries ago.
The fair Julia leaned indolently back on her seat, while the ornatrix
(i.e. hairdresser) slowly piled, one above the other, a mass of small
curls, dexterously weaving the false with the true, and carrying the
whole fabric to a height that seemed to place the head rather at the
centre than the summit of the human form.
Her tunic, of a deep amber, which well set off her dark hair and
somewhat embrowned complexion, swept in ample folds to her feet, which
were cased in slippers, fastened round the slender ankle by white
thongs; while a profusion of pearls were embroidered in the slipper
itself, which was of purple, and turned slightly upward, as do the
Turkish slippers at this day. An old slave, skilled by long experience
in all the arcana of the toilet, stood beside the hairdresser, with the
broad and studded girdle of her mistress over her arm, and giving, from
time to time (mingled with judicious flattery to the lady herself),
instructions to the mason of the ascending pile.
'Put that pin rather more to the right--lower--stupid one! Do you not
observe how even those beautiful eyebrows are?--One would think you were
dressing Corinna, whose face is all of one side. Now put in the
flowers--what, fool!--not that dull pink--you are not suiting colors to
the dim cheek of Chloris: it must be the brightest flowers that can
alone suit the cheek of the young Julia.'
'Gently!' said the lady, stamping her small foot violently: 'you pull my
hair as if you were plucking up a weed!'
'Dull thing!' continued the directress of the ceremony. 'Do you not
know how delicate is your mistress?--you are not dressing the coarse
horsehair of the widow Fulvia. Now, then, the riband--that's right.
Fair Julia, look in the mirror; saw you ever anything so lovely as
yourself?'
When, after innumerable comments, difficulties, and delays, the
intricate tower was at length completed, the next preparation was that
of giving to the eyes the soft languish, produced by a dark powder
applied to the lids and brows; a small patch cut in the form of a
crescent, skillfully placed by the rosy lips, attracted attention to
their dimples, and to the teeth, to which already every art had been
applied in order to heighten the dazzle of their natural whiteness.
To another slave, hitherto idle, was now consigned the charge of
arranging the jewels--the ear-rings of pearl (two to each ear)--the
massive bracelets of gold--the chain formed of rings of the same metal,
to which a talisman cut in crystals was attached--the graceful buckle on
the left shoulder, in which was set an exquisite cameo of Psyche--the
girdle of purple riband, richly wrought with threads of gold, and
clasped by interlacing serpents--and lastly, the various rings, fitted
to every joint of the white and slender fingers. The toilet was now
arranged according to the last mode of Rome. The fair Julia regarded
herself with a last gaze of complacent vanity, and reclining again upon
her seat, she bade the youngest of her slaves, in a listless tone, read
to her the enamoured couplets of Tibullus. This lecture was still
proceeding, when a female slave admitted Nydia into the presence of the
lady of the place.
'Salve, Julia!' said the flower-girl, arresting her steps within a few
paces from the spot where Julia sat, and crossing her arms upon her
breast. 'I have obeyed your commands.'
'You have done well, flower-girl,' answered the lady. 'Approach--you
may take a seat.'
One of the slaves placed a stool by Julia, and Nydia seated herself.
Julia looked hard at the Thessalian for some moments in rather an
embarrassed silence. She then motioned her attendants to withdraw, and
to close the door. When they were alone, she said, looking mechanically
from Nydia, and forgetful that she was with one who could not observe
her countenance:
'You serve the Neapolitan, Ione?'
'I am with her at present,' answered Nydia.
'Is she as handsome as they say?'
'I know not,' replied Nydia. 'How can I judge?'
'Ah! I should have remembered. But thou hast ears, if not eyes. Do thy
fellow-slaves tell thee she is handsome? Slaves talking with one
another forget to flatter even their mistress.'
'They tell me that she is beautiful.'
'Hem!--say they that she is tall?'
'Yes.'
'Why, so am I. Dark haired?'
'I have heard so.'
'So am I. And doth Glaucus visit her much?'
'Daily' returned Nydia, with a half-suppressed sigh.
'Daily, indeed! Does he find her handsome?'
'I should think so, since they are so soon to be wedded.'
'Wedded!' cried Julia, turning pale even through the false roses on her
cheek, and starting from her couch. Nydia did not, of course, perceive
the emotion she had caused. Julia remained a long time silent; but her
heaving breast and flashing eyes would have betrayed, to one who could
have seen, the wound her vanity had sustained.
'They tell me thou art a Thessalian,' said she, at last breaking
silence.
'And truly!'
'Thessaly is the land of magic and of witches, of talismans and of
love-philtres,' said Julia.
'It has ever been celebrated for its sorcerers,' returned Nydia,
timidly.
'Knowest thou, then, blind Thessalian, of any love-charms?'
'I!' said the flower-girl, coloring; 'I! how should I? No, assuredly
not!'
'The worse for thee; I could have given thee gold enough to have
purchased thy freedom hadst thou been more wise.'
'But what,' asked Nydia, 'can induce the beautiful and wealthy Julia to
ask that question of her servant? Has she not money, and youth, and
loveliness? Are they not love-charms enough to dispense with magic?'
'To all but one person in the world,' answered Julia, haughtily: 'but
methinks thy blindness is infectious; and... But no matter.'
'And that one person?' said Nydia, eagerly.
'Is not Glaucus,' replied Julia, with the customary deceit of her sex.
'Glaucus--no!'
Nydia drew her breath more freely, and after a short pause Julia
recommenced.
'But talking of Glaucus, and his attachment to this Neapolitan, reminded
me of the influence of love-spells, which, for ought I know or care, she
may have exercised upon him. Blind girl, I love, and--shall Julia live
to say it?--am loved not in return! This humbles--nay, not humbles--but
it stings my pride. I would see this ingrate at my feet--not in order
that I might raise, but that I might spurn him. When they told me thou
wert Thessalian, I imagined thy young mind might have learned the dark
secrets of thy clime.'
'Alas! no, murmured Nydia: 'would it had!'
'Thanks, at least, for that kindly wish,' said Julia, unconscious of
what was passing in the breast of the flower-girl.
'But tell me--thou hearest the gossip of slaves, always prone to these
dim beliefs; always ready to apply to sorcery for their own low
loves--hast thou ever heard of any Eastern magician in this city, who
possesses the art of which thou art ignorant? No vain chiromancer, no
juggler of the market-place, but some more potent and mighty magician of
India or of Egypt?'
'Of Egypt?--yes!' said Nydia, shuddering. 'What Pompeian has not heard
of Arbaces?'
'Arbaces! true,' replied Julia, grasping at the recollection. 'They
say he is a man above all the petty and false impostures of dull
pretenders--that he is versed in the learning of the stars, and the
secrets of the ancient Nox; why not in the mysteries of love?'
'If there be one magician living whose art is above that of others, it
is that dread man,' answered Nydia; and she felt her talisman while she
