honour that cursed arena--No, no!'
'Taste the Falernian--your grief distracts you. By the gods it does--a
piece of that cheesecake.'
It was at this auspicious moment that Sosia was admitted to the presence
of the disconsolate carouser.
'Ho--what art thou?'
'Merely a messenger to Sallust. I give him this billet from a young
female. There is no answer that I know of. May I withdraw?'
Thus said the discreet Sosia, keeping his face muffled in his cloak, and
speaking with a feigned voice, so that he might not hereafter be
recognized.
'By the gods--a pimp! Unfeeling wretch!--do you not see my sorrows?
Go! and the curses of Pandarus with you!'
Sosia lost not a moment in retiring.
'Will you read the letter, Sallust?' said the freedman.
'Letter!--which letter?' said the epicure, reeling, for he began to see
double. 'A curse on these wenches, say I! Am I a man to think
of--(hiccup)--pleasure, when--when--my friend is going to be eat up?'
'Eat another tartlet.'
'No, no! My grief chokes me!'
'Take him to bed said the freedman; and, Sallust's head now declining
fairly on his breast, they bore him off to his cubiculum, still
muttering lamentations for Glaucus, and imprecations on the unfeeling
overtures of ladies of pleasure.
Meanwhile Sosia strode indignantly homeward. 'Pimp, indeed!' quoth he
to himself. 'Pimp! a scurvy-tongued fellow that Sallust! Had I been
called knave, or thief. I could have forgiven it; but pimp! Faugh!
There is something in the word which the toughest stomach in the world
would rise against. A knave is a knave for his own pleasure, and a
thief a thief for his own profit; and there is something honorable and
philosophical in being a rascal for one's own sake: that is doing things
upon principle--upon a grand scale. But a pimp is a thing that defiles
itself for another--a pipkin that is put on the fire for another man's
pottage! a napkin, that every guest wipes his hands upon! and the
scullion says, "by your leave" too. A pimp! I would rather he had called
me parricide! But the man was drunk, and did not know what he said;
and, besides, I disguised myself. Had he seen it had been Sosia who
addressed him, it would have been "honest Sosia!" and, "worthy man!" I
warrant. Nevertheless, the trinkets have been won easily--that's some
comfort! and, O goddess Feronia! I shall be a freedman soon! and then I
should like to see who'll call me pimp!--unless, indeed, he pay me
pretty handsomely for it!'
While Sosia was soliloquising in this high-minded and generous vein, his
path lay along a narrow lane that led towards the amphitheatre and its
adjacent palaces. Suddenly, as he turned a sharp corner he found
himself in the midst of a considerable crowd. Men, women, and children,
all were hurrying or laughing, talking, gesticulating; and, ere he was
aware of it, the worthy Sosia was borne away with the noisy stream.
'What now?' he asked of his nearest neighbor, a young artificer; 'what
now? Where are all these good folks thronging?' Does any rich patron
give away alms or viands to-night?'
'Not so, man--better still,' replied the artificer; 'the noble
Pansa--the people's friend--has granted the public leave to see the
beasts in their vivaria. By Hercules! they will not be seen so safely
by some persons to-morrow.'
'Tis a pretty sight,' said the slave, yielding to the throng that
impelled him onward; 'and since I may not go to the sports to-morrow, I
may as well take a peep at the beasts to-night.'
'You will do well,' returned his new acquaintance, 'a lion and a tiger
are not to be seen at Pompeii every day.'
The crowd had now entered a broken and wide space of ground, on which,
as it was only lighted scantily and from a distance, the press became
dangerous to those whose limbs and shoulders were not fitted for a mob.
Nevertheless, the women especially--many of them with children in their
arms, or even at the breast--were the most resolute in forcing their
way; and their shrill exclamations of complaint or objurgation were
heard loud above the more jovial and masculine voices. Yet, amidst them
was a young and girlish voice, that appeared to come from one too happy
in her excitement to be alive to the inconvenience of the crowd.
'Aha!' cried the young woman, to some of her companions, 'I always told
you so; I always said we should have a man for the lion; and now we have
one for the tiger too! I wish tomorrow were come!'
Ho, ho! for the merry, merry show,
With a forest of faces in every row!
Lo! the swordsmen, bold as the son of Alcmaena,
Sweep, side by side, o'er the hushed arena.
Talk while you may, you will hold your breath
When they meet in the grasp of the glowing death!
Tramp! tramp! how gaily they go!
Ho! ho! for the merry, merry show!
'A jolly girl!' said Sosia.
'Yes,' replied the young artificer, a curly-headed, handsome youth.
'Yes,' replied he, enviously; 'the women love a gladiator. If I had
been a slave, I would have soon found my schoolmaster in the lanista!'
'Would you, indeed?' said Sosia, with a sneer. 'People's notions
differ!'
The crowd had now arrived at the place of destination; but as the cell
in which the wild beasts were confined was extremely small and narrow,
tenfold more vehement than it hitherto had been was the rush of the
aspirants to obtain admittance. Two of the officers of the
amphitheatre, placed at the entrance, very wisely mitigated the evil by
dispensing to the foremost only a limited number of tickets at a time,
and admitting no new visitors till their predecessors had sated their
curiosity. Sosia, who was a tolerably stout fellow and not troubled
with any remarkable scruples of diffidence or good breeding, contrived
to be among the first of the initiated.
Separated from his companion the artificer, Sosia found himself in a
narrow cell of oppressive heat and atmosphere, and lighted by several
rank and flaring torches.
The animals, usually kept in different vivaria, or dens, were now, for
the greater entertainment of the visitors, placed in one, but equally
indeed divided from each other by strong cages protected by iron bars.
There they were, the fell and grim wanderers of the desert, who have now
become almost the principal agents of this story. The lion, who, as
being the more gentle by nature than his fellow-beast, had been more
incited to ferocity by hunger, stalked restlessly and fiercely to and
fro his narrow confines: his eyes were lurid with rage and famine: and
as, every now and then, he paused and glared around, the spectators
fearfully pressed backward, and drew their breath more quickly. But the
tiger lay quiet and extended at full length in his cage, and only by an
occasional play of his tail, or a long impatient yawn, testified any
emotion at his confinement, or at the crowd which honored him with their
presence.
'I have seen no fiercer beast than yon lion even in the amphitheatre of
Rome,' said a gigantic and sinewy fellow who stood at the right hand of
Sosia.
'I feel humbled when I look at his limbs,' replied, at the left of
Sosia, a slighter and younger figure, with his arms folded on his
breast.
The slave looked first at one, and then at the other. 'Virtus in
medio!--virtue is ever in the middle!' muttered he to himself; 'a goodly
neighborhood for thee, Sosia--a gladiator on each side!'
'That is well said, Lydon,' returned the huger gladiator; 'I feel the
same.'
'And to think,' observed Lydon, in a tone of deep feeling, to think that
the noble Greek, he whom we saw but a day or two since before us, so
full of youth, and health, and joyousness, is to feast yon monster!'
'Why not?' growled Niger, savagely: 'many an honest gladiator has been
compelled to a like combat by the emperor--why not a wealthy murderer by
the law?'
Lydon sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and remained silent. Meanwhile the
common gazers listened with staring eyes and lips apart: the gladiators
were objects of interest as well as the beasts--they were animals of the
same species; so the crowd glanced from one to the other--the men and
the brutes--whispering their comments and anticipating the morrow.
'Well!' said Lydon, turning away, 'I thank the gods that it is not the
lion or the tiger I am to contend with; even you, Niger, are a gentler
combatant than they.'
'But equally dangerous,' said the gladiator, with a fierce laugh; and
the bystanders, admiring his vast limbs and ferocious countenance,
laughed too.
'That as it may be,' answered Lydon, carelessly, as he pressed through
the throng and quitted the den.
'I may as well take advantage of his shoulders,' thought the prudent
Sosia, hastening to follow him: 'the crowd always give way to a
gladiator, so I will keep close behind, and come in for a share of his
consequence.'
The son of Medon strode quickly through the mob, many of whom recognized
his features and profession.
'That is young Lydon, a brave fellow: he fights to-morrow,' said one.
'Ah! I have a bet on him,' said another; 'see how firmly he walks!'
'Good luck to thee, Lydon!' said a third.
'Lydon, you have my wishes,' half whispered a fourth, smiling (a comely
woman of the middle class)--'and if you win, why, you may hear more of
me.'
'A handsome man, by Venus!' cried a fifth, who was a girl scarce in her
teens. 'Thank you,' returned Sosia, gravely taking the compliment to
himself.
However strong the purer motives of Lydon, and certain though it be that
he would never have entered so bloody a calling but from the hope of
obtaining his father's freedom, he was not altogether unmoved by the
notice he excited. He forgot that the voices now raised in commendation
might, on the morrow, shout over his death-pangs. By nature fierce and
reckless, as well as generous and warm-hearted, he was already imbued
with the pride of a profession that he fancied he disdained, and
affected by the influence of a companionship that in reality he loathed.
He saw himself now a man of importance; his step grew yet lighter, and
his mien more elate.
'Niger,' said he, turning suddenly, as he had now threaded the crowd;
'we have often quarrelled; we are not matched against each other, but
one of us, at least, may reasonably expect to fall--give us thy hand.'
'Most readily,' said Sosia, extending his palm.
'Ha! what fool is this? Why, I thought Niger was at my heels!'
'I forgive the mistake,' replied Sosia, condescendingly: 'don't mention
it; the error was easy--I and Niger are somewhat of the same build.'
'Ha! ha! that is excellent! Niger would have slit thy throat had he
heard thee!'
'You gentlemen of the arena have a most disagreeable mode of talking,'
said Sosia; 'let us change the conversation.'
'Vah! vah!' said Lydon, impatiently; 'I am in no humor to converse with
thee!'
'Why, truly,' returned the slave, 'you must have serious thoughts enough
to occupy your mind: to-morrow is, I think, your first essay in the
arena. Well, I am sure you will die bravely!'
'May thy words fall on thine own head!' said Lydon, superstitiously, for
he by no means liked the blessing of Sosia. 'Die! No--I trust my hour
is not yet come.'
'He who plays at dice with death must expect the dog's throw,' replied
Sosia, maliciously. 'But you are a strong fellow, and I wish you all
imaginable luck; and so, vale!'
With that the slave turned on his heel, and took his way homeward.
'I trust the rogue's words are not ominous,' said Lydon, musingly. 'In
my zeal for my father's liberty, and my confidence in my own thews and
sinews, I have not contemplated the possibility of death. My poor
father! I am thy only son!--if I were to fall...'
As the thought crossed him, the gladiator strode on with a more rapid
and restless pace, when suddenly, in an opposite street, he beheld the
very object of his thoughts. Leaning on his stick, his form bent by
care and age, his eyes downcast, and his steps trembling, the
grey-haired Medon slowly approached towards the gladiator. Lydon paused
a moment: he divined at once the cause that brought forth the old man at
that late hour.
'Be sure, it is I whom he seeks,' thought he; 'he is horror struck at
the condemnation of Olinthus--he more than ever esteems the arena
criminal and hateful--he comes again to dissuade me from the contest. I
must shun him--I cannot brook his prayers--his tears.'
These thoughts, so long to recite, flashed across the young man like
lightning. He turned abruptly and fled swiftly in an opposite
direction. He paused not till, almost spent and breathless, he found
himself on the summit of a small acclivity which overlooked the most gay
and splendid part of that miniature city; and as there he paused, and
gazed along the tranquil streets glittering in the rays of the moon
(which had just arisen, and brought partially and picturesquely into
light the crowd around the amphitheatre at a distance, murmuring, and
swaying to and fro), the influence of the scene affected him, rude and
unimaginative though his nature. He sat himself down to rest upon the
steps of a deserted portico, and felt the calm of the hour quiet and
restore him. Opposite and near at hand, the lights gleamed from a
palace in which the master now held his revels. The doors were open for
