"CYPROS."

The other came by a Roman courier, who had landed an hour before from one of the swift-going triremes which had left Ravenna three days later than the pa.s.senger boat that had brought Marsyas' tidings.

The message also was written in a woman's hand and was no less enraging than the other:

"ROME, Kal. Jul. X, 790.

"This bulletin to tell thee, O my raging corybant, that thy cause hath ceased to prosper for the past three days. Mine own part was well performed as was thine other minion's, the bewitching Eutychus, but desperate work hath been done which bids fair to upset thee and me and preserve thine enemies.

"First and above all things, thou wilt remember that it was not in the pact that I should do more than lead the Herod out of the path of domestic uprightness and hold off my hands. This hath been already done, but the Parcae have grown weary of yielding thee favor, so read, here, following, disaster!

"Herod and his friend, the Essene Marsyas, who had become a dangerous Roman, filled with a Jew's cunning and the boldness of a wolf-suckled Romulus, till misfortune cut him down--this same fallen Herod and his friend have dropped out of sight, except as Death may bare its arm and reach down to cut off the head of the one and the income of the other.

This much in three days; but Rome hath taught herself to forget in a twinkling.

"But Caesar hath been for many days troubled of a dream. He telleth it thus, in no more words, no fewer: 'I cast dice with Three; three grisly hags, and I lose, though the tesserae were cogged!' His collection of soothsayers, the completest in the world, offered as many readings as there are numbers of them in the court. But Tiberius drew his lip and bared his teeth at them and called them pea-hens and c.o.c.kchafers. Even Thrasullus, he lampooned--Thrasullus, whom once he feared.

"Whereupon, the store of haruspices and augurs that feed upon superst.i.tious Rome were brought in--only to furnish mirth for the court and victims for Tiberius.

"Then Macro, rummaging about in musty and alien-peopled corners of the Imperial City, brought forth a wonder!

"It--and would I could call the s.e.x of the creature--came hither from the Orient. On that naked fact, Rome is left to build its biography, describe its looks and fathom its purpose. For it came before Caesar, and stood, a column in white--hooded, mummied, shawled, veiled in white! The court hath had spasms, since, fearing that it might have been a leper, but I say that there was no sick frame within those cerements! It had the stature and brawn of a man, but it managed its garments with the skill of a woman. It came, heard Caesar's dream, plucked off a husk of its wrappings, produced pigment and stylus and wrote thereon.

"Then it vanished quite away.

"A hundred courtiers rushed upon the wrapping that it left, and Caesar, pallid even under his wrinkles, screamed to them to pursue the Thing and fetch it back. But it was gone; vanished into thin air.

"Then Macro plucked up courage and, taking up the cloth, fetched it to Caesar to read.

"And Caesar, ashamed to show fear in the face of his court, s.n.a.t.c.hed the linen away and read--to himself!

"Now, whether the writing a.s.sured Tiberius that he was the comeliest monarch on the earth, or unfolded this scheme which is to follow, no man knows. But that which was written contained persuasion which worked on Caesar's mirth, for he smiled, as he hath not smiled since Seja.n.u.s tasted death.

"'Go forth and search out that soothsayer,' he commanded Macro, 'that I may give him whatsoever thing he would have!' But Macro hath not discovered the soothsayer unto this day.

"Meantime Caesar cleared his audience-chamber, but despatched a slave to bring me back to him.

"And when I came I was bidden in whispers to take Caligula to the deepest hidden villa on Capri, and entertain him until I was bidden to return.

"An hour later, I met my father, the simple Euodus, who told me after many charges to keep it secret, that he had been bidden to fetch at daybreak the coming morning, whichever prince, Caligula or Tiberius, who stood without the emperor's door to give him greeting.

"And yet another hour later, the little Tiberius' tutor was summoned to the imperial bed-chamber and came forth some minutes later with a face as blank as a Tuscan sherd.

"Now, though I saw not the cloth of revelation, nor heard the emperor's plans, I knew then, as I know now, that the mysterious soothsayer wrote that the dream meant that Caesar and the Destinies should choose the coming emperor, and bade him proceed by these means.

"And I, dutiful lady to an engaging prince, took Caligula, nothing loath, and went privately into the interior of the island to that small wasp-nest palace clinging to the side of the cruelest precipice in these bad hills of Capri.

"But in the night, while yet Caligula lingered at the board, because forsooth the slaves had carried me away first, there came the thunder of hoofs without, sentries and servants, asleep or drunken or afraid, fell right and left, flying feet rang upon the pavement, and before any could resist, Caligula was s.n.a.t.c.hed up, rushed out and away into the night--and not any one saw the face of his abductor.

"But when my father duly emerged from the emperor's bed-chamber there stood without, not little Tiberius, but Caligula, drenched as if he had been soused in a horse-trough to sober him, with immense dazed eyes and trembling like an aspen.

"When he was led within, Caesar started up and glared at him with baleful eyes.

"'I was sent by a Dream,' Caligula whispered. 'What wilt thou have of me?'

"And Tiberius, struggling with an apoplexy, fell back and made no instant answer. But presently he said,

"'Perpol! I cogged the dice for myself, but it was the Destinies who threw them! Oh, well, it was written, and had to come to pa.s.s!'

"Where was the little Tiberius? Being a.s.sured that naught should prevent his election, he lingered for his breakfast. O fatal appet.i.te of l.u.s.ty youth! He lost an empire by it. For Caesar, still afraid of the mysterious Thing from the Orient, ratified the choke of the Destinies.

"But Caligula hath discovered the ident.i.ty of the Dream that fetched him; which being very substantial and human stands in high favor with the prince imperial. And so, through him as well as through the Herod's own claim on Caligula, Agrippa's hopes are brighter.

"Wherefore thy campaign against the obstacle between thee and the maker of that twenty-year old wound in thy heart must be cautious, no longer overt, and above all things not of such nature as may recoil upon thee.

Hear for once a woman's reason. If thou accomplish the Herod's end, remember that Caligula succeeds Tiberius and will not fail to visit vengeance on those who ruined his friend!

"Be wise, be covert, be wary! If thou hast made mistakes, correct them! Make no new enemies, and turn old ones into friends. I will help thee, here, in Rome, except to the point of exposing myself.

"If thou wilt work, be rapid, for Caesar declines. We go hence as soon as he may be removed, to Misenum. But it is only animal flight from death; he seems to turn like a wounded jackal and snap at his heels.

Matters of state, beyond the satisfying of a mult.i.tude of grudges, are entirely given up to Macro. But daily the dullness on his brain shifts a little, so that the light of recollection penetrates to it, and he remembers forgotten animosities. Herein lies thy hope. I will not suggest Agrippa to him; Caligula would cut my throat before daybreak, for the eaves-dropping Macro would know what I did.

"Calculate for thyself; get others to do thy work and to shoulder the peril.

"Meanwhile Venus prosper thee, and may the Parcae repent.

"JUNIA."

"Oh, well I know that mummied mystery, that Dream, that unseen abductor!" Flaccus raged, gnawing his nails. "It is that villain Essene to whom I owe torture and death! He, to direct the imperial succession!"

Then he fell to considering his obstacles. Caligula as prince imperial and friend to the Herod would permit no persecution of the Jews. That method of coercing the alabarch had to be abandoned. Next, he re-read the single line from Cypros. She had not gone to Rome; she had hidden herself. That was what the line meant. They had told her, so she hated him. But he did not wince so much under her hate, as he raged over his bafflement.

Then he thought of Cla.s.sicus, and with the thought his hope revived.

Finally he sprang up, and, summoning slaves, scattered them broadcast over Alexandria in search of the philosopher.

He would go to Rome! He would bear to Caesar an appeal from Flaccus to command the alabarch to produce Cypros, Herod Agrippa's wife, who had been abducted.

The plan unfolded itself so readily and so helpfully, that the proconsul's face grew radiant with antic.i.p.ated triumph.

In an hour, a slave returned with Justin Cla.s.sicus.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE STRANGE WOMAN