Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - Quo Vadis (1897 Curtin translation).djvu/49

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fact, Petronius kept his promise. Next day after the visit to Chrysothemis, he slept all day, it is true; but in the evening he gave command to bear him to the Palatine, and he had a confidential conversation with Nero; in consequence of this, on the third day a centurion, at the head of some tens of pretorian soldiers, appeared before the house of Plautius.

The period was uncertain and terrible. Messengers of this kind were more frequently heralds of death. So when the centurion struck the hammer at Aulus’s door, and when the guard of the atrium announced that there were soldiers in the anteroom, terror rose through the whole house. The family surrounded the old general at once, for no one doubted that danger hung over him above all. Pomponia, embracing his neck with her arms, pressed up to him with all het strength, and her blue lips moved quickly while uttering some quiet expression. Lygia, with a face pale as linen, kissed his hand; little Aulus clung to his toga. From the corridor, from chambers in the lower story intended for servant- women and attendants, from the bath, from the arches of lower dwellings, from the whole house, crowds of slaves began to hurry out, and the cries of “Heu! heu, me miserum!” were heard. The women broke into great weeping; some scratched their cheeks, or covered their heads with kerchiefs.

Only the old general himself, accustomed for years to look death straight in the eye, remained calm, and only his mild eagle face became as if chiselled from stone. After a while, when he had quieted the uproar, and commanded the attendants to disappear, he said,—

“Let me go, Pomponia. If my end has come, we shall have time to take farewell.”

And he pushed her aside gently; but she said,—

“God grant thy fate and mine to be one, O Aulus!”

Then, falling on her knees, she began to pray with that force which fear for some dear one alone can give.

Aulus passed out to the atrium, where the centurion was waiting for him. It was old Caius Hasta, his former subordinate and companion in British wars.