Quo Vadis | Page 5

I knew myself with whom? But I do not know to a certainty her
name even,--Lygia or Callina? They call her Lygia in the house, for she
comes of the Lygian nation; but she has her own barbarian name,
Callina. It is a wonderful house,--that of those Plautiuses. There are
many people in it; but it is quiet there as in the groves of Subiacum. For
a number of days I did not know that a divinity dwelt in the house.
Once about daybreak I saw her bathing in the garden fountain; and I
swear to thee by that foam from which Aphrodite rose, that the rays of
the dawn passed right through her body. I thought that when the sun
rose she would vanish before me in the light, as the twilight of morning
does. Since then, I have seen her twice; and since then, too, I know not
what rest is, I know not what other desires are, I have no wish to know
what the city can give me. I want neither women, nor gold, nor
Corinthian bronze, nor amber, nor pearls, nor wine, nor feasts; I want
only Lygia. I am yearning for her, in sincerity I tell thee, Petronius, as
that Dream who is imaged on the Mosaic of thy tepidarium yearned for
Paisythea,--whole days and night do I yearn."
"If she is a slave, then purchase her."
"She is not a slave."
"What is she? A freed woman of Plautius?"
"Never having been a slave, she could not be a freed woman."
"Who is she?"
"I know not,--a king's daughter, or something of that sort."
"Thou dost rouse my curiosity, Vinicius."
"But if thou wish to listen, I will satisfy thy curiosity straightway. Her

story is not a long one. Thou art acquainted, perhaps personally, with
Vannius, king of the Suevi, who, expelled from his country, spent a
long time here in Rome, and became even famous for his skilful play
with dice, and his good driving of chariots. Drusus put him on the
throne again. Vannius, who was really a strong man, ruled well at first,
and warred with success; afterward, however, he began to skin not only
his neighbors, but his own Suevi, too much. Thereupon Vangio and
Sido, two sister's sons of his, and the sons of Vibilius, king of the
Hermunduri, determined to force him to Rome again--to try his luck
there at dice."
"I remember; that is of recent Claudian times."
"Yes! War broke out. Vannius summoned to his aid the Yazygi; his
dear nephews called in the Lygians, who, hearing of the riches of
Vannius, and enticed by the hope of booty, came in such numbers that
Cæsar himself, Claudius, began to fear for the safety of the boundary.
Claudius did not wish to interfere in a war among barbarians, but he
wrote to Atelius Hister, who commanded the legions of the Danube, to
turn a watchful eye on the course of the war, and not permit them to
disturb our peace. Hister required, then, of the Lygians a promise not to
cross the boundary; to this they not only agreed, but gave hostages,
among whom were the wife and daughter of their leader. It is known to
thee that barbarians take their wives and children to war with them. My
Lygia is the daughter of that leader."
"Whence dost thou know all this?"
"Aulus Plautius told it himself. The Lygians did not cross the boundary,
indeed; but barbarians come and go like a tempest. So did the Lygians
vanish with their wild-ox horns on their heads. They killed Vannius's
Suevi and Yazygi; but their own king fell. They disappeared with their
booty then, and the hostages remained in Hister's hands. The mother
died soon after, and Hister, not knowing what to do with the daughter,
sent her to Pomponius, the governor of all Germany. He, at the close of
the war with the Catti, returned to Rome, where Claudius, as is known
to thee, permitted him to have a triumph. The maiden on that occasion
walked after the car of the conqueror; but, at the end of the

solemnity,--since hostages cannot be considered captives, and since
Pomponius did not know what to do with her definitely--he gave her to
his sister Pomponia Græcina, the wife of Plautius. In that house where
all--beginning with the masters and ending with the poultry in the
hen-house--are virtuous, that maiden grew up as virtuous, alas! as
Græcina herself, and so beautiful that even Poppæa, if near her, would
seem like an autumn fig near an apple of the Hesperides."
"And what?"
"And I repeat to thee that from the moment when I saw how the
sun-rays at that fountain passed through her body, I fell in love to
distraction."
"She is as transparent