The Emperor | Page 4

the sea-shore, and sheltered by crumbling cliffs
from the east wind, stood a number of tents. Between them fires were
burning, round which were gathered groups of Roman soldiers and

imperial servants. Half-naked boys, the children of the fishermen and
camel-drivers who dwelt in this wilderness, were running busily hither
and thither, feeding the flames with dry stems of sea-grass and dead
desert-shrubs; but though the blaze flew high, the smoke did not rise;
but driven here and there by the squalls of wind, swirled about close to
the ground in little clouds, like a flock of scattered sheep. It seemed as
though it feared to rise in the grey, damp, uninviting atmosphere. The
largest of the tents, in front of which Roman sentinels paced up and
down, two and two, on guard, was wide open on the side towards the
sea. The slaves who came out of the broad door-way with trays on their
cropped heads-loaded with gold and silver vessels, plates, wine-jars,
goblets, and the remains of a meal had to hold them tightly with both
hands that they might not be blown over.
The inside of the tent was absolutely unadorned. The Emperor lay on a
couch near the right wall, which was blown in and bulged by the wind;
his bloodless lips were tightly set, his arms crossed over his breast, and
his eyes half closed. But he was not asleep, for he often opened his
mouth and smacked his lips, as if tasting the flavor of some viand.
From time to time he raised his eyelids--long, finely wrinkled, and
blue-veined--turning his eyes up to heaven or rolling them to one side
and then downwards towards the middle of the tent. There, on the skin
of a huge bear trimmed with blue cloth, lay Hadrian's favorite Antinous.
His beautiful head rested on that of the beast, which had been slain by
his sovereign, and its skull and skin skilfully preserved, his right leg,
supported on his left knee, he flourished freely in the air, and his hands
were caressing the Emperor's bloodhound, which had laid its
sage-looking head on the boy's broad, bare breast, and now and then
tried to lick his soft lips to show its affection. But this the youth would
not allow; he playfully held the beast's muzzle close with his hands or
wrapped its head in the end of his mantle, which had slipped back from
his shoulders.
The dog seemed to enjoy the game, but once when Antinous had drawn
the cloak more tightly round its head and it strove in vain to be free
from the cloth that impeded its breathing, it set up a loud howl, and this
doleful cry made the Emperor change his attitude and cast a glance of

displeasure at the boy lying on the bear-skin, but only a glance, not a
word of blame. And soon the expression, even of his eyes, changed,
and he fixed them on the lads's figure with a gaze of loving
contemplation, as though it were some noble work of art that he could
never tire of admiring. And truly the Immortals had moulded this child
of man to such a type; every muscle of that throat, that chest, those
arms and legs was a marvel of softness and of power; no human
countenance could be more regularly chiselled. Antinous observing that
his master's attention had been attracted to his play with the dog, let the
animal go and turned his large, but not very brilliant, eyes on the
Emperor.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hadrian kindly.
"Nothing," said the boy.
"No one can do nothing. Even if we fancy we have succeeded in doing
nothing we still continue to think that we are unoccupied, and to think
is a good deal."
"But I cannot even think."
"Every one can think; besides you were not doing nothing, for you
were playing."
"Yes, with the dog." With these words Antinous stretched out his legs
on the ground, pushed away the dog, and raised his curly head on both
hands.
"Are you tired?" asked the Emperor.
"Yes."
"We both kept watch for an equal portion of the night, and I, who am
so much older, feel quite wide awake."
"It was only yesterday that you were saying that old soldiers were the
best for night-watches."

The Emperor nodded, and then said:
"At your age while we are awake we live three times as fast as at mine,
and so we need to sleep twice as long. You have every right to be tired.
To be sure it was not till three hours after midnight that we climbed the
mountain, and how often a supper party is not over before that."
"It was very cold and uncomfortable up there."
"Not till after the sun had