The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-04-05

to do this. But Caligula, with q sort of skip
ping run, still uttering his ordinations and
looking sideways into tho stall as he passed
had already begun to return, giving Sejanus's
heels rs wide an oning rs the place allowed
| A short, ferocious whinny, more like the cry
of some wild beast than the neigh of horses
was heard, and Sejanus dashed out his hind
| legs.
| Caligula would probably have crossed be.
yond range of harm, the line of this acknow-
| ledgment which the brute was making to him,
in return for his ejaculatory compliments, only
for the very precaution which Lygdus had
| taken, and which actually furnished the ami
NAL with q projectile, and transmitted to a
further distance. by mean of the door-leaf,
nearly the full force of the blow. As the door
was swim giug home, the powerful boots met it,
and, shivering it from top to bottom, dashed
it open again, and sent the outer edge of it and
a large detached splinter against the middle
of Caligula's forehead and face, from the hair
down along the whole line of the nose; for, as
we have remarked, his face happened to be
turned sideways to receive the blow just when
it was delivered. He fell insensible but hav-
ing been already in motion, the united effect
of the two forces was to cast him beyond the
reach Oh any IuTIueT uSaSc On tHc paIG VI luo
Sejan steed Lygdus Immediately lifted him
up, and he, with Herod Agrippa, carried Cali
gula into the open air. Paulus and Philip fol-
lowed /; but ascertainiug that the injury was
superficial, they returned to the stable, where
they were now left alone.
81 heard him tell you, my MASTER" said
Philip to Paulus, that he would fasten his
eyes upon you, when you mounted yonder
brute; now, he will not open those eyes for
week, and whatever happens to you, he is not
going to see it. He is not seriously hurt ; he'll
be as we'll as ever in ten days; but for the
present his beauty is spoilt, and he's as blind
rs the dead.
Paulus now in q low tone related to the
freedman, whose services would be necessary
in the matter, the visit of Charicles, and the
gift to him by that learned man of an unguent
which, il rubbed into the horses nostrils,
would render him sleepy and, therefore, quiet.
The old servant expressed great wonder and
admiration at such device, and Paulus felt
with his hand for the little porcelain pot
where he remembered to have placed il. Need
less to say, it was gone.
"Well," said the youth, after few questions
and answers had been exchanged, 81 must
even take my chance without it. Charcles,
hear, has just been summoned to Rome so
that cannot get any more of the compound.
Farewell I d ust now return to Crispus's inn.,,
CHAPTER III.
The day when the singular struggle to
occur, the expectation of which had excited
such curiosity, arose bright, breezeless and
sultry, and SO continued till long past noon;
but the sun was now sinking toward the Tyr
rhenian Sea, and cool, soft air had begun to
| blow as the hour approached when the nephew
of the triumvir was to mount the horse Sejanus,
| in the presence of such q multitude as the
fields of Formi@ had never before beheld,
whether in times of peace or times of war.
! At the distance of few miles on every side
the fair wales and slopes of Italy presente the
| appearance of deserted land over which no
sound was heard save the drowsy hum of
insects, the occasional sough of the rising
breeze in the tops of the woods, and, predomi-
nant over all, far and near, the piercing ring
of the cicala, with it's musical rise and fall
and its measured intervals. The fire of the
way-side forge lay under its ashes; all it's
anger taking rest, its hoarse roar asleep, till
| the breath of the bellows should once more
awaken il to resistance and torment it into
fury. All the labors of tillage were suspended;
the pillow wearied no team of oxen little girls
were watching the focks and herds. Their
fathers and mothers and brothers had all gone
| away since early morning, and would not
return till nightfall. lonely traveller from
the south, whose horse had cast shoe and
fallen lame, had no alternative but to take off
bride and housings, leave them under q tree
in charge of a little damsel FIVE or six years
old, turn his steed loose in soft field of clover
and continue his own journey on foot along
the silent highway, amid the silent land.
The seats of the temporary amphitheatre
were all filled; while within and beneath
them, standing, but standing on three severa
elevations contrived by means of planks, (th'
rearmost being the highest,) were six ranks o.
soldiers from the camp; the two inner rank,
consisting exclusively of Elius Seianus's pre-
torians. Immediately behind the centre o
the amphitheatre, where Augustus with hi