The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-07-11

A TRAGEDY or 4 ROMAN ARENA.

BY p. =. wHGrR.


ruin him utterly But. while the IN.
frlngement Of discipline was irrepara.
BILE, and his mold on the men and his
officers appallingly weakened. yet
there was a chance Of regaining the
reality Of differentiation and power by
holding to the scmblance of both. Nh
TIMES, reyoltE and revolutions were
none 50 rare IN those days. and while
the SMALLEST beginning might lead 10
| the wolld's end, on the other hand the
frequency Of characterization made re.
accepted obedience less mockery
and more a valuable possession than
It could be under other circumstances.
The effort of the speaker to save his
official dignity he saw, and while he
perceived that it gave him the very
opportunity he wanted, he none the
less hated the speaker for the conde-
scension of IT,
Torn BIZ pride and anger, but in his
calmest voice, he ordered the legion to
reform. They obeyed, Taking his
place at the head Of the star, he spoke
few ringing words to the men. re-
minding them Of their oath and duty
OF utter obedience, and conciIiating
them with a formal disclaimer of any
possible injustice to the defenders OF
the empireI
Then he spoke inaudibly to the
quaester, and that official rode for
ward and proclaimed that the afore-
said centuripns of the Fourteenth were
to suffer a fine, and that the leaders
OF the disorder during the review were
to be punished with rations of barley
instead of wheat for a month. There
was no further breaking of ranks, for
the legion knew that their favorite
was as wholly in their power to de-
fend and protect while under arrest
among them as when free.
The Project, Tuning and vindictive.
reached his palace to don his toga of
state. In his anteroom he found an IN
washed, greasy fellow. with a fashion
OF lingering his battered felt hat in
the presence of great folks. In our
days such a one would be known as
a private defective. Romans called
such professional spies.
The Prefectl had many grievances
against the world. But chief among
these was one which he felt as a
household Shame and reproach. His
elder son was d sickly, dissipated, in
competent dandy To compensate
nm for this, he had younger boy
who was fine "a specimen of mental
and physical manhood as the empire
could show throughout its length and
breadth. But I'll bis youth, who should
have been, he fdlt, his pride and ally,
had rebelled aga inst his authority. He
had even openly quarrelled with him.
and,worst OF all, he had lefthis fathers
house, which was an unheard-of act
'for noble Roman The lad had dis
appeared utterly And could not be
found. He was supposed to have gone
into the East, where his mother had
kinsmen in high Command, against the
Parthians, and to be serving the state
there under a false name
All this had ang@red his father quite
enough. His ragel and chagrin redou-
bled when the spy asserted that he
he'd positive information that the boy
was in Treyes, and that he would be
able to find him in a day or two with
a little extra money to spend on the
search. The Project gave the money
with a bitter heart This news. if
true, BODIED disgrace as we'll as scandal
to his name. Ihe world looked even
more hateful to him. His hound
fawned on him as he left his dressing
room, and he hit the beast a blow with
his truncheon, which sent it yelling
across the pavement.
He mounted his litter at the door,
and again boots and gibes sounded
from the aleysways till the jeerers
fed before the rods Of his Nubians.
The solemn lictors formed before une
litter. But before the eight Bithy-
mans had set their necks under the
litter-poles, a foaming courier handed
him dispatches from the war-ofice.
He opened them as the litter was
borne onward, and the first that he
read was a curt reprimand on his
transitional policy and a brutally
commanding hint that he must cease
favoring the German chieftain whose
interests he had been furthering and
somehow transfer his influence to the
other side, as his f;vorite was an
enemy of valuable ana uncertain al
lies of Rome who dYelt across the
head-waters of the Danube.
This accumulation Of checks, re-
bluffs, and insults put his Excellency
into a humor which vas more than
spiteful and vindictive. He was ready