"A troop of pipe-players to Minerva on the Ides of June, if we win!"
"And my household to Mars, if we have lost!"
The speakers were hurrying along the street that leads down from the
Palatine Hill toward the Forum, and both were young. Their high shoes
fastened with quadruple thongs and adorned with small silver crescents
proclaimed their patrician rank.
"Why do you vow as if the gods had already passed judgment, Lucius?"
"Because, my Caius, I am very sure that a battle has been fought. What
else do these rumours mean that are flying through the city? rumours
that none can trace to a source. It is only a few minutes, since my
freedman, Atius, told me how the slaves report that our neighbour
Marcus Sabrius rode in last night through the Ratumenian Gate; and when
I sent to his house to inquire, the doorkeeper feigned ignorance. That
is only one of a hundred tales. Note the crowd thickening around us as
we approach the Forum, and how all are pressing in the same direction.
Study their faces, and doubt what I say if you can."
"But is it victory or defeat?"
"Answer me your own question, Caius. Is 'victory' or 'defeat' the word
that men do not dare to utter?"
"And my household to Mars, if we have lost!"
The speakers were hurrying along the street that leads down from the
Palatine Hill toward the Forum, and both were young. Their high shoes
fastened with quadruple thongs and adorned with small silver crescents
proclaimed their patrician rank.
"Why do you vow as if the gods had already passed judgment, Lucius?"
"Because, my Caius, I am very sure that a battle has been fought. What
else do these rumours mean that are flying through the city? rumours
that none can trace to a source. It is only a few minutes, since my
freedman, Atius, told me how the slaves report that our neighbour
Marcus Sabrius rode in last night through the Ratumenian Gate; and when
I sent to his house to inquire, the doorkeeper feigned ignorance. That
is only one of a hundred tales. Note the crowd thickening around us as
we approach the Forum, and how all are pressing in the same direction.
Study their faces, and doubt what I say if you can."
"But is it victory or defeat?"
"Answer me your own question, Caius. Is 'victory' or 'defeat' the word
that men do not dare to utter?"
