Neæra: A Tale of Ancient Rome

The following day had been fixed by Tiberius for the formal betrothal of his daughter‐in‐law Livia to the Prefect; and with the intention of dining and passing the night at the...

The Suburan had the letter written and completed to his mind, and the next step was, of course, to have it delivered. For safety’s sake this was an arrangement to be carried out...

Things were changed in the small household of Masthlion. The same daily routine proceeded, but it was carried on under the depressing shadow of a cloud which darkened the brow o...

Dusk had already fallen on island and sea, when Martialis returned to his quarters at the villa Jovis. He had departed in brilliant spirits, and with the brightest anticipations...

From the centre of his atrium Afer watched his well‐furnished client retreat down the passage or lobby which led to the street, and marked, with a sour smile, the hasty stride,...

Anno Domini Twenty‐six, Tiberius Caesar, the ruler of the world, left Rome, with a small retinue, never to return. In the following year he arrived at the island of Capreae, and...

Martialis, who, as the reader may have perceived, was returning from Rome, made his last change of horses in the town, an operation which his feverish haste contracted to the li...

Though not included in the more famous cluster of the seven hills across the river, which formed the heart of Rome, the Janiculum, with its long straight ridge running nearly no...

Pleasantly situated on the commanding height of the Janiculum was the villa of Fabricius. More delightful in the enjoyment of its cool breezes during the summer heats, yet in wi...

Afer had gauged with tolerable accuracy the depth to which he had stirred the heart of Plautia, in spite of her efforts to counterfeit indifference. Indeed, with the actual know...

Though Quintus Fabricius had long since withdrawn from public life, and spent his days mainly in the library of his mansion, he was not altogether so secluded in his habits, as...

Not far from the shadow of the Capitoline, and nigh the Forum of Caesar, Plautia dwelt in a small, but handsome mansion. Her wealth, although not as great as that squandered by...

Plautia walked homeward with a sweeping haughty step, leaving her head and face exposed to the dim rays of the moon as if contemptuously careless of risk. When she reached the m...

The entrance of one of the household domestics, bringing a physician, roused the young man from the first stupor of his shocked feelings. He rose to his feet and assumed a stoic...

The fitful movements on the floor of the room overhead ceased in the course of a few minutes, and Masthlion knew that his wife was in bed. During the last hour his nervous agita...

When the Centurion Martialis came to the rescue of the endangered palanquin of Plautia, he was leisurely pursuing his way toward the Janiculum, to redeem his promise given to Fa...

Martialis awoke, or rather came gradually to consciousness, next morning, with a dull torpor weighing on him like lead, and a brain confused and racking with pain. Zeno’s sleepi...

Afer’s idea with regard to the movements of the jackal, as he termed him, was shrewdly correct, for Tigellinus bent his steps without further delay towards the villa of Neptune....

Her mood was one of profound abstraction, and the fixed gaze of her eyes seemed to be unconscious of the endless beauties of the scene which lay within the scan of that giddy he...

A few weeks subsequent to the last related circumstances of our story, Domitius Afer, with nothing better to occupy his time, on a certain afternoon, indulged an inclination for...

Suspicion was a weed which clothed the face of the island of Capreae. It penetrated every nook of hill, cavern, or grove. The very air was charged with its essence, as it is loa...

Her litter was set down at a side door of the palace, and Zeno, the steward, stood by to hand her out. His proffered courtesy was loftily ignored, so he turned on his heel and l...

From the house of Apicius and the spectacle of his sudden and awful end Sejanus had first gone to the modest abode of Domitius Afer. There they remained closeted by themselves,...

Shortly before noon on the same morning Domitius Afer climbed the steep path which led to the Prefect’s house. On arriving at the villa he found that Sejanus had gone to the Emp...

He had inherited his father’s command; but, unlike his father, his absorbing lust of power scorned to be bounded by his office. His were the persuasions, by which the Emperor ha...

It would have greatly relieved the distracted mind of Martialis, had he known that he occupied the Emperor’s thoughts to a far greater degree than his beloved Neæra. The brillia...

The blow, with which Domitius Afer sought to rid himself of his troublesome client, nigh the huge moonlit pile of the Circus Maximus, on the night of the attempted assassination...

No tidings of Masthlion having been received for three days, his brother‐ in‐law, Cestus, had given himself up to the gloomiest forebodings. At the end of the second day he had...

Away from his haunts in the Imperial city, where his wits were kept ever bright and sharp by the friction of crowded humanity, the Suburan had fallen under the lethargic influen...

When the sun flashed upon the white walls of the palace next morning, Masthlion was still upon his pallet bed, much in the same posture as when Zeno had left him. Indeed, the cr...

The short sea‐trip from Rome, and the few days’ subsequent sauntering excursion, from the opposite side of the bay, had served to restore the face and frame of Cestus to a neare...

Escaping from the throng into privacy with his recovered child, Fabricius poured out upon her all the endearments of a nature transported with joy and thankfulness. His fervent...

We noticed Martialis in the last chapter issuing from the villa Jovis. The sparkle in his eye and the half smile on his lips, as he hummed an air during his rapid walk down to t...

Baffled and chafing, Plautia stretched herself on the couch again, and, this time, fell into a profound slumber, whilst her slave nodded and dozed, in company, upon a cushion at...

Whilst this conversation, which we have related, was passing between Afer and his client, a small coasting vessel was ascending the river Tiber, making slow headway against the...

When they were called in to supper the two women were awaiting them, bright‐eyed and radiant, at a modest, but well‐filled table. Their new‐ found cheerfulness, however, was doo...

When the craft was brought up at the landing‐place on the mainland, Plautus, followed by five of his crew, sprang ashore and with all haste made toward the posting‐house.

Cestus, straining every nerve as he fled from the scene of his failure, expected each moment to feel the fingers of his rapidly gaining pursuer hooked into his collar. Doubling...

Fabricius got into his curtained litter, and the youth, who was the bearer of the summons, led the way across the Tiber to a tavern under Mount Aventine, in the heart of the wha...

Whatsoever change may have been wrought in the rugged isle of Capreae by the neglect, or the hand, of man, during the long ages since the days of Imperial fame and favour, we ca...