Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

exerted themselves in training their client as a first rate soldier.
He performed his military exercises every day in the field of
Mars, full of burning desire to face the enemy, and to tread in
the renowned footsteps of the great Miltiades.
CHAPTER V.
TUB HAIR BODKIN.
SOME months had now passed, since Lydia had entered Me-
tella's service as a poor slave. Slavery was to her as a wilder-
ness, that stretched its parched surface under the scorching rays
of the sun, far beyond where the eye can reach. But as once in
olden times, the pious Ruth wandered alone over the stubble
fields of Booz, gleaning after the harvest, so Lydia wanders
over her wilderness, carefully endeavoring to garner up the
fruits of good works. The character of Metella was just one
that gave her sufficient opportunity to practice self-denial. For
those who appear so amiable and courteous to guests and friends,
are often severe and cruel tyrants towards their dependents. We
shall soon be acquainted with Metella's private character.
Lucius had just been called to the field of Mars, to take part
in a greater display than usual of military tactics. In passing by
his mother he greets her affectionately, and begs of her to witness
the field exercises from a neighboring building. He had scarcely
left the house, when an invitation arrived from the Proconsul,
inviting Metella to Join some guests who were to meet the generals
at his house, after the exercises of the day.
Metella called a domestic, and as no one heard her, she
whistled * for a slave outside to enter. She then gave orders
to have fitting attire prepared for her, and to arrange her best
jewels: for the Proconsul according to Lucian, was a man that
paid great attention to exterior ornaments.
With flying steps, Arpis, the head mistress of Metella's
personal attendants, hastened to her lady's dressing-room,
and brought forth a white tunic of the finest Milesian wool.'
The first had short sleeves, which merely covered the upper
part of the arm, and were slit up the middle and fastened with
golden clasps, according to the old Doric style. The neck and
skirt of the shorter tunic were trimmed with a stripe of double
dyed Sidonian purple; a distinction allowed only to matrons of
noble birth. The part of the under tunic which appeared below
the knee, fell to the ground in ample folds, and was terminated
by a rich fringe. Arpis was at great pains in providing
her lady's dress; and with wonderful dexterity she raised it on
ft stand and fastening the white girdle round the waist, saw that
the tunic hung over the cincture in graceful folds.
A second slave exerted herself in arranging the head dress,
and fastening the diadem, under which the hair was to fall in
light ringlets on the temples. A magnificent bodkin of chased
gold, surmounted with a figure of Iris in carved ivory, completed
the head-dress; but it was not added till the toilet was
completed. The bodkin was a much admired piece of workman-
ship of an ancient sculptor. The figure measured four inches,
and was finished in all its parts with the choicest and most ela-
borate carving; it could be screwed off, and roplaced by another,
according to fancy. With a reverential awe she placed the precious
bodkin on the toilet table. She had good reason for doing
it with all possible care; for on one of the gold chains called
Cathedra, which ran round the upper part of the dressing chair,
was a whip of plaited wire, which, when occasion required was
quickly brought into action. It was just as though Juvenal had
Metella in his eye when he wrote on the cruelty of Matrons to
their slaves.
"Poor Psecas decks her hcnd.t herself in (ears
And her own locks all dangling round IHT cars
Her neck uncovered und llcr shoulder* bare
Not saved from vengeance liy her utmost, cure.
Why Is thin lock,' the mistress storms, 'too hirii ~ ?'
Poor pirl she rues the crime : one hair's awry
What's Psecas' fault ? is she to feel vour blow's
If 'tis your will to quarrel with your nose ?"
Juvenal, Sat. vi.
A cnetom in those days. Origen greatly disapproved of it for Christians
* Her miilrem' R. P.
LTDIA. n
Lydia brought the shoes, and then arranged some of the folds
of her mistress' dress. Metella, according to the fashion of the
day, used paints, and ordered :in oval mirror to be placed liefore
her, so that she might improve and soften off witli a hair
pencil, what her maid had begun in rougeing as well as in tin:
shading of her eyebrows. It suddenly occurred to her that she
had a still deeper black which could be used with a greater ef-
fect; and as there was not much time to be lost, she called Lydia
hastily to bring it. The order was scarcely given, when the unhappy
slave, in turning suddenly round to fulfill the command,
knocked against the toilet table, and the bodkin rolled, fell and
lay on the floor in pieces. The unfortunate slave had no time
to litter a word, before her mistress, inflamed with anger, springs
from her chair, and in a state of frenzy, pounced, like a beast of
prey, on the terrified Lydia, and stuck her long pointed nails into
her arm. She then with abusive words seized the whip, and
swinging the metal knots in the air to give her blows greater
force, struck the poor slave lying at her feet most unmercifully,
till she was covered with blood. Her groans excited no pity,
and she was carried insensible from the apartment. The lady
continued to storm, and even the slaves who were present could
not find sufficient words to express the full extent of the offence.
But to appease their infuriated mistress, they out-vied each other
hi bestowing a volume of praises on the magnificence of her
attire, and the gracefulness of her slender form. Such flattery
never failed to pacify her.
The toilet finished nothing more remained to be done but to
throw around her the light white mantle, which hung hi graceful
folds over her left arm, and reached the ground.
All this time, six powerful Syrian slaves were waiting for her
in the vestibule, with a long and easy sedan.
The ancients found it more agreeable to have themselves car-
ried in a litter on men's shoulders, than to be drawn by horses
through clouds of dust. In addition to this, the streets of all
the cities in the South were so narrow, that carriages were nearly
useless. Those narrow streets were, notwithstanding, most ad-
vantageous, as they afforded a cool shelter from the sun, nearly
the entire day.
Metella's sedan was made of finely polished Citron wood ; on
the upper part of which were two poles drawn through, for the
convenience of bearers. The interior lined with costly stuff,
was sufficiently large for reclining, and was provided with rich
cushions and a footstool.
The lady descended from her toilet to the sedan, and on her
way through the vestibule, her roguish parrot in his ivory cage
greeted her with his well-conned speech of flattery.
A boy placed a footstool before the sedan, while the waitingmaids,
arranged in a double row, with their arms crossed on
their breast, bowed her off, with all reverence and with no small
pleasure. Metella folded her highly perfumed mantle round
her. motioned for her little Maltese dog to be brought to her,
which she half covered with her mantle, remarking with a smile
that her little favorite has a cold, and sneezes often. Metella
petted her little darling, and tantalized him with her golden
bracelet. She reclined in five sedan, so that she could remain
unseen by those whom she wished to avoid saluting.
The lady has taken her departure, and it is now time to inquire
after poor Lydia. She was in her little room resting on a cushion.
Ophne, her assistant in the shoe department, hastened to wash
the wounds of her maltreated friend, and to give her all the
comfort in her power. She expressed the greatest pity, and as-
sured her, that she had herself often been made to feel the effects
of the whip. She then began to relate Metella's cruelty in
former times, and seemed to find ft consolation in doing so.
Lydia listened for a few minules, and interrupted her savins;:
"This time, dear sinter, our good lady had cause to be displi
Think only of my awkwardness, whereby this disaster hapjv
and then of the loss she has sustained. We must be just, ()]ihnr
and keep in mind the good qualities of our mistress. Think of
the discipline and order she observes in her house: the ;
blessings she bestows on the poor; and the religious dutic
performs so conscientiously every day." Ophne was astounded