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Updated: May 17, 2025
BARELY had Vinicius finished reading when Chilo pushed quietly into his library, unannounced by any one, for the servants had the order to admit him at every hour of the day or night. "May the divine mother of thy magnanimous ancestor Æneas be full of favor to thee, as the son of Maia was kind to me." "What dost thou mean?" asked Vinicius, springing from the table at which he was sitting.
But Ursus, who was a simple man, and had heard Vinicius say that the Greek had been with him in Ostrianum, and had seen him with Croton enter the house in which Lygia lived, stopped for a moment and said, "Speak no untruth, old man, for to-day thou wert with Vinicius in Ostrianum and under our gate." "Ah!" said Chilo, "then is your house in the Trans-Tiber?
"That is true," said Vinicius; "I have not seen him, but they tell me that he can take a bull by the horns and drag him wherever he pleases." "Oi!" exclaimed Chilo, who had not imagined that Ursus was so strong. But Croton laughed, from contempt.
Petronius, who never wondered long at anything, had grown indifferent, and asked, "A fish, is it? Ah, ha! According to Chilo, that is the sign of a Christian, I remember." Then he extended his hand to Vinicius, and said: "Happiness is always where a man sees it. May Flora strew flowers under thy feet for long years. I wish thee everything which thou wishest thyself."
But he was brought out of this chaos by Chilo, who fell to lamenting his own fate. He had agreed to find Lygia. He had sought for her in peril of his life, and he had pointed her out. But what more do they want? Had he offered to carry the maiden away? Who could ask anything like this of a maimed man deprived of two fingers, an old man, devoted to meditation, to science, and virtue?
But Vinicius, who looked with more indifference than any one at what was passing, first because all the affairs of the Greek were more or less known to him, and second because his heart knew not what pity was, said, "Bury him in the garden; some one else will take the letter." It seemed to Chilo that those words were his final sentence.
"Of what kind?" asked Vinicius, with astonishment. The Greek stretched out one hand; with the other he made the gesture of counting money. "Such are the times, lord," said he, with a sigh. "Thou wilt be the ass, then," said Petronius, "to win the fortress with bags of gold?" "I am only a poor philosopher," answered Chilo, with humility; "ye have the gold."
Chilo dropped his head and looked with malice on those present, who began to laugh again. Cæsar, turning to Senecio and Suilius Nerulinus, said, "Imagine, of the Christians appointed for to-day we have been able to finish hardly half!" At this old Aquilus Regulus, who had great knowledge of everything touching the amphitheatre, thought a while, and said,
Chilo, seeing the bed in the corner of the room, and on it Vinicius, moved toward him directly, not looking at the others, as if with the conviction that it would be safest near him. "Oh, lord, why didst thou not listen to my counsels?" exclaimed he, putting his hands together. "Silence!" said Vinicius, "and listen!"
But others spoke of Chilo. "What has happened to him?" asked Eprius Marcellus. "He delivered them himself into the hands of Tigellinus; from a beggar he became rich; it was possible for him to live out his days in peace, have a splendid funeral, and a tomb: but, no! All at once he preferred to lose everything and destroy himself; he must, in truth, be a maniac."
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