Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 2, 2025
By the time AEmilius and Verronax had reached the spot, and gained an entrance in virtue of their rank and concern in the matter, Euric sat enthroned in the midst of the assembly. He was far removed from being a savage, though he had won his crown by the murder of his brother.
Therefore did I withhold these comrades of Odorik from rushing on thee in their fury; but none the less art thou in feud with Odo, the father of Odorik, who will require of thee either thy blood or the wehrgeld." "Wehrgeld I have none to pay," returned Verronax, in the same calm voice. "I have sworn!" said AEmilius in a clear low voice, steady but full of suppressed anguish.
His own mountain estate, where dwelt his son, was of difficult access early in the year, and AEmilius hoped to persuade him to rest in the villa till after Pentecost, and then to bless the nuptials of Columba AEmilia, the last unwedded daughter of the house, with Titus Julius Verronax, a young Arvernian chief of the lineage of Vercingetorix, highly educated in all Latin and Greek culture, and a Roman citizen much as a Highland chieftain is an Englishman.
And thou, my son, alas, what hast thou done?" he added, turning to Verronax, and taking his arm while walking towards the tribunal, where he did justice as chief magistrate of the Roman settlement. A few words told all.
Meanwhile AEmilius had reached Euric, and had made him understand the substitution. Old Odo knew no Latin, and it was the King, an able orator in both tongues, who expounded all in Gothic, showing how Lucius AEmilius had offered his life in the stead of his friend, and how Verronax had hurried to prevent the sacrifice, reiterating, almost in a tone of command, the alternative of the wehrgeld.
Afterwards a morning meal was served for Verronax and for the elder AEmilius, who intended to accompany him on his sad journey to Bordigala, where the King and the father of Odorik were known to be at the time.
"I should find it hard to forgive one who lessened my respect for the AEmilian constancy," returned Verronax. Then he led Marcus aside to make arrangements with him respecting his small mountain estate and the remnant of his tribe, since Marina was his nearest relative, and her little son would, if he were cut off, be the sole heir to the ancestral glories of Vercingetorix.
Indeed Verronax shrank from the treasure of the Church being thus applied. Columba might indeed weep for him exultingly as a martyr, but, as he well knew, martyrs do not begin as murderers, and passion, pugnacity, and national hatred had been uppermost with him.
A shriek was heard among the women, and Sidonius stepped forth and demanded the amount of wehrgeld. "That must be for King Euric to decide," returned Meinhard. "He will fix the amount, and it will be for Odo to choose whether he will accept it. The mulct will be high, for the youth was of high Baltic blood, and had but lately arrived with his father from the north!" "Enough," said Verronax.
Mounted on two strong mules, the only animals serviceable in the mountain paths, the Senator and Verronax passed the gate, Marcus walking beside them. "We are beforehand with the Goth," said Verronax, as he came out. "Lazy hounds!" said Marcus. "Their sentinels have vanished. It would serve them right if thou didst speed over the border to the Burgundians!"
Word Of The Day
Others Looking