Chapter 9 - Page 2

ready?"

"Ready but for the leave-taking;" this with a sigh.

"It ill becomes you to be cast down. Shake your heart with
laughter--it will roll away the stone of regret. Buy a fool, my young
friend. For five thousand denarii you may obtain a most excellent
fool."

He knew the price of all, from the hewer of wood to the crowned king,
but only he could afford a slave like that.

"I should prefer a wise man," said the young knight.

"Philosophers are more expensive," the father continued,
craftily--"twenty thousand denarii, and dear at that. They will teach
you little but discontent. I recommend a grammarian."

The old emperor turned his cunning eyes upon the face of Vergilius.

"Forty thousand, at least, for a good one," he added; "but a youth of
your talent should remember the value of immortal fame." Word and look
were a hint to the young man that he should prepare himself with all
diligence for an active career in the senate. The youth understood
their meaning and was a trifle comforted. There was no promise nor the
least warrant for a claim--it was only the emperor's way of guiding.

They were now passing a row of shops on the Via Claudia. The emperor,
putting his hand out of the door, motioned to his lecticarii and they
halted.

"Come with me," said the great man. They left the litter and entered a
large shop. There Augustus bought many gifts for the young man--new
arms, a beautiful corselet, a girdle of the look of knitted gold--for
the Roman wore a girdle in Judea--articles of apparel suited to the
climate of the Far East. The shop had filled with people, who tried to
cover their curiosity by the purchase of trifles.

"This cloth would make a fine toga," said the shopkeeper.

The emperor surveyed it closely.

"Let me hold it up to the light and then you will see its texture," the
other continued.

"You are a hard master," said Augustus.

"You would have us walk on the house-tops to show the fineness of our
togas? It is enough. Let us pass, good people."

A cheer, starting at the shop door, went to the far sides of the city.
It signified that the emperor was out among the people and in his best
mood.

Their nomenclator cleared a way for them to the litter and they sat
down again, facing each other, the emperor and the boy.

"If I had your riches," the great man remarked, as they went on, "I
wonder what I should do with them."

"You jest with me, good father," said Vergilius.

"Nay, but I envy you; for have you not youth and love and the beauty of
Apollo?"