CHAPTER 4

That evening Vergilius went to feast with the young Herodian prince,
Antipater of Judea. The son of Herod was then a tall, swarthy, robust
young man, who had come to see life in Rome and to finish his
education. He would inherit the crown--so said they who knew anything
of Herodian politics; but he was a Jew, and deep in the red intrigue of
his father's house. So, therefore, he was regarded in Rome with more
curiosity than respect. Augustus himself had said that he would rather
be the swine of Herod than Herod's son, and he might have added that he
would rather be the swine of Antipater than his father. But that was
before Augustus had learned that even his own household was unworthy of
full confidence.

Antipater had brought many slaves to Rome, and some of the noblest
horses in the empire. He had hired a palace and built a lion-house,
where, before intimates, he was wont to display his courage and his
skill. It had a small arena and was in the midst of a great garden.
There he kept a lion from northern Africa, a tiger, and a black leopard
from the Himalayas. He was training for the Herodian prize at the
Jewish amphitheatre in Caesarea. These great, stealthy cats in his
garden typified the passions of his heart. If he had only fought these
latter as he fought the beasts he might have had a better place in
history.

Antipater had conceived a great liking for the sister of Appius. Her
beauty had roused in him the great cats of passion now stalking their
prey. He had sworn to his intimates that no other man should marry