I have scarcely seen a man look death--and self-sought death--in the face
like that! While the soldiers down there were massacring all who fell
into their hands--those were the orders, and I looked on at the butchery,
for, rather than--well, you can imagine that for yourselves--through one
of the doors there came a tall, extraordinary figure. The wide brim of a
traveling hat concealed the features, and it was wrapped in one of the
emperor's fool's mantles. It hurried toward the maniple of Sempronius,
brandishing a javelin, and with a sonorous voice reviling the soldiers
till even my temper was roused. Here I caught sight of a flowing robe
beneath the caracalla, and, the hat having fallen back, a beautiful
woman's face with large and fear-inspiring eyes. Then it suddenly
flashed upon me that this grim despiser of death, being a woman, was
doubtless she whom we were to spare. I shouted this to my men; but--and
at that moment I was heartily ashamed of my profession--it was too late.
Tall Rufus pierced her through with his lance. Even in falling she
preserved the dignity of a queen, and when the men surrounded her she
fixed each one separately with her wonderful eyes and spoke through the
death-rattle in her throat:

"'Shame upon men and soldiers who let themselves be hounded on like dogs
to murder and dishonor!' Rufus raised his sword to make an end of her,
but I caught his arm and knelt beside her, begging her to let me see to
her wound. With that she seized the lance in her breast with both hands,
and with her last breath murmured, 'He desired to see the living woman--
bring him my body, and my curse with it! Then with a last supreme effort
she buried the spear still deeper in her bosom; but it was not necessary.

"I gazed petrified at the high-bred, wrathful face, still beautiful in
death, and the mysterious, wide-open eyes that must have flashed so
proudly in life. It was enough to drive a man mad. Even after I had