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V
Iuliae suae Drusilla S.D.
Quinque iam dies hic incolavimus, hospites lemurum inquietium. Quintus sua sponte abiit, terrore superatus. Cleomenen propraetor dimisit, quoniam is paene amens. Egomet Horatiam dimittere debui. Bis lucerna, semel carbo e foco iactus ei manum ustus est. Credo eam larvam offendisse domum semper purgando.
Noctu adsistit umbra. Non semper stridit, non semper clamat nec sese cultro vulnerat, sed profundus maeror ei numquam abest. Sola possum aliquando per domum sequi ; alii praesentes eam, videtur, sollicitant. Ter me coram stetit, sicut longe intenteque spectat. Mansit donec mota sum ; mitissima tum suspiria evanuit. Utinam illam foveam, ut maestitiam fugem.
Iamiam me iterum apparuit. Sola in atrio ambulabam ; sodales sic magnam post disceptionem siverunt. Horam paene immota stabamus, alia aliam intuens. Denique ausa sum loqui. — Noli, inquam vix susurrens, metuere.
Non fugit, neque responsit : haud mirum, quod latine locuta eram. Verecunde pergavi : μὴ φόβου.
Manum cunctanter porrexit. Ego minus dubie. Cum summis digitis manus se attigissent, gelus infimus bracchium totum suffudit, velut manum in Cocytum ipsum demergerem. Acerrimo dolore adflicta clamavi et animam reliqui.
Humi, sodalibus circumdata perterritis, resipui. Clamore audito properaverant ad adiuvandum. Dolore frigido ac perturbatione eis respondere nequivi quin insipienter incohateque riderem. Post horam memet satis collibui ut casum narrarem.
. . .
Postridie vetaverunt sola explorarem. Singultus iterum audiebamus, nullum tamen eidolon videbamus. Singultus, cum tandem appropinquavissemus, fugere solebant, magis magisqe nos in gynaeconita adducentes. Macroni persuasi qui mecum sonum sequeratur ; alios cura et terrore defatigatos in triclinio reliqimus. Lux facis — videlicet et calor — gelidis in tenebris nobis subveniebant. In cellam denique intravimus, quo frigum hiemalem sentiebamus et fletum larvae ubique volitantem audiebamus. Huc illuc Macro facem vibrabat, ortum soni petens. Subito obmutuit, Macro desperenter facem agitabat. Verbum mihi in aurem sussuratum, cuius magnum frigus nec suspiriam ullam sensi, audivi : ὄρυξον !
Pugionem dein conspexi per cellam volare qui tanta vi mihi inter pedes iactatus est ut lapidem difinderet. Macro consternatus e cella me paene traxit, ne me negare auscultabat. Nulla sum amazon : sivi me rursus ad triclinium duci.
Narratione horrifera Macro alios pavefactos magis conturbavit. Vix potui super clamorem clamare — egomet quae discipulos pervicaces domare soleo ! Tandem sat eis vociferata sum ut humaniter ac ratione colloquentes consilium novum disputaremus.
Hodie igitur — quod somnus me superavit anteaquam has litteras tibi perscribere potui — domo discessimus. Thargelia nunc celebrantur ; nec deos nec officium publicum neglegare oportet. Aliquot dies singuli apud nos agemus. Laxamentum, ut spero, nervos deleniet, animos consolabitur, cordia recreabit. Atque hanc moram spero non solum salubrem futuram, sed etiam utilem. Propraetor, et Macro, et ego servos in viciniam et in forum mittemus qui historiam domus familiaeque eius investigentur. Discipuli mei in schola et in balnea rumores aeque petent. Porro ego, clam, media nocte sicut fur, domum sola ingrediar. Quoniam larva misella iussit me quid effodere.
VI
Decimus P. Valerio Corvino propraetori S.P.D.
Nolim te ab officio detrahere, neque immoderate sollicitare, sed precor mox me recipias. Conventum, ut noscis, tres post dies constituimus ad historias comparandas. Attamen velim — debeo — de Drusilla tecum colloqui. Non erat in schola. Non erat in Isaeo ; sacerdotes ibi non viserant. Macronem non visitavit, nec theatrum. Quintus mecum magistram apud illam petiimus ; Horatia nos ab ianua reppulit. Vereor ne istam ad domum revenisset.
VII
Cleomenes Decimo salutem
Post aditum cum propraetore tuum, heri, in vicinia Drusillae domus officium persequens ambulavi. Tumulto servarum auscultato, dubitavi sub fenestra. Anilla puellas vituperabat, quae non bene sarserant. Ianitorem, thesalum veterem mihi haud ignarum, conspexi, et ei garriebam per speciem de inratis servis auditis iocandi. Tutis auribus mihi hoc deposuit : nudius quartus domina prima diei hora domum revenit, tota sordida. Non viderat dominam per ianuam discessisse, nec cognovit quid fecisset. Horatia, postea, ei dixit dominam thesaurum invenisse, scilicet scientiae nec auri. Valet autem, inquit, et thesauri causa videtur gaudere, quod mitior enim quam solet pro servis se gerebat.
VIII
Decimus P. Valerio Corvino propraetori S.D.
Drusillam invisi ; immo ad cenam invitatus sum, neque ab illa sed ab amico nostro, condiscipulo. Post cenam breviter clamque collocuti sumus. Credo enim magistram rem quendam nos celare, celaturam immo esse. Pretio conatus sum servae illius hortari, ut diceret quid dominam in isti domo inventam esse. Plane recusavit. Attamen quod pecunia non potuit, cura effecit.
Horatia quidem magis magisque veretur ne domina lemurium causa insanire — et corpore et mente. Drusilla, ut Horatia confessa'st, de explorationibus suis nocturnis mentita'st. Horatiae dixit se ephemeridem sub lapidibus in gynaeconite, in verso levis Iliadis voluminis exscriptum invenisse, quae narrationem vitarum larvae totam exponitur. Horatia in cubito dominae surrepsit ut pro se videret ; adsunt veteri in capsa sordida papyrus paucis cum scriptis, plerumque carminibus, et pupa, et nonnulla crepundia, et annulum aeneum, sed abest ulla ephemeris. Debemus Drusillam cogere, ut veritatem omnem patefaciat.
There was a House in Athens (parts fifth, sixth, seventh & eighth)
V
Drusilla sends greetings to Iulia
We have occupied the house for five days, guests of unquiet spirits. Quintus left of his own accord, overwhelmed by terror. The Propraetor sent Cleomenes away, for he was clearly losing his mind. I myself had to send away Horatia. Her hand was burnt twice by a lamp, and once by a coal hurled from the hearth. I believe the ghost was offended that she was always cleaning the house.
The shade appeared at night. She didn’t always shriek, nor cry out, nor wound herself with her knife, but the profound misery never left her. Sometimes, alone, I was able to follow her through the house; when the others were present it seemed to upset her. Thrice she stood before me, as if she were observing me intently. She remained until I moved; then she vanished with the softest of sighs. If only I could hold her to me and put her mournfulness to flight.
Just now she has appeared to me again. I was walking alone in the atrium; my companions allowed it after some great debate. We stood motionless for about an hour, one staring at the other. Finally I dared to speak. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ I said in the barest whisper.
She didn’t flee, nor did she respond: hardly surprising, for I had spoken in Latin. Bashfully, I tried again: ‘μὴ φόβου.’
She slowly stretched forth her hand. Less hesitantly I did the same. When the tips of our fingers met, an infernal chill suffused the whole of my arm, as if I’d plunged my hand in the river Cocytus itself. So harsh was the pain that I fainted dead away.
I came to on the floor, surrounded by my terrified companions. They had heard me cry out and rushed to my aid. Overcome with the frigid pain and confusion, I couldn’t respond to them but with insipid and inarticulate laughter. After an hour I had sufficiently regained my senses so that I could relate the event.
. . .
The next day they refused to let me explore on my own. We heard sobbing again, but saw no apparition. The sobs would flee whenever we approached, leading us ever on into the women’s quarters. I persuaded Macro to follow the sound with me; we left the others, exhausted with worry and fear, in the dining room. The light of the torch – and indeed the warmth – encouraged us in the icy darkness. We finally entered into a small room where we felt the wintery cold and heard the weeping of the ghost flittering all about us. Macro brandished the torch this way and that, seeking the source of the sound. Suddenly it fell silent, Macro desperately swung the torch about. When single word of Greek was whispered in my ear; I felt a great cold but felt no breath at all: ‘Dig!’
Then I saw a dagger fly through the chamber, hurled between my feet with such force that it split the flagstone. Macro, alarmed, practically dragged me from the room, deaf to my protests. I am no Amazon; I let myself be led back to the dining room.
With this horrifying account Macro further disturbed the others, who had already been frightened out of their wits. I could hardly scream above the clamour – I who am used to taming my unruly students! At length I had shouted them all down sufficiently that we could peacefully and rationally discuss an new plan of action.
And so today – for sleep overcame me before I could finish this letter – we left the house. The Thargelia are now being celebrated; we must neither neglect the gods nor our public duties. We shall spend several days in our respective homes. This respite, I hope, will soothe our nerves, console our minds, and restore our hearts. And I hope this pause will not just be healthful, but useful as well. The Propraetor, Macro and I shall send our slaves into the neighbourhood to investigate the history of the house and its family. My students will also search out rumours in school and in the baths. Furthermore, secretly, in the middle of the night like a thief, I will go back into the house. For the poor little ghost has told me to dig something up.
VI
Decimus sends many greetings to Publius Valerius Corvinus, Propraetor
I have no wish to drag you away from your duties, nor to discomfit you unduly, but I pray you will soon receive me. We have agreed, as you know, to meet in three days to compare our findings. And yet I would like – I must – speak with you about Drusilla. She has not been in school, she has not been in the temple of Isis; the priests have not seen her there. She has not visited Macro, nor been to the theatre. Quintus came with me to look for our teacher at home; Horatia drove us from the door. I fear she has gone back to that house.
VII
Cleomenes greets Decimus
After your interview with the Propraetor, yesterday, I happened to be walking in the neighbourhood of Drusilla’s residence in the course of my business. Overhearing the tumult of some slaves, I pause beneath a window. An old woman was scolding some girls for not doing the mending properly. I caught sight of the door-slave, an old Thessalian of my acquaintance, and struck up a conversation with him on the pretence of joking about the angry slaves. In strict confidence, he revealed to me everything: four days ago the Mistress returned home at daybreak, completely filthy. He had not seen her go out through the front door, nor did he know what she had done. Horatia, later, told him that the Mistress had discovered a treasure, of knowledge at least if not of gold. She is well, he said, and seems to be in good spirits because of this treasure, for she has been even more lenient than usual to the slaves.
VIII
Decimus sends greetings to Publius Valerius Corvinus, Propraetor
I have been to see Drusilla; rather, I was invited to dine, not by her but our friend, my fellow student. After dinner we spoke briefly and in secret. I believe our Magistra is hiding something from us, or intends to. I tried bribing a slave to tell me what her mistress had found in that house. She flatly refused. However, what money could not accomplish, anxiety brought to pass.
Horatia indeed is growing ever more fearful that her mistress is falling in both mind and body on account of the ghost. Drusilla, as Horatia confessed to me, lied about her nocturnal explorations. She told Horatia that she had found a diary under the stones in the women’s quarters, written on the back of a cheap copy of the Iliad, which set out the whole of the life of our ghost. Horatia crept into her mistress’ chambers to see for herself; in a dirty old box there was a scroll with a little writing on it – poetry mostly – also a doll, some toys, and a bronze ring, but there was no diary. We must compel Drusilla to reveal the whole truth.
Iuliae suae Drusilla S.D.
Quinque iam dies hic incolavimus, hospites lemurum inquietium. Quintus sua sponte abiit, terrore superatus. Cleomenen propraetor dimisit, quoniam is paene amens. Egomet Horatiam dimittere debui. Bis lucerna, semel carbo e foco iactus ei manum ustus est. Credo eam larvam offendisse domum semper purgando.
Noctu adsistit umbra. Non semper stridit, non semper clamat nec sese cultro vulnerat, sed profundus maeror ei numquam abest. Sola possum aliquando per domum sequi ; alii praesentes eam, videtur, sollicitant. Ter me coram stetit, sicut longe intenteque spectat. Mansit donec mota sum ; mitissima tum suspiria evanuit. Utinam illam foveam, ut maestitiam fugem.
Iamiam me iterum apparuit. Sola in atrio ambulabam ; sodales sic magnam post disceptionem siverunt. Horam paene immota stabamus, alia aliam intuens. Denique ausa sum loqui. — Noli, inquam vix susurrens, metuere.
Non fugit, neque responsit : haud mirum, quod latine locuta eram. Verecunde pergavi : μὴ φόβου.
Manum cunctanter porrexit. Ego minus dubie. Cum summis digitis manus se attigissent, gelus infimus bracchium totum suffudit, velut manum in Cocytum ipsum demergerem. Acerrimo dolore adflicta clamavi et animam reliqui.
Humi, sodalibus circumdata perterritis, resipui. Clamore audito properaverant ad adiuvandum. Dolore frigido ac perturbatione eis respondere nequivi quin insipienter incohateque riderem. Post horam memet satis collibui ut casum narrarem.
. . .
Postridie vetaverunt sola explorarem. Singultus iterum audiebamus, nullum tamen eidolon videbamus. Singultus, cum tandem appropinquavissemus, fugere solebant, magis magisqe nos in gynaeconita adducentes. Macroni persuasi qui mecum sonum sequeratur ; alios cura et terrore defatigatos in triclinio reliqimus. Lux facis — videlicet et calor — gelidis in tenebris nobis subveniebant. In cellam denique intravimus, quo frigum hiemalem sentiebamus et fletum larvae ubique volitantem audiebamus. Huc illuc Macro facem vibrabat, ortum soni petens. Subito obmutuit, Macro desperenter facem agitabat. Verbum mihi in aurem sussuratum, cuius magnum frigus nec suspiriam ullam sensi, audivi : ὄρυξον !
Pugionem dein conspexi per cellam volare qui tanta vi mihi inter pedes iactatus est ut lapidem difinderet. Macro consternatus e cella me paene traxit, ne me negare auscultabat. Nulla sum amazon : sivi me rursus ad triclinium duci.
Narratione horrifera Macro alios pavefactos magis conturbavit. Vix potui super clamorem clamare — egomet quae discipulos pervicaces domare soleo ! Tandem sat eis vociferata sum ut humaniter ac ratione colloquentes consilium novum disputaremus.
Hodie igitur — quod somnus me superavit anteaquam has litteras tibi perscribere potui — domo discessimus. Thargelia nunc celebrantur ; nec deos nec officium publicum neglegare oportet. Aliquot dies singuli apud nos agemus. Laxamentum, ut spero, nervos deleniet, animos consolabitur, cordia recreabit. Atque hanc moram spero non solum salubrem futuram, sed etiam utilem. Propraetor, et Macro, et ego servos in viciniam et in forum mittemus qui historiam domus familiaeque eius investigentur. Discipuli mei in schola et in balnea rumores aeque petent. Porro ego, clam, media nocte sicut fur, domum sola ingrediar. Quoniam larva misella iussit me quid effodere.
VI
Decimus P. Valerio Corvino propraetori S.P.D.
Nolim te ab officio detrahere, neque immoderate sollicitare, sed precor mox me recipias. Conventum, ut noscis, tres post dies constituimus ad historias comparandas. Attamen velim — debeo — de Drusilla tecum colloqui. Non erat in schola. Non erat in Isaeo ; sacerdotes ibi non viserant. Macronem non visitavit, nec theatrum. Quintus mecum magistram apud illam petiimus ; Horatia nos ab ianua reppulit. Vereor ne istam ad domum revenisset.
VII
Cleomenes Decimo salutem
Post aditum cum propraetore tuum, heri, in vicinia Drusillae domus officium persequens ambulavi. Tumulto servarum auscultato, dubitavi sub fenestra. Anilla puellas vituperabat, quae non bene sarserant. Ianitorem, thesalum veterem mihi haud ignarum, conspexi, et ei garriebam per speciem de inratis servis auditis iocandi. Tutis auribus mihi hoc deposuit : nudius quartus domina prima diei hora domum revenit, tota sordida. Non viderat dominam per ianuam discessisse, nec cognovit quid fecisset. Horatia, postea, ei dixit dominam thesaurum invenisse, scilicet scientiae nec auri. Valet autem, inquit, et thesauri causa videtur gaudere, quod mitior enim quam solet pro servis se gerebat.
VIII
Decimus P. Valerio Corvino propraetori S.D.
Drusillam invisi ; immo ad cenam invitatus sum, neque ab illa sed ab amico nostro, condiscipulo. Post cenam breviter clamque collocuti sumus. Credo enim magistram rem quendam nos celare, celaturam immo esse. Pretio conatus sum servae illius hortari, ut diceret quid dominam in isti domo inventam esse. Plane recusavit. Attamen quod pecunia non potuit, cura effecit.
Horatia quidem magis magisque veretur ne domina lemurium causa insanire — et corpore et mente. Drusilla, ut Horatia confessa'st, de explorationibus suis nocturnis mentita'st. Horatiae dixit se ephemeridem sub lapidibus in gynaeconite, in verso levis Iliadis voluminis exscriptum invenisse, quae narrationem vitarum larvae totam exponitur. Horatia in cubito dominae surrepsit ut pro se videret ; adsunt veteri in capsa sordida papyrus paucis cum scriptis, plerumque carminibus, et pupa, et nonnulla crepundia, et annulum aeneum, sed abest ulla ephemeris. Debemus Drusillam cogere, ut veritatem omnem patefaciat.
There was a House in Athens (parts fifth, sixth, seventh & eighth)
V
Drusilla sends greetings to Iulia
We have occupied the house for five days, guests of unquiet spirits. Quintus left of his own accord, overwhelmed by terror. The Propraetor sent Cleomenes away, for he was clearly losing his mind. I myself had to send away Horatia. Her hand was burnt twice by a lamp, and once by a coal hurled from the hearth. I believe the ghost was offended that she was always cleaning the house.
The shade appeared at night. She didn’t always shriek, nor cry out, nor wound herself with her knife, but the profound misery never left her. Sometimes, alone, I was able to follow her through the house; when the others were present it seemed to upset her. Thrice she stood before me, as if she were observing me intently. She remained until I moved; then she vanished with the softest of sighs. If only I could hold her to me and put her mournfulness to flight.
Just now she has appeared to me again. I was walking alone in the atrium; my companions allowed it after some great debate. We stood motionless for about an hour, one staring at the other. Finally I dared to speak. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ I said in the barest whisper.
She didn’t flee, nor did she respond: hardly surprising, for I had spoken in Latin. Bashfully, I tried again: ‘μὴ φόβου.’
She slowly stretched forth her hand. Less hesitantly I did the same. When the tips of our fingers met, an infernal chill suffused the whole of my arm, as if I’d plunged my hand in the river Cocytus itself. So harsh was the pain that I fainted dead away.
I came to on the floor, surrounded by my terrified companions. They had heard me cry out and rushed to my aid. Overcome with the frigid pain and confusion, I couldn’t respond to them but with insipid and inarticulate laughter. After an hour I had sufficiently regained my senses so that I could relate the event.
. . .
The next day they refused to let me explore on my own. We heard sobbing again, but saw no apparition. The sobs would flee whenever we approached, leading us ever on into the women’s quarters. I persuaded Macro to follow the sound with me; we left the others, exhausted with worry and fear, in the dining room. The light of the torch – and indeed the warmth – encouraged us in the icy darkness. We finally entered into a small room where we felt the wintery cold and heard the weeping of the ghost flittering all about us. Macro brandished the torch this way and that, seeking the source of the sound. Suddenly it fell silent, Macro desperately swung the torch about. When single word of Greek was whispered in my ear; I felt a great cold but felt no breath at all: ‘Dig!’
Then I saw a dagger fly through the chamber, hurled between my feet with such force that it split the flagstone. Macro, alarmed, practically dragged me from the room, deaf to my protests. I am no Amazon; I let myself be led back to the dining room.
With this horrifying account Macro further disturbed the others, who had already been frightened out of their wits. I could hardly scream above the clamour – I who am used to taming my unruly students! At length I had shouted them all down sufficiently that we could peacefully and rationally discuss an new plan of action.
And so today – for sleep overcame me before I could finish this letter – we left the house. The Thargelia are now being celebrated; we must neither neglect the gods nor our public duties. We shall spend several days in our respective homes. This respite, I hope, will soothe our nerves, console our minds, and restore our hearts. And I hope this pause will not just be healthful, but useful as well. The Propraetor, Macro and I shall send our slaves into the neighbourhood to investigate the history of the house and its family. My students will also search out rumours in school and in the baths. Furthermore, secretly, in the middle of the night like a thief, I will go back into the house. For the poor little ghost has told me to dig something up.
VI
Decimus sends many greetings to Publius Valerius Corvinus, Propraetor
I have no wish to drag you away from your duties, nor to discomfit you unduly, but I pray you will soon receive me. We have agreed, as you know, to meet in three days to compare our findings. And yet I would like – I must – speak with you about Drusilla. She has not been in school, she has not been in the temple of Isis; the priests have not seen her there. She has not visited Macro, nor been to the theatre. Quintus came with me to look for our teacher at home; Horatia drove us from the door. I fear she has gone back to that house.
VII
Cleomenes greets Decimus
After your interview with the Propraetor, yesterday, I happened to be walking in the neighbourhood of Drusilla’s residence in the course of my business. Overhearing the tumult of some slaves, I pause beneath a window. An old woman was scolding some girls for not doing the mending properly. I caught sight of the door-slave, an old Thessalian of my acquaintance, and struck up a conversation with him on the pretence of joking about the angry slaves. In strict confidence, he revealed to me everything: four days ago the Mistress returned home at daybreak, completely filthy. He had not seen her go out through the front door, nor did he know what she had done. Horatia, later, told him that the Mistress had discovered a treasure, of knowledge at least if not of gold. She is well, he said, and seems to be in good spirits because of this treasure, for she has been even more lenient than usual to the slaves.
VIII
Decimus sends greetings to Publius Valerius Corvinus, Propraetor
I have been to see Drusilla; rather, I was invited to dine, not by her but our friend, my fellow student. After dinner we spoke briefly and in secret. I believe our Magistra is hiding something from us, or intends to. I tried bribing a slave to tell me what her mistress had found in that house. She flatly refused. However, what money could not accomplish, anxiety brought to pass.
Horatia indeed is growing ever more fearful that her mistress is falling in both mind and body on account of the ghost. Drusilla, as Horatia confessed to me, lied about her nocturnal explorations. She told Horatia that she had found a diary under the stones in the women’s quarters, written on the back of a cheap copy of the Iliad, which set out the whole of the life of our ghost. Horatia crept into her mistress’ chambers to see for herself; in a dirty old box there was a scroll with a little writing on it – poetry mostly – also a doll, some toys, and a bronze ring, but there was no diary. We must compel Drusilla to reveal the whole truth.
