The Scarlet Banner. Felix Dahn

XX

       CHAPTER XXI

       CHAPTER XXII

       CHAPTER XXIII

       F E L I C I T A S

       By FELIX DAHN Author of " The Scarlet Banner "

       A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers , Chicago

       A CAPTIVE OF THE ROMAN EAGLES

       By FELIX DAHN Author of " Felicitas "

       A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers , Chicago

Translated from the German by MARY J. SAFFORD

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      TRANSLATOR OF "A Captive of the Roman Eagles," "Felicitas," etc.

Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co. 1903

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COPYRIGHT A. C. MCCLURG & CO. 1903

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      Right of Dramatization Reserved

      Published October 14, 1903

UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON AND SON . CAMBRIDGE . U.S.A.

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      DEDICATED

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      IN DEEP REVERENCE AND WARM FRIENDSHIP

      TO

      HIS EXCELLENCY

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      ACTING PRIVY-COUNCILLOR AND PROFESSOR

      HERR DR. KARL HASE

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OF JENA

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      Only through the same virtues by which they were founded will kingdoms be maintained.

      Sallustius, Catilina.

      O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!

      Shakespeare, Hamlet.

PREFACE

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      This story, published in Germany under the title of Gelimer is the third volume in the group of romances to which "Felicitas" and "The Captive of the Roman Eagles" belong, and, like them, deals with the long-continued conflict between the Germans and the Romans.

      But in the present novel the scene of the struggle is transferred from the forests of Germania to the arid sands of Africa, and, in wonderfully vivid pen-pictures, the author displays the marvellous magnificence surrounding the descendants of the Vandal Genseric, the superb pageants of their festivals, and the luxury whose enervating influence has gradually sapped the strength and courage of the rude, invincible warriors--once the terror of all the neighboring coasts and islands--till their enfeebled limbs can no longer support the weight of their ancestors' armor, and they cast aside their helmets to crown themselves with the rose-garlands of Roman revellers.

      The pages glow with color as the brilliant changeful vision of life in Carthage, under the Vandal rule, rises from the mists of the vanished centuries, and the characters which people this ancient world are no less varied. The noble king, the subtle Roman, Verus, the gallant warrior, Zazo, Hilda, the beautiful, fearless Ostrogoth Princess, the wily Justinian, his unscrupulous Empress, Theodora, and their brave, impetuous general, Belisarius, are clearly portrayed; and, underlying the whole drama, surges the fierce warfare between Roman Catholic and Arian, while the place and the period in which the scenes of the romance are laid, both comparatively little known, lend a peculiar charm and freshness to the gifted author's narrative.

      MARY J. SAFFORD.

      Highfield Cottage,

      Douglas Hill, Maine,

      August 24, 1903.

THE

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SCARLET BANNER

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BOOK ONE

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BEFORE THE WAR

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CHAPTER I

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      To Cornelius Cethegus Cæsarius, a Friend:

      I send these notes to you rather than to any other man. Why? First of all, because I know not where you are, so the missive will probably be lost. Doubtless that would be the best thing which could happen, especially for the man who would then be spared reading these pages! But it will also be well for me that these lines should lie--or be lost--in some other place than here. For here in Constantinople they may fall into certain dainty little