The Scarlet Banner. Felix DahnЧитать онлайн книгу.
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By FELIX DAHN Author of " The Scarlet Banner "
A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers , Chicago
By FELIX DAHN Author of " Felicitas "
A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers , Chicago
Translated from the German by MARY J. SAFFORD
TRANSLATOR OF "A Captive of the Roman Eagles," "Felicitas," etc.
Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co. 1903
COPYRIGHT A. C. MCCLURG & CO. 1903
Right of Dramatization Reserved
Published October 14, 1903
UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON AND SON . CAMBRIDGE . U.S.A.
DEDICATED
IN DEEP REVERENCE AND WARM FRIENDSHIP
TO
HIS EXCELLENCY
ACTING PRIVY-COUNCILLOR AND PROFESSOR
HERR DR. KARL HASE
OF JENA
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
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
SCARLET BANNER
BOOK ONE
BEFORE THE WAR
CHAPTER I
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