and the veiled figure turned away. Then
a trumpet-call, a flash of blue vexilla and silver eagles in the air,
and, a moment later, some eighty hoofs were drumming in the Appian Way.
For a little the horsemen heard them that were left behind, wailing.

"It is like a sticking of pigs to leave a lot of plebeian women," said
Manius, when the sound was far out of hearing.

"An arrow in the heart of the soldier, but I think it good," said
Vergilius. "For a time, at least, Rome will be dear to him."

There were forty men riding in the troop, all lancers, saving a few
slingers and bowmen. They rattled over the hard Way at a pace of
fifteen miles an hour. It was an immense, rock-paved road--this Appian
Way--straight, wide, and level, flinging its arches over fen, river,
and valley, and breaking through hill and mountain to the distant sea.
No citizen might bring his horse upon it unless a diploma had been
granted him--it was, indeed, for the larger purposes of the government.
After two hours they drew up at a posting-house and changed horses.
They rode this mount some forty miles, halting at a large inn, its
doors flush with the road. A transport and postal train bound for Rome
was expected shortly, and, before eating, Vergilius wrote a letter and
had it ready when the wagons came rattling in a deep-worn rut, behind
teams of horses moving at a swift gallop. There were five wagons in
the train, bearing letters and light merchandise from the south. Hard
by was one of the wheelwright-shops that lined the great thoroughfare.
The train stopped only a moment for water and a new wheel, then rushed
along on its way to the capital. A light meal of bread and porridge,
half an hour of rest, and again, with new horses, the troop was in full
career. A sense of loneliness grew in the heart of the youth as he
journeyed. Lover and soldier had fought their duel, and the latter was
outdone. But the lover's courage was now sorely tried. Every mounted
courier hastening to Rome on the south road bore a letter from the
young man to her he loved. He met a legion of infantry going north,
and envied every soldier, sweating under a set pace of four miles to
the hour and a burden of sixty pounds--shield, helmet, breast-plate,
pilum, swords, intrenching tools, stakes for a palisade, and corn for
seventeen days.

A trireme was waiting for them on the Adriatic Sea, and Vergilius,
Manius, and their escort sailed to northwestern Macedonia, moun