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NICANOR TELLER OF TALES

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[Illustration: "In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamored
at his lips." (Page 44)]

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NICANOR
TELLER OF TALES

A Story
Of Roman Britain

By
C. BRYSON TAYLOR

Author Of
"In The Dwellings Of The Wilderness"

Having Pictures and Designs by
Troy and Margaret West Kinney

Chicago
A. C. Mcclurg & Co.
1906

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Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1906
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England
All rights reserved

Published April 28, 1906

Typography by The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Presswork by The Lakeside Press, Chicago, U.S.A.

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C. H. B.

To you, whose love did come
And oft did sing to me,
When I was working in the furrows.

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CONTENTS

                                  BOOK I                        PAGE

THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR...................... 1

                                  BOOK II

THE GARDEN OF DREAMS......................  59

                                  BOOK III

PAWNS AND PLAYERS ....................... 119

                                  BOOK IV

THE LORD'S DAUGHTER AND THE ONE WHO WENT IN CHAINS....... 207

                                  BOOK V

THE NIGHT AND THE DAWNING ................... 295

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ILLUSTRATIONS
                                                                Page

"In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which
clamored on his lips" [Page 44]                         Frontispiece

"'Were I that woman, I should have wanted to
love him'" [Page 85]                                              72

"'You sent for me, Lady Varia?'" [Page 152]                      176

"Half a dozen young beauties had taken possession,--girls
of the haughtiest blood in Britain" [Page 240]                   254

"The sight burst upon him in all its hideousness--where
had been the stately mansion of his lord" [Page 344]             364

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CHARACTERS

EUDEMIUS, a Roman lord living in Britain

VARIA, his daughter

LIVINIUS, a Roman citizen, a boyhood friend of Eudemius

MARIUS, his son, of the Roman legions in Gaul

MARCUS SILENUS POMPONIUS, Count of the Saxon Shore }
AURELIUS MENOTUS, duumvir of Anderida              } Guests of
FELIX, his son                                     } Eudemius
CAIUS JULIUS VALENS, a Roman citizen               }

JULIA   }
NIGIDIA } Roman girls, daughters of the
PAULA   } guests of Eudemius
GRATIA  }

NERISSA, nurse to Varia

HITO, master of the household of Eudemius

CHLORIS, of all nations, living upon Thorney

SADA, a Saxon   } inmates of her house
EUNICE, a Greek }

ELDRIS, a Briton, a convert to Christianity

WARDO, a Saxon, a slave in the house of Eudemius

VALERIUS, a Roman, a soldier of fortune

TOBIAS, a Hebrew, a worker in ivory

RATHUMUS, a British peasant, bound to the soil

SUSANNA, a Hebrew woman, his wife

NICANOR, a story-teller, their son

WULF, the Red, a Saxon free-lance

CEAWLIN, a Saxon chieftain

FATHER AMBROSE, of the Christian church

NICODEMUS, the One-Eyed, a British freedman

MYLEIA, his wife

MARCUS, a slave in the house of Eudemius

BALBUS, a convict

JUNCINA, a fish-wife on Thorney

SOSIA, her daughter

A flower-girl, a Saxon singer, slaves, trades-folk, soldiers of the
military police; guards and overseers of the mines, and miners;
Roman nobles and patrician women; Saxon men-at-arms, and men of the
outland nations

Scene: Britain in the last days of Roman power
Time: between A.D. 410 and 446

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LIST OF TOWNS AND RIVERS

WITH THEIR MODERN SITES AND NAMES

Abus Flumen          Humber River.
Ad Fines             Broughing, Hertfordshire.
Anderida             Pevensey.
Aquae Solis           Bath.
Bibracte             _Unknown_.
Caledonia            Scotland.
Calleva              Silchester.
Corinium             Cirencester.
Cunetio              Folly Farm, near Marlborough.
Deva                 Chester.
Dubrae                Dover.
Eboracum             York.
Gobannium            Abergavenny.
Glevum               Gloucester.
Isca Silurum         Carleon.
Leucarum             Llychwr, county of Glamorgan.
Londinium            London.
Noviomagus           Holwood Hill, parish of Bromley.
Pontes               Staines
Portus Magnus        Porchester.
Ratae                 Leicester.
Regnum               Chichester.
Rutupiae              Richborough
Sabrina Flumen       Severn River.
Serica               China.
Tamesis Flumen       Thames River.
Tripontium           _Near_ Lilburne.
Uriconium            Wroxeter.
Urus Flumen          Ouse River.

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THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR

BOOK I

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NICANOR: TELLER OF TALES

Book I

THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR


I

Nicanor the story-teller was the son of Rathumus the wood-cutter, who
was the son of Razis the worker in bronze, who was the son of Melchior
the story-teller. So that Nicanor came honestly by his gift, and would
even believe that his great-grandsire had handed it down to him by
special act of bequest.

Now Rathumus the wood-cutter, tall and gaunt and fierce-eyed, coming
home with his fagots on his shoulder in the gloam of the evening, when
the fireflies twinkled low among the marshes, saw Nicanor on the side of
the hill against the sky, sitting with hands clasped about his knees,
crooning to the stars. Rathumus bowed his head and entered his house,
and to Susanna, his wife, he said:

"The gift of our father Melchior hath fallen upon the child. I have seen
it coming this long, long while. Now he singeth to the stars. When they
have heard him and have taught him, he will go and sing to men. He is
our child no longer, wife. His life hath claimed him."

Susanna, the mother, said:

"He will be a man among men. He will be a great man among great men.