 | XIII. Visions—A Phantasy |  |
13. XIII.
SCARCELY had the echo of my last word died away when I perceived—
I can with difficulty express what it was. At first I heard something like a vague, hardly distinguishable, yet ceaselessly repeated clamor of trumpets and applause. It seemed as if somewhere, in an unfathomable depth, at a measureless distance, I could hear the tumult of a mighty throng, swelling and subsiding, one calling to another with faint cries as in dreams. The air was set in motion; a new kind of darkness brooded over the ruin. And next I seemed to see myriads of shadowy figures, millions of shapes, some round like helmets, some long extended spears; in the moonlight these spears and helmets glittered like blue sparks, and the whole immense troop swarmed ever nearer and nearer, more and more distinct grew the stormy sounds. An impalpable force, strong enough to move the world in space, appeared to impel the throng onward, but as yet no single form stood plainly out. Suddenly a thrill seemed to pass through the whole great body; it parted in monstrous waves and made room—"Cæsar, Cæsar venit!" rang the voices with a sound like a wind-swept forest, and a pale, stern face, the eyelids drooping, the forehead crowned with a laurel wreath, gradually detached itself to my vision. The head of the Imperator!
Language has no words to express the frenzy or horror that I felt at this sight. I believe that I must have died, had this head raised its eyes or opened its lips.
"Ellis!" I groaned, "I will not—I cannot! Away from this awful place, in God's name, away!"
"Faint heart!" she murmured, but our flight began. The brazen, and this time, the thunderous cry of the legions rose again, but behind me, and then the darkness swallowed all.
| XIII. Visions—A Phantasy | |