Here Apollonaris stretched out his hand toward the girl to draw her to him, but she motioned him back indignantly, declaring that it would be reprehensible and cowardly in a soldier to use violence toward a modest maid.

At this the two brothers laughed heartily, and Nemesianus exclaimed, “You do not belong to the Temple of Vesta, most lovely of roses, and yet you are well protected by such sharp thorns that it requires a great deal of courage to venture to attack you.”

“More,” added Apollonaris, “than to storm a fortress.  But what camp or stronghold contains booty so well worth capturing?”

Thereupon he threw his arm round Melissa and drew her to him.

Neither he nor his brother had ever conducted themselves badly towards an honorable woman; and if Melissa had been but the daughter of a simple craftsman, her reproachful remarks would have sufficed to keep them at a distance.  But such immunity was not to be granted to the emperor’s sweetheart, who could so audaciously reject two brothers accustomed to easy conquests; her demure severity could hardly be meant seriously.  Apollonaris therefore took no notice of her violent resistance, but held her hands forcibly, and, though he could not succeed in kissing her for her struggling, he pressed his lips to her cheek, while she endeavored to free herself and pushed him off, breathless with real indignation.

’Till now, the brothers had taken the matter as a joke; but when Apollonaris seized the girl again, and she, beside herself with fear, cried for help, he at once set her free.

It was too late; for the curtains of the audience-room were already withdrawn, and Caracalla approached.  His countenance was red and distorted; he trembled with rage, and his angry glance fell like a flash of lightning on the luckless brothers.  Close by his side was the prefect Macrinus, who feared lest he should be attacked by a fresh fit; and Melissa shared his fears, as Caracalla cried to Apollonaris in an angry voice, “Scoundrel that you are, you shall repent of this!”

Still, Aurelius had, by various wanton jokes, incurred the emperor’s wrath before now, and he was accustomed to disarm it by some insinuating confession, so he answered him with a roguish smile, while raising his eyes to him humbly: 

“Forgive me, great Caesar!  Our poor strength, as you well know, is easily defeated in conflicts against overpowering beauty.  Dainties are sweet, not only for children.  Long ago Mars was drawn to Venus; and if I—­”

He had spoken these words in Latin, which Melissa did not understand; but the color left the emperor’s face, and, pale with excitement, he stammered out laboriously: 

“You have—­you have dared—­”

“For this rose,” began the youth again, “I begged a hasty kiss from the beauty, which certainly blooms for all, and she—­” He raised his hands and eyes imploringly to the despot; but Caracalla had already snatched Macrinus’s sword from its sheath, and before Aurelius could defend himself he was struck first on the head with the flat of the blade, and then received a series of sharp cuts on his brow and face.