Manlius did not hear the poet's last words. When the name "Glyceria" reached him, he struck his heels into his horse's flanks, and as though he felt the scourge of the Furies upon him, dashed wildly into the courtyard of the Villa Mesembrius.
The old man, without noticing the expression of rage, terror, and despair that darkened the knight's face, met him with a smile.
"Is your daughter at home?" asked Manlius, trembling in every limb, and as the old man did not answer at once, he repeated anxiously: "Where is your daughter, Mesembrius?"
The aged Senator drew the youth, who was impatiently awaiting his reply, aside, and whispered:
"I will tell you the secret, but act as though you did not know it. She is in the habit of attending the meetings of the Christians. She has gone to one now, and has not yet returned."
Manlius, trembling, raised both clenched hands heavenward, and shrieked:
"Cursed be the heaven which permitted this to happen!"
Mesembrius drew back in astonishment, asking in a tone of bewilderment: "What is the matter?"
Manlius despairingly grasped the old man's hand.
Mesembrius' face blanched, and sinking back into his chair he faltered with fixed eyes, "Glyceria!"
"Yes, you are right; she has robbed you of her. And I, blind fool, met them, and these eyes did not recognize her in the darkness; this pitiable heart did not feel that, five steps off, she was being borne away from me. If it could happen that the sister dragged the sister to death before the lover's eyes, what means your sovereignty, Jupiter, Ormuzd, Zeus, Zebaoth, and the rest of ye chosen kings of destiny? Fiends rule the earth, and fate is an evil omen! But I, too, will be no better. Old man, gather all your curses, begin to pour them forth at dawn, and do not cease till nightfall. Meanwhile I will act. May Dira aid me."
The old man, as though stricken by palsy, repeated: "My daughter; oh, my daughter--"
Manlius compressed his lips; a bloody mist flickered before his eyes.
"Your daughter? I will avenge one and kill the other! May Ate be with us both.[2]"
[Footnote 2: The goddess who avenged evil deeds.]
As he spoke he swung himself upon his horse, and looking neither to the right nor to the left, galloped back at frantic speed to Rome.