The Scarlet Banner

Transcriber's notes: 1. Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/scarletbanner00dahngoog
Right of Dramatization Reserved
Published October 14, 1903
Only through the same virtues by which they were founded will kingdoms be maintained.
Sallustius, Catilina.
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
Shakespeare, Hamlet.
This story, published in Germany under the title of Gelimer is the third volume in the group of romances to which Felicitas and The Captive of the Roman Eagles belong, and, like them, deals with the long-continued conflict between the Germans and the Romans.
But in the present novel the scene of the struggle is transferred from the forests of Germania to the arid sands of Africa, and, in wonderfully vivid pen-pictures, the author displays the marvellous magnificence surrounding the descendants of the Vandal Genseric, the superb pageants of their festivals, and the luxury whose enervating influence has gradually sapped the strength and courage of the rude, invincible warriors--once the terror of all the neighboring coasts and islands--till their enfeebled limbs can no longer support the weight of their ancestors' armor, and they cast aside their helmets to crown themselves with the rose-garlands of Roman revellers.
The pages glow with color as the brilliant changeful vision of life in Carthage, under the Vandal rule, rises from the mists of the vanished centuries, and the characters which people this ancient world are no less varied. The noble king, the subtle Roman, Verus, the gallant warrior, Zazo, Hilda, the beautiful, fearless Ostrogoth Princess, the wily Justinian, his unscrupulous Empress, Theodora, and their brave, impetuous general, Belisarius, are clearly portrayed; and, underlying the whole drama, surges the fierce warfare between Roman Catholic and Arian, while the place and the period in which the scenes of the romance are laid, both comparatively little known, lend a peculiar charm and freshness to the gifted author's narrative.