“Or,” continued the poet, “there is the land beyond the north, the country of the blessed Hyperboreans, that old Herodotus talks about. Why should we not go there? Or, if that sounds too wild, there is Africa, with regions rich and fertile beyond all doubt that are waiting to be explored. These at least are no matter of legend. We know where they are. Let us search for them. Whatever world we may find, it can hardly be worse than that which we are leaving behind.”
“And what says Carna?” said the Count, turning, with an affectionate look, to his adopted daughter.
The girl thus appealed to flushed painfully. For a moment she seemed about to speak, but not a syllable passed her lips.
“Speak,” cried the Count; “you always see clearer and farther than the rest of us.”
“My father,” the girl went on, “I will speak from my heart, as I know you always wish me to do. Forgive me if I seem to teach when it is my part to learn and to obey. But, if you ask what I think you should do, I say, ‘Go home to Rome or Ravenna, or wherever else the Emperor bids you.’ After all, it is your country, and it never needed the help of good and brave men more than it does now.”
“By heaven! Claudian,” cried the Count, after a brief silence, “the girl is right, as she always is. These are not the times for an honest man to turn his back upon his country. If I could reach the Islands of the Blest, or the happy people who live beyond the north, as easily as I can walk across this room, I would not do it; and after all, what is the world without Rome to a Roman? What say you, Claudian?”
“I am but a poor singer, who has lost all that made him sing. I could do little in any case, and I doubt whether those who killed Stilicho will have anything but the axe for Stilicho’s friend. Still, I go with you. It is not for a Roman to say that Rome is unworthy.”
“So that is settled,” exclaimed the Count.
“Oh, Carna,” cried Ælia, throwing her arms round her sister, “shall we ever be as happy again as we have been in this dear place?”
Carna clung to her, and sobbed as if her heart would break.