Nicanor - Teller of Tales : A Story of Roman Britain Read online

  Produced by Roger Frank and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  NICANOR TELLER OF TALES

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  "In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that which clamoredat his lips." (Page 44)]

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  NICANORTELLER OF TALES

  A StoryOf Roman Britain

  ByC. BRYSON TAYLOR

  Author Of"In The Dwellings Of The Wilderness"

  Having Pictures and Designs byTroy and Margaret West Kinney

  ChicagoA. C. Mcclurg & Co.1906

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  CopyrightA. C. McCLURG & CO.1906Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, EnglandAll rights reserved

  Published April 28, 1906

  Typography by The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.Presswork by The Lakeside Press, Chicago, U.S.A.

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  C. H. B.

  To you, whose love did comeAnd oft did sing to me,When I was working in the furrows.

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  CONTENTS

  BOOK I PAGE

  THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

  BOOK II

  THE GARDEN OF DREAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

  BOOK III

  PAWNS AND PLAYERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

  BOOK IV

  THE LORD'S DAUGHTER AND THE ONE WHO WENT IN CHAINS . . . . . . . 207

  BOOK V

  THE NIGHT AND THE DAWNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

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  ILLUSTRATIONS Page

  "In a physical ecstasy he spoke out that whichclamored on his lips" [Page 44] Frontispiece

  "'Were I that woman, I should have wanted tolove him'" [Page 85] 72

  "'You sent for me, Lady Varia?'" [Page 152] 176

  "Half a dozen young beauties had taken possession,--girlsof the haughtiest blood in Britain" [Page 240] 254

  "The sight burst upon him in all its hideousness--wherehad been the stately mansion of his lord" [Page 344] 364

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  CHARACTERS

  EUDEMIUS, a Roman lord living in Britain

  VARIA, his daughter

  LIVINIUS, a Roman citizen, a boyhood friend of Eudemius

  MARIUS, his son, of the Roman legions in Gaul

  MARCUS SILENUS POMPONIUS, Count of the Saxon Shore }AURELIUS MENOTUS, duumvir of Anderida } Guests ofFELIX, his son } EudemiusCAIUS JULIUS VALENS, a Roman citizen }

  JULIA }NIGIDIA } Roman girls, daughters of thePAULA } guests of EudemiusGRATIA }

  NERISSA, nurse to Varia

  HITO, master of the household of Eudemius

  CHLORIS, of all nations, living upon Thorney

  SADA, a Saxon } inmates of her houseEUNICE, a Greek }

  ELDRIS, a Briton, a convert to Christianity

  WARDO, a Saxon, a slave in the house of Eudemius

  VALERIUS, a Roman, a soldier of fortune

  TOBIAS, a Hebrew, a worker in ivory

  RATHUMUS, a British peasant, bound to the soil

  SUSANNA, a Hebrew woman, his wife

  NICANOR, a story-teller, their son

  WULF, the Red, a Saxon free-lance

  CEAWLIN, a Saxon chieftain

  FATHER AMBROSE, of the Christian church

  NICODEMUS, the One-Eyed, a British freedman

  MYLEIA, his wife

  MARCUS, a slave in the house of Eudemius

  BALBUS, a convict

  JUNCINA, a fish-wife on Thorney

  SOSIA, her daughter

  A flower-girl, a Saxon singer, slaves, trades-folk, soldiers of themilitary police; guards and overseers of the mines, and miners;Roman nobles and patrician women; Saxon men-at-arms, and men of theoutland nations

  Scene: Britain in the last days of Roman powerTime: between A.D. 410 and 446

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  LIST OF TOWNS AND RIVERS

  WITH THEIR MODERN SITES AND NAMES

  Abus Flumen Humber River.Ad Fines Broughing, Hertfordshire.Anderida Pevensey.Aquae Solis Bath.Bibracte _Unknown_.Caledonia Scotland.Calleva Silchester.Corinium Cirencester.Cunetio Folly Farm, near Marlborough.Deva Chester.Dubrae Dover.Eboracum York.Gobannium Abergavenny.Glevum Gloucester.Isca Silurum Carleon.Leucarum Llychwr, county of Glamorgan.Londinium London.Noviomagus Holwood Hill, parish of Bromley.Pontes StainesPortus Magnus Porchester.Ratae Leicester.Regnum Chichester.Rutupiae RichboroughSabrina Flumen Severn River.Serica China.Tamesis Flumen Thames River.Tripontium _Near_ Lilburne.Uriconium Wroxeter.Urus Flumen Ouse River.

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  THE MANTLE OF MELCHIOR

  BOOK I

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