The sacred fire of the Queen

Chapter III Metabo

  III Metabo

                        Our story begins on a stormy night, twenty years earlier. It was raining hard. A blinding flash of lightning lit the small valley and Scurtus, Antonius's dog, began to get excited and was barking insistently.

“Antonius ..! Wake up! The dog is barking and I sense something is wrong!”

Arisia, surrounded by straw and sheep skins, urgently awoke Antonius. Quite annoyed, Antonius replied:

“What is it? Sleep, wife!”

“Antonius!”, insisted his wife, her voice rising in intensity, “ It might be a fox, or even a wolf that want to undermine our sheep, or, worse, the raiders ...”

She added in a pleading tone,

“I'm scared. Go and check, please.”

This last sentence awakened his sense of responsibility. Reluctant to go out in the night, he lit the lamp, put on some clothes, reached for ram skins to protect him from the rain and ventured outdoors. Another sharp flash of lightning seemed to illuminate a human figure. Antonius shouted loudly to overpower the noise of the rain and thunder:

“Who is there? Come out! ”

It was then, between a lightning flash and the spread of its thunder, that he heard the cry of a child and he saw, standing out clearly, not far from him, the shape of a man.

“Help! Help!” He cried hoarsely. “Help, not for me, but for my baby, my daughter! ”

He led the drenched and chilled pair into his home, where they sat gratefully on the bench, in front of the warm fire quickly kindled by Arisia. Later that night, soothed by the warmth of the hearth, the exhausted stranger began his story.

Metabo was his name. He was a middle-aged Volscian, broad-shouldered and stocky with a dark, flowing beard, muscular arms and the stance of a proud warrior. His deep black eyes were burning like fire as his gaze flashed with immense pride and arrogance. Close to the light of the fire he recounted how he had come to be there.

He was king of Privernum, a thriving Volscian town on the road to the sea. Metabo related how he was ousted by his countrymen, forced to flee and how he was now a hunted man. Despondent and alienated, he was too exhausted and moreover had no interest to provide details of his escape. The sole companion of the proud tyrant was a sweet little infant, a tender girl named Camilla, Metabo and Casmilla’s daughter. He did not know what became of his wife, (the infant’s mother) but was almost certain of her death during the burning of the palace, on the day of the revolt.

In front of the fire with a hoarse and excited voice, the man continued his story:

“This evening I swam the Amasenum River, swollen out of proportion by many days of rain. I could already hear the cries of my close pursuers, I desperately invoked the help of goddess Diana -

 “Oh, Diana, my goddess! I do not pray for me, but for my daughter! Guide my mind and my hands towards salvation, and I swear on my honor that my daughter will be for always yours. ”

 - I immediately wrapped this little baby of mine in the bark of a tree, tightly bound her to it. Then with her well-balanced on my spear, I hurled it with my force to the other side of the river. The Goddess heard my prayers, and for now we are saved. My pursuers did not have the courage to cross the river at that point. They looked for another ford, which put me a few hours ahead of my pursuers. But now I'm exhausted and need rest. For this reason, please, show me a safe place to hide and rest for a few days. I'll be forever grateful to you. I promise you, Jupiter Pluvio be my witness and guarantor, that after regaining my city and revenging my countrymen, I'll reward you appropriately for your help.”

There was a period of silence. The baby had finally stopped crying while resting in the arms of Arisia, by the heat of the fire. She was sucking greedily from a cloth soaked in goat's milk, hurriedly collected by Arisia. As Antonius held his wife’s imploringly gaze for a time, truth was suddenly revealed to him. The baby girl was the coveted gift of Caere[1] even though they stopped praying to her long ago. The man seemed to catch in a flash the will of the gods. He began, slow and solemn, to speak:

“Metabo, we will not be your judges. Whether you are an enlightened king or a grim tyrant, we do not care. The gods have guided you here for a reason unknown to us. Who are we to resist? Therefore you will have all the help I and my humble family can give you. Up there, on top of the hill, five or six stadiums[2] from here, there is a large cave; far away from the beaten track. I use it when I am caught in bad weather while grazing my flock. The cave is hidden from view from the valley, it is provided with dry wood, a jug of water, goatskins and some cheese. You can eat and get warm, staying as long as you like. I can take you there right now, if you wish.” And softening the tone, he said,“But let me tell you, Metabo: the child that you take with you, your daughter, what guilt is she stained with to suffer from hunger and cold with you? In these conditions, the small baby may not survive for long. Being so small she can’t share flight and revenge with you! Can’t you see? She is exhausted. She still needs milk to survive. For now, let us treasure her as a precious and sacred gift from the gods. She will have a father and a mother, this will be home for her and she will have all she requires. As soon as the waters calm down and you triumph over your pursuers, you will return to take her back. But if the gods will be adverse, the girl will be safe from their vengeance.”

The proud Volscian was exhausted by the long run, more king and warrior than father. The desire for revenge had now taken precedence over any other sentiment; he judged the proposal of Antonius as the only solution. The little girl would remain with them. The cheeks of little Camilla already colored by the warm hearth and the glowing eyes of Arisia were for Antonius the greatest consolation. Pulling on his skins again, this time willingly, the shepherd took the lamp and led Metabo up the hill, to "his" cave. In future, that cave would become the cave of Camilla, the Queen.

Beneath a huge rock formation that characterized the top of the hill was the opening to the cave. The time and weather had worn the rock to generate a flat and almost equally long and wide stadium. The mouthpiece of the cave was large enough to permit the entry of a horse, but it was hidden to the valley by trees and shrubs. The interior was spacious enough to accommodate a family. On the bottom, there were two narrow tunnels that would go down. Antonius had never had an interest and courage to explore them, because the strong feeling of oppression that he felt upon entering the narrow space. The cave had ventilation outwards, as the smoke of the hearth equipped by the shepherd in the middle of it, had never stagnated.

They lit the fire, and Antonius showed Metabo secrets of the refuge. To exercise caution, they agreed that, as prudence, he would spend two days before returning to the cave. Shortly after the two were bonded with a firm handshake, Antonius went home running wildly downhill with the risk of prematurely ending his run with a disastrous fall. Running in the dark with the path soaked in mud and wet rocks was careless, but even senseless was the desire to finally hold that baby on his chest, and the way home seemed to never end. When he finally arrived, the small baby was sleeping by the fire, on a tiny makeshift bed of leather and canvas. Arisia was on her knees, resting on her heels, enthralled with watching the tiny child. Antonius embraced her tenderly in silence, while thinking of the perfect sacrifice to offer the next day, so the gods would not change their minds. They sat there dormant until cockcrow.

Already at sunset a day later the poor shepherd realized the upheaval this event meant for his life and that even an earthquake or a Samnites invasion would not be able to overturn his life so suddenly. Nothing would be as before.

As agreed, Antonius returned to the cave two days later, but Metabo had disappeared. He straightened the few things scattered and went to the top of the hill to think. He was gone to his place of meditation on the highest point of the hill, on a cliff to the east. There the view of the valley stretched to the distant snow-capped mountains, suspended between heaven and earth and there his mind was free and calm. Everything became clearer, every concern attenuated. But a number of questions unanswered, however, haunted him: ‘Has Metabo fled? Is he seeking help? Perhaps he was captured by his enemies? Or was killed? ’

Everything was in the hands of the gods. Only a small mouth to feed remained to Antonius to cheer his home.

[1]              Caere: goddess of fertility

[2]           Stadium : unit of distance measure