Nothing but the Truth

In Order for you to understand this tale it is necessary to know that there is to this day within the walls of Rome at the foot of the Aventine Hill a strange stone. It has the dimensions of a millstone and on it appears the ferocious face of a creature half-man and half-lion, with the mouth open. It is known even now as The Stone of Truth and for the following reason: in olden days when people needed to swear a solemn oath to satisfy their accusers, they thrust their hands into the open mouth; if they lied, the stone jaws would close, and the guilty one's hand would not be freed until he had made full confession; but if there was no guilt, the jaws stayed open and the accused was absolved.

Back in those Old Roman days there lived a famous captain named Scipio Torcatus, descended from the Caesars. He was married to a Roman matron whose virtue and beauty were unparalleled. Her name was Aenea Sabelina. She was 23 years old at the time of the story, and the living personification of every feminine charm and grace.

It happened one day that Captain Torcatus had to go to the war that raged along the Danube and in Transylvania to put down some resistance from the barbarians. He had to stay away longer than was expected as the war dragged on without a decisive victory. It was during this delay that a battle was fought and many Romans died in the fray, and because of distance there were no reports as to who had died and who had not.

Aenea Sabelina · heard and fell ill almost immediately. She felt certain that Torcatus was among the slain. No doctor who came to her side was able to help her or effect a cure. Her family was frantic. Then they heard of a young doctor recently arrived from Greece where he had been studying. It turned out that his name was Arsinius Rufus and that he was a Roman by birth.

Rufus visited the fair patient and was captivated from the first, and as he had to visit the lady every day and be alone with her in her bedroom, the fires of love soon consumed him. Before too long, he made bold to tell her how he felt. Imagine his joy to find Aenea flattered by his words, obviously as taken with him as he with her.

"Besides," she said to herself, "what if Torcatus is really among the dead, as I have supposed? What better match could I make than with Rufus who is rich as well as young and handsome? We could marry in due time."

But her conscience bothered her all the same at the thought of committing what would be adultery if Torcatus still lived. She held out, but Rufus was too much in her company for long resistance, and at length they made a reality out of what had until then been the stuff of dreams.

This delightful state of affairs went on for some weeks under the most strict and careful secrecy, but in spite of all their efforts Aenea's family grew suspicious. No sooner had word arrived that Torcatus was alive and well at the front, than they sent him an urgent note, concise and to the point: "Get a furlough, Torcatus, and hurry home. Your family needs attention."

The captain came, and no one gave him a more royal and loving reception than his wife, Aenea. Torcatus, because he loved his young wife above all things, refused to believe his relative's hints until there was concrete proof.

But nothing came to light, for Aenea and Rufus were very careful and stopped seeing one another, even though it cost them great anguish.

One day Torcatus said to Aenea, "My dearest one, I must return to the front very soon. Therefore, I must confess to you that something has greatly upset me. I really think you should hear it and tell me what you think I should do."

"You should have told me sooner," said Aenea sweetly, careful as only a woman knows how to be, to betray nothing by look or word or even tone. "What is it?"

Torcatus hedged a bit, but finally told her of his family's suspicions and said it would please him if she would consent to go with him and his relatives to The Stone of Truth and there take an oath that no other man had ever touched her. "I know, of course, dear Aenea, that the oath is unnecessary, for I place complete and everlasting trust in you; but it will satisfy the suspicions of my family, which I must confess are a great annoyance to me. Take the oath, Aenea, and I can go off happily to the war."

"Is that all you want me to do, Torcatus?" laughed Aenea, but with a lump of fear in her throat. "I'll swear, of course, but don't you think that people will see in this a great lack of trust on your part?"

"You will take the oath, though, won't you, Aenea?"

"Of course, and the sooner the better," she said, wondering how long it (concluded on page 80)The Truth(continued from page 61) would be before she could see Rufus and ask him what to do.

Rufus could not contrive a satisfactory solution to this problem, and it grieved him to think of his sweet Aenea's hand being crushed by the cruel stone jaws, so he secured the services of a professional wise man.

"The spirits say," said the wise man after being paid, "that you must disguise yourself as the most poverty-stricken farmer you can imagine. You must carry a few farm implements for the sake of reality, and above all you must have some of those tweezers farmers use for pulling thorns out of their hides, and even one little thorn to be shown when the time comes."

"I can't see what all this is for," interrupted Rufus angrily. "Tweezers, thorns ..."

"All in good time," snapped the wise man. "Now: when you're dressed as I have ordered, go to the intersection of the Via Ostia and the Avenue of the Colosscum, and wait. It is here that Aenea Sabelina will pass with her husband and his relatives on their way to The Stone of Truth. You will have to get word to the lady that you will be the farmer and that she must pretend to step on a thorn precisely at the intersection. You will 'remove' the thorn from her foot. You will take her foot in your hands, press it as though trying to squeeze the thorn out, and finally you will use the tweezers after you have pricked her foot with the thorn you will have for the purpose. When they all see the thorn and the blood, Aenea and her companions will go on to The Stone of Truth, and she will take this oath and no other. Lean over and let me whisper the exact wording into your ear."

Rufus leaned over and a broad smile spread across his face.

When the hour for the oath had come, when all was in readiness and Aenea had been carefully informed of the part she was to play, she approached the intersection, complained of a pain, and submitted her foot to a passing farmer who came forward with tweezers with which he offered to extract the thorn. Everything went as planned down to the finest detail. With head held high and leaning on her husband's arm, Aenea Sabelina proceeded directly to The Stone of Truth. Thrusting her hand deep into the fierce jaws, she spoke in a firm and clear voice.

"I swear," she said, "that since my marriage to Scipio Torcatus and indeed before, as he who consummated the marriage well knows, no other man has touched my person except that good man who just now pulled the thorn from my foot."

The terrible stone jaws remained open; those who had accused Aenea went home with sheepish looks: and Torcatus returned to the wars a happy man. Aenea, however, after that, seemed always to be suffering from some complaint, for scarcely a day passed when she did not require the services of the good doctor Rufus.

"No other man has touched me!" declared Aenea.