CHAPTER 19
When Appius told his mother and his sister what Augustus had said to
him, they were greatly distressed. But Arria would not believe that
Vergilius had been guilty of dishonor. Such were her anxiety and her
fear of injustice falling upon her lover, the girl would have it that
she must go to Jerusalem with Appius. She would neither be turned away
nor bear with dissuasion. Her brother told her not of the bitter
message of Augustus, and, fearing the wiles of the Jewish prince,
determined to take her with him. So, therefore, as the sun rose on the
nones of November in that year of the birth of Jesus, they set out with
a troop of horse on the Appian Way.
They were midland in Thrace on their way to Piraeus, where a ship
waited them, when they were overtaken by the cavalcade of Antipater.
The prince, summoned by Herod, was now returning, under royal banners,
to receive his inheritance of glory and power. A letter had started
him, which, according to the great historian of that time, was warm
with affectionate greeting.
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