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more than a little tension mixed with the anticipation.
There was a sense of great occasion here, a feeling of portent, for as Caius
Britannicus had pointed out to everyone and anyone willing to listen, this was
no ordinary marriage.
Alaric looked around him and began to speak in the voice of a trained orator,
which surprised me, although it should not have, since he was Roman-born and
educated well. I found myself realizing that I
really knew little of the man, longtime friend though he was, outside of his
life as a bishop. I resolved to find out more about him as he began to speak
in the grand, oratorical voice, his words ringing strong and clear, betraying
little sign of his age.
"People of Britain," he began, "Celts and Romans alike. We are here together
this day in preparation for the coming of a new age: an age of opportunity,
but also an age of fear and uncertainty in many places.
"We stand today in communal assembly before the eyes of God, and neither He
nor I care what name you give to Him, each in your own heart, so long as you
believe that you stand here with us, each one among you, alone in His sight.
He is the One God who embodies all the gods men thought to appease when they
had no thought of any god being as powerful as He. He is Mithras, the
soldier's god; He is
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Amon-Ra, the sun god of Egypt, for He made the sun itself; and He is the
pantheon of the Celts, whose mystical presence fills the sacred groves." He
stopped abruptly and glanced sideways to the Druid beside him, who immediately
began declaiming in the rippling, liquid language of Ullic's Celts, obviously
repeating and translating Alaric's words for the benefit of the
Celtic-speakers. When he had done, Alaric began again.
"Today, we make a new beginning, a complete departure from the ways of old,
and yet we will do it in a way that keeps the best of the old ways  the best
of the Celtic ways and the best of the Roman ways.
"These two young people represent the best of both our bloods. Uric is your
king's son and will be king some day in his own right. His blood is pure, his
ancestors known for twenty generations back and more.
Uric's fathers ruled their own people in their own hills long years before
Caesar's eye beheld the shores of this, their land. He is a Celt, unsullied
and unstained by foreign blood." Alaric stopped and his red-robed consort
again repeated what he had said. Alaric waited patiently, allowing the surge
of comment from the listening Celts to subside before he spoke again.
"Veronica, whom Uric will take to wife here in your sight this day, is no less
nobly fathered. Her veins are rich with the patrician blood that made Rome
mighty in the days of old. And her blood is pure. Pure
Roman, from the hills of Rome itself, unmixed with that of any other race ..."
He paused and allowed the echoes of his words to die away as people absorbed
what he had said. Then, when the silence was barely beginning to vibrate with
tension, he continued, his timing perfect.
"Until today. Until this union... this marriage. This bonding of two people,
each unto each, that is more than a simple bonding, far, far more. For this
joining of two people that we, together, will witness here today shall mark
the bonding of two peoples!" Alaric's voice was ringing now, vibrant and
strong. "Two peoples! Roman and Celt together!" He held up his hand to still a
noise of speculation that did not come, and then he nodded to the Druid, who
repeated his words, right to the final gesture, after which Alaric took up the
cadence again.
"Here in this land the Romans have named Britain, there have been many tribes,
many peoples. Before the Romans came, you called yourselves 'the People.' They
called you
Durotriges and
Belgae.
They named your neighbours to the west of you
Dumnonii;
and across the river's mouth to the north-west, the
Romans named the people the
Silures.
And we all know that this was foolishness. You were, and are, the
people of this land, holding it in strength long before the Romans found its
shores...
"Now, it appears the Romans may withdraw. This is the word of reason that has
come from Caius
Britannicus and has convinced all his friends. From that belief has sprung the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]