A Captive of the Roman Eagles

A Captive of the Roman Eagles is by Felix Dahn, translated from the German by Mary J. Safford. The translator's preface says the romance A Captive of the Roman Eagles was published in Germany under the title of Bissula. The Prefect replies, smiling, that the evil never comes, and that the good fortune of eternal Rome always conquers.

In Chapter III, the Romans were still ignorant whether the Barbarians were aware of the bands approaching simultaneously from several directions. A speaker tells how he squeezed in and got his head and one arm through but could go no farther, his shoulders were too broad, and how he heard voices and saw Bissula hurrying along the inner path of the camp, close to the wall. The speaker says he did not trust himself to call with a human voice and began the warbling notes of the chaffinch. The text says the old Duke had given counsel taken from the songs of a wandering bard, who had sung in his own hall, to the music of his harp, ancient tales of his race.