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TITLE: THE UNWILLING VESTAL
AUTHOR: EDWARD LUCAS WHITE
EBOOK: E05087 (O'Briens Book Cellar)

by Edward Lucas White

First published in 1918, this book went through sixteen printings
before it ceased to be a money-maker for its publishers. It provides
a fascinating glimpse into a world most of us know nothing about.

It has been slightly re-edited for ease in reading as an e-text.
The author's spellings have been left alone even when they are
incorrect in English English, American English, and Latin.

End PG editor's note.

THE UNWILLING VESTAL

The Unwilling Vestal
A Tale of Rome under the Caesars

JACKET BLURB:

EDWARD LUCAS WHITE
Author of "El Supremo"

This book presents, for the first time in fiction, a correct and
adequate account of the Vestal Virgins, their powers and
privileges, as well as of many strange Roman customs and
beliefs.

The author combines the power of writing a rattling good story
with a sound and full knowledge of conditions of the life which he
is depicting. Mr. White brings to the history of Rome all the
picturesqueness and power which made his South American novel,
"El Supremo," so remarkable. The result is a vivid pageant of
imperial Rome and Roman life at the height of its power and splendor.

End of Jacket Blurb

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

Readers of <The Unwilling Vestal> who are not acquainted at first
hand with the lighter and more intimate literature of the Romans
may be surprised to discover that the lights of Roman high society
talked slang and were interested in horseracing. Most writers
who have tried to draw Roman society for us have been either
ignorant or afraid of these facts. The author of <The Unwilling
Vestal> is neither. He presents to us the upper class Romans
exactly as they reveal themselves in the literature of their day;
excitable, slangy, sophisticated and yet strangely credulous,
enthusiastic sportsmen, hearty eaters and drinkers, and
unblushingly keen on the trail of the almighty denarius. In a word,
very much like the most up-to-date American society of to-day.

The Publishers feel that it is only fair that it should be made
plain that the great difference between the Roman society folk
of <The Unwilling Vestal> and those appearing in other novels
is due to the author's thorough acquaintance with the people
and the period about which he is writing.

Incidentally, the Publishers wish to thank Mr. C. Powell
Minnegerode, the Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art of
Washington, D. C., for his permission to reproduce Leroux'
beautiful painting "The Vestal Tuccia" for use on the wrapper of
the volume.

[wrapper not available - PG ed.]

End of Publisher's Note

PREFACE by author

The title of this romance is likely to prejudice any reader
against it. There exists a popular delusion that fiction with
a classical setting is bound to be dull and lumbering, that it
is impossible for it to possess that quality of bravura slangily
denominated "punch." Anybody will be disabused of that notion
upon reading this story.

<<PG EDITOR'S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety
years old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical
language does.>>

On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be
likely to imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with
incidents so bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and
genuine knowledge of its background; that the author has conjured
out of his fantasy not only his plot and chief characters, but also
their world; that he has created out and out not merely his Vestal,
but his Vestals, their circumstances and the life which they are
represented as leading: that he has manufactured his local color
to suit as he went along.

Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule
and ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are
set forth in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate
acquaintance with all available evidence touching the Vestals;
including all known inscriptions relating to them, every passage in
Roman or Greek literature in any way concerning them, the
inferences drawn from all existing or recorded sculptures and coins
which add to our knowledge of them, and every treatise written since
the revival of learning in Europe in which the Vestals are
discussed. The story contains no preposterous anachronisms or
fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the known
facts or is invented in conformity with the known facts.

Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult
an adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on
physics and read up on the surface tension of liquids.

End of Preface by Author

Contents

Book I

The Rage of Disappointment

I.                 Precocity
II.                 Sieves
III.                 Stutterings
IV.                 Pestilence
V.                 Escapades
VI.                 Notoriety
VII.                 Audience

Book II

The Revolt of Despondency

VIII.         Scourging
IX.                 Alarms
X.                 Conference
XI.                 Farewell
XII.                 Observances
XIII.         Perversity
XIV.                 Amazement

Book III

The Rebellion of Desperation

XV.                 Rehabilitation
XVI.                 Vagary
XVII.         Recklessness
XVIII.         Fury
XIX.                 Comfort

Book IV

The Revulsion of Delight

XX.                Accusation
XXI.                Ordeal
XXII                Triumph
XXII.                Salvage

Book I

The Rage of Disappointment

Chapter I - Precocity

"Brinnaria!" he said severely, "you will marry any man
I designate."

"I never shall marry any man," she retorted positively, "except
the man I want to marry."

She gazed unflinchingly into her father's imperious eyes, wide-set
on either side of a formidable Roman nose. His return gaze was
less incensed than puzzled. All his life he had been habituated
to subserviency, had never met opposition, and to find it from his
youngest daughter, and she a mere child, amazed him. As she
faced him she appeared both resolute and tremulous. He looked
her up and down from the bright blue velvety leather of her little
shoes on which the gilt sole-edges and gilt laces glittered to the
red flower in her brown hair. Inside her clinging red robe the
soft outlines of her young shape swelled plump and healthy, yet
altogether she seemed to him but a fragile creature. Resistance
from her was incredible.

Perhaps this was one more of her countless whims. While he
considered her meditatively he did not move his mighty arms or
legs; the broad crimson stripe down his tunic rose and fell slowly
above his ample paunch and vaster chest as his breath came evenly;
on his short bull neck his great bullet head was as moveless as if
he had been one of the painted statues that lined the walls all
about. As the two regarded each other they could hear the faint
splash of the fountain in the tank midway of the courtyard.

Her father, a true Roman to his marrow, with all a Roman's
arbitrary instincts, reverted to the direct attack.

"You will marry Pulfennius Calvaster," he commanded.

"I will not!" she declared.

He temporized.


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