TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE
diadem upon the condition that he fulfill the promises I have made to the barbarians of the outer villages.
“Dion Splendidus, will you accept the imperial purple with the understanding that the men of the outer villages shall be forever free; that no longer shall their girls or their boys be pressed into slavery, or their warriors forced to do battle in the arena?” Dion Splendidus bowed his head in assent—and thus did Tarzan refuse the diadem and create a Caesar.
Chapter Twenty-one
The yearly triumph of Validus Augustus, Emperor of the East, had been a poor thing by comparison with that of Sublatus of Castra Sanguinarius, though dignity and interest was lend the occasion by the presence of the much advertised barbarian chieftain, who strode in chains behind Caesar’s chariot.
The vain show of imperial power pleased Validus Augustus, deceived perhaps the more ignorant of his subjects, and would have given Erich yon Harben cause for laughter had he not realized the seriousness of his position.
No captive chained to the chariot of the greatest Caesar that ever lived had faced a more hopeless situation than he. What though he knew that a regiment of marines or a squadron of Uhlans might have reduced this entire empire to vassalage? What though he knew that the mayor of many a modern city could have commanded a fighting force far greater and much more effective than this little Caesar? The knowledge was only tantalizing, for the fact remained that Validus Augustus was supreme here and there was neither regiment of marines nor squadron of Uhlans to question his behavior toward the subject of a great republic that could have swallowed his entire empire without being conscious of
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