Julian passes into the character of a fiddler.
“Rome was now the seat of my nativity. My mother was an African, a woman
of no great beauty, but a favorite, I suppose from her piety, of
pope Gregory II. Who was my father I know not, but I believe no very
considerable man; for after the death of that pope, who was, out of his
religion, a very good friend of my mother, we fell into great distress,
and were at length reduced to walk the streets of Rome; nor had either
of us any other support but a fiddle, on which I played with pretty
tolerable skill; for, as my genius turned naturally to music, so I had
been in my youth very early instructed at the expense of the good pope.
This afforded us but a very poor livelihood: for, though I had often
a numerous crowd of hearers, few ever thought themselves obliged to
contribute the smallest pittance to the poor starving wretch who had
given them pleasure. Nay, some of the graver sort, after an hour’s
attention to my music, have gone away shaking their heads, and crying it
was a shame such vagabonds were suffered to stay in the city.
“To say the truth, I am confident the fiddle would not have kept us
alive had we entirely depended on the generosity of my hearers. My
mother therefore was forced to use her own industry; and while I was
soothing the ears of the crowd, she applied to their pockets, and that
generally with such good success that we now began to enjoy a very
comfortable subsistence; and indeed, had we had the least prudence or
forecast, might have soon acquired enough to enable us to quit this
dangerous and dishonorable way of life: but I know not what is the
reason that money got with labor and safety is constantly preserved,
while the produce of danger and ease is commonly spent as easily, and
often as wickedly, as acquired. Thus we proportioned our expenses rather
by what we had than what we wanted or even desired; and on obtaining a
considerable booty we have even forced nature into the most profligate
extravagance, and have been wicked without inclination.
“We carried on this method of thievery for a long time without
detection: but, as Fortune generally leaves persons of extraordinary
ingenuity in the lurch at last, so did she us; for my poor mother was
taken in the fact, and, together with myself, as her accomplice, hurried
before a magistrate.
“Luckily for us, the person who was to be our judge was the greatest
lover of music in the whole city, and had often sent for me to play
to him, for which, as he had given me very small rewards, perhaps his
gratitude now moved him: but, whatever was his motive, he browbeat the
informers against us, and treated their evidence with so little favor,
that their mouths were soon stopped, and we dismissed with honor;
acquitted, I should rather have it said, for we were not suffered to
depart till I had given the judge several tunes on the fiddle.
“We escaped the better on this occasion because the person robbed
happened to be a poet; which gave the judge, who was a facetious person,
many opportunities of jesting. He said poets and musicians should agree
together, seeing they had married sisters; which he afterwards explained
to be the sister arts. And when the piece of gold was produced he burst
into a loud laugh, and said it must be the golden age, when poets had
gold in their pockets, and in that age there could be no robbers. He
made many more jests of the same kind, but a small taste will suffice.
“It is a common saying that men should take warning by any signal
delivery; but I cannot approve the justice of it; for to me it seems
that the acquittal of a guilty person should rather inspire him with
confidence, and it had this effect on us: for we now laughed at the law,
and despised its punishments, which we found were to be escaped even
against positive evidence. We imagined the late example was rather a
warning to the accuser than the criminal, and accordingly proceeded in
the most impudent and flagitious manner.
“Among other robberies, one night, being admitted by the servants into
the house of an opulent priest, my mother took an opportunity, whilst
the servants were dancing to my tunes, to convey away a silver vessel;
this she did without the least sacrilegious intention; but it seems the
cup, which was a pretty large one, was dedicated to holy uses, and only
borrowed by the priest on an entertainment which he made for some of his
brethren. We were immediately pursued upon this robbery (the cup being
taken in our possession), and carried before the same magistrate, who
had before behaved to us with so much gentleness: but his countenance
was now changed, for the moment the priest appeared against us, his
severity was as remarkable as his candor had been before, and we were
both ordered to be stripped and whipped through the streets.
“This sentence was executed with great severity, the priest himself
attending and encouraging the executioner, which he said he did for the
good of our souls; but, though our backs were both flayed, neither
my mother’s torments nor my own afflicted me so much as the indignity
offered to my poor fiddle, which was carried in triumph before me, and
treated with a contempt by the multitude, intimating a great scorn
for the science I had the honor to profess; which, as it is one of
the noblest inventions of men, and as I had been always in the highest
degree proud of my excellence in it, I suffered so much from the
ill-treatment my fiddle received, that I would have given all my
remainder of skin to have preserved it from this affront.
“My mother survived the whipping a very short time; and I was now
reduced to great distress and misery, till a young Roman of considerable
rank took a fancy to me, received me into his family, and conversed with
me in the utmost familiarity. He had a violent attachment to music, and
would learn to play on the fiddle; but, through want of genius for the
science, he never made any considerable progress. However, I flattered
his performance, and he grew extravagantly fond of me for so doing.
Had I continued this behavior I might possibly have reaped the greatest
advantages from his kindness; but I had raised his own opinion of his
musical abilities so high, that he now began to prefer his skill to
mine, a presumption I could not bear. One day as we were playing in
concert he was horribly out; nor was it possible, as he destroyed the
harmony, to avoid telling him of it. Instead of receiving my correction,
he answered it was my blunder and not his, and that I had mistaken the
key. Such an affront from my own scholar was beyond human patience; I
flew into a violent passion, I flung down my instrument in a rage, and
swore I was not to be taught music at my age. He answered, with as much
warmth, nor was he to be instructed by a strolling fiddler. The dispute
ended in a challenge to play a prize before judges. This wager was
determined in my favor; but the purchase was a dear one, for I lost my
friend by it, who now, twitting me with all his kindness, with my former
ignominious punishment, and the destitute condition from which I had
been by his bounty relieved, discarded me for ever.
“While I lived with this gentleman I became known, among others, to
Sabina, a lady of distinction, and who valued herself much on her taste
for music. She no sooner heard of my being discarded than she took
me into her house, where I was extremely well clothed and fed.
Notwithstanding which, my situation was far from agreeable; for I was
obliged to submit to her constant reprehensions before company, which
gave me the greater uneasiness because they were always wrong; nor am I
certain that she did not by these provocations contribute to my death:
for, as experience had taught me to give up my resentment to my bread,
so my passions, for want of outward vent, preyed inwardly on my vitals,
and perhaps occasioned the distemper of which I sickened.
“The lady, who, amidst all the faults she found, was very fond of
me, nay, probably was the fonder of me the more faults she found,
immediately called in the aid of three celebrated physicians. The
doctors (being well fee’d) made me seven visits in three days, and
two of them were at the door to visit me the eighth time, when, being
acquainted that I was just dead, they shook their heads and departed.
“When I came to Minos he asked me with a smile whether I had brought my
fiddle with me; and, receiving an answer in the negative, he bid me get
about my business, saying it was well for me that the devil was no lover
of music.”