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*LEE and SHEPARD Publishers*
*BOSTON*
VICTOR SERENUS
_A STORY OF THE PAULINE ERA_
BY
HENRY WOOD
AUTHOR OF “IDEAL SUGGESTION” “GOD’S IMAGE IN MAN” “EDWARD BURTON” “THE
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NATURAL LAW” “STUDIES IN THE THOUGHT WORLD” ETC.
_It is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the
infinite lies stretched in smiling repose._—EMERSON.
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BOSTON U.S.A.
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
1904
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY HENRY WOOD
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_All Rights Reserved_
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VICTOR SERENUS
TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON, U.S.A.
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PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH.
*To Margaret*
PREFACE
It seems unnecessary to suggest that this book is entirely independent of
the conventional lines of the modern realistic novel. To any who hold that
idealism in fiction is not artistic, that a didactic element is
inadmissible, and that philosophizing has no place, the work will hardly
commend itself. To others, who believe that fiction may be a useful
vehicle for the conveyance of helpful ideals, and even abstract truth, it
is offered with the hope that it may furnish some measure both of
entertainment and profit.
On many historical and chronological points that are involved, authorities
differ; but so far as the author has been able to sift them, the
prevailing and apparently most probable hypotheses have been followed. As
may be inferred, it has been necessary to glean in many fields for the
facts, opinions, and conclusions that make up the historic portion of the
raw material from which this story has been fabricated.(1)
A majority of the characters being creations, and a large part of the
action also unhistoric, it must be left to the judgment of the reader how
well they fit into their historic frame‐work. So far as St. Paul is
introduced in the narrative, nearly everything delineated belongs to those
portions of his life which are but very briefly or incidentally touched
upon, either in the Scriptural writings or other history. But utilizing
many undoubted realities, the aim has been to fill in the wide blanks with
that which is in accord and in the line of the possible or probable.
The author has intended to respect the hallowed associations which cluster
about the name of the great Apostle. But Paul was a man with like passions
as other men, and to be faithful, any outline of the forces that played
through his great soul should be drawn naturally, and without that
misleading glamor often imposed by far‐away time and distance. Only by
such a treatment can his life be brought near, and its practical lessons
enforced. If to any the interpretation seem unduly broad, they may be
assured that the author has no iconoclastic intent, but on the contrary,
an aim which is wholly constructive, whereby everything wholesome and
uplifting in human life may be encouraged and strengthened.
BOSTON, 1898.
CONTENTS
PART FIRST
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION IN TARSUS 1
II. AN EVENING EXCURSION ON THE CYDNUS 8
III. IN THE TOILS 17
IV. THE NET IS RENT 23
V. TWO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 32
VI. TO THE TOWER OF ANTONIA 40
VII. A TARSIAN FESTIVAL TO APOLLO 47
VIII. THE MYSTERIES OF THE ADYTUM 56
IX. SOLILOQUY OF GAMALIEL’S DAUGHTER 68
X. MAGIC AND MYSTERY: STRANGE VISIONS 79
XI. IMPORTANT MESSAGES 92
XII. SERENUS MAKES AN AVOWAL 102
XIII. THE WALLS HAVE EARS 111
XIV. LOVE VERSUS DUTY 121
XV. THE RESCUE OF REBECCA 133
XVI. AFTER THE STORM 146
XVII. A ROMAN PARADE 161
XVIII. AMABEL’S REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE 177
XIX. SURROUNDED BY PRISON WALLS 195
XX. SOWING AND REAPING 211
XXI. THE GREAT HARVEST 228
PART SECOND
_THE LIGHT SPREADS TO THE WESTWARD_
XXII. SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 245
XXIII. A BATTERED EAGLE 260
XXIV. ON THE VERGE OF THE UNSEEN 280
XXV. A PSYCHICAL JOURNEY 299
XXVI. A POWERFUL PULSE STIRRED 312
XXVII. A MESSAGE FROM STEPHANOS 330
XXVIII. LEANDER VISITS A MYSTIC SHRINE 348
XXIX. CHANGES OF SOUL‐COLOR 368
XXX. A PARADISE DISCOVERED 381
XXXI. IN DEEP WATERS 399
XXXII. SCOURGING AND FLIGHT 412
XXXIII. A PRIESTESS OF THE TARSIAN TEMPLE 422
XXXIV. ONCE MORE UPON THE CYDNUS 430
PART THIRD
_AFTER THE FLIGHT OF TWENTY YEARS_
XXXV. THE BAY OF PUTEOLI 441
XXXVI. NOCTURNAL INTERVIEW WITH A SEER 449
XXXVII. TWO WOEFUL SOULS RELEASED 463
PART FOURTH
_SAULUS IN ROME_
XXXVIII. AWAITING TRIAL BEFORE NERO 481
XXXIX. ANTIPODES BROUGHT FACE TO FACE 492
XL. THE VISIBLE FORM LAID ASIDE 500
VICTOR SERENUS
A STORY OF THE PAULINE ERA
_PART FIRST_
CHAPTER I
A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION IN TARSUS
In an ancient city, late in the afternoon of a warm day in early autumn, a
little procession was winding its way through the narrow crowded streets.
The calm, measured pace and solemn countenances of the group plainly
indicated its character as a religious ceremonial. Slightly in the lead
were two priests, of such official and dignified mien that they appeared
as though they knew the God of Israel face to face. It was as if the
little Hebrew band, in threading a great throng of Gentiles, were laden
with the accumulated weight of all the traditions of the Chosen and
Circumcised since the time of Abraham. The reverberation of every sandal,
as it struck upon the well‐worn pavement, proclaimed, as loudly as words,
“We are separate.” Even the flocks of pigeons that were in the air seemed
to hover over the moving column, as if to lend the gleam of their white
wings to its stately rhythm.
The priests wore tall turbans of cup‐shaped form, and were clad in long
robes having broad borders decorated with a deep fringe, and gathered
about the body with an ornamented girdle. Broad phylacteries, square in
form, were bound by thongs, one upon the forehead, and one upon the left
arm, each containing inscribed passages from the Law. They also wore
embroidered ephods covering the back and breast, held together on the
shoulders by brooches of onyx stones richly set in gold, and fastened
below by a black band garnished with jewels. Their hands were crossed upon
the breast, and eyes turned toward heaven.
Following just behind the priests were men and women in costumes such as
were usually worn in the synagogue, which indicated that they were
returning from a sacred service. At intervals the low, monotonous tones of
a religious chant, or some soft rendering of passages from the Mosaic
ritual, might have been audible to those in the near vicinity. They formed
an embodied fragment of that long line of the faithful, who forget not the
patriarchs and the lawgivers, and whose eyes are always turned towards
Jerusalem and the Temple.
In the arms of one of the women was a young infant, and around this least
personage there seemed to gather an interest which showed that whatever
the nature of the service just concluded, the babe must have been the
central figure. The fond glances of the women and evident attention of the
men plainly revealed that thorough satisfaction which comes from holy duty
well performed.
The city of Tarsus was the place, and the time about the middle of the
first decade of the Christian era. Tarsus was a great commercial
metropolis. It was located in the midst of a broad, fertile plain which
mainly made up the province of Eastern or Flat Cilicia, as distinguished
from Rugged Cilicia which bordered it on the north and west. The prolific
soil, central location, and peculiar physical configuration, all tended to
give it great political importance. Leading from the great plain through
the high barrier of mountains which sweep from the coast irregularly
around it are two passes, one leading up to the interior of Asia Minor,
and the other giving access to the valley of the Orontes. It was naturally
the meeting‐place, and on the highway of trading caravans and military
expeditions. Through this richly historic country, Cyrus marched to depose
his brother from the Persian throne. It was on this plain that Alexander
gained his decisive victory over Darius. Here have since been encamped the
great hosts of western crusaders, and indeed, from the early dawn of
history, this plain was the theatre of great events and conflicts, which
had much to do with the shaping of empires, and the progress of the
world’s civilization.
The cold and rapid river Cydnus, fed by the snows of the Taurus range of
mountains, flows through this fertile country; and Tarsus, the capital of
the whole province, which was “no mean city,” was located upon its banks.
Its coins reveal its importance during the period between Xerxes and
Alexander, and also while under Roman sway, when it was dignified by the
name of Metropolis. Strabo says that in all that relates to philosophy and
general education it was more illustrious than Athens or Alexandria. In
the main it had the character of a Greek city; and the Grecian language,
literature, and philosophy were generally cultivated. But there were also
many Romans, Hebrews, Persians, and Syrians, with a sprinkling of other
tribes and peoples, such as characterized an Oriental metropolis. On its
busy wharves were great piles of merchandise, surrounded by groups of
merchants and traders in many costumes, and speaking a variety of
dialects.
It was one of the most important epochs of history; a time when colossal
personalities and events were stamping their impress upon the destiny of
races and nations. The shores of the Mediterranean formed the heart of the
world’s civilization; and Roman militarism, legality, and control were
permeating and compacting that great empire, east and west. The Greek and
Hebrew were important but subordinate elements in the human conglomerate
of that eventful period. Various and unlike races were commingling; their
customs and even their religions were shading into each other, and their
languages becoming considerably interchangeable. The Roman represented
law, government, conquest, and dominion; the Greek the more subtile ideals
of philosophy, art, and intellectuality; while the Hebrew, intense and
tenacious, was unconsciously laying the foundation, through his religious
zeal, for the coming spread of Judaism’s great outgrowth, rival, and
successor, Christianity. His hard religiosity and punctilious
ceremonialism were not perceptibly softened even by close contact with
Grecian poetry and idealism. Even Roman jurisprudence on the one hand, and
idolatry on the other, could not penetrate them. As a rule, the various
tributaries to the great current of human history in its evolutionary
course gradually mingle, each adding something of its own hue to the
common volume, but the Hebraistic economy was the rare exception. Its oil
would not mix with the general water of other systems.
At the particular time with which we are dealing, general peace prevailed.
There was one of those alternations of calmness which intervene between
the fierce storms of racial conflict and religious strife and persecution.
The Jewish procession, small in numbers, but important in spirit and
destiny, threaded its way through the winding thoroughfares, attracting
but a passing glance from the cosmopolitans which made up the multiform
currents of every‐day life in Tarsus. At length it halted in front of a
family residence in the better part of the Hebrew quarter, into which one
of the priests with the father of the child entered, followed by the
mother with her young son in her arms, while the others dispersed. The
babe, Saulus Paulus, was forty days old, and, in conformity to the Jewish
ritual, had been taken to the synagogue for the prescribed presentation
service.
Before leaving the household, the priest tenderly took the child in his
arms to give him a final blessing. Raising his eyes toward heaven, he
seemed to feel a spirit of prophetic inspiration. With his right hand upon
the head of the child, he reverently presumed to lift the curtain which
veils the future, fervently exclaiming,—
“Son of Abraham, scion of the tribe of Benjamin, and heir of Benoni! The
living blood of the Covenant flows in thy veins! Thou shalt wax strong,
and be learned in all that pertaineth to the Law! Thou shalt be a tongue
of the God of Jacob, and many shall tremble when thou speakest! Thou shalt
be a defender of Israel, and bring judgment to the Gentiles! Thou shalt
open thy mouth and utter mighty things that are hidden from the Greek and
Roman! Thou shalt sorely vex the enemies of the Circumcision, and bring
them to naught! With holy zeal shalt thou pursue them”—
Then his visage became fixed, and he was like one in a trance. A voice,
not his own, seemed to use his lips. “I behold—judgment—defeat—darkness!
_The uncircumcised prevail!_”
Abdiel, the priest, trembled like an aspen, and upon coming to himself,
declared that he had seen a disturbing vision.
The ancient Judaism accepted no compromise, and bowed to no defeat. When
surrounded, and even almost submerged, by prevailing idolatry, polytheism,
and heathenism, like a bow temporarily bent, it at length sprang back, and
regained its original integrity. It was a casting in rigid form of a
conglomerate of truth and error, righteousness and pride. It loathed other
creeds and philosophies, and its Deity was limited by a racial boundary.
It was a political theocracy.
Phariseeism, which was the leading element of Jewish religiosity, was a
compound of spiritual pride, exclusiveness, and intolerance. Missionary
effort among other nations was not thought of because they were not worth
it. God was the God of Israel. The Chosen People felt that they had a
monopoly of the divine favor, and they proposed to keep it. But the
teaching of the ancient seers and expounders of righteousness, originally
good, had become incrusted with a superficial formalism, and all vitality
had left it. Even the Mosaic Law and the later sublime poems and religious
compositions, though constantly and formally recited, were loaded down
with traditions, and had become a complex system of polished dry bones.
Notwithstanding the discipline of previous dispersions and captivities,
such was the spirit of the Chosen People during the earliest years of the
Christian era.