worshipper of his country's gods is not behind him, who denies them, in
his power to do them honor.'
'I shall not sleep,' said the artist, 'till I have made a model, in wax
at least, of what at this moment presents itself to my imagination.'
Saying which, with little ceremony--as if the Empire depended upon his
reaching, on the instant, his chalk and wax, and to the infinite
amusement of the company--he rose and darted from the apartment, the
slaves making way, as for a missile that it might be dangerous to
obstruct.
'But in what way,' said Aurelian, turning to the elder Demetrius, 'have
you been wrought upon to abandon the time-honored religion of Rome?
Methinks, the whole world is becoming of this persuasion.'
'If I may speak freely--'
'With utmost freedom,' said Aurelian.
'I may then say, that ever since the power to reflect upon matters so
deep and high had been mine, I had first doubted the truth of the
popular religion, and then soon rejected it, as what brought to me
neither comfort nor hope, and was also burdened with things essentially
incredible and monstrous. For many years, many weary years--for the mind
demands something positive in this quarter, it cannot remain in
suspense, and vacant--I was without belief. Why it was so long, before I
turned to the Christians, I know not; unless, because of the reports
which were so common to their disadvantage, and the danger which has so
often attended a profession of their faith. At length, in a fortunate
hour, there fell into my hands the sacred books of the Christians; and I
needed little besides to show me, that theirs is a true and almighty
faith, and that all that is current in the city to its dishonor is false
and calumnious. I am now happy, not only as an artist and a Roman, but
as a man and an immortal.'
'You speak earnestly,' said Aurelian.
'I feel so,' replied Demetrius; a generous glow lighting up his pale
countenance.
'Would,' rejoined the Emperor, 'that some of the zeal of these
Christians might be infused into the sluggish spirits of our own people.
The ancient faith suffers through neglect, and the prevailing impiety of
those who are its disciples.'
'May it not rather be,' said Fronto, 'that the ancient religion of the
State, having so long been neglected by those who are its appointed
guardians, to the extent that even Judaism, and now Christianity--which
are but disguised forms of Atheism--have been allowed to insinuate, and
intrench themselves in the Empire; the gods, now in anger, turn away
from us, who have been so unfaithful to ourselves; and thus this
plausible impiety is permitted to commit its havocs. I believe the gods
are ever faithful to the faithful.'
'What good citizen, too,' added Varus, 'but must lament to witness the
undermining, and supplanting of those venerable forms, under which this
universal empire has grown to its present height of power? He is
scarcely a Roman who denies the gods of Rome, however observant he may
be of her laws and other institutions. Religion is her greatest law.'
'These are hard questions,' said the Emperor. 'For, know you not, that
some of our noblest, and fairest, and most beloved, have written
themselves followers of this Gallilean God? How can we deal sharply with
a people, at whose head stands the chief of the noble house of the
Pisos, and a princess of the blood of Palmyra?'
Although Aurelian uttered these words in a manner almost sportive to the
careless ear, yet I confess myself to have noticed at the moment, an
expression of the countenance, and a tone in the voice, which gave me
uneasiness. I was about to speak, when the venerable Tacitus addressed
the Emperor, and said,
'I can never think it wise to interfere with violence, in the matter of
men's worship. It is impossible, I believe, to compel mankind to receive
any one institution of religion, because different tribes of men,
different by nature and by education, will and do demand, not the same,
but different forms of belief and worship. Why should they be alike in
this, while they separate so widely in other matters? and can it be a
more hopeful enterprise to oblige them to submit to the same rules in
their religion, than it would be to compel them to feed on the same
food, and use the same forms of language or dress? I know that former
emperors have thought and acted differently. They have deemed it a
possible thing to restore the ancient unity of worship, by punishing
with severity, by destroying the lives even, of such as should dare to
think for themselves. But their conduct is not to be defended, either as
right in itself or best for the state. It has not been just or wise, as
policy. For is it not evident, how oppression of those who believe
themselves to be possessed of truth important to mankind, serves but to
bind them the more closely to their opinions? Are they, for a little
suffering, to show themselves such cowards as to desert their own
convictions, and prove false to the interests of multitudes? Rather, say
they, let us rejoice, in such a cause, to bear reproach. This is the
language of our nature. Nay, such persons come to prize suffering, to
make it a matter of pride and boasting. Their rank among themselves is,
by and by, determined by the readiness with which they offer themselves
as sacrifices for truth and God. Are such persons to be deterred by
threats, or the actual infliction of punishment?'
'The error has been,' here said the evil-boding Fronto, 'that the
infliction of punishment went not to the extent that is indispensable to
the success of such a work. The noble Piso will excuse me; we are but
dealing with abstractions. Oppress those who are in error, only to a
certain point, not extreme, and it is most true they cling the closer to
their error. We see this in the punishment of children. Their obstinacy
and pride are increased, by a suffering which is slight, and which seems
to say to the parent, 'He is too timid, weak, or loving, to inflict
more.' So too with our slaves. Whose slaves ever rose a second time
against the master's authority, whose first offence, however slight, was
met, not by words or lashes, but by racks and the cross?'
'Nay, good Fronto, hold; your zeal for the gods bears you away beyond
the bounds of courtesy.'
'Forgive me then, great sovereign, and you who are here--if you may; but
neither time nor place shall deter me, a minister of the great god of
light, from asserting the principles upon which his worship rests, and,
as I deem, the Empire itself. Under Decius, had true Romans sat on the
tribunals; had no hearts, too soft for such offices, turned traitors to
the head; had no accursed spirit of avarice received the bribes which
procured security, to individuals, families, and communities; had there
been no commutations of punishment, then--'
'Peace, I say, Fronto; thou marrest the spirit of the hour. How came we
thus again to this point? Such questions are for the Council-room or the
Senate. Yet, truth to say, so stirred seems the mind of this whole
people in the matter, that, in battle, one may as well escape from the
din of clashing arms, or the groans of the dying, as, in Rome, avoid
this argument. Nay, by my sword, not a voice can I hear, either
applauding, disputing, or condemning, since I have set on foot this new
war in the East. Once, the city would have rung with acclamations, that
an army was gathering for such an enterprise. Now, it seems quite
forgotten that Valerian once fell, or that, late though it be, he ought
to be avenged. This Jewish and Christian argument fills all heads, and
clamors on every tongue. Come, let us shake off this dæmon in a new cup,
and drink deep to the revenge of Valerian.'
'And of the gods,' ejaculated Fronto, as he lifted the goblet to his
lips.
'There again?' quickly and sharply demanded Aurelian, bending his dark
brows upon the offender.
'Doubtless,' said Portia, 'he means well, though over zealous, and rash
in speech. His heart, I am sure, seconds not the cruel language of his
tongue. So at least I will believe; and, in the meantime, hope, that the
zeal he has displayed for the ancient religion of our country, may not
be without its use upon some present, who, with what I trust will prove
a brief truancy, have wandered from their household gods, and the
temples of their fathers.'
'May the gods grant it,' added Livia; 'and restore the harmony, which
should reign in our families, and in the capital. Life is over brief to
be passed in quarrel. Now let us abandon our cups. Sir Christian Piso!
lead me to the gardens, and let the others follow as they may our good
example.'
The gardens we found, as we passed from the palace, to be most
brilliantly illuminated with lamps of every form and hue. We seemed
suddenly to have passed to another world, so dream-like was the effect
of the multitudinous lights as they fell with white, red, lurid, or
golden glare, upon bush or tree, grotto, statue, or marble fountain.
'Forget here, Lucius Piso,' said the kind-hearted Livia, 'what you have
just heard from the lips of that harsh bigot, the savage Fronto. Who
could have looked for such madness! Not again, if I possess the power
men say I do, shall he sit at the table of Aurelian. Poor Julia too! But
see! she walks with Tacitus. Wisdom and mercy are married in him, and
both will shed comfort on her.'
'I cannot but lament,' I replied, 'that a creature like Fronto should
have won his way so far into the confidence of Aurelian. But I fear him
not; and do not believe that he will have power to urge the Emperor to
the adoption of measures, to which his own wisdom and native feelings
must stand opposed. The rage of such men as Fronto, and the silent pity
and scorn of men immeasurably his superiors, we have now learned to bear
without complaint, though not without some inward suffering. To be shut
out from the hearts of so many, who once ran to meet us on our approach;
nor only that, but to be held by them as impious and atheistical,
monsters whom the earth is sick of, and whom the gods are besought to
destroy--this is a part of our burden which we feel to be heaviest.
Heaven preserve to us the smiles, and the love of Livia.'
'Doubt not that they will ever be yours. But I trust that sentiments,
like those of Tacitus, will bear sway in the councils of Aurelian, and
that the present calm will not be disturbed.'
Thus conversing, we wandered on, beguiled by such talk, and the
attractive splendors of the garden, till we found ourselves separated,
apparently by some distance, from our other friends; none passed us, and
none met us. We had reached a remote and solitary spot, where fewer
lamps had been hung, and the light was faint and unequal. Not sorry to
be thus alone, we seated ourselves on the low pedestal of a group of
statuary--once the favorite resort of the fair and false Terentia--whose
forms could scarcely be defined, and which was enveloped, at a few paces
distant, with shrubs and flowers, forming a thin wall of partition
between us and another walk, corresponding to the one we were in, but
winding away in a different direction. We had sat not long, either
silent or conversing, ere our attention was caught by the sound of
approaching voices, apparently in earnest discourse. A moment, and we
knew them to be those of Fronto, and Aurelian.
'By the gods, his life shall answer it,' said Aurelian with vehemence,
but with suppressed tones; 'who but he was to observe the omens? Was I
to know, that to-day is the Ides, and to-morrow the day after? The rites
must be postponed.'
'It were better not, in my judgment,' said Fronto, 'all the other signs
are favorable. Never, Papirius assured me, did the sacred chickens seize
so eagerly the crumbs. Many times, as he closely watched, did he observe
them--which is rare--drop them from their mouths overfilled. The times
he has exactly recorded. A rite like this put off, when all Rome is in
expectation, would, in the opinion of all the world, be of a more
unfavorable interpretation, than if more than the day were against us.'
'You counsel well. Let it go on.'
'But to ensure a fortunate event, and propitiate the gods, I would
early, and before the august ceremonies, offer the most costly and
acceptable sacrifice.'
'That were well also. In the prisons there are captives of Germany, of
Gaul, of Egypt, and Palmyra. Take what and as many as you will. If we
ever make sure of the favor of the gods, it is when we offer freely that
which we hold at the highest price.'
'I would rather they were Christians,' urged Fronto.
'That cannot be,' said Aurelian. 'I question if there be a Christian
within the prison walls; and, were there hundreds, it is not a criminal
I would bring to the altar, I would as soon offer a diseased or
ill-shaped bull.'
'But it were an easy matter to seize such as we might want. Not, O
Aurelian, till this accursed race is exterminated, will the heavens
smile as formerly upon our country. Why are the altars thus forsaken?
Why are the temples no longer thronged as once? Why do the great, and
the rich, and the learned, silently withhold their aid, or openly scoff
and jeer? Why are our sanctuaries crowded only by the scum and refuse of
the city?'
'I know not. Question me not thus.'
'Is not the reason palpable and gross to the dullest mind? Is it not
because of the daily growth of this blaspheming and atheistical crew,
who, by horrid arts seduce the young, the timid, and above all the
women, who ever draw the world with them, to join them in their
unhallowed orgies, thus stripping the temples of their worshippers, and
dragging the gods themselves from their seats? Think you the gods look
on with pleasure while their altars and temples are profaned or
abandoned, and a religion, that denies them, rears itself upon their
ruins?'
'I know not. Say no more.'
'Is it possible, religion or the state should prosper, while he, who is
not only Vicegerent of the gods, Universal Monarch, but what is more,
their sworn Pontifex Maximus, connives at the existence and
dissemination of the most dangerous opinions--'
'Thou liest.'
'Harboring even beneath the imperial roof, and feasting at the imperial
table, the very heads and chief ministers of this black mischief--'
'Hold, I say. I swear by all the gods, known and unknown, that another
word, and thy head shall answer it. Is my soul that of a lamb, that I
need this stirring up to deeds of blood? Am I so lame and backward, when
the gods are to be defended, that I am to be thus charged? Let the lion
sleep when he will; chafed too much, and he may spring and slay at
random. I love not the Christians, nor any who flout the gods and their
worship--that thou knowest well. But I love Piso, Aurelia, and the
divine Julia--that thou knowest as well. Now no more.'
'For my life,' said Fronto, 'I hold it cheap, if I may but be faithful
to my office and the gods.'
'I believe it, Fronto. The gods will reward thee. Let us on.'
In the earnestness of their talk they had paused, and stood just before
us, being separated but by a thin screen of shrubs. We continued rooted
to our seats while this conversation went on, held there both by the
impossibility of withdrawing without observation, and by a desire to
hear--I confess it--what was thus in a manner forced upon me, and
concerned so nearly, not only myself, but thousands of my
fellow-Christians.
When they were hidden from us by the winding of the path, we rose and
turned toward the palace.
'That savage!' said Livia. 'How strange, that Aurelian, who knows so
well how to subdue the world, should have so little power to shake off
this reptile.'
'There is power enough,' I replied; 'but alas! I fear the will is
wanting. Superstition is as deep a principle in the breast of Aurelian
as ambition and of that, Fronto is the most fitting high-priest.
Aurelian places him at the head of religion in the state for those very
qualities, whose fierce expression has now made us tremble. Let us hope
that the Emperor will remain where he now is, in a position from which
it seems Fronto is unable to dislodge him, and all will go well.'
We soon reached the palace, where, joining Julia and Portia, our chariot
soon bore us to the Coelian Hill. Farewell.
LETTER IV.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
I promised you, Fausta, before the news should reach you in any other
way, to relate the occurrences and describe the ceremonies of the day
appointed for the dedication of the new Temple of the Sun. The day has
now passed, not without incidents of even painful interest to ourselves
and therefore to you, and I sit down to fulfil my engagements.
Vast preparations had been making for the occasion, for many days or
even months preceding, and the day arose upon a city full of expectation
of the shows, ceremonies, and games, that were to reward their long and
patient waiting. For the season of the year the day was hot, unnaturally
so; and the sky filled with those massive clouds, piled like mountains
of snow one upon another, which, while they both please the eye by their
forms, and veil the fierce splendors of the sun, as they now and then
sail across his face, at the same time portend wind and storm. All Rome
was early astir. It was ushered in by the criers traversing the streets,
and proclaiming the rites and spectacles of the day, what they were, and
where to be witnessed, followed by troops of boys, imitating, in their
grotesque way, the pompous declarations of the men of authority, not
unfrequently drawing down upon their heads the curses and the batons of
the insulted dignitaries. A troop of this sort passed the windows of
the room in which Julia and I were sitting at our morning meal. As the
crier ended his proclamation, and the shouts of the applauding urchins
died away, Milo, who is our attendant in preference to any and all
others, observed,
'That the fellow of a crier deserved to have his head beat about with
his own rod, for coming round with his news not till after the greatest
show of the day was over.'
'What mean you?' I asked. 'Explain.'
'What should I mean,' he replied, 'but the morning sacrifice at the
temple.'
'And what so wonderful,' said Julia, 'in a morning sacrifice? The
temples are open every morning, are they not?'
'Yes, truly are they,' rejoined Milo; 'but not for so great a purpose,
nor witnessed by so great crowds. Curio wished me to have been there,
and says nothing could have been more propitious. They died as the gods
love to have them.'
'Was there no bellowing nor struggling, then?' said Julia.
'Neither, Curio assures me; but they met the knife of the priest as they
would the sword of an enemy on the field of battle.'
'How say you?' said Julia, quickly, turning pale; 'do I hear aright,
Milo, or are you mocking? God forbid that you should speak of a human
sacrifice.'
'It is even so, mistress. And why should it not be so? If the favor of
the gods, upon whom we all depend, as the priests tell us, is to be
purchased so well in no other way, what is the life of one man, or of
many, in such a cause? The great Gallienus, when his life had been less
ordered than usual after the rules of temperance and religion, used to
make amends by a few captives slain to Jupiter; to which, doubtless, may
be ascribed his prosperous reign. But, as I was saying, there was, so
Curio informed me at the market not long afterwards, a sacrifice, on the
private altar of the temple, of ten captives. Their blood flowed just as
the great god of the temple showed himself in the horizon. It would have
done you good, Curio said, to see with what a hearty and dexterous zeal
Fronto struck the knife into their hearts--for to no inferior minister
would he delegate the sacred office.'
'Lucius,' cried Julia, 'I thought that such offerings were now no more.
Is it so, that superstition yet delights itself in the blood of murdered
men?'
'It is just so,' I was obliged to reply. 'With a people naturally more
gentle and humane than we of Rome this custom would long ago have fallen
into disuse. They would have easily found a way, as all people do, to
conform their religious doctrine and offerings to their feelings and
instincts. But the Romans, by nature and long training, lovers of blood,
their country built upon the ruins of others, and cemented with
blood--the taste for it is not easily eradicated. There are temples
where human sacrifices have never ceased. Laws have restrained their
frequency--have forbidden them, under heaviest penalties, unless
permitted by the state--but these laws ever have been, and are now
evaded; and it is the settled purpose of Fronto, and others of his
stamp, to restore to them their lost honors, and make them again, as
they used to be, the chief rite in the worship of the gods. I am not
sorry, Julia, that your doubts, though so painfully, have yet been so
effectually, removed.'
Julia had for some time blamed, as over-ardent, the zeal of the
Christians. She had thought that the evil of the existing superstitions
was over-estimated, and that it were wiser to pursue a course of more
moderation; that a system that nourished such virtues as she found in
Portia, in Tacitus, and others like them, could not be so corrupting in
its power as the Christians were in the habit of representing it; that
if we could succeed in substituting Christianity quietly, without
alienating the affections, or shocking too violently the prejudices, of
the believers in the prevailing superstitions, our gain would be double.
To this mode of arguing I knew she was impelled, by her love and almost
reverence for Portia; and how could I blame it, springing from such a
cause? I had, almost criminally, allowed her to blind herself in a way
she never would have done, had her strong mind acted, as on other
subjects, untrammelled and free. I was not sorry that Milo had brought
before her mind a fact which, however revolting in its horror to such a
nature as hers, could not but heal while it wounded.
'Milo,' said Julia, as I ended, 'say now that you have been jesting;
that this is a piece of wit with which you would begin in a suitable way
an extraordinary day; this is one of your Gallienus fictions.'
'Before the gods,' replied Milo, 'I have told you the naked truth. But
not the whole; for Curio left me not till he had shown how each had
died. Of the ten, but three, he averred, resisted, or died unwillingly.
The three were Germans from beyond the Danube--brothers, he said, who
had long lain in prison till their bones were ready to start through the
skin. Yet were they not ready to die. It seemed as if there were
something they longed--more even than for life or freedom--to say; but
they might as well have been dumb and tongueless, for none understood
their barbarous jargon. When they found that their words were in vain,
they wrung their hands in their wo, and cried out aloud in their agony.
Then, however, at the stern voice of Fronto, warning them of the hour,
they ceased--embraced each other, and received the fatal blow; the
others signified their pleasure at dying so, rather than to be thrown to
wild beasts, or left to die by slow degrees within their dungeon's
walls. Two rejoiced that it was their fate to pour out their blood upon
the altar of a god, and knelt devoutly before the uplifted knife of
Fronto. Never, said Curio, was there a more fortunate offering. Aurelian
heard the report of it with lively joy, and said that 'now all would go
well.' Curio is a good friend of mine; will it please you to hear these
things from his own lips?'
'No,' said Julia; 'I would hear no more. I have heard more than enough.
How needful, Lucius, if these things are so, that our Christian zeal
abate not! I see that this stern and bloody faith requires that they who
would deal with it must carry their lives in their hand, ready to part
with nothing so easily, if by so doing they can hew away one of the
branches, or tear up one of the roots of this ancient and pernicious
error. I blame not Probus longer--no, nor the wild rage of Macer.'
'Two, lady, of the captives were of Palmyra; the Queen's name and yours
were last upon their lips.'
'Great God! how retribution like a dark pursuing shadow hangs upon the
steps of guilt! Even here it seeks us. Alas, my mother! Heaven grant
that these things fall not upon your ears!'