her hands, and weeping. I motioned to Milo to withdraw and say no more.
Upon Julia, although so innocent of all wrong--guiltless as an infant of
the blame, whatever it may be, which the world fixes upon Zenobia--yet
upon her, as heavily as upon her great mother, fall the sorrows, which,
sooner or later, overtake those, who, for any purpose, in whatever
degree selfish, have involved their fellow-creatures in useless
suffering. Being part of the royal house, Julia feels that she must bear
her portion of its burdens. Time alone can cure this grief.
But you are waiting, with a woman's impatient curiosity, to hear of the
dedication.
At the appointed hour, we were at the palace of Aurelian on the
Palatine, where a procession pompous as art, and rank, and numbers could
make it, was formed, to move thence by a winding and distant way to the
temple near the foot of the Quirinal. Julia repaired with Portia to a
place of observation near the temple--I to the palace, to join the
company of the Emperor. Of the gorgeous magnificence of the procession I
shall tell you nothing. It was in extent, and variety of pomp and
costliness of decoration, a copy of that of the late triumph; and went
even beyond the captivating splendor of the example. Roman music--which
is not that of Palmyra--lent such charms as it could to our passage
through the streets to the temple, from a thousand performers.
As we drew near to the lofty fabric, I thought that no scene of such
various beauty and magnificence had ever met my eye. The temple itself
is a work of unrivalled art. In size it surpasses any other building of
the same kind in Rome, and for excellence of workmanship and purity of
design, although it may fall below the standard of Hadrian's age, yet,
for a certain air of grandeur, and luxuriance of invention in its
details, and lavish profusion of embellishment in gold and silver, no
temple, nor other edifice, of any preceding age, ever perhaps resembled
it. Its order is the Corinthian, of the Roman form, and the entire
building is surrounded by its graceful columns, each composed of a
single piece of marble. Upon the front, is wrought Apollo surrounded by
the Hours. The western extremity is approached by a flight of steps, of
the same breadth as the temple itself. At the eastern, there extends
beyond the walls, to a distance equal to the length of the building, a
marble platform, upon which stands the altar of sacrifice, which is
ascended by various flights of steps, some little more than a gently
rising plain, up which the beasts are led that are destined to the
altar.
When this vast extent of wall and column, of the most dazzling
brightness, came into view, everywhere covered, together with the
surrounding temples, palaces, and theatres, with a dense mass of human
beings, of all climes and regions, dressed out in their richest
attire--music from innumerable instruments filling the heavens with
harmony--shouts of the proud and excited populace, every few moments,
and from different points, as Aurelian advanced, shaking the air with
their thrilling din--added to, still further, by the neighing of horses,
and the frequent blasts of the trumpet--the whole made more solemnly
imposing by the vast masses of clouds which swept over the sky, now
suddenly unveiling, and again eclipsing, the sun, the great god of this
idolatry, and from which few could withdraw their gaze;--when, at once,
this all broke upon my eye and ear, I was like a child who, before, had
never seen aught but his own village, and his own rural temple, in the
effect wrought upon me, and the passiveness with which I abandoned
myself to the sway of the senses. Not one there, was more ravished than
I was, by the outward circumstance and show. I thought of Rome's
thousand years, of her power, her greatness, and universal empire, and,
for a moment, my step was not less proud than that of Aurelian.
But, after that moment, when the senses had had their fill, when the eye
had seen the glory, and the ear had fed upon the harmony and the praise,
then I thought and felt very differently. Sorrow and compassion for
these gay multitudes were at my heart; prophetic forebodings of
disaster, danger, and ruin to those, to whose sacred cause I had linked
myself, made my tongue to falter in its speech, and my limbs to tremble.
I thought that the superstition, that was upheld by the wealth and the
power, whose manifestations were before me, had its roots in the very
centre of the earth--far too deep down for a few like myself ever to
reach them. I was like one, whose last hope of life and escape is
suddenly struck away.
I was aroused from these meditations, by our arrival at the eastern
front of the temple. Between the two central columns, on a throne of
gold and ivory, sat the Emperor of the world, surrounded by the senate,
the colleges of augurs and haruspices, and by the priests of the various
temples of the capital, all in their peculiar costume. Then, Fronto, the
priest of the temple, standing at the altar, glittering in his white and
golden robes like a messenger of light--when the crier had proclaimed
that the hour of worship and sacrifice had come, and had commanded
silence to be observed--bared his head, and, lifting his face up toward
the sun, offered, in clear and sounding tones, the prayer of dedication.
As he came toward the close of his prayer, he, as is so usual, with loud
and almost frantic cries, and importunate repetition, called upon all
the gods to hear him, and then, with appropriate names and praises,
invoked the Father of gods and men to be present.
Just as he had thus solemnly invoked Jupiter by name, and was about to
call upon the other gods in the same manner, the clouds, which had been
deepening and darkening, suddenly obscured the sun; a distant peal of
thunder rolled along the heavens; and, at the same moment, from out the
dark recesses of the temple, a voice of preternatural power came forth,
proclaiming, so that the whole multitude heard the words,--'God is but
one; the King eternal, immortal, invisible.'
It is impossible to describe the horror that seized those multitudes.
Many cried out with fear, and each seemed to shrink behind the other.
Paleness sat upon every face. The priest paused as if struck by a power
from above. Even the brazen Fronto was appalled. Aurelian leaped from
his seat, and by his countenance, white and awe-struck, showed that to
him it came as a voice from the gods. He spoke not; but stood gazing at
the dark entrance into the temple, from which the sound had come. Fronto
hastily approached him, and whispering but one word as it were into his
ear, the Emperor started; the spell that bound him was dissolved; and,
recovering himself--making indeed as though a very different feeling had
possessed him--cried out in fierce tones to his guards,
'Search the temple; some miscreant, hid away among the columns, profanes
thus the worship and the place. Seize him, and drag him forth to instant
death.'
The guards of the Emperor, and the servants of the temple, rushed in at
that bidding, and searched in every part the interior of the building.
They soon emerged, saying that the search was fruitless. The temple, in
all its aisles and apartments, was empty.
The ceremonies, quiet being again restored, then went on. Twelve bulls,
of purest white and of perfect forms, their horns bound about with
fillets, were now led by the servants of the temple up the marble steps
to the front of the altar, where stood the cultrarii and haruspices,
ready to slay them and examine their entrails. The omens,--as gathered
by the eyes of all from the fierce strugglings and bellowings of the
animals, as they were led toward the place of sacrifice, some even
escaping from the hands of those who had the management of them, and
from the violent and convulsive throes of others as the blow fell upon
their heads, or the knife severed their throats,--were of the darkest
character, and brought a deep gloom upon the brow of the Emperor. The
report of the haruspices, upon examination of the entrails, was little
calculated to remove that gloom. It was for the most part unfavorable.
Especially appalling was the sight of a heart, so lean and withered,
that it scarce seemed possible that it should ever have formed a part of
a living animal. But more harrowing than all, was the voice of Fronto,
who, prying with the haruspices into the smoking carcass of one of the
slaughtered bulls, suddenly cried out with horror, that 'no heart was to
be found.'
The Emperor, hardly to be restrained by those near him from some
expression of anger, ordered a more diligent search to be made.
'It is not in nature that such a thing should be,' he said. 'Men are, in
truth, sometimes without hearts; but brutes, as I think, never.'
The report was however confidently confirmed. Fronto himself approached,
and said that his eye had from the first been upon the beast, and the
exact truth had been stated.
The carcasses, such parts as were for the flames, were then laid upon
the vast altar, and the flames of the sacrifice ascended.
The heavens were again obscured by thick clouds, which, accumulating
into heavy volumes, began now, nearer and nearer, to shoot forth
lightning, and roll their thunders. The priest commenced the last
office, prayer to the god to whom the new temple had been thus solemnly
consecrated. He again bowed his head, and again lifted up his voice. But
no sooner had he invoked the god of the temple and besought his ear,
than again, from its dark interior, the same awful sounds issued forth,
this time saying, 'Thy gods, O Rome, are false and lying gods. God is
but one.'
Aurelian, pale, as it seemed to me; with superstitious fear, again
strove to shake it off, giving it artfully and with violence the
appearance of offended dignity. His voice was a shriek rather than a
human utterance, as he cried out,
'This is but a Christian device; search the temple till the accursed
Nazarene be found, and hew him piecemeal--' More he would have said,
but, at the instant, a bolt of lightning shot from the heavens, and,
lighting upon a large sycamore which shaded a part of the temple court,
clove it in twain. The swollen cloud, at the same moment, burst, and a
deluge of rain poured upon the city, the temple, the gazing multitude,
and the just kindled altars. The sacred fires went out in hissing and
darkness; a tempest of wind whirled the limbs of the slaughtered victims
into the air, and abroad over the neighboring streets. All was
confusion, uproar, terror, and dismay. The crowds sought safety in the
houses of the nearest inhabitants, in the porches, and in the palaces.
Aurelian and the senators and those nearest him, fled to the interior of
the temple. The heavens blazed with the quick flashing of the lightning,
and the temple itself seemed to rock beneath the voice of the thunder. I
never knew in Rome so terrific a tempest. The stoutest trembled, for
life hung by a thread. Great numbers, it has now been found, in every
part of the capital, fell a prey to the fiery bolts. The capital itself
was struck, and the brass statue of Vespasian in the forum thrown down
and partly melted. The Tiber in a few hours overran its banks, and laid
much of the city on its borders under water.
But, ere long, the storm was over. The retreating clouds, but still
sullenly muttering in the distance as they rolled away, were again
lighted up by the sun, who again shone forth in his splendor. The
scattered limbs of the victims were collected and again laid upon the
altar. Dry wood being brought, the flames quickly shot upward and
consumed to the last joint and bone the sacred offerings. Fronto once
more stood before the altar, and now uninterrupted performed the last
office of the ceremony. Then, around the tables spread within the temple
to the honor of the gods, feasting upon the luxuries contributed by
every quarter of the earth, and filling high with wine, the adverse
omens of the day were by most forgotten. But not by Aurelian. No smile
was seen to light up his dark countenance. The jests of Varus and the
wisdom of Porphyrius alike failed to reach him. Wrapped in his own
thoughts, he brooded gloomily over what had happened, and strove to read
the interpretation of portents so unusual and alarming.
I went not in to the feast, but returned home reflecting as I went upon
the events I had witnessed. I knew not what to think. That in times
past, long after the departure from the earth of Jesus and his immediate
followers, the Deity had interposed in seasons of peculiar perplexity to
the church, and, in a way to be observed, had manifested his power, I
did not doubt. But for a long time such revelations had wholly ceased.
And I could not see any such features in the present juncture, as would,
to speak as a man, justify and vindicate a departure from the ordinary
methods of the Divine Providence. But then, on the other hand, I could
not otherwise account for the voice, nor discover any way in which, had
one been so disposed, he could so successfully and securely have
accomplished his work. Revolving these things, and perplexed by doubts,
I reached the Coelian--when, as I entered my dwelling, I found, to my
great satisfaction, Probus seated with Julia, who at an early period,
foreseeing the tempest, had with Portia withdrawn to the security of her
own roof.
'I am glad you are come at length,' said Julia as I entered; 'our friend
has scarce spoken. I should think, did I not know the contrary, that he
had suddenly abandoned the service of truth and become a disciple of
Novatus. He hath done little but groan and sigh.'
'Surely,' I replied, 'the occasion warrants both sighs and groans. But
when came you from the temple?'
'On the appearance of the storm, just as Fronto approached the altar the
first time. The signs were not to be mistaken, by any who were not so
much engrossed by the scene as to be insensible to all else, that a
tempest was in the sky, and would soon break upon the crowds in a deluge
of rain and hail--as has happened. So that warning Portia of the danger,
we early retreated--she with reluctance; but for myself, I was glad to
be driven away from a scene that brought so vividly before me the events
of the early morning.'
'I am glad it was so,' I replied; 'you would have been more severely
tried, had you remained.' And I then gave an account of the occurrences
of the day.
'I know not what to make of it,' she said as I ended 'Probus, teach us
what to think. I am bewildered and amazed.'
'Lady,' said Probus, 'the Christian service is a hard one.'
'I have not found it so, thus far; but, on the other hand, a light and
easy one.'
'But the way is not ever so smooth, and the path, once entered upon,
there is no retreat.'
'No roughness nor peril, Probus, be they what they may, can ever shake
me. It is for eternity I have embraced this faith, not for time--for my
soul, not for my body.'
'God be thanked that it is so. But the evils and sorrows that time has
in store, and which afflict the body, are not slight. And sometimes they
burst forth from the overburdened clouds in terrific violence, and poor
human strength sinks and trembles, as to-day before the conflict of the
elements.'
'They would find me strong in spirit and purpose, I am sure, Probus,
however my woman's frame of flesh might yield. No fear can change my
mind, nor tear me from the hopes which through Christ I cherish more, a
thousand fold, than this life of an hour.'
'Why, why is it so ordained in the Providence of God,' said Probus,
'that truth must needs be watered with tears and blood, ere it will grow
and bear fruit? When, as now, the sky is dark and threatening, and the
mind is thronged with fearful anticipations of the sorrows that await
those who hold this faith, how can I, with a human heart within me,
labor to convert the unbelieving? The words falter upon my tongue. I
turn from the young inquirer, and with some poor reason put him off to
another season. When I preach, it is with a coldness that must repel,
and it is that which I almost desire to be the effect. My prayers never
reach heaven, nor the consciences of those who hear. Probus, they say,
is growing worldly. His heart burns no longer within him. His zeal is
cold. We must look to Macer. I fear, lady, that the reproaches are well
deserved. Not that I am growing worldly or cold, but that my human
affections lead me away from duty, and make me a traitor to truth, and
my master.'
'O no, Probus,' said Julia; 'these are charges foolish and false. There
is not a Christian in Rome but would say so. We all rest upon you.'
'Then upon what a broken reed! I am glad it was not I who made you a
Christian.'
'Do you grieve to have been a benefactor?'
'Almost, when I see the evils which are to overwhelm the believer. I
look round upon my little flock of hearers, and I seem to see them led
as lambs to the slaughter--poor, defenceless creatures, set upon by
worse than lions and wolves. And you, lady of Piso, how can I sincerely
rejoice that you have added your great name to our humble roll, when I
think of what may await you. Is that form to be dragged with violence
amid the hootings of the populace to the tribunal of the beast Varus?
Are those limbs for the rack or the fire?'
'I trust in God they are not, Probus. But if they are needed, they are
little to give for that which has made me so rich, and given wings to
the soul. I can spare the body, now that the soul can live without it.'
'There spoke the universal Christian! What but truth could so change our
poor human nature into somewhat quite divine and godlike! Think not I
shrink myself at the prospect of obstruction and assault. I am a man
loose upon the world, weaned by suffering and misfortune from earth,
and ready at any hour to depart from it. You know my early story. But I
in vain seek to steel myself to the pains of others. From what I have
said, I fear lest you should think me over-apprehensive. I wish it were
so. But all seems at this moment to be against us.'
'More then,' said Julia, 'must have come to your ears than to ours. When
last we sat with the Emperor at his table, he seemed well inclined. And
when urged by Fronto, rebuked him even with violence.'
'Yes, it was so.'
'Is it then from the scenes of to-day at the temple that you draw fresh
omens of misfortune? I have asked you what we should think of them.'
'I almost tremble to say. I stood, Piso, not far from you, upon the
lower flight of steps, where I think you observed me.'
'I did. And at the sound of that voice from the temple, methought your
face was paler than Aurelian's. Why was that?'
'Because, Piso, I knew the voice.'
'Knew it! What mean you?'
'Repeat it not--let it sink into your ear, and there abide. It was
Macer's.'
'Macer's? Surely you jest.'
'Alas! I wish it were a jest. But his tones were no more to be mistaken
than were the thunder's.'
'This, should it be known, would, it is plain to see, greatly exasperate
Aurelian. It would be more than enough for Fronto to work his worst ends
with. His suspicions at once fell upon the Christians.'
'That,' said Probus, 'was, I am confident, an artifice. The countenance,
struck with superstitious horror, is not to be read amiss. Seen, though
but for a moment, and the signature is upon it, one and unequivocal. But
with quick instinct the wily priest saw his advantage, seized it, and,
whether believing or not himself, succeeded in poisoning the mind of
Aurelian and that of the multitude. So great was the commotion among the
populace, that, but for the tempest, I believe scarce would the legions
of the Emperor have saved us from slaughter upon the spot. Honest,
misguided Macer--little dost thou know how deep a wound thou hast struck
into the very dearest life of the truth, for which thou wouldst yet at
any moment thyself freely suffer and die!'
'What,' said Julia, 'could have moved him to such madness?'
'With him,' replied Probus, 'it was a deed of piety and genuine zeal for
God; he saw it in the light of an act god-like, and god-directed. Could
you read his heart, you would find it calm and serene, in the
consciousness of a great duty greatly performed. It is very possible he
may have felt himself to be but an instrument in the hand of a higher
power, to whom he gives all the glory and the praise. There are many
like him, lady, both among Christians and Pagans. The sybils impose not
so much upon others as upon themselves. They who give forth the
responses of the oracle, oft-times believe that they are in very truth
full of the god, and speak not their own thoughts, but the inspirations
of him whose priests they are. To themselves more than to others are
they impostors. The conceit of the peculiar favor of God, or of the gods
in return for extraordinary devotion, is a weakness that besets our
nature wherever it is found. An apostle perhaps never believed in his
inspiration more firmly than at times does Macer, and others among us
like him. But this inward solitary persuasion we know is nothing,
however it may carry away captive the undiscriminating multitude.'
'Hence, Probus, then, I suppose, the need of some outward act of an
extraordinary nature to show the inspiration real.'
'Yes,' he replied. 'No assertion of divine impulses or revelations can
avail to persuade us of their reality, except supported and confirmed by
miracle. That, and that only, proves the present God. Christ would have
died without followers had he exhibited to the world only his character
and his truth, even though he had claimed, and claimed truly, a descent
from and communion with the Deity. Men would have said, 'This is an old
and common story. We see every day and everywhere those who affect
divine aid. No act is so easy as to deceive one's self. If you propose a
spiritual moral system and claim for it a divine authority, show your
authority by a divine work, a work impossible to man, and we will then
admit your claims. But your own inward convictions alone, sincere as
they may be, and possibly founded in truth, pass with us for nothing.
Raise one that was dead to life, and we will believe you when you reveal
to us the spiritual world and the life to come.'
'I think,' said Julia, 'such would be the process in my own mind. There
seems the same natural and necessary connection here between spiritual
truths and outward acts, as between the forms of letters or the sound
of words, and ideas. We receive the most subtle of Plato's reasonings
through words--those miracles of material help--which address themselves
to the eye or ear. So we receive the truths of Jesus through the eye
witnessing his works, or the ear hearing the voice from Heaven.--But we
wander from Macer, in whom, from what you have told us, and Piso has
known, we both feel deeply interested. Can he not be drawn away from
those fancies which possess him? 'Tis a pity we should lose so strong an
advocate, to some minds so resistless, nor only that, but suffer injury
from his extravagance.'
'It is our purpose,' I replied, 'to visit him to try what effect earnest
remonstrance and appeal may have. Soon as I shall return from my
promised and now necessary visit to Marcus and Lucilia, I shall not
fail, Probus, to request you to accompany me to his dwelling.'
'Does he dwell far from us?' asked Julia.
'His house, if house it may be called,' replied Probus, 'is in a narrow
street, which runs just behind the shop of Demetrius, midway between the
Capitol and the Quirinal. It is easily found by first passing the shop
and then descending quick to the left--the street Janus, our friend
Isaac's street, turning off at the same point to the right. At Macer's,
should your feet ever be drawn that way, you would see how and in what
crowded space the poor live in Rome.'
'Has he then a family, as your words seem to imply?'
'He has; and one more lovely dwells not within the walls of Rome. In his
wife and elder children, as I have informed Piso, we shall find warm and
eloquent advocates on our side. They tremble for their husband and
father, whom they reverence and love, knowing his impetuosity, his
fearlessness and his zeal. Many an assault has he already brought upon
himself, and is destined, I fear, to draw down many more and heavier.'
'Heaven shield them all from harm,' said Julia. 'Are they known to
Demetrius? His is a benevolent heart, and he would rejoice to do them a
service. No one is better known too or respected than the Roman
Demetrius: his name merely would be a protection.'