truth which now holds him captive. Their near neighborhood brought them
often together. Demetrius was impressed by the ardor and evident
sincerity so visible in the conversation and manners of Macer; and Macer
was drawn toward Demetrius by the cast of melancholy--that sober,
thoughtful air--that separates him so from his mercurial brother, and
indeed from all. He wished he were a Christian. And by happy accidents
being thrown together--or rather drawn by some secret bond of
attraction--he in no long time had the happiness to see him one. From
the hand of Felix he received the waters of baptism.'
'What you have said, Probus, gives me great pleasure. I am not only now
sure that Macer and his little tribe have a friend at hand, but the
knowledge that such a mind as that of Demetrius has been wrought upon by
Macer, has served to raise him in my esteem and respect. He can be no
common man, and surely no madman.'
'The world ever loves to charge those as mad,' said Probus, 'who, in
devotion to a great cause, exceed its cold standard of moderation.
Singular, that excess virtue should incur this reproach, while excess
in vice is held but as a weakness of our nature!'
We were here interrupted by Milo, who came to conduct us to the supper
room; and there our friendly talk was prolonged far into the night.
When I next write, I shall have somewhat to say of Marcus, Lucilia, and
the little Gallus. How noble and generous in the Queen, her magnificent
gift! When summer comes round again, I shall not fail, together with
Julia, to see you there. How many recollections will come thronging upon
me when I shall again find myself in the court of the Elephant, sitting
where I once sat so often and listened to the voice of Longinus. May you
see there many happy years. Farewell.
* * * * *
Nothing could exceed the sensation caused in Rome by the voice heard at
the dedication, and among the adherents of the popular faith, by the
unlucky omens of the day and of the sacrifice. My office at that time
called me often to the capital, and to the palace of Aurelian, and threw
me frequently into his company and that of Livia. My presence was little
heeded by the Emperor, who, of a bold and manly temper, spoke out with
little reserve, and with no disguise or fear, whatever sentiments
possessed him. From such opportunities, and from communications of
Menestheus, the secretary of Aurelian, little took place at the palace
which came not to my knowledge. The morning succeeding the dedication I
had come to the city bringing a packet from the Queen to the Empress
Livia. While I waited in the common reception room of the palace, I took
from a case standing there, a volume and read. As I read, I presently
was aroused by the sound of Aurelian's voice. It was as if engaged in
earnest conversation. He soon entered the apartment accompanied by the
priest of the new temple.
'There is something,' he said as he drew near, 'in this combination of
unlucky signs that might appal a stouter spirit than mine. This too,
after a munificence toward not one only but all the temples, never I am
sure surpassed. Every god has been propitiated by gifts and appropriate
rites. How can all this be interpreted other than most darkly--other
than as a general hostility--and a discouragement from an enterprise
upon which I would found my glory. This has come most unlooked for. I
confess myself perplexed. I have openly proclaimed my purpose--the word
has gone abroad and travelled by this to the court of Persia itself,
that with all Rome at my back I am once more to tempt the deserts of the
East.'
He here suddenly paused, being reminded by Fronto of my presence.
'Ah, it matters not;' he said; 'this is but Nichomachus, the good
servant of the Queen of Palmyra. I hope,' he said, turning to me, 'that
the Queen is well, and the young Faustula?'
'They are well,' I replied.
'How agree with her these cooler airs of the west? These are not the
breezes of Arabia, that come to-day from the mountains.'
'She heeds them little,' I replied, 'her thoughts are engrossed by
heavier cares.'
'They must be fewer now than ever.'
'They are fewer, but they are heavier and weigh upon her life more than
the whole East once did. The remembrance of a single great disaster
weighs as a heavier burden than the successful management of an empire.'
'True, Nichomachus, that is over true.' Then, without further regarding
me, he went on with his conversation with Fronto.
'I cannot,' he said, 'now go back; and to go forward may be
persumptuous.'
'I cannot but believe, great Emperor,' said Fronto, 'that I have it in
my power to resolve your doubts, and set your mind at ease.'
'Rest not then,' said Aurelian with impatience--'but say on.'
'You sought the gods and read the omens with but one prayer and thought.
And you have construed them as all bearing upon one point and having one
significancy--because you have looked in no other direction. I believe
they bear upon a different point, and that when you look behind and
before, you will be of the same judgment.'
'Whither tends all this?'
'To this--that the omens of the day bear not upon your eastern
expedition, but upon the new religion! You are warned as the great high
priest, by these signs in heaven and on earth--not against this
projected expedition, which is an act of piety,--but against this
accursed superstition, which is working its way into the empire, and
threatening the extermination and overthrow of the very altars on which
you laid your costly offerings. What concern can the divinities feel in
the array of an army, destined to whatever service, compared with that
which must agitate their sacred breasts as they behold their altars cast
down or forsaken, their names profaned, their very being denied, their
worshippers drawn from them to the secret midnight orgies of a tribe of
Atheists, whose aim is anarchy in the state and in religion; owning
neither king on earth nor king in heaven--every man to be his own
priest--every man his own master! Is not this the likeliest reading of
the omens?'
'I confess, Fronto,' the Emperor replied, the cloud upon his brow
clearing away as he spoke, 'that what you say possesses likelihood. I
believe I have interpreted according to my fears. It is as you say--the
East only has been in my thoughts. It cannot in reason be thought to be
this enterprize, which, as you have said, is an act of piety--all Rome
would judge it so--against which the heavens have thus arrayed
themselves. Fronto! Fronto! I am another man! Slave,' cried he aloud to
one of the menials as he passed, 'let Mucapor be instantly summoned. Let
there be no delay. Now can my affairs be set on with something more of
speed. When the gods smile, mountains sink to mole-hills. A divine
energy runs in the current of the blood and lends more than mortal force
to the arm and the will.'
As he spoke, never did so malignant a joy light up the human countenance
as was to be seen in the face of Fronto.
'And what then,' he hastily put in as the Emperor paused, 'what shall be
done with these profane wretches?'
'The Christians! They must be seen to. I will consider. Now, Fronto,
shall I fill to the brim the cup of human glory. Now shall Rome by me
vindicate her lost honor and wipe off the foulest stain that since the
time of Romulus has darkened her annals.'
'You will do yourself and the empire,' rejoined the priest, 'immortal
honor. If danger ever threatened the very existence of the state it is
now from the secret machinations of this god-denying tribe.'
'I spake of the East and of Valerian, Fronto. Syria is now Rome's.
Palmyra, that mushroom of a day, is level with the ground. Her life is
out. She will be hereafter known but by the fame of her past greatness,
of her matchless Queen, and the glory of the victories that crowned the
arms of Aurelian. What now remains but Persia?'
'The Christians,' said the priest, shortly and bitterly.
'You are right, Fronto; the omens are not to be read otherwise. It is
against them they point. It shall be maturely weighed what shall be
done. When Persia is swept from the field, and Ctesiphon lies as low as
Palmyra, then will I restore the honor of the gods, and let who will
dare to worship other than as I shall ordain! Whoever worships them not,
or other than them, shall die.'
'In that spoke the chief minister of religion--the representative of the
gods. The piety of Aurelian is in the mouths of men not less than his
glory. The city resounds with the praise of him who has enriched the
temples, erected new ones, made ample provision for the priesthood, and
fed the poor. This is the best greatness. Posterity will rather honor
and remember him who saved them their faith, than him who gained a
Persian victory. The victory for Religion too is to be had without cost,
without a step taken from the palace gate or from the side of her who
is alike Aurelian's and the empire's boast.'
'Nay, nay, Fronto, you are over-zealous. This eastern purpose admits not
of delay. Hormisdas is new in his power. The people are restless and
divided. The present is the moment of success. It cannot bear delay.
To-morrow, could it be so, would I start for Thrace. The heavens are
propitious. They frown no longer.'
'The likeliest way, methinks,' replied the priest, 'to insure success
and the continued favor of the gods in that which they do not forbid,
were first to fulfil their commands in what they have enjoined.'
'That, Fronto, cannot be denied. It is of weight. But where, of two
commands, both seem alike urgent, and both cannot be done at once,
whether we will or not, we must choose, and in choosing we may err.'
'To an impartial, pious mind, O Emperor, the god of thy worship never
shone more clear in the heavens than shines his will in the terrific
signs of yesterday. Forgive thy servant, but drawn as thou art by the
image of fresh laurels of victory to be bound about thy brow, of the
rich spoils of Persia, of its mighty monarch at thy chariot wheels, and
the long line of a new triumph sweeping through the gates and the great
heart of the capital,--and thou art blind to the will of the gods,
though writ in the dread convulsions of the elements and the unerring
language of the slaughtered victims.'
'Both may be done--both, Fronto. I blame not your zeal. Your freedom
pleases me. Religion is thus, I know, in good hands. But both I say may
be done. The care of the empire in this its other part may be left to
thee and Varus, with full powers to see that the state, in the matter of
its faith, receives no harm. Your knowledge in this, if not your zeal,
is more than mine. While I meet the enemies of Rome abroad, you shall be
my other self, and gain other victories at home.'
'Little, I fear, Aurelian, could be done even by me and Varus leagued,
with full delegated powers, opposed as we should be by Tacitus and the
senate and the best half of Rome. None, but an arm omnipotent as thine,
can crush this mischief. I see thou knowest not how deep it has struck,
nor how wide it has spread. The very foundations of the throne and the
empire are undermined. The poison of Christian atheism has infected the
whole mind of the people, not only throughout Rome, but Italy, Gaul,
Africa, and Asia. And for this we have to thank whom? Whom but
ourselves? Ever since Hadrian--otherwise a patriot king--built his
imageless temples, in imitation of this barren and lifeless worship;
ever since the weak Alexander and his superstitious mother filled the
imperial palace with their statues of Christ, with preachers and
teachers of his religion; ever since the Philips openly and without
shame professed his faith; ever, I say, since these great examples have
been before the world, has the ancient religion declined its head, and
the new stalked proudly by. Let not Aurelian's name be added to this
fatal list. Let him first secure the honor of the gods--then, and not
till then, seek his own.'
'You urge with warmth, Fronto, and with reason too. Your words are not
wasted; they have fallen where they shall be deeply pondered. In the
meantime I will wait for the judgment of the augurs and haruspices; and
as the colleges report, will hold myself bound so to act.'
So they conversed, and then passed on. I was at that time but little
conversant with the religious condition of the empire. I knew but little
of the character of the prevailing faith and the Pagan priesthood; and I
knew less of the new religion as it was termed. But the instincts of my
heart were from the gods, and they were all for humanity. I loved man,
whoever he was, and of whatever name or faith; and I sickened at
cruelties perpetrated against him, both in war, and by the bloody spirit
of superstition. I burned with indignation therefore as I listened to
the cold-blooded arguings of the bigoted priest, and wept to see how
artfully he could warp aside the better nature of Aurelian, and pour his
own venom into veins, that had else run with human blood, at least not
with the poisoned current of tigers, wolves, and serpents, of every name
and nature most vile. My hope was that, away from his prompter, the
first purpose of Aurelian would return and have its way.
LETTER V.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
I am now returned from my long intended visit to the villa of Marcus,
and have much to say concerning it.
But, first of all, rejoice with me in a fresh demonstration of good
will, on the part of Aurelian towards Zenobia. And what think you it is?
Nothing less than this, that Vabalathus has been made, by Aurelian and
the senate, king of Armenia! The kingdom is not large, but large enough
for him at his present age--if he shall show himself competent,
additions doubtless will be made. Our only regret is, that the Queen
loses thus his presence with her at Tibur. He had become to his mother
all that a son should be. Not that in respect to native force he could
ever make good the loss of Julia, or even of Livia, but, that in all the
many offices which an affectionate child would render to a parent in the
changed circumstances of Zenobia, he has proved to be a solace and a
support.
The second day from the dedication, passing through the Porta Asinaria
with Milo at my side, I took the road that winds along the hither bank
of the Tiber, and leads most pleasantly, if not most directly, to the
seat of my friends--and you are well aware how willingly I sacrifice a
little time on the way, if by doing so I can more than make up the loss
by obtaining brighter glimpses of earth and sky. Had I not found
Christianity, Fausta, this would have been my religion. I should have
forsaken the philosophers, and gone forth into the fields, among the
eternal hills, upon the banks of the river, or the margin of the
ever-flowing ocean, and in the lessons there silently read to me, I
should, I think, have arrived at some very firm and comfortable faith in
God and immortality. And I am especially happy in this, that nature in
no way loses its interest or value, because I now draw truth from a more
certain source. I take the same pleasure as before, in observing and
contemplating her various forms, and the clearer light of Christianity
brings to view a thousand beauties, to which before I was insensible.
Just as in reading a difficult author, although you may have reached his
sense in some good degree, unaided, yet a judicious commentator points
out excellences, and unfolds truths, which you had either wholly
overlooked, or but imperfectly comprehended.
All without the city walls, as within, bore witness to the graciousness
of the Emperor in the prolonged holiday he had granted the people. It
was as if the Saturnalia had arrived. Industry, such as there ever is,
was suspended; all were sitting idle, or thronging some game, or
gathering in noisy groups about some mountebank. As we advanced farther,
and came just beyond the great road leading to Tibur, we passed the
school of the celebrated gladiator Sosia, at the door of which there had
just arrived from the amphitheatre, a cart bearing home the bodies of
such as had been slain the preceding day, presenting a disgusting
spectacle of wounds, bruises, and flowing blood.
'There was brave fighting yesterday,' said Milo; these are but a few out
of all that fell. The first day's sport was an hundred of the trained
gladiators, most of them from the school of Sosia, set against a hundred
picked captives of all nations. Not less than a half of each number got
it. These fellows look as if they had done their best. You've fought
your last battle, old boys--unless you have a bout with Charon, who will
be loath, I warrant you beforehand, to ferry over such a slashed and
swollen company. Now ought you in charity,' he continued, addressing a
half-naked savage, who was helping to drag the bodies from the cart, 'to
have these trunks well washed ere you bury them, or pitch them into the
Tiber, else they will never get over the Styx--not forgetting too the
ferriage--' what more folly he would have uttered, I know not, for the
wretch to whom he spoke suddenly seized the lash of the driver of the
cart, and laid it over Milo's shoulders, saying, as he did it,
'Off, fool, or my fist shall do for you what it did for one of these.'
The bystanders, at this, set up a hoarse shouting, one of them
exclaiming, so that I could hear him--
'There goes the Christian Piso, we or the lions will have a turn at him
yet. These are the fellows that spoil our trade.'
'If report goes true, they won't spoil it long,' replied another.
No rank and no power is secure against the affronts of this lawless
tribe; they are a sort of licensed brawlers, their brutal and inhuman
trade rendering them insensible to all fear from any quarter. Death is
to them but as a scratch on the finger--they care not for it, when nor
how it comes. The slightest cause--a passing word--a look--a motion--is
enough to inflame their ferocious passions, and bring on quarrel and
murder. Riot and death are daily occurrences in the neighborhood of
these schools of trained assassins. Milo knew their character well
enough, but he deemed himself to be uttering somewhat that should amuse
rather than enrage, and was mortified rather than terrified, I believe,
at the sudden application of the lash. The unfeigned surprise he
manifested, together with the quick leap which his horse made, who
partook of the blow, was irresistibly ludicrous. He was nearly thrown
off backwards in the speed of the animal's flight along the road. It was
some time before I overtook him.
'Intermeddling,' I said to Milo, as I came up with him, 'is a dangerous
vice. How feel your shoulders?'
'I shall remember that one-eyed butcher, and if there be virtue in
hisses or in thumbs, he shall rue the hour he laid a lash on Gallienus,
poor fellow! Whose horsemanship is equal to such an onset? I'll haunt
the theatre till my chance come.'
'Well, well, let us forget this. How went the games yesterday?'
'Never, as I hear,' he said, 'and as I remember, were they more liberal,
or more magnificent. Larger, or more beautiful, or finer beasts, neither
Asia nor Africa ever sent over. They fought as if they had been trained
to it, like these scholars of Sosia, and in most cases they bore away
the palm from them. How many of Sosia's men exactly fell, it is not
known, but not fewer than threescore men were either torn in pieces, or
rescued too much lacerated to fight more.'
'What captives were sacrificed?'
'I did not learn of what nation they were, nor how many. All I know, is
what I witnessed toward the end of the sport. Never before did I behold
such a form, nor such feats of strength! He was another Hercules. It was
rumored he was from the forests of Germany. If you will believe it,
which I scarce can, though I saw it, he fought successively with six of
Sosia's best men, and one after another laid them all sprawling. A
seventh was then set upon him, he having no time to breathe, or even
drink. Many however cried out against this. But Romans, you know, like
not to have their fun spoiled, so the seventh was not taken off. As
every one foresaw, this was too much by just one for the hero; but he
fought desperately, and it is believed Sosia's man got pushes he will
never recover from. He was soon however on his knees, and then on his
back, the sword of his antagonist at his throat, he lying like a gasping
fish at his mercy--who waited the pleasure of the spectators a moment,
before he struck. Then was there a great shouting all over the theatre
in his behalf, besides making the sign to spare him. But just at the
moment, as for him ill fortune would have it, some poltroon cried out
with a voice that went all over the theatre, 'The dog is a Christian!'
Whereupon, like lightning, every thumb went up, and down plunged the
sword into his neck. So, master, thou seest what I tell thee every day,
there is small virtue in being a Christian. It is every way dangerous.
If a thief run through the streets the cry is, a Christian! a Christian!
If a man is murdered, they who did it accuse some neighboring Christian,
and he dies for it. If a Christian fall into the Tiber, men look on as
on a drowning-dog. If he slip or fall in a crowd, they will help to
trample him to death. If he is sick or poor, none but his own tribe will
help him. A slave has a better chance. Even the Jew despises him, and
spits upon his gown as he passes. What but the love of contempt and
death can make one a Christian, 'tis hard to see. Had that captive been
other than a Christian, he would not have fallen as he did.'
'Very likely. But the Christians, you know, frequent not the
amphitheatre. Had they been there in their just proportion to the rest,
the voice would at least have been a divided one.'
'Nay, as for that.' he rejoined, 'there were some stout voices raised in
his behalf to the last, but too few to be regarded. But even in the
streets, where all sorts are found, there is none to take the
Christian's part--unless it be that old gashed soldier of the fifth
legion, who stalks through the streets as though all Rome were his. By
the gods, I believe he would beard Aurelian himself! He will stand at a
corner, in some public place, and preach to the crowds, and give never
an inch for all their curses and noise. They fear him too much, I
believe, to attack him with aught but words. And I wonder not at it. A
few days since, a large dog was in wicked wantonness, as I must allow,
set upon a poor Christian boy. Macer, so he is called about the city, at
the moment came up. Never tiger seized his prey as he seized that dog,
and first dashing out his brains upon the pavement, pursued then the
pursuers of the boy, and beat them to jelly with the carcase of the
beast, and then walked away unmolested, leading the child to his home.'
'Men reverence courage, Milo, everywhere and in all.'
'That do they. It was so with me once, when Gallienus--'
'Gallop, Milo, to that mile-stone, and report to me how far we have
come.'
I still as ever extract much, Fausta, from my faithful if foolish slave.
* * * * *
In due time and without hindrance, or accident, I reached the outer gate
of my friend's villa.
The gate was opened by Coelia, whose husband is promoted to the place
of porter. Her face shone as she saw me, and she hastened to assure me
that all were well at the house, holding up at the same moment a
curly-headed boy for me to admire, whom, with a blush and a faltering
tongue, she called Lucius. I told her I was pleased with the name, for
it was a good one, and he should not suffer for bearing it, if I could
help it. Milo thought it unlucky enough that it should be named after a
Christian, and I am certain has taken occasion to remonstrate with its
mother on the subject; but, as you may suppose, did not succeed in
infusing his own terrors.