innocent pleasure, if not of wholesome instruction, to gaze upon the
imitated form of a good man--of a reformer, a benefactor, a prophet. But
man is so prone to religion,--it is an honorable instinct--that you can
scarce place before him an object of reverence but he will straightway
worship it. What were your gods but once men, first revered, then
worshipped, and now their stone images deemed to be the very gods
themselves? Thus the original idea--the effect, we may believe, of an
early revelation--of one supreme Deity has been almost lost out of the
world. Let the figure of Christ be everywhere set before the people in
stone or metal, and, what with the natural tendency of the mind to
idolatry, and the force of example in the common religion, I fear it
would not be long before he, whom we now revere as a prophet, would soon
be worshipped as a god; and the disciples whom you have named, in like
manner, would no longer be remembered with gratitude and affection as
those who devoted their lives to the service of their fellow-men, but be
adored as inferior Deities, like your Castor and Pollux. I can conceive
that, in the lapse of ages, men shall be so redeemed from the gross
conceptions that now inthrall them concerning both God and his worship,
and so nourished up to a divine strength by the power of truth, they
shall be in no danger from such sources; but shall reap all the pleasure
and advantage which can be derived from beautiful forms of art and the
representation of great and excellent characters, without ever dreaming
that any other than the infinite and invisible Spirit of the universe is
to be worshipped, or held divine. The religion of Christ will itself, if
aught can do it, bring about such a period.'
'That then will be the time for artists to live, next after now,' said
Demetrius of Palmyra. 'In the meantime, Probus, if Hellenism should
decline and die, and your strict faith take its place, art will decline
and perish. We live chiefly by the gods and their worship.'
'If our religion,' replied Probus, 'should suffer injury from its own
professors, in the way it has, for a century or two more, it will give
occupation enough to artists. Its corruptions will do the same for you
that the reign of absolute and perfect truth would.'
'The gods then grant that the corruptions you speak of may come in
season, before I die. I am tired of Jupiters, Mercurys, and Apollos. I
have a great fancy to make a statue of Christ. Brother! what think you,
should I reach it? Most excellent Probus, should I make you such an one
for your private apartments I do not believe you would worship it, and
doubtless it would afford you pleasure. If you will leave a commission
for such a work, it shall be set about so soon as this god of the
Emperor's is safe on his pedestal. What think you?'
'I should judge you took me, Demetrius, for the priest of a temple, or a
noble of the land. The price of such a piece of sculpture would swallow
up more than all I am worth. Besides, though I might not worship
myself--though I say not but I might--I should give an ill example to
others, who, if they furnished themselves or their churches with similar
forms, might not have power over themselves, but relapse into the
idolatry from which they are but just escaped.'
'All religions, as to their doctrine and precept, are alike to me,'
replied Demetrius, 'only, as a general principle, I should ever prefer
that which has the most gods. Rome shows excellent judgment in adopting
all the gods of the earth, so that if the worship of one god will not
bring prosperity to the nation, there are others in plenty to try their
fortune with again. Never doubt, brother, that it is because you
Christians have no gods, that the populace and others are so hostile to
you. Only set up a few images of Christ, and some of the other founders
of the religion, and your peace will be made. Otherwise I fear this
man-killer will, like some vulture, pounce upon you and tear you
piecemeal. What, brother, have you learned of Aurelia?'
'Nothing with certainty. I could find only a confirmation from every
mouth, but based on no certain knowledge, of the rumor that reached us
early in the morning. But what is so universally reported, generally
turns out true. I should, however, if I believed the fact of her
imprisonment, doubt the cause. I said that I could conceive of no other
cause, and feared that if the fact were so, the religion of Aurelian was
the reason of her being so dealt with. It was like Aurelian, if he had
resolved upon oppressing the Christians to any extent whatever, that he
should begin with those who were nearest to him; first with his own
blood, and then with those of his household.'
With this, and such like conversation, I passed a pleasant hour at the
rooms of Demetrius.
* * * * *
My wish was, as I turned from the apartments of Demetrius, to seek the
Emperor or Livia, and learn from them the exact truth concerning the
reports current through the city. But, giving way to that weakness which
defers to the latest possible moment the confirmation of painful news,
and the resolution of doubts which one would rather should remain as
doubts than be determined the wrong way, in melancholy mood, I turned
and retraced my steps. My melancholy was changed to serious apprehension
by all that I observed and heard on my way to the Coelian. As the
crowd in this great avenue, the Suburra, pressed by me, it was easy to
gather that the Christians had become the universal topic of
conversation and dispute. The name of the unhappy Aurelia frequently
caught my ear. Threatening and ferocious language dropt from many, who
seemed glad that at length an Emperor had arisen who would prove
faithful to the institutions of the country. I joined a little group of
gazers before the window of the rooms of Periander, at which something
rare and beautiful is always to be seen, who, I found, were looking
intently at a picture, apparently just from the hands of the artist,
which represented Rome under the form of a beautiful woman--Livia had
served as the model--with a diadem upon her head, and the badges of
kingly authority in her hands, and at her side a priest of the Temple
of Jupiter, "Greatest and Best", in whose face and form might plainly be
traced the cruel features of Fronto. The world was around them. On the
lowest earth, with dark shadows settling over them, lay scattered and
broken, in dishonor and dust, the emblems of all the religions of the
world, their temples fallen and in ruins. Among them, in the front
ground of the picture, was the prostrate cross, shattered as if dashed
from the church, whose dilapidated walls and wide-spread fragments bore
testimony not so much to the wasting power of time as to the rude hand
of popular violence; while, rearing themselves up into a higher
atmosphere, the temples of the gods of Rome stood beautiful and perfect,
bathed in the glowing light of a morning sun. The allegory was plain and
obvious enough. There was little attractive, save the wonderful art with
which it was done. This riveted the eye; and that being gained, the
bitter and triumphant bigotry of the ideas set forth had time to make
its way into the heart of the beholder, and help to change its warm
blood to gall. Who but must be won by the form and countenance of the
beautiful Livia? and, confounding Rome with her, be inspired with a new
devotion to his country, and its religion, and its lovely queen? The
work was inflaming and insidious, as it was beautiful. This was seen in
what it drew from those among whom I stood.
'By Jupiter!' said one, 'that is well done. They are all down, who can
deny it! Those are ruins not to be built up again. Who, I wonder, is the
artist? He must be a Roman to the last drop of his blood, and the last
hair of his beard.'
'His name is Sporus,' replied his companion, 'as I hear, a kinsman of
Fronto, the priest of Apollo.'
'Ah, that's the reason the priest figures here,' cried the first, 'and
the Empress too; for they say nobody is more at the Gardens than Fronto.
Well, he's just the man for his place. If any man can bring up the
temples again, it's he. Religion is no sham at the Temple of the Sun.
The priests are all what they pretend to be. Let others do so, and we
shall have as much reason to thank the Emperor for what he has done for
the gods--and so for us all--as for what he has done for the army, the
empire, and the city.'
'You say well,' rejoined the other. 'He is for once a man, who, if he
will, may make Rome what she was before the empire, a people that
honored the gods. And this picture seems as if it spoke out his very
plans, and I should not wonder if it were so.'
'Never doubt it. See, here lies a Temple of Isis flat enough; next to it
one of the accursed tribe of Jews. And what ruder pile is that?'
'That must be a Temple of the British worship, as I think. But the best
of all, is this Christian church: see how the wretches fly, while the
work goes on! In my notion, this paints what we may soon see.'
'I believe it! The gods grant it so! Old men, in my judgment, will live
to see it all acted out. Do you hear what is said? That Aurelian has put
to death his own niece, the princess Aurelia?'
'That's likely enough,' said another, 'no one can doubt it. 'Tis easy
news to believe in Rome. But the question is what for?'
'For what else but for her impiety, and her aims to convert Mucapor to
her own ways.'
'Well, there is no telling, and it's no great matter; time will show.
Meanwhile, Aurelian forever! He's the man for me!'
'Truly is he,' said one at his side, who had not spoken before, 'for thy
life is spent at the amphitheatres, and he is a good caterer for thee,
sending in ample supplies of lions and men.'
'Whew! who is here? Take care! Your tongue, old man, has short space to
wag in.'
'I am no Christian, knave, but I trust I am a man: and that is more than
any can say of you, that know you. Out upon you for a savage!'
The little crowd burst into loud laughter at this, and with various
abusive epithets moved away. The old man addressed himself to me, who
alone remained as they withdrew,--
'Aurelian, I believe, would do well enough were he let alone. He is
inclined to cruelty, I know: but nobody can deny that, cruel or not, he
has wrought most beneficial changes both in the army and in the city. He
has been in some sort, up to within the last half year, a censor,
greater than Valerian; a reformer, greater and better than even he. Had
he not been crazed by his successes in the East, and were he not now
led, and driven, and maddened, by the whole priesthood of Rome, with the
hell-born Fronto at their head, we might look for a new and a better
Rome. But, as it is, I fear these young savages, who are just gone, will
see all fulfilled they are praying for. A fair day to you.'
And he too turned away. Others were come into the same spot, and for a
long time did I listen to similar language. Many came, looked, said
nothing, and took their way, with paler face, and head depressed, silent
under the imprecations heaped upon the atheists, but manifestly either
of their side in sympathy, or else of the very atheists themselves.
I now sought my home, tired of the streets, and of all I had seen and
heard. Many of my acquaintance, and friends passed me on the way, in
whose altered manner I could behold the same signs which, in ruder form,
I had just seen at the window of Periander. Not, Fausta, that all my
friends of the Roman faith are summer ones, but that, perhaps, most are.
Many among them, though attached firmly as my mother to the existing
institutions, are yet, like her, possessed of the common sentiments of
humanity, and would venture much or all to divert the merest shadow of
harm from my head. Among these, I still pass some of my pleasantest and
most instructive hours--for with them the various questions involved in
the whole subject of religion, are discussed with the most perfect
freedom and mutual confidence. Varus, the prefect, whom I met among
others, greeted me with unchanged courtesy. His sweetest smile was on
his countenance as he swept by me, wishing me a happy day. How much more
tolerable is the rude aversion, or loud reproaches of those I have told
you of, than this honied suavity, that means nothing, and would be still
the same though I were on the way to the block.
As I entered my library, Solon accosted me, to say, that there had been
one lately there most urgent to see me. From his account, I could
suppose it to be none other than the Jew Isaac, who, Milo has informed
me, is now returned to Rome, which he resorts to as his most permanent
home. Solon said that, though assured I was not at home, he would not be
kept back, but pressed on into the house, saying that 'these Roman
nobles often sat quietly in their grand halls, while they were denied to
their poor clients. Piso was an old acquaintance of his when in Palmyra,
and he had somewhat of moment to communicate to him, and must see him.'
'No sooner,' said Solon, 'had he got into the library, the like of
which, I may safely affirm, he had never seen before, for his raiment
betokened a poor and ragged life, than he stood, and gazed as much at
his ease as if it had been his own, and then, by Hercules! unbuttoning
his pack, for he was burdened with one both before and behind, he threw
his old limbs upon a couch, and began to survey the room! I could not
but ask him, If he were the elder Piso, old Cneius Piso, come back from
Persia, in Persian beard and gown?--'Old man,' said he, 'your brain is
turned with many books, and the narrow life you lead here, shut out from
the living world of man. One man is worth all the books ever writ, save
those of Moses. Go out into the streets and read him, and your senses
will come again. Cneius Piso! Take you me for a spirit? I am Isaac the
Jew, citizen of the world, and dealer in more rarities and valuables
than you ever saw or dreamed of. Shall I open my parcels for thee?' No,
said I, I would not take thy poor gewgaws for a gift. One worm-eaten
book is worth them all.--'God restore thy reason!' said he, 'and give
thee wisdom before thou diest; and that, by thy wrinkles and hairless
pate must be soon.' What more of false he would have added I know not,
for at that moment he sprang from where he sat like one suddenly mad,
exclaiming, 'Holy Abraham! what do my eyes behold, or do they lie?
Surely that is Moses! Never was he on Sinai, if his image be not here!
Happy Piso! and happy Isaac to be the instrument of such grace! Who
could have thought it? And yet many a time, in my dreams, have I beheld
him, with a beard like mine, his hat on his head, his staff in his hand,
as if standing at the table of the Passover, the princess with him,
and--dreams will do such things--a brood of little chickens at their
side. And now--save the last--it is all come to pass. And here, too, who
may this be? who, but Aaron, the younger and milder! He was the speaker,
and lo! his hand is stretched out! And this young Joseph is at his knee
the better to interpret his character to the beholder. Moses and Aaron
in the chief room of a Roman senator, and he, a Piso! Now, Isaac, thou
mayest tie on thy pack, and take thy leave with a merry heart, for God,
if never before, now accepteth thy works.' And much more, noble sir, in
the same raving way, which was more dark to my understanding than the
darkest pages of Aristotle.'
I gathered from Solon, that he would return in the evening in the hope
to see me, for he had that to impart which concerned nearly my welfare.
I was watching with Julia, from the portico which fronts the Esquiline
and overlooks the city, the last rays of the declining sun, as they
gilded the roofs and domes of the vast sea of building before us,
lingering last upon, and turning to gold the brazen statues of Antonine
and of Trajan, when Milo approached us, saying that Isaac had returned.
He was in a moment more with us.
'Most noble Piso,' said he, 'I joy to see thee again; and this morning,
I doubt not, I should have seen thee, but for the obstinacy of an
ancient man, whose wits seem to have been left behind as he has gone
onward. I seek thee, Piso, for matters of moment. Great princess,' he
suddenly cried, turning to Julia with as profound a reverence as his
double burden would allow, 'glad am I to greet thee in Rome; not glad
that thou wert forced to flee here, but glad that if, out of Palmyra,
thou art here in the heart of all that can best minister to thy wants.
Not a wish can arise in the heart but Rome can answer it. Nay, thou
canst have few for that which is rare and costly, but even I can answer
them. Hast thou ever seen, princess, those diamonds brought from the
caves of mountains a thousand miles in the heart of India, in which
there lurks a tint, if I may so name it, like this last blush of the
western sky? They are rarer than humanity in a Roman, or apostacy in a
Jew, or truth in a Christian. I shall show thee one.' And he fell to
unlacing his pack, and drawing forth its treasures.
Julia assured him, she should see with pleasure whatever he could show
her of rich or rare.
'There are, lady, jewelers, as they name themselves in Rome, who dwell
in magnificent houses, and whose shops are half the length of a street,
who cannot show you what Isaac can out of an old goatskin pack. And how
should they? Have they, as I have, traveled the earth's surface and
trafficked between crown and crown? What king is there, whose
necessities I have not relieved by purchasing his rarest gems; or whose
vanity I have not pleased by selling him the spoils of another? Old
Sapor, proud as he was, was more than once in the grasp of Isaac. There!
it is in this case--down, you see, in the most secret part of my
pack--but who would look for wealth under this sordid covering? as who,
lady, for a soul within this shriveled and shattered body? yet is there
one there. In such outside, both of body and bag, is my safety. Who
cares to stop the poor man, or hold parley with him? None so free of the
world and its high ways as he; safe alike in the streets of Rome, and on
the deserts of Arabia. His rags are a shield stouter than one of
seven-fold bull's hide. Never but in such guise could I bear such jewels
over the earth's surface. Here, lady, is the gem; never has it yet
pressed the finger of queen or subject. The stone I brought from the
East, and Demetrius, here in Rome, hath added the gold. Give me so much
pleasure--'
And he placed it upon Julia's finger. It flashed a light such as we
never before saw in stone. It was evidently a most rare and costly gem.
It was of great size and of a hue such as I had never before seen.
'This is a queen's ring, Isaac,' said Julia--'and for none else.'
'It well becomes the daughter of a queen'--replied the Jew, 'and the
wife of Piso--specially seeing that--Ah, Piso! Piso! how was I overjoyed
to-day to see in thy room the evidence that my counsels had not been
thrown away. The Christian did not gain thee with all his cunning--'
'Nay, Isaac'--I here interrupted him--'you must not let your benevolent
wishes lead you into error. I am not yet a Jew. Those images that caught
your eye were not wholly such as you took them for.'
'Well, well,' said the philosophic Jew, 'rumor then has for once spoken
the truth. She has long, as I learn, reported thee Christian: but I
believed it not. And to-day, when I looked upon those statues, I pleased
myself with the thought that thou, and the princess, like her august
mother, had joined themselves to Israel. But if it be not so, then have
I an errand for thee, which, but now, I hoped I might not be bound to
deliver. Piso, there is danger brewing for thee, and for all who hold
with thee!'
'So I hear, Isaac, on all sides, and partly believe it. But the rumor is
far beyond the truth, I do not doubt.'
'I think not so,' said Isaac. 'I believe the truth is beyond the rumor.
Aurelian intends more and worse than he has spoken; and already has he
dipt his hand in blood!'
'What say you? how is it you mean?' said Julia.
'Whose name but Aurelia's has been in the city's ears these many days? I
can tell you, what is known as yet not beyond the Emperor's palace and
the priest's, Aurelia is dead!'
'Sport not with us, Isaac!'
'I tell you, Piso, the simple truth. Aurelia has paid with her life for
her faith. I know it from more than one whose knowledge in the matter is
good as sight. It was in the dungeons of the Fabrician bridge, that she
was dealt with by Fronto the priest of Apollo.'
'Aurelian then,' said Julia, 'has thrust his sickle into another field
of slaughter, and will not draw it out till he swims in Christian
blood, as once before in Syrian. God help these poor souls.' 'What,
Isaac, was the manner of her death, if you have heard so much?'
'I have heard only,' replied Isaac, 'that, after long endeavor on the
part of Aurelian and the priest to draw her from her faith while yet at
the palace, she was conveyed to the prisons I have named, and there
given over to Fronto and the executioners, with this only restriction,
that if neither threats, nor persuasions, nor the horrid array of
engines, could bend her, then should she be beheaded without either
scourging or torture. And so it was done. She wept, 'tis said, as it
were without ceasing, from the time she left the gardens; but to the
priest would answer never a word to all his threats, entreaties, or
promises; except once, when that wicked minister said to her, 'that
except she in reality and truth would curse Christ and sacrifice, he
would report that she had done so, and so liberate her and return her to
the palace:'--at which, 'tis said, that on the instant her tears ceased,
her eyes flashed lightning, and with a voice, which took the terrific
tones of Aurelian himself, she said, 'I dare thee to it, base priest!
Aurelian is an honorable man--though cruel as the grave--and my simple
word, which never yet he doubted, would weigh more than oaths from thee,
though piled to heaven! Do thy worst then, quick!' Whereupon the priest,
white with wrath, first sprang toward her as if he had been a beast set
to devour her, drawing at the same moment a knife from his robes; but,
others being there, he stopped, and cried to the executioner to do his
work--raving that he had it not in his power first to torment her.
Aurelia was then instantly beheaded.'
We were silent as he ended, Julia dissolved in tears Isaac went on.