weak girl, alone, with not one to look on and encourage, in such a
place, and in the clutches of such a hard-hearted wretch, to die without
once yielding to her fears or the weakness of her tender nature--it is a
thing hardly to be believed, and full of pity. Piso, thou wilt despise
me when I say that my tribe rejoices at this, and laughs; that the Jew
is seen carrying the news from house to house, and secretly feeding on
it as a sweet morsel! And why should he not? Answer me that, Roman!
Answer me that, Christian! In thee, Piso, and in every Roman like thee,
there is compacted into one the enmity that has both desolated my
country, and--far as mortal arm may do so--dragged down to the earth,
her altars and her worship. Judea was once happy in her ancient faith;
and happier than all in that great hope inspired by our prophets in
endless line, of the advent, in the opening ages, of one who should
redeem our land from the oppressor, and give to her the empire of the
world. Messiah, for whom we waited, and while we waited were content to
bear the insults and aggressions of the whole earth--knowing the day of
vengeance was not far off--was to be to Judea more than Aurelian to
Rome. He was to be our prophet, our priest, and our king, all in one;
not man only, but the favored and beloved of God, his Son; and his
empire was not to be like this of Rome, hemmed in by this sea and that,
hedged about by barbarians on one side and another, bounded by rivers
and hills, but was to stretch over the habitable earth, and Rome itself
to be swallowed up in the great possession as a little island in the
sea. And then this great kingdom was never to end. It could not be
diminished by an enemy taking from it this province and another, as with
Rome, nor could there be out of it any power whatever that could assail
it; for, by the interference of God, through the right arm of our great
Prince, fear, and the very spirit of submission, were to fall on every
heart. All was to be Judea's, and Judea's forever; the kingdom was to be
over the whole earth; and the reign forever and ever. And in those ages
peace was to be on the earth, and universal love. God was to be
worshipped by all according to our law, and idolatry and error to cease
and come to an end. In this hope, I say, we were happy, in spite of all
our vexations. In every heart in our land, whatever sorrows or
sufferings might betide, there was a little corner where the spirit
could retire and comfort itself with this vision of futurity. Among all
the cities of our land, and far away among the rocks and vallies by
Jordan and the salt sea, and the mountains of Lebanon, there were no
others to be found than men, women, and children, happy in this belief,
and by it bound into one band of lovers and friends. And what think you
happened? I need not tell you. There came, as thou knowest, this false
prophet of Gallilee, and beguiled the people with his smooth words, and
perverted the sense of the prophets, and sowed difference and discord
among the people; and the cherished vision, upon which the nation had
lived and grown, fled like a dream. The Gallilean impostor planted
himself upon the soil, and his roots of poison struck down, and his
broad limbs shot, abroad, and half the nation was lost. Its unity was
gone, its peace lost, its heart broken, its hope, though living still,
yet obscured and perplexed. Canst thou wonder then Piso, or thou, thou
weeping princess, that the Jew stands by and laughs when the Christian's
turn comes, and the oppressor is oppressed, the destroyer destroyed? And
when, Piso, the Christian had done his worst, despoiling us of our
faith, our hope, our prince, and our God; not satisfied, he brought the
Roman upon us, and despoiled us of our country itself. Now, and for two
centuries, all is gone. Judea, the beautiful land, sits solitary and
sad. Her sons and daughters wanderers over the earth, and trodden into
the dust. When shall the light arise! and he, whom we yet look for, come
and turn back the flood that has swept over us, and reverse the fortunes
befallen to one and the other? The chariot of God tarries; but it does
not halt. The wheels are turning, and when it is not thought of, it will
come rolling onward with the voice of many thunders, and the great
restoration shall be made, and a just judgment be meted out to all. What
wonder, I say then, Piso, if my people look on and laugh, when this
double enemy is in straits? when the Christian and Roman in one, is
caught in the snare and can not escape? That laugh will ring through the
streets of Rome, and will out-sound the roaring of the lions and the
shouts of the theatre. Nature is strong in man, Piso, and I do not
believe thou wilt think the worse of our people, if bearing what they
have, this nature should break forth. Hate them not altogether, Roman,
when thou shalt see them busy at the engines or the stake, or the
theatres. Remember the cause! Remember the cause! But we are not all
such. I wish, Piso, thou couldst abandon this faith. There will else be
no safety to thee, I fear, ere not many days. What has overtaken the
lady Aurelia, of the very family of the Emperor, will surely overtake
others. Piso, I would fain serve thee, if I may. Though I hate the
Roman, and the Christian, and thee, as a Jew, yet so am I, that I cannot
hate them as a man, or not unto death; and thee do I love. Now it is my
counsel, that thou do in season escape. Now thou canst do it; wait but a
few days, and, perhaps, thou canst no longer. What I say is, fly! and,
it were best, to the farthest east; first, to Palmyra, and then, if need
be, to Persia. This, Piso, is what I am come for.'
'Isaac, this all agrees with the same goodness--'
'I am a poor, miserable wretch, whom God may forgive, because his
compassions never fail, but who has no claim on his mercy, and will be
content to sit hereafter where he shall but just catch, now and then, a
glimpse of the righteous.'
'I must speak my thoughts, not yours, Isaac. This all agrees with what
we have known of you; and, with all our hearts, you have our thanks. But
we are bound to this place by ties stronger than any that bind us to
life, and must not depart.'
'Say not so! Lady, speak! Why should ye remain to add to the number that
must fall? Rank will not stand in the way of Aurelian.'
'That we know well, Isaac,' said Julia. 'We should not look for any
shield such as that to protect us, nor for any other. Life is not the
chief thing, Isaac. What is life, without liberty? Would you live, a
slave? and is not he the meanest slave, who bends his will to another?
who renounces the thoughts he dearly cherishes for another's humor? Who
will beggar the soul, to save, or serve, the body?'
'Alas, princess, I fear there is more courage in thee, woman as thou
art, than in this old frame! I love my faith, too, princess, and I labor
for it in my way; but, may the God of Abraham spare me the last trial!
And wouldst thou give up thy body to the tormentors and the executioner,
to keep the singleness of thy mind, so that merely a few little
thoughts, which no man can see, may run in and out of it, as they list?'
'Even so, Isaac.'
'It is wonderful,' exclaimed the Jew, 'what a strength there is in man!
how, for an opinion, which can be neither bought, nor sold, nor weighed,
nor handled, nor seen--a thing, that, by the side of lands, and gold,
and houses, seems less than the dust of the balance--men and women, yea,
and little children, will suffer and die; when a word, too, which is but
a little breath blown out of the mouth, would save them!'
'But, it is no longer wonderful,' said Julia, 'when we look at our whole
selves, and not only at one part. We are all double, one part, of earth,
another, of heaven; one part, gross body, the other, etherial spirit;
one part, life of the body, the other, life of the soul. Which of these
parts is the better, it is not hard to determine. Should I gain much by
defiling the heavenly, for the sake of the earthly? by injuring the
mind, for the preservation of the body; by keeping longer the life I
live now, but darkening over the prospect of the life that is
hereafter? If I possess a single truth, which I firmly believe to be a
truth, I cannot say that it is a lie, for the sake of some present
benefit or deliverance, without fixing a stain thereby, not on the body,
which by and by perishes, but on the soul, which is immortal; and which
would then forever bear about with it the unsightly spot.'
'It is so; it is as you say, lady; and rarely has the Jew been known to
deny his name and his faith. Since you have spoken, I find thoughts
called up which have long slept. Despise me not, for my proposal, yet I
would there were a way of escape! Flight now, would not be denial, or
apostacy.'
'It would not,' said Julia. 'And we may not judge with harshness those
whose human courage fails them under the apprehension of the sufferings
which often await the persecuted. But, with my convictions, and Piso's,
the guilt and baseness of flight or concealment would be little less
than that of denial or apostacy. We have chosen this religion for its
divine truth, and its immortal prospects; we believe it a good which God
has sent to us; we believe it the most valuable possession we hold; we
believe it essential to the world's improvement and happiness. Believing
it thus, we must stand by it; and, if it come to this--as I trust in
Heaven it will not, notwithstanding the darkness of the portents--that
our regard for it will be questioned except we die for it--then we will
die.'
Isaac rose, and began to fasten on his pack. As he did so, he said,
'Excellent lady, I grieve that thou shouldst be brought from thy far
home, and those warm and sunny skies, to meet the rude shocks of this
wintry land. It was enough to see what thou didst there, and to know
what befell thy ancient friends. The ways of Providence, to our eyes,
are darker than the Egyptian night, brought upon that land by the hand
of Moses. It is darkness solid and impenetrable. The mole sees farther
toward the earth's centre, than does my dim eye into the judgments of
God. And what wonder? when he is God looking down upon earth and man's
ways as I upon an ant-hill, and seeing all at once. To such an eye,
lady, that may be best which to mine is worst.'
'I believe it is often so, Isaac,' replied Julia. 'Just as in nauseous
drugs or rankest poisons there is hidden away medicinal virtue, so is
there balm for the soul, by which its worst diseases are healed and its
highest health promoted, in sufferings, which, as they first fall upon
us, we lament as unmitigated evil. I know of no state of mind so proper
to beings like us, as that indicated by a saying of Christ, which I
shall repeat to you, though you honor not its source, and which seems to
me to comprehend all religion and philosophy, "Not my will, but thine, O
God, be done!" We never take our true position, and so never can be
contented and happy, till we renounce our own will, and believe all the
whole providence of God to be wisest and best, simply because it is his.
Should I dare, were the power this moment given me, to strike out for
myself my path in life, arrange its events, fix my lot? Not the most
trivial incident can be named that I should not tremble to order
otherwise than as it happens.'
'There is wisdom, princess, in the maxim of thy prophet, and its spirit
is found in many of the sayings of truer prophets who went before him,
whose words are familiar to thy royal mother, though, I fear, they are
not to thee; a misfortune, wholly to be traced to that misadventure of
thine, Piso, in being thrown into the company of the Christian Probus on
board the Mediterranean trader. Had I been alone with thee on that
voyage, who can say that thou wouldst not now have been what, but this
morning, I took thee for, as I looked upon those marble figures?'
'But, Isaac, forget not your own principles,' said Julia. 'May you, who
cannot, as you have said, see the end from the beginning, and whose
sight is but a mole's, dare to complain of the providence which threw
Piso into the society of the Christian Probus? I am sure you would not,
on reflection, re-arrange those events, were it now permitted you. And
seeing, Isaac, how much better things are ordered by the Deity than we
could do it, and how we should choose voluntarily to surrender all into
his hands, whose wisdom is so much more perfect, and whose power is so
much more vast, than ours, ought we not, as a necessary consequence of
this, to acquiesce in events without complaint, when they have once
occurred? If Providence had made both Piso and Probus Christians, then
ought you not to complain, but acquiesce; and, more than that, revere
the Providence that has done it, and love those none the less whom it
has directed into the path in which it would have them go. True piety,
is the mother of charity.'
'Princess,' rejoined Isaac, 'you are right. The true love of God cannot
exist, without making us true lovers of man; and Piso I do love, and
think none the worse of him for his Christian name. But, touching
Probus, and others, I experience some difficulty. Yet may I perhaps,
escape thus--I may love them as men, yet hate them as Christians; just
as I would bind up the wounds of a thief or an assassin, whom I found by
the wayside, and yet the next hour bear witness against him, and without
compunction behold him swinging upon the gibbet! It is hard, lady, for
the Jew to love a Christian and a Roman.--But how have I been led away
from what I wished chiefly to say before departing! When I spake just
now of the darkness of Providence, I was thinking, Piso, of my journey
across the desert for thy Persian brother, Calpurnius. That, as I then
said to thee, was dark to me. I could not comprehend how it should come
to pass that I, a Jew, of no less zeal than Simon Ben Gorah himself,
should tempt such dangers in the service of thee, a Roman, and half a
Christian.'
'And is the enigma solved at length?' asked Julia.
'I could have interpreted it by saying that the merit of doing a
benevolent action was its solution.'
'That was little or nothing, princess. But I confess to thee, that the
two gold talents of Jerusalem were much. Still, neither they, nor what
profit I made in the streets of Ecbatana, and even out of that new
Solomon the hospitable Levi, clearly explained the riddle. I have been
in darkness till of late. And how, think you, the darkness has been
dispersed?'
'We cannot tell.'
'I believe not. Piso! princess! I am the happiest man in Rome.'
'Not happier, Isaac, than Civilis the perfumer.'
'Name him not, Piso. Of all the men--he is no man--of all the living
things in Rome I hold him meanest. Him, Piso, I hate. Why, I will not
tell thee, but thou mayest guess. Nay, not now. I would have thee first
know why I am the happiest man in Rome. Remember you the woman and the
child, whom, in the midst of that burning desert, we found sitting, more
dead than alive, at the roots of a cedar--the wife, as we afterwards
found, of Hassan the camel-driver--and how that child, the living
resemblance of my dead Joseph, wound itself round my heart, and how I
implored the mother to trust it to me as mine, and I would make it
richer than the richest of Ecbatana?'
'We remember it all well.'
'Well, rejoice with me! Hassan is dead!'
'Rejoice in her husband's death? Nay, that we cannot do. Milo will
rejoice with thee.'
'Rejoice with me, then, that Hassan, being dead by the providence of
God, Hagar and Ishmael are now mine!'--and the Jew threw down his pack
again in the excess of his joy, and strode wildly about the portico.
'This is something indeed,' said Julia. 'Now, we can rejoice sincerely
with you. But how happened all this? When, and how, have you obtained
the news?'
'Hassan,' replied Isaac, 'as Providence willed it, died in Palmyra. His
disconsolate widow, hearing of his death, in her poverty and affliction
bethought herself of me, and applied, for intelligence of me, to Levi;
from whom a letter came, saying that Hagar had made now on her part the
proposal that had once been made on mine--that Ishmael should be mine,
provided, he was not to be separated from his mother and a sister older
than he by four years. I, indeed, proposed not for the woman, but for
the child only--nor for the sister. But they will all be welcome. They
must, by this, be in Palmyra on their way to Rome. Yes, they will be all
welcome! for now once more shall the pleasant bonds of a home hold me,
and the sounds of children's voices--sweeter to my ear than will ever be
the harps of angels though Gabriel sweep the strings. Already, in the
street Janus, where our tribe most resort, have I purchased me a house;
not, Roman, such a one as I dwelt in in Palmyra, where thou and thy
foolish slave searched me out, but large and well-ordered, abounding
with all that woman's heart could most desire. And now what think you of
all this? whither tends it? to what leads all this long and costly
preparation? what think you is to come of it? I have my own judgment.
This I know, it cannot be all for this, that a little child of a few
years should come and dwell with an old man little removed from the very
borders of the grave! Had it been only for this, so large and long a
train of strange and wild events would not have been laid. This child,
Piso, is more than he seems! take that and treasure it up. It is to this
the finger of God has all along pointed. He is more than he seems! What
he will be I say not, but I can dimly--nay clearly guess. And his
mother! Piso, what will you think when I say that she is a Jewess! and
his father--what will you think when I tell you that he was born upon
the banks of the Gallilean lake?--that misfortunes and the love of a
wandering life drew him from Judea to the farther East, and to a
temporary, yet but apparent apostacy, I am persuaded, from his proper
faith? This to me is all wonderful. Never have I doubted, that by my
hand, by me as a mediator, some great good was to accrue to Jerusalem.
And now the clouds divide, and my eye sees what has been so long
concealed. It shall all come to pass, before thy young frame, princess,
shall be touched by years.'
'We wish you all happiness and joy, Isaac,' replied Julia; 'and soon as
this young family shall have reached your dwelling, we shall trust to
see them all, specially this young object of thy great expectations.'
Isaac again fastened on his pack, and taking leave of us turned to
depart, but ere he did so, he paused--fixed his dark eyes upon
us--hesitated--and then said,
'Lady, if trouble flow in upon you here in Rome, and thou wilt not fly,
as I have counseled, to Palmyra; but thou shouldst by and by change thy
mind and desire safety, or Piso should wish thee safe--perhaps, that by
thy life thou mightest work more mightily for thy faith than thou
couldst do by thy death--for oftentimes it is not by dying that we best
serve God, or a great cause, but by living--then, bethink thee of my
dwelling in the street Janus, where, if thou shouldst once come, I would
challenge all the blood-hounds in Rome, and what is more and worse,
Fronto and Varus leagued, to find thee. Peace be with you.'
And so saying, he quickly parted from us.
All Rome, Fausta, holds not a man of a larger heart than Isaac the Jew.
For us, Christians as we are, there is I believe no evil to himself he
would not hazard, if, in no other way, he could shield us from the
dangers that impend. In his conscience he feels bound to hate us, and,
often, from the language he uses, it might be inferred that he does so.
But in any serious expression of his feelings, his human affections ever
obtain the victory over the obligations of hatred, which his love of
country, as he thinks, imposes upon him, and it would be difficult for
him to manifest a warmer regard toward any of his own tribe, than he
does toward Julia and myself. He is firmly persuaded, that providence is
using him as an instrument, by which to effect the redemption and
deliverance of his country; not that he himself is to prove the messiah
of his nation--as they term their great expected prince--but that
through him, in some manner, by some service rendered or office filled,
that great personage will manifest himself to Israel. No disappointment
damps his zeal, or convinces him of the futility of expectations resting
upon no other foundation than his own inferences, conjectures, or
fanciful interpretation of the dark sayings of the prophets. When in the
East, it was through Palmyra, that his country was to receive her king;
through her victories, that redemption was to be wrought out for Israel.
Being compelled to let go that dear and cherished hope, he now fixes it
upon this little "Joseph," and it will not be strange if this child of
poverty and want should in the end inherit all his vast possessions, by
which, he will please himself with thinking, he can force his way to the
throne of Judea. Portia derives great pleasure from his conversation,
and frequently detains him long for that purpose; and of her Isaac is
never weary uttering the most extravagant praise. I sometimes wonder
that I never knew him before the Mediterranean voyage, seeing he was so
well known to Portia; but then again do not wonder, when I remember by
what swarms of mendicants, strangers, and impostors of every sort,
Portia was ever surrounded, from whom I turned instinctively away;
especially did I ever avoid all intercourse with Christians and Jews. I
held them, of all, lowest and basest.
* * * * *
We are just returned from Tibur, where we have enjoyed many pleasant
hours with Zenobia. Livia was there also. The day was in its warmth
absolutely Syrian, and while losing ourselves in the mazes of the
Queen's extensive gardens, we almost fancied ourselves in Palmyra.
Nicomachus being of the company, as he ever is, and Vabalathus, we
needed but you, Calpurnius, and Gracchus, to complete the illusion.
The Queen devotes herself to letters. She is rarely drawn from her
favorite studies, but by the arrival of friends from Rome. Happy for her
is it that, carried back to other ages by the truths of history, or
transported to other worlds by the fictions of poetry, the present and
the recent can be in a manner forgotten; or, at least, that, in these
intervals of repose, the soul can gather strength for the thoughts and
recollections which will intrude, and which still sometimes overmaster
her. Her correspondence with you is another chief solace. She will not
doubt that by and by a greater pleasure awaits her, and that instead of
your letters she shall receive and enjoy yourself. Farewell.
LETTER VII.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
The body of the Christians, as you may well suppose, Fausta, is in a
state of much agitation. Though they cannot discern plainly the form of
the danger that impends, yet they discern it; and the very obscurity in
which it is involved adds to their fears. It is several days since I
last wrote, yet not a word has come from the palace. Aurelian is seen as
usual in all public places; at the capitol, taking charge of the
erection and completion of various public edifices; or, if at the
palace, he rides as hard as ever, and as much, upon his Hippodrome; or,
if at the Pretorian camp, he is exact and severe as ever in maintaining
the discipline of the Legions. He has issued no public order of any kind
that bears upon us. Yet not only the Christians, but the whole city,
stand as if in expectation of measures of no little severity, going at
least to the abridgement of many of our liberties, and to the
deprivation of many of our privileges. This is grounded chiefly,
doubtless, upon the reported imprisonment of Aurelia; for, though some
have little hesitation in declaring their belief, that she has been made
way with, others believe it not at all; and none can assign a reason for
receiving one story rather than another. How Isaac came to be possessed
of his information I do not know, but it bore all the marks of truth. He
would inform me neither how he came by it, nor would he allow it to be
communicated. But it would never be surprising to discover, that of my
most private affairs he has a better knowledge than myself.
Do not, from what I have said, conceive of the Christians as giving any
signs of unmanly fear. They perceive that danger threatens, but they
change not their manner of life, not turn from the daily path of their
pursuits. Believing in a providence, they put their trust in it. Their
faith stands them in stead as a sufficient support and refuge. They
cannot pretend, any more than Isaac, to see through the plans and
purposes of Heaven. They pretend not to know, nor to be able to explain
to another, why, if what they receive is the truth, and they are true
believers in a true religion, they should be exposed to such sufferings
for its sake; and that which is false, and injurious as false, should
triumph. It is enough for them, they say, to be fully persuaded; to
know, and possess, the truth. They can never relinquish it; they will
rather die. But, whether Christianity die with them or not, they cannot
tell--that they leave to God. They do not believe that it
will--prophecy, and the present condition of the world, notwithstanding
a present overhanging cloud, give them confidence in the ultimate
extension and power of their faith. At any rate it shall receive no
injury at their hands. They have professed it during twenty years of
prosperity, and have boasted of it before the world--they shall profess
it with the same boldness, and the same grateful attachment, now that
adversity approaches. They are fixed--calm--unmoved. Except for a deeper
tone of earnestness and feeling when you converse with them, and a cast
of sadness upon the countenance, you would discern no alteration in
their conduct or manner.
I might rather say that, in a very large proportion, there are
observable the signs of uncommon and almost unnatural exhilaration. They
even greet the coming of trouble as that which shall put their faith to
the test, shall give a new testimony of the readiness of Christians to
suffer, and, like the former persecution, give it a new impulse
forwards. They seek occasions of controversy and conversation with the
Pagans at public places, at their labor, and in the streets. The
preachers assume a bolder, louder tone, and declaim with ten times more
vehemence than ever against the enormities and abominations of the
popular religions. Often at the market-places, and at the corners of the
streets, are those to be seen, not authorized preachers perhaps, but
believers and overflowing with zeal, who, at the risk of whatever
popular fury and violence, hold forth the truth in Christ, and denounce
the reigning idolatries and superstitions.