outward acts; and for the reason, that they make religion to consist in
them. A true faith, which places religion in the inward disposition, not
in services, will diminish them. More prayers were said, and more rites
performed in the temple of Jupiter, where my father was priest, than the
Christian church, where I serve, ever witnesses. But what then? With the
Pagan worshipper religion ended when the service closed, and he turned
from the temple to the world. With the Christian, the highest service
only then commences when he leaves the church. Religion, with him, is
virtuous action, more than it is meditation or prayer. He prays without
ceasing, not by uttering without cessation the language of prayer, but
by living holily. Every act of every hour, which is done conscientiously
is a prayer, as well as the words we speak, and is more pleasing to God,
for the reason that practice is better than mere profession--doing
better than saying.'
'That is just, Probus,' replied Macer. 'When I prayed as an idolater, it
was because I believed that the gods required such outward
acknowledgment, and that some evil or other might befall me through
their vengeance, if I did not. But when I had ended that duty I had
ended my religion, and my vices went on none the less prosperously.
Often indeed my prayers were for special favors,--wealth, or success in
some affair--and when, after wearying myself with repeating them a
thousand times, the favors were not bestowed, how have I left the temple
in a rage, cursing the gods I had just been worshipping, and swearing
never more to propitiate them by prayer or sacrifice. Sometimes I
repented of such violence, but oftener kept my word and tried some other
god. You, Probus, were, I may believe, of a more even temper?'
'Yes, perhaps so. My father was one of the most patient and gentle of
men, and religious after the manner of our remoter ancestors of the days
of the republic. He was my instructor; and from him I learned truths
which were sufficient for my happiness under ordinary circumstances. I
was a devout and constant worshipper of the gods. My every-day life may
then have been as pure as it has been since I have been a Christian; and
my prayers as many or more. The instincts of my nature, which carried up
the soul toward some great and infinite being, which I could not resist,
kept me within the bounds of that prudent and virtuous life which I
believed would be most acceptable to them. But when a day of heavy and
insupportable calamity came upon me, and I was made to look after the
foundations of what I had been believing, I found there were none. I was
like a ship tossed about by the storms, without rudder or pilot. I then
knew not whether there were gods or not; or if there were any, who,
among the multiplicity worshipped in Rome, the true ones were. In my
grief, I railed at the heavens and their rulers, for not revealing
themselves to us in our darkness and weakness; and cursed them for their
cruelty. Soon after I became a Christian. The difference between my
state then, and now, is this. I believed then; but it was merely
instinctive. I could give no reason to myself nor to others for my
faith. It was something and yet nothing. Now, I have somewhat to stand
upon. I can prove to myself, and to others, my religion, as well as
other things. I have knowledge as well as blind belief. It is good to
believe in something, and in some sort, though one can give no account
of his faith; but it is better to believe in that which we know, as we
know other things. I have now, as a Christian, the same strength of
belief in God, providence, and futurity, that I have in any facts
attested by history. Jesus has announced them or confirmed them, and
they are susceptible of proof. I differed from you, Macer, in this; that
I cursed not the gods in my passion, or caprice; I was for years and
years their humble, and contented, and patient worshipper. I rebelled
not till I suffered cruel disappointment, and in my faith could find no
consolation or light. One real sorrow, by which the foundations of my
earthly peace were all broken up, revealed to me the nothingness of my
so called religion. Into what a new world, Macer, has our new faith
introduced us! I am now happier than ever I was, even with my wife and
children around me.'
'Some of our neighbors,' said Auria, 'wonder what it is that makes us so
light of heart, notwithstanding our poverty and the dangers to which we
are so often exposed. I tell them that they, who, like us, believe in
the providence of a God, who is always near us and within us, and in the
long reign with Christ as soon as death is past, have nothing to fear.
That which they esteem the greatest evil of all, is, to us, an absolute
gain. Upon this they either silently wonder, or laugh and deride.
However, many too believe.'
'Probus, we are all ready to be offered up,' the enthusiast rejoined.
'God's mercy to me is beyond all power of mine to describe, in that he
has touched and converted the hearts of every one under my roof. Now if
to this mercy he will but add one more, that we may glorify him by our
death as well as in our life, the cup of his servant will be full and
running over.'
Probus did not choose again to engage with his convert upon that theme,
knowing him to be beyond the reach of influence and control. We could
not but marvel to see to what extent he had infused his own enthusiasm
into his family. His wife indeed and elder daughters would willingly see
him calmer and less violent when abroad, but like him, being by nature
of warm temperament, they are like him Christians warm and zealous
beyond almost any whom I have seen. They are as yet also so recently
transferred from their Heathen to their Christian state, that their
sight is still dazzled, and they see not objects in their true shapes
and proportions. In their joy they seem to others, and perhaps often
are, greatly extravagant in the expression of their feelings and
opinions.
When our temperate repast was ended, Macer again prayed, and we then
separated. Our visit proved wholly ineffectual as to the purpose we had
in view, but by no means so when I consider the acquaintance which it
thus gave me with a family in the very humblest condition, who yet were
holding and equally prizing the same opinions, at which, after so much
research and labor, I had myself arrived. I perceived in this power of
Christianity to adapt itself to minds so different in their slate of
previous preparation, and in their ability to examine and sift a
question which was offered to them; in the facility and quickness with
which it seized both upon the understanding and the affections; in the
deep convictions which it produced of its own truth and excellence, and
the scorn and horror with which it filled the mind for its former
superstitions--I saw in this an element of strength, and of dominion,
such as even I had hardly conceived, and which assures me that this
religion is destined to a universal empire. Not more certainly do all
men need it than they will have it. When in this manner, with everything
against it, in the habits, lives, and prejudices of men--with itself
almost against itself in its strictness and uncompromising morality--it
nevertheless forces its way into minds of every variety of character,
and diffuses wherever it goes the same inward happiness;--its success
under such circumstances is at once an argument for its truth, and an
assurance that it will pause in its progress not till it shall have
subdued the world to its dominion.
Julia was deeply interested in all that I told her of the family of
Macer, and will make them all her special charge. Ælia will I hope
become in some capacity a member of our household.
I ought to tell you that we have often of late been at the Gardens,
where we have seen both Livia and Aurelian. Livia is the same, but the
Emperor is changed. A gloomy horror seems to sit upon him, which both
indisposes him to converse as formerly, and others to converse with him.
Especially has he shown himself averse to discussion of any point that
concerns the Christians, at least with me. When I would willingly have
drawn him that way, he has shrunk from it with an expression of
distaste, or with more expressive silence, or the dark language of his
terrific frown. For me however he has no terrors, and I have resolved to
break through all the barriers he chooses to set up around him, and
learn if I can what his feelings and purposes precisely are. One
conversation may reveal them in such a way, as may make it sufficiently
plain what part he means to act, and what measure of truth there may be
in the current rumors; in which, for my own part, I cannot bring myself
to place much reliance. I doubt even concerning the death of Aurelia,
whether, even if it has taken place, it is not to be traced to some
cause other than her religion.
* * * * *
A day has passed. I have seen the Emperor, as I was resolved to do, and
now I no longer doubt what his designs are, nor that they are dark as
they have been represented; yea, and darker, even as night is darker
than day.
Upon reaching the palace, I was told that the Emperor was exercising at
the hippodrome, toward which I then bent my steps. It lies at some
distance from the palace, concealed from it by intervening groves. Soon
as I came in sight of it, I beheld Aurelian upon his favorite horse
running the course as if contending for a prize, plying, the while, the
fierce animal he bestrode with the lash, as if he were some laggard who
needed rousing to his work. Swifter than the wind he flew by me, how
many times I know not, without noting apparently that any one was
present beside the attendant slaves; nor did he cease till the horse,
spent and exhausted, no longer obeyed the will of even the Emperor of
the world. Many a noble charger has he in this manner rode till he has
fallen dead. So long used has this man been to the terrific game of war,
and the scenes and sights which that reveals, stirring to their depths
all the direst passions of our nature, that now, at home and at peace,
life grows stale and flat, and needs the artificial stimulants which
violent and extreme modes of action can alone supply. The death of a
horse on the course, answers now for a legion slain in battle; an
unruly, or disobedient, or idle slave hewn in two, affords the relief
which the execution of prisoners has been accustomed to yield. Weary of
inaction, he pants for the day to arrive when, having completed the
designs he has set on foot in the city, he shall again join the army,
now accumulating in huge masses in Thrace, and once more find himself in
the East, on the way to new conquests and fresh slaughter.
As he threw himself from his horse, now breathing hard and scarcely
supporting himself, the foam rolling from him like snow, he saluted me
in his usual manner.
'A fair and fortunate day to you, Piso! And what may be the news in the
city? I have rode fast and far, but have heard nothing. I come back
empty as I went out, save the heat which I have put into my veins. This
horse is he I was seen upon from the walls of Palmyra by your and other
traitor eyes. But for first passing through the better part of my leg
and then the saddle, the arrow that hit me then had been the death of
him. But death is not for him, nor he for death; he and his rider are
something alike, and will long be so, if auguries ever speak truth. And
if there be not truth in auguries, Piso, where is it to be found among
mortals? These three mornings have I rode him to see if in this manner
he could be destroyed, but thou seest how it issues; I should destroy
myself before him. But what, I say, is the news? How does the lady
Julia? and the Queen?'
Replying first to these last inquiries, I then said that there was
little news I believed in the city. The only thing, perhaps, that could
be treated as news, was the general uneasiness of the Christians.
'Ah! They are uneasy? By the gods, not wholly without reason. Were it
not for them I had now been, not here chafing my horse and myself on a
hippodrome, but tearing up instead the hard sands of the Syrian deserts.
They weigh upon me like a nightmare! They are a visible curse of the
gods upon the state--but, being seen, it can be removed. I reckon not
you among this tribe, Piso, when I speak of them. What purpose is
imputed?'
'Rumor varies. No distinct purpose is named, but rather a general one of
abridging some of their liberties--suppressing their worship, and
silencing their priests.'
'Goes it no further?'
'Not with many; for the people are still willing to believe that
Aurelian will inflict no needless suffering. They see you great in war,
severe in the chastisement of the enemies of the state, and just in the
punishment inflicted upon domestic rebels; and they conceive that in
regard to this simple people you will not go beyond the rigor I have
just named.'
'Truly they give me credit,' replied Aurelian, 'for what I scarcely
deserve. But an Emperor can never hear the truth. Piso! they will find
themselves deceived. One or the other must fall--Helenism or
Christianity! I knew not, till my late return from the East, the ravages
made by this modern superstition, not only throughout Rome, but the
world. In this direction I have for many years been blind. I have had
eyes only for the distant enemies of my country, and the glories of the
battle-field. But now, upon resting here a space in the heart of the
empire, I find that heart eaten out and gone; the religion of ancient
Rome, which was its very life, decaying, and almost dead, through the
rank growth of this overshadowing poison-tree that has shot up at its
side. It must be cut up by the roots--the branches hewn away--the leaves
stripped and scattered to the winds--nay, the very least fibre that
lurks below the surface with life in it, must be wrenched out and
consumed. We must do thus by the Christians and their faith, or they
will do so by us.'
'I am hardly willing,' I replied, 'to believe what I have heard; nor
will I believe it. It were an act, so mad and unwise, as well as so
cruel, that I will not believe it though coming from the lips of
Aurelian!'
'It is true, Piso, as the light of yonder sun! But if thou wilt not
believe, wait a day or two and proof enough shall thou have--proof that
shall cure thy infidelity in a river of Christian blood.'
'Still, Aurelian,' I answered. 'I believe not: nor will, till that
river shall run down before my eyes red and thick as the Orontes!'
'How, Piso, is this? I thought you knew me!'
'In part I am sure I do. I know you neither to be a madman nor a fool,
both which in one would you be to attempt what you have now threatened.'
'Young Piso, you are bold!'
'I make no boast of courage,' I replied; 'I know that in familiar speech
with Aurelian, I need not fear him. Surely you would not converse on
such a subject with a slave or a flatterer. A Piso can be neither. I can
speak, or I can be silent; but if I speak--'
'Say on, say on, in the name of the gods!'
'What I would say to Aurelian then is this, that slaughter as he may,
the Christians cannot be exterminated; that though he decimated, first
Rome and then the empire, there would still be left a seed that would
spring up and bear its proper harvest. Nay, Aurelian, though you halved
the empire, you could not win your game. The Christians are more than
you deem them.'
'Be it so,' replied the Emperor; 'nevertheless I will try. But they are
not so many as you rate them at, neither by a direct nor an indirect
enumeration.'
'Let that pass, then,' I answered. 'Let them be a half, a quarter, a
tenth part of what I believe them to be, it will be the same; they
cannot be exterminated. Soon as the work of death is done, that of life
will begin again, and the growth will be the more rank for the blood
spilled around. Outside of the tenth part, Aurelian, that now openly
professes this new religion, there lies another equal number of those
who do not openly profess it, but do so either secretly, or else view it
with favor and with the desire to accept it. Your violence, inflicted
upon the open believers, reaches not them, for they are an invisible
multitude; but no sooner has it fallen and done its work of ruin, than
this other multitude slowly reveals itself, and stands forth heirs and
professors of the persecuted faith, and ready, like those who went
before them, to live for it and die for it.'
'What you say may be so,' answered Aurelian; 'I had thought not of it.
Nevertheless, I will try.'
'Moreover,' I continued, 'in every time of persecution, there are
those--sincere believers, but timid--who dare not meet the threatened
horrors. These deny not their faith, but they shrink from sight; they
for a season disappear; their hearts worship as ever, but their tongues
are silent; and search as they may, your emissaries of blood cannot find
them. But soon as the storm is over-past, then do they come forth again,
as insects from the leaves that sheltered them from the storm, and fill
again the forsaken churches.'
'Nevertheless I will try for them.'
'Then will you be, Aurelian, as one that sheds blood, because he will
shed it--seeing that the end at which you aim cannot in such way be
reached. Confiscation, imprisonment, scourging, fires, torture, and
death, will all be in vain; and with no more prospect that by such
oppression Christianity can be annihilated, than there would be of
rooting out poppies from your fields when as you struck off the heads or
tore up the old roots, the ripe seeds were scattered abroad over the
soil, a thousand for every parent stalk that fell. You will drench
yourself in the blood of the innocent, only that you may do it--while no
effect shall follow.'
'Let it be so then; even so. Still I will not forbear. But this I know,
Piso, that when a disaffection has broken out in a legion, and I have
caused the half thereof, or its tenth, to be drawn forth and cut to
pieces by the other part, the danger has disappeared. The physic has
been bitter, but it has cured the patient! I am a good surgeon; and well
used to letting blood. I know the wonders it works and shall try it now,
not doubting to see some good effects. When poison is in the veins, let
out the blood, and the new that comes in is wholesome. Rome is
poisoned!'
'Great Emperor,' I replied, 'you know nothing, allow me to say, whereof
you affirm. You know not the Christians, and how can you deem them
poison to the state? A purer brotherhood never has the world seen. I am
but of late one among them, and it is but a few months since I thought
of them as you now do. But I knew nothing of them. Now I know them. And
knowledge has placed them before me in another light. If, Aurelian--'
'I know nothing of them, Piso, it is true; and I wish to know
nothing--nothing more, than that they are Christians! that they deny the
good gods! that they aim at the overthrow of the religion of the
state--that religion under whose fostering care Rome has grown up to her
giant size--that they are fire-brands of discord and quarrel in Rome and
throughout the world! Greater would my name be, could I extirpate this
accursed tribe than it would be for triumphing over both the East and
West, or though I gained the whole world.'
'Aurelian,' I replied, 'this is not the language I used to hear from
your lips. Another spirit possesses you and it is not hard to tell
whence it comes.'
'You would say--from Fronto.'
'I would. There is the rank poison, that has turned the blood in the
veins of one, whom justice and wisdom once ruled, into its own accursed
substance.'
'I and Rome, Piso,' said Aurelian, 'owe much to Fronto. I confess that
his spirit now possesses me. He has roused the latent piety into action
and life, which I received with my mother's milk, but which, the gods
forgive me! carried away by ambition, had well nigh gone quite out in my
soul. My mother--dost thou know it?--was a priestess of Apollo, and
never did god or goddess so work by unseen influence to gain a mortal's
heart, as did she to fill mine with reverence of the deities of
heaven--specially of the great god of light. I was early a wayward
child. When a soldier in the legions I now command, my life was what a
soldier's is--a life of action, hardship, peril, and blood. The deities
of Heaven soon became to me as if they were not. And so it has been for
well nigh all the years of my life. But, the gods be thanked, Fronto has
redeemed me! and since I have worn this diadem have I toiled, Rome can
testify with what zeal, to restore to her gods their lost honors--to
purge her worship of the foul corruptions that were bringing it into
contempt--and raise it higher than ever in the honor of the people, by
the magnificence of the temples I have built; by the gifts I have
lavished upon them; by the ample riches wherewith I have endowed the
priesthood. And more than once, while this work has been achieving, has
the form of my revered parent, beautiful in the dazzling robes of her
office, stood by my bedside--whether in dream, or in vision, or in
actual presence, I cannot tell--and blessed me for my pious
enterprise--"The gods be thanked," the lips have said, or seemed to say,
"that thy youth lasts not always but that age has come, and with it
second childhood in thy reverence of the gods, whose worship it was mine
to put into thy infant heart. Go on thy way, my son! Build up the fallen
altars, and lay low the aspiring fanes of the wicked. Finish what thou
hast begun, and all time shall pronounce thee greatest of the great."
Should I disobey the warning? The gods forbid! and save me from such
impiety. I am now, Piso, doubly armed for the work I have taken in
hand--first by the zeal of the pious Fronto, and second, by the manifest
finger of Heaven pointing the way I should go. And, please the Almighty
Ruler! I will enter upon it, and it shall not be for want of a
determined will and of eyes too used to the shedding of blood to be
frightened now though an ocean full were spilled before them, if this
race be not utterly swept from the face of the earth, from the suckling
to the silver head, from the beggar to the prince--and from Rome all
around to the four winds, as far as her almighty arms can reach.'
My heart sunk within me as he spoke, and my knees trembled under me. I
knew the power and spirit of the man, and I now saw that superstition
had claimed him for her own; that he would go about his work of death
and ruin, armed with his own cruel and bloody mind, and urged behind by
the fiercer spirit still of Pagan bigotry. It seemed to me, in spite of
what I had just said myself, and thought I believed, as if the
death-note of Christianity had now been rung in my ear. The voice of
Aurelian as he spoke had lost its usual sharpness, and fallen into a
lower tone full of meaning, and which said to me that his very inmost
soul was pouring itself out, with the awful words he used. I felt
utterly helpless and undone--like an ant in the pathway of a
giant--incapable of resistance or escape. I suppose all this was visible
in my countenance. I said nothing; and Aurelian, after pausing a moment,
went on.
'Think me not, Piso, to be using the words of an idle braggart in what I
have said. Who has known Aurelian, when once he has threatened death, to
hold back his hand? But I will give thee earnest of my truth!'
'I require it not, Aurelian. I question not thy truth.'
'I will give it notwithstanding, Piso. What will you think--you will
think as you ever have of me--if I should say that already, and upon one
of my own house, infected with this hell-begotten atheism, has the axe
already fallen!'
Hearing the horrible truth from his own lips, it seemed as if I had
never heard it before. I hardly had believed it.
'Tyrant!' I exclaimed, 'it cannot be! What, Aurelia?'