accursed indeed. I was out the humble instrument of him I serve--driven
by his spirit. It was the voice of God, not of man.'
'These,' said Fronto, 'are the Christian devices, by which they would
lead blindfold into their snares you, Romans, and your children. May
Christ ever employ in Rome a messenger cunning and skilful as this
prating god, and Hellenism will have naught to fear.'
'And,' cried Macer, 'let your priests be but like Fronto, and the eyes
of the blindest driveler of you all will be unsealed. Ask Fronto into
whose bag went the bull's heart, that on the day of dedication could not
be found--
'Thou liest, Nazarene--'
'Ply him with your pincers,' cried Varus,--and the cruel irons were
plunged into his flesh. Yet he shrunk not--nor groaned; but his voice
was again heard in the midst of the torture,
'Ask him from whose robe came the old and withered heart, the sight of
which so unmanned Aurelian--'
'Dash in his mouth,' shrieked Fronto, 'and stop those lies blacker than
hell.'
But Macer went on, while the irons tore him in every part.
'Ask him too for the instructions and the bribes given to the
haruspices, and to those who led the beasts up to the altar. Though I
die, Romans, I have left the proof of all this in good hands. I stood
the while where I saw it all.'
'Thou liest, slave,' cried the furious priest; and at the same moment
springing forward and seizing an instrument from the hands of one of
the tormentors, he struck it into the shoulder of Macer, and the
lacerated arm fell from the bleeding trunk. A piercing shriek confessed
the inflicted agony.
'Away with him!' cried Varus, 'away with him to the rack, and tear him
joint from joint!'
At the word he was borne bleeding away, but not insensible nor
speechless. All along as he went his voice was heard calling upon God
and Christ, and exhorting the people to abjure their idolatries.
He was soon stretched again upon the rack, which now quickly finished
its work; and the Christian Macer, after sufferings which I knew not
before that the human frame could so long endure and live, died a martyr
to the faith he had espoused; the last words which were heard throughout
the hall being these;
'Jesus, I die for thee, and my death is sweet!'
When it was announced to the Prefect that Macer was dead, he exclaimed,
'Take the carcass of the Christian dog and throw it upon the square of
the Jews: there let the dogs devour it.'
Saying which, he rose from his seat, and, accompanied by Fronto, left by
the same way he had before entered the hall of judgment.
Soon as he had withdrawn from the apartment, the base rabble that had
filled it, and had glutted their savage souls upon the horrors of that
scene, cried out tumultuously for the body of the Christian, which, when
it was gladly delivered to them by those who had already had enough of
it, they thrust hooks into, and rushed out dragging it toward the place
ordained for it by the Prefect. As they came forth into the streets the
mob increased to an immense multitude of those, who seemed possessed of
the same spirit. And they had not together proceeded far, filling the
air with their cries and uttering maledictions of every form against the
unhappy Christians, before a new horror was proclaimed by that
blood-thirsty crew. For one of them, suddenly springing up upon the base
of one of the public statues, whence he could be heard by the greater
part, cried out,
'To the house of Macer! To the house of Macer!'
'Aye, aye,' shouted another, 'to the house of Macer, in the ruins behind
the shop of Demetrius!'
'To the house of Macer!' arose then in one deafening shout from the
whole throng; and, filled with this new frenzy, maddened like wild
beasts at the prospect of fresh blood, they abandoned there, where they
had dragged it, the body of Macer, and put new speed into their feet in
their haste to arrive at the place of the expected sport. I knew not
then where the ruins were, or it was possible that I might have got in
advance of the mob, and given timely warning to the devoted family.
Neither did I know any to whom to apply to discharge such a duty. While
I deplored this my helplessness and weakness, I suffered myself to be
borne along with the rushing crowd. Their merciless threats, their
savage language, better becoming barbarians than a people like this,
living in the very centre of civilization, filled me with an undefinable
terror. It seemed to me that within reach of such a populace, no people
were secure of property or life.
'The Christians,' said one, 'have had their day and it has been a long
one, too long for Rome. Let its night now come.'
'Yes,' said another, 'we will all have a hand in bringing it on. Let
every Roman do his share, and they may be easily rooted out.'
'I understand,' said another, 'that it is agreed upon, that whatever the
people attempt after their own manner, as in what we are now about, they
are not to be interfered with. We are to have free pasturage, and feed
where, and as we list.'
'Who could suppose,' said the first, 'it should be different? It is well
known that formerly, though there has been no edict to the purpose, the
people have not only been permitted, they have been expected, to do
their part of the business without being asked or urged. I dare say if
we can do up this family of--who is it?'
'Macer, the Christian Macer,' interrupted the other;--'we shall receive
the thanks of Aurelian, though they be not spoken, as heartily as Varus.
That was a tough old fellow though. They say he has served many years
under the Emperor, and when he left the army was in a fair way to rise
to the highest rank. Curses upon those who made a Christian of him! It
is they, not Varus, who have put him on the rack. But see! are not these
the ruins we seek? I hope so, for I have run far enough.'
'Yes,' replied his companion; 'these are the old baths! Now for it!'
The crowd thereupon abandoning the streets, poured itself like an
advancing flood among the ruins, filling all the spaces and mounting up
upon all the still standing fragments of walls and columns. It was not
at all evident where the house of the Christian was. It all seemed a
confusion of ruins and of dead wall.
'Who can show us,' cried out one who took upon himself the office of
leader, 'where the dwelling of Macer is?'
'I can,' responded the slender voice of a little boy; 'for I have often
been there before they became Christians.'
'Show us then, my young urchin; come up hither. Now, lead the way, and
we will follow.'
'You need go no further,' replied the boy; 'that is it?'
'That? It is but a stone wall!'
'Still it is the house,' replied the child; 'but the door is of stone as
well as the walls.'
At that the crowd began to beat upon the walls, and shout to those who
were within to come forth. They had almost wearied themselves out, and
were inclined to believe that the boy had given them false information,
when, upon a sort of level roof above the projecting mass which served
as the dwelling, a female form suddenly appeared, and, advancing to the
edge--not far above, yet beyond, the reach of the mob below--she
beckoned to them with her hand, as if she would speak to them.
The crowd, soon as their eyes caught this new object, ceased from their
tumultuous cries and prepared to hear what she who approached them thus
might have to say. Some, indeed, immediately began to hurl missiles, but
they were at once checked by others, who insisted that she should have
liberty to speak. And these wretches would have been more savage still
than I believed them, if the fair girl who stood there pleading to them
had not found some favor. Hers was a bright and sparkling countenance,
that at once interested the beholder. Deep blushes spread over her face
and bosom, while she stood waiting the pleasure of the heaving multitude
before her.
'Ah! hah!' cried one; 'who is she but the dancing girl Ælia! she is a
dainty bit for us. Who would have thought that she was the daughter of a
Christian!'
'I am sorry for her,' cried another; 'she is too pretty to be torn in
pieces. We must save her.'
'Say on! say on!' now cried one of the leaders of the crowd as silence
succeeded; 'we will hear you.'
'Whom do you seek?' then asked Ælia, addressing him who had spoken.
'You know well enough, my pretty girl,' replied the other. 'We seek the
house and family of Macer the Christian. Is this it? and are you of his
household?'
'This,' she replied, 'is the house of Macer, and I am his daughter. My
mother with all her children are below. And now why do you seek us
thus?'
'We seek,' replied the savage, 'not only you but your lives. All you
have to do is to unbar this door and let us in.'
Though Ælia could have supposed that they were come for nothing else,
yet the brutal announcement of the terrible truth drove the color from
her cheeks, and caused her limbs to tremble. Yet did it not abate her
courage, nor take its energy from her mind.
'Good citizens and friends,' said she, 'for I am sure I must have some
friends among you, why should you do us such wrong? We are poor and
humble people, and have never had the power, if the will had been ours,
to injure you. Leave us in safety, and, if you require it, we will
abandon our dwelling and even our native Rome--for we are all native
Romans.'
'That, my young mistress, will not serve our turn. Are you not, as you
said, the family of the Christian Macer?'
'Yes, we are.'
'Well,' answered the other, 'that is the reason we seek you, and mean to
have you.'
'But,' replied the girl, 'there must be many among you who would not
willingly harm either Macer or anything that is his. Macer is not only a
Christian, Romans, but he is a good warm-hearted patriot as ever was
born within the compass of these walls. Brutus himself never loved
freedom nor hated tyrants more than he.'
'That's little to the purpose now-a-days,' cried one from the crowd.
'There is not a single possession he has,' continued Ælia, 'save only
his faith as a Christian, which he would not surrender for the love he
bears to Rome and to everything that is Roman. Ever since he was strong
enough to draw and wield a sword, has he been fighting for you the
battles of our country. If you have seen him, you have seen how cruelly
the weapons of the enemy have hacked him. On every limb are there scars
of wounds received in battle; and twice, once in Gaul and once in Asia,
has he been left for dead upon the field. It was once in Syria, when the
battle raged at its highest, and Carinus was suddenly beset by more than
he could cope with, and had else fallen into the enemy's hands a
prisoner, or been quickly despatched, that Macer came up and by his
single arm saved his general--'
'A great pity that,' cried many from the crowd.
'Macer,' continued Ælia, 'only thought that Carinus then represented
Rome, and that his life, whatever it was, and however worthless in
itself, was needful for Rome, and he threw himself into the breach even
as he would have done for Aurelian or his great captain Probus. Was not
his virtue the greater for that? Was he to feed his own humor, and leave
Carinus to perish, when his country by that might receive detriment?
Macer has never thought of himself. Had he been ambitious as some, he
had now been where Mucapor is. But when in the army he always put by his
own interests. The army, its generals and Rome were all in all with him,
himself, nothing. How, citizens, can you wish to do him harm? or
anything that is his? And, even as a Christian--for which you reproach
him and now seek him--it is still the same. Believe me when I say, that
it is because of his love of you and Rome that he would make you all as
he is. He honestly thinks that it is the doctrine of Christ, which can
alone save Rome from the destruction which her crimes are drawing down
upon her. He has toiled from morning till night, all day and all
night--harder than he ever did upon his marches either in Africa or in
Asia--that you might be made to know what this religion of Christ is;
what it means; what it will bestow upon you if you will receive it; and
what it will save you from. And he would not scruple to lose his life,
if by so doing he could give any greater efficacy to the truth in which
he believes. I would he were here now, Romans, to plead his own cause
with you. I know you would so esteem his honesty, and his warm Roman
heart, that you would be more ready to serve than to injure him.'
Pity stood in some eyes, but impatience and anger in more.
'Be not so sure of that,' cried he who had spoken before. 'No true Roman
can love a Christian. Christians are the worst enemies of the state. As
for Macer, say no more of him; he is already done for. All you have to
do is to set open the door.'
'What say you of Macer?' cried the miserable girl, wringing her hands.
'Has any evil befallen him?'
'What he will never recover from,' retorted the barbarian. 'Varus has
just had him on one of his iron playthings, and his body we have but now
left in the street yonder. So hasten.'
'O worse than demons to kill so good a man,' cried Ælia, the tears
rolling down her cheeks. 'But if he is dead, come and take us too. We
wish not now to live; and ready as he was to die for Christ, so ready
are we also. Cease your blows; and I will open the door.'
But her agency in that office was no longer needed. A huge timber had
been brought in the meantime from the ruins, and, plied by an hundred
hands with noisy uproar, the stone door soon gave way, just as Ælia
descended and the murderous crew rushed in.
The work of death was in part quickly done. The sons of Macer, who, on
the uproar, had instantly joined their mother in spite of all the
entreaties of Demetrius, were at once despatched, and dragged forth by
ropes attached to their feet. The two youngest, transfixed by spears,
were seen borne aloft as bloody standards of that murderous rout. The
mother and the other children, placed in a group in the midst of the
multitude, were made to march on, the savages themselves being divided
as to what should be their fate. Some cried out, 'To the Tiber!'--some,
'Crucify them beyond the walls!--others, 'Give 'em the pavements!' But
the voice of one more ingenious in cruelty than the rest prevailed.
'To the square by Hanno's with them!'
This proposition filled them with delight.
'To Hanno's! to Hanno's!' resounded on all sides. And away rushed the
infuriated mass to their evil sport.
'And who is Hanno?' I asked of one near me.
'Hanno? know you not Hanno? He is brother of Sosia the gladiator, and
breeds dogs for the theatres. You shall soon see what a brood he will
turn out. There is no such breeder in Rome as he.'
Sick at heart as I was, I still pressed on, resolved to know all that
Christian heroism could teach me. We were soon at the square, capable of
holding on its borders not only thousands but tens of thousands, to
which number it seemed as if the throng had now accumulated. Hanno's
extensive buildings and grounds were upon one side of the square, to
which the people now rushed, calling out for the great breeder to come
forth with his pack.
He was not slow in obeying the summons. He himself appeared,
accompanied, as on the day when Piso saw him on the Capitol Hill, by his
two dogs Nero and Sylla. After first stipulating with the ringleaders
for a sufficient remuneration, he proceeded to order the game. He was at
first for separating the victims, but they implored to be permitted to
suffer together, and so much mercy was shown them. They were then set
together in the centre of the square, while the multitude disposed
themselves in an immense circle around--the windows of the buildings and
the roofs of all the neighboring dwellings being also thronged with
those who both looked on and applauded. Before the hounds were let
loose, Hanno approached this little band, standing there in the midst
and clinging to one another, and asked them,
'If they had anything to say, or any message to deliver, for he would
faithfully perform what they might enjoin.'
The rest weeping, Ælia answered, 'that she wished to say a few words to
the people who stood around.'
'Speak then,' replied Hanno, 'and you shall not be disturbed.'
She then turned toward the people, and said. 'I can wish you, Romans,
before I die, no greater good than that, like me and those who are with
me, you may one day become Christians. For you will then be incapable of
inflicting such sufferings and wrongs upon any human being. The religion
of Jesus will not suffer you to do otherwise than love others as you do
yourselves; that is the great Christian rule. Be assured that we now
die, as Christians, in full faith in Christ and in joyful hope of living
with him, so soon as these mortal bodies shall have perished; and that,
though a single word of denial would save us, we would not speak it. Ye
have cruelly slaughtered the good Macer; do so now by us, if such is
your will, and we shall then be with him where he is.'
With these words she again turned, and throwing her arms around her
mother and younger sisters, awaited the onset of the furious dogs, whose
yellings and strugglings could all the while be heard. She and they
waited but a moment, when the blood-hounds, fiercer than the fiercest
beasts of the forest, flew from their leashes, and, in less time than
would be believed, naught but a heap of bones marked where the Christian
family had stood.
The crowds, then fully sated as it seemed with the rare sport of the
morning, dispersed, each having something to say to another of the
firmness and patriotism of Varus and Fronto,--and of the training and
behavior of the dogs.
* * * * *
From the earliest period of reflection have I detested the Roman
character; and all that I have witnessed with my own eyes has served but
to confirm those early impressions. They are a people wholly destitute
of humanity. They are the lineal descendants of robbers, murderers, and
warriors--which last are but murderers under another name--and they show
their parentage in every line of their hard-featured visages, and still
more in all the qualities of the soul. They are stern,--unyielding,
unforgiving--cruel. A Roman heart dissected would be found all stone.
Any present purpose of passion, or ambition, or party zeal, will
extinguish in the Roman all that separates him from the brute. Bear
witness to the truth of this, ye massacres of Marius and Sylla! and
others, more than can be named, both before and since--when the blood of
neighbors, friends, and fellow-citizens, was poured out as freely as if
it had been the filthy stream that leaks its way through the public
sewers! And, in good sooth, was it not as filthy? For those very ones so
slain, had the turn of the wheel--as in very deed has often
happened--set them uppermost, would have done the same deed upon the
others. Happy is it for the peace of the earth and the great cause of
humanity, that this faith of Christ, whether it be true or false, is at
length beginning to bear sway, and doing somewhat to soften, what more
than twelve centuries have passed over and left in its original
vileness.
When, like the rest of that Roman mob, I had been filled with the sights
and sounds of the morning, I turned and sought the palace of Piso.
Arriving there I found Portia, Julia, and Piso sitting together at the
hour of dinner. I sat with them. Piso had not left the palace, since I
had parted from him. They had remained at peace within, and as ignorant
of what had happened in the distant parts of the huge capital, as we all
were of what was then doing in another planet. When, as the meal drew to
a close, I had related to them the occurrences of which I had just been
the witness, they could scarce believe what they heard, though it was
but what they and all had every reason to look for, from the language
which Aurelian had used, and the known hostility of the Prefect. Portia,
the mother, was moved more, if it could be so, than even Piso or Julia.
When I had ended, she said,
'Think not, Nicomachus, that although, as thou knowest, I am of
Aurelian's side in religion, I defend these inhuman wrongs. To inflict
them can make no part of the duty of any worshipper of the gods, however
zealous he may be. I do not believe that the gods are propitiated by any
acts which occasion suffering to their creatures. I have seen no
justification under any circumstances of human sacrifices--much less can
I see any of sacrifices like those you have this morning witnessed.
Aurelian, in authorizing or conniving at such horrors, has cut himself
loose from the honor and the affections of all those in Rome whose
esteem is worth possessing. He has given himself up to the priesthood,
and to the vulgar rabble over whom it exercises a sway more strict than
an Eastern despot. He is by these acts turning the current of the best
Roman sympathy toward the Christians, and putting off by a long remove
the hour when he might hope to see the ancient religion of the state
delivered from its formidable rival.'
'It is the purpose of Aurelian,' I said, 'not so much to persecute and
annoy the Christians, as to exterminate them. He is persuaded that by
using the same extreme and summary measures with the Christians, which
he has been accustomed to employ in the army, he can root out this huge
evil from the state, as easily as those lesser ones from the
camp;--without reflecting that it must be impossible to discover all, or
any very large proportion of those who profess Christianity, and that
therefore his slaughter of a half or a quarter of the whole number, will
be to no purpose. It will have been but killing so many--there will be
no other effect; unless, indeed, it have the effect to convince new
thousands of the power, and worth, and divinity of that faith, for which
men are so willing to die.'
'I mourn,' said Portia, 'that the great head of the state, and the great
high priest of our religion should have taken the part he has. Measures
of moderation and true wisdom, though they might not have obtained for
him so great a name for zeal and love of the gods, nor made so sudden
and deep an impression upon the common mind and heart, would have
secured with greater probability the end at which he has aimed.'
'It is hard.' said I, 'to resist nature, especially so when superstition
comes in to its aid. Aurelian, by nature a savage, is doubly one through
the influence of his religion and the priesthood. Moderation and
humanity are so contrary to every principle of the man and his faith,
that they are not with more reason to be looked for from him than
gentleness in a famished wolf.'
Portia looked as if I had assailed the walls and capitol of Rome.
'I know not, Greek,' she quickly said, 'on what foundation it is you
build so heavy a charge against the time-honored faith of Rome. It has
served Rome well these thousand years, and reared men whose greatness
will dwell in the memory of the world while the world lasts.'
'Great men have been reared in Rome,' I replied; 'it can by none be
denied. But it has been by resisting the influences of their religion,
not by courting them. They have left themselves in this to the safer
tutelage of nature, as have you, lady; and they have escaped the evils,
which the common superstition would have entailed upon them, had they
admitted it to their bosoms. Who can deny that the religion of Rome, so
far as it is a religion for the common people, is based up on the
characters of the gods, as they through history and tradition are held
up to them--especially as they are painted by the poets? Say if there be
any other books of authority on this great theme than the poets? What
book of religious instruction and precept have you, or have you ever
had, corresponding to the volume of the Christians, called their
gospels?'
'We have none,' said Portia, as I paused compelling a rejoinder. 'It is
true, we have but our historians and our poets, with what we find in the
philosophers.'