be in the hands of the common people. Whence then do they receive their
religious ideas, but from tradition, and the character of the deities of
heaven, as they are set forth in the poets? And if this be so, I need
not ask whether it be possible that the religion of Rome should be any
other than a source of corruption to the people. So far as the gods
should be their models, they can do no otherwise than help to sink their
imitators lower and lower in all filth and vice. Happily for Rome and
the world, lady, men instinctively revolt at such examples, and copy
instead the pattern which their own souls supply. Had the Romans been
all which the imitation of their gods would have made them, this empire
had long ago sunk under the deep pollution. Fronto and Aurelian--the
last at least sincere--aim at a restoration of religion. They would lift
it up to the highest place, and make it the sovereign law of Rome. In
this attempt, they are unconsciously digging away her very foundations;
they are leveling her proud walls with the earth. Suppose Rome were made
what Fronto would have her? Every Roman were then another Fronto--or
another Aurelian. Were that a world to live in? or to endure? These,
lady, are the enemies of Rome, Aurelian and Fronto. The only hope for
Rome lies, in the reception of some such principles as these of the
Christians. Whether true or false, as a revelation from Heaven, they are
in accordance with the best part of our nature, and, once spread abroad
and received, they would tend by a mighty influence to exalt it more and
more. They would descend, as it is of the nature of absolute truth to
do, and lay hold of the humblest and lowest and vilest, and in them
erect their authority, and bring them into the state, in which every
man should be, for the reason that he is a man. Helenism cannot do
this.'
'Notwithstanding what I have heard, Nicomachus, I think you must
yourself be a Christian. But whether you are or not, I grant you to
understand well what religion should be. And I must say that it has ever
been such to me. I, from what I have read of our moralists and
philosophers, and from what I have reflected, have arrived at principles
not very different from such as you have now hinted at--'
'And are those of Fronto or Varus like yours, lady?'
'I fear not,' said Portia.
'Yours then, let me say, are the religion, which you have first found
within your own breast, a gift from the gods, and then by meditation
have confirmed and exalted; theirs, the common faith of Rome. Could your
faith rejoice in or permit the horrors I have this day witnessed and but
now described? Yet of theirs they are the legitimate fruit, the
necessary product.'
'Out of the best,' replied Portia, 'I believe, Nicomachus, may often
come the worst. There is naught so perfect and so wise, but human
passions will mar and pervert it. I should not wonder if, in ages to
come, this peace-loving faith of the Christians, should it survive so
long, should itself come to preside over scenes as full of misery and
guilt as those you have to-day seen in the streets of Rome.'
'It may be,' I rejoined. 'But it is nevertheless our duty, in the
selection of our principles, to take those which are the purest, the
most humane, the most accordant with what is best in us, and the least
liable to perversion and abuse. And whether, if this be just, it be
better that mankind should have presented for their imitation and honor
the character and actions of Jesus Christ, or those of Jupiter "Greatest
and Best," may be left for the simplest to determine.'
Portia is so staunch a Roman, that one cannot doubt that as she was born
and has lived, so she will die--a Roman. And truth to say, were all like
her, there were little room for quarrel with the principles that could
produce such results. But for one such, there are a thousand like Varus,
Fronto, and Aurelian.
As after this interview, which was prolonged till the shades of evening
began to fall, I held communion with myself on the way to the quiet
retreats of Tibur, I could not but entertain apprehensions for the
safety of the friends I had just left. I felt that where such men as
Varus and Fronto were at the head of affairs, wielding, almost as they
pleased, the omnipotence of Aurelian, no family nor individual of
whatever name or rank could feel secure of either fortune or life. I had
heard indeed such expressions of regard fall from the Emperor for Piso
and his beautiful wife, that I was sure that if any in Rome might feel
safe, it was they. Yet why should he, who had fallen with fatal violence
upon one of his own household, and such a one as Aurelia, hesitate to
strike the family of Piso, if thereby religion or the state were to be
greatly benefited? I could see a better chance for them only in the
Emperor's early love of Julia, which still seemed to exercise over him a
singular power.
The Queen, I found, upon naming to her the subject of my thoughts, could
entertain none of my apprehensions. It is so difficult for her nature to
admit the faintest purpose of the infliction of wanton suffering, that
she cannot believe it of others. Notwithstanding her experience of the
harsh and cruel spirit of Aurelian, notwithstanding the unnecessary
destruction, for any national or political object, of the multitudes of
Palmyra, still she inclines to confide in him. He has given so many
proofs of regret for that wide ruin, he has suffered so much for
it--especially for his murder of Longinus--in the opinion of all Rome,
and of the highest and best in all nations, that she is persuaded he
will be more cautious than ever whom he assails, and where he scatters
ruin and death. Still, such is her devotion to Julia and her love of
Piso--so entirely is her very life lodged in that of her daughter, that
she resolved to seek the Emperor without delay, and if possible obtain
an assurance of their safety, both from his own arm and that of popular
violence. This I urged upon her with all the freedom I might use; and
not in vain; for the next day, at the gardens of Sallust, she had
repeated interviews with Aurelian--and afterward at her own palace,
whither Aurelian came with Livia, and where, while Livia ranged among
the flowers with Faustula, the Emperor and the Queen held earnest
discourse--not only on the subject which chiefly agitated Zenobia, but
on the general principles on which he was proceeding in this attempted
annihilation of Christianity. Sure I am, that never in the Christian
body itself was there one who pleaded their cause with a more winning
and persuasive eloquence.
LETTER X.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
I write to you, Fausta, by the hands of Vabalathus, who visits Palmyra
on his way to his new kingdom. I trust you will see him. The adversities
of his family and the misfortunes of his country have had most useful
effects upon his character. Though the time has been so short, he has
done much to redeem himself. Always was he, indeed, vastly superior to
his brothers; but now, he is not only that, but very much more.
Qualities have unfolded themselves, and affections and tastes warmed
into life, which we none of us, I believe, so much as suspected the
existence of. Zenobia has come to be devotedly attached to him, and to
repose the same sort of confidence in him as formerly in Julia. All this
makes her the more reluctant to part with him; but, as it is for a
throne, she acquiesces. He carries away from Rome with him one of its
most beautiful and estimable women--the youngest daughter of the
venerable Tacitus--to whom he has just been married. In her you will see
an almost too favorable specimen of Roman women.
Several days have elapsed since I wrote to you, giving an account of the
sufferings and death of the Christian Macer--as I learned them from
those who were present--for a breach of the late edicts, and for
sacrilegiously, as the laws term it, tearing down the parchment
containing them from one of the columns of the capitol. During this
period other horrors of the same kind have been enacted in different
parts of the city. Macer is not the only one who has already paid for
his faith with his life. All the restraints of the law seem to be
withdrawn, not confessedly but virtually, and the Christians in humble
condition--and such for the most part we are--are no longer safe from
violence in the streets of Rome. Although, Fausta, you believe not with
us, you must, scarcely the less for that, pity us in our present
straits. Can the mind picture to itself, in some aspects of the case, a
more miserable lot! Were the times, even at the worst, so full of horror
in Palmyra as now here in Rome? There, if the city were given up to
pillage, the citizen had at least the satisfaction of dying in the
excitement of a contest, and in the defence of himself and his children.
Here the prospect is--the actual scene is almost arrived and
present--that all the Christians of Rome will be given over to the
butchery, first, of the Prefect's court, and others of the same
character, established throughout the city for the express purpose of
trying the Christians--and next, of the mob commissioned with full
powers to search out, find, and slay, all who bear the hated name. The
Christians, it is true, die for a great cause. In that cause they would
rather die than live, if to live, they must sacrifice any of the
interests of truth. But still death is not preferred; much less is
death, in the revolting and agonizing form, which, chiefly, these
voluntary executioners choose, to be viewed in any other light than an
evil too great almost to be endured.
It would astonish you, I think, and give you conceptions of the power of
this religion such as you have never had as yet, could you with me look
into the bosoms of these thousand Christian families, and behold the
calmness and the fortitude with which they await the approaching
calamities. There is now, as they believe, little else before them but
death--and death, such as a foretaste has been given of, in the
sufferings of Macer. Yet are they, with wonderfully few exceptions, here
in their houses prepared for whatever may betide, and resolved that they
will die for him unto whom they have lived. This unshrinking courage,
this spirit of self-sacrifice, is the more wonderful, as it is now the
received belief that they would not forfeit their Christian name or hope
by withdrawing, before the storm bursts, from the scene of danger.
There have been those in the church, and some there are now, who would
have all, who in time of persecution seek safety in flight, or by any
form of compromise, visited with the severest censures the church can
inflict, and forever after refused readmission to the privileges which
they once enjoyed. Paying no regard to the peculiar temperament and
character of the individual, they would compel all to remain fixed at
their post, inviting by a needless ostentation of their name and faith,
the search and assault of the enemy. Macer was of this number. Happily
they are now few: and the Christians are left free--free from the
constraint of any tyrant opinion, to act according to the real feeling
of the heart. But does this freedom carry them away from Rome? Does it
show them to the world hurrying in crowds by day, or secretly flying by
night, from the threatened woes? No so. All who were here when these
troubles first began, are here now, or with few and inconsiderable
exceptions--fewer than I could wish. All who have resorted to me under
these circumstances for counsel or aid have I advised, if flight be a
possible thing to them, that they should retreat with their children to
some remote and secluded spot, and wait till the tempest should have
passed by. Especially have I so advised and urged all whom I have known
to be of a sensitive and timid nature, or bound by ties of more than
common interest and necessity to large circles of relatives and
dependents. I have aimed to make them believe, that little gain would
accrue to the cause of Christ from the addition of them and theirs to
the mass of sufferers--when that mass is already so large; whereas great
and irreparable loss would follow to the community of their friends, and
of the Christians who should survive. They would do an equal service to
Christ and his church by living, and, on the first appearance of calmer
times, reassuming their Christian name and profession; being then a
centre about which there might gather together a new multitude of
believers. If still the enemies of Christ should prevail, and a day of
rest never dawn nor arise, they might then, when hope was dead, come
forth and add themselves to the innumerable company of those, born of
Heaven, who hold life and all its joys and comforts as dross, in
comparison with the perfect integrity of the mind. By such statements
have I prevailed with many. Probus too has exerted his power in the same
direction, and has enjoyed the happiness of seeing safely embarked for
Greece, or Syria, many whose lives in the coming years will be beyond
price to the then just-surviving church.
Yet do not imagine, Fausta, that we are an immaculate people; that the
weaknesses and faults which seem universal to mankind, are not to be
discovered in us that we are all, what by our acknowledged principles we
ought to be. We have our traitors and our renegades, our backsliders,
and our well-dissembling hypocrites--but so few are they, that they give
us little disquiet, and bring slight discredit upon us with the enemy.
And beside these, there will now be those, as in former persecutions,
who, as the day of evil approaches, will, through the operation simply
of their fears, renounce their name and faith. Of the former, some have
already made themselves conspicuous--conspicuous now by their cowardly
and hasty apostacy, as they were before by a narrow, contentious, and
restless zeal. Among others, the very one, who, on the evening when the
Christians assembled near the baths of Macer, was so forward to assail
the faith of Probus, and who ever before, on other occasions, when a
display could by any possibility be made of devotion to his party, or an
ostentatious parade of his love of Christ, was always thrusting himself
upon the notice of our body and clamoring for notoriety, has already
abandoned us and sought safety in apostacy. Others of the same stamp
have in like manner deserted us. They are neither lamented by us nor
honored by the other party. It is said of him whom I have just spoken
of, that soon as he had publicly renounced Christ, and sacrificed,
hisses and yells of contempt broke from the surrounding crowds. He,
doubtless it occurred to them, who had so proved himself weak,
cowardly, and faithless, to one set of friends, could scarcely be
trusted as brave and sincere by those to whom he then joined himself.
There are no virtues esteemed by the Romans like courage and sincerity.
This trait in their character is a noble one, and is greatly in our
favor. For, much as they detest our superstitions, they so honor our
fortitude under suffering, that a deep sympathy springs up almost
unconsciously in our behalf. Half of those who, on the first outbreak of
these disorders, would have been found bitterly hostile, if their hearts
could be scanned now or when this storm shall have passed by, would be
found most warmly with us--not in belief indeed, but in a
fellow-feeling, which is its best preparation and almost certain
antecedent. Even in such an inhuman rabble as perpetrated the savage
murder of the family of Macer, there were thousands who, then driven on
by the fury of passion, will, as soon as reflection returns, bear
testimony in a wholly altered feeling toward us, to the power with which
the miraculous serenity and calm courage of those true martyrs have
wrought within them. No others are now spoken of in Rome, but Macer and
his heroic wife and children.
* * * * *
Throughout the city it is this morning current that new edicts are to be
issued in the course of the day. Milo, returning from some of his
necessary excursions into the more busy and crowded parts of the city,
says that it is confidently believed. I told him that I could scarcely
think it, as I had reason to believe that the Emperor had engaged that
they should not be as yet.
'An Emperor surely,' said Milo, 'may change his mind if he lists. He is
little better than the rest of us, if he have not so much power as that.
I think, if I were Emperor, that would be my chief pleasure, to do and
say one thing to-day and just the contrary thing to-morrow, without
being obliged to give a reason for it. If there be anything that makes
slavery it is this rendering a reason. In the service of the most noble
Gallienus, fifty slaves were subject to me, and never was I known to
render a reason for a single office I put them to. That was being nearer
an Emperor than I fear I shall ever be again.'
'I hope so, Milo,' I said. 'But what reason have you to think,--if you
will render a reason,--that Aurelian has changed his mind?'
'I have given proof,' answered Milo, 'have I not, that if anything is
known in Rome, it is known by Curio?'
'I think you have shown that he knows some things.'
'He was clearly right about the sacrifices,' responded Milo, 'as events
afterwards declared. Just as many suffered as he related to me. What now
he told me this morning was this, "that certain persons would find
themselves mistaken--that some knew more than others--that the ox led to
the slaughter knew less than the butcher--that great persons trusted not
their secrets to every one--Emperors had their confidants--and Fronto
had his."'
'Was that all?' I patiently asked.
'I thought, noble sir,' he replied, 'that it was--for upon that he only
sagaciously shook his head and was silent. However, as I said nothing,
knowing well that some folks would die if they retained a secret, though
they never would part with it for the asking, Curio began again, soon
as he despaired of any question from me, and said "he could tell me what
was known but to three persons in Rome." His wish was that I should ask
him who they were, and what it was that was known but to so few; but I
did not, but began a new bargain with a man for his poultry--for, you
must know, we were in the market. He then began himself and said, "Who
think you they were?" But I answered not. "Who," he then whispered in my
ear, "but Aurelian, Fronto, and myself!" Then I gratified him by asking
what the secret was, for if it had anything to do with the Christians I
should like to know it. "I will tell it to thee," he said, "but to no
other in Rome, and to thee only on the promise that it goes in at thy
ear but not out at thy mouth." I said that I trusted that I, who had
kept, I dared hardly say how many years, and kept them still, the
secrets of Gallienus, should know how to keep and how to reveal anything
he had to say. Whereupon, without any more reserve, he assured me that
Fronto had persuaded the Emperor to publish new and more severe edicts
before the sixth hour, telling him as a reason for it, that the
Christians were flying from Rome in vast numbers; that every night--they
having first passed the gates in the day--multitudes were hastening into
the country, making for Gaul and Spain, or else embarking in vessels
long prepared for such service on the Tiber; that, unless instantly
arrested, there would be none or few for the edicts to operate upon, and
then, when all had become calm again, and he--Aurelian--were dead, and
another less pious upon the throne, they would all return, and Rome
swarm with them as before. Curio said that, when the Emperor heard this,
he broke out into a wild and furious passion. He swore by the great god
of light--which is an oath Curio says he never uses but he keeps--that
you, sir, Piso, had deceived him--had cajoled him; that you had
persuaded him to wait and hear what the Christians had to say for
themselves before they were summarily dealt with, which he had consented
to do, but which he now saw was a device to gain time by which all, or
the greater part, might escape secretly from the capital. He then, with
Fronto and the secretaries, prepared and drew up new edicts, declaring
every Christian an enemy of the state and of the gods, and requiring
them everywhere to be informed against, and upon conviction of being
Christians, to be thrown into prison and await there the judgment of the
Emperor. These things, sir, are what I learned from Curio, which I make
no secret of, for many reasons. I trust you will believe them, for I
heard the same story all along the streets, and mine is better worthy of
belief only because of where and whom it comes from.'
I told Milo that I could not but suppose there was something in it, as I
had heard the rumor from several other sources; that, if Curio spoke the
truth, it was worse than I had apprehended.
Putting together what was thus communicated by Milo, and what, as he
said, was to be heard anywhere in the streets, I feared that some dark
game might indeed be playing by the priest against us, by which our
lives might be sacrificed even before the day were out.
'Should you not,' said Julia, 'instantly seek Aurelian? If what Milo has
said possess any particle of truth, it is most evident the Emperor has
been imposed upon by the lies of Fronto. He has cunningly used his
opportunities: and you, Lucius, except he be instantly undeceived, may
be the first to feel his power.'
While she was speaking, Probus, Felix, and others of the principal
Christians of Rome entered the apartment. Their faces and their manner,
and their first words, declared that the same conviction possessed them
as us.
'We are constrained,' said Felix, 'thus with little ceremony, noble
Piso, to intrude upon your privacy But in truth the affair we have come
upon admits not of ceremony or delay.'
'Let there be none then, I pray, and let us hear at once what concerns
us all.'
'It is spread over the city,' replied the bishop, 'that before the sixth
hour edicts are to be issued that will go to the extreme we have
feared--affecting the liberty and life of every Christian in Rome. We
find it hard to believe this, however, as it is in the face of what
Aurelian has most expressly stipulated. It is therefore the wish and
prayer of the Christians that you, being nearer to him than any, should
seek an interview with him, and then serve our cause in such manner and
by such arguments as you best can.'
'This is what we desire, Piso,' said they all.
I replied, that I would immediately perform that which they desired, but
that I would that some other of our number should accompany me.
Whereupon Felix was urged to join me; and consenting, we, at the moment,
departed for the palace of Aurelian.
On arriving at the gardens, it was only by urgency that I obtained
admission to the presence of the Emperor. But upon declaring that I came
upon an errand that nearly concerned himself and Rome, I was ordered to
be brought into his private apartment.
As I entered, Aurelian quickly rose from the table, at which he had been
sitting, on the other side of which sat Fronto. None of the customary
urbanity was visible in his deportment; his countenance was dark and
severe, his reception of me cold and stately, his voice more harsh and
bitter than ever. I could willingly have excused the presence of the
priest.
'Ambassadors,' said Aurelian inclining toward us, 'I may suppose from
the community of Christians.'
'We came at their request,' I replied; 'rumors are abroad through the
city, too confidently reported, and too generally credited to be
regarded as wholly groundless, yet which it is impossible for those who
know Aurelian to believe, asserting that to-day edicts are to be issued
affecting both the liberty and the lives of the Christians--'
'I would, Piso, that rumor were never farther from the truth than in
this.'
'But,' I rejoined, 'has not Aurelian said that he would proceed against
them no further till he had first heard their defence from their own
organs?'
'Is it one party only in human affairs, young Piso,' he sharply
replied,'that must conform to truth and keep inviolate a plighted word?
Is deception no vice when it is a Christian who deceives? I indeed said
that I would hear the Christians, though, when I made that promise, I
also said that 'twould profit them nothing; but I then little knew why
it was that Piso was so urgent.'