than sweet and wholesome water through poisoned channels. Even,
Aurelian, if Fronto designed not to mislead, no statement passing
through his lips--if it concerned the Christians--could do so, without
there being added to it, or lost from it, much that properly belonged to
it. I have heard that too, which, I may suppose, has been poured into
the mind of Aurelian, to fill it with a bitterer enmity still toward the
Christians--that the Christians have sought this delay only that they
might use the opportunities thus afforded, to escape from his power--and
that, using them, they have already in the greater part fled from the
capital, leaving to the Emperor but a few old women and children upon
whom to wreak his vengeance. How does passion bring its film over the
clearest mind! How does the eye that will not see, shut out the light
though it be brighter than that of day! It had been wiser in Aurelian,
as well as more merciful, first to have tried the truth of what has thus
been thrust upon his credulity ere he made it a ground of action. True
himself, he suspects not others; but suspicion were sometimes a higher
virtue than frank confidence. Had Aurelian but looked into the streets
of Rome, he could not but have seen the grossness of the lie that has
been palmed upon his too willing ear. Of the seventy thousand Christians
who dwelt in Rome, the same seventy thousand, less by scarce a
seventieth part, are now here within their dwellings waiting the will of
Aurelian. Take this on the word of one whom, in former days at least,
you have found worthy of your trust. Take it on the word of the
venerable head of this community who stands here to confirm it either by
word or oath--and in Rome it needs but to know that Felix, the
Christian, has spoken, to know that truth has spoken too.'
'The noble Piso,' added Felix 'has spoken what all who know aught of the
affairs and condition of the Christians know to be true. There is among
us, great Emperor, too much, rather than too little, of that courage
that meets suffering and death without shrinking. Let your proclamations
this moment be sounded abroad calling upon the Christians to appear for
judgment upon their faith before the tribunals of Rome, and they will
come flocking up as do your Pagan multitudes to the games of the
Flavian.'
While we had been speaking, Fronto sat, inattentive as it seemed to what
was going on. But at these last words he was compelled to give ear, and
did it as a man does who has heard unwelcome truths. As Felix ended, the
Emperor turned toward him without speaking, and without any look of
doubt or passion, waiting for such explanation as he might have to give.
Fronto, instantly re-assuring himself, rose from his seat with the air
of a man who doubts not the soundness of his cause, and feels sure of
the ear of his judge.
'I will not say, great Emperor, that I have not in my ardor made broader
the statements which I have received from others. It is an error quite
possible to have been guilty of. My zeal for the gods is warm and
oft-times outruns the calm dictates of reason. But if what has now been
affirmed as true, be true, it is more I believe than they who so report
can make good--or than others can, be they friends or enemies of this
tribe. Who shall now go out into this wilderness of streets, into the
midst of this countless multitude of citizens and strangers--men of all
religions and all manners--and pick me out the seventy thousand
Christians, and show that all are close at home? Out of the seventy
thousand, is it not palpable that its third or half may have fled, and
yet it shall be in no man's power to make it so appear--to point to the
spot whence they have departed, or to that whither they have gone? But
beside this, I must here and now confess, that it was upon no knowledge
of my own gathered by my own eyes and ears that I based the truth, now
charged as error; but upon what came to me through those in whose word I
have ever placed the most sacred trust, the priests of the temple, and,
more than all, my faithful servant--friend I may call him--Curio, into
whom drops by some miracle all that is strange or new in Rome.'
I said in reply, 'that it were not so difficult perhaps as the priest
has made it seem, to learn what part of the Christians were now in Rome,
and what part were gone. There are among us, Aurelian, in every separate
church, men who discharge duties corresponding to those which Fronto
performs in the Temple of the Sun. We have our priests, and others
subordinate to them, who fill offices of dignity and trust. Beside
these, there are others still, who, for their wealth or their worth, are
known well, not among the Christians only, but the Romans also. Of
these, it were an easy matter to learn, whether or not they are now in
Rome. And if these are here, who, from the posts they fill would be the
first victims, it may be fairly supposed that the humbler sort and less
able to depart--and therefore safer--are also here. Here I stand, and
here stands Felix; we are not among the missing! And we boast not of a
courage greater than may be claimed for the greater part of those to
whom we belong.'
'Great Emperor,' said Fronto, 'I will say no more than this, that in its
whole aspect this bears the same front, as the black aspersions of the
wretch Macer, whose lies, grosser than Cretan ever forged, poured in a
foul and rotten current from his swollen lips; yea, while the hot irons
were tearing out his very heart-strings, did he still belch forth fresh
torrents blacker and fouler as they flowed longer, till death came and
took him to other tortures worse a thousand-fold--the just doom of such
as put false for true. That those were the malignant lies I have said
they are, Aurelian can need no other proof, I hope, than that which has
been already given.'
'I am still, Fronto, as when your witnesses were here before me,
satisfied with your defence. When indeed I doubt the truth of Aurelian,
I may be found to question that of Fronto. Piso--hold! We have heard and
said too much already. Take me not, as if I doubted, more than Fronto,
the word which you have uttered, or that of the venerable Felix. You
have said that which you truly believe. The honor of a Piso has never
been impeached, nor, as I trust, can be. Yet, has there been error, both
here and there, and, I doubt not, is. Let it be thus determined then.
If, upon any, blame shall seem to rest, let it be upon myself. If any
shall be charged with doing to-day what must be undone to-morrow, let
the burden be upon my shoulders. I will therefore recede; the edicts,
which, as you have truly heard, were to-day to have been promulged,
shall sleep at least another day. To-morrow, Piso, at the sixth hour, in
the palace on the Palatine, shall Probus--if such be the pleasure of
the Christians--plead in their behalf. Then and there will I hear what
this faith is, from him, or from whomsoever they shall appoint. And now
no more.'
With these words on the part of Aurelian, our audience closed, and we
turned away--grieving to see that a man like him, otherwise a Titan
every way, should have so surrendered himself into the keeping of
another; yet rejoicing that some of that spirit of justice that once
wholly swayed him still remained, and that our appeal to it had not been
in vain.
To-morrow then, at the sixth hour, will Probus appear before Aurelian.
It is not, Fausta, because I, or any, suppose that Aurelian himself can
be so wrought upon as to change any of his purposes, that we desire this
hearing. He is too far entered into this business--too heartily, and, I
may add, too conscientiously--to be drawn away from it, or diverted from
the great object which he has set up before him. I will not despair,
however, that even he may be softened, and abate somewhat of that raging
thirst for our blood, for the blood of us all, that now seems to madden
him. But, however this may be, upon other minds impressions may be made
that may be of service to us either directly or indirectly. We may
suppose that the hearing of the Christians will be public, that many of
great weight with Aurelian will be there, who never before heard a word
from a Christian's lips, and who know only that we are held as enemies
of the state and its religion. Especially, I doubt not, will many, most
or all, of the Senate be there; and it is to that body I still look,
as, in the last resort, able perhaps to exert a power that may save us
at least from absolute annihilation.
* * * * *
To-day has Probus been heard; and while others sleep, I resume my pen to
describe to you the events of it, as they have occurred.
It was in the banqueting hall of the imperial palace on the Palatine,
that Probus was directed to appear, and defend his cause before the
Emperor. It is a room of great size, and beautiful in its proportions
and decorations. A row of marble pillars adorns each longer side of the
apartment. Its lofty ceiling presents to the eye in allegory, and in
colors that can never fade, Rome victorious over the world. The great
and good of Rome's earlier days stand around, in marble or brass, upon
pedestals, or in niches, sunk into the substance of the walls. And where
the walls are not thus broken, pictures wrought upon them, set before
the beholder many of the scenes in which the patriots of former days
achieved or suffered for the cause of their country. Into this
apartment, soon as it was thrown open, poured a crowd both of Christians
and Pagans, of Romans and of strangers from every quarter of the world.
There was scarcely a remote province of the empire that had not there
its representative; and from the far East, discernible at once by their
costume, were many present, who seemed interested not less than others
in the great questions to be agitated. Between the two central columns
upon the western side, just beneath the pedestal of a colossal statue of
Vespasian, the great military idol of Aurelian, upon a seat slightly
raised above the floor, having on his right hand Livia and Julia, sat
the Emperor. He was surrounded by his favorite generals and the chief
members of the senate, seated, or else standing against the columns or
statues which were near him. There too, at the side of, or immediately
before, Aurelian, but placed lower, were Porphyrius, Varus, Fronto, and
half the priesthood of Rome. A little way in front of the Emperor, and
nearly in the centre of the room, stood Probus.
If Aurelian sat in his chair of gold, looking the omnipotent master of
all the world, as if no mere mortal force could drive him from the place
he held and filled--Probus, on his part, though he wanted all that air
of pride and self-confidence written upon every line of Aurelian's face
and form, yet seemed like one, who, in the very calmness of an
unfaltering trust in a goodness and power above that of earth, was in
perfect possession of himself, and fearless of all that man might say or
do. His face was pale; but his eye was clear. His air was that of a man
mild and gentle, who would not injure willingly the meanest thing
endowed with life; but of a man too of that energy and inward strength
of purpose, that he would not on the other hand suffer an injury to be
done to another, if any power lodged within him could prevent it. It was
that of a man to be loved, and yet to be feared; whose compassion you
might rely upon; but whose indignation at wrong and injustice might also
be relied upon, whenever the weak or the oppressed should cry out for
help against the strong and the cruel.
No sooner had Aurelian seated himself, and the thronged apartment become
still, than he turned to those who were present and said,
'That the Christians had desired this audience before him and the sacred
senate, and he had therefore granted them their request. And he was now
here, to listen to whatever they might urge in their behalf. But,' said
he, 'I tell them now, as I have told them before, that it can be of no
avail. The acts of former Emperors, from Nero to the present hour, have
sufficiently declared what the light is in which a true Roman should
view the superstition that would supplant the ancient worship of the
gods. It is enough for me, that such is the acknowledged aim, and
asserted tendency and operation of this Jewish doctrine. No merits of
any kind can atone for the least injury it might inflict upon that
venerable order of religious worship which, from the time of Romulus,
has exercised over us its benignant influence, and, doubtless, by the
blessings it has drawn down upon us from the gods, crowned our arms with
a glory the world has never known before--putting under our feet every
civilized kingdom from the remotest East to the farthest West, and
striking terror into the rude barbarians of the German forests.
Nevertheless, they shall be heard; and if it is from thee, Christian,
that we are to know what thy faith is, let us now hear whatever it is in
thy heart to say. There shall no bridle be put upon thee; but thou hast
freest leave to utter what thou wilt. There is nothing of worst
concerning either Rome or her worship, her rulers or her altars, her
priesthood or her gods, but thou mayest pour it forth in such measure as
shall please thee, and no one shall say thee nay. Now say on; the day
and the night are before thee.'
'I shall require, great Emperor,' replied Probus, 'but little of either;
yet I thank thee, and all of our name who are here present thank thee,
for the free range which thou hast offered. I thank thee too, and so do
we all, for the liberty of frank and undisturbed speech, which thou hast
assured to me. Yet shall I not use it to malign either the Romans or
their faith. It is not with anger and fierce denunciation, O Emperor,
that it becomes the advocate, of what he believes to be a religion from
Heaven, to assail the adherents of a religion like this of Rome,
descended to the present generation through so many ages, and which all
who have believed it in times past, and all who believe it now, do hold
to be true and woven into the very life of the state--the origin of its
present greatness, and without which it must fall asunder into final
ruin, the bond that held it together being gone. If the religion of Rome
be false, or really injurious, it is not the generations now living who
are answerable for its existence formerly or now, nor for the
principles, truths, or rites, which constitute it. They have received
it, as they have received a thousand customs which are now among them,
by inheritance from the ancestors who bequeathed them, which they
received at too early an age to judge concerning their fitness or
unfitness, but to which, for the reason of that early reception, they
have become fondly attached, even as to parents, brothers, and sisters,
from whom they have never been divided. It becomes not the Christian,
therefore, to load with reproaches those who are placed where they are,
not by their own will, but by the providence of the Great Ruler. Neither
does it become you of the Roman faith to reproach us for the faith to
which we adhere; because the greater proportion of us also have
inherited our religion, as you yours, from parents and a community who
professed it before us, and all regard it as heaven-descended, and so
proved to be divine, that without inexpiable guilt we may not refuse to
accept it. It must be in the face of reason, then, and justice, in the
face of what is both wise and merciful, if either should judge harshly
of the other.
'Besides, what do I behold in this wide devotion of the Roman people to
the religion of their ancestors, but a testimony, beautiful for the
witness it bears, to the universality of that principle or feeling,
which binds the human heart to some god or gods, in love and worship?
The worship may be wrong, or greatly imperfect, and sometimes injurious;
the god or gods may be so conceived of, as to act with hurtful
influences upon human character and life; still it is religion; it is a
sentiment that raises the thoughts of the humble and toilworn from the
earthly and the perishing, to the heavenly and the eternal. And this,
though accompanied by some or many rites shocking to humanity, and
revolting to reason, is better than that men were, in this regard, no
higher nor other than brutes; but received their being as they do
theirs, they know not whence, and when they lose it, depart like them,
they know not and care not whither. In the religious character of the
Roman people--for religious in the earlier ages of this empire they
eminently were, and they are religious now, though in less degree--I
behold and acknowledge the providence of God, who has so framed us that
our minds tend by resistless force to himself; satisfied at first with
low and crude conceptions, but ever aspiring after those that shall be
worthier and worthier.
'And now, O Emperor, for the same reason that we believe God the
creator did implant in us all, of all tribes and tongues, this deep
desire to know, worship, and enjoy him, so that no people have ever been
wholly ignorant of him, do we believe that he has, in these latter
years, declared himself to mankind more plainly than he did in the
origin of things, or than he does through our own reason, so that men
may, by such better knowledge of himself and of all necessary truth
which he has imparted, be raised to a higher virtue on earth, and made
fit for a more exalted life in heaven. We believe that he has thus
declared himself by him whom you have heard named as the Master and Lord
of the Christian, and after whom they are called, Jesus Christ. Him, God
the creator, we believe, sent into the world to teach a better religion
than the world had; and to break down and forever destroy, through the
operation of his truth, a thousand injurious forms of false belief. It
is this religion which we would extend, and impart to those who will
open their minds to consider its claims, and their hearts to embrace its
truths, when they have once been seen to be divine. This has been our
task and our duty in Rome, to beseech you not blindly to receive, but
strictly to examine, and, if found to be true, then humbly and
gratefully to adopt this new message from above--'
'By the gods, Aurelian,' exclaimed Porphyrius, 'these Christians are
kindly disposed! their benevolence and their philosophy are alike. We
are obliged to them--'
'Not now, Porphyrius,' said Aurelian. 'Disturb not the Christian. Say
on, Probus.'
'We hope,' continued Probus, nothing daunted by the scornful jeers of
the philosopher, 'that we are sincerely desirous of your welfare, and so
pray that in the lapse of years all may, as some have done, take at our
hands the good we proffer them; for, sure we are, that would all so
receive it, Rome would tower upwards with a glory and a beauty that
should make her a thousand-fold more honored and beloved than now, and
her roots would strike down, and so fasten themselves in the very centre
of the earth, that well might she then be called the Eternal City. Yet,
O Emperor, though such is our aim and purpose; though we would propagate
a religion from God, and, in doing so, are willing to labor our lives
long, and, if need be, die in the sacred cause, yet are we charged as
atheists. The name by which we are known, as much as by that of
Christian, is atheist--'
'Such, I have surely believed you,' said Porphyrius, again breaking in,
'and, at this moment, do.'
'But it is a name, Aurelian, fixed upon us ignorantly or slanderously;
ignorantly, I am willing to believe. We believe in a God, O Emperor; it
is to him we live, and to him we die. The charge of atheism I thus
publicly deny, as do all Christians who are here, as would all
throughout the world with one acclaim, were they also here, and would
all seal their testimony, if need were, with their blood. We believe in
God; not in many gods, some greater and some lesser, as with you, and
whose forms are known and can be set forth in images and statues--but in
one, one God, the sole monarch of the universe; whom no man, be he never
so cunning, can represent in wood, or brass, or stone; whom, so to
represent in any imaginary shape, our faith denounces as unlawful and
impious. Hence it is, O Emperor, because the vulgar, when they enter our
churches or our houses, see there no image of god or goddess, that they
imagine we are without a God, and without his worship. And such
conclusion may in them be excused. For, till they are instructed, it may
not be easy for them to conceive of one God, filling Heaven and earth
with his presence. But in others it is hard to see how they think us
atheists on the same ground, since nothing can be plainer than that
among you, the intelligent, and the philosophers especially, believe as
we do in a great pervading invisible spirit of the universe. Plato
worshipped not nor believed in these stone or wooden gods; nor in any of
the fables of the Greek religion; yet who ever has charged him with
atheism? So was it with the great Longinus. I see before me those who
are now famed for their science in such things, who are the teachers of
Rome in them, yet not one, I may venture to declare, believes other than
as Plato and Longinus did in this regard. It is an error or a calumny
that has ever prevailed concerning us; but in former times some have had
the candor, when the error has been removed, to confess publicly that
they had been subject to it. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius, to name no
other, when, in the straits into which he was fallen at Cotinus, he
charged his disasters upon the Christian soldiers, and, they praying
prostrate upon the earth for him and his army and empire, he forthwith
gained the victory, which before he had despaired of--did then
immediately acknowledge that they had a God, and that they should no
longer be reviled as atheists; since it was plain that men might believe
in a God, and carry about the image of him in their own minds, though
they had no visible one. It is thus we are all believers. We carry about
with us, in the sanctuary of our own bosoms, our image of the great and
almighty God whom we serve; and before that, and that only, do we bow
down and worship. Were we indeed atheists, it were not unreasonable that
you dealt with us as you now do, nay and much more severely; for, where
belief in a God does not exist, it is not easy to see how any state can
long hold together. The necessary bond is wanting, and, as a sheaf of
wheat when the band is broken, it must fall asunder.
'The first principle of the religion of Christ is this belief in God; in
his righteous providence here on earth, and in a righteous retribution
hereafter. How then can the religion of Christ in this respect be of
dangerous influence or tendency? It is well known to all, who are
acquainted in the least with history or philosophy, that in the religion
of the Jews, the belief and worship of one God almost constitutes the
religion itself. Every thing else is inferior and subordinate. In this
respect the religion of Jesus is like that of the Jews. It is exceeding
jealous of the honor and worship of this one God--this very same God of
the Jews; for Jesus was himself a Jew, and has revealed to us the same
God whom we are required to worship, only with none of the ceremonies,
rites, and sacrifices, which were peculiar to that people. It is this
which has caused us, equally to our and their displeasure, frequently to
be confounded together, and mistaken the one for the other. But the
differences between us are, excepting in the great doctrine I have just
named, very great and essential. This doctrine therefore, which is the
chief of all, being so fundamental with us, it is not easy, I say, to
see how we can on religious accounts be dangerous to the state. For
many things are comprehended in and follow from this faith. It is not a
barren, unprofitable speculation, but a practical and restraining
doctrine of the greatest moral efficiency. If it be not this to us, to
all and every one of us, it is not what it ought to be and we wrongly
understand or else wilfully pervert it.