 | Probus, or, Rome in the third century |  |
LETTER II.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
You need not, dear Fausta, concern yourself on our
behalf. I cannot think that your apprehensions will be
realized. Rome never was more calm than now, nor
apparently has there ever a better temper possessed its
people. The number of those who are sufficiently enlightened
to know that the mind ought not to be in bondage
to man, but be held answerable to God alone for
its thoughts and opinions, is becoming too great for the
violences and cruelties of former ages to be again put in
practice against us. And Aurelian, although stern in
his nature, and superstitious beyond others, will not, I
am persuaded, lend himself either to priests or people to
annoy us. If no principle of humanity prevented him,
nor generosity of sentiment, he would be restrained, I
think, by his attachments to so many who bear the
hated name.
And this opinion I maintain, notwithstanding a recent
act on the part of the emperor, which some construe into
the expression of unfavorable sentiments toward us. I
allude to the appointment of Fronto, Nigridius Fronto,
to be chief priest of the temple of the Sun, which has
these several years been building, and is now just completed.
This man signalized himself, both under Decius
and Valerian, for his bitter hatred of the Christians, and
his untiring zeal in the work of their destruction. The
incredible, did we not know so well what the hard Roman
heart is capable of. It is reported of him, that he
informed against his own sisters, who had embraced the
Christian faith, was with those who hunted them with
blood-hounds from their place of concealment, and stood
by, a witness and an executioner, while they were torn
limb from limb, and devoured. I doubt not the truth of
the story. And from that day to this, has he made it
his sole office to see that all the laws that bear hard
upon the sect and deprive them of privileges and immunities,
are not permitted to become a dead letter. It is
this man, drunk with blood, whom Aurelian has put in
chief authority in his new temple, and made him, in
effect, the head of religion in the city. He is however
not only this. He possesses other traits, which with
reason might commend him to the regard of the emperor.
He is an accomplished man, of an ancient family,
and withal no mean scholar. He is a Roman, who for
Rome's honor or greatness, as he would on the one hand
sacrifice father, mother, daughter, so would he also himself.
And Rome, he believes, lives but in her religion;
it is the life-blood of the state. It is these traits, I doubt
not, that have recommended him to Aurelian, rather
than the others. He is a person eminently fitted for the
post to which he is exalted; and you well know that it
is the circumstance of fitness, Aurelian alone considers,
in appointing his own or the servants of the state.
Probus thinks differently. And although he sees no
cause to apprehend immediate violence, confesses his
fears for the future. He places less reliance than I do
upon the generosity or friendship of Aurelian. It is his
nature, and will sooner or later assert its supremacy. It
may be so. Probus is an acute observer, and occupies
a position more favorable to impartial estimates, and the
formation of a dispassionate judgment, than I.
This reminds me that you asked for news of Probus,
my `Christian pedagogue,' as you are wont to
name him. He is here, adorning, by a life of severe
simplicity and divine benevolence, the doctrine he has
espoused. He is a frequent inmate of our house, and
Julia, not less than myself, ever greets him with affectionate
reverence, as both friend and instructer. He
holds the chief place in the hearts of the Roman Christians;
for even those of the sect who differ from him in
doctrine and in life, cannot but acknowledge that never
an apostle presented to the love and imitation of his followers
an example of rarer virtue. Yet he is not,
in the outward rank which he holds, at the head of
the Christian body. Their chiefs are, as you know,
the bishops, and Felix is Bishop of Rome, a man every
way inferior to Probus. But he has the good or
ill fortune to represent more popular opinions, in matters
both of doctrine and practice, than the other, and of
course easily rides into the posts of trust and honor.
He represents those among the Christians — for, alas!
there are such among them — who, in seeking the
elevation and extension of Christianity, do not hesitate
to accommodate both doctrine and manner to the prejudices
and tastes of both Pagan and Jew. They seek
converts, not by raising them to the height of Christian
principle and virtue, but by lowering these to the level
of their grosser conceptions. Thus it is easy to see
is undergoing a rapid process of deterioration.
Probus, and those who are on his part, see this, are
alarmed, and oppose it; but numbers are against them,
and consequently power and authority. Already,
strange as it may seem, when you compare such things
with the institution of Christianity, as effected by
its founder, do the bishops, both in Rome and in the
provinces, begin to assume the state and bearing of nobility.
Such is the number and wealth of the Christian
community, that the treasuries of the churches are
full; and from this source the pride and ambition of
their rulers are luxuriously fed. If, as you walk through
the street which crosses from the Quirinal to the Arch
of Titus, lined with private dwellings of unusual magnificence,
you ask whose is that with a portico, that for
beauty and costliness rather exceeds the rest, you are
told, `That is the dwelling of Felix, the Bishop of
Rome;' and if it chance to be a Christian who answers
the question, it is done with ill-suppressed pride or
shame, according to the party to which he belongs.
This Felix is the very man, through the easiness of his
dispositions, and his proneness to all the arts of self-indulgence,
and the imposing graciousness of his carriage,
to keep the favor of the people, and at the same
time sink them, without suspicion on their part, lower
and lower toward the sensual superstitions, from which,
through so much suffering and by so many labors, they
have but just escaped, and accomplish an adulterous and
fatal union between Christianity and Paganism; by
which indeed Paganism may be to some extent purified
and exalted, but Christianity annihilated. For Christianity,
onward, not to excellence only, but to perfection. Of
course its mark is always in advance of the present.
By such union with Paganism then, or Judaism, its essential
characteristic will disappear; Christianity will,
in effect, perish. You may suppose, accordingly, that
Probus, and others who with him rate Christianity so
differently, look on with anxiety upon this downward
progress, and with mingled sorrow and indignation upon
those who aid it — oftentimes actuated, as is notorious,
by most corrupt motives.
I am just returned from the shop of the learned Publius,
where I met Probus, and others of many ways of
thinking. You will gather from what occurred, better
than from anything else I could say, what occupies the
thoughts of our citizens, and how they stand affected.
I called to Milo to accompany me, and to take with
him a basket in which to bring back books, which it was
my intention to purchase.
`I trust, noble master,' said he, `that I am to bear
back no more Christian books.'
`Why so, knave?'
`Because the priests say that they have magical powers
over all who read them, or so much as handle them;
that a curse sticks wherever they are or have been. I
have heard of those who have withered away to a mere
wisp; of others who have suddenly caught on fire, and
vanished in flame and smoke; and of others whose
blood has stood still, frozen, or run out from all parts of
the body, changed to the very color of your shoe, at
the very boys in the streets have it, and it is taught in
the temples? I would rather Solon, noble master, went
in my stead. Mayhap his learning would protect him.'
I, laughing, bade him come on. `You are not withered
away yet, Milo, nor has your blood run out; yet
you have borne many a package of these horrible books.
Surely the gods befriend you.'
`I were else long since with the Scipios.' After a
pause of some length, he added, as he reluctantly, and
with features of increased paleness, followed in my steps:
`I would, my master, that you might be wrought with
to leave these ways. I sleep not, for thinking of your
danger. Never, when it was my sad mischance to depart
from the deserted palace of the great Gallienus, did
I look to know one to esteem like him. But it is the truth
when I affirm, that I place Piso before Gallienus, and
the lady Julia before the lady Salonina. Shall I tell
you a secret?'
`I will hear it, if it is not to be kept.'
`It is for you to do with it as shall please you. I am
the bosom friend, you may know, of Curio, the favorite
slave of Fronto —'
`Must I not publish it?'
`Nay, that is not the matter, though it is somewhat
to boast of. There is not Curio's fellow in all Rome.
But that may pass. Curio then, as I was with him at
the new temple, while he was busied in some of the last
offices before the dedication, among other things, said:
`Is not thy master Piso of these Christians?' `Yes,'
said I, `he is; and were they all such as he, there could
be no truth in what is said of them.' `Ah!' he replied,
has but just joined them; that 's the reason he is better
than the rest. Wait awhile, and see what he will become.
They are all alike in the end, cursers, and despisers,
and disbelievers, of the blessed gods. But lions
have teeth, tigers have claws, knives cut, fire burns, water
drowns.' There he stopped. `That's wise,' I said;
`who could have known it?' `Think you,' he rejoined,
`Piso knows it? If not, let him ask Fronto. Let me
advise thee,' he added, in a whisper, though in all the
temple there were none beside us, `let me advise thee,
as thy friend, to avoid dangerous company. Look to
thyself; the Christians are not safe.' `How say you,'
I replied, `not safe? What and whom are they to fear?
Gallienus vexed them not. Is Aurelian —' `Say
no more,' he replied, interrupting me, `and name not
what I have dropped, for your life. Fronto's ears are
more than the eyes of Argus, and his wrath more deadly
than the grave.'
`Just as he ended these words, a strong beam of red
light shot up from the altar, and threw a horrid glare
over the whole dark interior. I confess I cried out with
affright. Curio started at first, but quickly recovered,
saying that it was but the sudden flaming up of the fire
that had been burning on the altar, but which shortly
before he had quenched. `It is,' he said, `an omen of
the flames that are to be kindled throughout Rome.'
This was Curio's communication. Is is not a secret
worth knowing?'
`It tells nothing, Milo, but of the boiling over of the
wrath of the malignant Fronto, which is always boiling
to his will to harm us. But Aurelian is above him.'
`That is true; and Aurelian, it is plain, is little like
Fronto.'
`Very little.'
`But still I would that, like Gallienus, thou couldst
only believe in the gods. The Christians, so it is reported,
worship and believe in but a man, — a Jew, —
who was crucified as a criminal, with thieves and murderers.'
He turned upon me a countenance full of
unaffected horror.
`Well, Milo, at another time I will tell you what
the truth about it is. Here we are now, at the shop of
Publius.'
The shop of Publius is remarkable for its extent and
magnificence, if such a word may be applied to a place
of traffic. Here resort all the idlers of learning and
of leisure, to turn over the books, hear the news, discuss
the times, and trifle with the learned bibliopole. As I
entered, he saluted me in his customary manner, and
bade me `welcome to his poor apartments, which for a
long time I had not honored with my presence.'
I replied that two things had kept me away: the civil
broils in which the city had just been involved, and the
care of ordering the appointments of a new dwelling.
I had come now to commence some considerable purchases
for my vacant shelves, if it might so happen that
the books I wanted were to be found in his rooms.
`There is not,' he replied, `a literature, a science, a
philosophy, an art, or a religion, whose principal authors
are not to be found upon the walls of Publius. My
and west, searching out the curious and the rare, the
useful and the necessary, to swell the catalogue of my
intellectual riches. I believe it is established, that in no
time before me, as nowhere now, has there been heard
of a private collection like this for value and for
number.'
`I do not doubt what you say, Publius. This is a
grand display. Your ranges of rooms show like those
of the Ulpian. Yet you do not quite equal, I suppose,
Trajan's for number?'
`Truly not. But time may bring it to pass. What
shall I show you? It pleases me to give my time to
you. I am not slow to guess what it is you now, noble
Piso, chiefly covet. And I think, if you will follow me
to the proper apartment, I can set before you the very
things you are in search of. Here upon these shelves
are the Christian writers. Just let me offer you this
copy of Hegesippus, one of your oldest historians, if I
err not. And here are some beautifully executed copies,
I have just ordered to be made, of the Apologies of Justin
and Tertullian. Here, again, are Marcion and Valentinus;
but perhaps they are not in esteem with you. If
I have heard aright, you will prefer these tracts of Paul,
or Artemon. But hold, here is a catalogue. Be pleased
to inspect it.'
As I looked over the catalogue, I expressed my satisfaction
that a person of his repute was willing to keep
on sale works so generally condemned, and excluded
from the shops of most of his craft.
`I aim, my dear friend — most worthy Piso — to steer
a midway course among contending factions. I am myself
content that others should do as they please in the matter.
I am not, however, so much a worshipper — in
your ear — as a bookseller. That is my calling. The
Christians are become a most respectable people. They
are not to be overlooked. They are in my judgment,
the most intelligent part of our community. Wasting
none of their time at the baths and theatres, they have
more time for books. And then their numbers too!
They are not fewer than seventy thousand! — known
and counted. But the number, between ourselves, Piso,
of those who secretly favor or receive this doctrine, is
equal to the other! My books go to houses, ay, and to
palaces, people dream not of.'
`I think your statements a little broad,' said a smooth,
silvery voice, close at our ears. We started, and beheld
the Prefect Varus standing at our side. Publius was
for a moment a little disconcerted; but quickly recovered,
saying, in his easy way, `A fair morning to you! I
knew not that it behooved me to be upon my oath, being
in the presence of the Governor of Rome. I repeat,
noble Varus, but what I hear. I give what I say as the
current rumor. That is all — that is all. Things may
not be so, or they may; it is not for me to say. I wish
well to all; that is my creed.'
`In the public enumerations of the citizens,' replied
the Prefect, inclining with civility to Publius, `the Christians
have reached at no time fifty thousand. As for
the conjecture touching the numbers who secretly embrace
this injurious superstition, I hold it utterly baseless.
It may serve a dying cause to repeat such statements,
but they accord not with obvious fact.'
`Suspect me not, Varus,' hastily rejoined the agitated
Publius, `of setting forth such statements with the purpose
to advance the cause of the Christians. I take no
part in this matter. Thou knowest that I am a Roman
of the old stamp. Not a Roman in my street is more
diligently attentive to the services of the temple than I.
I simply say again, what I hear as news of my customers.
The story which one rehearses, I retail to another.'
`I thank the gods it is so,' replied the man of power.
During these few words, I had stood partly concealed
by a slender marble pillar. I now turned, and the usual
greetings passed with the Prefect.
`Ah! Piso! I knew not with certainty my hearer.
Perhaps from you' — smiling as he spoke — `we may
learn the truth. Rome speaks loudly of your late desertion
of the religion and worship of your fathers, and
union with the Galileans. I should say, I hoped the
report ill founded, had I not heard it from quarters too
authentic to permit a doubt.'
`You have heard rightly, Varus,' I rejoined. `After
searching through all antiquity after truth, I congratulate
myself upon having at last discovered it, and where
I least expected, in a Jew. And the good which I have
found for myself. I am glad to know is enjoyed by so
many more of my fellow-citizens. I should not hesitate
to confirm the statement made by Publius, from whatever
authority he may have derived it, rather than that
which has been made by yourself. I have bestowed
attention not only upon the arguments which support
Christianity, but upon the actual condition of the Christian
community, here and throughout the empire. It is
Pliny could complain, even in his day, of the desertion
of the temples of the gods, what may we now suppose
to be the relative numbers of the two great parties?
Only, Varus, allow the rescript of Gallienus to continue
in force, which merely releases us from oppressions, and
we shall see in what a fair trial of strength between the
two religions will issue.
`That dull profligate and parricide,' replied Varus,
`not content with killing himself with his vices, and his
father by connivance, must needs destroy his country by
his fatuity. I confess, that till that order be repealed,
the superstition will spread.'
`But it only places us upon equal ground.'
`It is precisely there where we never should be placed.
Should the conspirator be put upon the ground of a citizen?
Were the late rebels of the mint to be relieved
from all oppression, that they might safely intrigue and
conspire for the throne?'
`Christianity has nothing to do with the empire, as
such. It is a question of moral, philosophical, religious
truth. Is truth to be exalted or suppressed by edicts?'
`The religion of the state,' replied Varus, `is a part of
the state; and he who assails it, strikes at the dearest
life of the state, and — forgive me — is to be dealt with
— ought to be dealt with — as a traitor.'
`I trust,' I replied, `that that time will never again
come, but that reason and justice will continue to bear
sway. And it is both reasonable and just, that persons
who yield to none in love of country, and whose principles
of conduct are such as must make good subjects
be protected in the enjoyment of rights and privileges
common to all others.'
`If the Christians,' he rejoined, `are virtuous men, it
is better for the state than if they were Christians and
corrupt men. But still that would make no change in
my judgment of their offence. They deny the gods
who preside over this nation, and have brought it up to
its present height of power and fame. Their crime
were less, I repeat, to deny the authority of Aurelian.
This religion of the Galileans is a sore, eating into the
vitals of an ancient and vigorous constitution, and must
be cut away. The knife of the surgeon is what the
evil cries out for and must have — else universal anarchy
is come. I mourn that from the ranks of the very
fathers of the state, they have received an accession like
this of the house of Piso.'
`I shall think my time and talent well employed,' I
replied, `in doing what I may to set the question of
Christianity in its true light before the city. It is this
very institution, Varus, which it needs to preserve it.
Christianize Rome, and you impart the very principle of
endurance, of immortality. Under its present corruptions,
it cannot but sink. Is it possible a community of
men can long hold together as vicious as this of Rome?
— whose people are either disbelievers of all divine existences,
or else ground to the earth by degrading superstitions?
A nation, either on the one hand governed by
superstition, or on the other, atheistical, contains within
itself the disease which sooner or later will destroy it.
You yourself, it is notorious, have never been within
found within your doors.'
`I deny it not. Most who rise to any intelligence
must renounce, if they ever harbored it, all faith in the
absurdities and nonsense of the Roman religion. But
what then? These very absurdities, as we deem them,
are holy truth to the multitude, and do more than all
bolts, bars, axes, and gibbets, to keep them in subjection.
The intelligent are good citizens by reflection; the multitude,
through instincts of birth, and the power of superstition.
My idea is, as you perceive, Piso, but one.
Religion is the state, and for reasons of state must be
preserved in the very form in which it has so long upheld
the empire.'
`An idea more degrading than yours, to our species,
can hardly be conceived. I cannot but look upon man
as something more than a part of the state. He is, first
of all, a man, and is to be cared for as such. To legislate
for the state, to the ruin of the man, is to pamper
the body, and kill the soul. It is to invert the true process.
The individual is more than the abstraction which
we term the state. If governments cannot exist, nor
empires hold their sway, but by the destruction of the
human being, why let them fall. The lesser must yield
to the greater. As a Christian, my concern is for man
as man. This is the essence of the religion of Christ.
It is philanthropy. It sees in every human soul a
being of more value than empires, and its purpose is, by
furnishing it with truths and motives, equal to its wants,
to exalt it, purify it, and perfect it. If, in achieving this
work, existing religions or governments are necessarily
as man is the gainer. And is it not certain, that no
government could really be injured, although it might
apparently, and for a season, by its subjects being raised
in all intelligence and all virtue? My work therefore,
Varus, will be to sow truth in the heart of the people,
which shall make that heart fertile and productive. I
do not believe that in doing this Rome will suffer injury,
but on the contrary receive benefit. Its religion, or
rather its degrading superstitions, may fall, but a principle
of almighty energy and divine purity will insensibly
be substituted in their room. I labor for man — not for
the state.'
`And never, accordingly, most noble Piso, did man, in
so unequivocal words, denounce himself traitor.'
`Patriot! friend! benefactor! rather;' cried a voice
at my side, which I instantly recognized as that of Probus.
Several beside himself had drawn near, listening
with interest to what was going on.
`That only shows, my good friend,' said Varus, in his
smiling way, and which seems the very contradiction of
all that is harsh and cruel, `how differently we estimate
things. Your palate esteems that to be wholesome and
nutritious food, which mine rejects as ashes to the taste,
and poison to the blood. I behold Rome torn and bleeding,
prostrate and dying, by reason of innovations upon
faith and manners, which to you appear the very means
of growth, strength, and life. How shall we resolve the
doubt? Who shall prescribe for the patient? I am
happy in the belief, that the Roman people have long
since decided for themselves, and confirm their decision
every day as it passes, by new acts and declarations.'
`If you mean,' said Probus, `to say that numbers and
the general voice are still against the Christians, I grant
it so. But I am happy too in my belief, that the scale
is trembling on the beam. There are more and better
than you wot of, who hail with eager minds and glad
hearts, the truths which it is our glory, as servants of
Christ, to propound. Within many a palace upon the
seven hills, do prayers go up in his name; and what is
more, thousands upon thousands of the humbler ranks,
of those who but yesterday were without honor in their
own eyes, or others' — without faith — at war with
themselves and the world — fit tools for any foe of the
state to work with — are to-day reverers of themselves,
worshippers of God, lovers of mankind, patriots who
love their country better than ever before, because they
now behold in every citizen not only a citizen, but a
brother and an immortal. The doctrine of Christianity,
as a lover of man, so commends itself, Varus, to the
hearts of the people, that in a few more years of prosperity,
and the face of the Roman world will glow with
a new beauty; love and humanity will shine forth in all
its features.'
`That is very pretty,' said Varus, his lip slightly curling,
as he spoke, but retaining his courteous bearing,
`yet methinks, seeing this doctrine is so bewitching, and
is withal a heaven-inspired wisdom, the God working
behind it and urging it on, it moves onward with a pace
something of the slowest. Within a few of three hundred
years has it appealed to the human race, and appealed
in vain. The feeblest and the worst of mankind
have had power almost to annihilate it, and more than
have been so, had it been in reality what you claim for it,
of divine birth? Would the gods suffer their schemes for
man's good to be so thwarted, and driven aside by man?
What was this boasted faith doing during the long and
peaceful reigns of Hadrian, and the first Antonine? The
sword of persecution was then sheathed, or if it fell at
all, it was but on a few. So too under Vespasian, Titus,
Nerva, Commodus, Severus, Heliogabalus, the Philips,
Gallienus, and Claudius?'
`That is well said,' a Roman voice added, of one
standing by the side of Varus, `and is a general
wonder.'
`I marvel it should be a wonder,' rejoined Probus.
`Can you pour into a full measure? Must it not be
first emptied? Who, Varus, let him try as he may,
could plant the doctrine of Christ in thy heart? Could
I do it, think you? — or Piso?'
`I trow not.'
`And why, I pray you?'
`It is not hard to guess.'
`Is it not because you are already full of contrary notions,
to which you cling tenaciously, and from which,
perhaps, no human force could drag you? But yours is
a type of every other Roman mind to which Christianity
has been offered. If you receive it not at once,
should others? Suppose the soul to be full of sincere
convictions as to the popular faith, can the gospel easily
enter there? Suppose it skeptical, as to all spiritual
truth; can it enter there? Suppose it polluted by vice;
can it easily enter there? Suppose it like the soul of
Fronto, — '
`Hush! hush!' said several voices. Probus heeded
them not.
`Suppose it like the soul of Fronto, could it enter
there? See you not then, by knowing your own hearts,
what time it must demand for a new, and specially a
strict doctrine to make its way into the minds of men?
'T is not easier to bore a rock with one's finger, than to
penetrate a heart hardened by sin or swelled with prejudice
and pride. And if we say, Varus, this was a work
for the God to do — that he who originated the faith
should propagate it — I answer, that would not be like
the other dealings of the divine power. He furnishes
you with earth and seed, but he ploughs not for you,
nor plants, nor reaps. He gives you reason, but he
pours not knowledge into your mind. So he offers
truth; but that is all. He compels no assent; he forces
no belief. All is voluntary and free. How then can
the march of truth be otherwise than slow? Truth, being
the greatest thing below, resembles in its port the
motion of the stars, which are the greatest things
above. But like theirs, if slow, it is ever sure and onward.'
`The stars set in night.'
`But they rise again. Truth is eclipsed often, and it
sets for a night; but never is turned aside from its eternal
path.'
`Never, Publius,' said the Prefect, adjusting his gown,
and with the act filling the air with perfume, `never did
I think to find myself within a Christian church. Your
shop possesses many virtues. It is a place to be instructed
in.' Then turning to Probus, he soothingly
and in persuasive tones, added, `Be advised now, good
well spare thee. Take the judgment of others; we
need not thy doctrine. Let that alone which is well established
and secure. Spare these institutions, veneerable
through a thousand years. Leave changes to
the gods.'
Probus was about to reply, when we were strangely
interrupted. While we had been conversing, there
stood before me, in the midst of the floor of the apartment,
a man, whose figure, face, and demeanor were
such that I hardly could withdraw my eye from him.
He was tall and gaunt, beyond all I ever saw, and erect
as a Prætorian in the ranks. His face was strongly Roman,
thin and bony, with sunken cheeks, a brown and
wrinkled skin — not through age, but exposure — and
eyes more wild and fiery than ever glared in the head
of Hun or hyena. He seemed a living fire-brand of
death and ruin. As we talked, he stood there motionless,
sometimes casting glances at our group, but more
frequently fixing them upon a roll which he held in his
hands.
As Varus uttered the last words, this man suddenly
left his post, and reaching us with two or three strides,
shook his long finger at Varus, saying, at the same
time,
`Hold, blasphemer!'
The Prefect started as if struck, and gazing a moment
with unfeigned amazement at the figure, then immediately
burst into a laugh, crying out,
`Ha! ha! Who in the name of Hecate have we
here? Ha! ha! — he seems just escaped from the Vivaria.'
`Thy laugh,' said the figure `is the music of a sick
and dying soul. It is a rebel's insult against the majesty
of Heaven; ay, laugh on! That is what the devils
do; it is the merriment of hell. What time they
burn not, they laugh. But enough. Hold now thy
scoffing, Prefect Varus, for high as thou art, I fear thee
not: no! not wert thou twice Aurelian, instead of Varus.
I have somewhat for thee. Wilt hear it?'
`With delight, Bubo. Say on.'
`It was thy word just now, `Rome needs not this doctrine,'
was it not?'
`If I said it not, it is a good saying, and I will father
it.'
“Rome needs not this doctrine; she is well enough;
let her alone!' These were thy words. Need not, Varus,
the streets of Rome a cleansing river to purify
them? Dost thou think them well enough, till all the
fountains have been let loose to purge them? Is Tarquin's
sewer a place to dwell in? Could all the waters
of Rome sweeten it? The people of Rome are fouler
than her highways. The sewers are sweeter than the
very worshippers of our temples. Thou knowest somewhat
of this. Wast ever present at the rites of Bacchus?
— or those of the Cyprian goddess? Nay, blush
not yet. Didst ever hear of the gladiator Pollex? — of
the woman Cæcina? — of the boy Lælius, and the fair
girl Fannia — proffered and sold by the parents, Pollex
and Cæcina, to the loose pleasures of Gallienus? Now
I give thee leave to blush! Is it nought that the one
half of Rome is sunk in a sensuality, a beastly drunkenness
and lust, fouler than that of old, which, in Judea,
called down the fiery vengeance of the insulted heavens?
of thy office, what the purlieus of the theatres are,
and places worse than those, and which to name were
an offence. But to you they need not be named. Is
all this, Varus, well enough? Is this that venerable order
thou wouldst not have disturbed? Is that to be
charged as impiety and atheism, which aims to change
and reform it? Are they conspirators, and rebels, and
traitors, whose sole office and labor is to mend these degenerate
morals, to heal these corrupting sores, to pour
a better life into the rotting carcass of this guilty city?
Is it for our pastime, or our profit, that we go about this
always dangerous work? Is it a pleasure to hear the
gibes, jests, and jeers of the streets and the places of
public resort? Will you not believe that it is for some
great end, that we do and bear as thou seest — even the
redemption, and purifying, and saving of Rome? I love
Rome, even as a mother, and for her am ready to die.
I have bled for her freely in battle, in Gaul, upon the
Danube, in Asia, and in Egypt. I am willing to bleed
for her at home, even unto death, if that blood might,
through the blessing of God, be a stream to cleanse her
putrifying members. But O, holy Jesus! why waste I
words upon one whose heart is harder than the nether
millstone! Thou preachedst not to Pilate, nor didst
thou work thy wonders for Herod. Varus, beware!'
And with these words, uttered with a wild and threatening
air, he abruptly turned away, and was lost in the
crowds of the street.
While he raved, the Prefect maintained the same unruffled
demeanor as before. His customary smile played
around his mouth, a smile like no other I ever saw. To
but to one who watches him, it is evident that it denotes
no hilarity of heart, for the eyes accompany it not with
a corresponding expression, but on the contrary, look
forth from their beautiful cavities with glances that speak
of anything rather than of peace and good-will. So
soon as the strange being who had been declaiming had
disappeared, the Prefect, turning to me, as he drew up
his gown around him, said,
`I give you joy, Piso, of your coadjutor. A few more
of the same fashion, and Rome is safe.' And saluting
us with urbanity, he sallied from the shop.
I had been too much amazed, myself, during this
scene, to do anything else than stand still, and listen,
and observe. As for Probus, I saw him to be greatly
moved, and give signs of even deep distress. He evidently
knew who the person was — as I saw him make
more than one ineffectual effort to arrest him in his harangue
— and as evidently held him in respect, seeing
he abstained from all interruption of a speech that he
felt to be provoking wantonly the passions of the Prefect,
and of many who stood around, from whom, so soon as
the man of authority had withdrawn, angry words broke
forth abundantly.
`Well did the noble Prefect say, that that wild animal
had come forth like a half-famished tiger from the Vivaria,'
said one.
`It is singular,' observed another, `that a man who
pretends to reform the state, should think to do it by first
putting it into a rage with him, and all he utters.'
`Especially singular,' added a third, `that the advocate
of a religion that, as I hear, condemns violence, and
governed, should suppose that he was doing any other
work than entering a breach in his own citadel, by such
ferocity. But it is quite possible his wits are touched.'
`No, I presume not,' said the first; `this is a kind of
zeal which, if I have observed aright, the Christians hold
in esteem.'
As these separated to distant parts of the shop, I said
to Probus, who seemed heavily oppressed by what had
occurred, `What dæmon dwells in that body that has just
departed?'
`Well do you say dæmon. The better mind of that
man seems oft-times seized upon by some foul spirit, and
bound — and which then acts and speaks in its room.
But do you not know him?'
`No, truly; he is a stranger to me, as he appears to
be to all.'
`Nevertheless, you have been in his company. You
forget not the Mediterranean voyage?'
`By no means. I enjoyed it highly, and recall it ever
with delight.'
`Do you not remember, at the time I narrated to you
the brief story of my life, that, as I ended, a rough voice
from among the soldiers exclaimed, `Where now are the
gods of Rome?' This is that man, the soldier Macer;
then bound with fellow soldiers to the service in Africa,
now a Christian preacher.'
`I see it now. That man impressed me then with his
thin form and all-devouring eyes. But the African climate,
and the gash across his left cheek, and which
seems to have slightly disturbed the eye upon that side,
one. Is he sound and sane?'
`Perfectly so,' replied Probus, `unless we may say
that souls earnestly devoted and zealous, are mad.
There is not a more righteous soul in Rome. His conscience
is bare, and shrinking like a fresh wound. His
breast is warm and fond as a woman's. His penitence
for the wild errors of his pagan youth, a consuming fire,
which, while it redoubles his ardor in doing what he
may in the cause of truth, rages in secret, and, if the
sword or the cross claim him not, will bring him to the
grave. He is utterly incapable of fear. All the racks
and dungeons of Rome, with their tormentors, could not
terrify him.'
`You now interest me in him. I must see and know
him. It might be of service to him and to all, Probus,
methinks, if he could be brought to associate with those
whose juster notions might influence his, and modify
them to the rule of truth.'
`I fear not. What he sees, he sees clearly and strongly,
and by itself. He understands nothing of one truth
bearing upon another, and adding to it, or taking from
it. Truth is truth with him — and as his own mind perceives
it — not another's. His conscience will allow
him in no accommodations to other men's opinions or
wishes. He is impatient under an argument as a warhorse
under the rein after the trumpet sounds. It is
unavoidable therefore but he should possess great power
among the Christians of Rome. His are the bold and
decisive qualities that strike the common mind. There
is glory and applause in following and enduring under
illuminated and impelled, to unite the characters of teacher
and prophet; and from knowing that he is so regarded
by others, Macer has come almost to believe it himself.
He is tending more and more to construe every impulse of
his own mind into a divine suggestion, and I believe honestly
experiences difficulty in discriminating between
them. Still, I do not deny that it would be of advantage
for him more and more to come in contact with
sober and enlightened minds. I shall take pleasure, at
some fitting moment, to accompany you to his humble
dwelling; the rather as I would show you also his wife
and children, all of whom are like himself Christians.'
`I shall not forget the promise.'
Whereupon we separated.
I then searched for Publius, and making my purchases,
returned home, Milo following with the books.
As Milo relieved himself of his burden, discharging it
upon the floor of the library, I overheard him to say,
`Lie there, accursed rolls! May the flames consume
you, ere you are again upon my shoulders! For none
but Piso would I have done what I have. Let me to
the temple and expiate.'
`What words are these?' cried Solon, emerging suddenly
at the sound from a recess. `Who dares to heap
curses upon books, which are the soul embalmed and
made imperishable? What have we here? Aha! a
new treasure for these vacant shelves, and most trimly
ordered.'
`These, venerable Greek,' exclaimed Milo, waving
him away, `are books of magic! oriental magic! Have
the Egyptians.'
`Magic!' exclaimed Solon, with supreme contempt;
`art thou so idiotic as to put credence in such fancies?
Away! — hinder me not!' And saying so, he eagerly
grasped a volume, and unrolling it, to the beginning of
the work, dropped it suddenly, as if bitten by a serpent.
`Ha!' cried Milo, `said I not so? Art thou so idiotic,
learned Solon, as to believe in such fancies? How is it
with thee? Is thy blood hot or cold? — thy teeth loose
or fast? — thy arm withered or swollen?'
Solon stood surveying the pile, with a look partly of
anger, partly of sorrow.
`Neither, fool!' he replied. `These possess not the
power nor worth fabled of magic. They are books of
dreams, visions, reveries, which are to the mind what
fogs would be for food, and air for drink, innutritive and
vain. Papias! — Irenæus! — Hegesippus! — Polycarp!
Origen — whose names are these, and to whom familiar?
Some are Greek, some are Latin, but not a name famous
in the world meets my eye. But we will order them on
their shelves, and trust that time, which accomplishes
all things, will restore reason to Piso. Milo, essay thy
strength — my limbs are feeble — and lift these upon
yonder marble; so may age deal gently with thee.'
`Not for their weight in wisdom, Solon, would I again
touch them. I have borne them hither, and if the priests
speak truly, my life is worth not an obolus. I were mad
to tempt my fate farther.'
`Avaunt thee, then, for a fool and a slave, as thou art!'
`Nay now, master Solon, thy own wisdom forsakes
themselves, though for the rest they be beggars.'
`Beggar! sayest thou? Avaunt! I say, or Papias
shall teach thee' — and he would have launched the
roll at the head of Milo, but that, with quick instincts,
he shot from the apartment, and left the pedagogue to
do his own bidding.
So Fausta, you see that Solon is still the irritable old
man he was, and Milo the fool he was. Think not me
worse than either, for hoping so to entertain you. I
know that in your solitude and grief, even such pictures
may be welcome.
When I related to Julia the scene and the conversation
at the shop of Publius, she listened not without agitation,
and expresses her fears lest such extravagances, repeated
and become common, should inflame the minds
both of the people and their rulers against the Christians.
Though I agree with her in lamenting the excess
of zeal displayed by many of the Christians, and
their needless assaults upon the characters and faith of
their opposers, I cannot apprehend serious consequences
from them, because they are so few and rare, and are
palpable exceptions to the general character which I believe
the whole city would unite in ascribing to the
Christians. Their mildness and pacific temper are perhaps
the very traits by which they are most distinguished,
with which they are indeed continually reproached.
Yet individual acts are often the remote
causes of vast universal evil — of bloodshed, war, and
revolution. Macer alone is enough to set on fire a city,
a continent, a world.
I rejoice, I cannot tell you how sincerely, in all your
city to its former populousness and wealth, at least.
Aurelian has done well for you at last. His disbursements
for the Temple of the Sun alone are vast, and
must be more than equal to its perfect restoration. Yet
his overthrown column you will scarce be tempted to
rebuild. Forget not to assure Gracchus and Calpurnius
of my affection. Farewell.
| Probus, or, Rome in the third century | |