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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkiewicz
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Quo Vadis
+       A Narrative of the Time of Nero
+
+Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
+
+Translator: Jeremiah Curtin
+
+Posting Date: December 31, 2008 [EBook #2853]
+Release Date: October, 2001
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUO VADIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Reed
+
+
+
+
+
+QUO VADIS
+
+A NARRATIVE OF THE TIME OF NERO
+
+by Henryk Sienkiewicz
+
+
+Translated from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin
+
+
+
+     TO AUGUSTE COMTE,
+
+     Of San Francisco, Cal.,
+
+     MY DEAR FRIEND AND CLASSMATE, I BEG TO DEDICATE THIS VOLUME.
+
+     JEREMIAH CURTIN
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+IN the trilogy "With Fire and Sword," "The Deluge," and "Pan Michael,"
+Sienkiewicz has given pictures of a great and decisive epoch in modern
+history. The results of the struggle begun under Bogdan Hmelnitski have
+been felt for more than two centuries, and they are growing daily in
+importance. The Russia which rose out of that struggle has become a
+power not only of European but of world-wide significance, and, to all
+human seeming, she is yet in an early stage of her career.
+
+In "Quo Vadis" the author gives us pictures of opening scenes in the
+conflict of moral ideas with the Roman Empire,--a conflict from which
+Christianity issued as the leading force in history.
+
+The Slays are not so well known to Western Europe or to us as they
+are sure to be in the near future; hence the trilogy, with all its
+popularity and merit, is not appreciated yet as it will be.
+
+The conflict described in "Quo Vadis" is of supreme interest to a vast
+number of persons reading English; and this book will rouse, I think,
+more attention at first than anything written by Sienkiewicz hitherto.
+
+JEREMIAH CURTIN
+
+ILOM, NORTHERN GUATEMALA,
+
+June, 1896
+
+
+
+
+
+QUO VADIS
+
+Quo Vadis A Narrative of the Time of Nero
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+
+PETRONIUS woke only about midday, and as usual greatly wearied. The
+evening before he had been at one of Nero's feasts, which was prolonged
+till late at night. For some time his health had been failing. He said
+himself that he woke up benumbed, as it were, and without power of
+collecting his thoughts. But the morning bath and careful kneading of
+the body by trained slaves hastened gradually the course of his slothful
+blood, roused him, quickened him, restored his strength, so that he
+issued from the elaeothesium, that is, the last division of the bath, as
+if he had risen from the dead, with eyes gleaming from wit and gladness,
+rejuvenated, filled with life, exquisite, so unapproachable that Otho
+himself could not compare with him, and was really that which he had
+been called,--arbiter elegantiarum.
+
+He visited the public baths rarely, only when some rhetor happened there
+who roused admiration and who was spoken of in the city, or when in the
+ephebias there were combats of exceptional interest. Moreover, he had in
+his own "insula" private baths which Celer, the famous contemporary
+of Severus, had extended for him, reconstructed and arranged with such
+uncommon taste that Nero himself acknowledged their excellence over
+those of the Emperor, though the imperial baths were more extensive and
+finished with incomparably greater luxury.
+
+After that feast, at which he was bored by the jesting of Vatinius with
+Nero, Lucan, and Seneca, he took part in a diatribe as to whether woman
+has a soul. Rising late, he used, as was his custom, the baths. Two
+enormous balneatores laid him on a cypress table covered with snow-white
+Egyptian byssus, and with hands dipped in perfumed olive oil began to
+rub his shapely body; and he waited with closed eyes till the heat
+of the laconicum and the heat of their hands passed through him and
+expelled weariness.
+
+But after a certain time he spoke, and opened his eyes; he inquired
+about the weather, and then about gems which the jeweller Idomeneus
+had promised to send him for examination that day. It appeared that the
+weather was beautiful, with a light breeze from the Alban hills, and
+that the gems had not been brought. Petronius closed his eyes again, and
+had given command to bear him to the tepidarium, when from behind
+the curtain the nomenclator looked in, announcing that young Marcus
+Vinicius, recently returned from Asia Minor, had come to visit him.
+
+Petronius ordered to admit the guest to the tepidarium, to which he
+was borne himself. Vinicius was the son of his oldest sister, who years
+before had married Marcus Vinicius, a man of consular dignity from the
+time of Tiberius. The young man was serving then under Corbulo against
+the Parthians, and at the close of the war had returned to the city.
+Petronius had for him a certain weakness bordering on attachment, for
+Marcus was beautiful and athletic, a young man who knew how to preserve
+a certain aesthetic measure in his profligacy; this, Petronius prized
+above everything.
+
+"A greeting to Petronius," said the young man, entering the tepidarium
+with a springy step. "May all the gods grant thee success, but
+especially Asklepios and Kypris, for under their double protection
+nothing evil can meet one."
+
+"I greet thee in Rome, and may thy rest be sweet after war," replied
+Petronius, extending his hand from between the folds of soft karbas
+stuff in which he was wrapped. "What's to be heard in Armenia; or since
+thou wert in Asia, didst thou not stumble into Bithynia?"
+
+Petronius on a time had been proconsul in Bithynia, and, what is more,
+he had governed with energy and justice. This was a marvellous contrast
+in the character of a man noted for effeminacy and love of luxury; hence
+he was fond of mentioning those times, as they were a proof of what he
+had been, and of what he might have become had it pleased him.
+
+"I happened to visit Heraklea," answered Vinicius. "Corbulo sent me
+there with an order to assemble reinforcements."
+
+"Ah, Heraklea! I knew at Heraklea a certain maiden from Colchis,
+for whom I would have given all the divorced women of this city, not
+excluding Poppaea. But these are old stories. Tell me now, rather, what
+is to be heard from the Parthian boundary. It is true that they weary me
+every Vologeses of them, and Tiridates and Tigranes,--those barbarians
+who, as young Arulenus insists, walk on all fours at home, and pretend
+to be human only when in our presence. But now people in Rome speak much
+of them, if only for the reason that it is dangerous to speak of aught
+else."
+
+"The war is going badly, and but for Corbulo might be turned to defeat."
+
+"Corbulo! by Bacchus! a real god of war, a genuine Mars, a great leader,
+at the same time quick-tempered, honest, and dull. I love him, even for
+this,--that Nero is afraid of him."
+
+"Corbulo is not a dull man."
+
+"Perhaps thou art right, but for that matter it is all one. Dulness,
+as Pyrrho says, is in no way worse than wisdom, and differs from it in
+nothing."
+
+Vinicius began to talk of the war; but when Petronius closed his eyes
+again, the young man, seeing his uncle's tired and somewhat emaciated
+face, changed the conversation, and inquired with a certain interest
+about his health.
+
+Petronius opened his eyes again.
+
+Health!--No. He did not feel well. He had not gone so far yet, it is
+true, as young Sissena, who had lost sensation to such a degree that
+when he was brought to the bath in the morning he inquired, "Am I
+sitting?" But he was not well. Vinicius had just committed him to the
+care of Asklepios and Kypris. But he, Petronius, did not believe in
+Asklepios. It was not known even whose son that Asklepios was, the son
+of Arsinoe or Koronis; and if the mother was doubtful, what was to be
+said of the father? Who, in that time, could be sure who his own father
+was?
+
+Hereupon Petronius began to laugh; then he continued,--"Two years ago,
+it is true, I sent to Epidaurus three dozen live blackbirds and a goblet
+of gold; but dost thou know why? I said to myself, 'Whether this helps
+or not, it will do me no harm.' Though people make offerings to the
+gods yet, I believe that all think as I do,--all, with the exception,
+perhaps, of mule-drivers hired at the Porta Capena by travellers.
+Besides Asklepios, I have had dealings with sons of Asklepios. When
+I was troubled a little last year in the bladder, they performed an
+incubation for me. I saw that they were tricksters, but I said to
+myself: 'What harm! The world stands on deceit, and life is an illusion.
+The soul is an illusion too. But one must have reason enough to
+distinguish pleasant from painful illusions.' I shall give command to
+burn in my hypocaustum, cedar-wood sprinkled with ambergris, for during
+life I prefer perfumes to stenches. As to Kypris, to whom thou hast also
+confided me, I have known her guardianship to the extent that I have
+twinges in my right foot. But as to the rest she is a good goddess! I
+suppose that thou wilt bear sooner or later white doves to her altar."
+
+"True," answered Vinicius. "The arrows of the Parthians have not reached
+my body, but a dart of Amor has struck me--unexpectedly, a few stadia
+from a gate of this city."
+
+"By the white knees of the Graces! thou wilt tell me of this at a
+leisure hour."
+
+"I have come purposely to get thy advice," answered Marcus.
+
+But at that moment the epilatores came, and occupied themselves with
+Petronius. Marcus, throwing aside his tunic, entered a bath of tepid
+water, for Petronius invited him to a plunge bath.
+
+"Ah, I have not even asked whether thy feeling is reciprocated," said
+Petronius, looking at the youthful body of Marcus, which was as if cut
+out of marble. "Had Lysippos seen thee, thou wouldst be ornamenting now
+the gate leading to the Palatine, as a statue of Hercules in youth."
+
+The young man smiled with satisfaction, and began to sink in the bath,
+splashing warm water abundantly on the mosaic which represented Hera at
+the moment when she was imploring Sleep to lull Zeus to rest. Petronius
+looked at him with the satisfied eye of an artist.
+
+When Vinicius had finished and yielded himself in turn to the
+epilatores, a lector came in with a bronze tube at his breast and rolls
+of paper in the tube.
+
+"Dost wish to listen?" asked Petronius.
+
+"If it is thy creation, gladly!" answered the young tribune; "if not,
+I prefer conversation. Poets seize people at present on every street
+corner."
+
+"Of course they do. Thou wilt not pass any basilica, bath, library, or
+book-shop without seeing a poet gesticulating like a monkey. Agrippa, on
+coming here from the East, mistook them for madmen. And it is just such
+a time now. Caesar writes verses; hence all follow in his steps. Only it
+is not permitted to write better verses than Caesar, and for that reason
+I fear a little for Lucan. But I write prose, with which, however, I do
+not honor myself or others. What the lector has to read are codicilli of
+that poor Fabricius Veiento."
+
+"Why 'poor'?"
+
+"Because it has been communicated to him that he must dwell in Odyssa
+and not return to his domestic hearth till he receives a new command.
+That Odyssey will be easier for him than for Ulysses, since his wife
+is no Penelope. I need not tell thee, for that matter, that he acted
+stupidly. But here no one takes things otherwise than superficially. His
+is rather a wretched and dull little book, which people have begun to
+read passionately only when the author is banished. Now one hears on
+every side, 'Scandala! scandala!' and it may be that Veiento invented
+some things; but I, who know the city, know our patres and our women,
+assure thee that it is all paler than reality. Meanwhile every man is
+searching in the book,--for himself with alarm, for his acquaintances
+with delight. At the book-shop of Avirnus a hundred copyists are writing
+at dictation, and its success is assured."
+
+"Are not thy affairs in it?"
+
+"They are; but the author is mistaken, for I am at once worse and less
+flat than he represents me. Seest thou we have lost long since the
+feeling of what is worthy or unworthy,--and to me even it seems that in
+real truth there is no difference between them, though Seneca, Musonius,
+and Trasca pretend that they see it. To me it is all one! By Hercules,
+I say what I think! I have preserved loftiness, however, because I know
+what is deformed and what is beautiful; but our poet, Bronzebeard, for
+example, the charioteer, the singer, the actor, does not understand
+this."
+
+"I am sorry, however, for Fabricius! He is a good companion."
+
+"Vanity ruined the man. Every one suspected him, no one knew certainly;
+but he could not contain himself, and told the secret on all sides in
+confidence. Hast heard the history of Rufinus?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then come to the frigidarium to cool; there I will tell thee."
+
+They passed to the frigidarium, in the middle of which played a fountain
+of bright rose-color, emitting the odor of violets. There they sat in
+niches which were covered with velvet, and began to cool themselves.
+Silence reigned for a time. Vinicius looked awhile thoughtfully at a
+bronze faun which, bending over the arm of a nymph, was seeking her lips
+eagerly with his lips.
+
+"He is right," said the young man. "That is what is best in life."
+
+"More or less! But besides this thou lovest war, for which I have no
+liking, since under tents one's finger-nails break and cease to be rosy.
+For that matter, every man has his preferences. Bronzebeard loves song,
+especially his own; and old Scaurus his Corinthian vase, which stands
+near his bed at night, and which he kisses when he cannot sleep. He has
+kissed the edge off already. Tell me, dost thou not write verses?"
+
+"No; I have never composed a single hexameter."
+
+"And dost thou not play on the lute and sing?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And dost thou drive a chariot?"
+
+"I tried once in Antioch, but unsuccessfully."
+
+"Then I am at rest concerning thee. And to what party in the hippodrome
+dost thou belong?"
+
+"To the Greens."
+
+"Now I am perfectly at rest, especially since thou hast a large property
+indeed, though thou art not so rich as Pallas or Seneca. For seest thou,
+with us at present it is well to write verses, to sing to a lute, to
+declaim, and to compete in the Circus; but better, and especially safer,
+not to write verses, not to play, not to sing, and not to compete in
+the Circus. Best of all, is it to know how to admire when Bronzebeard
+admires. Thou art a comely young man; hence Poppaea may fall in love with
+thee. This is thy only peril. But no, she is too experienced; she cares
+for something else. She has had enough of love with her two husbands;
+with the third she has other views. Dost thou know that that stupid
+Otho loves her yet to distraction? He walks on the cliffs of Spain, and
+sighs; he has so lost his former habits, and so ceased to care for his
+person, that three hours each day suffice him to dress his hair. Who
+could have expected this of Otho?"
+
+"I understand him," answered Vinicius; "but in his place I should have
+done something else."
+
+"What, namely?"
+
+"I should have enrolled faithful legions of mountaineers of that
+country. They are good soldiers,--those Iberians."
+
+"Vinicius! Vinicius! I almost wish to tell thee that thou wouldst not
+have been capable of that. And knowest why? Such things are done, but
+they are not mentioned even conditionally. As to me, in his place, I
+should have laughed at Poppaea, laughed at Bronzebeard, and formed for
+myself legions, not of Iberian men, however, but Iberian women. And what
+is more, I should have written epigrams which I should not have read to
+any one,--not like that poor Rufinus."
+
+"Thou wert to tell me his history."
+
+"I will tell it in the unctorium."
+
+But in the unctorium the attention of Vinicius was turned to other
+objects; namely, to wonderful slave women who were waiting for the
+bathers. Two of them, Africans, resembling noble statues of ebony,
+began to anoint their bodies with delicate perfumes from Arabia; others,
+Phrygians, skilled in hairdressing, held in their hands, which were
+bending and flexible as serpents, combs and mirrors of polished steel;
+two Grecian maidens from Kos, who were simply like deities, waited as
+vestiplicae, till the moment should come to put statuesque folds in the
+togas of the lords.
+
+"By the cloud-scattering Zeus!" said Marcus Vinicius, "what a choice
+thou hast!"
+
+"I prefer choice to numbers," answered Petronius. "My whole 'familia'
+[household servants] in Rome does not exceed four hundred, and I judge
+that for personal attendance only upstarts need a greater number of
+people."
+
+"More beautiful bodies even Bronzebeard does not possess," said
+Vinicius, distending his nostrils.
+
+"Thou art my relative," answered Petronius, with a certain friendly
+indifference, "and I am neither so misanthropic as Barsus nor such a
+pedant as Aulus Plautius."
+
+When Vinicius heard this last name, he forgot the maidens from Kos for a
+moment, and, raising his head vivaciously, inquired,--"Whence did Aulus
+Plautius come to thy mind? Dost thou know that after I had disjointed
+my arm outside the city, I passed a number of days in his house? It
+happened that Plautius came up at the moment when the accident happened,
+and, seeing that I was suffering greatly, he took me to his house; there
+a slave of his, the physician Merion, restored me to health. I wished to
+speak with thee touching this very matter."
+
+"Why? Is it because thou hast fallen in love with Pomponia perchance? In
+that case I pity thee; she is not young, and she is virtuous! I cannot
+imagine a worse combination. Brr!"
+
+"Not with Pomponia--eheu!" answered Vinicius.
+
+"With whom, then?"
+
+"If I knew myself with whom? But I do not know to a certainty her name
+even,--Lygia or Callina? They call her Lygia in the house, for she comes
+of the Lygian nation; but she has her own barbarian name, Callina. It is
+a wonderful house,--that of those Plautiuses. There are many people in
+it; but it is quiet there as in the groves of Subiacum. For a number
+of days I did not know that a divinity dwelt in the house. Once about
+daybreak I saw her bathing in the garden fountain; and I swear to thee
+by that foam from which Aphrodite rose, that the rays of the dawn passed
+right through her body. I thought that when the sun rose she would
+vanish before me in the light, as the twilight of morning does. Since
+then, I have seen her twice; and since then, too, I know not what rest
+is, I know not what other desires are, I have no wish to know what the
+city can give me. I want neither women, nor gold, nor Corinthian bronze,
+nor amber, nor pearls, nor wine, nor feasts; I want only Lygia. I am
+yearning for her, in sincerity I tell thee, Petronius, as that Dream who
+is imaged on the Mosaic of thy tepidarium yearned for Paisythea,--whole
+days and night do I yearn."
+
+"If she is a slave, then purchase her."
+
+"She is not a slave."
+
+"What is she? A freed woman of Plautius?"
+
+"Never having been a slave, she could not be a freed woman."
+
+"Who is she?"
+
+"I know not,--a king's daughter, or something of that sort."
+
+"Thou dost rouse my curiosity, Vinicius."
+
+"But if thou wish to listen, I will satisfy thy curiosity straightway.
+Her story is not a long one. Thou art acquainted, perhaps personally,
+with Vannius, king of the Suevi, who, expelled from his country, spent a
+long time here in Rome, and became even famous for his skilful play with
+dice, and his good driving of chariots. Drusus put him on the throne
+again. Vannius, who was really a strong man, ruled well at first, and
+warred with success; afterward, however, he began to skin not only his
+neighbors, but his own Suevi, too much. Thereupon Vangio and Sido, two
+sister's sons of his, and the sons of Vibilius, king of the Hermunduri,
+determined to force him to Rome again--to try his luck there at dice."
+
+"I remember; that is of recent Claudian times."
+
+"Yes! War broke out. Vannius summoned to his aid the Yazygi; his dear
+nephews called in the Lygians, who, hearing of the riches of Vannius,
+and enticed by the hope of booty, came in such numbers that Caesar
+himself, Claudius, began to fear for the safety of the boundary.
+Claudius did not wish to interfere in a war among barbarians, but he
+wrote to Atelius Hister, who commanded the legions of the Danube, to
+turn a watchful eye on the course of the war, and not permit them to
+disturb our peace. Hister required, then, of the Lygians a promise not
+to cross the boundary; to this they not only agreed, but gave hostages,
+among whom were the wife and daughter of their leader. It is known to
+thee that barbarians take their wives and children to war with them. My
+Lygia is the daughter of that leader."
+
+"Whence dost thou know all this?"
+
+"Aulus Plautius told it himself. The Lygians did not cross the boundary,
+indeed; but barbarians come and go like a tempest. So did the Lygians
+vanish with their wild-ox horns on their heads. They killed Vannius's
+Suevi and Yazygi; but their own king fell. They disappeared with their
+booty then, and the hostages remained in Hister's hands. The mother died
+soon after, and Hister, not knowing what to do with the daughter, sent
+her to Pomponius, the governor of all Germany. He, at the close of the
+war with the Catti, returned to Rome, where Claudius, as is known to
+thee, permitted him to have a triumph. The maiden on that occasion
+walked after the car of the conqueror; but, at the end of the
+solemnity,--since hostages cannot be considered captives, and since
+Pomponius did not know what to do with her definitely--he gave her to
+his sister Pomponia Graecina, the wife of Plautius. In that house where
+all--beginning with the masters and ending with the poultry in the
+hen-house--are virtuous, that maiden grew up as virtuous, alas! as
+Graecina herself, and so beautiful that even Poppaea, if near her, would
+seem like an autumn fig near an apple of the Hesperides."
+
+"And what?"
+
+"And I repeat to thee that from the moment when I saw how the
+sun-rays at that fountain passed through her body, I fell in love to
+distraction."
+
+"She is as transparent as a lamprey eel, then, or a youthful sardine?"
+
+"Jest not, Petronius; but if the freedom with which I speak of my desire
+misleads thee, know this,--that bright garments frequently cover deep
+wounds. I must tell thee, too, that, while returning from Asia, I slept
+one night in the temple of Mopsus to have a prophetic dream. Well,
+Mopsus appeared in a dream to me, and declared that, through love, a
+great change in my life would take place."
+
+"Pliny declares, as I hear, that he does not believe in the gods, but he
+believes in dreams; and perhaps he is right. My jests do not prevent me
+from thinking at times that in truth there is only one deity, eternal,
+creative, all-powerful, Venus Genetrix. She brings souls together; she
+unites bodies and things. Eros called the world out of chaos. Whether he
+did well is another question; but, since he did so, we should recognize
+his might, though we are free not to bless it."
+
+"Alas! Petronius, it is easier to find philosophy in the world than wise
+counsel."
+
+"Tell me, what is thy wish specially?"
+
+"I wish to have Lygia. I wish that these arms of mine, which now embrace
+only air, might embrace Lygia and press her to my bosom. I wish to
+breathe with her breath. Were she a slave, I would give Aulus for her
+one hundred maidens with feet whitened with lime as a sign that they
+were exhibited on sale for the first time. I wish to have her in my
+house till my head is as white as the top of Soracte in winter."
+
+"She is not a slave, but she belongs to the 'family' of Plautius; and
+since she is a deserted maiden, she may be considered an 'alumna.'
+Plautius might yield her to thee if he wished."
+
+"Then it seems that thou knowest not Pomponia Graecina. Both have become
+as much attached to her as if she were their own daughter."
+
+"Pomponia I know,--a real cypress. If she were not the wife of Aulus,
+she might be engaged as a mourner. Since the death of Julius she has
+not thrown aside dark robes; and in general she looks as if, while still
+alive, she were walking on the asphodel meadow. She is, moreover, a
+'one-man woman'; hence, among our ladies of four and five divorces, she
+is straightway a phoenix. But! hast thou heard that in Upper Egypt the
+phoenix has just been hatched out, as 'tis said?--an event which happens
+not oftener than once in five centuries."
+
+"Petronius! Petronius! Let us talk of the phoenix some other time."
+
+"What shall I tell thee, my Marcus? I know Aulus Plautius, who, though
+he blames my mode of life, has for me a certain weakness, and even
+respects me, perhaps, more than others, for he knows that I have never
+been an informer like Domitius Afer, Tigellinus, and a whole rabble
+of Ahenobarbus's intimates [Nero's name was originally L. Domitius
+Ahenobarbus]. Without pretending to be a stoic, I have been offended
+more than once at acts of Nero, which Seneca and Burrus looked at
+through their fingers. If it is thy thought that I might do something
+for thee with Aulus, I am at thy command."
+
+"I judge that thou hast the power. Thou hast influence over him; and,
+besides, thy mind possesses inexhaustible resources. If thou wert to
+survey the position and speak with Plautius."
+
+"Thou hast too great an idea of my influence and wit; but if that is the
+only question, I will talk with Plautius as soon as they return to the
+city."
+
+"They returned two days since."
+
+"In that case let us go to the triclinium, where a meal is now ready,
+and when we have refreshed ourselves, let us give command to bear us to
+Plautius."
+
+"Thou hast ever been kind to me," answered Vinicius, with vivacity; "but
+now I shall give command to rear thy statue among my lares,--just such a
+beauty as this one,--and I will place offerings before it."
+
+Then he turned toward the statues which ornamented one entire wall
+of the perfumed chamber, and pointing to the one which represented
+Petronius as Hermes with a staff in his hand, he added,--"By the light
+of Helios! if the 'godlike' Alexander resembled thee, I do not wonder at
+Helen."
+
+And in that exclamation there was as much sincerity as flattery; for
+Petronius, though older and less athletic, was more beautiful than even
+Vinicius. The women of Rome admired not only his pliant mind and his
+taste, which gained for him the title Arbiter elegantiae, but also his
+body. This admiration was evident even on the faces of those maidens
+from Kos who were arranging the folds of his toga; and one of whom,
+whose name was Eunice, loving him in secret, looked him in the eyes with
+submission and rapture. But he did not even notice this; and, smiling
+at Vinicius, he quoted in answer an expression of Seneca about
+woman,--Animal impudens, etc. And then, placing an arm on the shoulders
+of his nephew, he conducted him to the triclinium.
+
+In the unctorium the two Grecian maidens, the Phrygians, and the two
+Ethiopians began to put away the vessels with perfumes. But at that
+moment, and beyond the curtain of the frigidarium, appeared the heads
+of the balneatores, and a low "Psst!" was heard. At that call one of
+the Grecians, the Phrygians, and the Ethiopians sprang up quickly, and
+vanished in a twinkle behind the curtain. In the baths began a moment of
+license which the inspector did not prevent, for he took frequent part
+in such frolics himself. Petronius suspected that they took place; but,
+as a prudent man, and one who did not like to punish, he looked at them
+through his fingers.
+
+In the unctorium only Eunice remained. She listened for a short time
+to the voices and laughter which retreated in the direction of the
+laconicum. At last she took the stool inlaid with amber and ivory,
+on which Petronius had been sitting a short time before, and put it
+carefully at his statue. The unctorium was full of sunlight and the hues
+which came from the many-colored marbles with which the wall was faced.
+Eunice stood on the stool, and, finding herself at the level of the
+statue, cast her arms suddenly around its neck; then, throwing back her
+golden hair, and pressing her rosy body to the white marble, she pressed
+her lips with ecstasy to the cold lips of Petronius.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+
+After a refreshment, which was called the morning meal and to which the
+two friends sat down at an hour when common mortals were already long
+past their midday prandium, Petronius proposed a light doze. According
+to him, it was too early for visits yet. "There are, it is true,"
+said he, "people who begin to visit their acquaintances about sunrise,
+thinking that custom an old Roman one, but I look on this as barbarous.
+The afternoon hours are most proper,--not earlier, however, than that
+one when the sun passes to the side of Jove's temple on the Capitol and
+begins to look slantwise on the Forum. In autumn it is still hot, and
+people are glad to sleep after eating. At the same time it is pleasant
+to hear the noise of the fountain in the atrium, and, after the
+obligatory thousand steps, to doze in the red light which filters in
+through the purple half-drawn velarium."
+
+Vinicius recognized the justice of these words; and the two men began
+to walk, speaking in a careless manner of what was to be heard on
+the Palatine and in the city, and philosophizing a little upon life.
+Petronius withdrew then to the cubiculum, but did not sleep long. In
+half an hour he came out, and, having given command to bring verbena, he
+inhaled the perfume and rubbed his hands and temples with it.
+
+"Thou wilt not believe," said he, "how it enlivens and freshens one. Now
+I am ready."
+
+The litter was waiting long since; hence they took their places, and
+Petronius gave command to bear them to the Vicus Patricius, to the
+house of Aulus. Petronius's "insula" lay on the southern slope of the
+Palatine, near the so-called Carinae; their nearest way, therefore, was
+below the Forum; but since Petronius wished to step in on the way to see
+the jeweller Idomeneus, he gave the direction to carry them along the
+Vicus Apollinis and the Forum in the direction of the Vicus Sceleratus,
+on the corner of which were many tabernae of every kind.
+
+Gigantic Africans bore the litter and moved on, preceded by slaves
+called pedisequii. Petronius, after some time, raised to his nostrils
+in silence his palm odorous with verbena, and seemed to be meditating on
+something.
+
+"It occurs to me," said he after a while, "that if thy forest goddess is
+not a slave she might leave the house of Plautius, and transfer herself
+to thine. Thou wouldst surround her with love and cover her with wealth,
+as I do my adored Chrysothemis, of whom, speaking between us, I have
+quite as nearly enough as she has of me."
+
+Marcus shook his head.
+
+"No?" inquired Petronius. "In the worst event, the case would be left
+with Caesar, and thou mayst be certain that, thanks even to my influence,
+our Bronzebeard would be on thy side."
+
+"Thou knowest not Lygia," replied Vinicius.
+
+"Then permit me to ask if thou know her otherwise than by sight? Hast
+spoken with her? hast confessed thy love to her?"
+
+"I saw her first at the fountain; since then I have met her twice.
+Remember that during my stay in the house of Aulus, I dwelt in a
+separate villa, intended for guests, and, having a disjointed arm, I
+could not sit at the common table. Only on the eve of the day for which
+I announced my departure did I meet Lygia at supper, but I could not
+say a word to her. I had to listen to Aulus and his account of victories
+gained by him in Britain, and then of the fall of small states in Italy,
+which Licinius Stolo strove to prevent. In general I do not know whether
+Aulus will be able to speak of aught else, and do not think that we
+shall escape this history unless it be thy wish to hear about the
+effeminacy of these days. They have pheasants in their preserves, but
+they do not eat them, setting out from the principle that every pheasant
+eaten brings nearer the end of Roman power. I met her a second time at
+the garden cistern, with a freshly plucked reed in her hand, the top of
+which she dipped in the water and sprinkled the irises growing around.
+Look at my knees. By the shield of Hercules, I tell thee that they
+did not tremble when clouds of Parthians advanced on our maniples with
+howls, but they trembled before the cistern. And, confused as a youth
+who still wears a bulla on his neck, I merely begged pity with my eyes,
+not being able to utter a word for a long time."
+
+Petronius looked at him, as if with a certain envy. "Happy man," said
+he, "though the world and life were the worst possible, one thing in
+them will remain eternally good,--youth!"
+
+After a while he inquired: "And hast thou not spoken to her?"
+
+"When I had recovered somewhat, I told her that I was returning from
+Asia, that I had disjointed my arm near the city, and had suffered
+severely, but at the moment of leaving that hospitable house I saw that
+suffering in it was more to be wished for than delight in another place,
+that sickness there was better than health somewhere else. Confused
+too on her part, she listened to my words with bent head while drawing
+something with the reed on the saffron-colored sand. Afterward she
+raised her eyes, then looked down at the marks drawn already; once
+more she looked at me, as if to ask about something, and then fled on a
+sudden like a hamadryad before a dull faun."
+
+"She must have beautiful eyes."
+
+"As the sea--and I was drowned in them, as in the sea. Believe me that
+the archipelago is less blue. After a while a little son of Plautius ran
+up with a question. But I did not understand what he wanted."
+
+"O Athene!" exclaimed Petronius, "remove from the eyes of this youth the
+bandage with which Eros has bound them; if not, he will break his head
+against the columns of Venus's temple.
+
+"O thou spring bud on the tree of life," said he, turning to Vinicius,
+"thou first green shoot of the vine! Instead of taking thee to the
+Plautiuses, I ought to give command to bear thee to the house of
+Gelocius, where there is a school for youths unacquainted with life."
+
+"What dost thou wish in particular?"
+
+"But what did she write on the sand? Was it not the name of Amor, or a
+heart pierced with his dart, or something of such sort, that one might
+know from it that the satyrs had whispered to the ear of that nymph
+various secrets of life? How couldst thou help looking on those marks?"
+
+"It is longer since I have put on the toga than seems to thee," said
+Vinicius, "and before little Aulus ran up, I looked carefully at those
+marks, for I know that frequently maidens in Greece and in Rome draw on
+the sand a confession which their lips will not utter. But guess what
+she drew!"
+
+"If it is other than I supposed, I shall not guess."
+
+"A fish."
+
+"What dost thou say?"
+
+"I say, a fish. What did that mean,--that cold blood is flowing in her
+veins? So far I do not know; but thou, who hast called me a spring bud
+on the tree of life, wilt be able to understand the sign certainly."
+
+"Carissime! ask such a thing of Pliny. He knows fish. If old Apicius
+were alive, he could tell thee something, for in the course of his
+life he ate more fish than could find place at one time in the bay of
+Naples."
+
+Further conversation was interrupted, since they were borne into crowded
+streets where the noise of people hindered them.
+
+From the Vicus Apollinis they turned to the Boarium, and then entered
+the Forum Romanum, where on clear days, before sunset, crowds of idle
+people assembled to stroll among the columns, to tell and hear news, to
+see noted people borne past in litters, and finally to look in at the
+jewellery-shops, the book-shops, the arches where coin was changed,
+shops for silk, bronze, and all other articles with which the buildings
+covering that part of the market placed opposite the Capitol were
+filled.
+
+One-half of the Forum, immediately under the rock of the Capitol, was
+buried already in shade; but the columns of the temples, placed higher,
+seemed golden in the sunshine and the blue. Those lying lower cast
+lengthened shadows on marble slabs. The place was so filled with columns
+everywhere that the eye was lost in them as in a forest.
+
+Those buildings and columns seemed huddled together. They towered some
+above others, they stretched toward the right and the left, they climbed
+toward the height, and they clung to the wall of the Capitol, or some
+of them clung to others, like greater and smaller, thicker and thinner,
+white or gold colored tree-trunks, now blooming under architraves,
+flowers of the acanthus, now surrounded with Ionic corners, now finished
+with a simple Doric quadrangle. Above that forest gleamed colored
+triglyphs; from tympans stood forth the sculptured forms of gods; from
+the summits winged golden quadrigae seemed ready to fly away through
+space into the blue dome, fixed serenely above that crowded place of
+temples. Through the middle of the market and along the edges of it
+flowed a river of people; crowds passed under the arches of the basilica
+of Julius Caesar; crowds were sitting on the steps of Castor and Pollux,
+or walking around the temple of Vesta, resembling on that great marble
+background many-colored swarms of butterflies or beetles. Down immense
+steps, from the side of the temple on the Capitol dedicated to Jupiter
+Optimus Maximus, came new waves; at the rostra people listened to chance
+orators; in one place and another rose the shouts of hawkers selling
+fruit, wine, or water mixed with fig-juice; of tricksters; of venders
+of marvellous medicines; of soothsayers; of discoverers of hidden
+treasures; of interpreters of dreams. Here and there, in the tumult of
+conversations and cries, were mingled sounds of the Egyptian sistra, of
+the sambuke, or of Grecian flutes. Here and there the sick, the pious,
+or the afflicted were bearing offerings to the temples. In the midst of
+the people, on the stone flags, gathered flocks of doves, eager for
+the grain given them, and like movable many-colored and dark spots, now
+rising for a moment with a loud sound of wings, now dropping down again
+to places left vacant by people. From time to time the crowds opened
+before litters in which were visible the affected faces of women, or
+the heads of senators and knights, with features, as it were, rigid and
+exhausted from living. The many-tongued population repeated aloud their
+names, with the addition of some term of praise or ridicule. Among
+the unordered groups pushed from time to time, advancing with measured
+tread, parties of soldiers, or watchers, preserving order on the
+streets. Around about, the Greek language was heard as often as Latin.
+
+Vinicius, who had not been in the city for a long time, looked with a
+certain curiosity on that swarm of people and on that Forum Romanum,
+which both dominated the sea of the world and was flooded by it, so that
+Petronius, who divined the thoughts of his companion, called it "the
+nest of the Quirites--without the Quirites." In truth, the local element
+was well-nigh lost in that crowd, composed of all races and nations.
+There appeared Ethiopians, gigantic light-haired people from the distant
+north, Britons, Gauls, Germans, sloping-eyed dwellers of Lericum; people
+from the Euphrates and from the Indus, with beards dyed brick color;
+Syrians from the banks of the Orontes, with black and mild eyes;
+dwellers in the deserts of Arabia, dried up as a bone; Jews, with their
+flat breasts; Egyptians, with the eternal, indifferent smile on their
+faces; Numidians and Africans; Greeks from Hellas, who equally with the
+Romans commanded the city, but commanded through science, art, wisdom,
+and deceit; Greeks from the islands, from Asia Minor, from Egypt, from
+Italy, from Narbonic Gaul. In the throng of slaves, with pierced ears,
+were not lacking also freemen,--an idle population, which Caesar amused,
+supported, even clothed,--and free visitors, whom the ease of life and
+the prospects of fortune enticed to the gigantic city; there was no lack
+of venal persons. There were priests of Serapis, with palm branches in
+their hands; priests of Isis, to whose altar more offerings were brought
+than to the temple of the Capitoline Jove; priests of Cybele, bearing
+in their hands golden ears of rice; and priests of nomad divinities; and
+dancers of the East with bright head-dresses, and dealers in amulets,
+and snake-tamers, and Chaldean seers; and, finally, people without any
+occupation whatever, who applied for grain every week at the storehouses
+on the Tiber, who fought for lottery-tickets to the Circus, who spent
+their nights in rickety houses of districts beyond the Tiber, and sunny
+and warm days under covered porticos, and in foul eating-houses of the
+Subura, on the Milvian bridge, or before the "insulae" of the great,
+where from time to time remnants from the tables of slaves were thrown
+out to them.
+
+Petronius was well known to those crowds. Vinicius's ears were
+struck continually by "Hic est!" (Here he is). They loved him for his
+munificence; and his peculiar popularity increased from the time when
+they learned that he had spoken before Caesar in opposition to the
+sentence of death issued against the whole "familia," that is, against
+all the slaves of the prefect Pedanius Secundus, without distinction of
+sex or age, because one of them had killed that monster in a moment of
+despair. Petronius repeated in public, it is true, that it was all one
+to him, and that he had spoken to Caesar only privately, as the arbiter
+elegantiarum whose aesthetic taste was offended by a barbarous slaughter
+befitting Scythians and not Romans. Nevertheless, people who were
+indignant because of the slaughter loved Petronius from that moment
+forth. But he did not care for their love. He remembered that that crowd
+of people had loved also Britannicus, poisoned by Nero; and Agrippina,
+killed at his command; and Octavia, smothered in hot steam at the
+Pandataria, after her veins had been opened previously; and Rubelius
+Plautus, who had been banished; and Thrasea, to whom any morning might
+bring a death sentence. The love of the mob might be considered rather
+of ill omen; and the sceptical Petronius was superstitious also. He had
+a twofold contempt for the multitude,--as an aristocrat and an aesthetic
+person. Men with the odor of roast beans, which they carried in their
+bosoms, and who besides were eternally hoarse and sweating from playing
+mora on the street-corners and peristyles, did not in his eyes deserve
+the term "human." Hence he gave no answer whatever to the applause,
+or the kisses sent from lips here and there to him. He was relating to
+Marcus the case of Pedanius, reviling meanwhile the fickleness of that
+rabble which, next morning after the terrible butchery, applauded Nero
+on his way to the temple of Jupiter Stator. But he gave command to
+halt before the book-shop of Avirnus, and, descending from the litter,
+purchased an ornamented manuscript, which he gave to Vinicius.
+
+"Here is a gift for thee," said he.
+
+"Thanks!" answered Vinicius. Then, looking at the title, he inquired,
+"'Satyricon'? Is this something new? Whose is it?"
+
+"Mine. But I do not wish to go in the road of Rufinus, whose history I
+was to tell thee, nor of Fabricius Veiento; hence no one knows of this,
+and do thou mention it to no man."
+
+"Thou hast said that thou art no writer of verses," said Vinicius,
+looking at the middle of the manuscript; "but here I see prose thickly
+interwoven with them."
+
+"When thou art reading, turn attention to Trimalchion's feast. As to
+verses, they have disgusted me, since Nero is writing an epic. Vitelius,
+when he wishes to relieve himself, uses ivory fingers to thrust down his
+throat; others serve themselves with flamingo feathers steeped in olive
+oil or in a decoction of wild thyme. I read Nero's poetry, and the
+result is immediate. Straightway I am able to praise it, if not with a
+clear conscience, at least with a clear stomach."
+
+When he had said this, he stopped the litter again before the shop of
+Idomeneus the goldsmith, and, having settled the affair of the gems,
+gave command to bear the litter directly to Aulus's mansion.
+
+"On the road I will tell thee the story of Rufinus," said he, "as proof
+of what vanity in an author may be."
+
+But before he had begun, they turned in to the Vicus Patricius, and
+soon found themselves before the dwelling of Aulus. A young and sturdy
+"janitor" opened the door leading to the ostium, over which a magpie
+confined in a cage greeted them noisily with the word, "Salve!"
+
+On the way from the second antechamber, called the ostium, to the atrium
+itself, Vinicius said,--"Hast noticed that thee doorkeepers are
+without chains?" "This is a wonderful house," answered Petronius, in
+an undertone. "Of course it is known to thee that Pomponia Graecina is
+suspected of entertaining that Eastern superstition which consists in
+honoring a certain Chrestos. It seems that Crispinilla rendered her
+this service,--she who cannot forgive Pomponia because one husband has
+sufficed her for a lifetime. A one-man Woman! To-day, in Rome, it is
+easier to get a half-plate of fresh mushrooms from Noricum than to find
+such. They tried her before a domestic court--"
+
+"To thy judgment this is a wonderful house. Later on I will tell thee
+what I heard and saw in it."
+
+Meanwhile they had entered the atrium. The slave appointed to it, called
+atriensis, sent a nomenclator to announce the guests; and Petronius,
+who, imagining that eternal sadness reigned in this severe house, had
+never been in it, looked around with astonishment, and as it were with a
+feeling of disappointment, for the atrium produced rather an impression
+of cheerfulness. A sheaf of bright light falling from above through
+a large opening broke into a thousand sparks on a fountain in a
+quadrangular little basin, called the impluvium, which was in the middle
+to receive rain falling through the opening during bad weather; this
+was surrounded by anemones and lilies. In that house a special love for
+lilies was evident, for there were whole clumps of them, both white and
+red; and, finally, sapphire irises, whose delicate leaves were as if
+silvered from the spray of the fountain. Among the moist mosses, in
+which lily-pots were hidden, and among the bunches of lilies were little
+bronze statues representing children and water-birds. In one corner a
+bronze fawn, as if wishing to drink, was inclining its greenish head,
+grizzled, too, by dampness. The floor of the atrium was of mosaic; the
+walls, faced partly with red marble and partly with wood, on which were
+painted fish, birds, and griffins, attracted the eye by the play of
+colors. From the door to the side chamber they were ornamented with
+tortoise-shell or even ivory; at the walls between the doors were
+statues of Aulus's ancestors. Everywhere calm plenty was evident, remote
+from excess, but noble and self-trusting.
+
+Petronius, who lived with incomparably greater show and elegance, could
+find nothing which offended his taste; and had just turned to Vinicius
+with that remark, when a slave, the velarius, pushed aside the curtain
+separating the atrium from the tablinum, and in the depth of the
+building appeared Aulus Plautius approaching hurriedly.
+
+He was a man nearing the evening of life, with a head whitened by hoar
+frost, but fresh, with an energetic face, a trifle too short, but still
+somewhat eagle-like. This time there was expressed on it a certain
+astonishment, and even alarm, because of the unexpected arrival of
+Nero's friend, companion, and suggester.
+
+Petronius was too much a man of the world and too quick not to notice
+this; hence, after the first greetings, he announced with all the
+eloquence and ease at his command that he had come to give thanks
+for the care which his sister's son had found in that house, and that
+gratitude alone was the cause of the visit, to which, moreover, he was
+emboldened by his old acquaintance with Aulus.
+
+Aulus assured him that he was a welcome guest; and as to gratitude, he
+declared that he had that feeling himself, though surely Petronius did
+not divine the cause of it.
+
+In fact, Petronius did not divine it. In vain did he raise his hazel
+eyes, endeavoring to remember the least service rendered to Aulus or to
+any one. He recalled none, unless it might be that which he intended
+to show Vinicius. Some such thing, it is true, might have happened
+involuntarily, but only involuntarily.
+
+"I have great love and esteem for Vespasian, whose life thou didst
+save," said Aulus, "when he had the misfortune to doze while listening
+to Nero's verses."
+
+"He was fortunate," replied Petronius, "for he did not hear them; but
+I will not deny that the matter might have ended with misfortune.
+Bronzebeard wished absolutely to send a centurion to him with the
+friendly advice to open his veins."
+
+"But thou, Petronius, laughed him out of it."
+
+"That is true, or rather it is not true. I told Nero that if Orpheus put
+wild beasts to sleep with song, his triumph was equal, since he had put
+Vespasian to sleep. Ahenobarbus may be blamed on condition that to a
+small criticism a great flattery be added. Our gracious Augusta, Poppaea,
+understands this to perfection."
+
+"Alas! such are the times," answered Aulus. "I lack two front teeth,
+knocked out by a stone from the hand of a Briton, I speak with a hiss;
+still my happiest days were passed in Britain."
+
+"Because they were days of victory," added Vinicius.
+
+But Petronius, alarmed lest the old general might begin a narrative of
+his former wars, changed the conversation.
+
+"See," said he, "in the neighborhood of Praeneste country people found
+a dead wolf whelp with two heads; and during a storm about that
+time lightning struck off an angle of the temple of Luna,--a thing
+unparalleled, because of the late autumn. A certain Cotta, too, who
+had told this, added, while telling it, that the priests of that temple
+prophesied the fall of the city or, at least, the ruin of a great
+house,--ruin to be averted only by uncommon sacrifices."
+
+Aulus, when he had heard the narrative, expressed the opinion that such
+signs should not be neglected; that the gods might be angered by an
+over-measure of wickedness. In this there was nothing wonderful; and in
+such an event expiatory sacrifices were perfectly in order.
+
+"Thy house, Plautius, is not too large," answered Petronius, "though
+a great man lives in it. Mine is indeed too large for such a wretched
+owner, though equally small. But if it is a question of the ruin of
+something as great, for example, as the domus transitoria, would it be
+worth while for us to bring offerings to avert that ruin?"
+
+Plautius did not answer that question,--a carefulness which touched even
+Petronius somewhat, for, with all his inability to feel the difference
+between good and evil, he had never been an informer; and it was
+possible to talk with him in perfect safety. He changed the conversation
+again, therefore, and began to praise Plautius's dwelling and the good
+taste which reigned in the house.
+
+"It is an ancient seat," said Plautius, "in which nothing has been
+changed since I inherited it."
+
+After the curtain was pushed aside which divided the atrium from the
+tablinum, the house was open from end to end, so that through the
+tablinum and the following peristyle and the hall lying beyond it which
+was called the oecus, the glance extended to the garden, which seemed
+from a distance like a bright image set in a dark frame. Joyous,
+childlike laughter came from it to the atrium.
+
+"Oh, general!" said Petronius, "permit us to listen from near by to that
+glad laughter which is of a kind heard so rarely in these days."
+
+"Willingly," answered Plautius, rising; "that is my little Aulus and
+Lygia, playing ball. But as to laughter, I think, Petronius, that our
+whole life is spent in it."
+
+"Life deserves laughter, hence people laugh at it," answered Petronius,
+"but laughter here has another sound."
+
+"Petronius does not laugh for days in succession," said Vinicius; "but
+then he laughs entire nights."
+
+Thus conversing, they passed through the length of the house and reached
+the garden, where Lygia and little Aulus were playing with balls, which
+slaves, appointed to that game exclusively and called spheristae, picked
+up and placed in their hands. Petronius cast a quick passing glance at
+Lygia; little Aulus, seeing Vinicius, ran to greet him; but the young
+tribune, going forward, bent his head before the beautiful maiden, who
+stood with a ball in her hand, her hair blown apart a little. She was
+somewhat out of breath, and flushed.
+
+In the garden triclinium, shaded by ivy, grapes, and woodbine, sat
+Pomponia Graecina; hence they went to salute her. She was known to
+Petronius, though he did not visit Plautius, for he had seen her at the
+house of Antistia, the daughter of Rubelius Plautus, and besides at the
+house of Seneca and Polion. He could not resist a certain admiration
+with which he was filled by her face, pensive but mild, by the dignity
+of her bearing, by her movements, by her words. Pomponia disturbed his
+understanding of women to such a degree that that man, corrupted to the
+marrow of his bones, and self-confident as no one in Rome, not only felt
+for her a kind of esteem, but even lost his previous self-confidence.
+And now, thanking her for her care of Vinicius, he thrust in, as it were
+involuntarily, "domina," which never occurred to him when speaking, for
+example, to Calvia Crispinilla, Scribonia, Veleria, Solina, and other
+women of high society. After he had greeted her and returned thanks, he
+began to complain that he saw her so rarely, that it was not possible to
+meet her either in the Circus or the Amphitheatre; to which she answered
+calmly, laying her hand on the hand of her husband:
+
+"We are growing old, and love our domestic quiet more and more, both of
+us."
+
+Petronius wished to oppose; but Aulus Plautius added in his hissing
+voice,--"And we feel stranger and stranger among people who give Greek
+names to our Roman divinities."
+
+"The gods have become for some time mere figures of rhetoric," replied
+Petronius, carelessly. "But since Greek rhetoricians taught us, it is
+easier for me even to say Hera than Juno."
+
+He turned his eyes then to Pomponia, as if to signify that in presence
+of her no other divinity could come to his mind: and then he began to
+contradict what she had said touching old age.
+
+"People grow old quickly, it is true; but there are some who live
+another life entirely, and there are faces moreover which Saturn seems
+to forget."
+
+Petronius said this with a certain sincerity even, for Pomponia Graecina,
+though descending from the midday of life, had preserved an uncommon
+freshness of face; and since she had a small head and delicate features,
+she produced at times, despite her dark robes, despite her solemnity and
+sadness, the impression of a woman quite young.
+
+Meanwhile little Aulus, who had become uncommonly friendly with Vinicius
+during his former stay in the house, approached the young man and
+entreated him to play ball. Lygia herself entered the triclinium after
+the little boy. Under the climbing ivy, with the light quivering on her
+face, she seemed to Petronius more beautiful than at the first glance,
+and really like some nymph. As he had not spoken to her thus far,
+he rose, inclined his head, and, instead of the usual expressions of
+greeting, quoted the words with which Ulysses greeted Nausikaa,--
+
+"I supplicate thee, O queen, whether thou art some goddess or a mortal!
+If thou art one of the daughters of men who dwell on earth, thrice
+blessed are thy father and thy lady mother, and thrice blessed thy
+brethren."
+
+The exquisite politeness of this man of the world pleased even Pomponia.
+As to Lygia, she listened, confused and flushed, without boldness to
+raise her eyes. But a wayward smile began to quiver at the corners of
+her lips, and on her face a struggle was evident between the timidity
+of a maiden and the wish to answer; but clearly the wish was victorious,
+for, looking quickly at Petronius, she answered him all at once with the
+words of that same Nausikaa, quoting them at one breath, and a little
+like a lesson learned,--
+
+"Stranger, thou seemest no evil man nor foolish."
+
+Then she turned and ran out as a frightened bird runs.
+
+This time the turn for astonishment came to Petronius, for he had not
+expected to hear verses of Homer from the lips of a maiden of whose
+barbarian extraction he had heard previously from Vinicius. Hence he
+looked with an inquiring glance at Pomponia; but she could not give
+him an answer, for she was looking at that moment, with a smile, at the
+pride reflected on the face of her husband.
+
+He was not able to conceal that pride. First, he had become attached
+to Lygia as to his own daughter; and second, in spite of his old Roman
+prejudices, which commanded him to thunder against Greek and the spread
+of the language, he considered it as the summit of social polish. He
+himself had never been able to learn it well; over this he suffered in
+secret. He was glad, therefore, that an answer was given in the language
+and poetry of Homer to this exquisite man both of fashion and letters,
+who was ready to consider Plautius's house as barbarian.
+
+"We have in the house a pedagogue, a Greek," said he, turning to
+Petronius, "who teaches our boy, and the maiden overhears the lessons.
+She is a wagtail yet, but a dear one, to which we have both grown
+attached."
+
+Petronius looked through the branches of woodbine into the garden, and
+at the three persons who were playing there. Vinicius had thrown aside
+his toga, and, wearing only his tunic, was striking the ball, which
+Lygia, standing opposite, with raised arms was trying to catch. The
+maiden did not make a great impression on Petronius at the first glance;
+she seemed to him too slender. But from the moment when he saw her more
+nearly in the triclinium he thought to himself that Aurora might look
+like her; and as a judge he understood that in her there was something
+uncommon. He considered everything and estimated everything; hence her
+face, rosy and clear, her fresh lips, as if set for a kiss, her eyes
+blue as the azure of the sea, the alabaster whiteness of her forehead,
+the wealth of her dark hair, with the reflection of amber or Corinthian
+bronze gleaming in its folds, her slender neck, the divine slope of her
+shoulders, the whole posture, flexible, slender, young with the youth of
+May and of freshly opened flowers. The artist was roused in him, and the
+worshipper of beauty, who felt that beneath a statue of that maiden one
+might write "Spring." All at once he remembered Chrysothemis, and pure
+laughter seized him. Chrysothemis seemed to him, with golden powder on
+her hair and darkened brows, to be fabulously faded,--something in
+the nature of a yellowed rose-tree shedding its leaves. But still Rome
+envied him that Chrysothemis. Then he recalled Poppaea; and that most
+famous Poppaea also seemed to him soulless, a waxen mask. In that maiden
+with Tanagrian outlines there was not only spring, but a radiant soul,
+which shone through her rosy body as a flame through a lamp.
+
+"Vinicius is right," thought he, "and my Chrysothemis is old, old!--as
+Troy!"
+
+Then he turned to Pomponia Graecina, and, pointing to the garden,
+said,--"I understand now, domina, why thou and thy husband prefer this
+house to the Circus and to feasts on the Palatine."
+
+"Yes," answered she, turning her eyes in the direction of little Aulus
+and Lygia.
+
+But the old general began to relate the history of the maiden, and what
+he had heard years before from Atelius Hister about the Lygian people
+who lived in the gloom of the North.
+
+The three outside had finished playing ball, and for some time had
+been walking along the sand of the garden, appearing against the dark
+background of myrtles and cypresses like three white statues. Lygia held
+little Aulus by the hand. After they had walked a while they sat on a
+bench near the fish-pond, which occupied the middle of the garden. After
+a time Aulus sprang up to frighten the fish in the transparent water,
+but Vinicius continued the conversation begun during the walk.
+
+"Yes," said he, in a low, quivering voice, scarcely audible; "barely had
+I cast aside the pretexta, when I was sent to the legions in Asia. I
+had not become acquainted with the city, nor with life, nor with love.
+I know a small bit of Anacreon by heart, and Horace; but I cannot like
+Petronius quote verses, when reason is dumb from admiration and unable
+to find its own words. While a youth I went to school to Musonius,
+who told me that happiness consists in wishing what the gods wish, and
+therefore depends on our will. I think, however, that it is something
+else,--something greater and more precious, which depends not on
+the will, for love only can give it. The gods themselves seek that
+happiness; hence I too, O Lygia, who have not known love thus
+far, follow in their footsteps. I also seek her who would give me
+happiness--"
+
+He was silent--and for a time there was nothing to be heard save the
+light plash of the water into which little Aulus was throwing pebbles
+to frighten the fish; but after a while Vinicius began again in a voice
+still softer and lower,--"But thou knowest of Vespasian's son Titus?
+They say that he had scarcely ceased to be a youth when he so loved
+Berenice that grief almost drew the life out of him. So could I too
+love, O Lygia! Riches, glory, power are mere smoke, vanity! The rich
+man will find a richer than himself; the greater glory of another
+will eclipse a man who is famous; a strong man will be conquered by a
+stronger. But can Caesar himself, can any god even, experience greater
+delight or be happier than a simple mortal at the moment when at his
+breast there is breathing another dear breast, or when he kisses beloved
+lips? Hence love makes us equal to the gods, O Lygia."
+
+And she listened with alarm, with astonishment, and at the same time as
+if she were listening to the sound of a Grecian flute or a cithara. It
+seemed to her at moments that Vinicius was singing a kind of wonderful
+song, which was instilling itself into her ears, moving the blood in
+her, and penetrating her heart with a faintness, a fear, and a kind
+of uncomprehended delight. It seemed to her also that he was telling
+something which was in her before, but of which she could not give
+account to herself. She felt that he was rousing in her something which
+had been sleeping hitherto, and that in that moment a hazy dream
+was changing into a form more and more definite, more pleasing, more
+beautiful.
+
+Meanwhile the sun had passed the Tiber long since, and had sunk low over
+the Janiculum. On the motionless cypresses ruddy light was falling, and
+the whole atmosphere was filled with it. Lygia raised on Vinicius her
+blue eyes as if roused from sleep; and he, bending over her with a
+prayer quivering in his eyes, seemed on a sudden, in the reflections
+of evening, more beautiful than all men, than all Greek and Roman gods
+whose statues she had seen on the facades of temples. And with
+his fingers he clasped her arm lightly just above the wrist and
+asked,--"Dost thou not divine what I say to thee, Lygia?"
+
+"No," whispered she as answer, in a voice so low that Vinicius barely
+heard it.
+
+But he did not believe her, and, drawing her hand toward him more
+vigorously, he would have drawn it to his heart, which, under the
+influence of desire roused by the marvellous maiden, was beating like a
+hammer, and would have addressed burning words to her directly had not
+old Aulus appeared on a path set in a frame of myrtles, who said,
+while approaching them,--"The sun is setting; so beware of the evening
+coolness, and do not trifle with Libitina."
+
+"No," answered Vinicius; "I have not put on my toga yet, and I do not
+feel the cold."
+
+"But see, barely half the sun's shield is looking from behind the hill.
+That is a sweet climate of Sicily, where people gather on the square
+before sunset and take farewell of disappearing Phoebus with a choral
+song."
+
+And, forgetting that a moment earlier he had warned them against
+Libitina, he began to tell about Sicily, where he had estates and large
+cultivated fields which he loved. He stated also that it had come to his
+mind more than once to remove to Sicily, and live out his life there in
+quietness. "He whose head winters have whitened has bad enough of hoar
+frost. Leaves are not falling from the trees yet, and the sky smiles on
+the city lovingly; but when the grapevines grow yellow-leaved, when snow
+falls on the Alban hills, and the gods visit the Campania with piercing
+wind, who knows but I may remove with my entire household to my quiet
+country-seat?"
+
+"Wouldst thou leave Rome?" inquired Vinicius, with sudden alarm.
+
+"I have wished to do so this long time, for it is quieter in Sicily and
+safer."
+
+And again he fell to praising his gardens, his herds, his house hidden
+in green, and the hills grown over with thyme and savory, among which
+were swarms of buzzing bees. But Vinicius paid no heed to that bucolic
+note; and from thinking only of this, that he might lose Lygia, he
+looked toward Petronius as if expecting salvation from him alone.
+
+Meanwhile Petronius, sitting near Pomponia, was admiring the view of
+the setting sun, the garden, and the people standing near the fish-pond.
+Their white garments on the dark background of the myrtles gleamed like
+gold from the evening rays. On the sky the evening light had begun to
+assume purple and violet hues, and to change like an opal. A strip of
+the sky became lily-colored. The dark silhouettes of the cypresses grew
+still more pronounced than during bright daylight. In the people, in the
+trees, in the whole garden there reigned an evening calm.
+
+That calm struck Petronius, and it struck him especially in the people.
+In the faces of Pomponia, old Aulus, their son, and Lygia there was
+something such as he did not see in the faces which surrounded him every
+day, or rather every night. There was a certain light, a certain repose,
+a certain serenity, flowing directly from the life which all lived
+there. And with a species of astonishment he thought that a beauty and
+sweetness might exist which he, who chased after beauty and sweetness
+continually, had not known. He could not hide the thought in himself,
+and said, turning to Pomponia,--"I am considering in my soul how
+different this world of yours is from the world which our Nero rules."
+
+She raised her delicate face toward the evening light, and said with
+simplicity,--"Not Nero, but God, rules the world."
+
+A moment of silence followed. Near the triclinium were heard in the
+alley, the steps of the old general, Vinicius, Lygia, and little Aulus;
+but before they arrived, Petronius had put another question--"But
+believest thou in the gods, then, Pomponia?"
+
+"I believe in God, who is one, just, and all-powerful," answered the
+wife of Aulus Plautius.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+
+"SHE believes in God who is one, all-powerful, and just," said
+Petronius, when he found himself again in the litter with Vinicius. "If
+her God is all-powerful, He controls life and death; and if He is
+just, He sends death justly. Why, then, does Pomponia wear mourning for
+Julius? In mourning for Julius she blames her God. I must repeat this
+reasoning to our Bronzebeard, the monkey, since I consider that in
+dialectics I am the equal of Socrates. As to women, I agree that each
+has three or four souls, but none of them a reasoning one. Let Pomponia
+meditate with Seneca or Cornutus over the question of what their great
+Logos is. Let them summon at once the shades of Xenophanes, Parmenides,
+Zeno, and Plato, who are as much wearied there in Cimmerian regions as
+a finch in a cage. I wished to talk with her and with Plautius about
+something else. By the holy stomach of the Egyptian Isis! If I had told
+them right out directly why we came, I suppose that their virtue would
+have made as much noise as a bronze shield under the blow of a club.
+And I did not dare to tell! Wilt thou believe, Vinicius, I did not dare!
+Peacocks are beautiful birds, but they have too shrill a cry. I feared
+an outburst. But I must praise thy choice. A real 'rosy-fingered
+Aurora.' And knowest thou what she reminded me of too?--Spring! not our
+spring in Italy, where an apple-tree merely puts forth a blossom here
+and there, and olive groves grow gray, just as they were gray before,
+but the spring which I saw once in Helvetia,--young, fresh, bright
+green. By that pale moon, I do not wonder at thee, Marcus; but know that
+thou art loving Diana, because Aulus and Pomponia are ready to tear thee
+to pieces, as the dogs once tore Actaeon."
+
+Vinicius was silent a time without raising his head; then he began to
+speak with a voice broken by passion,--"I desired her before, but now I
+desire her still more. When I caught her arm, flame embraced me. I
+must have her. Were I Zeus, I would surround her with a cloud, as he
+surrounded Io, or I would fall on her in rain, as he fell on Danae; I
+would kiss her lips till it pained! I would hear her scream in my arms.
+I would kill Aulus and Pomponia, and bear her home in my arms. I will
+not sleep to-night. I will give command to flog one of my slaves, and
+listen to his groans--"
+
+"Calm thyself," said Petronius. "Thou hast the longing of a carpenter
+from the Subura."
+
+"All one to me what thou sayst. I must have her. I have turned to thee
+for aid; but if thou wilt not find it, I shall find it myself. Aulus
+considers Lygia as a daughter; why should I look on her as a slave? And
+since there is no other way, let her ornament the door of my house, let
+her anoint it with wolf's fat, and let her sit at my hearth as wife."
+
+"Calm thyself, mad descendant of consuls. We do not lead in barbarians
+bound behind our cars, to make wives of their daughters. Beware of
+extremes. Exhaust simple, honorable methods, and give thyself and me
+time for meditation. Chrysothemis seemed to me too a daughter of Jove,
+and still I did not marry her, just as Nero did not marry Acte, though
+they called her a daughter of King Attalus. Calm thyself! Think that if
+she wishes to leave Aulus for thee, he will have no right to detain her.
+Know also that thou art not burning alone, for Eros has roused in her
+the flame too. I saw that, and it is well to believe me. Have patience.
+There is a way to do everything, but to-day I have thought too much
+already, and it tires me. But I promise that to-morrow I will think of
+thy love, and unless Petronius is not Petronius, he will discover some
+method."
+
+They were both silent again.
+
+"I thank thee," said Vinicius at last. "May Fortune be bountiful to
+thee."
+
+"Be patient."
+
+"Whither hast thou given command to bear us?"
+
+"To Chrysothemis."
+
+"Thou art happy in possessing her whom thou lovest."
+
+"I? Dost thou know what amuses me yet in Chrysothemis? This, that she is
+false to me with my freedman Theokles, and thinks that I do not
+notice it. Once I loved her, but now she amuses me with her lying and
+stupidity. Come with me to her. Should she begin to flirt with thee, and
+write letters on the table with her fingers steeped in wine, know that I
+shall not be jealous."
+
+And he gave command to bear them both to Chrysothemis.
+
+But in the entrance Petronius put his hand on Vinicius's shoulder, and
+said,--"Wait; it seems to me that I have discovered a plan."
+
+"May all the gods reward thee!"
+
+"I have it! I judge that this plan is infallible. Knowest what, Marcus?"
+
+"I listen to thee, my wisdom."
+
+"Well, in a few days the divine Lygia will partake of Demeter's grain in
+thy house."
+
+"Thou art greater than Caesar!" exclaimed Vinicius with enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+
+IN fact, Petronius kept his promise. He slept all the day following his
+visit to Chrysothemis, it is true; but in the evening he gave command to
+bear him to the Palatine, where he had a confidential conversation with
+Nero; in consequence of this, on the third day a centurion, at the
+head of some tens of pretorian soldiers, appeared before the house of
+Plautius.
+
+The period was uncertain and terrible. Messengers of this kind were more
+frequently heralds of death. So when the centurion struck the hammer at
+Aulus's door, and when the guard of the atrium announced that there
+were soldiers in the anteroom, terror rose through the whole house.
+The family surrounded the old general at once, for no one doubted that
+danger hung over him above all. Pomponia, embracing his neck with
+her arms, clung to him with all her strength, and her blue lips moved
+quickly while uttering some whispered phrase. Lygia, with a face pale
+as linen, kissed his hand; little Aulus clung to his toga. From the
+corridor, from chambers in the lower story intended for servant-women
+and attendants, from the bath, from the arches of lower dwellings, from
+the whole house, crowds of slaves began to hurry out, and the cries of
+"Heu! heu, me miserum!" were heard. The women broke into great weeping;
+some scratched their cheeks, or covered their heads with kerchiefs.
+
+Only the old general himself, accustomed for years to look death
+straight in the eye, remained calm, and his short eagle face became as
+rigid as if chiselled from stone. After a while, when he had silenced
+the uproar, and commanded the attendants to disappear, he said,--"Let me
+go, Pomponia. If my end has come, we shall have time to take leave."
+
+And he pushed her aside gently; but she said,--"God grant thy fate and
+mine to be one, O Aulus!"
+
+Then, failing on her knees, she began to pray with that force which fear
+for some dear one alone can give.
+
+Aulus passed out to the atrium, where the centurion was waiting for him.
+It was old Caius Hasta, his former subordinate and companion in British
+wars.
+
+"I greet thee, general," said he. "I bring a command, and the greeting
+of Caesar; here are the tablets and the signet to show that I come in his
+name."
+
+"I am thankful to Caesar for the greeting, and I shall obey the command,"
+answered Aulus. "Be welcome, Hasta, and say what command thou hast
+brought."
+
+"Aulus Plautius," began Hasta, "Caesar has learned that in thy house is
+dwelling the daughter of the king of the Lygians, whom that king during
+the life of the divine Claudius gave into the hands of the Romans as a
+pledge that the boundaries of the empire would never be violated by the
+Lygians. The divine Nero is grateful to thee, O general, because thou
+hast given her hospitality in thy house for so many years; but, not
+wishing to burden thee longer, and considering also that the maiden as
+a hostage should be under the guardianship of Caesar and the senate, he
+commands thee to give her into my hands."
+
+Aulus was too much a soldier and too much a veteran to permit himself
+regret in view of an order, or vain words, or complaint. A slight
+wrinkle of sudden anger and pain, however, appeared on his forehead.
+Before that frown legions in Britain had trembled on a time, and even
+at that moment fear was evident on the face of Hasta. But in view of the
+order, Aulus Plautius felt defenceless. He looked for some time at the
+tablets and the signet; then raising his eyes to the old centurion, he
+said calmly,--"Wait, Hasta, in the atrium till the hostage is delivered
+to thee."
+
+After these words he passed to the other end of the house, to the
+hall called oecus, where Pomponia Graecina, Lygia, and little Aulus were
+waiting for him in fear and alarm.
+
+"Death threatens no one, nor banishment to distant islands," said he;
+"still Caesar's messenger is a herald of misfortune. It is a question of
+thee, Lygia."
+
+"Of Lygia?" exclaimed Pomponia, with astonishment.
+
+"Yes," answered Aulus.
+
+And turning to the maiden, he began: "Lygia, thou wert reared in our
+house as our own child; I and Pomponia love thee as our daughter. But
+know this, that thou art not our daughter. Thou art a hostage, given
+by thy people to Rome, and guardianship over thee belongs to Caesar. Now
+Caesar takes thee from our house."
+
+The general spoke calmly, but with a certain strange, unusual voice.
+Lygia listened to his words, blinking, as if not understanding what the
+question was. Pomponia's cheeks became pallid. In the doors leading
+from the corridor to the oecus, terrified faces of slaves began to show
+themselves a second time.
+
+"The will of Caesar must be accomplished," said Aulus.
+
+"Aulus!" exclaimed Pomponia, embracing the maiden with her arms, as if
+wishing to defend her, "it would be better for her to die."
+
+Lygia, nestling up to her breast, repeated, "Mother, mother!" unable in
+her sobbing to find other words.
+
+On Aulus's face anger and pain were reflected again. "If I were alone in
+the world," said he, gloomily, "I would not surrender her alive, and my
+relatives might give offerings this day to 'Jupiter Liberator.' But I
+have not the right to kill thee and our child, who may live to happier
+times. I will go to Caesar this day, and implore him to change his
+command. Whether he will hear me, I know not. Meanwhile, farewell,
+Lygia, and know that I and Pomponia ever bless the day in which thou
+didst take thy seat at our hearth."
+
+Thus speaking, he placed his hand on her head; but though he strove to
+preserve his calmness, when Lygia turned to him eyes filled with tears,
+and seizing his hand pressed it to her lips, his voice was filled with
+deep fatherly sorrow.
+
+"Farewell, our joy, and the light of our eyes," said he.
+
+And he went to the atrium quickly, so as not to let himself be conquered
+by emotion unworthy of a Roman and a general.
+
+Meanwhile Pomponia, when she had conducted Lygia to the cubiculum, began
+to comfort, console, and encourage her, uttering words meanwhile which
+sounded strangely in that house, where near them in an adjoining chamber
+the lararium remained yet, and where the hearth was on which Aulus
+Plautius, faithful to ancient usage, made offerings to the household
+divinities. Now the hour of trial had come. On a time Virginius had
+pierced the bosom of his own daughter to save her from the hands of
+Appius; still earlier Lucretia had redeemed her shame with her life.
+The house of Caesar is a den of infamy, of evil, of crime. But we, Lygia,
+know why we have not the right to raise hands on ourselves! Yes! The law
+under which we both live is another, a greater, a holier, but it gives
+permission to defend oneself from evil and shame even should it happen
+to pay for that defence with life and torment. Whoso goes forth pure
+from the dwelling of corruption has the greater merit thereby. The earth
+is that dwelling; but fortunately life is one twinkle of the eye, and
+resurrection is only from the grave; beyond that not Nero, but Mercy
+bears rule, and there instead of pain is delight, there instead of tears
+is rejoicing.
+
+Next she began to speak of herself. Yes! she was calm; but in her breast
+there was no lack of painful wounds. For example, Aulus was a cataract
+on her eye; the fountain of light had not flowed to him yet. Neither was
+it permitted her to rear her son in Truth. When she thought, therefore,
+that it might be thus to the end of her life, and that for them a moment
+of separation might come which would be a hundred times more grievous
+and terrible than that temporary one over which they were both suffering
+then, she could not so much as understand how she might be happy even in
+heaven without them. And she had wept many nights through already, she
+had passed many nights in prayer, imploring grace and mercy. But she
+offered her suffering to God, and waited and trusted. And now, when
+a new blow struck her, when the tyrant's command took from her a dear
+one,--the one whom Aulus had called the light of their eyes,--she
+trusted yet, believing that there was a power greater than Nero's and a
+mercy mightier than his anger.
+
+And she pressed the maiden's head to her bosom still more firmly. Lygia
+dropped to her knees after a while, and, covering her eyes in the folds
+of Pomponia's peplus, she remained thus a long time in silence; but when
+she stood up again, some calmness was evident on her face.
+
+"I grieve for thee, mother, and for father and for my brother; but I
+know that resistance is useless, and would destroy all of us. I promise
+thee that in the house of Caesar I will never forget thy words."
+
+Once more she threw her arms around Pomponia's neck; then both went out
+to the oecus, and she took farewell of little Aulus, of the old Greek
+their teacher, of the dressing-maid who had been her nurse, and of all
+the slaves. One of these, a tall and broad-shouldered Lygian, called
+Ursus in the house, who with other servants had in his time gone with
+Lygia's mother and her to the camp of the Romans, fell now at her feet,
+and then bent down to the knees of Pomponia, saying,--"O domina! permit
+me to go with my lady, to serve her and watch over her in the house of
+Caesar."
+
+"Thou art not our servant, but Lygia's," answered Pomponia; "but if they
+admit thee through Caesar's doors, in what way wilt thou be able to watch
+over her?"
+
+"I know not, domina; I know only that iron breaks in my hands just as
+wood does."
+
+When Aulus, who came up at that moment, had heard what the question was,
+not only did he not oppose the wishes of Ursus, but he declared that he
+had not even the right to detain him. They were sending away Lygia as a
+hostage whom Caesar had claimed, and they were obliged in the same way to
+send her retinue, which passed with her to the control of Caesar. Here he
+whispered to Pomponia that under the form of an escort she could add as
+many slaves as she thought proper, for the centurion could not refuse to
+receive them.
+
+There was a certain comfort for Lygia in this. Pomponia also was glad
+that she could surround her with servants of her own choice. Therefore,
+besides Ursus, she appointed to her the old tire-woman, two maidens from
+Cyprus well skilled in hair-dressing, and two German maidens for the
+bath. Her choice fell exclusively on adherents of the new faith; Ursus,
+too, had professed it for a number of years. Pomponia could count on the
+faithfulness of those servants, and at the same time consoled herself
+with the thought that soon grains of truth would be in Caesar's house.
+
+She wrote a few words also, committing care over Lygia to Nero's
+freedwoman, Acte. Pomponia had not seen her, it is true, at meetings of
+confessors of the new faith; but she had heard from them that Acte had
+never refused them a service, and that she read the letters of Paul of
+Tarsus eagerly. It was known to her also that the young freedwoman lived
+in melancholy, that she was a person different from all other women of
+Nero's house, and that in general she was the good spirit of the palace.
+
+Hasta engaged to deliver the letter himself to Acte. Considering it
+natural that the daughter of a king should have a retinue of her own
+servants, he did not raise the least difficulty in taking them to the
+palace, but wondered rather that there should be so few. He begged
+haste, however, fearing lest he might be suspected of want of zeal in
+carrying out orders.
+
+The moment of parting came. The eyes of Pomponia and Lygia were filled
+with fresh tears; Aulus placed his hand on her head again, and after a
+while the soldiers, followed by the cry of little Aulus, who in defence
+of his sister threatened the centurion with his small fists, conducted
+Lygia to Caesar's house.
+
+The old general gave command to prepare his litter at once; meanwhile,
+shutting himself up with Pomponia in the pinacotheca adjoining the oecus,
+he said to her,--"Listen to me, Pomponia. I will go to Caesar, though
+I judge that my visit will be useless; and though Seneca's word means
+nothing with Nero now, I will go also to Seneca. To-day Sophonius,
+Tigellinus, Petronius, or Vatinius have more influence. As to Caesar,
+perhaps he has never even heard of the Lygian people; and if he has
+demanded the delivery of Lygia, the hostage, he has done so because some
+one persuaded him to it,--it is easy to guess who could do that."
+
+She raised her eyes to him quickly.
+
+"Is it Petronius?"
+
+"It is."
+
+A moment of silence followed; then the general continued,--"See what it
+is to admit over the threshold any of those people without conscience or
+honor. Cursed be the moment in which Vinicius entered our house, for
+he brought Petronius. Woe to Lygia, since those men are not seeking a
+hostage, but a concubine."
+
+And his speech became more hissing than usual, because of helpless rage
+and of sorrow for his adopted daughter. He struggled with himself some
+time, and only his clenched fists showed how severe was the struggle
+within him.
+
+"I have revered the gods so far," said he; "but at this moment I think
+that not they are over the world, but one mad, malicious monster named
+Nero."
+
+"Aulus," said Pomponia. "Nero is only a handful of rotten dust before
+God."
+
+But Aulus began to walk with long steps over the mosaic of the
+pinacotheca. In his life there had been great deeds, but no great
+misfortunes; hence he was unused to them. The old soldier had grown more
+attached to Lygia than he himself had been aware of, and now he could
+not be reconciled to the thought that he had lost her. Besides, he felt
+humiliated. A hand was weighing on him which he despised, and at the
+same time he felt that before its power his power was as nothing.
+
+But when at last he stifled in himself the anger which disturbed his
+thoughts, he said,--"I judge that Petronius has not taken her from
+us for Caesar, since he would not offend Poppaea. Therefore he took her
+either for himself or Vinicius. Today I will discover this."
+
+And after a while the litter bore him in the direction of the Palatine.
+Pomponia, when left alone, went to little Aulus, who did not cease
+crying for his sister, or threatening Caesar.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+
+AULUS had judged rightly that he would not be admitted to Nero's
+presence. They told him that Caesar was occupied in singing with the
+lute-player, Terpnos, and that in general he did not receive those whom
+he himself had not summoned. In other words, that Aulus must not attempt
+in future to see him.
+
+Seneca, though ill with a fever, received the old general with due
+honor; but when he had heard what the question was, he laughed bitterly,
+and said,--"I can render thee only one service, noble Plautius, not to
+show Caesar at any time that my heart feels thy pain, or that I should
+like to aid thee; for should Caesar have the least suspicion on this
+head, know that he would not give thee back Lygia, though for no other
+reason than to spite me."
+
+He did not advise him, either, to go to Tigellinus or Vatinius or
+Vitelius. It might be possible to do something with them through money;
+perhaps, also, they would like to do evil to Petronius, whose influence
+they were trying to undermine, but most likely they would disclose
+before Nero how dear Lygia was to Plautius, and then Nero would all the
+more resolve not to yield her to him. Here the old sage began to speak
+with a biting irony, which he turned against himself: "Thou hast been
+silent, Plautius, thou hast been silent for whole years, and Caesar does
+not like those who are silent. How couldst thou help being carried
+away by his beauty, his virtue, his singing, his declamation, his
+chariot-driving, and his verses? Why didst thou not glorify the death
+of Britannicus, and repeat panegyrics in honor of the mother-slayer,
+and not offer congratulations after the stifling of Octavia? Thou art
+lacking in foresight, Aulus, which we who live happily at the court
+possess in proper measure."
+
+Thus speaking, he raised a goblet which he carried at his belt, took
+water from a fountain at the impluvium, freshened his burning lips, and
+continued,--"Ah, Nero has a grateful heart. He loves thee because thou
+hast served Rome and glorified its name at the ends of the earth; he
+loves me because I was his master in youth. Therefore, seest thou, I
+know that this water is not poisoned, and I drink it in peace. Wine in
+my own house would be less reliable. If thou art thirsty, drink boldly
+of this water. The aqueducts bring it from beyond the Alban hills, and
+any one wishing to poison it would have to poison every fountain in
+Rome. As thou seest, it is possible yet to be safe in this world and to
+have a quiet old age. I am sick, it is true, but rather in soul than in
+body."
+
+This was true. Seneca lacked the strength of soul which Cornutus
+possessed, for example, or Thrasea; hence his life was a series of
+concessions to crime. He felt this himself; he understood that an
+adherent of the principles of Zeno, of Citium, should go by another
+road, and he suffered more from that cause than from the fear of death
+itself.
+
+But the general interrupted these reflections full of grief.
+
+"Noble Annaeus," said he, "I know how Caesar rewarded thee for the care
+with which thou didst surround his years of youth. But the author of
+the removal of Lygia is Petronius. Indicate to me a method against him,
+indicate the influences to which he yields, and use besides with him all
+the eloquence with which friendship for me of long standing can inspire
+thee."
+
+"Petronius and I," answered Seneca, "are men of two opposite camps; I
+know of no method against him, he yields to no man's influence. Perhaps
+with all his corruption he is worthier than those scoundrels with whom
+Nero surrounds himself at present. But to show him that he has done an
+evil deed is to lose time simply. Petronius has lost long since that
+faculty which distinguishes good from evil. Show him that his act is
+ugly, he will be ashamed of it. When I see him, I will say, 'Thy act is
+worthy of a freedman.' If that will not help thee, nothing can."
+
+"Thanks for that, even," answered the general.
+
+Then he gave command to carry him to the house of Vinicius, whom he
+found at sword practice with his domestic trainer. Aulus was borne away
+by terrible anger at sight of the young man occupied calmly with fencing
+during the attack on Lygia; and barely had the curtain dropped
+behind the trainer when this anger burst forth in a torrent of bitter
+reproaches and injuries. But Vinicius, when he learned that Lygia had
+been carried away, grew so terribly pale that Aulus could not for even
+an instant suspect him of sharing in the deed. The young man's forehead
+was covered with sweat; the blood, which had rushed to his heart for a
+moment, returned to his face in a burning wave; his eyes began to shoot
+sparks, his mouth to hurl disconnected questions. Jealousy and rage
+tossed him in turn, like a tempest. It seemed to him that Lygia,
+once she had crossed the threshold of Caesar's house, was lost to him
+absolutely. When Aulus pronounced the name of Petronius, suspicion flew
+like a lightning flash through the young soldier's mind, that Petronius
+had made sport of him, and either wanted to win new favor from Nero by
+the gift of Lygia, or keep her for himself. That any one who had seen
+Lygia would not desire her at once, did not find a place in his head.
+Impetuousness, inherited in his family, carried him away like a wild
+horse, and took from him presence of mind.
+
+"General," said he, with a broken voice, "return home and wait for me.
+Know that if Petronius were my own father, I would avenge on him the
+wrong done to Lygia. Return home and wait for me. Neither Petronius nor
+Caesar will have her."
+
+Then he went with clinched fists to the waxed masks standing clothed in
+the atrium, and burst out,--"By those mortal masks! I would rather kill
+her and myself." When he had said this, he sent another "Wait for me"
+after Aulus, then ran forth like a madman from the atrium, and flew to
+Petronius's house, thrusting pedestrians aside on the way.
+
+Aulus returned home with a certain encouragement. He judged that if
+Petronius had persuaded Caesar to take Lygia to give her to Vinicius,
+Vinicius would bring her to their house. Finally, the thought was no
+little consolation to him, that should Lygia not be rescued she would be
+avenged and protected by death from disgrace. He believed that Vinicius
+would do everything that he had promised. He had seen his rage, and he
+knew the excitability innate in the whole family. He himself, though he
+loved Lygia as her own father, would rather kill her than give her
+to Caesar; and had he not regarded his son, the last descendant of his
+stock, he would doubtless have done so. Aulus was a soldier; he had
+hardly heard of the Stoics, but in character he was not far from their
+ideas,--death was more acceptable to his pride than disgrace.
+
+When he returned home, he pacified Pomponia, gave her the consolation
+that he had, and both began to await news from Vinicius. At moments when
+the steps of some of the slaves were heard in the atrium, they thought
+that perhaps Vinicius was bringing their beloved child to them, and
+they were ready in the depth of their souls to bless both. Time passed,
+however, and no news came. Only in the evening was the hammer heard on
+the gate.
+
+After a while a slave entered and handed Aulus a letter. The old
+general, though he liked to show command over himself, took it with a
+somewhat trembling hand, and began to read as hastily as if it were a
+question of his whole house.
+
+All at once his face darkened, as if a shadow from a passing cloud had
+fallen on it.
+
+"Read," said he, turning to Pomponia.
+
+Pomponia took the letter and read as follows:--
+
+"Marcus Vinicius to Aulus Plautius greeting. What has happened, has
+happened by the will of Caesar, before which incline your heads, as I and
+Petronius incline ours."
+
+A long silence followed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+
+PETRONIUS was at home. The doorkeeper did not dare to stop Vinicius, who
+burst into the atrium like a storm, and, learning that the master of
+the house was in the library, he rushed into the library with the same
+impetus. Finding Petronius writing, he snatched the reed from his hand,
+broke it, trampled the reed on the floor, then fixed his fingers into
+his shoulder, and, approaching his face to that of his uncle, asked,
+with a hoarse voice,--"What hast thou done with her? Where is she?"
+
+Suddenly an amazing thing happened. That slender and effeminate
+Petronius seized the hand of the youthful athlete, which was grasping
+his shoulder, then seized the other, and, holding them both in his one
+hand with the grip of an iron vice, he said,--"I am incapable only in
+the morning; in the evening I regain my former strength. Try to
+escape. A weaver must have taught thee gymnastics, and a blacksmith thy
+manners."
+
+On his face not even anger was evident, but in his eyes there was a
+certain pale reflection of energy and daring. After a while he let
+the hands of Vinicius drop. Vinicius stood before him shamefaced and
+enraged.
+
+"Thou hast a steel hand," said he; "but if thou hast betrayed me, I
+swear, by all the infernal gods, that I will thrust a knife into thy
+body, though thou be in the chambers of Caesar."
+
+"Let us talk calmly," said Petronius. "Steel is stronger, as thou seest,
+than iron; hence, though out of one of thy arms two as large as mine
+might be made, I have no need to fear thee. On the contrary, I grieve
+over thy rudeness, and if the ingratitude of men could astonish me yet,
+I should be astonished at thy ingratitude."
+
+"Where is Lygia?"
+
+"In a brothel,--that is, in the house of Caesar."
+
+"Petronius!"
+
+"Calm thyself, and be seated. I asked Caesar for two things, which he
+promised me,--first, to take Lygia from the house of Aulus, and second
+to give her to thee. Hast thou not a knife there under the folds of thy
+toga? Perhaps thou wilt stab me! But I advise thee to wait a couple of
+days, for thou wouldst be taken to prison, and meanwhile Lygia would be
+wearied in thy house."
+
+Silence followed. Vinicius looked for some time with astonished eyes on
+Petronius; then he said,--"Pardon me; I love her, and love is disturbing
+my faculties."
+
+"Look at me, Marcus. The day before yesterday I spoke to Caesar as
+follows: 'My sister's son, Vinicius, has so fallen in love with a lean
+little girl who is being reared with the Auluses that his house is
+turned into a steambath from sighs. Neither thou, O Caesar, nor I--we who
+know, each of us, what true beauty is--would give a thousand sesterces
+for her; but that lad has ever been as dull as a tripod, and now he has
+lost all the wit that was in him.'"
+
+"Petronius!"
+
+"If thou understand not that I said this to insure Lygia's safety, I am
+ready to believe that I told the truth. I persuaded Bronzebeard that a
+man of his aesthetic nature could not consider such a girl beautiful; and
+Nero, who so far has not dared to look otherwise than through my eyes,
+will not find in her beauty, and, not finding it, will not desire her.
+It was necessary to insure ourselves against the monkey and take him
+on a rope. Not he, but Poppaea, will value Lygia now; and Poppaea will
+strive, of course, to send the girl out of the palace at the earliest.
+I said further to Bronzebeard, in passing: 'Take Lygia and give her to
+Vinicius! Thou hast the right to do so, for she is a hostage; and if
+thou take her, thou wilt inflict pain on Aulus.' He agreed; he had not
+the least reason not to agree, all the more since I gave him a chance
+to annoy decent people. They will make thee official guardian of the
+hostage, and give into thy hands that Lygian treasure; thou, as a friend
+of the valiant Lygians, and also a faithful servant of Caesar, wilt not
+waste any of the treasure, but wilt strive to increase it. Caesar, to
+preserve appearances, will keep her a few days in his house, and then
+send her to thy insula. Lucky man!"
+
+"Is this true? Does nothing threaten her there in Caesar's house?"
+
+"If she had to live there permanently, Poppaea would talk about her to
+Locusta, but for a few days there is no danger. Ten thousand people
+live in it. Nero will not see her, perhaps, all the more since he left
+everything to me, to the degree that just now the centurion was here
+with information that he had conducted the maiden to the palace and
+committed her to Acte. She is a good soul, that Acte; hence I gave
+command to deliver Lygia to her. Clearly Pomponia Graecina is of that
+opinion too, for she wrote to Acte. To-morrow there is a feast at
+Nero's. I have requested a place for thee at the side of Lygia."
+
+"Pardon me, Caius, my hastiness. I judged that thou hadst given command
+to take her for thyself or for Caesar."
+
+"I can forgive thy hastiness; but it is more difficult to forgive rude
+gestures, vulgar shouts, and a voice reminding one of players at mora. I
+do not like that style, Marcus, and do thou guard against it. Know that
+Tigellinus is Caesar's pander; but know also that if I wanted the
+girl for myself now, looking thee straight in the eyes, I would say,
+'Vinicius! I take Lygia from thee and I will keep her till I am tired of
+her."
+
+Thus speaking, he began to look with his hazel eyes straight into the
+eyes of Vinicius with a cold and insolent stare. The young man lost
+himself completely.
+
+"The fault is mine," said he. "Thou art kind and worthy. I thank thee
+from my whole soul. Permit me only to put one more question: Why didst
+thou not have Lygia sent directly to my house?"
+
+"Because Caesar wishes to preserve appearances. People in Rome will talk
+about this,--that we removed Lygia as a hostage. While they are talking,
+she will remain in Caesar's palace. Afterward she will be removed quietly
+to thy house, and that will be the end. Bronzebeard is a cowardly
+cur. He knows that his power is unlimited, and still he tries to give
+specious appearances to every act. Hast thou recovered to the degree of
+being able to philosophize a little? More than once have I thought, Why
+does crime, even when as powerful as Caesar, and assured of being beyond
+punishment, strive always for the appearances of truth, justice, and
+virtue? Why does it take the trouble? I consider that to murder a
+brother, a mother, a wife, is a thing worthy of some petty Asiatic king,
+not a Roman Caesar; but if that position were mine, I should not write
+justifying letters to the Senate. But Nero writes. Nero is looking for
+appearances, for Nero is a coward. But Tiberius was not a coward;
+still he justified every step he took. Why is this? What a marvellous,
+involuntary homage paid to virtue by evil! And knowest thou what strikes
+me? This, that it is done because transgression is ugly and virtue
+is beautiful. Therefore a man of genuine aesthetic feeling is also a
+virtuous man. Hence I am virtuous. To-day I must pour out a little
+wine to the shades of Protagoras, Prodicus, and Gorgias. It seems that
+sophists too can be of service. Listen, for I am speaking yet. I took
+Lygia from Aulus to give her to thee. Well. But Lysippus would have made
+wonderful groups of her and thee. Ye are both beautiful; therefore my
+act is beautiful, and being beautiful it cannot be bad. Marcus, here
+sitting before thee is virtue incarnate in Caius Petronius! If Aristides
+were living, it would be his duty to come to me and offer a hundred minae
+for a short treatise on virtue."
+
+But Vinicius, as a man more concerned with reality than with treatises
+on virtue, replied,--"To-morrow I shall see Lygia, and then have her in
+my house daily, always, and till death."
+
+"Thou wilt have Lygia, and I shall have Aulus on my head. He will summon
+the vengeance of all the infernal gods against me. And if the beast
+would take at least a preliminary lesson in good declamation! He will
+blame me, however, as my former doorkeeper blamed my clients but him I
+sent to prison in the country."
+
+"Aulus has been at my house. I promised to give him news of Lygia."
+
+"Write to him that the will of the 'divine' Caesar is the highest law,
+and that thy first son will bear the name Aulus. It is necessary that
+the old man should have some consolation. I am ready to pray Bronzebeard
+to invite him to-morrow to the feast. Let him see thee in the triclinium
+next to Lygia."
+
+"Do not do that. I am sorry for them, especially for Pomponia."
+
+And he sat down to write that letter which took from the old general the
+remnant of his hope.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+
+ONCE the highest heads in Rome inclined before Acte, the former favorite
+of Nero. But even at that period she showed no desire to interfere in
+public questions, and if on any occasion she used her influence over
+the young ruler, it was only to implore mercy for some one. Quiet and
+unassuming, she won the gratitude of many, and made no one her enemy.
+Even Octavia was unable to hate her. To those who envied her she seemed
+exceedingly harmless. It was known that she continued to love Nero with
+a sad and pained love, which lived not in hope, but only in memories of
+the time in which that Nero was not only younger and loving, but better.
+It was known that she could not tear her thoughts and soul from those
+memories, but expected nothing; since there was no real fear that Nero
+would return to her, she was looked upon as a person wholly inoffensive,
+and hence was left in peace. Poppaea considered her merely as a quiet
+servant, so harmless that she did not even try to drive her from the
+palace.
+
+But since Caesar had loved her once and dropped her without offence in a
+quiet and to some extent friendly manner, a certain respect was retained
+for her. Nero, when he had freed her, let her live in the palace, and
+gave her special apartments with a few servants. And as in their time
+Pallas and Narcissus, though freedmen of Claudius, not only sat
+at feasts with Claudius, but also held places of honor as powerful
+ministers, so she too was invited at times to Caesar's table. This was
+done perhaps because her beautiful form was a real ornament to a
+feast. Caesar for that matter had long since ceased to count with any
+appearances in his choice of company. At his table the most varied
+medley of people of every position and calling found places. Among them
+were senators, but mainly those who were content to be jesters as well.
+There were patricians, old and young, eager for luxury, excess, and
+enjoyment. There were women with great names, who did not hesitate to
+put on a yellow wig of an evening and seek adventures on dark streets
+for amusement's sake. There were also high officials, and priests who
+at full goblets were willing to jeer at their own gods. At the side of
+these was a rabble of every sort: singers, mimes, musicians, dancers of
+both sexes; poets who, while declaiming, were thinking of the
+sesterces which might fall to them for praise of Caesar's verses; hungry
+philosophers following the dishes with eager eyes; finally, noted
+charioteers, tricksters, miracle-wrights, tale-tellers, jesters, and the
+most varied adventurers brought through fashion or folly to a few days'
+notoriety. Among these were not lacking even men who covered with long
+hair their ears pierced in sign of slavery.
+
+The most noted sat directly at the tables; the lesser served to amuse
+in time of eating, and waited for the moment in which the servants would
+permit them to rush at the remnants of food and drink. Guests of this
+sort were furnished by Tigellinus, Vatinius, and Vitelius; for these
+guests they were forced more than once to find clothing befitting the
+chambers of Caesar, who, however, liked their society, through feeling
+most free in it. The luxury of the court gilded everything, and
+covered all things with glitter. High and low, the descendants of great
+families, and the needy from the pavements of the city, great artists,
+and vile scrapings of talent, thronged to the palace to sate their
+dazzled eyes with a splendor almost surpassing human estimate, and to
+approach the giver of every favor, wealth, and property,--whose single
+glance might abase, it is true, but might also exalt beyond measure.
+
+That day Lygia too had to take part in such a feast. Fear, uncertainty,
+and a dazed feeling, not to be wondered at after the sudden change, were
+struggling in her with a wish to resist. She feared Nero; she feared the
+people and the palace whose uproar deprived her of presence of mind;
+she feared the feasts of whose shamelessness she had heard from Aulus,
+Pomponia Graecina, and their friends. Though young, she was not without
+knowledge, for knowledge of evil in those times reached even children's
+ears early. She knew, therefore, that ruin was threatening her in the
+palace. Pomponia, moreover, had warned her of this at the moment of
+parting. But having a youthful spirit, unacquainted with corruption, and
+confessing a lofty faith, implanted in her by her foster mother, she
+had promised to defend herself against that ruin; she had promised
+her mother, herself and also that Divine Teacher in whom she not only
+believed, but whom she had come to love with her half-childlike heart
+for the sweetness of his doctrine, the bitterness of his death, and the
+glory of his resurrection.
+
+She was confident too that now neither Aulus nor Pomponia would be
+answerable for her actions; she was thinking therefore whether it would
+not be better to resist and not go to the feast. On the one hand fear
+and alarm spoke audibly in her soul; on the other the wish rose in her
+to show courage in suffering, in exposure to torture and death. The
+Divine Teacher had commanded to act thus. He had given the example
+himself. Pomponia had told her that the most earnest among the adherents
+desire with all their souls such a test, and pray for it. And Lygia,
+when still in the house of Aulus, had been mastered at moments by a
+similar desire. She had seen herself as a martyr, with wounds on her
+feet and hands, white as snow, beautiful with a beauty not of earth, and
+borne by equally white angels into the azure sky; and her imagination
+admired such a vision. There was in it much childish brooding, but
+there was in it also something of delight in herself, which Pomponia had
+reprimanded. But now, when opposition to Caesar's will might draw after
+it some terrible punishment, and the martyrdom scene of imagination
+become a reality, there was added to the beautiful visions and to the
+delight a kind of curiosity mingled with dread, as to how they would
+punish her, and what kind of torments they would provide. And her soul,
+half childish yet, was hesitating on two sides. But Acte, hearing of
+these hesitations, looked at her with astonishment as if the maiden
+were talking in a fever. To oppose Caesar's will, expose oneself from the
+first moment to his anger? To act thus one would need to be a child that
+knows not what it says. From Lygia's own words it appears that she is,
+properly speaking, not really a hostage, but a maiden forgotten by her
+own people. No law of nations protects her; and even if it did, Caesar
+is powerful enough to trample on it in a moment of anger. It has pleased
+Caesar to take her, and he will dispose of her. Thenceforth she is at his
+will, above which there is not another on earth.
+
+"So it is," continued Acte. "I too have read the letters of Paul of
+Tarsus, and I know that above the earth is God, and the Son of God, who
+rose from the dead; but on the earth there is only Caesar. Think of this,
+Lygia. I know too that thy doctrine does not permit thee to be what
+I was, and that to you as to the Stoics,--of whom Epictetus has told
+me,--when it comes to a choice between shame and death, it is permitted
+to choose only death. But canst thou say that death awaits thee and not
+shame too? Hast thou heard of the daughter of Sejanus, a young maiden,
+who at command of Tiberius had to pass through shame before her death,
+so as to respect a law which prohibits the punishment of virgins with
+death? Lygia, Lygia, do not irritate Caesar. If the decisive moment comes
+when thou must choose between disgrace and death, thou wilt act as thy
+faith commands; but seek not destruction thyself, and do not irritate
+for a trivial cause an earthly and at the same time a cruel divinity."
+
+Acte spoke with great compassion, and even with enthusiasm; and being
+a little short-sighted, she pushed her sweet face up to Lygia's as if
+wishing to see surely the effect of her words.
+
+But Lygia threw her arms around Acte's neck with childish trustfulness
+and said,--"Thou art kind, Acte."
+
+Acte, pleased by the praise and confidence, pressed her to her heart;
+and then disengaging herself from the arms of the maiden, answered,--"My
+happiness has passed and my joy is gone, but I am not wicked." Then she
+began to walk with quick steps through the room and to speak to herself,
+as if in despair.
+
+"No! And he was not wicked. He thought himself good at that time, and he
+wished to be good. I know that best. All his change came later, when he
+ceased to love. Others made him what he is--yes, others--and Poppaea."
+
+Here her eyelids filled with tears. Lygia followed her for some time
+with her blue eyes, and asked at last,--"Art thou sorry for him, Acte?"
+
+"I am sorry for him!" answered the Grecian, with a low voice. And
+again she began to walk, her hands clinched as if in pain, and her face
+without hope.
+
+"Dost thou love him yet, Acte?" asked Lygia, timidly.
+
+"I love him."
+
+And after a while she added,--"No one loves him but me."
+
+Silence followed, during which Acte strove to recover her calmness,
+disturbed by memories; and when at length her face resumed its usual
+look of calm sorrow, she said,--
+
+"Let us speak of thee, Lygia. Do not even think of opposing Caesar; that
+would be madness. And be calm. I know this house well, and I judge that
+on Caesar's part nothing threatens thee. If Nero had given command
+to take thee away for himself, he would not have brought thee to the
+Palatine. Here Poppaea rules; and Nero, since she bore him a daughter, is
+more than ever under her influence. No, Nero gave command, it is true,
+that thou shouldst be at the feast, but he has not seen thee yet; he
+has not inquired about thee, hence he does not care about thee. Maybe he
+took thee from Aulus and Pomponia only through anger at them. Petronius
+wrote me to have care of thee; and since Pomponia too wrote, as thou
+knowest, maybe they had an understanding. Maybe he did that at her
+request. If this be true, if he at the request of Pomponia will occupy
+himself with thee, nothing threatens thee; and who knows if Nero may not
+send thee back to Aulus at his persuasion? I know not whether Nero loves
+him over much, but I know that rarely has he the courage to be of an
+opinion opposite to his."
+
+"Ah, Acte!" answered Lygia; "Petronius was with us before they took
+me, and my mother was convinced that Nero demanded my surrender at his
+instigation."
+
+"That would be bad," said Acte. But she stopped for a while, and then
+said,--"Perhaps Petronius only said, in Nero's presence at some supper,
+that he saw a hostage of the Lygians at Aulus's, and Nero, who is
+jealous of his own power, demanded thee only because hostages belong to
+Caesar. But he does not like Aulus and Pomponia. No! it does not seem to
+me that if Petronius wished to take thee from Aulus he would use such a
+method. I do not know whether Petronius is better than others of Caesar's
+court, but he is different. Maybe too thou wilt find some one else who
+would be willing to intercede for thee. Hast thou not seen at Aulus's
+some one who is near Caesar?"
+
+"I have seen Vespasian and Titus."
+
+"Caesar does not like them."
+
+"And Seneca."
+
+"If Seneca advised something, that would be enough to make Nero act
+otherwise."
+
+The bright face of Lygia was covered with a blush. "And Vinicius-"
+
+"I do not know him."
+
+"He is a relative of Petronius, and returned not long since from
+Armenia."
+
+"Dost thou think that Nero likes him?"
+
+"All like Vinicius."
+
+"And would he intercede for thee?"
+
+"He would."
+
+Acte smiled tenderly, and said, "Then thou wilt see him surely at the
+feast. Thou must be there, first, because thou must,--only such a child
+as thou could think otherwise. Second, if thou wish to return to
+the house of Aulus, thou wilt find means of beseeching Petronius and
+Vinicius to gain for thee by their influence the right to return. If
+they were here, both would tell thee as I do, that it would be madness
+and ruin to try resistance. Caesar might not notice thy absence, it is
+true; but if he noticed it and thought that thou hadst the daring to
+oppose his will, here would be no salvation for thee. Go, Lygia! Dost
+thou hear the noise in the palace? The sun is near setting; guests will
+begin to arrive soon."
+
+"Thou art right," answered Lygia, "and I will follow thy advice."
+
+How much desire to see Vinicius and Petronius there was in this resolve,
+how much of woman's curiosity there was to see such a feast once in
+life, and to see at it Caesar, the court, the renowned Poppaea and other
+beauties, and all that unheard-of splendor, of which wonders were
+narrated in Rome, Lygia could not give account to herself of a
+certainty. But Acte was right, and Lygia felt this distinctly. There was
+need to go; therefore, when necessity and simple reason supported the
+hidden temptation, she ceased to hesitate.
+
+Acte conducted her to her own unctorium to anoint and dress her; and
+though there was no lack of slave women in Caesar's house, and Acte had
+enough of them for her personal service, still, through sympathy for the
+maiden whose beauty and innocence had caught her heart, she resolved to
+dress her herself. It became clear at once that in the young Grecian, in
+spite of her sadness and her perusal of the letters of Paul of Tarsus,
+there was yet much of the ancient Hellenic spirit, to which physical
+beauty spoke with more eloquence than aught else on earth. When she
+had undressed Lygia, she could not restrain an exclamation of wonder at
+sight of her form, at once slender and full, created, as it were, from
+pearl and roses; and stepping back a few paces, she looked with delight
+on that matchless, spring-like form.
+
+"Lygia," exclaimed she at last, "thou art a hundred times more beautiful
+than Poppaea!"
+
+But, reared in the strict house of Pomponia, where modesty was observed,
+even when women were by themselves, the maiden, wonderful as a wonderful
+dream, harmonious as a work of Praxiteles or as a song, stood alarmed,
+blushing from modesty, with knees pressed together, with her hands on
+her bosom, and downcast eyes. At last, raising her arms with sudden
+movement, she removed the pins which held her hair, and in one moment,
+with one shake of her head, she covered herself with it as with a
+mantle.
+
+Acte, approaching her and touching her dark tresses, said,--
+
+"Oh, what hair thou hast! I will not sprinkle golden powder on it; it
+gleams of itself in one place and another with gold, where it waves.
+I will add, perhaps, barely a sprinkle here and there; but lightly,
+lightly, as if a sun ray had freshened it. Wonderful must thy Lygian
+country be where such maidens are born!
+
+"I do not remember it," answered Lygia; "but Ursus has told me that with
+us it is forests, forests, and forests."
+
+"But flowers bloom in those forests," said Acte, dipping her hand in a
+vase filled with verbena, and moistening Lygia's hair with it. When she
+had finished this work, Acte anointed her body lightly with odoriferous
+oils from Arabia, and then dressed her in a soft gold-colored tunic
+without sleeves, over which was to be put a snow-white peplus. But since
+she had to dress Lygia's hair first, she put on her meanwhile a kind of
+roomy dress called synthesis, and, seating her in an armchair, gave her
+for a time into the hands of slave women, so as to stand at a distance
+herself and follow the hairdressing. Two other slave women put on
+Lygia's feet white sandals, embroidered with purple, fastening them to
+her alabaster ankles with golden lacings drawn crosswise. When at
+last the hair-dressing was finished, they put a peplus on her in very
+beautiful, light folds; then Acte fastened pearls to her neck, and
+touching her hair at the folds with gold dust, gave command to the women
+to dress her, following Lygia with delighted eyes meanwhile.
+
+But she was ready soon; and when the first litters began to appear
+before the main gate, both entered the side portico from which were
+visible the chief entrance, the interior galleries, and the courtyard
+surrounded by a colonnade of Numidian marble.
+
+Gradually people passed in greater and greater numbers under the lofty
+arch of the entrance, over which the splendid quadrigae of Lysias seemed
+to bear Apollo and Diana into space. Lygia's eyes were struck by that
+magnificence, of which the modest house of Aulus could not have given
+her the slightest idea. It was sunset; the last rays were falling on the
+yellow Numidian marble of the columns, which shone like gold in those
+gleams and changed into rose color also. Among the columns, at the
+side of white statues of the Danaides and others, representing gods or
+heroes, crowds of people flowed past,--men and women; resembling statues
+also, for they were draped in togas, pepluses, and robes, falling with
+grace and beauty toward the earth in soft folds, on which the rays of
+the setting sun were expiring. A gigantic Hercules, with head in the
+light yet, from the breast down sunk in shadow cast by the columns,
+looked from above on that throng. Acte showed Lygia senators in
+wide-bordered togas, in colored tunics, in sandals with crescents on
+them, and knights, and famed artists; she showed her Roman ladies, in
+Roman, in Grecian, in fantastic Oriental costume, with hair dressed in
+towers or pyramids, or dressed like that of the statues of goddesses,
+low on the head, and adorned with flowers. Many men and women did Acte
+call by name, adding to their names histories, brief and sometimes
+terrible, which pierced Lygia with fear, amazement, and wonder. For her
+this was a strange world, whose beauty intoxicated her eyes, but whose
+contrasts her girlish understanding could not grasp. In those twilights
+of the sky, in those rows of motionless columns vanishing in the
+distance, and in those statuesque people, there was a certain lofty
+repose. It seemed that in the midst of those marbles of simple lines
+demigods might live free of care, at peace and in happiness. Meanwhile
+the low voice of Acte disclosed, time after time, a new and dreadful
+secret of that palace and those people. See, there at a distance is the
+covered portico on whose columns and floor are still visible red stains
+from the blood with which Caligula sprinkled the white marble when he
+fell beneath the knife of Cassius Chaerea; there his wife was slain;
+there his child was dashed against a stone; under that wing is the
+dungeon in which the younger Drusus gnawed his hands from hunger; there
+the elder Drusus was poisoned; there Gemellus quivered in terror, and
+Claudius in convulsions; there Germanicus suffered,--everywhere those
+walls had heard the groans and death-rattle of the dying; and those
+people hurrying now to the feast in togas, in colored tunics, in
+flowers, and in jewels, may be the condemned of to-morrow; on more than
+one face, perhaps, a smile conceals terror, alarm, the uncertainty of
+the next day; perhaps feverishness, greed, envy are gnawing at this
+moment into the hearts of those crowned demigods, who in appearance
+are free of care. Lygia's frightened thoughts could not keep pace with
+Acte's words; and when that wonderful world attracted her eyes with
+increasing force, her heart contracted within her from fear, and in
+her soul she struggled with an immense, inexpressible yearning for the
+beloved Pomponia Graecina, and the calm house of Aulus, in which love,
+and not crime, was the ruling power.
+
+Meanwhile new waves of guests were flowing in from the Vicus Apollinis.
+From beyond the gates came the uproar and shouts of clients, escorting
+their patrons. The courtyard and the colonnades were swarming with the
+multitude of Caesar's slaves, of both sexes, small boys, and pretorian
+soldiers, who kept guard in the palace. Here and there among dark or
+swarthy visages was the black face of a Numidian, in a feathered helmet,
+and with large gold rings in his ears. Some were bearing lutes and
+citharas, hand lamps of gold, silver, and bronze, and bunches of
+flowers, reared artificially despite the late autumn season. Louder and
+louder the sound of conversation was mingled with the splashing of the
+fountain, the rosy streams of which fell from above on the marble and
+were broken, as if in sobs.
+
+Acte had stopped her narration; but Lygia gazed at the throng, as if
+searching for some one. All at once her face was covered with a blush,
+and from among the columns came forth Vinicius with Petronius. They
+went to the great triclinium, beautiful, calm, like white gods, in their
+togas. It seemed to Lygia, when she saw those two known and friendly
+faces among strange people, and especially when she saw Vinicius, that
+a great weight had fallen from her heart. She felt less alone. That
+measureless yearning for Pomponia and the house of Aulus, which had
+broken out in her a little while before, ceased at once to be painful.
+The desire to see Vinicius and to talk with him drowned in her other
+voices. In vain did she remember all the evil which she had heard of the
+house of Caesar, the words of Acte, the warnings of Pomponia; in spite of
+those words and warnings, she felt all at once that not only must she be
+at that feast, but that she wished to be there. At the thought that soon
+she would hear that dear and pleasant voice, which had spoken of love to
+her and of happiness worthy of the gods, and which was sounding like a
+song in her ears yet, delight seized her straightway.
+
+But the next moment she feared that delight. It seemed to her that she
+would be false to the pure teaching in which she had been reared, false
+to Pomponia, and false to herself. It is one thing to go by constraint,
+and another to delight in such a necessity. She felt guilty, unworthy,
+and ruined.
+
+Despair swept her away, and she wanted to weep. Had she been alone, she
+would have knelt down and beaten her breast, saying, "Mea culpa! mea
+culpa!" Acte, taking her hand at that moment, led her through the
+interior apartments to the grand triclinium, where the feast was to
+be. Darkness was in her eyes, and a roaring in her ears from internal
+emotion; the beating of her heart stopped her breath. As in a dream, she
+saw thousands of lamps gleaming on the tables and on the walls; as in
+a dream, she heard the shout with which the guests greeted Caesar; as
+through a mist, she saw Caesar himself. The shout deafened her, the
+glitter dazzled, the odors intoxicated; and, losing the remnant of her
+consciousness, she was barely able to recognize Acte, who seated her at
+the table and took a place at her side.
+
+But after a while a low and known voice was heard at the other side,--"A
+greeting, most beautiful of maidens on earth and of stars in heaven. A
+greeting to thee, divine Callina!"
+
+Lygia, having recovered somewhat, looked up; at her side was Vinicius.
+He was without a toga, for convenience and custom had enjoined to cast
+aside the toga at feasts. His body was covered with only a sleeveless
+scarlet tunic embroidered in silver palms. His bare arms were ornamented
+in Eastern fashion with two broad golden bands fastened above the elbow;
+below they were carefully stripped of hair. They were smooth, but too
+muscular,--real arms of a soldier, they were made for the sword and the
+shield. On his head was a garland of roses. With brows joining above the
+nose, with splendid eyes and a dark complexion, he was the impersonation
+of youth and strength, as it were. To Lygia he seemed so beautiful
+that though her first amazement had passed, she was barely able to
+answer,--"A greeting, Marcus."
+
+"Happy," said he, "are my eyes, which see thee; happy my ears, which
+hear thy voice, dearer to me than the sound of lutes or citharas. Were
+it commanded me to choose who was to rest here by my side at this feast,
+thou, Lygia, or Venus, I would choose thee, divine one!"
+
+And he looked at the maiden as if he wished to sate himself with the
+sight of her, to burn her eyes with his eyes. His glance slipped from
+her face to her neck and bare arms, fondled her shapely outlines,
+admired her, embraced her, devoured her; but besides desire, there was
+gleaming in him happiness, admiration, and ecstasy beyond limit.
+
+"I knew that I should see thee in Caesar's house," continued he; "but
+still, when I saw thee, such delight shook my whole soul, as if a
+happiness entirely unexpected had met me."
+
+Lygia, having recovered herself and feeling that in that throng and in
+that house he was the only being who was near to her, began to converse
+with him, and ask about everything which she did not understand and
+which filled her with fear. Whence did he know that he would find her in
+Caesar's house? Why is she there? Why did Caesar take her from Pomponia?
+She is full of fear where she is, and wishes to return to Pomponia. She
+would die from alarm and grief were it not for the hope that Petronius
+and he will intercede for her before Caesar.
+
+Vinicius explained that he learned from Aulus himself that she had been
+taken. Why she is there, he knows not. Caesar gives account to no one of
+his orders and commands. But let her not fear. He, Vinicius, is near her
+and will stay near her. He would rather lose his eyes than not see her;
+he would rather lose his life than desert her. She is his soul, and
+hence he will guard her as his soul. In his house he will build to her,
+as to a divinity, an altar on which he will offer myrrh and aloes,
+and in spring saffron and apple-blossoms; and since she has a dread of
+Caesar's house, he promises that she shall not stay in it.
+
+And though he spoke evasively and at times invented, truth was to
+be felt in his voice, because his feelings were real. Genuine pity
+possessed him, too, and her words went to his soul so thoroughly that
+when she began to thank him and assure him that Pomponia would love him
+for his goodness, and that she herself would be grateful to him all
+her life, he could not master his emotion, and it seemed to him that
+he would never be able in life to resist her prayer. The heart began to
+melt in him. Her beauty intoxicated his senses, and he desired her;
+but at the same time he felt that she was very dear to him, and that
+in truth he might do homage to her, as to a divinity; he felt also
+irresistible need of speaking of her beauty and of his own homage. As
+the noise at the feast increased, he drew nearer to her, whispered kind,
+sweet words flowing from the depth of his soul, words as resonant as
+music and intoxicating as wine.
+
+And he intoxicated her. Amid those strange people he seemed to her ever
+nearer, ever dearer, altogether true, and devoted with his whole soul.
+He pacified her; he promised to rescue her from the house of Caesar; he
+promised not to desert her, and said that he would serve her. Besides,
+he had spoken before at Aulus's only in general about love and the
+happiness which it can give; but now he said directly that he loved her,
+and that she was dear and most precious to him. Lygia heard such words
+from a man's lips for the first time; and as she heard them it seemed
+to her that something was wakening in her as from a sleep, that some
+species of happiness was embracing her in which immense delight was
+mingled with immense alarm. Her cheeks began to burn, her heart to beat,
+her mouth opened as in wonder. She was seized with fear because she was
+listening to such things, still she did not wish for any cause on earth
+to lose one word. At moments she dropped her eyes; then again she raised
+her clear glance to Vinicius, timid and also inquiring, as if she wished
+to say to him, "Speak on!" The sound of the music, the odor of flowers
+and of Arabian perfumes, began to daze her. In Rome it was the custom to
+recline at banquets, but at home Lygia occupied a place between Pomponia
+and little Aulus. Now Vinicius was reclining near her, youthful,
+immense, in love, burning; and she, feeling the heat that issued from
+him, felt both delight and shame. A kind of sweet weakness, a kind of
+faintness and forgetfulness seized her; it was as if drowsiness tortured
+her.
+
+But her nearness to him began to act on Vinicius also. His nostrils
+dilated, like those of an Eastern steed. The beating of his heart with
+unusual throb was evident under his scarlet tunic; his breathing grew
+short, and the expressions that fell from his lips were broken. For the
+first time, too, he was so near her. His thoughts grew disturbed; he
+felt a flame in his veins which he tried in vain to quench with wine.
+Not wine, but her marvellous face, her bare arms, her maiden breast
+heaving under the golden tunic, and her form hidden in the white folds
+of the peplus, intoxicated him more and more. Finally, he seized her arm
+above the wrist, as he had done once at Aulus's, and drawing her toward
+him whispered, with trembling lips,--"I love thee, Callina,--divine
+one."
+
+"Let me go, Marcus," said Lygia.
+
+But he continued, his eyes mist-covered, "Love me, my goddess!"
+
+But at that moment was heard the voice of Acte, who was reclining on the
+other side of Lygia.
+
+"Caesar is looking at you both."
+
+Vinicius was carried away by sudden anger at Caesar and at Acte. Her
+words had broken the charm of his intoxication. To the young man even
+a friendly voice would have seemed repulsive at such a moment, but he
+judged that Acte wished purposely to interrupt his conversation with
+Lygia. So, raising his head and looking over the shoulder of Lygia at
+the young freedwoman, he said with malice:
+
+"The hour has passed, Acte, when thou didst recline near Caesar's side
+at banquets, and they say that blindness is threatening thee; how then
+canst thou see him?"
+
+But she answered as if in sadness: "Still I see him. He, too, has short
+sight, and is looking at thee through an emerald."
+
+Everything that Nero did roused attention, even in those nearest
+him; hence Vinicius was alarmed. He regained self-control, and began
+imperceptibly to look toward Caesar. Lygia, who, embarrassed at the
+beginning of the banquet, had seen Nero as in a mist, and afterward,
+occupied by the presence and conversation of Vinicius, had not looked at
+him at all, turned to him eyes at once curious and terrified.
+
+Acte spoke truly. Caesar had bent over the table, half-closed one eye,
+and holding before the other a round polished emerald, which he used,
+was looking at them. For a moment his glance met Lygia's eyes, and the
+heart of the maiden was straitened with terror. When still a child on
+Aulus's Sicilian estate, an old Egyptian slave had told her of dragons
+which occupied dens in the mountains, and it seemed to her now that all
+at once the greenish eye of such a monster was gazing at her. She caught
+at Vinicius's hand as a frightened child would, and disconnected, quick
+impressions pressed into her head: Was not that he, the terrible, the
+all-powerful? She had not seen him hitherto, and she thought that he
+looked differently. She had imagined some kind of ghastly face, with
+malignity petrified in its features; now she saw a great head, fixed on
+a thick neck, terrible, it is true, but almost ridiculous, for from a
+distance it resembled the head of a child. A tunic of amethyst color,
+forbidden to ordinary mortals, cast a bluish tinge on his broad and
+short face. He had dark hair, dressed, in the fashion introduced by
+Otho, in four curls.
+
+He had no beard, because he had sacrificed it recently to Jove,--for
+which all Rome gave him thanks, though people whispered to each other
+that he had sacrificed it because his beard, like that of his whole
+family, was red. In his forehead, projecting strongly above his
+brows, there remained something Olympian. In his contracted brows the
+consciousness of supreme power was evident; but under that forehead of
+a demigod was the face of a monkey, a drunkard, and a comedian,--vain,
+full of changing desires, swollen with fat, notwithstanding his youth;
+besides, it was sickly and foul. To Lygia he seemed ominous, but above
+all repulsive.
+
+After a while he laid down the emerald and ceased to look at her. Then
+she saw his prominent blue eyes, blinking before the excess of light,
+glassy, without thought, resembling the eyes of the dead.
+
+"Is that the hostage with whom Vinicius is in love?" asked he, turning
+to Petronius.
+
+"That is she," answered Petronius.
+
+"What are her people called?"
+
+"The Lygians."
+
+"Does Vinicius think her beautiful?"
+
+"Array a rotten olive trunk in the peplus of a woman, and Vinicius will
+declare it beautiful. But on thy countenance, incomparable judge, I read
+her sentence already. Thou hast no need to pronounce it! The sentence is
+true: she is too dry, thin, a mere blossom on a slender stalk; and thou,
+O divine aesthete, esteemest the stalk in a woman. Thrice and four times
+art thou right! The face alone does not signify. I have learned much in
+thy company, but even now I have not a perfect cast of the eye. But I am
+ready to lay a wager with Tullius Senecio concerning his mistress, that,
+although at a feast, when all are reclining, it is difficult to judge
+the whole form, thou hast said in thy mind already, 'Too narrow in the
+hips.'"
+
+"Too narrow in the hips," answered Nero, blinking.
+
+On Petronius's lips appeared a scarcely perceptible smile; but Tullius
+Senecio, who till that moment was occupied in conversing with Vestinius,
+or rather in reviling dreams, while Vestinius believed in them, turned
+to Petronius, and though he had not the least idea touching that of
+which they were talking, he said,--"Thou art mistaken! I hold with
+Caesar."
+
+"Very well," answered Petronius. "I have just maintained that thou hast
+a glimmer of understanding, but Caesar insists that thou art an ass pure
+and simple."
+
+"Habet!" said Caesar, laughing, and turning down the thumb, as was done
+in the Circus, in sign that the gladiator had received a blow and was to
+be finished.
+
+But Vestinius, thinking that the question was of dreams,
+exclaimed,--"But I believe in dreams, and Seneca told me on a time that
+he believes too."
+
+"Last night I dreamt that I had become a vestal virgin," said Calvia
+Crispinilla, bending over the table.
+
+At this Nero clapped his hands, other followed, and in a moment clapping
+of hands was heard all around,--for Crispinilla had been divorced
+a number of times, and was known throughout Rome for her fabulous
+debauchery.
+
+But she, not disconcerted in the least, said,--"Well! They are all old
+and ugly. Rubria alone has a human semblance, and so there would be two
+of us, though Rubria gets freckles in summer."
+
+"But admit, purest Calvia," said Petronius, "that thou couldst become a
+vestal only in dreams."
+
+"But if Caesar commanded?"
+
+"I should believe that even the most impossible dreams might come true."
+
+"But they do come true," said Vestinius. "I understand those who do not
+believe in the gods, but how is it possible not to believe in dreams?"
+
+"But predictions?" inquired Nero. "It was predicted once to me, that
+Rome would cease to exist, and that I should rule the whole Orient."
+
+"Predictions and dreams are connected," said Vestinius. "Once a certain
+proconsul, a great disbeliever, sent a slave to the temple of Mopsus
+with a sealed letter which he would not let any one open; he did this
+to try if the god could answer the question contained in the letter. The
+slave slept a night in the temple to have a prophetic dream; he returned
+then and said: 'I saw a youth in my dreams; he was as bright as the sun,
+and spoke only one word, "Black."' The proconsul, when he heard this,
+grew pale, and turning to his guests, disbelievers like himself, said:
+'Do ye know what was in the letter?'" Here Vestinius stopped, and,
+raising his goblet with wine, began to drink.
+
+"What was in the letter?" asked Senecio.
+
+"In the letter was the question: 'What is the color of the bull which I
+am to sacrifice: white or black?'"
+
+But the interest roused by the narrative was interrupted by Vitelius,
+who, drunk when he came to the feast, burst forth on a sudden and
+without cause in senseless laughter.
+
+"What is that keg of tallow laughing at?" asked Nero.
+
+"Laughter distinguishes men from animals," said Petronius, "and he has
+no other proof that he is not a wild boar."
+
+Vitelius stopped half-way in his laughter, and smacking his lips,
+shining from fat and sauces, looked at those present with as much
+astonishment as if he had never seen them before; then he raised his two
+hands, which were like cushions, and said in a hoarse voice,--"The ring
+of a knight has fallen from my finger, and it was inherited from my
+father."
+
+"Who was a tailor," added Nero.
+
+But Vitelius burst forth again in unexpected laughter, and began to
+search for his ring in the peplus of Calvia Crispinilla.
+
+Hereupon Vestinius fell to imitating the cries of a frightened woman.
+Nigidia, a friend of Calvia,--a young widow with the face of a child
+and the eyes of a wanton,--said aloud,--"He is seeking what he has not
+lost."
+
+"And which will be useless to him if he finds it," finished the poet
+Lucan.
+
+The feast grew more animated. Crowds of slaves bore around successive
+courses; from great vases filled with snow and garlanded with
+ivy, smaller vessels with various kinds of wine were brought forth
+unceasingly. All drank freely. On the guests, roses fell from the
+ceiling at intervals.
+
+Petronius entreated Nero to dignify the feast with his song before the
+guests drank too deeply. A chorus of voices supported his words, but
+Nero refused at first. It was not a question of courage alone, he said,
+though that failed him always. The gods knew what efforts every success
+cost him. He did not avoid them, however, for it was needful to do
+something for art; and besides, if Apollo had gifted him with a certain
+voice, it was not proper to let divine gifts be wasted. He understood,
+even, that it was his duty to the State not to let them be wasted. But
+that day he was really hoarse. In the night he had placed leaden weights
+on his chest, but that had not helped in any way. He was thinking even
+to go to Antium, to breathe the sea air.
+
+Lucan implored him in the name of art and humanity. All knew that the
+divine poet and singer had composed a new hymn to Venus, compared with
+which Lucretius's hymn was as the howl of a yearling wolf. Let that
+feast be a genuine feast. So kind a ruler should not cause such tortures
+to his subjects. "Be not cruel, O Caesar!"
+
+"Be not cruel!" repeated all who were sitting near.
+
+Nero spread his hands in sign that he had to yield. All faces assumed
+then an expression of gratitude, and all eyes were turned to him; but he
+gave command first to announce to Poppaea that he would sing; he informed
+those present that she had not come to the feast, because she did not
+feel in good health; but since no medicine gave her such relief as his
+singing, he would be sorry to deprive her of this opportunity.
+
+In fact, Poppaea came soon. Hitherto she had ruled Nero as if he had
+been her subject, but she knew that when his vanity as a singer, a
+charioteer, or a poet was involved, there was danger in provoking it.
+She came in therefore, beautiful as a divinity, arrayed, like Nero,
+in robes of amethyst color, and wearing a necklace of immense pearls,
+stolen on a time from Massinissa; she was golden-haired, sweet, and
+though divorced from two husbands she had the face and the look of a
+virgin.
+
+She was greeted with shouts, and the appellation "Divine Augusta." Lygia
+had never seen any one so beautiful, and she could not believe her own
+eyes, for she knew that Poppaea Sabina was one of the vilest women on
+earth. She knew from Pomponia that she had brought Caesar to murder his
+mother and his wife; she knew her from accounts given by Aulus's guests
+and the servants; she had heard that statues to her had been thrown
+down at night in the city; she had heard of inscriptions, the writers
+of which had been condemned to severest punishment, but which still
+appeared on the city walls every morning. Yet at sight of the notorious
+Poppaea, considered by the confessors of Christ as crime and evil
+incarnate, it seemed to her that angels or spirits of heaven might look
+like her. She was unable simply to take her eyes from Poppaea; and from
+her lips was wrested involuntarily the question,--"Ah, Marcus, can it be
+possible?"
+
+But he, roused by wine, and as it were impatient that so many things
+had scattered her attention, and taken her from him and his words,
+said,--"Yes, she is beautiful, but thou art a hundred times more
+beautiful. Thou dost not know thyself, or thou wouldst be in love with
+thyself, as Narcissus was; she bathes in asses' milk, but Venus bathed
+thee in her own milk. Thou dost not know thyself, Ocelle mi! Look not at
+her. Turn thy eyes to me, Ocelle mi! Touch this goblet of wine with thy
+lips, and I will put mine on the same place."
+
+And he pushed up nearer and nearer, and she began to withdraw toward
+Acte. But at that moment silence was enjoined because Caesar had risen.
+The singer Diodorus had given him a lute of the kind called delta;
+another singer named Terpnos, who had to accompany him in playing,
+approached with an instrument called the nablium. Nero, resting the
+delta on the table, raised his eyes; and for a moment silence reigned in
+the triclinium, broken only by a rustle, as roses fell from the ceiling.
+
+Then he began to chant, or rather to declaim, singingly and
+rhythmically, to the accompaniment of the two lutes, his own hymn to
+Venus. Neither the voice, though somewhat injured, nor the verses were
+bad, so that reproaches of conscience took possession of Lygia again;
+for the hymn, though glorifying the impure pagan Venus, seemed to her
+more than beautiful, and Caesar himself, with a laurel crown on his head
+and uplifted eyes, nobler, much less terrible, and less repulsive than
+at the beginning of the feast.
+
+The guests answered with a thunder of applause. Cries of, "Oh, heavenly
+voice!" were heard round about; some of the women raised their hands,
+and held them thus, as a sign of delight, even after the end of the
+hymn; others wiped their tearful eyes; the whole hall was seething as in
+a beehive. Poppaea, bending her golden-haired head, raised Nero's hand
+to her lips, and held it long in silence. Pythagoras, a young Greek
+of marvellous beauty,--the same to whom later the half-insane Nero
+commanded the flamens to marry him, with the observance of all
+rites,--knelt now at his feet.
+
+But Nero looked carefully at Petronius, whose praises were desired by
+him always before every other, and who said,--"If it is a question of
+music, Orpheus must at this moment be as yellow from envy as Lucan,
+who is here present; and as to the verses, I am sorry that they are not
+worse; if they were I might find proper words to praise them."
+
+Lucan did not take the mention of envy evil of him; on the contrary, he
+looked at Petronius with gratitude, and, affecting ill-humor, began to
+murmur,--"Cursed fate, which commanded me to live contemporary with such
+a poet. One might have a place in the memory of man, and on Parnassus;
+but now one will quench, as a candle in sunlight."
+
+Petronius, who had an amazing memory, began to repeat extracts from
+the hymn and cite single verses, exalt, and analyze the more beautiful
+expressions. Lucan, forgetting as it were his envy before the charm of
+the poetry, joined his ecstasy to Petronius's words. On Nero's face were
+reflected delight and fathomless vanity, not only nearing stupidity, but
+reaching it perfectly. He indicated to them verses which he considered
+the most beautiful; and finally he began to comfort Lucan, and tell him
+not to lose heart, for though whatever a man is born that he is,
+the honor which people give Jove does not exclude respect for other
+divinities.
+
+Then he rose to conduct Poppaea, who, being really in ill health, wished
+to withdraw. But he commanded the guests who remained to occupy their
+places anew, and promised to return, In fact, he returned a little
+later, to stupefy himself with the smoke of incense, and gaze at further
+spectacles which he himself, Petronius, or Tigellinus had prepared for
+the feast.
+
+Again verses were read or dialogues listened to in which extravagance
+took the place of wit. After that Paris, the celebrated mime,
+represented the adventures of Io, the daughter of Inachus. To the
+guests, and especially to Lygia, unaccustomed to such scenes, it seemed
+that they were gazing at miracles and enchantment. Paris, with motions
+of his hands and body, was able to express things apparently impossible
+in a dance. His hands dimmed the air, creating a cloud, bright, living,
+quivering, voluptuous, surrounding the half-fainting form of a maiden
+shaken by a spasm of delight. That was a picture, not a dance; an
+expressive picture, disclosing the secrets of love, bewitching and
+shameless; and when at the end of it Corybantes rushed in and began
+a bacchic dance with girls of Syria to the sounds of cithara, lutes,
+drums, and cymbals,--a dance filled with wild shouts and still wilder
+license,--it seemed to Lygia that living fire was burning her, and that
+a thunderbolt ought to strike that house, or the ceiling fall on the
+heads of those feasting there.
+
+But from the golden net fastened to the ceiling only roses fell, and
+the now half-drunken Vinicius said to her,--"I saw thee in the house of
+Aulus, at the fountain. It was daylight, and thou didst think that
+no one saw thee; but I saw thee. And I see thee thus yet, though that
+peplus hides thee. Cast aside the peplus, like Crispinilla. See, gods
+and men seek love. There is nothing in the world but love. Lay thy head
+on my breast and close thy eyes."
+
+The pulse beat oppressively in Lygia's hands and temples. A feeling
+seized her that she was flying into some abyss, and that Vinicius, who
+before had seemed so near and so trustworthy, instead of saving was
+drawing her toward it. And she felt sorry for him. She began again to
+dread the feast and him and herself. Some voice, like that of Pomponia,
+was calling yet in her soul, "O Lygia, save thyself!" But something
+told her also that it was too late; that the one whom such a flame had
+embraced as that which had embraced her, the one who had seen what was
+done at that feast and whose heart had beaten as hers had on hearing the
+words of Vinicius, the one through whom such a shiver had passed as had
+passed through her when he approached, was lost beyond recovery. She
+grew weak. It seemed at moments to her that she would faint, and then
+something terrible would happen. She knew that, under penalty of Caesar's
+anger, it was not permitted any one to rise till Caesar rose; but even
+were that not the case, she had not strength now to rise.
+
+Meanwhile it was far to the end of the feast yet. Slaves brought new
+courses, and filled the goblets unceasingly with wine; before the table,
+on a platform open at one side, appeared two athletes to give the guests
+a spectacle of wrestling.
+
+They began the struggle at once, and the powerful bodies, shining from
+olive oil, formed one mass; bones cracked in their iron arms, and from
+their set jaws came an ominous gritting of teeth. At moments was heard
+the quick, dull thump of their feet on the platform strewn with saffron;
+again they were motionless, silent, and it seemed to the spectators that
+they had before them a group chiselled out of stone. Roman eyes followed
+with delight the movement of tremendously exerted backs, thighs, and
+arms. But the struggle was not too prolonged; for Croton, a master,
+and the founder of a school of gladiators, did not pass in vain for the
+strongest man in the empire. His opponent began to breathe more and more
+quickly: next a rattle was heard in his throat; then his face grew blue;
+finally he threw blood from his mouth and fell.
+
+A thunder of applause greeted the end of the struggle, and Croton,
+resting his foot on the breast of his opponent, crossed his gigantic
+arms on his breast, and cast the eyes of a victor around the hall.
+
+Next appeared men who mimicked beasts and their voices, ball-players
+and buffoons. Only a few persons looked at them, however, since wine had
+darkened the eyes of the audience. The feast passed by degrees into a
+drunken revel and a dissolute orgy. The Syrian damsels, who appeared
+at first in the bacchic dance, mingled now with the guests. The music
+changed into a disordered and wild outburst of citharas, lutes, Armenian
+cymbals, Egyptian sistra, trumpets, and horns. As some of the guests
+wished to talk, they shouted at the musicians to disappear. The air,
+filled with the odor of flowers and the perfume of oils with which
+beautiful boys had sprinkled the feet of the guests during the feast,
+permeated with saffron and the exhalations of people, became stifling;
+lamps burned with a dim flame; the wreaths dropped sidewise on the heads
+of guests; faces grew pale and were covered with sweat. Vitelius rolled
+under the table. Nigidia, stripping herself to the waist, dropped
+her drunken childlike head on the breast of Lucan, who, drunk in like
+degree, fell to blowing the golden powder from her hair, and raising
+his eyes with immense delight. Vestinius, with the stubbornness of
+intoxication, repeated for the tenth time the answer of Mopsus to the
+sealed letter of the proconsul. Tullius, who reviled the gods,
+said, with a drawling voice broken by hiccoughs,--"If the spheros of
+Xenophanes is round, then consider, such a god might be pushed along
+before one with the foot, like a barrel."
+
+But Domitius Afer, a hardened criminal and informer, was indignant at
+the discourse, and through indignation spilled Falernian over his whole
+tunic. He had always believed in the gods. People say that Rome will
+perish, and there are some even who contend that it is perishing
+already. And surely! But if that should come, it is because the youth
+are without faith, and without faith there can be no virtue. People have
+abandoned also the strict habits of former days, and it never occurs
+to them that Epicureans will not stand against barbarians. As for him,
+he--As for him, he was sorry that he had lived to such times, and that
+he must seek in pleasures a refuge against griefs which, if not met,
+would soon kill him.
+
+When he had said this, he drew toward him a Syrian dancer, and kissed
+her neck and shoulders with his toothless mouth. Seeing this, the consul
+Memmius Regulus laughed, and, raising his bald head with wreath awry,
+exclaimed,--"Who says that Rome is perishing? What folly! I, a consul,
+know better. Videant consules! Thirty legions are guarding our pax
+romana!"
+
+Here he put his fists to his temples and shouted, in a voice heard
+throughout the triclinium,--"Thirty legions! thirty legions! from
+Britain to the Parthian boundaries!" But he stopped on a sudden, and,
+putting a finger to his forehead, said,--"As I live, I think there are
+thirty-two." He rolled under the table, and began soon to send forth
+flamingo tongues, roast and chilled mushrooms, locusts in honey, fish,
+meat, and everything which he had eaten or drunk.
+
+But the number of the legions guarding Roman peace did not pacify
+Domitius.
+
+No, no! Rome must perish; for faith in the gods was lost, and so were
+strict habits! Rome must perish; and it was a pity, for still life was
+pleasant there. Caesar was gracious, wine was good! Oh, what a pity!
+
+And hiding his head on the arm of a Syrian bacchanal, he burst into
+tears. "What is a future life! Achilles was right,--better be a slave
+in the world beneath the sun than a king in Cimmerian regions. And
+still the question whether there are any gods--since it is unbelief--is
+destroying the youth."
+
+Lucan meanwhile had blown all the gold powder from Nigidia's hair, and
+she being drunk had fallen asleep. Next he took wreaths of ivy from
+the vase before him, put them on the sleeping woman, and when he had
+finished looked at those present with a delighted and inquiring glance.
+He arrayed himself in ivy too, repeating, in a voice of deep conviction,
+"I am not a man at all, but a faun."
+
+Petronius was not drunk; but Nero, who drank little at first, out of
+regard for his "heavenly" voice, emptied goblet after goblet toward the
+end, and was drunk. He wanted even to sing more of his verses,--this
+time in Greek,--but he had forgotten them, and by mistake sang an ode of
+Anacreon. Pythagoras, Diodorus, and Terpnos accompanied him; but failing
+to keep time, they stopped. Nero as a judge and an aesthete was enchanted
+with the beauty of Pythagoras, and fell to kissing his hands in ecstasy.
+"Such beautiful hands I have seen only once, and whose were they?" Then
+placing his palm on his moist forehead, he tried to remember. After a
+while terror was reflected on his face.
+
+Ah! His mother's--Agrippina's!
+
+And a gloomy vision seized him forthwith.
+
+"They say," said he, "that she wanders by moonlight on the sea around
+Baiae and Bauli. She merely walks,--walks as if seeking for something.
+When she comes near a boat, she looks at it and goes away; but the
+fisherman on whom she has fixed her eye dies."
+
+"Not a bad theme," said Petronius.
+
+But Vestinius, stretching his neck like a stork, whispered
+mysteriously,--"I do not believe in the gods; but I believe in
+spirits--Oi!"
+
+Nero paid no attention to their words, and continued,--"I celebrated the
+Lemuria, and have no wish to see her. This is the fifth year--I had
+to condemn her, for she sent assassins against me; and, had I not been
+quicker than she, ye would not be listening to-night to my song."
+
+"Thanks be to Caesar, in the name of the city and the world!" cried
+Domitius Afer.
+
+"Wine! and let them strike the tympans!"
+
+The uproar began anew. Lucan, all in ivy, wishing to outshout him, rose
+and cried,--"I am not a man, but a faun; and I dwell in the forest.
+Eho-o-o-oo!" Caesar drank himself drunk at last; men were drunk, and
+women were drunk. Vinicius was not less drunk than others; and in
+addition there was roused in him, besides desire, a wish to quarrel,
+which happened always when he passed the measure. His dark face became
+paler, and his tongue stuttered when he spoke, in a voice now loud and
+commanding,--"Give me thy lips! To-day, to-morrow, it is all one! Enough
+of this!
+
+"Caesar took thee from Aulus to give thee to me, dost understand?
+To-morrow, about dusk, I will send for thee, dost understand? Caesar
+promised thee to me before he took thee. Thou must be mine! Give me thy
+lips! I will not wait for to-morrow,--give thy lips quickly."
+
+And he moved to embrace her; but Acte began to defend her, and she
+defended herself with the remnant of her strength, for she felt that she
+was perishing. But in vain did she struggle with both hands to remove
+his hairless arm; in vain, with a voice in which terror and grief were
+quivering, did she implore him not to be what he was, and to have pity
+on her. Sated with wine, his breath blew around her nearer and nearer,
+and his face was there near her face. He was no longer the former kind
+Vinicius, almost dear to her soul; he was a drunken, wicked satyr, who
+filled her with repulsion and terror. But her strength deserted her
+more and more. In vain did she bend and turn away her face to escape his
+kisses. He rose to his feet, caught her in both arms, and drawing her
+head to his breast, began, panting, to press her pale lips with his.
+
+But at this instant a tremendous power removed his arms from her neck
+with as much ease as if they had been the arms of a child, and pushed
+him aside, like a dried limb or a withered leaf. What had happened?
+Vinicius rubbed his astonished eyes, and saw before him the gigantic
+figure of the Lygian, called Ursus, whom he had seen at the house of
+Aulus.
+
+Ursus stood calmly, but looked at Vinicius so strangely with his blue
+eyes that the blood stiffened in the veins of the young man; then the
+giant took his queen on his arm, and walked out of the triclinium with
+an even, quiet step.
+
+Acte in that moment went after him.
+
+Vinicius sat for the twinkle of an eye as if petrified; then he sprang
+up and ran toward the entrance crying,--"Lygia! Lygia!"
+
+But desire, astonishment, rage, and wine cut the legs from under him.
+He staggered once and a second time, seized the naked arm of one of the
+bacchanals, and began to inquire, with blinking eyes, what had happened.
+She, taking a goblet of wine, gave it to him with a smile in her
+mist-covered eyes.
+
+"Drink!" said she.
+
+Vinicius drank, and fell to the floor.
+
+The greater number of the guests were lying under the table; others were
+walking with tottering tread through the triclinium, while others were
+sleeping on couches at the table, snoring, or giving forth the excess
+of wine. Meanwhile, from the golden network, roses were dropping
+and dropping on those drunken consuls and senators, on those drunken
+knights, philosophers, and poets, on those drunken dancing damsels and
+patrician ladies, on that society all dominant as yet but with the soul
+gone from it, on that society garlanded and ungirdled but perishing.
+
+Dawn had begun out of doors.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+
+No one stopped Ursus, no one inquired even what he was doing. Those
+guests who were not under the table had not kept their own places; hence
+the servants, seeing a giant carrying a guest on his arm, thought him
+some slave bearing out his intoxicated mistress. Moreover, Acte was with
+them, and her presence removed all suspicion.
+
+In this way they went from the triclinium to the adjoining chamber, and
+thence to the gallery leading to Acte's apartments. To such a degree
+had her strength deserted Lygia, that she hung as if dead on the arm of
+Ursus. But when the cool, pure breeze of morning beat around her, she
+opened her eyes. It was growing clearer and clearer in the open air.
+After they had passed along the colonnade awhile, they turned to a side
+portico, coming out, not in the courtyard, but the palace gardens, where
+the tops of the pines and cypresses were growing ruddy from the light
+of morning. That part of the building was empty, so that echoes of music
+and sounds of the feast came with decreasing distinctness. It seemed to
+Lygia that she had been rescued from hell, and borne into God's bright
+world outside. There was something, then, besides that disgusting
+triclinium. There was the sky, the dawn, light, and peace. Sudden
+weeping seized the maiden, and, taking shelter on the arm of the giant,
+she repeated, with sobbing,--"Let us go home, Ursus! home, to the house
+of Aulus."
+
+"Let us go!" answered Ursus.
+
+They found themselves now in the small atrium of Acte's apartments.
+Ursus placed Lygia on a marble bench at a distance from the fountain.
+Acte strove to pacify her; she urged her to sleep, and declared that
+for the moment there was no danger,--after the feast the drunken guests
+would sleep till evening. For a long time Lygia could not calm
+herself, and, pressing her temples with both hands, she repeated like a
+child,--"Let us go home, to the house of Aulus!"
+
+Ursus was ready. At the gates stood pretorians, it is true, but he
+would pass them. The soldiers would not stop out-going people. The space
+before the arch was crowded with litters. Guests were beginning to go
+forth in throngs. No one would detain them. They would pass with the
+crowd and go home directly. For that matter, what does he care? As the
+queen commands, so must it be. He is there to carry out her orders.
+
+"Yes, Ursus," said Lygia, "let us go."
+
+Acte was forced to find reason for both. They would pass out, true; no
+one would stop them. But it is not permitted to flee from the house of
+Caesar; whoso does that offends Caesar's majesty. They may go; but in the
+evening a centurion at the head of soldiers will take a death sentence
+to Aulus and Pomponia Graecina; they will bring Lygia to the palace
+again, and then there will be no rescue for her. Should Aulus and his
+wife receive her under their roof, death awaits them to a certainty.
+
+Lygia's arms dropped. There was no other outcome. She must choose her
+own ruin or that of Plautius. In going to the feast, she had hoped
+that Vinicius and Petronius would win her from Caesar, and return her to
+Pomponia; now she knew that it was they who had brought Caesar to remove
+her from the house of Aulus. There was no help. Only a miracle could
+save her from the abyss,--a miracle and the might of God.
+
+"Acte," said she, in despair, "didst thou hear Vinicius say that Caesar
+had given me to him, and that he will send slaves here this evening to
+take me to his house?"
+
+"I did," answered Acte; and, raising her arms from her side, she was
+silent. The despair with which Lygia spoke found in her no echo. She
+herself had been Nero's favorite. Her heart, though good, could not feel
+clearly the shame of such a relation. A former slave, she had grown too
+much inured to the law of slavery; and, besides, she loved Nero yet. If
+he returned to her, she would stretch her arms to him, as to happiness.
+Comprehending clearly that Lygia must become the mistress of the
+youthful and stately Vinicius, or expose Aulus and Pomponia to ruin, she
+failed to understand how the girl could hesitate.
+
+"In Caesar's house," said she, after a while, "it would not be safer for
+thee than in that of Vinicius."
+
+And it did not occur to her that, though she told the truth, her words
+meant, "Be resigned to fate and become the concubine of Vinicius."
+
+As to Lygia, who felt on her lips yet his kisses, burning as coals and
+full of beastly desire, the blood rushed to her face with shame at the
+mere thought of them.
+
+"Never," cried she, with an outburst, "will I remain here, or at the
+house of Vinicius,--never!"
+
+"But," inquired Acte, "is Vinicius hateful to thee?"
+
+Lygia was unable to answer, for weeping seized her anew. Acte gathered
+the maiden to her bosom, and strove to calm her excitement. Ursus
+breathed heavily, and balled his giant fists; for, loving his queen with
+the devotion of a dog, he could not bear the sight of her tears. In his
+half-wild Lygian heart was the wish to return to the triclinium, choke
+Vinicius, and, should the need come, Caesar himself; but he feared to
+sacrifice thereby his mistress, and was not certain that such an
+act, which to him seemed very simple, would befit a confessor of the
+Crucified Lamb.
+
+But Acte, while caressing Lygia, asked again, "Is he so hateful to
+thee?"
+
+"No," said Lygia; "it is not permitted me to hate, for I am a
+Christian."
+
+"I know, Lygia. I know also from the letters of Paul of Tarsus, that it
+is not permitted to defile one's self, nor to fear death more than sin;
+but tell me if thy teaching permits one person to cause the death of
+others?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then how canst thou bring Caesar's vengeance on the house of Aulus?"
+A moment of silence followed. A bottomless abyss yawned before Lygia
+again.
+
+"I ask," continued the young freedwoman, "for I have compassion on
+thee--and I have compassion on the good Pomponia and Aulus, and on their
+child. It is long since I began to live in this house, and I know what
+Caesar's anger is. No! thou art not at liberty to flee from here. One way
+remains to thee: implore Vinicius to return thee to Pomponia."
+
+But Lygia dropped on her knees to implore some one else. Ursus knelt
+down after a while, too, and both began to pray in Caesar's house at the
+morning dawn.
+
+Acte witnessed such a prayer for the first time, and could not take her
+eyes from Lygia, who, seen by her in profile, with raised hands, and
+face turned heavenward, seemed to implore rescue. The dawn, casting
+light on her dark hair and white peplus, was reflected in her eyes.
+Entirely in the light, she seemed herself like light. In that pale
+face, in those parted lips, in those raised hands and eyes, a kind of
+superhuman exaltation was evident. Acte understood then why Lygia could
+not become the concubine of any man. Before the face of Nero's former
+favorite was drawn aside, as it were, a corner of that veil which hides
+a world altogether different from that to which she was accustomed. She
+was astonished by prayer in that abode of crime and infamy. A moment
+earlier it had seemed to her that there was no rescue for Lygia; now she
+began to think that something uncommon would happen, that some aid would
+come,--aid so mighty that Caesar himself would be powerless to resist it;
+that some winged army would descend from the sky to help that maiden, or
+that the sun would spread its rays beneath her feet and draw her up to
+itself. She had heard of many miracles among Christians, and she thought
+now that everything said of them was true, since Lygia was praying.
+
+Lygia rose at last, with a face serene with hope. Ursus rose too, and,
+holding to the bench, looked at his mistress, waiting for her words.
+
+But it grew dark in her eyes, and after a time two great tears rolled
+down her checks slowly.
+
+"May God bless Pomponia and Aulus," said she. "It is not permitted me to
+bring ruin on them; therefore I shall never see them again."
+
+Then turning to Ursus she said that he alone remained to her in the
+world; that he must be to her as a protector and a father. They could
+not seek refuge in the house of Aulus, for they would bring on it the
+anger of Caesar. But neither could she remain in the house of Caesar or
+that of Vinicius. Let Ursus take her then; let him conduct her out of
+the city; let him conceal her in some place where neither Vinicius
+nor his servants could find her. She would follow Ursus anywhere, even
+beyond the sea, even beyond the mountains, to the barbarians, where the
+Roman name was not heard, and whither the power of Caesar did not reach.
+Let him take her and save her, for he alone had remained to her.
+
+The Lygian was ready, and in sign of obedience he bent to her feet
+and embraced them. But on the face of Acte, who had been expecting a
+miracle, disappointment was evident. Had the prayer effected only that
+much? To flee from the house of Caesar is to commit an offence against
+majesty which must be avenged; and even if Lygia succeeded in hiding,
+Caesar would avenge himself on Aulus and Pomponia. If she wishes to
+escape, let her escape from the house of Vinicius. Then Caesar, who does
+not like to occupy himself with the affairs of others, may not wish even
+to aid Vinicius in the pursuit; in every case it will not be a crime
+against majesty.
+
+But Lygia's thoughts were just the following: Aulus would not even know
+where she was; Pomponia herself would not know. She would escape not
+from the house of Vinicius, however, but while on the way to it. When
+drunk, Vinicius had said that he would send his slaves for her in the
+evening. Beyond doubt he had told the truth, which he would not
+have done had he been sober. Evidently he himself, or perhaps he and
+Petronius, had seen Caesar before the feast, and won from him the promise
+to give her on the following evening. And if they forgot that day, they
+would send for her on the morrow. But Ursus will save her. He will come;
+he will bear her out of the litter as he bore her out of the triclinium,
+and they will go into the world. No one could resist Ursus, not even
+that terrible athlete who wrestled at the feast yesterday. But as
+Vinicius might send a great number of slaves, Ursus would go at once
+to Bishop Linus for aid and counsel. The bishop will take compassion
+on her, will not leave her in the hands of Vinicius; he will command
+Christians to go with Ursus to rescue her. They will seize her and bear
+her away; then Ursus can take her out of the city and hide her from the
+power of Rome.
+
+And her face began to flush and smile. Consolation entered her anew, as
+if the hope of rescue had turned to reality. She threw herself on Acte's
+neck suddenly, and, putting her beautiful lips to Acte's cheek, she
+whispered:
+
+"Thou wilt not betray, Acte, wilt thou?"
+
+"By the shade of my mother," answered the freedwoman, "I will not; but
+pray to thy God that Ursus be able to bear thee away."
+
+The blue, childlike eyes of the giant were gleaming with happiness. He
+had not been able to frame any plan, though he had been breaking his
+poor head; but a thing like this he could do,--and whether in the day or
+in the night it was all one to him! He would go to the bishop, for the
+bishop can read in the sky what is needed and what is not. Besides,
+he could assemble Christians himself. Are his acquaintances few among
+slaves, gladiators, and free people, both in the Subura and beyond the
+bridges? He can collect a couple of thousand of them. He will rescue his
+lady, and take her outside the city, and he can go with her. They will
+go to the end of the world, even to that place from which they had come,
+where no one has heard of Rome.
+
+Here he began to look forward, as if to see things in the future and
+very distant.
+
+"To the forest? Ai, what a forest, what a forest!"
+
+But after a while he shook himself out of his visions. Well, he will go
+to the bishop at once, and in the evening will wait with something like
+a hundred men for the litter. And let not slaves, but even pretorians,
+take her from him! Better for any man not to come under his fist, even
+though in iron armor,--for is iron so strong? When he strikes iron
+earnestly, the head underneath will not survive.
+
+But Lygia raised her finger with great and also childlike seriousness.
+
+"Ursus, do not kill," said she.
+
+Ursus put his fist, which was like a maul, to the back of his head, and,
+rubbing his neck with great seriousness, began to mutter. But he must
+rescue "his light." She herself had said that his turn had come. He will
+try all he can. But if something happens in spite of him? In every case
+he must save her. But should anything happen, he will repent, and so
+entreat the Innocent Lamb that the Crucified Lamb will have mercy on
+him, poor fellow. He has no wish to offend the Lamb; but then his hands
+are so heavy.
+
+Great tenderness was expressed on his face; but wishing to hide it, he
+bowed and said,--"Now I will go to the holy bishop."
+
+Acte put her arms around Lygia's neck, and began to weep. Once more the
+freedwoman understood that there was a world in which greater happiness
+existed, even in suffering, than in all the excesses and luxury of
+Caesar's house. Once more a kind of door to the light was opened a little
+before her, but she felt at once that she was unworthy to pass through
+it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+
+LYGIA was grieved to lose Pomponia Graecina, whom she loved with her
+whole soul, and she grieved for the household of Aulus; still her
+despair passed away. She felt a certain delight even in the thought that
+she was sacrificing plenty and comfort for her Truth, and was entering
+on an unknown and wandering existence. Perhaps there was in this a
+little also of childish curiosity as to what that life would be, off
+somewhere in remote regions, among wild beasts and barbarians. But there
+was still more a deep and trusting faith, that by acting thus she was
+doing as the Divine Master had commanded, and that henceforth He Himself
+would watch over her, as over an obedient and faithful child. In such a
+case what harm could meet her? If sufferings come, she will endure them
+in His name. If sudden death comes, He will take her; and some time,
+when Pomponia dies, they will be together for all eternity. More than
+once when she was in the house of Aulus, she tortured her childish head
+because she, a Christian, could do nothing for that Crucified, of whom
+Ursus spoke with such tenderness. But now the moment had come. Lygia
+felt almost happy, and began to speak of her happiness to Acte, who
+could not understand her, however. To leave everything,--to leave
+house, wealth, the city, gardens, temples, porticos, everything that
+is beautiful; leave a sunny land and people near to one--and for what
+purpose? To hide from the love of a young and stately knight. In Acte's
+head these things could not find place. At times she felt that Lygia's
+action was right, that there must be some immense mysterious happiness
+in it; but she could not give a clear account to herself of the matter,
+especially since an adventure was before Lygia which might have an evil
+ending,--an adventure in which she might lose her life simply. Acte was
+timid by nature, and she thought with dread of what the coming evening
+might bring. But she was loath to mention her fears to Lygia; meanwhile,
+as the day was clear and the sun looked into the atrium, she began to
+persuade her to take the rest needed after a night without sleep. Lygia
+did not refuse; and both went to the cubiculum, which was spacious and
+furnished with luxury because of Acte's former relations with Caesar.
+There they lay down side by side, but in spite of her weariness Acte
+could not sleep. For a long time she had been sad and unhappy, but now
+she was seized by a certain uneasiness which she had never felt before.
+So far life had seemed to her simply grievous and deprived of a morrow;
+now all at once it seemed to her dishonorable.
+
+Increasing chaos rose in her head. Again the door to light began to open
+and close. But in the moment when it opened, that light so dazzled her
+that she could see nothing distinctly. She divined, merely, that in that
+light there was happiness of some kind, happiness beyond measure, in
+presence of which every other was nothing, to such a degree that if
+Caesar, for example, were to set aside Poppaea, and love her, Acte, again,
+it would be vanity. Suddenly the thought came to her that that Caesar
+whom she loved, whom she held involuntarily as a kind of demigod, was as
+pitiful as any slave, and that palace, with columns of Numidian marble,
+no better than a heap of stones. At last, however, those feelings which
+she had not power to define began to torment her; she wanted to
+sleep, but being tortured by alarm she could not. Thinking that Lygia,
+threatened by so many perils and uncertainties, was not sleeping either,
+she turned to her to speak of her flight in the evening. But Lygia was
+sleeping calmly. Into the dark cubiculum, past the curtain which was not
+closely drawn, came a few bright rays, in which golden dust-motes were
+playing. By the light of these rays Acte saw her delicate face, resting
+on her bare arm, her closed eyes, and her mouth slightly open. She was
+breathing regularly, but as people breathe while asleep.
+
+"She sleeps,--she is able to sleep," thought Acte. "She is a child yet."
+Still, after a while it came to her mind that that child chose to flee
+rather than remain the beloved of Vinicius; she preferred want to shame,
+wandering to a lordly house, to robes, jewels, and feasts, to the sound
+of lutes and citharas.
+
+"Why?"
+
+And she gazed at Lygia, as if to find an answer in her sleeping face.
+She looked at her clear forehead, at the calm arch of her brows, at
+her dark tresses, at her parted lips, at her virgin bosom moved by calm
+breathing; then she thought again,--"How different from me!"
+
+Lygia seemed to her a miracle, a sort of divine vision, something
+beloved of the gods, a hundred times more beautiful than all the flowers
+in Caesar's garden, than all the statues in his palace. But in the Greek
+woman's heart there was no envy. On the contrary, at thought of the
+dangers which threatened the girl, great pity seized her. A certain
+motherly feeling rose in the woman. Lygia seemed to her not only as
+beautiful as a beautiful vision, but also very dear, and, putting her
+lips to her dark hair, she kissed it.
+
+But Lygia slept on calmly, as if at home, under the care of Pomponia
+Graecina. And she slept rather long. Midday had passed when she opened
+her blue eyes and looked around the cubiculum in astonishment. Evidently
+she wondered that she was not in the house of Aulus.
+
+"That is thou, Acte?" said she at last, seeing in the darkness the face
+of the Greek.
+
+"I, Lygia."
+
+"Is it evening?"
+
+"No, child; but midday has passed."
+
+"And has Ursus not returned?"
+
+"Ursus did not say that he would return; he said that he would watch in
+the evening, with Christians, for the litter."
+
+"True."
+
+Then they left the cubiculum and went to the bath, where Acte bathed
+Lygia; then she took her to breakfast and afterward to the gardens of
+the palace, in which no dangerous meeting might be feared, since Caesar
+and his principal courtiers were sleeping yet. For the first time in
+her life Lygia saw those magnificent gardens, full of pines, cypresses,
+oaks, olives, and myrtles, among which appeared white here and there a
+whole population of statues. The mirror of ponds gleamed quietly; groves
+of roses were blooming, watered with the spray of fountains; entrances
+to charming grottos were encircled with a growth of ivy or woodbine;
+silver-colored swans were sailing on the water; amidst statues and trees
+wandered tame gazelles from the deserts of Africa, and rich-colored
+birds from all known countries on earth.
+
+The gardens were empty; but here and there slaves were working, spade in
+hand, singing in an undertone; others, to whom was granted a moment
+of rest, were sitting by ponds or in the shade of groves, in trembling
+light produced by sun-rays breaking in between leaves; others were
+watering roses or the pale lily-colored blossoms of the saffron. Acte
+and Lygia walked rather long, looking at all the wonders of the gardens;
+and though Lygia's mind was not at rest, she was too much a child yet to
+resist pleasure, curiosity, and wonder. It occurred to her, even, that
+if Caesar were good, he might be very happy in such a palace, in such
+gardens.
+
+But at last, tired somewhat, the two women sat down on a bench hidden
+almost entirely by dense cypresses and began to talk of that which
+weighed on their hearts most,--that is, of Lygia's escape in the
+evening. Acte was far less at rest than Lygia touching its success. At
+times it seemed to her even a mad project, which could not succeed.
+She felt a growing pity for Lygia. It seemed to her that it would be
+a hundred times safer to try to act on Vinicius. After a while she
+inquired of Lygia how long she had known him, and whether she did not
+think that he would let himself be persuaded to return her to Pomponia.
+
+But Lygia shook her dark head in sadness. "No. In Aulus's house,
+Vinicius had been different, he had been very kind, but since
+yesterday's feast she feared him, and would rather flee to the Lygians."
+
+"But in Aulus's house," inquired Acte, "he was dear to thee, was he
+not?"
+
+"He was," answered Lygia, inclining her head.
+
+"And thou wert not a slave, as I was," said Acte, after a moment's
+thought. "Vinicius might marry thee. Thou art a hostage, and a daughter
+of the Lygian king. Aulus and Pomponia love thee as their own child; I
+am sure that they are ready to adopt thee. Vinicius might marry thee,
+Lygia."
+
+But Lygia answered calmly, and with still greater sadness, "I would
+rather flee to the Lygians."
+
+"Lygia, dost thou wish me to go directly to Vinicius, rouse him, if he
+is sleeping, and tell him what I have told thee? Yes, my precious one, I
+will go to him and say, 'Vinicius, this is a king's daughter, and a dear
+child of the famous Aulus; if thou love her, return her to Aulus and
+Pomponia, and take her as wife from their house.'"
+
+But the maiden answered with a voice so low that Acte could barely hear
+it,--
+
+"I would rather flee to the Lygians." And two tears were hanging on her
+drooping lids.
+
+Further conversation was stopped by the rustle of approaching steps, and
+before Acte had time to see who was coming, Poppaea Sabina appeared in
+front of the bench with a small retinue of slave women. Two of them held
+over her head bunches of ostrich feathers fixed to golden wires; with
+these they fanned her lightly, and at the same time protected her from
+the autumn sun, which was hot yet. Before her a woman from Egypt, black
+as ebony, and with bosom swollen as if from milk, bore in her arms
+an infant wrapped in purple fringed with gold. Acte and Lygia rose,
+thinking that Poppaea would pass the bench without turning attention to
+either; but she halted before them and said,--"Acte, the bells sent by
+thee for the doll were badly fastened; the child tore off one and put it
+to her mouth; luckily Lilith saw it in season."
+
+"Pardon, divinity," answered Acte, crossing her arms on her breast and
+bending her head.
+
+But Poppaea began to gaze at Lygia.
+
+"What slave is this?" asked she, after a pause.
+
+"She is not a slave, divine Augusta, but a foster child of Pomponia
+Graecina, and a daughter of the Lygian king given by him as hostage to
+Rome."
+
+"And has she come to visit thee?"
+
+"No, Augusta. She is dwelling in the palace since the day before
+yesterday."
+
+"Was she at the feast last night?"
+
+"She was, Augusta."
+
+"At whose command?"
+
+"At Caesar's command."
+
+Poppaea looked still more attentively at Lygia, who stood with bowed
+head, now raising her bright eyes to her with curiosity, now covering
+them with their lids. Suddenly a frown appeared between the brows of
+the Augusta. Jealous of her own beauty and power, she lived in continual
+alarm lest at some time a fortunate rival might ruin her, as she had
+ruined Octavia. Hence every beautiful face in the palace roused her
+suspicion. With the eye of a critic she took in at once every part of
+Lygia's form, estimated every detail of her face, and was frightened.
+"That is simply a nymph," thought she, "and 'twas Venus who gave birth
+to her." On a sudden this came to her mind which had never come before
+at sight of any beauty,--that she herself had grown notably older!
+Wounded vanity quivered in Poppaea, alarm seized her, and various fears
+shot through her head. "Perhaps Nero has not seen the girl, or, seeing
+her through the emerald, has not appreciated her. But what would happen
+should he meet such a marvel in the daytime, in sunlight? Moreover she
+is not a slave, she is the daughter of a king,--a king of barbarians,
+it is true, but a king. Immortal gods! she is as beautiful as I am, but
+younger!" The wrinkle between her brows increased, and her eyes began to
+shine under their golden lashes with a cold gleam.
+
+"Hast thou spoken with Caesar?"
+
+"No, Augusta."
+
+"Why dost thou choose to be here rather than in the house of Aulus?"
+
+"I do not choose, lady. Petronius persuaded Caesar to take me from
+Pomponia. I am here against my will."
+
+"And wouldst thou return to Pomponia?"
+
+This last question Poppaea gave with a softer and milder voice; hence a
+sudden hope rose in Lygia's heart.
+
+"Lady," said she, extending her hand to her, "Caesar promised to give
+me as a slave to Vinicius, but do thou intercede and return me to
+Pomponia."
+
+"Then Petronius persuaded Caesar to take thee from Aulus, and give thee
+to Vinicius?"
+
+"True, lady. Vinicius is to send for me to-day, but thou art good, have
+compassion on me." When she had said this, she inclined, and, seizing
+the border of Poppaea's robe, waited for her word with beating heart.
+Poppaea looked at her for a while, with a face lighted by an evil smile,
+and said,--"Then I promise that thou wilt become the slave of Vinicius
+this day." And she went on, beautiful as a vision, but evil. To the ears
+of Lygia and Acte came only the wail of the infant, which began to cry,
+it was unknown for what reason.
+
+Lygia's eyes too were filled with tears; but after a while she took
+Acte's hand and said,--"Let us return. Help is to be looked for only
+whence it can come." And they returned to the atrium, which they did not
+leave till evening.
+
+When darkness had come and slaves brought in tapers with great flames,
+both women were very pale. Their conversation failed every moment. Both
+were listening to hear if some one were coming. Lygia repeated again and
+again that, though grieved to leave Acte, she preferred that all should
+take place that day, as Ursus must be waiting in the dark for her then.
+But her breathing grew quicker from emotion, and louder. Acte collected
+feverishly such jewels as she could, and, fastening them in a corner
+of Lygia's peplus, implored her not to reject that gift and means of
+escape. At moments came a deep silence full of deceptions for the ear.
+It seemed to both that they heard at one time a whisper beyond the
+curtain, at another the distant weeping of a child, at another the
+barking of dogs.
+
+Suddenly the curtain of the entrance moved without noise, and a tall,
+dark man, his face marked with small-pox, appeared like a spirit in the
+atrium. In one moment Lygia recognized Atacinus, a freedman of Vinicius,
+who had visited the house of Aulus.
+
+Acte screamed; but Atacinus bent low and said,--"A greeting, divine
+Lygia, from Marcus Vinicius, who awaits thee with a feast in his house
+which is decked in green."
+
+The lips of the maiden grew pale.
+
+"I go," said she.
+
+Then she threw her arms around Acte's neck in farewell.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+
+THE house of Vinicius was indeed decked in the green of myrtle and ivy,
+which had been hung on the walls and over the doors. The columns were
+wreathed with grape vine. In the atrium, which was closed above by a
+purple woollen cloth as protection from the night cold, it was as clear
+as in daylight. Eight and twelve flamed lamps were burning; these were
+like vessels, trees, animals, birds, or statues, holding cups filled
+with perfumed olive oil, lamps of alabaster, marble, or gilded
+Corinthian bronze, not so wonderful as that famed candlestick used by
+Nero and taken from the temple of Apollo, but beautiful and made by
+famous masters. Some of the lights were shaded by Alexandrian glass,
+or transparent stuffs from the Indus, of red, blue, yellow, or violet
+color, so that the whole atrium was filled with many colored rays.
+Everywhere was given out the odor of nard, to which Vinicius had grown
+used, and which he had learned to love in the Orient. The depths of the
+house, in which the forms of male and female slaves were moving, gleamed
+also with light. In the triclinium a table was laid for four persons.
+At the feast were to sit, besides Vinicius and Lygia, Petronius
+and Chrysothemis. Vinicius had followed in everything the words of
+Petronius, who advised him not to go for Lygia, but to send Atacinus
+with the permission obtained from Caesar, to receive her himself in the
+house, receive her with friendliness and even with marks of honor.
+
+"Thou wert drunk yesterday," said he; "I saw thee. Thou didst act with
+her like a quarryman from the Alban Hills. Be not over-insistent, and
+remember that one should drink good wine slowly. Know too that it is
+sweet to desire, but sweeter to be desired."
+
+Chrysothemis had her own and a somewhat different opinion on this point;
+but Petronius, calling her his vestal and his dove, began to explain the
+difference which must exist between a trained charioteer of the Circus
+and the youth who sits on the quadriga for the first time. Then, turning
+to Vinicius, he continued,--"Win her confidence, make her joyful, be
+magnanimous. I have no wish to see a gloomy feast. Swear to her, by
+Hades even, that thou wilt return her to Pomponia, and it will be thy
+affair that to-morrow she prefers to stay with thee."
+
+Then pointing to Chrysothemis, he added,--"For five years I have acted
+thus more or less with this timid dove, and I cannot complain of her
+harshness."
+
+Chrysothemis struck him with her fan of peacock feathers, and
+said,--"But I did not resist, thou satyr!"
+
+"Out of consideration for my predecessor--"
+
+"But wert thou not at my feet?"
+
+"Yes; to put rings on thy toes."
+
+Chrysothemis looked involuntarily at her feet, on the toes of which
+diamonds were really glittering; and she and Petronius began to laugh.
+But Vinicius did not give ear to their bantering. His heart was beating
+unquietly under the robes of a Syrian priest, in which he had arrayed
+himself to receive Lygia.
+
+"They must have left the palace," said he, as if in a monologue.
+
+"They must," answered Petronius. "Meanwhile I may mention the
+predictions of Apollonius of Tyana, or that history of Rufinus which I
+have not finished, I do not remember why."
+
+But Vinicius cared no more for Apollonius of Tyana than for the history
+of Rufinus. His mind was with Lygia; and though he felt that it was more
+appropriate to receive her at home than to go in the role of a myrmidon
+to the palace, he was sorry at moments that he had not gone, for the
+single reason that he might have seen her sooner, and sat near her in
+the dark, in the double litter.
+
+Meanwhile slaves brought in a tripod ornamented with rams' heads, bronze
+dishes with coals, on which they sprinkled bits of myrrh and nard.
+
+"Now they are turning toward the Carinae," said Vinicius, again.
+
+"He cannot wait; he will run to meet the litter, and is likely to miss
+them!" exclaimed Chrysothemis.
+
+Vinicius smiled without thinking, and said,--"On the contrary, I will
+wait."
+
+But he distended his nostrils and panted; seeing which, Petronius
+shrugged his shoulders, and said,--"There is not in him a philosopher to
+the value of one sestertium, and I shall never make a man of that son of
+Mars."
+
+"They are now in the Carinae."
+
+In fact, they were turning toward the Carinae. The slaves called
+lampadarii were in front; others called pedisequii, were on both sides
+of the litter. Atacinus was right behind, overseeing the advance. But
+they moved slowly, for lamps showed the way badly in a place not lighted
+at all. The streets near the palace were empty; here and there only
+some man moved forward with a lantern, but farther on the place was
+uncommonly crowded. From almost every alley people were pushing out in
+threes and fours, all without lamps, all in dark mantles. Some walked on
+with the procession, mingling with the slaves; others in greater numbers
+came from the opposite direction. Some staggered as if drunk. At moments
+the advance grew so difficult that the lampadarii cried,--"Give way to
+the noble tribune, Marcus Vinicius!"
+
+Lygia saw those dark crowds through the curtains which were pushed
+aside, and trembled with emotion. She was carried away at one moment by
+hope, at another by fear.
+
+"That is he!--that is Ursus and the Christians! Now it will happen
+quickly," said she, with trembling lips. "O Christ, aid! O Christ,
+save!"
+
+Atacinus himself, who at first did not notice the uncommon animation of
+the street, began at last to be alarmed. There was something strange in
+this. The lampadarii had to cry oftener and oftener, "Give way to the
+litter of the noble tribune!" From the sides unknown people crowded up
+to the litter so much that Atacinus commanded the slaves to repulse them
+with clubs.
+
+Suddenly a cry was heard in front of the procession. In one instant all
+the lights were extinguished. Around the litter came a rush, an uproar,
+a struggle.
+
+Atacinus saw that this was simply an attack; and when he saw it he was
+frightened. It was known to all that Caesar with a crowd of attendants
+made attacks frequently for amusement in the Subura and in other parts
+of the city. It was known that even at times he brought out of these
+night adventures black and blue spots; but whoso defended himself went
+to his death, even if a senator. The house of the guards, whose duty it
+was to watch over the city, was not very far; but during such attacks
+the guards feigned to be deaf and blind.
+
+Meanwhile there was an uproar around the litter; people struck,
+struggled, threw, and trampled one another. The thought flashed on
+Atacinus to save Lygia and himself, above all, and leave the rest to
+their fate. So, drawing her out of the litter, he took her in his arms
+and strove to escape in the darkness.
+
+But Lygia called, "Ursus! Ursus!"
+
+She was dressed in white; hence it was easy to see her. Atacinus, with
+his other arm, which was free, was throwing his own mantle over
+her hastily, when terrible claws seized his neck, and on his head a
+gigantic, crushing mass fell like a stone.
+
+He dropped in one instant, as an ox felled by the back of an axe before
+the altar of Jove.
+
+The slaves for the greater part were either lying on the ground, or had
+saved themselves by scattering in the thick darkness, around the turns
+of the walls. On the spot remained only the litter, broken in the
+onset. Ursus bore away Lygia to the Subura; his comrades followed him,
+dispersing gradually along the way.
+
+The slaves assembled before the house of Vinicius, and took counsel.
+They had not courage to enter. After a short deliberation they returned
+to the place of conflict, where they found a few corpses, and among
+them Atacinus. He was quivering yet; but, after a moment of more violent
+convulsion, he stretched and was motionless.
+
+They took him then, and, returning, stopped before the gate a second
+time. But they must declare to their lord what had happened.
+
+"Let Gulo declare it," whispered some voices; "blood is flowing from his
+face as from ours; and the master loves him; it is safer for Gulo than
+for others."
+
+Gulo, a German, an old slave, who had nursed Vinicius, and was inherited
+by him from his mother, the sister of Petronius, said,--
+
+"I will tell him; but do ye all come. Do not let his anger fall on my
+head alone."
+
+Vinicius was growing thoroughly impatient. Petronius and Chrysothemis
+were laughing; but he walked with quick step up and down the atrium.
+
+"They ought to be here! They ought to be here!"
+
+He wished to go out to meet the litter, but Petronius and Chrysothemis
+detained him.
+
+Steps were heard suddenly in the entrance; the slaves rushed into the
+atrium in a crowd, and, halting quickly at the wall, raised their hands,
+and began to repeat with groaning,--"Aaaa!--aa!"
+
+Vinicius sprang toward them.
+
+"Where is Lygia?" cried he, with a terrible and changed voice.
+
+"Aaaa!"
+
+Then Gulo pushed forward with his bloody face, and exclaimed, in haste
+and pitifully,--
+
+"See our blood, lord! We fought! See our blood! See our blood!"
+
+But he had not finished when Vinicius seized a bronze lamp, and with one
+blow shattered the skull of the slave; then, seizing his own head with
+both hands, he drove his fingers into his hair, repeating hoarsely,--"Me
+miserum! me miserum!"
+
+His face became blue, his eyes turned in his head, foam came out on his
+lips.
+
+"Whips!" roared he at last, with an unearthly voice.
+
+"Lord! Aaaa! Take pity!" groaned the slaves.
+
+Petronius stood up with an expression of disgust on his face. "Come,
+Chrysothemis!" said he. "If 'tis thy wish to look on raw flesh, I will
+give command to open a butcher's stall on the Carinae!"
+
+And he walked out of the atrium. But through the whole house, ornamented
+in the green of ivy and prepared for a feast, were heard, from moment
+to moment, groans and the whistling of whips, which lasted almost till
+morning.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+
+VINICIUS did not lie down that night. Some time after the departure of
+Petronius, when the groans of his flogged slaves could allay neither his
+rage nor his pain, he collected a crowd of other servants, and, though
+the night was far advanced, rushed forth at the head of these to look
+for Lygia. He visited the district of the Esquiline, then the Subura,
+Vicus Sceleratus, and all the adjoining alleys. Passing next around the
+Capitol, he went to the island over the bridge of Fabricius; after that
+he passed through a part of the Trans-Tiber. But that was a pursuit
+without object, for he himself had no hope of finding Lygia, and if he
+sought her it was mainly to fill out with something a terrible night.
+In fact he returned home about daybreak, when the carts and mules of
+dealers in vegetables began to appear in the city, and when bakers were
+opening their shops.
+
+On returning he gave command to put away Gulo's corpse, which no one had
+ventured to touch. The slaves from whom Lygia had been taken he sent to
+rural prisons,--a punishment almost more dreadful than death. Throwing
+himself at last on a couch in the atrium, he began to think confusedly
+of how he was to find and seize Lygia.
+
+To resign her, to lose her, not to see her again, seemed to him
+impossible; and at this thought alone frenzy took hold of him. For the
+first time in life the imperious nature of the youthful soldier met
+resistance, met another unbending will, and he could not understand
+simply how any one could have the daring to thwart his wishes. Vinicius
+would have chosen to see the world and the city sink in ruins rather
+than fail of his purpose. The cup of delight had been snatched from
+before his lips almost; hence it seemed to him that something unheard of
+had happened, something crying to divine and human laws for vengeance.
+
+But, first of all, he was unwilling and unable to be reconciled with
+fate, for never in life had he so desired anything as Lygia. It seemed
+to him that he could not exist without her. He could not tell himself
+what he was to do without her on the morrow, how he was to survive the
+days following. At moments he was transported by a rage against her,
+which approached madness. He wanted to have her, to beat her, to drag
+her by the hair to the cubiculum, and gloat over her; then, again, he
+was carried away by a terrible yearning for her voice, her form, her
+eyes, and he felt that he would be ready to lie at her feet. He called
+to her, gnawed his fingers, clasped his head with his hands. He strove
+with all his might to think calmly about searching for her,--and was
+unable. A thousand methods and means flew through his head, but one
+wilder than another. At last the thought flashed on him that no one else
+had intercepted her but Aulus, that in every case Aulus must know where
+she was hiding. And he sprang up to run to the house of Aulus.
+
+If they will not yield her to him, if they have no fear of his threats,
+he will go to Caesar, accuse the old general of disobedience, and obtain
+a sentence of death against him; but before that, he will gain from them
+a confession of where Lygia is. If they give her, even willingly, he
+will be revenged. They received him, it is true, in their house and
+nursed him,--but that is nothing! With this one injustice they have
+freed him from every debt of gratitude. Here his vengeful and stubborn
+soul began to take pleasure at the despair of Pomponia Graecina, when
+the centurion would bring the death sentence to old Aulus. He was almost
+certain that he would get it. Petronius would assist him. Moreover,
+Caesar never denies anything to his intimates, the Augustians, unless
+personal dislike or desire enjoins a refusal.
+
+Suddenly his heart almost died within him, under the influence of this
+terrible supposition,--"But if Caesar himself has taken Lygia?"
+
+All knew that Nero from tedium sought recreation in night attacks. Even
+Petronius took part in these amusements. Their main object was to seize
+women and toss each on a soldier's mantle till she fainted. Even Nero
+himself on occasions called these expeditions "pearl hunts," for it
+happened that in the depth of districts occupied by a numerous and needy
+population they caught a real pearl of youth and beauty sometimes. Then
+the "sagatio," as they termed the tossing, was changed into a genuine
+carrying away, and the pearl was sent either to the Palatine or to one
+of Caesar's numberless villas, or finally Caesar yielded it to one of his
+intimates. So might it happen also with Lygia. Caesar had seen her during
+the feast; and Vinicius doubted not for an instant that she must have
+seemed to him the most beautiful woman he had seen yet. How could it
+be otherwise? It is true that Lygia had been in Nero's own house on
+the Palatine, and he might have kept her openly. But, as Petronius said
+truly, Caesar had no courage in crime, and, with power to act openly, he
+chose to act always in secret. This time fear of Poppaea might incline
+him also to secrecy. It occurred now to the young soldier that Aulus
+would not have dared, perhaps, to carry off forcibly a girl given
+him, Vinicius, by Caesar. Besides, who would dare? Would that gigantic
+blue-eyed Lygian, who had the courage to enter the triclinium and carry
+her from the feast on his arm? But where could he hide with her; whither
+could he take her? No! a slave would not have ventured that far. Hence
+no one had done the deed except Caesar.
+
+At this thought it grew dark in his eyes, and drops of sweat covered his
+forehead. In that case Lygia was lost to him forever. It was possible
+to wrest her from the hands of any one else, but not from the hands of
+Caesar. Now, with greater truth than ever, could he exclaim, "Vae misero
+mihi!" His imagination represented Lygia in Nero's arms, and, for the
+first time in life, he understood that there are thoughts which are
+simply beyond man's endurance. He knew then, for the first time, how he
+loved her. As his whole life flashes through the memory of a drowning
+man, so Lygia began to pass through his. He saw her, heard every word
+of hers,--saw her at the fountain, saw her at the house of Aulus, and at
+the feast; felt her near him, felt the odor of her hair, the warmth of
+her body, the delight of the kisses which at the feast he had pressed
+on her innocent lips. She seemed to him a hundred times sweeter, more
+beautiful, more desired than ever,--a hundred times more the only
+one, the one chosen from among all mortals and divinities. And when he
+thought that all this which had become so fixed in his heart, which had
+become his blood and life, might be possessed by Nero, a pain seized
+him, which was purely physical, and so piercing that he wanted to beat
+his head against the wall of the atrium, until he should break it. He
+felt that he might go mad; and he would have gone mad beyond doubt, had
+not vengeance remained to him. But as hitherto he had thought that he
+could not live unless he got Lygia, he thought now that he would not
+die till he had avenged her. This gave him a certain kind of comfort. "I
+will be thy Cassius Chaerea!" [The slayer of Caligula] said he to himself
+in thinking of Nero. After a while, seizing earth in his hands from
+the flower vases surrounding the impluvium, he made a dreadful vow
+to Erebus, Hecate, and his own household lares, that he would have
+vengeance.
+
+And he received a sort of consolation. He had at least something to live
+for and something with which to fill his nights and days. Then, dropping
+his idea of visiting Aulus, he gave command to bear him to the Palatine.
+Along the way he concluded that if they would not admit him to Caesar,
+or if they should try to find weapons on his person, it would be a proof
+that Caesar had taken Lygia. He had no weapons with him. He had lost
+presence of mind in general; but as is usual with persons possessed by a
+single idea, he preserved it in that which concerned his revenge. He did
+not wish his desire of revenge to fall away prematurely. He wished above
+all to see Acte, for he expected to learn the truth from her. At moments
+the hope flashed on him that he might see Lygia also, and at that
+thought he began to tremble. For if Caesar had carried her away without
+knowledge of whom he was taking, he might return her that day. But after
+a while he cast aside this supposition. Had there been a wish to return
+her to him, she would have been sent yesterday. Acte was the only person
+who could explain everything, and there was need to see her before
+others.
+
+Convinced of this, he commanded the slaves to hasten; and along the road
+he thought without order, now of Lygia, now of revenge. He had heard
+that Egyptian priests of the goddess Pasht could bring disease on
+whomever they wished, and he determined to learn the means of doing
+this. In the Orient they had told him, too, that Jews have certain
+invocations by which they cover their enemies' bodies with ulcers.
+He had a number of Jews among his domestic slaves; hence he promised
+himself to torture them on his return till they divulged the secret. He
+found most delight, however, in thinking of the short Roman sword which
+lets out a stream of blood such as had gushed from Caius Caligula and
+made ineffaceable stains on the columns of the portico. He was ready
+to exterminate all Rome; and had vengeful gods promised that all people
+should die except him and Lygia, he would have accepted the promise.
+
+In front of the arch he regained presence of mind, and thought when he
+saw the pretorian guard, "If they make the least difficulty in admitting
+me, they will prove that Lygia is in the palace by the will of Caesar."
+
+But the chief centurion smiled at him in a friendly manner, then
+advanced a number of steps, and said,--"A greeting, noble tribune.
+If thou desire to give an obeisance to Caesar, thou hast found an
+unfortunate moment. I do not think that thou wilt be able to see him."
+
+"What has happened?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"The infant Augusta fell ill yesterday on a sudden. Caesar and the august
+Poppaea are attending her, with physicians whom they have summoned from
+the whole city."
+
+This was an important event. When that daughter was born to him, Caesar
+was simply wild from delight, and received her with extra humanum
+gaudium. Previously the senate had committed the womb of Poppaea to the
+gods with the utmost solemnity. A votive offering was made at Antium,
+where the delivery took place; splendid games were celebrated, and
+besides a temple was erected to the two Fortunes. Nero, unable to be
+moderate in anything, loved the infant beyond measure; to Poppaea the
+child was dear also, even for this, that it strengthened her position
+and made her influence irresistible.
+
+The fate of the whole empire might depend on the health and life of the
+infant Augusta; but Vinicius was so occupied with himself, his own case
+and his love, that without paying attention to the news of the centurion
+he answered, "I only wish to see Acte." And he passed in.
+
+But Acte was occupied also near the child, and he had to wait a long
+time to see her. She came only about midday, with a face pale and
+wearied, which grew paler still at sight of Vinicius.
+
+"Acte!" cried Vinicius, seizing her hand and drawing her to the middle
+of the atrium, "where is Lygia?"
+
+"I wanted to ask thee touching that," answered she, looking him in the
+eyes with reproach.
+
+But though he had promised himself to inquire of her calmly, he pressed
+his head with his hands again, and said, with a face distorted by pain
+and anger,--"She is gone. She was taken from me on the way!"
+
+After a while, however, he recovered, and thrusting his face up to
+Acte's, said through his set teeth,--"Acte! If life be dear to thee,
+if thou wish not to cause misfortunes which thou are unable even to
+imagine, answer me truly. Did Caesar take her?"
+
+"Caesar did not leave the palace yesterday."
+
+"By the shade of thy mother, by all the gods, is she not in the palace?"
+
+"By the shade of my mother, Marcus, she is not in the palace, and Caesar
+did not intercept her. The infant Augusta is ill since yesterday, and
+Nero has not left her cradle."
+
+Vinicius drew breath. That which had seemed the most terrible ceased to
+threaten him.
+
+"Ah, then," said he, sitting on the bench and clinching his fists,
+"Aulus intercepted her, and in that case woe to him!"
+
+"Aulus Plautius was here this morning. He could not see me, for I was
+occupied with the child; but he inquired of Epaphroditus, and others of
+Caesar's servants, touching Lygia, and told them that he would come again
+to see me."
+
+"He wished to turn suspicion from himself. If he knew not what happened,
+he would have come to seek Lygia in my house."
+
+"He left a few words on a tablet, from which thou wilt see that, knowing
+Lygia to have been taken from his house by Caesar, at thy request and
+that of Petronius, he expected that she would be sent to thee, and
+this morning early he was at thy house, where they told him what had
+happened."
+
+When she had said this, she went to the cubiculum and returned soon with
+the tablet which Aulus had left.
+
+Vinicius read the tablet, and was silent; Acte seemed to read the
+thoughts on his gloomy face, for she said after a while,--"No, Marcus.
+That has happened which Lygia herself wished."
+
+"It was known to thee that she wished to flee!" burst out Vinicius.
+
+"I knew that she would not become thy concubine." And she looked at him
+with her misty eyes almost sternly.
+
+"And thou,--what hast thou been all thy life?"
+
+"I was a slave, first of all."
+
+But Vinicius did not cease to be enraged. Caesar had given him Lygia;
+hence he had no need to inquire what she had been before. He would find
+her, even under the earth, and he would do what he liked with her. He
+would indeed! She should be his concubine. He would give command to flog
+her as often as he pleased. If she grew distasteful to him, he would
+give her to the lowest of his slaves, or he would command her to turn a
+handmill on his lands in Africa. He would seek her out now, and find her
+only to bend her, to trample on her, and conquer her.
+
+And, growing more and more excited, he lost every sense of measure, to
+the degree that even Acte saw that he was promising more than he could
+execute; that he was talking because of pain and anger. She might have
+had even compassion on him, but his extravagance exhausted her patience,
+and at last she inquired why he had come to her.
+
+Vinicius did not find an answer immediately. He had come to her
+because he wished to come, because he judged that she would give him
+information; but really he had come to Caesar, and, not being able to see
+him, he came to her. Lygia, by fleeing, opposed the will of Caesar; hence
+he would implore him to give an order to search for her throughout the
+city and the empire, even if it came to using for that purpose all the
+legions, and to ransacking in turn every house within Roman dominion.
+Petronius would support his prayer, and the search would begin from that
+day.
+
+"Have a care," answered Acte, "lest thou lose her forever the moment she
+is found, at command of Caesar."
+
+Vinicius wrinkled his brows. "What does that mean?" inquired he.
+
+"Listen to me, Marcus. Yesterday Lygia and I were in the gardens here,
+and we met Poppaea, with the infant Augusta, borne by an African woman,
+Lilith. In the evening the child fell ill, and Lilith insists that
+she was bewitched; that that foreign woman whom they met in the garden
+bewitched her. Should the child recover, they will forget this, but
+in the opposite case Poppaea will be the first to accuse Lygia of
+witchcraft, and wherever she is found there will be no rescue for her."
+
+A moment of silence followed; then Vinicius said,--"But perhaps she did
+bewitch her, and has bewitched me."
+
+"Lilith repeats that the child began to cry the moment she carried her
+past us. And really the child did begin to cry. It is certain that she
+was sick when they took her out of the garden. Marcus, seek for Lygia
+whenever it may please thee, but till the infant Augusta recovers, speak
+not of her to Caesar, or thou wilt bring on her Poppaea's vengeance. Her
+eyes have wept enough because of thee already, and may all the gods
+guard her poor head."
+
+"Dost thou love her, Acte?" inquired Vinicius, gloomily.
+
+"Yes, I love her." And tears glittered in the eyes of the freedwoman.
+
+"Thou lovest her because she has not repaid thee with hatred, as she has
+me."
+
+Acte looked at him for a time as if hesitating, or as if wishing to
+learn if he spoke sincerely; then she said,--"O blind and passionate
+man--she loved thee."
+
+Vinicius sprang up under the influence of those words, as if possessed.
+"It is not true."
+
+She hated him. How could Acte know? Would Lygia make a confession to her
+after one day's acquaintance? What love is that which prefers wandering,
+the disgrace of poverty, the uncertainty of to-morrow, or a shameful
+death even, to a wreath-bedecked house, in which a lover is waiting with
+a feast? It is better for him not to hear such things, for he is ready
+to go mad. He would not have given that girl for all Caesar's treasures,
+and she fled. What kind of love is that which dreads delight and gives
+pain? Who can understand it? Who can fathom it? Were it not for the
+hope that he should find her, he would sink a sword in himself. Love
+surrenders; it does not take away. There were moments at the house of
+Aulus when he himself believed in near happiness, but now he knows
+that she hated him, that she hates him, and will die with hatred in her
+heart.
+
+But Acte, usually mild and timid, burst forth in her turn with
+indignation. How had he tried to win Lygia? Instead of bowing before
+Aulus and Pomponia to get her, he took the child away from her parents
+by stratagem. He wanted to make, not a wife, but a concubine of her, the
+foster daughter of an honorable house, and the daughter of a king.
+He had her brought to this abode of crime and infamy; he defiled her
+innocent eyes with the sight of a shameful feast; he acted with her as
+with a wanton. Had he forgotten the house of Aulus and Pomponia Graecina,
+who had reared Lygia? Had he not sense enough to understand that there
+are women different from Nigidia or Calvia Crispinilla or Poppaea, and
+from all those whom he meets in Caesar's house? Did he not understand at
+once on seeing Lygia that she is an honest maiden, who prefers death to
+infamy? Whence does he know what kind of gods she worships, and whether
+they are not purer and better than the wanton Venus, or than Isis,
+worshipped by the profligate women of Rome? No! Lygia had made no
+confession to her, but she had said that she looked for rescue to him,
+to Vinicius: she had hoped that he would obtain for her permission from
+Caesar to return home, that he would restore her to Pomponia. And while
+speaking of this, Lygia blushed like a maiden who loves and trusts.
+Lygia's heart beat for him; but he, Vinicius, had terrified and offended
+her; had made her indignant; let him seek her now with the aid of
+Caesar's soldiers, but let him know that should Poppaea's child die,
+suspicion will fall on Lygia, whose destruction will then be inevitable.
+
+Emotion began to force its way through the anger and pain of Vinicius.
+The information that he was loved by Lygia shook him to the depth of his
+soul. He remembered her in Aulus's garden, when she was listening to his
+words with blushes on her face and her eyes full of light. It seemed
+to him then that she had begun to love him; and all at once, at that
+thought, a feeling of certain happiness embraced him, a hundred times
+greater than that which he desired. He thought that he might have won
+her gradually, and besides as one loving him. She would have wreathed
+his door, rubbed it with wolf's fat, and then sat as his wife by
+his hearth on the sheepskin. He would have heard from her mouth the
+sacramental: "Where thou art, Caius, there am I, Caia." And she would
+have been his forever. Why did he not act thus? True, he had been ready
+so to act. But now she is gone, and it may be impossible to find her;
+and should he find her, perhaps he will cause her death, and should he
+not cause her death, neither she nor Aulus nor Pomponia Graecina will
+favor him. Here anger raised the hair on his head again; but his anger
+turned now, not against the house of Aulus, or Lygia, but against
+Petronius. Petronius was to blame for everything. Had it not been
+for him Lygia would not have been forced to wander; she would be his
+betrothed, and no danger would be hanging over her dear head. But now
+all is past, and it is too late to correct the evil which will not yield
+to correction.
+
+"Too late!" And it seemed to him that a gulf had opened before his
+feet. He did not know what to begin, how to proceed, whither to betake
+himself. Acte repeated as an echo the words, "Too late," which from
+another's mouth sounded like a death sentence. He understood one thing,
+however, that he must find Lygia, or something evil would happen to him.
+
+And wrapping himself mechanically in his toga, he was about to depart
+without taking farewell even of Acte, when suddenly the curtain
+separating the entrance from the atrium was pushed aside, and he saw
+before him the pensive figure of Pomponia Graecina.
+
+Evidently she too had heard of the disappearance of Lygia, and, judging
+that she could see Acte more easily than Aulus, had come for news to
+her.
+
+But, seeing Vinicius, she turned her pale, delicate face to him, and
+said, after a pause,--"May God forgive thee the wrong, Marcus, which
+thou hast done to us and to Lygia."
+
+He stood with drooping head, with a feeling of misfortune and guilt, not
+understanding what God was to forgive him or could forgive him. Pomponia
+had no cause to mention forgiveness; she ought to have spoken of
+revenge.
+
+At last he went out with a head devoid of counsel, full of grievous
+thoughts, immense care, and amazement.
+
+In the court and under the gallery were crowds of anxious people. Among
+slaves of the palace were knights and senators who had come to inquire
+about the health of the infant, and at the same time to show themselves
+in the palace, and exhibit a proof of their anxiety, even in presence of
+Nero's slaves. News of the illness of the "divine" had spread quickly
+it was evident, for new forms appeared in the gateway every moment, and
+through the opening of the arcade whole crowds were visible. Some of the
+newly arrived, seeing that Vinicius was coming from the palace, attacked
+him for news; but he hurried on without answering their questions,
+till Petronius, who had come for news too, almost struck his breast and
+stopped him.
+
+Beyond doubt Vinicius would have become enraged at sight of Petronius,
+and let himself do some lawless act in Caesar's palace, had it not
+been that when he had left Acte he was so crushed, so weighed down and
+exhausted, that for the moment even his innate irascibility had left
+him. He pushed Petronius aside and wished to pass; but the other
+detained him, by force almost.
+
+"How is the divine infant?" asked he.
+
+But this constraint angered Vinicius a second time, and roused his
+indignation in an instant.
+
+"May Hades swallow her and all this house!" said he, gritting his teeth.
+
+"Silence, hapless man!" said Petronius, and looking around he added
+hurriedly,--"If thou wish to know something of Lygia, come with me; I
+will tell nothing here! Come with me; I will tell my thoughts in the
+litter."
+
+And putting his arm around the young tribune, he conducted him from the
+palace as quickly as possible. That was his main concern, for he had no
+news whatever; but being a man of resources, and having, in spite of
+his indignation of yesterday, much sympathy for Vinicius, and finally
+feeling responsible for all that had happened, he had undertaken
+something already, and when they entered the litter he said,--"I have
+commanded my slaves to watch at every gate. I gave them an accurate
+description of the girl, and that giant who bore her from the feast at
+Caesar's,--for he is the man, beyond doubt, who intercepted her. Listen
+to me: Perhaps Aulus and Pomponia wish to secrete her in some estate
+of theirs; in that case we shall learn the direction in which they took
+her. If my slaves do not see her at some gate, we shall know that she
+is in the city yet, and shall begin this very day to search in Rome for
+her."
+
+"Aulus does not know where she is," answered Vinicius.
+
+"Art thou sure of that?"
+
+"I saw Pomponia. She too is looking for her."
+
+"She could not leave the city yesterday, for the gates are closed at
+night. Two of my people are watching at each gate. One is to follow
+Lygia and the giant, the other to return at once and inform me. If she
+is in the city, we shall find her, for that Lygian is easily recognized,
+even by his stature and his shoulders. Thou art lucky that it was not
+Caesar who took her, and I can assure thee that he did not, for there are
+no secrets from me on the Palatine."
+
+But Vinicius burst forth in sorrow still more than in anger, and in a
+voice broken by emotion told Petronius what he had heard from Acte,
+and what new dangers were threatening Lygia,--dangers so dreadful
+that because of them there would be need to hide her from Poppaea most
+carefully, in case they discovered her. Then he reproached Petronius
+bitterly for his counsel. Had it not been for him, everything would have
+gone differently. Lygia would have been at the house of Aulus, and he,
+Vinicius, might have seen her every day, and he would have been happier
+at that moment than Caesar. And carried away as he went on with his
+narrative, he yielded more and more to emotion, till at last tears of
+sorrow and rage began to fall from his eyes.
+
+Petronius, who had not even thought that the young man could love
+and desire to such a degree, when he saw the tears of despair said to
+himself, with a certain astonishment,--"O mighty Lady of Cyprus, thou
+alone art ruler of gods and men!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+
+WHEN they alighted in front of the arbiter's house, the chief of the
+atrium answered them that of slaves sent to the gates none had returned
+yet. The atriensis had given orders to take food to them, and a new
+command, that under penalty of rods they were to watch carefully all who
+left the city.
+
+"Thou seest," said Petronius, "that they are in Rome, beyond doubt, and
+in that case we shall find them. But command thy people also to watch
+at the gates,--those, namely, who were sent for Lygia, as they will
+recognize her easily."
+
+"I have given orders to send them to rural prisons," said Vinicius, "but
+I will recall the orders at once, and let them go to the gates."
+
+And writing a few words on a wax-covered tablet, he handed it to
+Petronius, who gave directions to send it at once to the house of
+Vinicius. Then they passed into the interior portico, and, sitting on
+a marble bench, began to talk. The golden-haired Eunice and Iras pushed
+bronze footstools under their feet, and poured wine for them into
+goblets, out of wonderful narrow-necked pitchers from Volaterrae and
+Caecina.
+
+"Hast thou among thy people any one who knows that giant Lygian?" asked
+Petronius.
+
+"Atacinus and Gulo knew him; but Atacinus fell yesterday at the litter,
+and Gulo I killed."
+
+"I am sorry for him," said Petronius. "He carried not only thee, but me,
+in his arms."
+
+"I intended to free him," answered Vinicius; "but do not mention him.
+Let us speak of Lygia. Rome is a sea-"
+
+"A sea is just the place where men fish for pearls. Of course we shall
+not find her to-day, or to-morrow, but we shall find her surely. Thou
+hast accused me just now of giving thee this method; but the method was
+good in itself, and became bad only when turned to bad. Thou hast heard
+from Aulus himself, that he intends to go to Sicily with his whole
+family. In that case the girl would be far from thee."
+
+"I should follow them," said Vinicius, "and in every case she would be
+out of danger; but now, if that child dies, Poppaea will believe, and
+will persuade Caesar, that she died because of Lygia."
+
+"True; that alarmed me, too. But that little doll may recover. Should
+she die, we shall find some way of escape."
+
+Here Petronius meditated a while and added,--"Poppaea, it is said,
+follows the religion of the Jews, and believes in evil spirits. Caesar
+is superstitious. If we spread the report that evil spirits carried off
+Lygia, the news will find belief, especially as neither Caesar nor Aulus
+Plautius intercepted her; her escape was really mysterious. The Lygian
+could not have effected it alone; he must have had help. And where could
+a slave find so many people in the course of one day?"
+
+"Slaves help one another in Rome."
+
+"Some person pays for that with blood at times. True, they support one
+another, but not some against others. In this case it was known that
+responsibility and punishment would fall on thy people. If thou give
+thy people the idea of evil spirits, they will say at once that they saw
+such with their own eyes, because that will justify them in thy sight.
+Ask one of them, as a test, if he did not see spirits carrying off Lygia
+through the air, he will swear at once by the aegis of Zeus that he saw
+them."
+
+Vinicius, who was superstitious also, looked at Petronius with sudden
+and great fear.
+
+"If Ursus could not have men to help him, and was not able to take her
+alone, who could take her?"
+
+Petronius began to laugh.
+
+"See," said he, "they will believe, since thou art half a believer
+thyself. Such is our society, which ridicules the gods. They, too, will
+believe, and they will not look for her. Meanwhile we shall put her away
+somewhere far off from the city, in some villa of mine or thine."
+
+"But who could help her?"
+
+"Her co-religionists," answered Petronius.
+
+"Who are they? What deity does she worship? I ought to know that better
+than thou."
+
+"Nearly every woman in Rome honors a different one. It is almost beyond
+doubt that Pomponia reared her in the religion of that deity which
+she herself worships; what one she worships I know not. One thing is
+certain, that no person has seen her make an offering to our gods in any
+temple. They have accused her even of being a Christian; but that is not
+possible; a domestic tribunal cleared her of the charge. They say that
+Christians not only worship an ass's head, but are enemies of the human
+race, and permit the foulest crimes. Pomponia cannot be a Christian,
+as her virtue is known, and an enemy of the human race could not treat
+slaves as she does."
+
+"In no house are they treated as at Aulus's," interrupted Vinicius.
+
+"Ah! Pomponia mentioned to me some god, who must be one powerful and
+merciful. Where she has put away all the others is her affair; it is
+enough that that Logos of hers cannot be very mighty, or rather he must
+be a very weak god, since he has had only two adherents,--Pomponia and
+Lygia,--and Ursus in addition. It must be that there are more of those
+adherents, and that they assisted Lygia."
+
+"That faith commands forgiveness," said Vinicius. "At Acte's I met
+Pomponia, who said to me: 'May God forgive thee the evil which thou hast
+done to us and to Lygia.'"
+
+"Evidently their God is some curator who is very mild. Ha! let him
+forgive thee, and in sign of forgiveness return thee the maiden."
+
+"I would offer him a hecatomb to-morrow! I have no wish for food, or the
+bath, or sleep. I will take a dark lantern and wander through the city.
+Perhaps I shall find her in disguise. I am sick."
+
+Petronius looked at him with commiseration. In fact, there was blue
+under his eyes, his pupils were gleaming with fever, his unshaven beard
+indicated a dark strip on his firmly outlined jaws, his hair was in
+disorder, and he was really like a sick man. Iras and the golden-haired
+Eunice looked at him also with sympathy; but he seemed not to see them,
+and he and Petronius took no notice whatever of the slave women, just as
+they would not have noticed dogs moving around them.
+
+"Fever is tormenting thee," said Petronius.
+
+"It is."
+
+"Then listen to me. I know not what the doctor has prescribed to thee,
+but I know how I should act in thy place. Till this lost one is found I
+should seek in another that which for the moment has gone from me with
+her. I saw splendid forms at thy villa. Do not contradict me. I know
+what love is; and I know that when one is desired another cannot
+take her place. But in a beautiful slave it is possible to find even
+momentary distraction."
+
+"I do not need it," said Vinicius.
+
+But Petronius, who had for him a real weakness, and who wished to soften
+his pain, began to meditate how he might do so.
+
+"Perhaps thine have not for thee the charm of novelty," said he, after a
+while (and here he began to look in turn at Iras and Eunice, and finally
+he placed his palm on the hip of the golden-haired Eunice). "Look
+at this grace! for whom some days since Fonteius Capiton the younger
+offered three wonderful boys from Clazomene. A more beautiful figure
+than hers even Skopas himself has not chiselled. I myself cannot tell
+why I have remained indifferent to her thus far, since thoughts of
+Chrysothemis have not restrained me. Well, I give her to thee; take her
+for thyself!"
+
+When the golden-haired Eunice heard this, she grew pale in one moment,
+and, looking with frightened eyes on Vinicius, seemed to wait for his
+answer without breath in her breast.
+
+But he sprang up suddenly, and, pressing his temples with his hands,
+said quickly, like a man who is tortured by disease, and will not hear
+anything,--"No, no! I care not for her! I care not for others! I thank
+thee, but I do not want her. I will seek that one through the city. Give
+command to bring me a Gallic cloak with a hood. I will go beyond the
+Tiber--if I could see even Ursus."
+
+And he hurried away. Petronius, seeing that he could not remain in one
+place, did not try to detain him. Taking, however, his refusal as a
+temporary dislike for all women save Lygia, and not wishing his own
+magnanimity to go for naught, he said, turning to the slave,--"Eunice,
+thou wilt bathe and anoint thyself, then dress: after that thou wilt go
+to the house of Vinicius."
+
+But she dropped before him on her knees, and with joined palms implored
+him not to remove her from the house. She would not go to Vinicius, she
+said. She would rather carry fuel to the hypocaustum in his house than
+be chief servant in that of Vinicius. She would not, she could not go;
+and she begged him to have pity on her. Let him give command to flog her
+daily, only not send her away.
+
+And trembling like a leaf with fear and excitement, she stretched her
+hands to him, while he listened with amazement. A slave who ventured to
+beg relief from the fulfilment of a command, who said "I will not and
+I cannot," was something so unheard-of in Rome that Petronius could not
+believe his own ears at first. Finally he frowned. He was too refined
+to be cruel. His slaves, especially in the department of pleasure,
+were freer than others, on condition of performing their service in an
+exemplary manner, and honoring the will of their master, like that of a
+god. In case they failed in these two respects, he was able not to spare
+punishment, to which, according to general custom, they were subject.
+Since, besides this, he could not endure opposition, nor anything which
+ruffled his calmness, he looked for a while at the kneeling girl, and
+then said,--"Call Tiresias, and return with him."
+
+Eunice rose, trembling, with tears in her eyes, and went out; after a
+time she returned with the chief of the atrium, Tiresias, a Cretan.
+
+"Thou wilt take Eunice," said Petronius, "and give her five-and-twenty
+lashes, in such fashion, however, as not to harm her skin."
+
+When he had said this, he passed into the library, and, sitting down
+at a table of rose-colored marble, began to work on his "Feast of
+Trimalchion." But the flight of Lygia and the illness of the infant
+Augusta had disturbed his mind so much that he could not work long. That
+illness, above all, was important. It occurred to Petronius that
+were Caesar to believe that Lygia had cast spells on the infant, the
+responsibility might fall on him also, for the girl had been brought
+at his request to the palace. But he could reckon on this, that at the
+first interview with Caesar he would be able in some way to show the
+utter absurdity of such an idea; he counted a little, too, on a certain
+weakness which Poppaea had for him,--a weakness hidden carefully, it is
+true, but not so carefully that he could not divine it. After a while
+he shrugged his shoulders at these fears, and decided to go to the
+triclinium to strengthen himself, and then order the litter to bear him
+once more to the palace, after that to the Campus Martius, and then to
+Chrysothemis.
+
+But on the way to the triclinium at the entrance to the corridor
+assigned to servants, he saw unexpectedly the slender form of Eunice
+standing, among other slaves, at the wall; and forgetting that he had
+given Tiresias no order beyond flogging her, he wrinkled his brow again,
+and looked around for the atriensis. Not seeing him among the servants,
+he turned to Eunice.
+
+"Hast thou received the lashes?"
+
+She cast herself at his feet a second time, pressed the border of his
+toga to her lips, and said,--"Oh, yes, lord, I have received them! Oh,
+yes, lord!" In her voice were heard, as it were, joy and gratitude. It
+was clear that she looked on the lashes as a substitute for her removal
+from the house, and that now she might stay there. Petronius, who
+understood this, wondered at the passionate resistance of the girl; but
+he was too deeply versed in human nature not to know that love alone
+could call forth such resistance.
+
+"Dost thou love some one in this house?" asked he.
+
+She raised her blue, tearful eyes to him, and answered, in a voice so
+low that it was hardly possible to hear her,--"Yes, lord."
+
+And with those eyes, with that golden hair thrown back, with fear
+and hope in her face, she was so beautiful, she looked at him so
+entreatingly, that Petronius, who, as a philosopher, had proclaimed the
+might of love, and who, as a man of aesthetic nature, had given homage to
+all beauty, felt for her a certain species of compassion.
+
+"Whom of those dost thou love?" inquired he, indicating the servants
+with his head.
+
+There was no answer to that question. Eunice inclined her head to his
+feet and remained motionless.
+
+Petronius looked at the slaves, among whom were beautiful and stately
+youths. He could read nothing on any face; on the contrary, all had
+certain strange smiles. He looked then for a while on Eunice lying at
+his feet, and went in silence to the triclinium.
+
+After he had eaten, he gave command to bear him to the palace, and then
+to Chrysothemis, with whom he remained till late at night. But when he
+returned, he gave command to call Tiresias.
+
+"Did Eunice receive the flogging?" inquired he.
+
+"She did, lord. Thou didst not let the skin be cut, however."
+
+"Did I give no other command touching her?"
+
+"No, lord," answered the atriensis with alarm.
+
+"That is well. Whom of the slaves does she love?"
+
+"No one, lord."
+
+"What dost thou know of her?"
+
+Tiresias began to speak in a somewhat uncertain voice:
+
+"At night Eunice never leaves the cubiculum in which she lives with
+old Acrisiona and Ifida; after thou art dressed she never goes to the
+bath-rooms. Other slaves ridicule her, and call her Diana."
+
+"Enough," said Petronius. "My relative, Vinicius, to whom I offered her
+to-day, did not accept her; hence she may stay in the house. Thou art
+free to go."
+
+"Is it permitted me to speak more of Eunice, lord?"
+
+"I have commanded thee to say all thou knowest."
+
+"The whole familia are speaking of the flight of the maiden who was to
+dwell in the house of the noble Vinicius. After thy departure, Eunice
+came to me and said that she knew a man who could find her."
+
+"Ah! What kind of man is he?"
+
+"I know not, lord; but I thought that I ought to inform thee of this
+matter."
+
+"That is well. Let that man wait to-morrow in my house for the arrival
+of the tribune, whom thou wilt request in my name to meet me here."
+
+The atriensis bowed and went out. But Petronius began to think of
+Eunice. At first it seemed clear to him that the young slave wished
+Vinicius to find Lygia for this reason only, that she would not be
+forced from his house. Afterward, however, it occurred to him that the
+man whom Eunice was pushing forward might be her lover, and all at once
+that thought seemed to him disagreeable. There was, it is true, a simple
+way of learning the truth, for it was enough to summon Eunice; but
+the hour was late, Petronius felt tired after his long visit with
+Chrysothemis, and was in a hurry to sleep. But on the way to the
+cubiculum he remembered--it is unknown why--that he had noticed
+wrinkles, that day, in the corners of Chrysothemis's eyes. He thought,
+also, that her beauty was more celebrated in Rome than it deserved; and
+that Fonteius Capiton, who had offered him three boys from Clazomene for
+Eunice, wanted to buy her too cheaply.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+
+NEXT morning, Petronius had barely finished dressing in the unctorium
+when Vinicius came, called by Tiresias. He knew that no news had come
+from the gates. This information, instead of comforting him, as a proof
+that Lygia was still in Rome, weighed him down still more, for he began
+to think that Ursus might have conducted her out of the city immediately
+after her seizure, and hence before Petronius's slaves had begun to
+keep watch at the gates. It is true that in autumn, when the days become
+shorter, the gates are closed rather early; but it is true, also,
+that they are opened for persons going out, and the number of these is
+considerable. It was possible, also, to pass the walls by other ways,
+well known, for instance, to slaves who wish to escape from the city.
+Vinicius had sent out his people to all roads leading to the provinces,
+to watchmen in the smaller towns, proclaiming a pair of fugitive slaves,
+with a detailed description of Ursus and Lygia, coupled with the offer
+of a reward for seizing them. But it was doubtful whether that pursuit
+would reach the fugitives; and even should it reach them, whether the
+local authorities would feel justified in making the arrest at the
+private instance of Vinicius, without the support of a pretor. Indeed,
+there had not been time to obtain such support. Vinicius himself,
+disguised as a slave, had sought Lygia the whole day before, through
+every corner of the city, but had been unable to find the least
+indication or trace of her. He had seen Aulus's servants, it is true;
+but they seemed to be seeking something also, and that confirmed him
+in the belief that it was not Aulus who had intercepted the maiden, and
+that the old general did not know what had happened to her.
+
+When Tiresias announced to him, then, that there was a man who would
+undertake to find Lygia, he hurried with all speed to the house of
+Petronius; and barely had he finished saluting his uncle, when he
+inquired for the man.
+
+"We shall see him at once, Eunice knows him," said Petronius. "She will
+come this moment to arrange the folds of my toga, and will give nearer
+information concerning him."
+
+"Oh! she whom thou hadst the wish to bestow on me yesterday?"
+
+"The one whom thou didst reject; for which I am grateful, for she is the
+best vestiplica in the whole city."
+
+In fact, the vestiplica came in before he had finished speaking, and
+taking the toga, laid on a chair inlaid with pearl, she opened the
+garment to throw it on Petronius's shoulder. Her face was clear and
+calm; joy was in her eyes.
+
+Petronius looked at her. She seemed to him very beautiful. After a
+while, when she had covered him with the toga, she began to arrange it,
+bending at times to lengthen the folds. He noticed that her arms had a
+marvellous pale rose-color, and her bosom and shoulders the transparent
+reflections of pearl or alabaster.
+
+"Eunice," said he, "has the man come to Tiresias whom thou didst mention
+yesterday?"
+
+"He has, lord."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+"Chilo Chilonides."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A physician, a sage, a soothsayer, who knows how to read people's fates
+and predict the future."
+
+"Has he predicted the future to thee?"
+
+Eunice was covered with a blush which gave a rosy color to her ears and
+her neck even.
+
+"Yes, lord."
+
+"What has he predicted?"
+
+"That pain and happiness would meet me."
+
+"Pain met thee yesterday at the hands of Tiresias; hence happiness also
+should come."
+
+"It has come, lord, already."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I remain," said she in a whisper.
+
+Petronius put his hand on her golden head.
+
+"Thou hast arranged the folds well to-day, and I am satisfied with thee,
+Eunice."
+
+Under that touch her eyes were mist-covered in one instant from
+happiness, and her bosom began to heave quickly.
+
+Petronius and Vinicius passed into the atrium, where Chilo Chilonides
+was waiting. When he saw them, he made a low bow. A smile came to the
+lips of Petronius at thought of his suspicion of yesterday, that this
+man might be Eunice's lover. The man who was standing before him could
+not be any one's lover. In that marvellous figure there was something
+both foul and ridiculous. He was not old; in his dirty beard and curly
+locks a gray hair shone here and there. He had a lank stomach and
+stooping shoulders, so that at the first cast of the eye he appeared to
+be hunchbacked; above that hump rose a large head, with the face of
+a monkey and also of a fox; the eye was penetrating. His yellowish
+complexion was varied with pimples; and his nose, covered with them
+completely, might indicate too great a love for the bottle. His
+neglected apparel, composed of a dark tunic of goat's wool and a mantle
+of similar material with holes in it, showed real or simulated poverty.
+At sight of him, Homer's Thersites came to the mind of Petronius. Hence,
+answering with a wave of the hand to his bow, he said,--
+
+"A greeting, divine Thersites! How are the lumps which Ulysses gave thee
+at Troy, and what is he doing himself in the Elysian Fields?"
+
+"Noble lord," answered Chilo Chilonides, "Ulysses, the wisest of the
+dead, sends a greeting through me to Petronius, the wisest of the
+living, and the request to cover my lumps with a new mantle."
+
+"By Hecate Triformis!" exclaimed Petronius, "the answer deserves a new
+mantle."
+
+But further conversation was interrupted by the impatient Vinicius, who
+inquired directly,--"Dost thou know clearly what thou art undertaking?"
+
+"When two households in two lordly mansions speak of naught else, and
+when half Rome is repeating the news, it is not difficult to know,"
+answered Chilo. "The night before last a maiden named Lygia, but
+specially Callina, and reared in the house of Aulus Plautius, was
+intercepted. Thy slaves were conducting her, O lord, from Caesar's palace
+to thy 'insula,' and I undertake to find her in the city, or, if she
+has left the city--which is little likely--to indicate to thee, noble
+tribune, whither she has fled and where she has hidden."
+
+"That is well," said Vinicius, who was pleased with the precision of the
+answer. "What means hast thou to do this?"
+
+Chilo smiled cunningly. "Thou hast the means, lord; I have the wit
+only."
+
+Petronius smiled also, for he was perfectly satisfied with his guest.
+
+"That man can find the maiden," thought he. Meanwhile Vinicius wrinkled
+his joined brows, and said,--"Wretch, in case thou deceive me for gain,
+I will give command to beat thee with clubs."
+
+"I am a philosopher, lord, and a philosopher cannot be greedy of gain,
+especially of such as thou hast just offered magnanimously."
+
+"Oh, art thou a philosopher?" inquired Petronius. "Eunice told me that
+thou art a physician and a soothsayer. Whence knowest thou Eunice?"
+
+"She came to me for aid, for my fame struck her ears."
+
+"What aid did she want?"
+
+"Aid in love, lord. She wanted to be cured of unrequited love."
+
+"Didst thou cure her?"
+
+"I did more, lord. I gave her an amulet which secures mutuality. In
+Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, is a temple, O lord, in which is
+preserved a zone of Venus. I gave her two threads from that zone,
+enclosed in an almond shell."
+
+"And didst thou make her pay well for them?"
+
+"One can never pay enough for mutuality, and I, who lack two fingers on
+my right hand, am collecting money to buy a slave copyist to write down
+my thoughts, and preserve my wisdom for mankind."
+
+"Of what school art thou, divine sage?"
+
+"I am a Cynic, lord, because I wear a tattered mantle; I am a Stoic,
+because I bear poverty patiently; I am a Peripatetic, for, not owning a
+litter, I go on foot from one wine-shop to another, and on the way teach
+those who promise to pay for a pitcher of wine."
+
+"And at the pitcher thou dost become a rhetor?"
+
+"Heraclitus declares that 'all is fluid,' and canst thou deny, lord,
+that wine is fluid?"
+
+"And he declared that fire is a divinity; divinity, therefore, is
+blushing in thy nose."
+
+"But the divine Diogenes from Apollonia declared that air is the essence
+of things, and the warmer the air the more perfect the beings it makes,
+and from the warmest come the souls of sages. And since the autumns are
+cold, a genuine sage should warm his soul with wine; and wouldst thou
+hinder, O lord, a pitcher of even the stuff produced in Capua or Telesia
+from bearing heat to all the bones of a perishable human body?"
+
+"Chilo Chilonides, where is thy birthplace?"
+
+"On the Euxine Pontus. I come from Mesembria."
+
+"Oh, Chilo, thou art great!"
+
+"And unrecognized," said the sage, pensively.
+
+But Vinicius was impatient again. In view of the hope which had gleamed
+before him, he wished Chilo to set out at once on his work; hence the
+whole conversation seemed to him simply a vain loss of time, and he was
+angry at Petronius.
+
+"When wilt thou begin the search?" asked he, turning to the Greek.
+
+"I have begun it already," answered Chilo. "And since I am here,
+and answering thy affable question, I am searching yet. Only have
+confidence, honored tribune, and know that if thou wert to lose the
+string of thy sandal I should find it, or him who picked it up on the
+street."
+
+"Hast thou been employed in similar services?" asked Petronius.
+
+The Greek raised his eyes. "To-day men esteem virtue and wisdom too low,
+for a philosopher not to be forced to seek other means of living."
+
+"What are thy means?"
+
+"To know everything, and to serve those with news who are in need of
+it."
+
+"And who pay for it?"
+
+"Ah, lord, I need to buy a copyist. Otherwise my wisdom will perish with
+me."
+
+"If thou hast not collected enough yet to buy a sound mantle, thy
+services cannot be very famous."
+
+"Modesty hinders me. But remember, lord, that to-day there are not such
+benefactors as were numerous formerly; and for whom it was as pleasant
+to cover service with gold as to swallow an oyster from Puteoli. No; my
+services are not small, but the gratitude of mankind is small. At times,
+when a valued slave escapes, who will find him, if not the only son of
+my father? When on the walls there are inscriptions against the divine
+Poppaea, who will indicate those who composed them? Who will discover at
+the book-stalls verses against Caesar? Who will declare what is said in
+the houses of knights and senators? Who will carry letters which the
+writers will not intrust to slaves? Who will listen to news at the doors
+of barbers? For whom have wine-shops and bake-shops no secret? In whom
+do slaves trust? Who can see through every house, from the atrium to the
+garden? Who knows every street, every alley and hiding-place? Who
+knows what they say in the baths, in the Circus, in the markets, in the
+fencing-schools, in slave-dealers' sheds, and even in the arenas?"
+
+"By the gods! enough, noble sage!" cried Petronius; "we are drowning
+in thy services, thy virtue, thy wisdom, and thy eloquence. Enough! We
+wanted to know who thou art, and we know!"
+
+But Vinicius was glad, for he thought that this man, like a hound, once
+put on the trail, would not stop till he had found out the hiding-place.
+
+"Well," said he, "dost thou need indications?"
+
+"I need arms."
+
+"Of what kind?" asked Vinicius, with astonishment.
+
+The Greek stretched out one hand; with the other he made the gesture of
+counting money.
+
+"Such are the times, lord," said he, with a sigh.
+
+"Thou wilt be the ass, then," said Petronius, "to win the fortress with
+bags of gold?"
+
+"I am only a poor philosopher," answered Chilo, with humility; "ye have
+the gold."
+
+Vinicius tossed him a purse, which the Greek caught in the air, though
+two fingers were lacking on his right hand.
+
+He raised his head then, and said: "I know more than thou thinkest.
+I have not come empty-handed. I know that Aulus did not intercept the
+maiden, for I have spoken with his slaves. I know that she is not on the
+Palatine, for all are occupied with the infant Augusta; and perhaps
+I may even divine why ye prefer to search for the maiden with my help
+rather than that of the city guards and Caesar's soldiers. I know that
+her escape was effected by a servant,--a slave coming from the same
+country as she. He could not find assistance among slaves, for slaves
+all stand together, and would not act against thy slaves. Only a
+co-religionist would help him."
+
+"Dost hear, Vinicius?" broke in Petronius. "Have I not said the same,
+word for word, to thee?"
+
+"That is an honor for me," said Chilo. "The maiden, lord," continued he,
+turning again to Vinicius, "worships beyond a doubt the same divinity
+as that most virtuous of Roman ladies, that genuine matron, Pomponia.
+I have heard this, too, that Pomponia was tried in her own house for
+worshipping some kind of foreign god, but I could not learn from her
+slaves what god that is, or what his worshippers are called. If I could
+learn that, I should go to them, become the most devoted among them, and
+gain their confidence. But thou, lord, who hast passed, as I know too,
+a number of days in the house of the noble Aulus, canst thou not give me
+some information thereon?"
+
+"I cannot," said Vinicius.
+
+"Ye have asked me long about various things, noble lords, and I have
+answered the questions; permit me now to give one. Hast thou not seen,
+honored tribune, some statuette, some offering, some token, some amulet
+on Pomponia or thy divine Lygia? Hast thou not seen them making signs to
+each other, intelligible to them alone?"
+
+"Signs? Wait! Yes; I saw once that Lygia made a fish on the sand."
+
+"A fish? A-a! O-o-o! Did she do that once, or a number of times?"
+
+"Only once."
+
+"And art thou certain, lord, that she outlined a fish? O-o?"
+
+"Yes," answered Vinicius, with roused curiosity. "Dost thou divine what
+that means?"
+
+"Do I divine!" exclaimed Chilo. And bowing in sign of farewell, he
+added: "May Fortune scatter on you both equally all gifts, worthy
+lords!"
+
+"Give command to bring thee a mantle," said Petronius to him at parting.
+
+"Ulysses gives thee thanks for Thersites," said the Greek; and bowing a
+second time, he walked out.
+
+"What wilt thou say of that noble sage?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"This, that he will find Lygia," answered Vinicius, with delight; "but I
+will say, too, that were there a kingdom of rogues he might be the king
+of it."
+
+"Most certainly. I shall make a nearer acquaintance with this stoic;
+meanwhile I must give command to perfume the atrium."
+
+But Chilo Chilonides, wrapping his new mantle about him, threw up on
+his palm, under its folds, the purse received from Vinicius, and admired
+both its weight and its jingle. Walking on slowly, and looking around
+to see if they were not looking at him from the house, he passed the
+portico of Livia, and, reaching the corner of the Clivus Virbius, turned
+toward the Subura.
+
+"I must go to Sporus," said he to himself, "and pour out a little wine
+to Fortuna. I have found at last what I have been seeking this long
+time. He is young, irascible, bounteous as mines in Cyprus, and ready
+to give half his fortune for that Lygian linnet. Just such a man have
+I been seeking this long time. It is needful, however, to be on one's
+guard with him, for the wrinkling of his brow forebodes no good. Ah! the
+wolf-whelps lord it over the world to-day! I should fear that Petronius
+less. O gods! but the trade of procurer pays better at present than
+virtue. Ah! she drew a fish on the sand! If I know what that means, may
+I choke myself with a piece of goat's cheese! But I shall know. Fish
+live under water, and searching under water is more difficult than on
+land, ergo he will pay me separately for this fish. Another such purse
+and I might cast aside the beggar's wallet and buy myself a slave. But
+what wouldst thou say, Chilo, were I to advise thee to buy not a male
+but a female slave? I know thee; I know that thou wouldst consent. If
+she were beautiful, like Eunice, for instance, thou thyself wouldst grow
+young near her, and at the same time wouldst have from her a good and
+certain income. I sold to that poor Eunice two threads from my old
+mantle. She is dull; but if Petronius were to give her to me, I would
+take her. Yes, yes, Chilo Chilonides, thou hast lost father and mother,
+thou art an orphan; therefore buy to console thee even a female slave.
+She must indeed live somewhere, therefore Vinicius will hire her a
+dwelling, in which thou too mayest find shelter; she must dress, hence
+Vinicius will pay for the dress; and must eat, hence he will support
+her. Och! what a hard life! Where are the times in which for an obolus a
+man could buy as much pork and beans as he could hold in both hands, or
+a piece of goat's entrails as long as the arm of a boy twelve years old,
+and filled with blood? But here is that villain Sporus! In the wine-shop
+it will be easier to learn something."
+
+Thus conversing, he entered the wine-shop and ordered a pitcher of
+"dark" for himself. Seeing the sceptical look of the shopkeeper, he
+took a gold coin from his purse, and, putting it on the table,
+said,--"Sporus, I toiled to-day with Seneca from dawn till midday, and
+this is what my friend gave me at parting."
+
+The plump eyes of Sporus became plumper still at this sight, and the
+wine was soon before Chilo. Moistening his fingers in it, he drew a fish
+on the table, and said,--"Knowest what that means?"
+
+"A fish? Well, a fish,--yes, that's a fish."
+
+"Thou art dull; though thou dost add so much water to the wine that thou
+mightst find a fish in it. This is a symbol which, in the language of
+philosophers, means 'the smile of fortune.' If thou hadst divined it,
+thou too mightst have made a fortune. Honor philosophy, I tell thee,
+or I shall change my wine-shop,--an act to which Petronius, my personal
+friend, has been urging me this long time."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+
+FOR a number of days after the interview, Chilo did not show himself
+anywhere. Vinicius, since he had learned from Acte that Lygia loved him,
+was a hundred times more eager to find her, and began himself to search.
+He was unwilling, and also unable, to ask aid of Caesar, who was in great
+fear because of the illness of the infant Augusta.
+
+Sacrifices in the temples did not help, neither did prayers and
+offerings, nor the art of physicians, nor all the means of enchantment
+to which they turned finally. In a week the child died. Mourning fell
+upon the court and Rome. Caesar, who at the birth of the infant was wild
+with delight, was wild now from despair, and, confining himself in
+his apartments, refused food for two days; and though the palace was
+swarming with senators and Augustians, who hastened with marks of sorrow
+and sympathy, he denied audience to every one. The senate assembled in
+an extraordinary session, at which the dead child was pronounced divine.
+It was decided to rear to her a temple and appoint a special priest to
+her service. New sacrifices were offered in other temples in honor of
+the deceased; statues of her were cast from precious metals; and her
+funeral was one immense solemnity, during which the people wondered at
+the unrestrained marks of grief which Caesar exhibited; they wept
+with him, stretched out their hands for gifts, and above all amused
+themselves with the unparalleled spectacle.
+
+That death alarmed Petronius. All knew in Rome that Poppaea ascribed it
+to enchantment. The physicians, who were thus enabled to explain the
+vanity of their efforts, supported her; the priests, whose sacrifices
+proved powerless, did the same, as well as the sorcerers, who were
+trembling for their lives, and also the people. Petronius was glad now
+that Lygia had fled; for he wished no evil to Aulus and Pomponia, and he
+wished good to himself and Vinicius; therefore when the cypress, set out
+before the Palatine as a sign of mourning, was removed, he went to the
+reception appointed for the senators and Augustians to learn how far
+Nero had lent ear to reports of spells, and to neutralize results which
+might come from his belief.
+
+Knowing Nero, he thought, too, that though he did not believe in charms,
+he would feign belief, so as to magnify his own suffering, and take
+vengeance on some one, finally, to escape the suspicion that the gods
+had begun to punish him for crimes. Petronius did not think that Caesar
+could love really and deeply even his own child; though he loved her
+passionately, he felt certain, however, that he would exaggerate his
+suffering. He was not mistaken. Nero listened, with stony face and fixed
+eyes, to the consolation offered by knights and senators. It was evident
+that, even if he suffered, he was thinking of this: What impression
+would his suffering make upon others? He was posing as a Niobe, and
+giving an exhibition of parental sorrow, as an actor would give it on
+the stage. He had not the power even then to endure in his silent and as
+it were petrified sorrow, for at moments he made a gesture as if to cast
+the dust of the earth on his head, and at moments he groaned deeply; but
+seeing Petronius, he sprang up and cried in a tragic voice, so that all
+present could hear him,--"Eheu! And thou art guilty of her death! At thy
+advice the evil spirit entered these walls,--the evil spirit which, with
+one look, drew the life from her breast! Woe is me! Would that my eyes
+had not seen the light of Helios! Woe is me! Eheu! eheu!"
+
+And raising his voice still more, he passed into a despairing shout; but
+Petronius resolved at that moment to put everything on one cast of the
+dice; hence, stretching out his hand, he seized the silk kerchief which
+Nero wore around his neck always, and, placing it on the mouth of the
+Imperator, said solemnly,--"Lord, Rome and the world are benumbed with
+pain; but do thou preserve thy voice for us!"
+
+Those present were amazed; Nero himself was amazed for a moment.
+Petronius alone was unmoved; he knew too well what he was doing. He
+remembered, besides, that Terpnos and Diodorus had a direct order to
+close Caesar's mouth whenever he raised his voice too much and exposed it
+to danger.
+
+"O Caesar!" continued he, with the same seriousness and sorrow, "we have
+suffered an immeasurable loss; let even this treasure of consolation
+remain to us!"
+
+Nero's face quivered, and after a while tears came from his eyes. All
+at once he rested his hands on Petronius's shoulders, and, dropping his
+head on his breast, began to repeat, amid sobs,
+
+"Thou alone of all thought of this,--thou alone, O Petronius! thou
+alone!"
+
+Tigellinus grew yellow from envy; but Petronius continued,--
+
+"Go to Antium! there she came to the world, there joy flowed in on
+thee, there solace will come to thee. Let the sea air freshen thy divine
+throat; let thy breast breathe the salt dampness. We, thy devoted
+ones, will follow thee everywhere; and when we assuage thy pain with
+friendship, thou wilt comfort us with song.
+
+"True!" answered Nero, sadly, "I will write a hymn in her honor, and
+compose music for it."
+
+"And then thou wilt find the warm sun in Baiae."
+
+"And afterward--forgetfulness in Greece."
+
+"In the birthplace of poetry and song."
+
+And his stony, gloomy state of mind passed away gradually, as clouds
+pass that are covering the sun; and then a conversation began which,
+though full of sadness, yet was full of plans for the future,--touching
+a journey, artistic exhibitions, and even the receptions required at the
+promised coming of Tiridates, King of Armenia. Tigellinus tried, it is
+true, to bring forward again the enchantment; but Petronius, sure now of
+victory, took up the challenge directly.
+
+"Tigellinus," said he, "dost thou think that enchantments can injure the
+gods?"
+
+"Caesar himself has mentioned them," answered the courtier.
+
+"Pain was speaking, not Caesar; but thou--what is thy opinion of the
+matter?"
+
+"The gods are too mighty to be subject to charms."
+
+"Then wouldst thou deny divinity to Caesar and his family?"
+
+"Peractum est!" muttered Eprius Marcellus, standing near, repeating
+that shout which the people gave always when a gladiator in the arena
+received such a blow that he needed no other.
+
+Tigellinus gnawed his own anger. Between him and Petronius there had
+long existed a rivalry touching Nero. Tigellinus had this superiority,
+that Nero acted with less ceremony, or rather with none whatever in
+his presence; while thus far Petronius overcame Tigellinus at every
+encounter with wit and intellect.
+
+So it happened now. Tigellinus was silent, and simply recorded in his
+memory those senators and knights who, when Petronius withdrew to the
+depth of the chamber, surrounded him straightway, supposing that after
+this incident he would surely be Caesar's first favorite.
+
+Petronius, on leaving the palace, betook himself to Vinicius, and
+described his encounter with Caesar and Tigellinus.
+
+"Not only have I turned away danger," said he, "from Aulus Plautius,
+Pomponia, and us, but even from Lygia, whom they will not seek, even
+for this reason, that I have persuaded Bronzebeard, the monkey, to go to
+Antium, and thence to Naples or Baiae and he will go. I know that he has
+not ventured yet to appear in the theatre publicly; I have known this
+long time that he intends to do so at Naples. He is dreaming, moreover,
+of Greece, where he wants to sing in all the more prominent cities, and
+then make a triumphal entry into Rome, with all the crowns which the
+'Graeculi' will bestow on him. During that time we shall be able to
+seek Lygia unhindered and secrete her in safety. But has not our noble
+philosopher been here yet?"
+
+"Thy noble philosopher is a cheat. No; he has not shown himself, and he
+will not show himself again!"
+
+"But I have a better understanding, if not of his honesty, of his wit.
+He has drawn blood once from thy purse, and will come even for this, to
+draw it a second time."
+
+"Let him beware lest I draw his own blood."
+
+"Draw it not; have patience till thou art convinced surely of his
+deceit. Do not give him more money, but promise a liberal reward if he
+brings thee certain information. Wilt thou thyself undertake something?"
+
+"My two freedmen, Nymphidius and Demas, are searching for her with sixty
+men. Freedom is promised the slave who finds her. Besides I have sent
+out special persons by all roads leading from Rome to inquire at every
+inn for the Lygian and the maiden. I course through the city myself day
+and night, counting on a chance meeting."
+
+"Whenever thou hast tidings let me know, for I must go to Antium."
+
+"I will do so."
+
+"And if thou wake up some morning and say, 'It is not worth while to
+torment myself for one girl, and take so much trouble because of her,'
+come to Antium. There will be no lack of women there, or amusement."
+
+Vinicius began to walk with quick steps. Petronius looked for some time
+at him, and said at last,--"Tell me sincerely, not as a mad head, who
+talks something into his brain and excites himself, but as a man of
+judgment who is answering a friend: Art thou concerned as much as ever
+about this Lygia?"
+
+Vinicius stopped a moment, and looked at Petronius as if he had not
+seen him before; then he began to walk again. It was evident that he
+was restraining an outburst. At last, from a feeling of helplessness,
+sorrow, anger, and invincible yearning, two tears gathered in his eyes,
+which spoke with greater power to Petronius than the most eloquent
+words.
+
+Then, meditating for a moment, he said,--"It is not Atlas who carries
+the world on his shoulders, but woman; and sometimes she plays with it
+as with a ball."
+
+"True," said Vinicius.
+
+And they began to take farewell of each other. But at that moment a
+slave announced that Chilo Chilonides was waiting in the antechamber,
+and begged to be admitted to the presence of the lord.
+
+Vinicius gave command to admit him immediately, and Petronius
+said,--"Ha! have I not told thee? By Hercules! keep thy calmness; or he
+will command thee, not thou him."
+
+"A greeting and honor to the noble tribune of the army, and to thee,
+lord," said Chilo, entering. "May your happiness be equal to your fame,
+and may your fame course through the world from the pillars of Hercules
+to the boundaries of the Arsacidae."
+
+"A greeting, O lawgiver of virtue and wisdom," answered Petronius.
+
+But Vinicius inquired with affected calmness, "What dost thou bring?"
+
+"The first time I came I brought thee hope, O lord; at present, I bring
+certainty that the maiden will be found."
+
+"That means that thou hast not found her yet?"
+
+"Yes, lord; but I have found what that sign means which she made. I
+know who the people are who rescued her, and I know the God among whose
+worshippers to seek her."
+
+Vinicius wished to spring from the chair in which he was sitting;
+but Petronius placed his hand on his shoulder, and turning to Chilo
+said,--"Speak on!"
+
+"Art thou perfectly certain, lord, that she drew a fish on the sand?"
+
+"Yes," burst out Vinicius.
+
+"Then she is a Christian and Christians carried her away." A moment of
+silence followed.
+
+"Listen, Chilo," said Petronius. "My relative has predestined to thee
+a considerable sum of money for finding the girl, but a no less
+considerable number of rods if thou deceive him. In the first case thou
+wilt purchase not one, but three scribes; in the second, the philosophy
+of all the seven sages, with the addition of thy own, will not suffice
+to get thee ointment."
+
+"The maiden is a Christian, lord," cried the Greek.
+
+"Stop, Chilo. Thou art not a dull man. We know that Junia and Calvia
+Crispinilla accused Pomponia Graecina of confessing the Christian
+superstition; but we know too, that a domestic court acquitted her.
+Wouldst thou raise this again? Wouldst thou persuade us that Pomponia,
+and with her Lygia, could belong to the enemies of the human race, to
+the poisoners of wells and fountains, to the worshippers of an ass's
+head, to people who murder infants and give themselves up to the foulest
+license? Think, Chilo, if that thesis which thou art announcing to us
+will not rebound as an antithesis on thy own back."
+
+Chilo spread out his arms in sign that that was not his fault, and then
+said,--"Lord, utter in Greek the following sentence: Jesus Christ, Son
+of God, Saviour." [Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter.]
+
+"Well, I have uttered it. What comes of that?"
+
+"Now take the first letters of each of those words and put them into one
+word."
+
+"Fish!" said Petronius with astonishment. [Ichthus, the Greek word for
+"fish."]
+
+"There, that is why fish has become the watchword of the Christians,"
+answered Chilo, proudly.
+
+A moment of silence followed. But there was something so striking in the
+conclusions of the Greek that the two friends could not guard themselves
+from amazement.
+
+"Vinicius, art thou not mistaken?" asked Petronius. "Did Lygia really
+draw a fish for thee?"
+
+"By all the infernal gods, one might go mad!" cried the young man, with
+excitement. "If she had drawn a bird for me, I should have said a bird."
+
+"Therefore she is a Christian," repeated Chilo.
+
+"This signifies," said Petronius, "that Pomponia and Lygia poison
+wells, murder children caught on the street, and give themselves up to
+dissoluteness! Folly! Thou, Vinicius, wert at their house for a time, I
+was there a little while; but I know Pomponia and Aulus enough, I know
+even Lygia enough, to say monstrous and foolish! If a fish is the symbol
+of the Christians, which it is difficult really to deny, and if those
+women are Christians, then, by Proserpina! evidently Christians are not
+what we hold them to be."
+
+"Thou speakest like Socrates, lord," answered Chilo. "Who has ever
+examined a Christian? Who has learned their religion? When I was
+travelling three years ago from Naples hither to Rome (oh, why did I
+not stay in Naples!), a man joined me, whose name was Glaucus, of whom
+people said that he was a Christian; but in spite of that I convinced
+myself that he was a good and virtuous man."
+
+"Was it not from that virtuous man that thou hast learned now what the
+fish means?"
+
+"Unfortunately, lord, on the way, at an inn, some one thrust a knife
+into that honorable old man; and his wife and child were carried away
+by slave-dealers. I lost in their defence these two fingers; since, as
+people say, there is no lack among Christians of miracles, I hope that
+the fingers will grow out on my hand again."
+
+"How is that? Hast thou become a Christian?"
+
+"Since yesterday, lord, since yesterday! The fish made me a Christian.
+But see what a power there is in it. For some days I shall be the most
+zealous of the zealous, so that they may admit me to all their secrets;
+and when they admit me to their secrets, I shall know where the maiden
+is hiding. Perhaps then my Christianity will pay me better than my
+philosophy. I have made a vow also to Mercury, that if he helps me to
+find the maiden, I will sacrifice to him two heifers of the same size
+and color and will gild their horns."
+
+"Then thy Christianity of yesterday and thy philosophy of long standing
+permit thee to believe in Mercury?"
+
+"I believe always in that in which I need to believe; that is my
+philosophy, which ought to please Mercury. Unfortunately (ye know,
+worthy lords, what a suspicious god he is), he does not trust the
+promises even of blameless philosophers, and prefers the heifers in
+advance; meanwhile this outlay is immense. Not every one is a Seneca,
+and I cannot afford the sacrifice; should the noble Vinicius, however,
+wish to give something, on account of that sum which he promised--"
+
+"Not an obolus, Chilo!" said Petronius, "not an obolus. The bounty
+of Vinicius will surpass thy expectations, but only when Lygia is
+found,--that is, when thou shalt indicate to us her hiding-place.
+Mercury must trust thee for the two heifers, though I am not astonished
+at him for not wishing to do so; in this I recognize his acuteness."
+
+"Listen to me, worthy lords. The discovery which I have made is great;
+for though I have not found the maiden yet, I have found the way in
+which I must seek her. Ye have sent freedmen and slaves throughout the
+city and into the country; has any one given you a clew? No! I alone
+have given one. I tell you more. Among your slaves there may be
+Christians, of whom ye have no knowledge, for this superstition has
+spread everywhere; and they, instead of aiding, will betray you. It is
+unfortunate that they see me here; do thou therefore, noble Petronius,
+enjoin silence on Eunice; and thou too, noble Vinicius, spread a report
+that I sell thee an ointment which insures victory in the Circus to
+horses rubbed with it. I alone will search for her, and single-handed I
+will find the fugitives; and do ye trust in me, and know that whatever
+I receive in advance will be for me simply an encouragement, for I shall
+hope always for more, and shall feel the greater certainty that the
+promised reward will not fail me. Ah, it is true! As a philosopher I
+despise money, though neither Seneca, nor even Musonius, nor Cornutus
+despises it, though they have not lost fingers in any one's defence, and
+are able themselves to write and leave their names to posterity. But,
+aside from the slave, whom I intend to buy, and besides Mercury, to whom
+I have promised the heifers,--and ye know how dear cattle have become in
+these times,--the searching itself involves much outlay. Only listen
+to me patiently. Well, for the last few days my feet are wounded from
+continual walking. I have gone to wine-shops to talk with people, to
+bakeries, to butcher-shops, to dealers in olive oil, and to fishermen.
+I have run through every street and alley; I have been in the hiding
+places of fugitive slaves; I have lost money, nearly a hundred ases,
+in playing mora; I have been in laundries, in drying-sheds, in cheap
+kitchens; I have seen mule-drivers and carvers; I have seen people who
+cure bladder complaints and pull teeth; I have talked with dealers in
+dried figs; I have been at cemeteries; and do ye know why? This is why;
+so as to outline a fish everywhere, look people in the eyes, and hear
+what they would say of that sign. For a long time I was unable to learn
+anything, till at last I saw an old slave at a fountain. He was drawing
+water with a bucket, and weeping. Approaching him, I asked the cause
+of his tears. When we had sat down on the steps of the fountain, he
+answered that all his life he had been collecting sestertium after
+sestertium, to redeem his beloved son; but his master, a certain Pansa,
+when the money was delivered to him, took it, but kept the son in
+slavery. 'And so I am weeping,' said the old man, 'for though I repeat,
+Let the will of God be done, I, poor sinner, am not able to keep down my
+tears.' Then, as if penetrated by a forewarning, I moistened my finger
+in the water and drew a fish for him. To this he answered, 'My hope,
+too, is in Christ.' I asked him then, 'Hast thou confessed to me by that
+sign?' 'I have,' said he; 'and peace be with thee.' I began then to draw
+him out, and the honest old man told me everything. His master, that
+Pansa, is himself a freedman of the great Pansa; and he brings stones by
+the Tiber to Rome, where slaves and hired persons unload them from
+the boats, and carry them to buildings in the night time, so as not to
+obstruct movement in the streets during daylight. Among these people
+many Christians work, and also his son; as the work is beyond his son's
+strength, he wished to redeem him. But Pansa preferred to keep both the
+money and the slave. While telling me this, he began again to weep; and
+I mingled my tears with his,--tears came to me easily because of my kind
+heart, and the pain in my feet, which I got from walking excessively.
+I began also to lament that as I had come from Naples only a few days
+since, I knew no one of the brotherhood, and did not know where they
+assembled for prayer. He wondered that Christians in Naples had not
+given me letters to their brethren in Rome; but I explained to him that
+the letters were stolen from me on the road. Then he told me to come
+to the river at night, and he would acquaint me with brethren who would
+conduct me to houses of prayer and to elders who govern the Christian
+community. When I heard this, I was so delighted that I gave him the
+sum needed to redeem his son, in the hope that the lordly Vinicius would
+return it to me twofold."
+
+"Chilo," interrupted Petronius, "in thy narrative falsehood appears on
+the surface of truth, as oil does on water. Thou hast brought important
+information; I do not deny that. I assert, even, that a great step is
+made toward finding Lygia; but do not cover thy news with falsehood.
+What is the name of that old man from whom thou hast learned that the
+Christians recognize each other through the sign of a fish?"
+
+"Euricius. A poor, unfortunate old man! He reminded me of Glaucus, whom
+I defended from murderers, and he touched me mainly by this."
+
+"I believe that thou didst discover him, and wilt be able to make use of
+the acquaintance; but thou hast given him no money. Thou hast not given
+him an as; dost understand me? Thou hast not given anything."
+
+"But I helped him to lift the bucket, and I spoke of his son with the
+greatest sympathy. Yes, lord, what can hide before the penetration of
+Petronius? Well, I did not give him money, or rather, I gave it to him,
+but only in spirit, in intention, which, had he been a real philosopher,
+should have sufficed him. I gave it to him because I saw that such an
+act was indispensable and useful; for think, lord, how this act has won
+all the Christians at once to me, what access to them it has opened, and
+what confidence it has roused in them."
+
+"True," said Petronius, "and it was thy duty to do it."
+
+"For this very reason I have come to get the means to do it."
+
+Petronius turned to Vinicius,--"Give command to count out to him five
+thousand sestertia, but in spirit, in intention."
+
+"I will give thee a young man," said Vinicius, "who will take the sum
+necessary; thou wilt say to Euricius that the youth is thy slave, and
+thou wilt count out to the old man, in the youth's presence, this money.
+Since thou hast brought important tidings, thou wilt receive the same
+amount for thyself. Come for the youth and the money this evening."
+
+"Thou art a real Caesar!" said Chilo. "Permit me, lord, to dedicate my
+work to thee; but permit also that this evening I come only for the
+money, since Euricius told me that all the boats had been unloaded, and
+that new ones would come from Ostia only after some days. Peace be with
+you! Thus do Christians take farewell of one another. I will buy myself
+a slave woman,--that is, I wanted to say a slave man. Fish are caught
+with a bait, and Christians with fish. Fax vobiscum! pax! pax! pax!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+PETRONIUS to VINICIUS:
+
+
+"I send to thee from Antium, by a trusty slave, this letter, to which,
+though thy hand is more accustomed to the sword and the javelin than the
+pen, I think that thou wilt answer through the same messenger without
+needless delay. I left thee on a good trail, and full of hope; hence
+I trust that thou hast either satisfied thy pleasant desires in the
+embraces of Lygia, or wilt satisfy them before the real wintry wind from
+the summits of Soracte shall blow on the Campania. Oh, my Vinicius! may
+thy preceptress be the golden goddess of Cyprus; be thou, on thy part,
+the preceptor of that Lygian Aurora, who is fleeing before the sun of
+love. And remember always that marble, though most precious, is nothing
+of itself, and acquires real value only when the sculptor's hand turns
+it into a masterpiece. Be thou such a sculptor, carissime! To love is
+not sufficient; one must know how to love; one must know how to teach
+love. Though the plebs, too, and even animals, experience pleasure, a
+genuine man differs from them in this especially, that he makes love
+in some way a noble art, and, admiring it, knows all its divine value,
+makes it present in his mind, thus satisfying not his body merely,
+but his soul. More than once, when I think here of the emptiness, the
+uncertainty, the dreariness of life, it occurs to me that perhaps thou
+hast chosen better, and that not Caesar's court, but war and love, are
+the only objects for which it is worth while to be born and to live.
+
+"Thou wert fortunate in war, be fortunate also in love; and if thou art
+curious as to what men are doing at the court of Caesar, I will inform
+thee from time to time. We are living here at Antium, and nursing our
+heavenly voice; we continue to cherish the same hatred of Rome, and
+think of betaking ourselves to Baiae for the winter, to appear in public
+at Naples, whose inhabitants, being Greeks, will appreciate us better
+than that wolf brood on the banks of the Tiber. People will hasten
+thither from Baiae, from Pompeii, Puteoli, Cumae, and Stabia; neither
+applause nor crowns will be lacking, and that will be an encouragement
+for the proposed expedition to Achaea.
+
+"But the memory of the infant Augusta? Yes! we are bewailing her yet. We
+are singing hymns of our own composition, so wonderful that the sirens
+have been hiding from envy in Amphitrite's deepest caves. But the
+dolphins would listen to us, were they not prevented by the sound of the
+sea. Our suffering is not allayed yet; hence we will exhibit it to the
+world in every form which sculpture can employ, and observe carefully if
+we are beautiful in our suffering and if people recognize this beauty.
+Oh, my dear! we shall die buffoons and comedians!
+
+"All the Augustians are here, male and female, not counting ten thousand
+servants, and five hundred she asses, in whose milk Poppaea bathes. At
+times even it is cheerful here. Calvia Crispinilla is growing old. It
+is said that she has begged Poppaea to let her take the bath immediately
+after herself. Lucan slapped Nigidia on the face, because he suspected
+her of relations with a gladiator. Sporus lost his wife at dice to
+Senecio. Torquatus Silanus has offered me for Eunice four chestnut
+horses, which this year will win the prize beyond doubt. I would not
+accept! Thanks to thee, also, that thou didst not take her. As to
+Torquatus Silanus, the poor man does not even suspect that he is already
+more a shade than a man. His death is decided. And knowest what his
+crime is? He is the great-grandson of the deified Augustus. There is no
+rescue for him. Such is our world.
+
+"As is known to thee, we have been expecting Tiridates here; meanwhile
+Vologeses has written an offensive letter. Because he has conquered
+Armenia, he asks that it be left to him for Tiridates; if not, he
+will not yield it in any case. Pure comedy! So we have decided on war.
+Corbulo will receive power such as Pompeius Magnus received in the war
+with pirates. There was a moment, however, when Nero hesitated. He seems
+afraid of the glory which Corbulo will win in case of victory. It was
+even thought to offer the chief command to our Aulus. This was opposed
+by Poppaea, for whom evidently Pomponia's virtue is as salt in the eye.
+
+"Vatinius described to us a remarkable fight of gladiators, which is
+to take place in Beneventum. See to what cobblers rise in our time,
+in spite of the saying, 'Ne sutor ultra crepidam!' Vitelius is the
+descendant of a cobbler; but Vatinius is the son of one! Perhaps he
+drew thread himself! The actor Aliturus represented Oedipus yesterday
+wonderfully. I asked him, by the way, as a Jew, if Christians and Jews
+were the same. He answered that the Jews have an eternal religion, but
+that Christians are a new sect risen recently in Judea; that in the time
+of Tiberius the Jews crucified a certain man, whose adherents increase
+daily, and that the Christians consider him as God. They refuse, it
+seems, to recognize other gods, ours especially. I cannot understand
+what harm it would do them to recognize these gods.
+
+"Tigellinus shows me open enmity now. So far he is unequal to me; but
+he is, superior in this, that he cares more for life, and is at the same
+time a greater scoundrel, which brings him nearer Ahenobarbus. These two
+will understand each other earlier or later, and then my turn will come.
+I know not when it will come; but I know this, that as things are it
+must come; hence let time pass. Meanwhile we must amuse ourselves. Life
+of itself would not be bad were it not for Bronzebeard. Thanks to him,
+a man at times is disgusted with himself. It is not correct to consider
+the struggle for his favor as a kind of rivalry in a circus,--as a
+kind of game, as a struggle, in which victory flatters vanity. True, I
+explain it to myself in that way frequently; but still it seems to me
+sometimes that I am like Chilo, and better in nothing than he. When he
+ceases to be needful to thee, send him to me. I have taken a fancy to
+his edifying conversation. A greeting from me to thy divine Christian,
+or rather beg her in my name not to be a fish to thee. Inform me of thy
+health, inform me of thy love, know how to love, teach how to love, and
+farewell."
+
+VINICIUS to PETRONIUS:
+
+"Lygia is not found yet! Were it not for the hope that I shall find her
+soon, thou wouldst not receive an answer; for when a man is disgusted
+with life, he has no wish to write letters. I wanted to learn whether
+Chilo was not deceiving me; and at night when he came to get the money
+for Euricius, I threw on a military mantle, and unobserved followed
+him and the slave whom I sent with him. When they reached the place, I
+watched from a distance, hidden behind a portico pillar, and convinced
+myself that Euricius was not invented. Below, a number of tens of people
+were unloading stones from a spacious barge, and piling them up on the
+bank. I saw Chilo approach them, and begin to talk with some old man,
+who after a while fell at his feet. Others surrounded them with shouts
+of admiration. Before my eyes the boy gave a purse to Euricius, who on
+seizing it began to pray with upraised hands, while at his side some
+second person was kneeling, evidently his son. Chilo said something
+which I could not hear, and blessed the two who were kneeling, as well
+as others, making in the air signs in the form of a cross, which they
+honor apparently, for all bent their knees. The desire seized me to go
+among them, and promise three such purses to him who would deliver to me
+Lygia; but I feared to spoil Chilo's work, and after hesitating a moment
+went home.
+
+"This happened at least twelve days after thy departure. Since then
+Chilo has been a number of times with me. He says that he has gained
+great significance among the Christians; that if he has not found Lygia
+so far, it is because the Christians in Rome are innumerable, hence all
+are not acquainted with each person in their community, and cannot know
+everything that is done in it. They are cautious, too, and in general
+reticent. He gives assurance, however, that when he reaches the elders,
+who are called presbyters, he will learn every secret. He has made the
+acquaintance of a number of these already, and has begun to inquire of
+them, though carefully, so as not to rouse suspicion by haste, and not
+to make the work still more difficult. Though it is hard to wait, though
+patience fails, I feel that he is right, and I wait.
+
+"He learned, too, that they have places of meeting for prayer,
+frequently outside the city, in empty houses and even in sand-pits.
+There they worship Christ, sing hymns, and have feasts. There are many
+such places. Chilo supposes that Lygia goes purposely to different ones
+from Pomponia, so that the latter, in case of legal proceedings or an
+examination, might swear boldly that she knew nothing of Lygia's hiding
+place. It may be that the presbyters have advised caution. When Chilo
+discovers those places, I will go with him; and if the gods let me see
+Lygia, I swear to thee by Jupiter that she will not escape my hands this
+time.
+
+"I am thinking continually of those places of prayer. Chilo is unwilling
+that I should go with him; he is afraid. But I cannot stay at home. I
+should know her at once, even in disguise or if veiled. They assemble in
+the night, but I should recognize her in the night even. I should know
+her voice and motions anywhere. I will go myself in disguise, and look
+at every person who goes in or out. I am thinking of her always, and
+shall recognize her. Chilo is to come to-morrow, and we shall go. I
+will take arms. Some of my slaves sent to the provinces have returned
+empty-handed. But I am certain now that she is in the city, perhaps
+not far away even. I myself have visited many houses under pretext of
+renting them. She will fare better with me a hundred times; where she
+is, whole legions of poor people dwell. Besides, I shall spare nothing
+for her sake. Thou writest that I have chosen well. I have chosen
+suffering and sorrow. We shall go first to those houses which are in
+the city, then beyond the gates. Hope looks for something every morning,
+otherwise life would be impossible. Thou sayest that one should know how
+to love. I knew how to talk of love to Lygia. But now I only yearn; I do
+nothing but wait for Chilo. Life to me is unendurable in my own house.
+Farewell!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+
+BUT Chilo did not appear for some time, and Vinicius knew not at last
+what to think of his absence. In vain he repeated to himself that
+searching, if continued to a certain and successful issue, must be
+gradual. His blood and impulsive nature rebelled against the voice
+of judgment. To do nothing, to wait, to sit with folded arms, was so
+repulsive to him that he could not be reconciled to it in any way. To
+search the alleys of the city in the dark garb of a slave, through this
+alone, that it was useless, seemed to him merely a mask for his own
+inefficiency, and could give no satisfaction. His freedmen, persons
+of experience, whom he commanded to search independently, turned out
+a hundred times less expert than Chilo. Meanwhile there rose in him,
+besides his love for Lygia, the stubbornness of a player resolved to
+win. Vinicius had been always a person of this kind. From earliest youth
+he had accomplished what he desired with the passionateness of one who
+does not understand failure, or the need of yielding something. For a
+time military discipline had put his self-will within bounds, but also
+it had engrafted into him the conviction that every command of his to
+subordinates must be fulfilled; his prolonged stay in the Orient, among
+people pliant and inured to slavish obedience, confirmed in him the
+faith that for his "I wish" there were no limits. At present his vanity,
+too, was wounded painfully. There was, besides, in Lygia's
+opposition and resistance, and in her flight itself, which was to him
+incomprehensible, a kind of riddle. In trying to solve this riddle he
+racked his head terribly. He felt that Acte had told the truth, and that
+Lygia was not indifferent. But if this were true, why had she preferred
+wandering and misery to his love, his tenderness, and a residence in his
+splendid mansion? To this question he found no answer, and arrived only
+at a kind of dim understanding that between him and Lygia, between their
+ideas, between the world which belonged to him and Petronius, and the
+world of Lygia and Pomponia, there existed some sort of difference, some
+kind of misunderstanding as deep as an abyss, which nothing could fill
+up or make even. It seemed to him, then, that he must lose Lygia; and
+at this thought he lost the remnant of balance which Petronius wished to
+preserve in him. There were moments in which he did not know whether he
+loved Lygia or hated her; he understood only that he must find her, and
+he would rather that the earth swallowed her than that he should not see
+and possess her. By the power of imagination he saw her as clearly at
+times as if she had been before his face. He recalled every word which
+he had spoken to her; every word which he had heard from her. He felt
+her near; felt her on his bosom, in his arms; and then desire embraced
+him like a flame. He loved her and called to her.
+
+And when he thought that he was loved, that she might do with
+willingness all that he wished of her, sore and endless sorrow seized
+him, and a kind of deep tenderness flooded his heart, like a mighty
+wave. But there were moments, too, in which he grew pale from rage, and
+delighted in thoughts of the humiliation and tortures which he would
+inflict on Lygia when he found her. He wanted not only to have her, but
+to have her as a trampled slave. At the same time he felt that if the
+choice were left him, to be her slave or not to see her in life again,
+he would rather be her slave. There were days in which he thought of the
+marks which the lash would leave on her rosy body, and at the same time
+he wanted to kiss those marks. It came to his head also that he would be
+happy if he could kill her.
+
+In this torture, torment, uncertainty, and suffering, he lost health,
+and even beauty. He became a cruel and incomprehensible master. His
+slaves, and even his freedmen, approached him with trembling; and when
+punishments fell on them causelessly,--punishments as merciless as
+undeserved,--they began to hate him in secret; while he, feeling this,
+and feeling his own isolation, took revenge all the more on them. He
+restrained himself with Chilo alone, fearing lest he might cease his
+searches; the Greek, noting this, began to gain control of him, and grew
+more and more exacting. At first he assured Vinicius at each visit that
+the affair would proceed easily and quickly; now he began to discover
+difficulties, and without ceasing, it is true, to guarantee the
+undoubted success of the searches, he did not hide the fact that they
+must continue yet for a good while.
+
+At last he came, after long days of waiting, with a face so gloomy that
+the young man grew pale at sight of him, and springing up had barely
+strength to ask,--"Is she not among the Christians?" "She is, lord,"
+answered Chilo; "but I found Glaucus among them." "Of what art thou
+speaking, and who is Glaucus?" "Thou hast forgotten, lord, it seems,
+that old man with whom I journeyed from Naples to Rome, and in whose
+defence I lost these two fingers,--a loss which prevents me from
+writing. Robbers, who bore away his wife and child, stabbed him with a
+knife. I left him dying at an inn in Minturna, and bewailed him long.
+Alas! I have convinced myself that he is alive yet, and belongs in Rome
+to the Christian community."
+
+Vinicius, who could not understand what the question was, understood
+only that Glaucus was becoming a hindrance to the discovery of Lygia;
+hence he suppressed his rising anger, and said,--"If thou didst defend
+him, he should be thankful and help thee."
+
+"Ah! worthy tribune, even gods are not always grateful, and what must
+the case be with men? True, he should be thankful. But, unhappily, he is
+an old man, of a mind weak and darkened by age and disappointment; for
+which reason, not only is he not grateful, but, as I learned from his
+co-religionists, he accuses me of having conspired with the robbers, and
+says that I am the cause of his misfortunes. That is the recompense for
+my fingers!"
+
+"Scoundrel! I am certain that it was as he says," replied Vinicius.
+
+"Then thou knowest more than he does, lord, for he only surmises that
+it was so; which, however, would not prevent him from summoning the
+Christians, and from revenging himself on me cruelly. He would have done
+that undoubtedly, and others, with equal certainty, would have helped
+him; but fortunately he does not know my name, and in the house of
+prayer where we met, he did not notice me. I, however, knew him at once,
+and at the first moment wished to throw myself on his neck. Wisdom,
+however, and the habit of thinking before every step which I intend to
+take, restrained me. Therefore, on issuing from the house of prayer, I
+inquired concerning him, and those who knew him declared that he was
+the man who had been betrayed by his comrade on the journey from Naples.
+Otherwise I should not have known that he gives out such a story."
+
+"How does this concern me? Tell what thou sawest in the house of
+prayer."
+
+"It does not concern thee, lord, but it concerns me just as much as
+my life. Since I wish that my wisdom should survive me, I would rather
+renounce the reward which thou hast offered, than expose my life for
+empty lucre; without which, I as a true philosopher shall be able to
+live and seek divine wisdom."
+
+But Vinicius approached him with an ominous countenance, and began in a
+suppressed voice,--"Who told thee that death would meet thee sooner at
+the hands of Glaucus than at mine? Whence knowest thou, dog, that I will
+not have thee buried right away in my garden?"
+
+Chilo, who was a coward, looked at Vinicius, and in the twinkle of
+an eye understood that one more unguarded word and he was lost beyond
+redemption.
+
+"I will search for her, lord, and I will find her!" cried he, hurriedly.
+
+Silence followed, during which were heard the quick breathing of
+Vinicius, and the distant song of slaves at work in the garden.
+
+Only after a while did the Greek resume his speech, when he noticed that
+the young patrician was somewhat pacified.
+
+"Death passed me, but I looked on it with the calmness of Socrates. No,
+lord, I have not said that I refuse to search for the maiden; I desired
+merely to tell thee that search for her is connected now with great
+peril to me. On a time thou didst doubt that there was a certain
+Euricius in the world, and though thou wert convinced by thine own eyes
+that the son of my father told the truth to thee, thou hast suspicions
+now that I have invented Glaucus. Ah! would that he were only a fiction,
+that I might go among the Christians with perfect safety, as I went some
+time since; I would give up for that the poor old slave woman whom
+I bought, three days since, to care for my advanced age and maimed
+condition. But Glaucus is living, lord; and if he had seen me once,
+thou wouldst not have seen me again, and in that case who would find the
+maiden?"
+
+Here he was silent again, and began to dry his tears.
+
+"But while Glaucus lives," continued he, "how can I search for her?--for
+I may meet him at any step; and if I meet him I shall perish, and with
+me will cease all my searching."
+
+"What art thou aiming at? What help is there? What dost thou wish to
+undertake?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"Aristotle teaches us, lord, that less things should be sacrificed for
+greater, and King Priam said frequently that old age was a grievous
+burden. Indeed, the burden of old age and misfortune weighs upon Glaucus
+this long time, and so heavily that death would be to him a benefit. For
+what is death, according to Seneca, but liberation?"
+
+"Play the fool with Petronius, not with me! Tell what thy desire is."
+
+"If virtue is folly, may the gods permit me to be a fool all my life. I
+desire, lord, to set aside Glaucus, for while he is living my life and
+searches are in continual peril."
+
+"Hire men to beat him to death with clubs; I will pay them."
+
+"They will rob thee, lord, and afterward make profit of the secret.
+There are as many ruffians in Rome as grains of sand in the arena, but
+thou wilt not believe how dear they are when an honest man needs to
+employ their villainy. No, worthy tribune! But if watchmen catch the
+murderers in the act? They would tell, beyond doubt, who hired them, and
+then thou wouldst have trouble. They will not point to me, for I shall
+not give my name. Thou art doing ill not to trust in me, for, setting
+aside my keenness, remember that there is a question of two other
+things,--of my life, and the reward which thou has promised me."
+
+"How much dost thou need?"
+
+"A thousand sestertia, for turn attention to this, that I must find
+honest ruffians, men who when they have received earnest money, will
+not take it off without a trace. For good work there must be good pay!
+Something might be added, too, for my sake, to wipe away the tears which
+I shall shed out of pity for Glaucus. I take the gods to witness how I
+love him. If I receive a thousand sestertia to-day, two days hence his
+soul will be in Hades; and then, if souls preserve memory and the gift
+of thought, he will know for the first time how I loved him. I will find
+people this very day, and tell them that for each day of the life
+of Glaucus I will withhold one hundred sestertia. I have, besides, a
+certain idea, which seems to me infallible."
+
+Vinicius promised him once more the desired sum, forbidding him to
+mention Glaucus again; but asked what other news he brought, where he
+had been all the time, what he had seen, and what he had discovered.
+But Chilo was not able to tell much. He had been in two more houses of
+prayer,--had observed each person carefully, especially the women,--but
+had seen no one who resembled Lygia: the Christians, however, looked
+on him as one of their own sect, and, since he redeemed the son of
+Euricius, they honored him as a man following in the steps of "Christ."
+He had learned from them, also, that a great lawgiver of theirs, a
+certain Paul of Tarsus, was in Rome, imprisoned because of charges
+preferred by the Jews, and with this man he had resolved to become
+acquainted. But most of all was he pleased by this,--that the supreme
+priest of the whole sect, who had been Christ's disciple, and to whom
+Christ had confided government over the whole world of Christians, might
+arrive in Rome any moment. All the Christians desired evidently to see
+him, and hear his teachings. Some great meetings would follow, at which
+he, Chilo, would be present; and what is more, since it is easy to hide
+in the crowd, he would take Vinicius to those meetings. Then they would
+find Lygia certainly. If Glaucus were once set aside, it would not be
+connected even with great danger. As to revenge, the Christians, too,
+would revenge but in general they were peaceful people.
+
+Here Chilo began to relate, with a certain surprise, that he had never
+seen that they gave themselves up to debauchery, that they poisoned
+wells or fountains, that they were enemies of the human race, worshipped
+an ass, or ate the flesh of children. No; he had seen nothing of that
+sort. Certainly he would find among them even people who would hide away
+Glaucus for money; but their religion, as far as he knew, did not incite
+to crime,--on the contrary, it enjoined forgiveness of offences.
+
+Vinicius remembered what Pomponia had said to him at Acte's, and in
+general he listened to Chilo's words with pleasure. Though his feeling
+for Lygia assumed at times the seeming of hatred, he felt a relief when
+he heard that the religion which she and Pomponia confessed was neither
+criminal nor repulsive. But a species of undefined feeling rose in him
+that it was just that reverence for Christ, unknown and mysterious,
+which created the difference between himself and Lygia; hence he began
+at once to fear that religion and to hate it.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+
+FOR Chilo, it was really important to set aside Glaucus, who, though
+advanced in years, was by no means decrepit. There was considerable
+truth in what Chilo had narrated to Vinicius. He had known Glaucus on a
+time, he had betrayed him, sold him to robbers, deprived him of family,
+of property, and delivered him to murder. But he bore the memory of
+these events easily, for he had thrown the man aside dying, not at an
+inn, but in a field near Minturna. This one thing he had not foreseen,
+that Glaucus would be cured of his wounds and come to Rome. When he saw
+him, therefore, in the house of prayer, he was in truth terrified, and
+at the first moment wished to discontinue the search for Lygia. But on
+the other hand, Vinicius terrified him still more. He understood that he
+must choose between the fear of Glaucus, and the pursuit and vengeance
+of a powerful patrician, to whose aid would come, beyond doubt, another
+and still greater, Petronius. In view of this, Chilo ceased to hesitate.
+He thought it better to have small enemies than great ones, and, though
+his cowardly nature trembled somewhat at bloody methods, he saw the need
+of killing Glaucus through the aid of other hands.
+
+At present the only question with him was the choice of people, and
+to this he was turning that thought of which he had made mention to
+Vinicius. Spending his nights in wine-shops most frequently, and lodging
+in them, among men without a roof, without faith or honor, he could find
+persons easily to undertake any task, and still more easily others
+who, if they sniffed coin on his person, would begin, but when they had
+received earnest money, would extort the whole sum by threatening to
+deliver him to justice. Besides, for a certain time past Chilo had felt
+a repulsion for nakedness, for those disgusting and terrible figures
+lurking about suspected houses in the Subura or in the Trans-Tiber.
+Measuring everything with his own measure, and not having fathomed
+sufficiently the Christians or their religion, he judged that among
+them, too, he could find willing tools. Since they seemed more reliable
+than others, he resolved to turn to them and present the affair in such
+fashion that they would undertake it, not for money's sake merely, but
+through devotion.
+
+In view of this, he went in the evening to Euricius, whom he knew as
+devoted with whole soul to his person, and who, he was sure, would do
+all in his power to assist him. Naturally cautious, Chilo did not
+even dream of revealing his real intentions, which would be in clear
+opposition, moreover, to the faith which the old man had in his piety
+and virtue. He wished to find people who were ready for anything, and to
+talk with them of the affair only in such a way that, out of regard to
+themselves, they would guard it as an eternal secret.
+
+The old man Euricius, after the redemption of his son, hired one of
+those little shops so numerous near the Circus Maximus, in which were
+sold olives, beans, unleavened paste, and water sweetened with honey, to
+spectators coming to the Circus. Chilo found him at home arranging his
+shop; and when he had greeted him in Christ's name, he began to speak of
+the affair which had brought him. Since he had rendered them a service,
+he considered that they would pay him with gratitude. He needed two or
+three strong and courageous men, to ward off danger threatening not only
+him, but all Christians. He was poor, it was true, since he had given to
+Euricius almost all that he owned; still he would pay such men for
+their services if they would trust him and perform faithfully what he
+commanded.
+
+Euricius and his son Quartus listened to him as their benefactor almost
+on their knees. Both declared that they were ready themselves to do all
+that he asked of them, believing that a man so holy could not ask for
+deeds inconsistent with the teaching of Christ.
+
+Chilo assured them that that was true, and, raising his eyes to heaven,
+he seemed to be praying; in fact, he was thinking whether it would
+not be well to accept their proposal, which might save him a thousand
+sestertia. But after a moment of thought he rejected it. Euricius was an
+old man, perhaps not so much weighted by years as weakened by care and
+disease. Quartus was sixteen years of age. Chilo needed dexterous, and,
+above all, stalwart men. As to the thousand sestertia, he considered
+that--thanks to the plan which he had invented--he would be able in
+every case to spare a large part of it.
+
+They insisted for some time, but when he refused decisively they
+yielded.
+
+"I know the baker Demas," said Quartus, "in whose mills slaves and hired
+men are employed. One of those hired men is so strong that he would take
+the place, not of two, but of four. I myself have seen him lift stones
+from the ground which four men could not stir."
+
+"If that is a God-fearing man, who can sacrifice himself for the
+brotherhood, make me acquainted with him," said Chilo.
+
+"He is a Christian, lord," answered Quartus; "nearly all who work for
+Demas are Christians. He has night as well as day laborers; this man
+is of the night laborers. Were we to go now to the mill, we should find
+them at supper, and thou mightest speak to him freely. Demas lives near
+the Emporium."
+
+Chilo consented most willingly. The Emporium was at the foot of the
+Aventine, hence not very far from the Circus Maximus. It was possible,
+without going around the hill, to pass along the river through the
+Porticus AEmilia, which would shorten the road considerably.
+
+"I am old," said Chilo, when they went under the Colonnade; "at times I
+suffer effacement of memory. Yes, though our Christ was betrayed by
+one of his disciples, the name of the traitor I cannot recall at this
+moment--"
+
+"Judas, lord, who hanged himself," answered Quartus, wondering a little
+in his soul how it was possible to forget that name.
+
+"Oh, yes--Judas! I thank thee," said Chilo.
+
+And they went on some time in silence. When they came to the Emporium,
+which was closed, they passed it, and going around the storehouse, from
+which grain was distributed to the populace, they turned toward the
+left, to houses which stretched along the Via Ostiensis, up to the Mons
+Testaceus and the Forum Pistorium. There they halted before a wooden
+building, from the interior of which came the noise of millstones.
+Quartus went in; but Chilo, who did not like to show himself to large
+numbers of people, and was in continual dread that some fate might bring
+him to meet Glaucus, remained outside.
+
+"I am curious about that Hercules who serves in a mill," said he to
+himself, looking at the brightly shining moon. "If he is a scoundrel and
+a wise man, he will cost me something; if a virtuous Christian and dull,
+he will do what I want without money."
+
+Further meditation was interrupted by the return of Quartus, who
+issued from the building with a second man, wearing only a tunic called
+"exomis," cut in such fashion that the right arm and right breast were
+exposed. Such garments, since they left perfect freedom of movement,
+were used especially by laborers. Chilo, when he saw the man coming,
+drew a breath of satisfaction, for he had not seen in his life such an
+arm and such a breast.
+
+"Here, lord," said Quartus, "is the brother whom it was thy wish to
+see."
+
+"May the peace of Christ be with thee!" answered Chilo. "Do thou,
+Quartus, tell this brother whether I deserve faith and trust, and then
+return in the name of God; for there is no need that thy gray-haired
+father should be left in loneliness."
+
+"This is a holy man," said Quartus, "who gave all his property to redeem
+me from slavery,--me, a man unknown to him. May our Lord the Saviour
+prepare him a heavenly reward therefor!"
+
+The gigantic laborer, hearing this, bent down and kissed Chilo's hand.
+
+"What is thy name, brother?" inquired the Greek.
+
+"At holy baptism, father, the name Urban was given me."
+
+"Urban, my brother, hast thou time to talk with me freely?"
+
+"Our work begins at midnight, and only now are they preparing our
+supper."
+
+"Then there is time sufficient. Let us go to the river; there thou wilt
+hear my words."
+
+They went, and sat on the embankment, in a silence broken only by the
+distant sound of the millstones and the plash of the onflowing river.
+Chilo looked into the face of the laborer, which, notwithstanding
+a somewhat severe and sad expression, such as was usual on faces of
+barbarians living in Rome, seemed to him kind and honest.
+
+"This is a good-natured, dull man who will kill Glaucus for nothing,"
+thought Chilo.
+
+"Urban," inquired he then, "dost thou love Christ?"
+
+"I love him from the soul of my heart," said the laborer.
+
+"And thy brethren and sisters, and those who taught thee truth and faith
+in Christ?"
+
+"I love them, too, father."
+
+"Then may peace be with thee!"
+
+"And with thee, father!"
+
+Again silence set in, but in the distance the millstones were roaring,
+and the river was plashing below the two men.
+
+Chilo looked with fixed gaze into the clear moonlight, and with a slow,
+restrained voice began to speak of Christ's death. He seemed not as
+speaking to Urban, but as if recalling to himself that death, or some
+secret which he was confiding to the drowsy city. There was in this,
+too, something touching as well as impressive. The laborer wept;
+and when Chilo began to groan and complain that in the moment of
+the Saviour's passion there was no one to defend him, if not from
+crucifixion, at least from the insults of Jews and soldiers, the
+gigantic fists of the barbarian began to squeeze from pity and
+suppressed rage. The death only moved him; but at thought of that
+rabble reviling the Lamb nailed to the cross, the simple soul in him was
+indignant, and a wild desire of vengeance seized the man.
+
+"Urban, dost thou know who Judas was?" asked Chilo, suddenly.
+
+"I know, I know!--but he hanged himself!" exclaimed the laborer.
+
+And in his voice there was a kind of sorrow that the traitor had meted
+out punishment to himself, and that Judas could not fall into his hands.
+
+"But if he had not hanged himself," continued Chilo, "and if some
+Christian were to meet him on land or on sea, would it not be the duty
+of that Christian to take revenge for the torment, the blood, and the
+death of the Saviour?"
+
+"Who is there who would not take revenge, father?"
+
+"Peace be with thee, faithful servant of the Lamb! True, it is permitted
+to forgive wrongs done ourselves; but who has the right to forgive
+a wrong done to God? But as a serpent engenders a serpent, as malice
+breeds malice, and treason breeds treason, so from the poison of Judas
+another traitor has come; and as that one delivered to Jews and Roman
+soldiers the Saviour, so this man who lives among us intends to give
+Christ's sheep to the wolves; and if no one will anticipate the treason,
+if no one will crush the head of the serpent in time, destruction is
+waiting for us all, and with us will perish the honor of the Lamb."
+
+The laborer looked at Chilo with immense alarm, as if not understanding
+what he had heard. But the Greek, covering his head with a corner of
+his mantle, began to repeat, with a voice coming as if from beneath the
+earth,--"Woe to you, servants of the true God! woe to you, Christian men
+and Christian women!"
+
+And again came silence, again were heard only the roar of the
+millstones, the deep song of the millers, and the sound of the river.
+
+"Father," asked the laborer at last, "what kind of traitor is that?"
+
+Chilo dropped his head. "What kind of traitor? A son of Judas, a son of
+his poison, a man who pretends to be a Christian, and goes to houses
+of prayer only to complain of the brotherhood to Caesar,--declaring that
+they will not recognize Caesar as a god; that they poison fountains,
+murder children, and wish to destroy the city, so that one stone may not
+remain on another. Behold! in a few days a command will be given to the
+pretorians to cast old men, women, and children into prison, and
+lead them to death, just as they led to death the slaves of Pedanius
+Secundus. All this has been done by that second Judas. But if no one
+punished the first Judas, if no one took vengeance on him, if no one
+defended Christ in the hour of torment, who will punish this one, who
+will destroy the serpent before Caesar hears him, who will destroy him,
+who will defend from destruction our brothers in the faith of Christ?"
+
+Urban, who had been sitting thus far on a stone, stood up on a sudden,
+and said,--"I will, father."
+
+Chilo rose also; he looked for a while on the face of the laborer,
+lighted up by the shining of the moon, then, stretching his arm, he put
+his hand slowly on his head.
+
+"Go among Christians," said he, with solemnity; "go to the houses of
+prayer, and ask the brethren about Glaucus; and when they show him to
+thee, slay him at once in Christ's name!"
+
+"About Glaucus?" repeated the laborer, as if wishing to fix that name in
+his memory.
+
+"Dost thou know him?"
+
+"No, I do not. There are thousands of Christians in Rome, and they are
+not all known to one another. But to-morrow, in Ostrianum, brethren and
+sisters will assemble in the night to the last soul, because a great
+apostle of Christ has come, who will teach them, and the brethren will
+point out to me Glaucus."
+
+"In Ostrianum?" inquired Chilo. "But that is outside the city gates!
+The brethren and all the sisters,--at night? Outside the city gates, in
+Ostrianum?"
+
+"Yes, father; that is our cemetery, between the Viae Salaria and
+Nomentana. Is it not known to thee that the Great Apostle will teach
+there?"
+
+"I have been two days from home, hence I did not receive his epistle;
+and I do not know where Ostrianum is, for I came here not long since
+from Corinth, where I govern a Christian community. But it is as thou
+sayest,--there thou wilt find Glaucus among the brethren, and thou wilt
+slay him on the way home to the city. For this all thy sins will be
+forgiven. And now peace be with thee--"
+
+"Father--"
+
+"I listen to thee, servant of the Lamb."
+
+On the laborer's face perplexity was evident. Not long before he had
+killed a man, and perhaps two, but the teaching of Christ forbids
+killing. He had not killed them in his own defence, for even that is
+not permitted. He had not killed them, Christ preserve! for profit. The
+bishop himself had given him brethren to assist, but had not permitted
+him to kill; he had killed inadvertently, for God had punished him with
+too much strength. And now he was doing grievous penance. Others sing
+when the millstones are grinding; but he, hapless man, is thinking of
+his sin, of his offence against the Lamb. How much has he prayed already
+and wept? How much has he implored the Lamb? And he feels that he has
+not done penance enough yet! But now he has promised again to kill a
+traitor,--and done well! He is permitted to pardon only offences against
+himself; hence he will kill Glaucus, even before the eyes of all
+the brethren and sisters, in Ostrianum to-morrow. But let Glaucus be
+condemned previously by the elders among the brethren, by the bishop, or
+by the Apostle. To kill is not a great thing; to kill a traitor is even
+as pleasant as to kill a bear or a wolf. But suppose Glaucus to perish
+innocently? How take on his conscience a new murder, a new sin, a new
+offence against the Lamb?
+
+"There is no time for a trial, my son," said Chilo. "The traitor will
+hurry from Ostrianum straightway to Caesar in Antium, or hide in the
+house of a certain patrician whom he is serving. I will give thee a
+sign; if thou show it after the death of Glaucus, the bishop and the
+Great Apostle will bless thy deed."
+
+Saying this, he took out a small coin, and began to search for a
+knife at his belt; having found it, he scratched with the point on the
+sestertium the sign of the cross; this coin he gave to the laborer.
+
+"Here is the sentence of Glaucus, and a sign for thee. If thou show
+this to the bishop after the death of Glaucus, he will forgive thee the
+killing which thou hast done without wishing it."
+
+The laborer stretched out his hand involuntarily for the coin; but
+having the first murder too freshly in his memory just then, he
+experienced a feeling of terror.
+
+"Father," said he with a voice almost of entreaty, "dost thou take this
+deed on thy conscience, and hast thou thyself heard Glaucus betraying
+his brethren?"
+
+Chilo understood that he must give proofs, mention names, otherwise
+doubt might creep into the heart of the giant. All at once a happy
+thought flashed through his head.
+
+"Listen, Urban," said he, "I dwell in Corinth, but I came from Kos;
+and here in Rome I instruct in the religion of Christ a certain serving
+maiden named Eunice. She serves as vestiplica in the house of a friend
+of Caesar, a certain Petronius. In that house I have heard how Glaucus
+has undertaken to betray all the Christians; and, besides, he has
+promised another informer of Caesar's, Vinicius, to find a certain maiden
+for him among the Christians."
+
+Here he stopped and looked with amazement at the laborer, whose eyes
+blazed suddenly like the eyes of a wild beast, and his face took on an
+expression of mad rage and threat.
+
+"What is the matter with thee?" asked Chilo, almost in fear.
+
+"Nothing, father; to-morrow I will kill Glaucus."
+
+The Greek was silent. After a while he took the arm of the laborer,
+turned him so that the light of the moon struck his face squarely, and
+examined him with care. It was evident that he was wavering in spirit
+whether to inquire further and bring everything out with clearness, or
+for that time to stop with what he had learned or surmised.
+
+At last, however, his innate caution prevailed. He breathed deeply once
+and a second time; then, placing his hand on the laborer's head again,
+he asked, in an emphatic and solemn voice,--"But in holy baptism the
+name Urban was given thee?"
+
+"It was, father."
+
+"Then peace be with thee, Urban!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+PETRONIUS to VINICIUS:
+
+
+"Thy case is a bad one, carissime. It is clear that Venus has disturbed
+thy mind, deprived thee of reason and memory, as well as the power to
+think of aught else except love. Read some time thy answer to my letter,
+and thou wilt see how indifferent thy mind is to all except Lygia; how
+exclusively it is occupied with her, how it returns to her always, and
+circles above her, as a falcon above chosen prey. By Pollux! find her
+quickly, or that of thee which fire has not turned into ashes will
+become an Egyptian sphinx, which, enamored, as 'tis said, of pale Isis,
+grew deaf and indifferent to all things, waiting only for night, so as
+to gaze with stony eyes at the loved one.
+
+"Run disguised through the city in the evening, even honor Christian
+houses of prayer in thy philosopher's company. Whatever excites hope
+and kills time is praiseworthy. But for my friendship's sake do this one
+thing: Ursus, Lygia's slave, is a man of uncommon strength very likely;
+hire Croton, and go out three together; that will be safer and wiser.
+The Christians, since Pomponia and Lygia belong to them, are surely not
+such scoundrels as most people imagine. But when a lamb of their flock
+is in question they are no triflers, as they have shown by carrying away
+Lygia. When thou seest Lygia thou wilt not restrain thyself, I am
+sure, and wilt try to bear her away on the spot. But how wilt thou and
+Chilonides do it? Croton would take care of himself, even though ten
+like Ursus defended the maiden. Be not plundered by Chilo, but be not
+sparing of money on Croton. Of all counsels which I can give this is the
+best one.
+
+"Here they have ceased to speak of the infant Augusta, or to say that
+she perished through witchcraft. Poppaea mentions her at times yet; but
+Caesar's mind is stuffed with something else. Moreover, if it be true
+that the divine Augusta is in a changed state again, the memory of that
+child will be blown away without trace. We have been in Naples for some
+days, or rather in Baiae. If thou art capable of any thought, echoes of
+our life must strike thy ear, for surely Rome talks of naught else. We
+went directly to Baiae, where at first memories of the mother attacked
+us, and reproaches of conscience. But dost thou know to what Ahenobarbus
+has gone already? To this, that for him even the murder of his mother is
+a mere theme for verses, and a reason for buffoonish tragic scenes.
+
+"Formerly he felt real reproaches only in so far as he was a coward;
+now, when he is convinced that the earth is under his feet as before,
+and that no god is taking vengeance, he feigns them only to move people
+by his fate. He springs up at night sometimes declaring that the Furies
+are hunting him; he rouses us, looks around, assumes the posture of an
+actor playing the role of Orestes, and the posture of a bad actor too;
+he declaims Greek verses, and looks to see if we are admiring him. We
+admire him apparently; and instead of saying to him, Go to sleep, thou
+buffoon! we bring ourselves also to the tone of tragedy, and protect the
+great artist from the Furies. By Castor! this news at least must have
+reached thee, that he has appeared in public at Naples. They drove in
+from the city and the surrounding towns all the Greek ruffians, who
+filled the arena with such a vile odor of sweat and garlic that I thank
+the gods that, instead of sitting in the first rows with the Augustians,
+I was behind the scenes with Ahenobarbus. And wilt thou believe it, he
+was afraid really! He took my hand and put it to his heart, which was
+beating with increased pulsation; his breath was short; and at the
+moment when he had to appear he grew as pale as a parchment, and his
+forehead was covered with drops of sweat. Still he saw that in every row
+of seats were pretorians, armed with clubs, to rouse enthusiasm if the
+need came. But there was no need. No herd of monkeys from the environs
+of Carthage could howl as did this rabble. I tell thee that the smell of
+garlic came to the stage; but Nero bowed, pressed his hand to his heart,
+sent kisses from his lips, and shed tears. Then he rushed in among us,
+who were waiting behind the scenes, like a drunken man, crying, 'What
+were the triumphs of Julius compared with this triumph of mine?' But the
+rabble was howling yet and applauding, knowing that it would applaud to
+itself favors, gifts, banquets, lottery tickets, and a fresh exhibition
+by the Imperial buffoon. I do not wonder that they applauded, for such a
+sight had not been seen till that evening. And every moment he repeated:
+'See what the Greeks are! see what the Greeks are!' From that evening
+it has seemed to me that his hatred for Rome is increasing. Meanwhile
+special couriers were hurried to Rome announcing the triumph, and we
+expect thanks from the Senate one of these days. Immediately after
+Nero's first exhibition, a strange event happened here. The theatre fell
+in on a sudden, but just after the audience had gone. I was there, and
+did not see even one corpse taken from the ruins. Many, even among the
+Greeks, see in this event the anger of the gods, because the dignity of
+Caesar was disgraced; he, on the contrary, finds in it favor of the
+gods, who have his song, and those who listen to it, under their evident
+protection. Hence there are offerings in all the temples, and great
+thanks. For Nero it is a great encouragement to make the journey to
+Achaea. A few days since he told me, however, that he had doubts as to
+what the Roman people might say; that they might revolt out of love for
+him, and fear touching the distribution of grain and touching the games,
+which might fail them in case of his prolonged absence.
+
+"We are going, however, to Beneventum to look at the cobbler
+magnificence which Vatinius will exhibit, and thence to Greece, under
+the protection of the divine brothers of Helen. As to me, I have noted
+one thing, that when a man is among the mad he grows mad himself,
+and, what is more, finds a certain charm in mad pranks. Greece and the
+journey in a thousand ships; a kind of triumphal advance of Bacchus
+among nymphs and bacchantes crowned with myrtle, vine, and honeysuckle;
+there will be women in tiger skins harnessed to chariots; flowers,
+thyrses, garlands, shouts of 'Evoe!' music, poetry, and applauding
+Hellas. All this is well; but we cherish besides more daring projects.
+We wish to create a species of Oriental Imperium,--an empire of
+palm-trees, sunshine, poetry, and reality turned into a dream, reality
+turned into the delight of life only. We want to forget Rome; to fix the
+balancing point of the world somewhere between Greece, Asia, and Egypt;
+to live the life not of men but of gods; not to know what commonness is;
+to wander in golden galleys under the shadow of purple sails along the
+Archipelago; to be Apollo, Osiris, and Baal in one person; to be rosy
+with the dawn, golden with the sun, silver with the moon; to command,
+to sing, to dream. And wilt thou believe that I, who have still sound
+judgment to the value of a sestertium, and sense to the value of an
+as, let myself be borne away by these fantasies, and I do this for the
+reason that, if they are not possible, they are at least grandiose and
+uncommon? Such a fabulous empire would be a thing which, some time or
+other, after long ages, would seem a dream to mankind. Except when
+Venus takes the form of Lygia, or even of a slave Eunice, or when art
+beautifies it, life itself is empty, and many a time it has the face
+of a monkey. But Bronzebeard will not realize his plans, even for this
+cause, that in his fabulous kingdom of poetry and the Orient no place is
+given to treason, meanness, and death; and that in him with the poses
+of a poet sits a wretched comedian, a dull charioteer, and a frivolous
+tyrant. Meanwhile we are killing people whenever they displease us in
+any way. Poor Torquatus Silanus is now a shade; he opened his veins a
+few days since. Lecanius and Licinus will enter on the consulate with
+terror. Old Thrasea will not escape death, for he dares to be honest.
+Tigellinus is not able yet to frame a command for me to open my veins.
+I am still needed not only as elegantiae arbiter, but as a man without
+whose counsel and taste the expedition to Achaea might fail. More than
+once, however, I think that sooner or later it must end in opening my
+veins; and knowest thou what the question will be then with me?--that
+Bronzebeard should not get my goblet, which thou knowest and admirest.
+Shouldst thou be near at the moment of my death, I will give it to thee;
+shouldst thou be at a distance, I will break it. But meanwhile I have
+before me yet Beneventum of the cobblers and Olympian Greece; I have
+Fate too, which, unknown and unforeseen, points out the road to every
+one.
+
+"Be well, and engage Croton; otherwise they will snatch Lygia from thee
+a second time. When Chilonides ceases to be needful, send him to me
+wherever I may be. Perhaps I shall make him a second Vatinius, and
+consuls and senators may tremble before him yet, as they trembled before
+that knight Dratevka. It would be worth while to live to see such a
+spectacle. When thou hast found Lygia, let me know, so that I may offer
+for you both a pair of swans and a pair of doves in the round temple of
+Venus here. Once I saw Lygia in a dream, sitting on thy knee, seeking
+thy kisses. Try to make that dream prophetic. May there be no clouds on
+thy sky; or if there be, let them have the color and the odor of roses!
+Be in good health; and farewell!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+
+BARELY had Vinicius finished reading when Chilo pushed quietly into his
+library, unannounced by any one, for the servants had the order to admit
+him at every hour of the day or night.
+
+"May the divine mother of thy magnanimous ancestor AEneas be full of
+favor to thee, as the son of Maia was kind to me."
+
+"What dost thou mean?" asked Vinicius, springing from the table at which
+he was sitting.
+
+Chilo raised his head and said, "Eureka!"
+
+The young patrician was so excited that for a long time he could not
+utter a word.
+
+"Hast thou seen her?" asked he, at last.
+
+"I have seen Ursus, lord, and have spoken with him."
+
+"Dost thou know where they are secreted?"
+
+"No, lord. Another, through boastfulness, would have let the Lygian know
+that he divined who he was; another would have tried to extort from him
+the knowledge of where he lived, and would have received either a
+stroke of the fist,--after which all earthly affairs would have become
+indifferent to him,--or he would have roused the suspicion of the giant
+and caused this,--that a new hiding-place would be found for the girl,
+this very night perhaps. I did not act thus. It suffices me to know that
+Ursus works near the Emporium, for a miller named Demas, the same name
+as that borne by thy freedman; now any trusted slave of thine may go in
+the morning on his track, and discover their hiding place. I bring thee
+merely the assurance that, since Ursus is here, the divine Lygia also
+is in Rome, and a second news that she will be in Ostrianum to-night,
+almost certainly--"
+
+"In Ostrianum? Where is that?" interrupted Vinicius, wishing evidently
+to run to the place indicated.
+
+"An old hypogeum between the Viae Salaria and Nomentana. That pontifex
+maximus of the Christians, of whom I spoke to thee, and whom they
+expected somewhat later, has come, and to-night he will teach and
+baptize in that cemetery. They hide their religion, for, though there
+are no edicts to prohibit it as yet, the people hate them, so they must
+be careful. Ursus himself told me that all, to the last soul, would be
+in Ostrianum to-night, for every one wishes to see and hear him who was
+the foremost disciple of Christ, and whom they call Apostle. Since among
+them women hear instruction as well as men, Pomponia alone perhaps of
+women will not be there; she could not explain to Aulus, a worshipper of
+the ancient gods, her absence from home at night. But Lygia, lord, who
+is under the care of Ursus and the Christian elders, will go undoubtedly
+with other women."
+
+Vinicius, who had lived hitherto in a fever, and upheld as it were,
+by hope alone, now that his hope seemed fulfilled felt all at once the
+weakness that a man feels after a journey which has proved beyond his
+strength. Chilo noticed this, and resolved to make use of it.
+
+"The gates are watched, it is true, by thy people, and the Christians
+must know that. But they do not need gates. The Tiber, too, does not
+need them; and though it is far from the river to those roads, it is
+worth while to walk one road more to see the 'Great Apostle.' Moreover
+they may have a thousand ways of going beyond the walls, and I know that
+they have. In Ostrianum thou wilt find Lygia; and even should she not be
+there, which I will not admit, Ursus will be there, for he has promised
+to kill Glaucus. He told me himself that he would be there, and that he
+would kill him. Dost hear, noble tribune? Either thou wilt follow Ursus
+and learn where Lygia dwells, or thou wilt command thy people to seize
+him as a murderer, and, having him in thy hand, thou wilt make him
+confess where he has hidden Lygia. I have done my best! Another would
+have told thee that he had drunk ten cantars of the best wine with Ursus
+before he wormed the secret out of him; another would have told thee
+that he had lost a thousand sestertia to him in scriptoe duodecim, or
+that he had bought the intelligence for two thousand; I know that thou
+wouldst repay me doubly, but in spite of that, once in my life--I mean,
+as always in my life--I shall be honest, for I think, as the magnanimous
+Petronius says, that thy bounty exceeds all my hopes and expectations."
+
+Vinicius, who was a soldier and accustomed not only to take counsel of
+himself in all cases, but to act, was overcome by a momentary weakness
+and said,--"Thou wilt not deceive thyself as to my liberality, but first
+thou wilt go with me to Ostrianum."
+
+"I, to Ostrianum?" inquired Chilo, who had not the least wish to go
+there. "I, noble tribune, promised thee to point out Lygia, but I did
+not promise to take her away for thee. Think, lord, what would happen
+to me if that Lygian bear, when he had torn Glaucus to pieces, should
+convince himself straightway that he had torn him not altogether justly?
+Would he not look on me (of course without reason) as the cause of the
+accomplished murder? Remember, lord, that the greater philosopher a man
+is, the more difficult it is for him to answer the foolish questions
+of common people; what should I answer him were he to ask me why I
+calumniated Glaucus? But if thou suspect that I deceive thee, I say, pay
+me only when I point out the house in which Lygia lives; show me to-day
+only a part of thy liberality, so that if thou, lord (which may all the
+gods ward from thee), succumb to some accident, I shall not be entirely
+without recompense. Thy heart could not endure that."
+
+Vinicius went to a casket called "area," standing on a marble pedestal,
+and, taking out a purse, threw it to Chilo.
+
+"There are scrupula," said he; "when Lygia shall be in my house, thou
+wilt get the same full of aurei."
+
+"Thou art Jove!" exclaimed Chilo.
+
+But Vinicius frowned.
+
+"Thou wilt receive food here," said he; "then thou mayest rest. Thou
+wilt not leave this house till evening, and when night falls thou wilt
+go with me to Ostrianum."
+
+Fear and hesitation were reflected on the Greek's face for a time; but
+afterward he grew calm, and said,--"Who can oppose thee, lord! Receive
+these my words as of good omen, just as our great hero received words
+like them in the temple of Ammon. As to me, these 'scruples'" (here
+he shook the purse) "have outweighed mine, not to mention thy society,
+which for me is delight and happiness."
+
+Vinicius interrupted him impatiently, and asked for details of his
+conversation with Ursus. From them it seemed clear that either Lygia's
+hiding-place would be discovered that night, or he would be able to
+seize her on the road back from Ostrianum. At thought of this, Vinicius
+was borne away by wild delight. Now, when he felt clearly sure of
+finding Lygia, his anger against her, and his feeling of offence almost
+vanished. In return for that delight he forgave her every fault. He
+thought of her only as dear and desired, and he had the same impression
+as if she were returning after a long journey. He wished to summon his
+slaves and command them to deck the house with garlands. In that hour
+he had not a complaint against Ursus, even. He was ready to forgive all
+people everything. Chilo, for whom, in spite of his services, he had
+felt hitherto a certain repulsion, seemed to him for the first time an
+amusing and also an uncommon person. His house grew radiant; his
+eyes and his face became bright. He began again to feel youth and the
+pleasure of life. His former gloomy suffering had not given him yet a
+sufficient measure of how he loved Lygia. He understood this now for the
+first time, when he hoped to possess her. His desires woke in him, as
+the earth, warmed by the sun, wakes in spring; but his desires this time
+were less blind and wild, as it were, and more joyous and tender. He
+felt also within himself energy without bounds, and was convinced that
+should he but see Lygia with his own eyes, all the Christians on earth
+could not take her from him, nor could Caesar himself.
+
+Chilo, emboldened by the young tribune's delight, regained power of
+speech and began to give advice. According to him, it behooved Vinicius
+not to look on the affair as won, and to observe the greatest caution,
+without which all their work might end in nothing. He implored Vinicius
+not to carry off Lygia from Ostrianum. They ought to go there with hoods
+on their heads, with their faces hidden, and restrict themselves to
+looking at all who were present from some dark corner. When they saw
+Lygia, it would be safest to follow her at a distance, see what house
+she entered, surround it next morning at daybreak, and take her away in
+open daylight. Since she was a hostage and belonged specially to Caesar,
+they might do that without fear of law. In the event of not finding her
+in Ostrianum they could follow Ursus, and the result would be the
+same. To go to the cemetery with a crowd of attendants was
+impracticable,--that might draw attention to them easily; then the
+Christians need only put out the lights, as they did when she was
+intercepted, and scatter in the darkness, or betake themselves to places
+known to them only. But Vinicius and he should arm, and, still better,
+take a couple of strong, trusty men to defend them in case of need.
+
+Vinicius saw the perfect truth of what he said, and, recalling
+Petronius's counsel, commanded his slaves to bring Croton. Chilo, who
+knew every one in Rome, was set at rest notably when he heard the name
+of the famous athlete, whose superhuman strength in the arena he
+had wondered at more than once, and he declared that he would go to
+Ostrianum. The purse filled with great aurei seemed to him much easier
+of acquisition through the aid of Croton.
+
+Hence he sat down in good spirits at the table to which, after a time,
+he was called by the chief of the atrium.
+
+While eating, he told the slaves that he had obtained for their master
+a miraculous ointment. The worst horse, if rubbed on the hoofs with it,
+would leave every other far behind. A certain Christian had taught him
+how to prepare that ointment, for the Christian elders were far more
+skilled in enchantment and miracles than even the Thessalians, though
+Thessaly was renowned for its witches. The Christians had immense
+confidence in him--why, any one easily understands who knows what a fish
+means. While speaking he looked sharply at the eyes of the slaves, in
+the hope of discovering a Christian among them and informing Vinicius.
+But when the hope failed him, he fell to eating and drinking uncommon
+quantities, not sparing praises on the cook, and declaring that he would
+endeavor to buy him of Vinicius. His joyfulness was dimmed only by the
+thought that at night he must go to Ostrianum. He comforted himself,
+however, as he would go in disguise, in darkness, and in the company
+of two men, one of whom was so strong that he was the idol of Rome; the
+other a patrician, a man of high dignity in the army. "Even should they
+discover Vinicius," said he to himself, "they will not dare to raise a
+hand on him; as to me, they will be wise if they see the tip of my nose
+even."
+
+He fell then to recalling his conversation with the laborer; and the
+recollection of that filled him again with delight. He had not the least
+doubt that that laborer was Ursus. He knew of the uncommon strength
+of the man, from the narratives of Vinicius, and those who had brought
+Lygia from Caesar's palace. When he inquired of Euricius touching men of
+exceptional strength, there was nothing remarkable in this, that they
+pointed out Ursus. Then the confusion and rage of the laborer at mention
+of Vinicius and Lygia left him no doubt that those persons concerned him
+particularly; the laborer had mentioned also his penance for killing a
+man,--Ursus had killed Atacinus; finally, the appearance of the laborer
+answered perfectly to the account which Vinicius had given of the
+Lygian. The change of name was all that could provoke doubt, but Chilo
+knew that frequently Christians took new names at baptism.
+
+"Should Ursus kill Glaucus," said Chilo to himself, "that will be better
+still; but should he not kill him, that will be a good sign, for it will
+show how difficult it is for Christians to murder. I described Glaucus
+as a real son of Judas, and a traitor to all Christians; I was so
+eloquent that a stone would have been moved, and would have promised to
+fall on the head of Glaucus. Still I hardly moved that Lygian bear to
+put his paw on him. He hesitated, was unwilling, spoke of his penance
+and compunction. Evidently murder is not common among them. Offences
+against one's self must be forgiven, and there is not much freedom in
+taking revenge for others. Ergo, stop! think, Chilo, what can threaten
+thee? Glaucus is not free to avenge himself on thee. If Ursus will not
+kill Glaucus for such a great crime as the betrayal of all Christians,
+so much the more will he not kill thee for the small offence of
+betraying one Christian. Moreover, when I have once pointed out to this
+ardent wood-pigeon the nest of that turtle-dove, I will wash my hands of
+everything, and transfer myself to Naples. The Christians talk, also, of
+a kind of washing of the hands; that is evidently a method by which, if
+a man has an affair with them, he may finish it decisively. What good
+people these Christians are, and how ill men speak of them! O God! such
+is the justice of this world. But I love that religion, since it does
+not permit killing; but if it does not permit killing, it certainly does
+not permit stealing, deceit, or false testimony; hence I will not say
+that it is easy. It teaches, evidently, not only to die honestly, as the
+Stoics teach, but to live honestly also. If ever I have property and
+a house, like this, and slaves in such numbers as Vinicius, perhaps I
+shall be a Christian as long as may be convenient. For a rich man can
+permit himself everything, even virtue. This is a religion for the
+rich; hence I do not understand how there are so many poor among its
+adherents. What good is it for them, and why do they let virtue tie
+their hands? I must think over this sometime. Meanwhile praise to thee,
+Hermes! for helping me discover this badger. But if thou hast done so
+for the two white yearling heifers with gilded horns, I know thee not.
+Be ashamed, O slayer of Argos! such a wise god as thou, and not foresee
+that thou wilt get nothing! I will offer thee my gratitude; and if thou
+prefer two beasts to it, thou art the third beast thyself, and in the
+best event thou shouldst be a shepherd, not a god. Have a care, too,
+lest I, as a philosopher, prove to men that thou art non-existent, and
+then all will cease to bring thee offerings. It is safer to be on good
+terms with philosophers."
+
+Speaking thus to himself and to Hermes, he stretched on the sofa, put
+his mantle under his head, and was sleeping when the slave removed the
+dishes. He woke,--or rather they roused him,--only at the coming of
+Croton. He went to the atrium, then, and began to examine with pleasure
+the form of the trainer, an ex-gladiator, who seemed to fill the whole
+place with his immensity. Croton had stipulated as to the price of the
+trip, and was just speaking to Vinicius.
+
+"By Hercules! it is well, lord," said he, "that thou hast sent to-day
+for me, since I shall start to-morrow for Beneventum, whither the noble
+Vatinius has summoned me to make a trial, in presence of Caesar, of a
+certain Syphax, the most powerful negro that Africa has ever produced.
+Dost thou imagine, lord, how his spinal column will crack in my arms, or
+how besides I shall break his black jaw with my fist?"
+
+"By Pollux! Croton, I am sure that thou wilt do that," answered
+Vinicius.
+
+"And thou wilt act excellently," added Chilo. "Yes, to break his jaw,
+besides! That's a good idea, and a deed which befits thee. But rub thy
+limbs with olive oil to-day, my Hercules, and gird thyself, for know
+this, you mayst meet a real Cacus. The man who is guarding that girl in
+whom the worthy Vinicius takes interest, has exceptional strength very
+likely."
+
+Chilo spoke thus only to rouse Croton's ambition.
+
+"That is true," said Vinicius; "I have not seen him, but they tell me
+that he can take a bull by the horns and drag him wherever he pleases."
+
+"Oi!" exclaimed Chilo, who had not imagined that Ursus was so strong.
+But Croton laughed, from contempt. "I undertake, worthy lord," said he,
+"to bear away with this hand whomever thou shalt point out to me, and
+with this other defend myself against seven such Lygians, and bring the
+maiden to thy dwelling though all the Christians in Rome were pursuing
+me like Calabrian wolves. If not, I will let myself be beaten with clubs
+in this impluvium."
+
+"Do not permit that, lord," cried Chilo. "They will hurl stones at us,
+and what could his strength effect? Is it not better to take the girl
+from the house,--not expose thyself or her to destruction?"
+
+"This is true, Croton," said Vinicius.
+
+"I receive thy money, I do thy will! But remember, lord, that to-morrow
+I go to Beneventum."
+
+"I have five hundred slaves in the city," answered Vinicius.
+
+He gave them a sign to withdraw, went to the library himself, and
+sitting down wrote the following words to Petronius,--
+
+"The Lygian has been found by Chilo. I go this evening with him and
+Croton to Ostrianum, and shall carry her off from the house to-night or
+to-morrow. May the gods pour down on thee everything favorable. Be well,
+O carissime! for joy will not let me write further."
+
+Laying aside the reed then, he began to walk with quick step; for
+besides delight, which was overflowing his soul, he was tormented with
+fever. He said to himself that to-morrow Lygia would be in that house.
+He did not know how to act with her, but felt that if she would love him
+he would be her servant. He recalled Acte's assurance that he had been
+loved, and that moved him to the uttermost. Hence it would be merely
+a question of conquering a certain maiden modesty, and a question of
+certain ceremonies which Christian teaching evidently commanded. But if
+that were true, Lygia, when once in his house, would yield to persuasion
+or superior force; she would have to say to herself, "It has happened!"
+and then she would be amiable and loving.
+
+But Chilo appeared and interrupted the course of these pleasant
+thoughts. "Lord," said the Greek, "this is what has come to my head.
+Have not the Christians signs, 'passwords,' without which no one will be
+admitted to Ostrianum? I know that it is so in houses of prayer, and
+I have received those passwords from Euricius; permit me then to go to
+him, lord, to ask precisely, and receive the needful signs."
+
+"Well, noble sage," answered Vinicius, gladly; "thou speakest as a man
+of forethought, and for that praise belongs to thee. Thou wit go, then,
+to Euricius, or whithersoever it may please thee; but as security thou
+wilt leave on this table here that purse which thou hast received from
+me."
+
+Chilo, who always parted with money unwillingly, squirmed; still he
+obeyed the command and went out. From the Carinae to the Circus, near
+which was the little shop of Euricius, it was not very far; hence he
+returned considerably before evening.
+
+"Here are the signs, lord. Without them they would not admit us. I have
+inquired carefully about the road. I told Euricius that I needed the
+signs only for my friends; that I would not go myself, since it was too
+far for my advanced age; that, moreover, I should see the Great Apostle
+myself to-morrow, and he would repeat to me the choicest parts of his
+sermon."
+
+"How! Thou wilt not be there? Thou must go!" said Vinicius.
+
+"I know that I must; but I will go well hooded, and I advise thee to go
+in like manner, or we may frighten the birds."
+
+In fact they began soon to prepare, for darkness had come on the world.
+They put on Gallic cloaks with hoods, and took lanterns; Vinicius,
+besides, armed himself and his companions with short, curved knives;
+Chilo put on a wig, which he obtained on the way from the old man's
+shop, and they went out, hurrying so as to reach the distant Nomentan
+Gate before it was closed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+
+THEY went through the Vicus Patricius, along the Viminal to the former
+Viminal gate, near the plain on which Diocletian afterward built
+splendid baths. They passed the remains of the wall of Servius
+Tullius, and through places more and more deserted they reached the Via
+Nomentana; there, turning to the left, towards the Via Salaria, they
+found themselves among hills full of sand-pits, and here and there they
+found graveyards.
+
+Meanwhile it had grown dark completely, and since the moon had not risen
+yet, it would have been rather difficult for them to find the road were
+it not that the Christians themselves indicated it, as Chilo foresaw.
+
+In fact, on the right, on the left, and in front, dark forms were
+evident, making their way carefully toward sandy hollows. Some of these
+people carried lanterns,--covering them, however, as far as possible
+with mantles; others, knowing the road better, went in the dark. The
+trained military eye of Vinicius distinguished, by their movements,
+younger men from old ones, who walked with canes, and from women,
+wrapped carefully in long mantles. The highway police, and villagers
+leaving the city, took those night wanderers, evidently, for laborers,
+going to sand-pits; or grave-diggers, who at times celebrated ceremonies
+of their own in the night-time. In proportion, however, as the young
+patrician and his attendants pushed forward, more and more lanterns
+gleamed, and the number of persons grew greater. Some of them sang songs
+in low voices, which to Vinicius seemed filled with sadness. At
+moments a separate word or a phrase of the song struck his ear, as,
+for instance, "Awake, thou that sleepest," or "Rise from the dead"; at
+times, again, the name of Christ was repeated by men and women.
+
+But Vinicius turned slight attention to the words, for it came to his
+head that one of those dark forms might be Lygia. Some, passing near,
+said, "Peace be with thee!" or "Glory be to Christ!" but disquiet seized
+him, and his heart began to beat with more life, for it seemed to him
+that he heard Lygia's voice. Forms or movements like hers deceived him
+in the darkness every moment, and only when he had corrected mistakes
+made repeatedly did he begin to distrust his own eyes.
+
+The way seemed long to him. He knew the neighborhood exactly, but could
+not fix places in the darkness. Every moment they came to some narrow
+passage, or piece of wall, or booths, which he did not remember as being
+in the vicinity of the city. Finally the edge of the moon appeared from
+behind a mass of clouds, and lighted the place better than dim lanterns.
+Something from afar began at last to glimmer like a fire, or the flame
+of a torch. Vinicius turned to Chilo.
+
+"Is that Ostrianum?" asked he.
+
+Chilo, on whom night, distance from the city, and those ghostlike forms
+made a deep impression, replied in a voice somewhat uncertain,--"I know
+not, lord; I have never been in Ostrianum. But they might praise God in
+some spot nearer the city."
+
+After a while, feeling the need of conversation, and of strengthening
+his courage, he added,--"They come together like murderers; still
+they are not permitted to murder, unless that Lygian has deceived me
+shamefully."
+
+Vinicius, who was thinking of Lygia, was astonished also by the caution
+and mysteriousness with which her co-religionists assembled to hear
+their highest priest; hence he said,--"Like all religions, this has its
+adherents in the midst of us; but the Christians are a Jewish sect.
+Why do they assemble here, when in the Trans-Tiber there are temples to
+which the Jews take their offerings in daylight?"
+
+"The Jews, lord, are their bitterest enemies. I have heard that, before
+the present Caesar's time, it came to war, almost, between Jews and
+Christians. Those outbreaks forced Claudius Caesar to expell all the
+Jews, but at present that edict is abolished. The Christians, however,
+hide themselves from Jews, and from the populace, who, as is known to
+thee, accuse them of crimes and hate them."
+
+They walked on some time in silence, till Chilo, whose fear increased
+as he receded from the gates, said,--"When returning from the shop of
+Euricius, I borrowed a wig from a barber, and have put two beans in my
+nostrils. They must not recognize me; but if they do, they will not kill
+me. They are not malignant! They are even very honest. I esteem and love
+them."
+
+"Do not win them to thyself by premature praises," retorted Vinicius.
+
+They went now into a narrow depression, closed, as it were, by two
+ditches on the side, over which an aqueduct was thrown in one place. The
+moon came out from behind clouds, and at the end of the depression
+they saw a wall, covered thickly with ivy, which looked silvery in the
+moonlight. That was Ostrianum.
+
+Vinicius's heart began to beat now with more vigor. At the gate two
+quarryrnen took the signs from them. In a moment Vinicius and his
+attendants were in a rather spacious place enclosed on all sides by a
+wall. Here and there were separate monuments, and in the centre was
+the entrance to the hypogeum itself, or crypt. In the lower part of the
+crypt, beneath the earth, were graves; before the entrance a fountain
+was playing. But it was evident that no very large number of persons
+could find room in the hypogeum; hence Vinicius divined without
+difficulty that the ceremony would take place outside, in the space
+where a very numerous throng was soon gathered.
+
+As far as the eye could reach, lantern gleamed near lantern, but many
+of those who came had no light whatever. With the exception of a few
+uncovered heads, all were hooded, from fear of treason or the cold; and
+the young patrician thought with alarm that, should they remain thus, he
+would not be able to recognize Lygia in that crowd and in the dim light.
+
+But all at once, near the crypt, some pitch torches were ignited and put
+into a little pile. There was more light. After a while the crowd
+began to sing a certain strange hymn, at first in a low voice, and then
+louder. Vinicius had never heard such a hymn before. The same yearning
+which had struck him in the hymns murmured by separate persons on
+the way to the cemetery, was heard now in that, but with far more
+distinctness and power; and at last it became as penetrating and immense
+as if together with the people, the whole cemetery, the hills, the pits,
+and the region about, had begun to yearn. It might seem, also, that
+there was in it a certain calling in the night, a certain humble prayer
+for rescue in wandering and darkness.
+
+Eyes turned upward seemed to see some one far above, there on high,
+and outstretched hands seemed to implore him to descend. When the hymn
+ceased, there followed a moment as it were of suspense,--so impressive
+that Vinicius and his companions looked unwittingly toward the stars,
+as if in dread that something uncommon would happen, and that some one
+would really descend to them.
+
+Vinicius had seen a multitude of temples of most various structure in
+Asia Minor, in Egypt, and in Rome itself; he had become acquainted with
+a multitude of religions, most varied in character, and had heard many
+hymns; but here, for the first time, he saw people calling on a divinity
+with hymns,--not to carry out a fixed ritual, but calling from the
+bottom of the heart, with the genuine yearning which children might
+feel for a father or a mother. One had to be blind not to see that those
+people not merely honored their God, but loved him with the whole
+soul. Vinicius had not seen the like, so far, in any land, during any
+ceremony, in any sanctuary; for in Rome and in Greece those who still
+rendered honor to the gods did so to gain aid for themselves or
+through fear; but it had not even entered any one's head to love those
+divinities.
+
+Though his mind was occupied with Lygia, and his attention with seeking
+her in the crowd, he could not avoid seeing those uncommon and wonderful
+things which were happening around him. Meanwhile a few more torches
+were thrown on the fire, which filled the cemetery with ruddy light and
+darkened the gleam of the lanterns. That moment an old man, wearing a
+hooded mantle but with a bare head, issued from the hypogeum. This man
+mounted a stone which lay near the fire.
+
+The crowd swayed before him. Voices near Vinicius whispered, "Peter!
+Peter!" Some knelt, others extended their hands toward him. There
+followed a silence so deep that one heard every charred particle that
+dropped from the torches, the distant rattle of wheels on the Via
+Nomentana, and the sound of wind through the few pines which grew close
+to the cemetery.
+
+Chilo bent toward Vinicius and whispered,--"This is he! The foremost
+disciple of Christ-a fisherman!"
+
+The old man raised his hand, and with the sign of the cross blessed
+those present, who fell on their knees simultaneously. Vinicius and his
+attendants, not wishing to betray themselves, followed the example of
+others. The young man could not seize his impressions immediately, for
+it seemed to him that the form which he saw there before him was both
+simple and uncommon, and, what was more, the uncommonness flowed just
+from the simplicity. The old man had no mitre on his head, no garland of
+oak-leaves on his temples, no palm in his hand, no golden tablet on his
+breast, he wore no white robe embroidered with stars; in a word, he
+bore no insignia of the kind worn by priests--Oriental, Egyptian,
+or Greek--or by Roman flamens. And Vinicius was struck by that same
+difference again which he felt when listening to the Christian hymns;
+for that "fisherman," too, seemed to him, not like some high priest
+skilled in ceremonial, but as it were a witness, simple, aged, and
+immensely venerable, who had journeyed from afar to relate a truth which
+he had seen, which he had touched, which he believed as he believed
+in existence, and he had come to love this truth precisely because
+he believed it. There was in his face, therefore, such a power of
+convincing as truth itself has. And Vinicius, who had been a sceptic,
+who did not wish to yield to the charm of the old man, yielded, however,
+to a certain feverish curiosity to know what would flow from the lips of
+that companion of the mysterious "Christus," and what that teaching was
+of which Lygia and Pomponia Graecina were followers.
+
+Meanwhile Peter began to speak, and he spoke from the beginning like
+a father instructing his children and teaching them how to live. He
+enjoined on them to renounce excess and luxury, to love poverty, purity
+of life, and truth, to endure wrongs and persecutions patiently, to obey
+the government and those placed above them, to guard against treason,
+deceit, and calumny; finally, to give an example in their own society to
+each other, and even to pagans.
+
+Vinicius, for whom good was only that which could bring back to him
+Lygia, and evil everything which stood as a barrier between them, was
+touched and angered by certain of those counsels. It seemed to him that
+by enjoining purity and a struggle with desires the old man dared, not
+only to condemn his love, but to rouse Lygia against him and confirm her
+in opposition. He understood that if she were in the assembly listening
+to those words, and if she took them to heart, she must think of him as
+an enemy of that teaching and an outcast.
+
+Anger seized him at this thought. "What have I heard that is new?"
+thought he. "Is this the new religion? Every one knows this, every
+one has heard it. The Cynics enjoined poverty and a restriction of
+necessities; Socrates enjoined virtue as an old thing and a good one;
+the first Stoic one meets, even such a one as Seneca, who has five
+hundred tables of lemon-wood, praises moderation, enjoins truth,
+patience in adversity, endurance in misfortune,--and all that is like
+stale, mouse-eaten grain; but people do not wish to eat it because it
+smells of age."
+
+And besides anger, he had a feeling of disappointment, for he expected
+the discovery of unknown, magic secrets of some kind, and thought that
+at least he would hear a rhetor astonishing by his eloquence; meanwhile
+he heard only words which were immensely simple, devoid of every
+ornament. He was astonished only by the mute attention with which the
+crowd listened.
+
+But the old man spoke on to those people sunk in listening,--told them
+to be kind, poor, peaceful, just, and pure; not that they might have
+peace during life, but that they might live eternally with Christ after
+death, in such joy and such glory, in such health and delight, as no one
+on earth had attained at any time. And here Vinicius, though predisposed
+unfavorably, could not but notice that still there was a difference
+between the teaching of the old man and that of the Cynics, Stoics, and
+other philosophers; for they enjoin good and virtue as reasonable, and
+the only thing practical in life, while he promised immortality,
+and that not some kind of hapless immortality beneath the earth, in
+wretchedness, emptiness, and want, but a magnificent life, equal to that
+of the gods almost. He spoke meanwhile of it as of a thing perfectly
+certain; hence, in view of such a faith, virtue acquired a value simply
+measureless, and the misfortunes of this life became incomparably
+trivial. To suffer temporally for inexhaustible happiness is a thing
+absolutely different from suffering because such is the order of nature.
+But the old man said further that virtue and truth should be loved
+for themselves, since the highest eternal good and the virtue existing
+before ages is God; whoso therefore loves them loves God, and by that
+same becomes a cherished child of His.
+
+Vinicius did not understand this well, but he knew previously, from
+words spoken by Pomponia Graecina to Petronius, that, according to the
+belief of Christians, God was one and almighty; when, therefore,
+he heard now again that He is all good and all just, he thought
+involuntarily that, in presence of such a demiurge, Jupiter, Saturn,
+Apollo, Juno, Vesta, and Venus would seem like some vain and noisy
+rabble, in which all were interfering at once, and each on his or her
+own account.
+
+But the greatest astonishment seized him when the old man declared
+that God was universal love also; hence he who loves man fulfils God's
+supreme command. But it is not enough to love men of one's own nation,
+for the God-man shed his blood for all, and found among pagans such
+elect of his as Cornelius the Centurion; it is not enough either to love
+those who do good to us, for Christ forgave the Jews who delivered him
+to death, and the Roman soldiers who nailed him to the cross, we should
+not only forgive but love those who injure us, and return them good for
+evil; it is not enough to love the good, we must love the wicked also,
+since by love alone is it possible to expel from them evil.
+
+Chilo at these words thought to himself that his work had gone for
+nothing, that never in the world would Ursus dare to kill Glaucus,
+either that night or any other night. But he comforted himself at once
+by another inference from the teaching of the old man; namely, that
+neither would Glaucus kill him, though he should discover and recognize
+him.
+
+Vinicius did not think now that there was nothing new in the words of
+the old man, but with amazement he asked himself: "What kind of God is
+this, what kind of religion is this, and what kind of people are these?"
+All that he had just heard could not find place in his head simply. For
+him all was an unheard-of medley of ideas. He felt that if he wished,
+for example, to follow that teaching, he would have to place on a
+burning pile all his thoughts, habits, and character, his whole nature
+up to that moment, burn them into ashes, and then fill himself with a
+life altogether different, and an entirely new soul. To him the science
+or the religion which commanded a Roman to love Parthians, Syrians,
+Greeks, Egyptians, Gauls, and Britons, to forgive enemies, to return
+them good for evil, and to love them, seemed madness. At the same
+time he had a feeling that in that madness itself there was something
+mightier than all philosophies so far. He thought that because of its
+madness it was impracticable, but because of its impracticability it was
+divine. In his soul he rejected it; but he felt that he was parting as
+if from a field full of spikenard, a kind of intoxicating incense;
+when a man has once breathed of this he must, as in the land of the
+lotus-eaters, forget all things else ever after, and yearn for it only.
+
+It seemed to him that there was nothing real in that religion, but that
+reality in presence of it was so paltry that it deserved not the time
+for thought. Expanses of some kind, of which hitherto he had not had a
+suspicion, surrounded him,--certain immensities, certain clouds. That
+cemetery began to produce on him the impression of a meeting-place for
+madmen, but also of a place mysterious and awful, in which, as on a
+mystic bed, something was in progress of birth the like of which had
+not been in the world so far. He brought before his mind all that, which
+from the first moment of his speech, the old man had said touching life,
+truth, love, God; and his thoughts were dazed from the brightness, as
+the eyes are blinded from lightning flashes which follow each other
+unceasingly.
+
+As is usual with people for whom life has been turned into one single
+passion, Vinicius thought of all this through the medium of his love for
+Lygia; and in the light of those flashes he saw one thing distinctly,
+that if Lygia was in the cemetery, if she confessed that religion,
+obeyed and felt it, she never could and never would be his mistress.
+
+For the first time, then, since he had made her acquaintance at Aulus's,
+Vinicius felt that though now he had found her he would not get her.
+Nothing similar had come to his head so far, and he could not explain it
+to himself then, for that was not so much an express understanding as
+a dim feeling of irreparable loss and misfortune. There rose in him
+an alarm, which was turned soon into a storm of anger against the
+Christians in general, and against the old man in particular. That
+fisherman, whom at the first cast of the eye he considered a peasant,
+now filled him with fear almost, and seemed some mysterious power
+deciding his fate inexorably and therefore tragically.
+
+The quarrymen again, unobserved, added torches to the fire; the wind
+ceased to sound in the pines; the flame rose evenly, with a slender
+point toward the stars, which were twinkling in a clear sky. Having
+mentioned the death of Christ, the old man talked now of Him only. All
+held the breath in their breasts, and a silence set in which was deeper
+than the preceding one, so that it was possible almost to hear the
+beating of hearts. That man had seen! and he narrated as one in whose
+memory every moment had been fixed in such a way that were he to close
+his eyes he would see yet. He told, therefore, how on their return from
+the Cross he and John had sat two days and nights in the supper-chamber,
+neither sleeping nor eating, in suffering, in sorrow, in doubt, in
+alarm, holding their heads in their hands, and thinking that He had
+died. Oh, how grievous, how grievous that was! The third day had dawned
+and the light whitened the walls, but he and John were sitting in the
+chamber, without hope or comfort. How desire for sleep tortured them
+(for they had spent the night before the Passion without sleep)! They
+roused themselves then, and began again to lament. But barely had the
+sun risen when Mary of Magdala, panting, her hair dishevelled, rushed in
+with the cry, "They have taken away the Lord!" When they heard this,
+he and John sprang up and ran toward the sepulchre. But John, being
+younger, arrived first; he saw the place empty, and dared not enter.
+Only when there were three at the entrance did he, the person now
+speaking to them, enter, and find on the stone a shirt with a winding
+sheet; but the body he found not.
+
+Fear fell on them then, because they thought that the priests had
+borne away Christ, and both returned home in greater grief still. Other
+disciples came later and raised a lament, now in company, so that the
+Lord of Hosts might hear them more easily, and now separately and in
+turn. The spirit died within them, for they had hoped that the Master
+would redeem Israel, and it was now the third day since his death; hence
+they did not understand why the Father had deserted the Son, and they
+preferred not to look at the daylight, but to die, so grievous was the
+burden.
+
+The remembrance of those terrible moments pressed even then from the
+eyes of the old man two tears, which were visible by the light of the
+fire, coursing down his gray beard. His hairless and aged head was
+shaking, and the voice died in his breast.
+
+"That man is speaking the truth and is weeping over it," said Vinicius
+in his soul. Sorrow seized by the throat the simple-hearted listeners
+also. They had heard more than once of Christ's sufferings, and it was
+known to them that joy succeeded sorrow; but since an apostle who had
+seen it told this, they wrung their hands under the impression, and
+sobbed or beat their breasts.
+
+But they calmed themselves gradually, for the wish to hear more gained
+the mastery. The old man closed his eyes, as if to see distant things
+more distinctly in his soul, and continued,--"When the disciples had
+lamented in this way, Mary of Magdala rushed in a second time, crying
+that she had seen the Lord. Unable to recognize him, she thought him
+the gardener: but He said, 'Mary!' She cried 'Rabboni!' and fell at his
+feet. He commanded her to go to the disciples, and vanished. But they,
+the disciples, did not believe her; and when she wept for joy, some
+upbraided her, some thought that sorrow had disturbed her mind, for
+she said, too, that she had seen angels at the grave, but they, running
+thither a second time, saw the grave empty. Later in the evening
+appeared Cleopas, who had come with another from Emmaus, and they
+returned quickly, saying: 'The Lord has indeed risen!' And they
+discussed with closed doors, out of fear of the Jews. Meanwhile He stood
+among them, though the doors had made no sound, and when they feared, He
+said, 'Peace be with you!'
+
+"And I saw Him, as did all, and He was like light, and like the
+happiness of our hearts, for we believed that He had risen from the
+dead, and that the seas will dry and the mountains turn to dust, but His
+glory will not pass.
+
+"After eight days Thomas Didymus put his finger in the Lord's wounds and
+touched His side; Thomas fell at His feet then, and cried, 'My Lord and
+my God!' 'Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are they
+who have not seen and have believed!' said the Lord. And we heard those
+words, and our eyes looked at Him, for He was among us."
+
+Vinicius listened, and something wonderful took place in him. He forgot
+for a moment where he was; he began to lose the feeling of reality, of
+measure, of judgment. He stood in the presence of two impossibilities.
+He could not believe what the old man said; and he felt that it would be
+necessary either to be blind or renounce one's own reason, to admit
+that that man who said "I saw" was lying. There was something in his
+movements, in his tears, in his whole figure, and in the details of
+the events which he narrated, which made every suspicion impossible. To
+Vinicius it seemed at moments that he was dreaming. But round about he
+saw the silent throng; the odor of lanterns came to his nostrils; at a
+distance the torches were blazing; and before him on the stone stood
+an aged man near the grave, with a head trembling somewhat, who, while
+bearing witness, repeated, "I saw!"
+
+And he narrated to them everything up to the Ascension into heaven. At
+moments he rested, for he spoke very circumstantially; but it could be
+felt that each minute detail had fixed itself in his memory, as a thing
+is fixed in a stone into which it has been engraved. Those who listened
+to him were seized by ecstasy. They threw back their hoods to hear him
+better, and not lose a word of those which for them were priceless. It
+seemed to them that some superhuman power had borne them to Galilee;
+that they were walking with the disciples through those groves and on
+those waters; that the cemetery was turned into the lake of Tiberius;
+that on the bank, in the mist of morning, stood Christ, as he stood
+when John, looking from the boat, said, "It is the Lord," and Peter cast
+himself in to swim, so as to fall the more quickly at the beloved feet.
+In the faces of those present were evident enthusiasm beyond bounds,
+oblivion of life, happiness, and love immeasurable. It was clear that
+during Peter's long narrative some of them had visions. When he began
+to tell how, at the moment of Ascension, the clouds closed in under
+the feet of the Saviour, covered Him, and hid Him from the eyes of the
+Apostles, all heads were raised toward the sky unconsciously, and a
+moment followed as it were of expectation, as if those people hoped to
+see Him or as if they hoped that He would descend again from the fields
+of heaven, and see how the old Apostle was feeding the sheep confided to
+him, and bless both the flock and him.
+
+Rome did not exist for those people, nor did the man Caesar; there were
+no temples of pagan gods; there was only Christ, who filled the land,
+the sea, the heavens, and the world.
+
+At the houses scattered here and there along the Via Nomentana, the
+cocks began to crow, announcing midnight. At that moment Chilo pulled
+the corner of Vinicius's mantle and whispered,--"Lord, I see Urban over
+there, not far from the old man, and with him is a maiden."
+
+Vinicius shook himself, as if out of a dream, and, turning in the
+direction indicated by the Greek, he saw Lygia.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+
+EVERY drop of blood quivered in the young patrician at sight of her.
+He forgot the crowd, the old man, his own astonishment at the
+incomprehensible things which he had heard,--he saw only her. At last,
+after all his efforts, after long days of alarm, trouble, and suffering,
+he had found her! For the first time he realized that joy might rush at
+the heart, like a wild beast, and squeeze it till breath was lost. He,
+who had supposed hitherto that on "Fortuna" had been imposed a kind of
+duty to accomplish all his wishes, hardly believed his own eyes now and
+his own happiness. Were it not for that disbelief, his passionate
+nature might have urged him to some unconsidered step; but he wished
+to convince himself first that that was not the continuation of those
+miracles with which his head was filled, and that he was not dreaming.
+But there was no doubt,--he saw Lygia, and an interval of barely a few
+steps divided them. She stood in perfect light, so that he could rejoice
+in the sight of her as much as he liked. The hood had fallen from her
+head and dishevelled her hair; her mouth was open slightly, her eyes
+raised toward the Apostle, her face fixed in listening and delighted.
+She was dressed in a dark woollen mantle, like a daughter of the people,
+but never had Vinicius seen her more beautiful; and notwithstanding all
+the disorder which had risen in him, he was struck by the nobility of
+that wonderful patrician head in distinction to the dress, almost that
+of a slave. Love flew over him like a flame, immense, mixed with a
+marvellous feeling of yearning, homage, honor, and desire. He felt
+the delight which the sight of her caused him; he drank of her as of
+life-giving water after long thirst. Standing near the gigantic Lygian,
+she seemed to him smaller than before, almost a child; he noticed,
+too, that she had grown more slender. Her complexion had become almost
+transparent; she made on him the impression of a flower, and a spirit.
+But all the more did he desire to possess that woman, so different from
+all women whom he had seen or possessed in Rome or the Orient. He felt
+that for her he would have given them all, and with them Rome and the
+world in addition.
+
+He would have lost himself in gazing, and forgotten himself altogether,
+had it not been for Chilo, who pulled the corner of his mantle, out of
+fear that he might do something to expose them to danger. Meanwhile the
+Christians began to pray and sing. After a while Maranatha thundered
+forth, and then the Great Apostle baptized with water from the fountain
+those whom the presbyters presented as ready for baptism. It seemed to
+Vinicius that that night would never end. He wished now to follow Lygia
+as soon as possible, and seize her on the road or at her house.
+
+At last some began to leave the cemetery, and Chilo whispered,--"Let us
+go out before the gate, lord, we have not removed our hoods, and people
+look at us."
+
+Such was the case, for during the discourse of the Apostle all had cast
+aside their hoods so as to hear better, and they had not followed the
+general example. Chilo's advice seemed wise, therefore. Standing before
+the gate, they could look at all who passed; Ursus it was easy to
+recognize by his form and size.
+
+"Let us follow them," said Chilo; "we shall see to what house they
+go. To-morrow, or rather to-day, thou wilt surround the entrances with
+slaves and take her."
+
+"No!" said Vinicius.
+
+"What dost thou wish to do, lord?"
+
+"We will follow her to the house and take her now, if thou wilt
+undertake that task, Croton?"
+
+"I will," replied Croton, "and I will give myself to thee as a slave if
+I do not break the back of that bison who is guarding her."
+
+But Chilo fell to dissuading and entreating them by all the gods not
+to do so. Croton was taken only for defence against attack in case they
+were recognized, not to carry off the girl. To take her when there were
+only two of them was to expose themselves to death, and, what was
+worse, they might let her out of their hands, and then she would hide
+in another place or leave Rome. And what could they do? Why not act
+with certainty? Why expose themselves to destruction and the whole
+undertaking to failure?
+
+Though Vinicius restrained himself with the greatest effort from seizing
+Lygia in his arms at once, right there in the cemetery, he felt that the
+Greek was right, and would have lent ear, perhaps, to his counsels, had
+it not been for Croton, to whom reward was the question.
+
+"Lord, command that old goat to be silent," said he, "or let me drop my
+fist on his head. Once in Buxentum, whither Lucius Saturnius took me to
+a play, seven drunken gladiators fell on me at an inn, and none of them
+escaped with sound ribs. I do not say to take the girl now from the
+crowd, for they might throw stones before our feet, but once she is at
+home I will seize her, carry her away, and take her whithersoever thou
+shalt indicate."
+
+Vinicius was pleased to hear those words, and answered,--"Thus let it
+be, by Hercules! To-morrow we may not find her at home; if we surprise
+them they will remove the girl surely."
+
+"This Lygian seems tremendously strong!" groaned Chilo.
+
+"No one will ask thee to hold his hands," answered Croton.
+
+But they had to wait long yet, and the cocks had begun to crow before
+dawn when they saw Ursus coming through the gate, and with him Lygia.
+They were accompanied by a number of other persons. It seemed to Chilo
+that he recognized among them the Great Apostle; next to him walked
+another old man, considerably lower in stature, two women who were not
+young, and a boy, who lighted the way with a lantern. After that handful
+followed a crowd, about two hundred in number; Vinicius, Chilo, and
+Croton walked with these people.
+
+"Yes, lord," said Chilo, "thy maiden is under powerful protection. That
+is the Great Apostle with her, for see how passing people kneel to him."
+
+People did in fact kneel before him, but Vinicius did not look at them.
+He did not lose Lygia from his eyes for a moment; he thought only of
+bearing her away and, accustomed as he had been in wars to stratagems
+of all sorts, he arranged in his head the whole plan of seizure with
+soldierly precision. He felt that the step on which he had decided was
+bold, but he knew well that bold attacks give success generally.
+
+The way was long; hence at moments he thought too of the gulf which
+that wonderful religion had dug between him and Lygia. Now he understood
+everything that had happened in the past, and why it had happened. He
+was sufficiently penetrating for that. Lygia he had not known hitherto.
+He had seen in her a maiden wonderful beyond others, a maiden toward
+whom his feelings were inflamed: he knew now that her religion made her
+different from other women, and his hope that feeling, desire, wealth,
+luxury, would attract her he knew now to be a vain illusion. Finally he
+understood this, which he and Petronius had not understood, that the
+new religion ingrafted into the soul something unknown to that world
+in which he lived, and that Lygia, even if she loved him, would not
+sacrifice any of her Christian truths for his sake, and that, if
+pleasure existed for her, it was a pleasure different altogether
+from that which he and Petronius and Caesar's court and all Rome were
+pursuing. Every other woman whom he knew might become his mistress,
+but that Christian would become only his victim. And when he thought
+of this, he felt anger and burning pain, for he felt that his anger was
+powerless. To carry off Lygia seemed to him possible; he was almost sure
+that he could take her, but he was equally sure that, in view of her
+religion, he himself with his bravery was nothing, that his power
+was nothing, and that through it he could effect nothing. That Roman
+military tribune, convinced that the power of the sword and the fist
+which had conquered the world, would command it forever, saw for the
+first time in life that beyond that power there might be something else;
+hence he asked himself with amazement what it was. And he could
+not answer distinctly; through his head flew merely pictures of the
+cemetery, the assembled crowd, and Lygia, listening with her whole soul
+to the words of the old man, as he narrated the passion, death, and
+resurrection of the God-man, who had redeemed the world, and promised it
+happiness on the other shore of the Styx.
+
+When he thought of this, chaos rose in his head. But he was brought
+out of this chaos by Chilo, who fell to lamenting his own fate. He had
+agreed to find Lygia. He had sought for her in peril of his life, and he
+had pointed her out. But what more do they want? Had he offered to
+carry the maiden away? Who could ask anything like this of a maimed man
+deprived of two fingers, an old man, devoted to meditation, to science,
+and virtue? What would happen were a lord of such dignity as Vinicius to
+meet some mishap while bearing the maiden away? It is true that the gods
+are bound to watch over their chosen ones,--but have not such things
+happened more than once, as if the gods were playing games instead of
+watching what was passing in the world? Fortune is blindfold, as is
+well known, and does not see even in daylight; what must the case be at
+night? Let something happen,--let that Lygian bear hurl a millstone at
+the noble Vinicius, or a keg of wine, or, still worse, water,--who
+will give assurance that instead of a reward blame will not fall on
+the hapless Chilo? He, the poor sage, has attached himself to the noble
+Vinicius as Aristotle to Alexander of Macedon. If the noble lord should
+give him at least that purse which he had thrust into his girdle before
+leaving home, there would be something with which to invoke aid in
+case of need, or to influence the Christians. Oh, why not listen to the
+counsels of an old man, counsels dictated by experience and prudence?
+
+Vinicius, hearing this, took the purse from his belt, and threw it to
+the fingers of Chilo.
+
+"Thou hast it; be silent!"
+
+The Greek felt that it was unusually heavy, and gained confidence.
+
+"My whole hope is in this," said he, "that Hercules or Theseus performed
+deeds still more arduous; what is my personal, nearest friend, Croton,
+if not Hercules? Thee, worthy lord, I will not call a demigod, for thou
+art a full god, and in future thou wilt not forget a poor, faithful
+servant, whose needs it will be necessary to provide for from time to
+time, for once he is sunk in books, he thinks of nothing else; some
+few stadia of garden land and a little house, even with the smallest
+portico, for coolness in summer, would befit such a donor. Meanwhile
+I shall admire thy heroic deeds from afar, and invoke Jove to befriend
+thee, and if need be I will make such an outcry that half Rome will be
+roused to thy assistance. What a wretched, rough road! The olive oil
+is burned out in the lantern; and if Croton, who is as noble as he is
+strong, would bear me to the gate in his arms, he would learn, to begin
+with, whether he will carry the maiden easily; second, he would act
+like AEneas, and win all the good gods to such a degree that touching the
+result of the enterprise I should be thoroughly satisfied."
+
+"I should rather carry a sheep which died of mange a month ago,"
+answered the gladiator; "but give that purse, bestowed by the worthy
+tribune, and I will bear thee to the gate."
+
+"Mayst thou knock the great toe from thy foot," replied the Greek;
+"what profit hast thou from the teachings of that worthy old man, who
+described poverty and charity as the two foremost virtues? Has he not
+commanded thee expressly to love me? Never shall I make thee, I see,
+even a poor Christian; it would be easier for the sun to pierce the
+walls of the Mamertine prison than for truth to penetrate thy skull of a
+hippopotamus."
+
+"Never fear!" said Croton, who with the strength of a beast had no human
+feeling. "I shall not be a Christian! I have no wish to lose my bread."
+
+"But if thou knew even the rudiments of philosophy, thou wouldst know
+that gold is vanity."
+
+"Come to me with thy philosophy. I will give thee one blow of my head in
+the stomach; we shall see then who wins."
+
+"An ox might have said the same to Aristotle," retorted Chilo.
+
+It was growing gray in the world. The dawn covered with pale light the
+outlines of the walls. The trees along the wayside, the buildings, and
+the gravestones scattered here and there began to issue from the shade.
+The road was no longer quite empty. Marketmen were moving toward the
+gates, leading asses and mules laden with vegetables; here and there
+moved creaking carts in which game was conveyed. On the road and along
+both sides of it was a light mist at the very earth, which promised good
+weather. People at some distance seemed like apparitions in that mist.
+Vinicius stared at the slender form of Lygia, which became more silvery
+as the light increased.
+
+"Lord," said Chilo, "I should offend thee were I to foresee the end of
+thy bounty, but now, when thou hast paid me, I may not be suspected of
+speaking for my own interest only. I advise thee once more to go home
+for slaves and a litter, when thou hast learned in what house the divine
+Lygia dwells; listen not to that elephant trunk, Croton, who undertakes
+to carry off the maiden only to squeeze thy purse as if it were a bag of
+curds."
+
+"I have a blow of the fist to be struck between the shoulders, which
+means that thou wilt perish," said Croton.
+
+"I have a cask of Cephalonian wine, which means that I shall be well,"
+answered Chilo.
+
+Vinicius made no answer, for he approached the gate, at which a
+wonderful sight struck his eyes. Two soldiers knelt when the Apostle was
+passing; Peter placed his hand on their iron helmets for a moment, and
+then made the sign of the cross on them. It had never occurred to
+the patrician before that there could be Christians in the army; with
+astonishment he thought that as fire in a burning city takes in more
+and more houses, so to all appearances that doctrine embraces new souls
+every day, and extends itself over all human understandings. This struck
+him also with reference to Lygia, for he was convinced that, had
+she wished to flee from the city, there would be guards willing to
+facilitate her flight. He thanked the gods then that this had not
+happened.
+
+After they had passed vacant places beyond the wall, the Christians
+began to scatter. There was need, therefore, to follow Lygia more from
+a distance, and more carefully, so as not to rouse attention. Chilo fell
+to complaining of wounds, of pains in his legs, and dropped more
+and more to the rear. Vinicius did not oppose this, judging that the
+cowardly and incompetent Greek would not be needed. He would even have
+permitted him to depart, had he wished; but the worthy sage was detained
+by circumspection. Curiosity pressed him evidently, since he continued
+behind, and at moments even approached with his previous counsels; he
+thought too that the old man accompanying the Apostle might be Glaucus,
+were it not for his rather low stature.
+
+They walked a good while before reaching the Trans-Tiber, and the sun
+was near rising when the group surrounding Lygia dispersed. The Apostle,
+an old woman, and a boy went up the river; the old man of lower stature,
+Ursus, and Lygia entered a narrow vicus, and, advancing still about a
+hundred yards, went into a house in which were two shops,--one for the
+sale of olives, the other for poultry.
+
+Chilo, who walked about fifty yards behind Vinicius and Croton, halted
+all at once, as if fixed to the earth, and, squeezing up to the wall,
+began to hiss at them to turn.
+
+They did so, for they needed to take counsel.
+
+"Go, Chilo," said Vinicius, "and see if this house fronts on another
+street." Chilo, though he had complained of wounds in his feet, sprang
+away as quickly as if he had had the wings of Mercury on his ankles, and
+returned in a moment.
+
+"No," said he, "there is but one entrance."
+
+Then, putting his hands together, he said, "I implore thee, lord, by
+Jupiter, Apollo, Vesta, Cybele, Isis, Osiris, Mithra Baal, and all the
+gods of the Orient and the Occident to drop this plan. Listen to me--"
+
+But he stopped on a sudden, for he saw that Vinicius's face was pale
+from emotion, and that his eyes were glittering like the eyes of a wolf.
+It was enough to look at him to understand that nothing in the world
+would restrain him from the undertaking. Croton began to draw air into
+his herculean breast, and to sway his undeveloped skull from side to
+side as bears do when confined in a cage, but on his face not the least
+fear was evident.
+
+"I will go in first," said he.
+
+"Thou wilt follow me," said Vinicius, in commanding tones.
+
+And after a while both vanished in the dark entrance.
+
+Chilo sprang to the corner of the nearest alley and watched from behind
+it, waiting for what would happen.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+
+ONLY inside the entrance did Vinicius comprehend the whole difficulty
+of the undertaking. The house was large, of several stories, one of the
+kind of which thousands were built in Rome, in view of profit from rent;
+hence, as a rule, they were built so hurriedly and badly that scarcely
+a year passed in which numbers of them did not fall on the heads of
+tenants. Real hives, too high and too narrow, full of chambers and
+little dens, in which poor people fixed themselves too numerously. In a
+city where many streets had no names, those houses had no numbers; the
+owners committed the collection of rent to slaves, who, not obliged by
+the city government to give names of occupants, were ignorant themselves
+of them frequently. To find some one by inquiry in such a house was
+often very difficult, especially when there was no gate-keeper.
+
+Vinicius and Croton came to a narrow, corridor-like passage walled in on
+four sides, forming a kind of common atrium for the whole house, with a
+fountain in the middle whose stream fell into a stone basin fixed in the
+ground. At all the walls were internal stairways, some of stone, some of
+wood, leading to galleries from which there were entrances to lodgings.
+There were lodgings on the ground, also; some provided with wooden
+doors, others separated from the yard by woollen screens only. These,
+for the greater part, were worn, rent, or patched.
+
+The hour was early, and there was not a living soul in the yard. It was
+evident that all were asleep in the house except those who had returned
+from Ostrianum.
+
+"What shall we do, lord?" asked Croton, halting.
+
+"Let us wait here; some one may appear," replied Vinicius. "We should
+not be seen in the yard."
+
+At this moment, he thought Chilo's counsel practical. If there were
+some tens of slaves present, it would be easy to occupy the gate, which
+seemed the only exit, search all the lodgings simultaneously, and thus
+come to Lygia's; otherwise Christians, who surely were not lacking in
+that house, might give notice that people were seeking her. In view
+of this, there was risk in inquiring of strangers. Vinicius stopped to
+think whether it would not be better to go for his slaves. Just then,
+from behind a screen hiding a remoter lodging, came a man with a sieve
+in his hand, and approached the fountain.
+
+At the first glance the young tribune recognized Ursus.
+
+"That is the Lygian!" whispered Vinicius.
+
+"Am I to break his bones now?"
+
+"Wait awhile!"
+
+Ursus did not notice the two men, as they were in the shadow of the
+entrance, and he began quietly to sink in water vegetables which
+filled the sieve. It was evident that, after a whole night spent in the
+cemetery, he intended to prepare a meal. After a while the washing
+was finished; he took the wet sieve and disappeared behind the screen.
+Croton and Vinicius followed him, thinking that they would come directly
+to Lygia's lodgings. Their astonishment was great when they saw that the
+screen divided from the court, not lodgings, but another dark corridor,
+at the end of which was a little garden containing a few cypresses, some
+myrtle bushes, and a small house fixed to the windowless stone wall of
+another stone building.
+
+Both understood at once that this was for them a favoring circumstance.
+In the courtyard all the tenants might assemble; the seclusion of the
+little house facilitated the enterprise. They would set aside defenders,
+or rather Ursus, quickly, and would reach the street just as quickly
+with the captured Lygia; and there they would help themselves. It was
+likely that no one would attack them; if attacked, they would say that
+a hostage was fleeing from Caesar. Vinicius would declare himself then to
+the guards, and summon their assistance.
+
+Ursus was almost entering the little house, when the sound of steps
+attracted his attention; he halted, and, seeing two persons, put his
+sieve on the balustrade and turned to them.
+
+"What do ye want here?" asked he.
+
+"Thee!" said Vinicius.
+
+Then, turning to Croton, he said in a low, hurried voice:
+
+"Kill!"
+
+Croton rushed at him like a tiger, and in one moment, before the Lygian
+was able to think or to recognize his enemies, Croton had caught him in
+his arms of steel.
+
+Vinicius was too confident in the man's preternatural strength to wait
+for the end of the struggle. He passed the two, sprang to the door of
+the little house, pushed it open and found himself in a room a trifle
+dark, lighted, however, by a fire burning in the chimney. A gleam of
+this fire fell on Lygia's face directly. A second person, sitting at the
+fire, was that old man who had accompanied the young girl and Ursus on
+the road from Ostrianum.
+
+Vinicius rushed in so suddenly that before Lygia could recognize him he
+had seized her by the waist, and, raising her, rushed toward the door
+again. The old man barred the way, it is true; but pressing the girl
+with one arm to his breast, Vinicius pushed him aside with the other,
+which was free. The hood fell from his head, and at sight of that face,
+which was known to her and which at that moment was terrible, the blood
+grew cold in Lygia from fright, and the voice died in her throat. She
+wished to summon aid, but had not the power. Equally vain was her wish
+to grasp the door, to resist. Her fingers slipped along the stone, and
+she would have fainted but for the terrible picture which struck her
+eyes when Vinicius rushed into the garden.
+
+Ursus was holding in his arms some man doubled back completely, with
+hanging head and mouth filled with blood. When he saw them, he struck
+the head once more with his fist, and in the twinkle of an eye sprang
+toward Vinicius like a raging wild beast.
+
+"Death!" thought the young patrician.
+
+Then he heard, as through a dream, the scream of Lygia, "Kill not!"
+He felt that something, as it were a thunderbolt, opened the arms with
+which he held Lygia; then the earth turned round with him, and the light
+of day died in his eyes.
+
+
+Chilo, hidden behind the angle of the corner house, was waiting for
+what would happen, since curiosity was struggling with fear in him. He
+thought that if they succeeded in carrying off Lygia, he would fare well
+near Vinicius. He feared Urban no longer, for he also felt certain that
+Croton would kill him. And he calculated that in case a gathering should
+begin on the streets, which so far were empty,--if Christians, or people
+of any kind, should offer resistance,--he, Chilo, would speak to them as
+one representing authority, as an executor of Caesar's will, and if need
+came, call the guards to aid the young patrician against the street
+rabble--thus winning to himself fresh favor. In his soul he judged
+yet that the young tribune's method was unwise; considering, however,
+Croton's terrible strength, he admitted that it might succeed, and
+thought, "If it go hard with him, Vinicius can carry the girl, and
+Croton clear the way." Delay grew wearisome, however; the silence of the
+entrance which he watched alarmed him.
+
+"If they do not hit upon her hiding-place, and make an uproar, they will
+frighten her."
+
+But this thought was not disagreeable; for Chilo understood that in that
+event he would be necessary again to Vinicius, and could squeeze afresh
+a goodly number of sestertia from the tribune.
+
+"Whatever they do," said he to himself, "they will work for me, though
+no one divines that. O gods! O gods! only permit me-"
+
+And he stopped suddenly, for it seemed to him that some one was bending
+forward through the entrance; then, squeezing up to the wall, he began
+to look, holding the breath in his breast.
+
+And he had not deceived himself, for a head thrust itself half out of
+the entrance and looked around. After a while, however, it vanished.
+
+"That is Vinicius, or Croton," thought Chilo; "but if they have taken
+the girl, why does she not scream, and why are they looking out to the
+street? They must meet people anyhow, for before they reach the Carinae
+there will be movement in the city--What is that? By the immortal gods!"
+
+And suddenly the remnant of his hair stood on end.
+
+In the door appeared Ursus, with the body of Croton hanging on his arm,
+and looking around once more, he began to run, bearing it along the
+empty street toward the river.
+
+Chilo made himself as flat against the wall as a bit of mud.
+
+"I am lost if he sees me!" thought he.
+
+But Ursus ran past the corner quickly, and disappeared beyond the
+neighboring house. Chilo, without further waiting, his teeth chattering
+from terror, ran along the cross street with a speed which even in a
+young man might have roused admiration.
+
+"If he sees me from a distance when he is returning, he will catch and
+kill me," said he to himself. "Save me, Zeus; save me, Apollo; save
+me, Hermes; save me, O God of the Christians! I will leave Rome, I will
+return to Mesembria, but save me from the hands of that demon!"
+
+And that Lygian who had killed Croton seemed to him at that moment some
+superhuman being. While running, he thought that he might be some god
+who had taken the form of a barbarian. At that moment he believed in all
+the gods of the world, and in all myths, at which he jeered usually. It
+flew through his head, too, that it might be the God of the Christians
+who had killed Croton; and his hair stood on end again at the thought
+that he was in conflict with such a power.
+
+Only when he had run through a number of alleys, and saw some workmen
+coming toward him from a distance, was he calmed somewhat. Breath failed
+in his breast; so he sat on the threshold of a house and began to wipe,
+with a corner of his mantle, his sweat-covered forehead.
+
+"I am old, and need calm," said he.
+
+The people coming toward him turned into some little side street, and
+again the place round about was empty. The city was sleeping yet. In the
+morning movement began earlier in the wealthier parts of the city,
+where the slaves of rich houses were forced to rise before daylight; in
+portions inhabited by a free population, supported at the cost of the
+State, hence unoccupied, they woke rather late, especially in winter.
+Chilo, after he had sat some time on the threshold, felt a piercing
+cold; so he rose, and, convincing himself that he had not lost the purse
+received from Vinicius, turned toward the river with a step now much
+slower.
+
+"I may see Croton's body somewhere," said he to himself. "O gods! that
+Lygian, if he is a man, might make millions of sestertia in the course
+of one year; for if he choked Croton, like a whelp, who can resist him?
+They would give for his every appearance in the arena as much gold as he
+himself weighs. He guards that maiden better than Cerberus does Hades.
+But may Hades swallow him, for all that! I will have nothing to do with
+him. He is too bony. But where shall I begin in this case? A dreadful
+thing has happened. If he has broken the bones of such a man as Croton,
+beyond a doubt the soul of Vinicius is puling above that cursed house
+now, awaiting his burial. By Castor! but he is a patrician, a friend
+of Caesar, a relative of Petronius, a man known in all Rome, a military
+tribune. His death cannot pass without punishment. Suppose I were to go
+to the pretorian camp, or the guards of the city, for instance?"
+
+Here he stopped and began to think, but said after a while,--"Woe is me!
+Who took him to that house if not I? His freedmen and his slaves know
+that I came to his house, and some of them know with what object. What
+will happen if they suspect me of having pointed out to him purposely
+the house in which his death met him? Though it appear afterward, in the
+court, that I did not wish his death, they will say that I was the
+cause of it. Besides, he is a patrician; hence in no event can I avoid
+punishment. But if I leave Rome in silence, and go far away somewhere, I
+shall place myself under still greater suspicion."
+
+It was bad in every case. The only question was to choose the less evil.
+Rome was immense; still Chilo felt that it might become too small for
+him. Any other man might go directly to the prefect of the city guards
+and tell what had happened, and, though some suspicion might fall
+on him, await the issue calmly. But Chilo's whole past was of such
+character that every closer acquaintance with the prefect of the city
+or the prefect of the guard must cause him very serious trouble, and
+confirm also every suspicion which might enter the heads of officials.
+
+On the other hand, to flee would be to confirm Petronius in the opinion
+that Vinicius had been betrayed and murdered through conspiracy.
+Petronius was a powerful man, who could command the police of the whole
+Empire, and who beyond doubt would try to find the guilty parties even
+at the ends of the earth. Still, Chilo thought to go straight to him,
+and tell what had happened. Yes; that was the best plan. Petronius was
+calm, and Chilo might be sure of this, at least, that he would hear him
+to the end. Petronius, who knew the affair from its inception, would
+believe in Chilo's innocence more easily than would the prefects.
+
+But to go to him, it was needful to know with certainty what had
+happened to Vinicius. Chilo did not know that. He had seen, it is true,
+the Lygian stealing with Croton's body to the river, but nothing more.
+Vinicius might be killed; but he might be wounded or detained. Now it
+occurred to Chilo for the first time, that surely the Christians would
+not dare to kill a man so powerful,--a friend of Caesar, and a high
+military official,--for that kind of act might draw on them a general
+persecution. It was more likely that they had detained him by superior
+force, to give Lygia means to hide herself a second time.
+
+This thought filled Chilo with hope.
+
+"If that Lygian dragon has not torn him to pieces at the first attack,
+he is alive, and if he is alive he himself will testify that I have not
+betrayed him; and then not only does nothing threaten me, but--O Hermes,
+count again on two heifers--a fresh field is opening. I can inform
+one of the freedmen where to seek his lord; and whether he goes to the
+prefect or not is his affair, the only point being that I should not go.
+Also, I can go to Petronius, and count on a reward. I have found Lygia;
+now I shall find Vinicius, and then again Lygia. It is needful to know
+first whether Vinicius is dead or living."
+
+Here it occurred to him that he might go in the night to the baker Demas
+and inquire about Ursus. But he rejected that thought immediately. He
+preferred to have nothing to do with Ursus. He might suppose, justly,
+that if Ursus had not killed Glaucus he had been warned, evidently, by
+the Christian elder to whom he had confessed his design,--warned that
+the affair was an unclean one, to which some traitor had persuaded him.
+In every case, at the mere recollection of Ursus, a shiver ran through
+Chilo's whole body. But he thought that in the evening he would send
+Euricius for news to that house in which the thing had happened.
+Meanwhile he needed refreshment, a bath, and rest. The sleepless night,
+the journey to Ostrianum, the flight from the Trans-Tiber, had wearied
+him exceedingly.
+
+One thing gave him permanent comfort: he had on his person two
+purses,--that which Vinicius had given him at home, and that which
+he had thrown him on the way from the cemetery. In view of this happy
+circumstance, and of all the excitement through which he had passed, he
+resolved to eat abundantly, and drink better wine than he drank usually.
+
+When the hour for opening the wine-shop came at last, he did so in such
+a marked measure that he forgot the bath; he wished to sleep, above all,
+and drowsiness overcame his strength so that he returned with tottering
+step to his dwelling in the Subura, where a slave woman, purchased with
+money obtained from Vinicius, was waiting for him.
+
+When he had entered a sleeping-room, as dark as the den of a fox, he
+threw himself on the bed, and fell asleep in one instant. He woke only
+in the evening, or rather he was roused by the slave woman, who called
+him to rise, for some one was inquiring, and wished to see him on urgent
+business.
+
+The watchful Chilo came to himself in one moment, threw on his hooded
+mantle hastily, and, commanding the slave woman to stand aside, looked
+out cautiously.
+
+And he was benumbed! for he saw before the door of the sleeping-room the
+gigantic form of Ursus.
+
+At that sight he felt his feet and head grow icy-cold, the heart ceased
+to beat in his bosom, and shivers were creeping along his back. For
+a time he was unable to speak; then with chattering teeth he said, or
+rather groaned,--
+
+"Syra--I am not at home--I don't know that--good man-"
+
+"I told him that thou wert at home, but asleep, lord," answered the
+girl; "he asked to rouse thee."
+
+"O gods! I will command that thou--"
+
+But Ursus, as if impatient of delay, approached the door of the
+sleeping-room, and, bending, thrust in his head.
+
+"O Chilo Chilonides!" said he.
+
+"Pax tecum! pax! pax!" answered Chilo. "O best of Christians! Yes, I am
+Chilo; but this is a mistake,--I do not know thee!"
+
+"Chilo Chilonides," repeated Ursus, "thy lord, Vinicius, summons thee to
+go with me to him."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+
+A PIERCING pain roused Vinicius. At the first moment he could not
+understand where he was, nor what was happening. He felt a roaring in
+his head, and his eyes were covered as if with mist. Gradually, however,
+his consciousness returned, and at last he beheld through that mist
+three persons bending over him. Two he recognized: one was Ursus, the
+other the old man whom he had thrust aside when carrying off Lygia. The
+third, an utter stranger, was holding his left arm, and feeling it from
+the elbow upward as far as the shoulder-blade. This caused so terrible
+a pain that Vinicius, thinking it a kind of revenge which they were
+taking, said through his set teeth, "Kill me!" But they paid no apparent
+heed to his words, just as though they heard them not, or considered
+them the usual groans of suffering. Ursus, with his anxious and also
+threatening face of a barbarian, held a bundle of white cloth torn in
+long strips. The old man spoke to the person who was pressing the arm of
+Vinicius,--"Glaucus, art thou certain that the wound in the head is not
+mortal?"
+
+"Yes, worthy Crispus," answered Glaucus. "While serving in the fleet as
+a slave, and afterward while living at Naples, I cured many wounds, and
+with the pay which came to me from that occupation I freed myself and my
+relatives at last. The wound in the head is slight. When this one [here
+he pointed to Ursus with his head] took the girl from the young man,
+he pushed him against the wall; the young man while falling put out his
+arm, evidently to save himself; he broke and disjointed it, but by so
+doing saved his head and his life."
+
+"Thou hast had more than one of the brotherhood in thy care," added
+Crispus, "and hast the repute of a skilful physician; therefore I sent
+Ursus to bring thee."
+
+"Ursus, who on the road confessed that yesterday he was ready to kill
+me!"
+
+"He confessed his intention earlier to me than to thee; but I, who know
+thee and thy love for Christ, explained to him that the traitor is not
+thou, but the unknown, who tried to persuade him to murder."
+
+"That was an evil spirit, but I took him for an angel," said Ursus, with
+a sigh.
+
+"Some other time thou wilt tell me, but now we must think of this
+wounded man." Thus speaking, he began to set the arm. Though Crispus
+sprinkled water on his face, Vinicius fainted repeatedly from suffering;
+that was, however, a fortunate circumstance, since he did not feel the
+pain of putting his arm into joint, nor of setting it. Glaucus fixed the
+limb between two strips of wood, which he bound quickly and firmly, so
+as to keep the arm motionless. When the operation was over, Vinicius
+recovered consciousness again and saw Lygia above him. She stood there
+at the bed holding a brass basin with water, in which from time to time
+Glaucus dipped a sponge and moistened the head of his patient.
+
+Vinicius gazed and could not believe his eyes. What he saw seemed a
+dream, or the pleasant vision brought by fever, and only after a long
+time could he whisper,--"Lygia!"
+
+The basin trembled in her hand at that sound, but she turned on him eyes
+full of sadness.
+
+"Peace be with thee!" answered she, in a low voice.
+
+She stood there with extended arms, her face full of pity and sorrow.
+But he gazed, as if to fill his sight with her, so that after his lids
+were closed the picture might remain under them. He looked at her face,
+paler and smaller than it had been, at the tresses of dark hair, at the
+poor dress of a laboring woman; he looked so intently that her snowy
+forehead began to grow rose-colored under the influence of his look. And
+first he thought that he would love her always; and second, that that
+paleness of hers and that poverty were his work,--that it was he who had
+driven her from a house where she was loved, and surrounded with plenty
+and comfort, and thrust her into that squalid room, and clothed her in
+that poor robe of dark wool.
+
+He would have arrayed her in the costliest brocade, in all the jewels of
+the earth; hence astonishment, alarm, and pity seized him, and sorrow so
+great that he would have fallen at her feet had he been able to move.
+
+"Lygia," said he, "thou didst not permit my death."
+
+"May God return health to thee," she answered, with sweetness.
+
+For Vinicius, who had a feeling both of those wrongs which he had
+inflicted on her formerly, and those which he had wished to inflict on
+her recently, there was a real balsam in Lygia's words. He forgot at the
+moment that through her mouth Christian teaching might speak; he felt
+only that a beloved woman was speaking, and that in her answer there was
+a special tenderness, a goodness simply preterhuman, which shook him to
+the depth of his soul. As just before he had grown weak from pain, so
+now he grew weak from emotion. A certain faintness came on him, at once
+immense and agreeable. He felt as if falling into some abyss, but he
+felt that to fall was pleasant, and that he was happy. He thought at
+that moment of weakness that a divinity was standing above him.
+
+Meanwhile Glaucus had finished washing the wound in his head, and had
+applied a healing ointment. Ursus took the brass basin from Lygia's
+hands; she brought a cup of water and wine which stood ready on the
+table, and put it to the wounded man's lips. Vinicius drank eagerly, and
+felt great relief. After the operation the pain had almost passed; the
+wound and contusion began to grow firm; perfect consciousness returned
+to him.
+
+"Give me another drink," said he.
+
+Lygia took the empty cup to the next room; meanwhile Crispus, after a
+few words with Glaucus, approached the bed saying,--
+
+"God has not permitted thee, Vinicius, to accomplish an evil deed, and
+has preserved thee in life so that thou shouldst come to thy mind. He,
+before whom man is but dust, delivered thee defenceless into our hands;
+but Christ, in whom we believe, commanded us to love even our enemies.
+Therefore we have dressed thy wounds, and, as Lygia has said, we will
+implore God to restore thy health, but we cannot watch over thee longer.
+Be in peace, then, and think whether it beseems thee to continue thy
+pursuit of Lygia. Thou hast deprived her of guardians, and us of a roof,
+though we return thee good for evil."
+
+"Do ye wish to leave me? inquired Vinicius.
+
+"We wish to leave this house, in which prosecution by the prefect of
+the city may reach us. Thy companion was killed; thou, who art powerful
+among thy own people, art wounded. This did not happen through our
+fault, but the anger of the law might fall on us."
+
+"Have no fear of prosecution," replied Vinicius; "I will protect you."
+
+Crispus did not like to tell him that with them it was not only a
+question of the prefect and the police, but of him; they wished to
+secure Lygia from his further pursuit.
+
+"Lord," said he, "thy right arm is well. Here are tablets and a stilus;
+write to thy servants to bring a litter this evening and bear thee to
+thy own house, where thou wilt have more comfort than in our poverty.
+We dwell here with a poor widow, who will return soon with her son,
+and this youth will take thy letter; as to us, we must all find another
+hiding-place."
+
+Vinicius grew pale, for he understood that they wished to separate him
+from Lygia, and that if he lost her now he might never see her in life
+again. He knew indeed that things of great import had come between him
+and her, in virtue of which, if he wished to possess her, he must
+seek some new methods which he had not had time yet to think over.
+He understood too that whatever he might tell these people, though he
+should swear that he would return Lygia to Pomponia Graecina, they would
+not believe him, and were justified in refusing belief. Moreover, he
+might have done that before. Instead of hunting for Lygia, he might have
+gone to Pomponia and sworn to her that he renounced pursuit, and in that
+case Pomponia herself would have found Lygia and brought her home. No;
+he felt that such promises would not restrain them, and no solemn oath
+would be received, the more since, not being a Christian, he could swear
+only by the immortal gods, in whom he did not himself believe greatly,
+and whom they considered evil spirits.
+
+He desired desperately to influence Lygia and her guardians in some way,
+but for that there was need of time. For him it was all-important to see
+her, to look at her for a few days even. As every fragment of a plank
+or an oar seems salvation to a drowning man, so to him it seemed that
+during those few days he might say something to bring him nearer to
+her, that he might think out something, that something favorable might
+happen. Hence he collected his thoughts and said,--
+
+"Listen to me, Christians. Yesterday I was with you in Ostrianum, and
+I heard your teaching; but though I did not know it, your deeds have
+convinced me that you are honest and good people. Tell that widow who
+occupies this house to stay in it, stay in it yourselves, and let me
+stay. Let this man [here he turned to Glaucus], who is a physician, or
+at least understands the care of wounds, tell whether it is possible to
+carry me from here to-day. I am sick, I have a broken arm, which must
+remain immovable for a few days even; therefore I declare to you that I
+will not leave this house unless you bear me hence by force!"
+
+Here he stopped, for breath failed in his breast, and Crispus said,--"We
+will use no force against thee, lord; we will only take away our own
+heads."
+
+At this the young man, unused to resistance, frowned and said,--"Permit
+me to recover breath"; and after a time he began again to speak,--"Of
+Croton, whom Ursus killed, no one will inquire. He had to go to-day
+to Beneventum, whither he was summoned by Vatinius, therefore all will
+think that he has gone there. When I entered this house in company with
+Croton, no one saw us except a Greek who was with us in Ostrianum. I
+will indicate to you his lodgings; bring that man to me. On him I will
+enjoin silence; he is paid by me. I will send a letter to my own house
+stating that I too went to Beneventum. If the Greek has informed the
+prefect already, I will declare that I myself killed Croton, and that it
+was he who broke my arm. I will do this, by my father's shade and by my
+mother's! Ye may remain in safety here; not a hair will fall from the
+head of one of you. Bring hither, and bring in haste, the Greek whose
+name is Chilo Chilonides!"
+
+"Then Glaucus will remain with thee," said Crispus, "and the widow will
+nurse thee."
+
+"Consider, old man, what I say," said Vinicius, who frowned still more.
+"I owe thee gratitude, and thou seemest good and honest; but thou dost
+not tell me what thou hast in the bottom of thy soul. Thou art afraid
+lest I summon my slaves and command them to take Lygia. Is this true?"
+
+"It is," said Crispus, with sternness.
+
+"Then remember this, I shall speak before all to Chilo, and write a
+letter home that I have gone to Beneventum. I shall have no messengers
+hereafter but you. Remember this, and do not irritate me longer."
+
+Here he was indignant, and his face was contorted with anger. Afterward
+he began to speak excitedly,--
+
+"Hast thou thought that I would deny that I wish to stay here to see
+her? A fool would have divined that, even had I denied it. But I will
+not try to take her by force any longer. I will tell thee more: if she
+will not stay here, I will tear the bandages with this sound hand from
+my arm, will take neither food nor drink; let my death fall on thee and
+thy brethren. Why hast thou nursed me? Why hast thou not commanded to
+kill me?" He grew pale from weakness and anger.
+
+Lygia, who had heard all from the other room and who was certain that
+Vinicius would do what he promised, was terrified. She would not
+have him die for anything. Wounded and defenceless, he roused in her
+compassion, not fear. Living from the time of her flight among people in
+continual religious enthusiasm, thinking only of sacrifices, offerings,
+and boundless charity, she had grown so excited herself through that
+new inspiration, that for her it took the place of house, family, lost
+happiness, and made her one of those Christian maidens who, later on,
+changed the former soul of the world. Vinicius had been too important
+in her fate, had been thrust too much on her, to let her forget him. She
+had thought of him whole days, and more than once had begged God for the
+moment in which, following the inspiration of religion, she might return
+good for his evil, mercy for his persecution, break him, win him to
+Christ, save him. And now it seemed to her that precisely that moment
+had come, and that her prayers had been heard.
+
+She approached Crispus therefore with a face as if inspired, and
+addressed him as though some other voice spoke through her,--"Let him
+stay among us, Crispus, and we will stay with him till Christ gives him
+health."
+
+The old presbyter, accustomed to seek in all things the inspiration of
+God, beholding her exaltation, thought at once that perhaps a higher
+power was speaking through her, and, fearing in his heart, he bent his
+gray head, saying,--"Let it be as thou sayest."
+
+On Vinicius, who the whole time had not taken his eyes from her,
+this ready obedience of Crispus produced a wonderful and pervading
+impression. It seemed to him that among the Christians Lygia was a kind
+of sibyl or priestess whom they surrounded with obedience and honor;
+and he yielded himself also to that honor. To the love which he felt
+was joined now a certain awe, in presence of which love itself became
+something almost insolent. He could not familiarize himself, however,
+with the thought that their relations had changed: that now not she was
+dependent on his will, but he on hers; that he was lying there sick and
+broken; that he had ceased to be an attacking, a conquering force;
+that he was like a defenceless child in her care. For his proud and
+commanding nature such relations with any other person would have been
+humiliating; now, however, not only did he not feel humiliated, but
+he was thankful to her as to his sovereign. In him those were feelings
+unheard-of, feelings which he could not have entertained the day before,
+and which would have amazed him even on that day had he been able to
+analyze them clearly. But he did not inquire at the moment why it was
+so, just as if the position had been perfectly natural; he merely felt
+happy because he remained there.
+
+And he wished to thank her with gratefulness, and still with a kind of
+feeling unknown to him in such a degree that he knew not what to
+call it, for it was simply submission. His previous excitement had so
+exhausted him that he could not speak, and he thanked her only with his
+eyes, which were gleaming from delight because he remained near her, and
+would be able to see her--to-morrow, next day, perhaps a long time. That
+delight was diminished only by the dread that he might lose what he had
+gained. So great was this dread that when Lygia gave him water a second
+time, and the wish seized him to take her hand, he feared to do so. He
+feared!--he, that Vinicius who at Caesar's feast had kissed her lips
+in spite of her! he, that Vinicius who after her flight had promised
+himself to drag her by the hair to the cubiculum, or give command to
+flog her!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+
+BUT he began also to fear that some outside force might disturb his
+delight. Chilo might give notice of his disappearance to the prefect of
+the city, or to his freedmen at home; and in such an event an invasion
+of the house by the city guards was likely. Through his head flew the
+thought, it is true, that in that event he might give command to seize
+Lygia and shut her up in his house, but he felt that he ought not to do
+so, and he was not capable of acting thus. He was tyrannical, insolent,
+and corrupt enough, if need be he was inexorable, but he was not
+Tigellinus or Nero. Military life had left in him a certain feeling of
+justice, and religion, and a conscience to understand that such a deed
+would be monstrously mean. He would have been capable, perhaps, of
+committing such a deed during an access of anger and while in possession
+of his strength, but at that moment he was filled with tenderness, and
+was sick. The only question for Vinicius at that time was that no one
+should stand between him and Lygia.
+
+He noticed, too, with astonishment, that from the moment when Lygia
+had taken his part, neither she herself nor Crispus asked from him any
+assurances, just as if they felt confident that, in case of need, some
+superhuman power would defend them. The young tribune, in whose head the
+distinction between things possible and impossible had grown involved
+and faint since the discourse of the Apostle in Ostrianum, was also
+not too far from supposing that that might take place. But considering
+things more soberly, he remembered what he had said of the Greek, and
+asked again that Chilo be brought to him.
+
+Crispus agreed, and they decided to send Ursus. Vinicius, who in recent
+days, before his visit to Ostrianum, had sent slaves frequently to
+Chilo, though without result, indicated his lodgings accurately to the
+Lygian; then writing a few words on the tablet, he said, turning to
+Crispus,--"I give a tablet, for this man is suspicious and cunning.
+Frequently when summoned by me, he gave directions to answer my people
+that he was not at home; he did so always when he had no good news for
+me, and feared my anger."
+
+"If I find him, I will bring him, willing or unwilling," said Ursus.
+Then, taking his mantle, he went out hurriedly.
+
+To find any one in Rome was not easy, even with the most accurate
+directions; but in those cases the instinct of a hunter aided Ursus, and
+also his great knowledge of the city. After a certain time, therefore,
+he found himself at Chilo's lodgings.
+
+He did not recognize Chilo, however. He had seen him but once in
+his life before, and moreover, in the night. Besides, that lofty and
+confident old man who had persuaded him to murder Glaucus was so unlike
+the Greek, bent double from terror, that no one could suppose the two
+to be one person. Chilo, noticing that Ursus looked at him as a perfect
+stranger, recovered from his first fear. The sight of the tablet, with
+the writing of Vinicius, calmed him still more. At least the suspicion
+that he would take him into an ambush purposely did not trouble him. He
+thought, besides, that the Christians had not killed Vinicius, evidently
+because they had not dared to raise hands on so noted a person.
+
+"And then Vinicius will protect me in case of need," thought he; "of
+course he does not send to deliver me to death."
+
+Summoning some courage, therefore, he said: "My good man, has not my
+friend the noble Vinicius sent a litter? My feet are swollen; I cannot
+walk so far."
+
+"He has not," answered Ursus; "we shall go on foot."
+
+"But if I refuse?"
+
+"Do not, for thou wilt have to go."
+
+"And I will go, but of my own will. No one could force me, for I am a
+free man, and a friend of the prefect of the city. As a sage, I have
+also means to overcome others, and I know how to turn people into trees
+and wild beasts. But I will go, I will go! I will only put on a mantle
+somewhat warmer, and a hood, lest the slaves of that quarter might
+recognize me; they would stop me every moment to kiss my hands."
+
+He put on a new mantle then, and let down a broad Gallic hood, lest
+Ursus might recognize his features on coming into clearer light.
+
+"Where wilt thou take me?" asked he on the road.
+
+"To the Trans-Tiber."
+
+"I am not long in Rome, and I have never been there, but there too, of
+course, live men who love virtue."
+
+But Ursus, who was a simple man, and had heard Vinicius say that the
+Greek had been with him in Ostrianum, and had seen him with Croton enter
+the house in which Lygia lived, stopped for a moment and said,--"Speak
+no untruth, old man, for to-day thou wert with Vinicius in Ostrianum and
+under our gate."
+
+"Ah!" said Chilo, "then is your house in the Trans-Tiber? I have not
+been long in Rome, and know not how the different parts are named. That
+is true, friend; I was under the gate, and implored Vinicius in the name
+of virtue not to enter. I was in Ostrianum, and dost thou know why? I am
+working for a certain time over the conversion of Vinicius, and wished
+him to hear the chief of the Apostles. May the light penetrate his
+soul and thine! But thou art a Christian, and wishest truth to overcome
+falsehood."
+
+"That is true," answered Ursus, with humility.
+
+Courage returned to Chilo completely.
+
+"Vinicius is a powerful lord," said he, "and a friend of Caesar. He
+listens often yet to the whisperings of the evil spirit; but if even a
+hair should fall from his head, Caesar would take vengeance on all the
+Christians."
+
+"A higher power is protecting us."
+
+"Surely, surely! But what do ye intend to do with Vinicius?" inquired
+Chilo, with fresh alarm.
+
+"I know not. Christ commands mercy."
+
+"Thou hast answered excellently. Think of this always, or thou wilt fry
+in hell like a sausage in a frying-pan."
+
+Ursus sighed, and Chilo thought that he could always do what he liked
+with that man, who was terrible at the moment of his first outburst. So,
+wishing to know what happened at the seizing of Lygia, he asked further,
+in the voice of a stern judge,--"How did ye treat Croton? Speak, and do
+not prevaricate."
+
+Ursus sighed a second time. "Vinicius will tell thee."
+
+"That means that thou didst stab him with a knife, or kill him with a
+club."
+
+"I was without arms."
+
+The Greek could not resist amazement at the superhuman strength of the
+barbarian.
+
+"May Pluto--that is to say, may Christ pardon thee!"
+
+They went on for some time in silence; then Chilo said:
+
+"I will not betray thee; but have a care of the watches."
+
+"I fear Christ, not the watches."
+
+"And that is proper. There is no more grievous crime than murder. I will
+pray for thee; but I know not if even my prayer can be effective, unless
+thou make a vow never to touch any one in life with a finger."
+
+"As it is, I have not killed purposely," answered Ursus.
+
+But Chilo, who desired to secure himself in every case, did not cease to
+condemn murder, and urge Ursus to make the vow. He inquired also about
+Vinicius; but the Lygian answered his inquiries unwillingly, repeating
+that from Vinicius himself he would hear what he needed. Speaking in
+this way, they passed at last the long road which separated the lodgings
+of the Greek from the Trans-Tiber, and found themselves before the
+house. Chilo's heart began to beat again unquietly. From dread it seemed
+to him that Ursus was beginning to look at him with a kind of greedy
+expression.
+
+"It is small consolation to me," said he to himself, "if he kills me
+unwillingly. I prefer in every case that paralysis should strike him,
+and with him all the Lygians,--which do thou effect, O Zeus, if thou art
+able."
+
+Thus meditating, he wrapped himself more closely in his Gallic mantle,
+repeating that he feared the cold. Finally, when they had passed the
+entrance and the first court, and found themselves in the corridor
+leading to the garden of the little house, he halted suddenly and
+said,--"Let me draw breath, or I shall not be able to speak with
+Vinicius and give him saving advice."
+
+He halted; for though he said to himself that no danger threatened,
+still his legs trembled under him at the thought that he was among those
+mysterious people whom he had seen in Ostrianum.
+
+Meanwhile a hymn came to their ears from the little house.
+
+"What is that?" inquired Chilo.
+
+"Thou sayest that thou art a Christian, and knowest not that among us
+it is the custom after every meal to glorify our Saviour with singing,"
+answered Ursus. "Miriam and her son must have returned, and perhaps the
+Apostle is with them, for he visits the widow and Crispus every day."
+
+"Conduct me directly to Vinicius."
+
+"Vinicius is in the same room with all, for that is the only large one;
+the others are very small chambers, to which we go only to sleep. Come
+in; thou wilt rest there."
+
+They entered. It was rather dark in the room; the evening was cloudy
+and cold, the flames of a few candles did not dispel the darkness
+altogether. Vinicius divined rather than recognized Chilo in the
+hooded man. Chilo, seeing the bed in the corner of the room, and on it
+Vinicius, moved toward him directly, not looking at the others, as if
+with the conviction that it would be safest near him.
+
+"Oh, lord, why didst thou not listen to my counsels?" exclaimed he,
+putting his hands together.
+
+"Silence!" said Vinicius, "and listen!"
+
+Here he looked sharply into Chilo's eyes, and spoke slowly with
+emphasis, as if wishing the Greek to understand every word of his as a
+command, and to keep it forever in memory.
+
+"Croton threw himself on me to kill and rob me, dost understand? I
+killed him then, and these people dressed the wounds which I received in
+the struggle."
+
+Chilo understood in a moment that if Vinicius spoke in this way it must
+be in virtue of some agreement with the Christians, and in that case he
+wished people to believe him. He saw this, too, from his face; hence in
+one moment, without showing doubt or astonishment, he raised his eyes
+and exclaimed,--"That was a faith-breaking ruffian! But I warned thee,
+lord, not to trust him; my teachings bounded from his head as do peas
+when thrown against a wall. In all Hades there are not torments enough
+for him. He who cannot be honest must be a rogue; what is more difficult
+than for a rogue to become honest? But to fall on his benefactor, a lord
+so magnanimous--O gods!"
+
+Here he remembered that he had represented himself to Ursus on the way
+as a Christian, and stopped.
+
+"Were it not for the 'sica,' which I brought, he would have slain me,"
+said Vinicius.
+
+"I bless the moment in which I advised thee to take a knife even."
+
+Vinicius turned an inquiring glance on the Greek, and asked,--"What hast
+thou done to-day?"
+
+"How? What! have I not told thee, lord, that I made a vow for thy
+health?"
+
+"Nothing more?"
+
+"I was just preparing to visit thee, when this good man came and said
+that thou hadst sent for me."
+
+"Here is a tablet. Thou wilt go with it to my house; thou wilt find my
+freedman and give it to him. It is written on the tablet that I have
+gone to Beneventum. Thou wilt tell Demas from thyself that I went this
+morning, summoned by an urgent letter from Petronius." Here he repeated
+with emphasis: "I have gone to Beneventum, dost understand?"
+
+"Thou has gone, lord. This morning I took leave of thee at the Porta
+Capena, and from the time of thy departure such sadness possesses me
+that if thy magnanimity will not soften it, I shall cry myself to death,
+like the unhappy wife of Zethos [Aedon turned into a nightingale] in
+grief for Itylos."
+
+Vinicius, though sick and accustomed to the Greek's suppleness, could
+not repress a smile. He was glad, moreover, that Chilo understood in a
+flash; hence he said,
+
+"Therefore I will write that thy tears be wiped away. Give me the
+candle." Chilo, now pacified perfectly, rose, and, advancing a few steps
+toward the chimney, took one of the candles which was burning at the
+wall. But while he was doing this, the hood slipped from his head, and
+the light fell directly on his face. Glaucus sprang from his seat and,
+coming up quickly, stood before him.
+
+"Dost thou not recognize me, Cephas?" asked he. In his voice there was
+something so terrible that a shiver ran through all present.
+
+Chilo raised the candle, and dropped it to the earth almost the same
+instant; then he bent nearly double and began to groan,--"I am not he--I
+am not he! Mercy!"
+
+Glaucus turned toward the faithful, and said,--"This is the man who
+betrayed--who ruined me and my family!"
+
+That history was known to all the Christians and to Vinicius, who had
+not guessed who that Glaucus was,--for this reason only, that he fainted
+repeatedly from pain during the dressing of his wound, and had not heard
+his name. But for Ursus that short moment, with the words of Glaucus,
+was like a lightning-flash in darkness. Recognizing Chilo, he was at
+his side with one spring, and, seizing his arm, bent it back,
+exclaiming,--"This is the man who persuaded me to kill Glaucus!"
+
+"Mercy!" groaned Chilo. "I will give you--O lord!" exclaimed he, turning
+his head to Vinicius, "save me! I trusted in thee, take my part. Thy
+letter--I will deliver it. O lord, lord!"
+
+But Vinicius, who looked with more indifference than any one at what was
+passing, first because all the affairs of the Greek were more or less
+known to him, and second because his heart knew not what pity was,
+said,--"Bury him in the garden; some one else will take the letter."
+
+It seemed to Chilo that those words were his final sentence. His bones
+were shaking in the terrible hands of Ursus; his eyes were filled with
+tears from pain.
+
+"By your God, pity!" cried he; "I am a Christian! Pax vobiscum! I am
+a Christian; and if ye do not believe me, baptize me again, baptize me
+twice, ten times! Glaucus, that is a mistake! Let me speak, make me a
+slave! Do not kill me! Have mercy!"
+
+His voice, stifled with pain, was growing weaker and weaker, when the
+Apostle Peter rose at the table; for a moment his white head shook,
+drooping toward his breast, and his eyes were closed; but he opened them
+then, and said amid silence,--
+
+"The Saviour said this to us: 'If thy brother has sinned against
+thee, chastise him; but if he is repentant, forgive him. And if he has
+offended seven times in the day against thee, and has turned to thee
+seven times, saying, "Have mercy on me!" forgive him.'"
+
+Then came a still deeper silence. Glaucus remained a long time with his
+hands covering his face; at last he removed them and said,--"Cephas, may
+God forgive thy offences, as I forgive them in the name of Christ."
+
+Ursus, letting go the arms of the Greek, added at once:
+
+"May the Saviour be merciful to thee as I forgive thee."
+
+Chilo dropped to the ground, and, supported on it with his hands, turned
+his head like a wild beast caught in a snare, looking around to see
+whence death might come. He did not trust his eyes and ears yet, and
+dared not hope for forgiveness. Consciousness returned to him slowly;
+his blue lips were still trembling from terror.
+
+"Depart in peace!" said the Apostle, meanwhile.
+
+Chilo rose, but could not speak. He approached the bed of Vinicius, as
+if seeking protection in it still; for he had not time yet to think that
+that man, though he had used his services and was still his accomplice,
+condemned him, while those against whom he had acted forgave. This
+thought was to come to him later. At present simply astonishment and
+incredulity were evident in his look. Though he had seen that they
+forgave him, he wished to bear away his head at the earliest from among
+these incomprehensible people, whose kindness terrified him almost as
+much as their cruelty would have terrified. It seemed to him that
+should he remain longer, something unexpected would happen again; hence,
+standing above Vinicius, he said with a broken voice,--
+
+"Give the letter, lord,--give the letter!"
+
+And snatching the tablet which Vinicius handed him, he made one
+obeisance to the Christians, another to the sick man, pushed along
+sidewise by the very wall, and hurried out through the door. In the
+garden, when darkness surrounded him, fear raised the hair on his head
+again, for he felt sure that Ursus would rush out and kill him in the
+night. He would have run with all his might, but his legs would not
+move; next moment they were perfectly uncontrollable, for Ursus stood
+near him really.
+
+Chilo fell with his face to the earth, and began to groan: "Urban--in
+Christ's name"--
+
+But Urban said: "Fear not. The Apostle commanded me to lead thee out
+beyond the gate, lest thou might go astray in the darkness, and, if
+strength failed thee, to conduct thee home."
+
+"What dost thou say?" asked Chilo, raising his face. "What? Thou wilt
+not kill me?"
+
+"No, I will not; and if I seized thee too roughly and harmed a bone in
+thee, pardon me."
+
+"Help me to rise," said the Greek. "Thou wilt not kill me? Thou wilt
+not? Take me to the Street; I will go farther alone."
+
+Ursus raised him as he might a feather, and placed him on his feet; then
+he conducted him through the dark corridor to the second court. From
+there was a passage to the entrance and the street. In the corridor
+Chilo repeated again in his soul, "It is all over with me!" Only when he
+found himself on the street did he recover and say, "I can go on alone."
+
+"Peace be with thee."
+
+"And with thee! and with thee! Let me draw breath."
+
+And after Ursus had gone, he breathed with a full breast. He felt his
+waist and hips, as if to convince himself that he was living, and then
+moved forward with hurried step.
+
+"But why did they not kill me?" And in spite of all his talk with
+Euricius about Christian teaching, in spite of his conversation at the
+river with Urban, and in spite of all that he had heard in Ostrianum, he
+could find no answer to that question.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+
+NEITHER could Vinicius discover the cause of what had happened; and in
+the bottom of his soul he was almost as much astonished as Chilo. That
+those people should treat him as they had, and, instead of avenging his
+attack, dress his wounds carefully, he ascribed partly to the doctrine
+which they confessed, more to Lygia, and a little, also, to his great
+significance. But their conduct with Chilo simply went beyond his
+understanding of man's power of forgiveness. And the question thrust
+itself into his mind: Why did they not kill the Greek? They might have
+killed him with impunity. Ursus would have buried him in the garden,
+or borne him in the dark to the Tiber, which during that period of
+night-murders, committed by Caesar himself even, cast up human bodies so
+frequently in the morning that no one inquired whence they came. To his
+thinking, the Christians had not only the power, but the right to kill
+Chilo. True, pity was not entirely a stranger to that world to which
+the young patrician belonged. The Athenians raised an altar to pity, and
+opposed for a long time the introduction of gladiatorial combats into
+Athens. In Rome itself the conquered received pardon sometimes, as, for
+instance, Calicratus, king of the Britons, who, taken prisoner in the
+time of Claudius, and provided for by him bountifully, dwelt in the city
+in freedom. But vengeance for a personal wrong seemed to Vinicius, as to
+all, proper and justified. The neglect of it was entirely opposed to
+his spirit. True, he had heard in Ostrianum that one should love even
+enemies; that, however, he considered as a kind of theory without
+application in life. And now this passed through his head: that perhaps
+they had not killed Chilo because the day was among festivals, or was in
+some period of the moon during which it was not proper for Christians
+to kill a man. He had heard that there are days among various nations
+on which it is not permitted to begin war even. But why, in such a case,
+did they not deliver the Greek up to justice? Why did the Apostle say
+that if a man offended seven times, it was necessary to forgive him
+seven times; and why did Glaucus say to Chilo, "May God forgive thee, as
+I forgive thee"?
+
+Chilo had done him the most terrible wrong that one man could do
+another. At the very thought of how he would act with a man who killed
+Lygia, for instance, the heart of Vinicius seethed up, as does water
+in a caldron; there were no torments which he would not inflict in his
+vengeance! But Glaucus had forgiven; Ursus, too, had forgiven,--Ursus,
+who might in fact kill whomever he wished in Rome with perfect impunity,
+for all he needed was to kill the king of the grove in Nemi, and take
+his place. Could the gladiator holding that office to which he had
+succeeded only by killing the previous "king," resist the man whom
+Croton could not resist? There was only one answer to all these
+questions: that they refrained from killing him through a goodness so
+great that the like of it had not been in the world up to that time, and
+through an unbounded love of man, which commands to forget one's self,
+one's wrongs, one's happiness and misfortune, and live for others.
+What reward those people were to receive for this, Vinicius heard in
+Ostrianum, but he could not understand it. He felt, however, that the
+earthly life connected with the duty of renouncing everything good and
+rich for the benefit of others must be wretched. So in what he thought
+of the Christians at that moment, besides the greatest astonishment,
+there was pity, and as it were a shade of contempt. It seemed to him
+that they were sheep which earlier or later must be eaten by wolves; his
+Roman nature could yield no recognition to people who let themselves
+be devoured. This one thing struck him, however,--that after Chilo's
+departure the faces of all were bright with a certain deep joy. The
+Apostle approached Glaucus, placed his hand on his head, and said,--"In
+thee Christ has triumphed."
+
+The other raised his eyes, which were full of hope, and as bright
+with joy as if some great unexpected happiness had been poured on him.
+Vinicius, who could understand only joy or delight born of vengeance,
+looked on him with eyes staring from fever, and somewhat as he would
+on a madman. He saw, however, and saw not without internal indignation,
+that Lygia pressed her lips of a queen to the hand of that man, who had
+the appearance of a slave; and it seemed to him that the order of the
+world was inverted utterly. Next Ursus told how he had conducted Chilo
+to the street, and had asked forgiveness for the harm which he might
+have done his bones; for this the Apostle blessed him also. Crispus
+declared that it was a day of great victory. Hearing of this victory,
+Vinicius lost the thread of his thought altogether.
+
+But when Lygia gave him a cooling draught again, he held her hand for a
+moment, and asked,--"Then must thou also forgive me?"
+
+"We are Christians; it is not permitted us to keep anger in the heart."
+
+"Lygia," said he, "whoever thy God is, I honor Him only because He is
+thine."
+
+"Thou wilt honor Him in thy heart when thou lovest Him."
+
+"Only because He is thine," repeated Vinicius, in a fainter voice; and
+he closed his eyes, for weakness had mastered him again.
+
+Lygia went out, but returned after a time, and bent over him to learn if
+he were sleeping. Vinicius, feeling that she was near, opened his eyes
+and smiled. She placed her hand over them lightly, as if to incline him
+to slumber. A great sweetness seized him then; but soon he felt more
+grievously ill than before, and was very ill in reality. Night had come,
+and with it a more violent fever. He could not sleep, and followed Lygia
+with his eyes wherever she went.
+
+At times he fell into a kind of doze, in which he saw and heard
+everything which happened around him, but in which reality was mingled
+with feverish dreams. It seemed to him that in some old, deserted
+cemetery stood a temple, in the form of a tower, in which Lygia was
+priestess. He did not take his eyes from her, but saw her on the summit
+of the tower, with a lute in her hands, all in the light, like those
+priestesses who in the night-time sing hymns in honor of the moon,
+and whom he had seen in the Orient. He himself was climbing up winding
+steps, with great effort, to bear her away with him. Behind was creeping
+up Chilo, with teeth chattering from terror, and repeating, "Do not
+do that, lord; she is a priestess, for whom He will take vengeance."
+Vinicius did not know who that He was, but he understood that he himself
+was going to commit some sacrilege, and he felt a boundless fear also.
+But when he went to the balustrade surrounding the summit of the tower,
+the Apostle with his silvery beard stood at Lygia's side on a sudden,
+and said:
+
+"Do not raise a hand; she belongs to me." Then he moved forward with
+her, on a path formed by rays from the moon, as if on a path made to
+heaven. He stretched his hands toward them, and begged both to take him
+into their company.
+
+Here he woke, became conscious, and looked before him. The lamp on the
+tall staff shone more dimly, but still cast a light sufficiently clear.
+All were sitting in front of the fire warming themselves, for the night
+was chilly, and the chamber rather cold. Vinicius saw the breath coming
+as steam from their lips. In the midst of them sat the Apostle; at his
+knees, on a low footstool, was Lygia; farther on, Glaucus, Crispus,
+Miriam, and at the edge, on one side Ursus, on the other Miriam's son
+Nazarius, a youth with a handsome face, and long, dark hair reaching
+down to his shoulders.
+
+Lygia listened with eyes raised to the Apostle, and every head was
+turned toward him, while he told something in an undertone. Vinicius
+gazed at Peter with a certain superstitious awe, hardly inferior to that
+terror which he felt during the fever dream. The thought passed through
+his mind that that dream had touched truth; that the gray-haired man
+there, freshly come from distant shores, would take Lygia from him
+really, and take her somewhere away by unknown paths. He felt sure also
+that the old man was speaking of him, perhaps telling how to separate
+him from Lygia, for it seemed to him impossible that any one could speak
+of aught else. Hence, collecting all his presence of mind, he listened
+to Peter's words.
+
+But he was mistaken altogether, for the Apostle was speaking of Christ
+again.
+
+"They live only through that name," thought Vinicius.
+
+The old man was describing the seizure of Christ. "A company came, and
+servants of the priest to seize Him. When the Saviour asked whom they
+were seeking, they answered, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' But when He said to
+them, 'I am He,' they fell on the ground, and dared not raise a hand on
+Him. Only after the second inquiry did they seize Him."
+
+Here the Apostle stopped, stretched his hands toward the fire and
+continued:--"The night was cold, like this one, but the heart in me
+was seething; so, drawing a sword to defend Him, I cut an ear from the
+servant of the high-priest. I would have defended Him more than my own
+life had He not said to me, 'Put thy sword into the sheath: the cup
+which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?' Then they seized
+and bound Him."
+
+When he had spoken thus far, Peter placed his palm on his forehead,
+and was silent, wishing before he went further to stop the crowd of
+his recollections. But Ursus, unable to restrain himself, sprang to his
+feet, trimmed the light on the staff till the sparks scattered in
+golden rain and the flame shot up with more vigor. Then he sat down, and
+exclaimed:
+
+"No matter what happened. I--"
+
+He stopped suddenly, for Lygia had put her finger to her lips. But he
+breathed loudly, and it was clear that a storm was in his soul; and
+though he was ready at all times to kiss the feet of the Apostle, that
+act was one he could not accept; if some one in his presence had raised
+hands on the Redeemer, if he had been with Him on that night--Oi!
+splinters would have shot from the soldiers, the servants of the priest,
+and the officials. Tears came to his eyes at the very thought of this,
+and because of his sorrow and mental struggle; for on the one hand he
+thought that he would not only have defended the Redeemer, but would
+have called Lygians to his aid,--splendid fellows,--and on the other, if
+he had acted thus he would have disobeyed the Redeemer, and hindered the
+salvation of man. For this reason he could not keep back his tears.
+
+After a while Peter took his palm from his forehead, and resumed the
+narrative. But Vinicius was overpowered by a new feverish, waking dream.
+What he heard now was in his mind mixed up with what the Apostle had
+told the night previous in Ostrianum, of that day in which Christ
+appeared on the shore of the sea of Tiberius. He saw a sheet of water
+broadly spread out; on it the boat of a fisherman, and in the boat Peter
+and Lygia. He himself was moving with all his might after that boat, but
+pain in his broken arm prevented him from reaching it. The wind hurled
+waves in his eyes, he began to sink, and called with entreating voice
+for rescue. Lygia knelt down then before the Apostle, who turned his
+boat, and reached an oar, which Vinicius seized: with their assistance
+he entered the boat and fell on the bottom of it.
+
+It seemed to him, then, that he stood up, and saw a multitude of people
+sailing after them. Waves covered their heads with foam; in the whirl
+only the hands of a few could be seen; but Peter saved the drowning time
+after time, and gathered them into his boat, which grew larger, as if
+by a miracle. Soon crowds filled it, as numerous as those which were
+collected in Ostrianum, and then still greater crowds. Vinicius wondered
+how they could find place there, and he was afraid that they would sink
+to the bottom. But Lygia pacified him by showing him a light on the
+distant shore toward which they were sailing. These dream pictures of
+Vinicius were blended again with descriptions which he had heard in
+Ostrianum, from the lips of the Apostle, as to how Christ had appeared
+on the lake once. So that he saw now in that light on the shore a
+certain form toward which Peter was steering, and as he approached
+it the weather grew calmer, the water grew smoother, the light became
+greater. The crowd began to sing sweet hymns; the air was filled with
+the odor of nard; the play of water formed a rainbow, as if from the
+bottom of the lake lilies and roses were looking, and at last the boat
+struck its breast safely against the sand. Lygia took his hand then, and
+said, "Come, I will lead thee!" and she led him to the light.
+
+Vinicius woke again; but his dreaming ceased slowly, and he did not
+recover at once the sense of reality. It seemed for a time to him that
+he was still on the lake, and surrounded by crowds, among which, not
+knowing the reason himself, he began to look for Petronius, and was
+astonished not to find him. The bright light from the chimney, at which
+there was no one at that time, brought him completely to his senses.
+Olive sticks were burning slowly under the rosy ashes; but the splinters
+of pine, which evidently had been put there some moments before, shot
+up a bright flame, and in the light of this, Vinicius saw Lygia, sitting
+not far from his bedside.
+
+The sight of her touched him to the depth of his soul. He remembered
+that she had spent the night before in Ostrianum, and had busied herself
+the whole day in nursing him, and now when all had gone to rest, she was
+the only one watching. It was easy to divine that she must be wearied,
+for while sitting motionless her eyes were closed. Vinicius knew not
+whether she was sleeping or sunk in thought. He looked at her profile,
+at her drooping lashes, at her hands lying on her knees; and in his
+pagan head the idea began to hatch with difficulty that at the side of
+naked beauty, confident, and proud of Greek and Roman symmetry, there
+is another in the world, new, immensely pure, in which a soul has its
+dwelling.
+
+He could not bring himself so far as to call it Christian, but,
+thinking of Lygia, he could not separate her from the religion which she
+confessed. He understood, even, that if all the others had gone to rest,
+and she alone were watching, she whom he had injured, it was because her
+religion commanded her to watch. But that thought, which filled him with
+wonder for the religion, was disagreeable to him. He would rather that
+Lygia acted thus out of love for him, his face, his eyes, his statuesque
+form,--in a word for reasons because of which more than once snow-white
+Grecian and Roman arms had been wound around his neck.
+
+Still he felt all at once, that, were she like other women, something
+would be lacking in her. He was amazed, and knew not what was happening
+in him; for he saw that new feelings of some kind were rising in him,
+new likings, strange to the world in which he had lived hitherto.
+
+She opened her eyes then, and, seeing that Vinicius was gazing at her,
+she approached him and said,--"I am with thee."
+
+"I saw thy soul in a dream," replied he.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+
+NEXT morning he woke up weak, but with a cool head and free of fever. It
+seemed to him that a whispered conversation had roused him; but when
+he opened his eyes, Lygia was not there. Ursus, stooping before the
+chimney, was raking apart the gray ashes, and seeking live coals beneath
+them. When he found some, he began to blow, not with his mouth, but as
+it were with the bellows of a blacksmith. Vinicius, remembering how that
+man had crushed Croton the day before, examined with attention befitting
+a lover of the arena his gigantic back, which resembled the back of a
+Cyclops, and his limbs strong as columns.
+
+"Thanks to Mercury that my neck was not broken by him," thought
+Vinicius. "By Pollux! if the other Lygians are like this one, the
+Danubian legions will have heavy work some time!"
+
+But aloud he said, "Hei, slave!"
+
+Ursus drew his head out of the chimney, and, smiling in a manner almost
+friendly, said,--"God give thee a good day, lord, and good health; but I
+am a free man, not a slave."
+
+On Vinicius who wished to question Ursus touching Lygia's birthplace,
+these words produced a certain pleasant impression; for discourse with
+a free though a common man was less disagreeable to his Roman and
+patrician pride, than with a slave, in whom neither law nor custom
+recognized human nature.
+
+"Then thou dost not belong to Aulus?" asked he.
+
+"No, lord, I serve Callina, as I served her mother, of my own will."
+
+Here he hid his head again in the chimney, to blow the coals, on which
+he had placed some wood. When he had finished, he took it out and
+said,--"With us there are no slaves."
+
+"Where is Lygia?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"She has gone out, and I am to cook food for thee. She watched over thee
+the whole night."
+
+"Why didst thou not relieve her?"
+
+"Because she wished to watch, and it is for me to obey." Here his eyes
+grew gloomy, and after a while he added:
+
+"If I had disobeyed her, thou wouldst not be living."
+
+"Art thou sorry for not having killed me?"
+
+"No, lord. Christ has not commanded us to kill."
+
+"But Atacinus and Croton?"
+
+"I could not do otherwise," muttered Ursus. And he looked with regret
+on his hands, which had remained pagan evidently, though his soul
+had accepted the cross. Then he put a pot on the crane, and fixed his
+thoughtful eyes on the fire.
+
+"That was thy fault, lord," said he at last. "Why didst thou raise thy
+hand against her, a king's daughter?"
+
+Pride boiled up, at the first moment, in Vinicius, because a common man
+and a barbarian had not merely dared to speak to him thus familiarly,
+but to blame him in addition. To those uncommon and improbable things
+which had met him since yesterday, was added another. But being weak and
+without his slaves, he restrained himself, especially since a wish to
+learn some details of Lygia's life gained the upper hand in him.
+
+When he had calmed himself, therefore, he inquired about the war of the
+Lygians against Vannius and the Suevi. Ursus was glad to converse, but
+could not add much that was new to what in his time Aulus Plautius had
+told. Ursus had not been in battle, for he had attended the hostages to
+the camp of Atelius Hister. He knew only that the Lygians had beaten the
+Suevi and the Yazygi, but that their leader and king had fallen from
+the arrows of the Yazygi. Immediately after they received news that the
+Semnones had set fire to forests on their boundaries, they returned in
+haste to avenge the wrong, and the hostages remained with Atelius, who
+ordered at first to give them kingly honors. Afterward Lygia's mother
+died. The Roman commander knew not what to do with the child. Ursus
+wished to return with her to their own country, but the road was unsafe
+because of wild beasts and wild tribes. When news came that an
+embassy of Lygians had visited Pomponius, offering him aid against the
+Marcomani, Hister sent him with Lygia to Pomponius. When they came to
+him they learned, however, that no ambassadors had been there, and in
+that way they remained in the camp; whence Pomponius took them to Rome,
+and at the conclusion of his triumph he gave the king's daughter to
+Pomponia Graecina.
+
+Though only certain small details of this narrative had been unknown to
+Vinicius, he listened with pleasure, for his enormous pride of family
+was pleased that an eye-witness had confirmed Lygia's royal descent. As
+a king's daughter she might occupy a position at Caesar's court equal to
+the daughters of the very first families, all the more since the nation
+whose ruler her father had been, had not warred with Rome so far, and,
+though barbarian, it might become terrible; for, according to Atelius
+Hister himself, it possessed an immense force of warriors. Ursus,
+moreover, confirmed this completely.
+
+"We live in the woods," said he, in answer to Vinicius, "but we have so
+much land that no man knows where the end is, and there are many people
+on it. There are also wooden towns in the forest, in which there is
+great plenty; for what the Semnones, the Marcomani, the Vandals, and the
+Quadi plunder through the world, we take from them. They dare not come
+to us; but when the wind blows from their side, they burn our forests.
+We fear neither them nor the Roman Caesar."
+
+"The gods gave Rome dominion over the earth," said Vinicius severely.
+
+"The gods are evil spirits," replied Ursus, with simplicity, "and where
+there are no Romans, there is no supremacy."
+
+Here he fixed the fire, and said, as if to himself,--"When Caesar took
+Callina to the palace, and I thought that harm might meet her, I wanted
+to go to the forest and bring Lygians to help the king's daughter. And
+Lygians would have moved toward the Danube, for they are virtuous people
+though pagan. There I should have given them 'good tidings.' But as it
+is, if ever Callina returns to Pomponia Graecina I will bow down to her
+for permission to go to them; for Christus was born far away, and they
+have not even heard of Him. He knew better than I where He should be
+born; but if He had come to the world with us, in the forests, we would
+not have tortured Him to death, that is certain. We would have taken
+care of the Child, and guarded Him, so that never should He want for
+game, mushrooms, beaver-skins, or amber. And what we plundered from the
+Suevi and the Marcomani we would have given Him, so that He might have
+comfort and plenty."
+
+Thus speaking, he put near the fire the vessel with food for Vinicius,
+and was silent. His thoughts wandered evidently, for a time yet, through
+the Lygian wildernesses, till the liquid began to boil; then he poured
+it into a shallow plate, and, cooling it properly, said,--"Glaucus
+advises thee, lord, to move even thy sound arm as little as possible;
+Callina has commanded me to give thee food."
+
+Lygia commanded! There was no answer to that. It did not even come to
+Vinicius's head to oppose her will, just as if she had been the daughter
+of Caesar or a goddess. He uttered not a word, therefore; and Ursus,
+sitting near his bed, took out the liquid with a small cup, and put it
+to his mouth. He did this so carefully, and with such a kindly smile,
+that Vinicius could not believe his own eyes, could not think him the
+same terrible Titan who the day before had crushed Croton, and, rushing
+on him like a storm, would have torn him to pieces but for Lygia's pity.
+The young patrician, for the first time in life, began to ponder over
+this: What can take place in the breast of a simple man, a barbarian,
+and a servant?
+
+But Ursus proved to be a nurse as awkward as painstaking; the cup was
+lost among his herculean fingers so completely that there was no place
+left for the mouth of the sick man. After a few fruitless efforts the
+giant was troubled greatly, and said,--"Li! it would be easier to lead
+an aurochs out of a snare."
+
+The anxiety of the Lygian amused Vinicius, but his remark did not
+interest him less. He had seen in circuses the terrible urus, brought
+from wildernesses of the north, against which the most daring bestiarii
+went with dread, and which yielded only to elephants in size and
+strength.
+
+"Hast thou tried to take such beasts by the horns?" inquired he, with
+astonishment.
+
+"Till the twentieth winter passed over me, I was afraid," answered
+Ursus; "but after that it happened."
+
+And he began to feed Vinicius still more awkwardly than before.
+
+"I must ask Miriam or Nazarius," said he.
+
+But now Lygia's pale face appeared from behind the curtain.
+
+"I will assist directly," said she. And after a while she came from the
+cubiculum, in which she had been preparing to sleep, as it seemed,
+for she was in a single close tunic, called by the ancients capitium,
+covering the breast completely, and her hair was unbound. Vinicius,
+whose heart beat with more quickness at sight of her, began to upbraid
+her for not thinking of sleep yet; but she answered joyously,--"I was
+just preparing to sleep, but first I will take the place of Ursus."
+
+She took the cup, and, sitting on the edge of the bed, began to give
+food to Vinicius, who felt at once overcome and delighted. When she
+inclined toward him, the warmth of her body struck him, and her unbound
+hair fell on his breast. He grew pale from the impression; but in the
+confusion and impulse of desires he felt also that that was a head dear
+above all and magnified above all, in comparison with which the whole
+world was nothing. At first he had desired her; now he began to love her
+with a full breast. Before that, as generally in life and in feeling, he
+had been, like all people of that time, a blind, unconditional egotist,
+who thought only of himself; at present he began to think of her.
+
+After a while, therefore, he refused further nourishment; and though he
+found inexhaustible delight in her presence and in looking at her, he
+said,--"Enough! Go to rest, my divine one."
+
+"Do not address me in that way," answered Lygia; "it is not proper for
+me to hear such words."
+
+She smiled at him, however, and said that sleep had fled from her, that
+she felt no toil, that she would not go to rest till Glaucus came.
+He listened to her words as to music; his heart rose with increasing
+delight, increasing gratitude, and his thought was struggling to show
+her that gratitude.
+
+"Lygia," said he, after a moment of silence, "I did not know thee
+hitherto. But I know now that I wished to attain thee by a false way;
+hence I say, return to Pomponia Graecina, and be assured that in future
+no hand will be raised against thee."
+
+Her face became sad on a sudden. "I should be happy," answered she,
+"could I look at her, even from a distance; but I cannot return to her
+now."
+
+"Why?" inquired Vinicius, with astonishment.
+
+"We Christians know, through Acte, what is done on the Palatine. Hast
+thou not heard that Caesar, soon after my flight and before his departure
+for Naples, summoned Aulus and Pomponia, and, thinking that they had
+helped me, threatened them with his anger? Fortunately Aulus was able to
+say to him, 'Thou knowest, lord, that a lie has never passed my lips;
+I swear to thee now that we did not help her to escape, and we do not
+know, as thou dost not, what has happened to her.' Caesar believed, and
+afterward forgot. By the advice of the elders I have never written to
+mother where I am, so that she might take an oath boldly at all times
+that she has no knowledge of me. Thou wilt not understand this, perhaps,
+O Vinicius; but it is not permitted us to lie, even in a question
+involving life. Such is the religion on which we fashion our hearts;
+therefore I have not seen Pomponia from the hour when I left her house.
+From time to time distant echoes barely reach her that I am alive and
+not in danger."
+
+Here a longing seized Lygia, and her eyes were moist with tears; but she
+calmed herself quickly, and said,--"I know that Pomponia, too, yearns
+for me; but we have consolation which others have not."
+
+"Yes," answered Vinicius, "Christ is your consolation, but I do not
+understand that."
+
+"Look at us! For us there are no partings, no pains, no sufferings; or
+if they come they are turned into pleasure. And death itself, which for
+you is the end of life, is for us merely its beginning,--the exchange of
+a lower for a higher happiness, a happiness less calm for one calmer and
+eternal. Consider what must a religion be which enjoins on us love even
+for our enemies, forbids falsehood, purifies our souls from hatred, and
+promises happiness inexhaustible after death."
+
+"I heard those teachings in Ostrianum, and I have seen how ye acted with
+me and with Chilo; when I remember your deeds, they are like a dream,
+and it seems to me that I ought not to believe my ears or eyes. But
+answer me this question: Art thou happy?"
+
+"I am," answered Lygia. "One who confesses Christ cannot be unhappy."
+Vinicius looked at her, as though what she said passed every measure of
+human understanding.
+
+"And hast thou no wish to return to Pomponia?"
+
+"I should like, from my whole soul, to return to her; and shall return,
+if such be God's will."
+
+"I say to thee, therefore, return; and I swear by my lares that I will
+not raise a hand against thee."
+
+Lygia thought for a moment, and answered,--"No, I cannot expose
+those near me to danger. Caesar does not like the Plautiuses. Should
+I return--thou knowest how every news is spread throughout Rome by
+slaves--my return would be noised about in the city. Nero would hear of
+it surely through his slaves, and punish Aulus and Pomponia,--at least
+take me from them a second time."
+
+"True," answered Vinicius, frowning, "that would be possible. He would
+do so, even to show that his will must be obeyed. It is true that he
+only forgot thee, or would remember thee, because the loss was not his,
+but mine. Perhaps, if he took thee from Aulus and Pomponia, he would
+send thee to me and I could give thee back to them."
+
+"Vinicius, wouldst thou see me again on the Palatine?" inquired Lygia.
+
+He set his teeth, and answered,--"No. Thou art right. I spoke like a
+fool! No!"
+
+And all at once he saw before him a precipice, as it were without
+bottom. He was a patrician, a military tribune, a powerful man; but
+above every power of that world to which he belonged was a madman whose
+will and malignity it was impossible to foresee. Only such people as the
+Christians might cease to reckon with Nero or fear him,--people for whom
+this whole world, with its separations and sufferings, was as nothing;
+people for whom death itself was as nothing. All others had to
+tremble before him. The terrors of the time in which they lived showed
+themselves to Vinicius in all their monstrous extent. He could not
+return Lygia to Aulus and Pomponia, then, through fear that the monster
+would remember her, and turn on her his anger; for the very same reason,
+if he should take her as wife, he might expose her, himself, and Aulus.
+A moment of ill-humor was enough to ruin all. Vinicius felt, for
+the first time in life, that either the world must change and be
+transformed, or life would become impossible altogether. He understood
+also this, which a moment before had been dark to him, that in such
+times only Christians could be happy.
+
+But above all, sorrow seized him, for he understood, too, that it was
+he who had so involved his own life and Lygia's that out of the
+complication there was scarcely an outcome. And under the influence of
+that sorrow he began to speak:
+
+"Dost thou know that thou art happier than I? Thou art in poverty, and
+in this one chamber, among simple people, thou hast thy religion and thy
+Christ; but I have only thee, and when I lacked thee I was like a beggar
+without a roof above him and without bread. Thou art dearer to me than
+the whole world. I sought thee, for I could not live without thee. I
+wished neither feasts nor sleep. Had it not been for the hope of finding
+thee, I should have cast myself on a sword. But I fear death, for if
+dead I could not see thee. I speak the pure truth in saying that I shall
+not be able to live without thee. I have lived so far only in the hope
+of finding and beholding thee. Dost thou remember our conversations at
+the house of Aulus? Once thou didst draw a fish for me on the sand, and
+I knew not what its meaning was. Dost thou remember how we played ball?
+I loved thee then above life, and thou hadst begun already to divine
+that I loved thee. Aulus came, frightened us with Libitina, and
+interrupted our talk. Pomponia, at parting, told Petronius that God is
+one, all-mighty and all-merciful, but it did not even occur to us that
+Christ was thy God and hers. Let Him give thee to me and I will love
+Him, though He seems to me a god of slaves, foreigners, and beggars.
+Thou sittest near me, and thinkest of Him only. Think of me too, or I
+shall hate Him. For me thou alone art a divinity. Blessed be thy father
+and mother; blessed the land which produced thee! I should wish to
+embrace thy feet and pray to thee, give thee honor, homage, offerings,
+thou thrice divine! Thou knowest not, or canst not know, how I love
+thee."
+
+Thus speaking, he placed his hand on his pale forehead and closed his
+eyes. His nature never knew bounds in love or anger. He spoke with
+enthusiasm, like a man who, having lost self-control, has no wish to
+observe any measure in words or feelings. But he spoke from the depth
+of his soul, and sincerely. It was to be felt that the pain, ecstasy,
+desire, and homage accumulated in his breast had burst forth at last
+in an irresistible torrent of words. To Lygia his words appeared
+blasphemous, but still her heart began to beat as if it would tear the
+tunic enclosing her bosom. She could not resist pity for him and his
+suffering. She was moved by the homage with which he spoke to her. She
+felt beloved and deified without bounds; she felt that that unbending
+and dangerous man belonged to her now, soul and body, like a slave;
+and that feeling of his submission and her own power filled her with
+happiness. Her recollections revived in one moment. He was for her again
+that splendid Vinicius, beautiful as a pagan god; he, who in the house
+of Aulus had spoken to her of love, and roused as if from sleep her
+heart half childlike at that time; he from whose embraces Ursus had
+wrested her on the Palatine, as he might have wrested her from flames.
+But at present, with ecstasy, and at the same time with pain in his
+eagle face, with pale forehead and imploring eyes,--wounded, broken by
+love, loving, full of homage and submissive,--he seemed to her such as
+she would have wished him, and such as she would have loved with her
+whole soul, therefore dearer than he had ever been before.
+
+All at once she understood that a moment might come in which his love
+would seize her and bear her away, as a whirlwind; and when she felt
+this, she had the same impression that he had a moment before,--that she
+was standing on the edge of a precipice. Was it for this that she had
+left the house of Aulus? Was it for this that she had saved herself by
+flight? Was it for this that she had hidden so long in wretched parts of
+the city? Who was that Vinicius? An Augustian, a soldier, a courtier of
+Nero! Moreover he took part in his profligacy and madness, as was shown
+by that feast, which she could not forget; and he went with others
+to the temples, and made offerings to vile gods, in whom he did not
+believe, perhaps, but still he gave them official honor. Still more he
+had pursued her to make her his slave and mistress, and at the same time
+to thrust her into that terrible world of excess, luxury, crime, and
+dishonor which calls for the anger and vengeance of God. He seemed
+changed, it is true, but still he had just said to her that if she would
+think more of Christ than of him, he was ready to hate Christ. It seemed
+to Lygia that the very idea of any other love than the love of Christ
+was a sin against Him and against religion. When she saw then that other
+feelings and desires might be roused in the depth of her soul, she was
+seized by alarm for her own future and her own heart.
+
+At this moment of internal struggle appeared Glaucus, who had come to
+care for the patient and study his health. In the twinkle of an eye,
+anger and impatience were reflected on the face of Vinicius. He was
+angry that his conversation with Lygia had been interrupted; and when
+Glaucus questioned him, he answered with contempt almost. It is true
+that he moderated himself quickly; but if Lygia had any illusions as
+to this,--that what he had heard in Ostrianum might have acted on his
+unyielding nature,--those illusions must vanish. He had changed only
+for her; but beyond that single feeling there remained in his breast the
+former harsh and selfish heart, truly Roman and wolfish, incapable not
+only of the sweet sentiment of Christian teaching but even of gratitude.
+
+She went away at last filled with internal care and anxiety. Formerly in
+her prayers she had offered to Christ a heart calm, and really pure as
+a tear. Now that calmness was disturbed. To the interior of the flower a
+poisonous insect had come and began to buzz. Even sleep, in spite of the
+two nights passed without sleep, brought her no relief. She dreamed
+that at Ostrianum Nero, at the head of a whole band of Augustians,
+bacchantes, corybantes, and gladiators, was trampling crowds of
+Christians with his chariot wreathed in roses; and Vinicius seized her
+by the arm, drew her to the quadriga, and, pressing her to his bosom,
+whispered "Come with us."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII
+
+
+FROM that moment Lygia showed herself more rarely in the common chamber,
+and approached his couch less frequently. But peace did not return to
+her. She saw that Vinicius followed her with imploring glance; that he
+was waiting for every word of hers, as for a favor; that he suffered and
+dared not complain, lest he might turn her away from him; that she alone
+was his health and delight. And then her heart swelled with compassion.
+Soon she observed, too, that the more she tried to avoid him, the more
+compassion she had for him; and by this itself the more tender were the
+feelings which rose in her. Peace left her. At times she said to herself
+that it was her special duty to be near him always, first, because
+the religion of God commands return of good for evil; second, that by
+conversing with him, she might attract him to the faith. But at the same
+time conscience told her that she was tempting herself; that only love
+for him and the charm which he exerted were attracting her, nothing
+else. Thus she lived in a ceaseless struggle, which was intensified
+daily. At times it seemed that a kind of net surrounded her, and that in
+trying to break through it she entangled herself more and more. She had
+also to confess that for her the sight of him was becoming more needful,
+his voice was becoming dearer, and that she had to struggle with all her
+might against the wish to sit at his bedside. When she approached him,
+and he grew radiant, delight filled her heart. On a certain day she
+noticed traces of tears on his eyelids, and for the first time in life
+the thought came to her, to dry them with kisses. Terrified by that
+thought, and full of self-contempt, she wept all the night following.
+
+He was as enduring as if he had made a vow of patience. When at moments
+his eyes flashed with petulance, self-will, and anger, he restrained
+those flashes promptly, and looked with alarm at her, as if to implore
+pardon. This acted still more on her. Never had she such a feeling of
+being greatly loved as then; and when she thought of this, she felt at
+once guilty and happy. Vinicius, too, had changed essentially. In his
+conversations with Glaucus there was less pride. It occurred to him
+frequently that even that poor slave physician and that foreign woman,
+old Miriam, who surrounded him with attention, and Crispus, whom he saw
+absorbed in continual prayer, were still human. He was astonished at
+such thoughts, but he had them. After a time he conceived a liking for
+Ursus, with whom he conversed entire days; for with him he could talk
+about Lygia. The giant, on his part, was inexhaustible in narrative, and
+while performing the most simple services for the sick man, he began to
+show him also some attachment. For Vinicius, Lygia had been at all times
+a being of another order, higher a hundred times than those around her:
+nevertheless, he began to observe simple and poor people,--a thing which
+he had never done before,--and he discovered in them various traits the
+existence of which he had never suspected.
+
+Nazarius, however, he could not endure, for it seemed to him that the
+young lad had dared to fall in love with Lygia. He had restrained his
+aversion for a long time, it is true; but once when he brought her two
+quails, which he had bought in the market with his own earned money, the
+descendant of the Quirites spoke out in Vinicius, for whom one who had
+wandered in from a strange people had less worth than the meanest worm.
+When he heard Lygia's thanks, he grew terribly pale; and when Nazarius
+went out to get water for the birds, he said,--"Lygia, canst thou endure
+that he should give thee gifts? Dost thou not know that the Greeks call
+people of his nation Jewish dogs?"
+
+"I do not know what the Greeks call them; but I know that Nazarius is a
+Christian and my brother."
+
+When she had said this she looked at Vinicius with astonishment and
+regret, for he had disaccustomed her to similar outbursts; and he set
+his teeth, so as not to tell her that he would have given command to
+beat such a brother with sticks, or would have sent him as a compeditus
+[A man who labors with chained feet] to dig earth in his Sicilian
+vineyards. He restrained himself, however, throttled the anger within
+him, and only after a while did he say,--"Pardon me, Lygia. For me thou
+art the daughter of a king and the adopted child of Plautius." And
+he subdued himself to that degree that when Nazarius appeared in the
+chamber again, he promised him, on returning to his villa, the gift of a
+pair of peacocks or flamingoes, of which he had a garden full.
+
+Lygia understood what such victories over himself must have cost him;
+but the oftener he gained them the more her heart turned to him. His
+merit with regard to Nazarius was less, however, than she supposed.
+Vinicius might be indignant for a moment, but he could not be jealous of
+him. In fact the son of Miriam did not, in his eyes, mean much more than
+a dog; besides, he was a child yet, who, if he loved Lygia, loved her
+unconsciously and servilely. Greater struggles must the young tribune
+have with himself to submit, even in silence, to that honor with which
+among those people the name of Christ and His religion was surrounded.
+In this regard wonderful things took place in Vinicius. That was in
+every case a religion which Lygia believed; hence for that single reason
+he was ready to receive it. Afterward, the more he returned to health,
+the more he remembered the whole series of events which had happened
+since that night at Ostrianum, and the whole series of thoughts which
+had come to his head from that time, the more he was astonished at the
+superhuman power of that religion which changed the souls of men
+to their foundations. He understood that in it there was something
+uncommon, something which had not been on earth before, and he felt that
+could it embrace the whole world, could it ingraft on the world its love
+and charity, an epoch would come recalling that in which not Jupiter,
+but Saturn had ruled. He did not dare either to doubt the supernatural
+origin of Christ, or His resurrection, or the other miracles. The
+eye-witnesses who spoke of them were too trustworthy and despised
+falsehood too much to let him suppose that they were telling things that
+had not happened. Finally, Roman scepticism permitted disbelief in the
+gods, but believed in miracles. Vinicius, therefore, stood before a
+kind of marvellous puzzle which he could not solve. On the other hand,
+however, that religion seemed to him opposed to the existing state of
+things, impossible of practice, and mad in a degree beyond all others.
+According to him, people in Rome and in the whole world might be bad,
+but the order of things was good. Had Caesar, for example, been an honest
+man, had the Senate been composed, not of insignificant libertines,
+but of men like Thrasea, what more could one wish? Nay, Roman peace and
+supremacy were good; distinction among people just and proper. But that
+religion, according to the understanding of Vinicius, would destroy all
+order, all supremacy, every distinction. What would happen then to the
+dominion and lordship of Rome? Could the Romans cease to rule, or could
+they recognize a whole herd of conquered nations as equal to themselves?
+That was a thought which could find no place in the head of a patrician.
+As regarded him personally, that religion was opposed to all his ideas
+and habits, his whole character and understanding of life. He was simply
+unable to imagine how he could exist were he to accept it. He feared
+and admired it; but as to accepting it, his nature shuddered at that. He
+understood, finally, that nothing save that religion separated him from
+Lygia; and when he thought of this, he hated it with all the powers of
+his soul.
+
+Still he acknowledged to himself that it had adorned Lygia with that
+exceptional, unexplained beauty which in his heart had produced, besides
+love, respect, besides desire, homage, and had made of that same Lygia
+a being dear to him beyond all others in the world. And then he wished
+anew to love Christ. And he understood clearly that he must either love
+or hate Him; he could not remain indifferent. Meanwhile two opposing
+currents were as if driving him: he hesitated in thoughts, in feelings;
+he knew not how to choose, he bowed his head, however, to that God by
+him uncomprehended, and paid silent honor for this sole reason, that He
+was Lygia's God.
+
+Lygia saw what was happening in him; she saw how he was breaking
+himself, how his nature was rejecting that religion; and though this
+mortified her to the death, compassion, pity, and gratitude for the
+silent respect which he showed Christ inclined her heart to him with
+irresistible force. She recalled Pomponia Graecina and Aulus. For
+Pomponia a source of ceaseless sorrow and tears that never dried was the
+thought that beyond the grave she would not find Aulus. Lygia began now
+to understand better that pain, that bitterness. She too had found a
+being dear to her, and she was threatened by eternal separation from
+this dear one.
+
+At times, it is true, she was self-deceived, thinking that his soul
+would open itself to Christ's teaching; but these illusions could
+not remain. She knew and understood him too well. Vinicius a
+Christian!--These two ideas could find no place together in her
+unenlightened head. If the thoughtful, discreet Aulus had not become
+a Christian under the influence of the wise and perfect Pomponia, how
+could Vinicius become one? To this there was no answer, or rather there
+was only one,--that for him there was neither hope nor salvation.
+
+But Lygia saw with terror that that sentence of condemnation which hung
+over him instead of making him repulsive made him still dearer simply
+through compassion. At moments the wish seized her to speak to him of
+his dark future; but once, when she had sat near him and told him that
+outside Christian truth there was no life, he, having grown stronger
+at that time, rose on his sound arm and placed his head on her knees
+suddenly. "Thou art life!" said he. And that moment breath failed in her
+breast, presence of mind left her, a certain quiver of ecstasy rushed
+over her from head to feet. Seizing his temples with her hands, she
+tried to raise him, but bent the while so that her lips touched his
+hair; and for a moment both were overcome with delight, with themselves,
+and with love, which urged them the one to the other.
+
+Lygia rose at last and rushed away, with a flame in her veins and a
+giddiness in her head; but that was the drop which overflowed the cup
+filled already to the brim. Vinicius did not divine how dearly he would
+have to pay for that happy moment, but Lygia understood that now she
+herself needed rescue. She spent the night after that evening without
+sleep, in tears and in prayer, with the feeling that she was unworthy
+to pray and could not be heard. Next morning she went from the cubiculum
+early, and, calling Crispus to the garden summer-house, covered with ivy
+and withered vines, opened her whole soul to him, imploring him at the
+same time to let her leave Miriam's house, since she could not trust
+herself longer, and could not overcome her heart's love for Vinicius.
+
+Crispus, an old man, severe and absorbed in endless enthusiasm,
+consented to the plan of leaving Miriam's house, but he had no words
+of forgiveness for that love, to his thinking sinful. His heart swelled
+with indignation at the very thought that Lygia, whom he had guarded
+since the time of her flight, whom he had loved, whom he had confirmed
+in the faith, and on whom he looked now as a white lily grown up on the
+field of Christian teaching undefiled by any earthly breath, could have
+found a place in her soul for love other than heavenly. He had believed
+hitherto that nowhere in the world did there beat a heart more purely
+devoted to the glory of Christ. He wanted to offer her to Him as
+a pearl, a jewel, the precious work of his own hands; hence the
+disappointment which he felt filled him with grief and amazement.
+
+"Go and beg God to forgive thy fault," said he, gloomily. "Flee before
+the evil spirit who involved thee bring thee to utter fall, and before
+thou oppose the Saviour. God died on the cross to redeem thy soul with
+His blood, but thou hast preferred to love him who wished to make thee
+his concubine. God saved thee by a miracle of His own hands, but thou
+hast opened thy heart to impure desire, and hast loved the son of
+darkness. Who is he? The friend and servant of Antichrist, his copartner
+in crime and profligacy. Whither will he lead thee, if not to that abyss
+and to that Sodom in which he himself is living, but which God will
+destroy with the flame of His anger? But I say to thee, would thou hadst
+died, would the walls of this house had fallen on thy head before that
+serpent had crept into thy bosom and beslimed it with the poison of
+iniquity."
+
+And he was borne away more and more, for Lygia's fault filled him not
+only with anger but with loathing and contempt for human nature in
+general, and in particular for women, whom even Christian truth could
+not save from Eve's weakness. To him it seemed nothing that the maiden
+had remained pure, that she wished to flee from that love, that she
+had confessed it with compunction and penitence. Crispus had wished
+to transform her into an angel, to raise her to heights where love for
+Christ alone existed, and she had fallen in love with an Augustian. The
+very thought of that filled his heart with horror, strengthened by a
+feeling of disillusion and disappointment. No, no, he could not forgive
+her. Words of horror burned his lips like glowing coals; he struggled
+still with himself not to utter them, but he shook his emaciated hands
+over the terrified girl. Lygia felt guilty, but not to that degree. She
+had judged even that withdrawal from Miriam's house would be her victory
+over temptation, and would lessen her fault. Crispus rubbed her into the
+dust; showed her all the misery and insignificance of her soul, which
+she had not suspected hitherto. She had judged even that the old
+presbyter, who from the moment of her flight from the Palatine had been
+to her as a father, would show some compassion, console her, give her
+courage, and strengthen her.
+
+"I offer my pain and disappointment to God," said he, "but thou hast
+deceived the Saviour also, for thou hast gone as it were to a quagmire
+which has poisoned thy soul with its miasma. Thou mightst have offered
+it to Christ as a costly vessel, and said to Him, 'Fill it with grace,
+O Lord!' but thou hast preferred to offer it to the servant of the evil
+one. May God forgive thee and have mercy on thee; for till thou cast out
+the serpent, I who held thee as chosen-"
+
+But he ceased suddenly to speak, for he saw that they were not alone.
+Through the withered vines and the ivy, which was green alike in summer
+and winter, he saw two men, one of whom was Peter the Apostle. The
+other he was unable to recognize at once, for a mantle of coarse woollen
+stuff, called cilicium, concealed a part of his face. It seemed to
+Crispus for a moment that that was Chilo.
+
+They, hearing the loud voice of Crispus, entered the summer-house and
+sat on a stone bench. Peter's companion had an emaciated face; his head,
+which was growing bald, was covered at the sides with curly hair; he had
+reddened eyelids and a crooked nose; in the face, ugly and at the same
+time inspired, Crispus recognized the features of Paul of Tarsus.
+
+Lygia, casting herself on her knees, embraced Peter's feet, as if from
+despair, and, sheltering her tortured head in the fold of his mantle,
+remained thus in silence.
+
+"Peace to your souls!" said Peter.
+
+And seeing the child at his feet he asked what had happened. Crispus
+began then to narrate all that Lygia had confessed to him,--her sinful
+love, her desire to flee from Miriam's house,--and his sorrow that a
+soul which he had thought to offer to Christ pure as a tear had defiled
+itself with earthly feelings for a sharer in all those crimes into which
+the pagan world had sunk, and which called for God's vengeance.
+
+Lygia during his speech embraced with increasing force the feet of
+the Apostle, as if wishing to seek refuge near them, and to beg even a
+little compassion.
+
+But the Apostle, when he had listened to the end, bent down and placed
+his aged hand on her head; then he raised his eyes to the old presbyter,
+and said,--"Crispus, hast thou not heard that our beloved Master was in
+Cana, at a wedding, and blessed love between man and woman?"
+
+Crispus's hands dropped, and he looked with astonishment on the speaker,
+without power to utter one word. After a moment's silence Peter asked
+again,--"Crispus, dost thou think that Christ, who permitted Mary of
+Magdala to lie at his feet, and who forgave the public sinner, would
+turn from this maiden, who is as pure as a lily of the field?"
+
+Lygia nestled up more urgently to the feet of Peter, with sobbing,
+understanding that she had not sought refuge in vain. The Apostle raised
+her face, which was covered with tears, and said to her,--"While the
+eyes of him whom thou lovest are not open to the light of truth, avoid
+him, lest he bring thee to sin, but pray for him, and know that there is
+no sin in thy love. And since it is thy wish to avoid temptation, this
+will be accounted to thee as a merit. Do not suffer, and do not weep;
+for I tell thee that the grace of the Redeemer has not deserted thee,
+and that thy prayers will be heard; after sorrow will come days of
+gladness."
+
+When he had said this, he placed both hands on her head, and, raising
+his eyes, blessed her. From his face there shone a goodness beyond that
+of earth.
+
+The penitent Crispus began humbly to explain himself; "I have sinned
+against mercy," said he; "but I thought that by admitting to her heart
+an earthly love she had denied Christ."
+
+"I denied Him thrice," answered Peter, "and still He forgave me, and
+commanded me to feed His sheep."
+
+"And because," concluded Crispus, "Vinicius is an Augustian."
+
+"Christ softened harder hearts than his," replied Peter.
+
+Then Paul of Tarsus, who had been silent so far, placed his finger on
+his breast, pointing to himself, and said,--"I am he who persecuted
+and hurried servants of Christ to their death; I am he who during the
+stoning of Stephen kept the garments of those who stoned him; I am he
+who wished to root out the truth in every part of the inhabited earth,
+and yet the Lord predestined me to declare it in every land. I have
+declared it in Judea, in Greece, on the Islands, and in this godless
+city, where first I resided as a prisoner. And now when Peter, my
+superior, has summoned me, I enter this house to bend that proud head to
+the feet of Christ, and cast a grain of seed in that stony field,
+which the Lord will fertilize, so that it may bring forth a bountiful
+harvest."
+
+And he rose. To Crispus that diminutive hunchback seemed then that
+which he was in reality,--a giant, who was to stir the world to its
+foundations and gather in lands and nations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVIII
+
+
+PETRONIUS to VINICIUS:--"Have pity, carissime; imitate not in thy
+letters the Lacedemonians or Julius Caesar! Couldst thou, like Julius,
+write Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered), I might understand
+thy brevity. But thy letter means absolutely Veni, vidi, fugi (I came, I
+saw, I fled). Since such a conclusion of the affair is directly opposed
+to thy nature, since thou art wounded, and since, finally, uncommon
+things are happening to thee, thy letter needs explanation. I could
+not believe my eyes when I read that the Lygian giant killed Croton as
+easily as a Caledonian dog would kill a wolf in the defiles of Hibernia.
+That man is worth as much gold as he himself weighs, and it depends on
+him alone to become a favorite of Caesar. When I return to the city,
+I must gain a nearer acquaintance with that Lygian, and have a bronze
+statue of him made for myself. Ahenobarbus will burst from curiosity,
+when I tell him that it is from nature. Bodies really athletic are
+becoming rarer in Italy and in Greece; of the Orient no mention need be
+made; the Germans, though large, have muscles covered with fat, and
+are greater in bulk than in strength. Learn from the Lygian if he is an
+exception, or if in his country there are more men like him. Should it
+happen sometime to thee or me to organize games officially, it would be
+well to know where to seek for the best bodies.
+
+"But praise to the gods of the Orient and the Occident that thou hast
+come out of such hands alive. Thou hast escaped, of course, because
+thou art a patrician, and the son of a consul; but everything which has
+happened astonishes me in the highest degree,--that cemetery where thou
+wert among the Christians, they, their treatment of thee, the subsequent
+flight of Lygia; finally, that peculiar sadness and disquiet which
+breathes from thy short letter. Explain, for there are many points
+which I cannot understand; and if thou wish the truth, I will tell thee
+plainly, that I understand neither the Christians nor thee nor Lygia.
+Wonder not that I, who care for few things on earth except my own
+person, inquire of thee so eagerly. I have contributed to all this
+affair of thine; hence it is my affair so far. Write soon, for I cannot
+foresee surely when we may meet. In Bronzebeard's head plans change, as
+winds do in autumn. At present, while tarrying in Beneventum, he has the
+wish to go straightway to Greece, without returning to Rome. Tigellinus,
+however, advises him to visit the city even for a time, since the
+people, yearning overmuch for his person (read 'for games and bread')
+may revolt. So I cannot tell how it will be. Should Achaea overbalance,
+we may want to see Egypt. I should insist with all my might on thy
+coming, for I think that in thy state of mind travelling and our
+amusements would be a medicine, but thou mightst not find us. Consider,
+then, whether in that case repose in thy Sicilian estates would not
+be preferable to remaining in Rome. Write me minutely of thyself, and
+farewell. I add no wish this time, except health; for, by Pollux! I know
+not what to wish thee."
+
+Vinicius, on receiving this letter, felt at first no desire to reply.
+He had a kind of feeling that it was not worth while to reply, that an
+answer would benefit no one in any way, that it would explain nothing.
+Discontent, and a feeling of the vanity of life, possessed him. He
+thought, moreover, that Petronius would not comprehend him in any case,
+and that something had happened which would remove them from each other.
+He could not come to an agreement with himself, even. When he returned
+from the Trans-Tiber to his splendid "insula," he was exhausted, and
+found for the first days a certain satisfaction in rest and in the
+comfort and abundance about him. That satisfaction lasted but a short
+time, however. He felt soon that he was living in vanity; that all which
+so far had formed the interest of his life either had ceased to exist
+for him or had shrunk to proportions barely perceptible. He had a
+feeling as if those ties which hitherto had connected him with life
+had been cut in his soul, and that no new ones had been formed. At the
+thought that he might go to Beneventum and thence to Achaea, to swim in a
+life of luxury and wild excess, he had a feeling of emptiness. "To what
+end? What shall I gain from it?" These were the first questions which
+passed through his head. And for the first time in life, also, he
+thought that if he went, the conversation of Petronius, his wit, his
+quickness, his exquisite outlining of thought, and his choice of apt
+phrases for every idea might annoy him.
+
+But solitude, too, had begun to annoy him. All his acquaintances were
+with Caesar in Beneventum; so he had to stay at home alone, with a
+head full of thoughts, and a heart full of feelings which he could not
+analyze. He had moments, however, in which he judged that if he could
+converse with some one about everything that took place in him, perhaps
+he might be able to grasp it all somehow, bring it to order, and
+estimate it better. Under the influence of this hope, and after some
+days of hesitation, he decided to answer Petronius; and, though not
+certain that he would send the answer, he wrote it in the following
+words:--
+
+"It is thy wish that I write more minutely, agreed then; whether I shall
+be able to do it more clearly, I cannot tell, for there are many knots
+which I know not myself how to loosen. I described to thee my stay among
+the Christians, and their treatment of enemies, among whom they had a
+right to count both me and Chilo; finally, of the kindness with which
+they nursed me, and of the disappearance of Lygia. No, my dear friend, I
+was not spared because of being the son of a consul. Such considerations
+do not exist for them, since they forgave even Chilo, though I urged
+them to bury him in the garden. Those are people such as the world has
+not seen hitherto, and their teaching is of a kind that the world has
+not heard up to this time. I can say nothing else, and he errs who
+measures them with our measure. I tell thee that, if I had been lying
+with a broken arm in my own house, and if my own peoples, even my own
+family, had nursed me, I should have had more comforts, of course, but I
+should not have received half the care which I found among them.
+
+"Know this, too, that Lygia is like the others. Had she been my sister
+or my wife, she could not have nursed me more tenderly. Delight filled
+my heart more than once, for I judged that love alone could inspire the
+like tenderness. More than once I saw love in her look, in her face;
+and, wilt thou believe me? among those simple people then in that poor
+chamber, which was at once a culina and a triclinium, I felt happier
+than ever before. No; she was not indifferent to me--and to-day even I
+cannot think that she was. Still that same Lygia left Miriam's dwelling
+in secret because of me. I sit now whole days with my head on my hands,
+and think, Why did she do so? Have I written thee that I volunteered
+to restore her to Aulus? True, she declared that to be impossible at
+present, because Aulus and Pomponia had gone to Sicily, and because news
+of her return going from house to house, through slaves, would reach the
+Palatine, and Caesar might take her from Aulus again. But she knew that I
+would not pursue her longer; that I had left the way of violence; that,
+unable to cease loving her or to live without her, I would bring her
+into my house through a wreathed door, and seat her on a sacred skin at
+my hearth. Still she fled! Why? Nothing was threatening her. Did she not
+love me, she might have rejected me. The day before her flight, I made
+the acquaintance of a wonderful man, a certain Paul of Tarsus, who spoke
+to me of Christ and His teachings, and spoke with such power that every
+word of his, without his willing it, turns all the foundations of our
+society into ashes. That same man visited me after her flight, and said:
+'If God open thy eyes to the light, and take the beam from them as He
+took it from mine, thou wilt feel that she acted properly; and then,
+perhaps, thou wilt find her.' And now I am breaking my head over these
+words, as if I had heard them from the mouth of the Pythoness at Delphi.
+I seem to understand something. Though they love people, the Christians
+are enemies of our life, our gods, and our crimes; hence she fled from
+me, as from a man who belongs to our society, and with whom she would
+have to share a life counted criminal by Christians. Thou wilt say that
+since she might reject me, she had no need to withdraw. But if she loved
+me? In that case she desired to flee from love. At the very thought of
+this I wish to send slaves into every alley in Rome, and command them
+to cry throughout the houses, 'Return, Lygia!' But I cease to understand
+why she fled. I should not have stopped her from believing in her
+Christ, and would myself have reared an altar to Him in the atrium. What
+harm could one more god do me? Why might I not believe in him,--I who
+do not believe overmuch in the old gods? I know with full certainty that
+the Christians do not lie; and they say that he rose from the dead.
+A man cannot rise from the dead. That Paul of Tarsus, who is a Roman
+citizen, but who, as a Jew, knows the old Hebrew writings, told me that
+the coming of Christ was promised by prophets for whole thousands of
+years. All these are uncommon things, but does not the uncommon surround
+us on every side? People have not ceased talking yet of Apollonius of
+Tyana. Paul's statement that there is one God, not a whole assembly of
+them, seems sound to me. Perhaps Seneca is of this opinion, and before
+him many others. Christ lived, gave Himself to be crucified for the
+salvation of the world, and rose from the dead. All this is perfectly
+certain. I do not see, therefore, a reason why I should insist on an
+opposite opinion, or why I should not rear to Him an altar, if I am
+ready to rear one to Serapis, for instance. It would not be difficult
+for me even to renounce other gods, for no reasoning mind believes in
+them at present. But it seems that all this is not enough yet for
+the Christians. It is not enough to honor Christ, one must also live
+according to His teachings; and here thou art on the shore of a sea
+which they command thee to wade through.
+
+"If I promised to do so, they themselves would feel that the promise was
+an empty sound of words. Paul told me so openly. Thou knowest how I love
+Lygia, and knowest that there is nothing that I would not do for her.
+Still, even at her wish, I cannot raise Soracte or Vesuvius on my
+shoulders, or place Thrasymene Lake on the palm of my hand, or from
+black make my eyes blue, like those of the Lygians. If she so desired, I
+could have the wish, but the change does not lie in my power. I am not
+a philosopher, but also I am not so dull as I have seemed, perhaps, more
+than once to thee. I will state now the following: I know not how the
+Christians order their own lives, but I know that where their religion
+begins, Roman rule ends, Rome itself ends, our mode of life ends, the
+distinction between conquered and conqueror, between rich and poor, lord
+and slave, ends, government ends, Caesar ends, law and all the order
+of the world ends; and in place of those appear Christ, with a certain
+mercy not existent hitherto, and kindness, opposed to human and our
+Roman instincts. It is true that Lygia is more to me than all Rome and
+its lordship; and I would let society vanish could I have her in my
+house. But that is another thing. Agreement in words does not satisfy
+the Christians; a man must feel that their teaching is truth, and not
+have aught else in his soul. But that, the gods are my witnesses, is
+beyond me. Dost understand what that means? There is something in my
+nature which shudders at this religion; and were my lips to glorify it,
+were I to conform to its precepts, my soul and my reason would say that
+I do so through love for Lygia, and that apart from her there is to me
+nothing on earth more repulsive. And, a strange thing, Paul of Tarsus
+understands this, and so does that old theurgus Peter, who in spite of
+all his simplicity and low origin is the highest among them, and was
+the disciple of Christ. And dost thou know what they are doing? They are
+praying for me, and calling down something which they call grace; but
+nothing descends on me, save disquiet, and a greater yearning for Lygia.
+
+"I have written thee that she went away secretly; but when going she
+left me a cross which she put together from twigs of boxwood. When I
+woke up, I found it near my bed. I have it now in the lararium, and I
+approach it yet, I cannot tell why, as if there were something divine in
+it,--that is, with awe and reverence. I love it because her hand bound
+it, and I hate it because it divides us. At times it seems to me that
+there are enchantments of some kind in all this affair, and that the
+theurgus, Peter, though he declares himself to be a simple shepherd,
+is greater than Apollonius, and all who preceded him, and that he has
+involved us all--Lygia, Pomponia, and me--with them.
+
+"Thou hast written that in my previous letter disquiet and sadness are
+visible. Sadness there must be, for I have lost her again, and there
+is disquiet because something has changed in me. I tell thee sincerely,
+that nothing is more repugnant to my nature than that religion, and
+still I cannot recognize myself since I met Lygia. Is it enchantment,
+or love? Circe changed people's bodies by touching them, but my soul
+has been changed. No one but Lygia could have done that, or rather Lygia
+through that wonderful religion which she professes. When I returned
+to my house from the Christians, no one was waiting for me. The slaves
+thought that I was in Beneventum, and would not return soon; hence there
+was disorder in the house. I found the slaves drunk, and a feast, which
+they were giving themselves, in my triclinium. They had more thought
+of seeing death than me, and would have been less terrified by it.
+Thou knowest with what a firm hand I hold my house; all to the last one
+dropped on their knees, and some fainted from terror. But dost thou know
+how I acted? At the first moment I wished to call for rods and hot iron,
+but immediately a kind of shame seized me, and, wilt thou lend belief?
+a species of pity for those wretched people. Among them are old slaves
+whom my grandfather, Marcus Vinicius, brought from the Rhine in the
+time of Augustus. I shut myself up alone in the library, and there came
+stranger thoughts still to my head; namely, that after what I had heard
+and seen among the Christians, it did not become me to act with slaves
+as I had acted hitherto--that they too were people. For a number of days
+they moved about in mortal terror, in the belief that I was delaying so
+as to invent punishment the more cruel, but I did not punish, and did
+not punish because I was not able. Summoning them on the third day, I
+said, 'I forgive you; strive then with earnest service to correct your
+fault!' They fell on their knees, covering their faces with tears,
+stretching forth their hands with groans, and called me lord and father;
+but I--with shame do I write this--was equally moved. It seemed to me
+that at that moment I was looking at the sweet face of Lygia, and her
+eyes filled with tears, thanking me for that act. And, proh pudor! I
+felt that my lips too were moist. Dost know what I will confess to thee?
+This--that I cannot do without her, that it is ill for me alone, that I
+am simply unhappy, and that my sadness is greater than thou wilt admit.
+But, as to my slaves, one thing arrested my attention. The forgiveness
+which they received not only did not make them insolent, not only did
+not weaken discipline, but never had fear roused them to such ready
+service as has gratitude. Not only do they serve, but they seem to vie
+with one another to divine my wishes. I mention this to thee because,
+when, the day before I left the Christians, I told Paul that society
+would fall apart because of his religion, as a cask without hoops, he
+answered, 'Love is a stronger hoop than fear.' And now I see that in
+certain cases his opinion may be right. I have verified it also with
+references to clients, who, learning of my return, hurried to salute me.
+Thou knowest that I have never been penurious with them; but my father
+acted haughtily with clients on principle, and taught me to treat them
+in like manner. But when I saw their worn mantles and hungry faces, I
+had a feeling something like compassion. I gave command to bring them
+food, and conversed besides with them,--called some by name, some I
+asked about their wives and children,--and again in the eyes before me
+I saw tears; again it seemed to me that Lygia saw what I was doing, that
+she praised and was delighted. Is my mind beginning to wander, or is
+love confusing my feelings? I cannot tell. But this I do know; I have
+a continual feeling that she is looking at me from a distance, and I am
+afraid to do aught that might trouble or offend her.
+
+"So it is, Caius! but they have changed my soul, and sometimes I feel
+well for that reason. At times again I am tormented with the thought,
+for I fear that my manhood and energy are taken from me; that, perhaps,
+I am useless, not only for counsel, for judgment, for feasts, but for
+war even. These are undoubted enchantments! And to such a degree am I
+changed that I tell thee this, too, which came to my head when I lay
+wounded: that if Lygia were like Nigidia, Poppaea, Crispinilla, and our
+divorced women, if she were as vile, as pitiless, and as cheap as they,
+I should not love her as I do at present. But since I love her for that
+which divides us, thou wilt divine what a chaos is rising in my soul, in
+what darkness I live, how it is that I cannot see certain roads before
+me, and how far I am from knowing what to begin. If life may be compared
+to a spring, in my spring disquiet flows instead of water. I live
+through the hope that I shall see her, perhaps, and sometimes it seems
+to me that I shall see her surely. But what will happen to me in a year
+or two years, I know not, and cannot divine. I shall not leave Rome.
+I could not endure the society of the Augustians; and besides, the one
+solace in my sadness and disquiet is the thought that I am near Lygia,
+that through Glaucus the physician, who promised to visit me, or through
+Paul of Tarsus, I can learn something of her at times. No; I would not
+leave Rome, even were ye to offer me the government of Egypt. Know also,
+that I have ordered the sculptor to make a stone monument for Gulo, whom
+I slew in anger. Too late did it come to my mind that he had carried me
+in his arms, and was the first to teach me how to put an arrow on a bow.
+I know not why it was that a recollection of him rose in me which was
+sorrow and reproach. If what I write astonish thee, I reply that it
+astonishes me no less, but I write pure truth.--Farewell."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIX
+
+
+VINICUS received no answer to this letter. Petronius did not write,
+thinking evidently that Caesar might command a return to Rome any day. In
+fact, news of it was spread in the city, and roused great delight in the
+hearts of the rabble, eager for games with gifts of grain and olives,
+great supplies of which had been accumulated in Ostia. Helius, Nero's
+freedman, announced at last the return in the Senate. But Nero,
+having embarked with his court on ships at Misenum, returned slowly,
+disembarking at coast towns for rest, or exhibitions in theatres. He
+remained between ten and twenty days in Minturna, and even thought
+to return to Naples and wait there for spring, which was earlier than
+usual, and warm. During all this time Vinicius lived shut up in his
+house, thinking of Lygia, and all those new things which occupied his
+soul, and brought to it ideas and feelings foreign to it thus far. He
+saw, from time to time, only Glaucus the physician, every one of whose
+visits delighted him, for he could converse with the man about Lygia.
+Glaucus knew not, it is true, where she had found refuge, but he gave
+assurance that the elders were protecting her with watchful care. Once
+too, when moved by the sadness of Vinicius, he told him that Peter had
+blamed Crispus for reproaching Lygia with her love. The young patrician,
+hearing this, grew pale from emotion. He had thought more than once that
+Lygia was not indifferent to him, but he fell into frequent doubt and
+uncertainty. Now for the first time he heard the confirmation of his
+desires and hopes from strange lips, and, besides, those of a Christian.
+At the first moment of gratitude he wished to run to Peter. When he
+learned, however, that he was not in the city, but teaching in the
+neighborhood, he implored Glaucus to accompany him thither, promising to
+make liberal gifts to the poor community. It seemed to him, too, that if
+Lygia loved him, all obstacles were thereby set aside, as he was ready
+at any moment to honor Christ. Glaucus, though he urged him persistently
+to receive baptism, would not venture to assure him that he would gain
+Lygia at once, and said that it was necessary to desire the religion for
+its own sake, through love of Christ, not for other objects. "One
+must have a Christian soul, too," said he. And Vinicius, though every
+obstacle angered him, had begun to understand that Glaucus, as a
+Christian, said what he ought to say. He had not become clearly
+conscious that one of the deepest changes in his nature was this,--that
+formerly he had measured people and things only by his own selfishness,
+but now he was accustoming himself gradually to the thought that other
+eyes might see differently, other hearts feel differently, and that
+justice did not mean always the same as personal profit.
+
+He wished often to see Paul of Tarsus, whose discourse made him curious
+and disturbed him. He arranged in his mind arguments to overthrow his
+teaching, he resisted him in thought; still he wished to see him and to
+hear him. Paul, however, had gone to Aricium, and, since the visits of
+Glaucus had become rarer, Vinicius was in perfect solitude. He began
+again to run through back streets adjoining the Subura, and narrow lanes
+of the Trans-Tiber, in the hope that even from a distance he might see
+Lygia. When even that hope failed him, weariness and impatience began to
+rise in his heart. At last the time came when his former nature was felt
+again mightily, like that onrush of a wave to the shore from which it
+had receded. It seemed to him that he had been a fool to no purpose,
+that he had stuffed his head with things which brought sadness, that he
+ought to accept from life what it gives. He resolved to forget Lygia, or
+at least to seek pleasure and the use of things aside from her. He felt
+that this trial, however, was the last, and he threw himself into it
+with all the blind energy of impulse peculiar to him. Life itself seemed
+to urge him to this course.
+
+THE APPIAN WAY. From the painting by G. Boulanger.
+
+The city, torpid and depopulated by winter, began to revive with hope
+of the near coming of Caesar. A solemn reception was in waiting for him.
+Meanwhile spring was there; the snow on the Alban Hills had vanished
+under the breath of winds from Africa. Grass-plots in the gardens were
+covered with violets. The Forums and the Campus Martius were filled with
+people warmed by a sun of growing heat. Along the Appian Way, the usual
+place for drives outside the city, a movement of richly ornamented
+chariots had begun. Excursions were made to the Alban Hills. Youthful
+women, under pretext of worshipping Juno in Lanuvium, or Diana in
+Aricia, left home to seek adventures, society, meetings, and pleasure
+beyond the city. Here Vinicius saw one day among lordly chariots the
+splendid car of Chrysothemis, preceded by two Molossian dogs; it was
+surrounded by a crowd of young men and by old senators, whose position
+detained them in the city. Chrysothemis, driving four Corsican ponies
+herself, scattered smiles round about, and light strokes of a golden
+whip; but when she saw Vinicius she reined in her horses, took him into
+her car, and then to a feast at her house, which lasted all night. At
+that feast Vinicius drank so much that he did not remember when they
+took him home; he recollected, however, that when Chrysothemis mentioned
+Lygia he was offended, and, being drunk, emptied a goblet of Falernian
+on her head. When he thought of this in soberness, he was angrier still.
+But a day later Chrysothemis, forgetting evidently the injury, visited
+him at his house, and took him to the Appian Way a second time. Then
+she supped at his house, and confessed that not only Petronius, but his
+lute-player, had grown tedious to her long since, and that her heart was
+free now. They appeared together for a week, but the relation did not
+promise permanence. After the Falernian incident, however, Lygia's name
+was never mentioned, but Vinicius could not free himself from thoughts
+of her. He had the feeling always that her eyes were looking at his
+face, and that feeling filled him, as it were, with fear. He suffered,
+and could not escape the thought that he was saddening Lygia, or the
+regret which that thought roused in him. After the first scene of
+jealousy which Chrysothemis made because of two Syrian damsels whom he
+purchased, he let her go in rude fashion. He did not cease at once from
+pleasure and license, it is true, but he followed them out of spite, as
+it were, toward Lygia. At last he saw that the thought of her did
+not leave him for an instant; that she was the one cause of his evil
+activity as well as his good; and that really nothing in the world
+occupied him except her. Disgust, and then weariness, mastered him.
+Pleasure had grown loathsome, and left mere reproaches. It seemed to him
+that he was wretched, and this last feeling filled him with measureless
+astonishment, for formerly he recognized as good everything which
+pleased him. Finally, he lost freedom, self-confidence, and fell into
+perfect torpidity, from which even the news of Caesar's coming could not
+rouse him. Nothing touched him, and he did not visit Petronius till the
+latter sent an invitation and his litter.
+
+On seeing his uncle, though greeted with gladness, he replied to his
+questions unwillingly; but his feelings and thoughts, repressed for a
+long time, burst forth at last, and flowed from his mouth in a torrent
+of words. Once more he told in detail the history of his search for
+Lygia, his life among the Christians, everything which he had heard and
+seen there, everything which had passed through his head and heart; and
+finally he complained that he had fallen into a chaos, in which were
+lost composure and the gift of distinguishing and judging. Nothing, he
+said, attracted him, nothing was pleasing; he did not know what to hold
+to, nor how to act. He was ready both to honor and persecute Christ;
+he understood the loftiness of His teaching, but he felt also an
+irresistible repugnance to it. He understood that, even should he
+possess Lygia, he would not possess her completely, for he would have to
+share her with Christ. Finally, he was living as if not living,--without
+hope, without a morrow, without belief in happiness; around him was
+darkness in which he was groping for an exit, and could not find it.
+
+Petronius, during this narrative, looked at his changed face, at his
+hands, which while speaking he stretched forth in a strange manner, as
+if actually seeking a road in the darkness, and he fell to thinking. All
+at once he rose, and, approaching Vinicius, caught with his fingers the
+hair above his ear.
+
+"Dost know," asked he, "that thou hast gray hairs on thy temple?"
+
+"Perhaps I have," answered Vinicius; "I should not be astonished were
+all my hair to grow white soon."
+
+Silence followed. Petronius was a man of sense, and more than once
+he meditated on the soul of man and on life. In general, life, in the
+society in which they both lived, might be happy or unhappy externally,
+but internally it was at rest. Just as a thunderbolt or an earthquake
+might overturn a temple, so might misfortune crush a life. In itself,
+however, it was composed of simple and harmonious lines, free of
+complication. But there was something else in the words of Vinicius, and
+Petronius stood for the first time before a series of spiritual snarls
+which no one had straightened out hitherto. He was sufficiently a man of
+reason to feel their importance, but with all his quickness he could
+not answer the questions put to him. After a long silence, he said at
+last,--
+
+"These must be enchantments."
+
+"I too have thought so," answered Vinicius; "more than once it seemed to
+me that we were enchanted, both of us."
+
+"And if thou," said Petronius, "were to go, for example, to the priests
+of Serapis? Among them, as among priests in general, there are many
+deceivers, no doubt; but there are others who have reached wonderful
+secrets."
+
+He said this, however, without conviction and with an uncertain voice,
+for he himself felt how empty and even ridiculous that counsel must seem
+on his lips.
+
+Vinicius rubbed his forehead, and said: "Enchantments! I have seen
+sorcerers who employed unknown and subterranean powers to their personal
+profit; I have seen those who used them to the harm of their enemies.
+But these Christians live in poverty, forgive their enemies, preach
+submission, virtue, and mercy; what profit could they get from
+enchantments, and why should they use them?"
+
+Petronius was angry that his acuteness could find no reply; not wishing,
+however, to acknowledge this, he said, so as to offer an answer of some
+kind,--"That is a new sect." After a while he added: "By the divine
+dweller in Paphian groves, how all that injures life! Thou wilt admire
+the goodness and virtue of those people; but I tell thee that they are
+bad, for they are enemies of life, as are diseases, and death itself.
+As things are, we have enough of these enemies; we do not need the
+Christians in addition. Just count them: diseases, Caesar, Tigellinus,
+Caesar's poetry, cobblers who govern the descendants of ancient Quirites,
+freedmen who sit in the Senate. By Castor! there is enough of this. That
+is a destructive and disgusting sect. Hast thou tried to shake thyself
+out of this sadness, and make some little use of life?"
+
+"I have tried," answered Vinicius.
+
+"Ah, traitor!" said Petronius, laughing; "news spreads quickly through
+slaves; thou hast seduced from me Chrysothemis!"
+
+Vinicius waved his hand in disgust.
+
+"In every case I thank thee," said Petronius. "I will send her a pair of
+slippers embroidered with pearls. In my language of a lover that means,
+'Walk away.' I owe thee a double gratitude,--first, thou didst not
+accept Eunice; second, thou hast freed me from Chrysothemis. Listen to
+me! Thou seest before thee a man who has risen early, bathed, feasted,
+possessed Chrysothemis, written satires, and even at times interwoven
+prose with verses, but who has been as wearied as Caesar, and often
+unable to unfetter himself from gloomy thoughts. And dost thou know why
+that was so? It was because I sought at a distance that which was near.
+A beautiful woman is worth her weight always in gold; but if she loves
+in addition, she has simply no price. Such a one thou wilt not buy with
+the riches of Verres. I say now to myself as follows: I will fill my
+life with happiness, as a goblet with the foremost wine which the earth
+has produced, and I will drink till my hand becomes powerless and
+my lips grow pale. What will come, I care not; and this is my latest
+philosophy."
+
+"Thou hast proclaimed it always; there is nothing new in it."
+
+"There is substance, which was lacking."
+
+When he had said this, he called Eunice, who entered dressed in white
+drapery,--the former slave no longer, but as it were a goddess of love
+and happiness.
+
+Petronius opened his arms to her, and said,--"Come."
+
+At this she ran up to him, and, sitting on his knee, surrounded his neck
+with her arms, and placed her head on his breast. Vinicius saw how a
+reflection of purple began to cover her cheeks, how her eyes melted
+gradually in mist. They formed a wonderful group of love and happiness.
+Petronius stretched his hand to a flat vase standing at one side on a
+table, and, taking a whole handful of violets, covered with them the
+head, bosom, and robe of Eunice; then he pushed the tunic from her arms,
+and said,--
+
+"Happy he who, like me, has found love enclosed in such a form! At times
+it seems to me that we are a pair of gods. Look thyself! Has Praxiteles,
+or Miron, or Skopas, or Lysias even, created more wonderful lines? Or
+does there exist in Paros or in Pentelicus such marble as this,--warm,
+rosy, and full of love? There are people who kiss off the edges of
+vases, but I prefer to look for pleasure where it may be found really."
+
+He began to pass his lips along her shoulders and neck. She was
+penetrated with a quivering; her eyes now closed, now opened, with an
+expression of unspeakable delight. Petronius after a while raised her
+exquisite head, and said, turning to Vinicius,--"But think now, what are
+thy gloomy Christians in comparison with this? And if thou understand
+not the difference, go thy way to them. But this sight will cure thee."
+
+Vinicius distended his nostrils, through which entered the odor of
+violets, which filled the whole chamber, and he grew pale; for he
+thought that if he could have passed his lips along Lygia's shoulders
+in that way, it would have been a kind of sacrilegious delight so great
+that let the world vanish afterward! But accustomed now to a quick
+perception of that which took place in him, he noticed that at that
+moment he was thinking of Lygia, and of her only.
+
+"Eunice," said Petronius, "give command, thou divine one, to prepare
+garlands for our heads and a meal."
+
+When she had gone out he turned to Vinicius.
+
+"I offered to make her free, but knowest thou what she answered?--'I
+would rather be thy slave than Caesar's wife!' And she would not consent.
+I freed her then without her knowledge. The pretor favored me by not
+requiring her presence. But she does not know that she is free, as also
+she does not know that this house and all my jewels, excepting the gems,
+will belong to her in case of my death." He rose and walked through the
+room, and said: "Love changes some more, others less, but it has changed
+even me. Once I loved the odor of verbenas; but as Eunice prefers
+violets, I like them now beyond all other flowers, and since spring came
+we breathe only violets."
+
+Here he stopped before Vinicius and inquired,--"But as to thee, dost
+thou keep always to nard?"
+
+"Give me peace!" answered the young man.
+
+"I wished thee to see Eunice, and I mentioned her to thee, because thou,
+perhaps, art seeking also at a distance that which is near. Maybe for
+thee too is beating, somewhere in the chambers of thy slaves, a true and
+simple heart. Apply such a balsam to thy wounds. Thou sayest that
+Lygia loves thee? Perhaps she does. But what kind of love is that
+which abdicates? Is not the meaning this,--that there is another force
+stronger than her love? No, my dear, Lygia is not Eunice."
+
+"All is one torment merely," answered Vinicius. "I saw thee kissing
+Eunice's shoulders, and I thought then that if Lygia would lay hers bare
+to me I should not care if the ground opened under us next moment. But
+at the very thought of such an act a certain dread seized me, as if I
+had attacked some vestal or wished to defile a divinity. Lygia is not
+Eunice, but I understand the difference not in thy way. Love has changed
+thy nostrils, and thou preferrest violets to verbenas; but it has
+changed my soul: hence, in spite of my misery and desire, I prefer Lygia
+to be what she is rather than to be like others."
+
+"In that case no injustice is done thee. But I do not understand the
+position."
+
+"True, true!" answered Vinicius, feverishly. "We understand each other
+no longer."
+
+Another moment of silence followed.
+
+"May Hades swallow thy Christians!" exclaimed Petronius. "They have
+filled thee with disquiet, and destroyed thy sense of life. May Hades
+devour them! Thou art mistaken in thinking that their religion is good,
+for good is what gives people happiness, namely, beauty, love, power;
+but these they call vanity. Thou art mistaken in this, that they are
+just; for if we pay good for evil, what shall we pay for good? And
+besides, if we pay the same for one and the other, why are people to be
+good?"
+
+"No, the pay is not the same; but according to their teaching it begins
+in a future life, which is without limit."
+
+"I do not enter into that question, for we shall see hereafter if it
+be possible to see anything without eyes. Meanwhile they are simply
+incompetents. Ursus strangled Croton because he has limbs of bronze; but
+these are mopes, and the future cannot belong to mopes."
+
+"For them life begins with death."
+
+"Which is as if one were to say, 'Day begins with night.' Hast thou the
+intent to carry off Lygia?"
+
+"No, I cannot pay her evil for good, and I swore that I would not."
+
+"Dost thou intend to accept the religion of Christ?"
+
+"I wish to do so, but my nature cannot endure it."
+
+"But wilt thou be able to forget Lygia?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then travel."
+
+At that moment the slaves announced that the repast was ready; but
+Petronius, to whom it seemed that he had fallen on a good thought,
+said, on the way to the triclinium,--"Thou has ridden over a part of the
+world, but only as a soldier hastening to his place of destination, and
+without halting by the way. Go with us to Achaea. Caesar has not given up
+the journey. He will stop everywhere on the way, sing, receive crowns,
+plunder temples, and return as a triumphator to Italy. That will
+resemble somewhat a journey of Bacchus and Apollo in one person.
+Augustians, male and female, a thousand citharae. By Castor! that will be
+worth witnessing, for hitherto the world has not seen anything like it!"
+
+Here he placed himself on the couch before the table, by the side of
+Eunice; and when the slaves put a wreath of anemones on his head, he
+continued,--"What hast thou seen in Corbulo's service? Nothing. Hast
+thou seen the Grecian temples thoroughly, as I have,--I who was passing
+more than two years from the hands of one guide to those of another?
+Hast thou been in Rhodes to examine the site of the Colossus? Hast thou
+seen in Panopeus, in Phocis, the clay from which Prometheus shaped man;
+or in Sparta the eggs laid by Leda; or in Athens the famous Sarmatian
+armor made of horse-hoofs; or in Euboea the ship of Agamemnon; or the
+cup for whose pattern the left breast of Helen served? Hast thou seen
+Alexandria, Memphis, the Pyramids, the hair which Isis tore from her
+head in grief for Osiris? Hast thou heard the shout of Memnon? The world
+is wide; everything does not end at the Trans-Tiber! I will accompany
+Caesar, and when he returns I will leave him and go to Cyprus; for it
+is the wish of this golden-haired goddess of mine that we offer doves
+together to the divinity in Paphos, and thou must know that whatever she
+wishes must happen."
+
+"I am thy slave," said Eunice.
+
+He rested his garlanded head on her bosom, and said with a smile,--"Then
+I am the slave of a slave. I admire thee, divine one, from feet to
+head!"
+
+Then he said to Vinicius: "Come with us to Cyprus. But first remember
+that thou must see Caesar. It is bad that thou hast not been with him
+yet; Tigellinus is ready to use this to thy disadvantage. He has no
+personal hatred for thee, it is true; but he cannot love thee, even
+because thou art my sister's son. We shall say that thou wert sick. We
+must think over what thou art to answer should he ask thee about Lygia.
+It will be best to wave thy hand and say that she was with thee till she
+wearied thee. He will understand that. Tell him also that sickness kept
+thee at home; that thy fever was increased by disappointment at not
+being able to visit Naples and hear his song; that thou wert assisted to
+health only by the hope of hearing him. Fear no exaggeration. Tigellinus
+promises to invent, not only something great for Caesar, but something
+enormous. I am afraid that he will undermine me; I am afraid too of thy
+disposition."
+
+"Dost thou know," said Vinicius, "that there are people who have no fear
+of Caesar, and who live as calmly as if he were non-existent?"
+
+"I know whom thou hast in mind--the Christians."
+
+"Yes; they alone. But our life,--what is it if not unbroken terror?"
+
+"Do not mention thy Christians. They fear not Caesar, because he has not
+even heard of them perhaps; and in every case he knows nothing of them,
+and they concern him as much as withered leaves. But I tell thee that
+they are incompetents. Thou feelest this thyself; if thy nature is
+repugnant to their teaching, it is just because thou feelest their
+incompetence. Thou art a man of other clay; so trouble not thyself or me
+with them. We shall be able to live and die, and what more they will be
+able to do is unknown."
+
+These words struck Vinicius; and when he returned home, he began to
+think that in truth, perhaps, the goodness and charity of Christians was
+a proof of their incompetience of soul. It seemed to him that people
+of strength and temper could not forgive thus. It came to his head that
+this must be the real cause of the repulsion which his Roman soul
+felt toward their teaching. "We shall be able to live and die!" said
+Petronius. As to them, they know only how to forgive, and understand
+neither true love nor true hatred.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXX
+
+
+Caesar, on returning to Rome, was angry because he had returned, and
+after some days was filled anew with a wish to visit Achaea. He even
+issued an edict in which he declared that his absence would be short,
+and that public affairs would not be exposed to detriment because of it.
+In company with Augustians, among whom was Vinicius, he repaired to the
+Capitol to make offerings to the gods for an auspicious journey. But on
+the second day, when he visited the temple of Vesta, an event took place
+which changed all his projects. Nero feared the gods, though he did not
+believe in them; he feared especially the mysterious Vesta, who filled
+him with such awe that at sight of the divinity and the sacred fire his
+hair rose on a sudden from terror, his teeth chattered, a shiver
+ran through his limbs, and he dropped into the arms of Vinicius, who
+happened there behind him. He was borne out of the temple at once, and
+conveyed to the Palatine, where he recovered soon, but did not leave the
+bed for that day. He declared, moreover, to the great astonishment of
+those present, that he deferred his journey, since the divinity had
+warned him secretly against haste. An hour later it was announced
+throughout Rome that Caesar, seeing the gloomy faces of the citizens, and
+moved by love for them, as a father for his children, would remain
+to share their lot and their pleasures. The people, rejoiced at
+this decision, and certain also that they would not miss games and
+a distribution of wheat, assembled in crowds before the gates of
+the Palatine, and raised shouts in honor of the divine Caesar, who
+interrupted the play at dice with which he was amusing himself with
+Augustians, and said:
+
+"Yes, there was need to defer the journey. Egypt, and predicted dominion
+over the Orient, cannot escape me; hence Achaea, too, will not be lost.
+I will give command to cut through the isthmus of Corinth; I will rear
+such monuments in Egypt that the pyramids will seem childish toys in
+comparison; I will have a sphinx built seven times greater than that
+which is gazing into the desert outside Memphis; but I will command that
+it have my face. Coming ages will speak only of that monument and of
+me."
+
+"With thy verses thou hast reared a monument to thyself already, not
+seven, but thrice seven, times greater than the pyramid of Cheops," said
+Petronius.
+
+"But with my song?" inquired Nero.
+
+"Ah! if men could only build for thee a statue, like that of Memnon, to
+call with thy voice at sunrise! For all ages to come the seas adjoining
+Egypt would swarm with ships in which crowds from the three parts of the
+world would be lost in listening to thy song."
+
+"Alas! who can do that?" said Nero.
+
+"But thou canst give command to cut out of basalt thyself driving a
+quadriga."
+
+"True! I will do that!"
+
+"Thou wilt bestow a gift on humanity."
+
+"In Egypt I will marry the Moon, who is now a widow, and I shall be a
+god really."
+
+"And thou wilt give us stars for wives; we will make a new
+constellation, which will be called the constellation of Nero. But do
+thou marry Vitelius to the Nile, so that he may beget hippopotamuses.
+Give the desert to Tigellinus, he will be king of the jackals."
+
+"And what dost thou predestine to me?" inquired Vatinius.
+
+"Apis bless thee! Thou didst arrange such splendid games in Beneventum
+that I cannot wish thee ill. Make a pair of boots for the sphinx, whose
+paws must grow numb during night-dews; after that thou will make sandals
+for the Colossi which form the alleys before the temples. Each one will
+find there a fitting occupation. Domitius Afer, for example, will be
+treasurer, since he is known for his honesty. I am glad, Caesar, when
+thou art dreaming of Egypt, and I am saddened because thou hast deferred
+thy plan of a journey."
+
+"Thy mortal eyes saw nothing, for the deity becomes invisible to
+whomever it wishes," said Nero. "Know that when I was in the temple of
+Vesta she herself stood near me, and whispered in my ear, 'Defer the
+journey.' That happened so unexpectedly that I was terrified, though for
+such an evident care of the gods for me I should be thankful."
+
+"We were all terrified," said Tigellinus, "and the vestal Rubria
+fainted."
+
+"Rubria!" said Nero; "what a snowy neck she has!"
+
+"But she blushed at sight of the divine Caesar--"
+
+"True! I noticed that myself. That is wonderful. There is something
+divine in every vestal, and Rubria is very beautiful.
+
+"Tell me," said he, after a moment's meditation, "why people fear Vesta
+more than other gods. What does this mean? Though I am the chief priest,
+fear seized me to-day. I remember only that I was falling back, and
+should have dropped to the ground had not some one supported me. Who was
+it?"
+
+"I," answered Vinicius.
+
+"Oh, thou 'stern Mars'! Why wert thou not in Beneventum? They told me
+that thou wert ill, and indeed thy face is changed. But I heard that
+Croton wished to kill thee? Is that true?"
+
+"It is, and he broke my arm; but I defended myself."
+
+"With a broken arm?"
+
+"A certain barbarian helped me; he was stronger than Croton."
+
+Nero looked at him with astonishment. "Stronger than Croton? Art thou
+jesting? Croton was the strongest of men, but now here is Syphax from
+Ethiopia."
+
+"I tell thee, Caesar, what I saw with my own eyes."
+
+"Where is that pearl? Has he not become king of Nemi?"
+
+"I cannot tell, Caesar. I lost sight of him."
+
+"Thou knowest not even of what people he is?"
+
+"I had a broken arm, and could not inquire for him."
+
+"Seek him, and find him for me."
+
+"I will occupy myself with that," said Tigellinus.
+
+But Nero spoke further to Vinicius: "I thank thee for having supported
+me; I might have broken my head by a fall. On a time thou wert a good
+companion, but campaigning and service with Corbulo have made thee wild
+in some way; I see thee rarely.
+
+"How is that maiden too narrow in the hips, with whom thou wert in
+love," asked he after a while, "and whom I took from Aulus for thee?"
+
+Vinicius was confused, but Petronius came to his aid at that moment. "I
+will lay a wager, lord," said he, "that he has forgotten. Dost thou see
+his confusion? Ask him how many of them there were since that time, and
+I will not give assurance of his power to answer. The Vinicius are good
+soldiers, but still better gamecocks. They need whole flocks. Punish
+him for that, lord, by not inviting him to the feast which Tigellinus
+promises to arrange in thy honor on the pond of Agrippa."
+
+"I will not do that. I trust, Tigellinus, that flocks of beauty will not
+be lacking there."
+
+"Could the Graces be absent where Amor will be present?" answered
+Tigellinus.
+
+"Weariness tortures me," said Nero. "I have remained in Rome at the will
+of the goddess, but I cannot endure the city. I will go to Antium. I
+am stifled in these narrow streets, amid these tumble-down houses, amid
+these alleys. Foul air flies even here to my house and my gardens. Oh,
+if an earthquake would destroy Rome, if some angry god would level it to
+the earth! I would show how a city should be built, which is the head of
+the world and my capital."
+
+"Caesar," answered Tigellinus, "thou sayest, 'If some angry god would
+destroy the city,'--is it so?"
+
+"It is! What then?"
+
+"But art thou not a god?"
+
+Nero waved his hand with an expression of weariness, and said,--"We
+shall see thy work on the pond of Agrippa. Afterward I go to Antium. Ye
+are all little, hence do not understand that I need immense things."
+
+Then he closed his eyes, giving to understand in that way that he needed
+rest. In fact, the Augustians were beginning to depart. Petronius went
+out with Vinicius, and said to him,--"Thou art invited, then, to share
+in the amusement. Bronzebeard has renounced the journey, but he will be
+madder than ever; he has fixed himself in the city as in his own house.
+Try thou, too, to find in these madnesses amusement and forgetfulness.
+Well! we have conquered the world, and have a right to amuse ourselves.
+Thou, Marcus, art a very comely fellow, and to that I ascribe in part
+the weakness which I have for thee. By the Ephesian Diana! if thou
+couldst see thy joined brows, and thy face in which the ancient blood
+of the Quirites is evident! Others near thee looked like freedmen. True!
+were it not for that mad religion, Lygia would be in thy house to-day.
+Attempt once more to prove to me that they are not enemies of life and
+mankind. They have acted well toward thee, hence thou mayst be grateful
+to them; but in thy place I should detest that religion, and seek
+pleasure where I could find it. Thou art a comely fellow, I repeat, and
+Rome is swarming with divorced women."
+
+"I wonder only that all this does not torture thee yet?"
+
+"Who has told thee that it does not? It tortures me this long time,
+but I am not of thy years. Besides, I have other attachments which are
+lacking thee. I love books, thou hast no love for them; I love poetry,
+which annoys thee; I love pottery, gems, a multitude of things, at which
+thou dost not look; I have a pain in my loins, which thou hast not; and,
+finally, I have found Eunice, but thou hast found nothing similar. For
+me, it is pleasant in my house, among masterpieces; of thee I can never
+make a man of aesthetic feeling. I know that in life I shall never find
+anything beyond what I have found; thou thyself knowest not that thou
+art hoping yet continually, and seeking. If death were to visit thee,
+with all thy courage and sadness, thou wouldst die with astonishment
+that it was necessary to leave the world; but I should accept death as a
+necessity, with the conviction that there is no fruit in the world which
+I have not tasted. I do not hurry, neither shall I loiter; I shall
+try merely to be joyful to the end. There are cheerful sceptics in the
+world. For me, the Stoics are fools; but stoicism tempers men, at least,
+while thy Christians bring sadness into the world, which in life is the
+same as rain in nature. Dost thou know what I have learned? That during
+the festivities which Tigellinus will arrange at the pond of Agrippa,
+there will be lupanaria, and in them women from the first houses of
+Rome. Will there be not even one sufficiently beautiful to console thee?
+There will be maidens, too, appearing in society for the first time--as
+nymphs. Such is our Roman Caesardom! The air is mild already; the midday
+breeze will warm the water and not bring pimples on naked bodies.
+And thou, Narcissus, know this, that there will not be one to refuse
+thee,--not one, even though she be a vestal virgin."
+
+Vinicius began to strike his head with his palm, like a man occupied
+eternally with one thought.
+
+"I should need luck to find such a one."
+
+"And who did this for thee, if not the Christians? But people whose
+standard is a cross cannot be different. Listen to me: Greece was
+beautiful, and created wisdom; we created power; and what, to thy
+thinking, can this teaching create? If thou know, explain; for, by
+Pollux! I cannot divine it."
+
+"Thou art afraid, it seems, lest I become a Christian," said Vinicius,
+shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"I am afraid that thou hast spoiled life for thyself. If thou canst
+not be a Grecian, be a Roman; possess and enjoy. Our madnesses have
+a certain sense, for there is in them a kind of thought of our own. I
+despise Bronzebeard, because he is a Greek buffoon. If he held himself
+a Roman, I should recognize that he was right in permitting himself
+madness. Promise me that if thou find some Christian on returning home,
+thou wilt show thy tongue to him. If he be Glaucus the physician, he
+will not wonder.--Till we meet on the pond of Agrippa."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXI
+
+
+PRETORIANS surrounded the groves on the banks of the pond of Agrippa,
+lest over-numerous throngs of spectators might annoy Caesar and his
+guests; though it was said that everything in Rome distinguished for
+wealth, beauty, or intellect was present at that feast, which had no
+equal in the history of the city. Tigellinus wished to recompense Caesar
+for the deferred journey to Achaea, to surpass all who had ever feasted
+Nero, and prove that no man could entertain as he could. With this
+object in view, while with Caesar in Naples, and later in Beneventum, he
+had made preparations and sent orders to bring from the remotest regions
+of the earth beasts, birds, rare fish, and plants, not omitting vessels
+and cloths, which were to enhance the splendor of the feast. The
+revenues of whole provinces went to satisfy mad projects; but the
+powerful favorite had no need to hesitate. His influence grew daily.
+Tigellinus was not dearer than others to Nero yet, perhaps, but he was
+becoming more and more indispensable. Petronius surpassed him infinitely
+in polish, intellect, wit; in conversation he knew better how to amuse
+Caesar: but to his misfortune he surpassed in conversation Caesar himself,
+hence he roused his jealousy; moreover he could not be an obedient
+instrument in everything, and Caesar feared his opinion when there were
+questions in matters of taste. But before Tigellinus, Nero never felt
+any restraint. The very title, Arbiter Elegantiarum, which had been
+given to Petronius, annoyed Nero's vanity, for who had the right to
+bear that title but himself? Tigellinus had sense enough to know his
+own deficiencies; and seeing that he could not compete with Petronius,
+Lucan, or others distinguished by birth, talents, or learning, he
+resolved to extinguish them by the suppleness of his services, and above
+all by such a magnificence that the imagination of Nero himself would
+be struck by it. He had arranged to give the feast on a gigantic raft,
+framed of gilded timbers. The borders of this raft were decked with
+splendid shells found in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, shells
+brilliant with the colors of pearls and the rainbow. The banks of
+the pond were covered with groups of palm, with groves of lotus, and
+blooming roses. In the midst of these were hidden fountains of perfumed
+water, statues of gods and goddesses, and gold or silver cages filled
+with birds of various colors. In the centre of the raft rose an immense
+tent, or rather, not to hide the feasters, only the roof of a tent, made
+of Syrian purple, resting on silver columns; under it were gleaming,
+like suns, tables prepared for the guests, loaded with Alexandrian
+glass, crystal, and vessels simply beyond price,--the plunder of Italy,
+Greece, and Asia Minor. The raft, which because of plants accumulated on
+it had the appearance of an island and a garden, was joined by cords of
+gold and purple to boats shaped like fish, swans, mews, and flamingoes,
+in which sat at painted oars naked rowers of both sexes, with forms and
+features of marvellous beauty, their hair dressed in Oriental fashion,
+or gathered in golden nets. When Nero arrived at the main raft with
+Poppaea and the Augustians, and sat beneath the purple tent-roof, the
+oars struck the water, the boats moved, the golden cords stretched,
+and the raft with the feast and the guests began to move and describe
+circles on the pond. Other boats surrounded it, and other smaller rafts,
+filled with women playing on citharae and harps, women whose rosy bodies
+on the blue background of the sky and the water and in the reflections
+from golden instruments seemed to absorb that blue and those
+reflections, and to change and bloom like flowers.
+
+From the groves at the banks, from fantastic buildings reared for
+that day and hidden among thickets, were heard music and song. The
+neighborhood resounded, the groves resounded; echoes bore around the
+voices of horns and trumpets. Caesar himself, with Poppaea on one side of
+him, and Pythagoras on the other, was amazed; and more especially when
+among the boats young slave maidens appeared as sirens, and were covered
+with green network in imitation of scales, he did not spare praises on
+Tigellinus. But he looked at Petronius from habit, wishing to learn the
+opinion of the "arbiter," who seemed indifferent for a long time, and
+only when questioned outright, answered,--"I judge, lord, that ten
+thousand naked maidens make less impression than one."
+
+But the "floating feast" pleased Caesar, for it was something new.
+Besides, such exquisite dishes were served that the imagination of
+Apicius would have failed at sight of them, and wines of so many kinds
+that Otho, who used to serve eighty, would have hidden under water with
+shame, could he have witnessed the luxury of that feast. Besides women,
+the Augustians sat down at the table, among whom Vinicius excelled all
+with his beauty. Formerly his figure and face indicated too clearly
+the soldier by profession; now mental suffering and the physical pain
+through which he had passed had chiselled his features, as if the
+delicate hand of a master had passed over them. His complexion had
+lost its former swarthiness, but the yellowish gleam of Numidian marble
+remained on it. His eyes had grown larger and more pensive. His body
+had retained its former powerful outlines, as if created for armor; but
+above the body of a legionary was seen the head of a Grecian god, or at
+least of a refined patrician, at once subtle and splendid. Petronius, in
+saying that none of the ladies of Caesar's court would be able or willing
+to resist Vinicius, spoke like a man of experience. All gazed at him
+now, not excepting Poppaea, or the vestal virgin Rubria, whom Caesar
+wished to see at the feast.
+
+Wines, cooled in mountain snow, soon warmed the hearts and heads of the
+guests. Boats shaped as grasshoppers or butterflies shot forth from the
+bushes at the shore every moment. The blue surface of the pond seemed
+occupied by butterflies. Above the boats here and there flew doves, and
+other birds from India and Africa, fastened with silver and blue threads
+or strings. The sun had passed the greater part of the sky, but the day
+was warm and even hot, though in the beginning of May. The pond heaved
+from the strokes of oars, which beat the water in time with music;
+but in the air there was not the least breath of wind; the groves were
+motionless, as if lost in listening and in gazing at that which was
+happening on the water. The raft circled continually on the pond,
+bearing guests who were increasingly drunk and boisterous.
+
+The feast had not run half its course yet, when the order in which all
+sat at the table was observed no longer. Caesar gave the example, for,
+rising himself, he commanded Vinicius, who sat next to Rubria the
+vestal, to move. Nero occupied the place, and began to whisper something
+in Rubria's ear. Vinicius found himself next to Poppaea, who extended her
+arm and begged him to fasten her loosened bracelet. When he did so, with
+hands trembling somewhat, she cast at him from beneath her long lashes
+a glance as it were of modesty, and shook her golden head as if in
+resistance.
+
+Meanwhile the sun, growing larger, ruddier, sank slowly behind the
+tops of the grove; the guests were for the greater part thoroughly
+intoxicated. The raft circled now nearer the shore, on which, among
+bunches of trees and flowers, were seen groups of people, disguised as
+fauns or satyrs, playing on flutes, bagpipes, and drums, with groups of
+maidens representing nymphs, dryads, and hamadryads. Darkness fell at
+last amid drunken shouts from the tent, shouts raised in honor of
+Luna. Meanwhile the groves were lighted with a thousand lamps. From the
+lupanaria on the shores shone swarms of lights; on the terraces appeared
+new naked groups, formed of the wives and daughters of the first Roman
+houses. These with voice and unrestrained manner began to lure partners.
+The raft touched the shore at last. Caesar and the Augustians vanished
+in the groves, scattered in lupanaria, in tents hidden in thickets,
+in grottos artificially arranged among fountains and springs. Madness
+seized all; no one knew whither Caesar had gone; no one knew who was a
+senator, who a knight, who a dancer, who a musician. Satyrs and fauns
+fell to chasing nymphs with shouting. They struck lamps with thyrses to
+quench them. Darkness covered certain parts of the grove. Everywhere,
+however, laughter and shouts were heard, and whispers, and panting
+breaths. In fact Rome had not seen anything like that before.
+
+Vinicius was not drunk, as he had been at the feast in Nero's palace,
+when Lygia was present; but he was roused and intoxicated by the sight
+of everything done round about, and at last the fever of pleasure seized
+him. Rushing into the forest, he ran, with others, examining who of the
+dryads seemed most beautiful. New flocks of these raced around him every
+moment with shouts and with songs; these flocks were pursued by fauns,
+satyrs, senators, knights, and by sounds of music. Seeing at last a band
+of maidens led by one arrayed as Diana, he sprang to it, intending to
+examine the goddess more closely. All at once the heart sank in his
+bosom, for he thought that in that goddess, with the moon on her
+forehead, he recognized Lygia.
+
+They encircled him with a mad whirl, and, wishing evidently to incline
+him to follow, rushed away the next moment like a herd of deer. But he
+stood on the spot with beating heart, breathless; for though he saw that
+the Diana was not Lygia, and that at close sight she was not even like
+her, the too powerful impression deprived him of strength. Straightway
+he was seized by such yearning as he had never felt before, and love for
+Lygia rushed to his breast in a new, immense wave. Never had she seemed
+so dear, pure, and beloved as in that forest of madness and frenzied
+excess. A moment before, he himself wished to drink of that cup, and
+share in that shameless letting loose of the senses; now disgust and
+repugnance possessed him. He felt that infamy was stifling him; that
+his breast needed air and the stars which were hidden by the thickets of
+that dreadful grove. He determined to flee; but barely had he moved
+when before him stood some veiled figure, which placed its hands on his
+shoulders and whispered, flooding his face with burning breath, "I love
+thee! Come! no one will see us, hasten!"
+
+Vinicius was roused, as if from a dream.
+
+"Who art thou?"
+
+But she leaned her breast on him and insisted,--"Hurry! See how lonely
+it is here, and I love thee! Come!"
+
+"Who art thou?" repeated Vinicius.
+
+"Guess!"
+
+As she said this, she pressed her lips to his through the veil, drawing
+toward her his head at the same time, till at last breath failed the
+woman and she tore her face from him.
+
+"Night of love! night of madness!" said she, catching the air quickly.
+"Today is free! Thou hast me!"
+
+But that kiss burned Vinicius; it filled him with disquiet. His soul and
+heart were elsewhere; in the whole world nothing existed for him except
+Lygia. So, pushing back the veiled figure, he said,--
+
+"Whoever thou be, I love another, I do not wish thee."
+
+"Remove the veil," said she, lowering her head toward him.
+
+At that moment the leaves of the nearest myrtle began to rustle; the
+veiled woman vanished like a dream vision, but from a distance her laugh
+was heard, strange in some way, and ominous.
+
+Petronius stood before Vinicius.
+
+"I have heard and seen," said he.
+
+"Let us go from this place," replied Vinicius.
+
+And they went. They passed the lupanaria gleaming with light, the grove,
+the line of mounted pretorians, and found the litters.
+
+"I will go with thee," said Petronius.
+
+They sat down together. On the road both were silent, and only in the
+atrium of Vinicius's house did Petronius ask,--"Dost thou know who that
+was?"
+
+"Was it Rubria?" asked Vinicius, repulsed at the very thought that
+Rubria was a vestal.
+
+"No."
+
+"Who then?"
+
+Petronius lowered his voice. "The fire of Vesta was defiled, for Rubria
+was with Caesar. But with thee was speaking"--and he finished in a still
+lower voice, "the divine Augusta."
+
+A moment of silence followed.
+
+"Caesar," said Petronius, "was unable to hide from Poppaea his desire for
+Rubria; therefore she wished, perhaps, to avenge herself. But I hindered
+you both. Hadst thou recognized the Augusta and refused her, thou
+wouldst have been ruined beyond rescue,--thou, Lygia, and I, perhaps."
+
+"I have enough of Rome, Caesar, feasts, the Augusta, Tigellinus, and
+all of you!" burst out Vinicius. "I am stifling. I cannot live thus; I
+cannot. Dost understand me?"
+
+"Vinicius, thou art losing sense, judgment, moderation."
+
+"I love only her in this world."
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"This, that I wish no other love. I have no wish for your life, your
+feasts, your shamelessness, your crimes!"
+
+"What is taking place in thee? Art thou a Christian?"
+
+The young man seized his head with both hands, and repeated, as if in
+despair,--"Not yet! not yet!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXII
+
+
+PETRONIUS went home shrugging his shoulders and greatly dissatisfied.
+It was evident to him that he and Vinicius had ceased to understand
+each other, that their souls had separated entirely. Once Petronius had
+immense influence over the young soldier. He had been for him a model
+in everything, and frequently a few ironical words of his sufficed to
+restrain Vinicius or urge him to something. At present there remained
+nothing of that; such was the change that Petronius did not try his
+former methods, feeling that his wit and irony would slip without effect
+along the new principles which love and contact with the uncomprehended
+society of Christians had put in the soul of Vinicius. The veteran
+sceptic understood that he had lost the key to that soul. This knowledge
+filled him with dissatisfaction and even with fear, which was heightened
+by the events of that night. "If on the part of the Augusta it is not a
+passing whim but a more enduring desire," thought Petronius, "one of two
+things will happen,--either Vinicius will not resist her, and he may be
+ruined by any accident, or, what is like him to-day, he will resist, and
+in that event he will be ruined certainly, and perhaps I with him, even
+because I am his relative, and because the Augusta, having included a
+whole family in her hatred, will throw the weight of her influence on
+the side of Tigellinus. In this way and that it is bad." Petronius was
+a man of courage and felt no dread of death; but since he hoped nothing
+from it, he had no wish to invite it. After long meditation, he decided
+at last that it would be better and safer to send Vinicius from Rome on
+a journey. Ah! but if in addition he could give him Lygia for the road,
+he would do so with pleasure. But he hoped that it would not be too
+difficult to persuade him to the journey without her. He would spread a
+report on the Palatine then of Vinicius's illness, and remove danger as
+well from his nephew as himself. The Augusta did not know whether she
+was recognized by Vinicius; she might suppose that she was not, hence
+her vanity had not suffered much so far. But it might be different in
+the future, and it was necessary to avoid peril. Petronius wished to
+gain time, above all; for he understood that once Caesar set out for
+Achaea, Tigellinus, who comprehended nothing in the domain of art, would
+descend to the second place and lose his influence. In Greece Petronius
+was sure of victory over every opponent.
+
+Meanwhile he determined to watch over Vinicius, and urge him to the
+journey. For a number of days he was ever thinking over this, that if he
+obtained an edict from Caesar expelling the Christians from Rome, Lygia
+would leave it with the other confessors of Christ, and after her
+Vinicius too. Then there would be no need to persuade him. The thing
+itself was possible. In fact it was not so long since, when the Jews
+began disturbances out of hatred to the Christians, Claudius, unable to
+distinguish one from the other, expelled the Jews. Why should not Nero
+expel the Christians? There would be more room in Rome without them.
+After that "floating feast" Petronius saw Nero daily, both on the
+Palatine and in other houses. To suggest such an idea was easy, for Nero
+never opposed suggestions which brought harm or ruin to any one. After
+mature decision Petronius framed a whole plan for himself. He would
+prepare a feast in his own house, and at this feast persuade Caesar to
+issue an edict. He had even a hope, which was not barren, that Caesar
+would confide the execution of the edict to him. He would send out Lygia
+with all the consideration proper to the mistress of Vinicius to
+Baiae, for instance, and let them love and amuse themselves there with
+Christianity as much as they liked.
+
+Meanwhile he visited Vinicius frequently, first, because he could not,
+despite all his Roman selfishness, rid himself of attachment to the
+young tribune, and second, because he wished to persuade him to the
+journey. Vinicius feigned sickness, and did not show himself on the
+Palatine, where new plans appeared every day. At last Petronius heard
+from Caesar's own lips that three days from then he would go to Antium
+without fail. Next morning he went straightway to inform Vinicius,
+who showed him a list of persons invited to Antium, which list one of
+Caesar's freedmen had brought him that morning.
+
+"My name is on it; so is thine," said he. "Thou wilt find the same at
+thy house on returning."
+
+"Were I not among the invited," replied Petronius, "it would mean that I
+must die; I do not expect that to happen before the journey to Achaea. I
+shall be too useful to Nero. Barely have we come to Rome," said he, on
+looking at the list, "when we must leave again, and drag over the road
+to Antium. But we must go, for this is not merely an invitation, it is a
+command as well."
+
+"And if some one would not obey?"
+
+"He would be invited in another style to go on a journey notably
+longer,--one from which people do not return. What a pity that thou
+hast not obeyed my counsel and left Rome in season! Now thou must go to
+Antium."
+
+"I must go to Antium. See in what times we live and what vile slaves we
+are!"
+
+"Hast thou noticed that only to-day?"
+
+"No. But thou hast explained to me that Christian teaching is an enemy
+of life, since it shackles it. But can their shackles be stronger than
+those which we carry? Thou hast said, 'Greece created wisdom and beauty,
+and Rome power.' Where is our power?"
+
+"Call Chilo and talk with him. I have no desire to-day to philosophize.
+By Hercules! I did not create these times, and I do not answer for them.
+Let us speak of Antium. Know that great danger is awaiting thee, and it
+would be better, perhaps, to measure strength with that Ursus who choked
+Croton than to go there, but still thou canst not refuse."
+
+Vinicius waved his hand carelessly, and said,--"Danger! We are all
+wandering in the shadow of death, and every moment some head sinks in
+its darkness."
+
+"Am I to enumerate all who had a little sense, and therefore, in spite
+of the times of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, lived eighty
+and ninety years? Let even such a man as Domitius Afer serve thee as
+an example. He has grown old quietly, though all his life he has been a
+criminal and a villain."
+
+"Perhaps for that very reason!" answered Vinicius.
+
+Then he began to glance over the list and read: "Tigellinus, Vatinius,
+Sextus Africanus, Aquilinus Regulus, Suilius Nerulinus, Eprius
+Marcellus, and so on! What an assembly of ruffians and scoundrels! And
+to say that they govern the world! Would it not become them better to
+exhibit an Egyptian or Syrian divinity through villages, jingle sistra,
+and earn their bread by telling fortunes or dancing?"
+
+"Or exhibiting learned monkeys, calculating dogs, or a flute-playing
+ass," added Petronius. "That is true, but let us speak of something more
+important. Summon thy attention and listen. I have said on the Palatine
+that thou art ill, unable to leave the house; still thy name is on the
+list, which proves that some one does not credit my stories and has seen
+to this purposely. Nero cares nothing for the matter, since for him thou
+art a soldier, who has no conception of poetry or music, and with whom
+at the very highest he can talk only about races in the circus. So
+Poppaea must have seen to putting down thy name, which means that her
+desire for thee was not a passing whim, and that she wants to win thee."
+
+"She is a daring Augusta."
+
+"Indeed she is daring, for she may ruin herself beyond redemption. May
+Venus inspire her, however, with another love as soon as possible; but
+since she desires thee thou must observe the very greatest caution.
+She has begun to weary Bronzebeard already; he prefers Rubria now, or
+Pythagoras, but, through consideration of self, he would wreak the most
+horrible vengeance on us."
+
+"In the grove I knew not that she was speaking to me; but thou wert
+listening. I said that I loved another, and did not wish her. Thou
+knowest that."
+
+"I implore thee, by all the infernal gods, lose not the remnant of
+reason which the Christians have left in thee. How is it possible to
+hesitate, having a choice between probable and certain destruction?
+Have I not said already that if thou hadst wounded the Augusta's vanity,
+there would have been no rescue for thee? By Hades! if life has grown
+hateful to thee, better open thy veins at once, or cast thyself on a
+sword, for shouldst thou offend Poppaea, a less easy death may meet thee.
+It was easier once to converse with thee. What concerns thee specially?
+Would this affair cause thee loss, or hinder thee from loving thy Lygia?
+Remember, besides, that Poppaea saw her on the Palatine. It will not be
+difficult for her to guess why thou art rejecting such lofty favor, and
+she will get Lygia even from under the earth. Thou wilt ruin not only
+thyself, but Lygia too. Dost understand?"
+
+Vinicius listened as if thinking of something else, and at last he
+said,--
+
+"I must see her."
+
+"Who? Lygia?"
+
+"Lygia."
+
+"Dost thou know where she is?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then thou wilt begin anew to search for her in old cemeteries and
+beyond the Tiber?"
+
+"I know not, but I must see her."
+
+"Well, though she is a Christian, it may turn out that she has more
+judgment than thou; and it will certainly, unless she wishes thy ruin."
+
+Vinicius shrugged his shoulders. "She saved me from the hands of Ursus."
+
+"Then hurry, for Bronzebeard will not postpone his departure. Sentences
+of death may be issued in Antium also."
+
+But Vinicius did not hear. One thought alone occupied him, an interview
+with Lygia; hence he began to think over methods.
+
+Meanwhile something intervened which might set aside every difficulty.
+Chilo came to his house unexpectedly.
+
+He entered wretched and worn, with signs of hunger on his face and in
+rags; but the servants, who had the former command to admit him at
+all hours of the day or night, did not dare to detain him, so he went
+straight to the atrium, and standing before Vinicius said,--"May the
+gods give thee immortality, and share with thee dominion over the
+world."
+
+Vinicius at the first moment wished to give the order to throw him
+out of doors; but the thought came to him that the Greek perhaps knew
+something of Lygia, and curiosity overcame his disgust.
+
+"Is that thou?" asked he. "What has happened to thee?"
+
+"Evil, O son of Jove," answered Chilo. "Real virtue is a ware for which
+no one inquires now, and a genuine sage must be glad of this even, that
+once in five days he has something with which to buy from the butcher a
+sheep's head, to gnaw in a garret, washing it down with his tears. Ah,
+lord! What thou didst give me I paid Atractus for books, and afterward
+I was robbed and ruined. The slave who was to write down my wisdom
+fled, taking the remnant of what thy generosity bestowed on me. I am
+in misery, but I thought to myself: To whom can I go, if not to thee, O
+Serapis, whom I love and deify, for whom I have exposed my life?"
+
+"Why hast thou come, and what dost thou bring?"
+
+"I come for aid, O Baal, and I bring my misery, my tears, my love, and
+finally the information which through love for thee I have collected.
+Thou rememberest, lord, I told thee once how I had given a slave of the
+divine Petronius one thread from the girdle of the Paphian Venus? I know
+now that it helped her, and thou, O descendant of the Sun, who knowest
+what is happening in that house, knowest also what Eunice is there. I
+have another such thread. I have preserved it for thee, lord."
+
+Here he stopped, on noticing the anger which was gathering on the brows
+of Vinicius, and said quickly, so as to anticipate the outburst,--
+
+"I know where the divine Lygia is living; I will show thee the street
+and the house."
+
+Vinicius repressed the emotion with which that news filled him, and
+said,--"Where is she?"
+
+"With Linus, the elder priest of the Christians. She is there with
+Ursus, who goes as before to the miller, a namesake of thy dispensator
+Demas. Yes, Demas! Ursus works in the night; so if thou surround the
+house at night, thou wilt not find him. Linus is old, and besides him
+there are only two aged women in the house."
+
+"Whence dost thou know all this?"
+
+"Thou rememberest, lord, that the Christians had me in their hands, and
+spared me. True, Glaucus was mistaken in thinking that I was the
+cause of his misfortunes; but he believed that I was, poor man, and he
+believes so yet. Still they spared me. Then be not astonished, lord,
+that gratitude filled my heart. I am a man of former, of better times.
+This was my thought: Am I to desert friends and benefactors? Would I not
+have been hard-hearted not to inquire about them, not to learn what
+was happening to them, how health was serving them, and where they were
+living? By the Pessinian Cybele! I am not capable of such conduct.
+At first I was restrained by fear that they might interpret my wishes
+incorrectly. But the love which I bore them proved greater than my fear,
+and the ease with which they forgive every injustice lent me special
+courage. But above all I was thinking of thee, lord. Our last attempt
+ended in defeat; but can such a son of Fortune be reconciled with
+defeat? So I prepared victory for thee. The house stands apart. Thou
+mayst give command to thy slaves to surround it so that not a mouse
+could escape. My lord, on thee alone it depends to have that magnanimous
+king's daughter in thy house this very night. But should that happen,
+remember that the cause of it is the very poor and hungry son of my
+father."
+
+The blood rushed to Vinicius's head. Temptation shook all his being
+again. Yes; that was the method, and this time a certain one. Once
+he has Lygia in his house, who can take her? Once he makes Lygia his
+mistress, what will be left to her, unless to remain so forever? And let
+all religions perish! What will the Christians mean to him then, with
+their mercy and forbidding faith? Is it not time to shake himself free
+of all that? Is it not time to live as all live? What will Lygia do
+later, save to reconcile her fate with the religion which she professes?
+That, too, is a question of inferior significance. Those are matters
+devoid of importance. First of all, she will be his,--and his this very
+day. And it is a question, too, whether that religion will hold out
+in her soul against the world which is new to her, against luxury, and
+excitements to which she must yield. All may happen to-day. He needs
+only to detain Chilo, and give an order at dark. And then delight
+without end! "What has my life been?" thought Vinicius; "suffering,
+unsatisfied desire, and an endless propounding of problems without
+answer." In this way all will be cut short and ended. He recollected,
+it is true, that he had promised not to raise a hand against her. But by
+what had he sworn? Not by the gods, for he did not believe in them;
+not by Christ, for he did not believe in him yet. Finally, if she feels
+injured, he will marry her, and thus repair the wrong. Yes; to that he
+feels bound, for to her he is indebted for life. Here he recalled the
+day in which with Croton he had attacked her retreat; he remembered the
+Lygian's fist raised above him, and all that had happened later. He saw
+her again bent over his couch, dressed in the garb of a slave, beautiful
+as a divinity, a benefactress kind and glorified. His eyes passed to
+the lararium unconsciously, and to the little cross which she left him
+before going. Will he pay for all that by a new attack? Will he drag her
+by the hair as a slave to his cubiculum? And how will he be able to do
+so, since he not only desires but loves her, and he loves her specially
+because she is as she is? All at once he felt that it was not enough for
+him to have her in the house, it was not enough to seize her in his arms
+by superior force; he felt that his love needed something more,--her
+consent, her loves and her soul. Blessed that roof, if she come under it
+willingly; blessed the moment, blessed the day, blessed his life. Then
+the happiness of both will be as inexhaustible as the ocean, as the sun.
+But to seize her by violence would be to destroy that happiness forever,
+and at the same time to destroy, and defile that which is most precious
+and alone beloved in life. Terror seized him now at the very thought
+of this. He glanced at Chilo, who, while watching him, pushed his hands
+under his rags and scratched himself uneasily. That instant, disgust
+unspeakable took possession of Vinicius, and a wish to trample that
+former assistant of his, as he would a foul worm or venomous serpent. In
+an instant he knew what to do. But knowing no measure in anything, and
+following the impulse of his stern Roman nature, he turned toward Chilo
+and said,--
+
+"I will not do what thou advisest, but, lest thou go without just
+reward, I will command to give thee three hundred stripes in the
+domestic prison."
+
+Chilo grew pale. There was so much cold resolution in the beautiful face
+of Vinicius that he could not deceive himself for a moment with the hope
+that the promised reward was no more than a cruel jest.
+
+Hence he threw himself on his knees in one instant, and bending double
+began to groan in a broken voice,--"How, O king of Persia? Why?--O
+pyramid of kindness! Colossus of mercy! For what?--I am old, hungry,
+unfortunate--I have served thee--dost thou repay in this manner?"
+
+"As thou didst the Christians," said Vinicius. And he called the
+dispensator.
+
+But Chilo sprang toward his feet, and, embracing them convulsively,
+talked, while his face was covered with deathly pallor,--"O lord, O
+lord! I am old! Fifty, not three hundred stripes. Fifty are enough! A
+hundred, not three hundred! Oh, mercy, mercy!"
+
+Vinicius thrust him away with his foot, and gave the order. In the
+twinkle of an eye two powerful Quadi followed the dispensator, and,
+seizing Chilo by the remnant of his hair, tied his own rags around his
+neck and dragged him to the prison.
+
+"In the name of Christ!" called the Greek, at the exit of the corridor.
+
+Vinicius was left alone. The order just issued roused and enlivened
+him. He endeavored to collect his scattered thoughts, and bring them to
+order. He felt great relief, and the victory which he had gained over
+himself filled him with comfort. He thought that he had made some great
+approach toward Lygia, and that some high reward should be given him.
+At the first moment it did not even occur to him that he had done a
+grievous wrong to Chilo, and had him flogged for the very acts for which
+he had rewarded him previously. He was too much of a Roman yet to be
+pained by another man's suffering, and to occupy his attention with one
+wretched Greek. Had he even thought of Chilo's suffering he would have
+considered that he had acted properly in giving command to punish such
+a villain. But he was thinking of Lygia, and said to her: I will not pay
+thee with evil for good; and when thou shalt learn how I acted with
+him who strove to persuade me to raise hands against thee, thou wilt be
+grateful. But here he stopped at this thought: Would Lygia praise
+his treatment of Chilo? The religion which she professes commands
+forgiveness; nay, the Christians forgave the villain, though they had
+greater reasons for revenge. Then for the first time was heard in his
+soul the cry: "In the name of Christ!" He remembered then that Chilo
+had ransomed himself from the hands of Ursus with such a cry, and he
+determined to remit the remainder of the punishment.
+
+With that object he was going to summon the dispensator, when that
+person stood before him, and said,--"Lord, the old man has fainted, and
+perhaps he is dead. Am I to command further flogging?"
+
+"Revive him and bring him before me."
+
+The chief of the atrium vanished behind the curtain, but the revival
+could not have been easy, for Vinicius waited a long time and was
+growing impatient, when the slaves brought in Chilo, and disappeared at
+a signal.
+
+Chilo was as pale as linen, and down his legs threads of blood were
+flowing to the mosaic pavement of the atrium. He was conscious, however,
+and, falling on his knees, began to speak, with extended hands,--"Thanks
+to thee, lord. Thou art great and merciful."
+
+"Dog," said Vinicius, "know that I forgave thee because of that Christ
+to whom I owe my own life."
+
+"O lord, I will serve Him and thee."
+
+"Be silent and listen. Rise! Thou wilt go and show me the house in which
+Lygia dwells."
+
+Chilo sprang up; but he was barely on his feet when he grew more deathly
+pale yet, and said in a failing voice,--"Lord, I am really hungry--I
+will go, lord, I will go! but I have not the strength. Command to give
+me even remnants from the plate of thy dog, and I will go."
+
+Vinicius commanded to give him food, a piece of gold, and a mantle. But
+Chilo, weakened by stripes and hunger, could not go to take food, though
+terror raised the hair on his head, lest Vinicius might mistake his
+weakness for stubbornness and command to flog him anew.
+
+"Only let wine warm me," repeated he, with chattering teeth, "I shall be
+able to go at once, even to Magna Graecia."
+
+He regained some strength after a time, and they went out.
+
+The way was long, for, like the majority of Christians, Linus dwelt in
+the Trans-Tiber, and not far from Miriam. At last Chilo showed Vinicius
+a small house, standing apart, surrounded by a wall covered entirely
+with ivy, and said,
+
+"Here it is, lord."
+
+"Well," said Vinicius, "go thy way now, but listen first to what I tell
+thee. Forget that thou hast served me; forget where Miriam, Peter, and
+Glaucus dwell; forget also this house, and all Christians. Thou wilt
+come every month to my house, where Demas, my freedman, will pay thee
+two pieces of gold. But shouldst thou spy further after Christians, I
+will have thee flogged, or delivered into the hands of the prefect of
+the city."
+
+Chilo bowed down, and said,--"I will forget."
+
+But when Vinicius vanished beyond the corner of the street, he stretched
+his hands after him, and, threatening with his fists, exclaimed,--"By
+Ate and the Furies! I will not forget!"
+
+Then he grew faint again.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIII
+
+
+VINICIUS went directly to the house in which Miriam lived. Before the
+gate he met Nazarius, who was confused at sight of him; but greeting the
+lad cordially, he asked to be conducted to his mother's lodgings.
+
+Besides Miriam, Vinicius found Peter, Glaucus, Crispus, and Paul of
+Tarsus, who had returned recently from Fregellae. At sight of the young
+tribune, astonishment was reflected on all faces; but he said,--"I greet
+you in the name of Christ, whom ye honor."
+
+"May His name be glorified forever!" answered they.
+
+"I have seen your virtue and experienced your kindness, hence I come as
+a friend."
+
+"And we greet thee as a friend," answered Peter. "Sit down, lord, and
+partake of our refreshment, as a guest."
+
+"I will sit down and share your repast; but first listen to me, thou
+Peter, and thou Paul of Tarsus, so that ye may know my sincerity. I know
+where Lygia is. I have returned from before the house of Linus, which is
+near this dwelling. I have a right to her given me by Caesar. I have at
+my houses in the city nearly five hundred slaves. I might surround her
+hiding-place and seize her; still I have not done so, and will not."
+
+"For this reason the blessing of the Lord will be upon thee, and thy
+heart will be purified," said Peter.
+
+"I thank thee. But listen to me further: I have not done so, though I am
+living in suffering and sadness. Before I knew you, I should have
+taken her undoubtedly, and held her by force; but your virtue and your
+religion, though I do not profess it, have changed something in my soul,
+so that I do not venture on violence. I know not myself why this is
+so, but it is so; hence I come to you, for ye take the place of Lygia's
+father and mother, and I say to you: Give her to me as wife, and I swear
+that not only will I not forbid her to confess Christ, but I will begin
+myself to learn His religion."
+
+He spoke with head erect and decisively; but still he was moved, and his
+legs trembled beneath his mantle. When silence followed his words, he
+continued, as if wishing to anticipate an unfavorable answer,--
+
+"I know what obstacles exist, but I love her as my own eyes; and though
+I am not a Christian yet, I am neither your enemy nor Christ's. I wish
+to be sincere, so that you may trust me. At this moment it is a question
+of life with me, still I tell you the truth. Another might say, Baptize
+me; I say, Enlighten me. I believe that Christ rose from the dead,
+for people say so who love the truth, and who saw Him after death. I
+believe, for I have seen myself, that your religion produces virtue,
+justice, and mercy,--not crime, which is laid to your charge. I have not
+known your religion much so far. A little from you, a little from your
+works, a little from Lygia, a little from conversations with you. Still
+I repeat that it has made some change in me. Formerly I held my servants
+with an iron hand; I cannot do so now. I knew no pity; I know it now. I
+was fond of pleasure; the other night I fled from the pond of Agrippa,
+for the breath was taken from me through disgust. Formerly I believed in
+superior force; now I have abandoned it. Know ye that I do not recognize
+myself. I am disgusted by feasts, wine, singing, citharae, garlands, the
+court of Caesar, naked bodies, and every crime. When I think that Lygia
+is like snow in the mountains, I love her the more; and when I think
+that she is what she is through your religion, I love and desire that
+religion. But since I understand it not, since I know not whether I
+shall be able to live according to it, nor whether my nature can endure
+it, I am in uncertainty and suffering, as if I were in prison."
+
+Here his brows met in wrinkle of pain, and a flush appeared on his
+cheeks; after that he spoke on with growing haste and greater emotion,--
+
+"As ye see, I am tortured from love and uncertainty. Men tell me that in
+your religion there is no place for life, or human joy, or happiness, or
+law, or order, or authority, or Roman dominion. Is this true? Men tell
+me that ye are madmen; but tell me yourselves what ye bring. Is it a sin
+to love, a sin to feel joy, a sin to want happiness? Are ye enemies of
+life? Must a Christian be wretched? Must I renounce Lygia? What is truth
+in your view? Your deeds and words are like transparent water, but what
+is under that water? Ye see that I am sincere. Scatter the darkness.
+Men say this to me also: Greece created beauty and wisdom, Rome created
+power; but they--what do they bring? Tell, then, what ye bring. If there
+is brightness beyond your doors, open them."
+
+"We bring love," said Peter.
+
+And Paul of Tarsus added,--"If I speak with the tongues of men and of
+angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass."
+
+But the heart of the old Apostle was stirred by that soul in suffering,
+which, like a bird in a cage, was struggling toward air and the sun;
+hence, stretching his hand to Vinicius, he said,--"Whoso knocketh, to
+him will be opened. The favor and grace of God is upon thee; for this
+reason I bless thee, thy soul and thy love, in the name of the Redeemer
+of mankind."
+
+Vinicius, who had spoken with enthusiasm already, sprang toward Peter on
+hearing this blessing, and an uncommon thing happened. That descendant
+of Quirites, who till recently had not recognized humanity in a
+foreigner, seized the hand of the old Galilean, and pressed it in
+gratitude to his lips.
+
+Peter was pleased; for he understood that his sowing had fallen on an
+additional field, that his fishing-net had gathered in a new soul.
+
+Those present, not less pleased by that evident expression of honor for
+the Apostle of God, exclaimed in one voice,--"Praise to the Lord in the
+highest!"
+
+Vinicius rose with a radiant face, and began,--"I see that happiness may
+dwell among you, for I feel happy, and I think that ye can convince me
+of other things in the same way. But I will add that this cannot happen
+in Rome. Caesar is going to Antium and I must go with him, for I have the
+order. Ye know that not to obey is death. But if I have found favor in
+your eyes, go with me to teach your truth. It will be safer for you than
+for me. Even in that great throng of people, ye can announce your truth
+in the very court of Caesar. They say that Acte is a Christian; and there
+are Christians among pretorians even, for I myself have seen soldiers
+kneeling before thee, Peter, at the Nomentan gate. In Antium I have
+a villa where we shall assemble to hear your teaching, at the side of
+Nero. Glaucus told me that ye are ready to go to the end of the earth
+for one soul; so do for me what ye have done for those for whose sake ye
+have come from Judea,--do it, and desert not my soul."
+
+Hearing this, they began to take counsel, thinking with delight of the
+victory of their religion, and of the significance for the pagan world
+which the conversion of an Augustian, and a descendant of one of the
+oldest Roman families, would have. They were ready, indeed, to wander
+to the end of the earth for one human soul, and since the death of the
+Master they had, in fact, done nothing else; hence a negative answer did
+not even come to their minds. Peter was at that moment the pastor of a
+whole multitude, hence he could not go; but Paul of Tarsus, who had been
+in Aricium and Fregellae not long before, and who was preparing for a
+long journey to the East to visit churches there and freshen them with a
+new spirit of zeal, consented to accompany the young tribune to Antium.
+It was easy to find a ship there going to Grecian waters.
+
+Vinicius, though sad because Peter, to whom he owed so much, could not
+visit Antium, thanked him with gratitude, and then turned to the old
+Apostle with his last request,--"Knowing Lygia's dwelling," said he, "I
+might have gone to her and asked, as is proper, whether she would take
+me as husband should my soul become Christian, but I prefer to ask thee,
+O Apostle! Permit me to see her, or take me thyself to her. I know not
+how long I shall be in Antium; and remember that near Caesar no one
+is sure of to-morrow. Petronius himself told me that I should not be
+altogether safe there. Let me see her before I go; let me delight my
+eyes with her; and let me ask her if she will forget my evil and return
+good."
+
+Peter smiled kindly and said,--"But who could refuse thee a proper joy,
+my son?"
+
+Vinicius stooped again to Peter's hands, for he could not in any way
+restrain his overflowing heart. The Apostle took him by the temples and
+said,--"Have no fear of Caesar, for I tell thee that a hair will not fall
+from thy head."
+
+He sent Miriam for Lygia, telling her not to say who was with them, so
+as to give the maiden more delight.
+
+It was not far; so after a short time those in the chamber saw among the
+myrtles of the garden Miriam leading Lygia by the hand.
+
+Vinicius wished to run forth to meet her; but at sight of that beloved
+form happiness took his strength, and he stood with beating heart,
+breathless, barely able to keep his feet, a hundred times more excited
+than when for the first time in life he heard the Parthian arrows
+whizzing round his head.
+
+She ran in, unsuspecting; but at sight of him she halted as if fixed to
+the earth. Her face flushed, and then became very pale; she looked with
+astonished and frightened eyes on those present.
+
+But round about she saw clear glances, full of kindness. The Apostle
+Peter approached her and asked,--"Lygia, dost thou love him as ever?"
+
+A moment of silence followed. Her lips began to quiver like those of
+a child who is preparing to cry, who feels that it is guilty, but sees
+that it must confess the guilt.
+
+"Answer," said the Apostle.
+
+Then, with humility, obedience, and fear in her voice, she whispered,
+kneeling at the knees of Peter,--"I do."
+
+In one moment Vinicius knelt at her side. Peter placed his hands on
+their heads, and said,--"Love each other in the Lord and to His glory,
+for there is no sin in your love."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIV
+
+
+WHILE walking with Lygia through the garden, Vinicius described briefly,
+in words from the depth of his heart, that which a short time before
+he had confessed to the Apostles,--that is, the alarm of his soul,
+the changes which had taken place in him, and, finally, that immense
+yearning which had veiled life from him, beginning with the hour when
+he left Miriam's dwelling. He confessed to Lygia that he had tried to
+forget her, but was not able. He thought whole days and nights of her.
+That little cross of boxwood twigs which she had left reminded him
+of her,--that cross, which he had placed in the lararium and revered
+involuntarily as something divine. And he yearned more and more
+every moment, for love was stronger than he, and had seized his soul
+altogether, even when he was at the house of Aulus. The Parcae weave the
+thread of life for others; but love, yearning, and melancholy had woven
+it for him. His acts had been evil, but they had their origin in love.
+He had loved her when she was in the house of Aulus, when she was on the
+Palatine, when he saw her in Ostrianum listening to Peter's words, when
+he went with Croton to carry her away, when she watched at his bedside,
+and when she deserted him. Then came Chilo, who discovered her dwelling,
+and advised him to seize her a second time; but he chose to punish
+Chilo, and go to the Apostles to ask for truth and for her. And blessed
+be that moment in which such a thought came to his head, for now he is
+at her side, and she will not flee from him, as the last time she fled
+from the house of Miriam.
+
+"I did not flee from thee," said Lygia.
+
+"Then why didst thou go?"
+
+She raised her iris-colored eyes to him, and, bending her blushing face,
+said,--"Thou knowest--"
+
+Vinicius was silent for a moment from excess of happiness, and began
+again to speak, as his eyes were opened gradually to this,--that she
+was different utterly from Roman women, and resembled Pomponia alone.
+Besides, he could not explain this to her clearly, for he could not
+define his feeling,--that beauty of a new kind altogether was coming
+to the world in her, such beauty as had not been in it thus far; beauty
+which is not merely a statue, but a spirit. He told her something,
+however, which filled her with delight,--that he loved her just because
+she had fled from him, and that she would be sacred to him at his
+hearth. Then, seizing her hand, he could not continue; he merely gazed
+on her with rapture as on his life's happiness which he had won, and
+repeated her name, as if to assure himself that he had found her and was
+near her.
+
+"Oh, Lygia, Lygia!"
+
+At last he inquired what had taken place in her mind, and she confessed
+that she had loved him while in the house of Aulus, and that if he had
+taken her back to them from the Palatine she would have told them of her
+love and tried to soften their anger against him.
+
+"I swear to thee," said Vinicius, "that it had not even risen in my mind
+to take thee from Aulus. Petronius will tell thee sometime that I told
+him then how I loved and wished to marry thee. 'Let her anoint my door
+with wolf fat, and let her sit at my hearth,' said I to him. But he
+ridiculed me, and gave Caesar the idea of demanding thee as a hostage and
+giving thee to me. How often in my sorrow have I cursed him; but
+perhaps fate ordained thus, for otherwise I should not have known the
+Christians, and should not have understood thee."
+
+"Believe me, Marcus," replied Lygia, "it was Christ who led thee to
+Himself by design."
+
+Vinicius raised his head with a certain astonishment.
+
+"True," answered he, with animation. "Everything fixed itself so
+marvellously that in seeking thee I met the Christians. In Ostrianum I
+listened to the Apostle with wonder, for I had never heard such words.
+And there thou didst pray for me?"
+
+"I did," answered Lygia.
+
+They passed near the summer-house covered with thick ivy, and approached
+the place where Ursus, after stifling Croton, threw himself upon
+Vinicius.
+
+"Here," said the young man, "I should have perished but for thee."
+
+"Do not mention that," answered Lygia, "and do not speak of it to
+Ursus."
+
+"Could I be revenged on him for defending thee? Had he been a slave, I
+should have given him freedom straightway."
+
+"Had he been a slave, Aulus would have freed him long ago."
+
+"Dost thou remember," asked Vinicius, "that I wished to take thee back
+to Aulus, but the answer was, that Caesar might hear of it and take
+revenge on Aulus and Pomponia? Think of this: thou mayst see them now as
+often as thou wishest."
+
+"How, Marcus?"
+
+"I say 'now,' and I think that thou wilt be able to see them without
+danger, when thou art mine. For should Caesar hear of this, and ask what
+I did with the hostage whom he gave me, I should say 'I married her, and
+she visits the house of Aulus with my consent.' He will not remain long
+in Antium, for he wishes to go to Achaea; and even should he remain, I
+shall not need to see him daily. When Paul of Tarsus teaches me your
+faith, I will receive baptism at once, I will come here, gain the
+friendship of Aulus and Pomponia, who will return to the city by that
+time, and there will be no further hindrance, I will seat thee at my
+hearth. Oh, carissima! carissima!"
+
+And he stretched forth his hand, as if taking Heaven as witness of his
+love; and Lygia, raising her clear eyes to him, said,--
+
+"And then I shall say, 'Wherever thou art, Caius, there am I, Caia.'"
+
+"No, Lygia," cried Vinicius, "I swear to thee that never has woman been
+so honored in the house of her husband as thou shalt be in mine."
+
+For a time they walked on in silence, without being able to take in
+with their breasts their happiness, in love with each other, like two
+deities, and as beautiful as if spring had given them to the world with
+the flowers.
+
+They halted at last under the cypress growing near the entrance of the
+house. Lygia leaned against his breast, and Vinicius began to entreat
+again with a trembling voice,--"Tell Ursus to go to the house of Aulus
+for thy furniture and playthings of childhood."
+
+But she, blushing like a rose or like the dawn, answered,--"Custom
+commands otherwise."
+
+"I know that. The pronuba [The matron who accompanies the bride and
+explains to her the duties of a wife] usually brings them behind the
+bride, but do this for me. I will take them to my villa in Antium, and
+they will remind me of thee."
+
+Here he placed his hands together and repeated, like a child who is
+begging for something,--"It will be some days before Pomponia returns;
+so do this, diva, do this, carissima."
+
+"But Pomponia will do as she likes," answered Lygia, blushing still more
+deeply at mention of the pronuba.
+
+And again they were silent, for love had begun to stop the breath in
+their breasts. Lygia stood with shoulders leaning against the cypress,
+her face whitening in the shadow, like a flower, her eyes drooping, her
+bosom heaving with more and more life. Vinicius changed in the face, and
+grew pale. In the silence of the afternoon they only heard the beating
+of their hearts, and in their mutual ecstasy that cypress, the myrtle
+bushes, and the ivy of the summer-house became for them a paradise of
+love. But Miriam appeared in the door, and invited them to the afternoon
+meal. They sat down then with the Apostles, who gazed at them with
+pleasure, as on the young generation which after their death would
+preserve and sow still further the seed of the new faith. Peter broke
+and blessed bread. There was calm on all faces, and a certain immense
+happiness seemed to overflow the whole house.
+
+"See," said Paul at last, turning to Vinicius, "are we enemies of life
+and happiness?"
+
+"I know how that is," answered Vinicius, "for never have I been so happy
+as among you."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXV
+
+
+ON the evening of that day Vinicius, while returning home through the
+Forum, saw at the entrance to the Vicus Tuscus the gilded litter of
+Petronius, carried by eight stalwart Bithynians, and, stopping it with a
+sign of his hand, he approached the curtains.
+
+"Thou hast had a pleasant dream, I trust, and a happy one!" cried he,
+laughing at sight of the slumbering Petronius.
+
+"Oh, is it thou?" said Petronius, waking up. "Yes; I dropped asleep for
+a moment, as I passed the night at the Palatine. I have come out to buy
+something to read on the road to Antium. What is the news?"
+
+"Art thou visiting the book-shops?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"Yes, I do not like to bring disorder into my library, so I am
+collecting a special supply for the journey. It is likely that some
+new things of Musonius and Seneca have come out. I am looking also for
+Persius, and a certain edition of the Eclogues of Vergilius, which I do
+not possess. Oh, how tired I am; and how my hands ache from covers and
+rings! For when a man is once in a book-shop curiosity seizes him
+to look here and there. I was at the shop of Avirnus, and at that of
+Atractus on the Argiletum, and with the Sozii on Vicus Sandalarius. By
+Castor! how I want to sleep!"
+
+"Thou wert on the Palatine? Then I would ask thee what is it to be heard
+there? Or, knowest what?--send home the litter and the tubes with books,
+and come to my house. We will talk of Antium, and of something else."
+
+"That is well," answered Petronius, coming out of the litter. "Thou must
+know, besides, that we start for Antium the day after to-morrow."
+
+"Whence should I know that?"
+
+"In what world art thou living? Well, I shall be the first to announce
+the news to thee. Yes; be ready for the day after to-morrow in the
+morning. Peas in olive oil have not helped, a cloth around his thick
+neck has not helped, and Bronzebeard is hoarse. In view of this, delay
+is not to be mentioned. He curses Rome and its atmosphere, with what the
+world stands on; he would be glad to level it to the earth or to destroy
+it with fire, and he longs for the sea at the earliest. He says that
+the smells which the wind brings from the narrow streets are driving him
+into the grave. To-day great sacrifices were offered in all the temples
+to restore his voice; and woe to Rome, but especially to the Senate,
+should it not return quickly!"
+
+"Then there would be no reason for his visit to Achaea?"
+
+"But is that the only talent possessed by our divine Caesar?" asked
+Petronius, smiling. "He would appear in the Olympic games, as a poet,
+with his 'Burning of Troy'; as a charioteer, as a musician, as an
+athlete,--nay, even as a dancer, and would receive in every case all
+the crowns intended for victors. Dost know why that monkey grew hoarse?
+Yesterday he wanted to equal our Paris in dancing, and danced for us the
+adventures of Leda, during which he sweated and caught cold. He was as
+wet and slippery as an eel freshly taken from water. He changed masks
+one after another, whirled like a spindle, waved his hands like a
+drunken sailor, till disgust seized me while looking at that great
+stomach and those slim legs. Paris taught him during two weeks; but
+imagine to thyself Ahenobarbus as Leda or as the divine swan. That was a
+swan!--there is no use in denying it. But he wants to appear before the
+public in that pantomime,--first in Antium, and then in Rome."
+
+"People are offended already because he sang in public; but to think
+that a Roman Caesar will appear as a mime! No; even Rome will not endure
+that!"
+
+"My dear friend, Rome will endure anything; the Senate will pass a vote
+of thanks to the 'Father of his country.' And the rabble will be elated
+because Caesar is its buffoon."
+
+"Say thyself, is it possible to be more debased?"
+
+Petronius shrugged his shoulders. "Thou art living by thyself at home,
+and meditating, now about Lygia, now about Christians, so thou knowest
+not, perhaps, what happened two days since. Nero married, in public,
+Pythagoras, who appeared as a bride. That passed the measure of madness,
+it would seem, would it not? And what wilt thou say? the flamens, who
+were summoned, came and performed the ceremony with solemnity. I was
+present. I can endure much; still I thought, I confess, that the gods,
+if there be any, should give a sign. But Caesar does not believe in the
+gods, and he is right."
+
+"So he is in one person chief priest, a god, and an atheist," said
+Vinicius.
+
+"True," said Petronius, beginning to laugh. "That had not entered my
+head; but the combination is such as the world has not seen." Then,
+stopping a moment, he said: "One should add that this chief priest who
+does not believe in the gods, and this god who reviles the gods, fears
+them in his character of atheist."
+
+"The proof of this is what happened in the temple of Vesta." "What a
+society!"
+
+"As the society is, so is Caesar. But this will not last long."
+
+Thus conversing, they entered the house of Vinicius, who called for
+supper joyously; then, turning to Petronius he said,--"No, my dear,
+society must be renewed."
+
+"We shall not renew it," answered Petronius, "even for the reason that
+in Nero's time man is like a butterfly,--he lives in the sunshine of
+favor, and at the first cold wind he perishes, even against his will.
+By the son of Maia! more than once have I given myself this question: By
+what miracle has such a man as Lucius Saturninus been able to reach the
+age of ninety-three, to survive Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius? But never
+mind. Wilt thou permit me to send thy litter for Eunice? My wish to
+sleep has gone, somehow, and I should like to be joyous. Give command
+to cithara players to come to the supper, and afterward we will talk of
+Antium. It is needful to think of it, especially for thee."
+
+Vinicius gave the order to send for Eunice, but declared that he had no
+thought of breaking his head over the stay in Antium.
+
+"Let those break their heads who cannot live otherwise than in the rays
+of Caesar's favor. The world does not end on the Palatine, especially for
+those who have something else in their hearts and souls."
+
+He said this so carelessly and with such animation and gladness that
+his whole manner struck Petronius; hence, looking for a time at him, he
+asked,--"What is taking place in thee? Thou art to-day as thou wert when
+wearing the golden bulla on thy neck."
+
+"I am happy," answered Vinicius. "I have invited thee purposely to tell
+thee so."
+
+"What has happened?"
+
+"Something which I would not give for the Roman Empire."
+
+Then he sat down, and, leaning on the arm of the chair, rested his head
+on his hand, and asked,--"Dost remember how we were at the house of
+Aulus Plautius, and there thou didst see for the first time the godlike
+maiden called by thee 'the dawn and the spring'? Dost remember that
+Psyche, that incomparable, that one more beautiful than our maidens and
+our goddesses?"
+
+Petronius looked at him with astonishment, as if he wished to make sure
+that his head was right.
+
+"Of whom art thou speaking?" asked he at last. "Evidently I remember
+Lygia."
+
+"I am her betrothed."
+
+"What!"
+
+But Vinicius sprang up and called his dispensator.
+
+"Let the slaves stand before me to the last soul, quickly!"
+
+"Art thou her betrothed?" repeated Petronius.
+
+But before he recovered from his astonishment the immense atrium was
+swarming with people. Panting old men ran in, men in the vigor of life,
+women, boys, and girls. With each moment the atrium was filled more
+and more; in corridors, called "fauces," voices were heard calling in
+various languages. Finally, all took their places in rows at the walls
+and among the columns. Vinicius, standing near the impluvium, turned to
+Demas, the freedman, and said,--
+
+"Those who have served twenty years in my house are to appear tomorrow
+before the pretor, where they will receive freedom; those who have not
+served out the time will receive three pieces of gold and double rations
+for a week. Send an order to the village prisons to remit punishment,
+strike the fetters from people's feet, and feed them sufficiently. Know
+that a happy day has come to me, and I wish rejoicing in the house."
+
+For a moment they stood in silence, as if not believing their ears;
+then all hands were raised at once, and all mouths cried,--"A-a! lord!
+a-a-a!"
+
+Vinicius dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Though they desired to
+thank him and to fall at his feet, they went away hurriedly, filling the
+house with happiness from cellar to roof.
+
+"To-morrow," said Vinicius, "I will command them to meet again in the
+garden, and to make such signs on the ground as they choose. Lygia will
+free those who draw a fish."
+
+Petronius, who never wondered long at anything, had grown indifferent,
+and asked,--"A fish, is it? Ah, ha! According to Chilo, that is the sign
+of a Christian, I remember." Then he extended his hand to Vinicius, and
+said: "Happiness is always where a man sees it. May Flora strew flowers
+under thy feet for long years. I wish thee everything which thou wishest
+thyself."
+
+"I thank thee, for I thought that thou wouldst dissuade me, and that, as
+thou seest, would be time lost."
+
+"I? Dissuade? By no means. On the contrary, I tell thee that thou art
+doing well."
+
+"Ha, traitor!" answered Vinicius, joyfully; "hast forgotten what thou
+didst tell me once when we were leaving the house of Pomponia Graecina?"
+
+"No," answered Petronius, with cool blood; "but I have changed my
+opinion. My dear," added he after a while, "in Rome everything changes.
+Husbands change wives, wives change husbands; why should not I change
+opinions? It lacked little of Nero's marrying Acte, whom for his sake
+they represented as the descendant of a kingly line. Well, he would have
+had an honest wife, and we an honest Augusta. By Proteus and his barren
+spaces in the sea! I shall change my opinion as often as I find it
+appropriate or profitable. As to Lygia, her royal descent is more
+certain than Acte's. But in Antium be on thy guard against Poppaea, who
+is revengeful."
+
+"I do not think of doing so. A hair will not fall from my head in
+Antium."
+
+"If thou think to astonish me a second time, thou art mistaken; but
+whence hast thou that certainty?"
+
+"The Apostle Peter told me so."
+
+"Ah, the Apostle Peter told thee! Against that there is no argument;
+permit me, however, to take certain measures of precaution even to
+this end, that the Apostle Peter may not turn out a false prophet; for,
+should the Apostle be mistaken, perchance he might lose thy confidence,
+which certainly will be of use to him in the future."
+
+"Do what may please thee, but I believe him. And if thou think to turn
+me against him by repeating his name with irony, thou art mistaken."
+
+"But one question more. Hast thou become a Christian?"
+
+"Not yet; but Paul of Tarsus will travel with me to explain the
+teachings of Christ, and afterward I will receive baptism; for thy
+statement that they are enemies of life and pleasantness is not true."
+
+"All the better for thee and Lygia," answered Petronius; then, shrugging
+his shoulders, he said, as if to himself, "But it is astonishing how
+skilled those people are in gaining adherents, and how that sect is
+extending."
+
+"Yes," answered Vinicius, with as much warmth as if he had been baptized
+already; "there are thousands and tens of thousands of them in Rome, in
+the cities of Italy, in Greece and Asia. There are Christians among
+the legions and among the pretorians; they are in the palace of Caesar
+itself. Slaves and citizens, poor and rich, plebeian and patrician,
+confess that faith. Dost thou know that the Cornelii are Christians,
+that Pomponia Graecina is a Christian, that likely Octavia was, and Acte
+is? Yes, that teaching will embrace the world, and it alone is able to
+renew it. Do not shrug thy shoulders, for who knows whether in a month
+or a year thou wilt not receive it thyself?"
+
+"I?" said Petronius. "No, by the son of Leto! I will not receive it;
+even if the truth and wisdom of gods and men were contained in it. That
+would require labor, and I have no fondness for labor. Labor demands
+self-denial, and I will not deny myself anything. With thy nature, which
+is like fire and boiling water, something like this may happen any time.
+But I? I have my gems, my cameos, my vases, my Eunice. I do not believe
+in Olympus, but I arrange it on earth for myself; and I shall flourish
+till the arrows of the divine archer pierce me, or till Caesar commands
+me to open my veins. I love the odor of violets too much, and a
+comfortable triclinium. I love even our gods, as rhetorical figures,
+and Achaea, to which I am preparing to go with our fat, thin-legged,
+incomparable, godlike Caesar, the august period-compelling Hercules,
+Nero."
+
+Then he was joyous at the very supposition that he could accept the
+teaching of Galilean fishermen, and began to sing in an undertone,--
+
+"I will entwine my bright sword in myrtle, After the example of
+Harmodius and Aristogiton."
+
+But he stopped, for the arrival of Eunice was announced. Immediately
+after her coming supper was served, during which songs were sung by the
+cithara players; Vinicius told of Chilo's visit, and also how that visit
+had given the idea of going to the Apostles directly,--an idea which
+came to him while they were flogging Chilo.
+
+At mention of this, Petronius, who began to be drowsy, placed his hand
+on his forehead, and said,--"The thought was good, since the object was
+good. But as to Chilo, I should have given him five pieces of gold; but
+as it was thy will to flog him, it was better to flog him, for who knows
+but in time senators will bow to him, as to-day they are bowing to our
+cobbler-knight, Vatinius. Good-night."
+
+And, removing his wreath, he, with Eunice, prepared for home. When they
+had gone, Vinicius went to his library and wrote to Lygia as follows:--
+
+"When thou openest thy beautiful eyes, I wish this letter to say
+Good-day! to thee. Hence I write now, though I shall see thee tomorrow.
+Caesar will go to Antium after to-morrow,--and I, eheu! must go with him.
+I have told thee already that not to obey would be to risk life--and at
+present I could not find courage to die. But if thou wish me not to go,
+write one word, and I will stay. Petronius will turn away danger from me
+with a speech. To-day, in the hour of my delight, I gave rewards to all
+my slaves; those who have served in the house twenty years I shall take
+to the pretor to-morrow and free. Thou, my dear, shouldst praise me,
+since this act as I think will be in accord with that mild religion
+of thine; secondly, I do this for thy sake. They are to thank thee
+for their freedom. I shall tell them so to-morrow, so that they may
+be grateful to thee and praise thy name. I give myself in bondage to
+happiness and thee. God grant that I never see liberation. May Antium be
+cursed, and the journey of Ahenobarbus! Thrice and four times happy am
+I in not being so wise as Petronius; if I were, I should be forced to
+go to Greece perhaps. Meanwhile the moment of separation will sweeten my
+memory of thee. Whenever I can tear myself away, I shall sit on a horse,
+and rush back to Rome, to gladden my eyes with sight of thee, and my
+ears with thy voice. When I cannot come I shall send a slave with
+a letter, and an inquiry about thee. I salute thee, divine one, and
+embrace thy feet. Be not angry that I call thee divine. If thou forbid,
+I shall obey, but to-day I cannot call thee otherwise. I congratulate
+thee on thy future house with my whole soul."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+
+IT was known in Rome that Caesar wished to see Ostia on the journey, or
+rather the largest ship in the world, which had brought wheat recently
+from Alexandria, and from Ostia to go by the Via Littoralis to Antium.
+Orders had been given a number of days earlier; hence at the Porta
+Ostiensis, from early morning, crowds made up of the local rabble and
+of all nations of the earth had collected to feast their eyes with the
+sight of Caesar's retinue, on which the Roman population could never gaze
+sufficiently. The road to Antium was neither difficult nor long. In
+the place itself, which was composed of palaces and villas built
+and furnished in a lordly manner, it was possible to find everything
+demanded by comfort, and even the most exquisite luxury of the period.
+Caesar had the habit, however, of taking with him on a journey every
+object in which he found delight, beginning with musical instruments
+and domestic furniture, and ending with statues and mosaics, which were
+taken even when he wished to remain on the road merely a short time for
+rest or recreation. He was accompanied, therefore, on every expedition
+by whole legions of servants, without reckoning divisions of pretorian
+guards, and Augustians; of the latter each had a personal retinue of
+slaves.
+
+Early on the morning of that day herdsmen from the Campania, with
+sunburnt faces, wearing goat-skins on their legs, drove forth five
+hundred she-asses through the gates, so that Poppaea on the morrow of her
+arrival at Antium might have her bath in their milk. The rabble gazed
+with delight and ridicule at the long ears swaying amid clouds of dust,
+and listened with pleasure to the whistling of whips and the wild shouts
+of the herdsmen. After the asses had gone by, crowds of youth rushed
+forth, swept the road carefully, and covered it with flowers and needles
+from pine-trees. In the crowds people whispered to each other, with a
+certain feeling of pride, that the whole road to Antium would be strewn
+in that way with flowers taken from private gardens round about, or
+bought at high prices from dealers at the Porta Mugionis. As the morning
+hours passed, the throng increased every moment. Some had brought their
+whole families, and, lest the time might seem tedious, they spread
+provisions on stones intended for the new temple of Ceres, and ate their
+prandium beneath the open sky. Here and there were groups, in which
+the lead was taken by persons who had travelled; they talked of Caesar's
+present trip, of his future journeys, and journeys in general. Sailors
+and old soldiers narrated wonders which during distant campaigns
+they had heard about countries which a Roman foot had never touched.
+Home-stayers, who had never gone beyond the Appian Way, listened with
+amazement to marvellous tales of India, of Arabia, of archipelagos
+surrounding Britain in which, on a small island inhabited by spirits,
+Briareus had imprisoned the sleeping Saturn. They heard of hyperborean
+regions of stiffened seas, of the hisses and roars which the ocean gives
+forth when the sun plunges into his bath. Stories of this kind found
+ready credence among the rabble, stories believed by such men even as
+Tacitus and Pliny. They spoke also of that ship which Caesar was to
+look at,--a ship which had brought wheat to last for two years, without
+reckoning four hundred passengers, an equal number of soldiers, and
+a multitude of wild beasts to be used during the summer games. This
+produced general good feeling toward Caesar, who not only nourished the
+populace, but amused it. Hence a greeting full of enthusiasm was waiting
+for him.
+
+Meanwhile came a detachment of Numidian horse, who belonged to the
+pretorian guard. They wore yellow uniforms, red girdles, and great
+earrings, which cast a golden gleam on their black faces. The points of
+their bamboo spears glittered like flames, in the sun. After they had
+passed, a procession-like movement began. The throng crowded forward to
+look at it more nearly; but divisions of pretorian foot were there, and,
+forming in line on both sides of the gate, prevented approach to the
+road. In advance moved wagons carrying tents, purple, red, and violet,
+and tents of byssus woven from threads as white as snow; and oriental
+carpets, and tables of citrus, and pieces of mosaic, and kitchen
+utensils, and cages with birds from the East, North, and West, birds
+whose tongues or brains were to go to Caesar's table, and vessels with
+wine and baskets with fruit. But objects not to be exposed to bruising
+or breaking in vehicles were borne by slaves. Hence hundreds of people
+were seen on foot, carrying vessels, and statues of Corinthian bronze.
+There were companies appointed specially to Etruscan vases; others to
+Grecian; others to golden or silver vessels, or vessels of Alexandrian
+glass. These were guarded by small detachments of pretorian infantry and
+cavalry; over each division of slaves were taskmasters, holding whips
+armed at the end with lumps of lead or iron, instead of snappers. The
+procession, formed of men bearing with importance and attention
+various objects, seemed like some solemn religious procession; and the
+resemblance grew still more striking when the musical instruments of
+Caesar and the court were borne past. There were seen harps, Grecian
+lutes, lutes of the Hebrews and Egyptians, lyres, formingas, citharas,
+flutes, long, winding buffalo horns and cymbals. While looking at that
+sea of instruments, gleaming beneath the sun in gold, bronze, precious
+stones, and pearls, it might be imagined that Apollo and Bacchus had
+set out on a journey through the world. After the instruments came
+rich chariots filled with acrobats, dancers male and female, grouped
+artistically, with wands in their hands. After them followed slaves
+intended, not for service, but excess; so there were boys and little
+girls, selected from all Greece and Asia Minor, with long hair, or with
+winding curls arranged in golden nets, children resembling Cupids, with
+wonderful faces, but faces covered completely with a thick coating
+of cosmetics, lest the wind of the Campania might tan their delicate
+complexions.
+
+And again appeared a pretorian cohort of gigantic Sicambrians,
+blue-eyed, bearded, blond and red haired. In front of them Roman
+eagles were carried by banner-bearers called "imaginarii," tablets with
+inscriptions, statues of German and Roman gods, and finally statues and
+busts of Caesar. From under the skins and armor of the soldier appeared
+limbs sunburnt and mighty, looking like military engines capable
+of wielding the heavy weapons with which guards of that kind were
+furnished. The earth seemed to bend beneath their measured and weighty
+tread. As if conscious of strength which they could use against
+Caesar himself, they looked with contempt on the rabble of the street,
+forgetting, it was evident, that many of themselves had come to that
+city in manacles. But they were insignificant in numbers, for the
+pretorian force had remained in camp specially to guard the city and
+hold it within bounds. When they had marched past, Nero's chained
+lions and tigers were led by, so that, should the wish come to him of
+imitating Dionysus, he would have them to attach to his chariots. They
+were led in chains of steel by Arabs and Hindoos, but the chains were
+so entwined with garlands that the beasts seemed led with flowers. The
+lions and tigers, tamed by skilled trainers, looked at the crowds with
+green and seemingly sleepy eyes; but at moments they raised their giant
+heads, and breathed through wheezing nostrils the exhalations of the
+multitude, licking their jaws the while with spiny tongues.
+
+Now came Caesar's vehicles and litters, great and small, gold or purple,
+inlaid with ivory or pearls, or glittering with diamonds; after them
+came another small cohort of pretorians in Roman armor, pretorians
+composed of Italian volunteers only;* then crowds of select slave
+servants, and boys; and at last came Caesar himself, whose approach was
+heralded from afar by the shouts of thousands.
+
+[* The inhabitants of Italy were freed from military service by
+Augustus, in consequence of which the so-called cohors Italica,
+stationed generally in Asia, was composed of volunteers. The pretorian
+guards, in so far as they were not composed of foreigners, were made up
+of volunteers.]
+
+In the crowd was the Apostle Peter, who wished to see Caesar once in
+life. He was accompanied by Lygia, whose face was hidden by a thick
+veil, and Ursus, whose strength formed the surest defence of the young
+girl in the wild and boisterous crowd. The Lygian seized a stone to be
+used in building the temple, and brought it to the Apostle, so that by
+standing on it he might see better than others.
+
+The crowd muttered when Ursus pushed it apart, as a ship pushes waves;
+but when he carried the stone, which four of the strongest men could not
+raise, the muttering was turned into wonderment, and cries of "Macte!"
+were heard round about.
+
+Meanwhile Caesar appeared. He was sitting in a chariot drawn by six white
+Idumean stallions shod with gold. The chariot had the form of a tent
+with sides open, purposely, so that the crowds could see Caesar. A number
+of persons might have found place in the chariot; but Nero, desiring
+that attention should be fixed on him exclusively, passed through the
+city alone, having at his feet merely two deformed dwarfs. He wore a
+white tunic, and a toga of amethyst color, which cast a bluish tinge
+on his face. On his head was a laurel wreath. Since his departure from
+Naples he had increased notably in body. His face had grown wide; under
+his lower jaw hung a double chin, by which his mouth, always too near
+his nose, seemed to touch his nostrils. His bulky neck was protected, as
+usual, by a silk kerchief, which he arranged from moment to moment with
+a white and fat hand grown over with red hair, forming as it were bloody
+stains; he would not permit epilatores to pluck out this hair, since
+he had been told that to do so would bring trembling of the fingers and
+injure his lute-playing. Measureless vanity was depicted then, as at all
+times, on his face, together with tedium and suffering. On the whole, it
+was a face both terrible and trivial. While advancing he turned his head
+from side to side, blinking at times, and listening carefully to the
+manner in which the multitude greeted him. He was met by a storm of
+shouts and applause: "Hail, divine Caesar! Imperator, hail, conqueror!
+hail, incomparable!--Son of Apollo, Apollo himself!"
+
+When he heard these words, he smiled; but at moments a cloud, as it
+were, passed over his face, for the Roman rabble was satirical and keen
+in reckoning, and let itself criticise even great triumphators, even men
+whom it loved and respected. It was known that on a time they shouted
+during the entrance to Rome of Julius Caesar: "Citizens, hide your wives;
+the old libertine is coming!" But Nero's monstrous vanity could not
+endure the least blame or criticism; meanwhile in the throng, amid
+shouts of applause were heard cries of "Ahenobarbus, Ahenobarbus! Where
+hast thou put thy flaming beard? Dost thou fear that Rome might catch
+fire from it?" And those who cried out in that fashion knew not that
+their jest concealed a dreadful prophecy.
+
+These voices did not anger Caesar overmuch, since he did not wear a
+beard, for long before he had devoted it in a golden cylinder to Jupiter
+Capitolinus. But other persons, hidden behind piles of stones and the
+corners of temples, shouted: "Matricide! Nero! Orestes! Alcmaeon!" and
+still others: "Where is Octavia?" "Surrender the purple!" At Poppaea, who
+came directly after him, they shouted, "Flava coma (yellow hair)!!" with
+which name they indicated a street-walker. Caesar's musical ear caught
+these exclamations also, and he raised the polished emerald to his eyes
+as if to see and remember those who uttered them. While looking thus,
+his glance rested on the Apostle standing on the stone.
+
+For a while those two men looked at each other. It occurred to no one
+in that brilliant retinue, and to no one in that immense throng, that at
+that moment two powers of the earth were looking at each other, one of
+which would vanish quickly as a bloody dream, and the other, dressed
+in simple garments, would seize in eternal possession the world and the
+city.
+
+Meanwhile Caesar had passed; and immediately after him eight Africans
+bore a magnificent litter, in which sat Poppaea, who was detested by
+the people. Arrayed, as was Nero, in amethyst color, with a thick
+application of cosmetics on her face, immovable, thoughtful,
+indifferent, she looked like some beautiful and wicked divinity carried
+in procession. In her wake followed a whole court of servants, male and
+female, next a line of wagons bearing materials of dress and use.
+The sun had sunk sensibly from midday when the passage of Augustians
+began,--a brilliant glittering line gleaming like an endless serpent.
+The indolent Petronius, greeted kindly by the multitude, had given
+command to bear him and his godlike slave in a litter. Tigellinus went
+in a chariot drawn by ponies ornamented with white and purple feathers,
+They saw him as he rose in the chariot repeatedly, and stretched his
+neck to see if Caesar was preparing to give him the sign to go his
+chariot. Among others the crowd greeted Licinianus with applause,
+Vitelius with laughter, Vatinius with hissing. Towards Licinus and
+Lecanius the consuls they were indifferent, but Tullius Senecio they
+loved, it was unknown why, and Vestinius received applause.
+
+The court was innumerable. It seemed that all that was richest, most
+brilliant and noted in Rome, was migrating to Antium. Nero never
+travelled otherwise than with thousands of vehicles; the society which
+accompanied him almost always exceeded the number of soldiers in a
+legion. [In the time of the Caesars a legion was always 12,000 men.]
+Hence Domitius Afer appeared, and the decrepit Lucius Saturninus; and
+Vespasian, who had not gone yet on his expedition to Judea, from which
+he returned for the crown of Caesar, and his sons, and young Nerva,
+and Lucan, and Annius Gallo, and Quintianus, and a multitude of women
+renowned for wealth, beauty, luxury, and vice.
+
+The eyes of the multitude were turned to the harness, the chariots, the
+horses, the strange livery of the servants, made up of all peoples of
+the earth. In that procession of pride and grandeur one hardly knew
+what to look at; and not only the eye, but the mind, was dazzled by
+such gleaming of gold, purple, and violet, by the flashing of precious
+stones, the glitter of brocade, pearls, and ivory. It seemed that the
+very rays of the sun were dissolving in that abyss of brilliancy. And
+though wretched people were not lacking in that throng, people with
+sunken stomachs, and with hunger in their eyes, that spectacle inflamed
+not only their desire of enjoyment and their envy, but filled them
+with delight and pride, because it gave a feeling of the might and
+invincibility of Rome, to which the world contributed, and before which
+the world knelt. Indeed there was not on earth any one who ventured to
+think that that power would not endure through all ages, and outlive all
+nations, or that there was anything in existence that had strength to
+oppose it.
+
+Vinicius, riding at the end of the retinue, sprang out of his chariot
+at sight of the Apostle and Lygia, whom he had not expected to see, and,
+greeting them with a radiant face, spoke with hurried voice, like a
+man who has no time to spare,--"Hast thou come? I know not how to thank
+thee, O Lygia! God could not have sent me a better omen. I greet thee
+even while taking farewell, but not farewell for a long time. On the
+road I shall dispose relays of horses, and every free day I shall come
+to thee till I get leave to return.--Farewell!"
+
+"Farewell, Marcus!" answered Lygia; then she added in a lower voice:
+"May Christ go with thee, and open thy soul to Paul's word."
+
+He was glad at heart that she was concerned about his becoming a
+Christian soon; hence he answered,--
+
+"Ocelle mi! let it be as thou sayest. Paul prefers to travel with my
+people, but he is with me, and will be to me a companion and master.
+Draw aside thy veil, my delight, let me see thee before my journey. Why
+art thou thus hidden?"
+
+She raised the veil, and showed him her bright face and her wonderfully
+smiling eyes, inquiring,--
+
+"Is the veil bad?"
+
+And her smile had in it a little of maiden opposition; but Vinicius,
+while looking at her with delight, answered,--
+
+"Bad for my eyes, which till death would look on thee only."
+
+Then he turned to Ursus and said,--
+
+"Ursus, guard her as the sight in thy eye, for she is my domina as well
+as thine."
+
+Seizing her hand then, he pressed it with his lips, to the great
+astonishment of the crowd, who could not understand signs of such honor
+from a brilliant Augustian to a maiden arrayed in simple garments,
+almost those of a slave.
+
+"Farewell!"
+
+Then he departed quickly, for Caesar's whole retinue had pushed forward
+considerably. The Apostle Peter blessed him with a slight sign of the
+cross; but the kindly Ursus began at once to glorify him, glad that
+his young mistress listened eagerly and was grateful to him for those
+praises.
+
+The retinue moved on and hid itself in clouds of golden dust; they gazed
+long after it, however, till Demas the miller approached, he for whom
+Ursus worked in the night-time. When he had kissed the Apostle's hand,
+he entreated them to enter his dwelling for refreshment, saying that it
+was near the Emporium, that they must be hungry and wearied since they
+had spent the greater part of the day at the gate.
+
+They went with him, and, after rest and refreshment in his house,
+returned to the Trans-Tiber only toward evening. Intending to cross the
+river by the AEmilian bridge, they passed through the Clivus Publicus,
+going over the Aventine, between the temples of Diana and Mercury. From
+that height the Apostle looked on the edifices about him, and on those
+vanishing in the distance. Sunk in silence he meditated on the immensity
+and dominion of that city, to which he had come to announce the word of
+God. Hitherto he had seen the rule of Rome and its legions in various
+lands through which he had wandered, but they were single members as
+it were of the power, which that day for the first time he had seen
+impersonated in the form of Nero. That city, immense, predatory,
+ravenous, unrestrained, rotten to the marrow of its bones, and
+unassailable in its preterhuman power; that Caesar, a fratricide, a
+matricide, a wife-slayer, after him dragged a retinue of bloody spectres
+no less in number than his court. That profligate, that buffoon, but
+also lord of thirty legions, and through them of the whole earth; those
+courtiers covered with gold and scarlet, uncertain of the morrow, but
+mightier meanwhile than kings,--all this together seemed a species of
+hellish kingdom of wrong and evil. In his simple heart he marvelled that
+God could give such inconceivable almightiness to Satan, that He could
+yield the earth to him to knead, overturn, and trample it, to squeeze
+blood and tears from it, to twist it like a whirlwind, to storm it like
+a tempest, to consume it like a flame. And his Apostle-heart was alarmed
+by those thoughts, and in spirit he spoke to the Master: "O Lord, how
+shall I begin in this city, to which Thou hast sent me? To it belong
+seas and lands, the beasts of the field, and the creatures of the water;
+it owns other kingdoms and cities, and thirty legions which guard them;
+but I, O Lord, am a fisherman from a lake! How shall I begin, and how
+shall I conquer its malice?"
+
+Thus speaking he raised his gray, trembling head toward heaven, praying
+and exclaiming from the depth of his heart to his Divine Master, himself
+full of sadness and fear.
+
+Meanwhile his prayer was interrupted by Lygia.
+
+"The whole city is as if on fire," said she.
+
+In fact the sun went down that day in a marvellous manner. Its immense
+shield had sunk half-way behind the Janiculum, the whole expanse of
+heaven was filled with a red gleam. From the place on which they were
+standing, Peter's glance embraced large expanses. Somewhat to the right
+they saw the long extending walls of the Circus Maximus; above it the
+towering palaces of the Palatine; and directly in front of them, beyond
+the Forum Boarium and the Velabrum, the summit of the Capitol, with the
+temple of Jupiter. But the walls and the columns and the summits of the
+temples were as if sunk in that golden and purple gleam. The parts of
+the river visible from afar flowed as if in blood; and as the sun sank
+moment after moment behind the mountain, the gleam became redder
+and redder, more and more like a conflagration, and it increased
+and extended till finally it embraced the seven hills, from which it
+extended to the whole region about.
+
+"The whole city seems on fire!" repeated Lygia.
+
+Peter shaded his eyes with his hand, and said--
+
+"The wrath of God is upon it."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVII
+
+VINCIUS to LYGIA:
+
+
+"The slave Phlegon, by whom I send this letter, is a Christian; hence he
+will be one of those to receive freedom from thy hands, my dearest.
+He is an old servant of our house; so I can write to thee with full
+confidence, and without fear that the letter will fall into other hands
+than thine. I write from Laurentum, where we have halted because of
+heat. Otho owned here a lordly villa, which on a time he presented
+to Poppaea; and she, though divorced from him, saw fit to retain the
+magnificent present. When I think of the women who surround me now and
+of thee, it seems to me that from the stones hurled by Deucalion there
+must have risen people of various kinds, altogether unlike one another,
+and that thou art of those born of crystal.
+
+"I admire and love thee from my whole soul, and wish to speak only of
+thee; hence I am forced to constrain myself to write of our journey, of
+that which happens to me, and of news of the court. Well, Caesar was the
+guest of Poppaea, who prepared for him secretly a magnificent reception.
+She invited only a few of his favorites, but Petronius and I were among
+them. After dinner we sailed in golden boats over the sea, which was as
+calm as if it had been sleeping, and as blue as thy eyes, O divine one.
+We ourselves rowed, for evidently it flattered the Augusta that men of
+consular dignity, or their sons, were rowing for her. Caesar, sitting at
+the rudder in a purple toga, sang a hymn in honor of the sea; this hymn
+he had composed the night before, and with Diodorus had arranged music
+to it. In other boats he was accompanied by slaves from India who knew
+how to play on sea-shells while round about appeared numerous dolphins,
+as if really enticed from Amphitrite's depths by music. Dost thou know
+what I was doing? I was thinking of thee, and yearning. I wanted to
+gather in that sea, that calm, and that music, and give the whole to
+thee.
+
+"Dost thou wish that we should live in some place at the seashore far
+from Rome, my Augusta? I have land in Sicily, on which there is an
+almond forest which has rose-colored blossoms in spring, and this forest
+goes down so near the sea that the tips of the branches almost touch the
+water. There I will love thee and magnify Paul's teaching, for I
+know now that it will not be opposed to love and happiness. Dost
+thou wish?--But before I hear thy answer I will write further of what
+happened on the boat.
+
+"Soon the shore was far behind. We saw a sail before us in the
+distance, and all at once a dispute rose as to whether it was a common
+fishing-boat or a great ship from Ostia. I was the first to discover
+what it was, and then the Augusta said that for my eyes evidently
+nothing was hidden, and, dropping the veil over her face on a sudden,
+she inquired if I could recognize her thus. Petronius answered
+immediately that it was not possible to see even the sun behind a cloud;
+but she said, as if in jest, that love alone could blind such a piercing
+glance as mine, and, naming various women of the court, she fell to
+inquiring and guessing which one I loved. I answered calmly, but at last
+she mentioned thy name. Speaking of thee, she uncovered her face again,
+and looked at me with evil and inquiring eyes.
+
+"I feel real gratitude to Petronius, who turned the boat at that moment,
+through which general attention was taken from me; for had I heard
+hostile or sneering words touching thee, I should not have been able to
+hide my anger, and should have had to struggle with the wish to break
+the head of that wicked, malicious woman with my oar. Thou rememberest
+the incident at the pond of Agrippa about which I told thee at the house
+of Linus on the eve of my departure. Petronius is alarmed on my account,
+and to-day again he implored me not to offend the Augusta's vanity. But
+Petronius does not understand me, and does not realize that, apart from
+thee, I know no pleasure or beauty or love, and that for Poppaea I
+feel only disgust and contempt. Thou hast changed my soul greatly,--so
+greatly that I should not wish now to return to my former life. But have
+no fear that harm may reach me here. Poppaea does not love me, for she
+cannot love any one, and her desires arise only from anger at Caesar, who
+is under her influence yet, and who is even capable of loving her
+yet; still, he does not spare her, and does not hide from her his
+transgressions and shamelessness.
+
+"I will tell thee, besides, something which should pacify thee. Peter
+told me in parting not to fear Caesar, since a hair would not fall from
+my head; and I believe him. Some voice in my soul says that every word
+of his must be accomplished; that since he blessed our love, neither
+Caesar, nor all the powers of Hades, nor predestination itself, could
+take thee from me, O Lygia. When I think of this I am as happy as if I
+were in heaven, which alone is calm and happy. But what I say of heaven
+and predestination may offend thee, a Christian. Christ has not washed
+me yet, but my heart is like an empty chalice, which Paul of Tarsus is
+to fill with the sweet doctrine professed by thee,--the sweeter for me
+that it is thine. Thou, divine one, count even this as a merit to me
+that I have emptied it of the liquid with which I had filled it before,
+and that I do not withdraw it, but hold it forth as a thirsty man
+standing at a pure spring. Let me find favor in thy eyes.
+
+"In Antium my days and nights will pass in listening to Paul, who
+acquired such influence among my people on the first day that they
+surround him continually, seeing in him not only a wonder-worker, but
+a being almost supernatural. Yesterday I saw gladness on his face, and
+when I asked what he was doing, he answered, 'I am sowing!' Petronius
+knows that he is among my people, and wishes to see him, as does Seneca
+also, who heard of him from Gallo.
+
+"But the stars are growing pale, O Lygia, and 'Lucifer' of the morning
+is bright with growing force. Soon the dawn will make the sea ruddy; all
+is sleeping round about, but I am thinking of thee and loving thee. Be
+greeted together with the morning dawn, sponsa mea!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXVIII
+
+VINICIUS to LYGIA:
+
+
+"Hast thou ever been in Antium, my dear one, with Aulus and Pomponia? If
+not, I shall be happy when I show this place to thee. All the way from
+Laurentum there is a line of villas along the seashore; and Antium
+itself is an endless succession of palaces and porticos, whose columns
+in fair weather see themselves in the water. I, too, have a residence
+here right over the sea, with an olive garden and a forest of cypresses
+behind the villa, and when I think that the place will sometime be
+thine, its marble seems whiter to me, its groves more shady, and the
+sea bluer. Oh, Lygia, how good it is to live and love! Old Menikles, who
+manages the villa, planted irises on the ground under myrtles, and at
+sight of them the house of Aulus, the impluvium, and the garden in which
+I sat near thee, came to my mind. The irises will remind thee, too, of
+thy childhood's home; therefore I am certain that thou wilt love Antium
+and this villa.
+
+"Immediately after our arrival I talked long with Paul at dinner. We
+spoke of thee, and afterward he taught. I listened long, and I say only
+this, that even could I write like Petronius, I should not have power to
+explain everything which passed through my soul and my mind. I had not
+supposed that there could be such happiness in this world, such beauty
+and peace of which hitherto people had no knowledge. But I retain all
+this for conversation with thee, for at the first free moment I shall be
+in Rome.
+
+"How could the earth find place at once for the Apostle Peter, Paul
+of Tarsus, and Caesar? Tell me this. I ask because I passed the evening
+after Paul's teaching with Nero, and dost thou know what I heard there?
+Well, to begin with, he read his poem on the destruction of Troy, and
+complained that never had he seen a burning city. He envied Priam, and
+called him happy just for this, that he saw the conflagration and ruin
+of his birthplace. Whereupon Tigellinus said, 'Speak a word, O divinity,
+I will take a torch, and before the night passes thou shalt see blazing
+Antium.' But Caesar called him a fool. 'Where,' asked he, 'should I go
+to breathe the sea air, and preserve the voice with which the gods
+have gifted me, and which men say I should preserve for the benefit of
+mankind? Is it not Rome that injures me; is it not the exhalations of
+the Subura and the Esquiline which add to my hoarseness? Would not
+the palaces of Rome present a spectacle a hundredfold more tragic and
+magnificent than Antium?' Here all began to talk, and to say what an
+unheard tragedy the picture of a city like that would be, a city which
+had conquered the world turned now into a heap of gray ashes. Caesar
+declared that then his poem would surpass the songs of Homer, and he
+began to describe how he would rebuild the city, and how coming ages
+would admire his achievements, in presence of which all other human
+works would be petty. 'Do that! do that!' exclaimed the drunken company.
+'I must have more faithful and more devoted friends,' answered he.
+
+"I confess that I was alarmed at once when I heard this, for thou art in
+Rome, carissima. I laugh now at that alarm, and I think that Caesar and
+his friends, though mad, would not dare to permit such insanity. Still,
+see how a man fears for his love; I should prefer that the house of
+Linus were not in that narrow Trans-Tiber alley, and in a part occupied
+by common people, who are less considered in such a case. For me, the
+very palaces on the Palatine would not be a residence fit for thee;
+hence I should wish also that nothing were lacking thee of those
+ornaments and comforts to which thou art accustomed from childhood.
+
+"Go to the house of Aulus, my Lygia. I have thought much here over
+this matter. If Caesar were in Rome, news of thy return might reach the
+Palatine through slaves, turn attention to thee, and bring persecution,
+because thou didst dare to act against the will of Caesar. But he will
+remain long in Antium, and before he returns slaves will have ceased to
+speak of thee. Linus and Ursus can be with thee. Besides, I live in hope
+that before Palatine sees Caesar, thou, my goddess, shalt be dwelling
+in thy own house on the Carinae. Blessed be the day, hour, and moment in
+which thou shalt cross my threshold; and if Christ, whom I am learning
+to accept, effects this, may His name be blessed also. I shall serve
+Him, and give life and blood for Him. I speak incorrectly; we shall
+serve Him, both of us, as long as the threads of life hold.
+
+"I love thee and salute thee with my whole soul."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXXIX
+
+
+Unsus was taking water from a cistern, and while drawing up a double
+amphora, with a rope, was singing a strange Lygian song in an undertone,
+looking meanwhile with delighted eyes at Lygia and Vinicius, who, among
+the cypresses in Linus's garden, seemed as white as two statues. Their
+clothing was not moved by the least breeze. A golden and lily-colored
+twilight was sinking on the world while they were conversing in the calm
+of evening, each holding the other by the hand.
+
+"May not some evil meet thee, Marcus, because thou hast left Antium
+without Caesar's knowledge?" asked Lygia.
+
+"No, my dear," answered Vinicius. "Caesar announced that he would shut
+himself in for two days with Terpnos, and compose new songs. He acts
+thus frequently, and at such times neither knows nor remembers aught
+else. Moreover, what is Caesar to me since I am near thee and am looking
+at thee? I have yearned too much already, and these last nights sleep
+has left me. More than once, when I dozed from weariness, I woke on a
+sudden, with a feeling that danger was hanging over thee; at times I
+dreamed that the relays of horses which were to bear me from Antium to
+Rome were stolen,--horses with which I passed that road more swiftly
+than any of Caesar's couriers. Besides, I could not live longer without
+thee; I love thee too much for that, my dearest."
+
+"I knew that thou wert coming. Twice Ursus ran out, at my request, to
+the Carinae, and inquired for thee at thy house. Linus laughed at me, and
+Ursus also."
+
+It was, indeed, evident that she had expected him; for instead of her
+usual dark dress, she wore a soft white stola, out of whose beautiful
+folds her arms and head emerged like primroses out of snow. A few ruddy
+anemones ornamented her hair.
+
+Vinicius pressed his lips to her hands; then they sat on the stone bench
+amidst wild grapevines, and inclining toward each other, were silent,
+looking at the twilight whose last gleams were reflected in their eyes.
+
+The charm of the quiet evening mastered them completely.
+
+"How calm it is here, and how beautiful the world is," said Vinicius,
+in a lowered voice. "The night is wonderfully still. I feel happier than
+ever in life before. Tell me, Lygia, what is this? Never have I thought
+that there could be such love. I thought that love was merely fire
+in the blood and desire; but now for the first time I see that it is
+possible to love with every drop of one's blood and every breath, and
+feel therewith such sweet and immeasurable calm as if Sleep and Death
+had put the soul to rest. For me this is something new. I look on this
+calmness of the trees, and it seems to be within me. Now I understand
+for the first time that there may be happiness of which people have not
+known thus far. Now I begin to understand why thou and Pomponia Graecina
+have such peace. Yes! Christ gives it."
+
+At that moment Lygia placed her beautiful face on his shoulder
+and said,--"My dear Marcus--" But she was unable to continue. Joy,
+gratitude, and the feeling that at last she was free to love deprived
+her of voice, and her eyes were filled with tears of emotion.
+
+Vinicius, embracing her slender form with his arm, drew her toward him
+and said,--"Lygia! May the moment be blessed in which I heard His name
+for the first time."
+
+"I love thee, Marcus," said she then in a low voice.
+
+Both were silent again, unable to bring words from their overcharged
+breasts. The last lily reflections had died on the cypresses, and the
+garden began to be silver-like from the crescent of the moon. After a
+while Vinicius said,
+
+"I know. Barely had I entered here, barely had I kissed thy dear hands,
+when I read in thy eyes the question whether I had received the divine
+doctrine to which thou art attached, and whether I was baptized. No, I
+am not baptized yet; but knowest thou, my flower, why? Paul said to me:
+'I have convinced thee that God came into the world and gave Himself to
+be crucified for its salvation; but let Peter wash thee in the fountain
+of grace, he who first stretched his hands over thee and blessed thee.'
+And I, my dearest, wish thee to witness my baptism, and I wish Pomponia
+to be my godmother. This is why I am not baptized yet, though I believe
+in the Saviour and in his teaching. Paul has convinced me, has converted
+me; and could it be otherwise? How was I not to believe that Christ came
+into the world, since he, who was His disciple, says so, and Paul, to
+whom He appeared? How was I not to believe that He was God, since He
+rose from the dead? Others saw Him in the city and on the lake and on
+the mountain; people saw Him whose lips have not known a lie. I began
+to believe this the first time I heard Peter in Ostrianum, for I said to
+myself even then: In the whole world any other man might lie rather than
+this one who says, 'I saw.' But I feared thy religion. It seemed to
+me that thy religion would take thee from me. I thought that there was
+neither wisdom nor beauty nor happiness in it. But to-day, when I know
+it, what kind of man should I be were I not to wish truth to rule the
+world instead of falsehood, love instead of hatred, virtue instead
+of crime, faithfulness instead of unfaithfulness, mercy instead of
+vengeance? What sort of man would he be who would not choose and wish
+the same? But your religion teaches this. Others desire justice also;
+but thy religion is the only one which makes man's heart just, and
+besides makes it pure, like thine and Pomponia's, makes it faithful,
+like thine and Pomponia's. I should be blind were I not to see this. But
+if in addition Christ God has promised eternal life, and has promised
+happiness as immeasurable as the all-might of God can give, what more
+can one wish? Were I to ask Seneca why he enjoins virtue, if wickedness
+brings more happiness, he would not be able to say anything sensible.
+But I know now that I ought to be virtuous, because virtue and love flow
+from Christ, and because, when death closes my eyes, I shall find life
+and happiness, I shall find myself and thee. Why not love and accept a
+religion which both speaks the truth and destroys death? Who would
+not prefer good to evil? I thought thy religion opposed to happiness;
+meanwhile Paul has convinced me that not only does it not take away, but
+that it gives. All this hardly finds a place in my head; but I feel that
+it is true, for I have never been so happy, neither could I be, had I
+taken thee by force and possessed thee in my house. Just see, thou hast
+said a moment since, 'I love thee,' and I could not have won these words
+from thy lips with all the might of Rome. O Lygia! Reason declares this
+religion divine, and the best; the heart feels it, and who can resist
+two such forces?"
+
+Lygia listened, fixing on him her blue eyes, which in the light of the
+moon were like mystic flowers, and bedewed like flowers.
+
+"Yes, Marcus, that is true!" said she, nestling her head more closely to
+his shoulder.
+
+And at that moment they felt immensely happy, for they understood
+that besides love they were united by another power, at once sweet
+and irresistible, by which love itself becomes endless, not subject to
+change, deceit, treason, or even death. Their hearts were filled with
+perfect certainty that, no matter what might happen, they would not
+cease to love and belong to each other. For that reason an unspeakable
+repose flowed in on their souls. Vinicius felt, besides, that that love
+was not merely profound and pure, but altogether new,--such as the world
+had not known and could not give. In his head all was combined in this
+love,--Lygia, the teaching of Christ, the light of the moon resting
+calmly on the cypresses, and the still night,--so that to him the whole
+universe seemed filled with it.
+
+After a while he said with a lowered and quivering voice: "Thou wilt be
+the soul of my soul, and the dearest in the world to me. Our hearts will
+beat together, we shall have one prayer and one gratitude to Christ. O
+my dear! To live together, to honor together the sweet God, and to know
+that when death comes our eyes will open again, as after a pleasant
+sleep, to a new light,--what better could be imagined? I only marvel
+that I did not understand this at first. And knowest thou what occurs
+to me now? That no one can resist this religion. In two hundred or
+three hundred years the whole world will accept it. People will forget
+Jupiter, and there will be no God except Christ, and no other temples
+but Christian. Who would not wish his own happiness? Ah! but I heard
+Paul's conversation with Petronius and dost thou know what Petronius
+said at the end? 'That is not for me'; but he could give no other
+answer."
+
+"Repeat Paul's words to me," said Lygia.
+
+"It was at my house one evening. Petronius began to speak playfully and
+to banter, as he does usually, whereupon Paul said to him: 'How canst
+thou deny, O wise Petronius, that Christ existed and rose from the dead,
+since thou wert not in the world at that time, but Peter and John saw
+Him, and I saw Him on the road to Damascus? Let thy wisdom show, first
+of all, then, that we are liars, and then only deny our testimony.'
+Petronius answered that he had no thought of denying, for he knew
+that many incomprehensible things were done, which trustworthy people
+affirmed. 'But the discovery of some new foreign god is one thing,' said
+he, 'and the reception of his teaching another. I have no wish to know
+anything which may deform life and mar its beauty. Never mind whether
+our gods are true or not; they are beautiful, their rule is pleasant for
+us, and we live without care.' 'Thou art willing to reject the religion
+of love, justice, and mercy through dread of the cares of life,' replied
+Paul; 'but think, Petronius, is thy life really free from anxieties?
+Behold, neither thou nor any man among the richest and most powerful
+knows when he falls asleep at night that he may not wake to a death
+sentence. But tell me, if Caesar professed this religion, which enjoins
+love and justice, would not thy happiness be more assured? Thou art
+alarmed about thy delight, but would not life be more joyous then? As to
+life's beauty and ornaments, if ye have reared so many beautiful temples
+and statues to evil, revengeful, adulterous, and faithless divinities,
+what would ye not do in honor of one God of truth and mercy? Thou art
+ready to praise thy lot, because thou art wealthy and living in luxury;
+but it was possible even in thy case to be poor and deserted, though
+coming of a great house, and then in truth it would have been better for
+thee if people confessed Christ. In Rome even wealthy parents, unwilling
+to toil at rearing children, cast them out of the house frequently;
+those children are called alumni. And chance might have made thee
+an alumnus, like one of those. But if parents live according to our
+religion, this cannot happen. And hadst thou, at manhood's years,
+married a woman of thy love, thy wish would be to see her faithful till
+death. Meanwhile look around, what happens among you, what vileness,
+what shame, what bartering in the faith of wives! Nay, ye yourselves are
+astonished when a woman appears whom ye call "univira" (of one husband).
+But I tell thee that those women who carry Christ in their hearts will
+not break faith with their husbands, just as Christian husbands will
+keep faith with their wives. But ye are neither sure of rulers nor
+fathers nor wives nor children nor servants. The whole world is
+trembling before you, and ye are trembling before your own slaves, for
+ye know that any hour may raise an awful war against your oppression,
+such a war as has been raised more than once. Though rich, thou art
+not sure that the command may not come to thee to-morrow to leave thy
+wealth; thou art young, but to-morrow it may be necessary for thee to
+die. Thou lovest, but treason is in wait for thee; thou art enamoured of
+villas and statues, but to-morrow power may thrust thee forth into the
+empty places of the Pandataria; thou hast thousands of servants, but
+to-morrow these servants may let thy blood flow. And if that be the
+case, how canst thou be calm and happy, how canst thou live in delight?
+But I proclaim love, and I proclaim a religion which commands rulers to
+love their subjects, masters their slaves, slaves to serve with love, to
+do justice and be merciful; and at last it promises happiness boundless
+as a sea without end. How, then, Petronius, canst thou say that that
+religion spoils life, since it corrects, and since thou thyself wouldst
+be a hundred times happier and more secure were it to embrace the world
+as Rome's dominion has embraced it?'
+
+"Thus discussed Paul, and then Petronius said, 'That is not for me.'
+Feigning drowsiness, he went out, and when going added: 'I prefer my
+Eunice, O little Jew, but I should not wish to struggle with thee on the
+platform.' I listened to Paul's words with my whole soul, and when he
+spoke of our women, I magnified with all my heart that religion from
+which thou hast sprung as a lily from a rich field in springtime. And
+I thought then: There is Poppaea, who cast aside two husbands for Nero,
+there is Calvia Crispinilla, there is Nigidia, there are almost all whom
+I know, save only Pomponia; they trafficked with faith and with oaths,
+but she and my own one will not desert, will not deceive, and will not
+quench the fire, even though all in whom I place trust should desert and
+deceive me. Hence I said to thee in my soul, How can I show gratitude to
+thee, if not with love and honor? Didst thou feel that in Antium I spoke
+and conversed with thee all the time as if thou hadst been at my side? I
+love thee a hundred times more for having escaped me from Caesar's house.
+Neither do I care for Caesar's house any longer; I wish not its luxury
+and music, I wish only thee. Say a word, we will leave Rome to settle
+somewhere at a distance."
+
+Without removing her head from his shoulder, Lygia, as if
+meditating, raised her eyes to the silver tops of the cypresses, and
+answered,--"Very well, Marcus. Thou hast written to me of Sicily, where
+Aulus wishes to settle in old age." And Vinieius interrupted her with
+delight.
+
+"True, my dear! Our lands are adjacent. That is a wonderful coast,
+where the climate is sweeter and the nights still brighter than in Rome,
+odoriferous and transparent. There life and happiness are almost one and
+the same."
+
+And he began then to dream of the future.
+
+"There we may forget anxieties. In groves, among olive-trees, we shall
+walk and rest in the shade. O Lygia! what a life to love and cherish
+each other, to look at the sea together, to look at the sky together, to
+honor together a kind God, to do in peace what is just and true."
+
+Both were silent, looking into the future; only he drew her more firmly
+toward him, and the knight's ring on his finger glittered meanwhile in
+the rays of the moon. In the part occupied by the poor toiling people,
+all were sleeping; no murmur broke the silence.
+
+"Wilt thou permit me to see Pomponia?" asked Lygia.
+
+"Yes, dear one. We will invite them to our house, or go to them
+ourselves. If thou wish, we can take Peter the Apostle. He is bowed
+down with age and work. Paul will visit us also,--he will convert Aulus
+Plautius; and as soldiers found colonies in distant lands, so we will
+found a colony of Christians."
+
+Lygia raised her hand and, taking his palm, wished to press it to her
+lips; but he whispered, as if fearing to frighten happiness,--"No,
+Lygia, no! It is I who honor thee and exalt thee; give me thy hands."
+
+"I love thee."
+
+He had pressed his lips to her hands, white as jessamine, and for a
+time they heard only the beating of their own hearts. There was not the
+slightest movement in the air; the cypresses stood as motionless as if
+they too were holding breath in their breasts.
+
+All at once the silence was broken by an unexpected thunder, deep, and
+as if coming from under the earth. A shiver ran through Lygia's body.
+Vinicius stood up, and said,--"Lions are roaring in the vivarium."
+
+Both began to listen. Now the first thunder was answered by a second,
+a third, a tenth, from all sides and divisions of the city. In Rome
+several thousand lions were quartered at times in various arenas, and
+frequently in the night-time they approached the grating, and, leaning
+their gigantic heads against it, gave utterance to their yearning for
+freedom and the desert. Thus they began on this occasion, and, answering
+one another in the stillness of night, they filled the whole city with
+roaring. There was something so indescribably gloomy and terrible in
+those roars that Lygia, whose bright and calm visions of the future were
+scattered, listened with a straitened heart and with wonderful fear and
+sadness.
+
+But Vinicius encircled her with his arm, and said,--"Fear not, dear one.
+The games are at hand, and all the vivaria are crowded."
+
+Then both entered the house of Linus, accompanied by the thunder of
+lions, growing louder and louder.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XL
+
+
+IN Antium, meanwhile, Petronius gained new victories almost daily
+over courtiers vying with him for the favor of Caesar. The influence of
+Tigellinus had fallen completely. In Rome, when there was occasion to
+set aside men who seemed dangerous, to plunder their property or to
+settle political cases, to give spectacles astounding by their luxury
+and bad taste, or finally to satisfy the monstrous whims of
+Caesar, Tigellinus, as adroit, as he was ready for anything, became
+indispensable. But in Antium, among palaces reflected in the azure of
+the sea, Caesar led a Hellenic existence. From morning till evening
+Nero and his attendants read verses, discoursed on their structure and
+finish, were delighted with happy turns of expression, were occupied
+with music, the theatre,--in a word, exclusively with that which Grecian
+genius had invented, and with which it had beautified life. Under these
+conditions Petronius, incomparably more refined than Tigellinus and
+the other courtiers,--witty, eloquent, full of subtile feelings and
+tastes,--obtained pre-eminence of necessity. Caesar sought his society,
+took his opinion, asked for advice when he composed, and showed a
+more lively friendship than at any other time whatever. It seemed to
+courtiers that his influence had won a supreme triumph at last, that
+friendship between him and Caesar had entered on a period of certainty
+which would last for years. Even those who had shown dislike previously
+to the exquisite Epicurean, began now to crowd around him and vie
+for his favor. More than one was even sincerely glad in his soul that
+preponderance had come to a man who knew really what to think of a given
+person, who received with a sceptical smile the flattery of his enemies
+of yesterday, but who, either through indolence or culture, was not
+vengeful, and did not use his power to the detriment or destruction of
+others. There were moments when he might have destroyed even Tigellinus,
+but he preferred to ridicule him, and expose his vulgarity and want of
+refinement. In Rome the Senate drew breath, for no death sentence had
+been issued for a month and a half. It is true that in Antium and the
+city people told wonders of the refinement which the profligacy of Caesar
+and his favorite had reached, but every one preferred a refined Caesar to
+one brutalized in the hands of Tigellinus. Tigellinus himself lost his
+head, and hesitated whether or not to yield as conquered, for Caesar had
+said repeatedly that in all Rome and in his court there were only two
+spirits capable of understanding each other, two real Hellenes,--he and
+Petronius.
+
+The amazing dexterity of Petronius confirmed people in the conviction
+that his influence would outlive every other. They did not see how Caesar
+could dispense with him,--with whom could he converse touching poetry,
+music, and comparative excellence; in whose eyes could he look to learn
+whether his creation was indeed perfect? Petronius, with his habitual
+indifference, seemed to attach no importance to his position. As usual,
+he was remiss, slothful, sceptical, and witty. He produced on people
+frequently the impression of a man who made light of them, of himself,
+of Caesar, of the whole world. At moments he ventured to criticise Caesar
+to his face, and when others judged that he was going too far, or simply
+preparing his own ruin, he was able to turn the criticism suddenly in
+such a way that it came out to his profit; he roused amazement in those
+present, and the conviction that there was no position from which he
+could not issue in triumph.
+
+About a week after the return of Vinicius from Rome, Caesar read in a
+small circle an extract from his Troyad; when he had finished and the
+shouts of rapture had ended, Petronius, interrogated by a glance from
+Caesar, replied,--
+
+"Common verses, fit for the fire."
+
+The hearts of those present stopped beating from terror. Since the years
+of his childhood Nero had never heard such a sentence from any man. The
+face of Tigellinus was radiant with delight. But Vinicius grew pale,
+thinking that Petronius, who thus far had never been drunk, was drunk
+this time.
+
+Nero, however, inquired in a honeyed voice, in which more or less deeply
+wounded vanity was quivering,--
+
+"What defect dost thou find in them?"
+
+"Do not believe them," said Petronius, attacking him, and pointing to
+those present; "they understand nothing. Thou hast asked what defect
+there is in thy verses. If thou desire truth, I will tell thee. Thy
+verses would be worthy of Virgil, of Ovid, even of Homer, but they are
+not worthy of thee. Thou art not free to write such. The conflagration
+described by thee does not blaze enough; thy fire is not hot enough.
+Listen not to Lucan's flatteries. Had he written those verses, I should
+acknowledge him a genius, but thy case is different. And knowest thou
+why? Thou art greater than they. From him who is gifted of the gods as
+thou art, more is demanded. But thou art slothful,--thou wouldst rather
+sleep after dinner than sit to wrinkles. Thou canst create a work such
+as the world has not heard of to this day; hence I tell thee to thy
+eyes, write better!"
+
+And he said this carelessly, as if bantering and also chiding; but
+Caesar's eyes were mist-covered from delight.
+
+"The gods have given me a little talent," said he, "but they have given
+me something greater, a true judge and friend, the only man able to
+speak the truth to my eyes."
+
+Then he stretched his fat hand, grown over with reddish hair, to a
+golden candelabrum plundered from Delphi, to burn the verses. But
+Petronius seized them before the flame touched the paper.
+
+"No, no!" said he; "even thus they belong to mankind. Leave them to me."
+
+"In such case let me send them to thee in a cylinder of my own
+invention," answered Nero, embracing Petronius.
+
+"True; thou art right," said he, after a while. "My conflagration of
+Troy does not blaze enough; my fire is not hot enough. But I thought
+it sufficient to equal Homer. A certain timidity and low estimate of my
+power have fettered me always. Thou hast opened my eyes. But knowest
+why it is, as thou sayest? When a sculptor makes the statue of a god, he
+seeks a model; but never have I had a model. I never have seen a burning
+city; hence there is a lack of truth in my description."
+
+"Then I will say that only a great artist understands this."
+
+Nero grew thoughtful, and after a while he said,--"Answer one question,
+Petronius. Dost thou regret the burning of Troy?"
+
+"Do I regret? By the lame consort of Venus, not in the least! And I will
+tell thee the reason. Troy would not have been consumed if Prometheus
+had not given fire to man, and the Greeks made war on Priam. AEschylus
+would not have written his Prometheus had there been no fire, just as
+Homer would not have written the Iliad had there been no Trojan war. I
+think it better to have Prometheus and the Iliad than a small and shabby
+city, which was unclean, I think, and wretched, and in which at best
+there would be now some procurator annoying thee through quarrels with
+the local areopagus."
+
+"That is what we call speaking with sound reason," said Nero. "For art
+and poetry it is permitted, and it is right, to sacrifice everything.
+Happy were the Achaeans who furnished Homer with the substance of the
+Iliad, and happy Priam who beheld the ruin of his birthplace. As to me,
+I have never seen a burning city."
+
+A time of silence followed, which was broken at last by Tigellinus.
+
+"But I have said to thee, Caesar, already, command and I will burn
+Antium; or dost thou know what? If thou art sorry for these villas and
+palaces, give command to burn the ships in Ostia; or I will build a
+wooden city on the Alban Hills, into which thou shalt hurl the fire
+thyself. Dost thou wish?"
+
+"Am I to gaze on the burning of wooden sheds?" asked Nero, casting a
+look of contempt on him. "Thy mind has grown utterly barren, Tigellinus.
+And I see, besides, that thou dost set no great value on my talent or
+my Troyad, since thou judgest that any sacrifice would be too great for
+it."
+
+Tigellinus was confused; but Nero, as if wishing to change the
+conversation, added after a while,--
+
+"Summer is passing. Oh, what a stench there must be in that Rome now!
+And still we must return for the summer games."
+
+"When thou dismissest the Augustians, O Caesar, permit me to remain with
+thee a moment," said Tigellinus.
+
+An hour later Vinicius, returning with Petronius from Caesar's villa,
+said,--"I was a trifle alarmed for thee. I judged that while drunk thou
+hadst ruined thyself beyond redemption. Remember that thou art playing
+with death."
+
+"That is my arena," answered Petronius, carelessly; "and the feeling
+that I am the best gladiator in it amuses me. See how it ended. My
+influence has increased this evening. He will send me his verses in a
+cylinder which--dost wish to lay a wager?--will be immensely rich and in
+immensely bad taste. I shall command my physician to keep physic in
+it. I did this for another reason,--because Tigellinus, seeing how such
+things succeed, will wish surely to imitate me, and I imagine what will
+happen. The moment he starts a witticism, it will be as if a bear of the
+Pyrenees were rope-walking. I shall laugh like Democritus. If I wished
+I could destroy Tigellinus perhaps, and become pretorian prefect in his
+place, and have Ahenobarbus himself in my hands. But I am indolent; I
+prefer my present life and even Caesar's verses to trouble."
+
+"What dexterity to be able to turn even blame into flattery! But are
+those verses really so bad? I am no judge in those matters."
+
+"The verses are not worse than others. Lucan has more talent in one
+finger, but in Bronzebeard too there is something. He has, above all, an
+immense love for poetry and music. In two days we are to be with him to
+hear the music of his hymn to Aphrodite, which he will finish to-day
+or to-morrow. We shall be in a small circle,--only I, thou, Tullius
+Senecio, and young Nerva. But as to what I said touching Nero's verses,
+that I use them after feasting as Vitelius does flamingo feathers, is
+not true. At times they are eloquent. Hecuba's words are touching.
+She complains of the pangs of birth, and Nero was able to find happy
+expressions,--for this reason, perhaps, that he gives birth to every
+verse in torment. At times I am sorry for him. By Pollux, what a
+marvellous mixture! The fifth stave was lacking in Caligula, but still
+he never did such strange things."
+
+"Who can foresee to what the madness of Ahenobarbus will go?" asked
+Vinicius.
+
+"No man whatever. Such things may happen yet that the hair will stand
+on men's heads for whole centuries at thought of them. But it is that
+precisely which interests me; and though I am bored more than once, like
+Jupiter Ammon in the desert, I believe that under another Caesar I should
+be bored a hundred times more. Paul, thy little Jew, is eloquent,--that
+I accord to him; and if people like him proclaim that religion, our gods
+must defend themselves seriously, lest in time they be led away captive.
+It is true that if Caesar, for example, were a Christian, all would feel
+safer. But thy prophet of Tarsus, in applying proofs to me, did not
+think, seest thou, that for me this uncertainty becomes the charm of
+life. Whoso does not play at dice will not lose property, but still
+people play at dice. There is in that a certain delight and destruction
+of the present. I have known sons of knights and senators to become
+gladiators of their own will. I play with life, thou sayest, and that
+is true, but I play because it pleases me; while Christian virtues
+would bore me in a day, as do the discourses of Seneca. Because of this,
+Paul's eloquence is exerted in vain. He should understand that people
+like me will never accept his religion. With thy disposition thou
+mightst either hate the name Christian, or become a Christian
+immediately. I recognize, while yawning, the truth of what they say. We
+are mad. We are hastening to the precipice, something unknown is coming
+toward us out of the future, something is breaking beneath us, something
+is dying around us,--agreed! But we shall succeed in dying; meanwhile
+we have no wish to burden life, and serve death before it takes us. Life
+exists for itself alone, not for death."
+
+"But I pity thee, Petronius."
+
+"Do not pity me more than I pity myself. Formerly thou wert glad among
+us; while campaigning in Armenia, thou wert longing for Rome."
+
+"And now I am longing for Rome."
+
+"True; for thou art in love with a Christian vestal, who sits in the
+Trans-Tiber. I neither wonder at this, nor do I blame thee. I wonder
+more, that in spite of a religion described by thee as a sea of
+happiness, and in spite of a love which is soon to be crowned, sadness
+has not left thy face. Pomponia Graecina is eternally pensive; from the
+time of thy becoming a Christian thou hast ceased to laugh. Do not try
+to persuade me that this religion is cheerful. Thou hast returned from
+Rome sadder than ever. If Christians love in this way, by the bright
+curls of Bacchus! I shall not imitate them!"
+
+"That is another thing," answered Vinicius. "I swear to thee, not by the
+curls of Bachus, but by the soul of my father, that never in times
+past have I experienced even a foretaste of such happiness as I breathe
+to-day. But I yearn greatly; and what is stranger, when I am far from
+Lygia, I think that danger is threatening her. I know not what danger,
+nor whence it may come; but I feel it, as one feels a coming tempest."
+
+"In two days I will try to obtain for thee permission to leave Antium,
+for as long a time as may please thee. Poppaea is somewhat more quiet;
+and, as far as I know, no danger from her threatens thee or Lygia."
+
+"This very day she asked me what I was doing in Rome, though my
+departure was secret."
+
+"Perhaps she gave command to set spies on thee. Now, however, even she
+must count with me."
+
+"Paul told me," said Vinicius, "that God forewarns sometimes, but does
+not permit us to believe in omens; hence I guard myself against this
+belief, but I cannot ward it off. I will tell thee what happened, so as
+to cast the weight from my heart. Lygia and I were sitting side by side
+on a night as calm as this, and planning our future. I cannot tell thee
+how happy and calm we were. All at once lions began to roar. That is
+common in Rome, but since then I have no rest. It seems to me that
+in that roaring there was a threat, an announcement as it were of
+misfortune. Thou knowest that I am not frightened easily; that night,
+however, something happened which filled all the darkness with terror.
+It came so strangely and unexpectedly that I have those sounds in my
+ears yet, and unbroken fear in my heart, as if Lygia were asking my
+protection from something dreadful,--even from those same lions. I am in
+torture. Obtain for me permission to leave Antium, or I shall go without
+it. I cannot remain. I repeat to thee, I cannot!"
+
+"Sons of consuls or their wives are not given to lions yet in the
+arenas," said Petronius, laughing. "Any other death may meet thee but
+that. Who knows, besides, that they were lions? German bisons roar with
+no less gentleness than lions. As to me, I ridicule omens and fates.
+Last night was warm and I saw stars falling like rain. Many a man has
+an evil foreboding at such a sight; but I thought, 'If among these is my
+star too, I shall not lack society at least!'" Then he was silent, but
+added after a moment's thought,--"If your Christ has risen from the
+dead, He may perhaps protect you both from death."
+
+"He may," answered Vinicius, looking at the heavens filled with stars.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLI
+
+
+NERO played and sang, in honor of the "Lady of Cyprus," a hymn the
+verses and music of which were composed by himself. That day he was in
+voice, and felt that his music really captivated those present. That
+feeling added such power to the sounds produced and roused his own
+soul so much that he seemed inspired. At last he grew pale from genuine
+emotion. This was surely the first time that he had no desire to hear
+praises from others. He sat for a time with his hands on the cithara and
+with bowed head; then, rising suddenly, he said,--
+
+"I am tired and need air, Meanwhile ye will tune the citharae."
+
+He covered his throat then with a silk kerchief.
+
+"Ye will go with me," said he, turning to Petronius and Vinicius, who
+were sitting in a corner of the hall. "Give me thy arm, Vinicius, for
+strength fails me; Petronius will talk to me of music."
+
+They went out on the terrace, which was paved with alabaster and
+sprinkled with saffron.
+
+"Here one can breathe more freely," said Nero. "My soul is moved and
+sad, though I see that with what I have sung to thee on trial just now
+I may appear in public, and my triumph will be such as no Roman has ever
+achieved."
+
+"Thou mayst appear here, in Rome, in Achaea. I admire thee with my whole
+heart and mind, divinity," answered Petronius.
+
+"I know. Thou art too slothful to force thyself to flattery, and thou
+art as sincere as Tullius Senecio, but thou hast more knowledge than he.
+Tell me, what is thy judgment on music?"
+
+"When I listen to poetry, when I look at a quadriga directed by thee
+in the Circus, when I look at a beautiful statue, temple, or picture, I
+feel that I comprehend perfectly what I see, that my enthusiasm takes
+in all that these can give. But when I listen to music, especially thy
+music, new delights and beauties open before me every instant. I pursue
+them, I try to seize them; but before I can take them to myself, new
+and newer ones flow in, just like waves of the sea, which roll on from
+infinity. Hence I tell thee that music is like the sea. We stand on one
+shore and gaze at remoteness, but we cannot see the other shore."
+
+"Ah, what deep knowledge thou hast!" said Nero; and they walked on for
+a moment, only the slight sound of the saffron leaves under their feet
+being heard.
+
+"Thou hast expressed my idea," said Nero at last; "hence I say now, as
+ever, in all Rome thou art the only man able to understand me. Thus it
+is, my judgment of music is the same as thine. When I play and sing, I
+see things which I did not know as existing in my dominions or in the
+world. I am Caesar, and the world is mine. I can do everything. But music
+opens new kingdoms to me, new mountains, new seas, new delights unknown
+before. Most frequently I cannot name them or grasp them; I only feel
+them. I feel the gods, I see Olympus. Some kind of breeze from beyond
+the earth blows in on me; I behold, as in a mist, certain immeasurable
+greatnesses, but calm and bright as sunshine. The whole Spheros plays
+around me; and I declare to thee" (here Nero's voice quivered with
+genuine wonder) "that I, Caesar and god, feel at such times as diminutive
+as dust. Wilt thou believe this?"
+
+"I will. Only great artists have power to feel small in the presence of
+art."
+
+"This is a night of sincerity; hence I open my soul to thee as to a
+friend, and I will say more: dost thou consider that I am blind or
+deprived of reason? Dost thou think that I am ignorant of this,
+that people in Rome write insults on the walls against me, call me a
+matricide, a wife-murderer, hold me a monster and a tyrant, because
+Tigellinus obtained a few sentences of death against my enemies? Yes, my
+dear, they hold me a monster, and I know it. They have talked cruelty on
+me to that degree that at times I put the question to myself, 'Am I not
+cruel?' But they do not understand this, that a man's deeds may be cruel
+at times while he himself is not cruel. Ah, no one will believe, and
+perhaps even thou, my dear, wilt not believe, that at moments when music
+caresses my soul I feel as kind as a child in the cradle. I swear by
+those stars which shine above us, that I speak the pure truth to thee.
+People do not know how much goodness lies in this heart, and what
+treasures I see in it when music opens the door to them."
+
+Petronius, who had not the least doubt that Nero was speaking sincerely
+at that moment, and that music might bring out various more noble
+inclinations of his soul, which were overwhelmed by mountains of
+egotism, profligacy, and crime, said,--"Men should know thee as nearly
+as I do; Rome has never been able to appreciate thee."
+
+Caesar leaned more heavily on Vinicius's arm, as if he were bending under
+the weight of injustice, and answered,--
+
+"Tigellinus has told me that in the Senate they whisper into one
+another's ears that Diodorus and Terpnos play on the cithara better than
+I. They refuse me even that! But tell me, thou who art truthful always,
+do they play better, or as well?"
+
+"By no means. Thy touch is finer, and has greater power. In thee the
+artist is evident, in them the expert. The man who hears their music
+first understands better what thou art."
+
+"If that be true, let them live. They will never imagine what a service
+thou hast rendered them in this moment. For that matter, if I had
+condemned those two, I should have had to take others in place of them."
+
+"And people would say, besides, that out of love for music thou
+destroyest music in thy dominions. Never kill art for art's sake, O
+divinity."
+
+"How different thou art from Tigellinus!" answered Nero. "But seest
+thou, I am an artist in everything; and since music opens for me
+spaces the existence of which I had not divined, regions which I do
+not possess, delight and happiness which I do not know, I cannot live a
+common life. Music tells me that the uncommon exists, so I seek it with
+all the power of dominion which the gods have placed in my hands. At
+times it seems to me that to reach those Olympian worlds I must do
+something which no man has done hitherto,--I must surpass the stature
+of man in good or evil. I know that people declare me mad. But I am not
+mad, I am only seeking. And if I am going mad, it is out of disgust and
+impatience that I cannot find. I am seeking! Dost understand me? And
+therefore I wish to be greater than man, for only in that way can I be
+the greatest as an artist."
+
+Here he lowered his voice so that Vinicius could not hear him, and,
+putting his mouth to the ear of Petronius, he whispered,--"Dost know
+that I condemned my mother and wife to death mainly because I wished
+to lay at the gate of an unknown world the greatest sacrifice that man
+could put there? I thought that afterward something would happen, that
+doors would be opened beyond which I should see something unknown. Let
+it be wonderful or awful, surpassing human conception, if only great and
+uncommon. But that sacrifice was not sufficient. To open the empyrean
+doors it is evident that something greater is needed, and let it be
+given as the Fates desire."
+
+"What dost thou intend to do?"
+
+"Thou shalt see sooner than thou thinkest. Meanwhile be assured that
+there are two Neros,--one such as people know, the other an artist, whom
+thou alone knowest, and if he slays as does death, or is in frenzy
+like Bacchus, it is only because the flatness and misery of common life
+stifle him; and I should like to destroy them, though I had to use fire
+or iron. Oh, how flat this world will be when I am gone from it! No man
+has suspected yet, not thou even, what an artist I am. But precisely
+because of this I suffer, and sincerely do I tell thee that the soul in
+me is as gloomy as those cypresses which stand dark there in front of
+us. It is grievous for a man to bear at once the weight of supreme power
+and the highest talents."
+
+"I sympathize with thee, O Caesar; and with me earth and sea, not
+counting Vinicius, who deifies thee in his soul."
+
+"He, too, has always been dear to me," said Caesar, "though he serves
+Mars, not the Muses."
+
+"He serves Aphrodite first of all," answered Petronius. And suddenly he
+determined to settle the affair of his nephew at a blow, and at the same
+time to eliminate every danger which might threaten him. "He is in love,
+as was Troilus with Cressida. Permit him, lord, to visit Rome, for he
+is dying on my hands. Dost thou know that that Lygian hostage whom thou
+gavest him has been found, and Vinicius, when leaving for Antium, left
+her in care of a certain Linus? I did not mention this to thee, for thou
+wert composing thy hymn, and that was more important than all besides.
+Vinicius wanted her as a mistress; but when she turned out to be as
+virtuous as Lucretia, he fell in love with her virtue, and now his
+desire is to marry her. She is a king's daughter, hence she will cause
+him no detriment; but he is a real soldier: he sighs and withers and
+groans, but he is waiting for the permission of his Imperator."
+
+"The Imperator does not choose wives for his soldiers. What good is my
+permission to Vinicius?"
+
+"I have told thee, O lord, that he deifies thee."
+
+"All the more may he be certain of permission. That is a comely maiden,
+but too narrow in the hips. The Augusta Poppaea has complained to me that
+she enchanted our child in the gardens of the Palatine."
+
+"But I told Tigellinus that the gods are not subject to evil charms.
+Thou rememberest, divinity, his confusion and thy exclamation, 'Habet!'"
+
+"I remember."
+
+Here he turned to Vinicius,--"Dost thou love her, as Petronius says?"
+
+"I love her, lord," replied Vinicius.
+
+"Then I command thee to set out for Rome to-morrow, and marry her.
+Appear not again before my eyes without the marriage ring."
+
+"Thanks to thee, lord, from my heart and soul."
+
+"Oh, how pleasant it is to make people happy!" said Nero. "Would that I
+might do nothing else all my life!"
+
+"Grant us one favor more, O divinity," said Petronius: "declare thy will
+in this matter before the Augusta. Vinicius would never venture to wed
+a woman displeasing to the Augusta; thou wilt dissipate her prejudice, O
+lord, with a word, by declaring that thou hast commanded this marriage."
+
+"I am willing," said Caesar. "I could refuse nothing to thee or
+Vinicius."
+
+He turned toward the villa, and they followed. Their hearts were filled
+with delight over the victory; and Vinicius had to use self-restraint to
+avoid throwing himself on the neck of Petronius, for it seemed now that
+all dangers and obstacles were removed.
+
+In the atrium of the villa young Nerva and Tullius Senecio were
+entertaining the Augusta with conversation. Terpnos and Diodorus were
+tuning citharae.
+
+Nero entered, sat in an armchair inlaid with tortoise-shell, whispered
+something in the ear of a Greek slave near his side, and waited.
+
+The page returned soon with a golden casket. Nero opened it and took out
+a necklace of great opals.
+
+"These are jewels worthy of this evening," said he.
+
+"The light of Aurora is playing in them," answered Poppaea, convinced
+that the necklace was for her.
+
+Caesar, now raising, now lowering the rosy stones, said at
+last,--"Vinicius, thou wilt give, from me, this necklace to her whom I
+command thee to marry, the youthful daughter of the Lygian king."
+
+Poppaea's glance, filled with anger and sudden amazement, passed from
+Caesar to Vinicius. At last it rested on Petronius. But he, leaning
+carelessly over the arm of the chair, passed his hand along the back of
+the harp as if to fix its form firmly in his mind.
+
+Vinicius gave thanks for the gift, approached Petronius, and
+asked,--"How shall I thank thee for what thou hast done this day for
+me?"
+
+"Sacrifice a pair of swans to Euterpe," replied Petronius, "praise
+Caesar's songs, and laugh at omens. Henceforth the roaring of lions will
+not disturb thy sleep, I trust, nor that of thy Lygian lily."
+
+"No," said Vinicius; "now I am perfectly at rest."
+
+"May Fortune favor thee! But be careful, for Caesar is taking his lute
+again. Hold thy breath, listen, and shed tears."
+
+In fact Caesar had taken the lute and raised his eyes. In the hall
+conversation had stopped, and people were as still as if petrified.
+Terpnos and Diodorus, who had to accompany Caesar, were on the alert,
+looking now at each other and now at his lips, waiting for the first
+tones of the song.
+
+Just then a movement and noise began in the entrance; and after a moment
+Caesar's freedman, Phaon, appeared from beyond the curtain. Close behind
+him was the consul Lecanius.
+
+Nero frowned.
+
+"Pardon, divine Imperator," said Phaon, with panting voice, "there is a
+conflagration in Rome! The greater part of the city is in flames!"
+
+At this news all sprang from their seats.
+
+"O gods! I shall see a burning city and finish the Troyad," said Nero,
+setting aside his lute.
+
+Then he turned to the consul,--"If I go at once, shall I see the fire?"
+
+"Lord," answered Lecanius, as pale as a wall, "the whole city is one
+sea of flame; smoke is suffocating the inhabitants, and people faint, or
+cast themselves into the fire from delirium. Rome is perishing, lord."
+
+A moment of silence followed, which was broken by the cry of Vinicius,--
+
+"Vae misero mihi!"
+
+And the young man, casting his toga aside, rushed forth in his tunic.
+Nero raised his hands and exclaimed,--
+
+"Woe to thee, sacred city of Priam!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLII
+
+
+VINICIUS had barely time to command a few slaves to follow him; then,
+springing on his horse, he rushed forth in the deep night along the
+empty streets toward Laurentum. Through the influence of the dreadful
+news he had fallen as it were into frenzy and mental distraction. At
+moments he did not know clearly what was happening in his mind; he had
+merely the feeling that misfortune was on the horse with him, sitting
+behind his shoulders, and shouting in his ears, "Rome is burning!" that
+it was lashing his horse and him, urging them toward the fire. Laying
+his bare head on the beast's neck, he rushed on, in his single tunic,
+alone, at random, not looking ahead, and taking no note of obstacles
+against which he might perchance dash himself.
+
+In silence and in that calm night, the rider and the horse, covered with
+gleams of the moon, seemed like dream visions. The Idumean stallion,
+dropping his ears and stretching his neck, shot on like an arrow past
+the motionless cypresses and the white villas hidden among them. The
+sound of hoofs on the stone flags roused dogs here and there; these
+followed the strange vision with their barking; afterward, excited by
+its suddenness, they fell to howling, and raised their jaws toward the
+moon. The slaves hastening after Vinicius soon dropped behind, as their
+horses were greatly inferior. When he had rushed like a storm through
+sleeping Laurentum, he turned toward Ardea, in which, as in Aricia,
+Bovillae, and Ustrinum, he had kept relays of horses from the day of
+his coming to Antium, so as to pass in the shortest time possible the
+interval between Rome and him. Remembering these relays, he forced all
+the strength from his horse.
+
+Beyond Ardea it seemed to him that the sky on the northeast was covered
+with a rosy reflection. That might be the dawn, for the hour was late,
+and in July daybreak came early. But Vinicius could not keep down a cry
+of rage and despair, for it seemed to him that that was the glare of the
+conflagration. He remembered the consul's words, "The whole city is one
+sea of flame," and for a while he felt that madness was threatening him
+really, for he had lost utterly all hope that he could save Lygia, or
+even reach the city before it was turned into one heap of ashes. His
+thoughts were quicker now than the rush of the stallion, they flew on
+ahead like a flock of birds, black, monstrous, and rousing despair. He
+knew not, it is true, in what part of the city the fire had begun;
+but he supposed that the Trans-Tiber division, as it was packed with
+tenements, timber-yards, storehouses, and wooden sheds serving as slave
+marts, might have become the first food of the flames.
+
+In Rome fires happened frequently enough; during these fires, as
+frequently, deeds of violence and robbery were committed, especially in
+the parts occupied by a needy and half-barbarous population. What
+might happen, therefore, in a place like the Trans-Tiber, which was
+the retreat of a rabble collected from all parts of the earth? Here
+the thought of Ursus with his preterhuman power flashed into Vinicius's
+head; but what could be done by a man, even were he a Titan, against the
+destructive force of fire?
+
+The fear of servile rebellion was like a nightmare, which had stifled
+Rome for whole years. It was said that hundreds of thousands of those
+people were thinking of the times of Spartacus, and merely waiting for
+a favorable moment to seize arms against their oppressors and Rome. Now
+the moment had come! Perhaps war and slaughter were raging in the city
+together with fire. It was possible even that the pretorians had hurled
+themselves on the city, and were slaughtering at command of Caesar.
+
+And that moment the hair rose from terror on his head. He recalled all
+the conversations about burning cities, which for some time had been
+repeated at Caesar's court with wonderful persistence; he recalled
+Caesar's complaints that he was forced to describe a burning city without
+having seen a real fire; his contemptuous answer to Tigellinus, who
+offered to burn Antium or an artificial wooden city; finally, his
+complaints against Rome, and the pestilential alleys of the Subura. Yes;
+Caesar has commanded the burning of the city! He alone could give such a
+command, as Tigellinus alone could accomplish it. But if Rome is burning
+at command of Caesar, who can be sure that the population will not be
+slaughtered at his command also? The monster is capable even of such a
+deed. Conflagration, a servile revolt, and slaughter! What a horrible
+chaos, what a letting loose of destructive elements and popular frenzy!
+And in all this is Lygia.
+
+The groans of Vinicius were mingled with the snorting and groans of
+his horse; the beast, running on a road which rose continually toward
+Aricia, was using the last of its breath. Who will snatch her from
+the burning city; who can save her? Here Vinicius, stretching himself
+entirely on the horse, thrust his fingers into his own hair, ready to
+gnaw the beast's neck from pain.
+
+At that moment a horseman, rushing also like a whirlwind, but in the
+opposite direction, toward Antium, shouted as he raced past, "Rome is
+perishing!" and on he went. To the ears of Vinicius came only one more
+expression: "Gods!" the rest was drowned by the thunder of hoofs. But
+that expression sobered him,--"Gods!"
+
+Vinicius raised his head suddenly, and, stretching his arms toward the
+sky filled with stars, began to pray.
+
+"Not to you do I call whose temples are burning, but to Thee! Thou
+Thyself hast suffered. Thou alone art merciful! Thou alone hast
+understood people's pain; Thou didst come to this world to teach pity to
+mankind; then show it now. If Thou art what Peter and Paul declare, save
+for me Lygia, take her in Thy arms, bear her out of the flames. Thou
+hast the power to do that! Give her to me, and I will give Thee my
+blood. But if Thou art unwilling to do this for me, do it for her. She
+loves Thee and trusts in Thee. Thou dost promise life and happiness
+after death, but happiness after death will not pass away, and she does
+not wish to die yet. Let her live. Take her in Thy arms, bear her out of
+Rome. Thou canst do so, unless Thou art unwilling."
+
+And he stopped, for he felt that further prayer might turn to a threat;
+he feared to offend Divinity at the moment when he needed favor and
+mercy most. He was terrified at the very thought of that, and, so as not
+to admit to his head a shade even of threat, he began to lash his horse
+again, especially since the white walls of Aricia, which lay midway to
+Rome, gleamed up before him in the moonlight.
+
+After a time he rushed at full speed past the temple of Mercury,
+which stood in a grove before the city. Evidently people knew of the
+catastrophe, for there was an uncommon movement in front of the temple.
+While passing, Vinicius saw crowds on the steps and between the columns.
+These people holding torches were hastening to put themselves under
+protection of the deity. Moreover the road was not so empty or free
+as beyond Ardea. Crowds were hurrying, it is true, to the grove
+by side-paths, but on the main road were groups which pushed aside
+hurriedly before the on-rushing horseman. From the town came the sound
+of voices. Vinicius rode into Aricia like a whirlwind, overturning and
+trampling a number of persons on the way. He was surrounded by shouts of
+"Rome is burning!" "Rome is on fire!" "May the gods rescue Rome!"
+
+The horse stumbled, but, reined in by a powerful hand, rose on his
+haunches before the inn, where Vinicius had another beast in relay.
+Slaves, as if waiting for the arrival of their master, stood before the
+inn, and at his command ran one before the other to lead out a fresh
+horse. Vinicius, seeing a detachment of ten mounted pretorians, going
+evidently with news from the city to Antium, sprang toward them.
+
+"What part of the city is on fire?" inquired he.
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the decurion.
+
+"Vinicius, a tribune of the army, an Augustian. Answer on thy head!"
+
+"The fire broke out in the shops near the Circus Maximus. When we were
+despatched, the centre of the city was on fire."
+
+"And the Trans-Tiber?"
+
+"The fire has not reached the Trans-Tiber yet, but it is seizing new
+parts every moment with a force which nothing can stop. People are
+perishing from heat and smoke; all rescue is impossible."
+
+At this moment they brought the fresh horse. The young tribune sprang to
+his back and rushed on. He was riding now toward Albanum, leaving Alba
+Longa and its splendid lake on the right. The road from Aricia lay at
+the foot of the mountain, which hid the horizon completely, and Albanum
+lying on the other side of it. But Vinicius knew that on reaching the
+top he should see, not only Bovillae and Ustrinum, where fresh horses
+were ready for him, but Rome as well: for beyond Albanum the low level
+Campania stretched on both sides of the Appian Way, along which only the
+arches of the aqueducts ran toward the city, and nothing obstructed the
+view.
+
+"From the top I shall see the flames," said he; and he began to lash his
+horse anew. But before he had reached the top of the mountain he
+felt the wind on his face, and with it came the odor of smoke to his
+nostrils. At the same time the summit of the height was becoming gilded.
+
+"The fire!" thought Vinicius.
+
+The night had paled long since, the dawn had passed into light, and on
+all the nearer summits golden and rosy gleams were shining, which might
+come either from burning Rome or the rising daylight. Vinicius touched
+the summit at last, and then a terrible sight struck his eyes.
+
+The whole lower region was covered with smoke, forming as it were one
+gigantic cloud lying close to the earth. In this cloud towns, aqueducts,
+villas, trees, disappeared; but beyond this gray ghastly plain the city
+was burning on the hills.
+
+The conflagration had not the form of a pillar of fire, as happens when
+a single building is burning, even when of the greatest size. That was a
+long belt, rather, shaped like the belt of dawn. Above this belt rose a
+wave of smoke, in places entirely black, in places looking rose-colored,
+in places like blood, in places turning in on itself, in some places
+inflated, in others squeezed and squirming, like a serpent which is
+unwinding and extending. That monstrous wave seemed at times to cover
+even the belt of fire, which became then as narrow as a ribbon; but
+later this ribbon illuminated the smoke from beneath, changing its lower
+rolls into waves of flame. The two extended from one side of the sky to
+the other, hiding its lower part, as at times a stretch of forest hides
+the horizon. The Sabine hills were not visible in the least.
+
+To Vinicius it seemed at the first glance of the eye that not only the
+city was burning, but the whole world, and that no living being could
+save itself from that ocean of flame and smoke.
+
+The wind blew with growing strength from the region of the fire,
+bringing the smell of burnt things and of smoke, which began to hide
+even nearer objects. Clear daylight had come, and the sun lighted up the
+summits surrounding the Alban Lake. But the bright golden rays of
+the morning appeared as it were reddish and sickly through the haze.
+Vinicius, while descending toward Albanum, entered smoke which was
+denser, less and less transparent. The town itself was buried in it
+thoroughly. The alarmed citizens had moved out to the street. It was
+a terror to think of what might be in Rome, when it was difficult to
+breathe in Albanum.
+
+Despair seized Vinicius anew, and terror began to raise the hair on
+his head. But he tried to fortify himself as best he might. "It is
+impossible," thought he, "that a city should begin to burn in all places
+at once. The wind is blowing from the north and bears smoke in this
+direction only. On the other side there is none. But in every case it
+will be enough for Ursus to go through the Janiculum gate with Lygia, to
+save himself and her. It is equally impossible that a whole population
+should perish, and the world-ruling city be swept from the face of the
+earth with its inhabitants. Even in captured places, where fire and
+slaughter rage together, some people survive in all cases; why, then,
+should Lygia perish of a certainty? On the contrary, God watches over
+her, He who Himself, conquered death." Thus reasoning, he began to pray
+again, and, yielding to fixed habit, he made great vows to Christ, with
+promises of gifts and sacrifices. After he had hurried through Albanum,
+nearly all of whose inhabitants were on roofs and on trees to look at
+Rome, he grew somewhat calm, and regained his cool blood. He remembered,
+too, that Lygia was protected not only by Ursus and Linus, but by the
+Apostle Peter. At the mere remembrance of this, fresh solace entered
+his heart. For him Peter was an incomprehensible, an almost superhuman
+being. From the time when he heard him at Ostrianum, a wonderful
+impression clung to him, touching which he had written to Lygia at the
+beginning of his stay in Antium,--that every word of the old man was
+true, or would show its truth hereafter. The nearer acquaintance
+which during his illness he had formed with the Apostle heightened the
+impression, which was turned afterward into fixed faith. Since Peter had
+blessed his love and promised him Lygia, Lygia could not perish in the
+flames. The city might burn, but no spark from the fire would fall on
+her garments. Under the influence of a sleepless night, mad riding, and
+impressions, a wonderful exaltation possessed the young tribune; in this
+exaltation all things seemed possible: Peter speaks to the flame,
+opens it with a word, and they pass uninjured through an alley of fire.
+Moreover, Peter saw future events; hence, beyond doubt, he foresaw the
+fire, and in that ease how could he fail to warn and lead forth the
+Christians from the city, and among others Lygia, whom he loved, as he
+might his own child? And a hope, which was strengthening every moment,
+entered the heart of Vinicius. If they were fleeing from the city, he
+might find them in Bovillae, or meet them on the road. The beloved face
+might appear any moment from out the smoke, which was stretching more
+widely over all the Campania.
+
+This seemed to him more likely, since he met increasing numbers of
+people, who had deserted the city and were going to the Alban Hills;
+they had escaped the fire, and wished to go beyond the line of smoke.
+Before he had reached Ustrinum he had to slacken his pace because of the
+throng. Besides pedestrians with bundles on their backs, he met horses
+with packs, mules and vehicles laden with effects, and finally litters
+in which slaves were bearing the wealthier citizens. Ustrinum was so
+thronged with fugitives from Rome that it was difficult to push through
+the crowd. On the market square, under temple porticos, and on the
+streets were swarms of fugitives. Here and there people were erecting
+tents under which whole families were to find shelter. Others settled
+down under the naked sky, shouting, calling on the gods, or cursing the
+fates. In the general terror it was difficult to inquire about anything.
+People to whom Vinicius applied either did not answer, or with eyes
+half bewildered from terror answered that the city and the world were
+perishing. New crowds of men, women, and children arrived from the
+direction of Rome every moment; these increased the disorder and outcry.
+Some, gone astray in the throng, sought desperately those whom they had
+lost; others fought for a camping-place. Half-wild shepherds from the
+Campania crowded to the town to hear news, or find profit in plunder
+made easy by the uproar. Here and there crowds of slaves of every
+nationality and gladiators fell to robbing houses and villas in the
+town, and to fighting with the soldiers who appeared in defence of the
+citizens.
+
+Junius, a senator, whom Vinicius saw at the inn surrounded by a
+detachment of Batavian slaves, was the first to give more detailed news
+of the conflagration. The fire had begun at the Circus Maximus, in the
+part which touches the Palatine and the Caelian Hill, but extended with
+incomprehensible rapidity and seized the whole centre of the city. Never
+since the time of Brennus had such an awful catastrophe come upon
+Rome. "The entire Circus has burnt, as well as the shops and houses
+surrounding it," said Junius; "the Aventine and Caelian Hills are on
+fire. The flames surrounding the Palatine have reached the Carinae."
+
+Here Junius, who possessed on the Carinae a magnificent "insula," filled
+with works of art which he loved, seized a handful of foul dust, and,
+scattering it on his head, began to groan despairingly.
+
+But Vinicius shook him by the shoulder: "My house too is on the Carinae,"
+said he; "but when everything is perishing, let it perish also."
+
+Then recollecting that at his advice Lygia might have gone to the house
+of Aulus, he inquired,--
+
+"But the Vicus Patricius?"
+
+"On fire!" replied Junius.
+
+"The Trans-Tiber?"
+
+Junius looked at him with amazement.
+
+"Never mind the Trans-Tiber," said he, pressing his aching temples with
+his palms.
+
+"The Trans-Tiber is more important to me than all other parts of Rome,"
+cried Vinicius, with vehemence.
+
+"The way is through the Via Portuensis, near the Aventine; but the heat
+will stifle thee. The Trans-Tiber? I know not. The fire had not reached
+it; but whether it is not there at this moment the gods alone know."
+Here Junius hesitated a moment, then said in a low voice: "I know that
+thou wilt not betray me, so I will tell thee that this is no common
+fire. People were not permitted to save the Circus. When houses began to
+burn in every direction, I myself heard thousands of voices exclaiming,
+'Death to those who save!' Certain people ran through the city and
+hurled burning torches into buildings. On the other hand people are
+revolting, and crying that the city is burning at command. I can say
+nothing more. Woe to the city, woe to us all, and to me! The tongue of
+man cannot tell what is happening there. People are perishing in flames
+or slaying one another in the throng. This is the end of Rome!"
+
+And again he fell to repeating, "Woe! Woe to the city and to us!"
+Vinicius sprang to his horse, and hurried forward along the Appian
+Way. But now it was rather a struggling through the midst of a river of
+people and vehicles, which was flowing from the city. The city, embraced
+by a monstrous conflagration, lay before Vinicius as a thing on the palm
+of his hand. From the sea of fire and smoke came a terrible heat, and
+the uproar of people could not drown the roar and the hissing of flames.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIII
+
+
+As Vinicius approached the walls, he found it easier to reach Rome than
+penetrate to the middle of the city. It was difficult to push along the
+Appian Way, because of the throng of people. Houses, fields, cemeteries,
+gardens, and temples, lying on both sides of it, were turned into
+camping places. In the temple of Mars, which stood near the Porta Appia,
+the crowd had thrown down the doors, so as to find a refuge within
+during night-hours. In the cemeteries the larger monuments were seized,
+and battles fought in defence of them, which were carried to bloodshed.
+Ustrinum with its disorder gave barely a slight foretaste of that which
+was happening beneath the walls of the capital. All regard for the
+dignity of law, for family ties, for difference of position, had ceased.
+Gladiators drunk with wine seized in the Emporium gathered in crowds,
+ran with wild shouts through the neighboring squares, scattering,
+trampling, and robbing the people. A multitude of barbarians, exposed
+for sale in the city, escaped from the booths. For them the burning and
+ruin of Rome was at once the end of slavery and the hour of revenge; so
+that when the permanent inhabitants, who had lost all they owned in the
+fire, stretched their hands to the gods in despair, calling for rescue,
+these slaves with howls of delight scattered the crowds, dragged
+clothing from people's backs, and bore away the younger women. They
+were joined by slaves serving in the city from of old, wretches who had
+nothing on their bodies save woollen girdles around their hips, dreadful
+figures from the alleys, who were hardly ever seen on the streets in the
+daytime, and whose existence in Rome it was difficult to suspect. Men of
+this wild and unrestrained crowd, Asiatics, Africans, Greeks, Thracians,
+Germans, Britons, howling in every language of the earth, raged,
+thinking that the hour had come in which they were free to reward
+themselves for years of misery and suffering. In the midst of that
+surging throng of humanity, in the glitter of day and of fire, shone
+the helmets of pretorians, under whose protection the more peaceable
+population had taken refuge, and who in hand-to-hand battle had to meet
+the raging multitude in many places. Vinicius had seen captured cities,
+but never had his eyes beheld a spectacle in which despair, tears, pain,
+groans, wild delight, madness, rage, and license were mingled together
+in such immeasurable chaos. Above this heaving, mad human multitude
+roared the fire, surging up to the hill-tops of the greatest city on
+earth, sending into the whirling throng its fiery breath, and covering
+it with smoke, through which it was impossible to see the blue sky. The
+young tribune with supreme effort, and exposing his life every moment,
+forced his way at last to the Appian Gate; but there he saw that he
+could not reach the city through the division of the Porta Capena, not
+merely because of the throng, but also because of the terrible heat from
+which the whole atmosphere was quivering inside the gate. Besides, the
+bridge at the Porta Trigenia, opposite the temple of the Bona Dea, did
+not exist yet, hence whoso wished to go beyond the Tiber had to push
+through to the Pons Sublicius, that is, to pass around the Aventine
+through a part of the city covered now with one sea of flame. That
+was an impossibility. Vinicius understood that he must return toward
+Ustrinum, turn from the Appian Way, cross the river below the city, and
+go to the Via Portuensis, which led straight to the Trans-Tiber. That
+was not easy because of the increasing disorder on the Appian Way. He
+must open a passage for himself there, even with the sword. Vinicius had
+no weapons; he had left Antium just as the news of the fire had reached
+him in Caesar's villa. At the fountain of Mercury, however, he saw a
+centurion who was known to him. This man, at the head of a few tens of
+soldiers, was defending the precinct of the temple; he commanded him to
+follow. Recognizing a tribune and an Augustian, the centurion did not
+dare to disobey the order.
+
+Vinicius took command of the detachment himself, and, forgetting for
+that moment the teaching of Paul touching love for one's neighbor, he
+pressed and cut the throng in front with a haste that was fatal to many
+who could not push aside in season. He and his men were followed by
+curses and a shower of stones; but to these he gave no heed, caring
+only to reach freer spaces at the earliest. Still he advanced with the
+greatest effort. People who had encamped would not move, and heaped
+loud curses on Caesar and the pretorians. The throng assumed in places a
+threatening aspect. Vinicius heard voices accusing Nero of burning
+the city. He and Poppaea were threatened with death. Shouts of "Sanio,"
+"Histrio" (buffoon, actor), "Matricide!" were heard round about. Some
+shouted to drag him to the Tiber; others that Rome had shown patience
+enough. It was clear that were a leader found, these threats could be
+changed into open rebellion which might break out any moment. Meanwhile
+the rage and despair of the crowd turned against the pretorians, who for
+another reason could not make their way out of the crowd: the road
+was blocked by piles of goods, borne from the fire previously, boxes,
+barrels of provisions, furniture the most costly, vessels, infants'
+cradles, beds, carts, hand-packs. Here and there they fought hand to
+hand; but the pretorians conquered the weaponless multitude easily.
+After they had ridden with difficulty across the Viae Latina, Numitia,
+Ardea, Lavinia, and Ostia, and passed around villas, gardens,
+cemeteries, and temples, Vinicius reached at last a village called Vicus
+Alexandri, beyond which he crossed the Tiber. There was more open space
+at this spot, and less smoke. From fugitives, of whom there was no lack
+even there, he learned that only certain alleys of the Trans-Tiber
+were burning, but that surely nothing could resist the fury of the
+conflagration, since people were spreading the fire purposely, and
+permitted no one to quench it, declaring that they acted at command. The
+young tribune had not the least doubt then that Caesar had given command
+to burn Rome; and the vengeance which people demanded seemed to him just
+and proper. What more could Mithridates or any of Rome's most inveterate
+enemies have done? The measure had been exceeded; his madness had grown
+to be too enormous, and the existence of people too difficult because
+of him. Vinicius believed that Nero's hour had struck, that those ruins
+into which the city was falling should and must overwhelm the monstrous
+buffoon together with all those crimes of his. Should a man be found of
+courage sufficient to stand at the head of the despairing people, that
+might happen in a few hours. Here vengeful and daring thoughts began to
+fly through his head. But if he should do that? The house of Vinicius,
+which till recent times counted a whole series of consuls, was known
+throughout Rome. The crowds needed only a name. Once, when four hundred
+slaves of the prefect Pedanius Secundus were sentenced, Rome reached the
+verge of rebellion and civil war. What would happen to-day in view of a
+dreadful calamity surpassing almost everything which Rome had undergone
+in the course of eight centuries? Whoso calls the Quirites to arms,
+thought Vinicius, will overthrow Nero undoubtedly, and clothe himself
+in purple. And why should he not do this? He was firmer, more active,
+younger than other Augustians. True, Nero commanded thirty legions
+stationed on the borders of the Empire; but would not those legions and
+their leaders rise up at news of the burning of Rome and its temples?
+And in that case Vinicius might become Caesar. It was even whispered
+among the Augustians that a soothsayer had predicted the purple to Otho.
+In what way was he inferior to Otho? Perhaps Christ Himself would assist
+him with His divine power; maybe that inspiration was His? "Oh, would
+that it were!" exclaimed Vinicius, in spirit. He would take vengeance on
+Nero for the danger of Lygia and his own fear; he would begin the
+reign of truth and justice, he would extend Christ's religion from the
+Euphrates to the misty shores of Britain; he would array Lygia in the
+purple, and make her mistress of the world.
+
+But these thoughts which had burst forth in his head like a bunch of
+sparks from a blazing house, died away like sparks. First of all was the
+need to save Lygia. He looked now on the catastrophe from near by; hence
+fear seized him again, and before that sea of flame and smoke, before
+the touch of dreadful reality, that confidence with which he believed
+that Peter would rescue Lygia died in his heart altogether. Despair
+seized him a second time when he had come out on the Via Portuensis,
+which led directly to the Trans-Tiber. He did not recover till he came
+to the gate, where people repeated what fugitives had said before, that
+the greater part of that division of the city was not seized by the
+flames yet, but that fire had crossed the river in a number of places.
+
+Still the Trans-Tiber was full of smoke, and crowds of fugitives made it
+more difficult to reach the interior of the place, since people, having
+more time there, had saved greater quantities of goods. The main street
+itself was in many parts filled completely, and around the Naumachia
+Augusta great heaps were piled up. Narrow alleys, in which smoke had
+collected more densely, were simply impassable. The inhabitants were
+fleeing in thousands. On the way Vinicius saw wonderful sights. More
+than once two rivers of people, flowing in opposite directions, met in a
+narrow passage, stopped each other, men fought hand to hand, struck and
+trampled one another. Families lost one another in the uproar; mothers
+called on their children despairingly. The young tribune's hair stood
+on end at thought of what must happen nearer the fire. Amid shouts and
+howls it was difficult to inquire about anything or understand what was
+said. At times new columns of smoke from beyond the river rolled toward
+them, smoke black and so heavy that it moved near the ground, hiding
+houses, people, and every object, just as night does. But the wind
+caused by the conflagration blew it away again, and then Vinicius pushed
+forward farther toward the alley in which stood the house of Linus. The
+fervor of a July day, increased by the heat of the burning parts of the
+city, became unendurable. Smoke pained the eyes; breath failed in men's
+breasts. Even the inhabitants who, hoping that the fire would not cross
+the river, had remained in their houses so far, began to leave them;
+and the throng increased hourly. The pretorians accompanying Vinicius
+remained in the rear. In the crush some one wounded his horse with
+a hammer; the beast threw up its bloody head, reared, and refused
+obedience. The crowd recognized in Vinicius an Augustian by his rich
+tunic, and at once cries were raised round about: "Death to Nero and his
+incendiaries!" This was a moment of terrible danger; hundreds of hands
+were stretched toward Vinicius; but his frightened horse bore him away,
+trampling people as he went, and the next moment a new wave of black
+smoke rolled in and filled the street with darkness. Vinicius, seeing
+that he could not ride past, sprang to the earth and rushed forward
+on foot, slipping along walls, and at times waiting till the fleeing
+multitude passed him. He said to himself in spirit that these were vain
+efforts. Lygia might not be in the city; she might have saved herself
+by flight. It was easier to find a pin on the seashore than her in that
+crowd and chaos. Still he wished to reach the house of Linus, even
+at the cost of his own life. At times he stopped and rubbed his eyes.
+Tearing off the edge of his tunic, he covered his nose and mouth with
+it and ran on. As he approached the river, the heat increased terribly.
+Vinicius, knowing that the fire had begun at the Circus Maximus, thought
+at first that that heat came from its cinders and from the Forum Boarium
+and the Velabrum, which, situated near by, must be also in flames. But
+the heat was growing unendurable. One old man on crutches and fleeing,
+the last whom Vinicius noticed, cried: "Go not near the bridge of
+Cestius! The whole island is on fire!" It was, indeed, impossible to
+be deceived any longer. At the turn toward the Vicus Judaeorum, on which
+stood the house of Linus, the young tribune saw flames amid clouds of
+smoke. Not only the island was burning, but the Trans-Tiber, or at least
+the other end of the street on which Lygia dwelt.
+
+Vinicius remembered that the house of Linus was surrounded by a garden;
+between the garden and the Tiber was an unoccupied field of no great
+size. This thought consoled him. The fire might stop at the vacant
+place. In that hope he ran forward, though every breeze brought not only
+smoke, but sparks in thousands, which might raise a fire at the other
+end of the alley and cut off his return.
+
+At last he saw through the smoky curtain the cypresses in Linus's
+garden.
+
+The houses beyond the unoccupied field were burning already like piles
+of fuel, but Linus's little "insula" stood untouched yet. Vinicius
+glanced heavenward with thankfulness, and sprang toward the house though
+the very air began to burn him. The door was closed, but he pushed it
+open and rushed in.
+
+There was not a living soul in the garden, and the house seemed
+quite empty. "Perhaps they have fainted from smoke and heat," thought
+Vinicius. He began to call,--
+
+"Lygia! Lygia!"
+
+Silence answered him. Nothing could be heard in the stillness there save
+the roar of the distant fire.
+
+"Lygia!"
+
+Suddenly his ear was struck by that gloomy sound which he had heard
+before in that garden. Evidently the vivarium near the temple of
+Esculapius, on the neighboring island, had caught fire. In this vivarium
+every kind of wild beast, and among others lions, began to roar from
+affright. A shiver ran through Vinicius from foot to head. Now, a second
+time, at a moment when his whole being was concentrated in Lygia, these
+terrible voices answered, as a herald of misfortune, as a marvellous
+prophecy of an ominous future.
+
+But this was a brief impression, for the thunder of the flames, more
+terrible yet than the roaring of wild beasts, commanded him to think of
+something else. Lygia did not answer his calls; but she might be in a
+faint or stifled in that threatened building. Vinicius sprang to the
+interior. The little atrium was empty, and dark with smoke. Feeling for
+the door which led to the sleeping-rooms, he saw the gleaming flame of
+a small lamp, and approaching it saw the lararium in which was a cross
+instead of lares. Under the cross a taper was burning. Through the head
+of the young catechumen, the thought passed with lightning speed that
+that cross sent him the taper with which he could find Lygia; hence he
+took the taper and searched for the sleeping-rooms. He found one, pushed
+aside the curtains, and, holding the taper, looked around.
+
+There was no one there, either. Vinicius was sure that he had found
+Lygia's sleeping-room, for her clothing was on nails in the wall, and
+on the bed lay a capitium, or close garment worn by women next the body.
+Vinicius seized that, pressed it to his lips, and taking it on his arm
+went farther. The house was small, so that he examined every room, and
+even the cellar quickly. Nowhere could he find a living soul. It was
+evident that Lygia, Linus, and Ursus, with other inhabitants of that
+part, must have sought safety in flight.
+
+"I must seek them among the crowd beyond the gates of the city," thought
+Vinicius.
+
+He was not astonished greatly at not meeting them on the Via Portuensis,
+for they might have left the Trans-Tiber through the opposite side along
+the Vatican Hill. In every case they were safe from fire at least. A
+stone fell from his breast. He saw, it is true, the terrible danger with
+which the flight was connected, but he was comforted at thought of the
+preterhuman strength of Ursus. "I must flee now," said he, "and reach
+the gardens of Agrippina through the gardens of Domitius, where I shall
+find them. The smoke is not so terrible there, since the wind blows from
+the Sabine Hill."
+
+The hour had come now in which he must think of his own safety, for the
+river of fire was flowing nearer and nearer from the direction of the
+island, and rolls of smoke covered the alley almost completely. The
+taper, which had lighted him in the house, was quenched from the current
+of air. Vinicius rushed to the street, and ran at full speed toward the
+Via Portuensis, whence he had come; the fire seemed to pursue him with
+burning breath, now surrounding him with fresh clouds of smoke, now
+covering him with sparks, which fell on his hair, neck, and clothing.
+The tunic began to smoulder on him in places; he cared not, but ran
+forward lest he might be stifled from smoke. He had the taste of soot
+and burning in his mouth; his throat and lungs were as if on fire. The
+blood rushed to his head, and at moments all things, even the smoke
+itself, seemed red to him. Then he thought: "This is living fire! Better
+cast myself on the ground and perish." The running tortured him more
+and more. His head, neck, and shoulders were streaming with sweat, which
+scalded like boiling water. Had it not been for Lygia's name, repeated
+by him in thought, had it not been for her capitium, which he wound
+across his mouth, he would have fallen. Some moments later he failed to
+recognize the street along which he ran. Consciousness was leaving him
+gradually; he remembered only that he must flee, for in the open field
+beyond waited Lygia, whom Peter had promised him. And all at once he was
+seized by a certain wonderful conviction, half feverish, like a vision
+before death, that he must see her, marry her, and then die.
+
+But he ran on as if drunk, staggering from one side of the street to the
+other. Meanwhile something changed in that monstrous conflagration
+which had embraced the giant city. Everything which till then had only
+glimmered, burst forth visibly into one sea of flame; the wind had
+ceased to bring smoke. That smoke which had collected in the streets
+was borne away by a mad whirl of heated air. That whirl drove with it
+millions of sparks, so that Vinicius was running in a fiery cloud as it
+were. But he was able to see before him all the better, and in a moment,
+almost when he was ready to fall, he saw the end of the street. That
+sight gave him fresh strength. Passing the corner, he found himself in a
+street which led to the Via Portuensis and the Codetan Field. The sparks
+ceased to drive him. He understood that if he could run to the Via
+Portuensis he was safe, even were he to faint on it.
+
+At the end of the street he saw again a cloud, as it seemed, which
+stopped the exit. "If that is smoke," thought he, "I cannot pass." He
+ran with the remnant of his strength. On the way he threw off his
+tunic, which, on fire from the sparks, was burning him like the shirt
+of Nessus, having only Lygia's capitium around his head and before his
+mouth. When he had run farther, he saw that what he had taken for smoke
+was dust, from which rose a multitude of cries and voices.
+
+"The rabble are plundering houses," thought Vinicius. But he ran toward
+the voices. In every case people were there; they might assist him. In
+this hope he shouted for aid with all his might before he reached them.
+But this was his last effort. It grew redder still in his eyes, breath
+failed his lungs, strength failed his bones; he fell.
+
+They heard him, however, or rather saw him. Two men ran with gourds
+full of water. Vinicius, who had fallen from exhaustion but had not lost
+consciousness, seized a gourd with both hands, and emptied one-half of
+it.
+
+"Thanks," said he; "place me on my feet, I can walk on alone."
+
+The other laborer poured water on his head; the two not only placed
+him on his feet, but raised him from the ground, and carried him to the
+others, who surrounded him and asked if he had suffered seriously. This
+tenderness astonished Vinicius.
+
+"People, who are ye?" asked he.
+
+"We are breaking down houses, so that the fire may not reach the Via
+Portuensis," answered one of the laborers.
+
+"Ye came to my aid when I had fallen. Thanks to you."
+
+"We are not permitted to refuse aid," answered a number of voices.
+
+Vinicius, who from early morning had seen brutal crowds, slaying and
+robbing, looked with more attention on the faces around him, and said,--
+
+"May Christ reward you."
+
+"Praise to His name!" exclaimed a whole chorus of voices.
+
+"Linus?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+But he could not finish the question or hear the answer, for he fainted
+from emotion and over-exertion. He recovered only in the Codetan Field
+in a garden, surrounded by a number of men and women. The first words
+which he uttered were,--
+
+"Where is Linus?"
+
+For a while there was no answer; then some voice, known to Vinicius,
+said all at once,--
+
+"He went out by the Nomentan Gate to Ostrianum two days ago. Peace be
+with thee, O king of Persia!"
+
+Vinicius rose to a sitting posture, and saw Chilo before him.
+
+"Thy house is burned surely, O lord," said the Greek, "for the Carinae
+is in flames; but thou wilt be always as rich as Midas. Oh, what a
+misfortune! The Christians, O son of Serapis, have predicted this long
+time that fire would destroy the city. But Linus, with the daughter of
+Jove, is in Ostrianum. Oh, what a misfortune for the city!"
+
+Vinicius became weak again.
+
+"Hast thou seen them?" he inquired.
+
+"I saw them, O lord. May Christ and all the gods be thanked that I am
+able to pay for thy benefactions with good news. But, O Cyrus, I shall
+pay thee still more, I swear by this burning Rome."
+
+It was evening, but in the garden one could see as in daylight, for the
+conflagration had increased. It seemed that not single parts of the city
+were burning, but the whole city through the length and the breadth of
+it. The sky was red as far as the eye could see it, and that night in
+the world was a red night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIV
+
+
+Light from the burning city filled the sky as far as human eye could
+reach. The moon rose large and full from behind the mountains, and
+inflamed at once by the glare took on the color of heated brass.
+It seemed to look with amazement on the world-ruling city which was
+perishing. In the rose-colored abysses of heaven rose-colored stars were
+glittering; but in distinction from usual nights the earth was brighter
+than the heavens. Rome, like a giant pile, illuminated the whole
+Campania. In the bloody light were seen distant mountains, towns,
+villas, temples, mountains, and the aqueducts stretching toward the city
+from all the adjacent hills; on the aqueducts were swarms of people, who
+had gathered there for safety or to gaze at the burning.
+
+Meanwhile the dreadful element was embracing new divisions of the city.
+It was impossible to doubt that criminal hands were spreading the fire,
+since new conflagrations were breaking out all the time in places remote
+from the principal fire. From the heights on which Rome was founded the
+flames flowed like waves of the sea into the valleys densely occupied by
+houses,--houses of five and six stories, full of shops, booths, movable
+wooden amphitheatres, built to accommodate various spectacles; and
+finally storehouses of wood, olives, grain, nuts, pine cones, the
+kernels of which nourished the more needy population, and clothing,
+which through Caesar's favor was distributed from time to time among the
+rabble huddled into narrow alleys. In those places the fire, finding
+abundance of inflammable materials, became almost a series of
+explosions, and took possession of whole streets with unheard-of
+rapidity. People encamping outside the city, or standing on the
+aqueducts knew from the color of the flame what was burning. The furious
+power of the wind carried forth from the fiery gulf thousands and
+millions of burning shells of walnuts and almonds, which, shooting
+suddenly into the sky, like countless flocks of bright butterflies,
+burst with a crackling, or, driven by the wind, fell in other parts of
+the city, on aqueducts, and fields beyond Rome. All thought of rescue
+seemed out of place; confusion increased every moment, for on one side
+the population of the city was fleeing through every gate to places
+outside; on the other the fire had lured in thousands of people from the
+neighborhood, such as dwellers in small towns, peasants, and half-wild
+shepherds of the Campania, brought in by hope of plunder. The shout,
+"Rome is perishing!" did not leave the lips of the crowd; the ruin of
+the city seemed at that time to end every rule, and loosen all bonds
+which hitherto had joined people in a single integrity. The mob, in
+which slaves were more numerous, cared nothing for the lordship of Rome.
+Destruction of the city could only free them; hence here and there they
+assumed a threatening attitude. Violence and robbery were extending. It
+seemed that only the spectacle of the perishing city arrested attention,
+and restrained for the moment an outburst of slaughter, which would
+begin as soon as the city was turned into ruins. Hundreds of thousands
+of slaves, forgetting that Rome, besides temples and walls, possessed
+some tens of legions in all parts of the world, appeared merely waiting
+for a watchword and a leader. People began to mention the name of
+Spartacus, but Spartacus was not alive. Meanwhile citizens assembled,
+and armed themselves each with what he could. The most monstrous reports
+were current at all the gates. Some declared that Vulcan, commanded
+by Jupiter, was destroying the city with fire from beneath the earth;
+others that Vesta was taking vengeance for Rubria. People with these
+convictions did not care to save anything, but, besieging the temples,
+implored mercy of the gods. It was repeated most generally, however,
+that Caesar had given command to burn Rome, so as to free himself from
+odors which rose from the Subura, and build a new city under the name
+of Neronia. Rage seized the populace at thought of this; and if, as
+Vinicius believed, a leader had taken advantage of that outburst of
+hatred, Nero's hour would have struck whole years before it did.
+
+It was said also that Caesar had gone mad, that he would command
+pretorians and gladiators to fall upon the people and make a general
+slaughter. Others swore by the gods that wild beasts had been let out
+of all the vivaria at Bronzebeard's command. Men had seen on the streets
+lions with burning manes, and mad elephants and bisons, trampling down
+people in crowds. There was even some truth in this; for in certain
+places elephants, at sight of the approaching fire, had burst the
+vivaria, and, gaining their freedom, rushed away from the fire in wild
+fright, destroying everything before them like a tempest. Public report
+estimated at tens of thousands the number of persons who had perished
+in the conflagration. In truth a great number had perished. There were
+people who, losing all their property, or those dearest their hearts,
+threw themselves willingly into the flames, from despair. Others were
+suffocated by smoke. In the middle of the city, between the Capitol, on
+one side, and the Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Esquiline on the other,
+as also between the Palatine and the Caelian Hill, where the streets were
+most densely occupied, the fire began in so many places at once
+that whole crowds of people, while fleeing in one direction, struck
+unexpectedly on a new wall of fire in front of them, and died a dreadful
+death in a deluge of flame.
+
+In terror, in distraction, and bewilderment, people knew not where to
+flee. The streets were obstructed with goods, and in many narrow places
+were simply closed. Those who took refuge in those markets and squares
+of the city, where the Flavian Amphitheatre stood afterward, near the
+temple of the Earth, near the Portico of Silvia, and higher up, at the
+temples of Juno and Lucinia, between the Clivus Virbius and the old
+Esquiline Gate, perished from heat, surrounded by a sea of fire. In
+places not reached by the flames were found afterward hundreds of bodies
+burned to a crisp, though here and there unfortunates tore up flat
+stones and half buried themselves in defence against the heat. Hardly a
+family inhabiting the centre of the city survived in full; hence along
+the walls, at the gates, on all roads were heard howls of despairing
+women, calling on the dear names of those who had perished in the throng
+or the fire.
+
+And so, while some were imploring the gods, others blasphemed them
+because of this awful catastrophe. Old men were seen coming from the
+temple of Jupiter Liberator, stretching forth their hands, and crying,
+"If thou be a liberator, save thy altars and the city!" But despair
+turned mainly against the old Roman gods, who, in the minds of the
+populace, were bound to watch over the city more carefully than others.
+They had proved themselves powerless; hence were insulted. On the other
+hand it happened on the Via Asinaria that when a company of Egyptian
+priests appeared conducting a statue of Isis, which they had saved from
+the temple near the Porta Caelimontana, a crowd of people rushed among
+the priests, attached themselves to the chariot, which they drew to the
+Appian Gate, and seizing the statue placed it in the temple of Mars,
+overwhelming the priests of that deity who dared to resist them. In
+other places people invoked Serapis, Baal, or Jehovah, whose adherents,
+swarming out of the alleys in the neighborhood of the Subura and the
+Trans-Tiber, filled with shouts and uproar the fields near the walls. In
+their cries were heard tones as if of triumph; when, therefore, some of
+the citizens joined the chorus and glorified "the Lord of the World,"
+others, indignant at this glad shouting, strove to repress it by
+violence. Here and there hymns were heard, sung by men in the bloom of
+life, by old men, by women and children,--hymns wonderful and solemn,
+whose meaning they understood not, but in which were repeated from
+moment to moment the words, "Behold the Judge cometh in the day of
+wrath and disaster." Thus this deluge of restless and sleepless people
+encircled the burning city, like a tempest-driven sea.
+
+But neither despair nor blasphemy nor hymn helped in any way.
+The destruction seemed as irresistible, perfect, and pitiless as
+Predestination itself. Around Pompey's Amphitheatre stores of hemp
+caught fire, and ropes used in circuses, arenas, and every kind of
+machine at the games, and with them the adjoining buildings containing
+barrels of pitch with which ropes were smeared. In a few hours all that
+part of the city, beyond which lay the Campus Martius, was so lighted by
+bright yellow flames that for a time it seemed to the spectators, only
+half conscious from terror, that in the general ruin the order of night
+and day had been lost, and that they were looking at sunshine. But later
+a monstrous bloody gleam extinguished all other colors of flame. From
+the sea of fire shot up to the heated sky gigantic fountains, and
+pillars of flame spreading at their summits into fiery branches and
+feathers; then the wind bore them away, turned them into golden threads,
+into hair, into sparks, and swept them on over the Campania toward
+the Alban Hills. The night became brighter; the air itself seemed
+penetrated, not only with light, but with flame. The Tiber flowed on
+as living fire. The hapless city was turned into one pandemonium. The
+conflagration seized more and more space, took hills by storm, flooded
+level places, drowned valleys, raged, roared, and thundered.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLV
+
+
+MACRINUS, a weaver, to whose house Vinicius was carried, washed him,
+and gave him clothing and food. When the young tribune had recovered his
+strength altogether, he declared that he would search further for
+Linus that very night. Macrinus, who was a Christian, confirmed
+Chilo's report, that Linus, with Clement the chief priest, had gone to
+Ostrianum, where Peter was to baptize a whole company of confessors of
+the new faith. In that division of the city it was known to Christians
+that Linus had confided the care of his house two days before to a
+certain Gaius. For Vinicius this was a proof that neither Lygia nor
+Ursus had remained in the house, and that they also must have gone to
+Ostrianum.
+
+This thought gave him great comfort. Linus was an old man, for whom it
+would be difficult to walk daily to the distant Nomentan Gate, and back
+to the Trans-Tiber; hence it was likely that he lodged those few days
+with some co-religionist beyond the walls, and with him also Lygia and
+Ursus. Thus they escaped the fire, which in general had not reached the
+other slope of the Esquiline. Vinicius saw in all this a dispensation of
+Christ, whose care he felt above him, and his heart was filled more
+than ever with love; he swore in his soul to pay with his whole life for
+those clear marks of favor.
+
+But all the more did he hurry to Ostrianum. He would find Lygia, find
+Linus and Peter; he would take them to a distance, to some of his lands,
+even to Sicily. Let Rome burn; in a few days it would be a mere heap of
+ashes. Why remain in the face of disaster and a mad rabble? In his lands
+troops of obedient slaves would protect them, they would be surrounded
+by the calm of the country, and live in peace under Christ's wings
+blessed by Peter. Oh, if he could find them!
+
+That was no easy thing. Vinicius remembered the difficulty with which
+he had passed from the Appian Way to the Trans-Tiber, and how he must
+circle around to reach the Via Portuensis. He resolved, therefore, to
+go around the city this time in the opposite direction. Going by the
+Via Triumphatoris, it was possible to reach the AEmilian bridge by
+going along the river, thence passing the Pincian Hill, all the Campus
+Martius, outside the gardens of Pompey, Lucullus, and Sallust, to make
+a push forward to the Via Nomentana. That was the shortest way; but
+Macrinus and Chilo advised him not to take it. The fire had not touched
+that part of the city, it is true; but all the market squares and
+streets might be packed densely with people and their goods. Chilo
+advised him to go through the Ager Vaticanus to the Porta Flaminia,
+cross the river at that point, and push on outside the walls beyond
+the gardens of Acilius to the Porta Salaria. Vinicius, after a moment's
+hesitation, took this advice.
+
+Macrinus had to remain in care of his house; but he provided two mules,
+which would serve Lygia also in a further journey. He wished to give a
+slave, too; but Vinicius refused, judging that the first detachment of
+pretorians he met on the road would pass under his orders.
+
+Soon he and Chilo moved on through the Pagus Janiculensis to the
+Triumphal Way. There were vehicles there, too, in open places; but they
+pushed between them with less difficulty, as the inhabitants had fled
+for the greater part by the Via Portuensis toward the sea. Beyond the
+Septimian Gate they rode between the river and the splendid gardens of
+Domitius; the mighty cypresses were red from the conflagration, as
+if from evening sunshine. The road became freer; at times they had to
+struggle merely with the current of incoming rustics. Vinicius urged his
+mule forward as much as possible; but Chilo, riding closely in the rear,
+talked to himself almost the whole way.
+
+"Well, we have left the fire behind, and now it is heating our
+shoulders. Never yet has there been so much light on this road in the
+night-time. O Zeus! if thou wilt not send torrents of rain on that fire,
+thou hast no love for Rome, surely. The power of man will not quench
+those flames. Such a city,--a city which Greece and the whole world was
+serving! And now the first Greek who comes along may roast beans in its
+ashes. Who could have looked for this? And now there will be no longer a
+Rome, nor Roman rulers. Whoso wants to walk on the ashes, when they
+grow cold, and whistle over them, may whistle without danger. O gods!
+to whistle over such a world-ruling city! What Greek, or even barbarian,
+could have hoped for this? And still one may whistle; for a heap of
+ashes, whether left after a shepherd's fire or a burnt city, is mere
+ashes, which the wind will blow away sooner or later."
+
+Thus talking, he turned from moment to moment toward the conflagration,
+and looked at the waves of flame with a face filled at once with delight
+and malice.
+
+"It will perish! It will perish!" continued he, "and will never be on
+earth again. Whither will the world send its wheat now, its olives,
+and its money? Who will squeeze gold and tears from it? Marble does not
+burn, but it crumbles in fire. The Capitol will turn into dust, and the
+Palatine into dust. O Zeus! Rome was like a shepherd, and other nations
+like sheep. When the shepherd was hungry, he slaughtered a sheep, ate
+the flesh, and to thee, O father of the gods, he made an offering of
+the skin. Who, O Cloud-compeller, will do the slaughtering now, and into
+whose hand wilt thou put the shepherd's whip? For Rome is burning, O
+father, as truly as if thou hadst fired it with thy thunderbolt."
+
+"Hurry!" urged Vinicius; "what art thou doing there?"
+
+"I am weeping over Rome, lord,--Jove's city!"
+
+For a time they rode on in silence, listening to the roar of the
+burning, and the sound of birds' wings. Doves, a multitude of which had
+their nests about villas and in small towns of the Campania, and
+also every kind of field-bird from near the sea and the surrounding
+mountains, mistaking evidently the gleam of the conflagration for
+sunlight, were flying, whole flocks of them, blindly into the fire.
+Vinicius broke the silence first,--
+
+"Where wert thou when the fire burst out?"
+
+"I was going to my friend Euricius, lord, who kept a shop near the
+Circus Maximus, and I was just meditating on the teaching of Christ,
+when men began to shout: 'Fire!' People gathered around the Circus for
+safety, and through curiosity; but when the flames seized the whole
+Circus, and began to appear in other places also, each had to think of
+his own safety."
+
+"Didst thou see people throwing torches into houses?"
+
+"What have I not seen, O grandson of AEneas! I saw people making a way
+for themselves through the crowd with swords; I have seen battles, the
+entrails of people trampled on the pavement. Ah, if thou hadst seen
+that, thou wouldst have thought that barbarians had captured the city,
+and were putting it to the sword. People round about cried that the end
+of the world had come. Some lost their heads altogether, and, forgetting
+to flee, waited stupidly till the flames seized them. Some fell into
+bewilderment, others howled in despair; I saw some also who howled from
+delight. O lord, there are many bad people in the world who know not
+how to value the benefactions of your mild rule, and those just laws
+in virtue of which ye take from all what they have and give it to
+yourselves. People will not be reconciled to the will of God!"
+
+Vinicius was too much occupied with his own thoughts to note the irony
+quivering in Chilo's words. A shudder of terror seized him at the simple
+thought that Lygia might be in the midst of that chaos on those terrible
+streets where people's entrails were trampled on. Hence, though he had
+asked at least ten times of Chilo touching all which the old man could
+know, he turned to him once again,--
+
+"But hast thou seen them in Ostrianum with thy own eyes?"
+
+"I saw them, O son of Venus; I saw the maiden, the good Lygian, holy
+Linus, and the Apostle Peter."
+
+"Before the fire?"
+
+"Before the fire, O Mithra!"
+
+But a doubt rose in the soul of Vinicius whether Chilo was not lying;
+hence, reining his mule in, he looked threateningly at the old Greek and
+inquired,--
+
+"What wert thou doing there?"
+
+Chilo was confused. True, it seemed to him, as to many, that with the
+destruction of Rome would come the end also of Roman dominion. But he
+was face to face with Vinicius; he remembered that the young soldier had
+prohibited him, under a terrible threat, from watching the Christians,
+and especially Linus and Lygia.
+
+"Lord," said he, "why dost thou not believe that I love them? I do. I
+was in Ostrianum, for I am half a Christian. Pyrrho has taught me to
+esteem virtue more than philosophy; hence I cleave more and more to
+virtuous people. And, besides, I am poor; and when thou, O Jove, wert at
+Antium, I suffered hunger frequently over my books; therefore I sat at
+the wall of Ostrianum, for the Christians, though poor, distribute more
+alms than all other inhabitants of Rome taken together."
+
+This reason seemed sufficient to Vinicius, and he inquired less
+severely,--
+
+"And dost thou not know where Linus is dwelling at this moment?"
+
+"Thou didst punish me sharply on a time for curiosity," replied the
+Greek.
+
+Vinicius ceased talking and rode on.
+
+"O lord," said Chilo, after a while, "thou wouldst not have found the
+maiden but for me, and if we find her now, thou wilt not forget the
+needy sage?"
+
+"Thou wilt receive a house with a vineyard at Ameriola."
+
+"Thanks to thee, O Hercules! With a vineyard? Thanks to thee! Oh, yes,
+with a vineyard!"
+
+They were passing the Vatican Hill now, which was ruddy from the fire;
+but beyond the Naumachia they turned to the right, so that when they had
+passed the Vatican Field they would reach the river, and, crossing it,
+go to the Flaminian Gate. Suddenly Chilo reined in his mule, and said,--
+
+"A good thought has come to my head, lord!"
+
+"Speak!" answered Vinicius.
+
+"Between the Janiculum and the Vatican Hill, beyond the gardens of
+Agrippina, are excavations from which stones and sand were taken to
+build the Circus of Nero. Hear me, lord. Recently the Jews, of whom,
+as thou knowest, there is a multitude in Trans-Tiber, have begun to
+persecute Christians cruelly. Thou hast in mind that in the time of the
+divine Claudius there were such disturbances that Caesar was forced to
+expel them from Rome. Now, when they have returned, and when, thanks
+to the protection of the Augusta, they feel safe, they annoy Christians
+more insolently. I know this; I have seen it. No edict against
+Christians has been issued; but the Jews complain to the prefect of
+the city that Christians murder infants, worship an ass, and preach a
+religion not recognized by the Senate; they beat them, and attack their
+houses of prayer so fiercely that the Christians are forced to hide."
+
+"What dost thou wish to say?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"This, lord, that synagogues exist openly in the Trans-Tiber; but that
+Christians, in their wish to avoid persecution, are forced to pray in
+secret and assemble in ruined sheds outside the city or in sand-pits.
+Those who dwell in the Trans-Tiber have chosen just that place which was
+excavated for the building of the Circus and various houses along the
+Tiber. Now, when the city is perishing, the adherents of Christ are
+praying. Beyond doubt we shall find a countless number of them in the
+excavation; so my advice is to go in there along the road."
+
+"But thou hast said that Linus has gone to Ostrianum," cried Vinicius
+impatiently.
+
+"But thou has promised me a house with a vineyard at Ameriola," answered
+Chilo; "for that reason I wish to seek the maiden wherever I hope to
+find her. They might have returned to the Trans-Tiber after the outbreak
+of the fire. They might have gone around outside the city, as we are
+doing at this moment. Linus has a house, perhaps he wished to be nearer
+his house to see if the fire had seized that part of the city also. If
+they have returned, I swear to thee, by Persephone, that we shall find
+them at prayer in the excavation; in the worst event, we shall get
+tidings of them."
+
+"Thou art right; lead on!" said the tribune.
+
+Chilo, without hesitation, turned to the left toward the hill.
+
+For a while the slope of the hill concealed the conflagration, so that,
+though the neighboring heights were in the light, the two men were in
+the shade. When they had passed the Circus, they turned still to
+the left, and entered a kind of passage completely dark. But in that
+darkness Vinicius saw swarms of gleaming lanterns.
+
+"They are there," said Chilo. "There will be more of them to-day than
+ever, for other houses of prayer are burnt or are filled with smoke, as
+is the whole Trans-Tiber."
+
+"True!" said Vinicius, "I hear singing."
+
+In fact, the voices of people singing reached the hill from the dark
+opening, and the lanterns vanished in it one after the other. But from
+side passages new forms appeared continually, so that after some time
+Vinicius and Chilo found themselves amid a whole assemblage of people.
+
+Chilo slipped from his mule, and, beckoning to a youth who sat near,
+said to him,--"I am a priest of Christ and a bishop. Hold the mules for
+us; thou wilt receive my blessing and forgiveness of sins."
+
+Then, without waiting for an answer, he thrust the reins into his hands,
+and, in company with Vinicius, joined the advancing throng.
+
+They entered the excavation after a while, and pushed on through the
+dark passage by the dim light of lanterns till they reached a spacious
+cave, from which stone had been taken evidently, for the walls were
+formed of fresh fragments.
+
+It was brighter there than in the corridor, for, in addition to tapers
+and lanterns, torches were burning. By the light of these Vinicius saw
+a whole throng of kneeling people with upraised hands. He could not
+see Lygia, the Apostle Peter, or Linus, but he was surrounded by faces
+solemn and full of emotion. On some of them expectation or alarm was
+evident; on some, hope. Light was reflected in the whites of their
+upraised eyes; perspiration was flowing along their foreheads, pale as
+chalk; some were singing hymns, others were repeating feverishly the
+name of Jesus, some were beating their breasts. It was apparent that
+they expected something uncommon at any moment.
+
+Meanwhile the hymn ceased, and above the assembly, in a niche formed by
+the removal of an immense stone, appeared Crispus, the acquaintance
+of Vinicius, with a face as it were half delirious, pale, stern, and
+fanatical. All eyes were turned to him, as though waiting for words of
+consolation and hope. After he had blessed the assembly, he began in
+hurried, almost shouting tones,--
+
+"Bewail your sins, for the hour has come! Behold the Lord has sent down
+destroying flames on Babylon, on the city of profligacy and crime. The
+hour of judgment has struck, the hour of wrath and dissolution. The Lord
+has promised to come, and soon you will see Him. He will not come as the
+Lamb, who offered His blood for your sins, but as an awful judge, who in
+His justice will hurl sinners and unbelievers into the pit. Woe to the
+world, woe to sinners! there will be no mercy for them. I see Thee, O
+Christ! Stars are falling to the earth in showers, the sun is darkened,
+the earth opens in yawning gulfs, the dead rise from their graves, but
+Thou art moving amid the sound of trumpets and legions of angels, amid
+thunders and lightnings. I see Thee, I hear Thee, O Christ!"
+
+Then he was silent, and, raising his eyes, seemed to gaze into
+something distant and dreadful. That moment a dull roar was heard in the
+cave,--once, twice, a tenth time, in the burning city whole streets of
+partly consumed houses began to fall with a crash. But most Christians
+took those sounds as a visible sign that the dreadful hour was
+approaching; belief in the early second coming of Christ and in the end
+of the world was universal among them, now the destruction of the city
+had strengthened it. Terror seized the assembly. Many voices repeated,
+"The day of judgment! Behold, it is coming!" Some covered their faces
+with their hands, believing that the earth would be shaken to its
+foundation, that beasts of hell would rush out through its openings and
+hurl themselves on sinners. Others cried, "Christ have mercy on us!"
+"Redeemer, be pitiful!" Some confessed their sins aloud; others cast
+themselves into the arms of friends, so as to have some near heart with
+them in the hour of dismay.
+
+But there were faces which seemed rapt into heaven, faces with smiles
+not of earth; these showed no fear. In some places were heard voices;
+those were of people who in religious excitement had begun to cry out
+unknown words in strange languages. Some person in a dark corner cried,
+"Wake thou that sleepest!" Above all rose the shout of Crispus, "Watch
+ye! watch ye!"
+
+At moments, however, silence came, as if all were holding the breath in
+their breasts, and waiting for what would come. And then was heard the
+distant thunder of parts of the city falling into ruins, after which
+were heard again groans and cries,--"Renounce earthly riches, for soon
+there will be no earth beneath your feet! Renounce earthly loves, for
+the Lord will condemn those who love wife or child more than Him. Woe to
+the one who loves the creature more than the Creator! Woe to the rich!
+woe to the luxurious! woe to the dissolute! woe to husband, wife, and
+child!"
+
+Suddenly a roar louder than any which had preceded shook the quarry. All
+fell to the earth, stretching their arms in cross form to ward away
+evil spirits by that figure. Silence followed, in which was heard only
+panting breath, whispers full of terror, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and
+in places the weeping of children. At that moment a certain calm voice
+spoke above that prostrate multitude,--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+That was the voice of Peter the Apostle, who had entered the cave a
+moment earlier. At the sound of his voice terror passed at once, as it
+passes from a flock in which the shepherd has appeared. People rose from
+the earth; those who were nearer gathered at his knees, as if seeking
+protection under his wings. He stretched his hands over them and said,--
+
+"Why are ye troubled in heart? Who of you can tell what will happen
+before the hour cometh? The Lord has punished Babylon with fire; but His
+mercy will be on those whom baptism has purified, and ye whose sins are
+redeemed by the blood of the Lamb will die with His name on your lips.
+Peace be with you!"
+
+After the terrible and merciless words of Crispus, those of Peter fell
+like a balm on all present. Instead of fear of God, the love of God took
+possession of their spirits. Those people found the Christ whom they
+had learned to love from the Apostle's narratives; hence not a merciless
+judge, but a mild and patient Lamb, whose mercy surpasses man's
+wickedness a hundredfold. A feeling of solace possessed the whole
+assembly; and comfort, with thankfulness to the Apostle, filled their
+hearts, Voices from various sides began to cry, "We are thy sheep, feed
+us!" Those nearer said, "Desert us not in the day of disaster!" And they
+knelt at his knees; seeing which Vinicius approached, seized the edge of
+Peter's mantle, and, inclining, said,--
+
+"Save me, lord. I have sought her in the smoke of the burning and in
+the throng of people; nowhere could I find her, but I believe that thou
+canst restore her."
+
+Peter placed his hand on the tribune's head.
+
+"Have trust," said he, "and come with me."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLVI
+
+
+The city burned on. The Circus Maximus had fallen in ruins. Entire
+streets and alleys in parts which began to burn first were falling in
+turn. After every fall pillars of flame rose for a time to the very
+sky. The wind had changed, and blew now with mighty force from the sea,
+bearing toward the Caelian, the Esquiline, and the Viminal rivers of
+flame, brands, and cinders. Still the authorities provided for rescue.
+At command of Tigellinus, who had hastened from Antium the third
+day before, houses on the Esquiline were torn down so that the fire,
+reaching empty spaces, died of itself. That was, however, undertaken
+solely to save a remnant of the city; to save that which was burning
+was not to be thought of. There was need also to guard against further
+results of the ruin. Incalculable wealth had perished in Rome; all the
+property of its citizens had vanished; hundreds of thousands of people
+were wandering in utter want outside the walls. Hunger had begun to
+pinch this throng the second day, for the immense stores of provisions
+in the city had burned with it. In the universal disorder and in the
+destruction of authority no one had thought of furnishing new supplies.
+Only after the arrival of Tigellinus were proper orders sent to Ostia;
+but meanwhile the people had grown more threatening.
+
+The house at Aqua Appia, in which Tigellinus lodged for the moment,
+was surrounded by crowds of women, who from morning till late at night
+cried, "Bread and a roof!" Vainly did pretorians, brought from the great
+camp between the Via Salaria and the Nomentana, strive to maintain order
+of some kind. Here and there they were met by open, armed resistance. In
+places weaponless crowds pointed to the burning city, and shouted,
+"Kill us in view of that fire!" They abused Caesar, the Augustians, the
+pretorians; excitement rose every moment, so that Tigellinus, looking
+at night on the thousands of fires around the city, said to himself that
+those were fires in hostile camps.
+
+Besides flour, as much baked bread as possible was brought at his
+command, not only from Ostia, but from all towns and neighboring
+villages. When the first instalment came at night to the Emporium, the
+people broke the chief gate toward the Aventine, seized all supplies in
+the twinkle of an eye, and caused terrible disturbance. In the light of
+the conflagration they fought for loaves, and trampled many of them into
+the earth. Flour from torn bags whitened like snow the whole space from
+the granary to the arches of Drusus and Germanicus. The uproar continued
+till soldiers seized the building and dispersed the crowd with arrows
+and missiles.
+
+Never since the invasion by the Gauls under Brennus had Rome beheld such
+disaster. People in despair compared the two conflagrations. But in the
+time of Brennus the Capitol remained. Now the Capitol was encircled by a
+dreadful wreath of flame. The marbles, it is true, were not blazing;
+but at night, when the wind swept the flames aside for a moment, rows
+of columns in the lofty sanctuary of Jove were visible, red as glowing
+coals. In the days of Brennus, moreover, Rome had a disciplined integral
+people, attached to the city and its altars; but now crowds of a
+many-tongued populace roamed nomad-like around the walls of burning
+Rome,--people composed for the greater part of slaves and freedmen,
+excited, disorderly, and ready, under the pressure of want, to turn
+against authority and the city.
+
+But the very immensity of the fire, which terrified every heart,
+disarmed the crowd in a certain measure. After the fire might come
+famine and disease; and to complete the misfortune the terrible heat
+of July had appeared. It was impossible to breathe air inflamed both by
+fire and the sun. Night brought no relief, on the contrary it presented
+a hell. During daylight an awful and ominous spectacle met the eye. In
+the centre a giant city on heights was turned into a roaring volcano;
+round about as far as the Alban Hills was one boundless camp, formed of
+sheds, tents, huts, vehicles, bales, packs, stands, fires, all covered
+with smoke and dust, lighted by sun-rays reddened by passing through
+smoke,--everything filled with roars, shouts, threats, hatred and
+terror, a monstrous swarm of men, women, and children. Mingled with
+Quirites were Greeks, shaggy men from the North with blue eyes,
+Africans, and Asiatics; among citizens were slaves, freedmen,
+gladiators, merchants, mechanics, servants, and soldiers,--a real sea of
+people, flowing around the island of fire.
+
+Various reports moved this sea as wind does a real one. These reports
+were favorable and unfavorable. People told of immense supplies of wheat
+and clothing to be brought to the Emporium and distributed gratis. It
+was said, too, that provinces in Asia and Africa would be stripped of
+their wealth at Caesar's command, and the treasures thus gained be
+given to the inhabitants of Rome, so that each man might build his own
+dwelling. But it was noised about also that water in the aqueducts had
+been poisoned; that Nero intended to annihilate the city, destroy the
+inhabitants to the last person, then move to Greece or to Egypt, and
+rule the world from a new place. Each report ran with lightning speed,
+and each found belief among the rabble, causing outbursts of hope,
+anger, terror, or rage. Finally a kind of fever mastered those nomadic
+thousands. The belief of Christians that the end of the world by fire
+was at hand, spread even among adherents of the gods, and extended
+daily. People fell into torpor or madness. In clouds lighted by the
+burning, gods were seen gazing down on the ruin; hands were stretched
+toward those gods then to implore pity or send them curses.
+
+Meanwhile soldiers, aided by a certain number of inhabitants, continued
+to tear down houses on the Esquiline and the Caelian, as also in the
+Trans-Tiber; these divisions were saved therefore in considerable part.
+But in the city itself were destroyed incalculable treasures accumulated
+through centuries of conquest; priceless works of art, splendid temples,
+the most precious monuments of Rome's past, and Rome's glory. They
+foresaw that of all Rome there would remain barely a few parts on the
+edges, and that hundreds of thousands of people would be without a roof.
+Some spread reports that the soldiers were tearing down houses not to
+stop the fire, but to prevent any part of the city from being saved.
+Tigellinus sent courier after courier to Antium, imploring Caesar in each
+letter to come and calm the despairing people with his presence. But
+Nero moved only when fire had seized the "domus transitoria," and he
+hurried so as not to miss the moment in which the conflagration should
+be at its highest.
+
+Meanwhile fire had reached the Via Nomentana, but turned from it at once
+with a change of wind toward the Via Lata and the Tiber. It surrounded
+the Capitol, spread along the Forum Boarium, destroyed everything which
+it had spared before, and approached the Palatine a second time.
+
+Tigellinus, assembling all the pretorian forces, despatched courier
+after courier to Caesar with an announcement that he would lose nothing
+of the grandeur of the spectacle, for the fire had increased.
+
+But Nero, who was on the road, wished to come at night, so as to sate
+himself all the better with a view of the perishing capital. Therefore
+he halted, in the neighborhood of Aqua Albana, and, summoning to his
+tent the tragedian Aliturus, decided with his aid on posture, look,
+and expression; learned fitting gestures, disputing with the actor
+stubbornly whether at the words "O sacred city, which seemed more
+enduring than Ida," he was to raise both hands, or, holding in one the
+forminga, drop it by his side and raise only the other. This question
+seemed to him then more important than all others. Starting at last
+about nightfall, he took counsel of Petronius also whether to the lines
+describing the catastrophe he might add a few magnificent blasphemies
+against the gods, and whether, considered from the standpoint of art,
+they would not have rushed spontaneously from the mouth of a man in such
+a position, a man who was losing his birthplace.
+
+At length he approached the walls about midnight with his numerous
+court, composed of whole detachments of nobles, senators, knights,
+freedmen, slaves, women, and children. Sixteen thousand pretorians,
+arranged in line of battle along the road, guarded the peace and safety
+of his entrance, and held the excited populace at a proper distance. The
+people cursed, shouted, and hissed on seeing the retinue, but dared not
+attack it. In many places, however, applause was given by the rabble,
+which, owning nothing, had lost nothing in the fire, and which hoped for
+a more bountiful distribution than usual of wheat, olives, clothing, and
+money. Finally, shouts, hissing, and applause were drowned in the blare
+of horns and trumpets, which Tigellinus had caused to be sounded.
+
+Nero, on arriving at the Ostian Gate, halted, and said, "Houseless ruler
+of a houseless people, where shall I lay my unfortunate head for the
+night?"
+
+After he had passed the Clivus Delphini, he ascended the Appian aqueduct
+on steps prepared purposely. After him followed the Augustians and a
+choir of singers, bearing citharae, lutes, and other musical instruments.
+
+And all held the breath in their breasts, waiting to learn if he would
+say some great words, which for their own safety they ought to remember.
+But he stood solemn, silent, in a purple mantle, and a wreath of golden
+laurels, gazing at the raging might of the flames. When Terpnos gave
+him a golden lute, he raised his eyes to the sky, filled with the
+conflagration, as if he were waiting for inspiration.
+
+The people pointed at him from afar as he stood in the bloody gleam. In
+the distance fiery serpents were hissing. The ancient and most sacred
+edifices were in flames: the temple of Hercules, reared by Evander, was
+burning; the temple of Jupiter Stator was burning, the temple of Luna,
+built by Servius Tullius, the house of Numa Pompilius, the sanctuary of
+Vesta with the penates of the Roman people; through waving flames the
+Capitol appeared at intervals; the past and the spirit of Rome was
+burning. But he, Caesar, was there with a lute in his hand and a
+theatrical expression on his face, not thinking of his perishing
+country, but of his posture and the prophetic words with which he might
+describe best the greatness of the catastrophe, rouse most admiration,
+and receive the warmest plaudits. He detested that city, he detested its
+inhabitants, beloved only his own songs and verses; hence he rejoiced in
+heart that at last he saw a tragedy like that which he was writing.
+The verse-maker was happy, the declaimer felt inspired, the seeker for
+emotions was delighted at the awful sight, and thought with rapture
+that even the destruction of Troy was as nothing if compared with the
+destruction of that giant city. What more could he desire? There was
+world-ruling Rome in flames, and he, standing on the arches of the
+aqueduct with a golden lute, conspicuous, purple, admired, magnificent,
+poetic. Down below, somewhere in the darkness, the people are muttering
+and storming. But let them mutter! Ages will pass, thousands of years
+will go by, but mankind will remember and glorify the poet, who in that
+night sang the fall and the burning of Troy. What was Homer compared
+with him? What Apollo himself with his hollowed-out lute?
+
+Here he raised his hands and, striking the strings, pronounced the words
+of Priam.
+
+"O nest of my fathers, O dear cradle!" His voice in the open air,
+with the roar of the conflagration, and the distant murmur of crowding
+thousands, seemed marvellously weak, uncertain, and low, and the
+sound of the accompaniment like the buzzing of insects. But senators,
+dignitaries, and Augustians, assembled on the aqueduct, bowed their
+heads and listened in silent rapture. He sang long, and his motive was
+ever sadder. At moments, when he stopped to catch breath, the chorus of
+singers repeated the last verse; then Nero cast the tragic "syrma" [A
+robe with train, worn especially by tragic actors] from his shoulder
+with a gesture learned from Aliturus, struck the lute, and sang on.
+When at last he had finished the lines composed, he improvised, seeking
+grandiose comparisons in the spectacle unfolded before him. His face
+began to change. He was not moved, it is true, by the destruction of his
+country's capital; but he was delighted and moved with the pathos of his
+own words to such a degree that his eyes filled with tears on a sudden.
+At last he dropped the lute to his feet with a clatter, and, wrapping
+himself in the "syrma," stood as if petrified, like one of those statues
+of Niobe which ornamented the courtyard of the Palatine.
+
+Soon a storm of applause broke the silence. But in the distance this was
+answered by the howling of multitudes. No one doubted then that Caesar
+had given command to burn the city, so as to afford himself a spectacle
+and sing a song at it. Nero, when he heard that cry from hundreds of
+thousands, turned to the Augustians with the sad, resigned smile of a
+man who is suffering from injustice.
+
+"See," said he, "how the Quirites value poetry and me."
+
+"Scoundrels!" answered Vatinius. "Command the pretorians, lord, to fall
+on them."
+
+Nero turned to Tigellinus,--
+
+"Can I count on the loyalty of the soldiers?"
+
+"Yes, divinity," answered the prefect.
+
+But Petronius shrugged his shoulders, and said,--
+
+"On their loyalty, yes, but not on their numbers. Remain meanwhile
+where thou art, for here it is safest; but there is need to pacify the
+people."
+
+Seneca was of this opinion also, as was Licinus the consul. Meanwhile
+the excitement below was increasing. The people were arming with stones,
+tent-poles, sticks from the wagons, planks, and various pieces of iron.
+After a while some of the pretorian leaders came, declaring that the
+cohorts, pressed by the multitude, kept the line of battle with extreme
+difficulty, and, being without orders to attack, they knew not what to
+do.
+
+"O gods," said Nero, "what a night!" On one side a fire, on the other
+a raging sea of people. And he fell to seeking expressions the most
+splendid to describe the danger of the moment, but, seeing around him
+alarmed looks and pale faces, he was frightened, with the others.
+
+"Give me my dark mantle with a hood!" cried he; "must it come really to
+battle?"
+
+"Lord," said Tigellinus, in an uncertain voice, "I have done what I
+could, but danger is threatening. Speak, O lord, to the people, and make
+them promises."
+
+"Shall Caesar speak to the rabble? Let another do that in my name. Who
+will undertake it?"
+
+"I!" answered Petronius, calmly.
+
+"Go, my friend; thou art most faithful to me in every necessity. Go, and
+spare no promises."
+
+Petronius turned to the retinue with a careless, sarcastic expression,--
+
+"Senators here present, also Piso, Nerva, and Senecio, follow me."
+
+Then he descended the aqueduct slowly. Those whom he had summoned
+followed, not without hesitation, but with a certain confidence which
+his calmness had given them. Petronius, halting at the foot of the
+arches, gave command to bring him a white horse, and, mounting, rode on,
+at the head of the cavalcade, between the deep ranks of pretorians,
+to the black, howling multitude; he was unarmed, having only a slender
+ivory cane which he carried habitually.
+
+When he had ridden up, he pushed his horse into the throng. All around,
+visible in the light of the burning, were upraised hands, armed with
+every manner of weapon, inflamed eyes, sweating faces, bellowing and
+foaming lips. A mad sea of people surrounded him and his attendants;
+round about was a sea of heads, moving, roaring, dreadful.
+
+The outbursts increased and became an unearthly roar; poles, forks,
+and even swords were brandished above Petronius; grasping hands were
+stretched toward his horse's reins and toward him, but he rode farther;
+cool, indifferent, contemptuous. At moments he struck the most insolent
+heads with his cane, as if clearing a road for himself in an ordinary
+crowd; and that confidence of his, that calmness, amazed the raging
+rabble. They recognized him at length, and numerous voices began to
+shout,--
+
+"Petronius! Arbiter Elegantiarum! Petronius! Petronius!" was heard on
+all sides. And as that name was repeated, the faces about became less
+terrible, the uproar less savage: for that exquisite patrician, though
+he had never striven for the favor of the populace, was still their
+favorite. He passed for a humane and magnanimous man; and his popularity
+had increased, especially since the affair of Pedanius Secundus, when
+he spoke in favor of mitigating the cruel sentence condemning all the
+slaves of that prefect to death. The slaves more especially loved
+him thenceforward with that unbounded love which the oppressed or
+unfortunate are accustomed to give those who show them even small
+sympathy. Besides, in that moment was added curiosity as to what Caesar's
+envoy would say, for no one doubted that Caesar had sent him.
+
+He removed his white toga, bordered with scarlet, raised it in the air,
+and waved it above his head, in sign that he wished to speak.
+
+"Silence! Silence!" cried the people on all sides.
+
+After a while there was silence. Then he straightened himself on the
+horse and said in a clear, firm voice,--
+
+"Citizens, let those who hear me repeat my words to those who are more
+distant, and bear yourselves, all of you, like men, not like beasts in
+the arena."
+
+"We will, we will!"
+
+"Then listen. The city will be rebuilt. The gardens of Lucullus,
+Maecenas, Caesar, and Agrippina will be opened to you. To-morrow will
+begin the distribution of wheat, wine, and olives, so that every man may
+be full to the throat. Then Caesar will have games for you, such as the
+world has not seen yet; during these games banquets and gifts will be
+given you. Ye will be richer after the fire than before it."
+
+A murmur answered him which spread from the centre in every direction,
+as a wave rises on water in which a stone has been cast. Those nearer
+repeated his words to those more distant. Afterward were heard here
+and there shouts of anger or applause, which turned at length into one
+universal call of "Panem et circenses!!!"
+
+Petronius wrapped himself in his toga and listened for a time without
+moving, resembling in his white garment a marble statue. The uproar
+increased, drowned the roar of the fire, was answered from every
+side and from ever-increasing distances. But evidently the envoy had
+something to add, for he waited. Finally, commanding silence anew, he
+cried,--"I promised you panem et circenses; and now give a shout in
+honor of Caesar, who feeds and clothes you; then go to sleep, dear
+populace, for the dawn will begin before long."
+
+He turned his horse then, and, tapping lightly with his cane the heads
+and faces of those who stood in his way, he rode slowly to the pretorian
+ranks. Soon he was under the aqueduct. He found almost a panic above,
+where they had not understood the shout "Panem et circenses," and
+supposed it to be a new outburst of rage. They had not even expected
+that Petronius would save himself; so Nero, when he saw him, ran to the
+steps, and with face pale from emotion, inquired,--
+
+"Well, what are they doing? Is there a battle?"
+
+Petronius drew air into his lungs, breathed deeply, and answered,--"By
+Pollux! they are sweating! and such a stench! Will some one give me an
+epilimma?--for I am faint." Then he turned to Caesar.
+
+"I promised them," said he, "wheat, olives, the opening of the gardens,
+and games. They worship thee anew, and are howling in thy honor. Gods,
+what a foul odor those plebeians have!"
+
+"I had pretorians ready," cried Tigellinus; "and hadst thou not quieted
+them, the shouters would have been silenced forever. It is a pity,
+Caesar, that thou didst not let me use force."
+
+Petronius looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, and added,--
+
+"The chance is not lost. Thou mayst have to use it to-morrow."
+
+"No, no!" cried Caesar, "I will give command to open the gardens to them,
+and distribute wheat. Thanks to thee, Petronius, I will have games; and
+that song, which I sang to-day, I will sing publicly."
+
+Then he placed his hands on the arbiter's shoulder, was silent a moment,
+and starting up at last inquired,--
+
+"Tell me sincerely, how did I seem to thee while I was singing?"
+
+"Thou wert worthy of the spectacle, and the spectacle was worthy of
+thee," said Petronius.
+
+"But let us look at it again," said he, turning to the fire, "and bid
+farewell to ancient Rome."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLVII
+
+
+THE Apostle's words put confidence in the souls of the Christians. The
+end of the world seemed ever near to them, but they began to think that
+the day of judgment would not come immediately, that first they would
+see the end of Nero's reign, which they looked on as the reign of Satan,
+and the punishment of God for Caesar's crimes, which were crying for
+vengeance. Strengthened in heart, they dispersed, after the prayer, to
+their temporary dwellings, and even to the Trans-Tiber; for news had
+come that the fire, set there in a number of places, had, with the
+change of wind, turned back toward the river, and, after devouring what
+it could here and there, had ceased to extend.
+
+The Apostle, with Vinicius and Chilo, who followed him, left the
+excavation also. The young tribune did not venture to interrupt his
+prayers; hence he walked on in silence, merely imploring pity with his
+eyes, and trembling from alarm. Many approached to kiss Peter's hands,
+and the hem of his mantle; mothers held out their children to him;
+some knelt in the dark, long passage, and, holding up tapers, begged
+a blessing; others, going alongside, sang: so there was no chance for
+question or answer. Thus it was in the narrow passage. Only when they
+came out to broader spaces, from which the burning city was in view, did
+the Apostle bless them three times, and say, turning to Vinicius,--
+
+"Fear not. The hut of the quarryman is near; in it we shall find Linus,
+and Lygia, with her faithful servant. Christ, who predestined her to
+thee, has preserved her."
+
+Vinicius tottered, and placed his hand against the cliff. The road from
+Antium, the events at the wall, the search for Lygia amidst burning
+houses, sleeplessness, and his terrible alarm had exhausted him; and the
+news that the dearest person in the world was near by, and that soon
+he would see her, took the remnant of his strength from him. So great
+a weakness possessed him on a sudden that he dropped to the Apostle's
+feet, and, embracing his knees, remained thus, without power to say a
+word.
+
+"Not to me, not to me, but to Christ," said the Apostle, who warded off
+thanks and honor.
+
+"What a good God!" said the voice of Chilo from behind, "but what shall
+I do with the mules that are waiting down here?"
+
+"Rise and come with me," said Peter to the young man.
+
+Vinicius rose. By the light of the burning, tears were visible on his
+face, which was pale from emotion. His lips moved, as if in prayer.
+
+"Let us go," said he.
+
+But Chilo repeated again: "Lord, what shall I do with the mules that are
+waiting? Perhaps this worthy prophet prefers riding to walking."
+
+Vinicius did not know himself what to answer; but hearing from Peter
+that the quarryman's hut was near by, he said,--
+
+"Take the mules to Macrinus."
+
+"Pardon me, lord, if I mention the house in Ameriola. In view of such an
+awful fire, it is easy to forget a thing so paltry."
+
+"Thou wilt get it."
+
+"O grandson of Numa Pompilius, I have always been sure, but now, when
+this magnanimous prophet also has heard the promise, I will not remind
+thee even of this, that thou hast promised me a vineyard. Pax vobiscum.
+I shall find thee, lord. Pax vobiscum."
+
+They answered, "And peace with thee."
+
+Then both turned to the right toward the hills. Along the road Vinicius
+said,
+
+"Lord, wash me with the water of baptism, so that I may call myself a
+real confessor of Christ, for I love Him with all the power of my soul.
+Wash me quickly, for I am ready in heart. And what thou commandest I
+will do, but tell me, so that I may do it in addition."
+
+"Love men as thy own brothers," answered the Apostle, "for only with
+love mayst thou serve Him."
+
+"Yes, I understand and feel that. When a child I believed in the Roman
+gods, though I did not love them. But I so love Him the One God that
+I would give my life for Him gladly." And he looked toward the sky,
+repeating with exaltation: "For He is one, for He alone is kind and
+merciful; hence, let not only this city perish, but the whole world, Him
+alone will I confess and recognize."
+
+"And He will bless thee and thy house," concluded the Apostle.
+
+Meanwhile they turned into another ravine, at the end of which a faint
+light was visible. Peter pointed to it and said,--
+
+"There is the hut of the quarryman who gave us a refuge when, on the way
+from Ostrianum with the sick Linus, we could not go to the Trans-Tiber."
+
+After a while they arrived. The hut was rather a cave rounded Out in
+an indentation of the hill, and was faced outside with a wall made of
+reeds. The door was closed, but through an opening, which served for
+a window, the interior was visible, lighted by a fire. Some dark giant
+figure rose up to meet them, and inquired,--"Who are ye?"
+
+"Servants of Christ," answered Peter. "Peace be with thee, Ursus."
+
+Ursus bent to the Apostle's feet; then, recognizing Vinicius, seized his
+hand by the wrist, and raised it to his lips.
+
+"And thou, lord," said he. "Blessed be the name of the Lamb, for the joy
+which thou wilt bring to Callina."
+
+He opened the door then, and entered. Linus was lying on a bundle of
+straw, with an emaciated face and a forehead as yellow as ivory. Near
+the fire sat Lygia with a string of small fish, intended evidently for
+supper. Occupied in removing the fish from the string, and thinking that
+it was Ursus who had entered, she did not raise her eyes. But Vinicius
+approached, and, pronouncing her name, stretched his hand to her. She
+sprang up quickly then; a flash of astonishment and delight shot across
+her face. Without a word, like a child who after days of fear and sorrow
+had found father or mother, she threw herself into his open arms.
+
+He embraced her, pressed her to his bosom for some time with such
+ecstasy as if she had been saved by a miracle. Then, withdrawing his
+arms, he took her temples between his hands, kissed her forehead and her
+eyes, embraced her again, repeated her name, bent to her knees, to her
+palms, greeted her, did her homage, honored her. His delight had no
+bounds; neither had his love and happiness.
+
+At last he told her how he had rushed in from Antium; had searched
+for her at the walls, in the smoke at the house of Linus; how he had
+suffered and was terrified; how much he had endured before the Apostle
+had shown him her retreat.
+
+"But now," said he, "that I have found thee, I will not leave thee near
+fire and raging crowds. People are slaying one another under the walls,
+slaves are revolting and plundering. God alone knows what miseries may
+fall yet on Rome. But I will save thee and all of you. Oh, my dear, let
+us go to Antium; we will take a ship there and sail to Sicily. My land
+is thy land, my houses are thy houses. Listen to me! In Sicily we shall
+find Aulus. I will give thee back to Pomponia, and take thee from her
+hands afterward. But, O carissima, have no further fear of me. Christ
+has not washed me yet, but ask Peter if on the way hither I have not
+told him my wish to be a real confessor of Christ, and begged him
+to baptize me, even in this hut of a quarryman. Believe, and let all
+believe me."
+
+Lygia heard these words with radiant face. The Christians formerly,
+because of Jewish persecutions, and then because of the fire and
+disturbance caused by the disaster, lived in fear and uncertainty. A
+journey to quiet Sicily would put an end to all danger, and open a new
+epoch of happiness in their lives. If Vinicius had wished to take only
+Lygia, she would have resisted the temptation surely, as she did not
+wish to leave Peter and Linus; but Vinicius said to them, "Come with me;
+my lands are your lands, my houses your houses." At this Lygia inclined
+to kiss his hand, in sign of obedience, and said,--
+
+"Where thou art, Caius, there am I, Caia."
+
+Then confused that she had spoken words which by Roman custom were
+repeated only at marriage, she blushed deeply, and stood in the light
+of the fire, with drooping head, in doubt lest he might take them ill of
+her. But in his face boundless homage alone was depicted. He turned then
+to Peter, and continued,--
+
+"Rome is burning at command of Caesar. In Antium he complained that
+he had never seen a great fire. And if he has not hesitated at such a
+crime, think what may happen yet. Who knows that he may not bring in
+troops, and command a slaughter? Who knows what proscriptions may come;
+who knows whether after the fire, civil war, murder, and famine may not
+come?
+
+"Hide yourselves, therefore, and let us hide Lygia. There ye can wait
+till the storm passes, and when it is over return to sow your grain
+anew."
+
+Outside, from the direction of the Vatican Field, as if to confirm his
+fears, distant cries were heard full of rage and terror. At that moment
+the quarryman entered, the master of the hut, and, shutting the door
+hastily, he cried,--
+
+"People are killing one another near the Circus of Nero. Slaves and
+gladiators have attacked the citizens."
+
+"Do ye hear?" said Vinicius.
+
+"The measure is full," said the Apostle; "and disasters will come, like
+a boundless sea." Then he turned, and, pointing to Lygia, said, "Take
+the maiden, whom God has predestined to thee, and save her, and let
+Linus, who is sick, and Ursus go with you."
+
+But Vinicius, who had come to love the Apostle with all the power of his
+impetuous soul, exclaimed: "I swear, my teacher, that I will not leave
+thee here to destruction."
+
+"The Lord bless thee for thy wish," answered Peter; "but hast thou not
+heard that Christ repeated thrice on the lake to me, 'Feed my lambs'?"
+
+Vinicius was silent.
+
+"If thou, to whom no one has confided care over me, sayest that thou
+wilt not leave me to destruction, how canst thou wish me to leave my
+flock in the day of disaster? When there was a storm on the lake, and we
+were terrified in heart, He did not desert us; why should I, a servant,
+not follow my Master's example?"
+
+Then Linus raised his emaciated face and inquired,--
+
+"O viceregent of the Lord, why should I not follow thy example?"
+
+Vinicius began to pass his hand over his head, as if struggling with
+himself or fighting with his thoughts; then, seizing Lygia by the
+hand, he said, in a voice in which the energy of a Roman soldier was
+quivering,--
+
+"Hear me, Peter, Linus, and thou, Lygia! I spoke as my human reason
+dictated; but ye have another reason, which regards, not your own
+danger, but the commands of the Redeemer. True, I did not understand
+this, and I erred, for the beam is not taken from my eyes yet, and the
+former nature is heard in me. But since I love Christ, and wish to be
+His servant, though it is a question for me of something more than my
+own life, I kneel here before thee, and swear that I will accomplish the
+command of love, and will not leave my brethren in the day of trouble."
+
+Then he knelt, and enthusiasm possessed him; raising his hands and eyes,
+he cried: "Do I understand Thee, O Christ? Am I worthy of Thee?"
+
+His hands trembled; his eyes glistened with tears; his body trembled
+with faith and love. Peter took an earthen vessel with water, and,
+bringing it near him, said with solemnity,--
+
+"Behold, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
+Amen."
+
+Then a religious ecstasy seized all present. They thought that some
+light from beyond this world had filled the hut, that they heard some
+superhuman music, that the cliffs had opened above their heads, that
+choirs of angels were floating down from heaven, and far up there they
+saw a cross, and pierced hands blessing them.
+
+Meanwhile the shouts of fighting were heard outside, and the roar of
+flames in the burning city.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLVIII
+
+
+CAMPS of people were disposed in the lordly gardens of Caesar, formerly
+gardens of Domitius and Agrippina; they were disposed also on the Campus
+Martius, in the gardens of Pompey, Sallust, and Maecenas, in porticos,
+tennis-courts, splendid summer-houses, and buildings erected for wild
+beasts. Peacocks, flamingoes, swans, ostriches, gazelles, African
+antelopes, and deer, which had served as ornaments to those gardens,
+went under the knives of the rabble. Provisions began to come in now
+from Ostria so abundantly that one might walk, as on a bridge, over
+ships, boats, and barges from one bank of the Tiber to the other. Wheat
+was sold at the unheard-of low price of three sestertia, and was given
+gratis to the indigent. Immense supplies of wine, olives, and chestnuts
+were brought to the city; sheep and cattle were driven in every day from
+the mountains. Wretches who before the fire had been hiding in alleys of
+the Subura, and were perishing of hunger in ordinary times, had a more
+pleasant life now. The danger of famine was averted completely, but it
+was more difficult to suppress robbery, murder, and abuses. A nomadic
+life insured impunity to thieves; the more easily since they proclaimed
+themselves admirers of Caesar, and were unsparing of plaudits wherever
+he appeared. Moreover, when, by the pressure of events, the authorities
+were in abeyance, and there was a lack of armed force to quell insolence
+in a city inhabited by the dregs of contemporary mankind, deeds were
+done which passed human imagination. Every night there were battles and
+murders; every night boys and women were snatched away. At the Porta
+Mugionis, where there was a halting-place for herds driven in from the
+Campania, it come to engagements in which people perished by hundreds.
+Every morning the banks of the Tiber were covered with drowned bodies,
+which no one collected; these decayed quickly because of heat heightened
+by fire, and filled the air with foul odors. Sickness broke out on the
+camping-grounds, and the more timorous foresaw a great pestilence.
+
+But the city burned on unceasingly. Only on the sixth day, when the
+fire reached empty spaces on the Esquiline, where an enormous number of
+houses had been demolished purposely, did it weaken. But the piles of
+burning cinders gave such strong light yet that people would not believe
+that the end of the catastrophe had come. In fact the fire burst forth
+with fresh force on the seventh night in the buildings of Tigellinus,
+but had short duration for lack of fuel. Burnt houses, however, fell
+here and there, and threw up towers of flame and pillars of sparks. But
+the glowing ruins began to grow black on the surface. After sunset the
+heavens ceased to gleam with bloody light, and only after dark did blue
+tongues quiver above the extended black waste, tongues which rose from
+piles of cinders.
+
+Of the fourteen divisions of Rome there remained only four, including
+the Trans-Tiber. Flames had consumed all the others. When at last
+the piles of cinders had been turned into ashes, an immense space was
+visible from the Tiber to the Esquiline, gray, gloomy, dead. In this
+space stood rows of chimneys, like columns over graves in a cemetery.
+Among these columns gloomy crowds of people moved about in the daytime,
+some seeking for precious objects, others for the bones of those dear
+to them. In the night dogs howled above the ashes and ruins of former
+dwellings.
+
+All the bounty and aid shown by Caesar to the populace did not restrain
+evil speech and indignation. Only the herd of robbers, criminals, and
+homeless ruffians, who could eat, drink, and rob enough, were contented.
+People who had lost all their property and their nearest relatives were
+not won over by the opening of gardens, the distribution of bread, or
+the promise of games and gifts. The catastrophe had been too great and
+unparalleled. Others, in whom was hidden yet some spark of love for the
+city and their birthplace, were brought to despair by news that the old
+name "Roma" was to vanish, and that from the ashes of the capital Caesar
+would erect a new city called Neropolis. A flood of hatred rose and
+swelled every day, despite the flatteries of the Augustians and the
+calumnies of Tigellinus. Nero, more sensitive than any former Caesar to
+the favor of the populace, thought with alarm that in the sullen and
+mortal struggle which he was waging with patricians in the Senate, he
+might lack support. The Augustians themselves were not less alarmed,
+for any morning might bring them destruction. Tigellinus thought of
+summoning certain legions from Asia Minor. Vatinius, who laughed even
+when slapped on the face, lost his humor; Vitelius lost his appetite.
+
+Others were taking counsel among themselves how to avert the danger, for
+it was no secret that were an outburst to carry off Caesar, not one
+of the Augustians would escape, except, perhaps, Petronius. To their
+influence were ascribed the madnesses of Nero, to their suggestions all
+the crimes which he committed. Hatred for them almost surpassed that
+for Nero. Hence some began to make efforts to rid themselves of
+responsibility for the burning of the city. But to free themselves they
+must clear Caesar also from suspicion, or no one would believe that they
+had not caused the catastrophe. Tigellinus took counsel on this subject
+with Domitius Afer, and even with Seneca, though he hated him. Poppaea,
+who understood that the ruin of Nero would be her own sentence, took
+the opinion of her confidants and of Hebrew priests, for it had been
+admitted for years that she held the faith of Jehovah. Nero found his
+own methods, which, frequently terrible, were more frequently foolish,
+and fell now into terror, now into childish delight, but above all he
+complained.
+
+On a time a long and fruitless consultation was held in the house of
+Tiberius, which had survived the fire. Petronius thought it best to
+leave troubles, go to Greece, thence to Egypt and Asia Minor. The
+journey had been planned long before; why defer it, when in Rome were
+sadness and danger?
+
+Caesar accepted the counsel with eagerness; but Seneca when he had
+thought awhile, said,--
+
+"It is easy to go, but it would be more difficult to return."
+
+"By Heracles!" replied Petronius, "we may return at the head of Asiatic
+legions."
+
+"This will I do!" exclaimed Nero.
+
+But Tigellinus opposed. He could discover nothing himself, and if the
+arbiter's idea had come to his own head he would beyond doubt have
+declared it the saving one; but with him the question was that Petronius
+might not be a second time the only man who in difficult moments could
+rescue all and every one.
+
+"Hear me, divinity," said he, "this advice is destructive! Before
+thou art at Ostia a civil war will break out; who knows but one of the
+surviving collateral descendants of the divine Augustus will declare
+himself Caesar, and what shall we do if the legions take his side?"
+
+"We shall try," answered Nero, "that there be no descendants of
+Augustus. There are not many now; hence it is easy to rid ourselves of
+them."
+
+"It is possible to do so, but is it a question of them alone? No longer
+ago than yesterday my people heard in the crowd that a man like Thrasea
+should be Caesar."
+
+Nero bit his lips. After a while he raised his eyes and said:
+"Insatiable and thankless. They have grain enough, and they have coal on
+which to bake cakes; what more do they want?"
+
+"Vengeance!" replied Tigellinus.
+
+Silence followed. Caesar rose on a sudden, extended his hand, and began
+to declaim,--
+
+"Hearts call for vengeance, and vengeance wants a victim." Then,
+forgetting everything, he said, with radiant face: "Give me the tablet
+and stilus to write this line. Never could Lucan have composed the like.
+Have ye noticed that I found it in a twinkle?"
+
+"O incomparable!" exclaimed a number of voices. Nero wrote down the
+line, and said,--
+
+"Yes, vengeance wants a victim." Then he cast a glance on those around
+him. "But if we spread the report that Vatinius gave command to burn the
+city, and devote him to the anger of the people?"
+
+"O divinity! Who am I?" exclaimed Vatmius.
+
+"True! One more important than thou is demanded. Is it Vitelius?"
+
+Vitelius grew pale, but began to laugh.
+
+"My fat," answered he, "might start the fire again."
+
+But Nero had something else on his mind; in his soul he was looking for
+a victim who might really satisfy the people's anger, and he found him.
+
+"Tigellinus," said he after a while, "it was thou who didst burn Rome!"
+A shiver ran through those present. They understood that Caesar had
+ceased to jest this time, and that a moment had come which was pregnant
+with events.
+
+The face of Tigellinus was wrinkled, like the lips of a dog about to
+bite.
+
+"I burnt Rome at thy command!" said he.
+
+And the two glared at each other like a pair of devils. Such silence
+followed that the buzzing of flies was heard as they flew through the
+atrium.
+
+"Tigellinus," said Nero, "dost thou love me?"
+
+"Thou knowest, lord."
+
+"Sacrifice thyself for me."
+
+"O divine Caesar," answered Tigellinus, "why present the sweet cup which
+I may not raise to my lips? The people are muttering and rising; dost
+thou wish the pretorians also to rise?"
+
+A feeling of terror pressed the hearts of those present. Tigellinus was
+pretorian prefect, and his words had the direct meaning of a threat.
+Nero himself understood this, and his face became pallid.
+
+At that moment Epaphroditus, Caesar's freedman, entered, announcing that
+the divine Augusta wished to see Tigellinus, as there were people in her
+apartments whom the prefect ought to hear.
+
+Tigellinus bowed to Caesar, and went out with a face calm and
+contemptuous. Now, when they had wished to strike him, he had shown
+his teeth; he had made them understand who he was, and, knowing Nero's
+cowardice, he was confident that that ruler of the world would never
+dare to raise a hand against him.
+
+Nero sat in silence for a moment; then, seeing that those present
+expected some answer, he said,--
+
+"I have reared a serpent in my bosom."
+
+Petronius shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that it was not difficult
+to pluck the head from such a serpent.
+
+"What wilt thou say? Speak, advise!" exclaimed Nero, noticing this
+motion. "I trust in thee alone, for thou hast more sense than all of
+them, and thou lovest me."
+
+Petronius had the following on his lips: "Make me pretorian prefect, I
+will deliver Tigellinus to the people, and pacify the city in a day."
+But his innate slothfulness prevailed. To be prefect meant to bear on
+his shoulder's Caesar's person and also thousands of public affairs. And
+why should he perform that labor? Was it not better to read poetry in
+his splendid library, look at vases and statues, or hold to his breast
+the divine body of Eunice, twining her golden hair through his fingers,
+and inclining his lips to her coral mouth? Hence he said,--
+
+"I advise the journey to Achaea."
+
+"Ah!" answered Nero, "I looked for something more from thee. The Senate
+hates me. If I depart, who will guarantee that it will not revolt and
+proclaim some one else Caesar? The people have been faithful to me so
+far, but now they will follow the Senate. By Hades! if that Senate and
+that people had one head!--"
+
+"Permit me to say, O divinity, that if thou desire to save Rome, there
+is need to save even a few Romans," remarked Petronius, with a smile.
+
+"What care I for Rome and Romans?" complained Nero. "I should be obeyed
+in Achaea. Here only treason surrounds me. All desert me, and ye are
+making ready for treason. I know it, I know it. Ye do not even imagine
+what future ages will say of you if ye desert such an artist as I am."
+
+Here he tapped his forehead on a sudden, and cried,--
+
+"True! Amid these cares even I forget who I am."
+
+Then he turned to Petronius with a radiant face.
+
+"Petronius," said he, "the people murmur; but if I take my lute and go
+to the Campus Martius, if I sing that song to them which I sang during
+the conflagration, dost thou not think that I will move them, as Orpheus
+moved wild beasts?"
+
+To this Tullius Senecio, who was impatient to return to his slave
+women brought in from Antium, and who had been impatient a long time,
+replied,--
+
+"Beyond doubt, O Caesar, if they permit thee to begin."
+
+"Let us go to Hellas!" cried Nero, with disgust.
+
+But at that moment Poppaea appeared, and with her Tigellinis. The eyes
+of those present turned to him unconsciously, for never had triumphator
+ascended the Capitol with pride such as his when he stood before Caesar.
+He began to speak slowly and with emphasis, in tones through which the
+bite of iron, as it were, was heard,--
+
+"Listen. O Caesar, for I can say: I have found! The people want
+vengeance, they want not one victim, but hundreds, thousands. Hast
+heard, lord, who Christos was,--he who was crucified by Pontius Pilate?
+And knowest thou who the Christians are? Have I not told thee of their
+crimes and foul ceremonies, of their predictions that fire would cause
+the end of the world? People hate and suspect them. No one has seen them
+in a temple at any time, for they consider our gods evil spirits; they
+are not in the Stadium, for they despise horse races. Never have the
+hands of a Christian done thee honor with plaudits. Never has one of
+them recognized thee as god. They are enemies of the human race, of the
+city, and of thee. The people murmur against thee; but thou hast given
+me no command to burn Rome, and I did not burn it. The people want
+vengeance; let them have it. The people want blood and games; let them
+have them. The people suspect thee; let their suspicion turn in another
+direction."
+
+Nero listened with amazement at first; but as Tigellinus proceeded, his
+actor's face changed, and assumed in succession expressions of anger,
+sorrow, sympathy, indignation. Suddenly he rose, and, casting off the
+toga, which dropped at his feet, he raised both hands and stood silent
+for a time. At last he said, in the tones of a tragedian,--
+
+"O Zeus, Apollo, Here, Athene, Persephone, and all ye immortals! why did
+ye not come to aid us? What has this hapless city done to those cruel
+wretches that they burnt it so inhumanly?"
+
+"They are enemies of mankind and of thee," said Poppaea.
+
+"Do justice!" cried others. "Punish the incendiaries! The gods
+themselves call for vengeance!"
+
+Nero sat down, dropped his head to his breast, and was silent a second
+time, as if stunned by the wickedness of which he had heard. But after a
+while he shook his hands, and said,--
+
+"What punishments, what tortures befit such a crime? But the gods will
+inspire me, and, aided by the powers of Tartarus, I will give my
+poor people such a spectacle that they will remember me for ages with
+gratitude."
+
+The forehead of Petronius was covered with a sudden cloud. He thought of
+the danger hanging over Lygia and over Vinicius, whom he loved, and over
+all those people whose religion he rejected, but of whose innocence he
+was certain. He thought also that one of those bloody orgies would begin
+which his eyes, those of an aesthetic man, could not suffer. But above
+all he thought: "I must save Vinicius, who will go mad if that maiden
+perishes"; and this consideration outweighed every other, for Petronius
+understood well that he was beginning a game far more perilous than any
+in his life. He began, however, to speak freely and carelessly, as
+his wont was when criticising or ridiculing plans of Caesar and the
+Augustians that were not sufficiently aesthetic,--
+
+"Ye have found victims! That is true. Ye may send them to the arena, or
+array them in 'painful tunics.' That is true also. But hear me! Ye have
+authority, ye have pretorians, ye have power; then be sincere, at
+least, when no one is listening! Deceive the people, but deceive not
+one another. Give the Christians to the populace, condemn them to any
+torture ye like; but have courage to say to yourselves that it was not
+they who burnt Rome. Phy! Ye call me 'arbiter elegantiarum'; hence I
+declare to you that I cannot endure wretched comedies! Phy! how all this
+reminds me of the theatrical booths near the Porta Asinaria, in which
+actors play the parts of gods and kings to amuse the suburban rabble,
+and when the play is over wash down onions with sour wine, or get blows
+of clubs! Be gods and kings in reality; for I say that ye can permit
+yourselves the position! As to thee, O Caesar, thou hast threatened
+us with the sentence of coming ages; but think, those ages will utter
+judgment concerning thee also. By the divine Clio! Nero, ruler of the
+world, Nero, a god, burnt Rome, because he was as powerful on earth as
+Zeus on Olympus,--Nero the poet loved poetry so much that he sacrificed
+to it his country! From the beginning of the world no one did the
+like, no one ventured on the like. I beseech thee in the name of the
+double-crowned Libethrides, renounce not such glory, for songs of thee
+will sound to the end of ages! What will Priam be when compared with
+thee; what Agamenmon; what Achilles; what the gods themselves? We need
+not say that the burning of Rome was good, but it was colossal and
+uncommon. I tell thee, besides, that the people will raise no hand
+against thee! It is not true that they will. Have courage; guard thyself
+against acts unworthy of thee,--for this alone threatens thee, that
+future ages may say, 'Nero burned Rome; but as a timid Caesar and a timid
+poet he denied the great deed out of fear, and cast the blame of it on
+the innocent!'"
+
+The arbiter's words produced the usual deep impression on Nero; but
+Petronius was not deceived as to this, that what he had said was a
+desperate means which in a fortunate event might save the Christians,
+it is true, but might still more easily destroy himself. He had not
+hesitated, however, for it was a question at once of Vinicius whom
+he loved, and of hazard with which he amused himself. "The dice are
+thrown," said he to himself, "and we shall see how far fear for his own
+life outweighs in the monkey his love of glory."
+
+And in his soul he had no doubt that fear would outweigh.
+
+Meanwhile silence fell after his words. Poppaea and all present were
+looking at Nero's eyes as at a rainbow. He began to raise his lips,
+drawing them to his very nostrils, as was his custom when he knew not
+what to do; at last disgust and trouble were evident on his features.
+
+"Lord," cried Tigellinus, on noting this, "permit me to go; for when
+people wish to expose thy person to destruction, and call thee, besides,
+a cowardly Caesar, a cowardly poet, an incendiary, and a comedian, my
+ears cannot suffer such expressions!"
+
+"I have lost," thought Petronius. But turning to Tigellinus, he measured
+him with a glance in which was that contempt for a ruffian which is felt
+by a great lord who is an exquisite.
+
+"Tigellinus," said he, "it was thou whom I called a comedian; for thou
+art one at this very moment."
+
+"Is it because I will not listen to thy insults?"
+
+"It is because thou art feigning boundless love for Caesar,--thou who
+a short while since wert threatening him with pretorians, which we all
+understood as did he!"
+
+Tigellinus, who had not thought Petronius sufficiently daring to throw
+dice such as those on the table, turned pale, lost his head, and was
+speechless. This was, however, the last victory of the arbiter over his
+rival, for that moment Poppaea said,--
+
+"Lord, how permit that such a thought should even pass through the head
+of any one, and all the more that any one should venture to express it
+aloud in thy presence!"
+
+"Punish the insolent!" exclaimed Vitelius.
+
+Nero raised his lips again to his nostrils, and, turning his
+near-sighted, glassy eyes on Petronius, said,--
+
+"Is this the way thou payest me for the friendship which I had for
+thee?"
+
+"If I am mistaken, show me my error," said Petronius; "but know that I
+speak that which love for thee dictates."
+
+"Punish the insolent!" repeated Vitelius.
+
+"Punish!" called a number of voices.
+
+In the atrium there was a murmur and a movement, for people began to
+withdraw from Petronius. Even Tullius Senecio, his constant companion at
+the court, pushed away, as did young Nerva, who had shown him hitherto
+the greatest friendship. After a while Petronius was alone on the left
+side of the atrium, with a smile on his lips; and gathering with his
+hands the folds of his toga, he waited yet for what Caesar would say or
+do.
+
+"Ye wish me to punish him" said Caesar; "but he is my friend and comrade.
+Though he has wounded my heart, let him know that for friends this heart
+has naught but forgiveness."
+
+"I have lost, and am ruined," thought Petronius.
+
+Meanwhile Caesar rose, and the consultation was ended.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XLIX
+
+
+PETRONIUS went home. Nero and Tigellinus went to Poppaea's atrium, where
+they were expected by people with whom the prefect had spoken already.
+
+There were two Trans-Tiber rabbis in long solemn robes and mitred, a
+young copyist, their assistant, together with Chilo. At sight of Caesar
+the priests grew pale from emotion, and, raising their hands an arm's
+length, bent their heads to his hands.
+
+"Be greeted, O ruler of the earth, guardian of the chosen people, and
+Caesar, lion among men, whose reign is like sunlight, like the cedar of
+Lebanon, like a spring, like a palm, like the balsam of Jericho."
+
+"Do ye refuse to call me god?" inquired Nero.
+
+The priests grew still paler. The chief one spoke again,--
+
+"Thy words, O lord, are as sweet as a cluster of grapes, as a ripe
+fig,--for Jehovah filled thy heart with goodness! Thy father's
+predecessor, Caesar Caius, was stern; still our envoys did not call him
+god, preferring death itself to violation of the law."
+
+"And did not Caligula give command to throw them to the lions?"
+
+"No, lord; Caesar Caius feared Jehovah's anger."
+
+And they raised their heads, for the name of the powerful Jehovah gave
+them courage; confident in his might, they looked into Nero's eyes with
+more boldness.
+
+"Do ye accuse the Christians of burning Rome?" inquired Caesar. "We,
+lord, accuse them of this alone,--that they are enemies of the law,
+of the human race, of Rome, and of thee; that long since they have
+threatened the city and the world with fire! The rest will be told thee
+by this man, whose lips are unstained by a lie, for in his mother's
+veins flowed the blood of the chosen people."
+
+Nero turned to Chilo: "Who art thou?"
+
+"One who honors thee, O Cyrus; and, besides, a poor Stoic-"
+
+"I hate the Stoics," said Nero. "I hate Thrasea; I hate Musonius and
+Cornutus. Their speech is repulsive to me; their contempt for art, their
+voluntary squalor and filth."
+
+"O lord, thy master Seneca has one thousand tables of citrus wood. At
+thy wish I will have twice as many. I am a Stoic from necessity. Dress
+my stoicism, O Radiant One, in a garland of roses, put a pitcher of
+wine before it; it will sing Anacreon in such strains as to deafen every
+Epicurean."
+
+Nero, who was pleased by the title "Radiant," smiled and said,-"Thou
+dost please me."
+
+"This man is worth his weight in gold!" cried Tigellinus.
+
+"Put thy liberality with my weight," answered Chilo, "or the wind will
+blow my reward away."
+
+"He would not outweigh Vitelius," put in Caesar.
+
+"Eheu! Silver-bowed, my wit is not of lead."
+
+"I see that thy faith does not hinder thee from calling me a god."
+
+"O Immortal! My faith is in thee; the Christians blaspheme against that
+faith, and I hate them."
+
+"What dost thou know of the Christians?"
+
+"Wilt thou permit me to weep, O divinity?"
+
+"No," answered Nero; "weeping annoys me."
+
+"Thou art triply right, for eyes that have seen thee should be free of
+tears forever. O lord, defend me against my enemies."
+
+"Speak of the Christians," said Poppaea, with a shade of impatience.
+
+"It will be at thy command, O Isis," answered Chilo. "From youth I
+devoted myself to philosophy, and sought truth. I sought it among the
+ancient divine sages, in the Academy at Athens, and in the Serapeum at
+Alexandria. When I heard of the Christians, I judged that they formed
+some new school in which I could find certain kernels of truth; and to
+my misfortune I made their acquaintance. The first Christian whom evil
+fate brought near me was one Glaucus, a physician of Naples. From him
+I learned in time that they worship a certain Chrestos, who promised
+to exterminate all people and destroy every city on earth, but to spare
+them if they helped him to exterminate the children of Deucalion. For
+this reason, O lady, they hate men, and poison fountains; for this
+reason in their assemblies they shower curses on Rome, and on all
+temples in which our gods are honored. Chrestos was crucified; but he
+promised that when Rome was destroyed by fire, he would come again and
+give Christians dominion over the world."
+
+"People will understand now why Rome was destroyed," interrupted
+Tigellinus.
+
+"Many understand that already, O lord, for I go about in the gardens,
+I go to the Campus Martius, and teach. But if ye listen to the end, ye
+will know my reasons for vengeance. Glaucus the physician did not reveal
+to me at first that their religion taught hatred. On the contrary,
+he told me that Chrestos was a good divinity, that the basis of their
+religion was love. My sensitive heart could not resist such a truth;
+hence I took to loving Glaucus, I trusted him, I shared every morsel
+of bread with him, every copper coin, and dost thou know, lady, how he
+repaid me? On the road from Naples to Rome he thrust a knife into my
+body, and my wife, the beautiful and youthful Berenice, he sold to a
+slave-merchant. If Sophocles knew my history--but what do I say? One
+better than Sophocles is listening."
+
+"Poor man!" said Poppaea.
+
+"Whoso has seen the face of Aphrodite is not poor, lady; and I see it at
+this moment. But then I sought consolation in philosophy. When I came
+to Rome, I tried to meet Christian elders to obtain justice against
+Glaucus. I thought that they would force him to yield up my wife. I
+became acquainted with their chief priest; I became acquainted with
+another, named Paul, who was in prison in this city, but was liberated
+afterward; I became acquainted with the son of Zebedee, with Linus and
+Clitus and many others. I know where they lived before the fire, I know
+where they meet. I can point out one excavation in the Vatican Hill
+and a cemetery beyond the Nomentan Gate, where they celebrate their
+shameless ceremonies. I saw the Apostle Peter. I saw how Glaucus killed
+children, so that the Apostle might have something to sprinkle on the
+heads of those present; and I saw Lygia, the foster-child of Pomponia
+Graecina, who boasted that though unable to bring the blood of an
+infant, she brought the death of an infant, for she bewitched the little
+Augusta, thy daughter, O Cyrus, and thine, O Isis!"
+
+"Dost hear, Caesar?" asked Poppaea.
+
+"Can that be!" exclaimed Nero.
+
+"I could forgive wrongs done myself," continued Chilo, "but when I heard
+of yours, I wanted to stab her. Unfortunately I was stopped by the noble
+Vinicius, who loves her."
+
+"Vinicius? But did she not flee from him?"
+
+"She fled, but he made search for her; he could not exist without her.
+For wretched pay I helped him in the search, and it was I who pointed
+out to him the house in which she lived among the Christians in the
+Trans-Tiber. We went there together, and with us thy wrestler Croton,
+whom the noble Vinicius hired to protect him. But Ursus, Lygia's slave,
+crushed Croton. That is a man of dreadful strength, O Lord, who can
+break a bull's neck as easily as another might a poppy stalk. Aulus and
+Pomponia loved him because of that."
+
+"By Hercules," said Nero, "the mortal who crushed Croton deserves a
+statue in the Forum. But, old man, thou art mistaken or art inventing,
+for Vinicius killed Croton with a knife."
+
+"That is how people calumniate the gods. O lord, I myself saw Croton's
+ribs breaking in the arms of Ursus, who rushed then on Vinicius and
+would have killed him but for Lygia. Vinicius was ill for a long time
+after that but they nursed him in the hope that through love he would
+become a Christian. In fact, he did become a Christian."
+
+"Vinicius?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And, perhaps, Petronius too?" inquired Tigellinus, hurriedly.
+
+Chilo squirmed, rubbed his hands, and said,--
+
+"I admire thy penetration, O lord. He may have become one! He may very
+well have become one."
+
+"Now I understand why he defended the Christians."
+
+Nero laughed: "Petronius a Christian! Petronius an enemy of life and
+luxury! Be not foolish; do not ask me to believe that, since I am ready
+not to believe anything."
+
+"But the noble Vinicius became a Christian, lord. I swear by that
+radiance which comes from thee that I speak the truth, and that nothing
+pierces me with such disgust as lying. Pomponia Graecina is a Christian,
+little Aulus is a Christian, Lygia is a Christian, and so is Vinicius.
+I served him faithfully, and in return, at the desire of Glaucus the
+physician, he gave command to flog me, though I am old and was sick and
+hungry. And I have sworn by Hades that I will not forget that for him.
+O lord, avenge my wrongs on them, and I will deliver to thee Peter the
+Apostle and Linus and Clitus and Glaucus and Crispus, the highest
+ones, and Lygia and Ursus. I will point out hundreds of them to you,
+thousands; I will indicate their houses of prayer, the cemeteries, all
+thy prisons will not hold them! Without me ye could not find them. In
+misfortunes I have sought consolation; hitherto in philosophy alone, now
+I will find it in favors that will descend on me. I am old, and have not
+known life; let me begin."
+
+"It is thy wish to be a Stoic before a full plate," said Nero.
+
+"Whoso renders service to thee will fill it by that same."
+
+"Thou art not mistaken, O philosopher."
+
+But Poppaea did not forget her enemies. Her fancy for Vinicius was,
+indeed, rather a momentary whim, which had risen under the influence
+of jealousy, anger, and wounded vanity. Still the coolness of the young
+patrician touched her deeply, and filled her heart with a stubborn
+feeling of offence. This alone, that he had dared to prefer another,
+seemed to her a crime calling for vengeance. As to Lygia, she hated her
+from the first moment, when the beauty of that northern lily alarmed
+her. Petronius, who spoke of the too narrow hips of the girl, might talk
+what he pleased into Caesar, but not into the Augusta. Poppaea the critic
+understood at one cast of the eye that in all Rome Lygia alone could
+rival and even surpass her. Thenceforth she vowed her ruin.
+
+"Lord," said she, "avenge our child."
+
+"Hasten!" cried Chilo, "hasten! Otherwise Vinicius will hide her. I will
+point out the house to which she returned after the fire."
+
+"I will give thee ten men, and go this moment," said Tigellinus.
+
+"O lord! thou hast not seen Croton in the arms of Ursus; if thou wilt
+give fifty men, I will only show the house from a distance. But if ye
+will not imprison Vinicius, I am lost."
+
+Tigellinus looked at Nero. "Would it not be well, O divinity, to finish
+at once with the uncle and nephew?"
+
+Nero thought a moment and answered,--
+
+"No, not now. People would not believe us if we tried to persuade them
+that Petronius, Vinicius, or Pomponia Graecina had fired Rome. Their
+houses were too beautiful. Their turn will come later; to-day other
+victims are needed."
+
+"Then, O lord, give me soldiers as a guard," said Chilo.
+
+"See to this, Tigellinus."
+
+"Thou wilt lodge meanwhile with me," said the prefect to Chilo.
+
+Delight beamed from the face of the Greek.
+
+"I will give up all! only hasten!--hasten!" cried he, with a hoarse
+voice.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter L
+
+
+ON leaving Caesar, Petronius had himself borne to his house on the
+Carinae, which, being surrounded on three sides by a garden, and having
+in front the small Cecilian Forum, escaped the fire luckily. For this
+cause other Augustians, who had lost their houses and in them vast
+wealth and many works of art, called Petronius fortunate. For years it
+had been repeated that he was the first-born of Fortune, and Caesar's
+growing friendship in recent times seemed to confirm the correctness of
+this statement.
+
+But that first-born of Fortune might meditate now on the fickleness of
+his mother, or rather on her likeness to Chronos, who devoured his own
+children.
+
+"Were my house burnt," said he to himself, "and with it my gems,
+Etruscan vases, Alexandrian glass, and Corinthian bronze, Nero might
+indeed have forgotten the offence. By Pollux! And to think that it
+depended on me alone to be pretorian prefect at this moment. I should
+proclaim Tigellinus the incendiary, which he is really; I should array
+him in the 'painful tunic,' and deliver him to the populace, protect
+the Christians, rebuild Rome. Who knows even if a better epoch would not
+begin thus for honest people? I ought to have taken the office, simply
+out of regard for Vinicius. In case of overwork I could have surrendered
+command to him, and Nero would not have even tried to resist. Then let
+Vinicius baptize all the pretorians, nay, Caesar himself; what harm could
+that be to me? Nero pious, Nero virtuous and merciful,--this would be
+even an amusing spectacle."
+
+And his carelessness was so great that he began to laugh. But after a
+time his thoughts turned in another direction. It seemed to him that
+he was in Antium; that Paul of Tarsus was saying to him, "Ye call us
+enemies of life, but answer me, Petronius: If Caesar were a Christian,
+and acted according to our religion, would not life be safer and more
+certain?"
+
+And remembering these words, he continued: "By Castor! No matter how
+many Christians they murder here, Paul will find as many new ones; for
+he is right, unless the world can rest on scoundrelism. But who knows
+that this will not be the case soon? I myself, who have learned not a
+little, did not learn how to be a great enough scoundrel; hence I shall
+have to open my veins. But in every case it must have ended thus, and if
+not thus, in some other way. I am sorry for Eunice and my Myrrhene vase;
+but Eunice is free, and the vase will go with me. Ahenobarbus will not
+get it, in any event! I am sorry also for Vinicius. But, though I was
+bored less of late than before, I am ready. In the world things are
+beautiful; but people are so vile for the greater part that life is not
+worth a regret. He who knew how to live should know how to die. Though
+I belong to the Augustians, I was freer than they supposed." Here he
+shrugged his shoulders. "They may think that my knees are trembling
+at this moment, and that terror has raised the hair on my head; but
+on reaching home, I will take a bath in violet water, my golden-haired
+herself will anoint me; then after refreshment we will have sung to us
+that hymn to Apollo composed by Anthemios. I said once to myself that
+it was not worth while to think of death, for death thinks of us without
+our assistance. It would be a wonder if there are really Elysian fields,
+and in them shades of people. Eunice would come in time to me, and
+we should wander together over asphodel meadows. I should find, too,
+society better than this. What buffoons, tricksters, a vile herd without
+taste or polish! Tens of Arbiters Elegantiarum could not transform those
+Trimalchilons into decent people. By Persephone! I have had enough!"
+
+And he noted with astonishment that something separated him from those
+people already. He had known them well earlier, and had known what to
+think of them; still they seemed to him now as farther away and more
+deserving of contempt than usual. Indeed, he had had enough of them!
+
+But afterward he began to think over his position. Thanks to his
+acuteness, he knew that destruction was not threatening him directly.
+Nero had seized an appropriate occasion to utter a few select, lofty
+phrases about friendship and forgiveness, thus binding himself for the
+moment. "He will have to seek pretexts, and before he finds them
+much time may pass. First of all, he will celebrate the games with
+Christians," said Petronius to himself; "only then will he think of me,
+and if that be true, it is not worth while to take trouble or change my
+course of life. Nearer danger threatens Vinicius!"
+
+And thenceforth he thought only of Vinicius, whom he resolved to rescue.
+Four sturdy Bithynians bore his litter quickly through ruins, ash-heaps,
+and stones with which the Carinae was filled yet; but he commanded
+them to run swiftly so as to be home at the earliest. Vinicius,
+whose "insula" had been burned, was living with him, and was at home,
+fortunately.
+
+"Hast seen Lygia to-day?" were the first words of Petronius.
+
+"I have just come from her."
+
+"Hear what I tell thee, and lose no time in questions. It has been
+decided this morning at Caesar's to lay the blame of burning Rome on the
+Christians. Persecutions and tortures threaten them. Pursuit may begin
+any instant. Take Lygia and flee at once beyond the Alps even, or to
+Africa. And hasten, for the Palatine is nearer the Trans-Tiber than is
+this place."
+
+Vinicius was, indeed, too much of a soldier to lose time in useless
+queries. He listened with frowning brows, and a face intent and
+terrible, but fearless. Evidently the first feeling of his nature in
+presence of peril was a wish to defend and give battle.
+
+"I go," said he.
+
+"One word more. Take a purse of gold, take weapons, and a handful of thy
+Christians. In case of need, rescue her!"
+
+Vinicius was in the door of the atrium already.
+
+"Send me news by a slave!" cried Petronius.
+
+When left alone, he began to walk by the columns which adorned the
+atrium, thinking of what had happened. He knew that Lygia and Linus had
+returned after the fire to the former house, which, like the greater
+part of the Trans-Tiber, had been saved; and that was an unfavorable
+circumstance, for otherwise it would have been difficult to find them
+among throngs of people. Petronius hoped, however, that as things were,
+no one in the Palatine knew where they lived, and therefore in every
+case Vinicius would anticipate the pretorians. It occurred to him also
+that Tigellinus, wishing to seize at one attempt as many Christians as
+possible, would extend his net over all Rome. "If they send no more than
+ten people after her," thought he, "that giant Lygian will break their
+bones and what will it be if Vinicius comes with assistance?" Thinking
+of this he was consoled. True, armed resistance to the pretorians was
+almost the same as war with Caesar. Petronius knew also that if Vinicius
+hid from the vengeance of Nero, that vengeance might fall on himself;
+but he cared little. On the contrary, he rejoiced at the thought of
+crossing Nero's plans and those of Tigellinus, and determined to spare
+in the matter neither men nor money. Since in Antium Paul of Tarsus
+had converted most of his slaves, he, while defending Christians, might
+count on their zeal and devotion.
+
+The entrance of Eunice interrupted his thoughts. At sight of her all
+his cares and troubles vanished without a trace. He forgot Caesar,
+the disfavor into which he had fallen, the degraded Augustians, the
+persecution threatening the Christians, Vinicius, Lygia, and looked only
+at her with the eyes of an anthetic man enamoured of marvellous forms,
+and of a lover for whom love breathes from those forms. She, in
+a transparent violet robe called "Coa vestis," through which her
+maiden-like form appeared, was really as beautiful as a goddess. Feeling
+herself admired meanwhile, and loving him with all her soul, ever
+eager for his fondling, she blushed with delight as if she had been an
+innocent maiden.
+
+"What wilt thou say to me, Charis?" asked Petronius, stretching his
+hands to her.
+
+She, inclining her golden head to him, answered,--"Anthemios has come
+with his choristers, and asks if 'tis thy wish to hear him."
+
+"Let him stay; he will sing to us during dinner the hymn to Apollo. By
+the groves of Paphos! when I see thee in that Coan gauze, I think that
+Aphrodite has veiled herself with a piece of the sky, and is standing
+before me."
+
+"O lord!"
+
+"Come hither, Eunice, embrace me with thy arms, and give thy lips to me.
+Dost thou love me?"
+
+"I should not have loved Zeus more."
+
+Then she pressed her lips to his, while quivering in his arms from
+happiness. After a while Petronius asked,--
+
+"But if we should have to separate?"
+
+Eunice looked at him with fear in her eyes.
+
+"How is that, lord?"
+
+"Fear not; I ask, for who knows but I may have to set out on a long
+journey?"
+
+"Take me with thee-"
+
+Petronius changed the conversation quickly, and said,--
+
+"Tell me, are there asphodels on the grass plot in the garden?"
+
+"The cypresses and the grass plots are yellow from the fire, the leaves
+have fallen from the myrtles, and the whole garden seems dead."
+
+"All Rome seems dead, and soon it will be a real graveyard. Dost
+thou know that an edict against the Christians is to be issued, and a
+persecution will begin during which thousands will perish?"
+
+"Why punish the Christians, lord? They are good and peaceful."
+
+"For that very reason."
+
+"Let us go to the sea. Thy beautiful eyes do not like to see blood."
+
+"Well, but meanwhile I must bathe. Come to the elaeothesium to anoint
+my arms. By the girdle of Kypris! never hast thou seemed to me so
+beautiful. I will give command to make a bath for thee in the form of a
+shell; thou wilt be like a costly pearl in it. Come, Golden-haired!"
+
+He went out, and an hour later both, in garlands of roses and with misty
+eyes, were resting before a table covered with a service of gold. They
+were served by boys dressed as Cupids, they drank wine from ivy-wreathed
+goblets, and heard the hymn to Apollo sung to the sound of harps, under
+direction of Anthemios. What cared they if around the villa chimneys
+pointed up from the ruins of houses, and gusts of wind swept the ashes
+of burnt Rome in every direction? They were happy thinking only of love,
+which had made their lives like a divine dream. But before the hymn was
+finished a slave, the chief of the atrium, entered the hall.
+
+"Lord," said he, in a voice quivering with alarm, "a centurion with a
+detachment of pretorians is standing before the gate, and, at command of
+Caesar, wishes to see thee."
+
+The song and the sound of lutes ceased. Alarm was roused in all present;
+for Caesar, in communications with friends, did not employ pretorians
+usually, and their arrival at such times foreboded no good. Petronius
+alone showed not the slightest emotion, but said, like a man annoyed by
+continual visits,--
+
+"They might let me dine in peace." Then turning to the chief of the
+atrium, he said, "Let him enter."
+
+The slave disappeared behind the curtain; a moment later heavy steps
+were heard, and an acquaintance of Petronius appeared, the centurion
+Aper, armed, and with an iron helmet on his head.
+
+"Noble lord," said he, "here is a letter from Caesar."
+
+Petronius extended his white hand lazily, took the tablet, and, casting
+his eye over it, gave it, in all calmness to Eunice.
+
+"He will read a new book of the Troyad this evening, and invites me to
+come.'
+
+"I have only the order to deliver the letter," said the centurion.
+
+"Yes, there will be no answer. But, centurion, thou mightst rest a while
+with us and empty a goblet of wine?"
+
+"Thanks to thee, noble lord. A goblet of wine I will drink to thy health
+willingly; but rest I may not, for I am on duty."
+
+"Why was the letter given to thee, and not sent by a slave?"
+
+"I know not, lord. Perhaps because I was sent in this direction on other
+duty."
+
+"I know, against the Christians?"
+
+"Yes, lord."
+
+"Is it long since the pursuit was begun?"
+
+"Some divisions were sent to the Trans-Tiber before midday." When he had
+said this, the centurion shook a little wine from the goblet in honor of
+Mars; then he emptied it, and said,--
+
+"May the gods grant thee, lord, what thou desirest."
+
+"Take the goblet too," said Petronius.
+
+Then he gave a sign to Anthemios to finish the hymn to Apollo.
+
+"Bronzebeard is beginning to play with me and Vinicius," thought he,
+when the harps sounded anew. "I divine his plan! He wanted to terrify
+me by sending the invitation through a centurion. They will ask the
+centurion in the evening how I received him. No, no! thou wilt not amuse
+thyself overmuch, cruel and wicked prophet. I know that thou wilt not
+forget the offence, I know that my destruction will not fail; but if
+thou think that I shall look into thy eyes imploringly, that thou wilt
+see fear and humility on my face, thou art mistaken."
+
+"Caesar writes, lord," said Eunice, "'Come if thou hast the wish'; wilt
+thou go?"
+
+"I am in excellent health, and can listen even to his verses," answered
+Petronius; "hence I shall go, all the more since Vinicius cannot go."
+
+In fact, after the dinner was finished and after the usual walk, he gave
+himself into the hands of hairdressers and of slaves who arranged his
+robes, and an hour later, beautiful as a god, he gave command to take
+him to the Palatine.
+
+It was late, the evening was warm and calm; the moon shone so brightly
+that the lampadarii going before the litter put out their torches. On
+the streets and among the ruins crowds of people were pushing along,
+drunk with wine, in garlands of ivy and honeysuckle, bearing in
+their hands branches of myrtle and laurel taken from Caesar's gardens.
+Abundance of grain and hopes of great games filled the hearts of all
+with gladness. Here and there songs were sung magnifying the "divine
+night" and love; here and there they were dancing by the light of the
+moon, and the slaves were forced repeatedly to demand space for the
+litter "of the noble Petronius," and then the crowd pushed apart,
+shouting in honor of their favorite.
+
+He was thinking of Vinicius, and wondering why he had no news from him.
+He was an Epicurean and an egotist, but passing time, now with Paul
+of Tarsus, now with Vinicius, hearing daily of the Christians, he had
+changed somewhat without his own knowledge. A certain breeze from them
+had blown on him; this cast new seeds into his soul. Besides his own
+person others began to occupy him; moreover, he had been always attached
+to Vinicius, for in childhood he had loved greatly his sister, the
+mother of Vinicius; at present, therefore, when he had taken part in his
+affairs, he looked on them with that interest with which he would have
+looked on some tragedy.
+
+Petronius did not lose hope that Vinicius had anticipated the pretorians
+and fled with Lygia, or, in the worse case, had rescued her. But he
+would have preferred to be certain, since he foresaw that he might have
+to answer various questions for which he would better be prepared.
+
+Stopping before the house of Tiberius, he alighted from the litter,
+and after a while entered the atrium, filled already with Augustians.
+Yesterday's friends, though astonished that he was invited, still pushed
+back; but he moved on among them, beautiful, free, unconcerned, as
+self-confident as if he himself had the power to distribute favors.
+Some, seeing him thus, were alarmed in spirit lest they had shown him
+indifference too early.
+
+Caesar, however, feigned not to see him, and did not return his
+obeisance, pretending to be occupied in conversation. But Tigellinus
+approached and said,
+
+"Good evening, Arbiter Elegantiarum. Dost thou assert still that it was
+not the Christians who burnt Rome?"
+
+Petronius shrugged his shoulders, and, clapping Tigellinus on the back
+as he would a freedman, answered,--
+
+"Thou knowest as well as I what to think of that."
+
+"I do not dare to rival thee in wisdom."
+
+"And thou art right, for when Caesar reads to us a new book from the
+Troyad, thou, instead of crying out like a jackdaw, wouldst have to give
+an opinion that was not pointless."
+
+Tigellinus bit his lips. He was not over-rejoiced that Caesar had decided
+to read a new book, for that opened a field in which he could not rival
+Petronius. In fact, during the reading, Nero, from habit, turned his
+eyes involuntarily toward Petronius, looking carefully to see what he
+could read in his face. The latter listened, raised his brows, agreed at
+times, in places increased his attention as if to be sure that he heard
+correctly. Then he praised or criticised, demanded corrections or the
+smoothing of certain verses. Nero himself felt that for others in
+their exaggerated praises it was simply a question of themselves, that
+Petronius alone was occupied with poetry for its own sake; that he alone
+understood it, and that if he praised one could be sure that the verses
+deserved praise. Gradually therefore he began to discuss with him, to
+dispute; and when at last Petronius brought the fitness of a certain
+expression into doubt, he said,--
+
+"Thou wilt see in the last book why I used it."
+
+"Ah," thought Petronius, "then we shall wait for the last book."
+
+More than one hearing this said in spirit: "Woe to me! Petronius with
+time before him may return to favor and overturn even Tigellinus." And
+they began again to approach him. But the end of the evening was less
+fortunate; for Caesar, at the moment when Petronius was taking leave,
+inquired suddenly, with blinking eyes and a face at once glad and
+malicious,--
+
+"But why did not Vinicius come?"
+
+Had Petronius been sure that Vinicius and Lygia were beyond the gates
+of the city, he would have answered, "With thy permission he has married
+and gone." But seeing Nero's strange smile, he answered,--
+
+"Thy invitation, divinity, did not find him at home."
+
+"Say to Vinicius that I shall be glad to see him," answered Nero, "and
+tell him from me not to neglect the games in which Christians will
+appear."
+
+These words alarmed Petronius. It seemed to him that they related to
+Lygia directly. Sitting in his litter, he gave command to bear him home
+still more quickly than in the morning. That, however, was not easy.
+Before the house of Tiberius stood a crowd dense and noisy, drunk as
+before, though not singing and dancing, but, as it were, excited. From
+afar came certain shouts which Petronius could not understand at once,
+but which rose and grew till at last they were one savage roar,--
+
+"To the lions with Christians!"
+
+Rich litters of courtiers pushed through the howling rabble. From the
+depth of burnt streets new crowds rushed forth continually; these,
+hearing the cry, repeated it. News passed from mouth to mouth that
+the pursuit had continued from the forenoon, that a multitude of
+incendiaries were seized; and immediately along the newly cleared and
+the old streets, through alleys lying among ruins around the Palatine,
+over all the hills and gardens were heard through the length and breadth
+of Rome shouts of swelling rage,--
+
+"To the lions with Christians!"
+
+"Herd!" repeated Petronius, with contempt; "a people worthy of Caesar!"
+And he began to think that a society resting on superior force, on
+cruelty of which even barbarians had no conception, on crimes and mad
+profligacy, could not endure. Rome ruled the world, but was also its
+ulcer. The odor of a corpse was rising from it. Over its decaying
+life the shadow of death was descending. More than once this had been
+mentioned even among the Augustians, but never before had Petronius had
+a clearer view of this truth that the laurelled chariot on which Rome
+stood in the form of a triumphator, and which dragged behind a
+chained herd of nations, was going to the precipice. The life of that
+world-ruling city seemed to him a kind of mad dance, an orgy, which must
+end. He saw then that the Christians alone had a new basis of life; but
+he judged that soon there would not remain a trace of the Christians.
+And what then?
+
+The mad dance would continue under Nero; and if Nero disappeared,
+another would be found of the same kind or worse, for with such a people
+and such patricians there was no reason to find a better leader. There
+would be a new orgy, and moreover a fouler and a viler one.
+
+But the orgy could not last forever, and there would be need of sleep
+when it was over, even because of simple exhaustion.
+
+While thinking of this, Petronius felt immensely wearied. Was it worth
+while to live, and live in uncertainty, with no purpose but to look
+at such a society? The genius of death was not less beautiful than the
+genius of sleep, and he also had wings at his shoulders.
+
+The litter stopped before the arbiter's door, which was opened that
+instant by the watchful keeper.
+
+"Has the noble Vinicius returned?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"Yes, lord, a moment ago," replied the slave.
+
+"He has not rescued her," thought Petronius. And casting aside his toga,
+he ran into the atrium. Vinicius was sitting on a stool; his head bent
+almost to his knees with his hands on his head; but at the sound of
+steps he raised his stony face, in which the eyes alone had a feverish
+brightness.
+
+"Thou wert late?" asked Petronius.
+
+"Yes; they seized her before midday."
+
+A moment of silence followed.
+
+"Hast thou seen her?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"In the Mamertine prison."
+
+Petronius trembled and looked at Vinicius with an inquiring glance. The
+latter understood.
+
+"No," said he. "She was not thrust down to the Tullianum [The lowest
+part of the prison, lying entirely underground, with a single opening
+in the ceiling. Jugurtha died there of hunger.] nor even to the middle
+prison. I paid the guard to give her his own room. Ursus took his place
+at the threshold and is guarding her."
+
+"Why did Ursus not defend her?"
+
+"They sent fifty pretorians, and Linus forbade him."
+
+"But Linus?"
+
+"Linus is dying; therefore they did not seize him."
+
+"What is thy intention?"
+
+"To save her or die with her. I too believe in Christ."
+
+Vinicius spoke with apparent calmness; but there was such despair in his
+voice that the heart of Petronius quivered from pure pity.
+
+"I understand thee," said he; "but how dost thou think to save her?"
+
+"I paid the guards highly, first to shield her from indignity, and
+second not to hinder her flight."
+
+"When can that happen?"
+
+"They answered that they could not give her to me at once, as they
+feared responsibility. When the prison will be filled with a multitude
+of people, and when the tally of prisoners is confused, they will
+deliver her. But that is a desperate thing! Do thou save her, and me
+first! Thou art a friend of Caesar. He himself gave her to me. Go to him
+and save me!"
+
+Petronius, instead of answering, called a slave, and, commanding him to
+bring two dark mantles and two swords, turned to Vinicius,
+
+"On the way I will tell thee," said he. "Meanwhile take the mantle and
+weapon, and we will go to the prison. There give the guards a hundred
+thousand sestertia; give them twice and five times more, if they will
+free Lygia at once. Otherwise it will be too late."
+
+"Let us go," said Vinicius.
+
+After a while both were on the street.
+
+"Now listen to me," said Petronius. "I did not wish to lose time. I am
+in disfavor, beginning with to-day. My own life is hanging on a hair;
+hence I can do nothing with Caesar. Worse than that, I am sure that he
+would act in opposition to my request. If that were not the case, would
+I advise thee to flee with Lygia or to rescue her? Besides, if thou
+escape, Caesar's wrath will turn on me. To-day he would rather do
+something at thy request than at mine. Do not count on that, however.
+Get her out of the prison, and flee! Nothing else is left. If that does
+not succeed, there will be time for other methods. Meanwhile know that
+Lygia is in prison, not alone for belief in Christ; Poppaea's anger is
+pursuing her and thee. Thou hast offended the Augusta by rejecting her,
+dost remember? She knows that she was rejected for Lygia, whom she hated
+from the first cast of the eye. Nay, she tried to destroy Lygia before
+by ascribing the death of her own infant to her witchcraft. The hand
+of Poppaea is in this. How explain that Lygia was the first to be
+imprisoned? Who could point out the house of Linus? But I tell thee that
+she has been followed this long time. I know that I wring thy soul, and
+take the remnant of thy hope from thee, but I tell thee this purposely,
+for the reason that if thou free her not before they come at the idea
+that thou wilt try, ye are both lost."
+
+"Yes; I understand!" muttered Vinicius.
+
+The streets were empty because of the late hour. Their further
+conversation was interrupted, however, by a drunken gladiator who came
+toward them. He reeled against Petronius, put one hand on his shoulder,
+covering his face with a breath filled with wine, and shouted in a
+hoarse voice,--
+
+"To the lions with Christians!"
+
+"Mirmillon," answered Petronius, quietly, "listen to good counsel; go
+thy way."
+
+With his other hand the drunken man seized him by the arm,--
+
+"Shout with me, or I'll break thy neck: Christians to the lions!" But
+the arbiter's nerves had had enough of those shouts. From the time that
+he had left the Palatine they had been stifling him like a nightmare,
+and rending his ears. So when he saw the fist of the giant above him,
+the measure of his patience was exceeded.
+
+"Friend," said he, "thou hint the smell of wine, and art stopping my
+way."
+
+Thus speaking, he drove into the man's breast to the hilt the short
+sword which he had brought from home; then, taking the arm of Vinicius,
+he continued as if nothing had happened,--
+
+"Caesar said to-day, 'Tell Vinicius from me to be at the games in which
+Christians will appear.' Dost understand what that means? They wish to
+make a spectacle of thy pain. That is a settled affair. Perhaps that is
+why thou and I are not imprisoned yet. If thou art not able to get her
+at once--I do not know--Acte might take thy part; but can she effect
+anything? Thy Sicilian lands, too, might tempt Tigellinus. Make the
+trial."
+
+"I will give him all that I have," answered Vinicius.
+
+From the Carinae to the Forum was not very far; hence they arrived
+soon. The night had begun to pale, and the walls of the castle came out
+definitely from the shadow.
+
+Suddenly, as they turned toward the Mamertine prison, Petronius stopped,
+and said,
+
+"Pretorians! Too late!"
+
+In fact the prison was surrounded by a double rank of soldiers. The
+morning dawn was silvering their helmets and the points of their
+javelins.
+
+Vinicius grew as pale as marble. "Let us go on," said he.
+
+After a while they halted before the line. Gifted with an uncommon
+memory, Petronius knew not only the officers, but nearly all the
+pretorian soldiers. Soon he saw an acquaintance, a leader of a cohort,
+and nodded to him.
+
+"But what is this, Niger?" asked he; "are ye commanded to watch the
+prison?"
+
+"Yes, noble Petronius. The prefect feared lest they might try to rescue
+the incendiaries."
+
+"Have ye the order to admit no one?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"We have not; acquaintances will visit the prisoners, and in that way we
+shall seize more Christians."
+
+"Then let me in," said Vinicius; and pressing Petronius's hand, he said,
+"See Acte, I will come to learn her answer."
+
+"Come," responded Petronius.
+
+At that moment under the ground and beyond the thick walls was heard
+singing. The hymn, at first low and muffled, rose more and more. The
+voices of men, women, and children were mingled in one harmonious
+chorus. The whole prison began to sound, in the calmness of dawn, like
+a harp. But those were not voices of sorrow or despair; on the contrary,
+gladness and triumph were heard in them.
+
+The soldiers looked at one another with amazement. The first golden and
+rosy gleams of the morning appeared in the sky.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LI
+
+
+THE cry, "Christians to the lions!" was heard increasingly in every part
+of the city. At first not only did no one doubt that they were the real
+authors of the catastrophe, but no one wished to doubt, since their
+punishment was to be a splendid amusement for the populace. Still the
+opinion spread that the catastrophe would not have assumed such dreadful
+proportions but for the anger of the gods; for this reason "piacula,"
+or purifying sacrifices, were commanded in the temples. By advice of the
+Sibylline books, the Senate ordained solemnities and public prayer to
+Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpina. Matrons made offerings to Juno; a whole
+procession of them went to the seashore to take water and sprinkle with
+it the statue of the goddess. Married women prepared feasts to the gods
+and night watches. All Rome purified itself from sin, made offerings,
+and placated the Immortals. Meanwhile new broad streets were opened
+among the ruins. In one place and another foundations were laid for
+magnificent houses, palaces, and temples. But first of all they
+built with unheard-of haste an enormous wooden amphitheatre in which
+Christians were to die. Immediately after that consultation in the house
+of Tiberius, orders went to consuls to furnish wild beasts. Tigellinus
+emptied the vivaria of all Italian cities, not excepting the smaller
+ones. In Africa, at his command, gigantic hunts were organized, in
+which the entire local population was forced to take part. Elephants and
+tigers were brought in from Asia, crocodiles and hippopotamuses from the
+Nile, lions from the Atlas, wolves and bears from the Pyrenees, savage
+hounds from Hibernia, Molossian dogs from Epirus, bisons and the
+gigantic wild aurochs from Germany. Because of the number of prisoners,
+the games were to surpass in greatness anything seen up to that time.
+Caesar wished to drown all memory of the fire in blood, and make
+Rome drunk with it; hence never had there been a greater promise of
+bloodshed.
+
+The willing people helped guards and pretorians in hunting Christians.
+That was no difficult labor for whole groups of them camped with the
+other population in the midst of the gardens, and confessed their
+faith openly. When surrounded, they knelt, and while singing hymns let
+themselves be borne away without resistance. But their patience only
+increased the anger of the populace, who, not understanding its origin,
+considered it as rage and persistence in crime. A madness seized
+the persecutors. It happened that the mob wrested Christians from
+pretorians, and tore them to pieces; women were dragged to prison by the
+hair; children's heads were dashed against stones. Thousands of people
+rushed, howling, night and day through the streets. Victims were sought
+in ruins, in chimneys, in cellars. Before the prison bacchanalian feasts
+and dances were celebrated at fires, around casks of wine.
+
+In the evening was heard with delight bellowing which was like thunder,
+and which sounded throughout the city. The prisons were overflowing
+with thousands of people; every day the mob and pretorians drove in
+new victims. Pity had died out. It seemed that people had forgotten
+to speak, and in their wild frenzy remembered one shout alone: "To
+the lions with Christians!" Wonderfully hot days came, and nights more
+stifling than ever before; the very air seemed filled with blood, crime,
+and madness.
+
+And that surpassing measure of cruelty was answered by an equal measure
+of desire for martyrdom,--the confessors of Christ went to death
+willingly, or even sought death till they were restrained by the stern
+commands of superiors. By the injunction of these superiors they began
+to assemble only outside the city, in excavations near the Appian Way,
+and in vineyards belonging to patrician Christians, of whom none had
+been imprisoned so far. It was known perfectly on the Palatine that to
+the confessors of Christ belonged Flavius, Domitilla, Pomponia Graecina,
+Cornelius Pudens, and Vinicius. Caesar himself, however, feared that the
+mob would not believe that such people had burned Rome, and since it
+was important beyond everything to convince the mob, punishment and
+vengeance were deferred till later days. Others were of the opinion, but
+erroneously, that those patricians were saved by the influence of Acte.
+Petronius, after parting with Vinicius, turned to Acte, it is true, to
+gain assistance for Lygia; but she could offer him only tears, for she
+lived in oblivion and suffering, and was endured only in so far as she
+hid herself from Poppaea and Caesar.
+
+But she had visited Lygia in prison, she had carried her clothing
+and food, and above all had saved her from injury on the part of the
+prison-guards, who, moreover, were bribed already.
+
+Petronius, unable to forget that had it not been for him and his plan
+of taking Lygia from the house of Aulus, probably she would not be in
+prison at that moment, and, besides, wishing to win the game against
+Tigellinus, spared neither time nor efforts. In the course of a few days
+he saw Seneca, Domitius Afer, Crispinilla, and Diodorus, through whom
+he wished to reach Poppaea; he saw Terpnos, and the beautiful Pythagoras,
+and finally Aliturus and Paris, to whom Caesar usually refused nothing.
+With the help of Chrysothemis, then mistress of Vatinius, he tried to
+gain even his aid, not sparing in this case and in others promises and
+money.
+
+But all these efforts were fruitless. Seneca, uncertain of the morrow,
+fell to explaining to him that the Christians, even if they had not
+burned Rome, should be exterminated, for the good of the city,--in a
+word, he justified the coming slaughter for political reasons. Terpnos
+and Diodorus took the money, and did nothing in return for it. Vatinius
+reported to Caesar that they had been trying to bribe him. Aliturus
+alone, who at first was hostile to the Christians, took pity on them
+then, and made bold to mention to Caesar the imprisoned maiden, and to
+implore in her behalf. He obtained nothing, however, but the answer,--
+
+"Dost thou think that I have a soul inferior to that of Brutus, who
+spared not his own sons for the good of Rome?"
+
+When this answer was repeated to Petronius, he said,--
+
+"Since Nero has compared himself to Brutus, there is no salvation."
+
+But he was sorry for Vinicius, and dread seized him lest he might
+attempt his own life. "Now," thought the arbiter, "he is upheld by the
+efforts which he makes to save her, by the sight of her, and by his own
+suffering; but when all means fail and the last ray of hope is quenched,
+by Castor! he will not survive, he will throw himself on his sword."
+Petronius understood better how to die thus than to love and suffer like
+Vinicius.
+
+Meanwhile Vinicius did all that he could think of to save Lygia. He
+visited Augustians; and he, once so proud, now begged their assistance.
+Through Vitelius he offered Tigellinus all his Sicilian estates, and
+whatever else the man might ask; but Tigellinus, not wishing apparently
+to offend the Augusta, refused. To go to Caesar himself, embrace his
+knees and implore, would lead to nothing. Vinicius wished, it is true,
+to do this; but Petronius, hearing of his purpose, inquired,--
+
+"But should he refuse thee, or answer with a jest or a shameless threat,
+what wouldst thou do?"
+
+At this the young tribune's features contracted with pain and rage, and
+from his fixed jaws a gritting sound was heard.
+
+"Yes," said Petronius, "I advise thee against this, because thou wouldst
+close all paths of rescue."
+
+Vinicius restrained himself, and passing his palm over his forehead,
+which was covered with cold sweat, replied,--
+
+"No, no! I am a Christian."
+
+"But thou will forget this, as thou didst a moment ago. Thou hast
+the right to ruin thyself, but not her. Remember what the daughter of
+Sejanus passed through before death."
+
+Speaking thus he was not altogether sincere, since he was concerned
+more for Vinicius than for Lygia. Still he knew that in no way could
+he restrain him from a dangerous step as well as by telling him that he
+would bring inexorable destruction on Lygia. Moreover he was right; for
+on the Palatine they had counted on the visit of the young tribune, and
+had taken needful precautions.
+
+But the suffering of Vinicius surpassed human endurance. From the moment
+that Lygia was imprisoned and the glory of coming martyrdom had fallen
+on her, not only did he love her a hundred times more, but he began
+simply to give her in his soul almost religious honor, as he would a
+superhuman being. And now, at the thought that he must lose this being
+both loved and holy, that besides death torments might be inflicted on
+her more terrible than death itself, the blood stiffened in his veins.
+His soul was turned into one groan, his thoughts were confused. At times
+it seemed to him that his skull was filled with living fire, which would
+either burn or burst it. He ceased to understand what was happening; he
+ceased to understand why Christ, the Merciful, the Divine, did not come
+with aid to His adherents; why the dingy walls of the Palatine did
+not sink through the earth, and with them Nero, the Augustians, the
+pretorian camp, and all that city of crime. He thought that it could not
+and should not be otherwise; and all that his eyes saw, and because
+of which his heart was breaking, was a dream. But the roaring of wild
+beasts informed him that it was reality; the sound of the axes beneath
+which rose the arena told him that it was reality; the howling of the
+people and the overfilled prisons confirmed this. Then his faith in
+Christ was alarmed; and that alarm was a new torture, the most dreadful
+of all, perhaps.
+
+"Remember what the daughter of Sejanus endured before death," said
+Petronius to him, meanwhile.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LII
+
+
+AND everything had failed. Vinicius lowered himself to the degree that
+he sought support from freedmen and slaves, both those of Caesar and
+Poppaea; he overpaid their empty promises, he won their good will with
+rich gifts. He found the first husband of Poppaea, Rufus Crispinus, and
+obtained from him a letter. He gave a villa in Antium to Rufius, her son
+by the first marriage; but thereby he merely angered Caesar, who hated
+his step-son. By a special courier he sent a letter to Poppaea's second
+husband, Otho, in Spain. He sacrificed his property and himself, until
+he saw at last that he was simply the plaything of people; that if he
+had pretended that the imprisonment of Lygia concerned him little, he
+would have freed her sooner.
+
+Petronius saw this, too. Meanwhile day followed day. The amphitheatre
+was finished. The "tesserae" were distributed,--that is, tickets of
+entrance, to the ludus matutinus (morning games). But this time the
+morning games, because of the unheard-of number of victims, were to
+continue for days, weeks, and months. It was not known where to put the
+Christians. The prisons were crammed, and fever was raging in them. The
+puticuli--common pits in which slaves were kept--began to be overfilled.
+There was fear that diseases might spread over the whole city hence,
+haste.
+
+All these reports struck the ears of Vinicius, extinguishing in him the
+last hope. While there was yet time, he might delude himself with
+the belief that he could do something, but now there was no time. The
+spectacles must begin. Lygia might find herself any day in a cuniculum
+of the circus, whence the only exit was to the arena. Vinicius, not
+knowing whither fate and the cruelty of superior force might throw her,
+visited all the circuses, bribed guards and beast-keepers, laying before
+them plans which they could not execute. In time he saw that he was
+working for this only,--to make death less terrible to her; and just
+then he felt that instead of brains he had glowing coals in his head.
+
+For the rest he had no thought of surviving her, and determined to
+perish at the same time. But he feared lest pain might burn his life out
+before the dreadful hour came. His friends and Petronius thought also
+that any day might open the kingdom of shadows before him. His face was
+black, and resembled those waxen masks kept in lararia. In his features
+astonishment had grown frigid, as if he hid no understanding of what had
+happened and what might happen. When any one spoke to him, he raised his
+hands to his face mechanically, and, pressing his temples, looked at the
+speaker with an inquiring and astonished gaze. He passed whole nights
+with Ursus at Lygia's door in the prison; if she commanded him to go
+away and rest, he returned to Petronius, and walked in the atrium till
+morning. The slaves found him frequently kneeling with upraised hands
+or lying with his face to the earth. He prayed to Christ, for Christ
+was his last hope. Everything had failed him. Only a miracle could save
+Lygia; hence he beat the stone flags with his forehead and prayed for
+the miracle.
+
+But he knew enough yet to understand that Peter's prayers were more
+important than his own. Peter had promised him Lygia, Peter had baptized
+him, Peter had performed miracles, let him give aid and rescue.
+
+And a certain night he went to seek the Apostle. The Christians, of
+whom not many remained, had concealed him now carefully even from other
+brethren, lest any of the weaker in spirit might betray him wittingly or
+unwittingly. Vinicius, amid the general confusion and disaster, occupied
+also in efforts to get Lygia out of prison, had lost sight of Peter,
+he had barely seen him once from the time of his own baptism till the
+beginning of the persecution. But betaking himself to that quarryman
+in whose hut he was baptized, he learned that there would be a meeting
+outside the Porta Salaria in a vineyard which belonged to Cornelius
+Pudens. The quarryman offered to guide him, and declared that he would
+find Peter there. They started about dusk, and, passing beyond the wall,
+through hollows overgrown with reeds, reached the vineyard in a wild
+and lonely place. The meeting was held in a wine-shed. As Vinicius drew
+near, the murmur of prayer reached his ears. On entering he saw by
+dim lamplight a few tens of kneeling figures sunk in prayer. They were
+saying a kind of litany; a chorus of voices, male and female, repeated
+every moment, "Christ have mercy on us." In those voices, deep, piercing
+sadness and sorrow were heard.
+
+Peter was present. He was kneeling in front of the others, before a
+wooden cross nailed to the wall of the shed, and was praying. From a
+distance Vinicius recognized his white hair and his upraised hands. The
+first thought of the young patrician was to pass through the assembly,
+cast himself at the Apostle's feet, and cry, "Save!" but whether it was
+the solemnity of the prayer, or because weakness bent the knees under
+Vinicius, he began to repeat while he groaned and clasped his hands:
+"Christ have mercy!" Had he been conscious, he would have understood
+that his was not the only prayer in which there was a groan; that he was
+not the only one who had brought with him his pain, alarm, and grief.
+There was not in that assembly one soul which had not lost persons dear
+to the heart; and when the most zealous and courageous confessors were
+in prison already, when with every moment new tidings were borne about
+of insults and tortures inflicted on them in the prisons, when the
+greatness of the calamity exceeded every imagination, when only that
+handful remained, there was not one heart there which was not terrified
+in its faith, which did not ask doubtfully, Where is Christ? and why
+does He let evil be mightier than God? Meanwhile they implored Him
+despairingly for mercy, since in each soul there still smouldered a
+spark of hope that He would come, hurl Nero into the abyss, and rule the
+world. They looked yet toward the sky; they listened yet; they prayed
+yet with trembling. Vinicius, too, in proportion as they repeated,
+"Christ have mercy on us!" was seized by such an ecstasy as formerly
+in the quarryman's hut. Now from the depths they call on Him in the
+profoundness of their sorrow, now Peter calls on Him; so any moment the
+heavens may be rent, the earth tremble to its foundations, and He appear
+in infinite glory, with stars at His feet, merciful, but awful. He
+will raise up the faithful, and command the abysses to swallow the
+persecutors.
+
+Vinicius covered his face with both hands, and bowed to the earth.
+Immediately silence was around him, as if fear had stopped further
+breathing on the lips of all present. And it seemed to him that
+something must happen surely, that a moment of miracle would follow. He
+felt certain that when he rose and opened his eyes he would see a light
+from which mortal eyes would be blinded, and hear a voice from which
+hearts would grow faint.
+
+But the silence was unbroken. It was interrupted at last by the sobbing
+of women. Vinicius rose and looked forward with dazed eyes. In the shed,
+instead of glories not of earth, shone the faint gleam of lanterns, and
+rays of the moon, entering through an opening in the roof, filled the
+place with silvery light. The people kneeling around Vinicius raised
+their tearful eyes toward the cross in silence; here and there sobbing
+was heard, and from outside came the warning whistles of watchmen.
+Meanwhile Peter rose, and, turning to the assembly, said,
+
+"Children, raise your hearts to the Redeemer and offer Him your tears."
+
+After that he was silent.
+
+All at once was heard the voice of a woman, full of sorrowful complaint
+and pain,--
+
+"I am a widow; I had one son who supported me. Give him back, O Lord!"
+Silence followed again. Peter was standing before the kneeling audience,
+old, full of care. In that moment he seemed to them decrepitude and
+weakness personified. With that a second voice began to complain,
+
+"Executioners insulted my daughter, and Christ permitted them!"
+
+Then a third,--
+
+"I alone have remained to my children, and when I am taken who will give
+them bread and water?"
+
+Then a fourth,--
+
+"Linus, spared at first, they have taken now and put to torture, O
+Lord!"
+
+Then a fifth,
+
+"When we return to our houses, pretorians will seize us. We know not
+where to hide."
+
+"Woe to us! Who will protect us?"
+
+And thus in that silence of the night complaint after complaint was
+heard. The old fisherman closed his eyes and shook his white head over
+that human pain and fear. New silence followed; the watchman merely gave
+out low whistles beyond the shed.
+
+Vinicius sprang up again, so as to break through the crowd to the
+Apostle and demand salvation; but on a sudden he saw before him, as it
+were, a precipice, the sight of which took strength from his feet. What
+if the Apostle were to confess his own weakness, affirm that the Roman
+Caesar was stronger than Christ the Nazarene? And at that thought terror
+raised the hair on his head, for he felt that in such a case not only
+the remnant of his hope would fall into that abyss, but with it he
+himself, and all through which he had life, and there would remain only
+night and death, resembling a shoreless sea.
+
+Meanwhile Peter began to speak in a voice so low at first that it was
+barely possible to hear him,--
+
+"My children, on Golgotha I saw them nail God to the cross. I heard
+the hammers, and I saw them raise the cross on high, so that the rabble
+might gaze at the death of the Son of Man. I saw them open His side, and
+I saw Him die. When returning from the cross, I cried in pain, as ye are
+crying, 'Woe! woe! O Lord, Thou art God! Why hast Thou permitted this?
+Why hast Thou died, and why hast Thou tormented the hearts of us who
+believed that Thy kingdom would come?'
+
+"But He, our Lord and God, rose from the dead the third day, and was
+among us till He entered His kingdom in great glory.
+
+"And we, seeing our little faith, became strong in heart, and from that
+time we are sowing His grain."
+
+Here, turning toward the place whence the first complaint came, he began
+in a voice now stronger,--
+
+"Why do ye complain? God gave Himself to torture and death, and ye
+wish Him to shield you from the same. People of little faith, have ye
+received His teaching? Has He promised you nothing but life? He comes
+to you and says, 'Follow in my path.' He raises you to Himself, and ye
+catch at this earth with your hands, crying, 'Lord, save us!' I am dust
+before God, but before you I am His apostle and viceregent. I speak
+to you in the name of Christ. Not death is before you, but life; not
+tortures, but endless delights; not tears and groans, but singing; not
+bondage, but rule! I, God's apostle, say this: O widow, thy son will not
+die; he will be born into glory, into eternal life, and thou wilt
+rejoin him! To thee, O father, whose innocent daughter was defiled by
+executioners, I promise that thou shalt find her whiter than the
+lilies of Hebron! To you, mothers, whom they are tearing away from your
+orphans; to you who lose fathers; to you who complain; to you who will
+see the death of loved ones; to you the careworn, the unfortunate, the
+timid; to you who must die,--in the name of Christ I declare that ye
+will wake as if from sleep to a happy waking, as if from night to the
+light of God. In the name of Christ, let the beam fall from your eyes,
+and let your hearts be inflamed."
+
+When he had said this, he raised his hand as if commanding, and they
+felt new blood in their veins, and also a quiver in their bones; for
+before them was standing, not a decrepit and careworn old man, but a
+potentate, who took their souls and raised them from dust and terror.
+
+"Amen!" called a number of voices.
+
+From the Apostle's eyes came a light ever increasing, power issued from
+him, majesty issued from him, and holiness. Heads bent before him, and
+he, when the "Amen" ceased, continued:--
+
+"Ye sow in tears to reap in joy. Why fear ye the power of evil? Above
+the earth, above Rome, above the walls of cities is the Lord, who has
+taken His dwelling within you. The stones will be wet from tears, the
+sand steeped in blood, the valleys will be filled with your bodies, but
+I say that ye are victorious. The Lord is advancing to the conquest of
+this city of crime, oppression, and pride, and ye are His legions! He
+redeemed with His own blood and torture the sins of the world; so
+He wishes that ye should redeem with torture and blood this nest of
+injustice. This He announces to you through my lips."
+
+And he opened his arms, and fixed his eyes upward; the hearts almost
+ceased to beat in their breasts, for they felt that his glance beheld
+something which their mortal sight could not see.
+
+In fact, his face had changed, and was overspread with serenity; he
+gazed some time in silence, as if speechless from ecstasy, but after a
+while they heard his voice,--
+
+"Thou art here, O Lord, and dost show Thy ways to me. True, O Christ!
+Not in Jerusalem, but in this city of Satan wilt Thou fix Thy capital.
+Here out of these tears and this blood dost Thou wish to build Thy
+Church. Here, where Nero rules to-day, Thy eternal kingdom is to stand.
+Thine, O Lord, O Lord! And Thou commandest these timid ones to form
+the foundation of Thy holy Zion of their bones, and Thou commandest my
+spirit to assume rule over it, and over peoples of the earth. And Thou
+art pouring the fountain of strength on the weak, so that they become
+strong; and now Thou commandest me to feed Thy sheep from this spot,
+to the end of ages. Oh, be Thou praised in Thy decrees by which Thou
+commandest to conquer. Hosanna! Hosanna!"
+
+Those who were timid rose; into those who doubted streams of faith
+flowed. Some voices cried, "Hosanna!" others, "Pro Christo!" Then
+silence followed. Bright summer lightning illuminated the interior of
+the shed, and the pale, excited faces.
+
+Peter, fixed in a vision, prayed a long time yet; but conscious at last,
+he turned his inspired face, full of light, to the assembly, and said,--
+
+"This is how the Lord has overcome doubt in you; so ye will go to
+victory in His name."
+
+And though he knew that they would conquer, though he knew what would
+grow out of their tears and blood, still his voice quivered with emotion
+when he was blessing them with the cross, and he said,--
+
+"Now I bless you, my children, as ye go to torture, to death, to
+eternity."
+
+They gathered round him and wept. "We are ready," said they; "but
+do thou, O holy head, guard thyself, for thou art the viceregent who
+performs the office of Christ."
+
+And thus speaking, they seized his mantle; he placed his hands on their
+heads, and blessed each one separately, just as a father does children
+whom he is sending on a long journey.
+
+And they began at once to go out of the shed, for they were in a hurry,
+to their houses, and from them to the prisons and arenas. Their thoughts
+were separated from the earth, their souls had taken flight toward
+eternity, and they walked on as if in a dream, in ecstasy opposing that
+force which was in them to the force and the cruelty of the "Beast."
+
+Nereus, the servant of Pudens, took the Apostle and led him by a secret
+path in the vineyard to his house. But Vinicius followed them in the
+clear night, and when they reached the cottage of Nereus at last, he
+threw himself suddenly at the feet of the Apostle.
+
+"What dost thou wish, my Son?" asked Peter, recognizing him.
+
+After what he had heard in the vineyard, Vinicius dared not implore him
+for anything; but, embracing his feet with both hands, he pressed his
+forehead to them with sobbing, and called for compassion in that dumb
+manner.
+
+"I know. They took the maiden whom thou lovest. Pray for her."
+
+"Lord," groaned Vinicius, embracing his feet still more firmly,--"Lord,
+I am a wretched worm; but thou didst know Christ. Implore Him,--take her
+part."
+
+And from pain he trembled like a leaf; and he beat the earth with his
+forehead, for, knowing the strength of the Apostle, he knew that he
+alone could rescue her.
+
+Peter was moved by that pain. He remembered how on a time Lygia herself,
+when attacked by Crispus, lay at his feet in like manner imploring pity.
+He remembered that he had raised her and comforted her; hence now he
+raised Vinicius.
+
+"My son," said he, "I will pray for her; but do thou remember that I
+told those doubting ones that God Himself passed through the torment of
+the cross, and remember that after this life begins another,--an eternal
+one."
+
+"I know; I have heard!" answered Vinicius, catching the air with his
+pale lips; "but thou seest, lord, that I cannot! If blood is required,
+implore Christ to take mine,--I am a soldier. Let Him double, let Him
+triple, the torment intended for her, I will suffer it; but let Him
+spare her. She is a child yet, and He is mightier than Caesar, I believe,
+mightier. Thou didst love her thyself; thou didst bless us. She is an
+innocent child yet."
+
+Again he bowed, and, putting his face to Peter's knees, he repeated,--
+
+"Thou didst know Christ, lord,--thou didst know Him. He will give ear to
+thee; take her part."
+
+Peter closed his lids, and prayed earnestly. The summer lightning
+illuminated the sky again. Vinicius, by the light of it, looked at the
+lips of the Apostle, waiting sentence of life or death from them. In the
+silence quails were heard calling in the vineyard, and the dull, distant
+sound of treadmills near the Via Salaria.
+
+"Vinicius," asked the Apostle at last, "dost thou believe?"
+
+"Would I have come hither if I believed not?" answered Vinicius.
+
+"Then believe to the end, for faith will remove mountains. Hence, though
+thou wert to see that maiden under the sword of the executioner or in
+the jaws of a lion, believe that Christ can save her. Believe, and pray
+to Him, and I will pray with thee."
+
+Then, raising his face toward heaven, he said aloud,--
+
+"O merciful Christ, look on this aching heart and console it! O merciful
+Christ, temper the wind to the fleece of the lamb! O merciful Christ,
+who didst implore the Father to turn away the bitter cup from Thy mouth,
+turn it from the mouth of this Thy servant! Amen."
+
+But Vinicius, stretching his hand toward the stars, said, groaning,--
+
+"I am Thine; take me instead of her."
+
+The sky began to grow pale in the east.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LIII
+
+
+VINICIUS, on leaving the Apostle, went to the prison with a heart
+renewed by hope. Somewhere in the depth of his soul, despair and
+terror were still crying; but he stifled those voices. It seemed to him
+impossible that the intercession of the viceregent of God and the power
+of his prayer should be without effect. He feared to hope; he feared to
+doubt. "I will believe in His mercy," said he to himself, "even though
+I saw her in the jaws of a lion." And at this thought, even though the
+soul quivered in him and cold sweat drenched his temples, he believed.
+Every throb of his heart was a prayer then. He began to understand that
+faith would move mountains, for he felt in himself a wonderful strength,
+which he had not felt earlier. It seemed to him that he could do things
+which he had not the power to do the day before. At moments he had an
+impression that the danger had passed. If despair was heard groaning
+again in his soul, he recalled that night, and that holy gray face
+raised to heaven in prayer.
+
+"No, Christ will not refuse His first disciple and the pastor of His
+flock! Christ will not refuse him! I will not doubt!" And he ran toward
+the prison as a herald of good news.
+
+But there an unexpected thing awaited him.
+
+All the pretorian guards taking turn before the Mamertine prison knew
+him, and generally they raised not the least difficulty; this time,
+however, the line did not open, but a centurion approached him and
+said,--
+
+"Pardon, noble tribune, to-day we have a command to admit no one."
+
+"A command?" repeated Vinicius, growing pale.
+
+The soldier looked at him with pity, and answered,--
+
+"Yes, lord, a command of Caesar. In the prison there are many sick, and
+perhaps it is feared that visitors might spread infection through the
+city."
+
+"But hast thou said that the order was for to-day only?"
+
+"The guards change at noon."
+
+Vinicius was silent and uncovered his head, for it seemed to him that
+the pileolus which he wore was of lead.
+
+Meanwhile the soldier approached him, and said in a low voice,
+
+"Be at rest, lord, the guard and Ursus are watching over her." When he
+had said this, he bent and, in the twinkle of an eye, drew with his long
+Gallic sword on the flag stone the form of a fish.
+
+Vinicius looked at him quickly.
+
+"And thou art a pretorian?"
+
+"Till I shall be there," answered the soldier, pointing to the prison.
+
+"And I, too, worship Christ."
+
+"May His name be praised! I know, lord, I cannot admit thee to the
+prison, but write a letter, I will give it to the guard."
+
+"Thanks to thee, brother."
+
+He pressed the soldier's hand, and went away. The pileolus ceased to
+weigh like lead. The morning sun rose over the walls of the prison, and
+with its brightness consolation began to enter his heart again. That
+Christian soldier was for him a new witness of the power of Christ.
+After a while he halted, and, fixing his glance on the rosy clouds above
+the Capitol and the temple of Jupiter Stator, he said,--
+
+"I have not seen her to-day, O Lord, but I believe in Thy mercy."
+
+At the house he found Petronius, who, making day out of night as usual,
+had returned not long before. He had succeeded, however, in taking his
+bath and anointing himself for sleep.
+
+"I have news for thee," said he. "To-day I was with Tullius Senecio,
+whom Caesar also visited. I know not whence it came to the mind of the
+Augusta to bring little Rufius with her,--perhaps to soften the heart
+of Caesar by his beauty. Unfortunately, the child, wearied by drowsiness,
+fell asleep during the reading, as Vespasian did once; seeing this,
+Ahenobarbus hurled a goblet at his step-son, and wounded him seriously.
+Poppaea fainted; all heard how Caesar said, 'I have enough of this brood!'
+and that, knowest thou, means as much as death."
+
+"The punishment of God was hanging over the Augusta," answered Vinicius;
+"but why dost thou tell me this?"
+
+"I tell thee because the anger of Poppaea pursued thee and Lygia;
+occupied now by her own misfortune, she may leave her vengeance and be
+more easily influenced. I will see her this evening and talk with her."
+
+"Thanks to thee. Thou givest me good news."
+
+"But do thou bathe and rest. Thy lips are blue, and there is not a
+shadow of thee left."
+
+"Is not the time of the first 'ludus matutinus' announced?" inquired
+Vinicius.
+
+"In ten days. But they will take other prisons first. The more time that
+remains to us the better. All is not lost yet."
+
+But he did not believe this; for he knew perfectly that since to the
+request of Aliturus, Caesar had found the splendidly sounding answer in
+which he compared himself to Brutus, there was no rescue for Lygia. He
+hid also, through pity, what he had heard at Senecio's, that Caesar and
+Tigellinus had decided to select for themselves and their friends the
+most beautiful Christian maidens, and defile them before the torture;
+the others were to be given, on the day of the games, to pretorians and
+beast-keepers.
+
+Knowing that Vinicius would not survive Lygia in any case, he
+strengthened hope in his heart designedly, first, through sympathy
+for him; and second, because he wished that if Vinicius had to die, he
+should die beautiful,--not with a face deformed and black from pain and
+watching.
+
+"To-day I will speak more or less thus to Augusta," said he: "'Save
+Lygia for Vinicius, I will save Ruflus for thee.' And I will think of
+that seriously.
+
+"One word spoken to Ahenobarbus at the right moment may save or ruin any
+one. In the worst case, we will gain time."
+
+"Thanks to thee," repeated Vinicius.
+
+"Thou wilt thank me best if thou eat and sleep. By Athene! In the
+greatest straits Odysseus had sleep and food in mind. Thou hast spent
+the whole night in prison, of course?"
+
+"No," answered Vinicius; "I wished to visit the prison to-day, but there
+is an order to admit no one. Learn, O Petronius, if the order is for
+to-day alone or till the day of the games."
+
+"I will discover this evening, and to-morrow morning will tell thee for
+what time and why the order was issued. But now, even were Helios to go
+to Cimmerian regions from sorrow, I shall sleep, and do thou follow my
+example."
+
+They separated; but Vinicius went to the library and wrote a letter
+to Lygia. When he had finished, he took it himself to the Christian
+centurion who carried it at once to the prison. After a while he
+returned with a greeting from Lygia, and promised to deliver her answer
+that day.
+
+Vinicius did not wish to return home, but sat on a stone and waited for
+Lygia's letter. The sun had risen high in the heavens, and crowds of
+people flowed in, as usual, through the Clivus Argentarius to the Forum.
+Hucksters called out their wares, soothsayers offered their services to
+passers-by, citizens walked with deliberate steps toward the rostra to
+hear orators of the day, or tell the latest news to one another. As the
+heat increased, crowds of idlers betook themselves to the porticos of
+the temples, from under which flew from moment to moment, with great
+rustle of wings, flocks of doves, whose white feathers glistened in the
+sunlight and in the blue of the sky.
+
+From excess of light and the influence of bustle, heat, and great
+weariness, the eyes of Vinicius began to close. The monotonous calls
+of boys playing mora, and the measured tread of soldiers, lulled him
+to sleep. He raised his head still a number of times, and took in the
+prison with his eyes; then he leaned against a Stone, sighed like a
+child drowsy after long weeping, and dropped asleep.
+
+Soon dreams came. It seemed to him that he was carrying Lygia in his
+arms at night through a strange vineyard. Before him was Pomponia
+Graecina lighting the way with a lamp. A voice, as it were of Petronius
+called from afar to him, "Turn back!" but he did not mind the call, and
+followed Pomponia till they reached a cottage; at the threshold of the
+cottage stood Peter. He showed Peter Lygia, and said, "We are coming
+from the arena, lord, but we cannot wake her; wake her thou." "Christ
+himself will come to wake her," answered the Apostle.
+
+Then the pictures began to change. Through the dream he saw Nero, and
+Poppaea holding in her arms little Ruflus with bleeding head, which
+Petronius was washing and he saw Tigellinus sprinkling ashes on tables
+covered with costly dishes, and Vitelius devouring those dishes, while a
+multitude of other Augustians were sitting at the feast. He himself was
+resting near Lygia; but between the tables walked lions from out whose
+yellow manes trickled blood. Lygia begged him to take her away, but so
+terrible a weakness had seized him that he could not even move. Then
+still greater disorder involved his visions, and finally all fell into
+perfect darkness.
+
+He was roused from deep sleep at last by the heat of the sun, and shouts
+given forth right there around the place where he was sitting. Vinicius
+rubbed his eyes. The street was swarming with people; but two runners,
+wearing yellow tunics, pushed aside the throng with long staffs, crying
+and making room for a splendid litter which was carried by four stalwart
+Egyptian slaves.
+
+In the litter sat a man in white robes, whose face was not easily
+seen, for he held close to his eyes a roll of papyrus and was reading
+something diligently.
+
+"Make way for the noble Augustian!" cried the runners.
+
+But the street was so crowded that the litter had to wait awhile. The
+Augustian put down his roll of papyrus and bent his head, crying,--
+
+"Push aside those wretches! Make haste!"
+
+Seeing Vinicius suddenly, he drew back his head and raised the papyrus
+quickly.
+
+Vinicius drew his hand across his forehead, thinking that he was
+dreaming yet.
+
+In the litter was sitting Chilo.
+
+Meanwhile the runners had opened the way, and the Egyptians were ready
+to move, when the young tribune, who in one moment understood many
+things which till then had been incomprehensible, approached the litter.
+
+"A greeting to thee, O Chilo!" said he.
+
+"Young man," answered the Greek, with pride and importance, endeavoring
+to give his face an expression of calmness which was not in his soul,
+"be greeted, but detain me not, for I am hastening to my friend, the
+noble Tigellinus."
+
+Vinicius, grasping the edge of the litter and looking him straight in
+the eyes, said with a lowered voice,--
+
+"Didst thou betray Lygia?"
+
+"Colossus of Memnon!" cried Chilo, with fear.
+
+But there was no threat in the eyes of Vinicius; hence the old Greek's
+alarm vanished quickly. He remembered that he was under the protection
+of Tigellinus and of Caesar himself,--that is, of a power before which
+everything trembled,--that he was surrounded by sturdy slaves, and that
+Vinicius stood before him unarmed, with an emaciated face and body bent
+by suffering.
+
+At this thought his insolence returned to him. He fixed on Vinicius his
+eyes, which were surrounded by red lids, and whispered in answer,--
+
+"But thou, when I was dying of hunger, didst give command to flog me."
+
+For a moment both were silent; then the dull voice of Vinicius was
+heard,--
+
+"I wronged thee, Chilo."
+
+The Greek raised his head, and, snapping his fingers which in Rome was a
+mark of slight and contempt, said so loudly that all could hear him,--
+
+"Friend, if thou hast a petition to present, come to my house on the
+Esquiline in the morning hour, when I receive guests and clients after
+my bath."
+
+And he waved his hand; at that sign the Egyptians raised the litter, and
+the slaves, dressed in yellow tunics, began to cry as they brandished
+their staffs,--
+
+"Make way for the litter of the noble Chilo Chilonides! Make way, make
+way!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LIV
+
+
+LYGIA, in a long letter written hurriedly, took farewell to Vinicius
+forever. She knew that no one was permitted to enter the prison,
+and that she could see Vinicius only from the arena. She begged him
+therefore to discover when the turn of the Mamertine prisoners would
+come, and to be at the games, for she wished to see him once more in
+life. No fear was evident in her letter. She wrote that she and the
+others were longing for the arena, where they would find liberation
+from imprisonment. She hoped for the coming of Pomponia and Aulus; she
+entreated that they too be present. Every word of her showed ecstasy,
+and that separation from life in which all the prisoners lived, and at
+the same time an unshaken faith that all promises would be fulfilled
+beyond the grave.
+
+"Whether Christ," wrote she, "frees me in this life or after death,
+He has promised me to thee by the lips of the Apostle; therefore I am
+thine." She implored him not to grieve for her, and not to let himself
+be overcome by suffering. For her death was not a dissolution of
+marriage. With the confidence of a child she assured Vinicius that
+immediately after her suffering in the arena she would tell Christ that
+her betrothed Marcus had remained in Rome, that he was longing for her
+with his whole heart. And she thought that Christ would permit her soul,
+perhaps, to return to him for a moment, to tell him that she was living,
+that she did not remember her torments, and that she was happy. Her
+whole letter breathed happiness and immense hope. There was only one
+request in it connected with affairs of earth,--that Vinicius should
+take her body from the spoliarium and bury it as that of his wife in the
+tomb in which he himself would rest sometime.
+
+He read this letter with a suffering spirit, but at the same time it
+seemed to him impossible that Lygia should perish under the claws of
+wild beasts, and that Christ would not take compassion on her. But just
+in that were hidden hope and trust. When he returned home, he wrote
+that he would come every day to the walls of the Tullianum to wait till
+Christ crushed the walls and restored her. He commanded her to believe
+that Christ could give her to him, even in the Circus; that the great
+Apostle was imploring Him to do so, and that the hour of liberation
+was near. The converted centurion was to bear this letter to her on the
+morrow.
+
+But when Vinicius came to the prison next morning, the centurion left
+the rank, approached him first, and said,--
+
+"Listen to me, lord. Christ, who enlightened thee, has shown thee favor.
+Last night Caesar's freedman and those of the prefect came to select
+Christian maidens for disgrace; they inquired for thy betrothed, but our
+Lord sent her a fever, of which prisoners are dying in the Tullianum,
+and they left her. Last evening she was unconscious, and blessed be the
+name of the Redeemer, for the sickness which has saved her from shame
+may save her from death."
+
+Vinicius placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder to guard himself from
+falling; but the other continued,--
+
+"Thank the mercy of the Lord! They took and tortured Linus, but, seeing
+that he was dying, they surrendered him. They may give her now to thee,
+and Christ will give back health to her."
+
+The young tribune stood some time with drooping head; then raised it and
+said in a whisper,--
+
+"True, centurion. Christ, who saved her from shame, will save her from
+death." And sitting at the wall of the prison till evening, he returned
+home to send people for Linus and have him taken to one of his suburban
+villas.
+
+But when Petronius had heard everything, he determined to act also. He
+had visited the Augusta; now he went to her a second time. He found her
+at the bed of little Rufius. The child with broken head was struggling
+in a fever; his mother, with despair and terror in her heart, was trying
+to save him, thinking, however, that if she did save him it might be
+only to perish soon by a more dreadful death.
+
+Occupied exclusively with her own suffering, she would not even hear of
+Vinicius and Lygia; but Petronius terrified her.
+
+"Thou hast offended," said he to her, "a new, unknown divinity. Thou,
+Augusta, art a worshipper, it seems, of the Hebrew Jehovah; but the
+Christians maintain that Chrestos is his son. Reflect, then, if the
+anger of the father is not pursuing thee. Who knows but it is their
+vengeance which has struck thee? Who knows but the life of Rufius
+depends on this,--how thou wilt act?"
+
+"What dost thou wish me to do?" asked Poppaea, with terror.
+
+"Mollify the offended deities."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Lygia is sick; influence Caesar or Tigellinus to give her to Vinicius."
+
+"Dost thou think that I can do that?" asked she, in despair.
+
+"Thou canst do something else. If Lygia recovers, she must die. Go
+thou to the temple of Vesta, and ask the virgo magna to happen near the
+Tullianum at the moment when they are leading prisoners out to death,
+and give command to free that maiden. The chief vestal will not refuse
+thee."
+
+"But if Lygia dies of the fever?"
+
+"The Christians say that Christ is vengeful, but just; maybe thou wilt
+soften Him by thy wish alone."
+
+"Let Him give me some sign that will heal Rufius."
+
+Petronius shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I have not come as His envoy; O divinity, I merely say to thee, Be on
+better terms with all the gods, Roman and foreign."
+
+"I will go!" said Poppaea, with a broken voice.
+
+Petronius drew a deep breath. "At last I have done something," thought
+he, and returning to Vinicius he said to him,--
+
+"Implore thy God that Lygia die not of the fever, for should she
+survive, the chief vestal will give command to free her. The Augusta
+herself will ask her to do so."
+
+"Christ will free her," said Vinicius, looking at him with eyes in which
+fever was glittering.
+
+Poppaea, who for the recovery of Rufius was willing to burn hecatombs to
+all the gods of the world, went that same evening through the Forum to
+the vestals, leaving care over the sick child to her faithful nurse,
+Silvia, by whom she herself had been reared.
+
+But on the Palatine sentence had been issued against the child already;
+for barely had Poppaea's litter vanished behind the great gate when two
+freedmen entered the chamber in which her son was resting. One of these
+threw himself on old Silvia and gagged her; the other, seizing a bronze
+statue of the Sphinx, stunned the old woman with the first blow.
+
+Then they approached Rufius. The little boy, tormented with fever and
+insensible, not knowing what was passing around him, smiled at them,
+and blinked with his beautiful eyes, as if trying to recognize the men.
+Stripping from the nurse her girdle, they put it around his neck and
+pulled it. The child called once for his mother, and died easily. Then
+they wound him in a sheet, and sitting on horses which were waiting,
+hurried to Ostia, where they threw the body into the sea.
+
+Poppaea, not finding the virgo magna, who with other vestals was at the
+house of Vatinius, returned soon to the Palatine. Seeing the empty bed
+and the cold body of Silvia, she fainted, and when they restored her she
+began to scream; her wild cries were heard all that night and the day
+following.
+
+But Caesar commanded her to appear at a feast on the third day; so,
+arraying herself in an amethyst-colored tunic, she came and sat with
+stony face, golden-haired, silent, wonderful, and as ominous as an angel
+of death.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LV
+
+
+BEFORE the Flavii had reared the Colosseum, amphitheatres in Rome were
+built of wood mainly; for that reason nearly all of them had burned
+during the fire. But Nero, for the celebration of the promised games,
+had given command to build several, and among them a gigantic one, for
+which they began, immediately after the fire was extinguished, to bring
+by sea and the Tiber great trunks of trees cut on the slopes of Atlas;
+for the games were to surpass all previous ones in splendor and the
+number of victims.
+
+Large spaces were given therefore for people and for animals. Thousands
+of mechanics worked at the structure night and day. They built and
+ornamented without rest. Wonders were told concerning pillars
+inlaid with bronze, amber, ivory, mother of pearl, and transmarine
+tortoise-shells. Canals filled with ice-cold water from the mountains
+and running along the seats were to keep an agreeable coolness in the
+building, even during the greatest heat. A gigantic purple velarium gave
+shelter from the rays of the sun. Among the rows of seats were disposed
+vessels for the burning of Arabian perfumes; above them were fixed
+instruments to sprinkle the spectators with dew of saffron and verbena.
+The renowned builders Severus and Celer put forth all their skill to
+construct an amphitheatre at once incomparable and fitted for such a
+number of the curious as none of those known before had been able to
+accommodate.
+
+Hence, the day when the ludus matutinus was to begin, throngs of the
+populace were awaiting from daylight the opening of the gates, listening
+with delight to the roars of lions, the hoarse growls of panthers, and
+the howls of dogs. The beasts had not been fed for two days, but pieces
+of bloody flesh had been pushed before them to rouse their rage and
+hunger all the more. At times such a storm of wild voices was raised
+that people standing before the Circus could not converse, and the most
+sensitive grew pale from fear.
+
+With the rising of the sun were intoned in the enclosure of the Circus
+hymns resonant but calm. The people heard these with amazement, and
+said one to another, "The Christians! the Christians!" In fact, many
+detachments of Christians had been brought to the amphitheatre that
+night, and not from one place, as planned at first, but a few from each
+prison. It was known in the crowd that the spectacles would continue
+through weeks and months, but they doubted that it would be possible to
+finish in a single day those Christians who had been intended for that
+one occasion. The voices of men, women, and children singing the morning
+hymn were so numerous that spectators of experience asserted that even
+if one or two hundred persons were sent out at once, the beasts would
+grow tired, become sated, and not tear all to pieces before evening.
+Others declared that an excessive number of victims in the arena would
+divert attention, and not give a chance to enjoy the spectacle properly.
+
+As the moment drew near for opening the vomitoria, or passages which
+led to the interior, people grew animated and joyous; they discussed
+and disputed about various things touching the spectacle. Parties were
+formed praising the greater efficiency of lions or tigers in tearing.
+Here and there bets were made. Others however talked about gladiators
+who were to appear in the arena earlier than the Christians; and again
+there were parties, some in favor of Samnites, others of Gauls, others
+of Mirmillons, others of Thracians, others of the retiarii.
+
+Early in the morning larger or smaller detachments of gladiators began
+to arrive at the amphitheatre under the lead of masters, called lanistae.
+Not wishing to be wearied too soon, they entered unarmed, often entirely
+naked, often with green boughs in their hands, or crowned with flowers,
+young, beautiful, in the light of morning, and full of life. Their
+bodies, shining from olive oil, were strong as if chiselled from marble;
+they roused to delight people who loved shapely forms. Many were known
+personally, and from moment to moment were heard: "A greeting, Furnius!
+A greeting, Leo! A greeting, Maximus! A greeting, Diomed!" Young maidens
+raised to them eyes full of admiration; they, selecting the maiden most
+beautiful, answered with jests, as if no care weighed on them, sending
+kisses, or exclaiming, "Embrace me before death does!" Then they
+vanished in the gates, through which many of them were never to come
+forth again.
+
+New arrivals drew away the attention of the throngs. Behind the
+gladiators came mastigophori; that is, men armed with scourges, whose
+office it was to lash and urge forward combatants. Next mules drew, in
+the direction of the spoliarium, whole rows of vehicles on which were
+piled wooden coffins. People were diverted at sight of this, inferring
+from the number of coffins the greatness of the spectacle. Now marched
+in men who were to kill the wounded; these were dressed so that each
+resembled Charon or Mercury. Next came those who looked after order in
+the Circus, and assigned places; after that slaves to bear around food
+and refreshments; finally, pretorians, whom every Caesar had always at
+hand in the amphitheatre.
+
+At last the vomitoria were opened, and crowds rushed to the centre. But
+such was the number of those assembled that they flowed in and flowed
+in for hours, till it was a marvel that the Circus could hold such a
+countless multitude. The roars of wild beasts, catching the exhalations
+of people, grew louder. While taking their places, the spectators made
+an uproar like the sea in time of storm.
+
+Finally, the prefect of the city came, surrounded by guards; and after
+him, in unbroken line, appeared the litters of senators, consuls,
+pretors, ediles, officials of the government and the palace, of
+pretorian officers, patricians, and exquisite ladies. Some litters were
+preceded by lictors bearing maces in bundles of rods; others by crowds
+of slaves. In the sun gleamed the gilding of the litters, the white and
+varied colored stuffs, feathers, earrings, jewels, steel of the
+maces. From the Circus came shouts with which the people greeted great
+dignitaries. Small divisions of pretorians arrived from time to time.
+
+The priests of various temples came somewhat later; only after them were
+brought in the sacred virgins of Vesta, preceded by lictors.
+
+To begin the spectacle, they were waiting now only for Caesar, who,
+unwilling to expose the people to over-long waiting, and wishing to
+win them by promptness, came soon, in company with the Augusta and
+Augustians.
+
+Petronius arrived among the Augustians, having Vinicius in his litter.
+The latter knew that Lygia was sick and unconscious; but as access to
+the prison had been forbidden most strictly during the preceding days,
+and as the former guards had been replaced by new ones who were not
+permitted to speak with the jailers or even to communicate the least
+information to those who came to inquire about prisoners, he was not
+even sure that she was not among the victims intended for the first
+day of spectacles. They might send out even a sick woman for the lions,
+though she were unconscious. But since the victims were to be sewed up
+in skins of wild beasts and sent to the arena in crowds, no spectator
+could be certain that one more or less might not be among them, and no
+man could recognize any one. The jailers and all the servants of the
+amphitheatre had been bribed, and a bargain made with the beast-keepers
+to hide Lygia in some dark corner, and give her at night into the hands
+of a confidant of Vinicius, who would take her at once to the Alban
+Hills. Petronius, admitted to the secret, advised Vinicius to go with
+him openly to the amphitheatre, and after he had entered to disappear in
+the throng and hurry to the vaults, where, to avoid possible mistake, he
+was to point out Lygia to the guards personally.
+
+The guards admitted him through a small door by which they came
+out themselves. One of these, named Cyrus, led him at once to the
+Christians. On the way he said,--
+
+"I know not, lord, that thou wilt find what thou art seeking. We
+inquired for a maiden named Lygia, but no one gave us answer; it may be,
+though, that they do not trust us."
+
+"Are there many?" asked Vinicius.
+
+"Many, lord, had to wait till to-morrow."
+
+"Are there sick ones among them?"
+
+"There were none who could not stand."
+
+Cyrus opened a door and entered as it were an enormous chamber, but
+low and dark, for the light came in only through grated openings which
+separated it from the arena. At first Vinicius could see nothing; he
+heard only the murmur of voices in the room, and the shouts of people in
+the amphitheatre. But after a time, when his eyes had grown used to the
+gloom, he saw crowds of strange beings, resembling wolves and bears.
+Those were Christians sewed up in skins of beasts. Some of them were
+standing; others were kneeling in prayer. Here and there one might
+divine by the long hair flowing over the skin that the victim was a
+woman. Women, looking like wolves, carried in their arms children sewed
+up in equally shaggy coverings. But from beneath the skins appeared
+bright faces and eyes which in the darkness gleamed with delight and
+feverishness. It was evident that the greater number of those people
+were mastered by one thought, exclusive and beyond the earth,--a thought
+which during life made them indifferent to everything which happened
+around them and which could meet them. Some, when asked by Vinicius
+about Lygia, looked at him with eyes as if roused from sleep, without
+answering his questions; others smiled at him, placing a finger on their
+lips or pointing to the iron grating through which bright streaks of
+light entered. But here and there children were crying, frightened by
+the roaring of beasts, the howling of dogs, the uproar of people, and
+the forms of their own parents who looked like wild beasts. Vinicius as
+he walked by the side of Cyrus looked into faces, searched, inquired, at
+times stumbled against bodies of people who had fainted from the crowd,
+the stifling air, the heat, and pushed farther into the dark depth of
+the room, which seemed to be as spacious as a whole amphitheatre.
+
+But he stopped on a sudden, for he seemed to hear near the grating
+a voice known to him. He listened for a while, turned, and, pushing
+through the crowd, went near. Light fell on the face of the speaker,
+and Vinicius recognized under the skin of a wolf the emaciated and
+implacable countenance of Crispus.
+
+"Mourn for your sins!" exclaimed Crispus, "for the moment is near. But
+whoso thinks by death itself to redeem his sins commits a fresh sin, and
+will be hurled into endless fire. With every sin committed in life ye
+have renewed the Lord's suffering; how dare ye think that that life
+which awaits you will redeem this one? To-day the just and the sinner
+will die the same death; but the Lord will find His own. Woe to you, the
+claws of the lions will rend your bodies; but not your sins, nor your
+reckoning with God. The Lord showed mercy sufficient when He let Himself
+be nailed to the cross; but thenceforth He will be only the judge,
+who will leave no fault unpunished. Whoso among you has thought to
+extinguish his sins by suffering, has blasphemed against God's justice,
+and will sink all the deeper. Mercy is at an end, and the hour of God's
+wrath has come. Soon ye will stand before the awful Judge in whose
+presence the good will hardly be justified. Bewail your sins, for the
+jaws of hell are open; woe to you, husbands and wives; woe to you,
+parents and children."
+
+And stretching forth his bony hands, he shook them above the bent heads;
+he was unterrified and implacable even in the presence of death, to
+which in a while all those doomed people were to go. After his words,
+were heard voices: "We bewail our sins!" Then came silence, and only the
+cry of children was audible, and the beating of hands against breasts.
+
+The blood of Vinicius stiffened in his veins. He, who had placed all his
+hope in the mercy of Christ, heard now that the day of wrath had come,
+and that even death in the arena would not obtain mercy. Through his
+head shot, it is true, the thought, clear and swift as lightning, that
+Peter would have spoken otherwise to those about to die. Still those
+terrible words of Crispus filled with fanaticism that dark chamber with
+its grating, beyond which was the field of torture. The nearness of that
+torture, and the throng of victims arrayed for death already, filled
+his soul with fear and terror. All this seemed to him dreadful, and a
+hundred times more ghastly than the bloodiest battle in which he had
+ever taken part. The odor and heat began to stifle him; cold sweat came
+out on his forehead. He was seized by fear that he would faint like
+those against whose bodies he had stumbled while searching in the depth
+of the apartment; so when he remembered that they might open the grating
+any moment, he began to call Lygia and Ursus aloud, in the hope that, if
+not they, some one knowing them would answer.
+
+In fact, some man, clothed as a bear, pulled his toga, and said,--
+
+"Lord, they remained in prison. I was the last one brought out; I saw
+her sick on the couch."
+
+"Who art thou?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"The quarryman in whose hut the Apostle baptized thee, lord. They
+imprisoned me three days ago, and to-day I die."
+
+Vinicius was relieved. When entering, he had wished to find Lygia; now
+he was ready to thank Christ that she was not there, and to see in that
+a sign of mercy. Meanwhile the quarryman pulled his toga again, and
+said,--
+
+"Dost remember, lord, that I conducted thee to the vineyard of
+Cornelius, when the Apostle discoursed in the shed?"
+
+"I remember."
+
+"I saw him later, the day before they imprisoned me, He blessed me, and
+said that he would come to the amphitheatre to bless the perishing. If I
+could look at him in the moment of death and see the sign of the cross,
+it would be easier for me to die. If thou know where he is, lord, inform
+me."
+
+Vinicius lowered his voice, and said,--
+
+"He is among the people of Petronius, disguised as a slave. I know not
+where they chose their places, but I will return to the Circus and see.
+Look thou at me when ye enter the arena. I will rise and turn my face
+toward them; then thou wilt find him with thy eyes."
+
+"Thanks to thee, lord, and peace be with thee."
+
+"May the Redeemer be merciful to thee."
+
+"Amen."
+
+Vinicius went out of the cuniculum, and betook himself to the
+amphitheatre, where he had a place near Petronius among the other
+Augustians.
+
+"Is she there?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"No; she remained in prison."
+
+"Hear what has occurred to me, but while listening look at Nigidia for
+example, so that we may seem to talk of her hair-dressing. Tigellinus
+and Chilo are looking at us now. Listen then. Let them put Lygia in
+a coffin at night and carry her out of the prison as a corpse; thou
+divinest the rest?"
+
+"Yes," answered Vinicius.
+
+Their further conversation was interrupted by Tullius Senecio, who,
+bending toward them, asked,--
+
+"Do ye know whether they will give weapons to the Christians?"
+
+"We do not," answered Petronius. "I should prefer that arms were given,"
+said Tullius; "if not, the arena will become like butcher's shambles too
+early. But what a splendid amphitheatre!"
+
+The sight was, in truth, magnificent. The lower seats, crowded with
+togas were as white as snow. In the gilded podium sat Caesar, wearing
+a diamond collar and a golden crown on his head; next to him sat the
+beautiful and gloomy Augusta, and on both sides were vestal virgins,
+great officials, senators with embroidered togas, officers of the army
+with glittering weapons,--in a word, all that was powerful, brilliant,
+and wealthy in Rome. In the farther rows sat knights; and higher up
+darkened in rows a sea of common heads, above which from pillar to
+pillar hung festoons of roses, lilies, ivy, and grapevines.
+
+People conversed aloud, called to one another, sang; at times they broke
+into laughter at some witty word which was sent from row to row, and
+they stamped with impatience to hasten the spectacle.
+
+At last the stamping became like thunder, and unbroken. Then the prefect
+of the city, who rode around the arena with a brilliant retinue, gave
+a signal with a handkerchief, which was answered throughout the
+amphitheatre by "A-a-a!" from thousands of breasts.
+
+Usually a spectacle was begun by hunts of wild beasts, in which various
+Northern and Southern barbarians excelled; but this time they had too
+many beasts, so they began with andabates,--that is, men wearing helmets
+without an opening for the eyes, hence fighting blindfold. A number of
+these came into the arena together, and slashed at random with their
+swords; the scourgers with long forks pushed some toward others to make
+them meet. The more select of the audience looked with contempt and
+indifference at this spectacle; but the crowd were amused by the awkward
+motions of the swordsmen. When it happened that they met with their
+shoulders, they burst out in loud laughter. "To the right!" "To the
+left!" cried they, misleading the opponents frequently by design. A
+number of pairs closed, however, and the struggle began to be bloody.
+The determined combatants cast aside their shields, and giving their
+left hands to each other, so as not to part again, struggled to the
+death with their right. Whoever fell raised his fingers, begging mercy
+by that sign; but in the beginning of a spectacle the audience demanded
+death usually for the wounded, especially in the case of men who had
+their faces covered and were unknown. Gradually the number of combatants
+decreased; and when at last only two remained, these were pushed
+together; both fell on the sand, and stabbed each other mutually. Then,
+amid cries of "Peractum est!" servants carried out the bodies, youths
+raked away the bloody traces on the sand and sprinkled it with leaves of
+saffron.
+
+Now a more important contest was to come,--rousing interest not only in
+the herd, but in exquisites; during this contest young patricians made
+enormous bets at times, often losing all they owned. Straightway from
+hand to hand went tablets on which were written names of favorites, and
+also the number of sestertia which each man wagered on his favorite.
+"Spectati"--that is, champions who had appeared already on the arena
+and gained victories--found most partisans; but among betters were
+also those who risked considerably on gladiators who were new and quite
+unknown, hoping to win immense sums should these conquer. Caesar himself
+bet; priests, vestals, senators, knights bet; the populace bet. People
+of the crowd, when money failed them, bet their own freedom frequently.
+They waited with heart-beating and even with fear for the combatants,
+and more than one made audible vows to the gods to gain their protection
+for a favorite.
+
+In fact, when the shrill sound of trumpets was heard, there was a
+stillness of expectation in the amphitheatre. Thousands of eyes were
+turned to the great bolts, which a man approached dressed like Charon,
+and amid the universal silence struck three times with a hammer, as if
+summoning to death those who were hidden behind them. Then both
+halves of the gate opened slowly, showing a black gully, out of which
+gladiators began to appear in the bright arena. They came in divisions
+of twenty-five, Thracians, Mirmillons, Samnites, Gauls, each nation
+separately, all heavily armed; and last the retiarii, holding in one
+hand a net, in the other a trident. At sight of them, here and there
+on the benches rose applause, which soon turned into one immense and
+unbroken storm. From above to below were seen excited faces, clapping
+hands, and open mouths, from which shouts burst forth. The gladiators
+encircled the whole arena with even and springy tread, gleaming with
+their weapons and rich outfit; they halted before Caesar's podium, proud,
+calm, and brilliant. The shrill sound of a horn stopped the applause;
+the combatants stretched their right hands upward, raised their eyes and
+heads toward Caesar, and began to cry or rather to chant with drawling
+voice,--
+
+"Ave, Caesar imperator! Morituri te salutant!"
+
+Then they pushed apart quickly, occupying their places on the arena.
+They were to attack one another in whole detachments; but first it was
+permitted the most famous fencers to have a series of single combats,
+in which the strength, dexterity, and courage of opponents were best
+exhibited. In fact, from among the Gauls appeared a champion, well known
+to lovers of the amphitheatre under the name of Lanio, a victor in many
+games. With a great helmet on his head, and in mail which formed a ridge
+in front of his powerful breast and behind, he looked in the gleam
+of the golden arena like a giant beetle. The no less famous retiarius
+Calendio came out against him.
+
+Among the spectators people began to bet.
+
+"Five hundred sestertia on the Gaul!"
+
+"Five hundred on Calendio!"
+
+"By Hercules, one thousand!"
+
+"Two thousand!"
+
+Meanwhile the Gaul, reaching the centre of the arena, began to withdraw
+with pointed sword, and, lowering his head, watched his opponent
+carefully through the opening of his visor; the light retiarius,
+stately, statuesque, wholly naked save a belt around his loins, circled
+quickly about his heavy antagonist, waving the net with graceful
+movement, lowering or raising his trident, and singing the usual song of
+the retiarius,--
+
+"Non te peto, piscem peto; Quid me fugis, Galle?"
+
+["I seek not thee, I seek a fish; Why flee from me O Gaul?"]
+
+But the Gaul was not fleeing, for after a while he stopped, and standing
+in one place began to turn with barely a slight movement, so as to have
+his enemy always in front, in his form and monstrously large head there
+was now something terrible. The spectators understood perfectly that
+that heavy body encased in bronze was preparing for a sudden throw to
+decide the battle. The retiarius meanwhile sprang up to him, then sprang
+away, making with his three-toothed fork motions so quick that the eye
+hardly followed them. The sound of the teeth on the shield was heard
+repeatedly; but the Gaul did not quiver, giving proof by this of his
+gigantic strength. All his attention seemed fixed, not on the trident,
+but the net which was circling above his head, like a bird of ill
+omen. The spectators held the breath in their breasts, and followed the
+masterly play of the gladiators. The Gaul waited, chose the moment, and
+rushed at last on his enemy; the latter with equal quickness shot past
+under his sword, straightened himself with raised arm, and threw the
+net.
+
+The Gaul, turning where he stood, caught it on his shield; then both
+sprang apart. In the amphitheatre shouts of "Macte!" thundered; in the
+lower rows they began to make new bets. Caesar himself, who at first had
+been talking with Rubria, and so far had not paid much attention to the
+spectacle, turned his head toward the arena.
+
+They began to struggle again, so regularly and with such precision in
+their movements, that sometimes it seemed that with them it was not a
+question of life or death, but of exhibiting skill. The Gaul escaping
+twice more from the net, pushed toward the edge of the arena; those who
+held bets against him, not wishing the champion to rest, began to cry,
+"Bear on!" The Gaul obeyed, and attacked. The arm of the retiarius was
+covered on a sudden with blood, and his net dropped. The Gaul summoned
+his strength, and sprang forward to give the final blow. That instant
+Calendio, who feigned inability to wield the net, sprang aside, escaped
+the thrust, ran the trident between the knees of his opponent, and
+brought him to the earth.
+
+The Gaul tried to rise, but in a twinkle he was covered by the fatal
+meshes, in which he was entangled more and more by every movement of his
+feet and hands. Meanwhile stabs of the trident fixed him time after time
+to the earth. He made one more effort, rested on his arm, and tried to
+rise; in vain! He raised to his head his falling hand which could hold
+the sword no longer, and fell on his back. Calendio pressed his neck to
+the ground with the trident, and, resting both hands on the handle of
+it, turned toward Caesar's box.
+
+The whole Circus was trembling from plaudits and the roar of people. For
+those who had bet on Calendio he was at that moment greater than Caesar;
+but for this very reason animosity against the Gaul vanished from their
+hearts. At the cost of his blood he had filled their purses. The voices
+of the audience were divided. On the upper seats half the signs were for
+death, and half for mercy; but the retiarius looked only at the box of
+Caesar and the vestals, waiting for what they would decide.
+
+To the misfortune of the fallen gladiator, Nero did not like him, for at
+the last games before the fire he had bet against the Gaul, and had
+lost considerable sums to Licinus; hence he thrust his hand out of the
+podium, and turned his thumb toward the earth.
+
+The vestals supported the sign at once. Calendio knelt on the breast
+of the Gaul, drew a short knife from his belt, pushed apart the armor
+around the neck of his opponent, and drove the three-edged blade into
+his throat to the handle.
+
+"Peractum est!" sounded voices in the amphitheatre.
+
+The Gaul quivered a time, like a stabbed bullock, dug the sand with his
+heels, stretched, and was motionless.
+
+Mercury had no need to try with heated iron if he were living yet. He
+was hidden away quickly, and other pairs appeared. After them came a
+battle of whole detachments. The audience took part in it with soul,
+heart, and eyes. They howled, roared, whistled, applauded, laughed,
+urged on the combatants, grew wild. The gladiators on the arena, divided
+into two legions, fought with the rage of wild beasts; breast struck
+breast, bodies were intertwined in a death grapple, strong limbs cracked
+in their joints, swords were buried in breasts and in stomachs, pale
+lips threw blood on to the sand. Toward the end such terrible fear
+seized some novices that, tearing themselves from the turmoil, they
+fled; but the scourgers drove them back again quickly to the battle with
+lashes tipped with lead. On the sand great dark spots were formed; more
+and more naked and armed bodies lay stretched like grain sheaves. The
+living fought on the corpses; they struck against armor and shields,
+cut their feet against broken weapons, and fell. The audience lost
+self-command from delight; and intoxicated with death breathed it,
+sated their eyes with the sight of it, and drew into their lungs the
+exhalations of it with ecstasy.
+
+The conquered lay dead, almost every man. Barely a few wounded knelt
+in the middle of the arena, and trembling stretched their hands to
+the audience with a prayer for mercy. To the victors were given
+rewards,--crowns, olive wreaths. And a moment of rest came, which, at
+command of the all-powerful Caesar, was turned into a feast. Perfumes
+were burned in vases. Sprinklers scattered saffron and violet rain on
+the people. Cooling drinks were served, roasted meats, sweet cakes,
+wine, olives, and fruits. The people devoured, talked, and shouted in
+honor of Caesar, to incline him to greater bounteousness. When hunger and
+thirst had been satisfied, hundreds of slaves bore around baskets full
+of gifts, from which boys, dressed as Cupids, took various objects and
+threw them with both hands among the seats. When lottery tickets
+were distributed, a battle began. People crowded, threw, trampled
+one another; cried for rescue, sprang over rows of seats, stifled one
+another in the terrible crush, since whoever got a lucky number might
+win possibly a house with a garden, a slave, a splendid dress, or a wild
+beast which he could sell to the amphitheatre afterward. For this
+reason there were such disorders that frequently the pretorians had to
+interfere; and after every distribution they carried out people with
+broken arms or legs, and some were even trampled to death in the throng.
+
+But the more wealthy took no part in the fight for tesserae. The
+Augustians amused themselves now with the spectacle of Chilo, and with
+making sport of his vain efforts to show that he could look at fighting
+and blood-spilling as well as any man. But in vain did the unfortunate
+Greek wrinkle his brow, gnaw his lips, and squeeze his fists till the
+nails entered his palms. His Greek nature and his personal cowardice
+were unable to endure such sights. His face grew pale, his forehead was
+dotted with drops of sweat, his lips were blue, his eyes turned in, his
+teeth began to chatter, and a trembling seized his body. At the end
+of the battle he recovered somewhat; but when they attacked him with
+tongues, sudden anger seized him, and he defended himself desperately.
+
+"Ha, Greek! the sight of torn skin on a man is beyond thy strength!"
+said Vatinius, taking him by the beard.
+
+Chilo bared his last two yellow teeth at him and answered,--
+
+"My father was not a cobbler, so I cannot mend it."
+
+"Macte! habet (Good! he has caught it!)" called a number of voices; but
+others jeered on.
+
+"He is not to blame that instead of a heart he has a piece of cheese in
+his breast," said Senecio.
+
+"Thou art not to blame that instead of a head thou hast a bladder,"
+retorted Chilo.
+
+"Maybe thou wilt become a gladiator! thou wouldst look well with a net
+on the arena."
+
+"If I should catch thee in it, I should catch a stinking hoopoe."
+
+"And how will it be with the Christians?" asked Festus, from Liguria.
+"Wouldst thou not like to be a dog and bite them?"
+
+"I should not like to be thy brother."
+
+"Thou Maeotian copper-nose!"
+
+"Thou Ligurian mule!"
+
+"Thy skin is itching, evidently, but I don't advise thee to ask me to
+scratch it."
+
+"Scratch thyself. If thou scratch thy own pimple, thou wilt destroy what
+is best in thee."
+
+And in this manner they attacked him. He defended himself venomously,
+amid universal laughter. Caesar, clapping his hands, repeated, "Macte!"
+and urged them on. After a while Petronius approached, and, touching the
+Greek's shoulder with his carved ivory cane, said coldly,--
+
+"This is well, philosopher; but in one thing thou hast blundered: the
+gods created thee a pickpocket, and thou hast become a demon. That is
+why thou canst not endure."
+
+The old man looked at him with his red eyes, but this time somehow he
+did not find a ready insult. He was silent for a moment; then answered,
+as if with a certain effort,--
+
+"I shall endure."
+
+Meanwhile the trumpets announced the end of the interval. People began
+to leave the passages where they had assembled to straighten their legs
+and converse. A general movement set in with the usual dispute about
+seats occupied previously. Senators and patricians hastened to their
+places. The uproar ceased after a time, and the amphitheatre returned to
+order. On the arena a crowd of people appeared whose work was to dig out
+here and there lumps of sand formed with stiffened blood.
+
+The turn of the Christians was at hand. But since that was a new
+spectacle for people, and no one knew how the Christians would bear
+themselves, all waited with a certain curiosity. The disposition of the
+audience was attentive but unfriendly; they were waiting for uncommon
+scenes. Those people who were to appear had burned Rome and its ancient
+treasures. They had drunk the blood of infants, and poisoned water; they
+had cursed the whole human race, and committed the vilest crimes. The
+harshest punishment did not suffice the roused hatred; and if any
+fear possessed people's hearts, it was this: that the torture of the
+Christians would not equal the guilt of those ominous criminals.
+
+Meanwhile the sun had risen high; its rays, passing through the purple
+velarium, had filled the amphitheatre with blood-colored light. The sand
+assumed a fiery hue, and in those gleams, in the faces of people, as
+well as in the empty arena, which after a time was to be filled with
+the torture of people and the rage of savage beasts, there was something
+terrible. Death and terror seemed hovering in the air. The throng,
+usually gladsome, became moody under the influence of hate and silence.
+Faces had a sullen expression.
+
+Now the prefect gave a sign. The same old man appeared, dressed as
+Charon, who had called the gladiators to death, and, passing with slow
+step across the arena amid silence, he struck three times again on the
+door.
+
+Throughout the amphitheatre was heard the deep murmur,--
+
+"The Christians! the Christians!"
+
+The iron gratings creaked; through the dark openings were heard the
+usual cries of the scourgers, "To the sand!" and in one moment the arena
+was peopled with crowds as it were of satyrs covered with skins. All ran
+quickly, somewhat feverishly, and, reaching the middle of the circle,
+they knelt one by another with raised heads. The spectators, judging
+this to be a prayer for pity, and enraged by such cowardice, began to
+stamp, whistle, throw empty wine-vessels, bones from which the flesh
+had been eaten, and shout, "The beasts! the beasts!" But all at once
+something unexpected took place. From out the shaggy assembly singing
+voices were raised, and then sounded that hymn heard for the first time
+in a Roman amphitheatre, "Christus regnat!" ["Christ reigns!"]
+
+Astonishment seized the spectators. The condemned sang with eyes raised
+to the velarium. The audience saw faces pale, but as it were inspired.
+All understood that those people were not asking for mercy, and that
+they seemed not to see the Circus, the audience, the Senate, or Caesar.
+"Christus regnat!" rose ever louder, and in the seats, far up to the
+highest, among the rows of spectators, more than one asked himself the
+question, "What is happening, and who is that Christus who reigns in
+the mouths of those people who are about to die?" But meanwhile a
+new grating was opened, and into the arena rushed, with mad speed and
+barking, whole packs of dogs,--gigantic, yellow Molossians from the
+Peloponnesus, pied dogs from the Pyrenees, and wolf-like hounds
+from Hibernia, purposely famished; their sides lank, and their eyes
+bloodshot. Their howls and whines filled the amphitheatre. When the
+Christians had finished their hymn, they remained kneeling, motionless,
+as if petrified, merely repeating in one groaning chorus, "Pro Christo!
+Pro Christo!" The dogs, catching the odor of people under the skins of
+beasts, and surprised by their silence, did not rush on them at once.
+Some stood against the walls of the boxes, as if wishing to go among the
+spectators; others ran around barking furiously, as though chasing some
+unseen beast. The people were angry. A thousand voices began to call;
+some howled like wild beasts; some barked like dogs; others urged them
+on in every language. The amphitheatre was trembling from uproar. The
+excited dogs began to run to the kneeling people, then to draw back,
+snapping their teeth, till at last one of the Molossians drove his teeth
+into the shoulder of a woman kneeling in front, and dragged her under
+him.
+
+Tens of dogs rushed into the crowd now, as if to break through it. The
+audience ceased to howl, so as to look with greater attention. Amidst
+the howling and whining were heard yet plaintive voices of men and
+women: "Pro Christo! Pro Christo!" but on the arena were formed
+quivering masses of the bodies of dogs and people. Blood flowed in
+streams from the torn bodies. Dogs dragged from each other the bloody
+limbs of people. The odor of blood and torn entrails was stronger than
+Arabian perfumes, and filled the whole Circus.
+
+At last only here and there were visible single kneeling forms, which
+were soon covered by moving squirming masses.
+
+Vinicius, who at the moment when the Christians ran in, stood up and
+turned so as to indicate to the quarryman, as he had promised, the
+direction in which the Apostle was hidden among the people of Petronius,
+sat down again, and with the face of a dead man continued to look with
+glassy eyes on the ghastly spectacle. At first fear that the quarryman
+might have been mistaken, and that perchance Lygia was among the
+victims, benumbed him completely; but when he heard the voices, "Pro
+Christo!" when he saw the torture of so many victims who, in dying,
+confessed their faith and their God, another feeling possessed him,
+piercing him like the most dreadful pain, but irresistible. That feeling
+was this,--if Christ Himself died in torment, if thousands are perishing
+for Him now, if a sea of blood is poured forth, one drop more signifies
+nothing, and it is a sin even to ask for mercy. That thought came to him
+from the arena, penetrated him with the groans of the dying, with the
+odor of their blood. But still he prayed and repeated with parched lips,
+"O Christ! O Christ! and Thy Apostle prayed for her!" Then he forgot
+himself, lost consciousness of where he was. It seemed to him that blood
+on the arena was rising and rising, that it was coming up and flowing
+out of the Circus over all Rome. For the rest he heard nothing, neither
+the howling of dogs nor the uproar of the people nor the voices of the
+Augustians, who began all at once to cry,--
+
+"Chilo has fainted!"
+
+"Chilo has fainted!" said Petronius, turning toward the Greek.
+
+And he had fainted really; he sat there white as linen, his head fallen
+back, his mouth wide open, like that of a corpse.
+
+At that same moment they were urging into the arena new victims, sewed
+up in skins.
+
+These knelt immediately, like those who had gone before; but the weary
+dogs would not rend them. Barely a few threw themselves on to those
+kneeling nearest; but others lay down, and, raising their bloody jaws,
+began to scratch their sides and yawn heavily.
+
+Then the audience, disturbed in spirit, but drunk with blood and wild,
+began to cry with hoarse voices,--
+
+"The lions! the lions! Let out the lions!"
+
+The lions were to be kept for the next day; but in the amphitheatres the
+people imposed their will on every one, even on Caesar. Caligula alone,
+insolent and changeable in his wishes, dared to oppose them, and there
+were cases when he gave command to beat the people with clubs; but even
+he yielded most frequently. Nero, to whom plaudits were dearer than all
+else in the world, never resisted. All the more did he not resist now,
+when it was a question of mollifying the populace, excited after the
+conflagration, and a question of the Christians, on whom he wished to
+cast the blame of the catastrophe.
+
+He gave the sign therefore to open the cuniculum, seeing which, the
+people were calmed in a moment. They heard the creaking of the doors
+behind which were the lions. At sight of the lions the dogs gathered
+with low whines, on the opposite side of the arena. The lions walked
+into the arena one after another, immense, tawny, with great shaggy
+heads. Caesar himself turned his wearied face toward them, and placed
+the emerald to his eye to see better. The Augustians greeted them with
+applause; the crowd counted them on their fingers, and followed eagerly
+the impression which the sight of them would make on the Christians
+kneeling in the centre, who again had begun to repeat the words, without
+meaning for many, though annoying to all, "Pro Christo! Pro Christo!"
+
+But the lions, though hungry, did not hasten to their victims. The ruddy
+light in the arena dazzled them and they half closed their eyes as if
+dazed. Some stretched their yellowish bodies lazily; some, opening
+their jaws, yawned,--one might have said that they wanted to show their
+terrible teeth to the audience. But later the odor of blood and torn
+bodies, many of which were lying on the sand, began to act on them. Soon
+their movements became restless, their manes rose, their nostrils drew
+in the air with hoarse sound. One fell suddenly on the body of a woman
+with a torn face, and, lying with his fore paws on the body, licked with
+a rough tongue the stiffened blood: another approached a man who was
+holding in his arms a child sewed up in a fawn's skin.
+
+The child, trembling from crying, and weeping, clung convulsively to the
+neck of its father; he, to prolong its life even for a moment, tried to
+pull it from his neck, so as to hand it to those kneeling farther on.
+But the cry and the movement irritated the lion. All at once he gave
+out a short, broken roar, killed the child with one blow of his paw, and
+seizing the head of the father in his jaws, crushed it in a twinkle.
+
+At sight of this all the other lions fell upon the crowd of Christians.
+Some women could not restrain cries of terror; but the audience drowned
+these with plaudits, which soon ceased, however, for the wish to see
+gained the mastery. They beheld terrible things then: heads disappearing
+entirely in open jaws, breasts torn apart with one blow, hearts and
+lungs swept away; the crushing of bones under the teeth of lions.
+Some lions, seizing victims by the ribs or loins, ran with mad springs
+through the arena, as if seeking hidden places in which to devour
+them; others fought, rose on their hind legs, grappled one another like
+wrestlers, and filled the amphitheatre with thunder. People rose
+from their places. Some left their seats, went down lower through the
+passages to see better, and crowded one another mortally. It seemed that
+the excited multitude would throw itself at last into the arena, and
+rend the Christians in company with the lions. At moments an unearthly
+noise was heard; at moments applause; at moments roaring, rumbling, the
+clashing of teeth, the howling of Molossian dogs; at times only groans.
+
+Caesar, holding the emerald to his eye, looked now with attention. The
+face of Petronius assumed an expression of contempt and disgust. Chilo
+had been borne out of the Circus.
+
+But from the cuniculum new victims were driven forth continually.
+
+From the highest row in the amphitheatre the Apostle Peter looked at
+them. No one saw him, for all heads were turned to the arena; so he rose
+and as formerly in the vineyard of Cornelius he had blessed for death
+and eternity those who were intended for imprisonment, so now he blessed
+with the cross those who were perishing under the teeth of wild beasts.
+He blessed their blood, their torture, their dead bodies turned into
+shapeless masses, and their souls flying away from the bloody sand. Some
+raised their eyes to him, and their faces grew radiant; they smiled when
+they saw high above them the sign of the cross. But his heart was rent,
+and he said, "O Lord! let Thy will be done. These my sheep perish to
+Thy glory in testimony of the truth. Thou didst command me to feed them;
+hence I give them to Thee, and do Thou count them, Lord, take them, heal
+their wounds, soften their pain, give them happiness greater than the
+torments which they suffered here."
+
+And he blessed them one after another, crowd after crowd, with as much
+love as if they had been his children whom he was giving directly into
+the hands of Christ. Then Caesar, whether from madness, or the wish that
+the exhibition should surpass everything seen in Rome so far, whispered
+a few words to the prefect of the city. He left the podium and went at
+once to the cuniculum. Even the populace were astonished when, after a
+while, they saw the gratings open again. Beasts of all kinds were let
+out this time,--tigers from the Euphrates, Numidian panthers, bears,
+wolves, hyenas, and jackals. The whole arena was covered as with a
+moving sea of striped, yellow, flax-colored, dark-brown, and spotted
+skins. There rose a chaos in which the eye could distinguish nothing
+save a terrible turning and twisting of the backs of wild beasts. The
+spectacle lost the appearance of reality, and became as it were an orgy
+of blood, a dreadful dream, a gigantic kaleidoscope of mad fancy. The
+measure was surpassed. Amidst roars, howls, whines, here and there
+on the seats of the spectators were heard the terrified and spasmodic
+laughter of women, whose strength had given way at last. The people
+were terrified. Faces grew dark. Various voices began to cry, "Enough!
+enough!"
+
+But it was easier to let the beasts in than drive them back again.
+Caesar, however, found a means of clearing the arena, and a new
+amusement for the people. In all the passages between the seats appeared
+detachments of Numidians, black and stately, in feathers and earrings,
+with bows in their hands. The people divined what was coming, and
+greeted the archers with a shout of delight. The Numidians approached
+the railing, and, putting their arrows to the strings, began to shoot
+from their bows into the crowd of beasts. That was a new spectacle
+truly. Their bodies, shapely as if cut from dark marble, bent backward,
+stretched the flexible bows, and sent bolt after bolt. The whizzing of
+the strings and the whistling of the feathered missiles were mingled
+with the howling of beasts and cries of wonder from the audience.
+Wolves, bears, panthers, and people yet alive fell side by side. Here
+and there a lion, feeling a shaft in his ribs, turned with sudden
+movement, his jaws wrinkled from rage, to seize and break the arrow.
+Others groaned from pain. The small beasts, falling into a panic, ran
+around the arena at random, or thrust their heads into the grating;
+meanwhile the arrows whizzed and whizzed on, till all that was living
+had lain down in the final quiver of death.
+
+Hundreds of slaves rushed into the arena armed with spades, shovels,
+brooms, wheelbarrows, baskets for carrying out entrails, and bags of
+sand. They came, crowd after crowd, and over the whole circle there
+seethed up a feverish activity. The space was soon cleared of bodies,
+blood, and mire, dug over, made smooth, and sprinkled with a thick layer
+of fresh sand. That done, Cupids ran in, scattering leaves of roses,
+lilies, and the greatest variety of flowers. The censers were
+ignited again, and the velarium was removed, for the sun had sunk now
+considerably. But people looked at one another with amazement, and
+inquired what kind of new spectacle was waiting for them on that day.
+
+Indeed, such a spectacle was waiting as no one had looked for. Caesar,
+who had left the podium some time before, appeared all at once on the
+flowery arena, wearing a purple mantle, and a crown of gold. Twelve
+choristers holding citharae followed him. He had a silver lute, and
+advanced with solemn tread to the middle, bowed a number of times to the
+spectators, raised his eyes, and stood as if waiting for inspiration.
+
+Then he struck the strings and began to sing,--
+
+"O radiant son of Leto, Ruler of Tenedos, Chilos, Chrysos, Art thou
+he who, having in his care The sacred city of Ilion, Could yield it to
+Argive anger, And suffer sacred altars, Which blazed unceasingly to his
+honor, To be stained with Trojan blood? Aged men raised trembling hands
+to thee, O thou of the far-shooting silver bow, Mothers from the depth
+of their breasts Raised tearful cries to thee, Imploring pity on
+their offspring. Those complaints might have moved a stone, But to the
+suffering of people Thou, O Smintheus, wert less feeling than a stone!"
+
+The song passed gradually into an elegy, plaintive and full of pain.
+In the Circus there was silence. After a while Caesar, himself affected,
+sang on,--
+
+"With the sound of thy heavenly lyre Thou couldst drown the wailing, The
+lament of hearts. At the sad sound of this song The eye to-day is filled
+with tears, As a flower is filled with dew, But who can raise from dust
+and ashes That day of fire, disaster, ruin? O Smintheus, where wert thou
+then?"
+
+Here his voice quivered and his eyes grew moist. Tears appeared on the
+lids of the vestals; the people listened in silence before they burst
+into a long unbroken storm of applause.
+
+Meanwhile from outside through the vomitoria came the sound of creaking
+vehicles on which were placed the bloody remnants of Christians, men,
+women, and children, to be taken to the pits called "puticuli."
+
+But the Apostle Peter seized his trembling white head with his hands,
+and cried in spirit,--
+
+"O Lord, O Lord! to whom hast Thou given rule over the earth, and why
+wilt Thou found in this place Thy capital?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LVI
+
+
+THE sun had lowered toward its setting, and seemed to dissolve in the
+red of the evening. The spectacle was finished. Crowds were leaving the
+amphitheatre and pouring out to the city through the passages called
+vomitoria. Only Augustians delayed; they were waiting for the stream
+of people to pass. They had all left their seats and assembled at
+the podium, in which Caesar appeared again to hear praises. Though the
+spectators had not spared plaudits at the end of the song, Nero was not
+satisfied; he had looked for enthusiasm touching on frenzy. In vain did
+hymns of praise sound in his ears; in vain did vestals kiss his "divine"
+hand, and while doing so Rubria bent till her reddish hair touched his
+breast. Nero was not satisfied, and could not hide the fact. He was
+astonished and also disturbed because Petronius was silent. Some
+flattering and pointed word from his mouth would have been a great
+consolation at that moment. Unable at last to restrain himself, Caesar
+beckoned to the arbiter.
+
+"Speak," said he, when Petronius entered the podium.
+
+"I am silent," answered Petronius, coldly, "for I cannot find words.
+Thou hast surpassed thyself."
+
+"So it seemed to me too; but still this people--"
+
+"Canst thou expect mongrels to appreciate poetry?"
+
+"But thou too hast noticed that they have not thanked me as I deserve."
+
+"Because thou hast chosen a bad moment."
+
+"How?"
+
+"When men's brains are filled with the odor of blood, they cannot listen
+attentively."
+
+"Ah, those Christians!" replied Nero, clenching his fists. "They burned
+Rome, and injure me now in addition. What new punishment shall I invent
+for them?"
+
+Petronius saw that he had taken the wrong road, that his words had
+produced an effect the very opposite of what he intended; so, to turn
+Caesar's mind in another direction, he bent toward him and whispered,--
+
+"Thy song is marvellous, but I will make one remark: in the fourth line
+of the third strophe the metre leaves something to be desired."
+
+Nero, blushing with shame, as if caught in a disgraceful deed, had fear
+in his look, and answered in a whisper also,--
+
+"Thou seest everything. I know. I will re-write that. But no one else
+noticed it, I think. And do thou, for the love of the gods, mention it
+to no one,--if life is dear to thee."
+
+To this Petronius answered, as if in an outburst of vexation and anger,
+
+"Condemn me to death, O divinity, if I deceive thee; but thou wilt not
+terrify me, for the gods know best of all if I fear death."
+
+And while speaking he looked straight into Caesar's eyes, who answered
+after a while,--
+
+"Be not angry; thou knowest that I love thee."
+
+"A bad sign!" thought Petronius.
+
+"I wanted to invite thee to-day to a feast," continued Nero, "but
+I prefer to shut myself in and polish that cursed line in the third
+strophe. Besides thee Seneca may have noticed it, and perhaps Secundus
+Carinas did; but I will rid myself of them quickly."
+
+Then he summoned Seneca, and declared that with Acratus and Secundus
+Carinas, he sent him to the Italian and all other provinces for
+money, which he commanded him to obtain from cities, villages, famous
+temples,--in a word, from every place where it was possible to find
+money, or from which they could force it. But Seneca, who saw that Caesar
+was confiding to him a work of plunder, sacrilege, and robbery, refused
+straightway.
+
+"I must go to the country, lord," said he, "and await death, for I am
+old and my nerves are sick."
+
+Seneca's Iberian nerves were stronger than Chilos; they were not sick,
+perhaps, but in general his health was bad, for he seemed like a shadow,
+and recently his hair had grown white altogether.
+
+Nero, too, when he looked at him, thought that he would not have to wait
+long for the man's death, and answered,--
+
+"I will not expose thee to a journey if thou art ill, but through
+affection I wish to keep thee near me. Instead of going to the country,
+then, thou wilt stay in thy own house, and not leave it."
+
+Then he laughed, and said, "If I send Acratus and Carinas by themselves,
+it will be like sending wolves for sheep. Whom shall I set above them?"
+
+"Me, lord," said Domitius Afer.
+
+"No! I have no wish to draw on Rome the wrath of Mercury, whom ye would
+put to shame with your villainy. I need some stoic like Seneca, or like
+my new friend, the philosopher Chilo."
+
+Then he looked around, and asked,--
+
+"But what has happened to Chilo?"
+
+Chilo, who had recovered in the open air and returned to the
+amphitheatre for Caesar's song, pushed up, and said,--
+
+"I am here, O Radiant Offspring of the sun and moon. I was ill, but thy
+song has restored me."
+
+"I will send thee to Achaea," said Nero. "Thou must know to a copper how
+much there is in each temple there."
+
+"Do so, O Zeus, and the gods will give thee such tribute as they have
+never given any one."
+
+"I would, but I do not like to prevent thee from seeing the games."
+
+"Baal!" said Chilo.
+
+The Augustians, delighted that Caesar had regained humor, fell to
+laughing, and exclaimed,--
+
+"No, lord, deprive not this valiant Greek of a sight of the games."
+
+"But preserve me, O lord, from the sight of these noisy geese of the
+Capitol, whose brains put together would not fill a nutshell," retorted
+Chilo. "O first-born of Apollo, I am writing a Greek hymn in thy honor,
+and I wish to spend a few days in the temple of the Muses to implore
+inspiration."
+
+"Oh, no!" exclaimed Nero. "It is thy wish to escape future games.
+Nothing will come of that!"
+
+"I swear to thee, lord, that I am writing a hymn."
+
+"Then thou wilt write it at night. Beg inspiration of Diana, who, by the
+way, is a sister of Apollo."
+
+Chilo dropped his head and looked with malice on those present, who
+began to laugh again. Caesar, turning to Senecio and Suilius Nerulinus,
+said,--
+
+"Imagine, of the Christians appointed for to-day we have been able to
+finish hardly half!"
+
+At this old Aquilus Regulus, who had great knowledge of everything
+touching the amphitheatre, thought a while, and said,--
+
+"Spectacles in which people appear sine armis et sine arte last almost
+as long and are less entertaining."
+
+"I will command to give them weapons," answered Nero.
+
+But the superstitious Vestinius was roused from meditation at once, and
+asked in a mysterious voice,--
+
+"Have ye noticed that when dying they see something? They look up, and
+die as it were without pain. I am sure that they see something."
+
+He raised his eyes then to the opening of the amphitheatre, over which
+night had begun to extend its velarium dotted with stars. But others
+answered with laughter and jesting suppositions as to what the
+Christians could see at the moment of death. Meanwhile Caesar gave
+a signal to the slave torch-bearers, and left the Circus; after him
+followed vestals, senators, dignitaries, and Augustians.
+
+The night was clear and warm. Before the Circus were moving throngs of
+people, curious to witness the departure of Caesar; but in some way they
+were gloomy and silent. Here and there applause was heard, but it
+ceased quickly. From the spoliarium creaking carts bore away the bloody
+remnants of Christians.
+
+Petronius and Vinicius passed over their road in silence. Only when near
+his villa did Petronius inquire,--
+
+"Hast thou thought of what I told thee?" "I have," answered Vinicius.
+
+"Dost believe that for me too this is a question of the highest
+importance? I must liberate her in spite of Caesar and Tigellinus. This
+is a kind of battle in which I have undertaken to conquer, a kind of
+play in which I wish to win, even at the cost of my life. This day has
+confirmed me still more in my plan."
+
+"May Christ reward thee."
+
+"Thou wilt see."
+
+Thus conversing, they stopped at the door of the villa and descended
+from the litter. At that moment a dark figure approached them, and
+asked,--
+
+"Is the noble Vinicius here?"
+
+"He is," answered the tribune. "What is thy wish?"
+
+"I am Nazarius, the son of Miriam. I come from the prison, and bring
+tidings of Lygia."
+
+Vinicius placed his hand on the young man's shoulder and looked into
+his eyes by the torchlight, without power to speak a word, but Nazarius
+divined the question which was dying on his lips, and replied,--
+
+"She is living yet. Ursus sent me to say that she prays in her fever,
+and repeats thy name."
+
+"Praise be to Christ, who has power to restore her to me," said
+Vinicius. He conducted Nazarius to the library, and after a while
+Petronius came in to hear their conversation.
+
+"Sickness saved her from shame, for executioners are timid," said the
+youth. "Ursus and Glaucus the physician watch over her night and day."
+
+"Are the guards the same?"
+
+"They are, and she is in their chamber. All the prisoners in the lower
+dungeon died of fever, or were stifled from foul air."
+
+"Who art thou?" inquired Petronins.
+
+"The noble Vinicius knows me. I am the son of that widow with whom Lygia
+lodged."
+
+"And a Christian?"
+
+The youth looked with inquiring glance at Vinicius, but, seeing him in
+prayer, he raised his head, and answered,--
+
+"I am."
+
+"How canst thou enter the prison freely?"
+
+"I hired myself to carry out corpses; I did so to assist my brethren and
+bring them news from the city."
+
+Petronius looked more attentively at the comely face of the youth, his
+blue eyes, and dark, abundant hair.
+
+"From what country art thou, youth?" asked he.
+
+"I am a Galilean, lord."
+
+"Wouldst thou like to see Lygia free?"
+
+The youth raised his eyes. "Yes, even had I to die afterwards."
+
+Then Vinicius ceased to pray, and said,--
+
+"Tell the guards to place her in a coffin as if she were dead. Thou wilt
+find assistants to bear her out in the night with thee. Near the 'Putrid
+Pits' will be people with a litter waiting for you; to them ye will give
+the coffin. Promise the guards from me as much gold as each can carry in
+his mantle."
+
+While speaking, his face lost its usual torpor, and in him was roused
+the soldier to whom hope had restored his former energy.
+
+Nazarius was flushed with delight, and, raising his hands, he exclaimed,
+
+"May Christ give her health, for she will be free."
+
+"Dost thou think that the guards will consent?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"They, lord? Yes, if they know that punishment and torture will not
+touch them."
+
+"The guards would consent to her flight; all the more will they let us
+bear her out as a corpse," said Vinicius.
+
+"There is a man, it is true," said Nazarius, "who burns with red-hot
+iron to see if the bodies which we carry out are dead. But he will take
+even a few sestertia not to touch the face of the dead with iron. For
+one aureus he will touch the coffin, not the body."
+
+"Tell him that he will get a cap full of aurei," said Petronius. "But
+canst thou find reliable assistants?"
+
+"I can find men who would sell their own wives and children for money."
+
+"Where wilt thou find them?"
+
+"In the prison itself or in the city. Once the guards are paid, they
+will admit whomever I like."
+
+"In that case take me as a hired servant," said Vinicius.
+
+But Petronius opposed this most earnestly. "The pretorians might
+recognize thee even in disguise, and all would be lost. Go neither to
+the prison nor the 'Putrid Pits.' All, including Caesar and Tigellinus,
+should be convinced that she died; otherwise they will order immediate
+pursuit. We can lull suspicion only in this way: When she is taken to
+the Alban Hills or farther, to Sicily, we shall be in Rome. A week or
+two later thou wilt fall ill, and summon Nero's physician; he will tell
+thee to go to the mountains. Thou and she will meet, and afterward--"
+
+Here he thought a while; then, waving his hand, he said,--
+
+"Other times may come."
+
+"May Christ have mercy on her," said Vinicius. "Thou art speaking of
+Sicily, while she is sick and may die."
+
+"Let us keep her nearer Rome at first. The air alone will restore her,
+if only we snatch her from the dungeon. Hast thou no manager in the
+mountains whom thou canst trust?"
+
+"I have," replied Vinicius, hurriedly. "Near Corioli is a reliable man
+who carried me in his arms when I was a child, and who loves me yet."
+
+"Write to him to come to-morrow," said Petronius, handing Vinicius
+tablets. "I will send a courier at once."
+
+He called the chief of the atrium then, and gave the needful orders.
+A few minutes later, a mounted slave was coursing in the night toward
+Corioli.
+
+"It would please me were Ursus to accompany her," said Vinicius. "I
+should be more at rest."
+
+"Lord," said Nazarius, "that is a man of superhuman strength; he can
+break gratings and follow her. There is one window above a steep, high
+rock where no guard is placed. I will take Ursus a rope; the rest he
+will do himself."
+
+"By Hercules!" said Petronius, "let him tear himself out as he pleases,
+but not at the same time with her, and not two or three days later, for
+they would follow him and discover her hiding-place. By Hercules! do ye
+wish to destroy yourselves and her? I forbid you to name Corioli to him,
+or I wash my hands."
+
+Both recognized the justice of these words, and were silent. Nazarius
+took leave, promising to come the next morning at daybreak.
+
+He hoped to finish that night with the guards, but wished first to run
+in to see his mother, who in that uncertain and dreadful time had
+no rest for a moment thinking of her son. After some thought he had
+determined not to seek an assistant in the city, but to find and bribe
+one from among his fellow corpse-bearers. When going, he stopped, and,
+taking Vinicius aside, whispered,--
+
+"I will not mention our plan to any one, not even to my mother, but the
+Apostle Peter promised to come from the amphitheatre to our house; I
+will tell him everything."
+
+"Here thou canst speak openly," replied Vinicius. "The Apostle was in
+the amphitheatre with the people of Petronius. But I will go with you
+myself."
+
+He gave command to bring him a slave's mantle, and they passed out.
+Petronius sighed deeply.
+
+"I wished her to die of that fever," thought he, "since that would have
+been less terrible for Vinicius. But now I am ready to offer a golden
+tripod to Esculapius for her health. Ah! Ahenobarbus, thou hast the wish
+to turn a lover's pain into a spectacle; thou, Augusta, wert jealous of
+the maiden's beauty, and wouldst devour her alive because thy Rufius has
+perished. Thou, Tigellinus, wouldst destroy her to spite me! We shall
+see. I tell you that your eyes will not behold her on the arena, for she
+will either die her own death, or I shall wrest her from you as from the
+jaws of dogs, and wrest her in such fashion that ye shall not know it;
+and as often afterward as I look at you I shall think, These are the
+fools whom Caius Petronius outwitted."
+
+And, self-satisfied, he passed to the triclinium, where he sat down to
+supper with Eunice. During the meal a lector read to them the Idyls of
+Theocritus. Out of doors the wind brought clouds from the direction of
+Soracte, and a sudden storm broke the silence of the calm summer night.
+From time to time thunder reverberated on the seven hills, while they,
+reclining near each other at the table, listened to the bucolic poet,
+who in the singing Doric dialect celebrated the loves of shepherds.
+Later on, with minds at rest, they prepared for sweet slumber.
+
+But before this Vinicius returned. Petronius heard of his coming, and
+went to meet him.
+
+"Well? Have ye fixed anything new?" inquired he. "Has Nazarius gone to
+the prison?"
+
+"He has," answered the young man, arranging his hair, wet from the rain.
+"Nazarius went to arrange with the guards, and I have seen Peter, who
+commanded me to pray and believe."
+
+"That is well. If all goes favorably, we can bear her away to-morrow
+night."
+
+"My manager must be here at daybreak with men."
+
+"The road is a short one. Now go to rest."
+
+But Vinicius knelt in his cubiculum and prayed.
+
+At sunrise Niger, the manager, arrived from Corioli, bringing with him,
+at the order of Vinicius, mules, a litter, and four trusty men selected
+among slaves from Britain, whom, to save appearances, he had left at
+an inn in the Subura. Vinicius, who had watched all night, went to meet
+him. Niger, moved at sight of his youthful master, kissed his hands and
+eyes, saying,--
+
+"My dear, thou art ill, or else suffering has sucked the blood from thy
+face, for hardly did I know thee at first."
+
+Vinicius took him to the interior colonnade, and there admitted him
+to the secret. Niger listened with fixed attention, and on his dry,
+sunburnt face great emotion was evident; this he did not even try to
+master.
+
+"Then she is a Christian?" exclaimed Niger; and he looked inquiringly
+into the face of Vinicius, who divined evidently what the gaze of the
+countryman was asking, since he answered,--
+
+"I too am a Christian."
+
+Tears glistened in Niger's eyes that moment. He was silent for a while;
+then, raising his hands, he said,--
+
+"I thank Thee, O Christ, for having taken the beam from eyes which are
+the dearest on earth to me."
+
+Then he embraced the head of Vinicius, and, weeping from happiness, fell
+to kissing his forehead. A moment later, Petronius appeared, bringing
+Nazarius.
+
+"Good news!" cried he, while still at a distance.
+
+Indeed, the news was good. First, Glaucus the physician guaranteed
+Lygia's life, though she had the same prison fever of which, in the
+Tullianum and other dungeons, hundreds of people were dying daily. As
+to the guards and the man who tried corpses with red-hot iron, there was
+not the least difficulty. Attys, the assistant, was satisfied also.
+
+"We made openings in the coffin to let the sick woman breathe," said
+Nazarius. "The only danger is that she may groan or speak as we pass the
+pretorians. But she is very weak, and is lying with closed eyes since
+early morning. Besides, Glaucus will give her a sleeping draught
+prepared by himself from drugs brought by me purposely from the city.
+The cover will not be nailed to the coffin; ye will raise it easily and
+take the patient to the litter. We will place in the coffin a long bag
+of sand, which ye will provide."
+
+Vinicius, while hearing these words, was as pale as linen; but he
+listened with such attention that he seemed to divine at a glance what
+Nazarius had to say.
+
+"Will they carry out other bodies from the prison?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"About twenty died last night, and before evening more will be dead,"
+said the youth. "We must go with a whole company, but we will delay
+and drop into the rear. At the first corner my comrade will get lame
+purposely. In that way we shall remain behind the others considerably.
+Ye will wait for us at the small temple of Libitina. May God give a
+night as dark as possible!"
+
+"He will," said Niger. "Last evening was bright, and then a sudden storm
+came. To-day the sky is clear, but since morning it is sultry. Every
+night now there will be wind and rain."
+
+"Will ye go without torches?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"The torches are carried only in advance. In every event, be near the
+temple of Libitina at dark, though usually we carry out the corpses only
+just before midnight."
+
+They stopped. Nothing was to be heard save the hurried breathing of
+Vinicius. Petronius turned to him,--
+
+"I said yesterday that it would be best were we both to stay at home,
+but now I see that I could not stay. Were it a question of flight, there
+would be need of the greatest caution; but since she will be borne out
+as a corpse, it seems that not the least suspicion will enter the head
+of any one."
+
+"True, true!" answered Vinicius. "I must be there. I will take her from
+the coffin myself."
+
+"Once she is in my house at Corioli, I answer for her," said Niger.
+Conversation stopped here. Niger returned to his men at the inn.
+Nazarius took a purse of gold under his tunic and went to the prison.
+For Vinicius began a day filled with alarm, excitement, disquiet, and
+hope.
+
+"The undertaking ought to succeed, for it is well planned," said
+Petronius. "It was impossible to plan better. Thou must feign suffering,
+and wear a dark toga. Do not desert the amphitheatre. Let people see
+thee. All is so fixed that there cannot be failure. But--art thou
+perfectly sure of thy manager?"
+
+"He is a Christian," replied Vinicius.
+
+Petronius looked at him with amazement, then shrugged his shoulders, and
+said, as if in soliloquy,--
+
+"By Pollux! how it spreads, and commands people's souls. Under such
+terror as the present, men would renounce straightway all the gods
+of Rome, Greece, and Egypt. Still, this is wonderful! By Pollux! if I
+believed that anything depended on our gods, I would sacrifice six
+white bullocks to each of them, and twelve to Capitoline Jove. Spare no
+promises to thy Christ."
+
+"I have given Him my soul," said Vinicius.
+
+And they parted. Petronius returned to his cubiculum; but Vinicius went
+to look from a distance at the prison, and thence betook himself to the
+slope of the Vatican hill,--to that hut of the quarryman where he had
+received baptism from the hands of the Apostle. It seemed to him that
+Christ would hear him more readily there than in any other place; so
+when he found it, he threw himself on the ground and exerted all the
+strength of his suffering soul in prayer for mercy, and so forgot
+himself that he remembered not where he was or what he was doing. In
+the afternoon he was roused by the sound of trumpets which came from
+the direction of Nero's Circus. He went out of the hut, and gazed around
+with eyes which were as if just opened from sleep.
+
+It was hot; the stillness was broken at intervals by the sound of brass
+and continually by the ceaseless noise of grasshoppers. The air had
+become sultry, the sky was still clear over the city, but near the
+Sabine Hills dark clouds were gathering at the edge of the horizon.
+
+Vinicius went home. Petronius was waiting for him in the atrium.
+
+"I have been on the Palatine," said he. "I showed myself there
+purposely, and even sat down at dice. There is a feast at the house of
+Vinicius this evening; I promised to go, but only after midnight, saying
+that I must sleep before that hour. In fact I shall be there, and it
+would be well wert thou to go also."
+
+"Are there no tidings from Niger or Nazarius?" inquired Vinicius.
+
+"No; we shall see them only at midnight. Hast noticed that a storm is
+threatening?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"To-morrow there is to be an exhibition of crucified Christians, but
+perhaps rain will prevent it."
+
+Then he drew nearer and said, touching his nephew's shoulder,--"But thou
+wilt not see her on the cross; thou wilt see her only in Corioli. By
+Castor! I would not give the moment in which we free her for all the
+gems in Rome. The evening is near."
+
+In truth the evening was near, and darkness began to encircle the city
+earlier than usual because clouds covered the whole horizon. With the
+coming of night heavy rain fell, which turned into steam on the stones
+warmed by the heat of the day, and filled the streets of the city with
+mist. After that came a lull, then brief violent showers.
+
+"Let us hurry!" said Vinicius at last; "they may carry bodies from the
+prison earlier because of the storm."
+
+"It is time!" said Petronius.
+
+And taking Gallic mantles with hoods, they passed through the garden
+door to the street. Petronius had armed himself with a short Roman knife
+called sicca, which he took always during night trips.
+
+The city was empty because of the storm. From time to time lightning
+rent the clouds, illuminating with its glare the fresh walls of houses
+newly built or in process of building and the wet flag-stones with which
+the streets were paved. At last a flash came, when they saw, after a
+rather long road, the mound on which stood the small temple of Libitina,
+and at the foot of the mound a group of mules and horses.
+
+"Niger!" called Vinicius, in a low voice.
+
+"I am here, lord," said a voice in the rain.
+
+"Is everything ready?"
+
+"It is. We were here at dark. But hide yourselves under the rampart, or
+ye will be drenched. What a storm! Hail will fall, I think."
+
+In fact Niger's fear was justified, for soon hail began to fall, at
+first fine, then larger and more frequent. The air grew cold at once.
+While standing under the rampart, sheltered from the wind and icy
+missiles, they conversed in low voices.
+
+"Even should some one see us," said Niger, "there will be no suspicion;
+we look like people waiting for the storm to pass. But I fear that they
+may not bring the bodies out till morning."
+
+"The hail-storm will not last," said Petronius. "We must wait even till
+daybreak."
+
+They waited, listening to hear the sound of the procession. The
+hail-storm passed, but immediately after a shower began to roar. At
+times the wind rose, and brought from the "Putrid Pits" a dreadful odor
+of decaying bodies, buried near the surface and carelessly.
+
+"I see a light through the mist," said Niger,--"one, two, three,--those
+are torches. See that the mules do not snort," said he, turning to the
+men.
+
+"They are coming!" said Petronius.
+
+The lights were growing more and more distinct. After a time it was
+possible to see torches under the quivering flames.
+
+Niger made the sign of the cross, and began to pray. Meanwhile the
+gloomy procession drew nearer, and halted at last in front of the temple
+of Libitina. Petronius, Vinicius, and Niger pressed up to the rampart in
+silence, not knowing why the halt was made. But the men had stopped only
+to cover their mouths and faces with cloths to ward off the stifling
+stench which at the edge of the "Putrid Pits" was simply unendurable;
+then they raised the biers with coffins and moved on. Only one coffin
+stopped before the temple. Vinicius sprang toward it, and after him
+Petronius, Niger, and two British slaves with the litter.
+
+But before they had reached it in the darkness, the voice of Nazarius
+was heard, full of pain,--
+
+"Lord, they took her with Ursus to the Esquiline prison. We are carrying
+another body! They removed her before midnight."
+
+Petronius, when he had returned home, was gloomy as a storm, and did not
+even try to console Vinicius. He understood that to free Lygia from the
+Esquiline dungeons was not to be dreamed of. He divined that very likely
+she had been taken from the Tullianum so as not to die of fever and
+escape the amphitheatre assigned to her. But for this very reason she
+was watched and guarded more carefully than others. From the bottom of
+his soul Petronius was sorry for her and Vinicius, but he was wounded
+also by the thought that for the first time in life he had not
+succeeded, and for the first time was beaten in a struggle.
+
+"Fortune seems to desert me," said he to himself, "but the gods are
+mistaken if they think that I will accept such a life as his, for
+example."
+
+Here he turned toward Vinicius, who looked at him with staring eyes.
+"What is the matter? Thou hast a fever," said Petronius.
+
+But Vinicius answered with a certain strange, broken, halting voice,
+like that of a sick child,--"But I believe that He--can restore her to
+me."
+
+Above the city the last thunders of the storm had ceased.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LVII
+
+
+THREE days' rain, an exceptional phenomenon in Rome during summer, and
+hail falling in opposition to the natural order, not only in the day,
+but even at night, interrupted the spectacles. People were growing
+alarmed. A failure of grapes was predicted, and when on a certain
+afternoon a thunderbolt melted the bronze statue of Ceres on the
+Capitol, sacrifices were ordered in the temple of Jupiter Salvator. The
+priests of Ceres spread a report that the anger of the gods was turned
+on the city because of the too hasty punishment of Christians; hence
+crowds began to insist that the spectacles be given without reference to
+weather. Delight seized all Rome when the announcement was made at last
+that the ludus would begin again after three days' interval.
+
+Meanwhile beautiful weather returned. The amphitheatre was filled at
+daybreak with thousands of people. Caesar came early with the vestals
+and the court. The spectacle was to begin with a battle among the
+Christians, who to this end were arrayed as gladiators and furnished
+with all kinds of weapons which served gladiators by profession in
+offensive and defensive struggles. But here came disappointment.
+The Christians threw nets, darts, tridents, and swords on the arena,
+embraced and encouraged one another to endurance in view of torture and
+death. At this deep indignation and resentment seized the hearts of
+the multitude. Some reproached the Christians with cowardice and
+pusillanimity; others asserted that they refused to fight through hatred
+of the people, so as to deprive them of that pleasure which the sight of
+bravery produces. Finally, at command of Caesar, real gladiators were let
+out, who despatched in one twinkle the kneeling and defenceless victims.
+
+When these bodies were removed, the spectacle was a series of mythologic
+pictures,--Caesar's own idea. The audience saw Hercules blazing in living
+fire on Mount Oeta. Vinicius had trembled at the thought that the role
+of Hercules might be intended for Ursus; but evidently the turn of
+Lygia's faithful servant had not come, for on the pile some other
+Christian was burning,--a man quite unknown to Vinicius. In the
+next picture Chilo, whom Caesar would not excuse from attendance, saw
+acquaintances. The death of Daedalus was represented, and also that of
+Icarus. In the role of Daedalus appeared Euricius, that old man who had
+given Chilo the sign of the fish; the role of Icarus was taken by his
+son, Quartus. Both were raised aloft with cunning machinery, and then
+hurled suddenly from an immense height to the arena. Young Quartus
+fell so near Caesar's podium that he spattered with blood not only the
+external ornaments but the purple covering spread over the front of the
+podium. Chilo did not see the fall, for he closed his eyes; but he heard
+the dull thump of the body, and when after a time he saw blood there
+close to him, he came near fainting a second time.
+
+The pictures changed quickly. The shameful torments of maidens violated
+before death by gladiators dressed as wild beasts, delighted the hearts
+of the rabble. They saw priestesses of Cybele and Ceres, they saw the
+Danaides, they saw Dirce and Pasiphae; finally they saw young girls,
+not mature yet, torn asunder by wild horses. Every moment the crowd
+applauded new ideas of Nero, who, proud of them, and made happy by
+plaudits, did not take the emerald from his eye for one instant while
+looking at white bodies torn with iron, and the convulsive quivering of
+victims.
+
+Pictures were given also from the history of the city. After the maidens
+they saw Mucius Scaevola, whose hand fastened over a fire to a tripod
+filled the amphitheatre with the odor of burnt flesh; but this man,
+like the real Scaevola, remained without a groan, his eyes raised and
+the murmur of prayer on his blackening lips. When he had expired and his
+body was dragged to the spoliarium, the usual midday interlude followed.
+Caesar with the vestals and the Augustians left the amphitheatre, and
+withdrew to an immense scarlet tent erected purposely; in this was
+prepared for him and the guests a magnificent prandium. The spectators
+for the greater part followed his example, and, streaming out, disposed
+themselves in picturesque groups around the tent, to rest their limbs
+wearied from long sitting, and enjoy the food which, through Caesar's
+favor, was served by slaves to them. Only the most curious descended to
+the arena itself, and, touching with their fingers lumps of sand held
+together by blood, conversed, as specialists and amateurs, of that which
+had happened and of that which was to follow. Soon even these went away,
+lest they might be late for the feast; only those few were left who
+stayed not through curiosity, but sympathy for the coming victims. Those
+concealed themselves behind seats or in the lower places.
+
+Meanwhile the arena was levelled, and slaves began to dig holes one near
+the other in rows throughout the whole circuit from side to side, so
+that the last row was but a few paces distant from Caesar's podium. From
+outside came the murmur of people, shouts and plaudits, while within
+they were preparing in hot haste for new tortures. The cunicula were
+opened simultaneously, and in all passages leading to the arena were
+urged forward crowds of Christians naked and carrying crosses on their
+shoulders. The whole arena was filled with them. Old men, bending under
+the weight of wooden beams, ran forward; at the side of these went men
+in the prime of life, women with loosened hair behind which they strove
+to hide their nakedness, small boys, and little children. The crosses,
+for the greater part, as well as the victims, were wreathed with
+flowers. The servants of the amphitheatre beat the unfortunates with
+clubs, forcing them to lay down their crosses near the holes prepared,
+and stand themselves there in rows. Thus were to perish those whom
+executioners had had no chance to drive out as food for dogs and wild
+beasts the first day of the games. Black slaves seized the victims, laid
+them face upward on the wood, and fell to nailing their hands hurriedly
+and quickly to the arms of the crosses, so that people returning
+after the interlude might find all the crosses standing. The whole
+amphitheatre resounded with the noise of hammers which echoed through
+all the rows, went out to the space surrounding the amphitheatre, and
+into the tent where Caesar was entertaining his suite and the vestals.
+There he drank wine, bantered with Chilo, and whispered strange words
+in the ears of the priestesses of Vesta; but on the arena the work was
+seething,--nails were going into the hands and feet of the Christians;
+shovels moved quickly, filling the holes in which the crosses had been
+planted.
+
+Among the new victims whose turn was to come soon was Crispus. The lions
+had not had time to rend him; hence he was appointed to the cross. He,
+ready at all times for death, was delighted with the thought that his
+hour was approaching. He seemed another man, for his emaciated body was
+wholly naked,--only a girdle of ivy encircled his hips, on his head was
+a garland of roses. But in his eyes gleamed always that same exhaustless
+energy; that same fanatical stern face gazed from beneath the crown of
+roses. Neither had his heart changed; for, as once in the cuniculum he
+had threatened with the wrath of God his brethren sewed up in the skins
+of wild beasts, so to-day he thundered in place of consoling them.
+
+"Thank the Redeemer," said Crispus, "that He permits you to die the same
+death that He Himself died. Maybe a part of your sins will be remitted
+for this cause; but tremble, since justice must be satisfied, and there
+cannot be one reward for the just and the wicked."
+
+His words were accompanied by the sound of the hammers nailing the hands
+and feet of victims. Every moment more crosses were raised on the
+arena; but he, turning to the crowd standing each man by his own cross,
+continued,--
+
+"I see heaven open, but I see also the yawning abyss. I know not what
+account of my life to give the Lord, though I have believed, and hated
+evil. I fear, not death, but resurrection; I fear, not torture, but
+judgment, for the day of wrath is at hand."
+
+At that moment was heard from between the nearest rows some voice, calm
+and solemn,--
+
+"Not the day of wrath, but of mercy, the day of salvation and happiness;
+for I say that Christ will gather you in, will comfort you and seat you
+at His right hand. Be confident, for heaven is opening before you."
+
+At these words all eyes were turned to the benches; even those who were
+hanging on the crosses raised their pale, tortured faces, and looked
+toward the man who was speaking.
+
+But he went to the barrier surrounding the arena, and blessed them with
+the sign of the cross.
+
+Crispus stretched out his arm as if to thunder at him; but when he saw
+the man's face, he dropped his arm, the knees bent under him, and his
+lips whispered, "Paul the Apostle!"
+
+To the great astonishment of the servants of the Circus, all of those
+who were not nailed to the crosses yet knelt down. Paul turned to
+Crispus and said,
+
+"Threaten them not, Crispus, for this day they will be with thee in
+paradise. It is thy thought that they may be condemned. But who will
+condemn?
+
+"Will God, who gave His Son for them? Will Christ, who died for their
+salvation, condemn when they die for His name? And how is it possible
+that He who loves can condemn? Who will accuse the chosen of God? Who
+will say of this blood, 'It is cursed'?"
+
+"I have hated evil," said the old priest.
+
+"Christ's command to love men was higher than that to hate evil, for His
+religion is not hatred, but love."
+
+"I have sinned in the hour of death," answered Crispus, beating his
+breast. The manager of the seats approached the Apostle, and inquired,
+
+"Who art thou, speaking to the condemned?"
+
+"A Roman citizen," answered Paul, calmly. Then, turning to Crispus,
+he said: "Be confident, for to-day is a day of grace; die in peace, O
+servant of God."
+
+The black men approached Crispus at that moment to place him on the
+cross; but he looked around once again, and cried,--
+
+"My brethren, pray for me!"
+
+His face had lost its usual sternness; his stony features had taken an
+expression of peace and sweetness. He stretched his arms himself along
+the arms of the cross, to make the work easier, and, looking directly
+into heaven, began to pray earnestly. He seemed to feel nothing; for
+when the nails entered his hands, not the least quiver shook his body,
+nor on his face did there appear any wrinkle of pain. He prayed when
+they raised the cross and trampled the earth around it. Only when crowds
+began to fill the amphitheatre with shouts and laughter did his brows
+frown somewhat, as if in anger that a pagan people were disturbing the
+calm and peace of a sweet death.
+
+But all the crosses had been raised, so that in the arena there stood as
+it were a forest, with people hanging on the trees. On the arms of the
+crosses and on the heads of the martyrs fell the gleam of the sun; but
+on the arena was a deep shadow, forming a kind of black involved grating
+through which glittered the golden sand. That was a spectacle in which
+the whole delight of the audience consisted in looking at a lingering
+death. Never before had men seen such a density of crosses. The arena
+was packed so closely that the servants squeezed between them only with
+effort. On the edges were women especially; but Crispus, as a leader,
+was raised almost in front of Caesar's podium, on an immense cross,
+wreathed below with honeysuckle. None of the victims had died yet,
+but some of those fastened earlier had fainted. No one groaned; no one
+called for mercy. Some were hanging with head inclined on one arm,
+or dropped on the breast, as if seized by sleep; some were as if in
+meditation; some, looking toward heaven, were moving their lips quietly.
+In this terrible forest of crosses, among those crucified bodies, in
+that silence of victims there was something ominous. The people who,
+filled by the feast and gladsome, had returned to the Circus with
+shouts, became silent, not knowing on which body to rest their eyes, or
+what to think of the spectacle. The nakedness of strained female forms
+roused no feeling. They did not make the usual bets as to who would die
+first,--a thing done generally when there was even the smallest number
+of criminals on the arena. It seemed that Caesar himself was bored, for
+he turned lazily and with drowsy expression to arrange his necklace.
+
+At that moment Crispus, who was hanging opposite, and who, like a man
+in a faint or dying, had kept his eyes closed, opened them and looked at
+Caesar. His face assumed an expression so pitiless, and his eyes flashed
+with such fire, that the Augustians whispered to one another, pointing
+at him with their fingers, and at last Caesar himself turned to that
+cross, and placed the emerald to his eye sluggishly.
+
+Perfect silence followed. The eyes of the spectators were fixed on
+Crispus, who strove to move his right hand, as if to tear it from the
+tree.
+
+After a while his breast rose, his ribs were visible, and he cried:
+"Matricide! woe to thee!"
+
+The Augustians, hearing this mortal insult flung at the lord of the
+world in presence of thousands, did not dare to breathe. Chilo was half
+dead. Caesar trembled, and dropped the emerald from his fingers. The
+people, too, held the breath in their breasts. The voice of Crispus was
+heard, as it rose in power, throughout the amphitheatre,--
+
+"Woe to thee, murderer of wife and brother! woe to thee, Antichrist. The
+abyss is opening beneath thee, death is stretching its hands to thee,
+the grave is waiting for thee. Woe, living corpse, for in terror shalt
+thou die and be damned to eternity!"
+
+Unable to tear his hand from the cross, Crispus strained awfully. He was
+terrible,--a living skeleton; unbending as predestination, he shook his
+white beard over Nero's podium, scattering, as he nodded, rose leaves
+from the garland on his head.
+
+"Woe to thee, murderer! Thy measure is surpassed, and thy hour is at
+hand!"
+
+Here he made one more effort. It seemed for a moment that he would free
+his hand from the cross and hold it in menace above Caesar; but all at
+once his emaciated arms extended still more, his body settled down, his
+head fell on his breast, and he died.
+
+In that forest of crosses the weakest began also the sleep of eternity.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LVIII
+
+
+"LORD," said Chilo, "the sea is like olive oil, the waves seem to sleep.
+Let us go to Achaea. There the glory of Apollo is awaiting thee, crowns
+and triumph are awaiting thee, the people will deify thee, the gods will
+receive thee as a guest, their own equal; but here, O lord--"
+
+And he stopped, for his lower lip began to quiver so violently that his
+words passed into meaningless sounds.
+
+"We will go when the games are over," replied Nero. "I know that even
+now some call the Christians innoxia corpora. If I were to go, all would
+repeat this. What dost thou fear?"
+
+Then he frowned, but looked with inquiring glance at Chilo, as if
+expecting an answer, for he only feigned cool blood. At the last
+exhibition he himself feared the words of Crispus; and when he had
+returned to the Palatine, he could not sleep from rage and shame, but
+also from fear.
+
+Then Vestinius, who heard their conversation in silence, looked around,
+and said in a mysterious voice,--
+
+"Listen, lord, to this old man. There is something strange in those
+Christians. Their deity gives them an easy death, but he may be
+vengeful."
+
+"It was not I who arranged the games, but Tigellinus," replied Nero,
+quickly.
+
+"True! it was I," added Tigellinus, who heard Caesar's answer, "and I
+jeer at all Christian gods. Vestinius is a bladder full of prejudices,
+and this valiant Greek is ready to die of terror at sight of a hen with
+feathers up in defence of her chickens."
+
+"True!" said Nero; "but henceforth give command to cut the tongues out
+of Christians and stop their mouths."
+
+"Fire will stop them, O divinity."
+
+"Woe is me!" groaned Chilo.
+
+But Caesar, to whom the insolent confidence of Tigellinus gave courage,
+began to laugh, and said, pointing to the old Greek,--
+
+"See how the descendant of Achilles looks!"
+
+Indeed Chilo looked terribly. The remnant of hair on his head had grown
+white; on his face was fixed an expression of some immense dread, alarm,
+and oppression. He seemed at times, too, as if stunned and only half
+conscious. Often he gave no answer to questions; then again he fell
+into anger, and became so insolent that the Augustians preferred not to
+attack him. Such a moment had come to him then.
+
+"Do what ye like with me, but I will not go to the games!" cried he, in
+desperation.
+
+Nero looked at him for a while, and, turning to Tigellinus, said,--
+
+"Have a care that this Stoic is near me in the gardens. I want to see
+what impression our torches will make on him."
+
+Chilo was afraid of the threat which quivered in Caesar's voice.
+"O lord," said he, "I shall see nothing, for I cannot see in the
+night-time."
+
+"The night will be as bright as day," replied Caesar, with a threatening
+laugh.
+
+Turning then to the Augustians, Nero talked about races which he
+intended to have when the games were over.
+
+Petronius approached Chilo, and asked, pushing him on the shoulder,--
+
+"Have I not said that thou wouldst not hold out?"
+
+"I wish to drink," said Chilo, stretching his trembling hand toward a
+goblet of wine; but he was unable to raise it to his lips. Seeing this,
+Vestinius took the vessel; but later he drew near, and inquired with
+curious and frightened face,--
+
+"Are the Furies pursuing thee?"
+
+The old man looked at him a certain time with open lips, as if not
+understanding what he said. But Vestinius repeated,
+
+"Are the Furies pursuing thee?"
+
+"No," answered Chilo; "but night is before me."
+
+"How, night? May the gods have mercy on thee. How night?"
+
+"Night, ghastly and impenetrable, in which something is moving,
+something coming toward me; but I know not what it is, and I am
+terrified."
+
+"I have always been sure that there are witches. Dost thou not dream of
+something?"
+
+"No, for I do not sleep. I did not think that they would be punished
+thus."
+
+"Art thou sorry for them?"
+
+"Why do ye shed so much blood? Hast heard what that one said from the
+cross? Woe to us!"
+
+"I heard," answered Vestinius, in a low voice. "But they are
+incendiaries."
+
+"Not true!"
+
+"And enemies of the human race."
+
+"Not true!"
+
+"And poisoners of water."
+
+"Not true!"
+
+"And murderers of children."
+
+"Not true!"
+
+"How?" inquired Vestinius, with astonishment. "Thou hast said so
+thyself, and given them into the hands of Tigellinus."
+
+"Therefore night has surrounded me, and death is coming toward me. At
+times it seems to me that I am dead already, and ye also."
+
+"No! it is they who are dying; we are alive. But tell me, what do they
+see when they are dying?"
+
+"Christ."
+
+"That is their god. Is he a mighty god?"
+
+But Chilo answered with a question,--
+
+"What kind of torches are to burn in the gardens? Hast thou heard what
+Caesar said?"
+
+"I heard, and I know. Those torches are called Sarmentitii and Semaxii.
+They are made by arraying men in painful tunics, steeped in pitch, and
+binding them to pillars, to which fire is set afterward. May their
+god not send misfortune on the city. Semaxii! that is a dreadful
+punishment!"
+
+"I would rather see it, for there will not be blood," answered Chilo.
+"Command a slave to hold the goblet to my mouth. I wish to drink, but I
+spill the wine; my hand trembles from age."
+
+Others also were speaking of the Christians. Old Domitius Afer reviled
+them.
+
+"There is such a multitude of them," said he, "that they might raise a
+civil war; and, remember, there were fears lest they might arm. But they
+die like sheep."
+
+"Let them try to die otherwise!" said Tigellinus.
+
+To this Petronius answered, "Ye deceive yourselves. They are arming."
+
+"With what?"
+
+"With patience."
+
+"That is a new kind of weapon."
+
+"True. But can ye say that they die like common criminals? No! They die
+as if the criminals were those who condemned them to death,--that is, we
+and the whole Roman people."
+
+"What raving!" said Tigellinus.
+
+"Hic Abdera!" answered Petronius.
+
+[A proverbial expression meaning "The dullest of the dull"--Note by the
+Author.]
+
+But others, struck by the justice of his remark, began to look at one
+another with astonishment, and repeat,--
+
+"True! there is something peculiar and strange in their death."
+
+"I tell you that they see their divinity!" cried Vestinius, from one
+side. Thereupon a number of Augustians turned to Chilo,--
+
+"Hai, old man, thou knowest them well; tell us what they see."
+
+The Greek spat out wine on his tunic, and answered,--
+
+"The resurrection." And he began to tremble so that the guests sitting
+nearer burst into loud laughter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LIX
+
+
+FOR some time Vinicius had spent his nights away from home. It occurred
+to Petronius that perhaps he had formed a new plan, and was working to
+liberate Lygia from the Esquiline dungeon; he did not wish, however, to
+inquire about anything, lest he might bring misfortune to the work. This
+sceptical exquisite had become in a certain sense superstitious. He had
+failed to snatch Lygia from the Mamertine prison, hence had ceased to
+believe in his own star.
+
+Besides, he did not count this time on a favorable outcome for the
+efforts of Vinicius. The Esquiline prison, formed in a hurry from the
+cellars of houses thrown down to stop the fire, was not, it is true,
+so terrible as the old Tullianum near the Capitol, but it was a hundred
+times better guarded. Petronius understood perfectly that Lygia had been
+taken there only to escape death and not escape the amphitheatre. He
+could understand at once that for this very reason they were guarding
+her as a man guards the eye in his head.
+
+"Evidently," said he to himself, "Caesar and Tigellinus have reserved her
+for some special spectacle, more dreadful than all others, and Vinicius
+is more likely to perish than rescue her."
+
+Vinicius, too, had lost hope of being able to free Lygia. Christ alone
+could do that. The young tribune now thought only of seeing her in
+prison.
+
+For some time the knowledge that Nazarius had penetrated the Mamertine
+prison as a corpse-bearer had given him no peace; hence he resolved to
+try that method also.
+
+The overseer of the "Putrid Pits," who had been bribed for an immense
+sum of money, admitted him at last among servants whom he sent nightly
+to prisons for corpses. The danger that Vinicius might be recognized was
+really small. He was preserved from it by night, the dress of a slave,
+and the defective illumination of the prison. Besides, into whose head
+could it enter that a patrician, the grandson of one consul, the son of
+another, could be found among servants, corpse-bearers, exposed to the
+miasma of prisons and the "Putrid Pits"? And he began work to which men
+were forced only by slavery or the direst need.
+
+When the desired evening came, he girded his loins gladly, covered his
+head with a cloth steeped in turpentine, and with throbbing heart betook
+himself, with a crowd of others, to the Esquiline.
+
+The pretorian guards made no trouble, for all had brought proper
+tesserae, which the centurion examined by the light of a lantern. After a
+while the great iron doors opened before them, and they entered.
+
+Vinicius saw an extensive vaulted cellar, from which they passed to a
+series of others. Dim tapers illuminated the interior of each, which was
+filled with people. Some of these were lying at the walls sunk in sleep,
+or dead, perhaps. Others surrounded large vessels of water, standing
+in the middle, out of which they drank as people tormented with fever;
+others were sitting on the grounds, their elbows on their knees, their
+heads on their palms; here and there children were sleeping, nestled up
+to their mothers. Groans, loud hurried breathing of the sick, weeping,
+whispered prayers, hymns in an undertone, the curses of overseers
+were heard round about it. In this dungeon was the odor of crowds and
+corpses. In its gloomy depth dark figures were swarming; nearer, close
+to flickering lights, were visible faces, pale, terrified, hungry, and
+cadaverous, with eyes dim, or else flaming with fever, with lips blue,
+with streams of sweat on their foreheads, and with clammy hair. In
+corners the sick were moaning loudly; some begged for water; others, to
+be led to death. And still that prison was less terrible than the old
+Tullianum. The legs bent under Vinicius when he saw all this, and breath
+was failing in his breast. At the thought that Lygia was in the midst of
+this misery and misfortune, the hair rose on his head, and he stifled
+a cry of despair. The amphitheatre, the teeth of wild beasts, the
+cross,--anything was better than those dreadful dungeons filled with
+the odor of corpses, places in which imploring voices called from every
+corner,--
+
+"Lead us to death!"
+
+Vinicius pressed his nails into his palms, for he felt that he was
+growing weak, and that presence of mind was deserting him. All that he
+had felt till then, all his love and pain, changed in him to one desire
+for death.
+
+Just then near his side was heard the overseer of the "Putrid Pits",
+
+"How many corpses have ye to-day?"
+
+"About a dozen," answered the guardian of the prison, "but there will be
+more before morning; some are in agony at the walls."
+
+And he fell to complaining of women who concealed dead children so as
+to keep them near and not yield them to the "Putrid Pits." "We must
+discover corpses first by the odor; through this the air, so terrible
+already, is spoiled still more. I would rather be a slave in some rural
+prison than guard these dogs rotting here while alive--"
+
+The overseer of the pits comforted him, saying that his own service was
+no easier. By this time the sense of reality had returned to Vinicius.
+He began to search the dungeon; but sought in vain for Lygia, fearing
+meanwhile that he would never see her alive. A number of cellars were
+connected by newly made passages; the corpse-bearers entered only those
+from which corpses were to be carried. Fear seized Vinicius lest that
+privilege which had cost so much trouble might serve no purpose. Luckily
+his patron aided him.
+
+"Infection spreads most through corpses," said he. "Ye must carry out
+the bodies at once, or die yourselves, together with the prisoners."
+
+"There are only ten of us for all the cellars," said the guardian, "and
+we must sleep."
+
+"I will leave four men of mine, who will go through the cellars at night
+to see if these are dead."
+
+"We will drink to-morrow if thou do that. Everybody must be taken to the
+test; for an order has come to pierce the neck of each corpse, and then
+to the 'Putrid Pits' at once with it."
+
+"Very well, but we will drink," said the overseer.
+
+Four men were selected, and among them Vinicius; the others he took to
+put the corpses on the biers.
+
+Vinicius was at rest; he was certain now at least of finding Lygia. The
+young tribune began by examining the first dungeon carefully; he looked
+into all the dark corners hardly reached by the light of his torch; he
+examined figures sleeping at the walls under coarse cloths; he saw that
+the most grievously ill were drawn into a corner apart. But Lygia he
+found in no place. In a second and third dungeon his search was equally
+fruitless.
+
+Meanwhile the hour had grown late; all corpses had been carried out.
+The guards, disposing themselves in the corridors between cellars, were
+asleep; the children, wearied with crying, were silent; nothing was
+heard save the breathing of troubled breasts, and here and there the
+murmur of prayer.
+
+Vinicius went with his torch to the fourth dungeon, which was
+considerably smaller. Raising the light, he began to examine it, and
+trembled all at once, for it seemed to him that he saw, near a latticed
+opening in the wall, the gigantic form of Ursus. Then, blowing out the
+light, he approached him, and asked,
+
+"Ursus, art thou here?"
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the giant, turning his head.
+
+"Dost not know me?"
+
+"Thou hast quenched the torch; how could I know thee?"
+
+But at that moment Vinicius saw Lygia lying on a cloak near the wall;
+so, without speaking further, he knelt near her. Ursus recognized him,
+and said,--
+
+"Praise be to Christ! but do not wake her, lord."
+
+Vinicius, kneeling down, gazed at her through his tears. In spite of the
+darkness he could distinguish her face, which seemed to him as pale as
+alabaster, and her emaciated arms. At that sight he was seized by a
+love which was like a rending pain, a love which shook his soul to
+its uttermost depth, and which at the same time was so full of pity,
+respect, and homage that he fell on his face, and pressed to his lips
+the hem of the cloak on which rested that head dearer to him than all
+else on earth.
+
+Ursus looked at Vinicius for a long time in silence, but at last he
+pulled his tunic.
+
+"Lord," asked he, "how didst thou come, and hast thou come here to save
+her?"
+
+Vinicius rose, and struggled for a time with his emotion. "Show me the
+means," replied he.
+
+"I thought that thou wouldst find them, lord. Only one method came to my
+head--"
+
+Here he turned toward the grating in the wall, as if in answer to
+himself, and said,--
+
+"In that way--but there are soldiers outside--"
+
+"A hundred pretorians."
+
+"Then we cannot pass?"
+
+"No!"
+
+The Lygian rubbed his forehead, and asked again,--
+
+"How didst thou enter?"
+
+"I have a tessera from the overseer of the 'Putrid Pits.'" Then Vinicius
+stopped suddenly, as if some idea had flashed through his head.
+
+"By the Passion of the Redeemer," said he, in a hurried voice, "I will
+stay here. Let her take my tessera; she can wrap her head in a cloth,
+cover her shoulders with a mantle, and pass out. Among the slaves who
+carry out corpses there are several youths not full grown; hence the
+pretorians will not notice her, and once at the house of Petronius she
+is safe."
+
+But the Lygian dropped his head on his breast, and said,--"She would not
+consent, for she loves thee; besides, she is sick, and unable to stand
+alone. If thou and the noble Petronius cannot save her from prison, who
+can?" said he, after a while.
+
+"Christ alone."
+
+Then both were silent.
+
+"Christ could save all Christians," thought the Lygian, in his simple
+heart; "but since He does not save them, it is clear that the hour of
+torture and death has come."
+
+He accepted it for himself, but was grieved to the depth of his soul for
+that child who had grown up in his arms, and whom he loved beyond life.
+
+Vinicius knelt again near Lygia. Through the grating in the wall
+moonbeams came in, and gave better light than the one candle burning
+yet over the entrance. Lygia opened her eyes now, and said, placing her
+feverish hand on the arm of Vinicius,
+
+"I see thee; I knew that thou wouldst come."
+
+He seized her hands, pressed them to his forehead and his heart, raised
+her somewhat, and held her to his breast.
+
+"I have come, dearest. May Christ guard and free thee, beloved Lygia!"
+He could say no more, for the heart began to whine in his breast from
+pain and love, and he would not show pain in her presence.
+
+"I am sick, Marcus," said Lygia, "and I must die either on the arena
+or here in prison--I have prayed to see thee before death; thou hast
+come,--Christ has heard me."--
+
+Unable to utter a word yet, he pressed her to his bosom, and she
+continued,--
+
+"I saw thee through the window in the Tullianum. I saw that thou hadst
+the wish to come to me. Now the Redeemer has given me a moment of
+consciousness, so that we may take farewell of each other. I am going to
+Him, Marcus, but I love thee, and shall love always."
+
+Vinicius conquered himself; he stifled his pain and began to speak in a
+voice which he tried to make calm,--
+
+"No, dear Lygia, thou wilt not die. The Apostle commanded me to believe,
+and he promised to pray for thee; he knew Christ,--Christ loved him and
+will not refuse him. Hadst thou to die, Peter would not have commanded
+me to be confident; but he said, 'Have confidence!'--No, Lygia! Christ
+will have mercy. He does not wish thy death. He will not permit it.
+I Swear to thee by the name of the Redeemer that Peter is praying for
+thee."
+
+Silence followed. The one candle hanging above the entrance went out,
+but moonlight entered through the whole opening. In the opposite corner
+of the cellar a child whined and was silent. From outside came the
+voices of pretorians, who, after watching their turn out, were playing
+under the wall at scriptoe duodecim.
+
+"O Marcus," said Lygia, "Christ Himself called to the Father, 'Remove
+this bitter cup from Me'; still He drank it. Christ Himself died on the
+cross, and thousands are perishing for His sake. Why, then, should He
+spare me alone? Who am I, Marcus? I have heard Peter say that he too
+would die in torture. Who am I, compared with Peter? When the pretorians
+came to us, I dreaded death and torture, but I dread them no longer. See
+what a terrible prison this is, but I am going to heaven. Think of it:
+Caesar is here, but there the Redeemer, kind and merciful. And there is
+no death there. Thou lovest me; think, then, how happy I shall be. Oh,
+dear Marcus, think that thou wilt come to me there."
+
+Here she stopped to get breath in her sick breast, and then raised his
+hand to her lips,--
+
+"Marcus?"
+
+"What, dear one?"
+
+"Do not weep for me, and remember this,--thou wilt come to me. I have
+lived a short time, but God gave thy soul to me; hence I shall tell
+Christ that though I died, and thou wert looking at my death, though
+thou wert left in grief, thou didst not blaspheme against His will, and
+that thou lovest Him always. Thou wilt love Him, and endure my death
+patiently? For then He will unite us. I love thee and I wish to be with
+thee."
+
+Breath failed her then, and in a barely audible voice she finished,
+
+"Promise me this, Marcus!"
+
+Vinicius embraced her with trembling arms, and said,
+
+"By thy sacred head! I promise."
+
+Her pale face became radiant in the sad light of the moon, and once more
+she raised his hand to her lips, and whispered,--
+
+"I am thy wife!"
+
+Beyond the wall the pretorians playing scriptoe duodecim raised a louder
+dispute; but Vinicius and Lygia forgot the prison, the guards, the
+world, and, feeling within them the souls of angels, they began to pray.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LX
+
+
+FOR three days, or rather three nights, nothing disturbed their peace.
+When the usual prison work was finished, which consisted in separating
+the dead from the living and the grievously sick from those in better
+health, when the wearied guards had lain down to sleep in the corridors,
+Vinicius entered Lygia's dungeon and remained there till daylight. She
+put her head on his breast, and they talked in low voices of love and
+of death. In thought and speech, in desires and hopes even, both were
+removed unconsciously more and more from life, and they lost the sense
+of it. Both were like people who, having sailed from land in a ship,
+saw the shore no more, and were sinking gradually into infinity. Both
+changed by degrees into sad souls in love with each other and with
+Christ, and ready to fly away. Only at times did pain start up in the
+heart of Vinicius like a whirlwind, at times there flashed in him like
+lightning, hope, born of love and faith in the crucified God; but he
+tore himself away more and more each day from the earth, and yielded to
+death. In the morning, when he went from the prison, he looked on the
+world, on the city, on acquaintances, on vital interests, as through a
+dream. Everything seemed to him strange, distant, vain, fleeting. Even
+torture ceased to terrify, since one might pass through it while sunk
+in thought and with eyes fixed on another thing. It seemed to both that
+eternity had begun to receive them. They conversed of how they would
+love and live together, but beyond the grave; and if their thoughts
+returned to the earth at intervals, these were thoughts of people who,
+setting out on a long journey, speak of preparations for the road.
+Moreover they were surrounded by such silence as in some desert
+surrounds two columns far away and forgotten. Their only care was that
+Christ should not separate them; and as each moment strengthened their
+conviction that He would not, they loved Him as a link uniting them in
+endless happiness and peace. While still on earth, the dust of earth
+fell from them. The soul of each was as pure as a tear. Under terror of
+death, amid misery and suffering, in that prison den, heaven had begun,
+for she had taken him by the hand, and, as if saved and a saint, had led
+him to the source of endless life.
+
+Petronius was astonished at seeing in the face of Vinicius increasing
+peace and a certain wonderful serenity which he had not noted before. At
+times even he supposed that Vinicius had found some mode of rescue, and
+he was piqued because his nephew had not confided his hopes to him. At
+last, unable to restrain himself, he said,--
+
+"Now thou hast another look; do not keep from me secrets, for I wish and
+am able to aid thee. Hast thou arranged anything?"
+
+"I have," said Vinicius; "but thou canst not help me. After her death I
+will confess that I am a Christian and follow her."
+
+"Then thou hast no hope?"
+
+"On the contrary, I have. Christ will give her to me, and I shall never
+be separated from her."
+
+Petronius began to walk in the atrium; disillusion and impatience were
+evident on his face.
+
+"Thy Christ is not needed for this,--our Thanatos [death] can render the
+same service."
+
+Vinicius smiled sadly, and said,--"No, my dear, thou art unwilling to
+understand."
+
+"I am unwilling and unable. It is not the time for discussion, but
+remember what I said when we failed to free her from the Tullianum. I
+lost all hope, and on the way home thou didst say, 'But I believe that
+Christ can restore her to me.' Let Him restore her. If I throw a costly
+goblet into the sea, no god of ours can give it back to me; if yours is
+no better, I know not why I should honor Him beyond the old ones."
+
+"But He will restore her to me."
+
+Pettonius shrugged his shoulders. "Dost know," inquired he, "that
+Christians are to illuminate Caesar's gardens to-morrow?"
+
+"To-morrow?" repeated Vinicius.
+
+And in view of the near and dreadful reality his heart trembled with
+pain and fear. "This is the last night, perhaps, which I can pass with
+Lygia," thought he. So bidding farewell to Petronius, he went hurriedly
+to the overseer of the "Putrid Pits" for his tessera. But disappointment
+was in waiting,--the overseer would not give the tessera.
+
+"Pardon me," said he, "I have done what I could for thee, but I cannot
+risk my life. To-night they are to conduct the Christians to Caesar's
+gardens. The prisons will be full of soldiers and officials. Shouldst
+thou be recognized, I and my children would be lost."
+
+Vinicius understood that it would be vain to insist. The hope gleamed in
+him, however, that the soldiers who had seen him before would admit
+him even without a tessera; so, with the coming of night, he disguised
+himself as usual in the tunic of a corpse-bearer, and, winding a cloth
+around his head, betook himself to the prison.
+
+But that day the tesserae were verified with greater care than usual; and
+what was more, the centurion Scevinus, a strict soldier, devoted soul
+and body to Caesar, recognized Vinicius. But evidently in his iron-clad
+breast there glimmered yet some spark of pity for misfortunes. Instead
+of striking his spear in token of alarm, he led Vinicius aside and
+said,--
+
+"Return to thy house, lord. I recognize thee; but not wishing thy ruin,
+I am silent. I cannot admit thee; go thy way, and may the gods send thee
+solace."
+
+"Thou canst not admit me," said Vinicius, "but let me stand here and
+look at those who are led forth."
+
+"My order does not forbid that," said Scevinus.
+
+Vinicius stood before the gate and waited. About midnight the prison
+gate was opened widely, and whole ranks of prisoners appeared,--men,
+women, and children, surrounded by armed pretorians. The night was very
+bright; hence it was possible to distinguish not only the forms, but
+the faces of the unfortunates. They went two abreast, in a long, gloomy
+train, amid stillness broken only by the clatter of weapons. So many
+were led out that all the dungeons must be empty, as it seemed. In the
+rear of the line Vinicius saw Glaucus the physician distinctly, but
+Lygia and Ursus were not among the condemned.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXI
+
+
+DARKNESS had not come when the first waves of people began to flow into
+Caesar's gardens. The crowds, in holiday costume, crowned with flowers,
+joyous, singing, and some of them drunk, were going to look at the new,
+magnificent spectacle. Shouts of "Semaxii! Sarmentitii!" were heard on
+the Via Tecta, on the bridge of AEmilius, and from the other side of the
+Tiber, on the Triumphal Way, around the Circus of Nero, and off towards
+the Vatican Hill. In Rome people had been seen burnt on pillars before,
+but never had any one seen such a number of victims.
+
+Caesar and Tigellinus, wishing to finish at once with the Christians and
+also to avoid infection, which from the prisons was spreading more and
+more through the city, had given command to empty all dungeons, so that
+there remained in them barely a few tens of people intended for the
+close of the spectacles. So, when the crowds had passed the gates,
+they were dumb with amazement. All the main and side alleys, which
+lay through dense groves and along lawns, thickets, ponds, fields,
+and squares filled with flowers, were packed with pillars smeared with
+pitch, to which Christians were fastened. In higher places, where the
+view was not hindered by trees, one could see whole rows of pillars and
+bodies decked with flowers, myrtle, and ivy, extending into the distance
+on high and low places, so far that, though the nearest were like masts
+of ships, the farthest seemed colored darts, or staffs thrust into the
+earth. The number of them surpassed the expectation of the multitude.
+One might suppose that a whole nation had been lashed to pillars for
+Rome's amusement and for Caesar's. The throng of spectators stopped
+before single masts when their curiosity was roused by the form or the
+sex of the victim; they looked at the faces, the crowns, the garlands
+of ivy; then they went farther and farther, asking themselves with
+amazement, "Could there have been so many criminals, or how could
+children barely able to walk have set fire to Rome?" and astonishment
+passed by degrees into fear.
+
+Meanwhile darkness came, and the first stars twinkled in the sky. Near
+each condemned person a slave took his place, torch in hand; when the
+sound of trumpets was heard in various parts of the gardens, in sign
+that the spectacle was to begin, each slave put his torch to the foot
+of a pillar. The straw, hidden under the flowers and steeped in pitch,
+burned at once with a bright flame which, increasing every instant,
+withered the ivy, and rising embraced the feet of the victims. The
+people were silent; the gardens resounded with one immense groan and
+with cries of pain. Some victims, however, raising their faces toward
+the starry sky, began to sing, praising Christ. The people listened.
+But the hardest hearts were filled with terror when, on smaller pillars,
+children cried with shrill voices, "Mamma! Mamma!" A shiver ran through
+even spectators who were drunk when they saw little heads and innocent
+faces distorted with pain, or children fainting in the smoke which began
+to stifle them. But the flames rose, and seized new crowns of roses and
+ivy every instant. The main and side alleys were illuminated; the groups
+of trees, the lawns, and the flowery squares were illuminated; the water
+in pools and ponds was gleaming, the trembling leaves on the trees had
+grown rose-colored, and all was as visible as in daylight. When the odor
+of burnt bodies filled the gardens, slaves sprinkled between the pillars
+myrrh and aloes prepared purposely. In the crowds were heard here and
+there shouts,--whether of sympathy or delight and joy, it was unknown;
+and they increased every moment with the fire, which embraced the
+pillars, climbed to the breasts of the victims, shrivelled with burning
+breath the hair on their heads, threw veils over their blackened faces,
+and then shot up higher, as if showing the victory and triumph of that
+power which had given command to rouse it.
+
+At the very beginning of the spectacle Caesar had appeared among the
+people in a magnificent quadriga of the Circus, drawn by four white
+steeds. He was dressed as a charioteer in the color of the Greens,--the
+court party and his. After him followed other chariots filled with
+courtiers in brilliant array, senators, priests, bacchantes, naked
+and crowned, holding pitchers of wine, and partly drunk, uttering wild
+shouts. At the side of these were musicians dressed as fauns and satyrs,
+who played on citharas, formingas, flutes, and horns. In other chariots
+advanced matrons and maidens of Rome, drunk also and half naked. Around
+the quadriga ran men who shook thyrses ornamented with ribbons; others
+beat drums; others scattered flowers.
+
+All that brilliant throng moved forward, shouting, "Evoe!" on the widest
+road of the garden, amidst smoke and processions of people. Caesar,
+keeping near him Tigellinus and also Chilo, in whose terror he sought
+to find amusement, drove the steeds himself, and, advancing at a walk,
+looked at the burning bodies, and heard the shouts of the multitude.
+Standing on the lofty gilded chariot, surrounded by a sea of people who
+bent to his feet, in the glitter of the fire, in the golden crown of
+a circus-victor, he was a head above the courtiers and the crowd. He
+seemed a giant. His immense arms, stretched forward to hold the reins,
+seemed to bless the multitude. There was a smile on his face and in his
+blinking eyes; he shone above the throng as a sun or a deity, terrible
+but commanding and mighty.
+
+At times he stopped to look with more care at some maiden whose bosom
+had begun to shrink in the flames, or at the face of a child distorted
+by convulsions; and again he drove on, leading behind him a wild,
+excited retinue. At times he bowed to the people, then again he bent
+backward, drew in the golden reins, and spoke to Tigellinus. At last,
+when he had reached the great fountain in the middle of two crossing
+streets, he stepped from the quadriga, and, nodding to his attendants,
+mingled with the throng.
+
+He was greeted with shouts and plaudits. The bacchantes, the nymphs, the
+senators and Augustians, the priests, the fauns, satyrs, and soldiers
+surrounded him at once in an excited circle; but he, with Tigellinus on
+one side and Chilo on the other, walked around the fountain, about which
+were burning some tens of torches; stopping before each one, he made
+remarks on the victims, or jeered at the old Greek, on whose face
+boundless despair was depicted.
+
+At last he stood before a lofty mast decked with myrtle and ivy. The red
+tongues of fire had risen only to the knees of the victim; but it was
+impossible to see his face, for the green burning twigs had covered it
+with smoke. After a while, however, the light breeze of night turned
+away the smoke and uncovered the head of a man with gray beard falling
+on his breast.
+
+At sight of him Chilo was twisted into a lump like a wounded snake, and
+from his mouth came a cry more like cawing than a human voice.
+
+"Glaucus! Glaucus!"
+
+In fact, Glaucus the physician looked down from the burning pillar at
+him. Glaucus was alive yet. His face expressed pain, and was inclined
+forward, as if to look closely for the last time at his executioner,
+at the man who had betrayed him, robbed him of wife and children, set a
+murderer on him, and who, when all this had been forgiven in the name
+of Christ, had delivered him to executioners. Never had one person
+inflicted more dreadful or bloody wrongs on another. Now the victim was
+burning on the pitched pillar, and the executioner was standing at
+his feet. The eyes of Glaucus did nor leave the face of the Greek. At
+moments they were hidden by smoke; but when the breeze blew this away,
+Chilo saw again those eyes fixed on him. He rose and tried to flee, but
+had not strength. All at once his legs seemed of lead; an invisible
+hand seemed to hold him at that pillar with superhuman force. He was
+petrified. He felt that something was overflowing in him, something
+giving way; he felt that he had had a surfeit of blood and torture,
+that the end of his life was approaching, that everything was vanishing,
+Caesar, the court, the multitude, and around him was only a kind of
+bottomless, dreadful black vacuum with no visible thing in it, save
+those eyes of a martyr which were summoning him to judgment. But
+Glaucus, bending his head lower down, looked at him fixedly. Those
+present divined that something was taking place between those two men.
+Laughter died on their lips, however, for in Chilo's face there was
+something terrible: such pain and fear had distorted it as if those
+tongues of fire were burning his body. On a sudden he staggered, and,
+stretching his arms upward, cried in a terrible and piercing voice,--
+
+"Glaucus! in Christ's name! forgive me!"
+
+It grew silent round about, a quiver ran through the spectators, and all
+eyes were raised involuntarily.
+
+The head of the martyr moved slightly, and from the top of the mast was
+heard a voice like a groan,--
+
+"I forgive!"
+
+Chilo threw himself on his face, and howled like a wild beast; grasping
+earth in both hands, he sprinkled it on his head. Meanwhile the flames
+shot up, seizing the breast and face of Glaucus; they unbound the myrtle
+crown on his head, and seized the ribbons on the top of the pillar, the
+whole of which shone with great blazing.
+
+Chilo stood up after a while with face so changed that to the Augustians
+he seemed another man. His eyes flashed with a light new to him, ecstasy
+issued from his wrinkled forehead; the Greek, incompetent a short time
+before, looked now like some priest visited by a divinity and ready to
+reveal unknown truths.
+
+"What is the matter? Has he gone mad?" asked a number of voices.
+
+But he turned to the multitude, and, raising his right hand, cried, or
+rather shouted, in a voice so piercing that not only the Augustians but
+the multitude heard him,--
+
+"Roman people! I swear by my death, that innocent persons are perishing
+here. That is the incendiary!"
+
+And he pointed his finger at Nero.
+
+Then came a moment of silence. The courtiers were benumbed. Chilo
+continued to stand with outstretched, trembling arm, and with finger
+pointed at Nero. All at once a tumult arose. The people, like a wave,
+urged by a sudden whirlwind, rushed toward the old man to look at him
+more closely. Here and there were heard cries, "Hold!" In another place,
+"Woe to us!" In the throng a hissing and uproar began. "Ahenobarbus!
+Matricide! Incendiary!" Disorder increased every instant. The bacchantes
+screamed in heaven-piercing voices, and began to hide in the chariots.
+Then some pillars which were burned through, fell, scattered sparks, and
+increased the confusion. A blind dense wave of people swept away Chilo,
+and bore him to the depth of the garden.
+
+The pillars began to burn through in every direction and fall across the
+streets, filling alleys with smoke, sparks, the odor of burnt wood and
+burnt flesh. The nearer lights died. The gardens began to grow dark. The
+crowds, alarmed, gloomy, and disturbed, pressed toward the gates.
+News of what had happened passed from mouth to mouth, distorted
+and increased. Some said that Caesar had fainted; others that he had
+confessed, saying that he had given command to burn Rome; others that he
+had fallen seriously ill; and still others that he had been borne out,
+as if dead, in the chariot. Here and there were heard voices of sympathy
+for the Christians: "If they had not burned Rome, why so much blood,
+torture, and injustice? Will not the gods avenge the innocent, and what
+piacula can mollify them now?" The words innoxia corpora were repeated
+oftener and oftener. Women expressed aloud their pity for children
+thrown in such numbers to wild beasts, nailed to crosses or burned in
+those cursed gardens! And finally pity was turned into abuse of Caesar
+and Tigellinus. There were persons, too, who, stopping suddenly, asked
+themselves or others the question, "What kind of divinity is that which
+gives such strength to meet torture and death?" And they returned home
+in meditation.
+
+But Chilo was wandering about in the gardens, not knowing where to go or
+where to turn. Again he felt himself a weak, helpless, sick old man.
+
+Now he stumbled against partly burnt bodies; now he struck a torch,
+which sent a shower of sparks after him; now he sat down, and looked
+around with vacant stare. The gardens had become almost dark. The pale
+moon moving among the trees shone with uncertain light on the alleys,
+the dark pillars lying across them, and the partly burnt victims turned
+into shapeless lumps. But the old Greek thought that in the moon he saw
+the face of Glaucus, whose eyes were looking at him yet persistently,
+and he hid before the light. At last he went out of the shadow, in spite
+of himself; as if pushed by some hidden power, he turned toward the
+fountain where Glaucus had yielded up the spirit.
+
+Then some hand touched his shoulder. He turned, and saw an unknown
+person before him.
+
+"Who art thou?" exclaimed he, with terror.
+
+"Paul of Tarsus."
+
+"I am accursed!--What dost thou wish?"
+
+"I wish to save thee," answered the Apostle.
+
+Chilo supported himself against a tree. His legs bent under him, and his
+arms hung parallel with his body.
+
+"For me there is no salvation," said he, gloomily.
+
+"Hast thou heard how God forgave the thief on the cross who pitied Him?"
+inquired Paul.
+
+"Dost thou know what I have done?"
+
+"I saw thy suffering, and heard thy testimony to the truth."
+
+"O Lord!"
+
+"And if a servant of Christ forgave thee in the hour of torture and
+death, why should Christ not forgive thee?"
+
+Chilo seized his head with both hands, as if in bewilderment.
+
+"Forgiveness! for me, forgiveness!"
+
+"Our God is a God of mercy," said Paul.
+
+"For me?" repeated Chilo; and he began to groan like a man who lacks
+strength to control his pain and suffering.
+
+"Lean on me," said Paul, "and go with me."
+
+And taking him he went to the crossing of the streets, guided by the
+voice of the fountain, which seemed to weep in the night stillness over
+the bodies of those who had died in torture.
+
+"Our God is a God of mercy," repeated the Apostle. "Wert thou to stand
+at the sea and cast in pebbles, couldst thou fill its depth with them? I
+tell thee that the mercy of Christ is as the sea, and that the sins and
+faults of men sink in it as pebbles in the abyss; I tell thee that it
+is like the sky which covers mountains, lands, and seas, for it is
+everywhere and has neither end nor limit. Thou hast suffered at the
+pillar of Glaucus. Christ saw thy suffering. Without reference to what
+may meet thee to-morrow, thou didst say, 'That is the incendiary,' and
+Christ remembers thy words. Thy malice and falsehood are gone; in thy
+heart is left only boundless sorrow. Follow me and listen to what I say.
+I am he who hated Christ and persecuted His chosen ones. I did not want
+Him, I did not believe in Him till He manifested Himself and called me.
+Since then He is, for me, mercy. He has visited thee with compunction,
+with alarm, and with pain, to call thee to Himself. Thou didst hate Him,
+but He loved thee. Thou didst deliver His confessors to torture, but He
+wishes to forgive and save thee."
+
+Immense sobbing shook the breast of the wretched man, sobbing by which
+the soul in him was rent to its depths; but Paul took possession of him,
+mastered him, led him away, as a soldier leads a captive.
+
+After a while the Apostle began again to speak:--
+
+"Come with me; I will lead thee to Him. For why else have I come to
+thee?
+
+"Christ commanded me to gather in souls in the name of love; hence I
+perform His service. Thou thinkest thyself accursed, but I say: Believe
+in Him, and salvation awaits thee. Thou thinkest that thou art hated,
+but I repeat that He loves thee. Look at me. Before I had Him I had
+nothing save malice, which dwelt in my heart, and now His love suffices
+me instead of father and mother, wealth and power. In Him alone is
+refuge. He alone will see thy sorrow, believe in thy misery, remove thy
+alarm, and raise thee to Himself."
+
+Thus speaking, he led him to the fountain, the silver stream of which
+gleamed from afar in the moonlight. Round about was silence; the gardens
+were empty, for slaves had removed the charred pillars and the bodies of
+the martyrs.
+
+Chilo threw himself on his knees with a groan, and hiding his face in
+his hands remained motionless. Paul raised his face to the stars. "O
+Lord," prayed he, "look on this wretched man, on his sorrow, his tears,
+and his suffering! O God of mercy, who hast shed Thy blood for our sins,
+forgive him, through Thy torment, Thy death and resurrection!"
+
+Then he was silent; but for a long time he looked toward the stars, and
+prayed.
+
+Meanwhile from under his feet was heard a cry which resembled a groan,--
+
+"O Christ! O Christ! forgive me!"
+
+Paul approached the fountain then, and, taking water in his hand, turned
+to the kneeling wretch,--
+
+"Chilo!--I baptize thee in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
+Amen!"
+
+Chilo raised his head, opened his arms, and remained in that posture.
+The moon shone with full light on his white hair and on his equally
+white face, which was as motionless as if dead or cut out of stone. The
+moments passed one after another. From the great aviaries in the gardens
+of Domitian came the crowing of cocks; but Chilo remained kneeling, like
+a statue on a monument. At last he recovered, spoke to the Apostle, and
+asked,--
+
+"What am I to do before death?"
+
+Paul was roused also from meditation on the measureless power which even
+such spirits as that of this Greek could not resist, and answered,--
+
+"Have faith, and bear witness to the truth."
+
+They went out together. At the gate the Apostle blessed the old man
+again, and they parted. Chilo himself insisted on this, for after what
+had happened he knew that Caesar and Tigellinus would give command to
+pursue him.
+
+Indeed he was not mistaken. When he returned home, he found the house
+surrounded by pretorians, who led him away, and took him under direction
+of Scevinus to the Palatine.
+
+Caesar had gone to rest, but Tigellinus was waiting. When he saw the
+unfortunate Greek, he greeted him with a calm but ominous face.
+
+"Thou hast committed the crime of treason," said he, "and punishment
+will not pass thee; but if to-morrow thou testify in the amphitheatre
+that thou wert drunk and mad, and that the authors of the conflagration
+are Christians, thy punishment will be limited to stripes and exile."
+
+"I cannot do that," answered Chilo, calmly.
+
+Tigellinus approached him with slow step, and with a voice also low but
+terrible,--
+
+"How is that?" asked he. "Thou canst not, Greek dog? Wert thou not
+drunk, and dost thou not understand what is waiting for thee? Look
+there!" and he pointed to a corner of the atrium in which, near a long
+wooden bench, stood four Thracian slaves in the shade with ropes, and
+with pincers in their hands.
+
+But Chilo answered,--
+
+"I cannot!"
+
+Rage seized Tigellinus, but he restrained himself yet.
+
+"Hast thou seen," inquired he, "how Christians die? Dost wish to die in
+that way?"
+
+The old man raised his pale face; for a time his lips moved in silence,
+and he answered,--
+
+"I too believe in Christ."
+
+Tigellinus looked at him with amazement. "Dog, thou hast gone mad in
+fact!"
+
+And suddenly the rage in his breast broke its bounds. Springing at
+Chilo, he caught him by the beard with both hands, hurled him to the
+floor, trampled him, repeating, with foam on his lips,--
+
+"Thou wilt retract! thou wilt!"
+
+"I cannot!" answered Chilo from the floor.
+
+"To the tortures with him!"
+
+At this command the Thracians seized the old man, and placed him on the
+bench; then, fastening him with ropes to it, they began to squeeze his
+thin shanks with pincers. But when they were tying him he kissed their
+hands with humility; then he closed his eyes, and seemed dead.
+
+He was alive, though; for when Tigellinus bent over him and inquired
+once again, "Wilt thou retract?" his white lips moved slightly, and from
+them came the barely audible whisper,--
+
+"I cannot."
+
+Tigellinus gave command to stop the torture, and began to walk up and
+down in the atrium with a face distorted by anger, but helpless. At last
+a new idea came to his head, for he turned to the Thracians and said,--
+
+"Tear out his tongue!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXII
+
+
+THE drama "Aureolus" was given usually in theatres or amphitheatres,
+so arranged that they could open and present as it were two separate
+stages. But after the spectacle in the gardens of Caesar the usual method
+was omitted; for in this case the problem was to let the greatest number
+of people look at a slave who, in the drama, is devoured by a bear. In
+the theatres the role of the bear is played by an actor sewed up in a
+skin, but this time the representation was to be real. This was a new
+idea of Tigellinus. At first Caesar refused to come, but changed his mind
+at persuasion of the favorite. Tigellinus explained that after what had
+happened in the gardens it was all the more his duty to appear before
+the people, and he guaranteed that the crucified slave would not
+insult him as had Crispus. The people were somewhat sated and tired of
+blood-spilling; hence a new distribution of lottery tickets and gifts
+was promised, as well as a feast, for the spectacle was to be in the
+evening, in a brilliantly lighted amphitheatre.
+
+About dusk the whole amphitheatre was packed; the Augustians, with
+Tigellinus at the head of them, came to a man,--not only for the
+spectacle itself, but to show their devotion to Caesar and their opinion
+of Chilo, of whom all Rome was then talking.
+
+They whispered to one another that Caesar, when returning from the
+gardens, had fallen into a frenzy and could not sleep, that terrors and
+wonderful visions had attacked him; therefore he had announced on the
+following morning his early journey to Achaea. But others denied this,
+declaring that he would be all the more pitiless to the Christians.
+Cowards, however, were not lacking, who foresaw that the accusation
+which Chilo had thrown into Caesar's face might have the worst result
+possible. In conclusion, there were those who through humanity begged
+Tigellinus to stop persecution.
+
+"See whither ye are going," said Barcus Soranus. "Ye wished to allay
+people's anger and convince them that punishment was falling on the
+guilty; the result is just the opposite."
+
+"True!" added Antistius Verus, "all whisper to one another now that the
+Christians were innocent. If that be cleverness, Chilo was right when he
+said that your brains could be held in a nutshell."
+
+Tigellinus turned to them and said: "Barcus Soranus, people whisper also
+to one another that thy daughter Servilia secreted her Christian slaves
+from Caesar's justice; they say the same also of thy wife, Antistius."
+
+"That is not true!" exclaimed Barcus, with alarm.
+
+"Your divorced women wished to ruin my wife, whose virtue they envy,"
+said Antistius Verus, with no less alarm.
+
+But others spoke of Chilo.
+
+"What has happened to him?" asked Eprius Marcellus. "He delivered them
+himself into the hands of Tigellinus; from a beggar he became rich;
+it was possible for him to live out his days in peace, have a splendid
+funeral, and a tomb: but, no! All at once he preferred to lose
+everything and destroy himself; he must, in truth, be a maniac."
+
+"Not a maniac, but he has become a Christian," said Tigellinus.
+
+"Impossible!" said Vitelius.
+
+"Have I not said," put in Vestinius, "'Kill Christians if ye like;
+but believe me ye cannot war with their divinity. With it there is no
+jesting'? See what is taking place. I have not burned Rome; but if Caesar
+permitted I would give a hecatomb at once to their divinity. And all
+should do the same, for I repeat: With it there is no jesting! Remember
+my words to you."
+
+"And I said something else," added Petronius. "Tigellinus laughed when I
+said that they were arming, but I say more,--they are conquering."
+
+"How is that? how is that?" inquired a number of voices.
+
+"By Pollux, they are! For if such a man as Chilo could not resist them,
+who can? If ye think that after every spectacle the Christians do not
+increase, become coppersmiths, or go to shaving beards, for then ye will
+know better what people think, and what is happening in the city."
+
+"He speaks pure truth, by the sacred peplus of Diana," cried Vestinius.
+
+But Barcus turned to Petronius.
+
+"What is thy conclusion?"
+
+"I conclude where ye began,--there has been enough of bloodshed."
+
+Tigellinus looked at him jeeringly,--"Ei!--a little more!"
+
+"If thy head is not sufficient, thou hast another on thy cane," said
+Petronius.
+
+Further conversation was interrupted by the coming of Caesar, who
+occupied his place in company with Pythagoras. Immediately after began
+the representation of "Aureolus," to which not much attention was paid,
+for the minds of the audience were fixed on Chilo. The spectators,
+familiar with blood and torture, were bored; they hissed, gave out
+shouts uncomplimentary to the court, and demanded the bear scene, which
+for them was the only thing of interest. Had it not been for gifts
+and the hope of seeing Chilo, the spectacle would not have held the
+audience.
+
+At last the looked-for moment came. Servants of the Circus brought in
+first a wooden cross, so low that a bear standing on his hind feet might
+reach the martyr's breast; then two men brought, or rather dragged in,
+Chilo, for as the bones in his legs were broken, he was unable to walk
+alone. They laid him down and nailed him to the wood so quickly that the
+curious Augustians had not even a good look at him, and only after the
+cross had been fixed in the place prepared for it did all eyes turn to
+the victim. But it was a rare person who could recognize in that naked
+man the former Chilo. After the tortures which Tigellinus had commanded,
+there was not one drop of blood in his face, and only on his white beard
+was evident a red trace left by blood after they had torn his tongue
+out. Through the transparent skin it was quite possible to see his
+bones. He seemed far older also, almost decrepit. Formerly his eyes
+cast glances ever filled with disquiet and ill-will, his watchful face
+reflected constant alarm and uncertainty; now his face had an expression
+of pain, but it was as mild and calm as faces of the sleeping or the
+dead. Perhaps remembrance of that thief on the cross whom Christ had
+forgiven lent him confidence; perhaps, also, he said in his soul to the
+merciful God,
+
+"O Lord, I bit like a venomous worm; but all my life I was unfortunate.
+I was famishing from hunger, people trampled on me, beat me, jeered at
+me. I was poor and very unhappy, and now they put me to torture and nail
+me to a cross; but Thou, O Merciful, wilt not reject me in this hour!"
+Peace descended evidently into his crushed heart. No one laughed, for
+there was in that crucified man something so calm, he seemed so old, so
+defenceless, so weak, calling so much for pity with his lowliness, that
+each one asked himself unconsciously how it was possible to torture
+and nail to crosses men who would die soon in any case. The crowd was
+silent. Among the Augustians Vestinius, bending to right and left,
+whispered in a terrified voice, "See how they die!" Others were looking
+for the bear, wishing the spectacle to end at the earliest.
+
+The bear came into the arena at last, and, swaying from side to side a
+head which hung low, he looked around from beneath his forehead, as if
+thinking of something or seeking something. At last he saw the cross and
+the naked body. He approached it, and stood on his hind legs; but after
+a moment he dropped again on his fore-paws, and sitting under the cross
+began to growl, as if in his heart of a beast pity for that remnant of a
+man had made itself heard.
+
+Cries were heard from Circus slaves urging on the bear, but the people
+were silent.
+
+Meanwhile Chilo raised his head with slow motion, and for a time moved
+his eyes over the audience. At last his glance rested somewhere on the
+highest rows of the amphitheatre; his breast moved with more life,
+and something happened which caused wonder and astonishment. That face
+became bright with a smile; a ray of light, as it were, encircled that
+forehead; his eyes were uplifted before death, and after a while two
+great tears which had risen between the lids flowed slowly down his
+face.
+
+And he died.
+
+At that same moment a resonant manly voice high up under the velarium
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Peace to the martyrs!"
+
+Deep silence reigned in the amphitheatre.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXIII
+
+
+AFTER the spectacle in Caesar's gardens the prisons were emptied
+considerably. It is true that victims suspected of the Oriental
+superstition were seized yet and imprisoned, but pursuit brought in
+fewer and fewer persons,--barely enough for coming exhibitions, which
+were to follow quickly. People were sated with blood; they showed
+growing weariness, and increasing alarm because of the unparalleled
+conduct of the condemned. Fears like those of the superstitious
+Vestinius seized thousands of people. Among the crowds tales more and
+more wonderful were related of the vengefulness of the Christian God.
+Prison typhus, which had spread through the city, increased the general
+dread. The number of funerals was evident, and it was repeated from
+ear to ear that fresh piacula were needed to mollify the unknown god.
+Offerings were made in the temples to Jove and Libitina. At last, in
+spite of every effort of Tigellinus and his assistants, the opinion kept
+spreading that the city had been burned at command of Caesar, and that
+the Christians were suffering innocently.
+
+But for this very reason Nero and Tigellinus were untiring in
+persecution. To calm the multitude, fresh orders were issued to
+distribute wheat, wine, and olives. To relieve owners, new rules were
+published to facilitate the building of houses; and others touching
+width of streets and materials to be used in building so as to avoid
+fires in future. Caesar himself attended sessions of the Senate, and
+counselled with the "fathers" on the good of the people and the city;
+but not a shadow of favor fell on the doomed. The ruler of the world
+was anxious, above all, to fix in people's minds a conviction that such
+merciless punishments could strike only the guilty. In the Senate no
+voice was heard on behalf of the Christians, for no one wished to offend
+Caesar; and besides, those who looked farther into the future insisted
+that the foundations of Roman rule could not stand against the new
+faith.
+
+The dead and the dying were given to their relatives, as Roman law took
+no vengeance on the dead. Vinicius received a certain solace from the
+thought that if Lygia died he would bury her in his family tomb,
+and rest near her. At that time he had no hope of rescuing her; half
+separated from life, he was himself wholly absorbed in Christ, and
+dreamed no longer of any union except an eternal one. His faith had
+become simply boundless; for it eternity seemed something incomparably
+truer and more real than the fleeting life which he had lived up to that
+time. His heart was overflowing with concentrated enthusiasm. Though
+yet alive, he had changed into a being almost immaterial, which desiring
+complete liberation for itself desired it also for another. He imagined
+that when free he and Lygia would each take the other's hand and go to
+heaven, where Christ would bless them, and let them live in light as
+peaceful and boundless as the light of dawn. He merely implored Christ
+to spare Lygia the torments of the Circus, and let her fall asleep
+calmly in prison; he felt with perfect certainty that he himself would
+die at the same time. In view of the sea of blood which had been shed,
+he did not even think it permitted to hope that she alone would be
+spared. He had heard from Peter and Paul that they, too, must die as
+martyrs. The sight of Chilo on the cross had convinced him that even a
+martyr's death could be sweet; hence he wished it for Lygia and himself
+as the change of an evil, sad, and oppressive fate for a better.
+
+At times he had a foretaste of life beyond the grave. That sadness which
+hung over the souls of both was losing its former burning bitterness,
+and changing gradually into a kind of trans-terrestrial, calm abandon to
+the will of God. Vinicius, who formerly had toiled against the current,
+had struggled and tortured himself, yielded now to the stream, believing
+that it would bear him to eternal calm. He divined, too, that Lygia, as
+well as he, was preparing for death,--that, in spite of the prison walls
+separating them, they were advancing together; and he smiled at that
+thought as at happiness.
+
+In fact, they were advancing with as much agreement as if they had
+exchanged thoughts every day for a long time. Neither had Lygia any
+desire, any hope, save the hope of a life beyond the grave. Death was
+presented to her not only as a liberation from the terrible walls of the
+prison, from the hands of Caesar and Tigellinus,--not only as liberation,
+but as the hour of her marriage to Vinicius. In view of this unshaken
+certainty, all else lost importance. After death would come her
+happiness, which was even earthly, so that she waited for it also as a
+betrothed waits for the wedding-day.
+
+And that immense current of faith, which swept away from life and bore
+beyond the grave thousands of those first confessors, bore away Ursus
+also. Neither had he in his heart been resigned to Lygia's death;
+but when day after day through the prison walls came news of what was
+happening in the amphitheatres and the gardens, when death seemed the
+common, inevitable lot of all Christians and also their good, higher
+than all mortal conceptions of happiness, he did not dare to pray to
+Christ to deprive Lygia of that happiness or to delay it for long years.
+In his simple barbarian soul he thought, besides, that more of those
+heavenly delights would belong to the daughter of the Lygian chief, that
+she would have more of them than would a whole crowd of simple ones to
+whom he himself belonged, and that in eternal glory she would sit nearer
+to the "Lamb" than would others. He had heard, it is true, that before
+God men are equal; but a conviction was lingering at the bottom of his
+soul that the daughter of a leader, and besides of a leader of all the
+Lygians, was not the same as the first slave one might meet. He hoped
+also that Christ would let him continue to serve her. His one secret
+wish was to die on a cross as the "Lamb" died. But this seemed a
+happiness so great that he hardly dared to pray for it, though he knew
+that in Rome even the worst criminals were crucified. He thought that
+surely he would be condemned to die under the teeth of wild beasts;
+and this was his one sorrow. From childhood he had lived in impassable
+forests, amid continual hunts, in which, thanks to his superhuman
+strength, he was famous among the Lygians even before he had grown to
+manhood. This occupation had become for him so agreeable that later,
+when in Rome, and forced to live without hunting, he went to vivaria and
+amphitheatres just to look at beasts known and unknown to him. The sight
+of these always roused in the man an irresistible desire for struggle
+and killing; so now he feared in his soul that on meeting them in the
+amphitheatre he would be attacked by thoughts unworthy of a Christian,
+whose duty it was to die piously and patiently. But in this he committed
+himself to Christ, and found other and more agreeable thoughts to
+comfort him. Hearing that the "Lamb" had declared war against the powers
+of hell and evil spirits with which the Christian faith connected all
+pagan divinities, he thought that in this war he might serve the "Lamb"
+greatly, and serve better than others, for he could not help believing
+that his soul was stronger than the souls of other martyrs. Finally, he
+prayed whole days, rendered service to prisoners, helped overseers, and
+comforted his queen, who complained at times that in her short life she
+had not been able to do so many good deeds as the renowned Tabitha of
+whom Peter the Apostle had told her. Even the prison guards, who feared
+the terrible strength of this giant, since neither bars nor chains could
+restrain it, came to love him at last for his mildness. Amazed at his
+good temper, they asked more than once what its cause was. He spoke with
+such firm certainty of the life waiting after death for him, that they
+listened with surprise, seeing for the first time that happiness might
+penetrate a dungeon which sunlight could not reach. And when he urged
+them to believe in the "Lamb," it occurred to more than one of those
+people that his own service was the service of a slave, his own life the
+life of an unfortunate; and he fell to thinking over his evil fate, the
+only end to which was death.
+
+But death brought new fear, and promised nothing beyond; while that
+giant and that maiden, who was like a flower cast on the straw of the
+prison, went toward it with delight, as toward the gates of happiness.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXIV
+
+
+ONE evening Scevinus, a Senator, visited Petronius and began a long
+conversation, touching the grievous times in which they were living,
+and also touching Caesar. He spoke so openly that Petronius, though his
+friend, began to be cautious. Scevinus complained that the world was
+living madly and unjustly, that all must end in some catastrophe more
+dreadful still than the burning of Rome. He said that even Augustians
+were dissatisfied; that Fenius Rufus, second prefect of the pretorians,
+endured with the greatest effort the vile orders of Tigellinus; and that
+all Seneca's relatives were driven to extremes by Caesar's conduct as
+well toward his old master as toward Lucan. Finally, he began to hint
+of the dissatisfaction of the people, and even of the pretorians, the
+greater part of whom had been won by Fenius Rufus.
+
+"Why dost thou say this?" inquired Petronius.
+
+"Out of care for Caesar," said Scevinus. "I have a distant relative among
+the pretorians, also Scevinus; through him I know what takes place in
+the camp. Disaffection is growing there also; Caligula, knowest thou,
+was mad too, and see what happened. Cassius Chaerea appeared. That was a
+dreadful deed, and surely there is no one among us to praise it; still
+Chaerea freed the world of a monster."
+
+"Is thy meaning as follows: 'I do not praise Chaerea, but he was a
+perfect man, and would that the gods had given us as many such as
+possible'?" inquired Petronius.
+
+But Scevinus changed the conversation, and began all at once to praise
+Piso, exalting his family, his nobility of mind, his attachment to his
+wife, and, finally, his intellect, his calmness, and his wonderful gift
+of winning people.
+
+"Caesar is childless," said he, "and all see his successor in Piso.
+Doubtless, too, every man would help him with whole soul to gain power.
+Fenius Rufus loves him; the relatives of Annaeus are devoted to him
+altogether. Plautius Lateranus and Tullius Senecio would spring into
+fire for him; as would Natalis, and Subrius Flavius, and Sulpicius
+Asper, and Afranius Quinetianus, and even Vestinius."
+
+"From this last man not much will result to Piso," replied Petronius.
+"Vestinius is afraid of his own shadow."
+
+"Vestinius fears dreams and spirits," answered Scevinus, "but he is a
+practical man, whom people wish wisely to make consul. That in his soul
+he is opposed to persecuting Christians, thou shouldst not take ill of
+him, for it concerns thee too that this madness should cease."
+
+"Not me, but Vinicius," answered Petronius. "Out of concern for
+Vinicius, I should like to save a certain maiden; but I cannot, for I
+have fallen out of favor with Ahenobarbus."
+
+"How is that? Dost thou not notice that Caesar is approaching thee
+again, and beginning to talk with thee? And I will tell thee why. He is
+preparing again for Achaea, where he is to sing songs in Greek of his
+own composition. He is burning for that journey; but also he trembles at
+thought of the cynical genius of the Greeks. He imagines that either
+the greatest triumph may meet him or the greatest failure. He needs good
+counsel, and he knows that no one can give it better than thou. This is
+why thou art returning to favor."
+
+"Lucan might take my place."
+
+"Bronzebeard hates Lucan, and in his soul has written down death for the
+poet. He is merely seeking a pretext, for he seeks pretexts always."
+
+"By Castor!" said Petronius, "that may be. But I might have still
+another way for a quick return to favor."
+
+"What?"
+
+"To repeat to Bronzebeard what thou hast told me just now."
+
+"I have said nothing!" cried Scevinus, with alarm.
+
+Petronius placed his hand upon the Senator's shoulder. "Thou hast called
+Caesar a madman, thou hast foreseen the heirship of Piso, and hast said,
+'Lucan understands that there is need to hasten.' What wouldst thou
+hasten, carissime?"
+
+Scevinus grew pale, and for a moment each looked into the eyes of the
+other.
+
+"Thou wilt not repeat!"
+
+"By the hips of Kypris, I will not! How well thou knowest me! No; I will
+not repeat. I have heard nothing, and, moreover, I wish to hear nothing.
+Dost understand? Life is too short to make any undertaking worth the
+while. I beg thee only to visit Tigellinus to-day, and talk with him as
+long as thou hast with me of whatever may please thee."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"So that should Tigellinus ever say to me, 'Scevinus was with thee,' I
+might answer, 'He was with thee, too, that very day.'"
+
+Scevinus, when he heard this, broke the ivory cane which he had in
+his hand, and said,--"May the evil fall on this stick! I shall be with
+Tigellinus to-day, and later at Nerva's feast. Thou, too, wilt be there?
+In every case till we meet in the amphitheatre, where the last of the
+Christians will appear the day after tomorrow. Till we meet!"
+
+"After to-morrow!" repeated Petronius, when alone. "There is no time to
+lose. Ahenobarbus will need me really in Achaea; hence he may count with
+me."
+
+And he determined to try the last means.
+
+In fact, at Nerva's feast Caesar himself asked that Petronius recline
+opposite, for he wished to speak with the arbiter about Achaea and the
+cities in which he might appear with hopes of the greatest success. He
+cared most for the Athenians, whom he feared. Other Augustians listened
+to this conversation with attention, so as to seize crumbs of the
+arbiter's opinions, and give them out later on as their own.
+
+"It seems to me that I have not lived up to this time," said Nero, "and
+that my birth will come only in Greece."
+
+"Thou wilt be born to new glory and immortality," answered Petronius.
+
+"I trust that this is true, and that Apollo will not seem jealous. If I
+return in triumph, I will offer him such a hecatomb as no god has had so
+far."
+
+Scevinus fell to repeating the lines of Horace:--
+
+"Sic te diva potens Cypri, Sic fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+Ventorumque regat Pater-"
+
+"The vessel is ready at Naples," said Caesar. "I should like to go even
+tomorrow."
+
+At this Petronius rose, and, looking straight into Nero's eyes, said,
+
+"Permit me, O divinity, to celebrate a wedding-feast, to which I shall
+invite thee before others."
+
+"A wedding-feast! What wedding-feast?" inquired Nero.
+
+"That of Vinicius with thy hostage the daughter of the Lygian king. She
+is in prison at present, it is true; but as a hostage she is not subject
+to imprisonment, and, secondly, thou thyself hast permitted Vinicius to
+marry her; and as thy sentences, like those of Zeus, are unchangeable,
+thou wilt give command to free her from prison, and I will give her to
+thy favorite."
+
+The cool blood and calm self-possession with which Petronius spoke
+disturbed Nero, who was disturbed whenever any one spoke in that fashion
+to him.
+
+"I know," said he, dropping his eyes. "I have thought of her and of that
+giant who killed Croton."
+
+"In that case both are saved," answered Petronius, calmly.
+
+But Tigellinus came to the aid of his master: "She is in prison by the
+will of Caesar; thou thyself hast said, O Petronius, that his sentences
+are unchangeable."
+
+All present, knowing the history of Vinicius and Lygia, understood
+perfectly what the question was; hence they were silent, curious as to
+the end of the conversation.
+
+"She is in prison against the will of Caesar and through thy error,
+through thy ignorance of the law of nations," said Petronius, with
+emphasis. "Thou art a naive man, Tigellinus; but even thou wilt not
+assert that she burnt Rome, and if thou wert to do so, Caesar would not
+believe thee."
+
+But Nero had recovered and begun to half close his near-sighted eyes
+with an expression of indescribable malice.
+
+"Petronius is right," said he, after a while.
+
+Tigellinus looked at him with amazement.
+
+"Petronius is right," repeated Nero; "to-morrow the gates of the prison
+will be open to her, and of the marriage feast we will speak the day
+after at the amphitheatre."
+
+"I have lost again," thought Petronius.
+
+When he had returned home, he was so certain that the end of Lygia's
+life had come that he sent a trusty freedman to the amphitheatre to
+bargain with the chief of the spoliarium for the delivery of her body,
+since he wished to give it to Vinicius.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXV
+
+
+Evening exhibitions, rare up to that period and given only
+exceptionally, became common in Nero's time, both in the Circus and
+amphitheatre. The Augustians liked them, frequently because they were
+followed by feasts and drinking-bouts which lasted till daylight. Though
+the people were sated already with blood-spilling, still, when the news
+went forth that the end of the games was approaching, and that the
+last of the Christians were to die at an evening spectacle, a countless
+audience assembled in the amphitheatre. The Augustians came to a man,
+for they understood that it would not be a common spectacle; they knew
+that Caesar had determined to make for himself a tragedy out of the
+suffering of Vinicius. Tigellinus had kept secret the kind of punishment
+intended for the betrothed of the young tribune; but that merely roused
+general curiosity. Those who had seen Lygia at the house of Plautius
+told wonders of her beauty. Others were occupied above all with the
+question, would they see her really on the arena that day; for many
+of those who had heard the answer given Petronius and Nerva by Caesar
+explained it in two ways: some supposed simply that Nero would give or
+perhaps had given the maiden to Vinicius; they remembered that she was
+a hostage, hence free to worship whatever divinities she liked, and that
+the law of nations did not permit her punishment.
+
+Uncertainty, waiting, and curiosity had mastered all spectators.
+Caesar arrived earlier than usual; and immediately at his coming people
+whispered that something uncommon would happen, for besides Tigellinus
+and Vatinius, Caesar had with him Cassius, a centurion of enormous size
+and gigantic strength, whom he summoned only when he wished to have a
+defender at his side,--for example, when he desired night expeditions
+to the Subura, where he arranged the amusement called "sagatio," which
+consisted in tossing on a soldier's mantle maidens met on the way.
+It was noted also that certain precautions had been taken in the
+amphitheatre itself. The pretorian guards were increased; command over
+them was held, not by a centurion, but by the tribune Subrius Flavius,
+known hitherto for blind attachment to Nero. It was understood, then,
+that Caesar wished in every case to guard himself against an outburst of
+despair from Vinicius, and curiosity rose all the more.
+
+Every eye was turned with strained gaze to the place where the
+unfortunate lover was sitting. He was exceedingly pale, and his forehead
+was covered with drops of sweat; he was in as much doubt as were other
+spectators, but alarmed to the lowest depth of his soul. Petronius knew
+not what would happen; he was silent, except that, while turning from
+Nerva, he asked Vinicius whether he was ready for everything, and next,
+whether he would remain at the spectacle. To both questions Vinicius
+answered "Yes," but a shudder passed through his whole body; he divined
+that Petronius did not ask without reason. For some time he had lived
+with only half his life,--he had sunk in death, and reconciled himself
+to Lygia's death, since for both it was to be liberation and marriage;
+but he learned now that it was one thing to think of the last moment
+when it was distant as of a quiet dropping asleep, and another to look
+at the torment of a person dearer to one than life. All sufferings
+endured formerly rose in him anew. Despair, which had been set at rest,
+began again to cry in his soul; the former desire to save Lygia at any
+price seized him anew. Beginning with the morning, he had tried to go to
+the cunicula to be sure that she was there; but the pretorians watched
+every entrance, and orders were so strict that the soldiers, even those
+whom he knew, would not be softened by prayers or gold. It seemed to
+the tribune that uncertainty would kill him before he should see the
+spectacle. Somewhere at the bottom of his heart the hope was still
+throbbing, that perhaps Lygia was not in the amphitheatre, that his
+fears were groundless. At times he seized on this hope with all his
+strength. He said in his soul that Christ might take her to Himself out
+of the prison, but could not permit her torture in the Circus. Formerly
+he was resigned to the divine will in everything; now, when repulsed
+from the doors of the cunicula, he returned to his place in the
+amphitheatre, and when he learned, from the curious glances turned on
+him, that the most dreadful suppositions might be true, he began to
+implore in his soul with passionateness almost approaching a threat.
+"Thou canst!" repeated he, clenching his fists convulsively, "Thou
+canst!" Hitherto he had not supposed that that moment when present would
+be so terrible. Now, without clear consciousness of what was happening
+in his mind, he had the feeling that if he should see Lygia tortured,
+his love for God would be turned to hatred, and his faith to despair.
+But he was amazed at the feeling, for he feared to offend Christ, whom
+he was imploring for mercy and miracles. He implored no longer for her
+life; he wished merely that she should die before they brought her to
+the arena, and from the abyss of his pain he repeated in spirt: "Do not
+refuse even this, and I will love Thee still more than hitherto." And
+then his thoughts raged as a sea torn by a whirlwind. A desire for blood
+and vengeance was roused in him. He was seized by a mad wish to rush at
+Nero and stifle him there in presence of all the spectators; but he
+felt that desire to be a new offence against Christ, and a breach of
+His command. To his head flew at times flashes of hope that everything
+before which his soul was trembling would be turned aside by an almighty
+and merciful hand; but they were quenched at once, as if in measureless
+sorrow that He who could destroy that Circus with one word and save
+Lygia had abandoned her, though she trusted in Him and loved Him with
+all the strength of her pure heart. And he thought, moreover, that
+she was lying there in that dark place, weak, defenceless, deserted,
+abandoned to the whim or disfavor of brutal guards, drawing her last
+breath, perhaps, while he had to wait, helpless, in that dreadful
+amphitheatre, without knowing what torture was prepared for her, or what
+he would witness in a moment. Finally, as a man falling over a precipice
+grasps at everything which grows on the edge of it, so did he grasp with
+both hands at the thought that faith of itself could save her. That one
+method remained! Peter had said that faith could move the earth to its
+foundations.
+
+Hence he rallied; he crushed doubt in himself, he compressed his whole
+being into the sentence, "I believe," and he looked for a miracle.
+
+But as an overdrawn cord may break, so exertion broke him. The pallor of
+death covered his face, and his body relaxed. He thought then that his
+prayer had been heard, for he was dying. It seemed to him that Lygia
+must surely die too, and that Christ would take them to Himself in that
+way. The arena, the white togas, the countless spectators, the light of
+thousands of lamps and torches, all vanished from his vision.
+
+But his weakness did not last long. After a while he roused himself, or
+rather the stamping of the impatient multitude roused him.
+
+"Thou art ill," said Petronius; "give command to bear thee home."
+
+And without regard to what Caesar would say, he rose to support Vinicius
+and go out with him. His heart was filled with pity, and, moreover, he
+was irritated beyond endurance because Caesar was looking through the
+emerald at Vinicius, studying his pain with satisfaction, to describe
+it afterwards, perhaps, in pathetic strophes, and win the applause of
+hearers.
+
+Vinicius shook his head. He might die in that amphitheatre, but he could
+not go out of it. Moreover the spectacle might begin any moment.
+
+In fact, at that very instant almost, the prefect of the city waved a
+red handkerchief, the hinges opposite Caesar's podium creaked, and out of
+the dark gully came Ursus into the brightly lighted arena.
+
+The giant blinked, dazed evidently by the glitter of the arena; then he
+pushed into the centre, gazing around as if to see what he had to meet.
+It was known to all the Augustians and to most of the spectators that
+he was the man who had stifled Croton; hence at sight of him a murmur
+passed along every bench. In Rome there was no lack of gladiators larger
+by far than the common measure of man, but Roman eyes had never seen the
+like of Ursus. Cassius, standing in Caesar's podium, seemed puny compared
+with that Lygian. Senators, vestals, Caesar, the Augustians, and the
+people gazed with the delight of experts at his mighty limbs as large as
+tree-trunks, at his breast as large as two shields joined together,
+and his arms of a Hercules. The murmur rose every instant. For those
+multitudes there could be no higher pleasure than to look at those
+muscles in play in the exertion of a struggle. The murmur rose to
+shouts, and eager questions were put: "Where do the people live who
+can produce such a giant?" He stood there, in the middle of the
+amphitheatre, naked, more like a stone colossus than a man, with a
+collected expression, and at the same time the sad look of a barbarian;
+and while surveying the empty arena, he gazed wonderingly with his blue
+childlike eyes, now at the spectators, now at Caesar, now at the grating
+of the cunicula, whence, as he thought, his executioners would come.
+
+At the moment when he stepped into the arena his simple heart was
+beating for the last time with the hope that perhaps a cross was waiting
+for him; but when he saw neither the cross nor the hole in which it
+might be put, he thought that he was unworthy of such favor,--that he
+would find death in another way, and surely from wild beasts. He was
+unarmed, and had determined to die as became a confessor of the "Lamb,"
+peacefully and patiently. Meanwhile he wished to pray once more to the
+Saviour; so he knelt on the arena, joined his hands, and raised his
+eyes toward the stars which were glittering in the lofty opening of the
+amphitheatre.
+
+That act displeased the crowds. They had had enough of those Christians
+who died like sheep. They understood that if the giant would not defend
+himself the spectacle would be a failure. Here and there hisses were
+heard. Some began to cry for scourgers, whose office it was to lash
+combatants unwilling to fight. But soon all had grown silent, for no one
+knew what was waiting for the giant, nor whether he would not be ready
+to struggle when he met death eye to eye.
+
+In fact, they had not long to wait. Suddenly the shrill sound of brazen
+trumpets was heard, and at that signal a grating opposite Caesar's podium
+was opened, and into the arena rushed, amid shouts of beast-keepers, an
+enormous German aurochs, bearing on his head the naked body of a woman.
+
+"Lygia! Lygia!" cried Vinicius.
+
+Then he seized his hair near the temples, squirmed like a man who feels
+a sharp dart in his body, and began to repeat in hoarse accents,--
+
+"I believe! I believe! O Christ, a miracle!"
+
+And he did not even feel that Petronius covered his head that moment
+with the toga. It seemed to him that death or pain had closed his eyes.
+He did not look, he did not see. The feeling of some awful emptiness
+possessed him. In his head there remained not a thought; his lips merely
+repeated, as if in madness,--
+
+"I believe! I believe! I believe!"
+
+This time the amphitheatre was silent. The Augustians rose in their
+places, as one man, for in the arena something uncommon had happened.
+That Lygian, obedient and ready to die, when he saw his queen on the
+horns of the wild beast, sprang up, as if touched by living fire, and
+bending forward he ran at the raging animal.
+
+From all breasts a sudden cry of amazement was heard, after which came
+deep silence.
+
+The Lygian fell on the raging bull in a twinkle, and seized him by the
+horns.
+
+"Look!" cried Petronius, snatching the toga from the head of Vinicius.
+The latter rose and bent back his head; his face was as pale as linen,
+and he looked into the arena with a glassy, vacant stare.
+
+All breasts ceased to breathe. In the amphitheatre a fly might be heard
+on the wing. People could not believe their own eyes. Since Rome was
+Rome, no one had seen such a spectacle.
+
+The Lygian held the wild beast by the horns. The man's feet sank in the
+sand to his ankles, his back was bent like a drawn bow, his head was
+hidden between his shoulders, on his arms the muscles came out so that
+the skin almost burst from their pressure; but he had stopped the bull
+in his tracks. And the man and the beast remained so still that the
+spectators thought themselves looking at a picture showing a deed of
+Hercules or Theseus, or a group hewn from stone. But in that apparent
+repose there was a tremendous exertion of two struggling forces. The
+bull sank his feet as well as did the man in the sand, and his dark,
+shaggy body was curved so that it seemed a gigantic ball. Which of the
+two would fail first, which would fall first,--that was the question for
+those spectators enamoured of such struggles; a question which at that
+moment meant more for them than their own fate, than all Rome and its
+lordship over the world. That Lygian was in their eyes then a demigod
+worthy of honor and statues. Caesar himself stood up as well as others.
+He and Tigellinus, hearing of the man's strength, had arranged this
+spectacle purposely, and said to each other with a jeer, "Let that
+slayer of Croton kill the bull which we choose for him"; so they looked
+now with amazement at that picture, as if not believing that it could be
+real.
+
+In the amphitheatre were men who had raised their arms and remained in
+that posture. Sweat covered the faces of others, as if they themselves
+were struggling with the beast. In the Circus nothing was heard save
+the sound of flame in the lamps, and the crackle of bits of coal as
+they dropped from the torches. Their voices died on the lips of the
+spectators, but their hearts were beating in their breasts as if to
+split them. It seemed to all that the struggle was lasting for ages.
+But the man and the beast continued on in their monstrous exertion; one
+might have said that they were planted in the earth.
+
+Meanwhile a dull roar resembling a groan was heard from the arena, after
+which a brief shout was wrested from every breast, and again there was
+silence. People thought themselves dreaming till the enormous head of
+the bull began to turn in the iron hands of the barbarian. The face,
+neck, and arms of the Lygian grew purple; his back bent still more. It
+was clear that he was rallying the remnant of his superhuman strength,
+but that he could not last long.
+
+Duller and duller, hoarser and hoarser, more and more painful grew
+the groan of the bull as it mingled with the whistling breath from the
+breast of the giant. The head of the beast turned more and more, and
+from his jaws crept forth a long, foaming tongue.
+
+A moment more, and to the ears of spectators sitting nearer came as it
+were the crack of breaking bones; then the beast rolled on the earth
+with his neck twisted in death.
+
+The giant removed in a twinkle the ropes from the horns of the bull and,
+raising the maiden, began to breathe hurriedly. His face became pale,
+his hair stuck together from sweat, his shoulders and arms seemed
+flooded with water. For a moment he stood as if only half conscious;
+then he raised his eyes and looked at the spectators.
+
+The amphitheatre had gone wild.
+
+The walls of the building were trembling from the roar of tens of
+thousands of people. Since the beginning of spectacles there was no
+memory of such excitement. Those who were sitting on the highest rows
+came down, crowding in the passages between benches to look more nearly
+at the strong man. Everywhere were heard cries for mercy, passionate and
+persistent, which soon turned into one unbroken thunder. That giant had
+become dear to those people enamoured of physical strength; he was the
+first personage in Rome.
+
+He understood that the multitude were striving to grant him his life
+and restore him his freedom, but clearly his thought was not on himself
+alone. He looked around a while; then approached Caesar's podium, and,
+holding the body of the maiden on his outstretched arms, raised his eyes
+with entreaty, as if to say,--
+
+"Have mercy on her! Save the maiden. I did that for her sake!"
+
+The spectators understood perfectly what he wanted. At sight of the
+unconscious maiden, who near the enormous Lygian seemed a child, emotion
+seized the multitude of knights and senators. Her slender form, as white
+as if chiselled from alabaster, her fainting, the dreadful danger from
+which the giant had freed her, and finally her beauty and attachment had
+moved every heart. Some thought the man a father begging mercy for his
+child. Pity burst forth suddenly, like a flame. They had had blood,
+death, and torture in sufficiency. Voices choked with tears began to
+entreat mercy for both.
+
+Meanwhile Ursus, holding the girl in his arms, moved around the arena,
+and with his eyes and with motions begged her life for her. Now Vinicius
+started up from his seat, sprang over the barrier which separated the
+front places from the arena, and, running to Lygia, covered her naked
+body with his toga.
+
+Then he tore apart the tunic on his breast, laid bare the scars left by
+wounds received in the Armenian war, and stretched out his hands to the
+audience.
+
+At this the enthusiasm of the multitude passed everything seen in a
+circus before. The crowd stamped and howled. Voices calling for mercy
+grew simply terrible. People not only took the part of the athlete, but
+rose in defense of the soldier, the maiden, their love. Thousands of
+spectators turned to Caesar with flashes of anger in their eyes and with
+clinched fists.
+
+But Caesar halted and hesitated. Against Vinicius he had no hatred
+indeed, and the death of Lygia did not concern him; but he preferred to
+see the body of the maiden rent by the horns of the bull or torn by the
+claws of beasts. His cruelty, his deformed imagination, and deformed
+desires found a kind of delight in such spectacles. And now the people
+wanted to rob him. Hence anger appeared on his bloated face. Self-love
+also would not let him yield to the wish of the multitude, and still he
+did not dare to oppose it, through his inborn cowardice.
+
+So he gazed around to see if among the Augustians at least, he could
+not find fingers turned down in sign of death. But Petronius held up
+his hand, and looked into Nero's face almost challengingly. Vestinius,
+superstitious but inclined to enthusiasm, a man who feared ghosts
+but not the living, gave a sign for mercy also. So did Scevinus, the
+Senator; so did Nerva, so did Tullius Senecio, so did the famous leader
+Ostorius Scapula, and Antistius, and Piso, and Vetus, and Crispinus, and
+Minucius Thermus, and Pontius Telesinus, and the most important of all,
+one honored by the people, Thrasea.
+
+In view of this, Caesar took the emerald from his eye with an expression
+of contempt and offence; when Tigellinus, whose desire was to spite
+Petronius, turned to him and said,--
+
+"Yield not, divinity; we have the pretorians."
+
+Then Nero turned to the place where command over the pretorians was held
+by the stern Subrius Flavius, hitherto devoted with whole soul to him,
+and saw something unusual. The face of the old tribune was stern, but
+covered with tears, and he was holding his hand up in sign of mercy.
+
+Now rage began to possess the multitude. Dust rose from beneath the
+stamping feet, and filled the amphitheatre. In the midst of shouts were
+heard cries: "Ahenobarbus! matricide! incendiary!"
+
+Nero was alarmed. Romans were absolute lords in the Circus. Former
+Caesars, and especially Caligula, had permitted themselves sometimes
+to act against the will of the people; this, however, called forth
+disturbance always, going sometimes to bloodshed. But Nero was in a
+different position. First, as a comedian and a singer he needed the
+people's favor; second, he wanted it on his side against the Senate and
+the patricians, and especially after the burning of Rome he strove by
+all means to win it, and turn their anger against the Christians. He
+understood, besides, that to oppose longer was simply dangerous. A
+disturbance begun in the Circus might seize the whole city, and have
+results incalculable.
+
+He looked once more at Subrius Flavius, at Scevinus the centurion, a
+relative of the senator, at the soldiers; and seeing everywhere frowning
+brows, excited faces, and eyes fixed on him, he gave the sign for mercy.
+
+Then a thunder of applause was heard from the highest seats to the
+lowest. The people were sure of the lives of the condemned, for from
+that moment they went under their protection, and even Caesar would not
+have dared to pursue them any longer with his vengeance.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXVI
+
+
+FOUR Bithynians carried Lygia carefully to the house of Petronius.
+Vinicius and Ursus walked at her side, hurrying so as to give her into
+the hands of the Greek physician as quickly as possible. They walked in
+silence, for after the events of the day they had not power to speak.
+Vinicius so far was as if half conscious. He kept repeating to himself
+that Lygia was saved; that she was threatened no longer by imprisonment,
+or death in the Circus; that their misfortunes had ended once and
+forever; that he would take her home and not separate again from her.
+This appeared to him the beginning of some other life rather than
+reality. From moment to moment he bent over the open litter to look
+on the beloved face, which in the moonlight seemed sleeping, and he
+repeated mentally, "This is she! Christ has saved her!" He remembered
+also that while he and Ursus were carrying her from the spoliarium an
+unknown physician had assured him that she was living and would recover.
+At this thought delight so filled his breast that at moments he grew
+weak, and being unable to walk with his own strength leaned on the arm
+of Ursus. Ursus meanwhile was looking into the sky filled with stars,
+and was praying.
+
+They advanced hurriedly along streets where newly erected white
+buildings shone brightly in the moonlight. The city was empty, save
+here and there where crowds of people crowned with ivy, sang and danced
+before porticos to the sound of flutes, thus taking advantage of the
+wonderful night and the festive season, unbroken from the beginning of
+the games. Only when they were near the house did Ursus stop praying,
+and say in a low voice, as if he feared to waken Lygia,--
+
+"Lord, it was the Saviour who rescued her from death. When I saw her
+on the horns of the aurochs, I heard a voice in my soul saying, 'Defend
+her!' and that was the voice of the Lamb. The prison took strength from
+me, but He gave it back in that moment, and inspired that cruel people
+to take her part. Let His will be done!"
+
+And Vinicius answered,--
+
+"Magnified be His name!"
+
+He had not power to continue, for all at once he felt that a mighty
+weeping was swelling his breast. He was seized by an overpowering wish
+to throw himself on the earth and thank the Saviour for His miracles and
+His mercy.
+
+Meanwhile they had come to the house; the servants, informed by a slave
+despatched in advance, crowded out to meet them. Paul of Tarsus had sent
+back from Antium the greater part of those people. The misfortune of
+Vinicius was known to them perfectly; therefore their delight at seeing
+those victims which had been snatched from the malice of Nero was
+immense, and increased still more when the physician Theocles declared
+that Lygia had not suffered serious injury, and that when the weakness
+caused by prison fever had passed, she would regain health.
+
+Consciousness returned to her that night. Waking in the splendid chamber
+lighted by Corinthian lamps, amidst the odor of verbena and nard,
+she knew not where she was, or what was taking place with her. She
+remembered the moment in which she had been lashed to the horns of the
+chained bull; and now, seeing above her the face of Vinicius, lighted by
+the mild rays of the lamp, she supposed herself no longer on earth. The
+thoughts were confused in her weakened head; it seemed to her natural to
+be detained somewhere on the way to heaven, because of her tortures and
+weakness. Feeling no pain, however, she smiled at Vinicius, and wanted
+to ask where they were; but from her lips came merely a low whisper in
+which he could barely detect his own name.
+
+Then he knelt near her, and, placing his hand on her forehead lightly,
+he said,--
+
+"Christ saved thee, and returned thee to me!"
+
+Her lips moved again with a meaningless whisper; her lids closed after
+a moment, her breast rose with a light sigh, and she fell into a deep
+sleep, for which the physician had been waiting, and after which she
+would return to health, he said.
+
+Vinicius remained kneeling near her, however, sunk in prayer. His soul
+was melting with a love so immense that he forgot himself utterly.
+Theocles returned often to the chamber, and the golden-haired Eunice
+appeared behind the raised curtain a number of times; finally cranes,
+reared in the gardens, began to call, heralding the coming day, but
+Vinicius was still embracing in his mind the feet of Christ, neither
+seeing nor hearing what was passing around him, with a heart turned into
+a thanksgiving, sacrificial flame, sunk in ecstasy, and though alive,
+half seized into heaven.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXVII
+
+
+PETRONIUS, after the liberation of Lygia, not wishing to irritate Caesar,
+went to the Palatine with other Augustians. He wanted to hear what
+they were saying, and especially to learn if Tigellinus was devising
+something new to destroy Lygia. Both she and Ursus had passed under the
+protection of the people, it is true, and no one could place a hand on
+them without raising a riot; still Petronius, knowing the hatred toward
+him of the all-powerful pretorian prefect, considered that very likely
+Tigellinus, while unable to strike him directly, would strive to find
+some means of revenge against his nephew.
+
+Nero was angry and irritated, since the spectacle had ended quite
+differently from what he had planned. At first he did not wish even to
+look at Petronius; but the latter, without losing cool blood, approached
+him, with all the freedom of the "arbiter elegantiarum," and said,--
+
+"Dost thou know, divinity, what occurs to me? Write a poem on the maiden
+who, at command of the lord of the world, was freed from the horns of
+the wild bull and given to her lover. The Greeks are sensitive, and I am
+sure that the poem will enchant them."
+
+This thought pleased Nero in spite of all his irritation, and it pleased
+him doubly, first, as a subject for a poem, and second, because in it
+he could glorify himself as the magnanimous lord of the earth; hence he
+looked for a time at Petronius, and then said,--
+
+"Yes! perhaps thou art right. But does it become me to celebrate my own
+goodness?"
+
+"There is no need to give names. In Rome all will know who is meant, and
+from Rome reports go through the whole world."
+
+"But art thou sure that this will please the people in Achaea?"
+
+"By Poilux, it will!" said Petronius.
+
+And he went away satisfied, for he felt certain that Nero, whose whole
+life was an arrangement of reality to literary plans, would not spoil
+the subject, and by this alone he would tie the hands of Tigellinus.
+This, however, did not change his plan of sending Vinicius out of Rome
+as soon as Lygia's health should permit. So when he saw him next day, he
+said,--
+
+"Take her to Sicily. As things have happened, on Caesar's part thou art
+threatened by nothing; but Tigellinus is ready to use even poison,--if
+not out of hatred to you both, out of hatred to me."
+
+Vinicius smiled at him, and said: "She was on the horns of the wild
+bull; still Christ saved her."
+
+"Then honor Him with a hecatomb," replied Petronius, with an accent of
+impatience, "but do not beg Him to save her a second time. Dost remember
+how Eolus received Ulysses when he returned to ask a second time for
+favoring winds? Deities do not like to repeat themselves."
+
+"When her health returns, I will take her to Pomponia Graecina," said
+Vinicius.
+
+"And thou wilt do that all the better since Pomponia is ill; Antistius,
+a relative of Aulus, told me so. Meanwhile things will happen here
+to make people forget thee, and in these times the forgotten are the
+happiest. May Fortune be thy sun in winter, and thy shade in summer."
+
+Then he left Vinicius to his happiness, but went himself to inquire of
+Theocles touching the life and health of Lygia.
+
+Danger threatened her no longer. Emaciated as she was in the dungeon
+after prison fever, foul air and discomfort would have killed her; but
+now she had the most tender care, and not only plenty, but luxury. At
+command of Theocles they took her to the gardens of the villa after
+two days; in these gardens she remained for hours. Vinicius decked her
+litter with anemones, and especially with irises, to remind her of the
+atrium of the house of Aulus. More than once, hidden in the shade of
+spreading trees, they spoke of past sufferings and fears, each holding
+the other's hand. Lygia said that Christ had conducted him through
+suffering purposely to change his soul and raise it to Himself. Vinicius
+felt that this was true, and that there was in him nothing of the former
+patrician, who knew no law but his own desire. In those memories there
+was nothing bitter, however. It seemed to both that whole years had gone
+over their heads, and that the dreadful past lay far behind. At the same
+time such a calmness possessed them as they had never known before. A
+new life of immense happiness had come and taken them into itself. In
+Rome Caesar might rage and fill the world with terror--they felt above
+them a guardianship a hundred times mightier than his power, and had
+no further fear of his rage or his malice, just as if for them he had
+ceased to be the lord of life or death. Once, about sunset, the roar of
+lions and other beasts reached them from distant vivaria. Formerly those
+sounds filled Vinicius with fear because they were ominous; now he and
+Lygia merely looked at each other and raised their eyes to the evening
+twilight. At times Lygia, still very weak and unable to walk alone, fell
+asleep in the quiet of the garden; he watched over her, and, looking
+at her sleeping face, thought involuntarily that she was not that Lygia
+whom he had met at the house of Aulus. In fact, imprisonment and disease
+had to some extent quenched her beauty. When he saw her at the house of
+Aulus, and later, when he went to Miriam's house to seize her, she was
+as wonderful as a statue and also as a flower; now her face had become
+almost transparent, her hands thin, her body reduced by disease,
+her lips pale, and even her eyes seemed less blue than formerly. The
+golden-haired Eunice who brought her flowers and rich stuffs to cover
+her feet was a divinity of Cyprus in comparison. Petronius tried in vain
+to find the former charms in her, and, shrugging his shoulders, thought
+that that shadow from Elysian fields was not worth those struggles,
+those pains, and those tortures which had almost sucked the life out of
+Vinicius. But Vinicius, in love now with her spirit, loved it all the
+more; and when he was watching over her while asleep, it seemed to him
+that he was watching over the whole world.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXVIII
+
+
+NEWS of the miraculous rescue of Lygia was circulated quickly among
+those scattered Christians who had escaped destruction. Confessors came
+to look at her to whom Christ's favor had been shown clearly. First came
+Nazarius and Miriam, with whom Peter the Apostle was hiding thus
+far; after them came others. All, as well as Vinicius, Lygia, and the
+Christian slaves of Petronius, listened with attention to the narrative
+of Ursus about the voice which he had heard in his soul, and which
+commanded him to struggle with the wild bull. All went away consoled,
+hoping that Christ would not let His followers be exterminated on earth
+before His coming at the day of judgment. And hope sustained their
+hearts, for persecution had not ceased yet. Whoever was declared a
+Christian by public report was thrown into prison at once by the city
+watches. It is true that the victims were fewer, for the majority of
+confessors had been seized and tortured to death. The Christians
+who remained had either left Rome to wait out the storm in distant
+provinces, or had hidden most carefully, not daring to assemble
+in common prayer, unless in sand-pits outside the city. They were
+persecuted yet, however, and though the games were at an end, the newly
+arrested were reserved for future games or punished specially. Though
+it was believed in Rome no longer that Christians had caused the
+conflagration, they were declared enemies of humanity and the State, and
+the edict against them remained in former force.
+
+The Apostle Peter did not venture for a long time to appear in the house
+of Petronius, but at last on a certain evening Nazarius announced his
+arrival. Lygia, who was able to walk alone now, and Vinicius ran out to
+meet him, and fell to embracing his feet. He greeted them with emotion
+all the greater that not many sheep in that flock over which Christ
+had given him authority, and over the fate of which his great heart was
+weeping, remained to him. So when Vinicius said, "Lord, because of thee
+the Redeemer returned her to me," he answered: "He returned her because
+of thy faith, and so that not all the lips which profess His name should
+grow silent." And evidently he was thinking then of those thousands of
+his children torn by wild beasts, of those crosses with which the arena
+had been filled, and those fiery pillars in the gardens of the "Beast";
+for he spoke with great sadness. Vinicius and Lygia noticed also that
+his hair had grown entirely white, that his whole form was bent, and
+that in his face there was as much sadness and suffering as if he had
+passed through all those pains and torments which the victims of Nero's
+rage and madness had endured. But both understood that since Christ had
+given Himself to torture and to death, no one was permitted to avoid
+it. Still their hearts were cut at sight of the Apostle, bent by years,
+toil, and pain. So Vinicius, who intended to take Lygia soon to Naples,
+where they would meet Pomponia and go to Sicily, implored him to leave
+Rome in their company.
+
+But the Apostle placed his hand on the tribune's head and answered,--
+
+"In my soul I hear these words of the Lord, which He spoke to me on the
+Lake of Tiberias: 'When thou wert young, thou didst gird thyself,
+and walk whither thou wouldst; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
+stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee
+whither thou wouldst not.' Therefore it is proper that I follow my
+flock."
+
+And when they were silent, not knowing the sense of his speech, he
+added,
+
+"My toil is nearing its end; I shall find entertainment and rest only in
+the house of the Lord."
+
+Then he turned to them saying: "Remember me, for I have loved you as
+a father loves his children; and whatever ye do in life, do it for the
+glory of God."
+
+Thus speaking, he raised his aged, trembling hands and blessed them;
+they nestled up to him, feeling that to be the last blessing, perhaps,
+which they should receive from him.
+
+It was destined them, however, to see him once more. A few days
+later Petronius brought terrible news from the Palatine. It had been
+discovered there that one of Caesar's freedmen was a Christian; and on
+this man were found letters of the Apostles Peter and Paul, with letters
+of James, John, and Judas. Peter's presence in Rome was known formerly
+to Tigellinus, but he thought that the Apostle had perished with
+thousands of other confessors. Now it transpired that the two leaders
+of the new faith were alive and in the capital. It was determined,
+therefore, to seize them at all costs, for it was hoped that with their
+death the last root of the hated sect would be plucked out. Petronius
+heard from Vestinius that Caesar himself had issued an order to put
+Peter and Paul in the Mamertine prison within three days, and that whole
+detachments of pretorians had been sent to search every house in the
+Trans-Tiber.
+
+When he heard this, Vinicius resolved to warn the Apostle. In the
+evening he and Ursus put on Gallic mantles and went to the house of
+Miriam, where Peter was living. The house was at the very edge of the
+Trans-Tiber division of the city, at the foot of the Janiculum. On the
+road they saw houses surrounded by soldiers, who were guided by certain
+unknown persons. This division of the city was alarmed, and in places
+crowds of curious people had assembled. Here and there centurions
+interrogated prisoners touching Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus.
+
+Ursus and Vinicius were in advance of the soldiers, and went safely to
+Miriam's house, in which they found Peter surrounded by a handful of the
+faithful. Timothy, Paul's assistant, and Linus were at the side of the
+Apostle.
+
+At news of the approaching danger, Nazarius led all by a hidden passage
+to the garden gate, and then to deserted stone quarries, a few hundred
+yards distant from the Janiculum Gate. Ursus had to carry Linus, whose
+bones, broken by torture, had not grown together yet. But once in the
+quarry, they felt safe; and by the light of a torch ignited by Nazarius
+they began to consult, in a low voice, how to save the life of the
+Apostle who was so dear to them.
+
+"Lord," said Vinicius, "let Nazarius guide thee at daybreak to the Alban
+Hills. There I will find thee, and we will take thee to Antium, where a
+ship is ready to take us to Naples and Sicily. Blessed will the day and
+the hour be in which thou shalt enter my house, and thou wilt bless my
+hearth."
+
+The others heard this with delight, and pressed the Apostle, saying,
+
+"Hide thyself, sacred leader; remain not in Rome. Preserve the living
+truth, so that it perish not with us and thee. Hear us, who entreat thee
+as a father."
+
+"Do this in Christ's name!" cried others, grasping at his robes.
+
+"My children," answered Peter, "who knows the time when the Lord will
+mark the end of his life?"
+
+But he did not say that he would not leave Rome, and he hesitated what
+to do; for uncertainty, and even fear, had been creeping into his soul
+for some time. His flock was scattered; the work was wrecked; that
+church, which before the burning of the city had been flourishing like a
+splendid tree, was turned into dust by the power of the "Beast." Nothing
+remained save tears, nothing save memories of torture and death. The
+sowing had yielded rich fruit, but Satan had trampled it into the earth.
+Legions of angels had not come to aid the perishing,--and Nero was
+extending in glory over the earth, terrible, mightier than ever, the
+lord of all seas and all lands. More than once had that fisherman of the
+Lord stretched his hands heavenward in loneliness and asked: "Lord, what
+must I do? How must I act? And how am I, a feeble old man, to fight with
+this invincible power of Evil, which Thou hart permitted to rule, and
+have victory?"
+
+And he called out thus in the depth of his immense pain, repeating in
+spirit: "Those sheep which Thou didst command me to feed are no more,
+Thy church is no more; loneliness and mourning are in Thy capital; what
+dost Thou command me to do now? Am I to stay here, or lead forth the
+remnant of the flock to glorify Thy name in secret somewhere beyond the
+sea?"
+
+And he hesitated, He believed that the living truth would not perish,
+that it must conquer; but at moments he thought that the hour had not
+come yet, that it would come only when the Lord should descend to the
+earth in the day of judgment in glory and power a hundred times greater
+than the might of Nero.
+
+Frequently it seemed to him that if he left Rome, the faithful would
+follow; that he would lead them then far away to the shady groves of
+Galilee, to the quiet surface of the Lake of Tiberias, to shepherds
+as peaceful as doves, or as sheep, who feed there among thyme and
+pepperwort. And an increasing desire for peace and rest, an increasing
+yearning for the lake and Galilee, seized the heart of the fisherman;
+tears came more frequently to the old man's eyes.
+
+But at the moment when he made the choice, sudden alarm and fear came on
+him. How was he to leave that city, in which so much martyrs' blood had
+sunk into the earth, and where so many lips had given the true testimony
+of the dying? Was he alone to yield? And what would he answer the Lord
+on hearing the words, "These have died for the faith, but thou didst
+flee"?
+
+Nights and days passed for him in anxiety and suffering. Others, who had
+been torn by lions, who had been fastened to crosses, who had been burnt
+in the gardens of Caesar, had fallen asleep in the Lord after moments of
+torture; but he could not sleep, and he felt greater tortures than
+any of those invented by executioners for victims. Often was the dawn
+whitening the roofs of houses while he was still crying from the depth
+of his mourning heart: "Lord, why didst Thou command me to come hither
+and found Thy capital in the den of the 'Beast'?"
+
+For thirty-three years after the death of his Master he knew no rest.
+Staff in hand, he had gone through the world and declared the "good
+tidings." His strength had been exhausted in journeys and toil, till
+at last, when in that city, which was the head of the world, he had
+established the work of his Master, one bloody breath of wrath had
+burned it, and he saw that there was need to take up the struggle anew.
+And what a struggle! On one side Caesar, the Senate, the people, the
+legions holding the world with a circle of iron, countless cities,
+countless lands,--power such as the eye of man had not seen; on the
+other side he, so bent with age and toil that his trembling hand was
+hardly able to carry his staff.
+
+At times, therefore, he said to himself that it was not for him to
+measure with the Caesar of Rome,--that Christ alone could do that.
+
+All these thoughts were passing through his care-filled head, when he
+heard the prayers of the last handful of the faithful. They, surrounding
+him in an ever narrowing circle, repeated with voices of entreaty,--
+
+"Hide thyself, Rabbi, and lead us away from the power of the 'Beast.'"
+
+Finally Linus also bowed his tortured head before him.
+
+"O lord," said he, "the Redeemer commanded thee to feed His sheep,
+but they are here no longer or to-morrow they will not be here; go,
+therefore, where thou mayst find them yet. The word of God is living
+still in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Ephesus, and in other cities. What
+wilt thou do by remaining in Rome? If thou fall, thou wilt merely swell
+the triumph of the 'Beast.' The Lord has not designated the limit of
+John's life; Paul is a Roman citizen, they cannot condemn him without
+trial; but if the power of hell rise up against thee, O teacher, those
+whose hearts are dejected will ask, 'Who is above Nero?' Thou art the
+rock on which the church of God is founded. Let us die, but permit not
+the victory of Antichrist over the viceregent of God, and return not
+hither till the Lord has crushed him who shed innocent blood."
+
+"Look at our tears!" repeated all who were present.
+
+Tears flowed over Peter's face too. After a while he rose, and,
+stretching his hands over the kneeling figures, said,--
+
+"May the name of the Lord be magnified, and may His will be done!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXIX
+
+
+About dawn of the following day two dark figures were moving along the
+Appian Way toward the Campania.
+
+One of them was Nazarius; the other the Apostle Peter, who was leaving
+Rome and his martyred co-religionists.
+
+The sky in the east was assuming a light tinge of green, bordered
+gradually and more distinctly on the lower edge with saffron color.
+Silver-leafed trees, the white marble of villas, and the arches of
+aqueducts, stretching through the plain toward the city, were emerging
+from shade. The greenness of the sky was clearing gradually, and
+becoming permeated with gold. Then the east began to grow rosy and
+illuminate the Alban Hills, which seemed marvellously beautiful,
+lily-colored, as if formed of rays of light alone.
+
+The light was reflected in trembling leaves of trees, in the dew-drops.
+The haze grew thinner, opening wider and wider views on the plain, on
+the houses dotting it, on the cemeteries, on the towns, and on groups of
+trees, among which stood white columns of temples.
+
+The road was empty. The villagers who took vegetables to the city had
+not succeeded yet, evidently, in harnessing beasts to their vehicles.
+From the stone blocks with which the road was paved as far as the
+mountains, there came a low sound from the bark shoes on the feet of the
+two travellers.
+
+Then the sun appeared over the line of hills; but at once a wonderful
+vision struck the Apostle's eyes. It seemed to him that the golden
+circle, instead of rising in the sky, moved down from the heights and
+was advancing on the road. Peter stopped, and asked,--
+
+"Seest thou that brightness approaching us?"
+
+"I see nothing," replied Nazarius.
+
+But Peter shaded his eyes with his hand, and said after a while,
+
+"Some figure is coming in the gleam of the sun." But not the slightest
+sound of steps reached their ears. It was perfectly still all around.
+Nazarius saw only that the trees were quivering in the distance, as if
+some one were shaking them, and the light was spreading more broadly
+over the plain. He looked with wonder at the Apostle.
+
+"Rabbi! what ails thee?" cried he, with alarm.
+
+The pilgrim's staff fell from Peter's hands to the earth; his eyes
+were looking forward, motionless; his mouth was open; on his face were
+depicted astonishment, delight, rapture.
+
+Then he threw himself on his knees, his arms stretched forward; and this
+cry left his lips,--
+
+"O Christ! O Christ!"
+
+He fell with his face to the earth, as if kissing some one's feet.
+
+The silence continued long; then were heard the words of the aged man,
+broken by sobs,--
+
+"Quo vadis, Domine?"
+
+Nazarius did not hear the answer; but to Peter's ears came a sad and
+sweet voice, which said,--
+
+"If thou desert my people, I am going to Rome to be crucified a second
+time."
+
+The Apostle lay on the ground, his face in the dust, without motion or
+speech. It seemed to Nazarius that he had fainted or was dead; but he
+rose at last, seized the staff with trembling hands, and turned without
+a word toward the seven hills of the city.
+
+The boy, seeing this, repeated as an echo,--
+
+"Quo vadis, Domine?"
+
+"To Rome," said the Apostle, in a low voice.
+
+And he returned.
+
+
+Paul, John, Linus, and all the faithful received him with amazement; and
+the alarm was the greater, since at daybreak, just after his departure,
+pretorians had surrounded Miriam's house and searched it for the
+Apostle. But to every question he answered only with delight and
+peace,--
+
+"I have seen the Lord!"
+
+And that same evening he went to the Ostian cemetery to teach and
+baptize those who wished to bathe in the water of life.
+
+And thenceforward he went there daily, and after him went increasing
+numbers. It seemed that out of every tear of a martyr new confessors
+were born, and that every groan on the arena found an echo in thousands
+of breasts. Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world
+was mad. But those who had had enough of transgression and madness,
+those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and
+oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came
+to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given
+Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.
+
+When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which
+the society of the time could not give any one,--happiness and love.
+
+And Peter understood that neither Caesar nor all his legions could
+overcome the living truth,--that they could not overwhelm it with tears
+or blood, and that now its victory was beginning. He understood with
+equal force why the Lord had turned him back on the road. That city of
+pride, crime, wickedness, and power was beginning to be His city, and
+the double capital, from which would flow out upon the world government
+of souls and bodies.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXX
+
+
+AT last the hour was accomplished for both Apostles. But, as if to
+complete his service, it was given to the fisherman of the Lord to win
+two souls even in confinement. The soldiers, Processus and Martinianus,
+who guarded him in the Mamertine prison, received baptism. Then came the
+hour of torture. Nero was not in Rome at that time. Sentence was passed
+by Helius and Polythetes, two freedmen to whom Caesar had confided the
+government of Rome during his absence.
+
+On the aged Apostle had been inflicted the stripes prescribed by law;
+and next day he was led forth beyond the walls of the city, toward
+the Vatican Hill, where he was to suffer the punishment of the cross
+assigned to him. Soldiers were astonished by the crowd which had
+gathered before the prison, for in their minds the death of a common
+man, and besides a foreigner, should not rouse such interest; they did
+not understand that that retinue was composed not of sightseers,
+but confessors, anxious to escort the great Apostle to the place of
+execution. In the afternoon the gates of the prison were thrown open at
+last, and Peter appeared in the midst of a detachment of pretorians. The
+sun had inclined somewhat toward Ostia already; the day was clear and
+calm. Because of his advanced age, Peter was not required to carry the
+cross; it was supposed that he could not carry it; they had not put
+the fork on his neck, either, so as not to retard his pace. He walked
+without hindrance, and the faithful could see him perfectly.
+
+At moments when his white head showed itself among the iron helmets
+of the soldiers, weeping was heard in the crowd; but it was restrained
+immediately, for the face of the old man had in it so much calmness, and
+was so bright with joy, that all understood him to be not a victim going
+to destruction, but a victor celebrating his triumph.
+
+And thus it was really. The fisherman, usually humble and stooping,
+walked now erect, taller than the soldiers, full of dignity. Never had
+men seen such majesty in his bearing. It might have seemed that he was
+a monarch attended by people and military. From every side voices were
+raised,--
+
+"There is Peter going to the Lord!"
+
+All forgot, as it were, that torture and death were waiting for him. He
+walked with solemn attention, but with calmness, feeling that since the
+death on Golgotha nothing equally important had happened, and that as
+the first death had redeemed the whole world, this was to redeem the
+city.
+
+Along the road people halted from wonder at sight of that old man; but
+believers, laying hands on their shoulders, said with calm voices,--
+
+"See how a just man goes to death,--one who knew Christ and proclaimed
+love to the world."
+
+These became thoughtful, and walked away, saying to themselves, "He
+cannot, indeed, be unjust!"
+
+Along the road noise was hushed, and the cries of the street. The
+retinue moved on before houses newly reared, before white columns of
+temples, over whose summits hung the deep sky, calm and blue. They went
+in quiet; only at times the weapons of the soldiers clattered, or the
+murmur of prayer rose. Peter heard the last, and his face grew bright
+with increasing joy, for his glance could hardly take in those thousands
+of confessors. He felt that he had done his work, and he knew now that
+that truth which he had been declaring all his life would overwhelm
+everything, like a sea, and that nothing would have power to restrain
+it. And thus thinking, he raised his eyes, and said: "O Lord, Thou didst
+command me to conquer this world-ruling city; hence I have conquered it.
+Thou hast commanded me to found here Thy capital; hence I have founded
+it. This is Thy city now, O Lord, and I go to Thee, for I have toiled
+greatly."
+
+As he passed before temples, he said to them, "Ye will be temples of
+Christ." Looking at throngs of people moving before his eyes, he said to
+them, "Your children will be servants of Christ"; and he advanced with
+the feeling that he had conquered, conscious of his service, conscious
+of his strength, solaced,--great. The soldiers conducted him over the
+Pons Triumphalis, as if giving involuntary testimony to his triumph, and
+they led him farther toward the Naumachia and the Circus. The faithful
+from beyond the Tiber joined the procession; and such a throng of people
+was formed that the centurion commanding the pretonians understood at
+last that he was leading a high-priest surrounded by believers, and
+grew alarmed because of the small number of soldiers. But no cry of
+indignation or rage was given out in the throng. Men's faces were
+penetrated with the greatness of the moment, solemn and full of
+expectation. Some believers, remembering that when the Lord died the
+earth opened from fright and the dead rose from their graves, thought
+that now some evident signs would appear, after which the death of the
+Apostle would not be forgotten for ages. Others said to themselves,
+"Perhaps the Lord will select the hour of Peter's death to come from
+heaven as He promised, and judge the world." With this idea they
+recommended themselves to the mercy of the Redeemer.
+
+But round about there was calm. The hills seemed to be warming
+themselves, and resting in the sun. The procession stopped at last
+between the Circus and the Vatican Hill. Soldiers began now to dig a
+hole; others placed on the ground the cross, hammers, and nails, waiting
+till all preparations were finished. The crowd, continuing quiet and
+attentive, knelt round about.
+
+The Apostle, with his head in the sun-rays and golden light, turned for
+the last time toward the city. At a distance lower down was seen the
+gleaming Tiber; beyond was the Campus Martius; higher up, the Mausoleum
+of Augustus; below that, the gigantic baths just begun by Nero; still
+lower, Pompey's theatre; and beyond them were visible in places, and
+in places hidden by other buildings, the Septa Julia, a multitude of
+porticos, temples, columns, great edifices; and, finally, far in the
+distance, hills covered with houses, a gigantic resort of people, the
+borders of which vanished in the blue haze,--an abode of crime, but
+of power; of madness, but of order,--which had become the head of the
+world, its oppressor, but its law and its peace, almighty, invincible,
+eternal.
+
+But Peter, surrounded by soldiers, looked at the city as a ruler and
+king looks at his inheritance. And he said to it, "Thou art redeemed
+and mine!" And no one, not merely among the soldiers digging the hole
+in which to plant the cross, but even among believers, could divine that
+standing there among them was the true ruler of that moving life; that
+Caesars would pass away, waves of barbarians go by, and ages vanish, but
+that old man would be lord there unbrokenly.
+
+The sun had sunk still more toward Ostia, and had become large and
+red. The whole western side of the sky had begun to glow with immense
+brightness. The soldiers approached Peter to strip him.
+
+But he, while praying, straightened himself all at once, and stretched
+his right hand high. The executioners stopped, as if made timid by his
+posture; the faithful held the breath in their breasts, thinking that he
+wished to say something, and silence unbroken followed.
+
+But he, standing on the height, with his extended right hand made the
+sign of the cross, blessing in the hour of death,--
+
+Urbi et orbi! (the city and the world).
+
+
+In that same wonderful evening another detachment of soldiers conducted
+along the Ostian Way Paul of Tarsus toward a place called Aquae Salviae.
+And behind him also advanced a crowd of the faithful whom he had
+converted; but when he recognized near acquaintances, he halted and
+conversed with them, for, being a Roman citizen, the guard showed more
+respect to him. Beyond the gate called Tergemina he met Plautilla, the
+daughter of the prefect Flavius Sabinus, and, seeing her youthful face
+covered with tears, he said: "Plautilla, daughter of Eternal Salvation,
+depart in peace. Only give me a veil with which to bind my eyes when I
+am going to the Lord." And taking it, he advanced with a face as full
+of delight as that of a laborer who when he has toiled the whole day
+successfully is returning home. His thoughts, like those of Peter,
+were as calm and quiet as that evening sky. His eyes gazed with
+thoughtfulness upon the plain which stretched out before him, and to the
+Alban Hills, immersed in light. He remembered his journeys, his toils,
+his labor, the struggles in which he had conquered, the churches which
+he had founded in all lands and beyond all seas; and he thought that he
+had earned his rest honestly, that he had finished his work. He felt now
+that the seed which he had planted would not be blown away by the wind
+of malice. He was leaving this life with the certainty that in the
+battle which his truth had declared against the world it would conquer;
+and a mighty peace settled down on his soul.
+
+The road to the place of execution was long, and evening was coming. The
+mountains became purple, and the bases of them went gradually into the
+shade. Flocks were returning home. Here and there groups of slaves were
+walking with the tools of labor on their shoulders. Children, playing on
+the road before houses, looked with curiosity at the passing soldiers.
+But in that evening, in that transparent golden air, there were not only
+peace and lovingness, but a certain harmony, which seemed to lift from
+earth to heaven. Paul felt this; and his heart was filled with delight
+at the thought that to that harmony of the world he had added one note
+which had not been in it hitherto, but without which the whole earth was
+like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
+
+He remembered how he had taught people love,--how he had told them that
+though they were to give their property to the poor, though they knew
+all languages, all secrets, and all sciences, they would be nothing
+without love, which is kind, enduring, which does not return evil, which
+does not desire honor, suffers all things, believes all things, hopes
+all things, is patient of all things.
+
+And so his life had passed in teaching people this truth. And now he
+said in spirit: What power can equal it, what can conquer it? Could
+Caesar stop it, though he had twice as many legions and twice as many
+cities, seas, lands, and nations?
+
+And he went to his reward like a conqueror.
+
+The detachment left the main road at last, and turned toward the east on
+a narrow path leading to the Aquae Salviae. The red sun was lying now on
+the heather. The centurion stopped the soldiers at the fountain, for the
+moment had come.
+
+Paul placed Plautilla's veil on his arm, intending to bind his eyes with
+it; for the last time he raised those eyes, full of unspeakable peace,
+toward the eternal light of the evening, and prayed. Yes, the moment
+had come; but he saw before him a great road in the light, leading to
+heaven; and in his soul he repeated the same words which formerly he had
+written in the feeling of his own finished service and his near end,--
+
+"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
+faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXXI
+
+
+ROME had gone mad for a long time, so that the world-conquering city
+seemed ready at last to tear itself to pieces for want of leadership.
+Even before the last hour of the Apostles had struck, Piso's conspiracy
+appeared; and then such merciless reaping of Rome's highest heads, that
+even to those who saw divinity in Nero, he seemed at last a divinity of
+death. Mourning fell on the city, terror took its lodgment in houses and
+in hearts, but porticos were crowned with ivy and flowers, for it was
+not permitted to show sorrow for the dead. People waking in the morning
+asked themselves whose turn would come next. The retinue of ghosts
+following Caesar increased every day.
+
+Piso paid for the conspiracy with his head; after him followed Seneca,
+and Lucan, Fenius Rufus, and Plautius Lateranus, and Flavius Scevinus,
+and Afranius Quinetianus, and the dissolute companion of Caesar's
+madnesses, Tullius Senecio, and Proculus, and Araricus, and Tugurinus,
+and Gratus, and Silanus, and Proximus,--once devoted with his whole
+soul to Nero,--and Sulpicius Asper. Some were destroyed by their own
+insignificance, some by fear, some by wealth, others by bravery. Caesar,
+astonished at the very number of the conspirators, covered the walls
+with soldiery and held the city as if by siege, sending out daily
+centurions with sentences of death to suspected houses. The condemned
+humiliated themselves in letters filled with flattery, thanking Caesar
+for his sentences, and leaving him a part of their property, so as to
+save the rest for their children. It seemed, at last, that Nero was
+exceeding every measure on purpose to convince himself of the degree in
+which men had grown abject, and how long they would endure bloody
+rule. After the conspirators, their relatives were executed; then their
+friends, and even simple acquaintances. Dwellers in lordly mansions
+built after the fire, when they went out on the street, felt sure of
+seeing a whole row of funerals. Pompeius, Cornelius, Martialis, Flavius
+Nepos, and Statius Domitius died because accused of lack of love
+for Caesar; Novius Priscus, as a friend of Seneca. Rufius Crispus was
+deprived of the right of fire and water because on a time he had been
+the husband of Poppaea. The great Thrasea was ruined by his virtue; many
+paid with their lives for noble origin; even Poppaea fell a victim to the
+momentary rage of Nero.
+
+The Senate crouched before the dreadful ruler; it raised a temple in
+his honor, made an offering in favor of his voice, crowned his statues,
+appointed priests to him as to a divinity. Senators, trembling in their
+souls, went to the Palatine to magnify the song of the "Periodonices,"
+and go wild with him amid orgies of naked bodies, wine, and flowers.
+
+But meanwhile from below, in the field soaked in blood and tears, rose
+the sowing of Peter, stronger and stronger every moment.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXXII
+
+VINICIUS to PETRONIUS:
+
+
+"We know, carissime, most of what is happening in Rome, and what we do
+not know is told us in thy letters. When one casts a stone in the water,
+the wave goes farther and farther in a circle; so the wave of madness
+and malice has come from the Palatine to us. On the road to Greece,
+Carinas was sent hither by Caesar, who plundered cities and temples to
+fill the empty treasury. At the price of the sweat and tears of people,
+he is building the 'golden house' in Rome. It is possible that the world
+has not seen such a house, but it has not seen such injustice. Thou
+knowest Carinas. Chilo was like him till he redeemed his life with
+death. But to the towns lying nearer us his men have not come yet,
+perhaps because there are no temples or treasures in them. Thou askest
+if we are out of danger. I answer that we are out of mind, and let that
+suffice for an answer. At this moment, from the portico under which I
+write, I see our calm bay, and on it Ursus in a boat, letting down a
+net in the clear water. My wife is spinning red wool near me, and in the
+gardens, under the shade of almond-trees, our slaves are singing.
+Oh, what calm carissime, and what a forgetfulness of former fear and
+suffering! But it is not the Parcae as thou writest, who spin out our
+lives so agreeably; it is Christ who is blessing us, our beloved God and
+Saviour. We know tears and sorrow, for our religion teaches us to weep
+over the misfortunes of others; but in these tears is a consolation
+unknown to thee; for whenever the time of our life is ended, we shall
+find all those dear ones who perished and who are perishing yet for
+God's truth. For us Peter and Paul are not dead; they are merely born
+into glory. Our souls see them, and when our eyes weep our hearts
+are glad with their joy. Oh, yes, my dear friend, we are happy with a
+happiness which nothing can destroy, since death, which for thee is the
+end of everything, is for us only a passage into superior rest.
+
+"And so days and months pass here in calmness of heart. Our servants and
+slaves believe, as we do, in Christ, and that He enjoins love; hence we
+love one another. Frequently, when the sun has gone down, or when the
+moon is shining in the water, Lygia and I talk of past times, which seem
+a dream to us; but when I think how that dear head was near torture and
+death, I magnify my Lord with my whole soul, for out of those hands He
+alone could wrest her, save her from the arena, and return her to me
+forever. O Petronius, thou hast seen what endurance and comfort that
+religion gives in misfortune, how much patience and courage before
+death; so come and see how much happiness it gives in ordinary, common
+days of life. People thus far did not know a God whom man could
+love, hence they did not love one another; and from that came their
+misfortune, for as light comes from the sun, so does happiness come from
+love. Neither lawgivers nor philosophers taught this truth, and it did
+not exist in Greece or Rome; and when I say, not in Rome, that means the
+whole world. The dry and cold teaching of the Stoics, to which virtuous
+people rally, tempers the heart as a sword is tempered, but it makes it
+indifferent rather than better. Though why do I write this to thee, who
+hast learned more, and hast more understanding than I have? Thou wert
+acquainted with Paul of Tarsus, and more than once didst converse long
+with him; hence thou knowest better if in comparison with the truth
+which he taught all the teachings of philosophers and rhetors are not
+a vain and empty jingle of words without meaning. Thou rememberest the
+question which he put thee: 'But if Caesar were a Christian, would ye
+not all feel safer, surer of possessing that which ye possess, free of
+alarm, and sure of to-morrow?' Thou didst say to me that our teaching
+was an enemy of life; and I answer thee now, that, if from the beginning
+of this letter I had been repeating only the three words, 'I am happy!'
+I could not have expressed my happiness to thee. To this thou wilt
+answer, that my happiness is Lygia. True, my friend. Because I love her
+immortal soul, and because we both love each other in Christ; for such
+love there is no separation, no deceit, no change, no old age, no death.
+For, when youth and beauty pass, when our bodies wither and death comes,
+love will remain, for the spirit remains. Before my eyes were open to
+the light I was ready to burn my own house even, for Lygia's sake; but
+now I tell thee that I did not love her, for it was Christ who first
+taught me to love. In Him is the source of peace and happiness. It
+is not I who say this, but reality itself. Compare thy own luxury,
+my friend, lined with alarm, thy delights, not sure of a morrow, thy
+orgies, with the lives of Christians, and thou wilt find a ready answer.
+But, to compare better, come to our mountains with the odor of thyme, to
+our shady olive groves on our shores lined with ivy. A peace is waiting
+for thee, such as thou hast not known for a long time, and hearts that
+love thee sincerely. Thou, having a noble soul and a good one, shouldst
+be happy. Thy quick mind can recognize the truth, and knowing it thou
+wilt love it. To be its enemy, like Caesar and Tigellinus, is possible,
+but indifferent to it no one can be. O my Petronius, Lygia and I are
+comforting ourselves with the hope of seeing thee soon. Be well, be
+happy, and come to us."
+
+
+Petronius received this letter in Cumae, whither he had gone with other
+Augustians who were following Caesar. His struggle of long years with
+Tigellinus was nearing its end. Petronius knew already that he must fall
+in that struggle, and he understood why. As Caesar fell lower daily to
+the role of a comedian, a buffoon, and a charioteer; as he sank deeper
+in a sickly, foul, and coarse dissipation,--the exquisite arbiter became
+a mere burden to him. Even when Petronius was silent, Nero saw blame in
+his silence; when the arbiter praised, he saw ridicule. The brilliant
+patrician annoyed his self-love and roused his envy. His wealth and
+splendid works of art had become an object of desire both to the ruler
+and the all-powerful minister. Petronius was spared so far in view of
+the journey to Achaea, in which his taste, his knowledge of everything
+Greek, might be useful. But gradually Tigellinus explained to Caesar that
+Carinas surpassed him in taste and knowledge, and would be better able
+to arrange in Achaea games, receptions, and triumphs. From that moment
+Petronius was lost. There was not courage to send him his sentence in
+Rome. Caesar and Tigellinus remembered that that apparently effeminate
+and aesthetic person, who made "day out of night," and was occupied only
+in luxury, art, and feasts, had shown amazing industry and energy,
+when proconsul in Bithynia and later when consul in the capital. They
+considered him capable of anything, and it was known that in Rome he
+possessed not only the love of the people, but even of the pretorians.
+None of Caesar's confidants could foresee how Petronius might act in a
+given case; it seemed wiser, therefore, to entice him out of the city,
+and reach him in a province.
+
+With this object he received an invitation to go to Cumae with other
+Augustians. He went, though suspecting the ambush, perhaps so as not
+to appear in open opposition, perhaps to show once more a joyful face
+devoid of every care to Caesar and the Augustians, and to gain a last
+victory before death over Tigellinus.
+
+Meanwhile the latter accused him of friendship with the Senator
+Scevinus, who was the soul of Piso's conspiracy. The people of
+Petronius, left in Rome, were imprisoned; his house was surrounded by
+pretorian guards. When he learned this, he showed neither alarm nor
+concern, and with a smile said to Augustians whom he received in his own
+splendid villa in Cumae,--
+
+"Ahenobarbus does not like direct questions; hence ye will see his
+confusion when I ask him if it was he who gave command to imprison my
+'familia' in the capital."
+
+Then he invited them to a feast "before the longer journey," and he had
+just made preparations for it when the letter from Vinicius came.
+
+When he received this letter, Petronius grew somewhat thoughtful,
+but after a time his face regained its usual composure, and that same
+evening he answered as follows:--
+
+"I rejoice at your happiness and admire your hearts, for I had not
+thought that two lovers could remember a third person who was far away.
+Ye have not only not forgotten me, but ye wish to persuade me to go to
+Sicily, so that ye may share with me your bread and your Christ, who, as
+thou writest, has given you happiness so bountifully.
+
+"If that be true, honor Him. To my thinking, however, Ursus had
+something to do with saving Lygia, and the Roman people also had a
+little to do with it. But since thy belief is that Christ did the
+work, I will not contradict. Spare no offerings to Him. Prometheus also
+sacrificed himself for man; but, alas! Prometheus is an invention of the
+poets apparently, while people worthy of credit have told me that they
+saw Christ with their own eyes. I agree with thee that He is the most
+worthy of the gods.
+
+"I remember the question by Paul of Tarsus, and I think that if
+Ahenobarbus lived according to Christ's teaching I might have time to
+visit you in Sicily. In that case we could converse, in the shade of
+trees and near fountains, of all the gods and all the truths discussed
+by Greek philosophers at any time. To-day I must give thee a brief
+answer.
+
+"I care for two philosophers only: Pyrrho and Anacreon. I am ready to
+sell the rest to thee cheaply, with all the Greek and Roman Stoics.
+Truth, Vinicius, dwells somewhere so high that the gods themselves
+cannot see it from the top of Olympus. To thee, carissime, thy Olympus
+seems higher still, and, standing there, thou callest to me, 'Come, thou
+wilt see such sights as thou hast not seen yet!' I might. But I answer,
+'I have not feet for the journey.' And if thou read this letter to the
+end, thou wilt acknowledge, I think, that I am right.
+
+"No, happy husband of the Aurora princess! thy religion is not for me.
+Am I to love the Bithynians who carry my litter, the Egyptians who heat
+my bath? Am I to love Ahenobarbus and Tigellinus? I swear by the white
+knees of the Graces, that even if I wished to love them I could not.
+In Rome there are a hundred thousand persons at least who have either
+crooked shoulders, or big knees, or thin thighs, or staring eyes, or
+heads that are too large. Dost thou command me to love these too? Where
+am I to find the love, since it is not in my heart? And if thy God
+desires me to love such persons, why in His all might did He not give
+them the forms of Niobe's children, for example, which thou hast seen on
+the Palatine? Whoso loves beauty is unable for that very reason to love
+deformity. One may not believe in our gods, but it is possible to love
+them, as Phidias, Praxiteles, Miron, Skopas, and Lysias loved.
+
+"Should I wish to go whither thou wouldst lead me, I could not. But
+since I do not wish, I am doubly unable. Thou believest, like Paul of
+Tarsus, that on the other side of the Styx thou wilt see thy Christ in
+certain Elysian fields. Let Him tell thee then Himself whether He would
+receive me with my gems, my Myrrhene vase, my books published by Sozius,
+and my golden-haired Eunice. I laugh at this thought; for Paul of
+Tarsus told me that for Christ's sake one must give up wreaths of roses,
+feasts, and luxury. It is true that he promised me other happiness, but
+I answered that I was too old for new happiness, that my eyes would be
+delighted always with roses, and that the odor of violets is dearer to
+me than stench from my foul neighbor of the Subura.
+
+"These are reasons why thy happiness is not for me. But there is one
+reason more, which I have reserved for the last: Thanatos summons
+me. For thee the light of life is beginning; but my sun has set, and
+twilight is embracing my head. In other words, I must die, carissime.
+
+"It is not worth while to talk long of this. It had to end thus. Thou,
+who knowest Ahenobarbus, wilt understand the position easily. Tigellinus
+has conquered, or rather my victories have touched their end. I have
+lived as I wished, and I will die as pleases me.
+
+"Do not take this to heart. No God has promised me immortality; hence
+no surprise meets me. At the same time thou art mistaken, Vinicius, in
+asserting that only thy God teaches man to die calmly. No. Our world
+knew, before thou wert born, that when the last cup was drained, it
+was time to go,--time to rest,--and it knows yet how to do that with
+calmness. Plato declares that virtue is music, that the life of a sage
+is harmony. If that be true, I shall die as I have lived,--virtuously.
+
+"I should like to take farewell of thy godlike wife in the words with
+which on a time I greeted her in the house of Aulus, 'Very many persons
+have I seen, but thy equal I know not.'
+
+"If the soul is more than what Pyrrho thinks, mine will fly to thee
+and Lygia, on its way to the edge of the ocean, and will alight at your
+house in the form of a butterfly or, as the Egyptians believe, in the
+form of a sparrowhawk. Otherwise I cannot come.
+
+"Meanwhile let Sicily replace for you the gardens of Hesperides; may the
+goddesses of the fields, woods, and fountains scatter flowers on your
+path, and may white doves build their nests on every acanthus of the
+columns of your house."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter LXXIII
+
+
+PETRONIUS was not mistaken. Two days later young Nerva, who had always
+been friendly and devoted, sent his freedman to Cumae with news of what
+was happening at the court of Caesar.
+
+The death of Petronius had been determined. On the morning of the
+following day they intended to send him a centurion, with the order
+to stop at Cumae, and wait there for further instructions; the next
+messenger, to follow a few days later, was to bring the death sentence.
+
+Petronius heard the news with unruffled calmness.
+
+"Thou wilt take to thy lord," said he, "one of my vases; say from me
+that I thank him with my whole soul, for now I am able to anticipate the
+sentence."
+
+And all at once he began to laugh, like a man who has came upon a
+perfect thought, and rejoices in advance at its fulfilment.
+
+That same afternoon his slaves rushed about, inviting the Augustians,
+who were staying in Cumae, and all the ladies, to a magnificent banquet
+at the villa of the arbiter.
+
+He wrote that afternoon in the library; next he took a bath, after which
+he commanded the vestiplicae to arrange his dress. Brilliant and stately
+as one of the gods, he went to the triclinium, to cast the eye of a
+critic on the preparations, and then to the gardens, where youths and
+Grecian maidens from the islands were weaving wreaths of roses for the
+evening.
+
+Not the least care was visible on his face. The servants only knew that
+the feast would be something uncommon, for he had issued a command
+to give unusual rewards to those with whom he was satisfied, and
+some slight blows to all whose work should not please him, or who had
+deserved blame or punishment earlier. To the cithara players and the
+singers he had ordered beforehand liberal pay. At last, sitting in the
+garden under a beech, through whose leaves the sun-rays marked the earth
+with bright spots, he called Eunice.
+
+She came, dressed in white, with a sprig of myrtle in her hair,
+beautiful as one of the Graces. He seated her at his side, and, touching
+her temple gently with his fingers, he gazed at her with that admiration
+with which a critic gazes at a statue from the chisel of a master.
+
+"Eunice," asked he, "dost thou know that thou art not a slave this long
+time?"
+
+She raised to him her calm eyes, as blue as the sky, and denied with a
+motion of her head.
+
+"I am thine always," said she.
+
+"But perhaps thou knowest not," continued Petronius, "that the villa,
+and those slaves twining wreaths here, and all which is in the villa,
+with the fields and the herds, are thine henceforward."
+
+Eunice, when she heard this, drew away from him quickly, and asked in a
+voice filled with sudden fear,--
+
+"Why dost thou tell me this?"
+
+Then she approached again, and looked at him, blinking with amazement.
+After a while her face became as pale as linen. He smiled, and said only
+one word,--
+
+"So!"
+
+A moment of silence followed; merely a slight breeze moved the leaves of
+the beech.
+
+Petronius might have thought that before him was a statue cut from white
+marble.
+
+"Eunice," said he, "I wish to die calmly."
+
+And the maiden, looking at him with a heart-rending smile, whispered,--
+
+"I hear thee."
+
+In the evening the guests, who had been at feasts given by Petronius
+previously, and knew that in comparison with them even Caesar's banquets
+seemed tiresome and barbarous, began to arrive in numbers. To no one did
+it occur, even, that that was to be the last "symposium." Many knew,
+it is true, that the clouds of Caesar's anger were hanging over the
+exquisite arbiter; but that had happened so often, and Petronius had
+been able so often to scatter them by some dexterous act or by a single
+bold word, that no one thought really that serious danger threatened
+him. His glad face and usual smile, free of care, confirmed all, to the
+last man, in that opinion. The beautiful Eunice, to whom he had declared
+his wish to die calmly, and for whom every word of his was like an
+utterance of fate, had in her features a perfect calmness, and in her
+eyes a kind of wonderful radiance, which might have been considered
+delight. At the door of the triclinium, youths with hair in golden nets
+put wreaths of roses on the heads of the guests, warning them, as the
+custom was, to pass the threshold right foot foremost. In the hall there
+was a slight odor of violets; the lamps burned in Alexandrian glass of
+various colors. At the couches stood Grecian maidens, whose office it
+was to moisten the feet of guests with perfumes. At the walls cithara
+players and Athenian choristers were waiting for the signal of their
+leader.
+
+The table service gleamed with splendor, but that splendor did not
+offend or oppress; it seemed a natural development. Joyousness and
+freedom spread through the hall with the odor of violets. The guests as
+they entered felt that neither threat nor constraint was hanging over
+them, as in Caesar's house, where a man might forfeit his life for
+praises not sufficiently great or sufficiently apposite. At sight of the
+lamps, the goblets entwined with ivy, the wine cooling on banks of
+snow, and the exquisite dishes, the hearts of the guests became joyous.
+Conversation of various kinds began to buzz, as bees buzz on an apple
+tree in blossom. At moments it was interrupted by an outburst of glad
+laughter, at moments by murmurs of applause, at moments by a kiss placed
+too loudly on some white shoulder.
+
+The guests, while drinking wine, spilled from their goblets a few drops
+to the immortal gods, to gain their protection, and their favor for
+the host. It mattered not that many of them had no belief in the gods.
+Custom and superstition prescribed it. Petronius, inclining near Eunice,
+talked of Rome, of the latest divorces, of love affairs, of the races,
+of Spiculus, who had become famous recently in the arena, and of the
+latest books in the shops of Atractus and the Sozii. When he spilled
+wine, he said that he spilled it only in honor of the Lady of Cyprus,
+the most ancient divinity and the greatest, the only immortal, enduring,
+and ruling one.
+
+His conversation was like sunlight which lights up some new object every
+instant, or like the summer breeze which stirs flowers in a garden. At
+last he gave a signal to the leader of the music, and at that signal the
+citharae began to sound lightly, and youthful voices accompanied. Then
+maidens from Kos, the birthplace of Eunice, danced, and showed their
+rosy forms through robes of gauze. Finally, an Egyptian soothsayer told
+the guests their future from the movement of rainbow colors in a vessel
+of crystal.
+
+When they had enough of these amusements, Petronius rose somewhat on his
+Syrian cushion, and said with hesitation,--
+
+"Pardon me, friends, for asking a favor at a feast. Will each man accept
+as a gift that goblet from which he first shook wine in honor of the
+gods and to my prosperity?"
+
+The goblets of Petronius were gleaming in gold, precious stones, and
+the carving of artists; hence, though gift giving was common in Rome,
+delight filled every heart. Some thanked him loudly: others said that
+Jove had never honored gods with such gifts in Olympus; finally, there
+were some who refused to accept, since the gifts surpassed common
+estimate.
+
+But he raised aloft the Myrrhene vase, which resembled a rainbow in
+brilliancy, and was simply beyond price.
+
+"This," said he, "is the one out of which I poured in honor of the Lady
+of Cyprus. The lips of no man may touch it henceforth, and no hand may
+ever pour from it in honor of another divinity."
+
+He cast the precious vessel to the pavement, which was covered with
+lily-colored saffron flowers; and when it was broken into small pieces,
+he said, seeing around him astonished faces,--
+
+"My dear friends, be glad and not astonished. Old age and weakness are
+sad attendants in the last years of life. But I will give you a good
+example and good advice: Ye have the power, as ye see, not to wait for
+old age; ye can depart before it comes, as I do."
+
+"What dost thou wish?" asked a number of voices, with alarm.
+
+"I wish to rejoice, to drink wine, to hear music, to look on those
+divine forms which ye see around me, and fall asleep with a garlanded
+head. I have taken farewell of Caesar, and do ye wish to hear what I
+wrote him at parting?"
+
+He took from beneath the purple cushion a paper, and read as follows:--
+
+"I know, O Caesar, that thou art awaiting my arrival with impatience,
+that thy true heart of a friend is yearning day and night for me. I
+know that thou art ready to cover me with gifts, make me prefect of the
+pretorian guards, and command Tigellinus to be that which the gods
+made him, a mule-driver in those lands which thou didst inherit after
+poisoning Domitius. Pardon me, however, for I swear to thee by Hades,
+and by the shades of thy mother, thy wife, thy brother, and Seneca, that
+I cannot go to thee. Life is a great treasure. I have taken the most
+precious jewels from that treasure, but in life there are many things
+which I cannot endure any longer. Do not suppose, I pray, that I am
+offended because thou didst kill thy mother, thy wife, and thy brother;
+that thou didst burn Rome and send to Erebus all the honest men in thy
+dominions. No, grandson of Chronos. Death is the inheritance of man;
+from thee other deeds could not have been expected. But to destroy one's
+ear for whole years with thy poetry, to see thy belly of a Domitius
+on slim legs whirled about in Pyrrhic dance; to hear thy music, thy
+declamation, thy doggerel verses, wretched poet of the suburbs,--is a
+thing surpassing my power, and it has roused in me the wish to die. Rome
+stuffs its ears when it hears thee; the world reviles thee. I can blush
+for thee no longer, and I have no wish to do so. The howls of Cerberus,
+though resembling thy music, will be less offensive to me, for I have
+never been the friend of Cerberus, and I need not be ashamed of his
+howling. Farewell, but make no music; commit murder, but write no
+verses; poison people, but dance not; be an incendiary, but play not on
+a cithara. This is the wish and the last friendly counsel sent thee by
+the--Arbiter Elegantiae."
+
+The guests were terrified, for they knew that the loss of dominion would
+have been less cruel to Nero than this blow. They understood, too, that
+the man who had written that paper must die; and at the same time pale
+fear flew over them because they had heard such a paper.
+
+But Petronius laughed with sincere and gladsome joy, as if it were
+a question of the most innocent joke; then he cast his eyes on all
+present, and said,--
+
+"Be joyous, and drive away fear. No one need boast that he heard this
+letter. I will boast of it only to Charon when I am crossing in the boat
+with him."
+
+He beckoned then to the Greek physician, and stretched out his arm. The
+skilled Greek in the twinkle of an eye opened the vein at the bend
+of the arm. Blood spurted on the cushion, and covered Eunice, who,
+supporting the head of Petronius, bent over him and said,--
+
+"Didst thou think that I would leave thee? If the gods gave me
+immortality, and Caesar gave me power over the earth, I would follow thee
+still."
+
+Petronius smiled, raised himself a little, touched her lips with his,
+and said,--
+
+"Come with me."
+
+She stretched her rosy arm to the physician, and after a while her blood
+began to mingle and be lost in his blood.
+
+Then he gave a signal to the leader of the music, and again the voices
+and cithariae were heard. They sang "Harmodius"; next the song of
+Anacreon resounded,--that song in which he complained that on a time
+he had found Aphrodite's boy chilled and weeping under trees; that he
+brought him in, warmed him, dried his wings, and the ungrateful child
+pierced his heart with an arrow,--from that moment peace had deserted
+the poet.
+
+Petronius and Eunice, resting against each other, beautiful as two
+divinities, listened, smiling and growing pale. At the end of the song
+Petronius gave directions to serve more wine and food; then he conversed
+with the guests sitting near him of trifling but pleasant things, such
+as are mentioned usually at feasts. Finally, he called to the Greek to
+bind his arm for a moment; for he said that sleep was tormenting him,
+and he wanted to yield himself to Hypnos before Thanatos put him to
+sleep forever.
+
+In fact, he fell asleep. When he woke, the head of Eunice was lying on
+his breast like a white flower. He placed it on the pillow to look at it
+once more. After that his veins were opened again.
+
+At his signal the singers raised the song of Anacreon anew, and the
+citharae accompanied them so softly as not to drown a word. Petronius
+grew paler and paler; but when the last sound had ceased, he turned to
+his guests again and said,
+
+"Friends, confess that with us perishes--"
+
+But he had not power to finish; his arm with its last movement embraced
+Eunice, his head fell on the pillow, and he died.
+
+The guests looking at those two white forms, which resembled two
+wonderful statues, understood well that with them perished all that was
+left to their world at that time,--poetry and beauty.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+
+AT first the revolt of the Gallic legions under Vindex did not seem very
+serious. Caesar was only in his thirty-first year, and no one was bold
+enough to hope that the world could be freed so soon from the nightmare
+which was stifling it. Men remembered that revolts had occurred
+more than once among the legions,--they had occurred in previous
+reigns,--revolts, however, which passed without involving a change of
+government; as during the reign of Tiberius, Drusus put down the
+revolt of the Pannonian legions. "Who," said the people, "can take the
+government after Nero, since all the descendants of the divine Augustus
+have perished?" Others, looking at the Colossus, imagined him a
+Hercules, and thought that no force could break such power. There were
+those even who since he went to Achaea were sorry for him, because
+Helius and Polythetes, to whom he left the government of Rome and Italy,
+governed more murderously than he had.
+
+No one was sure of life or property. Law ceased to protect. Human
+dignity and virtue had perished, family bonds existed no longer, and
+degraded hearts did not even dare to admit hope. From Greece came
+accounts of the incomparable triumphs of Caesar, of the thousands of
+crowns which he had won, the thousands of competitors whom he had
+vanquished. The world seemed to be one orgy of buffoonery and blood; but
+at the same time the opinion was fixed that virtue and deeds of dignity
+had ceased, that the time of dancing and music, of profligacy, of blood,
+had come, and that life must flow on for the future in that way. Caesar
+himself, to whom rebellion opened the road to new robberies, was not
+concerned much about the revolt of the legions and Vindex; he even
+expressed his delight on that subject frequently. He did not wish to
+leave Achaea even; and only when Helius informed him that further delay
+might cause the loss of dominion did he move to Naples.
+
+There he played and sang, neglecting news of events of growing danger.
+In vain did Tigellinus explain to him that former rebellions of legions
+had no leaders, while at the head of affairs this time was a man
+descended from the ancient kings of Gaul and Aquitania, a famous and
+tried soldier. "Here," answered Nero, "the Greeks listen to me,--the
+Greeks, who alone know how to listen, and who alone are worthy of my
+song." He said that his first duty was art and glory. But when at last
+the news came that Vindex had proclaimed him a wretched artist, he
+sprang up and moved toward Rome. The wounds inflicted by Petronius, and
+healed by his stay in Greece, opened in his heart anew, and he wished to
+seek retribution from the Senate for such unheard-of injustice.
+
+On the road he saw a group cast in bronze, representing a Gallic warrior
+as overcome by a Roman knight; he considered that a good omen, and
+thenceforward, if he mentioned the rebellious legions and Vindex, it was
+only to ridicule them. His entrance to the city surpassed all that had
+been witnessed earlier. He entered in the chariot used by Augustus in
+his triumph. One arch of the Circus was destroyed to give a road to the
+procession. The Senate, knights, and innumerable throngs of people went
+forth to meet him. The walls trembled from shouts of "Hail, Augustus!
+Hail, Hercules! Hail, divinity, the incomparable, the Olympian, the
+Pythian, the immortal!" Behind him were borne the crowns, the names
+of cities in which he had triumphed; and on tablets were inscribed
+the names of the masters whom he had vanquished. Nero himself was
+intoxicated with delight, and with emotion he asked the Augustians who
+stood around him, "What was the triumph of Julius compared with this?"
+The idea that any mortal should dare to raise a hand on such a demigod
+did not enter his head. He felt himself really Olympian, and therefore
+safe. The excitement and the madness of the crowd roused his own
+madness. In fact, it might seem in the day of that triumph that not
+merely Caesar and the city, but the world, had lost its senses.
+
+Through the flowers and the piles of wreaths no one could see the
+precipice. Still that same evening columns and walls of temples were
+covered with inscriptions, describing Nero's crimes, threatening him
+with coming vengeance, and ridiculing him as an artist. From mouth to
+mouth went the phrase, "He sang till he roused the Gauls." Alarming news
+made the rounds of the city, and reached enormous measures. Alarm seized
+the Augustians. People, uncertain of the future, dazed not express hopes
+or wishes; they hardly dared to feel or think.
+
+But he went on living only in the theatre and music. Instruments newly
+invented occupied him, and a new water-organ, of which trials were made
+on the Palatine. With childish mind, incapable of plan or action, he
+imagined that he could ward off danger by promises of spectacles and
+theatrical exhibitions reaching far into the future, Persons nearest
+him, seeing that instead of providing means and an army, he was merely
+searching for expressions to depict the danger graphically, began to
+lose their heads. Others thought that he was simply deafening himself
+and others with quotations, while in his soul he was alarmed and
+terrified. In fact, his acts became feverish. Every day a thousand new
+plans flew through his head. At times he sprang up to rush out against
+danger; gave command to pack up his lutes and citharae, to arm the young
+slave women as Amazons, and lead the legions to the East. Again he
+thought to finish the rebellion of the Gallic legions, not with war, but
+with song; and his soul laughed at the spectacle which was to follow
+his conquest of the soldiers by song. The legionaries would surround
+him with tears in their eyes; he would sing to them an epinicium, after
+which the golden epoch would begin for him and for Rome. At one time he
+called for blood; at another he declared that he would be satisfied
+with governing in Egypt. He recalled the prediction which promised
+him lordship in Jerusalem, and he was moved by the thought that as
+a wandering minstrel he would earn his daily bread,--that cities and
+countries would honor in him, not Caesar, the lord of the earth, but a
+poet whose like the world had not produced before. And so he struggled,
+raged, played, sang, changed his plan, changed his quotations, changed
+his life and the world into a dream absurd, fantastic, dreadful, into an
+uproarious hunt composed of unnatural expressions, bad verses, groans,
+tears, and blood; but meanwhile the cloud in the west was increasing and
+thickening every day. The measure was exceeded; the insane comedy was
+nearing its end.
+
+When news that Galba and Spain had joined the uprising came to his ears,
+he fell into rage and madness. He broke goblets, overturned the table at
+a feast, and issued orders which neither Helius nor Tigeliinus himself
+dared to execute. To kill Gauls resident in Rome, fire the city a second
+time, let out the wild beasts, and transfer the capital to Alexandria
+seemed to him great, astonishing, and easy. But the days of his dominion
+had passed, and even those who shared in his former crimes began to look
+on him as a madman.
+
+The death of Vindex, and disagreement in the revolting legions seemed,
+however, to turn the scale to his side. Again new feasts, new triumphs,
+and new sentences were issued in Rome, till a certain night when a
+messenger rushed up on a foaming horse, with the news that in the city
+itself the soldiers had raised the standard of revolt, and proclaimed
+Galba Caesar.
+
+Nero was asleep when the messenger came; but when he woke he called in
+vain for the night-guard, which watched at the entrance to his chambers.
+The palace was empty. Slaves were plundering in the most distant corners
+that which could be taken most quickly. But the sight of Nero frightened
+them; he wandered alone through the palace, filling it with cries of
+despair and fear.
+
+At last his freedmen, Phaon, Sporus, and Epaphroditus, came to his
+rescue. They wished him to flee, and said that there was no time to be
+lost; but he deceived himself still. If he should dress in mourning and
+speak to the Senate, would it resist his prayers and eloquence? If he
+should use all his eloquence, his rhetoric and skill of an actor, would
+any one on earth have power to resist him? Would they not give him even
+the prefecture of Egypt?
+
+The freedmen, accustomed to flatter, had not the boldness yet to refuse
+him directly; they only warned him that before he could reach the Forum
+the people would tear him to pieces, and declared that if he did not
+mount his horse immediately, they too would desert him.
+
+Phaon offered refuge in his villa outside the Nomentan Gate. After a
+while they mounted horses, and, covering Nero's head with a mantle, they
+galloped off toward the edge of the city. The night was growing pale.
+But on the streets there was a movement which showed the exceptional
+nature of the time. Soldiers, now singly and now in small groups, were
+scattered through the city. Not far from the camp Caesar's horse sprang
+aside suddenly at sight of a corpse. The mantle slipped from his head;
+a soldier recognized Nero, and, confused by the unexpected meeting,
+gave the military salute. While passing the pretorian camp, they heard
+thundering shouts in honor of Galba. Nero understood at last that the
+hour of death was near. Terror and reproaches of conscience seized him.
+He declared that he saw darkness in front of him in the form of a black
+cloud. From that cloud came forth faces in which he saw his mother, his
+wife, and his brother. His teeth were chattering from fright; still his
+soul of a comedian found a kind of charm in the horror of the moment.
+To be absolute lord of the earth and lose all things, seemed to him the
+height of tragedy; and faithful to himself, he played the first role to
+the end. A fever for quotations took possession of him, and a passionate
+wish that those present should preserve them for posterity. At moments
+he said that he wished to die, and called for Spiculus, the most skilled
+of all gladiators in killing. At moments he declaimed, "Mother, wife,
+father, call me to death!" Flashes of hope rose in him, however, from
+time to time,--hope vain and childish. He knew that he was going to
+death, and still he did not believe it.
+
+They found the Nomentan Gate open. Going farther, they passed near
+Ostrianum, where Peter had taught and baptized. At daybreak they reached
+Phaon's villa.
+
+There the freedmen hid from him no longer the fact that it was time to
+die. He gave command then to dig a grave, and lay on the ground so that
+they might take accurate measurement. At sight of the earth thrown
+up, however, terror seized him. His fat face became pale, and on his
+forehead sweat stood like drops of dew in the morning. He delayed. In a
+voice at once abject and theatrical, he declared that the hour had not
+come yet; then he began again to quote. At last he begged them to
+burn his body. "What an artist is perishing!" repeated he, as if in
+amazement.
+
+Meanwhile Phaon's messenger arrived with the announcement that the
+Senate had issued the sentence that the "parricide" was to be punished
+according to ancient custom.
+
+"What is the ancient custom?" asked Nero, with whitened lips.
+
+"They will fix thy neck in a fork, flog thee to death, and hurl thy body
+into the Tiber," answered Epaphroditus, abruptly.
+
+Nero drew aside the robe from his breast.
+
+"It is time, then!" said he, looking into the sky. And he repeated once
+more, "What an artist is perishing!"
+
+At that moment the tramp of a horse was heard. That was the centurion
+coming with soldiers for the head of Ahenobarbus.
+
+"Hurry!" cried the freedmen.
+
+Nero placed the knife to his neck, but pushed it only timidly. It was
+clear that he would never have courage to thrust it in. Epaphroditus
+pushed his hand suddenly,--the knife sank to the handle. Nero's eyes
+turned in his head, terrible, immense, frightened.
+
+"I bring thee life!" cried the centurion, entering.
+
+"Too late!" said Nero, with a hoarse voice; then he added,--
+
+"Here is faithfulness!"
+
+In a twinkle death seized his head. Blood from his heavy neck gushed in
+a dark stream on the flowers of the garden. His legs kicked the ground,
+and he died.
+
+On the morrow the faithful Acte wrapped his body in costly stuffs, and
+burned him on a pile filled with perfumes.
+
+And so Nero passed, as a whirlwind, as a storm, as a fire, as war or
+death passes; but the basilica of Peter rules till now, from the Vatican
+heights, the city, and the world.
+
+Near the ancient Porta Capena stands to this day a little chapel with
+the inscription, somewhat worn: Quo Vadis, Domine?
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkiewicz
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