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diff --git a/30664-tei/30664-tei.tei b/30664-tei/30664-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7d84d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/30664-tei/30664-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,14505 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> +<TEI.2 lang="en"> + <teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>Callista</title> + <author><name reg="Newman, John Henry Cardinal">John Henry Cardinal Newman</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2009-12-13">December 13, 2009</date> + <idno type='etext-no'>30664</idno> + <availability> + <p>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 online at + www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <p>John Henry Cardinal Newman: Callista : A Tale of the Third Century. - + London : Longmans, Green & Co. 1904</p> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en" /> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2009-12-13">December 13, 2009</date> + <respStmt> + <resp>Produced by <name>David Clarke</name>, <name>Stefan Cramme</name>, and the + Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)</resp> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> + </teiHeader> + + <pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .center { text-align: center } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .small { font-size: 75% } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + head { text-align: center } + lg { margin-left: 2; font-size: 80% } + </pgStyleSheet> + <!-- uncomment this CharMap to directly generate ISO 8859-1; replace "(two hyphens)" in the first char with the characters mentioned --> + <!--<pgCharMap formats="txt"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>(two hyphens)</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x152"> + <charName>OElig</charName> + <desc>LATIN CAPITAL LIGATURE OE</desc> + <mapping>OE</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x153"> + <charName>oelig</charName> + <desc>LATIN SMALL LIGATURE OE</desc> + <mapping>oe</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2009"> + <charName>thinsp</charName> + <desc>THIN SPACE</desc> + <mapping></mapping> + </char> +<char id="U0x2013"> + <charName>ndash</charName> + <desc>EN DASH</desc> + <mapping>-</mapping> +</char> + <char id="U0x2018"> + <charName>lsquo</charName> + <desc>LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK</desc> + <mapping>'</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2019"> + <charName>rsquo</charName> + <desc>RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK</desc> + <mapping>'</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x201C"> + <charName>ldquo</charName> + <desc>LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK</desc> + <mapping>"</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x201D"> + <charName>rdquo</charName> + <desc>RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK</desc> + <mapping>"</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap>--> + </pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> +<front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb/> + +<p rend="center"> +<hi rend="font-size: large">CALLISTA</hi> +</p> + +<p rend="center"> +A TALE OF THE THIRD CENTURY +</p> + +</div><titlePage rend="page-break-before: always; center"> +<pb/> + +<docTitle> + <titlePart rend="center; font-size: xx-large">CALLISTA</titlePart> + <lb/><lb/> + <titlePart rend="center; font-size: x-large">A TALE OF THE THIRD CENTURY</titlePart> +</docTitle> + <lb/><lb/><lb/> + <byline rend="center"> + <hi rend="font-size: small">BY</hi><lb/><lb/> + <docAuthor rend="font-size: large">JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN</docAuthor> + </byline> +<lb/> +<epigraph><lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Love thy God, and love Him only,</q></l> +<l>And thy breast will ne’er be lonely.</l> +<l>In that One Great Spirit meet</l> +<l>All things mighty, grave, and sweet.</l> +<l>Vainly strives the soul to mingle</l> +<l>With a being of our kind;</l> +<l>Vainly hearts with hearts are twined:</l> +<l>For the deepest still is single.</l> +<l>An impalpable resistance</l> +<l>Holds like natures still at distance.</l> +<l>Mortal: love that Holy One,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"><q rend="pre: none">Or dwell for aye alone.</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left:14"><hi rend="smallcaps">De Vere</hi></l> +</lg></epigraph> + +<docEdition rend="center"><hi rend="italic">NEW IMPRESSION</hi></docEdition> +<lb/><lb/><lb/> +<docImprint rend="center"> + <hi rend="font-size: large">LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.</hi><lb/> + 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON<lb/> +NEW YORK AND BOMBAY<lb/> +<docDate>1904</docDate> +</docImprint> + <lb/><lb/> + <titlePart rend="center; font-size: xx-small"><hi rend="italic">All rights reserved</hi></titlePart> + +</titlePage><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/> + +<p rend="center"><hi rend="italic">To</hi></p> + + <p rend="center"><hi rend="italic">HENRY WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.</hi></p> + +<p> +<hi rend="italic">To you alone, who have known me so long, and who love me +so well, could I venture to offer a trifle like this. But +you will recognise the author in his work, and take +pleasure in the recognition.</hi> +</p> + +<p rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="italic">J. H. N.</hi></p> + </div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/><anchor id='Pgvii'/> + +<head>ADVERTISEMENT.</head> + +<div><p> +It is hardly necessary to say that the following +Tale is a simple fiction from beginning to end. +It has little in it of actual history, and not much +claim to antiquarian research; yet it has required +more reading than may appear at first sight. +</p> + +<p> +It is an attempt to imagine and express, from a +Catholic point of view, the feelings and mutual relations +of Christians and heathens at the period to +which it belongs, and it has been undertaken as the +nearest approach which the Author could make to a +more important work suggested to him from a high +ecclesiastical quarter. +</p> + +<dateline rend="text-align: left"> +<date><hi rend="italic">September 13, 1855.</hi></date> +</dateline></div> +<div> +<head>POSTSCRIPTS TO LATER EDITIONS.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend="italic">February 8, 1856.</hi>—Since the volume has been in +print, the Author finds that his name has got abroad. +This gives him reason to add, that he wrote great part +of Chapters I., IV., and V., and sketched the character +<pb n="viii"/><anchor id="Pgviii"/>and fortunes of Juba, in the early spring of 1848. He +did no more till the end of last July, when he suddenly +resumed the thread of his tale, and has been successful +so far as this, that he has brought it to an end. +</p> + +<p> +Without being able to lay his finger upon instances +in point, he has some misgiving lest, from a confusion +between ancient histories and modern travels, +there should be inaccuracies, antiquarian or geographical, +in certain of his minor statements, which +carry with them authority when they cease to be +anonymous. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> <!-- rend="rule: 20%" --> +<p> +<hi rend="italic">February 2, 1881.—October, 1888.</hi>—In a tale such +as this, which professes in the very first sentence of its +Advertisement to be simple fiction from beginning to +end, details may be allowably filled up by the writer’s +imagination and coloured by his personal opinions and +beliefs, the only rule binding on him being this—that +he has no right to contravene acknowledged historical +facts. Thus it is that Walter Scott exercises a poet’s +licence in drawing his Queen Elizabeth and his Claverhouse, +and the author of <q>Romola</q> has no misgivings +in even imputing hypothetical motives and intentions +to Savonarola. Who, again, would quarrel with Mr. +Lockhart, writing in Scotland, for excluding Pope, or +Bishops, or sacrificial rites from his interesting Tale of +Valerius? +</p> + +<p> +Such was the understanding, as to what I might +do and what I might not, with which I wrote this +<pb n="ix"/><anchor id="Pgix"/>story; and to make it clearer, I added in the later +editions of this Advertisement, that it was written +<q>from a Catholic point of view;</q> while in the earlier, +bearing in mind the interests of historical truth, and +the anachronism which I had ventured on at page 82 +in the date of Arnobius and Lactantius, I said that +I had not <q>admitted any actual interference with +known facts without notice,</q> questions of religious +controversy, when I said it, not even coming into my +thoughts. I did not consider my Tale to be in any +sense controversial, but to be specially addressed to +Catholic readers, and for their edification. +</p> + +<p> +This being so, it was with no little surprise I found +myself lately accused of want of truth, because I have +followed great authorities in attributing to Christians +of the middle of the third century what is certainly +to be found in the fourth,—devotions, representations, +and doctrines, declaratory of the high dignity +of the Blessed Virgin. If I had left out all mention +of these, I should have been simply untrue to my idea +and apprehension of Primitive Christianity. To what +positive and certain facts do I run counter in so doing, +even granting that I am indulging my imagination? +But I have allowed myself no such indulgence; I gave +good reasons long ago, in my <q>Letter to Dr. Pusey</q> +(pp. 53–76), for what I believe on this matter and +for what I have in <q>Callista</q> described. +</p> +</div> +<pb n="x"/><anchor id="Pgx"/> +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="xi"/><anchor id="Pgxi"/> + +<head>CONTENTS.</head> + + <table rend="tblcolumns: 'r lw(52m) r'; latexcolumns: 'rp{6.2cm}r'"> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="font-size: x-small">CHAP.</hi> + </cell> + <cell/> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="font-size: x-small">PAGE</hi></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">I. + </cell> + <cell>SICCA VENERIA</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg001">1</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">II. + </cell> + <cell>CHRISTIANITY IN SICCA</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg014">14</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">III.</cell> + <cell>AGELLIUS IN HIS COTTAGE</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg025">25</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">IV.</cell> + <cell>JUBA</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg030">30</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">V.</cell> + <cell>JUCUNDUS AT SUPPER</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg039">39</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VI.</cell> + <cell>GOTHS AND CHRISTIANS</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg051">51</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VII.</cell> + <cell>PERSECUTION IN THE OFFING</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg064">64</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">VIII.</cell> + <cell>THE NEW GENERATION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg080">80</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">IX.</cell> + <cell>JUCUNDUS BAITS HIS TRAP</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg092">92</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">X.</cell> + <cell>THE DIVINE CALLISTA</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg111">111</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XI.</cell> + <cell>CALLISTA’S PREACHING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg122">122</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XII.</cell> + <cell>A DEATH </cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg135">135</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIII.</cell> + <cell>AND RESURRECTION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg145">145</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIV.</cell> + <cell>A SMALL CLOUD</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg159">159</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XV.</cell> + <cell>A VISITATION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg168">168</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVI.</cell> + <cell>WORSE AND WORSE</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg178">178</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVII.</cell> + <cell>CHRISTIANOS AD LEONES</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg189">189</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XVIII.</cell> + <cell>AGELLIUS FLITS</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg199">199</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XIX.</cell> + <cell>A PASSAGE OF ARMS</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg212">212</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XX.</cell> + <cell>HE SHALL NOT LOSE HIS REWARD</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg226">226</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXI.</cell> + <cell>STARTLING RUMOURS</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg235">235</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXII.</cell> + <cell>JUCUNDUS PROPOUNDS HIS VIEW OF THE SITUATION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg239">239</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXIII.</cell> + <cell>GURTA</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg256">256</ref></cell> + </row> + +<pb n="xii"/><anchor id="Pgxii"/> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXIV.</cell> + <cell>A MOTHER’S BLESSING</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg266">266</ref></cell> + </row><row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXV.</cell> + <cell>CALLISTA IN DURANCE</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg274">274</ref></cell> + </row><row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXVI.</cell> + <cell>WHAT CAN IT ALL MEAN?</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg281">281</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXVII.</cell> + <cell>AM I A CHRISTIAN?</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg291">291</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right"> XXVIII.</cell> + <cell>A SICK CALL</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg305">305</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXIX.</cell> + <cell>CONVERSION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg317">317</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXX.</cell> + <cell>TORRES VEDRAS</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg329">329</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXI.</cell> + <cell>THE BAPTISM</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg343">343</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXII.</cell> + <cell>THE IMPERIAL RESCRIPT</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg352">352</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXIII.</cell> + <cell>A GOOD CONFESSION</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg357">357</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXIV.</cell> + <cell>THE MARTYRDOM</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg366">366</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXV.</cell> + <cell>THE CORPO SANTO</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg371">371</ref></cell> + </row> + <row> + <cell rend="text-align: right">XXXVI.</cell> + <cell>LUX PERPETUA SANCTIS TUIS, DOMINE</cell> + <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg377">377</ref></cell> + </row> + </table> + +</div></front> +<body rend="page-break-before: right"> + <pb n="1"/><anchor id="Pg001"/> + +<head>CALLISTA;</head> + +<head type="sub">A TALE OF THE THIRD CENTURY.</head> + + <div type="chapter" n="I"> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="I. Sicca Veneria"/> +<head>CHAPTER I.</head> + +<head type="sub">SICCA VENERIA.</head> + +<p> +In no province of the vast Roman empire, as it +existed in the middle of the third century, did Nature +wear a richer or a more joyous garb than she displayed +in Proconsular Africa, a territory of which +Carthage was the metropolis, and Sicca might be +considered the centre. The latter city, which was the +seat of a Roman colony, lay upon a precipitous or +steep bank, which led up along a chain of hills to a +mountainous track in the direction of the north and +east. In striking contrast with this wild and barren +region was the view presented by the west and south, +where for many miles stretched a smiling champaign, +exuberantly wooded, and varied with a thousand hues, +till it was terminated at length by the successive tiers +of the Atlas, and the dim and fantastic forms of the +Numidian mountains. The immediate neighbourhood +of the city was occupied by gardens, vineyards, corn-<pb n="2"/><anchor id="Pg002"/>fields, and meadows, crossed or encircled here by noble +avenues of trees or the remains of primeval forests, +there by the clustering groves which wealth and luxury +had created. This spacious plain, though level when +compared with the northern heights by which the city +was backed, and the peaks and crags which skirted +the southern and western horizon, was discovered, as +light and shadow travelled with the sun, to be diversified +with hill and dale, upland and hollow; while +orange gardens, orchards, olive and palm plantations +held their appropriate sites on the slopes or the bottoms. +Through the mass of green, which extended still more +thickly from the west round to the north, might be +seen at intervals two solid causeways tracking their +persevering course to the Mediterranean coast, the one +to the ancient rival of Rome, the other to Hippo +Regius in Numidia. Tourists might have complained +of the absence of water from the scene; but the native +peasant would have explained to them that the eye +alone had reason to be discontented, and that the thick +foliage and the uneven surface did but conceal what +mother earth with no niggard bounty supplied. The +Bagradas, issuing from the spurs of the Atlas, made +up in depth what it wanted in breadth of bed, and +ploughed the rich and yielding mould with its rapid +stream, till, after passing Sicca in its way, it fell into +the sea near Carthage. It was but the largest of a +multitude of others, most of them tributaries to it, +deepening as much as they increased it. While channels +had been cut from the larger rills for the irrigation +<pb n="3"/><anchor id="Pg003"/>of the open land, brooks, which sprang up in the gravel +which lay against the hills, had been artificially banked +with cut stones or paved with pebbles; and where +neither springs nor rivulets were to be found, wells had +been dug, sometimes to the vast depth of as much as +200 fathoms, with such effect that the spurting column +of water had in some instances drowned the zealous +workmen who had been the first to reach it. And, +while such were the resources of less favoured localities +or seasons, profuse rains descended over the whole +region for one half of the year, and the thick summer +dews compensated by night for the daily tribute extorted +by an African sun. +</p> + +<p> +At various distances over the undulating surface, +and through the woods, were seen the villas and the +hamlets of that happy land. It was an age when the +pride of architecture had been indulged to the full; +edifices, public and private, mansions and temples, ran +off far away from each market-town or borough, as +from a centre, some of stone or marble, but most of +them of that composite of fine earth, rammed tight by +means of frames, for which the Saracens were afterwards +famous, and of which specimens remain to this +day, as hard in surface, as sharp at the angles, as +when they first were finished. Every here and there, +on hill or crag, crowned with basilicas and temples, +radiant in the sun, might be seen the cities of the +province or of its neighbourhood, Thibursicumber, +Thugga, Laribus, Siguessa, Sufetula, and many others; +while in the far distance, on an elevated table-land +<pb n="4"/><anchor id="Pg004"/>under the Atlas, might be discerned the Colonia +Scillitana, famous about fifty years before the date of +which we write for the martyrdom of Speratus and his +companions, who were beheaded at the order of the +proconsul for refusing to swear by the genius of Rome +and the emperor. +</p> + +<p> +If the spectator now takes his stand, not in Sicca +itself, but about a quarter of a mile to the south-east, +on the hill or knoll on which was placed the cottage of +Agellius, the city itself will enter into the picture. Its +name, Sicca Veneria, if it be derived (as some suppose) +from the Succoth benoth, or <q>tents of the daughters,</q> +mentioned by the inspired writer as an object of pagan +worship in Samaria, shows that it owed its foundation +to the Phœnician colonists of the country. At any +rate, the Punic deities retained their hold upon the +place; the temples of the Tyrian Hercules and of +Saturn, the scene of annual human sacrifices, were +conspicuous in its outline, though these and all other +religious buildings in it looked small beside the mysterious +antique shrine devoted to the sensual rites of +the Syrian Astarte. Public baths and a theatre, a +capitol, imitative of Rome, a gymnasium, the long outline +of a portico, an equestrian statue in brass of the +Emperor Severus, were grouped together above the +streets of a city, which, narrow and winding, ran up +and down across the hill. In its centre an extraordinary +spring threw up incessantly several tons of water +every minute, and was inclosed by the superstitious +gratitude of the inhabitants with the peristylium of a +<pb n="5"/><anchor id="Pg005"/>sacred place. At the extreme back, towards the north, +which could not be seen from the point of view where +we last stationed ourselves, there was a sheer descent +of rock, bestowing on the city, when it was seen at a +distance on the Mediterranean side, the same bold and +striking appearance which attaches to Castro Giovanni, +the ancient Enna, in the heart of Sicily. +</p> + +<p> +And now, withdrawing our eyes from the panorama, +whether in its distant or nearer objects, if we +would at length contemplate the spot itself from which +we have been last surveying it, we shall find almost +as much to repay attention, and to elicit admiration. +We stand in the midst of a farm of some wealthy proprietor, +consisting of a number of fields and gardens, +separated from each other by hedges of cactus or the +aloe. At the foot of the hill, which sloped down on +the side furthest from Sicca to one of the tributaries +of the rich and turbid river of which we have spoken, +a large yard or garden, intersected with a hundred +artificial rills, was devoted to the cultivation of the +beautiful and odoriferous <hi rend="italic">khennah</hi>. A thick grove of +palms seemed to triumph in the refreshment of the +water’s side, and lifted up their thankful boughs towards +heaven. The barley harvest in the fields +which lay higher up the hill was over, or at least was +finishing; and all that remained of the crop was the +incessant and importunate chirping of the <hi rend="italic">cicadæ</hi>, and +the rude booths of reeds and bulrushes, now left to +wither, in which the peasant boys found shelter from +the sun, while in an earlier month they frightened +<pb n="6"/><anchor id="Pg006"/>from the grain the myriads of linnets, goldfinches, +and other small birds who, as in other countries, contested +with the human proprietor the possession of it. +On the south-western slope lies a neat and carefully +dressed vineyard, the vine-stakes of which, dwarfish +as they are, already cast long shadows on the eastern +side. Slaves are scattered over it, testifying to the +scorching power of the sun by their broad <hi rend="italic">petasus</hi>, +and to its oppressive heat by the scanty <hi rend="italic">subligarium</hi>, +which reached from the belt or girdle to the knees. +They are engaged in cutting off useless twigs to +which the last showers of spring have given birth, +and are twisting those which promise fruit into +positions where they will be safe both from the +breeze and from the sun. Everything gives token +of that gracious and happy season which the great +Latin poets have hymned in their beautiful but +heathen strains; when, after the heavy rains, and +raw mists, and piercing winds, and fitful sun-gleams +of a long six months, the mighty mother manifests +herself anew, and pours out the resources of her +innermost being for the life and enjoyment of every +portion of the vast whole;—or, to apply the lines of a +modern bard— +</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 8"><q rend="post: none">When the bare earth, till now</q></l> +<l>Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,</l> +<l>Brings forth the tender grass, whose verdure clads</l> +<l>Her universal face with pleasant green;</l> +<l>Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower,</l> +<l>Opening their various colours, and make gay</l> +<l>Her bosom, swelling sweet; and, these scarce blown,</l> +<pb n="7"/><anchor id="Pg007"/><l>Forth flourishes the clustering vine, forth creeps</l> +<l>The swelling gourd, up stands the corny reed</l> +<l>Embattled in her fields, and the humble shrub,</l> +<l>And bush with frizzled hair implicit; last</l> +<l>Rise, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread</l> +<l>Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gem</l> +<l>Their blossoms; with high woods the hills are crowned</l> +<l>With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side</l> +<l>With borders long the rivers; that earth now</l> +<l>Seems like to heaven, a seat where gods might dwell,</l> +<l>Or wander with delight, and love to haunt</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">Her sacred shades.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +A snatch from some old Greek chant, with something +of plaintiveness in the tone, issues from the +thicket just across the mule-path, cut deep in the +earth, which reaches from the city gate to the +streamlet; and a youth, who had the appearance of +the assistant bailiff or <hi rend="italic">procurator</hi> of the farm, leaped +from it, and went over to the labourers, who were +busy with the vines. His eyes and hair and the cast +of his features spoke of Europe; his manner had something +of shyness and reserve, rather than of rusticity; +and he wore a simple red tunic with half sleeves, +descending to the knee, and tightened round him by a +belt. His legs and feet were protected by boots which +came half up his calf. He addressed one of the slaves, +and his voice was gentle and cheerful. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, Sansar!</q> he cried, <q>I don’t like your way +of managing these branches so well as my own; but +it is a difficult thing to move an old fellow like you. +You never fasten together the shoots which you don’t +cut off, they are flying about quite wild, and the first +<pb n="8"/><anchor id="Pg008"/>ox that passes through the field next month for the +ploughing will break them off.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He spoke in Latin; the man understood it, and +answered him in the same language, though with +deviations from purity of accent and syntax, not +without parallel in the <hi rend="italic">talkee-talkee</hi> of the West Indian +negro. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay, ay, master,</q> he said, <q>ay, ay; but it’s all a +mistake to use the plough at all. The fork does the +work much better, and no fear for the grape. I hide +the tendril under the leaf against the sun, which is +the only enemy we have to consider.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! but the fork does not raise so much dust as +the plough and the heavy cattle which draw it,</q> returned +Agellius; <q>and the said dust does more for +the protection of the tendril than the shade of the +leaf.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But those huge beasts,</q> retorted the slave, <q>turn +up great ridges, and destroy the yard.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It’s no good arguing with an old vinedresser, who +had formed his theory before I was born,</q> said +Agellius good-humouredly; and he passed on into a +garden beyond. +</p> + +<p> +Here were other indications of the happy month +through which the year was now travelling. The +garden, so to call it, was a space of several acres in +extent; it was one large bed of roses, and preparation +was making for extracting their essence, for +which various parts of that country are to this day +celebrated. Here was another set of labourers, and +<pb n="9"/><anchor id="Pg009"/>a man of middle age was surveying them at his leisure. +His business-like, severe, and off-hand manner bespoke +the <hi rend="italic">villicus</hi> or bailiff himself. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Always here,</q> said he, <q>as if you were a slave, +not a Roman, my good fellow; yet slaves have their +Saturnalia; always serving, not worshipping the all-bounteous +and all-blessed. Why are you not taking +holiday in the town?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why should I, sir?</q> asked Agellius; <q>don’t you +recollect old Hiempsal’s saying about <q>one foot in +the slipper, and one in the shoe.</q> Nothing would be +done well if I were a town-goer. You engaged me, +I suppose, to be here, not there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah!</q> answered he, <q>but at this season the empire, +the genius of Rome, the customs of the country, +demand it, and above all the great goddess Astarte +and her genial, jocund month. <q>Parturit almus ager;</q> +you know the verse; do not be out of tune with +Nature, nor clash and jar with the great system of +the universe.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A cloud of confusion, or of distress, passed over +Agellius’s face. He seemed as if he wished to speak; +at length he merely said, <q>It’s a fault on the right side +in a servant, I suppose.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know the way of your people,</q> Vitricus replied, +<q>Corybantians, Phrygians, Jews, what do you call +yourselves? There are so many fantastic religions +now-a-days. Hang yourself outright at your house-door, +if you are tired of living—and you are a sensible +fellow. How can any man, whose head sits right upon +<pb n="10"/><anchor id="Pg010"/>his shoulders, say that life is worth having, and not +worth enjoying?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am a quiet being,</q> answered Agellius, <q>I like the +country, which you think so tame, and care little for +the flaunting town. Tastes differ.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Town! you need not go to Sicca,</q> answered the +bailiff, <q>all Sicca is out of town. It has poured into +the fields, and groves, and river side. Lift up your +eyes, man alive, open your ears, and let pleasure flow +in. Be passive under the sweet breath of the goddess, +and she will fill you with ecstasy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was as Vitricus had said; the solemn feast-days +of Astarte were in course of celebration; of Astarte, +the well-known divinity of Carthage and its dependent +cities, whom Heliogabalus had lately introduced to +Rome, who in her different aspects was at once Urania, +Juno, and Aphrodite, according as she embodied the +idea of the philosopher, the statesman, or the vulgar; +lofty and intellectual as Urania, majestic and commanding +as Juno, seductive as the goddess of sensuality +and excess. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There goes the son of as good and frank a soldier +as ever brandished <anchor id="corr010"/><corr sic="single quote">pilum,</corr></q> said Vitricus to himself, +<q>till in his last years some infernal god took umbrage +at him, and saddled him and his with one of those +absurd superstitions which are as plentiful here as +serpents. He indeed was too old himself to get much +harm from it; but it shows its sour nature in these +young shoots. A good servant, but the plague’s in +his bones, and he will rot.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="11"/><anchor id="Pg011"/> + +<p> +His subordinate’s reflections were of a different character: +<q>The very air breathes sin to-day,</q> he cried; +<q>oh that I did not find the taint of the city in these +works of God! Alas! sweet Nature, the child of the +Almighty, is made to do the fiend’s work, and does it +better than the town. O ye beautiful trees and fair +flowers, O bright sun and balmy air, what a bondage +ye are in, and how do ye groan till you are redeemed +from it! Ye are bond-slaves, but not willingly, as +man is; but how will you ever be turned to nobler +purpose? How is this vast, this solid establishment of +error, the incubus of many thousand years, ever to +have an end? You yourselves, dear ones, will come +to nought first. Anyhow, the public way is no place +for me this evening. They’ll soon be back from their +accursed revelry.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A sound of horns and voices had been heard from +time to time through the woods, as if proceeding from +parties dispersed through them; and in the growing +twilight might be seen lights, glancing and wandering +through the foliage. The cottage in which Agellius +dwelt was on the other side of the hollow bridle-way +which crossed the hill. To make for home he had +first to walk some little distance along it; and +scarcely had he descended into it for that purpose, +when he found himself in the front of a band of +revellers, who were returning from some scene of +impious festivity. They were arrayed in holiday +guise, as far as they studied dress at all; the symbols +of idolatry were on their foreheads and arms; +<pb n="12"/><anchor id="Pg012"/>some of them were intoxicated, and most of them were +women. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why have you not been worshipping, young +fellow?</q> said one. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Comely built,</q> said another, <q>but struck by the +furies. I know the cut of him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>By Astarte,</q> said a third, <q>he’s one of those sly +Gnostics! I have seen the chap before, with his hangdog +look. He is one of Pluto’s whelps, first cousin to +Cerberus, and his name’s Channibal.</q> +</p> + +<p> +On which they all began to shout out, <q>I say, +Channibal, Channibal, here’s a lad that knows you. +Old fellow, come along with us;</q> and the speaker +made a dash at him. +</p> + +<p> +On this Agellius, who was slowly making his way +past them on the broken and steep path, leapt up in +two or three steps to the ridge, and went away in +security; when one woman cried out, <q>O the toad, I +know him now; he is a wizard; he eats little children; +didn’t you see him make that sign? it’s a charm. My +sister did it; the fool left me to be one of them. She +was ever doing so</q> (mimicking the sign of the cross). +<q>He’s a Christian, blight him! he’ll turn us into +beasts.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Cerberus, bite him!</q> said another, <q>he sucks +blood;</q> and taking up a stone, she made it whiz past +his ear as he disappeared from view. A general +scream of contempt and hatred followed. <q>Where’s +the ass’s head? put out the lights, put out the lights! +gibbet him! that’s why he has not been with honest +<pb n="13"/><anchor id="Pg013"/>people down in the vale.</q> And then they struck up +a blasphemous song, the sentiments of which we are +not going even to conceive, much less to attempt in +words. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="II" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="14"/><anchor id="Pg014"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="II. Christianity in Sicca"/> +<head>CHAPTER II.</head> + +<head type="sub">CHRISTIANITY IN SICCA.</head> + +<p> +The revellers went on their way; Agellius went +on his, and made for his lowly and lonely cottage. +He was the elder of the two sons of a Roman legionary +of the Secunda Italica, who had settled with them in +Sicca, where he lost their mother, and died, having in +his old age become a Christian. The fortitude of some +confessors at Carthage in the persecution of Severus +had been the initial cause of his conversion. He +had been posted as one of their guards, and had +attended them to the scene of their martyrdom, +in addition to the civil force, to whom in the proconsulate +the administration of the law was committed. +Therefore, happily for him, it could not fall to his +duty to be their executioner, a function which, however +revolting to his feelings, he might not have had courage +to decline. He remained a pagan, though he could not +shake off the impression which the martyrs had made +upon him; and, after completing his time of service, he +retired to the protection of some great friends in Sicca, +his brother’s home already. Here he took a second +wife of the old Numidian stock, and supported himself +by the produce of a small piece of land which had +been given to him for life by the imperial government. +<pb n="15"/><anchor id="Pg015"/>If trial were necessary in order to keep alive the good +seed which had been sown in his heart, he found a +never-failing supply of that article in the companion of +his declining years. In the hey-day of her youth she +might have been fitted to throw a sort of sunshine, or +rather torchlight, on a military carouse; but now, when +poor Strabo, a man well to do in the world, looking +for peace, had fallen under her arts, he found he had +surrendered his freedom to a malignant, profligate +woman, whose passions made her better company for +evil spirits than for an invalided soldier. Indeed, as +time went on, the popular belief, which she rather +encouraged, went to the extent that she actually did +hold an intercourse with the unseen world; and certainly +she matured in a hatred towards God and man, +which would naturally follow, and not unnaturally +betoken, such intercourse. The more, then, she +inflicted on him her proficiency in these amiable +characteristics, the more he looked out for some consolation +elsewhere; and the more she involved herself +in the guilt or the repute of unlawful arts, the more +was he drawn to that religion, where alone to commune +with the invisible is to hold intercourse with +heaven, not with hell. Whether so great a trial +supplied a more human inducement for looking +towards Christianity, it is impossible to say. Most +men, certainly Roman soldiers, may be considered to +act on mixed motives; but so it was in fact, that, on +his becoming in his last years a Christian, he found, +perhaps discovered, to his great satisfaction, that the +<pb n="16"/><anchor id="Pg016"/>Church did not oblige him to continue or renew a tie +which bound him to so much misery, and that he +might end his days in a tranquillity which his past +life required, and his wife’s presence would have +precluded. He made a good end; he had been +allowed to take the blessed sacrament from the altar +to his own home on the last time he had been able +to attend a <hi rend="italic">synaxis</hi> of the faithful, and thus had +communicated at least six months within his decease; +and the priest who anointed him at the beginning of +his last illness also took his confession. He died, +begging forgiveness of all whom he had injured, and +giving large alms to the poor. This was about the +year 236, in the midst of that long peace of the +Church, which was broken at length by the Decian +persecution. +</p> + +<p> +This peace of well-nigh fifty years had necessarily +a peculiar, and not a happy effect upon the Christians +of the proconsulate. They multiplied in the greater +and the maritime cities, and made their way into +positions of importance, whether in trade or the +governmental departments; they extended their +family connections, and were on good terms with the +heathen. Whatever jealousy might be still cherished +against the Christian name, nevertheless, individual +Christians were treated with civility, and recognised +as citizens; though among the populace there would +be occasions, at the time of the more solemn pagan +feasts, when accidental outbursts might be expected +of the antipathy latent in the community, as we have +<pb n="17"/><anchor id="Pg017"/>been recording in the foregoing chapter. Men of +sense, however, began to understand them better, and +to be more just to the reasonableness of their faith. +This would lead them to scorn Christianity less, but +it would lead them to fear it more. It was no longer +a matter merely for the populace to insult, but for +government deliberately to put down. The prevailing +and still growing unbelief among the lower classes +of the population did but make a religion more +formidable, which, as heathen statesmen felt, was +able to wield the weapons of enthusiasm and zeal +with a force and success unknown even to the most +fortunate impostors among the Oriental or Egyptian +hierophants. The philosophical schools were impressed +with similar apprehensions, and had now for +fifty years been employed in creating and systematising +a new intellectual basis for the received paganism. +</p> + +<p> +But, while the signs of the times led to the anticipation +that a struggle was impending between the +heads of the state religion and of the new worship which +was taking its place, the great body of Christians, +laymen and ecclesiastics, were on better and better +terms, individually, with the members of society, or +what is now called the public; and without losing +their faith or those embers of charity which favourable +circumstances would promptly rekindle, were, +it must be confessed, in a state of considerable relaxation; +they often were on the brink of deplorable +sins, and sometimes fell over the brink. And many +would join the Church on inferior motives as soon as +<pb n="18"/><anchor id="Pg018"/>no great temporal disadvantage attached to the act; +or the families of Christian parents might grow up +with so little of moral or religious education as to +make it difficult to say why they called themselves +members of a divine religion. Mixed marriages would +increase both the scandal and the confusion. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A long repose,</q> says St. Cyprian, speaking of +this very period, <q>had corrupted the discipline which +had come down to us. Every one was applying +himself to the increase of wealth; and, forgetting +both the conduct of the faithful under the Apostles, +and what ought to be their conduct in every age, +with insatiable eagerness for gain devoted himself to +the multiplying of possessions. The priests were +wanting in religious devotedness, the ministers in +entireness of faith; there was no mercy in works, no +discipline in manners. Men wore their beards disfigured, +and woman dyed their faces. Their eyes +were changed from what God made them, and a lying +colour was passed upon the hair. The hearts of the +simple were misled by treacherous artifices, and +brethren became entangled in seductive snares. Ties +of marriage were formed with unbelievers; members +of Christ abandoned to the heathen. Not only rash +swearing was heard, but even false; persons in high +place were swollen with contemptuousness; poisoned +reproaches fell from their mouths, and men were +sundered by unabating quarrels. Numerous bishops, +who ought to be an encouragement and example to +others, despising their sacred calling, engaged them<pb n="19"/><anchor id="Pg019"/>selves in secular vocations, relinquished their sees, +deserted their people, strayed among foreign provinces, +hunted the markets for mercantile profits, and +tried to amass large sums of money, while they had +brethren starving within the Church; took possession +of estates by fraudulent proceedings, and multiplied +their gains by accumulated usuries.</q><note place="foot"><hi rend="italic">Vide</hi> Oxford transl. of St. Cyprian.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The relaxation which would extend the profession +of Christianity in the larger cities would contract or +extinguish it in remote or country places. There +would be little zeal to keep up Churches, which could +not be served without an effort or without secular loss. +Carthage, Utica, Hippo, Milevis, or Curubis, was a +more attractive residence than the towns with uncouth +African names, which amaze the ecclesiastical student +in the Acts of the Councils. Vocations became scarce; +sees remained vacant; congregations died out. This +was pretty much the case with the Church and see of +Sicca. At the time of which we write, history preserves +no record of any bishop as exercising his pastoral +functions in that city. In matter of fact there +was none. The last bishop, an amiable old man, had +in the course of years acquired a considerable extent +of arable land, and employed himself principally, for +lack of more spiritual occupation, in reaping, stacking, +selling, and sending off his wheat for the Roman +market. His deacon had been celebrated in early +youth for his boldness in the chase, and took part in +the capture of lions and panthers (an act of charity +<pb n="20"/><anchor id="Pg020"/>towards the peasants round Sicca) for the Roman +amphitheatre. No priests were to be found, and the +bishop became <hi rend="italic">parochus</hi> till his death. Afterwards +infants and catechumens lost baptism; parents lost +faith, or at least love; wanderers lost repentance and +conversion. For a while there was a flourishing meeting-house +of Tertullianists, who had scared more +humble minds by pronouncing the eternal perdition +of every Catholic; there had also been various descriptions +of Gnostics, who had carried off the clever +youths and restless speculators; and then there had +been the lapse of time, gradually consuming the generation +which had survived the flourishing old days +of the African Church. And the result was, that in the +year 250 it was difficult to say of whom the Church +of Sicca consisted. There was no bishop, no priest, +no deacon. There was the old <hi rend="italic">mansionarius</hi> or +sacristan; there were two or three pious women, +married or single, who owed their religion to good +mothers; there were some slaves who kept to their +faith, no one knew how or why; there were a vast +many persons who ought to be Catholics, but were +heretics, or nothing at all, or all but pagans, and sure +to become pagans on the asking; there were Agellius +and his brother Juba, and how far these two had a +claim to the Christian name we now proceed to +explain. +</p> + +<p> +They were about the ages of seven and eight when +their father died, and they fell under the guardianship +of their uncle, whose residence at Sicca had been one +<pb n="21"/><anchor id="Pg021"/>of the reasons which determined Strabo to settle there. +This man, being possessed of some capital, drove a +thriving trade in idols, large and small, amulets, and +the like instruments of the established superstition. +His father had come to Carthage in the service of one +of the assessors of the proconsul of the day; and his +son, finding competition ran too high to give him prospect +of remuneration in the metropolis, had opened +his statue-shop in Sicca. Those modern arts which +enable an English town in this day to be so fertile in +the production of ware of this description for the +markets of the pagan East, were then unknown; +and Jucundus depended on certain artists whom he +imported, especially on two Greeks, brother and sister, +who came from some isle on the Asian coast, for the +supply of his trade. He was a good-natured man, +self-indulgent, positive, and warmly attached to the +reigning paganism, both as being the law of the land +and the vital principle of the state; and, while he was +really kind to his orphan nephews, he simply abominated, +as in duty bound, the idiotic cant and impudent +fee-fa-fum, to which, in his infallible judgment, poor +old Strabo had betrayed his children. He would +have restored them, you may be quite sure, to their +country and to their country’s gods, had they +acquiesced in the restoration: but in different ways +these little chaps, and he shook his head as he said +it, were difficult to deal with. Agellius had a very +positive opinion of his own on the matter; and as for +Juba, though he had no opinion at all, yet he had an +<pb n="22"/><anchor id="Pg022"/>equally positive aversion to have thrust on him by +another any opinion at all, even in favour of paganism. +He had remained in his catechumen state since he +grew up, because he found himself in it; and though +nothing would make him go forward in his profession of +Christianity, no earthly power would be able to make +him go back. So there he was, like a mule, struck fast +in the door of the Church, and feeling a gratification +in his independence of mind. However, whatever his +profession might be, still, as time went on, he plainly +took after his step-mother, renewed his intercourse with +her after his father’s death, and at length went so far +as to avow that he believed in nothing but the devil, +if even he believed in him. It was scarcely safe, however, +to affirm that the senses of this hopeful lad were +his own. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius, on the other hand, when a boy of six +years old, had insisted on receiving baptism; had perplexed +his father by a manifestation of zeal to which +the old man was a stranger; and had made the good +bishop lose the corn-fleet which was starting for Italy +from his importunity to learn the Catechism. Baptized +he was, confirmed, communicated; but a boy’s nature +is variable, and by the time Agellius had reached adolescence, +the gracious impulses of his childhood had in +some measure faded away, though he still retained his +faith in its first keenness and vigour. But he had no +one to keep him up to his duty; no exhortations, no +example, no sympathy. His father’s friends had taken +him up so far as this, that by an extraordinary favour +<pb n="23"/><anchor id="Pg023"/>they had got him a lease for some years of the property +which Strabo, a veteran soldier, had held of +the imperial government. The care of this small +property fell upon him, and another and more serious +charge was added to it. The long prosperity of the +province had increased the opulence and enlarged the +upper class of Sicca. Officials, contractors, and servants +of the government had made fortunes, and +raised villas in the neighbourhood of the city. Natives +of the place, returning from Rome, or from provincial +service elsewhere, had invested their gains in long +leases of state lands, or of the farms belonging to the +imperial <hi rend="italic">res privata</hi> or privy purse, and had become +virtual proprietors of the rich fields or beautiful +gardens in which they had played as children. One of +such persons, who had had a place in the <hi rend="italic">officium</hi> of +the quæstor, or rather procurator, as he began to be +called, was the employer of Agellius. His property +adjoined the cottage of the latter; and, having first +employed the youth from recollection of his father, he +confided to him the place of under-bailiff from the +talents he showed for farm-business. +</p> + +<p> +Such was his position at the early age of twenty-two; +but honourable as it was in itself, and from the +mode in which it was obtained, no one would consider +it adapted, under the circumstances, to counteract the +religious languor and coldness which had grown upon +him. And in truth he did not know where he stood +further than that he was firm in faith, as we have said, +and had shrunk from a boy upwards, from the vice +<pb n="24"/><anchor id="Pg024"/>and immorality which was the very atmosphere of +Sicca. He might any day be betrayed into some fatal +inconsistency, which would either lead him into sin, or +oblige him abruptly to retrace his steps, and find a +truer and safer position. He was not generally +known to be a Christian, at least for certain, though +he was seen to keep clear of the established religion. +It was not that he hid, so much as that the world did +not care to know, what he believed. In that day there +were many rites and worships which kept to themselves—many +forms of moroseness or misanthropy, as +they were considered, which withdrew their votaries +from the public ceremonial. The Catholic faith +seemed to the multitude to be one of these; it was +only in critical times, when some idolatrous act was +insisted on by the magistrate, that the specific nature +of Christianity was tested and detected. Then at +length it was seen to differ from all other religious +varieties by that irrational and disgusting obstinacy, as +it was felt to be, which had rather suffer torments and +lose life than submit to some graceful, or touching, or +at least trifling observance which the tradition of ages +had sanctioned. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="III" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="25"/><anchor id="Pg025"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="III. Agellius in his cottage"/> +<head>CHAPTER III.</head> + +<head type="sub">AGELLIUS IN HIS COTTAGE.</head> + +<p> +The cottage for which Agellius was making, when +last we had sight of him, was a small brick house consisting +of one room, with a loft over it, and a kitchen +on the side, not very unlike that holy habitation which +once contained the Eternal Word in human form with +His Virgin Mother, and Joseph, their guardian. It was +situated on the declivity of the hill, and, unlike the +gardens of Italy, the space before it was ornamented +with a plot of turf. A noble palm on one side, in +spite of its distance from the water, and a group of +orange-trees on the other, formed a foreground to the +rich landscape which was described in our opening +chapter. The borders and beds were gay with the +lily, the bacchar, amber-coloured and purple, the +golden abrotomus, the red chelidonium, and the variegated +iris. Against the wall of the house were trained +pomegranates, with their crimson blossoms, the star-like +pothos or jessamine, and the symbolical passionflower, +which well became a Christian dwelling. +</p> + +<p> +And it was an intimation of what would be found +within; for on one side of the room was rudely painted +a red cross, with doves about it, as is found in early +<pb n="26"/><anchor id="Pg026"/>Christian shrines to this day. So long had been the +peace of the Church, that the tradition of persecution +seemed to have been lost; and Christians allowed +themselves in the profession of their faith at home, +cautious as they might be in public places; as freely +as now in England, where we do not scruple to raise +crucifixes within our churches and houses, though we +shrink from doing so within sight of the hundred cabs +and omnibuses which rattle past them. Under the +cross were two or three pictures, or rather sketches. +In the centre stood the Blessed Virgin with hands +spread out in prayer, attended by the holy Apostles +Peter and Paul on her right and left. Under this +representation was rudely scratched upon the wall +the word, <q>Advocata,</q> a title which the earliest antiquity +bestows upon her. On a small shelf was placed +a case with two or three rolls or sheets of parchment +in it. The appearance of them spoke of use indeed, +but of reverential treatment. These were the Psalms, +the Gospel according to St. Luke, and St. Paul’s +Epistle to the Romans, in the old Latin version, The +Gospel was handsomely covered, and ornamented with +gold. +</p> + +<p> +The apartment was otherwise furnished with such +implements and materials as might be expected in the +cottage of a countryman: one or two stools and +benches for sitting, a table, and in one corner a heap +of dried leaves and rushes, with a large crimson +coverlet, for rest at night. Elsewhere were two millstones +fixed in a frame, with a handle attached to the +<pb n="27"/><anchor id="Pg027"/>rim of one of them, for grinding corn. Then again, +garden tools; boxes of seeds; a vessel containing +syrup for assuaging the sting of the scorpion; the +<hi rend="italic">asir-rese</hi> or <hi rend="italic">anagallis</hi>, a potent medicine of the class +of poisons, which was taken in wine for the same mischance. +It hung from the beams, with a large bunch +of <hi rend="italic">atsirtiphua</hi>, a sort of camomile, smaller in the flower +and more fragrant than our own, which was used as a +febrifuge. Thence, too, hung a plentiful gathering of +dried grapes, of the kind called <hi rend="italic">duracinæ</hi>; and near the +door a bough of the green <hi rend="italic">bargut</hi> or <hi rend="italic">psyllium</hi>, to drive +away the smaller insects. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Agellius felt the contrast between the ungodly +turmoil from which he had escaped, and the deep +stillness into which he now had entered; but neither +satisfied him quite. There was no repose out of +doors, and no relief within. He was lonely at home, +lonely in the crowd. He needed the sympathy of his +kind; hearts which might beat with his heart; friends +with whom he might share his joys and griefs; +advisers whom he might consult; minds like his own, +who would understand him—minds unlike his own, +who would succour and respond to him. A very +great trial certainly this, in which the soul is flung +back upon itself; and that especially in the case of +the young, for whom memory and experience do so +little, and wayward and excited feelings do so much. +Great gain had it been for Agellius, even in its +natural effect, putting aside higher benefits, to have +been able to recur to sacramental confession; but to +<pb n="28"/><anchor id="Pg028"/>confession he had never been, though once or twice he +had attended the public <hi rend="italic">homologesis</hi> of the Church. +Shall we wonder that the poor youth began to be +despondent and impatient under his trial? Shall we +not feel for him, though we may be sorry for him, +should it turn out that he was looking restlessly into +every corner of the small world of acquaintance in +which his lot lay, for those with whom he could converse +easily, and interchange speculation, argument, +aspiration, and affection? +</p> + +<p> +<q>No one cares for me,</q> he said, as he sat down on +his rustic bench. <q>I am nothing to any one; I am a +hermit, like Elias or John, without the call to be one. +Yet even Elias felt the burden of being one against +many; even John asked at length in expostulation, +<q>Art Thou He that shall come?</q> Am I for ever to +have the knowledge, without the consolation, of the +truth? am I for ever to belong to a great divine +society, yet never see the face of any of its members?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He paused in his thoughts, as if drinking in the +full taste and measure of his unhappiness. And then +his reflections took a turn, and he said, suddenly, +<q>Why do I not leave Sicca? What binds me to my +father’s farm? I am young, and my interest in it will +soon expire. What keeps me from Carthage, Hippo, +Cirtha, where Christians are so many?</q> But here he +stopped as suddenly as he had begun; and a strange +feeling, half pang, half thrill, went through his heart. +And he felt unwilling to pursue his thought, or to +answer the question which he had asked; and he +<pb n="29"/><anchor id="Pg029"/>settled into a dull, stagnant condition of mind, in which +he seemed hardly to think at all. +</p> + +<p> +Be of good cheer, solitary one, though thou art not +a hero yet! There is One that cares for thee, and +loves thee, more than thou canst feel, love, or care for +thyself. Cast all thy care upon Him. He sees thee, +and is watching thee; He is hanging over thee, and +smiles in compassion at thy troubles. His angel, who +is thine, is whispering good thoughts to thee. He +knows thy weakness; He foresees thy errors; but He +holds thee by thy right hand, and thou shalt not, canst +not escape Him. By thy faith, which thou hast so +simply, resolutely retained in the midst of idolatry; +by thy purity, which, like some fair flower, thou hast +cherished in the midst of pollution, He will remember +thee in thy evil hour, and thine enemy shall not prevail +against thee! +</p> + +<p> +What means that smile upon Agellius’s face? It +is the response of the child to the loving parent. He +knows not why, but the cloud is past. He signs himself +with the holy cross, and sweet reviving thoughts +enliven him. He names the sacred Name, and it is +like ointment poured out upon his soul. He rises; +he kneels down under the dread symbol of his salvation; +and he begins his evening prayer. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="IV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="30"/><anchor id="Pg030"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="IV. Juba"/> +<head>CHAPTER IV.</head> + +<head type="sub">JUBA.</head> + +<p> +There was more of heart, less of effort, less of +mechanical habit, in Agellius’s prayers that night, +than there had been for a long while before. He got +up, struck a light, and communicated it to his small +earthen lamp. Its pale rays feebly searched the room +and discovered at the other end of it Juba, who had +silently opened the door, and sat down near it, while +his brother was employed upon his devotions. The +countenance of the latter fell, for he was not to go to +sleep with the resignation and peace which had just +before been poured into his breast. Yet why should +he complain? we receive consolation in this world for +the very purpose of preparing us against trouble to +come. Juba was a tall, swarthy, wild-looking youth. +He was holding his head on one side as he sat, and +his face towards the roof; he nodded obliquely, arched +his eyebrows, pursed up his lips, and crossed his arms, +while he gave utterance to a strange, half-whispered +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He, he, he!</q> he cried; <q>so you are on your knees, +Agellius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why shouldn’t I be at this hour,</q> answered Agellius, +<q>and before I go to bed?</q> +</p> + +<pb n="31"/><anchor id="Pg031"/> + +<p> +<q>O, every one to his taste, of course,</q> said Juba; +<q>but to an unprejudiced mind there is something +unworthy in the act.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why, Juba?</q> said his brother somewhat sharply; +<q>don’t you profess any religion at all?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Perhaps I do, and perhaps I don’t,</q> answered +Juba; <q>but never shall it be a bowing and scraping, +crawling and cringing religion. You may take your +oath of that.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What ails you to come here at this time of +night?</q> asked Agellius; <q>who asked for your company?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will come just when I please,</q> said the other, +<q>and go when I please. I won’t give an account of +my actions to any one, God or man, devil or priest, +much less to you. What right have you to ask me?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then,</q> said Agellius, <q>you’ll never get peace or +comfort as long as you live, that I can tell you, let +alone the life to come.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba kept silent for awhile, and bit his nails with +a smile on his face, and his eyes looking askance upon +the ground. <q>I want no more than I have; I am well +content,</q> he said. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Contented with yourself,</q> retorted Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Of course,</q> Juba replied; <q>whom ought one to wish +rather to content?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I suppose, your Creator.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Creator,</q> answered Juba, tossing back his head +with an air of superiority; <q>Creator;—that, I consider, +is an assumption.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="32"/><anchor id="Pg032"/> + +<p> +<q>O, my dear brother,</q> cried Agellius, <q>don’t go on +in that dreadful way!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>Go on!</q> who began? Is one man to lay down +the law, and not the other too? Is it so generally +received, this belief of a Creator? Who have brought +in the belief? The Christians. ’Tis the Christians +that began it. The world went on very well without +it before their rise. And now, who began the dispute +but you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, if I did,</q> answered Agellius; <q>but I didn’t. +You began in coming here; what in the world are +you come for? by what right do you disturb me at +this hour?</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was no appearance of anger in Juba; he +seemed as free from feeling of every kind, from what +is called <hi rend="italic">heart</hi>, as if he had been a stone. In answer +to his brother’s question, he quietly said, <q>I have been +down there,</q> pointing in the direction of the woods. +</p> + +<p> +An expression of sharp anguish passed over his +brother’s face, and for a moment he was silent. At +length he said, <q>You don’t mean to say you have been +down to poor mother?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I do,</q> said Juba. +</p> + +<p> +There was again a silence for a little while; then +Agellius renewed the conversation. <q>You have fallen +off sadly, Juba, in the course of the last several years.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba tossed his head, and crossed his legs. +</p> + +<p> +<q>At one time I thought you would have been baptized,</q> +his brother continued. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That was my weakness,</q> answered Juba; <q>it was +<pb n="33"/><anchor id="Pg033"/>a weak moment: it was just after the old bishop’s +death. He had been kind to me as a child; and he +said some womanish words to me, and it was excusable +in me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh that you had yielded to your wish!</q> cried +Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +Juba looked superior. <q>The fit passed,</q> he said. +<q>I have come to a juster view of things. It is not +every one who has the strength of mind. I consider +that a logical head comes to a very different +conclusion;</q> and he began wagging his own, to +the right and left, as if it were coming to a great +many. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> said Agellius, gaping, and desiring at least +to come to a conclusion of the altercation, <q>what +brings you here so late?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I was on my way to Jucundus,</q> he answered, <q>and +have been delayed by the Succoth-benoth in the grove +across the river.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here they were thrown back upon their controversy. +Agellius turned quite white. <q>My poor fellow,</q> he +said, <q>what were you there for?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>To see the world,</q> answered Juba; <q>it’s unmanly +not to see it. Why shouldn’t I see it? It was good +fun. I despise them all, fools and idiots. There +they were, scampering about, or lying like hogs, all in +liquor. Apes and swine! However, I will do as +others do, if I please. I will be as drunk as they, +when I see good. I am my own master, and it would +be no kind of harm.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="34"/><anchor id="Pg034"/> + +<p> +<q>No harm! why, is it no harm to become an ape or +a hog?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You don’t take just views of human nature,</q> +answered Juba, with a self-satisfied air. <q>Our first +duty is to seek our own happiness. If a man thinks +it happier to be a hog, why, let him be a hog,</q> and he +laughed. <q>This is where you are narrow-minded. I +shall seek my own happiness, and try this way, if I +please.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Happiness!</q> cried Agellius; <q>where have you +been picking up all this stuff? Can you call such +detestable filth happiness?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What do you know about such matters?</q> asked +Juba. <q>Did you ever see them? Did you ever try +them? You would be twice the man you are if you +had. You will not be a man till you do. You are +carried off your legs in your own way. I’d rather get +drunk every day than fall down on all fours as you do, +crawling on your stomach like a worm, and whining +like a hound that has been beaten.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now, as I live, you shan’t stop here one instant +longer!</q> cried out Agellius, starting up. <q>Be off with +you! get away! what do you come here to blaspheme +for? who wants you? who asked for you? Go! go, I +say! take yourself <anchor id="corr034"/><corr sic="off?">off!</corr> Why don’t you go? Keep +your ribaldry for others.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am as good as you any day,</q> said Juba. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I don’t set myself up,</q> answered Agellius, <q>but +it’s impossible to confound Christian and unbeliever as +you do.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="35"/><anchor id="Pg035"/> + +<p> +<q>Christian and unbeliever!</q> said Juba, slowly. <q>I +suppose, when they are a-courting each other, they <hi rend="italic">are</hi> +confounded.</q> He looked hard at Agellius, as if he +thought he had hit a blot. Then he continued, <q>If I +<hi rend="italic">were</hi> a Christian, I’d be so in earnest: else I’d be an +honest heathen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius coloured somewhat, and sat down, as if +under embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I despise you,</q> said Juba; <q>you have not the +pluck to be a Christian. Be consistent, and fizz upon +a stake; but you’re not made of that stuff. You’re +even afraid of uncle. Nay, you can be caught by +those painted wares, about which, when it suits your +purpose, you can be so grave. I despise you,</q> he +continued, <q>I despise you, and the whole kit of you. +What’s the difference between you and another? +Your people say, <q>Earth’s a vanity, life’s a dream, riches +a deceit, pleasure a snare. Fratres charissimi, the time +is short;</q> but who love earth and life and riches and +pleasure better than they? You are all of you as fond +of the world, as set upon gain, as chary of reputation, as +ambitious of power, as the jolly old heathen, who, you +say, is going the way of the pit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is one thing to have a conscience,</q> answered +Agellius; <q>another thing to act upon it. The conscience +of these poor people is darkened. You had a +conscience once.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Conscience, conscience,</q> said Juba. <q>Yes, certainly, +once I had a conscience. Yes, and once I +had a bad chill, and went about chattering and +<pb n="36"/><anchor id="Pg036"/>shivering; and once I had a game leg, and then I +went limping; and so, you see, I once on a time +had a conscience. O yes, I have had many consciences +before now—white, black, yellow, and green; +they were all bad; but they are all gone, and now I +have none.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius said nothing; his one wish, as may be +supposed, was to get rid of so unwelcome a visitor. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The truth is,</q> continued Juba, with the air of +a teacher—<q>the truth is, that religion was a fashion +with me, which is now gone by. It was the complexion +of a particular stage of my life. I was +neither the better nor the worse for it. It was an +accident, like the bloom on my face, which soon,</q> +he said, spreading his fingers over his dirty-coloured +cheeks, and stroking them, <q>which soon will disappear. +I acted according to the feeling, while it lasted; but +I can no more recall it than my first teeth, or the down +on my chin. It’s among the things that were.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius still keeping silence from weariness and +disgust, he looked at him in a significant way, and said, +slowly, <q>I see how it is; I have penetration enough to +perceive that you don’t believe a bit more about religion +than I do.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You must not say that under my roof,</q> cried +Agellius, feeling he must not let his brother’s charge +pass without a protest. <q>Many are my sins, but unbelief +is not one of them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba tossed his head. <q>I think I can see through +a stone slab as well as any one,</q> he said. <q>It is +<pb n="37"/><anchor id="Pg037"/>as I have said; but you’re too proud to confess it. +It’s part of your hypocrisy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> said Agellius coldly, <q>let’s have done. +It’s getting late, Juba; you’ll be missed at home. +Jucundus will be inquiring for you, and some of those +revelling friends of yours may do you a mischief by +the way. Why, my good fellow,</q> he continued, in surprise, +<q>you have no leggings. The scorpions will catch +hold of you to a certainty in the dark. Come, let me +tie some straw wisps about you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No fear of scorpions for me,</q> answered Juba; <q>I +have some real good amulets for the occasion, which +even <hi rend="italic">boola-kog</hi> and <hi rend="italic">uffah</hi> will respect.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, he passed out of the room as unceremoniously +as he had entered it, and took the direction +of the city, talking to himself, and singing snatches of +wild airs as he went along, throwing back and shaking +his head, and now and then uttering a sharp internal +laugh. Disdaining to follow the ordinary path, he +dived down into the thick and wet grass, and scrambled +through the ravine, which the public road crossed before +it ascended the hill. Meanwhile he accompanied his +quickened pace with a louder strain, and it ran as +follows:— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">The little black Moor is the mate for me,</q></l> +<l>When the night is dark, and the earth is free,</l> +<l>Under the limbs of the broad yew-tree.</l> +</lg><lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">’Twas Father Cham that planted that yew,</q></l> +<l>And he fed it fat with the bloody dew</l> +<l>Of a score of brats, as his lineage grew.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="38"/><anchor id="Pg038"/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Footing and flaunting it, all in the night,</q></l> +<l>Each lock flings fire, each heel strikes light;</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">No lamps need they, whose breath is bright.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +Here he was interrupted by a sudden growl, which +sounded almost under his feet, and some wild animal +was seen to slink away. Juba showed no surprise; +he had taken out a small metal idol, and whispering +some words to it, had presented it to the animal. He +clambered up the bank, gained the city gate, and made +his way for his uncle’s dwelling, which was near the +temple of Astarte. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="V" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="39"/><anchor id="Pg039"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="V. Jucundus at supper"/> +<head>CHAPTER V.</head> + +<head type="sub">JUCUNDUS AT SUPPER.</head> + +<p> +The house of Jucundus was closed for the night when +Juba reached it, or you would see, were you his companion, +that it was one of the most showy shops in +Sicca. It was the image-store of the place, and set +out for sale, not articles of statuary alone, but of metal, +of mosaic work, and of jewellery, as far as they were +dedicated to the service of paganism. It was bright +with the many colours adopted in the embellishment +of images, and the many lights which silver and gold, +brass and ivory, alabaster, gypsum, talc, and glass +reflected. Shelves and cabinets were laden with +wares; both the precious material, and the elaborated +trinket. All tastes were suited, the popular and the +refined, the fashion of the day and the love of the +antique, the classical and the barbarian devotion. +There you might see the rude symbols of invisible +powers, which, originating in deficiency of art, had +been perpetuated by reverence for the past: the +mysterious cube of marble sacred among the Arabs, +the pillar which was the emblem of Mercury or +Bacchus, the broad-based cone of Heliogabalus, the +pyramid of Paphos, and the tile or brick of Juno. +</p> + +<pb n="40"/><anchor id="Pg040"/> + +<p> +There, too, were the unmeaning blocks of stone with +human heads, which were to be dressed out in rich +robes, and to simulate the human form. There were +other articles besides, as portable as these were unmanageable: +little Junos, Mercuries, Dianas, and +Fortunas, for the bosom or the girdle. Household gods +were there, and the objects of personal devotion: Minerva +or Vesta, with handsome niches or shrines in +which they might reside. There, too, were the brass +crowns, or <hi rend="italic">nimbi</hi> which were intended to protect the +heads of the gods from bats and birds. There you +might buy, were you a heathen, rings with heads on +them of Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Serapis, and above all +Astarte. You would find there the rings and signets of +the Basilidians; amulets too of wood or ivory: figures +of demons, preternaturally ugly; little skeletons, and +other superstitious devices. It would be hard, indeed, +if you could not be pleased, whatever your religious +denomination—unless indeed you were determined to +reject all the appliances and objects of idolatry indiscriminately—and +in that case you would rejoice that +it was night when you arrived there, and, in particular, +that darkness swallowed up other appliances and +objects of pagan worship, which to darkness were +due by a particular title, and by darkness were best +shrouded, till the coming of that day when all things, +good and evil, shall be made light. +</p> + +<p> +The shop, as we have said, was closed, concealed +from view by large lumbering shutters, and made +secure by heavy bars of wood. So we must enter by +<pb n="41"/><anchor id="Pg041"/>the passage or vestibule on the right side, and that +will conduct us into a modest <hi rend="italic">atrium</hi>, with an <hi rend="italic">impluvium</hi> +on one side, and on the other the <hi rend="italic">triclinium</hi> or +supper-room, backing the shop. Jucundus had been +pleasantly engaged in a small supper-party; and, mindful +that a <hi rend="italic">symposium</hi> should lie within the number of +the Graces and of the Muses, he had confined his guests +to two, the young Greek Aristo, who was one of his +principal artists, and Cornelius the son of a freedman +of a Roman of distinction, who had lately got a place +in one of the <hi rend="italic">scrinia</hi> of the proconsular <hi rend="italic">officium</hi>, and +had migrated into the province from the imperial city +where he had spent his best days. +</p> + +<p> +The dinner had not been altogether suitable to +modern ideas of good living. The grapes from Tacape, +and the dates from the lake Tritonis, the white and +black figs, the nectarines and peaches, and the watermelons, +address themselves to the imagination of an +Englishman, as well as of an African of the third century. +So also might the liquor derived from the sap +or honey of the Getulian palm, and the sweet wine, +called <hi rend="italic">melilotus</hi>, made from the poetical fruit found +upon the coast of the Syrtis. He would have been +struck, too, with the sweetness of the mutton; but he +would have asked what the sheep’s tails were before +he tasted them, and found how like marrow the firm +substance ate of which they consisted. He would +have felt he ought to admire the roes of mullets, +pressed and dried, from Mauritania; but he would +have thought twice before he tried the lion cutlets +<pb n="42"/><anchor id="Pg042"/>though they had the flavour of veal, and the additional +<hi rend="italic">goût</hi> of being imperial property, and poached from a +preserve. But when he saw the indigenous dish, the +very haggis and cock-a-leekie of Africa, in the shape of—(alas! +alas! it <hi rend="italic">must</hi> be said, with whatever apology +for its introduction)—in shape, then, of a delicate +puppy, served up with <anchor id="corr042"/><corr sic="tomatos">tomatoes</corr>, with its head between +its fore-paws, we consider he would have risen from +the unholy table, and thought he had fallen upon the +hospitality of some sorceress of the neighbouring forest. +However, to that festive board our Briton was not +invited, for he had some previous engagement that +evening, either of painting himself with woad, or of +hiding himself to the chin in the fens; so that nothing +occurred to disturb the harmony of the party, and the +good humour and easy conversation which was the +effect of such excellent cheer. +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius had been present at the Secular Games in +the foregoing year, and was full of them, of Rome, +and of himself in connection with it, as became so +genuine a cockney of the imperial period. He was full +of the high patriotic thoughts which so solemn a celebration +had kindled within him. <q>O great Rome!</q> +he said, <q>thou art first, and there is no second. In +that wonderful pageant which these eyes saw last year +was embodied her majesty, was promised her eternity. +We die, she lives. I say, <hi rend="italic">let</hi> a man die. It’s well for +him to take hemlock, or open a vein, after having seen +the Secular Games. What was there to live for? I +felt it; life was gone; its best gifts flat and insipid +<pb n="43"/><anchor id="Pg043"/>after that great day. Excellent—Tauromenian, I +suppose? We know it in Rome. Fill up my cup. I +drink to the genius of the emperor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He was full of his subject, and soon resumed it. +<q>Fancy the Campus Martius lighted up from one end +to the other. It was the finest thing in the world. A +large plain, covered, not with streets, not with woods, +but broken and crossed with superb buildings in the +midst of groves, avenues of trees, and green grass, +down to the water’s edge. There’s nothing that isn’t +there. Do you want the grandest temples in the +world, the most spacious porticoes, the longest racecourses? +there they are. Do you want <hi rend="italic">gymnasia</hi>? +there they are. Do you want arches, statues, obelisks? +you find them there. There you have at one end the +stupendous mausoleum of Augustus, cased with white +marble, and just across the river the huge towering +mound of Hadrian. At the other end you have +the noble Pantheon of Agrippa, with its splendid +Syracusan columns, and its dome glittering with silver +tiles. Hard by are the baths of Alexander, with their +beautiful groves. Ah! my good friend! I shall +have no time to drink if I go on. Beyond are the +numerous chapels and fanes which fringe the base +of the Capitoline hill; the tall column of Antoninus +comes next, with its adjacent basilica, where is kept +the authentic list of the provinces of the empire, and +of the governors, each a king in power and dominion, +who are sent out to them. Well, I am now only +beginning. Fancy, I say, this magnificent region all +<pb n="44"/><anchor id="Pg044"/>lighted up; every temple to and fro, every bath, every +grove, gleaming with innumerable lamps and torches. +No, not even the gods of Olympus have anything that +comes near it. Rome is the greatest of all divinities. +In the dead of night all was alive; then it was, +when nature sleeps exhausted, Rome began the +solemn sacrifices to commemorate her thousand years. +On the banks of the Tiber, which had seen Æneas +land, and Romulus ascend to the gods, the clear red +flame shot up as the victims burned. The music of +ten thousand horns and flutes burst forth, and the +sacred dances began upon the greensward. I am too +old to dance; but, I protest, even I stood up and +threw off. We danced through three nights, dancing +the old millenary out, dancing the new millenary +in. We were all Romans, no strangers, no slaves. +It was a solemn family feast, the feast of all the +Romans.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then we came in for the feast,</q> said Aristo; <q>for +Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to all freemen all +over the world. We are all of us Romans, recollect, +Cornelius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! that was another matter—a condescension,</q> +answered Cornelius. <q>Yes, in a certain sense, I grant +it; but it was a political act.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I warrant you,</q> retorted Aristo, <q>most political. +We were to be fleeced, do you see? so your imperial +government made us Romans, that we might have the +taxes of Romans, and that in addition to our own. +You’ve taxed us double; and as for the privilege of +<pb n="45"/><anchor id="Pg045"/>citizenship, much it is, by Hercules, when every snob +has it who can wear a <hi rend="italic">pileus</hi> or cherish his hair.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! but you should have seen the procession from +the Capitol,</q> continued Cornelius, <q>on, I think, the +second day; from the Capitol to the Circus, all down +the Via Sacra. Hosts of strangers there, and provincials +from the four corners of the earth, but not in +the procession. There you saw, all in one <hi rend="italic">coup-d’œil</hi>, +the real good blood of Rome, the young blood of the +new generation, and promise of the future; the sons +of patrician and consular families, of imperators, +orators, conquerors, statesmen. They rode at the head +of the procession, fine young fellows, six abreast; and +still more of them on foot. Then came the running +horses and the chariots, the boxers, the wrestlers, +and other combatants, all ready for the competition. +The whole school of gladiators then turned out, boys +and all, with their masters, dressed in red tunics, and +splendidly armed. They formed three bands, and they +went forward gaily, dancing and singing the Pyrrhic. +By-the-bye, a thousand pair of gladiators fought +during the games—a round thousand, and such clean-made, +well-built fellows, and they came against each +other so gallantly! You should have see it; <hi rend="italic">I</hi> +can’t go through it. There was a lot of satyrs, +jumping and frisking, in burlesque of the martial +dances which preceded them. There was a crowd of +trumpeters and horn-blowers; ministers of the sacrifices +with their victims, bulls and rams, dressed up +with gay wreaths; drivers, butchers, haruspices, +<pb n="46"/><anchor id="Pg046"/>heralds; images of gods with their cars of ivory or +silver, drawn by tame lions and elephants. I can’t +recollect the order. O! but the grandest thing of +all was the Carmen, sung by twenty-seven noble +youths, and as many noble maidens, taken for the +purpose from the bosoms of their families to propitiate +the gods of Rome. The flamens, augurs, colleges of +priests, it was endless. Last of all came the emperor +himself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s the late man,</q> observed Jucundus, <q>Philip; +no bad riddance his death, if all’s true that’s said of +him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>All emperors are good in their time and way,</q> +answered Cornelius; <q>Philip was good then, and Decius +is good now;—whom the gods preserve!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True,</q> said Aristo, <q>I understand; an emperor +cannot do wrong, except in dying, and then everything +goes wrong with him. His death is his first bad deed; +he ought to be ashamed of it; it somehow turns all +his great virtues into vices.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! no one was so good an emperor as our man, +Gordianus,</q> said Jucundus, <q>a princely old man, +living and dead; patron of trade and of the arts; +such villas! he had enormous revenues. Poor old +gentleman! and his son too. I never shall forget the +day when the news came that he was gone. Let me +see, it was shortly after that old fool Strabo’s death—I +mean my brother; a good thirteen years ago. +All Africa was in tears; there was no one like +Gordianus.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="47"/><anchor id="Pg047"/> + +<p> +<q>That’s old world philosophy,</q> said Aristo; +<q>Jucundus, you must go to school. Don’t you see +that all that is, is right; and all that was, is wrong? +<q>Te nos facimus, Fortuna, deam,</q> says your poet; +well, I drink <q>to the fortunes of Rome,</q>—while it +lasts.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You’re a young man,</q> answered Cornelius, <q>a +very young man, and a Greek. Greeks never understand +Rome. It’s most difficult to understand us. +It’s a science. Look at this medal, young gentleman; +it was one of those struck at the games. Is it +not grand? <q>Novum sæculum,</q> and on the reverse, +<q>Æternitati.</q> Always changing, always imperishable. +Emperors rise and fall; Rome remains. The eternal +city! Isn’t this good philosophy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Truly, a most beautiful medal,</q> said Aristo, +examining it, and handing it on to his host. <q>You +might make an amulet of it, Jucundus. But as to +eternity, why, that is a very great word; and, if I +mistake not, other states have been eternal before +Rome. Ten centuries is a very respectable eternity; +be content, Rome is eternal already, and may die +without prejudice to the medal.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Blaspheme not,</q> replied Cornelius: <q>Rome is +healthier, more full of life, and promises more, than +at any former time, you may rely upon it. <q>Novum +sæculum!</q> she has the age of the eagle, and will but +cast her feathers to begin a fresh thousand.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But Egypt,</q> interposed Aristo, <q>if old Herodotus +speaks true, scarcely had a beginning. Up and up, +<pb n="48"/><anchor id="Pg048"/>the higher you go, the more dynasties of Egyptian +kings do you find. And we hear strange reports of +the nations in the far east, beyond the Ganges.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But I tell you, man,</q> rejoined Cornelius, <q>Rome +is a city of kings. That one city, in this one year, +has as many kings at once as those of all the kings +of all the dynasties of Egypt put together. Sesostris, +and the rest of them, what are they to imperators, +prefects, proconsuls, <hi rend="italic">vicarii</hi>, and <hi rend="italic">rationales</hi>? Look +back at Lucullus, Cæsar, Pompey, Sylla, Titus, Trajan. +What’s old Cheops’ pyramid to the Flavian amphitheatre? +What is the many-gated Thebes to Nero’s +golden house, while it was? What the grandest +palace of Sesostris or Ptolemy but a second-rate villa +of any one of ten thousand Roman citizens? Our +houses stand on acres of ground, they ascend as high +as the Tower of Babylon; they swarm with columns +like a forest; they pullulate into statues and pictures. +The walls, pavements, and ceilings are dazzling from +the lustre of the rarest marble, red and yellow, green +and mottled. Fountains of perfumed water shoot +aloft from the floor, and fish swim in rocky channels +round about the room, waiting to be caught and killed +for the banquet. We dine; and we feast on the head +of the ostrich, the brains of the peacock, the liver of +the bream, the milk of the murena, and the tongue of +the flamingo. A flight of doves, nightingales, beccaficoes +are concentrated into one dish. On great occasions +we eat a phœnix. Our saucepans are of silver, +our dishes of gold, our vases of onyx, and our cups of +<pb n="49"/><anchor id="Pg049"/>precious stones. Hangings and carpets of Tyrian +purple are around us and beneath us, and we lie on +ivory couches. The choicest wines of Greece and +Italy crown our goblets, and exotic flowers crown our +heads. In come troops of dancers from Lydia, or +pantomimes from Alexandria, to entertain both eye +and mind; or our noble dames and maidens take a +place at our tables; they wash in asses’ milk, they +dress by mirrors as large as fish-ponds, and they +glitter from head to foot with combs, brooches, necklaces, +collars, ear-rings, armlets, bracelets, finger-rings, +girdles, stomachers, and anklets, all of diamond and +emerald. Our slaves may be counted by thousands, +and they come from all parts of the world. Everything +rare and precious is brought to Rome: the gum +of Arabia, the nard of Assyria, the papyrus of Egypt, +the citron-wood of Mauretania, the bronze of Ægina, +the pearls of Britain, the cloth of gold of Phrygia, +the fine webs of Cos, the embroidery of Babylon, the +silks of Persia, the lion-skins of Getulia, the wool of +Miletus, the plaids of Gaul. Thus we live, an imperial +people, who do nothing but enjoy themselves +and keep festival the whole year; and at length we +die—and then we burn: we burn—in stacks of cinnamon +and cassia, and in shrouds of <hi rend="italic">asbestos</hi>, making +emphatically a good end of it. Such are we Romans, +a great people. Why, we are honoured wherever we +go. There’s my master, there’s myself; as we came +here from Italy, I protest we were nearly worshipped +as demi-gods.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="50"/><anchor id="Pg050"/> + +<p> +<q>And perhaps some fine morning,</q> said Aristo, +<q>Rome herself will burn in cinnamon and cassia, and +in all her burnished Corinthian brass and scarlet +bravery, the old mother following her children to the +funeral pyre. One has heard something of Babylon, +and its drained moat, and the soldiers of the +Persian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A pause occurred in the conversation as one of +Jucundus’s slaves entered with fresh wine, larger +goblets, and a vase of snow from the Atlas. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="VI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="51"/><anchor id="Pg051"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="VI. Goths and Christians"/> +<head>CHAPTER VI.</head> + +<head type="sub">GOTHS AND CHRISTIANS.</head> + +<p> +Cornelius was full of his subject, and did not attend +to the Greek. <q>The wild-beasts hunts,</q> he continued, +<q>ah, those hunts during the games, Aristo! +they were a spectacle for the gods. Twenty-two +elephants, ten panthers, ten hyænas (by-the-bye, a +new beast, not strange, however, to you here, I suppose), +ten camelopards, a hippopotamus, a rhinoceros—I +can’t go through the list. Fancy the circus planted +throughout for the occasion, and turned into a park, +and then another set of wild animals, Getes and Sarmatians, +Celts and Goths, sent in against them, to +hunt down, capture and kill them, or to be killed +themselves.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, the Goths!</q> answered Aristo; <q>those fellows +give you trouble, though, now and then. Perhaps +they will give you more. There is a report +in the prætorium to-day that they have crossed the +Danube.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, they <hi rend="italic">will</hi> give us trouble,</q> said Cornelius, +drily; <q>they <hi rend="italic">have</hi> given us trouble, and they will +give us more. The Samnites gave us trouble, and +<pb n="52"/><anchor id="Pg052"/>our friends of Carthage here, and Jugurtha, and +Mithridates; trouble, yes, that is the long and the +short of it; they will give us trouble. Is trouble a +new thing to Rome?</q> he asked, stretching out his +arm, as if he were making a speech after dinner, and +giving a toast. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Goths give trouble, and take a bribe,</q> retorted +Aristo; <q>this is what trouble means in their +case: it’s a troublesome fellow who hammers at our +door till we pay his reckoning. It is troublesome to +raise the means to buy them off. And the example +of these troublesome savages is catching; it was lately +rumoured that the Carpians had been asking the same +terms for keeping quiet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It would ill become the majesty of Rome to soil +her fingers with the blood of such vermin,</q> said Cornelius; +<q>she ignores them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And therefore she most majestically bleeds us +instead,</q> answered Aristo, <q>that she may have treasure +to give them. We are not so troublesome as +they; the more’s the pity. No offence to you, however, +or to the emperor, or to great Rome, Cornelius. +We are over our cups; it’s only a game of politics, +you know, like chess or the <hi rend="italic">cottabus</hi>. Maro bids you +<q>parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos;</q> but you +have changed your manners. You coax the Goths +and bully the poor African.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Africa can show fight, too,</q> interposed Jucundus, +who had been calmly listening and enjoying his own +wine; <q>witness Thysdrus. That was giving every +<pb n="53"/><anchor id="Pg053"/>rapacious Quæstor a lesson that he may go too far, +and find a dagger when he demands a purse.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He was alluding to the revolt of Africa, which led +to the downfall of the tyrant Maximin and the exaltation +of the Gordians, when the native landlords armed +their peasantry, killed the imperial officer, and raised +the standard of rebellion in the neighbouring town +from impatience of exactions under which they +suffered. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No offence, I say, Cornelius, no offence to eternal +Rome,</q> said Aristo, <q>but you have explained to us +why you weigh so heavy on us. I’ve always heard +it was a fortune at Rome for a man to have found out +a new tax. Vespasian did his best; but now you +tax our smoke, and our very shadow; and Pescennius +threatened to tax the air we breathe. We’ll play at +riddles, and you shall solve the following:—Say who +is she that eats her own limbs, and grows eternal upon +them? Ah, the Goths will take the measure of her +eternity!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Goths!</q> said Jucundus, who was warming +into conversational life, <q>the Goths! no fear of the +Goths; but,</q> and he nodded significantly, <q>look at +home; we have more to fear indoors than abroad.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He means the prætorians,</q> said Cornelius to +Aristo, condescendingly; <q>I grant you that there have +been several untoward affairs; we have had our problem, +but it’s a thing of the past, it never can come +again. I venture to say that the power of the prætorians +is at an end. That murder of the two emperors +<pb n="54"/><anchor id="Pg054"/>the other day was the worst job they ever did; it has +turned the public opinion of the whole world against +them. I have no fear of the prætorians.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I don’t mean prætorians more than Goths,</q> said +Jucundus; <q>no, give me the old weapons, the old +maxims of Rome, and I defy the scythe of Saturn. +Do the soldiers march under the old ensign? do they +swear by the old gods? do they interchange the good +old signals and watchwords? do they worship the +fortune of Rome; then I say we are safe. But do we +take to new ways? do we trifle with religion? do we +make light of Jupiter, Mars, Romulus, the augurs, +and the ancilia? then I say, not all our shows and +games, our elephants, hyænas, and hippopotamuses, will +do us any good. It was not the best thing, no, not the +best thing that the soldiers did, when they invested +that Philip with the purple. But he is dead and gone.</q> +And he sat up and leant on his elbow. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! but it will be all set right now,</q> said Cornelius, +<q><hi rend="italic">you’ll</hi> see.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He’d be a reformer, that Philip,</q> continued +Jucundus, <q>and put down an enormity. Well, they +call it an enormity; let it be an enormity. He’d +put it down; but why? there’s the point; why? +It’s no secret at all,</q> and his voice grew angry, +<q>that that hoary-headed Atheist Fabian was at +the bottom of it; Fabian, the Christian. I hate +reforms.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, we had long wished to do it,</q> answered +Cornelius, <q>but could not manage it. Alexander +<pb n="55"/><anchor id="Pg055"/>attempted it near twenty years ago. It’s what philosophers +have always aimed at.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The gods consume philosophers and the Christians +together!</q> said Jucundus devoutly. <q>There’s +little to choose between them, except that the Christians +are the filthier animal of the two. But both are +ruining the most glorious political structure that the +world ever saw. I am not over-fond of Alexander +either.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thank you in the name of philosophy,</q> said the +Greek. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And thank you in the name of the Christians,</q> +chimed in Juba. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s good!</q> cried Jucundus; <q>the first word +that hopeful youth has spoken since he came in, and +he takes on him to call himself a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I’ve a right to do so, if I choose,</q> said Juba; <q>I’ve +a right to be a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Right! O yes, right! ha, ha!</q> answered Jucundus, +<q>right! Jove help the lad! by all manner of means. +Of course, you have a right to go <hi rend="italic">in malam rem</hi> in +whatever way you please.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am my own master,</q> said Juba; <q>my father +was a Christian. I suppose it depends on myself to +follow him or not, according to my fancy, and as long +as I think fit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fancy! think fit!</q> answered Jucundus, <q>you +pompous little mule! Yes, go and be a Christian, +my dear child, as your doting father went. Go, like +him, to the priest of their mysteries; be spit on, +<pb n="56"/><anchor id="Pg056"/>stripped, dipped; feed on little boys’ marrow and +brains; worship the ass; and learn all the foul magic +of the sect. And then be delated and taken up, and +torn to shreds on the rack, or thrown to the lions +and so go to Tartarus, if Tartarus there be, in the +way you think fit. You’ll harm none but yourself, +my boy. I don’t fear such as you, but the deeper +heads.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba stood up with a look of offended dignity, and, +as on former occasions, tossed the head which had +been by implication disparaged. <q>I despise you,</q> he +said. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, but you are hard on the Christians,</q> said +Aristo. <q>I have heard them maintain that their superstition, +if adopted, would be the salvation of Rome. +They maintain that the old religion is gone or going +out; that something new is wanted to keep the empire +together; and that their worship is just fitted to the +times.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>All I say to the vipers,</q> said Jucundus, <q>is, <q>Let +well alone. We did well enough without you; we +did well enough till you sprang up.</q> A plague on their +insolence; as if Jew or Egyptian could do aught for us +when Numa and the Sibyl fail. That is what I say, +Let Rome be true to herself and nothing can harm +her; let her shift her foundation, and I would not buy +her for this water-melon,</q> he said, taking a suck at it. +<q>Rome alone can harm Rome. Recollect old Horace, +<q>Suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit.</q> He was a prophet. +If she falls, it is by her own hand.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="57"/><anchor id="Pg057"/> + +<p> +<q>I agree,</q> said Cornelius; <q>certainly, to set up any +new worship is treason; not a doubt of it. The gods +keep us from such ingratitude! We have grown +great by means of them, and they are part and parcel +of the law of Rome. But there is no great chance of +our forgetting this; Decius won’t; that’s a fact. You +will see. Time will show; perhaps to-morrow, perhaps +next day,</q> he added, mysteriously. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why in the world should you have this frantic +dread of these poor scarecrows of Christians,</q> said +Aristo, <q>all because they hold an opinion? Why are +you not afraid of the bats and the moles? It’s an +opinion: there have been other opinions before them, +and there will be other opinions after. Let them +alone and they’ll die away; make a hubbub about +them and they’ll spread.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Spread?</q> cried Jucundus, who was under the +twofold excitement of personal feeling and of wine, +<q>spread, they’ll spread? yes, they’ll spread. Yes, +grow, like scorpions, twenty at a birth. The country +already swarms with them; they are as many as frogs +or grasshoppers; they start up everywhere under one’s +nose, when one least expects them. The air breeds +them like plague-flies; the wind drifts them like +locusts. No one’s safe; any one may be a Christian; +it’s an epidemic. Great Jove! <hi rend="italic">I</hi> may be a Christian +before I know where I am. Heaven and earth! is it +not monstrous?</q> he continued, with increasing fierceness. +<q>Yes, Jucundus, my poor man, you may wake +and find yourself a Christian, without knowing it, +<pb n="58"/><anchor id="Pg058"/>against your will. Ah! my friends, pity me! I may +find myself a beast, and obliged to suck blood and +live among the tombs as if I liked it, without power +to tell you how I loathe it, all through their sorcery. +By the genius of Rome something must be done. I +say, no one is safe. You call on your friend; he is +sitting in the dark, unwashed, uncombed, undressed. +What is the matter? Ah! his son has turned Christian. +Your wedding-day is fixed, you are expecting +your bride; she does not come; why? she will not +have you; she has become a Christian. Where’s +young Nomentanus? Who has seen Nomentanus? +in the forum, or the campus, in the circus, in the bath? +Has he caught the plague or got a sunstroke? Nothing +of the kind; the Christians have caught hold of +him. Young and old, rich and poor, my lady in her +litter and her slave, modest maid and Lydia at the +Thermæ, nothing comes amiss to them. All confidence +is gone; there’s no one we can reckon on. I +go to my tailor’s: <q>Nergal,</q> I say to him, <q>Nergal, I +want a new tunic,</q> The wretched hypocrite bows, and +runs to and fro, and unpacks his stuffs and cloths, like +another man. A word in your ear. The man’s a +Christian, dressed up like a tailor. They have no +dress of their own. If I were emperor, I’d make +the sneaking curs wear a badge, I would; a dog’s +collar, a fox’s tail, or a pair of ass’s ears. Then we +should know friends from foes when we meet them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We should think that dangerous,</q> said Cornelius; +<q>however, you are taking it too much to heart; you +<pb n="59"/><anchor id="Pg059"/>are making too much of them, my good friend. They +have not even got the present, and you are giving +them the future, which is just what they want.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If Jucundus will listen to me,</q> said Aristo, <q>I +could satisfy him that the Christians are actually +falling off. They once were numerous in this very +place; now there are hardly any. They have been +declining for these fifty years; the danger from them +is past. Do you want to know how to revive them? +Put out an imperial edict, forbid them, denounce +them. Do you want them to drop away like autumn +leaves? Take no notice of them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I can’t deny that in Italy they <hi rend="italic">have</hi> grown,</q> said +Cornelius; <q>they <hi rend="italic">have</hi> grown in numbers and in +wealth, and they intermarry with us. Thus the upper +class becomes to a certain extent infected. We may +find it necessary to repress them; but, as you would +repress vermin, without fearing them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The worshippers of the gods are the many, and +the Christians are the few,</q> persisted Aristo; <q>if the +two parties intermarry, the weaker will get the worst +of it. You will find the statues of the gods gradually +creeping back into the Christian chapel; and a man +must be an honest fellow who buys our images, eh, +Jucundus?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, Aristo,</q> said the paterfamilias, whose +violence never lasted long, <q>if your sister’s bright +eyes win back my poor Agellius you will have something +more to say for yourself than, at present, I +grant.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="60"/><anchor id="Pg060"/> + +<p> +<q>I see,</q> said Cornelius, gravely, <q>I begin to understand +it. I could not make out why our good host +had such great fear for the stability of Rome. But +it is one of those things which the experience of life +has taught me. I have often seen it in the imperial +city itself. Whenever you find a man show special +earnestness against these fanatics, depend on it there +is something that touches him personally in the +matter. There was a very great man, the present +Flamen Dialis, for whom I have unbounded respect; +for a long time I was at a loss to conceive why a +person of his weight, sound, sensible, well-judging, +should have such a fear of the Christians. One day +he made an oration against them in the senate-house; +he wanted to send them to the rack. But the secret +came out; the good man was on the rack himself +about his daughter, who persisted in calling herself a +Christian, and refused to paint her face or go to the +amphitheatre. To be sure, a most trying affair this +for the old gentleman. The venerable Pater Patratus, +too, what suppers he gave! a fine specimen of the +Lucullus type; yet he was always advocating the +lictor and the <hi rend="italic">commentariensis</hi> in the instance of the +Christian. No wonder; his wife and son were disgracing +him in the eyes of the whole world by frequenting +the meetings of these Christians. However, +I agree with Decius, they must be put down. They +are not formidable, but they are an eyesore.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here the rushing of the water-clock which measured +time in the neighbouring square, ceased, signifying +<pb n="61"/><anchor id="Pg061"/>thereby that the night was getting on. Juba had +already crept into the dark closet which served him +for a sleeping-place; had taken off his sandals, and +loosened his belt; had wrapt the serpent he had about +him round his neck, and was breathing heavily. Jucundus +made the parting libation, and Cornelius took +his leave. Aristo rose too; and Jucundus, accompanying +them to the entrance, paid the not uncommon +penalty of his potations, for the wine mounted to his +head, and he returned into the room, and sat him +down again with an impression that Aristo was still +at table. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My dear boy,</q> he said, <q>Agellius is but a wet +Christian; that’s all, not obstinate, like his brother +there. ’Twas his father; the less we say about him +the better; he’s gone. The Furies make his bed for +him! an odious set! Their priests, little ugly men. +I saw one when I was a boy at Carthage. So unlike +your noble Roman Saliares, or your fine portly priest +of Isis, clad in white, breathing odours like spring +flowers; men who enjoyed this life, not like that sour +hypocrite. He was as black as an Ethiopian, and as +withered as a Saracen, and he never looked you in the +face. And, after all, the fellow must die for his +religion, rather than put a few grains of golden incense +on the altar of great Jove. Jove’s the god for me; a +glorious, handsome, curly god—but they are all good, +all the gods are good. There’s Bacchus, he’s a good, +comfortable god, though a sly, treacherous fellow—a +treacherous fellow. There’s Ceres, too; Pomona; the +<pb n="62"/><anchor id="Pg062"/>Muses; Astarte, too, as they call her here; all good;—and +Apollo, though he’s somewhat too hot in this +season, and too free with his bow. He gave me a +bad fever once. Ah! life’s precious, most precious; +so I felt it then, when I was all but gone to Pluto. +Life never returns, it’s like water spilt; you can’t +gather it up. It is dispersed into the elements, to +the four winds. Ah! there’s something more there +than I can tell; more than all your philosophers can +determine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He seemed to think awhile, and began again: <q>Enjoyment’s +the great rule; ask yourself, <q>Have I made +the most of things?</q> that’s what I say to the rising +generation. Many and many’s the time when I have +not turned them to the best account. Oh, if I had now +to begin life again, how many things should I correct! +I might have done better this evening. Those abominable +pears! I might have known they would not +be worth the eating. Mutton, that was all well; +doves, good again; crane, kid; well, I don’t see that +I could have done much better.</q> +</p> + +<p> +After a few minutes he got up half asleep, and put +out all the lights but one small lamp, with which he +made his way into his own bed-closet. <q>All is vanity,</q> +he continued, with a slow, grave utterance, <q>all is +vanity but eating and drinking. It does not pay to +serve the gods except for this. What’s fame? what’s +glory? what’s power? smoke. I’ve often thought +the hog is the only really wise animal. We should +be happier if we were all hogs. Hogs keep the end +<pb n="63"/><anchor id="Pg063"/>of life steadily in view; that’s why those toads of +Christians will not eat them, lest they should get like +them. Quiet, respectable, sensible enjoyment; not +riot, or revel, or excess, or quarrelling. Life is short.</q> +And with this undeniable sentiment he fell asleep. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="VII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="64"/><anchor id="Pg064"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="VII. Persecution in the offing"/> +<head>CHAPTER VII.</head> + +<head type="sub">PERSECUTION IN THE OFFING.</head> + +<p> +Next morning, as Jucundus was dusting and polishing +his statues and other articles of taste and devotion, +supplying the gaps in their ranks, and grouping a +number of new ones which had come in from his +workmen, Juba strutted into the shop, and indulged +himself from time to time in an inward laugh or +snigger at the various specimens of idolatry which +grinned or frowned or frisked or languished on all +sides of him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Don’t sneer at that Anubis,</q> said his uncle; <q>it +is the work of the divine Callista.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That, I suppose, is why she brings into existence +so many demons,</q> answered Juba; <q>nothing more +can be done in the divine line; like the queen who fell +in love with a baboon.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now I come to think,</q> retorted Jucundus, <q>that +god of hers is something like <hi rend="italic">you</hi>. She must be in +love with you, Juba.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The youth, as was usual with him, tossed his head +with an air of lofty displeasure; at length he said, +<q>And why should she not fall in love with me, +pray?</q> +</p> + +<pb n="65"/><anchor id="Pg065"/> + +<p> +<q>Why, because you are too good or too bad to +need her plastic hand. She could not make anything +out of you. <q>Non ex quovis ligno.</q> But she’d be +doing a good work if she wiled back your brother.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="italic">He</hi> does not want wiling any more than I,</q> said +Juba, <q><hi rend="italic">I</hi> dare say! he’s no Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What’s that?</q> said his uncle, looking round at +him in surprise; <q>Agellius no Christian?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not a bit of it,</q> answered Juba; <q>rest assured. I +taxed him with it only last night; let him alone, <hi rend="italic">he’ll</hi> +come round. He’s too proud to change, that’s all. +Preach to him, entreat him, worry him, try to turn him, +work at the bit, whip him, and he will turn restive, +start aside, or run away; but let him have his head, +pretend not to look, seem indifferent to the whole +matter, and he will quietly sit down in the midst of +your images there. Callista has an easy task; she’ll +bribe him to do what he would else do for nothing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The very best news I have heard since your silly +old father died,</q> cried Jucundus; <q>the very best—if +true. Juba, I’ll give you an handsome present the first +sow your brother sacrifices to Ceres. Ha, ha, what +fine fun to see the young farmer over his cups at the +Nundinæ! Ha, ha, no Christian! bravo, Juba! ha, +ha, I’ll make you a present, I say, an Apollo to teach +you manners, or a Mercury to give you wit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It’s quite true,</q> said Juba; <q>he would not be +thinking of Callista, if he were thinking of his saints +and angels.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ha, ha! to be sure!</q> returned Jucundus; <q>to be +<pb n="66"/><anchor id="Pg066"/>sure! yet why shouldn’t he worship a handsome Greek +girl as well as any of those mummies and death’s +heads and bogies of his, which I should blush to put +up here alongside even of Anubis, or a scarabæus?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Mother thinks she is not altogether the girl you +take her for,</q> said his nephew. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No matter, no matter,</q> answered Jucundus, <q>no +matter at all; she may be a Lais or Phryne for me; +the surer to make a man of him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why,</q> said Juba, <q>mother thinks her head is +turning in the opposite way. D’you see? Strange, +isn’t it?</q> he added, annoyed himself yet not unwilling +to annoy his uncle. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hm!</q> exclaimed Jucundus, making a wry face +and looking round at him, as if to say, <q>What on +earth is going to turn up now?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>To tell the truth,</q> said Juba, gloomily, <q>I did +once think of her myself. I don’t see why I have not +as much right to do so as Agellius, if I please. So I +thought old mother might do something for me; and +I asked her for a charm or love potion, which would +bring her from her brother down to the forest yonder. +Gurta took to it kindly, for she has a mortal hatred of +Callista, because of her good looks, though she won’t +say so, and because she’s a Greek! and she liked the +notion of humbling the haughty minx. So she began +one of the most tremendous spells,</q> he shrieked out +with a laugh, <q>one of the most tremendous spells in +her whole budget. All and everything in the most +exact religious way: wine, milk, blood, meal, wax, old +<pb n="67"/><anchor id="Pg067"/>rags, gods, Numidian as well as Punic; such names; +one must be barbarian to boot, as well as witch, to +pronounce them: a score of things there were besides. +And then to see the old woman, with her streaming +grey hair, twinkling eyes, and grim look, twirl about +as some flute girl at a banquet; it was enough to +dance down, not only the moon, but the whole milky +way. But it did not dance down Callista; at which +mother got savage, and protested that Callista was a +Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus looked much perplexed. <q>Medius fidius!</q> +he said, <q>why, unless we look sharp, she will be converting +him the wrong way;</q> and he began pacing up +and down the small room. +</p> + +<p> +Juba on his part began singing— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Gurta the witch would have part in the jest;</q></l> +<l>Though lame as a gull, by his highness possessed,</l> +<l>She shouldered her crutch, and danced with the rest.</l> + +</lg><lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Sporting and snorting, deep in the night,</q></l> +<l>Their beards flashing fire, and their hoofs striking light,</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">And their tails whisking round in the heat of their flight.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +By this time Jucundus had recovered from the +qualm which Juba’s intelligence had caused him, and +he cried out, <q>Cease your rubbish; old Gurta’s +jealous; I know her spite; Christian is the most +blackguard word in her vocabulary, its Barbar for +toad or adder. I see it all; no, Callista, the divine +Callista, must take in hand this piece of wax, sing a +charm, and mould him into a Vertumnus. She’ll +<pb n="68"/><anchor id="Pg068"/>show herself the more potent witch of the two. The +new emperor too will help the incantation.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What! something is coming?</q> asked Juba, with +a grin. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Coming, boy? yes, I warrant you,</q> answered his +uncle. <q><hi rend="italic">We’ll</hi> make them squeak. If gentle means +don’t do, then we’ll just throw in another ingredient +or two: an axe, or a wild cat, or a firebrand.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Take care what you are about, if you deal with +Agellius,</q> said Juba. <q>He’s a sawney, but you must +not drive him to bay. Don’t threaten; keep to the +other line; he’s weak-hearted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Only as a background to bring out the painting; +the Muse singing, all in light, relieved by sardix or +sepia. It <hi rend="italic">must</hi> come; but perhaps Agellius will +come first.</q> +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +It was indeed as Jucundus had hinted; a new policy, +a new era was coming upon Christianity, together with +the new emperor. Christians had hitherto been for +the most part the objects of popular fury rather than +of imperial jealousy. Nero, indeed, from his very +love of cruelty, had taken pleasure in torturing them: +but statesmen and philosophers, though at times +perplexed and inconsistent, yet on the whole had +despised them; and the superstition of priests and +people, with their <q>Christianos ad leones,</q> had been +the most formidable enemy of the faith. Accordingly, +atrocious as the persecution had been at times, it had +been conducted on no plan, and had been local and +<pb n="69"/><anchor id="Pg069"/>fitful. But even this trial had been suspended, with +but few interruptions, during the last thirty, nay, fifty +years. So favourable a state of things had been more +or less brought about by a succession of emperors, +who had shown an actual leaning to Christianity. +While the vigorous rule of the five good emperors, as +they are called, had had many passages in its history +of an adverse character, those who followed after, +being untaught in the traditions, and strangers to the +<anchor id="corr069"/><corr sic="spirit,">spirit</corr> of old Rome, foreigners, or adventurers, or +sensualists, were protectors of the new religion. The +favourite mistress of Commodus is even said to have +been a Christian; so is the nurse of Caracalla. The +wretched Heliogabalus, by his taste for Oriental +superstitions, both weakened the influence of the +established hierarchy, and encouraged the toleration +of a faith which came from Palestine. The virtuous +Alexander, who followed him, was a philosopher more +than a statesman; and, in pursuance of the syncretism +which he had adopted, placed the images of Abraham +and our Lord among the objects of devotion which +his private chapel contained. What is told us of the +Emperor Philip is still more to the point: the gravest +authorities report that he was actually a Christian; +and, since it cannot be doubted that Christians were +persuaded of the fact, the leaning of his government +must have been emphatically in their favour to account +for such a belief. In consequence, Christians showed +themselves without fear; they emerged from the +catacombs, and built churches in public view; and, +<pb n="70"/><anchor id="Pg070"/>though in certain localities, as in the instance of +Africa, they had suffered from the contact of the +world, they spread far and wide, and faith became +the instrument at least of political power, even where +it was wanting in charity, or momentarily disowned +by cowardice. In a word, though Celsus a hundred +years before had pronounced <q>a man weak who +should hope to unite the three portions of the earth +in a common religion,</q> that common Catholic faith +had been found, and a principle of empire was created +which had never before existed. The phenomenon +could not be mistaken; and the Roman statesman +saw he had to deal with a rival. Nor must we +suppose, because on the surface of the history we read +so much of the vicissitudes of imperial power, and +of the profligacy of its possessors, that the fabric of +government was not sustained by traditions of the +strongest temper, and by officials of the highest +sagacity. It was the age of lawyers and politicians; +and they saw more and more clearly that if Christianity +was not to revolutionize the empire, they must +follow out the line of action which Trajan and +Antoninus had pointed out. +</p> + +<p> +Decius then had scarcely assumed the purple, when +he commenced that new policy against the Church +which was reserved to Diocletian, fifty years later, +to carry out to its own final refutation. He entered +on his power at the end of the year 249; and on the +January 20th following, the day on which the Church +still celebrates the event, St. Fabian, Bishop of Rome, +<pb n="71"/><anchor id="Pg071"/>obtained the crown of martyrdom. He had been pope +for the unusually long space of fourteen years, having +been elected in consequence of one of those remarkable +interpositions of Divine Providence of which we +now and then read in the first centuries of the Church. +He had come up to Rome from the country, in order +to be present at the election of a successor to Pope +Anteros. A dove was seen to settle on his head, and +the assembly rose up and forced him, to his surprise, +upon the episcopal throne. After bringing back the +relics of St. Pontian, his martyred predecessor, from +Sardinia, and having become the apostle of great part +of Gaul, he seemed destined to end his history in the +same happy quiet and obscurity in which he had lived; +but it did not become a pope of that primitive time to +die upon his bed, and he was reserved at length to +inaugurate in his own person, as chief pastor of the +Church, a fresh company of martyrs. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly an edict appeared for the extermination +of the name and religion of Christ. It was addressed +to the proconsuls and other governors of provinces; +and alleged or implied that the emperors, Decius and +his son, being determined to give peace to their subjects, +found the Christians alone an impediment to the +fulfilment of their purpose; and that, by reason of the +enmity which those sectaries entertained towards the +gods of Rome,—an enmity which was bringing down +upon the world multiplied misfortunes. Desirous, then, +above all things, of appeasing the divine anger, they +made an irrevocable ordinance that every Christian, +<pb n="72"/><anchor id="Pg072"/>without exception of rank, sex, or age, should be obliged +to sacrifice. Those who refused were to be thrown into +prison, and in the first instance submitted to moderate +punishments. If they conformed to the established +religion, they were to be rewarded; if not, they were +to be drowned, burned alive, exposed to the beasts, +hung upon the trees, or otherwise put to death. This +edict was read in the camp of the prætorians, posted +up in the Capitol, and sent over the empire by government +couriers. The authorities in each province were +themselves threatened with heavy penalties, if they did +not succeed in frightening or tormenting the Christians +into the profession of paganism. +</p> + +<p> +St. Fabian, as we have said, was the first-fruits of +the persecution, and eighteen months passed before his +successor could be appointed. In the course of the +next two months St. Pionius was burned alive at +Smyrna, and St. Nestor crucified in Pamphylia. At +Carthage some perplexity and delay were occasioned +by the absence of the proconsul. St. Cyprian, its +bishop, took advantage of the delay, and retired into +a place of concealment. The populace had joined +with the imperial government in seeking his life, and +had cried out furiously in the circus, demanding +him <q>ad leonem,</q> for the lion. A panic seized the +Christian body, and for a while there were far more +persons found to compromise their faith than to +confess it. It seemed as if Aristo’s anticipation was +justified, that Christianity was losing its hold upon +the mind of its subjects, and that nothing more was +<pb n="73"/><anchor id="Pg073"/>needed for those who had feared it, than to let it die +a natural death. And at Sicca the Roman officials, +as far as ever they dared, seemed to act on this view. +Here Christians did no harm, they made no show, +and there was little or nothing in the place to provoke +the anger of the mob or to necessitate the interference +of the magistrate. The proconsul’s absence from +Carthage was both an encouragement and an excuse +for delay; and hence it was that, though we are +towards the middle of the year 250, and the edict +was published at Rome at its commencement, the +good people of Sicca had, as we have said, little +knowledge of what was taking place in the political +world, and whispered about vague presages of an +intended measure, which had been in some places in +operation for many months. Communication with +the seat of government was not so very frequent or +rapid in those days, and public curiosity had not +been stimulated by the facilities of gratifying it. +And thus we must account for a phenomenon, which +we uphold to be a fact in the instance of Sicca, in the +early summer of <hi rend="small">A.D.</hi> 250, even though it prove unaccountable, +and history has nothing to say about it, +and in spite of the <hi rend="italic">Acta Diurna</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +The case, indeed, is different now. In these times, +newspapers, railroads, and magnetic telegraphs make +us independent of government messengers. The proceedings +at Rome would have been generally and accurately +known in a few seconds; and then, by way of +urging forward the magistracy, a question of course +<pb n="74"/><anchor id="Pg074"/>would have been asked in the parliament of Carthage +by the member for Sicca, or Laribus, or Thugga, or by +some one of the pagani, or country party, whether the +popular report was true, that an edict had been promulgated +at Rome against the Christians, and what +steps had been taken by the local authorities throughout +the proconsulate to carry out its provisions. And +then the <q>Colonia Siccensis</q> would have presented +some good or bad reason for the delay: that it arose +from the absence of the proconsul from the seat of +government, or from the unaccountable loss of the +despatch on its way from the coast; or, perhaps, on +the other hand, the under-secretary would have maintained, +amid the cheers of his supporters, that the edict +had been promulgated and carried out at Sicca to the +full, that crowds of Christians had at once sacrificed, +and that, in short, there was no one to punish; assertions +which at that moment were too likely to be verified +by the event. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, there were many reasons to make the +magistrates, both Roman and native, unwilling to +proceed in the matter, till they were obliged. No +doubt they one and all detested Christianity, and +would have put it down, if they could; but the question +was, when they came to the point, <hi rend="italic">what</hi> they +should put down. If, indeed, they could have got +hold of the ringleaders, the bishops of the Church, +they would have tortured and smashed them <hi rend="italic">con +amore</hi>, as you would kill a wasp; and with the greater +warmth and satisfaction, just because it was so difficult +<pb n="75"/><anchor id="Pg075"/>to get at them. Those bishops were a set of fellows +as mischievous as they were cowardly; they would +not come out and be killed, but they skulked in the +desert, and hid in masquerade. But why should +gentlemen in office, opulent and happy, set about +worrying a handful of idiots, old, or poor, or boys, or +women, or obscure, or amiable and well-meaning men, +who were but a remnant of a former generation, +and as little connected with the fanatics of Carthage, +Alexandria, or Rome, as the English freemasons may +seem to be with their namesakes on the continent? +True, Christianity was a secret society, and an illegal +religion; but would it cease to be so when those harmless +or respectable inhabitants of the place had been +mounted on the rack or the gibbet? +</p> + +<p> +And then, too, it was a most dangerous thing to +open the door to popular excitement;—who would be +able to shut it? Once rouse the populace, and it was +all over with the place. It could not be denied that +the bigoted and ignorant majority, not only of the +common people, but of the better classes, was steeped +in a bitter prejudice, and an intense, though latent, +hatred of Christianity. Besides the antipathy which +arose from the extremely different views of life and +duty taken by pagans and Christians, which would +give a natural impulse to persecution in the hearts +of the former, there were the many persons who wished +to curry favour at Rome with the government, and +had an eye to preferment or reward. There was +the pagan interest, extended and powerful, of that +<pb n="76"/><anchor id="Pg076"/>numerous class which was attached to the established +religions by habit, position, interest, or the prospect of +advantage. There were all the great institutions or +establishments of the place; the law courts, the +schools of grammar and rhetoric, the philosophic +<hi rend="italic">exedræ</hi> and lecture-rooms, the theatre, the amphitheatre, +the market—all were, for one reason or +another, opposed to Christianity; and who could tell +where they would stop in their onward course, if they +were set in motion? <q>Quieta non movenda</q> was the +motto of the local government, native and imperial, +and that the more, because it was an age of revolutions, +and they might be most unpleasantly compromised +or embarrassed by the direction which the +movement took. Besides, Decius was not immortal; +in the last twelve years eight emperors had been cut +off, six of them in a few months; and who could tell +but the successor of the present might revert to the +policy of Philip, and feel no thanks to those who had +suddenly left it for a policy of blood. +</p> + +<p> +In this cautious course they would be powerfully +supported by the influence of personal considerations. +The Roman <hi rend="italic">officia</hi>, the city magistrates, the heads of +the established religions, the lawyers, and the philosophers, +all would have punished the Christians, if they +could; but they could not agree whom to punish. +They would have agreed with great satisfaction, as we +have said, to inflict condign and capital punishment +upon the heads of the sect; and they would have had +no objection, if driven to do something, to get hold of +<pb n="77"/><anchor id="Pg077"/>some strangers or slaves, who might be a sort of scapegoats +for the rest; but it was impossible, when they +once began to persecute, to make distinctions, and +not a few of them had relations who were Christians, +or at least were on that border-land which the mob +might mistake for the domain of Christianity—Marcionites, +Tertullianists, Montanists, or Gnostics. When +once the cry of <q>the gods of Rome</q> was fairly up, it +would apply to tolerated religions as well as to illicit, +and an unhappy votary of Isis or Mithras might suffer, +merely because there were few Christians forthcoming. +A duumvir of the place had a daughter whom he +had turned out of his house for receiving baptism, and +who had taken refuge at Vacca. Several of the +decurions, the <hi rend="italic">tabularius</hi> of the district, the <hi rend="italic">scriba</hi>, +one of the exactors, who lived in Sicca, various of the +retired gentry, whom we spoke of in a former chapter, +and various <hi rend="italic">attachés</hi> of the prætorium, were in not +dissimilar circumstances. Nay, the priest of Esculapius +had a wife, whom he was very fond of, who, +though she promised to keep quiet, if things continued +as they were, nevertheless had the madness to vow +that, if there were any severe proceedings instituted +against her people, she would at once come forward, +confess herself a Christian, and throw water, instead +of incense, upon the sacrificial flame. Not to speak +of the venerable man’s tenderness for her, such an +exposure would seriously compromise his respectability, +and, as he was infirm and apoplectic, it was +a question whether Esculapius himself could save +<pb n="78"/><anchor id="Pg078"/> +him from the shock which would be the consequence. +</p> + +<p> +The same sort of feeling operated with our good +friend Jucundus. He was attached to his nephew; +but, be it said without disrespect to him, he was more +attached to his own reputation; and, while he would +have been seriously annoyed at seeing Agellius exposed +to one of the panthers of the neighbouring forest, or +hung up by the feet, with the blood streaming from +his nose and mouth, as one of the dogs or kids of the +market, he would have disliked the <hi rend="italic">éclat</hi> of the thing +still more. He felt both anger and alarm at the +prospect; he was conscious he did not understand his +nephew, or (to use a common phrase) know where to +find him; he was aware that a great deal of tact was +necessary to manage him; and he had an instinctive +feeling that Juba was right in saying that it would +not do to threaten him with the utmost severity of +the law. He considered Callista’s hold on him was +the most promising quarter of the horizon; so he +came to a resolution to do as little as he could personally, +but to hold Agellius’s head, as far as he could, +steadily in the direction of that lady, and to see what +came of it. As to Juba’s assurance that Agellius was +not a Christian at heart, it was too good news to be +true; but still it might be only an anticipation of what +would be, when the sun of Greece shone out upon +him, and dispersed the remaining mists of Oriental +superstition. +</p> + +<p> +In this state of mind the old gentleman determined +<pb n="79"/><anchor id="Pg079"/>one afternoon to leave his shop to the care of a slave, +and to walk down to his nephew, to judge for himself +of his state of mind; to bait his hook with Callista, +and to see if Agellius bit. There was no time to be +lost, for the publication of the edict might be made +any day; and then disasters might ensue which no +skill could remedy. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="VIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="80"/><anchor id="Pg080"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="VIII. The new generation"/> +<head>CHAPTER VIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE NEW GENERATION.</head> + +<p> +Jucundus, then, set out to see how the land lay with +his nephew, and to do what he could to prosper the +tillage. His way led him by the temple of Mercury, +which at that time subserved the purpose of a boy’s +school, and was connected with some academical +buildings, the property of the city, which lay beyond +it. It cannot be said that our friend was any warm +patron of literature or education, though he had not +neglected the schooling of his nephews. Letters +seemed to him in fact to unsettle the mind; and he +had never known much good come of them. Rhetoricians +and philosophers did not know where they +stood, or what were their bearings. They did not +know what they held, and what they did not. He +knew his own position perfectly well, and, though the +words <q>belief</q> or <q>knowledge</q> did not come into +his religious vocabulary, he could at once, without +hesitation, state what he professed and maintained. +He stood upon the established order of things, on the +traditions of Rome, and the laws of the empire; but +as to Greek sophists and declaimers, he thought very +much as old Cato did about them. The Greeks were +<pb n="81"/><anchor id="Pg081"/>a very clever people, unrivalled in the fine arts; let +them keep to their strong point; they were inimitable +with the chisel, the brush, the trowel, and the fingers; +but he was not prepared to think much of their +<hi rend="italic">calamus</hi> or <hi rend="italic">stylus</hi>, poetry excepted. What did they +ever do but subvert received principles without substituting +any others? And then they were so likely to +take some odd turn themselves; you never could be +sure of them. Socrates, their patriarch, what was he +after all but a culprit, a convict, who had been obliged +to drink hemlock, dying under the hands of justice? +Was this a reputable end, a respectable commencement +of the philosophic family? It was very well for +Plato or Xenophon to throw a veil of romance over +the transaction, but this was the plain matter of fact. +Then Anaxagoras had been driven out of Athens for +his revolutionary notions; and Diogenes had been +accused, like the Christians, of atheism. The case +had been the same in more recent times. There had +been that madman, Apollonius, roaming about the +world; Apuleius, too, their neighbour, fifty years +before, a man of respectable station, a gentleman, but +a follower of the Greek philosophy, a dabbler in magic, +and a pretender to miracles. And so, in fact, of letters +generally; as in their own country Minucius, a contemporary +of Apuleius, became a Christian. Such, +too, had been his friend Octavius; such Cæcilius, who +even became one of the priests of the sect, and seduced +others from the religion he had left. One of them +had been the public talk for several years, and he +<pb n="82"/><anchor id="Pg082"/>too originally a rhetorician, Thascius Cyprianus of +Carthage. It was the one thing which gave him some +misgiving about that little Callista, that she was a +Greek. +</p> + +<p> +As he passed the temple, the metal plate was sounding +as a signal for the termination of the school, and +on looking towards the portico with an ill-natured +curiosity, he saw a young acquaintance of his, a youth of +about twenty, coming out of it, leading a boy of about +half that age, with his satchel thrown over his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, Arnobius,</q><note place="foot">Here is an anachronism, as regards Arnobius and Lactantius +of some twenty or thirty years.</note> he cried, <q>how does rhetoric +proceed? are we to take the law line, or turn professor? +Who’s the boy? some younger brother?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I’ve taken pity on the little fool,</q> answered +Arnobius; <q>these schoolmasters are a savage lot. +I suffered enough from them myself, and <q>miseris +succurrere disco.</q> So I took him from under the +roof of friend Rupilius, and he’s under my tutelage. +How did he treat thee, boy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He treated me like a slave or a Christian,</q> answered +he. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He deserved it, I’ll warrant,</q> said Jucundus; <q>a +pert, forward imp. ’Twas Gete against Briton. Much +good comes of schooling! He’s a wicked one already. +Ah, the new generation! I don’t know where the +world’s going.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Tell the gentleman,</q> said Arnobius, <q>what he did +first to you, my boy.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="83"/><anchor id="Pg083"/> + +<p> +<q>As the good gentleman says,</q> answered the boy, +<q>first I did something to him, and then he did something +to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I told you so,</q> said Jucundus; <q>a sensible boy, +after all; but the schoolmaster had the best of it, I’ll +wager.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>First,</q> answered he, <q>I grinned in his face, and +he took off his wooden shoe, and knocked out one of +my teeth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Good,</q> said Jucundus, <q>the justice of Pythagoras. +Zaleuchus could not have done better. The mouth +sins, and the mouth suffers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Next,</q> continued he, <q>I talked in school-time to +my chum; and Rupilius put a gag in my jaws, and +kept them open for an hour.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The very Rhadamanthus of schoolmasters!</q> cried +Jucundus: <q>and thereupon you struck up a chant, +divine though inarticulate, like the statue of Memnon.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then,</q> said the boy, <q>I could not say my Virgil, +and he tore the shirt from off my back, and gave it me +with the leather.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay,</q> answered Jucundus, <q><q>arma virumque</q> +branded on your hide.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Afterwards I ate his dinner for him,</q> continued +the boy, <q>and then he screwed my head, and kept me +without food for two days.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your throat, you mean,</q> said Jucundus; <q>a cautious +man! lest you should steal a draught or two of +good strong air.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And lastly,</q> said he, <q>I did not bring my pence, +<pb n="84"/><anchor id="Pg084"/>and then he tied my hands to a gibbet, and hung me +up <hi rend="italic">in terrorem</hi>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There I came in,</q> said Arnobius; <q>he seemed a +pretty boy, so I cut him down, paid his æra, and took +him home.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And now he is your pupil?</q> asked Jucundus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not yet,</q> answered Arnobius; <q>he is still a day-scholar +of the old wolf’s; one is like another; he could +not change for the better: but I am his bully, and +shall tutorize him some day. He’s a sharp lad, isn’t +he, Firmian?</q> turning to the boy; <q>a great hand at +composition for his years; better than I am, who never +shall write Latin decently. Yet what can I do? I +must profess and teach, for Rome is the only place for +the law, and these city professorships are not to be +despised.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Whom are you attending here?</q> asked Jucundus, +drily. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are the only man in Sicca who needs to ask +the question. What! not know the great Polemo of +Rhodes, the friend of Plotinus, the pupil of Theagenes, +the disciple of Thrasyllus, the hearer of Nicomachus, +who was of the school of Secundus, the doctor +of the new Pythagoreans? Not feel the presence in +Sicca of Polemo, the most celebrated, the most intolerable +of men? That, however, is not his title, but the +<q>godlike,</q> or the <q>oracular,</q> or the <q>portentous,</q> or +something else as impressive. Every one goes to him. +He is the rage. I should not have a chance of success +if I could not say that I had attended his +<pb n="85"/><anchor id="Pg085"/>lectures; though I’d be bound our little Firmian here +would deliver as good. He’s the very cariophyllus of +human nature. He comes to the schools in a litter of +cedar, ornamented with silver and covered with a +lion’s skin, slaves carrying him, and a crowd of friends +attending, with the state of a proconsul. He is +dressed in the most exact style; his pallium is of the +finest wool, white, picked out with purple; his tresses +flow with unguent, his fingers glitter with rings, and +he smells like Idalium. As soon as he puts foot on +earth, a great hubbub of congratulation and homage +breaks forth. He takes no notice; his favourite pupils +form a circle round him, and conduct him into one +of the <hi rend="italic">exedræ</hi>, till the dial shows the time for lecture. +Here he sits in silence, looking at nothing, or at the +wall opposite him, talking to himself, a hum of admiration +filling the room. Presently one of his pupils, +as if he were præco to the duumvir, cries out, <q>Hush, +gentlemen, hush! the godlike</q>—no, it is not that. I’ve +not got it. What <hi rend="italic">is</hi> his title? <q>the Bottomless,</q> that’s +it—<q>the Bottomless speaks.</q> A dead silence ensues; +a clear voice and a measured elocution are the sure +token that it is the outpouring of the oracle. <q>Pray,</q> +says the little man, <q>pray, which existed first, the egg +or the chick? Did the chick lay the egg, or the egg +hatch the chick?</q> Then there ensues a whispering, a +disputing, and after a while a dead silence. At the +end of a quarter of an hour or so, our præco speaks +again, and this time to the oracle. <q>Bottomless man,</q> +he says, <q>I have to represent to you that no one of +<pb n="86"/><anchor id="Pg086"/>the present company finds himself equal to answer the +question, which your condescension has proposed to our +consideration!</q> On this there is a fresh silence, and at +length a fresh <hi rend="italic">effatum</hi> from the hierophant: <q>Which +comes first, the egg or the chick? The egg comes first +in relation to the causativity of the chick, and the chick +comes first in relation to the causativity of the egg,</q> on +which there is a burst of applause; the ring of adorers +is broken through, and the shrinking professor is carried +in the arms or on the shoulders of the literary crowd to +his chair in the lecture-room.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Much as there was in Arnobius’s description which +gratified Jucundus’s prejudices, he had suspicions of +his young acquaintance, and was not in the humour to +be pleased unreservedly with those who satirized anything +whatever that was established, or was appointed +by government, even affectation and pretence. He +said something about the wisdom of ages, the reverence +due to authority, the institutions of Rome, and the +magistrates of Sicca. <q>Do not go after novelties,</q> he +said to Arnobius; <q>make a daily libation to Jove, the +preserver, and to the genius of the emperor, and then +let other things take their course.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But you don’t mean I must believe all this man +says, because the decurions have put him here?</q> cried +Arnobius. <q>Here is this Polemo saying that Proteus +is matter, and that minerals and vegetables are his +flock; that Proserpine is the vital influence, and Ceres +the efficacy of the heavenly bodies; that there are +mundane spirits, and supramundane; and then his +<pb n="87"/><anchor id="Pg087"/>doctrine about triads, monads, and progressions of the +celestial gods?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hm!</q> said Jucundus; <q>they did not say so when +I went to school; but keep to my rule, my boy, and +swear by the genius of Rome and the emperor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I don’t believe in god or goddess, emperor or +Rome, or in any philosophy, or in any religion at all,</q> +said Arnobius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What!</q> cried Jucundus, <q>you’re not going to +desert the gods of your ancestors?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ancestors?</q> said Arnobius; <q>I’ve no ancestors. +I’m not African certainly, not Punic, not Libophœnician, +not Canaanite, not Numidian, not Gætulian. +I’m half Greek, but what the other half is I don’t know. +My good old gaffer, you’re one of the old world. I +believe nothing. Who can? There is such a racket +and whirl of religions on all sides of me that I am sick +of the subject.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, the rising generation!</q> groaned Jucundus; +<q>you young men! I cannot prophesy what you will +become, when we old fellows are removed from the +scene. Perhaps you’re a Christian?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Arnobius laughed. <q>At least I can give you comfort +on that head, old grandfather. A pretty Christian +<hi rend="italic">I</hi> should make, indeed! seeing visions, to be sure, and +rejoicing in the rack and dungeon! I wish to enjoy +life; I see wealth, power, rank, and pleasure to be +worth living for, and I see nothing else.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said, my lad,</q> cried Jucundus, <q>well said; +stick to that. I declare you frightened me. Give up +<pb n="88"/><anchor id="Pg088"/>all visions, speculations, conjectures, fancies, novelties, +discoveries; nothing comes of them but confusion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, no,</q> answered the youth; <q>I’m not so wild +as you seem to think, Jucundus. It is true I don’t +believe one single word about the gods; but in their +worship was I born, and in their worship I will die.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Admirable!</q> cried Jucundus in a transport; <q>well, +I’m surprised; you have taken me by surprise. You’re +a fine fellow; you are a boy after my heart. I’ve a +good mind to adopt you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You see I can’t believe one syllable of all the +priests’ trash,</q> said Arnobius; <q>who does? not they. +I don’t believe in Jupiter or Juno, or in Astarte or +in Isis; but where shall I go for anything better? +or why need I seek anything good or bad in that +line? Nothing’s known anywhere, and life would go +while I attempted what is impossible. No, better +stay where I am; I may go further, and gain a loss +for my pains. So you see I am for myself, and for the +genius of Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s the true principle,</q> answered the delighted +Jucundus. <q>Why, really, for so young a man, surprising! +Where <hi rend="italic">did</hi> you get so much good sense, my +dear fellow? <hi rend="italic">I’ve</hi> seen very little of you. Well, +this I’ll say, you are a youth of most mature mind. +To be sure! Well! Such youths are rare now-a-days. +I congratulate you with all my heart on your strong +sense and your admirable wisdom. Who’d have +thought it? I’ve always, to tell the truth, had a little +suspicion of you; but you’ve come out nobly. +<pb n="89"/><anchor id="Pg089"/>Capital! I don’t wish you to believe in the gods if +you can’t; but it’s your duty, dear boy, your duty to +Rome to maintain them, and to rally round them +when attacked.</q> Then with a changed voice, he +added, <q>Ah, that a young friend of mine had your +view of the matter!</q> and then, fearing he had said +too much, he stopped abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You mean Agellius,</q> said Arnobius. <q>You’ve +heard, by-the-bye,</q> he continued in a lower tone, +<q>what’s the talk in the Capitol, that at Rome they +are proceeding on a new plan against the Christians +with great success. They don’t put to death, at +least at once; they keep in prison, and threaten +the torture. It’s surprising how many come over.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Furies seize them!</q> exclaimed Jucundus: +<q>they deserve everything bad, always excepting my +poor boy. So they are cheating the hangman by +giving up their atheism, the vile reptiles, giving in to +a threat. However,</q> he added gravely, <q>I wish threats +would answer with Agellius; but I greatly fear that +menace would only make him stubborn. That stubbornness +of a Christian! O Arnobius!</q> he said, shaking his +head and looking solemn, <q>it’s a visitation from the +gods, a sort of <hi rend="italic">nympholepsia</hi>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It’s going out,</q> said Arnobius, <q>mark my words; +the frenzy is dying. It’s only wonderful it should +have lasted for three centuries. The report runs that +in some places, when the edict was published, the +Christians did not wait for a summons, but swept up +to the temples to sacrifice, like a shoal of tunnies. The +<pb n="90"/><anchor id="Pg090"/>magistrates were obliged to take so many a day; and, +as the days went on, none so eager to bring over the +rest as those who have already become honest men. +Nay, not a few of their mystic or esoteric class have +conformed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If so, unless Agellius looks sharp,</q> said Jucundus, +<q>his sect will give him up before he gives up his sect. +Christianity will be converted before him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh, don’t fear for him!</q> said Arnobius; <q>I knew +him at school. Boys differ; some are bold and open. +They like to be men, and to dare the deeds of men; +they talk freely, and take their swing in broad day. +Others are shy, reserved, bashful, and are afraid to do +what they love quite as much as the others. Agellius +never could rub off this shame, and it has taken this +turn. He’s sure to outgrow it in a year or two. I +should not wonder if, when once he had got over it, he +went into the opposite fault. You’ll find him a drinker +and a swaggerer and a spendthrift before many years +are over.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, that’s good news,</q> said Jucundus; <q>I mean, +I am glad you think he will shake off these fancies. +I don’t believe they sit very close to him myself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He walked on for a while in silence; then he said, +<q>That seems a sharp child, Arnobius. Could he do me +a service if I wanted it? Does he know Agellius?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Know him?</q> answered the other; <q>yes, and his +farm too. He has rambled round Sicca, many is the +mile. And he knows the short cuts, and the blind ways, +and safe circuits.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="91"/><anchor id="Pg091"/> + +<p> +<q>What’s the boy’s name?</q> asked Jucundus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Firmian,</q> answered Arnobius. <q>Firmian Lactantius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I say, Firmian,</q> said Jucundus to him, <q>where are +you to be found of a day, my boy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>At class morning and afternoon,</q> answered Firmian, +<q>sleeping in the porticoes in midday, nowhere +in the evening, and roosting with Arnobius at night.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And you can keep a secret, should it so happen?</q> +asked Jucundus, <q>and do an errand, if I gave you +one?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I’ll give him the stick worse than Rupilius, if he +does not,</q> said Arnobius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A bargain,</q> cried Jucundus; and, waving his hand +to them, he stept through the city gate, and they returned +to their afternoon amusements. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="IX" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="92"/><anchor id="Pg092"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="IX. Jucundus baits his trap"/> +<head>CHAPTER IX.</head> + +<head type="sub">JUCUNDUS BAITS HIS TRAP.</head> + +<p> +Agellius is busily employed upon his farm. While +the enemies of his faith are laying their toils for him +and his brethren in the imperial city, in the proconsular +<hi rend="italic">officium</hi>, and in the municipal curia,—while +Jucundus is scheming against him personally in another +way and with other intentions,—the unconscious object +of these machinations is busy about his master’s crops, +housing the corn in caves or pits, distilling the roses, +irrigating the <hi rend="italic">khennah</hi>, and training and sheltering the +vines. And he does so, not only from a sense of duty, +but the more assiduously, because he finds in constant +employment a protection against himself, against idle +thoughts, wayward wishes, discontent, and despondency. +It is doubtless very strange to the reader +how any one who professed himself a Christian in +good earnest should be open to the imputation of +resting his hopes and his heart in the tents of +paganism; but we do not see why Agellius has +not quite as much right to be inconsistent in one +way as Christians of the present time in another, +and perhaps he has more to say for himself than +they. They have not had the trial of solitude, +<pb n="93"/><anchor id="Pg093"/>nor the consequent temptation to which he has been +exposed, of seeking relief from his own thoughts in +the company of unbelievers. When a boy he had +received his education at that school in the Temple +of Mercury of which we heard in the foregoing +chapter; and though happily he had preserved himself +from the contagion of idolatry and sin, he had on +that very account formed no friendships with his +schoolfellows. Whether there were any Christians +there besides himself he did not know; but while +the worst of his schoolfellows were what heathen +boys may be supposed to be, the lightest censure +which could be passed on any was that they were +greedy, or quarrelsome, or otherwise unamiable. He +had learned there enough to open his mind, and to +give him materials for thinking, and instruments for +reflecting on his own religion, and for drawing out +into shape his own reflections. He had received just +that discipline which makes solitude most pleasant to +the old, and most insupportable to the young. He +had got a thousand questions which needed answers, +a thousand feelings which needed sympathy. He +wanted to know whether his guesses, his perplexities, +his trials of mind, were peculiar to himself, or how far +they were shared by others, and what they were worth. +He had capabilities for intellectual enjoyment unexercised, +and a thirst after knowledge unsatisfied. +And the channels of supernatural assistance were +removed from him at a time when nature was most +impetuous and most clamorous. +</p> + +<pb n="94"/><anchor id="Pg094"/> + +<p> +It was under circumstances such as these that two +young Greeks, brother and sister, the brother older, +the sister younger, than Agellius, came to Sicca at +the invitation of Jucundus, who wanted them for his +trade. His nephew in time got acquainted with +them, and found in them what he had sought in vain +elsewhere. It is not that they were oracles of wisdom +or repositories of philosophical learning; their age +and their calling forbade it, nor did he require it. For +an oracle, of course, he would have looked in another +direction; but he desiderated something more on a +level with himself, and that they abundantly supplied. +He found, from his conversations with them, +that a great number of the questions which had been +a difficulty to him had already been agitated in the +schools of Greece. He found what solutions were +possible, what the hinge was on which questions +turned, what the issue to which they led, and what +the principle which lay at the bottom of them. He +began better to understand the position of Christianity +in the world of thought, and the view which was taken +of it by the advocates of other religions or philosophies. +He gained some insight into its logic, and +advanced, without knowing it, in the investigation of +its evidences. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this all; he acquired by means of his +new friends a great deal also of secular knowledge +as well as philosophical. He learned much of the +history of foreign countries, especially of Greece, of +its heroes and sages, its poets and its statesmen, of +<pb n="95"/><anchor id="Pg095"/>Alexander, of the Syro-Macedonic empire, of the Jews, +and of the series of conquests through which Rome +advanced to universal dominion. +</p> + +<p> +To impart knowledge is as interesting as to acquire +it; and Agellius was called upon to give as well as to +take. The brother and sister, without showing any +great religious earnestness, were curious to know +about Christianity, and listened with the more +patience that they had no special attachment to any +other worship. In the debates which ensued, though +there was no agreement, there was the pleasure of +mental exercise and excitement; he found enough to +tell them without touching upon the more sacred +mysteries; and while he never felt his personal faith +at all endangered by their free conversation, his +charity, or at least his good-will and his gratitude, +led him to hope, or even to think, that they were +in the way of conversion themselves. In this thought +he was aided by his own innocence and simplicity; +and though, on looking back afterwards to this eventful +season, he recognized many trivial occurrences +which ought to have put him on his guard, yet he had +no suspicion at the time that those who conversed so +winningly, and sustained so gracefully and happily the +commerce of thought and sentiment, might in their +actual state, nay, in their governing principles, be in +utter contrariety to himself when the veil was removed +from off their hearts. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was it in serious matters alone, but still more +on lighter occasions of intercourse, that Aristo and +<pb n="96"/><anchor id="Pg096"/>Callista were attractive to the solitary Agellius. She +had a sweet thrilling voice, and accompanied herself +on the lyre. She could act the <hi rend="italic">improvisatrice</hi>, and her +expressive features were a running commentary on the +varied meaning, the sunshine and the shade, of her +ode or her epic. She could relate how the profane +Pentheus and the self-glorious Hippolytus gave a +lesson to the world of the feebleness of human virtue +when it placed itself in opposition to divine power. +She could teach how the chaste Diana manifests herself +to the simple shepherd Endymion, not to the great +or learned; and how Tithonus, the spouse of the Morn, +adumbrates the fate of those who revel in their youth, +as if it were to last for ever; and who, when old, do +nothing but talk of the days when they were young, +wearying others with tales of <q>their amours or their +exploits, like grasshoppers that show their vigour only +by their chirping.</q><note place="foot">Bacon.</note> The very allegories which sickened +and irritated Arnobius when spouted out by +Polemo, touched the very chords of poor Agellius’s heart +when breathed forth from the lips of the beautiful +Greek. +</p> + +<p> +She could act also; and suddenly, when conversation +flagged or suggested it, she could throw herself +into the part of Medea or Antigone, with a force and +truth which far surpassed the effect produced by the +male and masked representations of those characters +at the theatre. Brother and sister were Œdipus and +Antigone, Electra and Orestes, Cassandra and the +<pb n="97"/><anchor id="Pg097"/>Chorus. Once or twice they attempted a scene in +Menander; but there was something which made +Agellius shrink from the comedy, beautiful as it was, +and clever as was the representation. Callista could +act Thais as truly as Iphigenia, but Agellius could +not listen as composedly. There are certain most +delicate instincts and perceptions in us which act as +first principles, and which, once effaced, can never, +except from some supernatural source, be restored +to the mind. When men are in a state of nature, +these are sinned against, and vanish very soon, at so +early a date in the history of the individual that +perhaps he does not recollect that he ever possessed +them; and since, like other first principles, they are +but very partially capable of proof, a general scepticism +prevails both as to their existence and their +truth. The Greeks, partly from the vivacity of their +intellect, partly from their passion for the beautiful, +lost these celestial adumbrations sooner than other +nations. When a collision arose on such matters +between Agellius and his friends, Callista kept silence; +but Aristo was not slow to express his wonder that +the young Christian should think customs or practices +wrong which, in his view of the matter, were as +unblamable and natural as eating, drinking, or sleeping. +His own face became almost satirical as Agellius’s +became grave; however, he was too companionable +and good-natured to force another to be happy +in his own way; he imputed to the extravagance of his +friend’s religion what in any but a Christian he would +<pb n="98"/><anchor id="Pg098"/>have called moroseness and misanthropy; and he +bade his sister give over representations which, +instead of enlivening the passing hour, did but inflict +pain. +</p> + +<p> +This friendly intercourse had now gone on for some +months, as the leisure of both parties admitted. Once +or twice brother and sister had come to the suburban +farm; but for the most part, in spite of his intense +dislike of the city, he had for their sake threaded its +crowded and narrow thoroughfares, crossed its open +places, and presented himself at their apartments. +And was it very strange that a youth so utterly ignorant +of the world, and unsuspicious of evil, should not +have heard the warning voice which called him to +separate himself from heathenism, even in its most +specious form? Was it very strange, under these circumstances, +that a sanguine hope, the hope of the +youthful, should have led Agellius to overlook obstacles, +and beguile himself into the notion that Callista might +be converted, and make a good Christian wife? Well, +we have nothing more to say for him; if we have +not already succeeded in extenuating his offence, we +must leave him to the mercy, or rather to the justice, +of his severely virtuous censors. +</p> + +<p> +But all this while Jucundus had been conversing +with him; and, unless we are quick about it, we shall +lose several particulars which are necessary for those +who wish to pursue without a break the thread of his +history. His uncle had brought the conversation +round to the delicate point which had occasioned his +<pb n="99"/><anchor id="Pg099"/>visit, and had just broken the ice. With greater tact, +and more ample poetical resources than we should +have given him credit for, he had been led from the +scene before him to those prospects of a moral and +social character which ought soon to employ the +thoughts of his dear Agellius. He had spoken of +vines and of their culture, <hi rend="italic">apropos</hi> of the dwarf vines +around him, which stood about the height of a currant-bush. +Thence he had proceeded to the subject of the +more common vine of Africa, which crept and crawled +along the ground, the extremity of each plant resting +in succession on the stock of that which immediately +preceded it. And now, being well into his subject, he +called to mind the high vine of Italy, which mounts +by the support of the slim tree to which it clings. +Then he quoted Horace on the subject of the marriage +of the elm and the vine. This lodged him <hi rend="italic">in +medias res</hi>; and Agellius’s heart beat when he found +his uncle proposing to him, as a thought of his own, +the very step which he had fancied was almost a +secret of his own breast, though Juba had seemed to +have some suspicion of it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My dear Agellius,</q> said Jucundus, <q>it would be +a most suitable proceeding. I have never taken to +marrying myself; it has not lain in my way, or +been to my taste. Your father did not set me an +encouraging example; but here you are living by +yourself, in this odd fashion, unlike any one else. +Perhaps you may come in time and live in Sicca. We +shall find some way of employing you, and it will be +<pb n="100"/><anchor id="Pg100"/>pleasant to have you near me as I get old. However, +I mean it to be some time yet before Charon makes +a prize of me; not that I believe all that rubbish more +than you, Agellius, I assure you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It strikes me,</q> Agellius began, <q>that perhaps you +may think it inconsistent in me taking such a step, +but—</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay, ay, that’s the rub,</q> thought Jucundus; then +aloud, <q>Inconsistent, my boy! who talks of inconsistency? +what superfine jackanapes dares to call it +inconsistent? You seem made for each other, Agellius—she +town, you country; she so clever and attractive, +and up to the world, you so fresh and Arcadian. +You’ll be quite the talk of the place.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s just what I don’t want to be,</q> said Agellius. +<q>I mean to say,</q> he continued, <q>that if I +thought it inconsistent with my religion to think of +Callista—</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Of course, of course,</q> interrupted his uncle, who +took his cue from Juba, and was afraid of the workings +of Agellius’s human respect; <q>but who knows you +have been a Christian? no one knows anything about +it. I’ll be bound they all think you an honest fellow +like themselves, a worshipper of the gods, without +crotchets or hobbies of any kind. I never told them +to the contrary. My opinion is, that if you were to +make your libation to Jove, and throw incense upon +the imperial altar to-morrow, no one would think it +extraordinary. They would say for certain that they +<pb n="101"/><anchor id="Pg101"/>had seen you do it again and again. Don’t fancy for +an instant, my dear Agellius, that you have anything +whatever to get over.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius was getting awkward and mortified, as may +be easily conceived, and Jucundus saw it, but could +not make out why. <q>My dear uncle,</q> said the youth, +<q>you are reproaching me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not a bit of it,</q> said Jucundus, confidently, <q>not +a shadow of reproach; why should I reproach you? +We can’t be wise all at once; <hi rend="italic">I</hi> had my follies once, +as you may have had yours. It’s natural you should +grow more attached to things as they are,—things as +they are, you know,—as time goes on. Marriage, and +the preparation for marriage, sobers a man. You’ve +been a little headstrong, I can’t deny, and had your +fling in your own way; but <q>nuces pueris,</q> as you +will soon be saying yourself on a certain occasion. +Your next business is to consider what kind of a +marriage you propose. I suppose the Roman, but +there is great room for choice even there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is a proverb how different things are in theory +and when reduced to practice. Agellius had thought +of the end more than of the means, and had had a +vision of Callista as a Christian, when the question of +rites and forms would have been answered by the +decision of the Church without his trouble. He <hi rend="italic">was</hi> +somewhat sobered by the question, though in a different +way from what his uncle wished and intended. +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus proceeded—<q>First, there is <hi rend="italic">matrimonium +confarreationis</hi>. You have nothing to do with that: +<pb n="102"/><anchor id="Pg102"/>strictly speaking, it is obsolete; it went out with the +exclusiveness of the old patricians. I say <q>strictly +speaking</q>; for the ceremonies remain, waiving the +formal religious rite. Well, my dear Agellius, I don’t +recommend this ceremonial to you. You’d have to +kill a porker, to take out the entrails, to put away the +gall, and to present it to Juno Pronuba. And there’s +fire, too, and water, and frankincense, and a great +deal of the same kind, which I think undesirable, and +you would too; for there, I am sure, we are agreed. +We put this aside then, the religious marriage. Next +comes the marriage <hi rend="italic">ex coemptione</hi>, a sort of mercantile +transaction. In this case the parties buy each +other, and become each other’s property. Well, +every man to his taste; but for me, I don’t like to be +bought and sold. I like to be my own master, and +am suspicious of anything irrevocable. Why should +you commit yourself (do you see?) for ever, <hi rend="italic">for ever</hi>, +to a girl you know so little of? Don’t look surprised: +it’s common sense. It’s very well to buy +<hi rend="italic">her</hi>; but to be bought, that’s quite another matter. +And I don’t know that you can. Being a Roman +citizen yourself, you can only make a marriage +with a citizen; now the question is whether Callista +is a citizen at all. I know perfectly well the sweeping +measure some years back of Caracalla, which +made all freemen citizens of Rome, whatever might +be their country; but that measure has never been +carried out in fact. You’d have very great difficulty +with the law and the customs of the country; and +<pb n="103"/><anchor id="Pg103"/>then, after all, if the world were willing to gratify +you, where’s your proof she is a freewoman? My +dear boy, I must speak out for your good, though +you’re offended with me. I wish you to have her, +I do; but you can’t do impossibilities—you can’t +alter facts. The laws of the empire allow you to +have her in a certain definite way, and no other; +and you cannot help the law being what it is. I +say all this, even on the supposition of her being a +freewoman; but it is just possible she may be in +law a slave. Don’t start in that way; the pretty +thing is neither better nor worse for what she cannot +help. I say it for your good. Well, now I’m coming +to my point. There is a third kind of marriage, and +that is what I should recommend for you. It’s the +<hi rend="italic">matrimonium ex usu</hi>, or <hi rend="italic">consuetudine</hi>; the great advantage +here is, that you have no ceremonies whatever, +nothing which can in any way startle your sensitive +mind. In that case, a couple are at length man and +wife <hi rend="italic">præscriptione</hi>. You are afraid of making a stir +in Sicca; in this case you would make none. You +would simply take her home here; if, as time went +on, you got on well together, it would be a marriage; +if not,</q>—and he shrugged his shoulders—<q>no harm’s +done; you are both free.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius had been sitting on a gate of one of the +vineyards; he started on his feet, threw up his arms, +and made an exclamation. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Listen, listen, my dear boy!</q> cried Jucundus, +hastening to explain what he considered the cause of +<pb n="104"/><anchor id="Pg104"/>his sudden annoyance; <q>listen, just one moment, +Agellius, if you can. Dear, dear, how I wish I knew +where to find you! What <hi rend="italic">is</hi> the matter? I’m not +treating her ill, I’m not indeed. I have not had any +notion at all even of hinting that you should leave her, +unless you both wished the bargain rescinded. No, but +it is a great rise for her; you are a Roman, with property, +with position in the place; she’s a stranger, and +without a dower: nobody knows whence she came, or +anything about her. She ought to have no difficulty +about it, and I am confident will have none.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O my good, dear uncle! O Jucundus, Jucundus!</q> +cried Agellius, <q>is it possible? do my ears hear +right? What is it you ask me to do?</q> and he burst +into tears. <q>Is it conceivable,</q> he said, with energy, +<q>that you are in earnest in recommending me—I say +in recommending me—a marriage which really would +be no marriage at all?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Here is some very great mistake,</q> said Jucundus, +angrily; <q>it arises, Agellius, from your ignorance of +the world. You must be thinking I recommend you +mere <hi rend="italic">contubernium</hi>, as the lawyers call it. Well, I +confess I did think of that for a moment, it occurred +to me; I should have liked to have mentioned it, but +knowing how preposterously touchy and skittish you +are on supposed points of honour, or sentiment, or +romance, or of something or other indescribable, I +said not one word about that. I have only wished to +consult for your comfort, present and future. You +don’t do me justice, Agellius. I have been attempting +<pb n="105"/><anchor id="Pg105"/>to smooth your way. You <hi rend="italic">must</hi> act according to the +received usages of society! you cannot make a world +for yourself. Here have I proposed three or four +ways for your proceeding: you will have none of +them. What <hi rend="italic">will</hi> you have? I thought you didn’t +like ceremonies; I thought you did not like the established +ways. Go, then, do it in the old fashion; kill +your sheep, knead your meal, light your torches, sing +your song, summon your flamen, if he’ll come. Any +how, take your choice; do it either with religion or +without.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O Jucundus!</q> said the poor fellow, <q>am I then +come to this?</q> and he could say no more. +</p> + +<p> +His distress was not greater than his uncle’s disappointment, +perplexity, and annoyance. The latter +had been making everything easy for Agellius, and +he was striking, do what he would, on hidden, inexplicable +impediments, whichever way he moved. He +got more and more angry the more he thought about +it. An unreasonable, irrational coxcomb! He had +heard a great deal of the portentous stubbornness of +a Christian, and now he understood what it was. It +was in his blood, he saw; an offensive, sour humour, +tainting him from head to foot. A very different +recompense had he deserved. There had he come all +the way from his home from purely disinterested +feelings. He had no motive whatever, but a simple +desire of his nephew’s welfare; what other motive +could he have? <q>Let Agellius go to the crows,</q> he +thought, <q>if he will; what is it to me if he is seized +<pb n="106"/><anchor id="Pg106"/>for a Christian, hung up like a dog, or thrown like a +dead rat into the <hi rend="italic">cloaca</hi> of the prison? What care I if +he is made a hyæna’s breakfast in the amphitheatre, +all Sicca looking on, or if he is nailed on a cross for +the birds to peck at before my door? Ungrateful +puppy! it is no earthly concern of mine what becomes +of him. I shall be neither better nor worse. No +one will say a word against Jucundus; he will not +lose a single customer, or be shunned by a single jolly +companion, for the exposure of his nephew. But +a man can’t be saved against his will. Here am I, full +of expedients and resources for his good; there is he, +throwing cold water on everything, and making difficulties +as if he loved them. It’s his abominable +pride, that’s the pith of the matter. He could not +have behaved worse though I had played the bully +with him, and had reproached him with his Christianity. +But I have studiously avoided every subject +which could put his back up. He’s a very Typhon +or Enceladus for pride. Here he’d give his ears to +have done with Christianity; he wants to have this +Callista; he wants to buy her at the price of his religion; +but he’d rather be burned than say, I’ve +changed! Let him reap as he has sown; why should +I coax him further to be merciful to himself? Well +Agellius,</q> he said aloud, <q>I’m going back.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius, on the other hand, had his own thoughts; +and the most urgent of them at the moment was sorrow +that he had hurt his uncle. He was sincerely +attached to him, in consequence of his faithful +guar<pb n="107"/><anchor id="Pg107"/>dianship, his many acts of kindness, the reminiscences +of childhood, nay, the love he bore to the good points +of his character. To him he owed his education and +his respectable position. He could not bear his +anger, and he had a fear of his authority; but what +was to be done? Jucundus, in utter insensibility to certain +instincts and rules which in Christianity are first +principles, had, without intending it, been greatly dishonouring +Agellius, and his passion, and the object +of it. Uncle and nephew had been treading on each +other’s toes, and each was wincing under the mischance. +It was Agellius’s place, as the younger, to +make advances, if he could, to an adjustment of the +misunderstanding; and he wished to find some +middle way. And, also, it is evident he had another +inducement besides his tenderness to Jucundus to +urge him to do so. In truth, Callista exerted a tremendous +sway over him. The conversation which +had just passed ought to have opened his eyes, and +made him understand that the very first step in any +negotiations between them was her <hi rend="italic">bonâ fide</hi> conversion. +It was evident he could not, he literally had +not the power of marrying her as a heathen. Roman +might marry a Roman; but a degradation of each +party in the transaction was the only way by which +a Roman could make any sort of marriage with a +Greek. If she were converted, they would be both of +them under the rules of the Catholic Church. But +what prospect was there of so happy an event? What +had ever fallen from her lips which looked that way? +<pb n="108"/><anchor id="Pg108"/>Could not a clever girl throw herself into the part of +Alcestis, or chant the majestic verses of Cleanthes, or +extemporize a hymn upon the spring, or hold an argument +on the <hi rend="italic">pulchrum</hi> and <hi rend="italic">utile</hi>, without having any +leaning towards Christianity? A calm, sweet voice, +a noble air, an expressive countenance, refined and +decorous manners, were these specific indications of +heavenly grace? Ah, poor Agellius! a fascination is +upon you; and so you are thinking of some middle +term, which is to reconcile your uncle and you; and +therefore you begin as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I see by your silence, Jucundus, that you are +displeased with me, you who are always so kind. +Well, it comes from my ignorance of things; it does +indeed. I ask your forgiveness for anything which +seemed ungrateful in my behaviour, though there is +not ingratitude in my heart. I am too much of a boy +to see things beforehand, and to see them in all their +bearings. You took me by surprise by talking on the +subject which led to our misunderstanding. I will not +conceal for an instant that I like Callista very much; +and that the more I see her, I like her the more. It +strikes me that, if you break the matter to Aristo, he +and I might have some talk together, and understand +each other.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus was hot-tempered, but easily pacified; +and he really did wish to be on confidential terms with +his nephew at the present crisis; so he caught at his +apology. <q>Now you speak like a reasonable fellow, +Agellius,</q> he answered. <q>Certainly, I will speak to +<pb n="109"/><anchor id="Pg109"/>Aristo, as you wish; and on this question of <hi rend="italic">consuetudo</hi> +or prescription. Well, don’t begin looking queer again. +I mean I will speak to him on the whole question and +its details. He and I will talk together for our respective +principals. We shall soon come to terms, I +warrant you; and then <hi rend="italic">you</hi> shall talk with him. Come, +show me round your fields,</q> he continued, <q rend="post: none">and let +me see how you will be able to present things to your +bride. A very pretty property it is. I it was who +was the means of your father thinking of it. You +have heard me say so before now, and all the circumstances.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">He was at Carthage at this time, undecided what +to do with himself. It so happened that Julia Clara’s +estates were just then in the market. An enormous +windfall her estates were. Old Didius was emperor +just before my time; he gave all his estates to his +daughter as soon as he assumed the purple. Poor +lady! she did not enjoy them long; Severus confiscated +the whole, not, however, for the benefit of the +state, but of the <hi rend="italic">res privata</hi>. They are so large in +Africa alone, that, as you know, you are under a +special procurator. Well, they did not come into the +market at once; the existing farmers were retained. +Marcus Juventius farmed a very considerable portion +of them; they were contiguous, and dovetailed into +his own lands, and accordingly, when he got into +trouble, and had to sell his leases, there were certain +odds and ends about Sicca which it was proposed to +lease piecemeal. Your employer, Varius, would have +<pb n="110"/><anchor id="Pg110"/>given any money for them, but I was beforehand with +him. Nothing like being on the spot; he was on +business of the proconsul at Adrumetum. I sent off +Hispa instantly to Strabo; not an hour’s delay after +I heard of it. The sale was at Carthage; he went to +his old commander, who used his influence, and the +thing was done.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I venture to say there’s not such a snug little farm +in all Africa; and I am sanguine we shall get a renewal, +though Varius will do his utmost to outbid us. Ah, +my dear Agellius, if there is but a suspicion you are +not a thorough-going Roman! Well, well,—here! +ease me through this gate, Agellius; I don’t know +what’s come to the gate since I was here. Indeed!—yes! +you have improved this very much. That small +arbour is delicious; but you want an image, an Apollo +or a Diana. Ah! do now stop for a moment; why +are you going forward at such a pace? I’ll give you +an image: it shall be one that you will really like. +Well, you won’t have it? I beg you ten thousand +pardons. Ha, ha! I mean nothing. Ha, ha, ha! +Oh, what an odd world it is! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! +Well, I am keeping you from your labourers. Ha, ha, +ha!</q> +</p> + +<p> +And having thus smoothed his own ruffled temper, +and set things right, as he considered, with Agellius, +the old pagan took his journey homewards, assuring +Agellius that he would make all things clear for him +in a very short time, and telling him to be sure to +make a call upon Aristo before the ensuing calends. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="X" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="111"/><anchor id="Pg111"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="X. The divine Callista"/> +<head>CHAPTER X.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE DIVINE CALLISTA.</head> + +<p> +The day came which Agellius had fixed for paying +his promised visit to Aristo. It is not to be denied +that, in the interval, the difficulties of the business +which occasioned his visit had increased upon his +apprehensions. Callista was not yet a Christian, nor +was there any reason for saying that a proposal of +marriage would make her one; and a strange sort of +convert she would be, if it did. He would not suffer +himself to dwell upon difficulties which he was determined +never should be realized. No; of course a +heathen he could not marry, but a heathen Callista +should not be. He did not see the process, but he +was convinced she would become a Christian. Yet +somehow so it was, that, if he was able to stultify his +reason, he did not quite succeed to his satisfaction +with his conscience. Every morning found him less +satisfied with himself, and more disposed to repent of +having allowed his uncle to enter on the subject with +Aristo. But it was a thing done and over; he must +either awkwardly back out, or he must go on. His +middle term, as he hastily had considered it, was +nothing else than siding with his uncle, and +com<pb n="112"/><anchor id="Pg112"/>mitting himself to go all lengths, unless some difficulty +rose with the other party. Yet could he really wish +that the step had not been taken? Was it not plain +that if he was to put away Callista from his affections, +he must never go near her? And was he to fall back +on his drear solitude, and lose that outlet of thought +and relief of mind which he had lately found in the +society of his Greek friends? +</p> + +<p> +We may easily believe that he was not very peaceful +in heart when he set out on that morning to call +upon Aristo; yet he would not allow that he was +doing wrong. He recurred to the pleasant imagination +that Callista would certainly become a Christian, +and dwelt pertinaciously upon it. He could not tell +on what it was founded; he knew enough of his +religion not to mean that she was too good to be a +heathen; so it is to be supposed he meant that he +discerned what he hoped were traces of some supernatural +influence operating upon her mind. He had +a perception, which he could not justify by argument, +that there was in Callista a promise of something +higher than anything she yet was. He felt a strange +sympathy with her, which certainly unless he utterly +deceived himself, was not based on anything merely +natural or human,—a sympathy the more remarkable +from the contrariety which existed between them in +matters of religious belief. And hope having blown +this large and splendid bubble, sent it sailing away, +and it rose upon the buoyant atmosphere of youth, +beautiful to behold. +</p> + +<pb n="113"/><anchor id="Pg113"/> + +<p> +And yet, as Agellius ascended the long flight of +marble steps which led the foot-passenger up into +that fair city, while the morning sun was glancing +across them, and surveyed the outline of the many +sumptuous buildings which crested and encircled the +hill, did he not know full well that iniquity was written +on its very walls, and spoke a solemn warning to a +Christian heart to go out of it, to flee it, not to take up +a home in it, not to make alliance with anything in it? +Did he not know from experience full well that, when +he got into it, his glance could no longer be unrestrained, +or his air free; but that it would be necessary +for him to keep a control upon his senses, and +painfully guard himself against what must either be +a terror to him and an abhorrence, or a temptation? +Enter in imagination into a town like Sicca, and you +will understand the great Apostle’s anguish at seeing +a noble and beautiful city given up to idolatry. Enter +it, and you will understand why it was that the poor +priest, of whom Jucundus spoke so bitterly, hung his +head, and walked with timid eyes and clouded brow +through the joyous streets of Carthage. Hitherto we +have only been conducting heathens through it, boys +or men, Jucundus, Arnobius, and Firmian; but now a +Christian enters it with a Christian’s heart and a +Christian’s hope. +</p> + +<p> +Well is it for us, dear reader, that we in this age +do not experience—nay, a blessed thing that we cannot +even frame to ourselves in imagination—the actual +details of evil which hung as an atmosphere over the +<pb n="114"/><anchor id="Pg114"/>cities of Pagan Rome. An Apostle calls the tongue +<q>a fire, a world of iniquity, untameable, a restless +evil, a deadly poison;</q> and surely what he says applies +to hideous thoughts represented to the eye, as well as +when they are made to strike upon the ear. Unfortunate +Agellius! what takes you into the city this +morning? Doubtless some urgent, compulsive duty; +otherwise you would not surely be threading its lanes +or taking the circuit of its porticoes, amid sights which +now shock and now allure; fearful sights—not here +and there, but on the stateliest structures and in the +meanest hovels, in public offices and private houses, in +central spots and at the corners of the streets, in +bazaars and shops and house-doors, in the rudest workmanship +and in the highest art, in letters or in emblems +or in paintings—the insignia and the pomp of Satan +and of Belial, of a reign of corruption and a revel of +idolatry which you can neither endure nor escape. +Wherever you go it is all the same; in the police-court +on the right, in the military station on the left, in the +crowd around the temple, in the procession with its +victims and its worshippers who walk to music, in the +language of the noisy market-people; wherever you +go, you are accosted, confronted, publicly, shamelessly, +now as if a precept of religion, now as if a +homage to nature, by all which, as a Christian, you +shrink from and abjure. +</p> + +<p> +It is no accident of the season or of the day; it is +the continuous tradition of some thousands of years; +it is the very orthodoxy of the myriads who have +<pb n="115"/><anchor id="Pg115"/>lived and died there. There was a region once, in an +early age, lying upon the Eastern Sea, which is said +at length to have vomited out its inhabitants for their +frightful iniquity. They, thus cast forth, took ship, +and passed over to the southern coast; and then, +gradually settling and spreading into the interior, they +peopled the woody plains and fertile slopes of Africa, +and filled it with their cities. Sicca is one of these +set up in sin; and at the time of which we write that +sin was basking under the sun, and rioting and extending +itself to its amplest dimensions, like some +glittering serpent or spotted pard of the neighbourhood, +without interposition from heaven or earth in +correction of so awful a degradation. In such scenes +of unspeakable pollution, our Christian forefathers +perforce lived; through such a scene, though not +taking part in it, Agellius, blessed with a country +home, is unnecessarily passing. +</p> + +<p> +He has reached the house, or rather the floor, to +which he has been making his way. It is at the back +of the city, where the rock is steep; and it looks out +upon the plain and the mountain range to the north. +Its inmates, Aristo and Callista, are engaged in their +ordinary work of moulding or carving, painting or +gilding the various articles which the temples or the +private shrines of the established religion required. +Aristo has received from Jucundus the overtures +which Agellius had commissioned him to make, and +finds, as he anticipated, that they are no great news +to his sister. She perfectly understands what is going +<pb n="116"/><anchor id="Pg116"/>on, but does not care to speak much upon it, till +Agellius makes his appearance. As they sit at work, +Aristo speaks:— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agellius will make his appearance here this morning. +I say, Callista, what can he be coming for?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why, if your news be true, that the Christians are +coming into trouble, of course he means to purchase, +as a blessing on him, some of these bits of gods.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are sharp enough, my little sister,</q> answered +Aristo, <q>to know perfectly well who is the goddess he +is desirous of purchasing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista laughed carelessly, but made no reply. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Come, child,</q> Aristo continued, <q>don’t be cruel +to him. Wreath a garland for him by the time he +comes. He’s well to do, and modest withal, and +needs encouragement.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He’s well enough,</q> said Callista. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I say he’s a fellow too well off to be despised as +a lover,</q> proceeded her brother, <q>and it would be a +merit with the gods to rid him of his superstition.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not much of a Christian,</q> she made answer, <q>if he +is set upon me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>For whose sake has he been coming here so often, +mine or yours, Callista?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am tired of such engagements,</q> she replied. +She went on with her painting, and several times +seemed as if she would have spoken, but did not. +Then, without interrupting her work, she said calmly, +<q>Time was, it gratified my conceit and my feelings +to have hangers on. Indeed, without them, how +<pb n="117"/><anchor id="Pg117"/>should we have had means to come here? But there’s +a weariness in all things.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A weariness! Where is this bad humour to end?</q> +cried Aristo; <q>it has been a long fit; shake it off +while you can, or it will be too much for you. What +can you mean? a weariness! You are over young to +bid youth farewell. Aching hearts for aching bones. +So young and so perverse! We must take things as +the gods give them. You will ask for them in vain +when you are old. One day above, another day +beneath; one while young, another while old. Enjoy +life while you have it in your hand.</q> He had +said this as he worked. Then he stopped, and turned +round to her, with his graving-tool in his hand. <q>Recollect +old Lesbia, how she used to squeak out to me, +with her nodding head and trembling limbs</q>—here +he mimicked the old crone—<q><q>My boy, take your +pleasure while you can. I can’t take pleasure—my +day is over; but I don’t reproach myself. I had a +merry time of it while it lasted. Time stops for no +one, but I did my best; I don’t reproach myself.</q> +There’s the true philosopher, though a slave; more +outspoken than Æsop, more practical than Epictetus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista began singing to herself:— +</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"><q rend="post: none">I wander by that river’s brink</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Which circles Pluto’s drear domain;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">I feel the chill night breeze, and think</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Of joys which ne’er shall be again.</l> + +</lg><lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"><q rend="post: none">I count the weeds that fringe the shore,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Each sluggish wave that rolls and rolls;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">I hear the ever-splashing oar</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Of Charon, ferryman of souls.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="118"/><anchor id="Pg118"/> + +<p> +<q>Heigho!</q> she continued, <q>little regret, but much +dread. The young have to fear more than the old +have to mourn over. The future outweighs the past. +Life is not so sweet as death is bitter. It is hard to +quit the light, the light of heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callistidion!</q> he said, impatiently; <q>my girl, this +is preposterous. How long is this to go on? We +must take you to Carthage; there is more trade there, +if we can get it; and it will be on the bright, far-resounding +sea. And I will turn rhetorician, and +you shall feed my classes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O beautiful, divine light,</q> she continued, <q>what +a loss! O, to think that one day I must lose you for +ever! At home I used to lie awake at night longing +for the morning, and crying out for the god of day. +It was like choice wine to me, a cup of Chian, the +first streaks of the Aurora, and I could hardly bear +his bright coming, when he came to me like Semele, +for rapture. How gloriously did he shoot over the +hills! and then anon he rested awhile on the snowy +summit of Olympus, as in some luminous shrine, gladdening +the Phrygian plain. Fair, bright-haired god! +thou art my worship, if Callista worships aught: but +somehow I worship nothing now. I am weary.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> said her brother in a soothing tone, <q>it is +a change. That light, elastic air, that transparent +heaven, that fresh temperate breeze, that majestic sea! +Africa is not Greece; O, the difference! That’s it, +Callista; it is the <hi rend="italic">nostalgia</hi>; you are home-sick.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It may be so,</q> she said; <q>I do not well know +<pb n="119"/><anchor id="Pg119"/>what I would have. Yes, the poisonous dews, the +heavy heat, the hideous beasts, the green fever-gendering +swamps. This vast thickly-wooded plain, like +some mysterious labyrinth, oppresses and disquiets +me with its very richness. The luxuriant foliage, the +tall, rank plants, the deep, close lanes, I do not see +my way through them, and I pant for breath. I only +breathe freely on this hill. O, how unlike Greece, +with the clear, soft, delicate colouring of its mountains, +and the pure azure or the purple of its waters!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But, my dear Callista,</q> interrupted her brother, +<q>recollect you are not in those oppressive, gloomy +forests, but in Sicca, and no one asks you to penetrate +them. And if you want mountains, I think those on +the horizon are bare enough.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the race of man,</q> she continued, <q>is worse +than all. Where is the genius of our bright land? +where its intelligence, playfulness, grace, and noble +bearing? Here hearts are as black as brows, and +smiles as treacherous as the adders of the wood. The +natives are crafty and remorseless; they never relax; +they have no cheerfulness or mirth; their very love +is a furnace, and their sole ecstasy is revenge.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No country like home to any of us,</q> said Aristo; +<q>yet here you are. Habit would be a second nature +if you were here long enough; your feelings would +become acclimated, and would find a new home. +People get to like the darkness of the extreme north +in course of time. The painted Britons, the Cimmerians, +the Hyperboreans, are content never to see the +<pb n="120"/><anchor id="Pg120"/>sun at all, which is your god. Here your own god +reigns; why quarrel with him?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The sun of Greece is light,</q> answered Callista; +<q>the sun of Africa is fire. I am no fire-worshipper.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I suspect even Styx and Phlegethon are tolerable, +at length,</q> said her brother, <q>if Phlegethon and Styx +there be, as the poets tell us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The cold, foggy Styx is the north,</q> said Callista, +<q>and the south is the scorching, blasting Phlegethon, +and Greece, clear, sweet, and sunny, is the Elysian +fields.</q> And she continued her improvisations:— +</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"><q rend="post: none">Where are the islands of the blest?</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">They stud the Ægean sea;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">And where the deep Elysian rest?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">It haunts the vale where Peneus strong</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">Pours his incessant stream along,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">While craggy ridge and mountain bare</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">Cut keenly through the liquid air,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">And, in their own pure tints arrayed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">Scorn earth’s green robes which change and fade,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">And stand in beauty undecayed,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8"><q rend="pre: none">Guards of the bold and free.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +<q>A lower flight, if you please, just now,</q> said +Aristo, interrupting her. <q>I do really wish a serious +word with you about Agellius. He’s a fellow I can’t +help liking, in spite of his misanthropy. Let me +plead his cause. Like him or not yourself, still he +has a full purse; and you will do a service to yourself +and to the gods of Greece, and to him too, if you will +smile on him. Smile on him at least for a time; we +will go to Carthage when you are tired. His looks +have very little in them of a Christian left; you may +blow it away with your breath.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="121"/><anchor id="Pg121"/> + +<p> +<q>One might do worse than be a Christian,</q> she answered +slowly, <q>if all is true that I have heard of them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Aristo started up in irritation. <q>By all the gods +of Olympus,</q> he said, <q>this is intolerable! If a man +wants a tormentor, I commend him to a girl like you. +What has ailed thee some time past, you silly child? +What have I done to you that you should have got so +cross and contrary and so hard to please?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I mean,</q> she said, <q>if I were a Christian, life +would be more bearable.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bearable!</q> he echoed; <q>bearable! ye gods! more +bearable to have Styx and Tartarus, the Furies and +their snakes, in this world as well as in the next? to +have evil within and without, to hate one’s self and to +be hated of all men! to live the life of an ass, and to +die the death of a dog! Bearable! But hark! I hear +Agellius’s step on the staircase. Callista, dear Callista, +be yourself. Listen to reason.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Callista would not listen to reason, if her +brother was its embodiment; but went on with her +singing:— +</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 6"><q rend="post: none">For what is Afric but the home</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8">Of burning Phlegethon?</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">What the low beach and silent gloom,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">And chilling mists of that dull river,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">Along whose bank the thin ghosts shiver,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">The thin, wan ghosts that once were men,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">But Tauris, isle of moor and fen;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 6">Or, dimly traced by seaman’s ken,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 8"><q rend="pre: none">The pale-cliffed Albion?</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +Here she stopped, looked down, and busied herself +with her work. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="122"/><anchor id="Pg122"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XI. Callista's preaching, and what came of it"/> +<head>CHAPTER XI.</head> + +<head type="sub">CALLISTA’S PREACHING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.</head> + +<p> +It is undeniably a solemn moment, under any circumstances, +and requires a strong heart, when any +one deliberately surrenders himself, soul and body, +to the keeping of another while life shall last; and +this, or something like this, reserving the supreme +claim of duty to the Creator, is the matrimonial contract. +In individual cases it may be made without +thought or distress, but surveyed objectively, and as +carried out into a sufficient range of instances, it is so +tremendous an undertaking that nature seems to sink +under its responsibilities. When the Christian binds +himself by vows to a religious life, he makes a surrender +to Him who is all-perfect, and whom he may +unreservedly trust. Moreover, looking at that surrender +on its human side, he has the safeguard of +distinct <hi rend="italic">provisos</hi> and regulations, and of the principles +of theology, to secure him against tyranny on the +part of his superiors. But what shall be his encouragement +to make himself over, without condition or stipulation, +as an absolute property, to a fallible being, +and that not for a season, but for life? The mind +shrinks from such a sacrifice, and demands that, as +<pb n="123"/><anchor id="Pg123"/>religion enjoins it, religion should sanction and bless +it. It instinctively desires that either the bond should +be dissoluble, or that the subjects of it should be +sacramentally strengthened to maintain it. <q>So help +me God,</q> the formula of every oath, is emphatically +necessary here. +</p> + +<p> +But Agellius is contemplating a superhuman engagement +without superhuman assistance; and that +in a state of society in which public opinion, which +in some sense compensates for the absence of religion, +supplied human motives, not for, but against +keeping it, and with one who had given no indication +that she understood what marriage meant. No +wonder then, that, in spite of his simplicity, his +sanguine temperament, and his delusion, the more he +thought of the step he had taken, the more unsatisfactory +he found it, and the nearer he grew to the time +when he must open the subject with Aristo, the less +he felt able to do so. In consequence he was in a +distress of mind, as he ascended the staircase which +led to his friend’s lodging, to which his anxiety, as he +mounted the hill on the other side of the city, was +tranquillity itself; and, except that he was coming +by engagement, he would have turned back, and for +the time at least have put the whole subject from his +thoughts. Yet even then, as often as Callista rose in +his mind’s eye, his scruples and misgivings vanished +before the beauty of that image, as mists before the +sun; and when he actually stood in her sweet presence, +it seemed as if some secret emanation from +<pb n="124"/><anchor id="Pg124"/>her flowed in upon his heart, and he stood breathless +and giddy under the intensity of the fascination. +</p> + +<p> +However, the reader must not suppose that in the +third century of our era such negotiations as that +which now seems to be on the point of coming off +between Callista and Agellius, were embellished with +those transcendental sentiments and that magnificent +ceremonial with which chivalry has invested them in +these latter ages. There was little occasion then for +fine speaking or exquisite deportment; and if there +had been, we, who are the narrators of these hitherto +unrecorded transactions, should have been utterly +unable to do justice to them. At that time of day the +Christian had too much simplicity, the heathen too +little of real delicacy, to indulge in the sublimities of +modern love-making, at least as it is found in novels; +and in the case before us both gentleman and lady will +be thought, we consider, sadly matter-of-fact, or rather +semi-barbarous, by the votaries of what is just now +called European civilization. +</p> + +<p> +On Agellius’s entering the room, Aristo was pacing +to and fro in some discomposure; however, he ran up +to his friend, embraced him, and, looking at him with +significance, congratulated him on his good looks. +<q>There is more fire in your eye,</q> he said, <q>dear +Agellius, and more eloquence in the turn of your lip, +than I have ever yet seen. A new spirit is in you. +So you are determined to come out of your solitude? +That you should have been able to exist in it so long +is the wonderment to me.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="125"/><anchor id="Pg125"/> + +<p> +Agellius had recovered himself, yet he dared not +look again on Callista. <q>Do not jest, Aristo,</q> he said; +<q>I am come, as you know, to talk to you about your +sister. I have brought her a present of flowers; they +are my best present, or rather not mine, but the birth +of the opening year, as fair and fragrant as herself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We will offer them to our Pallas Athene,</q> said his +friend, <q>to whom we artists are especially devout.</q> +And he would have led Agellius on, and made him +place them in her niche in the opposite wall. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am more serious than you are,</q> said Agellius; +<q>and I have brought the best my garden contains as +an offering to your sister. <hi rend="italic">She</hi> will not think I bring +them for any other purpose. Where are you going?</q> +he continued, as he saw his friend take down his broad +<hi rend="italic">petasus</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why,</q> answered Aristo, <q>since I am so poor an +interpreter of your meaning, you can dispense with me +altogether. I will leave you to speak for yourself, +and meanwhile will go and see what old Dromo has +to tell, before the sun is too high in the heavens.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, with a half-imploring, half-satirical +look at his sister, he set off to the barber’s at the +Forum. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius took up the flowers, and laid them on the +table before her, as she sat at work. <q>Do you accept +my flowers, Callista?</q> he asked. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fair and fragrant, like myself, are they?</q> she +made reply. <q>Give them to me.</q> She took them, +and bent over them. <q>The blushing rose,</q> she said, +<pb n="126"/><anchor id="Pg126"/>gravely, <q>the stately lily, the royal carnation, the +golden moly, the purple amaranth, the green bryon, +the diosanthos, the sertula, the sweet modest saliunca, +fit emblems of Callista. Well, in a few hours they +will have faded; yes, they will get more and more +like her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She paused and looked him steadily in the face, and +then continued: <q>Agellius, I once had a slave who +belonged to your religion. She had been born in a +Christian family, and came into my possession on her +master’s death. She was unlike any one I have seen +before or since; she cared for nothing, yet was not +morose or peevish or hard-hearted. She died young +in my service. Shortly before her end she had a +dream. She saw a company of bright shades, clothed +in white, like the hours which circle round the god of +day. They were crowned with flowers, and they said +to each other, <q><hi rend="italic">She</hi> ought to have a token too.</q> So +they took her hand, and led her to a most beautiful +lady, as stately as Juno and as sweet as Ariadne, so +radiant in countenance that they themselves suddenly +looked like Ethiopians by the side of her. She, too, +was crowned with flowers, and these so dazzling that +they might be the stars of heaven or the gems of +Asia for what Chione could tell. And that fair +goddess (angel you call her) said, <q>My dear, here is +something for you from my Son. He sends you by me +a red rose for your love, a white lily for your chastity, +purple violets to strew your grave, and green palms to +flourish over it.</q> Is this the reason why you give me +<pb n="127"/><anchor id="Pg127"/>flowers, Agellius, that I may rank with Chione? and is +this their interpretation?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista,</q> he answered, <q>it is my heart’s most +fervent wish, it is my mind’s vivid anticipation, that +the day may come when you will receive such a crown, +nay, a brighter one.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And you are come, of course, to philosophize to +me, and to put me in the way of dying like Chione,</q> +she made answer. <q>I implore your pardon. You are +offering me flowers, it seems, not for a bridal wreath, +but for a funeral urn.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is it wonderful,</q> said Agellius, <q>that the two +wishes should have gone together in my heart; and +that while I trusted and prayed that you might have +the same Master in heaven as I have myself, I also +hoped you would have the same service, the same +aims, the same home upon earth?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that you should speak one word for your +Master and two for yourself!</q> she retorted. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It has been by feeling how much you could be to +me,</q> he answered, <q>that I have been led to think how +much my Master may be doing for you already, and +how much in time to come you might do for Him. +Callista, do not urge me with your Greek subtlety, or +expect me to analyze my feelings more precisely than +I have the ability to do. May I calmly tell you the +state of my mind, as I do know it, and will you +patiently listen?</q> +</p> + +<p> +She signified her willingness, and he continued—<q>This +only I know,</q> he said, <q>what I have experienced +<pb n="128"/><anchor id="Pg128"/>ever since I first heard you converse, that there is between +you and me a unity of thought so strange that +I should have deemed it could not have been, before +I found it actually to exist, between any two persons +whatever; and which, widely as we are separated in +opinion and habit, and differently as we have been +brought up, is to me inexplicable. I find it difficult to +explain what I mean; we disagree certainly on the +most important subjects, yet there is an unaccountable +correspondence in the views we take of things, in our +impressions, in the line in which our minds move, and +the issues to which they come, in our judgment of +what is great and little, and the manner in which +objects affect our feelings. When I speak to my uncle, +when I speak to your brother, I do not understand +them, nor they me. We are moving in different +spheres, and I am solitary, however much they talk. +But to my astonishment, I find between you and me +one language. Is it wonderful that, in proportion to +my astonishment, I am led to refer it to one cause, +and think that one Master Hand must have engraven +those lines on the soul of each of us? Is it wonderful +that I should fancy that He who has made us alike +has made us for each other, and that the very same +persuasives by which I bring you to cast your eyes on +me, may draw you also to cast yourself in adoration +at the feet of my Master?</q> +</p> + +<p> +For an instant tears seemed about to start from +Callista’s eyes, but she repressed the emotion, if it were +such, and answered with impetuosity, <q>Your Master! +<pb n="129"/><anchor id="Pg129"/>who is your Master? what know I of your Master? +what have you ever told me of your Master? I suppose +it is an esoteric doctrine which I am not worthy +to know; but so it is, here you have been again and +again, and talked freely of many things, yet I am in +as much darkness about your Master as if I had never +seen you. I know He died; I know too that Christians +say He lives. In some fortunate island, I suppose; +for, when I have asked, you have got rid of the +subject as best you could. You have talked about +your law and your various duties, and what you consider +right, and what is forbidden, and of some of the +old writers of your sect, and of the Jews before them; +but if, as you imply, my wants and aspirations are the +same as yours, what have you done towards satisfying +them? what have you done for that Master towards +whom you now propose to lead me? No!</q> she continued, +starting up, <q>you have watched those wants +and aspirations for yourself, not for Him; you have +taken interest in them, you have cherished them, as if +you were the author, you the object of them. You +profess to believe in One True God, and to reject every +other; and now you are implying that the Hand, the +Shadow of that God is on my mind and heart. Who +is this God? where? how? in what? O Agellius, you +have stood in the way of Him, ready to speak for yourself, +using Him as a means to an end.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O Callista,</q> said Agellius, in an agitated voice, +when he could speak, <q>do my ears hear aright? do +you really wish to be taught who the true God is?</q> +</p> + +<pb n="130"/><anchor id="Pg130"/> + +<p> +<q>No, mistake me not,</q> she cried passionately, <q>I +have no such wish. I could not be of your religion. +Ye Gods! how have I been deceived! I thought every +Christian was like Chione. I thought there could not +be a cold Christian. Chione spoke as if a Christian’s +first thoughts were goodwill to others; as if his state +were of such blessedness, that his dearest heart’s wish +was to bring others into it. Here is a man who, so far +from feeling himself blest, thinks I can bless him! +comes to me—me, Callista, a herb of the field, a poor +weed, exposed to every wind of heaven, and shrivelling +before the fierce sun—to me he comes to repose his +heart upon. But as for any blessedness he has to show +me, why, since he does not feel any himself, no wonder +he has none to give away. I thought a Christian was +superior to time and place; but all is hollow. Alas, +alas, I am young in life to feel the force of that saying, +with which sages go out of it, <q>Vanity and +hollowness!</q> Agellius, when I first heard you were +a Christian, how my heart beat! I thought of her +who was gone; and at first I thought I saw her in you, +as if there had been some magical sympathy between +you and her; and I hoped that from you I might +have learned more of that strange strength which my +nature needs, and which she told me she possessed. +Your words, your manner, your looks were altogether +different from others who came near me. But so it +was; you came, and you went, and came again; I +thought it reserve, I thought it timidity, I thought it +the caution of a persecuted sect; but O, my +disap<pb n="131"/><anchor id="Pg131"/>pointment, when first I saw in you indications that +you were thinking of me only as others think, and felt +towards me as others may feel; that you were aiming +at me, not at your God; that you had much to tell of +yourself, but nothing of Him! Time was I might +have been led to worship you, Agellius; you have +hindered it by worshipping <hi rend="italic">me</hi>.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is not often, we suppose, that such deep offence +is given to a lady by the sort of admiration of which +Agellius had been guilty in the case of Callista; however, +startled as he might be, and startled and stung +he was, there was too much earnestness in her distress, +too much of truth in her representations, too +much which came home to his heart and conscience, +to allow of his being affronted or irritated. She had +but supplied the true interpretation of the misgiving +which had haunted him that morning, from the time +he set out till the moment of his entering the room. +Jucundus some days back had readily acquiesced in +his assurance that he was not inconsistent; but Callista +had not been so indulgent, though really more +merciful. There was a pause in the conversation, or +rather in her outpouring; each had bitter thoughts, +and silently devoured them. At length, she began +again:— +</p> + +<p> +<q>So the religion of Chione is a dream; now for +four years I had hoped it was a reality. All things +again are vanity; I had hoped there was something +somewhere more than I could see; but there is nothing. +Here am I a living, breathing woman, with an +over-<pb n="132"/><anchor id="Pg132"/>flowing heart, with keen affections, with a yearning +after some object which may possess me. I cannot +exist without something to rest upon. I cannot fall +back upon that drear, forlorn state, which philosophers +call wisdom, and moralists call virtue. I cannot enrol +myself a votary of that cold Moon, whose arrows do +but freeze me. I cannot sympathize in that majestic +band of sisters whom Rome has placed under the +tutelage of Vesta. I must have something to love; +love is my life. Why do you come to me, Agellius, +with your every-day gallantry. Can you compete +with the noble Grecian forms which have passed before +my eyes? Is your voice more manly, are its tones +more eloquent, than those which have thrilled through +my ears since I ceased to be a child? Can you add +perfume to the feast by your wit, or pour sunshine +over grot and rushing stream by your smile? <hi rend="italic">What</hi> +can you give me? There was one thing which I +thought you <hi rend="italic">could</hi> have given me, better than anything +else; but it is a shadow. You have nothing to +give. You have thrown me back upon my dreary, +dismal self, and the deep wounds of my memory.... +Poor, poor Agellius! but it was not his fault, it could +not be helped,</q> she continued, as if in thought; <q>it +could not be helped; for, if he had nothing to give, +how could he give it? After all, he wanted something +to love, just as I did; and he could find nothing +better than me.... And they thought to persuade +her to spend herself upon him, as she had spent herself +upon others. Yes, it was Jucundus and +Aristo—<pb n="133"/><anchor id="Pg133"/>my brother, even my own brother. They thought not +of <hi rend="italic">me</hi>.</q> Here her tears gushed out violently, and she +abandoned herself to a burst of emotion. <q>They were +thinking of <hi rend="italic">him</hi>. I had hoped he could lead me to +what was higher; but woe, woe!</q> she cried, wringing +her hands, <q>they thought I was only fit to bring him +low. Well; after all, <hi rend="italic">is</hi> Callista really good for much +more than the work they have set her to do?</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was absorbed in her own misery in an intense +sense of degradation, in a keen consciousness of the +bondage of nature, in a despair of ever finding what +alone could give meaning to her existence, and an +object to her intellect and affections. And Agellius +on the other hand, what surprise, remorse, and humiliation +came upon him! It was a strange contrast, +the complaint of nature unregenerate on the one +hand, the self-reproach of nature regenerate and +lapsing on the other. At last he spoke, and they +were his last words. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista,</q> he said, <q>whatever injury I may have +unwillingly inflicted upon you, you at least have +returned me good for evil, and have made yourself +my benefactress. Certainly, I now know myself +better than I did; and He who has made use of you +as His instrument of mercy towards me, will not forget +to reward you tenfold. One word will I say for +myself; nay, not for myself, but for my Master. Do +not for an instant suppose that what you thought of +the Christian religion is not true. It reveals a present +God, who satisfies every affection of the heart, yet +<pb n="134"/><anchor id="Pg134"/>keeps it pure. I serve a Master,</q> he continued, blushing +from modesty and earnestness as he spoke, <q>I +serve a Master whose love is stronger than created +love. God help my inconsistency! but I never meant +to love you as I love Him. You are destined for His +love. I commit you to Him, your true Lord, whom +I never ought to have rivalled, for whom I ought +simply to have pleaded. Though I am not worthy to +approach you, I shall trace you at a distance, who +knows where? perhaps even to the prison and to the +arena of those who confess the Saviour of men, and +dare to suffer and die for His name. And now, farewell; +to His keeping and that of His holy martyrs I +commit you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He did not trust himself to look at her as he turned +to the door, and left the room. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="135"/><anchor id="Pg135"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XII. A death"/> +<head>CHAPTER XII.</head> + +<head type="sub">A DEATH.</head> + +<p> +The first stages of repentance are but a fever, in which +there is restlessness and thirst, hot and cold fits, +vague, dreary dreams, long darkness which seems +destined never to have a morning, effort without result, +and collapse without reaction. These symptoms had +already manifested themselves in Agellius; he spoke +calmly to Callista, and sustained himself by the claims +of the moment; but no sooner had he left the room +and was thrown upon himself, than his self-possession +left him, and he fell into an agony, or rather anarchy +of tumultuous feelings. Then rose up before his +mind a hundred evil spectres, not <anchor id="corr135"/><corr sic="lees">less</corr> scaring and +more real than the dreams of the delirious. He thought +of the singular favour which had been shown him in +his reception into the Christian fold, and that at so +early a date; of the myriads all around who continued +in heathenism as they had been born, and of his utter +insensibility to his own privilege. He felt how much +would be required of him, and how little hitherto had +been forthcoming. He thought of the parable of the +barren fig-tree, and the question was whispered in his +<pb n="136"/><anchor id="Pg136"/>ear whether it would not be fulfilled in him. He asked +himself in what his heart and his conduct differed from +the condition of a fairly virtuous heathen. And then +he thought of Callista in contrast with himself, as +having done more with the mite which she possessed +than he had done with many pounds. He felt that +Tyre and Sidon were rising up against him in her person; +or rather how the saying seemed about to be +verified in her, that strangers should sit down in the +kingdom from far countries, while those who were +the heirs should be thrust out. He had been rebuked +by one to whom he rather ought to have brought self-knowledge +and compunction, and she was sensitively +alive to his want of charity. She had felt bitterly that +she was left in ignorance and sin by one who had +what she had not. She had accused him of being +zealous enough to win her to himself, when he had +shown no zeal at all to win her to her Maker. If she +was brought to the truth at length, there would be +no thanks to him for the happy change; yet on the +other hand, though he had predicted it, alas! was it +likely that it would be granted? Had she not had +her opportunity, which was lost because he had not +improved it? Yes, she had with a deliberate mind +and in set words put aside and taken leave of that +which she once desired and hoped might have been +her own, sorrowfully indeed, but peremptorily, as +firmly persisting in rejecting it, as she might have persisted +in maintaining it; and, if she died in infidelity, +horrible thought! would not the burden lie on him, +<pb n="137"/><anchor id="Pg137"/>and was this to be the token of the love which he +pretended to entertain for her? +</p> + +<p> +What was he living for? what was the work he had +set himself to <anchor id="corr137"/><corr sic="do!">do?</corr> Did he live to plant flowers, or to +rear fruit, to maintain himself and to make money? +Was that a time to pride himself on vineyards and oliveyards, +when, like Eliseus, he was one among myriads +who were in unbelief? Ah, the difference between +a saint and him? Of what good was he on earth; +why should not he die? why so chary of his life? +why preserve his wretched life at all? Could he not +do more by giving it than by keeping it? Might it +not have been given him perchance for the very purpose +that he might sacrifice it for Him who had given +it? He had been timid about making a profession of +his faith, which might have led to prison and death; +but perhaps the very object of his life in the divine +purpose, the very reason of his birth, had been that, +as soon as he was grown, he should die for the truth. +He might have been cut off by disease; he was not; +and why, except that he might merit in his death, +and that what, in the ordinary course of things, was +a mere suffering, might in his case be an act of service? +His death might have been the conversion of +thousands, of Callista; and the fewness of his days +here would have been his claim to a blessed eternity +hereafter. +</p> + +<p> +Nor Callista alone; he had natural friends, with +nearer claims upon his charity. Had he been other +than he was, he might have prevailed with his uncle; +<pb n="138"/><anchor id="Pg138"/>at least he might have taught him to respect the +Christian Faith and Name, and restrained him from +daring to attempt, for he now saw that it was an +attempt, to seduce him into sin. He might have +lodged a good seed in his heart, which in the hour +of sickness might have germinated. And his brother +again had learned to despise him; indeed he had +raised in every one who came near him the suspicion +that he was not really a Christian, that he was an +apostate (he could not help uttering a cry of anguish as +he used the word), an apostate from that which was +his real life and supreme worship. +</p> + +<p> +Why did he not at once go into the Basilica or the +Gymnasium, and proclaim himself a Christian? There +were rumours abroad that the new emperor was beginning +a new policy towards his religion; let him inaugurate +it in Agellius. Might he not thus perchance +wash out his sin? He would be led into the amphitheatre, +as his betters had been led before him; the +crowds would yell, and the lion would be let loose +upon him. He would confront the edict, tear it +down, be seized by the apparitor, and hurried to the +rack or the slow fire. Callista would hear of it, and +would learn at length he was not quite the craven and +the recreant which she thought him. +</p> + +<p> +Then his thoughts took a turn. Callista! what was +Callista to him? Why should he think of her, when +she was girding him to martyrdom? Was she to be +the motive which was to animate him, and her praise +his reward? Alas, alas! could he gain heaven by +<pb n="139"/><anchor id="Pg139"/>pleasing a heathen? <q>But to whom then,</q> he continued, +<q>am I to look up? who is to give me sympathy? +who is to encourage, to advise me? O my +Father, pity me! a feeble child, a poor, outcast, wandering +sheep, away from the fold, torn by the briars +and thorns, and no one to bind his wounds and retrace +his steps for him. Why am I thus alone in the +world? why am I without a pastor and guide? Ah, +was not this my fault in remaining in Sicca? I have +no tie here; let me go to Carthage, or to Tagaste, or +to Madaura, or to Hippo. I am not fit to walk the +world by myself; I am too simple, and am no match +for its artifices.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here another thought took possession of him, +which had as yet but crossed his mind, and it made +him colour up with confusion and terror. <q>They +were laying a plot for me,</q> he said, <q>my uncle and +Aristo; and it is Callista who has defeated it.</q> And +as he spoke, he felt how much he owed to her, and +how dangerous too it was to think of his debt. Yet +it would not be wrong to pray for her; she had +marred the device of which she was to have been the +agent. <q>Laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati +sumus:</q> the net was broken and he was delivered. +She had refused his devotion, that he might give it +to his God; and now he would only think of her, +and whisper her name, when he was kneeling before +the Blessed Mary, his advocate. O that that second +and better Eve, who brought salvation into the world, +as our first mother brought death, O that she might +<pb n="140"/><anchor id="Pg140"/>bear Callista’s name in remembrance, and get it written +in the Book of life! +</p> + +<p> +It was high noon; and all this time Agellius was +walking in his present excited mood, without covering +to his head, under the burning rays of the sun, +not knowing which way he went, and retracing his +steps, as he wandered about at random, with a vague +notion he was going homewards. The few persons +whom he met, creeping about under the shadow of +the lofty houses, or under the porticoes of the temples, +looked at him with wonder, and thought him furious +or deranged. The shafts of the sun were not so hot +as his own thoughts, or as the blood which shot to +and fro so fiercely in his veins; but they were working +fearfully on his physical frame, though they could +not increase the fever of his mind. He had come to +the Forum; the market people were crouching under +their booths or the shelter of their baskets. The +riffraff of the city, who lived by their wits, or by odd +jobs, or on the windfalls of the market; lazy fellows +who did nothing, who did not move till hunger urged +them, like the brute; half-idiotic chewers of opium, +ragged or rather naked children, the butcher boys +and scavengers of the temples, lay at their length at the +mouth of the caverns formed by the precipitous rock, +or under the Arch of Triumph, or amid the columns +of the Gymnasium and the Heracleum, or in the +doorways of the shops. A scattering of beggars were +lying, poor creatures, on their backs in the blazing +sun, reckless of the awful maladies, the fits, the +<pb n="141"/><anchor id="Pg141"/>seizures, and the sudden death, which might be the +consequence. +</p> + +<p> +Numbers out of this mixed multitude were asleep; +some were looking with dull listless eyes at the still +scene, or at any accidental movements which might +vary it. They saw a figure coming nearer and nearer +and wildly passing by. Just then Agellius was diverted +from his painful meditations by hearing one +of these fellows say to another, as he roused from a +sort of doze, <q>That’s one of them. We know them +all, but very poor pickings can be got out of them; +but he has more than most. They’re a low set in +Sicca.</q> And then the man cried out, <q>Look sharp, +young chap! the Furies are at your heels, and the +Fates are going before you. Look there at the emperor; +he is looking at you, as grim and sour as you +could wish him.</q> He spoke of the equestrian statue +of Severus before the Basilica on the right; and, +attracted by his words, Agellius went up to a board +which was fixed to its base. It was an imperial edict, +and it ran as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Cneius Trajanus Decius, Augustus; and Quintus +Herennius Etruscus Decius, Cæsar; Emperors, unconquerable +and pious; by united council these:—</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Whereas we have experienced the benefits and +the gifts of the gods, and do also enjoy the victory +which they have given us over our enemies, and moreover +salubrity of seasons, and abundance in the fruits +of the earth;</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Therefore, acknowledging the aforesaid as our +<pb n="142"/><anchor id="Pg142"/>benefactors and the providers of those things which +are necessary for the commonwealth, we make this +our decree, that every class of the state, freemen and +slaves, the army and civilians, offer to the gods expiatory +sacrifices, falling down in supplication before +them;</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">And if any one shall presume to disobey this our +divine command, which we unite in promulgating, we +order that man to be thrown into chains, and to be +subjected to various tortures;</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">And should he thereupon be persuaded to reverse +his disobedience, he shall receive from us no slight +honours;</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">But should he hold out in opposition, first he shall +have many tortures, and then shall be executed by +the sword, or thrown into the deep sea, or given as a +prey to birds and dogs;</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">And more than all if such a person be a professor +of the Christian religion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Farewell, and live happy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The old man in the fable called on Death, and Death +made his appearance. We are very far indeed from +meaning that Agellius uttered random words, or +spoke impatiently, when he just now expressed a wish +to have the opportunity of dying for the Faith. Nevertheless, +what now met his eyes and was transmitted +through them, sentence by sentence, into his mind, +was not certainly of a nature to calm the tumult which +was busy in breast and brain; a sickness came over +him, and he staggered away. The words of the edict +<pb n="143"/><anchor id="Pg143"/>still met his eyes, and were of a bright red colour. +The sun was right before him, but the letters were +in the sun, and the sun in his brain. He reeled and +fell heavily on the pavement. No notice was taken +of the occurrence by the spectators around him. They +lazily or curiously looked on, and waited to see if he +would recover. +</p> + +<p> +How long he lay there he could not tell, when he +came to himself; if it could really be said to be +coming to himself to have the power of motion, and an +instinct that he must move, and move in one direction. +He managed to rise and lean against the +pedestal of the statue, and its shade by this time protected +him. Then an intense desire came upon +him to get home, and that desire gave him a +temporary preternatural strength. It came upon +him as a duty to leave Sicca for his cottage, and he +set off. He had a confused notion that he must do +his duty, and go straight forward, and turn neither +to the right, nor the left, and stop nowhere, but move +on steadily for his true home. But next an impression +came upon him that he was running away from +persecution, and that this ought not to be, and that +he ought to face the enemy, or at least not to hide +from him, but meekly wait for him. +</p> + +<p> +As he went along the narrow streets which led down +the hill towards the city gate this thought came so +powerfully upon him that at length he sat down on a +stone which projected from an open shop, and thought +of surrendering himself. He felt the benefit of the +<pb n="144"/><anchor id="Pg144"/>rest, and this he fancied to be the calm of conscience +consequent upon self-surrender and resignation. It +was a fruiterer’s stall, and the owner, seeing his exhaustion, +offered him some slices of a water-melon for his +refreshment. He ate one of them, and then again a +vague feeling came on him that he was in danger of +idolatry, and must protest against idolatry, and that +he ought not to remain in the neighbourhood of +temptation. So, throwing down the small coin which +was sufficient for payment, he continued his journey. +The rest and the refreshment of the fruit, and the continued +shade which the narrow street allowed him, +allayed the fever, and for the time recruited him, and +he moved on languidly. The sun, however, was still +high in heaven, and when he got beyond the city +beat down upon his head from a cloudless sky. He +painfully toiled up the ascent which led to his cottage. +He had nearly gained the gate of his homestead; +he saw his old household slave, born in his +father’s house, a Christian like himself, coming to +meet him. A dizziness came over him, he lost his +senses, and fell down helplessly upon the bank. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="145"/><anchor id="Pg145"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XIII. And resurrection"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">AND RESURRECTION.</head> + +<p> +Jucundus was quite as much amused as provoked +at the result of the delicate negotiation in which he +had entangled his nephew. It was a gratification to +him to find that its ill success had been owing in no +respect to any fault on the side of Agellius. He had +done his part without shrinking, and the view which +he, Jucundus, had taken of his state of mind, was +satisfactorily confirmed. He had nothing to fear +from Agellius, and though he had failed in securing +the guarantee which he had hoped for his attachment +to things as they were, yet in the process of failure it +had been proved that his nephew might be trusted +without it. And it was a question, whether a girl so +full of whims and caprices as Callista might after all +have done him any permanent good. The absurd +notion, indeed, of her having a leaning for Christianity +had been refuted by her conduct on the occasion; +still, who could rely on a clever and accomplished +Greek? There were secret societies and conspiracies +in abundance, and she might have involved so weak +and innocent a fellow in some plans against the +government, now or at a future time; or might have +<pb n="146"/><anchor id="Pg146"/>alienated him from his uncle, or in some way or other +made a fool of him, if she had consented to have +him for her slave. Why she had rejected so eligible +a suitor it was now useless and idle to inquire; it +might be that the haughty or greedy Greek had +required him to bid higher for her favourable notice. +If the negotiation had taken such a turn, then indeed +there was still more gratifying evidence of Agellius +having broken from his fantastic and peevish superstition. +</p> + +<p> +Still, however, he was not without anxiety, now +that the severe measures directed against the Christians +were in progress. No overt act, indeed, beyond +the publication of the edict, had been taken in Sicca—probably +would be taken at all. The worst was, +that something must be done to make a show; he +could have wished that some of the multitude of +townspeople, half suspected of Christianity, had stood +firm, and suffered themselves to be tortured and executed. +One or two would have been enough; but the +magistracy got no credit with the central government +for zeal and activity if no Christians were made an +example of. Yet still it was a question whether the +strong acts at Carthage and elsewhere would not +suffice, though the lesser towns did nothing. At +least, while the populace was quiet, there was nothing +to press for severity. There were no rich Christians in +Sicca to tempt the cupidity of the informer or of the +magistrate; no political partisans among them, who +had made enemies with this or that class of the +com<pb n="147"/><anchor id="Pg147"/>munity. But, supposing a bad feeling to rise in the +populace, supposing the magistrates to have ill-wishers +and rivals—and what men in power had not?—who +might be glad to catch them tripping, and +make a case against them at Rome, why, it must be +confessed that Agellius was nearly the only victim +who could be pitched upon. He wished Callista no +harm, but, if a Christian must be found and held up +<hi rend="italic">in terrorem</hi>, he would rather it was a person like her, +without connections and home, than the member of +any decent family of Sicca, whose fair fame would be +compromised by a catastrophe. However, she was +<hi rend="italic">not</hi> a Christian, and Agellius <hi rend="italic">was</hi>, at least by profession; +and his fear was lest Juba should be right in +his estimate of his brother’s character. Juba had said +that Agellius could be as obstinate as he was ordinarily +indolent and yielding, and Jucundus dreaded +lest, if he were rudely charged with Christianity, and +bidden to renounce it under pain of punishment, he +would rebel against the tyrannical order, and go to +prison and to death out of sheer perverseness or sense +of honour. +</p> + +<p> +With these perplexities before him, he could find +nothing better than the following plan of action, which +had been in his mind for some time. While the edict +remained inoperative, he would do nothing at all, and +let Agellius go on with his country occupations, which +would keep him out of the way. But if any disposition +appeared of a popular commotion, or a movement on +the part of the magistracy, he determined to get +pos<pb n="148"/><anchor id="Pg148"/>session of Agellius, and forcibly confine him in his +own house in Sicca. He hoped that in the case of one +so young, so uncommitted, he should have influence +with the municipal authorities, or at the prætorium, or +in the camp (for the camp and the prætorium were +under different jurisdictions in the proconsulate), to +shelter Agellius from a public inquiry into his religious +tenets, or if this could not be, to smuggle him out of +the city. He was ready to affirm solemnly that his +nephew was no Christian, though he was touched in +the head, and, from an affection parallel to hydrophobia, +to which the disciples of Galen ought to turn +their attention, was sent into convulsions on the sight +of an altar. His father, indeed, was a malignant old +atheist—there was no harm in being angry with the +dead—but it was very hard the son should suffer for +his father’s offence. If he must be judged of by his +parents, let him rather have the advantage of the thorough +loyalty and religiousness of his mother, a most +zealous old lady, in high repute in the neighbourhood +of Sicca for her theurgic knowledge, a staunch +friend of the imperial government, which had before +now been indebted to her for important information, +and as staunch a hater of the Christians. Such was +the plan of proceedings resolved on by Jucundus +before he received the news of his nephew’s serious +malady. It did not reach him till many days after; +and then he did not go to see him, first, lest he should +be supposed to be in communication with him, next, +as having no respect for that romantic sort of +gene<pb n="149"/><anchor id="Pg149"/>rosity which risks the chances of contagion for the +absurd ceremony of paying a compliment. +</p> + +<p> +It was thus that Jucundus addressed himself to the +present state of affairs, and anticipated the chances of +the future. As to Aristo, he had very little personal +interest in the matter. His sister might have thwarted +him in affairs which lay nearer his heart than the +moral emancipation of Agellius; and as she generally +complied with his suggestions and wishes, whatever +they were, he did not grudge her her liberty of action +in this instance. Nor had the occurrence which had +taken place any great visible effect upon Callista herself. +She had lost her right to be indignant with +her brother, and she resigned or rather abandoned +herself to her destiny. Her better feelings had been +brought out for the moment in her conversation with +Agellius; but they were not ordinary ones. True, +she was tired, but she was the slave of the world; +and Agellius had only made her more sceptical than +before that there was any service better. So at least +she said to herself; she said it was fantastic to go elsewhere +for good, and that, if life was short, then, as her +brother said, it was necessary to make the most of it. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +And meanwhile, what of Agellius himself? Why, +it will be some little time before Agellius will be in +a condition to moralize upon anything. His faithful +slave half-carried, half-drew him into the cottage, +and stretched him upon his bed. Then, having sufficient +skill for the ordinary illnesses of the country, +<pb n="150"/><anchor id="Pg150"/>though this was more than an ordinary fever, he +drew blood from him, gave him a draught of herbs, +and left him to the slow but safe processes of nature +to restore him. It could not be affirmed that he was +not in considerable danger of life, yet youth carries +hope with it, and his attendant had little to fear for +his recovery. For some days certainly Agellius had +no apprehension of anything, except of restlessness +and distress, of sleepless nights, or dreary, miserable +dreams. At length one morning, as he was lying on +his back with his eyes shut, it came into his mind to +ask himself whether Sunday would ever come. He +had been accustomed upon the first day of the week +to say some particular prayers and psalms, and unite +himself in spirit with his brethren beyond seas. And +then he tried to remember the last Sunday; and the +more he thought, the less he could remember it, till +he began to think that months had gone without a +Sunday. This he was certain of, that he had lost +reckoning, for he had made no notches for the days +for a long while past, and unless his slave Asper +knew, there was no one to tell him. Here he got so +puzzled, that it was like one of the bad dreams which +had worried him. He felt it affect his head, and he +was obliged to give up the inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +From this time his sleep was better and more refreshing +for several days; he was more collected +when he was awake, and was able to ask himself why +he lay there, and what had happened to him. Then +gradually his memory began to return like the +dawn<pb n="151"/><anchor id="Pg151"/>ing of the day; the cause and the circumstances of +his recent visit to the city, point after point came up, +and he felt first wonder, and then certainty. He recollected +the Forum, and then the edict; a solemn, +overpowering emotion here seized him, and for a +while he dared not think more. When he recovered, +and tried to pursue the events of the day, he found +himself unequal to the task; all was dark, except +that he had some vague remembrance of thirsting, +and some one giving him to drink, and then his saying +with the Psalmist, <q>Transivimus per ignem et +aquam.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He opened his eyes and looked about him. He +was at home. There was some one at the bed-head +whom he could not see hanging over him, and he +was too weak to raise himself and so command a +view of him. He waited patiently, being too feeble +to have any great anxiety on the subject. Presently +a voice addressed him: <q>You are recovering, my son,</q> +it said. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Who are <hi rend="italic">you</hi>?</q> said Agellius abruptly. The +person spoken to applied his mouth to Agellius’s ear, +and uttered lowly several sacred names. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius would have started up had he been strong +enough; he could but sink down upon his rushes in +agitation. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be content to know no more at present,</q> said the +stranger, <q>praise God, as I do. You know enough +for your present strength. It is your act of obedience +for the day.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="152"/><anchor id="Pg152"/> + +<p> +It was a deep, clear, peaceful, authoritative voice. +In his present state, as we have said, it cost Agellius +no great effort to mortify curiosity; and the accents +of that voice soothed him, and the mystery employed +his mind, and had something pleasing and attractive +in it. Moreover, about the main point there was no +mystery, and could be no mistake, that he was in the +hands of a Christian ecclesiastic. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger occupied himself for a time with a book +of prayers which he carried about him, and then again +with the duties of a sick-bed. He sprinkled vinegar +over Agellius’s face and about the room, and supplied +him with the refreshment of cooling fruit. He kept +the flies from tormenting him, and did his best so to +arrange his posture that he might suffer least from +his long lying. In the morning and evening he let in +the air, and he excluded the sultry noon. In these +various occupations he was from time to time removed +to a distance from the patient, who thus had an opportunity +of observing him. The stranger was of middle +height, upright, and well proportioned; he was dressed +in a peasant’s or slave’s dark tunic. His face was +rather round than long; his hair black, yet with the +promise of greyness, with what might be baldness in +the crown, or a priest’s tonsure. His short beard +curled round his chin; his complexion was very clear. +But the most striking point about him was his eyes; +they were of a light or greyish blue, transparent, and +shining like precious stones. +</p> + +<p> +From the day that they first interchanged words, +<pb n="153"/><anchor id="Pg153"/>the priest said some short prayers from time to time +with Agellius—the Lord’s Prayer, and portions of the +Psalms. Afterwards, when he was well enough to +converse, Agellius was struck with the inexpressible +peculiarity of his manner. It was self-collected, serene, +gentle, tender, unobtrusive, unstudied. It enabled +him to say things severe and even stern, without +startling, offending, or repelling the hearer. He spoke +very little about himself, though from time to time +points of detail were elicited of his history in the +course of conversation. He said that his name was +Cæcilius. Asper, when he entered the room, would +kneel down and offer to kiss the stranger’s sandal, +though the latter generally managed to prevent it. +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius did not speak much about himself; but +Agellius, on the other hand, found it a relief to tell +out his own history, and reflect upon and describe his +own feelings. As he lay on his bed, he half soliloquized, +half addressed himself to the stranger. Sometimes +he required an answer; sometimes he seemed +to require none. Once he asked suddenly, after a long +silence, whether a man could be baptized twice; and +when the priest answered distinctly in the negative, +Agellius replied that if so, he thought it would be best +never to be baptized till the hour of death. It was a +question, he said, which had perplexed him a good +deal, but he never had had any one to converse with +on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius answered, <q>But how could you promise +yourself that you would be able to obtain the +sacra<pb n="154"/><anchor id="Pg154"/>ment at the last moment? The water and the administrator +might come just too late; and then where +would you be, my son? And then again, how do you +know you would wish it? Is your will simply in your +own power? <q>Carpe diem;</q> take God’s gift while +you can.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The benefit is so immense,</q> answered Agellius, +<q>that one would wish, if one could, to enter into the +unseen world without losing its fulness. This cannot +be, if a long time elapses between baptism and +death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are, then, of the number of those,</q> said +Cæcilius, <q>who would cheat their Maker of His claim +on their life, provided they could (as it is said) in their +last moment cheat the devil.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius continuing silent, Cæcilius added, <q>You +want to enjoy this world, and to inherit the next; is +it so?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am puzzled, my head is weak, father; I do not +see my way to speak.</q> Presently he said, <q>Sin after +baptism is so awful a matter; there is no second laver +for sin; and then again, to sin against baptism is so +great a sin.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The priest said, <q>In baptism God becomes your +Father; your own God; your worship; your love—can +you give up this great gift all through your life? +Would you live <q>without God in this world</q>?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Tears came into Agellius’s eyes, and his throat +became oppressed. At last he said, distinctly and +tenderly, <q>No.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="155"/><anchor id="Pg155"/> + +<p> +After a while the priest said, <q>I suppose what you +fear is the fire of judgment, and the prison; not lest +you should fall away and be lost.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know, my dear father,</q> answered the sick youth, +<q>that I have no right to reckon on anything, or promise +myself anything; yet somehow I have never +feared hell—though I ought, I know I ought; but I +have not. I deserve the worst, but somehow I have +thought that God would lead me on. He ever has +done so.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then you fear the fire of judgment,</q> said Cæcilius; +<q>you’d put off baptism for fear of that fire.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I did not say I <hi rend="italic">would</hi>,</q> answered Agellius; <q>I +wanted <hi rend="italic">you</hi> to explain the thing to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Which would you rather, Agellius, be without God +here, or suffer the fire there?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius smiled; he said faintly, <q>I take Him for +my portion here <hi rend="italic">and</hi> there: <hi rend="italic">He</hi> will be in the fire with +me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius lay quiet for some hours, and seemed +asleep. Suddenly he began again, <q>I was baptized +when I was only six years old. I’m glad you do not +think it was wilful in me, and wrong. I cannot tell +what took me,</q> he presently continued. <q>It was a +fervour; I have had nothing of the kind since. What +does our Lord say? I can’t remember: <q>Novissima +pejora prioribus.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +He continued the train of thought another day, or +rather the course of his argument; for on the thought +itself his mind seemed ever to be working. <q>My +<pb n="156"/><anchor id="Pg156"/>spring is gone,</q> he said, <q>and I have no summer. Nay, +I have had no spring; it was a day, not a season. +It came, and it went; where am I now? Can spring +ever return? I wish to begin again in right earnest.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thank God, my son, for this great mercy,</q> said +Cæcilius, <q>that, though you have relaxed, you have +never severed yourself from the peace of the Church, +you have not denied your God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius sighed bitterly. <q>O my father,</q> he said, +<q><q>Erravi, sicut ovis quæ periit.</q> I have been very +near denying Him, at least by outward act. You do +not know me; you cannot know what has come on me +lately. And I dare not look back on it, my heart is so +weak. My father, how am I to repent of what is past, +when I dare not think of it? To think of it is to +renew the sin.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>Puer meus, noli timere,</q></q> answered the priest; +<q><q>si transieris per ignem, odor ejus non erit in te.</q> +In penance, the grace of God carries you without +harm through thoughts and words which <hi rend="italic">would</hi> harm +you apart from it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, penance!</q> said Agellius; <q>I recollect the +catechism. What is it, father? a new grace, I know; +a plank after baptism. May I have it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are not strong enough yet to think of these +things, Agellius,</q> answered Cæcilius. <q>Please God, +you shall get well. Then you shall review all your +life, and bring it out in order before Him; and He, +through me, will wipe away all that has been amiss. +Praise Him who has spared you for this.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="157"/><anchor id="Pg157"/> + +<p> +It was too much for the patient in his weak state; +he could but shed happy tears. +</p> + +<p> +Another day he had sat up in bed. He looked at +his hands, from which the skin was peeling; he felt +his lips, and it was with them the same; and his hair +seemed coming off also. He smiled and said, <q>Renovabitur, +ut aquila, juventus mea.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius responded, as before, with sacred words +which were new to Agellius: <q><q>Qui sperant in Domino +mutabunt fortitudinem; assument pennas, sicut +aquilæ,</q> <q>Sursum corda!</q> you must soar, Agellius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>Sursum corda!</q></q> answered he; <q>I know those +words. They are old friends; where have I heard +them? I can’t recollect; but they are in my earliest +memories. Ah! but, my father, my heart is below, +not above. I want to tell you all. I want to tell +you about one who has enthralled my heart; who has +divided it with my True Love. But I daren’t speak +of her, as I have said; I dare not speak, lest I be +carried away. O, I blush to say it; she is a heathen! +May God save her soul! Will He come to me, and +not to her? <q>Investigabiles viæ ejus.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +He remained silent for some time; then he said, +<q>Father, I mean to dedicate myself to God, simply, +absolutely, with His grace. I will be His, and He +shall be mine. No one shall come between us. But +O this weak heart!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Keep your good resolves till you are <anchor id="corr157"/><corr sic="single quote">stronger,</corr></q> +said the priest. <q>It is easy to make them on a sick-bed. +You must first reckon the charges.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="158"/><anchor id="Pg158"/> + +<p> +Agellius smiled. <q>I know the passage, father,</q> he +said, and he repeated the sacred words: <q>If any +man come to Me, and hate not his father and mother, +and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, +and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Another time Agellius said: <q>The Martyrs; surely +the old bishop used to say something about the Martyrs. +He spoke of a second baptism, and called it a +baptism of blood; and said, <q>Might his soul be with +the Martyrs!</q> Father, would not this wash out every +thing, as the first?</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was now Cæcilius who smiled, and his eyes shone +like the sapphires of the Holy City; and he seemed +the ideal of him who, when +</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 10"><q rend="post: none">Called upon to face</q></l> +<l>Some awful moment to which heaven has joined</l> +<l>Great issues, good or bad for humankind,</l> +<l>Is happy as a lover, and attired</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">With sudden brightness, like a man inspired.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +However, he soon controlled himself, and said, <q>Quo +ego vado, non potes me modo sequi; sequeris autem +postea.</q> +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XIV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="159"/><anchor id="Pg159"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XIV. A small cloud"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIV.</head> + +<head type="sub">A SMALL CLOUD.</head> + +<p> +This sort of intercourse, growing in frequency and +fulness, went on for about a week, till Agellius was +able to walk with support, and to leave the cottage. +The priest and his own slave took him between them, +and seated him one evening in sight of the glorious +prospect, traversed by the long shadow of the far +mountains, behind which the sun was making its way. +The air was filled with a thousand odours; the +brilliant colouring of the western heavens was contrasted +with the more sober but varied tints of the +rich country. The wheat and barley harvest was +over; but the beans were late, and still stood in the +fields. The olives and chestnut-trees were full of +fruit; the early fig was supplying the markets with +food; and the numerous vineyards were patiently +awaiting the suns of the next month slowly to perfect +their present promise. The beautiful scene had a +moral dignity, from its associations with human +sustenance and well-being. The inexpressible calmness +of evening was flung, like a robe, over it. Its +sweetness was too much for one who had been +con<pb n="160"/><anchor id="Pg160"/>fined to the monotony of a sick-room, and was still +an invalid. He sat silent, and in tears. It was life +from the dead; and he felt he had risen to a different +life. And thus he came out evening after evening +convalescent, gradually and surely advancing to perfect +restoration of his health. +</p> + +<p> +One evening he said, after feeding his eyes and +thoughts for some time with the prospect, <q><q>Mansueti +hereditabunt terram.</q> They alone have real enjoyment +of this earth who believe in its Maker. Every +breath of air seems to whisper how good He is to +me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius answered, <q>These sights are the shadows +of that fairer Paradise which is our home, where there +is no beast of prey, no venomous reptile, no sin. My +child, should <hi rend="italic">I</hi> not feel this more than you? Those +who are shut up in crowded cities see but the work of +man, which is evil. It is the compensation of my +flight from Carthage that I am brought before the +face of God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The heathen worship all this, as if God Himself,</q> +said Agellius; <q>how strange it seems to me that any +one can forget the Creator in His works!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius was silent for a moment, and sighed; he +then said, <q>You have ever been a Christian, Agellius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And you have not, my father?</q> answered he; +<q>well, you have earned that grace which came to me +freely.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agellius,</q> said the priest, <q>it comes freely to all; +and is only merited when it has already prevailed. +<pb n="161"/><anchor id="Pg161"/>Yet I think you earned it too, else why the difference +between you and your brother?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What do you know of us?</q> asked Agellius +quickly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not a great deal,</q> answered he, <q>yet something. +Three or four years back an effort was made to rekindle +the Christian spirit in these parts, and to do +something for the churches of the proconsulate, and +to fill up the vacant sees. Nothing has come of it as +yet; but steps were taken towards it: one was to +obtain a recovery of the Christians who remained in +them. I was sent here for that purpose, and in this +way heard of you and your brother. When my life +was threatened by the persecution, and I had to flee, +I thought of your cottage. I was obliged to act +secretly, as we did not know friends from foes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You were led here for other purposes towards <hi rend="italic">me</hi>, +my father,</q> said Agellius; <q>yet you cannot have a +safer refuge. There is nothing to disturb, nothing to +cause suspicion here. In this harvest time numbers +of strangers pour in from the mountains, of various +races; there is nothing to distinguish you from one +of them, and my brother is away convoying some +grain to Carthage. Persecution drove you hither, but +you have not been suffered to be idle, my father, you +have brought home a wanderer.</q> He added, after a +pause, <q>I am well enough to go to confession to you +now. May it be this evening?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It will be well,</q> answered Cæcilius; <q>how long I +shall still be here, I cannot tell. I am expecting my +<pb n="162"/><anchor id="Pg162"/>trusty messenger with despatches. It is now three +days since he was here. However, this I say without +misgiving, we do not part for long. What do +you here longer? you must come to me. I must prepare +you, and send you back to Sicca, to collect and +restore this scattered flock.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius turned, and leaned against the priest’s +shoulder, and laughed. <q>I am laughing,</q> he said, +<q>not from lightness of mind, but from the depth of +surprise and of joy that you should so think of me. +It was a dream which once I had; but impossible! +you do not think that I, weak I, shall ever be able to +do more than save my own soul?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You will save your own soul by saving the souls +of others,</q> said Cæcilius; <q>my child, I could tell you +more things if I thought it good for you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But, my father, I have so weak, so soft a heart,</q> +cried Agellius; <q>what am I to do with myself? I am +not of the temper of which heroes are made.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>Virtus in infirmitate perficitur,</q></q> said the priest. +<q>What! are you to do <hi rend="italic">any</hi> thing of yourself? or are +you to be simply the instrument of Another? We +shall have the same termination, you and myself, but +you long after me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, father, because <hi rend="italic">you</hi> will burn out so much +more quickly!</q> said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I think,</q> said Cæcilius, <q>I see my messenger; +there is some one who has made his way by stealth +into the garden, or at least not by the beaten way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There <hi rend="italic">was</hi> a visitor, as Cæcilius had said; however, +<pb n="163"/><anchor id="Pg163"/>it was not his messenger, but Juba, who approached, +looking with great curiosity at Cæcilius, and absorbed +in the sight. Cæcilius in turn regarded him steadfastly, +and then said to Agellius, <q>It is your +brother.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What brings you here, Juba?</q> said the latter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have been away on a distant errand,</q> said Juba; +<q>and find you have been ill. Is this your nurse?</q> he +eyed him almost sternly, and added, <q>’Tis a Christian +priest.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Has Agellius no acquaintance but Christians?</q> +asked Cæcilius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Acquaintance! O surely!</q> answered Juba; +<q>agreeable, innocent, sweet acquaintance of another +sort; myself to begin with. My lad,</q> he continued, +<q>you did not rise to their price, but you did your +best.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Juba,</q> said his brother, <q>if you have any business +here, say it, and have done. I am not strong enough +to hold any altercation with you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Business!</q> said Juba, <q>I can find quite business +enough here, if I choose. This is a priest of the +Christians. I am sure of it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius looked at him with such calmness and +benevolence, that at length Juba turned away his eyes +with something of irritation. He said, <q>If I <hi rend="italic">am</hi> a +priest, I am here to claim you as one of my children.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba winced, but said scornfully, <q>You are mistaken +there, father; speak to those who own you. I am a +free man.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="164"/><anchor id="Pg164"/> + +<p> +<q>My son,</q> Cæcilius answered, <q>you have been +under instruction; it is your duty to go forward, not +back.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What do you know about me?</q> said Juba; <q>he +has been telling.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your face, your manner, your voice, tells a tale; I +need no information from others. I have heard of +you years ago; now I see you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What do you see in me?</q> said Juba. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I see pride in bodily shape, treading down faith +and conviction,</q> said Cæcilius. +</p> + +<p> +Juba neighed rather than laughed, so fierce and +scornful was its expression. <q>What you slaves call +pride,</q> he said, <q>I call dignity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You believe in a God, Creator of heaven and +earth, as certainly as I do,</q> said the priest, <q>but you +deliberately set yourself against Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba smiled. <q>I am as free,</q> he said, <q>in <hi rend="italic">my</hi> place, +as He in His.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You mean,</q> answered Cæcilius, <q>free to do wrong, +and free to suffer for it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You may call it wrong, and call it suffering,</q> +replied Juba; <q>but for me, <hi rend="italic">I</hi> do not call wrong what +He calls wrong; and if He puts me to pain, it is +because He is the stronger.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The priest stopped awhile; there was no emotion +on either side. It was strange to see them so passionless, +so antagonistic, like St. Michael and his adversary. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is that within you,</q> said Cæcilius, <q>which +<pb n="165"/><anchor id="Pg165"/>speaks as I speak. That inward voice takes the part +of the Creator, and condemns you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="italic">He</hi> put it there,</q> said Juba; <q>and <hi rend="italic">I</hi> will take care +to put it out.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then He will have justice as well as power on His +side,</q> said the priest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will never fawn or crouch,</q> said Juba; <q>I will be +lord and master in my own soul. Every faculty shall +be mine; there shall be no divided allegiance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius paused again; he said at length, <q>My son, +my soul tells me, or rather my Maker tells me, and +your Maker, that some heavy judgment is impending +over you. Do penance while you may.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Tell your forebodings to women and children,</q> +said Juba; <q>I am prepared for anything. I will not +be crushed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius was not strong enough to bear a part in +such a scene. <q>Father,</q> he said, <q>it is his way, but +don’t believe him. He has better thoughts. Away +with you, Juba, you are not wanted here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agellius,</q> said the priest, <q>such words are not +strange to me. I am not young, and have seen much +of the world; and my very office and position elicits +blasphemies from others from time to time. I knew a +man who carried out his bad thoughts and words into +act. Abjuring his Maker, he abandoned himself to the +service of the evil one. He betrayed his brethren to +death. He lived on year after year, and became old. +He was smitten with illness; then I first saw him. I +made him contemplate a picture; it was the picture of +<pb n="166"/><anchor id="Pg166"/>the Good Shepherd. I dwelt on the vain efforts of the +poor sheep to get out of the fold; its irrational aversion +to its home, and its desperate resolution to force a +way through the prickly fence. It was pierced and torn +with the sharp aloe; at last it lay imprisoned in its stern +embrace, motionless and bleeding. Then the Shepherd, +though He had to wound His own hands in the +work, disengaged it, and brought it back. God has +His own times; His power went along with the picture, +and the man was moved. I said, <q><hi rend="italic">This</hi> is His +return for your enmity: He is determined to have +you, cost Him what it will.</q> I need not go through +the many things that followed, but the issue may be +told in few words. He came back; he lived a life of +penance at the Church’s door; he received the peace +of the Church in immediate prospect of the persecution, +and has within the last ten days died a martyr’s +death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Juba had listened as if he was constrained against +his will. When the priest stopped he started, and +began to speak impetuously, and unlike his ordinary +tone. He placed his hands violently against his ears. +<q>Stop!</q> he said, <q>no more. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> will not betray them; +no: I <hi rend="italic">need</hi> not betray them;</q> he laughed; <q>the black +moor does the work himself. Look,</q> he cried, seizing +the priest’s arm, and pointing to a part of the forest, +which happened to be to windward. <q>You are in +their number, priest, who can foretell the destinies of +others, and are blind to their own. Read there, the +task is not hard, your coming fortunes.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="167"/><anchor id="Pg167"/> + +<p> +His finger was directed to a spot where, amid the +thick foliage, the gleam of a pool or of a marsh was +visible. The various waters round about issuing from +the gravel, or drained from the nightly damps, had +run into a hollow, filled with the decaying vegetation +of former years, and were languidly filtered out into a +brook, more healthy than the vast reservoir itself. Its +banks were bordered with a deep, broad layer of mud, +a transition substance between the rich vegetable +matter which it once had been, and the multitudinous +world of insect life which it was becoming. A cloud +or mist at this time was hanging over it, high in air. +A harsh and shrill sound, a whizzing or a chirping, +proceeded from that cloud to the ear of the attentive +listener. What these indications portended was plain. +<q>There,</q> said Juba, <q>is what will tell more against you +than imperial edict, informer, or proconsular apparitor; +and no work of mine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He turned down the bank and disappeared. Agellius +and his guest looked at each other in dismay. <q>It +is the locusts,</q> they whispered to each other, as they +went back into the cottage. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="168"/><anchor id="Pg168"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XV. A visitation"/> +<head>CHAPTER XV.</head> + +<head type="sub">A VISITATION.</head> + +<p> +The plague of locusts, one of the most awful visitations +to which the countries included in the Roman +empire were exposed, extended from the Atlantic to +Ethiopia, from Arabia to India, and from the Nile +and Red Sea to Greece and the north of Asia Minor. +Instances are recorded in history of clouds of the devastating +insect crossing the Black Sea to Poland, +and the Mediterranean to Lombardy. It is as numerous +in its species as it is wide in its range of territory. +Brood follows brood, with a sort of family +likeness, yet with distinct attributes, as we read in +the prophets of the Old Testament, from whom +Bochart tells us it is possible to enumerate as many +as ten kinds. It wakens into existence and activity +as early as the month of March; but instances are +not wanting, as in our present history, of its appearance +as late as June. Even one flight comprises +myriads upon myriads passing imagination, to which +the drops of rain or the sands of the sea are the only +fit comparison; and hence it is almost a proverbial +mode of expression in the East (as may be illustrated +<pb n="169"/><anchor id="Pg169"/>by the sacred pages to which we just now referred), +by way of describing a vast invading army, to liken +it to the locusts. So dense are they, when upon the +wing, that it is no exaggeration to say that they hide +the sun, from which circumstance indeed their name +in Arabic is derived. And so ubiquitous are they +when they have alighted on the earth, that they +simply cover or clothe its surface. +</p> + +<p> +This last characteristic is stated in the sacred +account of the plagues of Egypt, where their faculty +of devastation is also mentioned. The corrupting +fly and the bruising and prostrating hail had preceded +them in that series of visitations, but <hi rend="italic">they</hi> +came to do the work of ruin more thoroughly. For +not only the crops and fruits, but the foliage of the +forest itself, nay, the small twigs and the bark of the +trees are the victims of their curious and energetic +rapacity. They have been known even to gnaw the +door-posts of the houses. Nor do they execute their +task in so slovenly a way, that, as they have succeeded +other plagues so they may have successors +themselves. They take pains to spoil what they +leave. Like the Harpies, they smear every thing +that they touch with a miserable slime, which has +the effect of a virus in corroding, or, as some say, in +scorching and burning it. And then, as if all this +were little, when they can do nothing else, they die;—as +if out of sheer malevolence to man, for the poisonous +elements of their nature are then let loose, and +dispersed abroad, and create a pestilence; and they +<pb n="170"/><anchor id="Pg170"/>manage to destroy many more by their death than +in their life. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the locusts,—whose existence the ancient +heretics brought forward as their palmary proof that +there was an evil creator, and of whom an Arabian +writer shows his national horror, when he says that +they have the head of a horse, the eyes of an elephant, +the neck of a bull, the horns of a stag, the breast +of a lion, the belly of a scorpion, the wings of an +eagle, the legs of a camel, the feet of an ostrich, +and the tail of a serpent. +</p> + +<p> +And now they are rushing upon a considerable +tract of that beautiful region of which we have spoken +with such admiration. The swarm to which Juba +pointed grew and grew till it became a compact +body, as much as a furlong square; yet it was but +the vanguard of a series of similar hosts, formed one +after another out of the hot mould or sand, rising +into the air like clouds, enlarging into a dusky +canopy, and then discharged against the fruitful +plain. At length the huge innumerous mass was put +into motion, and began its career, darkening the face +of day. As became an instrument of divine power, +it seemed to have no volition of its own; it was set +off, it drifted, with the wind, and thus made northwards, +straight for Sicca. Thus they advanced, host +after host, for a time wafted on the air, and gradually +declining to the earth, while fresh broods were carried +over the first, and neared the earth, after a longer +flight, in their turn. For twelve miles did they +<pb n="171"/><anchor id="Pg171"/>extend from front to rear, and their whizzing and +hissing could be heard for six miles on every side +of them. The bright sun, though hidden by them, +illumined their bodies, and was reflected from their +quivering wings; and as they heavily fell earthward, +they seemed like the innumerable flakes of a yellow-coloured +snow. And like snow did they descend, a +living carpet, or rather pall, upon fields, crops, +gardens, copses, groves, orchards, vineyards, olive +woods, orangeries, palm plantations, and the deep +forests, sparing nothing within their reach, and where +there was nothing to devour, lying helpless in drifts, +or crawling forward obstinately, as they best might, +with the hope of prey. They could spare their +hundred thousand soldiers twice or thrice over, and +not miss them; their masses filled the bottoms of +the ravines and hollow ways, impeding the traveller +as he rode forward on his journey, and trampled by +thousands under his horse-hoofs. In vain was all +this overthrow and waste by the road-side; in vain +their loss in river, pool, and watercourse. The poor +peasants hastily dug pits and trenches as their +enemy came on; in vain they filled them from the +wells or with lighted stubble. Heavily and thickly +did the locusts fall: they were lavish of their lives; +they choked the flame and the water, which destroyed +them the while, and the vast living hostile armament +still moved on. +</p> + +<p> +They moved right on like soldiers in their ranks, +stopping at nothing, and straggling for nothing: +<pb n="172"/><anchor id="Pg172"/>they carried a broad furrow or wheal all across +the country, black and loathsome, while it was +as green and smiling on each side of them and +in front, as it had been before they came. Before +them, in the language of prophets, was a paradise; +and behind them a desert. They are daunted +by nothing; they surmount walls and hedges, and +enter enclosed gardens or inhabited houses. A +rare and experimental vineyard has been planted +in a sheltered grove. The high winds of Africa +will not commonly allow the light trellis or the +slim pole; but here the lofty poplar of Campania +has been possible, on which the vine plant mounts so +many yards into the air, that the poor grape-gatherers +bargain for a funeral pile and a tomb as one of the +conditions of their engagement. The locusts have +done what the winds and lightning could not do, +and the whole promise of the vintage, leaves and all, +is gone, and the slender stems are left bare. There +is another yard, less uncommon, but still tended with +more than common care; each plant is kept within +due bounds by a circular trench round it, and by +upright canes on which it is to trail; in an hour the +solicitude and long toil of the vine-dresser are lost, +and his pride humbled. There is a smiling farm; +another sort of vine, of remarkable character, is found +against the farm-house. This vine springs from one +root, and has clothed and matted with its many +branches the four walls; the whole of it is covered +thick with long clusters, which another month will +<pb n="173"/><anchor id="Pg173"/>ripen:—on every grape and leaf there is a locust. Into +the dry caves and pits, carefully strewed with straw, the +harvest-men have (safely, as they thought just now) +been lodging the far-famed African wheat. One grain +or root shoots up into ten, twenty, fifty, eighty, nay, +three or four hundred stalks: sometimes the stalks +have two ears apiece, and these again shoot into a +number of lesser ones. These stores are intended for +the Roman populace, but the locusts have been beforehand +with them. The small patches of ground +belonging to the poor peasants up and down the +country, for raising the turnips, garlic, barley, watermelons, +on which they live, are the prey of these +glutton invaders as much as the choicest vines and +olives. Nor have they any reverence for the villa of +the civic decurion or the Roman official. The neatly +arranged kitchen-garden, with its cherries, plums, +peaches, and apricots, is a waste; as the slaves sit +round, in the kitchen in the first court, at their coarse +evening meal, the room is filled with the invading +force, and news comes to them that the enemy has +fallen upon the apples and pears in the basement, and +is at the same time plundering and sacking the +preserves of quince and pomegranate, and revelling +in the jars of precious oil of Cyprus and Mendes in +the store-rooms. +</p> + +<p> +They come up to the walls of Sicca, and are flung +against them into the ditch. Not a moment’s hesitation +or delay; they recover their footing, they climb +up the wood or stucco, they surmount the parapet, or +<pb n="174"/><anchor id="Pg174"/>they have entered in at the windows, filling the apartments, +and the most private and luxurious chambers, +not one or two, like stragglers at forage or rioters +after a victory, but in order of battle, and with the +array of an army. Choice plants or flowers about the +<hi rend="italic">impluvia</hi> and <hi rend="italic">xysti</hi>, for ornament or refreshment, myrtles, +oranges, pomegranates, the rose and the carnation, +have disappeared. They dim the bright marbles +of the walls and the gilding of the ceilings. They +enter the triclinium in the midst of the banquet; they +crawl over the viands and spoil what they do not +devour. Unrelaxed by success and by enjoyment, +onward they go; a secret mysterious instinct keeps +them together, as if they had a king over them. +They move along the floor in so strange an order that +they seem to be a tesselated pavement themselves, +and to be the artificial embellishment of the place; +so true are their lines, and so perfect is the pattern +they describe. Onward they go, to the market, to the +temple sacrifices, to the baker’s stores, to the cook-shops, +to the confectioner’s, to the druggists; nothing +comes amiss to them; wherever man has aught to eat +or drink, there are they, reckless of death, strong of +appetite, certain of conquest. +</p> + +<p> +They have passed on; the men of Sicca sadly congratulate +themselves, and begin to look about them, +and to sum up their losses. Being the proprietors of +the neighbouring districts, or the purchasers of its +produce, they lament over the devastation, not because +the fair country is disfigured, but because income is +<pb n="175"/><anchor id="Pg175"/>becoming scanty, and prices are becoming high. +How is a population of many thousands to be fed? +where is the grain, where the melons, the figs, the +dates, the gourds, the beans, the grapes, to sustain +and solace the multitudes in their lanes, caverns, and +garrets? This is another weighty consideration for +the class well-to-do in the world. The taxes, too, +and contributions, the capitation tax, the percentage +upon corn, the various articles of revenues due to +Rome, how are they to be paid? How are cattle to +be provided for the sacrifices and for the tables of +the wealthy? One-half, at least, of the supply of Sicca +is cut off. No longer slaves are seen coming into the +city from the country in troops with their baskets on +their shoulders, or beating forward the horse, or +mule, or ox, overladen with its burden, or driving in +the dangerous cow, or the unresisting sheep. The +animation of the place is gone; a gloom hangs over +the Forum; and if its frequenters are still merry +there is something of sullenness and recklessness in +their mirth. The gods have given the city up; +something or other has angered them. Locusts, indeed, +are no uncommon visitation, but at an earlier +season. Perhaps some temple has been polluted, or +some unholy rite practised, or some secret conspiracy +has spread. +</p> + +<p> +Another and a still worse calamity. The invaders, +as we have already intimated, could be more terrible +still in their overthrow than in their ravages. The +inhabitants of the country had attempted, where +<pb n="176"/><anchor id="Pg176"/>they could, to destroy them by fire and water. It +would seem as if the malignant animals had resolved +that the sufferers should have the benefit of this +policy to the full; for they had not got more than +twenty miles beyond Sicca when they suddenly sickened +and died. Thus after they had done all the +mischief they could by their living, when they had +made their foul maws the grave of every living thing, +then they died themselves, and made the desolated +land their own grave. They took from it its hundred +forms and varieties of beautiful life, and left it their +own fetid and poisonous carcases in payment. It +was a sudden catastrophe; they seemed making for +the Mediterranean, as if, like other great conquerors, +they had other worlds to subdue beyond it; but +whether they were overgorged, or struck by some +atmospheric change, or that their time was come and +they paid the debt of nature, so it was that suddenly +they fell, and their glory came to nought, and all was +vanity to them as to others, and <q>their stench rose +up, and their corruption rose up, because they had +done proudly.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The hideous swarms lay dead in the moist steaming +underwoods, in the green swamps, in the sheltered +valleys, in the ditches and furrows of the fields, amid +the monuments of their own prowess, the ruined +crops and the dishonoured vineyards. A poisonous +element, issuing from their remains, mingled with +the atmosphere, and corrupted it. The dismayed +peasant found that a pestilence had begun; a new +<pb n="177"/><anchor id="Pg177"/>visitation, not confined to the territory which the +enemy had made its own, but extending far and +wide, as the atmosphere extends, in all directions. +Their daily toil, no longer claimed by the produce of +the earth, which has ceased to exist, is now devoted +to the object of ridding themselves of the deadly +legacy which they have received in its stead. In +vain; it is their last toil; they are digging pits, they +are raising piles, for their own corpses, as well as for +the bodies of their enemies. Invader and victim lie +in the same grave, burn in the same heap; they +sicken while they work, and the pestilence spreads. +A new invasion is menacing Sicca, in the shape of +companies of peasants and slaves, (the panic having +broken the bonds of discipline,) with their employers +and overseers, nay the farmers themselves and proprietors, +rushing thither from famine and infection +as to a place of safety. The inhabitants of the +city are as frightened as they, and more energetic. +They determine to keep them at a distance; the +gates are closed; a strict <hi rend="italic">cordon</hi> is drawn; however, +by the continued pressure, numbers contrive to make +an entrance, as water into a vessel, or light through +the closed shutters, and anyhow the air cannot be +put into quarantine; so the pestilence has the better +of it, and at last appears in the alleys, and in the +cellars of Sicca. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XVI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="178"/><anchor id="Pg178"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XVI. Worse and worse"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVI.</head> + +<head type="sub">WORSE AND WORSE.</head> + +<p> +<q>O wretched minds of men! O blind hearts!</q> +truly cries out a great heathen poet, but on grounds +far other than the true ones. The true ground of +such a lamentation is, that men do not interpret the +signs of the times and of the world as He intends +who has placed these signs in the heavens; that +when Mane, Thecel, Phares, is written upon the +ethereal wall, they have no inward faculty to read +them withal; and that when they go elsewhere for +one learned in tongues, instead of taking Daniel, who +is used to converse with Angels, they rely on Magi or +Chaldeans, who know only the languages of earth. +So it was with the miserable population of Sicca +now; half famished, seized with a pestilence which +was sure to rage before it assuaged, perplexed and +oppressed by the recoil upon them of the population +whom they had from time to time sent out into the +surrounding territory, or from whom they had supplied +their markets, they never fancied that the real +cause of the visitation which we have been describing +was their own iniquity in their Maker’s sight, that +His arm inflicted it, and that its natural and direct +<pb n="179"/><anchor id="Pg179"/>interpretation was, <q>Do penance, and be converted.</q> +On the contrary, they looked only at their +own vain idols, and at the vain rites which these +idols demanded, and they thought there was no surer +escape from their misery than by upholding a lie, +and putting down all who revolted from it; and +thus the visitation which was sent to do them good +turned through their wilful blindness to their greater +condemnation. +</p> + +<p> +The Forum, which at all times was the resort of +idleness and dissipation, now became more and more +the haunt of famine and sickness, of robust frames +without work, of slavish natures virtually and for the +time emancipated and uncontrolled, of youth and +passion houseless and shelterless. In groups and +companies, in and out of the porticoes, on the steps +of the temples, and about the booths and stalls of the +market, a multitude grows day by day, from the town +and from the country, and of all the various races +which town and country contain. The civil magistracy +and the civil force to which the peace of the +city was committed, were not equal to such an emergency +as the present; and the <hi rend="italic">milites stationarii</hi>, a +sort of garrison who represented the Roman power, +though they were ready to act against either magistrates +or mob impartially, had no tenderness for either, +when in collision with each other. Indeed the bonds +of society were broken, and every political element +was at war with every other, in a case of such great +common calamity, when every one was angry with +<pb n="180"/><anchor id="Pg180"/>every one else, for want of some clearly defined object +against which the common anger might be discharged +with unanimity. +</p> + +<p> +They had almost given over sacrificing and consulting +the flame or the entrails; for no reversal or respite +of their sufferings had followed their most assiduous +acts of deprecation. Moreover the omens were generally +considered by the priests to have been unpropitious +or adverse. A sheep had been discovered to +have, instead of a liver, something very like a gizzard; +a sow had chewed and swallowed the flowers with +which it had been embellished for the sacrifice; and +a calf, after receiving the fatal blow, instead of lying +down and dying, dashed into the temple, dripping +blood upon the pavement as it went, and at last fell +and expired just before the sacred <hi rend="italic">adytum</hi>. In despair +the people took to fortune-telling and its attendant +arts. Old crones were found in plenty with their +strange rites, the stranger the more welcome. Trenches +were dug in by-places for sacrifices to the infernal +gods; amulets, rings, counters, tablets, pebbles, nails, +bones, feathers, Ephesian or Egyptian legends, were +in request, and raised the hopes, or beguiled and +occupied the thoughts, of those who else would have +been directly dwelling on their sufferings, present or +in prospect. +</p> + +<p> +Others were occupied, whether they would or no, +with diversions fiercer and more earnest. There were +continual altercations between farmers, small proprietors +of land, government and city +officials,—alterca<pb n="181"/><anchor id="Pg181"/>tions so manifold and violent, that, even were there +no hubbub of voices, and no incoherence of wrath and +fear to complicate them, we should despair of setting +them before the reader. An officer from the camp was +expostulating with one of the municipal authorities +that no corn had been sent thither for the last six or +seven days, and the functionary attacked had thrown +the blame on the farmer, and he in turn had protested +that he could not get cattle to bring the waggons into +Sicca; those which he had set out with had died of +exhaustion on the journey. A clerk, as we now +speak, in the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> of the society of publicans or +collectors of <hi rend="italic">annona</hi> was threatening a number of small +tenants with ejection for not sending in their rated +portion of corn for the Roman people:—the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> +of the <hi rend="italic">Notarius</hi>, or assistant prefect, had written up to +Sicca from Carthage in violent terms; and come it +must, though the locusts had eaten up every stack +and granary. A number of half-starved peasants had +been summoned for payment of their taxes, <anchor id="corr181"/><corr sic="aud">and</corr> in +spite of their ignorance of Latin, they had been made +to understand that death was the stern penalty of +neglecting to bring the coin. They, on the other hand, +by their fierce doggedness of manner, seemed to +signify by way of answer that death was not a penalty, +unless life was a boon. +</p> + +<p> +The <hi rend="italic">villicus</hi> of one of the decurions, who had an +estate in the neighbourhood, was laying his miseries +before the man of business of his employer. <q>What +are we to do?</q> he said. <q>Half the gang of slaves +<pb n="182"/><anchor id="Pg182"/>is dead, and the other half is so feeble, that I can’t +get through the work of the month. We ought to be +sheep-shearing; you have no chance of wool. We +ought to be swarming the bees, pressing the honey, +boiling and purifying the wax. We ought to be +plucking the white leaves of the camomile, and steeping +the golden flowers in oil. We ought to be +gathering the wild grapes, sifting off the flowers, and +preserving the residue in honey. We ought to be +sowing brassicum, parsley, and coriander against next +spring. We ought to be cheese-making. We ought +to be baking white and red bricks and tiles in the +sun; we have no hands for the purpose. The <hi rend="italic">villicus</hi> +is not to blame, but the anger of the gods.</q> The +country <hi rend="italic">employé</hi> of the procurator of the imperial +<hi rend="italic">Baphia</hi> protests that the insect cannot be found from +which the dye is extracted; and argues that the +locusts must have devoured them, or the plant on +which they feed, or that they have been carried off +by the pestilence. Here is old Corbulus in agonies +for his febrifuge, and a slave of his is in high words +with the market-carrier, who tells him that Mago, +who supplied it, is dead of a worse fever than his +master’s. <q>The rogue,</q> cried the slave, <q>my master +has contracted with him for the year, and has paid +him the money in advance.</q> A jeering and mocking +from the crowd assailed the unfortunate domestic, +who so truly foreboded that his return without the +medicine would be the signal for his summary committal +to the <hi rend="italic">pistrinum</hi>. <q>Let old Corbulus follow +<pb n="183"/><anchor id="Pg183"/>Mago in his passage to perdition,</q> said one of the +rabble; <q>let him take his physic with Pluto, and +leave us the bread and wine on which he’s grown +gouty.</q> <q>Bread, bread!</q> was the response elicited +by this denunciation, and it spread into a circle larger +than that of which the slave and the carrier were +part. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Wine and bread, Ceres and Liber!</q> cried a young +legionary, who, after a night of revelry, was emerging +still half-intoxicated from one of the low wine-shops +in the vaults which formed the basement of the +<hi rend="italic">Thermæ</hi> or hot baths; <q>make way there, you filthy +slime of the earth, you half-kneaded, half-fermented +Africans, who never yet have quite been men, but +have ever smelt strong of the baboon, who are three +quarters <hi rend="italic">must</hi>, and two vinegar, and a fifth water,—as +I was saying, you are like bad liquor, and the +sight of you disagrees with the stomach and affects +the eyes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The crowd looked sullenly, and without wincing, +at his shield, which was the only portion of his military +accoutrements which he had preserved after his +carouse. The white surface, with a silver boss in the +centre, surrounded by first a white and then a red +circle, and the purple border, showed that he +belonged to the Tertiani or third Italic Legion, +which had been stationed in Africa since the time +of Augustus. <q>Vile double-tongued mongrels,</q> he +continued, <q>what are you fit for but to gather the +fruits of the earth for your owners and lords, +<pb n="184"/><anchor id="Pg184"/><q>Romanos dominos rerum</q>? And if there are now +no fruits to reap, why your service is gone. Go +home and die, and drown yourselves, for what are +you fit for now, except to take your dead corpses away +from the nostrils of a Roman, the cream of humankind? +Ye base-born apes, that’s why you catch the +pestilence, because our blood mantles and foams in +our ruddy veins like new milk in the wine cup, which +is too strong for this clime, and my blood is up, and +I drink a full measure of it to great Rome; for what +does old Horace say, but <q>Nunc est bibendum</q>? and +so get out of my way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +To a good part of the multitude, both peasantry +and town rabble, Latin was unintelligible; but they +all understood vocabulary and syntax and logic, as +soon as he drew his knuckles across one fellow’s +face who refused to move from his path, and as soon +as his insult was returned by the latter with a thrust +of the dagger. A rush was made upon him, on +which he made a face at them, shook his fist, and +leaping on one side, ran with great swiftness to an +open space in advance. From his quarrelsome +humour rather than from fear, he raised a cry of +alarm; on which two or three fellow-soldiers made +their appearance from similar dens of intoxication +and vice, and came up to the rescue. The mob +assailed them with stones, and the cream of human +nature was likely to be roughly churned, when, +seeing matters were becoming serious, they suddenly +took to their heels, and got into the Temple of +<pb n="185"/><anchor id="Pg185"/>Esculapius on one side of the Forum. The mob +followed, the ministers of the sacred place attempted +to shut the gates, a scuffle ensued, and a riot was in +progress. Self-preservation is the first law of man; +trembling for the safety of his noble buildings, and +considering that it was a bread riot, as it really was, +the priest of the god came forward, rebuked the mob +for its impiety, and showed the absurdity of supposing +that there were loaves in his enclosure to satisfy its +wants; but he reminded them that there was a baker’s +shop at the other end of the Forum, which was one of +the most considerable in Sicca. +</p> + +<p> +A slight impulse determines the movements of an +excited multitude. Off they went to the quarter in +question, where certainly there was the very large and +handsome store of a substantial dealer in grain of all +sorts, and in other produce. The shop, however, +seemed on this occasion to be but poorly furnished; +for the baker was a prudent man, and feared a display +of provisions which would be an invitation to a +hungry multitude. The assailants, however, were not +to be baffled; some one cried out that the man had +withdrawn his corn from the market for his own +ends, and that great stores were accumulated within. +They avail themselves of the hint; they pour in +through the open front, the baker escapes as he +may, his mills and ovens are smashed, the house +is ransacked; whatever is found is seized, thrown +about, wasted, eaten, as the case may be; and the +mob gains strength and appetite for fresh exploits. +</p> + +<pb n="186"/><anchor id="Pg186"/> + +<p> +However, the rioters have no definite plan of action +yet. Some of them have penetrated into the stable +behind the house in search of corn. They find the +mill-ass which ground for the baker, and bring it out. +It is a beast of more than ordinary pretensions, such +as you would not often see in a mill, showing both +the wealth of the owner and the flourishing condition +of his trade. The asses of Africa are finer than those +in the north; but this is fine for an African. One +fellow mounts upon it, and sets off with the world +before him, like a knight-errant, seeking an adventure, +the rabble at his tail acting as squire. He begins +the circuit of the Forum, and picks up its riff-raff as +he goes along—here some rascal boys, there some +drunken women, here again a number of half-brutalized +country slaves and peasants. Partly out of +curiosity, partly from idleness, from ill temper, from +hope of spoil, from a vague desire to be doing something +or other, every one who has nothing to lose +by the adventure crowds around and behind him. +And on the contrary, as he advances, and the noise +and commotion increase, every one who has a position +of any sort, the confidential <hi rend="italic">vernæ</hi> of great +families, farmers, shopkeepers, men of business, officials, +vanish from the scene of action without delay. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Africa, Africa!</q> is now the cry; the signal in that +country, as an ancient writer tells us, that the parties +raising it have something new in hand, and have a +mind to do it. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, as they march on, a low and awful growl +<pb n="187"/><anchor id="Pg187"/>is heard. It comes from the booth of a servant of +the imperial court. He is employed as a transporter +of wild beasts from the interior to the coast, where +they are shipped for Rome; and he has charge at +present of a noble lion, who is sitting majestically, +looking through the bars of his cage at the rabble, +who now begin to look at him. In demeanour and +in mental endowments he has the advantage of them. +It was at this moment, while they were closing, +hustling each other, staring at the beast, and hoping +to provoke him, that a shrill voice cried out, <q>Christianos +ad leones, Christianos ad leones!</q> the Christians +to the lions! A sudden and dead silence ensued, +as if the words had struck the breath out of the +promiscuous throng. An interval passed; and then +the same voice was heard again, <q>Christianos ad +leones!</q> This time the whole Forum took it up from +one end to the other. The fate of the day, the +direction of the movement, was decided; a distinct +object was obtained, and the only wonder was that +the multitude had been so long to seek and so slow to +find so obvious a cause of their misfortunes, so adequate +a subject of their vengeance. <q>Christianos ad +leones!</q> was shouted out by town and country, +priests and people. <q>Long live the emperor! long +live Decius! he told us this long ago. There’s the +edict; it never has been obeyed. Death to the +magistrates! To the Christians! to the Christians! +Up with great Jove, down with the atheists!</q> +</p> + +<p> +They were commencing their march when the ass +<pb n="188"/><anchor id="Pg188"/>caught their eye. <q>The Christians’ god!</q> they +shouted out; <q>the god of the Christians!</q> Their +first impulse was to give the poor beast to the lion, +their next to sacrifice it, but they did not know to +whom. Then they said they would make the Christians +worship it; and dressing it up in tawdry finery, +they retained it at the head of their procession. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XVII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="189"/><anchor id="Pg189"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XVII. Christianos ad leones"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVII.</head> + +<head type="sub">CHRISTIANOS AD LEONES.</head> + +<p> +By the time that they had got round again to the +unlucky baker’s, the mob had been swollen to a size +which even the area of the Forum would not contain, +and it filled the adjacent streets. And by the same +time it had come home to its leaders, and, indeed, to +every one who used his reason at all, that it was very +far from certain that there were any Christians in +Sicca, and if so, still very far from easy to say where +they were. And the difficulty was of so practical a +character as to keep them inactive for the space of +several hours. Meanwhile their passions were excited +to the boiling point by the very presence of the difficulty, +as men go mad of thirst when water is denied +them. At length, after a long season of such violent +commotion, such restless pain, such curses, shrieks, +and blasphemies, such bootless gesticulations, such +aimless contests with each other, that they seemed to +be already inmates of the prison beneath, they set off +in a blind way to make the circuit of the city as before +they had paraded round the Forum, still in the knight-errant +line, looking out for what might turn up where +they were sure of nothing, and relieving the intense +<pb n="190"/><anchor id="Pg190"/>irritation of their passions by locomotion, if nothing +more substantial was offered to them. +</p> + +<p> +It was an awful day for the respectable inhabitants +of the place; worse than anything that even the most +timid of them had anticipated, when they had showed +their jealousy of a popular movement against the +proscribed religion; for the stimulus of famine and +pestilence was added to hatred of Christianity, in that +unreasoning multitude. The magistrates shut themselves +up in dismay; the small body of Roman soldiery +reserved their strength for the defence of themselves; +and the poor wretches, not a few, who had fallen from +the faith, and offered sacrifice, hung out from their +doors sinful heathen symbols, to avert a storm against +which apostasy was no sufficient safeguard. In this +conduct the Gnostics and other sectaries imitated them, +while the Tertullianists took a more manly part, from +principle or pride. +</p> + +<p> +It would require the brazen voice which Homer +speaks of, or the magic pen of Sir Walter, to catalogue +and to picture, as far as it is lawful to do either, the +figures and groups of that most miserable procession. +As it went forward it gained a variety and strength, +which the circuit of the Forum could not furnish. +The more respectable religious establishments shut +their gates, and would have nothing to do with it. +The priests of Jupiter, the educational establishments +of the Temple of Mercury, the Temple of the Genius +of Rome near the Capitol, the hierophants of Isis, the +Minerva, the Juno, the Esculapius, viewed the popular +<pb n="191"/><anchor id="Pg191"/>rising with terror and disgust; but these were not the +popular worships. The vast homestead of Astarte, +which in the number and vowed profligacy of its +inhabitants rivalled the vaults upon the Forum; the +old rites, many and diversified, if separately obscure, +which came from Punic times; the new importations +from Syria and Phrygia, and a number of other haunts +and schools of depravity and crime, did their part in +swelling or giving character to the concourse. The +hungry and idle rabble, the filthy beggars who fed on +the offal of the sacrifices, the drivers and slaughterers +of the beasts sacrificed; the tumblers and mountebanks +who amused the gaping market-people; dancers, +singers, pipers from low taverns and drinking-houses; +infamous creatures, young and old, men and boys, +half naked and not half sober; brutal blacks, the +aboriginal race of the Atlas, with their appetites +written on their skulls and features; Canaanites, as +they called themselves, from the coast; the wild beast-keepers +from the amphitheatre; troops of labourers +from the fields, to whom the epidemic was a time of +Saturnalia; and the degraded company, alas! how +numerous and how pitiable, who took their nightly +stand in long succession at the doors of their several +cells in the deep galleries under the Thermæ; all +these, and many others, had their part and place in the +procession. There you might see the devilish emblems +of idolatry borne aloft by wretches from the great +Punic Temple, while frantic forms, ragged and famished, +wasted and shameless, leapt and pranced around +<pb n="192"/><anchor id="Pg192"/>them. There too was a choir of Bacchanals, ready +at a moment with songs as noisy as they were +unutterable. And there was the priest of the Punic +Saturn, the child-devourer, a sort of Moloch, to whom +the martyrdom of Christians was a sacred rite; he +and all his attendants in fiery-coloured garments, as +became a sanguinary religion. And there, moreover, +was a band of fanatics, devotees of Cybele or of the +Syrian goddess, if indeed the two rites were distinct. +They were bedizened with ribbons and rags of various +colours, and smeared over with paint. They had +long hair like women, and turbans on their heads. +They pushed their way to the head of the procession, +being quite worthy of the post of honour, and, seizing +the baker’s ass, put their goddess on the back of it. +Some of them were playing the fife, others clashing +cymbals, others danced, others yelled, others rolled +their heads, and others flogged themselves. Such +was the character of the frenzied host, which progressed +slowly through the streets, while every now +and then, when there was an interval in the hubbub, +the words <q>Christianos ad leones</q> were thundered +out by some ruffian voice, and a thousand others +fiercely responded. +</p> + +<p> +Still no Christian was forthcoming; and it was +plain that the rage of the multitude must be discharged +in other quarters, if the difficulty continued +in satisfying it. At length some one recollected the +site of the Christian chapel, when it existed; thither +went the multitude, and effected an entrance without +<pb n="193"/><anchor id="Pg193"/>delay. It had long been turned to other purposes, +and was now a store of casks and leather bottles. +The miserable sacristan had long given up any +practical observance of his faith, and remained on +the spot a keeper of the premises for the trader who +owned them. They found him, and dragged him +into the street, and brought him forward to the ass, +and to the idol on its back, and bade him worship the +one and the other. The poor wretch obeyed; he +worshipped the ass, he worshipped the idol, and he +worshipped the genius of the emperor; but his persecutors +wanted blood; they would not submit to be +cheated of their draught; so when they had made him +do whatever they exacted, they flung him under the +feet of the multitude, who, as they passed on, soon +trod all life and breath out of him, and sent him to +the powers below, to whom he had just before been +making his profession. +</p> + +<p> +Their next adventure was with a Tertullianist, +who stationed himself at his shop-door, displayed +the sign of the cross, and walking leisurely forward, +seized the idol on the ass’s back, broke it over his +knee, and flung the portions into the crowd. For +a few minutes they stared on him with astonishment, +then some women fell upon him with their nails and +teeth, and tore the poor fanatic till he fell bleeding +and lifeless upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +In the higher and better part of the city, which +they now approached, lived the widow of a Duumvir, +who in his day had made a bold profession of +Chris<pb n="194"/><anchor id="Pg194"/>tianity. The well connected lady was a Christian +also, and was sheltered by her great friends from the +persecution. She was bringing up a family in great +privacy, and with straitened means, and with as much +religious strictness as was possible under the circumstances +of the place. She kept them from all bad +sights and bad company, was careful as to the character +of the slaves she placed about them, and taught +them all she knew of her religion, which was quite +sufficient for their salvation. They had all been +baptized, some by herself in default of the proper +minister, and, as far as they could show at their +tender ages, which lay between thirteen and seven, +the three girls and the two boys were advancing in +the love of truth and sanctity. Her husband, some +years back, when presiding in the Forum, had +punished with just severity an act of ungrateful +fraud; and the perpetrator had always cherished a +malignant hatred of him and his. The moment of +gratifying it had now arrived, and he pointed out to +the infuriated rabble the secluded mansion where +the Christian household dwelt. He could not offer +to them a more acceptable service, and the lady’s +modest apartment was soon swarming with enemies +of her God and His followers. In spite of her heartrending +cries and supplications, her children were +seized, and when the youngest boy clung to her, the +mother was thrown senseless upon the pavement. +The whole five were carried off in triumph; it was +the greatest success of the day. There was some +<pb n="195"/><anchor id="Pg195"/>hesitation how to dispose of them; at last the girls +were handed over to the priestesses of Astarte, and +the boys to the loathsome votaries of Cybele. +</p> + +<p> +Revenge upon Christians was the motive principle +of the riot; but the prospect of plunder stimulated +numbers, and here Christians could not minister +to their desires. They began the day by the attack +upon the provision-shop, and now they had reached +the aristocratic quarter of the city, and they gazed +with envy and cupidity at the noble mansions +which occupied it. They began to shout out, +<q>Bread, bread!</q> while they uttered threats against +the Christians; they violently beat at the closed +gates, and looked about for means of scaling the +high walls which defended them in front. The +cravings of famished men soon take form and +organization; they began to ask relief from house +to house. Nothing came amiss; and loaves, figs, +grapes, wine, found their way into the hands and +mouths of those who were the least exhausted and +the least enfeebled. A second line of fierce supplicants +succeeded to the first; and it was plain that, +unless some diversion were effected, the respectable +quarter of Sicca had found a worse enemy than the +locust. +</p> + +<p> +The houses of the government <hi rend="italic">susceptor</hi>, or tax collector, +of the <hi rend="italic">tabularius</hi> or registrar, of the <hi rend="italic">defensor</hi> or +city counsel, and one or two others, had already been +the scene of collisions between the domestic slaves +and the multitude, when a demand was made upon +<pb n="196"/><anchor id="Pg196"/>the household of another of the Curia, who held the +office of Flamen Dialis. He was a wealthy, easy-going +man, generally popular, with no appetite for +persecution at all, but still no desire to be persecuted. +He had more than tolerated the Christians, and had +at this time a Christian among his slaves. This was +a Greek, a splendid cook and perfumer, and he would +not have lost him for a large sum of money. However, +life and limb were nearer to him even than his +dinner, and a Jonah must be cast overboard to save +the ship. In trepidation, yet with greater satisfaction, +his fellow-domestics thrust the poor helpless +man out of the house, and secured the door behind +him. He was a man of middle age, of a grave aspect, +and he looked silently and calmly upon the infuriated +and yelling multitude, who were swarming up the +hill about him, and swelling the number of his persecutors. +What had been his prospects, had he +remained in his earthly master’s service? his fill of +meat and drink while he was strong and skilful, the +stocks or scourge if he ever failed to please him, and +the old age and death of the worn-out hack who once +has caracoled in the procession, or snorted at the coming +fight. What are his prospects now? a moment’s +agony, a martyr’s death, and the everlasting beatific +vision of Him for whom he died. The multitude cry +out, <q>To the ass or to the lion!</q> worship the ass, +or fight the lion. He was dragged to the ass’s head +and commanded to kneel down before the irrational +beast. In the course of a minute he had lifted up +<pb n="197"/><anchor id="Pg197"/>his eyes to heaven, had signed himself with the cross, +had confessed his Saviour, and had been torn to +pieces by the multitude. They anticipated the lion of +the amphitheatre. +</p> + +<p> +A lull followed, sure to be succeeded by a fresh +storm. Not every household had a Christian cook +to make a victim of. Plunder, riot, and outrage +were becoming the order of the day; successive messengers +were sent up in breathless haste to the capitol +and the camp for aid, but the Romans returned for +answer that they had enough to do in defending the +government buildings and offices. They suggested +measures, however, for putting the mob on a false +scent, or involving them in some difficult or tedious +enterprise, which would give the authorities time for +deliberation, and for taking the rioters at disadvantage. +If the magistrates could get them out of the +city, it would be a great point; they could then shut +the gates upon them, and deal with them as they +would. In that case, too, the insurgents would +straggle, and divide, and then they might be disposed +of in detail. They were showing symptoms of +returning fury, when a voice suddenly cried out, +<q>Agellius the Christian! Agellius the sorcerer! Agellius +to the lions! To the farm of Varius—to the +cottage of Agellius—to the south-west gate!</q> A +sudden yell burst forth from the vast multitude when +the voice ceased. The impulse had been given as +at the first; the tide of human beings ebbed and +retreated, and, licking the base of the hill, rushed +<pb n="198"/><anchor id="Pg198"/>vehemently on one side, and roared like a torrent +towards the south-west. Juba, thy prophecy is soon +to be fulfilled! The locusts will bring more harm +on thy brother’s home than imperial edict or local +magistrate. The decline of day will hardly prevent +the visitation. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XVIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="199"/><anchor id="Pg199"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XVIII. Agellius flits"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">AGELLIUS FLITS.</head> + +<p> +A change had passed over the fair face of Nature, +as seen from the cottage of Agellius, since that evening +on which our story opened; and it is so painful to +contemplate waste, decay, and disappointment, that +we mean to say little about it. There was the same +cloudless sky as then; and the sun travelled in its +silent and certain course, with even a more intense +desire than then to ripen grain and fruit for the use +of man; but its occupation was gone, for fruit and +grain were not, nor man to collect and to enjoy them. +A dark broad shadow passed across the beautiful +prospect and disfigured it. When you looked more +closely, it was as if a fire had burned up the whole +surface included under that shadow, and had stripped +the earth of its clothing. Nothing had escaped; not +a head of khennah, not a rose or carnation, not an +orange or an orange blossom, not a <hi rend="italic">boccone</hi>, not a +cluster of unripe grapes, not a berry of the olive, not +a blade of grass. Gardens, meadows, vineyards, +orchards, copses, instead of rejoicing in the rich +variety of hue which lately was their characteristic, +<pb n="200"/><anchor id="Pg200"/>were now reduced to one dreary cinder-colour. The +smoke of fires was actually rising from many points, +where the spoilt and poisonous vegetation was burning +in heaps, or the countless corpses of the invading +foe, or of the cattle, or of the human beings whom the +pestilence had carried off. The most furious inroad of +savage hordes, of Vandals, or of Saracens, who were +destined at successive eras to come and waste that +country, could not have spread such thorough desolation. +The slaves of the farm of Varius were sorrowfully +turning to a new employment, that of clearing +away the wreck and disappointment of the bright +spring from flower-bed, vineyard, and field. +</p> + +<p> +It was on the forenoon of the eventful day whose +course we have been tracing in the preceding Chapters, +that a sharp-looking boy presented himself to Agellius, +who was directing his labourers in their work. <q>I am +come from Jucundus,</q> he said; <q>he has instant need +of you. You are to go with me, and by my way; and +this is the proof I tell you truth. He sends you this +note, and wishes you in a bad time the best gifts of +Bacchus and Ceres.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius took the tablets, and went with them across +the road to the place where Cæcilius was at work, in +appearance a slave. The letter ran thus:—<q>Jucundus +to Agellius. I trust you are well enough to move; +you are not safe for many days in your cottage; +there is a rising this morning against the Christians, +and you may be visited. Unless you are ambitious +of Styx and Tartarus, follow the boy without +<pb n="201"/><anchor id="Pg201"/>questioning.</q> Agellius showed the letter to the +priest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We are no longer safe here, my father,</q> he said; +<q>whither shall we go? Let us go together. Can you +take me to <anchor id="corr201"/><corr sic="Carthage.">Carthage?</corr></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Carthage is quite as dangerous,</q> answered Cæcilius, +<q>and Sicca is more central. We can but leap +into the sea at Carthage; here there are many lines +to retreat upon. I am known there, I am not known +here. Here, too, I hear all that goes on through the +proconsulate and Numidia.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But what can we do?</q> asked Agellius; <q>here +we cannot remain, and you at least cannot venture +into the city. Somewhither we must go, and where +is that?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The priest thought. <q>We must separate,</q> he said. +The tears came into Agellius’s eyes. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Though I am a stranger,</q> continued Cæcilius, <q>I +know more of the neighbourhood of Sicca than you +who are a native. There is a famous Christian +retreat on the north of the city, and by this time, I +doubt not, or rather I know, it is full of refugees. +The fury of the enemy is extending on all hands, +and our brethren, from as far as Cirtha round to +Curubis, are falling back upon it. The only difficulty +is how to get round to it without going through Sicca.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let us go together,</q> said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius showed signs of perplexity, and his mind +retired into itself. He seemed for the moment to be +simply absent from the scene about him, but soon +<pb n="202"/><anchor id="Pg202"/>his intelligence returned. <q>No,</q> he said, <q>we must +separate,—for the time; it will not be for long. +That is, I suppose, your uncle will take good care of +you, and he has influence. We are safest just now +when most independent of each other. It is only for +a while. We shall meet again soon; I tell you so. +Did we keep together just now, it would be the +worse for each of us. You go with the boy; I will go +off to the place I mentioned.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O my father,</q> said the youth, <q>how will you get +there? What shall I suffer from my fears about +you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fear not,</q> answered Cæcilius, <q>mind, I tell you +so. It will be a trying time, but my hour is not yet +come. I am good for years yet; so are you, for +many more than mine. He will protect and rescue +me, though I know not how. Go, leave me to myself, +Agellius!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O my father, my only stay upon earth, whom God +sent me in my extreme need, to whom I owe myself, +must I then quit you; must a layman desert a +priest; the young the old?... Ah! it is I really, not +you, who am without protection. Angels surround +you, father; but I am a poor wanderer. Give me +your blessing that evil may not touch me. I go.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do not kneel,</q> said the priest; <q>they will see +you. Stop, I have got to tell you how and where to +find me.</q> He then proceeded to give him the +necessary instructions. <q>Walk out,</q> he said, <q>along +the road to Thibursicumbur to the third milestone, +<pb n="203"/><anchor id="Pg203"/>you will come to a country road; pursue it; walk +a thousand steps; then again for the space of seven +<hi rend="italic">paternosters</hi>; and then speak to the man upon your +right hand. And now away with you, God speed +you, we shall not long be parted,</q> and he made the +sign of the cross over him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That old chap gives himself airs,</q> said the boy, +when Agellius joined him; <q>what may he be? one +of your slaves, Agellius?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You’re a pert boy,</q> answered he, <q>for asking me +the question.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They say the Christians brought the locusts,</q> said +Firmian, <q>by their enchantments; and there’s a jolly +row beginning in the Forum just now. The report +goes that you are a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s because your people have nothing better to +do than talk against their neighbours.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Because you are so soft, rather,</q> said the boy. +<q>Another man would have knocked me down for +saying it; but you are lackadaisical folk, who bear +insults tamely. Arnobius says your father was a +Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Father and son are not always the same religion +now-a-days,</q> said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay, ay,</q> answered Firmian, <q>but the Christians +came from Egypt: and as cook there is the son of +cook, and soldier is son of soldier, so Christian, take +my word for it, is the son of a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Christians boast, I believe,</q> answered Agellius, +<q>that they are of no one race or country, but are +<pb n="204"/><anchor id="Pg204"/>members of a large unpatriotic family, whose home is +in the sky.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Christians,</q> answered the boy, <q>would never have +framed the great Roman empire; that was the work +of heroes. Great Cæsar, Marius, Marcus Brutus, +Camillus, Cicero, Sylla, Lucullus, Scipio, could never +have been Christians. Arnobius says they are a +skulking set of fellows.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I suppose you wish to be a hero,</q> said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am to be a pleader,</q> answered Firmian; <q>I +should like to be a great orator like Cicero, and +every one listening to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They were walking along the top of a mud wall, +which separated Varius’s farm from his neighbour’s, +when suddenly Firmian, who led the way, leapt +down into a copse, which reached as far as the +ravine in which the knoll terminated towards Sicca. +The boy still went forward by devious paths, till +they had mounted as high as the city wall. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are bringing me where there is no entrance,</q> +said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +The boy laughed. <q>Jucundus told me to bring you +by a blind way,</q> he said. <q>You know best why. +This is one of our ways in and out.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was an aperture in the wall, and the bricks +and stones about it were loose, and admitted of removal. +It was such a private way of passage as +schoolboys know of. On getting through, Agellius +found himself in a neglected garden or small close. +Everything was silent about them, as if the +inhabi<pb n="205"/><anchor id="Pg205"/>tants were away; there was a great noise in the +distance, as if something unusual were going on in +the heart of the town. The boy told him to follow +him as fast as he could without exciting remark; +and, leading him by lanes and alleys unknown to +Agellius, at last brought him close upon the scene +of riot. At this time the expedition in search of +Christians had just commenced; to cross the Forum +was to shorten his journey, and perhaps was safer +than to risk meeting the mob in the streets. Firmian +took the step; and while their attention was directed +elsewhere, brought Agellius safely through it. They +then proceeded cautiously as before, till they stood +before the back door of the house of Jucundus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Say a good word for me to your uncle,</q> said the +boy, <q>I have done my job. He must remember me +handsomely at the Augustalia,</q> and he ran away. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +Meanwhile Cæcilius had been anxiously considering +the course which it was safest for him to pursue. +He must move, but he must wait till dusk, when the +ways were clear, and the light uncertain. Till then +he must keep close in-doors. There was a remarkable +cavern in the mountains above Sicca, which +had been used as a place of refuge for Christians +from the very time they had first suffered persecution +in Roman Africa. No spot in its whole territory +seemed more fit for what is called a base of operations, +from which the soldiers of the Cross might +advance, or to which they might retire, according as +<pb n="206"/><anchor id="Pg206"/>the fury of their enemy grew or diminished. While +it was in the midst of a wilderness difficult of access, +and feared as the resort of ghosts and evil influences, +it was not far from a city near to which the high +roads met from Hippo and from Carthage. A +branch of the Bagradas, navigable for boats, opened +a way from it through the woods, where flight and +concealment were easy on a surprise, as far as +Madaura, Vacca, and other places; at the same time +it commanded the vast plain on the south which +extended to the roots of the Atlas. Just now, the +persecution growing, many deacons, other ecclesiastics, +and prominent laymen from all parts of the +country had fallen back upon this cavern or grotto; +and in no place could Cæcilius have better means +than here of learning the general state of affairs, and +of communicating with countries beyond the seas. +He was indeed on his way thither, when the illness +of Agellius made it a duty for him to stop and restore +him, and attend to his spiritual needs; and he had +received an inward intimation, on which he implicitly +relied, to do so. +</p> + +<p> +The problem at this moment was how to reach the +refuge in question. His direct road lay through +Sicca; this being impracticable at present, he had to +descend into the ravine which lay between him and +the city, and, turning to the left, to traverse the broad +plain, the Campus Martius of Sicca, into which it +opened. Here the mountain would rise abruptly on +his right with those steep cliffs which we have already +<pb n="207"/><anchor id="Pg207"/>described as rounding the north side of Sicca. He +must traverse many miles before he could reach the +point at which the rock lost its precipitous character, +and changed into a declivity allowing the traveller to +ascend. It was a bold undertaking; for all this he +had to accomplish in the dark before the morning +broke, a stranger too to the locality, and directing +his movements only by the information of others, +which, however accurate and distinct, could scarcely +be followed, even if without risk of error, at least +without misgiving. However, could he master this +point before the morning he was comparatively safe; +he then had to strike into the solitary mountains, +and to retrace his steps for a while towards Sicca +along the road, till he came to a place where he +knew that Christian scouts or <hi rend="italic">videttes</hi> (as they may be +called) were always stationed. +</p> + +<p> +This being his plan, and there being no way of +mending it, our confessor retired into the cottage, +and devoted the intervening hours to intercourse with +that world from which his succour must come. He +set himself to intercede for the Holy Catholic Church +throughout the world, now for the most part under +persecution, and for the Roman Empire, not yet holy, +which was the instrument of the evil powers against +her. He had to pray for the proconsulate, for Numidia, +Mauretania, and the whole of Africa; for the +Christian communities <anchor id="corr207"/><corr sic="throughont">throughout</corr> it, for the cessation +of the trial then present, and for the fortitude and +perseverance of all who were tried. He had to pray +<pb n="208"/><anchor id="Pg208"/>for his own personal friends, his penitents, converts, +enemies; for children, catechumens, neophytes; for +those who were approaching the Church, for those who +had fallen away, or were falling away from her; for all +heretics, for all troublers of unity, that they might be +reclaimed. He had to confess, bewail and deprecate +the many sins and offences which he knew of, foreboded, +or saw in prospect as to come. Scarcely had +he entered on his charge at Carthage four years before, +when he had had to denounce one portentous scandal +in which a sacred order of the ministry was implicated. +What internal laxity did not that scandal imply! +And then again what a low standard of religion, what +niggardly faith, and what worn-out, used-up sanctity +in the community at large, was revealed in the fact of +those frequent apostasies of individuals which then +were occurring! He prayed fervently that both from +the bright pattern of martyrs, and from the warning +afforded by the lapsed, the Christian body might be +edified and invigorated. He saw with great anxiety +two schisms in prospect, when the persecution should +come to an end, one from the perverseness of those +who were too rigid, the other from those who were +too indulgent towards the fallen; and in proportion +to his gift of prescience was the earnestness of his +intercession that the wounds of the Church might be +healed with the least possible delay. He then turned +to the thought of his own correspondence then in progress +with the Holy Roman Church, which had lately lost +its bishop by martyrdom. This indeed was no unusual +<pb n="209"/><anchor id="Pg209"/>event with the see of Peter, in which the successors +of Peter followed Peter’s steps, as Peter had been +bidden to follow the King and Exemplar of Martyrs. +But the special trouble was, that months had +passed, full five, since the vacancy occurred, and it +had not yet been supplied. Then he thought of +Fabian, who made the vacancy, and who had already +passed through that trial which was to bring to so +many Christians life or condemnation, and he commended +himself to his prayers against the hour of his +own combat. He thought of Fabian’s work, and went +on to intercede for the remnant of the seven apostles +whom that Pope had sent into Gaul, and some of whom +had already obtained the martyr’s crown. He prayed +that the day might come, when not the cities only of +that fair country, but its rich champaigns and sunny +slopes should hear the voice of the missionary. He +prayed in like manner for Britain, that the successful +work of another Pope, St. Eleutherius, might be +extended even to its four seas. And then he prayed +for the neighbouring island on the west, still in heathen +darkness, and for the endless expanse of Germany on +the east, that there too the one saving name and +glorious Faith might be known and accepted. +</p> + +<p> +His thoughts then travelled back to Rome and Italy, +and to the martyrdoms which had followed that of +St. Fabian. Two Persians had already suffered in the +imperial city; Maximus had lost his life, and Felix +had been imprisoned, at Nola. Asia Minor, Syria, +and Egypt had already afforded victims to the +perse<pb n="210"/><anchor id="Pg210"/>cution, and cried aloud to all Christians for their most +earnest prayers and for repeated Masses in behalf of +those who remained under the trial. Babylas, Bishop +of Antioch, the third see in Christendom, was already +martyred in that city. Here again Cæcilius had a +strong call on him for intercession, for a subtle form of +freethinking was there manifesting itself, the issue of +which was as uncertain as it might be frightful. The +Bishop of Alexandria, that second of the large divisions +or patriarchates of the Church, the great Dionysius, +the pupil of Origen, was an exile from his see, +like himself. The messenger who brought this news +to Carthage had heard at Alexandria a report from +Neocæsarea, that Gregory, another pupil of Origen’s, +the Apostle of Pontus, had also been obliged to conceal +himself from the persecution. As for Origen himself, +the aged, laborious, gifted, zealous teacher of his +time, he was just then engaged in answering the works +of an Epicurean called Celsus, and on him too the persecution +was likely to fall; and Cæcilius prayed earnestly +that so great a soul might be kept from such +high untrue speculations as were threatening evil at +Antioch, and from every deceit and snare which might +endanger his inheriting that bright crown which ought +to be his portion in heaven. Another remarkable +report had come, viz., that some young men of Egypt +had retired to the deserts up the country under the +stress of the persecution,—Paul was the name of one +of them,—and that they were there living in the practice +of mortification and prayer so singular, and had +<pb n="211"/><anchor id="Pg211"/>combats with the powers of darkness and visitations +from above so special, as to open quite a new era in +the spiritual history of the Church. +</p> + +<p> +And then his thoughts came back to his poor Agellius, +and all those hundred private matters of anxiety +which the foes of the Church, occupied only with her +external aspect, little suspected. For Agellius, he +prayed, and for his; for the strange wayward Juba, +for Jucundus, for Callista; ah! that Callista might +be brought on to that glorious consummation, for +which she seemed marked out! But the ways of the +Most High are not as our ways, and those who to us +seem nearest are often furthest from Him; and so +our holy priest left the whole matter in the hands of +Him to whom he prayed, satisfied that he had done +his part in praying. +</p> + +<p> +This was the course of thought which occupied +him for many hours, after (as we have said) he had +closed the door upon him, and knelt down before the +cross. Not merely before the symbol of redemption +did he kneel; for he opened his tunic at the neck, +and drew thence a small golden pyx which was there +suspended. In that carefully fastened case he possessed +the Holiest, his Lord and his God. That +Everlasting Presence was his stay and guide amid his +weary wanderings, his joy and consolation amid his +overpowering anxieties. Behold the secret of his sweet +serenity, and his clear unclouded determination. He +had placed it upon the small table at which he knelt, +and was soon absorbed in meditation and intercession. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XIX" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="212"/><anchor id="Pg212"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XIX. A passage of arms"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIX.</head> + +<head type="sub">A PASSAGE OF ARMS.</head> + +<p> +How many hours passed while Cæcilius was thus +employed, he did not know. The sun was declining +when he was roused by a noise at the door. He +hastily restored the sacred treasure to its hiding-place +in his breast, and rose up from his knees. The door +was thrown back, and a female form presented itself +at the opening. She looked in at the priest, and said, +<q>Then Agellius is not here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The woman was young, tall, and graceful in person. +She was clad in a yellow cotton tunic, reaching to +her feet, on which were shoes. The clasps at her +shoulders, partly visible under the short cloak or +shawl which was thrown over them, and which might, +if necessary, be drawn over her head, seemed to serve +the purpose, not only of fastening her dress, but of +providing her with sharp prongs or minute stilettos for +her defence, in case she fell in with ruffians by the +way; and though the expression of her face was most +feminine, there was that about it which implied she +could use them for that purpose on an emergency. +<pb n="213"/><anchor id="Pg213"/>That face was clear in complexion, regular in outline, +and at the present time pale, whatever might be its +ordinary tint. Its charm was a noble and majestic +calm. There is the calm of divine peace and joy; +there is the calm of heartlessness; there is the calm +of reckless desperation; there is the calm of death. +None of these was the calm which breathed from the +features of the stranger who intruded upon the solitude +of Cæcilius. It was the calm of Greek sculpture; +it imaged a soul nourished upon the visions of +genius, and subdued and attuned by the power of a +strong will. There was no appearance of timidity in +her manner; very little of modesty. The evening sun +gleamed across her amber robe, and lit it up till it +glowed like fire, as if she were invested in the marriage +<hi rend="italic">flammeum</hi>, and was to be claimed that evening +as the bride of her own bright god of day. +</p> + +<p> +She looked at Cæcilius, first with surprise, then +with anxiety; and her words were, <q>You, I fear, are +of his people. If so, make the most of these hours. +The foe may be on you to-morrow morning. Fly while +you can.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If I am a Christian,</q> answered Cæcilius, <q>what +are you who are so careful of us? Have you come all +the way from Sicca to give the alarm to mere atheists +and magic-mongers?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Stranger,</q> she said, <q>if you had seen what I have +seen, what I have heard of to-day, you would not +wonder at my wish to save from a like fate the vilest +being on earth. A hideous mob is rioting in the city, +<pb n="214"/><anchor id="Pg214"/>thirsting for the blood of Christians; an accident may +turn it in the direction of Agellius. He is gone; +where is he? Murderous outrages have already been +perpetrated; you remain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She who is so tender of Christians,</q> answered the +priest, <q>must herself have some sparks of the Christian +flame in her own breast.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista sat down half unconsciously upon the +bench or stool near the door; but she at once suddenly +started up again, and said, <q>Away, fly! perhaps +they are coming; where is he?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fear not,</q> said Cæcilius; <q>Agellius has been +conveyed away to a safe hiding-place; for me, I shall +be taken care of; there is no need for hurry; sit down +again. But you,</q> he continued, <q>you must not be +found here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They know <hi rend="italic">me</hi>,</q> she said; <q>I am well known +here. I work for the temples. I have nothing to fear. +I am no Christian;</q> and, as if from an inexplicable +overruling influence, she sat down again. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not a Christian yet, you mean,</q> answered Cæcilius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A person must be born a Christian, sir,</q> she +replied, <q>in order to take up the religion. It is a +very beautiful idea, as far as I have heard anything +about it; but one must suck it in with one’s mother’s +milk.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If so, it never could have come into the world,</q> +said the priest. +</p> + +<p> +She paused for a while. <q>It is true,</q> she answered +<pb n="215"/><anchor id="Pg215"/>at length; <q>but a new religion begins by appealing +to what is peculiar in the minds of a few. The doctrine, +floating on the winds, finds its own; it takes +possession of their minds; they answer its call; they +are brought together by that common influence; they +are strong in each other’s sympathy; they create and +throw around them an external form, and thus they +found a religion. The sons are brought up in their +fathers’ faith; and what was the idea of a few +becomes at length the profession of a race. Such is +Judaism; such the religion of Zoroaster, or of the +Egyptians.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You will find,</q> said the priest, <q>that the greater +number of African Christians at this moment, for of +them I speak confidently, are converts in manhood, +not the sons of Christians. On the other hand, if +there be those who have left the faith, and gone up +to the capitol to sacrifice, these were Christians by +hereditary profession. Such is my experience, and I +think the case is the same elsewhere.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She seemed to be speaking more for the sake of +getting answers than of objecting arguments. She +paused again, and thought; then she said, <q>Mankind +is made up of classes of very various mental complexion, +as distinct from each other as the colours +which meet the eye. Red and blue are incommensurable; +and in like manner, a Magian never can +become a Greek, nor a Greek a Cœlicolist. They +do but make themselves fools when they attempt +it.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="216"/><anchor id="Pg216"/> + +<p> +<q>Perhaps the most deeply convinced, the most +tranquil-minded in the Christian body,</q> answered +Cæcilius, <q>will tell you, on the contrary, that there +was a time when they hated Christianity, and despised +and ill-treated its professors.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="italic">I</hi> never did any such thing,</q> cried Callista, <q>since +the day I first heard of it. I am not its enemy, but +I cannot believe in it. I am sure I never could; I +never, never should be able.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What is it you cannot believe?</q> asked the +priest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It seems too beautiful,</q> she said, <q>to be anything +else than a dream. It is a thing to talk about, but +when you come near its professors you see it is impossible. +A most beautiful imagination, <hi rend="italic">that</hi> is what +it is. Most beautiful its precepts, as far as I have +heard of them; so beautiful, that in idea there is no +difficulty. The mind runs along with them, as if it +could accomplish them without an effort. Well, its +maxims are too beautiful to be realized; and then +on the other hand, its dogmas are too dismal, too +shocking, too odious to be believed. They revolt +me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Such as what?</q> asked Cæcilius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Such as this,</q> answered Callista. <q>Nothing will +ever make me believe that all my people have gone +and will go to an eternal Tartarus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Had we not better confine ourselves to something +more specific, more tangible?</q> asked Cæcilius, gravely. +<q>I suppose if one individual may have that terrible +<pb n="217"/><anchor id="Pg217"/> +lot, another may—both may, many may. Suppose I +understand you to say that you never will believe +that <hi rend="italic">you</hi> will go to an eternal Tartarus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista gave a slight start, and showed some uneasiness +or displeasure. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is it not likely,</q> continued he, <q>that you are +better able to speak of yourself, and to form a judgment +about yourself, than about others? Perhaps if +you could first speak confidently about yourself, you +would be in a better position to speak about others +also.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you mean,</q> she said, in a calm tone, <q>that my +place, after this life, is an everlasting Tartarus?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Are you happy?</q> he asked in turn. +</p> + +<p> +She paused, looked down, and in a deep clear voice +said, <q>No.</q> There was a silence. +</p> + +<p> +The priest began again: <q>Perhaps you have been +growing in unhappiness for years; is it so? you +assent. You have a heavy burden at your heart, you +don’t well know what. And the chance is, that you +<hi rend="italic">will</hi> grow in unhappiness for the next ten years to +come. You will be more and more unhappy the +longer you live. Did you live till you were an old +woman, you would not know how to bear your existence.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista cried out as if in bodily pain, <q>It is true, +sir, whoever told you. But how can you have the +heart to say it, to insult and mock me!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>God forbid!</q> exclaimed Cæcilius, <q>but let me go +on. Listen, my child. Be brave, and dare to look at +<pb n="218"/><anchor id="Pg218"/>things as they are. Every day adds to your burden. +This is a law of your present being, somewhat more +certain than the assertion which you just now so confidently +made, the impossibility of your believing in +that law. You cannot refuse to accept what is not an +opinion, but a fact. I say this burden which I speak +of is not simply a dogma of our creed, it is an +undeniable fact of nature. You cannot change it by +wishing; if you were to live on earth two hundred +years, it would not be reversed, it would be more and +more true. At the end of two hundred years you +would be too miserable even for your worst enemy to +rejoice in it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius spoke, as if half in soliloquy or meditation, +though he was looking towards Callista. The contrast +between them was singular: he thus abstracted; +she too, utterly forgetful of self, but absorbed in him, +and showing it by her eager eyes, her hushed breath, +her anxious attitude. At last she said impatiently, +<q>Father, you are speaking to yourself; you despise +me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The priest looked straight at her with an open, untroubled +smile, and said, <q>Callista, do not doubt me, +my poor child; you are in my heart. I was praying +for you shortly before you appeared. No; but, +in so serious a matter as attempting to save a soul, +I like to speak to you in my Lord’s sight. I am +speaking to you, indeed I am, my child; but I am +also pleading with you on His behalf, and before His +throne.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="219"/><anchor id="Pg219"/> + +<p> +His voice trembled as he spoke, but he soon recovered +himself. <q>Suffer me,</q> he said. <q rend="post: none">I was saying +that if you lived five hundred years on earth, you +would but have a heavier load on you as time went +on. But you will not live, you will die. Perhaps you +will tell me that you will then cease to be. I don’t +believe you think so. I may take for granted that +you think with me, and with the multitude of men, +that you will still live, that you will still be <hi rend="italic">you</hi>. You +will still be the same being, but deprived of those +outward stays and reliefs and solaces, which, such as +they are, you now enjoy. You will be yourself, shut +up in yourself. I have heard that people go mad at +length when placed in solitary confinement. If, then, +on passing hence, you are cut off from what you had +here, and have only the company of yourself, I think +your burden will be, so far, greater, not less than it is +now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Suppose, for instance, you had still your love of +conversing, and could not converse; your love of the +poets of your race, and no means of recalling them; +your love of music, and no instrument to play upon; +your love of knowledge, and nothing to learn; your +desire of sympathy, and no one to love: would not +that be still greater misery?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Let me proceed a step further: supposing you +were among those whom you actually did <hi rend="italic">not</hi> love; +supposing you did <hi rend="italic">not</hi> like them, nor their occupations, +and could not understand their aims; suppose +there be, as Christians say, one Almighty God, and +<pb n="220"/><anchor id="Pg220"/>you did not like Him, and had no taste for thinking +of Him, and no interest in what He was and what He +did; and supposing you found that there was nothing +else anywhere but He, whom you did not love and +whom you wished away: would you not be still more +wretched?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">And if this went on for ever, would you not be in +great inexpressible pain for ever?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Assuming then, first, that the soul always needs +external objects to rest upon; next, that it has no +prospect of any such when it leaves this visible scene; +and thirdly, that the hunger and thirst, the gnawing +of the heart, where it occurs, is as keen and piercing +as a flame; it will follow there is nothing irrational in +the notion of an eternal Tartarus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I cannot answer you, sir,</q> said Callista, <q>but I do +not believe the dogma on that account a whit the +more. My mind revolts from the notion. There <hi rend="italic">must</hi> +be some way out of it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>If, on the other hand,</q> continued Cæcilius, not +noticing her interruption, <q>if all your thoughts go +one way; if you have needs, desires, aims, aspirations, +all of which demand an Object, and imply, by their +very existence, that such an Object does exist also; +and if nothing here does satisfy them, and if there be +a message which professes to come from that Object, +of whom you already have the presentiment, and to +teach you about Him, and to bring the remedy you +crave; and if those who try that remedy say with one +voice that the remedy answers; are you not bound, +<pb n="221"/><anchor id="Pg221"/>Callista, at least to look that way, to inquire into +what you hear about it, and to ask for His help, if He +be, to enable you to believe in Him?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>This is what a slave of mine used to say,</q> cried +Callista, abruptly; <q>... and another, Agellius, hinted +the same thing.... What is your remedy, what +your Object, what your love, O Christian teacher? +Why are you all so mysterious, so reserved in your +communications?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæcilius was silent for a moment, and seemed at a +loss for an answer. At length he said, <q>Every man +is in that state which you confess of yourself. We +have no love for Him who alone lasts. We love +those things which do not last, but come to an end. +Things being thus, He whom we ought to love has +determined to win us back to Him. With this object +He has come into His own world, in the form of one +of us men. And in that human form He opens His +arms and woos us to return to Him, our Maker. This +is our Worship, this is our Love, Callista.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You talk as Chione,</q> Callista answered; <q>only +that she felt, and you teach. She could not speak +of her Master without blushing for joy.... And +Agellius, when he said one word about his Master, he +too began to blush....</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was plain that the priest could hardly command +his feelings, and they sat for a short while in silence. +Then Callista began, as if musing on what she had +heard. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A loved One,</q> she said, <q>yet ideal; a passion so +<pb n="222"/><anchor id="Pg222"/>potent, so fresh, so innocent, so absorbing, so expulsive +of other loves, so enduring, yet of One never +beheld;—mysterious! It is our own notion of the +First and only Fair, yet embodied in a substance, yet +dissolving again into a sort of imagination.... It is +beyond me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is but one Lover of souls,</q> cried Cæcilius, +<q>and He loves each one of us, as though there were +no one else to love. He died for each one of us, as +if there were no one else to die for. He died on the +shameful cross. <q>Amor meus crucifixus est.</q> The +love which he inspires lasts, for it is the love of the +Unchangeable. It satisfies, for He is inexhaustible. +The nearer we draw to Him, the more triumphantly +does He enter into us; the longer He dwells in us, +the more intimately have we possession of Him. It is +an espousal for eternity. This is why it is so easy +for us to die for our faith, at which the world +marvels.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Presently he said, <q>Why will not <hi rend="italic">you</hi> approach +Him? why will not you leave the creature for the +Creator?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista seldom lost her self-possession; for a +moment she lost it now; tears gushed from her +eyes. <q>Impossible!</q> she said, <q>what, I? you do not +know me, father!</q> She paused, and then resumed +in a different tone, <q>No! <hi rend="italic">my</hi> lot is one way, yours +another. I am a child of Greece, and have no happiness +but that, such as it is, which my own bright +land, my own glorious race, give me. I may well be +<pb n="223"/><anchor id="Pg223"/>content, I may well be resigned, I may well be proud, +if I possess <hi rend="italic">that</hi> happiness. I must live and die +where I have been born. I am a tree which will not +bear transplanting. The Assyrians, the Jews, the +Egyptians, have their own mystical teaching. They +follow their happiness in their own way; mine is a +different one. The pride of mind, the revel of the +intellect, the voice and eyes of genius, and the fond +beating heart, I cannot do without them. I cannot +do without what you, Christian, call sin. Let me +alone; such as nature made me I will be. I cannot +change.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This sudden revulsion of her feelings quite overcame +Cæcilius; yet, while the disappointment thrilled +through him, he felt a most strange sympathy for the +poor lost girl, and his reply was full of emotion. +<q>Am <hi rend="italic">I</hi> a Jew?</q> he exclaimed; <q>am <hi rend="italic">I</hi> an Egyptian, +or an Assyrian? Have I from my youth believed +and possessed what now is my Life, my Hope, and +my Love? Child, <hi rend="italic">what</hi> was once my life? Am not +<hi rend="italic">I</hi> too a brand plucked out of the fire? Do <hi rend="italic">I</hi> deserve +anything but evil? Is it not the Power, the Mighty +Power of the only Strong, the only Merciful, the +grace of Emmanuel, which has changed and won +me? If He can change me, an old man, could He +not change a child like you? I, a proud, stern +Roman; I, a lover of pleasure, a man of letters, +of political station, with formed habits, and life-long +associations, and complicated relations; was it <hi rend="italic">I</hi> +who wrought this great change in me, who gained +<pb n="224"/><anchor id="Pg224"/>for myself the power of hating what I once loved, of +unlearning what I once knew, nay, of even forgetting +what once I was? Who has made you and me to +differ, but He who can, when He will, make us to +agree? It is His same Omnipotence which will +transform <hi rend="italic">you</hi>, if you will but come to be transformed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But a reaction had come over the proud and sensitive +mind of the Greek girl. <q>So after all, priest,</q> she +said, <q>you are but a man like others; a frail, guilty +person like myself. I can find plenty of persons +who do as I do; I want some one who does not; I +want some one to worship. I thought there was +something in you special and extraordinary. There +was a gentleness and tenderness mingled with your +strength which was new to me. I said, Here is at +last a god. My own gods are earthly, sensual; I +have no respect for them, no faith in them. But +there is nothing better anywhere else.... Alas!...</q> +She started up, and said with vehemence, <q>I +thought you sinless; you confess to crime.... Ah! +how do I know,</q> she continued with a shudder, +<q>that you are better than those base hypocrites, +priests of Isis or Mithras, whose lustrations, initiations, +new birth, white robes, and laurel crowns, are +but the instrument and cloak of their intense depravity?</q> +And she felt for the clasp upon her +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +Here her speech was interrupted by a hoarse sound, +borne upon the wind as of many voices blended into +<pb n="225"/><anchor id="Pg225"/>one and softened by the distance, but which, under +the circumstances, neither of the parties to the above +conversation had any difficulty in assigning to its real +cause. <q>Dear father,</q> she said, <q>the enemy is upon +you.</q> +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XX" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="226"/><anchor id="Pg226"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XX. He shall not lose his reward"/> +<head>CHAPTER XX.</head> + +<head type="sub">HE SHALL NOT LOSE HIS REWARD.</head> + +<p> +There was no room for doubt or for delay. <q>What +is to become of you, Callista?</q> he said; <q>they will +tear you to pieces.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fear nothing for me, father,</q> she answered; <q>I +am one of them. They know me. Alas, <hi rend="italic">I</hi> am no +Christian! <hi rend="italic">I</hi> have not abjured their rites! but you, +lose not a moment.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are still at some distance,</q> he said, <q>though +the wind gives us merciful warning of their coming.</q> +He looked about the room, and took up the books of +Holy Scripture which were on the shelf. <q>There is +nothing else,</q> he said, <q>of special value here. Agellius +could not take them. Here, my child, I am going +to show you a great confidence. To few persons +not Christians would I show it. Take this blessed +parchment; it contains the earthly history of our +Divine Master. Here you will see whom we Christians +love. Read it; keep it safely; surrender it, +when you have the opportunity, into Christian keeping. +My mind tells me I am not wrong in lending it +to you.</q> He handed to her the Gospel of St. Luke, +<pb n="227"/><anchor id="Pg227"/>while he put the two other volumes into the folds of +his own tunic. +</p> + +<p> +<q>One word more,</q> she said; <q>your name, should I +want you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He took up a piece of chalk from the shelf, and +wrote upon the wall in distinct characters, +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q>Thascius Cæcilius Cyprianus, Bishop of Carthage.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +Hardly had she read the inscription when the +voices of several men were heard in the very neighbourhood +of the cottage; and hoping to effect a +diversion in favour of Cæcilius, and being at once +unsuspicious of danger to herself, and careless of her +life, she ran quickly forward to meet them. Cæcilius +ought to have taken to flight without a moment’s +delay, but a last sacred duty detained him. He knelt +down and took the pyx from his bosom. He had +eaten nothing that day; but even if otherwise, it was +a crisis which allowed him to consume the sacred +species without fasting. He hastily opened the golden +case, adored the blessed sacrament, and consumed it, +purifying its receptacle, and restoring it to its hiding-place. +Then he rose at once and left the cottage. +</p> + +<p> +He looked about; Callista was nowhere to be seen. +She was gone; so much was certain, no enemy was in +sight; it only remained for him to make off too. In +the confusion he turned in the wrong direction; instead +of making off at the back of the cottage from which +the voices had scared him, he ran across the garden +<pb n="228"/><anchor id="Pg228"/>into the hollow way. It was all over with him in an +instant; he fell at once into the hands of the vanguard +of the mob. +</p> + +<p> +Many mouths were opened upon him all at once. +<q>The sorcerer!</q> cried one; <q>tear him to shreds; <hi rend="italic">we’ll</hi> +teach him to brew his spells against the city.</q> <q>Give +us back our grapes and corn,</q> said a second. <q>Have +a guard,</q> said a third; <q>he can turn you into swine +or asses while there is breath in him,</q> <q>Then be +the quicker with him,</q> said a fourth, who was lifting +up a crowbar to discharge upon his head. <q>Hold!</q> +said a tall swarthy youth, who had already warded off +several blows from him, <q>hold, will you? don’t you +see, if you kill him he can’t undo the spell. Make +him first reverse it all; make him take the curse off +us. Bring him along; take him to Astarte, Hercules, +or old <anchor id="corr228"/><corr sic="Saturu">Saturn</corr>. We’ll broil him on a gridiron till he +turns all these canes into vines, and makes olive berries +of the pebbles, and turns the dust of the earth into +fine flour for our eating. When he has done all this +he shall dance a jig with a wild cow, and sit down to +supper with an hyena.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A loud scream of exultation broke forth from the +drunken and frantic multitude. <q>Along with him!</q> +continued the same speaker in a jeering tone. <q>Here, +put him on the ass and tie his hands behind his back. +He shall go back in triumph to the city which he +loves. Mind, and don’t touch him before the time. If +you kill him, you’ll never get the curse off. Come +here, you priests of Cybele,</q> he added, <q>and be his +<pb n="229"/><anchor id="Pg229"/>body-guard.</q> And he continued to keep a vigilant +eye and hand over the old man, in spite of them. +</p> + +<p> +The ass, though naturally a good-tempered beast, +had been most sadly tried through the day. He had +been fed, indeed, out of mockery, as being the Christians’ +god; but he did not understand the shouts and +caprices of the crowd, and he only waited for an +opportunity to show that he by no means acquiesced in +the proceedings of the day. And now the difficulty +was to move at all. The people kept crowding up the +hollow road, and blocked the passage, and though the +greater part of the rioters had either been left behind +exhausted in Sicca itself, or had poured over the fields +on each side of Agellius’s cottage, or gone right over +the hill down into the valley beyond, yet still it was +some time before the ass could move a step, and a time +of nervous suspense it was both to Cæcilius and the +youth who befriended him. At length what remained +of the procession was persuaded to turn about and +make for Sicca, but in a reversed order. It could not +be brought round in so confined a space, so its rear +went first and the ass and its burden came last. As +they descended the hill back again, Cæcilius, who was +mounted upon the linen and silk which had adorned +the Dea Syra before the Tertullianist had destroyed +the idol, saw before him the whole line of march. In +front were flaunted the dreadful emblems of idolatry, +so far as their bearers were able still to raise them. +Drunken women, ragged boys mounted on men’s +shoulders, ruffians and bullies, savage-looking +Getu<pb n="230"/><anchor id="Pg230"/>lians, half-human monsters from the Atlas, monkeys +and curs jabbering and howling, mummers, bacchanals, +satyrs, and gesticulators, formed the staple of the +procession. Midway between the hill which he was +descending and the city lay the ravine, of which we +have several times spoken, widening out into the +plain or Campus Martius, which reached round to the +steep cliffs on the north. The bridle-path, along +which he was moving, crossed it just where it was +opening and became level, so as to present no abrupt +descent and ascent at the place where the path was +lowest. On the left every vestige of the ravine soon +ceased, and a free passage extended to the plain. +</p> + +<p> +The youth who had placed Cæcilius on the ass +still kept close to him and sung at the pitch of his +voice, in imitation of the rest— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Sporting and snorting in shades of the night,</q></l> +<l>His ears pricking up, and his hoofs striking light,</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">And his tail whisking round, in the speed of his flight.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +<q>Old man,</q> he continued to Cæcilius in a low +voice, and in Latin, <q>your curse has not worked on +me yet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>My son,</q> answered the priest, <q>you are granted +one day more for repentance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Lucky for you as well as for me,</q> was the reply: +and he continued his song:— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Gurta, the witch, was out with the rest;</q></l> +<l>Though as lame as a gull, by his highness possessed,</l> +<l>She shouldered her crutch, and danced with the <anchor id="corr230"/><corr sic="best">best.</corr></l> +</lg> + +<pb n="231"/><anchor id="Pg231"/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">She stamped and she twirled in the shade of the yew,</q></l> +<l>Till her gossips and chums of the city danced too;</l> +<l>They never are slack when there’s mischief to do.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">She danced and she coaxed, but he was no fool;</q></l> +<l>He’d be his own master, he’d not be her tool:</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">Not the little black moor should send him to school.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +He then turned to Cæcilius and whispered, <q>You +see, old father, that others, besides Christians, can +forgive and forget. Henceforth call me generous +Juba.</q> And he tossed his head. +</p> + +<p> +By this time they had got to the bottom of the hill, +and the deep shadows which filled the hollow showed +that the sun was rapidly sinking in the west. Suddenly, +as they were crossing the bottom as it opened into the +plain, Juba seized and broke the thong which bound +Cæcilius’s arms, and bestowing a tremendous cut with +it upon the side of the ass, sent him forward upon the +plain at his greatest speed. The youth’s manœuvre +was successful to the full. The asses of Africa can +do more on an occasion of this kind than our own. +Cæcilius for the moment lost his seat; but, instantly +recovering it, took care to keep the animal from +flagging; and the cries of the mob, and the howlings +of the priests of Cybele cooperated in the task. At +length the gloom, increasing every minute, hid him +from their view; and even in daylight his recapture +would have been a difficult matter for a wearied-out, +famished, and intoxicated rabble. Before Cæcilius well +had time to return thanks for this unexpected turn +of events, he was out of pursuit, and was ambling +at a pace more suitable to the habits of the beast of +<pb n="232"/><anchor id="Pg232"/>burden that carried him, over an expanse of plain +which would have been a formidable night-march to a +fasting man. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +We must not conclude the day without relating +what was its issue to the persecutors, as well as to +their intended victim. It is almost a proverb that +punishment is slow in overtaking crime; but the +present instance was an exception to the rule. While +the exiled Bishop of Carthage escaped, the crowd, on +the other hand, were caught in the trap which had +been laid for them. We have already said it was a +<hi rend="italic">ruse</hi> on the part of the governing authorities of the +place to get the rioters out of the city, that they +might at once be relieved of them, and then deal with +them just as they might think fit. When the mob +was once outside the walls, they might be refused +re-admittance, and put down with a strong hand. The +Roman garrison, who, powerless to quell the tumult +in the narrow and winding streets and multiplied +alleys of the city, had been the authors of the +manœuvre, now took on themselves the stern completion +of it, and determined to do so in the sternest +way. Not a single head of all those who poured out +in the afternoon should return at night. It was not +to be supposed that the soldiers had any tenderness +for the Christians, but they abominated and despised +the rabble of the town. They were indignant at +their rising, thought it a personal insult to themselves, +and resolved they should never do so <anchor id="corr232"/><corr sic="again">again.</corr> +<pb n="233"/><anchor id="Pg233"/>The gates were commonly in the custody of the city +guard, but the Porta Septimiana, by which the mob +passed out, was on this occasion claimed by the +Romans. It was most suitably circumstanced for the +use they intended to make of it. Immediately outside +of it was a large court of the same level as the ground +inside, bordered on the right and left by substantial +walls, which after a time were drawn to meet each +other, and contracted the space to the usual breadth +of a road. The walls continued to run along this +road for some distance, till they joined the way which +led to the Campus Martius, and from this point the +ground was open till it reached the head of the +ravine. The soldiers drew up at the gate, and as +the worn-out and disappointed, brutalized and half-idiotic +multitudes returned towards it from the +country, those who were behind pushed on between +the border walls those who were in front, and, while +they jammed together their ranks, also made escape +impossible. It was now that the Roman soldiers +began their barbarous, not to say cowardly, assault +upon them. With heavy maces, with the pike, with +iron gauntlets, with stones and bricks, with clubs, +with scourge, with the sword, with the helmet, +with whatever came to hand, they commenced +the massacre of that large concourse of human +beings, who did not offer one blow in return. They +slaughtered them like sheep; they trampled them +down; they threw the bodies of the wounded over the +walls. Attempting to run back, numbers of the poor +<pb n="234"/><anchor id="Pg234"/>wretches came into conflict with the ranks behind +them, and an additional scene of confusion and overthrow +took place; many of them straggled over to +the open country or woods, and perished, either from +the weather, or from hunger, or even from the wild +beasts. Others, weakened by excess and famine, +fell a prey to the pestilence that was raging. After +some days a remnant of them was allowed silently +and timidly to steal back into the city as best they +could. It was a long day before the Plebs Siccensis +ventured to have any opinion of its own upon the +subject of Christianity, or any other political, social, or +ecclesiastical topic whatever. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="235"/><anchor id="Pg235"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXI. Startling rumours"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXI.</head> + +<head type="sub">STARTLING RUMOURS.</head> + +<p> +When Jucundus rose next morning, and heard the +news, he considered it to be more satisfactory than +he could have supposed possible. He was a zealous +imperialist, and a lover of tranquillity, a despiser of +the natives and a hater of the Christians. The Christians +had suffered enough to vindicate the Roman +name, to deter those who were playing at Christianity, +and to show that the people of Sicca had their eyes +about them. And the mob had received a severe +lesson too; and the cause of public order had +triumphed, and civic peace was re-established. His +anxiety, too, about Agellius had terminated, or was +terminating. He had privately denounced him to the +government, come to an understanding with the military +authorities, and obtained the custody of him. +He had met him at the very door to which the boy +Firmian brought him, with an apparitor of the military +staff (or what answered to it), and had clapped +him into prison in an underground cellar in which he +kept damaged images, and those which had gone out +of fashion, and were otherwise unsaleable. He was +not at all sorry, by some suffering, and by some +<pb n="236"/><anchor id="Pg236"/>fright, to aid the more potent incantation which +Callista was singing in his ears. He did not, however, +at all forget Juba’s hint, and was careful not to +overdo the rack-and-gridiron dodge, if we may so +designate it; yet he thought just a flavour or a +thought of the inconveniences which the profession +of Christianity involved might be a salutary +reflection in the midst of the persuasives which the +voice and eyes of Callista would kindle in his heart. +There was nothing glorious or heroic in being confined +in a lumber cellar, no one knowing anything +about it; and he did not mean to keep him there for +ever. +</p> + +<p> +As the next day wore on towards evening, rumour +brought a piece of news which he was at first utterly +unable to credit, and which for the moment seemed +likely to spoil the appetite which promised so well for +his evening repast. He could hardly believe his ears +when he was told that Callista was in arrest on a +charge of Christianity, and at first it made him look +as black as some of those Egyptian gods which he +had on one shelf of his shop. However, he rallied, and +was very much amused at the report. The imprisonment +indeed was a fact, account for it as one could; +but who <hi rend="italic">could</hi> account for it? <q>Varium et mutabile:</q> +who could answer for the whims and fancies of +womankind? If she had fallen in love with the owl +of Minerva, or cut off her auburn tresses, or turned +rope-dancer, there might have been some shrugging +of shoulders, but no one would have tried to analyze +<pb n="237"/><anchor id="Pg237"/>the motive; but so much his profound sagacity +enabled him to see, that, if there was one thing more +than another likely to sicken Agellius of Christianity, +it was to find one who was so precious to him suffering +from the suspicion of it. It was bad enough to +have suffered one’s self in such a cause; still he could +conceive, he was large-minded enough to grant, that +Agellius might have some secret satisfaction in the +antagonist feeling of resentment and obstinacy which +that suffering might engender: but it was carrying +matters too far, and no comfort in any point of view, +to find Callista, his beloved, the object of a similar +punishment. It was all very well to profess Christianity +as a matter of sentiment, mystery, and singularity; +but when it was found to compromise the life +or limbs of another, and that other Callista, why it +was plain that Agellius would be the very first to try +and entreat the wayward girl to keep her good looks +for him, and to be loyal to the gods of her country; +and he chuckled over the thought, as others have +done in other states of society, of a love-scene or +a marriage being the termination of so much high +romance and fine acting. +</p> + +<p> +However, the next day Aristo came down to him +himself, and gave him an account at once more authentic +and more extended on the matter which interested +him. Callista had been called up before the +tribunal, and had not been discharged, but remanded. +The meaning of it was as obscure as ever; Aristo +could give no account of it; it almost led him to +be<pb n="238"/><anchor id="Pg238"/>lieve in the evil eye; some unholy practices, some +spells such as only potent wizards know, some deplorable +delusion or hallucination, had for the time got +the mastery of his sister’s mind. No one seemed +quite to know how she had found her way into the +hands of the officers; but there she was, and the +problem was how to get her out of them. +</p> + +<p> +However, whatever mystery, whatever anxiety, +attached to the case, it was only still more urgent to +bring the matter home to Agellius without delay. +If time went on before the parties were brought +together, she might grow more obstinate, and kindle +a like spirit in him. Oh that boys and girls <hi rend="italic">would</hi> +be giving old people, who wish them well, so much +trouble! However, it was no good thinking of that +just then. He considered that, at the present +moment, they would not be able to bear the sight of +each other in suffering and peril; that mutual tenderness +would make them plead with each other in each +other’s behalf, and that each would be obliged to set +the example to each of a concession, to which each +exhorted each; and on this fine philosophical view he +proceeded to act. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="239"/><anchor id="Pg239"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXII. Jucundus propounds his view of the situation"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXII.</head> + +<head type="sub">JUCUNDUS PROPOUNDS HIS VIEW OF THE SITUATION.</head> + +<p> +For thirty-six hours Agellius had been confined +in his underground receptacle, light being almost +excluded, a bench and a rug being his means of +repose, and a full measure of bread, wine, and olives +being his dole. The shrieks and yells of the rioters +could be distinctly heard in his prison, as the day of +his seizure went on, and they passed by the temple of +Astarte; but what happened at his farm, and how it +fared with Cæcilius, he had no means of conjecturing; +nor indeed how it was to fare with himself, for <anchor id="corr239"/><corr sic="ou">on</corr> the +face of the transaction, as was in form the fact, he +was in the hands of the law, and only indulged with +the house of a relative for his prison. On the second +night he was released by his uncle’s confidential +slave, who brought him up to a small back closet on +the ground floor, which was lighted from the roof, +and next morning, being the second day after the riot, +Jucundus came in to have his confidential conversation +with him. +</p> + +<p> +His uncle began by telling him that he was a +government prisoner, but that he hoped by his influence +in high places to get him off and out of +<pb n="240"/><anchor id="Pg240"/>Sicca without any prejudice to his honour. He told +him that <anchor id="corr240"/><corr sic="be">he</corr> had managed it privately, and if he +had treated him with apparent harshness up to the +evening before, it was in order to save appearances +with the apparitors who had attended him. He +then went on to inform him that the mob had +visited his cottage, and had caught some man there; +he supposed some accomplice or ally of his nephew’s. +They had seized him, and were bringing him off, but +the fellow had been clever enough to effect his escape. +He did not know more than this, but it had happened +very fortunately, for the general belief in the place +was, that it was Agellius who had been taken, and +who had managed to give them the slip. Since it +could not any longer be safely denied that he was a +Christian, though he (Jucundus) did not think so himself, +he had encouraged or rather had given his confirmation +to the report; and when some persons who +had means of knowing had asserted that the culprit +was double the age of his nephew and more, and not at +all of his make or description, but a sort of slave, or +rather that he was the slave of Agellius who had +belonged to his father Strabo, Jucundus had boldly +asserted that Agellius, in the emergency, had +availed himself of some of the remarkably powerful +charms which Christians were known to possess, +and had made himself seem what he really was not, +in order to escape detection. It had not indeed +answered the purpose entirely, for he had actually +been taken; but no blame in the charm, which +<pb n="241"/><anchor id="Pg241"/>perhaps, after all, had enabled him to escape. However, +Agellius was gone, he told people, and a good +riddance, and he hoped never to see him again. <q>But +you see, my dear boy,</q> he concluded, <q>this was all +talk for the occasion, for I hope you will live here +many years in respectability and credit. I intend you +should close my eyes when my time comes, and +inherit whatever I have to leave you; for as to that +fellow Juba, he inspires me with no confidence in him +at all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius thanked his uncle with all his heart for +his kind and successful efforts on his behalf; he did +not think there was a word he had said, in the future +he had sketched for him, which he could have wished +altered. But he thought Jucundus over-sanguine; +much as he should like to live with him and tend him +in his old age, he did not think he should ever be +permitted to return to Sicca. He was a Christian, and +must seek some remote corner of the world, or at +least some city where he was unknown. Every one in +Sicca would point at him as the Christian; he would +experience a thousand rubs and collisions, even if the +mob did not rise against him, without corresponding +advantage; on the other hand, he would have no +influence. But were he in the midst of a powerful +and widely-extended community of Christians, he +might in his place do work, and might extend the +faith as one of a number, unknown himself, and strong +in his brethren. He therefore proposed as soon as +<pb n="242"/><anchor id="Pg242"/>possible to sell his effects and stock, and retire from +the sight of men, at least for a time. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You think this persecution, then, will be soon at +an end?</q> asked Jucundus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I judge by the past,</q> answered Agellius; <q>there +have been times of trial and of rest hitherto, and I +suppose it will be so again. And one place has +hitherto been exempt from the violence of our +enemies, when another has been the scene of it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A new time is coming, trust me,</q> said Jucundus, +gravely. <q>Those popular commotions are all over. +What happened two days ago is a sample of what +will come of them; they have received their <hi rend="italic">coup-de-grâce</hi>. +The State is taking up the matter, Rome +itself, thank the gods! a tougher sort of customer +than these villain ratcatchers and offal-eaters, whom +you had to do with two days since. Great Rome is +now at length in earnest, my boy, which she ought to +have been a long time back, before you were born; +and then you know,</q> and he nodded, <q>you would +have had no choice; you wouldn’t have had the temptation +to make a fool of yourself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, then,</q> answered Agellius, <q>if a new time is +really coming, there is less chance than ever of my +continuing here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now be a sensible fellow, as you are when you +choose,</q> said his uncle; <q>look the matter in the face, +do. You cannot wrestle with impossibilities, you +cannot make facts to pattern. There are lawful +religions, there are illicit. Christianity is illicit; it +<pb n="243"/><anchor id="Pg243"/>is not tolerated; that’s not your fault; you cannot +help it; you would, if you could; you can’t. Now you +have observed your point of honour; you have shown +you can stand up like a man, and suffer for your +own fancy. Still Rome does not give way; and you +must make the best of it. You must give in, and you +are far too good (I don’t compliment, I speak my mind), +far too amiable, excellent, sweet a boy for so rascally a +superstition.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is something stronger than Rome,</q> said the +nephew almost sternly. +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus cut him short. <q>Agellius!</q> he said, +<q>you must not say that in this house. You shall not +use that language under my roof. I’ll not put up +with it, I tell you. Take your treason elsewhere.... +This accursed obstinacy!</q> he said to himself; <q>but +I must take care what I am doing;</q> then aloud, +<q>Well, we both of us have been railing; no good +comes of railing; railing is not argument. But now, +I say, do be sensible, if you can. Is not the imperial +government in earnest now? better late than never, +but it is now in earnest. And now mark my words, +by this day five years, five years at the utmost,—I +say by this day five years there will not be a single +ragamuffin Christian in the whole Roman world.</q> +And he looked fierce. <q>Ye gods! Rome, Rome has +swept from the earth by her very breath conspiracies, +confederacies, plots against her, without ever failing; +she will do so now with this contemptible, Jew-begotten +foe.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="244"/><anchor id="Pg244"/> + +<p> +<q>In what are we enemies to Rome, Jucundus?</q> +said Agellius; <q>why will you always take it for +granted?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Take it for granted!</q> answered he, <q>is it not on +the face of the matter? I suppose <hi rend="italic">they</hi> are enemies +to a state, whom the state <hi rend="italic">calls</hi> its enemies. Besides, +why a pother of words? Swear by the genius of the +emperor, invoke the Dea Roma, sacrifice to Jove; no, +not a bit of it, not a whisper, not a sign, not a grain of +incense. You go out of your way to insult us; +and then you come with a grave face, and say you +are loyal. You kick our shins, and you wish us to +kiss you on both cheeks for it. A few harmless ceremonies; +we are not entrapping you; we are not +using your words against yourselves; we tell you the +meaning beforehand, the whole meaning of them. +It is not as if we tied you to the belief of the nursery: +we don’t say, <q>If you burn incense, you profess to +believe that old Jupiter is shivering atop of Olympus;</q> +we don’t say, <q>You swear by the genius of Cæsar, +therefore he has a genius, black, or white, or piebald,</q> +No, we give you the meaning of the act; it is a mere +expression of loyalty to the empire. If then you +won’t do it, you confess yourself <hi rend="italic">ipso facto</hi> disloyal. +It is incomprehensible.</q> And he had become quite +red. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My dear uncle,</q> said Agellius, <q>I give you my +solemn word, that the people whom you so detest do +pray for the welfare of the imperial power continually, +as a matter of duty and as a matter of interest.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="245"/><anchor id="Pg245"/> + +<p> +<q>Pray! pray! fudge and nonsense!</q> cried Jucundus, +almost mimicking him in his indignation; <q>pray! +who thanks you for your prayers? what’s the good of +prayers? Prayers, indeed! ha, ha! A little loyalty +is worth all the praying in the world. I’ll tell you +what, Agellius; you are, I am sorry to say it, but you +are hand and glove with a set of traitors, who shall +and will be smoked out like a nest of wasps. <hi rend="italic">You</hi> +don’t know; <hi rend="italic">you</hi> are not in the secret, nor the +wretched slave, poor beast, who was pulled to pieces +yesterday (ah! you don’t know of him) at the Flamen’s, +nor a multitude of other idiots. But, d’ye see,</q> and +he chucked up his head significantly, <q>there are +puppets, and there are wires. Few know what is going +on. They won’t have done (unless we put them +down; but we will) till they have toppled down the +state. But Rome will put them down. Come, be +sensible, listen to reason; now I am going to put facts +before my poor, dear, well-meaning boy. Oh that you +saw things as I do! What a trouble you are to me! +Here am I</q>—— +</p> + +<p> +<q>My dearest uncle, Jucundus,</q> cried Agellius, <q>I +assure you, it is the most intense pain to me</q>—— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Very well, very well,</q> interrupted the uncle in +turn, <q>I believe it, of course I believe it; but listen, +listen. Every now and then,</q> he continued in a more +measured and lower tone, <q>every now and then the +secret is blabbed—blabbed. There was that Tertullianus +of Carthage, some fifty years since. He wrote +books; books have done a great deal of harm before +<pb n="246"/><anchor id="Pg246"/>now; but <hi rend="italic">read</hi> his books—read and ponder. The +fellow has the insolence to tell the proconsul that he +and the whole government, the whole city and province, +the whole Roman world, the emperors, all but +the pitiful <hi rend="italic">clique</hi> to which he belongs, are destined, +after death, to flames for ever and ever. There’s +loyalty! but the absurdity is greater than the malevolence. +Rightly are the fellows called atheists and +men-haters. Our soldiers, our statesmen, our magistrates, +and judges, and senators, and the whole community, +all worshippers of the gods, every one who +crowns his head, every one who loves a joke, and all +our great historic names, heroes, and worthies,—the +Scipios, the Decii, Brutus, Cæsar, Cato, Titus, Trajan, +Antoninus,—are inmates, not of the Elysian fields, if +Elysian fields there be, but of Tartarus, and will never +find a way out of it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That man, Tertullianus, is nothing to us, uncle,</q> +answered Agellius; <q>a man of great ability, but he +quarrelled with us, and left us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="italic">I</hi> can’t draw nice distinctions,</q> said Jucundus. +<q>Your people have quarrelled among themselves +perhaps on an understanding; we can’t split hairs. +It’s the same with your present hierophant at Carthage, +Cyprianus. Nothing can exaggerate, I am told, the +foulness of his attack upon the gods of Rome, upon +Romulus, the Augurs, the Ancilia, the consuls, and +whatever a Roman is proud of. As to the imperial +city itself, there’s hardly one of their high priests that +has not died under the hands of the executioner, as a +<pb n="247"/><anchor id="Pg247"/>convict. The precious fellows take the title of Pontifex +Maximus; bless their impudence! Well, my boy, +this is what I say; be, if you will, so preternaturally +sour and morose as to misconceive and mislike the +innocent, graceful, humanising, time-honoured usages +of society; be so, for what I care, if this is all; but +it isn’t all. Such misanthropy is wisdom, absolute +wisdom, compared with the Titanic presumption +and audacity of challenging to single combat the +sovereign of the world. Go and kick down Mount +Atlas first.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have it all your own way, Jucundus,</q> answered +his nephew, <q>and so you must move in your own +circle, round and round. There is no touching you, if +you first assume your premisses, and then prove them +by means of your conclusion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>My dear Agellius,</q> said his uncle, giving his head +a very solemn shake, <q>take the advice of an old man. +When you are older than you are, you will see better +who is right and who is wrong. You’ll be sorry you +despised me, a true, a prudent, an experienced friend; +you will. Shake yourself, come do. Why should you +link your fortunes, in the morning of life, with desperate +men, only because your father, in his last feeble +days, was entrapped into doing so? I really will not +believe that you are going to throw away hope and +life on so bad a bargain. Can’t you speak a word? +Here you’ve let me speak, and won’t say one syllable +for yourself. I don’t think it kind of you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured, Agellius began. <q>Well,</q> he said, +<pb n="248"/><anchor id="Pg248"/><q>it’s a long history; you see, we start, my dear uncle, +from different points. How am I possibly to join issue +with you? I can only tell you my conclusion. Hope +and life, you say. Why, my only hope, my only life, +my only joy, desire, consolation, and treasure is that +I am a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hope and life!</q> interrupted Jucundus, <q>immortal +gods! life and hope in being a Christian! do I hear +aright? Why, man, a prison brings despair, not hope; +and the sword brings death, not life. By Esculapius! +life and hope! you choke me, Agellius. Life and +hope! you are beyond three Anticyras. Life and +hope! if you were old, if you were diseased, if you were +given over, and had but one puff of life left in you, then +you might be what you would, for me; but your hair +is black, your cheek is round, <anchor id="corr248"/><corr sic="you">your</corr> limbs are strong, +your voice is full; and you are going to make all +these a sacrifice to Hecate! has your good genius fed +that plump frame, ripened those goods looks, nerved +your arm, bestowed that breadth of chest, that strength +of loins, that straightness of spine, that vigour of step, +only that you may feed the crows? or to be torn on +the rack, scorched in the flame, or hung on the gibbet? +is this your gratitude to nature? What has been your +price? for what have you sold yourself? Speak, man, +speak. Are you dumb as well as dement? Are you +dumb, I say, are you dumb?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O Jucundus,</q> cried Agellius, irritated at his own +inability to express himself or hold an argument, <q>if +you did but know what it was to have the Truth! The +<pb n="249"/><anchor id="Pg249"/>Christian has found the Truth, the eternal Truth, in a +world of error. That is his bargain, that is his hire; +can there be a greater? Can I give up the Truth? +But all this is Punic or Barbar to you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It certainly did pose Jucundus for half a minute, +as if he was trying to take in, not so much the sense, +as the words of his nephew’s speech. He looked bewildered, +and though he began to answer him at once, +it took several sentences to bring him into his usual +flow of language. After one or two exclamations, +<q>The truth!</q> he cried, <q><hi rend="italic">this</hi> is what I understand you +to say,—the truth. The <hi rend="italic">truth</hi> is your bargain; I think +I’m right, the truth; Hm; what is truth? What in +heaven and earth do you mean by truth? where did +you get that cant? What oriental tomfoolery is bamboozling +you? The truth!</q> he cried, staring at him +with eyes, half of triumph, half of impatience, <q>the +truth! Jove help the boy!—the truth! can truth pour +me out a cup of melilotus? can truth crown me with +flowers? can it sing to me? can it bring Glyceris to +me? drop gold into my girdle? or cool my brows when +fever visits me? Can truth give me a handsome suburban +with some five hundred slaves, or raise me to +the duumvirate? Let it do this, and I will worship it; +it shall be my god; it shall be more to me than Fortune, +Fate, Rome, or any other goddess on the list. +But <hi rend="italic">I</hi> like to see, and touch, and feel, and handle, and +weigh, and measure what is promised me. I wish to +have a sample and an instalment. I am too old for +chaff. Eat, drink, and be merry, that’s my philosophy, +<pb n="250"/><anchor id="Pg250"/>that’s my religion; and I know no better. To-day is +ours, to-morrow is our children’s.</q> +</p> + +<p> +After a pause, he added, bitterly, <q>If truth could +get Callista out of prison, instead of getting her into +it, I should have something to say to truth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista in prison!</q> cried Agellius with surprise +and distress, <q>what do you mean, Jucundus?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, it’s a fact; Callista <hi rend="italic">is</hi> in prison,</q> answered +he, <q>and on suspicion of Christianity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista! Christianity!</q> said Agellius, bewildered, +<q>do I hear aright? She a Christian! oh, impossible, +uncle! you don’t mean to say that she is in prison. +Tell me, tell me, my dear, dear Jucundus, what this +wonderful news means.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You ought to know more about it than I,</q> +answered he, <q>if there is any meaning in it. But if +you want my opinion, here it is. I don’t believe +she is more a Christian than I am; but I think she is +over head and ears in love with you, and she has some +notion that she is paying you a compliment, or interesting +you in her, or sharing your fate—(<hi rend="italic">I</hi> can’t +pretend to unravel the vagaries and tantarums of the +female mind)—by saying that she is what she is <hi rend="italic">not</hi>. +If not, perhaps she has done it out of spite and contradiction. +You can never answer for a woman.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Whom should she spite? whom contradict?</q> cried +Agellius, thrown for the moment off his balance. <q>O +Callista! Callista in prison for Christianity! Oh if it’s +true that she is a Christian! but what if she is not?</q> +he added with great terror, <q>what if she’s not, and yet +<pb n="251"/><anchor id="Pg251"/>in prison, as if she were? How are we to get her out, +uncle? Impossible! no, she’s not a Christian—she is +not at all. She ought not to be there! Yet how +wonderful!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, I am sure of it, too,</q> said Jucundus; <q>I’d +stake the best image in my shop that she’s not a +Christian; but what if she is perverse enough to say +she <hi rend="italic">is</hi>? and such things are not uncommon. Then, I +say, what in the world is to be done? If she says +she is, why she is. There you are; and what can +you do?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You don’t mean to say,</q> exclaimed Agellius, <q>that +that sweet delicate child is in that horrible hole; +impossible!</q> and he nearly shrieked at the thought. +<q>What is the meaning of it all? dear, dear uncle, do +tell me something more about it. Why did you not +tell me before? What <hi rend="italic">can</hi> be done?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus thought he now had him in his hand. +<q>Why, it’s plain,</q> he answered, <q>what can be <hi rend="italic">done</hi>. +She’s no Christian, we both agree. It’s certain, too, +that she chooses to say she is, or something like it. +There’s just one person who has influence with her, +to make her tell the truth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ha!</q> cried Agellius, starting as if an asp had +bitten him. +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus kept silence, and let the poison of the +said asp work awhile in his nephew’s blood. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius put his hands before his eyes; and with +his elbows on his knees, began moving to and fro, as +if in intense pain. +</p> + +<pb n="252"/><anchor id="Pg252"/> + +<p> +<q>I repeat what I have said,</q> Jucundus observed at +length; <q>I do really think that she imagines a certain +young gentleman is likely to be in trouble, and that +she is determined to share the trouble with him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But it isn’t true,</q> cried Agellius with great vehemence; +<q>it’s not true.... If she really is not a Christian, +O my dear Lord, surely they won’t put her to +death as if she was?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But if she has made up her mind to be in the +same boat with you, and <hi rend="italic">will</hi> be a Christian while you +are a Christian, what on earth can we do, Agellius?</q> +asked Jucundus. <q>You have the whole matter in a +nutshell.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She does not love me,</q> cried Agellius; <q>no, she +has given me no reason to think so. I am sure she +does not. She’s nothing to me. That cannot be the +reason of her conduct. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> have no power over her; <hi rend="italic">I</hi> +could not persuade her. What, what <hi rend="italic">does</hi> all this +mean? and I shut up here?</q> and he began walking +about the little room, as if such locomotion tended +to bring him out of it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> answered Jucundus, <q>it is easy to ascertain. +I suppose you <hi rend="italic">could</hi> be let out to see her.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But he was going on too fast; Agellius did not +attend to him. <q>Poor, sweet Callista,</q> he exclaimed, +<q>she’s innocent, she’s innocent; I mean she’s not a +Christian. Ah!</q> he screamed out in great agony, +as the whole state of the case unrolled itself to his +apprehension, <q>she will die though not a Christian; +she will die without faith, without love; she will die +<pb n="253"/><anchor id="Pg253"/>in her sins. She will die, done to death by false +report of accepting that, by which alone she could +be carried safely through death unto life. O my +Lord, spare me!</q> and he sank upon the ground in +a collapse of misery. +</p> + +<p> +Jucundus was touched, and still more alarmed. +<q>Come, come, my boy,</q> he said, <q>you will rouse the +whole neighbourhood. Give over; be a man; all +will be right. If she’s not a Christian (and she’s +not), she shall not die a Christian’s death; something +will turn up. She’s not in any hole at all, but +in a decent lodging. And you shall see her, and +console her, and all will be right.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, I will see her,</q> said Agellius, in a sort of +musing manner; <q>she is either a Christian, or she is +not. If she is a Christian ...</q> and his voice faltered; +<q>but if she is not, she shall live till she is.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said!</q> answered Jucundus, <q><hi rend="italic">till</hi> she is. She +shall live <hi rend="italic">till</hi> she is. Yes, I can get you to see her. +You shall bring her out of prison; a smile, a whisper +from you, and all her fretfulness and ill-humour will +vanish, like a mist before the powerful burning sun. +And we shall all be as happy as the immortal gods.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O my uncle!</q> said Agellius, gravely. The language +of Jucundus had shocked him, and brought +him to a better mind. He turned away from +Jucundus, and leant his face against the wall. Then +he turned round again, and said, <q>If she <hi rend="italic">is</hi> a Christian, +I ought to rejoice, and I do rejoice; God be +praised. If she is not a Christian, I ought at once to +<pb n="254"/><anchor id="Pg254"/>make her one. If she has already the penalty of a +Christian, she is surely destined for the privilege. +And how should I go,</q> he said, half speaking to himself, +<q>how should I go to tell her that she is not yet +a Christian, and bid her swear by Jupiter, because +that is her god, in order that she may escape imprisonment +and death? Am I to do the part of a +heathen priest or infidel sophist? O Cæcilius, how +am I forgetting your lessons! No; I will go on no +such errand. Go, I will, if I may, Jucundus, but I +will go on no conditions of yours. I go on no +promise to try to get her out of prison anyhow, +poor child. I will not go to make her sacrifice to a +false god; I go to persuade her to stay in prison, +by deserving to stay. Perhaps I am not the best +person to go; but if I go, I go free. I go willing to +die myself for my Lord; glad to make her die for +Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius said this in so determined a way, so +calmly, with such a grasp of the existing posture of +affairs, and of the whole circumstances of the case, +that it was now Jucundus’s turn to feel surprise and +annoyance. For a time he did not take in what Agellius +meant, nor could he to the last follow his train +of feeling. When he saw what may be called the +upshot of the matter, he became very angry, and +spoke with great violence. By degrees he calmed; +and then the strong feeling came on him again that +it was impossible, if a meeting took place between the +two, that it could end in any way but one. He defied +<pb n="255"/><anchor id="Pg255"/>any two young people who loved each other, to +come to any but one conclusion. Agellius’s mood +was too excited, <anchor id="corr255"/><corr sic="to">too</corr> tragic to last. The sight of Callista +in that dreadful prison, perhaps in chains, waiting, +in order to be free, for ability to say the words, +<q>I am not a Christian;</q> and that ability waiting for +the same words from himself, would bring the affair +to a very speedy issue. As if he could love a fancy +better than he loved Callista! Agellius, too, had +already expressed a misgiving himself on that head; +so far they were agreed. And, to tell the truth, it +was a very difficult transaction for a young man; and +giving our poor Agellius all credit for pure intention +and firm resolve, we really should have been very +sorry to see him involved in a trial, which would have +demanded of him a most heroic faith and the detachment +of a saint. We, therefore, are not sorry that in +matter of fact he gained the merit of so virtuous a +determination, without being called on to execute it. +For it so happened, that a most unexpected event +occurred to him not many hours afterwards, which +will oblige us to take up here rather abruptly the +history of one of our other personages. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="256"/><anchor id="Pg256"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXIII. Gurta"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">GURTA.</head> + +<p> +In the bosom of the woods which stretched for many +miles from the immediate environs of Sicca, and +placed on a gravel slope reaching down to a brook, +which ran in a bottom close by, was a small, rude +hut, of a kind peculiar to Africa, and commonly +ascribed to the wandering tribes, who neither cared, +nor had leisure for a more stable habitation. Some +might have called it a tent, from the goat’s-hair cloth +with which it was covered; but it looked, as to shape, +like nothing else than an inverted boat, or the roof of +a house set upon the ground. Inside it was seen to +be constructed of the branches of trees, twisted +together or wattled, the interstices, or rather the +whole surface, being covered with clay. Being thus +stoutly built, lined, and covered, it was proof against +the tremendous rains, to which the climate, for which +it was made, was subject. Along the centre ridge or +backbone, which varied <anchor id="corr256"/><corr sic="n">in</corr> height from six to ten feet +from the ground, it was supported by three posts or +pillars; at one end it rose conically to an open aperture, +which served for chimney, for sky-light, and for +ventilator. Hooks were suspended from the roof for +<pb n="257"/><anchor id="Pg257"/>baskets, articles of clothing, weapons, and implements +of various kinds; and a second cone, excavated in the +ground with the vertex downward, served as a storehouse +for grain. The door was so low, that an ordinary +person must bend double to pass through it. +</p> + +<p> +However, it was in the winter months only, when +the rains were profuse, that the owner of this respectable +mansion condescended to creep into it. In summer +she had a drawing-room, as it may be called, of +nature’s own creation, in which she lived, and in one +quarter of which she had her lair. Close above the +hut was a high plot of level turf, surrounded by old +oaks, and fringed beneath with thick underwood. In +the centre of this green rose a yew-tree of primeval +character. Indeed, the whole forest spoke of the very +beginnings of the world, as if it had been the immediate +creation of that Voice which bade the earth +clothe itself with green life. But the place no longer +spoke exclusively of its Maker. Upon the trees hung +the emblems and objects of idolatry, and the turf was +traced with magical characters. Littered about were +human bones, horns of wild animals, wax figures, +spermaceti taken from vaults, large nails, to which +portions of flesh adhered, as if they had had to do +with malefactors, metal plates engraved with strange +characters, bottled blood, hair of young persons, and +old rags. The reader must not suppose any incantation +is about to follow, or that the place we are +describing will have a prominent place in what remains +of our tale; but even if it be the scene of only +<pb n="258"/><anchor id="Pg258"/>one conversation, and one event, there is no harm in +describing it, as it appeared on that occasion. +</p> + +<p> +The old crone, who was seated in this bower of +delight, had an expression of countenance in keeping, +not with the place, but with the furniture with +which it was adorned; that furniture told her trade. +Whether the root of superstition might be traced +deeper still, and the woman and her traps were really +and directly connected with the powers beneath the +earth, it is impossible to determine; it is certain she +had the will, it is certain that that will was from +their inspiration; nay, it is certain that she thought +she really possessed the communications which she +desired; it is certain, too, she so far deceived herself +as to fancy that what she learned by mere natural +means came to her from a diabolical source. She +kept up an active correspondence with Sicca. She +was consulted by numbers; she was up with the +public news, the social gossip, and the private and +secret transactions of the hour; and had, before now, +even interfered in matters of state, and had been +courted by rival political parties. But in the high +cares and occupations of this interesting person, we +are not here concerned; but with a conversation +which took place between her and Juba, about the +same hour of the evening as that of Cæcilius’s escape, +but on the day after it, while the sun was gleaming +almost horizontally through the tall trunks of the +trees of the forest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, my precious boy,</q> said the old woman, +<pb n="259"/><anchor id="Pg259"/><q>the choicest gifts of great Cham be your portion! +You had excellent sport yesterday, I’ll warrant. The +rats squeaked, eh? and you beat the life out of them. +That scoundrel sacristan, I suppose, has taken up his +quarters below.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You may say it,</q> answered Juba. <q>The reptile! +he turned right about, and would have made himself +an honest fellow, when it couldn’t be helped.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Good, good!</q> returned Gurta, as if she had got +something very pleasant in her mouth; <q>ah! that is +good! but he did not escape on that score, I do +trust.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They pulled him to pieces all the more cheerfully,</q> +said Juba. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pulled him to pieces, limb by limb, joint by joint, +eh?</q> answered Gurta. <q>Did they skin him?—did +they do anything to his eyes, or his tongue? Anyhow, +it was too quickly, Juba. Slowly, leisurely, +gradually. Yes, it’s like a glutton to be quick about +it. Taste him, handle him, play with him,—that’s +luxury! but to bolt him,—faugh!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Cæso’s slave made a good end,</q> said Juba: <q>he +stood up for his views, and died like a man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The gods smite him! but he has gone up—up:</q> +and she laughed. <q>Up to what they call bliss and +glory;—such glory! but he’s out of our domain, you +know. But he did not die easy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The boys worried him a good deal,</q> answered +Juba: <q>but it’s not quite in my line, mother, all this. +I think you drink a pint of blood morning and +even<pb n="260"/><anchor id="Pg260"/>ing, and thrive on it, old woman. It makes you +merry; but it’s too much for my stomach.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ha, ha, my boy!</q> cried Gurta; <q>you’ll improve +in time, though you make wry faces, now that you’re +young. Well, and have you brought me any news +from the capitol? Is any one getting a rise in the +world, or a downfall? How blows the wind? Are +there changes in the camp? This Decius, I suspect, +will not last long.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They all seem desperately frightened,</q> said Juba, +<q>lest they should not smite your friends hard enough, +Gurta. Root and branch is the word. They’ll have +to make a few Christians for the occasion, in order to +kill them: and I almost think they’re about it,</q> he +added, thoughtfully. <q>They have to show that they +are not surpassed by the rabble. ’Tis a pity Christians +are so few, isn’t it, mother?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, yes,</q> she said, <q>but we must crush them, grind +them, many or few: and we shall, we shall! Callista’s +to come.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I don’t see they are worse than other people,</q> +said Juba; <q>not at all, except that they are commonly +sneaks. If Callista turns, why should not I +turn too, mother, to keep her company, and keep +your hand in?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, no, my boy,</q> returned the witch, <q>you must +serve <hi rend="italic">my</hi> master. You are having your fling just now, +but you will buckle to in good time. You must one +day take some work with my merry men. Come here, +child,</q> said the fond mother, <q>and let me kiss you.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="261"/><anchor id="Pg261"/> + +<p> +<q>Keep your kisses for your monkeys and goats +and cats,</q> answered Juba; <q>they’re not to my taste, +old dame. Master! my master! I won’t have a +master! I’ll be nobody’s servant. I’ll never stand to +be hired, nor cringe to a bully, nor quake before a rod. +Please yourself, Gurta; I am a free man. You’re my +mother by courtesy only.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Gurta looked at him savagely. <q>Why, you’re not +going to be pious and virtuous, Juba? A choice saint +you’ll make! You shall be drawn for a picture.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why shouldn’t I, if I choose?</q> said Juba. <q>If I +must take service, willy nilly, I’d any day prefer the +other’s to that of your friend. I’ve not left the +master to take the man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Blaspheme not the great gods,</q> she answered, <q>or +they’ll do you a mischief yet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I say again,</q> insisted Juba, <q>if I must lick the +earth, it shall not be where your friend has trod. +It shall be in my brother’s fashion, rather than in +yours, Gurta.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agellius!</q> she shrieked out with such disgust, that +it is wonderful she uttered the name at all. <q>Ah! you +have not told me about him, boy. Well, is he safe in +the pit, or in the stomach of an hyena?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He’s alive,</q> said Juba; <q>but he has not got it in +him to be a Christian. Yes, he’s safe with his uncle.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah! Jucundus must ruin him, debauch him, and +then we must make away with him. We must not +be in a hurry,</q> said Gurta, <q>it must be body and +soul.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="262"/><anchor id="Pg262"/> + +<p> +<q>No one shall touch him, craven as he is,</q> answered +Juba. <q>I despise him, but let him alone.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Don’t come across me,</q> said Gurta, sullenly; <q>I’ll +have my way. Why, you know I could smite you to +the dust, as well as him, if I chose.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But you have not asked me about Callista,</q> +answered Juba. <q>It is really a capital joke, but she +has got into prison for certain, for being a Christian. +Fancy it! they caught her in the streets, and put her +in the guard-house, and have had her up for examination. +You see they want a Christian for the nonce: +it would not do to have none such in prison; so they +will flourish with her till Decius bolts from the +scene.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Furies have her!</q> cried Gurta: <q>she <hi rend="italic">is</hi> a +Christian, my boy: I told you so, long ago!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista a Christian!</q> answered Juba, <q>ha! ha! +She and Agellius are going to make a match of it, of +some sort or other. They’re thinking of other things +than paradise.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She and the old priest, more likely, more likely,</q> +said Gurta. <q>He’s in prison with her—in the pit, as I +trust.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your master has cheated you for once, old woman,</q> +said Juba. +</p> + +<p> +Gurta looked at him fiercely, and seemed waiting for +his explanation. He began singing,— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">She wheedled and coaxed, but he was no fool;</q></l> +<l>He’d be his own master, he’d not be her tool;</l> +<l>Not the little black moor should send him to school.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="263"/><anchor id="Pg263"/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">She foamed and she cursed—’twas the same thing to him;</q></l> +<l>She laid well her trap; but he carried his whim;—</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">The priest scuffled off, safe in life and in limb.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +Gurta was almost suffocated with passion. <q>Cyprianus +has not escaped, boy?</q> she asked at length. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I got him off,</q> said Juba, undauntedly. +</p> + +<p> +A shade, as of Erebus, passed over the witch’s face; +but she remained quite silent. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Mother, I am my own master,</q> he continued, <q>I +must break your assumption of superiority. I’m not +a boy, though you call me so. I’ll have my own +way. Yes, I saved Cyprianus. You’re a bloodthirsty +old hag! Yes, <hi rend="italic">I’ve</hi> seen your secret doings. Did +not I catch you the other day, practising on that little +child? You had nailed him up by hands and feet +against the tree, and were cutting him to pieces at +your leisure, as he quivered and shrieked the while. +You were examining or using his liver for some of +your black purposes. It’s not in my line; but you +gloated over it; and when he wailed, you wailed in +mimicry. You were panting with pleasure.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Gurta was still silent, and had an expression on her +face, awful from the intensity of its malignity. She +had uttered a low piercing whistle. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes!</q> continued Juba, <q>you revelled in it. You +chattered to the poor babe when it screamed, as a +nurse to an infant. You called it pretty names, and +squeaked out your satisfaction each time you stuck +it. You old hag! I’m not of your breed, though +they call us of kin. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> don’t fear you,</q> he <anchor id="corr263"/><corr sic="said.">said,</corr> +<pb n="264"/><anchor id="Pg264"/>observing the expression of her countenance, <q>I don’t +fear the immortal devil!</q> And he continued his +song— +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">She beckoned the moon, and the moon came down;</q></l> +<l>The green earth shrivelled beneath her frown;</l> +<l><q rend="pre: none">But a man’s strong will can keep his own.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +While he was talking and singing, her call had +been answered from the hut. An animal of some +wonderful species had crept out of it, and proceeded +to creep and crawl, moeing and twisting as it went, +along the trees and shrubs which rounded the grass +plot. When it came up to the old woman, it crouched +at her feet, and then rose up upon its hind legs and +begged. She took hold of the uncouth beast and +began to fondle it in her arms, muttering something +in its ear. At length, when Juba stopped for a moment +in his song, she suddenly flung it right at him, +with great force, saying, <q>Take that!</q> She then +gave utterance to a low inward laugh, and leaned herself +back against the trunk of the tree upon which +she was sitting, with her knees drawn up almost to her +chin. +</p> + +<p> +The blow seemed to act on Juba as a shock on his +nervous system, both from its violence and its strangeness. +He stood still for a moment, and then, without +saying a word, he turned away, and walked slowly down +the hill, as if in a maze. Then he sat down.... +</p> + +<p> +In an instant up he started again with a great cry, +and began running at the top of his speed. He +thought he heard a voice speaking in him; and, +how<pb n="265"/><anchor id="Pg265"/>ever fast he ran, the voice, or whatever it was, kept +up with him. He rushed through the underwood, +trampling and crushing it under his feet, and scaring +the birds and small game which lodged there. At +last, exhausted, he stood still for breath, when he +heard it say loudly and deeply, as if speaking with +his own organs, <q>You cannot escape from yourself!</q> +Then a terror seized him; he fell down and fainted +away. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXIV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="266"/><anchor id="Pg266"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXIV. A mother's blessing"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXIV.</head> + +<head type="sub">A MOTHER’S BLESSING.</head> + +<p> +When his senses returned, his first impression was +of something in him not himself. He felt it in his +breathing; he tasted it in his mouth. The brook +which ran by Gurta’s encampment had by this time +become a streamlet, though still shallow. He plunged +into it; a feeling came upon him as if he ought to +drown himself, had it been deeper. He rolled about +in it, in spite of its flinty and rocky bed. When he +came out of it, his tunic sticking to him, he tore it off +his shoulders, and let it hang round his girdle in +shreds, as it might. The shock of the water, however, +acted as a sedative upon him, and the coolness +of the night refreshed him. He walked on for a +while in silence. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the power within him began uttering, by +means of his organs of speech, the most fearful blasphemies, +words embodying conceptions which, had +they come into his mind, he might indeed have borne +with patience before this, or uttered in bravado, but +which now filled him with inexpressible loathing, and +a terror to which he had hitherto been quite a +stranger. He had always in his heart believed in a +God, but he now believed with a reality and intensity +<pb n="267"/><anchor id="Pg267"/>utterly new to him. He felt it as if he saw Him; he +felt there was a world of good and evil beings. He +did not love the good, or hate the evil; but he shrank +from the one, and he was terrified at the other; and +he felt himself carried away, against his will, as the +prey of some dreadful, mysterious power, which +tyrannised over him. +</p> + +<p> +The day had closed—the moon had risen. He +plunged into the thickest wood, and the trees seemed +to him to make way for him. Still they seemed to +moan and to creak as they moved out of their place. +Soon he began to see that they were looking at him, +and exulting over his misery. They, of an inferior +nature, had had no gift which they could abuse and +lose; and they remained in that honour and perfection +in which they were created. Birds of the night flew +out of them, reptiles slunk away; yet soon he +began to be surrounded, wherever he went, by a circle +of owls, bats, ravens, crows, snakes, wild cats, and +apes, which were always looking at him, but somehow +made way, retreating before him, and yet forming +again, and in order, as he marched along. +</p> + +<p> +He had passed through the wing of the forest +which he had entered, and penetrated into the more +mountainous country. He ascended the heights; +he was a taller, stronger man than he had been; +he went forward with a preternatural vigour, and +flourished his arms with the excitement of some +vinous or gaseous intoxication. He heard the roar +of the wild beasts echoed along the woody ravines +<pb n="268"/><anchor id="Pg268"/>which were cut into the solid mountain rock, with a +reckless feeling, as if he could cope with them. As +he passed the dens of the lion, leopard, hyena, jackal, +wild boar, and wolf, there he saw them sitting at the +entrance, or stopping suddenly as they prowled along, +and eyeing him, but not daring to approach. He +strode along from rock to rock, and over precipices, +with the certainty and ease of some giant in Eastern +fable. Suddenly a beast of prey came across him; +in a moment he had torn up by the roots the stump +of a wild vine plant, which was near him; had thrown +himself upon his foe before it could act on the aggressive, +had flung it upon its back, forced the weapon +into its mouth, and was stamping on its chest. He +knocked the life out of the furious animal; and crying +<q>Take that,</q> tore its flesh, and, applying his +mouth to the wound, sucked a draught of its blood. +</p> + +<p> +He has passed over the mountain, and has descended +its side. Bristling shrubs, swamps, precipitous banks, +rushing torrents, are no obstacle to his course. He +has reached the brow of a hill, with a deep placid +river at the foot of it, just as the dawn begins to break. +It is a lovely prospect, which every step he takes is +becoming more definite and more various in the daylight. +Masses of oleander, of great beauty, with their +red blossoms, fringed the river, and tracked out its +course into the distance. The bank of the hill below +him, and on the right and left, was a maze of fruit-trees, +about which nature, if it were not the hand of +man, had had no thought except that they should be +<pb n="269"/><anchor id="Pg269"/>all together there. The wild olive, the pomegranate, +the citron, the date, the mulberry, the peach, the +apple, and the walnut, formed a sort of spontaneous +orchard. Across the water, groves of palm-trees +waved their long and graceful branches in the morning +breeze. The stately and solemn ilex, marshalled +into long avenues, showed the way to substantial +granges or luxurious villas. The green turf or grass +was spread out beneath, and here and there flocks +and herds were emerging out of the twilight, and +growing distinct upon the eye. Elsewhere the ground +rose up into sudden eminences crowned with chesnut +woods, or with plantations of cedar and acacia, or +wildernesses of the cork-tree, the turpentine, the +carooba, the white poplar, and the Phenician juniper, +while overhead ascended the clinging tendrils of the +hop, and an underwood of myrtle clothed their stems +and roots. A profusion of wild flowers carpeted the +ground far and near. +</p> + +<p> +Juba stood and gazed till the sun rose opposite to +him, envying, repining, hating, like Satan looking in +upon Paradise. The wild mountains, or the locust-smitten +track would have better suited the tumult of +his mind. It would have been a relief to him to have +retreated from so fair a scene, and to have retraced +his steps, but he was not his own master, and was +hurried on. Sorely against his determined strong +resolve and will, crying out and protesting and +shuddering, the youth was forced along into the fulness +of beauty and blessing with which he was so +<pb n="270"/><anchor id="Pg270"/>little in tune. With rage and terror he recognised +that he had no part in his own movements, but was a +mere slave. In spite of himself he must go forward +and behold a peace and sweetness which witnessed +against him. He dashed down through the thick +grass, plunged into the water, and without rest or +respite began a second course of aimless toil and +travail through the day. +</p> + +<p> +The savage dogs of the villages howled and fled +from him as he passed by; beasts of burden, on their +way to market, which he overtook or met, stood still, +foamed and trembled; the bright birds, the blue jay +and golden oriole, hid themselves under the leaves +and grass; the storks, a religious and domestic bird, +stopped their sharp clattering note from the high tree +or farmhouse turret, where they had placed their +nests; the very reptiles skulked away from his +shadow, as if it were poisonous. The boors who were +at their labour in the fields suspended it, to look at +one whom the Furies were lashing and whirling on. +Hour passed after hour, the sun attained its zenith, +and then declined, but this dreadful compulsory race +continued. Oh, what would he have given for one five +minutes of oblivion, of slumber, of relief from the +burning thirst which now consumed him! but the +master within him ruled his muscles and his joints, +and the intense pain of weariness had no concomitant +prostration of strength. Suddenly he began to +laugh hideously; and he went forward dancing and +singing loud, and playing antics. He entered a +<pb n="271"/><anchor id="Pg271"/>hovel, made faces at the children, till one of them fell +into convulsions, and he ran away with another; and +when some country people pursued him, he flung the +child in their faces, saying, <q>Take that,</q> and said he +was Pentheus, king of Thebes, of whom he had never +heard, about to solemnise the orgies of Bacchus, and +he began to spout a chorus of Greek, a language he +had never learnt or heard spoken. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is evening again, and he has come up to a +village grove, where the rustics were holding a feast +in honour of Pan. The hideous brutal god, with yawning +mouth, horned head, and goat’s feet, was placed +in a rude shed, and a slaughtered lamb, decked +with flowers, lay at his feet. The peasants were +frisking before him, boys and women, when they were +startled by the sight of a gaunt, wild, mysterious +figure, which began to dance too. He flung and +capered about with such vigour that they ceased +their sport to look on, half with awe and half as a +diversion. Suddenly he began to groan and to +shriek, as if contending with himself, and willing and +not willing some new act; and the struggle ended in +his falling on his hands and knees, and crawling like +a quadruped towards the idol. When he got near, +his attitude was still more servile; still groaning and +shuddering, he laid himself flat on the ground, and +wriggled to the idol as a worm, and lapped up with +his tongue the mingled blood and dust which lay +about the sacrifice. And then again, as if nature had +successfully asserted her own dignity, he jumped up +<pb n="272"/><anchor id="Pg272"/>high in the air, and, falling on the god, broke him to +pieces, and scampered away out of pursuit, before the +lookers-on recovered from their surprise. +</p> + +<p> +Another restless, fearful night amid the open +country; ... but it seemed as if the worst had +passed, and, though still under the heavy chastisement +of his pride, there was now more in Juba of human +action and of effectual will. The day broke, and he +found himself on the road to Sicca. The beautiful outline +of the city was right before him. He passed his +brother’s cottage and garden; it was a wreck. The +trees torn up, the fences broken down, and the room +pillaged of the little that could be found there. He +went on to the city, crying out <q>Agellius;</q> the gate was +open, and he entered. He went on to the Forum; he +crossed to the house of Jucundus; few people as yet +were stirring in the place. He looked up at the wall. +Suddenly, by the help of projections, and other irregularities +of the brickwork, he mounted up upon the +flat roof, and dropped down along the tiles, through +the <hi rend="italic">impluvium</hi> into the middle of the house. He +went softly into Agellius’s closet, where he was +asleep, he roused him with the name of Callista, +threw his tunic upon him, which was by his side, put +his boots into his hands, and silently beckoned him +to follow him. When he hesitated, he still whispered +to him <q>Callista,</q> and at length seized him and led him +on. He unbarred the street door, and with a movement +of his arm, more like a blow than a farewell, +thrust him into the street. Then he barred again the +<pb n="273"/><anchor id="Pg273"/>door upon him, and lay down himself upon the bed +which Agellius had left. His good Angel, we may +suppose, had gained a point in his favour, for he lay +quiet, and fell into a heavy sleep. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="274"/><anchor id="Pg274"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXV. Callista in durance"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXV.</head> + +<head type="sub">CALLISTA IN DURANCE.</head> + +<p> +We will hope that the reader, as well as Agellius, is +attracted by the word Callista, and wishes to know +something about her fate; nay, perhaps finds fault +with us as having suffered him so long to content +himself with the chance and second-hand information +which Jucundus or Juba has supplied. If we have +been wanting in due consideration for him, we now +trust to make up for it. +</p> + +<p> +When Callista, then, had so boldly left the cottage +to stop the intruders, she had in one important point +reckoned without her host. She spoke Latin fluently, +herself, and could converse with the townspeople, +most of whom could do the same; but it was otherwise +with the inhabitants of the country, numbers of +whom, as we have said, were in Sicca on the day of +the outbreak. The two fellows, whom she went out +to withstand, knew neither her nor the Latin tongue. +They were of a race which called itself Canaanite, +and really was so; huge, gigantic men, who looked +like the sons of Enac, described in Holy Writ. They +knew nothing of roads or fences, and had scrambled +up the hill as they could, the shortest way, and, +<pb n="275"/><anchor id="Pg275"/>being free from the crowd, with far more expedition +than had they followed the beaten track. She and they +could not understand each other’s speech; but her +appearance spoke for her, and, in consequence, they +seized on her as their share of the booty, and without +more ado, carried her off towards Sicca. As they +came up by a route of their own, so they returned, and +entered the city by a gate more to the south, not the +Septimian; a happy circumstance, as otherwise she +would have stood every chance of being destroyed in +that wholesale massacre which the soldiery inflicted on +the crowd as it returned. +</p> + +<p> +These giants, then, got possession of Callista, and +she entered Sicca upon the shoulder of one of them, +who danced in with no greater inconvenience than if +he was carrying on it a basket of flowers, or a box of +millinery. Here the party met with the city police, +who were stationed at the gate. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Down with your live luggage, you rascals,</q> they +said, in their harsh Punic; <q>what have you to do with +plunder of this kind? and how came you by her?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She’s one of those Christian rats, your worship,</q> +answered the fellow, who, strong as he was, did not +relish a contest with some dozen of armed men. +<q>Long live the Emperor! We’ll teach her to eat +asses’ heads another time, and brew fevers. I found +her with a party of Christians. She’s nothing but a +witch, and she knows the consequences.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let her go, you drunken animal!</q> said the constable, +still keeping his distance. <q>I’ll never believe +<pb n="276"/><anchor id="Pg276"/>any woman is a Christian, let alone so young a one. +And now I look at her, so far as I can see by this light, +I think she’s priestess of one of the great temples up +there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She can turn herself into anything,</q> said the +other of her capturers, <q>young or old. I saw her one +night near Madaura, a month ago, in the tombs in the +shape of a black cat.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Away with you both, in the name of the Suffetes +of Sicca and all the magistracy!</q> cried the official. +<q>Give up your prisoner to the authorities of the place, +and let the law take its course.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But the Canaanites did not seem disposed to give +her up, and neither party liking to attack the other, +a compromise took place. <q>Well,</q> said the guardian +of the night, <q>the law must be vindicated, and the +peace preserved. My friends, you must submit to +the magistrates. But since she happens to be on +your shoulder, my man, let her even remain there, +and we depute you, as a beast of burden, to carry +her for us, thereby to save us the trouble. Here, +child,</q> he continued, <q>you’re our prisoner; so you +shall plead your own cause in the <hi rend="italic">popina</hi> there. Long +live Decius, pious and fortunate! Long live this +ancient city, colony and municipium! Cheer up, my +lass, and sing us a stave or two, as we go; for I’ll +pledge a <hi rend="italic">cyathus</hi> of unmixed, that, if you choose, you +can warble notes as sweet as the manna gum.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista was silent, but she was perfectly collected, +and ready to avail herself of any opportunity to +<pb n="277"/><anchor id="Pg277"/>better her condition. They went on towards the +Forum, where a police-office, as we now speak, was +situated, but did not reach it without an adventure. +The Roman military force at Sicca was not more +than a century of men; the greater number were at +this moment at the great gate, waiting for the mob; +a few, in parties of three and four, were patrolling the +city. Several of these were at the entrance of the +Forum when the party came up to it; and it happened +that a superior officer, who was an assistant to +what may be called the military resident of the place, +a young man, on whom much of the duty of the day +had devolved, was with the soldiers. She had known +him as a friend of her brother’s, and recognised him +in the gloom, and at once took advantage of the +meeting. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Help,</q> she said, <q>gentlemen! help, Calphurnius! +these rascals are carrying me off to some den of their +own.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune at once knew her voice. <q>What!</q> he +cried, with great astonishment, <q>what, my pretty +Greek! You most base, infamous, and unmannerly +scoundrels, down with her this instant! What have +you to do with that young lady? You villains, unless +you would have me crack your African skulls with +the hilt of my sword, down with her, I say!</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was no resisting a Roman voice, but prompt +obedience is a rarity, and the ruffians began to parley. +<q>My noble master,</q> said the constable, <q>she’s +our prisoner. Jove preserve you, and Bacchus and +<pb n="278"/><anchor id="Pg278"/>Ceres bless you, my lord tribune! and long life to the +Emperor Decius in these bad times. But she is a +rioter, my lord, one of the ringleaders, and a Christian +and a witch to boot.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Cease your vile gutturals, you animal!</q> cried the +officer, <q>or I will ram them down your throat with +my pike to digest them. Put down the lady, beast. +Are you thinking twice about <anchor id="corr278"/><corr sic="it.">it?</corr> Go, Lucius,</q> he +said to a private, <q>kick him away, and bring the +woman here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista was surrendered, but the fellow, sullen at the +usage he had met with, and spiteful against Calphurnius, +as the cause of it, cried out maliciously, <q>Mind +what you are at, noble sir, it’s not our affair; you can +fry your own garlic. But an Emperor is an Emperor, +and an Edict is an Edict, and a Christian is a Christian; +and I don’t know what high places will say to +it, but it’s your affair. Take notice,</q> he continued, +as he got to a safer distance, raising his voice still +higher, that the soldiers might hear, <q>yon girl is a +Christian priestess, caught in a Christian assembly, +sacrificing asses and eating children for the overthrow +of the Emperor, and the ruin of his loyal city of Sicca, +and I have been interrupted in the discharge of my +duty—I, a constable of the place. See whether Calphurnius +will not bring again upon us the plague, the +murrain, the locusts, and all manner of <hi rend="italic">larvæ</hi> and +<hi rend="italic">maniæ</hi> before the end of the story.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This speech perplexed Calphurnius, as it was intended. +It was impossible he could dispose of +Cal<pb n="279"/><anchor id="Pg279"/>lista as he wished, with such a charge formally uttered +in the presence of his men. He knew how serious +the question of Christianity was at that moment, and +how determined the Imperial Government was on the +eradication of its professors; he was a good soldier, +devoted to head-quarters, and had no wish to compromise +himself with his superiors, or to give bystanders +an advantage over him, by setting a prisoner +at liberty without inquiry, who had been taken in a +Christian’s house. He muttered an oath, and said to +the soldiers, <q>Well, my lads, to the Triumviri with +her, since it must be so. Cheer up, my star of the +morning, bright beam of Hellas, it is only as a matter +of form, and you will be set at liberty as soon as they +look on you.</q> And with these words he led the way +to the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +But the presiding genius of the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> was less +accommodating than he had anticipated. It might be +that he was jealous of the soldiery, or of their particular +interference, or indignant at the butchery at the great +gate, of which the news had just come, or out of +humour with the day’s work, and especially with the +Christians; at any rate, Calphurnius found he had +better have taken a bolder step, and have carried her +as a prisoner to the camp. However, nothing was +now left for him but to depart; and Callista fell +again into the hands of the city, though of the superior +functionaries, who procured her a lodging for the +night, and settled to bring her up for examination +next morning. +</p> + +<pb n="280"/><anchor id="Pg280"/> + +<p> +The morning came, and she was had up. What +passed did not transpire; but the issue was that she +was remanded for a further hearing, and was told she +might send to her brother, and acquaint him where +she was. He was allowed one interview with her, and +he came away almost out of his senses, saying she was +bewitched, and fancied herself a Christian. What +precisely she had said to him, which gave this impression, +he could hardly say; but it was plain there must +be something wrong, or there would not be that public +process and formal examination which was fixed for +the third day afterwards. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXVI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="281"/><anchor id="Pg281"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXVI. What can it all mean?"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXVI.</head> + +<head type="sub">WHAT CAN IT ALL MEAN?</head> + +<p> +Were the origin of Juba’s madness (or whatever the +world would call it) of a character which admitted of +light writing about it, much might be said on the +surprise of the clear-headed, narrow-minded, positive, +and easy-going Jucundus, when he found one nephew +substituted for another, and had to give over his +wonder at Agellius, in order to commence a series of +acts of amazement and consternation at Juba. He +summoned Jupiter and Juno, Bacchus, Ceres, Pomona, +Neptune, Mercury, Minerva, and great Rome, to +witness the marvellous occurrence; and then he had +recourse to the infernal gods, Pluto and Proserpine, +down to Cerberus, if he be one of them; but, after all, +there the portent was, in spite of all the deities which +Olympus, or Arcadia, or Latium ever bred; and at +length it had a nervous effect upon the old gentleman’s +system, and, for the first evening after it, he put +all his good things from him, and went to bed supperless +and songless. What had been Juba’s motive in +the exploit which so unpleasantly affected his uncle, +it is of course quite impossible to say. Whether his +mention of Callista’s name was intended to be for the +<pb n="282"/><anchor id="Pg282"/>benefit of her soul, or the ruin of Agellius’s, must be +left in the obscurity in which the above narrative presents +it to us; so far alone is certain, though it does +not seem to throw light on the question, that, on his +leaving his uncle’s house in the course of the forenoon, +which he did, without being pressed to stay, he was +discovered prancing and gesticulating in the neighbourhood +of Callista’s prison, so as to excite the attention +of the <hi rend="italic">apparitor</hi>, or constable, who guarded +the entrance, and who, alarmed at his wildness, sent +for some of his fellows, and, with their assistance, +repelled the intruder, who, thereupon, scudding out at +the eastern gate, was soon lost in the passes of the +mountain. +</p> + +<p> +To one thing, however, we may pledge ourselves, +that Juba had no intention of shaking, even for one +evening, the nerves of Jucundus; yet shaken they were +till about the same time twenty-four hours afterwards. +And when in that depressed state, he saw nothing but +misery on all sides of him. Juba was lost; Agellius +worse. Of course, he had joined himself to his sect, +and he should never see him again; and how should +he ever hold up his head? Well, he only hoped +Agellius would not be boiled in a caldron, or roasted +at a slow fire. If this were done, he positively must +leave Sicca, and the most thriving trade which any +man had in the whole of the Proconsulate. And then +that little Callista! Ah!—what a real calamity was +there! Anyhow he had lost her, and what should he +do for a finisher of his fine work in marble, or metal? +<pb n="283"/><anchor id="Pg283"/>She was a treasure in herself. Altogether the heavens +were very dark; and it was scarcely possible for any +one who knew well his jovial cast of countenance, to +keep from laughing, whatever his real sympathy, at +the unusual length and blankness which were suddenly +imposed upon it. +</p> + +<p> +While he sat thus at his shop window, which, as it +were, framed him for the contemplation of passers-by, +on the day of the escape of Agellius, and the day before +Callista’s public examination, Aristo rushed in upon +him in a state of far more passionate and more reasonable +grief. He had called, indeed, the day before, but +he found a pleasure in expending his distress upon +others, and he came again to get rid of its insupportable +weight by discharging it in a torrent of tears and +exclamations. However, at first the words of both +<q>moved slow,</q> as the poet says, and went off in a sort +of dropping fire. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> said Jucundus, in a depressed tone; <q>he’s +not come to <hi rend="italic">you</hi>, of course?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Who?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agellius.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh! Agellius! No, he’s not with me.</q> Then, +after a pause, Aristo added, <q>Why should he be?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh, I don’t know. I thought he might be. He’s +been gone since early morning.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Indeed! No, I don’t know where he is. How +came he with you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I told you yesterday; but you have forgotten. +I was sheltering him; but he’s gone for ever.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="284"/><anchor id="Pg284"/> + +<p> +<q>Indeed!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And his brother’s mad!—horribly mad!</q> and he +slapped his hand against his thigh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I always thought it,</q> answered Aristo. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Did you? Yes, so it is; but it’s very different +from what it ever was. The furies have got hold of +him with a vengeance! He’s frantic! Oh, if you had +seen him! Two boys, both mad! It’s all the father!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I thought you’d like to hear something about +dear, sweet Callista,</q> said her brother. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, I should indeed!</q> answered Jucundus. <q>By +Esculapius! they’re all mad together!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, it is like madness!</q> cried Aristo, with great +vehemence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The world’s going mad!</q> answered Jucundus, +who was picking up, since he began to talk, an exercise +which was decidedly good for him. <q>We are <hi rend="italic">all</hi> +going mad! <hi rend="italic">I</hi> shall get crazed. The townspeople are +crazed already. What an abominable, brutal piece of +business was that three days ago! I put up my shutters. +Did it come near you?—all on account of one +or two beggarly Christians, and my poor boy. What +harm could two or three, toads and vipers though they +be, do here? They might have been trodden down +easily. It’s another thing at Carthage. Catch the +ringleaders, I say; make examples. The foxes escape, +and our poor ganders suffer!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Aristo, pierced with his own misery, had no heart +or head to enter into the semi-political ideas of +Jucundus, who continued,— +</p> + +<pb n="285"/><anchor id="Pg285"/> + +<p> +<q>Yes, it’s no good. The empire’s coming to pieces, +mark my words! I told you so, if those beasts were +let alone. They <hi rend="italic">have</hi> been let alone. Remedies are +too late. Decius will do no good. No one’s safe! +Farewell, my friends! I am going. Like poor dear +Callista, I shall be in prison, and, like her, find myself +dumb!... Ah! yes, Callista; how did you find +her?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>O dear, sweet, suffering girl!</q> cried her brother. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes, indeed!</q> answered Jucundus; <q>yes!</q> meditatively. +<q>She <hi rend="italic">is</hi> a dear, sweet, suffering girl! I +thought he might perhaps have taken her off—that +was my hope. He was so set upon hearing where +she was, whether she could be got out. It struck me +he had made the best of his way to <hi rend="italic">her</hi>. She could +do anything with him. And she loved him, she did!—I’m +convinced of it!—nothing shall convince me +otherwise! <q>Bring them together,</q> I said, <q>and they +will rush into each other’s arms.</q> But they’re +bewitched!—The whole world’s bewitched! Mark +my words,—I have an idea who is at the bottom of +this.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh!</q> groaned out Aristo; <q>I care not for top or +bottom!—I care not for the whole world, or for anything +at all but Callista! If you could have seen the +dear, patient sufferer!</q> and the poor fellow burst into +a flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bear up! bear up!</q> said Jucundus, who by this +time was considerably better; <q>show yourself a man, +my dear Aristo. These things must be;—they are +<pb n="286"/><anchor id="Pg286"/>the lot of human nature. You remember what the +tragedian says: stay! no!—it’s the comedian,—it’s +Menander</q>—— +</p> + +<p> +<q>To Orcus and Erebus with all the tragedy and +comedy that ever was spouted!</q> exclaimed Aristo. +<q>Can you do nothing for me? Can’t you give me a +crumb of consolation or sympathy, encouragement or +suggestion? I am a stranger in the country, and so +is this dear sister of mine, whom I was so proud of; +and who has been so good, and kind, and gentle, and +sweet. She loved me so much, she never grudged +me anything; she let me do just what I would with +her. Come here, go there,—it was just as I would. +There we were, two orphans together, ten years since, +when I was double her age. She wished to stay in +Greece; but she came to this detestable Africa all for +me. She would be gay and bright when I would +have her so. She had no will of her own; and she +set her heart upon nothing, and was pleased anywhere. +She had not an enemy in the world. I protest +she is worth all the gods and goddesses that ever +were hatched! And here, in this ill-omened Africa, +the evil eye has looked at her, and she thinks herself +a Christian, when she is just as much a hippogriff, or +a chimæra.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, but, Aristo,</q> said Jucundus, <q>I was going to +tell you who is at the bottom of it all. Callista’s +mad; Agellius is mad; Juba is mad; and Strabo +was mad;—but it was his wife, old Gurta, that drove +him mad;—and there, I think, is the beginning of our +<pb n="287"/><anchor id="Pg287"/>troubles.——Come in! come in, Cornelius!</q> he cried, +seeing his Roman friend outside, and relapsing for the +moment into his lugubrious tone; <q>Come in, Cornelius, +and give us some comfort, if you can. Well, +this is like a friend! I know if you can help me, you +will.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius answered that he was going back to +Carthage in a day or two, and came to embrace him, +and had hoped to have a parting supper before he +went. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That’s kind!</q> answered Jucundus: <q>but first tell +me all about this dreadful affair; for you are in the +secrets of the Capitol. Have they any clue what has +become of my poor Agellius?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius had not heard of the young man’s +troubles, and was full of consternation at the +news. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What! Agellius really a Christian?</q> he said, +<q>and at such a moment? Why, I thought you +talked of some young lady who was to keep him in +order?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She’s a Christian too,</q> replied Jucundus; and a +silence ensued. <q>It’s a bad world!</q> he continued. +<q>She’s imprisoned by the Triumviri. What will be +the end of it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius shook his head, and looked mysterious. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You don’t mean it?</q> said Jucundus. <q>Not anything +so dreadful, I do trust, Cornelius. Not the +stake?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius still looked gloomy and pompous. +</p> + +<pb n="288"/><anchor id="Pg288"/> + +<p> +<q>Nothing in the way of torture?</q> he went on; +<q>not the rack, or the pitchfork?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It’s a bad business, on your own showing,</q> said +Cornelius: <q>it’s a bad business!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Can you do nothing for us, Cornelius?</q> cried +Aristo. <q>The great people in Carthage are your +friends. O Cornelius! I’d do anything for you!—I’d +be your slave! She’s no more a Christian than +great Jove. She has nothing about her of the cut;—not +a shred of her garment, or a turn of her hair. +She’s a Greek from head to foot—within and without. +She’s as bright as the day! Ah! we have no +friends here. Dear Callista! you will be lost because +you are a foreigner!</q> and the passionate youth began +to tear his hair. <q>O Cornelius!</q> he continued, <q>if +you can do anything for us! Oh! she shall sing and +dance to you; she shall come and kneel down to you, +and embrace your knees, and kiss your feet, as I do, +Cornelius!</q> and he knelt down, and would have +taken hold of Cornelius’s beard. +</p> + +<p> +Cornelius had never been addressed with so poetical +a ceremonial, which nevertheless he received with +awkwardness indeed, but with satisfaction. <q>I hear +from you,</q> he said with pomposity, <q>that your sister +is in prison on suspicion of Christianity. The case is +a simple one. Let her swear by the genius of the +Emperor, and she is free; let her refuse it, and the +law must take its course,</q> and he made a slight bow. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, but she is under a delusion,</q> persisted +Aristo, <q>which cannot last long. She says distinctly +<pb n="289"/><anchor id="Pg289"/>that she is <hi rend="italic">not</hi> a Christian, is not that decisive? but +then she won’t burn incense; she won’t swear by +Rome. She tells me she does not <hi rend="italic">believe</hi> in Jupiter, +nor I; can anything be more senseless? It is the act +of a mad woman. I say, <q>My girl, the question is, +Are you to be brought to shame? are you to die by +the public sword? die in torments?</q> Oh, I shall go +mad as well as she!</q> he screamed out. <q>She was +so clever, so witty, so sprightly, so imaginative, so +versatile! why, there’s nothing she couldn’t do. She +could model, paint, play on the lyre, sing, act. She +could work with the needle, she could embroider. +She made this girdle for me. It’s all that Agellius, +it’s Agellius. I beg your pardon, Jucundus; but +it is;</q> and he threw himself on the ground, and rolled +in the dust. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have been telling our young friend,</q> said +Jucundus to Cornelius, <q>to exert self-control, and to +recollect Menander, <q>Ne quid nimis.</q> Grieving does no +good; but these young fellows, it’s no use at all speaking +to them. Do you think you could do anything for +us, Cornelius?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why,</q> answered Cornelius, <q>since I have been +here, I have fallen in with a very sensible man, and a +man of remarkably sound political opinions. He has +a great reputation, he is called Polemo, and is one of +the professors at the Mercury. He seems to me to +go to the root of these subjects, and I’m surprised +how well we agreed. He’s a Greek, as well as this +young gentleman’s sister. I should recommend him +<pb n="290"/><anchor id="Pg290"/>to go to Polemo; if any one could disabuse her mind, +it is he.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True, true,</q> cried Aristo, starting up, <q>but, no, +<hi rend="italic">you</hi> can do it better; you have power with the +government. The Proconsul will listen to you. The +magistrates here are afraid of <hi rend="italic">him</hi>; <hi rend="italic">they</hi> don’t wish +to touch the poor girl, not they. But there’s such a +noise everywhere, and so much ill blood, and so many +spies and informers, and so much mistrust—but why +should it come upon <hi rend="italic">Callista</hi>? Why should <hi rend="italic">she</hi> be a +sacrifice? But you’d oblige the Duumvirs as much +as me in getting her out of the scrape. But what +good would it do, if they <hi rend="italic">took</hi> her dear life? Only +get us the respite of a month; the delusion would +vanish in a month. Get two months, if you can; or +as long as you can, you know. Perhaps they would +let us steal out of the country, and no one the wiser; +and no harm to any one. It was a bad job our coming +here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We know nothing at Rome of feelings and intentions, +and motives and distinctions,</q> said Cornelius; +<q>and we know nothing of understandings, connivances, +and evasions. We go by facts; Rome goes by facts. +The question is, What is the fact? Does she burn +incense, or does she not? Does she worship the ass, or +does she not? However, we’ll see what can be done.</q> +And so he went on, informing the pair of mourners +that, as far as his influence extended, he would do +something in behalf both of Agellius and Callista. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXVII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="291"/><anchor id="Pg291"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXVII. Am I a Christian?"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXVII.</head> + +<head type="sub">AM I A CHRISTIAN?</head> + +<p> +The sun had now descended for the last time before +the solemn day which was charged with the fate of +Callista, and what was the state of mind of one who +excited such keen interest in the narrow circle within +which she was known? And how does it differ from +what it was some weeks before, when Agellius last +saw her? She would have been unable to say herself. +<q>So is the kingdom of God: as if a man should cast +seed into the earth, and should sleep and rise night and +day, and the seed should spring and grow up, +whilst he knoweth not.</q> She might, indeed, have +been able afterwards, on looking back, to say many +things of herself; and she would have recognised that +while she was continually differing from herself, in +that she was changing, yet it was not a change which +involved contrariety, but one which expanded itself in +(as it were) concentric circles, and only fulfilled, as +time went on, the promise of its beginning. Every +day, as it came, was, so to say, the child of the preceding, +the parent of that which followed; and the +end to which she tended could not get beyond the +aim with which she set out. Yet, had she been asked, +<pb n="292"/><anchor id="Pg292"/>at the time of which we speak, where was her principle +and her consistency, what was her logic, or whether +she acted on reason, or on impulse, or on feeling, or +in fancy, or in passion, she would have been reduced +to silence. What did she know about herself, but +that, to her surprise, the more she thought over what +she heard of Christianity, the more she was drawn to +it, and the more it approved itself to her whole soul, +and the more it seemed to respond to all her needs +and aspirations, and the more intimate was her presentiment +that it was true? The longer it remained +on her mind as an object, the more it seemed (unlike +the mythology or the philosophy of her country, or +the political religion of Rome) to have an external +reality and substance, which deprived objections to it +of their power, and showed them to be at best but +difficulties and perplexities. +</p> + +<p> +But then again, if she had been asked, what was +Christianity, she would have been puzzled to give an +answer. She would have been able to mention some +particular truths which it taught, but neither to give +them their definite and distinct shape, nor to describe +the mode in which they were realised. She would have +said, <q>I believe what has been told me, as from +heaven, by Chione, Agellius, and Cæcilius:</q> and it +was clear she could say nothing else. What the three +told her in common and in concord was at once the +measure of her creed and the ground of her acceptance +of it. It was that wonderful unity of sentiment +and belief in persons so dissimilar from each other, so +<pb n="293"/><anchor id="Pg293"/>distinct in their circumstances, so independent in their +testimony, which recommended to her the doctrine +which they were so unanimous in teaching. She had +long given up any belief in the religion of her country. +As to philosophy, it dwelt only in conjecture and +opinion; whereas the very essence of religion was, as +she felt, a recognition of the worshippers on the part +of the Object of it. Religion could not be without +hope. To worship a being who did not speak to us, +recognise us, love us, was not religion. It might be +a duty, it might be a merit; but her instinctive notion +of religion was the soul’s response to a God who had +taken notice of the soul. It was loving intercourse, +or it was a name. Now the three witnesses who had +addressed her about Christianity had each of them +made it to consist in the intimate Divine Presence in +the heart. It was the friendship or mutual love of person +with person. Here was the very teaching which +already was so urgently demanded both by her reason +and her heart, which she found nowhere else; which +she found existing one and the same in a female slave, +in a country youth, in a learned priest. +</p> + +<p> +This was the broad impression which they made +upon her mind. When she turned to consider more +in detail what it was they taught, or what was implied +in that idea of religion which so much approved itself +to her, she understood them to say that the Creator +of heaven and earth, Almighty, All-good, clothed in +all the attributes which philosophy gives Him, the +Infinite, had loved the soul of man so much, and her +<pb n="294"/><anchor id="Pg294"/>soul in particular, that He had come upon earth in +the form of a man, and in that form had gone through +sufferings, in order to unite all souls to Him; that He +desired to love, and to be loved; that He had said so; +that He had called on man to love Him, and did +actually bring to pass this loving intercourse of Him +and man in those souls who surrendered themselves to +Him. She did not go much further than this; but as +much as this was before her mind morning, noon, and +night. It pleaded in her; it importuned her; it would +not be rebuffed. It did not mind her moods, or disgusts, +or doubts, or denials, or dismissals, but came +again and again. It rose before her, in spite of the +contempt, reproach, and persecution which the profession +of it involved. It smiled upon her; it made +promises to her; it opened eternal views to her; and +it grew upon her convictions in clearness of perception, +in congruity, and in persuasiveness. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, the more she thought of Chione, of +Agellius, and of Cæcilius the more surely did she +discern that this teaching wrought in them a something +which she had not. They had about them a +simplicity, a truthfulness, a decision, an elevation, a +calmness, and a sanctity to which she was a stranger, +which spoke to her heart and absolutely overcame +her. The image of Cæcilius, in particular, came out +prominently and eloquently in her memory,—not in +his words so much as in his manner. In spite of what +she had injuriously said to him, she really felt drawn +to worship him, as if he were the shrine and the +<pb n="295"/><anchor id="Pg295"/>home of that Presence to which he bore such solemn +witness. +</p> + +<p> +O the change, when, as if in punishment for her wild +words against him, she found herself actually in the +hands of lawless men, who were as far below her in +sentiment as he was above her! O the change, when +she was dizzied by their brutal vociferations and rapid +motion, and that breath and atmosphere of evil which +steamed up from the rankness of their impiety! O +the thankfulness which rose up in her heart, though +but vaguely directed to an object, when she found the +repose and quiet, though it was that of a prison! for +young as she was, she had become tired of all things +that were seen, and had no strong desire, except for +meditation on the great truths which she did not +know. +</p> + +<p> +One day passes and then another; and now the +morning and the hour is come when she must appear +before the magistrates of Sicca. With dread, with +agitation, she looks forward to the moment. She has +not yet a peace within her. Her peace is the stillness +of the room in which she is imprisoned. She knows +it will pass away when she leaves it; she knows +that again she must be in the hands of cruel, godless +men, with whom she has no sympathy; but she has +no stay whereon to lean in the terrible trial. Her +brother comes to her: he affects to forget her perverseness +or delusion. He comes to her with a smile, +and throws his arms around her; and Callista repels, +from some indescribable feeling, his ardent caress, as +<pb n="296"/><anchor id="Pg296"/>if she were no longer his. He has come to accompany +her to court, by an indulgence which he had +obtained; to support her there,—to carry her through, +and to take her back in triumph home. My sister,—why +that strange, piteous look upon thy countenance?—why +that paleness of thy cheek?—why that whisper +of thy lips?—why those wistful, gentle pleadings +of thine eyes? Sweet eyes, and brow, and cheek, +in which I have ever prided myself! Why so backward?—why +so distant and unfriendly? Am I +not come to rescue thee from a place where thou +never shouldst have been?—where thou ne’er shalt +be again? Callista, what is this mystery?—speak! +</p> + +<p> +Such as this was the mute expostulation conveyed +in Aristo’s look, and in the fond grasp of his hand; +while treading down forcibly within him his memory +and his fears of her great change, he determined +she should be to him still all that she had ever been. +But how altered was that look, and how relaxed that +grasp, when at length her misery found words, and she +said to him in agitation, <q>My time is short: I want +some Christian, a Christian priest!</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was as though she had never shown any tendency +before to the proscribed religion. The words came to +him with the intensity of something new and unimagined +hitherto. He clasped his hands in emotion, turned +white, and could but say, <q>Callista!</q> If she had +made confession of the most heinous of crimes,—if she +had spoken of murder, or some black treachery against +<pb n="297"/><anchor id="Pg297"/>himself,—of some enormity too great for words, it +might have been; but his sister!—his pride and +delight, after all and certainly a Christian! Better far +had she said she was leaving him for ever, to abandon +herself to the degrading service of the temples; better +had she said she had taken hemlock, or had an asp in +her bosom, than that she should choose to go out of the +world with the tortures, the ignominy, the malediction +of the religion of slaves. +</p> + +<p> +Time waits for no man, nor does the court of +justice, nor the <hi rend="italic">subsellia</hi> of the magistrate. The +examination is to be held in the Basilica at the +Forum, and it requires from us a few words of +explanation beforehand. The local magistrates then +could only try the lesser offences, and decide civil +suits; cases of suspected Christianity were reserved +for the Roman authorities. Still, preliminary examinations +were not unfrequently conducted by the city +Duumvirs, or even in what may be called the police +courts. And this may have especially been the case +in the Proconsulates. Proprætors and Presidents +were in the appointment of the Emperor, and joined +in their persons the supreme civil and military +authority. Such provinces, perhaps, were better +administered; but there would be more of arbitrariness +in their rule, and it would not be so acceptable +to the ruled. The Proconsuls, on the other hand, +were representatives of the Senate, and had not the +military force directly in their hands. The natural +tendency of this arrangement was to create, on the +<pb n="298"/><anchor id="Pg298"/>one hand, a rivalry between the civil and military +establishments; and, on the other, to create a friendly +feeling between the Proconsul and the local magistracy. +Thus, not long before the date of this +history, we read of Gordian, the Proconsul, enjoying a +remarkable popularity in his African province; and +when the people rose against the exactions of the +imperial Procurator, as referred to in a former page, +they chose and supported Gordian against him. +But however this might be in general, so it was at +this time at Sicca, that the Proconsular <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> +and the city magistrates were on a good understanding +with each other, whereas there was some +collision between the latter and the military. Not +much depends in the conduct of our story upon +this circumstance; but it must be taken to account +for the examination of Callista in the Forum, and for +some other details which may follow before we come +to the end of it. +</p> + +<p> +The populace was collected about the gates and +within the ample space of the Basilica, but they gave +expression to no strong feeling on the subject of a +Christian delinquent. The famine, the sickness, and, +above all, the lesson which they had received so lately +from the soldiers, had both diminished their numbers +and cowed their spirit. They were sullen, too, and +resentful; and, with the changeableness proverbial in +a multitude, had rather have witnessed the beheading +of a magistrate, or the burning of a tribune, than the +torture and death of a dozen of wretched Christians. +<pb n="299"/><anchor id="Pg299"/>Besides, they had had a glut of Christian blood; a +reaction of feeling had taken place, and, in spite of the +suspicion of witchcraft, the youth and the beauty of +Callista recommended her to their compassion. +</p> + +<p> +The magistrates were seated on the <hi rend="italic">subsellia</hi>, one of +the Duumvirs presiding, in his white robe bordered +with purple; his lictors, with staves, not fasces, standing +behind him. In the vestibule of the court, to +confront the prisoner on her first entrance, were the +usual instruments of torture. The charge was one +which can only be compared, in the estimation of both +state and people in that day, to that of witchcraft, +poisoning, parricide, or other monstrous iniquity in +Christian times. There were the heavy <hi rend="italic">boiæ</hi>, a yoke +for the neck, of iron, or of wood; the fetters; the +<hi rend="italic">nervi</hi>, or stocks, in which hands and feet were inserted, +at distances from each other which strained or dislocated +the joints. There, too, were the <hi rend="italic">virgæ</hi>, or rods +with thorns in them; the <hi rend="italic">flagra</hi>, <hi rend="italic">lori</hi>, and <hi rend="italic">plumbati</hi>, +whips and thongs, cutting with iron or bruising with +lead; the heavy clubs; the hook for digging into the +flesh; the <hi rend="italic">ungula</hi>, said to have been a pair of scissors; +the <hi rend="italic">scorpio</hi>, and <hi rend="italic">pecten</hi>, iron combs or rakes for tearing. +And there was the wheel, fringed with spikes, on which +the culprit was stretched; and there was the fire +ready lighted, with the water hissing and groaning in +the large caldrons which were placed upon it. Callista +had lost for ever that noble intellectual composure of +which we have several times spoken; she shuddered +at what she saw, and almost fainted, and, while waiting +<pb n="300"/><anchor id="Pg300"/>for her summons, leaned heavily against the merciless +<hi rend="italic">cornicularius</hi> at her side. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +At length the judge began—<q>Let the servant from +the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> stand forth.</q> The <hi rend="italic">officialis</hi> answered that +he had brought a prisoner charged with Christianity; +she had been brought to him by the military on the +night of the riot. +</p> + +<p> +The <hi rend="italic">scriba</hi> then read out the deposition of one of the +<hi rend="italic">stationarii</hi>, to the effect that he and his fellow-soldiers +had received her from the hands of the civic force on +the night in question, and had brought her to the office +of the Triumvirs. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bring forward the prisoner,</q> said the judge; she +was brought forward. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Here she is,</q> answered the <hi rend="italic">officialis</hi>, according to +the prescribed form. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What is your name?</q> said the judge. +</p> + +<p> +She answered, <q>Callista.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The judge then asked if she was a freewoman or a +slave. +</p> + +<p> +She answered, <q>Free; the daughter of Orsilochus, +lapidary, of Proconnesus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Some conversation then went on among the magistrates +as to her advocate or <hi rend="italic">defensor</hi>. Aristo presented +himself, but the question arose whether he was +<hi rend="italic">togatus</hi>. He was known, however, to several magistrates, +and was admitted to stand by his sister. +</p> + +<p> +Then the <hi rend="italic">scriba</hi> read the charge—viz., that Callista +was a Christian, and refused to sacrifice to the <anchor id="corr300"/><corr sic="gods">gods.</corr> +</p> + +<pb n="301"/><anchor id="Pg301"/> + +<p> +It was a plain question of fact, which required +neither witnesses nor speeches. At a sign from the +Duumvir in came two priests, bringing in between them +the small altar of Jupiter; the charcoal was ready +lighted, the incense at the side, and the judge called to +the prisoner to sprinkle it upon the flame for the good +fortune of Decius and his son. All eyes were turned +upon her. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am not a Christian,</q> she said; <q>I told you so before. +I have never been to a Christian place of worship, +nor taken any Christian oath, nor joined in any +Christian sacrifice. And I should lie did I say that I +was in any sense a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was a silence; then the judge said, <q>Prove +your words; there is the altar, the flame, and the +incense; sacrifice to the genius of the Emperor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She said, <q>What can I do? I am not a Christian.</q> +The judges looked at each other, as much as to say, +<q>It is the old story; it is that inexplicable, hateful +obstinacy, which will neither yield to reason, common +sense, expediency, or fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Duumvir only repeated the single word, +<q>Sacrifice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She stopped awhile; then she came forward with a +hurried step. <q>O my fate!</q> she cried, <q>why was I +born? why am I in this strait? I have no god. What +can I do? I am abandoned; why should I not do +it?</q> She stopped; then she went right on to the +altar; she took the incense: suddenly she looked up +to heaven and started, and threw it away. <q>I cannot! +<pb n="302"/><anchor id="Pg302"/>I dare not!</q> she cried out. There was a great sensation +in court. <q>Evidently insane,</q> said some of the +more merciful of the Decurions; <q>poor thing, poor +thing!</q> Her brother ran up to her; talked to her, +conjured her, fell down on his knees to her; took her +hand violently, and would have forced her to offer. +In vain; all he could get from her was, <q>I am not a +Christian; indeed, I am not a Christian. I have +nothing to do with them. O the misery!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She is mad!</q> cried Aristo; <q>my lord judges, +listen to me. She was seized by brutal ruffians during +the riot, and the fright and shock have overcome her. +Give her time, oh! give her time, and she will get right. +She’s a good religious girl; she has done more work +for the temples than any girl in Sicca; half the +statues in the city are her finishing. Many of you, +my lords, have her handiwork. She works with me. +Do not add to my anguish in seeing her deranged, by +punishing her as a criminal, a Christian: do not take +her from me. Sentence her, and you end the whole +matter; give her a chance, and she will certainly be +restored to the gods and to me. Will you put her to +death because she is mad?</q> +</p> + +<p> +What was to be done? The court was obsequious +to the Proconsul, afraid of Rome; jealous that the +mob should have been more forward than the magistracy. +Had the city moved sooner, as soon as the +edict came, there would have been no rising, no riot. +Already they had been called on for a report about +that riot and an explanation; if ever they had need +<pb n="303"/><anchor id="Pg303"/>to look sharp what they were doing, it was now. +On the other hand, Callista and her brother had +friends among the judges, as we have said, and their +plea was at once obvious and reasonable. <q>If she +persists, she persists, and nothing can be said; we +don’t wish to be disloyal, or careless of the emperor’s +commands. If she is obstinate, she must die; but +she dies quite as usefully to us, with quite as much +effect, a month hence as now. Not that we ask you +to define a time on your own authority; simply do +this, write to Carthage for advice. The government +can answer within an hour, if it chooses. Merely say, +<q>Here is a young woman, who has ever been religious +and well conducted, of great accomplishments, and +known especially for her taste and skill in religious +art, who since the day of the riot has suddenly refused +to take the test. She can give no reason for +her refusal, and protests she is not a Christian. Her +friends say that the fright has turned her brain, but +that if kindly treated and kept quiet, she will come +round, and do all that is required of her. What are we +to <anchor id="corr303"/><corr sic="single quote missing">do?</corr></q></q> +</p> + +<p> +At last Callista’s friends prevailed. It was decided +that the judges should pass over this examination +altogether, as if it had been rendered informal by +Callista’s conduct. Had they recognised it as a proper +legal process, they must have sentenced and executed +her. Such a decision was of this further advantage to +her, that nothing was altered as to her place of confinement. +Instead of being handed over to the state +<pb n="304"/><anchor id="Pg304"/>prison, she remained in her former lodging, though in +custody, and was allowed to see her friends. There +had been very little chance of her recovery, supposing +she was mad, or of ever coming out, if she had once +gone into the formidable <hi rend="italic">Carcer</hi>. Meanwhile the +magistrates sent to Carthage for instructions. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXVIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="305"/><anchor id="Pg305"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXVIII. A sick call"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXVIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">A SICK CALL.</head> + +<p> +Aristo was not a fellow to have very long distresses; +he never would have died of love or of envy, for +honour or for loss of property; but his present +calamity was one of the greatest he could ever have, +and weighed upon him as long as ever any one could. +His love for his sister was real, but it would not do +to look too closely into the grounds of it; if we are +obliged to do so, we must confess to a suspicion that +it lay rather in certain outward, nay, accidental attributes +of Callista, than in Callista herself. Did she +lose her good looks, or her amiable unresisting submission +to his wishes, whatever they were, she would +also lose her hold upon his affections. This is not to +make any severe charge against him, considering how +it is with the common run of brothers and sisters, husbands +and wives; at the same time, most people certainly +are haunted by the memory of the past, and love +for <q>Auld lang syne,</q> and this Aristo might indeed +have had, and perhaps had not. He loved chiefly for +the present, and by the hour. +</p> + +<p> +However, at the present time he was in a state of +acute suffering, and, under its paroxysm, he +be<pb n="306"/><anchor id="Pg306"/>thought him again of Cornelius’s advice, which he +had rejected, to betake himself to Polemo. He had +a distant acquaintance with him, sufficient for his +purpose, and he called on him at the Mercury after the +latter’s lecture. Polemo was no fool, though steeped +in affectation and self-conceit, and Aristo fancied that +his sister might be more moved by a philosophical +compatriot than any one else. Polemo’s astonishment, +however, when the matter was proposed to him surpassed +words, and it showed how utterly Aristo was +absorbed in his own misery, that the possibility of +such a reception should not have occurred to him. +What, he, the friend of Plotinus, of Rogatian, and the +other noble men and women who were his fellow-disciples +at Rome; he, a member of the intellectual +aristocracy of the metropolis of the world; what, he to +visit a felon in prison! and when he found the felon +was a Christian, he fully thought that Aristo had +come to insult him, and was on the point of bidding +him leave him to himself. Aristo, however, persisted; +and his evident anguish, and some particulars which +came out, softened him. Callista was a Greek; a literate, +or blue stocking. She had never indeed worn the +philosophic pallium (as some Christian martyrs afterwards, +if not before, have done—St. Catherine and St. +Euphemia), but there was no reason why she should +not do so. Polemo recollected having heard of her at +the Capitol, and in the triclinium of one of the Decurions, +as a lady of singular genius and attainments; +and he lately had made an attempt to form a female +<pb n="307"/><anchor id="Pg307"/>class of hearers, and it would be a feather in his cap to +make a convert of her. So, not many days after, one +evening, accompanied by Aristo, he set out in his litter +to the lodging where she was in custody; not, however, +without much misgiving when it came to the +point, some shame, and a consequent visible awkwardness +and stiffness in his manner. All the perfumes he +had about him could not hinder the disgust of such a +visit rising up into his nostrils. +</p> + +<p> +Callista’s room was very well for a prison; it was +on the ground-floor of a house of many stories, close +to the <hi rend="italic">Officium</hi> of the Triumvirate. Though not any +longer under their strict jurisdiction, she was allowed +to remain where she had first been lodged. She was +in one of the rooms belonging to an apparitor of that +<hi rend="italic">Officium</hi>, and, as he had a wife, or at least a partner, +to take care of her, she might consider herself very +well off. However, the reader must recollect that we +are in Africa, in the month of July, and our young +Greek was little used to heats, which made the whole +city nothing less than one vast oven through the +greater part of the twenty-four hours. In lofty +spacious apartments the resource adopted is to exclude +the external air, and to live as Greenlanders, +with closed windows and doors; this was both impossible, +and would have been unsuccessful, if attempted +in the small apartment of Callista. But fever of mind +is even worse than the heat of the sky; and it is +undeniable that her health, and her strength, and her +appearance are affected by both the physical and the +<pb n="308"/><anchor id="Pg308"/>moral enemy. The beauty, which was her brother’s +delight, is waning away; and the shadows, if not the +rudiments of a diviner loveliness, which is of expression, +not of feature, which inspires not human passion, +but diffuses chaste thoughts and aspirations, are taking +its place. Aristo sees the change with no kind of +satisfaction. The room has a bench, two or three stools, +and a bed of rushes in one corner. A staple is firmly +fixed in the wall; and an iron chain, light, however, +and long, if the two ideas can be reconciled, reaches to +her slender arm, and is joined to it by an iron ring. +</p> + +<p> +On Polemo’s entering the room, his first exclamation +was to complain of its closeness; but he had +to do a work, so he began it without delay. Callista, +on her part, started; she had no wish for his presence. +She was reclining on her couch, and she sat +up. She was not equal to a controversy, nor did +she mean to have one, whatever might be the case +with <hi rend="italic">him</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Callista, my life and joy, dear Callista,</q> said her +brother, <q>I have brought the greatest man in Sicca +to see you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista cast upon him an earnest look, which soon +subsided into indifference. He had a rose of Cyrene +in his hand, whose perfume he diffused about the +small room. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is Polemo,</q> continued Aristo, <q>the friend of +the great Plotinus, who knows all philosophies and +all philosophers. He has come out of kindness to +you.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="309"/><anchor id="Pg309"/> + +<p> +Callista acknowledged his presence; it was certainly, +she said, a great kindness for any one to visit +her, and there. +</p> + +<p> +Polemo replied by a compliment; he said it was +Socrates visiting Aspasia. There had always been +women above the standard of their sex, and they had +ever held an intellectual converse with men of mind. +He saw one such before him. +</p> + +<p> +Callista felt it would be plunging her soul still +deeper into shadows, when she sought realities, if she +must take part in such an argument. She remained +silent. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your sister has not the fit upon her?</q> asked +Polemo of Aristo aside, neither liking her reception +of him, nor knowing what to say. <q>Not at all, dear +thing,</q> answered Aristo; <q>she is all attention for you +to begin.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Natives of Greece,</q> at length said he, <q>natives +of Greece should know each other; they deserve to +know each other; there is a secret sympathy between +them. Like that mysterious influence which unites +magnet to magnet; or like the echo which is a repercussion +of the original voice. So, in like manner, +Greeks are what none but they can be,</q> and he smelt +at his rose and bowed. +</p> + +<p> +She smiled faintly when he mentioned Greece. +<q>Yes,</q> she said, <q>I am fonder of Greece than of +Africa.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Each has its advantages,</q> said Polemo; <q>there is +a pleasure in imparting knowledge, in lighting flame +<pb n="310"/><anchor id="Pg310"/>from flame. It would be selfish did we not leave +Greece to communicate what they have not here. +But you,</q> he added, <q>lady, neither can learn in +Greece nor teach in Africa, while you are in this +vestibule of Orcus. I understand, however, it is your +own choice; can that be possible?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, I wish to get out, if I could, most learned +Polemo,</q> said Callista sadly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>May Polemo of Rhodes speak frankly to Callista +of Proconnesus?</q> asked Polemo. <q>I would not +speak to every one. <anchor id="corr310"/><corr sic="extra quote">If</corr> so, let me ask, what keeps +you here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The magistrates of Sicca and this iron chain,</q> +answered Callista. <q>I would I could be elsewhere; +I would I were not what I am.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What could you wish to be more than you are?</q> +answered Polemo; <q>more gifted, accomplished, beautiful +than any daughter of Africa.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Go to the point, Polemo,</q> said Aristo, nervously, +though respectfully; <q>she wants home-thrusts.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I see my brother wants you to ask how far it +depends on me that I am here,</q> said Callista, wishing +to hasten his movements; <q><anchor id="corr310a"/><corr sic="quote missing">it</corr> is because I will not +burn incense upon the altar of Jupiter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A most insufficient reason, lady,</q> said Polemo. +</p> + +<p> +Callista was silent. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What does that action mean?</q> said Polemo; <q>it +proposes to mean nothing else than that you are loyal +to the Roman power. You are not of those Greeks, +I presume, who dream of a national insurrection at +<pb n="311"/><anchor id="Pg311"/>this time? then you are loyal to Rome. Did I believe +a Leonidas could now arise, an Harmodius, a Miltiades, +a Themistocles, a Pericles, an Epaminondas, I +should be as ready to take the sword as another; but +it is hopeless. Greece, then, makes no claim on you +just now. Nor will I believe, though you were to tell +me so yourself, that you are leagued with any obscure, +fanatic sect who desire Rome’s downfall. Consider +what Rome is;</q> and now he had got into the magnificent +commonplace, out of his last panegyrical oration +with which he had primed himself before he set +out. <q>I am a Greek,</q> he said, <q>I love Greece, but I +love truth better; and I look at facts. I grasp them, +and I confess to them. The wide earth, through untold +centuries, has at length grown into the imperial +dominion of One. It has converged and coalesced +in all its various parts into one Rome. This, which +we see, is the last, the perfect state of human society. +The course of things, the force of natural powers, as +is well understood by all great lawyers and philosophers, +cannot go further. Unity has come at length, +and unity is eternity. It will be for ever, because it is a +whole. The principle of dissolution is eliminated. We +have reached the <hi rend="italic">apotelesma</hi> of the world. Greece, +Egypt, Assyria, Libya, Etruria, Lydia, have all had +their share in the result. Each of them, in its own +day, has striven in vain to stop the course of fate, and +has been hurried onwards at its wheels as its victim +or its instrument. And shall Judæa do what profound +Egypt and subtle Greece have tried in vain? +<pb n="312"/><anchor id="Pg312"/>If even the freedom of thought, the liberal scepticism, +nay, the revolutionary theories of Hellas have proved +unequal to the task of splitting up the Roman power, +if the pomp and luxury of the East have failed, shall +the mysticism of Syria succeed?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, dear Callista, are you listening?</q> cried +Aristo, not over-confident of the fact, though Polemo +looked round at him with astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ten centuries,</q> he continued, <q>ten centuries have +just been completed since Rome began her victorious +career. For ten centuries she has been fulfilling her +high mission in the dispositions of Destiny, and perfecting +her maxims of policy and rules of government. +For ten centuries she has pursued one track with an +ever-growing intensity of zeal, and an ever-widening +extent of territory. What can she not do? just +one thing; and that one thing which she has not presumed +to do, you are attempting. She has maintained +her own religion, as was fitting; but she has never +thrown contempt on the religion of others. This you +are doing. Observe, Callista, Rome herself, in spite +of her great power, has yielded to that necessity +which is greater. She does not meddle with the +religions of the peoples. She has opened no war +against their diversities of rite. The conquering +power found, especially in the East, innumerable +traditions, customs, prejudices, principles, superstitions, +matted together in one hopeless mass; she left +them as they were; she recognised them; it would +have been the worse for her if she had done otherwise. +<pb n="313"/><anchor id="Pg313"/>All she said to the peoples, all she dared say to them, +was, <q>You bear with me, and I will bear with you.</q> +Yet this you will not do; you Christians, who have +no pretence to any territory, who are not even the +smallest of the peoples, who are not even a people at +all, you have the fanaticism to denounce all other +rites but your own, nay, the religion of great Rome. +Who are you? upstarts and vagabonds of yesterday. +Older religions than yours, more intellectual, more +beautiful religions, which have had a position, and +a history, and a political influence, have come to +nought; and shall you prevail, you, a <hi rend="italic">congeries</hi>, a +hotch-potch of the leavings, and scraps, and broken +meat of the great peoples of the East and West? +Blush, blush, Grecian Callista, you with a glorious +nationality of your own to go shares with some +hundred peasants, slaves, thieves, beggars, hucksters, +tinkers, cobblers, and fishermen! A lady of high +character, of brilliant accomplishments, to be the +associate of the outcasts of society!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Polemo’s speech, though cumbrous, did execution, +at least the termination of it, upon minds constituted +like the Grecian. Aristo jumped up, swore an oath, +and looked round triumphantly at Callista, who felt +its force also. After all, what did she know of Christians?—at +best she was leaving the known for the +unknown: she was sure to be embracing certain evil +for contingent good. She said to herself, <q>No, I never +can be a Christian.</q> Then she said aloud, <q>My Lord +Polemo, I am not a Christian;—I never said I <anchor id="corr313"/><corr sic="was,">was.</corr></q> +</p> + +<pb n="314"/><anchor id="Pg314"/> + +<p> +<q>That is her absurdity!</q> cried Aristo. <q>She is +neither one thing nor the other. She won’t say she’s +a Christian, and she won’t sacrifice!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is my misfortune,</q> she said, <q>I know. I am +losing both what I see, and what I don’t see. It is +most inconsistent: yet what can I do?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Polemo had said what he considered enough. He +was one of those who sold his words. He had already +been over-generous, and was disposed to give away +no more. +</p> + +<p> +After a time, Callista said, <q>Polemo, do you believe +in one God?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Certainly,</q> he answered; <q>I believe in one eternal, +self-existing something.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> she said, <q>I feel that God within my heart. +I feel myself in His presence. He says to me, <q>Do +this: don’t do that,</q> You may tell me that this dictate +is a mere law of my nature, as is to joy or to +grieve. I cannot understand this. No, it is the echo +of a person speaking to me. Nothing shall persuade +me that it does not ultimately proceed from a person +external to me. It carries with it its proof of its +divine origin. My nature feels towards it as towards +a person. When I obey it, I feel a satisfaction; when +I disobey, a soreness—just like that which I feel in +pleasing or offending some revered friend. So you +see, Polemo, I believe in what is more than a mere +<q>something.</q> I believe in what is more real to me +than sun, moon, stars, and the fair earth, and the +<pb n="315"/><anchor id="Pg315"/>voice of friends. You will say, Who is He? Has +He ever told you anything about Himself? Alas! +no!—the more’s the pity! But I will not give up +what I have, because I have not more. An echo +implies a voice; a voice a speaker. That speaker I +love and I fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here she was exhausted, and overcome too, poor +Callista! with her own emotions. +</p> + +<p> +<q>O that I could find Him!</q> she exclaimed, passionately. +<q>On the right hand and on the left I +grope, but touch Him not. Why dost Thou fight +against me?—why dost Thou scare and perplex me, +O First and Only Fair? I have Thee not, and I need +Thee.</q> She added, <q>I am no Christian, you see, or +I should have found Him; or at least I should say I +had found Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is hopeless,</q> said Polemo to Aristo, in much +disgust, and with some hauteur of manner: <q>she is +too far gone. You should not have brought me to +this place.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Aristo groaned. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Shall I,</q> she continued, <q>worship any but Him? +Shall I say that He whom I see not, whom I seek, is +our Jupiter, or Cæsar, or the goddess Rome? They +are none of them images of this inward guide of mine. +I sacrifice to Him alone.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The two men looked at each other in amazement: +one of them in anger. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It’s like the demon of Socrates,</q> said Aristo, +timidly. +</p> + +<pb n="316"/><anchor id="Pg316"/> + +<p> +<q>I will acknowledge Cæsar in every fitting way,</q> +she repeated; <q>but I will not make him my God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Presently she added, <q>Polemo, will not that invisible +Monitor have something to say to all of us,—to +you,—at some future day?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Spare me! spare me, Callista!</q> cried Polemo, +starting up with a violence unsuited to his station +and profession. <q>Spare my ears, unhappy woman!—such +words have never hitherto entered them. I +did not come to be insulted. Poor, blind, hapless, +perverse spirit—I separate myself from you for ever! +Desert, if you will, the majestic, bright, beneficent +traditions of your forefathers, and live in this frightful +superstition! Farewell!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He did not seem better pleased with Aristo than +with Callista, though Aristo helped him into his litter, +walked by his side, and did what he could to propitiate +him. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXIX" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="317"/><anchor id="Pg317"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXIX. Conversion"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXIX.</head> + +<head type="sub">CONVERSION.</head> + +<p> +If there is a state of mind utterly forlorn, it is that +in which we left the poor prisoner after Polemo had +departed. She was neither a Christian, nor was she +not. She was in the midway region of inquiry, which +as surely takes time to pass over, except there be +some almost miraculous interference, as it takes time +to walk from place to place. You see a person coming +towards you, and you say, impatiently, <q>Why don’t +you come faster?—why are you not here already?</q> +Why?—because it takes time. To see that heathenism +is false,—to see that Christianity is true,—are two +acts, and involve two processes. They may indeed +be united, and the truth may supplant the error; +but they may not. Callista obeyed, as far as truth +was brought home to her. She saw the vanity of +idols before she had faith in Him who came to +destroy them. She could safely say, <q>I discard +Jupiter:</q> she could not say, <q>I am a Christian.</q> +Besides, what did she know of Christians? How +did she know that they would admit her, if she +wished it? They were a secret society, with an +election, an initiation, and oaths;—not a mere +philo<pb n="318"/><anchor id="Pg318"/>sophical school, or a profession of opinion, open to +any individual. If they were the good people that +she fancied them to be,—and if they were not, she +would not think of them at all,—they were not likely +to accept of her. +</p> + +<p> +Still, though we may account for her conduct, its +issue was not, on that account, the less painful. She +had neither the promise of this world, nor of the next, +and was losing earth without gaining heaven. Our +Lord is reported to have said, <q>Be ye good money-changers.</q> +Poor Callista did not know how to turn +herself to account. It had been so all through her +short life. She had ardent affections, and keen sensibilities, +and high aspirations; but she was not fortunate +in the application of them. She had put herself +into her brother’s hands, and had let him direct +her course. It could not be expected that he would +be very different from the world. We are cautioned +against <q>rejoicing in our youth.</q> Aristo rejoiced in +his without restraint; and he made his sister rejoice +in hers, if enjoyment it was. He himself found in the +pleasures he pointed out a banquet of fruits:—she +dust and ashes. And so she went on; not changing +her life, from habit, from the captivity of nature, but +weary, disappointed, fastidious, hungry, yet not knowing +what she would have; yearning after something, +she did not well know what. And as heretofore she +had cast her lot with the world, yet had received no +price for her adhesion, so now she had bid it farewell; +yet had nothing to take in its place. +</p> + +<pb n="319"/><anchor id="Pg319"/> + +<p> +As to her brother, after the visit of Polemo, he got +more and more annoyed—angry rather than distressed, +and angry with her. One more opportunity +occurred of her release, and it was the last effort he +made to move her. Cornelius, in spite of his pomposity, +had acted the part of a real friend. He +wrote from Carthage, that he had happily succeeded +in his application to government, and, difficult and +unusual as was the grace, had obtained her release. +He sent the formal documents for carrying it through +the court, and gained the eager benediction of the +excitable Aristo. He rushed with the parchments to +the magistrates, who recognised them as sufficient, +and got an order for admission to her room. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Joy, my dearest,</q> he cried; <q>you are free! We +will leave this loathsome country by the first vessel. +I have seen the magistrates already.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The colour came into her wan face, she clasped her +hands together, and looked earnestly at Aristo. He +proceeded to explain the process of liberation. She +would not be called on to sacrifice, but must sign a +writing to the effect that she had done so, and there +would be an end of the whole matter. On the first +statement she saw no difficulty in the proposal, and +started up in animation. Presently her countenance +fell; how could she say that she had done what it was +treason to her inward Guide to do? What was the +difference between acknowledging a blasphemy by a +signature or by incense? She smiled sorrowfully at +him, shook her head, and lay down again upon her +<pb n="320"/><anchor id="Pg320"/>rushes. She had anticipated the Church’s judgment +on the case of the <hi rend="italic">Libellatici</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +Aristo could not at first believe he heard aright, +that she refused to be saved by what seemed to him +a matter of legal form; and his anger grew so high +as to eclipse and to shake his affection. <q>Lost girl,</q> +he cried, <q>I abandon you to the Furies!</q> and he +shook his clenched hand at her. He turned away, +and said he would never see her again, and he kept +his word. He never came again. He took refuge, +with less restraint than was usual to him, in such +pleasures as the city could supply, and strove to drive +his sister from his mind by dissipation. He mixed +in the games of the Campus Martius under the +shadow of the mountain; took part with the revellers +in the Forum, and ended the evening at the Thermæ. +Sometimes the image of dear Callista, as once she +looked, would rush into his mind with a force which +would not be denied, and he would weep for a whole +night. +</p> + +<p> +At length he determined to destroy himself, after +the example of so many great men. He gave a +sumptuous entertainment, expending his means upon +it, and invited his friends to partake of it. It passed +off with great gaiety; nothing was wanting to make +it equal to an occasion so special and singular. He +disclosed to his guests his purpose, and they applauded; +the last libations were made—the revellers +departed—the lights were extinguished. Aristo disappeared +that night: Sicca never saw him again. +<pb n="321"/><anchor id="Pg321"/>After some time it was found that he was at Carthage, +and he had been provident enough to take with him +some of his best working tools, and some specimens +of his own and poor Callista’s skill. +</p> + +<p> +Strange to say, Jucundus proved a truer friend to +the poor girl than her brother. In spite of his selfishness +and hatred of Christians, he was considerably +affected as her case got more and more serious, and +it became evident that only one answer could be +returned to the magistrates from Carthage. He was +quite easy about Agellius, who had, as he considered, +successfully made off with himself, and he was reconciled +to the thought of never seeing him again. Had +it not been for this, one might have fancied that some +lurking anxiety about the fate of his nephew might +have kept alive the fidget which Callista’s dismal +situation gave him, for the philosopher tells us, that +pity always has something in it of self; but, under +the circumstances, it would be rash judgment to have +any such suspicion of his motives. He was not a +cruel man: even the <q>hoary-headed Fabian,</q> or +Cyprian, or others whom he so roundly abused, +would have found, when it came to the point, that +his bluster was his worst weapon against them; at +any rate he had enough of the <q>milk of human kindness</q> +to feel considerable distress about that idiotic +Callista. +</p> + +<p> +Yet what could he do? He might as well stop +the passage of the sun, as the movements of mighty +Rome, and a rescript would be coming to a certainty +<pb n="322"/><anchor id="Pg322"/>in due time from Carthage, and would just say one +thing, which would forthwith be passing into the +region of fact. He had no one to consult, and to +tell the truth, Callista’s fate was more than acquiesced +in by the public of Sicca. Her death seemed a +solution of various perplexities and troubles into +which the edict had brought them; it would be purchasing +the praise of loyalty cheaply. Moreover, +there were sets of men actually hostile to her and +her brother; the companies of statuaries, lapidaries, +and goldsmiths, were jealous of foreign artists like +them, who showed contempt for Africa, and who were +acquainted, or rather intimate, with many of the +higher classes, and even high personages in the place. +Well, but could not some of those great people help +her now? His mind glanced towards Calphurnius, +whom he had heard of as in some way or other protecting +her on the evening of the riot, and to him he +determined to betake himself. +</p> + +<p> +Calphurnius and the soldiery were still in high +dudgeon with the populace of Sicca, displeased with +the magistrates, and full of sympathy for Callista. +Jucundus opened his mind fully to the tribune, and +persuaded him to take him to Septimius, his military +superior, and in the presence of the latter many +good words were uttered both by Calphurnius and +Jucundus. Jucundus gave it as his opinion that it +was a very great mistake to strike at any but the +leaders of the Christian sect; he quoted the story of +King Tarquin and the poppies, and assured the great +<pb n="323"/><anchor id="Pg323"/>man that it was what he had always said and always +prophesied, and that, depend upon it, it was a great +mistake not to catch Cyprianus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The strong arm of the law,</q> he said, <q>should not, +on the other hand, be put forth against such butterflies +as this Callista, a girl who, he knew from her +brother, had not yet seen eighteen summers. What +harm could such a poor helpless thing possibly do? +She could not even defend herself, much less attack +anybody else. No,</q> he continued, <q>your proper +policy with these absurd people is a smiling face and +an open hand. Recollect the fable of the sun and the +wind; which made the traveller lay aside his cloak? +Do you fall in with some sour-visaged, stiff-backed +worshipper of the Furies? fill his cup for him, crown +his head with flowers, bring in the flute-women. +Observe him—he relaxes; a smile spreads on his +countenance; he laughs at a jest; <q>captus est; +habet:</q> he pours a libation. Great Jove has conquered! +he is loyal to Rome; what can you desire +more? But beat him, kick him, starve him, turn him +out of doors; and you have a natural enemy to do +you a mischief whenever he can.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calphurnius took his own line, and a simple one. +<q>If it was some vile slave or scoundrel African,</q> +he said, <q>no harm would have been done; but, by +Jupiter Tonans, it’s a Greek girl, who sings like a +Muse, dances like a Grace, and spouts verses like +Minerva. ’Twould be sacrilege to touch a hair of her +head; and we forsooth are to let these cowardly dogs +<pb n="324"/><anchor id="Pg324"/>of magistrates entrap Fortunianus at Carthage into +this solecism.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Septimius said nothing, as became a man in office; +but he came to an understanding with his visitors. It +was plain that the Duumvirs of Sicca had no legal +custody of Callista; in a criminal matter she might +seem to fall under the jurisdiction of the military; +and Calphurnius gained leave to claim his right at +the proper moment. The rest of his plan the tribune +kept to himself, nor did Septimius wish to know it. +He intended to march a guard into the prison shortly +before Callista was brought out for execution, and then +to make it believed that she had died under the horrors +of the Barathrum. The corpse of another woman +could without difficulty be found to be her representative, +and she herself would be carried off to the camp. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +Meanwhile, to return to the prisoner herself, what +was the consolation, what the occupation of Callista +in this waiting time, ere the Proconsul had sent his +answer? Strange to say, and, we suppose, from a +sinful waywardness in her, she had, up to this moment, +neglected to avail herself of a treasure, which +by a rare favour had been put into her possession. +A small parchment, carefully written, elaborately +adorned, lay in her bosom, which might already have +been the remedy of many a perplexity, many a woe. +It is difficult to say under what feelings she had been +reluctant to open the Holy Gospel, which Cæcilius +had intrusted to her care. Whether she was so low +<pb n="325"/><anchor id="Pg325"/>and despondent that she could not make the effort, +or whether she feared to convince herself further, +or whether she professed to be waiting for some +calmer time, as if that were possible, or whether her +unwillingness was that which makes sick people so +averse to eating, or to remedies which they know +would be useful to them, cannot well be determined; +but there are many of us who may be able, from +parallel instances of infirmity, to enter into that state +of mind, which led her at least to procrastinate what +she might do any minute. However, now left absolutely +to herself, Aristo gone, and the answer of the +government to the magistracy not having yet come, +she recurred to the parchment, and to the Bishop’s +words, which ran, <q>Here you will see who it is we +love,</q> or language to that effect. It was tightly +lodged under her girdle, and so had escaped in the +confusion of that terrible evening. She opened it at +length and read. +</p> + +<p> +It was the writing of a provincial Greek; elegant, +however, and marked with that simplicity which was +to her taste the elementary idea of a classic author. +It was addressed to one Theophilus, and professed to +be a carefully digested and verified account of events +which had been already attempted by others. She +read a few paragraphs, and became interested, and in +no long time she was absorbed in the volume. When +she had once taken it up, she did not lay it down. +Even at other times she would have prized it, but +now, when she was so desolate and lonely, it was +<pb n="326"/><anchor id="Pg326"/>simply a gift from an unseen world. It opened a +view of a new state and community of beings, which +only seemed too beautiful to be possible. But not +into a new state of things alone, but into the presence +of One who was simply distinct and removed from +anything that she had, in her most imaginative +moments, ever depicted to her mind as ideal perfection. +Here was that to which her intellect tended, +though that intellect could not frame it. It could +approve and acknowledge, when set before it, what it +could not originate. Here was He who spoke to her +in her conscience; whose Voice she heard, whose +Person she was seeking for. Here was He who +kindled a warmth on the cheek of both Chione and +Agellius. That image sank deep into her; she felt +it to be a reality. She said to herself, <q>This is no +poet’s dream; it is the delineation of a real individual. +There is too much truth and nature, and life and +exactness about it, to be anything else.</q> Yet she +shrank from it; it made her feel her own difference +from it, and a feeling of humiliation came upon her +mind, such as she never had had before. She began +to despise herself more thoroughly day by day; yet +she recollected various passages in the history which +reassured her amid her self-abasement, especially that +of His tenderness and love for the poor girl at the +feast, who would anoint His feet; and the full tears +stood in her eyes, and she fancied she was that sinful +child, and that He did not repel her. +</p> + +<p> +O what a new world of thought she had entered! it +<pb n="327"/><anchor id="Pg327"/>occupied her mind from its very novelty. Everything +looked dull and dim by the side of it; her brother +had ever been dinning into her ears that maxim of +the heathen, <q>Enjoy the present, trust nothing to the +future.</q> She indeed could not enjoy the present with +that relish which he wished, and she had not any +trust in the future either; but this volume spoke a +different doctrine. There she learned the very +opposite to what Aristo taught—viz., that the present +must be sacrificed for the future; that what is +seen must give way to what is believed. Nay, more, +she drank in the teaching which at first seemed so +paradoxical, that even present happiness and present +greatness lie in relinquishing what at first sight seems +to promise them; that the way to true pleasure is, +not through self-indulgence, but through mortification; +that the way to power is weakness, the way to +success failure, the way to wisdom foolishness, the +way to glory dishonour. She saw that there was a +higher beauty than that which the order and harmony +of the natural world revealed, and a deeper peace and +calm than that which the exercise, whether of the intellect +or of the purest human affection, can supply. +She now began to understand that strange, unearthly +composure, which had struck her in Chione, Agellius, +and Cæcilius; she understood that they were detached +from the world, not because they had not the possession, +nor the natural love of its gifts, but because +they possessed a higher blessing already, which they +loved above everything else. Thus, by degrees, +<pb n="328"/><anchor id="Pg328"/>Callista came to walk by a new philosophy; and had +ideas, and principles, and a sense of relations and +aims, and a susceptibility of arguments, to which before +she was an utter stranger. Life and death, action and +suffering, fortunes and abilities, all had now a new +meaning and application. As the skies speak differently +to the philosopher and the peasant, as a book of +poems to the imaginative and to the cold and narrow +intellect, so now she saw her being, her history, her +present condition, her future, in a new light, which no +one else could share with her. But the ruling sovereign +thought of the whole was He, who exemplified +all this wonderful philosophy in Himself. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXX" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="329"/><anchor id="Pg329"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXX. Torres Vedras"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXX.</head> + +<head type="sub">TORRES VEDRAS.</head> + +<p> +There were those, however, whom Callista could +understand, and who could understand her; there +were those who, while Aristo, Cornelius, Jucundus, +and Polemo were moving in her behalf, were interesting +themselves also in her, and in a more effectual way. +Agellius had joined Cæcilius, and, if in no other way, +by his mouth came to the latter and his companions +the news of her imprisonment. On the morning that +Agellius had been so strangely let out of confinement +by his brother, and found himself seated at the street-door, +with his tunic on his arm and his boots on the +ground before him, his first business was to recollect +where he was, and to dispose of those articles of dress +according to their respective uses. What should he +do with himself, was of course his second thought. +He could not stay there long without encountering +the early risers of Sicca, the gates being already open. +To attempt to find out where Callista was, and then +to see her or rescue her, would have ended at once in +his own capture. To go to his own farm would have +been nearly as dangerous, and would have had less +<pb n="330"/><anchor id="Pg330"/>meaning. Cæcilius too had said, that they were not +long to be separated, and had given him directions for +finding him. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately then he made his way to one of the +eastern gates, which led to Thibursicumbur. There +was indeed no time to be lost, as he soon had indications; +he met several men who knew him by sight, +and one of the apparitors of the Duumviri, who happily +did not. An apostate Christian, whose zeal for +the government was notorious, passed him and looked +back after him. However, he would soon be out of +pursuit, if he had the start of them until the sun got +round the mountains he was seeking. He walked on +through a series of rocky and barren hills, till he got +some way past the second milestone. Before he had +reached the third he had entered a defile in the +mountains. Perpendicular rocks rose on each side of +him, and the level road, reaching from rock to rock, +was not above thirty feet across. He felt that if he +was pursued here, there was no escape. The third +milestone passed, he came to the country road; he +pursued it, counting out his thousand steps, as Cæcilius +had instructed him. By this time it had left the +stony bottom, and was rising up the side of the precipice. +Brushwood and dwarf pines covered it, mingled +with a few olives and caroubas. He said out his seven +pater nosters as he walked, and then looked around. +He had just passed a goatherd, and they looked hard +at each other. Agellius wished him good morning. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are wishing a kid for Bacchus, sir,</q> said the +<pb n="331"/><anchor id="Pg331"/>man to him as he was running his eye over the goats. +On Agellius answering in the negative, he said in a +clownish way, <q>He who does not sacrifice to Bacchus +does not sacrifice goats.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius, bearing in mind Cæcilius’s directions, saw +of course there was something in the words which did +not meet the ear, and answered carelessly, <q>He who +does not sacrifice, does not sacrifice to Bacchus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True,</q> said the man, <q>but perhaps you prefer a +lamb for a sacrifice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius replied, <q>If it is the right one; but the +one I mean was slain long since.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The man, without any change of manner, went on +to say that there was an acquaintance of his not far +up the rock, who could perhaps satisfy him on the +point. He said, <q>Follow those wild olives, though +the path seems broken, and you will come to him at +the nineteenth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Agellius set out, and never was path so untrue to its +own threats. It seemed ending in abrupt cliffs every +turn, but never fulfilled the anticipation; that is, while +he kept to the olive-trees. After ascending what was +rather a flight of marble steps, washed and polished +by the winter torrents, than a series of crags, he fulfilled +the number of trees, and looked round at the +man sitting under it. O the joy and surprise! it was +his old servant Aspar. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are safe, then, Aspar,</q> he said, <q>and I find +you here. O what a tender Providence!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have taken my stand here, master,</q> returned +<pb n="332"/><anchor id="Pg332"/>Aspar, <q>day after day, since I got here, in hopes of +seeing you. I could not get back to you from Jucundus’s +that dreadful morning, and so I made my way +here. Your uncle sent for you in my presence, but at +the time I did not know what it meant. I was able +to escape.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And now for Cæcilius,</q> said Agellius. +</p> + +<p> +Behind the olive-tree a torrent’s bed descended; the +descent being so easy, and yet so natural, that art +had evidently interfered with nature, yet concealed its +interference. After tracing it some yards, they came +to a chasm on the opposite side; and, passing through +it, Agellius soon found himself, to his surprise, on a +bleak open hill, to which the huge mountain formed +merely a sort of <hi rend="italic">façade</hi>. Its surface was half rock, +half moor, and it was surrounded by precipices. It +was such a place as some hermit of the middle ages +might have chosen for his solitude. The two walked +briskly across it, and at length came to a low, broad +yawning opening, branching out into several passages +which, if pursued, would have been found to end in +nothing. Aspar, however, made straight for what +appeared a dead wall of rock, in which, on his making +a signal, a door, skilfully hidden, was opened from +within, and was shut behind them by the porter. +They now stood in a gallery running into the mountain. +It was very long, and a stream of cold air came +along it. Aspar told him that at the extremity of it +they should find Cæcilius. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius was indeed in the vestibule of a +remark<pb n="333"/><anchor id="Pg333"/>able specimen of those caves which had been used for +religious purposes, first by the aborigines of the country, +then by the Phœnician colonists, and in the centuries +which had just passed, for the concealment +of the Christians. The passage along which they +were proceeding might itself be fitly called a cave, +but still it was only one of several natural subterraneans, +of different shapes, and opening into each +other. Some of them lay along the face of a ravine, +from which they received light and air; and here in +one place there were indications of a fortified front. +They were perfectly dry, though the water had at +some remote period filtered through the roof, and had +formed pendants and pillars of semi-transparent stalactite, +of great beauty. It was another and singular +advantage that a particular spot in one of the caverns, +which bordered on the ravine, was the focus of an +immense ear or whispering-gallery, such, that whatever +took place in the public road in which the ravine +terminated, could be distinctly heard there, and thus +they were always kept on guard against the attack of +an enemy, if expected. Had either Agellius or Aspar +been curious about such a matter, the latter might +have pointed out the place where a Punic altar once +had been discovered, with a sort of <hi rend="italic">tumulus</hi> of bones +of mice near at hand, that animal coming into the list +of victims in the Phœnician worship. +</p> + +<p> +But the two Christians were engaged, as they first +halted, and then walked along the <anchor id="corr333"/><corr sic="corrider">corridor</corr>, in other +thoughts, than in asking and answering questions +<pb n="334"/><anchor id="Pg334"/>about the history of the place of refuge in which they +found themselves. We have already remarked on the +central position of Sicca for the purpose of missionary +work and of retreat in persecution; such a dwelling +in the rocks did but increase its advantageousness, +and in consequence at this moment many Christians +had availed themselves of it. It is an English proverb +that three removes are as bad as a fire; and so great +were the perils and the hardships of flight in those +times, that it was a question, in a merely earthly point +of view, whether the risk of being apprehended at +home was not a far less evil than the evils which were +certain upon leaving it. There was nothing, then, +ungenerous in the ecclesiastical rule that they alone +should flee, in persecution, who were marked out for +death, if they stayed. The laity, private families, and +the priests, on whose ministrations they depended, +remained; bishops, deacons, and what may be called +the staff of the episcopate, notaries, messengers, +seminarists, and ascetics, would disappear from the +scene of persecution. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius learned from his slave that the cave had +been known to him from the time he was a boy, and +that it was one of the secrets which all who shared it +religiously observed. Holy men, it seemed, had had +intimations of the present trial for several years past; +and it was the full persuasion of the heads of the +Church, that, though it might blow over for a short +time, it would recur at intervals for many years, ending +in a visitation so heavy and long, that the times +<pb n="335"/><anchor id="Pg335"/>of Antichrist would seem to have arrived. However, +the impression upon their minds was, that then would +come a millennium, or, in some sort, a reign of the +saints upon the earth. That, however, was a date +which even Agellius himself, young as he was, would +not be likely to reach; indeed, who could expect to +escape, who might not hope to gain, a Martyr’s death, +in the interval, in the series of assaults, between +which Christianity had to run the gauntlet? Aspar +said, moreover, that some martyrs lay in the chapels +within, and that various confessors had ended their +days there. At the present time there were representatives, +there collected, of a large portion of the +Churches of the Proconsulate. A post, so to call it, +went between them and Carthage every week, and his +friend and father, the bishop of that city, was especially +busy in correspondence. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, Agellius learned from him that they had +many partisans, well-wishers, and sympathizers, about +the country, whom no one suspected; the families of +parents who had conformed to the established worship, +nay, sometimes the apostates themselves, and that +this was the case in Sicca as well as elsewhere. For +himself, old and ignorant as he was, the persecution +had proved to him an education. He had been +brought near great men, and some who, he was confident, +would be martyrs in the event. He had learned +a great deal about his religion which he did not know +before, and had drunk in the spirit of Christianity, +with a fulness which he trusted would not turn to his +<pb n="336"/><anchor id="Pg336"/>ultimate condemnation. He now too had a consciousness +of the size and populousness of the Church, +of her diffusion, of the promises made to her, of the +essential necessity of what seemed to be misfortune, +of the episcopal regimen, and of the power and +solidity of the see of Peter afar off in Rome, all which +knowledge had made him quite another being. We +have put all this into finer language than the good old +man used himself, and we have grouped it more +exactly, but this is what his words would come to, +when explained. +</p> + +<p> +Coming down to sublunary matters, Aspar said the +cave was well provisioned; they had bread, oil, figs, +dried grapes, and wine. They had vessels and vestments +for the Holy Sacrifice. Their serious want was +a dearth of water at that season, but they relied on +Divine Providence to give them by miracle, if in no +other way, a supply. The place was piercingly cold +too in the winter. +</p> + +<p> +By this time they had gained the end of the long +gallery, and passed through a second apartment, +when suddenly the sounds of the ecclesiastical chant +burst on the ear of Agellius. How strange, how +transporting to him! he was almost for the first time +coming home to his father’s house, though he had +been a Christian from a child, and never, as he trusted, +to leave it, now that it was found. He did not know +how to behave himself, nor indeed where to go. +Aspar conducted him into the seats set apart for the +faithful; he knelt down and burst into tears. +</p> + +<pb n="337"/><anchor id="Pg337"/> + +<p> +It was approaching the third hour, the hour at which +the Paraclete originally descended upon the Apostles, +and which, when times of persecution were passed, +was appointed in the West for the solemn mass of the +day. In that early age, indeed, the time of the solemnity +was generally midnight, in order to elude observation; +but even then such an hour was considered +of but temporary arrangement. Pope Telesphorus is +said to have prescribed the hour, afterwards in use, +as early even as the second century; and in a place +of such quiet and security as the cavern in which we +just now find ourselves, there was no reason why it +should not be selected. At the lower end of the +chapel was a rail extending across it, and open in the +middle, where its two portions turned up at right +angles on each side towards the altar. The enclosure +thus made was the place proper for the faithful, into +which Agellius had been introduced, and about fifty +persons were collected about him. Where the two +side-rails which ran up the chapel ceased, there was +a broad step; and upon it two pulpits, one on each +side. Then came a second elevation, carrying the eye +on to the extremity of the upper end. +</p> + +<p> +In the middle of the wall at that upper end is a +recess, occupied by a tomb. On the front of it is +written the name of some glorious champion of the +faith who lies there. It is one of the first bishops of +Sicca, and the inscription attests that he slept in +the Lord under the Emperor Antoninus. Over the +sacred relics is a slab, and on the slab the Divine +<pb n="338"/><anchor id="Pg338"/>Mysteries are now to be celebrated. At the back is +a painting on the wall, very similar to that in Agellius’s +cottage. The ever-blessed immaculate Mother +of God is exercising her office as the Advocate of +sinners, standing by the sacrifice as she stood at the +cross itself, and offering up and applying its infinite +merits and incommunicable virtue in union with +priest and people. So instinctive in the Christian +mind is the principle of decoration, as it may be +called, that even in times of suffering, and places of +banishment, we see it brought into exercise. Not +only is the arch which overspans the altar ornamented +with an arabesque pattern, but the roof or vault is +coloured with paintings. Our Lord is in the centre, +with two figures of Moses on each side, on the right +unloosing his sandals, on the left striking the rock. +Between the centre figure and the altar may be seen +the raising of Lazarus; in the opposite partition the +healing of the paralytic; at the four angles are men +and women alternately in the attitude of prayer. +</p> + +<p> +At this time the altar-stone was covered with a rich +crimson silk, with figures of St. Peter and St. Paul +worked in gold upon it, the gift of a pious lady of +Carthage. Beyond the altar, but not touching it, was +a cross; and on one side of the altar a sort of basin or +<hi rend="italic">piscina</hi> cut in the rock, with a linen cloth hanging up +against it. There were no candles upon the altar itself, +but wax lights fixed into silver stands were placed at +intervals along the edge of the presbytery or elevation. +</p> + +<p> +The mass was in behalf of the confessors for the +<pb n="339"/><anchor id="Pg339"/>faith then in prison in Carthage; and the sacred +ministers, some half-hour after Agellius’s entrance, +made their appearance. Their vestments already +varied somewhat from the ordinary garments of the +day, and bespoke antiquity; and, though not so simply +<hi rend="italic">sui generis</hi> as they are now, they were so far special, +that they were never used on any other occasion, but +were reserved for the sacred service. The neck was +bare, the amice being as yet unknown; instead of the +stole was what was called the <hi rend="italic">orarium</hi>, a sort of handkerchief +resting on the shoulders, and falling down on +each side. The alb had been the inner garment, or +<hi rend="italic">camisium</hi>, which in civil use was retained at night +when the other garments were thrown off; and, as at +the present day, it was confined round the waist by a +zone or girdle. The maniple was a napkin, supplying +the place of a handkerchief; and the chasuble was an +ample <hi rend="italic">pænula</hi>, such as was worn by the judges, a cloak +enveloping the whole person round, when spread out, +with an opening in the centre, through which the head +might pass. The deacon’s dalmatic was much longer +than it is now, and the subdeacon’s tunicle resembled +the alb. All the vestments were of the purest white. +</p> + +<p> +The mass began by the bishop giving his blessing; +and then the Lector, a man of venerable age, taking +the roll called <hi rend="italic">Lectionarium</hi>, and proceeding to a +pulpit, read the Prophets to the people, much in the +way observed among ourselves still on holy Saturday +and the vigil of Pentecost. These being finished, the +people chanted the first verse of the <hi rend="italic">Gloria Patri</hi>, +<pb n="340"/><anchor id="Pg340"/>after which the clergy alternated with the people the +<hi rend="italic">Kyrie</hi>, pretty much as the custom is now. +</p> + +<p> +Here a fresh roll was brought to the Lector, then or +afterwards called <hi rend="italic">Apostolus</hi>, from which he read one +of the canonical epistles. A psalm followed, which +was sung by the people; and, after this, the Lector +received the <hi rend="italic">Evangeliarium</hi>, and read a portion of the +Gospel, at which lights were lighted, and the people +stood. When he had finished, the Lector opened the +roll wide, and, turning round, presented it to bishop, +clergy, and people to kiss. +</p> + +<p> +The deacon then cried out, <q>Ite in pace, catechumeni,</q> +<q>Depart in peace, catechumens;</q> and then the +kiss of peace was passed round, and the people began +to sing some psalms or hymns. While they were +so engaged, the deacon received from the acolyte the +<hi rend="italic">sindon</hi>, or corporal, which was of the length of the +altar, and perhaps of greater breadth, and spread it +upon the sacred table. Next was placed on the <hi rend="italic">sindon</hi> +the <hi rend="italic">oblata</hi>, that is, the small loaves, according to the +number of communicants, with the paten, which was +large, and a gold chalice, duly prepared. And then +the <hi rend="italic">sindon</hi>, or corporal, was turned back over them, +to cover them as a pall. +</p> + +<p> +The celebrant then advanced: he stood at the +further side of the altar, where the candles are now, +with his face to the people, and then began the holy +sacrifice. First he incensed the <hi rend="italic">oblata</hi>, that is, the +loaves and chalice, as an acknowledgment of God’s +sovereign dominion, and as a token of uplifted prayer +<pb n="341"/><anchor id="Pg341"/>to Him. Then the roll of prayers was brought him, +while the deacon began what is sometimes called the +bidding prayer, being a catalogue of the various subjects +for which intercession is to be made, after the +manner of the <hi rend="italic">Oremus dilectissimi</hi>, now used on Good +Friday. This catalogue included all conditions of +men, the conversion of the world, the exaltation of +Holy Church, the maintenance of the Roman empire, +the due ripening and gathering of the fruits of the +earth, and other spiritual and temporal blessings,—subjects +very much the same as those which are now +called the Pope’s intentions. The prayers ended with +a special reference to those present, that they might +persevere in the Lord even to the end. And then +the priest began the <hi rend="italic">Sursum corda</hi>, and said the +<hi rend="italic">Sanctus</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +The Canon or <hi rend="italic">Actio</hi> seems to have run, in all but a +few words, as it does now, and the solemn words of +consecration were said secretly. Great stress was laid +on the Lord’s prayer, which in one sense terminated +the function. It was said aloud by the people, and +when they said, <q>Forgive us our trespasses,</q> they +beat their breasts. +</p> + +<p> +It is not wonderful that Agellius, assisting for +almost the first time at this wonderful solemnity, +should have noted everything as it occurred; and we +must be considered as giving our account of it from +his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +It needs not to enlarge on the joy of the meeting +which followed between Cæcilius and his young +peni<pb n="342"/><anchor id="Pg342"/>tent. <q>O my father,</q> he said, <q>I come to thee, never +to leave thee, to be thy dutiful servant, and to be +trained by thee after the pattern of Him who made +thee what thou art. Wonderful things have happened; +Callista is in prison on the charge of Christianity; +I was in a sort of prison myself, or what was +worse for my soul; and Juba, my brother, in the +strangest of ways, has this morning let me out. Shall +she not be saved, my father, in God’s own way, as +well as I? At least we can all pray for her; but +surely we can do more—so precious a soul must not +be left to herself and the world. If she has the trials, +she may claim the blessings of a Christian. Is she to +go back to heathenism? Is she, alas! to suffer without +baptism? Shall we not hazard death to bestow +on her that grace?</q> +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="343"/><anchor id="Pg343"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXI. The baptism"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXI.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE BAPTISM.</head> + +<p> +We have already had occasion to mention that +there were many secret well-wishers, or at least protectors, +of Christians, as in the world at large, so +also in Sicca. There were many persons who had received +benefits from their charity, and had experience +of the scandalous falsehood of the charges now circulated +against them. Others would feel a generosity +towards a cruelly persecuted body; others, utterly +dead to the subject of religion, or rather believing +all religions to be impostures, would not allow it to +be assumed that only one was worthy of bad treatment. +Others liked what they heard of the religion +itself, and thought there was truth in it, though it +had no claim to a monopoly of truth. Others felt it +to be true, but shrank from the consequences of +openly embracing it. Others, who had apostatised +through fear of the executioner, intended to come +back to it at the last. It must be added that in +the African Church confessors in prison had, or were +considered to have, the remarkable privilege of gaining +the public forgiveness of the Church for those who +had lapsed; it was an object, then, for all those +<pb n="344"/><anchor id="Pg344"/>who, being in that miserable case, wished some day +to be restored, to gain their promise of assistance, or +their good-will. To these reasons was added, in Callista’s +case, the interest which naturally attached to a +woman, young and defenceless. +</p> + +<p> +The burning sun of Africa is at the height of its +power. The population is prostrated by heat, by +scarcity, by pestilence, and by the decimation which +their riot brought upon them. They care neither for +Christianity, nor for anything else just now. They +lie in the porticoes, in the caverns under the city, in +the baths. They are more alive at night. The <hi rend="italic">apparitor</hi>, +in whose dwelling Callista was lodged, who +was himself once a Christian, lies in the shade of the +great doorway, into which his rooms open, asleep, or +stupefied. Two men make their appearance about +two hours before sunset, and demand admittance to +Callista. The jailor asks if they are not the two +Greeks, her brother and the rhetorician, who had +visited her before. The junior of the strangers drops +a purse heavy with coin into his lap, and passes on +with his companion. When the mind is intent on +great subjects or aims, heat and cold, hunger and +thirst, lose their power of enfeebling it; thus perhaps +we must account for the energy now displayed both +by the two ecclesiastics and by Callista herself. +</p> + +<p> +She too thought it was the unwelcome philosopher +come again; she gave a start and a cry of delight +when she saw it was Cæcilius. <q>My father,</q> she said, +<q>I want to be a Christian, if I may; He came to +<pb n="345"/><anchor id="Pg345"/>save the lost sheep. I have learnt such things from +this book—let me give it you while I can. I am not +long for this world. Give me Him who spoke so +kindly to that woman. Take from me my load of +sin, and then I will gladly go.</q> She knelt at his feet, +and gave the roll of parchment into his hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Rise and sit,</q> he answered. <q>Let us think calmly +over the matter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am ready,</q> she insisted. <q>Deny me not my +wish, when time is so urgent—if I may have it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Sit down calmly,</q> he said again; <q>I am not +refusing you, but I wish to know about you.</q> He +could hardly keep from tears, of pain, or of joy, or of +both, when he saw the great change which trial had +wrought in her. What touched him most was the +utter disappearance of that majesty of mien, which once +was hers, a gift, so beautiful, so unsuitable to fallen +man. There was instead of it a frank humility, a +simplicity without concealment, an unresisting meekness, +which seemed as if it would enable her, if +trampled on, to smile and to kiss the feet that +insulted her. She had lost every vestige of what the +world worships under the titles of proper pride and +self-respect. Callista was now living, not in the +thought of herself, but of Another. +</p> + +<p> +<q>God has been very good to you,</q> he continued; +<q>but in the volume you have returned to me He bids +us <q>reckon the charges.</q> Can you drink of His chalice? +Recollect what is before you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She still continued kneeling, with a touching +earn<pb n="346"/><anchor id="Pg346"/>estness of face and demeanour, and with her hands +crossed upon her breast. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I <hi rend="italic">have</hi> reckoned,</q> she replied; <q>heaven and hell: +I prefer heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are on earth,</q> said Cæcilius; <q>not in heaven +or hell. You must bear the pangs of earth before you +drink the blessedness of heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He has given me the firm purpose,</q> she said, <q>to +gain heaven, to escape hell; and He will give me too +the power.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ah, Callista!</q> he answered, in a voice broken with +distress, <q>you know not what you will have to bear, +if you join yourself to Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He has done great things for me already; I am +wonderfully changed; I am not what I was. He will +do more still.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Alas, my child!</q> said Cæcilius, <q>that feeble frame, +ah! how will it bear the strong iron, or the keen flame, +or the ruthless beast? My child, what do <hi rend="italic">I</hi> feel, who +am free, thus handing you over to be the sport of the +evil one?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Father, I have chosen Him,</q> she answered, <q>not +hastily, but on deliberation. I believe Him most absolutely. +Keep me not from Him; give Him to me, +if I may ask it; give me my Love.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Presently she added, <q>I have never forgotten those +words of yours since you used them; <q>Amor meus +crucifixus est.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +She began again, <q>I will be a Christian; give me +my place among them. Give me my place at the +<pb n="347"/><anchor id="Pg347"/>feet of Jesus, Son of Mary, my God. I wish to love +Him. I think I can love Him. Make me His.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He has loved you from eternity,</q> said Cæcilius, +<q>and, therefore, you are now beginning to love Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She covered her eyes with her hands, and remained +in profound meditation. <q>I am very ignorant—very +sinful,</q> she said at length; <q>but one thing I know, +that there is but One to love in the whole world, and +I wish to love him. I surrender myself to Him, if +He will take me; and He shall teach me about Himself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The angry multitude, their fierce voices, the +brutal executioner, the prison, the torture, the slow, +painful death.</q> He was speaking, not to her, but to +himself. She was calm, in spite of her fervour; but +he could not contain himself. His heart melted within +him; he felt like Abraham, lifting up his hand to slay +his child. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Time passes,</q> she said; <q>what may happen? you +may be discovered. But, perhaps,</q> she added, suddenly +changing her tone, <q>it is a matter of long <anchor id="corr347"/><corr sic="initiation,">initiation.</corr> +Woe is me!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>We must gird ourselves to the work, Victor,</q> he +said to his deacon who was with him. Cæcilius fell +back and sat down, and Victor came forward. He +formally instructed her so far as the circumstances +allowed. Not for baptism only, but for confirmation, +and Holy Eucharist; for Cæcilius determined to give +her all three sacraments at once. +</p> + +<p> +It was a sight for angels to look down upon, and +<pb n="348"/><anchor id="Pg348"/>they did; when the poor child, rich in this world’s +gifts, but poor in those of eternity, knelt down to +receive that sacred stream upon her brow, which fell +upon her with almost sensible sweetness, and suddenly +produced a serenity different in kind from anything +she had ever before even had the power of conceiving. +</p> + +<p> +The bishop gave her confirmation, and then the Holy +Eucharist. It was her first and last communion; in a +few days she renewed it, or rather completed it, under +the very Face and Form of Him whom she now believed +without seeing. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Farewell, my dearest of children,</q> said Cæcilius, +<q>till the hour when we both meet before the throne +of God. A few sharp pangs which you can count and +measure, and all will be well. You will be carried +through joyously, and like a conqueror. I know it. +You could face the prospect before you were a Christian, +and you will be equal to the actual trial, now that you +are.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Never fear me, father,</q> she said in a clear, low +<anchor id="corr348"/><corr sic="voice">voice.</corr> The bishop and his deacon left the prison. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +The sun had all but set, when Cæcilius and Victor +passed the city gate; and it was more than twilight +as they crossed the wild hills leading to the precipitous +pass. Evil men were not their only peril in this +work of charity. They were also in danger from wild +beasts in these lone wastes, and, the heathen would +have added, from bad spirits. Bad spirits Cæcilius +<pb n="349"/><anchor id="Pg349"/>recognised too; but he would not have granted that +they were perilous. The two went forward, saying +prayers lowly, and singing psalms, when a sudden cry +was heard, and a strong tall form rushed past them. +It might be some robber of the wild, or dangerous +outcast, or savage fanatic, who knew and hated their +religion; however, while they stopped and looked, he +had come, and he was gone. But he came again, more +slowly; and from his remarkable shape Cæcilius saw +that it was the brother of Agellius. He said, <q>Juba;</q> +Juba started back, and stood at a distance. Cæcilius +held out his hand, and called him on, again mentioning +his name. The poor fellow came nearer: Cæcilius’s +day’s work was not at an end. +</p> + +<p> +Since we last heard of him, Juba had dwelt in the +mountainous tract over which the two Christians were +now passing; roaming to and fro, or beating himself +in idle fury against the adamantine rocks, and fighting +with the stern necessity of the elements. How he +was sustained can hardly be guessed, unless the +impulse, which led him on the first accession of his +fearful malady, to fly upon the beasts of the desert, +served him here also. Roots too and fruits were scattered +over the wild; and still more so in the ravines, +wherever any quantity of soil had been accumulated. +Alas! had the daylight lasted, in him too, as well as +in Callista, Cæcilius would have found changes, but +of a very different nature; yet even in him he would +have seen a change for the better, for that old awful +expression of pride and defiance was gone. What +<pb n="350"/><anchor id="Pg350"/>was the use of parading a self-will, which every +moment of his life belied? His actions, his words, his +hands, his lips, his feet, his place of abode, his daily +course, were in the dominion of another, who inexorably +ruled him. It was not the gentle influence which +draws and persuades; it was not the power which can +be propitiated by prayer; it was a tyranny which +acted without reaction, energetic as mind, and impenetrable +as matter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Juba,</q> said Cæcilius a third time. The maniac +came nearer, and then again suddenly retreated. He +stood at a short distance from Cæcilius, as if afraid to +come on, and cried out, tossing his hands wildly, +<q>Away, black hypocrite, come not near me! Away! +hound of a priest, cross not my path, lest I tear you +to shreds!</q> Such visitations were no novelties to +Cæcilius; he raised his hand and made the sign of +the cross, then he said, <q>Come.</q> Juba advanced, +shrieked, and used some terrible words, and rushed +upon Cæcilius, as if he would treat him as he had +treated the savage wolf. <q>Come?</q> he cried, <q>yes, I +come!</q> and Victor ran up, fearing his teeth would be +in Cæcilius’s throat, if he delayed longer. The latter +stood his ground, quailing neither in eye nor in limb; +he made the sign of the cross a second time; and in +spite of a manifest antagonism within him, the +stricken youth, with horrid cries, came dancing after +him. +</p> + +<p> +Thus they proceeded, with some signs of insurrection +from time to time on Juba’s part, but with a +<pb n="351"/><anchor id="Pg351"/>successful reduction of it as often on the part of +Cæcilius, till they got to the ascent by the olive-trees, +where careful walking was necessary. Then Cæcilius +turned round, and beckoned him. He came. He +said, <q>Kneel down.</q> He knelt down. Cæcilius put +his hand on his head, saying to him, <q>Follow me +close and without any disturbance.</q> The three pursued +their journey, and all arrived safe at the cavern. +There Cæcilius gave Juba in charge to Romanus, +who had been intrusted with the <hi rend="italic">energumens</hi> at Carthage. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="352"/><anchor id="Pg352"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXII. The imperial rescript"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXII.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE IMPERIAL RESCRIPT.</head> + +<p> +Had the imperial edict been acted on by the magistrates +of Sicca, without a reference to Carthage, it is +not easy to suppose that Callista would have persevered +in her refusal to commit the act of idolatry +required of her. But, to speak of second causes, the +hesitation of her judges was her salvation. Once +baptised, there was no reason she should desire any +further delay of her conflict. Come it must, and come +it did. While Cæcilius was placing her beyond +danger, the rescript of the Proconsul had been +received at the office of the Duumvirs. +</p> + +<p> +The absence of the Proconsul from Carthage had +been the cause of the delay; and then, some investigation +was needed to understand the relation of Callista’s +seizure to the riot on the one hand, and to the +strong act of the military on the other, in quelling it. +It was thought that something or other might come +to light to account for the anomalous and unaccountable +position which she had taken up. The imperial +government considered it had now a clear view of her +case, and its orders were distinct and peremptory. +Christianity was to cease to be. It was a subtle foe, +<pb n="353"/><anchor id="Pg353"/>sapping the vitals of the state. Rome must perish, +or this illegal association. Such evasions as Callista +had used were but instances of its craft. Its treason +lay, not in its being Christianity, but in its not sacrificing +to the gods of Rome. Callista was but throwing +dust in their eyes. There had been no blow +struck against the treason in inland Africa. Women +had often been the most dangerous of conspirators. +As she was a stranger, there was more probability of +her connection with secret societies, and also less +inconvenience in her execution. Whatever happened, +she was to be got rid of; but first her resolution was +to be broken, for the sake of the example. First, let +her be brought before the tribunal and threatened: +then thrust into the Tullianum; then put upon the +rack, and returned to prison; then scorched over a +slow fire; last of all, beheaded, and left for beasts of +prey. She would sacrifice ere the last stage was +reached. When she had given way, let her be given +up to the gladiators. The message ended by saying +that the Proconsular Procurator, who came by the +same carriages, would preside at the process. +</p> + +<p> +O wisdom of the world! and strength of the world! +what are you when matched beside the foolishness and +the weakness of the Christian? You are great in resources, +manifold in methods, hopeful in prospects; +but one thing you have not,—and that is peace. You +are always tumultuous, restless, apprehensive. You +have nothing you can rely upon. You have no rock +under your feet. But the humblest, feeblest Christian +<pb n="354"/><anchor id="Pg354"/>has that which is impossible to you. Callista had +once felt the misery of maladies akin to yours. She +had passed through doubt, anxiety, perplexity, despondency, +passion; but now she was in peace. Now +she feared the torture or the flame as little as the +breeze which arose at nightfall, or the busy chatter of +the grasshoppers at the noonday. Nay, rather, she +did not think of torture and death at all, but was +possessed by a peace which bore her up, as if bodily, +on its mighty wings. For hours she remained on her +knees, after Cæcilius left her: then she lay down on +her rushes and slept her last sleep. +</p> + +<p> +She slept sound; she dreamed. She thought she +was no longer in Africa, but in her own Greece, more +sunny and bright than before; but the inhabitants +were gone. Its majestic mountains, its rich plains, its +expanse of waters, all silent: no one to converse with, +no one to sympathize with. And, as she wandered +on and wondered, suddenly its face changed, and its +colours were illuminated tenfold by a heavenly glory, +and each hue upon the scene was of a beauty she had +never known, and seemed strangely to affect all her +senses at once, being fragrance and music, as well as +light. And there came out of the grottoes and glens +and woods, and out of the seas, myriads of bright +images, whose forms she could not discern; and these +came all around her, and became a sort of scene or +landscape, which she could not have described in +words, as if it were a world of spirits, not of matter. +And as she gazed, she thought she saw before her a +<pb n="355"/><anchor id="Pg355"/>well-known face, only glorified. She, who had been +a slave, now was arrayed more brilliantly than an +oriental queen; and she looked at Callista with a +smile so sweet, that Callista felt she could but dance +to it. +</p> + +<p> +And as she looked more earnestly, doubting +whether she should begin or not, the face changed, +and now was more marvellous still. It had an innocence +in its look, and also a tenderness, which bespoke +both Maid and Mother, and so transported Callista, +that she must needs advance towards her, out of love +and reverence. And the lady seemed to make signs +of encouragement: so she began a solemn measure, +unlike all dances of earth, with hands and feet, +serenely moving on towards what she heard some of +them call a great action and a glorious consummation, +though she did not know what they meant. +At length she was fain to sing as well as dance; and +her words were, <q>In the name of the Father, and of +the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;</q> on which another +said, <q>A good beginning of the sacrifice.</q> And +when she had come close to this gracious figure, there +was a fresh change. The face, the features were the +same; but the light of Divinity now seemed to beam +through them, and the hair parted, and hung down +long on each side of the forehead; and there was a +crown of another fashion than the Lady’s round about +it, made of what looked like thorns. And the palms +of the hands were spread out as if towards her, and +there were marks of wounds in them. And the +<pb n="356"/><anchor id="Pg356"/>vestment had fallen, and there was a deep opening +in the side. And as she stood entranced before Him, +and motionless, she felt a consciousness that her own +palms were pierced like His, and her feet also. And +she looked round, and saw the likeness of His face +and of His wounds upon all that company. And +now they were suddenly moving on, and bearing +something or some one, heavenwards; and they too +began to sing, and their words seemed to be, +<q>Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep,</q> +ever repeated. They went up through an avenue or +long grotto, with torches of diamonds, and amethysts, +and sapphires, which lit up its spars and made them +sparkle. And she tried to look, but could not discover +what they were carrying, till she heard a very +piercing cry, which awoke her. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXIII" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="357"/><anchor id="Pg357"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXIII. A good confession"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXIII.</head> + +<head type="sub">A GOOD CONFESSION.</head> + +<p> +The cry came from the keeper’s wife, whom we have +described as kindly disposed to her. She was a +Lybo-Phœnician, and spoke a broken Latin; but the +language of sympathy is universal, in spite of Babel. +<q>Callista,</q> she exclaimed; <q>girl, they have sent for +you; you are to die. O frightful! worse than a runaway +slave,—the torture! Give in. What’s the +harm? you are so young: those terrible men with +the pincers and hot bars!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista sat up, and passed from her vision to her +prison. She smiled and said, <q>I am ready; I am +going home.</q> The woman looked almost frightened, +and with some shade of disgust and disappointment. +She, as others, might have thought it impossible, as it +was unaccountable, that when it came to the point +Callista would hold out. <q>She’s crazed,</q> she said. +<q>I am ready, mother,</q> Callista said, and she got up. +<q>You have been very good to me,</q> she continued; +<q>I have been saying many prayers for you, while my +prayers were of no good, for then He was not mine. +But now I have espoused Him, and am going to be +married to-day, and He will hear me.</q> The woman +<pb n="358"/><anchor id="Pg358"/>stared at her stupidly, as much as to make it evident +that if afterwards a change took place in her, as in +Callista, that change too, though in so different a soul, +must come of something beyond nature. She had +something in her hand, and said, <q>It’s useless to give +a mad woman like her the packet, which my man has +brought me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista took the packet, which was directed to her, +and broke the seal. It was from her brother. The +little roll of worn parchment opened; a dagger fell +out. Some lines were written on the parchment; +they were dated Carthage, and ran as follows:— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Aristo to his dearest Callista. I write through +Cornelius. You have not had it in your power to kill +me, but you have taken away half my life. For me, +I will cherish the other half, for I love life better than +death. But you love annihilation; yet, if so, die not +like a slave. Die nobly, mindful of your country; I +send you the means.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Callista was beyond reflecting on anything around +her, except as in a sort of dream. As common men +think and speak of heaven, so she now thought and +spoke of earth. <q>I wish <hi rend="italic">Him</hi> to kill me, not myself,</q> +she said. <q>I am His victim. My brother! I have +no brother, except One, who is calling me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was carried to court, and the examination followed. +We have already given a specimen of such a +process; here it will be sufficient to make use of two +documents, different in kind, as far as they go, which +have come down to us. The first is an alto-relief, +<pb n="359"/><anchor id="Pg359"/>which once was coloured, not first-rate in art or execution, +and of the date of the Emperor Constantius, +about a century later. It was lately discovered in the +course of excavations made at El Kaf, the modern +Sicca, on the ruins of a church or Roman basilica, for +the building in question seems to have served each +purpose successively. In this sculpture the prætorium +is represented, and the tribunal of the president in it. +The tribunal is a high throne, with wings curving +round on each side, making the whole construction +extend to almost a semicircle, and it is ascended by +steps between the wings. The curule chair is at the +top of the steps; and in the middle and above it are +purple curtains, reaching down to the platform, drawn +back on each side, and when drawn close together +running behind the chair, and constituting what was +called the <hi rend="italic">secretarium</hi>. On one side of the tribunal is +a table covered with carpeting, and looking something +like a modern ottoman, only higher, and not level at +top; and it has upon it the Book of Mandates, the +sign of jurisdiction. The sword too is represented in +the sculpture, to show a criminal case is proceeding. +The procurator is seated on the chair; he is in purple, +and has a gold chain of triple thread. We can also +distinguish his lawyers, whether assessors or <hi rend="italic">consiliarii</hi>; +also his lictors and soldiers. There, too, are +the notaries in a line below him; they are writing +down the judge’s questions and the prisoner’s answers: +and one of them is turning round to her, as if to +make her speak more loudly. She herself is mounted +<pb n="360"/><anchor id="Pg360"/>upon a sort of platform, called <hi rend="italic">catasta</hi>, like that on +which slaves were put up for sale. Two soldiers are by +her, who appear to have been dragging her forwards. +The executioners are also delineated, naked to the +waist, with instruments of torture in their hands. +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +The second document is a fragment of the <hi rend="italic">Acta +Proconsularia</hi> of her Passion. If, indeed, it could be +trusted to the letter, as containing Callista’s answers +word for word, it would have a distinctly sacred character, +in consequence of our Lord’s words, <q>It shall +be given you in that hour what to speak.</q> However, +we attach no such special value to this document, +since it comes to us through heathen notaries, who +may not have been accurate reporters; not to say +that before we did so we ought to look very carefully +into its genuineness. As it is, we believe it to be as +true as any part of our narrative, and not truer. It +runs as follows:— +</p> + +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Cneius Messius Decius Augustus II., and Gratus, +Consuls, on the seventh before the Calends of August, +in Sicca Veneria, a colony, in the Secretary at the +Tribunal, Martianus, procurator, sitting; Callista, a +maker of images, was brought up by the Commentariensis +on a charge of Christianity, and when she was +placed,</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: This folly has +been too long; you have made images, and now you +will not worship them.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="361"/><anchor id="Pg361"/> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> answered: For I have found my true +Love, whom before I knew not.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: Your true love is, +I ween, your last love; for all were true in their +time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: I worship my true Love, who is the +Only True; and He is the Son of God, and I know +none but Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: You will not +worship the gods, but you are willing to love their +sons.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: He is the true Son of the True God; +and I am His, and He is mine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: Let alone your +loves, and swear by the genius of the emperor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: I have but one Lord, the King of +kings, the Ruler of all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, turned to the lictor +and said: This folly is madness; take her hand, put +incense in it, and hold it over the flame.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: You may compel me by your +great strength, but my own true Lord and Love is +stronger.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: You are bewitched; +but we must undo the spell. Take her to +the Lignum (the prison for criminals).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: He has been there before me, and +He will come to me there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: The jailer will +see to that. Let her be brought up to-morrow.</q> +</p> + +<pb n="362"/><anchor id="Pg362"/> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">On the day following, Martianus, the procurator, +sitting at the tribunal, called up Callista. He said: +Honour our lord, and sacrifice to the gods.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: Let me alone; I am content with +my One and only Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: What? did he +come to you in prison, as you hoped?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: He came to me amid much pain; +and the pain was pleasant, for He came in it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: You have got +worn and yellow, and he will leave you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: He loves me the more, for I am +beautiful when I am black.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none"><hi rend="smallcaps">Martianus</hi>, the procurator, said: Throw her into +the Tullianum; perhaps she will find her god there +also.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Then the procurator entered into the Secretary, and +drew the veil; and dictated the sentence for the +tabella. Then he came out, and the præco read it:—Callista, +a senseless and reprobate woman, is hereby +sentenced to be thrown into the Tullianum; then to +be stretched on the equuleus; then to be placed on a +slow fire; lastly, to be beheaded, and left to the dogs +and birds.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend="smallcaps">Callista</hi> said: Thanks to my Lord and King.</q> +</p> +<milestone unit="tb"/> +<p> +Here the Acta end: and though they seem to want +their conclusion, yet they supply nearly every thing +which is necessary for our purpose. The one subject +on which a comment is needed, is the state prison, +<pb n="363"/><anchor id="Pg363"/>which, though so little is said of it in the above Report, +is in fact the real <hi rend="italic">medium</hi>, as we may call it, for +appreciating its information; a few words will suffice +for our purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The state prison, then, was arranged on pretty +much one and the same plan through the Roman +empire, nay, we may say, throughout the ancient +world. It was commonly attached to the government +buildings, and consisted of two parts. The first was +the vestibule, or outward prison, which was a hall, +approached from the prætorium, and surrounded by +cells, opening into it. The prisoners, who were confined +in these cells, had the benefit of the air and +light, which the hall admitted. Such was the place +of confinement allotted to St. Paul at Cæsarea, which +is said to be the <q>prætorium of Herod.</q> And hence, +perhaps, it is that, in the touching Passion of St. +Perpetua and St. Felicitas, St. Perpetua tells us that, +when permitted to have her child, though she was in +the inner portion, which will next be described, <q>suddenly +the prison seemed to her like the prætorium.</q> +</p> + +<p> +From this vestibule there was a passage into the +interior prison, called Robur or Lignum, from the +beams of wood, which were the instruments of confinement, +or from the character of its floor. It had +no window or outlet, except this door, which, when +closed, absolutely shut out light and air. Air, indeed, +and coolness might be obtained for it by the <hi rend="italic">barathrum</hi>, +presently to be spoken of, but of what nature we shall +then see. The apartment, called Lignum, was the +<pb n="364"/><anchor id="Pg364"/>place into which St. Paul and St. Silas were cast at +Philippi, before it was known that they were Romans. +After scourging them severely, the magistrates, who +nevertheless were but the local authorities, and had +no proper jurisdiction in criminal cases, <q>put them in +prison, bidding the jailer to keep them carefully; +who, on receiving such a command, put them in the +inner prison, and fastened them in the lignum.</q> And +in the Acts of the Scillitane Martyrs we read of the +Proconsul giving sentence, <q>Let them be thrown into +prison, let them be put into the Lignum, till to-morrow.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The utter darkness, the heat, and the stench of +this miserable place, in which the inmates were confined +day and night, is often dwelt upon by the +martyrs and their biographers. <q>After a few days,</q> +says St. Perpetua, <q>we were taken to the prison, and +I was frightened, for I never had known such +darkness. O bitter day! the heat was excessive by +reason of the crowd there.</q> In the Acts of St. +Pionius, and others of Smyrna, we read that the +jailers <q>shut them up in the inner part of the prison, +so that, bereaved of all comfort and light, they were +forced to sustain extreme torment, from the darkness +and stench of the prison.</q> And, in like manner, +other martyrs of Africa, about the time of St. +Cyprian’s martyrdom, that is, eight or ten years later +than the date of this story, say, <q>We were not frightened +at the foul darkness of that place; for soon +that murky prison was radiant with the brightness of +the Spirit. What days, what nights we passed there +<pb n="365"/><anchor id="Pg365"/>no words can describe. The torments of that prison no +statement can equal.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Yet there was a place of confinement even worse +than this. In the floor of this inner prison was a sort +of trap-door, or hole, opening into the <hi rend="italic">barathrum</hi>, or +pit, and called, from the original prison at Rome, the +Tullianum. Sometimes prisoners were confined here, +sometimes despatched by being cast headlong into it +through the opening. It was into this pit at Rome +that St. Chrysanthus was cast; and there, and probably +in other cities, it was nothing short of the public +cesspool. +</p> + +<p> +It may be noticed that the Prophet Jeremiah seems +to have had personal acquaintance with Vestibule, +Robur, and Barathrum. We read in one place of his +being shut up in the <q>atrium,</q> that is, the vestibule, +<q>of the prison, which was in the house of the king.</q> +At another time he is in the <q>ergastulum,</q> which +would seem to be the inner prison. Lastly his enemies +let him down by ropes into the lacus or pit, in +which <q>there was no water, but mud.</q> +</p> + +<p> +As to Callista, then, after the first day’s examination, +she was thrown for nearly twenty-four hours +into the stifling Robur, or inner prison. After the +sentence, on the second day, she was let down, as the +commencement of her punishment, that is, of her +martyrdom, into the loathsome Barathrum, lacus, +or pit, called Tullianum, there to lie for another twenty +hours before she was brought out to the equuleus +or rack. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXIV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="366"/><anchor id="Pg366"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXIV. The martyrdom"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXIV.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE MARTYRDOM.</head> + +<p> +Callista had sighed for the bright and clear +atmosphere of Greece, and she was thrown into the +Robur and plunged into the Barathrum of Sicca. +But in reality, though she called it Greece, she was +panting after a better country and a more lasting +home, and this country and home she had found. She +was now setting out for it. +</p> + +<p> +It was, indeed, no slight marvel that she was not +already there. She had been lowered into that pit of +death before noon on the day of her second examination, +and, excepting some unwholesome bread and +water, according to the custom of the prison, had had +no food since she came into the custody of the <hi rend="italic">commentariensis</hi> +the day before. The order came from +the magistrates to bring her out earlier in the morning +than was intended, or the prison might have really +effected that death which Calphurnius had purposed +to pretend. When the apparitors attempted to raise +her, she neither spoke or moved, nor could well be +seen. <q>Black as Orcus,</q> said one of the fellows, +<q>another torch there! I can’t see where she nestles.</q> +<q>There she is, like a bundle of clothes,</q> said another. +<q>Madam gets up late this morning,</q> said a third. +<pb n="367"/><anchor id="Pg367"/><q>She’s used to softer couches,</q> said a fourth. <q>Ha! +ha! ’tis a spoiler of beauty, this hole,</q> said a fifth. +<q>She is the demon of stubbornness, and must be +crushed,</q> said the jailer; <q>she likes it, or she would +not choose it.</q> <q>The plague take the witch,</q> said +another; <q>we shall have better seasons when a few +like her are ferreted out.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They got her out like a corpse, and put her on the +ground outside the prison. When she still did not +move, two of them took her between them on their +shoulders and arms, and began to move forward, the +instrument of torture preceding her. The fresh air +of the morning revived her; she soon sat up. She +seemed to drink in life again, and became conscious. +<q>O beautiful Light!</q> she whispered, <q>O lovely Light, +my light and my life! O my Light and my Life, +receive me!</q> Gradually she became fully alive to all +that was going on. She was going to death, and that +rather than deny Him who had bought her by His +own death. He had suffered for her, and she was to +suffer for Him. He had been racked on the Cross, +she too was to have her limbs dislocated after His +pattern. She scarcely rested on the men’s shoulders; +and they vowed afterwards that they thought she was +going to fly away, vile witch as she was. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The witch, the witch,</q> the mob screamed out, for +she had now come to the place of her conflict. +<q><hi rend="italic">We’ll</hi> pay you off for blight and pestilence! +Where’s our bread, where’s the maize and barley, +where are the grapes?</q> And they uttered fierce +<pb n="368"/><anchor id="Pg368"/>yells of execration, and seemed disposed to break +through the line of apparitors, and to tear her to +pieces. Yet, after all, it was not a very hearty +uproar, but got up for the occasion. The populace +had spent their force, not to say their lives, in the riot +in which she was apprehended. The priests and +priestesses of the temples had sent the poor wretches +and paid them. +</p> + +<p> +The place of execution was on the north-east of the +city, outside the walls, and towards the mountain. It +was where slaves were buried, and it was as hideous +as such spots usually were. The neighbourhood was +wild, open to the beasts of prey, who at night used to +descend and feast upon the corpses. As Callista approached +to the scene of her suffering, the expression +of her countenance had so altered that a friend would +scarce have known it. There was a tenderness in it +and a modesty which never had been there in that old +time. Her cheek had upon it a blush, as when the +rising sun suddenly touches some grey rock or tower +yet it was white and glistening too, so much so that +others might have said it was like silver. Her eyes +were larger than they had been, and gazed steadfastly, +as if at what the multitude did not see. Her lips +spoke of sweet peace and deep composure. When +at length she came close upon the rabble, who had +been screaming and yelling so fiercely, men, women, +and boys suddenly held their peace. It was first from +curiosity, then from amazement, then from awe. At +length a fear smote through them, and a strange pity +<pb n="369"/><anchor id="Pg369"/>and reverence. They almost seemed inclined to +worship what stirred them so much, they knew not +how; a new idea had visited those poor ignorant +souls. +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes sufficed to put the rack into working +order. She was laid down upon its board in her +poor bedimmed tunic, which once flashed so bright +in the sun,—she who had been ever so delicate in +her apparel. Her wrists and ankles were seized, +extended, fastened to the moveable blocks at the +extremities of the plank. She spoke her last word, +<q>For Thee, my Lord and Love, for Thee!... +Accept me, O my Love, upon this bed of pain! +And come to me, O my Love, make haste and +come!</q> The men turned round the wheels rapidly +to and fro; the joints were drawn out of their sockets, +and then snapped in again. She had fainted. They +waited for her coming-to; they still waited; they got +impatient. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Dash some water on her,</q> said one. <q>Spit in her +face, and it will do,</q> said a second. <q>Prick her with +your spike,</q> said a third. <q>Hold your wild talk,</q> +said a fourth; <q>she’s gone to the shades.</q> They +gathered round, and looked at her attentively. They +could not bring her back. So it was: she had gone +to her Lord and her Love. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Lay her out for the wolves and vultures,</q> said the +<hi rend="italic">cornicularius</hi>, and he was going to appoint guards till +nightfall, when up came the <hi rend="italic">stationarii</hi> and Calphurnius +in high wrath. +</p> + +<pb n="370"/><anchor id="Pg370"/> + +<p> +<q>You dogs!</q> he cried, <q>what trick have you been +practising against the soldiers of Rome?</q> However, +expostulation and reproach were bootless; nor would +it answer here to go into the quarrel which ensued +over the dead body. The magistrates, having got +scent of Calphurnius’s scheme, had outwitted the +tribune by assigning an earlier hour than was usual +for the execution. Life could not be recalled; nor +did the soldiers of course dare publicly to disobey the +Proconsul’s order for the exposure of the corpse. All +that could be done, they did. They took her down +with rude reverence from the rack, and placed her on +the sand; and then they set guards to keep off the +rabble, and to avail themselves of any opportunity +which might occur to show consideration towards her. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXV" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="371"/><anchor id="Pg371"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXV. The Corpo Santo"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXV.</head> + +<head type="sub">THE CORPO SANTO.</head> + +<p> +The sun of Africa has passed over the heavens, but +has not dared with one of his fierce rays to profane +the sacred relics which lie out before him. The mists +of evening rise up, and the heavy dews fall, but they +neither bring the poison of decay to that gracious +body, nor receive it thence. The beasts of the wild +are roaming and roaring at a distance, or nigh at +hand: not any one of them presumes to touch her. +No vultures may promise themselves a morning meal +from such a victim, as they watch through the night +upon the high crags which overlook her. The stars +have come out on high, and, they too look down +upon Callista, as if they were funeral lights in her +honour. Next the moon rises up to see what has +been going on, and edges the black hangings of the +night with silver. Yet mourning and dirge are but +of formal observance, when a brave champion has +died for her God. The world of ghosts has as little +power over such an one as the world of nature. No +evil spirit has aught to say to her, who has gone in +her baptismal white before the Throne. No penal +<pb n="372"/><anchor id="Pg372"/>fire shall be her robe, who has been carried in her +bright <hi rend="italic">flammeum</hi> to the Bridal Chamber of the Lamb. +A divine odour fills the air, issuing from that senseless, +motionless, broken frame. A circle of light +gleams round her brow, and, even when the daylight +comes again, it there is faintly seen. Her features +have reassumed their former majesty, but with an +expression of childlike innocence and heavenly peace. +The thongs have drawn blood at the wrists and +ankles, which has run and soaked into the sand; but +angels received the body from the soldiers when they +took it off the rack, and it lies, sweetly and modestly +composed, upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Passers-by stand still and gaze; idlers gather round. +The report spreads in Sicca that neither sun by day, +nor moon by night, nor moist atmosphere, nor beast +of prey, has power over the wonderful corpse. Nay, +that they cannot come near it without falling under +some strange influence, which makes them calm and +grave, expels bad passions, and allays commotion of +mind. Many come again and again, for the mysterious +and soothing effect she exerts upon them. They +cannot talk freely about it to each other, and are +seized with a sacred fear when they attempt to do so. +Those who have merely heard their report without +seeing her, say that these men have been in a grove +of the Eumenides, or have suddenly encountered the +wolf. The popular sensation continues and extends; +some say it is magical, others that it is from the +great gods. Day sinks again into evening, evening +<pb n="373"/><anchor id="Pg373"/>becomes night; the night wears out, and morning is +coming again. +</p> + +<p> +It begins to dawn: a glimmer is faintly spread +abroad, and, mixing with the dark, makes twilight, +which gradually brightens, and the outlines of nature +rise dimly out of the night. Gradually the sacred +body comes to sight; and, as the light grows stronger +around it, gradually too the forms of five men emerge, +who had not been there the night before. One is in +front; the rest behind with a sort of bier or litter. +They stand on the mountain side of her, and must +have come from the country. It has been a bold +enterprise theirs, to expose themselves to the nightly +beasts, and now again to the rabble and the soldiers. +The soldiers are at some little distance, silent and +watchful; such of the rabble as have passed the night +there have had some superstitious object in their stay. +They have thought to get portions of the flesh for +magical purposes; a finger, or a tooth, or some hair, +or a portion of her tunic, or the blood-stained rope +which was twisted round her wrist and ankle. +</p> + +<p> +As the light makes her at length quite visible to +the youth on the other side, who stands by himself +with clasped hands and tearful eyes, he shrinks from +the sight. He turns round to his companions who are +provided with a large winding-sheet or pall, and with +the help of one of them, to the surprise of the populace, +he spreads it all over the body. And having +done this, he stands again trembling, just for a few +seconds, absorbed in his meditations, praying and +<pb n="374"/><anchor id="Pg374"/>weeping, and nerving himself for what is to follow. +Ah, poor Agellius! you have not risen yet to the +pitch of triumph; and other thoughts must be let to +range through your breast, other emotions must spend +themselves, before you are prepared simply to rejoice, +exult, and glory in the lifeless form which lies before +you. You are upon a brave work, but your heart is +torn while you set hand to it, and you linger before +you begin. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the pride of her earthly beauty and the +full vigour and elevation of her mind, that he last had +seen her. It seemed an age since that morning, as if +a chasm ran between the now and the then, when she +so fascinated him with her presence, and so majestically +rebuked him for bowing to that fascination. Yet +on his memory every incident of that interview was +fixed, and was indelible. O why should the great +Creator shatter one of His most admirable works! If +the order of the sun and stars is adorable, if the laws +by which earth and sea are kept together mark the +Hand of supreme Wisdom and Power, how much +nobler perfection of beauty is manifested in man! And +of human nature itself here was the supereminent +crown, a soul full of gifts, full of greatness, full of +intellect, placed in an outward form, equally surpassing +in its kind, and still more surpassingly +excellent from its intimate union and subordination +to the soul, so as almost to be its simple expression; +yet this choicest, rarest specimen of Almighty skill, +the Almighty had pitilessly shattered, in order that it +<pb n="375"/><anchor id="Pg375"/>might inherit a higher, an eternal perfection. O +mystery of mysteries, that heaven should not be +possibly obtained without such grinding down and +breaking up of our original nature! O mysterious, +that principle in us, whatever it is, and however it +came there, which is so antagonistic to God, which +has so spoilt what seems so good, that all must be +undone, and must begin anew! <q>An enemy hath +done this;</q> and, knowing as much as this, and no +more, we must leave the awful mystery to that day +when all things shall be made light. +</p> + +<p> +Agellius has not been idle while these thoughts +pass through his mind. He has stooped down and +scooped up such portions of the sand as are moistened +with her blood, and has committed them to a +small bag which he has taken out of his bosom. +Then without delay, looking round to his attendants, +and signing to them, with two of the party he resolutely +crossed over to the other side of the corpse, +covering it from attack, while his two assistants who +were left proceeded quickly to lay hold of it. They +had raised it, laid it on the bier, and were setting off +by an unusual track across the waste, while Agellius, +Aspar, and the third were grappling with some +ruffians who had rushed upon them. Few, however, +were there as yet to take part against them, but their +cries of alarm were bringing others up, and the Christians +were in growing danger of being worsted and +carried off, when suddenly the soldiers interfered. +Under pretence of keeping the peace, they laid about +<pb n="376"/><anchor id="Pg376"/>them with their heavy maces; and so it was, the blows +took effect on the heads and shoulders of the rabble, +with but slight injury to Agellius and his companions. +The latter took instant advantage of the diversion, +and vanished out of view by the same misleading +track which their comrades had already chosen. If +they, or the party who had preceded them, came +within the range of sight of any goatherds upon the +mountains, we must suppose that angels held those +heathen eyes that they should not recognise them. +</p> + +</div><div type="chapter" n="XXXVI" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n="377"/><anchor id="Pg377"/> +<index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="XXXVI. Lux perpetua sanctis tuis, domine"/> +<head>CHAPTER XXXVI.</head> + +<head type="sub">LUX PERPETUA SANCTIS TUIS, DOMINE.</head> + +<p> +The bier and its bearers, and its protectors, have +reached the cave in safety, and pace down the gallery, +preceded by its Christian hosts, with lighted tapers, +singing psalms. They place the sacred body before +the altar, and the mass begins. St. Cyprian celebrates, +and after the Gospel, he adds a few words of +his own. +</p> + +<p> +He said that they were engaged in praising, blessing, +and exalting the adorable Grace of God, which +had snatched so marvellously a brand out of the furnace. +Benedicamus Patrem et Filium cum Sancto +Spiritu. Benedictus, et laudabilis, et gloriosus, et +superexaltatus in sæcula. Every day doing marvels +and exceeding all that seemed possible in power and +love, by new and still newer manifestations. A Greek +had come to Africa to embellish the shrines of +heathenism, to minister to the usurpation of the evil +one, and to strengthen the old ties which connected +genius with sin; and she had suddenly found salvation. +But yesterday a poor child of earth, and to-day +an inhabitant of the heavens. But yesterday +without God and without hope; and to-day a martyr +<pb n="378"/><anchor id="Pg378"/>with a green palm and golden vestment, worshipping +before the Throne. But yesterday the slave of Satan, +and spending herself on the vanities of time; and to-day +drinking of the never-cloying torrents of bliss +everlasting. But yesterday one of a number, a grain +of a vast heap, destined indiscriminately for the +flame; to-day one of the elect souls, written from +eternity in the book of life, and predestined to glory. +But yesterday, hungry and thirsty, and restless for +some object worthy an immortal spirit; to-day enjoying +the ineffable ecstasy of the Marriage Feast +and the espousals of Emmanuel. But yesterday +tossed about on a sea of opinion; and to-day +entranced in the vision of infallible truth and immutable +sanctity. And yet what was she but only one +instance out of ten thousand, of the Almighty and +All-manifold Grace of the Redeemer? And who +was there of all of them, there assembled, from the +most heroic down to the humblest beginner, from the +authoritative preacher down to the slave or peasant, +but was equally, though in his own way, a miracle of +mercy, and a vessel, once of wrath, if now of glory? +Only might he and all who heard him persevere as +they had begun, so that if (as was so probable) their +trial was to be like hers, its issue might be like hers +also. +</p> + +<p> +St. Cyprian ceased; and, while the deacon opened +the <hi rend="italic">sindon</hi> for the offertory, the faithful took up alternately +the verses of a hymn, which we here insert in +a most unworthy translation:— +</p> + +<pb n="379"/><anchor id="Pg379"/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">The number of Thine own complete,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Sum up and make an end;</l> +<l>Sift clean the chaff, and house the wheat,—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And then, O Lord, descend.</l> + +</lg><lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Descend, and solve by that descent,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">This mystery of life;</l> +<l>Where good and ill, together blent,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Wage an undying strife.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">For rivers twain are gushing still,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And pour a mingled flood;</l> +<l>Good in the very depths of ill—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Ill in the heart of good.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">The last are first, the first are last,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As angel eyes behold;</l> +<l>These from the sheepcote sternly cast,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Those welcomed to the fold.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">No Christian home, no pastor’s eye,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">No preacher’s vocal zeal,</l> +<l>Moved Thy dear martyr to defy</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The prison and the wheel.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">Forth from the heathen ranks she stepped</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The forfeit throne to claim</l> +<l>Of Christian souls who had not kept</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Their birthright and their name.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">Grace formed her out of sinful dust;</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">She knelt a soul defiled;</l> +<l>She rose in all the faith and trust</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And sweetness of a child.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">And in the freshness of that love</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">She preached by word and deed,</l> +<l>The mysteries of the world above—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Her new-found glorious creed.</l> +</lg><lg> + <l><q rend="post: none">And running, in a little hour,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Of life the course complete,</l> +<l>She reached the throne of endless power,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">And sits at <anchor id="corr379"/><corr sic="Jesu's">Jesus’</corr> feet.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n="380"/><anchor id="Pg380"/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend="post: none">Her spirit there, her body here,</q></l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Make one the earth and sky;</l> +<l>We use her name, we touch her bier,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2"><q rend="pre: none">We know her God is nigh.</q></l> +</lg> + +<p> +The last sentiment of the yet unfinished hymn was +receiving an answer while they sang it. Juba had +been brought into the chapel in the hands of his +brother and the exorcists. Since he had been under +their care, he had been, on the whole, calm and manageable, +with intervals of wild tempest and mad terror. +He spoke, at times, of an awful incubus weighing on +his chest, which he could not throw off, and said he +hoped that they would not think all the blasphemies +he uttered were his own. On this occasion, he struggled +most violently, and shook with distress; and, as +they brought him towards the sacred relics, a thick, +cold dew stood upon his brow, and his features shrank +and collapsed. He held back, and exerted himself +with all his might to escape, foaming at the mouth, +and from time to time uttering loud shrieks and horrible +words, which disturbed, though they could not +interrupt, the hymn. His bearers persevered; they +brought him close to Callista, and made him touch +her feet with his hands. Immediately he screamed +fearfully, and was sent up into the air with such force +that he seemed discharged from some engine of war: +then he fell back upon the earth apparently lifeless. +</p> + +<p> +The long prayer was ended; the <hi rend="italic">Sursum corda</hi> was +uttered. Juba raised himself from the ground. When +the words of consecration had been said, he adored +with the faithful. After the mass, his attendants +<pb n="381"/><anchor id="Pg381"/>came to him; he was quite changed; he was quiet, +harmless, and silent: the evil spirit had gone out; +but he was an idiot. +</p> + +<p> +This wonderful deliverance was but the beginning +of the miracles which followed the martyrdom of St. +Callista. It may be said to have been the resurrection +of the Church at Sicca. In not many months Decius +was killed, and the persecution ceased there. Castus +was appointed bishop, and numbers began to pour +into the fold. The lapsed asked for peace, or at least +such blessings as they could have. Heathens sought +to be received. When asked for their reason, they +could only say that Callista’s history and death had +affected them with constraining force, and that they +could not help following her steps. Increasing in +boldness, as well as numbers, the Christians cowed +both magistrates and mob. The spirit of the populace +had been already broken; and the continual change +of masters, and measures with them, in the imperial +government, inflicted a chronic timidity on the magistracy. +A handsome church was soon built, to which +Callista’s body was brought, and which remained till +the time of the Diocletian persecution. +</p> + +<p> +Juba attached himself to this church; and, though +he could not be taught even to sweep the sacred +pavement, still he never was troublesome or mischievous. +He continued in this state for about ten +years. At the end of that time, one morning, after +mass, which he always attended in the church porch, +he suddenly went to the bishop, and asked for +<pb n="382"/><anchor id="Pg382"/>baptism. He said that Callista had appeared to him, +and had restored to him his mind. On conversing +with him, the holy Castus found that his recovery +was beyond all doubt: and not knowing how long +his lucid state would last, he had no hesitation, with +such instruction as the time admitted, in administering +the sacred rite, as Juba wished. After receiving it, +he proceeded to the tomb, within which lay St. Callista, +and remained on his knees before his benefactress till +nightfall. Not even then was he disposed to rise; +and so he was left there for the night. Next morning +he was found still in the attitude of prayer, but lifeless. +He had been taken away in his baptismal robe. +</p> + +<p> +As to Agellius, if he be the bishop of that name +who suffered at Sicca in his old age, in the persecution +of Diocletian, we are possessed in this circumstance +of a most interesting fact to terminate his history +withal. What makes this more likely is, that this +bishop is recorded to have removed the body of +St. Callista from its original position, and placed it +under the high altar, at which he said mass daily. +After his own martyrdom, St. Agellius was placed +under the high altar also. +</p> + +<trailer rend="margin-top: 2; text-align: center; font-size: small"> +THE END. +</trailer> + +<trailer rend="margin-top: 2; text-align: center; font-size: x-small"> +THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED +</trailer> + </div></body> + <back> +<div> + <pgIf output="pdf"> + <then> + </then> + <else> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <index index="toc"/> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + </else> + </pgIf> +</div> +<div rend="page-break-before: right; x-class: boxed"> + <index index="toc"/><index index="pdf" level1="Transcriber's Note"/> + <head>Transcriber’s Note</head> + <pgIf output="pdf"> + <then/> + <else> + <p>The author’s footnotes have been moved to the end of the volume.</p> + </else> + </pgIf> + <p>The following typographical errors were corrected:</p> + <list> + <item><ref target="corr010">page 10</ref>, single quote changed to double quote after <q>pilum,</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr034">page 34</ref>, <q>off?</q> changed to <q>off!</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr042">page 42</ref>, <q>tomatos</q> changed to <q>tomatoes</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr069">page 69</ref>, comma removed after <q>spirit</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr135">page 135</ref>, <q>lees</q> changed to <q>less</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr137">page 137</ref>, <q>do!</q> changed to <q>do?</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr157">page 157</ref>, single quote changed to double quote after <q>stronger,</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr181">page 181</ref>, <q>aud</q> changed to <q>and</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr201">page 201</ref>, period changed to question mark after <q>Carthage</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr207">page 207</ref>, <q>throughont</q> changed to <q>throughout</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr228">page 228</ref>, <q>Saturu</q> changed to <q>Saturn</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr230">page 230</ref>, period added after <q>best</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr232">page 232</ref>, period added after <q>again</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr239">page 239</ref>, <q>ou</q> changed to <q>on</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr240">page 240</ref>, <q>be</q> changed to <q>he</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr248">page 248</ref>, <q>you</q> changed to <q>your</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr255">page 255</ref>, <q>to</q> changed to <q>too</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr256">page 256</ref>, <q>n</q> changed to <q>in</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr263">page 263</ref>, period changed to comma after <q>said</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr278">page 278</ref>, period changed to question mark after <q>it</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr300">page 300</ref>, period added after <q>gods</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr303">page 303</ref>, single quote added after <q>do?</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr310">page 310</ref>, quote removed before <q>If</q>, + <ref target="corr310a">added</ref> before <q>it</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr313">page 313</ref>, comma changed to period after <q>was</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr333">page 333</ref>, <q>corrider</q> changed to <q>corridor</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr347">page 347</ref>, comma changed to period after <q>initiation</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr348">page 348</ref>, period added after <q>voice</q></item> + <item><ref target="corr379">page 379</ref>, <q>Jesu's</q> changed to <q>Jesus’</q></item> + </list> + <p>Variations in spelling (like <q>jailer</q> and <q>jailor</q>, <q>Asper</q> and <q>Aspar</q>, <q>Phenician</q> and <q>Phœnician</q>, + <q>Thibursicumber</q> and <q>Thibursicumbur</q>) and hyphenation + (e.g. <q>farm-house</q> and <q>farmhouse</q>, + <q>goodwill</q> and <q>good-will</q>) were not changed.</p> +</div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter"/> + </div> + </back> + </text> +</TEI.2> |