Gathering Clouds. A tale of the days of St. Chrysostom

Front matter

GATHERING CLOUDS A TALE OF THE DAYS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. GATHEEING CLOUDS A TALE OF THE BAYS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM BY FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D. dean op canterbury author op 'darkness and dawn,' etc. NEW EDITION LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY 1896 [All Bights Reserved] PRINTED PROM AMERICAN PLATES AT THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. FILIIS CARISSIMIS R. A. F. E. M. F. F. P. F. I. G. F. HANC CORRUPTÆ QUIDEM ECCLESIÆ FLDEI TAMEN INCOLUMIS ADUMBRATIONEM D. D. PATER AMANTISSIMUS

Preface

In ' Darkness and Dawn ' I endeavoured to illustrate in the form of a story an epoch of surpassing historical and moral interest — the struggle in the first century between a nascent Christianity armed only with 'the irresistible might of weakness,' and a decadent Paganism supported by the wit, the genius, the religion, the philosophy, the imperial power, and all the armies of the world. I showed that the victory of Christianity was won by virtue of the purity and integrity which it inspired ; and that nothing was able to resist a faith which placed the attain ment of the ideal of holiness within the reach of the humblest of mankind. I tried to show some glimpse — so far as it was possible — of the frightful spiritual debase ment for which a heathendom which had become more than half atheistical was responsible ; and of the noble characters which Christianity developed into a beauty till then not only unattained, but unimagined, alike in the high and in the low.

So far as the historic outline was concerned the picture was not an imaginative landscape, but an absolute photograph. Every circumstance, every particular, even of costume and custom, was derived directly from the history, poetry, satires, and romances of classic writers, or from the literature and remains of the early days of Christianity. If I had not followed this method I should not have been faithful to the main object which I set before me. I acknowledge with gratitude the kind reception which was accorded to ' Darkness and Dawn ' by a large number of readers; and, from many communications which have reached me, I trust that I did not wholly fail in making my aim understood and appreciated. I did not appeal to the ordinary novel-reader. I wished to create an interest far deeper and higher than that of passing amusement.

I dwell on this because my plan in the following pages is closely analogous to that which I endeavoured to follow in 'Darkness and Dawn,' though the truths which I desire to illustrate and the characteristics of the age with which I have to deal are altogether different. I there showed the influences which enabled the Church to triumph over the world : it is now my far sadder task to show how the world reinvaded, and partly even triumphed over, the nominal Church. I there showed how the Darkness had been scattered by the Dawn : I have here to picture how the Sun of Righteous ness, which had risen with healing in his wings, was overshadowed by many ominous and lurid clouds. ' Of the Byzantine Empire,' says Mr. Lecky, 'the universal verdict of history is that it constitutes, without a single exception, the most thoroughly base and despicable form that civilisation has yet assumed. . . . The Byzantine Empire was pre-eminently the age of treachery. . . .

PREFACE.

IX The Asiatic Churches had already perished. The Chris tian faith, planted in the dissolute cities of Asia Minor, had produced many fanatical ascetics, and a few illus trious theologians, but it had no renovating effect upon the people at large. It introduced among them a prin ciple of interminable and implacable dissensions, but it scarcely tempered in any appreciable degree their luxury or their sensuality.' The apparent triumph of Christianity was in some sense, and for a time, its real defeat, the corruption of its simplicity, the defacement of its purest and loftiest beauty. Yet, however much the Divine ideal might be obscured, it was never wholly lost. The sun was often clouded; but behind that veil of earthly mists, on the days which seemed most dark, it was there alway-s, flaming in the zenith, and it could make the darkest clouds palpitate with light.

No age since Christ died was so utterly corrupt as not to produce some prophets and saints of God. These saints, these prophets, in age after age, were persecuted, were sawn asunder, were slain with the sword by kings and priests; but the next generation, which built their sepulchres, had, in part at least, profited by their lessons. 'The Church,' said St. Chrysostom, 'cannot be shaken. The more the world takes counsel against it, the more it increases ; the waves are dissipated, the rock remains immovable.' In reading this story, then, the reader will be presented with an historic picture in which fiction has been X allowed free play as regards matters which do not affect the important facts, but of which every circumstance bearing on my main design is rigidly accurate, or, at any rate, is derived from the authentic testimony of contem porary Pagans, and of the Saints and Fathers of the Church of God.

F. W. Farrar. CONTENTS CHArTER pA9K I. The Gathering Storm 3 H. The Riot 9 HI. The Agony, and the Consoler .... 15 IV. Two Visitors by Night 24 V. The Hermit and the Boy- . ... ,33 VI. The Demoniac 40 VII. The Judgment on the City' ..... 46 VIII. The Thunderbolt averted ..... 53 IX. Philip is baptised ....... 62 X. Passing Years 65 XI. Goths at Antioch XII. The Presbyter 79 XIII. Two Archbishops 85 XIV. Another Archbishop 90 XV. The Capture of Chrysostom .... 101 XVI. Tales by the Way 107 XVII. Constantinople 118 XVTII. The Emperor and Empress 126 XIX. Guests at an Imperial Banquet .... 135 XX. First Impressions 144 XXI. Anxieties and Troubles; Friends and Foes 150 XXII. Manifold Struggles 164 GATHERING CLOUDS CHAPTER PAGE XXIII. Face to Face with Shams .... 178 XXIV. The Consulship of Eutropius .... 187 XXV.

The Goths 195 XXVI. The Fall of Eutropius 203 XXVII. In Sanctuary 207 XXVIII. Inevitable Nemesis 218 XXIX. Eutyches is Indignant 226 XXX. The Goths at Constantinople . . . 234 XXXI. The Doomed Three 245 XXXII. Three Youths save Constantinople . . 251 XXXIII. The Massacre 262 XXXIV. Gainas meets his Doom 271 XXXV. Walamir and Eutyches 277 XXXVI. His Murdered Father's Head . . . 285 XXXVH. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil . 295 XXXVIII. Fresh Troubles 308 XXXIX. Bad Ecclesiastics and Base Plots . . 318 XL. A Visit from Vigilantius .... 329 XLI. A Farewell 340 XLII. The Misdoings of Severian .... 350 XLni. ' Ecce iterum Crispinus ! ' 363 XLIV. Epiphanius intervenes 376 XLV. Episcopal Conspirators 386 XLVI. The Earthquake 397 XLVTT. Eudoxia's Statue 409 XLVIII. The Forged Sermon 416 XLIX. Intrigue Triumphant 420 L. Prolonged Agony ...... 425 LI.

Driven Forth ..,,,,, CONTENTS XIII CHAPTER pAGE LII. Conflagration 443 LIII. Dragged on his Way ..... 450 LIV. A Reign of Terror 454 LV. A Burning, Fiery Furnace .... 457 LVI. Eutyches and Philip in Profundis . . 463 LV1I. Gleams of Returning Dawn .... 479 LVIH. The Return of Kallias 488 LIX. Walamir and St. Telemachus . . . 493 LX. The Vengeance of Heaven .... 506 LXI. Philip and the Emperor 517 LXII. Philip visits St. Nilus 523 LXIII. Philip and St. Jerome 527 LXIV. Philip and the Desposyni .... 532 LXV. Two Happy Bridals ...... 541 LXVI. Philip at Antioch 544 LXVII. The Exile at Cucusus 549 LXVIII. The Martyrdom 555 LXIX. A Last Visit to Arcadius .... 565 LXX. Affairs in the West 572 LXXI. Happy Children and Prosperous Day's . . 581 LXXH. The Great Reparation 584 L'ENVOI LXXIII. The Good Count of the East . . .

Book I Antioch Chapter

I THE GATHERING STORM Phœbe., lauri domus, Antiochia Turbida ... et amentis populi male sana tumultu. Adsonihs, Ord. Nob. Urbiurn. February 26, a.d. 387, was a memorable clay in the fortunes of Antioch, the loveliest and one of the most famous capitals of the Eastern Empire. On that morning a herald had proclaimed to the people that, owing to the necessities of the imperial exchequer, the great Emperor Theodosius had decided to levy a sub sidy on the most opulent cities of his dominion ; and that Antioch, renowned all over the world for her luxurious prosperity, would be required loyally to pay her share. The ' ignorant impatience of taxation ' is inherent in human nature, ancl there is no monopoly of it either in modern times or in the British nation. If it was necessary that cities should be taxed in proportion to their wealth, the contribution of Antioch would form a large quota of the sum which had to be raised.

She had Phœ nicia to the south, and Asia Minor to the north. The rich beauty of the vegetation which clothed her plain testified to the unwonted fertility of her soil. Nowhere were more blooming vineyards than those which clothed the slopes of her Mount Silpius. The deep ancl rapid waters of her river — the legendary Orontes — not only clothed the banks with flowering masses of pink oleander and deli cately scented jasmine, but also refreshed her groves of laurel and myrtle and irrigated her gardens full of every delicious fruit. Caravans from Mesopotamia and Arabia brought to her all the riches of the East through the passes of Lebanon. Her fresh lake ancl her rushing riv ulets supplied her with fish and ample stores of food. Ships from every port of the Mediterranean poured the abundance of many lands into her harbour of Seleuceia.

Wealthy proprietors — Greeks, Romans, Jews, Syrians — had thronged to her suburbs, to fix their voluptuous homes in scenes where they could enjoy the soft western winds which, even in winter, tempered her climate. There, in courts ancl villas lustrous with marble ancl enriched with the finest works of ancient art, they would loll on soft couches beside fountains which cooled the summer heat. No wonder that Antioch on the Orontes was one of the favourite residences of all who loved the delights of effeminate indolence, diversified by wild dissipations of thrilling excitement. Ancl was not the delightful grove of Daphne only five miles distant — enchanting Daphne, with its rose-gardens and perennial fountains and abound ing shades? Who could be dull if he went there to watch the Pagan pilgrimages which at one time had made it ' a perpetual festival of vice ' ?

The self-restraint of Chris tianity had, indeed, controlled the ' Daphnic morals ' which had once filled the sanctuary of Apollo with gaj'est revel ries. Constantine's statue to his mother, St. Helena, had usurped the reverence once given to the marble colossus of the god of song. But the road to Daphne still passed through gardens ancl palaces, ancl in the ten-mile circuit of the old Paradise of Heathendom the possibilities of pleasure ancl amusement were not yet utterly extinct. But if the delightfulness of Antioch had made it the chosen home of so many hereditary millionaires, successful merchants, and ' gorgeous criminals,' what was more reasonable than the demand that the city should con tribute its fair share to the urgent needs of the Empire ? Theodosius was compelled to gratify his hungry soldiery by some sort of donative, and that was impossible Avithout fresh taxation.

It was not a question of choice, or of display and luxury, but of dire necessity, if the army, on which depended the defence of the whole Empire, was to be kept in allegiance and good humour. The soft Antiochenes did not see the matter in this light. The proclamation of the imperial requisition had been received in the most indignant spirit by the multi tude assembled in the great Forum. Usually, all public THE GATHERING STORM 5 business was accompanied by shouts, acclamations, and intense excitement, ancl not infrequently by the jests and witticisms for which the quick ancl volatile multitude of Antioch was celebrated. But on the present occasion there had been neither applause, nor shouts, nor jokes. The grim silence struck chill into men's hearts, like the hush before the outburst of a storm.

The governor of the city, who rejoiced in the sounding title of ' Count of the East,' had been accompanied to the scene by all his high officials, ancl by his side sat the most celebrated literary man of the day, the Pagan sophist Libanius, the chief instructor of all the intellec tual youths who aimed at oratorical distinction. Liba nius was a native of Antioch, and, struck by the omi nous stillness, the Count turned to him with uplifted eyebrows, as though to ask for an explanation of the strange phenomenon. ' This is something quite new to me,' said Libanius. ' When a multitude is too sullen even to roar or hiss there is room for anxiety. " I fear lest from this silence calamity should burst forth.'" 'Tush! ' said the angry Governor. 'It is only another phase of the foolery of this mongrel population of Syrians, Greeks, and Jews.

I beg pardon of your patriotism, Libanius, but you are too cosmopolitan not to recognise that the ordinary Antiochene is an amalgam of frivolity and prejudice.' 'This subsidy will heavily tax their resources,' said the orator. ' Nonsense ! ' said the Governor. ' A little hæmorrhage will do all the good in the world to their plethora. Do the fools think they can have all the privileges of government for nothing ? To what do they owe their wealth, if not to the decade of peace ancl economy which the great Theodosius has secured for them ? And yet they murmur at this very modest proposal. They treated your friend, the Emperor Julian, in just the same way. He asked for necessary funds, ancl they yelled at him in the Circus, "Plenty of everything; everything clear!" What would happen to the Empire but for our strong Emperor ?

It would break into fragments, like the vertebrae of a serpent which an eagle has dropped out of its talons, and each vertebra would turn into a new serpent to sting all the rest. Here are the Goths and the Isaurians ancrthe Vandals, and I know not how many nameless bar barians, hanging on all our frontiers ancl threatening to merge us in floods of ignorance and rapine. After the defeat of Adrianople there seemed to be nothing between us and destruction. Theodosius has given us peace, unity, fiscal reform, and wise administration. But for him Anti och would have been more surely laid in ruin long ago than by the worst of her earthquakes.' ' He might economise,' said Libanius. 'Nay,' said the Count, 'you are not fair to him, Libanius. You are a Pagan, and he has done more to suppress the worship of the old gods than anj-one since Constantine.

This requisition is in reality a signal proof of his economy. This is the ninth year of his reign, and, nominally, the fifth year of the boy Arcadius. You know that on such anni versaries every soldier in the army expects to receive five gold pieces. The sum required would drag a Crœsus into the mire. It cost the young Valentinian sixteen hundred pounds of gold. It was to avoid the necessity for two ruinous donatives that Theodosius determined to antedate by a year his own decennalia, ancl unite them with the quinquennalia of his son. The poor are already overtaxed. What could he do but turn to the rich ? ' 'Let us get back to the Prætorium,' said Libanius hurriedly. ' I don't like the look of the mob ancl their sinister silence.' ' Oh ! it is nothing,' said the Governor. ' Half an hour hence they will be roaring for the Green or the Blue factions of charioteers in the Circus, or crowding round a sword-juggler in the street of Tiberius.' 'Nevertheless, let us hurry back,' said Libanius. ' There have been riots in Alexandria, and it required strong measures to put them down.' The party of officials, surrounded by their small but glittering escort, made its way to the Prætorium, which was at no great distance.

Libanius was in bad spirits. ' Look,' he said, ' at yonder grim, gigantic head on the slope of Mount Silpius.' He pointed to the Charonium THE GATHERING STORM 7 which stood out in the sunshine, but cast a dark shadow on the mountain behind. ' The huge features seem to frown terribly on this lovely city.' 'Sheer imagination!' said the Governor; 'but — what is that?' One of the imperial archers, who had been posted at the omphalos in the centre of the Colonnade of Antiochus Epiphanes, came running up to the Governor's escort at full speed and in obvious alarm. ' What means this rudeness, you white-faced coward ? ' said the captain of the escort to him in a stern voice. 'Where are your manners? Do you want to know the feel of the rhinoceros-hide round your shoulders ? ' 'No more coward than you, sir captain,' said the archer; ' but this is no time to bandy words.' 'What is the matter?' asked the Governor, who had overheard the brief altercation. ' Bring the archer here.' 'The city is in an uproar, my lord,' said the man, stepping forward. ' Listen ! ' They listened, and there came to their ears a dull roar like the sound of many waters.

It was the angry hum of voices, broken every now and then by cries for vengeance. The Count of the East looked uneasy ; the fine features of Libanius had settled into the deepest pallor. ' Is the crowd dangerous ? ' asked the Governor. ' Most dangerous,' answered the soldier. ' This is no mere faction fight of the amphitheatre. I was standing by the statue of Apollo, in the Tetrapylon, when fierce groups came surging from Singon Street in one direction and Herod's Colonnade in another, in mad rage. I never heard so many hot curses in my life, and I have heard a good many. A yelling mob was gathered round the statue of the "Fortune of Antioch," calling down the vengeance of the gods with uplifted hands. Only one man tried to allay the excitement. It was John the Preacher ; ancl though all the Christians love him, ancl even the Jews and Pagans respect him, his words were of no avail.

If some of the Church-people had not forced him away he would have been half torn to pieces by the mob. Hark, my lord ! I see them in the distance, I hear the trampling of their feet. In ten minutes more they will be upon you. Take refuge in the palace.' ' Is it the riff-raff of the Forum? ' 'No, your Excellency,' said the archer. 'I saw some of the chief men of the city among them, even senators and old officers of the army. The whole city is in wild fury.' ' Make your way home with all speed by back streets,' said the Count to Libanius. ' Captain, take a dozen of my escort, ride under the wall to the Golden Gate, and make your way to Daphne. To the palace, soldiers ! ' He drew the sword with which he was girded in sign of his office, and the escort rode at a gallop, across the bridge which spanned the Orontes, into the gorgeous palace of the old Seleucid kings, which was used as the residence of the Governor. They were not a moment too soon. THE RIOT 9

Chapter II The Riot

Continuoque animos vulgi et trepidantia bello Corda licet longe præsciscere. Verg. Georg. iv. 69. The gates were closed, and some twenty resolute soldiers stood on guard outside. With spears ancl drawn swords they kept the threatening mob at bay. The for eign athletes and adventurers who formed the mass of the crowd, though bent on mischief, were worthless cowards, and did not like the look of bare steel. ' Let us away to the Baths of Caligula,' shouted one of the rioters ; and the multitude, with an answering shout, rushed off towards the valley of the torrent Parthenius, near which the Baths were built. Rushing in tumultu ously, they swept the attendants before them, smashed the benches, broke the taps, daubed the frescoes with mud, tore down the candelabra, broke off the heads and noses of the statues, hacked at the trees in the grounds with axes, and in ten minutes committed ravages which it took years to repair.

When they had wrecked the Baths the furious mob streamed back to the palace. The little band of soldiers still stood before the gates. The captain kept a brave mien, though he saw that it would be hopeless for his handful of comrades to hold out against the rush of thousands. 'What do you want?' he called in stentorian tones to the foremost rebels. ' The Governor ! the Governor ! ' they shouted. ' He is no longer here,' said the captain. And this was true, for, as he had no troops at hand, the Governor had availed himself of the brief respite to escape by a back way, and ride off to summon a detachment of guards, who were encamped near the grove of Daphne to prevent the disorders which frequently arose from the contending jealousies of Christians and Pagans. 'Then look out for yourselves,' yelled the mob, 'for we mean to burst in ! ' 'Open the doors, men!' said the captain. 'I will enter last.

When we are in, close them, and escape.' The soldiers with swift discipline executed the manœu vre ; and no sooner had the captain stepped inside than the sound was heard of the heavy bolts and bars being shot into their places. But the mob was not so to be baffled. They rained blows upon the gates with axes and hammers, and at last improvised a battering-ram from the top of a marble bench, until the oaken valves were shattered and fell inwards with a crash. Through the courtyard the people rushed into the great Hall of Judgment. It was empty, but the awe of the place, where they had heard so many sentences of death passed upon offenders, fell for a few moments on their minds. Round the chair of state at the back of the apse, in which the Count of the East often sat with his assessors, rose the bronze and marble statues of the imperial family.

Highest of all, with the diadem round his brow, the arm outstretched as though to give command, clad in the cuirass with the Gorgon head at its centre, towered the figure of Theodosius. Beside the statue of the Emperor stood that of Flaccilla, the beloved consort whom he had so recently lost, whose gentle nature had always exercised a beneficent sway over his tempestuous impulses. On either side of them were the smaller statues of their two sons — Arcadius, a boy of nine, and Honorius, a child of five.1 A little on one side was the statue of Count Theodosius, the brave father of the Emperor. After saving the East from imminent peril, he had fallen a victim to the jealous ingratitude of the Emperor Valens, and deserved the remorseful homage of every loyal subject, whether in the East or West. 1 Considerable uncertainty hangs over the exact dates of the births of Arcadius and Honorius.

THE RIOT 11 The 'divinity which doth hedge a king' surrounded with tenfold protection the majesty of a Roman emperor. Pie was the one bulwark between civilisation and chaos. It is true that since the days of Constantine, as before them, the reigns of these Cæsars and Augusti had been brief, and their fate for the most part terrible. In the three centuries which had elapsed between Julius Cæsar and Constantine there had been sixty-two emperors, so that their average reigns had scarcely exceeded five years. Of these sixty two, no less than forty-seven had died violent deaths. Forty-two had been murdered, three had committed suicide, one had perished in a rebellion, two had abdicated, one had been drowned, one had mysteriously disappeared. Eleven only of the entire number had died in the ordinary course of nature.

Nor had the state of things been much better in the eighty-seven years which had elapsed since the death of the first Christian emperor. Their super human exaltation continued to be nothing but a dizzy precipice. A glance at their fates reveals a perfect Iliad of disasters. Constantine, indeed, had died in his bed, but not until he had imbrued his hands in the blood of his eldest son, Crispus. Of Constantine's three sons, Con stantius inaugurated his reign by a massacre of the seed royal ; Constantine II. perished in attempting to invade the realm of his brother Constans ; Constans was murdered by his own soldiers ; Gallus was beheaded by Constantius ; Constantius died while hurrying to suppress the revolt of Julian ; Julian, at thirty-seven, fell, perhaps by the arrow of one of his own soldiers ; Jovian, at thirty-two, was suf focated by the fumes of a brasier in a half-finished house ; Valentinian I. died in a burst of fury at an imaginary in sult ; his brother Valens was burnt to death in the terrific rout at Adrianople ; both his sons were murdered — Gratian at twenty-four, Valentinian II. at twenty.

Of his succes sors, two only in the entire century had died by natural and untroubled deaths ; and of their widows and families, not a few perished by poison, despair, or broken hearts. As the prophet Hoshea says in describing a similar epoch, 'blood touched blood' on the crimson footsteps of the throne. Such had been ' the sad stories of the deaths of kings ' ; yet the awful sacro-sanctitude of the imperial person was ideally unimpaired, and the spirit of the old Lex Majesta tis still haunted the minds of men. Was not the emperor the lord of the universe? What would have happened next no one can tell. Perhaps the mere emblems of imperial power might have been sufficient to restore the people to their senses, and to convince them of the futility of a riot for which it was as certain as destiny itself that they would be called to give a heavy account.

But now an incident occurred which swept to the winds all remorse and all moderation ; for suddenly a stone flew over the heads of the mob, and, with a sharp ring, struck the cheek of the statue of Theodosius. A boy had flung it in mere gaiety of heart. To the boys of Antioch the riot had only been a wild and more than usually exciting holiday. They had not the smallest sense of the seriousness of that day's proceedings. Were not their fathers, ancl even their schoolmasters — -yes, and even some of the senators, amid the throng? Surely they must know what they were about, ancl it was not for the boys to spoil the fun. They could shy stones if they could do nothing else ; ancl was not that lordly bronze statue a quite irresistible cockshot? A shout of laughter followed the ring of the bronze when the stone so effectually struck its mark ; but it was drowned by savage cries of 'Down with the Spaniard!

Down with the tyrant! Down with the usurer!' as the mob now swarmed on to the judgment seat, ancl began to strike the imperial statues with every implement which they could improvise. The effigies of the two young princes being the smallest, were naturally the first to be dashed off their pedestals, and were soon battered into shapeless masses. ' I have got the nose of His Majesty Arcadius,' boasted one man. ' And I have got a curl of his Supreme Baby dom Honorius,' said another. ' I beat you both,' said a third, 'for I have got one of the Spaniard's hands entire, and shall keep it as a relic. I warrant you no crown gold shall be put in it for his favourite Goths.' The statue of Flaccilla was the next to fall, and neither the piety, the purity, nor the unassuming good temper of THE RIOT 13 the dead Empress, nor the keen recent sorrow of the Emperor for his bereavement, were sufficient to protect her image from the brutal insults of the mob.

But the worst indignities were reserved for the statue of the Emperor himself. They tore off the bronze diadem, and smashed it to pieces. They beat off the arms. They drove the eyes in with the sharp end of hammers. The eques trian statue of the Count his father was treated with equal contumely. They pelted, and battered, ancl tore it down, amid shouts of ' Defend thyself, great cavalier ! ' After they had trampled and tripudiated on all five statues to their hearts' content, they tied ropes round the shattered hulks, and dragged them in triumph along the red granite flags of the main street and the white slabs of Herod's Col onnade, finally flinging them in undistinguishable fragments at the base of the statue of the tutelary genius of their city. Encouraged by impunity, the fiercest spirits of the multitude meditated still more irreparable misdeeds.

It was a common thing in Alexandria to add terror to a sedition by a fire. Why should they not try the same at Antioch? 'How shall we answer for it to the Emperor?' asked a timid voice. ' May all the gods and goddesses confound him ! ' shouted a Pagan rioter in the crowd named Hermas. ' Why cannot we revolt to Maximus, as Berytus has threatened to do?' called a voice. ' The burgher Aretas has counselled submission, the coward ! Let us burn his house ! ' shouted Hermas, who was in a state of wild excitement. The counsel was adopted. Lighted torches began to appear, as though by magic, in many hands, and some began to fling them into the windows of the public buildings, and to do their best to kindle a conflagration in which the glorious city might have been irretrievably damaged. But, happily, at this moment a cry arose of ' The archers ! the archers ! ' and the steady march of armed men was heard approaching from the Golden Gate.