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Front matter

Class "P Z,

C " Book .H

Gcpight N°.

Chapter II

A SURPRISE — THE VILLA TO BE CLOSED — THE VOICE OF THE GODS.

One day a low, broad-wheeled wagon, loaded with cypress-wood boxes of variorft lengths, and drawn by six bullocks, entered the avenue of the Villa Nemesius ; it was guarded by two Dacian soldiers — gigantic fellows, from the forests of the Danube — who, as they dashed the sweat from their faces with their huge hands, swore vigorously in their native tongue at the hot sun, and the rocky ascent up which they had been obliged to toil. Their rage increased the rasping discordance of their barbarous speech to such a pitch that the echoes were roused, and the frightened birds overhead flew wildly from bough to bough, not knowing what portents were in the air. The driver — a Roman peasant — grinned with impunity, being in advance of them, otherwise he would have been in danger of broken bones, or worse. The dense shade cast by the trees refreshed men and beasts, and, as the avenue was nearly level, the angry complaints of the Dacians subsided into low growls, and the driver let# his beasts follow their instincts, and advance more slowly.

Symphronius the steward was just preparing

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for his siesta when the sound of wheels grinding the gravel, mingled with loud, angry voices, disturbed the drowsy stillness. He went out, ruffled by the interruption, and the spectacle that greeted his eyes did not tend to sweeten his temper ; he was sure that only a stupid mistake could have brought such a cavalcade inside the gates, and, while he stood bottling his wrath until the driver approached within speaking distance, breathed vengeance against the porter for giving it admission. Presently the wagon halted abreast of where he stood, and he demanded to know, “in the name of all the Cyclops and Furies, by what right and by whose orders the driver had brought his rubbish, and savages, and beasts, to tear up the gravel, and trample down everything in their way?”

1 ‘ I had my orders, ’ ’ replied the driver sullenly,

‘ ‘ from one who has the best right to give them, to bring these boxes here, and to say they are to be carefully placed under three ilex trees that stand somewhere near a fountain ; and I was told that thou wouldst know the exact spot — that is, if thou art Symphronius, the steward. ’ ’

‘ ‘ Orders, by Fidius ! And whose, may I ask?’ ’ he answered, severe sarcasm in every tone. ‘ ‘ The Furies fly away with thy rubbish, and the evil eye light upon thee and thy cattle, and barbarians ! It’ % not to be believed that I’ll allow a place as beautiful as the Elysian fields to be cut up and trampled down for thy say so. Orders ! ’ ’

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“I had my orders from the great General Nemesius, just home from the foreign wars,” was the reply. ‘ ‘ Hast thou been sleeping like a mole in the ground, to have heard nothing of the honors the Senate paid him at the Capitol, and he there by the side of the Emperor, and all Rome looking on ? ” Symplironius was too astonished to interrupt the speaker, who went on : “ This rubbish” — nodding his head toward the cypress-wood boxes on the wagon — “this rubbish, as*it pleased thee to call it, is some of the spoils he brought from Greece, where he has been fighting for a year. He told me they were statues and the like, and to deliver them carefully, or my life should pay for it ; and he sent these great fellows — two of his own soldiers — to unload them. And, moreover, as I am answerable for their safety with my life — which I’m not anxious to lose — I mean to obey his orders.”

The breath of Symphronius was nearly gone by the time the man ceased speaking. Nemesius back, and in Rome, and he knowing nothing of it ! Was this the way to requite his l-ife-long faithful services ? To come home after five years’ absence, and leave him to hear of his arrival in this sort ! But he would show no surprise ; this lout and those savages should not even suspect how he had been slighted.

“Good fellow! ” said he, “I meant only to test thee. There’s no telling what tricks those pestiferous Christians might try to play on an un-

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protected household, if all’s true that one hears of them. My life’s a burden to me, having charge of such responsibilities as the noble Nemesius left on my poor shoulders, and I suspect all strangers until they can give a good account of themselves. Certainly I knew that my brave master was back. Did he not bid me come and witness the honors he received? — and well-deserved say I! And wasn’t I the proudest man in Rome that day ? And who had a better right, for I carried him in my arms before he could walk, and have been his faithful slave ever since ! Come now, let the bullocks and those giants rest in the shade : there’s no haste about unloading ; and do thou repose on the grass while I fetch out some wine and wheaten bread for thy refreshment.”

Almost bursting with the news, which, it is needless to say, he now heard for the first time, Symphronius did not deign to notice the inquiring looks that met him on his way to the wine-vaults, as some of the servants pressed forward full of curiosity as to the cause of the unwonted commotion without. To tell what he knew was something he must enjoy at his leisure, and in his own pompous way he would impress them with the belief that he alone of all the household had been honored with a special message from his master.

The thirsty men drained the amphora of wine that Symphronius set before them, and devoured

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the white bread to the last crumb ; their goodhumor was restored, and, after giving the bullocks generous draughts of water, they went away, guided by the steward, to the spot designated under the three ilex trees, to complete the task for which they had come.

Under the zealous directions of the old steward, instant preparations were made for Nemesius’ reception; for it was not doubted that he would come to the villa at the very earliest opportunity, and it might be at an unexpected moment; so it behooved them not to be caught napping. The long-closed and darkened rooms were thrown open to the sunshine and air; the precious mosaics, the treasures of lapis lazuli, priceless Etrurian vases, the marble Antigone, the ivory Graces, draperies from Persia inwrought with gold, chairs and couches of ebony inlaid with silver in patterns of intricate design, besides many other things rich and rare, were unveiled, and the film of fine gray dust that five years had filtered over them, obscuring their beauty, was patiently and carefully removed, and the steel mirrors polished until every object in the spacious apartments was reflected on their flawless surface. Fresh flowers once more garnished every available spot; garlands wreathed the alabaster pillars, and the statutes were again crowned with the flowers sacred to the deities they represented. A hum of cheerful voices, rippling sounds of laughter, and subdued snatches of song, were

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heard on every side from the busy workers, which expressed the full joy of their hearts, already reveling in anticipation of festas and banquets without end ; for how could it be otherwise, since Nemesius, the great captain, their lord and and master, would once more inhabit his villa on the Aventine?

And so the pleasure-loving, light-hearted domestic slaves at the villa looked for their master’s arrival as to a period which would put an end to the dull constraint of their lives — all except Zilla, on whose heart their gayety smote with something akin to pain. “Will he come,” she asked herself — remembering her last interview with him a lustrum ago — “where every object, this child most of all, will recall bitter memories of his loss ? And, should he come, will he bear to listen to what I have to tell him? Oh, my forsaken lamb ! how cruel have the Fates been to thee, leaving only a poor slave to love and cherish thee ! ’ ’ Then a burst of tears relieved her faithful heart.

Notwithstanding her doubts, which she wisely kept to herself, she arrayed little Claudia every day in daintiest attire, and carefully arranged her long, loose ringlets under a narrow, jewelled fillet, so that they fell over her dimpled white shoulders like a mass of spun gold, thinking if he should come at an unexpected moment he would see her at her best, and be struck by her resemblance to her dead mother; for the same

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hair, the same dimpled chin, the same pretty, graceful way of moving her head, the same winning expression, lived again in the child’s appearance, manner, and countenance. She bore her mother’s name, no instructions having been given as to what she should be called ; in fact, she was, apparently, as if dead to her father, and would have been nameless had not her nurse taken it on herself to call her Claudia.

Not only this, but when the little creature began to understand, the good Zilla told her of her brave father, who was in foreign lands fighting for the glory of Rome ; she told her how handsome and noble he was, and how tender a nature he had toward those he loved, and how distinguished and honored he was by the Emperor and the Senate, and how idolized by the army. All this was imparted, little by little, to the child as her intelligence developed, until her heart began to long for him, and in her dreams she heard his voice speaking tender, loving words to her, and felt his arms about her, while she reposed her head on his breast. And she would relate her dreams to Zilla as soon as she awoke, and prattle gayly of how she would lead him out to listen to the finches and nightingales, and show him the cascade where the naiads sported, and the grottoes where the fauns hid from the heat of the sun. And the woman listened, agreeing to all she said, and not sparing her caresses. “He shall find that she loves him,

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the child he has never seen, and cast off, giving himself no trouble to know whether she be living or dead — a child that the gods themselves might be proud of, and so beautiful that I wonder sometimes if she is mortal. Now, that he has got back from the foreign wars, we’ll see what he will do. I have told her he’s in Rome, and if he makes no sign, may the infernal gods wreak vengeance on his unnatural heart ! ’ ’ were the thoughts that passed through Zilla’s mind.

But day after day passed, and Nemesius did not appear, and at last a message came from him to Symphronius to close the villa as before, an order which was obeyed with low grumblings of discontent and sobs of disappointment from the servants, whose bright dreams were so rudely dispelled. Zilla could not find heart to tell the expectant child the sad news, but made up the most plausible excuses to explain the cause of her disappointment, every word of which the little creature believed.

“He’ll be here to-day, I know,” Claudia said every morning when she woke ; then in the evening: “He’ll be sure to come to-morrow, won’t he?”

“Yes, my child, to-morrow,” Zilla would answer, with a tender caress, while in her heart she whispered: “it takes long to find to-morrow!”

By and by the flush of hope and expectation began to fade out of the little maid’s face ; a new and nameless sensation in her breast, that she

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could not define, but which meant grief all the same, caused her to droop, and her sweet nature became ruffled by the first fretfulness she had ever known. Sometimes Zilla diverted her mind by telling her fables of her own sunny Southern land ; sometimes they went to the dove-cotes to feed the doves, whose cooing and fluttering amused the child, as one and another lit upon her shoulders, her head, or her outstretched hand, fanning her with their soft white wings, as she sprinkled grain for them ; then another day to the cascade, anywhere, everywhere, to divert her thoughts from the* hope which was so long deferred that it made her heart-sick.

A day came, however, when the pretexts of the devoted slave availed no longer; for the little Claudia, with an upflash of the proud Roman spirit that was in her, ordered her to take her to Rome. “I will o!” she said, with imperative gesture; “if he can not come to me, I will be taken to him. If thou wilt not, I’ll kill myself! ”

“Oh, my little lady!” said Zilla, taken by surprise, yet on guard, “he is not there; the Emperor has sent him off with his legions to quell some revolt. The news reached me only to-day, and I feared to give thee pain by telling thee.” It was a plain, unvarnished lie, but Zilla, pagan that she Was, would have given her life to save a single tear to this, the only thing left her on earth to love. It was a dogma of paganism that the end sanctified the means.

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“When he gets back wilt thou take me to him, if the Emperor can’t spare him long enough to come here? Oh, I know the Emperor would let him come, if he only knew he had a poor little girl here whom he has never seen! Wilt thou promise to take me, Zilla?” she sobbed.

“Yes, my beautiful one! I promise,” the nurse replied, as she drew her gently to her breast, smoothing the golden hair, and dropping soft kisses and tears on her head. ‘ ‘ If the Emperor can spare him, I know he will be here; if he can’t, I promise to take thee to him.”

That was a hit nearer the truth than Zilla knew when she uttered the chance words, “If the Emperor can spare him for it was Valerian’s pleasure to have him in constant attendance upon himself, not only in his coarse amusements and his debaucheries, which the fi-ner nature of Nemesius despised, but in all his deliberations and secret matters, in which he confided to his favorite the intelligence brought by spies of threatened conspiracies and other evils that menaced the imperial power. There was no mercy, and but short shrift, for conspirators or suspected traitors in those days; even the completest innocence was no safeguard, if it formed an obstacle to the attainment of an object coveted by those in power. What had imperial Rome to fear? Was she not mistress of the world? As for foreign foes, was not her power sufficient to lay them in the dust? And, as far as her sword could reach, she had nothing to dread.

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But there was a mysterious agency, which had been at work ever since the reign of Tiberius Caesar, that threatened the downfall and destruction of her vaunted indivisible power. Even before the Caesars, the Sybils had foretold it ; and the mysterious words of oracles and augurs, and certain wonderful signs, had left an undertone of dread in all her paeans of triumph, which neither violence nor time could silence, — a dread not of destruction by the sword, but by a supreme system of sorcery and magic wrought by the Nazarene, Christus of Judea, who, having claimed to be a God, was ignominiously executed on the Cross by order of the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate ; but, having by His own power raised Himself from the dead, was with His followers seeking to establish His reign upon earth. It was whispered that the gods would fall before Him ; and for a sign, did not His followers despise, deride and insult them? .They had been, since the first existence of their sect, vile plotters and conspirators against the Roman Empire and its divinities, and neither fire, sword, the wild beasts in the arena, torture, nor death under its most cruel aspects, had availed to extirpate them ; for where one was slaughtered, a hundred seemed to spring out of the earth to take his place. Neither could they be induced at any time, by promises of honors, riches, life, and safety, to cast even a grain of incense into the censers in honor of the gods. Under the Caesars, under the Republic,

3 °

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under the emperors from Tiberius to Valerian, the earth had smoked with their blood ; hecatombs of the accursed class had been slaughtered; but still they were like the sands of the sea, and they continued to practise their unholy rites in secret, worshipping an ass’s head, and sacrificing young infants on their altars, while they blasphemed the gods of Rome and their august worship.

That is how the “heathen raged,” and what they believed ; it was the way they had talked and believed ever since the Son of God had died upon the Cross for the salvation of the world ; and when the proud Roman saw how his power was baffled and set at naught by them — that there was something deathless in their faith and purpose — that they won adherents on every side, and instead of perishing flourished, and like eagles renewed their strength under those fierce persecutions, when every cruel invention of torture and death, that the devilish ingenuity of the pagan mind could devise was brought into play for their extermination — is it strange he should have believed that the Christians dealt in sorcery, and had aid from the spirits of Tartarus to undermine the tremendous system founded by Numa, and disintegrate and bring to nothingness that proud and august Empire established by the Caesars, and increasing in power under the emperors, in order to elevate to the imperial throne that “King of the Jews,” whose kingdom, they

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boasted, should extend over the whole earth? And that which was most intolerant and exasperating to the jealous, arrogant Roman mind, was the sense of being almost as much eluded and baffled by those whom they sought to destroy, as if they contended with phantoms.

There was sometimes a surcease of persecution against the Christians, as when by chance a good emperor — too good for his times, and therefore short-lived — was elevated to the purple ; or when rival emperors were busy killing one another, each trying to win senate and army to his own side ; or when foreign wars pressed closely upon their borders, requiring quick and active measures to rout and destroy the audacious foe ; in intervals like these the suffering Church had brief quiet. It can not be said that the persecutions ever entirely ceased, for sometimes while their fury relaxed in one quarter it raged in another ; but the tree of life still flourished in deathless vigor, bearing countless palms for those who bore witness with their blood for Christ.

There had been one of those brief intervals of relief in Rome, and it was hoped that the new Emperor, flushed with victory, and but recently elevated to the imperial throne, would not sully his triumphs by renewing the persecution of the Christians, among whom were numbers of his most loyal and faithful servants, who — their faith unknown to him — in the council-chamber, the field, and the executive departments of his Gov-

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eminent, had rendered him signal and true service. For a while the triumphs and other splendid pageantries amused the public mind; but the gladiatorial contests were now over, people wearied of chariot-races and sham battles in the Colosseum. The shows, where wild beasts of the desert were pitted against human wild beasts still more ferocious in the arena, and fought until they rent each other to pieces ; the tragedies, the plays and other public amusements, no longer excited interest : the people were longing for something more exhilarating ; while the thousands of soldiers just back from the foreign wars, who now lay encamped without the city — hundreds of whom represented the barbaric peoples that had been subjugated by the Roman eagles — began to murmur and growl, no longer disposed to tolerate anything that did not stir their bloodthirsty and cruel instincts, to gratify which, for want of something better, they began to kill one another in fierce quarrels and brawls. This was a serious matter, which, once started, there was no telling where or how it might end ; for their captains, who knew them and their ways, especially in seasons of inactivity, felt assured that while they might be momentarily awed into subordination by having their ringleaders bowstrung, or otherwise killed, their rage would only smoulder, and at last break out with more desperate violence. It was evident that a remedy for this state of affairs was needed ; for her army

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was the one power that Rome deferred to, knowing how quickly, in certain moods, it sometimes made and unmade emperors.

A grand review by the Emperor in person was proclaimed ; this was followed by a sham battle, which, in some instances, was not altogether sham, the opportunity to draw blood being too good a one to be lost ; after this, a competition in athletic exercises for prizes, and trials of skill with the bow, foot-races by the soldiers, and other rude diversions, amused the barbarian host, and, so long as they continued, served as means toward the desired result; besides which the Roman populace, always devoted to spectacular displays, was also kept out of mischief by its eagerness to witness and participate in all that was going on, as far as it might.

While these rude amusements were in progress, tidings of fresh plots and conspiracies, and of strange portents, were brought secretly to the ears of Valerian by the Pontifices — those priests who judged all causes relating to their false religion, regulated the feasts and all the other sacred institutions of their system. The haruspices, augurs, and magicians, each came in turn : the one to tell of omens discovered while preparing the sacrifices, the other of dreams and wonderful apparitions, the last with revelations of the future, — all prophesying the downfall of the Empire and its gods, unless renewed and more vigorous measures should be at once taken

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to exterminate the Christians, who were alone the cause of the threatened disasters and ruin. These were followed by the Pontifex Maximus himself, to whom all other priests were subject, a man of great authority and dignity, who gravely and impressively warned the Emperor that the gods themselves had spoken, and, in signs and terms not to be withstood, called upon him to crush their enemies.

The Christians of Rome were being steadily persecuted all the time, although not so violently or cruelly just then as in the near past. Many of them languished in the dungeons of the Mamertine, where they had been cast on false charges ; daily some were driven to labor in the quarries, others to be chained to the oar in the galleys, while still others were secretly tortured to death, and their possessions confiscated; but this was not enough: more rigorous measures were called for — they must be destroyed. But where should the first blow fall ? was the question. Their dangerous doctrines were not confined to slaves or the rabble: there was no place so elevated, no family so noble or powerful, no office so high, that Christians were not found in or connected with it; the army swarmed with them : it was not a rare thing to find a legion or a cohort composed entirely of them ; and it was admitted that none fought more bravely for Rome than they. They were found in the Temple of Justice, in the Forum — lawyers of great note —

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and the senate itself was contaminated by their presence. No wonder the “heathen raged,” for they had cause to tremble.

And now, to add fuel to the flame, news reached Valerian from Asia that a revolt instigated by the Christians had taken place in one of the richest of his recently-acquired provinces, and that an important citadel in another place, just on the frontier, had been betrayed to the enemy by certain of that hated sect who belonged to the garrison, and were at once put to death by order of the Governor, he having issued a decree that no Christian in the province be allowed to escape torture and such death as the enemies of the gods and Rome deserved.

One who lived in troubled times like these wrote: “When the Tiber overflows its banks, when there’s pestilence, war or famine, the cry is heard: ‘Away to the lions with the Christians ! ’ ” * As then, so now. The superstitious fears of Valerian, the late news from Asia, and the devil that possessed him, worked him up to the necessary degree of rage to issue a fresh edict of persecution against the Christians. No longer would the hot-blooded populace of Rome and the half-mutinous army clamor for excitements such as their brutal natures craved and hungered for: a feast of blood was in preparation that would satisfy them ; and a hoarse murmur filled the air, that sounded like the surf beating against a

*Tertullian.

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rock-bound coast, and already the terrible words, “The Christians to the lions! ” could be distinguished mingling with the tumultuous sounds.

It was understood that no mercy was to be shown in this fierce renewal of the persecution, which, according to their proud boast, would only end when Christianity should be extermi-, nated. The time had again come when th^v Church would find her only earthly refuge in the catacombs, — when the wheat of God would be ground between the teeth of savage beasts, and His vineyards be soaked with blood.

In the sacred precincts of the very temples — so it was decreed — should the contumacious wretches expiate their crime against the gods; there should they honor them, or perish by tortures equal to their guilt. Especially would the Temple of Mars Gradivus, on the Appian Way, be made the theatre of these spectacles of blood. Dedicated to Mars, its roof was supported by a hundred marble columns, and it was surrounded by palm-trees planted years before by order of the senate, in recognition that all the victories of the Roman arms were derived from that august deity. It was here the ambassadors of hostile nations were received by the Senate in pompous state; here also were held those splendid pageants, when the priests in the glittering vestments of their various orders, and the people in holiday attire, bearing branches and garlands, and chanting paeans, would celebrate with pagan

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and idolatrous rites new conquests and triumphs. And now that Rome meant to exterminate her most dangerous foes, they would offer hecatombs to their god of victories, to propitiate his favor for final success. And so they planned immortal victories — not for themselves or their gods, as they thought — but for Christ.

It is not necessary to refer more particularly to this fresh persecution under Valerian, except in so far as it affects those whose touching story is here related, and whose acts and words are taken from the reports of judicial proceedings, — it being obligatory by the Roman law for the officials of the courts to keep minutes of all that passed before the tribunal; and it is from these reports, the written testimony of the pagans themselves, that the Christians, in more quiet times, either by favor or bribery, copied many of the thrilling accounts of the martys which have been handed down to us.

Nemesius was a man of noble nature, and of principles so elevated that not even the wide license allowed by the pagan religion and laws tended to corrupt them. As the favorite of Valerian, he was often obliged to witness, and seemed to condone by his presence, much that he loathed as degrading to a true manhood; while the unforgotten sorrow of his life, and the dreadful conflicts of war in which he had been engaged ever since it befell him, had not only made him introspective and grave, but had closed his heart

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to all softer impressions. Love and beauty bad no power to beguile him, and if sometimes a dream or a strange impulse turned his thoughts to his motherless child at the villa on the Aventine, he sought by every means to banish all further memory of it. Life held no charm for him, no incentive except the honor and glory of Rome. He welcomed the new edict of persecution as presenting an opportunity for his zeal, and he was assigned an important part in the terrible scenes about to open; his courage, his devotion to the gods, and his loyalty to the imperial person, making him safe to trust in the execution of the most secret and important plans. What were the Christians to him but ‘ ‘ a crew of conspirators lurking in the dark,” to hatch treason and evil to Rome? He thought there might be some excuse in their ignorance for plebeians and slaves to be affected by the sorceries of the pestiferous innovators who sought to overthrow the old established order of things, but none for those — and there were many — whose rank, patrician blood, and education should have prevented their insulting the gods by denying their divinity. Both classes deserved death; but the latter, he thought, should be made a warning and example by the infliction of severer tortures, and deaths of more supreme suffering. And yet Nemesius was not a cruel man: he was only a true pagan, and a soldier whose motto was, ‘ ‘ The sharper the fight the sooner the victory. ’ ’