Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
true religion? It is a subject level scarce to philosophers. If, indeed,
the gods should vouchsafe to descend to earth and converse with men, and
in that manner teach some new truth, then any one, possessed of eyes and
ears, might receive it, and retain it without presumption. Nay, he could
not but do so; but not otherwise.'
'Now have you stated,' said I, 'that which constitutes the precise case
of Christianity. They who received Christianity in the first instance,
did it not by balancing against each other such refined arguments as
philosophers use. They were simply judges of matters of fact--of what
their eyes beheld, and their ears heard. God did vouchsafe to descend to
earth, and, by his messenger, converse with men, and teach new truth.
All that men had then to do was this, to see whether the evidence was
sufficient that it was a God speaking; and that being made plain, to
listen and record. And at this day, all that is to be done is to inquire
whether the record be true. If the record be a well-authenticated one of
what the mouth of God spoke, it is then adopted as the code of religious
truth. As for what the word contains--it requires no acute intellect to
judge concerning it--a child may understand it all.'
'Truly,' replied Portia, 'this agrees but ill with what I have heard and
believed concerning Christianity. It has ever been set forth as a thing
full of darkness and mystery, which it requires the most vigorous powers
to penetrate and comprehend.'
'So has it ever been presented to me,' added the Emperor. 'I have
conceived it to be but some new form of Plato's dreams, neither more
clear in itself, nor promising to be of more use to mankind. So, if I
err not, the learned Porphyrius has stated it.'
'A good fact,' here interposed Julia, 'is worth more in this argument
than the learning of the most learned. Is it not sufficient proof,
Aurelian, that Christianity is somewhat sufficiently plain and easy,
that women are able to receive it so readily? Take me as an unanswerable
argument on the side of Piso.'
'The women of Palmyra,' replied the Emperor, 'as I have good reason to
know, are more than the men of other climes. She who reads Plato and the
last essays of Plotinus, of a morning, seated idly beneath the shadow of
some spreading beech, just as a Roman girl would the last child's story
of Spurius about father Tiber and the Milvian Bridge, is not to be
received in this question as but a woman, with a woman's powers of
judgment. When the women of Rome receive their faith as easily as you
do, then may it be held as an argument for its simplicity. But let us
now break off the thread of this discourse, too severe for the occasion,
and mingle with our other friends, who by this must be arrived.'
So, with these words, we left the apartment where we had been sitting,
the Emperor having upon one side Portia, and on the other Livia, and
moved toward the great central rooms of the palace, where guests are
entertained, and the imperial banquets held.
The company was not numerous; it was rather remarkable for its
selectness. Among others not less distinguished, there were the
venerable Tacitus, the consul Capitolinus, Marcellinus the senator, the
prefect Varus, the priest Fronto, the generals Probus and Mucapor, and a
few others of the military favorites of Aurelian.
Of the conversation at supper, I remember little or nothing, only that
it was free and light, each seeming to enjoy himself and the companion
who reclined next to him. Aurelian, with a condescending grace, which no
one knows how better to assume than he, urged the wine upon his friends,
as they appeared occasionally to forget it, offering frequently some new
and unheard of kind, brought from Asia, Greece, or Africa, and which he
would exalt to the skies for its flavor. More than once did he, as he is
wont to do in his sportive mood, deceive us; for, calling upon us to
fill our goblets with what he described as a liquor surpassing all of
Italy, and which might serve for Hebe to pour out for the gods, and
requiring us to drink it off in honor of Bacchus, Pan, or Ceres, we
found, upon lifting our cups to drain them, that they had been charged
with some colored and perfumed medicament more sour or bitter than the
worst compound of the apothecary, or than massican overheated in the
vats. These sallies, coming from the master of the world, were sure to
be well received; his satellites, of whom not a few, even on this
occasion, were near him, being ready to die with excess of
laughter,--the attendant slaves catching the jest, and enjoying it with
noisy vociferation. I laughed with the rest, for it seems wise to
propitiate, by any act not absolutely base, one, whose ambitious and
cruel nature, unless soothed and appeased by such offerings, is so prone
to reveal itself in deeds of darkness.
When the feast was nearly ended, and the attending slaves were employed
in loading it for the last time with fruits, olives, and confections, a
troop of eunuchs, richly habited, entered the apartment to the sound of
flutes and horns, bearing upon a platter of gold an immense bowl or vase
of the same material, filled to the brim with wine, which they placed in
the centre of the table, and then, at the command of the Emperor, with a
ladle of the same precious material and ornamented with gems, served out
the wine to the company. At first, as the glittering pageant advanced,
astonishment kept us mute, and caused us involuntarily to rise from our
couches to watch the ceremony of introducing it, and fixing it in its
appointed place. For never before, in Rome, had there been seen, I am
sure, a golden vessel of such size, or wrought with art so marvellous.
The language of wonder and pleasure was heard, on every side, from every
mouth. Even Livia and Julia, who in Palmyra had been used to the goblets
and wine-cups of the Eastern Demetrius, showed amazement, not less than
the others, at a magnificence and a beauty that surpassed all
experience, and all conception. Just above where the bowl was placed,
hung the principal light, by which the table and the apartment were
illuminated, which, falling in floods upon the wrought or polished metal
and the thickly strewed diamonds, caused it to blaze with a splendor
which the eyes could hardly bear, and, till accustomed to it, prevented
us from minutely examining the sculpture, that, with lavish profusion
and consummate art, glowed and burned upon the pedestal, the swelling
sides, the rim and handles of the vase, and covered the broad and golden
plain upon which it stood. I, happily, was near it, being seated
opposite Aurelian, and on the inner side of the table, which, as the
custom now is, was of the form of a bent bow, so that I could study at
my leisure the histories and fables that were wrought over its whole
surface. Julia and Livia, being also near it on the other side of the
table, were in the same manner wholly absorbed in the same agreeable
task.
Livia, being quite carried out of herself by this sudden and unexpected
splendor--having evidently no knowledge of its approach--like a girl as
she still is, in her natural, unpremeditated movements, rose from her
couch and eagerly bent forward toward the vase, the better to scan its
beauties, saying, as she did so,
'The Emperor must himself stand answerable for all breaches of order
under circumstances like these. Good friends, let all, who will, freely
approach, and, leaving for a moment that of Bacchus, drink at the
fountain of Beauty.' Whereupon all, who were so disposed, gathered round
the centre of the table.
'This,' said Varus, 'both for size, and the perfect art lavished upon
it, surpasses the glories fabled of the buckler of Minerva, whose fame
has reached us.'
'You say right; it does so,' said the Emperor 'That dish of Vitellius
was inferior in workmanship, as it was less in weight and size than
this, which, before you all I here name "THE CUP OF LIVIA." Let us fill
again from it, and drink to the Empress of the world.'
All sprang in eager haste to comply with a command that carried with it
its own enforcement.
'Whatever,' continued the Emperor, when our cups had been drained, 'may
have been the condition of art in other branches of it, in the time of
that Emperor, there was no one then whose power over the metals, or
whose knowledge of forms, was comparable with that of our own Demetrius;
for this, be it known, is the sole work of the Roman--and yet, to speak
more truly, it must be said the Greek--Demetrius, aided by his brother
from the East, who is now with him. Let the music cease; we need that
disturbance no more; and call in the brothers Demetrius. These are men
who honor any age, and any presence.'
The brothers soon entered; and never were princes or ambassadors greeted
with higher honor. All seemed to contend which should say the most
flattering and agreeable thing. 'Slaves,' cried the Emperor, 'a couch
and cups for the Demetrii.'
The brothers received all this courtesy with the native ease and dignity
which ever accompany true genius. There was no offensive boldness, or
presuming vanity, but neither was there any shrinking cowardice nor
timidity. They felt that they were men, not less distinguished by the
gods, than many or most of those, in whose presence they were, and they
were sufficient to themselves. The Roman Demetrius resembles much his
brother of Palmyra, but, in both form and countenance, possesses beauty
of a higher order. His look is contemplative and inward; his
countenance pale and yet dark; his features regular and exactly shaped,
like a Greek statue; his hair short and black; his dress, as was that of
him of Palmyra, of the richest stuffs, showing that wealth had become
their reward as well as fame.
'Let us,' cried the Emperor, 'in full cups, drawn from the Livian fount,
do honor to ourselves, and the arts, by drinking to the health of
Demetrius of Palmyra, and Demetrius of Rome.' Every cup was filled, and
drained. 'We owe you thanks,' then added Aurelian, 'that you have
completed this great work at the time promised; though I fear it has
been to your own cost, for the paleness of your cheeks speaks not of
health.'
'The work,' replied the Roman Demetrius, 'could not have been completed
but for the timely and effectual aid of my Eastern brother, to whose
learned hand, quicker in its execution than my own, you are indebted for
the greater part of the sculptures, upon both the bowl and dish.'
'It is true, noble Emperor,' said the impetuous brother, 'my hand is the
quicker of the two, and in some parts of this work, especially in
whatever pertains to the East, and to the forms of building or of
vegetation, or costume seen chiefly or only there, my knowledge was
perhaps more exact and minute than his; but, let it be received, that
the head that could design these forms and conceive and arrange these
histories, and these graceful ornaments--to my mind more fruitful of
genius than all else--observe you them? have you scanned them
all?--belongs to no other than Demetrius of Rome. In my whole hand,
there resides not the skill that is lodged in one of his fingers;--nor,
in my whole head, the power that lies behind one of his eyes.'
The enthusiasm of the Eastern brother called up a smile upon the faces
of all, and a blush upon the white cheek of the Roman.
'My brother is younger than I,' he said, 'and his blood runs quicker.
All that he says, though it be a picture of the truest heart ever lodged
in man, is yet to be taken with abatement. But for him, this work would
have been far below its present merit. Let me ask you especially to mark
the broad border, where is set forth the late triumph, and ambassadors,
captives, and animals of all parts of the earth, especially of the East,