Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
are seen in their appropriate forms and habits. That is all from the
chisel of my brother. Behold here'--and rising he approached the vase,
and vast as it was, by a touch, so was it constructed, turned it
round--'behold here, where is figured the Great Queen of--'; in the
enthusiasm of art, he had forgotten for a moment to whom he was
speaking; for at that instant his eye fell upon the countenance of
Julia, who stood near him,--while hers at the same moment caught the
regal form of Zenobia, bent beneath the weight of her golden chains--and
which he saw cast down by an uncontrollable grief. He paused, confused
and grieved--saying, as he turned back the vase, 'Ah me! cruel and
indiscreet! Pardon me, noble ladies! and yet I deserve it not.'
'Go on, go on, Demetrius,' said Julia, assuming a cheerful air. 'You
offend me not. The course of Empire must have its way; individuals are
but emmets in the path. I am now used to this, believe me. It is for
you rather, and the rest, to forgive in me a sudden weakness.'
Demetrius, thus commanded, resumed, and then with minuteness, with much
learning and eloquence, discoursed successively upon the histories, or
emblematic devices, of this the chief work of his hands. All were sorry
when he ceased.
'To what you have overlooked,' said Aurelian, as he paused, 'must I call
you back, seeing it is that part of the work which I most esteem, and in
which at this moment I and all, I trust, are most interested--the
sculptures upon the platter; which represent the new temple and
ceremonies of the dedication, which to-morrow we celebrate.'
'Of this,' replied Demetrius, 'I said less, because perhaps the work is
inferior, having been committed, our time being short, to the hands of a
pupil--a pupil, however, I beg to say, who, if the Divine Providence
spare him, will one day, and that not a remote one, cast a shadow upon
his teachers.'
'That will he,' said the brother; 'Flaccus is full of the truest
inspiration.'
'But to the dedication--the dedication,' interrupted the hoarse voice of
Fronto.
Demetrius started, and shrunk backward a step at that sound, but
instantly recovered himself, and read into an intelligible language many
of the otherwise obscure and learned details of the work. As he ended,
the Emperor said,
'We thank you, Demetrius, for your learned lecture, which has given a
new value to your labors. And now, while it is in my mind, let me
bespeak, as soon as leisure and inclination shall serve, a silver
statue, gilded, of Apollo, for the great altar, which to-morrow will
scarce be graced with such a one as will agree with the temple and its
other ornaments.'
Demetrius, as this was uttered, again started, and his countenance
became of a deadly paleness. He hesitated a moment, as if studying how
to order his words so as to express least offensively an offensive
truth. On the instant, I suspected what the truth was; but I was wholly
unprepared for it. I had received no intimation of such a thing.
'Great Emperor,' he began, 'I am sorry to say--and yet not sorry--that I
cannot now, as once, labor for the decoration of the temples and their
worship. I am--'
'Ye gods of Rome!--' cried Fronto.
'Peace,' said the Emperor; 'let him be heard. How say you?'
'I am now a Christian; and I hold it not lawful to bestow my power and
skill in the workmanship of gods, in whom I believe not, and thus become
the instrument of an erroneous faith in others.'
This was uttered firmly, but with modesty. The countenance of the
Emperor was overclouded for a moment. But it partially cleared up again,
as he said, 'I lay not, Demetrius, the least constraint upon you. The
four years that I have held this power in Rome have been years of
freedom to my people in this respect. Whether I have done well in that,
for our city and the empire, many would doubt. I almost doubt myself.'
'That would they, by Hercules,' said the soft voice of Varus just at my
ear, and intended chiefly for me.
'My brother,' said Demetrius, 'will be happy to execute for the Emperor,
the work which he has been pleased to ask of me. He remains steadfast in
the faith in which he was reared; the popular faith of Athens.'
'Apollo,' said Demetrius of Palmyra 'is my especial favorite among all
the gods, and of him have I wrought more statues in silver, gold, or
ivory, or of these variously and curiously combined, than of all the
others. If I should be honored in this labor, I should request to be
permitted to adopt the marble image, now standing in the baths of
Caracalla, and once, it is said, the chief wonder of Otho's palace of
wonders, as a model after which, with some deviations, to mould it. I
think I could make that, that should satisfy Aurelian and Rome.'
'Do it, do it,' said the Emperor,' and let it be seen, that the
worshipper of his country's gods is not behind him, who denies them, in
his power to do them honor.'
'I shall not sleep,' said the artist, 'till I have made a model, in wax
at least, of what at this moment presents itself to my imagination.'
Saying which, with little ceremony--as if the Empire depended upon his
reaching, on the instant, his chalk and wax, and to the infinite
amusement of the company--he rose and darted from the apartment, the
slaves making way, as for a missile that it might be dangerous to
obstruct.
'But in what way,' said Aurelian, turning to the elder Demetrius, 'have
you been wrought upon to abandon the time-honored religion of Rome?
Methinks, the whole world is becoming of this persuasion.'
'If I may speak freely--'
'With utmost freedom,' said Aurelian.
'I may then say, that ever since the power to reflect upon matters so
deep and high had been mine, I had first doubted the truth of the
popular religion, and then soon rejected it, as what brought to me
neither comfort nor hope, and was also burdened with things essentially
incredible and monstrous. For many years, many weary years--for the mind
demands something positive in this quarter, it cannot remain in
suspense, and vacant--I was without belief. Why it was so long, before I
turned to the Christians, I know not; unless, because of the reports
which were so common to their disadvantage, and the danger which has so
often attended a profession of their faith. At length, in a fortunate
hour, there fell into my hands the sacred books of the Christians; and I
needed little besides to show me, that theirs is a true and almighty
faith, and that all that is current in the city to its dishonor is false
and calumnious. I am now happy, not only as an artist and a Roman, but
as a man and an immortal.'
'You speak earnestly,' said Aurelian.
'I feel so,' replied Demetrius; a generous glow lighting up his pale
countenance.
'Would,' rejoined the Emperor, 'that some of the zeal of these
Christians might be infused into the sluggish spirits of our own people.
The ancient faith suffers through neglect, and the prevailing impiety of
those who are its disciples.'
'May it not rather be,' said Fronto, 'that the ancient religion of the
State, having so long been neglected by those who are its appointed
guardians, to the extent that even Judaism, and now Christianity--which
are but disguised forms of Atheism--have been allowed to insinuate, and
intrench themselves in the Empire; the gods, now in anger, turn away
from us, who have been so unfaithful to ourselves; and thus this
plausible impiety is permitted to commit its havocs. I believe the gods
are ever faithful to the faithful.'
'What good citizen, too,' added Varus, 'but must lament to witness the
undermining, and supplanting of those venerable forms, under which this
universal empire has grown to its present height of power? He is
scarcely a Roman who denies the gods of Rome, however observant he may
be of her laws and other institutions. Religion is her greatest law.'
'These are hard questions,' said the Emperor. 'For, know you not, that
some of our noblest, and fairest, and most beloved, have written
themselves followers of this Gallilean God? How can we deal sharply with
a people, at whose head stands the chief of the noble house of the
Pisos, and a princess of the blood of Palmyra?'
Although Aurelian uttered these words in a manner almost sportive to the
careless ear, yet I confess myself to have noticed at the moment, an
expression of the countenance, and a tone in the voice, which gave me
uneasiness. I was about to speak, when the venerable Tacitus addressed
the Emperor, and said,
'I can never think it wise to interfere with violence, in the matter of
men's worship. It is impossible, I believe, to compel mankind to receive
any one institution of religion, because different tribes of men,
different by nature and by education, will and do demand, not the same,
but different forms of belief and worship. Why should they be alike in
this, while they separate so widely in other matters? and can it be a
more hopeful enterprise to oblige them to submit to the same rules in
their religion, than it would be to compel them to feed on the same
food, and use the same forms of language or dress? I know that former
emperors have thought and acted differently. They have deemed it a
possible thing to restore the ancient unity of worship, by punishing
with severity, by destroying the lives even, of such as should dare to
think for themselves. But their conduct is not to be defended, either as
right in itself or best for the state. It has not been just or wise, as
policy. For is it not evident, how oppression of those who believe
themselves to be possessed of truth important to mankind, serves but to
bind them the more closely to their opinions? Are they, for a little
suffering, to show themselves such cowards as to desert their own
convictions, and prove false to the interests of multitudes? Rather, say
they, let us rejoice, in such a cause, to bear reproach. This is the
language of our nature. Nay, such persons come to prize suffering, to
make it a matter of pride and boasting. Their rank among themselves is,
by and by, determined by the readiness with which they offer themselves
as sacrifices for truth and God. Are such persons to be deterred by
threats, or the actual infliction of punishment?'
'The error has been,' here said the evil-boding Fronto, 'that the
infliction of punishment went not to the extent that is indispensable to
the success of such a work. The noble Piso will excuse me; we are but
dealing with abstractions. Oppress those who are in error, only to a
certain point, not extreme, and it is most true they cling the closer to
their error. We see this in the punishment of children. Their obstinacy
and pride are increased, by a suffering which is slight, and which seems
to say to the parent, 'He is too timid, weak, or loving, to inflict
more.' So too with our slaves. Whose slaves ever rose a second time
against the master's authority, whose first offence, however slight, was
met, not by words or lashes, but by racks and the cross?'
'Nay, good Fronto, hold; your zeal for the gods bears you away beyond
the bounds of courtesy.'
'Forgive me then, great sovereign, and you who are here--if you may; but
neither time nor place shall deter me, a minister of the great god of
light, from asserting the principles upon which his worship rests, and,
as I deem, the Empire itself. Under Decius, had true Romans sat on the
tribunals; had no hearts, too soft for such offices, turned traitors to
the head; had no accursed spirit of avarice received the bribes which
procured security, to individuals, families, and communities; had there
been no commutations of punishment, then--'
'Peace, I say, Fronto; thou marrest the spirit of the hour. How came we
thus again to this point? Such questions are for the Council-room or the