Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
It is impossible to describe the horror that seized those multitudes.
Many cried out with fear, and each seemed to shrink behind the other.
Paleness sat upon every face. The priest paused as if struck by a power
from above. Even the brazen Fronto was appalled. Aurelian leaped from
his seat, and by his countenance, white and awe-struck, showed that to
him it came as a voice from the gods. He spoke not; but stood gazing at
the dark entrance into the temple, from which the sound had come. Fronto
hastily approached him, and whispering but one word as it were into his
ear, the Emperor started; the spell that bound him was dissolved; and,
recovering himself--making indeed as though a very different feeling had
possessed him--cried out in fierce tones to his guards,
'Search the temple; some miscreant, hid away among the columns, profanes
thus the worship and the place. Seize him, and drag him forth to instant
death.'
The guards of the Emperor, and the servants of the temple, rushed in at
that bidding, and searched in every part the interior of the building.
They soon emerged, saying that the search was fruitless. The temple, in
all its aisles and apartments, was empty.
The ceremonies, quiet being again restored, then went on. Twelve bulls,
of purest white and of perfect forms, their horns bound about with
fillets, were now led by the servants of the temple up the marble steps
to the front of the altar, where stood the cultrarii and haruspices,
ready to slay them and examine their entrails. The omens,--as gathered
by the eyes of all from the fierce strugglings and bellowings of the
animals, as they were led toward the place of sacrifice, some even
escaping from the hands of those who had the management of them, and
from the violent and convulsive throes of others as the blow fell upon
their heads, or the knife severed their throats,--were of the darkest
character, and brought a deep gloom upon the brow of the Emperor. The
report of the haruspices, upon examination of the entrails, was little
calculated to remove that gloom. It was for the most part unfavorable.
Especially appalling was the sight of a heart, so lean and withered,
that it scarce seemed possible that it should ever have formed a part of
a living animal. But more harrowing than all, was the voice of Fronto,
who, prying with the haruspices into the smoking carcass of one of the
slaughtered bulls, suddenly cried out with horror, that 'no heart was to
be found.'
The Emperor, hardly to be restrained by those near him from some
expression of anger, ordered a more diligent search to be made.
'It is not in nature that such a thing should be,' he said. 'Men are, in
truth, sometimes without hearts; but brutes, as I think, never.'
The report was however confidently confirmed. Fronto himself approached,
and said that his eye had from the first been upon the beast, and the
exact truth had been stated.
The carcasses, such parts as were for the flames, were then laid upon
the vast altar, and the flames of the sacrifice ascended.
The heavens were again obscured by thick clouds, which, accumulating
into heavy volumes, began now, nearer and nearer, to shoot forth
lightning, and roll their thunders. The priest commenced the last
office, prayer to the god to whom the new temple had been thus solemnly
consecrated. He again bowed his head, and again lifted up his voice. But
no sooner had he invoked the god of the temple and besought his ear,
than again, from its dark interior, the same awful sounds issued forth,
this time saying, 'Thy gods, O Rome, are false and lying gods. God is
but one.'
Aurelian, pale, as it seemed to me; with superstitious fear, again
strove to shake it off, giving it artfully and with violence the
appearance of offended dignity. His voice was a shriek rather than a
human utterance, as he cried out,
'This is but a Christian device; search the temple till the accursed
Nazarene be found, and hew him piecemeal--' More he would have said,
but, at the instant, a bolt of lightning shot from the heavens, and,
lighting upon a large sycamore which shaded a part of the temple court,
clove it in twain. The swollen cloud, at the same moment, burst, and a
deluge of rain poured upon the city, the temple, the gazing multitude,
and the just kindled altars. The sacred fires went out in hissing and
darkness; a tempest of wind whirled the limbs of the slaughtered victims
into the air, and abroad over the neighboring streets. All was
confusion, uproar, terror, and dismay. The crowds sought safety in the
houses of the nearest inhabitants, in the porches, and in the palaces.
Aurelian and the senators and those nearest him, fled to the interior of
the temple. The heavens blazed with the quick flashing of the lightning,
and the temple itself seemed to rock beneath the voice of the thunder. I
never knew in Rome so terrific a tempest. The stoutest trembled, for
life hung by a thread. Great numbers, it has now been found, in every
part of the capital, fell a prey to the fiery bolts. The capital itself
was struck, and the brass statue of Vespasian in the forum thrown down
and partly melted. The Tiber in a few hours overran its banks, and laid
much of the city on its borders under water.
But, ere long, the storm was over. The retreating clouds, but still
sullenly muttering in the distance as they rolled away, were again
lighted up by the sun, who again shone forth in his splendor. The
scattered limbs of the victims were collected and again laid upon the
altar. Dry wood being brought, the flames quickly shot upward and
consumed to the last joint and bone the sacred offerings. Fronto once
more stood before the altar, and now uninterrupted performed the last
office of the ceremony. Then, around the tables spread within the temple
to the honor of the gods, feasting upon the luxuries contributed by
every quarter of the earth, and filling high with wine, the adverse
omens of the day were by most forgotten. But not by Aurelian. No smile
was seen to light up his dark countenance. The jests of Varus and the
wisdom of Porphyrius alike failed to reach him. Wrapped in his own
thoughts, he brooded gloomily over what had happened, and strove to read
the interpretation of portents so unusual and alarming.
I went not in to the feast, but returned home reflecting as I went upon
the events I had witnessed. I knew not what to think. That in times
past, long after the departure from the earth of Jesus and his immediate
followers, the Deity had interposed in seasons of peculiar perplexity to
the church, and, in a way to be observed, had manifested his power, I
did not doubt. But for a long time such revelations had wholly ceased.
And I could not see any such features in the present juncture, as would,
to speak as a man, justify and vindicate a departure from the ordinary
methods of the Divine Providence. But then, on the other hand, I could
not otherwise account for the voice, nor discover any way in which, had
one been so disposed, he could so successfully and securely have
accomplished his work. Revolving these things, and perplexed by doubts,
I reached the Coelian--when, as I entered my dwelling, I found, to my
great satisfaction, Probus seated with Julia, who at an early period,
foreseeing the tempest, had with Portia withdrawn to the security of her
own roof.
'I am glad you are come at length,' said Julia as I entered; 'our friend
has scarce spoken. I should think, did I not know the contrary, that he
had suddenly abandoned the service of truth and become a disciple of
Novatus. He hath done little but groan and sigh.'
'Surely,' I replied, 'the occasion warrants both sighs and groans. But
when came you from the temple?'
'On the appearance of the storm, just as Fronto approached the altar the
first time. The signs were not to be mistaken, by any who were not so
much engrossed by the scene as to be insensible to all else, that a
tempest was in the sky, and would soon break upon the crowds in a deluge
of rain and hail--as has happened. So that warning Portia of the danger,
we early retreated--she with reluctance; but for myself, I was glad to
be driven away from a scene that brought so vividly before me the events
of the early morning.'
'I am glad it was so,' I replied; 'you would have been more severely
tried, had you remained.' And I then gave an account of the occurrences
of the day.
'I know not what to make of it,' she said as I ended 'Probus, teach us
what to think. I am bewildered and amazed.'
'Lady,' said Probus, 'the Christian service is a hard one.'
'I have not found it so, thus far; but, on the other hand, a light and
easy one.'
'But the way is not ever so smooth, and the path, once entered upon,
there is no retreat.'
'No roughness nor peril, Probus, be they what they may, can ever shake
me. It is for eternity I have embraced this faith, not for time--for my
soul, not for my body.'
'God be thanked that it is so. But the evils and sorrows that time has
in store, and which afflict the body, are not slight. And sometimes they
burst forth from the overburdened clouds in terrific violence, and poor
human strength sinks and trembles, as to-day before the conflict of the
elements.'
'They would find me strong in spirit and purpose, I am sure, Probus,
however my woman's frame of flesh might yield. No fear can change my
mind, nor tear me from the hopes which through Christ I cherish more, a
thousand fold, than this life of an hour.'
'Why, why is it so ordained in the Providence of God,' said Probus,
'that truth must needs be watered with tears and blood, ere it will grow
and bear fruit? When, as now, the sky is dark and threatening, and the
mind is thronged with fearful anticipations of the sorrows that await
those who hold this faith, how can I, with a human heart within me,
labor to convert the unbelieving? The words falter upon my tongue. I
turn from the young inquirer, and with some poor reason put him off to
another season. When I preach, it is with a coldness that must repel,
and it is that which I almost desire to be the effect. My prayers never
reach heaven, nor the consciences of those who hear. Probus, they say,
is growing worldly. His heart burns no longer within him. His zeal is
cold. We must look to Macer. I fear, lady, that the reproaches are well
deserved. Not that I am growing worldly or cold, but that my human
affections lead me away from duty, and make me a traitor to truth, and
my master.'
'O no, Probus,' said Julia; 'these are charges foolish and false. There
is not a Christian in Rome but would say so. We all rest upon you.'
'Then upon what a broken reed! I am glad it was not I who made you a
Christian.'
'Do you grieve to have been a benefactor?'
'Almost, when I see the evils which are to overwhelm the believer. I
look round upon my little flock of hearers, and I seem to see them led
as lambs to the slaughter--poor, defenceless creatures, set upon by
worse than lions and wolves. And you, lady of Piso, how can I sincerely
rejoice that you have added your great name to our humble roll, when I
think of what may await you. Is that form to be dragged with violence
amid the hootings of the populace to the tribunal of the beast Varus?
Are those limbs for the rack or the fire?'
'I trust in God they are not, Probus. But if they are needed, they are
little to give for that which has made me so rich, and given wings to
the soul. I can spare the body, now that the soul can live without it.'
'There spoke the universal Christian! What but truth could so change our
poor human nature into somewhat quite divine and godlike! Think not I
shrink myself at the prospect of obstruction and assault. I am a man
loose upon the world, weaned by suffering and misfortune from earth,