Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
significancy--because you have looked in no other direction. I believe
they bear upon a different point, and that when you look behind and
before, you will be of the same judgment.'
'Whither tends all this?'
'To this--that the omens of the day bear not upon your eastern
expedition, but upon the new religion! You are warned as the great high
priest, by these signs in heaven and on earth--not against this
projected expedition, which is an act of piety,--but against this
accursed superstition, which is working its way into the empire, and
threatening the extermination and overthrow of the very altars on which
you laid your costly offerings. What concern can the divinities feel in
the array of an army, destined to whatever service, compared with that
which must agitate their sacred breasts as they behold their altars cast
down or forsaken, their names profaned, their very being denied, their
worshippers drawn from them to the secret midnight orgies of a tribe of
Atheists, whose aim is anarchy in the state and in religion; owning
neither king on earth nor king in heaven--every man to be his own
priest--every man his own master! Is not this the likeliest reading of
the omens?'
'I confess, Fronto,' the Emperor replied, the cloud upon his brow
clearing away as he spoke, 'that what you say possesses likelihood. I
believe I have interpreted according to my fears. It is as you say--the
East only has been in my thoughts. It cannot in reason be thought to be
this enterprize, which, as you have said, is an act of piety--all Rome
would judge it so--against which the heavens have thus arrayed
themselves. Fronto! Fronto! I am another man! Slave,' cried he aloud to
one of the menials as he passed, 'let Mucapor be instantly summoned. Let
there be no delay. Now can my affairs be set on with something more of
speed. When the gods smile, mountains sink to mole-hills. A divine
energy runs in the current of the blood and lends more than mortal force
to the arm and the will.'
As he spoke, never did so malignant a joy light up the human countenance
as was to be seen in the face of Fronto.
'And what then,' he hastily put in as the Emperor paused, 'what shall be
done with these profane wretches?'
'The Christians! They must be seen to. I will consider. Now, Fronto,
shall I fill to the brim the cup of human glory. Now shall Rome by me
vindicate her lost honor and wipe off the foulest stain that since the
time of Romulus has darkened her annals.'
'You will do yourself and the empire,' rejoined the priest, 'immortal
honor. If danger ever threatened the very existence of the state it is
now from the secret machinations of this god-denying tribe.'
'I spake of the East and of Valerian, Fronto. Syria is now Rome's.
Palmyra, that mushroom of a day, is level with the ground. Her life is
out. She will be hereafter known but by the fame of her past greatness,
of her matchless Queen, and the glory of the victories that crowned the
arms of Aurelian. What now remains but Persia?'
'The Christians,' said the priest, shortly and bitterly.
'You are right, Fronto; the omens are not to be read otherwise. It is
against them they point. It shall be maturely weighed what shall be
done. When Persia is swept from the field, and Ctesiphon lies as low as
Palmyra, then will I restore the honor of the gods, and let who will
dare to worship other than as I shall ordain! Whoever worships them not,
or other than them, shall die.'
'In that spoke the chief minister of religion--the representative of the
gods. The piety of Aurelian is in the mouths of men not less than his
glory. The city resounds with the praise of him who has enriched the
temples, erected new ones, made ample provision for the priesthood, and
fed the poor. This is the best greatness. Posterity will rather honor
and remember him who saved them their faith, than him who gained a
Persian victory. The victory for Religion too is to be had without cost,
without a step taken from the palace gate or from the side of her who
is alike Aurelian's and the empire's boast.'
'Nay, nay, Fronto, you are over-zealous. This eastern purpose admits not
of delay. Hormisdas is new in his power. The people are restless and
divided. The present is the moment of success. It cannot bear delay.
To-morrow, could it be so, would I start for Thrace. The heavens are
propitious. They frown no longer.'
'The likeliest way, methinks,' replied the priest, 'to insure success
and the continued favor of the gods in that which they do not forbid,
were first to fulfil their commands in what they have enjoined.'
'That, Fronto, cannot be denied. It is of weight. But where, of two
commands, both seem alike urgent, and both cannot be done at once,
whether we will or not, we must choose, and in choosing we may err.'
'To an impartial, pious mind, O Emperor, the god of thy worship never
shone more clear in the heavens than shines his will in the terrific
signs of yesterday. Forgive thy servant, but drawn as thou art by the
image of fresh laurels of victory to be bound about thy brow, of the
rich spoils of Persia, of its mighty monarch at thy chariot wheels, and
the long line of a new triumph sweeping through the gates and the great
heart of the capital,--and thou art blind to the will of the gods,
though writ in the dread convulsions of the elements and the unerring
language of the slaughtered victims.'
'Both may be done--both, Fronto. I blame not your zeal. Your freedom
pleases me. Religion is thus, I know, in good hands. But both I say may
be done. The care of the empire in this its other part may be left to
thee and Varus, with full powers to see that the state, in the matter of
its faith, receives no harm. Your knowledge in this, if not your zeal,
is more than mine. While I meet the enemies of Rome abroad, you shall be
my other self, and gain other victories at home.'
'Little, I fear, Aurelian, could be done even by me and Varus leagued,
with full delegated powers, opposed as we should be by Tacitus and the
senate and the best half of Rome. None, but an arm omnipotent as thine,
can crush this mischief. I see thou knowest not how deep it has struck,
nor how wide it has spread. The very foundations of the throne and the
empire are undermined. The poison of Christian atheism has infected the
whole mind of the people, not only throughout Rome, but Italy, Gaul,
Africa, and Asia. And for this we have to thank whom? Whom but
ourselves? Ever since Hadrian--otherwise a patriot king--built his
imageless temples, in imitation of this barren and lifeless worship;
ever since the weak Alexander and his superstitious mother filled the
imperial palace with their statues of Christ, with preachers and
teachers of his religion; ever since the Philips openly and without
shame professed his faith; ever, I say, since these great examples have
been before the world, has the ancient religion declined its head, and
the new stalked proudly by. Let not Aurelian's name be added to this
fatal list. Let him first secure the honor of the gods--then, and not
till then, seek his own.'
'You urge with warmth, Fronto, and with reason too. Your words are not
wasted; they have fallen where they shall be deeply pondered. In the
meantime I will wait for the judgment of the augurs and haruspices; and
as the colleges report, will hold myself bound so to act.'
So they conversed, and then passed on. I was at that time but little
conversant with the religious condition of the empire. I knew but little
of the character of the prevailing faith and the Pagan priesthood; and I
knew less of the new religion as it was termed. But the instincts of my
heart were from the gods, and they were all for humanity. I loved man,
whoever he was, and of whatever name or faith; and I sickened at
cruelties perpetrated against him, both in war, and by the bloody spirit
of superstition. I burned with indignation therefore as I listened to
the cold-blooded arguings of the bigoted priest, and wept to see how
artfully he could warp aside the better nature of Aurelian, and pour his
own venom into veins, that had else run with human blood, at least not
with the poisoned current of tigers, wolves, and serpents, of every name
and nature most vile. My hope was that, away from his prompter, the
first purpose of Aurelian would return and have its way.
LETTER V.
FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.
I am now returned from my long intended visit to the villa of Marcus,
and have much to say concerning it.
But, first of all, rejoice with me in a fresh demonstration of good
will, on the part of Aurelian towards Zenobia. And what think you it is?
Nothing less than this, that Vabalathus has been made, by Aurelian and
the senate, king of Armenia! The kingdom is not large, but large enough
for him at his present age--if he shall show himself competent,
additions doubtless will be made. Our only regret is, that the Queen
loses thus his presence with her at Tibur. He had become to his mother
all that a son should be. Not that in respect to native force he could
ever make good the loss of Julia, or even of Livia, but, that in all the
many offices which an affectionate child would render to a parent in the
changed circumstances of Zenobia, he has proved to be a solace and a
support.
The second day from the dedication, passing through the Porta Asinaria
with Milo at my side, I took the road that winds along the hither bank
of the Tiber, and leads most pleasantly, if not most directly, to the
seat of my friends--and you are well aware how willingly I sacrifice a
little time on the way, if by doing so I can more than make up the loss
by obtaining brighter glimpses of earth and sky. Had I not found
Christianity, Fausta, this would have been my religion. I should have
forsaken the philosophers, and gone forth into the fields, among the
eternal hills, upon the banks of the river, or the margin of the
ever-flowing ocean, and in the lessons there silently read to me, I
should, I think, have arrived at some very firm and comfortable faith in
God and immortality. And I am especially happy in this, that nature in
no way loses its interest or value, because I now draw truth from a more
certain source. I take the same pleasure as before, in observing and
contemplating her various forms, and the clearer light of Christianity
brings to view a thousand beauties, to which before I was insensible.
Just as in reading a difficult author, although you may have reached his
sense in some good degree, unaided, yet a judicious commentator points
out excellences, and unfolds truths, which you had either wholly
overlooked, or but imperfectly comprehended.
All without the city walls, as within, bore witness to the graciousness
of the Emperor in the prolonged holiday he had granted the people. It
was as if the Saturnalia had arrived. Industry, such as there ever is,
was suspended; all were sitting idle, or thronging some game, or
gathering in noisy groups about some mountebank. As we advanced farther,
and came just beyond the great road leading to Tibur, we passed the
school of the celebrated gladiator Sosia, at the door of which there had
just arrived from the amphitheatre, a cart bearing home the bodies of
such as had been slain the preceding day, presenting a disgusting
spectacle of wounds, bruises, and flowing blood.
'There was brave fighting yesterday,' said Milo; these are but a few out
of all that fell. The first day's sport was an hundred of the trained
gladiators, most of them from the school of Sosia, set against a hundred
picked captives of all nations. Not less than a half of each number got
it. These fellows look as if they had done their best. You've fought
your last battle, old boys--unless you have a bout with Charon, who will