Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
the others to resist any of his measures. Still, it is most evident
that there is an under current of ill-will, opposition, jealousy,
distrust, running through the body, which, if the opportunity should
present itself, and there were courage enough for the work, may show
itself and make itself felt and respected. The senate, in a word, though
slavish and subservient, is not friendly.
But I am detaining you from the company of Demetrius, of which you were
always fond. I soon reached his rich establishment, and being assured
that he of Palmyra was within, I entered. First passing through many
apartments, filled with those who were engaged in some one of the
branches of this beautiful art, I came to that which was sacred to the
labors of the two brothers, who are employed in the invention of the
designs of their several works, in drawing the plans, in preparing the
models, and then in overseeing the younger artists at their tasks,
themselves performing all the higher and more difficult parts of the
labor. Demetrius was working alone at his statue; the room in which he
was, being filled either with antiquities in brass, ivory, silver, or
gold, or with finished specimens of his own and his brother's skill, all
disposed with the utmost taste, and with all the advantages to be
derived from the architecture of the room, from a soft and mellowed
light resembling moonlight which came through alabaster windows, from
the rich cloths, silks, and other stuffs, variously disposed around, and
from the highly ornamented cabinets in which articles of greatest
perfection and value were kept and exhibited. Here stood the enthusiast,
applying himself so intently to his task, that he neither heard the
door of the apartment as it opened, nor the voice of the slave who
announced my name. But, in a moment, as he suddenly retreated to a dark
recess to observe from that point the effect of his touches as he
proceeded, he saw me, and cried out,
'Most glad to greet you here, Piso; your judgment is, at this very
point, what I shall be thankful for. Here, if it please you, move to the
very spot in which I now am in, and tell me especially this, whether the
finger of the right hand should not be turned a line farther toward the
left of the figure. The metal is obstinate, but still it can be bent if
necessary. Now judge, and speak your judgment frankly, for my sake.'
I sank back into the recess as desired, and considered attentively the
whole form, rough now and from the moulds, and receiving the first
finishing touches from the rasp and the chisel. I studied it long and at
my leisure, Demetrius employing himself busily about some other matter.
It is a beautiful and noble figure, worthy any artist's reputation of
any age, and of a place in the magnificent temple for which it is
designed. So I assured Demetrius, giving him at length my opinion upon
every part. I ended with telling him I did not believe that any effect
would be gained by altering the present direction of the finger. It had
come perfect from the moulds.
'Is that your honest judgment, Piso? Christians, they say, ever speak
the exact truth. Fifty times have I gone where you now are to determine
the point. My brother says it is right. But I cannot tell. I have
attempted the work in too much haste; but Aurelian thinks, I believe,
that a silver man may be made as easily as a flesh one may be unmade.
Rome is not Palmyra, Piso. What a life there for an artist! Calm as a
summer sea. Here! by all the gods and goddesses! if one hears of
anything but of blood and death! Heads all on where they should be
to-day, to-morrow are off. To-day, captives cut up on the altars of some
accursed god, and to-morrow thrown to some savage beast, no better and
no worse, for the entertainment of savages worse than either or all. The
very boys in the streets talk of little else than of murderous sports of
gladiators or wild animals. I swear to you, a man can scarce collect or
keep his thoughts here. What's this about the Christians too? I marvel,
Piso, to see you here alive! They say you are to be all cut up root and
branch. Take my advice, and fly with me back to Palmyra! Not another
half year would I pass among these barbarians for all the patronage of
the Emperor, his minions, and the senate at their heels. What say you?'
'No, Demetrius, I cannot go; but I should not blame you for going. Rome
is no place, I agree with you, for the life contemplative, or for the
pure and innocent labors of art. It is the spot for intense action;
but--'
'Suffering you mean--'
'That too, most assuredly, but of action too. It is the great heart of
the world.'
'Black as Erebus and night.'
'Yes, but still a great one, which, if it can be once made to beat true,
will send its blood, then a pure and life-giving current, to the
remotest extremities of the world, which is its body. I hope for the
time to come when this will be true. There is more goodness in Rome,
Demetrius, than you have heard, or known of. There is a people here
worth saving: I, with the other Christians, am set to this work. We must
not abandon it.'
''Twill be small comfort though, should you all perish doing it.'
'Our perishing might be but the means of new and greater multitudes
springing up to finish what we had begun, but left incomplete. There is
great life in death. Blood, spilled upon the ground, is a kind of seed
that comes up men. Truth is not extinguished by putting out life. It
then seems to shine the more brightly, as if the more to cheer and
comfort those who are suffering and dying for it.'
'That may, or may not be,' said the artist, 'here and there; but, in my
judgment, if this man-slayer, this world-butcher once fastens his
clutches upon your tribe, he will leave none to write your story. How
many were left in Palmyra?--Just, Piso, resume your point of
observation, and judge whether this fold of the drapery were better as
it is, or joined to the one under it, an alteration easily made.'
I gave him my opinion, and he went on filing and talking.
'And now, Piso, if I must tell you, I have conceived a liking for you
Christians, and it is for this reason partly I would have you set about
to escape the evil that is at least threatened. Here is my brother,
whose equal the world does not hold, is become a Christian. Then, do you
know, here is a family, just in the rear of our shop, of one Macer, a
Christian and a preacher, that has won upon us strangely. I see much of
them. Some of his boys are in a room below, helping on by their labor
the support of their mother and those who are younger, for I trow, Macer
himself does little for them, whatever he may be doing for the world at
large, or its great heart as you call it. But, what is more still,'
cried he with emphasis, and a jump at the same moment, throwing down his
tools, 'do you know the Christians have some sense of what is good in
our way? they aspire to the elegant, as well as others who are in better
esteem.'
And as he finished, he threw open the doors of a small cabinet, and
displayed a row of dishes, cups, and pitchers, of elegant form and
workmanship.
'These,' he went on, 'are for the church of Felix, the bishop of the
Christians. What they do with them I know not; but, as I was told by the
bishop, they have a table or altar of marble, on which, at certain
times, they are arranged for some religious rite or other. They are not
of gold, as they seem, but of silver gilded. My brother furnished the
designs, and put them into the hands of Flaccus, who wrought them.
Neither I nor my brother could labor at them, as you may believe, but it
shows a good ambition in the Christians to try for the first skill in
Rome or the world,--does it not? They are a promising people.'
Saying which, he closed the doors and flew to his work again.
At the same moment the door of the apartment opened, and the brother
Demetrius entered accompanied by Probus. When our greetings were over,
Probus said, continuing as it seemed a conversation just broken off,
'I did all I could to prevent it, but the voice of numbers was against
me, and of authority too, and, both together, they prevailed. You, I
believe, stood neuter, or indeed, I may suppose, knew nothing about the
difference?'
'As you suppose,' replied the elder Demetrius, 'I knew nothing of it,
but designed the work and have completed it. Here it is.' And going to
the same cabinet, again opened the doors and displayed the contents.
Probus surveyed them with a melancholy air, saying, as he did so,
'I could bear that the vessels, used for the purpose to which these are
destined, should be made of gold, or even of diamond itself, could mines
be found to furnish it, and skill to hollow it out. For, we know, the
wine which these shall hold is that which, in the way of symbol, shadows
forth the blood of Christ which, by being shed on the cross, purchased
for us this Christian truth and hope; and what should be set out with
every form of human honor, if not this?'
'I think so,' replied Demetrius; 'to that which we honor and reverence
in our hearts we must add the outward sign and testimony; especially
moreover if we would affect, in the same way that ours are, the minds of
others. Paganism understands this; and it is the pomp and magnificence
of her ceremony, the richness of the temple service, the grandeur of her
architecture, and the imposing array of her priests in their robes,
ministering at the altars or passing through the streets in gorgeous
procession, with banners, victims, garlands, and music, by which the
populace are gained and kept. That must be founded on just principles,
men say, on which the great, the learned, and the rich, above all the
State itself, are so prompt to lavish so much splendor and wealth.'
'But here is a great danger,' Probus replied. 'This, carried too far,
may convert religion into show and ostentation. Form and ceremony, and
all that is merely outward and material, may take the place of the
moral. Religion may come to be a thing apart by itself, a great act, a
tremendous and awful rite, a magnificent and imposing ceremony, instead
of what it is in itself, simply a principle of right action toward man
and toward God. This is at present just the character and position of
the Roman religion. It is a thing that is to be seen at the temples, but
nowhere else; it is a worship through sacrifices and prayers, and that
is all. The worshipper at the temple may be a tyrant at home, a
profligate in the city, a bad man everywhere, and yet none the less a
true worshipper. May God save the religion of Christ from such
corruption! Yet is the beginning to be discerned. A decline has already
begun. Rank and power are already sought with an insane ambition, even
by ministers of Christ. They are seeking to transfer to Christianity the
same outward splendor, and the same gilded trappings, which, in the
rites and ceremonies of the popular faith, they see so to subdue the
imagination, and lead men captive. Hence, Piso and Demetrius, the golden
chair of Felix, and his robes of audience, on which there is more gold,
as I believe, than would gild all these cups and pitchers; hence, too,
the finery of the table, the picture behind it, and, in some churches,
the statues of Christ, of Paul, and Peter. These golden vessels for the
supper of Christ's love, I can forgive--I can welcome them--but in the
rest that has come, and is coming, I see signs of danger.'
'But, most excellent Probus,' said the younger Demetrius, 'I like not
to hear the arts assailed and represented dangerous. I have just been
telling Piso, that you are a people to be respected, for you were
beginning to honor the arts. Yet here now you are denouncing them. But,
let me ask, what harm could it do any good man among you, to come and