Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
friends of the Roman faith are summer ones, but that, perhaps, most are.
Many among them, though attached firmly as my mother to the existing
institutions, are yet, like her, possessed of the common sentiments of
humanity, and would venture much or all to divert the merest shadow of
harm from my head. Among these, I still pass some of my pleasantest and
most instructive hours--for with them the various questions involved in
the whole subject of religion, are discussed with the most perfect
freedom and mutual confidence. Varus, the prefect, whom I met among
others, greeted me with unchanged courtesy. His sweetest smile was on
his countenance as he swept by me, wishing me a happy day. How much more
tolerable is the rude aversion, or loud reproaches of those I have told
you of, than this honied suavity, that means nothing, and would be still
the same though I were on the way to the block.
As I entered my library, Solon accosted me, to say, that there had been
one lately there most urgent to see me. From his account, I could
suppose it to be none other than the Jew Isaac, who, Milo has informed
me, is now returned to Rome, which he resorts to as his most permanent
home. Solon said that, though assured I was not at home, he would not be
kept back, but pressed on into the house, saying that 'these Roman
nobles often sat quietly in their grand halls, while they were denied to
their poor clients. Piso was an old acquaintance of his when in Palmyra,
and he had somewhat of moment to communicate to him, and must see him.'
'No sooner,' said Solon, 'had he got into the library, the like of
which, I may safely affirm, he had never seen before, for his raiment
betokened a poor and ragged life, than he stood, and gazed as much at
his ease as if it had been his own, and then, by Hercules! unbuttoning
his pack, for he was burdened with one both before and behind, he threw
his old limbs upon a couch, and began to survey the room! I could not
but ask him, If he were the elder Piso, old Cneius Piso, come back from
Persia, in Persian beard and gown?--'Old man,' said he, 'your brain is
turned with many books, and the narrow life you lead here, shut out from
the living world of man. One man is worth all the books ever writ, save
those of Moses. Go out into the streets and read him, and your senses
will come again. Cneius Piso! Take you me for a spirit? I am Isaac the
Jew, citizen of the world, and dealer in more rarities and valuables
than you ever saw or dreamed of. Shall I open my parcels for thee?' No,
said I, I would not take thy poor gewgaws for a gift. One worm-eaten
book is worth them all.--'God restore thy reason!' said he, 'and give
thee wisdom before thou diest; and that, by thy wrinkles and hairless
pate must be soon.' What more of false he would have added I know not,
for at that moment he sprang from where he sat like one suddenly mad,
exclaiming, 'Holy Abraham! what do my eyes behold, or do they lie?
Surely that is Moses! Never was he on Sinai, if his image be not here!
Happy Piso! and happy Isaac to be the instrument of such grace! Who
could have thought it? And yet many a time, in my dreams, have I beheld
him, with a beard like mine, his hat on his head, his staff in his hand,
as if standing at the table of the Passover, the princess with him,
and--dreams will do such things--a brood of little chickens at their
side. And now--save the last--it is all come to pass. And here, too, who
may this be? who, but Aaron, the younger and milder! He was the speaker,
and lo! his hand is stretched out! And this young Joseph is at his knee
the better to interpret his character to the beholder. Moses and Aaron
in the chief room of a Roman senator, and he, a Piso! Now, Isaac, thou
mayest tie on thy pack, and take thy leave with a merry heart, for God,
if never before, now accepteth thy works.' And much more, noble sir, in
the same raving way, which was more dark to my understanding than the
darkest pages of Aristotle.'
I gathered from Solon, that he would return in the evening in the hope
to see me, for he had that to impart which concerned nearly my welfare.
I was watching with Julia, from the portico which fronts the Esquiline
and overlooks the city, the last rays of the declining sun, as they
gilded the roofs and domes of the vast sea of building before us,
lingering last upon, and turning to gold the brazen statues of Antonine
and of Trajan, when Milo approached us, saying that Isaac had returned.
He was in a moment more with us.
'Most noble Piso,' said he, 'I joy to see thee again; and this morning,
I doubt not, I should have seen thee, but for the obstinacy of an
ancient man, whose wits seem to have been left behind as he has gone
onward. I seek thee, Piso, for matters of moment. Great princess,' he
suddenly cried, turning to Julia with as profound a reverence as his
double burden would allow, 'glad am I to greet thee in Rome; not glad
that thou wert forced to flee here, but glad that if, out of Palmyra,
thou art here in the heart of all that can best minister to thy wants.
Not a wish can arise in the heart but Rome can answer it. Nay, thou
canst have few for that which is rare and costly, but even I can answer
them. Hast thou ever seen, princess, those diamonds brought from the
caves of mountains a thousand miles in the heart of India, in which
there lurks a tint, if I may so name it, like this last blush of the
western sky? They are rarer than humanity in a Roman, or apostacy in a
Jew, or truth in a Christian. I shall show thee one.' And he fell to
unlacing his pack, and drawing forth its treasures.
Julia assured him, she should see with pleasure whatever he could show
her of rich or rare.
'There are, lady, jewelers, as they name themselves in Rome, who dwell
in magnificent houses, and whose shops are half the length of a street,
who cannot show you what Isaac can out of an old goatskin pack. And how
should they? Have they, as I have, traveled the earth's surface and
trafficked between crown and crown? What king is there, whose
necessities I have not relieved by purchasing his rarest gems; or whose
vanity I have not pleased by selling him the spoils of another? Old
Sapor, proud as he was, was more than once in the grasp of Isaac. There!
it is in this case--down, you see, in the most secret part of my
pack--but who would look for wealth under this sordid covering? as who,
lady, for a soul within this shriveled and shattered body? yet is there
one there. In such outside, both of body and bag, is my safety. Who
cares to stop the poor man, or hold parley with him? None so free of the
world and its high ways as he; safe alike in the streets of Rome, and on
the deserts of Arabia. His rags are a shield stouter than one of
seven-fold bull's hide. Never but in such guise could I bear such jewels
over the earth's surface. Here, lady, is the gem; never has it yet
pressed the finger of queen or subject. The stone I brought from the
East, and Demetrius, here in Rome, hath added the gold. Give me so much
pleasure--'
And he placed it upon Julia's finger. It flashed a light such as we
never before saw in stone. It was evidently a most rare and costly gem.
It was of great size and of a hue such as I had never before seen.
'This is a queen's ring, Isaac,' said Julia--'and for none else.'
'It well becomes the daughter of a queen'--replied the Jew, 'and the
wife of Piso--specially seeing that--Ah, Piso! Piso! how was I overjoyed
to-day to see in thy room the evidence that my counsels had not been
thrown away. The Christian did not gain thee with all his cunning--'
'Nay, Isaac'--I here interrupted him--'you must not let your benevolent
wishes lead you into error. I am not yet a Jew. Those images that caught
your eye were not wholly such as you took them for.'
'Well, well,' said the philosophic Jew, 'rumor then has for once spoken
the truth. She has long, as I learn, reported thee Christian: but I
believed it not. And to-day, when I looked upon those statues, I pleased
myself with the thought that thou, and the princess, like her august
mother, had joined themselves to Israel. But if it be not so, then have
I an errand for thee, which, but now, I hoped I might not be bound to
deliver. Piso, there is danger brewing for thee, and for all who hold
with thee!'
'So I hear, Isaac, on all sides, and partly believe it. But the rumor is
far beyond the truth, I do not doubt.'
'I think not so,' said Isaac. 'I believe the truth is beyond the rumor.
Aurelian intends more and worse than he has spoken; and already has he
dipt his hand in blood!'
'What say you? how is it you mean?' said Julia.
'Whose name but Aurelia's has been in the city's ears these many days? I
can tell you, what is known as yet not beyond the Emperor's palace and
the priest's, Aurelia is dead!'
'Sport not with us, Isaac!'
'I tell you, Piso, the simple truth. Aurelia has paid with her life for
her faith. I know it from more than one whose knowledge in the matter is
good as sight. It was in the dungeons of the Fabrician bridge, that she
was dealt with by Fronto the priest of Apollo.'
'Aurelian then,' said Julia, 'has thrust his sickle into another field
of slaughter, and will not draw it out till he swims in Christian
blood, as once before in Syrian. God help these poor souls.' 'What,
Isaac, was the manner of her death, if you have heard so much?'
'I have heard only,' replied Isaac, 'that, after long endeavor on the
part of Aurelian and the priest to draw her from her faith while yet at
the palace, she was conveyed to the prisons I have named, and there
given over to Fronto and the executioners, with this only restriction,
that if neither threats, nor persuasions, nor the horrid array of
engines, could bend her, then should she be beheaded without either
scourging or torture. And so it was done. She wept, 'tis said, as it
were without ceasing, from the time she left the gardens; but to the
priest would answer never a word to all his threats, entreaties, or
promises; except once, when that wicked minister said to her, 'that
except she in reality and truth would curse Christ and sacrifice, he
would report that she had done so, and so liberate her and return her to
the palace:'--at which, 'tis said, that on the instant her tears ceased,
her eyes flashed lightning, and with a voice, which took the terrific
tones of Aurelian himself, she said, 'I dare thee to it, base priest!
Aurelian is an honorable man--though cruel as the grave--and my simple
word, which never yet he doubted, would weigh more than oaths from thee,
though piled to heaven! Do thy worst then, quick!' Whereupon the priest,
white with wrath, first sprang toward her as if he had been a beast set
to devour her, drawing at the same moment a knife from his robes; but,
others being there, he stopped, and cried to the executioner to do his
work--raving that he had it not in his power first to torment her.
Aurelia was then instantly beheaded.'
We were silent as he ended, Julia dissolved in tears Isaac went on.
'This is great testimony, Piso, which is borne to thy faith. A poor,
weak girl, alone, with not one to look on and encourage, in such a
place, and in the clutches of such a hard-hearted wretch, to die without
once yielding to her fears or the weakness of her tender nature--it is a
thing hardly to be believed, and full of pity. Piso, thou wilt despise
me when I say that my tribe rejoices at this, and laughs; that the Jew
is seen carrying the news from house to house, and secretly feeding on
it as a sweet morsel! And why should he not? Answer me that, Roman!
Answer me that, Christian! In thee, Piso, and in every Roman like thee,
there is compacted into one the enmity that has both desolated my
country, and--far as mortal arm may do so--dragged down to the earth,