Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
'Tell us,' cried one, as soon as the noise subsided, 'how you became
what you are? What is to be done?'
'Yes,' cried many voices, 'tell us.'
'I will tell you gladly,' answered Macer. 'I first heard the word of
truth from the lips of Probus, a preacher of the Christians, whom you
too may hear whenever you will, by seeking him out on the days when the
Christians worship. Probus was in early life a priest of the temple of
Jupiter, and if any man in Rome can place the two religions side by
side, and make the differences plain, it is he. Go to him such of you as
can, and you will never repent it. But if you would all learn the first
step toward Christian truth, and all truth, it is this; lay aside your
prejudices, be willing to see, hear, and judge for yourselves. Take not
rumor for truth. Do not believe without evidence both for and against.
You would not, without evidence and reason, charge Aurelian with the
death of Aurelia, though ten thousand tongues report it. Charge not the
Christians with worse things then, merely because the wicked and
ill-disposed maliciously invent them and spread them. If you would know
the whole truth and doctrine of Christians; if you would ascend to the
fountain-head of all Christian wisdom, take to your homes our sacred
books and read them. Some of you at least can obtain them. Let one
purchase, and then twenty or fifty read. One thing before I cease.
Believe not the wicked aspersions of the prefect. He charges me as a
brawler, a disturber of the peace and order of the city. Romans, believe
me, I am a lover of peace, but I am a lover of freedom too. Because I am
a lover of peace, and would promote it, do I labor to teach the
doctrines of Christ, which are doctrines of peace and love, both at home
and abroad, in the city and throughout the world; and because I am the
friend of freedom, do I open my mouth at all times and in every place,
wherever I can find those who, like you, are ready to hear the words of
salvation. When in Rome I can no longer speak--no longer speak for the
cause of what I deem truth, then will I no longer be a Roman. Then will
I that day renounce my name and my country. Thanks to Aurelian, he has
never chained up the tongue. I have fought and bled under him, and never
was there a braver man, or who honored courage more in others. I do not
believe he will ever do so cowardly a thing as to restrain the freedom
of men's speech. Aurelian is some things, but he is not others. He is
severe and cruel, but not mean. Cut Aurelian in two, and throw the
worser half away, and t'other is as royal a man as ever the world saw.
'One thing more, good friends and citizens: If I am sometimes carried
away by my passions to do that which seems a disturbance of the common
order, say that it is the soldier Macer that does it, not his Christian
zeal--his human passions, not his new-adopted faith. It is not at once
and perfectly that a man passes from one life to another; puts off one
nature and takes another. Much that belonged to Macer of the
amphitheatre, and Macer the soldier, cleaves to him now. But make not
his religion amenable for that. You who would see the law of Christ
written, not only on a book but in the character and life of a living
man, go read the Christian Probus.'
As he said these words he began to descend the steps of the temple; but
many crowded round him, assailing him, some with reproaches, and others
with inquiries put by those who seemed anxious to know the truth. The
voices of his opponents were the most violent and prevailed, and made me
apprehensive that they would proceed to greater length than speech. But
Macer stood firm, nothing daunted by the uproar. One, who signalized
himself by the loudness and fierceness of his cries, exclaimed, 'that he
was nothing else than an atheist like all the rest of the Christians;
they have no gods; they deny the gods of Rome, and they give us nothing
in their stead.'
'We deny the gods of Rome, I know,' replied Macer, 'and who would not,
who had come to years of discretion? who had so much as left his nurse's
lap? A fouler brotherhood than they the lords of Heaven, Rome does not
contain. Am I to be called upon to worship a set of wretches chargeable
with all the crimes and vices to be found on earth? It is this accursed
idolatry, O Romans, that has sunk you so low in sin! They are your lewd,
and drunken, and savage deities, who have taught you all your refinement
in wickedness; and never, till you renounce them, never till you repent
you of your iniquities--never till you turn and worship the true God
will you rise out of the black Tartarean slough in which you are lying.
These two hundred years and more has God called to you by his Son, and
you have turned away your ears; you have hardened your hearts; the
prophets who have come to you in his name have you slain by the sword or
hung upon the accursed tree. Awake out of your slumbers! These are the
last days. God will not forbear forever. The days of vengeance will
come; they are now at hand: I can hear the rushing of that red right arm
hot with wrath--'
'Away with him! away with him!' broke from an hundred voices!--'Down
with the blasphemer!'--'Who is he to speak thus of the gods of
Rome?'--'Seize the impious Gallilean, and away with him to the
prefect'--These, and a thousand exclamations of the same kind, and more
savage, were heard on every side; and, at the same moment, their denial
and counter-exclamations, from as many more.
'He has spoken the truth!'--'He is a brave fellow!' 'He shall not be
touched except we fall first!'--came from a resolute band who
encompassed the preacher, and seemed resolved to make good their words
by defending him against whatever assault might be made. Macer, himself
a host in such an affray, neither spoke nor moved, standing upright and
still as a statue; but any one might see the soldier in his kindling
eye, and that a slight cause would bring him upon the assailants with a
fury that would deal out wounds and death. He had told them that the old
Legionary was not quite dead within him, and sometimes usurped the place
of the Christian; this they seemed to remember, and after showering
upon him vituperation and abuse in every form, one after another they
withdrew and left him with those who had gathered immediately around
him. These too soon took their leave of him, and Macer, unimpeded and
alone, turned towards his home.
When I related to Probus afterwards what I had heard and witnessed, he
said that I was fortunate in hearing what was so much more sober and
calm than that which usually fell from him; that generally he devoted
himself to an exposition of the absurdities of the heathen worship, and
the abominations of the mysteries, and the vices of the priesthood; and
he rarely ended without filling with rage a great proportion of those
who heard him. Many a time had he been assaulted; and hardly had escaped
with his life. You will easily perceive, Fausta, how serious an injury
is inflicted upon us by rash and violent declaimers like Macer. There
are others like him; he is by no means alone, though he is far the most
conspicuous. Together they help to kindle the flame of active hostility,
and infuse fresh bitterness into the Pagan heart. Should the Emperor
carry into effect the purposes now ascribed to him, these men will be
sure victims, and the first.
* * * * *
Upon my return after hearing Macer, I found Livia seated with Julia, to
whom she often comes thus, and then together--I often accompanying--we
visit Tibur. She had but just arrived. It was easy to see that the
light-heartedness, which so manifested itself always in the beaming
countenance and the elastic step, was gone; the usual signs of it at
least were not visible. Her whole expression was serious and anxious;
and upon her face were the traces of recent grief. For a long time,
after the first salutations and inquiries were through, neither spoke.
At length Livia said,
'I am come now, Julia, to escape from what has become of late little
other than a prison. The Fabrician dungeons are not more gloomy than the
gardens of Sallust are now. No more gaiety; no feasting by day and
carousal by night; the gardens never illuminated; no dancing nor music.
It is a new life for me: and then the only creatures to be seen, that
hideous Fronto and the smiling Varus; men very well in their place, but
no inmates of palaces.'
'Well' said Julia; 'there is the greater reason why we should see more
of each other and of Zenobia. Aurelian is the same?'
'The same? There is the same form, and the same face, and the same
voice; but the form is motionless, save when at the Hippodrome,--the
face black as Styx, and his voice rougher than the raven's. That
agreeable humor and sportiveness, which seemed native to him, though by
reason of his thousand cares not often seen, is now wholly gone. He is
observant as ever of all the forms of courtesy, and I am to him what I
have ever been; but a dark cloud has settled over him and all the house,
and I would willingly escape if I could. And worse than all, is this of
Aurelia! Alas, poor girl!'
'And what, Livia, is the truth?' said Julia; 'the city is filled with
rumors, but they are so at variance one with another, no one knows which
to believe, or whether none.'
'I hardly know myself,' replied Livia. 'All I know with certainty is,
that I have lost my only companion--or the only one I cared for--and
that Aurelian merely says she has been sent to the prisons at the
Fabrician bridge. I cannot tell you of our parting. Aurelia was sure
something terrible was designed against her, from the sharpness and
violence of her uncle's language, and she left me as if she were never
to see me again. But I would believe no such thing, and so I told her,
and tried to give to her some of the courage and cheerfulness which I
pretended to have myself: but it was to no purpose. She departed weeping
as if her heart were broken. I love her greatly, notwithstanding her
usual air of melancholy and her preference of solitude, and I have found
in her, as you know, my best friend and companion. Yet I confess there
is that in her which I never understood, and do not now understand. I
hope she will comply with the wishes of Aurelian, and that I shall soon
see her again. The difficulty is all owing to this new religion. I wish,
Julia, there were no such thing. It seems to me to do nothing but sow
discord and violence.'
'That, dear Livia,' said Julia, 'is not a very wise wish; especially
seeing you know, as you will yourself confess, so little about it.'
'But,' quickly added Livia, 'was it not better as it was at Palmyra? who
heard then of these bitter hostilities? who were there troubled about
their worship? One hardly knew there was such a thing as a Christian.
When Paul was at the palace, it was still all the same only, if
anything, a little more agreeable. But here, no one at the gardens
speaks of Christians but with an assassin air that frightens one. There
must surely be more evil in them than I ever dreamed of.'
'The evil, Livia,' answered her sister, 'comes not from the Christians
nor Christianity, but from those who oppose them. There were always
Christians in Palmyra, and, as you say, even in the palace, yet there
was always peace and good-will too. If Christianity were in itself an
element of discord and division, why were no such effects seen there?
The truth is, Livia, the division and discord are created, not by the
new religion, but by those who resist it, and will not suffer people to
act and think as they please about it. Under Zenobia, all had liberty to
believe as they would. And there was under her the reign of universal
peace and good-will. Here, on the other hand, it has been the practice