Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
Prefect, said,
'Yes, Varus, I am now and here preaching to the people of Rome, though
I speak never a word. 'Tis a sermon that will fall deeper into the heart
than ten thousand spoken ones.'
The Prefect commanded that he who had spoken should be brought before
him. But upon the most diligent search he could not be found.
'Christian,' said Varus, 'I have other pains in store, to which what
thou hast as yet suffered is but as the scratching of the lion's paw. It
were better not to suffer them. They will leave no life in thee. Curse
Christ--'tis but a word--and live.'
Macer bent his piercing eye upon the Prefect, but answered not.
'Curse Christ, and live.'
Macer was still silent.
'Bring in then,' cried the Prefect, 'your pincers, rakes and shells; and
we will see what they may have virtue to bring forth.'
The black messengers of death hastened at the word from their dark
recesses, loaded with those new instruments of torture, and stood around
the miserable man.
'Now, Macer,' said Varus once more, 'acknowledge Jupiter Greatest and
Best, and thou shalt live.'
Macer turned round to the people, and with his utmost voice cried out,
'There is, O Romans, but One God; and the God of Christ is he--'
No sooner had he uttered those words than Fronto exclaimed,
'Ah! hah! I have found thee then! This is the voice, thrice accursed!
that came from the sacred Temple of the Sun! This, Romans, is the god
whose thunder turned you pale.'
'Had it been my voice alone, priest, that was heard that day, I had been
accursed indeed. I was out the humble instrument of him I serve--driven
by his spirit. It was the voice of God, not of man.'
'These,' said Fronto, 'are the Christian devices, by which they would
lead blindfold into their snares you, Romans, and your children. May
Christ ever employ in Rome a messenger cunning and skilful as this
prating god, and Hellenism will have naught to fear.'
'And,' cried Macer, 'let your priests be but like Fronto, and the eyes
of the blindest driveler of you all will be unsealed. Ask Fronto into
whose bag went the bull's heart, that on the day of dedication could not
be found--
'Thou liest, Nazarene--'
'Ply him with your pincers,' cried Varus,--and the cruel irons were
plunged into his flesh. Yet he shrunk not--nor groaned; but his voice
was again heard in the midst of the torture,
'Ask him from whose robe came the old and withered heart, the sight of
which so unmanned Aurelian--'
'Dash in his mouth,' shrieked Fronto, 'and stop those lies blacker than
hell.'
But Macer went on, while the irons tore him in every part.
'Ask him too for the instructions and the bribes given to the
haruspices, and to those who led the beasts up to the altar. Though I
die, Romans, I have left the proof of all this in good hands. I stood
the while where I saw it all.'
'Thou liest, slave,' cried the furious priest; and at the same moment
springing forward and seizing an instrument from the hands of one of
the tormentors, he struck it into the shoulder of Macer, and the
lacerated arm fell from the bleeding trunk. A piercing shriek confessed
the inflicted agony.
'Away with him!' cried Varus, 'away with him to the rack, and tear him
joint from joint!'
At the word he was borne bleeding away, but not insensible nor
speechless. All along as he went his voice was heard calling upon God
and Christ, and exhorting the people to abjure their idolatries.
He was soon stretched again upon the rack, which now quickly finished
its work; and the Christian Macer, after sufferings which I knew not
before that the human frame could so long endure and live, died a martyr
to the faith he had espoused; the last words which were heard throughout
the hall being these;
'Jesus, I die for thee, and my death is sweet!'
When it was announced to the Prefect that Macer was dead, he exclaimed,
'Take the carcass of the Christian dog and throw it upon the square of
the Jews: there let the dogs devour it.'
Saying which, he rose from his seat, and, accompanied by Fronto, left by
the same way he had before entered the hall of judgment.
Soon as he had withdrawn from the apartment, the base rabble that had
filled it, and had glutted their savage souls upon the horrors of that
scene, cried out tumultuously for the body of the Christian, which, when
it was gladly delivered to them by those who had already had enough of
it, they thrust hooks into, and rushed out dragging it toward the place
ordained for it by the Prefect. As they came forth into the streets the
mob increased to an immense multitude of those, who seemed possessed of
the same spirit. And they had not together proceeded far, filling the
air with their cries and uttering maledictions of every form against the
unhappy Christians, before a new horror was proclaimed by that
blood-thirsty crew. For one of them, suddenly springing up upon the base
of one of the public statues, whence he could be heard by the greater
part, cried out,
'To the house of Macer! To the house of Macer!'
'Aye, aye,' shouted another, 'to the house of Macer, in the ruins behind
the shop of Demetrius!'
'To the house of Macer!' arose then in one deafening shout from the
whole throng; and, filled with this new frenzy, maddened like wild
beasts at the prospect of fresh blood, they abandoned there, where they
had dragged it, the body of Macer, and put new speed into their feet in
their haste to arrive at the place of the expected sport. I knew not
then where the ruins were, or it was possible that I might have got in
advance of the mob, and given timely warning to the devoted family.
Neither did I know any to whom to apply to discharge such a duty. While
I deplored this my helplessness and weakness, I suffered myself to be
borne along with the rushing crowd. Their merciless threats, their
savage language, better becoming barbarians than a people like this,
living in the very centre of civilization, filled me with an undefinable
terror. It seemed to me that within reach of such a populace, no people
were secure of property or life.
'The Christians,' said one, 'have had their day and it has been a long
one, too long for Rome. Let its night now come.'
'Yes,' said another, 'we will all have a hand in bringing it on. Let
every Roman do his share, and they may be easily rooted out.'
'I understand,' said another, 'that it is agreed upon, that whatever the
people attempt after their own manner, as in what we are now about, they
are not to be interfered with. We are to have free pasturage, and feed
where, and as we list.'
'Who could suppose,' said the first, 'it should be different? It is well
known that formerly, though there has been no edict to the purpose, the
people have not only been permitted, they have been expected, to do
their part of the business without being asked or urged. I dare say if
we can do up this family of--who is it?'
'Macer, the Christian Macer,' interrupted the other;--'we shall receive
the thanks of Aurelian, though they be not spoken, as heartily as Varus.
That was a tough old fellow though. They say he has served many years
under the Emperor, and when he left the army was in a fair way to rise
to the highest rank. Curses upon those who made a Christian of him! It
is they, not Varus, who have put him on the rack. But see! are not these
the ruins we seek? I hope so, for I have run far enough.'
'Yes,' replied his companion; 'these are the old baths! Now for it!'
The crowd thereupon abandoning the streets, poured itself like an
advancing flood among the ruins, filling all the spaces and mounting up
upon all the still standing fragments of walls and columns. It was not
at all evident where the house of the Christian was. It all seemed a
confusion of ruins and of dead wall.
'Who can show us,' cried out one who took upon himself the office of
leader, 'where the dwelling of Macer is?'
'I can,' responded the slender voice of a little boy; 'for I have often
been there before they became Christians.'
'Show us then, my young urchin; come up hither. Now, lead the way, and
we will follow.'
'You need go no further,' replied the boy; 'that is it?'
'That? It is but a stone wall!'
'Still it is the house,' replied the child; 'but the door is of stone as
well as the walls.'
At that the crowd began to beat upon the walls, and shout to those who
were within to come forth. They had almost wearied themselves out, and
were inclined to believe that the boy had given them false information,
when, upon a sort of level roof above the projecting mass which served
as the dwelling, a female form suddenly appeared, and, advancing to the
edge--not far above, yet beyond, the reach of the mob below--she
beckoned to them with her hand, as if she would speak to them.
The crowd, soon as their eyes caught this new object, ceased from their
tumultuous cries and prepared to hear what she who approached them thus
might have to say. Some, indeed, immediately began to hurl missiles, but
they were at once checked by others, who insisted that she should have
liberty to speak. And these wretches would have been more savage still
than I believed them, if the fair girl who stood there pleading to them
had not found some favor. Hers was a bright and sparkling countenance,
that at once interested the beholder. Deep blushes spread over her face
and bosom, while she stood waiting the pleasure of the heaving multitude
before her.
'Ah! hah!' cried one; 'who is she but the dancing girl AElia! she is a
dainty bit for us. Who would have thought that she was the daughter of a
Christian!'
'I am sorry for her,' cried another; 'she is too pretty to be torn in
pieces. We must save her.'
'Say on! say on!' now cried one of the leaders of the crowd as silence
succeeded; 'we will hear you.'
'Whom do you seek?' then asked AElia, addressing him who had spoken.
'You know well enough, my pretty girl,' replied the other. 'We seek the
house and family of Macer the Christian. Is this it? and are you of his
household?'
'This,' she replied, 'is the house of Macer, and I am his daughter. My
mother with all her children are below. And now why do you seek us
thus?'
'We seek,' replied the savage, 'not only you but your lives. All you
have to do is to unbar this door and let us in.'
Though AElia could have supposed that they were come for nothing else,
yet the brutal announcement of the terrible truth drove the color from
her cheeks, and caused her limbs to tremble. Yet did it not abate her
courage, nor take its energy from her mind.
'Good citizens and friends,' said she, 'for I am sure I must have some
friends among you, why should you do us such wrong? We are poor and
humble people, and have never had the power, if the will had been ours,
to injure you. Leave us in safety, and, if you require it, we will
abandon our dwelling and even our native Rome--for we are all native
Romans.'
'That, my young mistress, will not serve our turn. Are you not, as you
said, the family of the Christian Macer?'
'Yes, we are.'
'Well,' answered the other, 'that is the reason we seek you, and mean to
have you.'
'But,' replied the girl, 'there must be many among you who would not
willingly harm either Macer or anything that is his. Macer is not only a
Christian, Romans, but he is a good warm-hearted patriot as ever was
born within the compass of these walls. Brutus himself never loved
freedom nor hated tyrants more than he.'
'That's little to the purpose now-a-days,' cried one from the crowd.
'There is not a single possession he has,' continued AElia, 'save only
his faith as a Christian, which he would not surrender for the love he
bears to Rome and to everything that is Roman. Ever since he was strong
enough to draw and wield a sword, has he been fighting for you the