Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
watch you thus. How is it with thee, most noble Piso?'
'That is of little moment; but tell me, if there is anything human in
thee, where is the Princess Julia, and what is her fate?'
'Be not too much concerned,' he replied. 'She is safe, I warrant you.
None but Fronto deals with her.'
'Fronto!' I could only say.
'Yes, Fronto. Fear not, he is an honorable man and a holy priest.'
'Fronto!' I was about to add more, but held my peace; knowing well that
what I might say could avail nothing for us, and might be turned against
us. I only asked, 'why there was such delay in examining and condemning
us?'
'That is a question truly,' he replied; 'but not so easy to be
answered. Few know the reason, that I can say. But what is there in the
heart of Pronto that is kept from Curio? Are thy chains easy, Piso?'
'I would that they might be lengthened. Here am I bound to the floor
without so much as the power to stand upright. This is useless
suffering.'
'Twas so ordered by Fronto; but then if there is one in Rome who can
take a liberty with him, I know well who he is. So hold thou the lamp,
Piso, and I will ease thee;' and, like one accustomed to the art, he
soon struck apart the chain, and again uniting it left me room, both to
stand and move.
'There,' said he, as he took again the lamp, 'for one who hates a
Christian as he does death, that's a merciful deed. But I can tell thee
one thing, that it will not ease thee long.'
'That I can believe. But why, once more, is there this delay?'
'I know not, Piso, whether I should tell thee, but as I doubt not Fronto
would, were he here, I surely may do the same, for if there are two men
in Rome, Piso, whose humors are the same and jump together, I and Fronto
are they. There is a dispute then, noble Piso, between Varus and Fronto
about the lady Julia--' and without heeding my cries the wretch turned
and left the vault, closing after him the heavy door.
How many days, in the torture of a suspense and ignorance worse than
death, I lay here, I cannot tell. Curio came as often as he said to see
that all was safe, but there was little said by either; he would examine
my chain and then depart. On the night--the last night I passed in that
agony--preceding my examination by Varus and Fronto, I was disturbed
from my slumbers by the entrance of Curio. He advanced with as it seemed
to me an unusually cautious step, and I rose expecting some
communication of an uncommon nature. But what was my amazement, as the
light fell upon the face of him who bore it, to see not Curio but Isaac.
His finger was on his lips, while in his hand he held the implements
necessary for sawing apart my chains.
'Piso!' said he in a whispered tone, 'thou art now free,--I could not
save Probus, but I can save thee--horses fleet as the winds await thee
and the Princess beyond the walls, and at the Tiber's mouth a vessel
takes you to Berytus. Curio lies drunk or dead, it matters little which,
in a neighboring vault.' And he set down the lamp and seized my chain.
The strange devotion of this man moved me; and, were it but to reward
his love, I could almost have slipped my bonds. But other thoughts
prevailed.
'Isaac, you have risked your life and that of your household in this
attempt; and sorry am I that I can pay thee only with my thanks. I
cannot fly.'
'Piso! thou surely art not mad? Why shouldst thou stay in the hands of
these pagan butchers--'
'Were this, Isaac, but the private rage of Fronto, gladly would I go
with thee--more gladly would I give Julia to thy care. But it is not so.
It is, as thou knowest, for our faith that we are here and thus; and
shall we shrink from what Probus bore?'
'Piso, believe me--'tis not for thy faith alone that thou art here, but
for thy riches, and thy wife--'
'Isaac! thou hast been deceived. Sooner would they throw themselves
into a lion's den for sport, than brave the wrath of Aurelian for such a
crime. Thou hast been deceived.'
'I have it,' replied the Jew, 'from the mouth of the miscreant Curio,
who has told me of fierce disputes, overheard by him, between Varus and
Pronto concerning the lady Julia.'
'Their dispute has been, doubtless, whether she too should be destroyed;
for to Fronto is well known the constant love which Aurelian still bears
her. Curio is not always right.'
'And is this my answer, Piso?' said Isaac. 'And, if I cannot prevail
with thee, shall I not still see thy wife? Over her perchance--'
'No, Isaac; it would be of no avail. Her answer would be the same as
mine.'
'Nevertheless, Piso, I believe that what I have heard and surmised is
so. Fronto and Varus, who have played with the great Aurelian as a
toyman with his images, may carry even this.'
'Were it so, I put my trust in God, and to him commend myself and Julia.
For this our faith are we ready to bear all that man can devise or do.'
Seeing that further argument was vain, Isaac, with eyes that overflowed
as any woman's, embraced me and left the cell.
* * * * *
On the day which followed the visit of Isaac was I placed before Fronto
and Varus.
It was in the great room of the temple that the Prefect and the Priest
awaited their victims. It was dimly illuminated, so that the remoter
parts were lost in thick darkness. So far as the eye could penetrate
it, a crowd of faces could be discerned in the gloom, of those who were
there to witness the scene. All, whom my sight could separate from the
darkness, were of the Roman priesthood, or friends of Fronto. Not that
others were excluded--it was broad day, and the act was a public one,
and authorized by the imperial edict--but that no announcement of it had
been made; and by previous concert the place had been filled with the
priests and subordinate ministers of the Roman temples. I knew therefore
that not a friendly eye or arm was there. Whatever it might please those
cruel judges to inflict upon myself or Julia,--there was none to
remonstrate or interpose. With what emotions, when I had first been
placed before those judges, did I await the coming of Julia, from whom I
had now been so long parted! Fervently did I pray that the mercy of
Fronto would first doom her, that she might be sure of at least one
sympathising and pitying heart.
On the right of the Prefect, upon a raised platform, were set the
various instruments of torture and death, each attended by its half
naked minister.
I had not stood long, when upon the other side of the room the noise of
the dividing crowd told me that Julia was entering, and in a moment more
she was standing at a little distance from me, and opposite Fronto--I
being opposite the Prefect. Our eyes met once--and no more. As I could
have desired, Fronto first addressed her.
'Woman! thou standest here charged with impiety and denial of the gods
of Rome; in other words, with being a follower of Christ the Nazarene.
That the charge is true, witnesses stand here ready to affirm. Dost
thou deny the charge? Then will we prove its truth.'
'I deny it not,' responded Julia, 'but confess it. Witnesses are not
needed. The Christian witnesses for himself.'
'Dost thou know the penalty that waits on such confession?'
'I know it, but do not fear it.'
'But for thee to die so, woman, is of ill example to all in Rome. We
would rather change thee. We would not have thee die the enemy of the
gods, of Rome, and of thyself. I ask thee then to renounce thy vain
impiety!'
Julia answered not.
'I require thee, Christian, to renounce Christ!'
Still Julia made no reply.
'Know you not, woman, I have power to force from thee that, which thou
wilt not say willingly?'
'Thou hast no such power, Priest. Thou wert else God.'
'Thy tender frame cannot endure the torture of those engines. It were
better spared such suffering.'
'I would gladly be spared that suffering,' said Julia; 'but not at the
expense of truth.'
'Think not that I will relent. Those irons shall rack and rend thee in
every bone and joint, except thou dost renounce that foul impostor,
whose curse now lies heavy upon Rome and the world.'
'Weary me not, Priest, with vain importunity. I am a Christian, and a
Christian will I die.'
'Prepare then the rack!' cried Fronto, his passions rising; 'that is the
medicine for obstinacy such as this. Now bind her to it.'
Hearing that, I wildly exclaimed,
'Priest! thou dar'st not do it for thy life! Touch but the hair of her
head, and thy life shall answer it. Aurelian's word is pledged, and thou
dar'st not break it.'
'Aurelian is far enough from here,' replied the priest. 'But were he
where I am, thou wouldst see the same game. I am Aurelian now.'
'Is this then thy commission, had from Aurelian?'
'That matters not, young Piso. 'Tis enough for thee to know that Fronto
rules in Rome. No more! Hold now thy peace! Where an Empress has sued in
vain, there is no room for words from thee. Slaves! bind her, I say! To
the rack with her!'
At that I sprang madly forward, thinking only of her rescue from those
murderous fangs, but was at the same instant drawn violently back both
by my chains and the arms of those who guarded me. The tormentors
descended from their engines to fulfil the commands of Fronto, and,
laying hold of Julia, bore her, without an opposing word, or look, or
motion, toward their instruments of death. And they were already binding
her limbs to the accursed wheels, while Fronto and Varus both drew nigh
to gloat over her agonies, when a distant sound, as of the ocean lashed
by winds, broke upon the ears of all within that hell. Even the
tormentors paused in their work, and looked at each other and at Fronto,
as if asking what it should mean.
The silence of death fell upon the crowd--every ear strained to catch
the still growing sound and interpret it.
''Tis but the winter wind!' cried Fronto. 'On, cowards, with your work!'
But, ere the words had left his lips, or those demons could wind the
wheels of their engine, the appalling tumult of a multitude rushing
toward the temple became too fearfully distinct for even Pronto or Varus
to pretend to doubt its meaning. But why it was, or for what, none could
guess; only upon the terror-struck forms of both the Prefect and the
Priest might be read apprehensions of hostility that from some quarter
was aiming at themselves. Fronto's voice was again heard:
'Bar the great doors of the temple! let not the work of the gods be
profanely violated.'
But the words were too late; for, while he was yet speaking, O Fausta,
how shall I paint my agony of joy! there was heard from the street and
from the porch of the temple itself the shouts of as it were ten
thousand voices,
"Tacitus is Emperor!" "Long live the good Tacitus!"
Freedom and life were in those cries. The crowds from the streets swept
in at the doors like an advancing torrent. Varus and Fronto, followed by
their myrmidons, vanished through secret doors in the walls behind them,
and among the first to greet me and strike the chains from my limbs were
Isaac and Demetrius.
'And where is the lady Julia?' cried Isaac.
'There!'
He flew to the platform, and, turning back the wheels, Julia was once
more in my arms.
'And now,' I cried, 'what means it all? Am I awake or do I dream?'
'You are awake,' replied Demetrius. 'The tyrant is dead! and the senate
and people all cry out for Tacitus.'
I now looked about me. The mob of priests was fled, and around me I
beheld a thousand well-known faces of those who already had been
released from their dungeons. Christians, and the friends of Christians,
now filled the temple.
'We were led hither,' continued Demetrius, 'by your fast friend and the
friend I believe of all, Isaac. None but he, and those to whom he gave