Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero
Husbands change wives, wives change husbands; why should not I change
opinions? It lacked little of Nero’s marrying Acte, whom for his sake
they represented as the descendant of a kingly line. Well, he would have
had an honest wife, and we an honest Augusta. By Proteus and his barren
spaces in the sea! I shall change my opinion as often as I find it
appropriate or profitable. As to Lygia, her royal descent is more
certain than Acte’s. But in Antium be on thy guard against Poppæa, who
is revengeful.”
“I do not think of doing so. A hair will not fall from my head in
Antium.”
“If thou think to astonish me a second time, thou art mistaken; but
whence hast thou that certainty?”
“The Apostle Peter told me so.”
“Ah, the Apostle Peter told thee! Against that there is no argument;
permit me, however, to take certain measures of precaution even to
this end, that the Apostle Peter may not turn out a false prophet; for,
should the Apostle be mistaken, perchance he might lose thy confidence,
which certainly will be of use to him in the future.”
“Do what may please thee, but I believe him. And if thou think to turn
me against him by repeating his name with irony, thou art mistaken.”
“But one question more. Hast thou become a Christian?”
“Not yet; but Paul of Tarsus will travel with me to explain the
teachings of Christ, and afterward I will receive baptism; for thy
statement that they are enemies of life and pleasantness is not true.”
“All the better for thee and Lygia,” answered Petronius; then, shrugging
his shoulders, he said, as if to himself, “But it is astonishing how
skilled those people are in gaining adherents, and how that sect is
extending.”
“Yes,” answered Vinicius, with as much warmth as if he had been baptized
already; “there are thousands and tens of thousands of them in Rome, in
the cities of Italy, in Greece and Asia. There are Christians among
the legions and among the pretorians; they are in the palace of Cæsar
itself. Slaves and citizens, poor and rich, plebeian and patrician,
confess that faith. Dost thou know that the Cornelii are Christians,
that Pomponia Græcina is a Christian, that likely Octavia was, and Acte
is? Yes, that teaching will embrace the world, and it alone is able to
renew it. Do not shrug thy shoulders, for who knows whether in a month
or a year thou wilt not receive it thyself?”
“I?” said Petronius. “No, by the son of Leto! I will not receive it;
even if the truth and wisdom of gods and men were contained in it. That
would require labor, and I have no fondness for labor. Labor demands
self-denial, and I will not deny myself anything. With thy nature, which
is like fire and boiling water, something like this may happen any time.
But I? I have my gems, my cameos, my vases, my Eunice. I do not believe
in Olympus, but I arrange it on earth for myself; and I shall flourish
till the arrows of the divine archer pierce me, or till Cæsar commands
me to open my veins. I love the odor of violets too much, and a
comfortable triclinium. I love even our gods, as rhetorical figures,
and Achæa, to which I am preparing to go with our fat, thin-legged,
incomparable, godlike Cæsar, the august period-compelling Hercules,
Nero.”
Then he was joyous at the very supposition that he could accept the
teaching of Galilean fishermen, and began to sing in an undertone,--
“I will entwine my bright sword in myrtle, After the example of
Harmodius and Aristogiton.”
But he stopped, for the arrival of Eunice was announced. Immediately
after her coming supper was served, during which songs were sung by the
cithara players; Vinicius told of Chilo’s visit, and also how that visit
had given the idea of going to the Apostles directly,--an idea which
came to him while they were flogging Chilo.
At mention of this, Petronius, who began to be drowsy, placed his hand
on his forehead, and said,--“The thought was good, since the object was
good. But as to Chilo, I should have given him five pieces of gold; but
as it was thy will to flog him, it was better to flog him, for who knows
but in time senators will bow to him, as to-day they are bowing to our
cobbler-knight, Vatinius. Good-night.”
And, removing his wreath, he, with Eunice, prepared for home. When they
had gone, Vinicius went to his library and wrote to Lygia as follows:--
“When thou openest thy beautiful eyes, I wish this letter to say
Good-day! to thee. Hence I write now, though I shall see thee tomorrow.
Cæsar will go to Antium after to-morrow,--and I, eheu! must go with him.
I have told thee already that not to obey would be to risk life--and at
present I could not find courage to die. But if thou wish me not to go,
write one word, and I will stay. Petronius will turn away danger from me
with a speech. To-day, in the hour of my delight, I gave rewards to all
my slaves; those who have served in the house twenty years I shall take
to the pretor to-morrow and free. Thou, my dear, shouldst praise me,
since this act as I think will be in accord with that mild religion
of thine; secondly, I do this for thy sake. They are to thank thee
for their freedom. I shall tell them so to-morrow, so that they may
be grateful to thee and praise thy name. I give myself in bondage to
happiness and thee. God grant that I never see liberation. May Antium be
cursed, and the journey of Ahenobarbus! Thrice and four times happy am
I in not being so wise as Petronius; if I were, I should be forced to
go to Greece perhaps. Meanwhile the moment of separation will sweeten my
memory of thee. Whenever I can tear myself away, I shall sit on a horse,
and rush back to Rome, to gladden my eyes with sight of thee, and my
ears with thy voice. When I cannot come I shall send a slave with
a letter, and an inquiry about thee. I salute thee, divine one, and
embrace thy feet. Be not angry that I call thee divine. If thou forbid,
I shall obey, but to-day I cannot call thee otherwise. I congratulate
thee on thy future house with my whole soul.”
Chapter XXVI
IT was known in Rome that Cæsar wished to see Ostia on the journey, or
rather the largest ship in the world, which had brought wheat recently
from Alexandria, and from Ostia to go by the Via Littoralis to Antium.
Orders had been given a number of days earlier; hence at the Porta
Ostiensis, from early morning, crowds made up of the local rabble and
of all nations of the earth had collected to feast their eyes with the
sight of Cæsar’s retinue, on which the Roman population could never gaze
sufficiently. The road to Antium was neither difficult nor long. In
the place itself, which was composed of palaces and villas built
and furnished in a lordly manner, it was possible to find everything
demanded by comfort, and even the most exquisite luxury of the period.
Cæsar had the habit, however, of taking with him on a journey every
object in which he found delight, beginning with musical instruments
and domestic furniture, and ending with statues and mosaics, which were
taken even when he wished to remain on the road merely a short time for
rest or recreation. He was accompanied, therefore, on every expedition
by whole legions of servants, without reckoning divisions of pretorian
guards, and Augustians; of the latter each had a personal retinue of
slaves.
Early on the morning of that day herdsmen from the Campania, with
sunburnt faces, wearing goat-skins on their legs, drove forth five
hundred she-asses through the gates, so that Poppæa on the morrow of her
arrival at Antium might have her bath in their milk. The rabble gazed
with delight and ridicule at the long ears swaying amid clouds of dust,
and listened with pleasure to the whistling of whips and the wild shouts
of the herdsmen. After the asses had gone by, crowds of youth rushed
forth, swept the road carefully, and covered it with flowers and needles
from pine-trees. In the crowds people whispered to each other, with a
certain feeling of pride, that the whole road to Antium would be strewn
in that way with flowers taken from private gardens round about, or
bought at high prices from dealers at the Porta Mugionis. As the morning
hours passed, the throng increased every moment. Some had brought their
whole families, and, lest the time might seem tedious, they spread
provisions on stones intended for the new temple of Ceres, and ate their
prandium beneath the open sky. Here and there were groups, in which
the lead was taken by persons who had travelled; they talked of Cæsar’s
present trip, of his future journeys, and journeys in general. Sailors
and old soldiers narrated wonders which during distant campaigns
they had heard about countries which a Roman foot had never touched.
Home-stayers, who had never gone beyond the Appian Way, listened with
amazement to marvellous tales of India, of Arabia, of archipelagos
surrounding Britain in which, on a small island inhabited by spirits,
Briareus had imprisoned the sleeping Saturn. They heard of hyperborean
regions of stiffened seas, of the hisses and roars which the ocean gives
forth when the sun plunges into his bath. Stories of this kind found
ready credence among the rabble, stories believed by such men even as
Tacitus and Pliny. They spoke also of that ship which Cæsar was to
look at,--a ship which had brought wheat to last for two years, without
reckoning four hundred passengers, an equal number of soldiers, and
a multitude of wild beasts to be used during the summer games. This
produced general good feeling toward Cæsar, who not only nourished the
populace, but amused it. Hence a greeting full of enthusiasm was waiting
for him.
Meanwhile came a detachment of Numidian horse, who belonged to the
pretorian guard. They wore yellow uniforms, red girdles, and great
earrings, which cast a golden gleam on their black faces. The points of
their bamboo spears glittered like flames, in the sun. After they had
passed, a procession-like movement began. The throng crowded forward to
look at it more nearly; but divisions of pretorian foot were there, and,
forming in line on both sides of the gate, prevented approach to the
road. In advance moved wagons carrying tents, purple, red, and violet,
and tents of byssus woven from threads as white as snow; and oriental
carpets, and tables of citrus, and pieces of mosaic, and kitchen
utensils, and cages with birds from the East, North, and West, birds
whose tongues or brains were to go to Cæsar’s table, and vessels with
wine and baskets with fruit. But objects not to be exposed to bruising
or breaking in vehicles were borne by slaves. Hence hundreds of people
were seen on foot, carrying vessels, and statues of Corinthian bronze.
There were companies appointed specially to Etruscan vases; others to
Grecian; others to golden or silver vessels, or vessels of Alexandrian
glass. These were guarded by small detachments of pretorian infantry and
cavalry; over each division of slaves were taskmasters, holding whips
armed at the end with lumps of lead or iron, instead of snappers. The
procession, formed of men bearing with importance and attention
various objects, seemed like some solemn religious procession; and the
resemblance grew still more striking when the musical instruments of
Cæsar and the court were borne past. There were seen harps, Grecian
lutes, lutes of the Hebrews and Egyptians, lyres, formingas, citharas,
flutes, long, winding buffalo horns and cymbals. While looking at that
sea of instruments, gleaming beneath the sun in gold, bronze, precious
stones, and pearls, it might be imagined that Apollo and Bacchus had
set out on a journey through the world. After the instruments came
rich chariots filled with acrobats, dancers male and female, grouped
artistically, with wands in their hands. After them followed slaves