Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero
for they might have left the Trans-Tiber through the opposite side along
the Vatican Hill. In every case they were safe from fire at least. A
stone fell from his breast. He saw, it is true, the terrible danger with
which the flight was connected, but he was comforted at thought of the
preterhuman strength of Ursus. “I must flee now,” said he, “and reach
the gardens of Agrippina through the gardens of Domitius, where I shall
find them. The smoke is not so terrible there, since the wind blows from
the Sabine Hill.”
The hour had come now in which he must think of his own safety, for the
river of fire was flowing nearer and nearer from the direction of the
island, and rolls of smoke covered the alley almost completely. The
taper, which had lighted him in the house, was quenched from the current
of air. Vinicius rushed to the street, and ran at full speed toward the
Via Portuensis, whence he had come; the fire seemed to pursue him with
burning breath, now surrounding him with fresh clouds of smoke, now
covering him with sparks, which fell on his hair, neck, and clothing.
The tunic began to smoulder on him in places; he cared not, but ran
forward lest he might be stifled from smoke. He had the taste of soot
and burning in his mouth; his throat and lungs were as if on fire. The
blood rushed to his head, and at moments all things, even the smoke
itself, seemed red to him. Then he thought: “This is living fire! Better
cast myself on the ground and perish.” The running tortured him more
and more. His head, neck, and shoulders were streaming with sweat, which
scalded like boiling water. Had it not been for Lygia’s name, repeated
by him in thought, had it not been for her capitium, which he wound
across his mouth, he would have fallen. Some moments later he failed to
recognize the street along which he ran. Consciousness was leaving him
gradually; he remembered only that he must flee, for in the open field
beyond waited Lygia, whom Peter had promised him. And all at once he was
seized by a certain wonderful conviction, half feverish, like a vision
before death, that he must see her, marry her, and then die.
But he ran on as if drunk, staggering from one side of the street to the
other. Meanwhile something changed in that monstrous conflagration
which had embraced the giant city. Everything which till then had only
glimmered, burst forth visibly into one sea of flame; the wind had
ceased to bring smoke. That smoke which had collected in the streets
was borne away by a mad whirl of heated air. That whirl drove with it
millions of sparks, so that Vinicius was running in a fiery cloud as it
were. But he was able to see before him all the better, and in a moment,
almost when he was ready to fall, he saw the end of the street. That
sight gave him fresh strength. Passing the corner, he found himself in a
street which led to the Via Portuensis and the Codetan Field. The sparks
ceased to drive him. He understood that if he could run to the Via
Portuensis he was safe, even were he to faint on it.
At the end of the street he saw again a cloud, as it seemed, which
stopped the exit. “If that is smoke,” thought he, “I cannot pass.” He
ran with the remnant of his strength. On the way he threw off his
tunic, which, on fire from the sparks, was burning him like the shirt
of Nessus, having only Lygia’s capitium around his head and before his
mouth. When he had run farther, he saw that what he had taken for smoke
was dust, from which rose a multitude of cries and voices.
“The rabble are plundering houses,” thought Vinicius. But he ran toward
the voices. In every case people were there; they might assist him. In
this hope he shouted for aid with all his might before he reached them.
But this was his last effort. It grew redder still in his eyes, breath
failed his lungs, strength failed his bones; he fell.
They heard him, however, or rather saw him. Two men ran with gourds
full of water. Vinicius, who had fallen from exhaustion but had not lost
consciousness, seized a gourd with both hands, and emptied one-half of
it.
“Thanks,” said he; “place me on my feet, I can walk on alone.”
The other laborer poured water on his head; the two not only placed
him on his feet, but raised him from the ground, and carried him to the
others, who surrounded him and asked if he had suffered seriously. This
tenderness astonished Vinicius.
“People, who are ye?” asked he.
“We are breaking down houses, so that the fire may not reach the Via
Portuensis,” answered one of the laborers.
“Ye came to my aid when I had fallen. Thanks to you.”
“We are not permitted to refuse aid,” answered a number of voices.
Vinicius, who from early morning had seen brutal crowds, slaying and
robbing, looked with more attention on the faces around him, and said,--
“May Christ reward you.”
“Praise to His name!” exclaimed a whole chorus of voices.
“Linus?” inquired Vinicius.
But he could not finish the question or hear the answer, for he fainted
from emotion and over-exertion. He recovered only in the Codetan Field
in a garden, surrounded by a number of men and women. The first words
which he uttered were,--
“Where is Linus?”
For a while there was no answer; then some voice, known to Vinicius,
said all at once,--
“He went out by the Nomentan Gate to Ostrianum two days ago. Peace be
with thee, O king of Persia!”
Vinicius rose to a sitting posture, and saw Chilo before him.
“Thy house is burned surely, O lord,” said the Greek, “for the Carinæ
is in flames; but thou wilt be always as rich as Midas. Oh, what a
misfortune! The Christians, O son of Serapis, have predicted this long
time that fire would destroy the city. But Linus, with the daughter of
Jove, is in Ostrianum. Oh, what a misfortune for the city!”
Vinicius became weak again.
“Hast thou seen them?” he inquired.
“I saw them, O lord. May Christ and all the gods be thanked that I am
able to pay for thy benefactions with good news. But, O Cyrus, I shall
pay thee still more, I swear by this burning Rome.”
It was evening, but in the garden one could see as in daylight, for the
conflagration had increased. It seemed that not single parts of the city
were burning, but the whole city through the length and the breadth of
it. The sky was red as far as the eye could see it, and that night in
the world was a red night.
Chapter XLIV
Light from the burning city filled the sky as far as human eye could
reach. The moon rose large and full from behind the mountains, and
inflamed at once by the glare took on the color of heated brass.
It seemed to look with amazement on the world-ruling city which was
perishing. In the rose-colored abysses of heaven rose-colored stars were
glittering; but in distinction from usual nights the earth was brighter
than the heavens. Rome, like a giant pile, illuminated the whole
Campania. In the bloody light were seen distant mountains, towns,
villas, temples, mountains, and the aqueducts stretching toward the city
from all the adjacent hills; on the aqueducts were swarms of people, who
had gathered there for safety or to gaze at the burning.
Meanwhile the dreadful element was embracing new divisions of the city.
It was impossible to doubt that criminal hands were spreading the fire,
since new conflagrations were breaking out all the time in places remote
from the principal fire. From the heights on which Rome was founded the
flames flowed like waves of the sea into the valleys densely occupied by
houses,--houses of five and six stories, full of shops, booths, movable
wooden amphitheatres, built to accommodate various spectacles; and
finally storehouses of wood, olives, grain, nuts, pine cones, the
kernels of which nourished the more needy population, and clothing,
which through Cæsar’s favor was distributed from time to time among the
rabble huddled into narrow alleys. In those places the fire, finding
abundance of inflammable materials, became almost a series of
explosions, and took possession of whole streets with unheard-of
rapidity. People encamping outside the city, or standing on the
aqueducts knew from the color of the flame what was burning. The furious
power of the wind carried forth from the fiery gulf thousands and
millions of burning shells of walnuts and almonds, which, shooting
suddenly into the sky, like countless flocks of bright butterflies,
burst with a crackling, or, driven by the wind, fell in other parts of
the city, on aqueducts, and fields beyond Rome. All thought of rescue
seemed out of place; confusion increased every moment, for on one side
the population of the city was fleeing through every gate to places
outside; on the other the fire had lured in thousands of people from the
neighborhood, such as dwellers in small towns, peasants, and half-wild
shepherds of the Campania, brought in by hope of plunder. The shout,
“Rome is perishing!” did not leave the lips of the crowd; the ruin of
the city seemed at that time to end every rule, and loosen all bonds
which hitherto had joined people in a single integrity. The mob, in
which slaves were more numerous, cared nothing for the lordship of Rome.
Destruction of the city could only free them; hence here and there they
assumed a threatening attitude. Violence and robbery were extending. It
seemed that only the spectacle of the perishing city arrested attention,
and restrained for the moment an outburst of slaughter, which would
begin as soon as the city was turned into ruins. Hundreds of thousands
of slaves, forgetting that Rome, besides temples and walls, possessed
some tens of legions in all parts of the world, appeared merely waiting
for a watchword and a leader. People began to mention the name of
Spartacus, but Spartacus was not alive. Meanwhile citizens assembled,
and armed themselves each with what he could. The most monstrous reports
were current at all the gates. Some declared that Vulcan, commanded
by Jupiter, was destroying the city with fire from beneath the earth;
others that Vesta was taking vengeance for Rubria. People with these
convictions did not care to save anything, but, besieging the temples,
implored mercy of the gods. It was repeated most generally, however,
that Cæsar had given command to burn Rome, so as to free himself from
odors which rose from the Subura, and build a new city under the name
of Neronia. Rage seized the populace at thought of this; and if, as
Vinicius believed, a leader had taken advantage of that outburst of
hatred, Nero’s hour would have struck whole years before it did.
It was said also that Cæsar had gone mad, that he would command
pretorians and gladiators to fall upon the people and make a general
slaughter. Others swore by the gods that wild beasts had been let out
of all the vivaria at Bronzebeard’s command. Men had seen on the streets
lions with burning manes, and mad elephants and bisons, trampling down
people in crowds. There was even some truth in this; for in certain
places elephants, at sight of the approaching fire, had burst the
vivaria, and, gaining their freedom, rushed away from the fire in wild
fright, destroying everything before them like a tempest. Public report
estimated at tens of thousands the number of persons who had perished
in the conflagration. In truth a great number had perished. There were
people who, losing all their property, or those dearest their hearts,
threw themselves willingly into the flames, from despair. Others were
suffocated by smoke. In the middle of the city, between the Capitol, on
one side, and the Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Esquiline on the other,
as also between the Palatine and the Cælian Hill, where the streets were
most densely occupied, the fire began in so many places at once
that whole crowds of people, while fleeing in one direction, struck