Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero
Senator; so did Nerva, so did Tullius Senecio, so did the famous leader
Ostorius Scapula, and Antistius, and Piso, and Vetus, and Crispinus, and
Minucius Thermus, and Pontius Telesinus, and the most important of all,
one honored by the people, Thrasea.
In view of this, Cæsar took the emerald from his eye with an expression
of contempt and offence; when Tigellinus, whose desire was to spite
Petronius, turned to him and said,--
“Yield not, divinity; we have the pretorians.”
Then Nero turned to the place where command over the pretorians was held
by the stern Subrius Flavius, hitherto devoted with whole soul to him,
and saw something unusual. The face of the old tribune was stern, but
covered with tears, and he was holding his hand up in sign of mercy.
Now rage began to possess the multitude. Dust rose from beneath the
stamping feet, and filled the amphitheatre. In the midst of shouts were
heard cries: “Ahenobarbus! matricide! incendiary!”
Nero was alarmed. Romans were absolute lords in the Circus. Former
Cæsars, and especially Caligula, had permitted themselves sometimes
to act against the will of the people; this, however, called forth
disturbance always, going sometimes to bloodshed. But Nero was in a
different position. First, as a comedian and a singer he needed the
people’s favor; second, he wanted it on his side against the Senate and
the patricians, and especially after the burning of Rome he strove by
all means to win it, and turn their anger against the Christians. He
understood, besides, that to oppose longer was simply dangerous. A
disturbance begun in the Circus might seize the whole city, and have
results incalculable.
He looked once more at Subrius Flavius, at Scevinus the centurion, a
relative of the senator, at the soldiers; and seeing everywhere frowning
brows, excited faces, and eyes fixed on him, he gave the sign for mercy.
Then a thunder of applause was heard from the highest seats to the
lowest. The people were sure of the lives of the condemned, for from
that moment they went under their protection, and even Cæsar would not
have dared to pursue them any longer with his vengeance.
Chapter LXVI
FOUR Bithynians carried Lygia carefully to the house of Petronius.
Vinicius and Ursus walked at her side, hurrying so as to give her into
the hands of the Greek physician as quickly as possible. They walked in
silence, for after the events of the day they had not power to speak.
Vinicius so far was as if half conscious. He kept repeating to himself
that Lygia was saved; that she was threatened no longer by imprisonment,
or death in the Circus; that their misfortunes had ended once and
forever; that he would take her home and not separate again from her.
This appeared to him the beginning of some other life rather than
reality. From moment to moment he bent over the open litter to look
on the beloved face, which in the moonlight seemed sleeping, and he
repeated mentally, “This is she! Christ has saved her!” He remembered
also that while he and Ursus were carrying her from the spoliarium an
unknown physician had assured him that she was living and would recover.
At this thought delight so filled his breast that at moments he grew
weak, and being unable to walk with his own strength leaned on the arm
of Ursus. Ursus meanwhile was looking into the sky filled with stars,
and was praying.
They advanced hurriedly along streets where newly erected white
buildings shone brightly in the moonlight. The city was empty, save
here and there where crowds of people crowned with ivy, sang and danced
before porticos to the sound of flutes, thus taking advantage of the
wonderful night and the festive season, unbroken from the beginning of
the games. Only when they were near the house did Ursus stop praying,
and say in a low voice, as if he feared to waken Lygia,--
“Lord, it was the Saviour who rescued her from death. When I saw her
on the horns of the aurochs, I heard a voice in my soul saying, ‘Defend
her!’ and that was the voice of the Lamb. The prison took strength from
me, but He gave it back in that moment, and inspired that cruel people
to take her part. Let His will be done!”
And Vinicius answered,--
“Magnified be His name!”
He had not power to continue, for all at once he felt that a mighty
weeping was swelling his breast. He was seized by an overpowering wish
to throw himself on the earth and thank the Saviour for His miracles and
His mercy.
Meanwhile they had come to the house; the servants, informed by a slave
despatched in advance, crowded out to meet them. Paul of Tarsus had sent
back from Antium the greater part of those people. The misfortune of
Vinicius was known to them perfectly; therefore their delight at seeing
those victims which had been snatched from the malice of Nero was
immense, and increased still more when the physician Theocles declared
that Lygia had not suffered serious injury, and that when the weakness
caused by prison fever had passed, she would regain health.
Consciousness returned to her that night. Waking in the splendid chamber
lighted by Corinthian lamps, amidst the odor of verbena and nard,
she knew not where she was, or what was taking place with her. She
remembered the moment in which she had been lashed to the horns of the
chained bull; and now, seeing above her the face of Vinicius, lighted by
the mild rays of the lamp, she supposed herself no longer on earth. The
thoughts were confused in her weakened head; it seemed to her natural to
be detained somewhere on the way to heaven, because of her tortures and
weakness. Feeling no pain, however, she smiled at Vinicius, and wanted
to ask where they were; but from her lips came merely a low whisper in
which he could barely detect his own name.
Then he knelt near her, and, placing his hand on her forehead lightly,
he said,--
“Christ saved thee, and returned thee to me!”
Her lips moved again with a meaningless whisper; her lids closed after
a moment, her breast rose with a light sigh, and she fell into a deep
sleep, for which the physician had been waiting, and after which she
would return to health, he said.
Vinicius remained kneeling near her, however, sunk in prayer. His soul
was melting with a love so immense that he forgot himself utterly.
Theocles returned often to the chamber, and the golden-haired Eunice
appeared behind the raised curtain a number of times; finally cranes,
reared in the gardens, began to call, heralding the coming day, but
Vinicius was still embracing in his mind the feet of Christ, neither
seeing nor hearing what was passing around him, with a heart turned into
a thanksgiving, sacrificial flame, sunk in ecstasy, and though alive,
half seized into heaven.
Chapter LXVII
PETRONIUS, after the liberation of Lygia, not wishing to irritate Cæsar,
went to the Palatine with other Augustians. He wanted to hear what
they were saying, and especially to learn if Tigellinus was devising
something new to destroy Lygia. Both she and Ursus had passed under the
protection of the people, it is true, and no one could place a hand on
them without raising a riot; still Petronius, knowing the hatred toward
him of the all-powerful pretorian prefect, considered that very likely
Tigellinus, while unable to strike him directly, would strive to find
some means of revenge against his nephew.
Nero was angry and irritated, since the spectacle had ended quite
differently from what he had planned. At first he did not wish even to
look at Petronius; but the latter, without losing cool blood, approached
him, with all the freedom of the “arbiter elegantiarum,” and said,--
“Dost thou know, divinity, what occurs to me? Write a poem on the maiden
who, at command of the lord of the world, was freed from the horns of
the wild bull and given to her lover. The Greeks are sensitive, and I am
sure that the poem will enchant them.”
This thought pleased Nero in spite of all his irritation, and it pleased
him doubly, first, as a subject for a poem, and second, because in it
he could glorify himself as the magnanimous lord of the earth; hence he
looked for a time at Petronius, and then said,--
“Yes! perhaps thou art right. But does it become me to celebrate my own
goodness?”
“There is no need to give names. In Rome all will know who is meant, and
from Rome reports go through the whole world.”
“But art thou sure that this will please the people in Achæa?”
“By Poilux, it will!” said Petronius.
And he went away satisfied, for he felt certain that Nero, whose whole
life was an arrangement of reality to literary plans, would not spoil
the subject, and by this alone he would tie the hands of Tigellinus.
This, however, did not change his plan of sending Vinicius out of Rome
as soon as Lygia’s health should permit. So when he saw him next day, he
said,--
“Take her to Sicily. As things have happened, on Cæsar’s part thou art
threatened by nothing; but Tigellinus is ready to use even poison,--if
not out of hatred to you both, out of hatred to me.”
Vinicius smiled at him, and said: “She was on the horns of the wild
bull; still Christ saved her.”
“Then honor Him with a hecatomb,” replied Petronius, with an accent of
impatience, “but do not beg Him to save her a second time. Dost remember
how Eolus received Ulysses when he returned to ask a second time for
favoring winds? Deities do not like to repeat themselves.”
“When her health returns, I will take her to Pomponia Græcina,” said
Vinicius.
“And thou wilt do that all the better since Pomponia is ill; Antistius,
a relative of Aulus, told me so. Meanwhile things will happen here
to make people forget thee, and in these times the forgotten are the
happiest. May Fortune be thy sun in winter, and thy shade in summer.”
Then he left Vinicius to his happiness, but went himself to inquire of
Theocles touching the life and health of Lygia.
Danger threatened her no longer. Emaciated as she was in the dungeon
after prison fever, foul air and discomfort would have killed her; but
now she had the most tender care, and not only plenty, but luxury. At
command of Theocles they took her to the gardens of the villa after
two days; in these gardens she remained for hours. Vinicius decked her
litter with anemones, and especially with irises, to remind her of the
atrium of the house of Aulus. More than once, hidden in the shade of
spreading trees, they spoke of past sufferings and fears, each holding
the other’s hand. Lygia said that Christ had conducted him through
suffering purposely to change his soul and raise it to Himself. Vinicius
felt that this was true, and that there was in him nothing of the former
patrician, who knew no law but his own desire. In those memories there
was nothing bitter, however. It seemed to both that whole years had gone
over their heads, and that the dreadful past lay far behind. At the same
time such a calmness possessed them as they had never known before. A
new life of immense happiness had come and taken them into itself. In
Rome Cæsar might rage and fill the world with terror--they felt above
them a guardianship a hundred times mightier than his power, and had
no further fear of his rage or his malice, just as if for them he had
ceased to be the lord of life or death. Once, about sunset, the roar of
lions and other beasts reached them from distant vivaria. Formerly those
sounds filled Vinicius with fear because they were ominous; now he and
Lygia merely looked at each other and raised their eyes to the evening
twilight. At times Lygia, still very weak and unable to walk alone, fell
asleep in the quiet of the garden; he watched over her, and, looking
at her sleeping face, thought involuntarily that she was not that Lygia
whom he had met at the house of Aulus. In fact, imprisonment and disease