Books: Quo Vadis A Narrative of the Time of Nero

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He said this so carelessly and with such animation and gladness
that his whole manner struck Petronius; hence, looking for a time
at him, he asked, -- "What is taking place in thee? Thou art to-day
as thou wert when wearing the golden bulla on thy neck."

"I am happy," answered Vinicius. "I have invited thee purposely to
tell thee so."

"What has happened?"

"Something which I would not give for the Roman Empire."

Then he sat down, and, leaning on the arm of the chair, rested his
head on his hand, and asked, -- "Dost remember how we were at
the house of Aulus Plautius, and there thou didst see for the first
time the godlike maiden called by thee 'the dawn and the spring'?
Dost remember that Psyche, that incomparable, that one more
beautiful than our maidens and our goddesses?"

Petronius looked at him with astonishment, as if he wished to
make sure that his head was right.

"Of whom art thou speaking?" asked he at last. "Evidently I
remember Lygia."

"I am her betrothed."

"What!"

But Vinicius sprang up and called his dispensator.

"Let the slaves stand before me to the last soul, quickly!"

"Art thou her betrothed?" repeated Petronius.

But before he recovered from his astonishment the immense
atrium was swarming with people. Panting old men ran in, men in
the vigor of life, women, boys, and girls. With each moment the
atrium was filled more and more; in corridors, called "fauces,"
voices were heard calling in various languages. Finally, all took
their places in rows at the walls and among the columns. Vinicius,
standing near the impluvium, turned to Demas, the freedman, and
said, -- "Those who have served twenty years in my house are to
appear tomorrow before the pretor, where they will receive
freedom; those who have not served out the time will receive three
pieces of gold and double rations for a week. Send an order to the
village prisons to remit punishment, strike the fetters from people's
feet, and feed them sufficiently. Know that a happy day has come
to me, and I wish rejoicing in the house."

For a moment they stood in silence, as if not believing their ears;
then all hands were raised at once, and all mouths cried, -- "A-a!
lord! a-a-a!"

Vinicius dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Though they
desired to thank him and to fall at his feet, they went away
hurriedly, filling the house with happiness from cellar to roof.

"To-morrow," said Vinicius, "I will command them to meet again
in the garden, and to make such signs on the ground as they
choose. Lygia will free those who draw a fish."

Petronius, who never wondered long at anything, had grqwn
indifferent, and asked, -- "A fish, is it? Ah, ha! According to Chio,
that is the sign of a Christian, I remember." Then he extended his
hand to Vinicius, and said: "Happiness is always where a man sees
it. May Flora strew flowers under thy feet for long years. I wish
thee everything which thou wishest thyself."

"I thank thee, for I thought that thou wouldst dissuade me, and
that, as thou seest, would be time lost."

"I? Dissuade? By no means. On the contrary, I tell thee that thou
art doing well."

"Ha, traitor!" answered Vinicius, joyfully; "hast forgotten what
thou didst tell me once when we were leaving the house of
Pomponia Graecina?"

"No," answered Petronius, with cool blood; "but I have changed
my opinion. My dear," added he after a while, "in Rome everything
changes. 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 Poppaea, 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 phophet;
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 Grecce and Asia. There are
Christians among the legions and among the pretorians; they are in
the palace of Caesar itself. Slaves and citizens, poor and rich,
plebeian and patrician, confess that faith. Dost thou know that the
Cornelii are Christians, that Pomponia Graecina 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 Caesar 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 Achcea, to which I
am preparing to go with our fat, thin-legged, incomparable,
godlike Caesar, 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. Caesar 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. Perronius 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 Caesar 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 Caesar'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. Caesar
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 herdsrnen from the Campania,
with sunburnt faces, wearing goat-skins on their legs, drove forth
five hundred she-asses through the gates, so that Poppaea 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 Caesar'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 Caesar 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 Caesar, 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 Caesar'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 Caesar 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
intended, not for service, but excess; so there were boys and little
girls, selected from all Greece and Asia Minor, with long hair, or
with winding curls arranged in golden nets, children resembling
Cupids, with wonderful faces, but faces covered completely with a
thick coating of cosmetics, lest the wind of the Campania might
tan their delicate complexions.

And again appeared a pretorian cohort of gigantic Sicambrians,
blue-eyed, bearded, blond and red haired. In front of them Roman
eagles were carried by banner-bearers called "imagfnarii," tablets
with inscriptions, statues of German and Roman gods, and finally
statues and busts of Caesar, From under the skins and armor of the
soldier appeared limbs sunburnt and mighty, looking like military
engines capable of wielding the heavy weapons with which guards
of that kind were furnished. The earth seemed to bend beneath
their measured and weighty tread. As if conscious of strength
which they could use against Caesar himself, they looked with
contempt on the rabble of the street, forgetting, it was evident, that
many of themselves had come to that city in manacles. But they
were insignificant in numbers, for the pretorian force had
remained in camp specially to guard the city and hold it within
bounds. When they had marched past, Nero's chained lions and
tigers were led by, so that, should the wish come to him of
imitating Dionysus, he would have them to attach to his chariots.
They were led in chains of steel by Arabs and Hindoos, but the
chains were so entwined with garlands that the beasts seemed led
with flowers. The lions and tigers, tamed by skilled trainers,
looked at the crowds with green and seemingly sleepy eyes; but at
moments they raised their giant heads, and breathed through
wheezing nostrils the exhalations of the multitude, licking their
jaws the while with spiny tongues. Now came Caesar's vehicles
and litters, great and small, gold or purple, inlaid with ivory or
pearls, or glittering with diamonds; after them came another small
cohort of pretorians in Roman armor, pretorians composed of
Italian volunteers only;1 then crowds of select slave servants, and
boys; and at last came Caesar himself, whose approach was
heralded from afar by the shouts of thousands.

In the crowd was the Apostle Peter, who wished to see Caesar
once in life. He was accompanied by Lygia, whose face was
hidden by a thick veil, and Ursus, whose strength formed the surest
defence of the young girl in the wild and boisterous crowd. The
Lygian seized a stone to be used in building the temple, and
brought it to the Apostle, so that by standing on it he might see
better than others.

The crowd muttered when Ursus pushed it apart, as a ship pushes
waves; but when he carried the stone, which four of the strongest
men could not raise, the muttering was turned into wonderment,
and cries of "Macte!" were heard round about.

Meanwhile Caesar appeared. He was sitting in a chariot drawn by
six white Idumean stallions shod with gold. The chariot had the
form of a tent with sides open, purposely, so that the crowds could
see Caesar. A number of persons might have found place in the
chariot; but Nero, desiring that attention should be fixed on him
exclusively, passed through the city alone, having at his feet
merely two deformed dwarfs. He wore a white tunic, and a toga of
amethyst color, which cast a bluish tinge on his face. On his head
was a laurel wreath. Since his departure from Naples he had
increased notably in body. His face had grown wide; under his
lower jaw hung a double chin, by which his mouth, always too
near his nose, seemed to touch his nostrils. His bulky neck was
protected, as usual, by a silk kerchief, which he arranged from
moment to moment with a white and fat hand grown over with red
hair, forming as it were bloody stains; he would not permit
epilatores to pluck out this hair, since he had been told that to do
so would bring trembling of the fingers and injure his lute-playing.
Measureless vanity was depicted then, as at all times, on his face,
together with tedium and suffering. On the whole, it was a face
both terrible and trivial. While advancing he turned his head from
side to side, blinking at times, and listening carefully to the
manner in which the multitude greeted him. He was met by a
storm of shouts and applause: "Hail, divine Caesar! lmperator,
hail, conqueror! hail, incomparable! Son of Apollo, Apollo
himself!"

When he heard these words, he smiled; but at moments a cloud, as
it were, passed over his face, for the Roman rabble was satirical
and keen in reckoning, and let itself criticise even great
triumphators, even men whom it loved and respected. It was
known that on a time they shouted during the entrance to Rome of
Julius Caesar: "Citizens, hide your wives; the old libertine is
coming!" But Nero's monstrous vanity could not endure the least
blame or criticism; meanwhile in the throng, amid shouts of
applause were heard cries of "Ahenobarbus, Ahenobarbus! Where
hast thou put thy flaming beard? Dost thou fear that Rome might
catch fire from it?" And those who cried out in that fashion knew
not that their jest concealed a dreadful prophecy.

These voices did not anger Caesar overmuch, since he did not
wear a beard, for long before he had devoted it in a golden
cylinder to Jupiter Capitolinus. But other persons, hidden behind
piles of stones and the corners of temples, shouted: "Matricide!
Nero! Orestes! Alcmxon!" and still others: "Where is Octavia?"
"Surrender the purple!" At Poppaea, who came directly after him,
they shouted, "Flava coma (yellow hair)!!" with which name they
indicated a street-walker. Caesar's musical ear caught these
exclamations also, and he raised the polished emerald to his eyes
as if to see and remember those who uttered them. While looking
thus, his glance rested on the Apostle standing on the stone.

For a while those two men looked at each other. It occurred to no
one in that brilliant retinue, and to no one in that immense throng,
that at that moment two powers of the earth were looking at each
other, one of which would vanish quickly as a bloody dream, and
the other, dressed in simple garments, would seize in eternal
possession the world and the city.

Meanwhile Caesar had passed; and immediately after him eight
Africans bore a magnificent litter, in which sat Poppaea, who was
detested by the people. Arrayed, as was Nero, in amethyst color,
with a thick application of cosmetics on her face, immovable,
thoughtful, indifferent, she looked like some beautiful and wicked
divinity carried in procession. In her wake followed a whole court
of servants, male and female, next a line of wagons bearing
materials of dress and use. The sun had sunk sensibly from midday
when the passage of Augustians began, -- a brilliant glittering line
gleaming like an endless serpent. The indolent Petronius, greeted
kitidly by the multitude, had given command to bear him and his
godlike slave in a litter. Tigellinus went in a chariot drawn by
ponies ornamented with white and purple feathers, They saw him
as he rose in the chariot repeatedly, and stretched his neck to see if
Caesar was preparing to give him the sign to to his chariot.
Among others thc crowd greeted Lcinianus with applause, Vitelius
with laughter, Vatinius with hissing. Towards Licinus and
Lecanius the consuls they were indifferent, but Tullius Senecio
they loved, it was unknown why, and Vestinius received applause.

The court was innumerable.. It seemed that all that was richest,
most brilliant and noted in Rome, was migrating to Annum. Nero
never travelled otherwise than with thousands of vehicles; the
society which acompanied him almost always exceeded the
number of soldiers in a legion.2 Hence Domitius Afer appeared,
and the decrepit Lucius Saturninus; and Vespasian, who had not
gone yet on his expedition to Judea, from which he returned for
the crown of Caesar, and his sons, and young Nerva, and Lucan,
and Annius Gallo, and Quintianus, and a multitude of women
renowned for wealth, beauty, luxury, and vice.

The eyes of the multitude were turhed to the harness, the chariots,
the horses, the strange livery of the servants, made up of all
peoples of the earth. In that procession of pride and grandeur one
hardly knew what to look at; and not only the eye, but the mind,
was dazzled by such gleaming of gold, purple, and violet, by thc
flashing of prccious stones, the glitter of brocade, pearls, and
ivory. It seemed that the very rays of the sun were dissolving in
that abyss of brilliancy. And though wretched people were not
lacking in that throng, people with sunken stomachs, and with
hunger in their eyes, that spectacle inflamed not only their desire
of enjoyment and their envy, but filled them with delight and
pride, because it gave a feeling of the might and invincibility of
Rome, to which the world contributed, and before which the world
knelt. Indeed there was not on earth any one who ventured to think
that that power would not endure through all ages, and outlive all
nations, or that there was anything in existence that had strength to
oppose it.

Vinicius, riding at the end of the retinue, sprang out of his chariot
at sight of the Apostle and Lygia, whom he had not expected to
see, and, greeting them with a radiant face, spoke with hurried
voice, like a man who has no time to spare, -- "Hast thou come? I
know not how to thank thee, O Lygia! God could not have sent me
a better omen. I greet thee even while taking farewell, but not
farewell for a long time. On the road I shall dispose relays of
horses, and every free day I shall come to thee till I get leave to
return. -- Farewell!"

"Farewell, Marcus!" answered Lygia; then she added in a lower
voice:

"May Christ go with thee, and open thy soul to Paul's word."

He was glad at heart that she was concerned about his becoming a
Christian soon; hence he answered, --