Quo Vadis - Henryk Sienkiewicz (best ereader under 100 .txt) 📗
- Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
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life. No fear was evident in her letter. She wrote that she and the
others were longing for the arena, where they would find liberation from
imprisonment. She hoped for the coming of Pomponia and Aulus; she
entreated that they too be present. Every word of her showed ecstasy,
and that separation from life in which all the prisoners lived, and at
the same time an unshaken faith that all promises would be fulfilled
beyond the grave.
“Whether Christ,” wrote she, “frees me in this life or after death, He
has promised me to thee by the lips of the Apostle; therefore I am
thine.” She implored him not to grieve for her, and not to let himself
be overcome by suffering. For her death was not a dissolution of
marriage. With the confidence of a child she assured Vinicius that
immediately after her suffering in the arena she would tell Christ that
her betrothed Marcus had remained in Rome, that he was longing for her
with his whole heart. And she thought that Christ would permit her
soul, perhaps, to return to him for a moment, to tell him that she was
living, that she did not remember her torments, and that she was happy.
Her whole letter breathed happiness and immense hope. There was only
one request in it connected with affairs of earth,—that Vinicius should
take her body from the spoliarium and bury it as that of his wife in the
tomb in which he himself would rest sometime.
He read this letter with a suffering spirit, but at the same time it
seemed to him impossible that Lygia should perish under the claws of
wild beasts, and that Christ would not take compassion on her. But just
in that were hidden hope and trust. When he returned home, he wrote
that he would come every day to the walls of the Tullianum to wait till
Christ crushed the walls and restored her. He commanded her to believe
that Christ could give her to him, even in the Circus; that the great
Apostle was imploring Him to do so, and that the hour of liberation was
near. The converted centurion was to bear this letter to her on the
morrow.
But when Vinicius came to the prison next morning, the centurion left
the rank, approached him first, and said,—
“Listen to me, lord. Christ, who enlightened thee, has shown thee
favor. Last night Cæsar’s freedman and those of the prefect came to
select Christian maidens for disgrace; they inquired for thy betrothed,
but our Lord sent her a fever, of which prisoners are dying in the
Tullianum, and they left her. Last evening she was unconscious, and
blessed be the name of the Redeemer, for the sickness which has saved
her from shame may save her from death.”
Vinicius placed his hand on the soldier’s shoulder to guard himself from
falling; but the other continued,—
“Thank the mercy of the Lord! They took and tortured Linus, but, seeing
that he was dying, they surrendered him. They may give her now to thee,
and Christ will give back health to her.”
The young tribune stood some time with drooping head; then raised it and
said in a whisper,—
“True, centurion. Christ, who saved her from shame, will save her from
death.” And sitting at the wall of the prison till evening, he returned
home to send people for Linus and have him taken to one of his suburban
villas.
But when Petronius had heard everything, he determined to act also. He
had visited the Augusta; now he went to her a second time. He found her
at the bed of little Rufius. The child with broken head was struggling
in a fever; his mother, with despair and terror in her heart, was trying
to save him, thinking, however, that if she did save him it might be
only to perish soon by a more dreadful death.
Occupied exclusively with her own suffering, she would not even hear of
Vinicius and Lygia; but Petronius terrified her.
“Thou hast offended,” said he to her, “a new, unknown divinity. Thou,
Augusta, art a worshipper, it seems, of the Hebrew Jehovah; but the
Christians maintain that Chrestos is his son. Reflect, then, if the
anger of the father is not pursuing thee. Who knows but it is their
vengeance which has struck thee? Who knows but the life of Rufius
depends on this,—how thou wilt act?”
“What dost thou wish me to do?” asked Poppæa, with terror.
“Mollify the offended deities.”
“How?”
“Lygia is sick; influence Cæsar or Tigellinus to give her to Vinicius.”
“Dost thou think that I can do that?” asked she, in despair.
“Thou canst do something else. If Lygia recovers, she must die. Go
thou to the temple of Vesta, and ask the virgo magna to happen near the
Tullianum at the moment when they are leading prisoners out to death,
and give command to free that maiden. The chief vestal will not refuse
thee.”
“But if Lygia dies of the fever?”
“The Christians say that Christ is vengeful, but just; maybe thou wilt
soften Him by thy wish alone.”
“Let Him give me some sign that will heal Rufius.”
Petronius shrugged his shoulders.
“I have not come as His envoy; O divinity, I merely say to thee, Be on
better terms with all the gods, Roman and foreign.”
“I will go!” said Poppæa, with a broken voice.
Petronius drew a deep breath. “At last I have done something,” thought
he, and returning to Vinicius he said to him,—
“Implore thy God that Lygia die not of the fever, for should she
survive, the chief vestal will give command to free her. The Augusta
herself will ask her to do so.”
“Christ will free her,” said Vinicius, looking at him with eyes in which
fever was glittering.
Poppæa, who for the recovery of Rufius was willing to burn hecatombs to
all the gods of the world, went that same evening through the Forum to
the vestals, leaving care over the sick child to her faithful nurse,
Silvia, by whom she herself had been reared.
But on the Palatine sentence had been issued against the child already;
for barely had Poppæa’s litter vanished behind the great gate when two
freedmen entered the chamber in which her son was resting. One of these
threw himself on old Silvia and gagged her; the other, seizing a bronze
statue of the Sphinx, stunned the old woman with the first blow.
Then they approached Rufius. The little boy, tormented with fever and
insensible, not knowing what was passing around him, smiled at them, and
blinked with his beautiful eyes, as if trying to recognize the men.
Stripping from the nurse her girdle, they put it around his neck and
pulled it. The child called once for his mother, and died easily. Then
they wound him in a sheet, and sitting on horses which were waiting,
hurried to Ostia, where they threw the body into the sea.
Poppæa, not finding the virgo magna, who with other vestals was at the
house of Vatinius, returned soon to the Palatine. Seeing the empty bed
and the cold body of Silvia, she fainted, and when they restored her she
began to scream; her wild cries were heard all that night and the day
following.
But Cæsar commanded her to appear at a feast on the third day; so,
arraying herself in an amethyst-colored tunic, she came and sat with
stony face, golden-haired, silent, wonderful, and as ominous as an angel
of death.
BEFORE the Flavii had reared the Colosseum, amphitheatres in Rome were
built of wood mainly; for that reason nearly all of them had burned
during the fire. But Nero, for the celebration of the promised games,
had given command to build several, and among them a gigantic one, for
which they began, immediately after the fire was extinguished, to bring
by sea and the Tiber great trunks of trees cut on the slopes of Atlas;
for the games were to surpass all previous ones in splendor and the
number of victims.
Large spaces were given therefore for people and for animals. Thousands
of mechanics worked at the structure night and day. They built and
ornamented without rest. Wonders were told concerning pillars inlaid
with bronze, amber, ivory, mother of pearl, and transmarine tortoise-shells. Canals filled with ice-cold water from the mountains and
running along the seats were to keep an agreeable coolness in the
building, even during the greatest heat. A gigantic purple velarium
gave shelter from the rays of the sun. Among the rows of seats were
disposed vessels for the burning of Arabian perfumes; above them were
fixed instruments to sprinkle the spectators with dew of saffron and
verbena. The renowned builders Severus and Celer put forth all their
skill to construct an amphitheatre at once incomparable and fitted for
such a number of the curious as none of those known before had been able
to accommodate.
Hence, the day when the ludus matutinus was to begin, throngs of the
populace were awaiting from daylight the opening of the gates, listening
with delight to the roars of lions, the hoarse growls of panthers, and
the howls of dogs. The beasts had not been fed for two days, but pieces
of bloody flesh had been pushed before them to rouse their rage and
hunger all the more. At times such a storm of wild voices was raised
that people standing before the Circus could not converse, and the most
sensitive grew pale from fear.
With the rising of the sun were intoned in the enclosure of the Circus
hymns resonant but calm. The people heard these with amazement, and
said one to another, “The Christians! the Christians!” In fact, many
detachments of Christians had been brought to the amphitheatre that
night, and not from one place, as planned at first, but a few from each
prison. It was known in the crowd that the spectacles would continue
through weeks and months, but they doubted that it would be possible to
finish in a single day those Christians who had been intended for that
one occasion. The voices of men, women, and children singing the
morning hymn were so numerous that spectators of experience asserted
that even if one or two hundred persons were sent out at once, the
beasts would grow tired, become sated, and not tear all to pieces before
evening. Others declared that an excessive number of victims in the
arena would divert attention, and not give a chance to enjoy the
spectacle properly.
As the moment drew near for opening the vomitoria, or passages which led
to the interior, people grew animated and joyous; they discussed and
disputed about various things touching the spectacle. Parties were
formed praising the greater efficiency of lions or tigers in tearing.
Here and there bets were made. Others however talked about gladiators
who were to appear in the arena earlier than the Christians; and again
there were parties, some in favor of Samnites, others of Gauls, others
of Mirmillons, others of Thracians, others of the retiarii.
Early in the morning larger or smaller detachments of gladiators began
to arrive at the amphitheatre under the lead of masters, called lanistæ.
Not wishing to be wearied too soon, they entered unarmed, often entirely
naked, often with green boughs in their hands, or crowned with flowers,
young, beautiful, in the light of morning, and full of life. Their
bodies, shining from olive oil, were strong as if chiselled from marble;
they roused to delight people who loved shapely forms. Many were known
personally, and
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