Chapter LII

AND everything had failed. Vinicius lowered himself to the degree that

he sought support from freedmen and slaves, both those of Cæsar and

Poppæa; he overpaid their empty promises, he won their good will with

rich gifts. He found the first husband of Poppæa, Rufus Crispinus, and

obtained from him a letter. He gave a villa in Antium to Rufius, her son

by the first marriage; but thereby he merely angered Cæsar, who hated

his step-son. By a special courier he sent a letter to Poppæa’s second

husband, Otho, in Spain. He sacrificed his property and himself, until

he saw at last that he was simply the plaything of people; that if he

had pretended that the imprisonment of Lygia concerned him little, he

would have freed her sooner.

Petronius saw this, too. Meanwhile day followed day. The amphitheatre

was finished. The “tesseræ” were distributed,--that is, tickets of

entrance, to the ludus matutinus (morning games). But this time the

morning games, because of the unheard-of number of victims, were to

continue for days, weeks, and months. It was not known where to put the

Christians. The prisons were crammed, and fever was raging in them. The

puticuli--common pits in which slaves were kept--began to be overfilled.

There was fear that diseases might spread over the whole city hence,

haste.

All these reports struck the ears of Vinicius, extinguishing in him the

last hope. While there was yet time, he might delude himself with

the belief that he could do something, but now there was no time. The

spectacles must begin. Lygia might find herself any day in a cuniculum

of the circus, whence the only exit was to the arena. Vinicius, not

knowing whither fate and the cruelty of superior force might throw her,

visited all the circuses, bribed guards and beast-keepers, laying before

them plans which they could not execute. In time he saw that he was

working for this only,--to make death less terrible to her; and just

then he felt that instead of brains he had glowing coals in his head.

For the rest he had no thought of surviving her, and determined to

perish at the same time. But he feared lest pain might burn his life out

before the dreadful hour came. His friends and Petronius thought also

that any day might open the kingdom of shadows before him. His face was

black, and resembled those waxen masks kept in lararia. In his features

astonishment had grown frigid, as if he hid no understanding of what had

happened and what might happen. When any one spoke to him, he raised his

hands to his face mechanically, and, pressing his temples, looked at the

speaker with an inquiring and astonished gaze. He passed whole nights

with Ursus at Lygia’s door in the prison; if she commanded him to go

away and rest, he returned to Petronius, and walked in the atrium till

morning. The slaves found him frequently kneeling with upraised hands

or lying with his face to the earth. He prayed to Christ, for Christ

was his last hope. Everything had failed him. Only a miracle could save

Lygia; hence he beat the stone flags with his forehead and prayed for

the miracle.

But he knew enough yet to understand that Peter’s prayers were more

important than his own. Peter had promised him Lygia, Peter had baptized

him, Peter had performed miracles, let him give aid and rescue.

And a certain night he went to seek the Apostle. The Christians, of

whom not many remained, had concealed him now carefully even from other

brethren, lest any of the weaker in spirit might betray him wittingly or

unwittingly. Vinicius, amid the general confusion and disaster, occupied

also in efforts to get Lygia out of prison, had lost sight of Peter,

he had barely seen him once from the time of his own baptism till the

beginning of the persecution. But betaking himself to that quarryman

in whose hut he was baptized, he learned that there would be a meeting

outside the Porta Salaria in a vineyard which belonged to Cornelius

Pudens. The quarryman offered to guide him, and declared that he would

find Peter there. They started about dusk, and, passing beyond the wall,

through hollows overgrown with reeds, reached the vineyard in a wild

and lonely place. The meeting was held in a wine-shed. As Vinicius drew

near, the murmur of prayer reached his ears. On entering he saw by

dim lamplight a few tens of kneeling figures sunk in prayer. They were

saying a kind of litany; a chorus of voices, male and female, repeated

every moment, “Christ have mercy on us.” In those voices, deep, piercing

sadness and sorrow were heard.

Peter was present. He was kneeling in front of the others, before a

wooden cross nailed to the wall of the shed, and was praying. From a

distance Vinicius recognized his white hair and his upraised hands. The

first thought of the young patrician was to pass through the assembly,

cast himself at the Apostle’s feet, and cry, “Save!” but whether it was

the solemnity of the prayer, or because weakness bent the knees under

Vinicius, he began to repeat while he groaned and clasped his hands:

“Christ have mercy!” Had he been conscious, he would have understood

that his was not the only prayer in which there was a groan; that he was

not the only one who had brought with him his pain, alarm, and grief.

There was not in that assembly one soul which had not lost persons dear

to the heart; and when the most zealous and courageous confessors were

in prison already, when with every moment new tidings were borne about

of insults and tortures inflicted on them in the prisons, when the

greatness of the calamity exceeded every imagination, when only that

handful remained, there was not one heart there which was not terrified

in its faith, which did not ask doubtfully, Where is Christ? and why

does He let evil be mightier than God? Meanwhile they implored Him

despairingly for mercy, since in each soul there still smouldered a

spark of hope that He would come, hurl Nero into the abyss, and rule the

world. They looked yet toward the sky; they listened yet; they prayed

yet with trembling. Vinicius, too, in proportion as they repeated,

“Christ have mercy on us!” was seized by such an ecstasy as formerly

in the quarryman’s hut. Now from the depths they call on Him in the

profoundness of their sorrow, now Peter calls on Him; so any moment the

heavens may be rent, the earth tremble to its foundations, and He appear

in infinite glory, with stars at His feet, merciful, but awful. He

will raise up the faithful, and command the abysses to swallow the

persecutors.

Vinicius covered his face with both hands, and bowed to the earth.

Immediately silence was around him, as if fear had stopped further

breathing on the lips of all present. And it seemed to him that

something must happen surely, that a moment of miracle would follow. He

felt certain that when he rose and opened his eyes he would see a light

from which mortal eyes would be blinded, and hear a voice from which

hearts would grow faint.

But the silence was unbroken. It was interrupted at last by the sobbing

of women. Vinicius rose and looked forward with dazed eyes. In the shed,

instead of glories not of earth, shone the faint gleam of lanterns, and

rays of the moon, entering through an opening in the roof, filled the

place with silvery light. The people kneeling around Vinicius raised

their tearful eyes toward the cross in silence; here and there sobbing

was heard, and from outside came the warning whistles of watchmen.

Meanwhile Peter rose, and, turning to the assembly, said,

“Children, raise your hearts to the Redeemer and offer Him your tears.”

After that he was silent.

All at once was heard the voice of a woman, full of sorrowful complaint

and pain,--

“I am a widow; I had one son who supported me. Give him back, O Lord!”

Silence followed again. Peter was standing before the kneeling audience,

old, full of care. In that moment he seemed to them decrepitude and

weakness personified. With that a second voice began to complain,

“Executioners insulted my daughter, and Christ permitted them!”

Then a third,--

“I alone have remained to my children, and when I am taken who will give

them bread and water?”

Then a fourth,--

“Linus, spared at first, they have taken now and put to torture, O

Lord!”

Then a fifth,

“When we return to our houses, pretorians will seize us. We know not

where to hide.”

“Woe to us! Who will protect us?”

And thus in that silence of the night complaint after complaint was

heard. The old fisherman closed his eyes and shook his white head over

that human pain and fear. New silence followed; the watchman merely gave

out low whistles beyond the shed.

Vinicius sprang up again, so as to break through the crowd to the

Apostle and demand salvation; but on a sudden he saw before him, as it

were, a precipice, the sight of which took strength from his feet. What

if the Apostle were to confess his own weakness, affirm that the Roman

Cæsar was stronger than Christ the Nazarene? And at that thought terror

raised the hair on his head, for he felt that in such a case not only

the remnant of his hope would fall into that abyss, but with it he

himself, and all through which he had life, and there would remain only

night and death, resembling a shoreless sea.

Meanwhile Peter began to speak in a voice so low at first that it was

barely possible to hear him,--

“My children, on Golgotha I saw them nail God to the cross. I heard

the hammers, and I saw them raise the cross on high, so that the rabble

might gaze at the death of the Son of Man. I saw them open His side, and

I saw Him die. When returning from the cross, I cried in pain, as ye are

crying, ‘Woe! woe! O Lord, Thou art God! Why hast Thou permitted this?

Why hast Thou died, and why hast Thou tormented the hearts of us who

believed that Thy kingdom would come?’

“But He, our Lord and God, rose from the dead the third day, and was

among us till He entered His kingdom in great glory.

“And we, seeing our little faith, became strong in heart, and from that

time we are sowing His grain.”

Here, turning toward the place whence the first complaint came, he began

in a voice now stronger,--

“Why do ye complain? God gave Himself to torture and death, and ye

wish Him to shield you from the same. People of little faith, have ye

received His teaching? Has He promised you nothing but life? He comes

to you and says, ‘Follow in my path.’ He raises you to Himself, and ye

catch at this earth with your hands, crying, ‘Lord, save us!’ I am dust

before God, but before you I am His apostle and viceregent. I speak

to you in the name of Christ. Not death is before you, but life; not

tortures, but endless delights; not tears and groans, but singing; not

bondage, but rule! I, God’s apostle, say this: O widow, thy son will not

die; he will be born into glory, into eternal life, and thou wilt

rejoin him! To thee, O father, whose innocent daughter was defiled by

executioners, I promise that thou shalt find her whiter than the

lilies of Hebron! To you, mothers, whom they are tearing away from your

orphans; to you who lose fathers; to you who complain; to you who will

see the death of loved ones; to you the careworn, the unfortunate, the

timid; to you who must die,--in the name of Christ I declare that ye

will wake as if from sleep to a happy waking, as if from night to the

light of God. In the name of Christ, let the beam fall from your eyes,

and let your hearts be inflamed.”

When he had said this, he raised his hand as if commanding, and they

felt new blood in their veins, and also a quiver in their bones; for

before them was standing, not a decrepit and careworn old man, but a

potentate, who took their souls and raised them from dust and terror.

“Amen!” called a number of voices.

From the Apostle’s eyes came a light ever increasing, power issued from

him, majesty issued from him, and holiness. Heads bent before him, and

he, when the “Amen” ceased, continued:--

“Ye sow in tears to reap in joy. Why fear ye the power of evil? Above

the earth, above Rome, above the walls of cities is the Lord, who has

taken His dwelling within you. The stones will be wet from tears, the

sand steeped in blood, the valleys will be filled with your bodies, but

I say that ye are victorious. The Lord is advancing to the conquest of

this city of crime, oppression, and pride, and ye are His legions! He

redeemed with His own blood and torture the sins of the world; so

He wishes that ye should redeem with torture and blood this nest of

injustice. This He announces to you through my lips.”

And he opened his arms, and fixed his eyes upward; the hearts almost

ceased to beat in their breasts, for they felt that his glance beheld

something which their mortal sight could not see.

In fact, his face had changed, and was overspread with serenity; he

gazed some time in silence, as if speechless from ecstasy, but after a

while they heard his voice,--

“Thou art here, O Lord, and dost show Thy ways to me. True, O Christ!

Not in Jerusalem, but in this city of Satan wilt Thou fix Thy capital.

Here out of these tears and this blood dost Thou wish to build Thy

Church. Here, where Nero rules to-day, Thy eternal kingdom is to stand.

Thine, O Lord, O Lord! And Thou commandest these timid ones to form

the foundation of Thy holy Zion of their bones, and Thou commandest my

spirit to assume rule over it, and over peoples of the earth. And Thou

art pouring the fountain of strength on the weak, so that they become

strong; and now Thou commandest me to feed Thy sheep from this spot,

to the end of ages. Oh, be Thou praised in Thy decrees by which Thou

commandest to conquer. Hosanna! Hosanna!”

Those who were timid rose; into those who doubted streams of faith

flowed. Some voices cried, “Hosanna!” others, “Pro Christo!” Then

silence followed. Bright summer lightning illuminated the interior of

the shed, and the pale, excited faces.

Peter, fixed in a vision, prayed a long time yet; but conscious at last,

he turned his inspired face, full of light, to the assembly, and said,--

“This is how the Lord has overcome doubt in you; so ye will go to

victory in His name.”

And though he knew that they would conquer, though he knew what would

grow out of their tears and blood, still his voice quivered with emotion

when he was blessing them with the cross, and he said,--

“Now I bless you, my children, as ye go to torture, to death, to

eternity.”

They gathered round him and wept. “We are ready,” said they; “but

do thou, O holy head, guard thyself, for thou art the viceregent who

performs the office of Christ.”

And thus speaking, they seized his mantle; he placed his hands on their

heads, and blessed each one separately, just as a father does children

whom he is sending on a long journey.

And they began at once to go out of the shed, for they were in a hurry,

to their houses, and from them to the prisons and arenas. Their thoughts

were separated from the earth, their souls had taken flight toward

eternity, and they walked on as if in a dream, in ecstasy opposing that

force which was in them to the force and the cruelty of the “Beast.”

Nereus, the servant of Pudens, took the Apostle and led him by a secret

path in the vineyard to his house. But Vinicius followed them in the

clear night, and when they reached the cottage of Nereus at last, he

threw himself suddenly at the feet of the Apostle.

“What dost thou wish, my Son?” asked Peter, recognizing him.

After what he had heard in the vineyard, Vinicius dared not implore him

for anything; but, embracing his feet with both hands, he pressed his

forehead to them with sobbing, and called for compassion in that dumb

manner.

“I know. They took the maiden whom thou lovest. Pray for her.”

“Lord,” groaned Vinicius, embracing his feet still more firmly,--“Lord,

I am a wretched worm; but thou didst know Christ. Implore Him,--take her

part.”

And from pain he trembled like a leaf; and he beat the earth with his

forehead, for, knowing the strength of the Apostle, he knew that he

alone could rescue her.

Peter was moved by that pain. He remembered how on a time Lygia herself,

when attacked by Crispus, lay at his feet in like manner imploring pity.

He remembered that he had raised her and comforted her; hence now he

raised Vinicius.

“My son,” said he, “I will pray for her; but do thou remember that I

told those doubting ones that God Himself passed through the torment of

the cross, and remember that after this life begins another,--an eternal

one.”

“I know; I have heard!” answered Vinicius, catching the air with his

pale lips; “but thou seest, lord, that I cannot! If blood is required,

implore Christ to take mine,--I am a soldier. Let Him double, let Him

triple, the torment intended for her, I will suffer it; but let Him

spare her. She is a child yet, and He is mightier than Cæsar, I believe,

mightier. Thou didst love her thyself; thou didst bless us. She is an

innocent child yet.”

Again he bowed, and, putting his face to Peter’s knees, he repeated,--

“Thou didst know Christ, lord,--thou didst know Him. He will give ear to

thee; take her part.”

Peter closed his lids, and prayed earnestly. The summer lightning

illuminated the sky again. Vinicius, by the light of it, looked at the

lips of the Apostle, waiting sentence of life or death from them. In the

silence quails were heard calling in the vineyard, and the dull, distant

sound of treadmills near the Via Salaria.

“Vinicius,” asked the Apostle at last, “dost thou believe?”

“Would I have come hither if I believed not?” answered Vinicius.

“Then believe to the end, for faith will remove mountains. Hence, though

thou wert to see that maiden under the sword of the executioner or in

the jaws of a lion, believe that Christ can save her. Believe, and pray

to Him, and I will pray with thee.”

Then, raising his face toward heaven, he said aloud,--

“O merciful Christ, look on this aching heart and console it! O merciful

Christ, temper the wind to the fleece of the lamb! O merciful Christ,

who didst implore the Father to turn away the bitter cup from Thy mouth,

turn it from the mouth of this Thy servant! Amen.”

But Vinicius, stretching his hand toward the stars, said, groaning,--

“I am Thine; take me instead of her.”

The sky began to grow pale in the east.