Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero

  Chapter LXVII

  PETRONIUS, after the liberation of Lygia, not wishing to irritate Caesar,went to the Palatine with other Augustians. He wanted to hear whatthey were saying, and especially to learn if Tigellinus was devisingsomething new to destroy Lygia. Both she and Ursus had passed under theprotection of the people, it is true, and no one could place a hand onthem without raising a riot; still Petronius, knowing the hatred towardhim of the all-powerful pretorian prefect, considered that very likelyTigellinus, while unable to strike him directly, would strive to findsome means of revenge against his nephew.

  Nero was angry and irritated, since the spectacle had ended quitedifferently from what he had planned. At first he did not wish even tolook at Petronius; but the latter, without losing cool blood, approachedhim, with all the freedom of the "arbiter elegantiarum," and said,--

  "Dost thou know, divinity, what occurs to me? Write a poem on the maidenwho, at command of the lord of the world, was freed from the horns ofthe wild bull and given to her lover. The Greeks are sensitive, and I amsure that the poem will enchant them."

  This thought pleased Nero in spite of all his irritation, and it pleasedhim doubly, first, as a subject for a poem, and second, because in ithe could glorify himself as the magnanimous lord of the earth; hence helooked for a time at Petronius, and then said,--

  "Yes! perhaps thou art right. But does it become me to celebrate my owngoodness?"

  "There is no need to give names. In Rome all will know who is meant, andfrom Rome reports go through the whole world."

  "But art thou sure that this will please the people in Achaea?"

  "By Poilux, it will!" said Petronius.

  And he went away satisfied, for he felt certain that Nero, whose wholelife was an arrangement of reality to literary plans, would not spoilthe subject, and by this alone he would tie the hands of Tigellinus.This, however, did not change his plan of sending Vinicius out of Romeas soon as Lygia's health should permit. So when he saw him next day, hesaid,--

  "Take her to Sicily. As things have happened, on Caesar's part thou artthreatened by nothing; but Tigellinus is ready to use even poison,--ifnot out of hatred to you both, out of hatred to me."

  Vinicius smiled at him, and said: "She was on the horns of the wildbull; still Christ saved her."

  "Then honor Him with a hecatomb," replied Petronius, with an accent ofimpatience, "but do not beg Him to save her a second time. Dost rememberhow Eolus received Ulysses when he returned to ask a second time forfavoring winds? Deities do not like to repeat themselves."

  "When her health returns, I will take her to Pomponia Graecina," saidVinicius.

  "And thou wilt do that all the better since Pomponia is ill; Antistius,a relative of Aulus, told me so. Meanwhile things will happen hereto make people forget thee, and in these times the forgotten are thehappiest. May Fortune be thy sun in winter, and thy shade in summer."

  Then he left Vinicius to his happiness, but went himself to inquire ofTheocles touching the life and health of Lygia.

  Danger threatened her no longer. Emaciated as she was in the dungeonafter prison fever, foul air and discomfort would have killed her; butnow she had the most tender care, and not only plenty, but luxury. Atcommand of Theocles they took her to the gardens of the villa aftertwo days; in these gardens she remained for hours. Vinicius decked herlitter with anemones, and especially with irises, to remind her of theatrium of the house of Aulus. More than once, hidden in the shade ofspreading trees, they spoke of past sufferings and fears, each holdingthe other's hand. Lygia said that Christ had conducted him throughsuffering purposely to change his soul and raise it to Himself. Viniciusfelt that this was true, and that there was in him nothing of the formerpatrician, who knew no law but his own desire. In those memories therewas nothing bitter, however. It seemed to both that whole years had goneover their heads, and that the dreadful past lay far behind. At the sametime such a calmness possessed them as they had never known before. Anew life of immense happiness had come and taken them into itself. InRome Caesar might rage and fill the world with terror--they felt abovethem a guardianship a hundred times mightier than his power, and hadno further fear of his rage or his malice, just as if for them he hadceased to be the lord of life or death. Once, about sunset, the roar oflions and other beasts reached them from distant vivaria. Formerly thosesounds filled Vinicius with fear because they were ominous; now he andLygia merely looked at each other and raised their eyes to the eveningtwilight. At times Lygia, still very weak and unable to walk alone, fellasleep in the quiet of the garden; he watched over her, and, lookingat her sleeping face, thought involuntarily that she was not that Lygiawhom he had met at the house of Aulus. In fact, imprisonment and diseasehad to some extent quenched her beauty. When he saw her at the house ofAulus, and later, when he went to Miriam's house to seize her, she wasas wonderful as a statue and also as a flower; now her face had becomealmost transparent, her hands thin, her body reduced by disease,her lips pale, and even her eyes seemed less blue than formerly. Thegolden-haired Eunice who brought her flowers and rich stuffs to coverher feet was a divinity of Cyprus in comparison. Petronius tried in vainto find the former charms in her, and, shrugging his shoulders, thoughtthat that shadow from Elysian fields was not worth those struggles,those pains, and those tortures which had almost sucked the life out ofVinicius. But Vinicius, in love now with her spirit, loved it all themore; and when he was watching over her while asleep, it seemed to himthat he was watching over the whole world.