Page 7 of Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century

  LETTER VI.

  FROM PISO TO FAUSTA.

  Having confined myself, in my last letter, to the affairs of Marcus andLucilia, I now, Fausta, turn to those which concern us and Rome.

  I found, on my return to the city, that the general anxiety concerningthe designs of Aurelian had greatly increased. Many rumors were currentof dark sayings of his, which, whether founded in truth or not,contributed to alarm even the most hopeful, and raise seriousapprehensions for the fate of this much and long-suffering religion.Julia herself partakes--I cannot say of the alarm--but of the anxiety.She has less confidence than I have in the humanity of the Emperor. Inthe honours heaped upon Zenobia, and the favors shown herself andVabalathus, she sees, not so much the outpouring of benevolent feeling,as a rather ostentatious display of imperial generosity, and, what iscalled, Roman magnanimity. For the true character of the man she looksinto the graves of Palmyra, upon her smoking ruins, and upon the blood,yet hardly dry, that stains the pavements of the Coelian. Julia may beright, though I am unwilling to believe it. Her judgment is entitled tothe more weight in this severe decision, that it is ever inclined to theside of a too favorable opinion of character and motive. You know hernature too well, to believe her capable of exaggerating the faults ofeven the humblest. Yet, though such are her apprehensions, shemanifests the same calm and even carriage as on the approach of moreserious troubles in Palmyra. She is full of deepest interest in theaffairs of the Christians, and by many families of the poorer sort isresorted to continually for aid, for counsel, or sympathy. Not one inthe whole community is a more frequent and devout attendant upon theservices of the church; and, I need not add, that I am her constantcompanion. The performance of this duty gives a value to life in Romesuch as it never had before. Every seventh day, as with the Jews, onlyupon a different day of the week, do the Christians assemble for thepurposes of religious worship. And, I can assure you, it is with notrifling accession of strength for patient doing and patient bearing,that we return to our every-day affairs, after having listened to theprayers, the reasonings, or exhortations of Probus.

  So great is the difference in my feelings and opinions from what theywere before I left Rome for Palmyra, that it is with difficulty Ipersuade myself that I am the same person. Between Piso the Pyrronistand Piso the Christian, the distance seems immeasurable--yet in howshort a time has it been past. I cannot say that I did not enjoyexistence and value it in my former state, but I can say that myenjoyment of it is infinitely heightened as a Christian, and the rate atwhich I value it infinitely raised. Born and nurtured as I was, withPortia for my mother, a palace for my home, Rome for my country andcapital, offering all the luxuries of the earth, and affording all themeans I could desire for carrying on researches in study of every kind,surrounded by friends of the noblest and best families in the city,--Icould not but enjoy life in some very important sense. While mere youthlasted, and my thoughts never wandered beyond the glittering forms ofthings, no one could be happier or more contented. All was fair andbeautiful around me--what could I ask for more? I was satisfied andfilled. But, by and by, my dream of life was disturbed--my sleep broken.Natural questions began to propose themselves for my solution, such, Isuppose, as, sooner or later, spring up in every bosom. I began tospeculate about myself--about the very self that had been so long, sobusy, about everything else beside itself. I wished to know something ofmyself--of my origin, my nature, my present condition, my ultimate fate.It seemed to me I was too rare and curious a piece of work to go toruin, final and inevitable--perhaps to-morrow--at all events in a veryfew years. Of futurity I had heard--and of Elysium--just as I had heardof Jupiter, greatest and best, but, with my earliest youth, these thingshad faded from my mind, or had already taken upon themselves thecharacter of fable. My Virgil, in which I early received my lessons oflanguage, at once divested them of all their air of reality, and leftthem naked fiction. The other poets, Livy helping them, continued thesame work and completed it. But, bent with most serious and earnestdesires toward truth on what seemed to me the greatest theme, I couldnot remain where I was, and turned with highest expectations to thephilosophers. I not only read, but I studied and pondered them withdiligence, and with as sincere a desire of arriving at truth as everscholar sat at the feet of his instructer. The result was anything butsatisfying, I ended a universal sceptic, so far as human systems ofphilosophy were concerned, so far as they pretended to solve the enigmaof God and man, of life and death; but with a heart, nevertheless,yearning after truth; and even full of faith, if that may be calledfaith which would instinctively lay hold upon a God and a hope ofimmortality; and, though beaten back once and again, by every form whichthe syllogism could assume, still keep its hold.

  This was my state, Fausta, when I was found by Christianity. Withoutfaith, and yet with it; doubting, and yet believing; rejectingphilosophy, but leaning upon nature; dissatisfied, but hoping. I cannoteasily find words to tell you the change which Christian faith haswrought within me. All I can say is this, that I am now a new man; I ammade over again; I am born as it were into another world. Where darknessonce was, there is now light brighter than the sun. Where doubt was,there is now certainty. I have knowledge and truth, for error andperplexity. The inner world of my mind is resplendent with a day whoseluminary will never set. And even the outer world of appearances andforms shines more gloriously, and has an air of reality which before itnever had. It used to seem to me like the gorgeous fabric of a dream,and as if, at some unexpected moment, it might melt into air andnothingness, and I, and all men and things, with it; for there appearedto be no purpose in it; it came from nothing, it achieved nothing, andcertainly seemed to conduct to nothing. Men, like insects, came andwent; were born, and died, and that was all. Nothing was accomplished,nothing perfected. But now, nature seems to me stable, and eternal asGod himself. The world being the great birth-place and nursery of thesemyriads of creatures, made, as I ever conceived, in a divine likeness,after some godlike model,--for what spirit of other spheres can be morebeautiful than a perfect man, or a perfect woman--each animated with theprinciple of immortality--there is a reason for its existence, and itsperpetuity, from whose force the mind cannot escape. It is, and it everwill be; and mankind upon it, a continually happier, and more virtuousbrotherhood.

  Yes, Fausta, to me as a Christian, everything is new everything better;the inward world, the outward world, the present, and the future. Lifeis a worthier gift, and a richer possession. I am to myself an object ofa thousand-fold greater interest; and every other human being, from apoor animal, that was scarce worthy its wretched existence, starts upinto a god, for whom the whole earth may, one day, become too narrow afield either to till, or rule. I am, accordingly, ready to labor bothfor myself and others. I once held myself too cheap to do much even formyself; for others, I would do nothing, except to feed the hunger thatdirectly appealed to me, or relieve the wretchedness that made meequally wretched. Not so now. I myself am a different being, and othersare different. I am ready to toil for such beings; to suffer for them.They are too valuable to be neglected, abused, insulted, trodden intothe dust. They must be defended and rescued, whenever theirfellow-men--wholly ignorant of what they are, and what themselves areabout--would oppress them. More than all, do they need truth,effectually to enlighten and redeem them, and truth they must have atwhatever cost. Let them only once know what they are, and the world issafe. Christianity tells them this, and Christianity they must have. TheState must not stand between man and truth! or, if it do, it must berebuked by those who have the knowledge and the courage, and made toassume its proper place and office. Knowing what has been done for me byChristian truth, I can never be content until to others the same good isat least offered; and I shall devote what power and means I possess tothis task. The prospect now is of opposition and conflict. But itdismays not me, nor Julia, nor any of this faith who have truly adoptedits principles. For, if the mere love of fame, the excitement of acontest, the prospect of pay or plunder, will carry innumerable legi
onsto the battle-field to leave there their bones, how much more shall thebelief of a Christian arm him for even worse encounters? It were pitifulindeed, if a possession, as valuable as this of truth, could not inspirea heroism, which the love of fame or of money can.

  These things I have said, to put you fully in possession of our presentposition, plans, and purposes. The fate of Christianity is to us now asabsorbing an interest, as once was the fate of Palmyra.

  * * * * *

  I had been in the city only long enough to give Julia a full account ofmy melancholy visit in the country, and to write a part of it to you,when I walked forth to observe for myself the signs which the city mightoffer, either to confirm, or allay, the apprehensions which were begunto be felt.

  I took my way over the Palatine, desiring to see the excellent Tacitus,whose house is there. He was absent, being suddenly called to Baiae. Iturned toward the Forum, wishing to perform a commission for Julia atthe shop of Civilis--still alive, and still compounding hissweets--which is now about midway between the slope of the hill and theForum, having been removed from its former place where you knew it,under the eaves of the Temple of Peace. The little man of 'smells' wasat his post, more crooked than ever, but none the less exquisitelyarrayed; his wig befitting a young Bacchus, rather than a dried shred ofa man beyond his seventieth year. All the gems of the east glittered onhis thin fingers, and diamonds, that might move the envy of Livia, hungfrom his ears. The gales of Arabia, burdened with the fragrance of everyflower of that sunny clime, seemed concentrated into an atmospherearound him; and, in truth, I suppose a specimen of every pot and phialof his vast shop, might be found upon his person concealed in goldboxes, or hanging in the merest fragments of bottles upon chains ofsilver or gold, or deposited in folds of his ample robes. He was odor insubstantial form. He saluted me with a grace, of which he only in Romeis master, and with a deference that could not have been exceeded had Ibeen Aurelian. I told him that I wished to procure a perfume of Egyptianorigin and name, called Cleopatra's tears, which was reputed to conveyto the organs of smell, an odor more exquisite than that of the rarestPersian rose, or choicest gums of Arabia. The eyes of Civilis kindledwith the fires of twenty--when love's anxious brow is suddenly clearedup by that little, but all comprehensive word, yes--as he answered,

  'Noble Piso, I honor you. I never doubted your taste. It is seen in yourpalace, in your dress, nay, in the very costume of your incomparableslave, who has done me the honor to call here in your service. But nowhave you given of it the last and highest proof. Never has the wit ofman before compounded an essence like that which lies buried in thisporphyry vase.'

  'You do not mean that I am to take away a vase of that size? I do notpurchase essences by the pound!'

  Civilis seemed as if he would have fainted, so oppressed was he by thisdisplay of ignorance. My character, I found, was annihilated in amoment. When his presence of mind was recovered, he said,

  'This vase? Great Jupiter! The price of your palace upon the Coelianwould scarce purchase it! Were its contents suddenly let loose, andspilled upon the air, not Rome only, but Italy, would be bathed in thetransporting, life-giving fragrance! Now I shall remove the cover, firstgiving you to know, that within this larger vase there is a number ofsmallest bottles, some of glass, others of gold, in each of which arecontained a few of the tears, and which are warranted to retain theirpotency, and lend their celestial peculiarity to your clothes or yourapartments, without loss or diminution in the least appreciable degree,during the life of the purchaser. Now, if it please you, bend this way,and receive the air which I shall presently set free. How think you,noble Piso? Art not a new man?

  'I am new in my knowledge such as it is Civilis. It is certainlyagreeable, most agreeable.'

  'Agreeable! So is mount Etna a pretty hill! So is Aurelian a fairsoldier! so is the sun a good sized brazier! I beseech thee, findanother word. Let it not go forth to all Rome, that the most noble Pisodeems the tears of Cleopatra agreeable!'

  'I can think no otherwise,' I replied. 'It is really agreeable, andreminds me, more than anything else, of the oldest Falernian, justrubbed between the palms of the hand, which you will allow is tocompliment it in no moderate measure. But confess now, Civilis, that youhave an hundred perfumes more delicious than this.'

  'Piso, I may say this,--they have been so.'

  'Ah, I understand you; you admit then, that it is the force of fashionthat lends this extraordinary odor to the porphyry vase.'

  'Truly, noble Piso, it has somewhat to do with it, it must beacknowledged.'

  'It would be curious, Civilis, to know what name this bore, and in whatcase it was bestowed, and at what price sold, before the Empress Liviafancied it. I think it should have been named, 'Livia's smiles.' Itwould, at any rate, be a good name for it at thy shop in Alexandria.'

  'You are facetious, noble Piso. But that last hint is too good to bethrown away. Truly, you are a man of the world, whose distinction Isuppose is, that he has eyes in the hind part of his head, as well asbefore. But what blame can be mine for such dealing? I am driven; I am aslave. It is fashion, that works these wonders, not I. And there is nogoddess, Piso, like her. She is the true creator. Upon that which isworthless, can she bestow, in a moment, inestimable value. What isdespised to-day, she can exalt to-morrow to the very pinnacle of honor.She is my maker. One day I was poor, the goddess took me by the hand,and smiled upon me, and the next day I was rich. It was the favoritemistress of Maximin, who, one day--her chariot, Piso, so chance wouldhave it, broke down at my door, when she took refuge in my little shop,then at the corner of the street Castor as you turn towards theTiber--purchasing a particular perfume, of which I had large store, andboasted much to her, gave me such currency among the rich and noble,that, from that hour, my fortune was secure. No one bought a perfumeafterwards but of Civilis. Civilis was soon the next person to theEmperor. And, to this hour, has this same goddess befriended me. Andmany an old jar, packed away in the midst of rubbish in dark recessesnow valueless, do I look upon as nevertheless so much gold--its nowdespised contents one day to disperse themselves upon kings and nobles,in the senate and the theatres. I need not tell you what this diminutivebottle might have been had for, before the Kalends. Yet, by Hercules,should I have sold it even then for less? for should I not have divinedits fortune? The wheel is ever turning, turning. But, most excellentPiso, men of the world are ever generous--'

  'Fear nothing, Civilis, I will not betray you. I believe you have spokenreal truths. Besides, with Livia on your side, and what could all Romedo to hurt you?'

  'Most true, most true. But, may I ask--for one thing has made meastonished--how is it that you, being now, as report goes, a Christian,should come to me to purchase essences? When I heard you had so namedyourself, I looked to lose your custom forever after.'

  'Why should not a Christian man smell of that which is agreeable, aswell as another?'

  'Ah, that I cannot say. I have heard--I know nothing, Piso, beyondessences and perfumes--but, I have heard, that the Christians forbearsuch things, calling them vanities; just as they withdraw too, 'tissaid, from the theatres and the circuses.'

  'They do, indeed, withdraw from the theatres and circuses, Civilis,because the entertainments witnessed there do, as they judge, serve butto make beasts of men; they minister to vice. But in a sweet smell theysee no harm, any more than in a silk dress, in well-proportionedbuildings, or magnificent porticoes. Why should it be very wrong or veryfoolish to catch the odors which the divine Providence plants in therose, and in a thousand flowers and gums as they wander forth upon theair for our delight, and fasten them up in these little bottles? bywhich means we can breathe them at all times--in winter as well as insummer, in one country, or clime, as in another. Thy shop, Civilis, isbut a flower-garden in another form, and under another name.'

  'I shall think better of the Christians for this. I hardly believed thereport, indeed, for it were most unnatural and strange to find faultwith odors suc
h as these. I shall lament the more, that they are to beso dealt with by the Emperor. Hast thou heard what is reported thismorning?'

  'No; I am but just from home. How does it go?'

  'Why, 'tis nothing other nor less than this, that Aurelian, beingresolved to change the Christians all back again into what they were,has begun with his niece the princess Aurelia, and, with violence,insists that she shall sacrifice--which she steadfastly refuses to do.Some say, that she has not been seen at the palace for several days, andthat she is fast locked up in the great prison on the Tiber.'

  'I do not believe a word of it, Civilis. The Emperor has of late usedharsh language of the Christians, I know. But for one word he hasspoken, the city has coined ten. And, moreover, the words of the priestFronto are quoted for those of Aurelian. It is well known he isespecially fond of Aurelia; and Mucapor, to whom she is betrothed, ishis favorite among all his generals, not excepting Probus.'

  'Well, well, may it be as you say! I, for my part, should be sorry thatany mishap befel those with whom the most noble Piso is connected;especially seeing they do not quarrel, as I was fain to believe, with mycalling. Yet, never before, as I think, have I seen a Christian in myshop.'

  'They may have been here without your knowing it.'

  'Yes, that is true.'

  'Besides, the Christians being in the greater proportion of the middleor humbler classes, seek not their goods at places where emperorsresort. They go elsewhere.'

  Civilis bowed to the floor, as he replied, 'You do me too much honor.'

  'The two cases of perfume which I buy,' I then said, 'are to travel intothe far East. Please to secure them accordingly.'

  'Are they not then for the princess Julia, as I supposed?'

  'They are for a friend in Syria. We wish her to know what is going onhere in the capital of all the world.'

  'By the gods! you have devised well. It is the talk all over Rome.Cleopatra's tears have taken all hearts. Orders from the provinces willsoon pour in. They shall follow you well secured, as you say.'

  I enjoy a call upon this whole Roman, and yet half Jew, as much as uponthe first citizens of the capital. The cup of Aurelian, is no fullerthan the cup of Civilis. The perfect bliss that emanates from hiscountenance, and breathes from his form and gait, is pleasing tobehold--upon whatever founded--seeing it is a state that is reached byso few. No addition could be made to the felicity of this fortunate man.He conceives his occupation to be more honorable than the proconsulshipof a province, and his name, he pleases himself with believing, isfamiliar to more ears than any man's, save the Emperor's, and has beenknown in Rome for a longer period than any other person's living,excepting only the head of the Senate, the venerable Tacitus. This isall legible in the lines about his mouth and eyes.

  Leaving the heaven of the happy man, I turned to the Forum of Augustus,to look at a statue of brass, of Aurelian, just placed among the greatmen of Rome in front of the Temple of Mars, the Avenger. This statue isthe work of Periander, who, with that universality of power which marksthe Greek, has made his genius as distinguished here for sculpture, asit was in Palmyra for military defence and architecture. Who, forperfection in this art of arts, is to be compared with the Greek? orfor any work, of either the head or the hands, that implies thepossession of what we mean by genius? The Greeks have not onlyoriginated all that we know of great and beautiful in letters,philosophy and the arts, but, what they have originated, they have alsoperfected. Whatever they have touched, they have finished; at least, sofar as art, and the manner of working, is concerned. The depths of allwisdom and philosophy they have not sounded indeed, though they havegone deeper than any, only because they are in their own essenceunfathomable. Time, as it flows on, bears us to new regions to beexplored, whose riches constantly add new stores to our wisdom, and opennew views to science. But in all art they have reached a point beyondwhich none have since advanced, and beyond which it hardly seemspossible to go. A doric column, a doric temple, a corinthian capital, acorinthian temple--these perfectly satisfy and fill the mind; and, forseven hundred years, no change or addition has been made or attemptedthat has not been felt to be an injury. And I doubt not that seventhousand years hence, if time could but spare it so long, pilgrims wouldstill go in search of the beautiful from the remotest parts of theworld, from parts now unknown, to worship before the Parthenon, and, mayI not add, the Temple of the Sun in Palmyra!

  Periander has gained new honors by this admirable piece of work. I hadhardly commenced my examination of it, when a grating voice at my elbow,never, once heard, to be mistaken for any other, croaked out what wasmeant as a challenge.

  'The greatest captain of this or of any age!'

  It was Spurius, a man whom no slight can chill nor, even insult, causeto abate the least of his intrusive familiarity--a familiarity which hecovets, too, only for the sake of disputation and satire. To me,however, he is never other than a source of amusement. He is a varietyof the species I love occasionally to study.

  I told him I was observing the workmanship, without thinking of the manrepresented.

  'If you will allow me to say it,' he rejoined, 'a very inferior subjectof contemplation. A statue--as I take it, the thing, that is, for whichit is made, is commemoration. If one wants to see fine work in marble,there is the cornice for him just overhead: or in brass, let him look atthe doors of the new temple, or the last table or couch of Syphax. Theproper subject for man is man.'

  'Well, Spurius, on your own ground then. In this brass I do not seebrass, nor yet Aurelian--'

  'What then, in the name of Hecate?'

  'Nothing but intellect--the mind, the soul of the greater artist,Periander. That drapery never fell so upon Aurelian; nor was Aurelian'sform or bearing ever like this. It is all ennobled, and exalted abovepure nature, by the divine power of genius. The true artist, under everyform and every line of nature, sees another form and line of moreperfect grace and beauty, which he chooses instead, and makes it visibleand permanent in stone or brass. You see nothing in me, but merely Pisoas he walks the streets. Periander sees another within, bearing no moreresemblance to me--yet as much--than does this, to Aurelian.'

  'That, I simply conceive, to be so much sophistry,' rejoined the poet,'which no man would be guilty of, except he had been for the verypurpose, as one must think, of degrading his intellect, to the Athenianschools. Still, as I said and think, the statue is made to commemoratethe man represented, not the artist.'

  'It is made for that. But, oftentimes, the very name of the mancommemorated is lost, while that of the artist lives forever. In myjudgment there is as much of Periander in the statue as there is ofAurelian.'

  'I know not what the fame of this great Periander may be ages hence. Ithas not till now reached my ear.'

  'It is not easy to reach the ear of some who dwell in the via coeli.'I could not help saying that.

  'My rooms, sir, I would inform you,' he rejoined sharply, 'are on thethird floor.'

  'Then I do wonder you should not have heard of Periander.'

  'Greater than Aurelian! and I must wonder too. A poet may be greaterthan a general or an emperor, I grant: he is one of the family of thegods; but how a worker in brass or marble can be, passes my poorunderstanding. It is vain to attempt to raise the mere artist, to thelevel of the historian or poet.'

  'I think that too. I only said he was greater than Aurelian--'

  'Than Aurelian,' replied Spurius, 'who has extended the bounds of theempire!'

  'But narrowed those of human happiness,' I answered. 'Which is of moreconsequence, empire or man? But now, man was the great object! I grantyou he is, and for that reason a man who, like an artist of genius, addsto the innocent sources of human enjoyment, is greater than the soldierand conqueror, whose business is the annoyance and destruction of life.Aurelian has slain hundreds of thousands. Periander never injured aworm. He dwells in a calm and peaceful world of his own, and his worksare designed to infuse the same spirit that fills himself into all whobehold them. You must
confess the superior power of art, and of theartist, in this very figure. Who thinks of conquest, blood, and death,as he looks upon these flowing outlines, this calm, majestic form--uponthat still face? The artist here is the conqueror of the conqueror, andmakes him subserve his own purposes; purposes, of a higher nature thanthe mere soldier ever dreamed of. No one can stand and contemplate thisform, without being made a lover of beauty rather than of blood anddeath; and beauty is peace.'

  'It must be impossible,' replied the bitter spirit, 'for one who lovesPalmyra better than his native Rome, to see much merit in Aurelian. Itis a common saying, Piso is a Palmyrene. The report is current too thatPiso is about to turn author, and celebrate that great nation inhistory.'

  'I wish I were worthy to do so,' I answered, 'I might then refutecertain statements in another quarter. Yet events have already refutedthem.'

  'If my book,' replied Spurius, 'be copied a thousand times, thestatements shall stand as they are. They are founded upon indisputableevidence and philosophical inferences.'

  'But, Spurius, they are every one contradicted by the late events.'

  'No matter for that, if they were ever true they must always be true.Reasoning is as strong as fact. I found Palmyra a vulgar, upstart,provincial city; the most distasteful of all spots on earth to a refinedmind; such I left it, and such I have shown it to the world.'

  'Yet,' I urged, 'if the Palmyrenes in the defence of their countryshowed themselves a brave, daring, and dangerous foe, as they certainlywere magnanimous; if so many facts and events prove this, and all Romeadmits it, it will seem like little else than malice for such pages tocirculate in your book. Besides, as to a thousand other things I canprove you to have seen amiss.'

  'Because I have but one eye, am I incapable of vision? Am I to bereproached with my misfortunes? One eye is the same as two; who sees twoimages except he squint? I can describe that wain, loaded down with winecasks, drawn by four horses with scarlet trappings, the driver with asweeping Juno's favor in his cap, as justly as you can. Who can seemore?'

  'I thought not, Spurius, of your misfortune, though I must think twoeyes better for seeing than one, but only of favorable opportunities forobservation. You were in Palmyra from the ides of January to the nonesof February, and lived in a tavern. I have been there more than half ayear, and dwelt among the citizens themselves. I knew them in public andin private, and saw them under all circumstances most favorable to ajust opinion, and I can affirm that a more discolored picture of apeople was never drawn than yours.'

  'All the world,' said the creature, 'knows that Spurius is no flatterer.I have not only published travels among the Palmyrenes, but I intend topublish a poem also--yes, a satire--and if it should be entitled"Woman's pride humbled," or "The downfall of false greatness" or "Thegourd withered in a day," or "Mushrooms not oaks," or "Ants notelephants," what would there be wonderful in it?--or, if certain Romansshould figure largely in it, eh?'

  'Nothing is less wonderful, Spurius, than the obstinacy andtenaciousness of error?'

  'Periander greater than Aurelian!' rejoined he, moving off; 'that is agood thing for the town.'

  As I turned, intending to visit the shop of Demetrius, to see whatprogress he was making in his silver Apollo, I was accosted by theconsul, Marcellinus.

  'A fair morning to you, Piso,' said he; 'and I see you need thesalutation and the wish, for a black cloud has just drifted from you,and you must still feel as if under the shadow. Half the length of thestreet, as I slowly approached, have I witnessed your earnest discoursewith one whom, I now see, to have been Spurius. But I trust yourChristian principles are not about to make an agrarian of you? Whencethis sudden intimacy with one like Spurius?'

  'One need not, I suppose, be set down as a lover of an east wind becausethey both sometimes take the same road, and can scarcely separate ifthey would? But, to speak the truth, a man is to me a man, and I neveryet have met one of the race from whom I could not gain eitheramusement, instruction, or warning. Spurius is better than a lecturefrom a philosopher, upon the odiousness of prejudice. To any oneinclined to harbor prejudices would I recommend an hour's interview withSpurius, sooner far than I would send him to Cleanthes the Stoic, orSilius the Platonist, or, I had almost said Probus the Christian.'

  'May I ask, Piso, if you have in sober earnest joined yourself to thecommunity of the Christians, or, are you only dallying for awhile withtheir doctrines, just as our young men are this year infected by theopinions of Cleanthes, the next followers of Silius, the third of thenuisance Crito, and the fourth, adrift from all, and the fifth, gooddefenders, if not believers, of the popular superstitions? I presume Imay believe that such is the case with you. I trust so, for the timesare not favorable for the Christians, and I would like to know that youwere not of them.'

  'I am however of them, with earnestness. I have been a Christian eversince I first thoroughly comprehended what it meant.'

  'But how can it be possible that, standing as you do at the head as itwere of the nobility and wealth of Rome, you can confound yourself withthis obscure and vulgar tribe? I know that some few of reputation arewith them beside yourself; but how few! Come, come, disabuse yourself ofthis error and return to the old, safe, and reputable side.'

  'If mere fancy, Marcellinus, had carried me over to the Christians,fancy or whim might bring me away from them. But if it be, on the otherhand, a question of truth, then it is clear, fashion and respectability,and even what is safest, or most expedient, are arguments not to be somuch as lisped.'

  'No more, no more! I see how it is. You are fairly gone from us.Nevertheless, though it may be thought needful to check the growth ofthis sect, I shall hope that your bark may sail safely along. But thisreported disappearance of Aurelia shows that danger is not far off.'

  'Do you then credit the rumor?'

  'I can do no otherwise. It is in every part of the town. I shall learnthe truth at the capitol. I go to meet the senate.'

  'One moment: Is my judgment of the senate a right one in this, that itwould not second Aurelian in an attack upon the privileges, property, orlives of the Christians?'

  'I think it is. Although, as I know, there are but few Christians in thebody--how many you know surely better than I--yet I am persuaded itwould be averse to acts of intolerance and persecution. Will you notaccompany me to the sitting?'

  'Not so early. I am first bound elsewhere.'

  'You know, Fausta, that I avoid the senate. Being no longer a senate, aRoman senate, but a mere gathering of the flatterers of the reigningEmperor, whoever he may be, neither pleasure nor honor can come of theircompany. There is one aspect however, at the present moment, in whichthis body is to be contemplated with interest. It is not, in matters ofreligion, a superstitious body. Here it stands, between Aurelian withthe populace on his side, and the Christians, or whatever religious bodyor sect there should be any design to oppress or exterminate. Itconsists of the best and noblest, and richest, of Rome; of those whohave either imbibed their opinions in philosophy and religion from theancient philosophers or their living representatives, or are indifferentand neglectful of the whole subject; which is the more common case. Ineither respect they are as a body tolerant of the various forms whichreligion or superstition may assume. The only points of interest orinquiry with them would be, whether any specified faith or ceremoniestended to the injury of the state? whether they affected to its damagethe existing order of civil affairs? These questions being answeredfavorably on the part of the greater number, there would be nodisposition to interfere. Of Christianity, the common judgment in thatbody, and among those in the capital who are of the same general rank,is for the most part favorable. It is commended for its modesty, for thequiet and unostentatious manner in which its religious affairs aremanaged, and for the humble diligence with which it concerns itself withthe common people and the poor, carefully instructing them in thedoctrines of their religion, and relieving liberally their necessities.I am persuaded, that any decision of the senate concerning theChris
tians, would be indulgent and paternal, and that it would, inopinion and feeling, be opposed to any violence whatever on the part ofAurelian. But then, alas! it is little that they can do with even thebest purposes. The Emperor is absolute--the only power, in truth, in thestate. The senate exists but in name and form. It has even lessindependent power than that of Palmyra had under Zenobia. Yours, indeed,was dependent through affection and trust, reposing in a higher wisdomthan its own. This, through fear and the spirit of flattery. So manymembers too were added, after the murderous thinning of its seats in theaffair of the mint, that, now, scarce a voice would be raised in openopposition to any course the Emperor might adopt. The new members beingmoreover of newer families, nearer the people, are less inclined thanthe others to resist any of his measures. Still, it is most evidentthat there is an under current of ill-will, opposition, jealousy,distrust, running through the body, which, if the opportunity shouldpresent itself, and there were courage enough for the work, may showitself and make itself felt and respected. The senate, in a word, thoughslavish and subservient, is not friendly.

  But I am detaining you from the company of Demetrius, of which you werealways fond. I soon reached his rich establishment, and being assuredthat he of Palmyra was within, I entered. First passing through manyapartments, filled with those who were engaged in some one of thebranches of this beautiful art, I came to that which was sacred to thelabors of the two brothers, who are employed in the invention of thedesigns of their several works, in drawing the plans, in preparing themodels, and then in overseeing the younger artists at their tasks,themselves performing all the higher and more difficult parts of thelabor. Demetrius was working alone at his statue; the room in which hewas, being filled either with antiquities in brass, ivory, silver, orgold, or with finished specimens of his own and his brother's skill, alldisposed with the utmost taste, and with all the advantages to bederived from the architecture of the room, from a soft and mellowedlight resembling moonlight which came through alabaster windows, fromthe rich cloths, silks, and other stuffs, variously disposed around, andfrom the highly ornamented cabinets in which articles of greatestperfection and value were kept and exhibited. Here stood the enthusiast,applying himself so intently to his task, that he neither heard thedoor of the apartment as it opened, nor the voice of the slave whoannounced my name. But, in a moment, as he suddenly retreated to a darkrecess to observe from that point the effect of his touches as heproceeded, he saw me, and cried out,

  'Most glad to greet you here, Piso; your judgment is, at this verypoint, what I shall be thankful for. Here, if it please you, move to thevery spot in which I now am in, and tell me especially this, whether thefinger of the right hand should not be turned a line farther toward theleft of the figure. The metal is obstinate, but still it can be bent ifnecessary. Now judge, and speak your judgment frankly, for my sake.'

  I sank back into the recess as desired, and considered attentively thewhole form, rough now and from the moulds, and receiving the firstfinishing touches from the rasp and the chisel. I studied it long and atmy leisure, Demetrius employing himself busily about some other matter.It is a beautiful and noble figure, worthy any artist's reputation ofany age, and of a place in the magnificent temple for which it isdesigned. So I assured Demetrius, giving him at length my opinion uponevery part. I ended with telling him I did not believe that any effectwould be gained by altering the present direction of the finger. It hadcome perfect from the moulds.

  'Is that your honest judgment, Piso? Christians, they say, ever speakthe exact truth. Fifty times have I gone where you now are to determinethe point. My brother says it is right. But I cannot tell. I haveattempted the work in too much haste; but Aurelian thinks, I believe,that a silver man may be made as easily as a flesh one may be unmade.Rome is not Palmyra, Piso. What a life there for an artist! Calm as asummer sea. Here! by all the gods and goddesses! if one hears ofanything but of blood and death! Heads all on where they should beto-day, to-morrow are off. To-day, captives cut up on the altars of someaccursed god, and to-morrow thrown to some savage beast, no better andno worse, for the entertainment of savages worse than either or all. Thevery boys in the streets talk of little else than of murderous sports ofgladiators or wild animals. I swear to you, a man can scarce collect orkeep his thoughts here. What's this about the Christians too? I marvel,Piso, to see you here alive! They say you are to be all cut up root andbranch. Take my advice, and fly with me back to Palmyra! Not anotherhalf year would I pass among these barbarians for all the patronage ofthe Emperor, his minions, and the senate at their heels. What say you?'

  'No, Demetrius, I cannot go; but I should not blame you for going. Romeis no place, I agree with you, for the life contemplative, or for thepure and innocent labors of art. It is the spot for intense action;but--'

  'Suffering you mean--'

  'That too, most assuredly, but of action too. It is the great heart ofthe world.'

  'Black as Erebus and night.'

  'Yes, but still a great one, which, if it can be once made to beat true,will send its blood, then a pure and life-giving current, to theremotest extremities of the world, which is its body. I hope for thetime to come when this will be true. There is more goodness in Rome,Demetrius, than you have heard, or known of. There is a people hereworth saving: I, with the other Christians, am set to this work. We mustnot abandon it.'

  ''Twill be small comfort though, should you all perish doing it.'

  'Our perishing might be but the means of new and greater multitudesspringing up to finish what we had begun, but left incomplete. There isgreat life in death. Blood, spilled upon the ground, is a kind of seedthat comes up men. Truth is not extinguished by putting out life. Itthen seems to shine the more brightly, as if the more to cheer andcomfort those who are suffering and dying for it.'

  'That may, or may not be,' said the artist, 'here and there; but, in myjudgment, if this man-slayer, this world-butcher once fastens hisclutches upon your tribe, he will leave none to write your story. Howmany were left in Palmyra?--Just, Piso, resume your point ofobservation, and judge whether this fold of the drapery were better asit is, or joined to the one under it, an alteration easily made.'

  I gave him my opinion, and he went on filing and talking.

  'And now, Piso, if I must tell you, I have conceived a liking for youChristians, and it is for this reason partly I would have you set aboutto escape the evil that is at least threatened. Here is my brother,whose equal the world does not hold, is become a Christian. Then, do youknow, here is a family, just in the rear of our shop, of one Macer, aChristian and a preacher, that has won upon us strangely. I see much ofthem. Some of his boys are in a room below, helping on by their laborthe support of their mother and those who are younger, for I trow, Macerhimself does little for them, whatever he may be doing for the world atlarge, or its great heart as you call it. But, what is more still,'cried he with emphasis, and a jump at the same moment, throwing down histools, 'do you know the Christians have some sense of what is good inour way? they aspire to the elegant, as well as others who are in betteresteem.'

  And as he finished, he threw open the doors of a small cabinet, anddisplayed a row of dishes, cups, and pitchers, of elegant form andworkmanship.

  'These,' he went on, 'are for the church of Felix, the bishop of theChristians. What they do with them I know not; but, as I was told by thebishop, they have a table or altar of marble, on which, at certaintimes, they are arranged for some religious rite or other. They are notof gold, as they seem, but of silver gilded. My brother furnished thedesigns, and put them into the hands of Flaccus, who wrought them.Neither I nor my brother could labor at them, as you may believe, but itshows a good ambition in the Christians to try for the first skill inRome or the world,--does it not? They are a promising people.'

  Saying which, he closed the doors and flew to his work again.

  At the same moment the door of the apartment opened, and the brotherDemetrius entered accompanied by Probus. When our greetings were over,Probu
s said, continuing as it seemed a conversation just broken off,

  'I did all I could to prevent it, but the voice of numbers was againstme, and of authority too, and, both together, they prevailed. You, Ibelieve, stood neuter, or indeed, I may suppose, knew nothing about thedifference?'

  'As you suppose,' replied the elder Demetrius, 'I knew nothing of it,but designed the work and have completed it. Here it is.' And going tothe same cabinet, again opened the doors and displayed the contents.Probus surveyed them with a melancholy air, saying, as he did so,

  'I could bear that the vessels, used for the purpose to which these aredestined, should be made of gold, or even of diamond itself, could minesbe found to furnish it, and skill to hollow it out. For, we know, thewine which these shall hold is that which, in the way of symbol, shadowsforth the blood of Christ which, by being shed on the cross, purchasedfor us this Christian truth and hope; and what should be set out withevery form of human honor, if not this?'

  'I think so,' replied Demetrius; 'to that which we honor and reverencein our hearts we must add the outward sign and testimony; especiallymoreover if we would affect, in the same way that ours are, the minds ofothers. Paganism understands this; and it is the pomp and magnificenceof her ceremony, the richness of the temple service, the grandeur of herarchitecture, and the imposing array of her priests in their robes,ministering at the altars or passing through the streets in gorgeousprocession, with banners, victims, garlands, and music, by which thepopulace are gained and kept. That must be founded on just principles,men say, on which the great, the learned, and the rich, above all theState itself, are so prompt to lavish so much splendor and wealth.'

  'But here is a great danger,' Probus replied. 'This, carried too far,may convert religion into show and ostentation. Form and ceremony, andall that is merely outward and material, may take the place of themoral. Religion may come to be a thing apart by itself, a great act, atremendous and awful rite, a magnificent and imposing ceremony, insteadof what it is in itself, simply a principle of right action toward manand toward God. This is at present just the character and position ofthe Roman religion. It is a thing that is to be seen at the temples, butnowhere else; it is a worship through sacrifices and prayers, and thatis all. The worshipper at the temple may be a tyrant at home, aprofligate in the city, a bad man everywhere, and yet none the less atrue worshipper. May God save the religion of Christ from suchcorruption! Yet is the beginning to be discerned. A decline has alreadybegun. Rank and power are already sought with an insane ambition, evenby ministers of Christ. They are seeking to transfer to Christianity thesame outward splendor, and the same gilded trappings, which, in therites and ceremonies of the popular faith, they see so to subdue theimagination, and lead men captive. Hence, Piso and Demetrius, the goldenchair of Felix, and his robes of audience, on which there is more gold,as I believe, than would gild all these cups and pitchers; hence, too,the finery of the table, the picture behind it, and, in some churches,the statues of Christ, of Paul, and Peter. These golden vessels for thesupper of Christ's love, I can forgive--I can welcome them--but in therest that has come, and is coming, I see signs of danger.'

  'But, most excellent Probus,' said the younger Demetrius, 'I like notto hear the arts assailed and represented dangerous. I have just beentelling Piso, that you are a people to be respected, for you werebeginning to honor the arts. Yet here now you are denouncing them. But,let me ask, what harm could it do any good man among you, to come andlook at this figure of Apollo, or a statue of your Paul or Peter, as youname them--supposing they were just men and benefactors of their race?'

  'There ought to be none,' Probus replied. 'It ought to be a source ofinnocent pleasure, if not of wholesome instruction, to gaze upon theimitated form of a good man--of a reformer, a benefactor, a prophet. Butman is so prone to religion,--it is an honorable instinct--that you canscarce place before him an object of reverence but he will straightwayworship it. What were your gods but once men, first revered, thenworshipped, and now their stone images deemed to be the very godsthemselves? Thus the original idea--the effect, we may believe, of anearly revelation--of one supreme Deity has been almost lost out of theworld. Let the figure of Christ be everywhere set before the people instone or metal, and, what with the natural tendency of the mind toidolatry, and the force of example in the common religion, I fear itwould not be long before he, whom we now revere as a prophet, would soonbe worshipped as a god; and the disciples whom you have named, in likemanner, would no longer be remembered with gratitude and affection asthose who devoted their lives to the service of their fellow-men, but beadored as inferior Deities, like your Castor and Pollux. I can conceivethat, in the lapse of ages, men shall be so redeemed from the grossconceptions that now inthrall them concerning both God and his worship,and so nourished up to a divine strength by the power of truth, theyshall be in no danger from such sources; but shall reap all the pleasureand advantage which can be derived from beautiful forms of art and therepresentation of great and excellent characters, without ever dreamingthat any other than the infinite and invisible Spirit of the universe isto be worshipped, or held divine. The religion of Christ will itself, ifaught can do it, bring about such a period.'

  'That then will be the time for artists to live, next after now,' saidDemetrius of Palmyra. 'In the meantime, Probus, if Hellenism shoulddecline and die, and your strict faith take its place, art will declineand perish. We live chiefly by the gods and their worship.'

  'If our religion,' replied Probus, 'should suffer injury from its ownprofessors, in the way it has, for a century or two more, it will giveoccupation enough to artists. Its corruptions will do the same for youthat the reign of absolute and perfect truth would.'

  'The gods then grant that the corruptions you speak of may come inseason, before I die. I am tired of Jupiters, Mercurys, and Apollos. Ihave a great fancy to make a statue of Christ. Brother! what think you,should I reach it? Most excellent Probus, should I make you such an onefor your private apartments I do not believe you would worship it, anddoubtless it would afford you pleasure. If you will leave a commissionfor such a work, it shall be set about so soon as this god of theEmperor's is safe on his pedestal. What think you?'

  'I should judge you took me, Demetrius, for the priest of a temple, or anoble of the land. The price of such a piece of sculpture would swallowup more than all I am worth. Besides, though I might not worshipmyself--though I say not but I might--I should give an ill example toothers, who, if they furnished themselves or their churches with similarforms, might not have power over themselves, but relapse into theidolatry from which they are but just escaped.'

  'All religions, as to their doctrine and precept, are alike to me,'replied Demetrius, 'only, as a general principle, I should ever preferthat which has the most gods. Rome shows excellent judgment in adoptingall the gods of the earth, so that if the worship of one god will notbring prosperity to the nation, there are others in plenty to try theirfortune with again. Never doubt, brother, that it is because youChristians have no gods, that the populace and others are so hostile toyou. Only set up a few images of Christ, and some of the other foundersof the religion, and your peace will be made. Otherwise I fear thisman-killer will, like some vulture, pounce upon you and tear youpiecemeal. What, brother, have you learned of Aurelia?'

  'Nothing with certainty. I could find only a confirmation from everymouth, but based on no certain knowledge, of the rumor that reached usearly in the morning. But what is so universally reported, generallyturns out true. I should, however, if I believed the fact of herimprisonment, doubt the cause. I said that I could conceive of no othercause, and feared that if the fact were so, the religion of Aurelian wasthe reason of her being so dealt with. It was like Aurelian, if he hadresolved upon oppressing the Christians to any extent whatever, that heshould begin with those who were nearest to him; first with his ownblood, and then with those of his household.'

  With this, and such like conversation, I passed a pleasant hour at therooms of Demetrius. r />
  * * * * *

  My wish was, as I turned from the apartments of Demetrius, to seek theEmperor or Livia, and learn from them the exact truth concerning thereports current through the city. But, giving way to that weakness whichdefers to the latest possible moment the confirmation of painful news,and the resolution of doubts which one would rather should remain asdoubts than be determined the wrong way, in melancholy mood, I turnedand retraced my steps. My melancholy was changed to serious apprehensionby all that I observed and heard on my way to the Coelian. As thecrowd in this great avenue, the Suburra, pressed by me, it was easy togather that the Christians had become the universal topic ofconversation and dispute. The name of the unhappy Aurelia frequentlycaught my ear. Threatening and ferocious language dropt from many, whoseemed glad that at length an Emperor had arisen who would provefaithful to the institutions of the country. I joined a little group ofgazers before the window of the rooms of Periander, at which somethingrare and beautiful is always to be seen, who, I found, were lookingintently at a picture, apparently just from the hands of the artist,which represented Rome under the form of a beautiful woman--Livia hadserved as the model--with a diadem upon her head, and the badges ofkingly authority in her hands, and at her side a priest of the Templeof Jupiter, "Greatest and Best", in whose face and form might plainly betraced the cruel features of Fronto. The world was around them. On thelowest earth, with dark shadows settling over them, lay scattered andbroken, in dishonor and dust, the emblems of all the religions of theworld, their temples fallen and in ruins. Among them, in the frontground of the picture, was the prostrate cross, shattered as if dashedfrom the church, whose dilapidated walls and wide-spread fragments boretestimony not so much to the wasting power of time as to the rude handof popular violence; while, rearing themselves up into a higheratmosphere, the temples of the gods of Rome stood beautiful and perfect,bathed in the glowing light of a morning sun. The allegory was plain andobvious enough. There was little attractive, save the wonderful art withwhich it was done. This riveted the eye; and that being gained, thebitter and triumphant bigotry of the ideas set forth had time to makeits way into the heart of the beholder, and help to change its warmblood to gall. Who but must be won by the form and countenance of thebeautiful Livia? and, confounding Rome with her, be inspired with a newdevotion to his country, and its religion, and its lovely queen? Thework was inflaming and insidious, as it was beautiful. This was seen inwhat it drew from those among whom I stood.

  'By Jupiter!' said one, 'that is well done. They are all down, who candeny it! Those are ruins not to be built up again. Who, I wonder, is theartist? He must be a Roman to the last drop of his blood, and the lasthair of his beard.'

  'His name is Sporus,' replied his companion, 'as I hear, a kinsman ofFronto, the priest of Apollo.'

  'Ah, that's the reason the priest figures here,' cried the first, 'andthe Empress too; for they say nobody is more at the Gardens than Fronto.Well, he's just the man for his place. If any man can bring up thetemples again, it's he. Religion is no sham at the Temple of the Sun.The priests are all what they pretend to be. Let others do so, and weshall have as much reason to thank the Emperor for what he has done forthe gods--and so for us all--as for what he has done for the army, theempire, and the city.'

  'You say well,' rejoined the other. 'He is for once a man, who, if hewill, may make Rome what she was before the empire, a people thathonored the gods. And this picture seems as if it spoke out his veryplans, and I should not wonder if it were so.'

  'Never doubt it. See, here lies a Temple of Isis flat enough; next to itone of the accursed tribe of Jews. And what ruder pile is that?'

  'That must be a Temple of the British worship, as I think. But the bestof all, is this Christian church: see how the wretches fly, while thework goes on! In my notion, this paints what we may soon see.'

  'I believe it! The gods grant it so! Old men, in my judgment, will liveto see it all acted out. Do you hear what is said? That Aurelian has putto death his own niece, the princess Aurelia?'

  'That's likely enough,' said another, 'no one can doubt it. 'Tis easynews to believe in Rome. But the question is what for?'

  'For what else but for her impiety, and her aims to convert Mucapor toher own ways.'

  'Well, there is no telling, and it's no great matter; time will show.Meanwhile, Aurelian forever! He's the man for me!'

  'Truly is he,' said one at his side, who had not spoken before, 'for thylife is spent at the amphitheatres, and he is a good caterer for thee,sending in ample supplies of lions and men.'

  'Whew! who is here? Take care! Your tongue, old man, has short space towag in.'

  'I am no Christian, knave, but I trust I am a man: and that is more thanany can say of you, that know you. Out upon you for a savage!'

  The little crowd burst into loud laughter at this, and with variousabusive epithets moved away. The old man addressed himself to me, whoalone remained as they withdrew,--

  'Aurelian, I believe, would do well enough were he let alone. He isinclined to cruelty, I know: but nobody can deny that, cruel or not, hehas wrought most beneficial changes both in the army and in the city. Hehas been in some sort, up to within the last half year, a censor,greater than Valerian; a reformer, greater and better than even he. Hadhe not been crazed by his successes in the East, and were he not nowled, and driven, and maddened, by the whole priesthood of Rome, with thehell-born Fronto at their head, we might look for a new and a betterRome. But, as it is, I fear these young savages, who are just gone, willsee all fulfilled they are praying for. A fair day to you.'

  And he too turned away. Others were come into the same spot, and for along time did I listen to similar language. Many came, looked, saidnothing, and took their way, with paler face, and head depressed, silentunder the imprecations heaped upon the atheists, but manifestly eitherof their side in sympathy, or else of the very atheists themselves.

  I now sought my home, tired of the streets, and of all I had seen andheard. Many of my acquaintance, and friends passed me on the way, inwhose altered manner I could behold the same signs which, in ruder form,I had just seen at the window of Periander. Not, Fausta, that all myfriends of the Roman faith are summer ones, but that, perhaps, most are.Many among them, though attached firmly as my mother to the existinginstitutions, are yet, like her, possessed of the common sentiments ofhumanity, and would venture much or all to divert the merest shadow ofharm from my head. Among these, I still pass some of my pleasantest andmost instructive hours--for with them the various questions involved inthe whole subject of religion, are discussed with the most perfectfreedom and mutual confidence. Varus, the prefect, whom I met amongothers, greeted me with unchanged courtesy. His sweetest smile was onhis countenance as he swept by me, wishing me a happy day. How much moretolerable is the rude aversion, or loud reproaches of those I have toldyou of, than this honied suavity, that means nothing, and would be stillthe same though I were on the way to the block.

  As I entered my library, Solon accosted me, to say, that there had beenone lately there most urgent to see me. From his account, I couldsuppose it to be none other than the Jew Isaac, who, Milo has informedme, is now returned to Rome, which he resorts to as his most permanenthome. Solon said that, though assured I was not at home, he would not bekept back, but pressed on into the house, saying that 'these Romannobles often sat quietly in their grand halls, while they were denied totheir poor clients. Piso was an old acquaintance of his when in Palmyra,and he had somewhat of moment to communicate to him, and must see him.'

  'No sooner,' said Solon, 'had he got into the library, the like ofwhich, I may safely affirm, he had never seen before, for his raimentbetokened a poor and ragged life, than he stood, and gazed as much athis ease as if it had been his own, and then, by Hercules! unbuttoninghis pack, for he was burdened with one both before and behind, he threwhis old limbs upon a couch, and began to survey the room! I could notbut ask him, If he were the elder Piso, old Cneius Piso, come back
fromPersia, in Persian beard and gown?--'Old man,' said he, 'your brain isturned with many books, and the narrow life you lead here, shut out fromthe living world of man. One man is worth all the books ever writ, savethose of Moses. Go out into the streets and read him, and your senseswill come again. Cneius Piso! Take you me for a spirit? I am Isaac theJew, citizen of the world, and dealer in more rarities and valuablesthan you ever saw or dreamed of. Shall I open my parcels for thee?' No,said I, I would not take thy poor gewgaws for a gift. One worm-eatenbook is worth them all.--'God restore thy reason!' said he, 'and givethee wisdom before thou diest; and that, by thy wrinkles and hairlesspate must be soon.' What more of false he would have added I know not,for at that moment he sprang from where he sat like one suddenly mad,exclaiming, 'Holy Abraham! what do my eyes behold, or do they lie?Surely that is Moses! Never was he on Sinai, if his image be not here!Happy Piso! and happy Isaac to be the instrument of such grace! Whocould have thought it? And yet many a time, in my dreams, have I beheldhim, with a beard like mine, his hat on his head, his staff in his hand,as if standing at the table of the Passover, the princess with him,and--dreams will do such things--a brood of little chickens at theirside. And now--save the last--it is all come to pass. And here, too, whomay this be? who, but Aaron, the younger and milder! He was the speaker,and lo! his hand is stretched out! And this young Joseph is at his kneethe better to interpret his character to the beholder. Moses and Aaronin the chief room of a Roman senator, and he, a Piso! Now, Isaac, thoumayest tie on thy pack, and take thy leave with a merry heart, for God,if never before, now accepteth thy works.' And much more, noble sir, inthe same raving way, which was more dark to my understanding than thedarkest pages of Aristotle.'

  I gathered from Solon, that he would return in the evening in the hopeto see me, for he had that to impart which concerned nearly my welfare.

  I was watching with Julia, from the portico which fronts the Esquilineand overlooks the city, the last rays of the declining sun, as theygilded the roofs and domes of the vast sea of building before us,lingering last upon, and turning to gold the brazen statues of Antonineand of Trajan, when Milo approached us, saying that Isaac had returned.He was in a moment more with us.

  'Most noble Piso,' said he, 'I joy to see thee again; and this morning,I doubt not, I should have seen thee, but for the obstinacy of anancient man, whose wits seem to have been left behind as he has goneonward. I seek thee, Piso, for matters of moment. Great princess,' hesuddenly cried, turning to Julia with as profound a reverence as hisdouble burden would allow, 'glad am I to greet thee in Rome; not gladthat thou wert forced to flee here, but glad that if, out of Palmyra,thou art here in the heart of all that can best minister to thy wants.Not a wish can arise in the heart but Rome can answer it. Nay, thoucanst have few for that which is rare and costly, but even I can answerthem. Hast thou ever seen, princess, those diamonds brought from thecaves of mountains a thousand miles in the heart of India, in whichthere lurks a tint, if I may so name it, like this last blush of thewestern sky? They are rarer than humanity in a Roman, or apostacy in aJew, or truth in a Christian. I shall show thee one.' And he fell tounlacing his pack, and drawing forth its treasures.

  Julia assured him, she should see with pleasure whatever he could showher of rich or rare.

  'There are, lady, jewelers, as they name themselves in Rome, who dwellin magnificent houses, and whose shops are half the length of a street,who cannot show you what Isaac can out of an old goatskin pack. And howshould they? Have they, as I have, traveled the earth's surface andtrafficked between crown and crown? What king is there, whosenecessities I have not relieved by purchasing his rarest gems; or whosevanity I have not pleased by selling him the spoils of another? OldSapor, proud as he was, was more than once in the grasp of Isaac. There!it is in this case--down, you see, in the most secret part of mypack--but who would look for wealth under this sordid covering? as who,lady, for a soul within this shriveled and shattered body? yet is thereone there. In such outside, both of body and bag, is my safety. Whocares to stop the poor man, or hold parley with him? None so free of theworld and its high ways as he; safe alike in the streets of Rome, and onthe deserts of Arabia. His rags are a shield stouter than one ofseven-fold bull's hide. Never but in such guise could I bear such jewelsover the earth's surface. Here, lady, is the gem; never has it yetpressed the finger of queen or subject. The stone I brought from theEast, and Demetrius, here in Rome, hath added the gold. Give me so muchpleasure--'

  And he placed it upon Julia's finger. It flashed a light such as wenever before saw in stone. It was evidently a most rare and costly gem.It was of great size and of a hue such as I had never before seen.

  'This is a queen's ring, Isaac,' said Julia--'and for none else.'

  'It well becomes the daughter of a queen'--replied the Jew, 'and thewife of Piso--specially seeing that--Ah, Piso! Piso! how was I overjoyedto-day to see in thy room the evidence that my counsels had not beenthrown away. The Christian did not gain thee with all his cunning--'

  'Nay, Isaac'--I here interrupted him--'you must not let your benevolentwishes lead you into error. I am not yet a Jew. Those images that caughtyour eye were not wholly such as you took them for.'

  'Well, well,' said the philosophic Jew, 'rumor then has for once spokenthe truth. She has long, as I learn, reported thee Christian: but Ibelieved it not. And to-day, when I looked upon those statues, I pleasedmyself with the thought that thou, and the princess, like her augustmother, had joined themselves to Israel. But if it be not so, then haveI an errand for thee, which, but now, I hoped I might not be bound todeliver. Piso, there is danger brewing for thee, and for all who holdwith thee!'

  'So I hear, Isaac, on all sides, and partly believe it. But the rumor isfar beyond the truth, I do not doubt.'

  'I think not so,' said Isaac. 'I believe the truth is beyond the rumor.Aurelian intends more and worse than he has spoken; and already has hedipt his hand in blood!'

  'What say you? how is it you mean?' said Julia.

  'Whose name but Aurelia's has been in the city's ears these many days? Ican tell you, what is known as yet not beyond the Emperor's palace andthe priest's, Aurelia is dead!'

  'Sport not with us, Isaac!'

  'I tell you, Piso, the simple truth. Aurelia has paid with her life forher faith. I know it from more than one whose knowledge in the matter isgood as sight. It was in the dungeons of the Fabrician bridge, that shewas dealt with by Fronto the priest of Apollo.'

  'Aurelian then,' said Julia, 'has thrust his sickle into another fieldof slaughter, and will not draw it out till he swims in Christianblood, as once before in Syrian. God help these poor souls.' 'What,Isaac, was the manner of her death, if you have heard so much?'

  'I have heard only,' replied Isaac, 'that, after long endeavor on thepart of Aurelian and the priest to draw her from her faith while yet atthe palace, she was conveyed to the prisons I have named, and theregiven over to Fronto and the executioners, with this only restriction,that if neither threats, nor persuasions, nor the horrid array ofengines, could bend her, then should she be beheaded without eitherscourging or torture. And so it was done. She wept, 'tis said, as itwere without ceasing, from the time she left the gardens; but to thepriest would answer never a word to all his threats, entreaties, orpromises; except once, when that wicked minister said to her, 'thatexcept she in reality and truth would curse Christ and sacrifice, hewould report that she had done so, and so liberate her and return her tothe palace:'--at which, 'tis said, that on the instant her tears ceased,her eyes flashed lightning, and with a voice, which took the terrifictones of Aurelian himself, she said, 'I dare thee to it, base priest!Aurelian is an honorable man--though cruel as the grave--and my simpleword, which never yet he doubted, would weigh more than oaths from thee,though piled to heaven! Do thy worst then, quick!' Whereupon the priest,white with wrath, first sprang toward her as if he had been a beast setto devour her, drawing at the same moment a knife from his robes; but,others being there, he stopped, and cried to the e
xecutioner to do hiswork--raving that he had it not in his power first to torment her.Aurelia was then instantly beheaded.'

  We were silent as he ended, Julia dissolved in tears Isaac went on.

  'This is great testimony, Piso, which is borne to thy faith. A poor,weak girl, alone, with not one to look on and encourage, in such aplace, and in the clutches of such a hard-hearted wretch, to die withoutonce yielding to her fears or the weakness of her tender nature--it is athing hardly to be believed, and full of pity. Piso, thou wilt despiseme when I say that my tribe rejoices at this, and laughs; that the Jewis seen carrying the news from house to house, and secretly feeding onit as a sweet morsel! And why should he not? Answer me that, Roman!Answer me that, Christian! In thee, Piso, and in every Roman like thee,there is compacted into one the enmity that has both desolated mycountry, and--far as mortal arm may do so--dragged down to the earth,her altars and her worship. Judea was once happy in her ancient faith;and happier than all in that great hope inspired by our prophets inendless line, of the advent, in the opening ages, of one who shouldredeem our land from the oppressor, and give to her the empire of theworld. Messiah, for whom we waited, and while we waited were content tobear the insults and aggressions of the whole earth--knowing the day ofvengeance was not far off--was to be to Judea more than Aurelian toRome. He was to be our prophet, our priest, and our king, all in one;not man only, but the favored and beloved of God, his Son; and hisempire was not to be like this of Rome, hemmed in by this sea and that,hedged about by barbarians on one side and another, bounded by riversand hills, but was to stretch over the habitable earth, and Rome itselfto be swallowed up in the great possession as a little island in thesea. And then this great kingdom was never to end. It could not bediminished by an enemy taking from it this province and another, as withRome, nor could there be out of it any power whatever that could assailit; for, by the interference of God, through the right arm of our greatPrince, fear, and the very spirit of submission, were to fall on everyheart. All was to be Judea's, and Judea's forever; the kingdom was to beover the whole earth; and the reign forever and ever. And in those agespeace was to be on the earth, and universal love. God was to beworshipped by all according to our law, and idolatry and error to ceaseand come to an end. In this hope, I say, we were happy, in spite of allour vexations. In every heart in our land, whatever sorrows orsufferings might betide, there was a little corner where the spiritcould retire and comfort itself with this vision of futurity. Among allthe cities of our land, and far away among the rocks and vallies byJordan and the salt sea, and the mountains of Lebanon, there were noothers to be found than men, women, and children, happy in this belief,and by it bound into one band of lovers and friends. And what think youhappened? I need not tell you. There came, as thou knowest, this falseprophet of Gallilee, and beguiled the people with his smooth words, andperverted the sense of the prophets, and sowed difference and discordamong the people; and the cherished vision, upon which the nation hadlived and grown, fled like a dream. The Gallilean impostor plantedhimself upon the soil, and his roots of poison struck down, and hisbroad limbs shot, abroad, and half the nation was lost. Its unity wasgone, its peace lost, its heart broken, its hope, though living still,yet obscured and perplexed. Canst thou wonder then Piso, or thou, thouweeping princess, that the Jew stands by and laughs when the Christian'sturn comes, and the oppressor is oppressed, the destroyer destroyed? Andwhen, Piso, the Christian had done his worst, despoiling us of ourfaith, our hope, our prince, and our God; not satisfied, he brought theRoman upon us, and despoiled us of our country itself. Now, and for twocenturies, all is gone. Judea, the beautiful land, sits solitary andsad. Her sons and daughters wanderers over the earth, and trodden intothe dust. When shall the light arise! and he, whom we yet look for, comeand turn back the flood that has swept over us, and reverse the fortunesbefallen to one and the other? The chariot of God tarries; but it doesnot halt. The wheels are turning, and when it is not thought of, it willcome rolling onward with the voice of many thunders, and the greatrestoration shall be made, and a just judgment be meted out to all. Whatwonder, I say then, Piso, if my people look on and laugh, when thisdouble enemy is in straits? when the Christian and Roman in one, iscaught in the snare and can not escape? That laugh will ring through thestreets of Rome, and will out-sound the roaring of the lions and theshouts of the theatre. Nature is strong in man, Piso, and I do notbelieve thou wilt think the worse of our people, if bearing what theyhave, this nature should break forth. Hate them not altogether, Roman,when thou shalt see them busy at the engines or the stake, or thetheatres. Remember the cause! Remember the cause! But we are not allsuch. I wish, Piso, thou couldst abandon this faith. There will else beno safety to thee, I fear, ere not many days. What has overtaken thelady Aurelia, of the very family of the Emperor, will surely overtakeothers. Piso, I would fain serve thee, if I may. Though I hate theRoman, and the Christian, and thee, as a Jew, yet so am I, that I cannothate them as a man, or not unto death; and thee do I love. Now it is mycounsel, that thou do in season escape. Now thou canst do it; wait but afew days, and, perhaps, thou canst no longer. What I say is, fly! and,it were best, to the farthest east; first, to Palmyra, and then, if needbe, to Persia. This, Piso, is what I am come for.'

  'Isaac, this all agrees with the same goodness--'

  'I am a poor, miserable wretch, whom God may forgive, because hiscompassions never fail, but who has no claim on his mercy, and will becontent to sit hereafter where he shall but just catch, now and then, aglimpse of the righteous.'

  'I must speak my thoughts, not yours, Isaac. This all agrees with whatwe have known of you; and, with all our hearts, you have our thanks. Butwe are bound to this place by ties stronger than any that bind us tolife, and must not depart.'

  'Say not so! Lady, speak! Why should ye remain to add to the number thatmust fall? Rank will not stand in the way of Aurelian.'

  'That we know well, Isaac,' said Julia. 'We should not look for anyshield such as that to protect us, nor for any other. Life is not thechief thing, Isaac. What is life, without liberty? Would you live, aslave? and is not he the meanest slave, who bends his will to another?who renounces the thoughts he dearly cherishes for another's humor? Whowill beggar the soul, to save, or serve, the body?'

  'Alas, princess, I fear there is more courage in thee, woman as thouart, than in this old frame! I love my faith, too, princess, and I laborfor it in my way; but, may the God of Abraham spare me the last trial!And wouldst thou give up thy body to the tormentors and the executioner,to keep the singleness of thy mind, so that merely a few littlethoughts, which no man can see, may run in and out of it, as they list?'

  'Even so, Isaac.'

  'It is wonderful,' exclaimed the Jew, 'what a strength there is in man!how, for an opinion, which can be neither bought, nor sold, nor weighed,nor handled, nor seen--a thing, that, by the side of lands, and gold,and houses, seems less than the dust of the balance--men and women, yea,and little children, will suffer and die; when a word, too, which is buta little breath blown out of the mouth, would save them!'

  'But, it is no longer wonderful,' said Julia, 'when we look at our wholeselves, and not only at one part. We are all double, one part, of earth,another, of heaven; one part, gross body, the other, etherial spirit;one part, life of the body, the other, life of the soul. Which of theseparts is the better, it is not hard to determine. Should I gain much bydefiling the heavenly, for the sake of the earthly? by injuring themind, for the preservation of the body; by keeping longer the life Ilive now, but darkening over the prospect of the life that ishereafter? If I possess a single truth, which I firmly believe to be atruth, I cannot say that it is a lie, for the sake of some presentbenefit or deliverance, without fixing a stain thereby, not on the body,which by and by perishes, but on the soul, which is immortal; and whichwould then forever bear about with it the unsightly spot.'

  'It is so; it is as you say, lady; and rarely has the Jew been known todeny his name and his faith. Since you have spoken, I find thoug
htscalled up which have long slept. Despise me not, for my proposal, yet Iwould there were a way of escape! Flight now, would not be denial, orapostacy.'

  'It would not,' said Julia. 'And we may not judge with harshness thosewhose human courage fails them under the apprehension of the sufferingswhich often await the persecuted. But, with my convictions, and Piso's,the guilt and baseness of flight or concealment would be little lessthan that of denial or apostacy. We have chosen this religion for itsdivine truth, and its immortal prospects; we believe it a good which Godhas sent to us; we believe it the most valuable possession we hold; webelieve it essential to the world's improvement and happiness. Believingit thus, we must stand by it; and, if it come to this--as I trust inHeaven it will not, notwithstanding the darkness of the portents--thatour regard for it will be questioned except we die for it--then we willdie.'

  Isaac rose, and began to fasten on his pack. As he did so, he said,

  'Excellent lady, I grieve that thou shouldst be brought from thy farhome, and those warm and sunny skies, to meet the rude shocks of thiswintry land. It was enough to see what thou didst there, and to knowwhat befell thy ancient friends. The ways of Providence, to our eyes,are darker than the Egyptian night, brought upon that land by the handof Moses. It is darkness solid and impenetrable. The mole sees farthertoward the earth's centre, than does my dim eye into the judgments ofGod. And what wonder? when he is God looking down upon earth and man'sways as I upon an ant-hill, and seeing all at once. To such an eye,lady, that may be best which to mine is worst.'

  'I believe it is often so, Isaac,' replied Julia. 'Just as in nauseousdrugs or rankest poisons there is hidden away medicinal virtue, so isthere balm for the soul, by which its worst diseases are healed and itshighest health promoted, in sufferings, which, as they first fall uponus, we lament as unmitigated evil. I know of no state of mind so properto beings like us, as that indicated by a saying of Christ, which Ishall repeat to you, though you honor not its source, and which seems tome to comprehend all religion and philosophy, "Not my will, but thine, OGod, be done!" We never take our true position, and so never can becontented and happy, till we renounce our own will, and believe all thewhole providence of God to be wisest and best, simply because it is his.Should I dare, were the power this moment given me, to strike out formyself my path in life, arrange its events, fix my lot? Not the mosttrivial incident can be named that I should not tremble to orderotherwise than as it happens.'

  'There is wisdom, princess, in the maxim of thy prophet, and its spiritis found in many of the sayings of truer prophets who went before him,whose words are familiar to thy royal mother, though, I fear, they arenot to thee; a misfortune, wholly to be traced to that misadventure ofthine, Piso, in being thrown into the company of the Christian Probus onboard the Mediterranean trader. Had I been alone with thee on thatvoyage, who can say that thou wouldst not now have been what, but thismorning, I took thee for, as I looked upon those marble figures?'

  'But, Isaac, forget not your own principles,' said Julia. 'May you, whocannot, as you have said, see the end from the beginning, and whosesight is but a mole's, dare to complain of the providence which threwPiso into the society of the Christian Probus? I am sure you would not,on reflection, re-arrange those events, were it now permitted you. Andseeing, Isaac, how much better things are ordered by the Deity than wecould do it, and how we should choose voluntarily to surrender all intohis hands, whose wisdom is so much more perfect, and whose power is somuch more vast, than ours, ought we not, as a necessary consequence ofthis, to acquiesce in events without complaint, when they have onceoccurred? If Providence had made both Piso and Probus Christians, thenought you not to complain, but acquiesce; and, more than that, reverethe Providence that has done it, and love those none the less whom ithas directed into the path in which it would have them go. True piety,is the mother of charity.'

  'Princess,' rejoined Isaac, 'you are right. The true love of God cannotexist, without making us true lovers of man; and Piso I do love, andthink none the worse of him for his Christian name. But, touchingProbus, and others, I experience some difficulty. Yet may I perhaps,escape thus--I may love them as men, yet hate them as Christians; justas I would bind up the wounds of a thief or an assassin, whom I found bythe wayside, and yet the next hour bear witness against him, and withoutcompunction behold him swinging upon the gibbet! It is hard, lady, forthe Jew to love a Christian and a Roman.--But how have I been led awayfrom what I wished chiefly to say before departing! When I spake justnow of the darkness of Providence, I was thinking, Piso, of my journeyacross the desert for thy Persian brother, Calpurnius. That, as I thensaid to thee, was dark to me. I could not comprehend how it should cometo pass that I, a Jew, of no less zeal than Simon Ben Gorah himself,should tempt such dangers in the service of thee, a Roman, and half aChristian.'

  'And is the enigma solved at length?' asked Julia.

  'I could have interpreted it by saying that the merit of doing abenevolent action was its solution.'

  'That was little or nothing, princess. But I confess to thee, that thetwo gold talents of Jerusalem were much. Still, neither they, nor whatprofit I made in the streets of Ecbatana, and even out of that newSolomon the hospitable Levi, clearly explained the riddle. I have beenin darkness till of late. And how, think you, the darkness has beendispersed?'

  'We cannot tell.'

  'I believe not. Piso! princess! I am the happiest man in Rome.'

  'Not happier, Isaac, than Civilis the perfumer.'

  'Name him not, Piso. Of all the men--he is no man--of all the livingthings in Rome I hold him meanest. Him, Piso, I hate. Why, I will nottell thee, but thou mayest guess. Nay, not now. I would have thee firstknow why I am the happiest man in Rome. Remember you the woman and thechild, whom, in the midst of that burning desert, we found sitting, moredead than alive, at the roots of a cedar--the wife, as we afterwardsfound, of Hassan the camel-driver--and how that child, the livingresemblance of my dead Joseph, wound itself round my heart, and how Iimplored the mother to trust it to me as mine, and I would make itricher than the richest of Ecbatana?'

  'We remember it all well.'

  'Well, rejoice with me! Hassan is dead!'

  'Rejoice in her husband's death? Nay, that we cannot do. Milo willrejoice with thee.'

  'Rejoice with me, then, that Hassan, being dead by the providence ofGod, Hagar and Ishmael are now mine!'--and the Jew threw down his packagain in the excess of his joy, and strode wildly about the portico.

  'This is something indeed,' said Julia. 'Now, we can rejoice sincerelywith you. But how happened all this? When, and how, have you obtainedthe news?'

  'Hassan,' replied Isaac, 'as Providence willed it, died in Palmyra. Hisdisconsolate widow, hearing of his death, in her poverty and afflictionbethought herself of me, and applied, for intelligence of me, to Levi;from whom a letter came, saying that Hagar had made now on her part theproposal that had once been made on mine--that Ishmael should be mine,provided, he was not to be separated from his mother and a sister olderthan he by four years. I, indeed, proposed not for the woman, but forthe child only--nor for the sister. But they will all be welcome. Theymust, by this, be in Palmyra on their way to Rome. Yes, they will be allwelcome! for now once more shall the pleasant bonds of a home hold me,and the sounds of children's voices--sweeter to my ear than will ever bethe harps of angels though Gabriel sweep the strings. Already, in thestreet Janus, where our tribe most resort, have I purchased me a house;not, Roman, such a one as I dwelt in in Palmyra, where thou and thyfoolish slave searched me out, but large and well-ordered, aboundingwith all that woman's heart could most desire. And now what think you ofall this? whither tends it? to what leads all this long and costlypreparation? what think you is to come of it? I have my own judgment.This I know, it cannot be all for this, that a little child of a fewyears should come and dwell with an old man little removed from the veryborders of the grave! Had it been only for this, so large and long atrain of strange and wild events would not have been laid. This c
hild,Piso, is more than he seems! take that and treasure it up. It is to thisthe finger of God has all along pointed. He is more than he seems! Whathe will be I say not, but I can dimly--nay clearly guess. And hismother! Piso, what will you think when I say that she is a Jewess! andhis father--what will you think when I tell you that he was born uponthe banks of the Gallilean lake?--that misfortunes and the love of awandering life drew him from Judea to the farther East, and to atemporary, yet but apparent apostacy, I am persuaded, from his properfaith? This to me is all wonderful. Never have I doubted, that by myhand, by me as a mediator, some great good was to accrue to Jerusalem.And now the clouds divide, and my eye sees what has been so longconcealed. It shall all come to pass, before thy young frame, princess,shall be touched by years.'

  'We wish you all happiness and joy, Isaac,' replied Julia; 'and soon asthis young family shall have reached your dwelling, we shall trust tosee them all, specially this young object of thy great expectations.'

  Isaac again fastened on his pack, and taking leave of us turned todepart, but ere he did so, he paused--fixed his dark eyes uponus--hesitated--and then said,

  'Lady, if trouble flow in upon you here in Rome, and thou wilt not fly,as I have counseled, to Palmyra; but thou shouldst by and by change thymind and desire safety, or Piso should wish thee safe--perhaps, that bythy life thou mightest work more mightily for thy faith than thoucouldst do by thy death--for oftentimes it is not by dying that we bestserve God, or a great cause, but by living--then, bethink thee of mydwelling in the street Janus, where, if thou shouldst once come, I wouldchallenge all the blood-hounds in Rome, and what is more and worse,Fronto and Varus leagued, to find thee. Peace be with you.'

  And so saying, he quickly parted from us.

  All Rome, Fausta, holds not a man of a larger heart than Isaac the Jew.For us, Christians as we are, there is I believe no evil to himself hewould not hazard, if, in no other way, he could shield us from thedangers that impend. In his conscience he feels bound to hate us, and,often, from the language he uses, it might be inferred that he does so.But in any serious expression of his feelings, his human affections everobtain the victory over the obligations of hatred, which his love ofcountry, as he thinks, imposes upon him, and it would be difficult forhim to manifest a warmer regard toward any of his own tribe, than hedoes toward Julia and myself. He is firmly persuaded, that providence isusing him as an instrument, by which to effect the redemption anddeliverance of his country; not that he himself is to prove the messiahof his nation--as they term their great expected prince--but thatthrough him, in some manner, by some service rendered or office filled,that great personage will manifest himself to Israel. No disappointmentdamps his zeal, or convinces him of the futility of expectations restingupon no other foundation than his own inferences, conjectures, orfanciful interpretation of the dark sayings of the prophets. When in theEast, it was through Palmyra, that his country was to receive her king;through her victories, that redemption was to be wrought out for Israel.Being compelled to let go that dear and cherished hope, he now fixes itupon this little "Joseph," and it will not be strange if this child ofpoverty and want should in the end inherit all his vast possessions, bywhich, he will please himself with thinking, he can force his way to thethrone of Judea. Portia derives great pleasure from his conversation,and frequently detains him long for that purpose; and of her Isaac isnever weary uttering the most extravagant praise. I sometimes wonderthat I never knew him before the Mediterranean voyage, seeing he was sowell known to Portia; but then again do not wonder, when I remember bywhat swarms of mendicants, strangers, and impostors of every sort,Portia was ever surrounded, from whom I turned instinctively away;especially did I ever avoid all intercourse with Christians and Jews. Iheld them, of all, lowest and basest.

  * * * * *

  We are just returned from Tibur, where we have enjoyed many pleasanthours with Zenobia. Livia was there also. The day was in its warmthabsolutely Syrian, and while losing ourselves in the mazes of theQueen's extensive gardens, we almost fancied ourselves in Palmyra.Nicomachus being of the company, as he ever is, and Vabalathus, weneeded but you, Calpurnius, and Gracchus, to complete the illusion.

  The Queen devotes herself to letters. She is rarely drawn from herfavorite studies, but by the arrival of friends from Rome. Happy for heris it that, carried back to other ages by the truths of history, ortransported to other worlds by the fictions of poetry, the present andthe recent can be in a manner forgotten; or, at least, that, in theseintervals of repose, the soul can gather strength for the thoughts andrecollections which will intrude, and which still sometimes overmasterher. Her correspondence with you is another chief solace. She will notdoubt that by and by a greater pleasure awaits her, and that instead ofyour letters she shall receive and enjoy yourself. Farewell.