Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  Chapter XLII

  VINICIUS had barely time to command a few slaves to follow him; then,springing on his horse, he rushed forth in the deep night along theempty streets toward Laurentum. Through the influence of the dreadfulnews he had fallen as it were into frenzy and mental distraction. Atmoments he did not know clearly what was happening in his mind; he hadmerely the feeling that misfortune was on the horse with him, sittingbehind his shoulders, and shouting in his ears, "Rome is burning!" thatit was lashing his horse and him, urging them toward the fire. Layinghis bare head on the beast's neck, he rushed on, in his single tunic,alone, at random, not looking ahead, and taking no note of obstaclesagainst which he might perchance dash himself.

  In silence and in that calm night, the rider and the horse, covered withgleams of the moon, seemed like dream visions. The Idumean stallion,dropping his ears and stretching his neck, shot on like an arrow pastthe motionless cypresses and the white villas hidden among them. Thesound of hoofs on the stone flags roused dogs here and there; thesefollowed the strange vision with their barking; afterward, excited byits suddenness, they fell to howling, and raised their jaws toward themoon. The slaves hastening after Vinicius soon dropped behind, as theirhorses were greatly inferior. When he had rushed like a storm throughsleeping Laurentum, he turned toward Ardea, in which, as in Aricia,Bovillae, and Ustrinum, he had kept relays of horses from the day ofhis coming to Antium, so as to pass in the shortest time possible theinterval between Rome and him. Remembering these relays, he forced allthe strength from his horse.

  Beyond Ardea it seemed to him that the sky on the northeast was coveredwith a rosy reflection. That might be the dawn, for the hour was late,and in July daybreak came early. But Vinicius could not keep down a cryof rage and despair, for it seemed to him that that was the glare of theconflagration. He remembered the consul's words, "The whole city is onesea of flame," and for a while he felt that madness was threatening himreally, for he had lost utterly all hope that he could save Lygia, oreven reach the city before it was turned into one heap of ashes. Histhoughts were quicker now than the rush of the stallion, they flew onahead like a flock of birds, black, monstrous, and rousing despair. Heknew not, it is true, in what part of the city the fire had begun;but he supposed that the Trans-Tiber division, as it was packed withtenements, timber-yards, storehouses, and wooden sheds serving as slavemarts, might have become the first food of the flames.

  In Rome fires happened frequently enough; during these fires, asfrequently, deeds of violence and robbery were committed, especially inthe parts occupied by a needy and half-barbarous population. Whatmight happen, therefore, in a place like the Trans-Tiber, which wasthe retreat of a rabble collected from all parts of the earth? Herethe thought of Ursus with his preterhuman power flashed into Vinicius'shead; but what could be done by a man, even were he a Titan, against thedestructive force of fire?

  The fear of servile rebellion was like a nightmare, which had stifledRome for whole years. It was said that hundreds of thousands of thosepeople were thinking of the times of Spartacus, and merely waiting fora favorable moment to seize arms against their oppressors and Rome. Nowthe moment had come! Perhaps war and slaughter were raging in the citytogether with fire. It was possible even that the pretorians had hurledthemselves on the city, and were slaughtering at command of Caesar.

  And that moment the hair rose from terror on his head. He recalled allthe conversations about burning cities, which for some time had beenrepeated at Caesar's court with wonderful persistence; he recalledCaesar's complaints that he was forced to describe a burning city withouthaving seen a real fire; his contemptuous answer to Tigellinus, whooffered to burn Antium or an artificial wooden city; finally, hiscomplaints against Rome, and the pestilential alleys of the Subura. Yes;Caesar has commanded the burning of the city! He alone could give such acommand, as Tigellinus alone could accomplish it. But if Rome is burningat command of Caesar, who can be sure that the population will not beslaughtered at his command also? The monster is capable even of such adeed. Conflagration, a servile revolt, and slaughter! What a horriblechaos, what a letting loose of destructive elements and popular frenzy!And in all this is Lygia.

  The groans of Vinicius were mingled with the snorting and groans ofhis horse; the beast, running on a road which rose continually towardAricia, was using the last of its breath. Who will snatch her fromthe burning city; who can save her? Here Vinicius, stretching himselfentirely on the horse, thrust his fingers into his own hair, ready tognaw the beast's neck from pain.

  At that moment a horseman, rushing also like a whirlwind, but in theopposite direction, toward Antium, shouted as he raced past, "Rome isperishing!" and on he went. To the ears of Vinicius came only one moreexpression: "Gods!" the rest was drowned by the thunder of hoofs. Butthat expression sobered him,--"Gods!"

  Vinicius raised his head suddenly, and, stretching his arms toward thesky filled with stars, began to pray.

  "Not to you do I call whose temples are burning, but to Thee! ThouThyself hast suffered. Thou alone art merciful! Thou alone hastunderstood people's pain; Thou didst come to this world to teach pity tomankind; then show it now. If Thou art what Peter and Paul declare, savefor me Lygia, take her in Thy arms, bear her out of the flames. Thouhast the power to do that! Give her to me, and I will give Thee myblood. But if Thou art unwilling to do this for me, do it for her. Sheloves Thee and trusts in Thee. Thou dost promise life and happinessafter death, but happiness after death will not pass away, and she doesnot wish to die yet. Let her live. Take her in Thy arms, bear her out ofRome. Thou canst do so, unless Thou art unwilling."

  And he stopped, for he felt that further prayer might turn to a threat;he feared to offend Divinity at the moment when he needed favor andmercy most. He was terrified at the very thought of that, and, so as notto admit to his head a shade even of threat, he began to lash his horseagain, especially since the white walls of Aricia, which lay midway toRome, gleamed up before him in the moonlight.

  After a time he rushed at full speed past the temple of Mercury,which stood in a grove before the city. Evidently people knew of thecatastrophe, for there was an uncommon movement in front of the temple.While passing, Vinicius saw crowds on the steps and between the columns.These people holding torches were hastening to put themselves underprotection of the deity. Moreover the road was not so empty or freeas beyond Ardea. Crowds were hurrying, it is true, to the groveby side-paths, but on the main road were groups which pushed asidehurriedly before the on-rushing horseman. From the town came the soundof voices. Vinicius rode into Aricia like a whirlwind, overturning andtrampling a number of persons on the way. He was surrounded by shouts of"Rome is burning!" "Rome is on fire!" "May the gods rescue Rome!"

  The horse stumbled, but, reined in by a powerful hand, rose on hishaunches before the inn, where Vinicius had another beast in relay.Slaves, as if waiting for the arrival of their master, stood before theinn, and at his command ran one before the other to lead out a freshhorse. Vinicius, seeing a detachment of ten mounted pretorians, goingevidently with news from the city to Antium, sprang toward them.

  "What part of the city is on fire?" inquired he.

  "Who art thou?" asked the decurion.

  "Vinicius, a tribune of the army, an Augustian. Answer on thy head!"

  "The fire broke out in the shops near the Circus Maximus. When we weredespatched, the centre of the city was on fire."

  "And the Trans-Tiber?"

  "The fire has not reached the Trans-Tiber yet, but it is seizing newparts every moment with a force which nothing can stop. People areperishing from heat and smoke; all rescue is impossible."

  At this moment they brought the fresh horse. The young tribune sprang tohis back and rushed on. He was riding now toward Albanum, leaving AlbaLonga and its splendid lake on the right. The road from Aricia lay atthe foot of the mountain, which hid the horizon completely, and Albanumlying on the other side of it. But Vinicius knew that on reaching thetop he should see, not only Bovillae and Ustrinum
, where fresh horseswere ready for him, but Rome as well: for beyond Albanum the low levelCampania stretched on both sides of the Appian Way, along which only thearches of the aqueducts ran toward the city, and nothing obstructed theview.

  "From the top I shall see the flames," said he; and he began to lash hishorse anew. But before he had reached the top of the mountain hefelt the wind on his face, and with it came the odor of smoke to hisnostrils. At the same time the summit of the height was becoming gilded.

  "The fire!" thought Vinicius.

  The night had paled long since, the dawn had passed into light, and onall the nearer summits golden and rosy gleams were shining, which mightcome either from burning Rome or the rising daylight. Vinicius touchedthe summit at last, and then a terrible sight struck his eyes.

  The whole lower region was covered with smoke, forming as it were onegigantic cloud lying close to the earth. In this cloud towns, aqueducts,villas, trees, disappeared; but beyond this gray ghastly plain the citywas burning on the hills.

  The conflagration had not the form of a pillar of fire, as happens whena single building is burning, even when of the greatest size. That was along belt, rather, shaped like the belt of dawn. Above this belt rose awave of smoke, in places entirely black, in places looking rose-colored,in places like blood, in places turning in on itself, in some placesinflated, in others squeezed and squirming, like a serpent which isunwinding and extending. That monstrous wave seemed at times to covereven the belt of fire, which became then as narrow as a ribbon; butlater this ribbon illuminated the smoke from beneath, changing its lowerrolls into waves of flame. The two extended from one side of the sky tothe other, hiding its lower part, as at times a stretch of forest hidesthe horizon. The Sabine hills were not visible in the least.

  To Vinicius it seemed at the first glance of the eye that not only thecity was burning, but the whole world, and that no living being couldsave itself from that ocean of flame and smoke.

  The wind blew with growing strength from the region of the fire,bringing the smell of burnt things and of smoke, which began to hideeven nearer objects. Clear daylight had come, and the sun lighted up thesummits surrounding the Alban Lake. But the bright golden rays ofthe morning appeared as it were reddish and sickly through the haze.Vinicius, while descending toward Albanum, entered smoke which wasdenser, less and less transparent. The town itself was buried in itthoroughly. The alarmed citizens had moved out to the street. It wasa terror to think of what might be in Rome, when it was difficult tobreathe in Albanum.

  Despair seized Vinicius anew, and terror began to raise the hair onhis head. But he tried to fortify himself as best he might. "It isimpossible," thought he, "that a city should begin to burn in all placesat once. The wind is blowing from the north and bears smoke in thisdirection only. On the other side there is none. But in every case itwill be enough for Ursus to go through the Janiculum gate with Lygia, tosave himself and her. It is equally impossible that a whole populationshould perish, and the world-ruling city be swept from the face of theearth with its inhabitants. Even in captured places, where fire andslaughter rage together, some people survive in all cases; why, then,should Lygia perish of a certainty? On the contrary, God watches overher, He who Himself, conquered death." Thus reasoning, he began to prayagain, and, yielding to fixed habit, he made great vows to Christ, withpromises of gifts and sacrifices. After he had hurried through Albanum,nearly all of whose inhabitants were on roofs and on trees to look atRome, he grew somewhat calm, and regained his cool blood. He remembered,too, that Lygia was protected not only by Ursus and Linus, but by theApostle Peter. At the mere remembrance of this, fresh solace enteredhis heart. For him Peter was an incomprehensible, an almost superhumanbeing. From the time when he heard him at Ostrianum, a wonderfulimpression clung to him, touching which he had written to Lygia at thebeginning of his stay in Antium,--that every word of the old man wastrue, or would show its truth hereafter. The nearer acquaintancewhich during his illness he had formed with the Apostle heightened theimpression, which was turned afterward into fixed faith. Since Peter hadblessed his love and promised him Lygia, Lygia could not perish in theflames. The city might burn, but no spark from the fire would fall onher garments. Under the influence of a sleepless night, mad riding, andimpressions, a wonderful exaltation possessed the young tribune; in thisexaltation all things seemed possible: Peter speaks to the flame,opens it with a word, and they pass uninjured through an alley of fire.Moreover, Peter saw future events; hence, beyond doubt, he foresaw thefire, and in that ease how could he fail to warn and lead forth theChristians from the city, and among others Lygia, whom he loved, as hemight his own child? And a hope, which was strengthening every moment,entered the heart of Vinicius. If they were fleeing from the city, hemight find them in Bovillae, or meet them on the road. The beloved facemight appear any moment from out the smoke, which was stretching morewidely over all the Campania.

  This seemed to him more likely, since he met increasing numbers ofpeople, who had deserted the city and were going to the Alban Hills;they had escaped the fire, and wished to go beyond the line of smoke.Before he had reached Ustrinum he had to slacken his pace because of thethrong. Besides pedestrians with bundles on their backs, he met horseswith packs, mules and vehicles laden with effects, and finally littersin which slaves were bearing the wealthier citizens. Ustrinum was sothronged with fugitives from Rome that it was difficult to push throughthe crowd. On the market square, under temple porticos, and on thestreets were swarms of fugitives. Here and there people were erectingtents under which whole families were to find shelter. Others settleddown under the naked sky, shouting, calling on the gods, or cursing thefates. In the general terror it was difficult to inquire about anything.People to whom Vinicius applied either did not answer, or with eyeshalf bewildered from terror answered that the city and the world wereperishing. New crowds of men, women, and children arrived from thedirection of Rome every moment; these increased the disorder and outcry.Some, gone astray in the throng, sought desperately those whom they hadlost; others fought for a camping-place. Half-wild shepherds from theCampania crowded to the town to hear news, or find profit in plundermade easy by the uproar. Here and there crowds of slaves of everynationality and gladiators fell to robbing houses and villas in thetown, and to fighting with the soldiers who appeared in defence of thecitizens.

  Junius, a senator, whom Vinicius saw at the inn surrounded by adetachment of Batavian slaves, was the first to give more detailed newsof the conflagration. The fire had begun at the Circus Maximus, in thepart which touches the Palatine and the Caelian Hill, but extended withincomprehensible rapidity and seized the whole centre of the city. Neversince the time of Brennus had such an awful catastrophe come uponRome. "The entire Circus has burnt, as well as the shops and housessurrounding it," said Junius; "the Aventine and Caelian Hills are onfire. The flames surrounding the Palatine have reached the Carinae."

  Here Junius, who possessed on the Carinae a magnificent "insula," filledwith works of art which he loved, seized a handful of foul dust, and,scattering it on his head, began to groan despairingly.

  But Vinicius shook him by the shoulder: "My house too is on the Carinae,"said he; "but when everything is perishing, let it perish also."

  Then recollecting that at his advice Lygia might have gone to the houseof Aulus, he inquired,--

  "But the Vicus Patricius?"

  "On fire!" replied Junius.

  "The Trans-Tiber?"

  Junius looked at him with amazement.

  "Never mind the Trans-Tiber," said he, pressing his aching temples withhis palms.

  "The Trans-Tiber is more important to me than all other parts of Rome,"cried Vinicius, with vehemence.

  "The way is through the Via Portuensis, near the Aventine; but the heatwill stifle thee. The Trans-Tiber? I know not. The fire had not reachedit; but whether it is not there at this moment the gods alone know."Here Junius hesitated a moment, then said in a low voice: "I know thatthou wilt not betray me, so I will tell
thee that this is no commonfire. People were not permitted to save the Circus. When houses began toburn in every direction, I myself heard thousands of voices exclaiming,'Death to those who save!' Certain people ran through the city andhurled burning torches into buildings. On the other hand people arerevolting, and crying that the city is burning at command. I can saynothing more. Woe to the city, woe to us all, and to me! The tongue ofman cannot tell what is happening there. People are perishing in flamesor slaying one another in the throng. This is the end of Rome!"

  And again he fell to repeating, "Woe! Woe to the city and to us!"Vinicius sprang to his horse, and hurried forward along the AppianWay. But now it was rather a struggling through the midst of a river ofpeople and vehicles, which was flowing from the city. The city, embracedby a monstrous conflagration, lay before Vinicius as a thing on the palmof his hand. From the sea of fire and smoke came a terrible heat, andthe uproar of people could not drown the roar and the hissing of flames.