Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  Chapter XLV

  MACRINUS, a weaver, to whose house Vinicius was carried, washed him,and gave him clothing and food. When the young tribune had recovered hisstrength altogether, he declared that he would search further forLinus that very night. Macrinus, who was a Christian, confirmedChilo's report, that Linus, with Clement the chief priest, had gone toOstrianum, where Peter was to baptize a whole company of confessors ofthe new faith. In that division of the city it was known to Christiansthat Linus had confided the care of his house two days before to acertain Gaius. For Vinicius this was a proof that neither Lygia norUrsus had remained in the house, and that they also must have gone toOstrianum.

  This thought gave him great comfort. Linus was an old man, for whom itwould be difficult to walk daily to the distant Nomentan Gate, and backto the Trans-Tiber; hence it was likely that he lodged those few dayswith some co-religionist beyond the walls, and with him also Lygia andUrsus. Thus they escaped the fire, which in general had not reached theother slope of the Esquiline. Vinicius saw in all this a dispensation ofChrist, whose care he felt above him, and his heart was filled morethan ever with love; he swore in his soul to pay with his whole life forthose clear marks of favor.

  But all the more did he hurry to Ostrianum. He would find Lygia, findLinus and Peter; he would take them to a distance, to some of his lands,even to Sicily. Let Rome burn; in a few days it would be a mere heap ofashes. Why remain in the face of disaster and a mad rabble? In his landstroops of obedient slaves would protect them, they would be surroundedby the calm of the country, and live in peace under Christ's wingsblessed by Peter. Oh, if he could find them!

  That was no easy thing. Vinicius remembered the difficulty with whichhe had passed from the Appian Way to the Trans-Tiber, and how he mustcircle around to reach the Via Portuensis. He resolved, therefore, togo around the city this time in the opposite direction. Going by theVia Triumphatoris, it was possible to reach the AEmilian bridge bygoing along the river, thence passing the Pincian Hill, all the CampusMartius, outside the gardens of Pompey, Lucullus, and Sallust, to makea push forward to the Via Nomentana. That was the shortest way; butMacrinus and Chilo advised him not to take it. The fire had not touchedthat part of the city, it is true; but all the market squares andstreets might be packed densely with people and their goods. Chiloadvised him to go through the Ager Vaticanus to the Porta Flaminia,cross the river at that point, and push on outside the walls beyondthe gardens of Acilius to the Porta Salaria. Vinicius, after a moment'shesitation, took this advice.

  Macrinus had to remain in care of his house; but he provided two mules,which would serve Lygia also in a further journey. He wished to give aslave, too; but Vinicius refused, judging that the first detachment ofpretorians he met on the road would pass under his orders.

  Soon he and Chilo moved on through the Pagus Janiculensis to theTriumphal Way. There were vehicles there, too, in open places; but theypushed between them with less difficulty, as the inhabitants had fledfor the greater part by the Via Portuensis toward the sea. Beyond theSeptimian Gate they rode between the river and the splendid gardens ofDomitius; the mighty cypresses were red from the conflagration, asif from evening sunshine. The road became freer; at times they had tostruggle merely with the current of incoming rustics. Vinicius urged hismule forward as much as possible; but Chilo, riding closely in the rear,talked to himself almost the whole way.

  "Well, we have left the fire behind, and now it is heating ourshoulders. Never yet has there been so much light on this road in thenight-time. O Zeus! if thou wilt not send torrents of rain on that fire,thou hast no love for Rome, surely. The power of man will not quenchthose flames. Such a city,--a city which Greece and the whole world wasserving! And now the first Greek who comes along may roast beans in itsashes. Who could have looked for this? And now there will be no longer aRome, nor Roman rulers. Whoso wants to walk on the ashes, when theygrow cold, and whistle over them, may whistle without danger. O gods!to whistle over such a world-ruling city! What Greek, or even barbarian,could have hoped for this? And still one may whistle; for a heap ofashes, whether left after a shepherd's fire or a burnt city, is mereashes, which the wind will blow away sooner or later."

  Thus talking, he turned from moment to moment toward the conflagration,and looked at the waves of flame with a face filled at once with delightand malice.

  "It will perish! It will perish!" continued he, "and will never be onearth again. Whither will the world send its wheat now, its olives,and its money? Who will squeeze gold and tears from it? Marble does notburn, but it crumbles in fire. The Capitol will turn into dust, and thePalatine into dust. O Zeus! Rome was like a shepherd, and other nationslike sheep. When the shepherd was hungry, he slaughtered a sheep, atethe flesh, and to thee, O father of the gods, he made an offering ofthe skin. Who, O Cloud-compeller, will do the slaughtering now, and intowhose hand wilt thou put the shepherd's whip? For Rome is burning, Ofather, as truly as if thou hadst fired it with thy thunderbolt."

  "Hurry!" urged Vinicius; "what art thou doing there?"

  "I am weeping over Rome, lord,--Jove's city!"

  For a time they rode on in silence, listening to the roar of theburning, and the sound of birds' wings. Doves, a multitude of which hadtheir nests about villas and in small towns of the Campania, andalso every kind of field-bird from near the sea and the surroundingmountains, mistaking evidently the gleam of the conflagration forsunlight, were flying, whole flocks of them, blindly into the fire.Vinicius broke the silence first,--

  "Where wert thou when the fire burst out?"

  "I was going to my friend Euricius, lord, who kept a shop near theCircus Maximus, and I was just meditating on the teaching of Christ,when men began to shout: 'Fire!' People gathered around the Circus forsafety, and through curiosity; but when the flames seized the wholeCircus, and began to appear in other places also, each had to think ofhis own safety."

  "Didst thou see people throwing torches into houses?"

  "What have I not seen, O grandson of AEneas! I saw people making a wayfor themselves through the crowd with swords; I have seen battles, theentrails of people trampled on the pavement. Ah, if thou hadst seenthat, thou wouldst have thought that barbarians had captured the city,and were putting it to the sword. People round about cried that the endof the world had come. Some lost their heads altogether, and, forgettingto flee, waited stupidly till the flames seized them. Some fell intobewilderment, others howled in despair; I saw some also who howled fromdelight. O lord, there are many bad people in the world who know nothow to value the benefactions of your mild rule, and those just lawsin virtue of which ye take from all what they have and give it toyourselves. People will not be reconciled to the will of God!"

  Vinicius was too much occupied with his own thoughts to note the ironyquivering in Chilo's words. A shudder of terror seized him at the simplethought that Lygia might be in the midst of that chaos on those terriblestreets where people's entrails were trampled on. Hence, though he hadasked at least ten times of Chilo touching all which the old man couldknow, he turned to him once again,--

  "But hast thou seen them in Ostrianum with thy own eyes?"

  "I saw them, O son of Venus; I saw the maiden, the good Lygian, holyLinus, and the Apostle Peter."

  "Before the fire?"

  "Before the fire, O Mithra!"

  But a doubt rose in the soul of Vinicius whether Chilo was not lying;hence, reining his mule in, he looked threateningly at the old Greek andinquired,--

  "What wert thou doing there?"

  Chilo was confused. True, it seemed to him, as to many, that with thedestruction of Rome would come the end also of Roman dominion. But hewas face to face with Vinicius; he remembered that the young soldier hadprohibited him, under a terrible threat, from watching the Christians,and especially Linus and Lygia.

  "Lord," said he, "why dost thou not believe that I love them? I do. Iwas in Ostrianum, for I am half a Christian. Pyrrho has taught me toesteem virtue more than philosophy; hence I cleave more and
more tovirtuous people. And, besides, I am poor; and when thou, O Jove, wert atAntium, I suffered hunger frequently over my books; therefore I sat atthe wall of Ostrianum, for the Christians, though poor, distribute morealms than all other inhabitants of Rome taken together."

  This reason seemed sufficient to Vinicius, and he inquired lessseverely,--

  "And dost thou not know where Linus is dwelling at this moment?"

  "Thou didst punish me sharply on a time for curiosity," replied theGreek.

  Vinicius ceased talking and rode on.

  "O lord," said Chilo, after a while, "thou wouldst not have found themaiden but for me, and if we find her now, thou wilt not forget theneedy sage?"

  "Thou wilt receive a house with a vineyard at Ameriola."

  "Thanks to thee, O Hercules! With a vineyard? Thanks to thee! Oh, yes,with a vineyard!"

  They were passing the Vatican Hill now, which was ruddy from the fire;but beyond the Naumachia they turned to the right, so that when they hadpassed the Vatican Field they would reach the river, and, crossing it,go to the Flaminian Gate. Suddenly Chilo reined in his mule, and said,--

  "A good thought has come to my head, lord!"

  "Speak!" answered Vinicius.

  "Between the Janiculum and the Vatican Hill, beyond the gardens ofAgrippina, are excavations from which stones and sand were taken tobuild the Circus of Nero. Hear me, lord. Recently the Jews, of whom,as thou knowest, there is a multitude in Trans-Tiber, have begun topersecute Christians cruelly. Thou hast in mind that in the time of thedivine Claudius there were such disturbances that Caesar was forced toexpel them from Rome. Now, when they have returned, and when, thanksto the protection of the Augusta, they feel safe, they annoy Christiansmore insolently. I know this; I have seen it. No edict againstChristians has been issued; but the Jews complain to the prefect ofthe city that Christians murder infants, worship an ass, and preach areligion not recognized by the Senate; they beat them, and attack theirhouses of prayer so fiercely that the Christians are forced to hide."

  "What dost thou wish to say?" inquired Vinicius.

  "This, lord, that synagogues exist openly in the Trans-Tiber; but thatChristians, in their wish to avoid persecution, are forced to pray insecret and assemble in ruined sheds outside the city or in sand-pits.Those who dwell in the Trans-Tiber have chosen just that place which wasexcavated for the building of the Circus and various houses along theTiber. Now, when the city is perishing, the adherents of Christ arepraying. Beyond doubt we shall find a countless number of them in theexcavation; so my advice is to go in there along the road."

  "But thou hast said that Linus has gone to Ostrianum," cried Viniciusimpatiently.

  "But thou has promised me a house with a vineyard at Ameriola," answeredChilo; "for that reason I wish to seek the maiden wherever I hope tofind her. They might have returned to the Trans-Tiber after the outbreakof the fire. They might have gone around outside the city, as we aredoing at this moment. Linus has a house, perhaps he wished to be nearerhis house to see if the fire had seized that part of the city also. Ifthey have returned, I swear to thee, by Persephone, that we shall findthem at prayer in the excavation; in the worst event, we shall gettidings of them."

  "Thou art right; lead on!" said the tribune.

  Chilo, without hesitation, turned to the left toward the hill.

  For a while the slope of the hill concealed the conflagration, so that,though the neighboring heights were in the light, the two men were inthe shade. When they had passed the Circus, they turned still tothe left, and entered a kind of passage completely dark. But in thatdarkness Vinicius saw swarms of gleaming lanterns.

  "They are there," said Chilo. "There will be more of them to-day thanever, for other houses of prayer are burnt or are filled with smoke, asis the whole Trans-Tiber."

  "True!" said Vinicius, "I hear singing."

  In fact, the voices of people singing reached the hill from the darkopening, and the lanterns vanished in it one after the other. But fromside passages new forms appeared continually, so that after some timeVinicius and Chilo found themselves amid a whole assemblage of people.

  Chilo slipped from his mule, and, beckoning to a youth who sat near,said to him,--"I am a priest of Christ and a bishop. Hold the mules forus; thou wilt receive my blessing and forgiveness of sins."

  Then, without waiting for an answer, he thrust the reins into his hands,and, in company with Vinicius, joined the advancing throng.

  They entered the excavation after a while, and pushed on through thedark passage by the dim light of lanterns till they reached a spaciouscave, from which stone had been taken evidently, for the walls wereformed of fresh fragments.

  It was brighter there than in the corridor, for, in addition to tapersand lanterns, torches were burning. By the light of these Vinicius sawa whole throng of kneeling people with upraised hands. He could notsee Lygia, the Apostle Peter, or Linus, but he was surrounded by facessolemn and full of emotion. On some of them expectation or alarm wasevident; on some, hope. Light was reflected in the whites of theirupraised eyes; perspiration was flowing along their foreheads, pale aschalk; some were singing hymns, others were repeating feverishly thename of Jesus, some were beating their breasts. It was apparent thatthey expected something uncommon at any moment.

  Meanwhile the hymn ceased, and above the assembly, in a niche formed bythe removal of an immense stone, appeared Crispus, the acquaintanceof Vinicius, with a face as it were half delirious, pale, stern, andfanatical. All eyes were turned to him, as though waiting for words ofconsolation and hope. After he had blessed the assembly, he began inhurried, almost shouting tones,--

  "Bewail your sins, for the hour has come! Behold the Lord has sent downdestroying flames on Babylon, on the city of profligacy and crime. Thehour of judgment has struck, the hour of wrath and dissolution. The Lordhas promised to come, and soon you will see Him. He will not come as theLamb, who offered His blood for your sins, but as an awful judge, who inHis justice will hurl sinners and unbelievers into the pit. Woe to theworld, woe to sinners! there will be no mercy for them. I see Thee, OChrist! Stars are falling to the earth in showers, the sun is darkened,the earth opens in yawning gulfs, the dead rise from their graves, butThou art moving amid the sound of trumpets and legions of angels, amidthunders and lightnings. I see Thee, I hear Thee, O Christ!"

  Then he was silent, and, raising his eyes, seemed to gaze intosomething distant and dreadful. That moment a dull roar was heard in thecave,--once, twice, a tenth time, in the burning city whole streets ofpartly consumed houses began to fall with a crash. But most Christianstook those sounds as a visible sign that the dreadful hour wasapproaching; belief in the early second coming of Christ and in the endof the world was universal among them, now the destruction of the cityhad strengthened it. Terror seized the assembly. Many voices repeated,"The day of judgment! Behold, it is coming!" Some covered their faceswith their hands, believing that the earth would be shaken to itsfoundation, that beasts of hell would rush out through its openings andhurl themselves on sinners. Others cried, "Christ have mercy on us!""Redeemer, be pitiful!" Some confessed their sins aloud; others castthemselves into the arms of friends, so as to have some near heart withthem in the hour of dismay.

  But there were faces which seemed rapt into heaven, faces with smilesnot of earth; these showed no fear. In some places were heard voices;those were of people who in religious excitement had begun to cry outunknown words in strange languages. Some person in a dark corner cried,"Wake thou that sleepest!" Above all rose the shout of Crispus, "Watchye! watch ye!"

  At moments, however, silence came, as if all were holding the breath intheir breasts, and waiting for what would come. And then was heard thedistant thunder of parts of the city falling into ruins, after whichwere heard again groans and cries,--"Renounce earthly riches, for soonthere will be no earth beneath your feet! Renounce earthly loves, forthe Lord will condemn those who love wife or child more than Him. Woe tothe one who loves the creature more than the Creator
! Woe to the rich!woe to the luxurious! woe to the dissolute! woe to husband, wife, andchild!"

  Suddenly a roar louder than any which had preceded shook the quarry. Allfell to the earth, stretching their arms in cross form to ward awayevil spirits by that figure. Silence followed, in which was heard onlypanting breath, whispers full of terror, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" andin places the weeping of children. At that moment a certain calm voicespoke above that prostrate multitude,--

  "Peace be with you!"

  That was the voice of Peter the Apostle, who had entered the cave amoment earlier. At the sound of his voice terror passed at once, as itpasses from a flock in which the shepherd has appeared. People rose fromthe earth; those who were nearer gathered at his knees, as if seekingprotection under his wings. He stretched his hands over them and said,--

  "Why are ye troubled in heart? Who of you can tell what will happenbefore the hour cometh? The Lord has punished Babylon with fire; but Hismercy will be on those whom baptism has purified, and ye whose sins areredeemed by the blood of the Lamb will die with His name on your lips.Peace be with you!"

  After the terrible and merciless words of Crispus, those of Peter felllike a balm on all present. Instead of fear of God, the love of God tookpossession of their spirits. Those people found the Christ whom theyhad learned to love from the Apostle's narratives; hence not a mercilessjudge, but a mild and patient Lamb, whose mercy surpasses man'swickedness a hundredfold. A feeling of solace possessed the wholeassembly; and comfort, with thankfulness to the Apostle, filled theirhearts, Voices from various sides began to cry, "We are thy sheep, feedus!" Those nearer said, "Desert us not in the day of disaster!" And theyknelt at his knees; seeing which Vinicius approached, seized the edge ofPeter's mantle, and, inclining, said,--

  "Save me, lord. I have sought her in the smoke of the burning and inthe throng of people; nowhere could I find her, but I believe that thoucanst restore her."

  Peter placed his hand on the tribune's head.

  "Have trust," said he, "and come with me."