CHAPTER XXII
THE STORM BURSTS.
The crafty Juba, when she found herself arrested in _flagrantedelicto_--in the very act of her attempted crime--determined to use, ifpossible, the fiction she had employed with reference to Isidorus, as ameans of escape from the very serious dilemma in which she was placed.It will be remembered that she had stated, in order to procure theacceptance of her fatal gift, that it was a thank-offering from theyoung Greek who had rendered such service to the Empress and Callirho[e:].Happy if Valeria had remembered and practised the ancient adage, "_TimeoDanaos et dona ferentes._" But suspicion was foreign to her generousnature, and even if the wise saw had occurred to her, she would havelightly laughed away its cynical suggestion.
When the treacherous slave was examined as to her share in the attemptedcrime, she stoutly adhered to her fictitious story, and protested thatshe knew nothing of the contents of the basket, but that she hadreceived it from Isidorus, and had been well paid for conveying it tothe Empress without suspicion of any sinister design.
The Greek, when charged with the crime of attempting to procure, bypoison, the death of the Empress Valeria, manifested the greatestastonishment. Summoned before the Qu[ae]stor of the Palace, an officer ofco-ordinate jurisdiction with the Prefect of the city, he stoutlyprotested his innocence. But all his protestations were regarded by thatofficial, as only the very perfection of art--the well-feigned evasionsof a mendacious Greek. And certainly appearances were very much againsthim. The Prefect Naso, now that he had extorted from him all theinformation he had to give, abandoned him as a worn-out tool anddivulged to the Qu[ae]stor the damning fact that the Greek by a formaldocument had accused the Empress of treason against the State, and ofconspiracy with the Christians--for so he represented the confessionswhich, by his diabolical arts, he had wrung from his unhappy victim.Confronted by this evidence Isidorus was dumb. He saw the trap intowhich he had been snared, and that by no efforts of his own could heextricate himself. He saw, too, the ruin he had brought upon hisfriends, for Naso had procured the immediate arrest of Adauctus,Aurelius, and Demetrius, the father of Callirho[e:], and other Christiansconnected with the Imperial household. Callirho[e:] herself was also placedunder arrest, upon the monstrous accusation of conspiracy with Isidorusand Juba to procure the death of the Empress Valeria. One would havethought that her self-devotion and almost sacrifice of her life to savethat of her mistress would have been a sufficient vindication from sucha charge. But the unreasoning terror of the Emperors and the unreasoninghatred of all who bore the Christian name, fostered as these were by themachinations and evil suggestions of the Qu[ae]stor of the Palace, thePrefect of the city, the arch priest of Cybele, and the cruel, craftyFausta, thirsty for the blood of her victim, rendered possible theacceptance of any charge, however improbable. "Any stick will do to beata dog," and any accusation, however absurd, was considered availableagainst the Christians.
Even Galerius who, left to himself, would, soldier-like, have braved anypersonal danger, completely lost his judgment at the peril menacing theEmpress. The tortures of slaves and servants by the perverted tribunals,miscalled of justice, fomented by the cruel, crafty priests, and theeager greed of Prefect and Qu[ae]stor, caused an outburst of persecutionagainst all who bore the Christian name. The estates of Adauctus, andAurelius were expropriated by the persecutors, and as a consequencetheir late possessors were pre-judged to death. Valeria who would fainhave interposed her protection, had suffered such a physical shock asto be incapable of exercising any authority or influence she mightpossess. And the Empress Prisca, less courageous in spirit, lessbeautiful in person, and less potent in influence, was completely cowedby the domineering violence of the Emperor Diocletian, who was quitebeside himself at the conspiracy against the gods, and against theImperial Household which he persuaded himself had been discovered.
"Madam," he replied, in answer to a weak remonstrance against thepersecution, "was it not enough that our palace at Nicomedia was burnedover our heads, that you must apologise for treason in our veryhousehold and the menace of our very person. No; the Christiansuperstition must be stamped out, and the worship of the godsmaintained."[37]
Hence throughout the wide empire, in the sober language of history,"Edict followed edict, rising in regular gradations of angry barbarity.The whole clergy were declared enemies of the State; and bishops,presbyters, and deacons were crowded into the prisons intended for thebasest malefactors"[38]--"an innumerable company," says the Christianbishop Eusebius, "so that there was no room left for those condemned forcrime." "We saw with our own eyes," writes a contemporary historian,"our houses of worship thrown down, the sacred Scriptures committed tothe flames, and the shepherds of the people become the sport of theirenemies--scourge with rods, tormented with the rack and excruciatingscrapings, in which some endured the most terrible death. Then men andwomen, with a certain divine and inexpressible alacrity rushed into thefire. The persecutors, constantly inventing new tortures, vied with oneanother as if there were prizes offered to him who should invent thegreatest cruelties. The men bore fire, sword, and crucifixions, savagebeasts, and the depths of the sea, the maiming of limbs and searing withred hot iron, digging out of the eyes and mutilations of the whole body,also hunger, the mines, and prison. The women also were strengthened bythe Divine Word, so that some of them endured the same trials as themen, and bore away the same prize. It would exceed all powers ofdetail," he goes on, "to give an idea of the sufferings and tortureswhich the martyrs endured. And these things were done, not for a fewdays, but for a series of whole years. We ourselves," he adds, "haveseen crowds of persons, some beheaded, some burned alive, in a singleday, so that the murderous weapons were blunted and broken in pieces,and the executioners, weary with slaughter, were obliged to give overthe work of blood."[39] And he goes on to describe deeds of shame andtorture of which he was an eye-witness, which our pen refuses to record.
The enthusiasm for martyrdom prevailed at times almost like an epidemic.It was one of the most remarkable features of the ages of persecution.Notwithstanding the terrific tortures to which they were exposed, thezeal of the Christian heroes burned higher and brighter in the fiercesttempest of heathen rage. Age after age summoned the soldiers of theCross to the conflict whose highest guerdon was death. They boundpersecution as a wreath about their brows, and exulted in the "gloriousinfamy" of suffering for their Lord. The brand of shame became the badgeof highest honour. Besides the joys of heaven they won imperishable fameon earth; and the memory of a humble slave was often haloed with a glorysurpassing that of a Curtius or Horatius. The meanest hind was ennobledby the accolade of martyrdom to the loftiest peerage of the skies. Hisconsecration of suffering was elevated to a sacrament, and called thebaptism of fire or of blood.
Burning to obtain the prize, the impetuous candidates for death oftenpressed with eager haste to seize the palm of victory and the martyr'scrown. They trod with joy the fiery path to glory, and went as gladly tothe stake as to a marriage feast. "Their fetters," says Eusebius,"seemed like the golden ornaments of a bride."[40] They desiredmartyrdom more ardently than men afterward sought a bishopric.[41] Theyexulted amid their keenest pangs that they were counted worthy to sufferfor their divine Master. "Let the ungul[ae] tear us," exclaimsTertullian;[42] "the crosses bear our weight, the flames envelope us,the sword divide our throats, the wild beasts spring upon us; the veryposture of prayer is a preparation for every punishment." "Thesethings," says St. Basil, "so far from being a terror, are rather apleasure and a recreation to us."[43] "The tyrants were armed;" says St.Chrysostom; "and the martyrs naked; yet they that were naked got thevictory, and they that carried arms were vanquished."[44] Strong in theassurance of immortality, they bade defiance to the sword.
Though weak in body they seemed clothed with vicarious strength, andconfident that though "counted as sheep for the slaughter," naught couldseparate them from the love of Christ. Wrapped in their fiery vestureand shroud of flame, they yet exulted in their glorious victo
ry. Whilethe leaden hail fell on the mangled frame, and the eyes filmed with theshadows of death, the spirit was enbraved by the beatific vision of theopening heaven, and above the roar of the mob fell sweetly on the innersense the assurance of eternal life. "No group, indeed, of Oceanides wasthere to console the Christian Prometheus; yet to his upturned eyecountless angels were visible--their anthem swept solemnly to his ear--and the odours of an opening paradise filled the air. Though the dullear of sense heard nothing, he could listen to the invisible Coryph[ae]usas he invited him to heaven and promised him an eternal crown."[45] Thenames of the "great army of martyrs," though forgotten by men, arewritten in the Book of Life. "The Lord knoweth them that are His."
There is a record, traced on high, That shall endure eternally; The angel standing by God's throne Treasures there each word and groan; And not the martyr's speech alone, But every wound is there depicted, With every circumstance of pain The crimson stream, the gash inflicted And not a drop is shed in vain.[46]
This spirit of martyrdom was a new principle in society. It had noclassical counterpart.[47] Socrates and Seneca suffered with fortitude,but not with faith. The loftiest pagan philosophy dwindled intoinsignificance before the sublimity of Christian hope. This lookedbeyond the shadows of time and the sordid cares of earth to the grandeurof the Infinite and the Eternal. The heroic deaths of the believersexhibited a spiritual power mightier than the primal instincts ofnature, the love of wife or child, or even of life itself. Like a solemnvoice falling on the dull ear of mankind, these holy examples urged theinquiry, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and losehis own soul?" And that voice awakened an echo in full many a heart. Themartyrs made more converts by their deaths than in their lives. "Killus, rack us condemn us, grind us to powder," exclaims the intrepidChristian Apologist; "our numbers increase in proportion as you mow usdown."[47] The earth was drunk with the blood of the saints, but stillthey multiplied and grew, gloriously illustrating the perennialtruth--_Sanguis martyrum semen ecclesi[ae]_.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] These are the very words of the edict quoted in note to Chapter II.
[38] Milman, History of Christianity, Book II., Chapter ix.
[39] Eusebius' "Ecclesiastical History," Book viii., Chaps, ii-xiv.
[40] Hist. Eccles., v. I.
[41] Multique avidius tum martyria gloriosis mortibus qu[ae]rebantur quamnunc episcopatus pravis ambitionibus appetuntur.--Sulpic. Sever. Hist.,lib. II.
[42] Apol. c. 30.
[43] Gregory Nazianzen. Orat. de Laud. Basil. See also the strikinglanguage of Ignatius. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. III. 36.
[44] Chrys. Horn. 74, de Martyr.
[45] Kip, p. 88--from Maitland, p. 146. Sometimes the ardour formartyrdom rose into a passion. Eusebius says (Hist. Eccles., viii., 6)that in Nicomedia "Men and women with a certain divine and inexpressiblealacrity rushed into the fire."
Inscripta CHRISTO pagina immortalis est, Excepit adstans angelus coram Deo. Et qu[ae] locutus martyr, et qu[ae] pertulit: Nec verbum solum disserentis condidit, Omnis notata est sanguinis dimensio, Qu[ae] vis doloris, quive segmenti modus: Guttam cruoris ille nullam perdidit. _Peristeph._
[46] Video, proboque meliora, Deterioraque sequor.--_Hor._
[47] The pagans called the martyrs [Greek: biatha(uatoi], or selfmurderers.
[48] Tertul., Apol., c. 50.
Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs: A Tale of Early Christian Life in Rome Page 24