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Read books online » Fiction » Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

Book online «Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (detective books to read .TXT) 📖». Author Henryk Sienkiewicz



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sun-rays and golden light, turned for

the last time toward the city. At a distance lower down was seen the

gleaming Tiber; beyond was the Campus Martius; higher up, the Mausoleum

of Augustus; below that, the gigantic baths just begun by Nero; still

lower, Pompey’s theatre; and beyond them were visible in places, and in

places hidden by other buildings, the Septa Julia, a multitude of

porticos, temples, columns, great edifices; and, finally, far in the

distance, hills covered with houses, a gigantic resort of people, the

borders of which vanished in the blue haze,—an abode of crime, but of

power; of madness, but of order,—which had become the head of the

world, its oppressor, but its law and its peace, almighty, invincible,

eternal.

 

But Peter, surrounded by soldiers, looked at the city as a ruler and

king looks at his inheritance. And he said to it, “Thou art redeemed

and mine!” And no one, not merely among the soldiers digging the hole

in which to plant the cross, but even among believers, could divine that

standing there among them was the true ruler of that moving life; that

Cæsars would pass away, waves of barbarians go by, and ages vanish, but

that old man would be lord there unbrokenly.

 

The sun had sunk still more toward Ostia, and had become large and red.

The whole western side of the sky had begun to glow with immense

brightness. The soldiers approached Peter to strip him.

 

But he, while praying, straightened himself all at once, and stretched

his right hand high. The executioners stopped, as if made timid by his

posture; the faithful held the breath in their breasts, thinking that he

wished to say something, and silence unbroken followed.

 

But he, standing on the height, with his extended right hand made the

sign of the cross, blessing in the hour of death,—

 

Urbi et orbi! (the city and the world).

 

In that same wonderful evening another detachment of soldiers conducted

along the Ostian Way Paul of Tarsus toward a place called Aquæ Salviæ.

And behind him also advanced a crowd of the faithful whom he had

converted; but when he recognized near acquaintances, he halted and

conversed with them, for, being a Roman citizen, the guard showed more

respect to him. Beyond the gate called Tergemina he met Plautilla, the

daughter of the prefect Flavius Sabinus, and, seeing her youthful face

covered with tears, he said: “Plautilla, daughter of Eternal Salvation,

depart in peace. Only give me a veil with which to bind my eyes when I

am going to the Lord.” And taking it, he advanced with a face as full

of delight as that of a laborer who when he has toiled the whole day

successfully is returning home. His thoughts, like those of Peter, were

as calm and quiet as that evening sky. His eyes gazed with

thoughtfulness upon the plain which stretched out before him, and to the

Alban Hills, immersed in light. He remembered his journeys, his toils,

his labor, the struggles in which he had conquered, the churches which

he had founded in all lands and beyond all seas; and he thought that he

had earned his rest honestly, that he had finished his work. He felt

now that the seed which he had planted would not be blown away by the

wind of malice. He was leaving this life with the certainty that in the

battle which his truth had declared against the world it would conquer;

and a mighty peace settled down on his soul.

 

The road to the place of execution was long, and evening was coming.

The mountains became purple, and the bases of them went gradually into

the shade. Flocks were returning home. Here and there groups of slaves

were walking with the tools of labor on their shoulders. Children,

playing on the road before houses, looked with curiosity at the passing

soldiers. But in that evening, in that transparent golden air, there

were not only peace and lovingness, but a certain harmony, which seemed

to lift from earth to heaven. Paul felt this; and his heart was filled

with delight at the thought that to that harmony of the world he had

added one note which had not been in it hitherto, but without which the

whole earth was like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

 

He remembered how he had taught people love,—how he had told them that

though they were to give their property to the poor, though they knew

all languages, all secrets, and all sciences, they would be nothing

without love, which is kind, enduring, which does not return evil, which

does not desire honor, suffers all things, believes all things, hopes

all things, is patient of all things.

 

And so his life had passed in teaching people this truth. And now he

said in spirit: What power can equal it, what can conquer it? Could

Cæsar stop it, though he had twice as many legions and twice as many

cities, seas, lands, and nations?

 

And he went to his reward like a conqueror.

 

The detachment left the main road at last, and turned toward the east on

a narrow path leading to the Aquæ Salviæ. The red sun was lying now on

the heather. The centurion stopped the soldiers at the fountain, for

the moment had come.

 

Paul placed Plautilla’s veil on his arm, intending to bind his eyes with

it; for the last time he raised those eyes, full of unspeakable peace,

toward the eternal light of the evening, and prayed. Yes, the moment

had come; but he saw before him a great road in the light, leading to

heaven; and in his soul he repeated the same words which formerly he had

written in the feeling of his own finished service and his near end,—

 

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the

faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.”

Chapter LXXI

ROME had gone mad for a long time, so that the world-conquering city

seemed ready at last to tear itself to pieces for want of leadership.

Even before the last hour of the Apostles had struck, Piso’s conspiracy

appeared; and then such merciless reaping of Rome’s highest heads, that

even to those who saw divinity in Nero, he seemed at last a divinity of

death. Mourning fell on the city, terror took its lodgment in houses

and in hearts, but porticos were crowned with ivy and flowers, for it

was not permitted to show sorrow for the dead. People waking in the

morning asked themselves whose turn would come next. The retinue of

ghosts following Cæsar increased every day.

 

Piso paid for the conspiracy with his head; after him followed Seneca,

and Lucan, Fenius Rufus, and Plautius Lateranus, and Flavius Scevinus,

and Afranius Quinetianus, and the dissolute companion of Cæsar’s

madnesses, Tullius Senecio, and Proculus, and Araricus, and Tugurinus,

and Gratus, and Silanus, and Proximus,—once devoted with his whole soul

to Nero,—and Sulpicius Asper. Some were destroyed by their own

insignificance, some by fear, some by wealth, others by bravery. Cæsar,

astonished at the very number of the conspirators, covered the walls

with soldiery and held the city as if by siege, sending out daily

centurions with sentences of death to suspected houses. The condemned

humiliated themselves in letters filled with flattery, thanking Cæsar

for his sentences, and leaving him a part of their property, so as to

save the rest for their children. It seemed, at last, that Nero was

exceeding every measure on purpose to convince himself of the degree in

which men had grown abject, and how long they would endure bloody rule.

After the conspirators, their relatives were executed; then their

friends, and even simple acquaintances. Dwellers in lordly mansions

built after the fire, when they went out on the street, felt sure of

seeing a whole row of funerals. Pompeius, Cornelius, Martialis, Flavius

Nepos, and Statius Domitius died because accused of lack of love for

Cæsar; Novius Priscus, as a friend of Seneca. Rufius Crispus was

deprived of the right of fire and water because on a time he had been

the husband of Poppæa. The great Thrasea was ruined by his virtue; many

paid with their lives for noble origin; even Poppæa fell a victim to the

momentary rage of Nero.

 

The Senate crouched before the dreadful ruler; it raised a temple in his

honor, made an offering in favor of his voice, crowned his statues,

appointed priests to him as to a divinity. Senators, trembling in their

souls, went to the Palatine to magnify the song of the “Periodonices,”

and go wild with him amid orgies of naked bodies, wine, and flowers.

 

But meanwhile from below, in the field soaked in blood and tears, rose

the sowing of Peter, stronger and stronger every moment.

Chapter LXXII

VINICIUS to PETRONIUS:

 

“We know, carissime, most of what is happening in Rome, and what we do

not know is told us in thy letters. When one casts a stone in the

water, the wave goes farther and farther in a circle; so the wave of

madness and malice has come from the Palatine to us. On the road to

Greece, Carinas was sent hither by Cæsar, who plundered cities and

temples to fill the empty treasury. At the price of the sweat and tears

of people, he is building the ‘golden house’ in Rome. It is possible

that the world has not seen such a house, but it has not seen such

injustice. Thou knowest Carinas. Chilo was like him till he redeemed

his life with death. But to the towns lying nearer us his men have not

come yet, perhaps because there are no temples or treasures in them.

Thou askest if we are out of danger. I answer that we are out of mind,

and let that suffice for an answer. At this moment, from the portico

under which I write, I see our calm bay, and on it Ursus in a boat,

letting down a net in the clear water. My wife is spinning red wool

near me, and in the gardens, under the shade of almond-trees, our slaves

are singing. Oh, what calm carissime, and what a forgetfulness of former

fear and suffering! But it is not the Parcæ as thou writest, who spin

out our lives so agreeably; it is Christ who is blessing us, our beloved

God and Saviour. We know tears and sorrow, for our religion teaches us

to weep over the misfortunes of others; but in these tears is a

consolation unknown to thee; for whenever the time of our life is ended,

we shall find all those dear ones who perished and who are perishing yet

for God’s truth. For us Peter and Paul are not dead; they are merely

born into glory. Our souls see them, and when our eyes weep our hearts

are glad with their joy. Oh, yes, my dear friend, we are happy with a

happiness which nothing can destroy, since death, which for thee is the

end of everything, is for us only a passage into superior rest.

 

“And so days and months pass here in calmness of heart. Our servants

and slaves believe, as we do, in Christ, and that He enjoins love; hence

we love one another. Frequently, when the sun has gone down, or when

the moon is shining in the water, Lygia and I talk of past times, which

seem a dream to us; but when I think how that dear head was near torture

and death, I magnify my Lord with my whole soul, for out of those hands

He alone could wrest her, save her from the arena, and return her to me

forever. O Petronius, thou hast seen

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