Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (detective books to read .TXT) 📖
- Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
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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.”
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.
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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