Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (ebook reader macos TXT) 📕

Nero never opposed suggestions which brought harm or ruin to any one.

After mature decision Petronius framed a whole plan for himself. He

would prepare a feast in his own house, and at this feast persuade Cæsar

to issue an edict. He had even a hope, which was not barren, that Cæsar

would confide the execution of the edict to him. He would send out

Lygia with all the consideration proper to the mistress of Vinicius to

Baiæ, for instance, and let them love and amuse themselves there with

Christianity as much as they liked.

Meanwhile he visited Vinicius frequently, first, because he could not,

despite all his Roman selfishness, rid himself of attachment to the

young tribune, and second, because he wished to persuade him to the

journey. Vinicius feigned sickness, and did not show himself on the

Palatine, where new plans appeared every day. At last Petronius heard

from Cæsar’s own lips that three days from then he would go to Antium

without fail. Next morning he went straightway to inform Vinicius, who

showed him a list of persons invited to Antium, which list one of

Cæsar’s freedmen had brought him that morning.

“My name is on it; so is thine,” said he. “Thou wilt find the same at

thy house on returning.”

“Were I not among the invited,” replied Petronius, “it would mean that I

must die; I do not expect that to happen before the journey to Achæa. I

shall be too useful to Nero. Barely have we come to Rome,” said he, on

looking at the list, “when we must leave again, and drag over the road

to Antium. But we must go, for this is not merely an invitation, it is

a command as well.”

“And if some one would not obey?”

“He would be invited in another style to go on a journey notably

longer,—one from which people do not return. What a pity that thou

hast not obeyed my counsel and left Rome in season! Now thou must go to

Antium.”

“I must go to Antium. See in what times we live and what vile slaves we

are!”

“Hast thou noticed that only to-day?”

“No. But thou hast explained to me that Christian teaching is an enemy

of life, since it shackles it. But can their shackles be stronger than

those which we carry? Thou hast said, ‘Greece created wisdom and

beauty, and Rome power.’ Where is our power?”

“Call Chilo and talk with him. I have no desire to-day to philosophize.

By Hercules! I did not create these times, and I do not answer for

them. Let us speak of Antium. Know that great danger is awaiting thee,

and it would be better, perhaps, to measure strength with that Ursus who

choked Croton than to go there, but still thou canst not refuse.”

Vinicius waved his hand carelessly, and said,—“Danger! We are all

wandering in the shadow of death, and every moment some head sinks in

its darkness.”

“Am I to enumerate all who had a little sense, and therefore, in spite

of the times of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, lived eighty and

ninety years? Let even such a man as Domitius Afer serve thee as an

example. He has grown old quietly, though all his life he has been a

criminal and a villain.”

“Perhaps for that very reason!” answered Vinicius.

Then he began to glance over the list and read: “Tigellinus, Vatinius,

Sextus Africanus, Aquilinus Regulus, Suilius Nerulinus, Eprius

Marcellus, and so on! What an assembly of ruffians and scoundrels! And

to say that they govern the world! Would it not become them better to

exhibit an Egyptian or Syrian divinity through villages, jingle sistra,

and earn their bread by telling fortunes or dancing?”

“Or exhibiting learned monkeys, calculating dogs, or a flute-playing

ass,” added Petronius. “That is true, but let us speak of something

more important. Summon thy attention and listen. I have said on the

Palatine that thou art ill, unable to leave the house; still thy name is

on the list, which proves that some one does not credit my stories and

has seen to this purposely. Nero cares nothing for the matter, since

for him thou art a soldier, who has no conception of poetry or music,

and with whom at the very highest he can talk only about races in the

circus. So Poppæa must have seen to putting down thy name, which means

that her desire for thee was not a passing whim, and that she wants to

win thee.”

“She is a daring Augusta.”

“Indeed she is daring, for she may ruin herself beyond redemption. May

Venus inspire her, however, with another love as soon as possible; but

since she desires thee thou must observe the very greatest caution. She

has begun to weary Bronzebeard already; he prefers Rubria now, or

Pythagoras, but, through consideration of self, he would wreak the most

horrible vengeance on us.”

“In the grove I knew not that she was speaking to me; but thou wert

listening. I said that I loved another, and did not wish her. Thou

knowest that.”

“I implore thee, by all the infernal gods, lose not the remnant of

reason which the Christians have left in thee. How is it possible to

hesitate, having a choice between probable and certain destruction?

Have I not said already that if thou hadst wounded the Augusta’s vanity,

there would have been no rescue for thee? By Hades! if life has grown

hateful to thee, better open thy veins at once, or cast thyself on a

sword, for shouldst thou offend Poppæa, a less easy death may meet thee.

It was easier once to converse with thee. What concerns thee specially?

Would this affair cause thee loss, or hinder thee from loving thy Lygia?

Remember, besides, that Poppæa saw her on the Palatine. It will not be

difficult for her to guess why thou art rejecting such lofty favor, and

she will get Lygia even from under the earth. Thou wilt ruin not only

thyself, but Lygia too. Dost understand?”

Vinicius listened as if thinking of something else, and at last he

said,—

“I must see her.”

“Who? Lygia?”

“Lygia.”

“Dost thou know where she is?”

“No.”

“Then thou wilt begin anew to search for her in old cemeteries and

beyond the Tiber?”

“I know not, but I must see her.”

“Well, though she is a Christian, it may turn out that she has more

judgment than thou; and it will ccrtainly, unless she wishes thy ruin.”

Vinicius shrugged his shoulders. “She saved me from the hands of

Ursus.”

“Then hurry, for Bronzebeard will not postpone his departure. Sentences

of death may be issued in Antium also.”

But Vinicius did not hear. One thought alone occupied him, an interview

with Lygia; hence he began to think over methods.

Meanwhile something intervened which might set aside every difficulty.

Chilo came to his house unexpectedly.

He entered wretched and worn, with signs of hunger on his face and in

rags; but the servants, who had the former command to admit him at all

hours of the day or night, did not dare to detain him, so he went

straight to the atrium, and standing before Vinicius said,—“May the

gods give thee immortality, and share with thee dominion over the

world.”

Vinicius at the first moment wished to give the order to throw him out

of doors; but the thought came to him that the Greek perhaps knew

something of Lygia, and curiosity overcame his disgust.

“Is that thou?” asked he. “What has happened to thee?”

“Evil, O son of Jove,” answered Chilo. “Real virtue is a ware for which

no one inquires now, and a genuine sage must be glad of this even, that

once in five days he has something with which to buy from the butcher a

sheep’s head, to gnaw in a garret, washing it down with his tears. Ah,

lord! What thou didst give me I paid Atractus for books, and afterward

I was robbed and ruined. The slave who was to write down my wisdom

fled, taking the remnant of what thy generosity bestowed on me. I am in

misery, but I thought to myself: To whom can I go, if not to thee, O

Serapis, whom I love and deify, for whom I have exposed my life?”

“Why hast thou come, and what dost thou bring?”

“I come for aid, O Baal, and I bring my misery, my tears, my love, and

finally the information which through love for thee I have collected.

Thou rememberest, lord, I told thee once how I had given a slave of the

divine Petronius one thread from the girdle of the Paphian Venus? I

know now that it helped her, and thou, O descendant of the Sun, who

knowest what is happening in that house, knowest also what Eunice is

there. I have another such thread. I have preserved it for thee,

lord.”

Here he stopped, on noticing the anger which was gathering on the brows

of Vinicius, and said quickly, so as to anticipate the outburst,—

“I know where the divine Lygia is living; I will show thee the street

and the house.”

Vinicius repressed the emotion with which that news filled him, and

said,—“Where is she?”

“With Linus, the elder priest of the Christians. She is there with

Ursus, who goes as before to the miller, a namesake of thy dispensator

Demas. Yes, Demas! Ursus works in the night; so if thou surround the

house at night, thou wilt not find him. Linus is old, and besides him

there are only two aged women in the house.”

“Whence dost thou know all this?”

“Thou rememberest, lord, that the Christians had me in their hands, and

spared me. True, Glaucus was mistaken in thinking that I was the cause

of his misfortunes; but he believed that I was, poor man, and he

believes so yet. Still they spared me. Then be not astonished, lord,

that gratitude filled my heart. I am a man of former, of better times.

This was my thought: Am I to desert friends and benefactors? Would I

not have been hard-hearted not to inquire about them, not to learn what

was happening to them, how health was serving them, and where they were

living? By the Pessinian Cybele! I am not capable of such conduct. At

first I was restrained by fear that they might interpret my wishes

incorrectly. But the love which I bore them proved greater than my

fear, and the ease with which they forgive every injustice lent me

special courage. But above all I was thinking of thee, lord. Our last

attempt ended in defeat; but can such a son of Fortune be reconciled

with defeat? So I prepared victory for thee. The house stands apart.

Thou mayst give command to thy slaves to surround it so that not a mouse

could escape. My lord, on thee alone it depends to have that

magnanimous king’s daughter in thy house this very night. But should

that happen, remember that the cause of it is the very poor and hungry

son of my father.”

The blood rushed to Vinicius’s head. Temptation shook all his being

again. Yes; that was the method, and this time a certain one. Once he

has Lygia in his house, who can take her? Once he makes Lygia his

mistress, what will be left to her, unless to remain so forever? And

let all religions perish! What will the Christians mean to him then,

with their mercy and forbidding faith? Is it not time to shake himself

free of all that?