________________________________________________
_ PETRONIUS, after the liberation of Lygia, not wishing to irritate
Caesar, went to the Palatine with other Augustians. He wanted to
hear what they were saying, and especially to learn if Tigellinus
was devising something new to destroy Lygia. Both she and Ursus
had passed under the protection of the people, it is true, and no one
could place a hand on them without raising a riot; still Petronius,
knowing the hatred toward him of the all-powerful prctorian
prefect, considered that very likely Tigellinus, while unable to
strike him directly, would strive to find some means of revenge
against his nephew.
Nero was angry and irritated, since the spectacle had ended quite
differently from what he had planned. At first he did not wish even
to look at Petronius; but the latter, without losing cool blood,
approached him, with all the freedom of the "arbiter
elegantiarum," and said, --
"Dost thou know, divinity, what occurs to me? Write a poem on
the maiden who, at command of the lord of the world, was freed
from the horns of the wild bull and given to her lover. The Greeks
are sensitive, and I am sure that the poem will enchant them."
This thought pleased Nero in spite of all his irritation, and it
pleased him doubly, first, as a subject for a poem, and second,
because in it he could glorify himself as the magnanimous lord of
the earth; hence he looked for a time at Petronius, and then said, --
"Yes! perhaps thou art right. But does it become me to celebrate
my own goodness?"
"There is no need to give names. In Rome all will know who is
meant, and from Rome reports go through the whole world."
"But art thou sure that this will please the people in Achaea?"
"By Poilux, it will!" said Petronius.
And he went away satisfied, for he felt certain that Nero, whose
whole life was an arrangement of reality to literary plans, would
not spoil the subject, and by this alone he would tie the hands of
Tigellinus. This, however, did not change his plan of sending
Vinicius out of Rome as soon as Lygia's health should permit. So
when he saw him next day, he said, --
"Take her to Sicily. As things have happened, on Caesar's part thou
art threatened by nothing; but Tigellinus is ready to use even
poison.-- if not out of hatred to you both, out of hatred to me."
Vinicius smiled at him, and said: "She was on the horns of the wild
bull; still Christ saved her."
"Then honor Him with a hecatomb," replied Paetronius, with an
accent of impatience, "but do not beg Him to save her a second
time. Dost remember how Eolus received Ulysses when he
returned to ask a second time for favoring winds? Deities do not
like to repeat themselves."
"When her health returns, I will take her to Pomponia Graecina,"
said Vinicius.
"And thou wilt do that all the better since Pomponia is in;
Antistius, a relative of Aulus, told me so. Meanwhile things will
happen here to make people forget thee, and in these times the
forgotten are the happiest. May Fortune be thy sun in winter, and
thy shade in summer."
Then he left Vinicius to his happiness, but went himself to inquire
of Theocles touching the life and health of Lygia.
Danger threatened her no longer. Emaciated as she was in the
dungeon after prison fever, foul air and discomfort would have
killed her; but now she had the most tender care, and not only
plenty, but luxury. At command of Theocles they took her to the
gardens of the villa after two days; in these gardens she remained
for hours. Vinicius decked her litter with anemones, and especially
with irises, to remind her of the atrium of the house of Aulus.
More than once, hidden in the shade of spreading trees, they spoke
of past sufferings and fears, each holding the other's hand. Lygia
said that Christ had conducted him through suffering purposely to
change his soul and raise it to Himself. Vinicius felt that this was
true, and that there was in him nothing of the former patrician,
who knew no law but his own desire. In those memories there was
nothing bitter, however. It seemed to both that whole years had
gone over their heads, and that the dreadful past lay far behind. At
the same time such a calmness possessed them as they had never
known before. A new life of immense happiness had come and
taken them into itself. In Rome Caesar might rage and fill the
world with terror -- they felt above them a guardianship a hundred
times mightier than his power, and had no further fear of his rage
or his malice, just as if for them he had ceased to be the lord of life
or death. Once, about sunset, the roar of lions and other beasts
reached them from distant vivaria. Formerly those sounds filled
Vinicius with fear because they were ominous; now he and Lygia
merely looked at each other and raised their eyes to the evening
twilight. At times Lygia, still very weak and unable to walk alone,
fell asleep in the quiet of the garden; he watched over her, and,
looking at her sleeping face, thought involuntarily that she was not
that Lygia whom he had met at the house of Aulus. In fact,
imprisonment and disease had to some extent quenched her
beauty. When he saw her at the house of Aulus, and later, when he
went to Miriam's house to seize her, she was as wonderful as a
statue and also as a flower; now her face had become almost
transparent, her hands thin, her body reduced by disease, her lips
pale, and even her eyes seemed less blue than formerly. The
golden-haired Eunice who brought her flowers and rich stuffs to
cover her feet was a divinity of Cyprus in comparison. Petronius
tried in vain to find the former charms in her, and, shrugging his
shoulders, thought that that shadow from Elysian fields was not
worth those struggles, those pains, and those tortures which had
almost sucked the life out of Vinicius. But Vinicius, in love now
with her spirit, loved it all the more; and when he was watching
over her while asleep, it seemed to him that he was watching over
the whole world. _
Read next: CHAPTER LXVIII
Read previous: CHAPTER LXVI
Table of content of Quo Vadis
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
Post your review
Your review will be placed after the table of content of this book
