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_ VINICIUS to PETRONIUS:
"We know, carissime, most of what is happening in Rome, and
what we do not lusow 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 Caesar, 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 Parcae 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 f or
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 sue forever. O
Petronius, thou hast seen what endurance and comfort that religion
gives in misfortune, how much patience and courage before death;
so come and see how much happiness it gives in ordinary,
common days of life. People thus far did not know a God whom
man could love, hence they did not Jove one another; and from
that came their misfortune, for as light comes from the sun, so
does happiness come from love. Neither lawgivers nor
philosophers taught this truth, and it did not exist in Greece or
Rome; and when I say, not in Rome, that means the whole world.
The dry and cold teaching of the Stoics, to which virtuous people
rally, tempers the heart as a sword is tempered, but it makes it
indifferent rather than better. Though why do I write this to thee,
who hast learned more, and hast more understanding than I have?
Thou wert acquainted with Paul of Tarsus, and more than once
didst converse long with him; hence thou knowest better if in
comparison with the truth which he taught all the teachings of
philosophers and rhetors are not a vain and empty jingle of words
without meaning. Thou rememberest the question which he put
thee: 'But if Caesar were a Christian, would ye not all feel safer,
surer of possessing that which ye possess, free of alarm, and sure
of to-morrow?' Thou didst say to me that our teaching was an
enemy of life; and I answer thee now, that, if from the beginning
of this letter I had been repeating only the three words, 'I am
happy!' I could not have expressed my happiness to thee. To this
thou wilt answer, that my happiness is Lygia. True, my friend.
Because I love her immortal soul, and because we both love each
other in Christ; for such love there is no separation, no deceit, no
change, no old age, no death. For, when youth and beauty pass,
when our bodies wither and death comes, love will remain, for the
spirit remains. Before my eyes were open to the light I was ready
to burn my own house even, for Lygia's sake; but now I tell thee
that I did not love her, for it was Christ who first taught me to love.
In Him is the source of peace and happiness. It is not I who say
this, but reality itself. Compare thy own luxury, my friend, lined
with alarm, thy delights, not sure of a morrow, thy orgies, with the
lives of Christians, and thou wilt find a ready answer. But, to
compare better, come to our mountains with the odor of thyme, to
our shady olive groves on our shores lined with ivy. A peace is
waiting for thee, such as thou hast not known for a long time, and
hearts that love thee sincerely. Thou, having a noble soul and a
good one, shouldst be happy. Thy quick mind can recognize the
truth, and knowing it thou wilt love it. To be its enemy, like Caesar
and Tigellinus, is possible, but indifferent to it no one can be. O
my Petronius, Lygia and I are comforting ourselves with the hope
of seeing thee soon. Be well, be happy, and come to us."
Petronius received this letter in Cumae, whither he had gone with
other Augustians who were following Caesar. His struggle of long
years with Tigellinus was nearing its end. Petronius knew already
that he must fall in that struggle, and he understood why. As
Caesar fell lower daily to the role of a comedian, a buffoon, and a
charioteer; as he sank deeper in a sickly, foul, and coarse
dissipation, -- the exquisite arbiter became a mere burden to him.
Even when Petronius was silent, Nero saw blame in his silence;
when the arbiter praised, he saw ridicule. The brilliant patrician
annoyed his self-love and roused his envy. His wealth and splendid
works of art had become an object of desire both to the ruler and
the all-powerful minister. Petronius was spared so far in view of
the journey to Achaea, in which his taste, his knowledge of
everything Greek, might be useful. But gradually Tigellinus
explained to Caesar that Carinas surpassed him in taste and
knowledge, and would be better able to arrange in Achaea games,
receptions, and triumphs. From that moment Petronius was lost.
There was not courage to send him his sentence in Rome. Caesar
and Tigellinus remembered that that apparently effeminate and
Rsthetic person, who made "day out of night," and was oaecupied
only in luxury, art, and feasts, had shown amazing industry and
energy, when proconsul in Bithynia and later when consul in the
capital. They considered him capable of anything, and it was
known that in Rome he possessed not only the love of the people,
but even of the pretorians. None of Caesar's confidants could
foresee how Petronius might act in a given case; it seemed wiser,
therefore, to entice him out of the city, and reach him in a
province.
With this object he received an invitation to go to Cumae with
other Augustians. He went, though suspecting the ambush, perhaps
so as not to appear in open opposition, perhaps to show once more
a joyful face devoid of every care to Caesar and the Augustians,
and to gain a last victory before death over Tigellinus.
Meanwhile the latter accused him of friendship with the Senator
Scevinus, who was the soul of Piso's conspiracy. The people of
Petronius, left in Rome, were imprisoned; his house was
surrounded by pretorian guards. When he learned this, he showed
neither alarm nor concern, and with a smile said to Augustians
whom he received in his own splendid villa in Cumae,
"Ahenobarbus does not like direct questions; hence ye will see his
confusion when I ask him if it was he who gave command to
imprison my 'familia' in the capital."
Then he invited them to a feast "before the longer journey," and he
had just made preparations for it when the letter from Vinicius
came.
When he received this letter, Petronius grew somewhat thoughtful,
but after a time his face regained its usual composure, and that
same evening he answered as follows: --
"I rejoice at your happiness and admire your hearts, for I had not
thought that two lovers could remember a third person who was far
away. Ye have not only not forgotten me, but ye wish to persuade
me to go to Sicily, so that ye may share with me your bread and
your Christ, who, as thou writtst, has given you happiness so
bountifully.
"If that be true, honor Him. To my thinking, however, Ursus had
something to do with saving Lygia, and the Roman people also had
a little to do with it. But since thy belief is that Christ did the work,
I will not contradict. Spare no offerings to Him. Prometheus also
sacrificed himself for man; but, alas! Prometheus is an invention
of the poets apparently, while people worthy of credit have told me
that they saw Christ with their own eyes. I agree with thee that He
is the most worthy of the gods.
"I remember the question by Paul of Tarsus, and I think that if
Ahenobarbus lived according to Christ's teaching I might have
time to visit you in Sicily. In that case we could converse, in the
shade of trees and near fountains, of all the gods and all the truths
discussed by Greek philosophers at any time. To-day I must give
thee a brief answer.
"I care for two philosophers only: Pyrrho and Anacreon. I am ready
to sell the rest to thee cheaply, with all the Greek and Roman
Stoics. Truth, Vinicius, dwells somewhere so high that the gods
themselves cannot see it from the top of Olympus. To thee,
carissime, thy Olympus seems higher still, and, standing there,
thou callest to me, 'Come, thou wilt see such sights as thou hast
not seen yet!' I might. But I answer, 'I have not feet for the journey.'
And if thou read this letter to the end, thou wilt acknowledge, I
think, that I am right.
"No, happy husband of the Aurora princess! thy religion is not for
me. Am I to love the Bithynians who carry my litter, the Egyptians
who heat my bath? Am I to love Ahenobarbus and Tigellinus? I
swear by the white knees of the Graces, that even if I wished to
love them I could not. In Rome there are a hundred thousand
persons at least who have either crooked shoulders, or big knees,
or thin thighs, or staring eyes, or heads that are too large. Dost thou
command me to love these too? Where am I to find the love, since
it is not in my heart? And if thy God desires me to love such
persons, why in His all might did He not give them the forms of
Niobe's children, for example, which thou hast seen on the
Palatine? Whoso loves beauty is unable for that very reason to love
deformity. One may not believe in our gods, but it is possible to
love them, as Phidias, Praxiteles, Miron, Skopas, and Lysias loved.
"Should I wish to go whither thou wouldst lead me, I could not.
But since I do not wish, I am doubly unable. Thou believest, like
Paul of Tarsus, that on the other side of the Styx thou wilt see thy
Christ in certain Elysian fields. Let Him tell thee then Himself
whether He would receive me with my gems, my Myrrhene vase,
my books published by Sozius, and my golden-haired Eunice. I
laugh at this thought; for Paul of Tarsus told me that for Christ's
sake one must give up wreaths of roses, feasts, and luxury. It is
true that he promised me other happiness, but I answered that I
was too old for new happiness, that my eyes would be delighted
always with roses, and that the odor of violets is dearer to me than
stench from my foul neighbor of the Subura.
"These are reasons why thy happiness is not for me. But there is
one reason more, which I have reserved for the last: Thanatos
summons me. For thee the light of life is beginning; but my sun
has set, and twilight is embracing my head. In other words, I must
die, carissime.
"It is not worth while to talk long of this. It had to end thus. Thou,
who knowest Ahenobarbus, wilt understand the position easily.
Tigellinus has conquered, or rather my victories have touched their
end. I have lived as I wished, and I will die as pleases me.
"Do not take this to heart. No God has promised me immortality;
hence no surprise meets me. At the same time thou art mistaken,
Vinicius, in asserting that only thy God teaches man to die calmly.
No. Our world knew, before thou wert born, that when the last cup
was drained, it was time to go, -- time to rest, -- and it knows yet
how to do that with calmness. Plato declares that virtue is music,
that the life of a sage is harmony. If that be true, I shall die as I
have lived, -- virtuously.
"I should like to take farewell of thy godlike wife in the words
with which on a time I greeted her in the house of Aulus, 'Very
many persons have I seen, but thy equal I know not.'
"If the soul is more than what Pyrrho thinks, mine will fly to thee
and Lygia, on its way to the edge of the ocean, and will alight at
your house in the form of a butterfly or, as the Egyptians believe,
in the form of a sparrowhawk. Otherwise I cannot come.
"Meanwhile let Sicily replace for you the gardens of Hesperides;
may the goddesses of the fields, woods, and fountains scatter
flowers on your path, and may white doves build their nests on
every acanthus of the columns of your house." _
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