Ernst Eckstein

“ But what we call God, dear Cornelia, has nothing in common with those empty mockeries. Our God dwells not in a temple made with hands. Our God is a Spirit, and the very essence of all that lives in us, round us and above us, and that stirs our souls to joy and sorrow. He is in the light that shines from heaven; the blossom that unfolds in Spring; the passions that bind your heart to mine, and the courage that will support me to face death without blenching, for the faith’s sake.”
“Death!” cried Cornelia in despair. “Quintus—my darling; Death! ”

“ The world is rotten, rotten at the core—it must crumble into dust.—Come now, you two who are faithful. Take me away from this scene of murder.—Abandoned, mad wretch!”
“Do not let it weigh too heavily on your mind,” said Parthenius. “Women often have such crazes. If once a girl has taken it into her head, that she must guard her honor.... The greatest triumph you could now achieve, and the best punishment for the crime she dared to attempt, would be cold-blooded mockery and compulsion....”
“The gods forbid!” cried Domitian in horror. “The woman is a demon. ”

“ Is it conceivable?”
“What—do you hesitate?”
“Swear to me by all the immortals, by your own life and your hopes of bliss....”
“Well, my daughter,” said Barbillus, raising his right hand to heaven, “I swear by Isis of the thousand names, by the happiness of my life and the future bliss of my soul; the ruler of the world himself will vouchsafe to appear to you, the mighty lord before whom all grovel in the dust, from the rising to the setting of the sun.”
“Oh! I thank thee!” cried Cornelia in a transport. “Let me kneel, holy Father, and wait in all humility till your words are fulfilled.” ”

“ It is to no mortal, but to the gods alone that you have to confess your crime. Humility before the gods is no dishonor....”
“Your gods are not mine,” cried Quintus vehemently. “A confessor of the true God can never sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus.”
“Who is the true God, but he whose care and rule we see, wherever we turn our eyes, and feel in our souls? Are you so utterly degenerate, that you have learnt to confound the great universal spirit—whom our fathers worshipped as Jupiter, the Father of Light—with a mortal—with a Jewish revolutionary, whom the imperial governor silenced by death?” ”

“ Raising his hands, he spoke in a deep voice, audible in every corner:
“Jupiter, the merciful and mighty one! Save and defend this city, that thou hast made great!”
“Defend this city, that thou hast made great!” echoed from the chorus; and Quintus too moved his lips in a faint whisper.
“Blast the foes of the Roman name with the lightnings of thy wrath!” Titus Claudius went on, and again the choir repeated the words.
“More especially destroy all reprobates and traitors, who hoist the standard of superstition and plot the ruin of society. Crush the foul brood of rebellious Nazarenes!” ”

“ Do you think you know Rome, my good Cornelia? Nay—you only know the narrow, cross-grained, little world, that your uncle chose you should see. If you had eyes for all that goes on round you, you would make no difficulties. Did not Julia enjoy the most splendid position, although her connection with Caesar was a breach of morals, as it is called? Is there anywhere in good society a single married woman, who has not a dozen of lovers? And do the clients and slaves bow less low before her? Men must live their lives. ”

“ Cneius Afranius knows it, and sooner or later he will make himself heard. But kill me all the same. For me death can hardly hold more terrors than life.”
Stephanus had dropped his arms by his side; a flash of implacable hatred glared in his eyes.
“Wretch! you dared.... But you triumph too soon; Afranius is an exile, banned as a traitor....”
“By Caesar,” added Eurymachus. “But even Caesars are mortal and human. Take my word for it, that exile will see an end. The wrath of God is hanging over the head of the tyrant, who gives the servants of God to be devoured by beasts. ”

“ Quintus sat staring into the darkness for some little time. Then he felt his way round the wall to the bed, lay down on the mildewed worsted blanket and covered himself with his lacerna. After once more dedicating himself to God and his conscience, even unto death, he repeated the short prayer that the congregation had used on the occasion of his reception under the covenant. He had heard the words but once, but they were graven on his soul—those simple child-like words: “Our Father”—and then he fell asleep, as soundly and quietly as if he were lying on the soft cushions of his own cubiculum. ”

“ The door turned heavily on its hinges, and with a half-suppressed cry of rapture and sorrow, Quintus and Cornelia were in each other’s arms. Pain and love, despair and hope, broke in that cry from their trembling hearts.
After the first storm of feeling had subsided, Cornelia took her lover’s hand, and looked up to him like a child beseeching a favor.
“Quintus,” she began tenderly, “how cruel you have grown. Do men then understand the meaning of no other word than Pride? Must everything be sacrificed to that idol—even all that is sweetest and most sacred? ”

“ Before him stood Caius Aurelius, with eight soldiers of the northern army.
“Quintus!” he cried, with open arms. “The gods be praised! Rise, noble Cornelia. Why do you gaze at me, as if you saw a ghost? I am Aurelius. I have brought you freedom.”
“Caius?” stammered Quintus, almost speechless with surprise and new-born hopes. “You here—tell me, what has happened?”
“Rome is ours. More than half the Praetorian guard have sworn fidelity to Cocceius Nerva. The Palatium was invested an hour ago. You shall hear it all, but oh! my senses are reeling...! ”

“ Does it charm your hopes more to bleed to death under the fangs of Libyan beasts, than to be clasped in the arms of your Cornelia? Does the air of the Tullianum please you better, than the perfumed atmosphere of your own rooms? You have everything, every single thing your heart can desire, and you must plunge into dark gulfs of crime, soil your soul with the foul mire of superstition—nay, call yourself the brother of vile slaves, of panders and corpse-carriers!”
“I follow the light of truth,” replied Quintus. “You are wrong, father, in regarding the Nazarenes as mere vile rabble. ”

“ Cornelia herself was perfectly unmoved. Though she had no ground for that happy assurance and sustaining comfort, which her companions found in their confident faith, she was invincible through her stolid contempt for life which, now that all hope was over, seemed to petrify her spirit and her senses. To live without Quintus was simply impossible. If Fate would not relinquish this victim, if the dark sisters were inexorable to her overwhelming grief, she could have but one wish: to die with the man she loved. To be free from this torment, to vanish into nothingness ”

“ Throw me into the lowest depths of your ergastulum, and leave me there to rot before I die. Send me to join your father—aye, your father—for I know it, and Afranius knows it—it was not your uncle even, but your own father, who was the victim of your brutal crime.”
“Silence!” roared Stephanus, “or I will murder you!” and he flew at the slave. But something in the man’s lofty indifference again stayed the blow.
“Is it loathing and horror of yourself, that hold you back?” asked Eurymachus. “Aye, shudder, Stephanus, and quail! Yes—I saw him, the hapless wretch, half-mad on his filthy bed of straw. ”

“ This law, which in accordance with my every conviction I feel bound to oppose, not only threatens to cripple the public mind; it will destroy all the peace and happiness of family life. Tale-telling and dishonorable espionage, to a very grave extent, will be the inevitable out-come—and of these, as it is, Rome needs no increase! A law, which offers a prize, as it were, to the informer—such a law, I say, is death to the morality and mutual confidence of the people. I have warned you! Do not calmly lend a hand in forging a weapon, which threatens thousands of peaceful citizens with death. ”

“ There is no help for you now; and besides,” he added with a jeer, “the beasts will only be all the hungrier.”
“Control yourself and pray to God,” whispered Diphilus.
“I cannot, I cannot,” sobbed Euterpe falling on her knees. “Why must I die—and I am so young, and this world is a very pleasant one! Mercy, for Christ’s sake have mercy! No, no, I am not a Christian. I am innocent, indeed I am. I was misled—go and tell Caesar, tell the cruel judges. I cannot die, I will repent before the altar of Jupiter—only let me live, and my good honest Diphilus.” ”

“ For the glory of our common faith I intended, as soon as Quintus Claudius should appear on the arena, to hasten down to meet him, to thank him once more for the infinite, loving kindness he has shown to a poor slave, and to suffer the same death by his side. Then your spies seized me. Well, who knows whether this disaster, which at first drove me to despair, is not rather the merciful dealing of Providence? You are all-powerful; your wisdom rules the Empress. ”

“ The priest sadly shook his head.
“So long as our Quintus lies pining in a dungeon, I cannot have an hour’s rest. What I must do, how and where to set to work—I have no idea. But I must try everything—everything. And alas! Rome is a wide world, and the roads are endless, dear Octavia—if only one of them might lead to the goal. Yes, one does—that I know full well—but it is a bloody and thorny path....”
“I do not understand you.”
“No?” said the priest with a strange smile. “Well, if the law demands a victim, it might be possible to effect an exchange. ”

“ You are the son of a family whose happiness is centred in you, and the very idol of a devoted girl, who must die.—Do you hear me, Quintus? I shall die, if this hideous law hurts even a hair of your head. But I know, I know: in the eyes of a Roman and a Claudius, the only virtue is to persist in a thing you have once undertaken. Your poets praise tenacity as the crown of glory. [98] You would rather run headlong into error, than turn round and seek the right path. But in this case, Quintus—you must own it yourself—there is a tenacity, a wilfulness, which is a crime. ”

“ But Nerva, our new Emperor, is innocent of blood; he, mild and just, ordered me to strike off the chains of the Nazarenes. We hurried at our utmost speed from the shores of Gaul to Rome, and the gods willed it, that I should arrive just in time to rescue Quintus and the noble Cornelia. The decree, which pronounced them guilty, is abrogated.”
The high-priest had listened to him, motionless and silent; Palaemon went forward to interrupt the conversation.
“Not yet, my good friend,” said Titus Claudius with a grateful smile. “You need fear nothing for me. New life is dancing in every vein. ”