"Thou liest, Nazarene--"
"Ply him with your pincers," cried Varus,--and the cruel irons were plunged into his flesh. Yet he shrunk not--nor groaned; but his voice was again heard in the midst of the torture,
"Ask him from whose robe came the old and withered heart, the sight of which so unmanned Aurelian--"
"Dash in his mouth," shrieked Fronto, "and stop those lies blacker than h.e.l.l."
But Macer went on, while the irons tore him in every part.
"Ask him too for the instructions and the bribes given to the haruspices, and to those who led the beasts up to the altar. Though I die, Romans, I have left the proof of all this in good hands. I stood the while where I saw it all."
"Thou liest, slave," cried the furious priest; and at the same moment springing forward and seizing an instrument from the hands of one of the tormentors, he struck it into the shoulder of Macer, and the lacerated arm fell from the bleeding trunk. A piercing shriek confessed the inflicted agony.
"Away with him!" cried Varus, "away with him to the rack, and tear him joint from joint!"
At the word he was borne bleeding away, but not insensible nor speechless. All along as he went his voice was heard calling upon G.o.d and Christ, and exhorting the people to abjure their idolatries.
He was soon stretched again upon the rack, which now quickly finished its work; and the Christian Macer, after sufferings which I knew not before that the human frame could so long endure and live, died a martyr to the faith he had espoused; the last words which were heard throughout the hall being these;
"Jesus, I die for thee, and my death is sweet!"
When it was announced to the Prefect that Macer was dead, he exclaimed,
"Take the carca.s.s of the Christian dog and throw it upon the square of the Jews: there let the dogs devour it."
Saying which, he rose from his seat, and, accompanied by Fronto, left by the same way he had before entered the hall of judgment.
Soon as he had withdrawn from the apartment, the base rabble that had filled it, and had glutted their savage souls upon the horrors of that scene, cried out tumultuously for the body of the Christian, which, when it was gladly delivered to them by those who had already had enough of it, they thrust hooks into, and rushed out dragging it toward the place ordained for it by the Prefect. As they came forth into the streets the mob increased to an immense mult.i.tude of those, who seemed possessed of the same spirit. And they had not together proceeded far, filling the air with their cries and uttering maledictions of every form against the unhappy Christians, before a new horror was proclaimed by that blood-thirsty crew. For one of them, suddenly springing up upon the base of one of the public statues, whence he could be heard by the greater part, cried out,
"To the house of Macer! To the house of Macer!"
"Aye, aye," shouted another, "to the house of Macer, in the ruins behind the shop of Demetrius!"
"To the house of Macer!" arose then in one deafening shout from the whole throng; and, filled with this new frenzy, maddened like wild beasts at the prospect of fresh blood, they abandoned there, where they had dragged it, the body of Macer, and put new speed into their feet in their haste to arrive at the place of the expected sport. I knew not then where the ruins were, or it was possible that I might have got in advance of the mob, and given timely warning to the devoted family.
Neither did I know any to whom to apply to discharge such a duty. While I deplored this my helplessness and weakness, I suffered myself to be borne along with the rushing crowd. Their merciless threats, their savage language, better becoming barbarians than a people like this, living in the very centre of civilization, filled me with an undefinable terror. It seemed to me that within reach of such a populace, no people were secure of property or life.
"The Christians," said one, "have had their day and it has been a long one, too long for Rome. Let its night now come."
"Yes," said another, "we will all have a hand in bringing it on. Let every Roman do his share, and they may be easily rooted out."
"I understand," said another, "that it is agreed upon, that whatever the people attempt after their own manner, as in what we are now about, they are not to be interfered with. We are to have free pasturage, and feed where, and as we list."
"Who could suppose," said the first, "it should be different? It is well known that formerly, though there has been no edict to the purpose, the people have not only been permitted, they have been expected, to do their part of the business without being asked or urged. I dare say if we can do up this family of--who is it?"
"Macer, the Christian Macer," interrupted the other;--"we shall receive the thanks of Aurelian, though they be not spoken, as heartily as Varus.
That was a tough old fellow though. They say he has served many years under the Emperor, and when he left the army was in a fair way to rise to the highest rank. Curses upon those who made a Christian of him! It is they, not Varus, who have put him on the rack. But see! are not these the ruins we seek? I hope so, for I have run far enough."
"Yes," replied his companion; "these are the old baths! Now for it!"
The crowd thereupon abandoning the streets, poured itself like an advancing flood among the ruins, filling all the s.p.a.ces and mounting up upon all the still standing fragments of walls and columns. It was not at all evident where the house of the Christian was. It all seemed a confusion of ruins and of dead wall.
"Who can show us," cried out one who took upon himself the office of leader, "where the dwelling of Macer is?"
"I can," responded the slender voice of a little boy; "for I have often been there before they became Christians."
"Show us then, my young urchin; come up hither. Now, lead the way, and we will follow."
"You need go no further," replied the boy; "that is it?"
"That? It is but a stone wall!"
"Still it is the house," replied the child; "but the door is of stone as well as the walls."
At that the crowd began to beat upon the walls, and shout to those who were within to come forth. They had almost wearied themselves out, and were inclined to believe that the boy had given them false information, when, upon a sort of level roof above the projecting ma.s.s which served as the dwelling, a female form suddenly appeared, and, advancing to the edge--not far above, yet beyond, the reach of the mob below--she beckoned to them with her hand, as if she would speak to them.
The crowd, soon as their eyes caught this new object, ceased from their tumultuous cries and prepared to hear what she who approached them thus might have to say. Some, indeed, immediately began to hurl missiles, but they were at once checked by others, who insisted that she should have liberty to speak. And these wretches would have been more savage still than I believed them, if the fair girl who stood there pleading to them had not found some favor. Hers was a bright and sparkling countenance, that at once interested the beholder. Deep blushes spread over her face and bosom, while she stood waiting the pleasure of the heaving mult.i.tude before her.
"Ah! hah!" cried one; "who is she but the dancing girl aelia! she is a dainty bit for us. Who would have thought that she was the daughter of a Christian!"
"I am sorry for her," cried another; "she is too pretty to be torn in pieces. We must save her."
"Say on! say on!" now cried one of the leaders of the crowd as silence succeeded; "we will hear you."
"Whom do you seek?" then asked aelia, addressing him who had spoken.
"You know well enough, my pretty girl," replied the other. "We seek the house and family of Macer the Christian. Is this it? and are you of his household?"
"This," she replied, "is the house of Macer, and I am his daughter. My mother with all her children are below. And now why do you seek us thus?"
"We seek," replied the savage, "not only you but your lives. All you have to do is to unbar this door and let us in."
Though aelia could have supposed that they were come for nothing else, yet the brutal announcement of the terrible truth drove the color from her cheeks, and caused her limbs to tremble. Yet did it not abate her courage, nor take its energy from her mind.
"Good citizens and friends," said she, "for I am sure I must have some friends among you, why should you do us such wrong? We are poor and humble people, and have never had the power, if the will had been ours, to injure you. Leave us in safety, and, if you require it, we will abandon our dwelling and even our native Rome--for we are all native Romans."
"That, my young mistress, will not serve our turn. Are you not, as you said, the family of the Christian Macer?"
"Yes, we are."
"Well," answered the other, "that is the reason we seek you, and mean to have you."
"But," replied the girl, "there must be many among you who would not willingly harm either Macer or anything that is his. Macer is not only a Christian, Romans, but he is a good warm-hearted patriot as ever was born within the compa.s.s of these walls. Brutus himself never loved freedom nor hated tyrants more than he."
"That"s little to the purpose now-a-days," cried one from the crowd.
"There is not a single possession he has," continued aelia, "save only his faith as a Christian, which he would not surrender for the love he bears to Rome and to everything that is Roman. Ever since he was strong enough to draw and wield a sword, has he been fighting for you the battles of our country. If you have seen him, you have seen how cruelly the weapons of the enemy have hacked him. On every limb are there scars of wounds received in battle; and twice, once in Gaul and once in Asia, has he been left for dead upon the field. It was once in Syria, when the battle raged at its highest, and Carinus was suddenly beset by more than he could cope with, and had else fallen into the enemy"s hands a prisoner, or been quickly despatched, that Macer came up and by his single arm saved his general--"
"A great pity that," cried many from the crowd.