Aurelian; or Rome in the Third Century Read online

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  AURELIAN;

  OR,

  ROME IN THE THIRD CENTURY

  IN LETTERS OF LUCIUS M. PISO, FROM ROME, TO FAUSTA,THE DAUGHTER OF GRACCHUS, AT PALMYRA.

  BY

  WILLIAM WARE,

  AUTHOR OF "ZENOBIA," "JULIAN," ETC.

  _FIFTH EDITION._

  _TWO VOLUMES COMPLETE IN ONE._

  VOL. I.

  NEW YORK:PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER,(SUCCESSOR TO C. S. FRANCIS & CO.)647 BROADWAY.1874.

  Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1838, By CHARLES S. FRANCIS, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New York.

  * * * * *

  Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1866, By MARY WARE, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New York.

  NOTICE.

  This book--a sequel to Zenobia--published nearly ten years ago under thename of 'Probus,' was soon republished, in several places abroad, underthat of 'Aurelian.' So far from complaining of the innovation, I couldnot but regard it as a piece of good fortune, as I had myself longthought the present a more appropriate title than the one originallychosen. Add to this, that the publisher of the work, on lately proposinga new edition, urgently advised the adoption of the foreign name, and Ihave thought myself sufficiently warranted in an alteration whichcircumstances seemed almost to require, or, at least, to excuse.

  W. W.

  * * * * *

  AURELIAN.

  The record which follows, is by the hand of me, NICOMACHUS, once thehappy servant of the great Queen of Palmyra, than whom the world neversaw a queen more illustrious, or a woman adorned with brighter virtues.But my design is not to write her eulogy, or to recite the wonderfulstory of her life. That task requires a stronger and a more impartialhand than mine. The life of Zenobia by Nicomachus, would be the portraitof a mother and a divinity, drawn by the pen of a child and aworshipper.

  My object is a humbler, but perhaps also a more useful one. It is tocollect and arrange, in their proper order, such of the letters of themost noble LUCIUS MANLIUS PISO, as shall throw most light upon hischaracter and times, supplying all defects of incident, and filling upall chasms that may occur, out of the knowledge which more exactly thanany one else, I have been able to gather concerning all that relates tothe distinguished family of the Pisos, after its connection with themore distinguished one still, of the Queen of Palmyra.

  It is in this manner that I propose to amuse the few remaining days of agreen old age, not without hope both to amuse and benefit others also.This is a labor, as those will discover who read, not unsuitable to onewho stands trembling on the verge of life, and whom a single rude blastmay in a moment consign to the embraces of the universal mother. I willnot deny that my chief satisfaction springs from the fact, that incollecting these letters, and binding them together by a connectingnarrative, I am engaged in the honorable task of tracing out some of thesteps by which the new religion has risen to its present height ofpower. For whether true or false, neither friend nor foe, neitherphilosopher nor fool, can refuse to admit the regenerating and genialinfluences of its so wide reception upon the Roman character andmanners. If not the gift of the gods, it is every way worthy a divineorigin; and I cannot but feel myself to be worthily occupied inrecording the deeds, the virtues, and the sufferings, of those who puttheir faith in it, and, in times of danger and oppression, stood forthto defend it. Age is slow of belief. The thoughts then cling with aviolent pertinacity to the fictions of its youth, once held to be themost sacred realities. But for this I should, I believe, myself long agohave been a Christian. I daily pray to the Supreme Power that mystubborn nature may yet so far yield, that I may be able, with a freeand full assent, to call myself a follower of Christ. A Greek by birth,a Palmyrene by choice and adoption, a Roman by necessity--and these areall honorable names--I would yet rather be a Christian than either.Strange that, with so strong desires after a greater good, I shouldremain fixed where I have ever been! Stranger still, seeing I have movedso long in the same sphere with the excellent Piso, the divineJulia--that emanation of God--and the god-like Probus! But there is noriddle so hard for man to read as himself. I sometimes feel mostinclined toward the dark fatalism of the stoics, since it places allthings beyond the region of conjecture or doubt.

  Yet if I may not be a Christian myself--I do not, however, cease both tohope and pray--I am happy in this, that I am permitted by the DivineProvidence to behold, in these the last days of life, the quietsupremacy of a faith which has already added so much to the commonhappiness, and promises so much more. Having stood in the midst, andlooked upon the horrors of two persecutions of the Christians--the firstby Aurelian and the last by Diocletian--which last seemed at one momentas if it would accomplish its work, and blot out the very name ofChristian--I have no language in which to express the satisfaction withwhich I sit down beneath the peaceful shadows of a Christian throne, andbehold the general security and exulting freedom enjoyed by the manymillions throughout the vast empire of the great Constantine. Now,everywhere around, the Christians are seen, undeterred by anyapprehension of violence, with busy hands reerecting the demolishedtemples of their pure and spiritual faith; yet not unmindful, in themean time, of the labor yet to be done, to draw away the remainingmultitudes of idolaters from the superstitions which, while theyinfatuate, degrade and brutalize them. With the zeal of the earlyapostles of this religion, they are applying themselves, with untiringdiligence, to soften and subdue the stony heart of hoary Paganism,receiving but too often, as their only return, curses and threats--nowhappily vain--and retiring from the assault, leading in glad triumphcaptive multitudes. Often, as I sit at my window, overlooking, from thesouthern slope of the Quirinal, the magnificent Temple of the Sun, theproudest monument of Aurelian's reign, do I pause to observe the laborsof the artificers who, just as it were beneath the shadow of itscolumns, are placing the last stones upon the dome of a Christianchurch. Into that church the worshippers shall enter unmolested;mingling peacefully, as they go and return, with the crowds that throngthe more gorgeous temple of the idolaters. Side by side, undisturbed andfree, do the Pagans and Christians, Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians, nowobserve the rites, and offer the worship, of their varying faiths. Thishappiness we owe to the wise and merciful laws of the great Constantine.So was it, long since, in Palmyra, under the benevolent rule of Zenobia.May the time never come, when Christians shall do otherwise than now;when, remembering the wrongs they have received, they shall retaliatetorture and death upon the blind adherents of the ancient superstition!

  These letters of Piso to Fausta the daughter of Gracchus, now follow.