Callista : a Tale of the Third Century

by John Henry Newman

  CHAPTER VIII.

  THE NEW GENERATION.

  Jucundus, then, set out to see how the land lay with his nephew, and to dowhat he could to prosper the tillage. His way led him by the temple ofMercury, which at that time subserved the purpose of a boy's school, andwas connected with some academical buildings, the property of the city,which lay beyond it. It cannot be said that our friend was any warm patronof literature or education, though he had not neglected the schooling ofhis nephews. Letters seemed to him in fact to unsettle the mind; and hehad never known much good come of them. Rhetoricians and philosophers didnot know where they stood, or what were their bearings. They did not knowwhat they held, and what they did not. He knew his own position perfectlywell, and, though the words "belief" or "knowledge" did not come into hisreligious vocabulary, he could at once, without hesitation, state what heprofessed and maintained. He stood upon the established order of things,on the traditions of Rome, and the laws of the empire; but as to Greeksophists and declaimers, he thought very much as old Cato did about them.The Greeks were a very clever people, unrivalled in the fine arts; letthem keep to their strong point; they were inimitable with the chisel, thebrush, the trowel, and the fingers; but he was not prepared to think muchof their _calamus_ or _stylus_, poetry excepted. What did they ever do butsubvert received principles without substituting any others? And then theywere so likely to take some odd turn themselves; you never could be sureof them. Socrates, their patriarch, what was he after all but a culprit, aconvict, who had been obliged to drink hemlock, dying under the hands ofjustice? Was this a reputable end, a respectable commencement of thephilosophic family? It was very well for Plato or Xenophon to throw a veilof romance over the transaction, but this was the plain matter of fact.Then Anaxagoras had been driven out of Athens for his revolutionarynotions; and Diogenes had been accused, like the Christians, of atheism.The case had been the same in more recent times. There had been thatmadman, Apollonius, roaming about the world; Apuleius, too, theirneighbour, fifty years before, a man of respectable station, a gentleman,but a follower of the Greek philosophy, a dabbler in magic, and apretender to miracles. And so, in fact, of letters generally; as in theirown country Minucius, a contemporary of Apuleius, became a Christian.Such, too, had been his friend Octavius; such Caecilius, who even becameone of the priests of the sect, and seduced others from the religion hehad left. One of them had been the public talk for several years, and hetoo originally a rhetorician, Thascius Cyprianus of Carthage. It was theone thing which gave him some misgiving about that little Callista, thatshe was a Greek.

  As he passed the temple, the metal plate was sounding as a signal for thetermination of the school, and on looking towards the portico with anill-natured curiosity, he saw a young acquaintance of his, a youth ofabout twenty, coming out of it, leading a boy of about half that age, withhis satchel thrown over his shoulder.

  "Well, Arnobius,"(2) he cried, "how does rhetoric proceed? are we to takethe law line, or turn professor? Who's the boy? some younger brother?"

  "I've taken pity on the little fool," answered Arnobius; "theseschoolmasters are a savage lot. I suffered enough from them myself, and'miseris succurrere disco.' So I took him from under the roof of friendRupilius, and he's under my tutelage. How did he treat thee, boy?"

  "He treated me like a slave or a Christian," answered he.

  "He deserved it, I'll warrant," said Jucundus; "a pert, forward imp. 'TwasGete against Briton. Much good comes of schooling! He's a wicked onealready. Ah, the new generation! I don't know where the world's going."

  "Tell the gentleman," said Arnobius, "what he did first to you, my boy."

  "As the good gentleman says," answered the boy, "first I did something tohim, and then he did something to me."

  "I told you so," said Jucundus; "a sensible boy, after all; but theschoolmaster had the best of it, I'll wager."

  "First," answered he, "I grinned in his face, and he took off his woodenshoe, and knocked out one of my teeth."

  "Good," said Jucundus, "the justice of Pythagoras. Zaleuchus could nothave done better. The mouth sins, and the mouth suffers."

  "Next," continued he, "I talked in school-time to my chum; and Rupiliusput a gag in my jaws, and kept them open for an hour."

  "The very Rhadamanthus of schoolmasters!" cried Jucundus: "and thereuponyou struck up a chant, divine though inarticulate, like the statue ofMemnon."

  "Then," said the boy, "I could not say my Virgil, and he tore the shirtfrom off my back, and gave it me with the leather."

  "Ay," answered Jucundus, " 'arma virumque' branded on your hide."

  "Afterwards I ate his dinner for him," continued the boy, "and then hescrewed my head, and kept me without food for two days."

  "Your throat, you mean," said Jucundus; "a cautious man! lest you shouldsteal a draught or two of good strong air."

  "And lastly," said he, "I did not bring my pence, and then he tied myhands to a gibbet, and hung me up _in terrorem_."

  "There I came in," said Arnobius; "he seemed a pretty boy, so I cut himdown, paid his aera, and took him home."

  "And now he is your pupil?" asked Jucundus.

  "Not yet," answered Arnobius; "he is still a day-scholar of the oldwolf's; one is like another; he could not change for the better: but I amhis bully, and shall tutorize him some day. He's a sharp lad, isn't he,Firmian?" turning to the boy; "a great hand at composition for his years;better than I am, who never shall write Latin decently. Yet what can I do?I must profess and teach, for Rome is the only place for the law, andthese city professorships are not to be despised."

  "Whom are you attending here?" asked Jucundus, drily.

  "You are the only man in Sicca who needs to ask the question. What! notknow the great Polemo of Rhodes, the friend of Plotinus, the pupil ofTheagenes, the disciple of Thrasyllus, the hearer of Nicomachus, who wasof the school of Secundus, the doctor of the new Pythagoreans? Not feelthe presence in Sicca of Polemo, the most celebrated, the most intolerableof men? That, however, is not his title, but the 'godlike,' or the'oracular,' or the 'portentous,' or something else as impressive. Everyone goes to him. He is the rage. I should not have a chance of success ifI could not say that I had attended his lectures; though I'd be bound ourlittle Firmian here would deliver as good. He's the very cariophyllus ofhuman nature. He comes to the schools in a litter of cedar, ornamentedwith silver and covered with a lion's skin, slaves carrying him, and acrowd of friends attending, with the state of a proconsul. He is dressedin the most exact style; his pallium is of the finest wool, white, pickedout with purple; his tresses flow with unguent, his fingers glitter withrings, and he smells like Idalium. As soon as he puts foot on earth, agreat hubbub of congratulation and homage breaks forth. He takes nonotice; his favourite pupils form a circle round him, and conduct him intoone of the _exedrae_, till the dial shows the time for lecture. Here hesits in silence, looking at nothing, or at the wall opposite him, talkingto himself, a hum of admiration filling the room. Presently one of hispupils, as if he were praeco to the duumvir, cries out, 'Hush, gentlemen,hush! the godlike'--no, it is not that. I've not got it. What _is_ histitle? 'the Bottomless,' that's it--'the Bottomless speaks.' A dead silenceensues; a clear voice and a measured elocution are the sure token that itis the outpouring of the oracle. 'Pray,' says the little man, 'pray, whichexisted first, the egg or the chick? Did the chick lay the egg, or the egghatch the chick?' Then there ensues a whispering, a disputing, and after awhile a dead silence. At the end of a quarter of an hour or so, our praecospeaks again, and this time to the oracle. 'Bottomless man,' he says, 'Ihave to represent to you that no one of the present company finds himselfequal to answer the question, which your condescension has proposed to ourconsideration!' On this there is a fresh silence, and at length a fresh_effatum_ from the hierophant: 'Which comes first, the egg or the chick?The egg comes first in relation to the causativity of the chick, and thechick comes first in relation to the causativi
ty of the egg,' on whichthere is a burst of applause; the ring of adorers is broken through, andthe shrinking professor is carried in the arms or on the shoulders of theliterary crowd to his chair in the lecture-room."

  Much as there was in Arnobius's description which gratified Jucundus'sprejudices, he had suspicions of his young acquaintance, and was not inthe humour to be pleased unreservedly with those who satirized anythingwhatever that was established, or was appointed by government, evenaffectation and pretence. He said something about the wisdom of ages, thereverence due to authority, the institutions of Rome, and the magistratesof Sicca. "Do not go after novelties," he said to Arnobius; "make a dailylibation to Jove, the preserver, and to the genius of the emperor, andthen let other things take their course."

  "But you don't mean I must believe all this man says, because thedecurions have put him here?" cried Arnobius. "Here is this Polemo sayingthat Proteus is matter, and that minerals and vegetables are his flock;that Proserpine is the vital influence, and Ceres the efficacy of theheavenly bodies; that there are mundane spirits, and supramundane; andthen his doctrine about triads, monads, and progressions of the celestialgods?"

  "Hm!" said Jucundus; "they did not say so when I went to school; but keepto my rule, my boy, and swear by the genius of Rome and the emperor."

  "I don't believe in god or goddess, emperor or Rome, or in any philosophy,or in any religion at all," said Arnobius.

  "What!" cried Jucundus, "you're not going to desert the gods of yourancestors?"

  "Ancestors?" said Arnobius; "I've no ancestors. I'm not African certainly,not Punic, not Libophoenician, not Canaanite, not Numidian, not Gaetulian.I'm half Greek, but what the other half is I don't know. My good oldgaffer, you're one of the old world. I believe nothing. Who can? There issuch a racket and whirl of religions on all sides of me that I am sick ofthe subject."

  "Ah, the rising generation!" groaned Jucundus; "you young men! I cannotprophesy what you will become, when we old fellows are removed from thescene. Perhaps you're a Christian?"

  Arnobius laughed. "At least I can give you comfort on that head, oldgrandfather. A pretty Christian _I_ should make, indeed! seeing visions,to be sure, and rejoicing in the rack and dungeon! I wish to enjoy life; Isee wealth, power, rank, and pleasure to be worth living for, and I seenothing else."

  "Well said, my lad," cried Jucundus, "well said; stick to that. I declareyou frightened me. Give up all visions, speculations, conjectures,fancies, novelties, discoveries; nothing comes of them but confusion."

  "No, no," answered the youth; "I'm not so wild as you seem to think,Jucundus. It is true I don't believe one single word about the gods; butin their worship was I born, and in their worship I will die."

  "Admirable!" cried Jucundus in a transport; "well, I'm surprised; you havetaken me by surprise. You're a fine fellow; you are a boy after my heart.I've a good mind to adopt you."

  "You see I can't believe one syllable of all the priests' trash," saidArnobius; "who does? not they. I don't believe in Jupiter or Juno, or inAstarte or in Isis; but where shall I go for anything better? or why needI seek anything good or bad in that line? Nothing's known anywhere, andlife would go while I attempted what is impossible. No, better stay whereI am; I may go further, and gain a loss for my pains. So you see I am formyself, and for the genius of Rome."

  "That's the true principle," answered the delighted Jucundus. "Why,really, for so young a man, surprising! Where _did_ you get so much goodsense, my dear fellow? _I've_ seen very little of you. Well, this I'llsay, you are a youth of most mature mind. To be sure! Well! Such youthsare rare now-a-days. I congratulate you with all my heart on your strongsense and your admirable wisdom. Who'd have thought it? I've always, totell the truth, had a little suspicion of you; but you've come out nobly.Capital! I don't wish you to believe in the gods if you can't; but it'syour duty, dear boy, your duty to Rome to maintain them, and to rallyround them when attacked." Then with a changed voice, he added, "Ah, thata young friend of mine had your view of the matter!" and then, fearing hehad said too much, he stopped abruptly.

  "You mean Agellius," said Arnobius. "You've heard, by-the-bye," hecontinued in a lower tone, "what's the talk in the Capitol, that at Romethey are proceeding on a new plan against the Christians with greatsuccess. They don't put to death, at least at once; they keep in prison,and threaten the torture. It's surprising how many come over."

  "The Furies seize them!" exclaimed Jucundus: "they deserve everything bad,always excepting my poor boy. So they are cheating the hangman by givingup their atheism, the vile reptiles, giving in to a threat. However," headded gravely, "I wish threats would answer with Agellius; but I greatlyfear that menace would only make him stubborn. That stubbornness of aChristian! O Arnobius!" he said, shaking his head and looking solemn,"it's a visitation from the gods, a sort of _nympholepsia_."

  "It's going out," said Arnobius, "mark my words; the frenzy is dying. It'sonly wonderful it should have lasted for three centuries. The report runsthat in some places, when the edict was published, the Christians did notwait for a summons, but swept up to the temples to sacrifice, like a shoalof tunnies. The magistrates were obliged to take so many a day; and, asthe days went on, none so eager to bring over the rest as those who havealready become honest men. Nay, not a few of their mystic or esotericclass have conformed."

  "If so, unless Agellius looks sharp," said Jucundus, "his sect will givehim up before he gives up his sect. Christianity will be converted beforehim."

  "Oh, don't fear for him!" said Arnobius; "I knew him at school. Boysdiffer; some are bold and open. They like to be men, and to dare the deedsof men; they talk freely, and take their swing in broad day. Others areshy, reserved, bashful, and are afraid to do what they love quite as muchas the others. Agellius never could rub off this shame, and it has takenthis turn. He's sure to outgrow it in a year or two. I should not wonderif, when once he had got over it, he went into the opposite fault. You'llfind him a drinker and a swaggerer and a spendthrift before many years areover."

  "Well, that's good news," said Jucundus; "I mean, I am glad you think hewill shake off these fancies. I don't believe they sit very close to himmyself."

  He walked on for a while in silence; then he said, "That seems a sharpchild, Arnobius. Could he do me a service if I wanted it? Does he knowAgellius?"

  "Know him?" answered the other; "yes, and his farm too. He has rambledround Sicca, many is the mile. And he knows the short cuts, and the blindways, and safe circuits."

  "What's the boy's name?" asked Jucundus.

  "Firmian," answered Arnobius. "Firmian Lactantius."

  "I say, Firmian," said Jucundus to him, "where are you to be found of aday, my boy?"

  "At class morning and afternoon," answered Firmian, "sleeping in theporticoes in midday, nowhere in the evening, and roosting with Arnobius atnight."

  "And you can keep a secret, should it so happen?" asked Jucundus, "and doan errand, if I gave you one?"

  "I'll give him the stick worse than Rupilius, if he does not," saidArnobius.

  "A bargain," cried Jucundus; and, waving his hand to them, he steptthrough the city gate, and they returned to their afternoon amusements.