Callista : a Tale of the Third Century

by John Henry Newman

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  AGELLIUS FLITS.

  A change had passed over the fair face of Nature, as seen from the cottageof Agellius, since that evening on which our story opened; and it is sopainful to contemplate waste, decay, and disappointment, that we mean tosay little about it. There was the same cloudless sky as then; and the suntravelled in its silent and certain course, with even a more intensedesire than then to ripen grain and fruit for the use of man; but itsoccupation was gone, for fruit and grain were not, nor man to collect andto enjoy them. A dark broad shadow passed across the beautiful prospectand disfigured it. When you looked more closely, it was as if a fire hadburned up the whole surface included under that shadow, and had strippedthe earth of its clothing. Nothing had escaped; not a head of khennah, nota rose or carnation, not an orange or an orange blossom, not a _boccone_,not a cluster of unripe grapes, not a berry of the olive, not a blade ofgrass. Gardens, meadows, vineyards, orchards, copses, instead of rejoicingin the rich variety of hue which lately was their characteristic, were nowreduced to one dreary cinder-colour. The smoke of fires was actuallyrising from many points, where the spoilt and poisonous vegetation wasburning in heaps, or the countless corpses of the invading foe, or of thecattle, or of the human beings whom the pestilence had carried off. Themost furious inroad of savage hordes, of Vandals, or of Saracens, who weredestined at successive eras to come and waste that country, could not havespread such thorough desolation. The slaves of the farm of Varius weresorrowfully turning to a new employment, that of clearing away the wreckand disappointment of the bright spring from flower-bed, vineyard, andfield.

  It was on the forenoon of the eventful day whose course we have beentracing in the preceding Chapters, that a sharp-looking boy presentedhimself to Agellius, who was directing his labourers in their work. "I amcome from Jucundus," he said; "he has instant need of you. You are to gowith me, and by my way; and this is the proof I tell you truth. He sendsyou this note, and wishes you in a bad time the best gifts of Bacchus andCeres."

  Agellius took the tablets, and went with them across the road to the placewhere Caecilius was at work, in appearance a slave. The letter ranthus:--"Jucundus to Agellius. I trust you are well enough to move; you arenot safe for many days in your cottage; there is a rising this morningagainst the Christians, and you may be visited. Unless you are ambitiousof Styx and Tartarus, follow the boy without questioning." Agellius showedthe letter to the priest.

  "We are no longer safe here, my father," he said; "whither shall we go?Let us go together. Can you take me to Carthage?"

  "Carthage is quite as dangerous," answered Caecilius, "and Sicca is morecentral. We can but leap into the sea at Carthage; here there are manylines to retreat upon. I am known there, I am not known here. Here, too, Ihear all that goes on through the proconsulate and Numidia."

  "But what can we do?" asked Agellius; "here we cannot remain, and you atleast cannot venture into the city. Somewhither we must go, and where isthat?"

  The priest thought. "We must separate," he said. The tears came intoAgellius's eyes.

  "Though I am a stranger," continued Caecilius, "I know more of theneighbourhood of Sicca than you who are a native. There is a famousChristian retreat on the north of the city, and by this time, I doubt not,or rather I know, it is full of refugees. The fury of the enemy isextending on all hands, and our brethren, from as far as Cirtha round toCurubis, are falling back upon it. The only difficulty is how to get roundto it without going through Sicca."

  "Let us go together," said Agellius.

  Caecilius showed signs of perplexity, and his mind retired into itself. Heseemed for the moment to be simply absent from the scene about him, butsoon his intelligence returned. "No," he said, "we must separate,--for thetime; it will not be for long. That is, I suppose, your uncle will takegood care of you, and he has influence. We are safest just now when mostindependent of each other. It is only for a while. We shall meet againsoon; I tell you so. Did we keep together just now, it would be the worsefor each of us. You go with the boy; I will go off to the place Imentioned."

  "O my father," said the youth, "how will you get there? What shall Isuffer from my fears about you?"

  "Fear not," answered Caecilius, "mind, I tell you so. It will be a tryingtime, but my hour is not yet come. I am good for years yet; so are you,for many more than mine. He will protect and rescue me, though I know nothow. Go, leave me to myself, Agellius!"

  "O my father, my only stay upon earth, whom God sent me in my extremeneed, to whom I owe myself, must I then quit you; must a layman desert apriest; the young the old?... Ah! it is I really, not you, who am withoutprotection. Angels surround you, father; but I am a poor wanderer. Give meyour blessing that evil may not touch me. I go."

  "Do not kneel," said the priest; "they will see you. Stop, I have got totell you how and where to find me." He then proceeded to give him thenecessary instructions. "Walk out," he said, "along the road toThibursicumbur to the third milestone, you will come to a country road;pursue it; walk a thousand steps; then again for the space of seven_paternosters_; and then speak to the man upon your right hand. And nowaway with you, God speed you, we shall not long be parted," and he madethe sign of the cross over him.

  "That old chap gives himself airs," said the boy, when Agellius joinedhim; "what may he be? one of your slaves, Agellius?"

  "You're a pert boy," answered he, "for asking me the question."

  "They say the Christians brought the locusts," said Firmian, "by theirenchantments; and there's a jolly row beginning in the Forum just now. Thereport goes that you are a Christian."

  "That's because your people have nothing better to do than talk againsttheir neighbours."

  "Because you are so soft, rather," said the boy. "Another man would haveknocked me down for saying it; but you are lackadaisical folk, who bearinsults tamely. Arnobius says your father was a Christian."

  "Father and son are not always the same religion now-a-days," saidAgellius.

  "Ay, ay," answered Firmian, "but the Christians came from Egypt: and ascook there is the son of cook, and soldier is son of soldier, soChristian, take my word for it, is the son of a Christian."

  "Christians boast, I believe," answered Agellius, "that they are of no onerace or country, but are members of a large unpatriotic family, whose homeis in the sky."

  "Christians," answered the boy, "would never have framed the great Romanempire; that was the work of heroes. Great Caesar, Marius, Marcus Brutus,Camillus, Cicero, Sylla, Lucullus, Scipio, could never have beenChristians. Arnobius says they are a skulking set of fellows."

  "I suppose you wish to be a hero," said Agellius.

  "I am to be a pleader," answered Firmian; "I should like to be a greatorator like Cicero, and every one listening to me."

  They were walking along the top of a mud wall, which separated Varius'sfarm from his neighbour's, when suddenly Firmian, who led the way, leaptdown into a copse, which reached as far as the ravine in which the knollterminated towards Sicca. The boy still went forward by devious paths,till they had mounted as high as the city wall.

  "You are bringing me where there is no entrance," said Agellius.

  The boy laughed. "Jucundus told me to bring you by a blind way," he said."You know best why. This is one of our ways in and out."

  There was an aperture in the wall, and the bricks and stones about it wereloose, and admitted of removal. It was such a private way of passage asschoolboys know of. On getting through, Agellius found himself in aneglected garden or small close. Everything was silent about them, as ifthe inhabitants were away; there was a great noise in the distance, as ifsomething unusual were going on in the heart of the town. The boy told himto follow him as fast as he could without exciting remark; and, leadinghim by lanes and alleys unknown to Agellius, at last brought him closeupon the scene of riot. At this time the expedition in search ofChristians had just commenced; to cross the Forum was to shorten hisjour
ney, and perhaps was safer than to risk meeting the mob in thestreets. Firmian took the step; and while their attention was directedelsewhere, brought Agellius safely through it. They then proceededcautiously as before, till they stood before the back door of the house ofJucundus.

  "Say a good word for me to your uncle," said the boy, "I have done my job.He must remember me handsomely at the Augustalia," and he ran away.