Chapter LV
BEFORE the Flavii had reared the Colosseum, amphitheatres in Rome werebuilt of wood mainly; for that reason nearly all of them had burnedduring the fire. But Nero, for the celebration of the promised games,had given command to build several, and among them a gigantic one, forwhich they began, immediately after the fire was extinguished, to bringby sea and the Tiber great trunks of trees cut on the slopes of Atlas;for the games were to surpass all previous ones in splendor and thenumber of victims.
Large spaces were given therefore for people and for animals. Thousandsof mechanics worked at the structure night and day. They built andornamented without rest. Wonders were told concerning pillarsinlaid with bronze, amber, ivory, mother of pearl, and transmarinetortoise-shells. Canals filled with ice-cold water from the mountainsand running along the seats were to keep an agreeable coolness in thebuilding, even during the greatest heat. A gigantic purple velarium gaveshelter from the rays of the sun. Among the rows of seats were disposedvessels for the burning of Arabian perfumes; above them were fixedinstruments to sprinkle the spectators with dew of saffron and verbena.The renowned builders Severus and Celer put forth all their skill toconstruct an amphitheatre at once incomparable and fitted for such anumber of the curious as none of those known before had been able toaccommodate.
Hence, the day when the ludus matutinus was to begin, throngs of thepopulace were awaiting from daylight the opening of the gates, listeningwith delight to the roars of lions, the hoarse growls of panthers, andthe howls of dogs. The beasts had not been fed for two days, but piecesof bloody flesh had been pushed before them to rouse their rage andhunger all the more. At times such a storm of wild voices was raisedthat people standing before the Circus could not converse, and the mostsensitive grew pale from fear.
With the rising of the sun were intoned in the enclosure of the Circushymns resonant but calm. The people heard these with amazement, andsaid one to another, "The Christians! the Christians!" In fact, manydetachments of Christians had been brought to the amphitheatre thatnight, and not from one place, as planned at first, but a few from eachprison. It was known in the crowd that the spectacles would continuethrough weeks and months, but they doubted that it would be possible tofinish in a single day those Christians who had been intended for thatone occasion. The voices of men, women, and children singing the morninghymn were so numerous that spectators of experience asserted that evenif one or two hundred persons were sent out at once, the beasts wouldgrow tired, become sated, and not tear all to pieces before evening.Others declared that an excessive number of victims in the arena woulddivert attention, and not give a chance to enjoy the spectacle properly.
As the moment drew near for opening the vomitoria, or passages whichled to the interior, people grew animated and joyous; they discussedand disputed about various things touching the spectacle. Parties wereformed praising the greater efficiency of lions or tigers in tearing.Here and there bets were made. Others however talked about gladiatorswho were to appear in the arena earlier than the Christians; and againthere were parties, some in favor of Samnites, others of Gauls, othersof Mirmillons, others of Thracians, others of the retiarii.
Early in the morning larger or smaller detachments of gladiators beganto arrive at the amphitheatre under the lead of masters, called lanistae.Not wishing to be wearied too soon, they entered unarmed, often entirelynaked, often with green boughs in their hands, or crowned with flowers,young, beautiful, in the light of morning, and full of life. Theirbodies, shining from olive oil, were strong as if chiselled from marble;they roused to delight people who loved shapely forms. Many were knownpersonally, and from moment to moment were heard: "A greeting, Furnius!A greeting, Leo! A greeting, Maximus! A greeting, Diomed!" Young maidensraised to them eyes full of admiration; they, selecting the maiden mostbeautiful, answered with jests, as if no care weighed on them, sendingkisses, or exclaiming, "Embrace me before death does!" Then theyvanished in the gates, through which many of them were never to comeforth again.
New arrivals drew away the attention of the throngs. Behind thegladiators came mastigophori; that is, men armed with scourges, whoseoffice it was to lash and urge forward combatants. Next mules drew, inthe direction of the spoliarium, whole rows of vehicles on which werepiled wooden coffins. People were diverted at sight of this, inferringfrom the number of coffins the greatness of the spectacle. Now marchedin men who were to kill the wounded; these were dressed so that eachresembled Charon or Mercury. Next came those who looked after order inthe Circus, and assigned places; after that slaves to bear around foodand refreshments; finally, pretorians, whom every Caesar had always athand in the amphitheatre.
At last the vomitoria were opened, and crowds rushed to the centre. Butsuch was the number of those assembled that they flowed in and flowedin for hours, till it was a marvel that the Circus could hold such acountless multitude. The roars of wild beasts, catching the exhalationsof people, grew louder. While taking their places, the spectators madean uproar like the sea in time of storm.
Finally, the prefect of the city came, surrounded by guards; and afterhim, in unbroken line, appeared the litters of senators, consuls,pretors, ediles, officials of the government and the palace, ofpretorian officers, patricians, and exquisite ladies. Some litters werepreceded by lictors bearing maces in bundles of rods; others by crowdsof slaves. In the sun gleamed the gilding of the litters, the white andvaried colored stuffs, feathers, earrings, jewels, steel of themaces. From the Circus came shouts with which the people greeted greatdignitaries. Small divisions of pretorians arrived from time to time.
The priests of various temples came somewhat later; only after them werebrought in the sacred virgins of Vesta, preceded by lictors.
To begin the spectacle, they were waiting now only for Caesar, who,unwilling to expose the people to over-long waiting, and wishing towin them by promptness, came soon, in company with the Augusta andAugustians.
Petronius arrived among the Augustians, having Vinicius in his litter.The latter knew that Lygia was sick and unconscious; but as access tothe prison had been forbidden most strictly during the preceding days,and as the former guards had been replaced by new ones who were notpermitted to speak with the jailers or even to communicate the leastinformation to those who came to inquire about prisoners, he was noteven sure that she was not among the victims intended for the firstday of spectacles. They might send out even a sick woman for the lions,though she were unconscious. But since the victims were to be sewed upin skins of wild beasts and sent to the arena in crowds, no spectatorcould be certain that one more or less might not be among them, and noman could recognize any one. The jailers and all the servants of theamphitheatre had been bribed, and a bargain made with the beast-keepersto hide Lygia in some dark corner, and give her at night into the handsof a confidant of Vinicius, who would take her at once to the AlbanHills. Petronius, admitted to the secret, advised Vinicius to go withhim openly to the amphitheatre, and after he had entered to disappear inthe throng and hurry to the vaults, where, to avoid possible mistake, hewas to point out Lygia to the guards personally.
The guards admitted him through a small door by which they cameout themselves. One of these, named Cyrus, led him at once to theChristians. On the way he said,--
"I know not, lord, that thou wilt find what thou art seeking. Weinquired for a maiden named Lygia, but no one gave us answer; it may be,though, that they do not trust us."
"Are there many?" asked Vinicius.
"Many, lord, had to wait till to-morrow."
"Are there sick ones among them?"
"There were none who could not stand."
Cyrus opened a door and entered as it were an enormous chamber, butlow and dark, for the light came in only through grated openings whichseparated it from the arena. At first Vinicius could see nothing; heheard only the murmur of voices in the room, and the shouts of people inthe amphitheatre. But after a time, when his eyes had grown used to thegloom, he saw crowds of strange beings, resembling wolv
es and bears.Those were Christians sewed up in skins of beasts. Some of them werestanding; others were kneeling in prayer. Here and there one mightdivine by the long hair flowing over the skin that the victim was awoman. Women, looking like wolves, carried in their arms children sewedup in equally shaggy coverings. But from beneath the skins appearedbright faces and eyes which in the darkness gleamed with delight andfeverishness. It was evident that the greater number of those peoplewere mastered by one thought, exclusive and beyond the earth,--a thoughtwhich during life made them indifferent to everything which happenedaround them and which could meet them. Some, when asked by Viniciusabout Lygia, looked at him with eyes as if roused from sleep, withoutanswering his questions; others smiled at him, placing a finger on theirlips or pointing to the iron grating through which bright streaks oflight entered. But here and there children were crying, frightened bythe roaring of beasts, the howling of dogs, the uproar of people, andthe forms of their own parents who looked like wild beasts. Vinicius ashe walked by the side of Cyrus looked into faces, searched, inquired, attimes stumbled against bodies of people who had fainted from the crowd,the stifling air, the heat, and pushed farther into the dark depth ofthe room, which seemed to be as spacious as a whole amphitheatre.
But he stopped on a sudden, for he seemed to hear near the gratinga voice known to him. He listened for a while, turned, and, pushingthrough the crowd, went near. Light fell on the face of the speaker,and Vinicius recognized under the skin of a wolf the emaciated andimplacable countenance of Crispus.
"Mourn for your sins!" exclaimed Crispus, "for the moment is near. Butwhoso thinks by death itself to redeem his sins commits a fresh sin, andwill be hurled into endless fire. With every sin committed in life yehave renewed the Lord's suffering; how dare ye think that that lifewhich awaits you will redeem this one? To-day the just and the sinnerwill die the same death; but the Lord will find His own. Woe to you, theclaws of the lions will rend your bodies; but not your sins, nor yourreckoning with God. The Lord showed mercy sufficient when He let Himselfbe nailed to the cross; but thenceforth He will be only the judge,who will leave no fault unpunished. Whoso among you has thought toextinguish his sins by suffering, has blasphemed against God's justice,and will sink all the deeper. Mercy is at an end, and the hour of God'swrath has come. Soon ye will stand before the awful Judge in whosepresence the good will hardly be justified. Bewail your sins, for thejaws of hell are open; woe to you, husbands and wives; woe to you,parents and children."
And stretching forth his bony hands, he shook them above the bent heads;he was unterrified and implacable even in the presence of death, towhich in a while all those doomed people were to go. After his words,were heard voices: "We bewail our sins!" Then came silence, and only thecry of children was audible, and the beating of hands against breasts.
The blood of Vinicius stiffened in his veins. He, who had placed all hishope in the mercy of Christ, heard now that the day of wrath had come,and that even death in the arena would not obtain mercy. Through hishead shot, it is true, the thought, clear and swift as lightning, thatPeter would have spoken otherwise to those about to die. Still thoseterrible words of Crispus filled with fanaticism that dark chamber withits grating, beyond which was the field of torture. The nearness of thattorture, and the throng of victims arrayed for death already, filledhis soul with fear and terror. All this seemed to him dreadful, and ahundred times more ghastly than the bloodiest battle in which he hadever taken part. The odor and heat began to stifle him; cold sweat cameout on his forehead. He was seized by fear that he would faint likethose against whose bodies he had stumbled while searching in the depthof the apartment; so when he remembered that they might open the gratingany moment, he began to call Lygia and Ursus aloud, in the hope that, ifnot they, some one knowing them would answer.
In fact, some man, clothed as a bear, pulled his toga, and said,--
"Lord, they remained in prison. I was the last one brought out; I sawher sick on the couch."
"Who art thou?" inquired Vinicius.
"The quarryman in whose hut the Apostle baptized thee, lord. Theyimprisoned me three days ago, and to-day I die."
Vinicius was relieved. When entering, he had wished to find Lygia; nowhe was ready to thank Christ that she was not there, and to see in thata sign of mercy. Meanwhile the quarryman pulled his toga again, andsaid,--
"Dost remember, lord, that I conducted thee to the vineyard ofCornelius, when the Apostle discoursed in the shed?"
"I remember."
"I saw him later, the day before they imprisoned me, He blessed me, andsaid that he would come to the amphitheatre to bless the perishing. If Icould look at him in the moment of death and see the sign of the cross,it would be easier for me to die. If thou know where he is, lord, informme."
Vinicius lowered his voice, and said,--
"He is among the people of Petronius, disguised as a slave. I know notwhere they chose their places, but I will return to the Circus and see.Look thou at me when ye enter the arena. I will rise and turn my facetoward them; then thou wilt find him with thy eyes."
"Thanks to thee, lord, and peace be with thee."
"May the Redeemer be merciful to thee."
"Amen."
Vinicius went out of the cuniculum, and betook himself to theamphitheatre, where he had a place near Petronius among the otherAugustians.
"Is she there?" inquired Petronius.
"No; she remained in prison."
"Hear what has occurred to me, but while listening look at Nigidia forexample, so that we may seem to talk of her hair-dressing. Tigellinusand Chilo are looking at us now. Listen then. Let them put Lygia ina coffin at night and carry her out of the prison as a corpse; thoudivinest the rest?"
"Yes," answered Vinicius.
Their further conversation was interrupted by Tullius Senecio, who,bending toward them, asked,--
"Do ye know whether they will give weapons to the Christians?"
"We do not," answered Petronius. "I should prefer that arms were given,"said Tullius; "if not, the arena will become like butcher's shambles tooearly. But what a splendid amphitheatre!"
The sight was, in truth, magnificent. The lower seats, crowded withtogas were as white as snow. In the gilded podium sat Caesar, wearinga diamond collar and a golden crown on his head; next to him sat thebeautiful and gloomy Augusta, and on both sides were vestal virgins,great officials, senators with embroidered togas, officers of the armywith glittering weapons,--in a word, all that was powerful, brilliant,and wealthy in Rome. In the farther rows sat knights; and higher updarkened in rows a sea of common heads, above which from pillar topillar hung festoons of roses, lilies, ivy, and grapevines.
People conversed aloud, called to one another, sang; at times they brokeinto laughter at some witty word which was sent from row to row, andthey stamped with impatience to hasten the spectacle.
At last the stamping became like thunder, and unbroken. Then the prefectof the city, who rode around the arena with a brilliant retinue, gavea signal with a handkerchief, which was answered throughout theamphitheatre by "A-a-a!" from thousands of breasts.
Usually a spectacle was begun by hunts of wild beasts, in which variousNorthern and Southern barbarians excelled; but this time they had toomany beasts, so they began with andabates,--that is, men wearing helmetswithout an opening for the eyes, hence fighting blindfold. A number ofthese came into the arena together, and slashed at random with theirswords; the scourgers with long forks pushed some toward others to makethem meet. The more select of the audience looked with contempt andindifference at this spectacle; but the crowd were amused by the awkwardmotions of the swordsmen. When it happened that they met with theirshoulders, they burst out in loud laughter. "To the right!" "To theleft!" cried they, misleading the opponents frequently by design. Anumber of pairs closed, however, and the struggle began to be bloody.The determined combatants cast aside their shields, and giving theirleft hands to each other, so as not to part again, struggled to thedeath with their ri
ght. Whoever fell raised his fingers, begging mercyby that sign; but in the beginning of a spectacle the audience demandeddeath usually for the wounded, especially in the case of men who hadtheir faces covered and were unknown. Gradually the number of combatantsdecreased; and when at last only two remained, these were pushedtogether; both fell on the sand, and stabbed each other mutually. Then,amid cries of "Peractum est!" servants carried out the bodies, youthsraked away the bloody traces on the sand and sprinkled it with leaves ofsaffron.
Now a more important contest was to come,--rousing interest not only inthe herd, but in exquisites; during this contest young patricians madeenormous bets at times, often losing all they owned. Straightway fromhand to hand went tablets on which were written names of favorites, andalso the number of sestertia which each man wagered on his favorite."Spectati"--that is, champions who had appeared already on the arenaand gained victories--found most partisans; but among betters werealso those who risked considerably on gladiators who were new and quiteunknown, hoping to win immense sums should these conquer. Caesar himselfbet; priests, vestals, senators, knights bet; the populace bet. Peopleof the crowd, when money failed them, bet their own freedom frequently.They waited with heart-beating and even with fear for the combatants,and more than one made audible vows to the gods to gain their protectionfor a favorite.
In fact, when the shrill sound of trumpets was heard, there was astillness of expectation in the amphitheatre. Thousands of eyes wereturned to the great bolts, which a man approached dressed like Charon,and amid the universal silence struck three times with a hammer, as ifsummoning to death those who were hidden behind them. Then bothhalves of the gate opened slowly, showing a black gully, out of whichgladiators began to appear in the bright arena. They came in divisionsof twenty-five, Thracians, Mirmillons, Samnites, Gauls, each nationseparately, all heavily armed; and last the retiarii, holding in onehand a net, in the other a trident. At sight of them, here and thereon the benches rose applause, which soon turned into one immense andunbroken storm. From above to below were seen excited faces, clappinghands, and open mouths, from which shouts burst forth. The gladiatorsencircled the whole arena with even and springy tread, gleaming withtheir weapons and rich outfit; they halted before Caesar's podium, proud,calm, and brilliant. The shrill sound of a horn stopped the applause;the combatants stretched their right hands upward, raised their eyes andheads toward Caesar, and began to cry or rather to chant with drawlingvoice,--
"Ave, Caesar imperator! Morituri te salutant!"
Then they pushed apart quickly, occupying their places on the arena.They were to attack one another in whole detachments; but first it waspermitted the most famous fencers to have a series of single combats,in which the strength, dexterity, and courage of opponents were bestexhibited. In fact, from among the Gauls appeared a champion, well knownto lovers of the amphitheatre under the name of Lanio, a victor in manygames. With a great helmet on his head, and in mail which formed a ridgein front of his powerful breast and behind, he looked in the gleamof the golden arena like a giant beetle. The no less famous retiariusCalendio came out against him.
Among the spectators people began to bet.
"Five hundred sestertia on the Gaul!"
"Five hundred on Calendio!"
"By Hercules, one thousand!"
"Two thousand!"
Meanwhile the Gaul, reaching the centre of the arena, began to withdrawwith pointed sword, and, lowering his head, watched his opponentcarefully through the opening of his visor; the light retiarius,stately, statuesque, wholly naked save a belt around his loins, circledquickly about his heavy antagonist, waving the net with gracefulmovement, lowering or raising his trident, and singing the usual song ofthe retiarius,--
"Non te peto, piscem peto; Quid me fugis, Galle?"
["I seek not thee, I seek a fish; Why flee from me O Gaul?"]
But the Gaul was not fleeing, for after a while he stopped, and standingin one place began to turn with barely a slight movement, so as to havehis enemy always in front, in his form and monstrously large head therewas now something terrible. The spectators understood perfectly thatthat heavy body encased in bronze was preparing for a sudden throw todecide the battle. The retiarius meanwhile sprang up to him, then sprangaway, making with his three-toothed fork motions so quick that the eyehardly followed them. The sound of the teeth on the shield was heardrepeatedly; but the Gaul did not quiver, giving proof by this of hisgigantic strength. All his attention seemed fixed, not on the trident,but the net which was circling above his head, like a bird of illomen. The spectators held the breath in their breasts, and followed themasterly play of the gladiators. The Gaul waited, chose the moment, andrushed at last on his enemy; the latter with equal quickness shot pastunder his sword, straightened himself with raised arm, and threw thenet.
The Gaul, turning where he stood, caught it on his shield; then bothsprang apart. In the amphitheatre shouts of "Macte!" thundered; in thelower rows they began to make new bets. Caesar himself, who at first hadbeen talking with Rubria, and so far had not paid much attention to thespectacle, turned his head toward the arena.
They began to struggle again, so regularly and with such precision intheir movements, that sometimes it seemed that with them it was not aquestion of life or death, but of exhibiting skill. The Gaul escapingtwice more from the net, pushed toward the edge of the arena; those whoheld bets against him, not wishing the champion to rest, began to cry,"Bear on!" The Gaul obeyed, and attacked. The arm of the retiarius wascovered on a sudden with blood, and his net dropped. The Gaul summonedhis strength, and sprang forward to give the final blow. That instantCalendio, who feigned inability to wield the net, sprang aside, escapedthe thrust, ran the trident between the knees of his opponent, andbrought him to the earth.
The Gaul tried to rise, but in a twinkle he was covered by the fatalmeshes, in which he was entangled more and more by every movement of hisfeet and hands. Meanwhile stabs of the trident fixed him time after timeto the earth. He made one more effort, rested on his arm, and tried torise; in vain! He raised to his head his falling hand which could holdthe sword no longer, and fell on his back. Calendio pressed his neck tothe ground with the trident, and, resting both hands on the handle ofit, turned toward Caesar's box.
The whole Circus was trembling from plaudits and the roar of people. Forthose who had bet on Calendio he was at that moment greater than Caesar;but for this very reason animosity against the Gaul vanished from theirhearts. At the cost of his blood he had filled their purses. The voicesof the audience were divided. On the upper seats half the signs were fordeath, and half for mercy; but the retiarius looked only at the box ofCaesar and the vestals, waiting for what they would decide.
To the misfortune of the fallen gladiator, Nero did not like him, for atthe last games before the fire he had bet against the Gaul, and hadlost considerable sums to Licinus; hence he thrust his hand out of thepodium, and turned his thumb toward the earth.
The vestals supported the sign at once. Calendio knelt on the breastof the Gaul, drew a short knife from his belt, pushed apart the armoraround the neck of his opponent, and drove the three-edged blade intohis throat to the handle.
"Peractum est!" sounded voices in the amphitheatre.
The Gaul quivered a time, like a stabbed bullock, dug the sand with hisheels, stretched, and was motionless.
Mercury had no need to try with heated iron if he were living yet. Hewas hidden away quickly, and other pairs appeared. After them came abattle of whole detachments. The audience took part in it with soul,heart, and eyes. They howled, roared, whistled, applauded, laughed,urged on the combatants, grew wild. The gladiators on the arena, dividedinto two legions, fought with the rage of wild beasts; breast struckbreast, bodies were intertwined in a death grapple, strong limbs crackedin their joints, swords were buried in breasts and in stomachs, palelips threw blood on to the sand. Toward the end such terrible fearseized some novices that, tearing themselves from the turmoil, theyfled; but the scourgers drove them
back again quickly to the battle withlashes tipped with lead. On the sand great dark spots were formed; moreand more naked and armed bodies lay stretched like grain sheaves. Theliving fought on the corpses; they struck against armor and shields,cut their feet against broken weapons, and fell. The audience lostself-command from delight; and intoxicated with death breathed it,sated their eyes with the sight of it, and drew into their lungs theexhalations of it with ecstasy.
The conquered lay dead, almost every man. Barely a few wounded kneltin the middle of the arena, and trembling stretched their hands tothe audience with a prayer for mercy. To the victors were givenrewards,--crowns, olive wreaths. And a moment of rest came, which, atcommand of the all-powerful Caesar, was turned into a feast. Perfumeswere burned in vases. Sprinklers scattered saffron and violet rain onthe people. Cooling drinks were served, roasted meats, sweet cakes,wine, olives, and fruits. The people devoured, talked, and shouted inhonor of Caesar, to incline him to greater bounteousness. When hunger andthirst had been satisfied, hundreds of slaves bore around baskets fullof gifts, from which boys, dressed as Cupids, took various objects andthrew them with both hands among the seats. When lottery ticketswere distributed, a battle began. People crowded, threw, trampledone another; cried for rescue, sprang over rows of seats, stifled oneanother in the terrible crush, since whoever got a lucky number mightwin possibly a house with a garden, a slave, a splendid dress, or a wildbeast which he could sell to the amphitheatre afterward. For thisreason there were such disorders that frequently the pretorians had tointerfere; and after every distribution they carried out people withbroken arms or legs, and some were even trampled to death in the throng.
But the more wealthy took no part in the fight for tesserae. TheAugustians amused themselves now with the spectacle of Chilo, and withmaking sport of his vain efforts to show that he could look at fightingand blood-spilling as well as any man. But in vain did the unfortunateGreek wrinkle his brow, gnaw his lips, and squeeze his fists till thenails entered his palms. His Greek nature and his personal cowardicewere unable to endure such sights. His face grew pale, his forehead wasdotted with drops of sweat, his lips were blue, his eyes turned in, histeeth began to chatter, and a trembling seized his body. At the endof the battle he recovered somewhat; but when they attacked him withtongues, sudden anger seized him, and he defended himself desperately.
"Ha, Greek! the sight of torn skin on a man is beyond thy strength!"said Vatinius, taking him by the beard.
Chilo bared his last two yellow teeth at him and answered,--
"My father was not a cobbler, so I cannot mend it."
"Macte! habet (Good! he has caught it!)" called a number of voices; butothers jeered on.
"He is not to blame that instead of a heart he has a piece of cheese inhis breast," said Senecio.
"Thou art not to blame that instead of a head thou hast a bladder,"retorted Chilo.
"Maybe thou wilt become a gladiator! thou wouldst look well with a neton the arena."
"If I should catch thee in it, I should catch a stinking hoopoe."
"And how will it be with the Christians?" asked Festus, from Liguria."Wouldst thou not like to be a dog and bite them?"
"I should not like to be thy brother."
"Thou Maeotian copper-nose!"
"Thou Ligurian mule!"
"Thy skin is itching, evidently, but I don't advise thee to ask me toscratch it."
"Scratch thyself. If thou scratch thy own pimple, thou wilt destroy whatis best in thee."
And in this manner they attacked him. He defended himself venomously,amid universal laughter. Caesar, clapping his hands, repeated, "Macte!"and urged them on. After a while Petronius approached, and, touching theGreek's shoulder with his carved ivory cane, said coldly,--
"This is well, philosopher; but in one thing thou hast blundered: thegods created thee a pickpocket, and thou hast become a demon. That iswhy thou canst not endure."
The old man looked at him with his red eyes, but this time somehow hedid not find a ready insult. He was silent for a moment; then answered,as if with a certain effort,--
"I shall endure."
Meanwhile the trumpets announced the end of the interval. People beganto leave the passages where they had assembled to straighten their legsand converse. A general movement set in with the usual dispute aboutseats occupied previously. Senators and patricians hastened to theirplaces. The uproar ceased after a time, and the amphitheatre returned toorder. On the arena a crowd of people appeared whose work was to dig outhere and there lumps of sand formed with stiffened blood.
The turn of the Christians was at hand. But since that was a newspectacle for people, and no one knew how the Christians would bearthemselves, all waited with a certain curiosity. The disposition of theaudience was attentive but unfriendly; they were waiting for uncommonscenes. Those people who were to appear had burned Rome and its ancienttreasures. They had drunk the blood of infants, and poisoned water; theyhad cursed the whole human race, and committed the vilest crimes. Theharshest punishment did not suffice the roused hatred; and if anyfear possessed people's hearts, it was this: that the torture of theChristians would not equal the guilt of those ominous criminals.
Meanwhile the sun had risen high; its rays, passing through the purplevelarium, had filled the amphitheatre with blood-colored light. The sandassumed a fiery hue, and in those gleams, in the faces of people, aswell as in the empty arena, which after a time was to be filled withthe torture of people and the rage of savage beasts, there was somethingterrible. Death and terror seemed hovering in the air. The throng,usually gladsome, became moody under the influence of hate and silence.Faces had a sullen expression.
Now the prefect gave a sign. The same old man appeared, dressed asCharon, who had called the gladiators to death, and, passing with slowstep across the arena amid silence, he struck three times again on thedoor.
Throughout the amphitheatre was heard the deep murmur,--
"The Christians! the Christians!"
The iron gratings creaked; through the dark openings were heard theusual cries of the scourgers, "To the sand!" and in one moment the arenawas peopled with crowds as it were of satyrs covered with skins. All ranquickly, somewhat feverishly, and, reaching the middle of the circle,they knelt one by another with raised heads. The spectators, judgingthis to be a prayer for pity, and enraged by such cowardice, began tostamp, whistle, throw empty wine-vessels, bones from which the fleshhad been eaten, and shout, "The beasts! the beasts!" But all at oncesomething unexpected took place. From out the shaggy assembly singingvoices were raised, and then sounded that hymn heard for the first timein a Roman amphitheatre, "Christus regnat!" ["Christ reigns!"]
Astonishment seized the spectators. The condemned sang with eyes raisedto the velarium. The audience saw faces pale, but as it were inspired.All understood that those people were not asking for mercy, and thatthey seemed not to see the Circus, the audience, the Senate, or Caesar."Christus regnat!" rose ever louder, and in the seats, far up to thehighest, among the rows of spectators, more than one asked himself thequestion, "What is happening, and who is that Christus who reigns inthe mouths of those people who are about to die?" But meanwhile anew grating was opened, and into the arena rushed, with mad speed andbarking, whole packs of dogs,--gigantic, yellow Molossians from thePeloponnesus, pied dogs from the Pyrenees, and wolf-like houndsfrom Hibernia, purposely famished; their sides lank, and their eyesbloodshot. Their howls and whines filled the amphitheatre. When theChristians had finished their hymn, they remained kneeling, motionless,as if petrified, merely repeating in one groaning chorus, "Pro Christo!Pro Christo!" The dogs, catching the odor of people under the skins ofbeasts, and surprised by their silence, did not rush on them at once.Some stood against the walls of the boxes, as if wishing to go among thespectators; others ran around barking furiously, as though chasing someunseen beast. The people were angry. A thousand voices began to call;some howled like wild beasts; some barked like dogs; others urged themon in every language. The am
phitheatre was trembling from uproar. Theexcited dogs began to run to the kneeling people, then to draw back,snapping their teeth, till at last one of the Molossians drove his teethinto the shoulder of a woman kneeling in front, and dragged her underhim.
Tens of dogs rushed into the crowd now, as if to break through it. Theaudience ceased to howl, so as to look with greater attention. Amidstthe howling and whining were heard yet plaintive voices of men andwomen: "Pro Christo! Pro Christo!" but on the arena were formedquivering masses of the bodies of dogs and people. Blood flowed instreams from the torn bodies. Dogs dragged from each other the bloodylimbs of people. The odor of blood and torn entrails was stronger thanArabian perfumes, and filled the whole Circus.
At last only here and there were visible single kneeling forms, whichwere soon covered by moving squirming masses.
Vinicius, who at the moment when the Christians ran in, stood up andturned so as to indicate to the quarryman, as he had promised, thedirection in which the Apostle was hidden among the people of Petronius,sat down again, and with the face of a dead man continued to look withglassy eyes on the ghastly spectacle. At first fear that the quarrymanmight have been mistaken, and that perchance Lygia was among thevictims, benumbed him completely; but when he heard the voices, "ProChristo!" when he saw the torture of so many victims who, in dying,confessed their faith and their God, another feeling possessed him,piercing him like the most dreadful pain, but irresistible. That feelingwas this,--if Christ Himself died in torment, if thousands are perishingfor Him now, if a sea of blood is poured forth, one drop more signifiesnothing, and it is a sin even to ask for mercy. That thought came to himfrom the arena, penetrated him with the groans of the dying, with theodor of their blood. But still he prayed and repeated with parched lips,"O Christ! O Christ! and Thy Apostle prayed for her!" Then he forgothimself, lost consciousness of where he was. It seemed to him that bloodon the arena was rising and rising, that it was coming up and flowingout of the Circus over all Rome. For the rest he heard nothing, neitherthe howling of dogs nor the uproar of the people nor the voices of theAugustians, who began all at once to cry,--
"Chilo has fainted!"
"Chilo has fainted!" said Petronius, turning toward the Greek.
And he had fainted really; he sat there white as linen, his head fallenback, his mouth wide open, like that of a corpse.
At that same moment they were urging into the arena new victims, sewedup in skins.
These knelt immediately, like those who had gone before; but the wearydogs would not rend them. Barely a few threw themselves on to thosekneeling nearest; but others lay down, and, raising their bloody jaws,began to scratch their sides and yawn heavily.
Then the audience, disturbed in spirit, but drunk with blood and wild,began to cry with hoarse voices,--
"The lions! the lions! Let out the lions!"
The lions were to be kept for the next day; but in the amphitheatres thepeople imposed their will on every one, even on Caesar. Caligula alone,insolent and changeable in his wishes, dared to oppose them, and therewere cases when he gave command to beat the people with clubs; but evenhe yielded most frequently. Nero, to whom plaudits were dearer than allelse in the world, never resisted. All the more did he not resist now,when it was a question of mollifying the populace, excited after theconflagration, and a question of the Christians, on whom he wished tocast the blame of the catastrophe.
He gave the sign therefore to open the cuniculum, seeing which, thepeople were calmed in a moment. They heard the creaking of the doorsbehind which were the lions. At sight of the lions the dogs gatheredwith low whines, on the opposite side of the arena. The lions walkedinto the arena one after another, immense, tawny, with great shaggyheads. Caesar himself turned his wearied face toward them, and placedthe emerald to his eye to see better. The Augustians greeted them withapplause; the crowd counted them on their fingers, and followed eagerlythe impression which the sight of them would make on the Christianskneeling in the centre, who again had begun to repeat the words, withoutmeaning for many, though annoying to all, "Pro Christo! Pro Christo!"
But the lions, though hungry, did not hasten to their victims. The ruddylight in the arena dazzled them and they half closed their eyes as ifdazed. Some stretched their yellowish bodies lazily; some, openingtheir jaws, yawned,--one might have said that they wanted to show theirterrible teeth to the audience. But later the odor of blood and tornbodies, many of which were lying on the sand, began to act on them. Soontheir movements became restless, their manes rose, their nostrils drewin the air with hoarse sound. One fell suddenly on the body of a womanwith a torn face, and, lying with his fore paws on the body, licked witha rough tongue the stiffened blood: another approached a man who washolding in his arms a child sewed up in a fawn's skin.
The child, trembling from crying, and weeping, clung convulsively to theneck of its father; he, to prolong its life even for a moment, tried topull it from his neck, so as to hand it to those kneeling farther on.But the cry and the movement irritated the lion. All at once he gaveout a short, broken roar, killed the child with one blow of his paw, andseizing the head of the father in his jaws, crushed it in a twinkle.
At sight of this all the other lions fell upon the crowd of Christians.Some women could not restrain cries of terror; but the audience drownedthese with plaudits, which soon ceased, however, for the wish to seegained the mastery. They beheld terrible things then: heads disappearingentirely in open jaws, breasts torn apart with one blow, hearts andlungs swept away; the crushing of bones under the teeth of lions.Some lions, seizing victims by the ribs or loins, ran with mad springsthrough the arena, as if seeking hidden places in which to devourthem; others fought, rose on their hind legs, grappled one another likewrestlers, and filled the amphitheatre with thunder. People rosefrom their places. Some left their seats, went down lower through thepassages to see better, and crowded one another mortally. It seemed thatthe excited multitude would throw itself at last into the arena, andrend the Christians in company with the lions. At moments an unearthlynoise was heard; at moments applause; at moments roaring, rumbling, theclashing of teeth, the howling of Molossian dogs; at times only groans.
Caesar, holding the emerald to his eye, looked now with attention. Theface of Petronius assumed an expression of contempt and disgust. Chilohad been borne out of the Circus.
But from the cuniculum new victims were driven forth continually.
From the highest row in the amphitheatre the Apostle Peter looked atthem. No one saw him, for all heads were turned to the arena; so he roseand as formerly in the vineyard of Cornelius he had blessed for deathand eternity those who were intended for imprisonment, so now he blessedwith the cross those who were perishing under the teeth of wild beasts.He blessed their blood, their torture, their dead bodies turned intoshapeless masses, and their souls flying away from the bloody sand. Someraised their eyes to him, and their faces grew radiant; they smiled whenthey saw high above them the sign of the cross. But his heart was rent,and he said, "O Lord! let Thy will be done. These my sheep perish toThy glory in testimony of the truth. Thou didst command me to feed them;hence I give them to Thee, and do Thou count them, Lord, take them, healtheir wounds, soften their pain, give them happiness greater than thetorments which they suffered here."
And he blessed them one after another, crowd after crowd, with as muchlove as if they had been his children whom he was giving directly intothe hands of Christ. Then Caesar, whether from madness, or the wish thatthe exhibition should surpass everything seen in Rome so far, whispereda few words to the prefect of the city. He left the podium and went atonce to the cuniculum. Even the populace were astonished when, after awhile, they saw the gratings open again. Beasts of all kinds were letout this time,--tigers from the Euphrates, Numidian panthers, bears,wolves, hyenas, and jackals. The whole arena was covered as with amoving sea of striped, yellow, flax-colored, dark-brown, and spottedskins. There rose a chaos in which the eye could distinguish nothingsave a terrible turning and twisting
of the backs of wild beasts. Thespectacle lost the appearance of reality, and became as it were an orgyof blood, a dreadful dream, a gigantic kaleidoscope of mad fancy. Themeasure was surpassed. Amidst roars, howls, whines, here and thereon the seats of the spectators were heard the terrified and spasmodiclaughter of women, whose strength had given way at last. The peoplewere terrified. Faces grew dark. Various voices began to cry, "Enough!enough!"
But it was easier to let the beasts in than drive them back again.Caesar, however, found a means of clearing the arena, and a newamusement for the people. In all the passages between the seats appeareddetachments of Numidians, black and stately, in feathers and earrings,with bows in their hands. The people divined what was coming, andgreeted the archers with a shout of delight. The Numidians approachedthe railing, and, putting their arrows to the strings, began to shootfrom their bows into the crowd of beasts. That was a new spectacletruly. Their bodies, shapely as if cut from dark marble, bent backward,stretched the flexible bows, and sent bolt after bolt. The whizzing ofthe strings and the whistling of the feathered missiles were mingledwith the howling of beasts and cries of wonder from the audience.Wolves, bears, panthers, and people yet alive fell side by side. Hereand there a lion, feeling a shaft in his ribs, turned with suddenmovement, his jaws wrinkled from rage, to seize and break the arrow.Others groaned from pain. The small beasts, falling into a panic, ranaround the arena at random, or thrust their heads into the grating;meanwhile the arrows whizzed and whizzed on, till all that was livinghad lain down in the final quiver of death.
Hundreds of slaves rushed into the arena armed with spades, shovels,brooms, wheelbarrows, baskets for carrying out entrails, and bags ofsand. They came, crowd after crowd, and over the whole circle thereseethed up a feverish activity. The space was soon cleared of bodies,blood, and mire, dug over, made smooth, and sprinkled with a thick layerof fresh sand. That done, Cupids ran in, scattering leaves of roses,lilies, and the greatest variety of flowers. The censers wereignited again, and the velarium was removed, for the sun had sunk nowconsiderably. But people looked at one another with amazement, andinquired what kind of new spectacle was waiting for them on that day.
Indeed, such a spectacle was waiting as no one had looked for. Caesar,who had left the podium some time before, appeared all at once on theflowery arena, wearing a purple mantle, and a crown of gold. Twelvechoristers holding citharae followed him. He had a silver lute, andadvanced with solemn tread to the middle, bowed a number of times to thespectators, raised his eyes, and stood as if waiting for inspiration.
Then he struck the strings and began to sing,--
"O radiant son of Leto, Ruler of Tenedos, Chilos, Chrysos, Art thouhe who, having in his care The sacred city of Ilion, Could yield it toArgive anger, And suffer sacred altars, Which blazed unceasingly to hishonor, To be stained with Trojan blood? Aged men raised trembling handsto thee, O thou of the far-shooting silver bow, Mothers from the depthof their breasts Raised tearful cries to thee, Imploring pity ontheir offspring. Those complaints might have moved a stone, But to thesuffering of people Thou, O Smintheus, wert less feeling than a stone!"
The song passed gradually into an elegy, plaintive and full of pain.In the Circus there was silence. After a while Caesar, himself affected,sang on,--
"With the sound of thy heavenly lyre Thou couldst drown the wailing, Thelament of hearts. At the sad sound of this song The eye to-day is filledwith tears, As a flower is filled with dew, But who can raise from dustand ashes That day of fire, disaster, ruin? O Smintheus, where wert thouthen?"
Here his voice quivered and his eyes grew moist. Tears appeared on thelids of the vestals; the people listened in silence before they burstinto a long unbroken storm of applause.
Meanwhile from outside through the vomitoria came the sound of creakingvehicles on which were placed the bloody remnants of Christians, men,women, and children, to be taken to the pits called "puticuli."
But the Apostle Peter seized his trembling white head with his hands,and cried in spirit,--
"O Lord, O Lord! to whom hast Thou given rule over the earth, and whywilt Thou found in this place Thy capital?"
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero Page 55
