Chapter LXX
AT last the hour was accomplished for both Apostles. But, as if tocomplete his service, it was given to the fisherman of the Lord to wintwo souls even in confinement. The soldiers, Processus and Martinianus,who guarded him in the Mamertine prison, received baptism. Then came thehour of torture. Nero was not in Rome at that time. Sentence was passedby Helius and Polythetes, two freedmen to whom Caesar had confided thegovernment of Rome during his absence.
On the aged Apostle had been inflicted the stripes prescribed by law;and next day he was led forth beyond the walls of the city, towardthe Vatican Hill, where he was to suffer the punishment of the crossassigned to him. Soldiers were astonished by the crowd which hadgathered before the prison, for in their minds the death of a commonman, and besides a foreigner, should not rouse such interest; they didnot understand that that retinue was composed not of sightseers,but confessors, anxious to escort the great Apostle to the place ofexecution. In the afternoon the gates of the prison were thrown open atlast, and Peter appeared in the midst of a detachment of pretorians. Thesun had inclined somewhat toward Ostia already; the day was clear andcalm. Because of his advanced age, Peter was not required to carry thecross; it was supposed that he could not carry it; they had not putthe fork on his neck, either, so as not to retard his pace. He walkedwithout hindrance, and the faithful could see him perfectly.
At moments when his white head showed itself among the iron helmetsof the soldiers, weeping was heard in the crowd; but it was restrainedimmediately, for the face of the old man had in it so much calmness, andwas so bright with joy, that all understood him to be not a victim goingto destruction, but a victor celebrating his triumph.
And thus it was really. The fisherman, usually humble and stooping,walked now erect, taller than the soldiers, full of dignity. Never hadmen seen such majesty in his bearing. It might have seemed that he wasa monarch attended by people and military. From every side voices wereraised,--
"There is Peter going to the Lord!"
All forgot, as it were, that torture and death were waiting for him. Hewalked with solemn attention, but with calmness, feeling that since thedeath on Golgotha nothing equally important had happened, and that asthe first death had redeemed the whole world, this was to redeem thecity.
Along the road people halted from wonder at sight of that old man; butbelievers, laying hands on their shoulders, said with calm voices,--
"See how a just man goes to death,--one who knew Christ and proclaimedlove to the world."
These became thoughtful, and walked away, saying to themselves, "Hecannot, indeed, be unjust!"
Along the road noise was hushed, and the cries of the street. Theretinue moved on before houses newly reared, before white columns oftemples, over whose summits hung the deep sky, calm and blue. They wentin quiet; only at times the weapons of the soldiers clattered, or themurmur of prayer rose. Peter heard the last, and his face grew brightwith increasing joy, for his glance could hardly take in those thousandsof confessors. He felt that he had done his work, and he knew now thatthat truth which he had been declaring all his life would overwhelmeverything, like a sea, and that nothing would have power to restrainit. And thus thinking, he raised his eyes, and said: "O Lord, Thou didstcommand me to conquer this world-ruling city; hence I have conquered it.Thou hast commanded me to found here Thy capital; hence I have foundedit. This is Thy city now, O Lord, and I go to Thee, for I have toiledgreatly."
As he passed before temples, he said to them, "Ye will be temples ofChrist." Looking at throngs of people moving before his eyes, he said tothem, "Your children will be servants of Christ"; and he advanced withthe feeling that he had conquered, conscious of his service, consciousof his strength, solaced,--great. The soldiers conducted him over thePons Triumphalis, as if giving involuntary testimony to his triumph, andthey led him farther toward the Naumachia and the Circus. The faithfulfrom beyond the Tiber joined the procession; and such a throng of peoplewas formed that the centurion commanding the pretonians understood atlast that he was leading a high-priest surrounded by believers, andgrew alarmed because of the small number of soldiers. But no cry ofindignation or rage was given out in the throng. Men's faces werepenetrated with the greatness of the moment, solemn and full ofexpectation. Some believers, remembering that when the Lord died theearth opened from fright and the dead rose from their graves, thoughtthat now some evident signs would appear, after which the death of theApostle would not be forgotten for ages. Others said to themselves,"Perhaps the Lord will select the hour of Peter's death to come fromheaven as He promised, and judge the world." With this idea theyrecommended themselves to the mercy of the Redeemer.
But round about there was calm. The hills seemed to be warmingthemselves, and resting in the sun. The procession stopped at lastbetween the Circus and the Vatican Hill. Soldiers began now to dig ahole; others placed on the ground the cross, hammers, and nails, waitingtill all preparations were finished. The crowd, continuing quiet andattentive, knelt round about.
The Apostle, with his head in the sun-rays and golden light, turned forthe last time toward the city. At a distance lower down was seen thegleaming Tiber; beyond was the Campus Martius; higher up, the Mausoleumof Augustus; below that, the gigantic baths just begun by Nero; stilllower, Pompey's theatre; and beyond them were visible in places, andin places hidden by other buildings, the Septa Julia, a multitude ofporticos, temples, columns, great edifices; and, finally, far in thedistance, hills covered with houses, a gigantic resort of people, theborders of which vanished in the blue haze,--an abode of crime, butof power; of madness, but of order,--which had become the head of theworld, its oppressor, but its law and its peace, almighty, invincible,eternal.
But Peter, surrounded by soldiers, looked at the city as a ruler andking looks at his inheritance. And he said to it, "Thou art redeemedand mine!" And no one, not merely among the soldiers digging the holein which to plant the cross, but even among believers, could divine thatstanding there among them was the true ruler of that moving life; thatCaesars would pass away, waves of barbarians go by, and ages vanish, butthat old man would be lord there unbrokenly.
The sun had sunk still more toward Ostia, and had become large andred. The whole western side of the sky had begun to glow with immensebrightness. The soldiers approached Peter to strip him.
But he, while praying, straightened himself all at once, and stretchedhis right hand high. The executioners stopped, as if made timid by hisposture; the faithful held the breath in their breasts, thinking that hewished to say something, and silence unbroken followed.
But he, standing on the height, with his extended right hand made thesign of the cross, blessing in the hour of death,--
Urbi et orbi! (the city and the world).
In that same wonderful evening another detachment of soldiers conductedalong the Ostian Way Paul of Tarsus toward a place called Aquae Salviae.And behind him also advanced a crowd of the faithful whom he hadconverted; but when he recognized near acquaintances, he halted andconversed with them, for, being a Roman citizen, the guard showed morerespect to him. Beyond the gate called Tergemina he met Plautilla, thedaughter of the prefect Flavius Sabinus, and, seeing her youthful facecovered with tears, he said: "Plautilla, daughter of Eternal Salvation,depart in peace. Only give me a veil with which to bind my eyes when Iam going to the Lord." And taking it, he advanced with a face as fullof delight as that of a laborer who when he has toiled the whole daysuccessfully is returning home. His thoughts, like those of Peter,were as calm and quiet as that evening sky. His eyes gazed withthoughtfulness upon the plain which stretched out before him, and to theAlban Hills, immersed in light. He remembered his journeys, his toils,his labor, the struggles in which he had conquered, the churches whichhe had founded in all lands and beyond all seas; and he thought that hehad earned his rest honestly, that he had finished his work. He felt nowthat the seed which he had planted would not be blown away by the windof malice. He was leaving this life with the certainty that in theb
attle which his truth had declared against the world it would conquer;and a mighty peace settled down on his soul.
The road to the place of execution was long, and evening was coming. Themountains became purple, and the bases of them went gradually into theshade. Flocks were returning home. Here and there groups of slaves werewalking with the tools of labor on their shoulders. Children, playing onthe road before houses, looked with curiosity at the passing soldiers.But in that evening, in that transparent golden air, there were not onlypeace and lovingness, but a certain harmony, which seemed to lift fromearth to heaven. Paul felt this; and his heart was filled with delightat the thought that to that harmony of the world he had added one notewhich had not been in it hitherto, but without which the whole earth waslike sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
He remembered how he had taught people love,--how he had told them thatthough they were to give their property to the poor, though they knewall languages, all secrets, and all sciences, they would be nothingwithout love, which is kind, enduring, which does not return evil, whichdoes not desire honor, suffers all things, believes all things, hopesall things, is patient of all things.
And so his life had passed in teaching people this truth. And now hesaid in spirit: What power can equal it, what can conquer it? CouldCaesar stop it, though he had twice as many legions and twice as manycities, seas, lands, and nations?
And he went to his reward like a conqueror.
The detachment left the main road at last, and turned toward the east ona narrow path leading to the Aquae Salviae. The red sun was lying now onthe heather. The centurion stopped the soldiers at the fountain, for themoment had come.
Paul placed Plautilla's veil on his arm, intending to bind his eyes withit; for the last time he raised those eyes, full of unspeakable peace,toward the eternal light of the evening, and prayed. Yes, the momenthad come; but he saw before him a great road in the light, leading toheaven; and in his soul he repeated the same words which formerly he hadwritten in the feeling of his own finished service and his near end,--
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept thefaith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero Page 70
