CHAPTER X.
A WICKED PLOT.
We have already mentioned the fact that Fausta, the mother of theEmperor Galerius, was a fanatical pagan. The especial object of herregard was the goddess Cybele, who was worshipped in Rome with rites ofthe most degrading superstition. Fausta was intensely bitter in herhatred of the Christian name, and strenuously endeavoured to incite herson, the Emperor, to persecution. She was especially virulent towardsher daughter-in-law, the beautiful Valeria, and sought by every means toembitter the mind of Galerius against her. In this she was stronglyabetted, or rather inspired, by Furca, the vicious old priest of Cybele,whose wicked influence over her was very great. This worthy pair, theday after the interview above described, were engaged in a secretconclave or conspiracy against Valeria and the Christians, while thelatter was seeking to carry out her benevolent enterprise.
The scene of their interview was the reception-room of Fausta, in thepalace of the Emperor Galerius. It was far more sumptuously furnishedand decorated than that of the Empress Valeria, and at one end, in amarble niche, stood an ugly image of the goddess Cybele, with her crownof many towers, rudely carved out of olive wood, but quite embrowned,and almost blackened with age. It was bedizened with costly jewels, andwas deemed to be of special sanctity. Before it was a small marblealtar, on which burned, day and night, a silver censer.
At the moment of which we write, Fausta approached the altar, andkissing her hand to the image--an ancient mode of worship, from which weget the word "adore"--she took some costly Sabean incense from a smallgold coffer, and sprinkled it on the glowing coals of the censer. Densewhite fumes arose, whose rich aromatic odour filled the large apartment.Fausta had been an Illyrian peasant, and, notwithstanding herembroidered robes and costly jewels, she still exhibited much of therude peasant character and lack of culture. Her coarse and wrinkledfeatures and swarthy complexion, were all the more striking by theircontrast with the snowy mantle, with its gold-embroidered border, whichshe wore; and her bright black eyes glittered with an expression ofdeadly malice like those of a serpent. While she stood before the altar,a servant announced that Furca, the arch-priest of Cybele, had obeyedher summons. As the curtain of the door was drawn aside, a littleweazened old man, as dark as mahogany, wearing a thick crop of snowwhite hair, appeared.
"Thanks, good Furca," said Fausta, "I desire your counsel on a matter ofmuch importance to the State, and to the worship of the holy Cybele."
"At your service, your Excellency," said the obsequious priest, who alsokissed his hand to the black-faced image, and sprinkled a few grains ofincense on the censer.
"Thou knowest how the worship of the Galilean Christus has increased,not only among the common people, the vile plebs, and the still vilerslave population, but even among the patricians and nobles. I haveevidence that even in this palace, and very near the throne, theexecrable superstition is cherished."
"Alas! your Excellency, I fear it is only too true," whined the bigotarch-priest. "Certain it is that neither of the Empresses, Prisca orValeria, ever take part in the public worship of the gods, as from theirlofty station it is their duty to do."
"Yes, and I have reason to believe that there is plotting and connivingbetween the Empress and the accursed Christian sect."
"Hast any proof of this?" asked the arch-priest, eagerly. "This is acrime against the State."
"The black slave Juba," replied Fausta, "is, as thou knowest, a faithfulworshipper of Cybele, and she told me even now, that Adauctus, theImperial Treasurer, had been only yesterday closeted with the Empress,and plotting to restore to the favour of the Emperor a certainDemetrius, a Christian renegade, who is in hiding for his crimes."
"Oh, ho!" chuckled the priest, with a wicked grin, "my fine lady neednot think herself so high and mighty as to be above the reach of thelaw, or beyond the anger of the insulted gods."
"I would almost give my eyes," hissed through her teeth the revengefulFausta, "if I could only see that painted doll, Valeria, abased anddegraded. She has too long held a sway, of which I, the mother of theEmperor, have been deprived."
"I trust you may not only see it," said Furca, gloating in anticipationover the prospect, "but also see her pale, proud mother, the EmpressPrisca, humbled at your feet."
"Accomplish this, good Furca," exclaimed Fausta, with exultation, "andthe goddess Cybele shall have such an offering as she never hadbefore."
"We must be wary," said the priest, "or we may ourselves be crushed.They are too powerful to be attacked openly. We must plot against themsecretly. I'll be a _furca_ to them indeed," he added, punning upon hisown name, which had also the signification of an instrument ofpunishment, something like a cross; and the conspirators parted withthis pledge of mutual hate against their destined victims.
Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs: A Tale of Early Christian Life in Rome Page 12
