Chapter III: The Christian's Feast (1)

The large clepsydra in the atrium of the villa indicated the fourth watch of the night, an hour corresponding at the winter solstice to one o'clock in the morning, of the 8th of the Kalends, that is, the 25th of December. The slaves had ended their merry-making and retired to rest, when Aurelian and Sisinnius, led by Zoilus, took their way by a by-path over the fields toward the Latin road. The path crossed the stream and wooded hill near the villa.

Standing on the further slope of the hill, they paused to view the city and the surrounding country. The darkness of the early night had been relieved by the rays of the moon. Her white disc was painted on the sky between the luminous edges of the thin clouds, which were driven by the wind, as if in review, before her face. On the earth beneath, moonlight and shadow pursued each other over the woods and uplands. The palaces and monuments bordering the Latin and Appian Ways showed at times as if they were roofed with silver. Now and again her beams, stretching down like white bars between the clouds, rested on the roofs, cupolas, and steeples of the distant city, which stretched in illimitable magnificence before them, flashed out, and the next moment faded like a mirage into indistinctness and shadow. The lights in the streets and country villas flickered feebly "few and far between." {652} The hum of life and business was not, as in the daytime, borne on the wind to their ears from the metropolis, whose great heart, that in a few hours would throb with the pulses of renewed activity through all its arteries, was at rest, save only where the voice of the watchman or of the midnight reveller disturbed its slumber. Turning toward the Appian Way, which for fourteen miles was lined by a double row of monuments--homes for the living and homes for the dead--the trees bowed and tossed their branches in the fitful gusts like hearse-plumes above the tombs. In the lulls it was heard wandering and moaning within the vaults and the _columbaria_; [Footnote 233] so called because the ashes of the departed reposed in bronze and earthenware urns, ranged in hundreds, tier over tier, as in the cells of a dove-cote. The branches, dry and leafless, pointing their skeleton fingers skyward and creaking dolefully, might well remind a Greek or Roman imagination of imprisoned genii. And the melancholy wail of the breeze might be mistaken for that of unearthly visitants weeping over the remains of the dead.

[Footnote 233: From _columba_, a dove.]

Having delayed to survey this sombre scene, they continued their journey, and soon reached the Latin road, along which they proceeded to the Crossway, formed by it and the Appian Way about a quarter of a mile outside the Capena Gate. The old walls built by Servius Tullius around the city still remained; through these the gate opened between the Aventine and Coelian hills, nearly a mile from the present entrance of the "Queen of Highways" into the forum through the walls built subsequently by the Emperor Aurelian. The Appian aqueduct, of which scarce a stone remains to-day, rose before them from the ground some sixty paces from the gate, and, travelling on high arches, emptied itself into the reservoir within the walls. The lofty parapets of this gigantic structure, which carried the water underground for eight miles, were marked in the moonlight against the sky as if they had been cut from pasteboard. Turning their backs to the gate and facing southward, they saw that great military highway, built by and named after the Censor Appius four hundred years previously, as it topped the undulations of the country until it was lost in darkness and distance. Its pavement, made of solid blocks of basaltic lava, as the fitful moonlight rested on its receding line, might by a stranger be mistaken for the surface of a glancing stream. The death-like stillness of the sepulchral monuments and of the mysterious _columbaria_, and the motion of the cypress and other funereal trees interspersed among them, contrasted with the living magnificence and luxury of the villas, temples, and villages by which it passed. It was death beside life. The etymology of the word _monuments_ [Footnote 234] proves that they were built designedly beside the public roads to warn travellers of the goal at which all their earthly journeyings would surely end. Thoughts like these passed through the minds of the three companions; nor were they put to flight by what followed.

[Footnote 234: Monumentum, _moners mentem_, to warn the mind.]

A funeral procession was issuing from the gate as they arrived at the Crossway. They concealed themselves among the trees of the gardens known for ages afterward as those of the poet Terence. Without being seen, they observed the procession as it wended near them. In front of and at intervals through it were slaves carrying torches, whose glare colored the sky and the monuments on either side with a red glow. Musicians, playing mournful strains on the flute, the pipes, and the horn, startled the silence of the time and place. They were aided by mourning females hired to chant the funeral song. After these came the mimics, directed by a principal, who represented the life and character of the deceased by imitations of his words and actions; slaves wearing the cap of freedom, as a sign that they had been emancipated before his death, followed. {653} Some of these bore the images of himself and of his ancestors; others, the civil and military crowns he had won, which proved him to have been distinguished as a citizen and a soldier. The remains rested on an ivory couch covered with drapery of purple and gold. Behind them were the children of the deceased, the sons in black mourning, with heads veiled; the daughters in white, with heads bare, and hair dishevelled. The quick march of the procession, the restless flames of the torches, and the acting of the mimics seemed strangely out of place with the sad occasion, and music, with the dirge of the female mourners and the silence or suppressed sobs of the children of the departed. It was another picture of life and death beside each other--a union so frequent with the ancients.

"There goes the funeral of Senecio," said Zoilus.

"Herenius Senecio, the senator! What, did he too incur the imperial anger?" asked Aurelian.

"He wrote a life of the proconsul Priscus, at the request of the widow Faunia."

"Is it Priscus who was put to death for the poem in which he was suspected to have caricatured under fictitious names the emperor's divorce from his wife?"

"The very same."

"Senecio," said Sisinnius, "ought to have been taught by the fate of Rusticus, who was executed for having written the life of Thrasea at the request of Arria, Faunia's mother. But he was always outspoken and headstrong in defence of friendship and truth. Hermogenes of Tarsus, who met a like fate for a like offence, was another example to warn him."

"Well, well," said Aurelian, "I do not wonder that Tacitus prefers to drudge as a civil officer in a distant province to remaining at Rome, although his great father-in-law Agricola, the conqueror of Britain, needs him to cheer his sinking spirits; nor that Pliny keeps himself so quiet and hidden."

"It was reported that Pliny was to have delivered Senecio's funeral oration," said Zoilus.

"Pliny in the affair of Bebius Masia showed himself a man of courage. But he has too much sense, I think, to do such an unnecessary thing in the present state of the imperial temper," said Aurelian.

"Yes, indeed, when we see the poetess Sulpicia in danger of her head for her ode on the expulsion of the philosophers; when booksellers are crucified; and when only those escape who, like Josephus, Juvenal, Martial, and Quinctilian, lay the unction of flattery unblushingly on, it were madness to attempt it. Alas!" continued Sisinnius, "are we not returning to a worse barbarism than that of the iron age? Philosophy, history, and poesy divine in exile, in prison, or in the tombs! Never was there an age that had more, purer, or nobler names to inscribe on the roll of fame! And all at the whim of one man who calls himself a god, and who thinks he proves his divinity by having the road to the capitol crowded with the flocks to be immolated to his statue!"

"It is the story of arbitrary authority invested in individuals from the monarch to the slave-owner, when its influence is not directed by humanity or religion," said Aurelian.

"Ay," interposed Zoilus, "and to the slave himself, who is by law allowed a vicarious ownership (_dominium vacarium_) over others. The little tyrant who has not the fulness of power is the worst; he always strives to swell himself to the bull size, like the frog in the fable, and tramples on the feelings where he cannot tread out the lives of his victims, just as recklessly as the elephant in the arena tramples on the corns of the gladiators. One of these, whom I know well to my cost, compassed the death of Senecio, and is likely to bring red ruin to many others before he dies himself."

"Who is he?" asked Aurelian.

{654}

"Arthus, who has crept up from low life to high favor with the powers that be."

"Arthus!" exclaimed Sisinnius, "the poor wretch! whose suspiciousness and unbridled impulsiveness of tongue and passion have left him without a sincere friend in the profession, into which he has worked his upward way without any education to fit him for it. He is only a craze of one idea; every one secretly laughs at his assumption of rank, knowing his origin; at his assumption of professional knowledge, knowing his Boeotic ignorance; and at his assumption of power, knowing how he acquired it."

"I can tell you, it is no laughing matter for the poor slaves, most of whom are his own countrymen, whose very blood he is coining into stone for that labyrinthine temple of which Domitian has permitted him to be the architect and builder. A joke perpetrated by Senecio in the life of Crispus with regard to this building is said to have angered him. Senecio compared the temple to the Cretan labyrinth, and said the congregation would require a thread to find their way out."

"There was another cause of Arthus's hatred of Senecio. In early life he proposed for the hand of Senecio's cousin. The first moment she saw him, she afterward declared she would as soon marry one of the brick walls he has since been building; because his heart, filled only with facts, figures, and money, seemed as cold, hard, and bloodless as the bricks and stones themselves. It is reported that she has since become a Christian. Unfortunately this creature Arthus has somehow found access to Domitian's ear, and manages with unsuspicious adroitness to have the first story about those who displease him. Less cruel natures than Domitian's find it hard to rise above prejudices that have once preoccupied their judgments."

"Well, well, it is a sad state of things. The Christians have, I often imagine, been sent in punishment for our having fallen away from the stern virtues of our ancestors, as the locust-clouds are sent in the East. But," continued Aurelian, "the less we say in this style the better, if we do not wish to join Senecio in his voyage over the Stygian lake. Even here the proverb may apply: 'Silvae habent aures.'"

"Yes," said Sisinnius, "here we are at the beginning of the ancient tombs, amid the mighty dead whose names are the morning-stars of our history!"

They walked silently and passed the monument of Horatia. Of cut stone, it was, after more than seven centuries, in good preservation: nay more, in the nineteenth century, after twenty-seven hundred years, it is comparatively untouched by the hands of time and weather. She had been killed by her victorious brother, the last of the three Horatii, because she wept for her betrothed, one of the Curiatii, slain by him in the contest of Rome and Alba for superiority. The sepulchres of the Metelli, of the Scipios, and of other noble families stood near the Cross road not far from the gate.

Pointing to these, Sisinnius spoke as if giving utterance to a train of thought that had occupied his mind:

"Where are they now the great, the noble, the heroic men, by whose martial deeds and unselfish patriotism the foundations of Roman greatness were placed? Is this all that remains of them--a hollow tomb raised as in mockery over a little ashes, if even so much of them after five or six hundred years be left? Alas! Aurelian, does not death make you sad to think on it?"

"Yes; and therefore I put it away, on the epicurean principle that it increases the misery of the destiny that inflicts it on us."

"Yet our ancestors did not take that view, and they have had repute for wisdom. They built their tombs in public places to remind living generations of the fleeting character of all things human. They placed a horse's head over the inscriptions as a symbol that death is only the commencement of another and a longer journey. {655} If the epicurean philosophy be true, they were deceived; but, if they were right, we are wrong in turning our gaze away from death, which, alas! is a terrible reality! Would it not be wiser to try and pierce the mystery of that horse's head, to draw aside the veil that shrouds that journey from our sight?"

"Men like Plato, and Socrates, and Cicero, have endeavored to do so in every age, and have failed. The great doubt, whether there be a hereafter or not, still puzzles the world. How can we hope to remove it when these giants fail? It is much better for our peace and happiness to follow the common belief in elysium and in the gods, and to drown the thought of death in forgetfulness, and to enjoy the pleasures of the present."

"It is a hard alternative, especially when the insecurity of the present is brought so strikingly before us by the passing away of men like Senecio and Priscus, and those of whom we were speaking. To believe in elysium and the gods is to rest our faith and hope on the creations of the poets. Enjoyment of the present does not bring happiness; and, even if it did, when these pleasures are over, (and we don't know how soon,) what is to follow? But yesterday Senecio, whose funeral we have witnessed, swayed the senate by his reason and eloquence. Does nothing of him remain now but the ashes gathered from the pyre? Why have the generations gone before erected those vast monuments, if all that is left be the dust in the urn? Fitter let it be borne by the wind over the face of the earth, if no spirit remain to take an interest in its preservation! Are the souls of the mighty dead, who slumber in those tombs around, 'nothing but a name'? Like the blast which bends the forest, and then, dispersed in air, is felt and heard no more? Oh! my blood runs cold to think it!

"And yet there is no certainty it is not so--no hope, after so many attempts, of now obtaining it. Better, then, enjoy the present and leave the future to fate," said Aurelian.

"No hope, no certainty!" repeated Sisinnius twice over, "no hope, no certainty! And death approaching with his inevitable lance set! It may be to-day, it may be to-morrow. Oh! is it not a wretched destiny that keeps us thus in the dark? We come we know not whence, we go we know not whither. Like persons lowered into a deep pit, we see a little sky above, but our gaze cannot penetrate on either side of us. Is there no delivery from this state of prison and anguish? What wretchedness is equal to that of the last sad moment? Who but the fool or madman, with such daily reminders of earthly life's vanity and shortness, can be deaf to the approaching footfalls of death?"

They had now arrived at the valley extending to the left, and watered by the fountain of Egeria. Here it was that the nymph dictated the laws to Numa. The valley contained also a temple of the Camoenae, and a sacred grove. At a little distance was a large village. The poet Juvenal complains that in the reign of Domitian pompous marble had displaced the grass of the vale and concealed the rock from which the water gurgled; and that the fountain, the temple, and the wood were owned and occupied by Jewish beggars:

"Hoc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur
_Judaeis_, quorum cophinus foenumque supellex.
Omnis enim populo mercedem penrtere jussa est
Arbor, et ejectis meudicat sylva Camoenis."
_Juv_. Sat. iii.

Juvenal and the pagans of his time frequently confounded the Christians with the Jews. But the acts of early martyrs, like those of St. Cecilia, clearly show that the Jews alluded to in these verses were Christians, perhaps converted from Judaism. The surmise of the Abbé Gueranger is most likely true, that, when the Emperor Claudius banished "the Jews' from Rome on account of their dissensions, the Christians also were forced to leave the capital for a short time; but after their return many of them settled in this place outside the walls, and occupied the village called _Vicus Camaenarum_, where they seem to have rented the fountain as well as the temple and grove. {656} Here they could dig vaults, open subterranean galleries wherein to bury their dead, and to hide themselves in times of persecution. What confirms this supposition is, that here within the bowels of the earth commence the sombre galleries of the Christian catacombs. The statesmen and soldiers of pagan Rome sleep the long sleep of ages above, in monuments rising to the face of heaven, with all the surroundings of material greatness; while the champions and martyrs of the church repose in their lowly niches beneath, where a ray of sunlight never penetrates. What a contrast is here symbolized, and how true! The pride of the world raising itself like Lucifer to heaven, and the lowliness of the church bowing its head with Christian humility, and submitting to be trampled in the earth! As it was in the beginning, so it is, so it will be to the end.

At this point of the road Zoilus paused to impress upon his companions the rules by which they were to be guided. They were to pretend to be converts to the faith. He had succeeded in convincing those who had guard of the avenues to the Christian meeting-place that Aurelian and Sisinnius would make open profession of the new religion but for the dangers with which such a step would surround them and those dear to them; that they were eager to be instructed privately as neophytes; and that they asked to be admitted to the Christmas celebration in order to witness the ceremony by which one so dear to them as Flavia Domitilla was about consecrating herself to God. They did not wish, however, that Flavia or Theodora should be aware of their presence or of their conversion. Zoilus, who had been baptized by St. Polycarp at Smyrna, and who had made the Roman Christians believe that he was a zealous member of the church, succeeded in convincing them of the truth of his representations, and in obtaining admission for Aurelian and Sisinnius to the feast. The visits of Clement to the house of the latter, together with the conversion of Theodora and Flavia, rendered these representations plausible.

Not far from the Egerian valley is a semicircular underground chamber of large dimensions. It was the only one, to which at this early time the name of _cata-tomb_, (meaning a place _near the tombs_,) or _catacomb_, (meaning a _deep_ and _low_ place, or place of _temporary rest_,) was given. In after times the name has been applied to all the cemeteries radiating from the Vatican and underlying the city and the country for many miles. Some authors ascribe this chamber to a pagan origin. However this may be, it presents interiorly the appearance of a chapel much more spacious than most of those which have been dug out of the Roman campagna. Opening into it is a room which is said to have been occupied by many popes during the persecutions. In a corner of it there is a pontifical throne in marble. A circular bench, also of marble, still clings to its ruined walls; this is supposed to have been used by the priests and other ministers. In its centre is an ancient altar, at the base of which the orifice of a pit, or well, over which it was erected, is visible. Twelve arched tombs built into the walls form a cincture round it. In this well, according to an old tradition preserved and believed by St. Gregory, the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul were hidden by the oriental Christians, who attempted to steal these precious relics from the Roman city, but were prevented by a thunder-storm. After having been transferred thence to the Vatican grotto, they were a second time, in the reign of Heliogabalus, brought back for preservation, and for a time to the same place of concealment.

Here, on the occasion of which we write, we find the chiefs of the Christian church assembled. The rumors and near approach of persecution induced Pope Clement to select it for the celebration of the feast. {657} Here they could better avoid suspicion: their coming and going would be easily mistaken by outsiders for the visits of those whom curiosity or affection drew to the pagan monuments.

Many missionary churches in Asia, Africa, Gaul, and other countries had sent delegates, who were now conversing with Pope Clement in the room next the chapel. These delegates carried letters from the bishops and churches by whom they were delegated; and, having set out long before the festival and visited other churches on their way, they were able to give a faithful report of the progress and condition of the faith in the countries through which they journeyed. There was Andronicus, a priest of Corinth, who brought the sad tidings of the apostle St. John's arrest at Ephesus.

"Have you heard," said the pope, "when he is likely to be in Rome?"

"No; but the galley in which he sailed left the port of Corinth two days before my departure. Owing to the crowds coming to the _Saturnalia_ at Rome, it was thought she was delayed at Ostium until after the festivities, when he is to be brought before the emperor himself."

"O my children! let us pray that God may soften the tyrant's heart, and that this last golden link between our time and that of our divine Master may not be yet taken away by martyrdom."

"I have been told by one of the brethren who was in Ephesus on the day of his arrest that the blessed John himself assured the faithful that he had much yet to do and suffer before his hour would come."

"Thanks and glory be to God for this glad tidings," fervently ejaculated Clement. "We shall try, and, if possible, have an interview with him."

The churches of Antioch and of Alexandria had also representatives in the meeting. The latter see, founded by St. Mark, who had been commissioned by St. Peter for that purpose, was described as being in a most flourishing state. From Gaul had come the missionary priest Galbinus, who had travelled through the Black Forest, and found many Christian communities among its fastnesses and along the Rhine and Rhone. He had delayed for a week at Marseilles, where he was entertained by Lazarus and Martha. Mary Magdalen he had not met; but the fame of her penitential life in a solitude outside of that city had spread far and wide, and filled the whole district with a holy odor. From Marseilles he had journeyed by the coast until he reached the Flaminian road. At the foot of the maritime Alps he had met many Christians practising the evangelical counsels in seclusion and peace. Thus the holy pope, through the delegates from the various churches, had full and detailed information as to the condition, prospects, and number of the faithful in the different regions of Christendom.

There was one visitor who more than others riveted the attention of all. This was Nicodemus, [Footnote 235] who had taken our Lord's body down from the cross. He arrived later than the others. When he entered, he knelt to receive Pope Clement's blessing; but the latter, embracing, kissed him on the cheek, and said:

[Footnote 235: It is very probable, says Tillemont, that Nicodemus
visited Rome toward the end of the first century.]

"My father and friend! It is I who ought to receive yours. I have heard you were in the city for some days. Why not have come sooner to visit us?"

"Yes, holy father; [Footnote 236] I arrived in the city two days ago, and received from the kindness of some of my own nation, who after the fall of Sion came to reside in Rome, that hospitality and treatment which the wearied traveller requires. The last persecution--for I was then here--taught us all a lesson not to create suspicion by visiting prematurely the locality in which the brethren meet or the presbyter resides. Hence, though I had learned the secret of where you intended celebrating the feast, I deemed it well to delay my visit to the eve of it."

[Footnote 236: "_Papa sancte_," a usual mode of addressing bishops
in the early ages.]

{658}

"Always cautious, Nicodemus," said Clement, alluding to the furtive night visit paid by Nicodemus to our divine Lord; but he checked the smile that played on his face, as he saw the tears rolling down the old man's cheeks.

"Pardon, pardon, my friend and brother! I did not mean to say aught painful."

"Nor have you. But I am overcome, in spite of myself, whenever I remember the eyes which beamed out upon me through the darkness of that night, and the face so transcendently beautiful, so tenderly compassionate, so profoundly sorrowful! That face and look are impressed here"--he laid his hand upon his heart--"I always bear them about with me like precious relics, which supply ample matter for my meditations. In the brightness of the day those sorrowful eyes shine out, in the darkness of night that beauteous face is luminous; in the desert and in the forum they alike are my companions, as they shall be to the grave."

He was silent. His eyes and thoughts seemed turned inward; the former as if riveted with dazzled, loving gaze on some unseen object which wholly filled the latter. After some moments, during which those present looked on in wonder, he became conscious of their presence and slightly embarrassed.

Clement, not seeming to notice the embarrassment, said:

"What changes have taken place since you and I became acquainted first! Having delayed beyond the midnight hour on Mount Calvary, I was brought by blessed Paul, with whom I was then travelling, to your house. I regret that altered circumstances and thickening clouds compel me to make a return of hospitality in these poor quarters. All are welcome; none more so than Nicodemus. I know all are satisfied while we have Him for whose love we resign all near us under the clouds," He pointed and bowed reverently toward the chapel, and then retired to prepare for the celebration of the sacred mysteries.

Meanwhile the eyes of all were fixed with curiosity on Nicodemus. His countenance was of the most decided Jewish caste. His face bore the wrinkles of over a hundred years; but his frame, like the sturdy oak whose surface may be serried by ages, did not present the appearance of decayed strength or health.

The visitors and guests of Clement entertained themselves with anecdotes of their respective missions; of the divers ways in which Providence had enlightened them with the true faith; of the countries through which they had preached, the people they had converted, the adventures they had met, and the miracles by which God had aided and rescued them. A history such as has never been, and cannot now be written, might be gathered from these conversations. A great many, especially the younger portion, felt a wish to question Nicodemus. They desired to hear from his own lips more of that beautiful face and those shining eyes that affected his imagination so much. They knew he referred to his nocturnal interview with the Redeemer; but they longed to hear more.

"Pardon me, venerable father," said Andronicus, with more courage than the others. "We would like to hear from yourself the history of your first interview with _him_. We do not ask through idle curiosity, but because we love to hear every little thing about him."

"That evening and night, my children--you will excuse the liberty one so much older than yourselves takes in thus addressing you--that evening and night will never leave my memory. It was summer time. I was strolling to 'drink the evening air' beyond the Taffa gate. The ringing laughter and white garments of the young people, as they visited the springs outside the walls, aided with the freshness and beauty of the atmosphere and scenery in dispelling feelings of void and loneliness, which--I could not account for it--had been for some months creeping over me. {659} I felt as if there were nothing in life to satisfy my heart. It was the hour for the evening sacrifice; I heard the trumpets of the Levites ringing out through the evening calm; and I saw the column of sacrificial smoke rising up from the temple, like a pillar of sand in the desert, through the clear air, until it was flattened by the far vault of heaven into fleecy clouds, which hung about its summit like the frescoes of a Corinthian capital. I stood to admire the beauty of its height and rounded straightness, when I was struck by an unusual glow in the heavens. I saw distinctly formed in the sky a golden crown, which seemed upheld over the inner court of the temple by a chain of sparks, as if suspended from the column of smoke. I was drawn toward the place; and after a quarter hour's hurried walk found myself at the avenue leading up to the temple. I was soon at the entrance, and, passing through the outer court, entered the open one of Sacrifice, over which the crown appeared to rest. The incense from the Levites' censers was ascending in curls about the column of sacrificial smoke like a binding of white ribbon about a black column. The court and side galleries were crowded. I lost sight of the golden crown; and began to fancy it was some play of imagination working on the sunset colors. I sought a remote corner of the hall, and, feeling a peculiar influence over me, bowed profoundly in the depths of my own soul before the majesty of Jehovah. Raising my eyes toward the smoking altar, I was seized with awe and terror in beholding the self-same crown resting over the head of a worshipper, who prayed in the shadow of a pillar. When the ceremony was over, I managed to get a glimpse of the face, which I recognized as that of Jesus of Nazareth. His eyes overflowed with tears. I yearned in my heart toward him by an almost invincible impulse; but I was afraid of being seen speaking to one so humble and so suspected. I waited and watched him on his way home. I followed him in the dusk as he hurried along a street, which I afterward saw him mark with footprints in his own blood. Turning suddenly at the cross formed by the road from the palace of Herod the Ascalonite and that now known as the 'Dolorous Way,' he addressed me:

"'What do you seek, Nicodemus?'

"I was startled by the sound of my own name, not dreaming that he knew it; and I glanced hurriedly up and down the arms of the Crossway to see if any one were within ear-shot.

"'Be not alarmed,' he said, in a voice which fell with velvet softness on mine ear. 'If you wish aught of me, enter here.' And he led the way to an humble house on the street to Calvary. There were two men, one young, with a cheek of downy softness, and the other middle-aged, with beard of bristling gray and fiery eye, awaiting him.

"'Rabbi!' they both exclaimed with glad surprise; but they hesitated when they saw me. For, as I afterward learned, they both recognized me as a member of the Jewish council, and therefore set me down as an enemy of their Master.

"'Peter,' he said, 'John and you will retire to another room. This man wishes to speak to me alone.'

"'But, Rabbi,' said Peter impulsively, 'do you know that he is one of--'

"'Peter! _I_ knew him before I saw him. Do as I direct.' And Peter with reluctance left the room.

We were alone. Regarding me with a look which seemed to penetrate my whole being to the most hidden secrets and littleness of my soul, he again asked:

"'What do you seek, Nicodemus?'

"'Rabbi!' I ventured to say, subdued as I was by the mild radiance of those piercing eyes, 'we all know you are from God, for no one can work the wonders you perform if God be not with him. I seek knowledge of the kingdom that is promised.'

{660}

"'Amen, amen!' he answered solemnly, 'I say to you, no one can see that kingdom who is not born anew of water and the Holy Spirit.'" Here Nicodemus related the conversation the substance of which is recorded in the third chapter of St. John's gospel.

"At parting," continued Nicodemus, "I told him that, if at any time I could be of service. I would be glad to render it. I shall never forget the answer: 'My hour is not yet come. When it is, your charity shall not be forgotten. It will be your office to clothe for the last time the nakedness of this temple!' He pointed to himself. I did not then know his meaning: but, when I saw his bloodless body on his blessed mother's lap, and had the happy privilege of preparing it for burial, I remembered and understood his words."

"I have heard a varied account of our Lord's personal appearance," said Damian, one of the missionaries, an Irishman, [Footnote 237] or, as the old annalists have it, a _Scotus_ by birth. "My venerated master, Joseph of Arimathea, who had many opportunities of seeing him, said that he at one time wore on his sacred humanity all the charms of godlike beauty, and at another presented in appearance almost the opposite extreme?"

[Footnote 237: _Scotia_, the ancient name of Ireland. In the reign
of Domitian an Irish prince was a guest at the court. Joseph of
Arimathea is said to have preached the gospel in the British Isles. At
this time Britain was first discovered to be an island.]

"I remember distinctly the night I saw him in the court of the temple. I knelt beside him; and in the glare of the many lights saw every line and undulation of the golden ringlets that floated down his neck and shoulders. They were not of one color. At the summit they glowed with more than star-like brilliancy, which faded into other dazzling hues reflected from each undulation to their extremities. They talk of the colors of the rainbow; these were all exhausted in the surpassing loveliness of that noble head, above which the air-formed crown rested like a glory. When I saw his face as he rose from his knees, though sad in its expression as fancy in its furthest flight could paint it, it beamed with a beauty such as lover's eye never invested the beloved with, such as I shall never see until I gaze on it again, as I hope, in that kingdom, where, after God's increated beauty, it increases the happiness of the glorified to behold it. Once again I saw him. But, oh! how changed the human beauty of that face divine and those golden ringlets. They were matted in uncombed confusion with dried and drying clots of blood! The face was disfigured and ugly. I could scarcely imagine him the same person I had met in the court of the temple. These different appearances under different circumstances will no doubt account for the varying descriptions of him given by those who saw him." [Footnote 238]

[Footnote 238: Tradition is divided as to our Lord's personal
appearance; some of the holy fathers describe him as a specimen of
manly beauty; others say the contrary. We have borrowed from the letter
of a Roman officer then in Judea.]

During the recital the old man's cheeks were wet with tears and his voice often trembled.

It was now after two o'clock, the hour appointed for the commencement of the celebration.

St. Justin, in his first apology to the Antonines, describes the manner in which the Christians celebrated their Sundays and other feasts. They met before sunrise and sang a hymn in praise of the Redeemer; then lessons from the Old and New Testaments were read, with the addition of prayers for the wants of the faithful and the conversion of the unbelievers; the presiding presbyter, who is a bishop or a priest, addressed the congregation; and finally, taking bread, blessed and brake it, saying, '_This is my body;_' and in like manner he blessed and consecrated the chalice, saying, '_This is the cup of my blood._' The saint who was living at the period of which we write states the doctrine of the real presence and of the sacrifice as clearly as words can express them.

Clement, with his assistant deacon and subdeacons, sat in front of the altar. On the seats on each side were Nicodemus, Andronicus, Damianus, and the other clergy and missionaries. {661} Aurelian and Sisinnius were astonished to observe that their acquaintance and friend Clement was the chief in the Christian assemblage; and that his principal minister, in fact, his attendant deacon, was Vitus, the young officer of the imperial household, who had made himself so remarkable the night of the emperor's feast. But their amazement was doubly increased when, after the clergy had taken their seats, a procession of females veiled in black emerged from a side-door and knelt before Clement, opposite the centre of the altar. In front were two matrons, and between them the slender figure of a younger female, whose head and shoulders were concealed by a white veil. Aurelian's breath came thick and fast; Sisinnius, too, was excited. But Zoilus by a significant pressure restrained any open manifestation of their feelings.

The hymn chanted was composed specially by one of the brethren for the time and feast. It was as follows:

Christmas Hymn.

The flocks lay on the midnight plains,
Where Jacob tended his of old, [Footnote 239]
Where David woke his earliest strains
And sang the Lion of Judah's fold,
_Gloria, gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo!_

[Footnote 239: The plains of Bethlehem, where Jacob
had tended the flocks of his father-in-law,
and David those of his father.]

When suddenly the skies grew bright,
And angel choirs in countless throng,
With flashing wings, lit up the night,
And chanted, as they passed along,
_Gloria, gloria, gloria in excelsis!_

"Now glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth to fallen man;"
With star-like clearness through the sky,
'Twas thus the angel anthem ran,
_Gloria, gloria, gloria in excelsis!_

We saw them by the new star's light
Above the stable where He lay;
We watched them through the livelong night,
And through the heavens we heard them say,
_Gloria, gloria, gloria in excelsis!_

After the hymn had been sung and the lessons from the sacred Scriptures had been read, the pope addressed the assembly in earnest words. He spoke of the mystery of the incarnation and the birth of the Redeemer, by which the promises made to the patriarchs and prophets were fulfilled. He said that there were amongst them that night those who, during his earthly life, had conversed with the "Word made flesh." He pointed out Nicodemus, who had taken the lifeless body of the Master down from the cross, and who had the singular privilege of seeing Christ arisen in his glorified humanity. "We, therefore," he concluded, "have no reason to repine, for we know in whom we trust. We may be poor in subjection, exposed to persecution. The amphitheatre and the beasts, the prison, the rack, and other tortures may await us. But we are not like those who have no hope, no security of the unseen hereafter. We depend on that love which induced him to allow himself to be nailed in agony on the cross, and, what is more, to be yoked, as it were, not only for time, but for eternity, to a body of flesh and blood like ours. That love is the guarantee that he will use his power to raise us up as he has promised, if it be our happy lot to 'confess him before men' by the shedding of our blood. And of his power how can we doubt? He who, when dead himself, yet was able to raise himself from the tomb up to a glorious and impassible existence, has power, now that he is seated in glory at the Father's right hand, to do the same for us. Let us not be sad, then, like those who have no hope. Let us gird ourselves for the contest before us." And he proceeded to strengthen his audience by showing how little the short sufferings of time were when balanced by the weight of glory to follow for ever. He then continued the ceremonies. As he approached the consecration, Aurelian and Sisinnius, despite the thoughts that engaged their minds, were struck by the rapt devotion and fervent prayers of the crowd of worshippers in the body of the chamber. They themselves had taken their place behind so as not to be observed; Zoilus had arranged this. Between them and the altar there was a large and motley gathering: slaves, plebeians, and some whose dress belonged to the rank of Roman knights; Jews, Greeks, and barbarians; men of different colors, races, and countries bowed before the altar and were animated by one spirit. {662} There was no distinction, save only that shown in the separation of the men from the women on the two sides of the chapel. The words of consecration, pronounced in a half-audible voice, fell ominously on the ears of Aurelian. "_Hoc est CORPUS meum._" Whose body? he asked himself. "_Hic est calix SANGUINIS mei._" Whose blood was contained in that cup? Were not those vague rumors true about the murder of infants in those Christian meetings? Alas! it was horrible to think that his own beloved Flavia had been entrapped and was now a sharer in those bloody orgies. But he would rescue her, or lose his fortune or his life in the effort. Different somewhat were the reflections of Sisinnius. The words of Clement had touched in his heart a chord which still vibrated with a longing to hear more. After all, had these men solved the mystery of death and of the life beyond the grave?

After the full completion of the sacrifice by the communion of the celebrant, Clement resumed his seat in front of the altar, with his face to the people. The golden plate which bound his temples flashed in the lamplight, and reminded many of Moses after his descent from the mount, with the rays beaming from his forehead. The three females, who had knelt during the ceremonies, now stood before the pope. The two matrons were turned sideways toward the congregation as they lifted the veil from the head of the central figure. In one of these Sisinnius recognized his own wife; and in the other a member of the imperial household, Priscilla, who had so gently restrained Vitus on the night of the emperor's feast from drawing the sword from his scabbard as the words fell from the stage:

"Domitian! Domitian! Beware! Beware!"

Aurelian's worst fears were confirmed as he saw, when the white veil was lifted, the beautiful features of Flavia Domitilla! But Zoilus kept beside him.

"My daughter!" said Clement, addressing Flavia, "have you duly and fully considered the step you propose taking?"

"Yes, father!" she answered, in a low, tremulous voice.

"But is there no other love to divide your heart from Him whom you propose espousing? Have you not pledged your troth and allegiance to another?"

"I did, when my eyes were shut to the eternal beauty of Him who has since revealed himself to me. If other love I have had, I now uproot it from my soul. I only ask to be permitted to devote myself to the service of Him whom my heart has too lately known, too lately loved. All other allegiance I hereby renounce."

"In the name, then, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I receive you as the spouse of him who has loved you from the beginning." He replaced the white veil upon her head; and, receiving a ring from Vitus, who stood beside him opposite Flavia, placed it on her finger. Then he administered to her the most holy sacrament. A smile played like a ray of sunshine over her countenance, which manifested the deep and overflowing happiness that welled upward from her soul.

Aurelian trembled like a reed as he heard her recall her promises to himself. But she was not mistress of her actions, he reasoned. Had he not seen her drugged with that unholy flesh and blood which were given her? Vitus, he thought, had so far succeeded; for was not he the only one present to whom she could be thus wedded? Zoilus watched his companions closely; and, when the assembly was dismissed, hurried them away by the private entrance.

------

{663}

Under The Violets

Under the violets blue and sweet,
Where low the willow droops and weeps
Where children tread with timid feet
When twilight o'er the forest creeps
She sleeps--my little darling sleeps.

Breathe low and soft, O wind! breathe low
Where so much loveliness is laid;
Pour out thy heart in strains of woe,
O bird! that in the willow's shade
Sing'st till the stars do pale and fade.

It may be that to other eyes,
As in the happy days of old,
The sun doth every morning rise
O'er mountain summits tipped with gold,
And set where sapphire seas are rolled;

But I am so hedged round with woe,
The glory I no more can see.
O weary heart that throbbest so!
Thou hast but this one wish--to be
A little dust beneath the tree.

I would thou hadst thy wish to-day,
And we were lying side by side
With her who took our life away
That heavy day whereon she died--
O grave! I would thy gates were wide!

------

{664}

From The Lamp.

An Irish Saint. [Footnote 240]

[Footnote 240: Montalembert's Monks of the West.]

It is consoling in these gloomy days to think of the time when Ireland was the Island of Saints, and gloried in the patronage of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columbkill.

It is to a foreigner that we owe the biography of St. Columbkill--named "Columba" from the Dove of Peace, and "kill," from the many cells or monasteries that he founded. He was descended, says Montalembert, from one of those noble races in Ireland whose origin is lost in the night of ages--the Nialls or O'Donnells of Tirconnel, who were monarchs of Ireland from the sixth to the twelfth century. The child was instructed in religion by the priest who had baptized him, and the legends tell of angels who watched over him from his birth; and they say that he asked familiarly of his guardian angel if all the angels were as bright and young as himself. From the house of the priest he was sent to the monastery of St. Frinan at Clonard, where he studied and labored like the rest, and, though a prince, he ground the corn they ate. One of his companions, afterward a saint, was angry at the influence which Columba naturally possessed over the rest; but an angel appeared to him, and showed him the hatchet of his father, the carpenter, bidding him remember that he had only left his tools, but that Columba left a throne to enter the monastery. Clonard, says Montalembert, was vast as the monastic cities of the Thebais, and 3000 Irish students learnt there from the "Master of Saints." Among the crowds who came to learn was an aged bard, who was a Christian. He asked St. Frinan to teach him, in return for his verse, the art of cultivating the soil. Columba was a poet, and studied with the bard. One day a young girl, pursued by a robber, was murdered at their feet, and Columba foretold his death, and was renowned through the island as a saint. He was ordained a priest in 546, and became, when scarcely twenty-five, the founder of monasteries, of which thirty-seven are reckoned in Ireland alone. The most ancient of these was in the forest of Durrow, or the Field of Oaks, where a cross and well yet bear the name of Columba. It stood in Clenmalire, now in King's county; and the noble monastery, as Bede calls it, became the mother of many others; so that Dermach as well as Hy became nurseries for the hundred monasteries founded by Columba. It has been said that St. Patrick had kindled such a flame of devotion that the saints were not satisfied with monastic life without retiring to the solitude of the surrounding forests, and there, under the canopy of the vast oaks, which had for ages possessed the wilderness, they found a more silent and solemn cloister. Such had been the monastery of St. Bridget at Kildare, and such was Durrow; and in the forest of Calgachus, in his native country, Columba built Derry, in a deep bay on the sea which separates Ireland from Scotland. There he dwelt, and he would not permit one of the oaks to be felled unless it was injured by age or storms, and then it was used as fuel for the stranger or the poor. Here he wrote poems, of which, says Montalembert, only the echo has reached us. The following verses might be written by his disciples, but they are in the most ancient Irish dialect, and perhaps convey the thoughts, it not the words, of Columba:

"Had I all countries where the Scottish tribes
Have made their dwelling, I would choose a cell
In my own beauteous Derry, which I love
For its unbroken peace and sanctity.
There, seated on each leaf of those old oaks,
I see a white-winged angel of the sky.
O forests dear! home and cell beloved!
O thou Eternal in the highest heaven!
From hands profane my monasteries shield,
My Derry and my Durrow, Rapho sweet,
Drumhorne in forests prolific. Swords, and Kells,
Where sea-birds scream and flutter o'er the sea,
Sweet Derry, when my boat rows near the shore,
All is repose and most delicious rest."

{665}

There are traces of the saint in these beloved foundations: among the ruins of Swords are still seen the chapel of St. Columba, and a round tower and holy well, but not the missal written by himself and given to the church. We have the rule he wrote for the monasteries, but it is said to have been borrowed from the oriental monasteries. He founded Kells in 550, and dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin. St. Columba's devotion was not confined to his own monasteries; he loved that founded not long before by St. Eudacus in Arran, the Isle of Saints:

"Arran, thou art like sunshine, and my heart
Yearns on thee in thine Ocean of the West;
To hear thy bells would be a life of bliss;
And, if thy soil might be my last abode,
I should not envy those who sleep secure
Beside St. Peter and St. Paul. My light,
My sunny Arran! all my heart's desire
Lies in the Western Ocean and in thee!"