Homo Sum -- Volume 02

ong enough light to pierce the misty veil that hung over the giant mass of the Holy Mountain; the city of the oasis on the contrary was fully illuminated; the broad roadway of the high-stre

arpet across the road, which was nearly empty in spite of the even

nd the cup passed from hand to hand -came out into the moonlight. The elders and deacons, the readers and singers, the acolytes and the assembled priesthood of the place followed

h which a spring of water softly plashed and trickled, and which was intended for penitents. The man was prostrate on the ground and

rely prayed enough, pious man. The congregation have left the church, and I must close it on account of our beautiful new vessels and the heathen robbers. I know that the brethren of Raithu have chosen you to be their

e narrow, bare, penitential chamber. "In this house dwells One of whom I would fain take counsel, and I beg of you to

y the little gate, and I must take the key this very evening to the Senator Petrus, because his son, the architect Antonius, w

pen the issues! Do you know, man, that I think there is a way for us both out of the difficulty! You

ceded to the request of the future presbyter of Raithu, w

he was a poor man and thought to himself, "They fast in there just w

h was being prepared as a feast-supper for the senator and the assembled

ich they helped themselves to the brown stew of lentils with the palm of the hand. A round, grey-looking cake of bread lay near each, and was not to be broken till the steward Jethro had cut and apportioned the sheep. The juicy pieces of the back and thighs of the animal were offered to Petrus and his family to choose from, but the carver laid a slice for each slave on

n, who sat opposite, and who had often given her a fruit or a little honey, for Miriam loved sweet things. Petrus spoke not a word to-day to his slaves, and very little even to his f

serve the enquiring glances which were turned on him by many

backwards and forwards, crumbled the bread that she had left with her slender fingers, and her breath now came fast

thought she, and she involuntarily stroked her hand over her rough hair to smooth it, a

s he waiting now at the door for the conclusion of the meal? Was his late visit intend

coffer, out of which rose the handle of a mighty cauldron, and a skin full of water, and various vessels. She knew that these men would pass the whole night in the grotto of Mithras, and there greet "the young god"-the rising sun-with strange ceremonies; for the inquisitive shepherdess had more than once li

involuntarily sprang to her feet prompted by the force of her passion, and had almost reached the door, when the

to her master's stern questioning she said that the patient needed her, but she had never told a lie, and her pride forbade her eve

of "good-night" from each of his children-from among whom Polykarp, the sculptor, alone was missing-he withdrew to his own room. But he did not remain alone there for long: so soon as Dorothea had discussed the requirements of the house for the ne

knew the soft and loving heart within the stern exterior, and nodded to him with sympathetic understanding: but before she coul

ier to her to help her lord to bear the many burdens of life. But I am seriously anxious-even before we went to church something un

u have!" excl

dark. You are dissatisfied with Polykarp; yesterday, before he set out for Raithu, you looked at him so-so-what shall I say? I can qui

terrupted her, "Things certainly are not going on quite right-but I ought to be used to it. W

e stock, or the blessing of the spring that feeds the roots, just as if the pain or the boon were its own. And you are the tree and I am the graft, and the magic po

r it. I cannot believe that the anchorites up yonder are peculiarly pleasing to the Lord because they live in solitude. Man comes to his perfect humanity only through his wife and child, and he who

tly done so for our

are stronger than one, and it is long since we ceased to say 'I' in discussing any quest

t support you in co

lmost say warlike. If we had yielded to his views, and if our head man Obedianus had not supported me, we should not have had a single picture in the church, and it would have looked like a barn rather than a house of prayer. We never have understood each other, and si

highly, that I know," in

all artistic work a heathen abomination; he never felt the purifying influence of the beautiful, and regards all pictures and statues as tending to idolatry. Still he allows hi

ven in the temple of So

on. But he withstood me more and more violently, saying that Polykarp's works were to adorn no sacred place, but the Caesareum, and that to him is nothing but a heathen edifice, and the noble works of the Greeks that are preserved there he calls revolting images by which Satan ensnares the

ou must have answ

them. Agapitus, who was looking at the deacons' reports, was especially dissatisfied with the account that I laid before them;

tian neighbors do not help them, and yet they too are our flesh and blood. I should ill ful

old. You need not withdraw even a loaf from any one of your proteges, but certainly may now be laid by the plans for the road. Indeed there is no hurry for its completion, for Polykarp will now hardly be able to go on with his lions here among us. Poor fel

o put aside his models, and to execute other more pious works. Agapitus

ned. Polykarp must be kept busy, constantly and earnestly occupied, for he has set his eyes where they should not be set. Sirona is the wife

g frightful must have come between them even in Rome, and I have given up all attempts to guide her heart back to him. In everything else she is soft and yielding, and often, when she is playing with the children, I cannot imagine where she finds her reckless gaiety. I wish she were a Christian, for she is very dear to me, why sh

home, and, in his sour, polite manner, requested me to advise my son, when he wished to offer a rose, not t

vely, "We do not need a lodger, and much as I should miss his wife, t

the door? By no means. The Gauls may remain in my house so long as nothing occurs that compels me to send them out of it. My father was a Greek, but through my mother I have Amalekite blood in my veins, and I should dishonor myself, if I drove from my threshold any, with whom I had once broken bread under my

for the great building in the capital, and now it is all over. I wish you had already broken that to him; but love stories are women's affairs, and you know how good the boy is to me. A mother's word sometimes has more effect than a father's blow, and it is in life as it is in war; the light forces of archers go first into the field, and the heavily armed division stays in the background to support them; then, if the enemy will not yield, it comes forward and decides the battle. First let me speak to the lad. It may be that he threw the rose into Sirona's window only in sport, for she plays with his brothers and sisters as if she herself were one of them. I will question him; for if it is so, it would be neither just nor prudent to blame him. Some caution is needed even in giving a warning; for many a one, who would never have thought of stealing, has become a thief

iled, as he asked, "Whose school of rhetoric did you go to? So be it then; speak to the lad when he returns from Raithu.