Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz [e book reader android .TXT] 📗

whistles beyond the shed.

 

Vinicius sprang up again, so as to break through the crowd to the

Apostle and demand salvation; but on a sudden he saw before him, as it

were, a precipice, the sight of which took strength from his feet. What

if the Apostle were to confess his own weakness, affirm that the Roman

Cæsar was stronger than Christ the Nazarene? And at that thought terror

raised the hair on his head, for he felt that in such a case not only

the remnant of his hope would fall into that abyss, but with it he

himself, and all through which he had life, and there would remain only

night and death, resembling a shoreless sea.

 

Meanwhile Peter began to speak in a voice so low at first that it was

barely possible to hear him,—

 

“My children, on Golgotha I saw them nail God to the cross. I heard the

hammers, and I saw them raise the cross on high, so that the rabble

might gaze at the death of the Son of Man. I saw them open His side,

and I saw Him die. When returning from the cross, I cried in pain, as

ye are crying, ‘Woe! woe! O Lord, Thou art God! Why hast Thou permitted

this? Why hast Thou died, and why hast Thou tormented the hearts of us

who believed that Thy kingdom would come?’

 

“But He, our Lord and God, rose from the dead the third day, and was

among us till He entered His kingdom in great glory.

 

“And we, seeing our little faith, became strong in heart, and from that

time we are sowing His grain.”

 

Here, turning toward the place whence the first complaint came, he began

in a voice now stronger,—

 

“Why do ye complain? God gave Himself to torture and death, and ye wish

Him to shield you from the same. People of little faith, have ye

received His teaching? Has He promised you nothing but life? He comes

to you and says, ‘Follow in my path.’ He raises you to Himself, and ye

catch at this earth with your hands, crying, ‘Lord, save us!’ I am dust

before God, but before you I am His apostle and viceregent. I speak to

you in the name of Christ. Not death is before you, but life; not

tortures, but endless delights; not tears and groans, but singing; not

bondage, but rule! I, God’s apostle, say this: O widow, thy son will

not die; he will be born into glory, into eternal life, and thou wilt

rejoin him! To thee, O father, whose innocent daughter was defiled by

executioners, I promise that thou shalt find her whiter than the lilies

of Hebron! To you, mothers, whom they are tearing away from your

orphans; to you who lose fathers; to you who complain; to you who will

see the death of loved ones; to you the careworn, the unfortunate, the

timid; to you who must die,—in the name of Christ I declare that ye

will wake as if from sleep to a happy waking, as if from night to the

light of God. In the name of Christ, let the beam fall from your eyes,

and let your hearts be inflamed.”

 

When he had said this, he raised his hand as if commanding, and they

felt new blood in their veins, and also a quiver in their bones; for

before them was standing, not a decrepit and careworn old man, but a

potentate, who took their souls and raised them from dust and terror.

 

“Amen!” called a number of voices.

 

From the Apostle’s eyes came a light ever increasing, power issued from

him, majesty issued from him, and holiness. Heads bent before him, and

he, when the “Amen” ceased, continued:—

 

“Ye sow in tears to reap in joy. Why fear ye the power of evil? Above

the earth, above Rome, above the walls of cities is the Lord, who has

taken His dwelling within you. The stones will be wet from tears, the

sand steeped in blood, the valleys will be filled with your bodies, but

I say that ye are victorious. The Lord is advancing to the conquest of

this city of crime, oppression, and pride, and ye are His legions! He

redeemed with His own blood and torture the sins of the world; so He

wishes that ye should redeem with torture and blood this nest of

injustice. This He announces to you through my lips.”

 

And he opened his arms, and fixed his eyes upward; the hearts almost

ceased to beat in their breasts, for they felt that his glance beheld

something which their mortal sight could not see.

 

In fact, his face had changed, and was overspread with serenity; he

gazed some time in silence, as if speechless from ecstasy, but after a

while they heard his voice,—

 

“Thou art here, O Lord, and dost show Thy ways to me. True, O Christ!

Not in Jerusalem, but in this city of Satan wilt Thou fix Thy capital.

Here out of these tears and this blood dost Thou wish to build Thy

Church. Here, where Nero rules to-day, Thy eternal kingdom is to stand.

Thine, O Lord, O Lord! And Thou commandest these timid ones to form the

foundation of Thy holy Zion of their bones, and Thou commandest my

spirit to assume rule over it, and over peoples of the earth. And Thou

art pouring the fountain of strength on the weak, so that they become

strong; and now Thou commandest me to feed Thy sheep from this spot, to

the end of ages. Oh, be Thou praised in Thy decrees by which Thou

commandest to conquer. Hosanna! Hosanna!”

 

Those who were timid rose; into those who doubted streams of faith

flowed. Some voices cried, “Hosanna!” others, “Pro Christo!” Then

silence followed. Bright summer lightning illuminated the interior of

the shed, and the pale, excited faces.

 

Peter, fixed in a vision, prayed a long time yet; but conscious at last,

he turned his inspired face, full of light, to the assembly, and said,—

 

“This is how the Lord has overcome doubt in you; so ye will go to

victory in His name.”

 

And though he knew that they would conquer, though he knew what would

grow out of their tears and blood, still his voice quivered with emotion

when he was blessing them with the cross, and he said,—

 

“Now I bless you, my children, as ye go to torture, to death, to

eternity.”

 

They gathered round him and wept. “We are ready,” said they; “but do

thou, O holy head, guard thyself, for thou art the viceregent who

performs the office of Christ.”

 

And thus speaking, they seized his mantle; he placed his hands on their

heads, and blessed each one separately, just as a father does children

whom he is sending on a long journey.

 

And they began at once to go out of the shed, for they were in a hurry,

to their houses, and from them to the prisons and arenas. Their thoughts

were separated from the earth, their souls had taken flight toward

eternity, and they walked on as if in a dream, in ecstasy opposing that

force which was in them to the force and the cruelty of the “Beast.”

 

Nereus, the servant of Pudens, took the Apostle and led him by a secret

path in the vineyard to his house. But Vinicius followed them in the

clear night, and when they reached the cottage of Nereus at last, he

threw himself suddenly at the feet of the Apostle.

 

“What dost thou wish, my Son?” asked Peter, recognizing him.

 

After what he had heard in the vineyard, Vinicius dared not implore him

for anything; but, embracing his feet with both hands, he pressed his

forehead to them with sobbing, and called for compassion in that dumb

manner.

 

“I know. They took the maiden whom thou lovest. Pray for her.”

 

“Lord,” groaned Vinicius, embracing his feet still more firmly,—“Lord,

I am a wretched worm; but thou didst know Christ. Implore Him,—take her

part.”

 

And from pain he trembled like a leaf; and he beat the earth with his

forehead, for, knowing the strength of the Apostle, he knew that he

alone could rescue her.

 

Peter was moved by that pain. He remembered how on a time Lygia

herself, when attacked by Crispus, lay at his feet in like manner

imploring pity. He remembered that he had raised her and comforted her;

hence now he raised Vinicius.

 

“My son,” said he, “I will pray for her; but do thou remember that I

told those doubting ones that God Himself passed through the torment of

the cross, and remember that after this life begins another,—an eternal

one.”

 

“I know; I have heard!” answered Vinicius, catching the air with his

pale lips; “but thou seest, lord, that I cannot! If blood is required,

implore Christ to take mine,—I am a soldier. Let Him double, let Him

triple, the torment intended for her, I will suffer it; but let Him

spare her. She is a child yet, and He is mightier than Cæsar, I

believe, mightier. Thou didst love her thyself; thou didst bless us.

She is an innocent child yet.”

 

Again he bowed, and, putting his face to Peter’s knees, he repeated,—

 

“Thou didst know Christ, lord,—thou didst know Him. He will give ear

to thee; take her part.”

 

Peter closed his lids, and prayed earnestly. The summer lightning

illuminated the sky again. Vinicius, by the light of it, looked at the

lips of the Apostle, waiting sentence of life or death from them. In

the silence quails were heard calling in the vineyard, and the dull,

distant sound of treadmills near the Via Salaria.

 

“Vinicius,” asked the Apostle at last, “dost thou believe?”

 

“Would I have come hither if I believed not?” answered Vinicius.

 

“Then believe to the end, for faith will remove mountains. Hence,

though thou wert to see that maiden under the sword of the executioner

or in the jaws of a lion, believe that Christ can save her. Believe,

and pray to Him, and I will pray with thee.”

 

Then, raising his face toward heaven, he said aloud,—

 

“O merciful Christ, look on this aching heart and console it! O

merciful Christ, temper the wind to the fleece of the lamb! O merciful

Christ, who didst implore the Father to turn away the bitter cup from

Thy mouth, turn it from the mouth of this Thy servant! Amen.”

 

But Vinicius, stretching his hand toward the stars, said, groaning,—

 

“I am Thine; take me instead of her.”

 

The sky began to grow pale in the east.