^, A^ o * ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) Is // // ^>. .V 5^ ^>^^ ^ ^ 4 1.0 ^U£ Ki ^= u Kii 122 L25 nil 1.4 1.6 4W £} Photographic Sdences Corporation ^'(^ v <^ <* \ ^"^ 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. MSIO (716) 173-4303 '4^ ,^ F.^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVl/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquaa Tachnical and Bibliographic Notas/Notaa tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. 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P*~| Colourad pagaa/ n n n Pagaa da coulaur Pagaa damagad/ Pagaa andommagMa Pagas raatorad and/or laminatad/ Pagaa raatauriaa at/ou palliculAaa Pagas diacolourad. stainad or foxad/ Pagas dAcoiortea, tachatAas ou piquAas Pagaa datachad/ Pagas d^tachias Showthrough/ Transparanca Quality of print variaa/ Qualiti in^gala da I'impraasion Includaa supplamantary matarial/ Comprand du matirial supplAmantaira Thac totiM U Thaii poaai ofth( flimlr Origii bagin thai* aion, othar firat aion, or illi r~1 Only adition availabia/ ThaM ahall TINU whici Maps diffar antirs bagin right raquii math( Saula Edition disponibia Pagas wholly or partially obscurad by srrata alips. tissuaa, ate, hava baan rafilmad to anaura tha bast possibia imaga/ Laa pagas totaiamant ou partiailamant obscurciaa par un fauillat d'arrata. una palura. ate ont M fiimtas A nouvaau da fa^on A obtanir la maillaura imaga possibia. D Additional commanta:/ Commantairaa supplimantairas; This itam is fiimad at tha raductlon ratio chackad balow/ Ca documant ast film* au taux da r4duetion indiqu* ci*dassous. 10X 14X 1IX 22X 2ex 30X y 12X IfX 20X a4x 2IX 32X Th« copy fllmMl h«r« has b««n raproduead thanks to tha ganaroaity of: fL'axamplaira film* f ut raproduit griea i la ginArositi da: UnivtraMdt Montreal UniwnMdtMontrtel Tha imagas «ippaaring hara ara tha baat quality posslbia eonsidaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in Icaaping with tha filming contract spacif ications. Original copias in printad papar covars ara fllmad baglnning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion. or tha bacic covar whan appropriata. All othar original copias ara fllmad baglnning on tha first paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad imprassion. Tha last racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol -^(maaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appiias. Laa imagas suh/antas ont 4ti raproduitas avac la plus grand soin. compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da i'axamplaira f ilmi, at an conf ormiti avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Las axamplairas originaux dont la couvartura an papiar ast ImprimAa sont filmte an commanpant par la pramlar plat at an tarminant soit par la darniira paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'lllustration. soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas originaux sont filmte an comman9ant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'lllustration wt un tarminant par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. IJn das symbolas suh/ants apparattra aur la darnlAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la cas: la symbols — ► signifia "A SUIVRE ". la symbols ▼ signifia "FIN". Maps, platas, charts, ate, may ba fllmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraiy inciudad in ona axposura ara fllmad baglnning in tha uppar laft hand corner, iaft to right and top to bottom, as many framas as rsquirad. The following diagrams illustrata tha method: Las cartes, plenches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs i dee taux da rMuctlon diffirente. Lorsque le document eet trop grend pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciich*. 11 est f ilmi i pertir de Tangle eupirieur gauche, de gauche i drolte, et de heut en bee, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Las diagrammee auivants illustrant la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 6 6 (oLm »i ' ■ BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE OR, HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE Great Amphitheatre of Ancient Rome, TENTH EDITION, t vol. nmo, ddth ektra, %x 50 ; lamo, cloth, |^t tides and edges, |a 00. " More acceptable because more needed."— Z#Mrr o/Ptut IX. *' Golden BooV."-iCiviMCatio/ica. " All that could be wished for."— Boston Pilot. '* An exceedingly interesting and valuable vaik..^'*— Cincinnati Enqnirer. *' An extraordinary voxk."— Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph. '* The author's litcrarjr reputation has received the u>probation and en- comiums of the highest critical authorities."-^/r/M Canadian, "English critics have placed it side by side with the ' Fabiobi' of Cardinal Wiseman."— C0r*4iP^'' Uii-J-'i'M, SiW^' ^Si .'■ ::.5- 1 ( A. M. D. G. THE VICTIMS OVTHS MAMERTINE. Scenes from the Early Church, SECOND SERIES. BV REV. A. J. O'REILLY, D.D., Mimonary ApostoliCy author oftht " Martyrs tftht ColUtum,^ MONTREAL . D. k J. SADLIER & 00., 276 Notbe-Damk Strkkt. 1 1 I 1875. \,All Right* RtstrvtJ.] :^?^'>n- .V Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year eighteen hun< '^ dred and seventy-five, by JAMES A. SADLIEB, In the Office of the Minuter of Agriculture. I ' 1 . , 1 ( I 1 ,1 , 1 .11 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Introduction—Antiquity of the Mamertine— Ancient Structure— La Carita Romana— Horrors of the Mamertine, PAGB. 17-43 CHAPTER n. Applus and Virginia— Pontius— The Last of the Macedonian Kings— Jugurtha — Com- panions of Catiline — Pleminius — Se- janus— Minor Prisoners, . ... . 44-139 »3 6979 \ 14 Contents. CHAPTER III. Why Tiberius did not Persecute— The Cha- racter of Nero — The First Persecution — Simon Magus— St. Peter and Simon- Second Encounter, 140-198 , CHAPTER IV. The Apostles Nine Months in Prison— Acts . of Martinianus and Processus, . . . 199-^15 CHAPTER V. The Miraculous Well, 216-230 CHAPTER VI. The Appian Way— Domine, quo vadis?— Ruins around the Domine quo, vadis — The Martyrs of the Domine, quo vadis —Origin of Minor Christian Rites— The Catacombs, 231-291 CHAPTER VII. Last Hours of St. Peter— Martyrdom of St. Paul, ........ 292-310 Contents. 15 CHAPTER VIII. ^ '" Authenticity of the Acts, I . . . . 311-319 CHAPTER IX. Sixtus in the Catacombs — Martyrdom of Sixtus 370-345 CHAPTER X. St. Lawrence — Hippolytus — The Relics of .Concordia— Legend of the Broken Chal- ice — The Blind Emperor of Constan- tinople,. . . ... . . 346-390 CHAPTER XI. St. Maria in Trastevere — Conversion and Martyrdom of Palmatius, , . . . 391-422 CHAPTER XIL Nemesius, . . 423-437 CHAPTER XIII. Tertullianus, . 438-447 CHAPTER XIV. Abundius and Abundantiu.s— Their Relics, . 439-461 \ • - • • • \ i6 Contends. CHAPTER XV. ■-. s The Companions of Pope Stephen and the Church of St. Agatha, . . ... • 462-484 ^ CHAPTER XVI. ; St. Lucia, . , . ., . .... 485-513 CHAPTER XVn. Baths of Diocletian — Cyrlacus — Trials of Cyriacus— ^Martyrdom, . , • . . 513-560 ' : ■ ■ ' ' i\ ■ , CHAPTER XVni. Conclusion, . •. • • • • • 561-573 • I CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. I. IN treating of the Saints of the Mamertine, we feel like one sent to a graveyard long since aban- doned, and told to give the history of those buried in its sacred precincts. A few monuments only have survived the wreck of time, and tell the names of those who were players on the stage of life in generations gone by. • " You ask me, Valerianus, worthy pontiff of Christ," wrote Prudentius, " what inscrip- tions are engraved on the numberless tombs of the saints I have seen in the city of Romulus, and what are the names of these blessed martyrs. I find it difficult to answer. Many tombs, indeed, bear written in small letters either the name of the martyrs or «7 \' ij;; i>i ' ' 1 8 T/ie Victims of the Mamertine, som^ epitaph, but the rest merely indicate the number of martyrs they contain."* Contemplating the number of martyrs that suffered in Rome during the ten great per- secutions of the Church, it would seem a Herculean task to give the history of the victims of the Mamertine. There is a strange passage in the " Revelations of St. Bridget " : ** Take a hundred square feet of earth, sow it with corn, each gra'n a fingers breadth apart and bearing a hundred- fold, greater will b^ the number of martyrs from the time St. Peter came to Rome to the time Celestine abdicated." The Catacombs alone tell of hundreds of thousands. Yet of this immense number of happy souls the Mamertine was honored with only a few, and these the noblest names on the records of the Church. There are many martyrs mentioned in the Acts cast into vile and dark prisons, but as the Tullian or Mamertine is not mentioned we cannot treat them as victims of the prison. This prisoh w^^ destined for political captives; for the hapless sons of the upper ten on whom fortune frowned or whose ambition, like the *Pruden., "De Coronis," ii. Introduction, 19 demons of Simon Magus, ra^.sed them al<)ft to let them fall with greater ignominy. Therefore, on the Christian page of its history we have persons of position and fame. This reflection bears with it an ob- vious consolation for the reader. Being re- markable men, enjoying the first position in the city, and feared for their wealth and in- fluence, their lives were better known, and consequently their acts are more genuine. Thus the records of the martyrs of this pri- son, with a few exceptions, are a collection of the most authentic acts, not less so be- cause teeming with sensation and wonder. We need not build castles of fancy or climb imaginary rainbows to gather feathers from the fleecy clouds; far beyond the assump- tions of thought are the simple and touching scenes we quote from the sublime history of the Church — the records of the Providence of God over the cradle of Christianity. The work is the fruit of a second visit to the Eternal City, and a further examination of the notes that gave birth to " The Martyrs of the Coliseum." Leaving the cares of mis- sionary life to more able hands, it was our labor of love to take down again the mouldy \ I I 30 The Victims of the Mamertine. tomes from dusky shelves, and bring to light the beautiful and interesting records pre- v served with such scrupulous care in the ven- erable archives of the Benedictine Library at Monte Cassino, as well as the Augustinian and Dominican Libraries in Rome. The reader will find in almost every chap- ter a link between the past and the present, maintairfed either through the devotion that still exists towards those early heroes of Christianity, in the notices of those churches where, their r/elics are still enshrined or hon- ored, or in the similarity of events that prove the same Providence guiding the Church. In treating of the Saints of the Mamer- tine, we are of necessity obliged to include names already well known; but we hope in the way of detail to furnish much that is new, and to treat the same in a manner at once original and interesting. It is neither our intention to enter into any critical p.nalysis of dates, nor to refute various and strange conjectures advanced by incredulous or malicious writers, who builcj their opinions on false data and impugn facts received by history and traditic*^ Such is the d-nial that St. Peter was ever in Rome. Introduction, 21 When men, bearing all the appearance 6f education and sanity, can question such a fact, . what wonder they should cast doubts on the history of his imprisonment, the place of his martyrdom and interment? Bending with reverential awe over much that is marvellous and interesting in the his- tory of the past, our work is neither polemic nor controversial. We seek to instruct through the channel of facts, to edify by the sublime lessons taught in the infant school of our faith, culling flowers from 'the road- side of history to present to the reader a bouquet of lasting fragrance by means of the virtuous and pious sentiments they suggest. As the bee gathers honey from every flower that decks the plain, we have collected facts from the treasures of ancient literature, both sacred and profane. Translations, quo- tations, and traditions are linked together to make the chain. We have occasionally given the ipsissima uerba of others, with only a reference to the original source in the foot- notes, and thus we may frequently lay our- selves open to the charge of plagiarism so commonly preferred against authors. How- ever, we have dipped into sources not ^"tw- 22 The Victims of the Mamertine, erally known, and hence flatter ourselves we have gathered a few chapters of useful, in- structive reading, especially for youth. Like one who brushes cobwebs from the old paintings in our ancestral halls, bringing to better view the grand historic shades of the past, we present this work, as the " Martyrs of the Coliseum," to the indulgent criticism of pious Christians, who will find even in its rude dress much to encourage and cheer in the sorrows and troubles of human vicissirudes. It is to be regretted that many modern historians, pandering to a popular prejudice, placfe in the foreground of their pictures the heroes of paganism, who were at best tyrants and murderers of the . human race, whose fame is often but the record to posterity of the triumph of in- justice, whilst the champions of religion and justice — -the great before God — whose praises shall be written on the imperishable monu- ments of the eternal city of Jerusalem, are ignored and despised. 'Tis to vindicate the saints of Christianity, to recall, from records that are dead to modern languages, the names and glories of heroes who fought the battles of the g^reat Jehov^ah and marked Introduction, 23 with their blood the path we should follpWr we give to the reader the thrilling records of sufferings, of virtues, of triumphs, that are echoed in the tide — " The Victims of the Mamertine." II. ' On cloudy days the mountains, rising over the distant horizon, are not easily distin- guished from the mists that crown their sum- mits; but as we approach nearer, the blue cliffs stand out in bold reality above the clouds. Thus, when we look far back through the haze of history, the shadows of legend are easily mingled with the realities of record; but on closer investigation the grand old monuments of the past stand forth in historic grandeur, cheering the mental vision with their hallowed memories and their vener- able antiquity. The Mamertine brings us far away into the mists of the past. Retracing our steps along the stream of time, we must pass the ten cen- turies of the temporal power of the Popes, the golden age of Caesarism, and the warlike Tri- bunes of early Ronie. After a journey of nearly 24 The Victims of the Mamertine, three thousand years we find ourselves amidst the rivulets that converge into the majestic current which first claimed importance in the vicissitudes of time. It is coeval with the days that heard the lamentations of Jeremias poured forth in the solitudes of Judea; when Nineveh and Babylon were the flourishing but ungrateful cities that blasphemed the name of the true God; when Solon was giv- ing his laws at Athens, and Thales, following the course of the stars, startled the then known world with the first prophecy of the eclipse. Nations whose political influence is now felt at their antipodes, whose flags have braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze, were not then marked upon the map of the world. France and Germany were only known as barbarous tribes on the con- fines of civilization, and the cattle fed on the luxuriant meadows that covered the sites of London, Paris, and Berlin. Commenced by a shepherd king six hun- dred and forty years before the Christian era, the Mamertine Pri3on is still intact, after the wreck and ruin of nearly three thousand years. The Cloacae have drained the city of Rome for twenty-four centuries; the Introduction, 25 g;igantic aqueducts that stride the Cam-^ pagna in imperishable majesty claim a venerable antiquity; but the Mamertine served for the imprisonment of the refrac- tory slaves employed in their construction. Seven hundred years older than the Pan- theon, the Coliseum, or the palace of the Caesars, the Mamertine is the most ancient and interesting relic of ancient Rome. With a deep thrill of sympathy we visit the dungeons of the political inquisition at Venice, the prison of Tasso in the gloomy keeps of the castle of Ferrara, and the cell of the beautiful but ill-fated Cenci in the tomb of Adrian ; with inward indignation we have read of many a dark scene of cruelty and injustice in the feudal castles of the mid- dle ages; of the prisons of usurped and tyrannical powers ; of the Bastile, and the Tower of London; but their terrors pale into comforts compared with the thrilling records of the Mamertine. Although many a guilty wretch has here found a merited finale to a career of crime, }ret its rugged walls received the last sigh of the noblest and bravest of the children of men. Heroes, who fought with unflinching 26 The Victims of the Afameriine. bravery for their liberty and their country, were dragged here in chains and cast into, this gloomy abode of infamy, to starve or be strangled by the public executioner. Here were immured tender virgins of princely rank, who were not guilty of any political in- trigues, and whose love for faith and chas- tity made them the victims of tyranny and lust. Here were flung venerable pontififs, whose crimes were their miracles, and mar- . tyrs, whose guilt was their intrepid profession of Christianijty. Loathsome and revolting, yet there is no prison on earth that has wit- nessed more patient suffering, niore interior joy. Angelic spirits have passed days and nights in attendance on the champions of Christ, dispelling the darkness with miracu- lous light, spreading delicious odors in the noisome atmosphere, and cheering the lonely hours with joyous strains of celestial music* " How blest you consider yourselves when cast into the dungeons of the Costodiorum," says Tertullian, addressing the martyrs thrown into those dismal prisons. " They are dark, but you are light in yourselves; they *In the following pages wc shall give record of several miracles of this kind. ^ Introduction, 27 have chains, but you are free in God ; they have all the horrors of a miserable death, but you are bathed in the odors of celestial life."* Therefore, besides its antiquity, the Mam- ertine must attract the pilgrim to the Eternal City, with other and more hallowed reminis- cences. The spots where the martyrs suf- fered are shrines of Christian devotion. In * sympathy, in admiration, the fervent spirit floats in fancy over places that witnessed scenes of cruelty or triumph ; shuddei^ing at the blood-stained hand, the axe of the execu- tioner, and the bleeding wounds of the suf- ferer, but kissing the smile of triumph and the crown the angels weave on the martyr's brow. IIL If the pilgrim to the Eternal City stand on the steps of the Church of St. Martina in the Forum, he will look in vain amidst the ruins of the past for some indication of this ancient and celebrated prison. Yet in that very position stood what in modern phrase- * " Orat. ad Mart.," ch. ii. X: U I 28 The Victims of the Mamertine» ology would be called the court- rooms of the prison ; there, too, could be heard the piercing cries of the condemned issuing in subdued tones from the dungeons beneath. The place is so changed and tradition so in- distinct it is difficult to replace the original structure. We must sweep away in imagi- nation the beautiful churches that Christian piety has erected over the ancient sanctu- aries, the miserable houses that now mark the site of the ancient citadel, and ten or twelve feet 'of soil which has accumulated with the debris of the fallen city. We may still find the massive wall of the fagade which ran sixty feet towards the Salita di Mar- forio. On this wall, with the rock of the Capitol behind, we build to the height of forty or fifty feet a double square block — a larger one raised on a smaller one — heavy and massive in its architecture, and un- adorned, amidst brilliant temples and pal- aces, portrayed in its gloomy simplicity the odious purposes for which it was destined. All these superstructures have passed away ; although they existed in the golden age of the Caesars, they were swept down in the devastation that levelled the majestic build- Introduction, 29 ings adorning the Forum and the slopes of the Capitol. The prisons underneath were left intact, and supported on their rock-built walls the fallen masses of the upper edifice. Modern piety has removed 'every vestige of those ruins, and built a beautiful church over the dungeons, sanctified by the presence and miracles of a vast number of martyrs. The construction of those prisons proves their antiquity, for they bear the massive character of the Etruscan era. There are two chambers excavated out of solid blocks of Peperino. When in use, they were en- tered by apertures in the centre of the ceil- ing ; now a commodious flight of stairs, con- structed in the last century, leads to both chambers. The upper apartment, which is considered the most ancient, constructed by Ancus Martius in 640 before the Christian era, is sixteen feet high, twenty-two in breadth,* and thirty in length. The lower prison, sup- posed to be the Tullian extension, is one of the most horrible dungeons that can be im- agined. Through an aperture in the floor of the upper chamber the victim waa cast into a low, dark, and rugged cell hewn out of the heart of the rock. The roof displays 30 The Victims of the Mamertine, immense architectural skill. Large masses of volcanic tufa are arranged in courses con- verging towards the centre, not on the prin- ciple of an arch, but extending horizontally to a point* The absence of air and light and the effluvia of accumulated filth rendered this a horrid dungeon. Although an inscription under the cornice of the entrance to the upper chamber, run- ning thus C . VIBIUS . 'C . F . RUFINUS . M . COCCEIVS . NERVA . COS . EX . S . C . proves that it has been restored in the 2 2d year of the reign of Tiberius, and probably enlarged, still we have in its integrity the dismal prison so often referred to in the writings of Livy, Varro, Sallust, and Flaccus. The description of the upper portion of the prison is lost to history. Yet it is cer- tain there were other apartments besides the keeps. In the "Acts of St. Martina," who is supposed to have been confined in the Ma- mertine, we read there were many apart- * No mortar was used, but iron clamps were ingeniously worivfl into the joinings ; they pre not now visible. A simi- lar kind of roof is seen in the tombs of the Tarquinii and Caste. Introduction, 31 ments or chambers in her prison. In the *'Acts of Pope Stephen" (acts of the highest authority), we find that the judge who con- demned Tertullinus had his tribunal erected in the Mamertine. It would be absurd to imagine that the prefect would hold his court in one of those dungeons that have come down to us. The same is also proved by the "Acts of St. Alexander." The front of the prison was not turned to- wards the Forum directly, but leaning a little towards the street formerly called Vico Ma- viertino, now Salita di Marforio. The position of the Gemonia stairs, which were on one side, gives sufficient indication that the entrance to the prison was not on the level of the street, but from the rear by a bridge.* The fortifications of the Capitol were just behind, and of course the prison was separated. That the Scale Ge^nonie thus led to the prison is the opinion of all * We are aware that some have placed the Scale Gemonie on the Aventine and leading to the Tiber ; Vjut how can such arrangement stand with statements like the following from Valerius Maximus, writing of Crepione: '* Corpusque ejus fiMicsticornificis manibus laceratum in Scalis Gemoniis jacens, magno cum horrore Fori Romani coiupcclttm est." We might give several other similar quotations, but enough for o-jr pur- pose. '(SeeCancellieri, page 33.) 32 T/ie Vicli7ns of the Mamertine, modern antiquaries. On these stairs the bodies of those killed inside were cast naked v and left exposed for some time to strike terror into the people ; they were then dragged to the Tiber. Pliny relates, in his eighth book and Chapter 40, of a faithful dog which remained day and night by the body of his master, refusing food and howling piteously until death relieved him like his master from the sorrows of life — felt even by a dog! A great deal of doubt exists concerning the object or meaning of the small door that i^ found in the lower prison, leading to a long subterranean gallery, similar to some of the passages in the Catacombs. Some will have that it is as ancient as the prison itself, and was a secret passage in conjunc- tion with the Claudian prison,'''* after the fash- ion of the Latomia of Syracuse, which has a similar subterranean catacomb annexed. This looks probable, as we know the Mamer- tine is but a reproduction of those famous prisons. Others will have that it is coeval with the changes made in the time of Tibe- rius, under the Consuls Vibius and Rufinus, * St. Nicholas in Carccre. Introduction. 33 and was intended to lead off to the Cloaca the filth, water, etc., which must of necessity have accumulated in the prison. The passage in the " Acts of Chrysanthus and Daria" would seem to suppose this : " Quia Cloacarum cu- niculis digesta domorum stercora illic jugiter decurrebant et in hoc decursorio ut diximus erat ima et lutea et ita tenebrosa custodia ut penitus lucifluus aer, nee signum illi diei nee vestigium aliquod lucis ostenderet."* Yet there is no allusion made to this aqueduct by ancient writers, and modern antiquaries skilfully avoid it. On examination we find this subterranean passage leads over a hun- dred yards in the direction of the Forum. It has several avenues branching from it, but all closed by walls that are decidedly of ancient structure. It is low, damp, and rough. In the time of Panciroli, the lower prison was filled with dirt and water. He writes thus: **Se piii vi sia questa e quella Dio lo sa, perche i ritorni ed uscite delle fon- tane tirate in Campidoglio hanno di mo- do riempito questa parte, che piu non vi si puo calare." This may have arisen from the accumulation of filth and dirt, We are *Surius, 25th Oct. ■ /fi"^- ^'^^ 34 The Victims of the Mamcrtine. inained to believe the passage was an aque- duct intended for the sole use of the prison. The other passages leading from it may have been opened at the time it was made, for the sake of the sand so necessary in all ancient buildings. • Up to the time of the Decemvirs there was. but one prison in Rome. Juvenal con- gratulates the ancestral city on this happy sign of prosperit)'^ and order: " Felices proavorum atavos felicia dicas Sajcula qui quondam sub regibus atque tribunis Viderunt unocontentam carcere Romam."* This was the Tullian Prison. About 300 years after the building of Rome, the in- creased population, and with it the increased violation of the laws, called for more prison room. To restrain the ever-increasing au- dacity of a lawless people,* Appius Claudius, who was afterwards himself a victim of the Tullian, built the famous prisons whose ruins are now shown under the Church of St. Nicholas in Carcere. They were famous, for, like the Tullian shrouded with horrors, here the victims of the circus passed the pain- * Sat. iii. f "Ad tcrrorem crescentis audaciae." — Livy,. dec. i. lib. i. Introduction. S5 fill vigils of their immolation ^o make a Ro- man holiday; here many a noble and in- jured object of patrician oppression passed its gloomy threshold to bid farewell for years to home and daylight, and, too often, to life itself. In its history there is record of one scene full of romance. An aged father is condemned to die of starvation. His daugh- ter, a young mother, is permitted to visit him daily. Days passed, and still the old man lived, full of vigor and vital energy. The guards carefully searched the daughter, but she had no food concealed. The continued existence and even good health of their aged victim increased their astonishment. At length they watched, and, lo ! the young mother is seen suckling her aged father with her infant's milk. The strange circumstance was bruited through the city, popular sym- pathy demanded the aged man's liberty, and a temple was raised over the prison to the goddess of filial piety. The dark and gloomy dungeons were closed for other vic- tims : the prison became dear to the Roman people, who, in the midst of their moral de- gradation, could still love the beauty of virtue. Byron's beautiful lines on this touching in- 36 The Victims of the Mamertine. stance of filial . affection raise our thoughts from the gloomy horrors of the dungeons that form the theme of our study, to contem- plate the sublimity of virtue in the filial piety of the woman's heart, so justly styled. (i LA CARITA ROMANA. " There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light What do I gaze on ? Nothing. Look again ! Two forms are slowly shadowed on my sight — Two insulated phantoms of the brain : It is not so ; I see them full and plain — An old man^ and a female young and fair, Fresh as a nursing mother, in whcse vein The blood is nectar— but what does she there. With her unraantled neck, and bosom tvhite and bare ? " But here youth offers to old age the food, The milk of his own gift — it is her sire To whom she renders back the debt of blood Born with her birth. No; he shall not expire While in those warm and lovely veins the fire Of health and holy feeling can provide Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher Than Egypt's river — from that gentle side Drink, drink and live, old man ! Heaven's realm holds no such tide. *'The starry fable of the Milky Way Has not thy story's purity ; it is A constellation of a sweeter ray, And sacred Nature triumphs more in this Introduction, 37 Reverse of her decree than in the abyss .- Where sparkle distant worlds : O holiest nurse ! No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss To thy sire's heart, replenishing its source With life, as our freed souls rejoin the universe.* The prison where this scene took place is supposed by Baronius to be the Tullian itself. However, the weight of authority is against the learned Cardinal ; the descrip- tions left us of the Mamertine by Livy, Varro, and Sallust leave no doubt of its posi- tion at the foot of the Capitol, looking down on the Forum, twenty feet below the surface, and horrible in its whole appearance.* Doubtless its present title of Mamertine, which, too, it has borne before the days of Christianity, may have supplied a reason for doubting its synonymous character with the ancient Tullian.f It is impossible to say with certainty whence this name came. Mamer- * "Imminens Foro."— Z/r^y. «* Media urbe."—/<5. " Cir- citer viginti pedes humi depressus." — Sallust. "Quae sub terra Tullianum," etc. — Varro. f Amongst the names given to this prison by ancient writers we find it frequently called Robur from its great strength, as also from the custom of confining prisoners in cells of wood, ■"in arcis robusteis," as we find in Festus. Latomia is an- other title given the Mamertine, from their similarity to the Latomia; of Syracuse, dungeons hewn out of the solid rock by the tyrant Dionysius. The spot now occupied by this i is! 38 The Victims of the Mamertine, tine is a name familiar in ancient history. There were several Prefects of the city bore this name ; there was a lake, a school, a street, and a saint called thus ; consequently, the most common opinion is, this prison re- ceived its present name from one of the Mamertines, who enlarged or restored it dur-- ing the Republic. Martinelli, whose opinion is adopted by some, gives a very ingenious and probable interpretation of this title and its origin. Near is the Forum of Mars. This god was'also called Mamers, as Festu's writes : " Mamercus preenomen est Oscum a Marte dictum, ab eo quod Osci Martem Mamertem vocitent qui a Romanis detrac- tione unius syllabae .Mars appellatur." And Varro even more clearly gives the same idea: "Mamers idem quod Mars significat et Mamertinus idem quod Martius." If, then, the word Mamertinus has the same signification as Martius, may we not justly prison was in al) probability a stone quarry, and adapted to its present form by Ancus Martius — deepened into another dungeon by TuUian, whence the name. Varro writes : " In hoc pars quae sub terra TtiUiannm ideo quod additum aTullio rcge." Historical critics cannot determine why it is so frequently called Custodia/«3//<:a ana Custodia privata. We find it often mentioned by these names in the '* Acts of the Martyrs." Introduction, 59 conclude the prison takes its name from its original founder, Ancus Martius especially as the origin of the name is lost far away in the remotest antiquity ? Whatever doubt may be thrown on the identity of this prison with the Tulliati, no one has ever doubted but this is the Mamer- tine so frequently mentioned in the " Acts of the Martyrs"; that here the Apostles Peter and Paul were confined, and many other holy martyrs of the Church. The places where the martyrs suffered are shrines of Christian devotion. The fervent soul loves to kneel on the spot sanctified with the blood of the sufferings of our fore- fathers in faith. In fancy the spirit floats over the scene of horror ; it sees the exe- cutioners, the bleeding wounds, the smile of triumph, and the crown angels weave. It is not necessary to explain to the children of faith why the Church flings so much venera- tion around the places once sanctified by martyrs' suffering and triumph. The spots hallowed with the memories of awful suffer- ing are many about Rome ; perhaps none of a deeper hue than the Mamertine. Here many a brave martyr passed the I I i i n 40 T/te Vicii7ns of the Mamertine, vigil of his awful death. The anticipation of pain is sometimes greater than its realizar tion; so the victims cast into this gloomy- prison suffered in thought the direst agonies of martyrdom. They were supported, it is true, by the divine grace, but the sensibilities of humanity were not suppressed, and the martyrs suffered, with some miraculous ex- ceptions, in reality as well as in appearance. Before the tribunal of the judge, amidst the shouts of the Coliseum, there was a certain feeling of enthusiasm that lent courage and determination to the Christian sufferer; but in the long and dreary hours of the dark- ened prison the mind floated over scenes of horror, of bloodshed and agony, that at each moment sent a thrill through the teTified feelings. Here they had time to think over the broken ties of home and friendship, voluntarily sacrificed for God, but still keenly felt in the affectionate heart. The fear of not persevering in their trial, the remorse, perhaps, for some past delinquencies and anxiety for dear ones to be abandoned to the storms of a cruel world, must all have meshed with their quota of anguish for the confessors in their prison. Introduction. 41 The material privations and the awful character of the dungeon contributed not a little to the sufferings of its victims. Per- petual darkness and fetid air, the floor rough hewn in the rock, the martyr naked, and the cell horribly damp and cold, heavy chains to the hands and feet, and in hunger and thirst, these sufferings mingle with the happy me- mories of many a bright and shining soul amongst the martyred band of heaven, who on earth were condemned to the Mamertine. We can get a glimpse of what it was in the days of its terrors from the writings of the ancients. Sallust, in his history of the conspiracy of Catiline, whose associates were strangled in this dungeon, thus writes: ** There is a place in the prison which is called the Tullian, where you descend a little to the left about twenty feet below the sur- face of the earth. Immense walls fortify it on every side, and overhead it is closed by a vaulted roof of stone, but, with the awful darkness and fetid sme.l, the whole appear- ance of the place is terrible."* *" Est locus in carcerequod TuUianum appellatur, iibi pau- lum descenderis ad Irevam circiter vi-rimi peJts hunii depres- sus. Eum muniunt undique parietes atque insuper camera I! 42 T/te Victims of the Mamertine, • Calpurnius Flaccus, in his beautiful but ill- expressed ideas, thus speaks of the TuUian: " I see the pubHc prison constructed with im- mense boulders, with narrow, oblong aper- tures in the rock, not receiving a shadow of light. Here the condemned behold the Ro- bur Tullianum, and, when they hear the grat- ing of the iron trap-door, they faint with fear [exanimant'ir], and, obliged to look on the sad end of others, they learn what awaits themselves. The strokes of the scourge are heard from 'below, and the unwilling vic- tims are rudely pushed by the soiled hands of the executioner. . The jailer sits there with an inexorable feeling; his eyes are dry when the mother weeps; there dirt irri- tates the body, and chains press the tender hands."* . We read in Livy the sentence pronounced by Scipio Asiatico on the younger Gracchus, when, at the head of a mob on the Aventine, if taken, he was to be cast like a thief and a r^ibber into the stronghold, " that he might lapideis fornicibus juncta, sed inculta tcnebris et odore foeda atqiie tcnibilis ejus facies est." * In Declamat. et ad calcein Quintiliani. " Sonant verbera inttis " • Flaccus alludes to the custom of scourging criminals before putting tliem to death. Introdtidion, 43 die in darkness, and then be cast, naked, be- fore the prison."* The titles given this prison by ancient his- torians conjure up horror. V/hat an epitome of human woe rings through expressions like these: "Cell of groans!" "Abode of sorrow ! " '* Pluto's Hospital amongst the living!" "A place darkened by perpetual night!" "A horrible and gloomy dungeon of fatal punishment," and many others which we would find impossible to convey in Eng- lish.f In the "Acts of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria," as given in Surius on the 25th October: "He (C!irysanthus) is, therefore, cast into the Tullian, a prison most deep, frightful, and sordid ; for there was there a lower prison, whence rose a horrible efflu- via, for the filth of the houses was carried through it to the common sewer, . so dark that no ray of light ever penetrated to give the least sign of day."J *"Tenebris expiiet et deinde nudus ante carcerem pro- jiciatur." — Livy, lib. 38. f " Cclla gcmitiim ; Tristitiae domus ; Apud superos Pluto- nis hospiiium ; Locus perpetua node caecatus ; Career iiler, horribilis et funesiae pcenalis loci ; Antrum carocreum ; SpcKrus densaj caiiginis ; Donuis feralis," etc., etc. — Caiicellicri, " Noti« zle del Carcert. TuUiano," pa}>e 6. j:" Conjectu^ est i,t>itur in Carcerem Tullianum profundissi* mum, teterrimuni aique Icedissitiium," etc. CHAPTER II. PAGANS CONFINED IN TIlC MAMKRTINE. "Along the sacred way, Hither the triumph c..me, atu), wintling round, With ncclaniatioii and the martial clg^ng Of instruments, and cars laden with spoil, Stopped afiithe sacred stair that then appeared, Then thro* the darkness broke ;'Miple starlij^du As though it led to Isoaven. 'Twas night, but now A thousand torches turniuR night to day Bla/.ed, and the victor, springing from his seat, V/ent up, and, kneeling as in fervent prayer. Entered the Capitol. Hut what are they W'Mt .1 the foot withdraw, a mournful train. In fetters? The Tullian's victims — the fallen, Tht)se who were spared to grace the chariot-wheels. And there they parted where the road divides — The victor !»nd the vanipushed there withdraw — He to the festal board, and they to die." Anonymous. I. Hl^ justice of God, that one da overtakes the impiety of the un- believer as well as the Christian, has made use of the dungeons 6t the Mamer- Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 45 tine to vindicate the outrages ofifered to the moral !aws stamped on the human heart. Such an abode was well suited to receive the last blasphemies of wretches like Appius, Ju- gurtha, Sejanus. There is a thrilling les- son to be drawn from this page of Roman history. The unchecked passion is more destructive than a raging fire : it is like an impetuous torrent that carries man in spite of himself to an ocean of ruin. Many a victim of blind ambition found his brilliant dream of wealth and power end in the hor- rible contrast of the Mamertine dungeon. Conquered kings, fallen favorites, and thwart- ed conspirators have here read the terrible lesson of the instability of human hope. We will glance at a few of the most remarkable names mentioned in Roman hi&tory, omitting those that we are not certain of, and briefly recording the events that led to their con- demnation. We believe the first on the list is Appius Claudius, the same who built the prisons now under the Church of St. Nicholas. Although he is supposed by some writers to have perished in his own prison, we will in this adopt the opinion of Baronius, and place the 4^ The l^ictims of the Mamerttne, scene of his suicide in the Mamertine. The prisons he built were intended for the ple- beian class. In the confusion and uncer- tainty of dates we could prove his prisons were only commenced at the time of his death ; and lastly, as no ancient writer has distinctly stated he died in his own prison, we may safely cast this great tragedy of early history amongst the reminiscences of the Mamertine. Appius was one of the ten tyrants who, about 300 before the Christian era, cast the gloomy shadow of his vices over the simple but warlike people of the city. After the murder of Dentatus, the greatest soldier of the army, he was guilty of a disgraceful domestic tragedy that has branded his name with disgust to every child that has read the history of those days. One day, whilst sitting at his tribunal to dispense justice, he saw a maiden of ex- quisite beauty, aged about fifteen, passing to one of the public-schools, attended by* a matron, her nurse. The charms of this damsel, heightened by all the innocence of virgin modesty, caught his attention anc fired his heart. The day following she Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 47 passed ; he found her still more beautiful and his heart still more inflamed. Accustomed to yield to those inferior passions that vilify the rational being, he determined to pos- sess himself of this innocent child, whose honor and virtue were to be sacrificed to his lust. Passion cares naught for right, for liberty or honor. The sighs of outraged innocence and the sacred claims of a father are feeble barriers to oppose this passion. The tyrant vainly tried to corrupt the fidelity of the nurse, and then had recourse to stra- tagem and deceit still more dishonorable. He selected from the companions of his' debauchery a man named Marcus Claudius, whom he bribed to assert the beautiful girl was his slave, and to refer the cause to his tribunal for decision. Claudius behaved ex- acdy according to his instructions. Enter- ing the school where Virginia was playing with her companions, he seized upon her as his property, and was about to take her away by force, but was prevented by the people who were drawn together by her cries. After the first impulse of opposition, this lying instrument of tyrannical oppres- sion explained to the people how the girl 48 The Victitns of the Mameriine, was born from one of his slaves, and there- fore his property, but he was wilHng to plead ' his cause before the tribunal of Appius, who was then administering justice (save the word !) in the Forum close by. They con- sented, and the weeping girl was led to the tribunal of Appius, who saw them approach from a distance, and was delighted that his impious plot had so far succeeded. In the meantime the crowd had increased ; a mur- mur of pity passed along; indignation was swelling the heart of some brave youths, who were determined to see the end of this un- blushing infraction of the rights of the citi- zens. They knew the child to be the off^ spring of the brave centurion Virginius, who was then on the battle-field defending his country, and that she was betrothed to a noble youth named Icillius, for whom they despatched a messenger in haste. Arrived before Appius, Claudius pleaded his case. She was born of his slave, sold to the wife of Virginius, who was barren, and brought up as his child ; that he had several witnesses, but that until he could gather them together it was but reasonable the slave should bo delivered into his custody. Pagans confined in the Matnertine, 49 being her master. In deep cunning the im- pious judge pretended to be struck with the justice of his claims. He observed, if the reputed father himself were present, he might indeed be willing to delay the delivery of the maiden for some time, but in his absence he could not detain her from her proper master. He therefore adjudged her to Claudius as his slave until Virginus could prove his pater- nity ; but Heaven will not permit such im- piety to triumph — the sigh of injured inno- cence has ever been heard at the throne of God and found vindication. The tyrant had scarcely finished his sentence when a bustle is heard at the door; the crowd make way; a well-known voice falls on the ears of the fainting Virginia, another moment, and she is clasped in the arms of Icillius. The lictors were ordered to separate the youthful pair and seize Icillius; they approached, but draw- ing his sword, for he, too, was a centurion, and with a voice that struck terror into the menials of the tyrant, he bade them stand back. " Appius,"he cried, his eyes glistening with fury and his forehead wrinkled with a frown of defiance, "you must first pass over my corpse to seize Virginia. She » 50 The Victims of the Mamertine, is espoused to me, and I will have her in her unsullied innocence. Whilst I live she will not leave the house of her father. If you have succeeded in usurping the rights of the tribunes and trampling on the liber- ties of the people, the curse of your lust shall not penetrate the sacred enclosure of our families to the insult of our wives and daughters. We will invoke the vengeance of the people and the army. Without passing a stream of blood, you will not execute the iniquitous sentence you have given." Appius trembled on his throne ; he heard the ap- plause of the people ; he saw the determina- tion that fired every countenance; and, feign- ing his discomfiture, he calmly replied : " It is evident Icillius still breathes the sedition of the tribunes, and, under pretence of de- fending this slave, he wishes to excite the passions of the people. Not to supply cause for his seditious projects, I will not give any sentence to-day, but security must be given that the slave will be brought before me to-morrow." The security was given, and the murmur- ing crowd parted, congratulating the weep- ing youths, and breathing vengeance on the lurmur- Pagaits confined in the Mamertine, 5 ^ Decemvirate, whose days of tyranny would find a last and terrible sunset on the mor- row. In the meantime, couriers were sent with the fleetest horses to the camp to bring Vir- ginius to Rome. The tyrant Appiits had also sent despatches that Virginius should be detained, but his letters were inter- cepted ; the brave centurion was already in full gallop towards his sorrowful home, and was soon in the embraces of his blooming child. The next day — one of the most eventful in the history of Rome — Virginius, to the astonishment of Appius, appeared before the tribunal, leading his daughter by the hand, and both clothed in deep mourning. Clau- dius, the accuser, was also there, and began by making his demand. Virginius spoke in turn ; hu represented that his wife had sev- eral children ; that she had suckled her chil- dren, as many could testify; moreover, if he had intentions of adopting a supposititious child, he would have selected a- boy rather than a girl. It was surprising such a claim should be raised after fifteen years. The people gave from time to time unmistak- 11 52 The Vic this of the Mamertine, able indications of their sympathy. The earnestness of the afflicted father had the eloquence of truth ; and Appius, seeing the impression growing stronger, interrupted Virginus, and, in one of the most daring acts of injustice on record, once more ad- judged the girl to Claudius. A cry that would melt the heart of the greatest libertine burst from the poor girl ; she threw herself on the neck of her father. Icillius was near. His hand was on his sword ; he remembered his oath of the pre- vious day, and the people, who knew the Forum was full of soldiers, trembled in sus- pense. At length Appius gave the lictors orders to clear the way and give the slave to her master; but, before Icillius could give vent to the passion that was burning in his heart like the interior of a volcano, Virgi- nius, in a faltering voice, pretended to ac- quiesce to the sentence, and asked permis- sion to take his farewell from one he had long considered his child and loved as such. Appius acceded on condition the interview should take place at once and in his pre- sence. The hardy veteran, with a commo- tion that showed the poignant anguish Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 53 breaking- his heart, took his almost expiring daughter in his arms, supporting her head on his breast, and wiping away the tears that rolled over her beautiful countenance. Unmindful of the crowd who wept around him, he gently made his way to one of the shops that surround the Forum. Suddenly seizing a large knife that lay on a block before a butcher's stall, he cried out, " Vir- ginia, by this alone can I save thy honor and thy liberty ! " and plunged the steel into her maiden heart. Drawing forth the blade reeking with her blood, he turned towards Appius, crying out with a loud voice, " Ty- rant! by this blood of innocence I devote thy head to the infernal Furies ! " With knife in hand, foaming with fury, he ran through the city, wildly calling on the people to strike for freedom ; thence he went to the camp, v/here, weeping and showing the knife stained with the guiltless blood of his murdered child, he roused the soldiers to fury and desire of revenge. The soldiers left the camp, abandoned their gen- erals, and came to Rome to be avenged of their tyrants. Thf^y took possession of the Aventine. The people in the city, in the 54 The Victims of the Mamertine, meantime, led on by Icillius, were preparing a dreadful attack on the few wretches that still guarded the tyrant Appius. For several days he lay secreted. "At length the sol- diers, gaining from the Senate the change of government, banished all the Decemvirs except Appius and Opius, whom they cast into the dungeons of the Mamertine until they would determine the death they would give them. But they both strangled them- selves in their prison before they could be torn to pieces by the fury of the mob. Cicero must have had this fact before him when he wrote : " The uncontrolled desire is a burning fire ; it not only destroys par- ticular persons, but entire families, and ruins the whole commonwealth. From desires spring hatred, dissension, discord, seditions, and bloody wars."* II. The Samnites were once the bravest and most formidable enemies of the common- wealth of Rome. They several times de- feated the Roman armies, but always treated * Cicero de Finibus. Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 55 their victims with mercy. On one occasion their brave General Pontius surrounded the whole army in the defiles of the mountains near Capua. Without shedding a drop of blood, having obliged them only to pass under the yoke and pay a fine, he sent them back to Rome. Twice was the Roman army at his mercy; but the indomitable spirit of the Romans never gave in. In the course of time they regained their former power and took this same General Pontius prisoner. Fabius, who triumphed on this occasion, had h«'m put to death in the Ma- mertine. " Whilst he was borne along in his chariot," says Arnold,* "according to custom, his old father rode behind him as one of his lieutenants, delighting himself with the honors of his son. But the moment when the' consul and his father, having ar- rived at the end of the sacred way, turned to the left to ascend the hill of the Capitol, C. Pontius, with the other prisoners of rank" who thus far followed the procession, were led aside to the 'right hand to the prison beneath the Capitoline Hill, and there were * " Ri)inc/' vol. ii., page 33. 56 The Victims of the Mamertine, thrust down into the underground dungeon of the prison and beheaded. One year had passed since his last battle, nearly thirty since he had spared the lives and liberty of two Roman armies, and, unprovoked by the treachery of his enemies, had afterwards set at liberty the generals who were given up into his power as a pretended expiation of their country's perfidy. Such .a murder, committed or sanctioned by such a man as Fabius, is peiuliarl, a national crime, and proves too clearly that in their dealings wiih foreigners the Romans had neither magna- nimity nor justice." III. The last of the Macedonian kines, who bore in his veins the noble blood but not the great spirit of Philip, poured forth with his last si<:rh in the Mamertine the fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel. Perseus, a weak and effeminate prince, was the last of the Grecian rule that dared resist the invincible legions of the iron empire. He was beaten in a pitched battle b. the Consul Ailmilius Pagans cojtfiued in the Mamertine. 57 near Enipeus. He attempted to procure safety by flying into Crete, but, being aban- doned by all, surrendered himself to the conqueror, who brouglit him to Rome to grace his splendid triumph. When the gor- geous procession arrived at the foot of the Capiiol, amidst the deafening shouts of the delighted people, congratulating their vic- torious general and heaping insult on the fallen king, he was led, as usual, to the Tul- lian keep. After this the warlike state of Macedon, whose king once sighed there were no more worlds to conquer, never stood in the battle-field again, for Greece became thv» luxurious and civilized garden of the em- pire. IV. JuGURTiiA maybe said to be, perhaps, one of the most remarkable of the pagan victims of this horrible prison. His miserable end is another proof that even in this world there is a providence that pursues the evil-doer ; there are few instances in the annals of the world's crime where murderck^ have not r?" 'J i ! 58 The Victims of the Mamertine, received some of their punishment this side the grave. He Vv'as the nephew of the King Micipsa of Numidia, who at death left him in charge of his two sons, Aderbal and Jempsal. In ambition to seize the supreme power for himself he murdered, in cold blood, the eldest, Aderbal, and attempted the same on the youngest, but he escaped, for a while only, the machinations of Jugurtha, and appealed to the Romans for protection. Whereupon Jugurtha, being sensible how much avarice and injustice had crept into the Senate, sent his ambassadors with large presents to Rome, who so successfully pre- vailed that the Senate decreed him half the kingdom which he had thus acquired by murder and usurpation. The commissioners sent to divide the kingdom between him and Aderbal were ten in number ; amongst them was Opimius, the murderer of Cajus Gracchus, a man of venal character; they accepted still further bribes from Jugurtha to give him the richest and most populous part of the kingdom, which at best was but a temporary provision on the part of Jugur- tha, for he determined to seize on the whole Pagans ccufined in the Mamertine. 59 kingdom. It was he that said, on this occa- sion, that Rome was so mercenary that she would sell herself to any one who was rich enough to buy her. The same was after- wards said in the days of the degenerate successors of the Caesars. How strange the nineteenth century has looked down on the disgraceful fact that some of the venal and ungrateful children of the same city have sold her afid her king to a stranger and a usurper ! Jugurtha soon threw off the mask of his ambition, and, besieging Aderbal in his capi- tal, Cirta, at length got him in his power and murdered him. The Romans, who had still some sentiments of justice and gene- rosity, complained of this treachery, and pro- cured a decree from the Senate that he should be summoned before them. The Cimbrian usurper made no difficulty in throwing himself on the clemency of the Senate, whom he hoped once more to bribe ; but failing in this, and giving no satisfaction for his conduct, he was ordered to leave he city. Albanus, the consul, was sent with an army to follow him, who, giving the com- mand to Auhis, his brother, a person in 6o The Victims of the Mamertine, every way unqualified for the task, the Ro- mans were beaten in several battles, and on one occasion the army, to be saved from being cut to pieces, surrendered and had to pass tinder the yoke — the greatest disgrace known in the military parlance of those days. In this condition Metellus, the succeeding consul, found affairs upon his arrival in Nu- midia : officers without confidence, an army without discipline, and an enemy ever watch- ful and intriguing. However, by skill, by a rocklike integrity and attention to the refor- mation of the forces, he soon regained the power of Rome. In the space of two years Jugurtha was defeated in several battles, forced out of his own dominions, and con- strained to seek for peace. Thus all prom- ised an easy victory for Metellus, but he was frustrated by the intrigues of Marius, his lieutenant, who came to reap the harvest of glory which the other had sown. He got himself elected consul, and, returning to Africa, pursued the war with greater vigor and even with greater skill than Metellus. Jugurtha found a powerful ally in Bccchus, the king of Mauritania, but Marius finally Pagans confined hi the Mamertine. 6 1 proved the superior force of the Roman arms by slaying 90,000 of the Africans in one engagement. Bocchus did not wish to hazard his own crown for the protection of his ally, and implored peace from the Senate. He was given to understand the delivering up of Jugurtha to the Romans would conciliate their favor and par- don. Accordingly Jugurtha was drawn into an ambuscade by the treachery of Bocchus. He was made a prisoner, loaded with chains,"^ and brought to Rome to grace the triumph of Marius. When the triumphal procession arrived at the foot of the Capitol, the wretched captives were led aside to the Mamertine. Plutarch describes a sad scene that took place when this fallen general had entered the prison. Some violently tore his garments, others, while contending for his ear-rings, cut off one of his ears, and, cast- ing -him naked into the gloomy Barathrum, filled with horror, " By Hercules," he cried, " how cold is your bath ! " They left him for six days sinking with hunger ; and, hop- ing up to the last moment to receive a 62 The Victims of the Mamertine, reprieve, he ended his life in the merited retribution of his cruehies.* V. Here also ended their days Lentulus, Cethegus, and Cocsius, who were leading members in the conspiracy of Catiline. Catiline was a patrician, but being a de- signing man \yho wished to aggrandize his sinking fortunes on the ruin of others, and in unbridled ambition aimed at the supreme power. He assembled about thirty of his associates and informed them of his aims, his hopes, and settled plans. It was re- solved amongst them that a general insur- rection should be raised throughout Italy, the different parts of which were assigned to different leaders. Rome was to be fired in different places at once, and Catiline, at * " Cui post triumphum in carcerem dejecto, quidam vesli* mentum violentec laceraverunt, alii vero dum inaures ei au< ferre deccrtarunt. Dctiusus autem nudus in Barathrum per- turbatione plenus, obtrectans, ' Heracleus,' inquit, ' quain frigidum vestrum est balneum !' Sed hunc sex dies colluc- tantem cum fame et usque ad ultimam horam dcsideiio vitas suspensum condigna poena suis crudelitatibus confecit."— Plut.:rch in " Mario" page 412. Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 63 the head of an army raised in Etruria, was, in the general confusion, to possess himself of the city and massacre all the senators. Lentulus, who was one of his profligate as- sistants, who had been pra?tor or judge in the city, was to preside in their general councils. Cethegus, a man who sacrificed great power in the hope of gratifying his revenge against Cicero, was to direct the massacre through, the city ; and Caesius was to direct those who fired it. The vigilance of Cicero being a great obstacle to their designs, Catiline was desirous to see him taken off before he left Rome, upon which two knights of the company undertook to kill him the next morning in his bed, in an early visit on pretence of business. But the meeting was no sooner over than Cicero was informed of all that passed in it, for by the intrigues of a woman named Fulvia he had gained over Curius, her lover, and one of the conspirators, to send him a punctual account of all their deliberations. His morn- ing visitors were punctual to their appoint- ment, but found Cicero prepared. Having taken precautions to protect the city, he as- sembled the Senate to deliberate on their L 64 The Victims of the Mamertine. further movements. Catiline went boldly to the Senate to declare his innocence, but, confronted with the eloquence of Cicero, he hajtily withdrew, declaring aloud that, since he was denied a vindication of himself, and driven headlong by hio enemies, he would extinguish the flames that were raised around him in universal rr.In. After a short confer- ence with Lentulus atid Cethegus, he left Rome by night with a small retinue to make the jest of his way to Etruria, wher? Marius, one of the conspirators, was raising an army to support him. In the meantime Cicero had those who remained in Rome seized, and Lentulus and Cethegus were cast, with their associates, into the Mamertine, where they were strangled after a few days by the execu- tioner. They show in the prison some iron hooks, fastened to the peperino blocks, \.o which the strangling-cords were attachcid. Catiline himself was not killed in the Ma- mertine ; he fell on the field of battle after a desperate fight. His small army of twelve thousand men fought to the last man, and fell, as Sallust remarks, with their face lo the enemy .and on the spot where they com- Pagans coyifincd m the Mameriine. 65 menced to resist. Catiline himself was found "longe a suis," still breathing, in the midst of a circle of slain whom he had hewn down in his last desperate struggle. "What a beautiful death," Florus adds, " were it in the defence of his country ! " The names ot these who suffered with Lentulus we have from the following pas- sage of Sallust: "After Lentulus was cast into the TuUian, the judges of capital crimes to whom he was commissioned had his neck broken with a rope (laqueo gulam fregerunt). Thus, too, Patricius, of the illustrious family of the Cornelii, who had borne the consular d',^nity, and a man of worthy morals and deeds, found his end. Of Cethe;>-us, Sta- tilius, Gabinius, Caeparius, we have to record the same sad fate."* VI. Pleminius was another political firebrand confined in the Mamertine. Livy (Fourth Decad., fourth book) tells us that whilst in prison — one of the upper chambers of the * Catiline, c. Ivi, 66 The Victims of the Mamertine, Mamertine — he planned his escape with^ cruel cunning. His partisans were to fire the city in several places at the same time, and in the confusion to break into the prison and free him. The conspiracy eked out be- fore put into execution, and Pleminius was cast into the lower dungeon by order of the Senate and strangled. VII. The birds in the tropics that kill snakes lift them in their talons in the air and then let them fall ; the greater the snake the higher they bring it. How like the treatment the cruel and fickle goddess called by the pa- gans Fortune gives her votaries ! She raises men at times to the summit of her slippery globe, and then, hurling them down, laughs at their fall. In her hands was a wretch from the court of Tiberius, who ended his days in giving the Mamertine its due ; they called him Sejanus. The imbecile and profligate Tiberius re- tired into voluptuous solitude, the better to indulge his abominable passions, leaving this ' « Pagans coti fined in the Maviertine. 67 monster, the nearest thing to the reflection of himself in the debauchery and bloodshed of the capital, to rule and sport with the lives and property of his subjects during his absence. The historian Tacitus seems to want words to tell the horrors of this ty- rant's career. " So direful," he writes, in the 70th chapter of his A»nnals, " was this reign of terror, that all social intercourse, convivial meetings, conversations, and even the interchange of common civilities between the nearest kindred and friends were inter- rupted ; consternation and reciprocal dis- trust having so seized on men's souls that the stoutest spoke in whispers, looking round them tremblingly, as if the very sta- tues or mosaics could betray them.* From wherever the frown of Sejanus fell all fled as from a devoted spot ; whomsoever he hinted or glared at in anger was shunned and forsaken, as if devoted to the infernal gods. No day passed without its bloody tragedy, nor was any moment or place re- spected by the ministers of his tyranny ; the very sanctuaries, where men were wreathed * " Etiam muta atque inania tectum et parietcs circumspec- tabantur." •*r^. 68 T^e Victims of the Mamertine, for sacrifice, where no loud word should be^ heard, were profaned by the blood shed in his anger aitd the cries of his victims."* But the hour of his downfall arrived. He was accused of treason to Tiberius, for in his pride he resolved to be emperor himself. He was dragged to the Mamertine amidst the execrations and groans of the people, and there strangled by order of the Senate. His body was cast naked on the Gemonial stairs, and then fli^ng with ignominy into the Tiber.f VIII. In Josephus we read (book 8, and chap. 5) that Titus, the scourge of the Jewish people, graced his splendid triumph with 100,000 of that fallen race, and Simon, the son of Giora, was led in chains by his triumphal car, and then "to the fate due to the conquered," as Cicero held, scourged, starved, and strangled in the Tullian. There were others of less note, of whom * " Ubi inter sacra et vota, quo tempore verbis etiam profanis abstineri mos esset vincla et laqueus inducantur." f Dion. lib. 58. im proianis Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 69 we liav'ti no interesting particulars. Such were Syphax, King of Numidia, condemned in the triumph of Scipio Africanus; Bituitus, King of Avernus, the associates of Gracchus junior, Vercingetorix, the Gaulish leader, and victim of the triumph of Julius Caesar. It is asserted by some historians that Perseus, Syphax, and Bituitus, although condemned to the prison, were afterwards reprieved and saved. The last of the political prisoners of whom we have any record was Doryphorianus, of whom Ammianus Marcellinus (book 28, chap, i), relating the events of the year 368 of the vulgar era, states he was condemned to death and cast into the Tullian, but was taken thence by the advice of the emperor's mother, probably on account of its sacred character, because it was before this time consecrated by Pope Sylvester to the service of God. Doryphorianus was then put to death by various torments outside of Rome.* We now come to treat of the Mamertine in its Christian history — afield full of flowers «<( Et Doryphorlanumpronuntiatutn capitis reum trusumque carcere Tullianomatris consilii princeps exinde rapuit, rever sumque ad lares per cruciatus oppressit immensos." 70 The Victims of the Mamertine, so beautiful we hardly know which to cull first. We will endeavor to follow events in their chronological order. With a brief out- line of the first persecution we will lead to the vicissitudes, or rather the arrangements, of Divine Providence that led the first Chris- tian victims to the Mamertine. IX. The "Acts of Alexander" open with an event that startled the whole city of Rome. The prefect of the city became a Christian, and in thanksgiving liberated one thousand two hundred and fifty slaves. The tyranny of man to his fellow-man causes the blush to mantle on the Christian brow. It is the problem of our existence. That man should become the property of another, lose all moral rights, and sink to treatment not given to irrational brutes, con- stitutes one of the most terrible forms of human suffering. In old times he was richest and greatest who could cause most misery to his fellow-creatures. The rich men of Rome Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 71 counted their slaves by thousands, and the law allowed them traffic in human beings as we do in cattle. They were worked under the lash in vineyards, sandpits, and buildings ; often in fetters and in starvation ; the most delicate forms were exposed without raiment to the cold blast of winter. Pass at night- time the gorgeous palace of some wealthy senator : there are slaves chained to the por- tals like dogs to scare the thief or intruder. Look into the Ergastula, the sleeping-cellars of the slaves : some hundreds of those hapless wretches huddled together in fearful violation of the dictates of morality, in hunger and cold, less comfortable than the stables of our horses ! See those wretches sitting on the muddy banks of the island in the Tiber, naked, their hands tied, and weeping in all the agony of pitiless despair : they are con- demned slaves awaiting the arrival of some tyrant owner, who will give the order to end their miseries beneath the yellow wave of the river. That master comes to enjoy the sight of their dying struggles, to hear the music of the last shrill, drowning cry of his perish- ing victims ! When we float in thought over those horrible developments of the slave 72 The Victims of the Afamertine. system, those scenes of history where the wretched were victims of such incredible barbarity, we feel we could thank the Almighty, in the name of the human race, for the regeneration by Christianity. Not the individual only, not an exceptional domestic tyrant, bore the brand of inhuman- ity towards the slaves, but the law, the whole national feeling, assigned them a moral deg- radation beyond excuse or palliation. It was once decreed by the Senate that four hun- dred slaves should be put to death because one of their number had murdered his mas- ter. And this poor wretch had purchased his freedom in hard cash ; not only was liberty refused him, but his betrothed bride was vio- lated. In a fit of rage he plunged his dagger into the heart of the villain ; yet there was no justice for the slave.* Cicero writes : ** If the immortal gods were visibly to descend amongst us to desig- nate and set a mark upon that profanation by which their ire has been enkindled, what could they light on more foul and abominable than that the amphitheatre and circus where * Tacitus, book Iv., nos. 48, 43. Pagans confined in the Mamcriine. ']'^ the Roman people worship them should be polluted by the presence of your slaves. • To know the horrors of the slavery of the early ages we have only to look on it in its modern form, for, alas ! the slave-dhow still haunts the Southern seas. Their holds are filled with hapless wretches torn by brutal force from the little huts on their native hills and hunting-grounds, where peace and plenty once smiled, and where they enjoyed in lib- erty the ennobling feelings of domestic union and love of country. The slave-markets still dishonor the fair lands of the West. The aged father, broken-down with toil, torn from his spouse and children, is obliged to work under the lash ; the tender mother is separated from her offspring, who cling to her neck with the heartrending agony of blasted affection ; every tie of human decency or hu- man right cast to the wind ; trampled or sold for a paltry coin. The sigh of suffering humanity is poured forth from the golden plantations of the South, where those hapless children of toil are starving amidst wealth ***Quid magis deformatum, inquinatum, perversum, contur- batum dici potest."— a*«r<7 1« Oral, de Harusp.yX^i.^^, xii. 74 The Victims of the Mamertine. and plenty they have earned with the sweat of their brow. " And each endures while yet he draws his breath A stroke as galling as the scythe of Death. The sable warrior, frantic with regret Of her he loves and never can forget, Loses in tears the far-receding shore, But riot the thought that they must meet no more. Deprived of her and freedom at a blow, What has he left that he can )'et forego? Yes, to deep sadness sullenly resigned. He feels l^is body's bondage in his mind. Puts off his gen'rous nature, and to suit His manners with his fate, puts on the brute. Oh ! most degrading of all the ills that wait On man, a mourner in his best estate, All other sorrows virtue may endure, And find submission more than half a cure. Grief is itself a medicine, and bestowed T' improve the fortitude that hem's a load. To teach the wand'rer, as his woes increase, .il. " path of wisdom, all whose paths are peace. But Slavery ! virtue dreads it as her grave ; Patience itself is meanness in a slave ; Nature imprints on whate'er we see That has a heart and life in it— Be free ! The beasts are chartered ; neither age nor force Can quell the love of freedom in a horse ; He breaks the cord that held him at the rack, And, conscious of an unencumbered back. Snuffs up the morning air, forgets the rein, Loose fly his forelock and his ample mane ; Responsive to the distant neigh, he neighs, Pagans confined in the Mamertinc, 75 Nor stops, till overleaping all delays, He finds the pasture where his fellows graze." COWPER. But modern slavery in its mitigated form is but the echo of its past terrors. Thus we (Jo not wonder at the desperate resistance made to the Roman arms by barbarian na- tions ; they knew the lot awaited them as the slaves of the conquerors ; nor do we wonder at the Christians, according to the expression of the fathers, to be treated as if they were no longer human beings, because they were treated as slaves ; and thus, too, we understand the commotion in the city of Rome in the second century of our era, when one thousand two hundred and fifty Christian slaves were set free by the prefect Hermes. The cause of this strange event is interest- ing. Death had cast his gloomy shadow on the palace of Hermes. What wealth, what power will bid this scoffer of human great- ness stay at the portals of our homes and defy him to enter! The only son of the prefect, a blooming boy in the morning of his days, was cut down by the slow but fatal ravages of consumption. Whilst the child 76 The Victims of the Mamertine, was yet struggling with his malady, and hourly expecting the fatal moment of dis- solution, the distracted father, clinging to a hope, made the altars of the Capitol blaze with daily sacrifices to its marble gods ; but in vain. Neither rewards to the priests and physicians nor vows of more blood availed: the child died. In the midst of the funeral pomp, and the tears of the afflicted parents and relatives, a poor blind nurse, who loved the child dearly, had heard of the powerful God of the Chris- tians, whose votaries never prayed in vain. In the liberty and familiarity their common affliction permitted, she chided the father for not bringing the child to the chief of the Christian religion. Hermes taunted her with her blindness, and asked why she her- self was not cured by the Christian bishop. Under the impulse of a diyine grace she hurried to the Pope Alexander, received her sight, hastened back to the palace of Hermes, took the dead child in her arms, and, hurry- ing through the streets, laid him at the feet of Alexander. The absent spine was called back to the lifeless body, and the boy has- tened home to remove with his own hand the Pagans confined in the Mamertine. yj emblems of death that hung around his afflicted home. His father and mother be- came Christians. The slaves, too, subser- vient to the beck of their master, and en- lightened by the same sunbeam of divine faith, joined in the loud hymn of praise to the only powerful God — the God of the Christians. The:r freedom followed their baptism. They were scattered through the city to declare the praises of God and their good master, and the miracle that made them free. The baths, the Forum, and the Circus rang with the startling news ; small crowds gadiered together to discuss the strange event, or listen to some bombastic declaimer lamenting the disgrace that had fallen on the city. Their prefect a Christian and liberty given to twelve hundred slaves was an event more remarkable than the defeat of the Par- thians or the death of Trajan, that happened at the same time. Bands of enthusiastic zealots roamed through the streets shouting, " Let Hermes be burnt alive! " whilst others, who knew Alexander, the head of the Chris- tians, was the cause of the supposed dis- aster, called for his immediate execution ; 7? The Victims of the Mamertine. loud and shrill was the shout that echoed throup^h the Forum, " Christiani ad leones!" Shortly before his death Trajan, who was in the East, he ''d '■' th^^ wide spread of Christianity, and eiii r deputy named Au- relianto exterminai it in he city of Rome. Being the representative of the emperor himself, he had a higher power than Hermes; consequently he had the prefect seized and placed him in privata custodia, under the care of Quirinus, a tribune of the praetorian camp in charge oi the Mamertine. The holy Pontiff Alexander was also seized, but for him there was neither mercy nor respect, and he was cast into the lower dungeon of the Mamertine. Hermes, on account of his former dignity, was confined in a room in the tribune's own house, and directions were given to the tribune to use his ir.fiuence to bring back their cherished prefect to the worship of idols. Thus the "Acts " open with these two great champions in prison, then lead js to a series of events that constitute one of the most thrilling tragedies of the early Church. P i^ans confined in the Mamertine. 79 % Towards sunset on the ist of May, in the year of our Lord 132, the military tribune who had charge of the Mamertine crossed the Roman Forum ; rapt in' deep thought, and heedless of the ever-changing crowd, he ma^^ his way towards his palatial resi- dence on the Aventine. News had reached" the cicy Trajan had ** passed to the gods" when he had conquered the Parthians, and Adrian was declared Caesar by the army. The people were gathered in small crowds discussing all the possible contingencies of the strange news, and the hum of many voices rose and fell in the arched Forum like billovvs on the sea-shore. It was not the political changes debated by the crowd that rapt Quirinus in silent thought and made hi'i move with rapid step and downcast eyes. A strange feeling of awe had crept over his noble soul. He had just come from the Tullian keep, where he had locked heavy chains to the hands and feet and neck of the chief of the Christian sect, and he was proceeding to his own home, where he had 8o The Victims of the Mamertine, also bound in chains, for the same cause, the late prefect of the city. The halo of sanctity that beamed from the eyes of the holy Pontiff, the victim of his dungeon, haunted his thoughts, and the brave conduct of Hermes, giving up wealth, power, and probably life, for the Christian sect, puzzled his clouded understanding. " There must be," thought he, " some divine, magical power to charm to fatal fascination iiji those Christians, or else their God is alone great and true." Thus thought Quirinus. Amidst a struggle with the first glimmerings of enlightened thought flashing through his soul, and the blind prejudice of his old pagan spirit, he reached his home on the Aventine. According to the custom of the Custodia privata, Hermes was locked in a room of the house of Quirinus. Although surrounded by magnificence, still he was in chains ; a prisoner, but treated with that respect which his position and old friendship with the tribune demanded. He was on his knees in communion with God, and praying for the conversion of the tribune's family, when the in the iron lock, and K:av\' ke ofrated Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 8 1 Quirinus entered, commencing immediately a conversation of deep and thrilling interest, which we will quote almost literally from the " Acts " : " How comes it, Hermes," said Cuirinus, " that an illustrious man like you is reduced to this infamy ? Yoi^ not only abandon the prefectship, but cheerfully accept these chains." " I don't lose the prefectship," replied Hermes ; " but I have changed it for an- other. All earthly dignities, Quirinus, are easily blasted, but a celestial honor remains in eternal sublimity." " Now, I wonder at such a prudent man," retorted Quirinus, with an air of sarcastic sympathy, "carried away with the ridiculous fancy that you will exist after death. Do you not know the human body so decays in the lapse of time that not even the dust of your bones will be found ? " " Ah ! Quirinus, I once thought so too ; but by the light that has been given me, I know life to be a fleeting shadow, and what is noblest in man is immortal ! " " Could you prove what you say, Hermes, and perhaps I, too, might believe." 82 The Victims of the Mamertine, *' Alexander, the holy bishop you have in chains, taught me this consoling doctrine — " •* Thunders of Jupiter fall on you and him," said Quirinus, interrupting him, " See, Hermes, go back to your position as prefect, recall your senses which you seem to have lost, enjoy your wealth and beautiful family and splendid palace. Don't let your enemies scoff at your downfall and the sad condition you are now in." " But, Quirinus, you would not let me answer your question," retorted Hermes mildly. ' ^ '* I asked you," said Quirinus, " to prove for me what you said, and you commenced to speak of a vile magician that I have in chains and cast into the lower dungeon of our prison. Do yv^u think I am so foolish as to mind what you say about a wretch who has de- ceived you, now paying the penalty of his crimes in bonds and horrible darkness, to be burnt, perhaps, to-morrow or the next day ? If he be any good, let him free himself and you." " Quirinus, when the Jews put our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, they said the same thing: 'Let him com.e down now from the Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 83 cross, if he is able, and we will believe in him.* Had he not seen their hearts were hardened and filled with perfidy, he would have done it." " Well, I will tell you what I will do," said Quirinus, confident of having struck on a good thought : " I will go to him and say, If*you wish me to believe that you are a minister and worphip the only true God, either you come to Hermes or let Hermes come to you, then I will believe all you M :k say Hermes, filled with holy confidence in God, and ardently desiring the conversion of Quirinus, said, "Well, let it be so," ac- cepting the challenge to perform an extra- ordinary miracle. Quirinus, smiling, said: "I will go now, and I will triple his chains and guards, and will tell him he must come to you at supper- time ; and, if he can s ay with you the whole night, I will believe that he is able to in- struct me."t * " Ego vado ad eum et dico illl, Si vis ut credam te verum Dei preconem et verum Deum esse quern colis, aut te apud Heimen inveniam aut Herman apud te, et omnia quae mihi dixeris credam." — Acts Bollandi sis. May 3. f " Vadam ergo modo et super eum vincula triplicabo et 84 The Victims of the Mamertijte, Alexander was rapt in prayer in his gloomy prison of the Mamertine, when he heard the iron grating that closed the open- ing overhead move, the conversation of men, and the clanking of heavy chains. Doubt- less, he thought the hour of his passion had come, and, with a fervent aspiration for strength, he prepared himself for the worst. Another moment Quirinus descended into the dungeon, and applied three additional chains to the, holy Pontiff. Alexander, who allowed himself be bound as they wished, wondered at the necessity of tripling his chains in that awful cell, whence escape was impossible. At length Quirinus told him of the extraordinary challenge accepted by his friend Hermes, and telling him good- humoredly he would also put three addi- tional guards at the entrance, and then bade Alexander p-et out if he could. Left once more alone in the prison, the holy man began to think over what had passed. How strange I lermes should make that appointment ! Bu*- he who wishes the custodes dicamquc illi ut eum apud te invenlam coenandl hora, el si hoc potucrif facere per totam noctem, credam qu;jd et rac poterit edoccrc." — Acts BolUntdists, Afay 3. Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 85 salvation of man will also give power to per- form the miracle to save a soul. Alexander remembered that the prayer of Josue made the sun stand still, that the prayer of Moses gained victory for the Israelites, and that the angel delivered Peter from prison. As all things are possible to faith, according to the word of Christ, full of confidence in God, he prayed thus : " O Lord Jesus Christ ! who has placed me on the chair of thy apos- tle Peter, send me an angel who will bring me hence at evening time to the house of Hermes, and back in the morning, no one being aware of my absence until I return." He continued in prayer. When darkness had fallen on the city {prima nodtirno silentio), behold, his prison is suddenly filled with a beautiful light, and a lovely child stood beside Alexander, holding in its hand a lighted torch; turning towards the holy Pontiff, the child said, " Follow me !" Alexander was afraid that perhaps there might be some delusion of the devil in what he saw, and said to the child, •• As our Lord Jesus Christ lives, I will not stir out of this until you kneel down and pra/ with me." The child, who seemed not to be older than 86 The Victims of the Mamertine. five years,* knelt with him, and they prayed for half an hour, terminating their medita- tions by reciting together the Pater Nos- ter. Then the child took Alexander by the hand and led him t)irough the opening, and conducted him to the house of Hermes.f At the appointed time Quirinus went to the room where he had confined and bound in chains the prefect Hermes. Not dream- ing that an extraordinary union between these two holy souls could be effected, he determined to try his eloquence once more on Hermes to induce him to abandon the Christian faith. He unlocked the door, when, lo ! there was Alexander kneeling beside Hermes, his arms stretched out in prayer. Quirinus was frightened. He fan- * " Qui videbatur non amplius erat quarn quinque an« norum." f " Et apprehendens manum ejus puer duxit eum, ad fenes- tram quae erat clausa et quasi ostium aperuit eum ct per- duxit cum ad Hcrmen." — Acts^ etc. Some have believed from the expression here in the "Acts "that, the -woxA fenestram being used, Alexander was not confined in the Mamertine; however, a close study will show that he was really confined in this prison. The fenestra which quasi ostium the angel opened was the only ingress for light, food, or persons into the prison. Baronius, Pia/za, and Martinelli have inlcrpreted the "Acts" to mean the Mamertine. \ inque an- Pagans confined in the Mamerthte. %*j cied a magical delusion passed before him.* Seeing his excitement, Hermes at length broke silence, and said : " Quirinus, you pro- fessed to me that, if you saw us who were separated in body but united in spirit come together bodily, you would believe ; now you see the fact; nor fancy it is for our gratification you see us, who to-morrow will be bound again in your chains, thus freed, but that thy soul may be liberated from the bonds of superstition and error, that you may believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who hears those believing in him, and grants what they ask in faith, and nothing hesi- tating." ' Quirinus, at whose heart grace was rap- ping for admission, said to Hermes, in a tone that betrayed his confusion: "Our magicians could do all this ! " "Could magicians break through prisons, and loosen the threefold chain, and break through the trebled guard ? " asked Hermes indignantly. " No, Quirinus, only He, our Lord Jesus Christ, -.v^ho gave sight to the' blind, cured lepers and paralytics, cast out * "Ap^ruit ostium et invenlens eos slmul extensis manibu* orantes et l.^ru'.am ardcntem videos, exterritus est." — Acts. 88 The Victims of the Mamertine, devils, and called the dead from their tombs, could perform such wonders. But hear me for a moment, Quirinus, and I will tell you how I became a Christian, and gained such unlimited faith in this holy man (pointing to Alexander), whom you do not yet know. " \ had an only son, as charming a boy as ever laughed back to a mother's joy. As he grew in years he became passionately fond of study; too much application told on his delicate frame, and a slow malady seized his frame.* We brought him to the Capi- tol, and, with large offerings, we made the altars of the gods flow with the blood of in- numerable victims, but in vain: the boy died. Whilst I and his broken-hearted mother were weeping over his lifeless form our old blind nurse stood by, and in tears reproved me thus: 'Master, had you taken the child to the seat of Peter (ad liniina Petri) and believed in Christ, your boy would live now.' " T.ctokinQf on the affectionate nurse with sympathy, 1 said : * And you, Miria, you are blind, 'APr' r,by are you no. cured?' *"Q'. iOhuc ad lltteiarum s;udia ambulabat in nimio languor^ ];*c>rM'u*," etr. n nimio Pagans confined in the Mamcrtine, 89 " ' Indeed, 'tis true/ she replied. ' I am blind now five years, but if I believed in Jesus Christ I, too, would have had my sight.' '* In my grief I could but smile, and in the mockery of unbelief I said to her : ' Go, then; and believe, and, if the Christian bishop give you your sight, I will perhaps believe he could raise up my son.' " She hurried away before I had finished speaking, and fled whither I know not. It was the third iiour, and at the sixth she returned perfectly cured.* '' We were all gathered around the corpse of my lovely boy; she rushed through us, and, without saying a word, took the lad in her arms, and fled out of the house so fast that our youths could not follow her. I learned afterwards she had taken him to Alexander (pointing to the holy bishop, who was praying in his heart for the con- version of Quirinus). Casting the dead body at his feet, she cried out, * Let me be blind again, but give life to this child.' The holy bishop replied to her : * What * " Tunc abiit ;ul ipsiim rcrca circa horaivi terliajn ct ecce hora dici sexta levcisa est ad me sana," ^K\:.—Acts. 90 The Victims' of the Mamertine. Christ has given you Ht will not take from you, but will also give you the life of this child.' He prayed. Another moment and the boy bounded to his feet, and ran to our embrace alive and sound.* " Immediately^ that I saw these wonders I made the nurse bring me to the holy bishop, and, casting myself at his feet, I prayed he would let me also be a Christian, which I am, thanks be to God, from that day. I ap- pointed the bishop to be the tutor of my son, and the property that had come to me by the child's deceased mother 1 gave, with a great deal more trom my own resources, to Alexander, for the use of the Christian Church ; my slaves I set tree, and the rem- nant of my properly I gave to the poor; and now, in bonds, and perhaps even under the very shadow uf death, I fear not the threat of confiscation ; I defy the impotent rage of the emperor, and in confidence in Jesus I will run to grasp the crown Me has promised to His martyrs." •, > Whilst the ex-prefect concluded the inter- estino^ accoupt of his conversion, his coun- * " Et ippe per so veiiiens ad ine, reuidisset filium meum viventem et sanum."— ^f/j. «tn meum Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 9 1 tenance glowed with zeal, and he spoke with the eloquence and fire that burned in his generous heart. In his contempt of earthly goods, in his fearless defiance of torment and death, he was the stamp of the true Christian. His words fell with celestial power on Quirinus, who had already made up his mind how to act; yet amid the con- tending passions of his soul one seemed to claim particular attention at that moment. Hearing the wonderful cures performed by Alexander, he naturally thought of his poor, afflicted daughter Balbina, who, grown to girlhood, was beautiful, accomplished, and amiable, but, unfortunately, was very much disfigured in the neck by a scrofula con- tracted in her infancy. Her father loved her beyond measure, but was sorely afflicted because this deformity precluded the hope of honorable espousals which he had in- tended for her according to her noble posi- tion. Casting himself at their feet, he cried out: " Grant me a favor, and gain my soul also to Christ. I have a daughter whom every beauty adonis, but she is afflicted with a scrofula on the neck."^ Cure her, and I will * " Sed collum ejus struma circumdat." — AcU. 92 The Victims of the Mamertine, leave her all I have, and will follow you to Christ." Alexander, in sympathy for the father in his affliction, and knowing he would gain both to salvation, replied, *• Go and bring her Lj the prison to me quickly, take the iron collar you put around my neck, and let her wear it for some time ; in the morning you will find her cured."* " But how ? " replied Quirinus. " You are here in my house now : how will I find you in the prison ? " ' " Never mind, but go quickly and do what 1 asked you. He who brought me hither will bring me back before you can get there." When going out", Quirinus wished to leave open the door which he had previously locked and bolted on Hermes, but they pre- vailed on him to shut it as it was before.f Whilst Alexander and Hermes were taking leave of each other in p*ayer, the little bo/ with his burning torch opened the window, beckoned Alexander to follow him, and, be- ing absent one hour, brought him back to * *' Et tolle bojam de collo meo et impone ei et fac siiriul illam manere cum boja et mane invenies illam salvam." — Acts, ** " El cum nollet, coegeriint et clausit " — lb. Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 93 the Mamertine, and, putting his chains on him again, disappeared.* Quirinus returned to his own quarters. Astonished and perplexed, he thought he was in a dream. The miracles performed by his Christian prisoners were overwhelm- ing. The conversion of Hermes, the promise to cure his daughter, and the feeling of gra- titude, mingled with the sanctity of his pro- mise, swept away from his heart the linger- ing attachments to the world and paganism ; he bravely threw himself on his knees and offered himself to the true God. With the liMit of faith love was kindled like a furnace in his heart, and he wept for his sins before yet he was baptized. Although the night was now far advanced, he determined to do the request of Alexander, and bring Balbina to him, that they might both be received into the church. He roused Balbina from the tranquil sleep of innocence, and with many tearo told her what had passed ; how he had given his * This miracle is similar to that of bi-location we read of in the lives of several modern saints — St. Francis of Jerome, St. Philip Neri, St. Liguori, and others mentioned in the " Acts of Canonization." 94 J^h^ Victims of the Afamertine, word the moment she was cured to destroy all the idols in his house, and o^ive himself, with his friend Hermes, to the faith of Chris- tianity. , Balbina was one of those tender lowers that bloom in secret and give their fra<; ranee to the few that pass near. She lost her mo- ther in her younger days, but found every- thing in a kind, indulgent father. The de- formity of her neck obliged her to live a re- tired life, to avoid the unkind scoff that ever flowed from the lips of a people strangers to the sublime laws of charitv. Without know- ing it she w^as thus preserved from the foul corruption that blasted every sentiment of modesty in the maiden heart in pagan so- ciety, and Providence, that never sends an affliction without a blessing, destined the in-- nocent and untainted Balbina to be indeed a flower — one of the fairest in the garden of the church — worthy to be transplanted to the celestial garden to please the great Eternal Gardener with the fragrance of her chastity. With joy and hope that filled her innocent heart in ardess vanity she heard from her father she w^as to be made as fair as other maidens. Quickly she rose and put on her \> Pagans confined in the Mameriine. 95 colobion, selected hurriedly a few ornaments, and bade her slave attend her. Her father wrapt his toga over his mili- tary dress, and led Balbina by the hand. They hastened through the stately palaces on the Aventine to the Forum. The night was dark, and few were to be met in the abandoned streets at that late hour. Quiri- niis stepped quickly, for his heart was aglow with enthusiasm, and even silent tears stole down his cheeks to relieve internal emotions. Strange ! the brave colonel had fear. Not that he feared the steps he was taking were leading him to the ruin of his temporal po- sition ; not that he dreaded the indignation of a heartless tyrant who would torture him to death ; but he was afraid that, having the misfortune to imprison the anointed of God, the Divine judgment might fall on him be- fore he had set Alexander free. Such fear he expressed iii the first words he spoke to the holy bishop in the dungeon of the Mamer- tine. We must enter the prison once more with the father and child. Some interesting scenes will pass here before the dawn of the morning. . The Mamertine was a large building with IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 5»\^ 1.0 1.1 ItilM |2.5 ■^ Bii |22 £ US 12.0 lit U \ 1.25 1-4 1 1.6 ^ < b" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTM.N.Y. 14S80 (716) S72-4903 \ iV ^ N> '4^ ^t^ ^ <^ 96 The I'ictims of the Mameriine^ many apartments. Besides the underground dungeons which still exist there were cells and chambers for criminals of minor guilt; moreover, the governor of the prison had special apartments for his own use : there was the audience- room, the secretary, and even private rooms where he could reside at pleasure. But as the position of governor of the prison was one of great trust, it was con- ferred only on wealthy and independent men; they generally lived in a sumptuous palace in th^ more senatorial parts of the city. Thus it was with Quirinus; he led Balbina to one of the private apartments, whilst he would go seek in the lower prison the man of God, whom he now loves and fears more than he had that morning ill- treated and despised. Leaving Balbina with her slave he hurried off to the prison. He found the guards he had placed awake and watching ; he asked if they had heard any noise. They replied in the negative. He then unlocked the massive iron bars that closed the passage in the rock down to the lower prison, and, by means of a ladder, descended to Alexan- der. Whilst the holy Pontiff greeted him Pagans confined in the Mamertine. 97 with his usual amiable smile, Quirinus threw himself at his feet, and, trembling with a great fervor of feeling, said, " Pray, father, oh ! pray, I beseech thee, that the anger of God, of whom thou art a bishop, may not overtake me in my sins." Alexander, delighted at this fervent indi- cation of grace that had entered the heart of the tribune, bidding him rise, mildly re- plied, " Our God does not wish the destruc- tion of any one, but that sinners be con- verted. When they placed Him on the cross, he prayed even for his executioners." Then Quirinus informed him that Balbina had come, and awaited in one of the upper apartments of the prison. The holy Pope bade him take the iron collar from his neck, and put it around Balbina's neck, but the father begged and prayed he would come and do it himself. Quirinus removed all his chains, and, carrying the collar with him, they commenced to ascend to the upper prisons. Whilst Alexander and Quirinus were thus engaged, Balbina was also strangely occu- pied. She was reclining on a couch, pon- dering over the strange things her father 'SSmS 98 The Victims of the Mamertine, had told her concerning the Christians, and feeHngs of awei were insensibly creeping over her timid heart. Perhaps she felt the agonizing anticipation experienced by those who sit in the anteroom of a surgeon's study awaiting their turn to undergo some painful operation. Perhaps the spirits of evil summoned to her memory the horrible legends of mysterious arts supposed to be practised by the Christians in dark under- ground cellars, colored with all the thrilling details of bloody and cruel carousals attri- buted to their assemblies ; or perhaps the joy of being speedily cured drove away every girlish fear, and filled her mind with bright pictures of nuptials, convivial gatherings, and all the tinsel that flatters human vanity. Whilst thus a thousand thoughts and fancies were playing on her youthful imagination, she perceives the door slowly opening, then a beautiful light, and in the midst of an aureola of surpassing brightness she saw a little boy running towards her. He was the same that brought Alexander to her father's house. A more beautiful child Balbina never looked on; her eyes were riveted. Her first impulse was to embrace and kiss Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 99 the lovely strange child ; he had his burning, torch still in his hand, and, approaching the amazed girl, called her by her name, and, in the sweet litde voice of a child, said : " Balbina, you will be cured, but remain in thy virginity, and I will show you a Spouse > whose love for you made him shed his blood." Saying this he disappeared, leaving Balbina frightened at the strange vision, and the room as if the lamp were ex- tinguished, so brilliant was the light shed around him.* Whilst rapt in amazement, her eyes daz- zling like one who had gazed on the sun and was aroused from a pleasant dream, her fa- ther, accompanied by the venerable Pontiff, entered the apartment. She rose with be- coming grace as a Roman child to salute her father, but the veneration and awe inspired by the halo of sanctity that shrouded the Christian bishop walking beside her fa- ther lent confusion to her agitated feelings. The gende smile of Alexander won her con- •"Ecce puer ille sublto cutn facula apparuit et venit ad pu- eriam dicens ei, * Balbina salva eris et in virginitate tua per- mane et ego te faciam videre sponsum tuum qui pro amore tuo sanguinetn suum fudit.' Haec cum dixisset abscessit, etc."— ^five. Pagans confined in the Mamertine, loi rattling the heavy keys, went off to roiase his sleeping victims to make a demand that, in the dreadful time of persecution, sounded with a thrill of horror: "Are there any Christians amongst you ? " Whilst Quiri- nus, having left his daughter with the collar fastened, passed with the guards through the chambers of sighs,* rousing perhaps from dreams of liberty and prosperity some hapless children of misfortune, Alexander was pouring streams of heavenly light into the soul of Balbina. Like the diamond, rough and dull, covered vnxks. earth when first lifted from its crystal cell, becoming brilliant and bright in the hands of the jeweller, so the words of the bishop brightened that clouded, beautiful soul of Balbin^; and made it re- flect, in all its dazzling purity, the light of eternal truth. The charming child that was the prophet of her mysterious nuptials, the allusions to the bonds of love that were to make her a happy prisoner of Jesus, flashed with grace to her memory and were easily understood. There are moments when the soul bursting with emotion can only express itself in tears ; and Balbina, whose innocent * "CellaB gemituum." \ 1 02 Tke Victims of the Mamertine, heart was as tender as the leaf of the sensi- tive plantj gave vent in tears to the dawn of Christian joy that flooded her soul. " Does the iron collar hurt your neck, my child ? " we fancy we hear the venerable Pontiff mildly enquire. •' Oh ! no, good Christian 1 'Tis softer than a necklet of dew-drops gathered from the rose-leaf; 'tis lighter than my mother's hand when first she dressed the wound." " And when thy neck shall be as fair as the tinted marble, how cheerfully wilt, thou bear the ruby necklet thy Spouse has des- tined for thee amongst the treasures of his love ! " sugorested Alexander. She little dreamed then that Alexander re- ferred to the red and bloody gash of the ex- ecutioner's axe, which, received for the faith, is the richest ornament the maiden neck can bear. Outside diey hear the step of Quirinus, the rattling of keys, and the sound of other voices, and, entering, Quirinus announced to Alexander he had " found two Christians, who were also priests, amongst the prisoners ; they were called Eventuus and Theodulus; the latter, they say, has come from the East." Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 103 Alexander, desiring to see thein, Qujrintilfe called them in. They cast themselves at the feet of their Pontiff, and embrace him with holy joy. A few words of explanation followed. These holy priests were sent from the East, as was customary with Trajan, that they might be put to death before the Roman people to deter them in the capital from em- bracing Christianity. Eventuus was an old, feeble man, gray-headed, and trembling un- der a venerable old age. Theodulus was in the bloom of his manhood, but ripe in virtue and heroic sanctity. It is probable they had never seen the Holy Father until that night, and as love and reverence towards the Holy See — a characteristic virtue of the early Christians — ever glowed brighter as the hour of trial was darker, we can fancy what joy filled the hearts of those noble exiles as they prostrated themselves to kiss the feet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. In proportion as faith is warm and pure it turns with filial confidence to the pilot of our storm-tossed bark; neither oceans, nor deserts, not* impassable mountains can break the union of the Catholic with the visible 104 The Victims of the Matnertine, head of the Church. He may be like his Master, persecuted, concealed in dismal, catacombs, consigned to a loathsome dun- geon, or in chains on his way to martyrdom ; still faith recognizes the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and is fanned to greater fervor in the feeling of sympathy in which it participates in his wrongs. Eventuus and Theodulus forgot every pain in the joy of being in such holy company. Quirinus shares in their joy, for he who confers happiness on others feels the blessing rebound, like an echo, to its cause. But greater joy is yet in store for the no- ble tribune. Balbina, who was still reclining on her couch and with the heavy iron collar of a criminal on her neck, silently watched what was passing. Catching the eye of her father, she beckoned for him to come to- wards her. A cheerful smile playing around her lips, she told him her neck was cured. He removed the iron, and his eyes feasted for a moment on the lovely form of his child. Not a trace of the deformity was left : the proud father could boast of the fairest daughter in Rome. Filled with emotion, he embraced Balbina, and, in rushing towards Alexander, threw himself on his knees, and cried out: Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 105 " O holy men ! leave the prison before the anger of God falls on me ! " In deep gra- titude he offered not only liberty but wealth and earthly rewards to the venerable Pontiff, but prayed first for baptism for himself and Balbina. Alexander, placing his hand affectionately on his shoulder, bade him rise, then, looking seriously towards him, said : " Quirinus, if you wish to reward me for the favor I have, through our Lord Jesus Christ, conferred on Balbina, bring all the prisoners you have here, and let them be- come Christians." " Ah ! you Christians are good," said Qui- rinus ; " but these prisoners are thieves, murderers, and perjured villains steeped in crime. Will you contaminate yourself by having intercourse with such wretches ? " " Yes, Quirinus," rejoined the holy fa- ther mildly; '^we are ministers of Him who came to call poor sinners. Bring them to me. ^ Quirinus assented. He called one of the guards, and gave orders to have all brought to his presence. A few minutes, and the room is filled with a motley crew— the outcasts of io6 The Victims of the Afamertine. society, hapless victims of unbridled passion, hands stained with blood, thoughts burning with futile desires, and hearts hardened with vice ; yet He who feasted with sinners, who came to call them, and whose angels rejoice on their return, can make that which is red as crimson white as snow, and that which is dark as blood pure as wool. Alexander addressed his fellow-prisoners with thrilling eloquence. The writer of the " Acts " has given us an epitome of what he thought Alexander said. We need not tarry over his appeal ; the dread mysteries of Christianity were the theme of this eloquent sermon over the dungeon of the Mamertine. Suffice it to say, all who listened were con- verted, and, probably, that night; whilst Rome was yet buried in sleep and the dawn breaking through the gray clouds of the east, Quirinus, Balbina, the prisoners, and keepers of the Mamertine were all received into the bosom of Christianity and washed with the saving waters of baptism. The prison, the '* Acts " say, became like a church — the nearest thing we could have this side of the grave to the kiss of justice with peace. Pagans confined in the Mamertine, 107 XI. During the proceedings we have just de- scribed, there was one of the officials of the prison — a secretary to Qiiirinus — who stood aloof, and, in a hardened heart, was grum- bling at the orders of the tribune. Early the next morning he hurried off to the palace of Aurelian, the procurator of Adrian, to tell his story., A body of sol- diers were immediately marched to the Ma- mertine to seize Quirinus. , Perhaps in the tomes of the Bollandists, amongst the records of the undaunted sol- diers of Christ before the tribunals of the pagans, we may not find a more fearless hero than the brave Quirinus. The bold- ness with which he addressed Aurelian is in- teresting. ' " Quirinus," said Aurelian, " I have ever treated you as a son, and now, allowing yourself to be deceived by that Christian Alexander, you enrage me against you." Quirinus, in a bold voice, replied : " I have become a Christian ; you may kill me, flog me, or burn me ; Til not be anything else ! Moreover, I made all who were in the prison ^ -M ^ I 1 08 TAe Victims of the Mamertine, become Christians, and I gave them leave to go away, and they would not ; especially the holy Pope Alexander and the illustrious Hermes, and they refused -to go. The pri- soners said to me that, as they had to give their lives for their crimes, how much more would they now give them for the name of Christ ! I certainly asked all that were bap- tized to go where they would, but instead of availing themselves of their liberty they are now voluntarily awaiting in prison the death you will gi