The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-09-15
The Story Quo Vadis j

The Story Quo Vadis
The greaest judicial faculty in the world
| Is the favor of the public. and whimsical
and tickle as it sometimes appears. in the
end it will always be discovered that what
the mass says Is good. "Quo Vadis" by
| Henryk Sienkiewicz, has had phenomenal
| run of editions in the last six months.
| The public has placed its stamp of favor
| on the work and II sells. Expert criti-
| cisms and laudatory reviews have aided
| a little in its growth. but the larger por-
| ton of the advertising has been by the
| man who, having read it, keeps such din
| up over il that his friend must read in self
protection.
Quo Vadis" is one Of the books that one
| is born to read, and which. II not read be-
fore death, amounts TO a misfortune. 1t
deals directly with the advent OF Chris
tianity into pagan Rome. That story, next
TO the one OF the Cross, has been told more
than all other tales. In sketches, histories
and novels, Nero, his arena. his treatment
of the poor followers of Paul and Peter.
has been written and rewritten, but not
until Quo Vadis" appeared has it been
done perfectly.
The intrigue Of the story Is rrnitless
q
which prevents confusion. The descrip-
ton OF famous scenes has the Homeric
virtue Of a direct tale, told simply and
for that all the more grandy.
The reason the work Is so intensely in
teresting is that Il brings pagan Rome and
the new Christianity into direct. immed:-
ate and violent antagonism. As we now.
great changes are a process Of exceed
ingly tedious merging. climb down long
hill and climb up a high mountain. In
"Quo Vadis'' the author jumps a prectpice.
The effect is gained through the use OF
the personality of young tribune of In
perial Rome. II is rather discouraging 10
the reader in the first part of the book 10
be asked to accept as a hero man who
is in love with the heroine and who makes
no bones about the carnality Of his fervor.
who gets maudlin Intoxicated and becomes
immoral in her presence and towards her,
who, piQued for moment, thinks nothing
of striking dead an old slave who had
through life been his best friend, who
wants the heroine for a concubine, not
a wife, who expects 10 have her logged
good and hard when he grows tired Of
her, who gloats over the desire to beat
her and kick her and drag her about by
the hair whenever he isn't feeling well.
The change in this Nature is not brought
around abruptly. Christianity alone could
not have won the young man from imperial
Rome. The love of woman with Chris
tianity did. and before the end of the
tale, he even feels some slight repugnance
20 seeing people gnawed into tid-bits by
hungry lions. On her part she is always
more of fanatic than a sweetheart
these two are the leading characters on
the Christian side of the work On the
pagan side. a character known as Petro-
MUS, an Augustan, Seneca, Lucan, the
poet. Vitellius, the gourmand, and Nero
himself play splendid parts. In all the
range of Characterization, no better work
Is anywhere done than in this handling
of that pot-bell;ed old murderer. Nero. He
is shown to be imbued with the instincts
of an artist He really loved art; he loved
poetry; he worshiped music He had his
contrite moments for having killed his
mother his brother and innumerable wives.
He had enough discrimination, among all
his iatterers. to value the shadow of sim
cerity Petronus was forever winning him
by giving him compliments with ''strinss
tied to them" Petronius finally has to
open his veins, but Nero actually loved
this man, because ne was more sincere
figures are the most excellent in the book.
The blood-saturated emperor valued life
solely for the material it furnished him
for descriptive poetry. He very cunning
ly asks what Troy would have been worth
to the world had it endured and in not
being destroyed robbed the world Of the
description of its destruction He groaued
that he had never seen such a scene. Then
he burned Rome.
Weak as Nero was, the author shows him
to have been more dramatic than cowardly.
He did not die as a coward. He was over
come at that moment with an anxiety that
those about him should note his words
and report them correctly.
Nowhere in literature have the Roman
scenes been surpassed. The feast. the pro-
cession out of the city TO the sea. the |
Christians in the arena, the garden party !
where the oil-saturated Christians were !
used as torches. the burning Of Rome. all |
make a lasting impression on those who |
read them.
The virtue OF the work. however, is IN |
the ennoblng quality of the stories of mar !
tyrdom.
The wor is published by Little. Brown |
& Co. Boston. and can be secured OF the |,
Goldsmith Book and Stationery company |
of this city.