Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-11-25

NNN~--N"
name even-Lygia or Callina? They
call her Lygia in the house, Tor she
comes of the Lygian nation; but she
has her own barbarian name, Call1na.
It is a wonderful house-that OF
those Plautiuses. These are many
neople in it; but it is as quiet there
as in the groves of Subiacum. For
a. number of days I did not know that
a divinity dwelt in the house. once
about davbreak [ saw her bathing in
the garden fountain; and I swear to
thee by that foam from which Aph-
rodite rose, that the days of the
dawn passed right through her body.
I thought that when the sun rose
she would vanish before me In tie
light as the twilight of morning does.
Since then I have seen her twice,
and since then, too, know not what
rest is, I know not what other de-
sires are, I have no wish to know
what the city can give me. 1 want
not women, nor gold, nor Corinthian
bronze, nor amber, nor pearls nor
wine, nor feasts; want only Ly-'
gia.'"
Thus did Vinicius, young Roman
patrician Of the time of Nero, an
nounce his love for Lygia, daughter
Of a king, beautiful hostage from her
nation, forgotten in the turmoil OF
the world-empire and brought up "a
a Roman girl.
Vinicius was speaking to his uncle
Petronius, known to his own time
as to us as Arbiter Elegant1arum,
trained in all the art and beauty OF
Greece, wise, witty and learned, gaily
stalking his life in his daily battle
Of wits with Tigellinus, who provided
for the grossest desires of the ty-
rant Nero as Petronius did for his
finer and more artistic ones.
It was a time when the conflict
ing tides of a pagan age, sadly de-
generate from the sturdy days of
pristine Roman virtues, mingled with
those Of new era in the world, only
recently heralded from Judea. In
the complicated threads of the pic
ture of Rome, capital of the world,
appear the figures of Peter and Paul,
on their mission of spreading the
new religion of Christ; Poppae, wife
of Nero, beautiful as a dream, but
wicked as a nightmare; Eunice, the
charming slave of Petronius; Chic,
willy Greek who can be Christian or
pagan as profit leads him; Ursus,
prodigious in his strength, simple as
child in his faith in Christ and
his devotion to Lygia (from fhom
G. B. S. may have drawn a sugges-
ton in "Androcles and the Lion");
and many minor folk who help to
make the story stand out as unusu
ally human among the numerous
tales of Greco-Roman times.
When Vinicius told his uncle Pc
tronius of his passion for Lygia, the
latter thought nothing was easier
than to provide his nephew with
what he regarded as a new plaything;
a word to Nero, who as emperor had
all hostages in his care-summons
the maiden to the palace-hand her
over to the young patrician as her
guardian-what more could be need
ed to satisfy everyone's desires, espe-
caIly as the maiden manifestly was
pleased with Vinicus? But ePro-
MUS and his nephew reckoned with
out a new force that had entered into
the Roman world. They could not
| understad a girl who fled from
Nero's court and all it's magnificence,
| fled even from the lover whom she
| loved. But FINALLY he understood
this, which he and Petronius had
not understood, that the new religion
| engrafted into the soul something
unknown to that world in which he
| lived, and that Lygia, even if she
| loved him, would not sacrifice any
| of her Christian truths for his sake,
and that, if pleasure existed for her,
it was a pleasure different altogeth-
er from that which he and Petronius
| and Caesars court and all Rome
| were pursuing. Every other woman
| whom he knew might become his
| mistress, but that Christian would
only, become his victim. And when
he thought of this, he felt anger and
| burning pain, for he felt that his
anger was powerless. To carry off
| Lygia seemed to him possible; he
was even sure that he could do so,
| but he was equally sure that, in view
of her religion. he himself with his
| bravery was nothing, that his power
was nothing, and that through it he
| could effect nothing. That Roman
military tribune, convinced that the
power of the sword and the first
which had conquered the world
would command it forever, said for
| the first time in his life that be-
yond that power there might be
something else; hence he asked him
| self with amazement what it was
s-s.s-s"s.e-s..s"s..s.s.s-s.