The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-26
QUO WADTS
by HARRIS of Cambridge
BY HENRY sIENKIEWIcZ

conversation by PROF. WILLIAM
"T do not know to a certainty her
name even,-Lygia OF Callina? They
call her Lygia in the house, for she
comes of the Lygian nation; but she
| has her own barbarian name, Callina.
1t is wonderful house,-that of those
Plautiuses. There are many people in
1t; but 1t is. as quiet there as in the
groves Of Subiacum. For number Of
days | did not know that a divinity
!. dwelt in the house. Once about day
! break | saw her bathing in the garden
| fountain; and | swear to thee by that
foam from which Aphrodite rose, that
the rays Of the dawn passed right
| through her body. I thought that
| when the sun rose she would vanish
| before me in the light, as the twilight
of morning does. Since then l have
| seen her twice; and since, then, too,
| know not what rest is, l know not
what other desires are, have no wish
| to know what the city can give me-
/ want not women, nor gold, nor Cor
| 1nth1an bronze, nor amber, nor pearls,
nor wine, nor feasts; / want only
Lygia'"
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 ma
ton, forgotten in the turmoil of the
world-empire and brought up as
/ Roman girl.
/ Vinicius was speaking to his uncle
| Petron1us, known to his own time as
to US as Arbiter Elegantiarum, trained
in all the art and beauty of Greece,
wise, witty and learned, gaily stalking
his life in his daily battle of wits with
Tlgellinus, who provided for the gross
er desires of the tyrant Nero as Pet
ron1us did for his finer and more arts
tic ones.
/ 1t was time when the conflicting
tides OF pagan age. sadly degenerate
from the sturdy days of pristine Rom
an virtues, mingled with those of a
new era in the world, only recently
heralded from Judaea, In the COM
/ plicated threads of the picture of
Rome, capital of the world, appear the
figures of Peter and Paul, on their
mission of spreading the new religion
of Christ; Poppaea, wife of Nero, beau
ttful as 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 whom G. B. s. may have
drawn suggestion in "Androcles and
The Lion'o; and many minor folk
VINO help to make the story stand out
as unusually human among the num-
erouS tales Of Greco-Roman times
When Vinicius told his uncle Pet
ronlus of his passion for Lygia, the
latter thought nothing was easier than
to provide his nephew with what he
regarded as new plaything; word
to Nero, who rs emperor had all host.
ages in his care-summon the maiden
to the palace-hand her over to the
young patrician as her guardian =
what more could be needed to satisfy
eVeryone's desires especially as the
maiden manifestly was pleased with
Vlnicius? But Petronius and his
nephew reckoned without a new force
that had entered into this Roman
: world, They could not understand a
girl who had fled Nero's court and all
Its magnificence, fed even from the
lover whom she loved. But finally he
understood this, which he and Pet.
ronlus had not understood, that the
new religion engrafted into the soul
something unknown to that world in
which he lived, and that Lygia, even
II she loved him, would not sacrifice
any of her Christian truths for his
: sake, and that, if pleasure existed foI
> her, it was a pleasure different alto
gether from that which he and Pet
ronius 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
! ne thought of this, he felt anger and
0 burning pain for he felt that his anger
was powerless. To carry off Lygia
seemed to him possible; he was ever
{ sure that he could do so, but he was
= equally sure that, in view of her re
llgion, he himself with his drawer,
was nothing, that his power was moth
r ing, and that through it he could effec
nothing That Roman military tribune
!, convinced that the power of the swore
i and the fist which had conquered tn,
:. world, would command it forever, sale
l Tor the first time in his life that be
e yond that power there might be some
+ thing else; hence he asked himsel
!, with amazemaRt what it was
1t is very definite and concrete
/, way that the author has chosen t.
i show the power of the new religion
over human lives. Struggle as b,
would, backed by birth, by wealth an,
: all the beauty, charm and allurementi
that wealth could bring, by the ingen
= u1ty and wit of Petronius, by tn,
strong-arm methods of Croton, champ
ion bruiser of his time, even by tn,
L force of the known world in Nero
e sway, Vinicius could accomplish moth
: ing II all he could win to himself wa,
mere unwilling body, while soul ant
| spirit were beyond his grasp Ant