Hypatia

or part of the Roman Empire⁠—by force of arms or force of trumpery? Can even you invent a third? The former is unpleasantly exciting, and hardly practicable just now. The latter remains, and, thanks to the white elephant, may be triumphantly successful. I have to exhibit something every week. The people are getting tired of that pantomime; and since the Jews were driven out, the fellow has grown stupid and lazy, having lost the more enthusiastic half of his spectators. As for horse-racing, they are sick of it.⁠ ⁠… Now, suppose we announce, for the earliest possible day⁠—a spectacle⁠—such a spectacle as never was seen before in this generation. You and I⁠—I as exhibitor, you as representative⁠—for the time being only⁠—of the Vestals of old⁠—sit side by side.⁠ ⁠… Some worthy friend has his instructions, when the people are beside themselves with rapture, to cry, ‘Long live Orestes Caesar!’.⁠ ⁠… Another reminds them of Heraclian’s victory⁠—another couples your name with mine⁠ ⁠… the people applaud⁠ ⁠… some Mark Antony steps forward, salutes me as Imperator, Augustus⁠—what you will⁠—the cry is taken up⁠—I refuse as meekly as Julius Caesar himself⁠—am compelled, blushing, to accept the honour⁠—I rise, make an oration about the future independence of the southern continent⁠—union of Africa and Egypt⁠—the empire no longer to be divided into Eastern and Western, but Northern and Southern. Shouts of applause, at two drachmas per man, shake the skies. Everybody believes that everybody else approves, and follows the lead.⁠ ⁠… And the thing is won.”

“And pray,” asked Hypatia, crushing down her contempt and despair, “how is this to bear on the worship of the gods?

“Why⁠ ⁠… why,⁠ ⁠… if you thought that people’s minds were sufficiently prepared, you might rise in your turn, and make an oration⁠—you can conceive one. Set forth how these spectacles, formerly the glory of the empire, had withered under Galilaean superstition.⁠ ⁠… How the only path toward the full enjoyment of eye and ear was a frank return to those deities, from whose worship they originally sprang, and connected with which they could alone be enjoyed in their perfection.⁠ ⁠… But I need not teach you how to do that which you have so often taught me: so now to consider our spectacle, which, next to the largess, is the most important part of our plans. I ought to have exhibited to them the monk who so nearly killed me yesterday. That would indeed have been a triumph of the laws over Christianity. He and the wild beasts might have given the people ten minutes’ amusement. But wrath conquered prudence; and the fellow has been crucified these two hours. Suppose, then, we had a little exhibition of gladiators. They are forbidden by law, certainly.”

“Thank Heaven, they are!”

“But do you not see that is the very reason why we, to assert our own independence, should employ them?”

“No! they are gone. Let them never reappear to disgrace the earth.”

“My dear lady, you must not in your present character say that in public; lest Cyril should be impertinent enough to remind you that Christian emperors and bishops put them down.”

Hypatia bit her lip, and was silent.

“Well, I do not wish to urge anything unpleasant to you.⁠ ⁠… If we could but contrive a few martyrdoms⁠—but I really fear we must wait a year or two longer, in the present state of public opinion, before we can attempt that.”

“Wait? wait forever! Did not Julian⁠—and he must be our model⁠—forbid the persecution of the Galilaeans, considering them sufficiently punished by their own atheism and self-tormenting superstition?”

“Another small error of that great man.⁠—He should have recollected that for three hundred years nothing, not even the gladiators themselves, had been found to put the mob in such good humour as to see a few Christians, especially young and handsome women, burned alive, or thrown to the lions.”

Hypatia bit her lip once more. “I can hear no more of this, sir. You forget that you are speaking to a woman.”

“Most supreme wisdom,” answered Orestes, in his blandest tone, “you cannot suppose that I wish to pain your ears. But allow me to observe, as a general theorem, that if one wishes to effect any purpose, it is necessary to use the means; and on the whole, those which have been tested by four hundred years’ experience will be the safest. I speak as a plain practical statesman⁠—but surely your philosophy will not dissent?”

Hypatia looked down in painful thought. What could she answer? Was it not too true? and had not Orestes fact and experience on his side?

“Well, if you must⁠—but I cannot have gladiators. Why not a⁠—one of those battles with wild beasts? They are disgusting enough but still they are less inhuman than the others; and you might surely take precautions to prevent the men being hurt.”

“Ah! that would indeed be a scentless rose! If there is neither danger nor bloodshed, the charm is gone. But really wild beasts are too expensive just now; and if I kill down my present menagerie, I can afford no more. Why not have something which costs no money, like prisoners?”

“What! do you rank human beings below brutes?”

“Heaven forbid! But they are practically less expensive. Remember, that without money we are powerless; we must husband our resources for the cause of the gods.”

Hypatia was silent.

“Now, there are fifty or sixty Libyan prisoners just brought in from the desert. Why not let them fight an equal number of soldiers? They are rebels to the empire, taken in war.”

“Ah, then,” said Hypatia, catching at any thread of self-justification, “their lives are forfeit in any case.”

“Of course. So the Christians could not complain of us for that. Did not the most Christian Emperor Constantine set some three hundred German prisoners to butcher each other in the amphitheatre of Treves?”

“But they refused, and died like heroes, each falling on his own sword.”

“Ah⁠—those Germans are always unmanageable. My guards, now, are just as stiff-necked. To tell you the truth, I have asked them already to exhibit their prowess on these Libyans, and what do you