Aurelian | Page 6

in any religion or
philosophy which gives them strength. Look, Portia, at that serene and
benignant countenance, and can you believe that any truth ever came
from its lips, but such as must be most comforting and exalting to those
who receive it?'
'It would seem so indeed, my child,' replied Portia, musingly, 'and I
would not deprive any of the comforts or strength which any principle
may impart. But I cannot cease to think it dangerous to the state, when
the faith of the founders of Rome is abandoned by those who fill its
highest places. You who abound in leisure and learning, may satisfy
yourselves with a new philosophy; but what shall these nice
refinements profit the common herd? How shall they see them to be
true, or comprehend them? The Romans have ever been a religious
people; and although under the empire the purity of ancient manners is
lost, let it not be said that the Pisos were among those who struck the
last and hardest blows at the still stout root of the tree that bore them.'
'Nothing can be more plain or intelligible,' I replied, 'than the principles
of the Christian religion; and wherever it has been preached with
simplicity and power, even the common people have readily and
gratefully adopted it. I certainly cannot but desire that it may prevail. If
any thing is to do it, I believe this is the power that is to restore, and in
a still nobler form, the ancient manners of which you speak. It is from
Christianity that in my heart I believe the youthful blood is to come,
that being poured into the veins of this dying state, shall reproduce the
very vigor and freshness of its early age. Rome, my mother, is now but
a lifeless trunk--a dead and loathsome corpse--a new and warmer
current must be infused, or it will soon crumble into dust.'
'I grieve, Lucius, to see you lost to the good cause of your country, and
to the altars of her gods; for who can love his country, and deny the

gods who made and preserve it? But then who am I to condemn? When
I see the gods to hurl thunderbolts upon those who flout them, it will be
time enough for us mortals to assume the robes of judgment. I will
hope that farther thought will reclaim you from your truant
wanderings.'
Do not imagine, Fausta, that conversations like this have the least effect
to chill the warm affections of Portia towards us both. Nature has
placed within her bosom a central heat, that not only preserves her own
warmth, but diffuses itself upon all who approach her, and changes
their affections into a likeness of her own. We speak of our differing
faiths, but love none the less. When she had paused a moment after
uttering the last words, she again turned her eye upon the statue of
Christ, and, captivated by its wondrous power, she dwelt upon it in a
manner that showed her sensibilities to be greatly moved. At length she
suddenly started, saying:
'If truth and beauty were the same thing, one need but to look upon this
and be a believer. But as in the human form and face, beauty is often
but a lie, covering over a worse deformity than any that ever disfigures
the body, so it may be here. I cannot but admire and love the beauty; it
will be wise, I suppose, not to look farther, lest the dream be dissolved.'
'Be not afraid of that, dearest mother; I can warrant you against
disappointment. If in that marble you have the form of the outward
beauty, here, in this roll, you will find the inward moral beauty of
which it is the shrine.'
'Nay, nay, Lucius, I look no farther or deeper. I have seen too much
already.'
With these words, she arose, and we accompanied her to the portico,
where we walked, and sat, and talked of you, and Calpurnius, and
Gracchus.
Thus you perceive I have told you first of what chiefly interests myself:
now let me turn to what at this moment more than everything else fills
all heads in Rome--and that is Livia. She is the object of universal

attention, the centre of all honor. It is indescribable, the sensation her
beauty, and now added to that, her magnificence, have made and still
make in Rome. Her imperial bearing would satisfy even you; and the
splendor of her state exceeds all that has been known before. This you
may be surprised to hear, knowing what the principles of Aurelian have
been in such things; how strict he has been himself in a more than
republican simplicity, and how severe upon the extravagances and
luxuries of others, in the