y? For those very ones so
slain, had the turn of the wheel--as in very deed has often
happened--set them uppermost, would have done the same deed upon the
others. Happy is it for the peace of the earth and the great cause of
humanity, that this faith of Christ, whether it be true or false, is at
length beginning to bear sway, and doing somewhat to soften, what more
than twelve centuries have passed over and left in its original
vileness.

When, like the rest of that Roman mob, I had been filled with the sights
and sounds of the morning, I turned and sought the palace of Piso.

Arriving there I found Portia, Julia, and Piso sitting together at the
hour of dinner. I sat with them. Piso had not left the palace, since I
had parted from him. They had remained at peace within, and as ignorant
of what had happened in the distant parts of the huge capital, as we all
were of what was then doing in another planet. When, as the meal drew to
a close, I had related to them the occurrences of which I had just been
the witness, they could scarce believe what they heard, though it was
but what they and all had every reason to look for, from the language
which Aurelian had used, and the known hostility of the Prefect. Portia,
the mother, was moved more, if it could be so, than even Piso or Julia.
When I had ended, she said,

'Think not, Nicomachus, that although, as thou knowest, I am of
Aurelian's side in religion, I defend these inhuman wrongs. To inflict
them can make no part of the duty of any worshipper of the gods, however
zealous he may be. I do not believe that the gods are propitiated by any
acts which occasion suffering to their creatures. I have seen no
justification under any circumstances of human sacrifices--much less can
I see any of sacrifices like those you have this morning witnessed.
Aurelian, in authorizing or conniving at such horrors, has cut himself
loose from the honor and the affections of all those in Rome whose
esteem is worth possessing. He has given himself up to the priesthood,
and to the vulgar rabble over whom it exercises a sway more strict than
an Eastern despot. He is by these acts turning the current of the best
Roman sympathy toward the Christians, and putting off by a long remove
the hour when he might hope to see the ancient religion of the state
delivered from its formidable rival.'

'It is the purpose of Aurelian,' I said, 'not so much to persecute and
annoy the Christians, as to exterminate