“Present Saulus of Tarsus for arraignment!”
Immediately after these words fell from the lips of Nero, the notable prisoner was led into the basilica of the imperial palace.
The room, of magnificent grandeur, was of great size and perfect proportion. The pavement, in mosaic designs of wonderful pattern and finish, was a masterpiece of skill, in which serpentine, onyx, and porphyry were artistically blended. A long row of lofty white marble columns, containing zones of blended pale green, stretched down the length of the hall on either side, and the walls were inlaid with giallo antico, lapis lazuli, and other fine marbles of variegated shades, which came from the mountains near Pisa. The broad cornices of alabaster were covered with a wealth of mythological figures carved in strange and grotesque design. The arched roof, of imposing height and of a deep blue shade, was so studded with golden points as to represent the evening heavens. The outer spaces beyond the columns were filled with statues in bronze, silver, gold, ivory, alabaster, and marbles, many of which were the fruits of despoliation in various cities of the East. Mingled with the statues were rare flowers in graven or [pg 493]embossed silver vases which stood upon veined tables of citron.
Nero’s gold and ivory chair, in which he half reclined, was at the centre of the apse, which projected from the eastern end of the basilica. Broad, polished steps of porphyry, with a white marble balustrade on each side, led up to the seat of the imperial judge. A little to his right, in a place of special honor, an ivory cabinet, inlaid with mother of pearl, contained his poems, tragedies, and orations, which he counted of priceless value to the world; and near by hung his golden harp, adorned with precious stones, upon which, in the rôle of a “divine artist,” he played to special audiences.
Ranged in a double row below him on either side stood his special guard of Prætorians, whose silver eagles and gilded uniforms gave glitter and pomp to every official sitting, whether important or otherwise. Clustered a short distance behind him stood a group of tall lictors, whose shining axed fasces symbolized a power which none on earth could dispute.
Saulus was placed at a little distance in front of Nero, upon a spot marked by a different color in the pavement, and known as the prisoners’ circle. His chain was upon him, and there was no friend by his side.
To the right and left, on raised seats, and nearly in front of the imperial chair, was the council of Assessors, twenty in number, who were all men of high rank. Among them were the two consuls and the selected representatives of other magistracies of Rome, while the remainder consisted of senators, chosen by lot.
As Saulus took his place, Nero looked down languidly, as if impatient at such an interruption in the work of revising a new tragedy, in which he had great pride. He wore a white tunic and a toga of rare purple, and upon his head a laurel wreath. His eyes were dull and bloodshot, and his low, flat head, square jaw, flabby double chin, and thick neck combined to give him an unmistakable canine cast of countenance. His fat white hands looked waxy from constant bathing and polishing, which was submitted to in order that their suppleness might be improved for harp-playing. Mingled plainly in his face were colossal vanity, cruelty, suffering, and silliness. He was not naturally a fool, but his talent had become strangely abnormal. Though yet young in years, they had been long enough to transform a man into a monster. He blinked as he turned his head from side to side, as if the air were thick with bloody spectres that he could not avoid, and from whom he expected an assault. Disordered in mind and body, he was distracted by physical pains and psychical hallucinations. Guilt had honeycombed him, and in a tragic manner he often told his intimates that he was haunted by all the Furies. But though a profligate and buffoon, he was lord of all the Roman legions, and through them the world was at his feet.
Saulus before Nero!
World-wide contrasts in the same picture!