Arius the Libyan: A Romance of the Primitive Church

by Nathan C. Kouns

And the next day Ammonius resumed his homeward journey, and in due time reached Baucalis without accident or delay.

On the very same evening that Arius and Theckla had plighted their troth unto each other, the young man took the girl by the hand, and, having led her unto his parents, told them of the new relationship established between them, and Ammonius and Arete gladly accepted the maiden Theckla as their daughter; and she abode with them for two years longer, constantly aiding in all household duties, and likewise pursuing such studies as Am-nem-hat advised; and especially practicing the art of writing upon papyrus, and upon parchment, and upon vellum, until she had satisfied herself that vellum was altogether the best material for a certain purpose which she had in view, and that her own handwriting had acquired sufficient precision and neatness for her contemplated task; and then she announced her purpose of removing to the city of Alexandria, and occupying one of her own houses there, if only Am-nem-hat would go with her and make his home at her abode. This purpose she mentioned to the whole family one evening after their usual religious services, whereupon Arete said: "Why wouldst thou leave us, daughter? Art thou not happy at Baucalis?"

"Yea," replied Theckla. "Thy home hath been a haven of rest and happiness to me, and I could be happier here than elsewhere in the world; but in two years more our Arius, of whom the bishop writeth such loving things, will be a presbyter; and I go hence unto Alexandria because, before the time expires, I wish to make with mine own hand a perfect copy of the scriptures for our young presbyter, and also wish to build a church for him, that when he leaveth the bishop he may have a church and a congregation, and a perfect copy of the sacred word ready for him; and thou knowest that at Alexandria I may even find original manuscripts of both gospels and epistles from which to transcribe my copy. What less than this, indeed, wouldst thou have me do for our most dear young presbyter?"

And they all, seeing that she had made a matter of conscience of these two purposes, ceased to oppose her design; and not long afterward she and Am-nem-hat were taken in their little boat unto Apollonia, by Ammonius; and thence they went by ship to Alexandria; and, after a speedy and pleasant voyage, they cast anchor in the little harbor of Eunostos; and thence removed straightway unto one of the nine dwellings which she owned in Rhacotis, the Egyptian quarter of the city. Here, with the aid of six years' accumulated rents from her handsome estate, the young girl quickly furnished her home in the most comfortable manner, and had a room carefully furnished for Am-nem-hat, and another in which the manuscripts were to be kept, and in which they might prosecute their studies; for the aged grand-uncle and the young maiden had almost come to sustain to each other the relation of dear companions and fellow-students rather than that of teacher and pupil. Very soon, also, with the aid of the old man, who possessed a critical knowledge of such matters, she procured a large quantity of the finest vellum, and began her self-appointed task of transcribing the scriptures for Arius. And afterward she sold (through her guardian) five of the nine houses which she owned, for a large sum, and having carefully selected a plot of ground suitable for the purpose, she bought it, taking the title thereto in the name of certain persons whom she knew to be Christians, upon a secret trust for the common Church, and after many consultations with Am-nem-hat, and with the bishop and with other friends, she began the work of building a beautiful and substantial church; and, with the making of her careful and accurate copies of the scriptures and the building of the church, both she and Am-nem-hat found themselves constantly employed. For, although at that time there was no open and public persecution of the Christians, it had not long ceased, and none knew at what moment the caprice of their pagan rulers, stimulated by the hatred of Jewish and pagan priests, might blaze out into a general and merciless war against them; so that their meetings were quietly held, and the erection of churches was carried on without show or publicity; and generally, indeed, parts of the buildings were used as a school for the children of Christians; and many a church was saved from destruction by the fitful and uncertain hate of the populace and priests, by being taken for a school rather than a church. And there were few who desired to be known as Christians, except to persons of like faith, though none hesitated to declare this faith at any peril, when called in question about it.

The city of Alexandria, which was founded by Alexander the Great, about 322 B.C., was, at the date of our story, one of the most populous, wealthy, and intellectual cities in the world. Situated twelve miles west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, its walls were washed on the south by the placid waters of Lake Mareotis, and on the north by the Mediterranean Sea; and it was the seat and center of a vast industry and an almost unequaled commerce. The streets were straight and parallel, and the city was divided into four quarters by two magnificent highways, each two hundred feet wide, crossing each other at right angles, and built up on each side with splendid houses, temples, and public buildings of every kind. A vast necropolis lay west of the city, on the east a mighty hippodrome. In the northeastern part was the Regis Judæorum, or Jewish quarter, wherein the Israelites abode, but their business extended not only through the great city, but throughout the world. The western part was called Rhacotis, the Egyptian quarter, and contained, besides its vast Libyan population and magnificent residences, the great temple of Serapis, and the sacred statue of the god that had been brought thither out of Pontus. But Bruchium, the royal or Greek quarter, was the most splendid portion of the city, containing the palace of the Ptolemies, on Lochias, a peninsula stretching eastwardly, the library and museum, the Cæsarium, or temple of the Cæsars, and the Dicasterium, or court of justice, and other buildings that bore witness to the knowledge of Dinocrates the architect, who rebuilt the temple of Diana at Ephesus. About a mile from the mainland was the little island of Pharos, on which was a light-house over four hundred feet in height, that was begun by Ptolemy Soter, 300 B.C., and finished by Philadelphus, his successor. An artificial mole called Hepta Stadium, nearly a mile in length, connected the island with the mainland, and between this mole and Lochias was the great harbor, while on the other side of it was a smaller harbor, called Eunostos (safe return), in which was an artificial basin known as Kibotos (the chest), which was filled from and connected with Lake Mareotis by a canal, another arm of which stretched eastward to the mouth of the Nile. Throughout this vast metropolis, in every quarter thereof, undistinguished by dress, nationality, language, or manners, of almost every race under heaven, engaged in every avocation except official business or military services, unknown except to their co-religionists, dwelt the countless members of the Christian Church, forming numerous communities, or congregations, that, without any public visible organization, were yet bound together by bonds of faith and love stronger than any Roman statutes, or any ties of nature, or any ligaments of interest or of ambition. Of course, in so vast a population, an aged man and a young girl would be as indistinguishable to all, except their own small circle of friends and acquaintances, as any particular leaf in the forest, or as any wave at sea; and in such a city, the selfishness of the crowd, the hurry and confusion of business or of pleasure, formed a sort of refuge for the Christians; so that, long before the period of which we write, almost the first circumstance which called any public attention to their numbers was the fact that, under their influence, the pagan temples were less crowded, and the pagan offerings less rich and free, than had been usual in times past; and, when the fated Israelites had been accused of proselyting the people from the worship of the gods, they defended themselves against the angry priests by declaring that not they, but the Christians, converted men of all nations from the old superstitions, and led them to abandon the temples and forsake the gods.

Soon after their settlement in Alexandria, Am-nem-hat had informed the relatives of Theckla of the young girl's arrival, and they had courteously called to see her, and had invited her to their own homes, and had showed every disposition to receive the beautiful young heiress with favor and affection. But they were all heathens, and her association with them was necessarily limited to formal and distant intercourse; as every visit to the great temple of Serapis, every public occasion, or a birth, a marriage, or a funeral among them, might force her either to countenance their pagan rites and ceremonies, or to attract unto herself an unpleasant and perhaps dangerous attention by refusing to do so. Hence she preferred to maintain only a ceremonious acquaintance with her kindred, and to find her real friendships among the Christians, with many of whom she soon came to be upon terms of social and personal intimacy and confidence.

Among the relatives whom she was almost compelled occasionally to meet, and to receive at her own house, was her cousin Harroun, the son of her mother's sister, who also was a pagan. The young man was of perfect physical organization, like so many of the Egyptian upper class, as beautiful as an untamed leopard, of quick, bright, sparkling intelligence, instinct with passion and appetite, and a general favorite among the aristocratic youth of Egyptian society in the city. One of Theckla's greatest misfortunes and annoyances she found in the fact that this elegant youth conceived a violent passion for her at first sight, and seemed resolved to push his claims to the heart and hand of the young maiden without delay. As soon, however, as Theckla perceived any intimation of his feelings in regard to herself, she quietly arranged to receive him thereafter only in the library, and took care to see that Grand-uncle Am-nem-hat should be present, so that the young man never got an opportunity to see her alone. And to prevent the constant repetition of his invitations to her to visit the theatre, the hippodrome, and other places of amusement, she told him kindly that it was useless to offer such courtesies, for, that while it was unpleasant to refuse them, she could not and would not accept them from him nor from any one else, having no inclination to mingle in such throngs, and no need of any amusements except those which she was accustomed to find in literary pursuits. Harroun, who had been raised under a system in which courtship and marriage were, to a large extent, matters of convenience, and in which a chaste girl was not supposed to be possessed of any will, but was to be disposed of as her relations might deem to be proper and advantageous, thought that he had never seen so shy a maiden; but, in spite of her seeming unconsciousness and manifest indifference, he ceased not to visit her, claiming the privilege of a near relation in that particular, and ceased not to show his admiration for her by looks which were almost loathsome to her pure young soul. For the youth, like every other pagan, was mostly a brute, a very beautiful and elegant animal, truly, but not the less an animal; a very intellectual and gifted brute, but not the less brutal; and his sensuous admiration was offensive to the girl. The lofty and pure affection to which she and Arius gave the name of love would have been utterly incomprehensible to him as to every heathen. That to which they gave the name of love sprang as directly out of sensuous admiration and preference as does the passion of the lower animals; and while she did not comprehend why his advances were so repulsive to herself, she began to feel his preference as a sort of persecution, and avoided him as much as possible. Yet, as far as a pagan is capable of love at all, he loved her, and the very fact that he found her favor hard to win rendered successful pursuit of her all the more desirable. To him it seemed a strange and unprecedented thing that a girl so young, so beautiful, and so wealthy, should voluntarily renounce all the social advantages of the aristocratic circle in which her family moved, and spend her time in seemingly unending studies, with little or no companionship save that of the grave and taciturn old man who was never absent from the room while he was there; and Harroun gradually learned to regard his unfailing presence in the light of a personal injury to himself, so that he soon harbored a bitter prejudice against the ancient, that lacked very little of growing into actual hatred. But there was nothing tangible about which to make a quarrel, except the fact that he could never see Theckla alone, and, as this seemed to be her own choice, exercised in her own house, there was nothing for him to do except to submit to it; but his aversion to the quiet and dignified old man increased in intensity from month to month. Finally, he told her in Am-nem-hat's presence that he had been called away by the public service in which he was engaged, beyond the cataracts of the Nile, and would be absent for several months; and that he desired to have some private conversation with her before he departed from Alexandria. The young girl looked somewhat disconcerted by this request, but she immediately arose, and said unto him, "Let us pass into the adjoining room, cousin, and I will hear thee."

He followed her gladly, and no sooner had the door closed behind them than he came close up to her and began a most vehement protestation of his love. As soon as there was the slightest pause in the passionate and rapid torrent of his speech, she said, gravely and calmly: "Cousin, hear me for a moment. I have carefully avoided any such declaration as thou hast begun to make, and beseech thee to leave it unspoken. It is useless to say such things to me, and can only occasion mutual and unavailing regrets. Thou art my cousin, and, I trust, my friend. There never can be anything else between us, and it is folly to think otherwise. Here let it rest, and let us return to the library, and forget this foolish episode."

"There is no folly about it!" cried the young man, passionately. "We are both young and wealthy, and in every way suitable companions. It is very natural and right. I am neither an idiot nor a child, and I love thee, Theckla, and will not be put aside in any such fashion. Why dost thou continually avoid me? Why hast thou for months contrived so that I can not speak to thee except in the presence of strangers, or of that old mummy whom thou keepest at thy side forever? Why dost thou deny thyself all the pleasures and associations natural to thine age and social rank? Why spendest thou all thy time in dreary readings, unsuited to thy youth and circumstances, for the amusement of that selfish old fossil there, who never leaveth thee for a day nor an hour? All this must and shall be changed?"

Then the girl drew herself up straight, and, fixing her dark eyes full upon him, said in calm and measured tones, "If I give thee a good reason for having avoided thee, and for having endeavored to escape any such useless and unpleasant conversation as this one, will that suffice thee?"