A Pillar of Iron: A Novel of Ancient Rome

by Taylor Caldwell

“However, beware as much of the man of the colonnades, who can be trusted no more than his comrade of the streets. The first is like a stone, immured only in his thoughts, which, as they have no contact with reality are dangerous. The second is like a mindless tempest, roaring and uncontrollable, uprooting forests and drowning in tidal waves. The man of the colonnades thinks men are purely thought; he forgets they are also animal with animal instincts and passions. Nothing to excess. The Ionic League brought luxury to Greece, and also her destruction, for then Greece had the leisure to cultivate the body—the idol of the gross and common man—who thinks man’s meaning lies in physical beauty, strength, athletics, sports,

feastings. There is nothing wrong in the cultivation of the body so long as it is one step behind the cultivation of the mind, and is always obedient to the will.

“Balance,” he said. “It is the law of nature. Let that man beware who disturbs it. It will crash to the ground. The pedant and the common man—they are the disturbers of the scales, the first without a body, the second without a soul.”

‘Republics decline into democracies, and democracies degenerate into despotisms.’

No one, certainly, has ever told the Roman mobs that privileges are earned, and that those bestowed by a venal government are deceptive, hypocritical, and false. For what is not earned has no verity.

a lion, once he has tasted the blood and the flesh of a man, will eat no other meat. Our government has tasted the blood and the flesh of the people; it has tasted, suddenly, unlimited power. It will not be appeased except by more.

“Let us consider this Rome of ours, Cicero, this Rome of today and not of your grandfather’s yesterday. Let us consider the Senators, the red-sandaled Senators in their stately togas, the Senators with their soft litters, soft beds, and soft courtesans, the Senators of privilege and power and money, of rich estates within the walls of Rome, farms in the countryside, villas at Caprae and in Sicily, vast foreign and domestic investments—these Senators who lie in warm, perfumed baths or sleep under the oiled fingers of those who massage their corrupt bodies, and who bejewel themselves and their mistresses before repairing to orgies and banquets, to the theatre, to private exhibitions of shameless dancers, songsters, gladiators, wrestlers, actors—let us consider them! “Once their forebears, from whom most inherited their seats, repaired to a rude wooden Senate Chamber on their bare feet, to indicate their humility before the power of their people and above all, before the power of the gods and eternal law. They sat, not in embroidered togas, on cushioned marble seats, but on benches of wood, homely fashioned, and their tunics were still stained by the innocent earth and simple labor. The Consul of the people was more than they. When they spoke, those old Senators, they spoke in the accents of the country; they spoke with manliness, learning, truth, justice, and pride. They were prudent; they distrusted all law that did not rise from the natural law, from the heart of the natio...

Socrates said concerning the Unknown God: ‘There shall be born to men the Divine One, the perfect Man, who will bind our wounds, who will lift our souls, who will set our feet on the illuminated path to God and wisdom, who will cherish our ills and share them with us, who will weep with man and know man in his flesh, who will return us to that which we have lost and who will lift our eyelids that we may gaze again on the Vision.’”

“Yes. But it is an answer I had forgotten. God will not interfere if man is bent on destruction. He has given us free will.”

“And you believe that God will manifest Himself through His Messias?” asked another of the Sadducees with intent interest. “Yes. The belief runs through all religions of the worlds. Socrates called Him the Divine One. Aristotle called Him the Deliverer. Plato spoke of Him as the Man of Gold who would rescue the cities. The Egyptians call Him Horus. We all await Him.”

“If any be unhappy let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone. For God has made all men to enjoy felicity and the constancy of God.”

Thou, Who never abandoned man, Have mercy upon us who abandoned Thee! O Thou, Whose love is wider than all the universes, Have mercy upon us who have returned love with hatred! O Thou, Whose Hand is filled with the perfume of healing, Have mercy upon us who heal nothing, but only destroy! O Thou, Whose other Name is Truth, Have mercy upon us whose lips are black with lies! O Thou, Who moves in eternal beauty, Have mercy upon us who defame the earth with ugliness! O Thou, Who are pure and everlasting Light, Have mercy upon us who dwell in our darkness! Have mercy, God! God, have mercy!”

“None of the very best physicians know the cause of the rheumatic diseases. But we do know that the rheumatic is a man sad and melancholy of mind, dejected and hopeless of heart. None but the intelligent can feel so, and we have noted that it is the intelligent who are mainly afflicted by this disease. The pain of the mind is often reflected in the body. The sense of frustration in the soul is conveyed in the locked joints. The spasmodic muscles indicate the passionate struggles of the tormented spirit. The rheumatic is a man in a state of constant tension of both thought and flesh.

prudence can sometimes be compliance, and that just anger should not be always restrained in the name of reason. The world had need of ruthless and even raging fire as well as the sweet voice of rationality and diplomacy.

“Though liberty is established by law, we must be vigilant, for liberty to enslave us is always present under that very liberty!

“Suicide is man’s ultimate hatred of God.”