“Be so gracious as to explain to me,” she said, “what kind of unfortunate misunderstanding this is. Everything can be remedied with good will on both sides.”
“Your husband has deeply offended me,” said Nero, “but that I can, of course, forgive him. Unfortunately he has also publicly declared in front of the Senate that he is a Christian. The Senate has removed from him his rank and office and condemned him to be executed by the sword as a public enemy. Be so good as to keep silent, for we wish to avoid public scandal. I have nothing against you. You may retain your property, but your husband’s property must be confiscated by the State because of his crime.”
Tullia refused to believe her ears.
“Well, these are fine times!” she cried. “Is there no other charge against my husband except that in his softheadedness he’s gone and become a Christian?”
“It is the same punishment for all Christians, because of their ill-deeds,” Nero said impatiently. “Go away now, and don’t bother me any more, for you can see I am in a hurry. My duty to the State demands that I lead the procession to the circus in my capacity as first citizen.”
Then Tullia tossed her head proudly, without a thought for the slack skin around her chin.
“I have a very varied life behind me,” she cried, “and I have not always behaved as well as one might expect a woman of my position to do. But I am a Roman woman and I shall go with my husband, wherever he goes. Where Gaius is, there is also Gaia. I, too, am a Christian and now acknowledge it publicly.”
This was not true. On the contrary, she had constantly poisoned my father’s life with her perpetual nagging and her contempt for his Christian friends. But now she turned to face the inquisitive crowd.
“Hear me,” she cried out aloud, “you, the Senate and the people of Rome. I, Tullia Manilia, formerly Valeria, formerly Sulia, am a Christian. Long live Christ of Nazareth and his kingdom.”
To make doubly sure, she then cried “Hallelujah,” for she had heard the Jews repeat that word at their meetings at my father’s house during their arguments with other Christians about the different ways.
Fortunately her voice did not carry very far and Tigellinus covered her mouth with his hand. When the senators’ wives noticed how angry Nero had become, they hurriedly went back to their sedans, simmering with curiosity, to extract the truth of what had happened in the Senate from their husbands at the first opportunity. Nero only just managed to maintain his dignity.
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“You shall have your own way then, insane woman,” he said, “as long as you keep your mouth shut. It would be just if I sent you to the circus to be punished with the others, but you are much too ugly and wrinkled to act as Dirce. So, like your husband, you may feel the sword, but for that you have the esteem of your forefathers to thank, not me.”
Tullia had made the scandal so public that with the best will in the world, Nero would not have dared send a dismissed senator’s spouse to the wild animals in front of the people. As the Praetorians led Tullia back through the crowd to my father, Nero vented his rage on Tigellinus and ordered him to have my father’s household arrested and to have every one of them who admitted to being a Christian taken straight to the circus. At the same time the magistrates’ men were to seal the house and confiscate all papers connected with my father’s and Tullia’s fortunes.
“And don’t you touch it,” Nero said warningly. “I consider myself to be their heir, as you force me into police duties by neglecting yours.”
The only thing that consoled him in his rage was the thought of my father’s and Tullia’s huge wealth.
Some anxious Christians still stood outside the Curia, hoping to the last that the authority of the Senate would save the condemned Christians from the horror of the circus. Among them was a youth who wore a narrow red band and who had not hurried to the circus to ensure himself a place among the always overcrowded seats of the knights.
When the Praetorians, with the centurion in the lead, escorted my father and Tullia to the nearest execution place, he followed them, together with several other Christians. The Praetorians discussed how they could complete their task in the shortest possible time and be in time for the show, and they decided to head for the Ostian gate and implement the execution by the burial monument. This was not really an official place of execution, but it was at least outside the walls.
“If it isn’t a place of execution, then we’ll make it into one now,” they joked. “Then the lady won’t have to walk so far in her gold sandals.”
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