I just finished reading Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz, the Nobel-prize winning novel originally published in Poland in 1896. The book caught my eye at Borders because I have long been a fan of the movie that was made from the book, a campy 1951 technicolor Hollywood epic, starring goody two-shoes Deborah Kerr, a wooden Robert Taylor, and a hilarious Peter Ustinov as the Emperor Nero. The movie is worthwhile just for the Ustinov performance, and also for the corny, overwrought, epic-scale scenes of Roman decadence.
Quo Vadis tells the story of an aristocratic Roman soldier, Vinicius, who falls madly in love with a young princess from Lygia (which is in modern-day Poland), the adoptive daughter of a distinguished Roman family. It turns out that Lygia (she goes by the name of her homeland) is a member of a strange new sect that worships a crucified God called Chrestos, or Christ. Meanwhile, Rome is in the grip of its mad emperor Nero, and the decadent aristocracy and masses simply try to survive from day-to-day while sating themselves on bread, circuses and the pleasures of the flesh. The novel follows Vinicius and Lygia's adventures as he learns more about her mysterious religion. They also have to work around the efforts of Nero and others in the imperial court to thwart their love. They struggle to survive when Nero sets fire to Rome and then persecutes the Christians as his scapegoats. Peter and Paul make cameo appearances.
This book was right up my alley because I am fascinated by the ancient world, including ancient Christianity. This book has three elements that made it engrossing to me: (1) detailed and sensual descriptions of every aspect of Roman life -- from the debaucheries of the Imperial court, to the teeming slums on the other side of the Tiber, to life in a well-ordered aristocratic household, to disturbingly sadistic tortures of human beings for the entertainment of the multitudes in the Coliseum; (2) strong and memorable characters, including perceptive psychological explanations of their behavior. When the main character, Vinicius, initially tries to abduct and control the woman he loves, he can only be described as a "batterer" in modern parlance, and the book's description of his thought process strikes me as right on point in terms o f the psychology of abusive men. The book also does an excellent job of explaining the power of Christian ideas over the early followers, especially the idea of freedom in Christ when contrasted with the enslavement of even the most "powerful" Romans to the whims of Nero.; and (3) non-stop action and suspense, particularly towards the end.
Unfortunately, Sienkiewicz, a man of the nineteenth century, was no feminist. My enjoyment of the book was significantly marred by his belief in and glorification of female masochism. All three of his portrayals of women in love involved significant abuse of these women by their lovers. There is Acte, who had been Nero's lover in her youth, only to be cast aside and forgotten, kept on only as a household slave;yet, her whole life was defined by an all-consuming love for Nero, this monster who had treated her as less than dirt. There is Eunice, a gorgeous woman who was a slave to Petronius, and who was so in love with him that she begged him to whip her rather than to give her to another master; when Petronius finally killed himself, she decided to die with him rather than take him up on his offer to live as a free woman and heiress to his fortune. And finally, there is Lygia herself, who falls in love with the main character, Vinicius, even as he was trying to rape and abduct her by force. The difference between Lygia and the others is that she loved Christ more, which led her to excercise her will in a manner independent from her lover's -- but she still fell in love with him despite his appalling behavior towards her. Still, the book is a good enough read, that I would still recommend it to both my Christian and non-Christian readers, even if you have to hold your nose during the description of these women who love to be abused.
Next on my reading list is the New Oxford Annotated Bible, which I started on this morning. I reckon that I have read most books in the Bible twice, what with various high school and college courses and my independent interest in the subject. But I have never read the Bible straight through and, as a result, a lot of it is just a jumble in my mind. As a child, I tried repeatedly to read the Bible straight through but always seemed to drop it-- the result being that I've read Genesis a million times, and I made it as far as Deutoronomy at least once. But in my maturity, perhaps I'll do better.