BOOK FIRST
CHAPTER I
The Jebel es Zubleh is a mountain fifty miles and more in length, and so
narrow that its tracery on the map gives it a likeness to a caterpillar
crawling from the south to the north. Standing on its red-and-white cliffs,
and looking off under the path of the rising sun, one sees only the Desert of
Arabia, where the east winds, so hateful to vinegrowers of Jericho, have kept
their playgrounds since the beginning. Its feet are well covered by sands
tossed from the Euphrates, there to lie, for the mountain is a wall to the
pasture-lands of Moab and Ammon on the west--lands which else had been of the
desert a part.
The Arab has impressed his language upon everything south and east of
Judea, so, in his tongue, the old Jebel is the parent of numberless wadies
which, intersecting the Roman road--now a dim suggestion of what once it was,
a dusty path for Syrian pilgrims to and from Mecca--run their furrows,
deepening as they go, to pass the torrents of the rainy season into the
Jordan, or their last receptacle, the Dead Sea. Out of one of these
wadies--or, more particularly, out of that one which rises at the extreme
end of the Jebel, and, extending east of north, becomes at length the bed
of the Jabbok River--a traveller passed, going to the table-lands of the
desert. To this person the attention of the reader is first besought.
Judged by his appearance, he was quite forty-five years old. His beard,
once of the deepest black, flowing broadly over his breast, was streaked with
white. His face was brown as a parched coffee-berry, and so hidden by a red
kufiyeh (as the kerchief of the head is at this day called by the children of
the desert) as to be but in part visible. Now and then he raised his
eyes, and they were large and dark. He was clad in the flowing garments so
universal in the East; but their style may not be described more
particularly, for he sat under a miniature tent, and rode a great white
dromedary.
It may be doubted if the people of the West ever overcome the
impression made upon them by the first view of a camel equipped and loaded
for the desert. Custom, so fatal to other novelties, affects this
feeling but little. At the end of long journeys with caravans, after years
of residence with the Bedawin, the Western-born, wherever they may
be, will stop and wait the passing of the stately brute. The charm is not
in the figure, which not even love can make beautiful; nor in the movement,
the noiseless stepping, or the broad careen. As is the kindness of the sea to
a ship, so that of the desert to its creature. It clothes him with all its
mysteries; in such manner, too, that while we are looking at him we are
thinking of them: therein is the wonder. The animal which now came out of the
wady might well have claimed the customary homage. Its color and
height; its breadth of foot; its bulk of body, not fat, but overlaid
with muscle; its long, slender neck, of swanlike curvature; the head, wide
between the eyes, and tapering to a muzzle which a lady's bracelet might have
almost clasped; its motion, step long and elastic, tread sure and
soundless—all certified its Syrian blood, old as the days of Cyrus, and
absolutely priceless. There was the usual bridle, covering the forehead with
scarlet fringe, and garnishing the throat with pendent brazen chains, each
ending with a tinkling silver bell; but to the bridle there was neither rein
for the rider nor strap for a driver. The furniture perched on the back was
an invention which with any other people than of the East would have made
the inventor renowned. It consisted of two wooden boxes, scarce four feet
in length, balanced so that one hung at each side; the inner space, softly
lined and carpeted, was arranged to allow the master to sit or lie half
reclined; over it all was stretched a green awning. Broad back and breast
straps, and girths, secured with countless knots and ties, held the device in
place. In such manner the ingenious sons of Cush had contrived to make
comfortable the sunburnt ways of the wilderness, along which lay their duty
as often as their pleasure.
When the dromedary lifted itself out of the last break of the wady, the
traveller had passed the boundary of El Belka, the ancient Ammon. It was
morning-time. Before him was the sun, half curtained in fleecy mist; before
him also spread the desert; not the realm of drifting sands, which was
farther on, but the region where the herbage began to dwarf; where the
surface is strewn with boulders of granite, and gray and brown stones,
interspersed with languishing acacias and tufts of camel-grass. The oak,
bramble, and arbutus lay behind, as if they had come to a line, looked over
into the well-less waste and crouched with fear.
And now there was an end of path or road. More than ever the
camel seemed insensibly driven; it lengthened and quickened its pace,
its head pointed straight towards the horizon; through the wide
nostrils it drank the wind in great draughts. The litter swayed, and
rose and fell like a boat in the waves. Dried leaves in occasional
beds rustled underfoot. Sometimes a perfume like absinthe sweetened
all the air. Lark and chat and rock-swallow leaped to wing, and
white partridges ran whistling and clucking out of the way. More rarely a
fox or a hyena quickened his gallop, to study the intruders at a safe
distance. Off to the right rose the hills of the Jebel, the pearl-gray veil
resting upon them changing momentarily into a purple which the sun would make
matchless a little later. Over their highest peaks a vulture sailed on broad
wings into widening circles. But of all these things the tenant under
the green tent saw nothing, or, at least, made no sign of recognition. His
eyes were fixed and dreamy. The going of the man, like that of the animal,
was as one being led.
For two hours the dromedary swung forward, keeping the trot steadily and
the line due east. In that time the traveller never changed his position, nor
looked to the right or left. On the desert, distance is not measured by miles
or leagues, but by the saat, or hour, and the manzil, or halt: three and a
half leagues fill the former, fifteen or twenty-five the latter; but they
are the rates for the common camel. A carrier of the genuine Syrian stock
can make three leagues easily. At full speed he overtakes the ordinary winds.
As one of the results of the rapid advance, the face of the landscape
underwent a change. The Jebel stretched along the western horizon, like a
pale-blue ribbon. A tell, or hummock of clay and cemented sand, arose here
and there. Now and then basaltic stones lifted their round crowns, outposts
of the mountain against the forces of the plain; all else, however, was sand,
sometimes smooth as the beaten beach, then heaped in rolling ridges; here
chopped waves, there long swells. So, too, the condition of the atmosphere
changed. The sun, high risen, had drunk his fill of dew and mist, and
warmed the breeze that kissed the wanderer under the awning; far and
near he was tinting the earth with faint milk-whiteness, and
shimmering all the sky.
Two hours more passed without rest or deviation from the
course. Vegetation entirely ceased. The sand, so crusted on the
surface that it broke into rattling flakes at every step, held
undisputed sway. The Jebel was out of view, and there was no landmark
visible. The shadow that before followed had now shifted to the north, and
was keeping even race with the objects which cast it; and as there was no
sign of halting, the conduct of the traveller became each moment more
strange.
No one, be it remembered, seeks the desert for a pleasure-ground. Life
and business traverse it by paths along which the bones of things dead are
strewn as so many blazons. Such are the roads from well to well, from pasture
to pasture. The heart of the most veteran sheik beats quicker when he finds
himself alone in the pathless tracts. So the man with whom we are dealing
could not have been in search of pleasure; neither was his manner that of a
fugitive; not once did he look behind him. In such situations fear and
curiosity are the most common sensations; he was not moved by them. When men
are lonely, they stoop to any companionship; the dog becomes a
comrade, the horse a friend, and it is no shame to shower them with
caresses and speeches of love. The camel received no such token, not a
touch, not a word.
Exactly at noon the dromedary, of its own will, stopped, and uttered the
cry or moan, peculiarly piteous, by which its kind always protest against an
overload, and sometimes crave attention and rest. The master thereupon
bestirred himself, waking, as it were, from sleep. He threw the curtains of
the houdah up, looked at the sun, surveyed the country on every side long and
carefully, as if to identify an appointed place. Satisfied with the
inspection, he drew a deep breath and nodded, much as to say, "At last, at
last!" A moment after, he crossed his hands upon his breast, bowed his head,
and prayed silently. The pious duty done, he prepared to dismount. From his
throat proceeded the sound heard doubtless by the favorite camels
of Job—Ikh! ikh!—the signal to kneel. Slowly the animal obeyed, grunting
the while. The rider then put his foot upon the slender neck, and stepped
upon the sand.
CHAPTER II
The man as now revealed was of admirable proportions, not so tall as
powerful. Loosening the silken rope which held the kufiyeh on his head, he
brushed the fringed folds back until his face was bare—a strong face, almost
negro in color; yet the low, broad forehead, aquiline nose, the outer corners
of the eyes turned slightly upward, the hair profuse, straight, harsh, of
metallic lustre, and falling to the shoulder in many plaits, were signs of
origin impossible to disguise. So looked the Pharaohs and the later
Ptolemies; so looked Mizraim, father of the Egyptian race. He wore the
kamis, a white cotton shirt tight-sleeved, open in front, extending to the
ankles and embroidered down the collar and breast, over which was thrown a
brown woollen cloak, now, as in all probability it was then, called the aba,
an outer garment with long skirt and short sleeves, lined inside with stuff
of mixed cotton and silk, edged all round with a margin of clouded yellow.
His feet were protected by sandals, attached by thongs of soft leather. A
sash held the kamis to his waist. What was very noticeable, considering he
was alone, and that the desert was the haunt of leopards and lions, and men
quite as wild, he carried no arms, not even the crooked stick used for
guiding camels; wherefore we may at least infer his errand peaceful, and that
he was either uncommonly bold or under extraordinary protection.
The traveller's limbs were numb, for the ride had been long
and wearisome; so he rubbed his hands and stamped his feet, and
walked round the faithful servant, whose lustrous eyes were closing in
calm content with the cud he had already found. Often, while making
the circuit, he paused, and, shading his eyes with his hands, examined
the desert to the extremest verge of vision; and always, when the
survey was ended, his face clouded with disappointment, slight, but
enough to advise a shrewd spectator that he was there expecting
company, if not by appointment; at the same time, the spectator would
have been conscious of a sharpening of the curiosity to learn what
the business could be that required transaction in a place so far
from civilized abode.
However disappointed, there could be little doubt of the
stranger's confidence in the coming of the expected company. In token
thereof, he went first to the litter, and, from the cot or box
opposite the one he had occupied in coming, produced a sponge and a small
gurglet of water, with which he washed the eyes, face, and nostrils of the
camel; that done, from the same depository he drew a circular cloth, red-and
white-striped, a bundle of rods, and a stout cane. The latter, after some
manipulation, proved to be a cunning device of lesser joints, one within
another, which, when united together, formed a centre pole higher than his
head. When the pole was planted, and the rods set around it, he spread the
cloth over them, and was literally at home—a home much smaller than the
habitations of emir and sheik, yet their counterpart in all other respects.
From the litter again he brought a carpet or square rug, and covered the
floor of the tent on the side from the sun. That done, he went out, and once
more, and with greater care and more eager eyes, swept the encircling
country. Except a distant jackal, galloping across the plain, and an eagle
flying towards the Gulf of Akaba, the waste below, like the blue above it,
was lifeless.
He turned to the camel, saying low, and in a tongue strange to
the desert, "We are far from home, O racer with the swiftest winds—we
are far from home, but God is with us. Let us be patient."
Then he took some beans from a pocket in the saddle, and put them in a
bag made to hang below the animal's nose; and when he saw the relish with
which the good servant took to the food, he turned and again scanned the
world of sand, dim with the glow of the vertical sun.
"They will come " he said, calmly. "He that led me is leading them. I
will make ready."
From the pouches which lined the interior of the cot, and from a willow
basket which was part of its furniture, he brought forth materials for a
meal: platters close-woven of the fibres of palms; wine in small gurglets of
skin; mutton dried and smoked; stoneless shami, or Syrian pomegranates; dates
of El Shelebi, wondrous rich and grown in the nakhil, or palm orchards, of
Central Arabia; cheese, like David's "slices of milk;" and leavened
bread from the city bakery—all which he carried and set upon the
carpet under the tent. As the final preparation, about the provisions
he laid three pieces of silk cloth, used among refined people of the East
to cover the knees of guests while at table—a circumstance significant of
the number of persons who were to partake of his entertainment—the number he
was awaiting.
All was now ready. He stepped out: lo! in the east a dark speck on the
face of the desert. He stood as if rooted to the ground; his eyes dilated;
his flesh crept chilly, as if touched by something supernatural. The speck
grew; became large as a hand; at length assumed defined proportions. A little
later, full into view swung a duplication of his own dromedary, tall and
white, and bearing a houdah, the travelling litter of Hindostan. Then
the Egyptian crossed his hands upon his breast, and looked to heaven.
"God only is great!" he exclaimed, his eyes full of tears, his soul in
awe.
The stranger drew nigh—at last stopped. Then he, too, seemed
just waking. He beheld the kneeling camel, the tent, and the man
standing prayerfully at the door. He crossed his hands, bent his head,
and prayed silently; after which, in a little while, he stepped from his
camel's neck to the sand, and advanced towards the Egyptian, as did the
Egyptian towards him. A moment they looked at each other; then they
embraced—that is, each threw his right arm over the other's shoulder, and
the left round the side, placing his chin first upon the left, then upon the
right breast.
"Peace be with thee, O servant of the true God!" the stranger said.
"And to thee, O brother of the true faith!—to thee peace and welcome,"
the Egyptian replied, with fervor.
The new-comer was tall and gaunt, with lean face, sunken eyes, white
hair and beard, and a complexion between the hue of cinnamon and bronze. He,
too, was unarmed. His costume was Hindostani; over the skull-cap a shawl was
wound in great folds, forming a turban; his body garments were in the style
of the Egyptian's, except that the aba was shorter, exposing wide flowing
breeches gathered at the ankles. In place of sandals, his feet were
clad in half-slippers of red leather, pointed at the toes. Save
the slippers, the costume from head to foot was of white linen. The air of
the man was high, stately, severe. Visvamitra, the greatest of the ascetic
heroes of the Iliad of the East, had in him a perfect representative. He
might have been called a Life drenched with the wisdom of Brahma—Devotion
Incarnate. Only in his eyes was there proof of humanity; when he lifted his
face from the Egyptian's breast, they were glistening with tears.
"God only is great!" he exclaimed, when the embrace was finished.
"And blessed are they that serve him!" the Egyptian answered, wondering
at the paraphrase of his own exclamation. "But let us wait," he added, "let
us wait; for see, the other comes yonder!"
They looked to the north, where, already plain to view, a third camel,
of the whiteness of the others, came careening like a ship. They waited,
standing together—waited until the new-comer arrived, dismounted, and
advanced towards them.
"Peace to you, O my brother!" he said, while embracing the Hindoo.
And the Hindoo answered, "God's will be done!"
The last comer was all unlike his friends: his frame was slighter; his
complexion white; a mass of waving light hair was a perfect crown for his
small but beautiful head; the warmth of his dark-blue eyes certified a
delicate mind, and a cordial, brave nature. He was bareheaded and unarmed.
Under the folds of the Tyrian blanket which he wore with unconscious grace
appeared a tunic, short-sleeved and low-necked, gathered to the waist by a
band, and reaching nearly to the knee; leaving the neck, arms, and legs bare.
Sandals guarded his feet. Fifty years, probably more, had spent themselves
upon him, with no other effect, apparently, than to tinge his
demeanor with gravity and temper his words with forethought. The
physical organization and the brightness of soul were untouched. No need
to tell the student from what kindred he was sprung; if he came
not himself from the groves of Athene', his ancestry did.
When his arms fell from the Egyptian, the latter said, with a tremulous
voice, "The Spirit brought me first; wherefore I know myself chosen to be the
servant of my brethren. The tent is set, and the bread is ready for the
breaking. Let me perform my office."
Taking each by the hand, he led them within, and removed their sandals
and washed their feet, and he poured water upon their hands, and dried them
with napkins.
Then, when he had laved his own hands, he said, "Let us take care of
ourselves, brethren, as our service requires, and eat, that we may be strong
for what remains of the day's duty. While we eat, we will each learn who the
others are, and whence they come, and how they are called."
He took them to the repast, and seated them so that they faced each
other. Simultaneously their heads bent forward, their hands crossed upon
their breasts, and, speaking together, they said aloud this simple
grace:
"Father of all—God!—what we have here is of thee; take our thanks and
bless us, that we may continue to do thy will."
With the last word they raised their eyes, and looked at each other in
wonder. Each had spoken in a language never before heard by the others; yet
each understood perfectly what was said. Their souls thrilled with divine
emotion; for by the miracle they recognized the Divine Presence.
CHAPTER III
To speak in the style of the period, the meeting just described
took place in the year of Rome 747. The month was December, and
winter reigned over all the regions east of the Mediterranean. Such
as ride upon the desert in this season go not far until smitten with a
keen appetite. The company under the little tent were not exceptions to the
rule. They were hungry, and ate heartily; and, after the wine, they
talked.
"To a wayfarer in a strange land nothing is so sweet as to hear his name
on the tongue of a friend," said the Egyptian, who assumed to be president of
the repast. "Before us lie many days of companionship. It is time we knew
each other. So, if it be agreeable, he who came last shall be first to
speak."
Then, slowly at first, like one watchful of himself, the
Greek began:
"What I have to tell, my brethren, is so strange that I hardly know
where to begin or what I may with propriety speak. I do not yet understand
myself. The most I am sure of is that I am doing a Master's will, and that
the service is a constant ecstasy. When I think of the purpose I am sent to
fulfil, there is in me a joy so inexpressible that I know the will is
God's."
The good man paused, unable to proceed, while the others, in
sympathy with his feelings, dropped their gaze.
"Far to the west of this," he began again, "there is a land which may
never be forgotten; if only because the world is too much its debtor, and
because the indebtedness is for things that bring to men their purest
pleasures. I will say nothing of the arts, nothing of philosophy, of
eloquence, of poetry, of war: O my brethren, hers is the glory which must
shine forever in perfected letters, by which He we go to find and proclaim
will be made known to all the earth. The land I speak of is Greece. I am
Gaspar, son of Cleanthes the Athenian.
"My people," he continued, "were given wholly to study, and from them I
derived the same passion. It happens that two of our philosophers, the very
greatest of the many, teach, one the doctrine of a Soul in every man, and its
Immortality; the other the doctrine of One God, infinitely just. From the
multitude of subjects about which the schools were disputing, I separated
them, as alone worth the labor of solution; for I thought there was a
relation between God and the soul as yet unknown. On this theme the mind can
reason to a point, a dead, impassable wall; arrived there, all that
remains is to stand and cry aloud for help. So I did; but no voice came to
me over the wall. In despair, I tore myself from the cities and the
schools."
At these words a grave smile of approval lighted the gaunt face of the
Hindoo.
"In the northern part of my country—in Thessaly," the Greek proceeded
to say, "there is a mountain famous as the home of the gods, where Theus,
whom my countrymen believe supreme, has his abode; Olympus is its name.
Thither I betook myself. I found a cave in a hill where the mountain, coming
from the west, bends to the southeast; there I dwelt, giving myself up to
meditation—no, I gave myself up to waiting for what every breath was a
prayer—for revelation. Believing in God, invisible yet supreme, I also
believed it possible so to yearn for him with all my soul that he would
take compassion and give me answer."
"And he did—he did!" exclaimed the Hindoo, lifting his hands from the
silken cloth upon his lap.
"Hear me, brethren," said the Greek, calming himself with an
effort. "The door of my hermitage looks over an arm of the sea, over
the Thermaic Gulf. One day I saw a man flung overboard from a ship sailing
by. He swam ashore. I received and took care of him. He was a Jew, learned in
the history and laws of his people; and from him I came to know that the God
of my prayers did indeed exist; and had been for ages their lawmaker,
ruler, and king. What was that but the Revelation I dreamed of? My faith
had not been fruitless; God answered me!"
"As he does all who cry to him with such faith," said the Hindoo.
"But, alas!" the Egyptian added, "how few are there wise enough to know
when he answers them!"
"That was not all," the Greek continued. "The man so sent to me told me
more. He said the prophets who, in the ages which followed the first
revelation, walked and talked with God, declared he would come again. He gave
me the names of the prophets, and from the sacred books quoted their very
language. He told me, further, that the second coming was at hand—was looked
for momentarily in Jerusalem."
The Greek paused, and the brightness of his countenance faded.
"It is true," he said, after a little—"it is true the man told me that
as God and the revelation of which he spoke had been for the Jews alone, so
it would be again. He that was to come should be King of the Jews. 'Had he
nothing for the rest of the world?' I asked. 'No,' was the answer, given in a
proud voice—'No, we are his chosen people.' The answer did not crush my
hope. Why should such a God limit his love and benefaction to one land, and,
as it were, to one family? I set my heart upon knowing. At last I
broke through the man's pride, and found that his fathers had been merely
chosen servants to keep the Truth alive, that the world might at last know it
and be saved. When the Jew was gone, and I was alone again, I chastened my
soul with a new prayer—that I might be permitted to see the King when he was
come, and worship him. One night I sat by the door of my cave trying to get
nearer the mysteries of my existence, knowing which is to know
God; suddenly, on the sea below me, or rather in the darkness that covered
its face, I saw a star begin to burn; slowly it arose and drew nigh, and
stood over the hill and above my door, so that its light shone full upon me.
I fell down, and slept, and in my dream I heard a voice say:
"'O Gaspar! Thy faith hath conquered! Blessed art thou! With two others,
come from the uttermost parts of the earth, thou shalt see Him that is
promised, and be a witness for him, and the occasion of testimony in his
behalf. In the morning arise, and go meet them, and keep trust in the Spirit
that shall guide thee.'
"And in the morning I awoke with the Spirit as a light within
me surpassing that of the sun. I put off my hermit's garb, and
dressed myself as of old. From a hiding-place I took the treasure which
I had brought from the city. A ship went sailing past. I hailed it, was
taken aboard, and landed at Antioch. There I bought the camel and his
furniture. Through the gardens and orchards that enamel the banks of the
Orontes, I journeyed to Emesa, Damascus, Bostra, and Philadelphia; thence
hither. And so, O brethren, you have my story. Let me now listen to
you."
CHAPTER IV
The Egyptian and the Hindoo looked at each other; the former waved his
hand; the latter bowed, and began:
"Our brother has spoken well. May my words be as wise."
He broke off, reflected a moment, then resumed:
"You may know me, brethren, by the name of Melchior. I speak to you in a
language which, if not the oldest in the world, was at least the soonest to
be reduced to letters—I mean the Sanscrit of India. I am a Hindoo by birth.
My people were the first to walk in the fields of knowledge, first to divide
them, first to make them beautiful. Whatever may hereafter befall, the
four Vedas must live, for they are the primal fountains of religion
and useful intelligence. From them were derived the Upa-Vedas,
which, delivered by Brahma, treat of medicine, archery,
architecture, music, and the four-and-sixty mechanical arts; the
Ved-Angas, revealed by inspired saints, and devoted to astronomy,
grammar, prosody, pronunciation, charms and incantations, religious
rites and ceremonies; the Up-Angas, written by the sage Vyasa, and
given to cosmogony, chronology, and geography; therein also are
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, heroic poems, designed for
the perpetuation of our gods and demi-gods. Such, O brethren, are
the Great Shastras, or books of sacred ordinances. They are dead to
me now; yet through all time they will serve to illustrate the
budding genius of my race. They were promises of quick perfection. Ask
you why the promises failed? Alas! the books themselves closed all the
gates of progress. Under pretext of care for the creature, their authors
imposed the fatal principle that a man must not address himself to discovery
or invention, as Heaven had provided him all things needful. When that
condition became a sacred law, the lamp of Hindoo genius was let down a well,
where ever since it has lighted narrow walls and bitter waters.
"These allusions, brethren, are not from pride, as you will understand
when I tell you that the Shastras teach a Supreme God called Brahm; also,
that the Puranas, or sacred poems of the Up-Angas, tell us of Virtue and Good
Works, and of the Soul. So, if my brother will permit the saying"—the
speaker bowed deferentially to the Greek—"ages before his people were
known, the two great ideas, God and the Soul, had absorbed all the
forces of the Hindoo mind. In further explanation let me say that Brahm is
taught, by the same sacred books, as a Triad—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Of
these, Brahma is said to have been the author of our race; which, in course
of creation, he divided into four castes. First, he peopled the worlds below
and the heavens above; next, he made the earth ready for terrestrial spirits;
then from his mouth proceeded the Brahman caste, nearest in likeness to
himself, highest and noblest, sole teachers of the Vedas, which at the same
time flowed from his lips in finished state, perfect in all useful
knowledge. From his arms next issued the Kshatriya, or warriors; from his
breast, the seat of life, came the Vaisya, or producers—shepherds,
farmers, merchants; from his foot, in sign of degradation, sprang the
Sudra, or serviles, doomed to menial duties for the other
classes—serfs, domestics, laborers, artisans. Take notice, further, that the
law, so born with them, forbade a man of one caste becoming a member
of another; the Brahman could not enter a lower order; if he violated the
laws of his own grade, he became an outcast, lost to all but outcasts like
himself."
At this point, the imagination of the Greek, flashing forward upon all
the consequences of such a degradation, overcame his eager attention, and he
exclaimed, "In such a state, O brethren, what mighty need of a loving
God!"
"Yes," added the Egyptian, "of a loving God like ours."
The brows of the Hindoo knit painfully; when the emotion was spent, he
proceeded, in a softened voice.
"I was born a Brahman. My life, consequently, was ordered down to its
least act, its last hour. My first draught of nourishment; the giving me my
compound name; taking me out the first time to see the sun; investing me with
the triple thread by which I became one of the twice-born; my induction into
the first order—were all celebrated with sacred texts and rigid ceremonies.
I might not walk, eat, drink, or sleep without danger of violating a rule.
And the penalty, O brethren, the penalty was to my soul! According to
the degrees of omission, my soul went to one of the heavens—Indra's
the lowest, Brahma's the highest; or it was driven back to become the life
of a worm, a fly, a fish, or a brute. The reward for perfect observance was
Beatitude, or absorption into the being of Brahm, which was not existence as
much as absolute rest."
The Hindoo gave himself a moment's thought; proceeding, he said: "The
part of a Brahman's life called the first order is his student life. When I
was ready to enter the second order—that is to say, when I was ready to
marry and become a householder—I questioned everything, even Brahm; I was a
heretic. From the depths of the well I had discovered a light above, and
yearned to go up and see what all it shone upon. At last—ah, with what years
of toil!—I stood in the perfect day, and beheld the principle of life, the
element of religion, the link between the soul and God—Love!"
The shrunken face of the good man kindled visibly, and he clasped his
hands with force. A silence ensued, during which the others looked at him,
the Greek through tears. At length he resumed:
"The happiness of love is in action; its test is what one is willing to
do for others. I could not rest. Brahm had filled the world with so much
wretchedness. The Sudra appealed to me, so did the countless devotees and
victims. The island of Ganga Lagor lies where the sacred waters of the Ganges
disappear in the Indian Ocean. Thither I betook myself. In the shade of
the temple built there to the sage Kapila, in a union of prayers with the
disciples whom the sanctified memory of the holy man keeps around his house,
I thought to find rest. But twice every year came pilgrimages of Hindoos
seeking the purification of the waters. Their misery strengthened my love.
Against its impulse to speak I clenched my jaws; for one word against Brahm
or the Triad or the Shastras would doom me; one act of kindness to the
outcast Brahmans who now and then dragged themselves to die on the
burning sands—a blessing said, a cup of water given—and I became one of
them, lost to family, country, privileges, caste. The love conquered!
I spoke to the disciples in the temple; they drove me out. I spoke to the
pilgrims; they stoned me from the island. On the highways I attempted to
preach; my hearers fled from me, or sought my life. In all India, finally,
there was not a place in which I could find peace or safety—not even among
the outcasts, for, though fallen, they were still believers in Brahm. In my
extremity, I looked for a solitude in which to hide from all but God. I
followed the Ganges to its source, far up in the Himalayas. When I entered
the pass at Hurdwar, where the river, in unstained purity, leaps to its
course through the muddy lowlands, I prayed for my race, and thought
myself lost to them forever. Through gorges, over cliffs, across
glaciers, by peaks that seemed star-high, I made my way to the Lang Tso,
a lake of marvellous beauty, asleep at the feet of the Tise Gangri, the
Gurla, and the Kailas Parbot, giants which flaunt their crowns of snow
everlastingly in the face of the sun. There, in the centre of the earth,
where the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmapootra rise to run their different
courses; where mankind took up their first abode, and separated to replete
the world, leaving Balk, the mother of cities, to attest the great fact;
where Nature, gone back to its primeval condition, and secure in its
immensities, invites the sage and the exile, with promise of safety to the
one and solitude to the other—there I went to abide alone with God, praying,
fasting, waiting for death."
Again the voice fell, and the bony hands met in a fervent clasp.
"One night I walked by the shores of the lake, and spoke to
the listening silence, 'When will God come and claim his own? Is there to
be no redemption?' Suddenly a light began to glow tremulously out on the
water; soon a star arose, and moved towards me, and stood overhead. The
brightness stunned me. While I lay upon the ground, I heard a voice of
infinite sweetness say, 'Thy love hath conquered. Blessed art thou, O son of
India! The redemption is at hand. With two others, from far quarters of the
earth, thou shalt see the Redeemer, and be a witness that he hath come. In
the morning arise, and go meet them; and put all thy trust in the Spirit
which shall guide thee.'
"And from that time the light has stayed with me; so I knew it was the
visible presence of the Spirit. In the morning I started to the world by the
way I had come. In a cleft of the mountain I found a stone of vast worth,
which I sold in Hurdwar. By Lahore, and Cabool, and Yezd, I came to Ispahan.
There I bought the camel, and thence was led to Bagdad, not waiting for
caravans. Alone I traveled, fearless, for the Spirit was with me, and
is with me yet. What glory is ours, O brethren! We are to see
the Redeemer—to speak to him—to worship him! I am done."
CHAPTER V
The vivacious Greek broke forth in expressions of joy
and congratulations; after which the Egyptian said, with
characteristic gravity:
"I salute you, my brother. You have suffered much, and I rejoice in your
triumph. If you are both pleased to hear me, I will now tell you who I am,
and how I came to be called. Wait for me a moment."
He went out and tended the camels; coming back, he resumed his seat.
"Your words, brethren, were of the Spirit," he said, in
commencement; "and the Spirit gives me to understand them. You each spoke
particularly of your countries; in that there was a great object, which I
will explain; but to make the interpretation complete, let me first speak of
myself and my people. I am Balthasar the Egyptian."
The last words were spoken quietly, but with so much dignity that both
listeners bowed to the speaker.
"There are many distinctions I might claim for my race," he
continued; "but I will content myself with one. History began with us. We
were the first to perpetuate events by records kept. So we have no
traditions; and instead of poetry, we offer you certainty. On the facades
of palaces and temples, on obelisks, on the inner walls of tombs, we wrote
the names of our kings, and what they did; and to the delicate papyri we
intrusted the wisdom of our philosophers and the secrets of our religion—all
the secrets but one, whereof I will presently speak. Older than the Vedas of
Para-Brahm or the Up-Angas of Vyasa, O Melchior; older than the songs of
Homer or the metaphysics of Plato, O my Gaspar; older than the
sacred books or kings of the people of China, or those of Siddartha, son
of the beautiful Maya; older than the Genesis of Mosche the Hebrew—oldest of
human records are the writings of Menes, our first king." Pausing an instant,
he fixed his large eves kindly upon the Greek, saying, "In the youth of
Hellas, who, O Gaspar, were the teachers of her teachers?"
The Greek bowed, smiling.
"By those records," Balthasar continued, "we know that when the fathers
came from the far East, from the region of the birth of the three sacred
rivers, from the centre of the earth—the Old Iran of which you spoke, O
Melchior—came bringing with them the history of the world before the Flood,
and of the Flood itself, as given to the Aryans by the sons of Noah, they
taught God, the Creator and the Beginning, and the Soul, deathless as God.
When the duty which calls us now is happily done, if you choose to go with
me, I will show you the sacred library of our priesthood; among
others, the Book of the Dead, in which is the ritual to be observed by
the soul after Death has despatched it on its journey to judgment. The
ideas—God and the Immortal Soul—were borne to Mizraim over the desert, and
by him to the banks of the Nile. They were then in their purity, easy of
understanding, as what God intends for our happiness always is; so, also, was
the first worship—a song and a prayer natural to a soul joyous, hopeful, and
in love with its Maker."
Here the Greek threw up his hands, exclaiming, "Oh! the light deepens
within me!"
"And in me!" said the Hindoo, with equal fervor.
The Egyptian regarded them benignantly, then went on, saying, "Religion
is merely the law which binds man to his Creator: in purity it has but these
elements—God, the Soul, and their Mutual Recognition; out of which, when put
in practise, spring Worship, Love, and Reward. This law, like all others
of divine origin— like that, for instance, which binds the earth to the
sun—was perfected in the beginning by its Author. Such, my brothers, was the
religion of the first family; such was the religion of our father Mizraim,
who could not have been blind to the formula of creation, nowhere so
discernible as in the first faith and the earliest worship. Perfection is
God; simplicity is perfection. The curse of curses is that men will not let
truths like these alone."
He stopped, as if considering in what manner to continue.
"Many nations have loved the sweet waters of the Nile," he said next;
"the Ethiopian, the Pali-Putra, the Hebrew, the Assyrian, the Persian, the
Macedonian, the Roman—of whom all, except the Hebrew, have at one time or
another been its masters. So much coming and going of peoples corrupted the
old Mizraimic faith. The Valley of Palms became a Valley of Gods. The Supreme
One was divided into eight, each personating a creative principle in
nature, with Ammon-Re at the head. Then Isis and Osiris, and their
circle, representing water, fire, air, and other forces, were
invented. Still the multiplication went on until we had another
order, suggested by human qualities, such as strength, knowledge,
love, and the like."
"In all which there was the old folly!" cried the Greek, impulsively.
"Only the things out of reach remain as they came to us."
The Egyptian bowed, and proceeded:
"Yet a little further, O my brethren, a little further, before I come to
myself. What we go to will seem all the holier of comparison with what is and
has been. The records show that Mizraim found the Nile in possession of the
Ethiopians, who were spread thence through the African desert; a people of
rich, fantastic genius, wholly given to the worship of nature. The Poetic
Persian sacrificed to the sun, as the completest image of Ormuzd, his God;
the devout children of the far East carved their deities out of wood and
ivory; but the Ethiopian, without writing, without books, without
mechanical faculty of any kind, quieted his soul by the worship of
animals, birds, and insects, holding the cat sacred to Re, the bull
to Isis, the beetle to Pthah. A long struggle against their rude faith
ended in its adoption as the religion of the new empire. Then rose the mighty
monuments that cumber the river-bank and the desert—obelisk, labyrinth,
pyramid, and tomb of king, blent with tomb of crocodile. Into such deep
debasement, O brethren, the sons of the Aryan fell!"
Here, for the first time, the calmness of the Egyptian forsook him:
though his countenance remained impassive, his voice gave way.
"Do not too much despise my countrymen," he began again. "They did not
all forget God. I said awhile ago, you may remember, that to papyri we
intrusted all the secrets of our religion except one; of that I will now tell
you. We had as king once a certain Pharaoh, who lent himself to all manner of
changes and additions. To establish the new system, he strove to drive the
old entirely out of mind. The Hebrews then dwelt with us as slaves. They
clung to their God; and when the persecution became intolerable, they were
delivered in a manner never to be forgotten. I speak from the records now.
Mosche, himself a Hebrew, came to the palace, and demanded permission for the
slaves, then millions in number, to leave the country. The demand was in the
name of the Lord God of Israel. Pharaoh refused. Hear what followed. First,
all the water, that in the lakes and rivers, like that in the wells
and vessels, turned to blood. Yet the monarch refused. Then frogs came up
and covered all the land. Still he was firm. Then Mosche threw ashes in the
air, and a plague attacked the Egyptians. Next, all the cattle, except of the
Hebrews, were struck dead. Locusts devoured the green things of the valley.
At noon the day was turned into a darkness so thick that lamps would not
burn. Finally, in the night all the first-born of the Egyptians died; not
even Pharaoh's escaped. Then he yielded. But when the Hebrews were gone he
followed them with his army. At the last moment the sea was divided, so that
the fugitives passed it dry-shod. When the pursuers drove in after
them, the waves rushed back and drowned horse, foot, charioteers, and
king. You spoke of revelation, my Gaspar—"
The blue eyes of the Greek sparkled.
"I had the story from the Jew," he cried. "You confirm it, O
Balthasar!"
"Yes, but through me Egypt speaks, not Mosche. I interpret the marbles.
The priests of that time wrote in their way what they witnessed, and the
revelation has lived. So I come to the one unrecorded secret. In my country,
brethren, we have, from the day of the unfortunate Pharaoh, always had two
religions—one private, the other public; one of many gods, practised by
the people; the other of one God, cherished only by the
priesthood. Rejoice with me, O brothers! All the trampling by the many
nations, all the harrowing by kings, all the inventions of enemies, all
the changes of time, have been in vain. Like a seed under the
mountains waiting its hour, the glorious Truth has lived; and this—this
is its day!"
The wasted frame of the Hindoo trembled with delight, and the Greek
cried aloud,
"It seems to me the very desert is singing."
From a gurglet of water near-by the Egyptian took a draught, and
proceeded:
"I was born at Alexandria, a prince and a priest, and had the education
usual to my class. But very early I became discontented. Part of the faith
imposed was that after death upon the destruction of the body, the soul at
once began its former progression from the lowest up to humanity, the highest
and last existence; and that without reference to conduct in the mortal life.
When I heard of the Persian's Realm of Light, his Paradise across the bridge
Chinevat, where only the good go, the thought haunted me; insomuch that
in the day, as in the night, I brooded over the comparative ideas Eternal
Transmigration and Eternal Life in Heaven. If, as my teacher taught, God was
just, why was there no distinction between the good and the bad? At length it
became clear to me, a certainty, a corollary of the law to which I
reduced pure religion, that death was only the point of separation
at which the wicked are left or lost, and the faithful rise to a higher
life; not the nirvana of Buddha, or the negative rest of Brahma, O Melchior;
nor the better condition in hell, which is all of Heaven allowed by the
Olympic faith, O Gaspar; but life—life active, joyous, everlasting—LIFE
WITH GOD! The discovery led to another inquiry. Why should the Truth be
longer kept a secret for the selfish solace of the priesthood? The reason for
the suppression was gone. Philosophy had at least brought us toleration. In
Egypt we had Rome instead of Rameses. One day, in the Brucheium, the
most splendid and crowded quarter of Alexandria, I arose and preached. The
East and West contributed to my audience. Students going to the Library,
priests from the Serapeion, idlers from the Museum, patrons of the
race-course, countrymen from the Rhacotis—a multitude—stopped to hear me. I
preached God, the Soul, Right and Wrong, and Heaven, the reward of a virtuous
life. You, O Melchior, were stoned; my auditors first wondered, then laughed.
I tried again; they pelted me with epigrams, covered my God with
ridicule, and darkened my Heaven with mockery. Not to linger needlessly, I
fell before them."
The Hindoo here drew a long sigh, as he said, "The enemy of man is man,
my brother."
Balthasar lapsed into silence.
"I gave much thought to finding the cause of my failure, and at last
succeeded," he said, upon beginning again. "Up the river, a day's journey
from the city, there is a village of herdsmen and gardeners. I took a boat
and went there. In the evening I called the people together, men and women,
the poorest of the poor. I preached to them exactly as I had preached in the
Brucheium. They did not laugh. Next evening I spoke again, and they
believed and rejoiced, and carried the news abroad. At the third meeting a
society was formed for prayer. I returned to the city then. Drifting down the
river, under the stars, which never seemed so bright and so near, I evolved
this lesson: To begin a reform, go not into the places of the great and rich;
go rather to those whose cups of happiness are empty—to the poor and humble.
And then I laid a plan and devoted my life. As a first step, I secured
my vast property, so that the income would be certain, and always at call
for the relief of the suffering. From that day, O brethren, I travelled up
and down the Nile, in the villages, and to all the tribes, preaching One God,
a righteous life, and reward in Heaven. I have done good—it does not become
me to say how much. I also know that part of the world to be ripe for the
reception of Him we go to find."
A flush suffused the swarthy cheek of the speaker; but he overcame the
feeling, and continued:
"The years so given, O my brothers, were troubled by one thought—When I
was gone, what would become of the cause I had started? Was it to end with
me? I had dreamed many times of organization as a fitting crown for my work.
To hide nothing from you, I had tried to effect it, and failed. Brethren, the
world is now in the condition that, to restore the old Mizraimic faith, the
reformer must have a more than human sanction; he must not merely come in
God's name, he must have the proofs subject to his word; he must demonstrate
all he says, even God. So preoccupied is the mind with myths and systems; so
much do false deities crowd every place—earth, air, sky; so have
they become of everything a part, that return to the first religion
can only be along bloody paths, through fields of persecution; that is to
say, the converts must be willing to die rather than recant. And who in this
age can carry the faith of men to such a point but God himself? To redeem the
race—I do not mean to destroy it—to REDEEM the race, he must make himself
once more manifest; HE MUST COME IN PERSON."
Intense emotion seized the three.
"Are we not going to find him?" exclaimed the Greek.
"You understand why I failed in the attempt to organize," said
the Egyptian, when the spell was past. "I had not the sanction. To
know that my work must be lost made me intolerably wretched. I believed in
prayer, and to make my appeals pure and strong, like you, my brethren, I went
out of the beaten ways, I went where man had not been, where only God was.
Above the fifth cataract, above the meeting of rivers in Sennar, up the Bahr
el Abiad, into the far unknown of Africa, I went. There, in the morning, a
mountain blue as the sky flings a cooling shadow wide over the western
desert, and, with its cascades of melted snow, feeds a broad lake nestling at
its base on the east. The lake is the mother of the great river. For a year
and more the mountain gave me a home. The fruit of the palm fed my body,
prayer my spirit. One night I walked in the orchard close by the little sea.
'The world is dying. When wilt thou come? Why may I not see the
redemption, O God?' So I prayed. The glassy water was sparkling with
stars. One of them seemed to leave its place, and rise to the
surface, where it became a brilliancy burning to the eyes. Then it
moved towards me, and stood over my head, apparently in hand's reach. I
fell down and hid my face. A voice, not of the earth, said, 'Thy good works
have conquered. Blessed art thou, O son of Mizraim! The redemption cometh.
With two others, from the remotenesses of the world, thou shalt see the
Saviour, and testify for him. In the morning arise, and go meet them. And
when ye have all come to the holy city of Jerusalem, ask of the people, Where
is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East
and are sent to worship him. Put all thy trust in the Spirit which
will guide thee.'
"And the light became an inward illumination not to be doubted, and has
stayed with me, a governor and a guide. It led me down the river to Memphis,
where I made ready for the desert. I bought my camel, and came hither without
rest, by way of Suez and Kufileh, and up through the lands of Moab and Ammon.
God is with us, O my brethren!"
He paused, and thereupon, with a prompting not their own, they
all arose, and looked at each other.
"I said there was a purpose in the particularity with which we described
our people and their histories," so the Egyptian proceeded. "He we go to find
was called 'King of the Jews;' by that name we are bidden to ask for him.
But, now that we have met, and heard from each other, we may know him to
be the Redeemer, not of the Jews alone, but of all the nations of the
earth. The patriarch who survived the Flood had with him three sons, and
their families, by whom the world was repeopled. From the old Aryana-Vaejo,
the well-remembered Region of Delight in the heart of Asia, they parted.
India and the far East received the children of the first; the descendant of
the youngest, through the North, streamed into Europe; those of the second
overflowed the deserts about the Red Sea, passing into Africa; and though
most of the latter are yet dwellers in shifting tents, some of them became
builders along the Nile."
By a simultaneous impulse the three joined hands.
"Could anything be more divinely ordered?" Balthasar continued. "When we
have found the Lord, the brothers, and all the generations that have
succeeded them, will kneel to him in homage with us. And when we part to go
our separate ways, the world will have learned a new lesson—that Heaven may
be won, not by the sword, not by human wisdom, but by Faith, Love, and Good
Works."
There was silence, broken by sighs and sanctified with tears; for the
joy that filled them might not be stayed. It was the unspeakable joy of souls
on the shores of the River of Life, resting with the Redeemed in God's
presence.
Presently their hands fell apart, and together they went out of the
tent. The desert was still as the sky. The sun was sinking fast. The camels
slept.
A little while after, the tent was struck, and, with the remains of the
repast, restored to the cot; then the friends mounted, and set out single
file, led by the Egyptian. Their course was due west, into the chilly night.
The camels swung forward in steady trot, keeping the line and the intervals
so exactly that those following seemed to tread in the tracks of the leader.
The riders spoke not once.
By-and-by the moon came up. And as the three tall white figures
sped, with soundless tread, through the opalescent light, they appeared
like specters flying from hateful shadows. Suddenly, in the air
before them, not farther up than a low hill-top flared a lambent flame; as
they looked at it, the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre.
Their hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they shouted as with one
voice, "The Star! the Star! God is with us!"
CHAPTER VI
In an aperture of the western wall of Jerusalem hang the "oaken valves"
called the Bethlehem or Joppa Gate. The area outside of them is one of the
notable places of the city. Long before David coveted Zion there was a
citadel there. When at last the son of Jesse ousted the Jebusite, and began
to build, the site of the citadel became the northwest corner of the new
wall, defended by a tower much more imposing than the old one. The location
of the gate, however, was not disturbed, for the reasons, most
likely, that the roads which met and merged in front of it could not well
be transferred to any other point, while the area outside had become a
recognized market-place. In Solomon's day there was great traffic at the
locality, shared in by traders from Egypt and the rich dealers from Tyre and
Sidon. Nearly three thousand years have passed, and yet a kind of commerce
clings to the spot. A pilgrim wanting a pin or a pistol, a cucumber or a
camel, a house or a horse, a loan or a lentil, a date or a dragoman, a melon
or a man, a dove or a donkey, has only to inquire for the article at the
Joppa Gate. Sometimes the scene is quite animated, and then it suggests, What
a place the old market must have been in the days of Herod the Builder! And
to that period and that market the reader is now to be transferred.
Following the Hebrew system, the meeting of the wise men described in
the preceding chapters took place in the afternoon of the twenty-fifth day of
the third month of the year; that is say, on the twenty-fifth day of
December. The year was the second of the 193d Olympiad, or the 747th of Rome;
the sixty-seventh of Herod the Great, and the thirty-fifth of his reign; the
fourth before the beginning of the Christian era. The hours of the day, by
Judean custom, begin with the sun, the first hour being the first after
sunrise; so, to be precise; the market at the Joppa Gate during the first
hour of the day stated was in full session, and very lively. The massive
valves had been wide open since dawn. Business, always aggressive, had pushed
through the arched entrance into a narrow lane and court, which, passing by
the walls of the great tower, conducted on into the city. As Jerusalem
is in the hill country, the morning air on this occasion was not a little
crisp. The rays of the sun, with their promise of warmth, lingered
provokingly far up on the battlements and turrets of the great piles about,
down from which fell the crooning of pigeons and the whir of the flocks
coming and going.
As a passing acquaintance with the people of the Holy City, strangers as
well as residents, will be necessary to an understanding of some of the pages
which follow, it will be well to stop at the gate and pass the scene in
review. Better opportunity will not offer to get sight of the populace who
will afterwhile go forward in a mood very different from that which now
possesses them.
The scene is at first one of utter confusion—confusion of
action, sounds, colors, and things. It is especially so in the lane and
court. The ground there is paved with broad unshaped flags, from which
each cry and jar and hoof-stamp arises to swell the medley that rings and
roars up between the solid impending walls. A little mixing with the throng,
however, a little familiarity with the business going on, will make analysis
possible.
Here stands a donkey, dozing under panniers full of lentils, beans,
onions, and cucumbers, brought fresh from the gardens and terraces of
Galilee. When not engaged in serving customers, the master, in a voice which
only the initiated can understand, cries his stock. Nothing can be simpler
than his costume—sandals, and an unbleached, undyed blanket, crossed over
one shoulder and girt round the waist. Near-by, and far more imposing
and grotesque, though scarcely as patient as the donkey, kneels a camel,
raw-boned, rough, and gray, with long shaggy tufts of fox-colored hair under
its throat, neck, and body, and a load of boxes and baskets curiously
arranged upon an enormous saddle. The owner is an Egyptian, small, lithe, and
of a complexion which has borrowed a good deal from the dust of the roads and
the sands of the desert. He wears a faded tarbooshe, a loose
gown, sleeveless, unbelted, and dropping from the neck to the knee. His
feet are bare. The camel, restless under the load, groans and occasionally
shows his teeth; but the man paces indifferently to and fro, holding the
driving-strap, and all the time advertising his fruits fresh from the
orchards of the Kedron—grapes, dates, figs, apples, and pomegranates.
At the corner where the lane opens out into the court, some women sit
with their backs against the gray stones of the wall. Their dress is that
common to the humbler classes of the country—a linen frock extending the
full length of the person, loosely gathered at the waist, and a veil or
wimple broad enough, after covering the head, to wrap the shoulders. Their
merchandise is contained in a number of earthen jars, such as are still used
in the East for bringing water from the wells, and some leathern bottles.
Among the jars and bottles, rolling upon the stony floor, regardless of
the crowd and cold, often in danger but never hurt, play half a
dozen half-naked children, their brown bodies, jetty eyes, and thick black
hair attesting the blood of Israel. Sometimes, from under the wimples, the
mothers look up, and in the vernacular modestly bespeak their trade: in the
bottles "honey of grapes," in the jars "strong drink." Their entreaties are
usually lost in the general uproar, and they fare illy against the many
competitors: brawny fellows with bare legs, dirty tunics, and long
beards, going about with bottles lashed to their backs, and
shouting "Honey of wine! Grapes of En-Gedi!" When a customer halts one of
them, round comes the bottle, and, upon lifting the thumb from the nozzle,
out into the ready cup gushes the deep-red blood of the luscious berry.
Scarcely less blatant are the dealers in birds—doves, ducks,
and frequently the singing bulbul, or nightingale, most
frequently pigeons; and buyers, receiving them from the nets, seldom
fail to think of the perilous life of the catchers, bold climbers of the
cliffs; now hanging with hand and foot to the face of the crag, now swinging
in a basket far down the mountain fissure.
Blent with peddlers of jewelry—sharp men cloaked in scarlet and blue,
top-heavy under prodigious white turbans, and fully conscious of the power
there is in the lustre of a ribbon and the incisive gleam of gold, whether in
bracelet or necklace, or in rings for the finger or the nose—and with
peddlers of household utensils, and with dealers in wearing-apparel, and
with retailers of unguents for anointing the person, and with hucksters of
all articles, fanciful as well as of need, hither and thither, tugging at
halters and ropes, now screaming, now coaxing, toil the venders of
animals—donkeys, horses, calves, sheep, bleating kids, and awkward camels;
animals of every kind except the outlawed swine. All these are there; not
singly, as described, but many times repeated; not in one place, but
everywhere in the market.
Turning from this scene in the lane and court, this glance at the
sellers and their commodities, the reader has need to give attention, in the
next place, to visitors and buyers, for which the best studies will be found
outside the gates, where the spectacle is quite as varied and animated;
indeed, it may be more so, for there are superadded the effects of tent,
booth, and sook, greater space, larger crowd, more unqualified
freedom, and the glory of the Eastern sunshine.
CHAPTER VII
Let us take our stand by the gate, just out of the edge of
the currents—one flowing in, the other out—and use our eyes and ears
awhile.
In good time! Here come two men of a most noteworthy class.
"Gods! How cold it is!" says one of them, a powerful figure in armor; on
his head a brazen helmet, on his body a shining breastplate and skirts of
mail. "How cold it is! Dost thou remember, my Caius, that vault in the
Comitium at home which the flamens say is the entrance to the lower world? By
Pluto! I could stand there this morning, long enough at least to get warm
again!"
The party addressed drops the hood of his military cloak, leaving bare
his head and face, and replies, with an ironic smile, "The helmets of the
legions which conquered Mark Antony were full of Gallic snow; but thou—ah,
my poor friend!—thou hast just come from Egypt, bringing its summer in thy
blood."
And with the last word they disappear through the entrance. Though they
had been silent, the armor and the sturdy step would have published them
Roman soldiers.
From the throng a Jew comes next, meager of frame, round-shouldered, and
wearing a coarse brown robe; over his eyes and face, and down his back, hangs
a mat of long, uncombed hair. He is alone. Those who meet him laugh, if they
do not worse; for he is a Nazarite, one of a despised sect which rejects the
books of Moses, devotes itself to abhorred vows, and goes unshorn while the
vows endure.
As we watch his retiring figure, suddenly there is a commotion in the
crowd, a parting quickly to the right and left, with exclamations sharp and
decisive. Then the cause comes—a man, Hebrew in feature and dress. The
mantle of snow-white linen, held to his head by cords of yellow silk, flows
free over his shoulders; his robe is richly embroidered, a red sash with
fringes of gold wraps his waist several times. His demeanor is calm; he even
smiles upon those who, with such rude haste, make room for him. A leper?
No, he is only a Samaritan. The shrinking crowd, if asked, would say he is
a mongrel—an Assyrian—whose touch of the robe is pollution; from whom,
consequently, an Israelite, though dying, might not accept life. In fact, the
feud is not of blood. When David set his throne here on Mount Zion, with only
Judah to support him, the ten tribes betook themselves to Shechem, a city
much older, and, at that date, infinitely richer in holy memories. The
final union of the tribes did not settle the dispute thus begun. The
Samaritans clung to their tabernacle on Gerizim, and, while maintaining its
superior sanctity, laughed at the irate doctors in Jerusalem. Time brought no
assuagement of the hate. Under Herod, conversion to the faith was open to all
the world except the Samaritans; they alone were absolutely and
forever shut out from communion with Jews.
As the Samaritan goes in under the arch of the gate, out come three men
so unlike all whom we have yet seen that they fix our gaze, whether we will
or not. They are of unusual stature and immense brawn; their eyes are blue,
and so fair is their complexion that the blood shines through the skin like
blue pencilling; their hair is light and short; their heads, small and round,
rest squarely upon necks columnar as the trunks of trees. Woollen tunics,
open at the breast, sleeveless and loosely girt, drape their bodies, leaving
bare arms and legs of such development that they at once suggest the
arena; and when thereto we add their careless, confident, insolent
manner, we cease to wonder that the people give them way, and stop after
they have passed to look at them again. They are
gladiators—wrestlers, runners, boxers, swordsmen; professionals unknown in
Judea before the coming of the Roman; fellows who, what time they are
not in training, may be seen strolling through the king's gardens or
sitting with the guards at the palace gates; or possibly they are visitors
from Caesarea, Sebaste, or Jericho; in which Herod, more Greek than Jew, and
with all a Roman's love of games and bloody spectacles, has built vast
theaters, and now keeps schools of fighting-men, drawn, as is the custom,
from the Gallic provinces or the Slavic tribes on the Danube.
"By Bacchus!" says one of them, drawing his clenched hand to his
shoulder, "their skulls are not thicker than eggshells."
The brutal look which goes with the gesture disgusts us, and we turn
happily to something more pleasant.
Opposite us is a fruit-stand. The proprietor has a bald head, a long
face, and a nose like the beak of a hawk. He sits upon a carpet spread upon
the dust; the wall is at his back; overhead hangs a scant curtain, around
him, within hand's reach and arranged upon little stools, lie osier boxes
full of almonds, grapes, figs, and pomegranates. To him now comes one at whom
we cannot help looking, though for another reason than that which fixed
our eyes upon the gladiators; he is really beautiful—a beautiful Greek.
Around his temples, holding the waving hair, is a crown of myrtle, to which
still cling the pale flowers and half ripe berries. His tunic, scarlet in
color, is of the softest woollen fabric; below the girdle of buff leather,
which is clasped in front by a fantastic device of shining gold, the skirt
drops to the knee in folds heavy with embroidery of the same royal
metal; a scarf, also woollen, and of mixed white and yellow, crosses his
throat and falls trailing at his back; his arms and legs, where exposed, are
white as ivory, and of the polish impossible except by perfect treatment with
bath, oil, brushes, and pincers.
The dealer, keeping his seat, bends forward, and throws his hands up
until they meet in front of him, palm downwards and fingers extended.
"What hast thou, this morning, O son of Paphos?" says the young Greek,
looking at the boxes rather than at the Cypriote. "I am hungry. What hast
thou for breakfast?"
"Fruits from the Pedius—genuine—such as the singers of Antioch take of
mornings to restore the waste of their voices," the dealer answers, in a
querulous nasal tone.
"A fig, but not one of thy best, for the singers of Antioch!" says the
Greek. "Thou art a worshiper of Aphrodite, and so am I, as the myrtle I wear
proves; therefore I tell thee their voices have the chill of a Caspian wind.
Seest thou this girdle?—a gift of the mighty Salome—"
"The king's sister!" exclaims the Cypriote, with another salaam.
"And of royal taste and divine judgment. And why not? She is more Greek
than the king. But—my breakfast! Here is thy money—red coppers of Cyprus.
Give me grapes, and—"
"Wilt thou not take the dates also?"
"No, I am not an Arab."
"Nor figs?"
"That would be to make me a Jew. No, nothing but the grapes. Never
waters mixed so sweetly as the blood of the Greek and the blood of the
grape."
The singer in the grimed and seething market, with all his airs of the
court, is a vision not easily shut out of mind by such as see him; as if for
the purpose, however, a person follows him challenging all our wonder. He
comes up the road slowly, his face towards the ground; at intervals he stops,
crosses his hands upon his breast, lengthens his countenance, and turns
his eyes towards heaven, as if about to break into prayer. Nowhere, except
in Jerusalem, can such a character be found. On his forehead, attached to the
band which keeps the mantle in place, projects a leathern case, square in
form; another similar case is tied by a thong to the left arm; the borders of
his robe are decorated with deep fringe; and by such signs—the phylacteries,
the enlarged borders of the garment, and the savor of intense holiness
pervading the whole man—we know him to be a Pharisee, one of an
organization (in religion a sect, in politics a party) whose bigotry and
power will shortly bring the world to grief.
The densest of the throng outside the gate covers the road leading off
to Joppa. Turning from the Pharisee, we are attracted by some parties who, as
subjects of study, opportunely separate themselves from the motley crowd.
First among them a man of very noble appearance—clear, healthful complexion;
bright black eyes; beard long and flowing, and rich with unguents; apparel
well-fitting, costly, and suitable for the season. He carries a staff, and
wears, suspended by a cord from his neck, a large golden seal. Several
servants attend him, some of them with short swords stuck through their
sashes; when they address him, it is with the utmost deference. The rest of
the party consists of two Arabs of the pure desert stock; thin, wiry men,
deeply bronzed, and with hollow cheeks, and eyes of almost evil brightness;
on their heads red tarbooshes; over their abas, and wrapping the left
shoulder and the body so as to leave the right arm free, brown
woollen haicks, or blankets. There is loud chaffering, for the Arabs
are leading horses and trying to sell them; and, in their eagerness, they
speak in high, shrill voices. The courtly person leaves the talking mostly to
his servants; occasionally he answers with much dignity; directly, seeing the
Cypriote, he stops and buys some figs. And when the whole party has passed
the portal, close after the Pharisee, if we betake ourselves to the dealer in
fruits, he will tell, with a wonderful salaam, that the stranger is a
Jew, one of the princes of the city, who has travelled, and learned
the difference between the common grapes of Syria and those of Cyprus, so
surpassingly rich with the dews of the sea.
And so, till towards noon, sometimes later, the steady currents
of business habitually flow in and out of the Joppa Gate, carrying
with them every variety of character; including representatives of all the
tribes of Israel, all the sects among whom the ancient faith has been
parcelled and refined away, all the religious and social divisions, all the
adventurous rabble who, as children of art and ministers of pleasure, riot in
the prodigalities of Herod, and all the peoples of note at any time compassed
by the Caesars and their predecessors, especially those dwelling within the
circuit of the Mediterranean.
In other words, Jerusalem, rich in sacred history, richer in connection
with sacred prophecies—the Jerusalem of Solomon, in which silver was as
stones, and cedars as the sycamores of the vale—had come to be but a copy of
Rome, a center of unholy practises, a seat of pagan power. A Jewish king one
day put on priestly garments, and went into the Holy of Holies of the
first temple to offer incense, and he came out a leper; but in the time of
which we are reading, Pompey entered Herod's temple and the same Holy of
Holies, and came out without harm, finding but an empty chamber, and of God
not a sign.
CHAPTER VIII
The reader is now besought to return to the court described as part of
the market at the Joppa Gate. It was the third hour of the day, and many of
the people had gone away; yet the press continued without apparent abatement.
Of the new-comers, there was a group over by the south wall, consisting of a
man, a woman, and a donkey, which requires extended notice.
The man stood by the animal's head, holding a leading-strap, and leaning
upon a stick which seemed to have been chosen for the double purpose of goad
and staff. His dress was like that of the ordinary Jews around him, except
that it had an appearance of newness. The mantle dropping from his head, and
the robe or frock which clothed his person from neck to heel, were
probably the garments he was accustomed to wear to the synagogue
on Sabbath days. His features were exposed, and they told of fifty years
of life, a surmise confirmed by the gray that streaked his otherwise black
beard. He looked around him with the half-curious, half-vacant stare of a
stranger and provincial.
The donkey ate leisurely from an armful of green grass, of which there
was an abundance in the market. In its sleepy content, the brute did not
admit of disturbance from the bustle and clamor about; no more was it mindful
of the woman sitting upon its back in a cushioned pillion. An outer robe of
dull woollen stuff completely covered her person, while a white wimple
veiled her head and neck. Once in a while, impelled by curiosity to see or
hear something passing, she drew the wimple aside, but so slightly that the
face remained invisible.
At length the man was accosted.
"Are you not Joseph of Nazareth?"
The speaker was standing close by.
"I am so called," answered Joseph, turning gravely around; "And you—ah,
peace be unto you! my friend, Rabbi Samuel!"
"The same give I back to you." The Rabbi paused, looking at the woman,
then added, "To you, and unto your house and all your helpers, be
peace."
With the last word, he placed one hand upon his breast, and inclined his
head to the woman, who, to see him, had by this time withdrawn the wimple
enough to show the face of one but a short time out of girlhood. Thereupon
the acquaintances grasped right hands, as if to carry them to their lips; at
the last moment, however, the clasp was let go, and each kissed his own hand,
then put its palm upon his forehead.
"There is so little dust upon your garments," the Rabbi
said, familiarly, "that I infer you passed the night in this city of our
fathers."
"No," Joseph replied, "as we could only make Bethany before the night
came, we stayed in the khan there, and took the road again at
daybreak."
"The journey before you is long, then—not to Joppa, I hope."
"Only to Bethlehem."
The countenance of the Rabbi, theretofore open and friendly, became
lowering and sinister, and he cleared his throat with a growl instead of a
cough.
"Yes, yes—I see," he said. "You were born in Bethlehem, and
wend thither now, with your daughter, to be counted for taxation, as
ordered by Caesar. The children of Jacob are as the tribes in Egypt
were—only they have neither a Moses nor a Joshua. How are the mighty
fallen!"
Joseph answered, without change of posture or countenance,
"The woman is not my daughter."
But the Rabbi clung to the political idea; and he went on, without
noticing the explanation, "What are the Zealots doing down in Galilee?"
"I am a carpenter, and Nazareth is a village," said Joseph, cautiously.
"The street on which my bench stands is not a road leading to any city.
Hewing wood and sawing plank leave me no time to take part in the disputes of
parties."
"But you are a Jew," said the Rabbi, earnestly. "You are a Jew, and of
the line of David. It is not possible you can find pleasure in the payment of
any tax except the shekel given by ancient custom to Jehovah."
Joseph held his peace.
"I do not complain," his friend continued, "of the amount of the tax—a
denarius is a trifle. Oh no! The imposition of the tax is the offense. And,
besides, what is paying it but submission to tyranny? Tell me, is it true
that Judas claims to be the Messiah? You live in the midst of his
followers."
"I have heard his followers say he was the Messiah," Joseph replied.
At this point the wimple was drawn aside, and for an instant the whole
face of the woman was exposed. The eyes of the Rabbi wandered that way, and
he had time to see a countenance of rare beauty, kindled by a look of intense
interest; then a blush overspread her cheeks and brow, and the veil was
returned to its place.
The politician forgot his subject.
"Your daughter is comely," he said, speaking lower.
"She is not my daughter," Joseph repeated.
The curiosity of the Rabbi was aroused; seeing which, the
Nazarene hastened to say further, "She is the child of Joachim and Anna
of Bethlehem, of whom you have at least heard, for they were of
great repute—"
"Yes," remarked the Rabbi, deferentially, "I know them. They
were lineally descended from David. I knew them well."
Well, they are dead now," the Nazarene proceeded. "They died
in Nazareth. Joachim was not rich, yet he left a house and garden to be
divided between his daughters Marian and Mary. This is one of them; and to
save her portion of the property, the law required her to marry her next of
kin. She is now my wife."
"And you were—"
"Her uncle."
"Yes, yes! And as you were both born in Bethlehem, the Roman compels you
to take her there with you to be also counted."
The Rabbi clasped his hands, and looked indignantly to
heaven, exclaiming, "The God of Israel still lives! The vengeance is
his!"
With that he turned and abruptly departed. A stranger near by, observing
Joseph's amazement, said, quietly, "Rabbi Samuel is a zealot. Judas himself
is not more fierce."
Joseph, not wishing to talk with the man, appeared not to hear, and
busied himself gathering in a little heap the grass which the donkey had
tossed abroad; after which he leaned upon his staff again, and waited.
In another hour the party passed out the gate, and, turning to the left,
took the road into Bethlehem. The descent into the valley of Hinnom was quite
broken, garnished here and there with straggling wild olive-trees. Carefully,
tenderly, the Nazarene walked by the woman's side, leading-strap in hand. On
their left, reaching to the south and east round Mount Zion, rose the city
wall, and on their right the steep prominences which form the western
boundary of the valley.
Slowly they passed the Lower Pool of Gihon, out of which the sun was
fast driving the lessening shadow of the royal hill; slowly they proceeded,
keeping parallel with the aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon, until near the
site of the country-house on what is now called the Hill of Evil Counsel;
there they began to ascend to the plain of Rephaim. The sun streamed garishly
over the stony face of the famous locality, and under its influence
Mary, the daughter of Joachim, dropped the wimple entirely, and bared her
head. Joseph told the story of the Philistines surprised in their camp there
by David. He was tedious in the narrative, speaking with the solemn
countenance and lifeless manner of a dull man. She did not always hear
him.
Wherever on the land men go, and on the sea ships, the face and figure
of the Jew are familiar. The physical type of the race has always been the
same; yet there have been some individual variations. "Now he was ruddy, and
withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." Such was the son
of Jesse when brought before Samuel. The fancies of men have been ever since
ruled by the description. Poetic license has extended the peculiarities of
the ancestor to his notable descendants. So all our ideal Solomons have fair
faces, and hair and beard chestnut in the shade, and of the tint of gold
in the sun. Such, we are also made believe, were the locks of Absalom the
beloved. And, in the absence of authentic history, tradition has dealt no
less lovingly by her whom we are now following down to the native city of the
ruddy king.
She was not more than fifteen. Her form, voice, and manner belonged to
the period of transition from girlhood. Her face was perfectly oval, her
complexion more pale than fair. The nose was faultless; the lips, slightly
parted, were full and ripe, giving to the lines of the mouth warmth,
tenderness, and trust; the eyes were blue and large, and shaded by drooping
lids and long lashes; and, in harmony with all, a flood of golden hair, in
the style permitted to Jewish brides, fell unconfined down her back to the
pillion on which she sat. The throat and neck had the downy softness
sometimes seen which leaves the artist in doubt whether it is an effect of
contour or color. To these charms of feature and person were added others
more indefinable—an air of purity which only the soul can impart, and of
abstraction natural to such as think much of things impalpable. Often, with
trembling lips, she raised her eyes to heaven, itself not more deeply blue;
often she crossed her hands upon her breast, as in adoration and prayer;
often she raised her head like one listening eagerly for a calling
voice. Now and then, midst his slow utterances, Joseph turned to look at
her, and, catching the expression kindling her face as with light, forgot his
theme, and with bowed head, wondering, plodded on.
So they skirted the great plain, and at length reached the elevation Mar
Elias; from which, across a valley, they beheld Bethlehem, the old, old House
of Bread, its white walls crowning a ridge, and shining above the brown
scumbling of leafless orchards. They paused there, and rested, while Joseph
pointed out the places of sacred renown; then they went down into the valley
to the well which was the scene of one of the marvellous exploits
of David's strong men. The narrow space was crowded with people
and animals. A fear came upon Joseph—a fear lest, if the town were so
thronged, there might not be house-room for the gentle Mary. Without delay,
he hurried on, past the pillar of stone marking the tomb of Rachel, up the
gardened slope, saluting none of the many persons he met on the way, until he
stopped before the portal of the khan that then stood outside the village
gates, near a junction of roads.
CHAPTER IX
To understand thoroughly what happened to the Nazarene at the khan, the
reader must be reminded that Eastern inns were different from the inns of the
Western world. They were called khans, from the Persian, and, in simplest
form, were fenced enclosures, without house or shed, often without a gate or
entrance. Their sites were chosen with reference to shade, defence, or water.
Such were the inns that sheltered Jacob when he went to seek a wife in
Padan-Aram. Their like may been seen at this day in the stopping-places
of the desert. On the other hand, some of them, especially those on the
roads between great cities, like Jerusalem and Alexandria, were princely
establishments, monuments to the piety of the kings who built them. In
ordinary, however, they were no more than the house or possession of a sheik,
in which, as in headquarters, he swayed his tribe. Lodging the traveller was
the least of their uses; they were markets, factories, forts; places
of assemblage and residence for merchants and artisans quite as much as
places of shelter for belated and wandering wayfarers. Within their walls,
all the year round, occurred the multiplied daily transactions of a
town.
The singular management of these hostelries was the feature likely to
strike a Western mind with most force. There was no host or hostess; no
clerk, cook, or kitchen; a steward at the gate was all the assertion of
government or proprietorship anywhere visible. Strangers arriving stayed at
will without rendering account. A consequence of the system was that whoever
came had to bring his food and culinary outfit with him, or buy them of
dealers in the khan. The same rule held good as to his bed and bedding,
and forage for his beasts. Water, rest, shelter, and protection were all
he looked for from the proprietor, and they were gratuities. The peace of
synagogues was sometimes broken by brawling disputants, but that of the khans
never. The houses and all their appurtenances were sacred: a well was not
more so.
The khan at Bethlehem, before which Joseph and his wife stopped, was a
good specimen of its class, being neither very primitive nor very princely.
The building was purely Oriental; that is to say, a quadrangular block of
rough stones, one story high, flat-roofed, externally unbroken by a window,
and with but one principal entrance—a doorway, which was also a gateway, on
the eastern side, or front. The road ran by the door so near that the
chalk dust half covered the lintel. A fence of flat rocks, beginning at the
northeastern corner of the pile, extended many yards down the slope to a
point from whence it swept westwardly to a limestone bluff; making what was
in the highest degree essential to a respectable khan—a safe enclosure for
animals.
In a village like Bethlehem, as there was but one sheik, there could not
well be more than one khan; and, though born in the place, the Nazarene, from
long residence elsewhere, had no claim to hospitality in the town. Moreover,
the enumeration for which he was coming might be the work of weeks or months;
Roman deputies in the provinces were proverbially slow; and to impose
himself and wife for a period so uncertain upon acquaintances or
relations was out of the question. So, before he drew nigh the great
house, while he was yet climbing the slope, in the steep places toiling
to hasten the donkey, the fear that he might not find accommodations
in the khan became a painful anxiety; for he found the road thronged with
men and boys who, with great ado, were taking their cattle, horses, and
camels to and from the valley, some to water, some to the neighboring caves.
And when he was come close by, his alarm was not allayed by the discovery of
a crowd investing the door of the establishment, while the enclosure
adjoining, broad as it was, seemed already full.
"We cannot reach the door," Joseph said, in his slow way. "Let us stop
here, and learn, if we can, what has happened."
The wife, without answering, quietly drew the wimple aside. The look of
fatigue at first upon her face changed to one of interest. She found herself
at the edge of an assemblage that could not be other than a matter of
curiosity to her, although it was common enough at the khans on any of the
highways which the great caravans were accustomed to traverse. There were men
on foot, running hither and thither, talking shrilly and in all the tongues
of Syria; men on horseback screaming to men on camels; men struggling
doubtfully with fractious cows and frightened sheep; men peddling bread
and wine; and among the mass a herd of boys apparently in chase of a herd
of dogs. Everybody and everything seemed to be in motion at the same time.
Possibly the fair spectator was too weary to be long attracted by the scene;
in a little while she sighed, and settled down on the pillion, and, as if in
search of peace and rest, or in expectation of some one, looked off to the
south, and up to the tall cliffs of the Mount of Paradise, then faintly
reddening under the setting sun.
While she was thus looking, a man pushed his way out of the press, and,
stopping close by the donkey, faced about with an angry brow. The Nazarene
spoke to him.
"As I am what I take you to be, good friend—a son of Judah—may I ask
the cause of this multitude?"
The stranger turned fiercely; but, seeing the solemn countenance of
Joseph, so in keeping with his deep, slow voice and speech, he raised his
hand in half-salutation, and replied,
"Peace be to you, Rabbi! I am a son of Judah, and will answer you. I
dwell in Beth-Dagon, which, you know, is in what used to be the land of the
tribe of Dan."
"On the road to Joppa from Modin," said Joseph.
"Ah, you have been in Beth-Dagon," the man said, his face softening yet
more. "What wanderers we of Judah are! I have been away from the ridge—old
Ephrath, as our father Jacob called it— for many years. When the
proclamation went abroad requiring all Hebrews to be numbered at the cities
of their birth— That is my business here, Rabbi."
Joseph's face remained stolid as a mask, while he remarked, "I have come
for that also—I and my wife."
The stranger glanced at Mary and kept silence. She was looking up at the
bald top of Gedor. The sun touched her upturned face, and filled the violet
depths of her eyes, and upon her parted lips trembled an aspiration which
could not have been to a mortal. For the moment, all the humanity of her
beauty seemed refined away: she was as we fancy they are who sit close by
the gate in the transfiguring light of Heaven. The Beth-Dagonite saw the
original of what, centuries after, came as a vision of genius to Sanzio the
divine, and left him immortal.
"Of what was I speaking? Ah! I remember. I was about to say that when I
heard of the order to come here, I was angry. Then I thought of the old hill,
and the town, and the valley falling away into the depths of Cedron; of the
vines and orchards, and fields of grain, unfailing since the days of Boaz and
Ruth, of the familiar mountains—Gedor here, Gibeah yonder, Mar Elias
there—which, when I was a boy, were the walls of the world to me; and I
forgave the tyrants and came—I, and Rachel, my wife, and Deborah and
Michal, our roses of Sharon."
The man paused again, looking abruptly at Mary, who was now looking at
him and listening. Then he said, "Rabbi, will not your wife go to mine? You
may see her yonder with the children, under the leaning olive-tree at the
bend of the road. I tell you"—he turned to Joseph and spoke positively—"I
tell you the khan is full. It is useless to ask at the gate."
Joseph's will was slow, like his mind; he hesitated, but at
length replied, "The offer is kind. Whether there be room for us or not in
the house, we will go see your people. Let me speak to the gate-keeper
myself. I will return quickly."
And, putting the leading-strap in the stranger's hand, he pushed into
the stirring crowd.
The keeper sat on a great cedar block outside the gate. Against the wall
behind him leaned a javelin. A dog squatted on the block by his side.
"The peace of Jehovah be with you," said Joseph, at last confronting the
keeper.
"What you give, may you find again; and, when found, be it many times
multiplied to you and yours," returned the watchman, gravely, though without
moving.
"I am a Bethlehemite," said Joseph, in his most deliberate way. Is there
not room for—"
"There is not."
"You may have heard of me—Joseph of Nazareth. This is the house of my
fathers. I am of the line of David."
These words held the Nazarene's hope. If they failed him, further appeal
was idle, even that of the offer of many shekels. To be a son of Judah was
one thing—in the tribal opinion a great thing; to be of the house of David
was yet another; on the tongue of a Hebrew there could be no higher boast. A
thousand years and more had passed since the boyish shepherd became the
successor of Saul and founded a royal family. Wars, calamities, other kings,
and the countless obscuring processes of time had, as respects
fortune, lowered his descendants to the common Jewish level; the
bread they ate came to them of toil never more humble; yet they had the
benefit of history sacredly kept, of which genealogy was the first chapter
and the last; they could not become unknown, while, wherever they went In
Israel, acquaintance drew after it a respect amounting to reverence.
If this were so in Jerusalem and elsewhere, certainly one of the sacred
line might reasonably rely upon it at the door of the khan of Bethlehem. To
say, as Joseph said, "This is the house of my fathers," was to say the truth
most simply and literally; for it was the very house Ruth ruled as the wife
of Boaz, the very house in which Jesse and his ten sons, David the youngest,
were born, the very house in which Samuel came seeking a king, and found him;
the very house which David gave to the son of Barzillai, the friendly
Gileadite; the very house in which Jeremiah, by prayer, rescued the
remnant of his race flying before the Babylonians.
The appeal was not without effect. The keeper of the gate slid down from
the cedar block, and, laying his hand upon his beard, said, respectfully,
"Rabbi, I cannot tell you when this door first opened in welcome to the
traveller, but it was more than a thousand years ago; and in all that time
there is no known instance of a good man turned away, save when there was no
room to rest him in. If it has been so with the stranger, just cause must the
steward have who says no to one of the line of David. Wherefore, I salute you
again; and, if you care to go with me, I will show you that there is not a
lodging-place left in the house; neither in the chambers, nor in the lewens,
nor in the court—not even on the roof. May I ask when you came?"
"But now."
The keeper smiled.
"'The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born among you,
and thou shalt love him as thyself.' Is not that the law, Rabbi?"
Joseph was silent.
"If it be the law, can I say to one a long time come, 'Go thy
way; another is here to take thy place?'"
Yet Joseph held his peace.
"And, if I said so, to whom would the place belong? See the many that
have been waiting, some of them since noon."
"Who are all these people?" asked Joseph, turning to the crowd. "And why
are they here at this time?"
"That which doubtless brought you, Rabbi—the decree of the Caesar"—the
keeper threw an interrogative glance at the Nazarene, then
continued—"brought most of those who have lodging in the house. And
yesterday the caravan passing from Damascus to Arabia and Lower Egypt
arrived. These you see here belong to it— men and camels."
Still Joseph persisted.
"The court is large," he said.
"Yes, but it is heaped with cargoes—with bales of silk, and pockets of
spices, and goods of every kind."
Then for a moment the face of the applicant lost its stolidity; the
lustreless, staring eyes dropped. With some warmth he next said, "I do not
care for myself, but I have with me my wife, and the night is cold—colder on
these heights than in Nazareth. She cannot live in the open air. Is there not
room in the town?"
"These people"—the keeper waved his hand to the throng before
the door—"have all besought the town, and they report its
accommodations all engaged."
Again Joseph studied the ground, saying, half to himself, "She is so
young! if I make her bed on the hill, the frosts will kill her."
Then he spoke to the keeper again.
"It may be you knew her parents, Joachim and Anna, once of
Bethlehem, and, like myself, of the line of David."
"Yes, I knew them. They were good people. That was in my youth."
This time the keeper's eyes sought the ground in thought. Suddenly
he raised his head.
"If I cannot make room for you," he said, "I cannot turn you
away. Rabbi, I will do the best I can for you. How many are of your
party?"
Joseph reflected, then replied, "My wife and a friend with his family,
from Beth-Dagon, a little town over by Joppa; in all, six of us."
"Very well. You shall not lie out on the ridge. Bring your people, and
hasten; for, when the sun goes down behind the mountain, you know the night
comes quickly, and it is nearly there now."
"I give you the blessing of the houseless traveller; that of
the sojourner will follow."
So saying, the Nazarene went back joyfully to Mary and
the Beth-Dagonite. In a little while the latter brought up his family, the
women mounted on donkeys. The wife was matronly, the daughters were images of
what she must have been in youth; and as they drew nigh the door, the keeper
knew them to be of the humble class.
"This is she of whom I spoke," said the Nazarene; "and these are our
friends."
Mary's veil was raised.
"Blue eyes and hair of gold," muttered the steward to himself, seeing
but her. "So looked the young king when he went to sing before Saul."
Then he took the leading-strap from Joseph, and said to Mary, "Peace to
you, O daughter of David!" Then to the others, "Peace to you all!" Then to
Joseph, "Rabbi, follow me."
The party were conducted into a wide passage paved with stone, from
which they entered the court of the khan. To a stranger the scene would have
been curious; but they noticed the lewens that yawned darkly upon them from
all sides, and the court itself, only to remark how crowded they were. By a
lane reserved in the stowage of the cargoes, and thence by a passage similar
to the one at the entrance, they emerged into the enclosure adjoining the
house, and came upon camels, horses, and donkeys, tethered and dozing in
close groups; among them were the keepers, men of many lands; and they, too,
slept or kept silent watch. They went down the slope of the crowded yard
slowly, for the dull carriers of the women had wills of their own. At length
they turned into a path running towards the gray limestone bluff overlooking
the khan on the west.
"We are going to the cave," said Joseph, laconically.
The guide lingered till Mary came to his side.
"The cave to which we are going," he said to her, "must have been a
resort of your ancestor David. From the field below us, and from the well
down in the valley, he used to drive his flocks to it for safety; and
afterwards, when he was king, he came back to the old house here for rest and
health, bringing great trains of animals. The mangers yet remain as they were
in his day. Better a bed on the floor where he has slept than one in the
court-yard or out by the roadside. Ah, here is the house before the
cave!"
This speech must not be taken as an apology for the lodging
offered. There was no need of apology. The place was the best then at
disposal. The guests were simple folks, by habits of life easily
satisfied. To the Jew of that period, moreover, abode in caverns was a
familiar idea, made so by every-day occurrences, and by what he heard
of Sabbaths in the synagogues. How much of Jewish history, how many of the
many exciting incidents in that history, had transpired in caves! Yet
further, these people were Jews of Bethlehem, with whom the idea was
especially commonplace; for their locality abounded with caves great and
small, some of which had been dwelling-places from the time of the Emim and
Horites. No more was there offence to them in the fact that the cavern to
which they were being taken had been, or was, a stable. They were the
descendants of a race of herdsmen, whose flocks habitually shared both their
habitations and wanderings. In keeping with a custom derived from Abraham,
the tent of the Bedawin yet shelters his horses and children alike. So
they obeyed the keeper cheerfully, and gazed at the house, feeling only a
natural curiosity. Everything associated with the history of David was
interesting to them.
The building was low and narrow, projecting but a little from the rock
to which it was joined at the rear, and wholly without a window. In its blank
front there was a door, swung on enormous hinges, and thickly daubed with
ochreous clay. While the wooden bolt of the lock was being pushed back, the
women were assisted from their pillions. Upon the opening of the door,
the keeper called out,
"Come in!"
The guests entered, and stared about them. It became
apparent immediately that the house was but a mask or covering for
the mouth of a natural cave or grotto, probably forty feet long, nine or
ten high, and twelve or fifteen in width. The light streamed through the
doorway, over an uneven floor, falling upon piles of grain and fodder, and
earthenware and household property, occupying the centre of the chamber.
Along the sides were mangers, low enough for sheep, and built of stones laid
in cement. There were no stalls or partitions of any kind. Dust and chaff
yellowed the floor, filled all the crevices and hollows, and thickened the
spider-webs, which dropped from the ceiling like bits of dirty linen;
otherwise the place was cleanly, and, to appearance, as comfortable as any of
the arched lewens of the khan proper. In fact, a cave was the model and first
suggestion of the lewen.
"Come in!" said the guide. "These piles upon the floor are for
travellers like yourselves. Take what of them you need."
Then he spoke to Mary.
"Can you rest here?"
"The place is sanctified," she answered.
"I leave you then. Peace be with you all!"
When he was gone, they busied themselves making the cave habitable.
CHAPTER X.
At a certain hour in the evening the shouting and stir of the people in
and about the khan ceased; at the same time, every Israelite, if not already
upon his feet, arose, solemnized his face, looked towards Jerusalem, crossed
his hands upon his breast, and prayed; for it was the sacred ninth hour, when
sacrifices were offered in the temple on Moriah, and God was supposed to be
there. When the hands of the worshippers fell down, the commotion
broke forth again; everybody hastened to bread, or to make his pallet. A
little later, the lights were put out, and there was silence, and then
sleep.
* * * * * *
About midnight some one on the roof cried out, "What light is that in
the sky? Awake, brethren, awake and see!"
The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then they became wide-awake,
though wonder-struck. And the stir spread to the court below, and into the
lewens; soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and enclosure were
out gazing at the sky.
And this was what they saw. A ray of light, beginning at a
height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, and dropping obliquely to
the earth; at its top, a diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in
width; its sides blending softly with the darkness of the night, its core a
roseate electrical splendor. The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest
mountain southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the line of the
summit. The khan was touched luminously, so that those upon the roof
saw each other's faces, all filled with wonder.
Steadily, through minutes, the ray lingered, and then the wonder changed
to awe and fear; the timid trembled; the boldest spoke in whispers.
"Saw you ever the like?" asked one.
"It seems just over the mountain there. I cannot tell what it is, nor
did I ever see anything like it," was the answer.
"Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?" asked another, his tongue
faltering.
"When a star falls, its light goes out."
"I have it!" cried one, confidently. "The shepherds have seen a lion,
and made fires to keep him from the flocks."
The men next the speaker drew a breath of relief, and said, "Yes, that
is it! The flocks were grazing in the valley over there to-day."
A bystander dispelled the comfort.
"No, no! Though all the wood in all the valleys of Judah was
brought together in one pile and fired, the blaze would not throw a light
so strong and high."
After that there was silence on the house-top, broken but once again
while the mystery continued.
"Brethren!" exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, "what we see is
the ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream. Blessed be the Lord God of
our fathers!"
CHAPTER XI
A mile and a half, it may be two miles, southeast of Bethlehem, there is
a plain separated from the town by an intervening swell of the mountain.
Besides being well sheltered from the north winds, the vale was covered with
a growth of sycamore, dwarf-oak, and pine trees, while in the glens and
ravines adjoining there were thickets of olive and mulberry; all at this
season of the year invaluable for the support of sheep, goats, and cattle, of
which the wandering flocks consisted.
At the side farthest from the town, close under a bluff, there was an
extensive marah, or sheepcot, ages old. In some long-forgotten foray, the
building had been unroofed and almost demolished. The enclosure attached to
it remained intact, however, and that was of more importance to the shepherds
who drove their charges thither than the house itself. The stone wall around
the lot was high as a man's head, yet not so high but that sometimes a
panther or a lion, hungering from the wilderness, leaped boldly in. On
the inner side of the wall, and as an additional security against the
constant danger, a hedge of the rhamnus had been planted, an invention so
successful that now a sparrow could hardly penetrate the overtopping
branches, armed as they were with great clusters of thorns hard as
spikes.
The day of the occurrences which occupy the preceding chapters, a number
of shepherds, seeking fresh walks for their flocks, led them up to this
plain; and from early morning the groves had been made ring with calls, and
the blows of axes, the bleating of sheep and goats, the tinkling of bells,
the lowing of cattle, and the barking of dogs. When the sun went down, they
led the way to the marah, and by nightfall had everything safe in the field;
then they kindled a fire down by the gate, partook of their humble
supper, and sat down to rest and talk, leaving one on watch.
There were six of these men, omitting the watchman; and afterwhile they
assembled in a group near the fire, some sitting, some lying prone. As they
went bareheaded habitually, their hair stood out in thick, coarse, sunburnt
shocks; their beard covered their throats, and fell in mats down the breast;
mantles of the skin of kids and lambs, with the fleece on, wrapped them from
neck to knee, leaving the arms exposed; broad belts girthed the rude
garments to their waists; their sandals were of the coarsest quality; from
their right shoulders hung scrips containing food and selected stones for
slings, with which they were armed; on the ground near each one lay his
crook, a symbol of his calling and a weapon of offence.
Such were the shepherds of Judea! In appearance, rough and savage as the
gaunt dogs sitting with them around the blaze; in fact, simple-minded,
tender-hearted; effects due, in part, to the primitive life they led, but
chiefly to their constant care of things lovable and helpless.
They rested and talked, and their talk was all about their flocks, a
dull theme to the world, yet a theme which was all the world to them. If in
narrative they dwelt long upon affairs of trifling moment; if one of them
omitted nothing of detail in recounting the loss of a lamb, the relation
between him and the unfortunate should be remembered: at birth it became his
charge, his to keep all its days, to help over the floods, to carry down the
hollows, to name and train; it was to be his companion, his object of
thought and interest, the subject of his will; it was to enliven and
share his wanderings; in its defense he might be called on to face
the lion or robber—to die.
The great events, such as blotted out nations and changed the mastery of
the world, were trifles to them, if perchance they came to their knowledge.
Of what Herod was doing in this city or that, building palaces and gymnasia,
and indulging forbidden practises, they occasionally heard. As was her habit
in those days, Rome did not wait for people slow to inquire about her; she
came to them. Over the hills along which he was leading his lagging herd, or
in the fastnesses in which he was hiding them, not unfrequently
the shepherd was startled by the blare of trumpets, and, peering
out, beheld a cohort, sometimes a legion, in march; and when
the glittering crests were gone, and the excitement incident to the
intrusion over, he bent himself to evolve the meaning of the eagles and
gilded globes of the soldiery, and the charm of a life so the opposite of his
own.
Yet these men, rude and simple as they were, had a knowledge and a
wisdom of their own. On Sabbaths they were accustomed to purify themselves,
and go up into the synagogues, and sit on the benches farthest from the ark.
When the chazzan bore the Torah round, none kissed it with greater zest; when
the sheliach read the text, none listened to the interpreter with more
absolute faith; and none took away with them more of the elder's sermon, or
gave it more thought afterwards. In a verse of the Shema they found all
the learning and all the law of their simple lives—that their Lord was
One God, and that they must love him with all their souls. And they loved
him, and such was their wisdom, surpassing that of kings.
While they talked, and before the first watch was over, one by one the
shepherds went to sleep, each lying where he had sat.
The night, like most nights of the winter season in the hill country,
was clear, crisp, and sparkling with stars. There was no wind. The atmosphere
seemed never so pure, and the stillness was more than silence; it was a holy
hush, a warning that heaven was stooping low to whisper some good thing to
the listening earth.
By the gate, hugging his mantle close, the watchman walked; at times he
stopped, attracted by a stir among the sleeping herds, or by a jackal's cry
off on the mountain-side. The midnight was slow coming to him; but at last it
came. His task was done; now for the dreamless sleep with which labor blesses
its wearied children! He moved towards the fire, but paused; a light was
breaking around him, soft and white, like the moon's. He waited
breathlessly. The light deepened; things before invisible came to view; he
saw the whole field, and all it sheltered. A chill sharper than that of
the frosty air—a chill of fear—smote him. He looked up; the stars were
gone; the light was dropping as from a window in the sky; as he looked, it
became a splendor; then, in terror, he cried,
"Awake, awake!"
Up sprang the dogs, and, howling, ran away.
The herds rushed together bewildered.
The men clambered to their feet, weapons in hand.
"What is it?" they asked, in one voice.
"See!" cried the watchman, "the sky is on fire!"
Suddenly the light became intolerably bright, and they covered their
eyes, and dropped upon their knees; then, as their souls shrank with fear,
they fell upon their faces blind and fainting, and would have died had not a
voice said to them,
"Fear not!"
And they listened.
"Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people."
The voice, in sweetness and soothing more than human, and low and clear,
penetrated all their being, and filled them with assurance. They rose upon
their knees, and, looking worshipfully, beheld in the centre of a great glory
the appearance of a man, clad in a robe intensely white; above its shoulders
towered the tops of wings shining and folded; a star over its forehead glowed
with steady lustre, brilliant as Hesperus; its hands were
stretched towards them in blessing; its face was serene and divinely
beautiful.
They had often heard, and, in their simple way, talked, of angels; and
they doubted not now, but said, in their hearts, The glory of God is about
us, and this is he who of old came to the prophet by the river of Ulai.
Directly the angel continued:
"For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord!"
Again there was a rest, while the words sank into their minds.
"And this shall be a sign unto you," the annunciator said next. "Ye
shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger."
The herald spoke not again; his good tidings were told; yet he stayed
awhile. Suddenly the light, of which he seemed the centre, turned roseate and
began to tremble; then up, far as the men could see, there was flashing of
white wings, and coming and going of radiant forms, and voices as of a
multitude chanting in unison,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will
towards men!"
Not once the praise, but many times.
Then the herald raised his eyes as seeking approval of one far off; his
wings stirred, and spread slowly and majestically, on their upper side white
as snow, in the shadow vari-tinted, like mother-of-pearl; when they were
expanded many cubits beyond his stature, he arose lightly, and, without
effort, floated out of view, taking the light up with him. Long after he was
gone, down from the sky fell the refrain in measure mellowed by distance,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards
men."
When the shepherds came fully to their senses, they stared at each other
stupidly, until one of them said, "It was Gabriel, the Lord's messenger unto
men."
None answered.
"Christ the Lord is born; said he not so?"
Then another recovered his voice, and replied, "That is what
he said."
"And did he not also say, in the city of David, which is our Bethlehem
yonder. And that we should find him a babe in swaddling-clothes?"
"And lying in a manger."
The first speaker gazed into the fire thoughtfully, but at length said,
like one possessed of a sudden resolve, "There is but one place in Bethlehem
where there are mangers; but one, and that is in the cave near the old khan.
Brethren, let us go see this thing which has come to pass. The priests and
doctors have been a long time looking for the Christ. Now he is born, and the
Lord has given us a sign by which to know him. Let us go up and
worship him."
"But the flocks!"
"The Lord will take care of them. Let us make haste."
Then they all arose and left the marah.
* * * * * *
Around the mountain and through the town they passed, and came to the
gate of the khan, where there was a man on watch.
"What would you have?" he asked.
"We have seen and heard great things to-night," they replied.
"Well, we, too, have seen great things, but heard nothing. What did you
hear?"
"Let us go down to the cave in the enclosure, that we may be sure; then
we will tell you all. Come with us, and see for yourself."
"It is a fool's errand."
"No, the Christ is born."
"The Christ! How do you know?"
"Let us go and see first."
The man laughed scornfully.
"The Christ indeed! How are you to know him?"
"He was born this night, and is now lying in a manger, so we were told;
and there is but one place in Bethlehem with mangers."
"The cave?"
"Yes. Come with us."
They went through the court-yard without notice, although there were
some up even then talking about the wonderful light. The door of the cavern
was open. A lantern was burning within, and they entered
unceremoniously.
"I give you peace," the watchman said to Joseph and the Beth Dagonite.
"Here are people looking for a child born this night, whom they are to know
by finding him in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger."
For a moment the face of the stolid Nazarene was moved; turning away, he
said, "The child is here."
They were led to one of the mangers, and there the child was.
The lantern was brought, and the shepherds stood by mute. The little one
made no sign; it was as others just born.
"Where is the mother?" asked the watchman.
One of the women took the baby, and went to Mary, lying near, and put it
in her arms. Then the bystanders collected about the two.
"It is the Christ!" said a shepherd, at last.
"The Christ!" they all repeated, falling upon their knees in
worship. One of them repeated several times over,
"It is the Lord, and his glory is above the earth and heaven."
And the simple men, never doubting, kissed the hem of the mother's robe,
and with joyful faces departed. In the khan, to all the people aroused and
pressing about them, they told their story; and through the town, and all the
way back to the marah, they chanted the refrain of the angels, "Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men!"
The story went abroad, confirmed by the light so generally seen; and the
next day, and for days thereafter, the cave was visited by curious crowds, of
whom some believed, though the greater part laughed and mocked.
CHAPTER XII
The eleventh day after the birth of the child in the cave, about
mid-afternoon, the three wise men approached Jerusalem by the road from
Shechem. After crossing Brook Cedron, they met many people, of whom none
failed to stop and look after them curiously.
Judea was of necessity an international thoroughfare; a narrow ridge,
raised, apparently, by the pressure of the desert on the east, and the sea on
the west, was all she could claim to be; over the ridge, however, nature had
stretched the line of trade between the east and the south; and that was her
wealth. In other words, the riches of Jerusalem were the tolls she
levied on passing commerce. Nowhere else, consequently, unless in
Rome, was there such constant assemblage of so many people of so
many different nations; in no other city was a stranger less strange to
the residents than within her walls and purlieus. And yet these three men
excited the wonder of all whom they met on the way to the gates.
A child belonging to some women sitting by the roadside opposite the
Tombs of the Kings saw the party coming; immediately it clapped its hands,
and cried, "Look, look! What pretty bells! What big camels!"
The bells were silver; the camels, as we have seen, were of unusual size
and whiteness, and moved with singular stateliness; the trappings told of the
desert and of long journeys thereon, and also of ample means in possession of
the owners, who sat under the little canopies exactly as they appeared at the
rendezvous beyond the Jebel. Yet it was not the bells or the camels, or their
furniture, or the demeanor of the riders, that were so wonderful; it was the
question put by the man who rode foremost of the three.
The approach to Jerusalem from the north is across a plain which dips
southward, leaving the Damascus Gate in a vale or hollow. The road is narrow,
but deeply cut by long use, and in places difficult on account of the cobbles
left loose and dry by the washing of the rains. On either side, however,
there stretched, in the old time, rich fields and handsome olive-groves,
which must, in luxurious growth, have been beautiful, especially to
travellers fresh from the wastes of the desert. In this road, the three
stopped before the party in front of the Tombs.
"Good people," said Balthasar, stroking his plaited beard, and bending
from his cot, "is not Jerusalem close by?"
"Yes," answered the woman into whose arms the child had shrunk. "If the
trees on yon swell were a little lower you could see the towers on the
market-place."
Balthasar gave the Greek and the Hindoo a look, then asked,
"Where is he that is born King of the Jews?"
The women gazed at each other without reply.
"You have not heard of him?"
"No."
"Well, tell everybody that we have seen his star in the east, and are
come to worship him."
Thereupon the friends rode on. Of others they asked the same question,
with like result. A large company whom they met going to the Grotto of
Jeremiah were so astonished by the inquiry and the appearance of the
travellers that they turned about and followed them into the city.
So much were the three occupied with the idea of their mission that they
did not care for the view which presently rose before them in the utmost
magnificence: for the village first to receive them on Bezetha; for Mizpah
and Olivet, over on their left; for the wall behind the village, with its
forty tall and solid towers, superadded partly for strength, partly to
gratify the critical taste of the kingly builder; for the same towered wall
bending off to the right, with many an angle, and here and there
an embattled gate, up to the three great white piles Phasaelus, Mariamne,
and Hippicus; for Zion, tallest of the hills, crowned with marble palaces,
and never so beautiful; for the glittering terraces of the temple on Moriah,
admittedly one of the wonders of the earth; for the regal mountains rimming
the sacred city round about until it seemed in the hollow of a mighty
bowl.
They came, at length, to a tower of great height and
strength, overlooking the gate which, at that time, answered to
the present Damascus Gate, and marked the meeting-place of the three roads
from Shechem, Jericho, and Gibeon. A Roman guard kept the passage-way. By
this time the people following the camels formed a train sufficient to draw
the idlers hanging about the portal; so that when Balthasar stopped to speak
to the sentinel, the three became instantly the centre of a close circle
eager to hear all that passed.
"I give you peace," the Egyptian said, in a clear voice.
The sentinel made no reply.
"We have come great distances in search of one who is born King of the
Jews. Can you tell us where he is?"
The soldier raised the visor of his helmet, and called loudly. From an
apartment at the right of the passage an officer appeared.
"Give way," he cried, to the crowd which now pressed closer in; and
as they seemed slow to obey, he advanced twirling his javelin
vigorously, now right, now left; and so he gained room.
"What would you?" he asked of Balthasar, speaking in the idiom of the
city.
And Balthasar answered in the same,
"Where is he that is born King of the Jews?"
"Herod?" asked the officer, confounded.
"Herod's kingship is from Caesar; not Herod."
"There is no other King of the Jews."
"But we have seen the star of him we seek, and come to worship him."
The Roman was perplexed.
"Go farther," he said, at last. "Go farther. I am not a Jew. Carry the
question to the doctors in the Temple, or to Hannas the priest, or, better
still, to Herod himself. If there be another King of the Jews, he will find
him."
Thereupon he made way for the strangers, and they passed the gate. But,
before entering the narrow street, Balthasar lingered to say to his friends,
"We are sufficiently proclaimed. By midnight the whole city will have heard
of us and of our mission. Let us to the khan now."
CHAPTER XIII
That evening, before sunset, some women were washing clothes on the
upper step of the flight that led down into the basin of the Pool of Siloam.
They knelt each before a broad bowl of earthenware. A girl at the foot of the
steps kept them supplied with water, and sang while she filled the jar. The
song was cheerful, and no doubt lightened their labor. Occasionally they
would sit upon their heels, and look up the slope of Ophel, and round to the
summit of what is now the Mount of Offence, then faintly glorified by the
dying sun.
While they plied their hands, rubbing and wringing the clothes in the
bowls, two other women came to them, each with an empty jar upon her
shoulder.
"Peace to you," one of the new-comers said.
The laborers paused, sat up, wrung the water from their hands, and
returned the salutation.
"It is nearly night—time to quit."
"There is no end to work," was the reply.
"But there is a time to rest, and—"
"To hear what may be passing," interposed another.
"What news have you?"
"Then you have not heard?"
"No."
"They say the Christ is born," said the newsmonger, plunging into her
story.
It was curious to see the faces of the laborers brighten with interest;
on the other side down came the jars, which, in a moment, were turned into
seats for their owners.
"The Christ!" the listeners cried.
"So they say."
"Who?"
"Everybody; it is common talk."
"Does anybody believe it?"
"This afternoon three men came across Brook Cedron on the road from
Shechem," the speaker replied, circumstantially, intending to smother doubt.
"Each one of them rode a camel spotless white, and larger than any ever
before seen in Jerusalem."
The eyes and mouths of the auditors opened wide.
"To prove how great and rich the men were," the narrator
continued, "they sat under awnings of silk; the buckles of their saddles
were of gold, as was the fringe of their bridles; the bells were
of silver, and made real music. Nobody knew them; they looked as if they
had come from the ends of the world. Only one of them spoke, and of everybody
on the road, even the women and children, he asked this question—'Where is
he that is born King of the Jews?' No one gave them answer—no one understood
what they meant; so they passed on, leaving behind them this saying: 'For we
have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.' They put the
question to the Roman at the gate; and he, no wiser than the simple people
on the road, sent them up to Herod."
"Where are they now?"
"At the khan. Hundreds have been to look at them already, and
hundreds more are going."
"Who are they?"
"Nobody knows. They are said to be Persians—wise men who talk with the
stars—prophets, it may be, like Elijah and Jeremiah."
"What do they mean by King of the Jews?"
"The Christ, and that he is just born."
One of the women laughed, and resumed her work, saying, 'Well, when I
see him I will believe."
Another followed her example: "And I—well, when I see him raise the
dead, I will believe."
A third said, quietly, "He has been a long time promised. It will be
enough for me to see him heal one leper."
And the party sat talking until the night came, and, with the help of
the frosty air, drove them home.
* * * * * *
Later in the evening, about the beginning of the first watch, there was
an assemblage in the palace on Mount Zion, of probably fifty persons, who
never came together except by order of Herod, and then only when he had
demanded to know some one or more of the deeper mysteries of the Jewish law
and history. It was, in short, a meeting of the teachers of the colleges, of
the chief priests, and of the doctors most noted in the city for
learning—the leaders of opinion, expounders of the different creeds; princes
of the Sadducees; Pharisaic debaters; calm, soft-spoken, stoical philosophers
of the Essene socialists.
The chamber in which the session was held belonged to one of the
interior court-yards of the palace, and was quite large and Romanesque. The
floor was tessellated with marble blocks; the walls, unbroken by a window,
were frescoed in panels of saffron yellow; a divan occupied the centre of the
apartment, covered with cushions of bright-yellow cloth, and fashioned
in form of the letter U, the opening towards the doorway; in the arch of
the divan, or, as it were, in the bend of the letter, there was an immense
bronze tripod, curiously inlaid with gold and silver, over which a chandelier
dropped from the ceiling, having seven arms, each holding a lighted lamp. The
divan and the lamp were purely Jewish.
The company sat upon the divan after the style of Orientals, in costume
singularly uniform, except as to color. They were mostly men advanced in
years; immense beards covered their faces; to their large noses were added
the effects of large black eyes, deeply shaded by bold brows; their demeanor
was grave, dignified, even patriarchal. In brief, their session was that of
the Sanhedrim.
He who sat before the tripod, however, in the place which may be called
the head of the divan, having all the rest of his associates on his right and
left, and, at the same time, before him, evidently president of the meeting,
would have instantly absorbed the attention of a spectator. He had been cast
in large mould, but was now shrunken and stooped to ghastliness; his white
robe dropped from his shoulders in folds that gave no hint of muscle or
anything but an angular skeleton. His hands, half concealed by sleeves of
silk, white and crimson striped, were clasped upon his knees. When he spoke,
sometimes the first finger of the right hand extended tremulously; he seemed
incapable of other gesture. But his head was a splendid dome. A few hairs,
whiter than fine-drawn silver, fringed the base; over a broad, full-sphered
skull the skin was drawn close, and shone in the light with positive
brilliance; the temples were deep hollows, from which the forehead beetled
like a wrinkled crag; the eyes were wan and dim; the nose was pinched; and
all the lower face was muffed in a beard flowing and venerable as Aaron's.
Such was Hillel the Babylonian! The line of prophets, long extinct in Israel,
was now succeeded by a line of scholars, of whom he was first in learning—a
prophet in all but the divine inspiration! At the age of one hundred and six,
he was still Rector of the Great College.
On the table before him lay outspread a roll or volume of
parchment inscribed with Hebrew characters; behind him, in waiting, stood
a page richly habited.
There had been discussion, but at this moment of introduction
the company had reached a conclusion; each one was in an attitude of rest,
and the venerable Hillel, without moving, called the page.
"Hist!"
The youth advanced respectfully.
"Go tell the king we are ready to give him answer."
The boy hurried away.
After a time two officers entered and stopped, one on each side the
door; after them slowly followed a most striking personage— an old man clad
in a purple robe bordered with scarlet, and girt to his waist by a band of
gold linked so fine that it was pliable as leather; the latchets of his shoes
sparkled with precious stones; a narrow crown wrought in filigree shone
outside a tarbooshe of softest crimson plush, which, encasing his head, fell
down the neck and shoulders, leaving the throat and neck exposed. Instead
of a seal, a dagger dangled from his belt. He walked with a halting step,
leaning heavily upon a staff. Not until he reached the opening of the divan,
did he pause or look up from the floor; then, as for the first time conscious
of the company, and roused by their presence, he raised himself, and
looked haughtily round, like one startled and searching for an enemy—so
dark, suspicious, and threatening was the glance. Such was Herod the Great—a
body broken by diseases, a conscience seared with crimes, a mind
magnificently capable, a soul fit for brotherhood with the Caesars; now
seven-and-sixty years old, but guarding his throne with a jealousy never so
vigilant, a power never so despotic, and a cruelty never so inexorable.
There was a general movement on the part of the assemblage—a bending
forward in salaam by the more aged, a rising-up by the more courtierly,
followed by low genuflections, hands upon the beard or breast.
His observations taken, Herod moved on until at the tripod opposite the
venerable Hillel, who met his cold glance with an inclination of the head,
and a slight lifting of the hands.
"The answer!" said the king, with imperious simplicity, addressing
Hillel, and planting his staff before him with both hands. "The
answer!"
The eyes of the patriarch glowed mildly, and, raising his head, and
looking the inquisitor full in the face, he answered, his associates giving
him closest attention,
"With thee, O king, be the peace of God, of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob!"
His manner was that of invocation; changing it, he resumed:
"Thou hast demanded of us where the Christ should be born."
The king bowed, though the evil eyes remained fixed upon the sage's
face.
"That is the question."
"Then, O king, speaking for myself, and all my brethren here, not one
dissenting, I say, in Bethlehem of Judea."
Hillel glanced at the parchment on the tripod; and, pointing with his
tremulous finger, continued, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written
by the prophet, 'And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, art not the least
among the princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a governor that shall
rule my people Israel.'"
Herod's face was troubled, and his eyes fell upon the parchment while he
thought. Those beholding him scarcely breathed; they spoke not, nor did he.
At length he turned about and left the chamber.
"Brethren," said Hillel, "we are dismissed."
The company then arose, and in groups departed.
"Simeon," said Hillel again.
A man, quite fifty years old, but in the hearty prime of life, answered
and came to him.
"Take up the sacred parchment, my son; roll it tenderly."
The order was obeyed.
"Now lend me thy arm; I will to the litter."
The strong man stooped; with his withered hands the old one took the
offered support, and, rising, moved feebly to the door.
So departed the famous Rector, and Simeon, his son, who was to be his
successor in wisdom, learning, and office.
* * * * * *
Yet later in the evening the wise men were lying in a lewen of the khan
awake. The stones which served them as pillows raised their heads so they
could look out of the open arch into the depths of the sky; and as they
watched the twinkling of the stars, they thought of the next manifestation.
How would it come? What would it be? They were in Jerusalem at last; they had
asked at the gate for Him they sought; they had borne witness of his birth;
it remained only to find him; and as to that, they placed all trust in the
Spirit. Men listening for the voice of God, or waiting a sign from
Heaven, cannot sleep.
While they were in this condition, a man stepped in under the
arch, darkening the lewen.
"Awake!" he said to them; "I bring you a message which will not be put
off."
They all sat up.
"From whom?" asked the Egyptian.
"Herod the king."
Each one felt his spirit thrill.
"Are you not the steward of the khan?" Balthasar asked next.
"I am."
"What would the king with us?"
"His messenger is without; let him answer."
"Tell him, then, to abide our coming."
"You were right, O my brother!" said the Greek, when the steward was
gone. "The question put to the people on the road, and to the guard at the
gate, has given us quick notoriety. I am impatient; let us up quickly."
They arose, put on their sandals, girt their mantles about them, and
went out.
"I salute you, and give you peace, and pray your pardon; but my master,
the king, has sent me to invite you to the palace, where he would have speech
with you privately."
Thus the messenger discharged his duty.
A lamp hung in the entrance, and by its light they looked at each other,
and knew the Spirit was upon them. Then the Egyptian stepped to the steward,
and said, so as not to be heard by the others, "You know where our goods are
stored in the court, and where our camels are resting. While we are gone,
make all things ready for our departure, if it should be needful."
"Go your way assured; trust me," the steward replied.
"The king's will is our will," said Balthasar to the messenger. "We will
follow you."
The streets of the Holy City were narrow then as now, but not so rough
and foul; for the great builder, not content with beauty, enforced
cleanliness and convenience also. Following their guide, the brethren
proceeded without a word. Through the dim starlight, made dimmer by the walls
on both sides, sometimes almost lost under bridges connecting the house-tops,
out of a low ground they ascended a hill. At last they came to a portal
reared across the way. In the light of fires blazing before it in
two great braziers, they caught a glimpse of the structure, and also of
some guards leaning motionlessly upon their arms. They passed into a building
unchallenged. Then by passages and arched halls; through courts, and under
colonnades not always lighted; up long flights of stairs, past innumerable
cloisters and chambers, they were conducted into a tower of great height.
Suddenly the guide halted, and, pointing through an open door, said to
them,
"Enter. The king is there."
The air of the chamber was heavy with the perfume of sandal-wood, and
all the appointments within were effeminately rich. Upon the floor, covering
the central space, a tufted rug was spread, and upon that a throne was set.
The visitors had but time, however, to catch a confused idea of the place—of
carved and gilt ottomans and couches; of fans and jars and musical
instruments; of golden candlesticks glittering in their own lights; of walls
painted in the style of the voluptuous Grecian school, one look at which
had made a Pharisee hide his head with holy horror. Herod, sitting
upon the throne to receive them, clad as when at the conference with
the doctors and lawyers, claimed all their minds.
At the edge of the rug, to which they advanced uninvited,
they prostrated themselves. The king touched a bell. An attendant came in,
and placed three stools before the throne.
"Seat yourselves," said the monarch, graciously.
"From the North Gate," he continued, when they were at rest, "I had this
afternoon report of the arrival of three strangers, curiously mounted, and
appearing as if from far countries. Are you the men?"
The Egyptian took the sign from the Greek and the Hindoo, and answered,
with the profoundest salaam, "Were we other than we are, the mighty Herod,
whose fame is as incense to the whole world, would not have sent for us. We
may not doubt that we are the strangers."
Herod acknowledged the speech with a wave of the hand.
"Who are you? Whence do you come?" he asked, adding significantly, "Let
each speak for himself."
In turn they gave him account, referring simply to the cities and lands
of their birth, and the routes by which they came to Jerusalem. Somewhat
disappointed, Herod plied them more directly.
"What was the question you put to the officer at the gate?"
"We asked him, Where is he that is born King of the Jews."
"I see now why the people were so curious. You excite me no less. Is
there another King of the Jews?"
The Egyptian did not blanch.
"There is one newly born."
An expression of pain knit the dark face of the monarch, as if his mind
were swept by a harrowing recollection.
"Not to me, not to me!" he exclaimed.
Possibly the accusing images of his murdered children flitted before
him; recovering from the emotion, whatever it was, he asked, steadily, "Where
is the new king?"
"That, O king, is what we would ask."
"You bring me a wonder—a riddle surpassing any of Solomon's," the
inquisitor said next. "As you see, I am in the time of life when curiosity is
as ungovernable as it was in childhood, when to trifle with it is cruelty.
Tell me further, and I will honor you as kings honor each other. Give me all
you know about the newly born, and I will join you in the search for him; and
when we have found him, I will do what you wish; I will bring him to
Jerusalem, and train him in kingcraft; I will use my grace with Caesar for
his promotion and glory. Jealousy shall not come between us, so I swear. But
tell me first how, so widely separated by seas and deserts, you all
came to hear of him."
"I will tell you truly, O king."
"Speak on," said Herod.
Balthasar raised himself erect, and said, solemnly,
"There is an Almighty God."
Herod was visibly startled.
"He bade us come hither, promising that we should find the Redeemer of
the World; that we should see and worship him, and bear witness that he was
come; and, as a sign, we were each given to see a star. His Spirit stayed
with us. O king, his Spirit is with us now!"
An overpowering feeling seized the three. The Greek with
difficulty restrained an outcry. Herod's gaze darted quickly from one to the
other; he was more suspicious and dissatisfied than before.
"You are mocking me," he said. "If not, tell me more. What is to follow
the coming of the new king?"
"The salvation of men."
"From what?"
"Their wickedness."
"How?"
"By the divine agencies—Faith, Love, and Good Works."
"Then"—Herod paused, and from his look no man could have said with what
feeling he continued—"you are the heralds of the Christ. Is that all?"
Balthasar bowed low.
"We are your servants, O king."
The monarch touched a bell, and the attendant appeared.
"Bring the gifts," the master said.
The attendant went out, but in a little while returned, and, kneeling
before the guests, gave to each one an outer robe or mantle of scarlet and
blue, and a girdle of gold. They acknowledged the honors with Eastern
prostrations.
"A word further," said Herod, when the ceremony was ended. "To
the officer of the gate, and but now to me, you spoke of seeing a star in
the east."
"Yes," said Balthasar, "his star, the star of the newly born."
"What time did it appear?"
"When we were bidden come hither."
Herod arose, signifying the audience was over. Stepping from the throne
towards them, he said, with all graciousness,
"If, as I believe, O illustrious men, you are indeed the heralds of the
Christ just born, know that I have this night consulted those wisest in
things Jewish, and they say with one voice he should be born in Bethlehem of
Judea. I say to you, go thither; go and search diligently for the young
child; and when you have found him bring me word again, that I may come and
worship him. To your going there shall be no let or hindrance. Peace be
with you!"
And, folding his robe about him, he left the chamber.
Directly the guide came, and led them back to the street, and thence to
the khan, at the portal of which the Greek said, impulsively, "Let us to
Bethlehem, O brethren, as the king has advised."
"Yes," cried the Hindoo. "The Spirit burns within me."
"Be it so," said Balthasar, with equal warmth. "The camels
are ready."
They gave gifts to the steward, mounted into their saddles, received
directions to the Joppa Gate, and departed. At their approach the great
valves were unbarred, and they passed out into the open country, taking the
road so lately travelled by Joseph and Mary. As they came up out of Hinnom,
on the plain of Rephaim, a light appeared, at first wide-spread and
faint. Their pulses fluttered fast. The light intensified rapidly;
they closed their eyes against its burning brilliance: when they
dared look again, lo! the star, perfect as any in the heavens, but
low down and moving slowly before them. And they folded their hands, and
shouted, and rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
"God is with us! God is with us!" they repeated, in frequent cheer, all
the way, until the star, rising out of the valley beyond Mar Elias, stood
still over a house up on the slope of the hill near the town.
CHAPTER XIV
It was now the beginning of the third watch, and at Bethlehem the
morning was breaking over the mountains in the east, but so feebly that it
was yet night in the valley. The watchman on the roof of the old khan,
shivering in the chilly air, was listening for the first distinguishable
sounds with which life, awakening, greets the dawn, when a light came moving
up the hill towards the house. He thought it a torch in some one's hand; next
moment he thought it a meteor; the brilliance grew, however, until
it became a star. Sore afraid, he cried out, and brought everybody within
the walls to the roof. The phenomenon, in eccentric motion, continued to
approach; the rocks, trees, and roadway under it shone as in a glare of
lightning; directly its brightness became blinding. The more timid of the
beholders fell upon their knees, and prayed, with their faces hidden; the
boldest, covering their eyes, crouched, and now and then snatched glances
fearfully. Afterwhile the khan and everything thereabout lay under the
intolerable radiance. Such as dared look beheld the star standing still
directly over the house in front of the cave where the Child had been
born.
In the height of this scene, the wise men came up, and at the
gate dismounted from their camels, and shouted for admission. When
the steward so far mastered his terror as to give them heed, he drew the
bars and opened to them. The camels looked spectral in the unnatural light,
and, besides their outlandishness, there were in the faces and manner of the
three visitors an eagerness and exaltation which still further excited the
keeper's fears and fancy; he fell back, and for a time could not answer the
question they put to him.
"Is not this Bethlehem of Judea?"
But others came, and by their presence gave him assurance.
"No, this is but the khan; the town lies farther on."
"Is there not here a child newly born?"
The bystanders turned to each other marvelling, though some of them
answered, "Yes, yes."
"Show us to him!" said the Greek, impatiently.
"Show us to him!" cried Balthasar, breaking through his gravity; "for we
have seen his star, even that which ye behold over the house, and are come to
worship him."
The Hindoo clasped his hands, exclaiming, "God indeed lives! Make haste,
make haste! The Savior is found. Blessed, blessed are we above men!"
The people from the roof came down and followed the strangers as they
were taken through the court and out into the enclosure; at sight of the star
yet above the cave, though less candescent than before, some turned back
afraid; the greater part went on. As the strangers neared the house, the orb
arose; when they were at the door, it was high up overhead vanishing; when
they entered, it went out lost to sight. And to the witnesses of what then
took place came a conviction that there was a divine relation between the
star and the strangers, which extended also to at least some of the occupants
of the cave. When the door was opened, they crowded in.
The apartment was lighted by a lantern enough to enable the strangers to
find the mother, and the child awake in her lap.
"Is the child thine?" asked Balthasar of Mary.
And she who had kept all the things in the least affecting the little
one, and pondered them in her heart, held it up in the light, saying,
"He is my son!"
And they fell down and worshipped him.
They saw the child was as other children: about its head was
neither nimbus nor material crown; its lips opened not in speech; if it
heard their expressions of joy, their invocations, their prayers, it
made no sign whatever, but, baby-like, looked longer at the flame in
the lantern than at them.
In a little while they arose, and, returning to the camels, brought
gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and laid them before the child,
abating nothing of their worshipful speeches; of which no part is given, for
the thoughtful know that the pure worship of the pure heart was then what it
is now, and has always been, an inspired song.
And this was the Savior they had come so far to find!
Yet they worshipped without a doubt.
Why?
Their faith rested upon the signs sent them by him whom we have since
come to know as the Father; and they were of the kind to whom his promises
were so all-sufficient that they asked nothing about his ways. Few there were
who had seen the signs and heard the promises—the Mother and Joseph, the
shepherds, and the Three—yet they all believed alike; that is to say, in
this period of the plan of salvation, God was all and the Child nothing. But
look forward, O reader! A time will come when the signs will all proceed
from the Son. Happy they who then believe in him!
Let us wait that period.
BOOK SECOND
"There is a fire And motion of the soul which will not
dwell In its own narrow being, but aspire Beyond the fitting medium of
desire; And, but once kindled, quenchless evermore, Preys upon high
adventure, nor can tire Of aught but rest."
Childe Harold.
CHAPTER I
It is necessary now to carry the reader forward twenty-one years, to the
beginning of the administration of Valerius Gratus, the fourth imperial
governor of Judea—a period which will be remembered as rent by political
agitations in Jerusalem, if, indeed, it be not the precise time of the
opening of the final quarrel between the Jew and the Roman.
In the interval Judea had been subjected to changes affecting her in
many ways, but in nothing so much as her political status. Herod the Great
died within one year after the birth of the Child—died so miserably that the
Christian world had reason to believe him overtaken by the Divine wrath. Like
all great rulers who spend their lives in perfecting the power they create,
he dreamed of transmitting his throne and crown—of being the founder of
a dynasty. With that intent, he left a will dividing his
territories between his three sons, Antipas, Philip, and Archelaus, of
whom the last was appointed to succeed to the title. The testament
was necessarily referred to Augustus, the emperor, who ratified all
its provisions with one exception: he withheld from Archelaus the title of
king until he proved his capacity and loyalty; in lieu thereof, he created
him ethnarch, and as such permitted him to govern nine years, when, for
misconduct and inability to stay the turbulent elements that grew and
strengthened around him, he was sent into Gaul as an exile.
Caesar was not content with deposing Archelaus; he struck the people of
Jerusalem in a manner that touched their pride, and keenly wounded the
sensibilities of the haughty habitues of the Temple. He reduced Judea to a
Roman province, and annexed it to the prefecture of Syria. So, instead of a
king ruling royally from the palace left by Herod on Mount Zion, the city
fell into the hands of an officer of the second grade, an appointee called
procurator, who communicated with the court in Rome through the Legate of
Syria, residing in Antioch. To make the hurt more painful, the procurator was
not permitted to establish himself in Jerusalem; Caesarea was his seat of
government. Most humiliating, however, most exasperating, most studied,
Samaria, of all the world the most despised—Samaria was joined to Judea
as a part of the same province! What ineffable misery the
bigoted Separatists or Pharisees endured at finding themselves elbowed and
laughed at in the procurator's presence in Caesarea by the devotees of
Gerizim!
In this rain of sorrows, one consolation, and one only, remained to the
fallen people: the high-priest occupied the Herodian palace in the
market-place, and kept the semblance of a court there. What his authority
really was is a matter of easy estimate. Judgment of life and death was
retained by the procurator. Justice was administered in the name and
according to the decretals of Rome. Yet more significant, the royal house was
jointly occupied by the imperial exciseman, and all his corps of assistants,
registrars, collectors, publicans, informers, and spies. Still, to the
dreamers of liberty to come, there was a certain satisfaction in the fact
that the chief ruler in the palace was a Jew. His mere presence there day
after day kept them reminded of the covenants and promises of the prophets,
and the ages when Jehovah governed the tribes through the sons of Aaron; it
was to them a certain sign that he had not abandoned them: so their
hopes lived, and served their patience, and helped them wait grimly
the son of Judah who was to rule Israel.
Judea had been a Roman province eighty years and more—ample time for
the Caesars to study the idiosyncrasies of the people—time enough, at least,
to learn that the Jew, with all his pride, could be quietly governed if his
religion were respected. Proceeding upon that policy, the predecessors of
Gratus had carefully abstained from interfering with any of the sacred
observances of their subjects. But he chose a different course: almost his
first official act was to expel Hannas from the high-priesthood, and give the
place to Ishmael, son of Fabus.
Whether the act was directed by Augustus, or proceeded from Gratus
himself, its impolicy became speedily apparent. The reader shall be spared a
chapter on Jewish politics; a few words upon the subject, however, are
essential to such as may follow the succeeding narration critically. At this
time, leaving origin out of view, there were in Judea the party of the nobles
and the Separatist or popular party. Upon Herod's death, the two united
against Archelaus; from temple to palace, from Jerusalem to Rome, they fought
him; sometimes with intrigue, sometimes with the actual weapons of war. More
than once the holy cloisters on Moriah resounded with the cries of
fighting-men. Finally, they drove him into exile. Meantime throughout this
struggle the allies had their diverse objects in view. The nobles hated
Joazar, the high-priest; the Separatists, on the other hand, were his zealous
adherents. When Herod's settlement went down with Archelaus, Joazar
shared the fall. Hannas, the son of Seth, was selected by the nobles to
fill the great office; thereupon the allies divided. The induction of
the Sethian brought them face to face in fierce hostility.
In the course of the struggle with the unfortunate ethnarch, the nobles
had found it expedient to attach themselves to Rome. Discerning that when the
existing settlement was broken up some form of government must needs follow,
they suggested the conversion of Judea into a province. The fact furnished
the Separatists an additional cause for attack; and, when Samaria was made
part of the province, the nobles sank into a minority, with nothing
to support them but the imperial court and the prestige of their rank and
wealth; yet for fifteen years—down, indeed, to the coming of Valerius
Gratus—they managed to maintain themselves in both palace and Temple.
Hannas, the idol of his party, had used his power faithfully in the
interest of his imperial patron. A Roman garrison held the Tower of Antonia;
a Roman guard kept the gates of the palace; a Roman judge dispensed justice
civil and criminal; a Roman system of taxation, mercilessly executed, crushed
both city and country; daily, hourly, and in a thousand ways, the
people were bruised and galled, and taught the difference between a life
of independence and a life of subjection; yet Hannas kept them in comparative
quiet. Rome had no truer friend; and he made his loss instantly felt.
Delivering his vestments to Ishmael, the new appointee, he walked from the
courts of the Temple into the councils of the Separatists, and became the
head of a new combination, Bethusian and Sethian.
Gratus, the procurator, left thus without a party, saw the fires which,
in the fifteen years, had sunk into sodden smoke begin to glow with returning
life. A month after Ishmael took the office, the Roman found it necessary to
visit him in Jerusalem. When from the walls, hooting and hissing him, the
Jews beheld his guard enter the north gate of the city and march to the Tower
of Antonia, they understood the real purpose of the visit—a full cohort
of legionaries was added to the former garrison, and the keys of their yoke
could now be tightened with impunity. If the procurator deemed it important
to make an example, alas for the first offender!
CHAPTER II
With the foregoing explanation in mind, the reader is invited to look
into one of the gardens of the palace on Mount Zion. The time was noonday in
the middle of July, when the heat of summer was at its highest.
The garden was bounded on every side by buildings, which in places arose
two stories, with verandas shading the doors and windows of the lower story,
while retreating galleries, guarded by strong balustrades, adorned and
protected the upper. Here and there, moreover, the structures fell into what
appeared low colonnades, permitting the passage of such winds as chanced
to blow, and allowing other parts of the house to be seen, the better
to realize its magnitude and beauty. The arrangement of the ground
was equally pleasant to the eye. There were walks, and patches of
grass and shrubbery, and a few large trees, rare specimens of the
palm, grouped with the carob, apricot, and walnut. In all directions
the grade sloped gently from the centre, where there was a reservoir, or
deep marble basin, broken at intervals by little gates which, when raised,
emptied the water into sluices bordering the walks—a cunning device for the
rescue of the place from the aridity too prevalent elsewhere in the
region.
Not far from the fountain, there was a small pool of clear
water nourishing a clump of cane and oleander, such as grow on the Jordan
and down by the Dead Sea. Between the clump and the pool, unmindful of the
sun shining full upon them in the breathless air, two boys, one about
nineteen, the other seventeen, sat engaged in earnest conversation.
They were both handsome, and, at first glance, would have
been pronounced brothers. Both had hair and eyes black; their faces were
deeply browned; and, sitting, they seemed of a size proper for the difference
in their ages.
The elder was bareheaded. A loose tunic, dropping to the knees, was his
attire complete, except sandals and a light-blue mantle spread under him on
the seat. The costume left his arms and legs exposed, and they were brown as
the face; nevertheless, a certain grace of manner, refinement of features,
and culture of voice decided his rank. The tunic, of softest woollen,
gray-tinted, at the neck, sleeves, and edge of the skirt bordered with red,
and bound to the waist by a tasselled silken cord, certified him the Roman he
was. And if in speech he now and then gazed haughtily at his companion and
addressed him as an inferior, he might almost be excused, for he was of a
family noble even in Rome—a circumstance which in that age justified any
assumption. In the terrible wars between the first Caesar and his great
enemies, a Messala had been the friend of Brutus. After Philippi, without
sacrifice of his honor, he and the conqueror became reconciled. Yet later,
when Octavius disputed for the empire, Messala supported him. Octavius, as
the Emperor Augustus, remembered the service, and showered the family
with honors. Among other things, Judea being reduced to a province, he
sent the son of his old client or retainer to Jerusalem, charged with the
receipt and management of the taxes levied in that region; and in that
service the son had since remained, sharing the palace with the high-priest.
The youth just described was his son, whose habit it was to carry about with
him all too faithfully a remembrance of the relation between his
grandfather and the great Romans of his day.
The associate of the Messala was slighter in form, and his garments were
of fine white linen and of the prevalent style in Jerusalem; a cloth covered
his head, held by a yellow cord, and arranged so as to fall away from the
forehead down low over the back of the neck. An observer skilled in the
distinctions of race, and studying his features more than his costume, would
have soon discovered him to be of Jewish descent. The forehead of
the Roman was high and narrow, his nose sharp and aquiline, while his lips
were thin and straight, and his eyes cold and close under the brows. The
front of the Israelite, on the other hand, was low and broad; his nose long,
with expanded nostrils; his upper lip, slightly shading the lower one, short
and curving to the dimpled corners, like a Cupid's bow; points which, in
connection with the round chin, full eyes, and oval cheeks reddened with a
wine-like glow, gave his face the softness, strength, and beauty
peculiar to his race. The comeliness of the Roman was severe and
chaste, that of the Jew rich and voluptuous.
"Did you not say the new procurator is to arrive to-morrow?"
The question proceeded from the younger of the friends, and was
couched in Greek, at the time, singularly enough, the language
everywhere prevalent in the politer circles of Judea; having passed from
the palace into the camp and college; thence, nobody knew exactly when or
how, into the Temple itself, and, for that matter, into precincts of the
Temple far beyond the gates and cloisters—precincts of a sanctity
intolerable for a Gentile.
"Yes, to-morrow," Messala answered.
"Who told you?"
"I heard Ishmael, the new governor in the palace—you call him high
priest—tell my father so last night. The news had been more credible, I
grant you, coming from an Egyptian, who is of a race that has forgotten what
truth is, or even from an Idumaean, whose people never knew what truth was;
but, to make quite certain, I saw a centurion from the Tower this morning,
and he told me preparations were going on for the reception; that the
armorers were furbishing the helmets and shields, and regilding the
eagles and globes; and that apartments long unused were being cleansed and
aired as if for an addition to the garrison—the body-guard, probably, of the
great man."
A perfect idea of the manner in which the answer was given cannot be
conveyed, as its fine points continually escape the power behind the pen. The
reader's fancy must come to his aid; and for that he must be reminded that
reverence as a quality of the Roman mind was fast breaking down, or, rather,
it was becoming unfashionable. The old religion had nearly ceased to be a
faith; at most it was a mere habit of thought and expression, cherished
principally by the priests who found service in the Temple profitable, and
the poets who, in the turn of their verses, could not dispense with
the familiar deities: there are singers of this age who are
similarly given. As philosophy was taking the place of religion, satire
was fast substituting reverence; insomuch that in Latin opinion it was to
every speech, even to the little diatribes of conversation, as salt to
viands, and aroma to wine. The young Messala, educated in Rome, but lately
returned, had caught the habit and manner; the scarce perceptible movement of
the outer corner of the lower eyelid, the decided curl of the corresponding
nostril, and a languid utterance affected as the best vehicle to
convey the idea of general indifference, but more particularly because of
the opportunities it afforded for certain rhetorical pauses thought to be of
prime importance to enable the listener to take the happy conceit or receive
the virus of the stinging epigram. Such a stop occurred in the answer just
given, at the end of the allusion to the Egyptian and Idumaean. The color in
the Jewish lad's cheeks deepened, and he may not have heard the rest of
the speech, for he remained silent, looking absently into the depths of
the pool.
"Our farewell took place in this garden. 'The peace of the Lord go with
you!'—your last words. 'The gods keep you!' I said. Do you remember? How
many years have passed since then?"
"Five," answered the Jew, gazing into the water.
"Well, you have reason to be thankful to—whom shall I say? The gods? No
matter. You have grown handsome; the Greeks would call you beautiful—happy
achievement of the years! If Jupiter would stay content with one Ganymede,
what a cup-bearer you would make for the emperor! Tell me, my Judah, how the
coming of the procurator is of such interest to you."
Judah bent his large eyes upon the questioner; the gaze was grave and
thoughtful, and caught the Roman's, and held it while he replied, "Yes, five
years. I remember the parting; you went to Rome; I saw you start, and cried,
for I love you. The years are gone, and you have come back to me
accomplished and princely—I do not jest; and yet—yet—I do wish you
were the Messala you went away."
The fine nostril of the satirist stirred, and he put on a longer drawl
as he said, "No, no; not a Ganymede—an oracle, my Judah. A few lessons from
my teacher of rhetoric hard by the Forum—I will give you a letter to him
when you become wise enough to accept a suggestion which I am reminded to
make you—a little practise of the art of mystery, and Delphi will receive
you as Apollo himself. At the sound of your solemn voice, the Pythia will
come down to you with her crown. Seriously, O my friend, in what am I not the
Messala I went away? I once heard the greatest logician in the world. His
subject was Disputation. One saying I remember—'Understand your antagonist
before you answer him.' Let me understand you."
The lad reddened under the cynical look to which he was subjected; yet
he replied, firmly, "You have availed yourself, I see, of your opportunities;
from your teachers you have brought away much knowledge and many graces. You
talk with the ease of a master, yet your speech carries a sting. My Messala,
when he went away, had no poison in his nature; not for the world would he
have hurt the feelings of a friend."
The Roman smiled as if complimented, and raised his patrician head a
toss higher.
"O my solemn Judah, we are not at Dodona or Pytho. Drop the
oracular, and be plain. Wherein have I hurt you?"
The other drew a long breath, and said, pulling at the cord about his
waist, "In the five years, I, too, have learned somewhat. Hillel may not be
the equal of the logician you heard, and Simeon and Shammai are, no doubt,
inferior to your master hard by the Forum. Their learning goes not out into
forbidden paths; those who sit at their feet arise enriched simply with
knowledge of God, the law, and Israel; and the effect is love and reverence
for everything that pertains to them. Attendance at the Great College, and
study of what I heard there, have taught me that Judea is not as she used
to be. I know the space that lies between an independent kingdom and the
petty province Judea is. I were meaner, viler, than a Samaritan not to resent
the degradation of my country. Ishmael is not lawfully high-priest, and he
cannot be while the noble Hannas lives; yet he is a Levite; one of the
devoted who for thousands of years have acceptably served the Lord God
of our faith and worship. His—"
Messala broke in upon him with a biting laugh.
"Oh, I understand you now. Ishmael, you say, is a usurper, yet
to believe an Idumaean sooner than Ishmael is to sting like an adder. By
the drunken son of Semele, what it is to be a Jew! All men and things, even
heaven and earth, change; but a Jew never. To him there is no backward, no
forward; he is what his ancestor was in the beginning. In this sand I draw
you a circle—there! Now tell me what more a Jew's life is? Round and round,
Abraham here, Isaac and Jacob yonder, God in the middle. And the circle—by
the master of all thunders! the circle is too large. I draw it again—" He
stopped, put his thumb upon the ground, and swept the fingers about it. "See,
the thumb spot is the Temple, the finger-lines Judea. Outside the little
space is there nothing of value? The arts! Herod was a builder; therefore he
is accursed. Painting, sculpture! to look upon them is sin. Poetry you make
fast to your altars. Except in the synagogue, who of you attempts
eloquence? In war all you conquer in the six days you lose on the
seventh. Such your life and limit; who shall say no if I laugh at
you? Satisfied with the worship of such a people, what is your God to our
Roman Jove, who lends us his eagles that we may compass the universe with our
arms? Hillel, Simeon, Shammai, Abtalion—what are they to the masters who
teach that everything is worth knowing that can be known?"
The Jew arose, his face much flushed.
"No, no; keep your place, my Judah, keep your place," Messala
cried, extending his hand.
"You mock me."
"Listen a little further. Directly"—the Roman smiled
derisively— "directly Jupiter and his whole family, Greek and Latin, will
come to me, as is their habit, and make an end of serious speech. I
am mindful of your goodness in walking from the old house of your fathers
to welcome me back and renew the love of our childhood— if we can. 'Go,'
said my teacher, in his last lecture—'Go, and, to make your lives great,
remember Mars reigns and Eros has found his eyes.' He meant love is nothing,
war everything. It is so in Rome. Marriage is the first step to divorce.
Virtue is a tradesman's jewel. Cleopatra, dying, bequeathed her arts, and
is avenged; she has a successor in every Roman's house. The world is going
the same way; so, as to our future, down Eros, up Mars! I am to be a soldier;
and you, O my Judah, I pity you; what can you be?"
The Jew moved nearer the pool; Messala's drawl deepened.
"Yes, I pity you, my fine Judah. From the college to the synagogue; then
to the Temple; then—oh, a crowning glory!—the seat in the Sanhedrim. A life
without opportunities; the gods help you! But I—"
Judah looked at him in time to see the flush of pride that kindled in
his haughty face as he went on.
"But I—ah, the world is not all conquered. The sea has islands unseen.
In the north there are nations yet unvisited. The glory of completing
Alexander's march to the Far East remains to some one. See what possibilities
lie before a Roman."
Next instant he resumed his drawl.
"A campaign into Africa; another after the Scythian; then—a
legion! Most careers end there; but not mine. I—by Jupiter! what
a conception!—I will give up my legion for a prefecture. Think of life in
Rome with money—money, wine, women, games—poets at the banquet, intrigues
in the court, dice all the year round. Such a rounding of life may be—a fat
prefecture, and it is mine. O my Judah, here is Syria! Judea is rich; Antioch
a capital for the gods. I will succeed Cyrenius, and you—shall share my
fortune."
The sophists and rhetoricians who thronged the public resorts of Rome,
almost monopolizing the business of teaching her patrician youth, might have
approved these sayings of Messala, for they were all in the popular vein; to
the young Jew, however, they were new, and unlike the solemn style of
discourse and conversation to which he was accustomed. He belonged, moreover,
to a race whose laws, modes, and habits of thought forbade satire and humor;
very naturally, therefore, he listened to his friend with varying feelings;
one moment indignant, then uncertain how to take him. The superior airs
assumed had been offensive to him in the beginning; soon they became
irritating, and at last an acute smart. Anger lies close by this point in all
of us; and that the satirist evoked in another way. To the Jew of the
Herodian period patriotism was a savage passion scarcely hidden under his
common humor, and so related to his history, religion, and God that it
responded instantly to derision of them. Wherefore it is not speaking too
strongly to say that Messala's progress down to the last pause was exquisite
torture to his hearer; at that point the latter said, with a forced
smile,
"There are a few, I have heard, who can afford to make a jest of their
future; you convince me, O my Messala, that I am not one of them."
The Roman studied him; then replied, "Why not the truth in a jest as
well as a parable? The great Fulvia went fishing the other day; she caught
more than all the company besides. They said it was because the barb of her
hook was covered with gold."
"Then you were not merely jesting?"
"My Judah, I see I did not offer you enough," the Roman
answered, quickly, his eyes sparkling. "When I am prefect, with Judea
to enrich me, I—will make you high-priest."
The Jew turned off angrily.
"Do not leave me," said Messala.
The other stopped irresolute.
"Gods, Judah, how hot the sun shines!" cried the patrician, observing
his perplexity. "Let us seek a shade."
Judah answered, coldly,
"We had better part. I wish I had not come. I sought a friend and find
a—"
"Roman," said Messala, quickly.
The hands of the Jew clenched, but controlling himself again, he started
off. Messala arose, and, taking the mantle from the bench, flung it over his
shoulder, and followed after; when he gained his side, he put his hand upon
his shoulder and walked with him.
"This is the way—my hand thus—we used to walk when we were children.
Let us keep it as far as the gate."
Apparently Messala was trying to be serious and kind, though he could
not rid his countenance of the habitual satirical expression. Judah permitted
the familiarity.
"You are a boy; I am a man; let me talk like one."
The complacency of the Roman was superb. Mentor lecturing the young
Telemachus could not have been more at ease.
"Do you believe in the Parcae? Ah, I forgot, you are a Sadducee: the
Essenes are your sensible people; they believe in the sisters. So do I. How
everlastingly the three are in the way of our doing what we please! I sit
down scheming. I run paths here and there. Perpol! Just when I am reaching to
take the world in hand, I hear behind me the grinding of scissors. I look,
and there she is, the accursed Atropos! But, my Judah, why did you get mad
when I spoke of succeeding old Cyrenius? You thought I meant to
enrich myself plundering your Judea. Suppose so; it is what some
Roman will do. Why not I?"
Judah shortened his step.
"There have been strangers in mastery of Judea before the Roman," he
said, with lifted hand. "Where are they, Messala? She has outlived them all.
What has been will be again."
Messala put on his drawl.
"The Parcae have believers outside the Essenes. Welcome, Judah, welcome
to the faith!"
"No, Messala, count me not with them. My faith rests on the rock which
was the foundation of the faith of my fathers back further than Abraham; on
the covenants of the Lord God of Israel."
"Too much passion, my Judah. How my master would have been shocked had I
been guilty of so much heat in his presence! There were other things I had to
tell you, but I fear to now."
When they had gone a few yards, the Roman spoke again.
"I think you can hear me now, especially as what I have to say concerns
yourself. I would serve you, O handsome as Ganymede; I would serve you with
real good-will. I love you—all I can. I told you I meant to be a soldier.
Why not you also? Why not you step out of the narrow circle which, as I have
shown, is all of noble life your laws and customs allow?"
Judah made no reply.
"Who are the wise men of our day?" Messala continued. "Not they who
exhaust their years quarrelling about dead things; about Baals, Joves, and
Jehovahs; about philosophies and religions. Give me one great name, O Judah;
I care not where you go to find it—to Rome, Egypt, the East, or here in
Jerusalem—Pluto take me if it belong not to a man who wrought his fame out
of the material furnished him by the present; holding nothing sacred that did
not contribute to the end, scorning nothing that did! How was it with Herod?
How with the Maccabees? How with the first and second Caesars? Imitate
them. Begin now. At hand see—Rome, as ready to help you as she was
the Idumaean Antipater."
The Jewish lad trembled with rage; and, as the garden gate was close by,
he quickened his steps, eager to escape.
"O Rome, Rome!" he muttered.
"Be wise," continued Messala. "Give up the follies of Moses and the
traditions; see the situation as it is. Dare look the Parcae in the face, and
they will tell you, Rome is the world. Ask them of Judea, and they will
answer, She is what Rome wills."
They were now at the gate. Judah stopped, and took the hand gently from
his shoulder, and confronted Messala, tears trembling in his eyes.
"I understand you, because you are a Roman; you cannot understand me—I
am an Israelite. You have given me suffering to-day by convincing me that we
can never be the friends we have been—never! Here we part. The peace of the
God of my fathers abide with you!"
Messala offered him his hand; the Jew walked on through the
gateway. When he was gone, the Roman was silent awhile; then he, too,
passed through, saying to himself, with a toss of the head,
"Be it so. Eros is dead, Mars reigns!"
CHAPTER III
From the entrance to the Holy City, equivalent to what is now called St.
Stephen's Gate, a street extended westwardly, on a line parallel with the
northern front of the Tower of Antonia, though a square from that famous
castle. Keeping the course as far as the Tyropoeon Valley, which it followed
a little way south, it turned and again ran west until a short distance
beyond what tradition tells us was the Judgment Gate, from whence it
broke abruptly south. The traveller or the student familiar with
the sacred locality will recognize the thoroughfare described as part of
the Via Dolorosa—with Christians of more interest, though of a melancholy
kind, than any street in the world. As the purpose in view does not at
present require dealing with the whole street, it will be sufficient to point
out a house standing in the angle last mentioned as marking the change of
direction south, and which, as an important centre of interest, needs
somewhat particular description.
The building fronted north and west, probably four hundred feet each
way, and, like most pretentious Eastern structures, was two stories in
height, and perfectly quadrangular. The street on the west side was about
twelve feet wide, that on the north not more than ten; so that one walking
close to the walls, and looking up at them, would have been struck by the
rude, unfinished, uninviting, but strong and imposing, appearance they
presented; for they were of stone laid in large blocks, undressed—on the
outer side, in fact, just as they were taken from the quarry. A critic of
this age would have pronounced the house fortelesque in style, except for
the windows, with which it was unusually garnished, and the ornate finish
of the doorways or gates. The western windows were four in number, the
northern only two, all set on the line of the second story in such manner as
to overhang the thoroughfares below. The gates were the only breaks of wall
externally visible in the first story; and, besides being so thickly riven
with iron bolts as to suggest resistance to battering-rams, they were
protected by cornices of marble, handsomely executed, and of such
bold projection as to assure visitors well informed of the people that the
rich man who resided there was a Sadducee in politics and creed.
Not long after the young Jew parted from the Roman at the palace up on
the Market-place, he stopped before the western gate of the house described,
and knocked. The wicket (a door hung in one of the valves of the gate) was
opened to admit him. He stepped in hastily, and failed to acknowledge the low
salaam of the porter.
To get an idea of the interior arrangement of the structure, as well as
to see what more befell the youth, we will follow him.
The passage into which he was admitted appeared not unlike a
narrow tunnel with panelled walls and pitted ceiling. There were
benches of stone on both sides, stained and polished by long use. Twelve
or fifteen steps carried him into a court-yard, oblong north and
south, and in every quarter, except the east, bounded by what seemed
the fronts of two-story houses; of which the lower floor was divided into
lewens, while the upper was terraced and defended by strong balustrading. The
servants coming and going along the terraces; the noise of millstones
grinding; the garments fluttering from ropes stretched from point to point;
the chickens and pigeons in full enjoyment of the place; the goats, cows,
donkeys, and horses stabled in the lewens; a massive trough of water,
apparently for the common use, declared this court appurtenant to the
domestic management of the owner. Eastwardly there was a division
wall broken by another passage-way in all respects like the first one.
Clearing the second passage, the young man entered a second
court, spacious, square, and set with shrubbery and vines, kept fresh
and beautiful by water from a basin erected near a porch on the
north side. The lewens here were high, airy, and shaded by
curtains striped alternate white and red. The arches of the lewens
rested on clustered columns. A flight of steps on the south ascended
to the terraces of the upper story, over which great awnings
were stretched as a defence against the sun. Another stairway reached from
the terraces to the roof, the edge of which, all around the square, was
defined by a sculptured cornice, and a parapet of burned-clay tiling,
sexangular and bright red. In this quarter, moreover, there was everywhere
observable a scrupulous neatness, which, allowing no dust in the angles, not
even a yellow leaf upon a shrub, contributed quite as much as anything else
to the delightful general effect; insomuch that a visitor, breathing
the sweet air, knew, in advance of introduction, the refinement of
the family he was about calling upon.
A few steps within the second court, the lad turned to the right, and,
choosing a walk through the shrubbery, part of which was in flower, passed to
the stairway, and ascended to the terrace—a broad pavement of white and
brown flags closely laid, and much worn. Making way under the awning to a
doorway on the north side, he entered an apartment which the dropping of the
screen behind him returned to darkness. Nevertheless, he proceeded, moving
over a tiled floor to a divan, upon which he flung himself, face
downwards, and lay at rest, his forehead upon his crossed arms.
About nightfall a woman came to the door and called; he answered, and
she went in.
"Supper is over, and it is night. Is not my son hungry?" she asked.
"No," he replied.
"Are you sick?"
"I am sleepy."
"Your mother has asked for you."
"Where is she?"
"In the summer-house on the roof."
He stirred himself, and sat up.
"Very well. Bring me something to eat."
"What do you want?"
"What you please, Amrah. I am not sick, but indifferent. Life does not
seem as pleasant as it did this morning. A new ailment, O my Amrah; and you
who know me so well, who never failed me, may think of the things now that
answer for food and medicine. Bring me what you choose."
Amrah's questions, and the voice in which she put
them—low, sympathetic, and solicitous—were significant of an
endeared relation between the two. She laid her hand upon his
forehead; then, as satisfied, went out, saying, "I will see."
After a while she returned, bearing on a wooden platter a bowl of milk,
some thin cakes of white bread broken, a delicate paste of brayed wheat, a
bird broiled, and honey and salt. On one end of the platter there was a
silver goblet full of wine, on the other a brazen hand-lamp lighted.
The room was then revealed: its walls smoothly plastered; the
ceiling broken by great oaken rafters, brown with rain stains and time;
the floor of small diamond-shaped white and blue tiles, very firm
and enduring; a few stools with legs carved in imitation of the legs of
lions; a divan raised a little above the floor, trimmed with blue cloth, and
partially covered by an immense striped woollen blanket or shawl—in brief, a
Hebrew bedroom.
The same light also gave the woman to view. Drawing a stool to the
divan, she placed the platter upon it, then knelt close by ready to serve
him. Her face was that of a woman of fifty, dark-skinned, dark-eyed, and at
the moment softened by a look of tenderness almost maternal. A white turban
covered her head, leaving the lobes of the ear exposed, and in them the sign
that settled her condition—an orifice bored by a thick awl. She was a
slave, of Egyptian origin, to whom not even the sacred fiftieth year could
have brought freedom; nor would she have accepted it, for the boy she was
attending was her life. She had nursed him through babyhood, tended him as a
child, and could not break the service. To her love he could never be a
man.
He spoke but once during the meal.
"You remember, O my Amrah," he said, "the Messala who used to visit me
here days at a time."
"I remember him."
"He went to Rome some years ago, and is now back. I called upon him
to-day."
A shudder of disgust seized the lad.
"I knew something had happened," she said, deeply interested. "I never
liked the Messala. Tell me all."
But he fell into musing, and to her repeated inquiries only said, "He is
much changed, and I shall have nothing more to do with him."
When Amrah took the platter away, he also went out, and up from the
terrace to the roof.
The reader is presumed to know somewhat of the uses of the house-top in
the East. In the matter of customs, climate is a lawgiver everywhere. The
Syrian summer day drives the seeker of comfort into the darkened lewen;
night, however, calls him forth early, and the shadows deepening over the
mountain-sides seem veils dimly covering Circean singers; but they are far
off, while the roof is close by, and raised above the level of the
shimmering plain enough for the visitation of cool airs, and
sufficiently above the trees to allure the stars down closer, down at least
into brighter shining. So the roof became a resort—became
playground, sleeping-chamber, boudoir, rendezvous for the family, place
of music, dance, conversation, reverie, and prayer.
The motive that prompts the decoration, at whatever cost, of interiors
in colder climes suggested to the Oriental the embellishment of his
house-top. The parapet ordered by Moses became a potter's triumph; above
that, later, arose towers, plain and fantastic; still later, kings and
princes crowned their roofs with summer-houses of marble and gold. When
the Babylonian hung gardens in the air, extravagance could push the idea
no further.
The lad whom we are following walked slowly across the house-top to a
tower built over the northwest corner of the palace. Had he been a stranger,
he might have bestowed a glance upon the structure as he drew nigh it, and
seen all the dimness permitted—a darkened mass, low, latticed, pillared, and
domed. He entered, passing under a half-raised curtain. The interior was all
darkness, except that on four sides there were arched openings like doorways,
through which the sky, lighted with stars, was visible. In one of the
openings, reclining against a cushion from a divan, he saw the figure of
a woman, indistinct even in white floating drapery. At the sound of his
steps upon the floor, the fan in her hand stopped, glistening where the
starlight struck the jewels with which it was sprinkled, and she sat up, and
called his name.
"Judah, my son!"
"It is I, mother," he answered, quickening his approach.
Going to her, he knelt, and she put her arms around him, and with kisses
pressed him to her bosom.
CHAPTER IV
The mother resumed her easy position against the cushion, while the son
took place on the divan, his head in her lap. Both of them, looking out of
the opening, could see a stretch of lower house-tops in the vicinity, a bank
of blue-blackness over in the west which they knew to be mountains, and the
sky, its shadowy depths brilliant with stars. The city was still. Only the
winds stirred.
"Amrah tells me something has happened to you," she said, caressing his
cheek. "When my Judah was a child, I allowed small things to trouble him, but
he is now a man. He must not forget"— her voice became very soft—"that one
day he is to be my hero."
She spoke in the language almost lost in the land, but which a few—and
they were always as rich in blood as in possessions— cherished in its
purity, that they might be more certainly distinguished from Gentile
peoples—the language in which the loved Rebekah and Rachel sang to
Benjamin.
The words appeared to set him thinking anew; after a while, however, he
caught the hand with which she fanned him, and said, "Today, O my mother, I
have been made to think of many things that never had place in my mind
before. Tell me, first, what am I to be?"
"Have I not told you? You are to be my hero."
He could not see her face, yet he knew she was in play. He became more
serious.
"You are very good, very kind, O my mother. No one will ever love me as
you do."
He kissed the hand over and over again.
"I think I understand why you would have me put off the question," he
continued. "Thus far my life has belonged to you. How gentle, how sweet your
control has been! I wish it could last forever. But that may not be. It is
the Lord's will that I shall one day become owner of myself—a day of
separation, and therefore a dreadful day to you. Let us be brave and serious.
I will be your hero, but you must put me in the way. You know the law—every
son of Israel must have some occupation. I am not exempt, and ask
now, shall I tend the herds? or till the soil? or drive the saw? or be a
clerk or lawyer? What shall I be? Dear, good mother, help me to an
answer."
"Gamaliel has been lecturing today," she said, thoughtfully.
"If so, I did not hear him."
"Then you have been walking with Simeon, who, they tell me, inherits the
genius of his family."
"No, I have not seen him. I have been up on the Market-place, not to the
Temple. I visited the young Messala."
A certain change in his voice attracted the mother's attention. A
presentiment quickened the beating of her heart; the fan became motionless
again.
"The Messala!" she said. "What could he say to so trouble you?"
"He is very much changed."
"You mean he has come back a Roman."
"Yes."
"Roman!" she continued, half to herself. "To all the world the word
means master. How long has he been away?"
"Five years."
She raised her head, and looked off into the night.
"The airs of the Via Sacra are well enough in the streets of
the Egyptian and in Babylon; but in Jerusalem—our Jerusalem—the covenant
abides."
And, full of the thought, she settled back into her easy place. He was
first to speak.
"What Messala said, my mother, was sharp enough in itself; but, taken
with the manner, some of the sayings were intolerable."
"I think I understand you. Rome, her poets, orators,
senators, courtiers, are mad with affectation of what they call
satire."
"I suppose all great peoples are proud," he went on, scarcely noticing
the interruption; "but the pride of that people is unlike all others; in
these latter days it is so grown the gods barely escape it."
"The gods escape!" said the mother, quickly. "More than one Roman has
accepted worship as his divine right."
"Well, Messala always had his share of the disagreeable quality. When he
was a child, I have seen him mock strangers whom even Herod condescended to
receive with honors; yet he always spared Judea. For the first time, in
conversation with me to-day, he trifled with our customs and God. As you
would have had me do, I parted with him finally. And now, O my dear mother, I
would know with more certainty if there be just ground for the Roman's
contempt. In what am I his inferior? Is ours a lower order of people? Why
should I, even in Caesar's presence; feel the shrinking of a slave? Tell
me especially why, if I have the soul, and so choose, I may not hunt the
honors of the world in all its fields? Why may not I take sword and indulge
the passion of war? As a poet, why may not I sing of all themes? I can be a
worker in metals, a keeper of flocks, a merchant, why not an artist like the
Greek? Tell me, O my mother—and this is the sum of my trouble—why may not a
son of Israel do all a Roman may?"
The reader will refer these questions back to the conversation in the
Market-place; the mother, listening with all her faculties awake, from
something which would have been lost upon one less interested in him—from
the connections of the subject, the pointing of the questions, possibly his
accent and tone—was not less swift in making the same reference. She sat up,
and in a voice quick and sharp as his own, replied, "I see, I see! From
association Messala, in boyhood, was almost a Jew; had he remained here, he
might have become a proselyte, so much do we all borrow from the
influences that ripen our lives; but the years in Rome have been too much
for him. I do not wonder at the change; yet"—her voice fell—"he
might have dealt tenderly at least with you. It is a hard, cruel
nature which in youth can forget its first loves."
Her hand dropped lightly upon his forehead, and the fingers caught in
his hair and lingered there lovingly, while her eyes sought the highest stars
in view. Her pride responded to his, not merely in echo, but in the unison of
perfect sympathy. She would answer him; at the same time, not for the world
would she have had the answer unsatisfactory: an admission of inferiority
might weaken his spirit for life. She faltered with misgivings of her own
powers.
"What you propose, O my Judah, is not a subject for treatment by a
woman. Let me put its consideration off till to-morrow, and I will have the
wise Simeon—"
"Do not send me to the Rector," he said, abruptly.
"I will have him come to us."
"No, I seek more than information; while he might give me that better
than you, O my mother, you can do better by giving me what he cannot—the
resolution which is the soul of a man's soul."
She swept the heavens with a rapid glance, trying to compass all the
meaning of his questions.
"While craving justice for ourselves, it is never wise to be unjust to
others. To deny valor in the enemy we have conquered is to underrate our
victory; and if the enemy be strong enough to hold us at bay, much more to
conquer us"—she hesitated— "self-respect bids us seek some other
explanation of our misfortunes than accusing him of qualities inferior to our
own."
Thus, speaking to herself rather than to him, she began:
"Take heart, O my son. The Messala is nobly descended; his family has
been illustrious through many generations. In the days of Republican
Rome—how far back I cannot tell—they were famous, some as soldiers, some as
civilians. I can recall but one consul of the name; their rank was
senatorial, and their patronage always sought because they were always rich.
Yet if to-day your friend boasted of his ancestry, you might have shamed him
by recounting yours. If he referred to the ages through which the line is
traceable, or to deeds, rank, or wealth—such allusions, except when
great occasion demands them, are tokens of small minds—if he
mentioned them in proof of his superiority, then without dread, and
standing on each particular, you might have challenged him to a
comparison of records."
Taking a moment's thought, the mother proceeded:
"One of the ideas of fast hold now is that time has much to do with the
nobility of races and families. A Roman boasting his superiority on that
account over a son of Israel will always fail when put to the proof. The
founding of Rome was his beginning; the very best of them cannot trace their
descent beyond that period; few of them pretend to do so; and of such as do,
I say not one could make good his claim except by resort to tradition.
Messala certainly could not. Let us look now to ourselves. Could we
better?"
A little more light would have enabled him to see the pride
that diffused itself over her face.
"Let us imagine the Roman putting us to the challenge. I would answer
him, neither doubting nor boastful."
Her voice faltered; a tender thought changed the form of the
argument.
"Your father, O my Judah, is at rest with his fathers; yet I remember,
as though it were this evening, the day he and I, with many rejoicing
friends, went up into the Temple to present you to the Lord. We sacrificed
the doves, and to the priest I gave your name, which he wrote in my
presence—'Judah, son of Ithamar, of the House of Hur.' The name was then
carried away, and written in a book of the division of records devoted to the
saintly family.
"I cannot tell you when the custom of registration in this mode began.
We know it prevailed before the flight from Egypt. I have heard Hillel say
Abraham caused the record to be first opened with his own name, and the names
of his sons, moved by the promises of the Lord which separated him and them
from all other races, and made them the highest and noblest, the very chosen
of the earth. The covenant with Jacob was of like effect. 'In thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed'—so said the angel
to Abraham in the place Jehovah-jireh. 'And the land whereon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed'—so the Lord himself
said to Jacob asleep at Bethel on the way to Haran. Afterwards the
wise men looked forward to a just division of the land of promise;
and, that it might be known in the day of partition who were entitled to
portions, the Book of Generations was begun. But not for that alone. The
promise of a blessing to all the earth through the patriarch reached far into
the future. One name was mentioned in connection with the blessing—the
benefactor might be the humblest of the chosen family, for the Lord our God
knows no distinctions of rank or riches. So, to make the performance clear to
men of the generation who were to witness it, and that they might give the
glory to whom it belonged, the record was required to be kept with absolute
certainty. Has it been so kept?"
The fan played to and fro, until, becoming impatient, he repeated the
question, "Is the record absolutely true?"
"Hillel said it was, and of all who have lived no one was
so well-informed upon the subject. Our people have at times been heedless
of some parts of the law, but never of this part. The good rector himself has
followed the Books of Generations through three periods—from the promises to
the opening of the Temple; thence to the Captivity; thence, again, to the
present. Once only were the records disturbed, and that was at the end of the
second period; but when the nation returned from the long exile, as a
first duty to God, Zerubbabel restored the Books, enabling us once more to
carry the lines of Jewish descent back unbroken fully two thousand years. And
now—"
She paused as if to allow the hearer to measure the time comprehended in
the statement.
"And now," she continued, "what becomes of the Roman boast of blood
enriched by ages? By that test, the sons of Israel watching the herds on old
Rephaim yonder are nobler than the noblest of the Marcii."
"And I, mother—by the Books, who am I?"
"What I have said thus far, my son, had reference to your question. I
will answer you. If Messala were here, he might say, as others have said,
that the exact trace of your lineage stopped when the Assyrian took
Jerusalem, and razed the Temple, with all its precious stores; but you might
plead the pious action of Zerubbabel, and retort that all verity in Roman
genealogy ended when the barbarians from the West took Rome, and camped six
months upon her desolated site. Did the government keep family histories? If
so, what became of them in those dreadful days? No, no; there is verity in
our Books of Generations; and, following them back to the Captivity, back
to the foundation of the first Temple, back to the march from Egypt, we
have absolute assurance that you are lineally sprung from Hur, the associate
of Joshua. In the matter of descent sanctified by time, is not the honor
perfect? Do you care to pursue further? if so, take the Torah, and search the
Book of Numbers, and of the seventy-two generations after Adam, you can find
the very progenitor of your house."
There was silence for a time in the chamber on the roof.
"I thank you, O my mother," Judah next said, clasping both her hands in
his; "I thank you with all my heart. I was right in not having the good
rector called in; he could not have satisfied me more than you have. Yet to
make a family truly noble, is time alone sufficient?"
"Ah, you forget, you forget; our claim rests not merely upon time; the
Lord's preference is our especial glory."
"You are speaking of the race, and I, mother, of the family—our family.
In the years since Father Abraham, what have they achieved? What have they
done? What great things to lift them above the level of their fellows?"
She hesitated, thinking she might all this time have mistaken
his object. The information he sought might have been for more
than satisfaction of wounded vanity. Youth is but the painted shell within
which, continually growing, lives that wondrous thing the spirit of man,
biding its moment of apparition, earlier in some than in others. She trembled
under a perception that this might be the supreme moment come to him; that as
children at birth reach out their untried hands grasping for shadows, and
crying the while, so his spirit might, in temporary blindness, be struggling
to take hold of its impalpable future. They to whom a boy comes asking, Who
am I, and what am I to be? have need of ever so much care. Each word
in answer may prove to the after-life what each finger-touch of the artist
is to the clay he is modelling.
"I have a feeling, O my Judah," she said, patting his cheek with the
hand he had been caressing—"I have the feeling that all I have said has been
in strife with an antagonist more real than imaginary. If Messala is the
enemy, do not leave me to fight him in the dark. Tell me all he said."
CHAPTER V
The young Israelite proceeded then, and rehearsed his conversation with
Messala, dwelling with particularity upon the latter's speeches in contempt
of the Jews, their customs, and much pent round of life.
Afraid to speak the while, the mother listened, discerning the matter
plainly. Judah had gone to the palace on the Market-place, allured by love of
a playmate whom he thought to find exactly as he had been at the parting
years before; a man met him, and, in place of laughter and references to the
sports of the past, the man had been full of the future, and talked of glory
to be won, and of riches and power. Unconscious of the effect, the visitor
had come away hurt in pride, yet touched with a natural ambition; but
she, the jealous mother, saw it, and, not knowing the turn the
aspiration might take, became at once Jewish in her fear. What if it lured
him away from the patriarchal faith? In her view, that consequence
was more dreadful than any or all others. She could discover but one
way to avert it, and she set about the task, her native power
reinforced by love to such degree that her speech took a masculine strength
and at times a poet's fervor.
"There never has been a people," she began, "who did not
think themselves at least equal to any other; never a great nation, my
son, that did not believe itself the very superior. When the Roman looks down
upon Israel and laughs, he merely repeats the folly of the Egyptian, the
Assyrian, and the Macedonian; and as the laugh is against God, the result
will be the same."
Her voice became firmer.
"There is no law by which to determine the superiority of nations; hence
the vanity of the claim, and the idleness of disputes about it. A people
risen, run their race, and die either of themselves or at the hands of
another, who, succeeding to their power, take possession of their place, and
upon their monuments write new names; such is history. If I were called upon
to symbolize God and man in the simplest form, I would draw a straight
line and a circle, and of the line I would say, 'This is God, for he
alone moves forever straightforward,' and of the circle, 'This is
man—such is his progress.' I do not mean that there is no difference
between the careers of nations; no two are alike. The difference,
however, is not, as some say, in the extent of the circle they describe
or the space of earth they cover, but in the sphere of their movement, the
highest being nearest God.
"To stop here, my son, would be to leave the subject where we began. Let
us go on. There are signs by which to measure the height of the circle each
nation runs while in its course. By them let us compare the Hebrew and the
Roman.
"The simplest of all the signs is the daily life of the people. Of this
I will only say, Israel has at times forgotten God, while the Roman never
knew him; consequently comparison is not possible.
"Your friend—or your former friend—charged, if I understood
you rightly, that we have had no poets, artists, or warriors; by which he
meant, I suppose, to deny that we have had great men, the next most certain
of the signs. A just consideration of this charge requires a definition at
the commencement. A great man, O my boy, is one whose life proves him to have
been recognized, if not called, by God. A Persian was used to punish our
recreant fathers, and he carried them into captivity; another Persian was
selected to restore their children to the Holy Land; greater than either of
them, however, was the Macedonian through whom the desolation of Judea and
the Temple was avenged. The special distinction of the men was that they
were chosen by the Lord, each for a divine purpose; and that they were
Gentiles does not lessen their glory. Do not lose sight of this definition
while I proceed.
"There is an idea that war is the most noble occupation of men, and that
the most exalted greatness is the growth of battle-fields. Because the world
has adopted the idea, be not you deceived. That we must worship something is
a law which will continue as long as there is anything we cannot understand.
The prayer of the barbarian is a wail of fear addressed to Strength, the only
divine quality he can clearly conceive; hence his faith in heroes. What is
Jove but a Roman hero? The Greeks have their great glory because they
were the first to set Mind above Strength. In Athens the orator
and philosopher were more revered than the warrior. The charioteer and the
swiftest runner are still idols of the arena; yet the immortelles are
reserved for the sweetest singer. The birthplace of one poet was contested by
seven cities. But was the Hellene the first to deny the old barbaric faith?
No. My son, that glory is ours; against brutalism our fathers erected God; in
our worship, the wail of fear gave place to the Hosanna and the Psalm. So
the Hebrew and the Greek would have carried all humanity forward
and upward. But, alas! the government of the world presumes war as
an eternal condition; wherefore, over Mind and above God, the Roman has
enthroned his Caesar, the absorbent of all attainable power, the prohibition
of any other greatness.
"The sway of the Greek was a flowering time for genius. In return for
the liberty it then enjoyed, what a company of thinkers the Mind led forth?
There was a glory for every excellence, and a perfection so absolute that in
everything but war even the Roman has stooped to imitation. A Greek is now
the model of the orators in the Forum; listen, and in every Roman song you
will hear the rhythm of the Greek; if a Roman opens his mouth speaking
wisely of moralities, or abstractions, or of the mysteries of nature, he
is either a plagiarist or the disciple of some school which had a Greek for
its founder. In nothing but war, I say again, has Rome a claim to
originality. Her games and spectacles are Greek inventions, dashed with blood
to gratify the ferocity of her rabble; her religion, if such it may be
called, is made up of contributions from the faiths of all other peoples; her
most venerated gods are from Olympus—even her Mars, and, for that matter,
the Jove she much magnifies. So it happens, O my son, that of the whole world
our Israel alone can dispute the superiority of the Greek, and with him
contest the palm of original genius.
"To the excellences of other peoples the egotism of a Roman is a
blindfold, impenetrable as his breastplate. Oh, the ruthless robbers! Under
their trampling the earth trembles like a floor beaten with flails. Along
with the rest we are fallen—alas that I should say it to you, my son! They
have our highest places, and the holiest, and the end no man can tell; but
this I know—they may reduce Judea as an almond broken with hammers, and
devour Jerusalem, which is the oil and sweetness thereof; yet the glory of
the men of Israel will remain a light in the heavens overhead out of reach:
for their history is the history of God, who wrote with their hands, spake
with their tongues, and was himself in all the good they did, even the least;
who dwelt with them, a Lawgiver on Sinai, a Guide in the wilderness, in war a
Captain, in government a King; who once and again pushed back the curtains of
the pavilion which is his resting-place, intolerably bright, and, as a man
speaking to men, showed them the right, and the way to happiness, and how
they should live, and made them promises binding the strength of his
Almightiness with covenants sworn to everlastingly. O my son, could it be
that they with whom Jehovah thus dwelt, an awful familiar, derived nothing
from him?—that in their lives and deeds the common human qualities should
not in some degree have been mixed and colored with the divine? that their
genius should not have in it, even after the lapse of ages, some little of
heaven?"
For a time the rustling of the fan was all the sound heard in
the chamber.
"In the sense which limits art to sculpture and painting, it is true,"
she next said, "Israel has had no artists."
The admission was made regretfully, for it must be remembered she was a
Sadducee, whose faith, unlike that of the Pharisees, permitted a love of the
beautiful in every form, and without reference to its origin.
"Still he who would do justice," she proceeded, "will not forget
that the cunning of our hands was bound by the prohibition, 'Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of
anything;' which the Sopherim wickedly extended beyond its purpose and
time. Nor should it be forgotten that long before Daedalus appeared
in Attica and with his wooden statues so transformed sculpture as to make
possible the schools of Corinth and AEgina, and their ultimate triumphs the
Poecile and Capitolium—long before the age of Daedalus, I say, two
Israelites, Bezaleel and Aholiab, the master-builders of the first
tabernacle, said to have been skilled 'in all manner of workmanship,' wrought
the cherubim of the mercy-seat above the ark. Of gold beaten, not chiseled,
were they; and they were statues in form both human and divine. 'And
they shall stretch forth their wings on high, . . . . and their
faces shall look one to another.' Who will say they were not beautiful? or
that they were not the first statues?"
"Oh, I see now why the Greek outstripped us," said Judah,
intensely interested. "And the ark; accursed be the Babylonians who
destroyed it!"
"Nay, Judah, be of faith. It was not destroyed, only lost, hidden away
too safely in some cavern of the mountains. One day—Hillel and Shammai both
say so—one day, in the Lord's good time, it will be found and brought forth,
and Israel dance before it, singing as of old. And they who look upon the
faces of the cherubim then, though they have seen the face of the ivory
Minerva, will be ready to kiss the hand of the Jew from love of his genius,
asleep through all the thousands of years."
The mother, in her eagerness, had risen into something like the rapidity
and vehemence of a speech-maker; but now, to recover herself, or to pick up
the thread of her thought, she rested awhile.
"You are so good, my mother," he said, in a grateful way. "And I will
never be done saying so. Shammai could not have talked better, nor Hillel. I
am a true son of Israel again."
"Flatterer!" she said. "You do not know that I am but repeating what I
heard Hillel say in an argument he had one day in my presence with a sophist
from Rome."
"Well, the hearty words are yours."
Directly all her earnestness returned.
"Where was I? Oh yes, I was claiming for our Hebrew fathers the first
statues. The trick of the sculptor, Judah, is not all there is of art, any
more than art is all there is of greatness. I always think of great men
marching down the centuries in groups and goodly companies, separable
according to nationalities; here the Indian, there the Egyptian, yonder the
Assyrian; above them the music of trumpets and the beauty of banners; and on
their right hand and left, as reverent spectators, the generations from the
beginning, numberless. As they go, I think of the Greek, saying, 'Lo!
The Hellene leads the way.' Then the Roman replies, 'Silence! what was
your place is ours now; we have left you behind as dust trodden on.' And all
the time, from the far front back over the line of march, as well as forward
into the farthest future, streams a light of which the wranglers know
nothing, except that it is forever leading them on—the Light of Revelation!
Who are they that carry it? Ah, the old Judean blood! How it leaps at
the thought! By the light we know them. Thrice blessed, O our
fathers, servants of God, keepers of the covenants! Ye are the leaders
of men, the living and the dead. The front is thine; and though
every Roman were a Caesar, ye shall not lose it!"
Judah was deeply stirred.
"Do not stop, I pray you," he cried. "You give me to hear the sound of
timbrels. I wait for Miriam and the women who went after her dancing and
singing."
She caught his feeling, and, with ready wit, wove it into her speech.
"Very well, my son. If you can hear the timbrel of the prophetess, you
can do what I was about to ask; you can use your fancy, and stand with me, as
if by the wayside, while the chosen of Israel pass us at the head of the
procession. Now they come—the patriarchs first; next the fathers of the
tribes. I almost hear the bells of their camels and the lowing of their
herds. Who is he that walks alone between the companies? An old man, yet his
eye is not dim, nor his natural force abated. He knew the Lord face to face!
Warrior, poet, orator, lawgiver, prophet, his greatness is as the sun at
morning, its flood of splendor quenching all other lights, even that of
the first and noblest of the Caesars. After him the judges. And then the
kings—the son of Jesse, a hero in war, and a singer of songs eternal as that
of the sea; and his son, who, passing all other kings in riches and wisdom,
and while making the Desert habitable, and in its waste places planting
cities, forgot not Jerusalem which the Lord had chosen for his seat on earth.
Bend lower, my son! These that come next are the first of their kind, and the
last. Their faces are raised, as if they heard a voice in the sky and were
listening. Their lives were full of sorrows. Their garments smell of tombs
and caverns. Hearken to a woman among them—'Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously!' Nay, put your forehead in the dust before them! They
were tongues of God, his servants, who looked through heaven, and, seeing all
the future, wrote what they saw, and left the writing to be proven by
time. Kings turned pale as they approached them, and nations trembled
at the sound of their voices. The elements waited upon them. In
their hands they carried every bounty and every plague. See the
Tishbite and his servant Elisha! See the sad son of Hilkiah, and him, the
seer of visions, by the river of Chebar! And of the three children
of Judah who refused the image of the Babylonian, lo! that one who, in the
feast to the thousand lords, so confounded the astrologers. And yonder—O my
son, kiss the dust again!—yonder the gentle son of Amoz, from whom the world
has its promise of the Messiah to come!"
In this passage the fan had been kept in rapid play; it stopped now, and
her voice sank low.
"You are tired," she said.
"No," he replied, "I was listening to a new song of Israel."
The mother was still intent upon her purpose, and passed the pleasant
speech.
"In such light as I could, my Judah, I have set our great men before
you—patriarchs, legislators, warriors, singers, prophets. Turn we to the
best of Rome. Against Moses place Caesar, and Tarquin against David; Sylla
against either of the Maccabees; the best of the consuls against the judges;
Augustus against Solomon, and you are done: comparison ends there. But think
then of the prophets—greatest of the great."
She laughed scornfully.
"Pardon me. I was thinking of the soothsayer who warned Caius
Julius against the Ides of March, and fancied him looking for the omens of
evil which his master despised in the entrails of a chicken. From that
picture turn to Elijah sitting on the hill-top on the way to Samaria, amid
the smoking bodies of the captains and their fifties, warning the son of Ahab
of the wrath of our God. Finally, O my Judah—if such speech be reverent—how
shall we judge Jehovah and Jupiter unless it be by what their servants have
done in their names? And as for what you shall do—"
She spoke the latter words slowly, and with a tremulous utterance.
"As for what you shall do, my boy—serve the Lord, the Lord God
of Israel, not Rome. For a child of Abraham there is no glory except in
the Lord's ways, and in them there is much glory."
"I may be a soldier then?" Judah asked.
"Why not? Did not Moses call God a man of war?"
There was then a long silence in the summer chamber.
"You have my permission," she said, finally; "if only you serve the Lord
instead of Caesar."
He was content with the condition, and by-and-by fell asleep. She arose
then, and put the cushion under his head, and, throwing a shawl over him and
kissing him tenderly, went away.
CHAPTER VI
The good man, like the bad, must die; but, remembering the lesson of our
faith, we say of him and the event, "No matter, he will open his eyes in
heaven." Nearest this in life is the waking from healthful sleep to a quick
consciousness of happy sights and sounds.
When Judah awoke, the sun was up over the mountains; the pigeons were
abroad in flocks, filling the air with the gleams of their white wings; and
off southeast he beheld the Temple, an apparition of gold in the blue of the
sky. These, however, were familiar objects, and they received but a glance;
upon the edge of the divan, close by him, a girl scarcely fifteen sat singing
to the accompaniment of a nebel, which she rested upon her knee, and
touched gracefully. To her he turned listening; and this was what she
sang:
THE SONG.
"Wake not, but hear me, love! Adrift, adrift on slumber's
sea, Thy spirit call to list to me. Wake not, but hear me,
love! A gift from Sleep, the restful king, All happy, happy
dreams I bring.
"Wake not, but hear me, love! Of all the world of dreams 'tis
thine This once to choose the most divine. So choose, and sleep, my
love! But ne'er again in choice be free, Unless,
unless—thou dream'st of me."
She put the instrument down, and, resting her hands in her
lap, waited for him to speak. And as it has become necessary to
tell somewhat of her, we will avail ourselves of the chance, and add such
particulars of the family into whose privacy we are brought as the reader may
wish to know.
The favors of Herod had left surviving him many persons of vast estate.
Where this fortune was joined to undoubted lineal descent from some famous
son of one of the tribes, especially Judah, the happy individual was
accounted a Prince of Jerusalem—a distinction which sufficed to bring him
the homage of his less favored countrymen, and the respect, if nothing more,
of the Gentiles with whom business and social circumstance brought him into
dealing. Of this class none had won in private or public life a higher regard
than the father of the lad whom we have been following. With a remembrance of
his nationality which never failed him, he had yet been true to the king,
and served him faithfully at home and abroad. Some offices had taken him to
Rome, where his conduct attracted the notice of Augustus, who strove without
reserve to engage his friendship. In his house, accordingly, were many
presents, such as had gratified the vanity of kings—purple togas, ivory
chairs, golden pateroe—chiefly valuable on account of the imperial hand
which had honorably conferred them. Such a man could not fail to be rich; yet
his wealth was not altogether the largess of royal patrons. He had welcomed
the law that bound him to some pursuit; and, instead of one, he entered into
many. Of the herdsmen watching flocks on the plains and hill-sides, far as
old Lebanon, numbers reported to him as their employer; in the cities by the
sea, and in those inland, he founded houses of traffic; his ships
brought him silver from Spain, whose mines were then the richest
known; while his caravans came twice a year from the East, laden
with silks and spices. In faith he was a Hebrew, observant of the law and
every essential rite; his place in the synagogue and Temple knew him well; he
was thoroughly learned in the Scriptures; he delighted in the society of the
college-masters, and carried his reverence for Hillel almost to the point of
worship. Yet he was in no sense a Separatist; his hospitality took in
strangers from every land; the carping Pharisees even accused him of
having more than once entertained Samaritans at his table. Had he been
a Gentile, and lived, the world might have heard of him as the rival
of Herodes Atticus: as it was, he perished at sea some ten years
before this second period of our story, in the prime of life, and
lamented everywhere in Judea. We are already acquainted with two members
of his family—his widow and son; the only other was a daughter—she whom
we have seen singing to her brother.
Tirzah was her name, and as the two looked at each other,
their resemblance was plain. Her features had the regularity of his,
and were of the same Jewish type; they had also the charm of
childish innocency of expression. Home-life and its trustful love
permitted the negligent attire in which she appeared. A chemise buttoned
upon the right shoulder, and passing loosely over the breast and back
and under the left arm, but half concealed her person above the
waist, while it left the arms entirely nude. A girdle caught the folds
of the garment, marking the commencement of the skirt. The coiffure was
very simple and becoming—a silken cap, Tyrian-dyed; and over that a striped
scarf of the same material, beautifully embroidered, and wound about in thin
folds so as to show the shape of the head without enlarging it; the whole
finished by a tassel dropping from the crown point of the cap. She had rings,
ear and finger; anklets and bracelets, all of gold; and around her neck there
was a collar of gold, curiously garnished with a network of
delicate chains, to which were pendants of pearl. The edges of her
eyelids were painted, and the tips of her fingers stained. Her hair
fell in two long plaits down her back. A curled lock rested upon
each cheek in front of the ear. Altogether it would have been
impossible to deny her grace, refinement, and beauty.
"Very pretty, my Tirzah, very pretty!" he said, with animation.
"The song?" she asked.
"Yes—and the singer, too. It has the conceit of a Greek. Where did you
get it?"
"You remember the Greek who sang in the theatre last month? They said he
used to be a singer at the court for Herod and his sister Salome. He came out
just after an exhibition of wrestlers, when the house was full of noise. At
his first note everything became so quiet that I heard every word. I got the
song from him."
"But he sang in Greek."
"And I in Hebrew."
"Ah, yes. I am proud of my little sister. Have you another
as good?"
"Very many. But let them go now. Amrah sent me to tell you she
will bring you your breakfast, and that you need not come down. She
should be here by this time. She thinks you sick—that a dreadful
accident happened you yesterday. What was it? Tell me, and I will help
Amrah doctor you. She knows the cures of the Egyptians, who were always a
stupid set; but I have a great many recipes of the Arabs who—"
"Are even more stupid than the Egyptians," he said, shaking
his head.
"Do you think so? Very well, then," she replied, almost without pause,
and putting her hands to her left ear. "We will have nothing to do with any
of them. I have here what is much surer and better—the amulet which was
given to some of our people—I cannot tell when, it was so far back—by a
Persian magician. See, the inscription is almost worn out."
She offered him the earring, which he took, looked at, and handed back,
laughing.
"If I were dying, Tirzah, I could not use the charm. It is a relic of
idolatry, forbidden every believing son and daughter of Abraham. Take it, but
do not wear it any more."
"Forbidden! Not so," she said. "Our father's mother wore it I do not
know how many Sabbaths in her life. It has cured I do not know how many
people—more than three anyhow. It is approved— look, here is the mark of
the rabbis."
"I have no faith in amulets."
She raised her eyes to his in astonishment.
"What would Amrah say?"
"Amrah's father and mother tended sakiyeh for a garden on the Nile."
"But Gamaliel!"
"He says they are godless inventions of unbelievers and Shechemites."
Tirzah looked at the ring doubtfully.
"What shall I do with it?"
"Wear it, my little sister. It becomes you—it helps make you beautiful,
though I think you that without help."
Satisfied, she returned the amulet to her ear just as Amrah entered the
summer chamber, bearing a platter, with wash-bowl, water, and napkins.
Not being a Pharisee, the ablution was short and simple with Judah. The
servant then went out, leaving Tirzah to dress his hair. When a lock was
disposed to her satisfaction, she would unloose the small metallic mirror
which, as was the fashion among her fair countrywomen, she wore at her
girdle, and gave it to him, that he might see the triumph, and how handsome
it made him. Meanwhile they kept up their conversation.
"What do you think, Tirzah?—I am going away."
She dropped her hands with amazement.
"Going away! When? Where? For what?"
He laughed.
"Three questions, all in a breath! What a body you are!" Next instant he
became serious. "You know the law requires me to follow some occupation. Our
good father set me an example. Even you would despise me if I spent in
idleness the results of his industry and knowledge. I am going to
Rome."
"Oh, I will go with you."
"You must stay with mother. If both of us leave her she will die."
The brightness faded from her face.
"Ah, yes, yes! But—must you go? Here in Jerusalem you can learn all
that is needed to be a merchant—if that is what you are thinking of."
"But that is not what I am thinking of. The law does not require the son
to be what the father was."
"What else can you be?"
"A soldier," he replied, with a certain pride of voice.
Tears came into her eyes.
"You will be killed."
"If God's will, be it so. But, Tirzah, the soldiers are not
all killed."
She threw her arms around his neck, as if to hold him back.
"We are so happy! Stay at home, my brother."
"Home cannot always be what it is. You yourself will be going
away before long."
"Never!"
He smiled at her earnestness.
"A prince of Judah, or some other of one of the tribes, will come soon
and claim my Tirzah, and ride away with her, to be the light of another
house. What will then become of me?"
She answered with sobs.
"War is a trade," he continued, more soberly. "To learn it
thoroughly, one must go to school, and there is no school like a Roman
camp."
"You would not fight for Rome?" she asked, holding her breath.
"And you—even you hate her. The whole world hates her. In that, O
Tirzah, find the reason of the answer I give you— Yes, I will fight for her,
if, in return, she will teach me how one day to fight against her."
"When will you go?"
Amrah's steps were then heard returning.
"Hist!" he said. "Do not let her know of what I am thinking."
The faithful slave came in with breakfast, and placed the waiter holding
it upon a stool before them; then, with white napkins upon her arm, she
remained to serve them. They dipped their fingers in a bowl of water, and
were rinsing them, when a noise arrested their attention. They listened, and
distinguished martial music in the street on the north side of the
house.
"Soldiers from the Praetorium! I must see them," he cried, springing
from the divan, and running out.
In a moment more he was leaning over the parapet of tiles which guarded
the roof at the extreme northeast corner, so absorbed that he did not notice
Tirzah by his side, resting one hand upon his shoulder.
Their position—the roof being the highest one in the
locality— commanded the house-tops eastward as far as the huge
irregular Tower of Antonia, which has been already mentioned as a citadel
for the garrison and military headquarters for the governor. The
street, not more than ten feet wide, was spanned here and there by
bridges, open and covered, which, like the roofs along the way, were
beginning to be occupied by men, women, and children, called out by the
music. The word is used, though it is hardly fitting; what the people
heard when they came forth was rather an uproar of trumpets and the
shriller litui so delightful to the soldiers.
The array after a while came into view of the two upon the house of the
Hurs. First, a vanguard of the light-armed—mostly slingers and
bowmen—marching with wide intervals between their ranks and files; next a
body of heavy-armed infantry, bearing large shields, and hastoe longoe, or
spears identical with those used in the duels before Ilium; then the
musicians; and then an officer riding alone, but followed closely by a guard
of cavalry; after them again, a column of infantry also heavy-armed, which,
moving in close order, crowded the streets from wall to wall, and appeared
to be without end.
The brawny limbs of the men; the cadenced motion from right to left of
the shields; the sparkle of scales, buckles, and breastplates and helms, all
perfectly burnished; the plumes nodding above the tall crests; the sway of
ensigns and iron-shod spears; the bold, confident step, exactly timed and
measured; the demeanor, so grave, yet so watchful; the machine-like unity of
the whole moving mass—made an impression upon Judah, but as something felt
rather than seen. Two objects fixed his attention—the eagle of the legion
first—a gilded effigy perched on a tall shaft, with wings outspread
until they met above its head. He knew that, when brought from its
chamber in the Tower, it had been received with divine honors.
The officer riding alone in the midst of the column was the
other attraction. His head was bare; otherwise he was in full armor. At
his left hip he wore a short sword; in his hand, however, he carried a
truncheon, which looked like a roll of white paper. He sat upon a purple
cloth instead of a saddle, and that, and a bridle with a forestall of gold
and reins of yellow silk broadly fringed at the lower edge, completed the
housings of the horse.
While the man was yet in the distance, Judah observed that his presence
was sufficient to throw the people looking at him into angry excitement. They
would lean over the parapets or stand boldly out, and shake their fists at
him; they followed him with loud cries, and spit at him as he passed under
the bridges; the women even flung their sandals, sometimes with such good
effect as to hit him. When he was nearer, the yells became
distinguishable—"Robber, tyrant, dog of a Roman! Away with Ishmael! Give us
back our Hannas!"
When quite near, Judah could see that, as was but natural, the man did
not share the indifference so superbly shown by the soldiers; his face was
dark and sullen, and the glances he occasionally cast at his persecutors were
full of menace; the very timid shrank from them.
Now the lad had heard of the custom, borrowed from a habit of the first
Caesar, by which chief commanders, to indicate their rank, appeared in public
with only a laurel vine upon their heads. By that sign he knew this
officer—VALERIUS GRATUS, THE NEW PROCURATOR OF JUDEA!
To say truth now, the Roman under the unprovoked storm had the young
Jew's sympathy; so that when he reached the corner of the house, the latter
leaned yet farther over the parapet to see him go by, and in the act rested a
hand upon a tile which had been a long time cracked and allowed to go
unnoticed. The pressure was strong enough to displace the outer piece, which
started to fall. A thrill of horror shot through the youth. He reached out to
catch the missile. In appearance the motion was exactly that of
one pitching something from him. The effort failed—nay, it served to push
the descending fragment farther out over the wall. He shouted with all his
might. The soldiers of the guard looked up; so did the great man, and that
moment the missile struck him, and he fell from his seat as dead.
The cohort halted; the guards leaped from their horses, and hastened to
cover the chief with their shields. On the other hand, the people who
witnessed the affair, never doubting that the blow had been purposely dealt,
cheered the lad as he yet stooped in full view over the parapet, transfixed
by what he beheld, and by anticipation of the consequences flashed all too
plainly upon him.
A mischievous spirit flew with incredible speed from roof to roof along
the line of march, seizing the people, and urging them all alike. They laid
hands upon the parapets and tore up the tiling and the sunburnt mud of which
the house-tops were for the most part made, and with blind fury began to
fling them upon the legionaries halted below. A battle then ensued.
Discipline, of course, prevailed. The struggle, the slaughter, the skill
of one side, the desperation of the other, are alike unnecessary to our
story. Let us look rather to the wretched author of it all.
He arose from the parapet, his face very pale.
"O Tirzah, Tirzah! What will become of us?"
She had not seen the occurrence below, but was listening to the shouting
and watching the mad activity of the people in view on the houses. Something
terrible was going on, she knew; but what it was, or the cause, or that she
or any of those dear to her were in danger, she did not know.
"What has happened? What does it all mean?" she asked, in
sudden alarm.
"I have killed the Roman governor. The tile fell upon him."
An unseen hand appeared to sprinkle her face with the dust of ashes—it
grew white so instantly. She put her arm around him, and looked wistfully,
but without a word, into his eyes. His fears had passed to her, and the sight
of them gave him strength.
"I did not do it purposely, Tirzah—it was an accident," he said, more
calmly.
"What will they do?" she asked.
He looked off over the tumult momentarily deepening in the street and on
the roofs, and thought of the sullen countenance of Gratus. If he were not
dead, where would his vengeance stop? And if he were dead, to what height of
fury would not the violence of the people lash the legionaries? To evade an
answer, he peered over the parapet again, just as the guard were assisting
the Roman to remount his horse.
"He lives, he lives, Tirzah! Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers!"
With that outcry, and a brightened countenance, he drew back and replied
to her question.
"Be not afraid, Tirzah. I will explain how it happened, and they will
remember our father and his services, and not hurt us."
He was leading her to the summer-house, when the roof jarred under their
feet, and a crash of strong timbers being burst away, followed by a cry of
surprise and agony, arose apparently from the court-yard below. He stopped
and listened. The cry was repeated; then came a rush of many feet, and voices
lifted in rage blent with voices in prayer; and then the screams of women in
mortal terror. The soldiers had beaten in the north gate, and were
in possession of the house. The terrible sense of being hunted smote him.
His first impulse was to fly; but where? Nothing but wings would serve him.
Tirzah, her eyes wild with fear, caught his arm.
"O Judah, what does it mean?"
The servants were being butchered—and his mother! Was not one of the
voices he heard hers? With all the will left him, he said, "Stay here, and
wait for me, Tirzah. I will go down and see what is the matter, and come back
to you."
His voice was not steady as he wished. She clung closer to him.
Clearer, shriller, no longer a fancy, his mother's cry arose. He
hesitated no longer.
"Come, then, let us go."
The terrace or gallery at the foot of the steps was crowded
with soldiers. Other soldiers with drawn swords ran in and out of
the chambers. At one place a number of women on their knees clung to
each other or prayed for mercy. Apart from them, one with torn
garments, and long hair streaming over her face, struggled to tear loose
from a man all whose strength was tasked to keep his hold. Her cries were
shrillest of all; cutting through the clamor, they had risen distinguishably
to the roof. To her Judah sprang—his steps were long and swift, almost a
winged flight— "Mother, mother!" he shouted. She stretched her hands towards
him; but when almost touching them he was seized and forced aside. Then he
heard some one say, speaking loudly,
"That is he!"
Judah looked, and saw—Messala.
"What, the assassin—that?" said a tall man, in legionary armor of
beautiful finish. "Why, he is but a boy."
"Gods!" replied Messala, not forgetting his drawl. "A new
philosophy! What would Seneca say to the proposition that a man must be old
before he can hate enough to kill? You have him; and that is his
mother; yonder his sister. You have the whole family."
For love of them, Judah forgot his quarrel.
"Help them, O my Messala! Remember our childhood and help
them. I—Judah—pray you."
Messala affected not to hear.
"I cannot be of further use to you," he said to the officer. "There is
richer entertainment in the street. Down Eros, up Mars!"
With the last words he disappeared. Judah understood him, and, in the
bitterness of his soul, prayed to Heaven.
"In the hour of thy vengeance, O Lord," he said, "be mine the hand to
put it upon him!"
By great exertion, he drew nearer the officer.
"O sir, the woman you hear is my mother. Spare her, spare my sister
yonder. God is just, he will give you mercy for mercy."
The man appeared to be moved.
"To the Tower with the women!" he shouted, "but do them no harm. I will
demand them of you." Then to those holding Judah, he said, "Get cords, and
bind his hands, and take him to the street. His punishment is
reserved."
The mother was carried away. The little Tirzah, in her home
attire, stupefied with fear, went passively with her keepers. Judah
gave each of them a last look, and covered his face with his hands, as if
to possess himself of the scene fadelessly. He may have shed tears, though no
one saw them.
There took place in him then what may be justly called the wonder of
life. The thoughtful reader of these pages has ere this discerned enough to
know that the young Jew in disposition was gentle even to womanliness—a
result that seldom fails the habit of loving and being loved. The
circumstances through which he had come had made no call upon the harsher
elements of his nature, if such he had. At times he had felt the stir and
impulses of ambition, but they had been like the formless dreams of a child
walking by the sea and gazing at the coming and going of stately ships. But
now, if we can imagine an idol, sensible of the worship it was accustomed
to, dashed suddenly from its altar, and lying amidst the wreck of
its little world of love, an idea may be had of what had befallen
the young Ben-Hur, and of its effect upon his being. Yet there was
no sign, nothing to indicate that he had undergone a change, except that
when he raised his head, and held his arms out to be bound, the bend of the
Cupid's bow had vanished from his lips. In that instant he had put off
childhood and become a man.
A trumpet sounded in the court-yard. With the cessation of the call, the
gallery was cleared of the soldiery; many of whom, as they dared not appear
in the ranks with visible plunder in their hands, flung what they had upon
the floor, until it was strewn with articles of richest virtu. When Judah
descended, the formation was complete, and the officer waiting to see
his last order executed.
The mother, daughter, and entire household were led out of the north
gate, the ruins of which choked the passageway. The cries of the domestics,
some of whom had been born in the house, were most pitiable. When, finally,
the horses and all the dumb tenantry of the place were driven past him, Judah
began to comprehend the scope of the procurator's vengeance. The very
structure was devoted. Far as the order was possible of execution, nothing
living was to be left within its walls. If in Judea there were others
desperate enough to think of assassinating a Roman governor, the story of
what befell the princely family of Hur would be a warning to them, while
the ruin of the habitation would keep the story alive.
The officer waited outside while a detail of men temporarily restored
the gate.
In the street the fighting had almost ceased. Upon the houses here and
there clouds of dust told where the struggle was yet prolonged. The cohort
was, for the most part, standing at rest, its splendor, like its ranks, in
nowise diminished. Borne past the point of care for himself, Judah had heart
for nothing in view but the prisoners, among whom he looked in vain for
his mother and Tirzah.
Suddenly, from the earth where she had been lying, a woman arose and
started swiftly back to the gate. Some of the guards reached out to seize
her, and a great shout followed their failure. She ran to Judah, and,
dropping down, clasped his knees, the coarse black hair powdered with dust
veiling her eyes.
"O Amrah, good Amrah," he said to her, "God help you; I cannot."
She could not speak.
He bent down, and whispered, "Live, Amrah, for Tirzah and my
mother. They will come back, and—"
A soldier drew her away; whereupon she sprang up and rushed through the
gateway and passage into the vacant court-yard.
"Let her go," the officer shouted. "We will seal the house, and she will
starve."
The men resumed their work, and, when it was finished there, passed
round to the west side. That gate was also secured, after which the palace of
the Hurs was lost to use.
The cohort at length marched back to the Tower, where the
procurator stayed to recover from his hurts and dispose of his prisoners. On
the tenth day following, he visited the Market-place.
CHAPTER VII
Next day a detachment of legionaries went to the desolated palace, and,
closing the gates permanently, plastered the corners with wax, and at the
sides nailed a notice in Latin:
"THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF THE EMPEROR."
In the haughty Roman idea, the sententious announcement was
thought sufficient for the purpose—and it was.
The day after that again, about noon, a decurion with his command of ten
horsemen approached Nazareth from the south—that is, from the direction of
Jerusalem. The place was then a straggling village, perched on a hill-side,
and so insignificant that its one street was little more than a path well
beaten by the coming and going of flocks and herds. The great plain of
Esdraelon crept close to it on the south, and from the height on the west a
view could be had of the shores of the Mediterranean, the region beyond the
Jordan, and Hermon. The valley below, and the country on every side,
were given to gardens, vineyards, orchards, and pasturage. Groves
of palm-trees Orientalized the landscape. The houses, in
irregular assemblage, were of the humbler class—square, one-story,
flat-roofed, and covered with bright-green vines. The drought that had
burned the hills of Judea to a crisp, brown and lifeless, stopped at
the boundary-line of Galilee.
A trumpet, sounded when the cavalcade drew near the village, had a
magical effect upon the inhabitants. The gates and front doors cast forth
groups eager to be the first to catch the meaning of a visitation so
unusual.
Nazareth, it must be remembered, was not only aside from any
great highway, but within the sway of Judas of Gamala; wherefore it
should not be hard to imagine the feelings with which the legionaries
were received. But when they were up and traversing the street, the
duty that occupied them became apparent, and then fear and hatred were
lost in curiosity, under the impulse of which the people, knowing there
must be a halt at the well in the northeastern part of the town, quit
their gates and doors, and closed in after the procession.
A prisoner whom the horsemen were guarding was the object of
curiosity. He was afoot, bareheaded, half naked, his hands bound behind him.
A thong fixed to his wrists was looped over the neck of a horse. The
dust went with the party when in movement, wrapping him in yellow
fog, sometimes in a dense cloud. He drooped forward, footsore and
faint. The villagers could see he was young.
At the well the decurion halted, and, with most of the men, dismounted.
The prisoner sank down in the dust of the road, stupefied, and asking
nothing: apparently he was in the last stage of exhaustion. Seeing, when they
came near, that he was but a boy, the villagers would have helped him had
they dared.
In the midst of their perplexity, and while the pitchers were passing
among the soldiers, a man was descried coming down the road from Sepphoris.
At sight of him a woman cried out, "Look! Yonder comes the carpenter. Now we
will hear something."
The person spoken of was quite venerable in appearance. Thin white locks
fell below the edge of his full turban, and a mass of still whiter beard
flowed down the front of his coarse gray gown. He came slowly, for, in
addition to his age, he carried some tools—an axe, a saw, and a
drawing-knife, all very rude and heavy—and had evidently travelled some
distance without rest.
He stopped close by to survey the assemblage.
"O Rabbi, good Rabbi Joseph!" cried a woman, running to him. "Here is a
prisoner; come ask the soldiers about him, that we may know who he is, and
what he has done, and what they are going to do with him."
The rabbi's face remained stolid; he glanced at the prisoner, however,
and presently went to the officer.
"The peace of the Lord be with you!" he said, with unbending gravity.
"And that of the gods with you," the decurion replied.
"Are you from Jerusalem?"
"Yes."
"Your prisoner is young."
"In years, yes."
"May I ask what he has done?"
"He is an assassin."
The people repeated the word in astonishment, but Rabbi Joseph pursued
his inquest.
"Is he a son of Israel?"
"He is a Jew," said the Roman, dryly.
The wavering pity of the bystanders came back.
"I know nothing of your tribes, but can speak of his family,"
the speaker continued. "You may have heard of a prince of Jerusalem named
Hur—Ben-Hur, they called him. He lived in Herod's day."
"I have seen him," Joseph said.
"Well, this is his son."
Exclamations became general, and the decurion hastened to stop them.
"In the streets of Jerusalem, day before yesterday, he nearly killed the
noble Gratus by flinging a tile upon his head from the roof of a palace—his
father's, I believe."
There was a pause in the conversation during which the Nazarenes gazed
at the young Ben-Hur as at a wild beast.
"Did he kill him?" asked the rabbi.
"No."
"He is under sentence."
"Yes—the galleys for life."
"The Lord help him!" said Joseph, for once moved out of his
stolidity.
Thereupon a youth who came up with Joseph, but had stood behind him
unobserved, laid down an axe he had been carrying, and, going to the great
stone standing by the well, took from it a pitcher of water. The action was
so quiet that before the guard could interfere, had they been disposed to do
so, he was stooping over the prisoner, and offering him drink.
The hand laid kindly upon his shoulder awoke the unfortunate Judah, and,
looking up, he saw a face he never forgot—the face of a boy about his own
age, shaded by locks of yellowish bright chestnut hair; a face lighted by
dark-blue eyes, at the time so soft, so appealing, so full of love and holy
purpose, that they had all the power of command and will. The spirit of the
Jew, hardened though it was by days and nights of suffering, and
so embittered by wrong that its dreams of revenge took in all the world,
melted under the stranger's look, and became as a child's. He put his lips to
the pitcher, and drank long and deep. Not a word was said to him, nor did he
say a word.
When the draught was finished, the hand that had been resting upon the
sufferer's shoulder was placed upon his head, and stayed there in the dusty
locks time enough to say a blessing; the stranger then returned the pitcher
to its place on the stone, and, taking his axe again, went back to Rabbi
Joseph. All eyes went with him, the decurion's as well as those of the
villagers.
This was the end of the scene at the well. When the men had drunk, and
the horses, the march was resumed. But the temper of the decurion was not as
it had been; he himself raised the prisoner from the dust, and helped him on
a horse behind a soldier. The Nazarenes went to their houses—among them
Rabbi Joseph and his apprentice.
And so, for the first time, Judah and the son of Mary met and parted.
BOOK THIRD
"Cleopatra. . . . Our size of sorrow, Proportion'd to our cause, must be
as great As that which makes
it.—
Enter, below,
DIOMEDES.
How now? is he dead?
Diomedes. His death's upon him, but not
dead." Antony and
Cleopatra (act iv., sc. xiii.).
CHAPTER I
The city of Misenum gave name to the promontory which it crowned, a few
miles southwest of Naples. An account of ruins is all that remains of it now;
yet in the year of our Lord 24—to which it is desirable to advance the
reader—the place was one of the most important on the western coast of
Italy.*
———————- * The Roman government, it will be remembered, had two
harbors in which great fleets were constantly kept—Ravenna and
Misenum. ———————-
In the year mentioned, a traveller coming to the promontory to regale
himself with the view there offered, would have mounted a wall, and, with the
city at his back, looked over the bay of Neapolis, as charming then as now;
and then, as now, he would have seen the matchless shore, the smoking cone,
the sky and waves so softly, deeply blue, Ischia here and Capri
yonder; from one to the other and back again, through the purpled air, his
gaze would have sported; at last—for the eyes do weary of the beautiful as
the palate with sweets—at last it would have dropped upon a spectacle which
the modern tourist cannot see— half the reserve navy of Rome astir or at
anchor below him. Thus regarded, Misenum was a very proper place for three
masters to meet, and at leisure parcel the world among them.
In the old time, moreover, there was a gateway in the wall at a certain
point fronting the sea—an empty gateway forming the outlet of a street
which, after the exit, stretched itself, in the form of a broad mole, out
many stadia into the waves.
The watchman on the wall above the gateway was disturbed, one
cool September morning, by a party coming down the street in
noisy conversation. He gave one look, then settled into his
drowse again.
There were twenty or thirty persons in the party, of whom the greater
number were slaves with torches, which flamed little and smoked much, leaving
on the air the perfume of the Indian nard. The masters walked in advance
arm-in-arm. One of them, apparently fifty years old, slightly bald, and
wearing over his scant locks a crown of laurel, seemed, from the attentions
paid him, the central object of some affectionate ceremony. They
all sported ample togas of white wool broadly bordered with purple. A
glance had sufficed the watchman. He knew, without question, they were of
high rank, and escorting a friend to ship after a night of festivity. Further
explanation will be found in the conversation they carried on.
"No, my Quintus," said one, speaking to him with the crown, "it is ill
of Fortune to take thee from us so soon. Only yesterday thou didst return
from the seas beyond the Pillars. Why, thou hast not even got back thy land
legs."
"By Castor! if a man may swear a woman's oath," said another, somewhat
worse of wine, "let us not lament. Our Quintus is but going to find what he
lost last night. Dice on a rolling ship is not dice on shore—eh,
Quintus?"
"Abuse not Fortune!" exclaimed a third. "She is not blind or fickle. At
Antium, where our Arrius questions her, she answers him with nods, and at sea
she abides with him holding the rudder. She takes him from us, but does she
not always give him back with a new victory?"
"The Greeks are taking him away," another broke in. "Let us abuse them,
not the gods. In learning to trade they forgot how to fight."
With these words, the party passed the gateway, and came upon the mole,
with the bay before them beautiful in the morning light. To the veteran
sailor the plash of the waves was like a greeting. He drew a long breath, as
if the perfume of the water were sweeter than that of the nard, and held his
hand aloft.
"My gifts were at Praeneste, not Antium—and see! Wind from the west.
Thanks, O Fortune, my mother!" he said, earnestly.
The friends all repeated the exclamation, and the slaves waved their
torches.
"She comes—yonder!" he continued, pointing to a galley outside the
mole. "What need has a sailor for other mistress? Is your Lucrece more
graceful, my Caius?"
He gazed at the coming ship, and justified his pride. A white sail was
bent to the low mast, and the oars dipped, arose, poised a moment, then
dipped again, with wing-like action, and in perfect time.
"Yes, spare the gods," he said, soberly, his eyes fixed upon the vessel.
"They send us opportunities. Ours the fault if we fail. And as for the
Greeks, you forget, O my Lentulus, the pirates I am going to punish are
Greeks. One victory over them is of more account than a hundred over the
Africans."
"Then thy way is to the Aegean?"
The sailor's eyes were full of his ship.
"What grace, what freedom! A bird hath not less care for the fretting of
the waves. See!" he said, but almost immediately added, "Thy pardon, my
Lentulus. I am going to the Aegean; and as my departure is so near, I will
tell the occasion—only keep it under the rose. I would not that you abuse
the duumvir when next you meet him. He is my friend. The trade between
Greece and Alexandria, as ye may have heard, is hardly inferior to
that between Alexandria and Rome. The people in that part of the
world forgot to celebrate the Cerealia, and Triptolemus paid them with a
harvest not worth the gathering. At all events, the trade is so grown that it
will not brook interruption a day. Ye may also have heard of the Chersonesan
pirates, nested up in the Euxine; none bolder, by the Bacchae! Yesterday word
came to Rome that, with a fleet, they had rowed down the Bosphorus, sunk the
galleys off Byzantium and Chalcedon, swept the Propontis, and, still
unsated, burst through into the Aegean. The corn-merchants who have
ships in the East Mediterranean are frightened. They had audience with the
Emperor himself, and from Ravenna there go to-day a hundred galleys, and from
Misenum"—he paused as if to pique the curiosity of his friends, and ended
with an emphatic—"one."
"Happy Quintus! We congratulate thee!"
"The preferment forerunneth promotion. We salute thee duumvir; nothing
less."
"Quintus Arrius, the duumvir, hath a better sound than Quintus Arrius,
the tribune."
In such manner they showered him with congratulations.
"I am glad with the rest," said the bibulous friend, "very glad; but I
must be practical, O my duumvir; and not until I know if promotion will help
thee to knowledge of the tesserae will I have an opinion as to whether the
gods mean thee ill or good in this— this business."
"Thanks, many thanks!" Arrius replied, speaking to them
collectively. "Had ye but lanterns, I would say ye were augurs. Perpol! I
will go further, and show what master diviners ye are! See—and read."
From the folds of his toga he drew a roll of paper, and passed it to
them, saying, "Received while at table last night from—Sejanus."
The name was already a great one in the Roman world; great, and not so
infamous as it afterwards became.
"Sejanus!" they exclaimed, with one voice, closing in to read what the
minister had written.
"Sejanus to C. Coecilius Rufus, Duumvir.
"ROME, XIX. Kal. Sept.
"Caesar hath good report of Quintus Arrius, the tribune. In
particular he bath heard of his valor, manifested in the western seas,
insomuch that it is his will that the said Quintus be transferred instantly
to the East.
"It is our Caesar's will, further, that you cause a hundred triremes, of
the first class, and full appointment, to be despatched without delay against
the pirates who have appeared in the Aegean, and that Quintus be sent to
command the fleet so despatched.
"Details are thine, my Caecilius.
"The necessity is urgent, as thou will be advised by the
reports enclosed for thy perusal and the information of the said
Quintus.
"SEJANUS."
Arrius gave little heed to the reading. As the ship drew more
plainly out of the perspective, she became more and more an attraction to
him. The look with which he watched her was that of an enthusiast. At
length he tossed the loosened folds of his toga in the air; in reply
to the signal, over the aplustre, or fan-like fixture at the stern of the
vessel, a scarlet flag was displayed; while several sailors appeared upon the
bulwarks, and swung themselves hand over hand up the ropes to the antenna, or
yard, and furled the sail. The bow was put round, and the time of the oars
increased one half; so that at racing speed she bore down directly towards
him and his friends. He observed the manoeuvring with a perceptible
brightening of the eyes. Her instant answer to the rudder, and the steadiness
with which she kept her course, were especially noticeable as virtues to
be relied upon in action.
"By the Nymphae!" said one of the friends, giving back the roll, "we may
not longer say our friend will be great; he is already great. Our love will
now have famous things to feed upon. What more hast thou for us?"
"Nothing more," Arrius replied. "What ye have of the affair is by this
time old news in Rome, especially between the palace and the Forum. The
duumvir is discreet; what I am to do, where go to find my fleet, he will tell
on the ship, where a sealed package is waiting me. If, however, ye have
offerings for any of the altars to-day, pray the gods for a friend plying oar
and sail somewhere in the direction of Sicily. But she is here, and
will come to," he said, reverting to the vessel. "I have interest in her
masters; they will sail and fight with me. It is not an easy thing to lay
ship side on a shore like this; so let us judge their training and
skill."
"What, is she new to thee?"
"I never saw her before; and, as yet, I know not if she will bring me
one acquaintance."
"Is that well?"
"It matters but little. We of the sea come to know each other quickly;
our loves, like our hates, are born of sudden dangers."
The vessel was of the class called naves liburnicae—long, narrow, low
in the water, and modelled for speed and quick manoeuvre. The bow was
beautiful. A jet of water spun from its foot as she came on, sprinkling all
the prow, which rose in graceful curvature twice a man's stature above the
plane of the deck. Upon the bending of the sides were figures of Triton
blowing shells. Below the bow, fixed to the keel, and projecting forward
under the water-line, was the rostrum, or beak, a device of solid wood,
reinforced and armed with iron, in action used as a ram. A stout molding
extended from the bow the full length of the ship's sides, defining
the bulwarks, which were tastefully crenelated; below the molding, in
three rows, each covered with a cap or shield of bull-hide, were the holes in
which the oars were worked—sixty on the right, sixty on the left. In further
ornamentation, caducei leaned against the lofty prow. Two immense ropes
passing across the bow marked the number of anchors stowed on the
foredeck.
The simplicity of the upper works declared the oars the chief dependence
of the crew. A mast, set a little forward of midship, was held by fore and
back stays and shrouds fixed to rings on the inner side of the bulwarks. The
tackle was that required for the management of one great square sail and the
yard to which it was hung. Above the bulwarks the deck was visible.
Save the sailors who had reefed the sail, and yet lingered on the yard,
but one man was to be seen by the party on the mole, and he stood by the prow
helmeted and with a shield.
The hundred and twenty oaken blades, kept white and shining by pumice
and the constant wash of the waves, rose and fell as if operated by the same
hand, and drove the galley forward with a speed rivalling that of a modern
steamer.
So rapidly, and apparently, so rashly, did she come that the landsmen of
the tribune's party were alarmed. Suddenly the man by the prow raised his
hand with a peculiar gesture; whereupon all the oars flew up, poised a moment
in air, then fell straight down. The water boiled and bubbled about them; the
galley shook in every timber, and stopped as if scared. Another gesture of
the hand, and again the oars arose, feathered, and fell; but this time those
on the right, dropping towards the stern, pushed forward; while those
on the left, dropping towards the bow, pulled backwards. Three times the
oars thus pushed and pulled against each other. Round to the right the ship
swung as upon a pivot; then, caught by the wind, she settled gently broadside
to the mole.
The movement brought the stern to view, with all its garniture— Tritons
like those at the bow; name in large raised letters; the rudder at the side;
the elevated platform upon which the helmsman sat, a stately figure in full
armor, his hand upon the rudder-rope; and the aplustre, high, gilt, carved,
and bent over the helmsman like a great runcinate leaf.
In the midst of the rounding-to, a trumpet was blown brief and shrill,
and from the hatchways out poured the marines, all in superb equipment,
brazen helms, burnished shields and javelins. While the fighting-men thus
went to quarters as for action, the sailors proper climbed the shrouds and
perched themselves along the yard. The officers and musicians took their
posts. There was no shouting or needless noise. When the oars touched the
mole, a bridge was sent out from the helmsman's deck. Then the
tribune turned to his party and said, with a gravity he had not
before shown:
"Duty now, O my friends."
He took the chaplet from his head and gave it to the dice-player.
"Take thou the myrtle, O favorite of the tesserae!" he said. "If
I return, I will seek my sestertii again; if I am not victor, I will not
return. Hang the crown in thy atrium."
To the company he opened his arms, and they came one by one and received
his parting embrace.
"The gods go with thee, O Quintus!" they said.
"Farewell," he replied.
To the slaves waving their torches he waved his hand; then he turned to
the waiting ship, beautiful with ordered ranks and crested helms, and shields
and javelins. As he stepped upon the bridge, the trumpets sounded, and over
the aplustre rose the vexillum purpureum, or pennant of a commander of a
fleet.
CHAPTER II
The tribune, standing upon the helmsman's deck with the order of the
duumvir open in his hand, spoke to the chief of the rowers.*
———————- * Called hortator. ———————-
"What force hast thou?"
"Of oarsmen, two hundred and fifty-two; ten supernumeraries.
"Making reliefs of—"
"Eighty-four."
"And thy habit?"
"It has been to take off and put on every two hours."
The tribune mused a moment.
"The division is hard, and I will reform it, but not now. The oars may
not rest day or night."
Then to the sailing-master he said,
"The wind is fair. Let the sail help the oars."
When the two thus addressed were gone, he turned to the chief pilot.*
———————- * Called rector. ———————-
"What service hast thou had?"
"Two-and-thirty years."
"In what seas chiefly?"
"Between our Rome and the East."
"Thou art the man I would have chosen."
The tribune looked at his orders again.
"Past the Camponellan cape, the course will be to Messina. Beyond that,
follow the bend of the Calabrian shore till Melito is on thy left, then—
Knowest thou the stars that govern in the Ionian Sea?"
"I know them well."
"Then from Melito course eastward for Cythera. The gods willing, I will
not anchor until in the Bay of Antemona. The duty is urgent. I rely upon
thee."
A prudent man was Arrius—prudent, and of the class which, while
enriching the altars at Praeneste and Antium, was of opinion, nevertheless,
that the favor of the blind goddess depended more upon the votary's care and
judgment than upon his gifts and vows. All night as master of the feast he
had sat at table drinking and playing; yet the odor of the sea
returned him to the mood of the sailor, and he would not rest until
he knew his ship. Knowledge leaves no room for chances. Having begun with
the chief of the rowers, the sailing-master, and the pilot, in company with
the other officers—the commander of the marines, the keeper of the stores,
the master of the machines, the overseer of the kitchen or fires—he passed
through the several quarters. Nothing escaped his inspection. When he was
through, of the community crowded within the narrow walls he alone knew
perfectly all there was of material preparation for the voyage and its
possible incidents; and, finding the preparation complete, there was left him
but one thing further—thorough knowledge of the personnel of his
command. As this was the most delicate and difficult part of his
task, requiring much time, he set about it his own way.
At noon that day the galley was skimming the sea off Paestum. The wind
was yet from the west, filling the sail to the master's content. The watches
had been established. On the foredeck the altar had been set and sprinkled
with salt and barley, and before it the tribune had offered solemn prayers to
Jove and to Neptune and all the Oceanidae, and, with vows, poured the wine
and burned the incense. And now, the better to study his men, he was
seated in the great cabin, a very martial figure.
The cabin, it should be stated, was the central compartment of
the galley, in extent quite sixty-five by thirty feet, and lighted
by three broad hatchways. A row of stanchions ran from end to
end, supporting the roof, and near the centre the mast was visible, all
bristling with axes and spears and javelins. To each hatchway there were
double stairs descending right and left, with a pivotal arrangement at the
top to allow the lower ends to be hitched to the ceiling; and, as these were
now raised, the compartment had the appearance of a skylighted hall.
The reader will understand readily that this was the heart of the ship,
the home of all aboard—eating-room, sleeping-chamber, field of exercise,
lounging-place off duty—uses made possible by the laws which reduced life
there to minute details and a routine relentless as death.
At the after-end of the cabin there was a platform, reached by several
steps. Upon it the chief of the rowers sat; in front of him a sounding-table,
upon which, with a gavel, he beat time for the oarsmen; at his right a
clepsydra, or water-clock, to measure the reliefs and watches. Above him, on
a higher platform, well guarded by gilded railing, the tribune had
his quarters, overlooking everything, and furnished with a couch, a table,
and a cathedra, or chair, cushioned, and with arms and high back—articles
which the imperial dispensation permitted of the utmost elegance.
Thus at ease, lounging in the great chair, swaying with the motion of
the vessel, the military cloak half draping his tunic, sword in belt, Arrius
kept watchful eye over his command, and was as closely watched by them. He
saw critically everything in view, but dwelt longest upon the rowers. The
reader would doubtless have done the same: only he would have looked with
much sympathy, while, as is the habit with masters, the tribune's mind ran
forward of what he saw, inquiring for results.
The spectacle was simple enough of itself. Along the sides of the cabin,
fixed to the ship's timbers, were what at first appeared to be three rows of
benches; a closer view, however, showed them a succession of rising banks, in
each of which the second bench was behind and above the first one, and the
third above and behind the second. To accommodate the sixty rowers on a side,
the space devoted to them permitted nineteen banks separated by intervals
of one yard, with a twentieth bank divided so that what would have been
its upper seat or bench was directly above the lower seat of the first bank.
The arrangement gave each rower when at work ample room, if he timed his
movements with those of his associates, the principle being that of soldiers
marching with cadenced step in close order. The arrangement also allowed a
multiplication of banks, limited only by the length of the galley.
As to the rowers, those upon the first and second benches sat, while
those upon the third, having longer oars to work, were suffered to stand. The
oars were loaded with lead in the handles, and near the point of balance hung
to pliable thongs, making possible the delicate touch called feathering, but,
at the same time, increasing the need of skill, since an eccentric wave might
at any moment catch a heedless fellow and hurl him from his seat. Each
oar-hole was a vent through which the laborer opposite it had his plenty
of sweet air. Light streamed down upon him from the grating which formed
the floor of the passage between the deck and the bulwark over his head. In
some respects, therefore, the condition of the men might have been much
worse. Still, it must not be imagined that there was any pleasantness in
their lives. Communication between them was not allowed. Day after day they
filled their places without speech; in hours of labor they could not see each
other's faces; their short respites were given to sleep and the
snatching of food. They never laughed; no one ever heard one of them
sing. What is the use of tongues when a sigh or a groan will tell all men
feel while, perforce, they think in silence? Existence with the poor wretches
was like a stream under ground sweeping slowly, laboriously on to its outlet,
wherever that might chance to be.
O Son of Mary! The sword has now a heart—and thine the glory! So now;
but, in the days of which we are writing, for captivity there was drudgery on
walls, and in the streets and mines, and the galleys both of war and commerce
were insatiable. When Druilius won the first sea-fight for his country,
Romans plied the oars, and the glory was to the rower not less than the
marine. These benches which now we are trying to see as they were testified
to the change come with conquest, and illustrated both the policy and the
prowess of Rome. Nearly all the nations had sons there, mostly prisoners
of war, chosen for their brawn and endurance. In one place a
Briton; before him a Libyan; behind him a Crimean. Elsewhere a Scythian, a
Gaul, and a Thebasite. Roman convicts cast down to consort with Goths and
Longobardi, Jews, Ethiopians, and barbarians from the shores of Maeotis. Here
an Athenian, there a red-haired savage from Hibernia, yonder blue-eyed giants
of the Cimbri.
In the labor of the rowers there was not enough art to give
occupation to their minds, rude and simple as they were. The reach
forward, the pull, the feathering the blade, the dip, were all there was
of it; motions most perfect when most automatic. Even the care forced upon
them by the sea outside grew in time to be a thing instinctive rather than of
thought. So, as the result of long service, the poor wretches became
imbruted—patient, spiritless, obedient—creatures of vast muscle and
exhausted intellects, who lived upon recollections generally few but dear,
and at last lowered into the semi-conscious alchemic state wherein misery
turns to habit, and the soul takes on incredible endurance.
From right to left, hour after hour, the tribune, swaying in his
easy-chair, turned with thought of everything rather than the wretchedness of
the slaves upon the benches. Their motions, precise, and exactly the same on
both sides of the vessel, after a while became monotonous; and then he amused
himself singling out individuals. With his stylus he made note of objections,
thinking, if all went well, he would find among the pirates of whom he
was in search better men for the places.
There was no need of keeping the proper names of the slaves brought to
the galleys as to their graves; so, for convenience, they were usually
identified by the numerals painted upon the benches to which they were
assigned. As the sharp eyes of the great man moved from seat to seat on
either hand, they came at last to number sixty, which, as has been said,
belonged properly to the last bank on the left-hand side, but, wanting room
aft, had been fixed above the first bench of the first bank. There they
rested.
The bench of number sixty was slightly above the level of the platform,
and but a few feet away. The light glinting through the grating over his head
gave the rower fairly to the tribune's view—erect, and, like all his
fellows, naked, except a cincture about the loins. There were, however, some
points in his favor. He was very young, not more than twenty. Furthermore,
Arrius was not merely given to dice; he was a connoisseur of men
physically, and when ashore indulged a habit of visiting the gymnasia to see
and admire the most famous athletae. From some professor, doubtless, he
had caught the idea that strength was as much of the quality as the quantity
of the muscle, while superiority in performance required a certain mind as
well as strength. Having adopted the doctrine, like most men with a hobby, he
was always looking for illustrations to support it.
The reader may well believe that while the tribune, in the search for
the perfect, was often called upon to stop and study, he was seldom perfectly
satisfied—in fact, very seldom held as long as on this occasion.
In the beginning of each movement of the oar, the rower's body and face
were brought into profile view from the platform; the movement ended with the
body reversed, and in a pushing posture. The grace and ease of the action at
first suggested a doubt of the honesty of the effort put forth; but it was
speedily dismissed; the firmness with which the oar was held while in the
reach forward, its bending under the push, were proofs of the force applied;
not that only, they as certainly proved the rower's art, and put the critic
in the great arm-chair in search of the combination of strength
and cleverness which was the central idea of his theory.
In course of the study, Arrius observed the subject's youth; wholly
unconscious of tenderness on that account, he also observed that he seemed of
good height, and that his limbs, upper and nether, were singularly perfect.
The arms, perhaps, were too long, but the objection was well hidden under a
mass of muscle, which, in some movements, swelled and knotted like kinking
cords. Every rib in the round body was discernible; yet the leanness was the
healthful reduction so strained after in the palaestrae. And altogether
there was in the rower's action a certain harmony which, besides
addressing itself to the tribune's theory, stimulated both his curiosity
and general interest.
Very soon he found himself waiting to catch a view of the man's face in
full. The head was shapely, and balanced upon a neck broad at the base, but
of exceeding pliancy and grace. The features in profile were of Oriental
outline, and of that delicacy of expression which has always been thought a
sign of blood and sensitive spirit. With these observations, the tribune's
interest in the subject deepened.
"By the gods," he said to himself, "the fellow impresses me! He promises
well. I will know more of him."
Directly the tribune caught the view he wished—the rower turned and
looked at him.
"A Jew! and a boy!"
Under the gaze then fixed steadily upon him, the large eyes of the slave
grew larger—the blood surged to his very brows—the blade lingered in his
hands. But instantly, with an angry crash, down fell the gavel of the
hortator. The rower started, withdrew his face from the inquisitor, and, as
if personally chidden, dropped the oar half feathered. When he glanced again
at the tribune, he was vastly more astonished—he was met with a kindly
smile.
Meantime the galley entered the Straits of Messina, and, skimming
past the city of that name, was after a while turned eastward, leaving
the cloud over AEtna in the sky astern.
Often as Arrius resumed to his platform in the cabin he returned to
study the rower, and he kept saying to himself, "The fellow hath a spirit. A
Jew is not a barbarian. I will know more of him."
CHAPTER III
The fourth day out, and the Astroea—so the galley was
named—speeding through the Ionian Sea. The sky was clear, and the wind blew
as if bearing the good-will of all the gods.
As it was possible to overtake the fleet before reaching the bay east of
the island of Cythera, designated for assemblage, Arrius, somewhat impatient,
spent much time on deck. He took note diligently of matters pertaining to his
ship, and as a rule was well pleased. In the cabin, swinging in the great
chair, his thought continually reverted to the rower on number sixty.
"Knowest thou the man just come from yon bench?" he at length asked of
the hortator.
A relief was going on at the moment.
"From number sixty?" returned the chief.
"Yes."
The chief looked sharply at the rower then going forward.
"As thou knowest," he replied "the ship is but a month from the maker's
hand, and the men are as new to me as the ship."
"He is a Jew," Arrius remarked, thoughtfully.
"The noble Quintus is shrewd."
"He is very young," Arrius continued.
"But our best rower," said the other. "I have seen his oar bend almost
to breaking."
"Of what disposition is he?"
"He is obedient; further I know not. Once he made request of me."
"For what?"
"He wished me to change him alternately from the right to the left."
"Did he give a reason?"
"He had observed that the men who are confined to one side
become misshapen. He also said that some day of storm or battle there
might be sudden need to change him, and he might then be
unserviceable."
"Perpol! The idea is new. What else hast thou observed of him?"
"He is cleanly above his companions."
"In that he is Roman," said Arrius, approvingly. "Have you nothing of
his history?"
"Not a word."
The tribune reflected awhile, and turned to go to his own seat.
"If I should be on deck when his time is up," he paused to say, "send
him to me. Let him come alone."
About two hours later Arrius stood under the aplustre of the galley; in
the mood of one who, seeing himself carried swiftly towards an event of
mighty import, has nothing to do but wait—the mood in which philosophy vests
an even-minded man with the utmost calm, and is ever so serviceable. The
pilot sat with a hand upon the rope by which the rudder paddles, one on each
side of the vessel, were managed. In the shade of the sail some sailors lay
asleep, and up on the yard there was a lookout. Lifting his eyes from the
solarium set under the aplustre for reference in keeping the course, Arrius
beheld the rower approaching.
"The chief called thee the noble Arrius, and said it was thy will that I
should seek thee here. I have come."
Arrius surveyed the figure, tall, sinewy, glistening in the sun, and
tinted by the rich red blood within—surveyed it admiringly, and with a
thought of the arena; yet the manner was not without effect upon him: there
was in the voice a suggestion of life at least partly spent under refining
influences; the eyes were clear and open, and more curious than defiant. To
the shrewd, demanding, masterful glance bent upon it, the face gave back
nothing to mar its youthful comeliness—nothing of accusation or sullenness
or menace, only the signs which a great sorrow long borne imprints, as
time mellows the surface of pictures. In tacit acknowledgment of the effect,
the Roman spoke as an older man to a younger, not as a master to a
slave.
"The hortator tells me thou art his best rower."
"The hortator is very kind," the rower answered.
"Hast thou seen much service?"
"About three years."
"At the oars?"
"I cannot recall a day of rest from them."
"The labor is hard; few men bear it a year without breaking, and
thou—thou art but a boy."
"The noble Arrius forgets that the spirit hath much to do
with endurance. By its help the weak sometimes thrive, when the
strong perish."
"From thy speech, thou art a Jew."
"My ancestors further back than the first Roman were Hebrews."
"The stubborn pride of thy race is not lost in thee," said
Arrius, observing a flush upon the rower's face.
"Pride is never so loud as when in chains."
"What cause hast thou for pride?"
"That I am a Jew."
Arrius smiled.
"I have not been to Jerusalem," he said; "but I have heard of its
princes. I knew one of them. He was a merchant, and sailed the seas. He was
fit to have been a king. Of what degree art thou?"
"I must answer thee from the bench of a galley. I am of the degree of
slaves. My father was a prince of Jerusalem, and, as a merchant, he sailed
the seas. He was known and honored in the guest-chamber of the great
Augustus."
"His name?"
"Ithamar, of the house of Hur."
The tribune raised his hand in astonishment.
"A son of Hur—thou?"
After a silence, he asked,
"What brought thee here?"
Judah lowered his head, and his breast labored hard. When his feelings
were sufficiently mastered, he looked the tribune in the face, and
answered,
"I was accused of attempting to assassinate Valerius Gratus, the
procurator."
"Thou!" cried Arrius, yet more amazed, and retreating a step. "Thou that
assassin! All Rome rang with the story. It came to my ship in the river by
Lodinum."
The two regarded each other silently.
"I thought the family of Hur blotted from the earth," said
Arrius, speaking first.
A flood of tender recollections carried the young man's pride
away; tears shone upon his cheeks.
"Mother—mother! And my little Tirzah! Where are they? O tribune, noble
tribune, if thou knowest anything of them"—he clasped his hands in
appeal—"tell me all thou knowest. Tell me if they are living—if living,
where are they? and in what condition? Oh, I pray thee, tell me!"
He drew nearer Arrius, so near that his hands touched the cloak where it
dropped from the latter's folded arms.
"The horrible day is three years gone," he continued—"three years, O
tribune, and every hour a whole lifetime of misery—a lifetime in a
bottomless pit with death, and no relief but in labor—and in all that time
not a word from any one, not a whisper. Oh, if, in being forgotten, we could
only forget! If only I could hide from that scene—my sister torn from me, my
mother's last look! I have felt the plague's breath, and the shock of ships
in battle; I have heard the tempest lashing the sea, and laughed, though
others prayed: death would have been a riddance. Bend the oar—yes, in the
strain of mighty effort trying to escape the haunting of what that day
occurred. Think what little will help me. Tell me they are dead, if no
more, for happy they cannot be while I am lost. I have heard them call me
in the night; I have seen them on the water walking. Oh, never anything so
true as my mother's love! And Tirzah—her breath was as the breath of white
lilies. She was the youngest branch of the palm—so fresh, so tender, so
graceful, so beautiful! She made my day all morning. She came and went in
music. And mine was the hand that laid them low! I—"
"Dost thou admit thy guilt?" asked Arrius, sternly.
The change that came upon Ben-Hur was wonderful to see, it was
so instant and extreme. The voice sharpened; the hands arose
tight-clenched; every fibre thrilled; his eyes inflamed.
"Thou hast heard of the God of my fathers," he said; "of the infinite
Jehovah. By his truth and almightiness, and by the love with which he hath
followed Israel from the beginning, I swear I am innocent!"
The tribune was much moved.
"O noble Roman!" continued Ben-Hur, "give me a little faith, and, into
my darkness, deeper darkening every day, send a light!"
Arrius turned away, and walked the deck.
"Didst thou not have a trial?" he asked, stopping suddenly.
"No!"
The Roman raised his head, surprised.
"No trial—no witnesses! Who passed judgment upon thee?"
Romans, it should be remembered, were at no time such lovers of the law
and its forms as in the ages of their decay.
"They bound me with cords, and dragged me to a vault in the Tower. I saw
no one. No one spoke to me. Next day soldiers took me to the seaside. I have
been a galley-slave ever since."
"What couldst thou have proven?"
"I was a boy, too young to be a conspirator. Gratus was a stranger to
me. If I had meant to kill him, that was not the time or the place. He was
riding in the midst of a legion, and it was broad day. I could not have
escaped. I was of a class most friendly to Rome. My father had been
distinguished for his services to the emperor. We had a great estate to lose.
Ruin was certain to myself, my mother, my sister. I had no cause for
malice, while every consideration—property, family, life, conscience, the
Law—to a son of Israel as the breath of his nostrils—would have stayed my
hand, though the foul intent had been ever so strong. I was not mad. Death
was preferable to shame; and, believe me, I pray, it is so yet."
"Who was with thee when the blow was struck?"
"I was on the house-top—my father's house. Tirzah was with me— at my
side—the soul of gentleness. Together we leaned over the parapet to see the
legion pass. A tile gave way under my hand, and fell upon Gratus. I thought I
had killed him. Ah, what horror I felt!"
"Where was thy mother?"
"In her chamber below."
"What became of her?"
Ben-Hur clenched his hands, and drew a breath like a gasp.
"I do not know. I saw them drag her away—that is all I know. Out of the
house they drove every living thing, even the dumb cattle, and they sealed
the gates. The purpose was that she should not return. I, too, ask for her.
Oh for one word! She, at least, was innocent. I can forgive—but I pray thy
pardon, noble tribune! A slave like me should not talk of forgiveness or
of revenge. I am bound to an oar for life."
Arrius listened intently. He brought all his experience with slaves to
his aid. If the feeling shown in this instance were assumed, the acting was
perfect; on the other hand, if it were real, the Jew's innocence might not be
doubted; and if he were innocent, with what blind fury the power had been
exercised! A whole family blotted out to atone an accident! The thought
shocked him.
There is no wiser providence than that our occupations, however rude or
bloody, cannot wear us out morally; that such qualities as justice and mercy,
if they really possess us, continue to live on under them, like flowers under
the snow. The tribune could be inexorable, else he had not been fit for the
usages of his calling; he could also be just; and to excite his sense of
wrong was to put him in the way to right the wrong. The crews of the ships in
which he served came after a time to speak of him as the good tribune. Shrewd
readers will not want a better definition of his character.
In this instance there were many circumstances certainly in the young
man's favor, and some to be supposed. Possibly Arrius knew Valerius Gratus
without loving him. Possibly he had known the elder Hur. In the course of his
appeal, Judah had asked him of that; and, as will be noticed, he had made no
reply.
For once the tribune was at loss, and hesitated. His power was ample. He
was monarch of the ship. His prepossessions all moved him to mercy. His faith
was won. Yet, he said to himself, there was no haste—or, rather, there was
haste to Cythera; the best rower could not then be spared; he would wait; he
would learn more; he would at least be sure this was the prince Ben-Hur, and
that he was of a right disposition. Ordinarily, slaves were liars.
"It is enough," he said aloud. "Go back to thy place."
Ben-Hur bowed; looked once more into the master's face, but saw nothing
for hope. He turned away slowly, looked back, and said,
"If thou dost think of me again, O tribune, let it not be lost in thy
mind that I prayed thee only for word of my people—mother, sister."
He moved on.
Arrius followed him with admiring eyes.
"Perpol!" he thought. "With teaching, what a man for the arena! What a
runner! Ye gods! what an arm for the sword or the cestus!—Stay!" he said
aloud.
Ben-Hur stopped, and the tribune went to him.
"If thou wert free, what wouldst thou do?"
"The noble Arrius mocks me!" Judah said, with trembling lips.
"No; by the gods, no!"
"Then I will answer gladly. I would give myself to duty the first of
life. I would know no other. I would know no rest until my mother and Tirzah
were restored to home. I would give every day and hour to their happiness. I
would wait upon them; never a slave more faithful. They have lost much, but,
by the God of my fathers, I would find them more!"
The answer was unexpected by the Roman. For a moment he lost
his purpose.
"I spoke to thy ambition," he said, recovering. "If thy mother and
sister were dead, or not to be found, what wouldst thou do?"
A distinct pallor overspread Ben-Hur's face, and he looked over the sea.
There was a struggle with some strong feeling; when it was conquered, he
turned to the tribune.
"What pursuit would I follow?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Tribune, I will tell thee truly. Only the night before the dreadful day
of which I have spoken, I obtained permission to be a soldier. I am of the
same mind yet; and, as in all the earth there is but one school of war,
thither I would go."
"The palaestra!" exclaimed Arrius.
"No; a Roman camp."
"But thou must first acquaint thyself with the use of arms."
Now a master may never safely advise a slave. Arrius saw
his indiscretion, and, in a breath, chilled his voice and manner.
"Go now," he said, "and do not build upon what has passed between
us. Perhaps I do but play with thee. Or"—he looked away musingly—
"or, if thou dost think of it with any hope, choose between the renown
of a gladiator and the service of a soldier. The former may come of
the favor of the emperor; there is no reward for thee in the latter. Thou
art not a Roman. Go!"
A short while after Ben-Hur was upon his bench again.
A man's task is always light if his heart is light. Handling the oar did
not seem so toilsome to Judah. A hope had come to him, like a singing bird.
He could hardly see the visitor or hear its song; that it was there, though,
he knew; his feelings told him so. The caution of the tribune—"Perhaps I do
but play with thee"—was dismissed often as it recurred to his mind. That
he had been called by the great man and asked his story was the bread upon
which he fed his hungry spirit. Surely something good would come of it. The
light about his bench was clear and bright with promises, and he
prayed.
"O God! I am a true son of the Israel thou hast so loved! Help me, I
pray thee!"
CHAPTER IV
In the Bay of Antemona, east of Cythera the island, the hundred galleys
assembled. There the tribune gave one day to inspection. He sailed then to
Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades, midway the coasts of Greece and Asia,
like a great stone planted in the centre of a highway, from which he could
challenge everything that passed; at the same time, he would be in position
to go after the pirates instantly, whether they were in the AEgean or out
on the Mediterranean.
As the fleet, in order, rowed in towards the mountain shores of
the island, a galley was descried coming from the north. Arrius went
to meet it. She proved to be a transport just from Byzantium, and from her
commander he learned the particulars of which he stood in most need.
The pirates were from all the farther shores of the Euxine. Even Tanais,
at the mouth of the river which was supposed to feed Palus Maeotis, was
represented among them. Their preparations had been with the greatest
secrecy. The first known of them was their appearance off the entrance to the
Thracian Bosphorus, followed by the destruction of the fleet in station
there. Thence to the outlet of the Hellespont everything afloat had fallen
their prey. There were quite sixty galleys in the squadron, all well
manned and supplied. A few were biremes, the rest stout triremes. A
Greek was in command, and the pilots, said to be familiar with all
the Eastern seas, were Greek. The plunder had been incalculable. The
panic, consequently, was not on the sea alone; cities, with closed gates,
sent their people nightly to the walls. Traffic had almost ceased.
Where were the pirates now?
To this question, of most interest to Arrius, he received answer.
After sacking Hephaestia, on the island of Lemnos, the enemy had coursed
across to the Thessalian group, and, by last account, disappeared in the
gulfs between Euboea and Hellas.
Such were the tidings.
Then the people of the island, drawn to the hill-tops by the rare
spectacle of a hundred ships careering in united squadron, beheld the advance
division suddenly turn to the north, and the others follow, wheeling upon the
same point like cavalry in a column. News of the piratical descent had
reached them, and now, watching the white sails until they faded from sight
up between Rhene and Syros, the thoughtful among them took comfort, and
were grateful. What Rome seized with strong hand she always defended: in
return for their taxes, she gave them safety.
The tribune was more than pleased with the enemy's movements; he was
doubly thankful to Fortune. She had brought swift and sure intelligence, and
had lured his foes into the waters where, of all others, destruction was most
assured. He knew the havoc one galley could play in a broad sea like the
Mediterranean, and the difficulty of finding and overhauling her; he knew,
also, how those very circumstances would enhance the service and glory if, at
one blow, he could put a finish to the whole piratical array.
If the reader will take a map of Greece and the AEgean, he will notice
the island of Euboea lying along the classic coast like a rampart against
Asia, leaving a channel between it and the continent quite a hundred and
twenty miles in length, and scarcely an average of eight in width. The inlet
on the north had admitted the fleet of Xerxes, and now it received the bold
raiders from the Euxine. The towns along the Pelasgic and Meliac gulfs were
rich and their plunder seductive. All things considered, therefore, Arrius
judged that the robbers might be found somewhere below
Thermopylae. Welcoming the chance, he resolved to enclose them north and
south, to do which not an hour could be lost; even the fruits and
wines and women of Naxos must be left behind. So he sailed away
without stop or tack until, a little before nightfall, Mount Ocha was
seen upreared against the sky, and the pilot reported the Euboean
coast.
At a signal the fleet rested upon its oars. When the movement was
resumed, Arrius led a division of fifty of the galleys, intending to take
them up the channel, while another division, equally strong, turned their
prows to the outer or seaward side of the island, with orders to make all
haste to the upper inlet, and descend sweeping the waters.
To be sure, neither division was equal in number to the pirates; but
each had advantages in compensation, among them, by no means least, a
discipline impossible to a lawless horde, however brave. Besides, it was a
shrewd count on the tribune's side, if, peradventure, one should be defeated,
the other would find the enemy shattered by his victory, and in condition to
be easily overwhelmed.
Meantime Ben-Hur kept his bench, relieved every six hours. The rest in
the Bay of Antemona had freshened him, so that the oar was not troublesome,
and the chief on the platform found no fault.
People, generally, are not aware of the ease of mind there is in knowing
where they are, and where they are going. The sensation of being lost is a
keen distress; still worse is the feeling one has in driving blindly into
unknown places. Custom had dulled the feeling with Ben-Hur, but only
measurably. Pulling away hour after hour, sometimes days and nights together,
sensible all the time that the galley was gliding swiftly along some of the
many tracks of the broad sea, the longing to know where he was, and whither
going, was always present with him; but now it seemed quickened by
the hope which had come to new life in his breast since the interview with
the tribune. The narrower the abiding-place happens to be, the more intense
is the longing; and so he found. He seemed to hear every sound of the ship in
labor, and listened to each one as if it were a voice come to tell him
something; he looked to the grating overhead, and through it into the light
of which so small a portion was his, expecting, he knew not what; and
many times he caught himself on the point of yielding to the impulse to
speak to the chief on the platform, than which no circumstance of battle
would have astonished that dignitary more.
In his long service, by watching the shifting of the meager sunbeams
upon the cabin floor when the ship was under way, he had come to know,
generally, the quarter into which she was sailing. This, of course, was only
of clear days like those good-fortune was sending the tribune. The experience
had not failed him in the period succeeding the departure from Cythera.
Thinking they were tending towards the old Judean country, he was sensitive
to every variation from the course. With a pang, he had observed the
sudden change northward which, as has been noticed, took place near
Naxos: the cause, however, he could not even conjecture; for it must
be remembered that, in common with his fellow-slaves, he knew nothing of
the situation, and had no interest in the voyage. His place was at the oar,
and he was held there inexorably, whether at anchor or under sail. Once only
in three years had he been permitted an outlook from the deck. The occasion
we have seen. He had no idea that, following the vessel he was helping drive,
there was a great squadron close at hand and in beautiful order; no more did
he know the object of which it was in pursuit.
When the sun, going down, withdrew his last ray from the cabin, the
galley still held northward. Night fell, yet Ben-Hur could discern no change.
About that time the smell of incense floated down the gangways from the
deck.
"The tribune is at the altar," he thought. "Can it be we are going into
battle?"
He became observant.
Now he had been in many battles without having seen one. From his bench
he had heard them above and about him, until he was familiar with all their
notes, almost as a singer with a song. So, too, he had become acquainted with
many of the preliminaries of an engagement, of which, with a Roman as well as
a Greek, the most invariable was the sacrifice to the gods. The rites were
the same as those performed at the beginning of a voyage, and to him, when
noticed, they were always an admonition.
A battle, it should be observed, possessed for him and his fellow-slaves
of the oar an interest unlike that of the sailor and marine; it came, not of
the danger encountered but of the fact that defeat, if survived, might bring
an alteration of condition—possibly freedom—at least a change of
masters, which might be for the better.
In good time the lanterns were lighted and hung by the stairs, and the
tribune came down from the deck. At his word the marines put on their armor.
At his word again, the machines were looked to, and spears, javelins, and
arrows, in great sheaves, brought and laid upon the floor, together with jars
of inflammable oil, and baskets of cotton balls wound loose like the wicking
of candles. And when, finally, Ben-Hur saw the tribune mount his platform
and don his armor, and get his helmet and shield out, the meaning of the
preparations might not be any longer doubted, and he made ready for the last
ignominy of his service.
To every bench, as a fixture, there was a chain with heavy
anklets. These the hortator proceeded to lock upon the oarsmen, going
from number to number, leaving no choice but to obey, and, in event
of disaster, no possibility of escape.
In the cabin, then, a silence fell, broken, at first, only by the sough
of the oars turning in the leathern cases. Every man upon the benches felt
the shame, Ben-Hur more keenly than his companions. He would have put it away
at any price. Soon the clanking of the fetters notified him of the progress
the chief was making in his round. He would come to him in turn; but would
not the tribune interpose for him?
The thought may be set down to vanity or selfishness, as the
reader pleases; it certainly, at that moment, took possession of
Ben-Hur. He believed the Roman would interpose; anyhow, the circumstance
would test the man's feelings. If, intent upon the battle, he would
but think of him, it would be proof of his opinion formed—proof that he
had been tacitly promoted above his associates in misery—such proof as would
justify hope.
Ben-Hur waited anxiously. The interval seemed like an age. At every turn
of the oar he looked towards the tribune, who, his simple preparations made,
lay down upon the couch and composed himself to rest; whereupon number sixty
chid himself, and laughed grimly, and resolved not to look that way
again.
The hortator approached. Now he was at number one—the rattle of the
iron links sounded horribly. At last number sixty! Calm from despair, Ben-Hur
held his oar at poise, and gave his foot to the officer. Then the tribune
stirred—sat up—beckoned to the chief.
A strong revulsion seized the Jew. From the hortator, the great man
glanced at him; and when he dropped his oar all the section of the ship on
his side seemed aglow. He heard nothing of what was said; enough that the
chain hung idly from its staple in the bench, and that the chief, going to
his seat, began to beat the sounding-board. The notes of the gavel were never
so like music. With his breast against the leaded handle, he pushed
with all his might—pushed until the shaft bent as if about to break.
The chief went to the tribune, and, smiling, pointed to
number sixty.
"What strength!" he said.
"And what spirit!" the tribune answered. "Perpol! He is better without
the irons. Put them on him no more."
So saying, he stretched himself upon the couch again.
The ship sailed on hour after hour under the oars in water
scarcely rippled by the wind. And the people not on duty slept, Arrius
in his place, the marines on the floor.
Once—twice—Ben-Hur was relieved; but he could not sleep. Three years
of night, and through the darkness a sunbeam at last! At sea adrift and lost,
and now land! Dead so long, and, lo! the thrill and stir of resurrection.
Sleep was not for such an hour. Hope deals with the future; now and the past
are but servants that wait on her with impulse and suggestive circumstance.
Starting from the favor of the tribune, she carried him forward
indefinitely. The wonder is, not that things so purely imaginative as
the results she points us to can make us so happy, but that we can receive
them as so real. They must be as gorgeous poppies under the influence of
which, under the crimson and purple and gold, reason lies down the while, and
is not. Sorrows assuaged, home and the fortunes of his house restored; mother
and sister in his arms once more—such were the central ideas which made
him happier that moment than he had ever been. That he was rushing, as on
wings, into horrible battle had, for the time, nothing to do with his
thoughts. The things thus in hope were unmixed with doubts—they WERE. Hence
his joy so full, so perfect, there was no room in his heart for revenge.
Messala, Gratus, Rome, and all the bitter, passionate memories connected with
them, were as dead plagues—miasms of the earth above which he floated, far
and safe, listening to singing stars.
The deeper darkness before the dawn was upon the waters, and all things
going well with the Astroea, when a man, descending from the deck, walked
swiftly to the platform where the tribune slept, and awoke him. Arrius arose,
put on his helmet, sword, and shield, and went to the commander of the
marines.
"The pirates are close by. Up and ready!" he said, and passed to the
stairs, calm, confident, insomuch that one might have thought, "Happy fellow!
Apicius has set a feast for him."
CHAPTER V
Every soul aboard, even the ship, awoke. Officers went to
their quarters. The marines took arms, and were led out, looking in
all respects like legionaries. Sheaves of arrows and armfuls of
javelins were carried on deck. By the central stairs the oil-tanks and
fire-balls were set ready for use. Additional lanterns were lighted. Buckets
were filled with water. The rowers in relief assembled under guard
in front of the chief. As Providence would have it, Ben-Hur was one of the
latter. Overhead he heard the muffled noises of the final preparations—of
the sailors furling sail, spreading the nettings, unslinging the machines,
and hanging the armor of bull-hide over the side. Presently quiet settled
about the galley again; quiet full of vague dread and expectation, which,
interpreted, means READY.
At a signal passed down from the deck, and communicated to the hortator
by a petty officer stationed on the stairs, all at once the oars
stopped.
What did it mean?
Of the hundred and twenty slaves chained to the benches, not one
but asked himself the question. They were without incentive.
Patriotism, love of honor, sense of duty, brought them no inspiration. They
felt the thrill common to men rushed helpless and blind into danger. It
may be supposed the dullest of them, poising his oar, thought of all
that might happen, yet could promise himself nothing; for victory would
but rivet his chains the firmer, while the chances of the ship were
his; sinking or on fire, he was doomed to her fate.
Of the situation without they might not ask. And who were the enemy? And
what if they were friends, brethren, countrymen? The reader, carrying the
suggestion forward, will see the necessity which governed the Roman when, in
such emergencies, he locked the hapless wretches to their seats.
There was little time, however, for such thought with them. A sound like
the rowing of galleys astern attracted Ben-Hur, and the Astroea rocked as if
in the midst of countering waves. The idea of a fleet at hand broke upon
him—a fleet in manoeuvre— forming probably for attack. His blood started
with the fancy.
Another signal came down from the deck. The oars dipped, and the galley
started imperceptibly. No sound from without, none from within, yet each man
in the cabin instinctively poised himself for a shock; the very ship seemed
to catch the sense, and hold its breath, and go crouched tiger-like.
In such a situation time is inappreciable; so that Ben-Hur could form no
judgment of distance gone. At last there was a sound of trumpets on deck,
full, clear, long blown. The chief beat the sounding-board until it rang; the
rowers reached forward full length, and, deepening the dip of their oars,
pulled suddenly with all their united force. The galley, quivering in
every timber, answered with a leap. Other trumpets joined in
the clamor—all from the rear, none forward—from the latter quarter only
a rising sound of voices in tumult heard briefly. There was a mighty blow;
the rowers in front of the chief's platform reeled, some of them fell; the
ship bounded back, recovered, and rushed on more irresistibly than before.
Shrill and high arose the shrieks of men in terror; over the blare of
trumpets, and the grind and crash of the collision, they arose; then under
his feet, under the keel, pounding, rumbling, breaking to pieces, drowning,
Ben-Hur felt something overridden. The men about him looked at each other
afraid. A shout of triumph from the deck— the beak of the Roman had won!
But who were they whom the sea had drunk? Of what tongue, from what
land were they?
No pause, no stay! Forward rushed the Astroea; and, as it went, some
sailors ran down, and plunging the cotton balls into the oil-tanks, tossed
them dripping to comrades at the head of the stairs: fire was to be added to
other horrors of the combat.
Directly the galley heeled over so far that the oarsmen on the uppermost
side with difficulty kept their benches. Again the hearty Roman cheer, and
with it despairing shrieks. An opposing vessel, caught by the grappling-hooks
of the great crane swinging from the prow, was being lifted into the air that
it might be dropped and sunk.
The shouting increased on the right hand and on the left;
before, behind, swelled an indescribable clamor. Occasionally there was
a crash, followed by sudden peals of fright, telling of other ships ridden
down, and their crews drowned in the vortexes.
Nor was the fight all on one side. Now and then a Roman in armor was
borne down the hatchway, and laid bleeding, sometimes dying, on the
floor.
Sometimes, also, puffs of smoke, blended with steam, and foul with the
scent of roasting human flesh, poured into the cabin, turning the dimming
light into yellow murk. Gasping for breath the while, Ben-Hur knew they were
passing through the cloud of a ship on fire, and burning up with the rowers
chained to the benches.
The Astroea all this time was in motion. Suddenly she stopped. The oars
forward were dashed from the hands of the rowers, and the rowers from their
benches. On deck, then, a furious trampling, and on the sides a grinding of
ships afoul of each other. For the first time the beating of the gavel was
lost in the uproar. Men sank on the floor in fear or looked about seeking a
hiding-place. In the midst of the panic a body plunged or was pitched
headlong down the hatchway, falling near Ben-Hur. He beheld the half-naked
carcass, a mass of hair blackening the face, and under it a shield of
bull-hide and wicker-work—a barbarian from the white-skinned nations
of the North whom death had robbed of plunder and revenge. How came he
there? An iron hand had snatched him from the opposing deck—no, the Astroea
had been boarded! The Romans were fighting on their own deck? A chill smote
the young Jew: Arrius was hard pressed—he might be defending his own life.
If he should be slain! God of Abraham forefend! The hopes and dreams so
lately come, were they only hopes and dreams? Mother and
sister—house—home—Holy Land—was he not to see them, after all? The tumult
thundered above him; he looked around; in the cabin all was confusion—the
rowers on the benches paralyzed; men running blindly hither and thither; only
the chief on his seat imperturbable, vainly beating the
sounding-board, and waiting the orders of the tribune—in the red murk
illustrating the matchless discipline which had won the world.
The example had a good effect upon Ben-Hur. He controlled himself enough
to think. Honor and duty bound the Roman to the platform; but what had he to
do with such motives then? The bench was a thing to run from; while, if he
were to die a slave, who would be the better of the sacrifice? With him
living was duty, if not honor. His life belonged to his people. They arose
before him never more real: he saw them, their arms outstretched; he
heard them imploring him. And he would go to them. He
started—stopped. Alas! a Roman judgment held him in doom. While it endured,
escape would be profitless. In the wide, wide earth there was no place
in which he would be safe from the imperial demand; upon the land
none, nor upon the sea. Whereas he required freedom according to the
forms of law, so only could he abide in Judea and execute the
filial purpose to which he would devote himself: in other land he
would not live. Dear God! How he had waited and watched and prayed
for such a release! And how it had been delayed! But at last he had seen
it in the promise of the tribune. What else the great man's meaning? And if
the benefactor so belated should now be slain! The dead come not back to
redeem the pledges of the living. It should not be—Arrius should not die. At
least, better perish with him than survive a galley-slave.
Once more Ben-Hur looked around. Upon the roof of the cabin the battle
yet beat; against the sides the hostile vessels yet crushed and grided. On
the benches, the slaves struggled to tear loose from their chains, and,
finding their efforts vain, howled like madmen; the guards had gone upstairs;
discipline was out, panic in. No, the chief kept his chair, unchanged, calm
as ever—except the gavel, weaponless. Vainly with his clangor he filled the
lulls in the din. Ben-Hur gave him a last look, then broke away—not in
flight, but to seek the tribune.
A very short space lay between him and the stairs of the hatchway aft.
He took it with a leap, and was half-way up the steps—up far enough to catch
a glimpse of the sky blood-red with fire, of the ships alongside, of the sea
covered with ships and wrecks, of the fight closed in about the pilot's
quarter, the assailants many, the defenders few—when suddenly his foothold
was knocked away, and he pitched backward. The floor, when he reached it,
seemed to be lifting itself and breaking to pieces; then, in a
twinkling, the whole after-part of the hull broke asunder, and, as if it
had all the time been lying in wait, the sea, hissing and foaming, leaped
in, and all became darkness and surging water to Ben-Hur.
It cannot be said that the young Jew helped himself in this stress.
Besides his usual strength, he had the indefinite extra force which nature
keeps in reserve for just such perils to life; yet the darkness, and the
whirl and roar of water, stupefied him. Even the holding his breath was
involuntary.
The influx of the flood tossed him like a log forward into the cabin,
where he would have drowned but for the refluence of the sinking motion. As
it was, fathoms under the surface the hollow mass vomited him forth, and he
arose along with the loosed debris. In the act of rising, he clutched
something, and held to it. The time he was under seemed an age longer than it
really was; at last he gained the top; with a great gasp he filled his lungs
afresh, and, tossing the water from his hair and eyes, climbed higher upon
the plank he held, and looked about him.
Death had pursued him closely under the waves; he found it waiting for
him when he was risen—waiting multiform.
Smoke lay upon the sea like a semitransparent fog, through which here
and there shone cores of intense brilliance. A quick intelligence told him
that they were ships on fire. The battle was yet on; nor could he say who was
victor. Within the radius of his vision now and then ships passed, shooting
shadows athwart lights. Out of the dun clouds farther on he caught the crash
of other ships colliding. The danger, however, was closer at hand. When the
Astroea went down, her deck, it will be recollected, held her own crew, and
the crews of the two galleys which had attacked her at the same time, all of
whom were ingulfed. Many of them came to the surface together, and on the
same plank or support of whatever kind continued the combat, begun possibly
in the vortex fathoms down. Writhing and twisting in deadly embrace,
sometimes striking with sword or javelin, they kept the sea around them in
agitation, at one place inky-black, at another aflame with fiery reflections.
With their struggles he had nothing to do; they were all his enemies: not one
of them but would kill him for the plank upon which he floated. He made
haste to get away.
About that time he heard oars in quickest movement, and beheld a galley
coming down upon him. The tall prow seemed doubly tall, and the red light
playing upon its gilt and carving gave it an appearance of snaky life. Under
its foot the water churned to flying foam.
He struck out, pushing the plank, which was very broad and unmanageable.
Seconds were precious—half a second might save or lose him. In the crisis of
the effort, up from the sea, within arm's reach, a helmet shot like a gleam
of gold. Next came two hands with fingers extended—large hands were they,
and strong— their hold once fixed, might not be loosed. Ben-Hur swerved from
them appalled. Up rose the helmet and the head it encased—then two arms,
which began to beat the water wildly—the head turned back, and gave the face
to the light. The mouth gaping wide; the eyes open, but sightless, and the
bloodless pallor of a drowning man—never anything more ghastly! Yet he gave
a cry of joy at the sight, and as the face was going under again, he caught
the sufferer by the chain which passed from the helmet beneath the chin, and
drew him to the plank.
The man was Arrius, the tribune.
For a while the water foamed and eddied violently about Ben-Hur, taxing
all his strength to hold to the support and at the same time keep the Roman's
head above the surface. The galley had passed, leaving the two barely outside
the stroke of its oars. Right through the floating men, over heads helmeted
as well as heads bare, she drove, in her wake nothing but the sea
sparkling with fire. A muffled crash, succeeded by a great outcry, made
the rescuer look again from his charge. A certain savage pleasure touched
his heart—the Astroea was avenged.
After that the battle moved on. Resistance turned to flight. But
who were the victors? Ben-Hur was sensible how much his freedom and the
life of the tribune depended upon that event. He pushed the plank under the
latter until it floated him, after which all his care was to keep him there.
The dawn came slowly. He watched its growing hopefully, yet sometimes afraid.
Would it bring the Romans or the pirates? If the pirates, his charge was
lost.
At last morning broke in full, the air without a breath. Off to the left
he saw the land, too far to think of attempting to make it. Here and there
men were adrift like himself. In spots the sea was blackened by charred and
sometimes smoking fragments. A galley up a long way was lying to with a torn
sail hanging from the tilted yard, and the oars all idle. Still farther away
he could discern moving specks, which he thought might be ships in flight or
pursuit, or they might be white birds a-wing.
An hour passed thus. His anxiety increased. If relief came not speedily,
Arrius would die. Sometimes he seemed already dead, he lay so still. He took
the helmet off, and then, with greater difficulty, the cuirass; the heart he
found fluttering. He took hope at the sign, and held on. There was nothing to
do but wait, and, after the manner of his people, pray.
CHAPTER VI
The throes of recovery from drowning are more painful than the drowning.
These Arrius passed through, and, at length, to Ben-Hur's delight, reached
the point of speech.
Gradually, from incoherent questions as to where he was, and by whom and
how he had been saved, he reverted to the battle. The doubt of the victory
stimulated his faculties to full return, a result aided not a little by a
long rest—such as could be had on their frail support. After a while he
became talkative.
"Our rescue, I see, depends upon the result of the fight. I see also
what thou hast done for me. To speak fairly, thou hast saved my life at the
risk of thy own. I make the acknowledgment broadly; and, whatever cometh,
thou hast my thanks. More than that, if fortune doth but serve me kindly, and
we get well out of this peril, I will do thee such favor as becometh a Roman
who hath power and opportunity to prove his gratitude. Yet, yet it is to be
seen if, with thy good intent, thou hast really done me a kindness; or,
rather, speaking to thy good-will"—he hesitated—"I would exact of thee a
promise to do me, in a certain event, the greatest favor one man can
do another—and of that let me have thy pledge now."
"If the thing be not forbidden, I will do it," Ben-Hur replied.
Arrius rested again.
"Art thou, indeed, a son of Hur, the Jew?" he next asked.
"It is as I have said."
"I knew thy father—"
Judah drew himself nearer, for the tribune's voice was weak—he drew
nearer, and listened eagerly—at last he thought to hear of home.
"I knew him, and loved him," Arrius continued.
There was another pause, during which something diverted the speaker's
thought.
"It cannot be," he proceeded, "that thou, a son of his, hast not heard
of Cato and Brutus. They were very great men, and never as great as in death.
In their dying, they left this law—A Roman may not survive his good-fortune.
Art thou listening?"
"I hear."
"It is a custom of gentlemen in Rome to wear a ring. There is one on my
hand. Take it now."
He held the hand to Judah, who did as he asked.
"Now put it on thine own hand."
Ben-Hur did so.
"The trinket hath its uses," said Arrius next. "I have property and
money. I am accounted rich even in Rome. I have no family. Show the ring to
my freedman, who hath control in my absence; you will find him in a villa
near Misenum. Tell him how it came to thee, and ask anything, or all he may
have; he will not refuse the demand. If I live, I will do better by thee. I
will make thee free, and restore thee to thy home and people; or thou mayst
give thyself to the pursuit that pleaseth thee most. Dost thou hear?"
"I could not choose but hear."
"Then pledge me. By the gods—"
"Nay, good tribune, I am a Jew."
"By thy God, then, or in the form most sacred to those of
thy faith—pledge me to do what I tell thee now, and as I tell thee; I am
waiting, let me have thy promise."
"Noble Arrius, I am warned by thy manner to expect something of gravest
concern. Tell me thy wish first."
"Wilt thou promise then?"
"That were to give the pledge, and— Blessed be the God of my fathers!
yonder cometh a ship!"
"In what direction?"
"From the north."
"Canst thou tell her nationality by outward signs?"
"No. My service hath been at the oars."
"Hath she a flag?"
"I cannot see one."
Arrius remained quiet some time, apparently in deep reflection.
"Does the ship hold this way yet?" he at length asked.
"Still this way."
"Look for the flag now."
"She hath none."
"Nor any other sign?"
"She hath a sail set, and is of three banks, and cometh swiftly— that
is all I can say of her."
"A Roman in triumph would have out many flags. She must be an
enemy. Hear now," said Arrius, becoming grave again, "hear, while yet
I may speak. If the galley be a pirate, thy life is safe; they may not
give thee freedom; they may put thee to the oar again; but they will not kill
thee. On the other hand, I—"
The tribune faltered.
"Perpol!" he continued, resolutely. "I am too old to submit to dishonor.
In Rome, let them tell how Quintus Arrius, as became a Roman tribune, went
down with his ship in the midst of the foe. This is what I would have thee
do. If the galley prove a pirate, push me from the plank and drown me. Dost
thou hear? Swear thou wilt do it."
"I will not swear," said Ben-Hur, firmly; "neither will I do the deed.
The Law, which is to me most binding, O tribune, would make me answerable for
thy life. Take back the ring"—he took the seal from his finger—"take it
back, and all thy promises of favor in the event of delivery from this peril.
The judgment which sent me to the oar for life made me a slave, yet I am not
a slave; no more am I thy freedman. I am a son of Israel, and this moment, at
least, my own master. Take back the ring."
Arrius remained passive.
"Thou wilt not?" Judah continued. "Not in anger, then, nor in
any despite, but to free myself from a hateful obligation, I will give thy
gift to the sea. See, O tribune!"
He tossed the ring away. Arrius heard the splash where it struck and
sank, though he did not look.
"Thou hast done a foolish thing," he said; "foolish for one placed as
thou art. I am not dependent upon thee for death. Life is a thread I can
break without thy help; and, if I do, what will become of thee? Men
determined on death prefer it at the hands of others, for the reason that the
soul which Plato giveth us is rebellious at the thought of self-destruction;
that is all. If the ship be a pirate, I will escape from the world. My mind
is fixed. I am a Roman. Success and honor are all in all. Yet I would
have served thee; thou wouldst not. The ring was the only witness of my
will available in this situation. We are both lost. I will die regretting the
victory and glory wrested from me; thou wilt live to die a little later,
mourning the pious duties undone because of this folly. I pity thee."
Ben-Hur saw the consequences of his act more distinctly than before, yet
he did not falter.
"In the three years of my servitude, O tribune, thou wert the first to
look upon me kindly. No, no! There was another." The voice dropped, the eyes
became humid, and he saw plainly as if it were then before him the face of
the boy who helped him to a drink by the old well at Nazareth. "At least," he
proceeded, "thou wert the first to ask me who I was; and if, when I reached
out and caught thee, blind and sinking the last time, I, too, had thought of
the many ways in which thou couldst be useful to me in my wretchedness, still
the act was not all selfish; this I pray you to believe. Moreover, seeing
as God giveth me to know, the ends I dream of are to be wrought by fair
means alone. As a thing of conscience, I would rather die with thee than be
thy slayer. My mind is firmly set as thine; though thou wert to offer me all
Rome, O tribune, and it belonged to thee to make the gift good, I would not
kill thee. Thy Cato and Brutus were as little children compared to the Hebrew
whose law a Jew must obey."
"But my request. Hast—"
"Thy command would be of more weight, and that would not move me. I have
said."
Both became silent, waiting.
Ben-Hur looked often at the coming ship. Arrius rested with closed eyes,
indifferent.
"Art thou sure she is an enemy?" Ben-Hur asked.
"I think so," was the reply.
"She stops, and puts a boat over the side."
"Dost thou see her flag?"
"Is there no other sign by which she may be known if Roman?"
"If Roman, she hath a helmet over the mast's top."
"Then be of cheer. I see the helmet."
Still Arrius was not assured.
"The men in the small boat are taking in the people afloat. Pirates are
not humane."
"They may need rowers," Arrius replied, recurring, possibly, to times
when he had made rescues for the purpose.
Ben-Hur was very watchful of the actions of the strangers.
"The ship moves off," he said.
"Whither?"
"Over on our right there is a galley which I take to be deserted. The
new-comer heads towards it. Now she is alongside. Now she is sending men
aboard."
Then Arrius opened his eyes and threw off his calm.
"Thank thou thy God," he said to Ben-Hur, after a look at the galleys,
"thank thou thy God, as I do my many gods. A pirate would sink, not save, yon
ship. By the act and the helmet on the mast I know a Roman. The victory is
mine. Fortune hath not deserted me. We are saved. Wave thy hand—call to
them—bring them quickly. I shall be duumvir, and thou! I knew thy father,
and loved him. He was a prince indeed. He taught me a Jew was not a
barbarian. I will take thee with me. I will make thee my son. Give thy
God thanks, and call the sailors. Haste! The pursuit must be kept. Not a
robber shall escape. Hasten them!"
Judah raised himself upon the plank, and waved his hand, and called with
all his might; at last he drew the attention of the sailors in the small
boat, and they were speedily taken up.
Arrius was received on the galley with all the honors due a hero so the
favorite of Fortune. Upon a couch on the deck he heard the particulars of the
conclusion of the fight. When the survivors afloat upon the water were all
saved and the prize secured, he spread his flag of commandant anew, and
hurried northward to rejoin the fleet and perfect the victory. In due time
the fifty vessels coming down the channel closed in upon the fugitive
pirates, and crushed them utterly; not one escaped. To swell the tribune's
glory, twenty galleys of the enemy were captured.
Upon his return from the cruise, Arrius had warm welcome on the mole at
Misenum. The young man attending him very early attracted the attention of
his friends there; and to their questions as to who he was the tribune
proceeded in the most affectionate manner to tell the story of his rescue and
introduce the stranger, omitting carefully all that pertained to the latter's
previous history. At the end of the narrative, he called Ben-Hur to
him, and said, with a hand resting affectionately upon his shoulder,
"Good friends, this is my son and heir, who, as he is to take
my property—if it be the will of the gods that I leave any—shall be
known to you by my name. I pray you all to love him as you love me."
Speedily as opportunity permitted, the adoption was formally
perfected. And in such manner the brave Roman kept his faith with
Ben-Hur, giving him happy introduction into the imperial world. The
month succeeding Arrius's return, the armilustrium was celebrated with the
utmost magnificence in the theater of Scaurus. One side of the structure was
taken up with military trophies; among which by far the most conspicuous and
most admired were twenty prows, complemented by their corresponding aplustra,
cut bodily from as many galleys; and over them, so as to be legible to the
eighty thousand spectators in the seats, was this inscription:
——————————————————————— TAKEN FROM THE PIRATES IN
THE GULF OF
EURIPUS,
BY
QUINTUS
ARRIUS,
DUUMVIR. ———————————————————————
BOOK FOURTH
"Alva. Should the monarch prove unjust— And, at this
time—
Queen. Then I must
wait for justice Until it come; and they are happiest far Whose
consciences may calmly wait their
right."
Schiller, Don Carlos (act iv., sc. xv.)
CHAPTER I
The month to which we now come is July, the year that of our Lord 29,
and the place Antioch, then Queen of the East, and next to Rome the
strongest, if not the most populous, city in the world.
There is an opinion that the extravagance and dissoluteness of the age
had their origin in Rome, and spread thence throughout the empire; that the
great cities but reflected the manners of their mistress on the Tiber. This
may be doubted. The reaction of the conquest would seem to have been upon the
morals of the conqueror. In Greece she found a spring of corruption; so
also in Egypt; and the student, having exhausted the subject, will
close the books assured that the flow of the demoralizing river was
from the East westwardly, and that this very city of Antioch, one of
the oldest seats of Assyrian power and splendor, was a principal source of
the deadly stream.
A transport galley entered the mouth of the river Orontes from the blue
waters of the sea. It was in the forenoon. The heat was great, yet all on
board who could avail themselves of the privilege were on deck—Ben-Hur among
others.
The five years had brought the young Jew to perfect manhood. Though
the robe of white linen in which he was attired somewhat masked his
form, his appearance was unusually attractive. For an hour and more he
had occupied a seat in the shade of the sail, and in that time
several fellow-passengers of his own nationality had tried to engage
him in conversation, but without avail. His replies to their questions had
been brief, though gravely courteous, and in the Latin tongue. The purity of
his speech, his cultivated manners, his reticence, served to stimulate their
curiosity the more. Such as observed him closely were struck by an
incongruity between his demeanor, which had the ease and grace of a
patrician, and certain points of his person. Thus his arms were
disproportionately long; and when, to steady himself against the motion of
the vessel, he took hold of anything near by, the size of his hands and their
evident power compelled remark; so the wonder who and what he was
mixed continually with a wish to know the particulars of his life. In
other words, his air cannot be better described than as a notice—This man
has a story to tell.
The galley, in coming, had stopped at one of the ports of Cyprus, and
picked up a Hebrew of most respectable appearance, quiet, reserved, paternal.
Ben-Hur ventured to ask him some questions; the replies won his confidence,
and resulted finally in an extended conversation.
It chanced also that as the galley from Cyprus entered the receiving bay
of the Orontes, two other vessels which had been sighted out in the sea met
it and passed into the river at the same time; and as they did so both the
strangers threw out small flags of brightest yellow. There was much
conjecture as to the meaning of the signals. At length a passenger addressed
himself to the respectable Hebrew for information upon the subject.
"Yes, I know the meaning of the flags," he replied; "they do not signify
nationality—they are merely marks of ownership."
"Has the owner many ships?"
"He has."
"You know him?"
"I have dealt with him."
The passengers looked at the speaker as if requesting him to go on.
Ben-Hur listened with interest.
"He lives in Antioch," the Hebrew continued, in his quiet way. "That he
is vastly rich has brought him into notice, and the talk about him is not
always kind. There used to be in Jerusalem a prince of very ancient family
named Hur."
Judah strove to be composed, yet his heart beat quicker.
"The prince was a merchant, with a genius for business. He set on foot
many enterprises, some reaching far East, others West. In the great cities he
had branch houses. The one in Antioch was in charge of a man said by some to
have been a family servant called Simonides, Greek in name, yet an Israelite.
The master was drowned at sea. His business, however, went on, and was
scarcely less prosperous. After a while misfortune overtook the
family. The prince's only son, nearly grown, tried to kill the
procurator Gratus in one of the streets of Jerusalem. He failed by a
narrow chance, and has not since been heard of. In fact, the Roman's
rage took in the whole house—not one of the name was left alive.
Their palace was sealed up, and is now a rookery for pigeons; the
estate was confiscated; everything that could be traced to the
ownership of the Hurs was confiscated. The procurator cured his hurt with
a golden salve."
The passengers laughed.
"You mean he kept the property," said one of them.
"They say so," the Hebrew replied; "I am only telling a story as I
received it. And, to go on, Simonides, who had been the prince's agent here
in Antioch, opened trade in a short time on his own account, and in a space
incredibly brief became the master merchant of the city. In imitation of his
master, he sent caravans to India; and on the sea at present he has galleys
enough to make a royal fleet. They say nothing goes amiss with him. His
camels do not die, except of old age; his ships never founder; if he throw
a chip into the river, it will come back to him gold."
"How long has he been going on thus?"
"Not ten years."
"He must have had a good start."
"Yes, they say the procurator took only the prince's property ready at
hand—his horses, cattle, houses, land, vessels, goods. The money could not
be found, though there must have been vast sums of it. What became of it has
been an unsolved mystery."
"Not to me," said a passenger, with a sneer.
"I understand you," the Hebrew answered. "Others have had your idea.
That it furnished old Simonides his start is a common belief. The procurator
is of that opinion—or he has been—for twice in five years he has caught the
merchant, and put him to torture."
Judah griped the rope he was holding with crushing force.
"It is said," the narrator continued, "that there is not a sound bone in
the man's body. The last time I saw him he sat in a chair, a shapeless
cripple, propped against cushions."
"So tortured!" exclaimed several listeners in a breath.
"Disease could not have produced such a deformity. Still the suffering
made no impression upon him. All he had was his lawfully, and he was making
lawful use of it—that was the most they wrung from him. Now, however, he is
past persecution. He has a license to trade signed by Tiberius
himself."
"He paid roundly for it, I warrant."
"These ships are his," the Hebrew continued, passing the remark. "It is
a custom among his sailors to salute each other upon meeting by throwing out
yellow flags, sight of which is as much as to say, 'We have had a fortunate
voyage.'"
The story ended there.
When the transport was fairly in the channel of the river, Judah spoke
to the Hebrew.
"What was the name of the merchant's master?"
"Ben-Hur, Prince of Jerusalem."
"What became of the prince's family?"
"The boy was sent to the galleys. I may say he is dead. One year is the
ordinary limit of life under that sentence. The widow and daughter have not
been heard of; those who know what became of them will not speak. They died
doubtless in the cells of one of the castles which spot the waysides of
Judea."
Judah walked to the pilot's quarter. So absorbed was he in thought that
he scarcely noticed the shores of the river, which from sea to city were
surpassingly beautiful with orchards of all the Syrian fruits and vines,
clustered about villas rich as those of Neapolis. No more did he observe the
vessels passing in an endless fleet, nor hear the singing and shouting of the
sailors, some in labor, some in merriment. The sky was full of
sunlight, lying in hazy warmth upon the land and the water; nowhere
except over his life was there a shadow.
Once only he awoke to a momentary interest, and that was when some one
pointed out the Grove of Daphne, discernible from a bend in the river.
CHAPTER II
When the city came into view, the passengers were on deck, eager
that nothing of the scene might escape them. The respectable Jew
already introduced to the reader was the principal spokesman.
"The river here runs to the west," he said, in the way of
general answer. "I remember when it washed the base of the walls; but
as Roman subjects we have lived in peace, and, as always happens in such
times, trade has had its will; now the whole river front is taken up with
wharves and docks. Yonder"—the speaker pointed southward—"is Mount Casius,
or, as these people love to call it, the Mountains of Orontes, looking across
to its brother Amnus in the north; and between them lies the Plain of
Antioch. Farther on are the Black Mountains, whence the Ducts of the Kings
bring the purest water to wash the thirsty streets and people; yet they
are forests in wilderness state, dense, and full of birds and beasts."
"Where is the lake?" one asked.
"Over north there. You can take horse, if you wish to see
it—or, better, a boat, for a tributary connects it with the river."
"The Grove of Daphne!" he said, to a third inquirer. "Nobody
can describe it; only beware! It was begun by Apollo, and completed by
him. He prefers it to Olympus. People go there for one look— just one—and
never come away. They have a saying which tells it all—'Better be a worm and
feed on the mulberries of Daphne than a king's guest.'"
"Then you advise me to stay away from it?"
"Not I! Go you will. Everybody goes, cynic philosopher, virile
boy, women, and priests—all go. So sure am I of what you will do that
I assume to advise you. Do not take quarters in the city— that will be
loss of time; but go at once to the village in the edge of the grove. The way
is through a garden, under the spray of fountains. The lovers of the god and
his Penaean maid built the town; and in its porticos and paths and thousand
retreats you will find characters and habits and sweets and kinds elsewhere
impossible. But the wall of the city! there it is, the masterpiece of
Xeraeus, the master of mural architecture."
All eyes followed his pointing finger.
"This part was raised by order of the first of the Seleucidae. Three
hundred years have made it part of the rock it rests upon."
The defense justified the encomium. High, solid, and with many bold
angles, it curved southwardly out of view.
"On the top there are four hundred towers, each a reservoir of water,"
the Hebrew continued. "Look now! Over the wall, tall as it is, see in the
distance two hills, which you may know as the rival crests of Sulpius. The
structure on the farthest one is the citadel, garrisoned all the year round
by a Roman legion. Opposite it this way rises the Temple of Jupiter, and
under that the front of the legate's residence—a palace full of
offices, and yet a fortress against which a mob would dash harmlessly as a
south wind."
At this point the sailors began taking in sail, whereupon the Hebrew
exclaimed, heartily, "See! you who hate the sea, and you who have vows, get
ready your curses and your prayers. The bridge yonder, over which the road to
Seleucia is carried, marks the limit of navigation. What the ship unloads for
further transit, the camel takes up there. Above the bridge begins the island
upon which Calinicus built his new city, connecting it with five
great viaducts so solid time has made no impression upon them, nor
floods nor earthquakes. Of the main town, my friends, I have only to say
you will be happier all your lives for having seen it."
As he concluded, the ship turned and made slowly for her wharf under the
wall, bringing even more fairly to view the life with which the river at that
point was possessed. Finally, the lines were thrown, the oars shipped, and
the voyage was done. Then Ben-Hur sought the respectable Hebrew.
"Let me trouble you a moment before saying farewell."
The man bowed assent.
"Your story of the merchant has made me curious to see him. You called
him Simonides?"
"Yes. He is a Jew with a Greek name."
"Where is he to be found?"
The acquaintance gave a sharp look before he answered,
"I may save you mortification. He is not a money-lender."
"Nor am I a money-borrower," said Ben-Hur, smiling at the
other's shrewdness.
The man raised his head and considered an instant.
"One would think," he then replied, "that the richest merchant in
Antioch would have a house for business corresponding to his wealth; but if
you would find him in the day, follow the river to yon bridge, under which he
quarters in a building that looks like a buttress of the wall. Before the
door there is an immense landing, always covered with cargoes come and to go.
The fleet that lies moored there is his. You cannot fail to find him."
"I give you thanks."
"The peace of our fathers go with you."
"And with you."
With that they separated.
Two street-porters, loaded with his baggage, received Ben-Hur's orders
upon the wharf.
"To the citadel," he said; a direction which implied an
official military connection.
Two great streets, cutting each other at right angles, divided the city
into quarters. A curious and immense structure, called the Nymphaeum, arose
at the foot of the one running north and south. When the porters turned south
there, the new-comer, though fresh from Rome, was amazed at the magnificence
of the avenue. On the right and left there were palaces, and between them
extended indefinitely double colonnades of marble, leaving separate ways
for footmen, beasts, and chariots; the whole under shade, and cooled by
fountains of incessant flow.
Ben-Hur was not in mood to enjoy the spectacle. The story of Simonides
haunted him. Arrived at the Omphalus—a monument of four arches wide as the
streets, superbly illustrated, and erected to himself by Epiphanes, the
eighth of the Seleucidae—he suddenly changed his mind.
"I will not go to the citadel to-night," he said to the porters. "Take
me to the khan nearest the bridge on the road to Seleucia."
The party faced about, and in good time he was deposited in a
public house of primitive but ample construction, within stone's-throw
of the bridge under which old Simonides had his quarters. He lay upon the
house-top through the night. In his inner mind lived the thought, "Now—now I
will hear of home—and mother—and the dear little Tirzah. If they are on
earth, I will find them."
CHAPTER III
Next day early, to the neglect of the city, Ben-Hur sought the house of
Simonides. Through an embattled gateway he passed to a continuity of wharves;
thence up the river midst a busy press, to the Seleucian Bridge, under which
he paused to take in the scene.
There, directly under the bridge, was the merchant's house, a mass of
gray stone, unhewn, referable to no style, looking, as the voyager had
described it, like a buttress of the wall against which it leaned. Two
immense doors in front communicated with the wharf. Some holes near the top,
heavily barred, served as windows. Weeds waved from the crevices, and in
places black moss splotched the otherwise bald stones.
The doors were open. Through one of them business went in; through the
other it came out; and there was hurry, hurry in all its movements.
On the wharf there were piles of goods in every kind of package, and
groups of slaves, stripped to the waist, going about in the abandon of
labor.
Below the bridge lay a fleet of galleys, some loading, others unloading.
A yellow flag blew out from each masthead. From fleet and wharf, and from
ship to ship, the bondmen of traffic passed in clamorous
counter-currents.
Above the bridge, across the river, a wall rose from the water's edge,
over which towered the fanciful cornices and turrets of an imperial palace,
covering every foot of the island spoken of in the Hebrew's description. But,
with all its suggestions, Ben-Hur scarcely noticed it. Now, at last, he
thought to hear of his people—this, certainly, if Simonides had indeed been
his father's slave. But would the man acknowledge the relation? That would be
to give up his riches and the sovereignty of trade so royally witnessed
on the wharf and river. And what was of still greater consequence to the
merchant, it would be to forego his career in the midst of amazing success,
and yield himself voluntarily once more a slave. Simple thought of the demand
seemed a monstrous audacity. Stripped of diplomatic address, it was to say,
You are my slave; give me all you have, and—yourself.
Yet Ben-Hur derived strength for the interview from faith in his rights
and the hope uppermost in his heart. If the story to which he was yielding
were true, Simonides belonged to him, with all he had. For the wealth, be it
said in justice, he cared nothing. When he started to the door determined in
mind, it was with a promise to himself—"Let him tell me of mother and
Tirzah, and I will give him his freedom without account."
He passed boldly into the house.
The interior was that of a vast depot where, in ordered spaces, and
under careful arrangement, goods of every kind were heaped and pent. Though
the light was murky and the air stifling, men moved about briskly; and in
places he saw workmen with saws and hammers making packages for shipments.
Down a path between the piles he walked slowly, wondering if the man of whose
genius there were here such abounding proofs could have been his father's
slave? If so, to what class had he belonged? If a Jew, was he the son of a
servant? Or was he a debtor or a debtor's son? Or had he been sentenced and
sold for theft? These thoughts, as they passed, in nowise disturbed the
growing respect for the merchant of which he was each instant more and more
conscious. A peculiarity of our admiration for another is that it is always
looking for circumstances to justify itself.
At length a man approached and spoke to him.
"What would you have?"
"I would see Simonides, the merchant."
"Will you come this way?"
By a number of paths left in the stowage, they finally came to a flight
of steps; ascending which, he found himself on the roof of the depot, and in
front of a structure which cannot be better described than as a lesser stone
house built upon another, invisible from the landing below, and out west of
the bridge under the open sky. The roof, hemmed in by a low wall, seemed
like a terrace, which, to his astonishment, was brilliant with flowers; in
the rich surrounding, the house sat squat, a plain square block, unbroken
except by a doorway in front. A dustless path led to the door, through a
bordering of shrubs of Persian rose in perfect bloom. Breathing a sweet
attar-perfume, he followed the guide.
At the end of a darkened passage within, they stopped before a curtain
half parted. The man called out,
"A stranger to see the master."
A clear voice replied, "In God's name, let him enter."
A Roman might have called the apartment into which the visitor
was ushered his atrium. The walls were paneled; each panel was
comparted like a modern office-desk, and each compartment crowded with
labelled folios all filemot with age and use. Between the panels, and above
and below them, were borders of wood once white, now tinted like
cream, and carved with marvellous intricacy of design. Above a cornice
of gilded balls, the ceiling rose in pavilion style until it broke into a
shallow dome set with hundreds of panes of violet mica, permitting a flood of
light deliciously reposeful. The floor was carpeted with gray rugs so thick
that an invading foot fell half buried and soundless.
In the midlight of the room were two persons—a man resting in a chair
high-backed, broad-armed, and lined with pliant cushions; and at his left,
leaning against the back of the chair, a girl well forward into womanhood. At
sight of them Ben-Hur felt the blood redden his forehead; bowing, as much to
recover himself as in respect, he lost the lifting of the hands, and the
shiver and shrink with which the sitter caught sight of him—an emotion
as swift to go as it had been to come. When he raised his eyes the two
were in the same position, except the girl's hand had fallen and was resting
lightly upon the elder's shoulder; both of them were regarding him
fixedly.
"If you are Simonides, the merchant, and a Jew"—Ben-Hur stopped an
instant—"then the peace of the God of our father Abraham upon you
and—yours."
The last word was addressed to the girl.
"I am the Simonides of whom you speak, by birthright a Jew," the man
made answer, in a voice singularly clear. "I am Simonides, and a Jew; and I
return you your salutation, with prayer to know who calls upon me."
Ben-Hur looked as he listened, and where the figure of the man should
have been in healthful roundness, there was only a formless heap sunk in the
depths of the cushions, and covered by a quilted robe of sombre silk. Over
the heap shone a head royally proportioned—the ideal head of a statesman and
conqueror—a head broad of base and domelike in front, such as Angelo would
have modelled for Caesar. White hair dropped in thin locks over the white
brows, deepening the blackness of the eyes shining through them like sullen
lights. The face was bloodless, and much puffed with folds, especially under
the chin. In other words, the head and face were those of a man who might
move the world more readily than the world could move him—a man to be twice
twelve times tortured into the shapeless cripple he was, without a
groan, much less a confession; a man to yield his life, but never
a purpose or a point; a man born in armor, and assailable only through his
loves. To him Ben-Hur stretched his hands, open and palm up, as he would
offer peace at the same time he asked it.
"I am Judah, son of Ithamar, late head of the House of Hur, and a prince
of Jerusalem."
The merchant's right hand lay outside the robe—a long, thin
hand, articulate to deformity with suffering. It closed tightly; otherwise
there was not the slightest expression of feeling of any kind on his part;
nothing to warrant an inference of surprise or interest; nothing but this
calm answer,
"The princes of Jerusalem, of the pure blood, are always welcome in my
house; you are welcome. Give the young man a seat, Esther."
The girl took an ottoman near by, and carried it to Ben-Hur. As
she arose from placing the seat, their eyes met.
"The peace of our Lord with you," she said, modestly. "Be seated and at
rest."
When she resumed her place by the chair, she had not divined
his purpose. The powers of woman go not so far: if the matter is of finer
feeling, such as pity, mercy, sympathy, that she detects; and therein is a
difference between her and man which will endure as long as she remains, by
nature, alive to such feelings. She was simply sure he brought some wound of
life for healing.
Ben-Hur did not take the offered seat, but said, deferentially, "I pray
the good master Simonides that he will not hold me an intruder. Coming up the
river yesterday, I heard he knew my father."
"I knew the Prince Hur. We were associated in some enterprises lawful to
merchants who find profit in lands beyond the sea and the desert. But sit, I
pray you—and, Esther, some wine for the young man. Nehemiah speaks of a son
of Hur who once ruled the half part of Jerusalem; an old house; very old, by
the faith! In the days of Moses and Joshua even some of them found
favor in the sight of the Lord, and divided honors with those
princes among men. It can hardly be that their descendant, lineally
come to us, will refuse a cup of wine-fat of the genuine vine of
Sorek, grown on the south hill-sides of Hebron."
By the time of the conclusion of this speech, Esther was before Ben-Hur
with a silver cup filled from a vase upon a table a little removed from the
chair. She offered the drink with downcast face. He touched her hand gently
to put it away. Again their eyes met; whereat he noticed that she was small,
not nearly to his shoulder in height; but very graceful, and fair and sweet
of face, with eyes black and inexpressibly soft. She is kind and pretty, he
thought, and looks as Tirzah would were she living. Poor Tirzah! Then
he said aloud,
"No, thy father—if he is thy father?"—he paused.
"I am Esther, the daughter of Simonides," she said, with dignity.
"Then, fair Esther, thy father, when he has heard my further
speech, will not think worse of me if yet I am slow to take his wine
of famous extract; nor less I hope not to lose grace in thy sight. Stand
thou here with me a moment!"
Both of them, as in common cause, turned to the merchant. "Simonides!"
he said, firmly, "my father, at his death, had a trusted servant of thy name,
and it has been told me that thou art the man!"
There was a sudden start of the wrenched limbs under the robe, and the
thin hand clenched.
"Esther, Esther!" the man called, sternly; "here, not there, as thou art
thy mother's child and mine—here, not there, I say!"
The girl looked once from father to visitor; then she replaced the cup
upon the table, and went dutifully to the chair. Her countenance sufficiently
expressed her wonder and alarm.
Simonides lifted his left hand, and gave it into hers, lying
lovingly upon his shoulder, and said, dispassionately, "I have grown old
in dealing with men—old before my time. If he who told thee that
whereof thou speakest was a friend acquainted with my history, and spoke
of it not harshly, he must have persuaded thee that I could not be
else than a man distrustful of my kind. The God of Israel help him who, at
the end of life, is constrained to acknowledge so much! My loves are few, but
they are. One of them is a soul which"—he carried the hand holding his to
his lips, in manner unmistakable—"a soul which to this time has been
unselfishly mine, and such sweet comfort that, were it taken from me, I would
die."
Esther's head drooped until her cheek touched his.
"The other love is but a memory; of which I will say further that, like
a benison of the Lord, it hath a compass to contain a whole family, if
only"—his voice lowered and trembled—"if only I knew where they
were."
Ben-Hur's face suffused, and, advancing a step, he cried,
impulsively, "My mother and sister! Oh, it is of them you speak!"
Esther, as if spoken to, raised her head; but Simonides returned to his
calm, and answered, coldly, "Hear me to the end. Because I am that I am, and
because of the loves of which I have spoken, before I make return to thy
demand touching my relations to the Prince Hur, and as something which of
right should come first, do thou show me proofs of who thou art. Is thy
witness in writing? Or cometh it in person?"
The demand was plain, and the right of it indisputable. Ben-Hur blushed,
clasped his hands, stammered, and turned away at loss. Simonides pressed
him.
"The proofs, the proofs, I say! Set them before me—lay them in my
hands!"
Yet Ben-Hur had no answer. He had not anticipated the requirement; and,
now that it was made, to him as never before came the awful fact that the
three years in the galley had carried away all the proofs of his identity;
mother and sister gone, he did not live in the knowledge of any human being.
Many there were acquainted with him, but that was all. Had Quintus Arrius
been present, what could he have said more than where he found him, and that
he believed the pretender to be the son of Hur? But, as will presently appear
in full, the brave Roman sailor was dead. Judah had felt the loneliness
before; to the core of life the sense struck him now. He stood, hands
clasped, face averted, in stupefaction. Simonides respected his
suffering, and waited in silence.
"Master Simonides," he said, at length, "I can only tell my story; and I
will not that unless you stay judgment so long, and with good-will deign to
hear me."
"Speak," said Simonides, now, indeed, master of the
situation—"speak, and I will listen the more willingly that I have not
denied you to be the very person you claim yourself."
Ben-Hur proceeded then, and told his life hurriedly, yet with
the feeling which is the source of all eloquence; but as we are
familiar with it down to his landing at Misenum, in company with
Arrius, returned victorious from the AEgean, at that point we will take up
the words.
"My benefactor was loved and trusted by the emperor, who heaped him with
honorable rewards. The merchants of the East contributed magnificent
presents, and he became doubly rich among the rich of Rome. May a Jew forget
his religion? or his birthplace, if it were the Holy Land of our fathers? The
good man adopted me his son by formal rites of law; and I strove to make him
just return: no child was ever more dutiful to father than I to him. He
would have had me a scholar; in art, philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, he
would have furnished me the most famous teacher. I declined his insistence,
because I was a Jew, and could not forget the Lord God, or the glory of the
prophets, or the city set on the hills by David and Solomon. Oh, ask you why
I accepted any of the benefactions of the Roman? I loved him; next place, I
thought with his help, array influences which would enable me one day
to unseal the mystery close-locking the fate of my mother and sister; and
to these there was yet another motive of which I shall not speak except to
say it controlled me so far that I devoted myself to arms, and the
acquisition of everything deemed essential to thorough knowledge of the art
of war. In the palaestrae and circuses of the city I toiled, and in the camps
no less; and in all of them I have a name, but not that of my fathers. The
crowns I won—and on the walls of the villa by Misenum there are many of
them—all came to me as the son of Arrius, the duumvir. In that
relation only am I known among Romans. . . . In steadfast pursuit of
my secret aim, I left Rome for Antioch, intending to accompany the Consul
Maxentius in the campaign he is organizing against the Parthians. Master of
personal skill in all arms, I seek now the higher knowledge pertaining to the
conduct of bodies of men in the field. The consul has admitted me one of his
military family. But yesterday, as our ship entered the Orontes, two
other ships sailed in with us flying yellow flags. A fellow-passenger and
countryman from Cyprus explained that the vessels belonged to Simonides, the
master-merchant of Antioch; he told us, also, who the merchant was; his
marvellous success in commerce; of his fleets and caravans, and their coming
and going; and, not knowing I had interest in the theme beyond my associate
listeners, he said Simonides was a Jew, once the servant of the Prince Hur;
nor did he conceal the cruelties of Gratus, or the purpose of their
infliction."
At this allusion Simonides bowed his head, and, as if to help
him conceal his feelings and her own deep sympathy, the daughter hid her
face on his neck. Directly he raised his eyes, and said, in a clear voice, "I
am listening."
"O good Simonides!" Ben-Hur then said, advancing a step, his whole soul
seeking expression, "I see thou art not convinced, and that yet I stand in
the shadow of thy distrust."
The merchant held his features fixed as marble, and his tongue as
still.
"And not less clearly, I see the difficulties of my position," Ben-Hur
continued. "All my Roman connection I can prove; I have only to call upon the
consul, now the guest of the governor of the city; but I cannot prove the
particulars of thy demand upon me. I cannot prove I am my father's son. They
who could serve me in that—alas! they are dead or lost."
He covered his face with his hands; whereupon Esther arose, and, taking
the rejected cup to him, said, "The wine is of the country we all so love.
Drink, I pray thee!"
The voice was sweet as that of Rebekah offering drink at the well near
Nahor the city; he saw there were tears in her eyes, and he drank, saying,
"Daughter of Simonides, thy heart is full of goodness; and merciful art thou
to let the stranger share it with thy father. Be thou blessed of our God! I
thank thee."
Then he addressed himself to the merchant again:
"As I have no proof that I am my father's son, I will withdraw that I
demanded of thee, O Simonides, and go hence to trouble you no more; only let
me say I did not seek thy return to servitude nor account of thy fortune; in
any event, I would have said, as now I say, that all which is product of thy
labor and genius is thine; keep it in welcome. I have no need of any part
thereof. When the good Quintus, my second father, sailed on the voyage which
was his last, he left me his heir, princely rich. If, therefore, thou
cost think of me again, be it with remembrance of this question, which, as
I do swear by the prophets and Jehovah, thy God and mine, was the chief
purpose of my coming here: What cost thou know—what canst thou tell me—of
my mother and Tirzah, my sister—she who should be in beauty and grace even
as this one, thy sweetness of life, if not thy very life? Oh! what canst thou
tell me of them?"
The tears ran down Esther's cheeks; but the man was wilful: in a clear
voice, he replied,
"I have said I knew the Prince Ben-Hur. I remember hearing of
the misfortune which overtook his family. I remember the bitterness with
which I heard it. He who wrought such misery to the widow of my friend is the
same who, in the same spirit, hath since wrought upon me. I will go further,
and say to you, I have made diligent quest concerning the family, but—I have
nothing to tell you of them. They are lost."
Ben-Hur uttered a great groan.
"Then—then it is another hope broken!" he said, struggling with his
feelings. "I am used to disappointments. I pray you pardon my intrusion; and
if I have occasioned you annoyance, forgive it because of my sorrow. I have
nothing now to live for but vengeance. Farewell."
At the curtain he turned, and said, simply, "I thank you both."
"Peace go with you," the merchant said.
Esther could not speak for sobbing.
And so he departed.
CHAPTER IV
Scarcely was Ben-Hur gone, when Simonides seemed to wake as from sleep:
his countenance flushed; the sullen light of his eyes changed to brightness;
and he said, cheerily,
"Esther, ring—quick!"
She went to the table, and rang a service-bell.
One of the panels in the wall swung back, exposing a doorway which gave
admittance to a man who passed round to the merchant's front, and saluted him
with a half-salaam.
"Malluch, here—nearer—to the chair," the master said, imperiously. "I
have a mission which shall not fail though the sun should. Hearken! A young
man is now descending to the store-room—tall, comely, and in the garb of
Israel; follow him, his shadow not more faithful; and every night send me
report of where he is, what he does, and the company he keeps; and if,
without discovery, you overhear his conversations, report them word for word,
together with whatever will serve to expose him, his habits, motives, life.
Understand you? Go quickly! Stay, Malluch: if he leave the city, go after
him—and, mark you, Malluch, be as a friend. If he bespeak you, tell him what
you will to the occasion most suited, except that you are in my
service, of that, not a word. Haste—make haste!"
The man saluted as before, and was gone.
Then Simonides rubbed his wan hands together, and laughed.
"What is the day, daughter?" he said, in the midst of the mood. "What is
the day? I wish to remember it for happiness come. See, and look for it
laughing, and laughing tell me, Esther."
The merriment seemed unnatural to her; and, as if to entreat him from
it, she answered, sorrowfully, "Woe's me, father, that I should ever forget
this day!"
His hands fell down the instant, and his chin, dropping upon his breast,
lost itself in the muffling folds of flesh composing his lower face.
"True, most true, my daughter!" he said, without looking up. "This is
the twentieth day of the fourth month. To-day, five years ago, my Rachel, thy
mother, fell down and died. They brought me home broken as thou seest me, and
we found her dead of grief. Oh, to me she was a cluster of camphire in the
vineyards of En-Gedi! I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my
honeycomb with my honey. We laid her away in a lonely place—in a tomb
cut in the mountain; no one near her. Yet in the darkness she left me a
little light, which the years have increased to a brightness of morning." He
raised his hand and rested it upon his daughter's head. "Dear Lord, I thank
thee that now in my Esther my lost Rachel liveth again!"
Directly he lifted his head, and said, as with a sudden thought, "Is it
not clear day outside?"
"It was, when the young man came in."
"Then let Abimelech come and take me to the garden, where I can see the
river and the ships, and I will tell thee, dear Esther, why but now my mouth
filled with laughter, and my tongue with singing, and my spirit was like to a
roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices."
In answer to the bell a servant came, and at her bidding pushed the
chair, set on little wheels for the purpose, out of the room to the roof of
the lower house, called by him his garden. Out through the roses, and by beds
of lesser flowers, all triumphs of careful attendance, but now unnoticed, he
was rolled to a position from which he could view the palace-tops over
against him on the island, the bridge in lessening perspective to the farther
shore, and the river below the bridge crowded with vessels, all swimming
amidst the dancing splendors of the early sun upon the rippling
water. There the servant left him with Esther.
The much shouting of laborers, and their beating and pounding, did not
disturb him any more than the tramping of people on the bridge floor almost
overhead, being as familiar to his ear as the view before him to his eye, and
therefore unnoticeable, except as suggestions of profits in promise.
Esther sat on the arm of the chair nursing his hand, and waiting his
speech, which came at length in the calm way, the mighty will having carried
him back to himself.
"When the young man was speaking, Esther, I observed thee, and thought
thou wert won by him."
Her eyes fell as she replied,
"Speak you of faith, father, I believed him."
"In thy eyes, then, he is the lost son of the Prince Hur?"
"If he is not—" She hesitated.
"And if he is not, Esther?"
"I have been thy handmaiden, father, since my mother answered the call
of the Lord God; by thy side I have heard and seen thee deal in wise ways
with all manner of men seeking profit, holy and unholy; and now I say, if
indeed the young man be not the prince he claims to be, then before me
falsehood never played so well the part of righteous truth."
"By the glory of Solomon, daughter, thou speakest earnestly. Dost thou
believe thy father his father's servant?"
"I understood him to ask of that as something he had but heard."
For a time Simonides' gaze swam among his swimming ships, though they
had no place in his mind.
"Well, thou art a good child, Esther, of genuine Jewish shrewdness, and
of years and strength to hear a sorrowful tale. Wherefore give me heed, and I
will tell you of myself, and of thy mother, and of many things pertaining to
the past not in thy knowledge or thy dreams—things withheld from the
persecuting Romans for a hope's sake, and from thee that thy nature should
grow towards the Lord straight as the reed to the sun. . . . I was born in a
tomb in the valley of Hinnom, on the south side of Zion. My father and
mother were Hebrew bond-servants, tenders of the fig and olive
trees growing, with many vines, in the King's Garden hard by Siloam; and
in my boyhood I helped them. They were of the class bound to serve forever.
They sold me to the Prince Hur, then, next to Herod the King, the richest man
in Jerusalem. From the garden he transferred me to his storehouse in
Alexandria of Egypt, where I came of age. I served him six years, and in the
seventh, by the law of Moses, I went free."
Esther clapped her hands lightly.
"Oh, then, thou art not his father's servant!"
"Nay, daughter, hear. Now, in those days there were lawyers in the
cloisters of the Temple who disputed vehemently, saying the children of
servants bound forever took the condition of their parents; but the Prince
Hur was a man righteous in all things, and an interpreter of the law after
the straitest sect, though not of them. He said I was a Hebrew servant
bought, in the true meaning of the great lawgiver, and, by sealed writings,
which I yet have, he set me free."
"And my mother?" Esther asked.
"Thou shalt hear all, Esther; be patient. Before I am through thou shalt
see it were easier for me to forget myself than thy mother. . . . At the end
of my service, I came up to Jerusalem to the Passover. My master entertained
me. I was in love with him already, and I prayed to be continued in his
service. He consented, and I served him yet another seven years, but as a
hired son of Israel. In his behalf I had charge of ventures on the sea by
ships, and of ventures on land by caravans eastward to Susa and Persepolis,
and the lands of silk beyond them. Perilous passages were they, my
daughter; but the Lord blessed all I undertook. I brought home vast
gains for the prince, and richer knowledge for myself, without which I
could not have mastered the charges since fallen to me. . . . One day I was a
guest in his house in Jerusalem. A servant entered with some sliced bread on
a platter. She came to me first. It was then I saw thy mother, and loved her,
and took her away in my secret heart. After a while a time came when I sought
the prince to make her my wife. He told me she was bond-servant forever; but
if she wished, he would set her free that I might be gratified. She
gave me love for love, but was happy where she was, and refused
her freedom. I prayed and besought, going again and again after
long intervals. She would be my wife, she all the time said, if I
would become her fellow in servitude. Our father Jacob served yet
other seven years for his Rachel. Could I not as much for mine? But
thy mother said I must become as she, to serve forever. I came away, but
went back. Look, Esther, look here."
He pulled out the lobe of his left ear.
"See you not the scar of the awl?"
"I see it," she said; "and, oh, I see how thou didst love
my mother!"
"Love her, Esther! She was to me more than the Shulamite to the singing
king, fairer, more spotless; a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters,
and streams from Lebanon. The master, even as I required him, took me to the
judges, and back to his door, and thrust the awl through my ear into the
door, and I was his servant forever. So I won my Rachel. And was ever love
like mine?"
Esther stooped and kissed him, and they were silent, thinking of the
dead.
"My master was drowned at sea, the first sorrow that ever fell upon me,"
the merchant continued. "There was mourning in his house, and in mine here in
Antioch, my abiding-place at the time. Now, Esther, mark you! When the good
prince was lost, I had risen to be his chief steward, with everything of
property belonging to him in my management and control. Judge you how much he
loved and trusted me! I hastened to Jerusalem to render account to
the widow. She continued me in the stewardship. I applied myself with
greater diligence. The business prospered, and grew year by year. Ten years
passed; then came the blow which you heard the young man tell about—the
accident, as he called it, to the Procurator Gratus. The Roman gave it out an
attempt to assassinate him. Under that pretext, by leave from Rome, he
confiscated to his own use the immense fortune of the widow and children. Nor
stopped he there. That there might be no reversal of the judgment, he
removed all the parties interested. From that dreadful day to this the family
of Hur have been lost. The son, whom I had seen as a child, was
sentenced to the galleys. The widow and daughter are supposed to have
been buried in some of the many dungeons of Judea, which, once closed upon
the doomed, are like sepulchers sealed and locked. They passed from the
knowledge of men as utterly as if the sea had swallowed them unseen. We could
not hear how they died—nay, not even that they were dead."
Esther's eyes were dewy with tears.
"Thy heart is good, Esther, good as thy mother's was; and I pray it have
not the fate of most good hearts—to be trampled upon by the unmerciful and
blind. But hearken further. I went up to Jerusalem to give help to my
benefactress, and was seized at the gate of the city and carried to the
sunken cells of the Tower of Antonia; why, I knew not, until Gratus himself
came and demanded of me the moneys of the House of Hur, which he
knew, after our Jewish custom of exchange, were subject to my draft in the
different marts of the world. He required me to sign to his order. I refused.
He had the houses, lands, goods, ships, and movable property of those I
served; he had not their moneys. I saw, if I kept favor in the sight of the
Lord, I could rebuild their broken fortunes. I refused the tyrant's demands.
He put me to torture; my will held good, and he set me free, nothing
gained. I came home and began again, in the name of Simonides of
Antioch, instead of the Prince Hur of Jerusalem. Thou knowest, Esther, how
I have prospered; that the increase of the millions of the prince in my hands
was miraculous; thou knowest how, at the end of three years, while going up
to Caesarea, I was taken and a second time tortured by Gratus to compel a
confession that my goods and moneys were subject to his order of
confiscation; thou knowest he failed as before. Broken in body, I came home
and found my Rachel dead of fear and grief for me. The Lord our God reigned,
and I lived. From the emperor himself I bought immunity and license
to trade throughout the world. To-day—praised be He who maketh the clouds
his chariot and walketh upon the winds!—to-day, Esther, that which was in my
hands for stewardship is multiplied into talents sufficient to enrich a
Caesar."
He lifted his head proudly; their eyes met; each read the
other's thought. "What shall I with the treasure, Esther?" he
asked, without lowering his gaze.
"My father," she answered, in a low voice, "did not the rightful owner
call for it but now?"
Still his look did not fail.
"And thou, my child; shall I leave thee a beggar?"
"Nay, father, am not I, because I am thy child, his bond-servant? And of
whom was it written, 'Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall
rejoice in time to come?'"
A gleam of ineffable love lighted his face as he said, "The Lord hath
been good to me in many ways; but thou, Esther, art the sovereign excellence
of his favor."
He drew her to his breast and kissed her many times.
"Hear now," he said, with clearer voice—"hear now why I laughed this
morning. The young man faced me the apparition of his father in comely youth.
My spirit arose to salute him. I felt my trial-days were over and my labors
ended. Hardly could I keep from crying out. I longed to take him by the hand
and show the balance I had earned, and say, 'Lo, 'tis all thine! and I am thy
servant, ready now to be called away.' And so I would have done, Esther, so I
would have done, but that moment three thoughts rushed to restrain me. I
will be sure he is my master's son—such was the first thought; if he is
my master's son, I will learn somewhat of his nature. Of those born to
riches, bethink you, Esther, how many there are in whose hands riches are but
breeding curses"—he paused, while his hands clutched, and his voice shrilled
with passion—"Esther, consider the pains I endured at the Roman's hands;
nay, not Gratus's alone: the merciless wretches who did his bidding the first
time and the last were Romans, and they all alike laughed to hear me
scream. Consider my broken body, and the years I have gone shorn of
my stature; consider thy mother yonder in her lonely tomb, crushed of soul
as I of body; consider the sorrows of my master's family if they are living,
and the cruelty of their taking-off if they are dead; consider all, and, with
Heaven's love about thee, tell me, daughter, shall not a hair fall or a red
drop run in expiation? Tell me not, as the preachers sometimes do—tell me
not that vengeance is the Lord's. Does he not work his will harmfully as
well as in love by agencies? Has he not his men of war more numerous than his
prophets? Is not his the law, Eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot? Oh,
in all these years I have dreamed of vengeance, and prayed and provided for
it, and gathered patience from the growing of my store, thinking and
promising, as the Lord liveth, it will one day buy me punishment of the
wrong-doers? And when, speaking of his practise with arms, the young
man said it was for a nameless purpose, I named the purpose even as he
spoke—vengeance! and that, Esther, that it was—the third thought which held
me still and hard while his pleading lasted, and made me laugh when he was
gone."
Esther caressed the faded hands, and said, as if her spirit with his
were running forward to results, "He is gone. Will he come again?"
"Ay, Malluch the faithful goes with him, and will bring him back when I
am ready."
"And when will that be, father?"
"Not long, not long. He thinks all his witnesses dead. There is one
living who will not fail to know him, if he be indeed my master's son."
"His mother?"
"Nay, daughter, I will set the witness before him; till then let us rest
the business with the Lord. I am tired. Call Abimelech."
Esther called the servant, and they returned into the house.
CHAPTER V
When Ben-Hur sallied from the great warehouse, it was with the thought
that another failure was to be added to the many he had already met in the
quest for his people; and the idea was depressing exactly in proportion as
the objects of his quest were dear to him; it curtained him round about with
a sense of utter loneliness on earth, which, more than anything else, serves
to eke from a soul cast down its remaining interest in life.
Through the people, and the piles of goods, he made way to the edge of
the landing, and was tempted by the cool shadows darkening the river's depth.
The lazy current seemed to stop and wait for him. In counteraction of the
spell, the saying of the voyager flashed into memory—"Better be a worm, and
feed upon the mulberries of Daphne, than a king's guest." He turned, and
walked rapidly down the landing and back to the khan.
"The road to Daphne!" the steward said, surprised at the
question Ben-Hur put to him. "You have not been here before? Well, count
this the happiest day of your life. You cannot mistake the road. The
next street to the left, going south, leads straight to Mount
Sulpius, crowned by the altar of Jupiter and the Amphitheater; keep it
to the third cross street, known as Herod's Colonnade; turn to your right
there, and hold the way through the old city of Seleucus to the bronze gates
of Epiphanes. There the road to Daphne begins—and may the gods keep
you!"
A few directions respecting his baggage, and Ben-Hur set out.
The Colonnade of Herod was easily found; thence to the brazen
gates, under a continuous marble portico, he passed with a multitude
mixed of people from all the trading nations of the earth.
It was about the fourth hour of the day when he passed out the gate, and
found himself one of a procession apparently interminable, moving to the
famous Grove. The road was divided into separate ways for footmen, for men on
horses, and men in chariots; and those again into separate ways for outgoers
and incomers. The lines of division were guarded by low balustrading, broken
by massive pedestals, many of which were surmounted with statuary. Right and
left of the road extended margins of sward perfectly kept, relieved at
intervals by groups of oak and sycamore trees, and vine-clad
summer-houses for the accommodation of the weary, of whom, on the return
side, there were always multitudes. The ways of the footmen were
paved with red stone, and those of the riders strewn with white
sand compactly rolled, but not so solid as to give back an echo to hoof or
wheel. The number and variety of fountains at play were amazing, all gifts of
visiting kings, and called after them. Out southwest to the gates of the
Grove, the magnificent thoroughfare stretched a little over four miles from
the city.
In his wretchedness of feeling, Ben-Hur barely observed the
royal liberality which marked the construction of the road. Nor more did
he at first notice the crowd going with him. He treated the processional
displays with like indifference. To say truth, besides his self-absorption,
he had not a little of the complacency of a Roman visiting the provinces
fresh from the ceremonies which daily eddied round and round the golden
pillar set up by Augustus as the centre of the world. It was not possible for
the provinces to offer anything new or superior. He rather availed himself
of every opportunity to push forward through the companies in the way, and
too slow-going for his impatience. By the time he reached Heracleia, a
suburban village intermediate the city and the Grove, he was somewhat spent
with exercise, and began to be susceptible of entertainment. Once a pair of
goats led by a beautiful woman, woman and goats alike brilliant with ribbons
and flowers, attracted his attention. Then he stopped to look at a bull of
mighty girth, and snowy white, covered with vines freshly cut, and bearing on
its broad back a naked child in a basket, the image of a young
Bacchus, squeezing the juice of ripened berries into a goblet, and
drinking with libational formulas. As he resumed his walk, he wondered
whose altars would be enriched by the offerings. A horse went by
with clipped mane, after the fashion of the time, his rider
superbly dressed. He smiled to observe the harmony of pride between
the man and the brute. Often after that he turned his head at hearing the
rumble of wheels and the dull thud of hoofs; unconsciously he was becoming
interested in the styles of chariots and charioteers, as they rustled past
him going and coming. Nor was it long until he began to make notes of the
people around him. He saw they were of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and
all in holiday attire. One company was uniformed in white, another in black;
some bore flags, some smoking censers; some went slowly, singing
hymns; others stepped to the music of flutes and tabrets. If such were the
going to Daphne every day in the year, what a wondrous sight Daphne must be!
At last there was a clapping of hands, and a burst of joyous cries; following
the pointing of many fingers, he looked and saw upon the brow of a hill the
templed gate of the consecrated Grove. The hymns swelled to louder strains;
the music quickened time; and, borne along by the impulsive current, and
sharing the common eagerness, he passed in, and, Romanized in taste as he
was, fell to worshiping the place.
Rearward of the structure which graced the entrance-way—a
purely Grecian pile—he stood upon a broad esplanade paved with
polished stone; around him a restless exclamatory multitude, in
gayest colors, relieved against the iridescent spray flying
crystal-white from fountains; before him, off to the southwest, dustless
paths radiated out into a garden, and beyond that into a forest,
over which rested a veil of pale-blue vapor. Ben-Hur gazed
wistfully, uncertain where to go. A woman that moment exclaimed,
"Beautiful! But where to now?"
Her companion, wearing a chaplet of bays, laughed and answered, "Go to,
thou pretty barbarian! The question implies an earthly fear; and did we not
agree to leave all such behind in Antioch with the rusty earth? The winds
which blow here are respirations of the gods. Let us give ourselves to
waftage of the winds."
"But if we should get lost?"
"O thou timid! No one was ever lost in Daphne, except those on whom her
gates close forever."
"And who are they?" she asked, still fearful.
"Such as have yielded to the charms of the place and chosen it for life
and death. Hark! Stand we here, and I will show you of whom I speak."
Upon the marble pavement there was a scurry of sandalled feet; the crowd
opened, and a party of girls rushed about the speaker and his fair friend,
and began singing and dancing to the tabrets they themselves touched. The
woman, scared, clung to the man, who put an arm about her, and, with kindled
face, kept time to the music with the other hand overhead. The hair of the
dancers floated free, and their limbs blushed through the robes of
gauze which scarcely draped them. Words may not be used to tell of
the voluptuousness of the dance. One brief round, and they darted
off through the yielding crowd lightly as they had come.
"Now what think you?" cried the man to the woman.
"Who are they?" she asked.
"Devadasi—priestesses devoted to the Temple of Apollo. There is an army
of them. They make the chorus in celebrations. This is their home. Sometimes
they wander off to other cities, but all they make is brought here to enrich
the house of the divine musician. Shall we go now?"
Next minute the two were gone.
Ben-Hur took comfort in the assurance that no one was ever lost in
Daphne, and he, too, set out—where, he knew not.
A sculpture reared upon a beautiful pedestal in the garden attracted him
first. It proved to be the statue of a centaur. An inscription informed the
unlearned visitor that it exactly represented Chiron, the beloved of Apollo
and Diana, instructed by them in the mysteries of hunting, medicine, music,
and prophecy. The inscription also bade the stranger look out at a certain
part of the heavens, at a certain hour of the clear night, and he would
behold the dead alive among the stars, whither Jupiter had transferred the
good genius.
The wisest of the centaurs continued, nevertheless, in the service of
mankind. In his hand he held a scroll, on which, graven in Greek, were
paragraphs of a notice:
"O
Traveller!
"Art thou a stranger?
"I. Hearken to the singing of the brooks, and fear not the rain of the
fountains; so will the Naiades learn to love thee.
"II. The invited breezes of Daphne are Zephyrus and Auster; gentle
ministers of life, they will gather sweets for thee; when Eurus blows, Diana
is elsewhere hunting; when Boreas blusters, go hide, for Apollo is
angry.
"III. The shades of the Grove are thine in the day; at night they belong
to Pan and his Dryades. Disturb them not.
"IV. Eat of the Lotus by the brooksides sparingly, unless thou wouldst
have surcease of memory, which is to become a child of Daphne.
"V. Walk thou round the weaving spider—'tis Arachne at work
for Minerva.
"VI. Wouldst thou behold the tears of Daphne, break but a bud from a
laurel bough—and die.
"Heed
thou!
"And stay and be happy."
Ben-Hur left the interpretation of the mystic notice to others fast
enclosing him, and turned away as the white bull was led by. The boy sat in
the basket, followed by a procession; after them again, the woman with the
goats; and behind her the flute and tabret players, and another procession of
gift-bringers.
"Whither go they?" asked a bystander.
Another made answer, "The bull to Father Jove; the goat—"
"Did not Apollo once keep the flocks of Admetus?"
"Ay, the goat to Apollo!"
The goodness of the reader is again besought in favor of an explanation.
A certain facility of accommodation in the matter of religion comes to us
after much intercourse with people of a different faith; gradually we attain
the truth that every creed is illustrated by good men who are entitled to our
respect, but whom we cannot respect without courtesy to their creed. To this
point Ben-Hur had arrived. Neither the years in Rome nor those in
the galley had made any impression upon his religious faith; he was yet a
Jew. In his view, nevertheless, it was not an impiety to look for the
beautiful in the Grove of Daphne.
The remark does not interdict the further saying, if his scruples had
been ever so extreme, not improbably he would at this time have smothered
them. He was angry; not as the irritable, from chafing of a trifle; nor was
his anger like the fool's, pumped from the wells of nothing, to be dissipated
by a reproach or a curse; it was the wrath peculiar to ardent natures rudely
awakened by the sudden annihilation of a hope—dream, if you will—in which
the choicest happinesses were thought to be certainly in reach. In such
case nothing intermediate will carry off the passion—the quarrel is with
Fate.
Let us follow the philosophy a little further, and say to ourselves, it
were well in such quarrels if Fate were something tangible, to be despatched
with a look or a blow, or a speaking personage with whom high words were
possible; then the unhappy mortal would not always end the affair by
punishing himself.
In ordinary mood, Ben-Hur would not have come to the Grove alone, or,
coming alone, he would have availed himself of his position in the consul's
family, and made provision against wandering idly about, unknowing and
unknown; he would have had all the points of interest in mind, and gone to
them under guidance, as in the despatch of business; or, wishing to squander
days of leisure in the beautiful place, he would have had in hand a letter to
the master of it all, whoever he might be. This would have made him a
sightseer, like the shouting herd he was accompanying; whereas he had no
reverence for the deities of the Grove, nor curiosity; a man in the blindness
of bitter disappointment, he was adrift, not waiting for Fate, but seeking it
as a desperate challenger.
Every one has known this condition of mind, though perhaps not all in
the same degree; every one will recognize it as the condition in which he has
done brave things with apparent serenity; and every one reading will say,
Fortunate for Ben-Hur if the folly which now catches him is but a friendly
harlequin with whistle and painted cap, and not some Violence with a pointed
sword pitiless.
CHAPTER VI
Ben-Hur entered the woods with the processions. He had not
interest enough at first to ask where they were going; yet, to relieve
him from absolute indifference, he had a vague impression that they were
in movement to the temples, which were the central objects of the Grove,
supreme in attractions.
Presently, as singers dreamfully play with a flitting chorus, he began
repeating to himself, "Better be a worm, and feed on the mulberries of
Daphne, than a king's guest." Then of the much repetition arose questions
importunate of answer. Was life in the Grove so very sweet? Wherein was the
charm? Did it lie in some tangled depth of philosophy? Or was it something in
fact, something on the surface, discernible to every-day wakeful
senses? Every year thousands, forswearing the world, gave themselves
to service here. Did they find the charm? And was it sufficient, when
found, to induce forgetfulness profound enough to shut out of mind the
infinitely diverse things of life? those that sweeten and those that
embitter? hopes hovering in the near future as well as sorrows born of the
past? If the Grove were so good for them, why should it not be good for him?
He was a Jew; could it be that the excellences were for all the world but
children of Abraham? Forthwith he bent all his faculties to the task of
discovery, unmindful of the singing of the gift-bringers and the quips
of his associates.
In the quest, the sky yielded him nothing; it was blue, very blue, and
full of twittering swallows—so was the sky over the city.
Further on, out of the woods at his right hand, a breeze poured across
the road, splashing him with a wave of sweet smells, blent of roses and
consuming spices. He stopped, as did others, looking the way the breeze
came.
"A garden over there?" he said, to a man at his elbow.
"Rather some priestly ceremony in performance—something to Diana, or
Pan, or a deity of the woods."
The answer was in his mother tongue. Ben-Hur gave the speaker
a surprised look.
"A Hebrew?" he asked him.
The man replied with a deferential smile,
"I was born within a stone's-throw of the market-place in Jerusalem."
Ben-Hur was proceeding to further speech, when the crowd surged forward,
thrusting him out on the side of the walk next the woods, and carrying the
stranger away. The customary gown and staff, a brown cloth on the head tied
by a yellow rope, and a strong Judean face to avouch the garments of honest
right, remained in the young man's mind, a kind of summary of the man.
This took place at a point where a path into the woods began, offering a
happy escape from the noisy processions. Ben-Hur availed himself of the
offer.
He walked first into a thicket which, from the road, appeared in a state
of nature, close, impenetrable, a nesting-place for wild birds. A few steps,
however, gave him to see the master's hand even there. The shrubs were
flowering or fruit-bearing; under the bending branches the ground was pranked
with brightest blooms; over them the jasmine stretched its delicate bonds.
From lilac and rose, and lily and tulip, from oleander and strawberry-tree,
all old friends in the gardens of the valleys about the city of David, the
air, lingering or in haste, loaded itself with exhalations day and night; and
that nothing might be wanting to the happiness of the nymphs and naiads, down
through the flower-lighted shadows of the mass a brook went its course
gently, and by many winding ways.
Out of the thicket, as he proceeded, on his right and left, issued
the cry of the pigeon and the cooing of turtle-doves; blackbirds
waited for him, and bided his coming close; a nightingale kept its
place fearless, though he passed in arm's-length; a quail ran before him
at his feet, whistling to the brood she was leading, and as he paused for
them to get out of his way, a figure crawled from a bed of honeyed musk
brilliant with balls of golden blossoms. Ben-Hur was startled. Had he,
indeed, been permitted to see a satyr at home? The creature looked up at him,
and showed in its teeth a hooked pruning-knife; he smiled at his own scare,
and, lo! the charm was evolved! Peace without fear—peace a
universal condition—that it was!
He sat upon the ground beneath a citron-tree, which spread its gray
roots sprawling to receive a branch of the brook. The nest of a titmouse hung
close to the bubbling water, and the tiny creature looked out of the door of
the nest into his eyes. "Verily, the bird is interpreting to me," he thought.
"It says, 'I am not afraid of you, for the law of this happy place is
Love.'"
The charm of the Grove seemed plain to him; he was glad, and determined
to render himself one of the lost in Daphne. In charge of the flowers and
shrubs, and watching the growth of all the dumb excellences everywhere to be
seen, could not he, like the man with the pruning-knife in his mouth, forego
the days of his troubled life—forego them forgetting and forgotten?
But by-and-by his Jewish nature began to stir within him.
The charm might be sufficient for some people. Of what kind
were they?
Love is delightful—ah! how pleasant as a successor to wretchedness like
his. But was it all there was of life? All?
There was an unlikeness between him and those who buried
themselves contentedly here. They had no duties—they could not have
had; but he—
"God of Israel!" he cried aloud, springing to his feet, with
burning cheeks—"Mother! Tirzah! Cursed be the moment, cursed the
place, in which I yield myself happy in your loss!"
He hurried away through the thicket, and came to a stream flowing with
the volume of a river between banks of masonry, broken at intervals by gated
sluiceways. A bridge carried the path he was traversing across the stream;
and, standing upon it, he saw other bridges, no two of them alike. Under him
the water was lying in a deep pool, clear as a shadow; down a little way it
tumbled with a roar over rocks; then there was another pool, and another
cascade; and so on, out of view; and bridges and pools and
resounding cascades said, plainly as inarticulate things can tell a
story, the river was running by permission of a master, exactly as
the master would have it, tractable as became a servant of the gods.
Forward from the bridge he beheld a landscape of wide valleys
and irregular heights, with groves and lakes and fanciful houses
linked together by white paths and shining streams. The valleys were
spread below, that the river might be poured upon them for refreshment
in days of drought, and they were as green carpets figured with beds and
fields of flowers, and flecked with flocks of sheep white as balls of snow;
and the voices of shepherds following the flocks were heard afar. As if to
tell him of the pious inscription of all he beheld, the altars out under the
open sky seemed countless, each with a white-gowned figure attending it,
while processions in white went slowly hither and thither between them; and
the smoke of the altars half-risen hung collected in pale clouds over
the devoted places.
Here, there, happy in flight, intoxicated in pause, from object to
object, point to point, now in the meadow, now on the heights, now lingering
to penetrate the groves and observe the processions, then lost in efforts to
pursue the paths and streams which trended mazily into dim perspectives to
end finally in— Ah, what might be a fitting end to scene so beautiful! What
adequate mysteries were hidden behind an introduction so marvellous! Here and
there, the speech was beginning, his gaze wandered, so he could not
help the conviction, forced by the view, and as the sum of it all, that
there was peace in the air and on the earth, and invitation everywhere to
come and lie down here and be at rest.
Suddenly a revelation dawned upon him—the Grove was, in fact, a
temple—one far-reaching, wall-less temple!
Never anything like it!
The architect had not stopped to pother about columns and
porticos, proportions or interiors, or any limitation upon the epic he
sought to materialize; he had simply made a servant of Nature—art can go
no further. So the cunning son of Jupiter and Callisto built the old Arcadia;
and in this, as in that, the genius was Greek.
From the bridge Ben-Hur went forward into the nearest valley.
He came to a flock of sheep. The shepherd was a girl, and she beckoned
him, "Come!"
Farther on, the path was divided by an altar—a pedestal of
black gneiss, capped with a slab of white marble deftly foliated, and
on that a brazier of bronze holding a fire. Close by it, a woman, seeing
him, waved a wand of willow, and as he passed called him, "Stay!" And the
temptation in her smile was that of passionate youth.
On yet further, he met one of the processions; at its head a troop of
little girls, nude except as they were covered with garlands, piped their
shrill voices into a song; then a troop of boys, also nude, their bodies
deeply sun-browned, came dancing to the song of the girls; behind them the
procession, all women, bearing baskets of spices and sweets to the
altars—women clad in simple robes, careless of exposure. As he went by they
held their hands to him, and said, "Stay, and go with us." One, a Greek, sang
a verse from Anacreon:
"For to-day I take or give; For to-day I drink and live; For to-day I
beg or borrow; Who knows about the silent morrow?"
But he pursued his way indifferent, and came next to a grove
luxuriant, in the heart of the vale at the point where it would be most
attractive to the observing eye. As it came close to the path he was
travelling, there was a seduction in its shade, and through the foliage he
caught the shining of what appeared a pretentious statue; so he turned
aside, and entered the cool retreat.
The grass was fresh and clean. The trees did not crowd each other; and
they were of every kind native to the East, blended well with strangers
adopted from far quarters; here grouped in exclusive companionship palm-trees
plumed like queens; there sycamores, overtopping laurels of darker foliage;
and evergreen oaks rising verdantly, with cedars vast enough to be kings on
Lebanon; and mulberries; and terebinths so beautiful it is not hyperbole
to speak of them as blown from the orchards of Paradise.
The statue proved to be a Daphne of wondrous beauty. Hardly, however,
had he time to more than glance at her face: at the base of the pedestal a
girl and a youth were lying upon a tiger's skin asleep in each other's arms;
close by them the implements of their service—his axe and sickle, her
basket—flung carelessly upon a heap of fading roses.
The exposure startled him. Back in the hush of the perfumed thicket he
discovered, as he thought, that the charm of the great Grove was peace
without fear, and almost yielded to it; now, in this sleep in the day's broad
glare—this sleep at the feet of Daphne—he read a further chapter to which
only the vaguest allusion is sufferable. The law of the place was Love, but
Love without Law.
And this was the sweet peace of Daphne!
This the life's end of her ministers!
For this kings and princes gave of their revenues!
For this a crafty priesthood subordinated nature—her birds and brooks
and lilies, the river, the labor of many hands, the sanctity of altars, the
fertile power of the sun!
It would be pleasant now to record that as Ben-Hur pursued his
walk assailed by such reflections, he yielded somewhat to sorrow for
the votaries of the great outdoor temple; especially for those who, by
personal service, kept it in a state so surpassingly lovely. How they came to
the condition was not any longer a mystery; the motive, the influence, the
inducement, were before him. Some there were, no doubt, caught by the promise
held out to their troubled spirits of endless peace in a consecrated abode,
to the beauty of which, if they had not money, they could contribute their
labor; this class implied intellect peculiarly subject to hope and
fear; but the great body of the faithful could not be classed with
such. Apollo's nets were wide, and their meshes small; and hardly may one
tell what all his fishermen landed: this less for that they cannot be
described than because they ought not to be. Enough that the mass were of the
sybarites of the world, and of the herds in number vaster and in degree
lower—devotees of the unmixed sensualism to which the East was almost wholly
given. Not to any of the exaltations—not to the singing-god, or his
unhappy mistress; not to any philosophy requiring for its enjoyment
the calm of retirement, nor to any service for the comfort there is in
religion, nor to love in its holier sense—were they abiding their vows. Good
reader, why shall not the truth be told here? Why not learn that, at this
age, there were in all earth but two peoples capable of exaltations of the
kind referred to—those who lived by the law of Moses, and those who lived by
the law of Brahma. They alone could have cried you, Better a law
without love than a love without law.
Besides that, sympathy is in great degree a result of the mood we are in
at the moment: anger forbids the emotion. On the other hand, it is easiest
taken on when we are in a state of most absolute self-satisfaction. Ben-Hur
walked with a quicker step, holding his head higher; and, while not less
sensitive to the delightfulness of all about him, he made his survey with
calmer spirit, though sometimes with curling lip; that is to say, he could
not so soon forget how nearly he himself had been imposed upon.
CHAPTER VII
In front of Ben-Hur there was a forest of cypress-trees, each a column
tall and straight as a mast. Venturing into the shady precinct, he heard a
trumpet gayly blown, and an instant after saw lying upon the grass close by
the countryman whom he had run upon in the road going to the temples. The man
arose, and came to him.
"I give you peace again," he said, pleasantly.
"Thank you," Ben-Hur replied, then asked, "Go you my way?"
"I am for the stadium, if that is your way."
"The stadium!"
"Yes. The trumpet you heard but now was a call for the competitors."
"Good friend," said Ben-Hur, frankly, "I admit my ignorance of the
Grove; and if you will let me be your follower, I will be glad."
"That will delight me. Hark! I hear the wheels of the chariots. They are
taking the track."
Ben-Hur listened a moment, then completed the introduction by laying his
hand upon the man's arm, and saying, "I am the son of Arrius, the duumvir,
and thou?"
"I am Malluch, a merchant of Antioch."
"Well, good Malluch, the trumpet, and the gride of wheels, and
the prospect of diversion excite me. I have some skill in the
exercises. In the palaestrae of Rome I am not unknown. Let us to the
course."
Malluch lingered to say, quickly, "The duumvir was a Roman, yet I see
his son in the garments of a Jew."
"The noble Arrius was my father by adoption," Ben-Hur answered.
"Ah! I see, and beg pardon."
Passing through the belt of forest, they came to a field with a track
laid out upon it, in shape and extent exactly like those of the stadia. The
course, or track proper, was of soft earth, rolled and sprinkled, and on both
sides defined by ropes, stretched loosely upon upright javelins. For the
accommodation of spectators, and such as had interests reaching forward of
the mere practise, there were several stands shaded by
substantial awnings, and provided with seats in rising rows. In one of
the stands the two new-comers found places.
Ben-Hur counted the chariots as they went by—nine in all.
"I commend the fellows," he said, with good-will. "Here in the East, I
thought they aspired to nothing better than the two; but they are ambitious,
and play with royal fours. Let us study their performance."
Eight of the fours passed the stand, some walking, others on the trot,
and all unexceptionably handled; then the ninth one came on the gallop.
Ben-Hur burst into exclamation.
"I have been in the stables of the emperor, Malluch, but, by our father
Abraham of blessed memory! I never saw the like of these."
The last four was then sweeping past. All at once they fell into
confusion. Some one on the stand uttered a sharp cry. Ben-Hur turned, and saw
an old man half-risen from an upper seat, his hands clenched and raised, his
eyes fiercely bright, his long white beard fairly quivering. Some of the
spectators nearest him began to laugh.
"They should respect his beard at least. Who is he?" asked Ben-Hur.
"A mighty man from the Desert, somewhere beyond Moab, and owner
of camels in herds, and horses descended, they say, from the racers of the
first Pharaoh—Sheik Ilderim by name and title."
Thus Malluch replied.
The driver meanwhile exerted himself to quiet the four, but without
avail. Each ineffectual effort excited the sheik the more.
"Abaddon seize him!" yelled the patriarch, shrilly. "Run! fly! do you
hear, my children?" The question was to his attendants, apparently of the
tribe. "Do you hear? They are Desert-born, like yourselves. Catch
them—quick!"
The plunging of the animals increased.
"Accursed Roman!" and the sheik shook his fist at the driver. "Did
he not swear he could drive them—swear it by all his brood of
bastard Latin gods? Nay, hands off me—off, I say! They should run
swift as eagles, and with the temper of hand-bred lambs, he swore. Cursed
be he—cursed the mother of liars who calls him son! See them, the priceless!
Let him touch one of them with a lash, and"—the rest of the sentence was
lost in a furious grinding of his teeth. "To their heads, some of you, and
speak them—a word, one is enough, from the tent-song your mothers sang you.
Oh, fool, fool that I was to put trust in a Roman!"
Some of the shrewder of the old man's friends planted themselves between
him and the horses. An opportune failure of breath on his part helped the
stratagem.
Ben-Hur, thinking he comprehended the sheik, sympathized with him. Far
more than mere pride of property—more than anxiety for the result of the
race—in his view it was within the possible for the patriarch, according to
his habits of thought and his ideas of the inestimable, to love such animals
with a tenderness akin to the most sensitive passion.
They were all bright bays, unspotted, perfectly matched, and
so proportioned as to seem less than they really were. Delicate
ears pointed small heads; the faces were broad and full between the
eyes; the nostrils in expansion disclosed membrane so deeply red as
to suggest the flashing of flame; the necks were arches, overlaid
with fine mane so abundant as to drape the shoulders and breast, while
in happy consonance the forelocks were like ravellings of silken
veils; between the knees and the fetlocks the legs were flat as an
open hand, but above the knees they were rounded with mighty
muscles, needful to upbear the shapely close-knit bodies; the hoofs
were like cups of polished agate; and in rearing and plunging they whipped
the air, and sometimes the earth, with tails glossy-black and thick and long.
The sheik spoke of them as the priceless, and it was a good saying.
In this second and closer look at the horses, Ben-Hur read the story of
their relation to their master. They had grown up under his eyes, objects of
his special care in the day, his visions of pride in the night, with his
family at home in the black tent out on the shadeless bosom of the desert, as
his children beloved. That they might win him a triumph over the haughty and
hated Roman, the old man had brought his loves to the city, never doubting
they would win, if only he could find a trusty expert to take them in
hand; not merely one with skill, but of a spirit which their spirits would
acknowledge. Unlike the colder people of the West, he could not protest the
driver's inability, and dismiss him civilly; an Arab and a sheik, he had to
explode, and rive the air about him with clamor.
Before the patriarch was done with his expletives, a dozen hands were at
the bits of the horses, and their quiet assured. About that time, another
chariot appeared upon the track; and, unlike the others, driver, vehicle, and
races were precisely as they would be presented in the Circus the day of
final trial. For a reason which will presently be more apparent, it is
desirable now to give this turnout plainly to the reader.
There should be no difficulty in understanding the carriage known to us
all as the chariot of classical renown. One has but to picture to himself a
dray with low wheels and broad axle, surmounted by a box open at the tail
end. Such was the primitive pattern. Artistic genius came along in time, and,
touching the rude machine, raised it into a thing of beauty—that, for
instance, in which Aurora, riding in advance of the dawn, is given to our
fancy.
The jockeys of the ancients, quite as shrewd and ambitious as
their successors of the present, called their humblest turnout a two, and
their best in grade a four; in the latter, they contested the Olympics and
the other festal shows founded in imitation of them.
The same sharp gamesters preferred to put their horses to the
chariot all abreast; and for distinction they termed the two next the
pole yoke-steeds, and those on the right and left outside trace-mates. It
was their judgment, also, that, by allowing the fullest freedom of action,
the greatest speed was attainable; accordingly, the harness resorted to was
peculiarly simple; in fact, there was nothing of it save a collar round the
animal's neck, and a trace fixed to the collar, unless the lines and a halter
fall within the term. Wanting to hitch up, the masters pinned a narrow wooden
yoke, or cross-tree, near the end of the pole, and, by straps
passed through rings at the end of the yoke, buckled the latter to
the collar. The traces of the yokesteeds they hitched to the axle; those
of the trace-mates to the top rim of the chariot-bed. There remained then but
the adjustment of the lines, which, judged by the modern devices, was not the
least curious part of the method. For this there was a large ring at the
forward extremity of the pole; securing the ends to that ring first, they
parted the lines so as to give one to each horse, and proceeded to pass
them to the driver, slipping them separately through rings on the
inner side of the halters at the mouth.
With this plain generalization in mind, all further desirable knowledge
upon the subject can be had by following the incidents of the scene
occurring.
The other contestants had been received in silence; the last comer was
more fortunate. While moving towards the stand from which we are viewing the
scene, his progress was signalized by loud demonstrations, by clapping of
hands and cheers, the effect of which was to centre attention upon him
exclusively. His yoke-steeds, it was observed, were black, while the
trace-mates were snow-white. In conformity to the exacting canons of Roman
taste, they had all four been mutilated; that is to say, their tails had been
clipped, and, to complete the barbarity, their shorn manes were divided
into knots tied with flaring red and yellow ribbons.
In advancing, the stranger at length reached a point where the chariot
came into view from the stand, and its appearance would of itself have
justified the shouting. The wheels were very marvels of construction. Stout
bands of burnished bronze reinforced the hubs, otherwise very light; the
spokes were sections of ivory tusks, set in with the natural curve outward to
perfect the dishing, considered important then as now; bronze tires held the
fellies, which were of shining ebony. The axle, in keeping with the
wheels, was tipped with heads of snarling tigers done in brass, and the
bed was woven of willow wands gilded with gold.
The coming of the beautiful horses and resplendent chariot drew Ben-Hur
to look at the driver with increased interest.
Who was he?
When Ben-Hur asked himself the question first, he could not see the
man's face, or even his full figure; yet the air and manner were familiar,
and pricked him keenly with a reminder of a period long gone.
Who could it be?
Nearer now, and the horses approaching at a trot. From the shouting and
the gorgeousness of the turnout, it was thought he might be some official
favorite or famous prince. Such an appearance was not inconsistent with
exalted rank. Kings often struggled for the crown of leaves which was the
prize of victory. Nero and Commodus, it will be remembered, devoted
themselves to the chariot. Ben-Hur arose and forced a passage down nearly to
the railing in front of the lower seat of the stand. His face was earnest,
his manner eager.
And directly the whole person of the driver was in view. A
companion rode with him, in classic description a Myrtilus, permitted men of
high estate indulging their passion for the race-course. Ben-Hur could
see only the driver, standing erect in the chariot, with the reins
passed several times round his body—a handsome figure, scantily covered
by a tunic of light-red cloth; in the right hand a whip; in the other, the
arm raised and lightly extended, the four lines. The pose was exceedingly
graceful and animated. The cheers and clapping of hands were received with
statuesque indifference. Ben-Hur stood transfixed—his instinct and memory
had served him faithfully—THE DRIVER WAS MESSALA.
By the selection of horses, the magnificence of the chariot,
the attitude, and display of person—above all, by the expression of the
cold, sharp, eagle features, imperialized in his countrymen by sway of the
world through so many generations, Ben-Hur knew Messala unchanged, as
haughty, confident, and audacious as ever, the same in ambition, cynicism,
and mocking insouciance.
CHAPTER VIII
As Ben-Hur descended the steps of the stand, an Arab arose upon the last
one at the foot, and cried out,
"Men of the East and West—hearken! The good Sheik Ilderim
giveth greeting. With four horses, sons of the favorites of Solomon
the Wise, he bath come up against the best. Needs he most a mighty man to
drive them. Whoso will take them to his satisfaction, to him he promiseth
enrichment forever. Here—there—in the city and in the Circuses, and
wherever the strong most do congregate, tell ye this his offer. So saith my
master, Sheik Ilderim the Generous."
The proclamation awakened a great buzz among the people under the
awning. By night it would be repeated and discussed in all the sporting
circles of Antioch. Ben-Hur, hearing it, stopped and looked hesitatingly from
the herald to the sheik. Malluch thought he was about to accept the offer,
but was relieved when he presently turned to him, and asked, "Good Malluch,
where to now?"
The worthy replied, with a laugh, "Would you liken yourself to others
visiting the Grove for the first time, you will straightway to hear your
fortune told."
"My fortune, said you? Though the suggestion has in it a flavor of
unbelief, let us to the goddess at once."
"Nay, son of Arrius, these Apollonians have a better trick than that.
Instead of speech with a Pythia or a Sibyl, they will sell you a plain
papyrus leaf, hardly dry from the stalk, and bid you dip it in the water of a
certain fountain, when it will show you a verse in which you may hear of your
future."
The glow of interest departed from Ben-Hur's face.
"There are people who have no need to vex themselves about
their future," he said, gloomily.
"Then you prefer to go to the temples?"
"The temples are Greek, are they not?"
"They call them Greek."
"The Hellenes were masters of the beautiful in art; but in
architecture they sacrificed variety to unbending beauty. Their temples are
all alike. How call you the fountain?"
"Castalia."
"Oh! it has repute throughout the world. Let us thither."
Malluch kept watch on his companion as they went, and saw that for the
moment at least his good spirits were out. To the people passing he gave no
attention; over the wonders they came upon there were no exclamations;
silently, even sullenly, he kept a slow pace.
The truth was, the sight of Messala had set Ben-Hur to thinking. It
seemed scarce an hour ago that the strong hands had torn him from his mother,
scarce an hour ago that the Roman had put seal upon the gates of his father's
house. He recounted how, in the hopeless misery of the life—if such it might
be called—in the galleys, he had had little else to do, aside from
labor, than dream dreams of vengeance, in all of which Messala was
the principal. There might be, he used to say to himself, escape
for Gratus, but for Messala—never! And to strengthen and harden
his resolution, he was accustomed to repeat over and over, Who pointed us
out to the persecutors? And when I begged him for help—not for myself—who
mocked me, and went away laughing? And always the dream had the same ending.
The day I meet him, help me, thou good God of my people!—help me to some
fitting special vengeance!
And now the meeting was at hand.
Perhaps, if he had found Messala poor and suffering, Ben-Hur's feeling
had been different; but it was not so. He found him more than prosperous; in
the prosperity there was a dash and glitter—gleam of sun on gilt of
gold.
So it happened that what Malluch accounted a passing loss of spirit was
pondering when the meeting should be, and in what manner he could make it
most memorable.
They turned after a while into an avenue of oaks, where the people were
going and coming in groups; footmen here, and horsemen; there women in
litters borne slaves; and now and then chariots rolled by thunderously.
At the end of the avenue the road, by an easy grade, descended into a
lowland, where, on the right hand, there was a precipitous facing of gray
rock, and on the left an open meadow of vernal freshness. Then they came in
view of the famous Fountain of Castalia.
Edging through a company assembled at the point, Ben-Hur beheld a jet of
sweet water pouring from the crest of a stone into a basin of black marble,
where, after much boiling and foaming, it disappeared as through a
funnel.
By the basin, under a small portico cut in the solid wall, sat a priest,
old, bearded, wrinkled, cowled—never being more perfectly eremitish. From
the manner of the people present, hardly might one say which was the
attraction, the fountain, forever sparkling, or the priest, forever there. He
heard, saw, was seen, but never spoke. Occasionally a visitor extended a hand
to him with a coin in it. With a cunning twinkle of the eyes, he took the
money, and gave the party in exchange a leaf of papyrus.
The receiver made haste to plunge the papyrus into the basin;
then, holding the dripping leaf in the sunlight, he would be rewarded with
a versified inscription upon its face; and the fame of the fountain seldom
suffered loss by poverty of merit in the poetry. Before Ben-Hur could test
the oracle, some other visitors were seen approaching across the meadow, and
their appearance piqued the curiosity of the company, his not less than
theirs.
He saw first a camel, very tall and very white, in leading of a driver
on horseback. A houdah on the animal, besides being unusually large, was of
crimson and gold. Two other horsemen followed the camel with tall spears in
hand.
"What a wonderful camel!" said one of the company.
"A prince from afar," another one suggested.
"More likely a king."
"If he were on an elephant, I would say he was a king."
A third man had a very different opinion.
"A camel—and a white camel!" he said, authoritatively. "By
Apollo, friends, they who come yonder—you can see there are two of
them—are neither kings nor princes; they are women!"
In the midst of the dispute the strangers arrived.
The camel seen at hand did not belie his appearance afar. A
taller, statelier brute of his kind no traveller at the fountain,
though from the remotest parts, had ever beheld. Such great black
eyes! such exceedingly fine white hair! feet so contractile when
raised, so soundless in planting, so broad when set!—nobody had ever
seen the peer of this camel. And how well he became his housing of
silk, and all its frippery of gold in fringe and gold in tassel!
The tinkling of silver bells went before him, and he moved lightly, as if
unknowing of his burden.
But who were the man and woman under the houdah?
Every eye saluted them with the inquiry.
If the former were a prince or a king, the philosophers of the crowd
might not deny the impartiality of Time. When they saw the thin, shrunken
face buried under an immense turban, the skin of the hue of a mummy, making
it impossible to form an idea of his nationality, they were pleased to think
the limit of life was for the great as well as the small. They saw about his
person nothing so enviable as the shawl which draped him.
The woman was seated in the manner of the East, amidst veils and laces
of surpassing fineness. Above her elbows she wore armlets fashioned like
coiled asps, and linked to bracelets at the wrists by strands of gold;
otherwise the arms were bare and of singular natural grace, complemented with
hands modelled daintily as a child's. One of the hands rested upon the side
of the carriage, showing tapered fingers glittering with rings, and stained
at the tips till they blushed like the pink of mother-of-pearl. She wore
an open caul upon her head, sprinkled with beads of coral, and strung with
coin-pieces called sunlets, some of which were carried across her forehead,
while others fell down her back, half-smothered in the mass of her straight
blue-black hair, of itself an incomparable ornament, not needing the veil
which covered it, except as a protection against sun and dust. From her
elevated seat she looked upon the people calmly, pleasantly, and apparently
so intent upon studying them as to be unconscious of the interest she
herself was exciting; and, what was unusual—nay, in violent contravention of
the custom among women of rank in public—she looked at them with an open
face.
It was a fair face to see; quite youthful; in form, oval: complexion not
white, like the Greek; nor brunet, like the Roman; nor blond, like the Gaul;
but rather the tinting of the sun of the Upper Nile upon a skin of such
transparency that the blood shone through it on cheek and brow with nigh the
ruddiness of lamplight. The eyes, naturally large, were touched along the
lids with the black paint immemorial throughout the East. The lips
were slightly parted, disclosing, through their scarlet lake, teeth
of glistening whiteness. To all these excellences of countenance
the reader is finally besought to superadd the air derived from the pose
of a small head, classic in shape, set upon a neck long, drooping, and
graceful—the air, we may fancy, happily described by the word queenly.
As if satisfied with the survey of people and locality, the
fair creature spoke to the driver—an Ethiopian of vast brawn, naked
to the waist—who led the camel nearer the fountain, and caused it
to kneel; after which he received from her hand a cup, and proceeded to
fill it at the basin. That instant the sound of wheels and the trampling of
horses in rapid motion broke the silence her beauty had imposed, and, with a
great outcry, the bystanders parted in every direction, hurrying to get
away.
"The Roman has a mind to ride us down. Look out!" Malluch shouted to
Ben-Hur, setting him at the same time an example of hasty flight.
The latter faced to the direction the sounds came from, and
beheld Messala in his chariot pushing the four straight at the crowd. This
time the view was near and distinct.
The parting of the company uncovered the camel, which might have been
more agile than his kind generally; yet the hoofs were almost upon him, and
he resting with closed eyes, chewing the endless cud with such sense of
security as long favoritism may be supposed to have bred in him. The
Ethiopian wrung his hands afraid. In the houdah, the old man moved to escape;
but he was hampered with age, and could not, even in the face of danger,
forget the dignity which was plainly his habit. It was too late for the woman
to save herself. Ben-Hur stood nearest them, and he called to Messala,
"Hold! Look where thou goest! Back, back!"
The patrician was laughing in hearty good-humor; and, seeing there was
but one chance of rescue, Ben-Hur stepped in, and caught the bits of the left
yoke-steed and his mate. "Dog of a Roman! Carest thou so little for life?" he
cried, putting forth all his strength. The two horses reared, and drew the
others round; the tilting of the pole tilted the chariot; Messala barely
escaped a fall, while his complacent Myrtilus rolled back like a clod to the
ground. Seeing the peril past, all the bystanders burst into derisive
laughter.
The matchless audacity of the Roman then manifested itself. Loosing the
lines from his body, he tossed them to one side, dismounted, walked round the
camel, looked at Ben-Hur, and spoke partly to the old man and partly to the
woman.
"Pardon, I pray you—I pray you both. I am Messala," he said; "and, by
the old Mother of the earth, I swear I did not see you or your camel! As to
these good people—perhaps I trusted too much to my skill. I sought a laugh
at them—the laugh is theirs. Good may it do them!"
The good-natured, careless look and gesture he threw the
bystanders accorded well with the speech. To hear what more he had to
say, they became quiet. Assured of victory over the body of the
offended, he signed his companion to take the chariot to a safer
distance, and addressed himself boldly to the woman.
"Thou hast interest in the good man here, whose pardon, if not granted
now, I shall seek with the greater diligence hereafter; his daughter, I
should say."
She made him no reply.
"By Pallas, thou art beautiful! Beware Apollo mistake thee not for his
lost love. I wonder what land can boast herself thy mother. Turn not away. A
truce! a truce! There is the sun of India in thine eyes; in the corners of
thy mouth, Egypt hath set her love-signs. Perpol! Turn not to that slave,
fair mistress, before proving merciful to this one. Tell me at least that I
am pardoned."
At this point she broke in upon him.
"Wilt thou come here?" she asked, smiling, and with gracious bend of the
head to Ben-Hur.
"Take the cup and fill it, I pray thee," she said to the latter. "My
father is thirsty."
"I am thy most willing servant!"
Ben-Hur turned about to do the favor, and was face to face with Messala.
Their glances met; the Jew's defiant; the Roman's sparkling with humor.
"O stranger, beautiful as cruel!" Messala said, waving his hand to her.
"If Apollo get thee not, thou shalt see me again. Not knowing thy country, I
cannot name a god to commend thee to; so, by all the gods, I will commend
thee to—myself!"
Seeing that Myrtilus had the four composed and ready, he returned to the
chariot. The woman looked after him as he moved away, and whatever else there
was in her look, there was no displeasure. Presently she received the water;
her father drank; then she raised the cup to her lips, and, leaning down,
gave it to Ben-Hur; never action more graceful and gracious.
"Keep it, we pray of thee! It is full of blessings—all thine!"
Immediately the camel was aroused, and on his feet, and about to go,
when the old man called,
"Stand thou here."
Ben-Hur went to him respectfully.
"Thou hast served the stranger well to-day. There is but one God. In his
holy name I thank thee. I am Balthasar, the Egyptian. In the Great Orchard of
Palms, beyond the village of Daphne, in the shade of the palms, Sheik Ilderim
the Generous abideth in his tents, and we are his guests. Seek us there. Thou
shalt have welcome sweet with the savor of the grateful."
Ben-Hur was left in wonder at the old man's clear voice and
reverend manner. As he gazed after the two departing, he caught sight
of Messala going as he had come, joyous, indifferent, and with a mocking
laugh.
CHAPTER IX
As a rule, there is no surer way to the dislike of men than to behave
well where they have behaved badly. In this instance, happily, Malluch was an
exception to the rule. The affair he had just witnessed raised Ben-Hur in his
estimation, since he could not deny him courage and address; could he now get
some insight into the young man's history, the results of the day would
not be all unprofitable to good master Simonides.
On the latter point, referring to what he had as yet learned, two facts
comprehended it all—the subject of his investigation was a Jew, and the
adopted son of a famous Roman. Another conclusion which might be of
importance was beginning to formulate itself in the shrewd mind of the
emissary; between Messala and the son of the duumvir there was a connection
of some kind. But what was it?—and how could it be reduced to assurance?
With all his sounding, the ways and means of solution were not at call. In
the heat of the perplexity, Ben-Hur himself came to his help. He laid his
hand on Malluch's arm and drew him out of the crowd, which was already going
back to its interest in the gray old priest and the mystic fountain.
"Good Malluch," he said, stopping, "may a man forget his mother?"
The question was abrupt and without direction, and therefore of the kind
which leaves the person addressed in a state of confusion. Malluch looked
into Ben-Hur's face for a hint of meaning, but saw, instead, two bright-red
spots, one on each cheek, and in his eyes traces of what might have been
repressed tears; then he answered, mechanically, "No!" adding, with fervor,
"never;" and a moment after, when he began to recover himself, "If he is an
Israelite, never!" And when at length he was completely recovered—"My
first lesson in the synagogue was the Shema; my next was the saying of the
son of Sirach, 'Honor thy father with thy whole soul, and forget not the
sorrows of thy mother.'"
The red spots on Ben-Hur's face deepened.
"The words bring my childhood back again; and, Malluch, they prove you a
genuine Jew. I believe I can trust you."
Ben-Hur let go the arm he was holding, and caught the folds of the gown
covering his own breast, and pressed them close, as if to smother a pain, or
a feeling there as sharp as a pain.
"My father," he said, "bore a good name, and was not without honor in
Jerusalem, where he dwelt. My mother, at his death, was in the prime of
womanhood; and it is not enough to say of her she was good and beautiful: in
her tongue was the law of kindness, and her works were the praise of all in
the gates, and she smiled at days to come. I had a little sister, and she and
I were the family, and we were so happy that I, at least, have never seen
harm in the saying of the old rabbi, 'God could not be everywhere, and,
therefore, he made mothers.' One day an accident happened to a Roman in
authority as he was riding past our house at the head of a cohort; the
legionaries burst the gate and rushed in and seized us. I have not seen my
mother or sister since. I cannot say they are dead or living. I do not
know what became of them. But, Malluch, the man in the chariot yonder
was present at the separation; he gave us over to the captors; he heard my
mother's prayer for her children, and he laughed when they dragged her away.
Hardly may one say which graves deepest in memory, love or hate. To-day I
knew him afar—and, Malluch—"
He caught the listener's arm again.
"And, Malluch, he knows and takes with him now the secret I would give
my life for: he could tell if she lives, and where she is, and her condition;
if she—no, THEY—much sorrow has made the two as one—if they are dead, he
could tell where they died, and of what, and where their bones await my
finding."
"And will he not?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I am a Jew, and he is a Roman."
"But Romans have tongues, and Jews, though ever so despised, have
methods to beguile them."
"For such as he? No; and, besides, the secret is one of state. All my
father's property was confiscated and divided."
Malluch nodded his head slowly, much as to admit the argument; then he
asked anew, "Did he not recognize you?"
"He could not. I was sent to death in life, and have been long since
accounted of the dead."
"I wonder you did not strike him," said Malluch, yielding to a touch of
passion.
"That would have been to put him past serving me forever. I would have
had to kill him, and Death, you know, keeps secrets better even than a guilty
Roman."
The man who, with so much to avenge, could so calmly put such an
opportunity aside must be confident of his future or have ready some better
design, and Malluch's interest changed with the thought; it ceased to be that
of an emissary in duty bound to another. Ben-Hur was actually asserting a
claim upon him for his own sake. In other words, Malluch was preparing to
serve him with good heart and from downright admiration.
After brief pause, Ben-Hur resumed speaking.
"I would not take his life, good Malluch; against that extreme the
possession of the secret is for the present, at least, his safeguard; yet I
may punish him, and so you give me help, I will try."
"He is a Roman," said Malluch, without hesitation; "and I am of the
tribe of Judah. I will help you. If you choose, put me under oath—under the
most solemn oath."
"Give me your hand, that will suffice."
As their hands fell apart, Ben-Hur said, with lightened feeling, "That I
would charge you with is not difficult, good friend; neither is it dreadful
to conscience. Let us move on."
They took the road which led to the right across the meadow spoken of in
the description of the coming to the fountain. Ben-Hur was first to break the
silence.
"Do you know Sheik Ilderim the Generous?"
"Yes."
"Where is his Orchard of Palms? or, rather, Malluch, how far is it
beyond the village of Daphne?"
Malluch was touched by a doubt; he recalled the prettiness of the favor
shown him by the woman at the fountain, and wondered if he who had the
sorrows of a mother in mind was about to forget them for a lure of love; yet
he replied, "The Orchard of Palms lies beyond the village two hours by horse,
and one by swift camel."
"Thank you; and to your knowledge once more. Have the games of which you
told me been widely published? and when will they take place?"
The questions were suggestive; and if they did not restore Malluch
his confidence, they at least stimulated his curiosity.
"Oh yes, they will be of ample splendor. The prefect is rich, and could
afford to lose his place; yet, as is the way with successful men, his love of
riches is nowise diminished; and to gain a friend at court, if nothing more,
he must make ado for the Consul Maxentius, who is coming hither to make final
preparations for a campaign against the Parthians. The money there is in
the preparations the citizens of Antioch know from experience; so
they have had permission to join the prefect in the honors intended
for the great man. A month ago heralds went to the four quarters
to proclaim the opening of the Circus for the celebration. The name of the
prefect would be of itself good guarantee of variety and magnificence,
particularly throughout the East; but when to his promises Antioch joins
hers, all the islands and the cities by the sea stand assured of the
extraordinary, and will be here in person or by their most famous
professionals. The fees offered are royal."
"And the Circus—I have heard it is second only to the Maximus."
"At Rome, you mean. Well, ours seats two hundred thousand people, yours
seats seventy-five thousand more; yours is of marble, so is ours; in
arrangement they are exactly the same."
"Are the rules the same?"
Malluch smiled.
"If Antioch dared be original, son of Arrius, Rome would not be the
mistress she is. The laws of the Circus Maximus govern except in one
particular: there but four chariots may start at once, here all start without
reference to number."
"That is the practise of the Greeks," said Ben-Hur.
"Yes, Antioch is more Greek than Roman."
"So then, Malluch, I may choose my own chariot?"
"Your own chariot and horses. There is no restriction upon either."
While replying, Malluch observed the thoughtful look on Ben-Hur's face
give place to one of satisfaction.
"One thing more now, O Malluch. When will the celebration be?"
"Ah! your pardon," the other answered. "To-morrow—and the next day," he
said, counting aloud, "then, to speak in the Roman style, if the sea-gods be
propitious, the consul arrives. Yes, the sixth day from this we have the
games."
"The time is short, Malluch, but it is enough." The last words were
spoken decisively. "By the prophets of our old Israel! I will take to the
reins again. Stay! a condition; is there assurance that Messala will be a
competitor?"
Malluch saw now the plan, and all its opportunities for the humiliation
of the Roman; and he had not been true descendant of Jacob if, with all his
interest wakened, he had not rushed to a consideration of the chances. His
voice actually trembled as he said, "Have you the practise?"
"Fear not, my friend. The winners in the Circus Maximus have held their
crowns these three years at my will. Ask them—ask the best of them—and they
will tell you so. In the last great games the emperor himself offered me his
patronage if I would take his horses in hand and run them against the entries
of the world."
"But you did not?"
Malluch spoke eagerly.
"I—I am a Jew"—Ben-Hur seemed shrinking within himself as he
spoke—"and, though I wear a Roman name, I dared not do professionally a
thing to sully my father's name in the cloisters and courts of the Temple. In
the palaestrae I could indulge practise which, if followed into the Circus,
would become an abomination; and if I take to the course here, Malluch, I
swear it will not be for the prize or the winner's fee."
"Hold—swear not so!" cried Malluch. "The fee is ten
thousand sestertii—a fortune for life!"
"Not for me, though the prefect trebled it fifty times. Better
than that, better than all the imperial revenues from the first year of
the first Caesar—I will make this race to humble my enemy. Vengeance is
permitted by the law."
Malluch smiled and nodded as if saying, "Right, right—trust me a Jew to
understand a Jew."
"The Messala will drive," he said, directly. "He is committed to the
race in many ways—by publication in the streets, and in the baths and
theaters, the palace and barracks; and, to fix him past retreat, his name is
on the tablets of every young spendthrift in Antioch."
"In wager, Malluch?"
"Yes, in wager; and every day he comes ostentatiously to practise, as
you saw him."
"Ah! and that is the chariot, and those the horses, with which he will
make the race? Thank you, thank you, Malluch! You have served me well
already. I am satisfied. Now be my guide to the Orchard of Palms, and give me
introduction to Sheik Ilderim the Generous."
"When?"
"To-day. His horses may be engaged to-morrow."
"You like them, then?"
Ben-Hur answered with animation,
"I saw them from the stand an instant only, for Messala then drove up,
and I might not look at anything else; yet I recognized them as of the blood
which is the wonder as well as the glory of the deserts. I never saw the kind
before, except in the stables of Caesar; but once seen, they are always to be
known. To-morrow, upon meeting, I will know you, Malluch, though you do not
so much as salute me; I will know you by your face, by your form, by
your manner; and by the same signs I will know them, and with the
same certainty. If all that is said of them be true, and I can bring their
spirit under control of mine, I can—"
"Win the sestertii!" said Malluch, laughing.
"No," answered Ben-Hur, as quickly. "I will do what better becomes a man
born to the heritage of Jacob—I will humble mine enemy in a most public
place. But," he added, impatiently, "we are losing time. How can we most
quickly reach the tents of the sheik?"
Malluch took a moment for reflection.
"It is best we go straight to the village, which is fortunately near by;
if two swift camels are to be had for hire there, we will be on the road but
an hour."
"Let us about it, then."
The village was an assemblage of palaces in beautiful
gardens, interspersed with khans of princely sort. Dromedaries were
happily secured, and upon them the journey to the famous Orchard of
Palms was begun.
CHAPTER X
Beyond the village the country was undulating and cultivated; in
fact, it was the garden-land of Antioch, with not a foot lost to
labor. The steep faces of the hills were terraced; even the hedges
were brighter of the trailing vines which, besides the lure of
shade, offered passers-by sweet promises of wine to come, and grapes
in clustered purple ripeness. Over melon-patches, and through apricot and
fig-tree groves, and groves of oranges and limes, the white-washed houses of
the farmers were seen; and everywhere Plenty, the smiling daughter of Peace,
gave notice by her thousand signs that she was at home, making the generous
traveller merry at heart, until he was even disposed to give Rome her dues.
Occasionally, also, views were had of Taurus and Lebanon, between which, a
separating line of silver, the Orontes placidly pursued its way.
In course of their journey the friends came to the river, which
they followed with the windings of the road, now over bold bluffs, and
then into vales, all alike allotted for country-seats, and if the land was
in full foliage of oak and sycamore and myrtle, and bay and arbutus, and
perfuming jasmine, the river was bright with slanted sunlight, which would
have slept where it fell but for ships in endless procession, gliding with
the current, tacking for the wind, or bounding under the impulse of
oars—some coming, some going, and all suggestive of the sea, and distant
peoples, and famous places, and things coveted on account of their rarity. To
the fancy there is nothing so winsome as a white sail seaward blown, unless
it be a white sail homeward bound, its voyage happily done. And down
the shore the friends went continuously till they came to a lake fed by
back-water from the river, clear, deep, and without current. An old palm-tree
dominated the angle of the inlet; turning to the left at the foot of the
tree, Malluch clapped his hands and shouted,
"Look, look! The Orchard of Palms!"
The scene was nowhere else to be found unless in the favored oases of
Arabia or the Ptolemaean farms along the Nile; and to sustain a sensation new
as it was delightful, Ben-Hur was admitted into a tract of land apparently
without limit and level as a floor. All under foot was fresh grass, in Syria
the rarest and most beautiful production of the soil; if he looked up, it was
to see the sky paley blue through the groinery of countless date-bearers,
very patriarchs of their kind, so numerous and old, and of such mighty girth,
so tall, so serried, so wide of branch, each branch so perfect with fronds,
plumy and waxlike and brilliant, they seemed enchanters enchanted. Here
was the grass coloring the very atmosphere; there the lake, cool
and clear, rippling but a few feet under the surface, and helping the
trees to their long life in old age. Did the Grove of Daphne excel this one?
And the palms, as if they knew Ben-Hur's thought, and would win him after a
way of their own, seemed, as he passed under their arches, to stir and
sprinkle him with dewy coolness.
The road wound in close parallelism with the shore of the lake; and when
it carried the travellers down to the water's edge, there was always on that
side a shining expanse limited not far off by the opposite shore, on which,
as on this one, no tree but the palm was permitted.
"See that," said Malluch, pointing to a giant of the place. "Each ring
upon its trunk marks a year of its life. Count them from root to branch, and
if the sheik tells you the grove was planted before the Seleucidae were heard
of in Antioch, do not doubt him."
One may not look at a perfect palm-tree but that, with a subtlety all
its own, it assumes a presence for itself, and makes a poet of the beholder.
This is the explanation of the honors it has received, beginning with the
artists of the first kings, who could find no form in all the earth to serve
them so well as a model for the pillars of their palaces and temples; and for
the same reason Ben-Hur was moved to say,
"As I saw him at the stand to-day, good Malluch, Sheik Ilderim appeared
to be a very common man. The rabbis in Jerusalem would look down upon him, I
fear, as a son of a dog of Edom. How came he in possession of the Orchard?
And how has he been able to hold it against the greed of Roman
governors?"
"If blood derives excellence from time, son of Arrius, then is
old Ilderim a man, though he be an uncircumcised Edomite."
Malluch spoke warmly.
"All his fathers before him were sheiks. One of them—I shall not say
when he lived or did the good deed—once helped a king who was being hunted
with swords. The story says he loaned him a thousand horsemen, who knew the
paths of the wilderness and its hiding-places as shepherds know the scant
hills they inhabit with their flocks; and they carried him here and there
until the opportunity came, and then with their spears they slew the enemy,
and set him upon his throne again. And the king, it is said, remembered the
service, and brought the son of the Desert to this place, and bade him set
up his tent and bring his family and his herds, for the lake and
trees, and all the land from the river to the nearest mountains, were
his and his children's forever. And they have never been disturbed in the
possession. The rulers succeeding have found it policy to keep good terms
with the tribe, to whom the Lord has given increase of men and horses, and
camels and riches, making them masters of many highways between cities; so
that it is with them any time they please to say to commerce, 'Go in peace,'
or 'Stop,' and what they say shall be done. Even the prefect in the citadel
overlooking Antioch thinks it happy day with him when Ilderim, surnamed
the Generous on account of good deeds done unto all manner of men, with
his wives and children, and his trains of camels and horses, and his
belongings of sheik, moving as our fathers Abraham and Jacob moved, comes up
to exchange briefly his bitter wells for the pleasantness you see about
us."
"How is it, then?" said Ben-Hur, who had been listening unmindful of the
slow gait of the dromedaries. "I saw the sheik tear his beard while he cursed
himself that he had put trust in a Roman. Caesar, had he heard him, might
have said, 'I like not such a friend as this; put him away.'"
"It would be but shrewd judgment," Malluch replied, smiling. "Ilderim is
not a lover of Rome; he has a grievance. Three years ago the Parthians rode
across the road from Bozra to Damascus, and fell upon a caravan laden, among
other things, with the incoming tax-returns of a district over that way. They
slew every creature taken, which the censors in Rome could have forgiven
if the imperial treasure had been spared and forwarded. The farmers of the
taxes, being chargeable with the loss, complained to Caesar, and Caesar held
Herod to payment, and Herod, on his part, seized property of Ilderim, whom he
charged with treasonable neglect of duty. The sheik appealed to Caesar, and
Caesar has made him such answer as might be looked for from the unwinking
sphinx. The old man's heart has been aching sore ever since, and he nurses
his wrath, and takes pleasure in its daily growth."
"He can do nothing, Malluch."
"Well," said Malluch, "that involves another explanation, which I will
give you, if we can draw nearer. But see!—the hospitality of the sheik
begins early—the children are speaking to you."
The dromedaries stopped, and Ben-Hur looked down upon some little girls
of the Syrian peasant class, who were offering him their baskets filled with
dates. The fruit was freshly gathered, and not to be refused; he stooped and
took it, and as he did so a man in the tree by which they were halted cried,
"Peace to you, and welcome!"
Their thanks said to the children, the friends moved on at such gait as
the animals chose.
"You must know," Malluch continued, pausing now and then to dispose of a
date, "that the merchant Simonides gives me his confidence, and sometimes
flatters me by taking me into council; and as I attend him at his house, I
have made acquaintance with many of his friends, who, knowing my footing with
the host, talk to him freely in my presence. In that way I became somewhat
intimate with Sheik IIderim."
For a moment Ben-Hur's attention wandered. Before his mind's eye there
arose the image, pure, gentle, and appealing, of Esther, the merchant's
daughter. Her dark eyes bright with the peculiar Jewish lustre met his in
modest gaze; he heard her step as when she approached him with the wine, and
her voice as she tendered him the cup; and he acknowledged to himself again
all the sympathy she manifested for him, and manifested so plainly
that words were unnecessary, and so sweetly that words would have been but
a detraction. The vision was exceeding pleasant, but upon his turning to
Malluch, it flew away.
"A few weeks ago," said Malluch, continuing, "the old Arab called on
Simonides, and found me present. I observed he seemed much moved about
something, and, in deference, offered to withdraw, but he himself forbade me.
'As you are an Israelite,' he said, 'stay, for I have a strange story to
tell.' The emphasis on the word Israelite excited my curiosity. I remained,
and this is in substance his story—I cut it short because we are
drawing nigh the tent, and I leave the details to the good man himself. A
good many years ago, three men called at Ilderim's tent out in the
wilderness. They were all foreigners, a Hindoo, a Greek, and an Egyptian; and
they had come on camels, the largest he had ever seen, and all white. He
welcomed them, and gave them rest. Next morning they arose and prayed a
prayer new to the sheik—a prayer addressed to God and his son—this with
much mystery besides. After breaking fast with him, the Egyptian told who
they were, and whence they had come. Each had seen a star, out of which a
voice had bidden them go to Jerusalem and ask, Where is he that is born King
of the Jews?' They obeyed. From Jerusalem they were led by a star to
Bethlehem, where, in a cave, they found a child newly born, which they fell
down and worshipped; and after worshipping it, and giving it costly presents,
and bearing witness of what it was, they took to their camels, and fled
without pause to the sheik, because if Herod—meaning him surnamed the
Great—could lay hands upon them, he would certainly kill them. And, faithful
to his habit, the sheik took care of them, and kept them concealed for a
year, when they departed, leaving with him gifts of great value, and each
going a separate way."
"It is, indeed, a most wonderful story," Ben-Hur exclaimed at its
conclusion. "What did you say they were to ask at Jerusalem?"
"They were to ask, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews?'"
"Was that all?"
"There was more to the question, but I cannot recall it."
"And they found the child?"
"Yes, and worshipped him."
"It is a miracle, Malluch."
"Ilderim is a grave man, though excitable as all Arabs are. A lie on his
tongue is impossible."
Malluch spoke positively. Thereupon the dromedaries were forgotten, and,
quite as unmindful of their riders, they turned off the road to the growing
grass.
"Has Ilderim heard nothing more of the three men?" asked Ben-Hur. "What
became of them?"
"Ah, yes, that was the cause of his coming to Simonides the day of which
I was speaking. Only the night before that day the Egyptian reappeared to
him."
"Where?"
"Here at the door of the tent to which we are coming."
"How knew he the man?"
"As you knew the horses to-day—by face and manner."
"By nothing else?"
"He rode the same great white camel, and gave him the
same name—Balthasar, the Egyptian."
"It is a wonder of the Lord's!"
Ben-Hur spoke with excitement.
And Malluch, wondering, asked, "Why so?"
"Balthasar, you said?"
"Yes. Balthasar, the Egyptian."
"That was the name the old man gave us at the fountain today."
Then, at the reminder, Malluch became excited.
"It is true," he said; "and the camel was the same—and you saved the
man's life."
"And the woman," said Ben-Hur, like one speaking to himself—"the woman
was his daughter."
He fell to thinking; and even the reader will say he was having a vision
of the woman, and that it was more welcome than that of Esther, if only
because it stayed longer with him; but no—
"Tell me again," he said, presently. "Were the three to ask, 'Where is
he that is to be King of the Jews?'"
"Not exactly. The words were BORN TO BE KING OF THE JEWS. Those were the
words as the old sheik caught them first in the desert, and he has ever since
been waiting the coming of the king; nor can any one shake his faith that he
will come."
"How—as king?"
"Yes, and bringing the doom of Rome—so says the sheik."
Ben-Hur kept silent awhile, thinking and trying to control
his feelings.
"The old man is one of many millions," he said, slowly—"one of many
millions each with a wrong to avenge; and this strange faith, Malluch, is
bread and wine to his hope; for who but a Herod may be King of the Jews while
Rome endures? But, following the story, did you hear what Simonides said to
him?"
"If Ilderim is a grave man, Simonides is a wise one," Malluch
replied. "I listened, and he said— But hark! Some one comes overtaking
us."
The noise grew louder, until presently they heard the rumble of wheels
mixed with the beating of horse-hoofs—a moment later Sheik I1derim himself
appeared on horseback, followed by a train, among which were the four
wine-red Arabs drawing the chariot. The sheik's chin, in its muffling of long
white beard, was drooped upon his breast. Our friends had out-travelled him;
but at sight of them he raised his head and spoke kindly.
"Peace to you!—Ah, my friend Malluch! Welcome! And tell me you are not
going, but just come; that you have something for me from the good
Simonides—may the Lord of his fathers keep him in life for many years to
come! Ay, take up the straps, both of you, and follow me. I have bread and
leben, or, if you prefer it, arrack, and the flesh of young kid. Come!"
They followed after him to the door of the tent, in which, when
they were dismounted, he stood to receive them, holding a platter with
three cups filled with creamy liquor just drawn from a great
smoke-stained skin bottle, pendent from the central post.
"Drink," he said, heartily, "drink, for this is the fear-naught of the
tentmen."
They each took a cup, and drank till but the foam remained.
"Enter now, in God's name."
And when they were gone in, Malluch took the sheik aside, and spoke to
him privately; after which he went to Ben-Hur and excused himself.
"I have told the sheik about you, and he will give you the trial of his
horses in the morning. He is your friend. Having done for you all I can, you
must do the rest, and let me return to Antioch. There is one there who has my
promise to meet him to-night. I have no choice but to go. I will come back
to-morrow prepared, if all goes well in the meantime, to stay with you until
the games are over."
With blessings given and received, Malluch set out in return.
CHAPTER XI
What time the lower horn of a new moon touched the castellated piles on
Mount Sulpius, and two thirds of the people of Antioch were out on their
house-tops comforting themselves with the night breeze when it blew, and with
fans when it failed, Simonides sat in the chair which had come to be a part
of him, and from the terrace looked down over the river, and his ships
a-swing at their moorings. The wall at his back cast its shadow broadly
over the water to the opposite shore. Above him the endless tramp upon the
bridge went on. Esther was holding a plate for him containing his frugal
supper—some wheaten cakes, light as wafers, some honey, and a bowl of milk,
into which he now and then dipped the wafers after dipping them into the
honey.
"Malluch is a laggard to-night," he said, showing where his thoughts
were.
"Do you believe he will come?" Esther asked.
"Unless he has taken to the sea or the desert, and is yet following on,
he will come."
Simonides spoke with quiet confidence.
"He may write," she said.
"Not so, Esther. He would have despatched a letter when he found he
could not return, and told me so; because I have not received such a letter,
I know he can come, and will."
"I hope so," she said, very softly.
Something in the utterance attracted his attention; it might have been
the tone, it might have been the wish. The smallest bird cannot light upon
the greatest tree without sending a shock to its most distant fibre; every
mind is at times no less sensitive to the most trifling words.
"You wish him to come, Esther?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, lifting her eyes to his.
"Why? Can you tell me?" he persisted.
"Because"—she hesitated, then began again—"because the young man is—"
The stop was full.
"Our master. Is that the word?"
"Yes."
"And you still think I should not suffer him to go away without telling
him to come, if he chooses, and take us—and all we have- -all, Esther—the
goods, the shekels, the ships, the slaves, and the mighty credit, which is a
mantle of cloth of gold and finest silver spun for me by the greatest of the
angels of men—Success."
She made no answer.
"Does that move you nothing? No?" he said, with the slightest taint of
bitterness. "Well, well, I have found, Esther, the worst reality is never
unendurable when it comes out from behind the clouds through which we at
first see it darkly—never—not even the rack. I suppose it will be so with
death. And by that philosophy the slavery to which we are going must
afterwhile become sweet. It pleases me even now to think what a favored man
our master is. The fortune cost him nothing—not an anxiety, not a drop of
sweat, not so much as a thought; it attaches to him undreamed of, and in his
youth. And, Esther, let me waste a little vanity with the reflection; he
gets what he could not go into the market and buy with all the pelf in a
sum—thee, my child, my darling; thou blossom from the tomb of my lost
Rachel!"
He drew her to him, and kissed her twice—once for herself, once for her
mother.
"Say not so,". she said, when his hand fell from her neck. "Let us think
better of him; he knows what sorrow is, and will set us free."
"Ah, thy instincts are fine, Esther; and thou knowest I lean upon them
in doubtful cases where good or bad is to be pronounced of a person standing
before thee as he stood this morning. But—but"— his voice rose and
hardened—"these limbs upon which I cannot stand—this body drawn and beaten
out of human shape—they are not all I bring him of myself. Oh no, no! I
bring him a soul which has triumphed over torture and Roman malice keener
than any torture—I bring him a mind which has eyes to see gold at a distance
farther than the ships of Solomon sailed, and power to bring it to
hand—ay, Esther, into my palm here for the fingers to grip and keep
lest it take wings at some other's word—a mind skilled at
scheming"—he stopped and laughed—"Why, Esther, before the new moon which in
the courts of the Temple on the Holy Hill they are this moment
celebrating passes into its next quartering I could ring the world so as to
startle even Caesar; for know you, child, I have that faculty which is
better than any one sense, better than a perfect body, better than
courage and will, better than experience, ordinarily the best product of
the longest lives—the faculty divinest of men, but which"—he
stopped, and laughed again, not bitterly, but with real zest— "but
which even the great do not sufficiently account, while with the herd it
is a non-existent—the faculty of drawing men to my purpose and holding them
faithfully to its achievement, by which, as against things to be done, I
multiply myself into hundreds and thousands. So the captains of my ships
plough the seas, and bring me honest returns; so Malluch follows the youth,
our master, and will"—just then a footstep was heard upon the terrace—"Ha,
Esther! said I not so? He is here—and we will have tidings. For thy
sake, sweet child—my lily just budded—I pray the Lord God, who has not
forgotten his wandering sheep of Israel, that they be good and comforting.
Now we will know if he will let thee go with all thy beauty, and me with all
my faculties."
Malluch came to the chair.
"Peace to you, good master," he said, with a low obeisance—"and to you,
Esther, most excellent of daughters."
He stood before them deferentially, and the attitude and the
address left it difficult to define his relation to them; the one was
that of a servant, the other indicated the familiar and friend. On
the other side, Simonides, as was his habit in business, after
answering the salutation went straight to the subject.
"What of the young man, Malluch?"
The events of the day were told quietly and in the simplest words, and
until he was through there was no interruption; nor did the listener in the
chair so much as move a hand during the narration; but for his eyes, wide
open and bright, and an occasional long-drawn breath, he might have been
accounted an effigy.
"Thank you, thank you, Malluch," he said, heartily, at the
conclusion; "you have done well—no one could have done better. Now what say
you of the young man's nationality?"
"He is an Israelite, good master, and of the tribe of Judah."
"You are positive?"
"Very positive."
"He appears to have told you but little of his life."
"He has somewhere reamed to be prudent. I might call him distrustful. He
baffled all my attempts upon his confidence until we started from the
Castalian fount going to the village of Daphne."
"A place of abomination! Why went he there?"
"I would say from curiosity, the first motive of the many who go; but,
very strangely, he took no interest in the things he saw. Of the Temple, he
merely asked if it were Grecian. Good master, the young man has a trouble of
mind from which he would hide, and he went to the Grove, I think, as we go to
sepulchres with our dead—he went to bury it."
"That were well, if so," Simonides said, in a low voice; then louder,
"Malluch, the curse of the time is prodigality. The poor make themselves
poorer as apes of the rich, and the merely rich carry themselves like
princes. Saw you signs of the weakness in the youth? Did he display
moneys—coin of Rome or Israel?"
"None, none, good master."
"Surely, Malluch, where there are so many inducements to folly—so much,
I mean, to eat and drink—surely he made you generous offer of some sort. His
age, if nothing more, would warrant that much."
"He neither ate nor drank in my company."
"In what he said or did, Malluch, could you in anywise detect
his master-idea? You know they peep through cracks close enough to
stop the wind."
"Give me to understand you," said Malluch, in doubt.
"Well, you know we nor speak nor act, much less decide grave questions
concerning ourselves, except as we be driven by a motive. In that respect,
what made you of him?"
"As to that, Master Simonides, I can answer with much assurance. He is
devoted to finding his mother and sister—that first. Then he has a grievance
against Rome; and as the Messala of whom I told you had something to do with
the wrong, the great present object is to humiliate him. The meeting at the
fountain furnished an opportunity, but it was put aside as not sufficiently
public."
"The Messala is influential," said Simonides, thoughtfully.
"Yes; but the next meeting will be in the Circus."
"Well—and then?"
"The son of Arrius will win."
"How know you?"
Malluch smiled.
"I am judging by what he says."
"Is that all?"
"No; there is a much better sign—his spirit."
"Ay; but, Malluch, his idea of vengeance—what is its scope? Does he
limit it to the few who did him the wrong, or does he take in the many? And
more—is his feeling but the vagary of a sensitive boy, or has it the
seasoning of suffering manhood to give it endurance? You know, Malluch, the
vengeful thought that has root merely in the mind is but a dream of idlest
sort which one clear day will dissipate; while revenge the passion is a
disease of the heart which climbs up, up to the brain, and feeds itself on
both alike."
In this question, Simonides for the first time showed signs of feeling;
he spoke with rapid utterance, and with clenched hands and the eagerness of a
man illustrating the disease he described.
"Good my master," Malluch replied, "one of my reasons for believing the
young man a Jew is the intensity of his hate. It was plain to me he had
himself under watch, as was natural, seeing how long he has lived in an
atmosphere of Roman jealousy; yet I saw it blaze—once when he wanted to know
Ilderim's feeling towards Rome, and again when I told him the story of the
sheik and the wise man, and spoke of the question, 'Where is he that is born
King of the Jews?'"
Simonides leaned forward quickly.
"Ah, Malluch, his words—give me his words; let me judge the impression
the mystery made upon him."
"He wanted to know the exact words. Were they TO BE or BORN TO BE? It
appeared he was struck by a seeming difference in the effect of the two
phrases."
Simonides settled back into his pose of listening judge.
"Then," said Malluch, "I told him Ilderim's view of the
mystery—that the king would come with the doom of Rome. The young man's
blood rose over his cheeks and forehead, and he said earnestly, 'Who but a
Herod can be king while Rome endures?'"
"Meaning what?"
"That the empire must be destroyed before there could be
another rule."
Simonides gazed for a time at the ships and their shadows
slowly swinging together in the river; when he looked up, it was to
end the interview.
"Enough, Malluch," he said. "Get you to eat, and make ready to return to
the Orchard of Palms; you must help the young man in his coming trial. Come
to me in the morning. I will send a letter to IIderim." Then in an undertone,
as if to himself, he added, "I may attend the Circus myself."
When Malluch after the customary benediction given and received was
gone, Simonides took a deep draught of milk, and seemed refreshed and easy of
mind.
"Put the meal down, Esther," he said; "it is over."
She obeyed.
"Here now."
She resumed her place upon the arm of the chair close to him.
"God is good to me, very good," he said, fervently. "His habit is to
move in mystery, yet sometimes he permits us to think we see and understand
him. I am old, dear, and must go; but now, in this eleventh hour, when my
hope was beginning to die, he sends me this one with a promise, and I am
lifted up. I see the way to a great part in a circumstance itself so great
that it shall be as a new birth to the whole world. And I see a reason for
the gift of my great riches, and the end for which they were designed.
Verily, my child, I take hold on life anew."
Esther nestled closer to him, as if to bring his thoughts from their
far-flying.
"The king has been born" he continued, imagining he was still
speaking to her, "and he must be near the half of common life. Balthasar
says he was a child on his mother's lap when he saw him, and gave
him presents and worship; and Ilderim holds it was twenty-seven years ago
last December when Balthasar and his companions came to his tent asking a
hiding-place from Herod. Wherefore the coming cannot now be long delayed.
To-night—to-morrow it may be. Holy fathers of Israel, what happiness in the
thought! I seem to hear the crash of the falling of old walls and the clamor
of a universal change—ay, and for the uttermost joy of men, the earth opens
to take Rome in, and they look up and laugh and sing that she is not, while
we are;" then he laughed at himself. "Why, Esther, heard you ever the
like? Surely, I have on me the passion of a singer, the heat of blood and
the thrill of Miriam and David. In my thoughts, which should be those of a
plain worker in figures and facts, there is a confusion of cymbals clashing
and harp-strings loud beaten, and the voices of a multitude standing around a
new-risen throne. I will put the thinking by for the present; only, dear,
when the king comes he will need money and men, for as he was a child born of
woman he will be but a man after all, bound to human ways as you and I
are. And for the money he will have need of getters and keepers, and for
the men leaders. There, there! See you not a broad road for my walking, and
the running of the youth our master?—and at the end of it glory and revenge
for us both?—and—and"—he paused, struck with the selfishness of a scheme
in which she had no part or good result; then added, kissing her, "And
happiness for thy mother's child."
She sat still, saying nothing. Then he remembered the difference in
natures, and the law by which we are not permitted always to take delight in
the same cause or be equally afraid of the same thing. He remembered she was
but a girl.
"Of what are you thinking, Esther?" he said, in his common
home-like way. "If the thought have the form of a wish, give it me, little
one, while the power remains mine. For power, you know, is a fretful
thing, and hath its wings always spread for flight."
She answered with a simplicity almost childish,
"Send for him, father. Send for him to-night, and do not let him go into
the Circus."
"Ah!" he said, prolonging the exclamation; and again his eyes fell upon
the river, where the shadows were more shadowy than ever, since the moon had
sunk far down behind Sulpius, leaving the city to the ineffectual stars.
Shall we say it, reader? He was touched by a twinge of jealousy. If she
should really love the young master! Oh no! That could not be; she was too
young. But the idea had fast grip, and directly held him still and cold. She
was sixteen. He knew it well. On the last natal day he had gone with her
to the shipyard where there was a launch, and the yellow flag which the
galley bore to its bridal with the waves had on it "Esther;" so they
celebrated the day together. Yet the fact struck him now with the force of a
surprise. There are realizations which come to us all painfully; mostly,
however, such as pertain to ourselves; that we are growing old, for instance;
and, more terrible, that we must die. Such a one crept into his heart,
shadowy as the shadows, yet substantial enough to wring from him a sigh which
was almost a groan. It was not sufficient that she should enter upon
her young womanhood a servant, but she must carry to her master
her affections, the truth and tenderness and delicacy of which he
the father so well knew, because to this time they had all been his own
undividedly. The fiend whose task it is to torture us with fears and bitter
thoughts seldom does his work by halves. In the pang of the moment, the brave
old man lost sight of his new scheme, and of the miraculous king its subject.
By a mighty effort, however, he controlled himself, and asked, calmly, "Not
go into the Circus, Esther? Why, child?"
"It is not a place for a son of Israel, father."
"Rabbinical, rabbinical, Esther! Is that all?"
The tone of the inquiry was searching, and went to her heart, which
began to beat loudly—so loudly she could not answer. A confusion new and
strangely pleasant fell upon her.
"The young man is to have the fortune," he said, taking her hand, and
speaking more tenderly; "he is to have the ships and the shekels—all,
Esther, all. Yet I did not feel poor, for thou wert left me, and thy love so
like the dead Rachel's. Tell me, is he to have that too?"
She bent over him, and laid her cheek against his head.
"Speak, Esther. I will be the stronger of the knowledge. In
warning there is strength."
She sat up then, and spoke as if she were Truth's holy self.
"Comfort thee, father. I will never leave thee; though he take my love,
I will be thy handmaid ever as now."
And, stooping, she kissed him.
"And more," she said, continuing: "he is comely in my sight, and the
pleading of his voice drew me to him, and I shudder to think of him in
danger. Yes, father, I would be more than glad to see him again. Still, the
love that is unrequited cannot be perfect love, wherefore I will wait a time,
remembering I am thy daughter and my mother's."
"A very blessing of the Lord art thou, Esther! A blessing to keep me
rich, though all else be lost. And by his holy name and everlasting life, I
swear thou shalt not suffer."
At his request, a little later, the servant came and rolled the chair
into the room, where he sat for a time thinking of the coming of the king,
while she went off and slept the sleep of the innocent.
CHAPTER XII
The palace across the river nearly opposite Simonides' place is said to
have been completed by the famous Epiphanes, and was all such a habitation
can be imagined; though he was a builder whose taste ran to the immense
rather than the classical, now so called—an architectural imitator, in other
words, of the Persians instead of the Greeks.
The wall enclosing the whole island to the waters edge, and built for
the double purpose of bulwark against the river and defence against the mob,
was said to have rendered the palace unfit for constant occupancy, insomuch
that the legates abandoned it and moved to another residence erected for them
on the western ridge of Mount Sulpius, under the Temple of Jupiter. Persons
were not wanting, however, who flatly denied the bill against the
ancient abode. They said, with shrewdness at least, that the real
object of the removal of the legates was not a more healthful
locality, but the assurance afforded them by the huge barracks,
named, according to the prevalent style, citadel, situated just over the
way on the eastern ridge of the mount. And the opinion had plausible showing.
Among other pertinent things, it was remarked that the palace was kept in
perpetual readiness for use; and when a consul, general of the army, king, or
visiting potentate of any kind arrived at Antioch, quarters were at once
assigned him on the island.
As we have to do with but one apartment in the old pile, the residue of
it is left to the reader's fancy; and as pleases him, he may go through its
gardens, baths, halls, and labyrinth of rooms to the pavilions on the roof,
all furnished as became a house of fame in a city which was more nearly
Milton's "gorgeous East" than any other in the world.
At this age the apartment alluded to would be termed a saloon. It
was quite spacious, floored with polished marble slabs, and lighted in the
day by skylights in which colored mica served as glass. The walls were broken
by Atlantes, no two of which were alike, but all supporting a cornice wrought
with arabesques exceedingly intricate in form, and more elegant on account of
superadditions of color—blue, green, Tyrian purple, and gold. Around the
room ran a continuous divan of Indian silks and wool of Cashmere. The
furniture consisted of tables and stools of Egyptian patterns grotesquely
carved. We have left Simonides in his chair perfecting his scheme in aid of
the miraculous king, whose coming he has decided is so close at hand. Esther
is asleep; and now, having crossed the river by the bridge, and made way
through the lion-guarded gate and a number of Babylonian halls and courts,
let us enter the gilded saloon.
There are five chandeliers hanging by sliding bronze chains from the
ceiling—one in each corner, and in the centre one—enormous pyramids of
lighted lamps, illuminating even the demoniac faces of the Atlantes and the
complex tracery of the cornice. About the tables, seated or standing, or
moving restlessly from one to another, there are probably a hundred persons,
whom we must study at least for a moment.
They are all young, some of them little more than boys. That they are
Italians and mostly Romans is past doubt. They all speak Latin in purity,
while each one appears in the in-door dress of the great capital on the
Tiber; that is, in tunics short of sleeve and skirt, a style of vesture well
adapted to the climate of Antioch, and especially comfortable in the too
close atmosphere of the saloon. On the divan here and there togas and
lacernae lie where they have been carelessly tossed, some of them
significantly bordered with purple. On the divan also lie sleepers stretched
at ease; whether they were overcome by the heat and fatigue of the sultry
day or by Bacchus we will not pause to inquire.
The hum of voices is loud and incessant. Sometimes there is an explosion
of laughter, sometimes a burst of rage or exultation; but over all prevails a
sharp, prolonged rattle, at first somewhat confusing to the non-familiar. If
we approach the tables, however, the mystery solves itself. The company is at
the favorite games, draughts and dice, singly or together, and the rattle is
merely of the tesserae, or ivory cubes, loudly shaken, and the moving of
the hostes on the checkered boards.
Who are the company?
"Good Flavius," said a player, holding his piece in suspended movement,
"thou seest yon lacerna; that one in front of us on the divan. It is fresh
from the shop, and hath a shoulder-buckle of gold broad as a palm."
"Well," said Flavius, intent upon his game, "I have seen such before;
wherefore thine may not be old, yet, by the girdle of Venus, it is not new!
What of it?"
"Nothing. Only I would give it to find a man who knows everything."
"Ha, ha! For something cheaper, I will find thee here several
with purple who will take thy offer. But play."
"There—check!"
"So, by all the Jupiters! Now, what sayest thou? Again?"
"Be it so."
"And the wager?"
"A sestertium."
Then each drew his tablets and stilus and made a memorandum; and, while
they were resetting the pieces, Flavius returned to his friend's
remark.
"A man who knows everything! Hercle! the oracles would die. What wouldst
thou with such a monster?"
"Answer to one question, my Flavius; then, perpol! I would cut his
throat."
"And the question?"
"I would have him tell me the hour— Hour, said I?—nay, the
minute —Maxentius will arrive to-morrow."
"Good play, good play! I have you! And why the minute?"
"Hast thou ever stood uncovered in the Syrian sun on the quay at which
he will land? The fires of the Vesta are not so hot; and, by the Stator of
our father Romulus, I would die, if die I must, in Rome. Avernus is here;
there, in the square before the Forum, I could stand, and, with my hand
raised thus, touch the floor of the gods. Ha, by Venus, my Flavius, thou
didst beguile me! I have lost. O Fortune!"
"Again?"
"I must have back my sestertium."
"Be it so."
And they played again and again; and when day, stealing through the
skylights, began to dim the lamps, it found the two in the same places at the
same table, still at the game. Like most of the company, they were military
attaches of the consul, awaiting his arrival and amusing themselves
meantime.
During this conversation a party entered the room, and, unnoticed at
first, proceeded to the central table. The signs were that they had come from
a revel just dismissed. Some of them kept their feet with difficulty. Around
the leader's brow was a chaplet which marked him master of the feast, if not
the giver. The wine had made no impression upon him unless to heighten his
beauty, which was of the most manly Roman style; he carried his head high
raised; the blood flushed his lips and cheeks brightly; his eyes glittered;
though the manner in which, shrouded in a toga spotless white and of ample
folds, he walked was too nearly imperial for one sober and not a Caesar. In
going to the table, he made room for himself and his followers with little
ceremony and no apologies; and when at length he stopped, and looked
over it and at the players, they all turned to him, with a shout like a
cheer.
"Messala! Messala!" they cried.
Those in distant quarters, hearing the cry, re-echoed it where
they were. Instantly there were dissolution of groups, and breaking-up of
games, and a general rush towards the centre.
Messala took the demonstration indifferently, and proceeded presently to
show the ground of his popularity.
"A health to thee, Drusus, my friend," he said to the player next at his
right; "a health—and thy tablets a moment."
He raised the waxen boards, glanced at the memoranda of wagers, and
tossed them down.
"Denarii, only denarii—coin of cartmen and butchers!" he said, with a
scornful laugh. "By the drunken Semele, to what is Rome coming, when a Caesar
sits o' nights waiting a turn of fortune to bring him but a beggarly
denarius!"
The scion of the Drusi reddened to his brows, but the bystanders broke
in upon his reply by surging closer around the table, and shouting, "The
Messala! the Messala!"
"Men of the Tiber," Messala continued, wresting a box with the dice in
it from a hand near-by, "who is he most favored of the gods? A Roman. Who is
he lawgiver of the nations? A Roman. Who is he, by sword right, the universal
master?"
The company were of the easily inspired, and the thought was one to
which they were born; in a twinkling they snatched the answer from him.
"A Roman, a Roman!" they shouted.
"Yet—yet"—he lingered to catch their ears—"yet there is a better than
the best of Rome."
He tossed his patrician head and paused, as if to sting them with his
sneer.
"Hear ye?" he asked. "There is a better than the best of Rome."
"Ay—Hercules!" cried one.
"Bacchus!" yelled a satirist.
"Jove—Jove!" thundered the crowd.
"No," Messala answered, "among men."
"Name him, name him!" they demanded.
"I will," he said, the next lull. "He who to the perfection of Rome hath
added the perfection of the East; who to the arm of conquest, which is
Western, hath also the art needful to the enjoyment of dominion, which is
Eastern."
"Perpol! His best is a Roman, after all," some one shouted; and there
was a great laugh, and long clapping of hands—an admission that Messala had
the advantage.
"In the East" he continued, "we have no gods, only Wine, Women, and
Fortune, and the greatest of them is Fortune; wherefore our motto, 'Who
dareth what I dare?'—fit for the senate, fit for battle, fittest for him
who, seeking the best, challenges the worst."
His voice dropped into an easy, familiar tone, but without relaxing the
ascendancy he had gained.
"In the great chest up in the citadel I have five talents coin current
in the markets, and here are the receipts for them."
From his tunic he drew a roll of paper, and, flinging it on the table,
continued, amidst breathless silence, every eye having him in view fixed on
his, every ear listening:
"The sum lies there the measure of what I dare. Who of you dares so
much! You are silent. Is it too great? I will strike off one talent. What!
still silent? Come, then, throw me once for these three talents—only three;
for two; for one—one at least—one for the honor of the river by which you
were born—Rome East against Rome West!—Orontes the barbarous against Tiber
the sacred!"
He rattled the dice overhead while waiting.
"The Orontes against the Tiber!" he repeated, with an increase
of scornful emphasis.
Not a man moved; then he flung the box upon the table and,
laughing, took up the receipts.
"Ha, ha, ha! By the Olympian Jove, I know now ye have fortunes to make
or to mend; therefore are ye come to Antioch. Ho, Cecilius!"
"Here, Messala!" cried a man behind him; "here am I, perishing in the
mob, and begging a drachma to settle with the ragged ferryman. But, Pluto
take me! these new ones have not so much as an obolus among them."
The sally provoked a burst of laughter, under which the saloon rang and
rang again. Messala alone kept his gravity.
"Go, thou," he said to Cecilius, "to the chamber whence we came, and bid
the servants bring the amphorae here, and the cups and goblets. If these our
countrymen, looking for fortune, have not purses, by the Syrian Bacchus, I
will see if they are not better blessed with stomachs! Haste thee!"
Then he turned to Drusus, with a laugh heard throughout the
apartment.
"Ha, ha, my friend! Be thou not offended because I levelled the Caesar
in thee down to the denarii. Thou seest I did but use the name to try these
fine fledglings of our old Rome. Come, my Drusus, come!" He took up the box
again and rattled the dice merrily. "Here, for what sum thou wilt, let us
measure fortunes."
The manner was frank, cordial, winsome. Drusus melted in a moment.
"By the Nymphae, yes!" he said, laughing. "I will throw with
thee, Messala—for a denarius."
A very boyish person was looking over the table watching the
scene. Suddenly Messala turned to him.
"Who art thou?" he asked.
The lad drew back.
"Nay, by Castor! and his brother too! I meant not offence. It is a rule
among men, in matters other than dice, to keep the record closest when the
deal is least. I have need of a clerk. Wilt thou serve me?"
The young fellow drew his tablets ready to keep the score: the
manner was irresistible.
"Hold, Messala, hold!" cried Drusus. "I know not if it be ominous to
stay the poised dice with a question; but one occurs to me, and I must ask it
though Venus slap me with her girdle."
"Nay, my Drusus, Venus with her girdle off is Venus in love. To
thy question—I will make the throw and hold it against mischance.
Thus—"
He turned the box upon the table and held it firmly over the dice.
And Drusus asked, "Did you ever see one Quintus Arrius?"
"The duumvir?"
"No—his son?"
"I knew not he had a son."
"Well, it is nothing," Drusus added, indifferently; "only, my Messala,
Pollux was not more like Castor than Arrius is like thee."
The remark had the effect of a signal: twenty voices took it up.
"True, true! His eyes—his face," they cried.
"What!" answered one, disgusted. "Messala is a Roman; Arrius is a
Jew."
"Thou sayest right," a third exclaimed. "He is a Jew, or Momus lent his
mother the wrong mask."
There was promise of a dispute; seeing which, Messala interposed. "The
wine is not come, my Drusus; and, as thou seest, I have the freckled Pythias
as they were dogs in leash. As to Arrius, I will accept thy opinion of him,
so thou tell me more about him."
"Well, be he Jew or Roman—and, by the great god Pan, I say it not in
disrespect of thy feelings, my Messala!—this Arrius is handsome and brave
and shrewd. The emperor offered him favor and patronage, which he refused. He
came up through mystery, and keepeth distance as if he felt himself better or
knew himself worse than the rest of us. In the palaestrae he was unmatched;
he played with the blue-eyed giants from the Rhine and the hornless bulls of
Sarmatia as they were willow wisps. The duumvir left him vastly rich. He has
a passion for arms, and thinks of nothing but war. Maxentius admitted
him into his family, and he was to have taken ship with us, but we lost
him at Ravenna. Nevertheless he arrived safely. We heard of him this morning.
Perpol! Instead of coming to the palace or going to the citadel, he dropped
his baggage at the khan, and hath disappeared again."
At the beginning of the speech Messala listened with
polite indifference; as it proceeded, he became more attentive; at
the conclusion, he took his hand from the dice-box, and called out, "Ho,
my Caius! Dost thou hear?"
A youth at his elbow—his Myrtilus, or comrade, in the day's chariot
practice—answered, much pleased with the attention, "Did I not, my Messala,
I were not thy friend."
"Dost thou remember the man who gave thee the fall to-day?"
"By the love-locks of Bacchus, have I not a bruised shoulder to help me
keep it in mind?" and he seconded the words with a shrug that submerged his
ears.
"Well, be thou grateful to the Fates—I have found thy
enemy. Listen."
Thereupon Messala turned to Drusus.
"Tell us more of him—perpol!—of him who is both Jew and Roman— by
Phoebus, a combination to make a Centaur lovely! What garments cloth he
affect, my Drusus?"
"Those of the Jews."
"Hearest thou, Caius?" said Messala. "The fellow is young—one; he hath
the visage of a Roman—two; he loveth best the garb of a Jew—three; and in
the palaestrae fame and fortune come of arms to throw a horse or tilt a
chariot, as the necessity may order—four. And, Drusus, help thou my friend
again. Doubtless this Arrius hath tricks of language; otherwise he could not
so confound himself, to-day a Jew, to-morrow a Roman; but of the rich tongue
of Athene—discourseth he in that as well?"
"With such purity, Messala, he might have been a contestant in the
Isthmia."
"Art thou listening, Caius?" said Messala. "The fellow is qualified to
salute a woman—for that matter Aristomache herself—in the Greek; and as I
keep the count, that is five. What sayest thou?"
"Thou hast found him, my Messala," Caius answered; "or I am
not myself."
"Thy pardon, Drusus—and pardon of all—for speaking in riddles thus,"
Messala said, in his winsome way. "By all the decent gods, I would not strain
thy courtesy to the point of breaking, but now help thou me. See!"—he put
his hand on the dice-box again, laughing—"See how close I hold the Pythias
and their secret! Thou didst speak, I think, of mystery in connection with
the coming of the son of Arrius. Tell me of that."
"'Tis nothing, Messala, nothing," Drusus replied; "a child's story. When
Arrius, the father, sailed in pursuit of the pirates, he was without wife or
family; he returned with a boy—him of whom we speak—and next day adopted
him."
"Adopted him?" Messala repeated. "By the gods, Drusus, thou
dost, indeed, interest me! Where did the duumvir find the boy? And who was
he?"
"Who shall answer thee that, Messala? who but the young Arrius himself?
Perpol! in the fight the duumvir—then but a tribune—lost his galley. A
returning vessel found him and one other—all of the crew who
survived—afloat upon the same plank. I give you now the story of the
rescuers, which hath this excellence at least—it hath never been
contradicted. They say, the duumvir's companion on the plank was a
Jew—"
"A Jew!" echoed Messala.
"And a slave."
"How Drusus? A slave?"
"When the two were lifted to the deck, the duumvir was in his tribune's
armor, and the other in the vesture of a rower."
Messala rose from leaning against the table.
"A galley"—he checked the debasing word, and looked around, for once in
his life at loss. Just then a procession of slaves filed into the room, some
with great jars of wine, others with baskets of fruits and confections,
others again with cups and flagons, mostly silver. There was inspiration in
the sight. Instantly Messala climbed upon a stool.
"Men of the Tiber," he said, in a clear voice, "let us turn this waiting
for our chief into a feast of Bacchus. Whom choose ye for master?"
Drusus arose.
"Who shall be master but the giver of the feast?" he said.
"Answer, Romans."
They gave their reply in a shout.
Messala took the chaplet from his head, gave it to Drusus, who climbed
upon the table, and, in the view of all, solemnly replaced it, making Messala
master of the night.
"There came with me into the room," he said, "some friends just risen
from table. That our feast may have the approval of sacred custom, bring
hither that one of them most overcome by wine."
A din of voices answered, "Here he is, here he is!"
And from the floor where he had fallen, a youth was brought forward, so
effeminately beautiful he might have passed for the
drinking-god himself—only the crown would have dropped from his head, and
the thyrsus from his hand.
"Lift him upon the table," the master said.
It was found he could not sit.
"Help him, Drusus, as the fair Nyone may yet help thee."
Drusus took the inebriate in his arms.
Then addressing the limp figure, Messala said, amidst profound silence,
"O Bacchus! greatest of the gods, be thou propitious to-night. And for
myself, and these thy votaries, I vow this chaplet"—and from his head he
raised it reverently—"I vow this chaplet to thy altar in the Grove of
Daphne."
He bowed, replaced the crown upon his locks, then stooped and uncovered
the dice, saying, with a laugh, "See, my Drusus, by the ass of Silenus, the
denarius is mine!"
There was a shout that set the floor to quaking, and the grim Atlantes
to dancing, and the orgies began.
CHAPTER XIII
Sheik Ilderim was a man of too much importance to go about with a small
establishment. He had a reputation to keep with his tribe, such as became a
prince and patriarch of the greatest following in all the Desert east of
Syria; with the people of the cities he had another reputation, which was
that of one of the richest personages not a king in all the East; and, being
rich in fact—in money as well as in servants, camels, horses, and flocks of
all kinds—he took pleasure in a certain state, which, besides magnifying
his dignity with strangers, contributed to his personal pride and comfort.
Wherefore the reader must not be misled by the frequent reference to his tent
in the Orchard of Palms. He had there really a respectable dowar; that is to
say, he had there three large tents—one for himself, one for visitors, one
for his favorite wife and her women; and six or eight lesser ones, occupied
by his servants and such tribal retainers as he had chosen to bring
with him as a body-guard—strong men of approved courage, and
skillful with bow, spear, and horses.
To be sure, his property of whatever kind was in no danger at the
Orchard; yet as the habits of a man go with him to town not less than the
country, and as it is never wise to slip the bands of discipline, the
interior of the dowar was devoted to his cows, camels, goats, and such
property in general as might tempt a lion or a thief.
To do him full justice, Ilderim kept well all the customs of his people,
abating none, not even the smallest; in consequence his life at the Orchard
was a continuation of his life in the Desert; nor that alone, it was a fair
reproduction of the old patriarchal modes—the genuine pastoral life of
primitive Israel.
Recurring to the morning the caravan arrived at the
Orchard—"Here, plant it here," he said, stopping his horse, and thrusting a
spear into the ground. "Door to the south; the lake before it thus;
and these, the children of the Desert, to sit under at the going-down of
the sun."
At the last words he went to a group of three great palm-trees, and
patted one of them as he would have patted his horse's neck, or the cheek of
the child of his love.
Who but the sheik could of right say to the caravan, Halt! or of the
tent, Here be it pitched? The spear was wrested from the ground, and over the
wound it had riven in the sod the base of the first pillar of the tent was
planted, marking the centre of the front door. Then eight others were
planted—in all, three rows of pillars, three in a row. Then, at call, the
women and children came, and unfolded the canvas from its packing on the
camels. Who might do this but the women? Had they not sheared the hair from
the brown goats of the flock? and twisted it into thread? and woven the
thread into cloth? and stitched the cloth together, making the perfect roof,
dark-brown in fact, though in the distance black as the tents of Kedar? And,
finally, with what jests and laughter, and pulls altogether, the united
following of the sheik stretched the canvas from pillar to pillar, driving
the stakes and fastening the cords as they went! And when the walls of
open reed matting were put in place—the finishing-touch to the building
after the style of the Desert—with what hush of anxiety they waited the good
man's judgment! When he walked in and out, looking at the house in connection
with the sun, the trees, and the lake, and said, rubbing his hands with might
of heartiness, "Well done! Make the dowar now as ye well know, and to-night
we will sweeten the bread with arrack, and the milk with honey, and at
every fire there shall be a kid. God with ye! Want of sweet water
there shall not be, for the lake is our well; neither shall the bearers of
burden hunger, or the least of the flock, for here is green pasture also. God
with you all, my children! Go."
And, shouting, the many happy went their ways then to pitch their own
habitations. A few remained to arrange the interior for the sheik; and of
these the men-servants hung a curtain to the central row of pillars, making
two apartments; the one on the right sacred to Ilderim himself, the other
sacred to his horses—his jewels of Solomon—which they led in, and with
kisses and love-taps set at liberty. Against the middle pillar they then
erected the arms-rack, and filled it with javelins and spears, and
bows, arrows, and shields; outside of them hanging the master's
sword, modelled after the new moon; and the glitter of its blade
rivalled the glitter of the jewels bedded in its grip. Upon one end of the
rack they hung the housings of the horses, gay some of them as the livery of
a king's servant, while on the other end they displayed the great man's
wearing apparel—his robes woollen and robes linen, his tunics and trousers,
and many colored kerchiefs for the head. Nor did they give over the work
until he pronounced it well.
Meantime the women drew out and set up the divan, more indispensable to
him than the beard down-flowing over his breast, white as Aaron's. They put a
frame together in shape of three sides of a square, the opening to the door,
and covered it with cushions and base curtains, and the cushions with a
changeable spread striped brown and yellow; at the corners they placed
pillows and bolsters sacked in cloth blue and crimson; then around the divan
they laid a margin of carpet, and the inner space they carpeted as well; and
when the carpet was carried from the opening of the divan to the door
of the tent, their work was done; whereupon they again waited until the
master said it was good. Nothing remained then but to bring and fill the jars
with water, and hang the skin bottles of arrack ready for the hand—to-morrow
the leben. Nor might an Arab see why Ilderim should not be both happy
and generous—in his tent by the lake of sweet waters, under the palms of the
Orchard of Palms.
Such was the tent at the door of which we left Ben-Hur.
Servants were already waiting the master's direction. One of them took
off his sandals; another unlatched Ben-Hur's Roman shoes; then the two
exchanged their dusty outer garments for fresh ones of white linen.
"Enter—in God's name, enter, and take thy rest," said the
host, heartily, in the dialect of the Market-place of Jerusalem; forthwith
he led the way to the divan.
"I will sit here," he said next, pointing; "and there the stranger."
A woman—in the old time she would have been called a
handmaid—answered, and dexterously piled the pillows and bolsters as rests
for the back; after which they sat upon the side of the divan, while water
was brought fresh from the lake, and their feet bathed and dried
with napkins.
"We have a saying in the Desert," Ilderim began, gathering his
beard, and combing it with his slender fingers, "that a good appetite is
the promise of a long life. Hast thou such?"
"By that rule, good sheik, I will live a hundred years. I am a hungry
wolf at thy door," Ben-Hur replied.
"Well, thou shalt not be sent away like a wolf. I will give thee the
best of the flocks."
Ilderim clapped his hands.
"Seek the stranger in the guest-tent, and say I, Ilderim, send him a
prayer that his peace may be as incessant as the flowing of waters."
The man in waiting bowed.
"Say, also," Ilderim continued, "that I have returned with another for
breaking of bread; and, if Balthasar the wise careth to share the loaf, three
may partake of it, and the portion of the birds be none the less."
The second servant went away.
"Let us take our rest now."
Thereupon Ilderim settled himself upon the divan, as at this
day merchants sit on their rugs in the bazaars of Damascus; and
when fairly at rest, he stopped combing his beard, and said,
gravely, "That thou art my guest, and hast drunk my leben, and art
about to taste my salt, ought not to forbid a question: Who art thou?"
"Sheik Ilderim," said Ben-Hur, calmly enduring his gaze, "I pray thee
not to think me trifling with thy just demand; but was there never a time in
thy life when to answer such a question would have been a crime to
thyself?"
"By the splendor of Solomon, yes!" Ilderim answered. "Betrayal of self
is at times as base as the betrayal of a tribe."
"Thanks, thanks, good sheik!" Ben-Hur exclaimed.
"Never answer became thee better. Now I know thou cost but
seek assurance to justify the trust I have come to ask, and that
such assurance is of more interest to thee than the affairs of my
poor life."
The sheik in his turn bowed, and Ben-Hur hastened to pursue
his advantage.
"So it please thee then," he said, "first, I am not a Roman, as the name
given thee as mine implieth."
Ilderim clasped the beard overflowing his breast, and gazed at
the speaker with eyes faintly twinkling through the shade of the
heavy close-drawn brows.
"In the next place," Ben-Hur continued, "I am an Israelite of the tribe
of Judah."
The sheik raised his brows a little.
"Nor that merely. Sheik, I am a Jew with a grievance against
Rome compared with which thine is not more than a child's trouble."
The old man combed his beard with nervous haste, and let fall his brows
until even the twinkle of the eyes went out.
"Still further: I swear to thee, Sheik Ilderim—I swear by the covenant
the Lord made with my fathers—so thou but give me the revenge I seek, the
money and the glory of the race shall be thine."
Ilderim's brows relaxed; his head arose; his face began to beam; and it
was almost possible to see the satisfaction taking possession of him.
"Enough!" he said. "If at the roots of thy tongue there is a lie in
coil, Solomon himself had not been safe against thee. That thou art not a
Roman—that as a Jew thou hast a grievance against Rome, and revenge to
compass, I believe; and on that score enough. But as to thy skill. What
experience hast thou in racing with chariots? And the horses—canst thou make
them creatures of thy will?—to know thee? to come at call? to go, if thou
sayest it, to the last extreme of breath and strength? and then, in the
perishing moment, out of the depths of thy life thrill them to one exertion
the mightiest of all? The gift, my son, is not to every one. Ah, by the
splendor of God! I knew a king who governed millions of men, their perfect
master, but could not win the respect of a horse. Mark! I speak not of the
dull brutes whose round it is to slave for slaves—the debased in blood and
image—the dead in spirit; but of such as mine here—the kings of their
kind; of a lineage reaching back to the broods of the first Pharaoh; my
comrades and friends, dwellers in tents, whom long association with me has
brought up to my plane; who to their instincts have added our wits and to
their senses joined our souls, until they feel all we know of ambition, love,
hate, and contempt; in war, heroes; in trust, faithful as women. Ho,
there!"
A servant came forward.
"Let my Arabs come!"
The man drew aside part of the division curtain of the tent, exposing to
view a group of horses, who lingered a moment where they were as if to make
certain of the invitation.
"Come!" Ilderim said to them. "Why stand ye there? What have I that is
not yours? Come, I say!"
They stalked slowly in.
"Son of Israel," the master said, "thy Moses was a mighty man, but—ha,
ha ha!—I must laugh when I think of his allowing thy fathers the plodding ox
and the dull, slow-natured ass, and forbidding them property in horses. Ha,
ha, ha! Thinkest thou he would have done so had he seen that one—and
that—and this?" At the word he laid his hand upon the face of the
first to reach him, and patted it with infinite pride and tenderness.
"It is a misjudgment, sheik, a misjudgment," Ben-Hur said,
warmly. "Moses was a warrior as well as a lawgiver beloved by God; and
to follow war—ah, what is it but to love all its creatures—these among
the rest?"
A head of exquisite turn—with large eyes, soft as a deer's, and
half hidden by the dense forelock, and small ears, sharp-pointed and
sloped well forward—approached then quite to his breast, the nostrils
open, and the upper lip in motion. "Who are you?" it asked, plainly
as ever man spoke. Ben-Hur recognized one of the four racers he had seen
on the course, and gave his open hand to the beautiful brute.
"They will tell you, the blasphemers!—may their days shorten as they
grow fewer!"—the sheik spoke with the feeling of a man repelling a personal
defamation—"they will tell you, I say, that our horses of the best blood are
derived from the Nesaean pastures of Persia. God gave the first Arab a
measureless waste of sand, with some treeless mountains, and here and there a
well of bitter waters; and said to him, 'Behold thy country!' And when the
poor man complained, the Mighty One pitied him, and said again, 'Be of cheer!
for I will twice bless thee above other men.' The Arab heard, and gave
thanks, and with faith set out to find the blessings. He travelled all the
boundaries first, and failed; then he made a path into the desert, and went
on and on—and in the heart of the waste there was an island of green very
beautiful to see; and in the heart of the island, lo! a herd of camels, and
another of horses! He took them joyfully and kept them with care for what
they were—best gifts of God. And from that green isle went forth all the
horses of the earth; even to the pastures of Nesaea they went; and northward
to the dreadful vales perpetually threshed by blasts from the Sea of Chill
Winds. Doubt not the story; or if thou dost, may never amulet have charm for
an Arab again. Nay, I will give thee proof."
He clapped his hands.
"Bring me the records of the tribe," he said to the servant
who responded.
While waiting, the sheik played with the horses, patting their cheeks,
combing their forelocks with his fingers, giving each one a token of
remembrance. Presently six men appeared with chests of cedar reinforced by
bands of brass, and hinged and bolted with brass.
"Nay," said Ilderim, when they were all set down by the divan, "I meant
not all of them; only the records of the horses—that one. Open it and take
back the others."
The chest was opened, disclosing a mass of ivory tablets strung on rings
of silver wire; and as the tablets were scarcely thicker than wafers, each
ring held several hundreds of them.
"I know," said Ilderim, taking some of the rings in his hand—"I know
with what care and zeal, my son, the scribes of the Temple in the Holy City
keep the names of the newly born, that every son of Israel may trace his line
of ancestry to its beginning, though it antedate the patriarchs. My
fathers—may the recollection of them be green forever!—did not think it
sinful to borrow the idea, and apply it to their dumb servants. See these
tablets!"
Ben-Hur took the rings, and separating the tablets saw they bore rude
hieroglyphs in Arabic, burned on the smooth surface by a sharp point of
heated metal.
"Canst thou read them, O son of Israel?"
"No. Thou must tell me their meaning."
"Know thou, then, each tablet records the name of a foal of the pure
blood born to my fathers through the hundreds of years passed; and also the
names of sire and dam. Take them, and note their age, that thou mayst the
more readily believe."
Some of the tablets were nearly worn away. all were yellow
with age.
"In the chest there, I can tell thee now, I have the perfect
history; perfect because certified as history seldom is—showing of what
stock all these are sprung—this one, and that now supplicating thy
notice and caress; and as they come to us here, their sires, even
the furthest removed in time, came to my sires, under a tent-roof
like this of mine, to eat their measure of barley from the open hand, and
be talked to as children; and as children kiss the thanks they have not
speech to express. And now, O son of Israel, thou mayst believe my
declaration—if I am a lord of the Desert, behold my ministers! Take them
from me, and I become as a sick man left by the caravan to die. Thanks to
them, age hath not diminished the terror of me on the highways between
cities; and it will not while I have strength to go with them. Ha, ha, ha! I
could tell thee marvels done by their ancestors. In a favoring time I
may do so; for the present, enough that they were never overtaken in
retreat; nor, by the sword of Solomon, did they ever fail in pursuit! That,
mark you, on the sands and under saddle; but now—I do not know—I am afraid,
for they are under yoke the first time, and the conditions of success are so
many. They have the pride and the speed and the endurance. If I find them a
master, they will win. Son of Israel! so thou art the man, I swear it shall
be a happy day that brought thee thither. Of thyself now speak."
"I know now," said Ben-Hur, "why it is that in the love of an Arab his
horse is next to his children; and I know, also, why the Arab horses are the
best in the world; but, good sheik, I would not have you judge me by words
alone; for, as you know, all promises of men sometimes fail. Give me the
trial first on some plain hereabout, and put the four in my hand
to-morrow."
Ilderim's face beamed again, and he would have spoken.
"A moment, good sheik, a moment!" said Ben-Hur. "Let me say
further. From the masters in Rome I learned many lessons, little thinking
they would serve me in a time like this. I tell thee these thy sons of the
Desert, though they have separately the speed of eagles and the endurance of
lions, will fail if they are not trained to run together under the yoke. For
bethink thee, sheik, in every four there is one the slowest and one the
swiftest; and while the race is always to the slowest, the trouble is always
with the swiftest. It was so to-day; the driver could not reduce the best to
harmonious action with the poorest. My trial may have no better result; but
if so, I will tell thee of it: that I swear. Wherefore, in the same spirit
I say, can I get them to run together, moved by my will, the four as one,
thou shalt have the sestertii and the crown, and I my revenge. What sayest
thou?"
Ilderim listened, combing his beard the while. At the end he said, with
a laugh, "I think better of thee, son of Israel. We have a saying in the
Desert, 'If you will cook the meal with words, I will promise an ocean of
butter.' thou shalt have the horses in the morning."
At that moment there was a stir at the rear entrance to the tent.
"The supper—it is here! and yonder my friend Balthasar, whom thou shalt
know. He hath a story to tell which an Israelite should never tire of
hearing."
And to the servants he added,
"Take the records away, and return my jewels to their apartment."
And they did as he ordered.
CHAPTER XIV
If the reader will return now to the repast of the wise men at their
meeting in the desert, he will understand the preparations for the supper in
Ilderim's tent. The differences were chiefly such as were incident to ampler
means and better service.
Three rugs were spread on the carpet within the space so nearly enclosed
by the divan; a table not more than a foot in height was brought and set
within the same place, and covered with a cloth. Off to one side a portable
earthenware oven was established under the presidency of a woman whose duty
it was to keep the company in bread, or, more precisely, in hot cakes of
flour from the handmills grinding with constant sound in a neighboring
tent.
Meanwhile Balthasar was conducted to the divan, where Ilderim and
Ben-Hur received him standing. A loose black gown covered his person; his
step was feeble, and his whole movement slow and cautious, apparently
dependent upon a long staff and the arm of a servant.
"Peace to you, my friend," said Ilderim, respectfully. "Peace
and welcome."
The Egyptian raised his head and replied, "And to thee, good
sheik—to thee and thine, peace and the blessing of the One God—God the
true and loving."
The manner was gentle and devout, and impressed Ben-Hur with a
feeling of awe; besides which the blessing included in the answering
salutation had been partly addressed to him, and while that part was being
spoken, the eyes of the aged guest, hollow yet luminous, rested upon
his face long enough to stir an emotion new and mysterious, and so strong
that he again and again during the repast scanned the much wrinkled and
bloodless face for its meaning; but always there was the expression bland,
placid, and trustful as a child's. A little later he found that expression
habitual.
"This is he, O Balthasar," said the sheik, laying his hand on Ben-Hur's
arm, "who will break bread with us this evening."
The Egyptian glanced at the young man, and looked again surprised and
doubting; seeing which the sheik continued, "I have promised him my horses
for trial to-morrow; and if all goes well, he will drive them in the
Circus."
Balthasar continued his gaze.
"He came well recommended," Ilderim pursued, much puzzled. "You may know
him as the son of Arrius, who was a noble Roman sailor, though"—the sheik
hesitated, then resumed, with a laugh—"though he declares himself an
Israelite of the tribe of Judah; and, by the splendor of God, I believe that
he tells me!"
Balthasar could no longer withhold explanation.
"To-day, O most generous sheik, my life was in peril, and would have
been lost had not a youth, the counterpart of this one—if, indeed, he be not
the very same—intervened when all others fled, and saved me." Then he
addressed Ben-Hur directly, "Art thou not he?"
"I cannot answer so far," Ben-Hur replied, with modest deference. "I am
he who stopped the horses of the insolent Roman when they were rushing upon
thy camel at the Fountain of Castalia. Thy daughter left a cup with
me."
From the bosom of his tunic he produced the cup, and gave it
to Balthasar.
A glow lighted the faded countenance of the Egyptian.
"The Lord sent thee to me at the Fountain to-day," he said, in
a tremulous voice, stretching his hand towards Ben-Hur; "and he sends thee
to me now. I give him thanks; and praise him thou, for of his favor I have
wherewith to give thee great reward, and I will. The cup is thine; keep
it."
Ben-Hur took back the gift, and Balthasar, seeing the inquiry upon
Ilderim's face, related the occurrence at the Fountain.
"What!" said the sheik to Ben-Hur. "Thou saidst nothing of this to me,
when better recommendation thou couldst not have brought. Am I not an Arab,
and sheik of my tribe of tens of thousands? And is not he my guest? And is it
not in my guest-bond that the good or evil thou dost him is good or evil done
to me? Whither shouldst thou go for reward but here? And whose the hand to
give it but mine?"
His voice at the end of the speech rose to cutting shrillness.
"Good sheik, spare me, I pray. I came not for reward, great or small;
and that I may be acquitted of the thought, I say the help I gave this
excellent man would have been given as well to thy humblest servant."
"But he is my friend, my guest—not my servant; and seest thou not in
the difference the favor of Fortune?" Then to Balthasar the sheik subjoined,
"Ah, by the splendor of God! I tell thee again he is not a Roman."
With that he turned away, and gave attention to the servants, whose
preparations for the supper were about complete.
The reader who recollects the history of Balthasar as given by himself
at the meeting in the desert will understand the effect of Ben-Hur's
assertion of disinterestedness upon that worthy. In his devotion to men there
had been, it will be remembered, no distinctions; while the redemption which
had been promised him in the way of reward—the redemption for which he was
waiting—was universal. To him, therefore, the assertion sounded somewhat
like an echo of himself. He took a step nearer Ben-Hur, and spoke to him
in the childlike way.
"How did the sheik say I should call you? It was a Roman name, I
think."
"Arrius, the son of Arrius."
"Yet thou art not a Roman?"
"All my people were Jews."
"Were, saidst thou? Are they not living?"
The question was subtle as well as simple; but Ilderim saved Ben-Hur
from reply.
"Come," he said to them, "the meal is ready."
Ben-Hur gave his arm to Balthasar, and conducted him to the table, where
shortly they were all seated on their rugs Eastern fashion. The lavers were
brought them, and they washed and dried their hands; then the sheik made a
sign, the servants stopped, and the voice of the Egyptian arose tremulous
with holy feeling.
"Father of All—God! What we have is of thee; take our thanks, and bless
us, that we may continue to do thy will."
It was the grace the good man had said simultaneously with his brethren
Gaspar the Greek and Melchior the Hindoo, the utterance in diverse tongues
out of which had come the miracle attesting the Divine Presence at the meal
in the desert years before.
The table to which they immediately addressed themselves was, as may be
thought, rich in the substantials and delicacies favorite in the East—in
cakes hot from the oven, vegetables from the gardens, meats singly, compounds
of meats and vegetables, milk of kine, and honey and butter—all eaten or
drunk, it should be remarked, without any of the modern accessories—knives,
forks, spoons, cups, or plates; and in this part of the repast but little
was said, for they were hungry. But when the dessert was in course it was
otherwise. They laved their hands again, had the lap-cloths shaken out, and
with a renewed table and the sharp edge of their appetites gone they were
disposed to talk and listen.
With such a company—an Arab, a Jew, and an Egyptian, all
believers alike in one God—there could be at that age but one subject
of conversation; and of the three, which should be speaker but he to whom
the Deity had been so nearly a personal appearance, who had seen him in a
star, had heard his voice in direction, had been led so far and so
miraculously by his Spirit? And of what should he talk but that of which he
had been called to testify?
CHAPTER XV
The shadows cast over the Orchard of Palms by the mountains at set of
sun left no sweet margin time of violet sky and drowsing earth between the
day and night. The latter came early and swift; and against its glooming in
the tent this evening the servants brought four candlesticks of brass, and
set them by the corners of the table. To each candlestick there were four
branches, and on each branch a lighted silver lamp and a supply cup of
olive-oil. In light ample, even brilliant, the group at dessert
continued their conversation, speaking in the Syriac dialect, familiar
to all peoples in that part of the world.
The Egyptian told his story of the meeting of the three in the desert,
and agreed with the sheik that it was in December, twenty-seven years before,
when he and his companions fleeing from Herod arrived at the tent praying
shelter. The narrative was heard with intense interest; even the servants
lingering when they could to catch its details. Ben-Hur received it as became
a man listening to a revelation of deep concern to all humanity, and to none
of more concern than the people of Israel. In his mind, as we
shall presently see, there was crystallizing an idea which was to
change his course of life, if not absorb it absolutely.
As the recital proceeded, the impression made by Balthasar upon the
young Jew increased; at its conclusion, his feeling was too profound to
permit a doubt of its truth; indeed, there was nothing left him desirable in
the connection but assurances, if such were to be had, pertaining exclusively
to the consequences of the amazing event.
And now there is wanting an explanation which the very discerning may
have heretofore demanded; certainly it can be no longer delayed. Our tale
begins, in point of date not less than fact, to trench close upon the opening
of the ministry of the Son of Mary, whom we have seen but once since this
same Balthasar left him worshipfully in his mother's lap in the cave by
Bethlehem. Henceforth to the end the mysterious Child will be a subject of
continual reference; and slowly though surely the current of events with
which we are dealing will bring us nearer and nearer to him, until finally
we see him a man—we would like, if armed contrariety of opinion
would permit it, to add—A MAN WHOM THE WORLD COULD NOT DO WITHOUT.
Of this declaration, apparently so simple, a shrewd mind inspired by faith
will make much—and in welcome. Before his time, and since, there have been
men indispensable to particular people and periods; but his indispensability
was to the whole race, and for all time—a respect in which it is unique,
solitary, divine.
To Sheik Ilderim the story was not new. He had heard it from the three
wise men together under circumstances which left no room for doubt; he had
acted upon it seriously, for the helping a fugitive escape from the anger of
the first Herod was dangerous. Now one of the three sat at his table again, a
welcome guest and revered friend. Sheik IIderim certainly believed the story;
yet, in the nature of things, its mighty central fact could not come home
to him with the force and absorbing effect it came to Ben-Hur. He was an
Arab, whose interest in the consequences was but general; on the other hand,
Ben-Hur was an Israelite and a Jew, with more than a special interest in—if
the ~solecism can be pardoned—the truth of the fact. He laid hold of the
circumstance with a purely Jewish mind.
From his cradle, let it be remembered, he had heard of the Messiah; at
the colleges he had been made familiar with all that was known of that Being
at once the hope, the fear, and the peculiar glory of the chosen people; the
prophets from the first to the last of the heroic line foretold him; and the
coming had been, and yet was, the theme of endless exposition with the
rabbis—in the synagogues, in the schools, in the Temple, of fast-days and
feast-days, in public and in private, the national teachers expounded and
kept expounding until all the children of Abraham, wherever their lots were
cast, bore the Messiah in expectation, and by it literally, and with iron
severity, ruled and moulded their lives.
Doubtless, it will be understood from this that there was much argument
among the Jews themselves about the Messiah, and so there was; but the
disputation was all limited to one point, and one only—when would he
come?
Disquisition is for the preacher; whereas the writer is but telling a
tale, and that he may not lose his character, the explanation he is making
requires notice merely of a point connected with the Messiah about which the
unanimity among the chosen people was matter of marvellous astonishment: he
was to be, when come, the KING OF THE JEWS—their political King, their
Caesar. By their instrumentality he was to make armed conquest of the
earth, and then, for their profit and in the name of God, hold it down
forever. On this faith, dear reader, the Pharisees or Separatists—the latter
being rather a political term—in the cloisters and around the altars of the
Temple, built an edifice of hope far overtopping the dream of the Macedonian.
His but covered the earth; theirs covered the earth and filled the skies;
that is to say, in their bold, boundless fantasy of blasphemous
egotism, God the Almighty was in effect to suffer them for their uses to
nail him by the ear to a door in sign of eternal servitude.
Returning directly to Ben-Hur, it is to be observed now that there were
two circumstances in his life the result of which had been to keep him in a
state comparatively free from the influence and hard effects of the audacious
faith of his Separatist countrymen.
In the first place, his father followed the faith of the Sadducees, who
may, in a general way, be termed the Liberals of their time. They had some
loose opinions in denial of the soul. They were strict constructionists and
rigorous observers of the Law as found in the books of Moses; but they held
the vast mass of Rabbinical addenda to those books in derisive contempt. They
were unquestionably a sect, yet their religion was more a philosophy than
a creed; they did not deny themselves the enjoyments of life, and saw many
admirable methods and productions among the Gentile divisions of the race. In
politics they were the active opposition of the Separatists. In the natural
order of things, these circumstances and conditions, opinions and
peculiarities, would have descended to the son as certainly and really as
any portion of his father's estate; and, as we have seen, he was actually
in course of acquiring them, when the second saving event overtook him.
Upon a youth of Ben-Hur's mind and temperament the influence of five
years of affluent life in Rome can be appreciated best by recalling that the
great city was then, in fact, the meeting-place of the nations—their
meeting-place politically and commercially, as well as for the indulgence of
pleasure without restraint. Round and round the golden mile-stone in front of
the Forum—now in gloom of eclipse, now in unapproachable
splendor—flowed all the active currents of humanity. If excellences of
manner, refinements of society, attainments of intellect, and glory
of achievement made no impression upon him, how could he, as the son of
Arrius, pass day after day, through a period so long, from the beautiful
villa near Misenum into the receptions of Caesar, and be wholly uninfluenced
by what he saw there of kings, princes, ambassadors, hostages, and delegates,
suitors all of them from every known land, waiting humbly the yes or no which
was to make or unmake them? As mere assemblages, to be sure, there was
nothing to compare with the gatherings at Jerusalem in celebration of the
Passover; yet when he sat under the purple velaria of the Circus Maximus one
of three hundred and fifty thousand spectators, he must have been visited
by the thought that possibly there might be some branches of the family of
man worthy divine consideration, if not mercy, though they were of the
uncircumcised—some, by their sorrows, and, yet worse, by their hopelessness
in the midst of sorrows, fitted for brotherhood in the promises to his
countrymen.
That he should have had such a thought under such circumstances was but
natural; we think so much, at least, will be admitted: but when the
reflection came to him, and he gave himself up to it, he could not have been
blind to a certain distinction. The wretchedness of the masses, and their
hopeless condition, had no relation whatever to religion; their murmurs and
groans were not against their gods or for want of gods. In the oak-woods of
Britain the Druids held their followers; Odin and Freya maintained their
godships in Gaul and Germany and among the Hyperboreans; Egypt was satisfied
with her crocodiles and Anubis; the Persians were yet devoted to
Ormuzd and Ahriman, holding them in equal honor; in hope of the
Nirvana, the Hindoos moved on patient as ever in the rayless paths of
Brahm; the beautiful Greek mind, in pauses of philosophy, still sang
the heroic gods of Homer; while in Rome nothing was so common and cheap as
gods. According to whim, the masters of the world, because they were masters,
carried their worship and offerings indifferently from altar to altar,
delighted in the pandemonium they had erected. Their discontent, if they were
discontented, was with the number of gods; for, after borrowing all the
divinities of the earth they proceeded to deify their Caesars, and vote them
altars and holy service. No, the unhappy condition was not from religion, but
misgovernment and usurpations and countless tyrannies. The Avernus men had
been tumbled into, and were praying to be relieved from, was terribly but
essentially political. The supplication—everywhere alike, in Lodinum,
Alexandria, Athens, Jerusalem—was for a king to conquer with, not a god to
worship.
Studying the situation after two thousand years, we can see and say that
religiously there was no relief from the universal confusion except some God
could prove himself a true God, and a masterful one, and come to the rescue;
but the people of the time, even the discerning and philosophical, discovered
no hope except in crushing Rome; that done, the relief would follow
in restorations and reorganizations; therefore they prayed,
conspired, rebelled, fought, and died, drenching the soil to-day with
blood, to-morrow with tears—and always with the same result.
It remains to be said now that Ben-Hur was in agreement with the mass of
men of his time not Romans. The five years' residence in the capital served
him with opportunity to see and study the miseries of the subjugated world;
and in full belief that the evils which afflicted it were political, and to
be cured only by the sword, he was going forth to fit himself for a part in
the day of resort to the heroic remedy. By practice of arms he was
a perfect soldier; but war has its higher fields, and he who would move
successfully in them must know more than to defend with shield and thrust
with spear. In those fields the general finds his tasks, the greatest of
which is the reduction of the many into one, and that one himself; the
consummate captain is a fighting-man armed with an army. This conception
entered into the scheme of life to which he was further swayed by the
reflection that the vengeance he dreamed of, in connection with his
individual wrongs, would be more surely found in some of the ways of war than
in any pursuit of peace.
The feelings with which he listened to Balthasar can be now
understood. The story touched two of the most sensitive points of his being
so they rang within him. His heart beat fast—and faster still
when, searching himself, he found not a doubt either that the recital was
true in every particular, or that the Child so miraculously found was the
Messiah. Marvelling much that Israel rested so dead to the revelation, and
that he had never heard of it before that day, two questions presented
themselves to him as centring all it was at that moment further desirable to
know:
Where was the Child then?
And what was his mission?
With apologies for the interruptions, he proceeded to draw out the
opinions of Balthasar, who was in nowise loath to speak.
CHAPTER XVI
"If I could answer you," Balthasar said, in his simple, earnest, devout
way—"oh, if I knew where he is, how quickly I would go to him! The seas
should not stay me, nor the mountains."
"You have tried to find him, then?" asked Ben-Hur.
A smile flitted across the face of the Egyptian.
"The first task I charged myself with after leaving the shelter given me
in the desert"—Balthasar cast a grateful look at Ilderim—"was to learn what
became of the Child. But a year had passed, and I dared not go up to Judea in
person, for Herod still held the throne bloody-minded as ever. In Egypt, upon
my return, there were a few friends to believe the wonderful things I told
them of what I had seen and heard—a few who rejoiced with me that a
Redeemer was born—a few who never tired of the story. Some of them
came up for me looking after the Child. They went first to Bethlehem, and
found there the khan and the cave; but the steward—he who sat at the gate
the night of the birth, and the night we came following the star—was gone.
The king had taken him away, and he was no more seen."
"But they found some proofs, surely," said Ben-Hur, eagerly.
"Yes, proofs written in blood—a village in mourning; mothers yet crying
for their little ones. You must know, when Herod heard of our flight, he sent
down and slew the youngest-born of the children of Bethlehem. Not one
escaped. The faith of my messengers was confirmed; but they came to me saying
the Child was dead, slain with the other innocents."
"Dead!" exclaimed Ben-Hur, aghast. "Dead, sayest thou?"
"Nay, my son, I did not say so. I said they, my messengers, told me the
Child was dead. I did not believe the report then; I do not believe it
now."
"I see—thou hast some special knowledge."
"Not so, not so," said Balthasar, dropping his gaze. "The Spirit was to
go with us no farther than to the Child. When we came out of the cave, after
our presents were given and we had seen the babe, we looked first thing for
the star; but it was gone, and we knew we were left to ourselves. The last
inspiration of the Holy One—the last I can recall—was that which sent us
to Ilderim for safety."
"Yes," said the sheik, fingering his beard nervously. "You told me you
were sent to me by a Spirit—I remember it."
"I have no special knowledge," Balthasar continued, observing
the dejection which had fallen upon Ben-Hur; "but, my son, I have given
the matter much thought—thought continuing through years, inspired by faith,
which, I assure you, calling God for witness, is as strong in me now as in
the hour I heard the voice of the Spirit calling me by the shore of the lake.
If you will listen, I will tell you why I believe the Child is living."
Both Ilderim and Ben-Hur looked assent, and appeared to summon
their faculties that they might understand as well as hear. The
interest reached the servants, who drew near to the divan, and stood
listening. Throughout the tent there was the profoundest silence.
"We three believe in God."
Balthasar bowed his head as he spoke.
"And he is the Truth," he resumed. "His word is God. The hills may turn
to dust, and the seas be drunk dry by south winds; but his word shall stand,
because it is the Truth."
The utterance was in a manner inexpressibly solemn.
"The voice, which was his, speaking to me by the lake, said, 'Blessed
art thou, O son of Mizraim! The Redemption cometh. With two others from the
remotenesses of the earth, thou shalt see the Savior.' I have seen the
Savior—blessed be his name!—but the Redemption, which was the second part
of the promise, is yet to come. Seest thou now? If the Child be dead, there
is no agent to bring the Redemption about, and the word is naught, and
God—nay, I dare not say it!"
He threw up both hands in horror.
"The Redemption was the work for which the Child was born; and so long
as the promise abides, not even death can separate him from his work until it
is fulfilled, or at least in the way of fulfilment. Take you that now as one
reason for my belief; then give me further attention."
The good man paused.
"Wilt thou not taste the wine? It is at thy hand—see," said
Ilderim, respectfully.
Balthasar drank, and, seeming refreshed, continued:
"The Savior I saw was born of woman, in nature like us, and subject to
all our ills—even death. Let that stand as the first proposition. Consider
next the work set apart to him. Was it not a performance for which only a man
is fitted?—a man wise, firm, discreet—a man, not a child? To become such he
had to grow as we grow. Bethink you now of the dangers his life was subject
to in the interval—the long interval between childhood and maturity. The
existing powers were his enemies; Herod was his enemy; and what would Rome
have been? And as for Israel—that he should not be accepted by Israel
was the motive for cutting him off. See you now. What better way was there
to take care of his life in the helpless growing time than by passing him
into obscurity? Wherefore I say to myself, and to my listening faith, which
is never moved except by yearning of love—I say he is not dead, but lost;
and, his work remaining undone, he will come again. There you have the
reasons for my belief. Are they not good?"
Ilderim's small Arab eyes were bright with understanding, and Ben-Hur,
lifted from his dejection, said heartily, "I, at least, may not gainsay them.
What further, pray?"
"Hast thou not enough, my son? Well," he began, in calmer tone, "seeing
that the reasons were good—more plainly, seeing it was God's will that the
Child should not be found—I settled my faith into the keeping of patience,
and took to waiting." He raised his eyes, full of holy trust, and broke off
abstractedly—"I am waiting now. He lives, keeping well his mighty secret.
What though I cannot go to him, or name the hill or the vale of his
abiding-place? He lives—it may be as the fruit in blossom, it may be as the
fruit just ripening; but by the certainty there is in the promise
and reason of God, I know he lives."
A thrill of awe struck Ben-Hur—a thrill which was but the dying of his
half-formed doubt.
"Where thinkest thou he is?" he asked, in a low voice, and
hesitating, like one who feels upon his lips the pressure of a sacred
silence.
Balthasar looked at him kindly, and replied, his mind not entirely freed
from its abstraction,
"In my house on the Nile, so close to the river that the passers-by in
boats see it and its reflection in the water at the same time—in my house, a
few weeks ago, I sat thinking. A man thirty years old, I said to myself,
should have his fields of life all ploughed, and his planting well done; for
after that it is summer-time, with space scarce enough to ripen his
sowing. The Child, I said further, is now twenty-seven—his time to
plant must be at hand. I asked myself, as you here asked me, my son, and
answered by coming hither, as to a good resting-place close by the land thy
fathers had from God. Where else should he appear, if not in Judea? In what
city should he begin his work, if not in Jerusalem? Who should be first to
receive the blessings he is to bring, if not the children of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob; in love, at least, the children of the Lord? If I were bidden go
seek him, I would search well the hamlets and villages on the slopes of
the mountains of Judea and Galilee falling eastwardly into the valley of
the Jordan. He is there now. Standing in a door or on a hill-top, only this
evening he saw the sun set one day nearer the time when he himself shall
become the light of the world."
Balthasar ceased, with his hand raised and finger pointing as if at
Judea. All the listeners, even the dull servants outside the divan, affected
by his fervor, were startled as if by a majestic presence suddenly apparent
within the tent. Nor did the sensation die away at once: of those at the
table, each sat awhile thinking. The spell was finally broken by
Ben-Hur.
"I see, good Balthasar," he said, "that thou hast been much
and strangely favored. I see, also, that thou art a wise man indeed. It is
not in my power to tell how grateful I am for the things thou hast told me. I
am warned of the coming of great events, and borrow somewhat from thy faith.
Complete the obligation, I pray thee, by telling further of the mission of
him for whom thou art waiting, and for whom from this night I too shall wait
as becomes a believing son of Judah. He is to be a Savior, thou saidst; is
he not to be King of the Jews also?"
"My son," said Balthasar, in his benignant way, "the mission is yet a
purpose in the bosom of God. All I think about it is wrung from the words of
the Voice in connection with the prayer to which they were in answer. Shall
we refer to them again?"
"Thou art the teacher."
"The cause of my disquiet," Balthasar began, calmly—"that which made me
a preacher in Alexandria and in the villages of the Nile; that which drove me
at last into the solitude where the Spirit found me—was the fallen condition
of men, occasioned, as I believed, by loss of the knowledge of God. I
sorrowed for the sorrows of my kind—not of one class, but all of them. So
utterly were they fallen it seemed to me there could be no Redemption unless
God himself would make it his work; and I prayed him to come, and that I
might see him. 'Thy good works have conquered. The Redemption cometh; thou
shalt see the Savior'—thus the Voice spake; and with the answer I went up
to Jerusalem rejoicing. Now, to whom is the Redemption? To all the world. And
how shall it be? Strengthen thy faith, my son! Men say, I know, that there
will be no happiness until Rome is razed from her hills. That is to say, the
ills of the time are not, as I thought them, from ignorance of God, but from
the misgovernment of rulers. Do we need to be told that human governments are
never for the sake of religion? How many kings have you heard of who
were better than their subjects? Oh no, no! The Redemption cannot be for a
political purpose—to pull down rulers and powers, and vacate their places
merely that others may take and enjoy them. If that were all of it, the
wisdom of God would cease to be surpassing. I tell you, though it be but the
saying of blind to blind, he that comes is to be a Savior of souls; and the
Redemption means God once more on earth, and righteousness, that his stay
here may be tolerable to himself."
Disappointment showed plainly on Ben-Hur's face—his head drooped; and
if he was not convinced, he yet felt himself incapable that moment of
disputing the opinion of the Egyptian. Not so Ilderim.
"By the splendor of God!" he cried, impulsively, "the judgment does away
with all custom. The ways of the world are fixed, and cannot be changed.
There must be a leader in every community clothed with power, else there is
no reform."
Balthasar received the burst gravely.
"Thy wisdom, good sheik, is of the world; and thou dost forget that it
is from the ways of the world we are to be redeemed. Man as a subject is the
ambition of a king; the soul of a man for its salvation is the desire of a
God."
Ilderim, though silenced, shook his head, unwilling to believe. Ben-Hur
took up the argument for him.
"Father—I call thee such by permission," he said—"for whom wert thou
required to ask at the gates of Jerusalem?"
The sheik threw him a grateful look.
"I was to ask of the people," said Balthasar, quietly, "'Where is he
that is born King of the Jews?'"
"And you saw him in the cave by Bethlehem?"
"We saw and worshipped him, and gave him presents—Melchior,
gold; Gaspar, frankincense; and I, myrrh."
"When thou dost speak of fact, O father, to hear thee is to
believe," said Ben-Hur; "but in the matter of opinion, I cannot understand
the kind of king thou wouldst make of the Child—I cannot separate
the ruler from his powers and duties."
"Son," said Balthasar, "we have the habit of studying closely the things
which chance to lie at our feet, giving but a look at the greater objects in
the distance. Thou seest now but the title— KING OF THE JEWS; wilt thou lift
thine eyes to the mystery beyond it, the stumbling-block will disappear. Of
the title, a word. Thy Israel hath seen better days—days in which God called
thy people endearingly his people, and dealt with them through prophets. Now,
if in those days he promised them the Savior I saw—promised him as KING OF
THE JEWS—the appearance must be according to the promise, if only for the
word's sake. Ah, thou seest the reason of my question at the gate!—thou
seest, and I will no more of it, but pass on. It may be, next, thou art
regarding the dignity of the Child; if so, bethink thee—what is it to be a
successor of Herod?—by the world's standard of honor, what? Could not God
better by his beloved? If thou canst think of the Almighty Father in want
of a title, and stooping to borrow the inventions of men, why was I not
bidden ask for a Caesar at once? Oh, for the substance of that whereof we
speak, look higher, I pray thee! Ask rather of what he whom we await shall be
king; for I do tell, my son, that is the key to the mystery, which no man
shall understand without the key."
Balthasar raised his eyes devoutly.
"There is a kingdom on the earth, though it is not of it—a kingdom of
wider bounds than the earth—wider than the sea and the earth, though they
were rolled together as finest gold and spread by the beating of hammers. Its
existence is a fact as our hearts are facts, and we journey through it from
birth to death without seeing it; nor shall any man see it until he hath
first known his own soul; for the kingdom is not for him, but for
his soul. And in its dominion there is glory such as hath not
entered imagination—original, incomparable, impossible of increase."
"What thou sayest, father, is a riddle to me," said Ben-Hur. "I never
heard of such a kingdom."
"Nor did I," said Ilderim.
"And I may not tell more of it," Balthasar added, humbly dropping his
eyes. "What it is, what it is for, how it may be reached, none can know until
the Child comes to take possession of it as his own. He brings the key of the
viewless gate, which he will open for his beloved, among whom will be all who
love him, for of such only the redeemed will be."
After that there was a long silence, which Balthasar accepted as the end
of the conversation.
"Good sheik," he said, in his placid way, "to-morrow or the next day I
will go up to the city for a time. My daughter wishes to see the preparations
for the games. I will speak further about the time of our going. And, my son,
I will see you again. To you both, peace and good-night."
They all arose from the table. The sheik and Ben-Hur remained looking
after the Egyptian until he was conducted out of the tent.
"Sheik Ilderim," said Ben-Hur then, "I have heard strange
things tonight. Give me leave, I pray, to walk by the lake that I
may think of them."
"Go; and I will come after you."
They washed their hands again; after which, at a sign from the master, a
servant brought Ben-Hur his shoes, and directly he went out.
CHAPTER XVII
Up a little way from the dower there was a cluster of palms, which threw
its shade half in the water, half on the land. A bulbul sang from the
branches a song of invitation. Ben-Hur stopped beneath to listen. At any
other time the notes of the bird would have driven thought away; but the
story of the Egyptian was a burden of wonder, and he was a laborer carrying
it, and, like other laborers, there was to him no music in the sweetest music
until mind and body were happily attuned by rest.
The night was quiet. Not a ripple broke upon the shore. The old stars of
the old East were all out, each in its accustomed place; and there was summer
everywhere—on land, on lake, in the sky.
Ben-Hur's imagination was heated, his feelings aroused, his will all
unsettled.
So the palms, the sky, the air, seemed to him of the far south zone into
which Balthasar had been driven by despair for men; the lake, with its
motionless surface, was a suggestion of the Nilotic mother by which the good
man stood praying when the Spirit made its radiant appearance. Had all these
accessories of the miracle come to Ben-Hur? or had he been transferred
to them? And what if the miracle should be repeated—and to him?
He feared, yet wished, and even waited for the vision. When at last his
feverish mood was cooled, permitting him to become himself, he was able to
think.
His scheme of life has been explained. In all reflection about
it heretofore there had been one hiatus which he had not been able
to bridge or fill up—one so broad he could see but vaguely to the other
side of it. When, finally, he was graduated a captain as well as a soldier,
to what object should he address his efforts? Revolution he contemplated, of
course; but the processes of revolution have always been the same, and to
lead men into them there have always been required, first, a cause or
presence to enlist adherents; second, an end, or something as a
practical achievement. As a rule he fights well who has wrongs to
redress; but vastly better fights he who, with wrongs as a spur, has
also steadily before him a glorious result in prospect—a result in which
he can discern balm for wounds, compensation for valor, remembrance and
gratitude in the event of death.
To determine the sufficiency of either the cause or the end, it
was needful that Ben-Hur should study the adherents to whom he looked
when all was ready for action. Very naturally, they were his
countrymen. The wrongs of Israel were to every son of Abraham, and each one
was a cause vastly holy, vastly inspiring.
Ay, the cause was there; but the end—what should it be?
The hours and days he had given this branch of his scheme were past
calculation—all with the same conclusion—a dim, uncertain, general idea of
national liberty. Was it sufficient? He could not say no, for that would have
been the death of his hope; he shrank from saying yes, because his judgment
taught him better. He could not assure himself even that Israel was able
single-handed to successfully combat Rome. He knew the resources of that
great enemy; he knew her art was superior to her resources. A
universal alliance might suffice, but, alas! that was impossible, except—
and upon the exception how long and earnestly he had dwelt!— except
a hero would come from one of the suffering nations, and by
martial successes accomplish a renown to fill the whole earth. What
glory to Judea could she prove the Macedonia of the new
Alexander! Alas, again! Under the rabbis valor was possible, but
not discipline. And then the taunt of Messala in the garden of
Herod— "All you conquer in the six days, you lose on the seventh."
So it happened he never approached the chasm thinking to surmount it,
but he was beaten back; and so incessantly had he failed in the object that
he had about given it over, except as a thing of chance. The hero might be
discovered in his day, or he might not. God only knew. Such his state of
mind, there need be no lingering upon the effect of Malluch's skeleton
recital of the story of Balthasar. He heard it with a bewildering
satisfaction—a feeling that here was the solution of the trouble—here was
the requisite hero found at last; and he a son of the Lion tribe, and King
of the Jews! Behind the hero, lo! the world in arms.
The king implied a kingdom; he was to be a warrior glorious as David, a
ruler wise and magnificent as Solomon; the kingdom was to be a power against
which Rome was to dash itself to pieces. There would be colossal war, and the
agonies of death and birth— then peace, meaning, of course, Judean dominion
forever.
Ben-Hur's heart beat hard as for an instant he had a vision of Jerusalem
the capital of the world, and Zion, the site of the throne of the Universal
Master.
It seemed to the enthusiast rare fortune that the man who had seen the
king was at the tent to which he was going. He could see him there, and hear
him, and learn of him what all he knew of the coming change, especially all
he knew of the time of its happening. If it were at hand, the campaign with
Maxentius should be abandoned; and he would go and set about organizing and
arming the tribes, that Israel might be ready when the great day of
the restoration began to break.
Now, as we have seen, from Balthasar himself Ben-Hur had the marvelous
story. Was he satisfied?
There was a shadow upon him deeper than that of the cluster
of palms—the shadow of a great uncertainty, which—take note, O reader!
which pertained more to the kingdom than the king.
"What of this kingdom? And what is it to be?" Ben-Hur asked himself in
thought.
Thus early arose the questions which were to follow the Child to his
end, and survive him on earth—incomprehensible in his day, a dispute in
this—an enigma to all who do not or cannot understand that every man is two
in one—a deathless Soul and a mortal Body.
"What is it to be?" he asked.
For us, O reader, the Child himself has answered; but for Ben-Hur there
were only the words of Balthasar, "On the earth, yet not of it—not for men,
but for their souls—a dominion, nevertheless, of unimaginable glory."
What wonder the hapless youth found the phrases but the darkening of a
riddle?
"The hand of man is not in it," he said, despairingly. "Nor has the king
of such a kingdom use for men; neither toilers, nor councillors, nor
soldiers. The earth must die or be made anew, and for government
new principles must be discovered—something besides armed
hands—something in place of Force. But what?"
Again, O reader!
That which we will not see, he could not. The power there is in Love had
not yet occurred to any man; much less had one come saying directly that for
government and its objects—peace and order—Love is better and mightier than
Force.
In the midst of his reverie a hand was laid upon his shoulder.
"I have a word to say, O son of Arrius," said Ilderim, stopping by his
side—"a word, and then I must return, for the night is going."
"I give you welcome, sheik."
"As to the things you have heard but now," said Ilderim, almost
without pause, "take in belief all save that relating to the kind of
kingdom the Child will set up when he comes; as to so much keep virgin
mind until you hear Simonides the merchant—a good man here in Antioch, to
whom I will make you known. The Egyptian gives you coinage of his dreams
which are too good for the earth; Simonides is wiser; he will ring you the
sayings of your prophets, giving book and page, so you cannot deny that the
Child will be King of the Jews in fact—ay, by the splendor of God! a king as
Herod was, only better and far more magnificent. And then, see you, we will
taste the sweetness of vengeance. I have said. Peace to you!"
"Stay—sheik!"
If Ilderim heard his call, he did not stay.
"Simonides again!" said Ben-Hur, bitterly. "Simonides here, Simonides
there; from this one now, then from that! I am like to be well ridden by my
father's servant, who knows at least to hold fast that which is mine;
wherefore he is richer, if indeed he be not wiser, than the Egyptian. By the
covenant! it is not to the faithless a man should go to find a faith to
keep—and I will not. But, hark! singing—and the voice a woman's—or
an angel's! It comes this way."
Down the lake towards the dower came a woman singing. Her voice floated
along the hushed water melodious as a flute, and louder growing each instant.
Directly the dipping of oars was heard in slow measure; a little later the
words were distinguishable—words in purest Greek, best fitted of all the
tongues of the day for the expression of passionate grief.
THE LAMENT. (Egyptian.)
I sigh as I sing for the story land Across the Syrian sea. The
odorous winds from the musky sand Were breaths of life to me. They
play with the plumes of the whispering palm For me, alas! no
more; Nor more does the Nile in the moonlit calm Moan past the
Memphian shore.
O Nilus! thou god of my fainting soul! In dreams thou comest to
me; And, dreaming, I play with the lotus bowl, And sing old songs
to thee; And hear from afar the Memnonian strain, And calls from
dear Simbel; And wake to a passion of grief and pain That e'er I
said—Farewell!
At the conclusion of the song the singer was past the cluster
of palms. The last word—farewell—floated past Ben-Hur weighted with all
the sweet sorrow of parting. The passing of the boat was as the passing of a
deeper shadow into the deeper night.
Ben-Hur drew a long breath hardly distinguishable from a sigh.
"I know her by the song—the daughter of Balthasar. How beautiful it
was! And how beautiful is she!"
He recalled her large eyes curtained slightly by the drooping lids, the
cheeks oval and rosy rich, the lips full and deep with dimpling in the
corners, and all the grace of the tall lithe figure.
"How beautiful she is!" he repeated.
And his heart made answer by a quickening of its movement.
Then, almost the same instant, another face, younger and quite as
beautiful—more childlike and tender, if not so passionate— appeared as if
held up to him out of the lake.
"Esther!" he said, smiling. "As I wished, a star has been sent to
me."
He turned, and passed slowly back to the tent.
His life had been crowded with griefs and with
vengeful preparations—too much crowded for love. Was this the
beginning of a happy change?
And if the influence went with him into the tent, whose was it? Esther
had given him a cup. So had the Egyptian. And both had come to him at the
same time under the palms.
Which?
BOOK FIFTH
"Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the
dust."
SHIRLEY.
"And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law, In calmness
made, and sees what he
foresaw."
WORDSWORTH.
CHAPTER I
The morning after the bacchanalia in the saloon of the palace, the divan
was covered with young patricians. Maxentius might come, and the city throng
to receive him; the legion might descend from Mount Sulpius in glory of arms
and armor; from Nymphaeum to Omphalus there might be ceremonial splendors to
shame the most notable ever before seen or heard of in the gorgeous East; yet
would the many continue to sleep ignominiously on the divan where they had
fallen or been carelessly tumbled by the indifferent slaves; that
they would be able to take part in the reception that day was about
as possible as for the lay-figures in the studio of a modern artist to
rise and go bonneted and plumed through the one, two, three of a waltz.
Not all, however, who participated in the orgy were in the
shameful condition. When dawn began to peer through the skylights of the
saloon, Messala arose, and took the chaplet from his head, in sign that
the revel was at end; then he gathered his robe about him, gave a
last look at the scene, and, without a word, departed for his
quarters. Cicero could not have retired with more gravity from a
night-long senatorial debate.
Three hours afterwards two couriers entered his room, and from his own
hand received each a despatch, sealed and in duplicate, and consisting
chiefly of a letter to Valerius Gratus, the procurator, still resident in
Caesarea. The importance attached to the speedy and certain delivery of the
paper may be inferred. One courier was to proceed overland, the other by sea;
both were to make the utmost haste.
It is of great concern now that the reader should be fully informed of
the contents of the letter thus forwarded, and it is accordingly given:
"ANTIOCH, XII. Kal. Jul.
"Messala to Gratus.
"O my Midas!
"I pray thou take no offense at the address, seeing it is one of love
and gratitude, and an admission that thou art most fortunate among men;
seeing, also, that thy ears are as they were derived from thy mother, only
proportionate to thy matured condition.
"O my Midas!
"I have to relate to thee an astonishing event, which, though as yet
somewhat in the field of conjecture, will, I doubt not, justify thy instant
consideration.
"Allow me first to revive thy recollection. Remember, a good many years
ago, a family of a prince of Jerusalem, incredibly ancient and vastly
rich—by name Ben-Hur. If thy memory have a limp or ailment of any kind,
there is, if I mistake not, a wound on thy head which may help thee to a
revival of the circumstance.
"Next, to arouse thy interest. In punishment of the attempt upon thy
life—for dear repose of conscience, may all the gods forbid it should ever
prove to have been an accident!—the family were seized and summarily
disposed of, and their property confiscated. And inasmuch, O my Midas! as the
action had the approval of our Caesar, who was as just as he was wise—be
there flowers upon his altars forever!—there should be no shame in referring
to the sums which were realized to us respectively from that source, for
which it is not possible I can ever cease to be grateful to thee, certainly
not while I continue, as at present, in the uninterrupted enjoyment of the
part which fell to me.
"In vindication of thy wisdom—a quality for which, as I am now advised,
the son of Gordius, to whom I have boldly likened thee, was never
distinguished among men or gods—I recall further that thou didst make
disposition of the family of Hur, both of us at the time supposing the plan
hit upon to be the most effective possible for the purposes in view, which
were silence and delivery over to inevitable but natural death. Thou wilt
remember what thou didst with the mother and sister of the malefactor; yet,
if now I yield to a desire to learn whether they be living or dead, I know,
from knowing the amiability of thy nature, O my Gratus, that thou
wilt pardon me as one scarcely less amiable than thyself.
"As more immediately essential to the present business, however, I take
the liberty of inviting to thy remembrance that the actual criminal was sent
to the galleys a slave for life—so the precept ran; and it may serve to make
the event which I am about to relate the more astonishing by saying here that
I saw and read the receipt for his body delivered in course to the tribune
commanding a galley.
"Thou mayst begin now to give me more especial heed, O my most excellent
Phrygian!
"Referring to the limit of life at the oar, the outlaw thus
justly disposed of should be dead, or, better speaking, some one of
the three thousand Oceanides should have taken him to husband at
least five years ago. And if thou wilt excuse a momentary weakness, O
most virtuous and tender of men! inasmuch as I loved him in childhood, and
also because he was very handsome—I used in much admiration to call him my
Ganymede—he ought in right to have fallen into the arms of the most
beautiful daughter of the family. Of opinion, however, that he was certainly
dead, I have lived quite five years in calm and innocent enjoyment of the
fortune for which I am in a degree indebted to him. I make the admission of
indebtedness without intending it to diminish my obligation to thee.
"Now I am at the very point of interest.
"Last night, while acting as master of the feast for a party just from
Rome—their extreme youth and inexperience appealed to my compassion—I heard
a singular story. Maxentius, the consul, as you know, comes to-day to conduct
a campaign against the Parthians. Of the ambitious who are to accompany him
there is one, a son of the late duumvir Quintus Arrius. I had occasion to
inquire about him particularly. When Arrius set out in pursuit of the
pirates, whose defeat gained him his final honors, he had no family; when he
returned from the expedition, he brought back with him an heir. Now be thou
composed as becomes the owner of so many talents in ready sestertii! The son
and heir of whom I speak is he whom thou didst send to the galleys—the very
Ben-Hur who should have died at his oar five years ago—returned now
with fortune and rank, and possibly as a Roman citizen, to— Well, thou
art too firmly seated to be alarmed, but I, O my Midas! I am in danger—no
need to tell thee of what. Who should know, if thou dost not?
"Sayst thou to all this, tut-tut?
"When Arrius, the father, by adoption, of this apparition from the arms
of the most beautiful of the Oceanides (see above my opinion of what she
should be), joined battle with the pirates, his vessel was sunk, and but two
of all her crew escaped drowning—Arrius himself and this one, his
heir.
"The officers who took them from the plank on which they were floating
say the associate of the fortunate tribune was a young man who, when lifted
to the deck, was in the dress of a galley slave.
"This should be convincing, to say least; but lest thou say
tut-tut again, I tell thee, O my Midas! that yesterday, by good
chance—I have a vow to Fortune in consequence—I met the mysterious son
of Arrius face to face; and I declare now that, though I did not
then recognize him, he is the very Ben-Hur who was for years my
playmate; the very Ben-Hur who, if he be a man, though of the commonest
grade, must this very moment of my writing be thinking of
vengeance—for so would I were I he—vengeance not to be satisfied short of
life; vengeance for country, mother, sister, self, and—I say it
last, though thou mayst think it would be first—for fortune lost.
"By this time, O good my benefactor and friend! my Gratus!
in consideration of thy sestertii in peril, their loss being the worst
which could befall one of thy high estate—I quit calling thee after the
foolish old King of Phrygia—by this time, I say (meaning after having read
me so far), I have faith to believe thou hast ceased saying tut-tut, and art
ready to think what ought to be done in such emergency.
"It were vulgar to ask thee now what shall be done. Rather let me say I
am thy client; or, better yet, thou art my Ulysses whose part it is to give
me sound direction.
"And I please myself thinking I see thee when this letter is put into
thy hand. I see thee read it once; thy countenance all gravity, and then
again with a smile; then, hesitation ended, and thy judgment formed, it is
this, or it is that; wisdom like Mercury's, promptitude like Caesar's.
"The sun is now fairly risen. An hour hence two messengers will depart
from my door, each with a sealed copy hereof; one of them will go by land,
the other by sea, so important do I regard it that thou shouldst be early and
particularly informed of the appearance of our enemy in this part of our
Roman world.
"I will await thy answer here.
"Ben-Hur's going and coming will of course be regulated by his master,
the consul, who, though he exert himself without rest day and night, cannot
get away under a month. Thou knowest what work it is to assemble and provide
for an army destined to operate in a desolate, townless country.
"I saw the Jew yesterday in the Grove of Daphne; and if he be not there
now, he is certainly in the neighborhood, making it easy for me to keep him
in eye. Indeed, wert thou to ask me where he is now, I should say, with the
most positive assurance, he is to be found at the old Orchard of Palms, under
the tent of the traitor Sheik Ilderim, who cannot long escape our strong
hand. Be not surprised if Maxentius, as his first measure, places the Arab
on ship for forwarding to Rome.
"I am so particular about the whereabouts of the Jew because it will be
important to thee, O illustrious! when thou comest to consider what is to be
done; for already I know, and by the knowledge I flatter myself I am growing
in wisdom, that in every scheme involving human action there are three
elements always to be taken into account—time, place, and agency.
"If thou sayest this is the place, have thou then no hesitancy
in trusting the business to thy most loving friend, who would be
thy aptest scholar as well.
MESSALA."
CHAPTER II
About the time the couriers departed from Messala's door with
the despatches (it being yet the early morning hour), Ben-Hur
entered I1derim's tent. He had taken a plunge into the lake, and
breakfasted, and appeared now in an under-tunic, sleeveless, and with skirt
scarcely reaching to the knee.
The sheik saluted him from the divan.
"I give thee peace, son of Arrius," he said, with admiration, for, in
truth, he had never seen a more perfect illustration of glowing, powerful,
confident manhood. "I give thee peace and good-will. The horses are ready, I
am ready. And thou?"
"The peace thou givest me, good sheik, I give thee in return. I thank
thee for so much good-will. I am ready."
Ilderim clapped his hands.
"I will have the horses brought. Be seated."
"Are they yoked?"
"No."
"Then suffer me to serve myself," said Ben-Hur. "It is needful that I
make the acquaintance of thy Arabs. I must know them by name, O sheik, that I
may speak to them singly; nor less must I know their temper, for they are
like men: if bold, the better of scolding; if timid, the better of praise and
flattery. Let the servants bring me the harness."
"And the chariot?" asked the sheik.
"I will let the chariot alone to-day. In its place, let them bring me a
fifth horse, if thou hast it; he should be barebacked, and fleet as the
others."
Ilderim's wonder was aroused, and he summoned a servant immediately.
"Bid them bring the harness for the four," he said—"the harness for the
four, and the bridle for Sirius."
Ilderim then arose.
"Sirius is my love, and I am his, O son of Arrius. We have been comrades
for twenty years—in tent, in battle, in all stages of the desert we have
been comrades. I will show him to you."
Going to the division curtain, he held it, while Ben-Hur passed under.
The horses came to him in a body. One with a small head, luminous eyes, neck
like the segment of a bended bow, and mighty chest, curtained thickly by a
profusion of mane soft and wavy as a damsel's locks, nickered low and gladly
at sight of him.
"Good horse," said the sheik, patting the dark-brown cheek. "Good horse,
good-morning." Turning then to Ben-Hur, he added, "This is Sirius, father of
the four here. Mira, the mother, awaits our return, being too precious to be
hazarded in a region where there is a stronger hand than mine. And much I
doubt," he laughed as he spoke—"much I doubt, O son of Arrius, if the
tribe could endure her absence. She is their glory; they worship her; did
she gallop over them, they would laugh. Ten thousand horsemen, sons of the
desert, will ask to-day, 'Have you heard of Mira?' And to the answer, 'She is
well,' they will say, 'God is good! blessed be God!'"
"Mira—Sirius—names of stars, are they not, O sheik?" asked Ben-Hur,
going to each of the four, and to the sire, offering his hand.
"And why not?" replied Ilderim. "Wert thou ever abroad on the desert at
night?"
"No."
"Then thou canst not know how much we Arabs depend upon the stars. We
borrow their names in gratitude, and give them in love. My fathers all had
their Miras, as I have mine; and these children are stars no less. There, see
thou, is Rigel, and there Antares; that one is Atair, and he whom thou goest
to now is Aldebaran, the youngest of the brood, but none the worse of
that—no, not he! Against the wind he will carry thee till it roar in thy
ears like Akaba; and he will go where thou sayest, son of Arrius—ay, by the
glory of Solomon! he will take thee to the lion's jaws, if thou darest so
much."
The harness was brought. With his own hands Ben-Hur equipped the horses;
with his own hands he led them out of the tent, and there attached the
reins.
"Bring me Sirius," he said.
An Arab could not have better sprung to seat on the courser's back.
"And now the reins."
They were given him, and carefully separated.
"Good sheik," he said, "I am ready. Let a guide go before me to the
field, and send some of thy men with water."
There was no trouble at starting. The horses were not afraid. Already
there seemed a tacit understanding between them and the new driver, who had
performed his part calmly, and with the confidence which always begets
confidence. The order of going was precisely that of driving, except that
Ben-Hur sat upon Sirius instead of standing in the chariot. Ilderim's
spirit arose. He combed his beard, and smiled with satisfaction as
he muttered, "He is not a Roman, no, by the splendor of God!" He followed
on foot, the entire tenantry of the dowar—men, women, and children—pouring
after him, participants all in his solicitude, if not in his
confidence.
The field, when reached, proved ample and well fitted for the training,
which Ben-Hur began immediately by driving the four at first slowly, and in
perpendicular lines, and then in wide circles. Advancing a step in the
course, he put them next into a trot; again progressing, he pushed into a
gallop; at length he contracted the circles, and yet later drove
eccentrically here and there, right, left, forward, and without a break. An
hour was thus occupied. Slowing the gait to a walk, he drove up to
Ilderim.
"The work is done, nothing now but practice," he said. "I give you joy,
Sheik Ilderim, that you have such servants as these. See," he continued,
dismounting and going to the horses, "see, the gloss of their red coats is
without spot; they breathe lightly as when I began. I give thee great joy,
and it will go hard if"—he turned his flashing eyes upon the old man's
face—"if we have not the victory and our—"
He stopped, colored, bowed. At the sheik's side he observed, for the
first time, Balthasar, leaning upon his staff, and two women closely veiled.
At one of the latter he looked a second time, saying to himself, with a
flutter about his heart, "'Tis she—'tis the Egyptian!" Ilderim picked up his
broken sentence—
"The victory, and our revenge!" Then he said aloud, "I am not afraid; I
am glad. Son of Arrius, thou art the man. Be the end like the beginning, and
thou shalt see of what stuff is the lining of the hand of an Arab who is able
to give."
"I thank thee, good sheik," Ben-Hur returned, modestly. "Let
the servants bring drink for the horses."
With his own hands he gave the water.
Remounting Sirius, he renewed the training, going as before from walk to
trot, from trot to gallop; finally, he pushed the steady racers into the run,
gradually quickening it to full speed. The performance then became exciting;
and there were applause for the dainty handling of the reins, and admiration
for the four, which were the same, whether they flew forward or wheeled in
varying curvature. In their action there were unity, power, grace,
pleasure, all without effort or sign of labor. The admiration was unmixed
with pity or reproach, which would have been as well bestowed upon
swallows in their evening flight.
In the midst of the exercises, and the attention they received from all
the bystanders, Malluch came upon the ground, seeking the sheik.
"I have a message for you, O sheik," he said, availing himself of a
moment he supposed favorable for the speech—"a message from Simonides, the
merchant."
"Simonides!" ejaculated the Arab. "Ah! 'tis well. May Abaddon take all
his enemies!"
"He bade me give thee first the holy peace of God," Malluch
continued; "and then this despatch, with prayer that thou read it the
instant of receipt."
Ilderim, standing in his place, broke the sealing of the
package delivered to him, and from a wrapping of fine linen took two
letters, which he proceeded to read.
[No. 1.] "Simonides to Sheik Ilderim.
"O friend!
"Assure thyself first of a place in my inner heart.
"Then—
"There is in thy dowar a youth of fair presence, calling himself the son
of Arrius; and such he is by adoption.
"He is very dear to me.
"He hath a wonderful history, which I will tell thee; come thou to-day
or to-morrow, that I may tell thee the history, and have thy counsel.
"Meantime, favor all his requests, so they be not against honor. Should
there be need of reparation, I am bound to thee for it.
"That I have interest in this youth, keep thou private.
"Remember me to thy other guest. He, his daughter, thyself, and all whom
thou mayst choose to be of thy company, must depend upon me at the Circus the
day of the games. I have seats already engaged.
"To thee and all thine, peace.
"What should I be, O my friend, but thy friend?
"SIMONIDES."
[No. 2.] "Simonides to Sheik Ilderim.
"O friend!
"Out of the abundance of my experience, I send you a word.
"There is a sign which all persons not Romans, and who have moneys
or goods subject to despoilment, accept as warning—that is, the
arrival at a seat of power of some high Roman official charged with
authority.
"To-day comes the Consul Maxentius.
"Be thou warned!
"Another word of advice.
"A conspiracy, to be of effect against thee, O friend, must include the
Herods as parties; thou hast great properties in their dominions.
"Wherefore keep thou watch.
"Send this morning to thy trusty keepers of the roads leading south from
Antioch, and bid them search every courier going and coming; if they find
private despatches relating to thee or thine affairs, THOU SHOULDST SEE
THEM.
"You should have received this yesterday, though it is not too late, if
you act promptly.
"If couriers left Antioch this morning, your messengers know the byways,
and can get before them with your orders.
"Do not hesitate.
"Burn this after reading.
"O my friend! thy friend,
"SIMONIDES."
Ilderim read the letters a second time, and refolded them in
the linen wrap, and put the package under his girdle.
The exercises in the field continued but a little longer—in all about
two hours. At their conclusion, Ben-Hur brought the four to a walk, and drove
to Ilderim.
"With leave, O sheik," he said, "I will return thy Arabs to the tent,
and bring them out again this afternoon."
Ilderim walked to him as he sat on Sirius, and said, "I give them to
you, son of Arrius, to do with as you will until after the games. You have
done with them in two hours what the Roman—may jackals gnaw his bones
fleshless!—could not in as many weeks. We will win—by the splendor of God,
we will win!"
At the tent Ben-Hur remained with the horses while they were being cared
for; then, after a plunge in the lake and a cup of arrack with the sheik,
whose flow of spirits was royally exuberant, he dressed himself in his Jewish
garb again, and walked with Malluch on into the Orchard.
There was much conversation between the two, not all of it
important. One part, however, must not be overlooked. Ben-Hur was
speaking.
"I will give you," he said, "an order for my property stored in the khan
this side the river by the Seleucian Bridge. Bring it to me to-day, if you
can. And, good Malluch—if I do not overtask you—"
Malluch protested heartily his willingness to be of service.
"Thank you, Malluch, thank you," said Ben-Hur. "I will take you at your
word, remembering that we are brethren of the old tribe, and that the enemy
is a Roman. First, then—as you are a man of business, which I much fear
Sheik Ilderim is not—"
"Arabs seldom are," said Malluch, gravely.
"Nay, I do not impeach their shrewdness, Malluch. It is well, however,
to look after them. To save all forfeit or hindrance in connection with the
race, you would put me perfectly at rest by going to the office of the
Circus, and seeing that he has complied with every preliminary rule; and if
you can get a copy of the rules, the service may be of great avail to me. I
would like to know the colors I am to wear, and particularly the number of
the crypt I am to occupy at the starting; if it be next Messala's on
the right or left, it is well; if not, and you can have it changed so as
to bring me next the Roman, do so. Have you good memory, Malluch?"
"It has failed me, but never, son of Arrius, where the heart helped it
as now."
"I will venture, then, to charge you with one further service. I saw
yesterday that Messala was proud of his chariot, as he might be, for the best
of Caesar's scarcely surpass it. Can you not make its display an excuse which
will enable you to find if it be light or heavy? I would like to have its
exact weight and measurements—and, Malluch, though you fail in all else,
bring me exactly the height his axle stands above the ground. You
understand, Malluch? I do not wish him to have any actual advantage of
me. I do not care for his splendor; if I beat him, it will make his fall
the harder, and my triumph the more complete. If there are advantages really
important, I want them."
"I see, I see!" said Malluch. "A line dropped from the centre of the
axle is what you want."
"Thou hast it; and be glad, Malluch—it is the last of my
commissions. Let us return to the dowar."
At the door of the tent they found a servant replenishing
the smoke-stained bottles of leben freshly made, and stopped to refresh
themselves. Shortly afterwards Malluch returned to the city.
During their absence, a messenger well mounted had been despatched with
orders as suggested by Simonides. He was an Arab, and carried nothing
written.
CHAPTER III
"Iras, the daughter of Balthasar, sends me with salutation and a
message," said a servant to Ben-Hur, who was taking his ease in the
tent.
"Give me the message."
"Would it please you to accompany her upon the lake?"
"I will carry the answer myself. Tell her so."
His shoes were brought him, and in a few minutes Ben-Hur sallied out to
find the fair Egyptian. The shadow of the mountains was creeping over the
Orchard of Palms in advance of night. Afar through the trees came the
tinkling of sheep bells, the lowing of cattle, and the voices of the herdsmen
bringing their charges home. Life at the Orchard, it should be remembered,
was in all respects as pastoral as life on the scantier meadows of the
desert.
Sheik Ilderim had witnessed the exercises of the afternoon, being
a repetition of those of the morning; after which he had gone to the city
in answer to the invitation of Simonides; he might return in the night; but,
considering the immensity of the field to be talked over with his friend, it
was hardly possible. Ben-Hur, thus left alone, had seen his horses cared for;
cooled and purified himself in the lake; exchanged the field garb for his
customary vestments, all white, as became a Sadducean of the pure blood;
supped early; and, thanks to the strength of youth, was well recovered from
the violent exertion he had undergone.
It is neither wise nor honest to detract from beauty as a quality. There
cannot be a refined soul insensible to its influence. The story of Pygmalion
and his statue is as natural as it is poetical. Beauty is of itself a power;
and it was now drawing Ben-Hur.
The Egyptian was to him a wonderfully beautiful woman—beautiful of
face, beautiful of form. In his thought she always appeared to him as he saw
her at the fountain; and he felt the influence of her voice, sweeter because
in tearful expression of gratitude to him, and of her eyes—the large, soft,
black, almond-shaped eyes declarative of her race—eyes which looked more
than lies in the supremest wealth of words to utter; and recurrences of the
thought of her were returns just so frequent of a figure tall,
slender, graceful, refined, wrapped in rich and floating drapery,
wanting nothing but a fitting mind to make her, like the Shulamite, and
in the same sense, terrible as an army with banners. In other words, as
she returned to his fancy, the whole passionate Song of Solomon came with
her, inspired by her presence. With this sentiment and that feeling, he was
going to see if she actually justified them. It was not love that was taking
him, but admiration and curiosity, which might be the heralds of love.
The landing was a simple affair, consisting of a short stairway, and a
platform garnished by some lamp-posts; yet at the top of the steps he paused,
arrested by what he beheld.
There was a shallop resting upon the clear water lightly as an
egg-shell. An Ethiop—the camel-driver at the Castalian fount—occupied the
rower's place, his blackness intensified by a livery of shining white. All
the boat aft was cushioned and carpeted with stuffs brilliant with Tyrian
red. On the rudder seat sat the Egyptian herself, sunk in Indian shawls and a
very vapor of most delicate veils and scarfs. Her arms were bare to the
shoulders; and, not merely faultless in shape, they had the effect of
compelling attention to them—their pose, their action, their expression; the
hands, the fingers even, seemed endowed with graces and meaning; each was an
object of beauty. The shoulders and neck were protected from the evening air
by an ample scarf, which yet did not hide them.
In the glance he gave her, Ben-Hur paid no attention to these
details. There was simply an impression made upon him; and, like strong
light, it was a sensation, not a thing of sight or enumeration. Thy lips
are like a thread of scarlet; thy temples are like a piece of
pomegranate within thy locks. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away;
for, lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear
on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in the land—such was the impression she made upon him
translated into words.
"Come," she said, observing him stop, "come, or I shall think you a poor
sailor."
The red of his cheek deepened. Did she know anything of his life upon
the sea? He descended to the platform at once.
"I was afraid," he said, as he took the vacant seat before her.
"Of what?"
"Of sinking the boat," he replied, smiling.
"Wait until we are in deeper water," she said, giving a signal to the
black, who dipped the oars, and they were off.
If love and Ben-Hur were enemies, the latter was never more at mercy.
The Egyptian sat where he could not but see her; she, whom he had already
engrossed in memory as his ideal of the Shulamite. With her eyes giving light
to his, the stars might come out, and he not see them; and so they did. The
night might fall with unrelieved darkness everywhere else; her look would
make illumination for him. And then, as everybody knows, given youth and
such companionship, there is no situation in which the fancy takes such
complete control as upon tranquil waters under a calm night sky, warm with
summer. It is so easy at such time to glide imperceptibly out of the
commonplace into the ideal.
"Give me the rudder," he said.
"No," she replied, "that were to reverse the relation. Did I not ask you
to ride with me? I am indebted to you, and would begin payment. You may talk
and I will listen, or I will talk and you will listen: that choice is yours;
but it shall be mine to choose where we go, and the way thither."
"And where may that be?"
"You are alarmed again."
"O fair Egyptian, I but asked you the first question of
every captive."
"Call me Egypt."
"I would rather call you Iras."
"You may think of me by that name, but call me Egypt."
"Egypt is a country, and means many people."
"Yes, yes! And such a country!"
"I see; it is to Egypt we are going."
"Would we were! I would be so glad."
She sighed as she spoke.
"You have no care for me, then," he said.
"Ah, by that I know you were never there."
"I never was."
"Oh, it is the land where there are no unhappy people, the desired of
all the rest of the earth, the mother of all the gods, and
therefore supremely blest. There, O son of Arrius, there the happy find
increase of happiness, and the wretched, going, drink once of the sweet
water of the sacred river, and laugh and sing, rejoicing like
children."
"Are not the very poor with you there as elsewhere?"
"The very poor in Egypt are the very simple in wants and ways," she
replied. "They have no wish beyond enough, and how little that is, a Greek or
a Roman cannot know."
"But I am neither Greek nor Roman."
She laughed.
"I have a garden of roses, and in the midst of it is a tree, and its
bloom is the richest of all. Whence came it, think you?"
"From Persia, the home of the rose."
"No."
"From India, then."
"No."
"Ah! one of the isles of Greece."
"I will tell you," she said: "a traveller found it perishing by the
roadside on the plain of Rephaim."
"Oh, in Judea!"
"I put it in the earth left bare by the receding Nile, and the
soft south wind blew over the desert and nursed it, and the sun kissed it
in pity; after which it could not else than grow and flourish. I stand in its
shade now, and it thanks me with much perfume. As with the roses, so with the
men of Israel. Where shall they reach perfection but in Egypt?"
"Moses was but one of millions."
"Nay, there was a reader of dreams. Will you forget him?"
"The friendly Pharaohs are dead."
"Ah, yes! The river by which they dwelt sings to them in their tombs;
yet the same sun tempers the same air to the same people."
"Alexandria is but a Roman town."
"She has but exchanged sceptres. Caesar took from her that of the sword,
and in its place left that of learning. Go with me to the Brucheium, and I
will show you the college of nations; to the Serapeion, and see the
perfection of architecture; to the Library, and read the immortals; to the
theatre, and hear the heroics of the Greeks and Hindoos; to the quay, and
count the triumphs of commerce; descend with me into the streets, O son of
Arrius, and, when the philosophers have dispersed, and taken with them the
masters of all the arts, and all the gods have home their votaries, and
nothing remains of the day but its pleasures, you shall hear the stories that
have amused men from the beginning, and the songs which will never, never
die."
As he listened, Ben-Hur was carried back to the night when, in
the summer-house in Jerusalem, his mother, in much the same poetry
of patriotism, declaimed the departed glories of Israel.
"I see now why you wish to be called Egypt. Will you sing me a song if I
call you by that name? I heard you last night."
"That was a hymn of the Nile," she answered, "a lament which I sing when
I would fancy I smell the breath of the desert, and hear the surge of the
dear old river; let me rather give you a piece of the Indian mind. When we
get to Alexandria, I will take you to the corner of the street where you can
hear it from the daughter of the Ganga, who taught it to me. Kapila, you
should know, was one of the most revered of the Hindoo sages."
Then, as if it were a natural mode of expression, she began
the song.
KAPILA.
I.
"Kapila, Kapila, so young and true, I yearn for a glory like
thine, And hail thee from battle to ask anew, Can ever thy Valor be
mine?
"Kapila sat on his charger dun, A hero never so grave: 'Who
loveth all things hath fear of none, 'Tis love that maketh me
brave. A woman gave me her soul one day, The soul of my soul to be alway;
Thence came my Valor to me, Go try it—try it—and
see.'
II.
"Kapila, Kapila, so old and gray, The queen is calling for
me; But ere I go hence, I wish thou wouldst say, How Wisdom first
came to thee.
"Kapila stood in his temple door, A priest in eremite
guise: 'It did not come as men get their lore, 'Tis faith that
maketh me wise. A woman gave me her heart one day, The heart of my heart
to be alway; Thence came my Wisdom to me, Go try it—try
it—and see.'"
Ben-Hur had not time to express his thanks for the song before
the keel of the boat grated upon the underlying sand, and, next
moment, the bow ran upon the shore.
"A quick voyage, O Egypt!" he cried.
"And a briefer stay!" she replied, as, with a strong push, the
black sent them shooting into the open water again.
"You will give me the rudder now."
"Oh no," said she, laughing. "To you, the chariot; to me, the boat. We
are merely at the lake's end, and the lesson is that I must not sing any
more. Having been to Egypt, let us now to the Grove of Daphne."
"Without a song on the way?" he said, in deprecation.
"Tell me something of the Roman from whom you saved us to-day," she
asked.
The request struck Ben-Hur unpleasantly.
"I wish this were the Nile," he said, evasively. "The kings and queens,
having slept so long, might come down from their tombs, and ride with
us."
"They were of the colossi, and would sink our boat. The pygmies would be
preferable. But tell me of the Roman. He is very wicked, is he not?"
"I cannot say."
"Is he of noble family, and rich?"
"I cannot speak of his riches."
"How beautiful his horses were! and the bed of his chariot was gold, and
the wheels ivory. And his audacity! The bystanders laughed as he rode away;
they, who were so nearly under his wheels!"
She laughed at the recollection.
"They were rabble," said Ben-Hur, bitterly.
"He must be one of the monsters who are said to be growing up
in Rome—Apollos ravenous as Cerberus. Does he reside in Antioch?"
"He is of the East somewhere."
"Egypt would suit him better than Syria."
"Hardly," Ben-Hur replied. "Cleopatra is dead."
That instant the lamps burning before the door of the tent came into
view.
"The dowar!" she cried.
"Ah, then, we have not been to Egypt. I have not seen Karnak or Philae
or Abydos. This is not the Nile. I have but heard a song of India, and been
boating in a dream."
"Philae—Karnak. Mourn rather that you have not seen the Rameses at Aboo
Simbel, looking at which makes it so easy to think of God, the maker of the
heavens and earth. Or why should you mourn at all? Let us go on to the river;
and if I cannot sing"—she laughed—"because I have said I would not, yet I
can tell you stories of Egypt."
"Go on! Ay, till morning comes, and the evening, and the next morning!"
he said, vehemently.
"Of what shall my stories be? Of the mathematicians?"
"Oh no."
"Of the philosophers?"
"No, no."
"Of the magicians and genii?"
"If you will."
"Of war?"
"Yes."
"Of love?"
"Yes."
"I will tell you a cure for love. It is the story of a queen. Listen
reverently. The papyrus from which it was taken by the priests of Philae was
wrested from the hand of the heroine herself. It is correct in form, and must
be true:
NE-NE-HOFRA.
I.
"There is no parallelism in human lives.
"No life runs a straight line.
"The most perfect life develops as a circle, and terminates in
its beginning, making it impossible to say, This is the commencement, that
the end.
"Perfect lives are the treasures of God; of great days he wears them on
the ring-finger of his heart hand."
II.
"Ne-ne-hofra dwelt in a house close by Essouan, yet closer to the first
cataract—so close, indeed, that the sound of the eternal battle waged there
between river and rocks was of the place a part.
"She grew in beauty day by day, so that it was said of her, as of the
poppies in her father's garden, What will she not be in the time of
blooming?
"Each year of her life was the beginning of a new song more delightful
than any of those which went before.
"Child was she of a marriage between the North, bounded by the sea, and
the South, bounded by the desert beyond the Luna mountains; and one gave her
its passion, the other its genius; so when they beheld her, both laughed,
saying, not meanly, 'She is mine,' but generously, 'Ha, ha! she is
ours.'
"All excellences in nature contributed to her perfection and rejoiced in
her presence. Did she come or go, the birds ruffled their wings in greeting;
the unruly winds sank to cooling zephyrs; the white lotus rose from the
water's depth to look at her; the solemn river loitered on its way; the
palm-trees, nodding, shook all their plumes; and they seemed to say, this
one, I gave her of my grace; that, I gave her of my brightness; the other, I
gave her of my purity: and so each as it had a virtue to give.
"At twelve, Ne-ne-hofra was the delight of Essouan; at sixteen, the fame
of her beauty was universal; at twenty, there was never a day which did not
bring to her door princes of the desert on swift camels, and lords of Egypt
in gilded barges; and, going away disconsolate, they reported everywhere, 'I
have seen her, and she is not a woman, but Athor herself.'"
III.
"Now of the three hundred and thirty successors of good King
Menes, eighteen were Ethiopians, of whom Oraetes was one hundred and
ten years old. He had reigned seventy-six years. Under him the
people thrived, and the land groaned with fatness of plenty. He
practised wisdom because, having seen so much, he knew what it was. He
dwelt in Memphis, having there his principal palace, his arsenals, and
his treasure-house. Frequently he went down to Butos to talk with
Latona.
"The wife of the good king died. Too old was she for perfect embalmment;
yet he loved her, and mourned as the inconsolable; seeing which, a colchyte
presumed one day to speak to him.
"'O Oraetes, I am astonished that one so wise and great should not know
how to cure a sorrow like this.'
"'Tell me a cure,' said the king.
"Three times the colchyte kissed the floor, and then he replied, knowing
the dead could not hear him, 'At Essouan lives Ne-ne-hofra, beautiful as
Athor the beautiful. Send for her. She has refused all the lords and princes,
and I know not how many kings; but who can say no to Oraetes?'"
IV.
"Ne-ne-hofra descended the Nile in a barge richer than any ever before
seen, attended by an army in barges each but a little less fine. All Nubia
and Egypt, and a myriad from Libya, and a host of Troglodytes, and not a few
Macrobii from beyond the Mountains of the Moon, lined the tented shores to
see the cortege pass, wafted by perfumed winds and golden oars.
"Through a dromos of sphinxes and couchant double-winged lions she was
borne, and set down before Oraetes sitting on a throne specially erected at
the sculptured pylon of the palace. He raised her up, gave her place by his
side, clasped the uraeus upon her arm, kissed her, and Ne-ne-hofra was queen
of all queens.
"That was not enough for the wise Oraetes; he wanted love, and a queen
happy in his love. So he dealt with her tenderly, showing her his
possessions, cities, palaces, people; his armies, his ships: and with his own
hand he led her through his treasure-house, saying, 'O. Ne-ne-hofra! but kiss
me in love, and they are all thine.'
"And, thinking she could be happy, if she was not then, she kissed him
once, twice, thrice—kissed him thrice, his hundred and ten years
notwithstanding.
"The first year she was happy, and it was very short; the third year she
was wretched, and it was very long; then she was enlightened: that which she
thought love of Oraetes was only daze of his power. Well for her had the daze
endured! Her spirits deserted her; she had long spells of tears, and her
women could not remember when they heard her laugh; of the roses on her
cheeks only ashes remained; she languished and faded gradually, but
certainly. Some said she was haunted by the Erinnyes for cruelty to a lover;
others, that she was stricken by some god envious of Oraetes. Whatever the
cause of her decline, the charms of the magicians availed not to
restore her, and the prescript of the doctor was equally without
virtue. Ne-ne-hofra was given over to die.
"Oraetes chose a crypt for her up in the tombs of the queens;
and, calling the master sculptors and painters to Memphis, he set them to
work upon designs more elaborate than any even in the great galleries of the
dead kings.
"'O thou beautiful as Athor herself, my queen!' said the king, whose
hundred and thirteen years did not lessen his ardor as a lover, 'Tell me, I
pray, the ailment of which, alas! thou art so certainly perishing before my
eyes.'
"'You will not love me any more if I tell you,' she said, in doubt and
fear.
"'Not love you! I will love you the more. I swear it, by the genii of
Amente! by the eye of Osiris, I swear it! Speak!' he cried, passionate as a
lover, authoritative as a king.
"'Hear, then,' she said. 'There is an anchorite, the oldest and holiest
of his class, in a cave near Essouan. His name is Menopha. He was my teacher
and guardian. Send for him, O Oraetes, and he will tell you that you seek to
know; he will also help you find the cure for my affliction.'
"Oraetes arose rejoicing. He went away in spirit a hundred years younger
than when he came."
V.
"'Speak!' said Oraetes to Menopha, in the palace at Memphis.
"And Menopha replied, 'Most mighty king, if you were young, I should not
answer, because I am yet pleased with life; as it is, I will say the queen,
like any other mortal, is paying the penalty of a crime.'
"'A crime!' exclaimed Oraetes, angrily.
"Menopha bowed very low.
"'Yes; to herself.'
"'I am not in mood for riddles,' said the king.
"'What I say is not a riddle, as you shall hear. Ne-ne-hofra grew up
under my eyes, and confided every incident of her life to me; among others,
that she loved the son of her father's gardener, Barbec by name.'
"Oraetes's frown, strangely enough, began to dissipate.
"'With that love in her heart, O king, she came to you; of that love she
is dying.'
"'Where is the gardener's son now?' asked Oraetes.
"'In Essouan.'
"The king went out and gave two orders. To one oeris he said, 'Go to
Essouan and bring hither a youth named Barbec. You will find him in the
garden of the queen's father;' to another, 'Assemble workmen and cattle and
tools, and construct for me in Lake Chemmis an island, which, though laden
with a temple, a palace, and a garden, and all manner of trees bearing
fruit, and all manner of vines, shall nevertheless float about as
the winds may blow it. Make the island, and let it be fully furnished by
the time the moon begins to wane.'
"Then to the queen he said,
"'Be of cheer. I know all, and have sent for Barbec.'
"Ne-ne-hofra kissed his hands.
"'You shall have him to yourself, and he you to himself; nor shall any
disturb your loves for a year.'
"She kissed his feet; he raised her, and kissed her in return; and the
rose came back to her cheek, the scarlet to her lips, and the laughter to her
heart."
VI.
"For one year Ne-ne-hofra and Barbec the gardener floated as the winds
blew on the island of Chemmis, which became one of the wonders of the world;
never a home of love more beautiful; one year, seeing no one and existing for
no one but themselves. Then she returned in state to the palace in
Memphis.
"'Now whom lovest thou best?' asked the king.
"She kissed his cheek and said, 'Take me back, O good king, for I am
cured.'
"Oraetes laughed, none the worse, that moment, of his hundred
and fourteen years.
"'Then it is true, as Menopha said: ha, ha, ha! it is true, the cure of
love is love.'
"'Even so,' she replied.
"Suddenly his manner changed, and his look became terrible.
"'I did not find it so,' he said.
"She shrank affrighted.
"'Thou guilty!' he continued. 'Thy offense to Oraetes the man he
forgives; but thy offence to Oraetes the king remains to be punished.'
"She cast herself at his feet.
"'Hush!' he cried. 'Thou art dead!'
"He clapped his hands, and a terrible procession came in—a
procession of parachistes, or embalmers, each with some implement or material
of his loathsome art.
"The King pointed to Ne-ne-hofra.
"'She is dead. Do thy work well.'"
VII.
"Ne-ne-hofra the beautiful, after seventy-two days, was carried to the
crypt chosen for her the year before, and laid with her queenly predecessors;
yet there was no funeral procession in her honor across the sacred
lake."
At the conclusion of the story, Ben-Hur was sitting at
the Egyptian's feet, and her hand upon the tiller was covered by his
hand.
"Menopha was wrong," he said.
"How?"
"Love lives by loving."
"Then there is no cure for it?"
"Yes. Oraetes found the cure."
"What was it?"
"Death."
"You are a good listener, O son of Arrius."
And so with conversation and stories, they whiled the hours away. As
they stepped ashore, she said,
"To-morrow we go to the city."
"But you will be at the games?" he asked.
"Oh yes."
"I will send you my colors."
With that they separated.
CHAPTER IV
Ilderim returned to the dowar next day about the third hour. As he
dismounted, a man whom he recognized as of his own tribe came to him and
said, "O sheik, I was bidden give thee this package, with request that thou
read it at once. If there be answer, I was to wait thy pleasure."
Ilderim gave the package immediate attention. The seal was already
broken. The address ran, TO VALERIUS GRATUS AT CAESAREA.
"Abaddon take him!" growled the sheik, at discovering a letter in
Latin.
Had the missive been in Greek or Arabic, he could have read it; as it
was, the utmost he could make out was the signature in bold Roman
letters—MESSALA—whereat his eyes twinkled.
"Where is the young Jew?" he asked.
"In the field with the horses," a servant replied.
The sheik replaced the papyrus in its envelopes, and, tucking
the package under his girdle, remounted the horse. That moment a stranger
made his appearance, coming, apparently, from the city.
"I am looking for Sheik Ilderim, surnamed the Generous," the
stranger said.
His language and attire bespoke him a Roman.
What he could not read, he yet could speak; so the old Arab
answered, with dignity, "I am Sheik Ilderim."
The man's eyes fell; he raised them again, and said, with
forced composure, "I heard you had need of a driver for the games."
Ilderim's lip under the white mustache curled contemptuously.
"Go thy way," he said. "I have a driver."
He turned to ride away, but the man, lingering, spoke again.
"Sheik, I am a lover of horses, and they say you have the most beautiful
in the world."
The old man was touched; he drew rein, as if on the point of yielding to
the flattery, but finally replied, "Not to-day, not to-day; some other time I
will show them to you. I am too busy just now."
He rode to the field, while the stranger betook himself to town again
with a smiling countenance. He had accomplished his mission.
And every day thereafter, down to the great day of the games, a
man—sometimes two or three men—came to the sheik at the Orchard, pretending
to seek an engagement as driver.
In such manner Messala kept watch over Ben-Hur.
CHAPTER V
The sheik waited, well satisfied, until Ben-Hur drew his horses off the
field for the forenoon—well satisfied, for he had seen them, after being put
through all the other paces, run full speed in such manner that it did not
seem there were one the slowest and another the fastest—run in other words,
as if the four were one.
"This afternoon, O sheik, I will give Sirius back to you." Ben-Hur
patted the neck of the old horse as he spoke. "I will give him back, and take
to the chariot."
"So soon?" Ilderim asked.
"With such as these, good sheik, one day suffices. They are not
afraid; they have a man's intelligence, and they love the exercise. This
one," he shook a rein over the back of the youngest of the four—"you
called him Aldebaran, I believe—is the swiftest; in once round a stadium
he would lead the others thrice his length."
Ilderim pulled his beard, and said, with twinkling eyes, "Aldebaran
is the swiftest; but what of the slowest?"
"This is he." Ben-Hur shook the rein over Antares. "This is he: but he
will win, for, look you, sheik, he will run his utmost all day—all day; and,
as the sun goes down, he will reach his swiftest."
"Right again," said Ilderim.
"I have but one fear, O sheik."
The sheik became doubly serious.
"In his greed of triumph, a Roman cannot keep honor pure. In
the games—all of them, mark you—their tricks are infinite; in
chariot racing their knavery extends to everything—from horse to
driver, from driver to master. Wherefore, good sheik, look well to
all thou hast; from this till the trial is over, let no stranger so much
as see the horses. Would you be perfectly safe, do more—keep watch over them
with armed hand as well as sleepless eye; then I will have no fear of the
end."
At the door of the tent they dismounted.
"What you say shall be attended to. By the splendor of God, no
hand shall come near them except it belong to one of the
faithful. To-night I will set watches. But, son of Arrius"—Ilderim
drew forth the package, and opened it slowly, while they walked to the
divan and seated themselves—"son of Arrius, see thou here, and help me with
thy Latin."
He passed the despatch to Ben-Hur.
"There; read—and read aloud, rendering what thou findest into the
tongue of thy fathers. Latin is an abomination."
Ben-Hur was in good spirits, and began the reading carelessly. "'MESSALA
TO GRATUS!'" He paused. A premonition drove the blood to his heart. Ilderim
observed his agitation.
"Well; I am waiting."
Ben-Hur prayed pardon, and recommenced the paper, which, it
is sufficient to say, was one of the duplicates of the letter despatched
so carefully to Gratus by Messala the morning after the revel in the
palace.
The paragraphs in the beginning were remarkable only as proof that the
writer had not outgrown his habit of mockery; when they were passed, and the
reader came to the parts intended to refresh the memory of Gratus, his voice
trembled, and twice he stopped to regain his self-control. By a strong effort
he continued. "'I recall further,'" he read, "'that thou didst make
disposition of the family of Hur'"—there the reader again paused and drew a
long breath—"'both of us at the time supposing the plan hit upon to be the
most effective possible for the purposes in view, which were silence and
delivery over to inevitable but natural death.'"
Here Ben-Hur broke down utterly. The paper fell from his hands, and he
covered his face.
"They are dead—dead. I alone am left."
The sheik had been a silent, but not unsympathetic, witness of the young
man's suffering; now he arose and said, "Son of Arrius, it is for me to beg
thy pardon. Read the paper by thyself. When thou art strong enough to give
the rest of it to me, send word, and I will return."
He went out of the tent, and nothing in all his life became
him better.
Ben-Hur flung himself on the divan and gave way to his feelings. When
somewhat recovered, he recollected that a portion of the letter remained
unread, and, taking it up, he resumed the reading. "Thou wilt remember," the
missive ran, "what thou didst with the mother and sister of the malefactor;
yet, if now I yield to a desire to learn if they be living or dead"—Ben-Hur
started, and read again, and then again, and at last broke into exclamation.
"He does not know they are dead; he does not know it! Blessed be the name
of the Lord! there is yet hope." He finished the sentence, and
was strengthened by it, and went on bravely to the end of the letter.
"They are not dead," he said, after reflection; "they are not dead, or
he would have heard of it."
A second reading, more careful than the first, confirmed him in the
opinion. Then he sent for the sheik.
"In coming to your hospitable tent, O sheik," he said, calmly, when the
Arab was seated and they were alone, "it was not in my mind to speak of
myself further than to assure you I had sufficient training to be intrusted
with your horses. I declined to tell you my history. But the chances which
have sent this paper to my hand and given it to me to be read are so strange
that I feel bidden to trust you with everything. And I am the more inclined
to do so by knowledge here conveyed that we are both of us threatened by
the same enemy, against whom it is needful that we make common cause. I
will read the letter and give you explanation; after which you will not
wonder I was so moved. If you thought me weak or childish, you will then
excuse me."
The sheik held his peace, listening closely, until Ben-Hur came to the
paragraph in which he was particularly mentioned: "'I saw the Jew yesterday
in the Grove of Daphne;'" so ran the part, "'and if he be not there now, he
is certainly in the neighborhood, making it easy for me to keep him in eye.
Indeed, wert thou to ask me where he is now, I should say, with the most
positive assurance, he is to be found at the old Orchard of Palms.'"
"A—h!" exclaimed Ilderim, in such a tone one might hardly say he was
more surprised than angry; at the same time, he clutched his beard.
"'At the old Orchard of Palms,'" Ben-Hur repeated, "'under the tent of
the traitor Shiek Ilderim.'"
"Traitor!—I?" the old man cried, in his shrillest tone, while lip and
beard curled with ire, and on his forehead and neck the veins swelled and
beat as they would burst.
"Yet a moment, sheik," said Ben-Hur, with a deprecatory gesture. "Such
is Messala's opinion of you. Hear his threat." And he read on—"'under the
tent of the traitor Sheik Ilderim, who cannot long escape our strong hand. Be
not surprised if Maxentius, as his first measure, places the Arab on ship for
forwarding to Rome.'"
"To Rome! Me—Ilderim—sheik of ten thousand horsemen with spears— me
to Rome!"
He leaped rather than rose to his feet, his arms outstretched, his
fingers spread and curved like claws, his eyes glittering like a
serpent's.
"O God!—nay, by all the gods except of Rome!—when shall this insolence
end? A freeman am I; free are my people. Must we die slaves? Or, worse, must
I live a dog, crawling to a master's feet? Must I lick his hand, lest he lash
me? What is mine is not mine; I am not my own; for breath of body I must be
beholden to a Roman. Oh, if I were young again! Oh, could I shake off
twenty years—or ten—or five!"
He ground his teeth and shook his hands overhead; then, under
the impulse of another idea, he walked away and back again to
Ben-Hur swiftly, and caught his shoulder with a strong grasp.
"If I were as thou, son of Arrius—as young, as strong, as practised in
arms; if I had a motive hissing me to revenge—a motive, like thine, great
enough to make hate holy— Away with disguise on thy part and on mine! Son of
Hur, son of Hur, I say—"
At that name all the currents of Ben-Hur's blood stopped;
surprised, bewildered, he gazed into the Arab's eyes, now close to
his, and fiercely bright.
"Son of Hur, I say, were I as thou, with half thy wrongs, bearing about
with me memories like thine, I would not, I could not, rest." Never pausing,
his words following each other torrent-like, the old man swept on. "To all my
grievances, I would add those of the world, and devote myself to vengeance.
From land to land I would go firing all mankind. No war for freedom but
should find me engaged; no battle against Rome in which I would not bear a
part. I would turn Parthian, if I could not better. If men failed me, still I
would not give over the effort—ha, ha, ha! By the splendor of God! I would
herd with wolves, and make friends of lions and tigers, in hope of
marshalling them against the common enemy. I would use every weapon. So my
victims were Romans, I would rejoice in slaughter. Quarter I would not
ask; quarter I would not give. To the flames everything Roman; to
the sword every Roman born. Of nights I would pray the gods, the good and
the bad alike, to lend me their special terrors—tempests, drought, heat,
cold, and all the nameless poisons they let loose in air, all the thousand
things of which men die on sea and on land. Oh, I could not sleep.
I—I—"
The sheik stopped for want of breath, panting, wringing his hands. And,
sooth to say, of all the passionate burst Ben-Hur retained but a vague
impression wrought by fiery eyes, a piercing voice, and a rage too intense
for coherent expression.
For the first time in years, the desolate youth heard himself addressed
by his proper name. One man at least knew him, and acknowledged it without
demand of identity; and he an Arab fresh from the desert!
How came the man by his knowledge? The letter? No. It told the cruelties
from which his family had suffered; it told the story of his own misfortunes,
but it did not say he was the very victim whose escape from doom was the
theme of the heartless narrative. That was the point of explanation he had
notified the sheik would follow the reading of the letter. He was pleased,
and thrilled with hope restored, yet kept an air of calmness.
"Good sheik, tell me how you came by this letter."
"My people keep the roads between cities," Ilderim answered,
bluntly. "They took it from a courier."
"Are they known to be thy people?"
"No. To the world they are robbers, whom it is mine to catch
and slay."
"Again, sheik. You call me son of Hur—my father's name. I did not think
myself known to a person on earth. How came you by the knowledge?"
Ilderim hesitated; but, rallying, he answered, "I know you, yet I am not
free to tell you more."
"Some one holds you in restraint?"
The sheik closed his mouth, and walked away; but, observing
Ben-Hur's disappointment, he came back, and said, "Let us say no more about
the matter now. I will go to town; when I return, I may talk to you
fully. Give me the letter."
Ilderim rolled the papyrus carefully, restored it to its envelopes, and
became once more all energy.
"What sayest thou?" he asked, while waiting for his horse and retinue.
"I told what I would do, were I thou, and thou hast made no answer."
"I intended to answer, sheik, and I will." Ben-Hur's countenance and
voice changed with the feeling invoked. "All thou hast said, I will do—all
at least in the power of a man. I devoted myself to vengeance long ago. Every
hour of the five years passed, I have lived with no other thought. I have
taken no respite. I have had no pleasures of youth. The blandishments of Rome
were not for me. I wanted her to educate me for revenge. I resorted to her
most famous masters and professors—not those of rhetoric or
philosophy: alas! I had no time for them. The arts essential to a
fighting-man were my desire. I associated with gladiators, and with winners
of prizes in the Circus; and they were my teachers. The drill-masters in
the great camp accepted me as a scholar, and were proud of my attainments in
their line. O sheik, I am a soldier; but the things of which I dream require
me to be a captain. With that thought, I have taken part in the campaign
against the Parthians; when it is over, then, if the Lord spare my life and
strength—then"—he raised his clenched hands, and spoke vehemently—"then I
will be an enemy Roman-taught in all things; then Rome shall account to me
in Roman lives for her ills. You have my answer, sheik."
Ilderim put an arm over his shoulder, and kissed him,
saying, passionately, "If thy God favor thee not, son of Hur, it
is because he is dead. Take thou this from me—sworn to, if so
thy preference run: thou shalt have my hands, and their
fulness—men, horses, camels, and the desert for preparation. I swear it!
For the present, enough. Thou shalt see or hear from me before night."
Turning abruptly off, the sheik was speedily on the road to
the city.
CHAPTER VI
The intercepted letter was conclusive upon a number of points of great
interest to Ben-Hur. It had all the effect of a confession that the writer
was a party to the putting-away of the family with murderous intent; that he
had sanctioned the plan adopted for the purpose; that he had received a
portion of the proceeds of the confiscation, and was yet in enjoyment of his
part; that he dreaded the unexpected appearance of what he was pleased to
call the chief malefactor, and accepted it as a menace; that he contemplated
such further action as would secure him in the future, and was ready to do
whatever his accomplice in Caesarea might advise.
And, now that the letter had reached the hand of him really its subject,
it was notice of danger to come, as well as a confession of guilt. So when
Ilderim left the tent, Ben-Hur had much to think about, requiring immediate
action. His enemies were as adroit and powerful as any in the East. If they
were afraid of him, he had greater reason to be afraid of them. He strove
earnestly to reflect upon the situation, but could not; his feelings
constantly overwhelmed him. There was a certain qualified pleasure in the
assurance that his mother and sister were alive; and it mattered little that
the foundation of the assurance was a mere inference. That there was one
person who could tell him where they were seemed to his hope so long deferred
as if discovery were now close at hand. These were mere causes of feeling;
underlying them, it must be confessed he had a superstitious fancy that God
was about to make ordination in his behalf, in which event faith whispered
him to stand still.
Occasionally, referring to the words of Ilderim, he wondered whence the
Arab derived his information about him; not from Malluch certainly; nor from
Simonides, whose interests, all adverse, would hold him dumb. Could Messala
have been the informant? No, no: disclosure might be dangerous in that
quarter. Conjecture was vain; at the same time, often as Ben-Hur was beaten
back from the solution, he was consoled with the thought that whoever the
person with the knowledge might be, he was a friend, and, being such, would
reveal himself in good time. A little more waiting—a little more patience.
Possibly the errand of the sheik was to see the worthy; possibly the
letter might precipitate a full disclosure.
And patient he would have been if only he could have believed Tirzah and
his mother were waiting for him under circumstances permitting hope on their
part strong as his; if, in other words, conscience had not stung him with
accusations respecting them.
To escape such accusations, he wandered far through the Orchard, pausing
now where the date-gatherers were busy, yet not too busy to offer him of
their fruit and talk with him; then, under the great trees, to watch the
nesting birds, or hear the bees swarming about the berries bursting with
honeyed sweetness, and filling all the green and golden spaces with the music
of their beating wings.
By the lake, however, he lingered longest. He might not look upon the
water and its sparkling ripples, so like sensuous life, without thinking of
the Egyptian and her marvellous beauty, and of floating with her here and
there through the night, made brilliant by her songs and stories; he might
not forget the charm of her manner, the lightness of her laugh, the flattery
of her attention, the warmth of her little hand under his upon the tiller
of the boat. From her it was for his thought but a short way to Balthasar,
and the strange things of which he had been witness, unaccountable by any law
of nature; and from him, again, to the King of the Jews, whom the good man,
with such pathos of patience, was holding in holy promise, the distance
was even nearer. And there his mind stayed, finding in the mysteries of
that personage a satisfaction answering well for the rest he was seeking.
Because, it may have been, nothing is so easy as denial of an idea not
agreeable to our wishes, he rejected the definition given by Balthasar of the
kingdom the king was coming to establish. A kingdom of souls, if not
intolerable to his Sadducean faith, seemed to him but an abstraction drawn
from the depths of a devotion too fond and dreamy. A kingdom of Judea, on the
other hand, was more than comprehensible: such had been, and, if only for
that reason, might be again. And it suited his pride to think of a new
kingdom broader of domain, richer in power, and of a more unapproachable
splendor than the old one; of a new king wiser and mightier than Solomon—a
new king under whom, especially, he could find both service and revenge. In
that mood he resumed to the dowar.
The mid-day meal disposed of, still further to occupy himself, Ben-Hur
had the chariot rolled out into the sunlight for inspection. The word but
poorly conveys the careful study the vehicle underwent. No point or part of
it escaped him. With a pleasure which will be better understood hereafter, he
saw the pattern was Greek, in his judgment preferable to the Roman in many
respects; it was wider between the wheels, and lower and stronger, and the
disadvantage of greater weight would be more than compensated by the
greater endurance of his Arabs. Speaking generally, the carriage-makers of
Rome built for the games almost solely, sacrificing safety to beauty, and
durability to grace; while the chariots of Achilles and "the king of men,"
designed for war and all its extreme tests, still ruled the tastes of those
who met and struggled for the crowns Isthmian and Olympic.
Next he brought the horses, and, hitching them to the chariot, drove to
the field of exercise, where, hour after hour, he practised them in movement
under the yoke. When he came away in the evening, it was with restored
spirit, and a fixed purpose to defer action in the matter of Messala until
the race was won or lost. He could not forego the pleasure of meeting his
adversary under the eyes of the East; that there might be other competitors
seemed not to enter his thought. His confidence in the result was absolute;
no doubt of his own skill; and as to the four, they were his full partners
in the glorious game.
"Let him look to it, let him look to it! Ha, Antares—Aldebaran! Shall
he not, O honest Rigel? and thou, Atair, king among coursers, shall he not
beware of us? Ha, ha! good hearts!"
So in rests he passed from horse to horse, speaking, not as a master,
but the senior of as many brethren.
After nightfall, Ben-Hur sat by the door of the tent waiting
for Ilderim, not yet returned from the city. He was not impatient, or
vexed, or doubtful. The sheik would be heard from, at least. Indeed, whether
it was from satisfaction with the performance of the four, or the refreshment
there is in cold water succeeding bodily exercise, or supper partaken with
royal appetite, or the reaction which, as a kindly provision of nature,
always follows depression, the young man was in good-humor verging upon
elation. He felt himself in the hands of Providence no longer his enemy.
At last there was a sound of horse's feet coming rapidly, and Malluch rode
up.
"Son of Arrius," he said, cheerily, after salutation, "I salute you for
Sheik Ilderim, who requests you to mount and go to the city. He is waiting
for you."
Ben-Hur asked no questions, but went in where the horses were feeding.
Aldebaran came to him, as if offering his service. He played with him
lovingly, but passed on, and chose another, not of the four—they were sacred
to the race. Very shortly the two were on the road, going swiftly and in
silence.
Some distance below the Seleucian Bridge, they crossed the river by a
ferry, and, riding far round on the right bank, and recrossing by another
ferry, entered the city from the west. The detour was long, but Ben-Hur
accepted it as a precaution for which there was good reason.
Down to Simonides' landing they rode, and in front of the
great warehouse, under the bridge, Malluch drew rein.
"We are come," he said. "Dismount."
Ben-Hur recognized the place.
"Where is the sheik?" he asked.
"Come with me. I will show you."
A watchman took the horses, and almost before he realized it
Ben-Hur stood once more at the door of the house up on the greater
one, listening to the response from within—"In God's name, enter."
CHAPTER VII
Malluch stopped at the door; Ben-Hur entered alone.
The room was the same in which he had formerly interviewed Simonides,
and it had been in nowise changed, except now, close by the arm-chair, a
polished brazen rod, set on a broad wooden pedestal, arose higher than a tall
man, holding lamps of silver on sliding arms, half-a-dozen or more in number,
and all burning. The light was clear, bringing into view the panelling
on the walls, the cornice with its row of gilded balls, and the dome dully
tinted with violet mica.
Within a few steps, Ben-Hur stopped.
Three persons were present, looking at him—Simonides, Ilderim, and
Esther.
He glanced hurriedly from one to another, as if to find answer to the
question half formed in his mind, What business can these have with me? He
became calm, with every sense on the alert, for the question was succeeded by
another, Are they friends or enemies?
At length, his eyes rested upon Esther.
The men returned his look kindly; in her face there was something more
than kindness—something too _spirituel_ for definition, which yet went to
his inner consciousness without definition.
Shall it be said, good reader? Back of his gaze there was a comparison
in which the Egyptian arose and set herself over against the gentle Jewess;
but it lived an instant, and, as is the habit of such comparisons, passed
away without a conclusion.
"Son of Hur—"
The guest turned to the speaker.
"Son of Hur," said Simonides, repeating the address slowly, and with
distinct emphasis, as if to impress all its meaning upon him most interested
in understanding it, "take thou the peace of the Lord God of our
fathers—take it from me." He paused, then added, "From me and mine."
The speaker sat in his chair; there were the royal head, the
bloodless face, the masterful air, under the influence of which visitors
forgot the broken limbs and distorted body of the man. The full black
eyes gazed out under the white brows steadily, but not sternly. A
moment thus, then he crossed his hands upon his breast.
The action, taken with the salutation, could not be misunderstood, and
was not.
"Simonides," Ben-Hur answered, much moved, "the holy peace you tender is
accepted. As son to father, I return it to you. Only let there be perfect
understanding between us."
Thus delicately he sought to put aside the submission of the merchant,
and, in place of the relation of master and servant, substitute one higher
and holier.
Simonides let fall his hands, and, turning to Esther, said, "A seat for
the master, daughter."
She hastened, and brought a stool, and stood, with suffused face,
looking from one to the other—from Ben-Hur to Simonides, from Simonides to
Ben-Hur; and they waited, each declining the superiority direction would
imply. When at length the pause began to be embarrassing, Ben-Hur advanced,
and gently took the stool from her, and, going to the chair, placed it at the
merchant's feet.
"I will sit here," he said.
His eyes met hers—an instant only; but both were better of the look. He
recognized her gratitude, she his generosity and forbearance.
Simonides bowed his acknowledgment.
"Esther, child, bring me the paper," he said, with a breath
of relief.
She went to a panel in the wall, opened it, took out a roll of papyri,
and brought and gave it to him.
"Thou saidst well, son of Hur," Simonides began, while unrolling the
sheets. "Let us understand each other. In anticipation of the demand—which I
would have made hadst thou waived it—I have here a statement covering
everything necessary to the understanding required. I could see but two
points involved—the property first, and then our relation. The statement is
explicit as to both. Will it please thee to read it now?"
Ben-Hur received the papers, but glanced at Ilderim.
"Nay," said Simonides, "the sheik shall not deter thee from reading. The
account—such thou wilt find it—is of a nature requiring a witness. In the
attesting place at the end thou wilt find, when thou comest to it, the
name—Ilderim, Sheik. He knows all. He is thy friend. All he has been to me,
that will he be to thee also."
Simonides looked at the Arab, nodding pleasantly, and the latter gravely
returned the nod, saying, "Thou hast said."
Ben-Hur replied, "I know already the excellence of his friendship, and
have yet to prove myself worthy of it." Immediately he continued, "Later, O
Simonides, I will read the papers carefully; for the present, do thou take
them, and if thou be not too weary, give me their substance."
Simonides took back the roll.
"Here, Esther, stand by me and receive the sheets, lest they fall into
confusion."
She took place by his chair, letting her right arm fall lightly across
his shoulder, so, when he spoke, the account seemed to have rendition from
both of them jointly.
"This," said Simonides, drawing out the first leaf, "shows the money I
had of thy father's, being the amount saved from the Romans; there was no
property saved, only money, and that the robbers would have secured but for
our Jewish custom of bills of exchange. The amount saved, being sums I drew
from Rome, Alexandria, Damascus, Carthage, Valentia, and elsewhere
within the circle of trade, was one hundred and twenty talents
Jewish money."
He gave the sheet to Esther, and took the next one.
"With that amount—one hundred and twenty talents—I charged myself.
Hear now my credits. I use the word, as thou wilt see, with reference rather
to the proceeds gained from the use of the money."
From separate sheets he then read footings, which, fractions
omitted, were as follows:
"CR.
By ships............................... 60 talents. " goods in
store......................110 " " cargoes in
transit.................. 75 " " camels, horses,
etc................. 20 " "
warehouses.......................... 10 " " bills
due........................... 54 " " money on hand and
subject to draft..224
"
—- Total..................................553 "
"
"To these now, to the five hundred and fifty-three talents gained, add
the original capital I had from thy father, and thou hast SIX HUNDRED AND
SEVENTY THREE TALENTS!—and all thine—making thee, O son of Hur, the richest
subject in the world."
He took the papyri from Esther, and, reserving one, rolled them and
offered them to Ben-Hur. The pride perceptible in his manner was not
offensive; it might have been from a sense of duty well done; it might have
been for Ben-Hur without reference to himself.
"And there is nothing," he added, dropping his voice, but not
his eyes—"there is nothing now thou mayst not do."
The moment was one of absorbing interest to all present.
Simonides crossed his hands upon his breast again; Esther was
anxious; Ilderim nervous. A man is never so on trial as in the moment of
excessive good-fortune.
Taking the roll, Ben-Hur arose, struggling with emotion.
"All this is to me as a light from heaven, sent to drive away a night
which has been so long I feared it would never end, and so dark I had lost
the hope of seeing," he said, with a husky voice. "I give first thanks to the
Lord, who has not abandoned me, and my next to thee, O Simonides. Thy
faithfulness outweighs the cruelty of others, and redeems our human nature.
'There is nothing I cannot do:' be it so. Shall any man in this my hour of
such mighty privilege be more generous than I? Serve me as a witness now,
Sheik Ilderim. Hear thou my words as I shall speak them—hear and remember.
And thou, Esther, good angel of this good man! hear thou also."
He stretched his hand with the roll to Simonides.
"The things these papers take into account—all of them: ships, houses,
goods, camels, horses, money; the least as well as the greatest—give I back
to thee, O Simonides, making them all thine, and sealing them to thee and
thine forever."
Esther smiled through her tears; Ilderim pulled his beard with rapid
motion, his eyes glistening like beads of jet. Simonides alone was
calm.
"Sealing them to thee and thine forever," Ben-Hur continued, with better
control of himself, "with one exception, and upon one condition."
The breath of the listeners waited upon his words.
"The hundred and twenty talents which were my father's thou shalt return
to me."
Ilderim's countenance brightened.
"And thou shalt join me in search of my mother and sister, holding
all thine subject to the expense of discovery, even as I will hold
mine."
Simonides was much affected. Stretching out his hand, he said, "I see
thy spirit, son of Hur, and I am grateful to the Lord that he hath sent thee
to me such as thou art. If I served well thy father in life, and his memory
afterwards, be not afraid of default to thee; yet must I say the exception
cannot stand."
Exhibiting, then, the reserved sheet, he continued,
"Thou hast not all the account. Take this and read—read aloud."
Ben-Hur took the supplement, and read it.
"Statement of the servants of Hur, rendered by Simonides, steward of the
estate. 1. Amrah, Egyptian, keeping the palace in Jerusalem. 2. Simonides,
the steward, in Antioch. 3. Esther, daughter of Simonides."
Now, in all his thoughts of Simonides, not once had it entered Ben-Hur's
mind that, by the law, a daughter followed the parent's condition. In all his
visions of her, the sweet-faced Esther had figured as the rival of the
Egyptian, and an object of possible love. He shrank from the revelation so
suddenly brought him, and looked at her blushing; and, blushing, she dropped
her eyes before him. Then he said, while the papyrus rolled itself
together,
"A man with six hundred talents is indeed rich, and may do what he
pleases; but, rarer than the money, more priceless than the property, is the
mind which amassed the wealth, and the heart it could not corrupt when
amassed. O Simonides—and thou, fair Esther—fear not. Sheik Ilderim here
shall be witness that in the same moment ye were declared my servants, that
moment I declared ye free; and what I declare, that will I put in
writing. Is it not enough? Can I do more?"
"Son of Hur," said Simonides, "verily thou dost make
servitude lightsome. I was wrong; there are some things thou canst not
do; thou canst not make us free in law. I am thy servant forever, because
I went to the door with thy father one day, and in my ear the awl-marks yet
abide."
"Did my father that?"
"Judge him not," cried Simonides, quickly. "He accepted me a servant of
that class because I prayed him to do so. I never repented the step. It was
the price I paid for Rachel, the mother of my child here; for Rachel, who
would not be my wife unless I became what she was."
"Was she a servant forever?"
"Even so."
Ben-Hur walked the floor in pain of impotent wish.
"I was rich before," he said, stopping suddenly. "I was rich with the
gifts of the generous Arrius; now comes this greater fortune, and the mind
which achieved it. Is there not a purpose of God in it all? Counsel me, O
Simonides! Help me to see the right and do it. Help me to be worthy my name,
and what thou art in law to me, that will I be to thee in fact and deed. I
will be thy servant forever."
Simonides' face actually glowed.
"O son of my dead master! I will do better than help; I will serve thee
with all my might of mind and heart. Body, I have not; it perished in thy
cause; but with mind and heart I will serve thee. I swear it, by the altar of
our God, and the gifts upon the altar! Only make me formally what I have
assumed to be."
"Name it," said Ben-Hur, eagerly.
"As steward the care of the property will be mine."
"Count thyself steward now; or wilt thou have it in writing?"
"Thy word simply is enough; it was so with the father, and I will not
more from the son. And now, if the understanding be perfect"—Simonides
paused.
"It is with me," said Ben-Hur.
"And thou, daughter of Rachel, speak!" said Simonides, lifting her arm
from his shoulder.
Esther, left thus alone, stood a moment abashed, her color coming and
going; then she went to Ben-Hur, and said, with a womanliness singularly
sweet, "I am not better than my mother was; and, as she is gone, I pray you,
O my master, let me care for my father."
Ben-Hur took her hand, and led her back to the chair, saying, "Thou art
a good child. Have thy will."
Simonides replaced her arm upon his neck, and there was silence for a
time in the room.
CHAPTER VIII
Simonides looked up, none the less a master.
"Esther," he said, quietly, "the night is going fast; and, lest
we become too weary for that which is before us, let the refreshments be
brought."
She rang a bell. A servant answered with wine and bread, which she bore
round.
"The understanding, good my master," continued Simonides, when all were
served, "is not perfect in my sight. Henceforth our lives will run on
together like rivers which have met and joined their waters. I think their
flowing will be better if every cloud is blown from the sky above them. You
left my door the other day with what seemed a denial of the claims which I
have just allowed in the broadest terms; but it was not so, indeed it was
not. Esther is witness that I recognized you; and that I did not abandon
you, let Malluch say."
"Malluch!" exclaimed Ben-Hur.
"One bound to a chair, like me, must have many hands far-reaching, if he
would move the world from which he is so cruelly barred. I have many such,
and Malluch is one of the best of them. And, sometimes"— he cast a grateful
glance at the sheik—"sometimes I borrow from others good of heart, like
Ilderim the Generous—good and brave. Let him say if I either denied or
forgot you."
Ben-Hur looked at the Arab.
"This is he, good Ilderim, this is he who told you of me?"
Ilderim's eyes twinkled as he nodded his answer.
"How, O my master," said Simonides, "may we without trial tell what a
man is? I knew you; I saw your father in you; but the kind of man you were I
did not know. There are people to whom fortune is a curse in disguise. Were
you of them? I sent Malluch to find out for me, and in the service he was my
eyes and ears. Do not blame him. He brought me report of you which was all
good."
"I do not," said Ben-Hur, heartily. "There was wisdom in
your goodness."
"The words are very pleasant to me," said the merchant, with
feeling, "very pleasant. My fear of misunderstanding is laid. Let the
rivers run on now as God may give them direction."
After an interval he continued:
"I am compelled now by truth. The weaver sits weaving, and, as
the shuttle flies, the cloth increases, and the figures grow, and
he dreams dreams meanwhile; so to my hands the fortune grew, and
I wondered at the increase, and asked myself about it many times. I could
see a care not my own went with the enterprises I set going. The simooms
which smote others on the desert jumped over the things which were mine. The
storms which heaped the seashore with wrecks did but blow my ships the sooner
into port. Strangest of all, I, so dependent upon others, fixed to a place
like a dead thing, had never a loss by an agent—never. The elements stooped
to serve me, and all my servants, in fact, were faithful."
"It is very strange," said Ben-Hur.
"So I said, and kept saying. Finally, O my master, finally I came to be
of your opinion—God was in it—and, like you, I asked, What can his purpose
be? Intelligence is never wasted; intelligence like God's never stirs except
with design. I have held the question in heart, lo! these many years,
watching for an answer. I felt sure, if God were in it, some day, in his own
good time, in his own way, he would show me his purpose, making it clear as a
whited house upon a hill. And I believe he has done so."
Ben-Hur listened with every faculty intent.
"Many years ago, with my people—thy mother was with me,
Esther, beautiful as morning over old Olivet—I sat by the wayside
out north of Jerusalem, near the Tombs of the Kings, when three men passed
by riding great white camels, such as had never been seen in the Holy City.
The men were strangers, and from far countries. The first one stopped and
asked me a question. 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews?' As if to
allay my wonder, he went on to say, 'We have seen his star in the east, and
have come to worship him.' I could not understand, but followed them to the
Damascus Gate; and of every person they met on the way—of the guard at
the Gate, even—they asked the question. All who heard it were amazed like
me. In time I forgot the circumstance, though there was much talk of it as a
presage of the Messiah. Alas, alas! What children we are, even the wisest!
When God walks the earth, his steps are often centuries apart. You have seen
Balthasar?"
"And heard him tell his story," said Ben-Hur.
"A miracle!—a very miracle!" cried Simonides. "As he told it to me,
good my master, I seemed to hear the answer I had so long waited; God's
purpose burst upon me. Poor will the King be when he comes—poor and
friendless; without following, without armies, without cities or castles; a
kingdom to be set up, and Rome reduced and blotted out. See, see, O my
master! thou flushed with strength, thou trained to arms, thou burdened with
riches; behold the opportunity the Lord hath sent thee! Shall not his purpose
be thine? Could a man be born to a more perfect glory?"
Simonides put his whole force in the appeal.
"But the kingdom, the kingdom!" Ben-Hur answered, eagerly. "Balthasar
says it is to be of souls."
The pride of the Jew was strong in Simonides, and therefore the slightly
contemptuous curl of the lip with which he began his reply:
"Balthasar has been a witness of wonderful things—of miracles, O my
master; and when he speaks of them, I bow with belief, for they are of sight
and sound personal to him. But he is a son of Mizraim, and not even a
proselyte. Hardly may he be supposed to have special knowledge by virtue of
which we must bow to him in a matter of God's dealing with our Israel. The
prophets had their light from Heaven directly, even as he had his—many to
one, and Jehovah the same forever. I must believe the prophets.—Bring me
the Torah, Esther."
He proceeded without waiting for her.
"May the testimony of a whole people be slighted, my master? Though you
travel from Tyre, which is by the sea in the north, to the capital of Edom,
which is in the desert south, you will not find a lisper of the Shema, an
alms-giver in the Temple, or any one who has ever eaten of the lamb of the
Passover, to tell you the kingdom the King is coming to build for us, the
children of the covenant, is other than of this world, like our father
David's. Now where got they the faith, ask you! We will see presently."
Esther here returned, bringing a number of rolls carefully enveloped in
dark-brown linen lettered quaintly in gold.
"Keep them, daughter, to give to me as I call for them," the
father said, in the tender voice he always used in speaking to her, and
continued his argument:
"It were long, good my master—too long, indeed—for me to repeat to you
the names of the holy men who, in the providence of God, succeeded the
prophets, only a little less favored than they—the seers who have written
and the preachers who have taught since the Captivity; the very wise who
borrowed their lights from the lamp of Malachi, the last of his line, and
whose great names Hillel and Shammai never tired of repeating in the
colleges. Will you ask them of the kingdom? Thus, the Lord of the sheep in
the Book of Enoch—who is he? Who but the King of whom we are speaking?
A throne is set up for him; he smites the earth, and the other kings are
shaken from their thrones, and the scourges of Israel flung into a cavern of
fire flaming with pillars of fire. So also the singer of the Psalms of
Solomon—'Behold, O Lord, and raise up to Israel their king, the son of
David, at the time thou knowest, O God, to rule Israel, thy children. . . .
And he will bring the peoples of the heathen under his yoke to serve him. . .
. And he shall be a righteous king taught of God, . . . for he shall rule
all the earth by the word of his mouth forever.' And last, though not least,
hear Ezra, the second Moses, in his visions of the night, and ask him who is
the lion with human voice that says to the eagle—which is Rome—'Thou hast
loved liars, and overthrown the cities of the industrious, and razed their
walls, though they did thee no harm. Therefore, begone, that the earth may be
refreshed, and recover itself, and hope in the justice and piety of him
who made her.' Whereat the eagle was seen no more. Surely, O my
master, the testimony of these should be enough! But the way to the
fountain's head is open. Let us go up to it at once.—Some wine, Esther, and
then the Torah."
"Dost thou believe the prophets, master?" he asked, after drinking. "I
know thou dost, for of such was the faith of all thy kindred.—Give me,
Esther, the book which bath in it the visions of Isaiah."
He took one of the rolls which she had unwrapped for him, and
read, "'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined. . . . For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder. . . . Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and
upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even forever.'—Believest thou the prophets, O my
master?—Now, Esther, the word of the Lord that came to Micah."
She gave him the roll he asked.
"'But thou,'" he began reading—"'but thou, Bethlehem Ephrath, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.'—This was he, the very child
Balthasar saw and worshipped in the cave. Believest thou the prophets, O my
master?—Give me, Esther, the words of Jeremiah."
Receiving that roll, he read as before, "'Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.' As a king he
shall reign—as a king, O my master! Believest thou the prophets?—Now,
daughter, the roll of the sayings of that son of Judah in whom there was no
blemish."
She gave him the Book of Daniel.
"Hear, my master," he said: "'I saw in the night visions, and
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven. . . .
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that
all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed.'—Believest thou the prophets, O my master?"
"It is enough. I believe," cried Ben-Hur.
"What then?" asked Simonides. "If the King come poor, will not my
master, of his abundance, give him help?"
"Help him? To the last shekel and the last breath. But why speak of his
coming poor?"
"Give me, Esther, the word of the Lord as it came to Zechariah," said
Simonides.
She gave him one of the rolls.
"Hear how the King will enter Jerusalem." Then he read,
"'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. . . . Behold, thy King cometh
unto thee with justice and salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt, the foal of an ass.'"
Ben-Hur looked away.
"What see you, O my master?"
"Rome!" he answered, gloomily—"Rome, and her legions. I have dwelt with
them in their camps. I know them."
"Ah!" said Simonides. "Thou shalt be a master of legions for the King,
with millions to choose from."
"Millions!" cried Ben-Hur.
Simonides sat a moment thinking.
"The question of power should not trouble you," he next said.
Ben-Hur looked at him inquiringly.
"You were seeing the lowly King in the act of coming to his
own," Simonides answered—"seeing him on the right hand, as it were, and
on the left the brassy legions of Caesar, and you were asking, What can he
do?"
"It was my very thought."
"O my master!" Simonides continued. "You do not know how strong our
Israel is. You think of him as a sorrowful old man weeping by the rivers of
Babylon. But go up to Jerusalem next Passover, and stand on the Xystus or in
the Street of Barter, and see him as he is. The promise of the Lord to father
Jacob coming out of Padan-Aram was a law under which our people have not
ceased multiplying—not even in captivity; they grew under foot of
the Egyptian; the clench of the Roman has been but wholesome nurture to
them; now they are indeed 'a nation and a company of nations.' Nor that only,
my master; in fact, to measure the strength of Israel—which is, in fact,
measuring what the King can do—you shall not bide solely by the rule of
natural increase, but add thereto the other—I mean the spread of the faith,
which will carry you to the far and near of the whole known earth. Further,
the habit is, I know, to think and speak of Jerusalem as Israel, which
may be likened to our finding an embroidered shred, and holding it up as a
magisterial robe of Caesar's. Jerusalem is but a stone of the Temple, or the
heart in the body. Turn from beholding the legions, strong though they be,
and count the hosts of the faithful waiting the old alarm, 'To your tents, O
Israel!'—count the many in Persia, children of those who chose not to return
with the returning; count the brethren who swarm the marts of Egypt and
Farther Africa; count the Hebrew colonists eking profit in the West—in
Lodinum and the trade-courts of Spain; count the pure of blood and the
proselytes in Greece and in the isles of the sea, and over in Pontus, and
here in Antioch, and, for that matter, those of that city lying accursed in
the shadow of the unclean walls of Rome herself; count the worshippers of the
Lord dwelling in tents along the deserts next us, as well as in
the deserts beyond the Nile: and in the regions across the Caspian, and up
in the old lands of Gog and Magog even, separate those who annually send
gifts to the Holy Temple in acknowledgment of God—separate them, that they
may be counted also. And when you have done counting, lo! my master, a census
of the sword hands that await you; lo! a kingdom ready fashioned for him who
is to do 'judgment and justice in the whole earth'—in Rome not less than
in Zion. Have then the answer, What Israel can do, that can the King."
The picture was fervently given.
Upon Ilderim it operated like the blowing of a trumpet. "Oh that I had
back my youth!" he cried, starting to his feet.
Ben-Hur sat still. The speech, he saw, was an invitation to devote his
life and fortune to the mysterious Being who was palpably as much the centre
of a great hope with Simonides as with the devout Egyptian. The idea, as we
have seen, was not a new one, but had come to him repeatedly; once while
listening to Malluch in the Grove of Daphne; afterwards more distinctly while
Balthasar was giving his conception of what the kingdom was to be; still
later, in the walk through the old Orchard, it had risen almost, if not
quite, into a resolve. At such times it had come and gone only an
idea, attended with feelings more or less acute. Not so now. A master had
it in charge, a master was working it up; already he had exalted it into a
_cause_ brilliant with possibilities and infinitely holy. The effect was as
if a door theretofore unseen had suddenly opened flooding Ben-Hur with light,
and admitting him to a service which had been his one perfect dream—a
service reaching far into the future, and rich with the rewards of duty done,
and prizes to sweeten and soothe his ambition. One touch more was
needed.
"Let us concede all you say, O Simonides," said Ben-Hur—"that the King
will come, and his kingdom be as Solomon's; say also I am ready to give
myself and all I have to him and his cause; yet more, say that I should do as
was God's purpose in the ordering of my life and in your quick amassment of
astonishing fortune; then what? Shall we proceed like blind men building?
Shall we wait till the King comes? Or until he sends for me? You have age and
experience on your side. Answer."
Simonides answered at once.
"We have no choice; none. This letter"—he produced Messala's despatch
as he spoke—"this letter is the signal for action. The alliance proposed
between Messala and Gratus we are not strong enough to resist; we have not
the influence at Rome nor the force here. They will kill you if we wait. How
merciful they are, look at me and judge."
He shuddered at the terrible recollection.
"O good my master," he continued, recovering himself; "how strong are
you—in purpose, I mean?"
Ben-Hur did not understand him.
"I remember how pleasant the world was to me in my youth," Simonides
proceeded.
"Yet," said Ben-Hur, "you were capable of a great sacrifice."
"Yes; for love."
"Has not life other motives as strong?"
Simonides shook his head.
"There is ambition."
"Ambition is forbidden a son of Israel."
"What, then, of revenge?"
The spark dropped upon the inflammable passion; the man's eyes gleamed;
his hands shook; he answered, quickly, "Revenge is a Jew's of right; it is
the law."
"A camel, even a dog, will remember a wrong," cried Ilderim.
Directly Simonides picked up the broken thread of his thought.
"There is a work, a work for the King, which should be done in advance
of his coming. We may not doubt that Israel is to be his right hand; but,
alas! it is a hand of peace, without cunning in war. Of the millions, there
is not one trained band, not a captain. The mercenaries of the Herods I do
not count, for they are kept to crush us. The condition is as the Roman would
have it; his policy has fruited well for his tyranny; but the time of change
is at hand, when the shepherd shall put on armor, and take to spear and
sword, and the feeding flocks be turned to fighting lions. Some one, my son,
must have place next the King at his right hand. Who shall it be if not he
who does this work well?"
Ben-Hur's face flushed at the prospect, though he said, "I see; but
speak plainly. A deed to be done is one thing; how to do it is
another."
Simonides sipped the wine Esther brought him, and replied,
"The sheik, and thou, my master, shall be principals, each with a part.
I will remain here, carrying on as now, and watchful that the spring go not
dry. Thou shalt betake thee to Jerusalem, and thence to the wilderness, and
begin numbering the fighting-men of Israel, and telling them into tens and
hundreds, and choosing captains and training them, and in secret places
hoarding arms, for which I shall keep thee supplied. Commencing over in
Perea, thou shalt go then to Galilee, whence it is but a step to Jerusalem.
In Perea, the desert will be at thy back, and Ilderim in reach of thy hand.
He will keep the roads, so that nothing shall pass without thy knowledge. He
will help thee in many ways. Until the ripening time no one shall
know what is here contracted. Mine is but a servant's part. I have
spoken to Ilderim. What sayest thou?"
Ben-Hur looked at the sheik.
"It is as he says, son of Hur," the Arab responded. "I have given my
word, and he is content with it; but thou shalt have my oath, binding me, and
the ready hands of my tribe, and whatever serviceable thing I have."
The three—Simonides, Ilderim, Esther—gazed at Ben-Hur fixedly.
"Every man," he answered, at first sadly, "has a cup of pleasure poured
for him, and soon or late it comes to his hand, and he tastes and
drinks—every man but me. I see, Simonides, and thou, O generous sheik!—I
see whither the proposal tends. If I accept, and enter upon the course,
farewell peace, and the hopes which cluster around it. The doors I might
enter and the gates of quiet life will shut behind me, never to open again,
for Rome keeps them all; and her outlawry will follow me, and her hunters;
and in the tombs near cities and the dismal caverns of remotest hills, I
must eat my crust and take my rest."
The speech was broken by a sob. All turned to Esther, who hid her face
upon her father's shoulder.
"I did not think of you, Esther," said Simonides, gently, for he was
himself deeply moved.
"It is well enough, Simonides," said Ben-Hur. "A man bears a hard doom
better, knowing there is pity for him. Let me go on."
They gave him ear again.
"I was about to say," he continued, "I have no choice, but take the part
you assign me; and as remaining here is to meet an ignoble death, I will to
the work at once."
"Shall we have writings?" asked Simonides, moved by his habit
of business.
"I rest upon your word," said Ben-Hur.
"And I," Ilderim answered.
Thus simply was effected the treaty which was to alter Ben-Hur's life.
And almost immediately the latter added,
"It is done, then."
"May the God of Abraham help us!" Simonides exclaimed.
"One word now, my friends," Ben-Hur said, more cheerfully. "By your
leave, I will be my own until after the games. It is not probable Messala
will set peril on foot for me until he has given the procurator time to
answer him; and that cannot be in less than seven days from the despatch of
his letter. The meeting him in the Circus is a pleasure I would buy at
whatever risk."
Ilderim, well pleased, assented readily, and Simonides, intent
on business, added, "It is well; for look you, my master, the delay
will give me time to do you a good part. I understood you to speak of
an inheritance derived from Arrius. Is it in property?"
"A villa near Misenum, and houses in Rome."
"I suggest, then, the sale of the property, and safe deposit of the
proceeds. Give me an account of it, and I will have authorities drawn, and
despatch an agent on the mission forthwith. We will forestall the imperial
robbers at least this once."
"You shall have the account to-morrow."
"Then, if there be nothing more, the work of the night is done," said
Simonides.
Ilderim combed his beard complacently, saying, "And well done."
"The bread and wine again, Esther. Sheik Ilderim will make us happy by
staying with us till to-morrow, or at his pleasure; and thou, my
master—"
"Let the horses be brought," said Ben-Hur. "I will return to
the Orchard. The enemy will not discover me if I go now, and"—he
glanced at Ilderim—"the four will be glad to see me."
As the day dawned, he and Malluch dismounted at the door of
the tent.
CHAPTER IX
Next night, about the fourth hour, Ben-Hur stood on the terrace of the
great warehouse with Esther. Below them, on the landing, there was much
running about, and shifting of packages and boxes, and shouting of men, whose
figures, stooping, heaving, hauling, looked, in the light of the crackling
torches kindled in their aid, like the laboring genii of the fantastic
Eastern tales. A galley was being laden for instant departure. Simonides had
not yet come from his office, in which, at the last moment, he
would deliver to the captain of the vessel instructions to proceed without
stop to Ostia, the seaport of Rome, and, after landing a passenger there,
continue more leisurely to Valentia, on the coast of Spain.
The passenger is the agent going to dispose of the estate derived from
Arrius the duumvir. When the lines of the vessel are cast off, and she is put
about, and her voyage begun, Ben-Hur will be committed irrevocably to the
work undertaken the night before. If he is disposed to repent the agreement
with Ilderim, a little time is allowed him to give notice and break it off.
He is master, and has only to say the word.
Such may have been the thought at the moment in his mind. He
was standing with folded arms, looking upon the scene in the manner of
a man debating with himself. Young, handsome, rich, but recently from the
patrician circles of Roman society, it is easy to think of the world
besetting him with appeals not to give more to onerous duty or ambition
attended with outlawry and danger. We can even imagine the arguments with
which he was pressed; the hopelessness of contention with Caesar; the
uncertainty veiling everything connected with the King and his coming; the
ease, honors, state, purchasable like goods in market; and, strongest of all,
the sense newly acquired of home, with friends to make it delightful. Only
those who have been wanderers long desolate can know the power there was in
the latter appeal.
Let us add now, the world—always cunning enough of itself;
always whispering to the weak, Stay, take thine ease; always
presenting the sunny side of life—the world was in this instance helped
by Ben-Hur's companion.
"Were you ever at Rome?" he asked.
"No," Esther replied.
"Would you like to go?"
"I think not."
"Why?"
"I am afraid of Rome," she answered, with a perceptible tremor of the
voice.
He looked at her then—or rather down upon her, for at his side she
appeared little more than a child. In the dim light he could not see her face
distinctly; even the form was shadowy. But again he was reminded of Tirzah,
and a sudden tenderness fell upon him—just so the lost sister stood with him
on the house-top the calamitous morning of the accident to Gratus. Poor
Tirzah! Where was she now? Esther had the benefit of the feeling
evoked. If not his sister, he could never look upon her as his
servant; and that she was his servant in fact would make him always
the more considerate and gentle towards her.
"I cannot think of Rome," she continued, recovering her voice, and
speaking in her quiet womanly way—"I cannot think of Rome as a city of
palaces and temples, and crowded with people; she is to me a monster which
has possession of one of the beautiful lands, and lies there luring men to
ruin and death—a monster which it is not possible to resist—a ravenous
beast gorging with blood. Why—"
She faltered, looked down, stopped.
"Go on," said Ben-Hur, reassuringly.
She drew closer to him, looked up again, and said, "Why must you make
her your enemy? Why not rather make peace with her, and be at rest? You have
had many ills, and borne them; you have survived the snares laid for you by
foes. Sorrow has consumed your youth; is it well to give it the remainder of
your days?"
The girlish face under his eyes seemed to come nearer and get whiter as
the pleading went on; he stooped towards it, and asked, softly, "What would
you have me do, Esther?"
She hesitated a moment, then asked, in return, "Is the property near
Rome a residence?"
"Yes."
"And pretty?"
"It is beautiful—a palace in the midst of gardens and
shell-strewn walks; fountains without and within; statuary in the shady
nooks; hills around covered with vines, and so high that Neapolis
and Vesuvius are in sight, and the sea an expanse of purpling blue dotted
with restless sails. Caesar has a country-seat near-by, but in Rome they say
the old Arrian villa is the prettiest."
"And the life there, is it quiet?"
"There was never a summer day, never a moonlit night, more quiet, save
when visitors come. Now that the old owner is gone, and I am here, there is
nothing to break its silence—nothing, unless it be the whispering of
servants, or the whistling of happy birds, or the noise of fountains at play;
it is changeless, except as day by day old flowers fade and fall, and new
ones bud and bloom, and the sunlight gives place to the shadow of a passing
cloud. The life, Esther, was all too quiet for me. It made me restless by
keeping always present a feeling that I, who have so much to do, was dropping
into idle habits, and tying myself with silken chains, and after a while—and
not a long while either—would end with nothing done."
She looked off over the river.
"Why did you ask?" he said.
"Good my master—"
"No, no, Esther—not that. Call me friend—brother, if you will; I
am not your master, and will not be. Call me brother."
He could not see the flush of pleasure which reddened her face, and the
glow of the eyes that went out lost in the void above the river.
"I cannot understand," she said, "the nature which prefers the life you
are going to—a life of—"
"Of violence, and it may be of blood," he said, completing
the sentence.
"Yes," she added, "the nature which could prefer that life to such as
might be in the beautiful villa."
"Esther, you mistake. There is no preference. Alas! the Roman is not so
kind. I am going of necessity. To stay here is to die; and if I go there, the
end will be the same—a poisoned cup, a bravo's blow, or a judge's sentence
obtained by perjury. Messala and the procurator Gratus are rich with plunder
of my father's estate, and it is more important to them to keep their gains
now than was their getting in the first instance. A peaceable settlement is
out of reach, because of the confession it would imply. And then—then—
Ah, Esther, if I could buy them, I do not know that I would. I do not
believe peace possible to me; no, not even in the sleepy shade and sweet air
of the marble porches of the old villa—no matter who might be there to help
me bear the burden of the days, nor by what patience of love she made the
effort. Peace is not possible to me while my people are lost, for I must be
watchful to find them. If I find them, and they have suffered wrong, shall
not the guilty suffer for it? If they are dead by violence, shall
the murderers escape? Oh, I could not sleep for dreams! Nor could
the holiest love, by any stratagem, lull me to a rest which
conscience would not strangle."
"Is it so bad then?" she asked, her voice tremulous with feeling. "Can
nothing, nothing, be done?"
Ben-Hur took her hand.
"Do you care so much for me?"
"Yes," she answered, simply.
The hand was warm, and in the palm of his it was lost. He felt
it tremble. Then the Egyptian came, so the opposite of this little one; so
tall, so audacious, with a flattery so cunning, a wit so ready, a beauty so
wonderful, a manner so bewitching. He carried the hand to his lips, and gave
it back.
"You shall be another Tirzah to me, Esther."
"Who is Tirzah?"
"The little sister the Roman stole from me, and whom I must find before
I can rest or be happy."
Just then a gleam of light flashed athwart the terrace and fell upon the
two; and, looking round, they saw a servant roll Simonides in his chair out
of the door. They went to the merchant, and in the after-talk he was
principal.
Immediately the lines of the galley were cast off, and she swung round,
and, midst the flashing of torches and the shouting of joyous sailors,
hurried off to the sea—leaving Ben-Hur committed to the cause of the KING
WHO WAS TO COME.
CHAPTER X
The day before the games, in the afternoon, all Ilderim's
racing property was taken to the city, and put in quarters adjoining the
Circus. Along with it the good man carried a great deal of property not of
that class; so with servants, retainers mounted and armed, horses in leading,
cattle driven, camels laden with baggage, his outgoing from the Orchard was
not unlike a tribal migration. The people along the road failed not to laugh
at his motley procession; on the other side, it was observed that, with
all his irascibility, he was not in the least offended by their rudeness. If
he was under surveillance, as he had reason to believe, the informer would
describe the semi-barbarous show with which he came up to the races. The
Romans would laugh; the city would be amused; but what cared he? Next morning
the pageant would be far on the road to the desert, and going with it would
be every movable thing of value belonging to the Orchard—everything save
such as were essential to the success of his four. He was, in fact, started
home; his tents were all folded; the dowar was no more; in twelve hours all
would be out of reach, pursue who might. A man is never safer than when he is
under the laugh; and the shrewd old Arab knew it.
Neither he nor Ben-Hur overestimated the influence of Messala; it was
their opinion, however, that he would not begin active measures against them
until after the meeting in the Circus; if defeated there, especially if
defeated by Ben-Hur, they might instantly look for the worst he could do; he
might not even wait for advices from Gratus. With this view, they shaped
their course, and were prepared to betake themselves out of harm's way. They
rode together now in good spirits, calmly confident of success on
the morrow.
On the way, they came upon Malluch in waiting for them. The
faithful fellow gave no sign by which it was possible to infer any
knowledge on his part of the relationship so recently admitted between
Ben-Hur and Simonides, or of the treaty between them and Ilderim. He
exchanged salutations as usual, and produced a paper, saying to the
sheik, "I have here the notice of the editor of the games, just issued, in
which you will find your horses published for the race. You will find in it
also the order of exercises. Without waiting, good sheik, I congratulate you
upon your victory."
He gave the paper over, and, leaving the worthy to master it, turned to
Ben-Hur.
"To you also, son of Arrius, my congratulations. There is nothing now to
prevent your meeting Messala. Every condition preliminary to the race is
complied with. I have the assurance from the editor himself."
"I thank you, Malluch," said Ben-Hur.
Malluch proceeded:
"Your color is white, and Messala's mixed scarlet and gold. The
good effects of the choice are visible already. Boys are now hawking
white ribbons along the streets; tomorrow every Arab and Jew in the
city will wear them. In the Circus you will see the white fairly
divide the galleries with the red."
"The galleries—but not the tribunal over the Porta Pompae."
"No; the scarlet and gold will rule there. But if we
win"—Malluch chuckled with the pleasure of the thought—"if we win, how
the dignitaries will tremble! They will bet, of course, according to their
scorn of everything not Roman—two, three, five to one on Messala, because he
is Roman." Dropping his voice yet lower, he added, "It ill becomes a Jew of
good standing in the Temple to put his money at such a hazard; yet, in
confidence, I will have a friend next behind the consul's seat to accept
offers of three to one, or five, or ten—the madness may go to such height. I
have put to his order six thousand shekels for the purpose."
"Nay, Malluch," said Ben-Hur, "a Roman will wager only in his Roman
coin. Suppose you find your friend to-night, and place to his order sestertii
in such amount as you choose. And look you, Malluch—let him be instructed to
seek wagers with Messala and his supporters; Ilderim's four against
Messala's."
Malluch reflected a moment.
"The effect will be to centre interest upon your contest."
"The very thing I seek, Malluch."
"I see, I see."
"Ay, Malluch; would you serve me perfectly, help me to fix the public
eye upon our race—Messala's and mine."
Malluch spoke quickly—"It can be done."
"Then let it be done," said Ben-Hur.
"Enormous wagers offered will answer; if the offers are accepted, all
the better."
Malluch turned his eyes watchfully upon Ben-Hur.
"Shall I not have back the equivalent of his robbery?" said
Ben-Hur, partly to himself. "Another opportunity may not come. And if I
could break him in fortune as well as in pride! Our father Jacob could
take no offence."
A look of determined will knit his handsome face, giving emphasis to his
further speech.
"Yes, it shall be. Hark, Malluch! Stop not in thy offer of
sestertii. Advance them to talents, if any there be who dare so high. Five,
ten, twenty talents; ay, fifty, so the wager be with Messala himself."
"It is a mighty sum," said Malluch. "I must have security."
"So thou shalt. Go to Simonides, and tell him I wish the
matter arranged. Tell him my heart is set on the ruin of my enemy, and
that the opportunity hath such excellent promise that I choose such hazards.
On our side be the God of our fathers. Go, good Malluch. Let this not
slip."
And Malluch, greatly delighted, gave him parting salutation, and started
to ride away, but returned presently.
"Your pardon," he said to Ben-Hur. "There was another matter. I could
not get near Messala's chariot myself, but I had another measure it; and,
from his report, its hub stands quite a palm higher from the ground than
yours."
"A palm! So much?" cried Ben-Hur, joyfully.
Then he leaned over to Malluch.
"As thou art a son of Judah, Malluch, and faithful to thy kin, get thee
a seat in the gallery over the Gate of Triumph, down close to the balcony in
front of the pillars, and watch well when we make the turns there; watch
well, for if I have favor at all, I will— Nay, Malluch, let it go unsaid!
Only get thee there, and watch well."
At that moment a cry burst from Ilderim.
"Ha! By the splendor of God! what is this?"
He drew near Ben-Hur with a finger pointing on the face of
the notice.
"Read," said Ben-Hur.
"No; better thou."
Ben-Hur took the paper, which, signed by the prefect of the province as
editor, performed the office of a modern programme, giving particularly the
several divertisements provided for the occasion. It informed the public that
there would be first a procession of extraordinary splendor; that the
procession would be succeeded by the customary honors to the god Consus,
whereupon the games would begin; running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, each in
the order stated. The names of the competitors were given, with
their several nationalities and schools of training, the trials in
which they had been engaged, the prizes won, and the prizes now
offered; under the latter head the sums of money were stated in
illuminated letters, telling of the departure of the day when the simple
chaplet of pine or laurel was fully enough for the victor, hungering for
glory as something better than riches, and content with it.
Over these parts of the programme Ben-Hur sped with rapid eyes. At last
he came to the announcement of the race. He read it slowly. Attending lovers
of the heroic sports were assured they would certainly be gratified by an
Orestean struggle unparalleled in Antioch. The city offered the spectacle
in honor of the consul. One hundred thousand sestertii and a crown
of laurel were the prizes. Then followed the particulars. The entries were
six in all—fours only permitted; and, to further interest in the
performance, the competitors would be turned into the course together. Each
four then received description.
"I. A four of Lysippus the Corinthian—two grays, a bay, and a
black; entered at Alexandria last year, and again at Corinth, where
they were winners. Lysippus, driver. Color, yellow.
"II. A four of Messala of Rome—two white, two black; victors of the
Circensian as exhibited in the Circus Maximus last year. Messala, driver.
Colors, scarlet and gold.
"III. A four of Cleanthes the Athenian—three gray, one bay; winners at
the Isthmian last year. Cleanthes, driver. Color, green.
"IV. A four of Dicaeus the Byzantine—two black, one gray, one
bay; winners this year at Byzantium. Dicaeus, driver. Color, black.
"V. A four of Admetus the Sidonian—all grays. Thrice entered at
Caesarea, and thrice victors. Admetus, driver. Color, blue.
"VI. A four of Ilderim, sheik of the Desert. All bays; first
race. Ben-Hur, a Jew, driver. Color, white."
BEN-HUR, A JEW, DRIVER!
Why that name instead of Arrius?
Ben-Hur raised his eyes to Ilderim. He had found the cause of the Arab's
outcry. Both rushed to the same conclusion.
The hand was the hand of Messala!
CHAPTER XI
Evening was hardly come upon Antioch, when the Omphalus, nearly in the
centre of the city, became a troubled fountain from which in every direction,
but chiefly down to the Nymphaeum and east and west along the Colonnade of
Herod, flowed currents of people, for the time given up to Bacchus and
Apollo.
For such indulgence anything more fitting cannot be imagined than the
great roofed streets, which were literally miles on miles of porticos wrought
of marble, polished to the last degree of finish, and all gifts to the
voluptuous city by princes careless of expenditure where, as in this
instance, they thought they were eternizing themselves. Darkness was not
permitted anywhere; and the singing, the laughter, the shouting, were
incessant, and in compound like the roar of waters dashing through hollow
grots, confused by a multitude of echoes.
The many nationalities represented, though they might have amazed a
stranger, were not peculiar to Antioch. Of the various missions of the great
empire, one seems to have been the fusion of men and the introduction of
strangers to each other; accordingly, whole peoples rose up and went at
pleasure, taking with them their costumes, customs, speech, and gods; and
where they chose, they stopped, engaged in business, built houses, erected
altars, and were what they had been at home.
There was a peculiarity, however, which could not have failed the notice
of a looker-on this night in Antioch. Nearly everybody wore the colors of one
or other of the charioteers announced for the morrow's race. Sometimes it was
in form of a scarf, sometimes a badge; often a ribbon or a feather. Whatever
the form, it signified merely the wearer's partiality; thus, green published
a friend of Cleanthes the Athenian, and black an adherent of the
Byzantine. This was according to a custom, old probably as the day of
the race of Orestes—a custom, by the way, worthy of study as a marvel of
history, illustrative of the absurd yet appalling extremities to which men
frequently suffer their follies to drag them.
The observer abroad on this occasion, once attracted to the wearing of
colors, would have very shortly decided that there were three in
predominance—green, white, and the mixed scarlet and gold.
But let us from the streets to the palace on the island.
The five great chandeliers in the saloon are freshly lighted.
The assemblage is much the same as that already noticed in connection with
the place. The divan has its corps of sleepers and burden of garments, and
the tables yet resound with the rattle and clash of dice. Yet the greater
part of the company are not doing anything. They walk about, or yawn
tremendously, or pause as they pass each other to exchange idle nothings.
Will the weather be fair to-morrow? Are the preparations for the games
complete? Do the laws of the Circus in Antioch differ from the laws of the
Circus in Rome? Truth is, the young fellows are suffering from
ennui. Their heavy work is done; that is, we would find their
tablets, could we look at them, covered with memoranda of
wagers—wagers on every contest; on the running, the wrestling, the
boxing; on everything but the chariot-race.
And why not on that?
Good reader, they cannot find anybody who will hazard so much as a
denarius with them against Messala.
There are no colors in the saloon but his.
No one thinks of his defeat.
Why, they say, is he not perfect in his training? Did he not graduate
from an imperial lanista? Were not his horses winners at the Circensian in
the Circus Maximus? And then—ah, yes! he is a Roman!
In a corner, at ease on the divan, Messala himself may be seen. Around
him, sitting or standing, are his courtierly admirers, plying him with
questions. There is, of course, but one topic.
Enter Drusus and Cecilius.
"Ah!" cries the young prince, throwing himself on the divan at Messala's
feet, "Ah, by Bacchus, I am tired!"
"Whither away?" asks Messala.
"Up the street; up to the Omphalus, and beyond—who shall say how far?
Rivers of people; never so many in the city before. They say we will see the
whole world at the Circus to-morrow."
Messala laughed scornfully.
"The idiots! Perpol! They never beheld a Circensian with Caesar for
editor. But, my Drusus, what found you?"
"Nothing."
"O—ah! You forget," said Cecilius.
"What?" asked Drusus.
"The procession of whites."
"Mirabile!" cried Drusus, half rising. "We met a faction of whites, and
they had a banner. But—ha, ha, ha!"
He fell back indolently.
"Cruel Drusus—not to go on," said Messala.
"Scum of the desert were they, my Messala, and garbage-eaters from the
Jacob's Temple in Jerusalem. What had I to do with them!"
"Nay," said Cecilius, "Drusus is afraid of a laugh, but I am not, my
Messala."
"Speak thou, then."
"Well, we stopped the faction, and—"
"Offered them a wager," said Drusus, relenting, and taking the word from
the shadow's mouth. "And—ha, ha, ha!—one fellow with not enough skin on his
face to make a worm for a carp stepped forth, and—ha, ha, ha!—said yes. I
drew my tablets. 'Who is your man?' I asked. 'Ben-Hur, the Jew,' said he.
Then I: 'What shall it be? How much?' He answered, 'A—a—' Excuse me,
Messala. By Jove's thunder, I cannot go on for laughter! Ha, ha, ha!"
The listeners leaned forward.
Messala looked to Cecilius.
"A shekel," said the latter.
"A shekel! A shekel!"
A burst of scornful laughter ran fast upon the repetition.
"And what did Drusus?" asked Messala.
An outcry over about the door just then occasioned a rush to
that quarter; and, as the noise there continued, and grew louder,
even Cecilius betook himself off, pausing only to say, "The noble
Drusus, my Messala, put up his tablets and—lost the shekel."
"A white! A white!"
"Let him come!"
"This way, this way!"
These and like exclamations filled the saloon, to the stoppage of other
speech. The dice-players quit their games; the sleepers awoke, rubbed their
eyes, drew their tablets, and hurried to the common centre.
"I offer you—"
"And I—"
"I—"
The person so warmly received was the respectable Jew,
Ben-Hur's fellow-voyager from Cyprus. He entered grave, quiet,
observant. His robe was spotlessly white; so was the cloth of his
turban. Bowing and smiling at the welcome, he moved slowly towards
the central table. Arrived there, he drew his robe about him in a stately
manner, took seat, and waved his hand. The gleam of a jewel on a finger
helped him not a little to the silence which ensued.
"Romans—most noble Romans—I salute you!" he said.
"Easy, by Jupiter! Who is he?" asked Drusus.
"A dog of Israel—Sanballat by name—purveyor for the army;
residence, Rome; vastly rich; grown so as a contractor of furnishments
which he never furnishes. He spins mischiefs, nevertheless, finer
than spiders spin their webs. Come—by the girdle of Venus! let us catch
him!"
Messala arose as he spoke, and, with Drusus, joined the mass crowded
about the purveyor.
"It came to me on the street," said that person, producing his tablets,
and opening them on the table with an impressive air of business, "that there
was great discomfort in the palace because offers on Messala were going
without takers. The gods, you know, must have sacrifices; and here am I. You
see my color; let us to the matter. Odds first, amounts next. What will you
give me?"
The audacity seemed to stun his hearers.
"Haste!" he said. "I have an engagement with the consul."
The spur was effective.
"Two to one," cried half a dozen in a voice.
"What!" exclaimed the purveyor, astonished. "Only two to one, and yours
a Roman!"
"Take three, then."
"Three say you—only three—and mine but a dog of a Jew! Give
me four."
"Four it is," said a boy, stung by the taunt.
"Five—give me five," cried the purveyor, instantly.
A profound stillness fell upon the assemblage.
"The consul—your master and mine—is waiting for me."
The inaction became awkward to the many.
"Give me five—for the honor of Rome, five."
"Five let it be," said one in answer.
There was a sharp cheer—a commotion—and Messala himself appeared.
"Five let it be," he said.
And Sanballat smiled, and made ready to write.
"If Caesar die to-morrow," he said, "Rome will not be all bereft. There
is at least one other with spirit to take his place. Give me six."
"Six be it," answered Messala.
There was another shout louder than the first.
"Six be it," repeated Messala. "Six to one—the difference between a
Roman and a Jew. And, having found it, now, O redemptor of the flesh of
swine, let us on. The amount—and quickly. The consul may send for thee, and
I will then be bereft."
Sanballat took the laugh against him coolly, and wrote, and offered the
writing to Messala.
"Read, read!" everybody demanded.
And Messala read:
"Mem.—Chariot-race. Messala of Rome, in wager with Sanballat, also of
Rome, says he will beat Ben-Hur, the Jew. Amount of wager, twenty talents.
Odds to Sanballat, six to one.
"Witnesses: SANBALLAT."
There was no noise, no motion. Each person seemed held in the pose the
reading found him. Messala stared at the memorandum, while the eyes which had
him in view opened wide, and stared at him. He felt the gaze, and thought
rapidly. So lately he stood in the same place, and in the same way hectored
the countrymen around him. They would remember it. If he refused to sign, his
hero-ship was lost. And sign he could not; he was not worth one hundred
talents, nor the fifth part of the sum. Suddenly his mind became a
blank; he stood speechless; the color fled his face. An idea at last
came to his relief.
"Thou Jew!" he said, "where hast thou twenty talents? Show me."
Sanballat's provoking smile deepened.
"There," he replied, offering Messala a paper.
"Read, read!" arose all around.
Again Messala read:
"AT ANTIOCH, Tammuz 16th day.
"The bearer, Sanballat of Rome, hath now to his order with me fifty
talents, coin of Caesar.
SIMONIDES."
"Fifty talents, fifty talents!" echoed the throng, in amazement.
Then Drusus came to the rescue.
"By Hercules!" he shouted, "the paper lies, and the Jew is a liar. Who
but Caesar hath fifty talents at order? Down with the insolent white!"
The cry was angry, and it was angrily repeated; yet Sanballat kept his
seat, and his smile grew more exasperating the longer he waited. At length
Messala spoke.
"Hush! One to one, my countrymen—one to one, for love of our ancient
Roman name."
The timely action recovered him his ascendancy.
"O thou circumcised dog!" he continued, to Sanballat, "I gave thee six
to one, did I not?"
"Yes," said the Jew, quietly.
"Well, give me now the fixing of the amount."
"With reserve, if the amount be trifling, have thy will," answered
Sanballat.
"Write, then, five in place of twenty."
"Hast thou so much?"
"By the mother of the gods, I will show you receipts."
"Nay, the word of so brave a Roman must pass. Only make the
sum even—six make it, and I will write."
"Write it so."
And forthwith they exchanged writings.
Sanballat immediately arose and looked around him, a sneer in place of
his smile. No man better than he knew those with whom he was dealing.
"Romans," he said, "another wager, if you dare! Five talents
against five talents that the white will win. I challenge you
collectively."
They were again surprised.
"What!" he cried, louder. "Shall it be said in the Circus to-morrow that
a dog of Israel went into the saloon of the palace full of Roman
nobles—among them the scion of a Caesar—and laid five talents before them
in challenge, and they had not the courage to take it up?"
The sting was unendurable.
"Have done, O insolent!" said Drusus, "write the challenge, and leave it
on the table; and to-morrow, if we find thou hast indeed so much money to put
at such hopeless hazard, I, Drusus, promise it shall be taken."
Sanballat wrote again, and, rising, said, unmoved as ever, "See, Drusus,
I leave the offer with you. When it is signed, send it to me any time before
the race begins. I will be found with the consul in a seat over the Porta
Pompae. Peace to you; peace to all."
He bowed, and departed, careless of the shout of derision with which
they pursued him out of the door.
In the night the story of the prodigious wager flew along the streets
and over the city; and Ben-Hur, lying with his four, was told of it, and also
that Messala's whole fortune was on the hazard.
And he slept never so soundly.
CHAPTER XII
The Circus at Antioch stood on the south bank of the river, nearly
opposite the island, differing in no respect from the plan of such buildings
in general.
In the purest sense, the games were a gift to the public;
consequently, everybody was free to attend; and, vast as the holding capacity
of the structure was, so fearful were the people, on this occasion, lest
there should not be room for them, that, early the day before the opening of
the exhibition, they took up all the vacant spaces in the vicinity, where
their temporary shelter suggested an army in waiting.
At midnight the entrances were thrown wide, and the rabble, surging in,
occupied the quarters assigned to them, from which nothing less than an
earthquake or an army with spears could have dislodged them. They dozed the
night away on the benches, and breakfasted there; and there the close of the
exercises found them, patient and sight-hungry as in the beginning.
The better people, their seats secured, began moving towards the Circus
about the first hour of the morning, the noble and very rich among them
distinguished by litters and retinues of liveried servants.
By the second hour, the efflux from the city was a stream unbroken and
innumerable.
Exactly as the gnomon of the official dial up in the citadel pointed the
second hour half gone, the legion, in full panoply, and with all its
standards on exhibit, descended from Mount Sulpius; and when the rear of the
last cohort disappeared in the bridge, Antioch was literally abandoned—not
that the Circus could hold the multitude, but that the multitude was gone out
to it, nevertheless.
A great concourse on the river shore witnessed the consul come over from
the island in a barge of state. As the great man landed, and was received by
the legion, the martial show for one brief moment transcended the attraction
of the Circus.
At the third hour, the audience, if such it may be termed, was
assembled; at last, a flourish of trumpets called for silence, and
instantly the gaze of over a hundred thousand persons was directed
towards a pile forming the eastern section of the building.
There was a basement first, broken in the middle by a broad
arched passage, called the Porta Pompae, over which, on an elevated
tribunal magnificently decorated with insignia and legionary standards,
the consul sat in the place of honor. On both sides of the passage
the basement was divided into stalls termed carceres, each protected in
front by massive gates swung to statuesque pilasters. Over the stalls next
was a cornice crowned by a low balustrade; back of which the seats arose in
theatre arrangement, all occupied by a throng of dignitaries superbly
attired. The pile extended the width of the Circus, and was flanked on both
sides by towers which, besides helping the architects give grace to their
work, served the velaria, or purple awnings, stretched between them so as
to throw the whole quarter in a shade that became exceedingly grateful as the
day advanced.
This structure, it is now thought, can be made useful in helping the
reader to a sufficient understanding of the arrangement of the rest of the
interior of the Circus. He has only to fancy himself seated on the tribunal
with the consul, facing to the west, where everything is under his eye.
On the right and left, if he will look, he will see the main
entrances, very ample, and guarded by gates hinged to the towers.
Directly below him is the arena—a level plane of considerable extent,
covered with fine white sand. There all the trials will take place except the
running.
Looking across this sanded arena westwardly still, there is a pedestal
of marble supporting three low conical pillars of gray stone, much carven.
Many an eye will hunt for those pillars before the day is done, for they are
the first goal, and mark the beginning and end of the race-course. Behind the
pedestal, leaving a passage-way and space for an altar, commences a wall ten
or twelve feet in breadth and five or six in height, extending thence exactly
two hundred yards, or one Olympic stadium. At the farther, or westward,
extremity of the wall there is another pedestal, surmounted with pillars
which mark the second goal.
The racers will enter the course on the right of the first goal, and
keep the wall all the time to their left. The beginning and ending points of
the contest lie, consequently, directly in front of the consul across the
arena; and for that reason his seat was admittedly the most desirable in the
Circus.
Now if the reader, who is still supposed to be seated on the consular
tribunal over the Porta Pompae, will look up from the ground arrangement of
the interior, the first point to attract his notice will be the marking of
the outer boundary-line of the course—that is, a plain-faced, solid wall,
fifteen or twenty feet in height, with a balustrade on its cope, like that
over the carceres, or stalls, in the east. This balcony, if followed round
the course, will be found broken in three places to allow passages of exit
and entrance, two in the north and one in the west; the latter very ornate,
and called the Gate of Triumph, because, when all is over, the victors will
pass out that way, crowned, and with triumphal escort and ceremonies.
At the west end the balcony encloses the course in the form of a half
circle, and is made to uphold two great galleries.
Directly behind the balustrade on the coping of the balcony is the first
seat, from which ascend the succeeding benches, each higher than the one in
front of it; giving to view a spectacle of surpassing interest—the spectacle
of a vast space ruddy and glistening with human faces, and rich with
varicolored costumes.
The commonalty occupy quarters over in the west, beginning at the point
of termination of an awning, stretched, it would seem, for the accommodation
of the better classes exclusively.
Having thus the whole interior of the Circus under view at the moment of
the sounding of the trumpets, let the reader next imagine the multitude
seated and sunk to sudden silence, and motionless in its intensity of
interest.
Out of the Porta Pompae over in the east rises a sound mixed of voices
and instruments harmonized. Presently, forth issues the chorus of the
procession with which the celebration begins; the editor and civic
authorities of the city, givers of the games, follow in robes and garlands;
then the gods, some on platforms borne by men, others in great four-wheel
carriages gorgeously decorated; next them, again, the contestants of
the day, each in costume exactly as he will run, wrestle, leap, box, or
drive.
Slowly crossing the arena, the procession proceeds to make circuit of
the course. The display is beautiful and imposing. Approval runs before it in
a shout, as the water rises and swells in front of a boat in motion. If the
dumb, figured gods make no sign of appreciation of the welcome, the editor
and his associates are not so backward.
The reception of the athletes is even more demonstrative, for there is
not a man in the assemblage who has not something in wager upon them, though
but a mite or farthing. And it is noticeable, as the classes move by, that
the favorites among them are speedily singled out: either their names are
loudest in the uproar, or they are more profusely showered with wreaths and
garlands tossed to them from the balcony.
If there is a question as to the popularity with the public of the
several games, it is now put to rest. To the splendor of the chariots and the
superexcellent beauty of the horses, the charioteers add the personality
necessary to perfect the charm of their display. Their tunics, short,
sleeveless, and of the finest woollen texture, are of the assigned colors. A
horseman accompanies each one of them except Ben-Hur, who, for some
reason—possibly distrust—has chosen to go alone; so, too, they are all
helmeted but him. As they approach, the spectators stand upon the
benches, and there is a sensible deepening of the clamor, in which a
sharp listener may detect the shrill piping of women and children; at
the same time, the things roseate flying from the balcony thicken into
a storm, and, striking the men, drop into the chariot-beds, which
are threatened with filling to the tops. Even the horses have a share in
the ovation; nor may it be said they are less conscious than their masters of
the honors they receive.
Very soon, as with the other contestants, it is made apparent that some
of the drivers are more in favor than others; and then the discovery follows
that nearly every individual on the benches, women and children as well as
men, wears a color, most frequently a ribbon upon the breast or in the hair:
now it is green, now yellow, now blue; but, searching the great body
carefully, it is manifest that there is a preponderance of white, and scarlet
and gold.
In a modern assemblage called together as this one is,
particularly where there are sums at hazard upon the race, a preference would
be decided by the qualities or performance of the horses; here,
however, nationality was the rule. If the Byzantine and Sidonian found
small support, it was because their cities were scarcely represented on
the benches. On their side, the Greeks, though very numerous, were divided
between the Corinthian and the Athenian, leaving but a scant showing of green
and yellow. Messala's scarlet and gold would have been but little better had
not the citizens of Antioch, proverbially a race of courtiers, joined the
Romans by adopting the color of their favorite. There were left then the
country people, or Syrians, the Jews, and the Arabs; and they, from faith in
the blood of the sheik's four, blent largely with hate of the Romans, whom
they desired, above all things, to see beaten and humbled, mounted the white,
making the most noisy, and probably the most numerous, faction of all.
As the charioteers move on in the circuit, the excitement increases; at
the second goal, where, especially in the galleries, the white is the ruling
color, the people exhaust their flowers and rive the air with screams.
"Messala! Messala!"
"Ben-Hur! Ben-Hur!"
Such are the cries.
Upon the passage of the procession, the factionists take their seats and
resume conversation.
"Ah, by Bacchus! was he not handsome?" exclaims a woman, whose Romanism
is betrayed by the colors flying in her hair.
"And how splendid his chariot!" replies a neighbor, of the
same proclivities. "It is all ivory and gold. Jupiter grant he wins!"
The notes on the bench behind them were entirely different.
"A hundred shekels on the Jew!"
The voice is high and shrill.
"Nay, be thou not rash," whispers a moderating friend to the
speaker. "The children of Jacob are not much given to Gentile sports, which
are too often accursed in the sight of the Lord."
"True, but saw you ever one more cool and assured? And what an arm he
has!"
"And what horses!" says a third.
"And for that," a fourth one adds, "they say he has all the tricks of
the Romans."
A woman completes the eulogium:
"Yes, and he is even handsomer than the Roman."
Thus encouraged, the enthusiast shrieks again, "A hundred shekels on the
Jew!"
"Thou fool!" answers an Antiochian, from a bench well forward on the
balcony. "Knowest thou not there are fifty talents laid against him, six to
one, on Messala? Put up thy shekels, lest Abraham rise and smite thee."
"Ha, ha! thou ass of Antioch! Cease thy bray. Knowest thou not it was
Messala betting on himself?"
Such the reply.
And so ran the controversy, not always good-natured.
When at length the march was ended and the Porta Pompae received back
the procession, Ben-Hur knew he had his prayer.
The eyes of the East were upon his contest with Messala.
CHAPTER XIII
About three o'clock, speaking in modern style, the program was concluded
except the chariot-race. The editor, wisely considerate of the comfort of the
people, chose that time for a recess. At once the vomitoria were thrown open,
and all who could hastened to the portico outside where the restaurateurs had
their quarters. Those who remained yawned, talked, gossiped, consulted their
tablets, and, all distinctions else forgotten, merged into but two
classes—the winners, who were happy, and the losers, who were grum and
captious.
Now, however, a third class of spectators, composed of citizens
who desired only to witness the chariot-race, availed themselves of
the recess to come in and take their reserved seats; by so doing
they thought to attract the least attention and give the least
offence. Among these were Simonides and his party, whose places were in
the vicinity of the main entrance on the north side, opposite the
consul.
As the four stout servants carried the merchant in his chair up the
aisle, curiosity was much excited. Presently some one called his name. Those
about caught it and passed it on along the benches to the west; and there was
hurried climbing on seats to get sight of the man about whom common report
had coined and put in circulation a romance so mixed of good fortune and bad
that the like had never been known or heard of before.
Ilderim was also recognized and warmly greeted; but nobody
knew Balthasar or the two women who followed him closely veiled.
The people made way for the party respectfully, and the ushers seated
them in easy speaking distance of each other down by the balustrade
overlooking the arena. In providence of comfort, they sat upon cushions and
had stools for footrests.
The women were Iras and Esther.
Upon being seated, the latter cast a frightened look over the Circus,
and drew the veil closer about her face; while the Egyptian, letting her veil
fall upon her shoulders, gave herself to view, and gazed at the scene with
the seeming unconsciousness of being stared at, which, in a woman, is usually
the result of long social habitude.
The new-comers generally were yet making their first examination of the
great spectacle, beginning with the consul and his attendants, when some
workmen ran in and commenced to stretch a chalked rope across the arena from
balcony to balcony in front of the pillars of the first goal.
About the same time, also, six men came in through the Porta Pompae and
took post, one in front of each occupied stall; whereat there was a prolonged
hum of voices in every quarter.
"See, see! The green goes to number four on the right; the Athenian is
there."
"And Messala—yes, he is in number two."
"The Corinthian—"
"Watch the white! See, he crosses over, he stops; number one
it is—number one on the left."
"No, the black stops there, and the white at number two."
"So it is."
These gate-keepers, it should be understood, were dressed in
tunics colored like those of the competing charioteers; so, when they
took their stations, everybody knew the particular stall in which
his favorite was that moment waiting.
"Did you ever see Messala?" the Egyptian asked Esther.
The Jewess shuddered as she answered no. If not her father's enemy, the
Roman was Ben-Hur's.
"He is beautiful as Apollo."
As Iras spoke, her large eyes brightened and she shook her jeweled fan.
Esther looked at her with the thought, "Is he, then, so much handsomer than
Ben-Hur?" Next moment she heard Ilderim say to her father, "Yes, his stall is
number two on the left of the Porta Pompae;" and, thinking it was of Ben-Hur
he spoke, her eyes turned that way. Taking but the briefest glance at the
wattled face of the gate, she drew the veil close and muttered a little
prayer.
Presently Sanballat came to the party.
"I am just from the stalls, O sheik," he said, bowing gravely
to IIderim, who began combing his beard, while his eyes glittered
with eager inquiry. "The horses are in perfect condition."
Ilderim replied simply, "If they are beaten, I pray it be by some other
than Messala."
Turning then to Simonides, Sanballat drew out a tablet, saying, "I bring
you also something of interest. I reported, you will remember, the wager
concluded with Messala last night, and stated that I left another which, if
taken, was to be delivered to me in writing to-day before the race began.
Here it is."
Simonides took the tablet and read the memorandum carefully.
"Yes," he said, "their emissary came to ask me if you had so much money
with me. Keep the tablet close. If you lose, you know where to come; if you
win"—his face knit hard—"if you win—ah, friend, see to it! See the signers
escape not; hold them to the last shekel. That is what they would with
us."
"Trust me," replied the purveyor.
"Will you not sit with us?" asked Simonides.
"You are very good," the other returned; "but if I leave the
consul, young Rome yonder will boil over. Peace to you; peace to all."
At length the recess came to an end.
The trumpeters blew a call at which the absentees rushed back to their
places. At the same time, some attendants appeared in the arena, and,
climbing upon the division wall, went to an entablature near the second goal
at the west end, and placed upon it seven wooden balls; then returning to the
first goal, upon an entablature there they set up seven other pieces of wood
hewn to represent dolphins.
"What shall they do with the balls and fishes, O sheik?"
asked Balthasar.
"Hast thou never attended a race?"
"Never before; and hardly know I why I am here."
"Well, they are to keep the count. At the end of each round run thou
shalt see one ball and one fish taken down."
The preparations were now complete, and presently a trumpeter in gaudy
uniform arose by the editor, ready to blow the signal of commencement
promptly at his order. Straightway the stir of the people and the hum of
their conversation died away. Every face near-by, and every face in the
lessening perspective, turned to the east, as all eyes settled upon the gates
of the six stalls which shut in the competitors.
The unusual flush upon his face gave proof that even Simonides had
caught the universal excitement. Ilderim pulled his beard fast and
furious.
"Look now for the Roman," said the fair Egyptian to Esther, who did not
hear her, for, with close-drawn veil and beating heart, she sat watching for
Ben-Hur.
The structure containing the stalls, it should be observed, was in form
of the segment of a circle, retired on the right so that its central point
was projected forward, and midway the course, on the starting side of the
first goal. Every stall, consequently, was equally distant from the
starting-line or chalked rope above mentioned.
The trumpet sounded short and sharp; whereupon the starters, one for
each chariot, leaped down from behind the pillars of the goal, ready to give
assistance if any of the fours proved unmanageable.
Again the trumpet blew, and simultaneously the gate-keepers threw the
stalls open.
First appeared the mounted attendants of the charioteers, five in
all, Ben-Hur having rejected the service. The chalked line was lowered
to let them pass, then raised again. They were beautifully mounted, yet
scarcely observed as they rode forward; for all the time the trampling of
eager horses, and the voices of drivers scarcely less eager, were heard
behind in the stalls, so that one might not look away an instant from the
gaping doors.
The chalked line up again, the gate-keepers called their men; instantly
the ushers on the balcony waved their hands, and shouted with all their
strength, "Down! down!"
As well have whistled to stay a storm.
Forth from each stall, like missiles in a volley from so many
great guns, rushed the six fours; and up the vast assemblage
arose, electrified and irrepressible, and, leaping upon the
benches, filled the Circus and the air above it with yells and
screams. This was the time for which they had so patiently
waited!—this the moment of supreme interest treasured up in talk and
dreams since the proclamation of the games!
"He is come—there—look!" cried Iras, pointing to Messala.
"I see him," answered Esther, looking at Ben-Hur.
The veil was withdrawn. For an instant the little Jewess was brave. An
idea of the joy there is in doing an heroic deed under the eyes of a
multitude came to her, and she understood ever after how, at such times, the
souls of men, in the frenzy of performance, laugh at death or forget it
utterly.
The competitors were now under view from nearly every part of the
Circus, yet the race was not begun; they had first to make the chalked line
successfully.
The line was stretched for the purpose of equalizing the start. If it
were dashed upon, discomfiture of man and horses might be apprehended; on the
other hand, to approach it timidly was to incur the hazard of being thrown
behind in the beginning of the race; and that was certain forfeit of the
great advantage always striven for—the position next the division wall on
the inner line of the course.
This trial, its perils and consequences, the spectators knew thoroughly;
and if the opinion of old Nestor, uttered that time he handed the reins to
his son, were true—
"It is not strength, but art, obtained the prize, And to be swift is
less than to be wise"—
all on the benches might well look for warning of the winner to be now
given, justifying the interest with which they breathlessly watched for the
result.
The arena swam in a dazzle of light; yet each driver looked first thing
for the rope, then for the coveted inner line. So, all six aiming at the same
point and speeding furiously, a collision seemed inevitable; nor that merely.
What if the editor, at the last moment, dissatisfied with the start, should
withhold the signal to drop the rope? Or if he should not give it in
time?
The crossing was about two hundred and fifty feet in width. Quick
the eye, steady the hand, unerring the judgment required. If now one
look away! or his mind wander! or a rein slip! And what attraction in
the ensemble of the thousands over the spreading balcony! Calculating upon
the natural impulse to give one glance—just one—in sooth of curiosity or
vanity, malice might be there with an artifice; while friendship and love,
did they serve the same result, might be as deadly as malice.
The divine last touch in perfecting the beautiful is animation. Can
we accept the saying, then these latter days, so tame in pastime and dull
in sports, have scarcely anything to compare to the spectacle offered by the
six contestants. Let the reader try to fancy it; let him first look down upon
the arena, and see it glistening in its frame of dull-gray granite walls; let
him then, in this perfect field, see the chariots, light of wheel, very
graceful, and ornate as paint and burnishing can make them—Messala's
rich with ivory and gold; let him see the drivers, erect and
statuesque, undisturbed by the motion of the cars, their limbs naked, and
fresh and ruddy with the healthful polish of the baths—in their
right hands goads, suggestive of torture dreadful to the thought—in their
left hands, held in careful separation, and high, that they may not interfere
with view of the steeds, the reins passing taut from the fore ends of the
carriage-poles; let him see the fours, chosen for beauty as well as speed;
let him see them in magnificent action, their masters not more conscious of
the situation and all that is asked and hoped from them—their heads tossing,
nostrils in play, now distent, now contracted—limbs too dainty for the
sand which they touch but to spurn—limbs slender, yet with
impact crushing as hammers—every muscle of the rounded bodies
instinct with glorious life, swelling, diminishing, justifying the world
in taking from them its ultimate measure of force; finally, along
with chariots, drivers, horses, let the reader see the
accompanying shadows fly; and, with such distinctness as the picture
comes, he may share the satisfaction and deeper pleasure of those to whom
it was a thrilling fact, not a feeble fancy. Every age has its plenty of
sorrows; Heaven help where there are no pleasures!
The competitors having started each on the shortest line for
the position next the wall, yielding would be like giving up the race; and
who dared yield? It is not in common nature to change a purpose in
mid-career; and the cries of encouragement from the balcony
were indistinguishable and indescribable: a roar which had the same
effect upon all the drivers.
The fours neared the rope together. Then the trumpeter by the editor's
side blew a signal vigorously. Twenty feet away it was not heard. Seeing the
action, however, the judges dropped the rope, and not an instant too soon,
for the hoof of one of Messala's horses struck it as it fell. Nothing
daunted, the Roman shook out his long lash, loosed the reins, leaned forward,
and, with a triumphant shout, took the wall.
"Jove with us! Jove with us!" yelled all the Roman faction, in a frenzy
of delight.
As Messala turned in, the bronze lion's head at the end of his axle
caught the fore-leg of the Athenian's right-hand trace-mate, flinging the
brute over against its yoke-fellow. Both staggered, struggled, and lost their
headway. The ushers had their will at least in part. The thousands held their
breath with horror; only up where the consul sat was there shouting.
"Jove with us!" screamed Drusus, frantically.
"He wins! Jove with us!" answered his associates, seeing Messala speed
on.
Tablet in hand, Sanballat turned to them; a crash from the course below
stopped his speech, and he could not but look that way.
Messala having passed, the Corinthian was the only contestant on the
Athenian's right, and to that side the latter tried to turn his broken four;
and then; as ill-fortune would have it, the wheel of the Byzantine, who was
next on the left, struck the tail-piece of his chariot, knocking his feet
from under him. There was a crash, a scream of rage and fear, and the
unfortunate Cleanthes fell under the hoofs of his own steeds: a terrible
sight, against which Esther covered her eyes.
On swept the Corinthian, on the Byzantine, on the Sidonian.
Sanballat looked for Ben-Hur, and turned again to Drusus and
his coterie.
"A hundred sestertii on the Jew!" he cried.
"Taken!" answered Drusus.
"Another hundred on the Jew!" shouted Sanballat.
Nobody appeared to hear him. He called again; the situation below was
too absorbing, and they were too busy shouting, "Messala! Messala! Jove with
us!"
When the Jewess ventured to look again, a party of workmen were removing
the horses and broken car; another party were taking off the man himself; and
every bench upon which there was a Greek was vocal with execrations and
prayers for vengeance. Suddenly she dropped her hands; Ben-Hur, unhurt, was
to the front, coursing freely forward along with the Roman! Behind them, in a
group, followed the Sidonian, the Corinthian, and the Byzantine.
The race was on; the souls of the racers were in it; over them bent the
myriads.
CHAPTER XIV
When the dash for position began, Ben-Hur, as we have seen, was on the
extreme left of the six. For a moment, like the others, he was half blinded
by the light in the arena; yet he managed to catch sight of his antagonists
and divine their purpose. At Messala, who was more than an antagonist to him,
he gave one searching look. The air of passionless hauteur characteristic of
the fine patrician face was there as of old, and so was the Italian beauty,
which the helmet rather increased; but more—it may have been a jealous
fancy, or the effect of the brassy shadow in which the features were at
the moment cast, still the Israelite thought he saw the soul of the man as
through a glass, darkly: cruel, cunning, desperate; not so excited as
determined—a soul in a tension of watchfulness and fierce resolve.
In a time not longer than was required to turn to his four
again, Ben-Hur felt his own resolution harden to a like temper. At
whatever cost, at all hazards, he would humble this enemy! Prize,
friends, wagers, honor—everything that can be thought of as a
possible interest in the race was lost in the one deliberate
purpose. Regard for life even should not hold him back. Yet there was
no passion, on his part; no blinding rush of heated blood from heart to
brain, and back again; no impulse to fling himself upon Fortune: he did not
believe in Fortune; far otherwise. He had his plan, and, confiding in
himself, he settled to the task never more observant, never more capable. The
air about him seemed aglow with a renewed and perfect transparency.
When not half-way across the arena, he saw that Messala's rush would, if
there was no collision, and the rope fell, give him the wall; that the rope
would fall, he ceased as soon to doubt; and, further, it came to him, a
sudden flash-like insight, that Messala knew it was to be let drop at the
last moment (prearrangement with the editor could safely reach that point in
the contest); and it suggested, what more Roman-like than for the
official to lend himself to a countryman who, besides being so
popular, had also so much at stake? There could be no other accounting for
the confidence with which Messala pushed his four forward the instant his
competitors were prudentially checking their fours in front of the
obstruction—no other except madness.
It is one thing to see a necessity and another to act upon it. Ben-Hur
yielded the wall for the time.
The rope fell, and all the fours but his sprang into the course under
urgency of voice and lash. He drew head to the right, and, with all the speed
of his Arabs, darted across the trails of his opponents, the angle of
movement being such as to lose the least time and gain the greatest possible
advance. So, while the spectators were shivering at the Athenian's mishap,
and the Sidonian, Byzantine, and Corinthian were striving, with such skill as
they possessed, to avoid involvement in the ruin, Ben-Hur swept around and
took the course neck and neck with Messala, though on the outside. The
marvellous skill shown in making the change thus from the extreme left across
to the right without appreciable loss did not fail the sharp eyes upon the
benches; the Circus seemed to rock and rock again with prolonged applause.
Then Esther clasped her hands in glad surprise; then Sanballat, smiling,
offered his hundred sestertii a second time without a taker; and then the
Romans began to doubt, thinking Messala might have found an equal, if
not a master, and that in an Israelite!
And now, racing together side by side, a narrow interval between them,
the two neared the second goal.
The pedestal of the three pillars there, viewed from the west, was a
stone wall in the form of a half-circle, around which the course and opposite
balcony were bent in exact parallelism. Making this turn was considered in
all respects the most telling test of a charioteer; it was, in fact, the very
feat in which Orastes failed. As an involuntary admission of interest on
the part of the spectators, a hush fell over all the Circus, so that for
the first time in the race the rattle and clang of the cars plunging after
the tugging steeds were distinctly heard. Then, it would seem, Messala
observed Ben-Hur, and recognized him; and at once the audacity of the man
flamed out in an astonishing manner.
"Down Eros, up Mars!" he shouted, whirling his lash with
practised hand—"Down Eros, up Mars!" he repeated, and caught the
well-doing Arabs of Ben-Hur a cut the like of which they had never
known.
The blow was seen in every quarter, and the amazement was universal. The
silence deepened; up on the benches behind the consul the boldest held his
breath, waiting for the outcome. Only a moment thus: then, involuntarily,
down from the balcony, as thunder falls, burst the indignant cry of the
people.
The four sprang forward affrighted. No hand had ever been laid upon them
except in love; they had been nurtured ever so tenderly; and as they grew,
their confidence in man became a lesson to men beautiful to see. What should
such dainty natures do under such indignity but leap as from death?
Forward they sprang as with one impulse, and forward leaped the car.
Past question, every experience is serviceable to us. Where got Ben-Hur the
large hand and mighty grip which helped him now so well? Where but from the
oar with which so long he fought the sea? And what was this spring of the
floor under his feet to the dizzy eccentric lurch with which in the old
time the trembling ship yielded to the beat of staggering billows, drunk
with their power? So he kept his place, and gave the four free rein, and
called to them in soothing voice, trying merely to guide them round the
dangerous turn; and before the fever of the people began to abate, he had
back the mastery. Nor that only: on approaching the first goal, he was again
side by side with Messala, bearing with him the sympathy and admiration of
every one not a Roman. So clearly was the feeling shown, so vigorous its
manifestation, that Messala, with all his boldness, felt it unsafe to trifle
further.
As the cars whirled round the goal, Esther caught sight of
Ben-Hur's face—a little pale, a little higher raised, otherwise calm, even
placid.
Immediately a man climbed on the entablature at the west end of the
division wall, and took down one of the conical wooden balls. A dolphin on
the east entablature was taken down at the same time.
In like manner, the second ball and second dolphin disappeared.
And then the third ball and third dolphin.
Three rounds concluded: still Messala held the inside position; still
Ben-Hur moved with him side by side; still the other competitors followed as
before. The contest began to have the appearance of one of the double races
which became so popular in Rome during the later Caesarean period—Messala
and Ben-Hur in the first, the Corinthian, Sidonian, and Byzantine in the
second. Meantime the ushers succeeded in returning the multitude to
their seats, though the clamor continued to run the rounds, keeping, as
it were, even pace with the rivals in the course below.
In the fifth round the Sidonian succeeded in getting a place outside
Ben-Hur, but lost it directly.
The sixth round was entered upon without change of relative position.
Gradually the speed had been quickened—gradually the blood of the
competitors warmed with the work. Men and beasts seemed to know alike that
the final crisis was near, bringing the time for the winner to assert
himself.
The interest which from the beginning had centred chiefly in
the struggle between the Roman and the Jew, with an intense and
general sympathy for the latter, was fast changing to anxiety on his
account. On all the benches the spectators bent forward motionless, except
as their faces turned following the contestants. Ilderim quitted
combing his beard, and Esther forgot her fears.
"A hundred sestertii on the Jew!" cried Sanballat to the Romans under
the consul's awning.
There was no reply.
"A talent—or five talents, or ten; choose ye!"
He shook his tablets at them defiantly.
"I will take thy sestertii," answered a Roman youth, preparing
to write.
"Do not so," interposed a friend.
"Why?"
"Messala hath reached his utmost speed. See him lean over his chariot
rim, the reins loose as flying ribbons. Look then at the Jew."
The first one looked.
"By Hercules!" he replied, his countenance falling. "The dog throws all
his weight on the bits. I see, I see! If the gods help not our friend, he
will be run away with by the Israelite. No, not yet. Look! Jove with us, Jove
with us!"
The cry, swelled by every Latin tongue, shook the velaria over the
consul's head.
If it were true that Messala had attained his utmost speed, the
effort was with effect; slowly but certainly he was beginning to forge
ahead. His horses were running with their heads low down; from the
balcony their bodies appeared actually to skim the earth; their
nostrils showed blood red in expansion; their eyes seemed straining
in their sockets. Certainly the good steeds were doing their best! How
long could they keep the pace? It was but the commencement of the sixth
round. On they dashed. As they neared the second goal, Ben-Hur turned in
behind the Roman's car.
The joy of the Messala faction reached its bound: they screamed and
howled, and tossed their colors; and Sanballat filled his tablets with wagers
of their tendering.
Malluch, in the lower gallery over the Gate of Triumph, found it hard to
keep his cheer. He had cherished the vague hint dropped to him by Ben-Hur of
something to happen in the turning of the western pillars. It was the fifth
round, yet the something had not come; and he had said to himself, the sixth
will bring it; but, lo! Ben-Hur was hardly holding a place at the tail of
his enemy's car.
Over in the east end, Simonides' party held their peace. The
merchant's head was bent low. Ilderim tugged at his beard, and dropped his
brows till there was nothing of his eyes but an occasional sparkle of
light. Esther scarcely breathed. Iras alone appeared glad.
Along the home-stretch—sixth round—Messala leading, next him Ben-Hur,
and so close it was the old story:
"First flew Eumelus on Pheretian steeds; With those of Tros bold Diomed
succeeds; Close on Eumelus' back they puff the wind, And seem just
mounting on his car behind; Full on his neck he feels the sultry
breeze, And, hovering o'er, their stretching shadow sees."
Thus to the first goal, and round it. Messala, fearful of losing his
place, hugged the stony wall with perilous clasp; a foot to the left, and he
had been dashed to pieces; yet, when the turn was finished, no man, looking
at the wheel-tracks of the two cars, could have said, here went Messala,
there the Jew. They left but one trace behind them.
As they whirled by, Esther saw Ben-Hur's face again, and it was whiter
than before.
Simonides, shrewder than Esther, said to Ilderim, the moment the rivals
turned into the course, "I am no judge, good sheik, if Ben-Hur be not about
to execute some design. His face hath that look."
To which Ilderim answered, "Saw you how clean they were and fresh? By
the splendor of God, friend, they have not been running! But
now watch!"
One ball and one dolphin remained on the entablatures; and all the
people drew a long breath, for the beginning of the end was at hand.
First, the Sidonian gave the scourge to his four, and, smarting
with fear and pain, they dashed desperately forward, promising for a
brief time to go to the front. The effort ended in promise. Next, the
Byzantine and the Corinthian each made the trial with like result, after
which they were practically out of the race. Thereupon, with a
readiness perfectly explicable, all the factions except the Romans
joined hope in Ben-Hur, and openly indulged their feeling.
"Ben-Hur! Ben-Hur!" they shouted, and the blent voices of the
many rolled overwhelmingly against the consular stand.
From the benches above him as he passed, the favor descended in fierce
injunctions.
"Speed thee, Jew!"
"Take the wall now!"
"On! loose the Arabs! Give them rein and scourge!"
"Let him not have the turn on thee again. Now or never!"
Over the balustrade they stooped low, stretching their hands imploringly
to him.
Either he did not hear, or could not do better, for halfway round the
course and he was still following; at the second goal even still no
change!
And now, to make the turn, Messala began to draw in his
left-hand steeds, an act which necessarily slackened their speed. His
spirit was high; more than one altar was richer of his vows; the
Roman genius was still president. On the three pillars only six
hundred feet away were fame, increase of fortune, promotions, and a
triumph ineffably sweetened by hate, all in store for him! That moment
Malluch, in the gallery, saw Ben-Hur lean forward over his Arabs, and give
them the reins. Out flew the many-folded lash in his hand; over the
backs of the startled steeds it writhed and hissed, and hissed and
writhed again and again; and though it fell not, there were both sting
and menace in its quick report; and as the man passed thus from quiet
to resistless action, his face suffused, his eyes gleaming, along
the reins he seemed to flash his will; and instantly not one, but the four
as one, answered with a leap that landed them alongside the Roman's car.
Messala, on the perilous edge of the goal, heard, but dared not look to see
what the awakening portended. From the people he received no sign. Above the
noises of the race there was but one voice, and that was Ben-Hur's. In the
old Aramaic, as the sheik himself, he called to the Arabs,
"On, Atair! On, Rigel! What, Antares! dost thou linger now? Good
horse—oho, Aldebaran! I hear them singing in the tents. I hear the children
singing and the women—singing of the stars, of Atair, Antares, Rigel,
Aldebaran, victory!—and the song will never end. Well done! Home to-morrow,
under the black tent—home! On, Antares! The tribe is waiting for us, and the
master is waiting! 'Tis done! 'tis done! Ha, ha! We have overthrown the
proud. The hand that smote us is in the dust. Ours the glory! Ha,
ha!—steady! The work is done—soho! Rest!"
There had never been anything of the kind more simple; seldom
anything so instantaneous.
At the moment chosen for the dash, Messala was moving in a circle round
the goal. To pass him, Ben-Hur had to cross the track, and good strategy
required the movement to be in a forward direction; that is, on a like circle
limited to the least possible increase. The thousands on the benches
understood it all: they saw the signal given—the magnificent response; the
four close outside Messala's outer wheel; Ben-Hur's inner wheel behind the
other's car—all this they saw. Then they heard a crash loud enough to send
a thrill through the Circus, and, quicker than thought, out over
the course a spray of shining white and yellow flinders flew. Down on its
right side toppled the bed of the Roman's chariot. There was a rebound as of
the axle hitting the hard earth; another and another; then the car went to
pieces; and Messala, entangled in the reins, pitched forward headlong.
To increase the horror of the sight by making death certain, the
Sidonian, who had the wall next behind, could not stop or turn out. Into the
wreck full speed he drove; then over the Roman, and into the latter's four,
all mad with fear. Presently, out of the turmoil, the fighting of horses, the
resound of blows, the murky cloud of dust and sand, he crawled, in time to
see the Corinthian and Byzantine go on down the course after Ben-Hur, who
had not been an instant delayed.
The people arose, and leaped upon the benches, and shouted and
screamed. Those who looked that way caught glimpses of Messala, now under
the trampling of the fours, now under the abandoned cars. He was
still; they thought him dead; but far the greater number followed
Ben-Hur in his career. They had not seen the cunning touch of the reins
by which, turning a little to the left, he caught Messala's wheel with the
iron-shod point of his axle, and crushed it; but they had seen the
transformation of the man, and themselves felt the heat and glow of his
spirit, the heroic resolution, the maddening energy of action with which, by
look, word, and gesture, he so suddenly inspired his Arabs. And such running!
It was rather the long leaping of lions in harness; but for the lumbering
chariot, it seemed the four were flying. When the Byzantine and Corinthian
were halfway down the course, Ben-Hur turned the first goal.
AND THE RACE WAS WON!
The consul arose; the people shouted themselves hoarse; the editor came
down from his seat, and crowned the victors.
The fortunate man among the boxers was a low-browed,
yellow-haired Saxon, of such brutalized face as to attract a second look
from Ben-Hur, who recognized a teacher with whom he himself had been a
favorite at Rome. From him the young Jew looked up and beheld Simonides and
his party on the balcony. They waved their hands to him. Esther kept her
seat; but Iras arose, and gave him a smile and a wave of her fan—favors not
the less intoxicating to him because we know, O reader, they would have
fallen to Messala had he been the victor.
The procession was then formed, and, midst the shouting of the multitude
which had had its will, passed out of the Gate of Triumph.
And the day was over.
CHAPTER XV
Ben-Hur tarried across the river with Ilderim; for at midnight, as
previously determined, they would take the road which the caravan, then
thirty hours out, had pursued.
The sheik was happy; his offers of gifts had been royal; but Ben-Hur had
refused everything, insisting that he was satisfied with the humiliation of
his enemy. The generous dispute was long continued.
"Think," the sheik would say, "what thou hast done for me. In
every black tent down to the Akaba and to the ocean, and across to
the Euphrates, and beyond to the sea of the Scythians, the renown of my
Mira and her children will go; and they who sing of them will magnify me, and
forget that I am in the wane of life; and all the spears now masterless will
come to me, and my sword-hands multiply past counting. Thou dost not know
what it is to have sway of the desert such as will now be mine. I tell thee
it will bring tribute incalculable from commerce, and immunity from kings.
Ay, by the sword of Solomon! doth my messenger seek favor for me of
Caesar, that will he get. Yet nothing—nothing?"
And Ben-Hur would answer,
"Nay, sheik, have I not thy hand and heart? Let thy increase of power
and influence inure to the King who comes. Who shall say it was not allowed
thee for him? In the work I am going to, I may have great need. Saying no now
will leave me to ask of thee with better grace hereafter."
In the midst of a controversy of the kind, two messengers
arrived—Malluch and one unknown. The former was admitted first.
The good fellow did not attempt to hide his joy over the event of the
day.
"But, coming to that with which I am charged," he said, "the
master Simonides sends me to say that, upon the adjournment of the
games, some of the Roman faction made haste to protest against payment
of the money prize."
Ilderim started up, crying, in his shrillest tones,
"By the splendor of God! the East shall decide whether the race was
fairly won."
"Nay, good sheik," said Malluch, "the editor has paid the money."
"'Tis well."
"When they said Ben-Hur struck Messala's wheel, the editor laughed, and
reminded them of the blow the Arabs had at the turn of the goal."
"And what of the Athenian?"
"He is dead."
"Dead!" cried Ben-Hur.
"Dead!" echoed Ilderim. "What fortune these Roman monsters have! Messala
escaped?"
"Escaped—yes, O sheik, with life; but it shall be a burden to him. The
physicians say he will live, but never walk again."
Ben-Hur looked silently up to heaven. He had a vision of
Messala, chairbound like Simonides, and, like him, going abroad on
the shoulders of servants. The good man had abode well; but what would
this one with his pride and ambition?
"Simonides bade me say, further," Malluch continued, "Sanballat
is having trouble. Drusus, and those who signed with him, referred
the question of paying the five talents they lost to the Consul
Maxentius, and he has referred it to Caesar. Messala also refused his
losses, and Sanballat, in imitation of Drusus, went to the consul, where
the matter is still in advisement. The better Romans say the
protestants shall not be excused; and all the adverse factions join with
them. The city rings with the scandal."
"What says Simonides?" asked Ben-Hur.
"The master laughs, and is well pleased. If the Roman pays, he is
ruined; if he refuses to pay, he is dishonored. The imperial policy will
decide the matter. To offend the East would be a bad beginning with the
Parthians; to offend Sheik Ilderim would be to antagonize the Desert, over
which lie all Maxentius's lines of operation. Wherefore Simonides bade me
tell you to have no disquiet; Messala will pay."
Ilderim was at once restored to his good-humor.
"Let us be off now," he said, rubbing his hands. "The business will do
well with Simonides. The glory is ours. I will order the horses."
"Stay," said Malluch. "I left a messenger outside. Will you
see him?"
"By the splendor of God! I forgot him."
Malluch retired, and was succeeded by a lad of gentle manners
and delicate appearance, who knelt upon one knee, and said,
winningly, "Iras, the daughter of Balthasar, well known to good Sheik
Ilderim, hath intrusted me with a message to the sheik, who, she
saith, will do her great favor so he receive her congratulations
on account of the victory of his four."
"The daughter of my friend is kind," said Ilderim, with sparkling eyes.
"Do thou give her this jewel, in sign of the pleasure I have from her
message."
He took a ring from his finger as he spoke.
"I will as thou sayest, O sheik," the lad replied, and continued, "The
daughter of the Egyptian charged me further. She prays the good Sheik Ilderim
to send word to the youth Ben-Hur that her father hath taken residence for a
time in the palace of Idernee, where she will receive the youth after the
fourth hour to-morrow. And if, with her congratulations, Sheik Ilderim will
accept her gratitude for this other favor done, she will be ever so
pleased."
The sheik looked at Ben-Hur, whose face was suffused with pleasure.
"What will you?" he asked.
"By your leave, O sheik, I will see the fair Egyptian."
Ilderim laughed, and said, "Shall not a man enjoy his youth?"
Then Ben-Hur answered the messenger.
"Say to her who sent you that I, Ben-Hur, will see her at the palace of
Idernee, wherever that may be, to-morrow at noon."
The lad arose, and, with silent salute, departed.
At midnight Ilderim took the road, having arranged to leave a horse and
a guide for Ben-Hur, who was to follow him.
CHAPTER XVI
Going next day to fill his appointment with Iras, Ben-Hur turned from
the Omphalus, which was in the heart of the city, into the Colonnade of
Herod, and came shortly to the palace of Idernee.
From the street he passed first into a vestibule, on the sides of which
were stairways under cover, leading up to a portico. Winged lions sat by the
stairs; in the middle there was a gigantic ibis spouting water over the
floor; the lions, ibis, walls, and floor were reminders of the Egyptians:
everything, even the balustrading of the stairs, was of massive gray
stone.
Above the vestibule, and covering the landing of the steps, arose the
portico, a pillared grace, so light, so exquisitely proportioned, it was at
that period hardly possible of conception except by a Greek. Of marble snowy
white, its effect was that of a lily dropped carelessly upon a great bare
rock.
Ben-Hur paused in the shade of the portico to admire its tracery and
finish, and the purity of its marble; then he passed on into the palace.
Ample folding-doors stood open to receive him. The passage into which he
first entered was high, but somewhat narrow; red tiling formed the floor, and
the walls were tinted to correspond. Yet this plainness was a warning of
something beautiful to come.
He moved on slowly, all his faculties in repose. Presently he would be
in the presence of Iras; she was waiting for him; waiting with song and story
and badinage, sparkling, fanciful, capricious—with smiles which glorified
her glance, and glances which lent voluptuous suggestion to her whisper. She
had sent for him the evening of the boat-ride on the lake in the
Orchard of Palms; she had sent for him now; and he was going to her in the
beautiful palace of Idernee. He was happy and dreamful rather than
thoughtless.
The passage brought him to a closed door, in front of which he paused;
and, as he did so, the broad leaves began to open of themselves, without
creak or sound of lock or latch, or touch of foot or finger. The singularity
was lost in the view that broke upon him.
Standing in the shade of the dull passage, and looking through the
doorway, he beheld the atrium of a Roman house, roomy and rich to a fabulous
degree of magnificence.
How large the chamber was cannot be stated, because of the deceit there
is in exact proportions; its depth was vista-like, something never to be said
of an equal interior. When he stopped to make survey, and looked down upon
the floor, he was standing upon the breast of a Leda, represented as
caressing a swan; and, looking farther, he saw the whole floor was similarly
laid in mosaic pictures of mythological subjects. And there were stools and
chairs, each a separate design, and a work of art exquisitely
composed, and tables much carven, and here and there couches which
were invitations of themselves. The articles of furniture, which stood out
from the walls, were duplicated on the floor distinctly as if they floated
unrippled water; even the panelling of the walls, the figures upon them in
painting and bas-relief, and the fresco of the ceiling were reflected on the
floor. The ceiling curved up towards the centre, where there was an opening
through which the sunlight poured without hindrance, and the sky, ever so
blue, seemed in hand-reach; the impluvium under the opening was guarded by
bronzed rails; the gilded pillars supporting the roof at the edges of the
opening shone like flame where the sun struck them, and their reflections
beneath seemed to stretch to infinite depth. And there were candelabra quaint
and curious, and statuary and vases; the whole making an interior that would
have befitted well the house on the Palatine Hill which Cicero bought of
Crassus, or that other, yet more famous for extravagance, the Tusculan villa
of Scaurus.
Still in his dreamful mood, Ben-Hur sauntered about, charmed by all he
beheld, and waiting. He did not mind a little delay; when Iras was ready, she
would come or send a servant. In every well-regulated Roman house the atrium
was the reception chamber for visitors.
Twice, thrice, he made the round. As often he stood under the opening in
the roof, and pondered the sky and its azure depth; then, leaning against a
pillar, he studied the distribution of light and shade, and its effects; here
a veil diminishing objects, there a brilliance exaggerating others; yet
nobody came. Time, or rather the passage of time, began at length to impress
itself upon him, and he wondered why Iras stayed so long. Again he traced out
the figures upon the floor, but not with the satisfaction the first
inspection gave him. He paused often to listen: directly impatience blew
a little fevered breath upon his spirit; next time it blew stronger and
hotter; and at last he woke to a consciousness of the silence which held the
house in thrall, and the thought of it made him uneasy and distrustful. Still
he put the feeling off with a smile and a promise. "Oh, she is giving the
last touch to her eyelids, or she is arranging a chaplet for me; she will
come presently, more beautiful of the delay!" He sat down then to admire
a candelabrum—a bronze plinth on rollers, filigree on the sides and
edges; the post at one end, and on the end opposite it an altar and a female
celebrant; the lamp-rests swinging by delicate chains from the extremities of
drooping palm-branches; altogether a wonder in its way. But the silence would
obtrude itself: he listened even as he looked at the pretty object—he
listened, but there was not a sound; the palace was still as a tomb.
There might be a mistake. No, the messenger had come from the Egyptian,
and this was the palace of Idernee. Then he remembered how mysteriously the
door had opened so soundlessly, so of itself. He would see!
He went to the same door. Though he walked ever so lightly the sound of
his stepping was loud and harsh, and he shrank from it. He was getting
nervous. The cumbrous Roman lock resisted his first effort to raise it; and
the second—the blood chilled in his cheeks—he wrenched with all his might:
in vain—the door was not even shaken. A sense of danger seized him, and for
a moment he stood irresolute.
Who in Antioch had the motive to do him harm?
Messala!
And this palace of Idernee? He had seen Egypt in the vestibule, Athens
in the snowy portico; but here, in the atrium, was Rome; everything about him
betrayed Roman ownership. True, the site was on the great thoroughfare of the
city, a very public place in which to do him violence; but for that reason it
was more accordant with the audacious genius of his enemy. The
atrium underwent a change; with all its elegance and beauty, it was
no more than a trap. Apprehension always paints in black.
The idea irritated Ben-Hur.
There were many doors on the right and left of the atrium,
leading, doubtless, to sleeping-chambers; he tried them, but they were
all firmly fastened. Knocking might bring response. Ashamed to
make outcry, he betook himself to a couch, and, lying down, tried
to reflect.
All too plainly he was a prisoner; but for what purpose? and
by whom?
If the work were Messala's! He sat up, looked about, and
smiled defiantly. There were weapons in every table. But birds had
been starved in golden cages; not so would he—the couches would serve him
as battering-rams; and he was strong, and there was such increase of might in
rage and despair!
Messala himself could not come. He would never walk again; he was a
cripple like Simonides; still he could move others. And where were there not
others to be moved by him? Ben-Hur arose, and tried the doors again. Once he
called out; the room echoed so that he was startled. With such calmness as he
could assume, he made up his mind to wait a time before attempting to break a
way out.
In such a situation the mind has its ebb and flow of disquiet, with
intervals of peace between. At length—how long, though, he could not have
said—he came to the conclusion that the affair was an accident or mistake.
The palace certainly belonged to somebody; it must have care and keeping: and
the keeper would come; the evening or the night would bring him.
Patience!
So concluding, he waited.
Half an hour passed—a much longer period to Ben-Hur—when the
door which had admitted him opened and closed noiselessly as before, and
without attracting his attention.
The moment of the occurrence he was sitting at the farther end of the
room. A footstep startled him.
"At last she has come!" he thought, with a throb of relief and pleasure,
and arose.
The step was heavy, and accompanied with the gride and clang of coarse
sandals. The gilded pillars were between him and the door; he advanced
quietly, and leaned against one of them. Presently he heard voices—the
voices of men—one of them rough and guttural. What was said he could not
understand, as the language was not of the East or South of Europe.
After a general survey of the room, the strangers crossed to their left,
and were brought into Ben-Hur's view—two men, one very stout, both tall, and
both in short tunics. They had not the air of masters of the house or
domestics. Everything they saw appeared wonderful to them; everything they
stopped to examine they touched. They were vulgarians. The atrium seemed
profaned by their presence. At the same time, their leisurely manner and the
assurance with which they proceeded pointed to some right or business; if
business, with whom?
With much jargon they sauntered this way and that, all the
time gradually approaching the pillar by which Ben-Hur was standing. Off a
little way, where a slanted gleam of the sun fell with a glare upon the
mosaic of the floor, there was a statue which attracted their notice. In
examining it, they stopped in the light.
The mystery surrounding his own presence in the palace tended, as we
have seen, to make Ben-Hur nervous; so now, when in the tall stout stranger
he recognized the Northman whom he had known in Rome, and seen crowned only
the day before in the Circus as the winning pugilist; when he saw the man's
face, scarred with the wounds of many battles, and imbruted by ferocious
passions; when he surveyed the fellow's naked limbs, very marvels of
exercise and training, and his shoulders of Herculean breadth, a thought
of personal danger started a chill along every vein. A sure
instinct warned him that the opportunity for murder was too perfect to
have come by chance; and here now were the myrmidons, and their
business was with him. He turned an anxious eye upon the
Northman's comrade—young, black-eyed, black-haired, and altogether
Jewish in appearance; he observed, also, that both the men were in
costume exactly such as professionals of their class were in the habit
of wearing in the arena. Putting the several circumstances
together, Ben-Hur could not be longer in doubt: he had been lured into
the palace with design. Out of reach of aid, in this splendid privacy, he
was to die!
At a loss what to do, he gazed from man to man, while there was enacted
within him that miracle of mind by which life is passed before us in awful
detail, to be looked at by ourselves as if it were another's; and from the
evolvement, from a hidden depth, cast up, as it were, by a hidden hand, he
was given to see that he had entered upon a new life, different from the old
one in this: whereas, in that, he had been the victim of violences done to
him, henceforth he was to be the aggressor. Only yesterday he had found his
first victim! To the purely Christian nature the presentation would have
brought the weakness of remorse. Not so with Ben-Hur; his spirit had
its emotions from the teachings of the first lawgiver, not the last and
greatest one. He had dealt punishment, not wrong, to Messala. By permission
of the Lord, he had triumphed; and he derived faith from the
circumstance—faith the source of all rational strength, especially strength
in peril.
Nor did the influence stop there. The new life was made appear to him a
mission just begun, and holy as the King to come was holy, and certain as the
coming of the King was certain—a mission in which force was lawful if only
because it was unavoidable. Should he, on the very threshold of such an
errand, be afraid?
He undid the sash around his waist, and, baring his head and casting off
his white Jewish gown, stood forth in an undertunic not unlike those of the
enemy, and was ready, body and mind. Folding his arms, he placed his back
against the pillar, and calmly waited.
The examination of the statue was brief. Directly the Northman
turned, and said something in the unknown tongue; then both looked at
Ben-Hur. A few more words, and they advanced towards him.
"Who are you?" he asked, in Latin.
The Northman fetched a smile which did not relieve his face of its
brutalism, and answered,
"Barbarians."
"This is the palace of Idernee. Whom seek you? Stand and answer."
The words were spoken with earnestness. The strangers stopped; and in
his turn the Northman asked, "Who are you?"
"A Roman."
The giant laid his head back upon his shoulders.
"Ha, ha, ha! I have heard how a god once came from a cow licking a
salted stone; but not even a god can make a Roman of a Jew."
The laugh over, he spoke to his companion again, and they
moved nearer.
"Hold!" said Ben-Hur, quitting the pillar. "One word."
They stopped again.
"A word!" replied the Saxon, folding his immense arms across his breast,
and relaxing the menace beginning to blacken his face. "A word! Speak."
"You are Thord the Northman."
The giant opened his blue eyes.
"You were lanista in Rome."
Thord nodded.
"I was your scholar."
"No," said Thord, shaking his head. "By the beard of Irmin, I had never
a Jew to make a fighting-man of."
"But I will prove my saying."
"How?"
"You came here to kill me."
"That is true."
"Then let this man fight me singly, and I will make the proof on his
body."
A gleam of humor shone in the Northman's face. He spoke to
his companion, who made answer; then he replied with the naivete of a
diverted child,
"Wait till I say begin."
By repeated touches of his foot, he pushed a couch out on the floor, and
proceeded leisurely to stretch his burly form upon it; when perfectly at
ease, he said, simply, "Now begin."
Without ado, Ben-Hur walked to his antagonist.
"Defend thyself," he said.
The man, nothing loath, put up his hands.
As the two thus confronted each other in approved position, there was no
discernible inequality between them; on the contrary, they were as like as
brothers. To the stranger's confident smile, Ben-Hur opposed an earnestness
which, had his skill been known, would have been accepted fair warning of
danger. Both knew the combat was to be mortal.
Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly
advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by
the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise. The
surprise was complete, and no time given. To throw himself forward; to push
the arm across the man's throat and over his right shoulder, and turn him
left side front; to strike surely with the ready left hand; to strike
the bare neck under the ear—were but petty divisions of the same act. No
need of a second blow. The myrmidon fell heavily, and without a cry, and lay
still.
Ben-Hur turned to Thord.
"Ha! What! By the beard of Irmin!" the latter cried, in
astonishment, rising to a sitting posture. Then he laughed.
"Ha, ha, ha! I could not have done it better myself."
He viewed Ben-Hur coolly from head to foot, and, rising, faced him with
undisguised admiration.
"It was my trick—the trick I have practised for ten years in
the schools of Rome. You are not a Jew. Who are you?"
"You knew Arrius the duumvir."
"Quintus Arrius? Yes, he was my patron."
"He had a son."
"Yes," said Thord, his battered features lighting dully, "I knew the
boy; he would have made a king gladiator. Caesar offered him his patronage. I
taught him the very trick you played on this one here—a trick impossible
except to a hand and arm like mine. It has won me many a crown."
"I am that son of Arrius."
Thord drew nearer, and viewed him carefully; then his eyes brightened
with genuine pleasure, and, laughing, he held out his hand.
"Ha, ha, ha! He told me I would find a Jew here—a Jew—a dog of a
Jew—killing whom was serving the gods."
"Who told you so?" asked Ben-Hur, taking the hand.
"He—Messala—ha, ha, ha!"
"When, Thord?"
"Last night."
"I thought he was hurt."
"He will never walk again. On his bed he told me between groans."
A very vivid portrayal of hate in a few words; and Ben-Hur saw that the
Roman, if he lived, would still be capable and dangerous, and follow him
unrelentingly. Revenge remained to sweeten the ruined life; therefore the
clinging to fortune lost in the wager with Sanballat. Ben-Hur ran the ground
over, with a distinct foresight of the many ways in which it would be
possible for his enemy to interfere with him in the work he had undertaken
for the King who was coming. Why not he resort to the Roman's methods? The
man hired to kill him could be hired to strike back. It was in his power to
offer higher wages. The temptation was strong; and, half yielding, he chanced
to look down at his late antagonist lying still, with white upturned face, so
like himself. A light came to him, and he asked, "Thord, what was Messala to
give you for killing me?"
"A thousand sestertii."
"You shall have them yet; and so you do now what I tell you, I will add
three thousand more to the sum."
The giant reflected aloud,
"I won five thousand yesterday; from the Roman one—six. Give me four,
good Arrius—four more—and I will stand firm for you, though old Thor, my
namesake, strike me with his hammer. Make it four, and I will kill the lying
patrician, if you say so. I have only to cover his mouth with my
hand—thus."
He illustrated the process by clapping his hand over his own mouth.
"I see," said Ben-Hur; "ten thousand sestertii is a fortune. It will
enable you to return to Rome, and open a wine-shop near the Great Circus, and
live as becomes the first of the lanistae."
The very scars on the giant's face glowed afresh with the pleasure the
picture gave him.
"I will make it four thousand," Ben-Hur continued; "and in what
you shall do for the money there will be no blood on your hands,
Thord. Hear me now. Did not your friend here look like me?"
"I would have said he was an apple from the same tree."
"Well, if I put on his tunic, and dress him in these clothes of mine,
and you and I go away together, leaving him here, can you not get your
sestertii from Messala all the same? You have only to make him believe it me
that is dead."
Thord laughed till the tears ran into his mouth.
"Ha, ha, ha! Ten thousand sestertii were never won so easily. And a
wine-shop by the Great Circus!—all for a lie without blood in it! Ha, ha,
ha! Give me thy hand, O son of Arrius. Get on now, and—ha, ha, ha!—if ever
you come to Rome, fail not to ask for the wine-shop of Thord the Northman. By
the beard of Irmin, I will give you the best, though I borrow it from
Caesar!"
They shook hands again; after which the exchange of clothes
was effected. It was arranged then that a messenger should go at night to
Thord's lodging-place with the four thousand sestertii. When they were done,
the giant knocked at the front door; it opened to him; and, passing out of
the atrium, he led Ben-Hur into a room adjoining, where the latter completed
his attire from the coarse garments of the dead pugilist. They separated
directly in the Omphalus.
"Fail not, O son of Arrius, fail not the wine-shop near the
Great Circus! Ha, ha, ha! By the beard of Irmin, there was never
fortune gained so cheap. The gods keep you!"
Upon leaving the atrium, Ben-Hur gave a last look at the myrmidon as he
lay in the Jewish vestments, and was satisfied. The likeness was striking. If
Thord kept faith, the cheat was a secret to endure forever.
* * * * * *
At night, in the house of Simonides, Ben-Hur told the good man all that
had taken place in the palace of Idernee; and it was agreed that, after a few
days, public inquiry should be set afloat for the discovery of the
whereabouts of the son of Arrius. Eventually the matter was to be carried
boldly to Maxentius; then, if the mystery came not out, it was concluded that
Messala and Gratus would be at rest and happy, and Ben-Hur free to betake
himself to Jerusalem, to make search for his lost people.
At the leave-taking, Simonides sat in his chair out on the
terrace overlooking the river, and gave his farewell and the peace of
the Lord with the impressment of a father. Esther went with the young man
to the head of the steps.
"If I find my mother, Esther, thou shalt go to her at Jerusalem, and be
a sister to Tirzah."
And with the words he kissed her.
Was it only a kiss of peace?
He crossed the river next to the late quarters of Ilderim, where he
found the Arab who was to serve him as guide. The horses were brought
out.
"This one is thine," said the Arab.
Ben-Hur looked, and, lo! it was Aldebaran, the swiftest and brightest of
the sons of Mira, and, next to Sirius, the beloved of the sheik; and he knew
the old man's heart came to him along with the gift.
The corpse in the atrium was taken up and buried by night; and, as part
of Messala's plan, a courier was sent off to Gratus to make him at rest by
the announcement of Ben-Hur's death—this time past question.
Ere long a wine-shop was opened near the Circus Maximus, with
inscription over the door:
THORD THE NORTHMAN.
BOOK SIXTH
"Is that a Death? and are there two? Is Death that woman's
mate? * * * * Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Nightmare
Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold."
COLERIDGE.
CHAPTER I
Our story moves forward now thirty days from the night Ben-Hur
left Antioch to go out with Sheik Ilderim into the desert.
A great change has befallen—great at least as respects the fortunes of
our hero. VALERIUS GRATUS HAS BEEN SUCCEEDED BY PONTIUS PILATE!
The removal, it may be remarked, cost Simonides exactly five
talents Roman money in hand paid to Sejanus, who was then in height of
power as imperial favorite; the object being to help Ben-Hur, by
lessening his exposure while in and about Jerusalem attempting discovery
of his people. To such pious use the faithful servant put the
winnings from Drusus and his associates; all of whom, having paid their
wagers, became at once and naturally the enemies of Messala, whose
repudiation was yet an unsettled question in Rome.
Brief as the time was, already the Jews knew the change of rulers was
not for the better.
The cohorts sent to relieve the garrison of Antonia made their
entry into the city by night; next morning the first sight that greeted
the people resident in the neighborhood was the walls of the old
Tower decorated with military ensigns, which unfortunately consisted
of busts of the emperor mixed with eagles and globes. A multitude, in
passion, marched to Caesarea, where Pilate was lingering, and implored him to
remove the detested images. Five days and nights they beset his palace gates;
at last he appointed a meeting with them in the Circus. When they were
assembled, he encircled them with soldiers; instead of resisting, they
offered him their lives, and conquered. He recalled the images and ensigns to
Caesarea, where Gratus, with more consideration, had kept such
abominations housed during the eleven years of his reign.
The worst of men do once in a while vary their wickednesses by
good acts; so with Pilate. He ordered an inspection of all the prisons in
Judea, and a return of the names of the persons in custody, with a statement
of the crimes for which they had been committed. Doubtless, the motive was
the one so common with officials just installed—dread of entailed
responsibility; the people, however, in thought of the good which might come
of the measure, gave him credit, and, for a period, were comforted. The
revelations were astonishing. Hundreds of persons were released against whom
there were no accusations; many others came to light who had long
been accounted dead; yet more amazing, there was opening of dungeons
not merely unknown at the time by the people, but actually forgotten
by the prison authorities. With one instance of the latter kind we have
now to deal; and, strange to say, it occurred in Jerusalem.
The Tower of Antonia, which will be remembered as occupying two
thirds of the sacred area on Mount Moriah, was originally a castle
built by the Macedonians. Afterwards, John Hyrcanus erected the
castle into a fortress for the defence of the Temple, and in his day
it was considered impregnable to assault; but when Herod came with his
bolder genius, he strengthened its walls and extended them, leaving a vast
pile which included every appurtenance necessary for the stronghold he
intended it to be forever; such as offices, barracks, armories, magazines,
cisterns, and last, though not least, prisons of all grades. He levelled the
solid rock, and tapped it with deep excavations, and built over them;
connecting the whole great mass with the Temple by a beautiful colonnade,
from the roof of which one could look down over the courts of the sacred
structure. In such condition the Tower fell at last out of his hands into
those of the Romans, who were quick to see its strength and
advantages, and convert it to uses becoming such masters. All through
the administration of Gratus it had been a garrisoned citadel
and underground prison terrible to revolutionists. Woe when the
cohorts poured from its gates to suppress disorder! Woe not less when a
Jew passed the same gates going in under arrest!
With this explanation, we hasten to our story.
* * * * * *
The order of the new procurator requiring a report of the persons
in custody was received at the Tower of Antonia, and promptly
executed; and two days have gone since the last unfortunate was brought
up for examination. The tabulated statement, ready for forwarding, lies on
the table of the tribune in command; in five minutes more it will be on the
way to Pilate, sojourning in the palace up on Mount Zion.
The tribune's office is spacious and cool, and furnished in a style
suitable to the dignity of the commandant of a post in every respect so
important. Looking in upon him about the seventh hour of the day, the officer
appears weary and impatient; when the report is despatched, he will to the
roof of the colonnade for air and exercise, and the amusement to be had
watching the Jews over in the courts of the Temple. His subordinates and
clerks share his impatience.
In the spell of waiting a man appeared in a doorway leading to
an adjoining apartment. He rattled a bunch of keys, each heavy as
a hammer, and at once attracted the chief's attention.
"Ah, Gesius! come in," the tribune said.
As the new-comer approached the table behind which the chief sat in an
easy-chair, everybody present looked at him, and, observing a certain
expression of alarm and mortification on his face, became silent that they
might hear what he had to say.
"O tribune!" he began, bending low, "I fear to tell what now I bring
you."
"Another mistake—ha, Gesius?"
"If I could persuade myself it is but a mistake, I would not
be afraid."
"A crime then—or, worse, a breach of duty. Thou mayst laugh at Caesar,
or curse the gods, and live; but if the offence be to the eagles—ah, thou
knowest, Gesius—go on!"
"It is now about eight years since Valerius Gratus selected me to
be keeper of prisoners here in the Tower," said the man, deliberately. "I
remember the morning I entered upon the duties of my office. There had been a
riot the day before, and fighting in the streets. We slew many Jews, and
suffered on our side. The affair came, it was said, of an attempt to
assassinate Gratus, who had been knocked from his horse by a tile thrown from
a roof. I found him sitting where you now sit, O tribune, his head swathed in
bandages. He told me of my selection, and gave me these keys, numbered to
correspond with the numbers of the cells; they were the badges of my
office, he said, and not to be parted with. There was a roll of
parchment on the table. Calling me to him, he opened the roll. 'Here are maps
of the cells,' said he. There were three of them. 'This one,' he went
on, 'shows the arrangement of the upper floor; this second one gives
you the second floor; and this last is of the lower floor. I give them to
you in trust.' I took them from his hand, and he said, further, 'Now you have
the keys and the maps; go immediately, and acquaint yourself with the whole
arrangement; visit each cell, and see to its condition. When anything is
needed for the security of a prisoner, order it according to your judgment,
for you are the master under me, and no other.'
"I saluted him, and turned to go away; he called me back. 'Ah, I
forgot,' he said. 'Give me the map of the third floor.' I gave it to him, and
he spread it upon the table. 'Here, Gesius,' he said, 'see this cell.' He
laid his finger on the one numbered V. 'There are three men confined in that
cell, desperate characters, who by some means got hold of a state secret, and
suffer for their curiosity, which'—he looked at me severely—'in such
matters is worse than a crime. Accordingly, they are blind and tongueless,
and are placed there for life. They shall have nothing but food and drink, to
be given them through a hole, which you will find in the wall covered by a
slide. Do you hear, Gesius?' I made him answer. 'It is well,' he continued.
'One thing more which you shall not forget, or'—he looked at me
threateningly—'The door of their cell—cell number V. on the same
floor—this one, Gesius'—he put his finger on the particular cell to impress
my memory—'shall never be opened for any purpose, neither to let one in nor
out, not even yourself.' 'But if they die?' I asked. 'If they die,' he said,
'the cell shall be their tomb. They were put there to die, and be
lost. The cell is leprous. Do you understand?' With that he let me go."
Gesius stopped, and from the breast of his tunic drew three
parchments, all much yellowed by time and use; selecting one of them, he
spread it upon the table before the tribune, saying, simply, "This is
the lower floor."
The whole company looked at
THE
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"This is exactly, O tribune, as I had it from Gratus. See, there
is cell number V.," said Gesius.
"I see," the tribune replied. "Go on now. The cell was leprous, he
said."
"I would like to ask you a question," remarked the keeper, modestly.
The tribune assented.
"Had I not a right, under the circumstances, to believe the map a true
one?"
"What else couldst thou?"
"Well, it is not a true one."
The chief looked up surprised.
"It is not a true one," the keeper repeated. "It shows but five cells
upon that floor, while there are six."
"Six, sayest thou?"
"I will show you the floor as it is—or as I believe it to be."
Upon a page of his tablets, Gesius drew the following diagram, and gave
it to the tribune:
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VI
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"Thou hast done well," said the tribune, examining the drawing, and
thinking the narrative at an end. "I will have the map corrected, or, better,
I will have a new one made, and given thee. Come for it in the
morning."
So saying, he arose.
"But hear me further, O tribune."
"To-morrow, Gesius, to-morrow."
"That which I have yet to tell will not wait."
The tribune good-naturedly resumed his chair.
"I will hurry," said the keeper, humbly, "only let me ask
another question. Had I not a right to believe Gratus in what he
further told me as to the prisoners in cell number V.?"
"Yes, it was thy duty to believe there were three prisoners in
the cell—prisoners of state—blind and without tongues."
"Well," said the keeper, "that was not true either."
"No!" said the tribune, with returning interest.
"Hear, and judge for yourself, O tribune. As required, I visited all the
cells, beginning with those on the first floor, and ending with those on the
lower. The order that the door of number V. should not be opened had been
respected; through all the eight years food and drink for three men had been
passed through a hole in the wall. I went to the door yesterday, curious to
see the wretches who, against all expectation, had lived so long. The locks
refused the key. We pulled a little, and the door fell down, rusted
from its hinges. Going in, I found but one man, old, blind,
tongueless, and naked. His hair dropped in stiffened mats below his
waist. His skin was like the parchment there. He held his hands out, and
the finger-nails curled and twisted like the claws of a bird. I asked him
where his companions were. He shook his head in denial. Thinking to find the
others, we searched the cell. The floor was dry; so were the walls. If three
men had been shut in there, and two of them had died, at least their bones
would have endured."
"Wherefore thou thinkest—"
"I think, O tribune, there has been but one prisoner there in the eight
years."
The chief regarded the keeper sharply, and said, "Have a care; thou art
more than saying Valerius lied."
Gesius bowed, but said, "He might have been mistaken."
"No, he was right," said the tribune, warmly. "By thine own statement he
was right. Didst thou not say but now that for eight years food and drink had
been furnished three men?"
The bystanders approved the shrewdness of their chief; yet Gesius did
not seem discomfited.
"You have but half the story, O tribune. When you have it all, you will
agree with me. You know what I did with the man: that I sent him to the bath,
and had him shorn and clothed, and then took him to the gate of the Tower,
and bade him go free. I washed my hands of him. To-day he came back, and was
brought to me. By signs and tears he at last made me understand he wished to
return to his cell, and I so ordered. As they were leading him off, he broke
away and kissed my feet, and, by piteous dumb imploration, insisted
I should go with him; and I went. The mystery of the three men stayed in
my mind. I was not satisfied about it. Now I am glad I yielded to his
entreaty."
The whole company at this point became very still.
"When we were in the cell again, and the prisoner knew it, he caught my
hand eagerly, and led me to a hole like that through which we were accustomed
to pass him his food. Though large enough to push your helmet through, it
escaped me yesterday. Still holding my hand, he put his face to the hole and
gave a beast-like cry. A sound came faintly back. I was astonished, and drew
him away, and called out, 'Ho, here!' At first there was no answer. I
called again, and received back these words, 'Be thou praised, O Lord!'
Yet more astonishing, O tribune, the voice was a woman's. And I
asked, 'Who are you?' and had reply, 'A woman of Israel, entombed
here with her daughter. Help us quickly, or we die.' I told them to be of
cheer, and hurried here to know your will."
The tribune arose hastily.
"Thou wert right, Gesius," he said, "and I see now. The map was a lie,
and so was the tale of the three men. There have been better Romans than
Valerius Gratus."
"Yes," said the keeper. "I gleaned from the prisoner that he
had regularly given the women of the food and drink he had received."
"It is accounted for," replied the tribune, and observing
the countenances of his friends, and reflecting how well it would be to
have witnesses, he added, "Let us rescue the women. Come all."
Gesuis was pleased.
"We will have to pierce the wall," he said. "I found where a door had
been, but it was filled solidly with stones and mortar."
The tribune stayed to say to a clerk, "Send workmen after me with tools.
Make haste; but hold the report, for I see it will have to be
corrected."
In a short time they were gone.
CHAPTER II
"A woman of Israel, entombed here with her daughter. Help us quickly, or
we die."
Such was the reply Gesius, the keeper, had from the cell which appears
on his amended map as VI. The reader, when he observed the answer, knew who
the unfortunates were, and, doubtless, said to himself, "At last the mother
of Ben-Hur, and Tirzah, his sister!"
And so it was.
The morning of their seizure, eight years before, they had been carried
to the Tower, where Gratus proposed to put them out of the way. He had chosen
the Tower for the purpose as more immediately in his own keeping, and cell
VI. because, first, it could be better lost than any other; and, secondly, it
was infected with leprosy; for these prisoners were not merely to be put in a
safe place, but in a place to die. They were, accordingly, taken down by
slaves in the night-time, when there were no witnesses of the deed; then, in
completion of the savage task, the same slaves walled up the door, after
which they were themselves separated, and sent away never to be heard of
more. To save accusation, and, in the event of discovery, to leave himself
such justification as might be allowed in a distinction between the
infliction of a punishment and the commission of a double murder, Gratus
preferred sinking his victims where natural death was certain, though slow.
That they might linger along, he selected a convict who had been made blind
and tongueless, and sank him in the only connecting cell, there to serve them
with food and drink. Under no circumstances could the poor wretch tell the
tale or identify either the prisoners or their doomsman. So, with a cunning
partly due to Messala, the Roman, under color of punishing a brood of
assassins, smoothed a path to confiscation of the estate of the Hurs, of
which no portion ever reached the imperial coffers.
As the last step in the scheme, Gratus summarily removed the old keeper
of the prisons; not because he knew what had been done—for he did not—but
because, knowing the underground floors as he did, it would be next to
impossible to keep the transaction from him. Then, with masterly ingenuity,
the procurator had new maps drawn for delivery to a new keeper, with the
omission, as we have seen, of cell VI. The instructions given the latter,
taken with the omission on the map, accomplished the design—the cell and
its unhappy tenants were all alike lost.
What may be thought of the life of the mother and daughter during the
eight years must have relation to their culture and previous habits.
Conditions are pleasant or grievous to us according to our sensibilities. It
is not extreme to say, if there was a sudden exit of all men from the world,
heaven, as prefigured in the Christian idea, would not be a heaven to the
majority; on the other hand, neither would all suffer equally in the
so-called Tophet. Cultivation has its balances. As the mind is made
intelligent, the capacity of the soul for pure enjoyment is proportionally
increased. Well, therefore, if it be saved! If lost, however, alas that it
ever had cultivation! its capacity for enjoyment in the one case is the
measure of its capacity to suffer in the other. Wherefore repentance must be
something more than mere remorse for sins; it comprehends a change of nature
befitting heaven.
We repeat, to form an adequate idea of the suffering endured by the
mother of Ben-Hur, the reader must think of her spirit and its sensibilities
as much as, if not more than, of the conditions of the immurement; the
question being, not what the conditions were, but how she was affected by
them. And now we may be permitted to say it was in anticipation of this
thought that the scene in the summer-house on the roof of the family palace
was given so fully in the beginning of the Second Book of our story. So, too,
to be helpful when the inquiry should come up, we ventured the
elaborate description of the palace of the Hurs.
In other words, let the serene, happy, luxurious life in the princely
house be recalled and contrasted with this existence in the lower dungeon of
the Tower of Antonia; then if the reader, in his effort to realize the misery
of the woman, persists in mere reference to conditions physical, he cannot go
amiss; as he is a lover of his kind, tender of heart, he will be melted with
much sympathy. But will he go further; will he more than sympathize with
her; will he share her agony of mind and spirit; will he at least try to
measure it—let him recall her as she discoursed to her son of God and
nations and heroes; one moment a philosopher, the next a teacher, and all the
time a mother.
Would you hurt a man keenest, strike at his self-love; would you hurt a
woman worst, aim at her affections.
With quickened remembrance of these unfortunates—remembrance of them as
they were—let us go down and see them as they are.
The cell VI. was in form as Gesius drew it on his map. Of its dimensions
but little idea can be had; enough that it was a roomy, roughened interior,
with ledged and broken walls and floor.
In the beginning, the site of the Macedonian Castle was separated from
the site of the Temple by a narrow but deep cliff somewhat in shape of a
wedge. The workmen, wishing to hew out a series of chambers, made their entry
in the north face of the cleft, and worked in, leaving a ceiling of the
natural stone; delving farther, they executed the cells V., IV., III., II.,
I., with no connection with number VI. except through number V. In like
manner, they constructed the passage and stairs to the floor above. The
process of the work was precisely that resorted to in carving out the Tombs
of the Kings, yet to be seen a short distance north of Jerusalem; only when
the cutting was done, cell VI. was enclosed on its outer side by a wall of
prodigious stones, in which, for ventilation, narrow apertures were left
bevelled like modern port-holes. Herod, when he took hold of the Temple and
Tower, put a facing yet more massive upon this outer wall, and shut up all
the apertures but one, which yet admitted a little vitalizing air, and a ray
of light not nearly strong enough to redeem the room from darkness.
Such was cell VI.
Startle not now!
The description of the blind and tongueless wretch just liberated from
cell V. may be accepted to break the horror of what is coming.
The two women are grouped close by the aperture; one is seated, the
other is half reclining against her; there is nothing between them and the
bare rock. The light, slanting upwards, strikes them with ghastly effect, and
we cannot avoid seeing they are without vesture or covering. At the same time
we are helped to the knowledge that love is there yet, for the two are in
each other's arms. Riches take wings, comforts vanish, hope withers away, but
love stays with us. Love is God.
Where the two are thus grouped the stony floor is polished
shining smooth. Who shall say how much of the eight years they have
spent in that space there in front of the aperture, nursing their hope of
rescue by that timid yet friendly ray of light? When the brightness came
creeping in, they knew it was dawn; when it began to fade, they knew the
world was hushing for the night, which could not be anywhere so long and
utterly dark as with them. The world! Through that crevice, as if it were
broad and high as a king's gate, they went to the world in thought, and
passed the weary time going up and down as spirits go, looking and
asking, the one for her son, the other for her brother. On the seas
they sought him, and on the islands of the seas; to-day he was in
this city, to-morrow in that other; and everywhere, and at all times, he
was a flitting sojourner; for, as they lived waiting for him, he lived
looking for them. How often their thoughts passed each other in the endless
search, his coming, theirs going! It was such sweet flattery for them to say
to each other, 'While he lives, we shall not be forgotten; as long as he
remembers us, there is hope!" The strength one can eke from little, who knows
till he has been subjected to the trial?
Our recollections of them in former days enjoin us to be
respectful; their sorrows clothe them with sanctity. Without going too
near, across the dungeon, we see they have undergone a change
of appearance not to be accounted for by time or long confinement. The
mother was beautiful as a woman, the daughter beautiful as a child; not even
love could say so much now. Their hair is long, unkempt, and strangely white;
they make us shrink and shudder with an indefinable repulsion, though the
effect may be from an illusory glozing of the light glimmering dismally
through the unhealthy murk; or they may be enduring the tortures of
hunger and thirst, not having had to eat or drink since their servant, the
convict, was taken away—that is, since yesterday.
Tirzah, reclining against her mother in half embrace, moans
piteously.
"Be quiet, Tirzah. They will come. God is good. We have been mindful of
him, and forgotten not to pray at every sounding of the trumpets over in the
Temple. The light, you see, is still bright; the sun is standing in the south
sky yet, and it is hardly more than the seventh hour. Somebody will come to
us. Let us have faith. God is good."
Thus the mother. The words were simple and effective, although, eight
years being now to be added to the thirteen she had attained when last we saw
her, Tirzah was no longer a child.
"I will try and be strong, mother," she said. "Your suffering must be as
great as mine; and I do so want to live for you and my brother! But my tongue
burns, my lips scorch. I wonder where he is, and if he will ever, ever find
us!"
There is something in the voices that strikes us
singularly—an unexpected tone, sharp, dry, metallic, unnatural.
The mother draws the daughter closer to her breast, and says, "I dreamed
about him last night, and saw him as plainly, Tirzah, as I see you. We must
believe in dreams, you know, because our fathers did. The Lord spoke to them
so often in that way. I thought we were in the Women's Court just before the
Gate Beautiful; there were many women with us; and he came and stood in the
shade of the Gate, and looked here and there, at this one and that. My
heart beat strong. I knew he was looking for us, and stretched my arms to
him, and ran, calling him. He heard me and saw me, but he did not know me. In
a moment he was gone."
"Would it not be so, mother, if we were to meet him in fact? We are so
changed."
"It might be so; but—" The mother's head droops, and her face knits as
with a wrench of pain; recovering, however, she goes on—"but we could make
ourselves known to him."
Tirzah tossed her arms, and moaned again.
"Water, mother, water, though but a drop."
The mother stares around in blank helplessness. She has named God so
often, and so often promised in his name, the repetition is beginning to have
a mocking effect upon herself. A shadow passes before her dimming the dim
light, and she is brought down to think of death as very near, waiting to
come in as her faith goes out. Hardly knowing what she does, speaking
aimlessly, because speak she must, she says again,
"Patience, Tirzah; they are coming—they are almost here."
She thought she heard a sound over by the little trap in
the partition-wall through which they held all their actual
communication with the world. And she was not mistaken. A moment, and the cry
of the convict rang through the cell. Tirzah heard it also; and they both
arose, still keeping hold of each other.
"Praised be the Lord forever!" exclaimed the mother, with the fervor of
restored faith and hope.
"Ho, there!" they heard next; and then, "Who are you?"
The voice was strange. What matter? Except from Tirzah, they were the
first and only words the mother had heard in eight years. The revulsion was
mighty—from death to life—and so instantly!
"A woman of Israel, entombed here with her daughter. Help us quickly, or
we die."
"Be of cheer. I will return."
The women sobbed aloud. They were found; help was coming. From wish to
wish hope flew as the twittering swallows fly. They were found; they would be
released. And restoration would follow—restoration to all they had
lost—home, society, property, son and brother! The scanty light glozed them
with the glory of day, and, forgetful of pain and thirst and hunger, and of
the menace of death, they sank upon the floor and cried, keeping fast hold of
each other the while.
And this time they had not long to wait. Gesius, the keeper, told his
tale methodically, but finished it at last. The tribune was prompt.
"Within there!" he shouted through the trap.
"Here!" said the mother, rising.
Directly she heard another sound in another place, as of blows on the
wall—blows quick, ringing, and delivered with iron tools. She did not speak,
nor did Tirzah, but they listened, well knowing the meaning of it all—that a
way to liberty was being made for them. So men a long time buried in deep
mines hear the coming of rescuers, heralded by thrust of bar and beat of
pick, and answer gratefully with heart-throbs, their eyes fixed upon the spot
whence the sounds proceed; and they cannot look away, lest the work
should cease, and they be returned to despair.
The arms outside were strong, the hands skillful, the will good. Each
instant the blows sounded more plainly; now and then a piece fell with a
crash; and liberty came nearer and nearer. Presently the workmen could be
heard speaking. Then—O happiness!—through a crevice flashed a red ray of
torches. Into the darkness it cut incisive as diamond brilliance, beautiful
as if from a spear of the morning.
"It is he, mother, it is he! He has found us at last!" cried
Tirzah, with the quickened fancy of youth.
But the mother answered meekly, "God is good!"
A block fell inside, and another—then a great mass, and the door was
open. A man grimed with mortar and stone-dust stepped in, and stopped,
holding a torch over his head. Two or three others followed with torches, and
stood aside for the tribune to enter.
Respect for women is not all a conventionality, for it is the best proof
of their proper nature. The tribune stopped, because they fled from him—not
with fear, be it said, but shame; nor yet, O reader, from shame alone! From
the obscurity of their partial hiding he heard these words, the saddest, most
dreadful, most utterly despairing of the human tongue:
"Come not near us—unclean, unclean!"
The men flared their torches while they stared at each other.
"Unclean, unclean!" came from the corner again, a slow tremulous wail
exceedingly sorrowful. With such a cry we can imagine a spirit vanishing from
the gates of Paradise, looking back the while.
So the widow and mother performed her duty, and in the moment realized
that the freedom she had prayed for and dreamed of, fruit of scarlet and gold
seen afar, was but an apple of Sodom in the hand.
SHE AND TIRZAH WERE—LEPERS!
Possibly the reader does not know all the word means. Let him be told it
with reference to the Law of that time, only a little modified in this.
"These four are accounted as dead—the blind, the leper, the poor, and
the childless." Thus the Talmud.
That is, to be a leper was to be treated as dead—to be excluded from
the city as a corpse; to be spoken to by the best beloved and most loving
only at a distance; to dwell with none but lepers; to be utterly
unprivileged; to be denied the rites of the Temple and the synagogue; to go
about in rent garments and with covered mouth, except when crying, "Unclean,
unclean!" to find home in the wilderness or in abandoned tombs; to become a
materialized specter of Hinnom and Gehenna; to be at all times less a living
offence to others than a breathing torment to self; afraid to die, yet
without hope except in death.
Once—she might not tell the day or the year, for down in the haunted
hell even time was lost—once the mother felt a dry scurf in the palm of her
right hand, a trifle which she tried to wash away. It clung to the member
pertinaciously; yet she thought but little of the sign till Tirzah complained
that she, too, was attacked in the same way. The supply of water was
scant, and they denied themselves drink that they might use it as
a curative. At length the whole hand was attacked; the skin cracked open,
the fingernails loosened from the flesh. There was not much pain withal,
chiefly a steadily increasing discomfort. Later their lips began to parch and
seam. One day the mother, who was cleanly to godliness, and struggled against
the impurities of the dungeon with all ingenuity, thinking the enemy was
taking hold on Tirzah's face, led her to the light, and, looking with the
inspiration of a terrible dread, lo! the young girl's eyebrows were white as
snow.
Oh, the anguish of that assurance!
The mother sat awhile speechless, motionless, paralyzed of soul, and
capable of but one thought—leprosy, leprosy!
When she began to think, mother-like, it was not of herself, but
her child, and, mother-like, her natural tenderness turned to courage, and
she made ready for the last sacrifice of perfect heroism. She buried her
knowledge in her heart; hopeless herself, she redoubled her devotion to
Tirzah, and with wonderful ingenuity—wonderful chiefly in its very
inexhaustibility—continued to keep the daughter ignorant of what they were
beset with, and even hopeful that it was nothing. She repeated her little
games, and retold her stories, and invented new ones, and listened with ever
so much pleasure to the songs she would have from Tirzah, while on her own
wasting lips the psalms of the singing king and their race served to bring
soothing of forgetfulness, and keep alive in them both the recollection of
the God who would seem to have abandoned them—the world not more lightly or
utterly.
Slowly, steadily, with horrible certainty, the disease spread, after a
while bleaching their heads white, eating holes in their lips and eyelids,
and covering their bodies with scales; then it fell to their throats
shrilling their voices, and to their joints, hardening the tissues and
cartilages—slowly, and, as the mother well knew, past remedy, it was
affecting their lungs and arteries and bones, at each advance making the
sufferers more and more loathsome; and so it would continue till death, which
might be years before them.
Another day of dread at length came—the day the mother, under impulsion
of duty, at last told Tirzah the name of their ailment; and the two, in agony
of despair, prayed that the end might come quickly.
Still, as is the force of habit, these so afflicted grew in time not
merely to speak composedly of their disease; they beheld the hideous
transformation of their persons as of course, and in despite clung to
existence. One tie to earth remained to them; unmindful of their own
loneliness, they kept up a certain spirit by talking and dreaming of Ben-Hur.
The mother promised reunion with him to the sister, and she to the mother,
not doubting, either of them, that he was equally faithful to them, and would
be equally happy of the meeting. And with the spinning and respinning of this
slender thread they found pleasure, and excused their not dying. In
such manner as we have seen, they were solacing themselves the
moment Gesius called them, at the end of twelve hours' fasting and
thirst.
The torches flashed redly through the dungeon, and liberty was
come. "God is good," the widow cried—not for what had been, O reader, but
for what was. In thankfulness for present mercy, nothing so becomes us as
losing sight of past ills.
The tribune came directly; then in the corner to which she had fled,
suddenly a sense of duty smote the elder of the women, and straightway the
awful warning—
"Unclean, unclean!"
Ah, the pang the effort to acquit herself of that duty cost the mother!
Not all the selfishness of joy over the prospect could keep her blind to the
consequences of release, now that it was at hand. The old happy life could
never be again. If she went near the house called home, it would be to stop
at the gate and cry, "Unclean, unclean!" She must go about with the yearnings
of love alive in her breast strong as ever, and more sensitive
even, because return in kind could not be. The boy of whom she had
so constantly thought, and with all sweet promises such as mothers find
their purest delight in, must, at meeting her, stand afar off. If he held out
his hands to her, and called "Mother, mother," for very love of him she must
answer, "Unclean, unclean!" And this other child, before whom, in want of
other covering, she was spreading her long tangled locks, bleached
unnaturally white—ah! that she was she must continue, sole partner of her
blasted remainder of life. Yet, O reader, the brave woman accepted the lot,
and took up the cry which had been its sign immemorially, and which
thenceforward was to be her salutation without change—"Unclean,
unclean!"
The tribune heard it with a tremor, but kept his place.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Two women dying of hunger and thirst. Yet"—the mother did
not falter—"come not near us, nor touch the floor or the wall.
Unclean, unclean!"
"Give me thy story, woman—thy name, and when thou wert put here, and by
whom, and for what."
"There was once in this city of Jerusalem a Prince Ben-Hur, the friend
of all generous Romans, and who had Caesar for his friend. I am his widow,
and this one with me is his child. How may I tell you for what we were sunk
here, when I do not know, unless it was because we were rich? Valerius Gratus
can tell you who our enemy was, and when our imprisonment began. I cannot.
See to what we have been reduced—oh, see, and have pity!"
The air was heavy with the pest and the smoke of the torches, yet the
Roman called one of the torch-bearers to his side, and wrote the answer
nearly word for word. It was terse, and comprehensive, containing at once a
history, an accusation, and a prayer. No common person could have made it,
and he could not but pity and believe.
"Thou shalt have relief, woman," he said, closing the tablets. "I will
send thee food and drink."
"And raiment, and purifying water, we pray you, O generous Roman!"
"As thou wilt," he replied.
"God is good," said the widow, sobbing. "May his peace abide
with you!"
"And, further," he added, "I cannot see thee again. Make
preparation, and to-night I will have thee taken to the gate of the Tower,
and set free. Thou knowest the law. Farewell."
He spoke to the men, and went out the door.
Very shortly some slaves came to the cell with a large gurglet of water,
a basin and napkins, a platter with bread and meat, and some garments of
women's wear; and, setting them down within reach of the prisoners, they ran
away.
About the middle of the first watch, the two were conducted to the gate,
and turned into the street. So the Roman quit himself of them, and in the
city of their fathers they were once more free.
Up to the stars, twinkling merrily as of old, they looked; then
they asked themselves,
"What next? and where to?"
CHAPTER III
About the hour Gesius, the keeper, made his appearance before
the tribune in the Tower of Antonia, a footman was climbing the
eastern face of Mount Olivet. The road was rough and dusty, and
vegetation on that side burned brown, for it was the dry season in
Judea. Well for the traveller that he had youth and strength, not to speak
of the cool, flowing garments with which he was clothed.
He proceeded slowly, looking often to his right and left; not with the
vexed, anxious expression which marks a man going forward uncertain of the
way, but rather the air with which one approaches as old acquaintance after a
long separation—half of pleasure, half of inquiry; as if he were saying, "I
am glad to be with you again; let me see in what you are changed."
As he arose higher, he sometimes paused to look behind him over the
gradually widening view terminating in the mountains of Moab; but when at
length he drew near the summit, he quickened his step, unmindful of fatigue,
and hurried on without pause or turning of the face. On the summit—to reach
which he bent his steps somewhat right of the beaten path—he came to a dead
stop, arrested as if by a strong hand. Then one might have seen his eyes
dilate, his cheeks flush, his breath quicken, effects all of one bright
sweeping glance at what lay before him.
The traveller, good reader, was no other than Ben-Hur; the
spectacle, Jerusalem.
Not the Holy City of to-day, but the Holy City as left by
Herod—the Holy City of the Christ. Beautiful yet, as seen from old
Olivet, what must it have been then?
Ben-Hur betook him to a stone and sat down, and, stripping his head of
the close white handkerchief which served it for covering, made the survey at
leisure.
The same has been done often since by a great variety of persons, under
circumstances surpassingly singular—by the son of Vespasian, by the
Islamite, by the Crusader, conquerors all of them; by many a pilgrim from the
great New World, which waited discovery nearly fifteen hundred years after
the time of our story; but of the multitude probably not one has taken that
view with sensations more keenly poignant, more sadly sweet, more proudly
bitter, than Ben-Hur. He was stirred by recollections of his
countrymen, their triumphs and vicissitudes, their history the history of
God. The city was of their buildin