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WALLACE- The seas Bball waste, the skies in smoke decay Rooks tall to dust, and mountains uielt away ; But fixed His word ; His saving; power remains ; Thy realm for ever iMrts ; Thy own Messiah reigns. Fori i-ut- ROSE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1887. •*».»>•*•* '■•<*■ • *>'"*• / 202506 / PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. In the follo^ng pages an attempt is made to portray the people and the land of Judea in the days of the Messiah. The tyranny of Rome, the turbulence and discontent of the Jewish people, and their vain expectation of a conquering king, who should exalt them to the sovereignty of the world, are here depicted in connection with the fortunes of a Prince of Judah, who learned through much suffering and many mistakes, what the true kingdom of the Messiah is. It is hoped that his story will present features of interest, apart even from the mighty national events amongst which he moved ; and that the record of his troubled career may win from the reader of to-day, interest in and sympathy for Ben- Ilur. h>' m 'm CONTENTS 7SJ '■.*'l! i>'i BOOK FIRST. CHAP. PAQB. r. In the Desert, - - - - . - - - 9 II. The Three Strangers, ...... 1« III. Gaspar the Greek, 16 IV. Melchior, 18 V. Balthasar, 22 VI. The Joppa Market, 28 VII. The People of Jerusalem, 31 VIII. Joseph and Mary, - - - 3S IX. At Bethlehem, - - - - - - - 39 X. The Pry from He-iven, 45 XI. The Birth of Christ, - - 46 XII. The Arrival of the Magi, 62 XIII. Herod and the Magi, 64 XIV. The Child Christ, ...... 62 BOOK SECOND. I. Rome and Judea, ... . , > - 65 II. Messala and Judahi, • - - - . . 68 111^ Judah's Home, 76 IV. Ju4ah's Mother, ....... 79 V. A Woman of Israel, 84 VI. The Accident, 90 VII. The Prisoner, , . 100 BOOK THIRD. I. QuintuB Arrius, 104 II. The Roman Galley, 109 III. The G;illey Slave, 1]4 IV. A Gleam of Hope, 120 VI Contents. OIIAF. V. The Sea- Fight, VI. Free and Adopted, BOOK FOURTH. I. II. iir. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. At Antiooh, . . . In Search ... Disappointed, The Story of Simonides, Exploring, - Recollection, A New Oompaniou, By the Fountain, Vengeance Planned, The Orchard of Palms, M alluch's Report • A Roman Revel, In an Arab Home, Ilderim's Supper, Ben-Hur's Wonder, Balthaaar's Teaching, A Reverie, BOOK FIFTH. PAOK. 125 131 137 . 139 143 . 149 155 . 159 161 - 166 171 • 176 182 . 189 196 . 203 206 - 210 216 I. GratuB warned, 221 II. Preparation, - 224 III. On the Lake, - - • . . . • % 229 IV. The Letter intercepted, - - - - - 286 V. Bea-IIur reads the Letter, - - - "• • - 236 VI. A SummoiiB, - - 24C VII. Acknowledged, - - - . - - - 243 VIII. The Promised Kingdom, - - - - - 249 IX. Ben-Hur's Decision, 257 X. The Programme, - - - - - - - * 260 XI. The Bets, - 264 XIL The Circus, - 269 XIII. The Start, 274 Contents. ▼U PAOK. 126 1 f 'I ISl i 137 1 139 143 149 155 159 161 166 171 /j 176 182 (| 189 196 203 206 210 216 TO - 221 224 ► 229 i 285 . 236 i 24C . 243 '^ 249 - 257 * 260 i^M ■ 264 269 - 274 i CHAP. PAOB. XIV. TheRact, 279 XV. An InviUtion, 286 XVI. Entrapped, 288 BOOK SIXTH. I. The Prisoners, ....-.- 996 II. The Lepers, 304 III. The Old Home, 312 IV. A Trial of Love, - - - • • - - 316 V. Amrah'a Fidelity, 329 VI. The Champion, - -328 bOOK SEVENTH. I. The Herald, - - 836 II. A Surprise, 388 III. Immortality, 343 IV. An Evil Influence, 348 V. The Herald and his King, 352 BOOK EIGHTH. I. Anticipation, --- 359 II. Ben-Hur's Relation, 366 III. Glad Tidings, 370 IV. Healed, 377 V. To Jerusalem, 383 VI. Unmasked, - - 386 VII. Disappointment, 374 VIII. Betrayal, 396 IX. Near the End, 402 X. The End, ........ 409 XI. The Catacomb, - - - • - - - 419 ^' BEN-HUR; OB, THE DAYS OF THE MESSIAH, BOOK FIKST. CHAPTER I. IN TUK DBSKRT. * The Jebel ea Zubleh is a mountain fifty miles and more in length, and BO 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 cliifs, and looking off under the path of the rising sun, one sees only the Desert of Arabia, where the east winds, so hateful to the vine-growers of Jericho, have kept their playgrounds since the beginning. Its foot is well covered by sands tossed from the Euphrates, there to lie ; for the mountain is a wall to the Easture-lands of Moab and Ammon on the west — lands which else od 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 re- ceptacle, the Dead Sea. Out of one of these wadies — or, more particularly, out of that one which rises at the ext>'; ne end of the Jebel, and, extending east of north, becomes at kr ':h the bea of the Jabbok river — a traveller passed, going to the ^^ble-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, WM 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 10 Ben-IIur; or. The Days of The Messiah. at this day called by tho 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 wa« clad in the flowing garmeiita so universal in the East ; but their stylo 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 cainel equipped and loaded for the desert. Custom, so fatal to other novelties, a.rfect,a this feeling but little. At the end of long journeys with caravans, after years of residence with the Bedawiu, the Western- born, wherever they may be, will stop and wait the passing of the stately brute. Tlie charm in 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 is that of the desert to its oreature. It clothes him with all its mys- teries ; in such a manner, too, that whilo 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 colour and ikeight ; its breadth of foot ; its bulk of body, not fat, but overlaid with muscle ; its long, slender neck, of swan-like 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 t)lood, 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 tho back was an invention which with any other people than of the East would have made the inventor renowned. It con- sisted of two wooden boxes, scarce four feet in length, balanced so that one hung at each side ; the inner space, softly lined and car- peted, was arrfinged to allow tho master to sit or he half reclined ; over it all was stretched a gredu 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 comfot table the sunburnt rays 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 i«n- cient Amnion. It was morning time. Before him wao the sun, half curtained in fleecy mist ; before him also spread tho 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 grey and brown stones, inter- spersed with languishing acacias and tufts of camel-grass. The oak, bramble, and arbutus lav behind, as if they had come to a line, looked over into the well-less waste, and crouched with fear. ■»« In the Desert 11 the i«n- un, ert ; the 6 is And now there was an end of path or road. More than ever t|»o camel seemed insensibly driven ; it lengthened and quickened its pace, its head pointed straight towards the honzon ; through the wide nostrils it drank the wind in great draughts, The litter swayed, and rose and fell like a boat in the waves. r>ried leaves in occasional beds rustled underfoot. Sometimes a perfume like alr'inthe 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. Otf to the right rose the hills of the Jebel, the peai'-grey veil resting upon them changing momentarily into a purple whicn 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 re- cognition. 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, keepinp' the trot steadily and the line due east. In that time the travei.oi* 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 soMtj or hour, and the manzil^ or halt : three and a half leagues till 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 orc'inary winds. As one of the results of the raynl advance, the face of the landscape underwent a change. The Jebel stretched along the western horizon, like a pale-blue ribbon. A telly or hummock of clay and cemented sand, arose Lare and there. Now and then basaltic stones lifted their round crowns, outposts of the mountain agaiii»t the forces of the plain ; all else, however, was sand, some- times 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 r ittling flakes at every step, held undis- puted sway. The Jebel was out of view, and there was no land- mark 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 Ihere was no sign of halting, the cond net 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 al«)ng which the bones of things dead are strewn as so many blazons. Such are the roadi 12 Ben-Hur ; or, The Days of The Messiah, from well to well, from pasture to pasture. The heart of the mos'i veteran sheik beats quicker when he finds himself alone in the pathless tracts. So tho man with whom we are dealing could not have been ia search of pleasure ; neither was his manner that i»f a fugitive ; not once <^id 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 the a 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 a 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 up 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 \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. Tho pious duty done, he prepared to dis- mount. From his throat proceeded the sound heard doubtless by the favourite camels ti*f Job — Ikh ! ikh ! — the signal to kneel. Slowly the anin^al obeyed, grunting the while. The rider then put his foot upon the slender neck, and stepped i^pon the sand. % CHAPTER II. THE THREE STRANGERS. Thk man as now revealed was of admirable proportions, not so tall as powerful. Loosening the silken rope which held the hi/iyeh on his head, he brushed the fringed folds back until his face was bare — a strong face, almost negro in colour ; 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 impos- sible to disguise. So looked the Pharaohs and the later Ptolemies ; so looked Mizraim, father of the Egyptian race. He wore the katnis, a white cot.ton shirt, tight-sleeved, open in front, extending to the ankles and ambroidered 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 slooves, lined inside with stuff of mixed cotton and silk, edged all round with a ^Jirgin of clouded yellow. His feet were pro- tecte.I by sandals, attached by thongs of soft leather. A sash held the Pamiit to his w ust. What was very noticeable, considering he .# The Three Slranjcrs. 13 was alone, and that the desert was the haunt of leopards and ^^oub. and men quite as wild, he carried no arms, not even the crooked stick used for guiding camels ; wherefore we may at least infer hia 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 hia eyes with hia hands, examined the desert to the extremest verae of vision ; aiid always, when the survey was ended, his f^ce clouded with disap- pointment, 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 anotLjr, which, when united together, formed a centre pole higher than his head. When the pole wa« planted, and the rods set around it, he spread the cloth over them, and was literally at home — a home much smaller than the habita- tions 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. Thau done, he went out, and once more, and with greater care and mr re eager eyes, swept the encircling country. Except a distant jackal, galloping across the plain and an oagle fl>in;; towards the Gulf of Akaba, the waste below, like the blue above it, was lifeless. He turned to the camel, sayini/ #, and in a tongue strange to the desert, "We are far from me, O racer with the swiftest winds — we are far from home, I ut God is with us. Let us be pa- tient." 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, ha turned and again scanned the world of sand, dim with the plow 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 14 Ben-Hur; or, The Jays of The Messiah. willow basket which was part of its furniture, he brought forth ma- terials for a meal : platters close- woven of the fibres of pahos ; 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 luikhil, 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 sot upon the carpet under tho tent. As the final preparation, about the provisions he laid three pieces of silk cl(»th, used among refined people of the E;ist to cover the knees of guests while at table — a circumstance si,^niticant 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 I in the east a dark speck on the face of the de.serr. He stood as if rooted to the ground ; his eyes dilated ; his flesh crept chilly, as if touched by something supernatural. The H[.eck 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 prayerfuVy 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 Keck to the sand, and advanced towards the Egyp- tian, as did the Egyptian towards him. A moment they looked at each other ; then they embraced — that is, each threw his riijht 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 bo with thee, O servant of the true God ! " the stranger said. " And to thee, brother of the true faith ! — to thee peace and welcome," the Egyptian replied with fervour. The new-comer was tall and gaunt, with lean face, sunken eyes, white hair and beard, and a complexion between the hue of cinna- mon and bronze. He, too, vas unarmed. His costume was Hiu- dostani ; 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 aha was shorter, exposing wide flowing breeches gathered at the ankles. In place of sandals, his feot wore clad in half-slippers of red leather, pointed at the toes. Save the slippers, the costume f i om lu ad to foot was of white linen. The air of the man wjis hiijb, stately, sovero, Visvamitra, the greatest of the ascotic heroes (if the Iliad ol the East, had in him a perfect representative. He uiight have '• en called a Life drenched with The Three Strangers. 16 the wisdom of Brfthraa— Devotion lucax-nate. Only in his eyes was there proof of humanity ; when he lifted his face from Uie 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 ELjypLian answered, wondering at the paraphrase oi his own exclamation. '* But let us wait," he added, " let ua wait ; for see, tho otht^r cumes yonder ! " They looked to the narth, where, already plain to view, a third camel, of the whiteness of the others, caine careening like a ship. They waited, statuling together— waited until the new-comer ar- rived, tlismountod, and advanced towards tiiem. '• Peace to you, O my brother ! " ho said, while embracing the Hindoo. Aud 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 bhio eyes cortilied a delicate mind, and a cordial, bravo nature. He was barchyaded 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 niore, had spent themselves upon him, with no other effect, apparently, than to tinge his demeanour with gravity and temper his words with fore- thought. The pliysical organization and the bri^rhtness 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 Atlieud, his ancestry did. Whon his arms fell from the Egyptian, the latter said, with i tremulous voice, *' The Spirit brought mo lir.st ; wherefore 1 know brethren, jg. Let The tent is set, me perform my myself chosen to be the servant of m_ and the bread is ready for the break office." Taking each by the hand, he led them within, and removed their sandals and washed tljir 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 oat, wo will each learn who the others are, and whence they come, and how they are caMed." He took them to the repast, and seated them so that they faced each other. Simultaneously their heads bent forward, their hands crosse^l upon their breasts, and, speaking together, thoy said aloud this simple grace : 16 Ben-Hur; or, The Days of The Messiah. " Father of all — Q&d ! — what we have here in of Thee ; take our thanks and bless us, that we may continue to do Thy will." With the last word they .^aised their eyes, and looked at emsh other in wonder. £ach had spoken in a language never before heard by the others ; yet eauh understood perfectly what was said. Their souls thrilled with divine emotion ; for by the miracle they recognized the Divine Presence. CHAPTER III. CASPAR THE GREEK. 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 hungi'y, 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 assum- ed to be president of the repast. " Before us lie many days of companioi'ship. It is time we knew each other. So, if it be agree- able, he wi.o 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 whereto begin or what I may with propriety speak. I do not yet understand m>self. 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 for ever in perfected letters, by which He we go io find and proclaim will be made known to all the earth. The land I speak of is Greece. I am Ga^par, 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, teuch, one the doctrine Oaspar the Chreek, 17 of a soul in every man, and its Immortality ; the other the doc- trine of One God, infinitely just. From the multitude of subjects about whioh the schools were disputing, I separated them, -ns alone worth the labour 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 ; bnt 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 Zeus, 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, benda to the south-east ; thore 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 didl " 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 prayei's did indeed exist, and had been for ages their lawmaker, ruler, and king. What was that but the Kevelation 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 Hin- doo. •'But, alasl" the Esiyptian 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. Ho said the prophets who, in the ages which followed the first revelation, walked and talked with God, declared he would come on earth. He gave me the names of the prophets, a^d from the sacred books quoted their very language. He told me, further, that the coming was at hand — was looked for moment- arily 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 18 Ben-Hur ; or, The Days of The Messiah, asked. * No,' was the answer given in a proud voice — * No, w« are his chosen people.' The answer did not crush my hope. Why should such a Uod limit his love and benefaction to one land, and as it were, to one family 1 I set my heart upon knor 'ng. At labi 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 {^ain, 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 oat by the door of my cave trying to get nearer the mysteries at my existence, knowing which is to know God r, suddenly, on the Rja below me, or rather in the darkness that covered itc face, I daw a star begin to burn ; slowly it arose and drew nigh, '\nd stood over the hill and above my door, so that its light shone full npon 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 uttermcmt parts of the earth, thou bhait 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 tiio sun. I put off my hermit's garb, and dressed myself as of old. From a hiiing-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 camol and his furniture. Through the gardens and orchards tiiat enamel the banks of the Orontes, I journeyed to Emesa, Damascus, Bostra, and Philadelphia ; thence hither. Aad so, O brethien, you have my story. Let me now listen to you." CHAPTER IV. MELCHIOR. 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 aa wise." Hg broke off, reflected a moment, then resumed : i '* You may know me, brethren, by the name of Melchior. I speak to you in a language which, if not the oldest in tho world, was at least the soonest to be reduced to letters — I moan the San- scrit of Ii'dia. I am a Hindoo by birth. My people were the first to walk in the tields of knowledge, first to divide them, firat. to make them beautiful, Whatever may hereafter befall, tho four Vodas musi. live, for they aro the primal fouutuius of religion and m ^ W ^' 1, f< W ^' W ^ Ri ^^ E P' w ^^ K ^^ m. °' B V H Bi R e^ ^^K ^ <>''- H ui rtn^M^H B c< ■ ^ 9 m B al B gi in B W "^'S m ^" m m ^ '^Wm m '' I**** m F • ' •L'fSs -ijSjffl K ^ IB . n 49 h "'< '^^^H ti k fi lla si ^^n ti .*jj ' o fi fl c a '^9 a '-'t^l a f^H t Ir^flj^H I Melchior, 19 useful intelligence, From them were derived the Upa-Veda», which, delivered by Brahma, treat of medicine, archery, architec- ture, music, and the four-and-sixty mechanical arts ; the Ved- Angas, revealed by inspired saints, and devoted to astronomy, grammar, prosody, pronuuciation, charms and incantations, religious rites and ceremonius ; the Up-Angas, written by the sage Yyasa, and given to cosmogony, chronology, and geography ; therein also are the iiamayana and the Mahabbarata, heroic poems, designed for the perpetuation of our gods and demi-gods. Such, O breth- ren, are the Great Shastras, or books of sacred ordinances. They are dead to me noV ; yet through all time they will serve to illus- trate 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 feoul. So, if my brother will permit the saying" — the speaker bowed deferenti- ally to the Greek — " »ges 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 tjie 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 u'leful knowledge. From his arms next issued the Kahatriya, or warriors ; from his breast, the seat of life, came the Yaisya, or producers — shepherds, farmers, merchants ; from his foot, in sign of degrada- tion, sprang the Sudra, or serviles, doomed to menial duties for the other classes— serfs, domestics, labourers, artisans. Take notice, further, that the law, so bom 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 Gr«iek, flashing forward upon all the consequences of such a degradation, overcame his eager at- tention, and he exclaimed, " In such a state, brethren, what mighty need of a loving God ! " 20 Ben-IIur ; or. The Days of The Messiah, "Yes," added the Ej^yptian, " of a loving God like ours." The brows of the Hindoo knit painfully ; when the emotion waa 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 nourish- . ; the givint; me my compound name ; taking me out the first Vitiie 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 riu;id ceremonies. I might not walk, eat, drink, or sleep without datiger 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 tisb, 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 pee what it all shone upon At last — ah, with what years of toil 1 — 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 re- sumed : " The happiness of love is in action ; its test is what one is will- ing 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 slvide of the temple built there to the sage Kapila, in a union of prayers with the dis- ciples whom the sanctified memory of the holy man keeps around his house, I thought to find rest. But twice every year came pil- grimages 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 Shaslras 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 be- came one of them, lost to family, country, privileges, caste. The love conquered ! I spoke to the disciples iit the temple ; they drove m^ Oij or I wW foi trt Ifl Wl d h. »» jrg.' motion was 'M ordered )f nourish- ut the first i by which irst order, Qonies. I violating a my soul ! )ne of the v^as driven Lite. The n into the I absolute ading, he der is his r — that is lolder — I ^rom the Ded to go bat years le of life, d God— and he hich the h he re- ) is Will- ie world ; 80 did a Lagor • Indian temple the dis- around me pil- Their peak, I riad or outcast on the i f be. The ' drove "»"' Melchior, 21 me out I spoke to the pilgrims ; they stoned me from the island. On the highways [ 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 ex- tremity, I iookud for a solitude in which to hide from all l)ut Ood. I followed the Gant^es to its source, far up in the Hini'layas. When J entered the pass at Hurdwar, where the river, in uuatained purity, leaps to its course through the muddy lowlands, I prayed for my race, and thought myself lost to them for ever. Through gorges, over cliffs, across glaciers, by peaks that seemed star-high, 1 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 Par- bot, giants which flaunt their crowns of snow everlastingly in the face of ihe sun. There, in the centre of the efvrth ; where the In- dus, 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 groat fact ; where Nature, gone back to its primeval condition, and se- cure 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, fa-iting, 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 t> wards 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 Radeemer, 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 1 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 travelled, fearless, for the Spirit was with me, and is with me yet. What glory is ours, O brethren ! We are to see the Re- deemer — to speak to Him — to worship Him ! I have done." 22 Ben-IIur; be certain, and always at call for the relief of the suffering. From that day, O brethren, I have 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 co say how much. I also know that part of the world to be ripe for the re- ception of Him we go to find." A flush suffused the swarthy cheek of the speaker ; but he over- came 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 1 had started } Was it to end with me i 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 re- former must have a more than human sanction ; ht 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 Tvith 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 willint; 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 fekson." Intense emotion seized the three. *' Are we not going to find Him ? " exclaimed the Greek. *' You understand why 1 failed in the attempt to organize," said the Egyptian, when the spell was passed. " I had not the sanction. To know that my work must be lost made me intolerably wretched. nemy of ;' 'M^ •"# urej and he river, ' ■ ''< uen and .;(*; r I called p jor. 1 iicheium. they be- .he third %m the city ver seem- % reform, to those T-^lMHr >le. And [ secured id always brethren, ^nd to all . eward in '.^KBafr say how r the re- he over- il^^^^B l by one use I had times of ing from Id is now , the re- )t merely is word ; ad is the Bs crowd yihing a uJ^^^^M, iy paths, i^^m. must be an carry leem the le must ION." w," said anction. retched. Balihasar. 27 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 tifth 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, fef ds a broad lake nestling at its base on the east. The lake is the '"other of the ^»reat river. For a year and more the mountain gave me a home. The fruit of the palm fed ray body, prayer my spirit. One night I walked in the orchard ch)80 by the little sea. ' The world is dying. When wilt thou come ? Wliy may 1 not see the redemption, O God ? ' So I prayed. The giassy water was sparkling with stars. One of them seemed to leave iti 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, ap^jarontly in hand's reach. 1 fell down and hid my face. A voice, not of the earth, said, ' Thy good workft have concpiered. Blessed art thou, O son of Mizraim ! The redemption cometh. With two others, from the remotenesses of the world, thou shaU 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 bom 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 illun.ination not to be doubted, and has stayed with me, a governor and a gJiide. 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 Ku- fileh, 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 purpos j in the particularity with which we described our peoples and their histories," so the Egyptian pro- ceeded. ** He we go to find was called * King of the Jews ; ' by tiiat 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 ahjue, but of all the nations of the earth. The patriarch who survived the Flood had with him three sons, and their families, by whonv the world was repeopled. From the old Aryana-Vaejo, the well- remembered Ri gion of Delight in the heart of Asia, they parted. India and the far Ejist received the children of 3hem ; the descendants of Japhet, through the North, streamed into Europe ; those of Him overflowed the deserts ^bout 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." h I 28 Ben- Hut ; or, The Days of The Mesmih. • By a simultaneous impulse the three joined hands. *' Could anything be more divinely ordered? " Balthasar contin- ued. " When we have found the Lord, the brothers, and all the generations that have succeeded them, will kneel to Him in homaga 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 unspeak- able 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 ten^ 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 spectres 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 Starl the Star! God is with us 1 " CHAPTER VI. THE JCVFA MARKET. 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 tho cita- del became tho north-west corner of his new wall, dufondod by a tower much more imposing than tho old one. Tho location «»f the gate, however, jvas 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 grout .'■ « The Joppa Market. 29 traffic at the locality, shared in by traders from Egypt, and the rich dealers from Tyre and Sidon. Nearly three ohouaand 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 hcrse, a loan or a lentil, a date or a dragoman, a melon or a man, a dove or a donkey, has only to enquire 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 bo transferred. Following the Hebrew system, the meeting of the wise men de- scribed in the preceding chapters took place in the afternoon of the twenty-fifth day of the third month of the year ; that is to say, on the twenty-fifth day of December. The year was the second of the 193rd Olympiad, or tlie 747th of Rome ; the sixty-seventh of PTerod the Great, and the thirty-fifth of his reign ; the fourth before the beginning of the Christian era. ''""'*. hours of the day, by Jndean custom, begin with the sun, the fixot hour being the first after sun- rise ; so, to be precise, the market at the Joppa Gate during the first hour of the day stated was in full session, and vevy 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, con- ducted 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 com- ing and going. As a passing acquaintance with the people of thv 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 ofter 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, soudde, colours, and things. It is especially so in the lane and court. The ground there is paved with broad unshaped flagc, 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 busi- neas going on, will make analysis possible. Here stands a donkey, dozing under panniers full of lentils, beans, onions, and cucumbers, brought fre&h from the gardens and terraces of Galilee. When not engaged in serving customers, the master, in a voice which on!} the initiated can understand, cries his stock. Nothing can bo simpler than his costume — sandals, and r,n unbleached, undyed blanket, crossed over one shoulder and girt 30 Ben-Hur ; or, Tlie Days of The Messiah, round the waist. Noar by, and far more imposing and grotesqub, though scarcely as patient as the donkey, Icneels a camel, raw-boned, rough, and gray, with long shaggy tufts of fox-coloured hair under its throat lOck, and body, and a load of boxes ond baskets curi- ously arranged upon an enormous saddle. The owner is an Egyp- tian, 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 atones 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 wolls, and some leathern bottles. Among the jars and bottles, rolling upon the stony floor, regardless of the crowd and cold, often in danger but naver hur\, play half-a- doaen 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." I'heir entreaties are usually lost in the general uproar, and they fare ill 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 ! (Jrapes 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 swing- ing in a basket far down the mountain fisaure. Blent with pe Hers of jewellery — sharp men clothed in scarlet and blue, top-heavy under prodigious white turbans, and fully conscious of the p(jwor there is in the lustre of a ribbon and the incisive gleam of goLl, whether in bracelet or necklace, or in rings for the finger or the nose ; and with pedlers 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 m The People of Jerusalem, SI well as of need, hither and thither, tugging of 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 atten- tion, in the nest place, to visitors and buyers, for which the best . studies will be found outside the gates, where the spectacle is quite I as varied and animated ; indeed, it may be more so, for there are I superadded the effects of tents, booth, and sook, greater space, lar- ger crowd, more unqualified freedom, and the glory of the Eastern sunshine. CHAPTER VII. THE PEOPLE OF JEPU3ALEBf. Let us take our stand by the gate, just out of the edge of the cur- rents — 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 armour ; on his head a brazen helmet, on his body a shining breastplate and skirts of mail. " How cold it is ! Dost thou re- member, my Caius, that vault in the Gomitium 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 a^ain I" 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 tiast just come from Egypt, bringing its summer in thy blood." And with the last word they disappear thror^n the entrance. Though they had been silent, the armour and the sturdy step would have published them Roman soldiers. From the throng a Jew comes next, meagre 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 sect which devotes itself by 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 exclama- tions sharp and decisive. Then the cause comes — a man — Hebrew in feature and dress. The mantle of snow-white linen, held to his '' ' »»litical idea ; and he went on, with- out n.oticing 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 plea- sure in thp 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 offence. 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 over- spread her cheeks and brow, and the veil was returned to its place. The politician forgot his subject. F Joseph and Mary, 37 " Your daughter is comely," he laid, speaking lower. ** She \a not my daughter," Joseph repeated. The curiosity of the Itabbi was aroused ; seeing which, the Nazarene hastened to say further, *' She is the child of Jt)acliim and Anna of Bethlehem, of whom you have at least heard ; for thtsy were of great repute " — " Yes," remarked the Rabbi deferentially, " I knew the ''hey were lineally descended from David. I know them well." "Well, they are dead now," the Nnzarone ptoceedod. ** They died in Nazareth. Juachim was not rich, yet lie loft 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." •' Yos, yea ! And as you were both born in Bethlehem, the Ro- man compels you to take her there with you to bo also counted." The R;ibbi 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 amaziment, said quietly, '* Rabbi ISauiuel is a zealot. Judas himself is not more tiorce." 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 cat the gate, and, turning to the left, took the road to Bethlehem The descent into the valley of Hinnom was quite broken, garnished here and there with strag- gling wild olive-trees. Carefully, tenderly, the Nazarene walked by the woman's side, leading-strap in hand. On their left, reach- ing to the south and east round Mount Zion, rose the city wall, and on their right the dteep 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 Council ; 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 varia- tions. " Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful oountunauoe, k I 38 Ben-Hur; or, The Days of The Messiah, 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 licence has extended th9 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 be- longed to the period of transition from girlhood. Her face was per- fectly oval, her complexion more pale than fair. The nose wasfaultless; 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 J ewish 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 colour. 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 or prayer ; often she raised her head like one listening eagerly for a calling voica >low and then, midst his slow utterances, Joseph turned to look at ht>r, 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 MarElias; 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 ani- mals. A fear came upon Joseph — a fear lest, if the town were so thronged, there might not be houseroom for the gentle Mary. With- out delay, he hurried on, past the pillar of stone marking the tomb of Kachel, up the gardened slope, saluting none of the many per sons he met on the way, until he stopped before the portal of t!.e khan that then stood outside the village gates, next a junction of roads. At Bethlehem. 39 brought ruled by iritiea of Solomons e, and of believe, >8ence of er whom king, nner be- was per- aultless; 68 of the nd large, larmony • Jewish hich she [les seen contour e added soul can >f things eyes to 3r hands ler head n, midst bin^ the me, and levation ehem, Ige, and They llaces of jhe well 'avid's |nd ani- ere so With- le tomb »y per of t'.e Ition of CHAPTER TX. AT BETHLEHEM. 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 ifimplestform, 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 Padau- Aram. Their like may be 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 ordinsry, 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 resi< dence for merchants and artisans quite as much as places of shelter for belated and wandering wayfarers. Within their walls, all the year round, occuiTed 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 con- sequence 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 goo'^ 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 gratuitous. The peace of syna- gogues was sometimes broken by brawling disputants, but that of the khans never. The houses and ^11 other appurtenances were sacred ; a well was not more so. The khan at Bethlehem, before which Joseph and his *ife stop- i,ed, was a good specimen of its class, being neither very primitive nor very princely. The building was p'lrely Oriental ; that is to say, a quadrangular block of rough stones, one storey high, flat- roofed, externally unbroken by a window, and with but one prin- cipal entrance— a doorway, which was also a gateway, on the eastern side, or front. The iu»d an by the door so near that the chalk dust half covered the lintel. A fence of flat rocks, begin- ning at the north-eastern corner of the pile, extended many yards 40 Ben-Hur ; or, The Days of Tlte Messiah, down the slope to a point om whence it swept westwardly to a limestone bluti ; making, Wxiat 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 ac- commodations in the khan became a painful anxiety r for he found the road thronged with men and boys who, with gieat ado, were taking their cattle, horses, and camels to and from the valley, some to water, some to the neighbouring caves. And when he was 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 <,'roat cara- vans were accustomed to traverse. There were men on foot, run- ning hither and thithgr, talking shrilly and in all the tongues of Syria ; men on horseback screaming to men on camels j men strug- gling doubtfully with fractious cows and frightened sheep ; men peddling with bread and wine ; and among the mass a herd of boys apparently in chaae of a herd of dogs. Everybody and everything seemed to be in motion at the same time. Possibly the fair specta- tor was too weary to be long attracted by the scene , in a little while iihe sighed, and settled down on the pillion, and, as if in search of peace atul i^t, or in expectation of some one, looked off to the south, and up to the tall cliffs of the Mount of I^aradise, 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 causo of this multitude ? " Th' strans^er tn»-^\ed fiercely; but, seeing the solemn countenance of Joseph, BO in . .icpiiig with his deep, slow voice and speech, he raised hia hand ia half Kaliit.LtJnu, and replied : At Bethlehem, 41 cara- lance h, he " Peace be to you, Rabbi ! I am a son of Judah, and will answer rou. I dwell in Beth-Dagon, which, you know, is in what uaed to be the land of the tribe of Dan." " On the road to Joppa from Modin," said Joseph. *' All, you have been in Beth-Dagon," the man said, his face softening yet more. " What wanderers we of Judah are ! I have bvten 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 refjied away ; she was as we fan^ they are who sit close by the gate in the trans- figuring 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 Gedron ; 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-trc^i 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 con- fronting the keeper. f c 42 Ben-Hur; or, The Days of Tlie Messiah. " What you give, may you find again ; and, when found, be it many times multiplied to you and yours," returned the watch- man gravely, thuugh without moving. '* I am a Bethlehemite," said Joseph in his most deliberate wny. " Is there not room for " — "There is not." " You may have heard of me — Joseph of Nazareth. This ia the house of my fathers. I am of the line of David." These words held the Nazarene's hope. If tkey failed him, fur- ther 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 bouse of David was yot 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 royrJ family. Wars, calamities, other kings, and the countless obscuring processes of time had, as respects fortune, lowered his descendants to the common Jew- ish 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, acquaint- ance 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 ?i*y, 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 hia beard, said respectfully, *' Rabbi, I cannot tell you when this door first opened m welcome to the traveller, but it was more than a thous- and 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 stew- ard 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 ^le roof. May I ask ivhen you came ? " *' But Pow." The keeper smiled. *"The stranger that dwelleth with yon shall be as one bom **■'' ,%': At Bethlehem, 43 Is not thai the amonff you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.' lair, Rabbi 1" 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 ' 1 " Yet Joseph held his peace. " And, if T 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 i " asked Joseph, turning to the crowd. " And why are they here at this time 1 ' "That which doubtless brought you. Rabbi— the decree of the CsBsar "—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 p^issing from Damascus to Arabia and Lower Egypt arrived. These you see here ]>elong to it— me and camels." Still Joseph persisted. " The court is large," he said. "Yes, but it is heaped with cargoes — with bales of silk, and packets 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 can- not 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 — " hpve all besought the town, and they report its accom- modations 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, 1 knew them. They were good people. That was in my youth." This time the keeper's eyes sought the ground in thought. Sud- denly he raised his head. " If 1 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, fiom 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 mo\in- tain, you know the night comes quickly, and it ) ' nearly there If now. #1 j^ 44 Ben-Hu.*; oVy The Days of The Messiah, t( I give you the blessins; of the houseless traveller ; that of the sojourner will follow." So saying, the Nazarene went back joyfully to Mary and the Beth-Ddgonite. 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 I<^azarene ; ^' and these are our f liends. " 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 be to you, O daughter of David I " 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 irt 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 carreers of the women had wills of their own. At length they turned into a patli running towards the grey limestone blu^' overlooking the khan on the west. " We are f^oing 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 ani- mals. The mangers yet remain as they were in his day. Better a bed upon the floor where he has slept than one in the court-yard or cat by the roadside. Ah, here is the house before the cave 1 " This speech must not be taken as an apology for the lodging of- fered. There was no need of apology. The place was the best then at disposal. The guests wore 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 ho heard of Sabbaths in the synagogues. How ooiuch of Jewish history, how many of the most exciting incidents m that At Bethlehem, 45 history, had transpired in caves I Yet further, these people were Jews of Bethlehem, with whom the idea was especially commom- pUce ; 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 bo*L their habitations and wanderings. In keeping with a custom derived from Abraham, the tent of the Bedawin yet aheltors his horses and children alike. So they obeyed the keeper cheerfully, and gazed at the house, feeling only a natural curiosity. Everything asaofciated 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 wood- en bolt of the lock was being pushed back, the women were assist- ed from their pillions. Upon the opening of the door, the keeper called out : • " Oome in ! " The guest4si entered, and stared abort them. It became apparent immediately that the house was but a laask 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, occipy- ing the centre of the chamber. Along the sides were mangert, low enough for sheep, and built of stones laid in cement. There were no stalls or partitions of any kind. D ast 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 ; other- wise 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 iewen. '* Come in ! " said the guide. " These piles upon the floor are for trave"3rs like yourselves. Take what of them you need." Then he spoke to Mary. " Can you rest here 1 " " The place is sfinctified," she answered. " I leave you then. Peace be with you all ! " When he was gone, they busied themselves making the cavf habitable. 1- f I r :■ I ■ 46 Ben-Hur; o?», The Days of The Messiah, CHAPTETl X, THE BAY FROM HBAVBN. 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 ag<*^in ; 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 1 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 tho 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 ob- liquely 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 splendour. The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain south-east of the town, mak- ing 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 tilled with wonder. Steadily, through minutes, the ray lingered, and then the wonder changed to awe and fear ; the timid trembled ; the boldest spoke iu whispers. " Saw you ever the like ? " asked one. "'It seems just over the mountain there. I uannot tell what it is, nor did 1 over see anything like it," was the answer. ' ' Can it be that a star has burst and fallen 1 " asked another, his tongue faltering. '* When a star falls, its light goes out." " 1 have it ! " cried one contidently. ** The ahepherds have seen a lion, and made fires to keep him from the flocks." The men next the speaker drew a breath of reliof, and said, "Yes, that is it ! The flocks were grazing iu the valley over there to day," A bystander dispelled the comfort, % TJie Birth of Christ. 47 ** No, no ! Though all the wood in all the valley* 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 aee is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers ! " ^ » CHAPTER XI. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. A MILE and a half, it may be two miles, south-east 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 (*f 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 in- valuable for the support of sheep, goats, and cattle, of which the wandering flocks consisted. At the side farthest from the town, dose under a bluff, there was an extensive mdrdhy or sbeepcot, ages old. In some long-for- gotten foray, the building had been unroofed and almost demolish- ed. 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, hungeriug 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 over-topping branches, armed as they were with great clusters of thorns hard as spikes. The day of the occurrences which occupy the ];^-reoedinp' 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 bark- ing of doga. When the sun went down they led the way to the mdrdh^ and by nightfall had everything (leie in the field ; then they kindled a fire down by the gate, p»'^.ook 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 after- while they assembled in a group near the fire, some sitting, some lying prone. Aa they went bareheaded habitually, their hair stood •^ 48 Ben-Hur ; or^ The Days of The Messiah. out in ihiok, ooane, sunburnt Bhooks;their beard oorered theirthroat, 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 the^ dwelt long upon affairs of trifling mo- ment ; 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 in- terest, the subject of his will ; it was to enliven and share its wan- derings ; in its defence 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 practices, they occasionally heard. As was her habit in those days, Kome 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 unfrev)[uently the shepherd was startled by the blare of trumpets, and, peering out, beheld a cohort, sometimes a legion, in march ; and when the glit- tering crests were gone, and the excitement incident to the intru- sion 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 oppo- site of his own. Yel 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 ITuKah 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. The Birth of Christ, 4^ And they loved Him, and such was their wisdom, aurpasiing 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 coun- try, 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 stoop- ing 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 oflF on the mountain side. The midnight wat slow coming to him ; but at last it came. His task was done ; now for the dreamless sleep with which labour blesses its weary children! He moved towards the fire, but paused ; alight was breaking around him, soft and white, like the moon's. He 'aited 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 splendour ; 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 1 " they asked in one voice. " See ! " cried the watchman, '* tha sky is on fire." Suddenly the light became intolerably bright, and they covered their eyes, and dropped upon their knees ; then as their sonls 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 bo to ail people." The voice, in sweetness and soothing more than human, and low and clear, penetrated all their b3ing, 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 ihe river of Ulai." Directly the angel continued • 50 Ben-Hu/r; or, The Days of The Meadah. ** For unto you ii born thii day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Ohrist the Lord." Again there was a rest, while the words sank into their minds. *' And this shall be a sign unto ^ou," the annunciator said next. " Ye shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling olothes, lying in a manger. " The herald spoke not again ; his good tidings were told ; yet he staid 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, goodwill towards men ! " Not once the praise, but many times. Then the herald raised his eyes as seeking approval of one far off ; his win^ stirred, and spread slowly and majestically, on their upper side white as snuw, in the shadow vari-tiuted, 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 re- frain in measure mellowed by distance; *' Glory to God in the high- est, and on earth peace, goodwill 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 bo ?" 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 swad- dling 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 thinf 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 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 mdrdh. 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 The Birth of Christ, 51 ** We have Men and heard great things, to-night," they replied. •'Well, we, too, have seen great things, but heard nothing. What did you hear?" to the oave in the enclosure, that we may be you " Let us go down sure; then we will tell you all. Oorae with us, and aje for yourself. *' It is a fool's errand." '•No, the Christ is bom." •* The Chrisf 1 How do you know V* • " Let us go and see first. " The man laughed scornfully. •' The Ohrist 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. Gome 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 waa 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 Nazareue was moved ; turn- ing away, he said, " The child is here." They were led to one of the mangers, and there the child The lantern was brought, and the shepherds stood by mute. little one made no sign ; it was as others just bom. *' W^here is the mother ? " asked th.3 watchmai# One of the women took the baby, and went to Mary, lying near, and put it in her arms. Then tlie bystanders collected about the two. *■*■ It is the Ohrist ! " said a shepherd at last. '• The Christ ! " they all repeated, falling upon their knees in wor- ship. 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 khau, to all the people aroused and pressing aliout them, they told their story ; and through the town, and all the way back to the mdrdhj they chanted the refrain of the angels, ' ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men 1" The story went abroad, confirmed by the light so generally seen ; and the next day, and for days thereafter, the oave was visited by curious crowds, of whom some believed^ though the greater part laughed and mocked. was. T'le 52 Ben-Hur; or, The Days of The Messiah, CHAPTER XTI. THE ARRIVAL OF THE MAGI. The eleventh da> 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 peo- ple, of whom none failed to stop and look after them curionsly. Judea was of necessity an international thoroughfare ; a narrow ridge, raised, apparently, by tj).e pressure of the desert on the east, and the sea on the west, was all she could claim to be ; over the rid^e, 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 elae, consequently, unless in Rome, was there such con- stant assemblage of so many people of so many different nations ; in no other city was a stranger less strange to the reridenta 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 me Kings saw the party coming ; immediately it clapped its hands, and cried, " Look, look ! What pretty bells ! What big camels 1 '* The bells were silver ; the camels, as we have seen, were of un- usual size and whiteness, and moved with singular stateliness ; the trappings told of the desert and of long journeys thereon, and also of ample melts 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 demeanour 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 diffi- cult 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 luxuri- ous 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, " (xood people," said Halthasar, stroking his plaited board, 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 wore a little lower, you could lee the towers on the mavkei-place," • ^ k The Arrived of the Magi. 53 about mid* y the road ; many peo- riously. ; a narrow >nthe east, ; over the Btween the words, the commerce, such con- it nations ; dents than ten excited >s. ie opposite ediately it tty bells ! ere of nn- iness ; the )reon, and under the us beyond furniture, it was tho lain which >r hollow. aces diffi- rashing of the old in luxuri- resh from d before Bard, and jhild had on could Balthasar gave the Greek and the Hindoo a look, then asked : " Where is He that is bom King of the Jews ? " The women gazod at each other without reply. " You have not heard of Him 1" ^ '* 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 Mune 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 oare 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 be- hind 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 PhassBlus, Mariamne, and Hippicus ; for Zion, tallest of thehiVis, crowned with marble palaces, and never so beautiful ; for the glittering terraces of the temple on Moriah, ad- mittedly one of the wonders of the earth ; for the regal mountains dimming 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 dose circle eager to heak' 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 yj a 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 ap- peared. *' 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 1 " he asked of Balthasar, speaking in the idiom of the city. And Balthasar answered in the same : 54 Ben-Hu. , or, The Days of The Messiah. " Where is He that is bom King of the Jews ? " " Herod 1 " 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 Hira we seek, and come to wor" ship Him." The Roman was perpuxcd. "Go farther," he said at last. *' Go farther. Carry the question to the doctors in the Temple, 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 mid- night the whole city will have heard of us and of our mission. Let us to the khan now." 1 am not a Jew. or to H annas the CHAPTER Xni. HEROD AND THE MAGI. 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 light- ened their labour. 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, rubbmg and wringing the clothes in the bowls, two other women came to them, each vith an empty jar upon her shoulder. ** Peace to you," one of the new-comers said. The labourers 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," interpjsed another. ** W^hat 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 facen of the labourers brighten with interest ; on the other side down came the jars, which, ina moment| were turned i'>to seats for their owners. Herod and the Magi. 56 " The Christ ! " the listeners cried. "So they say." " Who 1 " " Everybody ; it is common talk." " Does anybody believe it 1 " ** This afternoon three men came across Brook Cedron on the road from Shechem," the speaker replied circumstantially, intend- ing to smother doubt. "Each one of them rede a camel spotless white, and larger than any ever before seen in Jerasalem." The eyes and mouths of the auditors opened wide. " To prove how great and rich the men were," the narrator con- tinued, ** they sat under awnings of silk ; the buokles of their sad- dles were of gold, as was the fringe of their bridles ; the bells wore 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 load, even the women and chil- dren, 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 8a>ing : • 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 beea'to look 'at the»>? 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 Jere- miah. " *' What do they mean by King of the Jews ? " *' The Christ, and that He is just bom." 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 jhen 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 % 56 Ben-Hur ; or. The Days of The Messiah, of opinion, expounders of the different creeds ; princes of the Sad- ducees ; Pharisaic debaters ; cahn, 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 Ro- manesque. The floor was tessellated with marble blocks ; the .vails, 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 th ~ bendS!>f the letter, there was an immense bronze tripod, curiously ia aid with gold and silver, over which a chandelier drop- ped troia the ceUing, 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 colour. They were mostly men advanced in years ^ immense beards covered their faces ; to their large noses were aaded the effects of large black eyes deeply shaded by bold brows ; their demeanour 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 oi the divan, having all the rest of his associates on his right and left, and, at the same t'me, before him, evidently president of the meeting, would have instantly absorbed the atten- tion of a spectator. Be had been cast in large mould, but was now shrunken and stooped to ghastliness ; his white robe dropped from his shoulders in fold 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 tremu- lously ; 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 muffled in a beard flowing and venerable as Aaron's. Such was Hillel the Babylonian 1 The line of prophets, long ex- tinct 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 parch* ment inscribed with Hebrew characters ; behind lum, in waiting, stood a page richly habited. There had been diaoussion, 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. Herod and tfte Magi. 67 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 of the door j after them slowly followed a most striking p«rBou{^e — 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 iu 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 his 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 threat- enini| was the glance. Such was Herod the Great — a body broken by diseasrs, a conscience seared with crimes, a mind magnificently capable, a soul fit for brotherhood with the Caesars ; now seven -and- sixty yoars old, but guarding his throne with a jealousy never bo vigilant, a power never so despotic, and a cruelty never so inex- orable. 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 courtier] y, followed by low genuflexions, hands upon the beard or breast. His observations taken, Herod moved on until at the tripod op- posite the venerable Hillel, who met his cold glance with an in- clination of the head, and a slight lifting of the hands. ** The answer ! " said the king with imperious simplicity, address- ing 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 associ- ates giving him closest attention. " With thee, O king, be the peace of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ! " His manner was that o! 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 siNge'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 hif tremulous finger, continued : '* In Bethlehem of Judea, U\ i 68 Bev'Bv/r; or, The Days of The Messiah, 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, an- swered and came to hiu^. " 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 'Bimeon, his son, who was to be his successoi; in wisdom, learning, and office, • • • a • •• • Yet later in the evening the wise men were lying in a lew. m 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 1 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, ctinnot sleep. While they were iu 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 ond felt his spirit thrill. "Are you not the steward of the khan ? " Balthasar asked next. "lam." ** What would the king with us 1 " " His messenger is without ; let him answer." "Tell him, then, to abide our coming." ** You were right, O my brother 1 " 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. " Herod and the Magi. 59 They arose, put on their sandals, girt their manttes 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 palaoe« 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 Egyf)tian 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 star- light, 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 motionless 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 eflferainately 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, how- ever, to catch a confused idea of the place — of carved and gilt otto- mans 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 befor<^ 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, \%\ 60 Ben-Hur ; or, The Days of The Messiah. 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 dolibt that we are the strangers." Herod acknowledged the speech with a nrave of the hand, *' Who are you ? Whence do you come V he asked, adding sig- nificantly, *' 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 Jerusa- lem. 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 1" " 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 be- fore 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 Solo- mon'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 honour you as kings honour 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 ; 1 will use my grace with Caesar for His promotion axid glory. Jealousy shall not c( me be- tween us, so I swear. But tell me first how, so widely separated by seas and deserts, you all came to hear of Him 1 " " 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 Re- deemer of the World ; that we should see and worship Him, and bear witness that He w»s some ; 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 1 " Herod and the Magi. 61 An overpowering feeling seized the three. The Greek with diffi- culty restrained an outcry. Herod's gaze darted quickly from one to the other ; he was more suspicious and dissatistied than before. ** You are mocking me," he said. *' If not, tell me more. What is to follow the 'doming of the new King l '* '* The salvation of men." " From what 1" , *' Their wickedness." " How 1 " *' By the divine agencies— Faith, Love, and Good Worlvs." " Then " — Herod paused, and from his look no man could have said with what feeling h§ continued — *'you are the heralds of the Christ. Is that all? " Balthaaar bowed low. *' We are your servants, King." ♦♦ The monarch touched a ^ell, and the attendant appeared. *' Bring the gifts," the ma^^ter said. The attendant went out, but in a little while returned, and kneeling before the guests, gave to each one an outer robe or man- tle of scarlet and blue, and a girdle of gold. They acknowledged the honours with Ea&tern 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 graoiousness ; " If, as 1 believe, O illustrious men, you are indeed the heralds of the Christ just born, know that 1 have this night consulted those wisest in things Jewish, and they say with one voice He should be bom 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 impul- sively, ** Let us to Betiilehem, O brethren, as the king has ad- vised." " Yes," cried the Hindoo. *' The Spirit bums within me." *' Ha it so," said Balthasar with eq\ial warmth. " The camels are ready." They gave gifts to the steward, mounted into their saddles, re- ceived directions to the Joppa Gate, and departed. At their ap- proach the great valves were unbarred, and they passed out into the 62 Ben-Hur; or, The Days of The Messiah. open country, taking the road so lately travelled by Joseph and Mary. As they came up out of Hinnam, on the plain of Rephaim, a light appeared, at first widespread and faint. Their pulses flut'