THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT
 
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 f-: 
 
 \^^"
 
 THE 
 
 SON OF A STAE 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 PRIN'TED BY 
 
 tiPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STKEET SQUARE 
 
 LOKDON
 
 THE 
 
 SON OF A STAE 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY 
 
 /V'/// ///r • '-//////r'/ 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO, 
 
 AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST m^^ STREET 
 
 1888 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 THE 
 
 SON OF A STAR 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY 
 
 BY 
 
 BENJAMIN WARD EICHARDSON 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ' Ficta voluptatis caiisd sit proxiina veris' — Hor. 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16'h STREET 
 1888 
 
 All rights reserved

 
 
 FK 
 
 v./ 
 
 1 
 
 TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 MARY J. RICHAEDSON 
 
 I DEDICATE 
 
 WITH ALL MY HEART 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 'THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 London 
 
 25 Manchester Square 
 
 Midsummer Day 1888 
 
 558154 
 
 RESERVE 
 
 B. W. R.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. AN OPENING VISION 
 
 II. VIVAT FIDELIS .... 
 
 III. MAN AND BEAST .... 
 
 IV. AVE C^SAR ! . . . . 
 V. A MIRACLE 
 
 VI. A LIVING TORCH 
 
 VII. MIRTH AND MYSTERY 
 
 VIII. LAID LOW WITH WINE 
 
 IX. INTERPOSITION .... 
 
 X. IN THE CAP OP LIBERTY . 
 
 XI. FROM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 
 
 XII. A LEGEND OP PARADISE 
 
 XIII. THE LEARNED CHILD 
 
 XIV. THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 
 XV. SCHOLARS AHEAD .... 
 
 XVI. IN HAPPY FLIGHT 
 
 I'AGK 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 34 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 84 
 
 99 
 
 130 
 
 145 
 
 171 
 
 182 
 
 192 
 
 198 
 
 245 
 
 257
 
 THE SON OF A STAE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AN OPENING VISION. 
 
 Come, my reader, come, and for a few short 
 hours dream with me. We shall not waste 
 time in a dream, since dreams, however in- 
 tense, are, usually, the fleeting passages of our 
 idle hours. For all that we may, perchance, 
 realise much that partakes of action, make 
 many new acquaintances, and learn the de- 
 tails of many curious histories, places, and 
 persons. 
 
 With such prospects in view I ask you now, 
 with book ni hand, to lay aside for the brief 
 time all ordinary cares and pleasures to dream 
 with me, and withal to trust me as I lead you 
 along from stage to stage. A novel, in order to 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
 ^
 
 2 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 bear the truth of its name, must be novel, and 
 I promise tliat this shall open up a vision of 
 history new to a large majority and yet resting 
 on old realities, strangest of strange in the 
 past life of iininortal races. Yes, a history ! 
 but dillering from common history just as, a 
 dream, founded on the reading of a real page 
 of modern matter of fact, might leave the in- 
 delinite thought ' Did I dream it or hear it ? ' 
 
 FROM A BATTLEMENT. 
 
 A mighty encampment in Western Britain 
 stands near the spot where our vision is first 
 revealed. It is the temporary home of armed 
 legions, who bend to the will of one man as 
 trees bend to the wind, gently, so gently they 
 are barely seen to move ; stately, so stately, as 
 if tliev were bowinuj their heads to a c^od of 
 
 JO o 
 
 war ; furiously, so furiously that lightning and 
 thunder, and hail and hurricane are combined 
 in a storm of destruction and death, clearing 
 all Ijefore them ! 
 
 On the battlement of a tower built ages 
 after these legions were no more, we see, in 
 our vision, at the first ghmpse, the lines of the
 
 AN OPENING VISION 3 
 
 encampment of these men so well laid out and 
 so faithfully preserved, that all its parts are 
 easily filled up as the mind permits itself to 
 indulge in the effort. 
 
 The encampment is a square of eight 
 hundred yards on each side : a square with 
 earthworks for its ramparts, about fifteen feet 
 high on the inner side, and sloping so easily 
 that a man could run from the level to the 
 top at a breath. The ramparts are pierced 
 by four openings or portals, one commanding 
 each quarter of the heavens. The openings 
 are simply cut out of the earth ; there is neither 
 brick nor stone connected with them. Each 
 is closed, when required to be closed, by a 
 gate of massive wood, supported on huge 
 columns of wood or piles backed up by earth 
 and spanned over by a strong narrow bridge 
 also of wood, along which a solitary sentinel 
 silently paces, resting at intervals on his 
 spear, as if the spear with its shining point 
 aloft were a staff, held or fixed in its place 
 like a standard. As he rests he takes a 
 survey of the outer scene that lies beneath 
 him in tiers of external earthworks cut like 
 giant's steps one below another, and ending 
 
 B 2
 
 4 TEE SON OF A STAR 
 
 at last in a deep incline which, in a descent 
 of five hundred feet, terminates gently in the 
 rugged plain from which the fortress takes its 
 rise. 
 
 Beneath the sentinels on the bridges span- 
 ninjz the gates we see other sentinels on the 
 terraces wliich surround the encampment. 
 These form a watchful circuit, every man true 
 to his beat as the path of a sun. As they 
 meet each other on relieving guard they 
 exchange a password which our ear, preter- 
 naturally acute, is permitted to catch. The 
 password is ' Fidelis ' of ' Csesarea.' 
 
 At this moment, for some reason, the en- 
 campment is almost void of men. Men on 
 sentinel duty are there, but few other. Along 
 the main streets of the camp the sentinels, one 
 on each side, pass and repass in their measured 
 beats. Alonii' the cross streets others do the 
 same, all of them on foot, but round the prse- 
 torium and chief officers' quarters, and, every- 
 where in the officers' part of the camp, the 
 sentries are mounted on horses noble as them- 
 selves. On the top of the ramparts, all round, 
 soldiers of a superior order hold the watch. 
 These are men of rather advanced years. They
 
 AN OPENING VISION 5 
 
 have served their time, but have chosen to stay 
 on, and they bear in their hands the javehn. 
 They are the glory of the army ; they fill every 
 post of solemn trust. They follow the com- 
 mander of the camp whoever he may be, and 
 on occasions of great ceremony surround him. 
 They wear as their armour a headpiece of 
 bright, almost white, metal, a shield of the 
 same metal on their left arm, and a plate of 
 it on their breast. 
 
 Intent as these various grades of guar- 
 dians of the camp are on their duty, they are 
 quick to listen, quick to hear ; and, as we 
 detect, they often pause to catch any sound 
 that may proceed from the south-western side 
 of their encampment, beyond a little wood 
 of pine-trees which skirts that spot and 
 descends over the lower ramparts into the 
 plain. 
 
 Our tower of observation, from which we 
 get our look into the encampment, is itself built 
 on a rising ground to the west of the camp. 
 Once on its site stood a temple, dedicated 
 to Apollo, traces of which yet remain beneath 
 the present foundations, and even before then 
 it had been a ruder temple of some previous
 
 6 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 deity. Lost to both these, its first gods, it 
 was next transformed into a minster where 
 saintly devotees sang the early and the late 
 celebrations with tlie rising of the morn and 
 the closing of the night. And now for three 
 centuries it has been a simple parish church 
 standing alone in its glory, dear to its children 
 who worship in it the God of their fathers 
 and bury their dead under its shadows ; dear, 
 very dear to the archasologist, as belonging to 
 four great epochs of human faith, worship, 
 architecture, and race. 
 
 From the eastern wall of the battlement 
 of this holy place we have looked, in our 
 vision, into the encampment lying so grandly 
 before us, and now we will move across to the 
 western wall to discover what is giving rise 
 below to the clamours to which the sentries 
 listen as they tread their rounds. But as we 
 pass from the eastern wall of the tower to the 
 western, we catch sight in the distance, on the 
 northern side, beyond a stretch of beautiful 
 country, of a steep white road dividing a long 
 and dense w^ood. This were a picture in itself 
 even if it were one of still life, still as death. 
 It is not still, for as we take the scene into
 
 AN OrENINO VISION 7 
 
 our mind we take also the fact that descend- 
 ing that hard white road there is a cavalcade 
 in splendid marching order. As a bird would 
 fly the cavalcade seems almost close upon us, 
 although it is really some six or seven miles 
 distant ; for the road descends and after- 
 wards winds amongst the trees of the valley 
 below. 
 
 We discern that the members of the caval- 
 cade are a mixture of horse and foot soldiers, 
 the footmen in the centre marching nearly in 
 a square, the horsemen before and behind in 
 a longer and narrower line. The square of 
 footmen appears to enclose some great trea- 
 sure, as if it were moving with a citadel 
 within it ; but every part passes down the 
 incline with an order and steadiness which is 
 almost painful in its rigid regularity. T]ie 
 metal caps of the soldiers, their breastplates 
 and the heads of their spears are dazzhng from 
 the brilliancy with which they reflect the rays 
 of the sun ; and so, like a train of silver, they 
 descend into the depth that conceals them 
 from our sight. 
 
 This diversion of our senses over, we turn 
 now to take in the new view we were seekina-.
 
 S THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 and nearly at our feet discover a gigantic 
 aiiipliitheatre crowded with spectators and 
 marvellous to behold. 
 
 The amphitheatre is an enclosed space 
 without ramparts, but laid out in some manner 
 like the interior of the encampment. It is 
 obloncr in form, in which it differs from the 
 (!amp, and on the low walls of it within are 
 cut out tiers of seats raised one above 
 another and grass covered. In the centre, on 
 the long side nearest to the camp, is a platform 
 or da'is rounded in front so as to face the theatre 
 and retreating backwards into a roadway 
 which extends westward until it leads into the 
 western gate of the encampment. The dais is 
 large enough to seat a hundred persons, and 
 from the back of it rises the standard of the 
 Eoman eagle. Upon it are placed the seats of 
 honour for the commander of the forces and 
 his attendant officers. On the opposite side, 
 and precisely facing the dais, is another wide 
 opening, a grand gateway through which, pro- 
 bably, they who may be about to take part 
 in the performances, contests, or speeches, may 
 make their entrances and exits. Beyond that 
 open gateway is the country, bounded in front
 
 AN OPENING VISION 9 
 
 hj a low range of hills and farther back by 
 mountams richly blue in colour and ending 
 in one lofty peak which seems to crown the 
 whole and shut off further view. 
 
 The place which lies immediately beneath 
 us is the grand circus of the Eoman Legions of 
 Britain. A circus which every Eoman soldier 
 has heard of, and which many thousands liave 
 seen. A circus second only to that which Julius 
 Caesar built on Eoman soil itself. It is half 
 a mile in circumference, and will seat many 
 thousand spectators. 
 
 In detail the circus of Britain resembles and 
 yet differs from that of Eome. In it there is a 
 path round which horses ridden by men as well 
 as horses attached to chariots can race. In 
 it the racers, combatants, or performers enter 
 from the chief gateway opposite the dais, 
 and, marching across the arena by a path 
 laid out for them, proceed to a smaller arena 
 or ring immediately in front of the dais, in 
 which they carry out their minor combats or 
 games under the immediate eye of the presid- 
 ing genius of the fete ; or from which they 
 file out into the large arena, when horsemen, 
 swordsmen, runners or wrestlers are to
 
 10 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 exhibit tlieir mimic war or savao;e skill on a 
 grander scale. 
 
 The balconies of the circus are filled with 
 spectators, a mighty concourse of mixed 
 peoples wild with excitement if sounds may 
 be accepted as evidence of expectation. 
 
 Some great event is surely about to take 
 place, for observe the standards of the eagle 
 are beinir raised above the balconies at fixed 
 points ; the centurions are placing their men 
 near each standard ; and the trumpets are 
 giving forth a deafening voice. 
 
 Let us descend from our distant height 
 and find a place somewhere on the balconies. 
 Take care ! that small ladder leading from the 
 door of the battlement to the beam below 
 which carries the bells is not too firm ; the 
 beam is not too broad, and the next ladder 
 leading down to the belfry might be stronger 
 and steadier. It is well not to look down but 
 to keep the eyes turned towards the inside of 
 the tapering spire. All right, we are in the 
 belfry and the steps to the chancel are wind- 
 mg steps of stone, much worn but solid as 
 rocks. Never mind the darkness, it will last
 
 AN OPENING VISION ll 
 
 but a moment ! We have reached the hght, 
 and are through the low archway into the 
 open air ! 
 
 IN THE CONCOURSE. 
 
 Come with me ! Nothing save a field, 
 which we will quickly cross, lies between us 
 and the amphitheatre. Let us glide across, 
 skirting the path leading from the camp 
 to the dais, but bearing a little to the right 
 that we may find a place in the balcony on 
 the left of the seats of honour. The magnates 
 from the camp have preceded us, and are 
 in their places by the time we have gained 
 our position, which fortunately commands a 
 splendid view of the whole scene and specially 
 of the General, who is seated like an Emperor 
 in the chair of state, and who is for the 
 moment the Emperor of western Eoman 
 Britain. 
 
 We can now look round at leisure. We are 
 privileged ! To the whole assembly before us 
 we are unseen spirits, though they are not such 
 to us. We dream, and they are the world in 
 which, during the time of our vision, we ar<& 
 cast.
 
 12 TUE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS! 
 
 By our side, as we survey the wonderful scene, 
 are two men of quality whose conversation, as 
 we are forced to hear it, tells us that they are 
 newly arrived from Rome. Everything is as 
 new to them as it is to us, if we may judge by 
 their words. They are commenting on the 
 differences of the Circus Britannicus and the 
 Circus IMaximus of Caesar. 
 
 ' Why is the spina,' meaning the low wall 
 which ran nearly the whole length of the 
 Roman circus, ' why, my Fabius, is the spina 
 left out in this place ? ' 
 
 ' Nay, I know not,' answers the companion 
 of the questioner, ' nor why there is no 
 meta,' referring to the raised pillar at each 
 end of the spina which indicates the starting 
 and fmishing points of the Roman course. 
 
 They are interrupted at this moment by
 
 VI VAT FIDELIS ! 13 
 
 a new arrival, who hastily climbs the balcony 
 from the arena to greet them as strangers in 
 Britain but as old comrades in Rome. 
 
 ' By the gods it is Tinnius Eufus,' they 
 both exclaim ere they proceed to salute their 
 friend in the usual way with the kiss. 
 
 The person in question carries in his face 
 the height of good humour. He is of ruddy 
 complexion, and his beard and hair partake 
 of the same bright glow. He is rather stout 
 for his years, and his cheeks are roundly fat 
 and full as well as ruddy. After the saluta- 
 tions they ask him the questions they have 
 asked themselves. 
 
 ' You wish to know, my Fabius, you wish 
 to know, my Yibullius,whythis circus, finished 
 by the hands of these legions here is not in the 
 Eoman style. I will tell you. We found it, as 
 we found the camp, ready for use. In ages 
 to come the people will give us the credit of 
 building hundreds of Eoman camps and cir- 
 cuses in Britain, whereas we seized them all, 
 planned and made by these island savages. 
 This camp and amphitheatre we found in the 
 best condition after we had wrested them from 
 the people for whom, wishing to pacify them
 
 14 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 a^ much as possible, we have let the circus 
 remaiu with the fewest possible changes. Here 
 tlie natives still run their horses and chariots 
 and men, in contests round the broad course. 
 There, in the centre, where the earth rises 
 they once filled wicker cages with their victims 
 taken in war, and in honour of a sort of 
 Apollo of their own burnt the wretches alive. 
 In the fore, in front of our old schoolmate 
 Julius Severus, who, as you see, has risen to 
 the highest post here, is their lesser arena 
 surrounded by a pit, in which they make their 
 very cocks, armed on the claws with metal 
 spurs, fight till, like other fools of heroes, they 
 die immortal. Oh ! by Mars, these ancient men 
 of Britain knew how to play as well as fight. 
 If in the days of Cassar they had had Severus 
 there to lead them, it is more likely they 
 would have taken Eome than we their island.' 
 ' Happy for us some good things have 
 crept in,' responded Fabius. ' The calx (the 
 chalk line) is there in order ; the General 
 sits in the tribune ; the podium holds the 
 officers ; the noble horsemen have their proper 
 places in the rear ; the masters of the cere- 
 monies are at their posts ; and the Mappa (the
 
 VrVAT FIDELIS ! 15 
 
 officer who throws down the white signal to 
 start each contest) is all alive. But where are 
 the judges? ' 
 
 ' Severus himself is sole judge in Britain.' 
 
 'It is just,' replied Fabius, with the slight 
 reverence which the cultured Eoman offers 
 whenever the Emperor or his representative 
 is named. ' It is just, but I like not the 
 presence of those half- clad viragos in the 
 popularia ' (the seats where the public find 
 places). ' In Rome the women of position alone 
 are permitted in the presence of the Emperor, 
 and they near to or around his person, or by 
 the side of the senate.' 
 
 ' You do not understand these native 
 women, my Eoman child,' responds the red 
 beard, ' or you would speak of them in dif- 
 ferent terms. They are not women, they are 
 demons. When Claudius made his way into 
 the east of the island, a woman who led the 
 people against him fought like a hundred 
 demons, and still her name is known and wor- 
 shipped far and wide. Ten women out of 
 twenty are named after her. My own Boadicea 
 bears her name, and our daughter the same.' 
 
 ' Eheu ! ' falters out VibuUius. ' Eheu ! our
 
 16 • THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Tinnius lias married a demon wlio lieaps fire on 
 his head. No wonder he should look so fierce.' 
 Here tlie conversation of the friends is 
 stopped by the ring of the clarions, the rising 
 of the vast multitude from their seats, and a 
 general cry of the Eoman people present : — 
 * The gods ! the gods ! the gods ! ' 
 At the cry Severus himself rises reverently 
 from his throne, and now, for the first time, 
 we distinctly perceive two separate and hostile 
 races in occupation of the Circus Britannicus. 
 It may be that the difierence of dress and 
 of costume distinguishes the races, for every 
 Eoman carries some sign of the conquering 
 Eoman soldier, while every native carries some 
 sign of the subdued savage ; it may be that the 
 difference of build of body distinguishes them, 
 for the Eoman, close-built, sturdy-limbed, 
 broad-faced, and round-headed, contrasts 
 strongly with the tall, hthe, long-limbed body, 
 and high, pointed, long head of the Briton, 
 But the grand distinction is in the expression 
 of the face of the two orders who make up the 
 multitude, a distinction terribly declared when 
 the clarions ring the order for the procession 
 of the gods.
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS! 17 
 
 In one sense the procession is of living 
 interest to both sets of spectators, for it 
 heralds some great sights or contests which 
 they are to behold, and which will stir their 
 blood up to fever point. But to the Eoman 
 the procession is a solemn religious rite, whilst 
 to the Briton it is a solemn mockery forced 
 on him until it pierces him to the soul. The 
 difference is as Hght to darkness. 
 
 The Briton has for ages worshipped the 
 sun, the moon, and the stars ; his great god is 
 one god who from earliest times has given 
 himself to mankind as fire : who shows him- 
 self as the sun, and who is succeeded, when he 
 withdraws his glorious face of gold, either by 
 his child of silver the moon, or by night, the 
 black demon of darkness and symbol of eter- 
 nal death. To him, therefore, the worship of 
 these sticks and stones, called gods, carried in 
 their dumb and silly guises in chariots or on 
 the shoulders of men, to which dumb things 
 men bend their heads or prostrate their 
 bodies, is idle show and play. The expression 
 of the people tells their story of behef. The 
 Eoman reverently worships. The Briton^ 
 forced by the sword, performs the worsliip 
 VOL. I. c
 
 18 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 with an expression of hate, disgust, contempt, 
 revenge, which no sword, however keen, can 
 touch. 
 
 The faces of the subdued but not conquered 
 people tell the everlasting story, that the 
 mind of man is never, never vanquished. The 
 faces declare as distinctly as the tongues could 
 have told that the rulers of Britain with 
 all their might have still a deadly enemy on 
 their hands, an enemy they have for a moment 
 coerced but have not finally suppressed : an 
 enemy that will die but will never remain 
 enslaved. 
 
 ' The accursed gods,' murmurs a native 
 chief to his wife, in their native tongue. 
 
 ' Accursed ! ' hisses the woman between her 
 teeth, like the sound of a serpent ; ' I would 
 we could burn them with their followers in 
 the cages w^iich once stood where the beasts 
 now fight.' 
 
 ' Silence ! ' calls out a Roman centurion, 
 as with his vitis or rod of the vine, which a 
 centurion always carries, he inflicts a deep 
 mark first across the bare shoulders of the 
 man and then of the woman ; ' silence ! and 
 pay homage to the immortal gods ! '
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS! 19 
 
 A groan, a curse, and a stiff-necked bend 
 of the head as the images pass are the answers 
 to this demonstrative command. 
 
 A suppressed cry from an almost adjoining 
 seat calls attention to two figures so different 
 to all the rest of the vast assembly and wit- 
 nesses of the passing drama that they must 
 surely belong to another and an unknown 
 land. 
 
 A man and a child. 
 
 But for the intense anxiety to see what 
 is to be exhibited in the arena, these two 
 strangers would of themselves be centres of 
 greatest attraction and wonder. They are 
 neither Eoman, British, Cymric, Gallic, nor 
 Jewish ; but wanderers who might have 
 alio:hted from the skies. 
 
 The man is tall of stature, his counte- 
 nance gentle as it is wise, his hair dark, his 
 eyes blue. He is dressed in a garb itself 
 sufficiently picturesque and novel to arrest the 
 attention of the crowd near to him. Around 
 his body is a closely fitting jacket or jerkin, 
 with lappets artistically cut at the breast and 
 throat so as to show a fold or roll which 
 loosely encircles his neck. His lower limbs 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE SON OF A STAU 
 
 are enclosed in loose trousers wliicli reach just 
 below the knee and are gathered up with a 
 silken girdle. The legs are clothed in long 
 socks which extend to the knees, and are held 
 in place beneath the trousers by the girdle 
 of silk. The feet are hidden in shoes made 
 of leather or hide, laced in front with golden 
 cords and soled with some solid substance re- 
 sembling the bark of a tree, the point of the 
 shoe long and sharp. The jacket or body 
 dress is supplemented by a mantle of emerald 
 green, whicli, flowing over the under garments 
 of almost yellow tint, gives a richness and 
 chasteness of colour that is itself a picture. 
 Finally, a head-dress consisting of a loose cap 
 made of a substance like dark velvet, but of 
 coarser texture, completes a costume as sin- 
 gular as it is convenient and graceful. 
 
 The companion of this strange being, ob- 
 viously, both from look and from manner, his 
 daugliter, is, perhaps, more remarkable than 
 himself. She may be sixteen years of age, 
 but she retains all the innocence and beauty 
 of the child. Eer eye?, like those of her 
 parent, are blue ; her hair is a rich auburn, 
 falling in precious curls wliich, wafted from
 
 YIVAT FIDELIS ! 21 
 
 her brow over her shoulders, frame a face of 
 pale and saintly beauty. She is clothed in 
 one long dress of hght yellow colour, gathered 
 in at the waist by a girdle of deeper colour, 
 and reaching to her feet which are clad in 
 sandals. Over her robe she, like her father, 
 wears a light mantle, also of emerald green. 
 
 As the sound of the first stripe of the 
 centurion catches her ear, she turns to learn 
 the cause, and seeing the cruel vitis descend 
 over the bare shoulders of one of her own 
 sex, her gentle heart gives way, and, with the 
 faint cry already noticed, she nestles closer 
 to the side of her protector, and in a tongue 
 peculiar to themselves implores, ' Father of 
 love, let us go hence ! let us go hence ! ' 
 
 ' In good time, joy of my soul, but for the 
 moment we must keep still or they may strike 
 us also.' 
 
 The idea seems so awful to the angelic 
 child that she entwines her arm in his and 
 buries her head in the folds of his mantle. 
 But soon she summons up courage, and rely- 
 ing on that firm arm for support utters not 
 another word. 
 
 Whilst yet the red marks glow on the backs
 
 22 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 of the ofTending natives, and whilst the stern 
 soldier looks on with contemptuous severity, 
 a new scene begijis in wliich Briton and Eoman 
 alike take eager part. 
 
 The trumpets ring out sharp and shrill, 
 the clarions bray, the cymbals clash from one 
 end to the other of the immense concourse. 
 In time the human voices take up the strain. 
 The voices shout in chorus to the trumpets, 
 in shrieks to the clarions, in laughter to the 
 cymbals. 
 
 An officer in authority by the side of Julius 
 Severn s, the central figure of the scene, waves 
 aloft a white emblem, the starting-flag ; the 
 musical instruments and voices cease their 
 clamour, and through the ranks, everywhere, 
 the lips of a hundred centurions ring out the 
 words : 
 
 ' Sit down ! Sit down ! ' 
 Severus himself, who has been standing 
 and eagerly viewing the multitude before him, 
 is the first to obey. He resumes with severe 
 dignity his vice-imperial throne. 
 
 And now all the throng is silent as the 
 grave. So solid is every figure, every stan- 
 dard, every spear, it is as if the circus , had
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS ! 23 
 
 been stricken into a vast petrified sepulchre 
 of men, women, and arms. 
 
 A moment of repose and tlie officer near to 
 Severiis, 'the Mappa,' lowers the white signal 
 to indicate that something is about to be done. 
 
 Solemnly and with imposing ceremony- 
 there emerges from the gateway of the arena 
 on the extreme right of the throne a chariot, 
 hitherto concealed by a magnificent awning 
 or tent, extending far along the road to the 
 camp from the gateway. The chariot is of 
 golden splendour, and soon to it fifty noble 
 horses are attached in twenty-five pairs, while 
 the same number, also in pairs, follow behind 
 it. By each pair of horses stands a centurion. 
 Across his breast, over his armour, a broad 
 belt carries a long sword on his left side. 
 From his girdle on his right side is suspended 
 a short sword or dagger two spans long. His 
 body armour reaches to his knees, leaving 
 exposed below the powerful limbs and strongly 
 sandalled feet. His left hand rests on the 
 handle of the long sword ; his right grasps 
 the vitis, or rod, which is peculiar to the rank 
 pf a centurion.
 
 *24 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 A soldier more thoroughly ready for victory 
 or death it were indeed hard to find. 
 
 The rapidity with which these active men 
 take their places on the left of the pairs of 
 horses they have to govern is in itself a marvel 
 of mechanical life. The horses and men are 
 ready to move at a word. 
 
 Men and horses form three long lines, each 
 straight as an arrow. 
 
 Severus nods approval, and ' when Sevenis 
 approves all men may be satisfied.' So runs 
 the saying from lip to lip, respecting the 
 man who takes his name from his nature, 
 Julius the Severe. 
 
 Not a bridle, not a halter, is fitted to the 
 finely trained horses which draw or follow the 
 chariot ; a light leathern collar chastened with 
 silver encircles their stately necks, and on 
 each side from it a silver cord acting as a 
 trace connects one horse to the other and 
 the leaders to the chariot ; the vitis and the 
 voice of each master are alone sufl^cient to 
 lead these brave and intelligent animals any- 
 where, to sport, to fight, to triumph, to death. 
 
 The eyes of the horses follow those of their 
 masters, who, bare-headed, move on in one
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS! 25 
 
 living and unbroken form, one mechanism, 
 one movement, one mind. 
 
 The savage Briton, still writhing under his 
 punishment, cannot withhold his admiration. 
 
 ' Oh Throth the everlasting,' he mutters 
 to himself, 'why lettest thou these brazen 
 heads learn to control, by magic, the noblest 
 servant thou hast created for those who serve 
 thee ? ' 
 
 The chariot so magnificently horsed and 
 tended is strangely occupied. 
 
 It is a chariot of the true Eoman style, 
 but somewhat larger than those in common 
 use. It is borne on two low wheels, is 
 entered from behind, and is rounded in front 
 in order to afford convenient space for the 
 driver. 
 
 But this time no driver is needed, and 
 none is there. 
 
 In the centre of the floor of the chariot, 
 upright as a dart, immovable, his left hand 
 resting on his sword-handle, his right hand 
 holding the vitis, stands another centurion, in 
 each and every respect like one of the leaders 
 of the horses, except that he is more majestic
 
 26 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 than any of them, that his head is bare, and 
 that from his left shoulder a sagum, or mili- 
 tary cloak, falls gracefully on his left side. 
 
 To him this day is the event of his life ; 
 for to his especial honour this festival of gods 
 and men is devoted. 
 
 And, posed like a pillar of the State, he 
 claims the honour naturally, as an honour 
 rightfully and worthily won. 
 
 He is not, however, alone in his splendour. 
 At his feet, her back resting against the fore 
 part of the chariot, in the graceful curve of 
 it, there sits a female figure. Is she a child, 
 a girl, a woman? 
 
 Let it be assumed that she is a woman, but 
 very young. 
 
 Her rich black hair is trimmed into the 
 shape of a helmet. It is a crest overhanging 
 a brow beneath which the eyes of an eastern 
 face, eyes of darkened fire, sparkle hke gems in 
 a cave. She is clothed in the stola or woman's 
 toga, difiering from the Eoman male toga in 
 that its edfjes are fringed. The stola is of the 
 purest white, the stola of the festival, hke 
 the surplice of a priest, except that a light 
 but flowing girdle somewhat tightens it to her
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS ! 27 
 
 body. Her feet are clad in white slippers, 
 which complete her attire. 
 
 In her right hand this companion of the 
 mighty centurion bears a mystical emblem 
 dedicated to Apollo. This banner she holds 
 aloft by a white wand. It is round hke the 
 sun, and on its face, on each side, bears the 
 radiant image of that luminary in rays of 
 gold on a surface of red. In its centre are 
 three letters, in the Greek character, the 
 sacred symbol, meaning that the god has an 
 existence or being, and that all the children 
 of men, and all created beings, are animated 
 by his light and his life. 
 
 As the last pair of horses are attached to 
 the chariot, and as the cortege begins to move 
 in procession round the course, the deeply 
 suppressed silence bursts forth into tumult. 
 Three times round the course the cortege 
 slowly passes, and eacli time with increasing 
 excitement. In the stir it is hard to view 
 calmly the hero of the hour or his companion, 
 but by patient waiting they are revealed. 
 
 He is a soldier of soldiers. He stands hke 
 a rock in a rajyinc^ sea of life, unmoved and 
 unmoveable, and his manner is followed by his
 
 28 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 companion with equal serenity. The cold 
 piercing glance of Severus touches neither of 
 them, nor the scream of the virago, nor the 
 gestures of the three Roman friends who discuss 
 the sight. 
 
 ' He bears himself,' observes Vibullius, ' as 
 if he were going into battle.' 
 
 'Nay,' suggests the classical Fabius, 'he 
 goes as if he were about to meet the Council 
 of Minds in the Heavens of the illustrious 
 dead.' 
 
 ' Or,' put in the much married Tinnius, 
 ' as if he were about to face his wife.' 
 
 If these were tests of merit, and if he con- 
 cerning whom they were spoken were bent on 
 proving them as such, he did indeed win all 
 the praise he earned. 
 
 ' A fig for the Council of Minds and the 
 native Tinua of Tinnius ; a fig for the man in 
 the chariot and all his fame; the woman, the 
 woman for me ! ' ejaculated Vibullius. 'She is 
 worth twenty of the man, she is a centurion 
 of a woman and one in a thousand. But 
 who, my hen-pecked, rubicund Tinnius, who, 
 by Venus and the mother of the gods, is she ? ' 
 
 The excited Tinnius is too intent at the.
 
 VIVAT FIDELIS! 29 
 
 moment to answer this eager and natural 
 question, and before it can be repeated a new 
 event has occurred which seizes the attention 
 of all who are near at hand and, in some 
 degree, of the spectators generally, including 
 the keen-eyed Severn s. 
 
 As the chariot passes for the third time 
 the place where the stranger man and his 
 child are seated the bearer of the sacred em- 
 blem in the chariot turns, by accident, her face 
 towards them. 
 
 It is the merest accident, the merest 
 glance, a glance on strangers of strangers to 
 her! 
 
 What is there in a glance ? We bring a 
 loadstone near to a particle of steel, a sus- 
 pended needle : the point of the needle may 
 fly to the magnet ; ah no ! it flies from it. 
 Why ? 
 
 The puzzle is but partially solved, so is the 
 puzzle of a glance. The glance may be love ; 
 ah, no ! it may be hate. It may be trust, 
 or courage ; ah no ! it may be distrust or 
 awe ; it may be surprise or wonder. 
 
 In this case, as the dark eyes of the woman 
 in the chariot receive, through the distance,
 
 30 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 the glances from the blue eyes of those strangers 
 they excite in her a double impression. 
 
 The eyes of the angelic child excite wonder, 
 intense and startling ! While the eyes of the 
 protector of the child excite awe ; for the 
 first time in all her life, awe ; awe, sudden 
 and incomprehensible. 
 
 The emblem of Apollo falls on the knees of 
 its bearer. 
 
 ' Apollo goes down in the noontide of his 
 glory,' observes Fabius, ' 'tis a bad omen.' 
 
 And, such is the influence of the omen on 
 the minds of the Eoman people, that there is 
 not a Roman there, from the camp servant 
 to the vice- imperial Severus, who does not 
 feel the vibration, with one exception. 
 
 The exception is the centurion of the ch ariot. 
 He, with his eyes fixed in space, heeds not, 
 and, gathering resolution from his iron will, 
 the bearer of the emblem, raising her hand to 
 put back a wandering lock of hair which has 
 fallen over her brow, lifts up the banner again, 
 in graceful movement, as if the whole had been 
 a mere natural act on her part, an act intended 
 and harmonious with her duty. 
 
 The skilful diversion is rewarded with a
 
 VIYAT FIDELIS ! 31 
 
 new burst of applause, which, coming after a 
 pause of silence, is a proof of success. Eome 
 is itself again ! And now once more the 
 inquisitive Vibullius returns to his speculation. 
 Who is this woman of women, and who is this 
 man of men ? Who are they both that they 
 should excite so much admiration ? They are 
 not patricians he knows, why then are they 
 so honoured ? 
 
 There is vanity, as usual, in the thought 
 which fills Vibullius. ' Here am I,' it says 
 silently, ' I Vibullius, one of the most ancient 
 of the great families of Eome, before whom 
 that Julius Severus is a mere mushroom, and 
 the Emperor himself but a plant of a single 
 season at the best. Here am I, unknown 
 and unhonoured, while these two plebs of 
 plebs, and one of them an eastern mockery, 
 a slave it may be, or a creature of Severus, 
 are treated like gods ! I must know who and 
 what they are.' 
 
 His curiosity has not long to wait, for ere 
 he can return to the task of questioning the 
 Eed-beard, the chariot stops before the seat of 
 Severus ; the twenty-five pairs of the foremost 
 horses are detached from it and are moved
 
 32 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 forward on the course, to stand at some little 
 distance from the cliariot ; and, the slirill blast 
 of the trumpet from the back of the dais is 
 calling the lookers-on once more to silence. 
 
 Complete order restored, Severus descends 
 from his throne, and stepping forward to the 
 edge of the dais close to which the chariot 
 is drawn, rests his right foot on the edge of 
 the chariot and places, amidst a storm of 
 trumpets, clarions, cymbals, and voices, a 
 chaplet of laurel on the head of the centurion. 
 
 In a moment all is still, as Severus returns 
 to his seat. 
 
 At the sign of the commander, the Public 
 Orator, the renowned Saserna, whose voice 
 could shake the camp, stands forth. In his 
 left hand he bears a scroll, in his right hand a 
 spear held firmly like a stafi'. 
 
 What he has to declare is again heralded 
 by the voice of the trumpet, from which he 
 seems, by some clever art, to attune his own 
 voice as musicians set their lutes to a tuninsr- 
 fork, so that the note of the trumpet and the 
 voice of Saserna hold on the sound into 
 articulate words which all can hear. And so.
 
 VJVAT FIDELIS ! 33 
 
 in the language first of Eome and then of 
 Britain, he dehvers his message : — 
 
 ' The army, Eome, and tlie Empero]-, 
 through Juhus Severus, Governor of Sikiria 
 in Britain, confer a crown of honour on 
 Fidehs of Cgesarea, a centurion, who after 
 eight decades of noble service, devoted to 
 the Gods, to Eome, to Csesar, and to Glory, 
 reaches his hundredth year of Life.' 
 
 ' Vivat Fidelis ! ' 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 34 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MAN AND BEAST. 
 
 ' ViVAT FiDELis ! Vivat Fidelis ! ' riiif^s a«?ain 
 and again, and still the centurion of a hundred 
 years is unmoved in his place. But enthu- 
 siasm, Hke all else that is human, must die, 
 and in time this great demonstration passes 
 into silence. The horses before and behind the 
 triumphal chariot are separated in pairs and 
 led away, until one pair alone remains to draw 
 the chariot and those that are in it towards 
 the vestibule from which it first emerged into 
 the public view. 
 
 As the last sign of the centurion disap- 
 pears Severus and those around him retire 
 for an interval into a tent at the back of the 
 dais over which the Roman standard proudly 
 floats. 
 
 And now, waiting for the next event, the 
 great assembly reposes.
 
 MAN AND BEAST 35 
 
 Meantime the armed attendants clear the 
 arena, and prepare for some momentous and 
 thrilhng spectacle. 
 
 The faces of the masses begin to resume 
 their respective characteristics : the Eoman 
 faces are eager ; the Britannic are savage ; 
 the Jewish — for there is a fair sprinkling of 
 Jewish blood in the audience — solemn and sad. 
 
 Severus is again in his place, the signal 
 is given and the procession of the gods once 
 more makes its round. 
 
 * What next have they in store for us ? ' 
 the comrades of Tinnius Eufus ask eagerly and 
 with one voice. 
 
 ' A battle, a battle ! A battle between 
 wolves, a bear and a boy !' 
 
 * Say rather between wolves, a fiend of 
 darkness, and an angel of hght,' sighs one who 
 sits near, and hears the question and answer 
 it has evoked. 
 
 The speaker speaks in the Eoman tongue 
 but with a foreign accent ; and, though his 
 words are clearly understood, they come forth 
 with so much emotion they almost choke hmi 
 on their way. 
 
 ' Judaicus, a Jew,' whispers Tinnius. ' It 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 is one of his tribe that is about to compete in 
 the arena.' 
 
 ' A Jew in Britain ! ' ejaculates VibuUius in 
 an undertone. ' Turn wherever we may and 
 these dogs are to be found. Jews in Britain, 
 indeed I ' 
 
 ' I tell you,' continues Tinnius, leading his 
 friends a little higher up the balconies, ' there 
 are thousands of them, and here they flock 
 most ; for, after the taking of their holy city, 
 (luring the reign of Vespasian, they wan- 
 dered everywhere, and in tliese Silurian 
 mountains and caves met with a native race 
 which took to tliem so kindly that they have 
 become quite numerous here, and, from the 
 coasts about, have opened trade with the 
 riiocnicians of Tyre and Sidon. It is the policy 
 of Severus, generally, to be at peace with tlie 
 creatures, for they roll in money, and, too ob- 
 stinate for deep friendship, are hard to please.' 
 
 ' And who is this one of their race who is 
 going to give us a treat of his metal ? ' asks 
 Fabius. ' Can they hght as well as they can 
 barter ? ' 
 
 ' You shall see. This is one of tliem : a 
 youth whom Fidelis the centurion brought
 
 «) — 
 
 MAX AND BEAST 6 I 
 
 with him from Ciesarea, a slave whom he had 
 freed some think, but not all ! ' 
 
 ' I dare say not, thou winking ferret,' breaks 
 in Vibullius ; ' but why should he be called 
 into the arena if he be, as thou suggestest, 
 the centurion's flesh and blood ? What hath 
 he done that he should make sport for wolves 
 and savages ? ' 
 
 ' He hath passions during which his tongue 
 hath declared his hatred of Rome. He hath 
 refused to ofler incense to Cassar, or even to 
 lay incense on the altar of Ceres when her. 
 richest harvest in Britain, in the memory of 
 man, called for her festival.' 
 
 ' But there he comes. Judge for your- 
 selves ! ' 
 
 ' He comes as anything but a slave. By 
 Apollo, he comes like a rising sun ! ' exclaims 
 Fabius, as the youth of whom they speak is 
 led before the august presence of the vice- 
 Emperor. 
 
 ' A rebelhous Syrian,' murmurs the Eed 
 Beard.' I would I could wring his stiff neck 
 as I liked !' 
 
 ' A noble child, who fears no hand of man 
 and obeys none but the Holy One of Israel,'
 
 38 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 communes the Jewish sympatliiscr who spoke 
 a short time before. ' May the God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be with him, as 
 he promised to our forefathers Abraham and 
 his seed for ever. Amen.' 
 
 The prayer of this Israehte — ' Aaron of the 
 Altar ' by name amongst his own, ' Porcus ' 
 a pig, amongst the Eoman people — is echoed 
 silently by many of his race who in various 
 disguises are present. 
 
 He, Aaron, being a freedman, has no oc- 
 casion for disguise ; he is reputed to be so rich 
 that Severus himself is oftentimes his debtor. 
 But even he has to be careful of his words 
 and acts for the sake of his people, whom it is 
 his destiny to govern in silent government. He 
 is their father ; he reads to them in secret 
 the sacred law ; he proves and confirms them 
 in their faith ; he settles tlieir differences ; he 
 marries their young people according to an- 
 cient rite ; he keeps before them the name 
 and word and promise of the Mighty One of 
 Israel, and teaches them, in that holy name, 
 to believe that though they walk through the 
 valley of the shadow of death, he, the Mighty 
 One, is with them ; that his rod and staff shall
 
 M^N AND BEAST 39 
 
 guide them ; that his kingdom is at hand; and 
 that the Roman power shall have no permanent 
 hold on the children of Zion. 
 
 And still, wise as the serpent, gentle as 
 the dove, he advises them to pay homage unto 
 Ca3sar, and even lay incense on the pagan altars, 
 lest for their unnecessary obstinacy, they perish 
 by fire, cross, or sword. 
 
 He is indeed wise, and his people know 
 him as if he were the chief of chief Rabbis in 
 this foreign, distant, isolated land. 
 
 He pronounces his prayer, for the youth 
 before the dai's, with his eyes bent to the earth ; 
 but the sound of the first clarion makes him 
 raise them and cast them on the type of his 
 race, who so proudly and defiantly stands 
 forth for fate. 
 
 ' Oh, brave but foolish child !' he mentally 
 laments, ' oh, bold but reckless Simeon of my 
 people ! Why didst thou not bend in body 
 to these tyrants ? Why didst thou not take 
 heed to thy ways, and offend not with thy 
 tongue ? Why didst thou refuse counsel of 
 him whose royal blood is in thy veins ? "Be 
 not righteous overmuch, neither make thyself 
 overwise ! " Why shouldest thou destroy
 
 40 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 tliyself ? Why shouldest thou die before thy 
 time ? ' 
 
 Meanwliile, lie who is thus commented on 
 by Aaron of the Altar and a hundred men of 
 liis race, remains standing in simple majesty. 
 Brouglit out for the sport of a savage multitude, 
 his young life at stake, he of all seems most 
 exalted and commanding. Severus on high, in 
 his viceregal seat, clad in imperial robe, the 
 white toga with purple border, surrounded by 
 his six lictors bearing their fasces or rods, the 
 standard of the Roman empire overshadowing 
 him, and the sword, the spear, and saddle of 
 Roman knighthood at his feet, even he seems 
 to feel the common spell of admiration, as bend- 
 ing down to his nearest attendant he enquires : 
 ' Of what doth this contest consist ? ' 
 ' The youth, a Jew, most noble Severus, 
 who stands before you armed with the short 
 sword which he holds in his left hand, but 
 which he uses with either hand with equal 
 dexterity, is to be turned into the small arena, 
 surrounded by the deep pit, in company with 
 the Numidian bear belonf]jin"' to the cen- 
 turion Milo and six famishing wolves. The 
 bear, armed with a huge club for a weapon, is
 
 MAN AND BE. VST 41 
 
 to engage the wolves with the Jew, and, if they 
 two despatch the wolves, they are themselves 
 to fio-ht with club and sword till one is killed. 
 The victor is then to be at the disposal of the 
 people.' 
 
 ' It is a new sport,' observed Severus in a 
 tone and manner implying that this is the first 
 he has heard respecting the combat or the 
 combatants. 
 
 And still Simeon the Jew stands as a 
 model of masculine beauty and godlike life. 
 
 He is five feet nine inches in height, and 
 in body and limb of fine prcjportion. He 
 wears on his body a closely fitting leathern 
 jerkin, with a light tunic suspended from it 
 and reaching to the knees. The tunic is held 
 up by a red sash, which fits like a belt and 
 falls negligently in two loose ends or tassels 
 on his left side. His arms, excessively power- 
 ful, but almost white in colour and shaped 
 like those of a woman in respect to symmetry 
 and outline, are entirely free ; his lower Hmbs, 
 equally well formed and strong, are girt only 
 in a light sandal, the thong of which is fanci 
 fully twisted around the ankle and a short 
 distance up the leg.
 
 42 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Ilis head is uncovered, except for its rich 
 raven hair which hangs in clusters at his 
 hack down to his shoulder-blades, and is parted 
 from his forehead over the exact centre of 
 the crown of the head. His face, of striking 
 cast, with pointed chin, aquiline nose, piercing 
 dark eyes, long arched dark eyebrows meeting 
 at the centre, and a broad though retreating 
 forehead, is the perfected image of the percep- 
 tive, ready, fearless, resolute, reckless spirit 
 that animates the whole frame of the man 
 with living fire. On him, thus standing before 
 the Eoman chief, undaunted and bright of 
 countenance, the Eritisli woman, still smarting 
 from the vitis, looks with more of admiration 
 than prudence, a state suddenly checked by 
 the aspect and growl of her jealous lord, who, 
 tolerating from her no admiration that is not 
 expended on his own uncouth self, shows his 
 teeth dangerously. 
 
 The trumpet proclaims a new arrival and 
 a new step in the coming drama. 
 
 Along the grand path of the circus, towards 
 the ring facing the dais, Milo the centurion 
 leads, by a light chain, the second combatant, 
 the Numidian bear.
 
 MAN AND BEAST 43 
 
 The audience, from Severus to the lowest 
 slave, is startled with delight or with wonder. 
 Whether it be really a bear or a man disguised 
 as a bear is the puzzle. 
 
 The excitement is such that wagers begin 
 to be laid on the point. 
 
 * I wager a flagon of red wine it is a bear,' 
 exclaims the excited VibuUius. 'See thou its 
 head, its ears, its big eyes, its huge frame ? ' 
 
 ' I take the wager willingly,' returns the 
 calmer Fabius, ' and to-night we Avill drink it 
 with song and story. I stand by the feet, the 
 hands, the limbs, which, covered with bear 
 hide though they be, are human. Besides, 
 seest thou not the height of the beast ? No 
 bear standeth that height, a head or more 
 above the handsome Jew, who is of good pro- 
 portion ; his walk also is tliat of a man, and 
 mark how he holds that fearful club as if it 
 were a javehn or a spear. A bear would hug 
 the thing close to its body, not push it forth 
 at arms' length like that.' 
 
 At this moment all the mystery vanishes. 
 By a jerk of his body the NuTnidian bear 
 throws back the head-piece of the animal as if 
 it were a hood, and stands declared a man, with
 
 44 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 a liunian liead and face stained dark as the 
 hairy skin wliich clothes his body. 
 
 He is indeed a sight of terror. His own 
 hair stands erect ; his large fierce eyes roll 
 in fury from side to side ; his nostrils dilate ; 
 his red lips are curled apart, showing rows 
 of large teeth white as snow and round and 
 regular as tliose of any beast of the field ; his 
 ears, naturally large, he moves at will ; while 
 by an action of the muscle of the head and 
 forehead he possesses the power of drawing 
 down his hair until it seems to touch his eye- 
 brows and then of lifting it back until all the 
 fore part of his head looks actually bald. 
 
 To the infinite dehght of the spectators 
 before whom he stands, he <j!:oes throuo'h these 
 gestures at the command of his master, until 
 weary of the sight they crave for some new 
 pastime. 
 
 In form the creature is massive, yet well 
 sliapen ; his body is finely proportioned, his 
 limbs, as far as can be judged of them covered 
 as they are with bear-skin, are large, strong, 
 and lissom ; the nails of his fingers and toes 
 are long and claw-like. 
 
 As to costume he wears but the one gar-
 
 MAN AND BEAST 46 
 
 ment, the veritable skin of a liiicre black bear. 
 His arms are thrust through the skin in which 
 the upper limbs of the original animal played : 
 his legs are thrust through the similar parts 
 of the hinder limbs. Over the fore part of the 
 body the skin is lashed with leathern thongs. 
 As already seen, the bear's head is now thrown 
 back like a hood, while a small bushy tail at 
 the nether extremity forms a ludicrous protu- 
 berance which wags with every movement, 
 and excites the wildest laufjhter when nothin^r 
 serious intervenes to change the general 
 humour. 
 
 At another order from his master the 
 human monster exhibits his prowess with his 
 club, a weapon which reaches to the height of 
 his chin, and which, thick as his own thick arm 
 at its further end, tapers down towards its 
 handle in even and regular form. Made of a 
 hard dark wood, like sohd oak, the weight of 
 this weapon is amazing, yet the creature wields 
 it as if it were a reed. Loosened, by Milo, from 
 his chain, he steps backward a few paces further 
 from Severus, and, after kneeling on one knee 
 in reverence, rises, and by an upward jerk 
 casts the club straight into the air many feet,
 
 4G THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 like a dart, and waiting for its fall, which 
 seems to be directed, inevitably, towards the 
 top of his own head, catches it by its handle 
 as it falls before him, ere it touches the 
 ground ; then, whirling it fiercely above his 
 head, he flings it from him in a long curve, 
 full twenty yards, and rushing after it catches 
 it again before it falls. 
 
 The multitude howl with delight, and 
 when, in another new feat, the monster seizes 
 the handle of the club with both hands, spins 
 it round and round, until by the momentum 
 it carries his body with it with such rapidity 
 that he and it resemble a wheel — himself the 
 centre and the thick end of the club the 
 circumference — the fury mounts to delirium ; 
 the cymbals strike in, the clarions bray, and 
 the trumpets ring in wild and indescribable 
 confusion. 
 
 With perfect ease and with marked grace 
 he makes the revolving wheel stop, and order 
 is restored. 
 
 And now the combatants are placed face 
 to face before Severus, ten paces apart, ready 
 at a sign from the Mappa to begin the com- 
 bat which they have to face.
 
 MAN AND BEAST 47 
 
 At the sign from the Mappa, a cage of a 
 curious construction winds along the grand 
 path. It is an iron cage in which six famish- 
 ing wolves are confined. The noise from 
 them alone is sickening, and the expression of 
 their fierce despair, as they thrust their muzzles 
 and their paws through the bars of the cage, 
 is appalling to witness. 
 
 Severus himself affects not to see them ; 
 the Mappa turns away as if about to give a 
 direction to some one in the rear of him ; 
 Tinnius and his friends stop their ears, and the 
 Romans generally are not particularly pleased. 
 But the native Britons rejoice. The wolf is 
 their native natural enemy. To hunt the 
 beast, to kill him, to carry his head to the 
 chief, and to receive the reward for the same 
 is the perfection of sport. 
 
 No better game could the Roman tyrants 
 have selected for the children of Britain than 
 the killing of wolves by man. Two men to 
 six wolves ! It is beyond admiration. 
 
 The small arena or ring is two hundred 
 yards in circumference. It is surrounded by 
 a deep pit fifteen feet wide, from the edge of 
 which, and pointing to the centre, a few inches
 
 48 THE SON OF A STAE 
 
 apart, stand out a double row of pikes, forming 
 a fence of iron palisade and rendering escape 
 from the arena impossible, or as it would seem 
 impossible. And yet every one can see any 
 sport going on within the circle. 
 
 A narrow bridge of earth, just wide enougli 
 to allow for the passage of the cage, separates 
 the small arena from the dais. The two human 
 victims are to be led into the centre of this ring. 
 They are to be followed by the cage of wolves. 
 The cage is to make, slowly, the complete 
 circuit within the circle, and brought partly 
 out of the narrow gateway of the bridge is 
 to fill up the passage. Then the back of the 
 cage is to be let down, and remaining as a 
 fence to the bridge, the furious brutes are to 
 be allowed to leap into the arena and kill, or 
 be killed by, their human assailants. 
 
 ' Another wager, another flask of rich red 
 wine, if on this savage island it can be obtained,' 
 cries Vibullius ; ' another wager, this time on 
 the wolves and the bear ; an amphora, if you 
 like, an amphora ! ' 
 
 ' I back willingly the young Jew against 
 all the beasts,' responds Fabius gravely. ' The 
 gods favour beauty.'
 
 MAN AND BEAST 49 
 
 ' But not his gods ; tliey, 'tis said, delight 
 in no man's beauty. I back the wolves and 
 the glorious bear.' 
 
 ' So let it be and let Tinnius hold the 
 stakes, if he is sure his wife will not steal 
 them ere he joins us at the settlement.' 
 
 ' No fear, no fear, my comrades,' exclaims 
 thedehghted Eed Beard. ' I'll bury them until 
 nightfall, when we will reclaim them and bury 
 them acfain in our own skins. Moreover, we 
 shall have something to talk about, for this 
 will be a combat of combats, one, if I mistake 
 not, to be remembered for ages in Britain 
 and related even in Eome. If the men beat the 
 wolves, they are to fight until one of them falls, 
 and after that the conqueror is still to be at 
 the will of the people.' 
 
 And, such is the barbarous soul of all- 
 conquering Eome, that they to whom this 
 news is conveyed, they, sons of the highest 
 and most accomplished families of tlie empire, 
 they, men of refinement and culture, as 
 they rank amongst their peers, receive the 
 information with the simple, cruel, gratified 
 observation : 
 
 ' It is good ! ' 
 vor,. 7. E
 
 50 THE SON OF A STAE 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 AVE Caesar! 
 
 Once more the trumpets ring out. The two 
 human victims, for such they are, are being 
 ied forth, the cage of wolves is following, 
 and the multitude is raised to such excitement 
 that the minutes seem hours. 
 
 The Mappa is preparing to raise the signal. 
 He has attached it to a cord, in order that he 
 may draw it up to the top of a staff, that all 
 may see it and observe the moment when it 
 shall fall and the wild beasts be set free into 
 the ring. 
 
 The silence that precedes this final act 
 seems to be felt by the wild beasts themselves, 
 as if they knew their prey was at hand, and 
 their cravings were about to be satisfied. 
 
 The silence is more distressing than 
 the clamour ! But the signal is rising and 
 suspense will soon cease ! 
 
 The spell is broken, not by the fall of the
 
 AVE C^SAR ! 51 
 
 expected signal, towards which so many eyes 
 are turned, but by a loud clang and noise in 
 the rear of the dais. Severus, who is leaning 
 forward eagerly intent as the rest, starts as 
 though he had been struck in the back. 
 
 He has not recovered his surprise when a 
 messenger approaches him, and, with knee 
 bent to the floor, presents to him a missive or 
 despatch. Severus breaks the seal, reads with 
 wild wonder ; then speaks to the Mappa, and 
 evidently issues some new command, for that 
 important officer straightway raises his wand 
 as an intimation that hostilities must wait. 
 
 A moment more and Saserna, the Orator, 
 after conference also with Severus, stands 
 before the people, and with his trumpet- 
 voice proclaims : — 
 
 ' Let the combats be suspended, and the 
 sport remain as it is until the signal for it be 
 again given. And, let no one move from the 
 place he occupies on penalty of death.' 
 
 The voice ceases, the multitude composes 
 itself to a fearful suspense, not one daring even 
 to move until Severus, who, with a sad and 
 
 e2
 
 52 TIIK SON OF A STAR 
 
 liumiliated expression on his kingly face, rises, 
 and, followed by his lictors, officers and stan- 
 dard-bearer, retires from the scene into the 
 pavilion leading from the dais. 
 
 ' Silence ! silence ! silence ! silence ! in the 
 four quarters of the amphitheatre. Silence ! ' 
 
 By an order to the men in cliarge of the 
 cage of wolves, the cage is drawn back 
 along the path whence it came, and out of 
 sio^ht and hearinfj. But the human victims 
 are left near the gate of the enclosure, face to 
 face. In time the tone and temper of the great 
 audience affects them, and they also turn their 
 eyes to the dais, and join in the common 
 wonder. 
 
 At last expectation is rewarded. A band 
 of centurions, Fidelis of a hundred years at 
 their head, make their appearance on the dais, 
 and under his direction form into two lines 
 with a wide path between their ranks. 
 
 And now through the open space, on the. 
 way to the seat of state, there comes a new 
 ])rocession. 
 
 The maiden of the chariot and companion 
 of Fidelis leads the way, dancing the most ex- 
 quisite of dances to the clashing of cymbals
 
 AVE C^SAR ! 53 
 
 which she holds above her head, until she 
 reaches the front of the throne, before which 
 she gracefully casts herself almost at full 
 length upon the ground. 
 
 She is followed by a soldier, bare-headed, 
 in marching order, carrying his sword : a 
 man of scarcely middle age, fresh, evidently, 
 from a long march, and distinguishable only 
 from the ordinary Roman soldier by one and 
 singular mark of distinction. 
 
 At his back a tall slave bears on the staff 
 of a spear, over his head, a diadem of gold, 
 and from time to time whispers in his ear some 
 solemn injunction. 
 
 They who are near can catch the words : — 
 
 ' Remember that thou art but a man.' 
 
 ' By all the gods ! ' exclaims the astonished 
 Fabius to his friends, ' it is ' 
 
 His sentence is cut short by the trumpet 
 blast and voice of Saserna from the left of the 
 throne : — 
 
 ' To your knees all men, women, and chil- 
 dren ! Let every knee bend to the earth to 
 Caisar.'
 
 54 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 In an instant tlie multitude obeys, all but 
 the two combatants and lie to whom the 
 homage is paid ; from Severus on his right 
 hand to the meanest slave ; each and all bend 
 to the earth before this human deity. 
 
 The Emperor Hadrian ! 
 
 At this solemn moment the three men 
 remaining erect form a triangle ; a Jew, of 
 noble bearing and beauty, and a disfigured 
 Slave of gigantic build form the angles of its 
 base ; while the Prince of all the civilised 
 world forms its apex. 
 
 There is something fearfully strange in the 
 sight of a mighty mass of human beings in one 
 fixed attitude, and to Hadrian, impressionable 
 almost to madness, this vast crowd prostrate 
 at his feet is the strangest event of his roman- 
 tic life. He is moved even to tears, and 
 clutches his sword as if to find support. 
 
 His eyes fall on the two extraordinary 
 beings who, like himself, stand erect above the 
 prostrate humanity, and his soul is disquieted 
 in a way akin to fear. A strange thought 
 crosses his mind : ' To whom do all these 
 creatures bend, to me, or to one of these 
 make-sports ; to me, or to that youth who
 
 AVE CAESAR ! 55 
 
 stands like Apollo ; or to that giant who stands 
 like Hercules ? ' Then, as he scans the face 
 and figure of the youth, he trembles. It is 
 a face he has never seen before, yet he knows 
 it : the face turns as if to give him another view 
 of it. He knows it better, and is perturbed the 
 more. The face strikes him both with admira- 
 tion and affection. It cannot be, but it is : — 
 
 'Would that he were my son,' is the 
 sentiment which, unbidden, rises in his breast. 
 
 It may be merely the sigh of a childless 
 man. There are such sighs, and this is from 
 the heart, as they ever are. 
 
 He must not wait now either to philo- 
 sophise or to lament ; those bending forms 
 must be set free. Already they have been 
 constrained too long. 
 
 The Emperor takes his seat, and at a breath 
 from his lips the word of command follows : — 
 
 ' It is the will of Caasar that the people rise, 
 and that the combat commence at the proper 
 signal.' 
 
 The order also goes forth by signs tliat the 
 casje of wolves be recalled.
 
 56 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Meanwhile, to fill up the interval, the 
 Numidian bear is brought before the Emperor, 
 and, at command from Milo, once more goes 
 tlirough his wondrous feats of skill. 
 
 To Hadrian the whole scene is novel of 
 novel. Arrived but lately in Britain, and 
 travelling by rapid marches since the day of 
 his disembarkation at Dola on the eastern 
 side of the Island, he has seen no signs of 
 sports, nor, indeed, any evidences of a civilised 
 community. A Circus Maximus such as this 
 is therefore to him a surprise. The modifica- 
 tions of the plans of the circus, the faces of the 
 people, the customs, are all further novelties 
 on which for a passing moment he is inclined 
 to dwell. 
 
 ' What, ' asks he of Severus, who is now 
 seated on his riglit hand, ' what is the nature 
 of the coming combat ? ' 
 
 In briefest terms the Vice-Ruler tells him 
 the nature of it, and of the two men who are 
 to share in it. 
 
 ' And which,' he asks, ' is the most skil- 
 ful ? ' 
 
 ' They are of such different bloods, great 
 Prince,' returns Severus, ' I dare not wage.
 
 AVE C^SAR 
 
 f 
 
 The youth, a Jew called Simeon, exalted by a 
 visionary enthusiasm, is filled with the idea 
 that, pre-ordained by the gods, or rather his 
 God, for great glory, he cannot be killed or 
 die, but, like one of his ancestors, will be 
 received into heaven in a chariot of fire. 
 To this he adds skill and agility with the 
 short sword. The Numidian, on the other 
 hand, relies on his strength, the strength of 
 Hercules himself. He has never yet failed 
 to break with that ponderous club every bone 
 in the body of his enemy.' 
 
 'Is he without fault ? ' asks Hadrian, who 
 is quick to feel general impressions of faults 
 which others do not perceive, a faculty on 
 which he greatly prides himself. 
 
 ' He is said to have one fault, for which 
 his late master sold him cheaply to Milo, the 
 centurion there, whose property he now is.' 
 
 ' Some failure of sio;ht or of limb ? ' 
 
 ' No, Prince, he hath no fault of that 
 nature, as you may deduce from what you liave 
 witnessed. He handles his club as if it were 
 a javelin; but he is said to be possessed of a 
 demon who at times throws him to the earth, 
 tears him so that he raves, becomes hideous
 
 58 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 of expression, gasps for life, foams at moutli, 
 pierces his flesh with his talons, and bites his 
 tongue almost atwain.' 
 
 * Enough ! enough ! ' ejaculates the Emperor, 
 ' such an one were best dead. Were it the will 
 of Jove that the damned spirit which inhabits 
 these creatures could die with tliem, I would 
 that youth's sword were deep in the monster's 
 heart. Unhappily, the accursed thing leaves 
 one body only to enter another. But who is 
 this maiden at my feet ? ' 
 
 ' Her Jewish and real name as I have heard 
 is Huldah, after a prophetess of her people. 
 But in the camp she passes as Fidelia, because 
 Eidelis, a centurion, who is a hundred years 
 old to-day, and in whose honour this festival 
 is held, bought or found her, as well as the 
 youth Simeon, during the reign of Trajan.' 
 
 ' Is she also inspired ? ' asks the still more 
 startled Emperor. 
 
 ' In a diiferent way ; she forecasts events ; 
 breaks forth suddenly into music and song, 
 as you, Prince, have witnessed ; heals wounds, 
 cures the sick, and withal wields the sword 
 and casts the javelin like a trained soldier.' 
 
 ' By Bacchus ! noble Pra3tor, methinks thou
 
 AVE C^SAR ! 59 
 
 art in love Avith the maiden, for which I blame 
 neither thy taste nor thy judgment ; yet tell 
 me one thing more : mine eyes seize in the 
 distance the figures of a noble man and a child 
 of immortal beauty. Are they from the skies ? ' 
 
 ' They are strangers, Prince. A chief and 
 a child, as I have but just learned, of the 
 western island of Juverna, on which Eoman 
 foot never stood ; the Island, so-called, of 
 Peace and Beauty.' 
 
 ' I knew not that the whole world possessed 
 such a spot,' sighs the ruler of the world. ' I 
 would I were there ! Meantime let the com- 
 bat open, and see to it that in the evening I 
 hold converse with this wondrous chieftain.'
 
 60 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 CHArTEE V. 
 
 A MIRACLE. 
 
 To show the due reverence to the powers of 
 heaven by the powers of earth, the procession 
 of the gods once more advances as prehminary 
 to the contest of men with beasts. 
 
 The ceremony duly celebrated, the human 
 victims are led into the rini^. The ca^e of 
 wolves follows ; it makes its way slowly round 
 and comes back to the entrance. It is drawn 
 by eight men, two abreast ; a single pole, a 
 shaft with four crossbars attached to it breast- 
 high, forms the means by which the men, who 
 are professed wolf-trainers, propel the machine 
 along. 
 
 As they reacli the narrow portal of the 
 ring they leave the cage or wolf-chariot in the 
 gap ; then their leader, by means of an iron 
 rod, lets down the back of the cage, his men 
 lift up the pole, and the wolves are tilted out
 
 A MIRACLE 61 
 
 i 
 
 on to the green sward of the ring. The brutes 
 roll over each other, and for a moment fight 
 with each other : they recover themselves, re- 
 gain their feet, and form a circle, their noses 
 almost touching. 
 
 ' Tliey are holding a council of war, the 
 brutish beasts,' observes Vabullius. 
 
 ' Not worse than a human council,' is the 
 reply of Fabius. 
 
 ' Hark ! the council is over ; they have 
 determined on attack.' 
 
 A perfectly fiendish liowl of the beasts, 
 with their heads in the air, declares this fact. 
 
 ' They are invoking their gods,' continues 
 the rude Vibullius. ' Oh, gods of wolves ! hear 
 their prayer, for I have backed them to my 
 last coin.' 
 
 The two men in the ring are as different 
 in their proceedings as if they were from a dif- 
 ferent sphere. The attitude of the Numidian 
 is one of watchful zeal to protect, apparently, 
 not himself so much as his comrade. 
 
 ' He is not going to let the wolves kill 
 Simeon, if they dared,' muses Aaron of the 
 Altar. 
 
 ' He is reserving the honour of that
 
 62 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 acliievement to himself,' thinks Severus ; and 
 so think man)'- more. 
 
 As to Simeon, he seems to care no more 
 than if he were strolhng in a garden. 
 
 In time the wolves form a semicircle 
 towards the men, who stand back at the far 
 edge of the ring near to the pit, but facing 
 the dais. 
 
 Gradually and stealthily they close in on 
 the men, who can retreat no further, as if at 
 one spring tliey will seize their limbs and 
 throats and finish them straightway. 
 
 They are interrupted in their scheme by 
 the Numidian, who, with club raised, rushes 
 towards the centre of the foe, and, leaping 
 clean over the two brutes in the centre, turns 
 back, and, witli deadly blows dealt right and 
 left, lays two of his fiercest enemies helpless 
 at his feet. 
 
 They two are now easy prey : the mighty 
 club puts them quickly out of all their 
 misery. 
 
 The native Briton rubs his hands with 
 glee. ' There is not a bone in the body of 
 the beasts that is not smashed. This is sport, 
 indeed ! '
 
 A MIRACLE 63 
 
 ' Two of the wild beasts gone,' reckons the 
 silent but less pleased Severus. 
 
 ' By what spell is that Jew protected ? ' 
 wonders Hadrian ; for the four remaining 
 wolves, all but surrounding Simeon, seem to 
 lie down at his bidding. 
 
 He makes no defence, except that with 
 arms folded he looks at them with a serene 
 pity as unworthy of his regard, 
 
 ' Why, maiden, do they not tear him limb 
 from limb ? ' 
 
 ' Because he is beloved of his God.' 
 
 Another question, about to follow, is 
 stopped by a new turn of affairs in the ring. 
 The beasts, diverting their gaze from Simeon, 
 wheel round on the Numidian, and, making a 
 desperate spring at him, give him bare time to 
 escape. One of them is indeed successful in 
 gripping and tearing off the 'head of the bear 
 and a piece of the skin which covers his body, 
 and finding it eatable, commences to devour it. 
 The three others follow him in quick pursuit, 
 but, entirely master of the situation, the 
 Numidian, anxious to be the sole victor, out- 
 runs them, literally plays with them, leaps over 
 them, and, finally, in turn chases them. By a
 
 04 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 dexterous hurl of his club he levels one to the 
 ground as they are flying before him ; he picks 
 up his weapon, and, dismissing this enemy, 
 takes the other two at leisure. They are the 
 weakest of the group, and have been famished 
 too long to hold their strength ; they crawl in 
 fear, and in tender mercy are destroyed with 
 a single blow. 
 
 ' Five out of six gone,' reckons Severus 
 and the rest, who beUeve that Simeon will 
 be the last victim. 
 
 It promises so. Before the Numidian and 
 his club there remain but two foes : the wolf 
 still engaged on the head of the bear, which 
 furnishes a wonderful meal, and the beautiful 
 youth, armed, ready, and matchless in skill, 
 courage, and endurance. 
 
 There is now a general cry : ' The beasts 
 no more. The men ! the men ! the men ! ' 
 
 The Numidian heated with his exertions, 
 and wilder than ever in his appearance, is 
 ready for the work ; he will clear the way 
 for his final contest by killing that last and 
 feasting wolf, feasting under the very eyes of 
 Hadrian. 
 
 Stealthily and rapidly he advances to the
 
 A MIRACLE 65 
 
 greedy brute, too intent on its meal to heed its 
 danger. The club swings nearly to the ground 
 over the back of its master, in order that he may 
 mve with more effect the full and shivering 
 blow ; when, as if overbalanced by the weight 
 of his weapon, with a wild and unearthly 
 shriek he falls back upon it, and from head 
 to foot writhes in convulsive struggles. The 
 veins of his neck grow turgid ; his face grows 
 dark ; he gasps for air ; he foams at his 
 mouth ; his eyeballs roll wildly until the white 
 part is alone visible ; and he utters sounds and 
 gurgles which no one understands. 
 
 - With a swift movement the Emperor and 
 the vast multitude rise to their feet, more 
 terror-stricken by this sight than by all they 
 have seen before, though it had been twenty 
 times intensified. 
 
 Terror of the supernatural takes the place 
 of the excitement of a natural scene to them 
 far more fearful. 
 
 The Emperor's prejudgment is correct. 
 
 The monster man is faulty ; he is possessed 
 of a demon. 
 
 The wolf that has devoured the half meal 
 it so fortunately won is quick to perceive 
 
 VOL. L F
 
 66 THli SOX OF A STAR 
 
 another meal at hand. In an instant it had 
 torn open the breast of the Numidian but for 
 an interposition. 
 
 The hand of Simeon grasps the creature 
 ])y the neck, and holds it like a tamed or 
 cowed dog trying to escape and fly whither 
 it may. 
 
 And now a new wonder ! 
 
 Huldah, from resting on her knees survey- 
 ing the scene at the feet of Hadrian, rises 
 majestically and proceeds to the help of the 
 possessed man. 
 
 The wolf-trainers at a sign from her remove 
 the cage which forms the barrier, that she 
 may enter the arena. 
 
 To the side of the possessed man she glides 
 like one inspired. She bends over him. She 
 raises her hands to heaven and speaks ! 
 
 Numerous as is the throng, they all hear 
 the sound of her voice. Saserna were not 
 better heard. 
 
 More marvellous still, they all believe that 
 they understand her command : — 
 
 ' I charge thee, thou foul spirit, come out 
 of the man and go thy way ! '
 
 A MIRACLE 67 
 
 ■'The wolf! the wolf! the wolf! See ! see ! 
 see! The wolf! the wolf!' 
 
 The foul spirit has entered the wolf. See ! 
 see ! the beast, loosed by Simeon, flies, yelling, 
 across the arena, and leaps the iron fence. 
 
 Crash ! It has leaped headlong into the pit 
 and is dead as a stone. 
 
 Meanwhile the fallen man, the possessed, 
 raises himself from the earth on to his knees 
 before Huldah. With reverent, plaintive, 
 scared expression he bends beneath her bea- 
 tific glance, in mingled sense of love, grati- 
 tude, humility, and fear. He seizes the hem 
 of her toga, raises it to his lips and kisses it. 
 He would worship her did she not forbid. 
 
 'Not to me, not to me, but to Him in 
 whose name thou art saved from the evil one,, 
 be all thy thankfulness and all the glory.' 
 
 Strange, strange, oh wondrous strange ! he 
 knows the language in wliich she addresses 
 him. It is like his native tongue. 
 
 Dashing his massive club away with his 
 foot and taking her extended hand in his own, 
 he permits her to bring him like a child into
 
 68 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 the presence of Cajsar, At a sign from her 
 he does humble homage to the mighty leader 
 of the mighty legions, and then, in obedience 
 to an impatient wave of the hand from the 
 Emperor, that lie must be instantly removed 
 as a sickening sight, with his head bent on 
 his breast, he suffers himself to be led away 
 by his master Milo along the path by which 
 he entered the theatre. 
 
 And the crowd, following him with its 
 thousand eyes, melts, for a moment, into 
 universal sympathy, and heaves its breast with 
 his. So inscrutably subtle is the influence of 
 sj^mpathetic imitation on the human heart. 
 
 Of all the spectators of this singular and 
 miraculous scene none are so impressed as 
 Hadrian and Severus. By some secret spring 
 operating on their more refined natures they 
 change in expression : Severus the cold is 
 flushed with red ; Hadrian the flushed is 
 awed and even pale. Is this woman, who 
 casts herself again at the Emperor's feet, a 
 goddess? Does she know every imperial 
 secret thought, word, act ? Why not ? She 
 can cast out a demon ! What more marvel- 
 lous gift? To whom does such a divine
 
 A MIRACLE 69 
 
 being belong, if not to the master of the 
 world ? 
 
 There is a cloud on the face of Severus 
 no doubt, but what of that ? Who is Julius 
 Severus when Hadrian wills and fates decree ? 
 
 Saserna breaks the spell. 
 
 ' What is the will of the Emperor towards 
 Simeon the Jew ? ' 
 
 ' Forward ! ' screams the crowd to Simeon. 
 ' Do homage to Cgesar.' 
 
 He is brought to the very foot of the 
 throne, and still they cry : 
 
 ' Do homage to Csesar ! ' 
 
 Simeon heeds no word, no request, no 
 prayer, no command. 
 
 He faces Cassar erect, bold, defiant ; and 
 as one greater than he !
 
 70 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 A LIVING TORCH. 
 
 Emperor and vice-emperor look on the hand- 
 some obstinate youth before them with equally 
 strong but widely different sentiments. The 
 Emperor holds him in some kind of admira- 
 tion and even awe, tempered with a desire to 
 befriend him. 
 
 The least submission, and he were the 
 chosen of the chosen of Hadrian. 
 
 Severus, keen-sighted, almost guesses the 
 truth. He too has his admiration, but it is 
 admiration mingled with hate approaching to 
 ferocity. Had he supreme command still, not 
 a chance of escape would be open to the 
 already, in his mind, condemned youth. 
 
 'Dost thou remember Trajan, noble 
 Severus ? ' Hadrain asks. 
 
 * Oh well, great Prince. Well.* 
 
 * In his youth?'
 
 A LIVING TORCH 71 
 
 ' In liis second youth, not his first.' 
 
 ' Thinkest thou that Simeon resembles him ? ' 
 
 ' The resemblance extends to pain now 
 that it is suggested.' 
 
 ' I remember bringing to Trajan a dispatcli 
 from the Senate, and that standing in that pos- 
 ture he was the same though an older man. I. 
 remember him as a fellow-villager of Italica, 
 when I, as a boy, saw him as a youth come 
 to the home of his father where I was at 
 play. Then he was actually the same. Can 
 the dead rise, Severus ? ' 
 
 * I see the likeness, Prince : but the people 
 wait ! ' 
 
 'Wert thou ever at the Temple of Daphne? 
 Didst thou ever dip a leaf there, into the 
 fountain of fate ? ' 
 
 ' Never, my lord.' 
 
 ' Didst thou never see the Syrian priestess 
 who ministered in the temple there that was 
 filled with the god ? ' 
 
 ' Never.' 
 
 ' Then hast thou missed a face of beauty 
 and figure of divineness, such as mine eyes 
 have not fallen on since until this hour.' 
 
 And, rapt in a reverie which seemed to
 
 72 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 liim an age, the Emperor is lost to all around 
 except to the youth who stands still so boldly 
 at the foot of his tlirone. 
 
 The murmuring noise of the crowd wakes 
 him from his trance and rouses him to speech. 
 
 ' If he will not bend to us test him once 
 more by an offering to the gods, to Apollo 
 the Lord of the Sun and Earth.' 
 
 The order is forthwith sent out. The priests 
 of Apollo bring a pedestal bearing on each 
 of its sides the image of the Sun and enclosinof 
 the mystical emblem to indicate existence or 
 being. They place the pedestal in front of 
 the Emperor. They lay the fuel on the top 
 of the pedestal : they bring the sacred torch 
 and light the fire. 
 
 Then they lead the youth Simeon to the side 
 of the pedestal furthest from the throne : they 
 place him with his face to the throne : they 
 bring a small square box containing incense : 
 they open the box, and without violence or 
 wrath bid him take one little pinch and 
 throw it on the fire. 
 
 But not a muscle of his rigid frame moves. 
 
 The aged officiating priest is moved to 
 tears as the words escape him : —
 
 A LIVING TORCH 73 
 
 ' The god, my son, whose homage we invoke 
 gives thee hf?ht. and heat, and hfe. At his 
 command the seasons take their course, and 
 night and day are ordained. In his absence 
 thou wert not, nor even he our divine Emperor 
 who longs to save thee.' 
 
 Not a muscle of the rig;id frame moves. 
 
 ' By the remembrance of thy father, of the 
 mother that bore thee, of her who may love 
 thee, of thy country, thy people, thyself, obey 
 the command and do homage to the god of 
 gods.' 
 
 Not a muscle moves the rigid limbs ; but 
 the lips declare in ringing voice : — 
 
 'In vain, in vain. I will worship no 
 graven image.' 
 
 ' Obstinate miscreant 1 ' screams VibuUius. 
 
 'Brave youth! ' pronounces Fabius. 
 
 'Faithful to death,' whispers Aaron of the 
 Altar. ' Would to God I could die for thee, 
 oh Simeon, son of my people.' 
 
 It is impossible to do more in the way of 
 persuasion ; it is impossible now for Hadrian 
 to show mercy. 
 
 He consults with Severus, and Saserna is 
 then bidden to take the will of the people.
 
 74 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 ' CjEsar demands tlie will of the people. 
 Is it the will of the people that Simeon the 
 Jew shall be set free ? ' 
 
 The answer is taken by a movement of 
 the thumbs. If the thumbs of a majority of 
 voters are turned up to the sky, Simeon is 
 free. If they are turned down, his fate is 
 sealed for further sport or torture. 
 
 The masses rise, and with one simultaneous 
 movement extend their open hands and direct 
 their thumbs to the earth. 
 
 Another consultation between Hadrian and 
 Severus ; another message through Saserna. 
 
 * Cgesar demands the will of the people for 
 the sport they desire.' 
 
 Many voices are heard, but the one that 
 prevails carries the day. 
 
 ' The torch, the torch, the living torch.' 
 
 A blast of trumpet proclaims for the first 
 time the Emperor's will that the general wish 
 shall be obeyed. What else can he do ? 
 
 Let the choicest of Eoman soldiers ; let 
 Fidelis himself disobey an imperial command 
 and who can save him. Hadrian is two men.
 
 A LIVING TORCH 75 
 
 He is man of man, and man of empire. He 
 is the heart of Eome. Stop his beat and the 
 empire may die. 
 
 Towards this youth Simeon his natural 
 heart turns while his imperial heart trembles. 
 Intensely impressed at every moment of his 
 life by the sense of the supernatural, he knows 
 not how to act. He is challenged on his very 
 throne, in the face of his army, by a power that 
 sees and reasons. He is moved and challenged 
 by another power hidden in the souls of a 
 stripling boy and an inspired woman. It is like 
 being compressed between the powers of light 
 and darkness ; between a sea of solid faces 
 bent on revenge and sport and two shadowy 
 forms, mysterious and fearful, types of the 
 mysterious east, out of which the sun comes 
 forth each morning in his might, always to 
 be born again let man do what he will! '■ 
 
 The voice of the people settles the question. 
 It always does. 
 
 Seeing the nature of the elements before 
 him, Hadrian knows he must act, for the 
 moment, the common part, let the mystery 
 work, in the end, what it may. He must 
 obey the will of the people.
 
 76 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 The trumpet sounds a second time, and 
 Simeon is led to his fate. He is phiced at the 
 gateway leading into the small arena. At the 
 gateway is an armed guard ready to cut him 
 to pieces should he attempt escape that way. 
 
 Under the eyes of CiEsar he is clothed over 
 his own choice garments with a garment of 
 sackcloth saturated with bitumen ; clothed 
 over all his body, his legs and face alone free. 
 
 At the third signal, he is to be set on fire 
 from a torch lighted at the pedestal of Apollo 
 and is let loose into the closed ring, there to 
 rave and fight with the flames until he is con- 
 sumed, or until, in his ungovernable frenzy, he 
 leaps into the pit like the possessed wolf. 
 
 The Briton with the scored back makes 
 peace with the centurion who scored him for 
 the news of this ordeal of fire. 
 
 ' Oh these Eomans, how well they under- 
 stand sport. Wolves first and fire afterwards. 
 The circus knows its own again.' So he taunts 
 his wife, who assents, to his delight, out of fear 
 of him. 
 
 Hadrian and Severus once more confer. 
 It would seem that Severus is inclined to object, 
 but is obliged to yield.
 
 A LIVING TORCH 77 
 
 Saserna explains aloud. 
 
 ' It is the will of Caisar that the path 
 from the outer edge of the pit to the eastern 
 gateway be kept clear, so that the living torch 
 may fly into the country should he escape from 
 the ring. And let no one pursue him.' 
 
 The command gives zest to the excitement. 
 It suggests an impossible thing. All the 
 better ! 
 
 'It affords his gods a better chance of 
 serving him ! ' says the jesting Vibullius. 
 
 ' Say rather that it gives him a better 
 chance of serving his God a longer time,' 
 observes Fabius with a respectful reverence 
 that contrasts strongly with the tone of his 
 comrade. 
 
 The month in which this tragedy is enacted 
 is September, and the evening is now rapidly 
 closing in. The light is becoming golden 
 red ; the clouds are golden, and the atmo- 
 sphere is filling up with an ether of golden 
 vapour which is as sensible as if it could 
 be sealed up in vases of light and kept for ever.
 
 78 TUE SON OF A STAR 
 
 It is a light that can be felt ; it gives to every- 
 thing it touches its own hue ; it reaches the 
 mind as a familiar friend, and fills it with its 
 own magnetic tone. It is the light of light for 
 the solemn act about to follow, such a light as 
 a poor player, could he invent it, would cast 
 upon his little stage, to colour all, according 
 to his sense, with the tragic, the majestic, 
 the sublime. By it, the earth, the trees, the 
 vast assembly of men and women, the chariots 
 and horses, the arms, the standards, the 
 distant hills, the firmament, are made uniform 
 in colour, and equally beautiful, every defect 
 concealed in the enrifting glow. Even Simeon 
 made really hideous, in other light by the 
 bituminous garb in which he is invested, is 
 still a handsome statue, a pillar of rough 
 gold with the face of a god. 
 
 Will no one step forth to ask for his 
 life? 
 
 Will not Fidelis of a hundred years step 
 forth, and in the name of his own faithful 
 services, but a few hours ago so loudly ac- 
 claimed, ask one favour of his lord and master, 
 the clement Csesar ? 
 
 Alas, such a thought is the last that would
 
 A LIVING TOKCH 79 
 
 enter his mind. Did Ccesar say to him, 
 ' Fidelis, step forth and fall on thy sword,' 
 he would do it as readily as he would lead 
 out his hundred men to battle. 
 
 In the Roman army age does but crystal- 
 lise obedience. 
 
 Will not the woman who has wrought the 
 miracle interpose ? 
 
 On her the two men, before whom she 
 is reclining, cast their favours. Will she not 
 speak ? 
 
 She speaks not a word of that kind, but 
 she rises, and picking up her cymbals marches 
 to the side of the condemned man as if pre- 
 paring to move in triumph with him. 
 
 With her cymbals beating time to her 
 voice she sings to him some songs he knows, 
 and to which all they of his race who hear 
 them respond in silent sympathy. The rest 
 merely wonder and listen : they know not the 
 sweet strains nor the assuring words. 
 
 The first stanzas are solemn and sorrow- 
 ful :— 
 
 ' A people robbed, a people robbed and spoiled ! 
 They are for a prey, and none delivereth : for a spoil, 
 and none saitb, Restore.'
 
 80 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 The next are of hope and trust : — 
 
 ' Therefore will I look unto the Lord, 
 I will wait for the God of my salvation. 
 
 Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy, 
 When I fall I shall rise.' 
 
 Quickly the strain changes into one of joy 
 and exultation : — 
 
 ' Thus saith the Lord : 
 Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, 
 I have called thee by my name, thou art mine. 
 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee 
 And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee, 
 When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be 
 burned. 
 
 ' Fear not, oh Jacob my servant. 
 And thou Jeshurun whom I have chosen, 
 Fear ye not, neither be afraid. 
 I am the Lord, your Holy one, the creator of Israel, your 
 
 King! 
 
 ' Arise, shine, for thy light is come. 
 And the glory of the Lord is upon thee, 
 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light 
 And kings to the brightness of thy rising : 
 Fear ye not, neither be afraid.' 
 
 Another blast of the trumpet peals forth 
 and forms a magical ending to the song. The 
 victim is led out to the gateway of the ring.
 
 . A LIVING TORCH 81 
 
 The torch brought from the altar of the 
 god is applied to the skirts of the bituminous 
 garment, and with a bound the living pillar of 
 fire crosses the arena like a lightning flash ; 
 he is seen in the air ; he has leapt the palisade 
 and pit at a bound ; he is on the pathway to- 
 wards the open pass ; he is through the pass 
 itself and, blazing furiously, is into the valley 
 beyond. 
 
 Severus in his rage all but forgets the pre- 
 sence of his Prince. He is about to give an 
 order for pursuit, remembers his place, craves 
 pardon, and, baffled in his design for the mo- 
 ment, falls into silent thought of what shall 
 next be done. The people are maddened with 
 enthusiasm. They are disappointed and yet 
 delighted. A second miracle has been worked 
 for their admiration. Some of them run to 
 the spot to look at the distance the living fire 
 has leaped. Others crowd on the bank of the 
 theatre, and strain their eyes to see the torch 
 still living and flying with the wind. 
 
 It descends the steep valley, crosses it, and 
 with dazzling brightness ascends on the other 
 side. It started a pillar of living fire : it 
 narrows into an erect fine of fire thinner and 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 thinner each moment until it is a mere streak 
 of flame : it becomes a radiant gem, made 
 more brilliant by the deepening darkness : still 
 smaller in size, it rises high up on the opposite 
 ascent it is climbing, until it is a mere speck 
 of light : it flickers, fades, and vanishes. 
 
 The living torch, out of sight, is instantly 
 out of the mind of that vast assembly. A 
 man has gone forth from it, a man like 
 tliemselves, of flesh and blood the same ; of 
 sensibilities the same ; of mind and soul the 
 same. He has gone forth a sheet of fire ! 
 Does no one ask his fate ? Does anyone ask 
 the fate of the deer that over the mountain- 
 side carries the arrow of the archer in its 
 vitals ? Does any one ask what is the fate of 
 a boar that, with maimed limbs from the teeth 
 of the hounds, has crept into a shelter of wood 
 and brake where it cannot be further pursued ? 
 Nonsense ! 
 
 The gods sent the wretch, man or beast, 
 for sport, what else ? Some day some one, 
 climbing the opposite ascent which the living 
 torch has climbed, may find the charred 
 remnants of the victim, and kick them over 
 as those of him who made the wonderful leap.
 
 A LIVING TORCH 83 
 
 Good for the future. For the present, that 
 which the crowd wants is more sport, a new 
 pleasure. 
 
 Severus has foreseen this desire, and, with 
 clever forecaste, has provided for it. To the 
 sound of many trumpets, and the huzzas of 
 many voices, the Emperor and he have retired 
 in grand procession to the camp, leaving 
 behind them a proclamation of the Emperor's 
 pleasure that the camp shall be illuminated 
 and festivity be the order of the night. 
 
 Even to midnight. So ran the proclama- 
 tion. 
 
 Huzza ! Three times three. Huzza ! 
 Huzza ! Huzza ! 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY. 
 
 The Roman soldier knows his duties so well 
 he always does the same thing in the same 
 way, and in the best manner. 
 
 Whether the order from the superior in 
 command be to march, to rest, to fight, to 
 feast, it is carried out instantly. Every man 
 is ready at every moment. 
 
 The order for the festival by night is car- 
 ried out in this spirit, and the change which 
 takes place in the camp is the work almost of 
 magic art. Before Hadrian and Severus have 
 lieen an hour in their quarters, a thousand 
 lamps are mounted on stakes or staves, which 
 every soldier has in store, and are blazing 
 away all over the camp and its surroundings. 
 Other lamps are obtained, and laid on the 
 ground of the ramparts in lioles rapidly cut
 
 MIETH AND MYSTERY 85 
 
 to admit the globe of oi], and very soon all the 
 raised structure of the camp can be seen for 
 miles around like a vast mound of fire. 
 
 To crown tlie whole the Pharos or fire- 
 tower in the south-eastern angle of the 
 square is hghted with an enormous pile of 
 dry fuel. The flames of this pile ascend thirty 
 feet above the tower, and light up the whole 
 encampment like a newly risen sun. 
 
 Nor is the circus forgotten. It too is 
 soon illuminated, and prepared for dances, 
 feats of strength, and various games in which 
 the ball plays a conspicuous part. 
 
 The news of the great festivities flies far 
 and wide the country round, for such a fire 
 was never seen before. Some of the simple 
 country folk think the camp is on fire by 
 accident, but all, like moths, are drawn to 
 it, the knowing ones bringing whatever they 
 possess from which they can earn a fair profit 
 by sale or barter or skilful sport. 
 
 Equally rapid are the movements of those 
 who are to be the providers of the temporary 
 feast. The slaves are driven about in all direc- 
 tions, the stores are unpacked, and the kitchen 
 furnaces are hard at work. The men and
 
 86 THE SaN OF A STAR 
 
 women who lianp^ about the camp are allowed 
 to open their stalls for the sale of wine and oil 
 and bread. The makers of mirth, the songsters, 
 the reciters, the mimetic players, the dancers, 
 the buffoons turn out in their varied costumes. 
 The musicians gather together in groups, and 
 tune their stringed instruments for music. 
 Outside the tents, and along the great highways 
 and streets of the camp, the tables and reclining 
 seats or couches are set out, and from the 
 grand centre the military bands, if they may 
 1)6 so called, send forth their stimulating 
 strains of melody. 
 
 Within two short hours the whole of the 
 populace of this Roman centre of life, usually 
 so staid, mechanical, and solemn, is one vast 
 orgie, controlled easily if troublesome, but in 
 due bounds left to itself to do and work its 
 own will and pleasure. 
 
 It is indeed a picturesque and curious scene 
 in which we now take part. 
 
 For sixty miles around the Pharos sends 
 forth its sunlike rays, and signals from it fly 
 to tell to neighbouring camps the special 
 honour that belongs to ours. 
 
 The main street of our camp, wdiich divides
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY 87 
 
 the tents or huts of the common soldiers from 
 the quarters of the officers, is specially attrac- 
 tive, not only for its feastings, but for its trans- 
 formation into quite a fairy-land. The forum 
 in the centre of this street, in which, when 
 required, the Pra3tor sits in judgment, is 
 turned into a theatre, from the stage of which 
 those who are gifted with eloquence of speech 
 or song are called forth, imperatively, to dis- 
 play their powers for the common merriment. 
 Some are called to dehver verses and legends 
 from the great Eoman writers or poets ; some, 
 natives of Britain, are brought out to dance ; 
 some, conjurers, are made to conjure and cast 
 fortunes ; some, athletes, are made to perform 
 feats of strength or agility. 
 
 As the night advances, and the stock of 
 amusements around the grand centre begins 
 rather to flag, there is a cry for Tinnius the 
 Red beard. What he is to do no one knows 
 or cares to enquire, for he is a favourite who 
 always does something new and pleasing, and 
 at all costs he, therefore, must be had and 
 heard. 
 
 The cry is loud for Tinnius Rufus the Red- 
 beard, and when, very much worried by his
 
 88 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 virago, who sticks to him Hke a limpet, he 
 makes his way through the crowd to gain the 
 tribune, the cheering, which extends from one 
 end of the camp to the other, tells the Emperor 
 and Severns, as they talk together after the 
 Emperor has partaken alone of his simple 
 evening meal, a crust of bread with fruit, a 
 few sweet herbs, and a flask of vinegar wine, 
 that something specially entertaining is about 
 to occur. 
 
 ' What,' asks the Emperor of an attendant, 
 ' what does this ringing uproar mean ? ' 
 
 The attendant, a bashful youth, answers t 
 ' Tinnius Eufus, Prince, the Eed beard, is 
 about to sing from the Forum.' 
 
 For a moment all is quiet to the ears of 
 the distinguished rulers, but soon, ten times 
 louder than ever, the applause is resumed. 
 
 ' Tinnius the Eed-beard, great Prince, is 
 called upon to sing again.' 
 
 Tinnius, in short, has got an enthusiastic 
 and obstinate encore, an encore so enthusiastic 
 and so obstinate it moves the Emperor him- 
 self to go and share with the audience in the 
 fun which has been elicited. 
 
 The thing is easily done: that plain soldier
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY 89 
 
 may go, under the artificial liglit, wherever he 
 lists and not be known. Severus must remain, 
 Hadrian may go. 
 
 Wending his way through the crowd quite 
 unrecognised, Hadrian soon attains what 
 he wants — a quiet place near the Forum 
 where he can see and not be conspicuously 
 seen. 
 
 The great Tinnius is still receiving the 
 plaudits of his admirers. The great man 
 bows to his admirers, just as great men always 
 bow. The admirers renew the cheer, and 
 then call silence for the great man. 
 
 Tinnius advances in correct fashion to face 
 his audience. Clothed in mock imperial robes, 
 he stands under a little bower of lamps ; he 
 draws from his bosom a scroll at which he 
 glances furtively. Then he clears his throat, 
 and, taking his key from the twang of a lute, 
 he sings out again, in a voice which supphes in 
 power whatever it wants in sweetness, the song 
 that has been so loudly encored. It is a song 
 intended for the occasion, an impromptu very 
 difficult to be understood by the native part 
 of the audience, but to the Eoman part, dry 
 and spry and sly.
 
 90 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 The Song of Tinnius Rufus the Red-beard. 
 
 JEcce Imperator ! 
 
 Jupiter from heaven glancing 
 Fix'd his godlike eyes on earth. 
 Soldiers singing, maidens dancing 
 Filled him full of jealous mirth. 
 Maidens dancing, soldiers vsinging 
 Not of him the great creator, 
 But in raptest chorus ringing, 
 
 Ecce Imperator! 
 
 All the gods unto him calling, 
 ' See,' he cried, ' yon mortal, see ! 
 Thousand slaves around him falling 
 Worship him instead of me. 
 Next with rebel voice appalling 
 They will name him our dictator. 
 We must stop their wanton brawling, 
 Ecce Imperator 1 
 
 Hercules ! with club descending. 
 Dash him from his mocking throne. 
 Mercury ! thy bright bow bending, 
 Send a shaft through flesh and bone. 
 Esculapius ! poisons blending. 
 Be our arch administrator, 
 Stop their wretched throats from rending, 
 Ecce Imperator ! ' 
 
 Quick as thought the gods, obeying 
 Their august and mighty lord. 
 Hastened to prepare for slaying 
 Him the mortal hosts adored.
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY 91 
 
 But the goddesses, arraying 
 All their forces for the traitor, 
 Echoed what the men were saying, 
 Ecce Imperator ! 
 
 Vanquished Jove to Caesar bowing 
 Stands a mark for gods and men. 
 Day and night for ever showing 
 Powers of gods and men are vain, 
 With the goddesses bestowing 
 On their choice their imprimatur ; 
 Name and fame and love endowing : 
 Ecce Imperator ! 
 
 Romans I to your Tinnius bringing 
 All your love and loyalty. 
 While the goddesses are flinging 
 Him their smiles and kisses sly ; 
 Let your powerful voices ringing 
 Tell the gods that no one greater. 
 Could be found to hear you singing, 
 Ecce Imperator ! 
 
 The effect of the refrain of this song 
 throughout the camp is Uke a whirlwind. 
 Tinnius sang the song, but Saserna, the 
 ' editor,' or master of ceremonies, wrote it, 
 and, being a true lover of the anonymous, is 
 not a little proud of his performance. There 
 is a pride in the anonymous greater often than 
 in the nonymous, and Saserna feels it keenly. 
 Very shrewdly, he has placed himself not many
 
 9^ 
 
 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 yards from the quarters of Hadrian, and, as 
 liis voice of thunder takes up the refrain, the 
 wliole camp follows his lead so completely that 
 it were dangerous for any one to be silent. 
 
 The situation held, at the moment, by the 
 Emperor, proud as it may seem to be, is not 
 without its embarrassments ; for he, ranking 
 as a common soldier, dare do no more nor less 
 than join in voice loyally with the rest. 
 
 An Emperor may be troubled when he 
 hears himself made, by the tongue of the joker, 
 a mark for public comment ; and as the droll 
 Tinnius rolled out and emphasised, with ges- 
 tures that cannot be written down, the allusions 
 to the goddesses, a thought pricks the imperial 
 mind that perhaps a satire deep and sore, for 
 which, as we may see later on, there is some 
 loose foundation, is conveyed. But when the 
 merry songster, in the final verse, assumes all 
 the glory to himself, and, with infinite humour 
 of manner and assumption of imperial dignity, 
 claims to himself the smiles and kisses of the 
 goddesses, and the adoration of the people, the 
 perfect innocency of any insult withdraws the 
 suspicion, and sends the Imperator back to his 
 tent one of the chief laughers of the whole
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY 93 
 
 laughing encampment ; while the Red-beard, 
 released from his temporary dignity, becomes 
 the hero of the hour, and ' Ecce Imperator ' 
 the facile password to all good fellowship. 
 
 How many flagons of Roman wine and of 
 British mead are drunken to-night to ' Ecce 
 Imperator,' it would be as hard as sad to tell ; 
 for all except the Emperor are slaves to wine 
 at festive times. He, with the stern sim- 
 plicity of a Stoic, returns to his tent unat- 
 tended. Severus has prudently retired to 
 his own quarters, duties, or pleasures, and the 
 Emperor is left all alone according to his 
 imperial will. 
 
 A plainer tent than the imperial tent no 
 travelling officer or soldier in the whole army 
 could possess. In five minutes of time it can 
 be struck or set in full form ready for his 
 use and occupation. When he is out of it, 
 inspecting troops, making surveys, delivering 
 judgments, presiding over councils, or planning 
 fortifications — and he would often take part 
 in all these things in the course of a single 
 day — the soldiers get sly peeps, at all risks, 
 into this marvellous tent. To be caught 
 within it might, under strict rule, mean con-
 
 94 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 dign punishment, but no one ever suffers for 
 his curiosity. In point of fact, Hadrian rather 
 enjoys the inquisitiveness, and allows it tacitly 
 to work out his own ends. There is nothing 
 in the tent to conceal, and the simplicity of 
 it is an example of order and power. If he, 
 the master of all the legions, can be satisfied 
 with so simple an apartment, by what right 
 can an idle patrician claim more of luxury, 
 and of what have the common soldiers to com- 
 plain ? 
 
 In an empire of soldiers no example were 
 wiser or stronger. The tent itself is of the 
 usual round and pointed form ; but at each 
 side there runs off from it a little pavilion, 
 holding a bed or couch raised but a foot or so 
 from the earth. In the centre of the tent is 
 a small table with a reclining couch aside it. 
 Upon the table is a book, a Eoman translation 
 of the works of the learned Jew, Josephus, who 
 had fought and written during the wars of his 
 people under Vespasian and Titus, an hour- 
 glass, and a lighted candle. The candle is 
 peculiar. It indicates the time from hour to 
 hour. It is made of wax, coloured in sections, 
 each section marked with a Roman numeral,
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTEEY 95 
 
 and each having the capacity of burning one 
 hour, a primitive silent candle-clock, which 
 always burns and records time in that tent 
 when the sun has gone to rest. By this 
 primitive time-piece, invented by the Emperor 
 himself, he knows that it is within an hour of 
 midnight, an hour later than usual for bed. 
 
 His young attendant has by his order 
 joined the sports, so he waits on himself. 
 
 He takes off his accoutrements, lays his 
 sword on the table, passes into his sleeping 
 pavilion, returns invested in a warm purple 
 robe or dressing-gown, his sole garment of 
 imperial quality, sits down on the couch, and, 
 bringing the candle near to him, commences 
 listlessly to read the book before him. 
 
 It is in vain ! He cannot read, he cannot 
 sleep according to his usual custom, for he is 
 vexed, perplexed, and anxious. He is vexed 
 that one of his mandates has not been obeyed. 
 He told Severus that he wished to converse 
 with the remarkable stranger and child whom 
 he had discovered in the crowd at the time 
 of the combat, and he has learned, at his 
 frugal supper, that the two have mysteriously 
 disappeared, just before the scene of the flying
 
 96 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 torch, and can nowhere be found. No one 
 saw these illustrious strangers come, no one 
 saw them depart. They had neither eaten, 
 drunken, nor spoken with living soul. Their 
 costume alone had suggested to Severus that 
 they had come from the western Isle of Peace 
 and Beauty. Musing on this circumstance, 
 the mind of the Emperor wanders to that stiff- 
 necked youth, who, as if he were a king over 
 death himself, had refused, him, Hadrian, the 
 ruler of all the world, the meanest reverence. 
 
 Never before has mortal man dared to 
 treat the Csesar in such a manner. 
 
 The insult stings ; but this diversion of his 
 thoughts subsides in the remembrance of the 
 maiden of magic and grace, who recHned at 
 his feet, who cast out the evil spirit from that 
 monster of a man, and who sang the strange 
 songs to the youth about to die. 
 
 Of these divinely endowed creatures he 
 has heard, and doubts not they exist. His mind 
 goes back once more to the sacred Temple 
 where there was such a woman whom the 
 priests of the temple retained as a Syrian or 
 Jewish prophetess, and whom Trajan loved 
 and perhaps bore away.
 
 MIRTH AND MYSTERY 97 
 
 Gifts like these are, like features, inherited. 
 Could this woman be her child ? 
 
 No, her face is neither the face of Trajan 
 nor of the Jewess : were it the face of that 
 rebellious youth the suspicion would be true. 
 or might be true, at least. Straining to recall 
 many long-forgotten details he returns, in 
 thought, to the man and the child, in their 
 mantles of emerald green. They have no real 
 voice, and yet they seem to say to him : ' Hold 
 that woman in thy safe keeping ; let her never 
 depart from thy power, for she is thy incar- 
 nate, thy good spirit.' 
 
 It was one of those brief dehriums in whicli 
 recent events wake up some of the drowsy 
 senses to future life and action. But these 
 deliriums are potent ministries. They have 
 made more real history than all the hosts 
 of real men who ever took the field. They 
 are an ordination of supreme nature herself 
 directing events. They are the soul of the 
 supernatural, and yet are the commonest 
 humanity. They have given birth to faiths, 
 religions, wars, crusades, revolutions, em- 
 pires. 
 
 And now once more they play their part. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 The first man of Eome, rising up to his full 
 intelligence from one of these deliriums, 
 accepts the manifestation, and declaring ' It 
 shall be done,' sinks on his couch into deej) 
 and long repose. 
 
 Caesar sleeps ! A goddess in the form of 
 a god rises amongst men 1
 
 99 
 
 CHAPTER yill. 
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE. 
 
 Whilst tlie master of the legions takes his 
 repose the camp is still awake. There is yet 
 plenty of time • left for continuance of the 
 revelry, and, although the native part of the 
 population, and they who live outside the camp, 
 are fast dissolving, so as to reach their various 
 homes, the Eoman soldiers remain in festivity. 
 They have ceased to sing and to dance, but 
 they are little less merry, for they recline 
 around the festive tables either within or at the 
 doors of their tents or huts, tell stories of the 
 past, discuss current topics, praise women and 
 wine, and laugh and joke as Eoman soldiers 
 off duty always do. 
 
 But they are ready at a moment's call for 
 duty when that is required. 
 
 ' They always come when I call them, and 
 sometimes they come when I don't call them.' 
 
 H 2
 
 iOO THE SON OP A STAK 
 
 That was the slow and only joke of 
 Fidelia, tlie centurion of a hundred years ; a 
 joke calculated to become lasting as time. 
 
 Together with the soldiers, the officers, 
 from the centurions upwards, have also their 
 enjoyments. In their various quarters they 
 form their little coteries, and, marching out at 
 various intervals to witness the outside amuse- 
 ments, return to their wine and their private 
 merriment. 
 
 Of the groups of officers and friends which 
 lend themselves to the general and private 
 mirth one is of special interest to us. 
 
 It is in the quarters of Tinnius Eufus. It 
 is made up of that worthy himself, of the two 
 new arrivals, Fabius and VibuUius, and of 
 Saserna, ' the editor,' as he is called, of the 
 ceremonies, and the director of the Mappa at 
 the sport that has been carried out during the 
 previous day. 
 
 These men Avere all old companions in 
 Eome, as schoolfellows in their young days, 
 and although they were of somewhat different 
 rank, station and fortune, they continue 
 attached friends, and rejoice much at meeting 
 together once again.
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 101 
 
 Fabiiis is one of tlie clioicest living repre- 
 sentatives of patrician Rome. In the early 
 and troublous times, ere yet the plebeians had 
 any power, the ancestors of Fabius were con- 
 spicuous not only for their greatness but for 
 their liberality. They fought for the honest 
 privileges of the plebs, and did much for 
 securing the same. They stood by the measure 
 which gave the lower grades their power, and 
 they and their descendants were beloved and 
 respected of all men. At the same thne no 
 patricians were more enamoured of their own 
 dignity. They laboured for the people, but 
 they kept their own ; perhaps, if the truth 
 were told, their method was nothino- more 
 than pride feeding on craft. 
 
 Our Fabius has the rich blood of his 
 ancestors in his veins, and his veins are over- 
 flowing. 
 
 Vibullius is patrician also, but of different 
 stamp. Under the first C^sar, one of his 
 ancestors by his skill and bravery attained 
 to knightly rank and was much esteemed. 
 Amongst other gifts he possessed that of imita- 
 tion, and in private life often amused his friends 
 by his perfect mimicries. The gift, unfortu-
 
 102 TUE SON OF A STAR 
 
 nately, became known to the Dictator, who 
 straightway commanded him to play some 
 small mimetic piece publicly in his presence. 
 The Dictator must be obeyed, but the obedience 
 of the noble knight was at a sacrifice which 
 Co3sar himself could not restore. To play a 
 part as a public player was a duty too ignoble, 
 even under command, to be allowed to pass 
 amongst the patricians. In humiliation the 
 injured man practically left Eome and Eoman 
 society, and, as a favour, obtained permission 
 from Octavius, the second of the Caesars and 
 the first Emperor, to take the name of Vibullius 
 for his original family name of Ambivius. His 
 son, who inherited great wealth, owing to the 
 accumulation of wealth during his father's 
 enforced retirement, became a man designated 
 as one of ' softened pleasures with penurious 
 failings,' and from him the race was continued 
 in much the same condition. Our Vibullius 
 is of this cast. He is courted for his wealth 
 more than his rank ; he is trusted because he 
 takes care of what he has ; and he is liked 
 because, whilst he enjoys himself, he diffuses 
 a charm of good nature, which seems reckless 
 but is really under perfect control, round all
 
 LAID LOW WITH WmE 103 
 
 with whom he mixes. He and Fabius anree, 
 notwithstanding their differences of mind and 
 nature. Fabius is learned, classical, liberal, 
 philosophic, proud. Vibullius is little learned, 
 is no classic, is an aristocrat in feeling, a tyrant 
 at heart in regard to the people, flippant in 
 mode of thought and expression, vain rather 
 than proud, but good-natured, like Fabius, and 
 very good company. 
 
 Both, as far as possible, have avoided arms 
 as a profession. They have got substitutes 
 whenever they could find them, and the find 
 under the magic of money has been easily con- 
 ceived and brought forth. 
 
 Saserna, the editor or master of the 
 ceremonies, is a cousin of Fabius by his 
 mother's side. His mother, with a woman's 
 weakness, must needs form a romantic attach- 
 ment in her early life with a Hercules named 
 Saserna, who played a somewhat conspicuous 
 part in the court of Domitian, and who was 
 accredited, not without favour from the people, 
 with having aided Domitia and Parthenius in 
 their successful plot against that Emperor's life, 
 by coming in as a gladiator to assist Stephanus, 
 the comptroller of the household, in his fatal
 
 104 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 attack on the hated tyrant. This Saserna, 
 under the reign of Trajan, rose into position 
 with that monarch, took the editorship of his 
 ceremonial affairs with great skill, and dying 
 at a full age left a son, our Saserna, who, pos- 
 sessing many of his father's qualities, is now 
 editor to Julius Severus in Britain. 
 
 The last man of our group, Tinnius Eufus 
 Vigilius, whom we already know by sight and 
 name and voice, is, like- Saserna, of broken 
 descent, but is admitted into the charmed 
 circle of the empire. His uncle, Vigdius Rufus, 
 had been the colleague of the short-lived 
 and gentle Emperor Nerva, the successor of 
 Domitian and predecessor of Trajan, and had 
 even opposed Nerva for the crown. For- 
 given by Nerva, Vigilius still hoped for the 
 succession ; but Nerva left it to Trajan, who, 
 promptly, sent the whole family, root and 
 branch, as exiles to Britain, where they worked 
 for their bread as best they could. Our man, 
 witty, ready, good-hearted, and possessed of 
 the rare art of writing well, has become scribe 
 and comptroller to Severus, and, known, by 
 name at least, in every British-Eoman camp, is 
 a universal favourite, a hail-fellow-well-met sort
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 105 
 
 of being, greeted everywhere, as one wlio, in 
 jest, can say and sing, safely, things which, said 
 or sung in jest or earnest by another, might 
 easily cost that other his head. He is always 
 called Tinnius Eufns by his friends because 
 of his sounding jollity, his family name of 
 Vicrilius beincr now almost forc^otten. 
 
 DO o 
 
 ' Ecce Imperator ! ' exclaims YibuUius, as 
 Tinnius enters his tent to rejoin his comrades 
 after he has delivered to the mob his now 
 famous song. ' Ecce Imperator ! ' bursts out 
 the rolling voice of Saserna. ' Thou didst thy 
 part, my Tinnius, like an Emperor. Had 
 Vigilius thy uncle been as acute as his name 
 made him out to be, thou his heir might have 
 worn the real instead of the sham purple to- 
 night.' 
 
 Rechning on their couches, the four friends 
 sip their wine, and talk over the events of the 
 day with such absorption that the trumpet- 
 call at midnight for the camp to close comes 
 upon them with a start. 
 
 They rise to the call, and go forth to see 
 the end of the eventful day. 
 
 The rapidity with which the camp is closed 
 is a phenomenon. Every man doing his work
 
 106 THE SOX OF A STiVR 
 
 always in the same way, and tliat way always 
 the best, the whole encampment at once is 
 transformed ; the streets are cleared ; the lamps 
 are extinguished, at a sign, simultaneously ; 
 and under the fading fire of tlie Pharos the 
 sentinels are performing their guardianship as 
 if no feast had ever been held. 
 
 ' Give me a Eoman army as a time-keeper 
 and I will challenge Phoebus himself to keep 
 better time,' observes Fabius, with true admi- 
 ration of what he has witnessed. 
 
 But hark ! What noise is there, disturb- 
 ing the dead silence which for a brief interval 
 prevails ? 
 
 Quickly a troop of horsemen, fifty at least, 
 passes by, headed by an officer of well-known 
 skill. The troop makes for the southern gate- 
 way, and like a stone from a catapult is out of 
 the fortress. 
 
 ' What new freak is this ? ' enquires the 
 hasty Vibullius. 
 
 Saserna and Tinnius may both know, but if 
 they do they are not ready to tell. 
 
 Saserna answers offhand as if it were, as 
 indeed to him it is, a trifling episode : — 
 
 ' A despatch, perchance, from the Emperor
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 107 
 
 or Severus to another camp ; or a scouting 
 party to watch some wretched native force 
 that is threatening to rise.' 
 
 It matters not, the troop is gone, and the 
 friends, who, by their position and rank, are 
 privileged to continue their pleasure, resume 
 their places and their discourse. They resume 
 the subject of their meeting during the sports 
 of the previous day. 
 
 ' I saw you both enter the popularia,' 
 observed Saserna, ' and but for the presence 
 of Severus the watchful, I should have made 
 you some sign of recognition.' 
 
 ' Is Severus still the severe ? ' asks Vibullius. 
 
 ' Unchanged and unchangeable. As stern 
 in the camp as when he was prefect in the 
 academy and we four boys were under his 
 dominion. Tinnius is always repeating what 
 you have just hinted, Vibullius, that his name 
 carries his nature. Does he ever slacken, 
 Tinnius you sly old cannibal, under that wine 
 of Cyprus you so freely supply him with ? ' 
 
 ' As Hercules slackens under his club, great 
 editor. Wine makes Severus more severe, 
 until he suddenly sinks dead under it alto- 
 gether, a log of a man.'
 
 108 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 ' Does he never, when you two are alone, 
 speak of the past ? ' enquired Fabius. ' Our 
 parents were all of equal blood with his and 
 we with him.' 
 
 'With the side blood of the illustrious 
 Virgil flowing in your veins, distinguished 
 Fabius. But I can tell you he never speaks 
 except on business, in which he is as sharp as 
 a sword-point, as hard as an executioner.' 
 
 ' Will the ass know us when he meets us, 
 Tinnius ? ' interposed Yibullius. 
 
 ' The ass will not know you, for he is a 
 dumb ass, and a blind ass, and a deaf ass to all 
 except his own business, and that is Severus 
 himself He, I am sure, recognised you to- 
 day. The Emperor in his place would have 
 sent for you, and in the presence of all the 
 people would have folded you in his embrace. 
 He, true to himself, sat like a stone and stared 
 like a statue. Perchance to-morrow he will 
 ask me wliat you do here, and if he thinks that 
 you mean to stay he will offer you some office 
 about his person, for he has a strange liking 
 to have around him those he knows and trusts. 
 Beyond that not a syllable.' 
 
 ' What did he to the Emperor, Saserna ? '
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 109 
 
 ' The same, my Fabius, as to us all, his 
 duty, his bare duty. Yet I noticed that 
 Hadrian touched him once in a vital point, 
 though it was by a mere arrow shot at a ven- 
 ture.' 
 
 ' About what ? ' all the friends eagerly wish 
 to know. 
 
 ' The dark maiden who laid herself like a 
 beautiful sleuthhound at Hadrian's feet.' 
 
 ' The sorceress who went round with old 
 hundred years, and cast out the demon, and 
 sang the gibberish to the boy Simeon as he 
 started for the lower gods,' put in Tinnius. 
 ' But my friends you have no wine,' and so 
 saying he refilled their cups that they might 
 listen, with their greedy ears, more keenly to 
 Saserna for the vital point that had been 
 touched in Severus the severe. 
 
 ' It caught my ear. The Emperor asked 
 him who the maiden was, and after getting 
 his reply twitted him with being in love. And 
 mark you, my brothers, for once and for the 
 only time in my life I saw Severus wince.' 
 
 ' Antony and Cleopatra re-enacted,' ex- 
 claims Tinnius. ' We will put it into a play, 
 most potent editor, with your assistance. He
 
 110 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 shall be Antony, tlie beautiful sorceress shall 
 be Cleopatra. By Minerva 'twill be the root 
 of a new poem.' 
 
 ' And why not ? ' suggests Fabius. ' Why 
 not, you excited red-beard. What is there 
 strange that is not familiar in love ? Every 
 Cleopatra has an Antony.' 
 
 ' Two or three,' interposed Tinnius. 
 
 ' Well, two or three, three or four, four or 
 five, if you like ; it is by the will of tlie gods.' 
 
 ' I should say the goddesses,' again inter- 
 rupted the vivacious scribe ; ' I should say by 
 the order of the goddesses, my noble Roman.' 
 
 ' By the goddesses then, if you will ; still 
 there is in the fact no wonder.' 
 
 ' No wonder,' retorts Tinnius. ' No wonder ! 
 Why, I tell you,' and here he struck the wine 
 table a blow which stung his own hand as 
 he poured out his emphatic sentence, ' I tell 
 you I would as soon expect to see Julius 
 Severus lift up the curtains of this tent and 
 walk in here and take that empty couch as 
 believe that he should ever Ught on a 
 Cleopatra.' 
 
 The words are scarcely said, the wine cups 
 have not ceased to ring on the vibrating table
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 111 
 
 when the curtain rises and, to the blank 
 astonishment of them all, the face and form of 
 Severus is before thera. 
 
 He is divested now of all robes and marks 
 of office. Attired in the simple eveninfj robe 
 of the Eoman gentleman, erect as a pillar 
 and hard as marble, he stands before them ; 
 his features finely chiselled in every line and 
 more rigid than his body. 
 
 A man by nature commanding, and from 
 his cradle a Eoman soldier intended for com- 
 mand, the form and manner and will of the 
 soldier is in every look and movement evolved 
 through generations of liis kind. His ancestors 
 had never been of his own rank, but from 
 father to son they had been centurions, until 
 they became so by natural birthright and 
 claimed their own with unswerving zeal and 
 confidence. In the days of Julius Ceesar, 
 Labienus, one of the family, having proved 
 himself an admirable shipbuilder by rapidly 
 reconstructing at Dola a battered squadron 
 that had conveyed Caesar from Gaul, was left 
 in Britain, with a higher command, to pene- 
 trate far westward into the island, and con- 
 quer along his way until he met the sea on
 
 112 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 the western side. He did it, and the work was 
 done so well that superior rank was awarded 
 to him and Julius was added to his name. 
 
 It was, however, reserved for the man who 
 stands now before us to make the most notable 
 mark in arms and name, and to achieve a 
 position, viceregal in quality, as governor of 
 the province which his ancestor had fought 
 and overcome. Detailed, in the early part of 
 his career, to hold with two hundred men a 
 strong fortalice of stone while his general in 
 command went out with the main body of 
 the troops to find and vanquish a formidable 
 native force that had collected in Siluria, he 
 was po suddenly surrounded by an overwhelm- 
 ing body of the enemy that escape and defence 
 seemed equally impossible. Three parts out 
 of four of his fortress were invested, the fourth 
 part not immediately in danger being a lofty 
 hill which formed the back of his quarry. 
 
 In an hour his plan of action was matured, 
 and the order went forth as the night shut off 
 the foe and checked the complete investment. 
 ' Let one hundred men cut through that hill a 
 tunnel of sufficient size for one man to pass ; 
 but conceal the escape on the opposite side.
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 113 
 
 Let the rest destroy every roof and wall within 
 the fortress that might afford covering or 
 shelter.' 
 
 By the following morning's dawn the tunnel 
 was complete. Then, giving orders that every 
 man should be ready to obey his word to 
 enter the tunnel and pass out of it in line, he 
 himself mounting the gateway of the fortress 
 signalled to the enemy to bring them within 
 call. 
 
 Assuming the role of a young and alarmed 
 sentinel who had been coerced into the armv, 
 and speaking to the ambassadors in their own 
 language, which he had completely mastered, 
 he offered to admit them all at the crate while 
 his comrades still slept, if they would let him, 
 without any weapon, run, afterwards, for his 
 hfe. 
 
 The bait took ; the native force was drawn 
 as quickly as possible towards the gate of the 
 little fortress, and so soon as the assumed sen- 
 tinel had got his men ready for their exit by 
 the tunnel and on their way to it, he himself 
 throwing open the gate escaped as promised 
 into the rear of the enemy. 
 
 The witless host swept in slowly through 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 the narrow gateway, to find not one lance or 
 sword to oppose them. In momentary triumph 
 they wondered wliat had liappened. But they 
 only waited for their doom. 
 
 ' A cave ! a cave !' they cried, ' the Eomans 
 have hidden in a cave ! ' 
 
 Impetuously they enter, and some of them 
 creep along the floor of the cave until in 
 darkness they try to turn back to tell that 
 there seems no enemy there, except darkness 
 and suffocating air. The check created a 
 panic, and a resolve of the enemy to return 
 to the open plain. 
 
 It was too late. The besiegers were the 
 besieged. By the time they had discovered 
 the trick that had been played on them fifty 
 Eoman soldiers were at the outer portal slay- 
 ing instantly every man who tried to escape 
 through its narrow space, while a small body 
 of sappers at the free end of the tunnel 
 closed that so strongly with earth that no 
 vent was there. Locked in the strongly built 
 prison with no means to scale its bare and 
 lofty walls, with no means to concentrate 
 more than ten men at most at the porta], 
 against a drilled troop on the other side, they
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 115 
 
 soon found themselves stoned from the sHngrs 
 . of the Romans with such vehemence that they 
 were enveloped in a shower of missiles falling 
 from tremendous heights like massive hail- 
 stones, from which there was no shelter, and 
 which wounded and killed all on whom they 
 fell. In the panic they closed on each other, 
 and soon the Eoman swordsmen boldly re- 
 entering the gate finished the deadly work 
 which the shngers had commenced. 
 
 The helplessly terrified victims who re- 
 mained prayed for mercy. They prayed in 
 vain. Severus, who had himself slain a little 
 hecatomb, commanded that two only sliould 
 live, the two men with whom he had par- 
 leyed and who had promised him his liberty 
 and his life, and these were led forth, not out 
 of any pity or care for tlieir lives, but that 
 they might run and tell to their people liow a 
 new Eoman general had risen whose skill was 
 equal to his cruelty and his courageous craft. 
 
 Henceforth the Eoman strategist, so cun- 
 ning and so merciless, was made to assume a 
 new name, which attached itself to him until 
 he was bound to accept it whether he liked it 
 or not. It suited his nature to its very core 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 to like and adopt the name, and from that 
 day Julius Labienus was known by all men as 
 Julius Severus. 
 
 Tlie news of his stratagem reached Eome, 
 and was hailed there as a triumphant achieve- 
 ment. This was good for Severus. The 
 news of the stratagem penetrated everywhere 
 through the native tribes of Britain, and that 
 was good for Eome. So far from bearinii 
 enmity to the man for what he had done, the 
 native enemy revered his cunning and his 
 courage. It struck them with an admiring 
 fear, and made Julius Severus himself worth 
 a legion to the Eoman arms. The place where 
 his victory was won he converted into a 
 tumulus called ' the cave of the slain,' or 
 sometimes the tomb by Severus. 
 
 Upon the mind of Marcus Aurcliuo/ who uctwx. 
 was Emperor when this event occurred, the 
 victory of Severus told badly. But Trajan, 
 who soon afterwards succeeded, was very 
 differently influenced. This fighting prince 
 saw in Severus a soldier who knew his own 
 mind and carried out his own desires with the 
 mercilessness of fate, a man of men for sub- 
 duing and rulinjT savage hordes. So, under
 
 LAID LOAY WITH WI^'E 117 
 
 Trajan, Severus found ample scope for his skill 
 and food for his ambition. Kept in command 
 of one of the most remote of the Eomaii 
 possessions, he was safe from disturbing tlie 
 ruhng power at home ; while in his own 
 sphere he was, in every practical sense, nu 
 Emperor. He knew his place, kept it, and 
 made it respected and feared by the exercise 
 of the severest will blended with the severest 
 justice. 
 
 Until civilisation breeds and nourishes 
 philanthropy as the hght of the world, such 
 men as Julius Severus always rule best, and 
 on the whole, perhaps, most humanely. Tliey 
 rule through perfect fear, and, until perfect love 
 casteth out fear, they will never be deposed. 
 
 We see this man now before us more 
 closely than when he sat in the seat of state 
 < of the Circus Britannicus. He is forty years 
 old. He is at this moment effecting a new 
 and startling strategy, and we who have the 
 privilege to know his secret may tell it. He 
 comes ostensibly to greet in an informal way 
 his two old schoolfellows, whom he has 
 detected as fresh from Eome. He comes 
 actually to hear from them in their accidental
 
 118 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 gossipings the state of Eome and the position 
 of Hadrian in the minds of the Roman people. 
 Severus is in his prime as a soldier ; Hadrian 
 somewhat past his prime, is not a soldier. 
 Is the empire falling to pieces, disintegrating, 
 under a more benign but less conquering 
 power than existed during Trajan's brief but 
 glorious rule ? 
 
 In plain thoughts, has Julius Severus any- 
 chance for the imperial purple ? 
 
 A Eoman less severe than he, though 
 holding higher dignity, on entering into the 
 company of two old friends whom he has not 
 seen for many years, would greet them with the 
 kiss of friendship, would enquire after their 
 health, their home, their family, their friends. 
 
 With Severus no such kindly ceremony is 
 either expected or offered. 
 
 In the quarters of every superior person ; 
 in the Eoman camp there is provided a chair 
 or couch of state, called emphatically the 
 ' empty couch.' It is reserved exclusively for 
 the father of the people, for him who governs, 
 just as in a private house the couch or seat 
 of the father of the house is retained for him 
 alone.
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 119 
 
 In these quarters of Tinnius Eufus the 
 comptroller the seat of honour is of course 
 there, and though it has never been filled it is 
 always brought forth. Symbolically the sire 
 or ruler is always at the feast, be it ever so 
 rich, ever so homely. 
 
 To that seat with all the dignity of hie 
 office Severus moves, and takes it without a 
 word ; the head and master of the school- 
 boy group once more- 
 
 The wine continues to pass, and gradually 
 amongst the old friends a warm but less 
 animated conversation ensues, to which 
 Severus listens, but in which, except by a nod 
 or a word or two like Yes and No, he takes 
 no part. But, in one respect he more than 
 joins the rest. 
 
 The wine with which the liberal comp- 
 troller freely supplies him suits his palate, and 
 of it he drinks with a kind of savage greed, 
 until at length, after a larger draught than 
 ordinary, his hard features become imbecile, 
 his head drops on his chest, and he falls, as 
 the comptroller said, hke Hercules on his club, 
 a helpless log of human flesh and bone. 
 
 * He is off,' observes Tinnius, ' so dead off
 
 120 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 that we might if we hked put him through 
 tlie fire and into liis urn, and he be none the 
 wiser.' 
 
 ' It was our conversation about the Jewish 
 sorceress whicli made him expedite this 
 quotidian fit by that copious finishing draught,' 
 remarks Sasenia. 
 
 And therewith follows a consultation as to 
 what is to be done. 
 
 ' We must bear him gently and quietly to 
 his quarters,' explains Tinnius. 'In eight 
 hours he will be the same Severus as he was 
 in the tribune, with a little more of the demon 
 mocking him into severity.' 
 
 Practised hands in all works connected 
 with the camp, the friends, in a few moments, 
 lit up an ambulance or litter from the spears 
 which stand around. They lash the spears 
 together into the litter, cover it with the skin 
 of a leopard which lies over the back of one 
 of the couches, then folding the body of the 
 vice-emperor in the folds, with a cushion for his 
 head, Fabius and Vibullius hoist him on their 
 shoulders, and following Tinnius and followed 
 by Saserna move rapidly and noiselessly 
 towards their destination.
 
 LAID LOW WITH WIXE 121 
 
 By this time all the camp is at rest except 
 the sentinels, who keep up their unwearied 
 watch, and who are doubly strong at the 
 quarters where slaves and foreigners reside. 
 
 Tlie stars alone give light, the winds alone 
 give motion. 
 
 The bearers of Severus traverse almost the 
 entire length of the central street of the camp. 
 They pass the silent tent of the Emperor, 
 around which the sentinels stand, like statues, 
 in absolute rest. They pass the tent of the 
 physician of the Emperor, the learned Ascle- 
 pias Tryphonius, usually called Tryphon. 
 They pass the newly erected and singular 
 tents of the various scholars, engineers, and 
 mechanics, who invariably accompany the 
 Emperor wherever   he goes, and in whose 
 discourse he finds his chief dehght. 
 
 As they approach the quarters of Severus, 
 which lie outside the encampment, in more 
 permanent structure than any in the rest of 
 the camp — a Eoman villa in point of fact — 
 they observe in one tent a single light and 
 some sign of movement within. It is the only 
 tent that has given the faintest indication of 
 the hfe that nestles in its walls.
 
 122 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 It is the tent of Fidelis the centurion of a 
 hundred years. 
 
 Fabius and Vibulhus, anxious to complete 
 their task, step after Tinnius rapidly. Saserna 
 follows, but having less cause for hurry waits 
 for a moment. His curiosity, always keen, is 
 awakened by the light and the movement in 
 the old man's quarters, and as he approaches 
 them he draws himself near to the entrance 
 wondering what is going on within. 
 
 As he waits the canvas doors of the tent 
 open, and there steps quietly out into the night 
 a stranger whom, from his garb, a long flow- 
 ing dark robe, he, with some hesitation, at 
 last decides to be the Archiater or Emperor's 
 physician, the renowned Tryphon. 
 
 Saluting so great a person with deep 
 reverence, the editor enquires, with becoming 
 respect, whether anything has befallen Fidelis 
 that has called for the skill of the physician. 
 
 ' I came,' replies Tryphon, ' as one search- 
 ing for all knowledge of hidden things. I 
 came to the tent of Fidelis the centurion, to 
 see with my own eyes, to listen with my own 
 ears, and to touch with my own hands, one 
 who has hved a hundred years. I wished to
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 123 
 
 feel the pulses of so strange a man ; but above 
 all I desired to learn from his lips by what 
 art he had attained to such an enduring life.' 
 
 'A noble research, most learned Tryphon, 
 if I may venture to call thee, so much my 
 senior, by thy familiar name.' 
 
 ' 'Tis the name I most love, my son,' 
 responds the Archiater, ' for 'tis the name my 
 good parents left me, and 'twas their great 
 wealth. But speaking of tliis task of mine 
 thou dost overrate its worth. The physician 
 has two duties ever on his hands : the one to 
 the sick man who is under his care, the other 
 to the world at large over which also his skill 
 ranges. It is his duty, as the wisest man 
 of my people teaches, to seek and know all 
 things that happen under the sun : this sore 
 travail hath God given to the sons of men 
 to be exercised therewith.' 
 
 ' A noble duty nobly expounded, Tryphon. 
 No wonder is it that thy imperial master 
 keeps thee as the apple of his eye ; but pray 
 tell me of this old centurion, what thinkest 
 thou of him?' 
 
 'A wonderful remnant of a human soul 
 and body, Saserna, for thy voice carries thy
 
 124 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 name ; a wonderful remnant of a human soul 
 in human form, of whom let me speak to thee 
 in parable. Dost thou remember near to Rome 
 a lofty pedestal at the foot of the Aventine 
 liills?' 
 
 ' I remember it well ; it was raised by our 
 great fathers of the state to the goddess of 
 health, Salus, and it stood there for ages 
 defying time.' 
 
 ' It did, but now knowest thou its fate ? ' 
 
 ' Not more than I have told you, illustrious 
 healer ! ' 
 
 ' Then I will tell you more. One morning, 
 a month or so ere we left Rome for this 
 remote island, that statue stood in all its 
 apparent strength and in all its beauty. It 
 was the day of the festival dedicated to the 
 i^oddess, and in honour of the event a smart 
 and handsome youth was chosen to climb the 
 statue and place a garland on her brow. A 
 hundred tinles before the same ceremony 
 had been performed ; again the rite was fully 
 carried out, and again at night the sun cast 
 his parting rays on the garlanded Salus, 
 But in the night there rose a storm, and 
 when the sun threw his glory once more on
 
 LAID LOW WITH WIXE 125 
 
 the charmed spot the statue of Salus lay as 
 dust at the foot of its crumbhng pedestal, the 
 garland buried in the ruins.' 
 
 ' Alas ! alas ! And is that tlie fate of 
 Fidehs ? ' 
 
 ' It is. The light crown which Severus put 
 on the old man's head yesterday has borne 
 him to the earth.' 
 
 ' Dead ? ' exclaimed Saserna. 
 
 'No, not dead, but in his last hours; a 
 centurion still : yet in the bonds of death and 
 past my art to save.' 
 
 ' Will he Hve long ? ' 
 
 'Not to see the full glory of the day, 
 Saserna. When the symbol of your Eoman 
 god Apollo, the symbol of his everlasting 
 existence, his yes, his great I am, the eternal 
 sun, is longest away from the earth tlie 
 feeble of the sons of men, though they were 
 once the strongest, depart before the breath 
 of his rising and are no more. Farewell ! ' 
 
 And gathering up his robe the Archiater 
 turns back from Saserna to seek his own place 
 by the side of the Cassar he so faithfully serves. 
 
 For a brief period Saserna, wholly absorbed 
 in the parable he has heard, stands at the door
 
 126 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 of Fidelis. He would enter liad he not been 
 arrested by the gentle voice of Iluldah, who 
 seems to him to commence singing to the 
 God of her faith a prayer she has turned into 
 the Latin tongue to make it more familiar to 
 the dying Eoman. 
 
 * Wait ! wait 1 for the Lord ; 
 Let thy soul wait for the Lord, 
 And trust thou in His word. 
 Wait thou for the Lord 
 More than the watchers wait 
 Who look out for the dawn, 
 For the dawn, for the dawn of day.' 
 
 ' It is as if she were sing;infy a babe to its 
 sleep with her foot upon its cradle,' muses 
 the editor ; ' and so she sings that infant of 
 a hundred years to his eternal rest. But to 
 which of the immortal gods she chants I trow 
 not. Jove is not chaste enough, Mars is too 
 savage. It must be to the God of her own 
 people to whom was built the gorgeous 
 temple which Vespasian laid in ruins, with 
 the city called Jerusalem in which it stood, 
 and near to which Fidelis was born.' 
 
 And, continuing his musing but not daring 
 to break the divine song, Saserna, with the 
 words still on his ear : —
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 127 
 
 * Wait I wait ! for the Lord ; 
 Let thy soul wait for the Lord, 
 And trust thou in His word,' 
 
 follows rapidly his friends to the villa of 
 Severiis. 
 
 He passes through a passage in the pine 
 wood, reaches the threshold of the residence 
 and, after lighting his lamp quickly with flint 
 and steel, enters the first court in which 
 persons who come on business are received. 
 Crossing this he ascends by two steps to the 
 middle court, where favoured guests are per- 
 mitted to enter. Thence he passes into a third 
 court, on the right of which is the sleeping 
 room of the man laid low with wine, and 
 treading noiselessly joins his comrades there, 
 to give them, if need be, any assistance they 
 may require. 
 
 The house, or as it is commonly called the 
 Court of Severus, is the type of the Eoman 
 dwelling, like that in which Sallust lived in his 
 day, but changed a little to suit the variable 
 and sometimes severe climate of Britain. It 
 is built within the ever-green pine wood, the 
 branches of which both shelter and purify it. 
 It is furnished to suit not so much the taste as
 
 128 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 the service of its master. It is literally filled 
 with the various requirements of the soldier : 
 armour, arms, movable folding tents, and 
 everything that is portable and useful in the 
 field. The middle part, used for the recep- 
 tion of visitors by most Eomans, is here a 
 museum and library. Its walls are covered 
 with maps of the country, of towns, rivers, 
 plains, roads and harbours. It is Britain con- 
 densed to the eyes of its master ; whilst its 
 floor is strewn with trophies and relics of various 
 campaigns, ranged in order, but not in such 
 order that a stranger would understand them. 
 Adjoining the room in which the now helpless 
 warrior sleeps, the sleep of wine, is the hot-air 
 or Eoman bath, in which the people of Eome, 
 losing by this time their rude strength, are 
 besinninof to indulo;e with too wanton indul- 
 o-ence. Each Eoman who can afford it has 
 now his hot-air bath, the Emperor excepted, 
 and Severus following the custom has his in 
 his own house. To him the bath is a saving 
 remedy. In it he evaporates off into the air 
 the fumes of the one and only enemy that 
 even laid him low. 
 
 Ere Saserna arrives the friends have re-
 
 LAID LOW WITH WINE 129 
 
 moved the insensible Severus from the ambu- 
 lance, ' have skinned the leopard,' as Tinnius 
 profanely remarks, and have laid him on his 
 own couch as dense a log as ever. 
 
 ' Take care,' continues Tinnius, ' take care 
 that you move nothing to show you have 
 entered his sepulchre, and carry away care- 
 fully the skin and the spears. He will wake 
 up then, tliinking he got home of his own will 
 and strength.' 
 
 They follow the injunction to the letter ; 
 leave in his degraded glory the leader of 
 Roman Britain to fight his most fatal foe ; 
 and return to the home of Tinnius just as 
 the day is beginning to dawn. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 130 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INTERPOSITION. 
 
 We see by tlie liistory of the last chapter how 
 some favoured ones of theEoman camp ended 
 the festivity of the preceding day. But there 
 are others under our care, and one especially 
 whose course and fate must claim our close 
 and immediate attention. 
 
 The masses went their usual way, to discuss 
 the events they had seen, to sleep over them, 
 and hope for a return of a similar excitement. 
 
 Do they not bestow one human thought 
 on tliat wretched victim of their mirth, who 
 was made to run the gauntlet of fire ? 
 
 Is there no touch of human sympathy for 
 liim ? 
 
 Not a touch ! Not a touch ! 
 
 The eras of Augustus and of his successors, 
 grand as they may be, are eras of the savage
 
 INTERPOSITION 1 3 1 
 
 man, of tragedy in earnest, of martyrdom in 
 sport, and of life altogether, as the dying 
 Augustus himself defined it, life in comedy, in 
 which the comedy of pain plays the choicest 
 part. 
 
 To this civilisation the fate of Simeon the 
 living torch is so small a subject of sympatliy 
 that the majority of the masses are inclined 
 to complain because the whim of the Emperor 
 permitted the youth to escape into the open 
 country. Had Severus retained command, the 
 torch might have been run in the large arena, 
 round and round, until it had blazed out. 
 Then, half-cooked for ravening wolves or 
 bears, it might have been left in a fenced ring 
 to fight with the animals one by one, until, 
 imable to fight more, it yielded up its body 
 to their devouring jaws. 
 
 Whether, as it is, he, the running torch, is 
 suffocated in the smoke which rose from his 
 body, or is roasted alive, or is lying like a 
 hunted deer in ditch, or field, cr fence, to die 
 by inches, is, to the masses, not worthy of a 
 passing thought. 
 
 In a select few, however, his fate excites a 
 different, if not a better feeling. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 In Hadrian it excites a mystery which he 
 trusts to time to explain. 
 
 In Severus it excites doubt, wliich he 
 likes not, and which he is anxious to solve. 
 At his command that troop of liorse wliich 
 called the companions of Tinnius Rufus out of 
 the tent has gone forth to find the torch or his 
 remains. 
 
 In Huldah does it excite no cause of con- 
 cern, no anxiety? 
 
 Strangest even of all ! None ! 
 
 Her soul communes with higher powers 
 than men. She is a woman of faith that will 
 remove mountains. She not only believes, but 
 she knows that he whom she bade o-q on in 
 the name she sang, and with the promises she 
 delivered in tliat lioly name, is under such 
 shelter that he will take no harm. Literally, 
 to her faithful eye, Simeon would go through 
 the fire and not be burned, through the 
 waters and not be overwhelmed. 
 
 Could he who was fore-known, fore-or- 
 dained ere ever the seas or the earth were 
 made, or the light was separated from the 
 darkness ; could he be left to perish ? The very 
 doubt were a sin, infamous and unpardonable.
 
 INTERPOSITION 133 
 
 against the God of her race, whose promises 
 are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
 
 She, moreover, has two otlier cares, which 
 occupy her thoughts. 
 
 Milo, the owner of the Numidian out of 
 whom she had cast the evil one ; Milo, disgusted 
 with the infirmity of his man-brute, has deter- 
 mined to sell the creature, at an immense loss, 
 to some young Eomans who intend next day 
 to have him baited again for the Emperor's 
 private sport and theirs. If sold to them, he 
 is to fight more wolves with that massive 
 club, and wagers run high on the event. 
 
 The spirit that guides Huldah tells her, 
 without being asked, that the Numidiau must 
 be saved. 
 
 She requires no further prompting. Some- 
 times, when she seeks the aid of the spirit 
 from her own earthly wishes, she doubts the 
 nature of the response ; it is ambiguous, it 
 leaves too much to her judgment, and is not 
 of faith. Then her heart is weak, and her 
 mind is borne down. But when the spirit 
 speaks of itself, when it saj's, without being 
 consulted, do this thing straightway, there is 
 no doubt, no delay. To save this man is there-
 
 13-1 THE SO.N or A STAR 
 
 fore her first care and duty ; but she lias yet 
 anotlier care almost as pressing and severe. 
 
 On her return to the tent of Fidelis, after 
 leaving the Circus Britannicus, she finds Fidelis, 
 <-ompletely prostrated by the events of the day, 
 lying on his couch, talking of men and things 
 of whom she has no knowledge, as if she under- 
 stood him. 
 
 The experience is new to her : she has 
 never seen Fidelis tired or lying down except 
 at his usual hour for rest ; she has never 
 heard him talk in that garrulous way; she 
 has never before known him refuse to listen to 
 her words of affection and trust, as he does 
 now. 
 
 She has a duty to fulfil to this father of 
 fathers, and she has a duty to fulfil to the man 
 whom she has released from the power of the 
 devil. To these duties she lends herself with 
 a devotion which none but a nature such as 
 hers could put forth. 
 
 In the midst of all Simeon remains on her 
 mind, yet neither with anxiety nor fear. He 
 is her true soul's care, but the Holy One is with 
 him. 
 
 ' Why,' she asks herself, ' why, whenever I
 
 INTERPOSITION 13-3 
 
 think of him, should tlie spirit, my spirit, s;iy 
 these promises to me but to assure me? ' 
 
 And so she is led to trust and perfect 
 peace. 
 
 Oh ! happy they who, relying on such sure 
 foundation, found their every hope on the 
 God of their salvation. 
 
 Perchance, too, these favoured ones have 
 their soul's peace resting on natural law. 
 Perchance, in time, wise men will discover in 
 vital physics, and in the destinies accomplished 
 by them, that by natural ordinance, respecting 
 Avhich there shall be no mystery, some of the 
 earth are ordained thus to Hve in immediate 
 communication with the eternal energy which 
 fills all life and speaks to the human heart 
 through the human soul. 
 
 To us, at all events, let Huldah remain 
 divinely assured that her beloved is, as she 
 believes, protected by the promise and tlie 
 power that none can overcome. 
 
 Let us also, leaving her for the time to her 
 beneficent tasks, resting on her pi-omises and 
 cherishing them, follow him upon whom her 
 heart is fixed, and see how far her faith is ful- 
 filled.
 
 136 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 To effect this change in our programme it is 
 necessary for us to go back to the time when 
 Simeon, as the running torch, was led out to 
 meet his great and fearful ordeal. 
 
 Our minds thus diverted naturally return 
 to the strange and noble-looking man, who, 
 with his angelic child, sat in the circus and 
 wondered at the pleasure testified at so much 
 sin and pain. With infinite anguish, which but 
 for gentle outlets of tears had broken their 
 hearts, the two had sat out the battle be- 
 tween Simeon, the Numidian, and the wolves. 
 They had watched with untold wonder and 
 relief the episode of the power of the dark and 
 beautiful Huldah, rising from the feet of the 
 Emperor, upon whom they looked with little 
 favour, to accompany Simeon the condemned 
 with cymbal and inspiring song. Towards her 
 they turned their eyes with pious admiration, 
 esteeming her as a being not only beautiful, but 
 endowed with supernatural gifts and qualities. 
 
 But when tliey fully understood the fate 
 that was in store for the youth, so handsome 
 and so brave, their hearts gave way altogether. 
 They had not conceived it possible that an act 
 so foul could be committed ; and, powerless to
 
 INTERrOSlTION 137 
 
 arrest the iniquity, they did the best they 
 could to show their utter detestation of it. 
 They bound up their sandals, gathered their 
 robes around them, and left the accursed place 
 for ever. 
 
 When they had reached the outside of the 
 grand circus, and saw once more the distant 
 hills l)efore them, the sobbing child found 
 relief in words. 
 
 ' Will they, dearest father,' asks the sweet 
 voice, ' will they truly set on fire him who 
 has done no wrong and been so generous ? 
 Will they indeed make his poor body a torch 
 of living fire for their wicked sport and plea- 
 sure ? ' 
 
 ' Alas ! my child, I fear they will do, even 
 with deliglit, whatever that monster human 
 god who rules over them may choose to com- 
 mand.' 
 
 ' And can we, dearest, do nothing to save 
 him ? ' 
 
 ' I have been forecasting that hope, my 
 own, and foresee an opportunity. If he can 
 leap the pit and run with sufficient speed across 
 the valley leading from the eastern gate of the 
 circus ; if he can climb yonder hill ; if he
 
 138 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 can reach on the other side that pool on tlie 
 bank of which we said our morning prayers 
 to the fountain of hght and love ; and, if into 
 that pool he can plunge, his danger might 
 be over. Thither we will hasten to guide and 
 help liim.' 
 
 ' But what if from weakness he should sink 
 before he reaches the pool ? ' 
 
 ' We may even then see some plan by 
 which to aid him. But let us away.' And, 
 with the swiftness of spirits, they seem to fly, 
 until they arrive at the little hike over the 
 risino" crround on which their minds have 
 centred. 
 
 In the rushes that surround the pool 
 some native had moored his liglit boat, made 
 of slender rods of hazel or willow covered 
 with skins of oxen, and holding within it 
 the paddles, just as they in the morning had 
 seen it. 
 
 ' May I touch the boat ? ' sighed the child ; 
 ' 'tis covered with the skin of a slain animal, 
 and the paddles are stained with blood ?' 
 
 ' Our sacred commandments teach that to 
 save any human life all rules ordinarily held 
 holy may be broken, since the human life is the
 
 INTERPOSITION 139 
 
 purest part of tlie eternal fire from which we 
 have our beinfj.' 
 
 Withdrawing her gently from tlie margin 
 of the pool, and instructing her what to do, 
 the wise man, a leader of his race, draws out 
 the canoe, places it in a position ready for it 
 to be entered in a moment of time, and then 
 returning to his child, moves with her to a 
 point of vantage where they can look over the 
 valley towards the encampment. 
 
 There they recline and watch with vigilant 
 eyes. 
 
 Quickly the child's keen siijht catches wliat 
 they are looking for. 
 
 ' See ! ' she cries, ' he is in sight ! he ascends 
 towards us ! He approaches us like a blazing 
 meteor traversing the earth. Let us kneel 
 and pray.' 
 
 And, for a moment, they did kneel to their 
 deity, imploring him fervently not to devour 
 the innocent youth who bore his raging flame. 
 
 ' He comes ! he lives ! he will be with us 
 in an instant. Let us, dear father, lead him 
 to the lake.' 
 
 ' Go forward, my sweet one ; but not too 
 near him, lest thy frail garments touch the
 
 140 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 fire he carries. In tlie Eoman tongue call to 
 him to follow thee as if thou wert a spirit in 
 his patli ; so calling, flee thee to the canoe and 
 join me. lie will follow us and live.' 
 
 Like a truly angelic being the child flies 
 towards the flaming Simeon, and, waving a 
 light scarf to fix his attention, calls out with 
 sweetest voice, ' Come, come ! Follow me ! 
 Follow me ! ' 
 
 In the strano-e confusion and excitement 
 of the moment, tlie living torch, though he 
 were of merest ordinary mould of mind, might 
 be excused if he believed that some more 
 than ordinary power had interposed on his 
 behalf. To him who felt himself fore-ordained, 
 the manifestation, if not an expected event at 
 that precise moment, is a perfectly reasonable 
 and probable occurrence sent and meant to 
 save him. To his firm set enthusiasm this 
 voice is but another of the voices of the night 
 on which his soul had from its first watches 
 fed, and, without hesitation, he follows the 
 spirit before him whithersoever it may lead 
 him. 
 
 Rapidly, still hearing the sweet call,' come 
 come ! ' he sees the angel Join another being of
 
 INTERPOSITION 141 
 
 resplendent beauty, sitting as it seems to him, 
 the entranced, on a lake of crimson, over which 
 both glide away beckoning him still to follow. 
 
 A hissing sound, like that the smith pro- 
 duces as he dips his heated metal in the trough, 
 a cloud of vapour from the surface of the pool, 
 and the living torch might have been trans- 
 formed into a drowned man, but for the two 
 strong arms and the assistance they afford. 
 Soon he feels a powerful hand on his body 
 helping him to rise from the water ; a few 
 moments more and he stands erect. 
 
 He stands a blackened mass, but safe and 
 sound, breast high in the water, throwing his 
 lonjT black locks from off his face and mazing 
 wildly at his deliverers. 
 
 ' The prophecy is, indeed, fulfilled. " When 
 thou walkest through the fire it shall not con- 
 sume thee, through the waters they shall not 
 overflow thee ! " ' 
 
 Above his head the stars are shining in 
 radiant clearness; facing him one lustrous 
 orb seems to fill him with her own glory ; 
 he hears the voices of angels who lead him 
 through the river of life Zion-ward. Surely 
 he will soon behold the city whose streets
 
 142 THE SOX OP A STAR 
 
 are paved with gold and where there is no 
 death. 
 
 The expectation is false, as many other such 
 have been before. "When his feet rest on the 
 shore, he hears the voices telling him, still in 
 the Latin tongue, not to fear ; and soon they, 
 in turn, are entranced as he raises his hands to 
 heaven, and, in a language they seem to com- 
 prehend, pours forth his thanks. 
 
 ' My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed. 
 I will sing and give praise. 
 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, 
 I will sing unto thee among the nations. 
 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, 
 And thy truth unto the clouds. 
 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. 
 Let thy glory be above all the earth.' 
 
 They are sublime words, declarations 
 uttered with the fervour of one inspired. They 
 clothe a secret declaration that hencefortli, 
 through a life however short, however long, 
 the message shall be uplifted as a banner to be 
 read by all peoples : — 
 
 * Be thou exalted, God, above the heavens. 
 Let thy glory be above all the earth ! ' 
 
 The listeners are as enraptured as the 
 worshipper ; but one of them, ever wise and
 
 INTEEPOSITIOX 143 
 
 prudent, reasons with himself that some en- 
 quiring followers from the camp will surely 
 pursue, and that ere the moon shall rise it 
 were well to study the best measures for com- 
 plete escape from a place which to him is as 
 the confines of a world of sin and death. 
 
 ' He sings, my father, he sings ! ' exclaims 
 the rapturous child ; ' he must be well.' 
 
 ' True, my own, all who can sing can live ; 
 and observe that he offers his thanks to the 
 Omnipotent Power that has so far saved 
 him before he turns to the instruments that 
 omnipotence has employed. 'Tis according to 
 our own sacred law and the wisdom of our 
 blessed ancestors. It is as it should be.' 
 
 The declaration finished, Simeon for the 
 first time addresses himself to his deliverers, 
 to whom as beings of more than human 
 quality he bends in admiration. 
 
 The idea of their supernatural character 
 is dispelled by the extremely practical manner 
 in which the chieftain speaks to him. 
 
 ' Thou hast done well, my son, to return 
 thy thanks to thy Omnipotent Lord. To 
 us, mortals like thyself, let no thanks be 
 given, save those which come from a true
 
 144 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 and grateful heart, in deeds of truth and 
 honour.' 
 
 With ready skill he once more places the 
 little canoe in the rushes by the shore, as he 
 had found it, obliterates all trace of footsteps 
 and other signs of what has occurred during 
 its use, and enquires with tender care, if he 
 who has escaped so terrible a peril is fitted for 
 further flight. To his satisfaction he finds 
 that this is quite possible. From the rapidity 
 of the flight of Simeon the bituminous covering 
 on the sackcloth garment has alone blazed into 
 fire, and the brisk wind which he has faced, 
 blowincf the flames behind him, has saved his 
 face. The pouches or bags into which his 
 hands and arms were thrust, are charred, so 
 that he can force his hands through them, but 
 his hands are not burned. 
 
 In a word, the intended victim, by simple 
 natural causes alone, has escaped scatheless. 
 
 Seeing this with much dehght, his wise 
 deliverer calls his child, who, like a sentinel, 
 watches the Eoman camp, and, giving to her 
 his right and to Simeon his left hand, he leads 
 them into the night.
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBEETY. 
 
 Whilst Simeon is being led away into the 
 dark unknown, the Numidian, with whom his 
 fate has been so singuUirly hnked, is passing 
 through another phase of his hfe, which, as 
 having an important bearing on the future of 
 this history, must occupy our exclusive atten- 
 tion in the present chapter. 
 
 Like an animal in a menagerie, the human 
 animal from whom the demon has been cast 
 out is lying in a kind of wooden stall or pen 
 outside the camp, under a guard of camp- 
 followers, who, as soldiers incapacitated by 
 wounds from regular service, are now em- 
 ployed in watching the animals and men 
 intended for the sports of the arena. 
 
 On the Numidian his guards look with a 
 mixture of admiration and fear. They have 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 disarmed him of his chib ; they have pacified 
 liiiii, as they think, by giving him an extra 
 layer of clean straw for his bed. They have 
 placed beside him a large leathern jug filled 
 with pure water for his drink ; and, from time 
 to time, they have thrown to him scrnps of 
 food from their own table, in addition to the 
 fare which Milo has provided for him. 
 
 Moreover, when they want hhn to get up 
 in order to show his limbs or display his 
 muscular feats to the gallants who come to 
 inspect him, they command him in a gentler 
 tone and gesture than is their custom, while 
 they enter into his cell as rarely as is possible, 
 and always with dainty vigilance. 
 
 For this Hercules incarnate, and lately 
 possessed of a demon, is a captive whom it is 
 considered wise to leave as much to himself 
 as is convenient. He is a new experience 
 altogether. 
 
 The next possible impending fate of the 
 miserable wretch is known throughout the 
 cam}), and also to himself, for they who have 
 come to look at him through the bars of his 
 den talk as freely within his hearing about 
 the ordeal he is likely to go through, as they
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 147 
 
 <io before tlie famishing animals whicli are to 
 be his awful foes. 
 
 The proposition, as we have already seen, 
 is that he shall next day fight again with 
 wolves ; and it is now suggested that he shall 
 fight two sets of six each, one set after the 
 other, in continued contest, for the enjoyment 
 of the gallants who wish to purchase him, and 
 who, of a wild and sporting character, are good 
 representatives of certain of the oldest and 
 most influential families of Eome. 
 
 The gallants drive a close bargain witli 
 Milo, and he, for he is notoriously a hard 
 bargainer, with them. They survey the man 
 they would purchase, at a respectful distance, 
 from head to foot. They admit his herculean 
 strength, but they dwell on that fatal flaw in 
 his value, the demon that possesses him. 
 
 Milo, on his part, first maintains that the 
 demon has been driven out of the animal. 
 
 ' But will he guarantee that it will never 
 enter him again,' they enquire, ' If he will 
 there is his full claim with the penalty attach- 
 ing to it should his guarantee fail.' 
 
 Not sufliciently certain of his case to ac- 
 cept these terms, Milo shly parries his offer 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 as a joke, and in a half-hearted bantering tone, 
 commonly assumed by all barterers in flesh 
 and blood, praises the faults of the chattel he 
 would sell. 
 
 'Mayhap the demon is at the bottom of 
 all the skill which he possesses, and only 
 throws him when he is doino- wronj? ; therefore 
 it were best it should come back to him.' 
 
 The gallants take this suggestion at its true 
 Avorth, and thinking they have their man in a 
 corner, they laugh, and leave him in order to 
 join in the tumult incidental to the song of 
 Tinnius Eufus, ' Ecce Imperator.' 
 
 The song over, they stroll about the camp 
 as gallants will ; and when they feel that they 
 have given Milo full time for reflection, they 
 go to the tent of that crafty salesman to re- 
 open the negotiation. 
 
 To their utter bewilderment, as they enter 
 the tent, they discover the human animal who 
 for their next morning's sport might be de- 
 voured of wolves, clothed in Eoman attire like 
 their own, only of plainer stuff', and seated with 
 Milo as at least his equal. 
 
 Divested now of all the barbarous trim- 
 ming th^t have been put upon him for the
 
 IX THE CAP OF LIBERTY 149 
 
 arena, he is a fine and stalwart man, of olive 
 complexion it is true, but of grand and noble 
 expression, and of graceful and even dignified 
 manner. 
 
 The gallants, there are four of them, can- 
 not believe their senses. In their wonder they 
 rush back to the pen where the Numidian 
 had been confined. 
 
 The pen is occupied by six goats, which turn 
 towards them with mocking baas, shrill and 
 pressing, as if asking for the food they expect, 
 or the young of which they have just been 
 robbed. 
 
 For the fun of this night, and for the 
 matter of that of many other nights, the gal- 
 lants have assumed to themselves the names 
 of Brutus, Cassius, Pompey, and young Octa- 
 vius, characters supposed to suit and fit their 
 respective natures. 
 
 ' By all the infernals,' lisps the young 
 Octavius,' this change of animal out- Caesars 
 Csesar.' 
 
 ' Another miracle ! ' exclaims Pompey. 
 
 '• A beastly attempt to extort from us more 
 gold,' whispers Brutus. 
 
 ' But not likely to succeed until we have
 
 150 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 stripped tlie beast, and seen that we have not 
 been cajoled by a counterfeit,' urges the fiery 
 Cassius, as he draws his dagger-knife to rip up 
 tlie toga of tlie released Numidian, to Avhoni, 
 while carrying on their exclamations, they 
 have furiously returned. 
 
 ' Hold, gentlemen, hold ! ' interposes Milo. 
 ' Who touches him touches Cajsar. He is 
 mine no longer. He has obtained his freedom, 
 ranks as a Roman citizen like oui'selves, and 
 as his club is now his own weapon, it were 
 wiser for you to drink to his future success as 
 a freeman of Eome, than to quarrel either with 
 Ca3sar or with him.' 
 
 And as Caisar and the weapon of the newly 
 freed man are not things to be trifled with, 
 the gallants, like all men who are prudent as 
 well as gallant, throw themselves at once into 
 the humour of Milo, call for wine, and would 
 now drink to the new representative of free- 
 dom and power until break of day, did he not 
 check them. 
 
 ' In the country from whence I come, noble 
 sirs,' he explains in a gentle but manly tone, 
 and with good Eoman accent, ' in the country 
 whence I come my people use a bow which
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 151 
 
 no Other people can bend. We live to one 
 hundred and twenty years. In the days of 
 our forefathers, King Cambyses and his son 
 Cyrus feared to fight against us, and one of 
 your own Ceesars failed to subdue us, though 
 he took some of us captive. All our men are 
 strong as I ; our women, equally strong, are 
 far more beautiful ; and the secret of all our 
 strength lies in one simple act. We take no 
 stupefying food or drink.' 
 
 ' By Bacchus ! ' whimpers the young Oc- 
 tavius, ' this is too blasphemous. I pray thee, 
 Brutus ! Cassius ! Pompey ! let us go to the 
 temple ! let us go to the temple ! ' 
 
 ' And what,' asked Milo, when the exqui- 
 sites had departed, ' what, thou fortunate of 
 fortunate men, will be thy next promotion ? 
 I wan-ant thee thou wilt take for a wife this 
 Jewish Huldah, and be more enslaved than 
 ever. Women do not give freedom to hand- 
 some young athletes without trying to take 
 them all to themselves.' 
 
 The suggestion, a mere random joke of a 
 rough Eoman soldier flushed with wine and 
 newly primed with money, throws the freed- 
 man into a frenzy almost as demonstrative as
 
 152 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 the seizure in tlie arena, an exhibition whicli 
 brings such fears to the affrignted Milo that 
 ]iis red cheeks turn ghastly pale. 
 
 ' Fear not,' responds his visitor encourag- 
 ingl}^ ' fear not, good Milo ; the spirit which 
 so long haunted me is cast out for ever. But 
 thy saying struck deep into my heart and 
 transfixed it. Why, man, in all thy calendar 
 of Roman goddesses there is not one so divine 
 as she who gave me freedom. They call her 
 divine half in sport, half in fear. She is 
 divine ! She is not mortal, nor is there mortal 
 man will ever dare to claim her as wife. Her 
 follower through life to death I may be ; her 
 faithful companion, her tried servant, her 
 proven friend, but never more.' 
 
 And seeing the earnestness of the speaker, 
 and that there is no damper of a return of 
 the evil demon, the recovered Milo, who be- 
 lieves about as much in goddesses and divine 
 women as he docs in a bad bargain, allows 
 the new freedman to relieve his full heart by 
 a copious flood of tears, without any inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 ' Strange,' thinks Milo, as he busies himself 
 in putting things in order in the tent, and in
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 153 
 
 preparing a couch for the new occupant, 
 ' strange that a Hercules hke that should cry 
 like a baby. I wage me that Severus, or those 
 madcaps, or Tinnius Eufus — w^ell, I'll not be 
 too sure about Tinnius — or myself, would 
 never cry like that at my words. Surely it was 
 natural enough to suppose that a handsome 
 young woman who gives all the money she 
 possesses to buy a handsome young man, who 
 was going to be turned into an ugly old wolf 
 within twenty-four marks of the candle, would 
 have him in her eye as something unusually 
 excellent. Why not ? ' 
 
 Thus musing whilst he arranges the 
 couches, and then sitting down on his own 
 couch to unloose his sandals, Milo falls into 
 a brief reverie on the events of the day now 
 coming to a close, a day which has given a 
 freedman to Eome, a worshipper to Huldah 
 the Jewess, and a mint of money to his own 
 exchequer. 
 
 Let us leave Milo absorbed in what is pass- 
 ing before his mental gaze, and go back a 
 short time in order to disclose the mode in 
 which the Numidian obtained his freedom.
 
 154 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 We know already that Huldali had deter- 
 mined to save the man from whom, by some 
 strange spell, she Jiad cast tlie demon, and to 
 whom, by some stranger spell still, she was 
 attracted, as if by a mysterious hand which 
 led her to resolve on his deliverance in a mode 
 which shall, for a moment or two, occupy us 
 as observers of a stratagem of fate. 
 
 Fidehs the Centurion of a hundred years 
 has returned, as we have already seen, from 
 the Circus Britannicus back to his own quarters 
 a clianged man. He is faithful as ever to all 
 that a brave man holds most dear — his religion, 
 liis duty, his country, his friends. 
 
 These have ever been the four corner 
 stones of his temple of life : eeligion, duty, 
 
 COUNTRY, FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 And on four sounder foundations has no 
 man ever built. 
 
 The events of the day have, however, 
 proved at last too much for his powers. The 
 excitement of the triumphal march around tlie 
 course ; the arrival of Hadrian, whom he had 
 once escorted in the previous reign, and to 
 whom, then an uncrowned man, he had ren-
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 155 
 
 dered useful service ; the conduct of liis pro- 
 tege Simeon, the obstmacy of tlie youth, and 
 his fate ; the miracle he had witnessed. These 
 have induced in him a foreboding sadness, 
 followed, for the first time in his life, by 
 prostration both of body and mind. 
 
 He listens to Huldah's conversation, after 
 a time, with a kind of vacant pleasure, and 
 when he notices her sadness, as she tells of the 
 use which he out of whom she had cast the 
 bad spirit was soon to be put, he becomes 
 variable in mood, now mirthful, then contem- 
 plative, in rapid succession. 
 
 No longer Fidelis, the centurion of Cassarea, 
 unmoved and always ready, but a child of 
 children. 
 
 With resignation he lays down thevitis on 
 his couch, and the sturdy rod, as if conscious 
 of its own helplessness without him, falls to 
 the floor. 
 
 Oh, terrible omen ! The vitis falls from 
 Fidelis to the earth. 
 
 Tell it not in the camp, for it is the end of 
 power. 
 
 After a while, raising himself, with Huldah 
 by his side, he takes her hand, and seem-
 
 156 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 ing to recast his thoughts, led back by some 
 recollections of his early career, he questions 
 her. 
 
 ' Child,' he asks, ' art thou still firm in the 
 faith of thy fathers ? ' 
 
 Huldah bends her head, as if that act were 
 alone sufficient to attest her firmness and sin- 
 cerity, and with continued revival of memory 
 he proceeds. 
 
 ' 'Tis well, my child, 'tis well. Keep thy 
 faith, keep thy faith. In body thou may'st 
 bend to men, for they are of the kingdom of 
 this world, but keep thy soul free and pure. 
 Thy father died for his people. 'Twas my 
 duty to lead him out to be crucified. Many 
 times we had most friendly meetings, Eoman 
 soldier as I was, Jewish reader in the synagogue 
 he. But he rebelled against Eome, and I had 
 my duty to perform, which, sad towards him, 
 did not prevent me saving thee and thy play- 
 mate under his charge, the youth Simeon, 
 Henceforth you and Simeon were the children, 
 the second children, of the childless Fidelis, 
 for my own two children, boy and girl, together 
 with the mother that bore them, one of thy
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBEETY 157 
 
 people, were taken from me by accident, in 
 the springtime of my manhood. 
 
 ' Often, often did their mother read to me 
 from the sacred book thoii knowest so well, 
 and though it was foreign to me it comforted 
 me. Thy voice is Hke hers ; tell me some- 
 thing from thy book.' 
 
 With cheerful obedience Iluldah narrates 
 to him in low and gentle chant the music of 
 the early stanzas of the second Isaiah. She tells 
 him of the Creator of the ends of the earth ; 
 who fainteth not, neither is weary ; whose un- 
 derstanding is unsearchable ; who gives power 
 to the faint, and to them that have no might 
 increaseth strength ; before whom the youths 
 faint and are weary, and the young men 
 utterly fall. But they that wait upon Him 
 renew their strength, mount up with wino-s 
 as eagles, run and are not weary, walk and 
 are not faint. 
 
 To the old man the sweet words and 
 promises seem to give new vitality, 
 
 ' He is a great King, Huldah, my child. 
 He is a great King. I wish I were one of His 
 centurions. I should like to travel to where
 
 158 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 He is, and see Him in His noble palace, and 
 show him the chaplet Severus put on my 
 head when they called so loud my name. Let 
 us go to Him. Let us go ! ' 
 
 The words fall from his lips like those of 
 a little child about to take a journey to some 
 spotless home, of wdiich it has been told and 
 which he dies to see. 
 
 Suddenly the mood changes, and matters 
 of immediate importance cross his mind re- 
 lating to the earthly future yet in store for 
 her whose hand he holds. 
 
 ' What, my child, can I do for thee ? — 
 what give thee besides the blessing of a man 
 who has filled his years ? ' 
 
 ' A life,' she replies, ' a life, dearest friend 
 and protector ! Give me a life that, once given, 
 shall, I promise thee, be devoted, body, soul, 
 and spirit, to that Lord and Master you would 
 serve so faithfully.' 
 
 ' Life ! life ! life ! Is not that, maiden, in 
 the hands alone of the great King ? ' 
 
 ' Nay, 'tis in thine now,' she cries, as she 
 looks imploringly into the bewildered face of 
 the child of children, ' Thou hast influence, 
 thou hast means, No one to-day will deny
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 159 
 
 Fidelis anything that thou hast means and 
 will to ransom.' 
 
 And then, slowly and gently, that he might 
 receive it all, she tells him the impending peril 
 of the slave from whom she has cast out 
 the unclean spirit, and claims his purchase 
 for the service of the King of kings, whose 
 worshipper she is. 
 
 It is a prayer easily granted — granted, in 
 fact, with a smile and laugh of delight, as if it 
 were a good piece of pastime or sport. Milo 
 is sent for ; his terms, no^ by any means 
 extortionate to Fidelis, are accepted without 
 demur; the bond is paid, and the man, once 
 possessed of a demon, is bought and made 
 over to the good angel who has been sent to 
 accomphsh his second deliverance. 
 
 She must lose no time in claiming what 
 belongs now to her. 
 
 Exhausted with the efforts he has made, 
 Fidelis sleeps like an infant, and Huldah issues 
 forth from his tent on her mission of mercy. 
 
 The slave also sleeps. The last heartless 
 bargainer for him has subjected him to the last 
 inspection, and he has been shut up for the 
 night, with the massive club dropped into two
 
 160 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 slots to form a bolt for the outer door of his 
 den, and to act as a sign that this is the 
 place in which he lies waiting for his fate. 
 
 After the bolt has thus been put up he, 
 chained and securely fastened, disposes himself 
 for rest. He rolls himself up into a ball and, 
 as far as possible, buries himself in the litter 
 of straw so that the noise of those howling 
 wolves may be subdued. Unable to fall into 
 slumber, yet feeling the need of it, he goes 
 through the mental process of once more 
 boldly meeting his foes in prospect, and of 
 devisini? how he shall act so as to be saved. 
 Shall he weary them each by flight, and kill 
 them one by one as they lie at his mercy ? 
 They are too numerous tliis time for that. 
 Shall he march up to each and with one 
 crushing blow kill, kill, kill ? 'Tis a bold idea, 
 but too fatig-uing and watchful even for him. 
 He conceives next a method of meeting them by 
 making a new series of springs or leaps, and so 
 getting at them one by one, leaving the trusty 
 club to do the rest. By this exploit, six of 
 his enemies lie, in imagination, at his feet, and 
 the new ones being let in, so ravenous they 
 would devour the dead bodies of their kind were
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 161 
 
 they not driven off with torches of fire, also fall. 
 Then over a low part of the wall of the circus 
 where the fight is going on he leaps with his 
 club, and flies away after Simeon, the living 
 torch, so swiftly that no one can catch him, 
 and he is free in a strange land. 
 
 No, not quite strange either, for in the 
 meadows over which he strides he reaches, he 
 fancies, a land like that of his fathers. He 
 meets an invading force, is captured, is held 
 as a hostage ; is brought to some strange city 
 and sold there as a slave ; is trained as an 
 athlete ; is made to fight with real animals, 
 wild and savage, and with men dressed up as 
 animals ; is brought by his present master, 
 Milo, to Britain ; is made to fight a Jew ; is cast, 
 as he has often been, into a trance ; sees all 
 the heaven open to his sight ; sees one of the 
 host there come to him and relieve him ; is cast 
 again into a den, and is doomed to-morrow 
 to be devoured of wolves, whose voices ring 
 in his ears. 
 
 The torture destroys itself. One can but 
 die. And what is death ? Sleep is death, and 
 deep sleep comes with the thought as if by 
 inspiration. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 As sleep vanquishes him his powerful 
 muscles relax ; his limbs stretch out ; his head 
 rests gracefully on his right arm ; his left arm, 
 naked and strong, rests gracefully on his body ; 
 around his body there still remains a portion 
 of the skin of the bear in which he fought by 
 the side of Simeon ; while round liis neck is a 
 white flowing under- vest, the collar of which, 
 turned back as it was wont to be when he 
 stood in the slave market, discloses a throat 
 chiselled to perfection, above a chest of tre- 
 mendous power, moved by gentle breathings 
 deep, steady, and regular as the march of a 
 cohort. 
 
 His face, compared with what it was in the 
 arena, is now transfigured. The dark colour 
 with which it had been treated in order to 
 give it dense blackness has been removed : 
 the red colour with which the lips and eye- 
 brows were tinted has also been removed, and 
 now there is revealed that face of singular 
 power and grace which, by anticipation, we 
 have already beheld as a face at peace with 
 its own heart and with all the world. 
 
 Wrapt in a dark toga, to shield her from 
 common observation, Huldah approaches with
 
 mm 
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 163 
 
 Milo to the den of the sleeper. As they enter 
 the gates of the menagerie, she, strong of will 
 as she is, is appalled ; for the noise of the 
 ravenous animals rises to a frenzy, as Milo 
 strikes his flint and lights his lamp. In a 
 moment, all sense of fear is absorbed in the 
 intent she has in view. In haste to fulfil her 
 mission and release her slave from his bondage, 
 she seizes the lamp which Milo holds out to 
 her, and, impatiently waiting while he lights 
 another for himself, follows him to the den 
 bolted by the club. 
 
 Taking in hand both lamps, as Milo removes 
 the heavy bolt and delivers it over to the 
 sturdy keepers who are on watch outside, and 
 holding the lamps raised and forward from her 
 body, she enters the cage. 
 
 ' There he is,' observes his late master, as 
 she brings the lamps to shine on him, ' there 
 he is, as fine a slave as ever was born. If he 
 should go on sleeping like that until sunrise, 
 he could beat every wolf and bear in the 
 encampment, bringing back all the money he 
 has cost, and sleeping to-morrow night again 
 like a babe in his cradle, just as he is sleeping 
 now.' 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Hulddli, too absorbed in what she sees 
 to Hsten to the suggestion, recalls, with the 
 admiring wonder of a woman for every living 
 source of strength her Eastern poetry. 
 
 ' I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem ; 
 As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.' 
 
 ' I must,' she communes, 'wake him from 
 this deep oblivion ; but how graceful his 
 rest ! ' Then, questioning if he really can be 
 the beast who fought with Simeon, she turns 
 to Milo and enquires : 
 
 * Is this indeed the man from whom I cast 
 the unclean spirit ? ' 
 
 ' The same. See you how the skin of 
 the bear still clings to his body ; but his arms 
 being uncovered and the dyes being off his 
 face, he becomes quite a different man.' 
 
 She is satisfied with the answer, but still 
 lingers ere she inquires further : 
 
 ' By what name is he rightly called ? ' 
 
 ' He has been called by various names, ac- 
 cording to the feats he has done or according 
 to the whim of his masters ; but the name he 
 originally bore, as I have been told, was Helios, 
 meaning that he came from the land of the 
 east, and where it is said his father, who was
 
 ■KIOP 
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 165 
 
 the leader of the people there, was slain in a 
 great battle with Trajan, who was beaten, but 
 who, by accident, fell, during his retreat, on 
 the chieftain's children and carried them away 
 captive.' 
 
 The name and the story struck her, for a 
 moment, mute, as if she had heard that name 
 before and that history. Then, as she pon- 
 dered she recalled to her ready memory that 
 in the Scriptures she had learned the name 
 of Elias. But Elias was Elohim who made 
 the world, and this was Helios, after the 
 fountain of light which fills the world with 
 his glory and vivifies it with his power. 
 This man may be truly descended from her 
 race. 
 
 She kneels gracefully by his side, and 
 giving one of the lamps to Milo, who there- 
 upon wanders away to appease his ravening 
 wolves by throwing to them just suflicient food 
 to prevent them devouring each other, she is 
 left alone with the child of the East, her dark 
 mantle folded about the lower half of her 
 body, her white toga trimmed with gold en- 
 robing her shoulders and breast, her raven hair 
 falling over her back, and her dark eyes fiash-
 
 1G6 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 ing their rays over liis face as the lamp she 
 holds aloft feeds them with its light. 
 
 And now another of the mysterious pas- 
 sages with which she is so richly stored crosses 
 her mind : 
 
 ' Oh that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts 
 
 of my mother ! 
 When I should find thee without I should kiss thee : 
 Yea, I should not be despised.' 
 
 By an impulse irresistible as it is natural, 
 as if the words inspired the act, she bends 
 over the sleeper, and with the softest kiss that 
 woman's lips can give, and with a touch and 
 voice which might almost have aroused the 
 dead, arouses him from his slumber. 
 
 It is a cruel awakening. He has fallen 
 back to a past preceding his captivity, when in 
 his blissful home he has gone forth with the 
 morning sun to see the attendants milk the 
 goats. He has with him his younger sister 
 and still younger brother ; they have sipped the 
 sweet milk from the gourds, they have rolled 
 Avith the young kids on the green sward, 
 and one of the kids, which is very fond of him, 
 is pushing its nose between his arm and side 
 to ensure recognition, when he hears his
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 167 
 
 mother, to hiin a divinity of love and beauty, 
 calling to liim sweetly in the distance : — 
 
 ' Eh, Eh, come ! ' 
 
 It is the name which she, in a mother's 
 lovino; tattle, has contracted for him from the 
 longer and harder Helios. 
 
 ' Eh, Eh, come ! ' 
 
 Is he again possessed ? 
 
 Is it a return of the old, old trance, he 
 asks of himself as he wakes from the en- 
 chantment. 
 
 No, it is her kiss on his baby cheek ; it is 
 her voice once more. 
 
 Eh, Eh, come ! ' 
 
 ' Ah, my mother ! my mother ! my mother ! 
 Leave me not again for ever,' he sobs forth as 
 his heavy eyes open overflowing with tears ; 
 and that mother's voice in its own almost 
 forgotten language repeats : 
 
 'Eh! EH! come!' 
 
 Again the close foul den is manifest to 
 his awakening senses. But how changed the 
 scene ! The howhngs of the wolves have 
 ceased ; the darkness has fled ; and there is 
 one over him celestial with celestial light, who 
 speaks his native tongue, who knows his child's
 
 168 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 name in its childish form, whose face, whose 
 voice, whose smile, is all of all to him again. 
 
 He is seized with an overwhelming desire. 
 The desire forthwith to die. 
 
 But before that desire has taken form he 
 is raised to full activity of life by the action 
 of Huldah and the entrance of Milo. 
 
 Milo unlocks his fetters, Huldah gently 
 helps him to rise, and casting some folds of 
 her dark mantle over her shoulders, presents 
 him ' per epistolam,' — by letter, — with the 
 deed which tells him he is henceforth a freed- 
 man by the act of Fidelis the centurion. 
 
 Bearing the epistle of freedom clasped to 
 nis breast, and, marvel of marvels, led forth by 
 the hand of its celestial messenger, he is soon 
 in the presence of the centurion of a hundred 
 years, who with the true delight of a child 
 calls him Libertinus — the Freedman — and in- 
 vests him with the badges of his freedom : the 
 cap of liberty, the white robe, and the ring. 
 
 Libertinus ! A Freedman ! A Eoman under 
 the protection of Csesar. A man, no more 
 to be bought, no more to be sold. 
 
 Libertinus ! A Freedman ! no more to fight
 
 IN THE CAP OF LIBERTY 169 
 
 as a beast with men, nor as a man with beasts 
 unless by a will which, for the first time since 
 he knew it and its worth, is his own! 
 
 Libertinus ! A slave, whose soul belontred 
 to Others and baser souls, set free ; a soul of 
 man set at liberty ! What inexpressible reality ! 
 A man always free could never understand 
 the transformation. 
 
 Libertinus ! A Freedman. The lowest 
 slave, lowest born by descent, a slave of 
 slaves, is bewildered by the boon ! What, 
 then, a man of noblest nature and most 
 steadfast mind whom no lowness infects, no 
 cruelty stains, no danger appals ! 
 
 We, who know nothing but freedom, can 
 never know his joy. He is born again. Born 
 to a new world, new hopes, new fears, new 
 loves, new life. 
 
 Milo invites the Libertinus, the Freedman, 
 to his own tent, to take up his abode there for 
 awhile, for which privilege Milo, we may be 
 sure, is well paid. Milo is always well paid. 
 
 No wonder that Milo, who values all things 
 and all men, and all women and all children, 
 by their money's worth, should venture to sug-
 
 170 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 gest to liis visitor, now re-named Eli Fidelis, 
 that a woman's love had bouirht him a free- 
 dom which he must sell a^ain to the woman. 
 
 No wonder that Milo, as he sits on his 
 couch unlacing his sandals after the gallants 
 have left his quarters, looks furtively at Liber 
 tinus, and is for once in his life at his wits' 
 end to discover what it can all mean, if neither 
 love nor money be at the root of a transaction 
 that crowns his once monster slave in the 
 cap of liberty.
 
 171 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FROM BRITAIN TO JOPPA. 
 
 Moving on in the course of our story, we 
 must for a time quit the httle island of Britain, 
 and proceed to another and very different 
 place. To all the friends or acquaintances we 
 have made on the island we will for a short 
 time say farewell. Fabius and Vibullius have 
 gone for an excursion to the northern parts of 
 the island, to visit the barbarians there, and 
 take notes for a book of travel, which the 
 learned Fabius means to write if his industry 
 should ever equal his leisure. The renowned 
 Saserna remains at his post, busier than ever. 
 The gallants, the young Octavius, Brutus, 
 Cassius and Pompey, rest a little from our 
 further cognizance, with hopes that as they 
 grow older they may amend. The pious 
 Aaron of the Altar, and his neighbour the 
 good old Priest of the Temple of Apollo,
 
 172 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 continue with tlieir people in . discharge of 
 their duties, both, for a time, dead to our 
 new hfe. Milo the bartering soldier, who 
 knows how to turn over honest coin so 
 cleverly, and grumbles to himself that Ca3sar, 
 who has no taste for sport, is no good for his 
 business, must also pass out of mind. 
 
 The whole island of Britain soon fades 
 from us as we set forth on our journey. It is 
 a wild coast ; it is a beautiful little land with 
 white cliffs planted in the sea ; it is a mere 
 speck in the sea ; it is as lost to our sight as 
 if it were submerged in the waters which we 
 traverse on the wino;s of our imag-ination. 
 
 We have left behind us, far away, an island, 
 and approach now the sliores of the great 
 ocean in the middle of the world. We land 
 in a new place. The spirit that guides us tells 
 us that it has brought us to Joppa, the seaport 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 This Joppa, or Jaffa, is an ancient town, and 
 is occupied by a very curious admixture of 
 peoples. It was built by Solomon the Wise 
 before he erected, under the skill of Hiram 
 Abiff the grand architect, the holy Temple 
 of the Holy City. It was the fate of Hiram
 
 FROM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 173 
 
 AbifF to die by the hands of three of his men, 
 designat ed craft masons, because hewould not 
 communicate to them, on their rude and inso- 
 lent demand, some of the higher mysteries of his 
 caUing ; and these men, after they had killed 
 him and buried his body in the earth, fled 
 towards Joppa and concealed themselves in a 
 cave near by, where tliey were found by the 
 Menatscliin or Prefects, whom the King had 
 sent out to trace them to their hiding-place. 
 The cavern remains to this day, and is one of 
 the antiquities of the city, as we soon discover. 
 At Joppa, as the seaport of Jerusalem and 
 of the land of ancient and sacred mystery to the 
 Jewish nation, all the great importations from 
 abroad are landed. It is a town of merchants, 
 strangers, and scholars, and for many ages 
 has held this distinctive history. Conquered 
 by the Eomans, after the destruction of the 
 city and Temple of Jerusalem by Vespasian, 
 it has become an important Eoman station, 
 and gradually under the united influences 
 of Eoman occupation, Phoenician commerce, 
 foreign connnunication, and Jewish tenacity 
 of purpose, is now a second Alexandria, in 
 which an immense number of schools, chiefly
 
 174 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 Jewish, flourisli and yield as many scholars as 
 the Eoman Governor, Servien, can well keep 
 under control with all his legions. 
 
 There is at this time amongst many other 
 synagogues of the Jews in Joppa one renowned 
 wherever the Jewish people travel, renowned 
 to them and to theirs. The crowds are now 
 filling it. Crowds of Romans, Greeks, and 
 Persians are entering it. Jews of every kind, 
 from the students of the schools to the men 
 and elders, and women of all ages, are making 
 for it eagerly. 
 
 Lucilla, the wife of Servien the Roman 
 Governor, prays her husband that she may 
 go, and Servien assents, with the wish that it 
 were compatible with his place that he might 
 accompany her. 
 
 For the message has gone forth that Akiba, 
 the chief of the Jewish Grand Sanhedrin is to 
 preach to the people. 
 
 * In his voice there is music ; in his words 
 there is wisdom ; in his soul there is poetry ; 
 in his heart there is truth.' 
 
 So doth Lucilla, the wife of Servien the 
 Governor, report to her lord as she starts for 
 the synagogue.
 
 FROM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 175 
 
 No wonder that such a multitude crowds 
 to hear the word which Akiba preaches. 
 Music, wisdom, poetry, and truth, are the 
 master powers of man universal : blended in 
 one man they declare a man of men. 
 
 There is a Jewish school in Joppa for the 
 Jewish youth. After the schools of Alexan- 
 dria, on the plan of the best of which it is 
 founded, tliis is the most famous school of the 
 world. 
 
 Why ? 
 
 Akiba, the chief of the Grand Sanhedrin 
 is the chief of it. That is enough. 
 
 In this school Akiba takes his supreme 
 delight. He loves the synagogue, he enjoys 
 the reading of the sacred word : the Isaiahs 
 are to him as waters of life which nourish the 
 soul ; Micah is as a fire which purifies ; and 
 Solomon is as an art which glorifies the living 
 temple of the Most High, 
 
 But the school is still his choicest treasure. 
 There he is the potter moulding the vital clay 
 of twelve thousand scholars into whatsoever 
 vessels of honour he chooses them to be. In 
 the school he constructs the future of his race. 
 
 All men call Akiba the Eabbi, or simply
 
 176 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Akiba. There are many others called Rabbi, 
 but he is the Eabbi of his people. To call 
 him a chief Rabbi would reduce his power 
 to commonplace. 
 
 On him fifty years sit easily. Akiba will 
 live a hundred and thirty years like our 
 father Israel, is the commonly accepted pre- 
 diction amongst the Jewish community ; a 
 prediction so often made that it becomes an 
 ordinary sajang, accredited and passed from 
 mouth to mouth, and concentrated into such 
 entire belief, that they who assume that their 
 own lives will needs be of shorter span beg, 
 as their special request, that Akiba will ad- 
 monish and guide their progeny even to the 
 unborn generations. 
 
 There is much in Akiba of a personal kind 
 which supports these ideas of superhuman 
 excellency. 
 
 He shows no trace of age. His step is 
 elastic, his figure erect, his laugh, his play, his 
 prayer as vigorous as that of a youth of prime 
 maturity. Amongst the pupils of the great 
 school he is a pupil rather than a master, 
 yet reverenced as he is loved. 
 
 All Israel that is near to him sends its sons
 
 FROM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 177 
 
 to be taught of him ; and as wealth is the last 
 of his desires, distance alone severs him from 
 the whole of his people who would be his 
 children. 
 
 To him also come the learned men, the 
 masters of the law, and the prophets, that they 
 may help him in composing and editing a 
 marvellous commentary that is to go forth as 
 anew and second testament and interpretation, 
 by proverb, discourse and legend, of the old 
 Scriptures that were written by inspiration. 
 These doctors and ' disciples of the will,' men 
 of humble life and occupation, come to him 
 by night with their untold stores of learning, 
 to read under his guidance and be guided by 
 his matchless light. 
 
 But the greatest power of all that is con- 
 nected with this man, and that establishes his 
 influence, is a story, already transformed into 
 a pious legend, in which he is represented. 
 
 Who wrote this legend is unknown. Some 
 say it was a beloved pupil whose severe studies 
 cost him his life. Others declare that a wise 
 woman found the story in the ruins of the 
 Temple in the holy city of Jerusalem. A 
 third set affirm that it came from the pen of a 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 mysterious man banished in a lonely island, 
 who gave it forth, in prophetic strain, and was 
 heard of no more. From whomsoever derived, 
 it is to the oriental mind of Shemite birth as 
 bewitching a story as ever was told of any 
 man of woman born ; a story next only in 
 wonder to that of Enoch, Elijah, Abraham, 
 Moses, Samuel, and the others who liad com- 
 muned with the angel. 
 
 And he whose mysterious knowledge is 
 told in this record still lives amongst the living ; 
 preaches in the synagogue ; teaches in the 
 schools ; presides over the Grand Sanhedrin 
 or council of Israel ; and, meeting his people 
 daily in the streets and houses, is one with 
 them. 
 
 A man of human form like other men, but 
 of superhuman experience ; a man whose feet 
 have trodden ground which none since the 
 first days of man on this earth have trodden; 
 whose eyes have rested on wonders which no 
 man since the first man has seen ; whose ears 
 have heard a celestial voice and answered it ; 
 and who yet lives, and moves, and breathes 
 amongst his fellow-men. 
 
 The very heathen are influenced. Servien,
 
 FEOM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 179 
 
 the Eoman Governor, is walking one day to 
 the baths in company with the princely 
 Fortunatus, the bosom friend of the Emperor. 
 They pass Akiba, and Fortunatus, a visitor to 
 the Governor and fresh to Joppa, is, like the 
 rest of the world, struck with admiration, as 
 if touched by some secret power, when Akiba 
 goes by. 
 
 ' Who,' asks the ever-inquisitive stranger, 
 ' who is this mysterious man ? ' 
 
 ' He,' replies the Governor — ' he is the 
 most learned of all the Jews, the chief of their 
 priests.' And dropping his voice, adds : ' they 
 say of him that he is the only man who has 
 entered their Paradise or the garden of inno- 
 cence and come out of it alive.' 
 
 ' Is he one of the sect,' enquires Fortu- 
 natus, ' of those some call Christians ? ' 
 
 ' Of none akin, neither by relationship, 
 name nor creed.' 
 
 ' I am glad of it. In Bithynia those people 
 called Christians gave our once great friend, 
 the second Phny, when he was proconsul 
 there, so much trouble, he had to write to 
 Trajan concerning them. They hterally 
 
 K 2
 
 180 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 emptied the temples of our gods by their 
 heretical worship.' 
 
 ' This man is none of them. He follows 
 the ancient faith of his fathers, expounds their 
 sacred Scriptures, and is from head to foot an 
 ancient Jew according to what they call the 
 law of Moses.' 
 
 ' I know that name as of the Jew who 
 wrote a history of the creation of the world, 
 and whom the Alexandrian Philon Juda^us hath 
 commented on. But this man and follower 
 of Moses the great, what is his name?' 
 
 'Akiba.' 
 
 ' How dost thou spell it ? ' 
 
 And Fortunatus, taking from his breast 
 his tablet and stylus commits the name, as 
 Servien spells it out, to what he calls his 
 ' second memory.' 
 
 'And this legend about him and the garden, 
 what of that? ' he asks, still holding the tab- 
 lets and stylus as if he would also write that 
 down. 
 
 ' Thou shalt hear for thyself, thou greedy 
 scholar; for know thou that my wife is so 
 affected to these Jews, having their blood in 
 her veins, that she will often herself have this
 
 FEOM BRITAIN TO JOPPA 181 
 
 legend told before lier as a sacred drama, 
 in which four voices speak the parts. Thou 
 shalt hear it this very night. Marah, Eri, 
 Tirzah, and Jachin, the first and third women, 
 the second and fourth men of our court, shall 
 speak the parts in character.'
 
 182 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A LEGEND OF PARADISE. 
 
 In the reception hall of the Roman Governor 
 of Joppa, Servien, sometimes called Facilis, 
 because of the gentleness of his nature. 
 
 In the presence of Servien and of Lucilla, 
 his beautiful wife ; in the presence of Fortuna- 
 tus, the bosom friend of Hadrian the emperor ; 
 in the presence of the chief officers of the 
 household of Servien, and of the army of 
 occupation. 
 
 When the dinner has been completed and 
 the wine has ceased to be tasted. 
 
 When the sun has gone down and the 
 great hall of reception is lighted with many 
 lamps, perfumed with waters of sweetest odour, 
 decorated with choicest flowers and cooled with 
 the gentle breezes from off the surface of the 
 sea of mid earth. 
 
 When the slaves have placed themselves
 
 A LEGEND OF PARADISE 183 
 
 at the doors and curtains so that none may 
 intrude to disturb the story. 
 
 When Lucilla has taken the seat of honour 
 between Servien and Fortunatus, and when 
 all the guests and household are seated. 
 
 When the players on the lutes have finished 
 their strain. 
 
 When the master of the ceremonies has 
 motioned all to silence, and has given the sign 
 that the story may begin. 
 
 Then, clad in rich and picturesque Eastern 
 garments : — 
 
 Marah, Eri, Tirzah, Jachin, enter into the 
 presence through an alcove of flowers, and 
 on the floor of marble apportioned to them 
 dehver their story :— 
 
 ' The Legend of Paradise.' 
 
 From the right hand, Marah, in pure and 
 plaintive tones, dehvers an invocation to some 
 distant hidden power. Then, turning to the 
 audience, she explains the intention of him 
 who has invoked the unseen. 
 
 As her part ceases Eri, whose voice sounds 
 as from afar, declaims, from a point in the 
 centre farthest from the audience, the 
 answer of the mysterious being, who is called
 
 184 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 the Cherubin, to the words of the invoca- 
 tion. 
 
 Next, from the left-hand side, the gentle 
 Tirzah relates in four simple lines, and in a 
 tone that almost reaches song, the progress 
 of the events. 
 
 Finally, with an emotional energy and 
 mystery which no one but an Eastern could 
 sustain, Jachin declares the result in a voice 
 that penetrates to the very marrow of the 
 listeners, and fills the delighted Fortunatus 
 with enthusiastic admiration. 
 
 The parts fit the characters as if by nature. 
 Marah's grace is of prayer, solemn, intense, 
 eager. Eri is keen, commanding, fearful. 
 Tirzah is slow, timorous, doubtful. Jachin is 
 strong, decisive, bold. 
 
 And now their task begins. 
 
 I. 
 
 MARAH. 
 
 Oh mighty Cherubin, with flaming sword 
 Before the gate ! Before, before the gate ! 
 
 Touchless with human hands, 
 
 Sightless with human eyes, 
 Portal of sinful mortal fate, 
 
 The gate of Paradise ! 
 Oh mighty Cherubin, speak but the word 1
 
 A LEGEND OP PARADISE 185 
 
 That I may see the garden of the Lord 
 And grow more wise. 
 
 Thus spake the First of four of men who were 
 
 The li\'ing pillars of the deathless race. 
 
 Ezra ! the scholar and interpreter 
 
 Of the great book of life which time shall ne'er efface. 
 
 ERI. 
 
 Then from the flaming sword 
 Came forth the sacred word, 
 Enter thou faithful one ; 
 Thy work hath been well done, 
 ;^ Enter the garden of the Lord. 
 
 TIRZAH. 
 
 Beyond the sword of fire, 
 Untouched by fire or sword, 
 He gains his soul's desire, 
 The gai'den of the Lord. 
 
 JACHIN. 
 
 That he may grow more wise 
 
 He enters Paradise. 
 
 Enters ! Beholds ! and Dies ! 
 
 II. 
 
 MARAH. 
 
 Oh dreaded Cherubin, whose flaming sword 
 Doth hide from mortal eyes the stream of life ! 
 The tree of good and evil and its fruit ; 
 The place where God breathed into man his breath ; 
 The place where God and man spake word to word ;
 
 186 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 Where every living plant and herb and brute, 
 Was given man ; and from him torn the wife 
 Whom the foul serpent led aside to death. 
 Oh dreaded Chernbin ! grant my desire 
 Unquenchable as thy consiiming fire, 
 
 Which guardeth Paradise ! 
 That I may see the garden of the Lord 
 
 And grow more wise. 
 
 Thus spake the Second one who reached the goal. 
 
 Asaph ; a mystic form who shone, 
 
 As if his eager soul 
 
 Incarnate, would be gone ; 
 
 Leaving its fleshly dress 
 
 In this world's wilderness. 
 
 ERI. 
 
 Straight from the lambent flame the words were said ; 
 
 If that thou fearest not to see 
 What made a brother scholar like to thee 
 
 Fall with the dead ; 
 Killed by the glory he could not survive. 
 
 Then, true and faithful one ! 
 
 Whose work hath been well done ! 
 Enter the garden of the Lord, and live. 
 
 TIRZAH. 
 
 Beyond the sword of fire, 
 Untouched by fire or sword. 
 He gains his soul's desire, 
 The garden of the Lord. 
 
 JACHIN, 
 
 That he may grow more wise 
 He enters Paradise.
 
 A LEGEND OF PARADISE 187 
 
 Enters ! beholds from whence 
 
 They were expell'd who did at first transgress. 
 
 Enters, beholds and flies 
 
 Back to the wilderness, 
 
 Bereft of every sense ! 
 
 III. 
 
 MAR AH. 
 
 Lo ! glorious Cherubin with flaming sword ! 
 Lo I I Elisha Ben Abuyah stand — 
 Stored with all learning gained in every land- 
 Before the gate whence Eve and Adam fled ; 
 Asking of thee that I may freely tread 
 
 The plains of Paradise. 
 That I may see the garden of the Lord 
 
 And grow more wise. 
 
 Thus spake the Third in tones of majesty ; 
 Elisha Ben Abuyah, who would pierce 
 The solid earth, the sea, the eternal space. 
 Not sup^iant but as a Deity, 
 Asking from God of God ! As face to face 
 A ravenous man, feeling his hunger fierce, 
 Asks man to feed him to satiety. 
 
 ERI. 
 
 Again the voice from out the flaming sword. 
 Thou son of subtlety and earthly pride ! 
 Wherefore within thy mantle's flowing folds 
 Dost thou those books of Baal worship hide 1 
 Our God, a jealous God, for ever holds 
 Him lost to him who serveth him in part, 
 Giving the lip, yet keeping back the heart.
 
 188 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 Elisha Ben Abuyah stood dismayed, 
 But gathering up his strength and bending low 
 Thus to the flaming Cherubin he said. 
 These treasured books, dear as my own heart's blood, 
 I burn ! I burn ! I burn ! that I may know 
 The greater secret that before me lies, 
 The garden of the Lord saved from the flood, 
 The golden Paradise. 
 
 The flaming fire rose up and filled the skies : 
 
 A burning sacrifice 
 Of all Elisha Ben Abuyah loved. 
 It is enough, the Cherubin replies, 
 Thou art forgiven, is the gracious word. 
 And, every barrier to thy wish removed, 
 
 Enter the garden of the Lord. 
 
 TIRZAH. 
 
 Beyond the sword of fire. 
 Untouched by fire or sword, 
 He gains his soul's desire, 
 The garden of the Lord. 
 
 JACHIN. 
 
 That he may grow more wise 
 
 He enters Paradise, ' 
 
 Boldly he looks around, 
 
 And treads the holy ground 
 
 As one who would declare, 
 
 I am the son and heir 
 
 Of him to whom these treasures all belong. 
 
 Rivers of life combine, 
 
 With the fruit of the Tree divine. 
 
 To noiM"ish with marvels my tongue.
 
 A LEGEND OF PARADISE 189 
 
 Of all that is here, as mine, 
 I will sing ! I will write ! I will tell ! 
 From the gates of heaven to hell : 
 In parable, legend and song. 
 
 Filled with the curse of pride 
 
 Elisha Ben Abuyah makes his way, "" 
 
 Crushing with reckless stride 
 
 What'er before him lay. 
 
 Crushing the tender plants so young and sweet, 
 
 The plants of Paradise, beneath his feet. 
 
 What voice is that he hears, 
 
 That breaketh him with fears 1 
 
 What pang is that he feels 1 
 
 It is the voice of God, 
 
 The angel's flashing rod. 
 
 Oh thou who kills the plants of Paradise 
 
 That thou, vain man, may grow more wise ! 
 
 Fly from my wrath back to the wilderness. 
 
 And seek again thine everlasting peace. 
 
 A lightning glance ! a split of earth ! a grave ! 
 
 Outside the flaming gate. 
 Elisha Ben Abuyah, who shall save 
 Thee from thy fate 1 
 In flight he falls into that open grave, 
 And as the flint upon the steel 
 Strikes into fire, so he upon the ground 
 Bursts into lurid flames, which he can feel 
 Yet never can extinguish. Years roll round ; 
 Ages of sons of men sink down and die. 
 
 Elisha Ben Abuyah to be wise 
 Killed the young plants of Paradise. 
 His light is wisdom's fool. He burns but never dies.
 
 190 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 IV. 
 
 MARAH. 
 
 Oh faithful Cherubin whose flaming sword 
 
 Doth hide the garden of the Holy One ! 
 
 May I, a shepherd born in Israel's fold, 
 
 Ask thee to ask of him I dare not name, 
 
 Th' Omnipotent ! World without end the same I 
 
 That I the last of those who stood alone 
 
 Interpreters of his most sacred word, 
 
 May through thy glory enter Paradise, 
 
 And by thy radiant wisdom grow more wise 1 
 
 So spake the last of those who stood alone, 
 The matchless scholars of the deathless race. 
 Calm dignity from off his image shone, 
 Sweet modesty was written on his face, 
 With courage intermixed and gentle grace, 
 All set in comeliness. 
 
 ERI. 
 
 With cheerful voice the guardian spirit spoke : 
 Akiba the beloved, thy deeds are known. 
 He whom thou servest through thy nights and days 
 Hath read thy heart of hearts and seen thy ways. 
 Thou art to him a plain and open book. 
 And what thou askest now is all thine own ; 
 Thine own for knowledge, wisdom, precept, word. 
 Enter thou to the garden of the Lord. 
 
 TIRZAH. 
 
 Beyond the sword of fire. 
 Untouched by fire or sword,
 
 A LEGEND OF PARADISE 191 
 
 He gains his soul's desire, 
 "^ The garden of the Lord ! 
 
 JACHIN. 
 
 That he may grow more wise 
 
 Akiba enters Paradise. 
 
 His feet retrace each round 
 
 Of the enchanted ground, 
 
 Saved only of all gardens from the flood. 
 
 The tree of knowledge yields him living food. 
 
 Within the bower where Adam slept he sleeps 
 
 Fearing no evil : knowing well that He, 
 
 Of omnipresent majesty ! 
 The Holy One of Israel ! keeps 
 His steps from falling and his sleep from fear, 
 Life of his life : unseen yet ever near. 
 
 That he might grow more wise, 
 
 Akiba entered Paradise. 
 
 Entered and lived and learned. 
 
 And when his wondrous task was done 
 
 Back through the wilderness returned, 
 
 To teach to every chosen son 
 
 Of Israel born, the sacred mysteries. 
 
 The reciters retire : the guests depart 
 from the house of Lucilla and Servien, one 
 alone excepted, the princely Fortunatus. He, 
 for the moment, the resident guest of the 
 house, remains wrapped in fixed contempla- 
 tion of what he has just seen and heard.
 
 192 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 THE LEARNED CHILD. 
 
 SeRVIEN, so soon as he can be spared, makes 
 his escape to his duty. He goes forth to see 
 with his own eyes that his sentinels are at 
 their posts. Nothing escapes his watchful 
 ken. His soldiers say he never sleeps. The 
 Jews repeat the saying, and well they may, 
 for he observes them, specially, by night as 
 well as by day. 
 
 There is sufficient cause for his anxiety. 
 The Jews are placed, by the chances of war, 
 under the powerful hand of Eome ; they are 
 subdued, but they are not conquered. 
 
 A race is never conquered until it is 
 exterminated. It comes up like a flower, it 
 is cut down and withered ; but it comes up 
 again and flourishes unless its roots and seeds 
 be destroyed. 
 
 And now in Joppa twelve thousand youths
 
 THE LEARXED CHILD 193 
 
 of tlie subdued race, twice the number of the 
 Eoman soldiers there, are at the schools for 
 Jews ; youths filled to their souls' full charge 
 with the traditions of their fatliers ; ready at 
 a moment's notice to rise and do whatsoever 
 Akiba should command. If they should rise 
 up and use no other weapons than the styles 
 with which they write, they were formidable. 
 If they were armed with weapons of war, they 
 were invincible. 
 
 Happily, weapons are not permitted to 
 them. 
 
 Akiba, moreover, is a wise and prudent 
 father. He has gathered around him other 
 scholars hke to himself who have made learn- 
 ing a field of combat, which turns, as Servien 
 feels, a war of swords into a war of words. 
 These scholars labour incessantly on the sacred 
 Jewish Scriptures. They translate their Scrip- 
 tures from their ancient tongue into Greek, and 
 even into Latin. They do more, they ' search 
 the Scriptures,' and out of them, with endless 
 activity, they learn the meaning of words, to 
 the minutest understanding of every word ; 
 they extract from obscure parts traditional 
 laws ; they turn the prophetic parts to their 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 own modern use by the exposition of legend 
 and parable ; and they add to the whole the 
 study of those secret and holy mysteries 
 wliich appeared to ' him who saw the glorious 
 vision of the Creator and of the Chariot ' and 
 who by his learning and poetic imagination 
 was the prince of seers, the divine Ezekiel. 
 
 They labour to perfect and advance a book 
 of the ages, which commencing in Babylon is 
 to continue to the end of the world. 
 
 A truly harmless task, according to the 
 ideas of Servien and his compeers. 
 
 Let them read, write, learn and teach, and 
 all will go well. 
 
 One thing more has Akiba done which 
 carries with it confidence. He has taught the 
 diiferent classes of his countrymen many useful 
 arts. A traveller through various climes, he 
 has studied metals, furnace work, and other 
 strange devices of men. He has learned and 
 taught the manufacture of spears, swords, 
 arrow-heads and shields. 
 
 Under strictest supervision of the Eoman 
 power, he has saved his poorer students 
 from revolt, due to destitution, by giving 
 them work in the manufacture of arms for the
 
 THE LEARNED CHILD 195 
 
 Eoman legions ; arms so chaste, so bright, so 
 light, so beautiful, the like of them has never 
 been seen before. The javelins literally fly. 
 Servien therefore keeps the students of Akiba 
 in his regular employ making arms which, with 
 the exception of a few prepared for the use of 
 his own bodyguard and for one or two officers 
 of high rank, as test weapons, are jealously 
 stored away to be of use should an insurrec- 
 tion ever break out. 
 
 ' They make lances for their own flesh, and 
 I keep them,' is a constant delight in secret 
 of Servien, who in his heart admires as much 
 as he pities Akiba, ' the learned child,' whom 
 much learniniT has driven mad. He con- 
 gratulates liimself, and Eome also, whenever 
 he passes the well-sentinelled armoury where 
 the precious weapons lie, that he has turned 
 the skill of so learned a child to so good an 
 account. He has reported this clever stroke 
 of policy and stratagem to the Emperor, who 
 has written back to him commending his 
 foresight and ability. The Emperor has said 
 to him in special terms of commendation : ' If 
 thou canst make these Jews quarrel amongst 
 themselves about words and books while they 
 
 3
 
 lOG THE S0^^ OF A STAR 
 
 make swords for thee, thou hast outwitted 
 even a Jew.' What higher comphment, brave 
 Servien, could be paid to thy prudence and 
 thy strategy? 
 
 Whilst this crafty commander of Eome, 
 who bids fair to beat a Jew in subtlety, and who 
 is as honest of soul as he is brave and simple 
 of heart, makes his nightly walks, his adored 
 wife, surrounded by her maids, remains with 
 Fortunatus awaiting his return. 
 
 The conversation of Lucilla and Fortunatus 
 turns almost necessarily, certainly naturally, 
 on the remarkable man whose legendary 
 adventure has just been told to them in so 
 dramatic a form. 
 
 ' Putting aside this curious legend, noble 
 lady,' observes her visitor, ' in which we shall 
 or shall not believe according to our faith or 
 our philosophy, what is the real story of this 
 sinf^ular bein^? about whose life there must 
 needs be something that is really and authen- 
 tically important ? ' 
 
 ' There are as many stories, Fortunatus, 
 told about Akiba as there are moons in the year. 
 But one of the many is dearest to me because it 
 contains the tale of his lowly origin, his path
 
 THE LEARNED CHILD 197 
 
 to immortal fame, and above all his true and 
 constant love.' 
 
 ' In short, it is a love story, my noble lady, 
 such as is most precious to a woman's heart.' 
 
 ' I confess it to be true, but even to tliee it 
 might be pleasant, if, till Servien — who always 
 likes to hear it — returns, thou wouldst listen to 
 it thyself.' 
 
 ' With avidity, most thoughtful of hostesses ; 
 a love story is to me the essence of love, better 
 perchance than the thing itself.' 
 
 ' Fie ! Forunatus, fie ! thou wilt be caught 
 in thy own net one day. Marah, my child, will 
 it tire thee after all thy exertions to read, once 
 more, the story ? ' 
 
 ' It will delight me, mistress of my heart, 
 to do thy will ; and know thou, noble lord, that 
 the story is written in my lady's own hand, 
 though she tells it not herself.' 
 
 'I divined as much. What callest thou 
 the story ? ' 
 
 ' We call it the Shepherd and the Princess.'
 
 198 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS. 
 
 When Sisera was commander of the army of 
 Jabin, king of Tyre, lie sent back to their 
 native Galilee Joseph, of the family of Abra- 
 ham, and Naomi, his wife. 
 
 And Jabin the king approved of the act of 
 Sisera, but why he did remains unknown unto 
 this day, for Jabin was a good king, whose ear 
 was open to the complaints of all his people, 
 whether native or mere sojourners, and this 
 proceeding seemed unjust because no charge 
 was brought either against the man or his 
 wife that they had broken the laws of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 What is still more strange, they were not 
 sent forth penniless or empty-handed. They 
 had provisions given to them for a long jour- 
 ney, and they had money given to them suffi- 
 cient to purchase a flock for the desert.
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 199 
 
 But this was required of them, that they 
 should avoid all places where men live in 
 cities, and that they should pitch their abode 
 in some remote and secluded place where they 
 should rear flocks of their own, or tend the 
 flocks of some others who had flocks that 
 called for a shepherd. 
 
 The place required by the exiled Joseph 
 and his wife Naomi was not long waited for. 
 Amongst the merchant princes who traded be- 
 tween Tyre and Judea was one called Chuva, 
 a Jew by birth, and still young, who had 
 recently married a wife descended from the 
 royal line of David, once a mighty king in 
 Israel ; and the wife of Chuva, having pity on 
 the exiles, prayed of her lord that he would 
 find them a dwelling-place. 
 
 Now Chuva loved his wife of royal blood 
 more than his wealth, and her wish was his 
 law. So he provided the exiles with a tract 
 of his own lands in a far-ofi* place in the plains 
 of Carmel, and Joseph became the shepherd of 
 Chuva the merchant of Tyre and Judea, who 
 afterwards was one of the chief men of the 
 holy city of Jerusalem. 
 
 The humble shepherd and his wife, so far
 
 200 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 from lamenting their fate, were, as it seemed, 
 glad to exchange the life they had hitherto 
 led for their new home on the solitary plain. 
 They, too, were young and but newly married, 
 and they set out as for a marriage tour, dearly 
 beloved of each other, and trusting in the 
 God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, 
 of Isaac, and of Jacob who was also called 
 Israel. 
 
 In the wilderness, or plain in which they 
 went, they lived as shepherd and shepherdess 
 the long days of their natural life. Only 
 at times, when all Jews go up to the Holy City 
 to pay their vows to the Most High God, did 
 they go from their place of duty ; and not 
 even then until their only son was old enough 
 to tend the flocks while they were away. 
 
 For soon after Joseph the shepherd and 
 Naomi the shepherdess had settled down in 
 the plain, Naomi bore to Joseph a son, who 
 at first took the name of his father the 
 shepherd, Joseph ; but his mother, under the 
 spirit of heaven which directs the souls of the 
 faithful, was led to call him by the Tyrian 
 name of Akiba, which is said to mean the only 
 one, or the only son, under which name she
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 201 
 
 prophesied that he was to be their only- 
 child. 
 
 And the prophecy was fulfilled. Akiba 
 was the only child born to Joseph the shepherd 
 by Naomi his wife. ; :. 
 
 Thus the birth of Akiba was very humble, 
 and in some manner, as many think, mysterious 
 also ; for why were his parents driven from 
 Tyre for no known offence, and at the same 
 time loaded with gifts and money ? 
 
 The wisest man of men, Akiba himself, 
 does not know, how then shall a foohsh 
 woman divine ? She will be silent, and will 
 not try to interpret the unknown. 
 
 The lad Akiba was born in the desert^ 
 in the plains of Carmel, and having to tend 
 the flocks kept by his parents, breathed the 
 breath of the Lord in the solitudes of his 
 loftiest temple, the temple in which his honour 
 dwelleth, the temple whose foundations are 
 set on the four corners of the earth, and whose 
 covering is the mantle of his glory. And in his 
 holy wisdom and pleasure this Lord of Lords 
 was gracious to the youth, and, as we say, 
 ' called him,' so that he was from his cradle 
 beloved of God as well as of his parents and
 
 202 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 of all whom he chanced to meet, during the 
 many years he lived in the desert, an obedient 
 son, and good shepherd of the flocks of Chuva. 
 
 But he was much more than an obedient 
 son and shepherd. 
 
 Amongst the few treasures which his 
 mother Naomi carried to the plains of Carmel 
 was the sacred book of the law of the Jews, 
 the chronicles of their judges and kings, the 
 history of their wars, and the songs of their 
 prophets. 
 
 All these she read to him, and taught him 
 also to read. 
 
 Until the evening stars threw the shadows 
 of things on the earth, and until the moon 
 lighted the temple of the angels, she, on the 
 roof of their house, where they slept, taught 
 him this book. 
 
 And when he closed his eyes under the 
 firmament, the firmament descended to him 
 and enfolded him, until the rising sun raised 
 it again high above him, and opened his eyes 
 to the day. 
 
 They who have never slejDt in the open air 
 under an eastern sky, secure on the housetop, 
 can form no conception of the influence which
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 203 
 
 such repose exercises on the mind. We 
 Romans, who sleep under roofs and canopies 
 made by man, have mock purple and mock 
 stars for our envelopment ; rich, gorgeous, 
 costly, but poor, poor imitations of the cur- 
 tains and stars which enveloped the sleeping 
 shepherd boy Akiba, hstening to his mother's 
 stories, until every story was a true event in 
 which he seemed to have taken part. 
 
 He was David, a shepherd standing before a 
 giant with a sling and a stone ; he was Solomon, 
 a wise king serving out justice from his throne. 
 
 In time this shepherd boy loved the book 
 of books beyond all else except his father, his 
 mother, and the sheep and lambs of the fold. 
 He knew not only every chronicle, proverb 
 and legend, but every passage, every word, 
 every letter. Of all the great scholars of the 
 scriptures of old not one was more learned, 
 than this shepherd of the plain, in the written 
 word. 
 
 Yet all this knowledge might have been 
 buried with him amongst his flocks had not a 
 strange event in his life changed the direction 
 of his feet. 
 
 As he grew into manhood, with the volume
 
 204 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 of wonders a living part of his wonderful 
 nature, his heart began to yearn that he miglit 
 do some great deed, fight for some great cause, 
 remove some great wrong, build some great 
 city or temple, preach some great faith, teach 
 some great knowledge. 
 
 How were his wishes to be fulfilled ? 
 
 Alas, he knew not. Except at stray times 
 when the rude merchants of the desert came 
 to carry off the wool that had been sheared 
 from the flock, or to buy the flocks that had 
 been reared for sale and drive them away, he 
 knew none with whom to speak. And these 
 men he shrank from ; for too often they bore 
 from him some lamb from the fold that he had 
 tended, and loved, and cherished, and at whose 
 last look his heart would almost break. 
 
 At length the fate that always comes to 
 those of faith, who wait, came to him. 
 
 It was one of those days in the year 
 when on the plain day and night are all but 
 one ; when the sun gives short pause from the 
 earth and in his absence leaves a trail of light 
 behind which, aided by that from the stars, is 
 caught up by the eastern glow that tells of his 
 return. . _
 
 THE SHEPHERD AXD THE PRINCESS 205 
 
 Akiba had gently cradled liis flock, and 
 returned to the home of his father Joseph and 
 his mother Naomi, with his mind full of an 
 ancient scripture ; a prophecy of one Balaam, 
 a seer of the bygone ages : — 
 
 * Which saw the vision of the Almighty, 
 Falling into a trance but having his eyes open. 
 I shall see him, but not now ; 
 I shall behold him, but not nigh ; 
 There shall come a star out of Jacob 
 And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, 
 And shall smite the armies of Moab, 
 And destroy all the childi'en of Sheth. 
 And Edom shall be a possession, 
 Sier also shall be a possession for his enemies, 
 And Israel shall do valiantly.' 
 
 The shepherd boy slept on these thoughts, 
 and next morning woke with them again on 
 his mind. 
 
 He rose from his couch, offered up his 
 morning prayer, listened for the tinkling of 
 the bells which told him that the fold was 
 astir, and leaving his parents still asleep 
 descended from the housetop and straightway 
 proceeded to the nearest fold. 
 
 As he traversed the plain towards this fold 
 his practised and powerful eye caught sight
 
 206 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 of sometliing in the extreme distance which 
 was new to him entirely. It was, he thought, 
 a moving train of living beings in gorgeous 
 apparel, in the centre of which was an object 
 like a sun, so bright was it and so shining, 
 and from it there seemed to issue filmlike 
 rays of rainbow colours. 
 
 Then he stood transfixed, wondering 
 whether he should follow this light in its 
 course ; but while he wondered the gorgeous 
 train and the star dissolved gradually away ; 
 dissolved itself into the sky, and ascended to 
 its own divine sphere. 
 
 Filled with wonder, Akiba, after the vision 
 had passed, hastened to the fold to find his 
 surprise still further increased. 
 
 His Hock was there as he had left it on the 
 preceding night : he counted it, and the number 
 was correct. The older members of the flock 
 were moving about, preparing to be let out to 
 go to the fresh grass by the side of the peace- 
 ful waters, and the little lambs, in groups where 
 their mothers had left them, were playing their 
 morning gambols according to their wont. 
 
 But now a new sight met him. In the 
 gateway of the fence lay a little round heap
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 207 
 
 covered with a robe of rich crimson dye 
 fringed with a colour that glowed like the 
 bright sun, as if the sun itself had imparted 
 to it a portion of his own substance. 
 
 It was a Tyrian robe of silk, embroidered in 
 its centre with a mystical sign and fringed with 
 golden coloured threads, a shawl or coverlet, 
 nothing more ; but to Akiba, who had ever 
 been content with his coat of clean sheepskin 
 and knew no more of silk and gold than he 
 had read of in the history of Solomon the wise 
 king, it was a revelation. 
 
 He opened the gate of the fold, and 
 raising the shawl discovered beneath it, sleep- 
 ing like a lamb folded in it, a child, a boy child, 
 clothed in pure white linen and enveloped also 
 in a robe or mantle of purple with one bright 
 golden gem shining from his breast. 
 
 In his astonishment Akiba raised his eyes 
 from the little sleeper into the space of sky 
 above, and once more in the extreme dis- 
 tance, but now high in the firmament, there 
 beamed forth the bright light he had seen in 
 the midst of the shining train, the rays from 
 which fell down on to the breast of the boy 
 child, and again dissolved away.
 
 208 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Oh, richness of prophecy ! What the 
 prophet liad foretold had come to pass, and 
 he, Akiba the chosen one, lived to declare it : 
 
 * I shall see him, but not now : 
 I shall behold him, but not nigh.' 
 
 Ages had come and gone and the words 
 were fulfilled. The prophet had seen the one 
 he predicted, but not in his mortal course : he 
 had beheld him from that majestic train of 
 spirits, but not nigh. 
 
 It was destined for this shepherd of the 
 plain first to discover the star of Jacob and 
 leader of Israel. 
 
 Henceforth, simple shepherd, think not 
 of thyself, but learn and labour to raise thy 
 people and exalt the star of thy people to its 
 pre-ordained glory. 
 
 To him, Akiba, the fulfilment of the pro- 
 phecy was revealed. 
 
 His emotion led him for a time away from 
 himself. Then his reason intervened. 
 
 ' What,' it said, ' what, deluded simpleton, 
 dost thou mean by this ecstasy .^ Seest thou 
 not that this is a specimen of human flesli 
 and blood left by some travellers who wish
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 209 
 
 to conceal it, lose it, forget it, and yet save 
 it from death. Look thou under that boy 
 child's shoulder, is there not a pouch stuffed 
 with money ? Seize thou that, it is thine, and 
 thou art wealthy as Chuva thy master, for lo ! 
 upon it is written in thine own language : — 
 " For the finder of the treasure." ' 
 
 And so it was ; there was money of great 
 value. And notwithstanding his emotion 
 Akiba, with the true instinct of his race, put 
 the whole of it into the pouch of his garment. 
 
 Also, still influenced by his reasoning power, 
 he went out of the fold to try and trace on 
 the ground any sign of foot or wheel that 
 should tell of human action, in explanation of 
 the mystery. Either he was blind to such 
 indications, or the winds had wafted them 
 all away, and although in breathless haste he 
 scanned the plain to look for footprints or 
 signs of wheels, he found none. 
 
 As an eagle scans the earth and sky, Akiba 
 scanned the plain, but he saw no further sign. 
 
 He returned to the fold to find his flocK 
 now all astir and waiting the guidance of their 
 gentle master to be led forth for tlie day. He 
 let forth the older ones according to his custom, 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 retaining as hostages the lambs, whom their 
 mothers had fed and to whom they would 
 certainly return. 
 
 This duty done, Akiba had time to attend 
 to the human lamb that had so mysteriously 
 dropt into his fold. It was awake now, and 
 gambolling like its four-legged companions 
 in their early hours of play, for it was just old 
 enough to run, with little falls now and again. 
 
 When Akiba came to the cliild and picked 
 up the shawl that had covered it, it clung 
 round his lea's and tried to hide itself in the 
 folds, laughing as children of health always 
 laugh after a night of pure and wholesome 
 sleep, a laugh that is all joy and gladness, 
 like the young day itself. 
 
 In the heart of the shepherd, a heart as 
 artless as the heart of his foundling, fondness 
 soon took the place of amazement. He sat 
 down on the shawl, rolled himself up in it to 
 hide himself, pulled the child under it as the 
 little thinly draiji^ed it off him, fondled him 
 with tenderest embraces, kissed his sweet 
 lips as he hung round his neck, hugged him, 
 and rocked him to and fro until he was giddy 
 with the exercise.
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 211 
 
 Suddenly the child set up a baby cry, the 
 
 meaning of which Akiba had learned from 
 
 his lambs. He knew what was asked for, 
 
 and words he well remembered came into his 
 
 mind : — 
 
 ' When the young ones cry unto God 
 They wander for lack of meat.' 
 
 He carried the little one tenderly to the 
 house of his father and mother. He showed 
 them the treasure he had found and the robes 
 of purple and gold, and their hearts were filled 
 with joy. 
 
 He would now have left the desert, but 
 Joseph his father and Naomi his mother 
 had pledged themselves there to remain, and 
 their word must be their bond. So carefully 
 conceahng his wealth, he remained with them 
 in tlie desert of Carmel, tending the flocks of 
 Chuva, and watching over the new addition 
 to his flock which had been so mysteriously 
 added to his care, until his parents were 
 ^umbered with their fathers. 
 
 After this event had occurred the work of 
 Akiba as a shepherd was over. He was under 
 no obligation to remain away from the haunts 
 of men, and he pined to gain knowledge of all 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE SOJT OF A STAR 
 
 men and of all things. When, therefore, the 
 steward of the merchant of Jerusalem next 
 came to him, he resigned the stewardship of 
 the flock, and with many tears left the home 
 of his birth and early years, so soon as a suc- 
 cessor appeared to relieve him of his duty. 
 
 Accompanied by his foundling boy, and 
 carrying with him the rich treasure he had 
 discovered and which he scorned to touch, 
 he set forth for Ceesarea, on the borders of 
 the great sea, of which city he had heard most 
 as the abode of mankind. 
 
 They travelled short distances each day, 
 and coming at length into little villages and 
 hamlets Akiba found his knowledo;e of the 
 Jewish scriptures of the greatest value. The 
 people heard his reading of the scriptures with 
 a delight they had never before experienced. 
 To them the inspired words had been re- 
 peated in the worn-out voices of the syna- 
 gogue, in one monotonous tone, with an 
 assumed air of authority and with lifeless 
 breath. 
 
 Now, tliey listened to the living word 
 flowing to them as a river of life moved by a 
 tongue of fire. The words from his lips had a
 
 THE SHEPHERD AXD THE PRINCESS 213 
 
 new meaning, as of one from the wilderness 
 declaring the way of the Lord. 
 
 He spoke to them through the prophet 
 Micah, until they trembled as if the prophet 
 were in very deed and truth before them. 
 They asked him for explanations, and the 
 lesson came from him as a natural product 
 of mind. In many places they would have 
 held him for life. 
 
 And in every place they called him Rabbi, 
 offering him food at their tables and preparing 
 for him and his the choicest raiment. 
 
 Befleeting on these tokens of recocrnition 
 and affection, and accepting them as the de- 
 clared signs of a great mission, Akiba con- 
 ceived that he beheld still greater signs in the 
 boy whom he had nurtured. For to this boy, 
 when he was set up to read a chapter of the 
 law or of the prophets, the multitude listened 
 with a hushed wonder, which to Akiba was full 
 of meaning. 
 
 The wonder was due to the fact that one 
 so young could read so well, and the success 
 depended really on the skill of the master 
 who had taught so well. But the master 
 had no such belief in himself. He was merely
 
 214 TUE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 the instrument, the forerunner. He might be 
 the chosen of Israel ; this boy was the chosen 
 of the chosen. 
 
 The boy himself, as he grew in strength, 
 grew in will and resolution, but it was the 
 will and resolution of his master, not his own. 
 Akiba moulded him as a potter moulds the 
 vessel ; and filling him as far as he could be filled 
 with his own exalted nature and hope, con- 
 structed for himself an idol at the feet of which 
 he soon commenced to worship. 
 
 ' My maidens,' interposed Lucilla at this 
 point, ' when they hear this part of the story 
 commence sometimes to blame the great Akiba. 
 I tell them, Nay, blame him not, but let 
 his action be a guide to you. You set up 
 your idols. Is it not sweet if one of you have 
 composed a song to hear another sing it ; or if 
 one has worked a tapestry for another to wish 
 to possess it. If one hath built a house is it 
 not music to hear another praise it ; if one 
 has made a name is it not the crown of joy 
 that sons shall carry it on from generation to 
 generation ? ' 
 
 ' Truly, sweet lady, we will find no fault
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE TRINCESS 215 
 
 with thy defence of Akiba,' repUed the ab- 
 sorbed Fortunatus, ' but I yearn to hear the 
 progress of the story.' 
 
 The boy — continued Marah in her reading 
 — fed by Akiba with mental as well as bodily 
 food, became more and more like to him, 
 except that his talents were all reflected, and 
 that whatever Akiba told him even of himself 
 he absolutely believed. 
 
 So when Akiba said to him, ' Child of the 
 desert, Simeon by name, thou shalt not die 
 until thy mission be fulfilled, for no man 
 can kill thee,' Simeon accepted the statement 
 with such perfect faith that he tempted death 
 and confirmed himself in the belief. 
 
 That he was born for some grand purpose 
 he now knew, and if, like the Elijah of whom 
 he had read, he were to see a chariot of fire 
 ready to take him to heaven, he would not be 
 afraid, but would enter the chariot as if it 
 were his own. 
 
 At last they reached the borders of the 
 great sea and came to C^sarea. 
 
 To the shepherd of the plain the grandeur 
 of this little place was a marvel. It dazed
 
 21G THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 liis sight, but with its wickedness his heart was 
 wounded, and with the tyranny of its rulers, 
 at that time under Trajan, his soul was set on 
 lire. His impulse was to do as it w^as written 
 by his favourite prophet : — 
 
 ' Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest; 
 Because it is polluted it shall destroy you : 
 Even with a sore destruction.' 
 
 Notwithstanding this remonstrance, which 
 seemed to him almost a command, he waited 
 in Cgesarea for some time, and founded there 
 a school where many scholars came, and 
 where Simeon under his ever-watchful eye was 
 taught all that he could learn. The lad grew 
 in beauty, and in feats of strength and skill 
 had no equal in all the city ; he kept also his 
 own counsel. 
 
 So matters progressed well with Akiba ; his 
 school flourished, he siood guileless and strong. 
 The child placed under his guidance was good, 
 and assisted by one of his people, Elkanah by 
 name, whom he had taken into his school 
 as a teacher and master, Akiba pursued his 
 course in peace. He had found rest that was 
 pleasant, labour that was useful. Was it all 
 to last ? .   '
 
 THE SHEPHERD AXD THE PRINCESS 217 
 
 The God of his fathers ordained it other- 
 wise according to his divine will. Akiba had 
 a call, and leaving his school and his child of 
 the desert to the care of the faithful Elkanah, 
 he one day went down to Jerusalem. 
 
 AKIBA THE VANQUISHED. 
 
 Our story takes now a new line. It tells 
 of a man who has found a new master. 
 
 Akiba went down to the Holy City with 
 conceptions built on the readings of his child- 
 hood. The conceptions filled him with rap- 
 ture ; the reality smote him to the heart. 
 
 He raised his hands in despair. 
 
 Is this Jerusalem? 
 
 Where are the gardens, the vineyards, the 
 mountains of olives, the streets of gold his 
 ardent youth had pictured ? 
 
 Where are the holy places ? Where is the 
 Temple ? Where is the Ark of the Covenant, 
 and the Sanctuary ? 
 
 Where are the people who walk in right- 
 eousness ; the rulers who sit at the gates 
 giving judgment ; where are they whose feet 
 are beautiful upon the mountains, who bring 
 good tidings and good will to men ?
 
 218 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 All day, all nig] it, sleepless, hopeless, fast- 
 ing, restless, this disappomted child of Israel 
 traversed the city of his glorious dreams, to 
 find not one trace of all that he had believed 
 concerning it. 
 
 As the second evening fell he laid himself 
 down from pure fatigue, to rest at the foot of 
 a rising ground called Olivet. And he slept, 
 feeling that all his life had been filled by a 
 vain thing. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Holy City, was not his 
 Jerusalem. It was morally dead, but not 
 buried ; with foul wounds of sin, and poison- 
 ous to the soul. 
 
 The morning sun roused him back to life. 
 He rose from the ground, and obtaining a few 
 olives and a roll of bread from one of the 
 wretched sellers of food who had come forth 
 in tattered garments, he fed and returned to 
 his work of observation. 
 
 A more certain enquiry assured him that 
 he was truly in Jerusalem. 
 
 The house of the Eoman governor was now 
 the chief house of the city. The Eoman 
 sentinels guarded the dead place as disciphned 
 mercenaries paid for the duty. Eomans and
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 219 
 
 Greeks were there, and Jews in abundance : 
 men, women and children, who bought, sold, 
 and wrangled with Ethiops, Gauls, and other 
 strangers, all commingled and equally at 
 home. 
 
 He sought for a synagogue, and found it, 
 but in seeking it found, also, the Koman tem- 
 ple, the church of the Galileans, the school of 
 the unbelieving Stoics. 
 
 Think on it, think on it : false gods, false 
 faiths, false schools in the city of David and 
 Solomon I 
 
 He passed through a part of the city 
 where the ruins left by the soldiers of Vespa- 
 sian and Titus were still visible, although 
 many years had passed away. Beneath the 
 walls he came to a place where some Jewish 
 women bewailed each day the departed glories, 
 and his heart, if not his voice, went with them ; 
 his grief and shame were deeper even than 
 theirs. 
 
 Distributing to these wallers some alms, 
 he passed on. Wearied, footsore, broken in 
 spirit, with bleeding soul, he passed on, feel- 
 ing that to die with the city of his life were 
 the happiest fate that could befall him.
 
 220 TUE SON OF A STAR 
 
 He woke up from tlie desolation to catcli 
 a sound of something that rang sweetly, like 
 music. He found that he had wound his way, 
 without perceiving the fact, out of the ruined 
 city into a highway, once the highway of 
 princes, and still, as it appeared to him, 
 wishing to be deceived, something beautiful, 
 a place of fine houses and palaces. 
 
 The noise increased ; a noise of the feet of 
 horses and of tinkhng bells ; and soon all that 
 made it was in sight, a sight the like of which 
 he had never seen before. 
 
 A jet black horse richly harnessed, carry- 
 ing silver bells, and stepping proudly, as know- 
 ing that he carried some one of distinction, 
 led the way. 
 
 Around, and running by its side, was a 
 troop of slaves gorgeously dressed, and haihng 
 and shouting as they turned their faces to the 
 rider of the horse, raised their fans of palm- 
 leaves, and in every gesture and exultation 
 testified their real or affected delight. 
 
 Their delight might indeed be real, for 
 sucli a face as that which beamed back upon 
 them were a joy to behold. 
 
 The face of a woman just within the lines
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 221 
 
 of womanhood, and animated with all the fire 
 of youthful beauty. 
 
 Her dress was simple, but rich and flowing. 
 Her outer robe, enveloping her loosely, fell 
 gracefully to her feet which, clad in sandals 
 of ivory, held by straps of purple velvet that 
 enlaced her ankles and ended in tassels of 
 gold, rested in a pair of bright stirrups, the 
 left foot a little lower than the right. Over 
 her shoulders was cast a Tyrian mantle of rich 
 azure blue, worn cornerwise, so that while 
 one corner draped each arm, a third fell on 
 the back of the horse, and the fourth, looped 
 up, hung over her forehead, permitting to fall 
 on each side the rich lustrous tresses of her 
 dark brown hair, through which her ears, like 
 shells of pearl bearing pendants of diamonds, 
 peered forth. 
 
 Her dark and long arched eyebrows over- 
 hung eyes that were like light itself, so bright, 
 shadowless, and happy ; for the rest, a gentle 
 Jewish countenance, supported by an exquisite 
 neck, encircled by a kerchief of woven silver 
 tied in a bow which rested on her bosom. 
 
 Her arms and hands were free of all en- 
 cumbrances save a bracelet of pure mal-
 
 222 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 leable gold, so malleable that it encircled her 
 right arm from the wrist to the elbow in a 
 serpentine line. The bracelet was the most 
 significant of all her splendour. It was a pre- 
 sent that had i^ained for her a name amongst 
 the women of Jerusalem which some disdained, 
 but which all envied. 
 
 A greater seeming contrast than she and 
 the scholar Akiba could not have been found 
 in all the earth. She all bright and fresh as 
 the morning ; he all worn, dusty, oppressed 
 with sorrow, and weary as the night. 
 
 Her countenance fell as she gazed on the 
 scholar and searcher after wisdom. 
 
 In hstening to the stories which had been 
 related to her about the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, this child of the place had heard 
 of one Jesus the son of Ananas, who for a long 
 time before the memorable siege had traversed 
 the city crying an awful cry, and had continued 
 that cry during the siege until, while uttering 
 it, a stone from a Roman catapult struck him 
 amongst the voiceless dead around him. Was 
 this man, this picture of woe before her, the 
 same son of Ananas restored to life ? Would 
 he begin to cry that bitter cry, ' A voice
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 223 
 
 from tlie east, a voice from the west, a voice 
 from the north, a voice from the south, a 
 voice from the four corners of the earth cry- 
 ing Woe ! woe ! woe ! to Jerusalem ' ? 
 
 Strangest of strange coincidences, Akiba 
 had been seized at the moment with an 
 overpowering impulse to repeat the very- 
 words. The story was also on his mind, 
 and he had echoed it but for the sight before 
 him. 
 
 What she, the rich child of Jerusalem, 
 expected him to say she herself stopped by 
 her mere presence, through a rapid diversion 
 of his thoughts. 
 
 She checked the movements of her steed, 
 and her chain of slaves stood still. 
 
 For a moment she averted her head to the 
 left side from him who stood on her right, and 
 holding the white reins in her left hand put 
 her right hand back towards the pouch sus- 
 pended to the saddle as if feeling for some 
 coins to give, through one of her slaves, to a 
 mendicant. Then she hastily repented the 
 act, reo;ained the hold of the reins in herrij^ht 
 hand, coloured a deep crimson in the face, and 
 met the flashing gleam of the scholar with a
 
 224 THE ^OX OF A STAR 
 
 return shaft keen as an arrow-point, and so 
 well aimed as to pierce his inmost soul. 
 
 A moment more and she rode on, pushing 
 her steed into a quicker pace, and stooping 
 down to the chief of her slaves as they got 
 out of hearing from the stranger, she asked, 
 with an emotion she could not altogether sup- 
 press : — 
 
 ' Who, Justus, who is that man ? ' But 
 Justus, the chief slave, knew not, neither did 
 any of his band. 
 
 ' See,' replied she, with a voice of authority 
 never to be questioned. ' See that by nightfall 
 all that can be told of that man be brought 
 to me.' 
 
 ' Your slaves will lay it at your feet,' and, 
 without a moment's loss of time, the trustiest 
 of the band, after a word from Justus, was 
 receiving his orders to depart into the city. 
 
 ' It is well,' was the response. ' See to it 
 thoroughly.' 
 
 She rode on, but never before in so strange 
 an ecstasy. Now she paced until the slaves 
 were breathless ; suddenly she stopped, so 
 abruptly as to pull her horse back into 
 the breasts of the slaves who ran behind
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 22^ 
 
 her, driving them backwards many feet ; 
 then, as suddenly, she turned round and in 
 deep meditation made her way to her own 
 house. 
 
 Surely, thought the slaves, our mistress 
 hath been be-spirited by that strange man. 
 And the slaves were wise. 
 
 The strange man, himself even more be- 
 spirited, stood rooted to the spot where the 
 vision had stopped his exclamations. Breath- 
 less, speechless, sightless, he stood there so 
 stricken he was glad of the help of a poor 
 man, to whom the day before he had given 
 alms, to lead him to an inn. 
 
 ' Who,' he gasped in Hebrew, as his senses 
 and powers of speech returned, ' who, good 
 friend of mine in hour of need, who is she who 
 with her slaves passed us by ? ' 
 
 ' She, my son,' rephed the kindly guide 
 in the same tongue, ' she, my son, is the last 
 remaining hnk of the royal house of Sala, 
 an ancestor of our father David. She is the 
 golden serpent of Jerusalem, the only child 
 of Cliuva, the Princess Tyra. Beware, my 
 son, of the Princess Tyra the daughter of 
 Chuva.' 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Vain words ! as well tell a man about to 
 be crucified to beware of tlie cross. 
 
 Their eyes had met and their souls had 
 mingled. 
 
 ' Love mingles through the eyes, and soul 
 meets soul there ; my Servien spoke fine 
 words, but it was his eyes won me,' once more 
 interposed Lucilla. 
 
 ' Happy Servien,' smiled out Fortunatus, 
 ' but pray thee go on with Akiba and the 
 golden serpent.' 
 
 ' Me thinks, wise Eoman, thou hast fallen 
 in love with the mere description of the ser- 
 pent of Jerusalem.' 
 
 ' I plead guilty, that I may hear still more.' 
 
 Their eyes had met, continued the reader, 
 and he had been stricken. Nor was he the 
 first that had been so wounded. The princess 
 Tyra of the royal house of Sala had gained 
 a reputation, that had gone far and wide, for 
 her prowess and skill in vanquishment. 
 
 The Eoman ofi[icers at their banquets 
 drank to her name, the Greek merchants 
 bought choice jewels far away, the memory 
 of her the cause of the purchase ; the Jewish 
 youths looked with envy on the invaders who
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 227 
 
 sought her hand, some for her wealth and all 
 for her beauty. 
 
 She herself, unconscious of it as it seemed 
 to those about her, lived on untouched by 
 the daily adoration. Against her fair fame 
 not one spoke a word. The old and poor 
 Jews said she was the golden serpent, not 
 in blame of her, but as indicating that she 
 was too wise to be caught by the allurements 
 before her. They loved her to their hearts' 
 core, and well they might, for she had no 
 pleasure so great as that of distributing to 
 them the wealth of her house. Her slaves 
 knew every living face in Jerusalem, and 
 amongst the Jews every house, so that if 
 want entered a Jewish house, a bearer of 
 good tidings from the princess was sure to 
 meet it with befitting aid. 
 
 ' I would rather,' said the Roman Governor 
 of Jerusalem, ' be at peace with the Princess 
 Tyra than have another legion of soldiers, 
 for she holds the keys of the city.' 
 
 Once from the Emperor himself his lieu- 
 tenant received a necklace to give to an ally 
 so courted. She dared not refuse acceptance 
 of the gift, but in an hour, dismantled and 
 
 q2
 
 228 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 unrecognisable, it was on its way to Damascus 
 for sale, in separate parts, for the people of her 
 blood. 
 
 Her ride in the morning on which she met 
 Akiba was on a mission of goodness. She was 
 about to visit the oldest representative of the 
 House of Judah, whose end by length of days 
 was near, and towards whom she felt it a duty 
 of respect and dignity to proceed in princely 
 train. 
 
 The visit was one of tlie visits of her 
 life, never forgotten, never put oiT, never 
 stopped until this day, when to the astonish- 
 ment of all her people she returned without 
 making it, and entering her house straightway 
 sought her chamber. The astonishment of 
 her women folk was the more increased when 
 they were told that the return was caused by 
 the sight of a stranger to Jerusalem. 
 
 ' She has seen,' they whispered in their 
 mystical mode of thought, ' she has seen the 
 face of Israel.' 
 
 The excitement calmed down, the slaves 
 dispersed themselves to their various tasks ; 
 the attendants resumed their quiet watchings, 
 but the Princess re-appeared not, and for many
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 229 
 
 hours the mansion was as silent as a gorgeous 
 sepulchre. As if afraid to awaken some slum- 
 bering much beloved sick one, the inmates 
 moved silent of foot, and spoke to each other 
 in whispers, ready at any moment to obey the 
 commands of their mistress, yet not daring to 
 approach beyond the vestibule leading to her 
 apartments, at the door of which the faithful 
 Justus reclined and would have remained un- 
 til he died had the service been required of 
 him. 
 
 As the evening approached the Princess 
 re- appeared amongst her people. But how 
 changed ! 
 
 Her dress, of the purest white, was divested 
 of every ornament she had been most pleased 
 to wear. Her voice carried with it a subdued 
 gentleness and sweetness ; her graces of man- 
 ner, modified by some sweet sadness, were en- 
 trancing ; her expression formerly command- 
 ing, however gentle, was now of seraphic 
 beauty, so that they who conversed with her 
 said to each other, that she must have been 
 admitted into the company of the heavenly 
 host and have learned of them. 
 
 To some extent these faithful observers
 
 230 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 were right in their conjecture. The Princess 
 Tyra, in the hours of her seclusion, had been 
 in transporting reverie, according to her behef, 
 with the seraphic host. 
 
 She too had received her call. 
 
 The face of Akiba had filled her with 
 wonder. It filled her soul. 
 
 It was a face she had expected to see, and 
 yet she could recall no one particular moment 
 of the expectation. It must have been the 
 face of Israel ! 
 
 She cast herself on the couch in the quiet 
 room where she was wont to muse, to read, to 
 sleep. 
 
 How long she remained there she knew not 
 at the time. 
 
 A moment, an hour, a day, a year, an age, 
 ages of ages ! 
 
 She knew not. 
 
 But this she knew, that however long it 
 was she rose with the cry : —   
 
 ' Oh that I might thus live on for ever.' 
 
 Her reverie was the picture of things un- 
 seen, a revelation as clear as was ever made to 
 human mind ; for to her doubts and philoso- 
 phic questionings were as follies which the
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 231 
 
 unbelievers believe in their heads and dis- 
 believe in their hearts. To her primitive faith 
 God spoke and it was done ; the sea was His 
 and He made it, and His hand formed the 
 dry land. He robed Himself in light as with 
 a garment, and by His angel or His angels, 
 not by Himself, for He is a spirit, but by them 
 as intermediaries between His spirit and mortal 
 flesh, He had revealed himself even to her, 
 Tyra, the daughter of Chuva and his wife, the 
 princess of the royal house of Sala. 
 
 In that sweet revelation she beheld herself 
 clothed in white robes standing in what had 
 been once the Temple of Solomon in all its 
 glory. In some way, escorted by an angel 
 visible alone to her, she was in the train of 
 that great king at the time when, with an 
 invocation matchless in its poetic fervour, he 
 opened the house that he had built. She heard 
 the very words of the king. 
 
 The sounds of the voice died away, and she 
 was alone in the temple. The king, the court, 
 the musicians, the priests, the servitors were 
 gone ; the light of day was gone ; the angel 
 was gone ; but she remained. 
 
 In that solemn silence, though she felt not
 
 232 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 mortal pain, she knew that she was cold and 
 by that sense was almost roused to common 
 life, a fact she afterwards remembered and 
 Avhich confirmed her faith. It was a passing 
 moment of terror lest He whom the heaven of 
 heavens cannot contain should in very deed 
 appear, and she be consumed by the glory of 
 His presence. 
 
 The terror passed away and was forgotten 
 in the event which succeeded. In the moment 
 of her alarm the blue veil of the temple before 
 which she stood melted into an imperial sky. 
 The Holy of holies became the firmament ; 
 the ark was resolved into a cluster of glorious 
 stars, and the cherubim that guarded it moved 
 into the mighty space ; the voices of unseen 
 thousands filled the air with song ; and a 
 fragrant incense, communicating an ethereal 
 delight, completed the supreme pleasure of 
 existence in that new temple in which she, 
 alone, of all mortals, stood ! 
 
 Surely one of the angels of light will 
 speak to her. Surely some voice from the 
 hosts of the blessed will tell this child of 
 the earth why she is called and what she is 
 to do.
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PEINCESS 233 
 
 No, she is not called by an angel. But 
 yet is she none the less called. 
 
 The majesty of the vision is subdued, 
 folded as it were into human dimensions. She 
 is in the temple built with hands once more, 
 the veil is still raised, the Holy of Holies is 
 open to her favoured view, the cherubim 
 spread out their wings over the ark of the 
 covenant, a heavenly light glows, and before 
 the ark, clothed in the robes of the high 
 priest of Israel ana prince of his people, is the 
 stranger, the man stricken with woe whom she 
 had met wandering in the street of the city. 
 
 In adoration he turns his face to the ark. 
 He bends as if under the weight of a load 
 heavier than he can bear. He will fall ! 
 She rushes to save him, but the veil of the 
 temple descends between them, and with the 
 cry of joy of which we have already heard, 
 she is restored to common life and its common 
 realities. 
 
 ' Truly, sweet lady, I will confide to thee 
 aU the love stories of my history,' murmurs the 
 delighted Fortunatus, as Marah for a moment 
 rested from her narrative, ' that thou mayest 
 embalm them in such choice setting. I will
 
 234 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 be sent down to posterity by thee, a perfect 
 memory of love, in a sarcophagus of fancy 
 and a pyramid of fame. Now I presume, in 
 my earthly fashion, they are going to be 
 married and for ever happy.' 
 
 ' Anticipate not too rashly. Oh hard philo- 
 sopher,' resumed Lucilla. ' But Marah must 
 read on.' 
 
 In time the news was spread abroad 
 that the golden serpent of Jerusalem had been 
 charmed and won by the eyes of a poor Eabbi 
 named Akiba, once the shepherd servant of 
 Chuva her father. ' And it is as it should be,' 
 said the w^ser men of the city, ' since beauty 
 and wealth are the best friends of wisdom 
 and knowledge.' 
 
 ' When the Princess Tyra gives up her rule 
 in Jerusalem CiBsar must send me another 
 legion,' said the Governor of Jerusalem. 
 
 ' What an ancient fool was I to sacrifice 
 all my little store to buy a bracelet for that 
 golden serpent ! ' sighed Damos the Greek 
 merchant, who with his native craft believed 
 that the way to win a woman's love was to 
 bedeck her with rich jewels. 
 
 And hundreds of poor hearts throbbed 
 with fear lest their homes should lose the
 
 THE SHEPHEED A^D THE PRINCESS 235 
 
 liglit of her countenance and the generosity 
 of her hand. 
 
 And her attendants and slaves whispered 
 to each other, ' When shall we have another 
 home like this in the house of our dearest 
 mistress and friend ? ' 
 
 With it all there was rejoicing, for the news 
 of marriage is always the hope of a festival. 
 
 The sweet Tyra lived in hope, and Akiba 
 the scholar waited in its embrace, For the 
 moment all ambition, all effort of learning was 
 lost in this blissful swiftly running tide of love. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! that such a tide should receive 
 one moment of interruption. 
 
 Yet Fate ordained it, and so it was. 
 
 Chuva, the father of the happy maiden, 
 was away in Tyre, from whence his wealth 
 was derived. Never doubting his assent, the 
 Princess, his only beloved child, despatched to 
 him trusty messengers conveying the news of 
 her love, the true history of her lover, the 
 account of his great learning, wisdom, and 
 goodness, the beauty of his person, and all 
 else that a fond and spoiled maiden in pangs 
 of love would, under such circumstances, say 
 to an adoring parent.
 
 236 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 Chiiva, when lie heard the news, accepted 
 the message with a rage before unknown by 
 his oldest friends. He sent back the messenger 
 hastily with imprecations ; in his great wrath 
 bade the sweet princess leave his house forth- 
 with and speak to him no more ; made a new 
 testament, leaving all his wealth away from 
 her, and added to the document the blicrhtinj? 
 
 ' Co 
 
 curse of his fathers on her and hers. 
 
 The princess received the news in despair. 
 Then, recovering her fortitude, she clothed 
 herself in mourning as for one dead, and 
 sending for Akiba told him all, bidding him 
 hold her, now no longer a princess but a poor 
 daughter of Jerusalem, unworthy the love of 
 one so great and learned and wise as he. 
 
 ' Nay, my greater and dearer love,' exclaimed 
 Akiba, ' be still mine own. Thy wealth, which I 
 never wanted nor envied, is dross compared to 
 thee. Be thou alone the wealth. Thy father's 
 wealth is the sweeping of the streets ; thou art 
 the dust of the stars, and more than ever mine.' 
 
 What could the Princess Tyra do or say 
 after such words ? 
 
 As may be believed, she left her princely 
 palace even with joy ; consecrated with simplest
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 237 
 
 marriage vows her life to her beloved, fol- 
 lowed him, cherished him, and day by day 
 was more and more enriched by the return of 
 his affection. 
 
 As a teacher Akiba could easily make his 
 way, so that the princess took not one precious 
 treasure from her father's house. As her dead 
 mother had left all in order, so she, disturbing 
 no single thing, tore herself from her weep- 
 ing maids and slaves, and forsaking all others 
 clung to her bosom lord. 
 
 They travelled and taught until they 
 reached Alexandria, the city of scholars, where 
 Philon Judasus had lived and written, and 
 where Jews were esteemed for their wisdom. 
 
 In Alexandria there was a grand syna- 
 gogue in which, on days of worship, the men 
 sat apart according to their guilds ; the gold- 
 smiths in their parts, the coppersmiths in theirs, 
 the joiners in theirs, the weavers in theirs ; 
 for Jews always divide themselves into guilds, 
 and will do so through all time. 
 
 At the foot of all the guilds might be seen 
 those who waited for work, and there Akiba 
 took his seat. 
 
 In the centre the Reader, clad in white
 
 238 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 vestments, bore the Sudarm, or flag with which 
 to give the great congregation the signal for 
 the rino-ino; Alleluiah and the loud Amen. 
 
 Above all sat the seventy, the elders of the 
 people, on seats of gold. 
 
 And from her place on the women's side 
 the lovely Princess Tyra, the beholden of 
 all beholders, so ravishing was her beauty, 
 watched her husband sitting humbly at the 
 feet of the guilds waiting for honest work. 
 
 They asked him, when the worship was 
 over : — 
 
 ' Who art thou and what is thy vocation, 
 and who is this woman thy wife ? ' 
 
 It was a mere ceremony, for in truth the 
 whole story and the fame of Akiba and the 
 princess had preceded them. 
 
 Soon, very soon, Akiba became in Alex- 
 andria the most renowned teacher there ; 
 learned above all others, and the central occu- 
 pant of the golden seat of the synagogue. So 
 do those that humble themselves become 
 exalted. 
 
 They tarried in Alexandria seven years 
 and then they returned to Jerusalem, for 
 Tyra still mourned for her father's love, and
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PEINCESS 239 
 
 having now a son hoped to win forgiveness, if 
 not by her own persuasion by that of her child, 
 who inherited her beauty of person and his 
 father's intelHgent mind- 
 
 Entering Jerusalem in the quietest manner 
 and making themselves known to none of the 
 people, Tyra with her son sought her father's 
 house, and communicating her wishes to the 
 faithful servants, whose love she had never 
 lost, stood before Chuva, her sire, and placing 
 her child also before him prayed his pity, his 
 forgiveness, and his blessing;. 
 
 It was a pleading one would have thought 
 that no man could have resisted, and when 
 the child raised his ruby lips, and put out his 
 little hand, Chuva was indeed touched to the 
 heart by both child and grandchild, for these 
 were all the living wealth that he possessed. 
 
 But he was a Jew, and a Jew, it is declared, 
 never forgives. 
 
 He sent them both from his presence, or 
 rather he withdrew from them. He left them 
 in their tears and sobs on their knees, and 
 entered the court of his house where strangers 
 wait, meaning to take the air and recover his 
 anger and cool his rebellious heart.
 
 240 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 In the outer court of his house he found, to 
 his surprise, a stranger of noble build, tall and 
 motionless, before whose searching glance yet 
 gentle expression he, Chuva, shook and trem- 
 bled. 
 
 Stricken with the superstition common to 
 worldly minds, the old man, in the suddenness 
 of his wonder, believed that he was visited by 
 some being of supernatural gifts and power. 
 
 'What asketh my lord of his servant?' 
 gasped the affrighted merchant. 'Ask only 
 and thou shalt have.' 
 
 ' I ask for nothing,' replied the visitor, ' I 
 come to claim my own. Akiba waits to re- 
 move from hate to love his wife and son.' 
 
 In Ma^nes there is said to be an earth or 
 stone that draws to it or repels from it, as it 
 wills, all of its kind that are near to it ; and 
 amongst men there are they who have the 
 power of that stone. 
 
 Akiba was a prince of the power, and 
 Chuva was under his magical spell. Had he 
 dared, Chuva would have thrown himself on 
 the breast of his conqueror ; as it was, he fell 
 at his feet, but, raised by the strong and 
 loving arms that soon surrounded him, he
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 241 
 
 very quickly discovered himself the centre of his 
 three children, they the objects of his proud 
 admiration, and he of their united love. 
 
 Chuva revoked the will he had made, left 
 all his treasures to Akiba the wise, and there- 
 with crowned the success of him who after- 
 wards entered Paradise, and who is now the 
 chief of his people, for though learning be 
 ever so great, wealth well-spent will make it 
 greater. 
 
 But, as it is written, ' Boast not thyself of 
 to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day 
 may bring forth ; ' so whilst Akiba and his son 
 were away to visit Alexandria a plague struck 
 the holy city, and when on his return he 
 landed here at Joppa a messenger met him 
 to tell him that both Chuva and the Princess 
 Tyra were in the home of the departed, that 
 their last breaths had carried his beloved 
 name, and that their last hopes were that he 
 would pray for them, that they might be set 
 free from the prison where the souls of the 
 dead, purified from their sins, are made fit 
 for the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 "We have a promise that when the gates 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 242 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 of heaven are shut to prayer they are open to 
 tears, and in that promise Akiba found rehef 
 for liis bursting heart. Then followed the 
 prayer which the Eonians know not, the prayer 
 that is only Israel's weapon, a weapon tried 
 in a thousand battles, a weapon inherited from 
 the fathers of Israel. 
 
 And Akiba taught his little son that prayer 
 which Israel ever repeats when the good die 
 and the earth loses them : — 
 
 ' Blessed is the righteous judge.' 
 
 To Jerusalem Akiba bent his way, to find 
 his home still a house of mourning. But 
 when he had performed all the rites of holi- 
 ness and honour to his lost ones, he came back 
 to Joppa as to the place of his call, that he 
 might here obey the word, and find peace in 
 his sorrow. 
 
 Honour' the sons of the poor, for it is they who 
 bring knowledge into glory. 
 
 And by these words Akiba lives to this hour. 
 
 ' A strange, strai.ge history,' observes 
 Fortunatus as Marah's voice ceases. ' But 
 wliat, I pray thee, was the fate of the foundhng 
 who brought Akiba his first treasure ? '
 
 THE SHEPHERD AND THE PRINCESS 24 
 
 o 
 
 * Ah, thereby hangs a mystery that even 
 Lucilla cannot solve, nor Akiba himself,' broke 
 in the matter-of-fact Servien, who having 
 finished his inspection had rejoined the listen- 
 ing group. ' When Akiba, after his tour of 
 love had ended, went with his wife to Caesarea 
 to fetch the boy, in whose fate her woman's 
 heart was moved, it was not to be found. The 
 very house in which he had been left was 
 rased to the earth ; the school was no more, 
 All that could be learned was that a rather 
 sharp Jewish quarrel, in some way connected 
 with the synagogue, had arisen in Cassarea ; 
 that some Jews of Jerusalem and some Jews 
 of Samaria had disputed for possession of the 
 synagogue ; that a Eoman force had quelled 
 the disturbance, not without bloodshed, and 
 that when all was over, the master of the 
 school, connected with the place, who had 
 played a leading part in the disturbance as a 
 Jew of Galilee, and who more than once before 
 had made himself most objectionable and re- 
 bellious to the power of Caisar, was crucified, 
 and that all who belonged to him had disap 
 peared for ever. 
 
 ' There is a rumour that Trajan himself, 
 
 E 2
 
 244 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 who was at that time in Jerusalem, had some 
 hand in this affair, for reasons more weighty 
 than at first sight would appear. But this has 
 now become an old wife's story, well-nigh 
 forgotten or treated as fable.' 
 
 As the night is far advanced and Servien 
 is weary, the friends separate for rest and 
 sleep, and Fortunatus, with a courteous fare- 
 "^"^ell to his hostess and host, seeks his chamber. 
 
 Yet long after he is ensconced in that 
 quiet retreat he recalls the story he has heard, 
 for he was in C^sarea when Trajan was at 
 Jerusalem, and if some advice he then gave 
 liad been followed, many events which have 
 been related in these pages, with many which 
 have to follow, had never occurred, and this 
 record of' them had never been written. 
 
 So true it is that the smallest incidents of 
 one age may extend through ages, and that 
 there is nothing human, however little, that 
 may not leave a permanent mark in the book 
 of humanity.
 
 245 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 SCHOLARS AHEAD. 
 
 The day following upon the recital of the his- 
 tory of Akiba the Wise by the wife of Servien, 
 was rapidly passed by her exemplary hus- 
 band in the company of his friend and visitor, 
 the learned and accomplished Fortunatus, in 
 inspecting the towers and places of strength 
 of Joppa, the legion that was stationed there, 
 the armoury, the weapons, the shipping, and 
 the surrounding country, 
 
 Servien had now his history to tell ; how 
 Cestius the Roman general, during the time 
 of the Jewish revolt in the reign of Nero, had 
 taken Joppa by a combined movement on sea 
 and land, had destroyed eight thousand of its 
 people, and had laid the place waste ; how it 
 then became the centre or home of a piratical 
 navy, which made the sea from Egypt to Tyre, 
 and even across to the isles of Greece, dan-
 
 246 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 tjerous, if not impassable ; how Vespasian, in 
 his time, sent a force which drove the pirates 
 to their ships on the sea, out of the reach of 
 the Roman darts ; how ' a black north wind ' 
 forcing the pirates back upon the rocks, left 
 them so much to the mercy of their enemies 
 tliat they were destroyed by thousands, many 
 falling upon their own swords, so that the sea 
 was reddened for some miles with their blood; 
 how Vespasian determined, upon this recapture 
 of the place, to make it a strong Roman 
 fortress or camp, and left there many horse- 
 men and some foot, who laid bare the country 
 all round about ; and how, for a long period, 
 the town remained nothimr more than a soli- 
 tary place of Roman soldiery. 
 
 But Servien had also a later story to tell. 
 He told that the number of ships from the 
 Great Sea still so continuously put in to Joppa 
 that, in spite of Rome, it became once more 
 a port or gateway to Jerusalem ; that Greeks 
 and Romans, as well as Jews, frequented it ; 
 that in time the Jews from Phcenicia and 
 Egypt and other parts of the world settled 
 there under Roman rule ; that with their 
 usual genius the Jews brought trade, money.
 
 SCHOLARS AHEAD 247 
 
 and wealth to the spot, together with much 
 learning and life ; and that, giving up all 
 thoughts of war, they had turned the recon- 
 structed place, mainly by the influence of 
 Akiba, into a great school, to which over 
 twelve thousand scholars resorted, to pass 
 from it, by its ready exit, to the schools of 
 Alexandria, Athens, and Eome itself, bearing 
 forth their learning, and bringing back the 
 learning of other peoples and lands. 
 
 ' Thou art as great an enthusiast, my Ser- 
 vien, about these Judeans as thy wife,' observed 
 Fortunatus, ' and, in truth, thou hast measured 
 them correctly ; they are traders in wisdom as 
 well as in money. But art thou sure about 
 their h->yalty ? These weapons they forge for 
 thee, hast thou confidence that thou art the 
 only keeper of all that are made ? ' 
 
 ' Confident,' replied Servien. ' They make 
 the weapons at Akiba's forges, not by multi- 
 tudes of men working there, but by a very few 
 students at a time, as a pastime of the schools, 
 and under the eye always of our centurions, 
 as thine own eyes shall witness.' 
 
 Not a bench, not a class, not a work, 
 mental or physical, of the great school of
 
 248 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 Aklba at Joppa escapes the observation of 
 Fortimatus. 
 
 A poor soldier compared with Servien, he 
 is a better soldier here. His tablets fill as he 
 passes from one part to another. He will 
 show the tablets to Caesar; he will perhaps 
 show them to the world, publish them if he 
 shall live. His sentences are of necessity brief, 
 but, as may be seen in the specimens below, 
 are sufficient to help his memory, as so many 
 rests for it, when he shall sit down in his study 
 in his garden at Rome in sweet retirement. 
 
 Excerpts from the Note-book of Fortunatus of 
 Rome respecting Joppa and the Jews there 
 IN the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. 
 
 ' The common statement that there are twelve thousand 
 scholars at Joppa under Akiba the Wise is less than the 
 fact. 
 
 ' There are two hundred youthful Jews in each class, 
 and there are seventy-two classes, after their mystic 
 number. 
 
 ' The youths are all strong and thoughtful, they fill 
 up half the day at their books, the rest in bodily exercises 
 or manual labour. 
 
 * They march, and run, and obey words of command 
 like men of war, but Servien wisely allows them no 
 weapons, they may not even discharge a bow, though they 
 themselves have made it. 
 
 ' They write with a stylus half a cubit long, which
 
 SCHOLARS AHEAD 249 
 
 they carry in their girdles point upwards, so that it may 
 be distinguished from a dagger. Why so long 1 
 
 'They have remarkable skill in the manufacture of 
 weapons. In every school there is a forge at which they 
 make, each day, a sword, a bow, a javelin, and a spear, 
 without interfering with the ordinary work of learning. 
 
 ' They make armour also, helmets, breastplates, and 
 chainwork, with fine skill. 
 
 'In an emergency they could equip a thousand sol- 
 diers a week. 
 
 ' Servien only allows one class a day to make weapons, 
 all of which weapons are removed as they are finished. 
 
 ' Servien directed that one class should make before 
 us a bow, a sword, a shield, and a javelin. Four sets of 
 the youths were put to the task, seven to the bow, seven to 
 the sword, seven to the shield, and seven to the javelin. 
 
 ' These Jews do everything by sevens. Why l 
 
 ' They sing in turns, during their work, some sacred 
 song that bears on what they are doing. 
 
 ' The youths we met sang sayings taken from their 
 books as they worked, according to the labour. Thus : 
 
 ' *' Iron is taken from the earth. 
 
 * " Brass is melted out of stone. 
 
 ' " Iron sharpeneth iron, and the face of a man that of 
 his friend. 
 
 ' " Og, king of Bashan, lo his bedstead was of iron ; 
 nine cubits long, and four cvibits broad. 
 
 ' " Thou shalt bi-eak them with a rod of iron." 
 
 ' Then they sang some weird prophecy about a great 
 king who saw a great image with feet of iron, that was 
 smitten by a stone cut without hands. The image 
 represented some kingdom which the stone should crush. 
 
 * The work proceeded with the singing. They gave to 
 iron a spring, and a bow was wrought out of such iron, 
 and a sword like the finest of the east ; the sword bent
 
 250 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 like the bow ; and a javelin, made for Servien, was cast by 
 him full fifty footsteps, into a figure of wood shaped like 
 a man, 
 
 * These youths obey their superiors like soldiers, 
 ' They make the sun their fellow-workman. 
 
 * They build and furnish their own habitations, and 
 earn their own bread. 
 
 ' They are taught leech-craft and other useful callings, 
 " because," say their fathers, " a man who fails to give his 
 son a trade maketh him a rogue." 
 
 ' Would that our Roman fathers believed and prac- 
 tised the same rule. 
 
 ' They share equally each other's goods, and him that 
 would be greatest amongst them they make the least, 
 because their scripture tells them that a good name is 
 choicer than riches ; that the rich man is wise in his own 
 conceit; but, that the poor man, who has understanding, 
 finds him out, 
 
 ' Would that our Roman youths were taught such 
 wisdom. 
 
 ' They are expert as fishermen. 
 
 * They make their own bread and raiment. 
 
 * They drink no wine. Wine, they are told in one of 
 their proverbs, is a mocker. 
 
 * They learn every tongue. 
 
 * They ax'e sent forth to gain more knowledge. 
 
 And they worship day and night the God of their 
 fathers, declaring boldly that He, one God, is alone to be 
 worshipped. 
 
 ' They abhor graven images, and will rather die than 
 worship them. 
 
 * They obey the laws of Caesar, but will not bow down 
 nor burn incense before his image, because they say their 
 God is a jealous God, and visits the sins of the fathers on 
 the children to the third and fourth generation.
 
 SCHOLARS AHEAD 251 
 
 ' Their God has no form, and no image of Him exists. 
 Enquiidng his name, they refuse to pronounce it because 
 it is too sacred to be uttered. He, they say, is a spirit 
 whom no one hath seen ; but bis angel or intermediator 
 may communicate with man, and his own spirit fills man. 
 
 ' They keep holy the seventh day of the week. They 
 have daily prayers and services, each hour of the day being 
 set apart for some particular service. 
 
 ' These religious rites Servien is instructed by Cfesar 
 not to interrupt, so the youths grow bold. They meet in 
 their synagogues ; they sing a sacred hymn ; they read, in 
 turn, lessons from their scriptures ; they offer up prayers 
 to their Creator ; they chant psalms ; they make re- 
 sponses ; and they listen to their rabbis who preach to 
 them from a tribune or from the altar. All this they are 
 permitted to do, but one thing Servien will not allow 
 them to do, because it would put them in possession of 
 knives, axes, and other weapons : they may not offer up 
 the bodies of animals to their deity, no, not even at festi 
 vals. 
 
 ' But on festival days they are allowed to burn the 
 fat of animals, as candles, with incense, at the altar, by 
 which they raise a savoury and sweet odour with fire 
 and smoke. A symbolical sacrifice for which they are 
 grateful. 
 
 ' The priest stands before the altar, wearing twelve 
 jewels on his breast, and richly robed. The singers in 
 white robes stand behind the priest before the altar. 
 They all turn to the east when they pray, and they all 
 kneel when the commandments of their early prophet are 
 declared from the altar. 
 
 ' Once yearly they hold a " passover," or religious 
 feast in remembrance of their great deliverance from 
 Egypt. 
 
 ' Once yearly they have a day for atonement of
 
 *252 THE SOX OF A STAR 
 
 their sina, when they sit all day in the synagogue and 
 confess theii- sins with many prayers, and count their 
 prayers with beads, which they carry round their necks. 
 
 ' Like the Egyptians, they bury their dead. Ques- 
 tioned as to the souls of their dead they are mysterious, 
 but speak of some prison or place of puri6cation, and say 
 it is good for the living to pray for the deliverance of the 
 dead from it. 
 
 * Pressed on the question whether they expect a new 
 deliverer to arise amongst them as a Messiah, which is 
 always laid to their charge, they answer invariably in 
 the same significant words : " The Holy One of Israel 
 is our law-giver, and Caesar is Caesar. The will of the 
 Holy One be done on earth as it is in heaven," 
 
 ' From the uniformity of this saying they must have 
 been trained to declare it. 
 
 ' Many of these questions and answers amused Ser- 
 vien, because he, who has married one of their blood, a 
 wife to whom he is childishly devoted, thought I had met 
 my masters in wisdom. 
 
 ' I, Fortunatus, think so too ; but it is Servien, and 
 not I, who may find out the truth of it most speedily, 
 
 * One thing these Jews proved to me by their lives, 
 that work of the limbs and work of the mind go well 
 together, as Plato has taught in his book, the " Timaeus," ' 
 
 To the refined and observant Fortunatus, 
 who had visited every part of the Roman 
 vsrorld, these Jewish schools are in fact a 
 model, and his praises of them are as warm as 
 they are cautious and discreet. He determines 
 that, if life be spared him, he will master these 
 schools and their mysteries. What is the
 
 SCHOLAES AHEAD iJoo 
 
 book of which in every school he hears so 
 much ? He questions Servien, who knows no 
 more of it than the mere mechanical facts that 
 seventy or seventy-two Jews, all considered as 
 scholars of highest rank, are at work upon it 
 under the chief, Akiba ; and that to the thou- 
 sands of youths in the schools it is a book the 
 treasuring of wliich and the copying of which 
 keeps them out of mischief towards Eome and 
 his legion. 
 
 Eortunatus hears the words of Servien 
 with all respect, but does not accept them as 
 final. 
 
 Fortunatus has been a student of the stir- 
 ring history of Babylon. He recalls how under 
 a Babylonish captivity the Jews ceased to be a 
 savage and learned to be a wise and cultured 
 race, yearning still for home yet loving their 
 enlightened captivity. He has heard that when 
 they returned from their captivity and re- 
 entered into possession of their promised land, 
 they were not the Jews of old, but that their 
 mind was set on a new reading, interpretation, 
 and preservation of their ancient and sacred 
 records. And now, with their new order of 
 thought, he discovers them re-editing, so to
 
 254 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 speak, the book of the Word, the Book of the 
 world, the book of Truth. 
 
 Would that he, a born son of nature, a 
 philosopher, could join in the labour. 
 
 Servien is much amused at his absorption 
 in such nonsense. 
 
 ' Ah, my Servien, keep thou these Jews in 
 their place under Csesar, watch them with an 
 aye as vigilant as that of an eagle waiting for its 
 prey, for they, from their earliest times, have 
 been taught of the serpent, and creep noise- 
 lessly at your feet until they grip you. They 
 have the art of charming you by their gentle- 
 ness and beating you by their subtlety. Be ever 
 on thy guard, but say not one word against 
 their sacred writings and treasures of wisdom, 
 for in them is the secret of everlasting know- 
 ledge and wisdom.' 
 
 ' My wife, whom I have named Lucilla,' 
 muses Servien, ' says these same sayings, which 
 is not strange, seeing that she is born of this 
 people. But that a learned Eoman should 
 repeat her words is, like the very books of 
 these Jews, a mystery. I care not to fathom it. 
 If the worst come to the worst, I will make 
 short work of it. I will burn every rag of a
 
 SCHOLARS AHEAD 255 
 
 book that Csesar may reign, Lucilla and For- 
 tunatus notwithstanding.' 
 
 With curious insight Fortunatus reads the 
 mind of his honest and resolute friend. 
 
 ' Thou thinkest, Servien, if the books of 
 these Jews led to revolt what a fire they would 
 make at thy bidding ? ' 
 
 'My very thoughts.' 
 
 ' Thou art bold, Servien, but this were 
 beyond thy power. Amidst thunders and light- 
 nings which our Jove himself could not raise, 
 the first of those books came to these Jews. 
 Their God spoke to them His own command- 
 ments. I know the story, and the name of the 
 Jew who wrote the words on tablets of stone. 
 What one of the masters pronounced in the first 
 school I understood, and why the scholars bent 
 so low when he added : 
 
 ' " Fear God and keep his commandments." 
 " And do not unto another what thou wouldst 
 not have another do to thee." 
 
 'Those are open sayings, old and true, 
 which their sages have taught, but they have 
 others more secret, and that have most to do 
 with thee. Jerusalem, they say, was won by 
 Vespasian because the young were not taught.
 
 250 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 The world is saved by the breath of the }■ oung. 
 These are the lessons of the schools we have 
 visited, and though thou burn all their books, 
 my noble Roman, they will rise again.' 
 
 And thus in friendly controversy the two 
 sworn friends, so different in nature, the one 
 root and branch a soldier, the other root and 
 branch a scholar, spent their day, surveying 
 Joppa, its schools, its forts, its streets, its 
 bazaars, its quays, its ships, its peoples of 
 Greeks, Romans, Jews, Egyptians, Tyrians. 
 
 All the world of Joppa and its inevitable 
 wife. 
 
 Leaving them so occupied, let us, by a 
 return flight to Britain, re-seek our heroes 
 there, and firstly him who, to please a Roman 
 mob, ran for his life as a pillar of fire, and was 
 saved from the burning.
 
 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT. 
 
 Simeon and his two friends, the handsome 
 chieftain and his lovely child, made quick foot- 
 steps over another ascent, which leads them 
 still farther from the Eoman camp ; and here 
 the wise guide once more takes counsel of 
 himself. 
 
 Some wild and cruel rolhckers from the 
 camp may follow us, he argues, or even a 
 number of armed men may follow us, and 
 seizing us take us back into the furious claws 
 of the enemy from which we have escaped ! 
 
 To Simeon these apprehensions are as so 
 much idle wind. He has retained beneath 
 the sackcloth in which he had been enveloped 
 his trusty sword or falchion, and woe to a 
 dozen rolhckers or others who come beneath 
 its swing. Moreover, he who has already 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 escaped such great dangers will escape all. 
 Sucli is his destiny. 
 
 The Philosopher listens and marvels ; but 
 learning soon, with practised skill, the mind 
 and character of this singular youth he pro- 
 ceeds to influence him in the only way in 
 which he is open to reason. 
 
 It is a circumstance as curious as it is 
 natural both to him and to his child, whom 
 he calls by the name of Erine Leoline, that 
 this youth whom they have so far saved is 
 now dedicated to their solemn charge. It is 
 a feelins: which all who have once befriended 
 him feel ever afterwards. That also is his fate. 
 
 His new mentor quickly reading his cha- 
 racter, proceeds to act upon him rapidly and 
 effectively ; and soon the stubborn nature is 
 subdued by so wise and gentle a counsellor. 
 
 'Thou art here, good Simeon,' he answers, 
 ' for such thou tellest me is thy name ; thou art 
 here and the Mighty One Mhom thou servest 
 has need of thee ; but wisdom must temper 
 courage, and what fate thinkest thou will 
 befall thine unhappy friends should Eoman 
 hands fall upon us ? Thou mayest be under 
 divine protection, we are certainly not so
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 259 
 
 favoured. Thinkest thou this child of mine, 
 so frail, so fair, will escape their penalties and 
 their pleasure ? ' 
 
 The words are enough. 
 
 ' The God of my fathers hath given me 
 over to thy safe keeping,' was his reply : 
 ' henceforth thou shalt do with me as thou 
 desirest. I will call thee Leon, and will obey 
 thee as if I were another child of thine.' 
 
 ' Thou art wise, my son, as tliou art bold. 
 They Avho sought thy life do not mean thee 
 to escape. They wait only to drink wine ere 
 they pursue thee. Thou hast refused to offer 
 up incense to their king, thou art an arrow in 
 the side of their second king or Governor, and 
 they are too strong even for thee when force 
 alone is master. We, tlierefore, will try the 
 wisdom thou dost not despise.' 
 
 They are now on a plain, proceeding as 
 swiftly as their feet can carry them, one on each 
 side of him whom we with Simeon shall hence- 
 forth call Leon. So led they proceed towards 
 the west guided by the reading of the stars, 
 until they come to a deserted native hut of 
 rather considerable size, witli other smaller 
 huts, equally deserted, clustered near to it. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 It is a hut made of earth and poles and straw. 
 Into the earth a large scoop or opening has 
 once been cut ; the earth has been thrown up 
 on all sides, except the southern side, facing 
 the sun, to form a wall or bank ; into the 
 bank poles have been planted so as to meet 
 in a point at the centre ; around these poles 
 stubble or tliatch has been attached to make 
 a roof; within the hut at the farthest ex- 
 tremity from the sloping southern entrance a 
 hearthstone has been erected, and therewith 
 the home of the native Briton has been made 
 complete. 
 
 The combination of huts formed once a 
 native village. It was the seat of a chief, and 
 was surrounded altogether by an enbankment 
 
 of earth. 
 
 Some years ago it was the scene of a great 
 fio-lit; the Roman soldiers on their march 
 through the country westward came upon it, 
 met with a resistance altogether unexpected, 
 and in revenge, when they became victors, 
 slew every man, woman, and child of the place, 
 leaving the dead to bury the dead. 
 
 In that village of desolation no one ever 
 afterwards dwells.
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 261 
 
 It is a haunted desolation. Eoman and 
 Briton alike view it, from tlie distance, with 
 equal superstition and fear. 
 
 Fortunately it has not escaped the notice 
 of the observant Leon. lie passed it but a 
 day or two ago, went into it alone ; read in the 
 remains he found there its history, and now 
 again approaches it as a trap laid for his pur- 
 suers should they follow in his wake. 
 
 Nature has been more bountiful than man 
 to this unfortunate nest of death ; she has 
 wept over it with her genial showers, and her 
 wild briars and dog roses have covered it in 
 so as finally to bury it in beauty. Here the 
 birds build their nests, and here the dead leaves 
 of the plain, wafted to the spot, cover up the 
 skeletons of the slaughtered men, women, and 
 babes. 
 
 Leon has surveyed the place, and has 
 gratefully thanked the supreme power he 
 worships that no such nest of desolation 
 could be found in all his own peaceful land. 
 
 He brings his companions to a rest here 
 while he explains to them his design. 
 
 Breaking through the long grass which 
 obstructs the entrance to the chief hut, and
 
 2G2 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 lighting his way with a luminous point which 
 he has struck from a kind of rod carried in 
 a wallet, by his side he comes upon what he 
 expected, the bones of one of the victims of 
 the fray. There are few of them, for wild 
 beasts have carried many away, but what 
 remain are sufficient for his purpose. 
 
 With quick and precise skill he spreads 
 out quickly at the entrance of the hut a bed 
 of leaves, loose wood, and thatch torn from the 
 slanting and decaying roof; and, on this bed 
 he lays the bones in natural order, as if a man 
 making for the interior of the hut had fallen 
 down headlong at the entrance. 
 
 Eeturning now to Simeon whom he has 
 left a little distance off, he removes from his 
 body the sackcloth with which he is encased, 
 places that in naturally fitting parts with the 
 bones, and taking from him also his sword 
 puts that on the bed of leaves on the left side 
 of the remains of mortality. 
 
 Next he throws on more dry wood, 
 leaves and thatch, and having quite completed 
 this part of his task, he, by some skilful 
 method, noiselessly drives his pointed rod into 
 a flame and sets the heap he has made on fire.
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 263 
 
 A sandal from the right foot of Simeon is 
 finally made to burn until it is well scorched, 
 is extinguished when half burnt away, and is 
 laic a few yards in front of the blazing pyre, 
 which they quickly leave behind them, to 
 pursue a course westward but bearing a little 
 to the north. 
 
 The fire, extending from the bed of leaves 
 aadwood and thatch to the chief hut, is carried 
 to the other huts, and sets the whole of the 
 mined encampment into a magnificent blaze, 
 visible for miles around. 
 
 The device is none too speedily executed ; 
 for the fugitives have but just sufficient time to 
 reach a little wood, in which they lie concealed 
 from the light shed by the fire, ere the Eoman 
 cavalry who left the encampment at the close 
 of the revelry are at hand. The clatter of the 
 hoofs of their horses is heard distinctly, as they 
 are making for the fire. 
 
 The fugitives have not been seen by the 
 pursuers, for the attention of every soldier has 
 been fixed on the burning village. 
 
 But we, who have better eyes, are privi- 
 leged to see an earlier messenger, on foot, who 
 has witnessed every movement, every device,
 
 / 
 
 264 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 and who lies on the ground between thp 
 ]mrsued and tlie burning vilhige concealed 
 ])erfectly himself and yet discerning all tli^at 
 transpires. /• 
 
 He is light of heart, for he has learred 
 what none but one must know. His divine 
 mistress, who has cast out from him the evil 
 one, who has given him life, honour, duty, shp 
 alone must know. It is his lirst service for het 
 
 The troops approach and gallop round 
 the fire ; first at a distance from it, for theil 
 horses, unaccustomed to so strange a sights 
 must be taught, gently, to draw near. In time 
 they form a cordon around, from which not 
 even a fox could escape without notice. \ 
 
 For indeed a fox, leaving her litter that 
 she may survey the chances of escape, is per- 
 ceived, is hooted back to the lair of her loves, 
 and dies with them. 
 
 The ring of soldiery completed, the leader 
 of the party with some of lesser degree dis- 
 mount, and leaving their horses in charge of 
 their men approach towards the chief entrance 
 of the burning place. They pick up some- 
 thing that arrests their keen attention. They 
 examine it together with nodding mystery.
 
 m HAPPY FLIGHT 265 
 
 A half-burnt sandal : tlie very sandal the 
 Jew Tvore in the arena. 
 
 He ran until tlie fire caught his foot and 
 then he fell. They will now find his remains. 
 The fire is becoming much subdued. They 
 lash together two javelins, and rake the fire at 
 the entrance until they spread out what is left 
 of the bed which Leon had constructed. They 
 strike some solid thing and pull it out. It 
 is a skull, black and burned into holes, but a 
 skull. They strike more solid things, bones ! 
 bones ! bones ! They strike something that 
 sounds on the iron head of the javelin like 
 iron itself Iron strikes iron. They drag out 
 by the hook attached to the javehn that which 
 is struck : it is a short sword, red-hot. Let it 
 cool in the open air, until some one can touch 
 it. 
 
 They are so impatient they would almost 
 run the risk of burning their fingers in order 
 to examine it. At last the captain of the 
 troop ventures to hft it. They light him with 
 a torch brought from the fire. 
 
 It is unquestionably the sword of the Jew 
 Simeon. One of them knows it, for he has held 
 it often in his hand, and it has the peculiarity
 
 266 THE SON OF a star 
 
 that its handle is made of ebony. A portion 
 of this handle is undestroyed and is ebony. 
 
 What can be clearer ? 
 
 One thing more completes the find. The 
 soldier with the javelin has dragged out a piece 
 of sackcloth which is rotten with the fire and 
 yet not consumed. It is a part of the sack- 
 cloth steeped in bitumen in which Simeon 
 was enveloped before he ran as the living 
 torch for the amusement of the people. 
 
 The chain of evidence is perfect. The 
 living torch ran blindly into the plain until 
 he accidentally caught sight of what, in the 
 gloom, seemed to him a native village, where 
 he might find succour. Before he reached 
 the entrance the fire burned off his sandal, 
 and so injured his foot that he fell at the gate 
 of the place, fell there a blazing heap, and 
 setting fire to the nest of desolation perished 
 with it. 
 
 To-morrow, by daylight, more remains may 
 be found ; there is sufficient evidence for this 
 time. They may return to the camp. They 
 fix the skull on the head of the javelin that 
 has been in the fire. They tie the long bones 
 round the shaft of it. They tie together the
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 267 
 
 short sword, the sandal and the sackcloth, and 
 give over all these relics to a centurion for 
 safe keeping. 
 
 The trumpet gives the note to resume 
 marching order, and the order is obeyed like a 
 natural law. The officers remount ; the chief 
 and his staff drop into their places in the rear, 
 and gaily discussing the details of their expe- 
 dition follow their men back into the en- 
 campment, just as the first light of day is 
 exposing the departed glories of the night of 
 revelry. 
 
 The pursuit over, the fugitives, resting 
 awhile, prepare to continue their journey. 
 Simeon is girt with new sandals, taken by 
 the careful Leon from his never-failing wallet, 
 which yields also food of a kind Simeon has 
 never tasted before, and which gives him new 
 strength. Water they find in a rivulet they 
 have to cross, and full of energy they travel 
 on. Leon leads, with the hand of Erine in his, 
 and Simeon travels by their side. 
 
 With the first appearance of the glorious 
 sun Leon and his child offer up their devotions 
 to the mighty Power who refills the world with 
 life.
 
 *2G8 THE SON OF A ST^VR 
 
 Simeon also in his way adores tlie God of 
 his fathers. 
 
 As Leon and Erine return to him in the 
 light of the sun, which now, just above the 
 horizon, forms a background to their forms, 
 they seem to liim still like two celestial beings. 
 His sight is dazed, and he would fall on his face 
 before them did they not each take his hands, 
 Leon his right, Erine his left hand, and hft him 
 from the ground. 
 
 Surely, he thinks, they have come out of 
 the sun and their voices are voices of angels. 
 
 They are indeed sent for his deliverance. 
 
 They wander on in the early dawn until 
 they reach a deep and long valley which, 
 filled with mist painted by the rays of the 
 sun, looks to them as a sea of molten gold. Out 
 of this sea the tops of the trees stand like ships 
 on the ocean to which the niovini? mist gives 
 the appearance of motion. The trees bend in 
 graceful action to the wind, and appear to sail 
 along in a current swift and glorious. 
 
 To Simeon and Erine the idea that they 
 have reached the shores of a golden ocean is 
 too delightful to be repressed. They run along 
 the ridge of the hill on which they are placed.
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 269 
 
 Tliey take each other's hand Hke children 
 as they are, and return to Leon, their faces 
 briglit as the scene around them. 
 
 ' Oh, father mine ! ' cries Erine, ' is this the 
 sea where our faithful crew will meet us ? 
 surely it will carry us to realms of heaven.' 
 
 ' Or to the city of Zion,' exclaimed Simeon, 
 ' whence my people came whom I am to 
 restore.' 
 
 ' Sit down, my children, sit down and let 
 me tell you the truth. This sea is a mirage, 
 the sun god on high playing with the sons of 
 men. See you not that the sea sinks, that yon 
 sailing object, as it seems to us, moves more 
 slowly, grows taller, becomes what it is, a 
 tree. The sea sinks, no, the vapour rises and 
 the winds clear it away. The bed of the sea 
 becomes a valley, a valley full of trees, and 
 meadows, and flowers and sward. 
 
 ' Now there is no more sea.' 
 
 And while he speaks what was a golden 
 ocean a few minutes before, full of life and 
 motion, is a quiet valley filled with light alone. 
 
 For a moment the hearts of the young 
 people are cast down, but soon their longing 
 vision is cheered with a new and equally
 
 270 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 beautiful sight. The valley seems to expand, 
 to open at its farther extremity, and to allow 
 mountains far away to show their blue crests 
 like pinnacles piercing the skies from which 
 their colours are derived. 
 
 Soon also in the distance tliey catch sight 
 of another new object, a river which beyond 
 the gorge of the valley, on its western side, 
 winds its way like a vein of pure silver let 
 into the earth. Upon this streak of silver Leon, 
 by some process unknown to Simeon, takes his 
 observations. With steady and precise care he 
 measures the intervening space ; from a dial 
 with a moving hand, he determines the direc- 
 tion in which he wishes to move ; and, fully 
 prepared for tlie journey he has in view, he 
 once more leads them on. 
 
 It is a day of rapture, a day in which by 
 that youth and maiden, a life of life is lived. 
 
 The noble Leon leads them towards some 
 place he has definitely in view : but gentle 
 Erine Leoline, lioness with a woman's heart, 
 whither leadest thou the son of destiny ? 
 
 They traverse the ridge of tlie valley 
 towards the west, and in a short time ap- 
 proach a forest, above which on one side is a
 
 IN HAPPY PLIGHT 271 
 
 rising ground overlooking the forest itself and 
 all around it. 
 
 Ascending this height Leon proceeds to 
 wield another power. By the movement of a 
 bright metallic plate he casts a sign or beacon 
 towards the distant river, but now broader and 
 better defined. In return there falls upon him- 
 self Hashes of light like rays of the sun, which 
 communicate by some hidden language a reply 
 to what he has asked to know. 
 
 At length to Erine, who stands by accus- 
 tomed to watch the proceeding and prepared 
 for a message, he tells what he has learned. 
 
 ' Our faithful servants and the caravel lie 
 safely concealed at the point where yon silver 
 stream bends to the north-west. We are four 
 leagues away, and betAveen us and them in a 
 straight line there are two Eoman encamp- 
 ments. We must take to the woods, and by a 
 two days' circuit we shall reach our destina- 
 tion unperceived. I have signalled that in two 
 sunsets we shall be with them, and they are 
 content.' 
 
 Descending from their height they enter 
 by a ravine into a splendid forest, which they 
 traverse with a new pleasure. Now they
 
 272 THE SON OP A STAR 
 
 wander througli labyrinths of darkness ; tlien 
 tliey enter into a glade in which a natural 
 temple is produced before tliem. Tliey cross 
 it reverently, in a gloom almost as profound 
 as night itself ; but Leon has a light to help 
 them and bids them not to fear. He goes 
 before, and Simeon and Erine, hand in hand, 
 follow, and are afraid. 
 
 Afraid, not of the gloom of the glade but 
 of the coming time when their hands, so firmly 
 and innocently clasped, must part sweet com- 
 pany. 
 
 They listen to a sound, the soft tinkling 
 of a bell or a chime. They step forward more 
 carefully and softly as through the trees the 
 rays of light are glinting faintly. The light 
 increases in fulness, and suddenly they enter 
 a natural citadel as it seems to them, a citadel 
 cut out of the midst of the forest, but, except 
 for the musical sounds, quiet as a sepulclire. 
 
 Into this place of dazzling splendour the 
 sun beams v/ith all his might ; before them, 
 at a distance of some hundred feet, is a moun- 
 tain of stone like a mound, witli a fountain 
 at its top and a pool surrounding it at its 
 base. From the fountain water falls in riplets
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 273 
 
 into the pool below, and the resonant pile 
 gives out the sound like a chime of melodious 
 bells. They ascend a rock on the side of this 
 natural tower, and see, in full, the beauty of 
 the spot. Leon explains that the central 
 mound of stone from which the water runs 
 over was once the mouth of a volcano, by 
 which all this place was originally cleft. The 
 mouth of the crater has long been closed at its 
 lower part, and a spring of water derived from 
 the higher surrounding rocks has found its 
 way by a subterranean channel into the open 
 basin, whence, at times, the water flows over 
 into the little moat below, from which it finds 
 a passage into the earth again. That little 
 accident keeps, he says, this otherwise dead 
 spot of earth ahve. The water falls over, cast- 
 ing up spray, the sun converts the spray into 
 vapour, the vapour descends in mist and dew 
 when the sun goes to rest, and so seeds and 
 trees and mosses and shrubs find their nourish- 
 ment and thrive luxuriantly. 
 
 The foxgloves specially, with their exqui- 
 site forms and colours and drooping bells, 
 please the young pair. 
 
 ' Admire but touch not, my children ; in 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 that plant lies concealed what would kill all 
 your admiration. The learned Greeks have 
 called it the j^lant which kills the heart.' 
 
 Around this volcanic pit or basin of rocks 
 shrubs, ferns, and trees grow, leaving between 
 them and the central mound a walk of white 
 smooth stone, like marble, from which running 
 into the side of the rocks are caves of great 
 depth and varied shape. Birds nestle and 
 sing in the shrubs, and now and then a startled 
 rabbit rushes forth, and sitting on the top 
 of a rock looks round in wonder that his 
 quiet home should be molested. But there 
 is no sign of any wild or dangerous animal. 
 
 They enter a cave which faces the sun in 
 his glory, breaking before them the shrubs and 
 briars which obstruct the entrance. 
 
 The cave is cut and arched as if it had 
 been the work of the most skilled architect. 
 It is grooved within into a kind of horizontal 
 spiral, from which cliambers jut out at grace- 
 ful angles. The first of these chambers and 
 the largest is so near the chief entrance it is 
 lighted to the highest point of a roof whicli 
 seems to be made up of the bodies of animals 
 in petrified forms, extant and motionless for
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 275 
 
 ages. Its floor is of the same wliite veined 
 stone as that of the pathway outside. In the 
 convulsion of nature which made all the place 
 that floor and path were once a molten lime 
 which cooled into level solidity and now lies 
 frozen eternally. With these natural wonders 
 Leon is transported, but, seeing how wearied 
 his companions are, he prepares for their re- 
 freshment and repose. What he does Simeon 
 watches with liveliest interest, but no longer 
 with wonder. His mind is at ease. This man, 
 this girl, are his ministering angels. If they 
 turn the very stones into bread it will be 
 no marvel to him now ; the thing would be 
 done for him in pursuance of the decrees which 
 have sent him forth. 
 
 Stones are not turned into bread, but 
 food is soon prepared. They traverse the 
 paths of the rocks, and from certain of the 
 plants which Leon points out they pluck 
 the fruit. They gather from the earth some 
 sweet smellinix herbs which he recognises as 
 edible ; they turn a large hollow shell like 
 a piece of rock into a pitcher which they fill 
 with water from the falling streamlets in the 
 central pile ; and, so enriched, they return 
 
 T 2
 
 270 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 to the cave, where Erine soon lays out the 
 choicest repast tlie enthusiastic Simeon has, 
 he thinks, ever seen ; a repast to which Leon, 
 from his matchless wallet, adds cakes for food, 
 and silver cups for holding the water that 
 quenches their thirst. 
 
 On the floor of the cave Simeon and his 
 leader make seats out of the loose stones, 
 covering the seats with the mosses which 
 grow so luxuriantly amongst the rocks around. 
 And thus prepared they break their long fast. 
 They form a mystical group. In each 
 there is of its kind a surpassing beauty. Erine, 
 sitting a Uttle raised between the two men, is 
 peerless. Never before has Simeon seen such 
 loveliness ; eyes, pure and blue as the sky, into 
 which the rapt observer sinks as into an azure 
 sea ; a face fair of the fairest, and faultless in 
 its outhne ; lips and mouth, and expression of 
 gentlest hohest love ; and all set in a frame- 
 work of golden hair which, falhng hke an 
 avalanche over shoulders of ivory, is, in its 
 very disorder, natural and comely. Her dress 
 of white, lightly open at the throat and 
 bosom, clothes her from the shoulders to the 
 feet, and her green scarf, passed under her
 
 m HAPPY FLIGHT 277 
 
 avalanche of golden tresses, covers also her 
 shoulders, and faUing richly and loosely over 
 her knees makes her look like a plant of 
 heaven rising from the earth in all its youth, 
 its gracefulness and strength. 
 
 Her companions on either side of her are 
 little less remarkable than herself. She sits 
 between tlie pillars of wisdom and strength. 
 
 Simeon is buoyant in spite of all he has 
 gone through. He wears still the dress in 
 which he appeared in the arena, except that 
 his feet are clad in the new and strong sandals 
 which his host has lent to him, and his head 
 is covered with a leathern cap or berretta, the 
 most elegant head-dress ever worn by the 
 male part of mankind. It is a dress alto- 
 gether — excepting for the new sandals — which 
 he has designed for his sword and athletic 
 practice, but it suits him as gracefully for 
 peace as for combat. 
 
 His face is the face of Spain and of Judah ; 
 a perfect mould of symmetrical cast. The 
 forehead rather narrow and retreating, with 
 dark hair above ; the eyebrows arched, the 
 eyes deep hazel, full, luminous, and wonder- 
 ing ; the nose is aquiline, the nostrils slightly
 
 278 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 expanded ; the lips and cheeks well filled, 
 and firm set with command of tlie most 
 winning smile ; the chin just prominent with 
 a rather deep but well-formed cleft betwixt 
 it and the lower lip ; the complexion a pale 
 olive ; the expression serene to the maximum 
 of serenity. The limbs are models of strength 
 and freedom ; and the whole frame a living 
 engine of trained athletic skill. 
 
 Leon looking at the youth, from time to 
 time, sums him up slowly and calmly as a 
 new artistic study in the domain of life, while 
 Simeon in turn watches, with keenest observa- 
 tion, the man whose voice he has heard, whose 
 hand he has clasped, whose outline he has 
 seen, and whose protection he has experienced, 
 but whose face and manner are new to him in 
 the light of day. 
 
 The protector is indeed not one for Simeon 
 merely to see and therewith be content. He 
 is a man who, once spoken with, is at once 
 recognised as remarkable above other men. 
 His wide and accurate knowledge and his art 
 of research into hidden things account, in a 
 large degree, for this fact ; but his appearance 
 adds to the effect. Simeon instinctively recog-
 
 IX HAPPY FLIGHT 279 
 
 nises both influences. He sees a man much 
 older, but as strong, he beheves, as hmiself, a 
 man reall)^ not youthful to the eye yet bear- 
 ing no trace of age. Like the child he owns, 
 the man is of fair complexion, of a sanguine 
 tint which tells both of activity and power. 
 By one of those happy racial admixtures 
 which make up the varieties of the flowering 
 garden of humanity, his hair is an iron grey, 
 while his eyes are of the same deej) blue as 
 those of his child, and equally absorptive. 
 His head is a dome of perfect symmetry and 
 balance ; the eyebrows are lengthened with 
 the large capacious brow ; the expression of 
 countenance is that of dignity, knowledge, 
 and wisdom. He is also strong of body and 
 graceful, but deliberate of movement ; his 
 speech is winning, hopeful and trustful. Above 
 all, there is in his voice the charm that makes 
 him a charmer of men ; it is a voice of music 
 rich in cadences, and so sweet to hear that 
 when it ceases the listeners wait as if something 
 they still wished to hear had yet to come. 
 But for this delicious melody of speech it might 
 be felt that from his richness of knowledge 
 he spoke too frequently and too long. A
 
 2 so THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 liarsh voice would make liira a pain ; a hesitant 
 speech would make him a bore, from whom all 
 would flee ; but the sweetness of his tune and 
 tlie firmness of his tone, varied with natural 
 art to suit the subject on which he descants, 
 removes all weariness of mind or fear of 
 failure, and holds every one captive who comes 
 under its fascinating spell. 
 
 The three form a picture it is hard to 
 leave. Suffice it to record at this moment 
 that they converse with facility in the Latin 
 tongue, and that their discourse is as cheerful 
 as it is fluent and friendly ; after which they 
 take their morning rest. 
 
 Into one of the side recesses of the inner 
 cave already described, Leon out of soft plants 
 and branches of trees and heaps of mosses and 
 Howers, makes a bed for his beloved child. He 
 carries her, drooping with sleep, in his arms as 
 when she was a motherless infant to whom all 
 his life was to be devoted, and lays her, unre- 
 sisting, on the improvised couch. He smooths 
 lier tresses, smooths the folds of her dress, 
 casts over her his own mantle, and receiving 
 from her lips the half-conscious filial kiss 
 which is ever the last act of her wakeful day, 
 lie watches over her innocent face, innocent
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 281 
 
 and lovely as the choicest flowers near to her, 
 till she sleeps like them. He sees her eyelids 
 fall, he hears her breathing almost mute, he 
 returns her kiss without response from her, 
 and knowing now that she has sunken into the 
 oblivion that restores to life, he softly and 
 noiselessly steals from her side. 
 
 He starts, as he regains the outer court of 
 the cave, to find that his other companion, who 
 but a minute or two ago was so full of vigor- 
 ous life and action, now lies in equally death- 
 like oblivion. In a moment, in the twinkling 
 of an eye, sleep has entrapped the valiant 
 youth whom he has saved. On the rocky 
 mound on which he sits Simeon has fallen 
 back into a kind of chair or couch of rock, 
 in an attitude so peaceful he seems a sculp- 
 tured figure in the wall of the cave, left by a 
 hand divine in art. He has unconsciously 
 fallen in the line of beauty, and sleep has 
 seated him firm as the stones on which he re- 
 poses. So deep is the oblivion that Leon, 
 unable to detect movements of his chest, holds 
 over his nostrils a polished plate to see if 
 moisture from the breath of life can be caught 
 upon it. 
 
 Satisfied that the sleep which revivifies
 
 282 THE SOX op a star 
 
 is the sleep alone that suspends the life of his 
 protege^ he gently moves back the luxuriant 
 curls from off the handsome face, and with the 
 skill of the learned student of physiognomy- 
 reads the character of the sleeper. 
 
 It is a complicated reading. Innocence 
 blends with courage, courage with a resolution 
 scarcely mortal, defying men, time, and death. 
 
 The dress of the sleeper, open at the bosom, 
 exposes a small square of woven substance 
 suspended by a band of silk loosely tied round 
 the neck ; on this the eye of Leon falls. 
 
 It is a trifling thing this little square of 
 woven substance, and yet it has the instant 
 effect of filling the eyes of him who now sur- 
 veys it with a flood of tears. It bears in 
 curious characters a date ; it bears the face of 
 a beautiful woman ; a date, a face, that marks 
 in lines of grief the two most appalling events 
 of his, the observer's, career. That face is 
 like the face of his dead wife ; that date is the 
 date of the day when she, dying, gave birth 
 to a boy who never lived. 
 
 Did this sleeping youth come into the world 
 ahve, on the day when his son, his only son, 
 came into the world dead ?
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 283 
 
 With gentle hand he hfts the woven square, 
 to turn it over and see the other side. As the 
 rehc leaves the breast of the sleeper, he starts 
 from head to foot, as if his soul were being 
 torn from him ; his face grows deathly, his 
 hands clench. But as the relic overcast falls 
 back on the surface of his body, he also falls 
 back, and once again sleeps. 
 
 A thrill of wonder, enthusiasm, and ad- 
 miration passes now through Leon the phi- 
 losopher. 
 
 The obverse of the woven square is 
 marked with symbols which he can read. 
 
 *The son of an illustrious King before 
 whom the stars fled, and of Palestrina of the 
 Temple, sent to deliver his people from bondage 
 and tribulation.' 
 
 The signs indicatincr these words are 
 enclosed in an embroidered square repre- 
 sentinij the earth. On the eastern side of this 
 square is the design of a youth with a star 
 on his forehead, bearing aloft a torch of fire. 
 At the upper part of the square is the sun in 
 his meridian glory ; at the western side another
 
 284 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 youth is sitting, with his head downcast and 
 his torch extinguished in the earth. They are 
 symbols of one who is to rise in brightness, at- 
 tain meridian glory, sink into gloom, and leave 
 the world still in its darkness, pain, and sorrow. 
 
 No, not leave it so hopeless ; for see at the 
 foot of the square there is the moon as a cradle 
 borne by the constellation Leo of the stars, and 
 in that cradle the youth reclines. The hght 
 of the moon and stars is faintly reflected by 
 the star still on his brow. 
 
 He is not dead ! He is being carried away 
 to new glories. He will arise again, and in 
 some newer and holier form reanimate the 
 world that mourns his absent face. 
 
 The countenance of Leon the scholar is 
 transformed with wonder. In this cave he 
 has found, as the prophetic legend declares 
 shall be found, the child of the sun in human 
 form, to redeem mankind. The incarnate 
 Mithras is here. The lion and the star of 
 that country in the East from which his own 
 fathers were exiled by the barbarians of the 
 mountains have re-united. He, Leon of the 
 west, has met the star of the east. His 
 dead son hves again, as his dead wife hves
 
 IN HAPPY FLIGHT 285 
 
 again in the angelic girl sleeping in that other 
 cave. 
 
 The learned books of his people, in which 
 he is the most learned, have foretold the 
 whole. He must read the symbols anew. 
 
 There is no error in the reading. In this 
 savage Britain, land of savages and of Romans 
 who are little better, this youth, a few hours 
 agone a running torch, running to please a 
 murderous crew, is now revealed to him as 
 a torch for lighting humanity to its farthest 
 stretch of glory. A priestess must have 
 formed those symbols, written them in a Holy 
 Temple as ascending, in spirit, through the 
 sacred dome of light, she descended in body 
 to the silent palaces of the dead ! 
 
 Taking care to return the woven tablet 
 without ever letting it lose its touch with the 
 body of the sleeper, Leon restores the tablet 
 as he had originally found it. 
 
 By this time the light of the sun fills each 
 part of the cave, leaving no shadow, but giving 
 to the stalactite pendants on the roof a hundred 
 points of incandescence which cast a glow 
 upon the youth, suggesting to the entranced 
 philosopher a more than earthly beauty, over
 
 286 THE SON OF A STAR 
 
 which he sits down to reflect and wonder. 
 Gradually the music of the falling water 
 absorbs his senses, and from thinking of the 
 symbols he has read he lapses into a vague 
 counting of the musical drops of the cascades. 
 The sounds become metrical, and chime to him 
 inconsequent words, of which the following 
 poor translation may convey an idea : — 
 
 Drop ! drop ! drop ! 
 Myriads of drops in an hovir 
 
 Drop ! drop ! drop ! 
 Myriads of drops in a shower. 
 
 Splash 1 splash ! splash ! 
 Rise up in bubbles and fly ; 
 
 Splash ! splash 1 splash ! 
 Sink into oceans and die. 
 
 And so for a time we will leave this mystic 
 three under the safe protection of Him who is 
 their strength and their shield. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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