JOHN R. 
 CARLING 
 
D UKE UNIVERSIT Y 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/doomedcityOOcarl 
 
She drew that charming old-world historian iVoni her little 
 library and read to him day by day 
 
 Page 164 
 
The Doomed City 
 
 By 
 
 JOHN R. CARLING 
 
 Author of "The Shadow of the Czar," '"By Neva's Waters, 
 "The Viking's Skull" 
 
 Illustrations by 
 A. FORESTIER 
 
 New York 
 Edward J. Clode 
 
 Publisher 
 
COPTRIOHT, 1910, BT 
 
 EDWARD J. CLODE 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 I. A Mysterious Wedding 1 
 
 II. The Banquet of Florus 18 
 
 III. The Queen of Beauty 30 
 
 IV. The Dream of Crispus 48 
 
 V. Simon the Zealot 60 
 
 VI. " Delenda est Hierosolyma! ". ... 71 
 
 VII. The Journey to Jerusalem .... 83 
 
 VIII. What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 95 
 
 IX. "Let Us Go Hence!" 112 
 
 X. The Vengeance of Florus . . . .124 
 
 XI. " To Your Tents, O Israel! " . . . .135 
 
 XII. "V^ Victis!" 147 
 
 XIII. A Good Samaritan 160 
 
 XIV. " Thou Wilt Never Take the City " .170 
 XV. The Triumph of Simon 181 
 
 XVI. The Ambition of Berenice .... 198 
 
 XVII. The Making of an Emperor .... 210 
 
 XVIII. The Preliminaries of a Great Siege . 228 
 
 XIX. The First Day's Fight 241 
 
 XX. CiRCUMVALLATION 258 
 
 XXI. The Dying City 266 
 
 XXII. The Rescue of Vashti 290 
 
 XXIII. Closing In 306 
 
 XXIV. "Watchman, What of the Night?" , 325 
 XXV. "JuD^A Capta!" 341 
 
 XXVI. Justice the Avenger . . , , . . 354! 
 
 V 
 
Twv (TTparioiTwv tis AAIMONIO OPMH TINI XPfiMENOS 
 apird^u fikv ck T17S <^Xeyo/xevT/s vXrj^, to 8c irvp ivLrjitr 
 Ovpihi xpv(ry rov ttpov. 
 
 A certain soldier, moved by a divine impulse, seized 
 
 a blazing torch, and set fire to a golden window of the 
 
 temple. 
 
 JOSEPH US. Jewish War vi. 4, 5. 
 
THE DOOMED CITY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A MYSTERIOUS WEDDING 
 
 THE purple light of evening had fallen upon 
 the Syrian shore as Crispus, with a quick, 
 swinging pace, trod the well-paced road that 
 led southwards to the stately city of Cassarea, 
 the Roman capital of Judaea. 
 
 Evidently he loved the exercise of walking, since, 
 had it pleased him to do so, he could have ridden, 
 for at a respectable distance there followed, led by a 
 couple of slaves, his two-horsed rheda, a traveling-car 
 of sculptured bronze, provided with a leathern hood and 
 silken awnings, and containing such necessary luggage 
 (aptly named impedimenta by the Romans) as a man 
 of simple tastes would require on a long journey. 
 
 Crispus, whose age was perhaps twenty-five years, 
 had a powerful yet graceful figure, eyes of a deep gray, 
 crisp hair of a bronzed hue, and a handsome face, as 
 clear cut as if sculptured from marble, a face whose 
 pure complexion spoke of pure living — a raro virtue in 
 that age ! — a face whose keen, ardent look gave promise 
 that its owner was one born to achieve distinction, if 
 indeed he had not already achieved it. " An antique 
 Roman," one would say on seeing him, since he still 
 adhered to the wearing of the stately toga, which in 
 the first century was fast becoming superseded by the 
 Grecian tunic ; moreover, the ring on his finger was not 
 of gold, but of iron, in accordance with ancient usage. 
 
2 The Doomed City 
 
 In journeying along he had caught sight, by the 
 wayside, of a stone pillar engraved with letters which 
 told that the said pillar was distant from Rome by 
 the space of one thousand five hundred miles. Thus far, 
 yea, and hundreds of miles farther, did the Roman 
 power extend in this, the twelfth year of the reign 
 of the Emperor Nero. Crispus' stern smile gave the 
 keynote to his character — pride in the Empire founded 
 by his forefathers, determination to maintain that Em- 
 pire, though it cost him limb and life. 
 
 And in truth Rome counted few sons more patriotic 
 than young Crispus Cestius Gallus, distinguished alike 
 by feats of arms and by beauty of person ; by noble 
 birth, and by high office — for he was secretary to his 
 father, the elder Cestius, who at that time held the 
 dignity of imperial Legate of Syria, a dignity whose 
 vast power and splendid emoluments made it a prize 
 coveted of all Roman statesmen. 
 
 It was a lovely evening. A faint breeze came from 
 the sea, whose waves, wine-dark in color, flowed with 
 a sort of velvety ripple upon the yellow sands. To 
 the east at the distance of a mile or more rose the 
 Samaritan hills, mysterious and still in the evening light, 
 their rounded summits clearly defined against the deep 
 violet of the sky. 
 
 Now, as Crispus glanced ahead, he saw approaching 
 a solitary figure, wearing buskins of purple, and a 
 sleeved and embroidered tunic of the same color, cut to 
 the latest fashion. He walked, his eyes set upon the 
 ground, with a somewhat slow and pensive step, and 
 would have passed by unheeding but for the cheery, 
 rousing voice of Crispus. 
 
 " Ho, Titus ! Is it thus in a strange land that you 
 pass by your oldest friend.'' " 
 
 He who was thus addressed started, looked up, and, 
 recognizing the speaker, dropped as if by magic his 
 melancholy air, and advanced with smiling face and 
 extended hand. 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 3 
 
 " By the gods, 'tis Crispus," he cried in a tone of 
 genuine delight. " Now doth Fortune favor me. To 
 think of meeting you in this barbarian province, a 
 thousand miles from our Sabine farms ! Whither are 
 you bound .^ For Csesarea? Then will I return with 
 
 Titus Flavius, destined in course of time to attain 
 the imperial purple, was the senior of Crispus by one 
 year: keen of eye, and with an aquiline nose, he looked 
 every inch the soldier that he was, in spite of his per- 
 fumed and fashionable garb. A certain ruddiness of 
 features showed him to be likewise a sort of " Antony, 
 that revels long o' nights." 
 
 " What do 1/ou in this Jewish land.? " asked Crispus. 
 
 " Rejoice at my presence here, for 'tis proof that I 
 am restored to Nero's favor." 
 
 " I did not know that you had lost it." 
 
 " What ? Have you not heard that when Nero — 
 what a delightful buffoon he is, to be sure! — was sing- 
 ing on the stage at Corinth, my sire Vespasian was so 
 little appreciative of good music as actually to yawn, 
 and even to fall asleep and snore, with the result that 
 not only Pater nocens but even Filius innocens was for- 
 bidden to appear in the imperial presence." 
 
 " I marvel that you did not both lose your heads." 
 
 " So do I. Though banished, however, I did not 
 lose heart, but in the spirit of a true courtier I sacri- 
 ficed every day to Nero's heavenly voice ; and, on learn- 
 ing this (for I took good care it should reach his ears !), 
 he recalled me to court, and marked his approval of 
 my piety by sending me on a mission to Cssarea." 
 
 "A mission.'' Of what nature?" 
 
 " Why, you doubtless know that yon fair city of 
 Csesarea is peopled both with Greeks and Jews, each 
 claiming precedency of the other. Let procurator 
 Florus post up an edict beginning, ' To the Greeks and 
 Jews of Csesarea,' and the Jewish mob will tear it down. 
 Let him word it, ' To the Jews and Greeks,' and the 
 
4 The Boomed City 
 
 Greeks will not suffer it to remain up. The Greek high 
 priest of Jupiter demands that on state occasions he 
 shall sit upon the right hand of the procurator; the 
 high priest of the Jews, when he comes to Caesarea, 
 claims the same privilege. The Greeks wish their lan- 
 guage to be used in the law-courts to the exclusion of 
 our own stately Latin — there's taste for you ! the Jews 
 clamor for their own tongue. This feud is productive 
 of continual rioting and bloodshed. Therefore Nero, 
 appealed to by deputies from both factions, hath pro- 
 nounced his decree, dispatching it from Greece by my 
 hand." 
 
 " And in whose favor hath Caesar decided? " 
 
 " Nay, I know not. The decree was contained in a 
 sealed letter addressed to Florus, who hath not yet made 
 it public. As for me, instead of hastening back to Nero 
 to show him how quickly I can transact his business, I, 
 like a fool, tarry in the neighborhood of Caesarea." 
 
 " There being a woman in the case," smiled Crispus ; 
 " otherwise the usually sensible Titus would not be 
 garbed like a fashionable dandy. What would your 
 stern republican father say to this perfuming of your- 
 self.? " 
 
 " A woman in the case ? Say, rather, a goddess. No 
 lovelier face hath ever been seen since Helen lured the 
 Grecian ships to Troy." 
 
 " Fickle Titus ! Last autumn he was vowing eternal 
 fidelity to Lesbia, the hetsera ; it was the Greek dancing- 
 girl Lycoris in winter; this spring it is — ^who.'' " 
 
 " Lesbia and Lycoris ! Pouf ! " said Titus, as if 
 blowing these nymphs away in air. " Do not mention 
 them, I pray you, in the same breath with this splendid 
 eastern beauty. I am serious now, if ever I were so. 
 I would marry her to-morrow, were she willing; nay, 
 more, to win her I would even repudiate the religion of 
 my ancestors, and worship her Jewish God." 
 
 " Titus must indeed be smitten ! So your fair one 
 is a Jewess ? " 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 5 
 
 " Ay, and in rank far above poor plebeian me," 
 said Titus, sighing like a furnace, 
 
 " You talk thus ! you who are a quasstor, tribune of 
 a legion, and a messenger of imperial Caesar? " 
 
 " And the son of a man who was once a horse-doctor ; 
 forget not that." 
 
 " You were brought up in the imperial household with 
 Britannicus, enjoying the same luxuries and the same 
 instructors as he." 
 
 " And very nearly drinking of the same fatal cup," 
 commented Titus, grimly. 
 
 " The gods reserved you for a nobler destiny. But 
 as to your fair lady — who is she.'' " 
 
 " A princess, beautiful, proud, scornful. Berenice 
 her name, the daughter of that Agrippa who, some 
 twenty years ago, was King of Palestine. He left her 
 so much wealth that she is called ' Golden Berenice.' 
 You know her.'' " added Titus, as he saw an odd look 
 flit for a moment over the face of Crispus. 
 
 " I have seen her." 
 
 " Then you know how beautiful she Is." 
 
 " Yes, she is certainly beautiful," replied Crispus, in 
 a tone as if grudging the admission. 
 
 " You speak coldly. 'Tis clear I shall never have 
 you for a rival." 
 
 "True, O Titus. When I mate It shall be with 
 pure maid. Hath not your Berenice already had one 
 husband? " 
 
 " She was wedded, when quite a girl, to Polemo, King 
 of Pontus, who divorced her two years afterwards." 
 
 "Polemo?" ejaculated Crispus, in some surprise. 
 "Polemo? — one of my father's friends. Why did he 
 divorce her? " 
 
 " Nay, ask that of others. He was elderly and 
 serious ; she was youthful and gay : there, I suspect, 
 lay the reason." 
 
 " Their separation," remarked Crispus, " does not 
 appear to have left much bitterness behind, for, at a 
 
The Doomed City 
 
 banquet given by my father to all the kings of the 
 East, Polemo and the Princess Berenice sat side by 
 side, seeming to be on excellent terms with each other. 
 And, what struck me as strange, their glances were so 
 often cast in my direction that I could not help won- 
 dering whether / were the subject of their talk. Were 
 there any children bom of this marriage.? " 
 
 " One — a daughter, said to have died in infancy." 
 
 "And you would woo this Herodian princess.'' Do 
 you frequent this lonely shore in order to sigh out vows 
 to Venus?" said Crispus, pointing to love's planet 
 that sparkled like an eye in the blue depths above. 
 
 " I come here hoping to have the pleasure of a few 
 words with her as she returns to Caesarea. An hour 
 ago, so I am told, she drove this way in her chariot." 
 
 " You do right, then, in retracing your steps, for I 
 can certify that no chariot has passed me." 
 
 " Then she must have turned aside, and gone in- 
 land," said Titus, looking to the left as if meditating 
 a diversion among the hills in quest of the fair princess. 
 
 With a sigh he resigned the project, and strode on- 
 ward beside Crispus, whose frequent questions on all 
 that fell within the sphere of his vision showed that he 
 was treading the shore of Palestine for the first time. 
 
 " How name you yon house ? " he asked, pointing 
 ahead to an edifice perched upon a crag that over- 
 looked the shore road. 
 
 " I am told that it is called ' Beth-tamar,' " 
 
 " And that, being interpreted, meaneth ' The House 
 of Palms,' " remarked Crispus, and smiling at Titus' 
 look of surprise. " O, I know something of the speech 
 of these barbarians, having learned it in childhood from 
 one of my father's favorite slaves, a captive Jew ; and 
 so long as the fellow kept to his language, well and 
 good, but when he tried to make me a proselyte to his 
 superstition, he was promptly scourged, and put at a 
 distance from me." 
 
 " Hebrew ! " commented Titus, " You have the bet" 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 7 
 
 ter of me. Would that I could speak it, for then it 
 might dispose Berenice to look with a more favorable 
 eye upon me. As it is, I have to say with Ovid: 
 
 * Barharus hie ego sum, quia non intelligor ulU.' " 
 
 What more he would have said was checked by a 
 command delivered in an authoritative voice: 
 
 "Halt!" 
 
 Instinctively the two friends paused, and glanced 
 aloft. Standing upon a lower spur of the crag above 
 them, and clearly defined against the star-lit sky, was 
 a tall figure in a flowing robe. 
 
 " Who are you that bid two Romans halt ? " de- 
 manded Titus, haughtily. 
 
 " The servant of a king," was the answer, delivered 
 in the Latin language, though not with the true Latin 
 accent. 
 
 "Your master's name.?" asked Titus, suspiciously. 
 
 " Polerao, King of Pontus." 
 
 At this Crispus and Titus looked at each other, 
 deeming it odd to be brought thus in connection with 
 the monarch about whom they had just been talking. 
 
 " I have a message," continued the stranger, " for 
 one, Crispus Cestius Gallus." 
 
 " My name," said the bearer of it. " What would 
 the king with me ? " 
 
 " My royal master bids you tarry an hour with him 
 ere journeying on to Csesarea." 
 
 "Where is the king to be found.'*" 
 
 " Within the walls of his mansion, Beth-tamar." 
 
 " And should I pass on my way neglectful of the 
 king's bidding .'' " 
 
 " Pass on, and miss a high destiny." 
 
 " Haste thee, and tell thy lord that Crispus comes 
 with his friend, Titus Flavins." 
 
 The man had appeared suddenly ; just as suddenly 
 did he now disappear. Bidding his two slaves await 
 
8 The Doomed City 
 
 his return, Crispus turned from the maritime road, and 
 began to climb the rough ascent. His ready acquies- 
 cence with the stranger's wish was viewed with some 
 uneasiness by Titus, who was, however, quickly reassured 
 by Crispus. 
 
 " Polemo, in this matter," said he, " acts as his own 
 messenger, for it was he who spoke with us." 
 
 " The king himself.? " said Titus, greatly surprised. 
 
 " Even so," replied Crispus. " We can enter Beth- 
 tamar in perfect safety. I am not altogether un- 
 prepared for this meeting. As I was setting out from 
 Antioch my father spoke thus to me : ' On your way 
 to Caesarea you may meet with King Polemo, who hath 
 a proposal for you. I leave you free to accept or 
 decline, but, if you will be guided by me, you will do 
 his bidding, however strange it may appear.' " 
 
 Language such as this moved Titus to wonder, and 
 he became almost as eager as Crispus for the meeting 
 with the Pontic king. 
 
 Arrived upon the platform that formed the summit 
 of the crag, the two Romans saw before them a rec- 
 tangular edifice, massive and spacious, formed like most 
 of the buildings in that region from blocks of lime- 
 stone — a bare dull-looking structure; but then the 
 Oriental house is not to be judged by its outside, for 
 a costly exterior suggests wealth, and in the East, 
 wealth, then, as now, is a temptation to the powers 
 that be. 
 
 Within the arched entrance stood a slave, who, with 
 a profound salaam, invited the two friends to follow 
 him. Traversing a stone passage, they quickly emerged 
 into a spacious court, open to the sky: rooms with 
 latticed windows looked out upon this court, and to 
 one of these the slave conducted the visitors, and there 
 left them. The room was Oriental in character: a 
 cushioned divan ran round the marble walls that 
 gleamed with gilded arabesques and lapis-lazuli. In 
 the middle of the tesselated pavement was a fountain, 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 9 
 
 whose waters played with a golden sparkle in the soft 
 radiance shed by the many lamps pendent from the 
 fretted roof above. 
 
 As the two Romans entered, there came forw^ard to 
 greet them the same man that had spoken from the 
 crag, a man of grave and stately presence, whose classic 
 features can still be studied on the extant coins of the 
 kingdom of Pontus. He had cast off the coarse garb 
 he had worn without, and appeared now in a majestic 
 robe of royal purple. On his finger glittered a gold 
 ring, decorated with a cameo sculptured with a minia- 
 ture head of Nero, a fact of some significance, since 
 the wearing of such a ring was permitted to those 
 only who had the high privilege of free access to the 
 Emperor's presence. 
 
 " Welcome to Beth-tamar ! " were the monarch's first 
 words. " Aware that you were drawing near to 
 Cffisarea," he continued, addressing Crispus, " I have 
 ventured thus to intercept your journey." 
 
 "To what end?" 
 
 " Hath not your father told you? " 
 
 Crispus answered in the negative. Polemo seemed 
 surprised at this ; he hesitated, and glanced at Titus 
 as if his presence were an embarrassment. Divining his 
 thoughts, Crispus spoke : 
 
 " Titus is my -fidus Achates. Let not the king take 
 it amiss, but whatever is said must be said before him." 
 
 " Be it so," said Polemo, after a brief pause. " You 
 must, however, both give pledge, that the proposal I 
 am about to make, whether accepted or declined, shall 
 be kept a secret till such time as I shall choose it to 
 be known." 
 
 " The character of the noble Polemo," returned Cris- 
 pus, " is a sufficient guarantee that he will require of 
 me nothing dishonorable or nothing detrimental to the 
 interests of the Roman state." 
 
 " Far be such thoughts from me. My aim is to add 
 to its strength." Assured thus, both Crispus and Titus 
 
10 The Boomed City 
 
 promised to hold sacred whatever the king were minded 
 to reveal. 
 
 " Good ! To come at once to the question, for I 
 love not many words, you are doubtless aware of my 
 misfortune in having no son to succeed me on the 
 throne. I am," he added mournfully, " the last of 
 my race. In these circumstances our lord Nero has 
 graciously conceded to me the favor of nominating a 
 successor, with the necessary proviso that my choice 
 must fall on a man loyal to the Empire. Such a one 
 I have found." 
 
 He paused and looked at Crispus, whose head began 
 suddenly to whirl with a daring hope. Could it be 
 that he himself was — ■ — ? 
 
 " If," continued Polemo, " if loyalty to Rome be 
 the first qualification in my successor, who more loyal 
 than a Roman himself? who more likely to meet with 
 the approval of the Senate than one of the Senatorial 
 order? For these reasons, then, and because your past 
 deeds have shown you to be worthy of the dignity, I 
 am minded at a date three years from now to confer 
 upon you the scepter of Pontus. What say you to 
 this?" 
 
 At first Crispus could say nothing for very amaze- 
 ment. Then, recovering somewhat, he began eagerly 
 to question the king, and found him to all appearances 
 sincere in making the offer. 
 
 Now, although Polemo had made a special point of 
 Crispus' worthiness, Crispus himself had nevertheless a 
 secret belief that the king was actuated by some ulterior 
 motive. He recalled a saying of his father's : " There 
 is fire within Polemo for all his cold exterior. To 
 me he seems a man who, having received a great wrong, 
 is meditating a scheme of revenge — ay, and devoting 
 his whole life to it. The weapon may take years in 
 the forging, but when forged it will fall, swiftly, ter- 
 ribly." Recalling these words, Crispus began to won- 
 der whether the offer just made was a part of the king's 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 11 
 
 scheme of vengeance. Was he, Crispus, to be elevated 
 to the throne merely to bring gall to some scheming 
 and ambitious enemy? Crispus had a reasonable objec- 
 tion to be utilized for such a purpose ; but still, what 
 mattered? Here was an opportunity of gaining a 
 splendid dignity, and it would be foolish to let his 
 scruples as to the other's motive interfere with his 
 ambition. 
 
 A king ! 
 
 " All things," said Porus, " are comprehended In that 
 word." 
 
 What fancies crowded thick and fast upon Crispus' 
 mind as he tried to picture the future ! 
 
 He would be a father to his people ; would regulate 
 their finances ; foster their commerce ; increase the 
 army ; promote the use of the Latin language and en- 
 courage Greek culture. In the glens of the Caucasus, 
 bordering upon his kingdom, were wild tribes that had 
 never yet acknowledged a conqueror. He would curb 
 their predatory incursions, and augment his territory 
 at their expense. Nay, he might even pass that mighty 
 mountain-barrier, and carry his arms over Scythia, a 
 region that had defied the attempts of the Persian, the 
 Grecian, and the Roman. Why should he not be in 
 the North what Alexander had been In the East, and 
 Caesar in the West? Then, when his kingdom had be- 
 come enlarged and Latinized, he would act the patriot, 
 and transfer his dominion to the Senate, making It a 
 province of mighty Rome. 
 
 Dreams, perhaps, but it is in such dreams that em- 
 pires have sometimes had their beginning. 
 
 " What answer do you make? " 
 
 " At present, none," replied the cautious Crispus. 
 "Is your gift accompanied by any stipulation?" 
 
 " One only. He who chooses the king of Pontus 
 must also choose its queen." 
 
 " In other words, I must take a wife, a wife to be 
 chosen by you." 
 
12 The Boomed City 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 "And failing to do this — no scepter?" 
 
 " Truly said. The gift of the kingdom is dependent 
 upon your marrying the lady of my choice. The two 
 go together." 
 
 "And what date do you fix for our nuptia^?" 
 
 " This very night — nay, this very hour." 
 
 ''To-night? Ye gods! You hear that, Titus ? " 
 
 " The lady is at hand, for in the reasonable belief 
 that you would not refuse a throne I have had her 
 brought here." 
 
 " Her name.'' " 
 
 " Call her Athenais, since that is the name she will 
 take as queen." 
 
 " I am not to know her real name ! What is her 
 rank.?" 
 
 " Superior to your own, for she is of royal blood." 
 
 " She is of fair shape, I trust ? " 
 
 " Zeuxis never delineated a face and form more 
 lovely." 
 
 These words served to whet Crispus' curiosity. He 
 expressed a wish to see his prospective bride. 
 
 " See her you will not ; she will be veiled during the 
 ceremony. Nor will you hear her voice, for she will 
 not speak. When the rite is over you will resume your 
 journey to Caesarea." 
 
 " Without seeing the face of my wife ! " gasped Cris- 
 pus in amazement. Was there ever so strange a mar- 
 riage proposal.? 
 
 " It is my will that you shall not know whom you 
 have married. The lady is beautiful, high-born, and 
 brings a crown as a dowry. Is not that enough.'' " 
 
 " And when will my bride be made known to me.f* " 
 
 " On the day when you assume the scepter." 
 
 "And the date of that event.?" 
 
 " As I have said, at the end of three years." 
 
 " The word of Polemo is his bond," said Crispus, 
 " but seeing that — ah sit omen! — ^you may be dead ere 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 13 
 
 the three jears be past, what warranty shall I then 
 have of the due execution of this, your promise? " 
 
 " This," replied the king, producing a parchment- 
 scroll and unroHing it. " 'Tis yours as soon as the 
 nuptial ceremony be over." 
 
 Crispus ran his eye over the scroll, and saw that it 
 was what Roman lawyers would call an instrumentum — 
 in other words, a legally-executed document, constitut- 
 mg him the heir of Polemo in the sovereignty of Pon- 
 tus. It was subscribed with the signature of the king, 
 and, what was of far more weight, with that of Nero 
 himself. 
 
 " Do you assent.'* " 
 " I assent." 
 
 " Consider well ; remember that you are to pledge 
 yourself to remain faithful to Athenais, who in turn 
 pledges herself to remain faithful to you. Should you 
 in this interval be found breaking your vow by offering 
 love to any woman— yea, even though it be to your 
 own unknown wife "—Crispus smiled at the supposition 
 — " you lose the crown of Pontus." 
 
 " Your terms are strange, but I abide by them." 
 " You are ready to wed.^ " 
 " This very hour." 
 
 "You promise not to lift her veil.? You are content 
 not to hear her voice? You are wilhng to depart as 
 soon as the rite is over? You promise with your friend 
 to observe secrecy as touching this night's work? " 
 
 There was a light as of triumph in Polemo's eyes 
 when the two Romans gave assent to these terms. It 
 confirmed Crispus in his belief that the king was using 
 him as an instrument of vengeance. But, as before, 
 he said within himself, "What matters?" 
 
 " With what rites do we wed? " asked Crispus. 
 " With the words customary in your own Roman 
 nuptial ceremonies, confirming them by placing this 
 token upon the finger of the bride," returned Polemo. 
 He handed to Crispus a gold ring. It was set with 
 
14 The Doomed City 
 
 a ruby, upon whose surface there was graven, with 
 beautiful and marvelous art, a device that caused a 
 quick look of surprise to pass over the face of Crispus. 
 As he slowly and mechanically turned the ring over in 
 his hand the ruby darted forth sparkles that caused 
 what was sculptured on the gem to vanish as if in a 
 blaze of fire. At that sight Crispus gave a great start, 
 and darted an inquiring look at the king, who replied 
 by a smile full of a hidden meaning. Titus, who took 
 due note of all this, was naturally not a little puzzled; 
 he refrained from comment, however, believing that 
 Crispus would enlighten him later. 
 
 " Follow me," said Polemo, and, lifting a curtain, 
 he led the way to another chamber so dimly illumined 
 by one lamp only that the parts remote from the light 
 were scarcely discernible, an arrangement obviously due 
 to Polemo's determination that Crispus should see as 
 little as possible of his bride. 
 
 In the semi-darkness two waiting figures, both deeply 
 veiled, were faintly visible. 
 
 Of the one that stood a little in the rear Crispus took 
 no note, she being obviously an attendant. It was the 
 other upon whom his eyes were set. Slender and of 
 medium stature, she wore the usual dress of a Roman 
 bride, the tunica recta, a long white robe with a purple 
 fringe, and girt at the waist with a zone. The ^am- 
 meum, or veil, which effectually concealed her features, 
 was bright yellow in color, as were likewise her dainty 
 little shoes. The bride's hair with the point of a spear, 
 was dispensed with on this occasion, her head being 
 covered with a coif, so well disposed that not a single 
 tress was visible. So completely was her person hidden 
 that, let her dress be changed, and there was nothing 
 by which he could identify her, if he should meet her 
 again that same night. 
 
 Though Crispus could not see her eyes, he knew 
 full well that she was watching him as keenly as he 
 was watching her, a scrutiny in which the advantage 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 15 
 
 was all on her side. She stood, wordless and motionless, 
 evidently awaiting the king's pleasure. 
 
 " Athenais," said he, " this is your husband." 
 
 She made a little obeisance to Crispus, a simple act, 
 yet performed with a grace that charmed him. 
 
 He did not know in what relation Polemo stood to 
 the bride, but his way of speaking implied a quasi- 
 authority over her, and since it was the fashion in those 
 days for parents and guardians to arrange marriages 
 with very little regard for the feelings of the two most 
 concerned in the affair, Crispus could not help wonder- 
 ing whether pressure had been put upon this Athenais 
 to induce her to consent to the union. He would find 
 out. 
 
 " Lad}-," he said, " I am willing to marry, but only 
 on the understanding that you come to me without 
 compulsion. Therefore, if you take me of your own 
 free will, testify the same — since you are forbidden to 
 speak — by coming forward two paces." 
 
 Athenais hesitated, but only for a second. Giving 
 him what he felt to be a grateful glance, she advanced 
 two steps. 
 
 " A mutual agreement," smiled Polemo. " This is 
 as it should be." 
 
 He wliispered in the ear of the bride something that 
 Crispus could not catch. Whatever it was it evoked 
 from her a little ripple of laughter, so sweet and silvery, 
 that Crispus was put into sympathy with her at 
 once. 
 
 " If her face be as witching as her laughter ! " 
 thought he. 
 
 But her laugh, however charming to Crispus, had a 
 very different effect upon Titus. An attentive spec- 
 tator would have seen him start violently, and turn 
 pale. He seemed on the point of breaking out into 
 words, but checking himself, he stood mute, his whole 
 attitude expressive of dejection, a feeling that seemed 
 to increase as the nuptial ceremony proceeded. Cris- 
 
16 The Doomed City 
 
 pus, occupied with the matter in hand, did not notice 
 his friend's agitation. 
 
 At a sign from Polemo Crispus drew near to Athe- 
 nai's, Titus acting as paranymph, or, to use the modern 
 phrase, " best man," the veiled attendant performing 
 a similar oiRce for the bride. 
 
 Athenais, directed by the king, put forth a white 
 and prettily-shaped hand, which Crispus took in his 
 own. 
 
 If her feelings bore any resemblance to those of 
 Crispus she must have felt like one in a dream, for he 
 could scarcely believe the scene to be real. An hour ago 
 he would have laughed had anyone prophesied for him 
 an early marriage, and yet here he was on the point 
 of marrying a woman of whose past history he knew 
 nothing, a woman from whom, as soon as the ceremony 
 was over, he must part, without seeing her face, with- 
 out receiving so little as one word from her, part for a 
 space of time to be measured, not by months, but by 
 years ! What would his friends at Rome think of a 
 marriage contracted under auspices so strange? 
 " Weddeth Crispus as a fool weddeth.'^" would surely 
 be their comment. 
 
 Thus much, however, could be said for his act: it 
 had his father's sanction, and with this thought Crispus 
 tried to suppress all misgivings. 
 
 Mechanically he found himself repeating after Po- 
 lemo the final words of the rite that was to unite hhn 
 for life with the unknown Athenais. 
 
 " Leaving all other, and keeping only to thee, I, 
 Crispus Cestius Gallus, patrician of Rome, do take 
 thee, Athenais, to be my lawful wife, to be openly ac- 
 knowledged as such when it shall please thee to claim 
 me by this token." 
 
 So saying, he slid upon her slender finger the golden 
 ring given him by Polemo. 
 
 No sound came from the woman who was now his 
 wife, but her agitation was shown by her trembling 
 
A Mysterious Wedding 17 
 
 hand, bj her accelerated breathing, by her attitude, 
 half-reclining, in the arms of her attendant. 
 
 Her hand seemed to close voluntarily upon his own. 
 The thrilling pressure of those fair fingers imparted to 
 him somehow the belief that, originally reluctant to 
 come to the ceremony, she now viewed it with pleasure, 
 a thought that gave him pleasure in turn. 
 
 The sweet laugh that had come from her, the clasp 
 of her pretty hand, her willingness to trust her whole 
 future to his keeping, so moved Crispus that he began 
 to feel a keen regret that he must immediately part 
 from her. He became almost angry with himself for 
 having submitted to the hard terms prescribed by 
 Polemo. 
 
 As he released her hand she sank back half-swooning 
 in the arms of the other woman, who, at a sign from 
 Polemo, proceeded to draw her gently from the apart- 
 ment. Till the last Crispus kept his eyes upon her, 
 hoping that, in spite of Polemo, she might raise a 
 corner of her veil, and give him just one glimpse at 
 least of her face. 
 
 It was not to be, however. She melted away into 
 the shadows around, and he saw her no more. 
 
 The two Romans walked again by the star-lit shore 
 with Beth-tamar far beliind them. 
 
 " What," asked Titus, who, since the wedding cere- 
 mony, had been strangely silent, " what was engraved 
 on the stone of the nuptial ring that you should start 
 so.? " 
 
 He received little enlightenment from the reply of 
 Crispus : 
 
 " The image of a temple in flames! " 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BANQUET OF FLORUS 
 
 Eaely on the morning after his arrival at Caesarea, 
 Crispus was waited upon at his lodgings by Gessius 
 Florus, procurator of Judaea, who, apprised of Crispus' 
 coming, lost no time in calling upon the son of the 
 Syrian Legate, that Legate whose word was all-power- 
 ful in the East. 
 
 Previous knowledge had disposed Crispus to take an 
 unfavorable opinion of Florus, an opinion that became 
 strengthened on seeing the man himself. A shallow- 
 minded Greek of Clazomense, and no true Roman, he 
 had gained the procuratorship of Judaea, not through 
 merit, but by the influence of his wife Cleopatra, who 
 was a close friend of the reigning Empress Poppsea. 
 
 Florus, though born in Ionia, had little of the grace 
 that is usually associated with that region, and had 
 Crispus not known otherwise he might have taken the 
 governor, with his round bullet head, furtive greenish- 
 brown eyes, and heavy brutal jaw, for a member of that 
 pugilistic fraternity whose feats with the caestus were 
 the delight of the lower orders among the Romans. 
 
 He was desirous that Crispus should form one at a 
 grand banquet, to be held that night in the Praetorium, 
 or procuratorial palace. 
 
 Crispus was about to decline the honor, when he 
 thought of Athenais. For all he knew to the con- 
 trary she might be a resident of Caesarea, and if so, 
 her " royal blood " would certainly entitle her to an 
 invitation. She might be among the guests. He would 
 go, though it would be difficult, if not impossible, to 
 recognize her. 
 
 18 
 
The Baiiquet of Florus 19 
 
 Florus withdrew in apparent delight. 
 
 As for Titus, he departed that same day for Rome, 
 embarking on the good ship Stella. 
 
 " There is no hope of my ever winning Berenice," 
 he said, though without assigning any reason for com- 
 ing so suddenly to this lugubrious conclusion. 
 
 Before his departure, however, he did Crispus a good 
 service by introducing him to a brave and worthy 
 Roman, Terentius Rufus by name. He was the captain 
 of the garrison stationed at Jerusalem, and had come 
 with his cohort to Cassarea to aid in the work of sup- 
 pressing the riots that were almost certain to arise upon 
 the coming publication of Nero's edict relative to the 
 precedency claimed by the Jews and the Greeks. 
 
 Terentius Rufus, like Crispus, had received an invita- 
 tion to the banquet of Florus, and so, at the appointed 
 time, the two presented themselves at the Pratorium. 
 
 Upon making their way to the hall appropriated to 
 the feast, a hall called Neronium after the reigning 
 emperor, they paused a moment at the entrance to con- 
 template the sight. The marble saloon, supported by 
 porphyry columns and blazing with the radiance of a 
 thousand lamps, was a scene of glitter, movement, and 
 color. Sweet spices burned in gilded tripods ; the rarest 
 flowers glowed from sculptured vases; the ivory tri- 
 clinia with their purple cushions, the lavish display of 
 gold and silver plate, the rich dresses and jewels of 
 the ladies, made a picture destined to live long in the 
 memory of Crispus. 
 
 He marveled to see such splendor in the hall of a 
 provincial governor. 
 
 " Whence does Florus obtain the wealth that enables 
 him to make such a display.? " he asked. 
 
 " There are others who would like an answer to that 
 question," repHed Rufus, mysteriously. 
 
 "Where is Florus.?" asked Crispus, glancing 
 around, and not seeing the procurator. 
 
 " Probably tickling his throat with a feather to pro- 
 
20 The Doomed City 
 
 duce a vomit," answered Rufus, referring to the dis- 
 gusting custom practiced by many Romans of that 
 age for the purpose of creating an appetite. " You 
 may trust him to do full justice to the banquet." 
 
 Crispus was not slow to recognize among the guests 
 that type of physiognomy which, graved on Egyptian 
 monuments long ere Rome was founded, has continued 
 almost unchanged to the present day. 
 
 " There are many Jews here to-night," remarked he. 
 
 " And Jewesses, too," replied Rufus ; " and here 
 comes the fairest of them all, leaning upon the arm of 
 Florus. For a wonder he's sober ! " 
 
 There was a sudden cessation of tongues as a curtain 
 that draped a certain archway was lifted by two bowing 
 slaves to give entrance to the procurator. 
 
 Glancing around, Florus immediately caught sight 
 of Crispus, and advanced to give him welcome. He 
 was accompanied by a lady, none other than the Prin- 
 cess Berenice, and as Crispus quietly surveyed her, he 
 thought it no wonder that Titus should have fallen 
 in love with her at first sight. She had dark hair and 
 dark starry eyes, and a face which, when radiant with 
 a smile as it was at that moment, was perfectly dazzling 
 in its loveliness. Her figure, which was as beautiful 
 as her face, was appareled in a robe of purple silk, 
 embroidered with flowers of gold and adorned with the 
 costliest pearls. 
 
 She greeted Crispus with a sweet smile of recogni- 
 tion. 
 
 " Do not neglect me to-night as you did at Antioch," 
 she said half- jestingly, and then giving him a witching 
 glance she passed on, with Florus, to her place at the 
 banquet. While the procurator reclined at full length 
 upon the triclinium, Berenice sat erect beside him, for 
 the posture assumed by men at the banquet was deemed 
 unbecoming in women. 
 
 Crispus and Rufus had places assigned them at the 
 triclinium adjoining that of Florus, and upon the same 
 
The Banquet of Florus 21 
 
 couch with them reclined a shrewd-looking, keen-eyed 
 man, who, so Rufus informed Crispus, went by the name 
 of Tertullus, and was a distinguished forensic orator. 
 
 " Mark well his noble name," said Rufus, laughingly. 
 " Tertullus, thrice-Tully ! What could be more suitable 
 for an orator.? Take my advice, Crispus," continued 
 he, " if you have a lawsuit while at Cffisarea, fail not 
 to employ my friend Tertullus, who never undertook 
 a case he did not win." 
 
 " Save once," corrected Tertullus. " Paul of Tarsus 
 escaped the stoning we had marked out for him." 
 
 " Ah ! I am forgetting him. The dog, it seems, is 
 a Roman citizen. He appealed to Nero, who let him 
 off." 
 
 " And what was the result ? " commented Tertullus. 
 " A few months later Rome was in flames, lit by the 
 hands of his disciples. The wretches ! Haters of man- 
 kind! I know of only one class of men more vile than 
 they, and that is the sect of the Zealots, whose latest 
 victim I am." 
 
 " How mean you.^* " asked Rufus. 
 
 " Have you not heard .'' No? Well, a few days ago 
 I was journeying from Jericho to the Jewish capital. 
 Knowing the state of the country, I traveled in the 
 company of an armed caravan that was going the same 
 way. We took a long circuit northwards to avoid the 
 dreaded Pass of Adummim ; all to no purpose. Mana- 
 hem and his Zealots, like vultures scenting their quarry 
 afar, swooped down upon us. I was one of the few 
 that escaped. When is Florus going to dispatch an 
 expedition against that robber crew.''" 
 
 " Did you lose aught .'* " 
 
 " Some gold plate, and — ^what I treasured above all 
 earthly things — a myrrhine vase, so precious that I 
 weep when I think of it." 
 
 " Don't think of it, then," said Rufus. " Turn to a 
 more pleasant theme, the Princess Berenice. She looks 
 more charming and more youthful than ever to-night. 
 
22 The Doomed City 
 
 Now, how old should you take her to be? " he continued, 
 addressing Crispus. 
 
 " Not much past twenty," he hazarded. 
 
 Rufus laughed pleasantly. 
 
 " Why, 'tis sixteen years ago since she married Po- 
 lemo. She cannot be a day younger than thirty-eight." 
 
 Crispus was surprised to hear it. 
 
 " There is many a young girl here to-night," said he, 
 " who looks older than the princess." 
 
 " Berenice takes extreme pains to preserve her 
 beauty," remarked Rufus. " 'Tis said that, like Pop- 
 paea, she bathes daily in asses' milk to render her skin 
 soft and supple." 
 
 Florus now gave the signal for the feast, and there 
 entered a train of pretty Greek maidens with baskets 
 containing wreaths of flowers, for to dine ungarlanded 
 would have been a departure from fashionable usage. 
 Berenice chose a wreath of violets ; Florus made a simi- 
 lar selection. 
 
 " The flower honored by a princess must be my 
 choice, too," he whispered. 
 
 This little by-play did not pass unnoticed by Crispus. 
 
 " Florus is madly in love with her," commented Ru- 
 fus. " For the matter of that, who isn't .? " 
 
 " I thought that Florus already had a wife," said 
 Crispus. 
 
 " That's no obstacle in these lax days, when a man 
 takes a new wife with each year. It is whispered that 
 Florus contemplates divorcing Cleopatra." 
 
 "Where is Cleopatra at this present time.?" asked 
 Crispus. 
 
 " In Rome," answered Tertullus, as he fixed a gar- 
 land of roses upon his head, " looking after her precious 
 husband's interests. He takes advantage of her ab- 
 sence to pay court to Berenice, who cares not a whit 
 for him, and intends no hurt to Cleopatra. Berenice 
 is not to be too hastily condemned," he continued, ob- 
 serving Crispus' frown. " Her action in this matter, 
 
The Banquet of Florus 23 
 
 as in all others, is guided by two motives — love of her 
 people, and love of her own superstition. Now, Florus, 
 in the exercise of his procuratorship, can, if he be so 
 minded, inflict injuries upon the Jewish people, and 
 can also, though to a limited extent, interfere with the 
 administration of their public worship. ' But,' argues 
 our fair Berenice, ' he is not likely to adopt these 
 courses while seeking to win me, who am a Jewess. 
 Therefore, for the good of the Jews I will amuse him 
 with hopes.' Now after this long speech," added Ter- 
 tullus, " let me eat. I can see the lampreys coming, 
 and they are my favorite dish." 
 
 And the delicacy being set before him, Tertullus ap- 
 plied himself thereto. After a time he raised his voice 
 and addressed the procurator. 
 
 " I have myself, O Florus, given great attention to 
 the breeding of lampreys, but I confess that I can 
 never get them to attain the delicate flavor of those 
 bred by you." 
 
 Two or three other guests made similar remarks. 
 
 Florus smiled with the air of a man who, having dis- 
 covered an excellent thing, is determined to keep it to 
 himself. 
 
 " Now, it is precisely because I happen to know how 
 the delicate flavor is acquired," whispered Rufus, " that 
 I avoid partaking of that dish." 
 
 "By the trident of Neptune," said Tertullus, "I 
 wish you would communicate the secret to me, for I am 
 mightily fond of lampreys." 
 
 " Well, keep it a secret, for Florus may not thank 
 me for telling it. Whenever one of his slaves commits 
 a fault worthy of death, the poor wretch, instead of 
 being hanged, is flung into the piscina to feed the 
 lampreys. By the gods, I do not jest," he added, as 
 he noted Tertullus' look of incredulity. " Get his chief 
 piscinarius into a comer, put a dagger to his throat, 
 and he'll confess that what I say is true." 
 
 As the Roman law gave to a master the power of 
 
24 The Doomed City 
 
 life and death over his slaves, Florus' peculiar practice 
 did not evoke from Crispus the abhorrence that the man 
 of the twentieth century would express at such a, deed. 
 As for Tertullus, he even went so far as to intimate 
 that he might adopt the practice himself. 
 
 " If a slave must die," argued he, " let him die in 
 a way that will add to his master's enjoyment." 
 
 Crispus sought to change the subject of conversation 
 by asking Rufus the name of the richly-clothed man 
 who reclined on the left of Florus ; he was a majestic- 
 looking, dark-skinned personage, with hair and beard 
 finely dressed. At the beginning of the feast he had 
 drawn forth a little ivory casket, from which he had 
 produced an asp that had immediately twined itself 
 around his bare arm, and there it remained partaking 
 occasionally of such morsels as its master chose to give. 
 
 "That," replied Tertullus, "is Theomantes, the 
 priest of Zeus Csesarius, and a skilled diviner." 
 
 " And the serpent he carries with him, if you are fool 
 enough to believe it," remarked Rufus, " is an incarna- 
 tion of the great Zeus himself. You can see by the 
 place assigned to Theomantes how highly he is esteemed. 
 Every Roman governor nowadays must have a sooth- 
 sayer in attendance upon him, and Florus would not 
 be out of the fashion. It is this Theomantes who sup- 
 plies our procurator with the liquid for his daily bath." 
 
 " The liquid.? What liquid? " 
 
 " Well, not water, which is good enough for common 
 mortals like you and me, nor yet milk, which the fair 
 Berenice finds so excellent a cosmetic. Florus' taste 
 runs in favor of blood." 
 
 " Blood! " ejaculated Crispus. 
 
 " Even so. Do you not know that by some physi- 
 cians blood is deemed very efficacious in strengthening 
 the human frame when exhausted by debauchery? So 
 our dear governor bathes daily in a sanguinary fluid 
 drawn from the veins of oxen slain in sacrifice, his super- 
 stitious fancy disposing him to believe that there will 
 
The Banquet of Florus 25 
 
 be more virtue in blood of that sort. Oh, it's not an 
 uncommon practice, I assure you. We've even drawn 
 from the Greek a name for it, callings it taurobolium." 
 
 " Every man to his taste," commented Crispus, dryly ; 
 and continuing his inquiries as to the guests, he asked, 
 " Who is that fierce graybeard reclining next to Theo- 
 mantes ? " 
 
 " Ananias, son of Nebedeus, at one time high priest 
 of the Jews," replied Rufus. 
 
 " And a cheating knave ! " commented Tertullus. 
 " In his prosecution of Paul of Tarsus before Felix 
 he employed me as advocate, and hath never yet paid 
 me my fee. But I'll be even with him." 
 
 " Do you mark," continued Rufus, " how, from time 
 to time, Ananias glowers at Theomantes .? He con- 
 siders that he himself should be sitting next the gov- 
 ernor." 
 
 " He is welcome to the place for me," laughed Cris- 
 pus. "And who is the fair damsel beside him.-^ His 
 daughter.? " 
 
 " Daughter me no daughter, forsooth ! " returned 
 Rufus. " That is Asenath, a Syrian dancing-girl, and 
 his latest favorite." 
 
 " I must reluctantly confess he hath a pretty taste," 
 said Tertullus ; " she is a delicious armful." 
 
 " And she is desirous, you see, that we should observe 
 the fact," remarked Rufus. 
 
 The girl in question was a lovely brunette, attired 
 in a Coan robe which, even in that decadent age, was 
 deemed a trifle too extreme, consisting as it did of 
 silk so transparent in texture that the shapely limbs 
 of the wearer could be seen as through colored 
 glass. 
 
 And, be it observed, she was not the only female at 
 the banquet thus diaphanously clad! 
 
 " That's the girl," continued Rufus, " to please 
 whom he burnt in his own house the incense that it is 
 not lawful to burn anywhere save upon the altar of 
 
26 The Doomed City 
 
 the Jewish temple. And as she was once curious to 
 view the Jewish worship, Ananias had the way from 
 his house to the temple carpeted for her pretty feet, 
 and canopied to shield her from the sun. And he him- 
 self was so fastidiously minded that he was accustomed 
 to wear silk gloves at the altar to avoid soiling his 
 dainty fingers with the blood of the sacrifices,^ though 
 why a Sadducee, such as he, should want to worship 
 God at all is a mystery to me. In the opinion of 
 Ananias man dies as a dog dies. It seems to me that 
 a God who creates man from dust merely to turn him 
 into dust again is scarcely deserving of worship. What 
 say you ^ " 
 
 " Old Homer could have taught him better doctrine 
 than that," returned Crispus. 
 
 The conversation, it will be seen, was taking a theo- 
 logical turn ; something of like sort was happening at 
 the adjoining triclinium of Florus. 
 
 " I hate these Christians as much as you do," re- 
 marked the procurator to Berenice. " But Nero hath 
 taught us how to deal with them. And you say there 
 are still some of this sect at Jerusalem? I had thought 
 that my predecessor Albinus, in slaying James, the 
 brother of this Christus, had put an end to these fanat- 
 ics. You shall have your way, princess. Within a 
 week of my coming to Jerusalem there shall not be a 
 Christian left alive." 
 
 " Now the gods confound these Christians ! " said 
 Tertullus aloud. " They grow daily wilder and madder 
 in their blasphemies. They have now the effrontery 
 to affirm that this Christus of theirs, who died in the 
 eighteenth year of Tiberius Csesar, was something more 
 than a man, that this Galilasan peasant was in very 
 truth a manifestation of the supreme deity, the creator 
 of the universe, and the great To Pan spoken of by 
 the divine Plato." 
 
 At these words there was on the part of Crispus a 
 start as of surprise. 
 
The Banquet of Florus 27 
 
 " When do you sa.y this Christus died ? " he asked 
 somewhat quickl}'. 
 
 " In the eighteenth year of Tiberius Csesar," replied 
 Tertullus. 
 
 " In what month? " 
 
 " On the fourteenth of Nisan, according to the Jewish 
 calendar." 
 
 " Which in our st^'le would be the seventh of April," 
 explained Rufus, after a rapid mental calculation, 
 
 Crispus' surprise seemed to deepen. 
 
 " And you say the Christians call their founder 
 To Pax ? Strange ! " he murmured. 
 
 "Why so.?" asked Florus. 
 
 " I could tell a curious story of that month and 
 year. But there ! let it pass." 
 
 " No, we must not let it pass," cried Florus, and 
 thinking to do honor to Crispus, he said to those within 
 his immediate vicinity, " Silence, friends, for the noble 
 Crispus' story." 
 
 All eyes were bent upon Crispus, who hesitated for a 
 moment, and then, seeing expectancy written upon the 
 faces of the guests, he began: 
 
 " Well, since you will have it: At the time just men- 
 tioned, namely the month of April in the eighteenth 
 year of Tiberius, there chanced to be upon the Ionian 
 Sea a merchant vessel bound for Italy. It was even- 
 tide ; the breeze had died away, and the ship lay be- 
 calmed off the Isle of Paxos. Suddenly the stillness 
 that lay upon land and sea was broken by a voice com- 
 ing from the lonel}^ shore — a voice clear and solemn, 
 and one that carried awe to all who heard it, for it 
 seemed scarcely to belong to earth. ' Thamus! ' it 
 cried. Now the pilot of the vessel happened to be one 
 Thamus, an Egyptian, a man of humble and obscure 
 origin, and not so much as known by name to those 
 on board. Full of fear, he let himself be called twice 
 ere he would answer. At the third ci^y he found cour- 
 age to ask, 'What want you?' And thus did the 
 
28 The Doomed City 
 
 voice make reply : ' When thou comest to Pelodes, cry 
 aloud that the great Pan is dead.' That was all ; no 
 more. The passengers, amazed and awed by the event, 
 debated among themselves whether it would be wise to 
 obey the mysterious voice. Thamus, himself, deter- 
 mined the matter: if on attaining the appointed place 
 there should be wind enough to fill the sails, he would 
 pass by in silence, but if not, he would proclaim the 
 message. The breeze freshened, the ship glided on, 
 but when they reached Pelodes it made no further 
 progress, for the wind suddenly dropped again. 
 Thamus, therefore, taking his stand upon the prow, 
 turned his face to the land, and shouted in a loud 
 tone, ' Great Pan is dead! ' Then from the hitherto 
 silent shore there arose a sound like the voice of a multi- 
 tude, a sound as of weeping and wild lament." 
 
 Such was the story told by Crispus, and he finished 
 with the odd feeling that the telling of it had pleased 
 neither the Jewish nor the Gentile portion of his audi- 
 tors. 
 
 "Whence do you derive this story?" asked Theo- 
 mantes with a somewhat supercilious air. 
 
 " From my father, himself a passenger in this same 
 vessel." 
 
 " Who were they that made these sounds ? " 
 
 " Beings more than mortal ; of that he is con- 
 vinced." 
 
 " Gods and demons ? " 
 
 " It may be so." 
 
 " In a lamenting mood? " 
 
 " A wailing as of despair, so my father describes 
 the sound." 
 
 " Gods in despair at the death of someone? And 
 this happened in Greece in the eighteenth year of Ti- 
 berius? Would you have us believe that the Christus 
 crucified by Pilate and the ' Great Pan ' of your story 
 are one and the same, and that his death has caused 
 the downfall of the gods?" 
 
The Banquet of Florus 29 
 
 " I am hardly likely to adopt that explanation, be- 
 lieving as I do in the eternity of those gods by whose 
 worship Rome has grown so great. The story is true, 
 let the meaning be what it may," added Crispus in a 
 tone whose sharpness deterred Theomantes from mak- 
 ing any further comment. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY 
 
 Now, while telling his story, Crispus had become 
 suddenly alive to the presence of a very beautiful girl 
 sitting at an adjoining triclinium. It was not so much 
 her beauty, however, that attracted him as the atten- 
 tion she had paid to his words. She was by far the 
 keenest and most attentive of his listeners, seeming to 
 hang breathless upon his hps during the whole recital; 
 of all the assembly, she seemed to be the only person 
 to receive the story with pleasure. 
 
 " Rufus," whispered he, " who is that girl with the 
 lovely golden tresses? To the left of us — on the next 
 triclinium.'' " 
 
 Rufus turned in leisurely fashion to survey the maid 
 in question. 
 
 " I know not her name, or who she is. She came 
 hither accompanied by him who reclines beside her. As 
 I see no likeness betwixt the two, I take it he is not her 
 father." 
 
 The man referred to was evidently a Hebrew, and 
 distinguished both by his noble features and rich attire. 
 
 " Her father.? Not he! " said Tertullus. " That is 
 Josephus, a Jew, and yon damsel, I'll swear, is no 
 Jewess. There is a grace and beauty about her that is 
 quite Ionic." 
 
 "Who is this Josephus.?" asked Crispus. 
 
 " He is a priest of the first of the twenty-four 
 courses," rephed Tertullus, " and a rabbi so won- 
 drously wise from his cradle upwards that when he was 
 only fourteen, aged priests and venerable sanhedrists 
 
 30 
 
The Queen of Beauty^ 81 
 
 would consult him on points of the law too hard for 
 their own understanding." 
 
 " What's jour authority for that story ? " said Ru- 
 fus dryly. 
 
 " The best authority — his own.' He hath told me so 
 many a time. At the mature age of seventeen he had 
 exhausted the whole course of philosophy, and had 
 decided that Pharisaism is the road to heaven. But 
 though a Pharisee, he cultivates Grecian literature, has 
 literary aspirations, and is said to be writing at the 
 present time a treatise that shall prove us Greeks and 
 Romans to be in the matter of antiquity mere children 
 of yesterday when compared with the Jews." 
 
 Josephus did not much interest Crispus, but the 
 young girl did, and he continued to watch her. This 
 was probably her first experience of a Gentile banquet, 
 and she seemed ill at ease amid her new surroundings. 
 And no wonder ! If the naked statuary and voluptuous 
 paintings to be seen around, the immodest Coan robes 
 worn by the women, and the shameless license of their 
 language were distasteful even to the pagan Crispus, 
 how much more so to a young maiden trained in the 
 pure and lofty principles of Judaism ? Berenice, alas ! 
 reared in the atmosphere of a decadent court, could 
 learn in the Prjetorium of Florus little that was new 
 in the shape of wickedness, but the case was far differ- 
 ent with a young and innocent girl. 
 
 " If this Josephus be her guardian, he is not exer- 
 cising much discretion," thought Crispus. " The ban- 
 quet-hall of Florus is not the place to bring a young 
 girl to." 
 
 At this point Ananias, the ex-high pontiff of the 
 Jews, and Theomantes, the priest of Zeus Caesarius, 
 created a diversion. 
 
 " Ay, ay," muttered Rufus, " I knew that they'd be 
 quarreling ere long." 
 
 The two representatives of antagonistic religions 
 were holding an animated dispute ; as the controversy 
 
32 The Doomed City 
 
 waxed hotter their voices rose proportionately, till at 
 last they attracted general attention. Everyone else 
 in the assembly left off talking to listen to the dis- 
 putants. 
 
 "Mercury a thief?" cried Theomantes. "So be it, 
 then ! And is it not written in your foolish scriptures 
 that while Adam slept God stole from his side a rib 
 which He fashioned into the first woman.'* What else, 
 then, is your God but a thief.'' " 
 
 Ananias' reply was anticipated by the Princess Bere- 
 nice, ever quick to defend her ancestral religion. 
 
 " I will answer you," said she to Theomantes. " Last 
 night some thieves broke into my house, and stole a 
 silver vase." She paused for a moment, then added, 
 " But they left a golden one in its stead." 
 
 The Jewish guests greeted Berenice's little parable 
 with loud applause. 
 
 " Jupiter ! " laughed Florus, " I wish such thieves 
 would come every night." 
 
 Theomantes returned to the attack. Holding his 
 serpent close to the face of Ananias, and causing the 
 reptile to give a hiss that made the Hebrew priest 
 start, he laughed and said: 
 
 " My God is greater than yours." 
 
 " Prove it," sneered Ananias. 
 
 " Is it not written that when your God appeared in 
 the burning bush, Moses drew near, but when he saw 
 the serpent, which is my god, he fled? " 
 
 " True," replied Berenice, answering for the silent 
 Ananias, " and a few steps sufficed to put him beyond 
 reach of the serpent. But how can one flee from our 
 God, Who fills all space. Who at one and the same 
 time is in heaven and in earth, on sea and on land? " 
 
 Theomantes, about to continue the dispute, was 
 checked by a gesture from Florus, so the heathen priest, 
 with a somewhat dark look at Berenice, subsided into 
 silence. 
 
 " You have here," commented Rufus, " a specimen 
 
The Queen of Beauty 33 
 
 of what is always happening in Cassarea when Jew 
 and Gentile meet. But, ah! here cometh the wine." 
 
 Now, it was the fashion of that day to begin the 
 drinking with an invocation to the reigning emperor, 
 and hence Florus, looking around upon his guests, 
 lifted his cup as a sign for them to do the like, saying 
 at the same time : 
 
 " Friends, a libation to the god Nero ! " 
 
 The god Nero ! 
 
 Though to the pagan portion of the assembly the 
 words conveyed no impiety, the case was otherwise with 
 the Jews, but those present were of the worldly-wise 
 class that sacrifices religion to policy, and hence most 
 of them, including the Sadducee Ananias and the Phari- 
 see Josephus, shamelessly prepared to join with Florus 
 in offering to the wickedest man of that age a libation 
 as to a god. 
 
 Now, pagan though Crispus was, there was one thing 
 in the Roman religion that he, in common with many 
 others, could not approve, and that was the deification 
 of the living emperor, especially when the deification 
 extended to such a one as Nero. And yet to refrain 
 from joining in the libation was dangerous, being tan- 
 tamount to the guilt of Icesa ma jest as; and of all 
 crimes, the greatest, in the eyes of the buffoon then 
 at the head of the empire, was the refusal to acknowl- 
 edge his divinity. 
 
 Come what might, Crispus determined to have no 
 part in the libation, and while there was on all sides 
 a preparatory lifting of cups, his own remained un- 
 touched. He found a companion in Rufus, and some 
 others, including the unknown maiden, whose eyes were 
 eloquently expressive of abhorrence. 
 
 He and those of like thought were rescued from an 
 embarrassing situation by the action of the Princess 
 Berenice. With a pale face and agitated air she had 
 risen to her feet, and in a voice trembling with sup- 
 pressed emotion she addressed the wondering assembly. 
 
34 The Doomed City 
 
 " There once reigned," she began, " and in this very 
 city, a king who, on a set day, made an oration to 
 his people ; and they cried, ' It is the voice of a god, 
 and not of a man ! ' And because he rebuked not their 
 words the hand of heaven smote him there that he died. 
 And that king," she added, with a catch in her voice, 
 " that king was my father ! " 
 
 The fate of Agrippa the Elder was well known to all 
 the guests, some of whom, indeed, had been present 
 at that divine judgment — pronounced by the smitten 
 king himself to be divine — and the memory of the event, 
 added to the impressive words and solemn manner of 
 his fair daughter, caused a thrill to pervade the as- 
 sembly. 
 
 " And now, O Florus, do you desire the like fate for 
 Nero.'' To call him god is to draw upon him the wrath 
 of that eternal One, Who will not permit His glory to 
 be given to another." 
 
 As she sat down amid a murmur of approval from 
 the better-minded, it became suddenly apparent to 
 Florus that he had made a big blunder. All-desirous 
 as he was of winning the favor of Berenice, he had 
 strangely overlooked the fact that the libation in the 
 form proposed by him might be distasteful to the re- 
 ligious ideas of the Jewish princess. He gladly seized 
 the opportunity of extricating himself from an awk- 
 ward situation by endorsing the words of Crispus, who 
 said: 
 
 " The princess hath spoken well. Let us, O Florus, 
 not give to a mortal, however highly placed, the honor 
 that belongs only to the immortals." 
 
 " Be it as the princess wishes," said the procurator. 
 " We will change the phrasing to one in which all may 
 join." With that he added, "To the health of the 
 Emperor Nero ! " and plashed upon the tesselated pave- 
 ment a few drops of the ruddy wine, an example in 
 which he was followed by the rest of the guests, Jew 
 and Gentile alike. 
 
The Queen of Beauty 35 
 
 "A beautiful cup, O Florus," remarked Tertullus, 
 attentively eyeing the goblet from which the procurator 
 had made his libation. " I am quite charmed by it. 
 May one ask for a closer look? " 
 
 The cup in question was one of those myrrhme vases 
 imported from the far East, vases whose delicate semi- 
 transparent material was as much a mystery to the 
 ancient Romans as it is to the modern antiquary. ^ 
 
 " Mark my word," whispered Tertullus to Rufus, " if 
 we shall not find on one side of that cup a natural 
 vein of purple curving into something like the shape 
 of a Grecian lyre." 
 
 Florus, always glad to have the excellency ot his 
 treasures acknowledged, addressed a slave. 
 
 " Girl, pass this cup to the noble Tertullus. A judge 
 of art, he will know how to appreciate such a work. 
 By the gods, have a care how you carry it 1 " 
 
 The girl, thus bidden, conveyed the vessel to Ter- 
 tullus. Its chief beauty consisted in the great variety 
 of its colors, and the wreathing veins which here and 
 there presented shades of purple and white, with a 
 blending of the two. As Tertullus had said, one 
 of these veins bore considerable resemblance to a 
 
 lyre. 
 
 " I never thought to see thee again," muttered Ter- 
 tullus to himself, apostrophizing the cup. " How come 
 you here in the hands of Florus? A rare work of art,' 
 he added aloud, as he returned the cup to the pro- 
 curator. "You have had it long?" 
 
 " These seven years." 
 
 " Seven days, you mean," murmured Tertullus ; then 
 aloud, " It must have cost an immense sum." 
 
 " Thirty talents," replied Florus with a careless air, 
 as though the amount were a mere trifle. " There are 
 but two vases of this kind in all the empire ; they were 
 brought to Rome by a Parthian merchant. Petronius 
 purchased the one, I the other." 
 
 "What a liar you are!" thought Tertullus; and 
 
36 The Boomed City 
 
 then, as if dismissing the matter altogether from his 
 mind, he said in a low tone to Rufus : 
 
 " Doth Simon the Black still linger in his dungeon? " 
 
 Rufus replied in the affirmative. 
 
 " May one ask," smiled Crispus, " who is this Simon 
 the Black? " 
 
 " You are a stranger in Judaea, or you would not 
 have to ask that question," returned Rufus. " Simon 
 the Black was till lately the chief of a robber-band 
 of Zealots, whose haunt was among the almost inacces- 
 sible crags that overhang the Red Way, the famous 
 pass that leads from Jerusalem to Jericho. The Jew 
 was allowed to traverse the pass in safety ; the ordinary 
 Gentile was taken captive and held to ransom ; but 
 as to the Roman, woe to him if caught ! — it being the 
 way of Simon to hang all such without the alternative 
 of a ransom. Hence he is called by those of the Jews 
 who hate our rule, ' The Scourge of the Romans,' and 
 is regarded by them as a patriot. 
 
 " The curious part of it all is that Florus, though 
 often appealed to both by the Romans and Greeks of 
 Caesarea, refrained for a long time from sending a mili- 
 tary expedition against this nest of robbers, and when 
 at last he yielded to public pressure, and dispatched my 
 Italian Cohort on the errand, his parting words to me 
 were, ' I do not want to be troubled with prisoners.' 
 I declined to take the hint, however, and brought back 
 Simon alive, much, it would seem, to the mortification 
 of the procurator. And here at Csesarea the fellow lies 
 in a dungeon, Florus strangely refusing to put him on 
 trial. 
 
 " It's galling to think," added Rufus, " that my 
 work will have to be done all over again. The pass 
 hath been seized by another bandit — Manahem, a son 
 of that notorious Judas of Galilee, who drew away 
 much people after him in the days of the taxing. More 
 catholic in his views, he plunders and slays Jews and 
 Gentiles alike. And now again Florus — odd, is it not? 
 
The Queen of Beauty 37 
 
 — is thwarting me in my wish to proceed against this 
 new malefactor." 
 
 " Not at all odd," remarked TertuUus, " if my suspi- 
 cion be correct; and, by Castor! I'll try to verify it 
 before twenty-four hours be past." And then, speak- 
 ing aloud, he turned and addressed the procurator. 
 
 " O Florus, do you take your place on the bema to- 
 morrow.'' 'Tis a court day." 
 
 The governor frowned at this introduction of busi- 
 ness into the midst of pleasure. 
 
 " What cases are there to try ? " 
 
 *' There is the case of Simon the Black. The Romans 
 and Greeks of Caesarea are clamoring for his trial." 
 
 " Let them clamor." 
 
 " The long delay over this matter hath so enraged 
 them that they swear if Simon be not brought to justice 
 by the next court day, which is to-morrow, they will 
 storm the prison, and will themselves bring him forth to 
 execution." 
 
 " And should they make the attempt," remarked 
 Rufus gravely, " I doubt very much, O Florus, whether 
 we can depend upon the fidelity of our cohorts to pre- 
 vent it. This Simon hath slain so many Romans that 
 military and civilians alike are desirous of seeing him 
 brought to justice." 
 
 Florus, looking very ill at ease, was silent for a 
 moment, 
 
 " You are convinced that our captive is really the 
 Simon the Black, and that he hath committed the crimes 
 attributed to him.'' " 
 
 " Quite," replied Tertullus. " I have documents and 
 witnesses enough to prove his guilt twenty times over." 
 
 " Why, then, need we go to the trouble of a public 
 trial? Since you are certain of his guilt, I will do as 
 did Antipas with him that was called ' The Baptist ' — 
 send an executioner to his cell. How say you.? Speak 
 the word, and within an hour you shall have his head 
 here upon a charger." 
 
38 The Doomed City 
 
 " Antipas' act is a bad precedent," returned Ter- 
 tullus. " Your predecessor Festus, as Ananias there 
 can testify, was more equitably minded. ' It is not 
 the manner of the Romans,' said he, ' to dehver any 
 man to die, before that he which is accused have the 
 accusers face to face, and have license to answer for 
 himself concerning the crime laid against him.' " ' 
 
 " Words deserving to be written in letters of gold," 
 commented Crispus, to the manifest displeasure of 
 Florus. 
 
 " Moreover," observed Rufus, " the people will never 
 believe Simon dead if he be secretly executed." 
 
 " They will, when they see his head over the Prae- 
 torium gate." 
 
 " His crimes have been open and public," said Ter- 
 tullus, " let his trial be so." 
 
 "To-morrow.''" said Florus. "Why not the next 
 day?" 
 
 " The day after to-morrow is a sabbath," replied 
 Tertullus. " The Jewish witnesses will refuse to attend 
 court on that day." 
 
 " The sabbath ! the sabbath ! " repeated Florus pet- 
 tishly. " Why is the sabbath greater than any other 
 day.?" 
 
 "Why are you greater than other men.-'" asked 
 Berenice gently. 
 
 " Because, princess, it hath pleased Csesar to make 
 me so." 
 
 " Well, then, it hath pleased the Lord to make the 
 Sabbath a greater day than any other," smiled Bere- 
 nice, never at a loss for an answer where her religion 
 was concerned. 
 
 " Will not the noble Florus," said Crispus, " state 
 the reasons for his delay in bringing this prisoner to 
 trial.?" 
 
 The noble Florus did not reply to this pointed ques- 
 tion. He frowned, and hesitated; but, with a son of 
 the all-powerful Legate of Syria present as a witness 
 
The Queen of Beauty 39 
 
 of his irregularities, he felt he could not do otherwise 
 than grant the just request of Tertullus. 
 
 " Have, then, your way," said he. " In the morning 
 Simon shall be put upon his trial." 
 
 And with that he resumed his conversation with Bere- 
 nice. 
 
 " He'll be sorry for that concession," laughed Ter- 
 tullus quietly ; and then, turning to Rufus, he added, 
 " See that Simon's guards sleep not to-night. Florus 
 is quite capable of taking him off secretly." 
 
 " You mean " 
 
 " I mean," whispered Tertullus, " that the deferring 
 of the trial is due to the fact that this Zealot, if brought 
 into open court, could say something to the detriment 
 of Florus ; what, I would fain find out. Therefore, I 
 say again, look well to the prisoner to-night." 
 
 Rufus promised that he would see to the matter. 
 
 At this point the ears of the guests were attracted 
 by a sound like that of cords passing over pulleys, and 
 looking whence it came, they saw a curtain that draped 
 a wide archway ascend, revealing behind it a stage. 
 
 And now, while the palate of the guests was being 
 regaled with the choicest of wines, their eyes were grati- 
 fied by a series of beautiful tableaux drawn from the 
 domain of classic mythology. The last of these repre- 
 sented the Judgment of Paris ; by a trifling departure 
 from the original story, the prize of the fairest goddess 
 was to be a golden zone. 
 
 Paris, apparently unable to come to a decision as to 
 which of the three diaphanously-attired goddesses was 
 the fairest, made the award dependent upon their danc- 
 ing. At this there followed pas seuls of such a char- 
 acter that the modest maiden who sat by Josephus was 
 compelled to avert her gaze. 
 
 Venus, having received the award from the hand of 
 the Dardan shepherd, advanced to the edge of the 
 stage, and surveyed the audience. 
 
 " Alas ! " she cried with a sudden sigh, " Paris has 
 
40 The Doomed City 
 
 made a mistake, for I see one here more lovely than 
 myself. Let the gift be hers, and let her be hailed as 
 Queen of Beauty." 
 
 With that she unclasped the golden cestus and flung 
 it into the middle of the hall just as the curtain was 
 falling upon the tableau. 
 
 A slave, picking up the fallen zone, carried it to 
 Florus. 
 
 « ' KAAAISTH '— ' for the fairest,' " said he, reading 
 the sapphire letters set in the golden cestus. " The 
 question is," continued Florus, looking round upon a 
 bevy of ladies who had drawn near to view the zone, 
 and it was well worth viewing for its beautiful work- 
 manship, " the question is, who is the fairest? " 
 
 But, however fair each lady might secretly deem her- 
 self, as there was not found any bold enough to come 
 forwaa'd and claim this title, it became clear that, if 
 the zone must be bestowed at all, it would be necessary 
 to appoint an umpire to decide this ticklish matter. 
 
 The ladies, entering with a zest into the scheme, were 
 quite willing, so they averred, to submit their charms 
 to adjudication. 
 
 " A pretty little tableau, this," whispered Rufus to 
 Crispus, " prearranged by Florus for the purpose of 
 flattering the vanity of Berenice. His liking for her is 
 so well known that whoever is appointed umpire — un- 
 less he be a very independent character — will lack the 
 courage to decide for any but the princess." 
 
 A proposal on the part of Tertullus to appoint the 
 umpire by lot was received with acclamation. Crispus, 
 somewhat against his will, was forced by Rufus to take 
 his place among the candidates for the office, and, what 
 is more, when his turn came for putting his hand into 
 the balloting urn he drew forth the tessera inscribed 
 with the decisive word, " Judex." 
 
 He compressed his lips, much preferring that the 
 honor should have fallen upon some other. 
 
 Rufus now made a proposition. 
 
The Queen of Beauty 41 
 
 " Methinks it is but fair," said he, " that the lady 
 round whose waist the zone is clasped should bestow 
 a kiss upon the adjudicator." 
 
 This was laughingly made one of the conditions of 
 the contest. 
 
 And now, amid much mirth, about twenty of the 
 ladies began to prepare for the event. The rest, either 
 from modesty or distrustful of their charms, drew aside, 
 content to look on. 
 
 Among those who would fain have withdrawn, not 
 only from the contest, but also from the palace itself, 
 was the young girl who had so much attracted the 
 notice of Crispus. 
 
 " Let us go," she whispered in a distressed voice to 
 Josephus. " This is no place for me." 
 
 But he sought gently to persuade her, by dwelling 
 upon the value and beauty of the jeweled zone, the 
 ease with which it was obtainable, the pride and pleas- 
 ure she would feel in being hailed as the Queen of 
 Beauty. 
 
 " The zone will not fall to me" said she. " Look, 
 and see how many beautiful women there are around." 
 
 " None so beautiful as you, Vashti." 
 
 She shook her golden tresses at what she deemed his 
 partiality. In the end, however, she consented to let 
 her will be overborne by his. 
 
 The fair contestants were now moving to the place 
 of judgment, a spacious hemicycle at one end of the 
 banqueting hall. Among them were the Princess Bere- 
 nice, and the Syrian Asenath, the favorite of Ananias. 
 
 As Vashti moved forward, her air of innocence and 
 purity seemed to give secret offense to the wanton 
 dancing-girl ; her lip curled with contempt, and resolv- 
 ing to strip the other of her veil of modesty, she came 
 out with a proposal of a malicious and daring char- 
 acter. 
 
 " How can it be told," cried she, " who is the love- 
 liest, so long as we remain clothed.'* The robe may 
 
42 The Boomed City 
 
 hide deformities. Let it be a condition, O Florus, that 
 in this contest we appear naked." 
 
 Speaking thus, she laid both hands upon her swelling 
 hips ready to fling off her robes at the least encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 Now, seeing that in the Floralia at Rome women 
 were accustomed to dance quite naked, and that at 
 Etruscan banquets the ladies often showed their fair 
 forms without any clothing whatever, the proposal of 
 Asenath was not quite so startling as it would be at 
 the present day. 
 
 There were, of course, screams of dissent from the 
 fair contestants themselves, but to the gilded and de- 
 cadent youth of that assembly, Gentile and Jew alike, 
 living only for sensuality, Asenath's suggestion met 
 with a ready approval. Not even the high priest, 
 Ananias, lifted his voice against it. The Princess Bere- 
 nice stood like a statue, stately and still, neither assent- 
 ing nor dissenting. As for Vashti, her cheeks had be- 
 come of a deathly white, her whole air and attitude were 
 eloquent of a vivid horror at finding herself amid a 
 circle of gilded youth who stood by waiting only the 
 word of Florus, to assist her, volentem, nolentem, in the 
 task of disrobing. 
 
 " What says the excellent Florus.? " cried Asenath. 
 
 " The proposal seems to me to be fair, for the robe, 
 as you say, may hide deformities. But," he continued, 
 becoming secretly conscious that Crispus did not favor 
 the idea, " the question is out of my hands ; it rests 
 with the adjudicator." 
 
 " And he," replied Crispus, " decides that the ladies 
 shall remain clothed. This is a contest for beauty, 
 and there is no beauty where there is no modesty." 
 
 " O good and pious youth, ascend to heaven ! " said 
 Asenath with a mocking laugh ; and realizing that her 
 chance of winning the zone was gone, she stepped from 
 the contending circle to the side of Ananias, who looked 
 by no means pleased with the decision of Crispus. He, 
 
The Queen of Beauty 48 
 
 the priest of a religion that claimed to be purer far 
 than any of the pagan systems, had received a tacit 
 rebuke from a pagan — a mortifying experience, the 
 more so as he secretly felt it to be desei*ved. 
 
 Compliant with the directions of Florus, the con- 
 testants took their station upon a low marble seat that 
 lined the hemicycle; and, when so placed, presented a 
 variety of faces so dazzling in beauty as to make the 
 adjudicator's task a hard one. 
 
 As if to enhance his difficulty, Crispus received at 
 that moment a piece of news somewhat startling in 
 character. 
 
 Touched upon the shoulder by a hand, he turned, 
 and, to his surprise, found Polemo by his side. If the 
 Pontic king had been present at the banquet Crispus 
 had certainly missed seeing him, nor could he now tell 
 from what corner he had sprung. 
 
 " Athena'is is among the contestants! " whispered the 
 king; and ere Crispus could put a question to him, 
 Polemo had slipped among the crowd that was stand- 
 ing around to watch the sight, and had vanished as 
 mysteriously as he had appeared, leaving Crispus in a 
 whirl of amazement. 
 
 His wife among the contestants ! 
 
 Stern justice required that the prize should be given 
 to the fairest, but still, for all that, it would be a 
 graceful compliment to let his wife have the honor; 
 it would certainly please her, who was now the one 
 women whom it behoved him to please. But how to 
 identify her? 
 
 There was additional embarrassment in the fact that 
 the chosen lady, on receiving the girdle, was to bestow 
 a kiss upon the judge that had so honored her. To be 
 kissed, in the presence of his unknown wife, by a lady 
 adjudged by him to be the fairest of all present ! If 
 by some good fortune the lady chosen should happen 
 to be Athenais, well ! — but if not, what would her feel- 
 ings he? No wonder Crispus shrank from the task 
 
44 The Doomed City 
 
 of selection, and thought for a moment of retiring in 
 favor of some other umpire. 
 
 The contestants were now ready awaiting the judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Permitted to adopt whatever attitude they pleased, 
 the majority posed as if for a sculptor. A few stood 
 or sat, but the greater part assumed a reclining post- 
 ure, as being the better adapted to display the grace 
 of their figure. Extraneous ornaments were allowed; 
 and hence one lady, lyre in hand, posed as the muse 
 Polyhymnia ; a second, toying with a golden vase, as- 
 sumed the character of a Danaid ; a third, for the pur- 
 pose of showing the curve of a graceful arm, held 
 aloft a silver lamp ; while a fourth displayed a snowy 
 limb in the feigned operation of tying her sandal; and 
 so on of the rest, each forming in herself a living 
 picture that would have charmed the eye of an artist. 
 
 Midway in the hemicycle sat Berenice, who, neglect- 
 ing all adventitious aids, merely sat erect, as if relying 
 solely upon her beauty, and next her came the timid 
 Vashti, taking that place as being the only one left 
 vacant. 
 
 Holding the girdle in his hand, Crispus went very 
 slowly along the semicircle, passing from one fair form 
 to another, and studying each with a critical eye. 
 
 The behavior of the ladies during this severe scrutiny 
 offered a variety of contrasts. Some blushed, as did 
 Vashti ; others, like Berenice, sat with serene dignity, 
 as if unconscious of the matter in hand ; some sought 
 to win favor by a caressing glance ; others used the 
 witchery of a sweet smile; and one or two there were 
 that could not refrain from laughter. 
 
 The completion of his survey left Crispus undecided, 
 and disappointed: Athenai's, if she were really among 
 these ladies, was evidently determined to keep her secret, 
 since she had given no sign by which he might recognize 
 her. Among the many sparkling rings worn by that 
 fair bevy, there was none that he could identify as 
 
Crispus went vt-ry slowly aU)ny the semi-cirele 
 
The Queen of Beauty 45 
 
 the pledge placed by him upon the finger of his bride 
 twenty-four hours ago, the ring set with a ruby sculp- 
 tured with the likeness of a temple in flames. 
 
 Since his bride chose to hide her identity there re- 
 mained nothing for him but to act in the spirit of 
 strict impartiality by awarding the zone to her whose 
 beauty in his judgment was most deserving of it, a 
 difficult matter where all were so beautiful. Even that 
 arbiter elegantiarum, Petronius (of whose friendship 
 Florus had boasted), had he been present would have 
 found the question a perplexing one. 
 
 Crispus recommenced his survey, amid the breathless 
 excitement of those most immediately concerned. 
 
 " He has seen us all," was the general thought ; 
 " now he will make his choice." 
 
 Half-way along the line he paused — hesitated — 
 stood still. Directly facing him were the Princess Bere- 
 nice and the maiden Vashti. His glance, divided be- 
 tween them, showed that one of these two was to be 
 his choice, and a little sigh of envy went up from 
 eighteen disappointed hearts. 
 
 For some moments Crispus stood in doubt. Their 
 beauty was equal, or nearly so. 
 
 The Princess Berenice, with her raven hair, dusky 
 eyes, and majestic bearing, seemed like the incarnation 
 of dark and starry night; the other, with her soft 
 violet eyes, tresses like sunbeams, and gentle mien, was 
 like fair Aurora sweetly stealing upon the eastern sky. 
 " If there were but two prizes ! " murmured the un- 
 happy Crispus. 
 
 "Why does he hesitate?" growled Florus. "Is it 
 not plain to be seen that Berenice is the fairer.!^ " 
 
 That girdle had cost him thirty thousand sesterces, 
 and he did not want to see it bestowed upon a person 
 for whom he had not intended it. 
 
 Berenice met the scrutiny of her judge with a proud 
 glance, betokening a confidence that Crispus, who loved 
 modesty, did not like to see ; on the other hand, Vashti 
 
46 The Doo7ned City 
 
 ventured but once to raise her ejes with a sweet, timid, 
 wondering air that moved him strangely. 
 
 That glance decided the event ! 
 
 " Lady," said he, " what is your name? " 
 
 " Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus," was the reply, 
 delivered in a low, trembling voice. 
 
 " Then Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus, as the fairest 
 of all present, receive this golden zone." 
 
 Vashti was but human ; it was a sweet little triumph 
 for her. There leaped into her eyes a sudden look of 
 pleasure, a look that was succeeded by one almost akin 
 to fear as she glanced at the humiliated princess, whose 
 beauty, long supreme in Judaea, was now publicly rele- 
 gated to a second place. 
 
 Half pleased, half frightened, scarcely knowing what 
 she was doing, Vashti rose to her feet, an act that gave 
 Crispus the opportunity of girding her waist with the 
 zone, and securing it with the clasp. 
 
 The conferring of the prize upon a Jewess occa- 
 sioned dissatisfaction among some of the Gentiles ; a 
 few, too, of the Jews resented that the Herodian prin- 
 cess should be excluded in favor of an unknown maiden. 
 In both parties there was, however, a majority which, 
 more generous in sentiment, or perhaps thinking that 
 Berenice and her beauty had queened it too long over 
 other women, expressed its approbation by the shout : 
 
 " All hail to Vashti, the Queen of Beauty ! " 
 
 "Is not the umpire, too, entitled to a reward.''" 
 asked Crispus. 
 
 Vashti started back with a burning blush that made 
 her look the more beautiful. 
 
 " Nay, I must not forego it." 
 
 He was so completely dazzled by her loveliness as to 
 forget for the moment that his unknown bride was 
 watching him. Taking Vashti by both hands he drew 
 her gently towards him, and momentarily pressed her 
 warm, red lips to his own, an act greeted by the com- 
 pany with another round of applause. 
 
The Queen of Beauty 47 
 
 All very pretty, but what would Polemo think of it? 
 
 Becoming suddenly alive to the existence of that 
 monarch he looked around for him, and saw him at a 
 distance surveying the scene with a sphinx-like ex- 
 pression that gave no evidence as to what thoughts 
 were passing within him. Crispus took a step in his 
 direction, but the king, as if wishing to avoid him, 
 vanished among the crowd, and was seen no more that 
 night. 
 
 A little later Rufus addressed a question to Crispus. 
 
 " Did you notice Berenice's look when you bestowed 
 the prize of beauty upon Vashti.'' " 
 
 " No; how did she look.'' " asked Crispus absently. 
 
 " She looked — she looked," said Rufus reflectively, 
 as if casting about in his mind for some image to ex- 
 press his thoughts, " she looked the picture of sorrow. 
 She looked — well, don't laugh if I use this comparison 
 — she looked as a wife who loves her husband might 
 look when she sees hin^ fascinated by another woman." 
 
 Crispus started, stared strangely at Rufus, then 
 walked away. 
 
 "Now what have I said to offend him.''" muttered 
 the wondering Rufus. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DREAM OF CEISPUS 
 
 Tempted by the beauty of the starry night, as well 
 as by the wish to be alone with his thoughts, Crispus 
 passed from the banqueting hall, and sought the spa- 
 cious gardens attached to the Praetorium, gardens that 
 with their variegated parterres and smooth lawns, 
 marble fountains and shady walks, differed little, if at 
 all, from the aspect presented by a modern pleasaunce. 
 
 There is nothing new under the sun ! Even the prac- 
 tice of forcing shrubbery to assume artificial shapes 
 was not unknown to the ancients, and the boscage of 
 these gardens presented at different points a variety of 
 figures, graceful and grotesque. 
 
 Now, as Crispus walked meditatively along a quiet 
 path he caught sight of a distant and solitary figure 
 standing by a marble seat that gleamed white against 
 a background of dark cypresses. Her face was turned 
 from him, but there was something familiar in her 
 form; the stature and shape suggested Berenice, and 
 as he drew nearer he became certain of it. At the 
 sound of his footsteps the figure turned, and dimly, 
 beneath the gloom cast by the cypress leaves, he saw 
 the face of Berenice — Berenice, yet with golden hair! 
 He stopped short in surprise. Then in a moment the 
 likeness that he had seen, or thought he had seen, van- 
 ished, leaving in its place — Vashti ! He looked, but the 
 resemblance was no more. A mere fancy wrought by 
 his imagination and the dim light. 
 
 Vashti greeted him with a shy smile, and a blush 
 due to the memory of the kiss that he had bestowed 
 upon her. 
 
 48 
 
The Dream of Crispus 49 
 
 She was awaiting, it seemed, the return of Josephus. 
 He had left her there for a moment while he ran off to 
 speak a word with Ananias, whom he had beheld in the 
 distance. 
 
 Crispus looked round, but could see neither Ananias 
 nor Josephus ; in fact could see no one save the beau- 
 tiful maiden beside him. 
 
 " I'll act as jour guardian till his return," smiled 
 he, as he seated himself and invited Vashti to do the 
 like. 
 
 It was a beautiful night, with nothing to disturb 
 its stillness save the far-off sounds of music and revelry 
 coming from the Przetorium. 
 
 Their position, on ground slightly elevated, gave 
 them a full view of the sea, a purple mirror reflecting 
 in broken sparkles the light of a thousand stars. 
 
 To their left, and looking like a long white ribbon 
 flung out upon the dark water, was the mole of Cassarea, 
 its far end adorned with the Drusion, a noble tower 
 upon whose top a fire was flaming for the guidance 
 of ships sailing into the harbor. 
 
 It was not, however, upon the Drusion that Crispus' 
 eyes were set, but upon Vashti. He longed to know 
 something of her personal history, and the present 
 occasion afforded him an excellent opportunity. The 
 difficulty was how to begin. A patrician of Rome, who 
 had in his time conversed unrestrainedly with princesses 
 and queens, and even with the Empress Poppasa, he 
 actually found himself embarrassed in the presence of 
 this Hebrew maid of seventeen. There was something 
 about her, a spirit of innocence and purity, that 
 marked her off as altogether different from the women 
 of that age. 
 
 However, having once contrived to begin a conver- 
 sation he found it easy to maintain it, and ere long he 
 succeeded in eliciting something of her parentage and 
 history. 
 
 Her mother, it seemed, was a wi3ow, Miriam by name, 
 
50 The Boomed City 
 
 who had one other child only, an infant. Her father, 
 Hyrcanus, had been a wealthy rabbi of some distinc- 
 tion. (" Clearly Tertulliis was wrong," thought Cris- 
 pus, "in giving her a Grecian origin.") Hyrcanus, 
 at his death, an event of the previous year, had by 
 will left his family and effects to the care of his friend 
 Josephus, who thus exercised in relation to Vashti the 
 office of guardian. She and her mother were staying 
 for a brief space only at Caesarea, their usual home 
 being at Jerusalem, in the street of Millo. Miriam, a 
 strictly orthodox Jewess, had been much opposed to 
 her daughter's going to a Gentile feast, but had finally 
 yielded to the wishes of Josephus. 
 
 All this was told, not in her native Syro-Chaldaic, 
 but in Greek ; and Crispus did not know which was 
 the more charming, the melody of her voice, or the 
 grace and purity with which she spoke the beautiful 
 language of Hellas. 
 
 " I learned the Greek from my father," she explained 
 in answer to Crispus' question. " He trained me in 
 it from infancy." 
 
 Crispus marveled to hear of a Jew with views so 
 unorthodox. 
 
 " According to my friend Rufus, your rabbis have 
 said, ' He who teaches his son Greek is as if he reared 
 swine.' " 
 
 " Some rabbis have said that. But my father be- 
 longed to the school of Gamaliel, who taught us to 
 appropriate whatever is good among the Gentiles. The 
 Greek language is good, and Josephus and I are avail- 
 ing ourselves of its treasures." 
 
 " In what way .'' " 
 
 Instead of giving a direct reply, Vashti asked a seem- 
 ingly irrelevant question. 
 
 " How old should you take our nation to be.'' " 
 
 As Hebrew history formed no part of the study of 
 Roman youth, Crispus was fain to confess his igno- 
 rance. 
 
The Bream of Crispus 51 
 
 "Well, how old is Rome?" 
 
 " More than eight hundred years," he answered with 
 conscious pride. 
 
 " Which proves your nation, when compared with 
 ours, to be but of yesterday. We Jews were a people 
 a thousand years before Romulus drew his plow along 
 the Palatine." 
 
 Crispus, jealous for the antiquity of liis nation, was 
 disposed to question Vashti's statement. 
 
 " Why, you are as skeptical as Apion. You have 
 heard of Apion ? " 
 
 " No," laughed Crispus. " Who was he.^ " 
 
 " A grammarian of Alexandria, and the author of 
 u work intended to show that we Jews are quite a 
 recent nation in the history of the world, a libel 
 that has so wrought upon the spirit of Josephus that 
 he is writing a reply, whose title is to be ' Contra 
 Apion.^ " 
 
 "And you are aiding him in the work? Come, deny 
 it not ! " 
 
 Vashti smiled assent. 
 
 " I act as his amanuensis," added she. 
 
 A Hebrew maiden of seventeen versed in Grecian 
 literature was a novelty to Crispus. Curious to know 
 whether her learning was anything more than super- 
 ficial, he ventured, with her own consent, to subject her 
 to a catechism derived from the reminiscences of a 
 two-years' curriculum in the schools of Athens, but 
 soon relinquished the task on finding her knowledge 
 far more extensive than his own. 
 
 " You have been questioning me," said she with a 
 smile, sweet yet grave, when he had finished. " Now 
 may I claim a like privilege? " 
 
 " In order to demonstrate my ignorance," laughed 
 Crispus. " Well, I'll put myself under examination. 
 Be not too hard with me." 
 
 Thus adjured, Vashti began. 
 
 " Why does your Greek poet Bianor, in commenting 
 
52 The Doomed City 
 
 upon the fable of Arion, who was cast into the sea 
 by the sailors but saved by the dolphins, say it is 
 meant to teach us that ' By man comes death, hut hy 
 the Fish salvation '? " ^ 
 
 This, Crispus thought, was a very odd question. He 
 had merely heard of Bianor as a poet living in the days 
 of Tiberius ; and that was the extent of his knowledge 
 concerning him. As to the passage quoted by Vashti, 
 it had no meaning for him. The words, however true 
 of the fabled Arion, were scarcely applicable to man- 
 kind at large. 
 
 Over Vashti's face there passed a shade as of sad- 
 ness, momentary only, but it did not escape Crispus' 
 quick eye. 
 
 " I thought perhaps you might have comprehended," 
 said she. " Your story told to-night at the banquet, 
 the story of ' Great Pan,' led me to hope that — that — 
 no matter ! I see now that I was wrong," she added 
 with a sigh. 
 
 Saddened because she found him unable to explain 
 an obscure line of a Greek poet! Why, what an odd 
 maiden was this ! And the curious part of it all was, 
 she refused to enlighten him ; and hence he could not 
 but conclude that Vashti had some secret to which the 
 poet's words were the key. 
 
 The conversation flowed on, and soon touched upon 
 Jewish antiquity again. There were Jews, so Vashti 
 averred, Josephus for example, who could carry back 
 an authentic ancestry over a space of two thousand 
 years. Crispus was wont to pride himself upon his 
 ancient family, but what was its antiquity compared 
 with such as these.'' 
 
 " And can you show so long a genealogy ? " 
 
 " My father Hyrcanus could." 
 
 Crispus thought this a somewhat odd reply. 
 
 " But if he could, so can you, seeing that you are liis 
 daughter." 
 
 " Only those genealogies are deemed authentic that 
 
The Dream of Crispus 53 
 
 are inscribed on the public rolls. My name is missing 
 from them." 
 
 "How is that.?" 
 
 " Nay, I cannot tell, but such is the case. I dis- 
 covered it but a few days ago. I was in the Archeion 
 — the House of the Rolls, we call it — with its keeper 
 Johanan ben Zacchai, who has always regarded me with 
 fatherly affection. Moved by curiosity, I asked to be 
 allowed to see my own name in the public genealogical 
 records. ' Well, to please you, my daughter,' said he. 
 So he brought out the rolls of papyrus and parchment ; 
 and after a long time, and much searching, he found 
 the names of my father Hyrcanus, and my mother 
 Miriam, but mt/ name he could not find, though my 
 little brother Arad's is recorded. So you see " 
 
 The sound of approaching footsteps checked her 
 utterance. On turning, Crispus and Vashti saw at a 
 little distance a stately and beautiful figure that for 
 a moment stopped short, apparently in surprise, at see- 
 ing the pair in such friendly converse. It was the 
 Princess Berenice. Some instinct told Crispus that 
 she was looking for him, and he beheld her with a sort 
 of self-reproach. In spite of her half-jesting reminder 
 that he should not, as at Antioch, neglect her, he had 
 repeated his indifference ; his only dealing with her had 
 been to depose her from the proud position of being 
 the first beauty of the land. What wonder, then, if 
 she should feel somewhat hurt.'' 
 
 " I will leave you now," murmured Vashti, making 
 as if to rise. 
 
 " Nay, do not go," said Crispus, venturing, all 
 unconsciously, to lay a detaining hand upon her 
 wrist. 
 
 Crispus wondered at her heightened color, and at the 
 new light that came into her eyes. Was she pleased 
 to think that he would not dismiss her, even in favor of 
 a princess? 
 
 He withdrew his hand, but not before Berenice had 
 
54 The Doomed City 
 
 noticed the action. Observant woman is doubly observ- 
 ant at such times. 
 
 " Will the Queen of Beaut}'^," said the princess with 
 a slightly disdainful air, " permit me to share the con- 
 versation of the noble Crispus? " And, without waiting 
 for a reply, she seated herself, as she spoke, at the left 
 side of Crispus, Vashti being at his right. 
 
 " What is passing in the palace? " asked Crispus. 
 
 " The wit of Florus,*' replied Berenice. " The wine 
 hath got into his head. Like Nero, he thinks he can 
 sing. But I was very good, and kept a grave face 
 the while ; nay, I even asked him to sing again, which 
 pleased him hugely. I cannot say the same of his 
 hearers.'* 
 
 She laughed so pleasantly that Crispus was fain to 
 laugh too. 
 
 And now there began on the part of Berenice a flow 
 of talk that, sometimes witty, sometimes wise, was al- 
 ways interesting. She touched on topics grave and 
 gay, from the government of the empire to the latest 
 fashion in sandals, never failing to illumine the subject 
 in hand with some subtle observation. She had the 
 field all to herself, for Vashti was content to be a 
 listener, while Crispus put in a remark now and again. 
 It seemed almost as if Berenice, surmising that Crispus 
 had found a fascination in Vashti's conversation, had 
 determined to display her own brilliancy. And cer- 
 tainly the character of both was a revelation to Crispus, 
 who, accustomed hitherto, in the haughty and exclusive 
 spirit of his race, to regard the Jews as an inferior 
 nation, was agreeably surprised to find among these 
 " barbarians " two women who, while equal in beauty 
 to any Greek or Roman lady known to him, were cer- 
 tainly superior in intellect and charm. 
 
 " 'Tis the first day of the new moon," observed Bere- 
 nice, suddenly. 
 
 " I see her not," returned Crispus, glancing over the 
 face of the sky, and thereby missing Berenice's little 
 
The Dream of Crispus 55 
 
 frown. A foe to paganism, she did not like to hear 
 personahty ascribed to the moon. 
 
 " Its slender crescent is visible at Jerusalem, if not 
 from here," said Berenice. " That tells me so." 
 
 She pointed to a far-off peak upon the southern 
 horizon, a peak upon which there had appeared a light 
 no larger than a star. The sparkle was repeated at 
 a point northward of the first; a third followed; and 
 soon a whole line of fires was twinkling upon the hill- 
 summits of Judaea. 
 
 " Our way of announcing the first day of the month," 
 explained Berenice. " So soon as the new moon is seen 
 from a certain hill near Jerusalem by watchers ap- 
 pointed of the Sanhedrim for that purpose, the tidings 
 is flashed by fire-signals throughout all the land. 'Tis 
 an old custom lately revived by the high priest Mat- 
 thias. But I will not weary you with matters in which 
 a Roman can take no interest." 
 
 " There you err, princess. My visit to Jerusalem — 
 for thither am I bound — is undertaken for the sole 
 purpose of seeing your temple." 
 
 " You wish to see our temple.? " exclaimed the prin- 
 cess in great surprise, " you, who at the banquet avowed 
 yourself a worshiper of the gods of Rome ! What in- 
 terest can our temple have for you? " 
 
 " My interest is the outcome of a — a " ; he hesi- 
 tated for a moment, and then added, " a dream." 
 
 A statement so singular naturally evoked Berenice's 
 curiosity, and she begged him to tell the dream. Vashti, 
 though she said nothing, was, as Crispus could see 
 by her looks, equally curious to hear it. 
 
 " I wish now that I could recall my words," 
 said he, " for though it was but a dream, the telling 
 of it may cause me to fall into disfavor with vou 
 both." 
 
 That " both " was a distasteful word to Berenice, 
 seeming, as it did, to imply that he thought as much 
 of Vashti's opinion as of her own. Evidently he did, 
 
56 The Doomed City 
 
 for it was not till Vashti had added a persuasive word 
 that he would begin his story. 
 
 " A few nights ago," said he, plunging at once in 
 medias res, " I seemed in my sleep to be standing in 
 what appeared to be the court of some magnificent 
 temple. This court, colonnaded on its four sides, was 
 a spacious one and open to the sky. It was night, and 
 the stars faintly twinkled. Before me at some distance 
 rose the temple itself, an edifice constructed of pure 
 white marble. 
 
 " The place was not quiet — far from it. Singular to 
 relate, although no one was visible, the court seemed to 
 be thronged with men. There was a running to and 
 fro over the pavement, the clash and clang of arms, 
 and the sound of warriors engaged in deadly fray. I 
 laid hand to my sword, desiring to range myself on 
 the one side or the other, but how could one take part 
 in a combat like this — a combat of ghosts? 
 
 " Suddenly I became conscious of a glow ; in front 
 of me, upon a low balustrade, lay a flaming torch. As 
 I looked at it a voice, seeming to come from the sky, 
 cried in the Hebrew tongue, ' Burn! ' and the flambeau 
 shook itself as if impatient to be grasped. I hesitated. 
 Again the voice cried, ' Burn! ' in a tone so awe-inspir- 
 ing that I durst not disobey. I lifted the burning 
 brand, and tossed it through a golden window of the 
 temple. A shower of sparks rose from within ; next 
 came a tongue of fire, leaping forth from the 
 window; a little while and the whole structure was 
 mantled with flame and smoke. At the same instant 
 I awoke." 
 
 Berenice's dusky eyes, eloquent with a nameless fear, 
 were set full upon the speaker's face. 
 
 " Can you describe the temple seen by you in the 
 vision? " 
 
 " I can shut my eyes now," said Crispus, suiting the 
 action to the word, " and recall every feature. I am 
 standing on the north side of the temple; it extends 
 
The Dream of Crispus 57 
 
 east and west for a length of perhaps two hundred 
 and fifty cubits. To enter it one must first pass a low 
 balustrade of marble, curiously wrought, upon which 
 stand little pillars engraved with a notice in Greek and 
 Latin letters. I have a distinct remembrance in my 
 dream of reading the notice. It forbade the Gentiles 
 on pain of death from entering the shrine." 
 
 Both Vashti and Berenice gave a faint cry of sur- 
 prise. 
 
 " Did you speak, princess ? " 
 
 " No, no ! Go on. What next ? " she asked breath- 
 lessly. 
 
 " After passing the balustrade one has the choice 
 of four gates, each ascended by a stately flight of 
 stairs fifteen in number. Of these gates, three, situated 
 near the western end, are near each other ; the fourth 
 stands far remote towards the eastern end. Each gate 
 consists of two folding doors, crusted with gold and 
 silver, and is flanked by massive towers." He paused 
 for a moment, and resumed : " I related this vision to 
 my father, who was as much startled, princess, as you 
 appear to be. * What you have seen,' said he, ' is the 
 temple at Jersusalem.' Can you wonder, then, that 
 I desire to take a view of it.^* " 
 
 " And did you know nothing of the interior of our 
 temple till the time of this dream?" asked Berenice. 
 
 " Absolutely nothing, I pledge you my solemn word. 
 I was, of course, aware that Jerusalem contained a 
 notable temple resorted to by devout Jews out of every 
 nation under heaven, but that was the total extent of 
 my knowledge. Not a single detail of its architecture 
 was known to me." 
 
 Berenice seemed perplexed, even troubled. 
 
 " Strange! whence comes this dream of yours.? " she 
 murmured. 
 
 "You do not doubt the vision.'^" 
 
 " How can I, since you affirm it to be true.'' " 
 
 *' You admit that my description is correct ? " 
 
58 The Doomed City 
 
 " It cannot be gainsaid." 
 
 " Well, then, since it is beyond the power of the 
 human mind, whether sleeping or awake, to gain such 
 knowledge as I gained at that time, shall I offend you 
 by saying that the vision was directly vouchsafed to 
 me by the immortal gods ? " 
 
 " The gods ? " returned the princess with a touch of 
 disdain in her voice. " The gods? The gods of you 
 Gentiles have no existence. There is but one true and 
 living God." 
 
 " Have it so," replied Crispus, who seemingly could 
 tolerate reflections upon his religion much more easily 
 than Berenice could upon hers. " Shall we say, then, 
 that the vision was sent by your own deity ? " 
 
 "Impossible! Would He Who has enjoined upon us 
 the perpetual worship of Himself give command to 
 destroy the one and only temple in which that worship 
 is carried on? " 
 
 " He might," observed Vashti, " if He purposed to 
 make His religion more spiritual. Pure religion re- 
 quires neither temple nor altar." 
 
 " There speaks one who is no true daughter of Abra- 
 ham," retorted Berenice. 
 
 " Nay, princess, it is because I am a daughter of 
 Abraham that I say it, for what temple did Abraham 
 have? " 
 
 Berenice, about to make an angry retort, was 
 checked by Crispus. 
 
 " We are drifting from the primary question," said 
 he, "which is, whence came my dream? That dream 
 was plainly a supernatural one." 
 
 "Whence?" returned Berenice. "Whence but from 
 the kingdom of evil? There are wicked spirits as well 
 as good, and the prince of them is named Satan, who 
 would rejoice if he could but persuade a Roman to 
 destroy the temple. I pray you, noble Crispus," she 
 continued, with considerable emotion, " dismiss this 
 dream from your mind, lest by dwelling overmuch upon 
 
The Dream of Crispus 59 
 
 it you should come to believe that you have a Divine 
 mission to destroy the temple." 
 
 " It may be that I have." 
 
 Crispus spoke with the grave air of one who believes 
 in the truth of his words. For a moment the princess 
 gazed at him, speechless with consternation. Recover- 
 ing her voice, she cried indignantly : 
 
 " What good could come from such a deed? " 
 
 " Much— to Rome ! " 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " That temple," said Crispus, speaking in a cold, 
 deadly tone that set Berenice shivering with terror, for 
 she loved her temple more than her life, " that temple 
 draws annually to its courts three million Jews, all 
 animated by a fierce hatred of Rome, and all fanatically 
 persuaded that One born in Judjea shall obtain the do- 
 minion of the world. You know it is so, princess ; you 
 cannot deny it. Your temple is a perpetual menace 
 to the safety of the empire. Destroy the temple, and 
 we put an end to these annual gatherings with their 
 vain and treasonable hopes." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SIMON THE ZEALOT 
 
 Early on the morning after the banquet there flew 
 through Cassarea the surprising news that the notable 
 Zealot, Simon the Black, was to be put on his trial on 
 the noon of that same day. 
 
 Eager to witness the scene, a motley crowd, composed 
 of Jews and Greeks, Romans and Syrians, flocked, long 
 before the appointed time, into the basilica, or court 
 of justice, till the numbers were such that the building 
 would hold no more. 
 
 A Roman basilica presented an appearance very simi- 
 lar to that of a modern parish church, consisting as 
 it did of a nave, and two aisles divided from it by a 
 row of columns. At one end a portion, elevated like 
 a dais and railed off^ like a chancel, formed the bema 
 (the word had passed from the Greek into ''' i- -Syro- 
 Chaldaic) or tribunal, where the judges sat a«^^^^'orators 
 pleaded. The whole of the interior was fuH'her sur- 
 rounded by an upper gallery raised upon the columns 
 that divided the aisles. The ground floor and the 
 galleries were for the accommodation of the public. 
 
 In the middle of the bema, which was paved with 
 tesselated marble, stood the governor's curule chair, and 
 on each side of it were rows of seats intended for the 
 assessors, it being the custom for a provincial governor 
 to be assisted in his judgments by a sort of informal 
 council consisting of distinguished citizens. 
 
 Shortly before noon there was a movement on the 
 bema, caused by the arrival of persons interested in the 
 trial. Among them was the priest Theomantes, who, 
 in virtue of his dignity as priest of Jupiter Caesarius, 
 
 60 
 
Simon the Zealot 61 
 
 proceeded to ensconce himself in the seat immediately 
 upon the right of the curule chair, an act that caused 
 murmurs among the Jews and applause among the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 Ananias now entered, and seeing his own action an- 
 ticipated, scowled, hesitated for a moment, and then 
 deliberately sat down upon the lap of his rival. 
 
 " 'Tis mine to sit upon the right of Florus," he 
 cried. 
 
 Thereupon, Theomantes, exerting all his strength, 
 flung him off, amid mingled laughter and hooting from 
 the two factions, 
 
 " Even if the high priest of the Jews had the right 
 to this seat, it is not thine, seeing that thou art not 
 high priest." 
 
 Now, it is not at all improbable that in their struggle 
 for precedency these two graybeards might have come 
 to unseemly blows before a delighted audience, but for 
 the intervention of Terentius Rufus, who, with a body 
 of spearmen, was stationed in front of the tribunal 
 for the purpose of preserving order among the spec- 
 tators. 
 
 " T " er thought my services would be required upon 
 Ihe be. ," said he. 
 
 And i.iounting the tribunal, he threatened unless Ana- 
 nias settled down quietly in some other seat that he 
 would remove him, as having wantonly and purposely 
 created a disturbance in a court of justice. 
 
 " Let Ananias possess his soul in patience," he cried, 
 " till it shall please Florus to make known Caesar's 
 decree on this matter." 
 
 The humiliated Ananias made as if he would retire 
 altogether from the court, but finally, thinking better 
 of it, sat down upon the left-hand seat, just as Florus 
 made his pompous entry. 
 
 Crispus appeared about the same time, and, as being 
 a distinguished visitor, was assigned a place among 
 the council. 
 
62 The Boomed City 
 
 Florus, having seated himself in his curule chair, 
 demanded to know what business was set down for the 
 day, and as it appeared that there were many cases 
 requiring his judicial decision, he announced that he 
 would begin with the trial of Simon. 
 
 A thrill of excitement ran through the basilica when 
 the order was given, " Go, lictors, bring hither Simon, 
 surnamed the Black." 
 
 Without delay the prisoner was brought. 
 
 Walking between two guards, his hands tied behind 
 his back with a cord whose end was held by a third 
 soldier, came the terrible Zealot, who had hanged so 
 many Romans that men had lost all count of the num- 
 ber. A man, tall and muscular, and having a singular 
 breadth of chest, with black hair, black eyes, and black 
 beard. Clothed in the dress he wore when captured, 
 a gabardine all slashed with sword-cuts, and black with 
 dried blood; with face unwashed, and beard and hair 
 long and unkempt, he made a wild and savage figure. 
 Captivity and darkness, chilling damps and meager 
 diet, had failed, however, to tame his spirit ; he stood, 
 dark, scowling, defiant, the living incarnation of enmity 
 to Rome. 
 
 Florus, after a brief and (as it seemed to Crispus) 
 uneasy glance at the captive, turned to a table where 
 sat the advocates, and asked : 
 
 " Who conducts the prosecution ? " 
 
 Tertullus arose. 
 
 " Be brief. No oratory," said the procurator. 
 
 In a Roman trial proceedings usually began with 
 the questioning of the accused in the endeavor to prove 
 out of his own mouth the charge brought against him. 
 Should this procedure fail, or should the prisoner, 
 through obstinacy, refuse to answer, it became necessary 
 to call upon witnesses. 
 
 Tertullus turned to question the captive, while the 
 clerk of the court, with lifted pen, sat ready to record 
 the dialogue; for, be it known, there were in that age 
 
Sijiion the Zealot 63 
 
 scribes who, by a system of abbreviations, were capable 
 of writing as fast as a man could speak. 
 
 "Your name?" began Tertullus. 
 
 " You ask me my name? " said the Zealot with a 
 laugh of scorn. " You ought to know, seeing what fear 
 it has put into the hearts of you Romans. I am Simon, 
 son of Giora, of the tribe of Benjamin." 
 
 "Your birthplace?" 
 
 " Gerasa, beyond Jordan." 
 
 " Your calling? " 
 
 " Slayer of the Romans." 
 
 " Consider ! You desire the clerk to write down that 
 answer ? " 
 
 " Let him write it twice, yea thrice, and in his 
 largest characters." 
 
 " You confess, then, that you are of the sect known 
 as the Zealots ? " 
 
 " A curse on your Gentile terms ; I am of the sect 
 of the Kenaim." 
 
 " Zealots or Kenaim, 'tis much the same. What are 
 their tenets? " 
 
 " These : call no one king but God ; pay no tax save 
 to the temple ; slay every Roman who presumes to 
 exercise authority over the holy seed." 
 
 "'Call no one king but God'? Then you do not 
 acknowledge the authority of Cagsar?" 
 
 " Cjesar ! " It is impossible to describe the contempt 
 with which he spoke the name. " Cassar ! I spit at 
 the name of Caesar." 
 
 And he did, there and then, upon the pavement. This 
 repudiation of imperial authority was received by the 
 servile Graeco-Syrian mob with a roar of execration. 
 
 " LcEsa majestas! " was their cry. " Fling him over 
 the rails ! " 
 
 " ' Assassinate every Roman ' ? " continued Tertullus. 
 "Then you would assassinate Florus, if you could?" 
 
 The very suggestion caused the face of the Zealot to 
 mantle with ferocious joy. 
 
64 The Doomed City 
 
 " Place a dagger in my freed hands, set me within 
 three paces of him, and you shall see." 
 
 " The court will take the will for the deed," observed 
 Tertullus dryly. " Attend to the indictment. You are 
 charged with being the chief of a band of Zealots, or, 
 if it please you, Kenaim. Stationed among the heights 
 in the Pass of Adumraim, it was your wont to issue 
 forth, and to rob and to hang every Roman that came 
 that way." 
 
 " A marvel ! A lawyer speaks the truth ! " 
 
 " How many Romans have been put to death by 
 
 you 
 
 ? » 
 
 " Put that question to the vultures. I kept no regis- 
 ter of the slain. Thus much I know, that, give me my 
 freedom, and you shall see me repeat the work with a 
 new band." 
 
 " Traitor to the empire, do you glory in your 
 guilt?" 
 
 " The guilt is yours who presume to exercise au- 
 thority in a land that God sware with an oath should 
 be ours forever. Out of this land, then, ye Romans, 
 with your legions and your lictors, your taxes and 
 your idols ! It is contrary to the will of God that 
 Caesar should bear rule in Judsea, and the Jew that 
 acknowledges him breaks the law of Moses. For it 
 is written therein, ' One from among thy brethren shalt 
 thou set king over thee ; thou mayest not set a stranger 
 over thee which is not thy brother ' ; whereof let due 
 note be taken by that smug Ananias there, who frater- 
 nizes so comfortably with his country's enemies ! " 
 
 " As it was your custom," continued Tertullus, " to 
 plunder, as well as to kill, you doubtless gained con- 
 siderable wealth ? " 
 
 "Wealth? Ay, stores of it," said Simon, his eyes 
 sparkling as if at the recollection. 
 
 " None was found in the place of your capture." 
 
 Simon laughed exultingly. 
 
 " It exists, for all that, in a place where no Roman 
 
Simon the Zealot 65 
 
 can lay hand upon it, reserved for the great day of 
 vengeance." 
 
 " Or, in other words, it is to be used in fomenting war 
 against Rome? " 
 
 " Lawyer, thou hast said." 
 
 " It is rumored that several persons of high station 
 have been in communication with you.'' " 
 
 " The highest in the land. I can see now upon the 
 bema here some of my past accomplices. Why are they 
 not placed beside me to be judged.^^ " 
 
 The uneasiness that had never been absent from the 
 face of Florus seemed now to increase. It was noticed 
 by Tertullus, who smiled to himself with the quiet satis- 
 faction of an archer who, after many trials, has hit the 
 mark at last. 
 
 The crowd of spectators, hitherto restless and mur- 
 muring, became suddenly hushed. Florus' long delay 
 in bringing Simon to trial had given birth to sinister 
 rumors as to the relations previously existing between 
 the procurator and the robber-chief. Was the dark 
 story about to be confirmed.'' With breathless interest 
 they awaited the issue. 
 
 " The court will be pleased at having these accom- 
 plices named," said Tertullus with affected carelessness. 
 
 " I name them not, unless I have a promise that they 
 shall be arrested without delay." 
 
 " The court will have no hesitation in arresting them, 
 provided that you can prove your charge." 
 
 " Good ! If it be a crime to plot against the life 
 of a Roman, bid the lictors go and bind the hands of 
 Ananias." 
 
 Tertullus' face fell somewhat. Ananias was not the 
 name he wanted. 
 
 " Lying Zealot ! " exclaimed the priest ; and, forget- 
 ting for the moment that it was not a Jewish court 
 in which he could do according to his own pleasure, 
 he cried, " Strike him on the mouth ! " 
 
 " Ananias ! Ananias ! " said Simon, shaking his 
 
66 The Doomed City 
 
 head with mock gravity, " were you not once an accom- 
 pHce with me in a plot to slay a Roman citizen? 'Tis 
 clear you have forgotten my face : let me recall it to 
 you. Did there not once come to you — 'tis eight years 
 ago now — forty Sicarii," of whom I was one, offering 
 to slay Paul of Tarsus, a Roman citizen, mark j'ou ! 
 and freeborn? Did you not readily join in the plot? 
 And now do you disavow your old friend Simon? Nay, 
 verily, be honest, and take your trial with me." 
 
 Over the face of Ananias there had suddenly crept 
 a look scarcely compatible with the idea of innocence. 
 
 " Will no one stop the mouth of the lying knave ? " 
 he cried, trembling with passion. 
 
 " Your looks sufficiently show who is the lying knave," 
 answered Simon coolly. " If ye desire proof of this, 
 my accusation," he continued, addressing the court, 
 " send to Jerusalem for Paul's nephew ; he will confirm 
 what I say. Does the court agree that Ananias shall 
 take his trial with me? " added Simon, looking around 
 him with a sardonic smile. " No ? And yet 'tis the 
 fashion of Romans to boast of their justice! — justice, 
 forsooth ! " 
 
 " Prisoner," said Florus, " be not so free of tongue, 
 and you may find that our Roman justice, whose purity 
 you seem to question, can be tempered with mercy." 
 
 " Now, let the court carefully mark that little 
 speech," said Simon coolly, " for, being interpreted, it 
 meaneth, ' Keep quiet as to my doings, O Simon, and 
 I will endeavor to procure your release.' But in vain 
 do you offer me the bribe of life, O Florus, in order 
 to stay my tongue. Welcome torture, scourgings, 
 death, if I do but succeed in hurling you from power." 
 
 Simon was not to be appeased, and Florus, catching 
 sight of Tertullus' smile, suddenly realized the lawyer's 
 motive in pressing for the public trial of the Zealot. It 
 was to ruin him — Florus ! 
 
 It was out of the question either to gag the prisoner 
 or to declare the court closed ; either alternative would 
 
Simon the Zealot 67 
 
 expose him to suspicion. He, the judge, must sit and 
 listen to an accusation, which, even if it were untrue, 
 would be greedily believed by nine out of every ten, 
 so unpopular was he with the people over whom he 
 ruled. And when the story should reach Rome, as 
 it undoubtedly would — his enemies would take good 
 care of that! — it might mean the loss, not only of his 
 procuratorship, as Simon had said, but even of his life. 
 
 " The brazen effrontery of this knave ! " said he, as- 
 suming a stem bearing. " Knowing that his doom is 
 certain, he seeks to delay sentence by vilifying the 
 character of his judges. Go, lictors, bring hither the 
 flagellum." 
 
 " And, when brought, apply it to the shoulders of 
 the robber Florus," said Simon. 
 
 " Ye see for yourselves," said Florus, turning to the 
 assessors, " what an incorrigible villain this is ! " 
 
 " Listen to a story that is no fiction," continued 
 Simon. " Florus sent a secret messenger offering me 
 free liciense to plunder and slay Roman and Gentile 
 alike, on condition of his receiving half the spoil." 
 
 " A lie as black as Erebus ! " thundered the pro- 
 curator. 
 
 " It is one thing to accuse, another thing to prove," 
 remarked Tertullus quietly, secretly delighted at the 
 turn events were taking. 
 
 " I have no proof in writing. Florus is too artful 
 a fox to employ ink and parchment on such a matter. 
 His intermediary in this business was his freedman, 
 Nymphidius." 
 
 " Is it worth while sending for this Nymphidius," 
 asked Tertullus of Florus, " that he may deny this 
 allegation.'' " 
 
 " It is useless sending for him," observed Rufus, 
 " for he died this morning — suddenly." 
 
 "Who helped him to die.?" asked Simon. "For it 
 appears to me that his death has occurred at a time 
 very convenient for Florus." 
 
68 The Doomed City 
 
 A significant question, this ! Men looked at each 
 other, little doubting that Florus had by foul means 
 removed an awkward witness from his path. 
 
 " Bear with me, noble Florus," said Tertullus, " if I 
 assume for a moment the truth of this knave's story. 
 What answer," he continued, addressing Simon, "what 
 answer did you give to Nymphidius .'' " 
 
 " This was my answer : ' Tell the uncircumcized dog 
 of a Florus that Simon will plunder without asking 
 his leave. Let him send to Manahem, the son of Judas, 
 who will doubtless be glad to purchase license on such 
 terms.' " 
 
 Tertullus now dropped his mask and became, like 
 Simon, an accuser of the procurator. 
 
 " It was this Manahem, O Florus," said he quietly, 
 " who a fortnight ago robbed me of a myrrhine 
 drinking-cup, which last night appeared upon your 
 table." 
 
 Now, during all this time Crispus had been listening 
 with a strange conflict of emotions. Hatred of Simon's 
 crimes was mingled with admiration for his daring 
 spirit. He was also compelled to admit that the exist- 
 ence of the Zealots was, to a certain extent, justified 
 by Roman misgovernment, a fact very unpalatable for 
 a patriot like Crispus, ever striving to believe that 
 Rome and justice were convertible terms. From the 
 rule of wicked and rapacious governors like Pilate and 
 Felix, Albinus and Florus, what other spirit could de- 
 velop in Judsea but a burning hatred of Roman rule, 
 combined with a determination to throw off the yoke 
 whenever a favorable occasion should arise.'' 
 
 Though Simon was doubtless deserving of death, yet 
 nevertheless Crispus' sense of justice revolted against 
 his condemnation by judges like Florus and Ananias, 
 themselves guilty of malefactions. He resolved to dis- 
 associate himself from the council. 
 
 " Since the prisoner," said he, " questions the in- 
 tegrity of two of his judges, and, as it seems to me, 
 
Simon the Zealot 69 
 
 with some show of reason, I herewith dechne to take 
 any further part in this trial." 
 
 Suiting the action to the word, Crispus rose from 
 his seat and withdrew from the bema. 
 
 " And I do the Hke," said Theomantes, moved in his 
 action mainly by his feud with Ananias. 
 
 " And I ! " — " And I ! " exclaimed several other mem- 
 bers, rising and descending from the tribunal. 
 
 Florus sat, full of impotent rage, on perceiving that 
 the statements of Simon and Tertullus were believed in, 
 not only by the common people, but also by the majority 
 of the council. 
 
 " The trial is adjourned," he cried. " Let the pris- 
 oner be carried back to his dungeon." 
 
 The command came too Jate. Simon had perceived 
 among the Jewish portion of the spectators certain dis- 
 guised Zealots, who, both by eye and by gesture, were 
 secretly inviting him to make a dash for liberty. 
 
 Acting on the hint, he suddenly wrenched himself 
 free from his guards, darted to the edge of the tribunal, 
 and, taking a flying leap over the line of soldiers that 
 guarded its front, he alighted among his friends, who, 
 struggling desperately, began to push him towards the 
 open doors of the basilica. 
 
 The soldiers, attempting to follow, were at once op- 
 posed, not only by the whole Jewish body, but also 
 by the Grteco-Syrians, who in this matter were actuated 
 not out of any love for Simon, but from a desire to 
 thwart and disappoint Florus, whose rule was hateful 
 to them. The court of justice became immediately 
 transformed into a wild tumultuous pandemonium. 
 
 " Down with the wicked Florus ! " 
 
 " Death to old Ananias ! " 
 
 Stones and other missiles, discharged by men of both 
 factions, now came whirling into the tribunal. Ananias, 
 gathering his robe about him, fled to a place of safety. 
 Florus, as he was lifting his hand in the futile attempt 
 to quell the tumult, received a sharp-edged flint upon 
 
70 The Doomed City 
 
 his temples. Down his quickly-paling face flowed a 
 stream of blood, a sight welcomed by both factions with 
 a huge roar of delight. 
 
 " Guards, hither to me ! " cried the alarmed pro- 
 curator. 
 
 Four stout soldiers sprang forward and screened him 
 with their bucklers, that rattled again and again to 
 the pelting shower of stones as the procurator, follow- 
 ing the example of Ananias, fled amid hootings, curs- 
 ings, and derisive laughter. 
 
 At the command of Rufus the soldiers, by threaten- 
 ing the people with leveled spears, soon cleared the 
 courthouse. They failed, however, to recover Simon, 
 who, dragged off" by his friends, contrived to make 
 good his escape. 
 
 " He'll harass us again," grumbled Rufus, a proph- 
 ecy destined to meet with ample verification. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 " DELEXDA EST HIEROSOLYMA ! " 
 
 " Then you will not marry me, princess? " 
 
 Such were the words addressed by Florus to Berenice, 
 as he walked beside her in the sunlit gardens of the 
 Praetorium. 
 
 The ugly gash he had received that morning from 
 the Avell-aimed missile had not enhanced his personal 
 beauty. Berenice, as she watched him from beneath 
 the fringe of her dark, silky eyelashes, shivered, and 
 thought how like a satyr he looked ! She mentally con- 
 trasted the bloated coarseness of his visage with Cris- 
 pus' clear bronzed healthful complexion. 
 
 "Marry you! " she said, emphasizing the last word. 
 " My lord Florus, you have a wife already ! " 
 
 " So had my predecessor Felix, but that did not pre- 
 vent your sister Drusilla from marrying him." 
 
 " Poor deluded Drusilla ! she would never have so 
 acted but for the spells and sorceries of Simon Magus." 
 
 " Would that I knew where this Simon were to be 
 found," sighed the governor, " for then would I, too, 
 employ him in the like office ! " 
 
 " You have the great Theomantes," laughed Bere- 
 nice. " Cannot he weave spells for you? or has he 
 alreadj^ done so, and failed? But, my lord Florus, have 
 pity on your wife. Why do you desire wicked Berenice 
 in place of the good Cleopatra?" 
 
 " Fairest of women," began the goveraor gallantly. 
 
 " Nay," said the princess, somewhat darkly, " Cris- 
 pus hath openly deprived me of that title." 
 
 " A fool, who hath no eyes for real beauty." 
 
 " Is it Berenice the Fair or Berenice the Golden 
 that you are seeking to woo? " 
 
 71 
 
72 The Boomed City 
 
 " Mine," answered Florus with a fine air of virtue, 
 " mine is not a mercenary character." 
 
 " Except where the spoil of Zealots is concerned," 
 laughed Berenice. " I fear greatly that this morning's 
 revelation will deprive you of office." 
 
 The procurator, too, was very much of this opinion, 
 but it was not pleasant to hear it from her. Masking his 
 anger beneath a hollow smile, he said: 
 
 " To gain you, princess, I would — yes ! I would will- 
 ingly turn proselyte, and that is more than Felix did 
 for Drusilla." 
 
 " 'Tis a tempting offer," said Berenice, with a sweet 
 mocking laugh that charmed while it maddened the pro- 
 curator. " How the Jews would joy in their new 
 convert ! Picture me leading Florus by the hand to 
 the temple, there to present him to Matthias as a pious 
 neophyte ! " Then, becoming grave again, she went on, 
 " My father Agrippa was king of Judsa, and it has 
 ever been my aim to control the destinies of this same 
 land, an aim foredoomed to failure were I to marry 
 you." * 
 
 "Why so.?" 
 
 " O dullard ! You have ruled because your wife was 
 the friend of the Empress Poppjea." (" Was? " thought 
 Florus, wondering why she should use the past tense ; 
 he was soon to learn!) " Had you divorced Cleopatra 
 to marry me you would have set the empress against 
 you, and then where would have been your procurator- 
 ship?" 
 
 This view of the case had often occurred to Florus 
 himself. Still, what was the loss of his office compared 
 with the handling of Berenice's gold.? 
 
 " And," continued Berenice, " even supposing that 
 the empress, overlooking the slight to her friend Cleo- 
 patra, should be willing to maintain you in office, she 
 can no longer do so, seeing that she is dead." 
 
 " Poppasa dead.? " gasped Florus incredulously. 
 
 *' So saith my freedman Sadas." 
 
" Delenda est Hierosolyma! " 73 
 
 " Whence did he learn it ? " 
 
 " A ship from Rome has just arrived in harbor with 
 the tidings. Everybody on board is talking about it. 
 Our greatest proselyte is dead, killed by a blow from 
 Nero's foot, and she with child ! Kicked to death by 
 him whom you would have had us worship last night as 
 a god," she added, her lip wreathing in scorn. 
 
 Florus was thunderstruck at the tidings, foreseeing 
 a quick end to his rule now that there was no Poppaea 
 to stand between him and the punishment justly due 
 for his misdeeds. He knew full well that as soon as 
 the Jews received the news they would send to Rome 
 an embassy praying for his removal. They Avould cer- 
 tainly mention that little deal with the Zealots, not 
 to speak of various other little peccadillos. 
 
 " And in ceasing to be procurator," said he, wrath- 
 fully, " I, of course, cease to be of interest to you.'' " 
 
 " Unless you should become Caesar, in which case send 
 for me, and I will come to you — yea, fly ! As empress 
 of the world I could do the holy nation better service 
 than as queen of Judaea." 
 
 Empress of the world ! She spoke lightly, little 
 dreaming how narrowly she was to miss gaining the 
 imperial throne. 
 
 " You think only of your people, and of your super- 
 stition," muttered Florus. 
 
 " Only of mj^ people, and of my — superstition. You 
 have hit off my character." 
 
 " You have been playing witli mo for your own ends," 
 said he, his great coarse cheek reddening with anger. 
 " And now you cast me off as one casts off a sandal 
 that has outlived its use." 
 
 " O Florus, have done ! " she said with a wearied air. 
 " We have both been acting. Let us drop the mask. 
 'Tis not Berenice herself that is the charm, but her 
 gold with which you hope to cancel past debts and to 
 continue your infamous orgies. And I, divining your 
 motives, have likewise played the hypocrite, feigning a 
 
7'4s The Doomed City 
 
 love I never felt, if by so doing I might benefit Judasa. 
 Strangely have you mistaken my nature in thinking 
 that, apart from your procuratorship, you could ever 
 have held any interest for me. My lord Florus, I bid 
 you farewell." 
 
 And with that she left him. 
 
 The face of Florus was as the face of a demon as 
 he watched her walking scornfully away with never a 
 backward glance of pity or remorse. Love for her had 
 now altogether vanished from his heart ; no other feel- 
 ing there but a big black hatred that transformed him 
 to the elemental savage. His only thought now was to 
 revenge himself upon her. But how.'' Death.? It were 
 a somewhat difficult matter to compass the end of a 
 Jewish princess. True, he might hire the daggers of 
 the Sicarri, even as the procurator Felix had hired 
 them to assassinate the high priest Jonathan — he fell 
 at the very altar — but suspicion would attach itself 
 to him, and this was a thing to be avoided, if possible. 
 
 Besides, a death like that were too light a punish- 
 ment ; one sharp pang, and all would be over. His 
 vengeance must take a more subtle, a more protracted 
 form. How to accomplish it was the question, and thus 
 thinking, he walked meditatively back to the Prastorium. 
 
 On entering, he learned that King Polemo — Bere- 
 nice's ex-husband — was awaiting an interview with him 
 in the Ivory Hall, a saloon so called from its paneling. 
 
 Florus received the news with something like a frown. 
 
 "What wants he with me?" he muttered, darkly. 
 " 'Tis he who has brought me to this." But in a 
 moment his face cleared again. "A friend of Cassar! 
 Ha ! he may be of help to me in this crisis," and he 
 accordingly directed his steps to the Ivory Hall. 
 
 " Bring wine," commanded he ; and this being done, 
 Florus was left alone with his visitor. 
 
 The friendship — if, indeed, it deserved the name — 
 existing between the two men, had begun a year pre- 
 viously at Rome at the time when Florus was about 
 
" Delenda est Hierosolyma! " 75 
 
 to proceed to Judsea in the character of procurator. 
 The king's sudden attachment was a fact somewhat 
 puzzling to Florus, who, however highly he might think 
 of himself, was nevertheless secretly conscious that his 
 character was not such as to appeal to a man of Po- 
 lemo's stamp. However, there the fact was : Polemo was 
 evidently anxious to ingratiate himself into Florus' 
 good will, for, finding that the Roman was ill-provided 
 with money, he supplied him with a sum sufficient to 
 enable the new procurator to make a splendid entry 
 into Caesarea. Since that time Florus had received ad- 
 ditional sums from the king. Never was there a more 
 willing and a more charming lender than Polemo. Con- 
 tent with receiving written acknowledgments of the 
 amount, he did not press for repayment. Let not 
 Florus disturb himself; he could pay at his leisure. 
 Delighted at this easy way of obtaining money, Florus 
 had, in the course of one short year, recklessly bor- 
 rowed again and again, till in his more sober moments 
 he trembled to think how great was his debt. If sud- 
 denly called upon to refund the whole at once, he would 
 be a iniined man. 
 
 Of late Florus had grown very uneasy ; the suspicion, 
 nay, the certainty seized him that the king was trying 
 to establish a sinister hold over him. There was in 
 Polemo's grave air and peculiar smile something that 
 seemed to say, " What I bid you do, you will do ! " 
 And Florus, feeling himself chained hand and foot, 
 durst not resent the other's quiet air of mastership, 
 for these were the days, be it observed, when the Roman 
 law ordained that, whatever his rank (unless he be- 
 longed to the imperial family, who, of course, were 
 above all law) the debtor unable to meet his liabilities 
 must become the bond-slave of his creditor. 
 
 That Polemo had some end in view was certain, but 
 what it could be, Florus had, so far, not the least 
 inkling. 
 
 One fact, however, became increasingly clear. Po- 
 
76 The Boomed City 
 
 lemo, who in days gone by had submitted to the rite 
 of circumcision in order to gain the hand of Berenice, 
 had now no love either for Judaism or the Jews^ and 
 spoke of the latter in terms of scorn and hatred. 
 
 Florus, disposed by nature to be harsh in dealing 
 with the people under his rule, seemed to receive a 
 tacit if not direct encouragement from Polemo ; at any 
 rate, he never left the king's presence without a deter- 
 mination to adopt new methods of repression, even 
 though by so doing he should run the risk of losing 
 the favor of Berenice. It seemed almost as if Polemo 
 had set himself to counteract her influence ; and in truth 
 Florus, swayed first by one and then by the other, had 
 vacillated strangely between right-doing and wrong- 
 doing. His own natural disposition, however, inclined 
 him to follow the sinister suggestions of Polemo, to 
 such an extent as to make his procuratorship more in- 
 famous in character than any that had preceded it. 
 
 Florus had often wondered what was the attitude of 
 Polemo's mind towards Berenice, but on this point he 
 could never quite satisfy himself. When he had ven- 
 tured, not without some diffidence, to intimate his in- 
 tention of wooing the king's one-time wife, Polemo 
 smiled, bidding him succeed — if he could ! And after 
 that, whenever the two met, Polemo never failed to in- 
 quire, not without a suggestion of sarcasm, how the 
 other's suit was progressing. 
 
 He did the like on the present occasion. 
 
 " May her own Jewish devil, whom they call Satan, 
 carry her off" to Tartarus," was Florus' elegant re- 
 joinder. 
 
 "Ah! stands the case so.? I thought 'twould have 
 that ending. 'Twere unwomanly of her to accept the 
 love of a man already wedded, especially as she her- 
 self " 
 
 Florus wondered what was coming next, but Po- 
 lemo had checked himself as if about to say too 
 much. 
 
" Delenda est Hierosolyma! " 77 
 
 " I came not, however, to talk of Berenice," he con- 
 tinued, " but of your own desperate position." 
 
 " A position for which you are in some measure re- 
 sponsible," said Florus. 
 
 " Nay, this secret league with robber Zealots is a 
 folly all your own. I have advocated severity, but 
 unfortunately your severities have never gone far 
 enough for my purpose." 
 
 His purpose? thought Florus. Did he think, then, 
 to govern Judaea through him? It would seem so. 
 
 " Your shafts have galled the animal merely without 
 causing him to turn and fight." 
 
 " Be plainer with me." 
 
 " My desire has been to see the Jews rise in revolt 
 by reason of the harslmess of your administration. 
 Your timid leniency has foiled my aim. The Jews have 
 not risen." 
 
 Florus grew secretly angry to think that he had been 
 a tool alternately to Polemo and Berenice, the more so 
 as he had succeeded in giving satisfaction to neither. 
 
 " 'Twere better to carry out my policy. To goad 
 the Jews into rebellion is now your only hope of sal- 
 vation. Your harsh dealing in the past will then have 
 some justification. You can plead that the character 
 of the people forced you against your will to be severe. 
 Repressive measures are required by a people always 
 on the verge of breaking out into war. Their revolt 
 at this juncture will serve as a cloak to cover your 
 former misdeeds." 
 
 Now, while Polemo was speaking thus, a new feeling 
 came over Florus. He found his anger giving place to 
 a tingling sensation of pleasure, as he recalled Bere- 
 nice's words that she cared for nothing but her people 
 and her religion. Here in the suggestion of Polemo was 
 the opportunity of striking at her through these twin 
 idols of her affection. Among all his schemes for hurt- 
 ing Berenice he had not thought of this. The very 
 thing ! What a splendid vengeance it would be if he 
 
78 The Doomed City 
 
 could successfully goad the Jews into war, and then 
 utilize that war as a means for destroying both nation 
 and temple! 
 
 There have been monsters in history ; Florus was one 
 of them. His malevolence could contemplate with equa- 
 nimity the extermination of a whole people provided 
 only that he could hurt Berenice by the action; and 
 if the groan of every dying victim should send an 
 additional torture to her heart, why then, the more that 
 died the better ! 
 
 But, as he fell to reflecting, his ardor cooled some- 
 what. 
 
 The scheme was all very fine, but, in spite of Po- 
 lemo's opinion to the contrary, seemed likely to recoil 
 upon his own head. How could the governor that had 
 purposely provoked a war hope to escape punishment 
 at the hands of Caesar.'* He put the question to Polemo, 
 who received it with secret satisfaction, perceiving that 
 Florus was quite willing to do the work, if only he 
 could emerge from it with safety. 
 
 " Fear not. Having performed your task, you dis- 
 appear for a time. My kingdom of Pontus shall afford 
 you a safe asylum till the counselors who surround 
 Nero shall have persuaded him that you have in reality 
 done a good work." 
 
 " Humph ! will they be able to do so.'' " asked Florus, 
 dubiously. 
 
 " They will," answered Polemo. " Am I not the 
 friend of Caesar," he continued, exhibiting the ring 
 whose stone was engraved with Nero's portrait, " en- 
 titled to stand at his right hand. I will show him that 
 you are a keen patriot ; that all your outrages so called, 
 even your alliance with the Zealots, have been but the 
 development of a profound and subtle policy, all di- 
 rected towards one aim only — the good of Rome." 
 
 Florus, whose actions were never directed by any- 
 thing but his own self-interest, grinned at the notion 
 of being taken for a patriot. 
 
'' Delenda est Hierosolyma! '* 79 
 
 " The Jewish superstition," continued Polemo, " is 
 spreading, not only among other nations, but also 
 among the Romans themselves. The captive is taking 
 captive the conqueror. The Roman Senate sees in this 
 wide diffusion of Judaism a menace to the safety of 
 the empire. How is it to be stopped.'' There is but 
 one way : destroy the temple at Jerusalem, and you 
 destroy the superstition. And since war is the only 
 means of accomplishing this end, Roman statesmen 
 would be grateful to Floi'us for initiating the war. 
 Why should we show a false mercy to the Jew.^* Con- 
 sider Rome's past policy towards him, and the return 
 he makes for it. 
 
 " Rome does not seek, nor even wish, to impose her 
 own gods upon any of the subject nations. But how 
 different is the case with the Jew, who compasses sea 
 and land to make one proselyte, and in the person of 
 Poppsea has all but captured the imperial throne it- 
 self. Not a city of the empire but has its synagogue, 
 though, forsooth, the Jew will not permit a single 
 Gentile temple to be erected on the so-called holy soil 
 of his own land — nay, would fly to arms should the 
 thing be attempted. 
 
 " This people are seeking to Judaize the empire, and 
 should this proselytism continue at its present rate of 
 progress, Rome is doomed." 
 
 " How so.'' " asked the startled Florus. 
 
 " Because mankind, when Judaized, will turn, not 
 to Rome, but to Jerusalem, as the capital of the world, 
 and the seat of ideas. The high priest, and not Caesar, 
 will wield the scepter of empire ; and, since toleration 
 is unknown to the Jew, Oriental barbarism will triumph 
 over Western civilization. Three times a year shall we 
 be compelled to appear at Jerusalem. The laws of 
 the Twelve Tables will give place to the precepts of 
 the rabbis. Homer will be burnt in the market square; 
 the philosophy of Plato superseded by the Pentateuch 
 of Moses. Our circus games, Olympian contests, and 
 
80 The Doomed City 
 
 theatrical plays will cease. Sculpture will be forbid- 
 den ; the fairest masterpieces of Phidias will perish be- 
 neath the hammer of fanatics. The beautiful temples 
 of Greece will be given over to the flames — there must 
 be but one temple only, that of the jealous Hebrew 
 God. All that gives to life brightness, and beauty, 
 and joy, will vanish forever from the world, and we 
 must find our chief pleasure in circumcision and the 
 synagogue, in fastings and Sabbaths." 
 
 " By the gods, Polemo, you frighten me ! " exclaimed 
 Florus, contemplating with dismay this picture of a 
 Judaized world. 
 
 " I trust I do, for then you will the more readily 
 carry out my designs against the hateful race of 
 fanatics, who will do all I have said, if they be not 
 checked. The existence of the Jew and his proselyte 
 ought not to be tolerated by the Roman ; their very 
 creed teaches them disloyalty." 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 " How is the power of Rome maintained.'* Only by 
 its army. Abolish the legions, and how long, think 
 you, would it be before the Northern barbarians would 
 come pouring over the Rhine and the Danube bent on 
 our overthrow? What part do the Jew and his prose- 
 lyte take in our common defense? None! Let a Roman 
 subject become a disciple of the synagogue, and though 
 called upon, he obstinately refuses to serve in the army, 
 on the plea that he may have to march or to fight on 
 the Sabbath day, a thing forbidden by his religion. 
 Rome has had to yield to them, and hence the unwritten 
 law exempting Jews and their proselytes from military 
 impressment. The Gaul and the Greek, the Spaniard 
 and the Egyptian, must be told off to defend the em- 
 pire: you and I, dear Florus, must shed our blood, 
 in order, forsooth, that the Jew may have leisure to 
 trade upon us, and grow rich." 
 
 "A piece of injustice, the very thought of which 
 makes one savage," commented Florus. 
 
" Delenda est Hierosolyma! '' 81 
 
 "The Jew is in the empire, but not of it; he enjoys 
 its advantages, but refuses to pay for ihera. The 
 wealth made by him in huckstering is not employed to 
 benefit the province where earned, but is sent to the 
 temple at Jerusalem, there to lie dormant. The drain 
 of gold and silver to the temple is so serious a matter 
 as to have affected at times the currency of a province, 
 compelling its governor to forbid the export/ 
 
 " Why this piling up in the temple of treasure, 
 amounting to millions of aurei? Why? Because war 
 cannot be carried on without gold. This hoard, which 
 the Jews would have us regard as merely the religious 
 offerings of pious souls, is in reality being accumulated 
 for the purpose of waging war against Rome." 
 
 " I have often thought so myself," said Florus, who 
 had never thought anything of the kind. 
 
 " You heard Simon the Zealot say that he had put 
 his gold where no Roman could touch it; what place 
 did he mean if not the sanctuary of the temple.' — a 
 sanctuary to which even Caesar himself is denied access. 
 I warrant that the escaped Zealot will find asylum there, 
 for before he took to the mountains he was known to 
 be the friend of Eleazar, the captain of the temple, an 
 officer whom you know to be outspoken in his hatred 
 of Rome. But to return from individuals to the nation. 
 When they deem the occasion ripe, they will of them- 
 selves declare war, a war certain to begin at the pass- 
 over time; for, on the pretext of coming up to the 
 feast, the Jews and their proselytes can be conveniently 
 summoned from every quarter of the empire. Rome 
 hath never liked these gatherings, and with reason. 
 Their numbers grow year by year: at the last pass- 
 over the pilgrims swelled the population of Jerusalem 
 to the number of three hundred myriads. Ye gods ! 
 Think of it ! Three million fanatics all burning with 
 a hatred of Rome allowed to assemble in a city, said 
 to be the strongest in the world ! What can the Senate 
 be thinking of.? ' Why should we wait till this nation 
 
82 The Doomed City 
 
 be grown more powerful? Even now there are rumors 
 of alliances with nations outside the borders of the 
 empire — with Parthians beyond the Euphrates, and 
 with the Arabs of the desert. Every year increases 
 their strength, and our peril. But let their city and 
 their temple be given to the flames — which is what must 
 happen in the event of war — and their religion comes 
 to an end ; the day of proselytism is over ; the pilgrim- 
 ages cease, for who will have faith in a deity powerless 
 to protect his temple.'' ' The gods of Rome,' 'twill be 
 said, ' are more potent than he of Judaga.' Judaism 
 once destroyed, the empire is safe. It is in your power, 
 Floras, to do this, and I " 
 
 " Satis! " cried the procurator. " You have said 
 enough to convince me that the destroying of this 
 nation is a patriotic and righteous deed." 
 
 But Polemo had still another argument left, more 
 powerful than any other. He had purposely kept it to 
 the last. 
 
 He drew forth a small roll of parchment notes, which 
 Florus recognized as his own monetary acknowledg- 
 ments. 
 
 " On the day that the Jews declare war, I shall burn 
 these without asking for repayment." 
 
CHAPTER Vn 
 
 THE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM 
 
 The first rays of morning sunlight were gilding the 
 stately towers of Caesarea as the soldiers of the Italian 
 Cohort filed through the southern gate of the city. 
 
 They were marching on foot to Jerusalem, a journey 
 of some sixty miles, marching by the military road 
 made by the Romans themselves, a highway so well 
 and durably paved that portions of it still remain after 
 the lapse of nearly two thousand years. 
 
 A little in advance of these troops, and justly proud 
 of their fine and martial appearance, rode the tribune 
 Terentius Rufus, and at his side was Crispus, mounted 
 likewise upon a curveting steed. 
 
 On the previous day Nero's edict had been posted 
 up in the public places of Cffisarea ; it gave the preced- 
 ency to the Greeks. 
 
 Now, though it was plain to the least observant that 
 the city was seething with excitement caused by the 
 triumph of the one faction and the mortification of 
 the other, Rufus and his cohort had been commanded 
 by the procurator to return to Jerusalem on the ground 
 that all was quiet at Caesarea ! 
 
 " And Florus himself," remarked Rufus, " is with- 
 drawing to Sebaste with his legion, so that the city 
 will be entirely denuded of troops. Pluto take me ! " 
 he continued, knitting his brows in perplexity, " if I 
 can understand his conduct save upon the supposition 
 that he wants to kindle the torch of war." 
 
 The two rode on in silence for a while. Then Cris- 
 pus, who from time to time had been glancing back at 
 the marching troops, said, with a somewhat perplexed 
 air: 
 
 83 
 
84 The Doomed City 
 
 " Rufus, there is something lacking in thy cohort. 
 What is it? Ah! I have it. The eagle! Where is 
 it.?" 
 
 " Purposely left behind in the Prastorium at 
 Cassarea." 
 
 " Name of Mars ! — why } " 
 
 " In going through Judjea we have to pay respect 
 to the Jewish superstition, which, as you know, regards 
 all images with abhorrence." 
 
 Crispus was for the moment dumb with indigna- 
 tion. 
 
 " What ! " cried he. " We must not carry our stand- 
 ards in a country conquered by us>? Doth Rome rule 
 Judaea, or Judaea Rome.'' " 
 
 " Judaea doth, in this matter at least, rule Rome." 
 
 " I pray you, Rufus," said Crispus, reining in his 
 steed, " bid a centurion return for the eagle." 
 
 But Rufus shook his head. 
 
 " Pontius Pilate was of like mind with you. He made 
 his first entry into Jerusalem with figured banners. For 
 three days and two nights the Jewish populace howled, 
 raged, and wept round his Praetorium. At the end of 
 the third day he sent his troops among them with drawn 
 swords. The Jews flung themselves prostrate, bared 
 their necks, and cried that they would rather die than 
 see their laws broken. 
 
 " What could dismayed Pilate do ? He couldn't 
 massacre a whole people in the first week of his govern- 
 ment. Compelled sullenly to yield, he sent the ensigns 
 back to Caesarea. Since that day no troops dare ven- 
 ture into Jerusalem save with plain banners." 
 
 " Forbidden to carry the eagles," muttered Crispus 
 wrathfully. " How long shall this be.? " 
 
 " Till our next war with them, when we shall more 
 thoroughly vindicate the supremacy of Rome, and be 
 masters in our own house." 
 
 "When will that be.?" 
 
 *' 'Tis but a matter of days, in my opinion." 
 
Tlie Journey to Jernsalem 85 
 
 Days ! To Crispus this was startling news, and yet 
 not unwelcome. 
 
 " I carry with me a sealed letter," continued Rufus, 
 " addressed to King Agrippa, who is at Jerusalem. 
 He is, as you know, the brother of the Princess Bere- 
 nice, the nominator of the high priest, and the supreme 
 guardian of the temple treasures. The purport of the 
 letter I know not, but if I may judge from Florus' 
 sinister smile as he handed me the missive, it contains 
 some command which Agrippa will be loth to execute. 
 Should the Jews of Jerusalem support the king in his 
 attitude, it may prove the beginning of an outbreak 
 whose end no man can foresee. I may be wrong, Cris- 
 pus, but I have a presentiment that in this letter we 
 are carrying the fate of Judsea." 
 
 Crispus frowned. He loved fighting, but it seemed 
 to him there would be little honor and glory gained in 
 reducing to submission a people goaded to war by the 
 deliberate oppression of an unjust governor. 
 
 The road traversed by the Romans wound south- 
 wards through the flower-enameled meads that consti- 
 tute the Plain of Sharon, never more lovely than when 
 seen in the soft sunshine of a May morning. 
 
 Now and again in their march the Romans would 
 pass a gayly-clad group of Jewish country-folk, many 
 of them accompanied by asses and mules, laden with 
 timber. 
 
 " Pilgrims bound for Jerusalem," explained Rufus in 
 answer to Crispus' inquiries. " Within a few days 
 comes the Festival of the Xylophoria, or the Wood- 
 offering, when the Jews are accustomed to bring to 
 the temple supplies of timber sufficient to keep the 
 sacrificial fires going for a year." 
 
 At a wayside spring a somewhat numerous caravan 
 had made a brief halt to refill their water-skins, and 
 to refresh their beasts of burden. The air was 
 lively with the sound of timbrels, of songs, and of 
 dances. 
 
86 The Doomed City 
 
 The approach of the clanging cohort, with its 
 swinging martial stride, put a sudden stop to the 
 mirth. 
 
 " The Romans ! the Romans ! " was the cry. 
 
 Silent of tongue, but with eyes that looked unmistak- 
 able hatred, the pilgrims drew aside to let the legion- 
 aries pass. One fierce-looking Jew, bolder than his fel- 
 lows, cried aloud : " To Gehenna with all Gentiles ! " 
 
 Rufus rode past with a smile of contempt. 
 
 " Yon fellow knows full well," said he, " that if 1 
 choose, I can hang him to the nearest tree, and yet 
 the knowledge of that fact cannot keep him from ex- 
 pressing his hatred of the Romans." 
 
 " What is the Gehenna to which he would consign 
 us.? " asked Crispus, who was not so well versed in 
 Hebrew matters as Rufus. 
 
 " The Jewish Tartarus, a place of flame and tor- 
 ment, to which you and I, no matter how virtuous our 
 life, are destined to be sent, according to the saying 
 of the rabbis, ' The Gentiles are only so much fuel for 
 Gehenna.' " 
 
 " They don't love us, these Jews," laughed Crispus. 
 
 " Hatred of the Roman is drawn in with the mater- 
 nal milk. You see now the necessity for maintaining 
 so large a military force in Judsa. Africa, once the 
 seat of the Carthaginian empire, is kept in order by 
 a single legion. One legion, too, suffices for warlike 
 Spain. Greece, once so great in deeds of arms, hath 
 no legion at all within her bounds. These turbulent 
 Jews require three legions. Think of it ! Thirty-six 
 thousand men perpetually under arms in a province no 
 larger than our native Latium, so restless are these 
 Jews, so hostile to our rule." 
 
 " Why that stoppage in front? " said Crispus, glanc- 
 ing ahead at a group of distant pilgrims who had come 
 to a sudden stand-still in a way that threatened to im- 
 pede the march of the on-coming Romans. 
 
 " That," replied Rufus, " is another proof of Jewish 
 
The Journey to Jerusalem 87 
 
 contempt for the foreigner. The stone you see by the 
 roadside marks the border of two provinces. At present 
 we are in heathen Phoenicia ; pass that stone, and we 
 are in holy Judaea. Your Hebrew, on arriving at the 
 frontier, takes off his sandals and carefully wipes them, 
 lest he should pollute the sacred soil of Judaea by bring- 
 ing upon it the profane dust of other lands." 
 
 Crispus looked, and saw that it was even as Rufus 
 had said. Every Jew, upon coming to the frontier- 
 stone, removed his shoes, and either wiped or shook 
 them, a somewhat useless cleansing, seeing that a minute 
 afterwards the six hundred men of the Italian Cohort 
 were bringing in Phoenician dust with them. 
 
 " You are a patrician of Rome," said Rufus, address- 
 ing Crispus, " proud of your pure and lofty lineage, 
 but know this, that if the vilest beggar in Jerusalem 
 should be touched by you on the eve of the passover 
 he would deem himself so unclean as to' be unable to 
 keep the feast. Purification by bathing would entitle 
 him to the privilege of the supplementary passover held 
 seven days later to meet such cases." 
 
 A march of some twenty-five miles brought the cohort 
 to Antipatris, a military station guarding the line of 
 communication between Caesarea and Jerusalem. With- 
 in the barracks of this town Rufus found ample accom- 
 modation for his troops. At nightfall he and Crispus 
 ascended to the battlements of the Roman castle ; from 
 their lofty position the two could see the whole extent 
 of Sharon, from the mountains to the sea, whitened by 
 the silvery moonlight. 
 
 Far and wide over the landscape gleamed the fires of 
 the Jewish pilgrims, camping for the night under the 
 leafy terebinth or by the wayside spring. 
 
 " List ! " said Rufus, with uplifted finger. 
 
 Floating upward from the valley below came the 
 sound of many voices conjoined in a mournful melody. 
 Now and again Crispus could faintly catch some of 
 the words of the refrain. 
 
88 The Boomed City 
 
 " If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand 
 forget her cunning ! " 
 
 As the breeze wavered, the voices rose and fell with 
 a weird and plaintive effect, and Crispus thrilled as he 
 listened. There was, to his way of thinking, a sob in 
 every cadence — " How long, O Lord, how long? " — a 
 wild appeal to heaven for vengeance against their pres- 
 ent oppressor, the Roman. 
 
 A spirit of profound melancholy fell upon Crispus 
 as he contemplated the character of this strange East- 
 em nation. In his journey that day every face seen 
 by him, every incident that had happened, gave proof 
 that though Jew and Roman touched each other at a 
 hundred points, they were nevertheless as far apart 
 as if seas rolled between them. 
 
 While all other nations of the empire, including even 
 Greece, so renowned in arts, arms, and learning, were 
 content to live peaceably, nay happily under the shadow 
 of the eagle-wings of Rome, the Jew maintained an 
 attitude of sullen hostility to his conqueror. 
 
 How long was this antagonism to last? Was the 
 Jew to remain forever a thorn in the side of the empire, 
 or must the solution of the problem come, as Rufus 
 was convinced it would, in the shape of an exterminat- 
 ing war? 
 
 Next morning at sunrise the march was resumed. 
 The road, that had hitherto followed a line parallel 
 with the coast, now turned inland, and leaving the mari- 
 time plain behind them, the Romans began to ascend 
 the picturesque ravines that wind towards the rocky 
 tableland upon which Jerusalem is built. 
 
 Gophna, another military station, fifteen miles dis- 
 tant from the holy city, was their second stopping- 
 place. 
 
 At daybreak they began the third and final stage of 
 their journey, along a road dazzlingly white and dusty. 
 
 At the ninth hour of the morning the cohort was 
 toiling through an upland ravine. In front of them 
 
The Journey to Jerusalem 8d 
 
 at some distance was a numerous body of wood-bearing 
 pilgrims. Suddenly, as their van gained the highest 
 point of the road, a thrilling shout broke from it, 
 followed by a precipitate hurrying forward on the part 
 of all of those in the rear. 
 
 " Yerushalaim ! Yerushalai'm ! " was the cry that rang 
 out on the morning air, the cry of the Jews. 
 
 " Hagiopolis ! Hagiopolis ! " exclaimed the Greek 
 proselytes. 
 
 " Hierosolyma ! " said Rufus quietly. 
 
 Impelled by a natural curiosity, Crispus pressed for- 
 ward his steed, and, as he gained the northern height 
 of Scopus, the whole city at one flash burst full upon 
 his view. 
 
 He drew rein, and, with a lively interest, gazed upon 
 the famous city — " longe clarissima urbium Orientis " 
 — whose origin was lost far back in the night of an- 
 tiquity, a city gray with age ere ever a stone of Rome 
 was laid ! 
 
 A century earlier Jerusalem had presented a dull 
 and even squalid appearance ; but, thanks to that mag- 
 nificent despot, Herod the Great, a monarch distin- 
 guished by his taste for Grecian architecture, the city 
 was now a dream of beauty, with its imperial mantle 
 of proud towers ; its marble palaces gleaming through 
 the clear, transparent air of a Syrian morn ; its stately 
 colonnades and triumphal arches, interspersed with the 
 foliage of the tall and graceful palm ; and, above all, 
 the pure, white temple, " a mount of alabaster, topped 
 with golden spires," flashing in the morning sunlight 
 with a splendor that forced the eyes to turn aside. 
 
 Crispus looked at it, and thought of his dream. 
 
 " Mark me," said Rufus, " it will never be well with 
 Rome till yon fair city be leveled with the dust, and 
 the plow passed over it." 
 
 Prophetic words ! 
 
 If those Jews, among whom Crispus and Rufus were 
 now making their way, could but have foreseen the 
 
90 The Doomed City 
 
 future, their daggers would have flashed in the 
 sunny air, and the two Romans would have been no 
 more ! 
 
 The supreme emotion evoked among the peasant pil- 
 grims by the sight of the holy city was expressed in 
 characteristic fashion. Some laughed aloud in the in- 
 sanity of joy; others, with clasped hands and tears 
 in their eyes, sank upon their knees, and not a few 
 among the women fainted. Some pulled off their san- 
 dals, and walked barefoot towards the city, as though 
 the way were hallowed ground ; others assumed their 
 richest robe, as if they were about to enter a holy 
 synagogue. One member of the throng, a Levite, lift- 
 ing up a sonorous voice, began the chanting of a 
 psalm, appropriate to the occasion ; and the refrain 
 was immediately taken up by the whole multitude, slow- 
 moving towards the city : 
 
 " The hill of Zion is a fair place, and the joy of 
 the whole earth ; upon the north side lieth the citadel 
 of the Great King." 
 
 " Now, if by the Great King is meant Csesar, which 
 is to be doubted," remarked Rufus, " these fanatics are 
 right. Thou seest yon edifice, Crispus, towering high 
 above the temple. 'Tis my Roman citadel, of whose 
 hospitality you must partake." 
 
 Making their way through a region of groves and 
 gardens, adorned with the mansions of the wealthy 
 residents, the Roman troops entered the city, and 
 threading its narrow, winding streets, came to their 
 quarters in the citadel Antonia, so named by Herod 
 the Great in memory of his friend and patron. Marc 
 Antony, its usual name among the Jews being Baris, 
 or the Tower. 
 
 This fortress occupied the summit of a lofty rock, 
 separated from the mount on which the temple stood 
 by a deep ravine, crossed by a line of arches. As the 
 temple — in itself a stronghold — dominated and looked 
 down upon the city, so did Antonia dominate and I00I5 
 
The Journey to Jerusalem 91 
 
 down upon the temple. Far above the golden roof of 
 the sanctuary towered its haughty battlements, adorned 
 with the standard bearing the significant letters, 
 S.P.Q.R. Upon that proud banner, the visible symbol 
 of Roman dominion, no Jew ever looked save with a 
 wrathful curse. 
 
 Leaving his men in their quarters, Rufus, losing no 
 time, set off, accompanied by Crispus, for the palace 
 of Agrippa, bent on delivering to that monarch the 
 letter of Florus. 
 
 It was still early morning, and the streets, thronged 
 by pilgrims, new-arriving, presented an animated and 
 busy aspect, which would disappear later, when the 
 heat of noontide would usher in the quietude of the 
 siesta. 
 
 Suddenly, high above the sounds produced by the 
 restless throng, there rose a voice, and one so weird 
 that Crispus had never before heard the like. At its 
 hollow tone, voices, sounds, footsteps, ceased. A hush 
 as of death fell over all. 
 
 Along the middle of the street, and moving at a 
 pace that never changed from its slow and measured 
 uniformity, came a wild-eyed, melancholy figure, clad 
 in a single robe of camel's hair, and tied at the waist 
 with a leathern girdle. 
 
 His arms were raised to heaven; he glanced neither 
 to right nor left; his face was like a mask of stone, 
 set in one unchanging expression of woe. 
 
 No man stopped him; no man questioned him; all 
 knew the uselessness of it. 
 
 He was a familiar figure to the people, but familiar- 
 ity had never lessened one thrill of the awe felt by 
 them whenever he appeared. 
 
 " A voice from the East, a voice from the West, 
 a voice from the fours winds, a voice against Jerusalem 
 and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms 
 and the brides, and a voice against this whole people. 
 Woe, woe to Jerusalem ! " 
 
92 The Doomed City 
 
 The people stood, as they always stood when he 
 passed by, immovable, silent, wondering. Did they be- 
 hold a madman, or one in whom was the spirit of the 
 ancient prophets? 
 
 "Who is yon fellow?" asked Crispus, watching the 
 figure as it receded in the distance. 
 
 " Jesus, the son of Hanan. 'Tis four years since he 
 began to appear at the yearly feasts, traversing the 
 streets and uttering the woe that we have just heard. 
 Brought before the tribunal of the procurator Albinus, 
 and questioned, he would answer only, ' Woe, woe to 
 Jerusalem ! ' Though scourged till his bones were laid 
 bare, he maintained during it all a dry eye and a stony 
 countenance, uttering the while his weird plaint. He 
 seems to be, not a man, but a voice," 
 
 " The voice of some god, it may be," muttered Cris- 
 pus, upon whose mind the incident had left a singular 
 impression. " Doomed Troy had its Cassandra, whom 
 none would believe until too late. So, too, Jerusalem 
 seems to have its prophet, to whom this foolish people, 
 that dream of war, would do well to give heed." 
 
 Resuming their walk, the two friends ascended the 
 slope of Mount Zion, and came to the old Asamonean 
 Palace, the residence of King Agrippa. 
 
 "Aren't you coming in with me?" asked Rufus, as 
 Crispus hesitated. " We may encounter the Princess 
 Berenice." 
 
 Crispus turned away, saying he would await his 
 friend's return in the Xystus close by. Rufus looked 
 after him in some wonderment. 
 
 " For the future," he muttered, " I had better re- 
 frain from mentioning Berenice's name ; it seems to 
 trouble him." 
 
 Rufus, on being admitted to the presence of Agrippa, 
 found him seated at a table. In person he was tall 
 and slender. Delicate and refined in features, and 
 dressed in the height of Jewish fashion, he presented, 
 at any rate in the eyes of the sturdy Roman, a some- 
 
The Journey to Jerusalem 93 
 
 what effeminate appearance. On one side of him was 
 his sister Berenice, Avho had arrived at Jerusalem the 
 preceding night; on the other was an elderly man 
 with a hooked nose, thin lips, and a yellow polished 
 forehead, who looked like a typical rabbi, as indeed 
 he was, being none other than Simeon, the son of the 
 celebrated Gamaliel. Before him lay an ink-horn and 
 a parchment scroll ; between his fingers was a calamus 
 or reed pen. Evidently he had been composing some 
 document with the aid of his royal friends, and all three 
 were looking as if very well pleased with their work. 
 Rufus wondered whether they would look so well pleased 
 after reading the document that he was bringing for 
 them. 
 
 " This prayer," said Simeon, laying his hand upon 
 the parchment-scroll before him, " this prayer Avill 
 serve as a fan to winnow the chaff from the wheat." 
 
 The three looked up as Rufus entered. He, being 
 the commandant of Antonia, was a great man in Jeru- 
 salem, and they therefore received him affably. 
 
 " And what would the excellent Rufus with us } " 
 asked Agrippa. 
 
 The excellent Rufus handed the letter to the king, 
 who took it between his delicate jeweled fingers and 
 broke the seal. While he was doing this Berenice rose 
 from the table, and drawing near to Rufus addressed 
 him in a low tone. 
 
 "Did you leave Crispus at Csesarea.''" 
 
 Her tone and look, betraying more than ordinary 
 interest in the absent Roman, came as a revelation to 
 Rufus. 
 
 " As I live," he thought, " this woman loves Crispus." 
 Aloud he answered, " Nay, princess, he hath accom- 
 panied me to Jerusalem." 
 
 "Where is he now.''" she asked eagerly. 
 
 And Rufus, knowing that it would bring trouble into 
 those beautiful eyes were she to learn that the phleg- 
 matic Crispus preferred the miscellaneous crowd in the 
 
94 The Doomed City 
 
 Xystus to the attractions of the Asamonean Palace, 
 replied, " I left him in Antonia." 
 
 What other question she might have asked was in- 
 terrupted by Agrippa, who, having mastered the con- 
 tents of the epistle, was frowning terribly. He called 
 his sister to his side and handed her the letter. She 
 knit her brows as she read, and in turn passed the 
 missive to Simeon, who, after duly perusing it, seemed 
 to be more angry than his royal patrons. 
 
 They were quiet for a time, all thinking. 
 
 " Submit not to this demand," said Berenice passion- 
 ately, addressing her brother, " since submission will 
 be quoted as a precedent ; we shall be virtually acknowl- 
 edging his right to make such claim. One oppression 
 will lead to another." 
 
 " True, but on the other hand," returned Agrippa, 
 " if he should seek to make good his demand by force 
 of arms 'twill lead to tumult and bloodshed — nay, even 
 to open rebellion, for at this present time the popular 
 mind is strung to a high state of tension by prophets 
 who predict the near advent of the Messiah's king- 
 dom." 
 
 Turning to Rufus he said aloud: 
 
 "You know the contents of this letter.''" 
 
 " Indeed, no. I was told no more than to press for 
 an immediate answer." 
 
 " I will defer my reply till to-night." 
 
 Rufus bowed and withdrew. 
 
 " / am the cause of this," said Berenice sorrowfully. 
 
 "You, princess! How.?" exclaimed Simeon. 
 
 " This is Florus' way of taking vengeance upon me 
 because I have declined to listen to his wooing." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ROYAL SYNAGOGUE 
 
 The heat of noontide had passed, and Crispus, under 
 the guidance of Rufus, was spending his time in viewing 
 the city. It might be thought that the Temple would 
 be the first place visited by him, but this Rufus re- 
 served for the night, when, by virtue of his office as 
 commandant of Antonia, he would be able to exhibit 
 that edifice — or as much of it as was permissible for 
 a Gentile to see — by the tender light of the moon, 
 and freed from the crowds that frequented its courts 
 during the day. 
 
 "And what place is that.'*" asked Crispus, pointing 
 to a quadrangular edifice of white stone, over whose 
 portal was written in Hebrew characters the word 
 " Shalom," or " Peace." 
 
 " The Royal Synagogue, so called," answered Rufus, 
 necessity here compelling him to break a certain in- 
 junction he had laid upon himself, " so called as having 
 been raised by the Princess Berenice at her own private 
 expense. Among the Jews, if you would gain a char- 
 acter for piety, build a synagogue." 
 
 " Is the worship going on ? " 
 
 The proximity of a sun-dial enabled Rufus to give 
 an answer. " It is a little before the ninth hour, which 
 constitutes the Arabith, or time of evening prayer. 
 Worship will begin shortly. You see the pious are 
 already hurrying thither." 
 
 " I have never yet seen a synagogue service," said 
 Crispus, " and would fain see one." 
 
 " I deplore your taste, but for friendship's sake I'll 
 accompany you. 'Tis the fashion of the Jews, as you 
 
 95 
 
96 The Doomed City 
 
 see, to run to their synagogue, by way of showing their 
 eagerness for divine worship. But we, who are digni- 
 fied Romans, can take It more leisurely." 
 
 Discoursing thus, Rufus drew near the Royal Syna- 
 gogue. 
 
 " A small edifice, this, but neat," he continued. 
 " Now If you want to see something really splendid In 
 a synagogic shape, go to Alexandria and view the 
 DIapleuston, with Its seventy golden chairs for the 
 seventy members of the Sanhedrim ; and as for size, 
 so vast Is It that the signal for the ' Amen ' has to 
 be given by the waving of a flag. 'TIs a striking 
 scene ! " 
 
 As they stood upon the threshold, Rufus addressed 
 the decurlon that was in attendance upon him. " It Is 
 forbidden to wear arms In the S3magogue ; therefore, 
 Quintus, take charge of my good sword, and tarry here 
 till I come again. Doff we our sandals, Crispus, for 
 'tis the custom to enter barefoot." 
 
 Access was gained to the Interior of the synagogue 
 by a vestibule. Here stood the doorkeeper. He recog- 
 nized in Rufus the commandant of Antonia, and at 
 the latter's desire conducted the two visitors to a place 
 at the rear, where, screened by a pillar, they could see 
 without being seen. 
 
 The Interior of the synagogue was very similar to 
 that of a basilica, being oblong In shape and divided 
 by pillars Into aisles. 
 
 The worshipers were ranged, the men on the one side 
 and the women on the other, a partition about four 
 feet high running between them — a striking contrast 
 to the modern synagogic usage of placing the women 
 in side galleries, screened with lattice-work. 
 
 At the farther end of the building was a platform 
 or dais, on which stood the ark, or coffer, containing 
 the rolls of the sacred books. Before it rose a golden 
 candlestick, with seven branches. 
 
 " A copy of the one In the temple," observed Rufus. 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 97 
 
 In front of the platform was a line of seats, whose 
 occupants, mostly aged rabbis, sat facing the congre- 
 gation. These v.-ere the places of honor, the " chief 
 seats " so much coveted by every Jew ; and here, by 
 special privilege, as being the foundress of the syna- 
 gogue, sat the Princess Berenice. 
 
 " Who is that sitting on the right of the princess .? " 
 asked Crispus. 
 
 For reply Rufus drew forth a golden coin, and 
 pointed to its obverse, which bore the legend, " Agrippa, 
 the Great King." 
 
 Crispus, knowing that Agrippa's realm of Chalcis 
 was of less extent than many a Roman estate, asked: 
 
 " In what is he great ? " 
 
 " In his own esteem, and in the knowledge of his own 
 law, being expert ' in all customs and questions which 
 are among the Jews.' We shall perhaps have the 
 pleasure of hearing him read from the Law and the 
 Prophets, since he is fond of so doing." 
 
 " And what is that short marble pillar at one side 
 of the dais.? " 
 
 " That is the Red Column. Offenders against syna- 
 gogic discipline are tied to it and scourged." 
 
 Rufus had scarcely said this when the people rose 
 to their feet, the customary attitude for prayer. 
 
 The sheliach, or " angel," who presided over this 
 part of the worship was Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, 
 and he began with an announcement that caused no 
 little surprise among the members of the congrega- 
 tion. 
 
 There was to be made, beginning with that very day, 
 an addition to the current liturgy of the synagogue, an 
 addition necessitated by the conduct of those impious 
 sectaries, the Nazarenes. 
 
 " Who are the Nazarenes .'' " whispered Crispus. 
 
 " The Christians," replied Rufus. 
 
 It was well known — so ran the tenor of Simeon's re- 
 marks — that in spite of their changed faith, these 
 
98 The Doomed City 
 
 apostates, being in no way recognizable, since they pre- 
 served the outward semblance of orthodox Jews, were 
 in the habit of resorting to the synagogues, and of 
 joining in the worship, thus defiling the holy people 
 by their presence. As such mixed worship could not 
 be acceptable to God, the true Jew must take steps 
 to preserve himself from such defilement. Therefore 
 for the future the initiatory prayer would be of a char- 
 acter such as no Nazarene could join in without at 
 the same time abjuring his faith, since it contained 
 curses directed against Jesus, the son of Panther.* 
 That prayer he would now proceed to recite, and let 
 each member of the congregation mark well his neigh- 
 bor, and take due note of him who should refuse to 
 ratify it with the customary " Amen." 
 
 " Who is Jesus, the son of Panther.'' " asked Crispus. 
 
 " The same as he whom we call Christus. His dis- 
 ciples say that he was born of a pure virgin — a mani- 
 fest impossibility. The Jews, with more reason, assert 
 that his mother committed adultery with a soldier 
 named Panther." 
 
 Now, as Crispus was passing his eyes over the con- 
 gregation at this juncture, he happened to see what 
 had hitherto escaped his notice. Vashti was standing 
 among the worshipers. She was pale, very pale ; the 
 expression of her face, the very attitude of her figure, 
 were suggestive of mental distress. 
 
 For a moment Crispus was puzzled to account for 
 her agitation ; then the truth like a flash of light darted 
 into his mind. Vashti had a secret, and one that could 
 no longer be kept hidden by her unless she chose to play 
 the traitress to her conscience, and that, he felt certain, 
 she would not do. 
 
 " Cursed be Jesus, the Son of Panther ! " 
 
 A shiver passed over Vashti ; she compressed her lips 
 tightly, while from every other Jewish mouth there 
 flew an " Amen ! " uttered with a vehemence that spoke 
 of a fierce and vindictive hatred. 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 99 
 
 Ere Simeon could come to his next sentence, a man 
 by the partition — it was Sadas, Berenice's freedman — 
 who had been intently watching Vashti, suddenly raised 
 his arm to attract attention, and cried in a voice that 
 penetrated to every corner of the congregation : 
 
 " Holy rabbi, here is one who refuses to say ' Amen ' 
 to that anathema." 
 
 Amid the breathless silence that followed, all eyes 
 turned, first upon the speaker, then upon the person 
 pointed out by his accusatory finger. 
 
 The congregation doubted. This maiden, so regular 
 in her attendance at the synagogue, daughter of the 
 rabbi Hyrcanus, and ward of the orthodox Josephus, 
 an apostate.'' It could not be. 
 
 " Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus," said Simeon 
 gravely, " do you refuse to join in the common voice 
 of the synagogue .-^ " 
 
 Vashti was silent. 
 
 " Cursed be Jesus, the son of Panther ! Do you not 
 say 'Amen' to this anathema. ^ " 
 
 At this, which to her mind was blasphemy, the girl's 
 spirit took fire. 
 
 " I do not. It is our duty not to curse, but to 
 bless." 
 
 " Are you wiser than our fathers and the prophets 
 who were wont to curse the enemies of the faith .^ " 
 
 " They belonged to a covenant that is past. Be- 
 sides, even they did not curse the dead." 
 
 " Then curse we the living ! " cried Simeon angrily. 
 " Cursed be the whole tribe of Christians ! Do you 
 say ' Amen ' to that .? " 
 
 " In doing so I should be cursing myself." 
 
 From the age of twelve, her time of joining the 
 synagogue, Vashti, by reason of the sweetness of her 
 disposition and of her liberality in alms-giving, had won 
 the favor of the whole congregation. But now, all in 
 a moment, that favor was withdrawn. Jewish bigotry 
 asserted itself. The knowledge that she had become a 
 
100 The Boomed City 
 
 Christian converted friends into enemies. She found 
 herself surrounded by dark and scowling faces. 
 
 " Judgment ! " cried Sadas, the man who had ac- 
 cused her ; and a hundred voices took up the cry, 
 " Judgment ! " 
 
 In the Hebrew word for synagogue — Beth-din, or 
 House of Judgment — is expressed one of its peculiari- 
 ties ; besides being a place of worship, the synagogue 
 was also — and this with the sanction of the Romans 
 themselves — a judicial court for the trial of such of- 
 fenders as were accused of violating the precepts of 
 Judaism. 
 
 " Let the damsel be brought hither," said Simeon in 
 cold judicial tones. 
 
 The many hands put forth to push her forward were 
 needless ; of her own free will she walked from her place 
 to the front of the congregation. 
 
 Her girlish figure standing all alone before the crowd 
 of wrathful spectators failed to elicit their sympathy ; 
 the gray-haired elders, who were her judges, had like- 
 wise hearts of marble ; neither youth nor beauty had 
 power to influence them in the matter of a person apos- 
 tatizing to the hateful creed of the Nazarenes. 
 
 *' Damsel," said Simeon, " we require no witnesses of 
 thy guilt. Out of thine own mouth thou standest con- 
 demned as being a Christian. Yet are we minded to 
 give thee time for reflection. Thou mayest, if thou 
 wilt, withdraw thy statement." 
 
 " I cannot withdraw the statement, for it is true. I 
 am a Christian." 
 
 Fierce cries broke forth from the assembly : " Trait- 
 ress ! Apostate ! Nazarene ! " 
 
 " How long hast thou been a Christian.'' " 
 
 " 'Tis a matter of a few weeks only." 
 
 " You have received the baptism prescribed by this 
 heresy.'' " 
 
 Vashti signified assent. 
 \ " Who was he that baptized thee .'' " 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 101 
 
 " I may not name him." 
 
 "Doth our city contain many of this faith?" 
 
 " Very many." 
 
 " Name some," commanded Simeon. This he said, 
 not believing that she would do so, but knowing that 
 her refusal would add to the wrath of the assembly. 
 
 " Even among the heathen to betray one's friends 
 is counted base. How much more, then, among Chris- 
 tians ? " 
 
 " By revealing their names you will be doing much 
 towards redeeming yourself from the punishment that 
 otherwise will most surely come upon you." 
 
 " Not even to redeem myself from death will I betray 
 my friends." 
 
 " Come, girl, be not obstinate. Who were they that 
 persuaded you to adopt Christianity.'' " 
 
 " The Law and the Prophets chiefly." 
 
 " You blaspheme." 
 
 " Nay, give me leave to speak, and I will show you 
 that our so-called new faith is but the fulfillment and 
 and completion of the old." 
 
 " This damsel resembles her master Paul," sneered 
 Agrippa. " With a little talking she thinks to make 
 us Christians." 
 
 Simeon, seeking to prejudice her still more in the 
 opinion of the narrow-minded Jews, to whom all Gentile 
 learning was an abomination, continued: 
 
 " You have given much time to the study of the 
 Greek writings.'' " 
 
 " As did your father Gamaliel," was the quiet reply. 
 " If it were a virtue in him, why seek to make it a fault 
 in me? " 
 
 " Hear, O Israel," said Simeon, addressing the as- 
 sembly, " in my father's school were a thousand stu- 
 dents, of whom five hundred studied the wisdom that 
 is in the Law ; and to-day they are all living, and 
 held in honor. And there were five hundred who studied 
 the Grecian vanities, and to-day there is not one of 
 
102 The Boomed City 
 
 them alive." ' He paused for a moment, and then put 
 the customary question: 
 
 "Can anyone here present show just cause why pun- 
 ishment should not be inflicted upon Vashti, daughter 
 of Hyrcanus? " 
 
 Vashti looked round upon the assembly, but in the 
 words of the Psalmist she had become a stranger to 
 her brethren, an alien among her mother's children. 
 There was none that would speak a good word for 
 her. 
 
 " There are two persons here," said Vashti, " who 
 can testify, if they would, that my change of creed 
 is not deserving of punishment." 
 
 " Who are these witnesses .? " 
 
 " King Agrippa for one." 
 
 That monarch, upon hearing himself appealed to, 
 regarded Vashti with a languid and scornful gaze. 
 
 " Thou callest upon me to testify in thy favor.'' " 
 
 " O king, after Paul of Tarsus had set forth his 
 tenets before your tribunal, did you not say, ' This 
 man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds ^? My 
 faith is but the same with his. Since you pronounced 
 him innocent, how can you declare me guilty? " 
 
 These words put the king in a very awkward di- 
 lemma. Deny them he could not ; to confirm them would 
 be equivalent to a declaration of her innocence. He 
 shrugged his shoulders, and, like the coward that he 
 was, took refuge in silence. 
 
 " And who is the other witness.? " asked Simeon, after 
 a very awkward pause. 
 
 " Yourself," replied Vashti. " Will you not plead 
 for me, you whose grandsire Simeon held the infant 
 Jesus in his arms, calling him ' The glory of the people 
 of Israel ' ? — you, whose sire Gamaliel, speaking of the 
 apostles of Christ, said, ' Refrain from these men, and 
 let them alone ' ? " 
 
 Simeon's face darkened, and he turned away. Every 
 word spoken by Vashti did but increase the wrath of 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 103 
 
 her judges, who wanted, not argument, but submission 
 and recantation. 
 
 No more questions were asked. The council, drawing 
 together, conferred in whispers around the chairs of 
 Agrippa and Berenice. 
 
 Having agreed in their verdict, the judges returned 
 to their seats — all save one, a noble and gentle-looking 
 elder, who said with a ring of indignation in his voice: 
 
 " I protest ! " 
 
 But his protest availed nothing. Unable to save 
 Vashti or to bear the sight of her punishment, he walked 
 from the S3magogue amid the somewhat angry murmurs 
 of the assembly. 
 
 "Who is he?" asked Crispus. 
 
 " Johanan ben Zacchai, wisest and best of the rabbis. 
 Though he himself is an orthodox Pharisee, his father 
 Zacchai, or — to Grecize the name — Zacchjeus, a wealthy 
 publican of Jericho, is said to have been a secret Chris- 
 tian. Hence his sympathy for poor Vashti. Are you 
 going to intervene on her behalf.'' " 
 
 " Anon. Let us first see what her punishment is to 
 be." 
 
 Simeon now rose to pronounce judgment. 
 
 " Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus, your punishment is 
 a twofold one ; you will receive forty lashes save one, 
 and you will be shorn of your tresses." 
 
 The vindictive character of the sentence set Crispus' 
 blood on fire. " To be shorn of her tresses? " he mur- 
 mured. " Such a suggestion as that could proceed only 
 from a woman's mind. Princess Berenice, your hand 
 is in this." 
 
 Vashti, on hearing her doom, swayed, and would have 
 fallen to the ground but for the officers who supported 
 her on each side. She had expected some such penalty 
 as the payment of a fine, or excommunication from 
 the synagogue. But the loss of her hair — the glory 
 of a woman ! And scourging! The mere physical pain 
 of this last was as nothing in her eyes compared with 
 
104 The Boomed City 
 
 the horror of being stripped to the waist in the sight 
 of all the congregation. 
 
 A mist swam before her eyes ; her face, pale before, 
 now became deathly white ; she tried to speak, but her 
 tongue failed her. 
 
 Looking for all the world like one insane, she turned 
 her swimming gaze upon the assembly, but saw no pity 
 in their set faces. What punishment could be too 
 severe for a Nazarene.'' Nay, verily, let her be thank- 
 ful that her doom was not stoning, as it assuredly would 
 have been but for the humiliating fact that the death 
 penalty required the sanction of the hateful governor, 
 Florus. 
 
 And now appeared the executioner carrying the 
 dreadful whip, a wooden shaft with three long ox-hide 
 thongs, thirteen strokes from which made the conven- 
 tional thirty-nine stripes. The Law allowed forty, but 
 the Jews, affecting to be merciful, diminished that num- 
 ber by one. 
 
 " Pull off her garment, and bind her to the Red 
 Column." 
 
 At these dreadful words Vashti, rendered strong by 
 agony, broke from her guards, and moving swiftly 
 forward fell on her knees before Berenice. 
 
 " Princess, you are a woman. Have pity on me. If 
 I must be scourged let me — let me retain my vesture." 
 
 The two officers who had followed Vashti fell back 
 at a sign from Berenice. Bending forward from her 
 seat, she said in a whisper: 
 
 " My hour of triumph now. It was yours at 
 CcEsarea." 
 
 At her chilling tone Vashti shrank back. Her eyes 
 became big with horror as the truth suddenly flashed 
 upon her that the whole synagogue proceeding was a 
 plot, formed by the jealousy of Berenice, who feared 
 that Vashti was seeking to win the love of Crispus. 
 Suspecting her to be a Christian, she had induced 
 Simeon to compose the new prayer, purposing by this 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 105 
 
 means to wreak her vengeance upon the girl whose 
 beauty had been preferred to her own. 
 
 This sudden revelation of the character of the prin- 
 cess, the subtlety of her plot, the wickedness of masking 
 it under the guise of religion, came upon Vashti with 
 a shock so great as almost to drive the scourging from 
 her mind. For the moment her only thought was, how 
 could the princess be so wicked? 
 
 " Officers, the lash ! " said Berenice, spurning the 
 suppliant girl with her foot. 
 
 " Hold, let the maiden be ! " cried a voice coming 
 from the rear of the synagogue. 
 
 There was a great start on the part of Berenice, 
 who knew not till then that Crispus was in the syna- 
 gogue. 
 
 Vashti started, but it was with joy. Gone in a 
 moment was her sense of fear. She turned her eyes 
 from the two men who held her to the stately figure of 
 the Roman stalking up the floor of the synagogue, 
 determination written upon his countenance. Her 
 trusting and beautiful smile set Berenice's heart thrill- 
 ing with pangs of jealousy impossible to describe. Her 
 plot for the humiliation of Vashti seemed likely to 
 end in creating another link of sympathy between the 
 two whom she would fain keep apart. 
 
 Amid a death-like silence Crispus, followed by the 
 faithful Rufus, made his way to the front. There 
 was in his cold eye a gleam that caused the two officers 
 to let go Vashti, who, released from their hold, would 
 have fallen but for the supporting arm of Crispus. 
 
 He turned to face the angry assembly, who were 
 beginning to murmur at seeing the hateful " apostate " 
 snatched from their hands by an authority equally hate- 
 ful. A stranger in Jerusalem, Crispus was unknown 
 both to the congregation and to Agrippa, which last 
 took him to be some meddlesome officer from Antonia, 
 bent on exercising an authority to which he had no 
 claim. 
 
106 The Doomed City 
 
 He started to his feet with an angry air. 
 
 " Who is this that seeks to interfere with the course 
 of Jewish justice? Know you not that I am Agrippa, 
 the great king? Who art thou? " 
 
 " My friend," said Rufus quietly, " is Crispus Ces- 
 tius, son of the Syrian Legate, a maker of kings, and 
 — an unmaker." 
 
 This answer completely confounded Agrippa. He 
 recognized the wisdom of becoming immediately humble. 
 The authority of the Propraetor of Syria, the Ruler of 
 the East, soared far above that of Judaean procurators 
 and Herodian kings. A hint from him to the Roman 
 Senate that Agrippa was unworthy of his post would 
 be quite sufficient to deprive him of his crown. Smooth- 
 ing his brows, and assuming a smile that in no way 
 harmonized with his inward feelings, he said: 
 
 " And what would the noble Crispus have of us? " 
 
 " The release of this maiden." 
 
 The politic Agrippa, on the point of granting the 
 request, was stayed by his more strong-minded sister, 
 who was not disposed to let the captive go without at 
 least a protest. 
 
 "By whose authority do you make this demand?" 
 
 " By that of the Legate of Syria." 
 
 " Will you let us see in the Legate's own handwriting 
 the order for the release of Vashti, daughter of Hyr- 
 canus?" said Berenice, sarcastically. 
 
 " He acts by me, his secretary and deputy." 
 
 "How know we that he will confirm your act? " 
 
 " Should he refuse to do so I will restore the maiden 
 to your hands," said Crispus, who knew that he was 
 quite safe in giving this pledge. 
 
 Taking courage by his sister's example, Agrippa 
 now ventured upon a mild protest. 
 
 " But, noble Crispus, you are infringing Jewish 
 rights. The Legate hath no jurisdiction over the in- 
 ternal affairs of our synagogues." 
 
 Crispus gave a disdainful smile. 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 107 
 
 " The authority of Cestius Gallus is supreme over 
 every matter, small or great, within the province of 
 Syria; he has power to reverse any judicial sentence, 
 whether of basihca or synagogue, that he deems un- 
 just, as he will certainly deem this to be when it comes 
 to his hearing. Do you question his authority, O 
 king? " 
 
 Berenice answered for her brother. 
 
 " It is not to be doubted," said she, " that a fond 
 father will ratify the action of a foolish son. Pro- 
 nounce the damsel free, Agrippa. Ca?sar at Rome may 
 burn Christians alive, but we of Judsea must not even 
 whip them. The great Crispus forbids it." And gath- 
 ering her robe around her she swept out with a proud 
 and scornful air. 
 
 The two Romans — no man daring to stay them — 
 proceeded to remove the trembling Vashti from the 
 synagogue, and, attended by the decurion Quintus, they 
 conducted her to the gate of her house in the street 
 of Millo. 
 
 " So, Vashti, you are a Christian ? " said Crispus. 
 "I think I understand now the allusion in the poet 
 Bianor, ' By the Fish we are saved.' " 
 
 She smiled, pleased to think that he had remembered 
 her words. 
 
 "Under the name of 'The Fish,'" said she, "we 
 symbolize our Divine Master, who leads us through the 
 waters of baptism." 
 
 As she spoke — they were standing at the time within 
 the gateway of her dwelling — their ears were caught 
 by the tread of numerous feet accompanied by fierce 
 cries, and looking whence these sounds proceeded they 
 saw, coming at a quick pace and with faces expressive 
 of the wildest excitement, a mob of Jews, some carry- 
 ing steel weapons and others wooden clubs. 
 
 In a moment the three Romans sprang within the 
 stone passage, dragging Vashti with them, and closed 
 and barred the gate. 
 
108 The Boomed City 
 
 They soon discovered, however, that they were not 
 the objects of attack; it was doubtful whether they 
 had even been seen. Like the rush of a whirlwind the 
 crowd swept past the gateway, rending the air with 
 their cries. 
 
 Similar sounds, proceeding from the adjacent streets, 
 showed that these also were being traversed by excited 
 throngs. 
 
 " Down with Florus ! " shouted some. 
 
 " That's a saying with which I can very well sympa- 
 thize," said Rufus. 
 
 " Death to the Romans ! " cried others. 
 
 *' Ha ! that's a different matter. That touches you 
 and me," he continued, addressing Crispus. 
 
 " The temple of the Lord ! The temple of the Lord ! 
 Sacrilege ! Sacrilege ! " 
 
 Successive waves of people rolled along the street, 
 voluble women among them, dragging their slow-mov- 
 ing children by the hand. Their fragmentary talk 
 soon enabled the listening Romans to gather the cause 
 of all this excitement. 
 
 Florus had sent to Agrippa demanding seventeen 
 talents from the Corban, saying that he wanted them 
 for Cffisar. 
 
 The Jewish mind was fired to wrath not so much by 
 the amount itself — which was rather a small one for 
 a man of Florus' rapacity, the sum being about £6,000 
 in modern English currency — but by the fact that the 
 demand was made upon the Corban or Temple treas- 
 ury. The gold deposited there was regarded as sacred 
 to Jehovah, to be used only in His service ; the diverting 
 of even a single shekel of it to any other purpose was, 
 in the eyes of the frenzied Jew, one of the greatest 
 of crimes. It would be a crime if committed by the 
 high priest himself; but when the demand came from 
 a heathen, unclean, uncircumcized, rapacious, whose ob- 
 ject, as all well knew, was not to transmit the money 
 to C<esar but to spend it upon his own sensual pleas- 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 109 
 
 ures, it was no wonder that the contemplated profana- 
 tion should fire the blood of every Jew, and send him 
 running with all haste to prevent the sacrilegious deed. 
 
 " It is as I have said," whispered Rufus to Crispus. 
 " Florus is purposely trying to create a revolt." 
 
 " Vain is it for Rome to boast of her justice," sighed 
 Crispus, " when she sends forth governors such as 
 Florus." 
 
 " If there be an uproar in the temple," continued 
 Rufus, " it is my duty to quell it." 
 
 As soon as the street of Millo had become compara- 
 tively quiet the three Romans stole forth, taking a 
 wide circuit so as to arrive upon the north side of 
 Antonia, the side farthest from the temple. 
 
 On their way they encountered a company of youth- 
 ful and richly-dressed Jews, who, basket on arm, in 
 imitation of beggars, were soliciting alms by way of 
 casting ridicule upon the procurator. 
 
 " Give an obolus for Florus, he is so poor ! " they 
 whined in a mocking voice. 
 
 " Woe to them if Florus gets to hear of it ! " mut- 
 tered Rufus. 
 
 On arriving at the Turris Antonia he found that his 
 centurions had taken all precautions for the safety of 
 the fortress. Upon the roof of the cloisters facing 
 the bridge that connected the fortress with the temple, 
 fhe Italian Cohort was drawn up in all the glittering 
 panoply of war, their silence and discipline presenting 
 a striking contrast to the tumult and disorder that was 
 raging not many yards distant. 
 
 The temple-courts were filled with a crowd so num- 
 erous that it seemed as if the whole city must have 
 assembled there. To the mind of Crispus with his 
 Roman love of order there was something peculiarly 
 repulsive in the spectacle before him. It was an Orien- 
 tal mob, and like all Oriental mobs when inflamed with 
 rage, its units behaved like frenzied demons. They 
 spat towards the Romans ; they tossed their garments ; 
 
110 The Doomed City 
 
 they shook their fists ; thej yelled out curses ; they cast 
 dust into the air. 
 
 The wilder spirits among them took to flinging 
 stones, the rattle of which, falling upon the brazen 
 armor of the soldiery, was audible above the tumult 
 of voices ; of all which the superbly disciplined Roman 
 troops took no more heed than a man takes of gnats 
 on a summer eve. 
 
 Rufus, advancing to the head of the stairs that 
 descended to the temple-court, lifted his hand. The 
 sign was perceived and understood, but it was some 
 time ere the crowd quieted down to a listening mood. 
 
 Standing upon the very place where, eight years 
 previously. Saint Paul had addressed a raging mob, 
 and speaking in the same language — the Syro-Chaldaic 
 — Rufus sought to pacify the fears of the multitude. 
 
 Florus, it seemed, had demanded seventeen talents 
 to be taken from the Corban. He — Rufus — was not 
 prepared to say that the Jews were wrong in resenting 
 this demand ; as the servant of Florus it was not his 
 business to criticise the actions of his master, but the 
 Jews were certainly wrong in their way of showing 
 their disapproval. The lawful method was to dispatch 
 an embassy to Florus to state why they considered 
 the demand unreasonable. Let them do so without 
 delay. If they were now assembling under the belief 
 that he — Rufus — was going to invade their sanctuary 
 for the purpose of seizing the seventeen talents they 
 were in error ; he had not received any such order from 
 Florus, and till such order came he would be en- 
 dangering his own head if he should venture to fore- 
 stall the will of the procurator. They could, therefore, 
 depart quietly to their homes in the full assurance that 
 their treasures would remain untouched for that day, 
 at least, and probably for several days to come. As 
 to what might ultimately happen, well, it was not wise 
 to anticipate evil. 
 
 Rufus had scarcely made an end of speaking when 
 
What Happened in the Royal Synagogue 111 
 
 on the still air rose the chiming of the silver trumpets, 
 blown bj the priests as a signal that the hour had come 
 for the closing of the temple. 
 
 The crowd murmured, hesitated, but finally departed 
 m peaceful fashion, and the great temple-courts were 
 left to silence. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 " LET US GO HENCE ! " 
 
 It was the evening of Crispus' first day in Jerusalem, 
 and Rufus, who, as the Roman overlord of the terriple, 
 had free access to its outer courts during any hour 
 of the day or night, now suggested a quiet and con- 
 templative walk around its cloisters. 
 
 " Come ! " said he, " and I will show you the strong- 
 est FORTRESS IN THE WORLD ! " 
 
 By the glorious light of an Eastern moon, that sil- 
 vered the sleeping city and the peaceful hills around 
 it, the two Romans crossed the arch connecting the 
 fortress Antonia with the northern side of the Temple 
 Hill, the hill anciently known by the name of Mount 
 Moriah. 
 
 They descended a flight of stairs and entered the 
 northern cloister of the temple, a cloister divided into 
 two long aisles by lines of marble columns, forty feet 
 in height, and formed of marble, beautifully polished. 
 
 " Each of these columns," remarked Rufus, " con- 
 sists of a single block." 
 
 The roof of the cloister was of cedar, curiously 
 graven, and the pavement a mosaic of many colors. 
 
 This magnificent colonnade was reared upon the very 
 edge of the scarped cliff, and extended in a direct line 
 east and west for a length of more than one thousand 
 feet. 
 
 " The temple-platform," observed Rufus, " as you 
 will see, after having gone round it, forms an irregular 
 quadrangle, and occupies the flat summit of a pre- 
 cipitous rock. We'll inspect all four sides in turn. 
 First, what think you of this, the northern side.? " 
 
 113 
 
"Let Us Go Hence!" 113 
 
 Crispus turned his eyes upon Antonia, frowning 
 white in the moonlight from the other side of the 
 ravine. 
 
 " Throw down that arch," said he, " and you make 
 this side of the temple practically unassailable, and — ■ 
 but whom have we here ? " he added, breaking off sud- 
 denly. 
 
 Slowly making their way along the cloister came 
 a band of men clothed in semi-military garb, and bear- 
 ing spears. A few carried torches, whose yellow glare 
 was reflected from the polished surface of column and 
 pavement. 
 
 " Be it known to you," said Rufus, " that the temple 
 has tiDo captains, Roman and Jewish. While it is my 
 duty from Antonia to keep watch over the temple, it 
 is the dutj^ of yon officer to keep watch zcithin it. This 
 is the Levitical guard going its round. Woe to the 
 sentinel whom they find asleep. They'll beat him with 
 clubs, or wake him by setting fire to his clothing." 
 
 " Who is the fierce-looking hero marching at their 
 head.?" 
 
 " That, my dear Crispus, is the rival captain of the 
 temple, Eleazar, son of the ex-high priest Ananias, 
 whom you have already seen at Csesarea. Betwixt 
 father and son is open war. Ananias, suave and polite, 
 courts the good graces of the Romans ; Eleazar, sullen 
 and fierce, boasts his hatred of us. He is said to be 
 secretly leagued with Zealot banditti, and to have 
 known more than he ought of the doings of Simon 
 the Black. Indeed, Quintus is of opinion that the fugi- 
 tive Zealot, with the connivance of Eleazar, is at the 
 present moment hiding within the sanctuary. If so, 
 he is secure from arrest, for Cassar himself may not 
 enter there. So deep a scorn hath this Eleazar for 
 Romans that he refuses to return their salutations. Be 
 thyself a witness." 
 
 The Levitical guard had by this time reached the 
 place where the two Romans were standing. 
 
114 The Doomed City 
 
 " Peace to you, Eleazar," said Rufus, raising his 
 hand in salute. 
 
 But the Jewish captain marched past at the head 
 of his guard, taking no notice whatever of the Roman. 
 
 Rufus laughed with good-humored contempt. 
 
 " What did I tell you.? " said he to Crispus. " That 
 was not well done, Eleazar," he called out after the 
 receding figure. " Johanan ben Zacchai makes it his 
 boast ^^ that he never yet let Gentile forestall him in 
 giving the salaam." 
 
 Speaking thus, Rufus led the way to the eastern 
 cloister, which, extending in an even line due north 
 and south, formed the second side of the irregular 
 square. 
 
 " Now here we have a truly Titanic work," he said. 
 " When the temple was first planned by an ancient king 
 called Solomon, he found the summit of the hill too 
 small for his architectural ideas, so what did he do 
 but rear a wall sheer up from the valley below till it 
 was on a level with the top of the mount; the vacancy 
 betwixt the wall and the mount was then filled in with 
 earth and stone, and on the esplanade thus formed was 
 built this grand colonnade, which we now see ; hence its 
 name, Solomon's Colonnade. From the summit of yon 
 pinnacle at the southeast corner the plumb-line falls 
 a sheer descent of four hundred and fifty feet — at least 
 so say the priests who have measured it. Cast your 
 eye downward, and mark the depth ! " 
 
 As Crispus leaned far over the stone balustrade, and 
 ran his eye first to the right and then to the left along 
 the vast mass of masonry, rising vertically in mid-air, 
 he muttered : " The gods themselves would not dare 
 attack the temple from this side." 
 
 Far down, scarcely visible, glinted a slender line of 
 water. 
 
 " The brook Cedron," said Rufus, " flowing to-day, 
 dry in summer. The name Cedron, or Black, is justly 
 deserved, for into the rivulet flows the black blood of 
 
''Let Us Go Hence!" 115 
 
 the daily sacrifices conducted thither by channels bored 
 through the solid rock." 
 
 " How name you yon fair hill in front of us ? " 
 
 " The Mount of Olives, so called from its trees. 
 Come, view we now the third side." 
 
 They passed on to the southern cloister, which, like 
 the eastern, was built upon a vast substructure of 
 masonry rising in massive grandeur from the valley 
 below. 
 
 " This," said Rufus, " bears the name of the Royal 
 Colonnade, as being the grandest of all, for whereas 
 the other cloisters have but two rows of pillars, this 
 has four. And mark them ! Each column is a mono- 
 lith, fifty feet in height, and as to its thickness, three 
 men with joined hands can scarcely encircle it." 
 
 This Royal Colonnade, open on the side towards the 
 temple, was closed upon the other by a wall. The two, 
 therefore, mounted a staircase and walked along its' 
 roof. 
 
 " Those houses whose roofs you see beneath us ex- 
 tending far to the southward, form the suburb of 
 Ophel, the residence of the priests and their servants, 
 the Levites and Nethinim, whose duty necessitates their 
 living near the temple." 
 
 " It seems to me," muttered Crispus, as he gazed 
 downwards, " that he would be a bold general who would 
 venture to make his attack from the south side." 
 
 Walking onward, they came to the last, or western 
 cloister, whose edge overhung the ravine known as the 
 Valley of Tyropaeon, a deep cleft that completely sev- 
 ered the temple-mount both from Acra or the Lower 
 City, which lay due west, and from Zion or the Upper 
 City, which lay to the southwest. 
 
 The temple-hill and Mount Zion were joined by a 
 stone bridge, a magnificent structure, being in length 
 354 feet, and having a roadway 50 feet broad; in 
 the center the depth of the valley beneath was 225 
 feet! 
 
116 The Doomed City 
 
 " Well, what think you of this — the fourth side ? " 
 
 " Destroy the bridge, and you make this part of 
 the temple inaccessible." 
 
 " Yet this was the side — there was no bridge then — 
 that our great Pompey successfully stormed." 
 
 " It speaks ill for the skill of the defenders." 
 
 " But well for the courage of the Romans — eh .'' But 
 I doubt whether even Pompey would have carried his 
 assault had not Jewish superstition favored him." 
 
 " In what way.'' " 
 
 " He was told that the JeAvs had such reverence for 
 the Sabbath that they would not fight on that day un- 
 less actually attacked. He therefore spent every Sab- 
 bath in raising huge mounds, and the rest of the week 
 in guarding them ; at the end of twelve months he made 
 his triumphal attack." 
 
 " Would the Jews again act so supinely, think you.'' " 
 
 " I doubt it. Since then they have seen the folly of 
 their ways." 
 
 Having walked all round the colonnades to the point 
 whence they set out, the two friends now passed into 
 the spacious court open to the sky. In the middle of 
 this court rose the Sanctuary, or the Temple properly 
 so called. 
 
 " It stands, if you will believe the Jews, upon the 
 very center of the earth's surface," remarked Rufus. 
 " In the adytum the stone upon which the high priest 
 deposits his censer upon the Day of Atonement is re- 
 garded as the navel of the earth." 
 
 Crispus, approaching the edifice upon its north side, 
 experienced a strange thrill as he beheld, just as 
 it had appeared in the dream, the golden-latticed 
 window through which he had flung the incendiary 
 torch. 
 
 " Do you know, Rufus, to what room that window 
 belongs ? " he asked, pointing it out. 
 
 " 'Tis one of the windows of the Hall Gazith, the 
 chamber in which the Sanhedrim meet to try those 
 
''Let Us Go Hence!'' 117 
 
 accused on a capital charge. Among others condemned 
 there, was the founder of the sect of the Christians, 
 who worship their Master as a god; though, methinks, 
 if he had aught of divinity in him he should have 
 delivered himself from his enemies." 
 
 They walked round to the east, the quarter that gave 
 them the finest view of the edifice. 
 
 It was a fabric of white marble, inferior, doubtless, 
 in point of beauty to the graceful temples of Greece, 
 but far superior to them in size and magnificence ; and 
 as for solidity, Rufus was careful to point out to the 
 wondering Crispus that some of the blocks composing 
 the external wall were no less than sixty feet in 
 length ! 
 
 " A fortress within a fortress ! " he murmured, view- 
 ing the fabric with the eye of a soldier. " He who cap- 
 tures the cloisters has but begun his work." 
 
 But the glories hidden within the Sanctuary were 
 not for the gaze of Gentiles. Around the whole of the 
 edifice ran a low marble balustrade — the " middle wall 
 of partition " — ^whose dwarf pilasters bore inscriptions 
 in Greek and Latin, forbidding the alien to proceed 
 further on pain of death. 
 
 Here and there, as Crispus could see, half-concealed 
 in the shadows of the temple-wall, stood the dusky 
 forms of sentinels, who, though to all appearances 
 inert, were nevertheless keeping a jealous watch upon 
 the two Romans. 
 
 The floor of the Sanctuary was not upon the same 
 level as the floor of the Court of the Gentiles, but 
 stood at an altitude of twenty-two feet above it, upon 
 the summit of a solid platform of masonry. 
 
 This elevation was ascended by a stately flight of 
 stairs leading up to a magnificent pylon, whose two- 
 fold gate was richly plated with Corinthian bronze, 
 a composite metal, more esteemed in that age than 
 silver or gold. 
 
 " The Eastern or Corinthian Gate," remarked Rufus. 
 
118 The Doomed City 
 
 Though access to the temple was forbidden to the 
 Romans, there was not wanting even upon its very 
 forefront the sign of the Roman dominion. 
 
 Over this gateway was the golden image of an eagle 
 with extended wings, a surprising sight in view of 
 the Jewish hatred of sculpture, 
 
 " Placed there by Herod the Great out of compli- 
 ment to Augustus, and though many a fiery Zealot 
 has climbed up there with intent to hew it down, our 
 procurators have determined to keep it there." 
 
 Having taken as close a view of the edifice as was 
 permissible, Crispus drew back to contemplate it from 
 a distance. 
 
 He had all a Roman's reverence for antiquity, and 
 the thought that the smoke of the daily sacrifice had 
 ascended from this temple for the space of more than 
 a thousand years was well adapted to impress his imagi- 
 nation. 
 
 Hallowed by the white light of the moon, the fabric 
 rose with solemn and majestic air, the very stillness 
 resting upon it seeming to have in it something of the 
 divine. 
 
 He was tempted almost to believe in the strange 
 miracles said to have occurred here — above all in the 
 permanent miracle asserted by every Jew that the dark, 
 central shrine, curtained ofF from mortal view, and 
 never trodden by human foot save once a year only, 
 was the dwelling-place of the deity himself ! 
 
 A light touch upon his arm ended this reverie, and 
 Crispus, on turning, found himself looking into the 
 eyes of the Princess Berenice — A^ery lovely eyes they 
 were, too ! — yet in them he fancied he could detect a 
 light as of fear, due perhaps to the wild belief that 
 he had come to take a clandestine view of the temple 
 as a preliminary to the flinging of the incendiary 
 torch. 
 
 "What do you here, princess?" 
 
 " Keeping watch upon you," she said with a laugh 
 
''Let Us Go Hence!'' 119 
 
 that was not all a laugh. " It is my habit to walk at 
 night in these courts." 
 
 Rufus at this juncture thought fit to slip quietly 
 away, leaving the two together. 
 
 Crispus thought of the circumstances in which he 
 had last seen the princess. 
 
 "Why look you so earnestly at me?" smiled Bere- 
 nice, becoming conscious of a very attentive gaze on 
 his part. 
 
 " I am wondering, princess, why eyes so beautiful 
 and gracious as yours are now could look so pitilessly 
 upon poor Vashti." 
 
 " My love for my religion is such that it makes me 
 cold, even cruel, to all who oppose it." 
 
 Her statement was probably true in a general sense, 
 but Crispus doubted whether she had been moved by 
 religious zeal in the case of Vashti. 
 
 " Then you must hate me, who am likewise opposed 
 to your religion ? " 
 
 " Nay, you are not an apostate. You have never 
 known the truth." 
 
 And then, as if anxious to get away from the syna- 
 gogue scene, in which she was conscious that she had 
 not appeared to advantage in Crispus' eyes, she pointed 
 to the Sanctuary and said: 
 
 "Do you not think it beautiful.'*" 
 
 " 'Twere wrong to think otherwise." 
 
 " Too beautiful to be wantonly destroyed," she said 
 significantly. 
 
 " You see me without the fatal torch — as yet." 
 
 " As yet ? " she repeated, with a touch of fear in 
 her voice. " You are not — you are not letting that 
 dream still hold a place in your thoughts?" 
 
 " Whatever opposes Rome must be destroyed, even 
 if it be a temple." 
 
 " You would destroy our temple? You cannot," she 
 said, speaking with a vehemence that surprised, and 
 even startled Crispus, " you cannot. It is beyond the 
 
120 The Doomed City 
 
 power of Caesar and his legions. Let all the nations of 
 the earth league together for that end, and they would 
 fail. The temple is eternal, and cannot be destroyed, 
 for our prophets have so assured us. The world was 
 made for the sake of the temple," — she was but 
 repeating the doctrine of the rabbis — " and so long 
 as the world shall stand, so long will the temple stand. 
 When the last day shall come," she continued, her eyes 
 shining with all the enthusiasm of a devotee, " there 
 will still be seen the smoke of the sacrifice ascending 
 from the altar. It is the place loved of God, the place 
 where He has chosen to put His name forever." 
 
 So spoke Berenice, and perhaps never in the history 
 of the world did words meet with a rebuke more start- 
 ling and more significant. 
 
 For scarcely had she finished speaking when there 
 rose upon the air a mysterious something that caused 
 her to grasp the arm of Crispus with a convulsive start. 
 
 From the hidden interior of the Sanctuary there 
 came a sound that bore — to compare it with earthly 
 things — some resemblance to the rising of a wind ; faint 
 at first, its volume increased, little by little, till, issuing 
 from the Sanctuary, what seemed to be a rush of air 
 swept through the temple-courts. 
 
 A wind, and yet no wind ! It had no effect upon 
 external objects: not a fold of Crispus' toga waved; 
 not a hair of the princess was stirred. 
 
 What was happening was like nothing earthly ; the 
 sense of a mysterious and unseen presence struck an 
 awe to the soul of Crispus. If he had never before 
 believed in the supernatural, he believed in it now; if 
 he had never before felt fear, he felt it now. The hand 
 which his first impulse had sent to his sword dropped 
 powerlessly to his side again. What availed the might 
 of a legion, or of ten thousand such, against invisible 
 and spiritual powers? 
 
 Terror had laid hold of Berenice ; half -swooning she 
 sank upon her knees, her hands still clinging to the 
 
''Let Us Go Hence! '' 121 
 
 wrist of Crispus ; but for his detaining hold she would 
 have fallen prone upon the pavement. 
 
 Closing her eyes as if to shut out some awful vision 
 that was about to appear, she faintly gasped with 
 blanched lips : " The bath col! " 
 
 She was not alone in her belief. From different parts 
 of the temple-court persons, hitherto unseen by Crispus 
 — priests, Levites, Nethinim — had suddenly started 
 into view, and were gazing up at the lofty temple, 
 whose long and magnificent fa9ade gleamed like a bank 
 of pearl in the moonlight. And one cry only broke 
 from their lips, to die away in a feeling of mingled awe 
 and terror: 
 
 " THE BATH COL ! THE BATH COL ! " 
 
 Crispus was sufficiently familiar with this phrase to 
 know that it meant the voice of the deity. 
 
 Did this " sound as of a rushing mighty wind " 
 really emanate from the Hebrew God who was said to 
 ride upon the whirlwind, and to speak in the voice of 
 the thunder.? 
 
 That was the belief of the Jews assembled in the 
 court ; they were about to hear the awful voice that 
 had spoken to their fathers from Sinai ! 
 
 Slowly — very slowly — the quivering, continuous flow 
 of sound died away. For a brief space there was a 
 weird spell of silence ; then came a sudden clangor, 
 startling by contrast with the previous stillness, a 
 clangor like that of hollow brass struck by a giant 
 hand. 
 
 All eyes turned instantly upon the Corinthian Gate 
 of the Sanctuary. That great gate, whose folding- 
 doors of plated bronze were so ponderous as to require 
 the united strength of twenty men to turn them on 
 their hinges, was now slowly revolving inwards as if 
 yielding to some invisible pressure from without. 
 
 Wider and wider grew the space between the two 
 doors, till at last they had revolved so far back that 
 they could revolve no farther. 
 
122 The Boomed City 
 
 The gate had opened apparently of its own accord! 
 
 And now came an awe-inspiring sequel. 
 
 From the interior of the Sanctuary issued a solemn 
 voice, crying in the Hebrew tongue: 
 
 " LET US GO HENCE ! " " 
 
 All trembled at the sound; none more than Crispus. 
 
 " The voice that spoke in my dream ! " 
 
 This moment of supieme and thrilling terror was 
 followed by a sequence of sounds suggestive of the de- 
 parture of a vast multitude. It seemed as if ten 
 thousand feet were descending the lofty stairs of the 
 Corinthian Gate, and were treading the pavement of 
 the forecourt. Yet neither shape nor shadow met the 
 gaze of the appalled and trembling Jews, who had 
 drawn together in one dense throng as if for pro- 
 tection against — they knew not what! 
 
 As for Crispus, had he wished to describe his feelings 
 at this awful moment he might have employed the 
 language of the sacred writer : " Fear came upon me 
 and a trembling that made all my bones to shake. 
 Then a spirit passed before my face ; it stood still, 
 but I could not discern the form thereof ! " 
 
 For there was a flowing of air past him, as if some 
 long procession were going by ; he could detect the 
 sound of rustling garments and of sighing voices ; yet 
 had his life depended upon the action, he durst not 
 put forth his hand to test whether the unseen train that 
 was gliding past were palpable to the touch. 
 
 The sounds passed on, taking their way through the 
 eastern cloister ; and, mounting upon the wings of the 
 night, they melted away in the direction of Olivet. 
 
 Long, long after the mysterious voices had ceased, 
 the Jews, filled with a divine awe, stood speechless and 
 motionless, as if fearful lest their speaking should 
 call forth the wrath of departing deity. 
 
 Among the group was the famous rabbi, Johanan 
 ben Zacchai. He was the first to find tongue. 
 
 Pointing to the interior of the Corinthian gateway, 
 
*' Let Us Go Hence/"' 123 
 
 with its walls and roof fashioned from the cedar of 
 Libanus, he cried in a solemn tone: 
 
 " The end of the temple hath come, for this is that 
 which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ' Open thy 
 
 cedar; n-?^''""'"' ''''' '^' '^^ "^^^ ^-°- % 
 and"trembkd* ''"''^ "^'*^'" ^"''""'"^ ^""^'"^ ^* ^''^'P"' 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE VENGEANCE OF FLORUS 
 
 Florus was in Jerusalem, and — sinister omen ! — an 
 armed legion with him. 
 
 Following fast upon the dispatch of his letter de- 
 manding the seventeen talents, he had taken up his 
 abode in the old palace erected by Herod the Great 
 upon Mount Zion. This, as being the usual residence 
 of the procurators while at Jerusalem, had received the 
 Roman name of Prsetorium. 
 
 Its two colossal wings of white marble, the Csesareum 
 and the Agrippeum, named respectively after Augustus 
 and his great minister, were united by a long terrace, 
 which, from its tesselated flooring, was called by the 
 Romans the Pavement, but by the Jews Gabbatha, or 
 the Elevation. 
 
 On the morning after the arrival of Florus, a vast 
 concourse of Jewish citizens assembled in front of this 
 terrace when it became known that the procurator had 
 summoned the members of the Sanhedrim thither for 
 the purpose of interrogating them as to the riot that 
 had taken place three days previously. 
 
 Among those who came was the crafty Sadducean 
 priest Ananias, who hoped, by reason of his private 
 friendship with Florus, to dispose that tyrant to pacific 
 measures. 
 
 Beside him, glooming within himself, was his eldest 
 son, the fierce, dark-browed Eleazar, captain of the 
 temple, whose wrath was scarcely to be restrained by 
 the whispered admonitions of his more politic father. 
 
 Florus, disposed for reasons of his own to receive 
 the Sanhedrim in the open air, had given orders for 
 
 134 
 
The Vengeance of Florus 125 
 
 his curule chair to be brought forth, and set down upon 
 the Pavement midway between the two wings. 
 
 In the rear of this elevated tribunal and along its 
 whole length glittered the brazen bucklers and crested 
 helmets of the legionaries ; they flanked the walls of 
 the two wings likewise, so that the whole military force 
 formed the three sides of a rectangle, the fourth being 
 open to the view of the public. 
 
 These troops were the Twentieth Legion, a force 
 drawn, not like Rufus' Italic Cohort, from native 
 Romans, but from the dregs of the Syrian populace 
 who were forced to a military service from which the 
 Jew, by reason of his religion, was exempt. Hence the 
 feeling of these troops towards the Jewish nation was 
 one of fierce hatred, a hatred that had often shown 
 itself in deeds of blood. Let Florus give but the 
 word and they would not hesitate to massacre every 
 man, woman, and child before the tribunal. 
 
 On this particular morning, as they stood awaiting 
 the coming of the procurator, there was in their man- 
 ner something so sinister and expectant that a secret 
 misgiving, a sense as of tragedy to come, seized upon 
 many of the Sanhedrim. 
 
 Florus appeared at last, and contemptuously ignor- 
 ing the fawning smiles of Ananias stalked to the curule 
 chair, dark, haughty, frowning. 
 
 The herald called for silence, an unnecessary order, 
 seeing that a death-like stillness had fallen upon the 
 occupants both of Gabbatha and the public square. 
 
 Florus' mood was shown by his first question to the 
 Sanhedrim. 
 
 " Is it true that my person has been mocked by the 
 youth of this city, who have gone about, basket on 
 arm, and crying aloud, ' Give an obolus for Florus the 
 Pauper.?'" 
 
 The members of the Sanhedrim looked at one another 
 in alarm. Finally they glanced at Ananias as if invit- 
 ing him to be their spokesman. 
 
126 The Doomed City 
 
 Hiding both hands within the folds of his robe — 
 an Oriental way of showing respect and humility — ■ 
 and making a profound obeisance, Ananias spoke: 
 
 " O Florus, live forever " 
 
 ("Now heaven preserve us from that calamity!" 
 muttered Eleazar.) 
 
 " That certain youth have behaved ill is but too true, 
 and we cannot deny it. But " 
 
 Florus cut him short. 
 
 " Ye see in me the representative of Caesar " 
 
 " None more worthy to represent him, O Florus," 
 said Eleazar, caustically. 
 
 " And he who mocks me, mocks Caesar," continued 
 the procurator with a side glance at Eleazar. " I 
 therefore demand of you, the Sanhedrim, who are re- 
 sponsible for the due maintenance of order in this city, 
 that the youths who have affronted me be handed over 
 here and now to be dealt with as their misdeeds deserve. 
 And if ye fail to produce these malefactors, know that 
 for many days to come ye shall have a tale of sorrow 
 to tell." 
 
 Miserable Sanhedrim ! Among the elder of them 
 were some who, thirty years before, on an occasion never 
 to be forgotten as long as time shall last, had said, 
 and that, too, on the very spot where they were now 
 standing, " We have no king but Cassar." Thus had 
 they made their choice. Verily, then, let them not 
 repine if Caesar, or his representative, should treat them 
 in a manner not according to their liking! 
 
 The hapless Ananias, collecting with difficulty his 
 wits, which had been somewhat scattered by Florus' 
 fierce air, stammered out a deprecatory speech. 
 
 What he said amounted to this : that the people were 
 as a whole peaceably disposed ; some few had done amiss, 
 and for these let pardon be granted, for it was no 
 wonder that in so great a multitude there should be 
 some more daring than they ought to be, and by reason 
 of their youth foolish also. It was, too, a very difficult 
 
The Vengeance of Florus 127 
 
 matter to distinguish the innocent from the guilty ; and 
 seeing that all alike, those who had offended as well as 
 those who had not, were sorry for what had happened, 
 it would become the clemency of Florus to overlook the 
 affair, lest a too stern application of justice should 
 bring about disorders even more grave than those that 
 had already taken place. 
 
 " That last is in the nature of a threat ! " exclaimed 
 Florus fiercely. " Yours is just the sort of speech one 
 would expect from a man who has plotted against the 
 life of a Roman citizen," he continued, with a fine 
 forgetfulness of his own delinquencies. " Disorders 
 more grave will undoubtedly ensue, if the guilty are 
 allowed to walk unpunished. Say without periphrases 
 whether you will, or will not, give up these malefac- 
 tors." 
 
 Ananias hesitated, but Johanan ben Zacchai was 
 bolder than the ex-high priest. 
 
 " We cannot," said he, " consent to give up these 
 youths." 
 
 At this there came a shout of approval from the 
 people assembled before the tribunal. 
 
 Florus glared at them for a moment, and then re- 
 sumed : 
 
 " And yet refuse to make a grant to Caesar of seven- 
 teen talents from the Corban.'' " 
 
 " Shall man rob God.'' " exclaim»ed Eleazar, fiercely. 
 " This, too, we will not do." 
 
 Again a shout of applause, this time louder, from 
 the populace. Florus accepted it for what it was 
 meant, defiance of himself. Turning to the troops in 
 his rear, he cried: 
 
 " Put these rebels to the rout. Plunder the Upper 
 Market. Slay all who oppose." 
 
 Plunder! What more agreeable order for the sol- 
 dier.'* They required no second bidding. Like tigers 
 suddenly let loose they raced across the bema, sweeping 
 the helpless Sanhedrim aside, and drawing their trench- 
 
128 The Boomed City 
 
 ant broadswords thej precipitated themselves upon the 
 defenseless people, striking out right and left, and 
 using not the flat of the blade, but the point and 
 edge. 
 
 It was all the work of a moment. Taken completely 
 by surprise, and without arms to defend themselves, 
 the front ranks, hideously gashed, sank moaning to the 
 ground. The rest of the crowd, aghast at the sight, 
 and suddenly realizing that a massacre was intended, 
 strove to avoid the Roman blades. But for those near- 
 est the bema flight was impossible owing to the density 
 of the throng. Then began a horrible struggle for 
 life ; he who fell in that crowd never rose again, but 
 was trampled to death, trampled out of all recognition ; 
 moved by the instinct of self-preservation everyone 
 strove to thrust his body forward betwixt his neighbors, 
 or failing this, tried to drag his fellow back in the 
 attempt to interpose something between himself and the 
 terrible swords that were steadily coming on from be- 
 hind. 
 
 With the flight of those farthest from the bema, the 
 mass became gradually loosened, and finally breaking 
 into detached groups, fled in all directions, pursued 
 by the shouting and triumphant legionaries. 
 
 But the Romans were not to have it all their own 
 way. Many of the Jews, escaping to the streets ad- 
 jacent to the square, took refuge in the first houses 
 they came to, and having barred the gates, they 
 ascended to the roofs and proceeded to assail the enemy 
 below with tiles and stones. Others who had fled farther 
 afield, procuring weapons or whatever implements might 
 serve as such, retraced their steps, and favored by 
 their knowledge of the narrow and winding streets, 
 ventured to give battle to the Romans, and what is 
 more, contrived for a time to hold them in check. 
 
 The streets of Zion rang with the clang of arms, and 
 the shouts of the combatants. 
 
 News of what was happening came quickly to the 
 
The Vengeance of Florus 129 
 
 ears of Berenice, producing in her mind not only con- 
 sternation, but an agonizing sense of self-reproach. 
 She felt herself to be indirectly the cause of it all. It 
 was Florus' revenge for her rejection of him. Her first 
 impulse was to fly to the procurator, and appeal to 
 him to stay his hand. Her pride revolted from this 
 step. But, as the sound of the fra^^ grew louder and 
 fiercer, she became more agitated ; casting her pride 
 away she resolved to hasten to his tribunal and inter- 
 cede on behalf of her people. 
 
 As a royal princess, she deemed herself secure from 
 molestation by the Roman soldiery ; but, forgetful of 
 the fact that she was unknown by sight to the majority 
 of them, she ran forth from her palace without a single 
 attendant. Fortunately she was seen by her master of 
 the horse, who, collecting as many of her household 
 troops as he conveniently could at a moment's notice, 
 went after her with all speed. 
 
 On coming within sight of the tribunal Berenice 
 paused aghast. Hell itself seemed to be let loose that 
 day. The Jews, captured in the neighboring streets, 
 were being dragged into the square to be ruthlessly 
 slaughtered before the very eyes of Florus. No dis- 
 tinction was made as to age or sex. Even infants, 
 torn from the arms of shrieking mothers, were tossed 
 aloft and caught upon the points of spears. Young 
 girls, tied naked to stakes, were exposed to the brutal 
 jests of the soldiery, who offered their captives liberty 
 if they would but consent to taste a morsel of swine's 
 flesh. 
 
 As Berenice, with reeling brain, stepped forward, she 
 caught sight of a group of drunken soldiers, standing 
 around a bright-eyed Jewish boy, whose age could not 
 have exceeded twelve years. 
 
 "Tell us the name of your God.''" exclaimed a 
 soldier. 
 
 " He is called the Lord," answered the boy, nothing 
 daunted by the ring of fierce faces around him. 
 
130 The Doomed City 
 
 " Well, curse the Lord and you shall live," said a 
 second soldier, menacing the lad with his spear. 
 
 But the little fellow had been too well drilled in the 
 shibboleths of Judaism to do their bidding. 
 
 " Cursed be all they that serve graven images," he 
 replied defiantly. 
 
 " This wolfiing will grow up into a brave wolf," 
 laughed the first soldier. 
 
 " That shall he not," cried the second savagely ; and, 
 raising his pike with both hands, he drove the weapon 
 through the breast of the boy, who, with the one word 
 " Mother ! " fell dead upon the spot. 
 
 " O God ! " gasped Berenice, " canst thou look on 
 and let these men live.? " 
 
 Scarcely able to move for horror, she made her way 
 up the steps of the bema, and drew near to Florus. 
 With hands clasped at the back of his neck, and with 
 one leg thrown carelessly over the other, the procurator 
 was lolling at ease in his curule chair, amusing himself 
 with the fears of a numerous body of richly-dressed 
 captives, who were said, rightly or wrongly, by his 
 spies, to be the very youths that, three days before, 
 had gone about begging money for the indigent Florus. 
 
 " By the way," said he, " why don't you Jews eat 
 pork.?" 
 
 The question drew loud laughter from the senseless 
 soldiers standing by. 
 
 One of the captives ventured the remark that there 
 were some nations that did not eat lamb. 
 
 " And they are quite right," commented Florus. 
 " Lamb is very insipid ; but pork — ah ! that is one of 
 the choicest delicacies the gods have conferred upon 
 mankind, and I swear by Pluto that if ye will not eat 
 of it ye shall die." 
 
 " Florus, in the name of God I adjure you to have 
 pity upon these youths," cried Berenice. " Refrain 
 from further bloodshed." 
 
 The feeling of Florus was a strange mingling of love 
 
The Vengeance of Florus 131 
 
 and hatred as he beheld the distressed princess in all 
 her wild beauty, her hair loosened, her feet bare. 
 
 His first mad impulse — he had been drinking heavily 
 — was to clasp her in his arms and kiss her passion- 
 ately regardless of the spectators ; his next, as he re- 
 called her scornful language at Csesarea, was to spurn 
 her with language equally scornful. 
 
 Hatred triumphed. He had gone too far now to 
 recede, and since he could not have the sweetness of 
 love, he would have the sweetness of revenge. 
 
 Among the captives was a beautiful youth, whose 
 unmistakable air of fearlessness had given secret um- 
 brage to the procurator. 
 
 " Marcus, you here.'* " cried Berenice in dismay. He 
 was known to her as being a worshiper in the Royal 
 Synagogue. 
 
 " Fear not for me, princess. / am safe." 
 
 Self-confidence such as this moved Florus to a frenzy 
 of wrath. 
 
 " Lictors, crucify me this knave who considers him- 
 self so safe." 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! " cried Berenice in an agony of grief. 
 
 The youth, with a proud smile, gave utterance to 
 words that in every province of the empire, save one, 
 had power to stay the hand of even Caesar himself: 
 
 " civis ROMANUS SUM — I am a Roman citizen ! " 
 
 " Ah! So that is thy hope.f* Well, it shall not avail 
 thee. A Roman citizen? Pah! How easy to become 
 such nowadays ! Damas the Jew is a knave, but he 
 has two oboli to spare; so the prastor touches him with 
 a wand, twirls him round, and lo ! Damas the Jew 
 becomes Marcus the Roman, and struts about in a 
 toga." 
 
 And here Florus, leaping up, illustrated his words 
 by strutting about with an air of mock dignity, amid 
 the laughter of his satellites. 
 
 " I am a f reeborn Roman ; nay, more — I am of eques- 
 trian rank." 
 
132 The Boomed City 
 
 it 
 
 A knight — eh? Well, we'll acknowledge thy dig- 
 nity by giving thee a higher cross and painting it 
 purple. Lictors, bring hither a stock." 
 
 In his mad desire to torment to the uttermost the 
 soul of Berenice, Florus did not hesitate to defy Roman 
 law by an outrage so great that Cicero confesses his 
 inability to find a name for it. " It is an offense to 
 bind a Roman citizen ; a crime to scourge him ; almost 
 a parricide to kill him; what, then, shall I say of 
 crucifying him? " 
 
 Such an outrage on the part of a Roman governor 
 might be deemed incredible were it not attested by a 
 contemporary historian. 
 
 " Florus," says Josephus, " dared to do what no 
 governor before his time had ever done — to have men 
 of the equestrian order scourged and nailed to the cross 
 in front of his tribunal, who, although they were 
 Jews by birth, were yet of Roman dignity notwith- 
 standing." 
 
 Desirous of adding not so much to the agony of 
 Marcus as to that of Berenice, Florus, with a cruel 
 smile, issued a fresh order. 
 
 " Hold ! before crucifying the knave we'll scourge 
 him." 
 
 A strange thing is the heart of a woman ! Berenice, 
 who had been willing to subject a young girl to scourg- 
 ing, now shuddered when a similar torture was proposed 
 for a young man. 
 
 As for the victim himself, vainly did he urge his legal 
 right to be transferred from the tribunal of Florus to 
 that of Nero. 
 
 " Appello CcEsarem — I appeal unto Caesar," he 
 cried. 
 
 " Csesar's a long way off," laughed Florus. " In 
 Greece, playing the fool. You'll have to shout a good 
 deal louder, if he's to hear you." 
 
 Deaf to his protests, the lictors stripped the youth 
 of his garments and tied his wrists to a column. He 
 
The Ve7igeance of Florus 133 
 
 tried to be brave, but where is the man that could be 
 brave when subjected to the strokes of the " horrible 
 ftagellum "? 
 
 A thrilling scream burst from Marcus' lips as the 
 leathern thongs, weighted with triangular pieces of 
 lead, descended upon his naked, quivering flesh. 
 
 " O Apollo ! How sweet a voice ! " cried Florus 
 mockingly. " By the gods, Nero must look to his 
 laurels, for he hath a rival. Give him a second stroke. 
 Ah ! a higher note this time. Swing the flagellum again. 
 We'll run him through the whole octave." 
 
 The rest of the captives, apprehensive of the same 
 fate, looked on with blanched cheeks and terror-stricken 
 eyes. 
 
 Berenice's distress of mind made her look like some 
 wild thing. Her manifest agony was a luxury to the 
 soul of Florus. 
 
 " There are twenty of these youths," he whispered, 
 " and they shall all suffer the same fate, scourging and 
 crucifixion. But you can save them, if you will." 
 
 " How.? " gasped Berenice. 
 
 Florus' whispered reply was of a character so in- 
 famous that the indignant princess raised her hand and 
 struck her open palm against his cheek; struck, too, 
 with all her force. 
 
 Smarting with the pain, Florus started back with a 
 very ugly look upon his face. 
 
 " Guards, remove this woman from the bema. What 
 hath she to do with these matters? " 
 
 And the rough soldiery, paying little respect either 
 to her womanhood or to her rank, drove her down 
 the steps of the tribunal." 
 
 Night fell, calm and beautiful. 
 
 The Syrian stars looked down upon the tribunal, 
 whose stones, could they have spoken, might have told 
 how, thirty years before, a wicked populace had cried, 
 " His blood be on us, and on our children! " 
 
134 The Doomed City 
 
 That self-invoked curse was working out its fulfill- 
 ment. 
 
 There, on the very spot where those words had been 
 uttered, stood a multitude of crosses, each lifting a 
 ghastly victim to the midnight sky! 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ** TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL ! " 
 
 During the massacre instigated by Florus, a mas- 
 sacre that numbered no less than three thousand six 
 hundred victims, Crispus, by nature of the case, had 
 been compelled to look helplessly on. 
 
 Side with the Roman troops he could not ; to side 
 with the Jews would have been unpatriotic. His at- 
 tempt at mediation met, like that of Berenice, with an 
 insulting repulse from the procurator. Burning with 
 indignation, he retired to the Turris Antonia and ad- 
 dressed to his father a letter describing the disgrace 
 that had been brought upon the Roman name by Florus, 
 and urging the Legate to come at once with a legion 
 and restore order in Jerusalem by the only method 
 possible, the deposition of the wicked procurator. This 
 letter, when finished, he dispatched to Antioch by the 
 hand of a swift courier. 
 
 Florus, having given ample ground for rebellion, pro- 
 ceeded, in pursuance of the same sinister policy, to take 
 his departure, withdrawing all his troops save one co- 
 hort, and that a divided one, half being allotted to the 
 Praetorium, and half to Antonia. 
 
 Never did the baseness of Florus' character appear 
 more than in this, the final act of his official career. 
 He knew that, in the present excited state of the city, 
 garrisons so slender would offer an irresistible tempta- 
 tion to the seditious. But what cared he for the 
 Romans whom he was leaving behind .'' If the garrisons 
 were massacred, why, so much the better for his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 As Florus looked back upon the city he was leaving 
 
 135 
 
136 TJie Boomed City 
 
 he might have said with a nobler Roman than himself, 
 " Mischief, thou art afoot ; take what course thou 
 wilt." " 
 
 Among the troops ordered to leave Jerusalem upon 
 this occasion was the Italian Cohort of Rufus, who, 
 however great his dislike of the procurator, had, as 
 a loyal soldier, no other course than to do as he was 
 bidden. 
 
 Crispus, determined to remain in the city, betook 
 himself to the Praetorium, and offered his services to 
 its commandant Metilius, who was glad to welcome any 
 auxiliary, and especially one like Crispus, whose sug- 
 gestions for the defense of the palace were not only 
 original, but, what is more, practicable. 
 
 To Metilius' lament that, owing to the lack of the 
 requisite missiles, the balistae and other machines of like 
 character would have to remain idle, Crispus laughingly 
 replied : 
 
 " If it comes to that, we can discharge these statues 
 upon the heads of the mob." 
 
 He was standing at the time in a magnificent hall 
 decorated with sculpture, and, happening to cast a 
 casual eye over the marble masterpieces around him, 
 was so much attracted by one of them that he walked 
 up to it and examined it with an attention that set 
 Metilius wondering. 
 
 The statue represented a beautiful maiden clothed to 
 the feet in a graceful stole. Upon the pedestal was 
 sculptured the one word, Pytliodorls. 
 
 " Pythodoris? " murmured Crispus. "Were not 
 that name graven here I should have called it Vashti." 
 
 For indeed, the statue, both in face and figure, was 
 so like the Hebrew maiden that anyone acquainted with 
 her might very well have supposed that it was intended 
 for no other person. 
 
 " Pythodoris .? " said Crispus reflectively. " The 
 name is new to me. Who is she, or perhaps I ought to 
 say, who was she.? " 
 
'' To Your Tents, O Israel! '* 137 
 
 Metilius confessed himself unable to satisfy the 
 curiosity of Crispus. He, too, had never heard the 
 name. 
 
 " This much I know about the statue," remarked 
 he ; " that it is a recent addition to this gallery, and 
 was, I believe, a gift of King Polemo." 
 
 The introduction of the Pontic king's name added 
 not a little to Crispus' perplexity. 
 
 " The lady evidently is, or was, a queen," observed 
 Metilius, pointing to the Oriental diadem upon the 
 head of the figure. 
 
 Surveying the statue more closely, Crispus saw en- 
 graved upon the sandal in minute letters, AA202 
 EnOIEI. 
 
 " ' The workmanship of Lasus,' " said he, reading 
 the name of a sculptor well known at the beginning 
 of the first century. " 'Tis fifty years ago since he 
 died, so we may conclude that this is the image of a 
 queen no longer living. How to account for her re- 
 semblance to Vashti.'' But," he added suddenly, cutting 
 the matter short, " we do wrong to stand musing here, 
 when there are graver matters to attend to." 
 
 Herein Crispus spoke truly. The seditiously-dis- 
 posed among the Jews had noted with secret joy that 
 Florus had left the city all but denuded of troops. 
 What could the two slender garrisons of three hundred 
 each do against the whole city? To neglect such a 
 golden opportunity for the recovery of freedom was 
 a contravening of the will of Elohim, who must surely 
 have brought about this arrangement for the good of 
 the holy seed. 
 
 Day by day affairs grew more threatening ; in the 
 temple-courts and In the synagogues, fiery Zealots from 
 the mountains, and wild-eyed prophets from the desert, 
 declared to the credulous multitude that all the signs 
 of the times pointed to the near advent of the long- 
 promised Messiah, when the Jewish nation should not 
 only be free, but should reign supreme over all the 
 
138 The Doomed City 
 
 children of the earth from the rising of the sun to the 
 setting thereof. 
 
 Vainly did Agrippa and Berenice seek to deter the 
 infatuated populace from a course certain to end in 
 the ruin of the Jewish state. 
 
 " To your tents, O Israel ! " was the answer of the 
 Zealots. " What dealings have we with Caesar, or what 
 is our portion in Rome? " 
 
 It was eventide, and the silver trumpets were sound- 
 ing the signal for the closing of the temple-gates, as 
 two figures mounted the stairs leading to the roof of 
 Solomon's Colonnade. 
 
 The one was Eleazar, the captain of the temple, the 
 other Simon of Gerasa, who, during several days, had 
 been living in a secret chamber of the sanctuary ; for 
 Eleazar could not refuse the right of asylum to a 
 patriot whose stores of wealth, acquired by brigandage, 
 had always been sent by secret and devious methods 
 to the temple treasury. 
 
 As the two paced the roof they talked, and seldom 
 in the history of the world has talk been more momen- 
 tous in its consequences. 
 
 " The people are ripe for war," said Eleazar with a 
 fierce, exultant smile. " We'll set them to attack the 
 garrisons in Antonia and the Praetoriura." 
 
 " Whence shall we obtain the necessary arms.'' " 
 
 "You know Masada?" asked Eleazar. 
 
 It would indeed have been strange if Simon had not 
 known the name, at least, of the famous stronghold, 
 emphatically named Masada — " the fortress " — 
 built by Jonathan Maccabasus upon a precipitous cliff, 
 fifteen hundred feet in height, overhanging the waters 
 of the Dead Sea, a fastness in which the treasures of 
 Jerusalem had been deposited for security during the 
 troubled times of the Asamonean monarchy. 
 
 " It contains arms for ten thousand men," continued 
 Eleazar. 
 
"To Your Tents, O Israel!" 139 
 
 *' With a Roman garrison to guard them." 
 
 " Tush ! the garrison is but a slender one, and, aware 
 of this, I have sent off a band to attack the place." 
 
 Simon received this startling news with a grim joy. 
 
 " 'Tis a declaration of war," remarked he. 
 
 " 'Tis meant for such. One must make a beginning." 
 
 "But Masada!" remonstrated Simon. "Art mad.'^ 
 The fortress is impregnable." 
 
 " And therefore the more easily surprised. An im- 
 pregnable fortress always renders its garrison care- 
 less." 
 
 "Who heads this daring expedition?" 
 
 " Manahem, the son of Judas of Galilee." 
 
 " The traitor who bought from Florus the license 
 to plunder ! " exclaimed Simon wrathfully ; for he and 
 Manahem had long been jealous rivals. 
 
 "Shall I repel a man who offers me his services?" 
 answered Eleazar. " Four nights ago he descended 
 from the mountains with his guerilla band, and sought 
 me out, bidding me tell him to do something for the 
 cause. I bade him go and take Masada." 
 
 " If he succeed, he will indeed be a Manahem," 
 sneered Simon, plajang upon his rival's name, which in 
 Hebrew signifies Comforter. 
 
 Overhead hung a dark-blue firmament sparkling with 
 stars, by whose light the nearer hills that " stand round 
 about Jerusalem " were clearly visible ; beyond them, 
 appearing far off on the horizon, was the mount known 
 from old time as Beth-haccerem, whose conspicuous 
 peak had marked it as a suitable station for signaling 
 tidings to Jerusalem by that primitive mode of tele- 
 graph, the beacon-fire. 
 
 Eleazar's eyes were set upon Beth-haccerem, and 
 Simon, following his companion's gaze, was surprised 
 to see a light springing into being upon the dark sum- 
 mit of the distant peak. No evanescent flash, but a 
 light that continued to sparkle and glow; evidently a 
 signal, the meaning of which was known to the priest, 
 
140 The Boomed City 
 
 if one must judge by the satisfaction that gleamed 
 from his dark countenance. 
 
 " Sooner than I durst hope," he murmured. " The 
 impregnable fortress has fallen." 
 
 " Masada? " gasped Simon with a mingled feeling 
 of amazement and jealousy. 
 
 " So is yon light to be interpreted," replied Eleazar. 
 *' The armory of Masada is now in our hands, and 
 to-morrow a train of wagons will come rolling towards 
 Jerusalem laden with weapons for the people." 
 
 " How will your father and the Sanhedrim take this 
 deed of yours ? " 
 
 " Leave me to deal with them," replied Eleazar with 
 a hard smile. 
 
 On the next day a meeting of the Sanhedrim was 
 convened by Matthias, the high priest, for the purpose 
 of considering the course to be observed by that body, 
 should the common people persist in their outspoken 
 determination to take up arms against the Romans. 
 
 At this gathering — held in the temple within the 
 walls of the famous Lishcath Ha-Gazith or Hall of 
 Squares, so named from its checkered pavement — 
 Eleazar came out with a new and startling proposition, 
 upon which he desired a vote should be taken. 
 
 " It hath been the custom in our temple since the 
 days of Herod," said he, " to offer daily a sacrifice 
 for the safety and welfare of the reigning Caesar. But 
 why should we pray for our enemy? why pray for an 
 uncircumcized heathen? why pray for Nero, who in 
 claiming Divine honors insults the name of the Most 
 High? In praying that the life of this blasphemer may 
 be prolonged, what are we doing but praying for the 
 continuance of blasphemy? Brethren and fathers, this 
 must not be. My voice is that from to-day the sacrifice 
 for Cajsar shall cease." 
 
 As soon as Eleazar had resumed his seat, Ananias 
 rose to oppose the daring innovation propounded by 
 his son. 
 
"To Your Tents, O Israel!'' 141 
 
 "However agreeable this proposal may be to our 
 secret inclination," said he, " the question for us is, 
 in what light would Nero regard it, for it will not 
 escape his knowledge. He would take it as an affront 
 — nay, more, as a declaration of war." 
 
 " Let him take it as such," said Eleazar, boldly. 
 Now you reveal your true aim," answered Ananias, 
 " which is to act as a mover of sedition. You would 
 have the Sanhedrim declare war against Rome." 
 
 " War is certain to come — nay, is here now — and 
 there is no other course left for the Sanhedrim but 
 to side with the multitude in their struggle for lib- 
 erty." 
 
 " Not so," cried some, loudest among them beino- 
 Ananias. '^ 
 
 " O then, you will fight on the side of the Romans— 
 a noble act for patriotic Jews ! " 
 
 There is a third course — to remain neutral," said 
 Simeon ben Gamaliel. 
 
 " That way death lies. The people— the fight once 
 begun — will have no neutrals among them. Their cry 
 will be, ' He that is not with us is against us.' " 
 
 "We can leave Jerusalem," said Johanan ben Zac- 
 chai. "Not without cutting yourself off from God. 
 The sacrifices through which He is alone accessible- 
 can they be offered anywhere but in that place where 
 He has chosen to put His name.? Dare we as priests 
 live apart from the temple.^ No! And, since we can- 
 not prevent the war, we must seek to guide its course 
 by putting ourselves at the head of the national move- 
 ment, unless we would see ourselves set aside and rele- 
 gated to obscurity, and even, it may be, given over to 
 prison and to death. It is clear that- 
 
 But at this point the council, at the instigation of 
 Ananias, lifted up their voices in dissent, so loud and 
 "-) prolonged, that the orator was compelled to come 
 ) an end. 
 
 At the first luU, Ananias bade Matthias put the 
 
142 The Boomed City 
 
 question to the vote, and, this being done, the proposi- 
 tion for the abolition of the Caesarean sacrifice was de- 
 feated by a considerable majority. 
 
 " So ends your treason ! " sneered Ananias, address- 
 ing his son. 
 
 Eleazar rose, somewhat pale, but with a defiant smile 
 on his lips. 
 
 " The vote is of no consequence " he began. 
 
 " Hark to him ! " cried Ananias. 
 
 " As captain of the temple, I decree that from to- 
 day no more sacrifices shall be offered on behalf of 
 Caesar." 
 
 "And how will you effect your decree.''" laughed 
 Ananias. 
 
 " Why, thus," replied Eleazar coolly, placing a ram's 
 horn to his lips, and blowing one sharp, shrill note. 
 
 At that sound every door opening into the hall 
 Gazith flew wide revealing a sudden blaze of arms. 
 Then, marching with slow and majestic pace, there filed 
 into the chamber a tall and stately band of Nethinim 
 clad in glittering mail. Moving with admirable order, 
 they ranged themselves along the four walls of the 
 chamber, and then stood, shield and spear at their 
 back, as silent and motionless as statues. 
 
 These Nethinim formed a part of the temple guards, 
 servants of Eleazar, who, independently of their oath 
 of obedience to their captain, were for other reasons 
 devotedly attached to his person. Whatever he should 
 bid them do, that would they do. 
 
 And what was his bidding to be? The silent San- 
 hedrim waited in wonder, indignation, fear. 
 
 " The vote of to-day has taught me," said Eleazar, 
 " who are the friends and who are the foes of Israel. 
 Let those who are on my side," he continued, " move to 
 the right." 
 
 The invitation was accepted by not more than a 
 dozen members, among them being Matthias the Presi- 
 dent, and Simeon ben Gamaliel. 
 
*' To Your Tents, O Israel! " 143 
 
 " From to-day," continued Eleazar, " the temple be- 
 comes the seat of a holy war, the abode of the Lord's 
 host, a citadel in the service of freedom. Henceforth, 
 its gates open only to the true worshipers of Israel, 
 whose foes ye are," he added, turning to his Sanhedrist 
 opponents. " Withdraw, ere the scourges of the Nethi- 
 nim quicken your steps." 
 
 The fierce storm of indignant protest that burst from 
 Ananias and his party met with a savage laugh from 
 Eleazar. 
 
 " You dare threaten us with expulsion from the 
 temple .'' " cried Ananias, his eyes blazing with wrath. 
 
 " This is no place for the friends of Caesar. What ! 
 ye will not budge? Guards, drive these traitors forth." 
 
 As if the command were a joy to them, the Nethinim 
 rushed forward, at the same time drawing forth 
 scourges and whips which they applied without more 
 ado to the bodies of the immovable Sanhedrists. 
 
 Then ensued a strange scene. From the Sanhedrim 
 came screams of pain and fierce protests, undignified 
 scufflings and even oaths. 
 
 Their feeble resistance was soon overborne ; without 
 weapons, and inferior in numbers and strength to their 
 more youthful opponents, they were thrust forth from 
 the Hall of Squares, and driven across the wide court 
 of the Gentiles. 
 
 A sight so unusual at once attracted the attention 
 of the multitude, who were at first disposed to side with 
 the struggling Sanhedrim, but the magical words, 
 " Friends of the Romans," quickly turned tlieir sympa- 
 thies into the opposite scale, so that they readily joined 
 the Nethinim in the work of expulsion ; and the end 
 of it all was that the venerable fathers found them- 
 selves outside the temple, indignant and breathless, 
 disheveled and bleeding. 
 
 After a brief consultation, they took their way across 
 the Tyropaeon Bridge to the Upper City, and entered 
 the palace of Ananias. From its flat roof they could 
 
IH The Doomed City 
 
 see something of what was passing in the temple. 
 Every part of the holy house was glittering with arms. 
 Eleazar was making good his word; the temple was 
 being garrisoned, in the interests not of Rome, but of 
 Israel. 
 
 Aware of the hatred with which his pro-Roman sym- 
 pathies were regarded by the mob, Ananias, in con- 
 junction with a large body of Jewish loyalists, deemed 
 it prudent, before the day was out, to take refuge with 
 the soldiers in the Praetorium. 
 
 Late that same night, Berenice escorted by a small 
 retinue made her way to this palace ; and, while her 
 guards waited without, she herself entered to take a 
 farewell of Crispus. 
 
 She came with startling tidings. Simon the Black 
 was in the city, and, resorting to a master-stroke of 
 policy, had freed all the poor debtors — and they were 
 a very numerous body in Jerusalem — by persuading 
 them to set fire to the Archeion in Ophel, the building 
 in which were registered all monetary loans contracted 
 by private citizens, such official registration constitut- 
 ing the only legal proof of the transaction. Having 
 thus involved the multitude in an irrevocable act of 
 sedition, Simon had next led them forth to Olivet, where 
 the Zealots of Manahem, returning in triumph from 
 the conquest of Masada, were now engaged, by the 
 torches' glare, in making a free distribution of arms 
 to all who were willing to fight. 
 
 AVith signs of the liveliest agitation, the princess told 
 how it was the intention of the mob on the following 
 morning to storm the two Roman strongholds, and 
 massacre the garrisons by way of retaliation for the 
 butchery wrought by Florus. 
 
 " Will you not leave the city with me, ere it be too 
 late? " she asked of Crispus in earnest tones. 
 
 " 'Tis not the fashion of Romans to desert their 
 post, however numerous the foe," returned Crispus. 
 
 " Your departure will not be desertion, for no one 
 
"To Your Tents. O Israel!" 145 
 
 has ordered you to fight. Your station here is a volun- 
 tary one." 
 
 " I will not leave my fellow-countrymen to their 
 fate! That your people have good cause for insurrec- 
 tion is, alas ! but too true. But, for all that, my way 
 is clear. I am a patriot and a Cestius, and it is my 
 duty to keep the Roman eagle supreme in this city, or 
 die in the attempt." 
 
 Berenice was silent for a moment ; then, laying her 
 hand upon his arm, she said in tender tones: 
 
 " Let me stay here to help you ; you may become 
 wounded, and who is there to nurse you.'* And if you 
 die, which heaven forbid, I — I will die with you." 
 
 Crispus could not but be touched with this expression 
 of sympathy on her part. Forgetting the incident in 
 the synagogue, he felt that he could love her, if she 
 were always like this. And as he had once thought 
 A'ashti's face to be like Berenice's, so now did he think 
 Berenice's face like Vashti's, as he beheld it at this 
 moment transfigured with a beautiful and heroic light. 
 
 " Princess, this is no place for you," said he gently. 
 
 He conducted the reluctant and sorrowful Berenice 
 to her palanquin at the palace gate. As he parted 
 from her some tempting spirit bade him whisper ten- 
 derly : 
 
 "Farewell, Athendisr 
 
 He might not have pronounced that name had he 
 foreseen its effect. Her sweet and lovable expression 
 vanished in a moment, to be replaced by a cold, suspi- 
 cious look that repelled him as much as the other had 
 attracted. 
 
 "Why do you call me by that name.''" she asked, 
 seeming to shrink from him. 
 
 " Perhaps I am trying an experiment, princess," said 
 he, significantly. 
 
 Evidently it was an experiment that did not please 
 Berenice. She looked for all the world like a woman 
 detected in a secret. With a glance that might be inter- 
 
146 The Doomed City 
 
 preted as one almost of fear, she sank back on the 
 cushions of the palanquin, and, without another word 
 to him, gave the order for the bearers to proceed. 
 
 In pensive mood, Crispus watched her departure. 
 Whether she were Athenais, or whether she were not, 
 it was difficult to see why the simple mention of the 
 name should act so strangely upon her. That he had 
 not lost her favor, however, was evidenced by the arri- 
 val, during the night, of three thousand Jewish cavalry. 
 They were the troops of King Agrippa, and had been 
 sent by him to bring his sister safely out of the troubled 
 city ; meeting them on the way, Berenice had bidden 
 them go on to the help of the little garrison in the 
 Prsetorium. It can readily be imagined how gladly 
 these new auxiliaries were welcomed by Metilius, but 
 when Crispus suggested that one-half of them should 
 proceed to Antonia, Darius, the master of the horse, 
 declined, on the ground that the princess' orders were 
 that he should fight for the Prsetorium only. 
 
CHAPTER Xn 
 
 " v^ ncTis ! " 
 
 Early next morning the Zealot chief Manahem, who, 
 with his followers, had camped during the night upon 
 OHvet, descended that mount, and, seated upon a 
 chariot, entered the city with an air of pomp and state 
 that moved the spleen of Eleazar, as he watched the 
 procession from the roof of the temple-cloisters. 
 
 " Is this fellow a king? " said he. " Will he reign 
 at Jerusalem.'' " 
 
 Manahem was welcomed with enthusiastic acclama- 
 tion bj the newly-armed populace, who demanded that 
 he should at once lead them against Antonia, fully 
 believing that he who had taken Masada would have 
 no difficulty in taking a similar fortress. Manahem 
 could not decline this task without risking his character 
 for bravery; so, after plundering and burning the 
 deserted palaces of Agrippa and Ananias, he advanced 
 at the head of a tumultuous and disorderly throng to- 
 wards the Turris Antonia, where, having procured si- 
 lence, he — in very bad Latin — called upon the com- 
 mandant to surrender the fortress. 
 
 " I am a Roman." 
 
 And the officer, deeming that answer sufficient, dis- 
 dained to give any other. 
 
 " So was he who held Masada," replied the Zealot 
 chief, giving the signal for the attack. 
 
 All day long under Manahem's leadership a fierce 
 fight raged round the fortress, but when night fell, the 
 Jews had nothing to show for their fiery valor except 
 their heavy tale of dead and dying. 
 
 Manahem's wrath, arising from his failure, was en- 
 
 147 
 
148 The Doomed City 
 
 hanced by the remark of Simon, who, out of jealousy, 
 had refrained from helping his brother-chief. 
 
 " You have caused the holy seed to be massacred." 
 
 " Thou shalt captain them thyself to-morrow," said 
 Manahem. 
 
 " Be it 50," repHed the Black Zealot calmly. 
 
 Next morning when the multitude had again as- 
 sembled for war Simon thus addressed them : 
 
 " Let him who had father or mother, son or daughter, 
 killed in the day of Florus come forward." 
 
 Immediately hundreds of men pushed their way to 
 the front. 
 
 " Behold the men who killed them ! " cried Simon, 
 pointing with his sword to the fortress. 
 
 This lie, for such it was — the garrison having taken 
 no part whatever in the massacre — had a telling effect 
 upon the crowd, filling them with new fire and new 
 fury. Led on by Simon in person, they rushed for- 
 ward with the scaling ladders and planted them against 
 the walls, though it was only to be driven back again. 
 For many hours the battle raged ; nineteen times re- 
 pulsed, they returned with spirit unabated to the at- 
 tack ; at the twentieth assault, which took place to- 
 wards the close of the day, the Jews succeeded in effect- 
 ing an entrance. 
 
 " Leave not one alive ! " was their cry. " Did they 
 spare us and our little ones.'' " 
 
 The little garrison, faced by overwhelming numbers, 
 bravely maintained the honor of the Roman name ; with 
 never a thought of asking for quarter, they fought 
 doggedly on, " each stepping where his comrade fell," 
 till the blade glimmered in the grasp of the last man. 
 
 The standard that on the loftiest tower had so long 
 flaunted before Jewish eyes the hateful letters S.P.Q.R., 
 was hauled down and torn to shreds. 
 
 Thus fell, after two days' hard fighting, the great 
 fortress of Antonia, an event that gave little pleasure 
 to the victor of Masada, when he heard the people say- 
 
''Fee Victis!'* 149 
 
 ing that night, " Manahem hath slain his thousands, 
 but Simon his ten thousands ! " 
 
 " To the Prsetorium ! " was the cry of the multitude 
 next morning. 
 
 Manahem resumed his command ; and, mounted on a 
 prancing horse and followed by shouting crowds, he 
 advanced to the open space fronting Gabbatha, and 
 in a loud voice called for the surrender of the palace. 
 
 The reply to this was an arrow, which, as intended, 
 went clean through the crest of Manahem's helmet. 
 
 " Your heart next time," said Metilius, " if you again 
 propose treason to a Roman." 
 
 Manahem, swearing by Urim and by Thummim that 
 the defenders of the Praetorium should meet with the 
 same fate as those of Masada and Antonia, moved off 
 to a quarter, whence, shielded from the missiles of 
 the enemy, he could direct the operations of the siege. 
 
 The most pitiable object in the Praetorium at this 
 time was Ananias. He had ventured to look forth from 
 a window, and the crowd, recognizing him, yelled out 
 their fierce hatred of the Sadducean hierarch, loudest 
 among the shouters being priests themselves, whose 
 words soon showed the cause of their fury. 
 
 " Who sent his servants round to collect the priests' 
 tithes, and bludgeoned those that would not pay.'' Who 
 but Ananias.? " 
 
 " Who, when he had got the tithes, kept them to 
 spend upon the harlot Asenath, so that many priests 
 died for want.'' Who but Ananias? " 
 
 Before his terrified gaze they paraded the gory head 
 of the Antonian commandant fixed upon the point of 
 a lofty pike. 
 
 " Thus shall it be with thy head," they cried. 
 
 From that hour Ananias had the air of a man 
 haunted with the certainty of coming down. With 
 melancholy countenance, he wandered aimlessly through 
 the splendid halls of the Praetorium, trembling at the 
 
150 The Boomed City 
 
 din of battle outside its walls, and expecting at every 
 moment to witness the fearful inrush of fierce-eyed, 
 saber-brandishing Zealots, all athirst for his blood. 
 His cowardice moved even his Jewish friends to con- 
 tempt. 
 
 " Ananias, thy face is like a whited wall," laughed 
 one. 
 
 A whited wall! Those words troubled him for the 
 rest of the day, reviving, as they did, a saying that 
 had long since passed from his memory. 
 
 " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest 
 thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to 
 be smitten contrary to the law.'' " 
 
 Whence, and from whom, came these words? Evi- 
 dently from some prisoner before his judgment-seat, 
 whom he had ordered to be struck. 
 
 Yes ; he remembered now ; it was the indignant utter- 
 ance of Paul of Tarsus — ^that Paul whose life he had 
 sought to take by the daggers of the Zealots. And 
 now, by the irony of a divine Nemesis, the daggers of 
 these same Zealots were seeking to take his life! 
 
 Were there no secret chambers, he wailed, where one 
 could hide? He had heard that Herod, in building 
 this palace, had constructed such. Would no one point 
 them out? But all were too busy with the siege to 
 attend to his plaint. 
 
 That siege was conducted with cool skill on the part 
 of the Romans, and with undisciplined fury on that 
 of the Jews, who with that fanatical frenzy peculiar 
 to Orientals, did not hesitate to fling their naked bodies 
 upon the Roman pikes in the vain attempt to force a 
 way into the Praetorium. 
 
 Every device known to the warfare of that age was 
 tried by the Jews — escalade and fiery arrows, battering- 
 ram and secret mining — tried and made of none effect 
 by the vigilance and ingenuity of Crispus. He, far 
 more than Metilius, was the life and soul of the garri- 
 son, even as Simon proved himself more resourceful and 
 
" Vce Victis! '' 151' 
 
 valiant than his captain Manahem, who chose for the 
 most part to sit still in a safe place, paying out five 
 golden pieces for every Roman head brought to him. 
 
 King Agrippa's cavalry did excellent service at the 
 first. Sallj'ing forth at unexpected times they scat- 
 tered the mob with their furious charges, and, sweep- 
 ing the streets clear of the besiegers, they rode trium- 
 phantly round and round the palace. But Simon soon 
 found a remedy for these tactics by sprinkling the 
 ground with steel calthrops that lamed the horses and 
 brought down the riders. After this the cavalry re- 
 fused to make any more sallies. Simon marked their 
 flagging zeal, and was quick to turn it to his own ad- 
 vantage. By the mouth of a herald he proclaimed that 
 the Jewish defenders of the Prsetorium should have full 
 liberty to march out of the city with their arms and 
 effects ; some few, however, were to be exempted from 
 this privilege, Ananias being one of the number. To 
 his eternal disgrace, Darius, master of Agrippa's horse, 
 accepted these terms ; Metilius, owing to the paucity 
 of his own band, was unable to prevent this defection, 
 and accordingly, on the twenty-first morning of the 
 siege, the Jewish contingent began to file through the 
 front gate of the Prfetorium, amid the jeers and curses 
 of those whom they were leaving to their fate. 
 
 Death had reduced the number of the Romans to 
 two hundred and fifty ; and, as it was impossible with 
 so small a force to defend the whole circuit of the 
 Prastorium, Metilius seized the opportunity while the 
 eyes of the Zealots were fastened upon the outgoing 
 Jewish troops to withdraw quietly and quickly to the 
 three great towers of Mariamne, Phasaelus, and Hippi- 
 cus, erected by Herod the Great, and respectively dedi- 
 cated to the memory of his wife, his brother, and his 
 friend — towers situated upon the city-wall, which, at 
 this point, formed in itself the northern and western 
 sides of the Praetorium. 
 
 In the matter of military architecture, antiquity had 
 
152 Tlie Boomed City 
 
 nothing to shotv more marvelous than these three tow- 
 ers. Each stood upon a base of stone without any 
 chamber or vacuit}^ in it, the base of Mariamne form- 
 ing a solid cube of thirty feet, that of Phasaelus forty, 
 and that of Hippicus sixty. The battering-ram was 
 powerless against these enormous blocks, compacted 
 with unequaled perfection, and bound together by iron 
 cramps. 
 
 The Zealots, quickly discovering that the Prastorium 
 had been abandoned by its defenders, entered, and a 
 wild scene ensued. Never remarkable for discipline or 
 for subserviency to their chiefs, they wrangled fiercely 
 over the spoil, even to the extent of drawing swords 
 upon each other. Upon one point, however, all were 
 agreed — namely, that the beautiful sculptures adorn- 
 ing this old Herodian palace were a violation of the 
 Second Commandment, and an insult to the Jewish 
 religion. 
 
 " Idols ! " they screamed. 
 
 Making no distinction between the statues of mortals 
 and those of gods, they called for hammer and mallet, 
 and broke all alike to pieces. 
 
 " Vashti's image among the rest, I suppose," mut- 
 tered Crispus, as he watched the work of destruction. 
 *' I would have given much to preserve it." 
 
 The next day two Zealots, who had been exploring 
 every corner of the dismantled palace, emerged with 
 a shout, leading captive an old man. It was Ananias, 
 who had lain during the night concealed in a sub- 
 terranean aqueduct. 
 
 More dead than alive, the trembling priest, who had 
 once held despotic sway in Jerusalem, was hauled amid 
 contumely and blows to the presence of Manahem, who 
 received him with a smile of savage satisfaction. 
 
 "What shall be done to this friend of the Romans.? 
 this traitor to his country.?" said he, affecting to ask 
 the advice of Simon, whom he secretly hated, yet dared 
 not hurt. 
 
"Vce Victis!'' 153 
 
 And herein Simon behaved in very subtle fashion, for 
 wishing Ananias to die, yet suspecting that if he said 
 as much, Manahem, out of sheer opposition, would 
 adopt a contrary course, he made answer: 
 
 " Let him live." 
 
 It was with a mahcious smile that Manahem replied: 
 
 " It is my will that he dies." 
 
 And at his nod two Zealots buried their daggers 
 deep in the breast of the one-time high priest." 
 
 An hour afterwards Simon was in the temple-court 
 conversing with Eleazar. 
 
 " Thy sire is dead." 
 
 Eleazar was startled, and to some extent grieved. 
 Filial sentiment was not altogether dead in him, in 
 spite of his recent quarrel with Ananias, and on learn- 
 ing how the latter had died, he exclaimed fiercely: 
 
 " God do so to me and more also if I make not 
 the end of Manahem as the end of Ananias ! " 
 
 The arrogant Manahem, unconscious of the forces 
 secretly working against him, now entered upon a 
 course that brought him to ruin. 
 
 In the sack of the Prastorium he had come across a 
 purple robe and a golden crown, both belonging for- 
 merly to Herod the Great, and, putting these emblems 
 of royalty upon himself, he began to assume the air 
 of a king. 
 
 Leaving a strong force to watch the towers, Mana- 
 hem, regally attired, marched with the rest of his fol- 
 lowers to the temple, declaring his purpose to be a 
 rehgious one; he came to offer a sacrifice as a means 
 of obtaining further victories. 
 
 But Eleazar, suspecting that his design was to gain 
 possession of the temple-fortress, without which Mana- 
 hem could never be master of the city, closed the gates, 
 set every available Levite on guard, and refused ad- 
 mission to the Zealot chief. 
 
 And now arose a dissension among the followers of 
 Manahem; some were for obtaining ingress to the 
 
154 The Doomed City 
 
 temple by force of arms, but others, sensible that 
 Eleazar was as good a patriot as Manahem, were for 
 withdrawing. 
 
 Then Eleazar, seeing the quarrel becoming great 
 among them, fanned the flame by a speech that ended 
 with the words: 
 
 " Men, zealous for God, you who out of a love of 
 liberty have revolted from the Romans, do you now 
 betray that liberty ? ' You who have cast off the yoke 
 of a foreign tyrant, do you now take upon you the 
 yoke of one home-born ? " 
 
 Simon, who was standing beside Eleazar, clenched 
 the matter. 
 
 " Ten thousand gold pieces to the man who brings 
 me the head of Manahem," he shouted. 
 
 Thereafter all was confusion. 
 
 Some of the Zealots, siding with Eleazar, turned 
 their swords against their former chief, of whose 
 tyranny they had already begun to weary ; the rest, 
 closing around, endeavored to defend him. Then, be- 
 neath the temple walls, there began a desperate fight, 
 maintained for a short time with equal fortune on both 
 sides ; but when the armed Levites, under Simon and 
 Eleazar, descended from the temple, the scale of battle 
 turned. The defeated party fled through Ophel, within 
 whose narrow and winding streets Manahem contrived 
 to elude capture ; but only for a day or so. Dis- 
 covered in his hiding-place, he was dragged forth and 
 slaughtered. 
 
 Thus ignominiously perished the last of the sons of 
 the famous Judas, the Galilean, sons, who, like their 
 untamable father, had spent their lives among the 
 craggy heights of Judaea, waging guerilla warfare with 
 the Roman. 
 
 Eleazar now took upon himself the captaincy of all 
 the disorderly elements in the city. Simon was his 
 second in command, and under their joint direction the 
 siege against the Roman garrison in the three Hero- 
 
" Vce Victis! " 155 
 
 dlan towers was pressed forward with vigor. But the 
 fierce attack was met by a defense equally fierce ; ten 
 Zealots died for every Roman, since the garrison from 
 the cover of their lofty walls could deal far more 
 hurt to the besiegers than the besiegers could to 
 them. 
 
 Yet, in spite of the fact that the advantage was 
 all on his side, not many days had passed before Me- 
 tilius, yielding to a strange and unaccountable spirit 
 of cowardice, suddenly announced his intention of seek- 
 ing terms with the enemy. Crispus, thunderstruck at 
 this weak-mindedness, argued in vain. Metilius held 
 the command, and it was his to do even as he listed. 
 
 Great was Eleazar's satisfaction to hear himself ad- 
 dressed from the battlements by Metilius on the question 
 of capitulation. 
 
 An immediate armistice was proclaimed ; and Eleazar, 
 after a brief deliberation with Simon, declared that if 
 the Romans would descend from the towers, and deliver 
 up their arms, they should be permitted to go forth 
 from the city free and uninjured. To this Metilius 
 assented, and the compact was ratified by the reception 
 into the towers of three Jews, distinguished in rank, 
 who, giving their right hand to the tribune, swore 
 " by the altar of God " to carry out the promised 
 stipulations. 
 
 Placed in a disgraceful position by this coming sur- 
 render, Crispus determined at first that he would re- 
 main behind, though he should be the only one to do 
 so ; sword in hand he would die, defending to the last 
 the Tower of Hippicus. But he soon relinquished this 
 notion as a piece of splendid but useless heroism ; he 
 would be casting away his life without saving the for- 
 tress. It would be wiser and more satisfactory to live 
 on, and take part in his father's campaign against the 
 city, a campaign that would soon reduce the Jews to 
 submission again. 
 
 At the hour fixed for the surrender — it was the Sab- 
 
156 The Doomed City 
 
 bath day — the Romans descended from the towers, and 
 stood on level ground. 
 
 They were received by Eleazar and Simon, who 
 pointed the way the soldiers should march. Metilius, 
 on looking, saw that his band would have to pass 
 beneath two spears set obliquely in the ground so as 
 to form a kind of yoke ; the Jews were adopting a 
 Roman ceremony applied both to slaves and to captives 
 taken in war. 
 
 At this sight the blood even of Metilius rebelled. 
 
 " This was not included in the compact," said he. 
 
 " Nor excluded," replied Eleazar with an insulting 
 smile. " March ! " 
 
 Opposition being, in the circumstances, futile, the 
 Romans were compelled to submit to the humiliating 
 ceremony. As each passed beneath the yoke he de- 
 livered his sword and buckler to certain of the Zealots 
 stationed there to receive them. 
 
 But when the last Roman had been deprived of his 
 arms, the Levitical guards of Eleazar, sword in hand, 
 came crowding round the little band. Their signifi- 
 cant looks sent a sudden suspicion to the hearts of the 
 Romans. 
 
 " The end has come, Metilius," said Crispus. " 'Twere 
 better to have gone on fighting." 
 
 " Prepare for death, ye uncircumcized fools," cried 
 Eleazar with a savage laugh. 
 
 " Death.? " faltered Metilius. " Death, when ye have 
 vowed by a solemn oath to respect our lives ! " 
 
 " We swore by the altar of God, and such oath is 
 not binding upon the conscience of a Jew. Here 
 standeth Gamaliel's son, Simeon, master of all the 
 learning of the scribes. Let him say whether I speak 
 falsely." 
 
 And that rabbi, who chanced to be present, stepped 
 forward to justify Eleazar's assertion. 
 
 " The elders have delivered it," said he, " that if 
 a man swear by the gold of the altar he must keep 
 
'"Vce Victis!" 157 
 
 his oath, or dread condemnation ; but if he swear by 
 the altar only, he is not guilty if he break his word." 
 
 But Johanan ben Zacchai, who happened likewise to 
 be present, opposed this casuistry. 
 
 " Simeon," said he, " which is the greater, the gold, 
 or the altar that sanctifieth the gold.^ " And, turning 
 to Eleazar, he said: 
 
 "Will ye indeed slay these men?" 
 
 " Aye ! Did they show us mercy in the day of 
 Florus.?" 
 
 " You will never get another Roman garrison to 
 submit." 
 
 " Be it so." 
 
 " Defer the deed, for to-day is the Sabbath." 
 
 " A holy day and a holy deed — to exterminate idola- 
 ters." 
 
 Simon, although a party to Eleazar's guilty trick, 
 was nevertheless willing to make an exception in favor 
 of one of the captives. 
 
 " Give me the life of this man," said he, pointing to 
 Crispus. 
 
 " That fellow ? " said Eleazar, with a wrathful glance 
 at Crispus. " He is the one who has done us the most 
 hurt. Why do you seek to spare him ? " 
 
 " Because at my trial he was the first to rise and 
 rebuke the wicked Florus." 
 
 " He is the man," said Simeon ben Gamaliel, " who 
 defied and insulted us in our own synagogue by snatch- 
 ing a Christian damsel from the punishment justly 
 due to her." 
 
 *' These heathen," said Eleazar, " when they get the 
 opportunity, try to make us forswear our faith. Verily, 
 we will do the like by them." 
 
 The bravery exhibited by Crispus throughout the 
 siege of the Prjetorium had created in Eleazar a feel- 
 ing, not of admiration, but of rage; and this rage 
 was now enhanced by the serene and fearless bearing 
 of the captive. 
 
158 The Doomed City 
 
 Drawing his sword he walked over to Crispus. 
 
 " Cursed polytheist, what is the name of jour chief 
 god?" 
 
 " He is called Jupiter." 
 
 " Then curse the name of Jupiter, if you would save 
 your soul alive." 
 
 Eleazar's sneering and insulting menace drove Cris- 
 pus to a foolish, yet heroic, defiance. 
 
 " Men," said he, turning to the Romans behind him, 
 " the end has come. Let us die bravely." Then, rais- 
 ing his hand aloft to heaven, he cried, " Sovereign 
 Jupiter, all hail ! " 
 
 " Swine that thou art ! " exclaimed Eleazar ; and, 
 grinding his teeth with rage, he plunged his sword to 
 the very hilt into the side of Crispus, who sank to the 
 ground as one dead. 
 
 Quickened by Eleazar's example, the Levites and 
 Zealots began a massacre of the defenseless captives. 
 But Crispus' words had not been without effect upon 
 the Romans. How bravely they died let that historian 
 say who was contemporary with the event. 
 
 " They neither defended themselves, nor asked for 
 mercy, but only reproached their slayers for breaking 
 their oath and the articles of capitulation. And thus 
 were all these men barbarously murdered, all except- 
 ing " — alas ! that it should be written of a Roman ! — 
 " all excepting Metilius ; for when he entreated for 
 mercy and promised that he would turn proselyte and 
 be circumcized, they saved him alive, but none else." 
 
 Thus was Roman rule extinguished in Jerusalem in 
 the year 66 a.d., a little more than a century after its 
 capture by the great Pompey. 
 
 On that same Sabbath, the high priest Matthias, in 
 view of the great triumph, decreed that the evening 
 sacrifice should partake of a thanksgiving character; 
 and that, to enhance the dignity of the occasion, the 
 water used in the service should be taken, not from 
 
"VcB Victisf' 159 
 
 the ordinary draw-well in the southern court of the 
 sanctuary, but from the hallowed Pool of Siloam out- 
 side the city wall. 
 
 But the Levitical train dispatched on that errand 
 returned with dismayed faces and empty urns. 
 
 Siloam would take no part in the wicked thanksgiv- 
 ing. Its waters had ceased floxenng! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A GOOD SAMARITAN 
 
 " He is opening his eyes ! He lives! " 
 
 So spoke Vashti as she knelt beside the silent and 
 recumbent form of Crispus. 
 
 The unmistakable rapture in her tone seemed to dis- 
 please the woman standing beside her. 
 
 "Why should you be glad, child? He is an enemy 
 to our race." 
 
 " Mother ! " said the girl, reproachfully. " Did he 
 not save me from scourging? " 
 
 " Is that any reason why we should imperil our lives 
 on his account? We shall be stoned to death if the 
 Zealots learn that we are hiding a Roman in our house. 
 !Better for us that he were dead." 
 
 " O, mother, hush ! lest he should hear your unkind 
 words." 
 
 Crispus, though awake, heard nothing of this con- 
 versation, being too faint and confused at first to un- 
 derstand anything. Gradually, with the clearing of 
 his senses, he discovered himself to be lying upon the 
 floor of a low-roofed chamber that had latticed win- 
 dows, and was prettily furnished in Oriental style. 
 He wondered what place it was, and how he came to 
 be there. Then, as memory began to assert its sway, 
 he recalled the scene in which he had last closed his 
 eyes — Eleazar's glare of hatred, the swift sword-flash, 
 the sharp pang of pain, and the sinking into darkness 
 and insensibility. 
 
 He had expected sudden death at the hands of Elea- 
 zar; but clearly he was not dead yet. Some person 
 must have removed his supposed corpse from the pile 
 
 160 
 
A Good Samaritan 161 
 
 of massacred Romans, and who could that person be 
 but the lovely maiden that knelt beside him? 
 
 He tried to lift himself upon one elbow, but fell 
 back exhausted by the effort. There was no strength 
 left in him. 
 
 " Are you in pain ? " asked Vashti. 
 
 " No ; only weak — weak ! " he said in a voice that 
 startled him ; he could not speak above a hollow whisper. 
 
 Vashti placed her left arm beneath him ; and, lifting 
 him, she put a cup to his lips. 
 
 " Drink ! " said she. 
 
 Crispus drank, of what he knew not — some dark 
 liquid — but it seemed to endow him with new life. 
 
 " Eat ! " was her next command. 
 
 Submissive as a child, Crispus ate of whatever her 
 hand offered. 
 
 " And now," continued she, " sleep, and sleep will 
 give you strength." 
 
 He wanted to ask questions, but Vashti enjoined 
 silence by placing her finger upon his lip in so pretty 
 a way that he was fain to do her bidding; so, closing 
 his eyes, Crispus, almost against his will, dropped off 
 to sleep again. 
 
 His sleep extended over several hours. 
 
 On waking he found Vashti by his side again, ready 
 to minister to his wants ; and, as these wants included 
 a desire for knowledge on certain points, she proceeded 
 to enlighten him. 
 
 " You are in my mother's house," said she. " This 
 is my own chamber ; and there," she continued, pointing 
 with pride to several tiers of shelves filled with papyrus 
 rolls, " there are my Greek books." 
 
 She then went on to tell him how he came to be there. 
 After the massacre of the Roman garrison, Josephus, 
 at her request, went to the fierce Eleazar and asked for 
 the body of Crispus, saying, " He is a Roman noble, 
 known to me. I pray you, let me give him honorable 
 burial." Eleazar's reply was, " Take him ; I war not 
 
162 The Boomed City 
 
 with the dead." When the supposed corpse of Crispus 
 had been conveyed to her house Vashti sorrowed over 
 it, but her grief suddenly turned to joy when she de- 
 tected a movement of his Hps. 
 
 By a happy stroke of fortune — the hand of God, 
 Vashti called it — Eleazar's sword had passed through 
 the ribs of Crispus without injuring the vital parts. 
 His seeming death was a swoon due to loss of blood, 
 a loss so great that a few more drops might have ended 
 the matter. There was life in him, however — faint it 
 might be — ^but still life, life that with due care might 
 be preserved. And so — for they durst not call in a 
 physician, lest the truth should become known to the 
 outside world — she and her mother, who had some 
 knowledge of the healing art, had dressed his wounds 
 and carried him to this chamber. 
 
 Vashti smiled sweetly when Crispus murmured his 
 gratitude. " Now, I pray the gods that the Zealots 
 may not discover this, your kindness to me." 
 
 Then she told him of Metilius' base appeal for life, 
 a story to which Crispus listened with scorn. 
 
 " Rightly named Metilius — little coward ! " said he. 
 " What became of him.'' " 
 
 " The Zealots dismissed him with contempt." 
 
 " What a life his will be ! He'll never dare show 
 his face among Romans again." 
 
 He attempted to raise himself, but, as on the previous 
 day, found that he was too weak to do so. 
 
 " How long am I to lie here ^ " he said with some- 
 thing like a groan. 
 
 " Till your lost blood be made good." 
 
 "When will that be.?" 
 
 And though pre-informed by her mother that Cris- 
 pus' return to vigor was likely to be a matter of weeks, 
 Vashti replied with a cheerful smile, " Not many days 
 hence," justifying herself by the knowledge that to put 
 a patient in a desponding mood is to retard his re- 
 covery. 
 
A Good Samaritan 163 
 
 Vashti's mother was named Miriam, an elderly dame, 
 so hard and sour of visage, that Crispus could but 
 wonder how she came to have a daughter so fair and 
 graceful. He formed a somewhat adverse opinion of 
 Miriam. True, she visited his chamber every day ; but, 
 as he could plainly see, her inquiries as to his progress 
 were merely perfunctory; in spite of the fact that he 
 was the son of the great Roman Legate of Syria, she 
 looked upon him as an encumbrance — nay, more, as 
 a positive danger, in view of Zealot rule, a person to 
 be got rid of at the earliest opportunity; and Crispus 
 inwardlj' chafed at being unable to oblige her in this 
 respect. A Jewess of the orthodox, narrow-minded 
 type, she was out of s^^mpathy with Vashti's ideals ; 
 and Crispus mentally blessed the late Hyrcanus in that 
 he was of a different character from his wife, and had 
 given his daughter an Hellenic as well as an Hebraic 
 training. 
 
 The dissimilitude betwixt mother and daughter had 
 become accentuated of late owing to Vashti's conver- 
 sion to Christianitj'. When questioned on this last 
 matter, Vashti acknowledged, striving the while to hide 
 her tears, that the change of faith had caused Miriam 
 to become strangely hard and cold. 
 
 It was perhaps this growing spirit of estrangement 
 on the part of Miriam that caused Vashti to find a 
 solace in the companionship of Crispus, who, though 
 a heathen, seemed more in sympathy with her than her 
 own Judaic mother. 
 
 Crispus marveled at Vashti's care for him, marveled 
 still more as the days went by without any slackening 
 of her ministrations. An Ideal nurse, she seemed bent 
 on doing everything within her power to render pleas- 
 ant his enforced inactivity. Tactful to a nicety, she 
 was never in the way and never out of it. Responsive 
 to the passing whims of her patient — and what patient 
 is not whimsical at times? — she could recognize when 
 he wished for solitude, and would leave him to himself; 
 
164 The Boomed City 
 
 if he were desirous of conversation, she was ever ready 
 to meet his desire. On learning that he had a great 
 liking for Herodotus, she drew that charming, old- 
 world historian from her little library, and read to him 
 day by day, seldom failing to illumine the subject with 
 interesting comments of her own ; and once, at even- 
 tide, she took her harp and sang in a voice so sweet 
 that Crispus begged for a repetition of the pleasure ; 
 and, ever after that, as the shades of twilight fell, she 
 would sing to him from that cycle of psalms which, 
 though he knew it not, are destined to be sung till the 
 end of time. 
 
 It puzzled Crispus that Vashti should so interest her- 
 self in him. Was this interest the expression merely 
 of her gratitude, for the service he had rendered her in 
 the synagogue, or was it the expression of a more 
 tender sentiment? Was Vashti seeking to win his love? 
 The thought troubled him. It was hard to be com- 
 pelled to crush this rising desire on her part — that is, 
 supposing it existed — for however pure, attractive, and 
 beautiful Vashti might be, she was not for him ; he must 
 remain faithful to the unknown Athenais, not only 
 because it was a point of honor for a Cestius to keep 
 faith, but also because his ambition could not easily 
 forego the kingdom dependent upon his mysterious 
 marriage. 
 
 Vashti, it seemed, had a little brother, a child of 
 eighteen months. One morning she brought him with 
 some diffidence into the chamber, and, finding that 
 Crispus did not object to his presence, but, on the 
 contrary, derived considerable amusement from his in- 
 fantine attempts at talking, she brought him every 
 day ; and though Vashti was " as learned as Minerva " 
 — Crispus' own expression — she proved herself in other 
 respects a veritable tom-boy, playing at " hide and 
 seek," and romping round the room till the child fairly 
 shrieked with delight. It was a new feature in her 
 character, and one that pleased Crispus. 
 
A Good Samaritan 165 
 
 Tired at last of play the little fellow clambered upon 
 his sister's knee, and nestled against her breast. 
 
 Vashti's remark that he was called Arad led to a 
 talk upon personal names and their meanings ; and, 
 of course, Crispus soon fastened his attention upon 
 her own name. 
 
 " Vashti is a Persian word said to mean beautiful," 
 she replied with a little blush. 
 
 " You could not change it for one more appropri- 
 ate," remarked Crispus, " unless it were " 
 
 He paused. A wild suspicion had suddenly taken 
 possession of him, a suspicion that set his pulses thrill- 
 ing with a delicious pleasure. 
 
 " What new name would you suggest .^ " asked Vashti 
 with a wondering smile. 
 
 "What do you say to Athenais?" he asked, watch- 
 ing her keenly as he spoke. 
 
 Was he mistaken, or did Vashti give a start as if 
 she recognized the hidden purport of the question.'' 
 Her surprise, if such it were, was quickly under con- 
 trol. She looked at him with eyes calm and unfathom- 
 able in their expression. 
 
 " No true Hebrew maiden would like thai name." 
 
 "Wherein doth it offend.?" 
 
 " It is derived from the name of a Grecian god- 
 dess." 
 
 " And therefore suitable for one as learned as 
 Athene." 
 
 Vashti smilingly shook her golden tresses at the com- 
 pliment. 
 
 " I do not like the name," she said, as she gently 
 rocked Arad to sleep. 
 
 So far Crispus' experiment was a failure. There was 
 nothing in her manner to suggest the hypothesis that 
 she had been the veiled lady of Beth-tamar. Still, 
 there seemed to be a sort of shadowy connection between 
 her and the unknown Athenais. He reasoned thus: — 
 Vashti was very like the statue of one, Pythodoris ; that 
 
166 The Doomed City 
 
 statue was the gift of Polemo ; Polemo was he who had 
 arranged the wedding of Athenais. 
 
 Crispus resolved to proceed warily. 
 
 " You appear to be well versed in Grecian history," 
 said he. " Can you tell me who Py thodoris was ? " 
 
 Vashti became lost in thought for a few moments, 
 and then replied : 
 
 " There was a queen of Pontus who bore that name. 
 She died about thirty years ago," 
 
 "Any relation to the present king, Polemo?" 
 
 " His mother." 
 
 " Was she a beautiful woman.? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," laughed Vashti. " Why 
 do you ask.? " 
 
 " There was a statue of her in the Prsetorium." 
 
 " Then if you've seen it you ought to know whether 
 she were beautiful." 
 
 " The statue was very like you." 
 
 " Oh ! then she wasn't very beautiful." 
 
 " The statue was so like you that at first sight I 
 thought it was meant for nobody else till the name 
 Pythodoris, carved on the pedestal, corrected my 
 error." 
 
 Vashtl's eyes opened wide in wonder. She could as- 
 sign no reason why the statue of Pythodoris should 
 resemble herself. 
 
 " And she was the mother of the present king, you 
 say.? Have you ever seen this Polemo.? " 
 
 Vashti replied in the negative. 
 
 " But he was present at the banquet of Florus." 
 
 " Then I suppose I must have seen him without know- 
 ing him," replied Vashti ; and, having succeeded in 
 hushing her little brother to sleep, she carried him 
 gently from the room. 
 
 Something like a sigh escaped from Crispus as he 
 realized that since Vashti did not know King Polemo 
 she could not have been the veiled lady of Beth-tamar. 
 
 Next day when Crispus suggested that it might 
 
A Good Samaritan 167 
 
 hasten his recovery if he could breathe the purer air 
 of the roof, Vashti and her mother, hfting the cords 
 at the head and foot of his pallet, carried it, albeit 
 with some difficulty, up the short staircase and de- 
 posited it upon the flat roof beneath the shade of a 
 trellis overhung with vine-leaves, so placing the pallet 
 as to prevent him from being overlooked by the occu- 
 pants of the neighboring houses ; while at the same 
 time an opening in the parapet near by enabled him, 
 whenever he chose to raise himself upon his elbow, to 
 observe a good deal of what was going on in the streets 
 below. 
 
 All Jerusalem was resounding with the preparations 
 for war. Though the aged and the wise might shake 
 their heads gravely and hold aloof from the revolu- 
 tionary movement, the young and the unthinking, elated 
 at seeing the last vestige of Roman rule swept from 
 the capital, flung in their lot with the Zealots and spent 
 a considerable poi'tion of each day in the performance 
 of military exercises under captains appointed by Elea- 
 zar and Simon. The city walls were being repaired 
 and strengthened, the very women and children labor- 
 ing enthusiastically in the task. The air rang with 
 the beating of steel upon the anvil, the steel that was 
 to be dyed deep in Roman blood ! At night Ophel was 
 one red glow with the light that came from the various 
 forges. 
 
 " They have hewn down the golden eagle from the 
 gate of the temple," said Vashti. 
 
 " They cannot take him from the sky, however," re- 
 plied Crispus, pointing to a magnificent specimen that 
 was sailing aloft with slow and majestic motion. Sud- 
 denly, this eagle drooped its pinions, and, descending 
 like a plummet, alighted upon the parapet just above 
 the head of Crispus. 
 
 Vashti started back with a little scream ; then, by 
 motioning with her hands, she tried to make the eagle 
 fly off; he took no notice of her, however, but sat with 
 
168 The Doomed City 
 
 unruffled plumage, the embodiment of majesty and 
 gravity. Try as she would Vashti could not get the 
 eagle to stir, but, finding that he remained quiet and 
 showed no disposition to attack either Crispus or her- 
 self, she relinquished her efforts and resumed her con- 
 versation, timorously glancing from time to time at 
 the eagle, which kept its post as though it were some 
 faithful sentinel appointed to watch over the patient. 
 
 This little incident was not without significance for 
 Crispus, whose mind, in common with other minds of 
 that day, saw an omen in anything out of the common. 
 At the very moment when Eleazar was threatening him 
 with death, he had appealed to sovereign Jupiter. 
 Now, the eagle being the symbol of that deity as well 
 as of the Roman empire, he could not help interpreting 
 its presence as a heaven-sent assurance that Jove and 
 the legions would effect his safety. Aware, however, 
 that Vashti had no faith in his gods, he kept this opinion 
 to himself. 
 
 In the evening the eagle flew off. The two watched 
 till it became a mere black speck upon the glowing 
 gold of the western sky — watched till it faded from 
 view. 
 
 " It will return on the morrow," said Crispus con- 
 fidently. 
 
 Sure enough, next morning the eagle came winging 
 its way eastward ; and, as before, it alighted upon the 
 parapet above the head of Crispus, as if bent on renew- 
 ing its watch. Vashti, grown somewhat accustomed 
 to its presence, viewed it now with less apprehension, 
 and made no attempt to repel it. 
 
 " The money of the new government," said she, with 
 a sad smile, exhibiting a shekel, one of those pieces 
 known to the Jews of after ages as " The money of 
 danger," and now, by reason of their rarity, eagerly 
 sought by numismatists. 
 
 " If their fighting prove no better than their coin- 
 age, it will go ill with them," remarked Crispus, who, 
 
A Good Samaritan 169 
 
 on closely inspecting the supposed shekel, saw that it 
 was in reality a Roman coin that had recently received 
 in the Jewish mint a fresh stamp — namely, that of a 
 palm branch encircled with Hebraic characters, whose 
 signification was, " The first year of the freedom of 
 Zion." 
 
 So imperfectly, however, had the work been executed 
 that the original effigy, the head of Nero, with its 
 Latin inscription, was discernible beneath the Jewish 
 impression. 
 
 " They try to efface Ccesar, but fail," said Crispus. 
 " Good ! I accept the omen." 
 
 At eventide the eagle flew off, returning again next 
 morning. On the fourth day, however, it did not ap- 
 pear, nor on any subsequent day. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 " THOU WILT NEVER TAKE THE CITY " 
 
 The moon of a lovely autumnal night silvered the 
 sleeping Roman camp that lay at the entrance of " the 
 going up to Beth-horon." Not a sound disturbed the 
 silence, save the light tread of the vigilant sentinels 
 pacing their rounds. 
 
 The array of black tents, glittering arms, and lofty 
 standards, occupied a vast area, square in shape, and 
 defended on all sides by an earthen rampart, and an 
 outer trench filled with water from a neighboring 
 stream — defenses made by a three-hours' labor with 
 mattock and spade, the whole army having toiled at 
 the task. No matter how short their stay in a place 
 — and the camping on the present occasion was for 
 one night only — the Roman legionaries would never, 
 at least in a hostile country, take their sleep till they 
 had secured themselves from attack in the manner just 
 described. Four gates, facing the four points of the 
 compass, gave entrance to the camp, whose countless 
 lines of tents crossing each other at right angles looked 
 with the intervening spaces like the streets and squares 
 of a well-planned city. 
 
 This military force was under the command of Ces- 
 tius Gallus, imperial Legate of Syria, and its object 
 was the restoration to Roman rule of the rebellious city 
 of Jerusalem, sixteen miles distant. 
 
 The tent of the general-in-chief, or, to employ the 
 Latin term, the prastorium, was pitched, according to 
 immemorial custom, by the gate nearest to the enemy, 
 in this case the southern one, as being on the side to- 
 wards Jerusalem. 
 
 This tent, furnished in the simplest fashion and 
 
 170 
 
" Thou Wilt Never Take the City " 171 
 
 lighted by a lamp pendent from the roof, contained 
 but one occupant, the Legate. 
 
 He was a man of about sixty years, grave and sol- 
 dierly; his face at ordinary times had a look that 
 showed him to be, in spite of his military profession, 
 a man of a humane and kindly disposition; but now, 
 and for many days past, there had been in his aspect 
 something so stern and cold that the soldier about to 
 ask a favor of his general shrank away, reserving the 
 matter for another time. 
 
 The sudden entering of a man unannounced caused 
 the Legate to look up with a frown. 
 
 "Who comes here.?" said he, shading his eyes with 
 his hand. 
 
 " A wise man and a fool." 
 
 "How can that be, royal Polemo.?" said Cestius, 
 smoothmg his brows as he recognized his visitor. 
 
 " He who is not a fool at times is never a wise man," 
 returned the Pontic king, taking his seat with an air 
 that proved him to be on familiar terms with the 
 Legate. 
 
 " You have returned from Achaia very quickly," said 
 Cestius. 
 
 " Twelve days on the sea going and coming. I 
 doubt whether the double voyage were ever performed 
 in so short a time. I found the god "—this with a 
 sneer — " at Olympia." 
 
 " You told him of the revolt.? " 
 
 " All that I knew of it." 
 
 " And his commands ? " 
 
 Polemo drew forth a scroll of papyrus, secured with 
 red wax and impressed with a seal which Cestius knew 
 to be that of Nero. Breaking the seal, the Legate 
 read the missive, first silently, and then, for the benefit 
 of Polemo, aloud. 
 
 " Our faithful servant, Cestius Gallus, is herewith 
 granted full liberty to deal with the rebellious city of 
 
172 The Doomed City 
 
 Jerusalem in whatever way he deemeth best for the 
 interests of the Roman republic. 
 
 " Given on this, the eighth of the Ides of September, 
 in the twelfth year of our reign. Nero Augustus." 
 
 "Liberty to deal Avith the city as I please.''" ex- 
 claimed Cestius, a fierce fire sparkling from his eyes and 
 a color lighting up his hitherto sallow cheek. " Delenda 
 est Hierosolyina! Not a man in it shall live. Its 
 women and children shall be sold into slavery. I will 
 give their temple to the flames and the city to destruc- 
 tion. Not one stone of it shall be left standing upon 
 another. Jerusalem shall be blotted from the face of 
 the earth." 
 
 This threatened doom being the very end for which 
 Polemo had been clandestinely working during a space 
 of many years was received by liim with secret rapture ; 
 nevertheless he could not help wondering why Cestius, 
 usually humane in his dealings, should have become 
 animated by a spirit so merciless. But now, as Polemo 
 noticed, what he had not noticed before, namely, that 
 the Legate was wearing a black pallium, the emblem 
 of mourning, he was seized with a sudden suspicion. 
 
 " I am the last of my race," said Cestius, answering 
 the question expressed by the other's eyes. " There is 
 no son to carry on my name." 
 
 " Say not that Crispus is dead ! " gasped Polemo, 
 whose look of grief could not have been keener if he, 
 and not Cestius, had been the father. " Crispus dead ! 
 Then my plan for the humiliation of — Oh, it cannot 
 be! How.? When?" 
 
 " You shall learn. 'Tis the time for it," said the 
 Legate with a glance at a clepsydra that stood on 
 the table before him. 
 
 " The time ? " repeated Polemo wonderingly. 
 
 " Every night at this hour I strengthen my 
 spirit in its purpose of vengeance by hearing anew 
 from the mouth of an eye-witness the story of a 
 
''Thou TVilt Never Take the City'' 173 
 
 massacre wrought by the lying oath of a cowardly 
 priest." 
 
 Even as he spoke the curtain draping the entrance 
 of the tent was lifted, and there entered two spearmen 
 leading between them a captive whose dress and phys- 
 iognomy bore unmistakable evidence of his Jewish 
 origin. 
 
 " A deserter from the city. Now, fellow, tell thy 
 tale." 
 
 Frequent repetition had made the captive fluent in 
 his narration, so with an unfaltering voice and in a 
 simple style he gave a full account of the calamitous 
 ending to the brave defense of the Praetorium. 
 
 "Art certain that Eleazar's was a fatal stab.''" 
 asked Polemo. 
 
 " It could not have been otherwise ; he dealt stroke 
 upon stroke," replied the Jew, who saw no reason why 
 he should not heighten the story of Eleazar's cruelty. 
 Lives there a man who can relate an event exactly as 
 it happened.'' 
 
 " Woe to Eleazar ! " said Cestius. " 'Twere better 
 for him had he never been born." 
 
 " What became of the bodies of those that were mas- 
 sacred.''" asked Polemo. 
 
 " They were taken outside the city to a place called 
 Aceldama, where it is the custom to bury strangers. 
 A trench was dug, and the corpses were flung into it, 
 one upon another." 
 
 "You saw the body of Crispus treated thus?" 
 
 And the man stating, not what had happened, but 
 what he fancied had happened, answered in the affirma- 
 tive. 
 
 " Flung into a common grave ! Lost to me for- 
 ever ! " murmured Cestius. " I am denied even the 
 melancholy consolation of taking home his ashes." 
 
 With the morning light the Roman army, having 
 breakfasted, prepared to resume its march. 
 
174 The Doomed City 
 
 At the first shrill sound of the trumpet the tents 
 fell flat to the ground; at the second, which followed 
 at a measured interval, they were piled with other 
 baggage upon wagons and beasts of burden ; at the 
 third signal the march began, the vanguard filing off 
 in stately order, eight abreast. Soon the whole of 
 the vast army was in motion, winding like a glittering, 
 scaly serpent up the mountain pass that led towards 
 Jerusalem. Mounted scouts pushed on ahead for the 
 purpose of forestalling those ambuscades which are the 
 delight of an Oriental people. 
 
 Cestius, who rode in the center of the host with King 
 Polemo by his side, became annoyed at the irregular 
 movements on the part of the columns composing the 
 vanguard, who for a time would maintain a march so 
 brisk as to leave a long interval between themselves 
 and the central division, and then, without any ap- 
 parent cause, would come to a dead halt, moving on 
 again a few minutes afterwards. At last a stop was 
 made of such duration that it brought the whole of 
 the army following to a standstill, thus tending to 
 create a degree of confusion not often witnessed in the 
 Roman ranks. Unable any longer to control his im- 
 patience, Cestius, setting spurs to his steed, galloped 
 forward, bent on administering a sharp reproof to the 
 tribune in charge of the vanguard. 
 
 On being questioned as to the cause of this long halt 
 that officer referred his angry general to the tall and 
 stately figure of a priest, standing a few paces in front 
 of the first rank and bearing in his hand the short 
 lituus or augurial staff. It was Theomantes, priest 
 of Jupiter Caesarius, the one-time councilor of Florus, 
 but now acting, and that at Cestius' own wish, as the 
 official augur of the Roman army. The Legate had 
 a high regard for him, but when Theomantes, presum- 
 ing on this regard, ventured to check the advance of 
 the whole army, he was undoubtedly usurping the au- 
 thority of the general, an act not to be tolerated. 
 
"Thou Wilt Never Take the City" 175 
 
 "How now, Theomantes? " cried Cestius angrily. 
 "Why this delay?" 
 
 " Seest thou yon eagle? " said Theomantes, pointing 
 to an eagle in front of them, poised apparently motion- 
 less in the air. 
 
 "I see it. And what then?" 
 
 " 'Tis the divine director of our march. When it 
 advances, we advance ; when it stops, we stop ; for so 
 will it be to our advantage." 
 
 " And when it retreats, I suppose we must retreat," 
 sneered Cestius. " Shall a father, bent on the sacred 
 duty of avenging his son, be stayed by a fowl of the 
 air? Fellow, thy bow and arrow," he cried, addressing 
 a Cretan archer that stood by ; and, having received 
 what he had asked for, Cestius fitted a shaft to the 
 string, and, taking aim at the eagle, let fly. 
 
 The shot was a good one ; pierced by the arrow, 
 the eagle dropped to the earth like a falling 
 stone. 
 
 " Fools ! " exclaimed the Legate scornfully, as he 
 noticed the dismayed looks of the superstitious soldiers, 
 " exercise your reason. If yon eagle had the power 
 of foreseeing the future, would it not have kept far 
 hence, and not have flown hither to meet its death by 
 the arrow of Cestius?" 
 
 " Cestius Gallus," said the augur, solemnly, " thou 
 hast slain the messenger sent by Jove to direct our 
 march. The wrath of the gods will be upon thee for 
 this. Thou xvllt never take the city.^^ 
 
 With this he broke his augurial staff in two, and 
 cast the pieces at Cestius' feet ; then, walking to the 
 roadside, he seated himself upon a crag; and, covering 
 both head and face with his mantle, in token of grief, 
 he added: "Here will I abide till I see thee returning 
 in headlong confusion." 
 
 " I will prove thee a liar," said the Legate 
 fiercely. " Forward ! " he continued, addressing the 
 vanguard. 
 
176 The Doomed City 
 
 The Jews, gazing from the lofty ramparts of their 
 city, beheld with secret fear the drilled legions of Rome 
 ascending and descending " the hills that stand about 
 Jerusalem," and stationing themselves at every stra- 
 tegic point ; their eyes, turn them which way they 
 would, saw nothing but the glitter of the eagles ; all 
 retreat was cut off; the city was girt with a ring of 
 steel. 
 
 As the house of Miriam, widow of Hyrcanus, was one 
 of the highest on Mount Zion, and as Mount Zion was 
 the highest of the four hills on which Jerusalem was 
 built, it follows that the military display outside the 
 city could not escape the notice of Crispus as he lay 
 upon the roof. The sight filled him with patriotic 
 pride, a pride enhanced by the knowledge that it was 
 his father who led that mighty host; he would not fail 
 in the work ; Rome would again vindicate her suprem- 
 acy ; and Eleazar and the false, cowardly crew that 
 had taken part in the barbarous massacre of the garri- 
 sons would receive their merited doom. A pity he, 
 Crispus, must lie here, unable to join in the coming 
 fight ! 
 
 Beside his pallet sat the gentle Vashti, her eyes on 
 the Roman host. 
 
 " Your father will not take the city," said she quietly ; 
 " at least, not at this time." 
 
 Crispus, almost startled by her air of certainty, asked 
 what reason she had for her belief. 
 
 " There are in this city," replied Vashti, " a multi- 
 tude of Christians over whom our Divine Master watch- 
 eth, for He is not dead but liveth eternally. Think 
 you that He will permit His saints to fall by the sword 
 of the Romans ? I trow not ; those guilty Jews who 
 have hardened their heart against Him will receive 
 their just doom ; but of His disciples He saith, * There 
 shall not a hair of your head perish.' And therefore 
 that we might know when the time is come for us 
 to quit the city, He, while on earth, gave us this sign." 
 
" Thou Wilt Never Take the City " 177 
 
 Vashtl drew from her bosom a scroll of papyrus writ- 
 ten in Greek characters, and read from it the follow- 
 ing sentence : " ' WJien ye shall see Jerusalem compassed 
 •with armies, then let them that are in the midst of it 
 depart out.' " 
 
 " How can they depart out with a hostile army 
 camping all round? " asked Crispus, captiously. 
 
 "How, indeed? Therefore it is necessary that this 
 hostile army should be withdrawn for a time." 
 
 " In order to give the Christians the opportunity to 
 escape ! " said Crispus with a touch of sarcasm in his 
 voice. 
 
 Yes, that was her belief, and she had no other reason 
 for it than a supposed prophetical passage in a book 
 she called the Evangel! This was not the first time 
 (for she had often talked to him about her religion) 
 that Vashti had sought to connect her Divine Teacher 
 with the course of contemporary events. In her view 
 He was the central figure of the world's history ; old 
 times pointed to His coming; new times were to flow 
 from it. Present events were taking place for no other 
 reason than to advance the interests of the new re- 
 ligion. The general Cestius was merely a passive in- 
 strument in the hands of the deified Galiljean ; his march 
 to Jerusalem was not to vindicate the majesty of Rome, 
 but to serve as a Divine sign to the Christians, and, 
 having plaj^ed the part allotted to him, he was to 
 march back again without taking the city ! Crispus 
 could scarcely listen with patience to a theory so fan- 
 tastical. 
 
 A Cestius to retreat ? Go to ! 
 
 However, as Vashti quietly remarked in answer to his 
 arguments, the event would decide. 
 
 " Is your father a cruel man? " continued she. 
 
 " Quite the contrary ; for a soldier he is said to be 
 too merciful." 
 
 " Yet he has vowed to slay every man in the city, 
 and to sell the women and children into slavery." 
 
178 The Doomed City 
 
 " How know you that? " 
 
 " It is shouted at us by the enemy whenever they 
 draw near the wall, and not by the common soldiers 
 only : the centurions mock us with the same doom." 
 
 " He thinks me dead, and hence his wrath. 'Tis a 
 pity he should be in error. How it would gladden him 
 to know that I am alive! Is there no way of com- 
 municating with him? " 
 
 Vashti reflected. 
 
 " I think," said she, " I can contrive to let him know 
 that you are living." 
 
 "How?" asked Crispus, eagerly. 
 
 " If you will write a letter I will try to have it con- 
 veyed to him. I know a Christian youth, Heber by 
 name, whom I have but to command, and he will per- 
 form this service for me. His house is upon the city 
 wall. To get to the Roman camp he has but to lower 
 himself by a rope. He can carry your message, but 
 whether he can bring one back " 
 
 " No. 'Twill be a dangerous business to be seen 
 returning. Let him remain in the Roman camp. And 
 tell him that whatever reward he likes to ask for — in 
 reason — my delighted father will give. And now for 
 stylus and papyrus." 
 
 Vashti flew to procure writing materials, and Cris- 
 pus, sitting up, proceeded to indite the following 
 epistle : 
 
 " To the most excellent of fathers, greeting. 
 
 " Cast off your black pallium, and make a sacrifice 
 to Jupiter the Saviour, for I, your son Crispus, am 
 not, as you suppose, in Hades, but am lodged with the 
 widow Miriam, whose house is in the street of Millo, 
 abiding secretly for fear of the Zealots. That I have 
 not sought to escape to the Roman camp is due to 
 my enfeebled frame, which would not be living at all, 
 but for the care and attention of a sweet maiden named 
 Vashti." 
 
 " You must delete the word dulcis," said Vashti. 
 
" Thou Wilt Never Take the City " 179 
 
 But this Crispus declined to do. 
 
 " Therefore should you take the city " — he put this 
 hypothetically in deference to Vashti's belief — " you 
 must, as owing your son's life to her, deal leniently 
 with the nation to which she belongs, and show the 
 mercy that pertaineth to an honorable Roman general. 
 May wc soon meet. Vale! " 
 
 He added the date, together with a strange sign that 
 puzzled Vashti. 
 
 " A private mark," he explained. " 'Twill convince 
 him of the authenticity of this little epistle." 
 
 Later in the day Vashti went off with the letter ; 
 and, returning after an interval of two hours, was able 
 to announce that Heber had undertaken the charge, 
 but from due regard to safety he would not make the 
 attempt till after nightfall. 
 
 Evidently he kept his word, for when Vashti visited 
 his house next day his mystified kinsfolk declared that 
 he had vanished during the night, deserting apparently 
 to the Roman camp, since they had discovered a rope 
 hanging from the window of his room. 
 
 Crispus from his place on the roof continued to 
 watch with a lively interest the doings of the Romans. 
 
 Three days were spent by the Legate in perfecting 
 his arrangements for the taking of the city ; on the 
 fourth day he advanced, delivering his attack from the 
 north. 
 
 For five days the fighting went on, very much to 
 the advantage of the Romans ; at the close of the sixth 
 da}' they had captured certain strategic points — a cap- 
 ture that made it manifest, even to those citizens least 
 experienced in military affairs, that the morrow would 
 bring with it the fall of the city. 
 
 Crispus, who had watched the operations with the 
 trained eye of a soldier, remarked with filial pride: 
 " ]My father will do in one week what took the great 
 Pompey twelve weeks." 
 
 But Vashti shook her pretty head mournfully. 
 
180 The Boomed City 
 
 That same night the remnant of the Sanhedrim and 
 the captains of the Zealots met in the hall Gazith to 
 deliberate upon their desperate situation. There was 
 scarcely a man among them but believed the doom of 
 the city to be a matter of a few hours only. 
 
 The once fierce Eleazar trembled now, remembering 
 that it was his hand that had struck down the Legate's 
 son. Though Cestius should be never so merciful to 
 the rebels, there was one person at least whom he was 
 certain not to spare. 
 
 Gloom and despondency marked every face but that 
 of Simon ; he alone maintained a bold front. 
 
 " To-morrow about this time," said he, " Cestius 
 will be in full retreat." 
 
 " Yes, if the Messiah should descend from heaven 
 to help us," said Matthias, the high priest. 
 
 " Earthly means will suffice." 
 
 "What is your plan, for you evidently have one.?" 
 
 " Simply this ; I shall go to Cestius and shall say 
 to him, ' Cestius, withdraw your legions,' and he will 
 withdraw them." 
 
 "Have we need of madmen?" said Matthias, turn- 
 ing scornfully to Eleazar, " that you admit this fellow 
 to our councils? " 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF SIMON 
 
 Night melted into the golden light of a lovely morn- 
 ing- 
 
 The Jewish multitude, pale-eyed and anxious, trooped 
 to the city walls. 
 
 To their surprise the encircling lines of legionaries 
 that had been posted to the east, and to the west, and 
 to the south, of the city were all in motion, taking their 
 way to the camp at Scopus. 
 
 Conjecturing what this new movement should mean, 
 the Jews came to the conclusion that Cestius was mass- 
 ing all his troops for the final assault, to be delivered 
 from the north. 
 
 This was likewise the opinion of Crispus ; his father 
 was purposely leaving three sides of the city unguarded 
 in the belief that the Jews would fight with less despera- 
 tion, as knowing that a way of retreat was open to 
 them both on flank and rear. 
 
 By noontide all the various sections of the Roman 
 army were seen to be concentrated upon the northern 
 heights of Scopus. Not a cohort, not a maniple, not 
 a single legionary, was visible elsewhere. Even those 
 strategic points which on the previous day had been 
 won at the cost of so much toil and blood were all 
 relinquished, the troops that held them having with- 
 drawn to join the common host. 
 
 This last movement was, in the eyes of the Jewish 
 multitude, a very mysterious one. What did it mean.'' 
 They looked on in silent and breathless wonder. 
 
 Suddenly, the shrill note of a trumpet rang out upon 
 the morning air. The distant notes were borne by the 
 
 181 
 
182 The Doomed City 
 
 breeze In faint cadence to the ears of Crlspus. With 
 a sudden thrill at his heart he listened, doubtful as 
 to whether he could have heard aright. Again the 
 trumpet sang out. The same strain as before. There 
 was no mistaking its meaning, and Crispus sank back 
 with a groan of despair. 
 
 It was the signal for retreat! 
 
 The great army that had set out from Antioch burn- 
 ing to redeem Roman honor by recovering Jerusalem 
 was now actually moving off again, at the very moment 
 when it might have successfully accomplished its work; 
 moving off — to quote the contemporary historian — 
 " without any reason in the world ! " '^ 
 
 Silently the people stared, scarcely able to believe 
 their eyes. Then, as each successive evolution made 
 the truth more and more plain, there burst from a 
 hundred thousand voices a yell that seemed to rend 
 the very firmament. 
 
 " THE ROMANS ARE RETREATING ! " 
 
 " It's a stratagem to lure the Jews from the city," 
 said the bewildered Crispus, trying to delude himself 
 with false hopes. " They will follow, and he will fall 
 upon them." 
 
 He was right in saying that the Jews would 
 follow. 
 
 The gates of the city clanged wide, and an armed 
 multitude, Simon at their head, poured forth with 
 intent to harass the retreating foe. 
 
 Crispus, watching with mournful and rueful visage, 
 took his last look at the soldiers of the Roman rear- 
 guard as they stood in glittering splendor upon the 
 sky-line. They had faced about on the very summit 
 of Scopus to discharge a flight of arrows at the fore- 
 most column of the pursuing Jews ; a few moments 
 afterwards and they had disappeared behind the 
 heights. 
 
 Their parting shots had no effect upon the advance 
 of the Jews, who in a wild, tumultuous mass swept for- 
 
The Triumph of Simon 183 
 
 ward up the broad, white, dusty road and over the 
 brow of the hill ; in course of time they, too, like the 
 Romans, became lost to view. 
 
 Crispus fully expected to see them ere long come 
 surging back in headlong flight ; but no ! Sounds as 
 of tumult and fighting reached his ears, but these 
 sounds becoming more and more distant showed that it 
 was not the Jews who were fleeing. 
 
 Sorrowfully he lay down, and while vainly trying — 
 for he would not accept Vashti's explanation of the 
 matter — to devise some theory to account for a retreat 
 so strange, he fell asleep. Vashti seized the oppor- 
 tunity to steal quietly off*, and making her way to the 
 temple turned into the Eastern Cloister or Solomon's 
 Colonnade. Here the Christians of Jerusalem were 
 wont to meet, drawn thither by the knowledge that this 
 place had been a favorite resort of their Lord while 
 upon earth. As Vashti made her way along this arcade 
 she came upon a little group — men, women, and chil- 
 dren — whom she recognized as adherents of the faith, 
 the holy band that had survived the persecutions alike 
 of Jewish Sanhedrim and Roman procurator. Their 
 air, sad yet sweet, and the character of their attire — 
 for they were habited as if for a long journey — told 
 her that they were taking their last farewell of the 
 temple. Some were gazing wistfully around, as well 
 knowing that they would see the place no more; a few 
 knelt reverently upon the pavement, and kissed the 
 stones that had once been trodden by the hallowed feet 
 of the Saviour. 
 
 Among them, exercising a mild and paternal au- 
 thority, there moved one, dignified and saintly in 
 aspect, Simeon, son of Cleophas, revered as being the 
 cousin, according to the flesh, of the crucified Master. 
 A pillar of the church, and a witness of the truth, he 
 had already lived seventy years, and was destined, either 
 from the pure and temperate character of his life or 
 from being specially favored by heaven, to live yet 
 
184 The Doomed City 
 
 fifty more, terminating his long life by a glorious 
 martyrdom." 
 
 It was his hand that had baptized Vashti, whom 
 he now greeted with a gentle smile. 
 
 "You are quitting the city.''" said she, sorrowfully. 
 
 " Even so," returned Simeon ; " at intervals, and in 
 small groups, that we may not attract the attention 
 of our enemies. We have seen the sign foretold by the 
 Lord while He was yet with us : ' Jerusalem compassed 
 with armies.' Therefore do we obey His voice and 
 hasten our departure, lest the Zealots should return to 
 intercept our flight. The door is open ; who can tell 
 how soon it may be shut.? We have a further sign 
 in the Messianic fountain of Siloam that has withdrawn 
 its waters from this wicked city." 
 
 "And whither are you going.?" 
 
 " Beyond Jordan to the city of Pella among the 
 mountains. My daughter, are you not going with us, 
 seeing that upon this city, that hath shed the blood 
 of the saints, there is coming utter destruction.? — ^yea, 
 * Tribulation such as was not since the beginning of 
 the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be.* " 
 
 There was in the bishop's words that which set 
 Vashti's heart thrilling with a nameless fear. She 
 yearned to accompany the little band to Pella, but durst 
 not run contrary to the will of her mother, who, she 
 well knew, would never be persuaded to quit the city. 
 And there was little Arad. And the good but heathen 
 Crispus, for whose conversion she daily prayed, occu- 
 pied also a place in her heart. No ! she could not bear 
 to part from these, and so she resisted the persuasive 
 words of her new-found friends. 
 
 "Why will you make me weep?" said she. "If it 
 be the will of the Lord can He not protect me here 
 equally as well as at Pella.?" 
 
 " Daughter, thou hast well said," returned Simeon. 
 " Is it not written: ' Who ever perished, being innocent? 
 or when were the righteous cut off? ' We leave thee 
 
The Triumph of Simon 185 
 
 t'^L^.lX """^ ^"'^ ""' ^' '^^" "°* '^^^ ^° p^^^ 
 
 hl.II'''! have it my daughter," replied the good 
 bishop laying his hands upon her head ^ 
 
 _ Ih^ httle band now turned sorrowfully away, cast- 
 ing many a lingering look behind. Vashti,yzi4 
 
 fh°%. 1?^"""^."'^"^^' ""*^^^^ «^^^ - the; q^uitt d 
 the Shushan or Beautiful Gate, and made theh' way 
 down the hillside to the brook Cedron. Crossing the 
 
 of Olit?'"" ^ A ^'^^^' '^''^ "^^^"^^^ ^^- leafy slope 
 ot Uhvet; arrived upon its summit they paused to t«L 
 one long, last look at the city, and thinf dlTppt itg 
 loTt toM::;^^^ ^'^ ""'-' ^^ ^^^ --^' *^-''ecam? 
 With a sense of desolation at her heart, such as she 
 had never before known, Vashti went home aga" to 
 find Crispus awake and chafing because the Jews had 
 not yet returned in headlong flight 
 
 the next! A whole week passed, a week filled with 
 strange rumors of Roman defeat and Jewish succesl 
 
 On the eighth day the Jewish multitude reappeared 
 chanting songs of victory. ppearea, 
 
 Their entry into the city took the shape of a trium- 
 phal procession, made resplendent with chariots and 
 enemyl" ''"" '"^ standards, all captured from the 
 
 in T W™'"' '\ ^''°. °^ '^'' ^^^'^ ^PP^-r^d riding 
 in an ivory car whose front and sides were decorated 
 with the gory heads of slaiii Romans, the delighted 
 
 af thoLli'h'^' '"\r^^^ ''-' "^^^"^ of 'palm-brantes' 
 as though he were the very Messiah. Young maidens 
 
 p5et::«er°- ^'^ -'-■-'' -<> '- -t ^z 
 
 " Hosanna to the son of Giora ! " 
 
 " Hail to the Scourge of the Romans ! » 
 
186 The Boomed City 
 
 It was a great day for the Zealot chief, too great 
 in the eyes of the jealous Eleazar, who was beginning 
 to fear that Simon had ambitions inconsistent with his 
 own supremacy. 
 
 " We must clip the wings of this eagle ere he fly too 
 high," he muttered darkly. 
 
 As for Crispus, the procession seemed to him like 
 some hideous dream. Could it be that a fine Roman 
 army, commanded by his own father, had suffered 
 defeat at the hands of an undisciplined horde of Orien- 
 tal barbarians .f^ 
 
 It was even so ; Vashti that evening told him the 
 whole story as she had gathered it from others. 
 
 Simon's followers, keeping to the heights that over- 
 hung the Pass of Beth-horon, had followed the Romans 
 day by day, attacking them in front, flank and rear, 
 but never venturing an open engagement. The Roman 
 legionaries, demoralized by the retreat, seemed to lack 
 even the spirit to defend themselves. At last, when 
 more than five thousand of his men had fallen in this 
 guerilla warfare, Cestius, to avoid further disaster, 
 was compelled to resort to a stratagem of despair. 
 Having with studied pomp and display formed and 
 fortified a camp, he stole off quietly in the dead of 
 night, leaving the tents standing and the watch-fires 
 burning, so as to deceive the enemy for a time. The 
 trick answered ; and Cestius, gaining a few hours' start, 
 succeeded by forced marches in bringing his panic- 
 stricken troops to Antipatris, behind whose ramparts 
 he was secure from attack. As for the camp with its 
 standards, furniture, and military stores, this was, of 
 course, seized and plundered by the delighted Jews. 
 
 Not since the day when the German barbarians, under 
 Arminius, had cut to pieces the legions of Varus in 
 the depths of the Teutoburg forest, had a disaster so 
 great befallen the Roman arms. 
 
 Had this defeat happened under any other com- 
 mander, the shame of it would have touched to the 
 
The Triumph of Simon 187 
 
 quick the patriotic pride of Crispus, but that this 
 defeat should have been brought about by the bad 
 generalship of his own father ! 
 
 Filial affection seemed for the moment to die within 
 Crispus. 
 
 "Doth my father still live?" he muttered moodily. 
 "Had he no sword to fall upon.'' He hath made the 
 name of Cestius synonj^mous with coward." 
 
 That day, the first time for several weeks, Crispus 
 w'as able to rise from his bed and assume his Roman 
 garb. 
 
 And now came the momentous question as to how 
 he should get safely out of Jerusalem, a question that 
 was settled in a very remarkable manner. 
 
 Miriam's house, like all the larger houses in Jeru- 
 salem, was built around a square court paved with tiles, 
 and adorned in the middle with a fountain. 
 
 One afternoon, Vashti was sitting alone in this court, 
 and thinking, as she was always thinking, of Crispus, 
 when a heavy footstep caused her to look up. The 
 thing that she had been fearing during many weeks 
 had come to pass at last. There, a few paces distant, 
 stood Simon of Gerasa ! Only by a great effort was 
 she able to keep herself from fainting at sight of the 
 dark and terrible Zealot. 
 
 " Interpret me this riddle," said he. " Into the house 
 was seen to go that which never came forth again." 
 
 She knew that he was alluding to Crispus, and her 
 heart almost ceased beating. 
 
 " To be more plain, doth not Crispus the Roman 
 abide here.'' " 
 
 In defiance of the teaching of Simeon the bishop, that 
 a falsehood is never justifiable even when its purpose 
 is to save human life, Vashti was tempted to deny all 
 knowledge of Crispus. 
 
 " Why should you think that ? " she replied in a 
 trembling voice. 
 
 " You do not deny it.? Take me to him." 
 
188 The Doomed City 
 
 Vashtl did not stir. 
 
 " Come, girl," exclaimed Simon, growing impatient, 
 " delay not, or I summon my Zealots to search the 
 house, and if these patriots once enter," he continued 
 with a grim smile, " they'll leave little of value behind. 
 I seek the Roman to do him not evil but good. I 
 swear it." 
 
 " You swear ! " flashed out Vashti, her indignation 
 getting the better of her fear. " You, who broke your 
 oath and massacred the Roman garrison ! What is 
 your word worth.? " 
 
 The Zealot laughed unashamedly. 
 
 " When a man, desirous of hanging a dog, lures the 
 creature to him by a tempting bait, do you call him 
 wicked? And what are the Romans but dogs, unfit 
 to live." 
 
 " Then Crispus, being a Roman, is a dog.f* " 
 
 " He is ; but he is the best of the dogs, and therefore 
 am I minded to do him a service." 
 
 Compelled to yield, Vashti led the way, wondering 
 what Crispus would think of her action in bringing the 
 Zealot upon him. 
 
 She found him in an upper chamber, sitting at a 
 table, reading a Greek scroll of one of the gospels, 
 and frowning at what he considered its bizarre style. 
 Upon the same table lay a drawn sword. 
 
 '^ * And they shall lay thee even xvith the ground,* " 
 read Crispus. " Now, I trust that this man may prove 
 a true prophet, for — ah ! who comes here ? " 
 
 His eye, lifting, had caught sight of Simon. Fa- 
 miliarized with sudden perils, Crispus kept an unmoved 
 countenance. 
 
 "How fares the noble patient?" said Simon, sar- 
 donically. 
 
 " Why, as to that, you may test his strength, if 
 you will," replied Crispus, laying his hand upon the 
 sword. 
 
 But though he spoke thus boldly, and longed to slay 
 
The Triumph of Simon 189 
 
 the man who had helped to massacre his fellov.'-Romans, 
 he felt himself, in his present state of convalescence, to 
 be as weak as a babe. It was all over with him if the 
 Zealot took him at his word. 
 
 " Tush ! " responded Simon, with folded arms. " Do 
 you not see that I am unarmed. I come as a friend. 
 Were I thy enemy and desired thy death should I have 
 sought to save thee from the hand of Eleazar.''" 
 
 "And why that attempted grace on your part?" 
 asked Crispus, laying down his weapon. 
 
 " Were 3'ou not the first to rise at my trial and con- 
 demn the dastardly Florus ? " 
 
 " My condemnation of Florus was not meant as the 
 justification of Simon." 
 
 " Be that as it may. Let me state my errand. You 
 are surrounded by enemies, who, if they did but know 
 that you are abiding here, would break in and slay 
 3'ou. Be it mine to save you. I am here secretly to 
 offer you a safe conduct to your Roman friends at 
 Antipatris." 
 
 " 'Tis scarcely credible," said Crispus. 
 
 He was amazed, as well he might be, at the offer. 
 Why should Simon be willing to undertake this enter- 
 prise, which, if detected, would put him at feud with 
 Eleazar and the whole body of the Zealots? 
 
 " My reason for this course I reserve till to-night," 
 was the only answer Simon would give to Crispus' 
 questioning. 
 
 " But if you are willing that I should get safely 
 from Jerusalem, why not let me arrange my departure 
 in my own way ? " 
 
 " Do so, and die. You cannot escape in the day- 
 time, and at night no one can leave the city without 
 a signed order from Eleazar. But should you succeed 
 in evading the sentinels at the gates you will find the 
 public roads leading from Jerusalem patrolled by armed 
 Zealots, who slay all whom they detect escaping from 
 the city. ' Jerusalem,' they say, and rightly, ' hath 
 
190 The Boomed City 
 
 need of all her sons, and he who deserts her at this 
 crisis shall receive a traitor's doom." 
 
 How Vashti rejoiced that the Christians had seized 
 the first opportunity to escape ! 
 
 " Your safety," continued Simon, addressing Cris- 
 pus, " lies in my escorting you ; apart from me you will 
 be stopped, interrogated, slain." 
 
 " I will avail myself of your offer," said Crispus. 
 " But I forewarn you that when the Roman army comes 
 again from Caesarea, as come it will, I shall be found 
 within its ranks, and if we meet in battle look to no 
 sparing from me." 
 
 " Be it so," said Simon coldly. " To-night at the 
 sixth hour be ready for the journey. I will bring two 
 steeds with me. But a word of caution. Exchange that 
 Roman costume for the Hebrew caftan and abba, if you 
 would be safe." 
 
 With that Simon took his departure, directing his 
 steps to the temple, where he found to his surprise that 
 the Sanhedrim were holding a meeting in the hall 
 Gazith, a meeting to which they had not thought fit to 
 invite him. 
 
 The object of their deliberations, so it seemed, was 
 to appoint military governors for the various top- 
 archies or districts, of not only Judaa, but also of 
 Galilee, Idumasa, and Peraea, these three provinces hav- 
 ing decided to throw in their lot with the Jewish 
 cause. 
 
 As the Sanhedrim, having dispatched this business, 
 were departing, Simon encountered Eleazar on the 
 threshold of the hall. 
 
 "A council, and I not invited?" he said in an in- 
 jured tone. "But there, let be! How have matters 
 sped.?" 
 
 " Joseph ben Gorion and Ananus have been ap- 
 pointed rulers of Jeriisalem." 
 
 " Priests both," commented Simon. 
 
 " / am a priest," returned the other. 
 
The Triumph of Simon 191 
 
 "Were these two like thee I would rejoice," replied 
 the Zealot, who recognized the military abilities of 
 Eleazar. 
 
 " Rejoice, then, that I am made ruler of Idumasa." 
 
 "Why, so I do. What more?" 
 
 " Josephus hath rule over the two Galilees." 
 
 " Another priest, and a smooth-tongued, double-faced 
 Pharisee ; not to be trusted." 
 
 Eleazar proceeded to enumerate other appointments, 
 few of which met with Simon's approval. 
 
 " It seems," said the Zealot, when the other had 
 finished his list, " that the Sanhedrim hath no need for 
 my services." 
 
 " Your name was not brought forward in connection 
 with any office." 
 
 "Not even by you.''" Eleazar was silent. "Who 
 was the first to enter Antonia.'' Not a Sanhedrist, I 
 trow. Who promised to free Jerusalem from its siege, 
 and did so.'' Not a Sanhedrist. Who was foremost 
 in the attack on the retreating legions of Cestius.'^ Not 
 a Sanhedrist. And now do they pass me by, and dis- 
 tribute the rewards of victory among themselves.'' 
 Verily, 3'ou have not done well, Eleazar, son of Ana- 
 nias." 
 
 And Simon stalked wrathfully away. 
 
 As night drew on Crispus' feelings became a curious 
 mingling of pleasure and regret — pleasure at the 
 thought of freedom, regret at having to part from 
 Vashti, whose companionship had grown dear to him. 
 
 In this hour of parting as they sat in the upper 
 chamber by the light of a silver lamp, Vashti gently 
 sought, as she had frequently sought before, to bring 
 him over to her faith. 
 
 Crispus shook his head. 
 
 " Your creed is an impossible one," said he. " A 
 religion that tells us to love our enemies would be the 
 ruin of states. Where would the Roman empire have 
 
192 Tlie Doomed City 
 
 been had we followed that doctrine? The world will 
 never be ruled by love, but by this." Taking his sword 
 by the point he held it aloft. 
 
 " Look ! " said Vashti, gently. 
 
 Crispus looked where she pointed, and lo ! upon the 
 chamber wall was a shadow cast by the light of the 
 lamp, and that shadow had the shape of a cross! 
 
 He who had not started at Simon's sudden advent 
 started now. He lowered the sword and sheathed it 
 with a thoughtful air. Upon him who was so much 
 disposed to catch at omens that little incident made 
 more impression than all Vashti's discourses. 
 
 " The time of your departure is at hand," she said 
 sorrowfully. " You must kiss little Arad before you 
 go, and say farewell to my mother." 
 
 When the sixth hour of the night had come, Crispus, 
 disguised in Jewish garb, descended to the door of 
 Miriam's dwelling. Vashti was with him, and looked 
 cautiously forth. Under the radiance of the full moon 
 the street of Millo was half in silver light and half 
 in ebon shadow. Out of the latter emerged the tall 
 form of Simon leading two horses by the bridle. 
 
 As Crispus beheld Vashti's eyes eloquent with the 
 sorrow of parting, he longed to take her within his 
 arms and press her lips to his. He knew that this 
 maiden loved him, as well as he knew that he loved her. 
 But between them there lay the shadow of the unknown 
 Athenais ; and even should Crispus, invoking the law, 
 repudiate his consort, he would be no better off as 
 regards Vashti, whose Christian faith, dearer to her 
 than earthly love, forbade her to marry one that had 
 put away his wife. 
 
 With the words " Farewell, sweet Vashti ; may we 
 soon meet again ! " he mounted the horse, and, in 
 company with Simon, rode slowly away, pausing for a 
 moment at the street corner to wave with his hand a 
 final adieu. 
 
 They drew nigh to the gate Gennath, where a guard 
 
The Triumph of Simon 193 
 
 was stationed. Simon's well-known face procured a 
 ready passport both for himself and his companion. 
 
 " Who is he that rides with thee.'' " asked the captain 
 of Simon. 
 
 " In his way as good a patriot as myself," was the 
 answer. 
 
 The two passed through the gate and galloped off 
 in the moonlight, the sense of freedom and the rapid 
 motion through the night air causing Crispus to tingle 
 with exhilaration. 
 
 It was well that Simon remained with him. Twice 
 they were stopped by bands of Zealots, who speedily 
 withdrew on recognizing the " Scourge of the Romans." 
 
 Crispus, though in a way grateful for Simon's pro- 
 tection, did not feel much disposed to talk with him ; 
 the Zealot, on his part, was moody and taciturn, and 
 so the strangely-assorted pair rode side by side with 
 scarce a word till in the first faint light of an East- 
 ern dawn the distant towers of Antipatris rose to 
 view. 
 
 At about a hundred yards from the gate Simon drew 
 rein. 
 
 " We part here." 
 
 " Good ! And now why this friendly act on your 
 part.?" 
 
 " My bringing you here is a proof that Simon the 
 Black can sometimes keep faith. I pledged my word 
 to your father, Cestius, to conduct you safely to Anti- 
 patris. He will tell you the story," added the Zealot, 
 turning as if about to ride off. 
 
 " I prefer to hear it now, and from you," said Cris- 
 pus, a suspicion of the truth beginning to dawn upon 
 his mind. 
 
 " Well, since thou art curious, listen. On the night 
 following Cestius' investment of the city, a youth was 
 seen descending the wall by a rope. I dispatched a 
 party, who brought him back. Upon him I found a 
 letter, whose contents I kept to myself. On the sixth 
 
194 The Boomed City 
 
 night of the siege our affairs being, as you may re- 
 member, a little desperate, I went to the Roman camp, 
 and was admitted to the presence of Cestius. * Your 
 son is alive,' I said, ' as this letter plainly shows ; but 
 he shall die, unless you immediately withdraw your 
 troops.' He threatened to hang me for daring to come 
 with such a message. ' As you will,' I answered, ' but 
 know this, I have left behind me the order that if I 
 am not back in the city within three hours Crispus is 
 to be brought forth upon the battlements and cruci- 
 fied.' 
 
 " That stayed his hand. He fell to thinking, and 
 the end of it was that love for his son triumphed over 
 his duty to the state. But I made it my condition 
 not to surrender you till he had entirely withdrawn to 
 Csesarea." 
 
 " And you broke your promise. My father pledged 
 his word to retreat, and you attacked him during that 
 retreat." 
 
 " Nay, I broke no promise, for I warned Cestius that 
 if he retired I should be unable to check the Zealots 
 from following. ' Let them follow,' were his words. 
 He welcomed the idea of pursuit, thinking to give us 
 over to the sword, but he found he had to deal with 
 men that could fight." 
 
 " Aye, from the safe covert of the hill-tops. Your 
 courage stopped with the open plain." 
 
 " I may not talk longer with you, for I see soldiers 
 issuing from the city-gate, and I have no desire that 
 my head shall decorate the battlements of Antipatris. 
 I have fulfilled my word to Cestius, and now I return. 
 We shall meet again under the walls of Jerusalem." 
 
 So saying, Simon turned his steed and galloped off 
 by the way he had come. 
 
 Looking towards Antipatris, Crispus saw a small 
 body of foot soldiers advancing from the gate ; at their 
 head was a mounted officer, none other than Terentius 
 Rufus, who came spurring forward with all speed, as 
 
The Triumph of Simon 195 
 
 if bent on learning the business of the two Jewish-look- 
 ing horsemen. 
 
 *' Hold, fellow ! " he cried, reining in his steed, as 
 
 he drew abreast of Crispus. " Who art ? " And 
 
 then, his voice suddenly changing, he exclaimed, " By 
 the gods, 'tis Crispus." 
 
 His quick look of delight was instantly succeeded by 
 one of gravity, 
 
 " Turn from the city," said he, " and ride back a 
 little way, lest you should be recognized by my men. 
 Five thousand aurei are a strong temptation to mer- 
 cenary natures." 
 
 " How mean you.'' " 
 
 " There is a price on your head." 
 
 " Ah ! what have I been doing to deserve it." 
 
 " 'Tis said that when Cestius had invested Jerusalem 
 you wrote a craven letter imploring him to raise the 
 siege, or your life would be forfeit." 
 
 " I would that I had my hand on the throat of the 
 man that invented that lie." 
 
 " Think not that / ever believed it. Unfortunately, 
 however, this slander hath reached the ears of Nero, 
 who, in his rage, hath decreed that the lives of the two 
 Cestii, father and son, are forfeit to the state." 
 
 Confounded by this tidings, Crispus could do nothing 
 for a few moments but stare blankly at his friend. 
 
 " What has become of my father ? " said he, finding 
 his voice. 
 
 Rufus' hesitation told its own tale. 
 
 " Speak ! " said Crispus, growing pale. " How did 
 he die? " 
 
 " Like a Roman ; he fell on his sword." 
 
 Crispus paid to his father's memory the tribute of 
 a brief and pitying silence. It was a bitter thought 
 to him that if he had not written that letter Cestius 
 might now be living, the conqueror of Jerusalem, to 
 be greeted at Rome like a second Pompey with the title, 
 " Noster Hierosolymarius," 
 
196 The Doomed City 
 
 " Go not to Antipatris, or to any town where you 
 are known," said Rufus, " since any man may lawfully 
 slay you. The streets of Caesarea are posted with tab- 
 lets offering five thousand aurei for the head of Cris- 
 pus." 
 
 " I need scarcely ask what has become of my father's 
 estates? " 
 
 " Confiscated," replied Rufus, laconically. 
 
 That he had toppled down in a moment from his 
 high office of Secretary to the Legate of Syria; that 
 he had lost his patrimonial estates — nay, even the fact 
 that he had been doomed to death — was to Crispus as 
 nothing in comparison with the thought that he was 
 now deprived of all opportunity of returning to Jeru- 
 salem in company with legions to avenge the massacre 
 of the Roman garrisons. 
 
 Gone, too, was his hope of a kingdom. The doom 
 pronounced upon him was a proof that Nero had re- 
 voked his purpose of ratifying Polemo's intended dis- 
 posal of his crown. And his wife, the mysterious 
 Athenai's.'^ Was it likely that she would remain faith- 
 ful to him on learning that the Roman noble whom 
 she had wedded was now a pauper, and that a pro- 
 scribed one.'* 
 
 " Who commands in this war, now that my father 
 has gone.'' " 
 
 " Old Flavins Vespasian, with his son Titus as sec- 
 ond in command. Titus," continued Rufus, with a wry 
 mouth, " our equal once. Now he'll hold his head high 
 above us both. Perhaps my lady Berenice will smile 
 on him now, seeing what a great man he has become." 
 
 "Berenice? ah!" said Crispus in a curious tone. 
 " Of course she hath heard of my disgrace. How doth 
 she take it ? " 
 
 " One of the proscriptive tablets directed against 
 you hangs upon her palace-wall at Cffisarea, whence it 
 may be inferred that your fall is not a matter of much 
 concern to her." 
 
The Triumph of Simon 197 
 
 Crispus wondered whether Vashti would suffer a 
 placard dooming him to death to remain upon the wall 
 of her house. 
 
 " You must live in concealment," advised Rufus, " till 
 Nero be persuaded to revoke his unjust decree; or, it 
 may be, that your freedom will come in another way, 
 for if all the rumors circulated be true, our present 
 Caesar is like ere long to lose his throne, if not his 
 life, so outrageously doth he shock public sentiment; 
 in which case all his acts will be annulled by his suc- 
 cessor, and thus your patrimonial estates may return 
 to you. The question is, where will you hide in the 
 meantime .f* " 
 
 " I will go," replied Crispus, his mind still under 
 the singular impression evoked by the shadow of the 
 cross, "I will go to a people that will suffer death 
 rather than betray a suppliant ; I will go to the Chris- 
 tians of Pella." 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE AMBITION OF BEEENICE 
 
 More than two years and a half had now passed 
 since the disastrous retreat of Cestius, and during all 
 that time no Roman legion had come within sight of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 Vespasian, the successor of Cestius, had first directed 
 his arms against Galilee, almost every city of which 
 was in a state of rebellion. 
 
 Thanks to the spirit and activity displayed by the 
 warrior-historian Josephus, as well as to the situation 
 of the Galilean cities, most of which were built upon 
 hill-tops and almost inaccessible crags, the campaign 
 was prolonged for more than a year. 
 
 Then came a long interval of inactivity, due to a 
 series of revolutions taking place at Rome, the seat 
 of the government. Within the space of a single year 
 the throne of the Caesars was occupied in turn by a 
 series of ambitious generals, the self-murdered Nero 
 having been succeeded by Galba, by Otho, and by Vi- 
 tellius. 
 
 During these political crises Vespasian was under 
 the necessity of having his position as commandant in 
 Judaea successively recognized and confirmed by each 
 new Caesar, and as this was a matter requiring much 
 time, it led to frequent pauses in the campaign, a state 
 of affairs very much to the advantage of the revolu- 
 tionary factions in Jerusalem. 
 
 The Roman army destined to act against the holy 
 city had formed a huge camp upon the seashore at a 
 point a few miles to the north of Caesarea, and here 
 day by day with unfailing regularity the iron warriors 
 
 198 
 
The Ambition of Berenice 199 
 
 of Rome went through those evolutions and exercises 
 that had made them the masters of the world. 
 
 This similitude of war naturally attracted crowds 
 from the neighboring region. It became quite a cus- 
 tom with the fashionable Greeks of Caesarea to take 
 their morning promenade along the seashore for the 
 purpose of witnessing a spectacle as thrilling almost 
 as the contests at Olympia or the combats of the amphi- 
 theater. 
 
 One fair, sunny morning in the month of June, just 
 as the legions were beginning their daily drill, under 
 the personal inspection of Vespasian and his son Titus, 
 there drove up a magnificent chariot, which, by the 
 grace of the lictors, was given a place considerably 
 nearer to the exercising troops than was allowed to 
 the ordinary spectator, for the occupant of the chariot 
 was none other than the fair princess Berenice, who was 
 paying her first visit to the Roman camp. 
 
 No sooner had Titus detected her presence upon the 
 field than he at once made his way to her side. His 
 look and voice alike told how much he was enamored 
 of the fascinating princess, who at the age of forty 
 had, like Cleopatra, all the grace and beauty of youth. 
 
 " Princess, you seem sad to-day," said he, after an 
 interval of silence. " Of what are you thinking? " 
 
 " Perhaps," she replied, with a tantalizing little sigh, 
 *' perhaps of Crispus." 
 
 " Why do you torment me with the name of a rival 
 who is dead? " 
 
 *' 7.9 he dead?" said Berenice. "True, nothing has 
 been heard of him since he parted from Terentius Rufus 
 at Antipatris." 
 
 " And that is more than two years ago. The ban 
 put upon him by Nero has been revoked. If he be 
 alive why does he not show himself, since he has nothing 
 now to fear? " 
 
 " Except the being claimed by a wife whom he does 
 not like," said Berenice with a silvery laugh, and a 
 
200 The Boomed City 
 
 glance at the house called Beth-tamar, which, seated 
 on a lofty crag, was plainly visible from the camp. 
 
 " Princess," said Titus, with a tender look, " if Cris- 
 pus should ever return it will mean to me " 
 
 Berenice raised her finger with a witching smile. 
 
 " Ah me ! Now you are going to make love again. 
 We shall never be friends, if you do that. Let me 
 watch your Romans. They interest me." 
 
 The air at that moment was all alive with the crisp, 
 sharp commands of tribune, and centurion, and de- 
 curion. 
 
 The exercises performed by the Romans compre- 
 hended feats in running, leaping, wrestling, swimming, 
 sword-play, hurling the pilum — everything in short 
 that could add strength to the body or tend to success 
 in war. 
 
 Here, Cretan archers, having set up their targets, 
 were demonstrating the deadly accuracy of their aim. 
 There, Balearic slingers were discharging their leaden 
 bullets, which not infrequently melted with the heat en- 
 gendered by the swift rush of the missile through the 
 air; here, a body of soldiers was busily engaged in 
 bridging within a given time a broad sheet of water; 
 there, a group were vigorously occupied in storming a 
 wooden fortress, whose defense was as vigorously main- 
 tained by a garrison of fellow-Romans. 
 
 " Why, it is like war itself," said Berenice, fascinated 
 by the spectacle. 
 
 " So like, that it is the fashion of the soldiers to 
 call the exercise a bloodless battle, and the battle a 
 bloody exercise." 
 
 " Where are these men going? " she asked as a cer- 
 tain cohort tramped past at full speed. 
 
 " They are marching to Dora and back." 
 
 " That is not very hard work." 
 
 " You think so, princess. But mark that each sol- 
 dier is carrying the full equipment customary in war 
 time, consisting of various utensils, as well as victuals 
 
The Ambition of Berenice 201 
 
 for fifteen days, the whole amounting to sixty pounds' 
 weight, not including arms, for the Roman soldier con- 
 siders these, not as a burden, but as a part of himself. 
 Weighted thus, he is to march in this burning sunlight 
 to Dora and back, the double journey being a distance 
 of twenty miles, and he is to do it within five hours. 
 If this be not hard work, what is ? " 
 
 " And supposing they should take more than five 
 hours ? " 
 
 " Terentius Rufus, who rides at their head, will see 
 to that." 
 
 " But if they should fail.? " 
 
 " He will punish them." 
 
 "And what will the punishment be?" 
 
 " It takes various shapes. Yon cohort, as is shown 
 by the carrying of the eagle, is the First Cohort of 
 the legion. They may be degraded by being compelled 
 to resign the eagle, and to take the second place ; or 
 their diet for the week may be barley bread instead 
 of wheaten ; or they may be excluded from their tents, 
 and made to sleep at a distance from the camp." 
 
 " How often do the troops practice these exercises.? " 
 
 " Every day of the year." 
 
 " But when a soldier has learned his work ? " 
 
 " He goes on practicing just the same. Let a man 
 have been forty years in the army, that fact will not 
 exempt him from the dail^'^ exercise. And mark this : 
 every weapon you see in use now, every helmet, breast- 
 plate, and shield, is double the weight of those used 
 in actual warfare." 
 
 Berenice opened her eyes in wonder. 
 
 " Why, a battle must be an easier matter than the 
 daily exercise ! " 
 
 Titus laughed. 
 
 " The soldier would much prefer a battle," said he. 
 
 Berenice spoke no more for a long time ; so long that 
 Titus began to see from her rapt expression that some 
 momentous thought was occupying her mind. 
 
202 The Boomed Citij 
 
 " I am thinking," said she, in reply to his question- 
 ing, " I am thinking what / would do with these troops, 
 were they mine." 
 
 " And what would you do with them, princess ? " 
 asked Titus with a smile. 
 
 Instead of replying directly to this, Berenice put a 
 question. 
 
 " Is not your father Vespasian a skillful general.'' " 
 
 " He hath no equal in the art of war ; it is not I 
 only who say this, but others." 
 
 " And he is liked by all the legions, near and far.'' " 
 
 " Liked is but a feeble word to express his hold over 
 them." 
 
 " But he is somewhat lacking in ambition.'' " 
 
 " Ambition is apt to die with the sixtieth year." 
 
 " But his son Titus is ambitious, and being so, and 
 having great influence over his father, should act as 
 a spur to his mind." 
 
 " Princess," said the puzzled Titus, " to what does 
 all this tend.?" 
 
 " I am thinking," said Berenice, watching him keenly 
 from beneath the dark fringe of her half-closed eye- 
 lids, " I am thinking what a pity it is that the great 
 Vespasian should be serving Caesar, when he might be 
 Ceesar himself. The present emperor Vitellius can show 
 no hereditary title to the imperial throne ; an ambitious 
 general, he gained the purple by fighting for it. Why 
 should Vespasian not do the like.'' " 
 
 It was a startling suggestion, so startling as almost 
 to deprive Titus of breath. He glanced at the chariot- 
 eer, who stood by the horses' heads — glanced in fear 
 lest the man should have overhead Berenice's treason- 
 able remarks, despite the low tone in which they were 
 spoken. 
 
 " When Titus can call himself Cassar's son," she whis- 
 pered, " then will Berenice listen to his love — not till 
 then. Go," she added, with a little peremptory wave 
 of her hand. " Ponder it well ! " 
 
The Ambition of Berenice 203 
 
 Left to herself, the princess, sinking back upon the 
 silken cushions of her chariot, indulged in a pleasing 
 reverie. 
 
 " The idea is new, and it frightens him," she mur- 
 mured with a somewhat contemptuous smile. " But he 
 will grow used to it. I have sown the seed in his mind, 
 and it will grow and bear fruit." 
 
 Daringly original in all her ways, Berenice had often 
 embarked upon some political enterprise which, pro- 
 nounced by her more sober-minded brother Agrippa to 
 be impracticable, had nevertheless met with brilliant 
 success. Would she succeed in this, a more daring 
 venture than any she had hitherto dreamed of.'' Why 
 not? All things are possible to the brave, and why 
 should not the brave Vespasian, the idol of the legions, 
 prevail against the feeble-minded Vitellius, whose follies 
 were daily alienating the loyalty of the nations? 
 
 The chief obstacle in the way was honest old Ves- 
 pasian himself; he might refuse to listen to the voice 
 of the charmers, Berenice and Titus, charm they never 
 so wisely. But, if otherwise, and if the enterprise suc- 
 ceeded, what glory would be hers ! 
 
 Even now it filled her with pride to think that she 
 was, in a manner, the mistress of all the troops she 
 saw exercising before her. Recover Jerusalem they 
 might, and would ; but destroy it — never ! Thanks to 
 her influence over Titus, the holy citj' would be spared 
 from dilapidation, the temple preserved from the torch. 
 She was the new Esther destined to save the Hebrew 
 nation from destruction — destined, too, if Titus would 
 but exercise his ambition, to be the empress of the 
 world, the mother, it might be, of a line of Csesars, all 
 adherents of the Jewish faith ! 
 
 And if Ca2sar were once the disciple of Moses, the 
 conversion of the world would follow. 
 
 In the midst of these brilliant dreams her ear caught 
 the sound of a quiet footfall ; and, turning her head, 
 she saw — Crispus! 
 
204 The Boomed City 
 
 She gave a start, as was natural in one who supposed 
 him dead, or at the least to be hundreds of miles away. 
 Crispus, keenly attentive, fancied he could detect on 
 her face an expression akin to dismay ; at any rate it 
 was an expression very different from her tender, lov- 
 able look in the Praetorium when she had avowed her 
 wish to stay and die with him. 
 
 " I have startled you, princess." 
 
 " You are as one returning from the dead," she said 
 with a faint smile. 
 
 " And the dead are not always welcome visitors." 
 
 Then for a brief space there was a silence, during 
 which both seemed to be reflecting. 
 
 " What do you here? " she asked. 
 
 " Would it surprise you, princess, were I to say that 
 I am seeking my wife ? " 
 
 "Your wife?" repeated Berenice, in her eyes an 
 odd look as of fear, at least that is how Crispus inter- 
 preted it. " Your wife ? " 
 
 " You did not perhaps know that I had a 
 wife?" 
 
 " If you keep the matter a secret from the world 
 how is one to know it? What is her name? " 
 
 "You do not know it?" 
 
 " How should I? " repKed Berenice with a touch of 
 impatience in her voice. 
 
 " I cannot tell you her name, seeing that it is un- 
 known to me." This answer seemed to afford some 
 satisfaction to Berenice. " Na}^ I have never yet seen 
 my wife's face." 
 
 " You are telling me strange things," laughed Bere- 
 nice. " I pray you, my lord Crispus, mystify me no 
 farther, but speak plainly." 
 
 " Why, so I will." 
 
 Leaning with folded arms upon the broad brim of the 
 chariot, and looking directly into the eyes of Berenice, 
 who seemed helplessly fascinated by his gaze, Crispus 
 proceeded to relate the story of his marriage. 
 
The Ambition of Berenice 205 
 
 " As," concluded he, with a glance at the distant 
 Beth-tamar, " as it was in this neighborhood that I 
 first met Athenais, I naturally turn to this neighbor- 
 hood in the hope of again meeting her here." 
 
 " And you do not really know who this Athenais 
 is?" 
 
 " I do not. As you doubtless know, King Polemo 
 died suddenly, a year ago ; and, unfortunately for me, 
 died without revealing the secret. But the three years' 
 limit is now past, and it is therefore permissible for 
 Athenais to reveal herself by sending me the ring." 
 
 " And if she chooses not to reveal herself, you may 
 never know whom you wedded." 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 " I greatly fear," said Berenice with a grave shake 
 of her head, " that your unknown bride will prefer to 
 keep herself hidden from you." 
 
 "Why should she so act.'' She was not coerced into 
 the match. She accepted me of her own free will." 
 
 " True, but reflect that you are not the great Crispus 
 of her anticipation. She wedded you in the hope of 
 sharing the crown of Pontus, and that hope is now 
 extinguished, Pontus having become annexed to the 
 empire." 
 
 " Your opinion then is that a woman should take 
 for her husband one well endowed with material advan- 
 tages, and that should he, through misfortune, lose 
 these advantages, the woman is justified in discarding 
 him.?-" 
 
 " Though woman may not profess that doctrine with 
 her lips," smiled Berenice, " she'll carry it out in prac- 
 tice. But answer me this : should you, by happy chance, 
 discover your wife, would you keep her against her 
 will.'' Would you not grant her a divorce, if such were 
 her desire .'' " 
 
 Crispus gravely shook his head. 
 
 " She cannot part from me, nor I from her, for be 
 it known to you, O princess, that I am a Christian, and 
 
206 The Doomed City 
 
 a Christian can be separated from his wife by death 
 only." 
 
 Tidings so unexpected caused Berenice to draw a 
 sharp breath. Her look of horror could not have been 
 greater if Crispus had suddenly announced himself as 
 a deadly leper. 
 
 " You, a Christian! " she gasped. 
 
 " The name is displeasing to you, I know ; so it was 
 once to me. If you will hear me " 
 
 She cut him short with an imperative gesture. 
 
 " I have had the chief exponent of Christianity, Paul 
 of Tarsus, lecturing in chains before me ; where he 
 failed, you can hardly hope to succeed. Go ! " she 
 exclaimed, disdainfully waving him away with her hand 
 as though he were a slave or some other inferior crea- 
 ture. " Yet stay ! one question I will ask," she con- 
 tinued with a certain uneasiness of manner that did 
 not escape Crispus' notice. " In what light do you, 
 as a Christian, regard the holy temple.'' " 
 
 " As an obstacle to the progress of Christianity," 
 he replied significantly, as he turned on his heel and 
 walked quietly away. " Veni, vidi, non vici," he mur- 
 mured sorrowfully. 
 
 Berenice watched him with a strange fear at her 
 heart. 
 
 " A Christian," she murmured ; " and one who hates 
 the temple! Now, if he should accompany the legions 
 to Jerusalem how easy for him, when they are camping 
 against the holy house, to fulfill his dream by throwing 
 a lighted torch through its windows. If that be his 
 aim, I will foil it. He shall not be permitted to take 
 part in the siege. Titus shall prevent him from joining 
 the army. I have but to say the word and Vespasian 
 will banish him from Palestine." 
 
 Meanwhile, Crispus, suspecting something of Bere- 
 nice's intentions towards him, and resolving to forestall 
 her, walked along the shore intent upon finding Ves- 
 pasian, with whom he had always been a great favorite. 
 
The Amhition of Berenice 207 
 
 He found that general joining in the exercises like 
 a common soldier, one of the ways by which he main- 
 tained his popularity with the troops. 
 
 A burly, bluff, red-faced man he looked less like a 
 warrior than some honest old farmer who had just for 
 sport's sake put on the scarlet paludamentum of a 
 general. 
 
 He greeted Crispus right heartily, and wanted to 
 know where he had been hiding himself so long, a ques- 
 tion which by the way Berenice had not thought of 
 asking. So Crispus related how upon his proscription 
 he had taken refuge with the Christians first at Pella 
 and then at Antioch, and how, whenever he was in 
 danger of being detected by the minions of Nero, the 
 brethren would convey him by devious routes to some 
 other Christian community ; and how, in the end, con- 
 vinced by infallible argument that theirs was the true 
 and only religion, he himself had joined the sect. 
 
 " A good soldier marred ! " growled Vespasian, on 
 hearing this last. " My cousin Flavins Clemens is a 
 Christian. An excellent character once, but now look 
 at him ! Takes no interest in state affairs or military 
 matters. This world is nothing to him. A woman 
 and no man ! mild-mannered, lacking in spirit and back- 
 bone." 
 
 " There is no reason, sire, why a Christian should 
 not be a good soldier. As a matter of fact, I have 
 come hither to ask for a place in the army that is 
 to be sent against Jerusalem ; I care not how humble 
 the post so long as it puts me in the forefront of the 
 battle." 
 
 " Now, that's the way to talk," cried Vespasian de- 
 lightedly. " A place in the army.'' You shall have it. 
 There's a post waiting for you. The First Cohort of 
 the Twelfth Legion hath lost its tribune." 
 
 "Dead.''" asked Crispus. 
 
 " Dead ! No ! Degraded ! 'Twas but a few days 
 ago he received his baton. Yesterday he came to me, 
 
208 The Doomed City 
 
 reeking with perfumes. Ye gods ! is it a soldier's busi- 
 ness to be perfuming himself. ' I would rather you 
 had smelled of garlic,' I cried. ' Return to the ranks.' 
 — You shall captain that cohort. You have heard of 
 the Twelfth Legion before, eh.'' 'Twas one of those 
 that fled at Beth-horon. They are longing to redeem 
 their lost character. You shall show them how. You 
 accept the post ^ Good ! Come with me and let me 
 show the First Cohort its new tribune." 
 
 As they made their way along the shore two figures 
 came walking slowly towards them. One was a legion- 
 ary, wearing an armlet to which was attached a chain, 
 two cubits in length, its other end being fastened to 
 a similar armlet clasped round the wrist of a somewhat 
 distinguished-looking personage. 
 
 It was a Jewish captive and his Roman guard. 
 
 The prisoner saluted Vespasian ; and, as if well ac- 
 quainted with Crispus, gave him a friendly smile. 
 
 Crispus gazed, and then suddenly recognizing the 
 captive he there and then tendered him a warm thanks- 
 giving; for the captive was none other than Josephus, 
 the man who had been instrumental in saving his life 
 by begging his supposed corpse from Eleazar. 
 
 When Josephus had resumed his walking, Vespasian 
 remarked : 
 
 " Of all the rebels who fought against us in Galilee 
 that man was the most valiant. When he was taken 
 prisoner I had much ado at first to keep our soldiers 
 from killing him." 
 
 " I deemed him to be more of a scholar than a war- 
 rior." 
 
 " He can handle both pen and sword, and he hath 
 also prophetical gifts." 
 
 Crispus was naturally somewhat surprised at this 
 last observation. 
 
 "What prophecy hath he made.?" 
 
 " Why, this. Though he so bravely defended Jota- 
 pata against us, he nevertheless told its inhabitants 
 
The Ambition of Berenice 209 
 
 that the city was destined to be taken on the forty- 
 seventh day of the siege, and so it came to pass. Oh ! " 
 he continued in answer to Crispus' look of skepticism, 
 " I know it to be true, for I made careful inquiry 
 among the captives, and all testified that from the very 
 beginning Josephus had foretold that Jotapata would 
 fall on the forty-seventh day." 
 
 What was very wonderful to Vespasian seemed simple 
 enough to Crispus. If Josephus, as was very likely, 
 had formed the secret purpose of going over to the 
 Roman, side, it would not be difficult for him to pro- 
 long the defense of such a rock-fortress as Jotapata 
 till the forty-seventh day. The character gained as 
 prophet on this occasion might stand him in good 
 stead with the Roman general ; in point of fact it had 
 already so served him. Crispus could not help thinking 
 that the man to whom he had so much reason to be 
 grateful, was, nevertheless, a somewhat ambiguous char- 
 acter. 
 
 Glancing along the shore, Crispus saw that the 
 " prophet " had halted in his walk by the chariot of 
 Berenice, and was now conversing both with that prin- 
 cess and with Titus. As the three were holding their 
 heads close together it may be inferred that the con- 
 versation was a very important one. 
 
 Its purport became apparent to Crispus ere many 
 hours were past. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MAKING OF AN EMPEROR 
 
 Crispus had the high honor of dining that night in 
 the tent of Vespasian with a select company of tribunes, 
 Terentius Rufus being of the number. 
 
 Titus was, of course, present. His office of second 
 in command, added to the glory gained by him in the 
 Galilsean campaign, had disposed him to adopt a some- 
 what lofty air towards his former friends and acquaint- 
 ances ; but Crispus had acquired the Christian grace of 
 humility, and the patronage that he might have re- 
 sented in his pagan days now afforded him matter only 
 for a little quiet amusement. 
 
 Let Titus receive his just due, however"; though Bere- 
 nice had earnestly pressed him to persuade Vespasian to 
 exclude Crispus from the army intended to act against 
 Jerusalem, he had declined the task as an ungenerous 
 one. " If Crispus wishes to play the soldier, I am 
 not the man to prevent him," he said, an answer that 
 considerably mortified the proud princess, as showing 
 that Titus was not quite the plastic clay she had 
 thought him. 
 
 The fare provided by Vespasian for his guests was 
 simple, as became the tastes of the general, and they 
 sat to it. 
 
 " I hate the effeminate habit of reclining at meals," 
 said he. 
 
 The conversation at table naturally turned upon the 
 war, and Crispus, who knew little of the then state of 
 Jerusalem, received some enlightenment from Vespasian. 
 
 " True is the saying," said he, " that those whom the 
 gods wish to destroy they first make mad. Listen to 
 what is happening at Jerusalem. 
 
 210 
 
The Making of an Emperor 211 
 
 " Simon of Gerasa, disgusted that his great services 
 should be passed over by the Sanhedrim while Eleazar 
 was rewarded with the government of a province, re- 
 tired from Jerusalem ; and, collecting a numerous body 
 of followers, took to brigandage again. 
 
 " Whilst Eleazar was administering the affairs of 
 Idumaea, a certain ambitious Zealot seized the oppor- 
 tunity to make himself master of the temple ; by a 
 singular confusion of names this new captain is called 
 Eleazar. 
 
 " In the meantime that fierce Zealot, John of Gis- 
 cala, defeated by us in Galilee, fled to Jerusalem, where, 
 becoming powerful, he played the tyrant, putting the 
 rich to death, and seizing their wealth. 
 
 " The high priest Matthias sought to free the miser- 
 able people by calling in the aid of Simon ; he came, 
 but was unable to expel John. 
 
 " The result is that the city is now groaning beneath 
 the tyranny of three factions. 
 
 " Simon rules in Zion, with the Tower of Phasaelus 
 for his palace; John holds the Lower City, and the 
 outer courts of the temple; Eleazar keeps jealous 
 guard over the Sanctuary. 
 
 " These three Zealots, each aiming at sovereignty, 
 wage war with one another by night and by day. 
 
 *' Titus would have me march to Jerusalem at once, 
 but why should I, when they are doing our work so 
 effectually? At sight of us, faction would disappear; 
 they would unite their arms against the common enemy. 
 No ; let them go on with their internecine warfare till 
 two of the factions are exterminated, and then we will 
 deal with the survivor." 
 
 " Sound policy ! " commented Rufus. 
 
 Crispus, with his Christianized way of thinking, could 
 not help seeing in the terrible state of the city the 
 working out of a Divine retribution. The people that 
 had cried, " Not this man, but Barabbas," desiring 
 that a murderer might be granted to them, were now 
 
212 The Doomed City 
 
 delivered over to the rule of murderers. " The assas- 
 sin's dagger was to sway the last councils of their 
 dying nationality." 
 
 Rufus now added his contribution to the story of 
 Israel's degradation. 
 
 " And, that they might not have a moralist per- 
 petually rebuking them for their misdoings, the Zea- 
 lots of Eleazar's party deposed the high priest Mat- 
 thias; and, calling for the register of priests, they 
 broke through all precedent by casting lots for the 
 office. The lot fell upon an obscurity named Phannias, 
 a rustic so illiterate as scarcely to know what the high 
 priesthood meant. Yet, they brought him from his 
 native village ; and, putting the sacred vestments upon 
 him, instructed him how to act, finding matter for 
 laughter and sport in the many blunders that he 
 made." 
 
 Again the finger of Divine retribution! The high 
 priesthood, that had mocked at the Crucifixion, had 
 itself become a subject for mockery, a thing of scorn. 
 
 Somewhat to his surprise, Crispus discovered that 
 Vespasian at the end of his day's labor would some- 
 times find relaxation in listening to the discourses of 
 Josephus upon Jewish history and Jewish philosophy. 
 He chose to do so on this present occasion ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, after the repast was over, a centurion was 
 dispatched to bring in the captive. 
 
 He came, linked as usual to the guardian soldier, 
 and advanced with an air meant to be solemn and dig- 
 nified, but which in Crispus' view was pompous only; 
 nay, contradictory as it may seem, beneath this air of 
 importance there was lurking an undercurrent of ob- 
 sequiousness and servility that set Crispus against him. 
 If ever man was sycophant this man was ! 
 
 " We have sent for you," began Vespasian, " to 
 hear you discourse for a time upon the history and 
 laws of your nation." 
 
 " Sire, thou honorest our holy books by wishing to 
 
The Making of an Emperor 213 
 
 derive instruction from them. But, to-night — to-night, 
 I would speak, not of the past, but of the future." 
 
 " Of which he knows no more than you or I," whis- 
 pered Rufus to Crispus. 
 
 " Sire, when the Almighty created the seventy na- 
 tions of the earth he gave to each its peculiar gift ; 
 to the Roman, sovereignty in war, and to the Greek, 
 supremacy in art ; to the Egyptian, depth in wisdom, 
 and to the Hebrew, the power of prophecy. To us 
 are granted at times glimpses of the future, prevision 
 denied to other races. Did I not show the knowledge 
 of the seer by declaring that Jotapata would fall on 
 the forty-seventh day of the siege.'' And now again 
 do I lift the veil that hides the future. The God of 
 our fathers hath revealed to me that great thing 
 which shall come to pass." 
 
 He advanced a step, accompanied necessarily by the 
 soldier ; and, falling on his knees before Vespasian, he 
 touched the ground with his forehead, saying, as he 
 made this Oriental salutation: 
 
 " Hail, C^sar that is to be ! " 
 
 As if a chasm had suddenly yawned at his feet, 
 Vespasian started back in an amazement so obviously 
 genuine as to show plainly- that this treasonable notion 
 was being sprung upon him for the first time. 
 
 Crispus shared in Vespasian's amazement, as did 
 most of the other officers present. Titus was the only 
 one that showed no surprise ; one might have thought 
 that he had been expecting something of this kind; 
 he sat with his eyes keenly attentive to his father's 
 face. 
 
 Crispus could not help thinking that this little tab- 
 leau was not a spontaneous ebullition on the part of 
 Josephus, but a premeditated piece of acting, primarily 
 due to the scheming brain of Berenice, and seconded 
 by the ambitious hopes of Titus. 
 
 The deep silence was broken by the voice of Ves- 
 pasian, who spoke with stem indignation. 
 
214 The Doomed City 
 
 " No more of this. Thou talkest treason — treason 
 to the reigning emperor." 
 
 Titus' face became clouded. 
 
 " If it be treason to declare the will of God, then 
 am I talking treason," said Josephus. 
 
 " Peace ! I and the legions have sworn to uphold the 
 throne of Vitellius." 
 
 " They took the oath with great reluctance, how- 
 ever," observed Titus, " and are repenting of it. Their 
 dissatisfaction grows from day to day." 
 
 " Their dissatisfaction shall not divert me from the 
 path of duty." 
 
 " Seek not," said Josephus, " to resist your destiny. 
 Cassar you will be, in spite of yourself. For so is it 
 written in our sacred scriptures, that one arising in 
 Judaea shall obtain the empire of the world." '" 
 
 Crispus, in spite of the debt he owed Josephus, could 
 not conceal his scorn at this amazing perversion of 
 Messianic prophecy, a perversion that showed to what 
 depth of sycophancy the soul of this priest and Phari- 
 see could descend. That the sacred predictions of 
 Isaiah should receive their fulfillment in the elevation 
 of a heathen soldier to the throne of the Caesars was 
 to the Hebrew mind an interpretation so blasphemous 
 that if Josephus had ventured to assert it among a 
 circle of his own countr3^men he would most assuredly 
 have been torn to pieces. 
 
 On the present occasion, however, he was safe from 
 such a fate; and if he himself did not believe in his 
 own statement what mattered, if the lie could but ac- 
 complish his purpose? 
 
 " Rise," said Vespasian sternly, for during all this 
 time Josephus had been kneeling. The captive arose; 
 and Vespasian, turning to his officers, asked in a tone 
 of pleasantry : " How shall I punish this knave for 
 urging me to treason?" 
 
 Rufus answered him. 
 
 " Give him his freedom on the day that you become 
 
The Making of an Emperor 215 
 
 Caesar. If he hath prophesied truly his freedom is 
 bound to come, and if not " 
 
 Vespasian slapped his thigh with a hearty laugh. 
 
 "By Castor, a just sentence! As thou sayest, so 
 shall it be." 
 
 A close observer might have detected in the 
 *' prophet's " expression a certain uneasiness suggestive 
 of the idea that he was by no means confident of the 
 fulfillment of his words. 
 
 " Retire," said Vespasian, whose desire for Hebrew 
 history had vanished. " I will hear thee no more to- 
 night." 
 
 So Josephus departed; but when Titus began to 
 comment upon his vaticination, Vespasian forbade him 
 with so stern an air that Titus at once dropped the 
 subject; and when, later, a centurion looked in to ask 
 the watchword for the night, Vespasian wrote upon 
 the tessera the word " Fidelitas." 
 
 The throne of the Caesars ! 
 
 Despite Vespasian's repudiation — a repudiation made 
 at the time in all sincerity — it became evident within 
 the space of a few days that the seed sown in his 
 rnind by Josephus was beginning to germinate. 
 
 Under the haunting spell of a new and splendid am- 
 bition, he became moody, restless, uneasy. Shunning 
 the daily exercises of the army he took long walks, 
 communing with himself in lonely woods. Deep in 
 thought, he would stare vacantly when addressed; one 
 had to speak twice or thrice ere he understood. At 
 times he was heard to murmur, " I will not do this 
 thing," and his officers would look at each other, well 
 knowing what thing was meant. 
 
 One morning, as if wishful to escape from his vexing 
 thoughts, he mounted a horse and rode mile after mile 
 along the shore towards the point where the long ridge 
 of Carmel, intercepting the maritime road, thrusts a 
 rocky bluff into the sea. In this wild gallop he was 
 
216 The Boomed City 
 
 attended by his staff-officers, Crispus and Rufus being 
 of the number. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of the mount, Vespasian, either 
 as wishing to take a survey of the country around, 
 or moved perhaps by a desire to show what the agility 
 of a man of sixty could accomplish, resolved to make 
 the ascent ; and soon he and his staff were toiling on 
 foot up the craggy path that wound through forests 
 of pine, oak, and olive to the point 
 
 " Where CarmeVs -flowery top perfumes the skies." 
 
 The glorious panorama presented by the mountain- 
 ous landscape and the dark-blue sea well rewarded them 
 for their climb. The officers were particularly inter- 
 ested in pointing out to Crispus the various hill-for- 
 tresses of Galilee — Giscala, Tabor, Jotapata — subdued 
 by their arms in the campaign of the previous year. 
 
 As the staff moved first this way and then that, 
 following the steps of Vespasian, they turned the cor- 
 ner of a crag, and came suddenly upon a stately figure 
 in a flowing white robe, who with folded arms was 
 gazing silently and pensively seaward. Obviously, he 
 was a priest, since there was in attendance upon him 
 a young boy holding in his hands what seemed an 
 acerra, or box containing incense. Near by, formed 
 from a number of rough unhewn stones, was an altar, 
 upon which lay a few dried shavings of cedar-wood. 
 
 The man was not quite a stranger to Crispus; he 
 had seen him, or rather had caught a fleeting glimpse 
 of him, on the previous evening, holding converse with 
 Titus in a lonely spot at some distance from the camp. 
 Crispus had come upon the pair unawares, and it 
 seemed to him that Titus was not altogether pleased 
 at being detected in company with this priest, though 
 what there was to be vexed at it would be hard to say. 
 
 On hearing footsteps the priest turned, and caught 
 sight of the armed men. 
 
The Making of an Emperor . 217 
 
 "Who art thou?" he asked of Vespasian, as being 
 evidently the chief of the band. 
 
 " I am Flavins Vespasian." 
 
 " I know not the name." 
 
 "And this is fame.?" smiled Vespasian. "To be 
 unknown after so many victories in this Galilaean prov- 
 ince ! " 
 
 " Hast thou dropped from the moon," asked Rufus, 
 *' not to have heard the name of the great Vespasian ? " 
 
 " Content with my grotto," said the priest, pointing 
 to a cave in the face of the rock, " and with this altar, 
 I stir not from Carmel," — Crispus, remembering where 
 he had seen him last, wondered at this speech, but held 
 his peace, — " hence I know nothing of the affairs of 
 men. If thou art some great one of the earth, the gods 
 teach thee to use thy power well." 
 
 " To what deity is this altar erected.'' " asked Ves- 
 pasian. 
 
 " To the god Carmelus, the tutelary genius of this 
 mountain." 
 
 "Hath he no image nor temple.-^" 
 
 " None. This altar — 'tis composed of twelve stones 
 — is alone acceptable to him. Such hath been his wor- 
 ship from ancient days." 
 
 " Thou art about to offer incense to thy god, I per- 
 ceive. We will join in thy worship. Offer on our 
 behalf as well as on thine own." 
 
 And with that the superstitiously devout Vespasian 
 doffed his helmet, in which act he was imitated by the 
 rest, save Crispus, who drew aside from a ceremony in- 
 compatible with his Christian faith. 
 
 Rufus, observing that the priest apparently lacked 
 the means of kindling a fire, offered him his own flint 
 and steel, but they were waved aside by the priest. 
 
 " Our rites forbid such method," said he. " The 
 wood must be kindled not by ordinary means, but by 
 the pure fire of heaven." 
 
 So saying, he produced a thick glass lens, with which 
 
218 The Doomed City ' 
 
 he proceeded to focus the sun's rays upon the cedar- 
 wood. 
 
 Crispus, whose Christian training among the learned 
 brethren of Tarsus and Ephesus had embraced the 
 study of the Greek Septuagint, murmured to him- 
 self: ' 
 
 " Mount Carmel? an altar of twelve stones? fire from 
 heaven? This deity Carmelus is none other than Elijah 
 in a heathen guise ! " 
 
 It was not long ere the wood began first to smolder 
 and then to break into a flame. The feat was one 
 as common in that age as in this, but being new to 
 Vespasian, he looked on as though it were a miracle. 
 
 The attendant boy now held forth the acerra, and 
 the priest, taking from it some grains of incense, cast 
 them upon the fire. 
 
 As the strong fragrance became diffused around the 
 priest began the chanting of an invocation which fell 
 with a somewhat weird effect upon the ears of the 
 Romans, being delivered in the Phoenician, a tongue not 
 understood by them. 
 
 " Now, how know we that this fellow is not cursing 
 us ? " muttered Ruf us. 
 
 From time to time the priest continued to cast fresh 
 incense upon the altar. It seemed that the sacrifice 
 was scarcely acceptable to the god Carmelus, for the 
 fire was dull and smoky, always deemed a bad omen. 
 
 Then, all in a moment, there was a change. 
 
 A tongue of flame sprang up, high and brilliant, 
 and lasting for several moments. 
 
 At the first leap of the fire the priest turned and 
 stared hard at Vespasian, as though that general had 
 become suddenly invested with a new and strange in- 
 terest. 
 
 " Vespasian — if that be thy name — whatever project 
 thou now hast in thy mind, whether it be the enlarge- 
 ment of thy house, the augmentation of thy lands, or 
 the increase of thy slaves, the Fates are preparing 
 
The Making of an Emperor 219 
 
 for thee a splendid seat, a large territory, a multitude 
 oi men. 
 
 The Roman officers, aware of the thought that was 
 then paramount in the mind of their general, looked 
 significantly at each other. 
 
 "What is thy name.?" asked Vespasian. 
 
 " What thine shalt be — Basilides." 
 
 Now this name is, by interpretation, a king ; and 
 therefore Vespasian was not a little startled to find this 
 Phoenician seer hinting, and that not obscurely, at the 
 same high destiny assured him by Josephus. Surely, 
 since there had been no previous concert between them, 
 that must be true which was prophesied by Hebrew 
 priest and by Phoenician priest alike? 
 
 During the course of the long ride back to camp, 
 Crispus had ample time to review the incident that 
 had just happened, and he saw in it not the hand of 
 the gods, but the trickery of man, the man in this case 
 being Titus, who by subtle devices was luring his father 
 on to make an attempt for the imperial throne. 
 
 Vespasian on the previous evening had announced his 
 intention of visiting Carmel on the morrow, and it had 
 therefore been a very easy matter for Titus to obtain 
 the collusion of the priest Basilides for the purpose of 
 playing upon the superstitious feelings of Vespasian. 
 The sudden springing up of the flame upon the altar 
 was a result easily obtainable by concealing a grain 
 of fat among the incense. Titus was the real source 
 of this " divine sign," as well as of the ambiguous but 
 significant oracle delivered by Basilides. 
 
 Crispus hesitated whether to enlighten Vespasian as 
 to how he was being duped into believing himself to 
 be a recipient of divine signs, but finally resolved to 
 hold his peace. What mattered it how Vespasian was 
 induced to revolt, whether by necessity, reason, or 
 superstition, so long as he did revolt? The rule of 
 Vespasian would be infinitely preferable to that of 
 the bestial Vitellius. And when Crispus, further re- 
 
220 The Doomed City 
 
 fleeting that should a Flavian dynasty be established, 
 and should Titus and Domitian — both at present child- 
 less — die without issue, the next heir to the throne 
 would be Flavius Clemens, an adlierent of the faith, 
 he began to wonder whether a Christian Caesar might 
 not be among the possibilities of the near future. 
 
 So here was Crispus wishing, like Berenice, to see 
 Vespasian upon the throne, though for a different rea- 
 son — she hoping to promote the cause of Judaism, he 
 hoping to promote the cause of Christianity. 
 
 The course of the next few days furnished additional 
 proof that subtle art was being employed to make Ves- 
 pasian accept a position almost akin to that foretold 
 of the Messiah. 
 
 "Do I look like a god.''" said he with a caustic 
 smile, entering the tent of Rufus, who chanced to be 
 alone. 
 
 Truth to tell there was little in the homely, and 
 even vulgar, aspect of Vespasian to suggest kinship 
 with the Olympian divinities, but naturally Rufus did 
 not say so, contenting himself with asking the general 
 to explain his meaning. Then Vespasian, sitting down, 
 proceeded to tell a strange story. 
 
 " There hath been wont to sit at the fountain beside 
 the gate of Caesarea a blind man. This morning as I 
 was passing by the gate I saw a little crowd gathered 
 there, and among them this blind man. Guided by two 
 friends, he drew near, and, kneeling at my feet, im- 
 plored me to cure his blindness, declaring — and the two 
 that were with him said the same — that if I would but 
 anoint clay with my spittle, and put the clay upon 
 his eyes, he would there and then recover his sight. 
 
 " I held my laughter and tried to reason him out 
 of this belief, but the more I argued the more earnest 
 he became, and so I left him still kneeling. But as I 
 walked away, the poor fellow's lamentations became so 
 pitiful that I could not help turning back, determined 
 by making the actual experiment to convince the man 
 
The Making of an Emperor 221 
 
 of his folly. But, lo ! as soon as the clay was washed 
 from his eyes and I had pronounced the Hebrew word 
 ' Ephphatha! ' — for it seems these spells are more 
 efficacious when spoken in a barbarous language — the 
 man cried out in an ecstasy of delight that he could 
 see ! 
 
 " ' A miracle ! a miracle ! ' cried the crowd. 
 
 " ' So shalt thou give light to a dark world, O Ves- 
 pasian,' " cried a voice which I recognized as that of 
 the priest Theomantes. 
 
 " As for me, I doubted whether the man had recov- 
 ered his sight, but he gave proof of it by telling what 
 number of coins lay on my palm, and though I changed 
 the number several times he did not once err. 
 
 " There must be some divine efficacy in my touch 
 became the opinion of the crowd. The news flew from 
 mouth to mouth, and as I stood amazed at my own 
 deed, there came to me a man whose right arm, as if 
 paralyzed, hung stiff and motionless at his side. 
 
 " ' I was a mason,' said he, ' earning my livelihood 
 by my hands. I pray thee that thou wouldest make 
 this arm whole like the other, that I may not basely 
 beg my bread.' 
 
 " Compliant with his will I clasped his right hand 
 firmly in my own, and after a few moments he cried 
 out that he had recovered the use of the withered limb, 
 and gave evidence of his words by freely gesticulating 
 with it. Now, Rufus, how explainest thou these mar- 
 vels.? " 
 
 These feats of healing, so analogous to those re- 
 corded in the gospel, as to suggest to the mind of more 
 than one historian the suspicion that they were pur- 
 posely counterfeited with a view of investing Vespasian 
 with a sort of Messianic character, offered no difficulty 
 whatever to the pagan mind of Rufus. 
 
 " It is clear to me, sire," said he, fully believing in 
 the truth of his own words, " that the gods wish to 
 point you out to mankind as one distinguished by their 
 
222 The Boomed City 
 
 special favor and destined to attain a dignity and 
 splendor beyond that of ordinary mortals." 
 
 And the perplexed Vespasian, though the least con- 
 ceited of men, was gradually driven to adopt this 
 opinion in view of these strange happenings. 
 
 A few days afterwards, Mucianus, the Legate of 
 Syria, arrived at Csesarea, having come direct thither 
 from a brief visit paid to Rome. 
 
 He was accompanied by Tiberius Alexander, the pre- 
 fect of Egypt. A Jew by birth, a nephew, in fact, 
 of the brilliant theologian Philo Judseus, Tiberius 
 Alexander had deserted his ancestral faith for Gre- 
 cian paganism, a conversion unique in the annals of 
 Judaism. 
 
 Vespasian at once hastened from the camp to Csesarea 
 to pay his respects to Mucianus, who, besides being his 
 life-long friend, was also his superior in office. 
 
 The two illustrious visitors had accepted the hospi- 
 tality of Berenice, and it was in the palace of that 
 intriguing princess that Vespasian and Titus met them 
 in a consultation upon which hung the destiny of an 
 empire. 
 
 " The senate of Rome," began Mucianus, " loathes 
 the rule of the bestial Vitellius and his brutal soldiery. 
 Shall I tell you what are likewise the secret whisper- 
 ings of the people in the forum.? ' Would to the gods 
 that Vespasian would deliver us from this glutton, who 
 has already spent seven million sesterces upon his 
 stomach ! ' Vespasian, you have but to proclaim your- 
 self Cassar here in Judaea, and Rome — yea, and all the 
 provinces, will rise in your favor. I have here a list, 
 and 'tis a long one, of Roman patricians who have 
 sworn to me that they are willing to risk their lives 
 and fortunes in your cause." 
 
 Vespasian, having listened to all this, and much more 
 of like import, showed his indifference to the imperial 
 throne by offering it to Mucianus ! A plain, sensible 
 man, and a born soldier, Vespasian cared little who was 
 
The Making of an Emperor 223 
 
 Ca?sar so long as he himself should hold the chief 
 military command. 
 
 But however much Mucianus may have desired the 
 purple he knew that his chances of obtaining it were 
 infinitely small, and he therefore continued to press its 
 acceptance upon Vespasian. 
 
 " Syria and its four legions are with you," said he. 
 
 " And I can promise you Egypt," observed Tiberius 
 Alexander. " As soon as you are proclaimed Caesar 
 I will cause the legions of Alexandria to take the oath 
 of allegiance to you." 
 
 " And then your first act must be to stop the corn- 
 ships from sailing," said Berenice, who was taking 
 part in these deliberations. 
 
 " A wise policy ! " commented Titus. 
 
 The possession of Egypt, as the conspirators well 
 knew, was extremely important from a political point 
 of view, the populace of Rome being almost dependent 
 for their existence upon the supplies of grain exported 
 from Alexandria. Famine at the heart of the empire 
 would not be favorable to the cause of Vitellius. 
 
 " With Syria, Palestine, and Egypt on your side," 
 pursued Mucianus, " you will occupy a continuous and 
 united territory. Your rear you must secure by an 
 alliance with the Parthians. As to your front, by land 
 it is accessible only by way of the Taurus mountains ; 
 occupy the Syrian and Cilician Gates, and you can 
 bid defiance to any attack coming from that quarter. 
 As to your sea-front we have in Phoenicia the finest race 
 of seamen in the world, and in the cedars of Libanus 
 an inexhaustible supply of timber for shipbuilding. 
 Phoenicia falls within my province. Bid me do it, and 
 ere two months be out you shall have a fleet of triremes 
 that shall guard all coasts from Cilicia to Cyrene. 
 Thus secure, we may advance to attack Vitellius, or 
 await him here, as may best seem convenient to us." 
 
 But Vespasian, prudent and cautious, still delayed 
 his final answer. 
 
224 The Boomed City 
 
 Accordingly, after his withdrawal the remaining con* 
 clave, at Berenice's suggestion, determined to force the 
 hand of the reluctant general, that princess propound- 
 ing an ingenious scheme for the purpose. 
 
 " You, Titus," said she, " must persuade all the 
 soldiers in the camp to salute Vespasian with the title 
 of Caesar." 
 
 " They want no persuading. The difficulty is that 
 he'll refuse to listen to them." 
 
 " He will be compelled." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " Vitellius will hear of it. He cannot with dignity 
 pass over such treason. He'll demand that these dis- 
 loyal legions be punished. In declining this task — 
 for how can he punish a whole army? — Vespasian will 
 become an object of suspicion to Vitellius. He'll be 
 summoned to Rome ; to go will be certain death. There- 
 fore, if the legions here persist in crying ' Hail, Caesar ! ' 
 whenever Vespasian appears, he must either accept the 
 title or be prepared for immediate ruin." 
 
 " Princess, you have it," cried Mucianus admiringly. 
 *' The plan cannot fail. Now, Titus, do your part, 
 whilst Alexander and I hasten to set our provinces in 
 order." 
 
 The conspirators departed to put their plan into 
 operation. 
 
 It succeeded admirably. 
 
 On the third of July a.d. 69 Vespasian was pro- 
 claimed emperor by the legions of Caesarea. His eleva- 
 tion was everywhere received with delight. Embassies 
 from various cities and provinces hurried to Csesarea, 
 bringing addresses of congratulation and crowns of 
 honor; within a month Vespasian had received the sub- 
 mission of all the East, with the exception of Jerusalem 
 and its immediate neighborhood. 
 
 And the prophecy, long current in the East, not 
 only among the Jews, but likewise among other nations, 
 that one coming from Judaea should obtain the empire 
 
The Making of an Emperor 225 
 
 of the world, was thought to have received its fulfill- 
 ment at last ! 
 
 It was decided at a council composed of Eastern 
 statesmen and Roman warriors that Mucianus should 
 proceed by land against Italy, that Titus should carry 
 on the war against Jerusalem, and that Vespasian 
 should retire to Alexandria, and there await the issue 
 of events. 
 
 " And now, O father," said Titus, delighted at hav- 
 ing attained the rank of Caesar — for to be scrupulously 
 exact that was his title as heir-apparent, the reigning 
 emperor being called Augustus — " now, O father, re- 
 member your promise and release Josephus from his 
 bonds, else will it be a shameful thing that the man 
 who told beforehand of your coming to empire, and 
 hath been the minister of a divine message to you, 
 should still be retained in the condition of a cap- 
 tive." 
 
 It was in the camp at Caesarea that these words were 
 spoken. So Vespasian sent for Josephus, who came 
 still wearing the chain that bound him to the guardian 
 soldier. 
 
 The new emperor gave orders that the captive should 
 be set at liberty ; and accordingly the soldier was about 
 to loose the chain when Titus intervened, suggesting 
 that the chain should be cut from him, this being the 
 Roman method with such as were bound without just 
 cause. 
 
 This advice being agreeable to Vespasian, a smith 
 was sent for, a fellow strong and dexterous of arm, 
 who cut the chain to pieces. 
 
 " Josephus, thou art free," exclaimed Vespasian, 
 " and the citizenship of Rome is thine." 
 
 " Call me no more Josephus," said the liberated one, 
 boldly venturing to assume the name of his imperial 
 patron. " Henceforth let all men know me as Titus 
 Flavius." 
 
 " Titus," said Vespasian, referring to his son, 
 
226 The Doomed City 
 
 " Titus has the glory of being Csesar. Josephus 
 has " 
 
 " Flavius, sire," murmured the adopter of that 
 name, remonstratingly. 
 
 " Flavius, then, to please you. Flavius has received 
 the honor of the citizenship. What honor," he con- 
 tinued, turning to Crispus, " what honor shall we con- 
 fer upon you? " 
 
 On the point of replying that the emperor's friend- 
 ship was of itself a sufficient honor, Crispus paused, 
 suddenly seized by a happy idea. 
 
 " There is one favor I would ask, sire — a very simple 
 one." 
 
 "Name it." 
 
 " 'Tis of a private nature. I prefer to state it before 
 you and Titus only." 
 
 Vespasian looked surprised. He gave a nod, and 
 Josephus and the others withdrew from the tent. 
 
 "Now, Crispus, for what do you make request.''" 
 
 " It may not be known to you, sire, that I have a 
 wife." 
 
 It certainly was news to Vespasian, as his looks 
 plainly showed. Crispus proceeded to relate in as few 
 words as possible the story of his wedding at Beth- 
 tamar. 
 
 " Eh ! what is this ? " said the old general, turning 
 with a chiding air to Titus. " You were Crispus' para- 
 nymph, and yet you have never told me of it. Fie 
 on you ! But what has this to do with the favor you 
 would ask.'' " continued he, addressing Crispus. 
 
 " You, sire, as emperor, are supreme in matters of 
 the law. 'Tis yours to see that the terms of a contract 
 be fulfilled. Therefore I ask that when I discover this 
 woman she shall be made to keep her nuptial pledge." 
 
 " Find her, and if you want her, you shall have her, 
 be she never so reluctant," said Vespasian, smiling 
 grimly. "Who is she to refuse my bravest tribune?" 
 
 In that immoral age fidelity to a wife was a rare 
 
The Making of an Emperor 227 
 
 virtue, and one that commended itself to honest old 
 Vespasian. 
 
 " You swear it, sire, that no man shall be permitted 
 to take her from me? " 
 
 Vespasian was painfully impressed by the tense, 
 earnest look of Crispus. 
 
 " By the gods, it shall go ill with the man, if any 
 such there be. He who dares to take your wife from 
 you shall be hanged on high — yea, though he were 
 my own son." 
 
 " Take it not amiss, sire, if I ask for that promise 
 in writing." 
 
 While Vespasian, surprised yet compliant, was put- 
 ting his promise into documentary form, Titus stood 
 silent in the background. 
 
 His face at that moment was a study, and confirmed 
 Crispus in the suspicion he had long entertained. 
 
CHAPTER XVm 
 
 THE PRELIMINARIES OF A GREAT SIEGE 
 
 It was the spring of the year a.d. 70, nearly nine 
 months after the elevation of Vespasian to the imperial 
 throne, and still the Roman legions, now under the sole 
 command of Titus, tarried in their encampment at 
 Csesarea-by-the-sea. 
 
 The self-confident Zealots of Jerusalem began to 
 doubt whether the enemy ever would come within sight 
 of the city again. 
 
 In the intervals of their internecine warfare they 
 were much interested in watching the progress of a 
 new planet or comet, fiery red in color. 
 
 It first appeared in Pisces, the constellation which, in 
 the astral lore of that age, was supposed to be con- 
 nected with the fortunes of Judaea. Night after night 
 it mounted higher, and ever higher, in the sky, seeming 
 to be making for a point directly above the holy city. 
 
 At the very first sight of it the multitude had cried 
 with one voice, " The star of the Messiah! " Ere long 
 it became so distinct and bright as to be plainly dis- 
 cernible in the daytime, and crowds gathered at street 
 corners to stare at what they devoutly believed to be 
 a heaven-sent sign. 
 
 The glorious day foretold by the prophets was at 
 hand when the Jews, with the assistance of the heavenly 
 powers, should reign supreme over all the nations of 
 the earth. And when the star, growing more plain, 
 was seen to take the shape of a sword '* with its blade 
 pointing in the direction of the Roman Camp at Caesa- 
 rea, who could doubt that it portended the doom of 
 those who were threatening the holy city? 
 
 228 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 229 
 
 *' There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter 
 shall rise out of Israel." 
 
 Such was the text upon which Rabbi Simeon ben 
 Gamaliel proposed to give a midrash or sermon, an 
 announcement that attracted to the Royal Synagogue 
 a congregation larger than any previously seen within 
 its walls. 
 
 Devout joy was at first the prevailing keynote of the 
 assembl}' ; but, after the preliminary prayers, a strange 
 uneasiness fell upon them when it was discovered that 
 the prescribed parashoth or lesson for the day — and 
 there could be no omitting it ! — was that section of the 
 Pentateuch containing the solemn and thrilling words 
 addressed to the nation by the great Hebrew lawgiver 
 on the eve of his death. 
 
 As the chazan began his reading the sunlight with- 
 out became clouded, and a gloom pervaded the edifice, 
 a gloom that seemed to deepen with each successive 
 moment. 
 
 It was, of course, customary to receive the reading 
 of the Law in reverential silence, but a silence so tense 
 as the present had never been known in this synagogue. 
 With bated breath and with e^'es fastened on the 
 chazan's face they listened to the voice of the divine 
 lawgiver sounding; down to them through the corridors 
 of time. 
 
 " The Lord shall brinc^ a nation against thee from 
 far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle 
 flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not under- 
 stand. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not 
 regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the 
 young. . . . And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, 
 until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein 
 thou trustedst. . . . And thou shalt eat the fruit of 
 thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daugh- 
 ters, in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine 
 enemies shall distress thee. ... In the morning thou 
 shalt say, Would God it were even ! and at even thou 
 
230 The Boomed City 
 
 shalt say, Would God it were morning ! for the fear 
 of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the 
 sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." 
 
 At this point the assembly, hitherto as motionless and 
 as silent as the dead, impulsively started to their feet, 
 with fear stamped upon their faces. 
 
 It was not, however, the words of the Law, awful 
 though they were, that had moved the worshipers, but 
 a tumult coming from the streets in the vicinity of the 
 synagogue. 
 
 During the previous few moments the air had re- 
 sounded with the running of feet intermingled with the' 
 sound of voices. 
 
 Those voices, confused at first, had now become 
 clearly audible. Rolling upward to the skies in accents 
 of surprise and fear there pealed again and again the 
 startling cry : 
 
 " THE ROMANS ! THE ROMANS ! " 
 
 The sight of the Roman vanguard, glittering upon 
 the northern heights of Scopus, though it might put 
 fear into the hearts of the common people, served only 
 to evoke the scorn of the Zealots. Their astonishing 
 victory over Cestius, and the fact that for three years 
 no attempt had been made to recover the city, had 
 given them an exaggerated notion of their own prowess. 
 
 The Zealots of Galilee might yield ; those of Jerusa- 
 lem were invincible ! 
 
 " They are the same sheep," scoffed Simon, " but 
 with a new shepherd." 
 
 For a long time the Zealots and the people, massed 
 upon the northern wall of the city, continued to watch 
 the distant host, who seemed to be occupied in forming 
 an encampment. Suddenly a shout arose. Something 
 was seen to separate itself from the common body, and 
 to move forward quickly towards the city amid a cloud 
 of dust. That something on a nearer approach proved 
 to be a detachment of cavalry, six hundred strong, 
 led by Titus in person, who, coming not to fight but 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 231 
 
 merely to reconnoiter, rode bareheaded, having left both 
 helmet and breastplate behind. By his side rode that 
 Jewish apostate, Tiberius Alexander, who, having at 
 one time been procurator of Judaga, was in a position 
 to explain to Titus the topography of the city. 
 
 A sea of faces glared at them along the whole extent 
 of the northern wall; the battlements of Antonia, the 
 porticoes of the temple, the distant ramparts of Mount 
 Zion were similarly crowded; in all the wide city there 
 was neither wall nor tower, neither roof nor window, 
 but showed a cluster of human beings. Their excited 
 cries blending together came to the ears of Titus like 
 the restless murmur of the sea. 
 
 " How many people doth the city hold, think you.? " 
 he asked of Alexander. 
 
 " My spies report the number to be a million — yea, 
 and a hundred thousand beyond that. 'Tis the eve 
 of the passover, and Jews from every province of the 
 empire have come up to worship." 
 
 "A million.? Ye gods! Has this nation appointed 
 a rendezvous for its own destruction.? But as to the 
 fighting men ? " 
 
 " All will fight, even children, if it be to defend their 
 city and their religion. The women and girls will 
 weave their hair into ropes, if ropes be needed. The 
 priests themselves will arm should the war approach 
 the temple." 
 
 " Little care I for such foes. My concern is with 
 those who have any knowledge of actual warfare." 
 
 " Why, as to that, Eleazar guards the holy house 
 with 2,400 Zealots ; John, your old opponent in Galilee, 
 keeps the cloisters with 6,000. But Simon, who holds 
 Mount Zion, is the man to be feared. He hath 15,000 
 fierce spirits, so fanatically devoted to him, that each 
 would fall on his own sword did he but command it." 
 
 "Twenty-three thousand fighting men.? Well, we 
 have more than double that number with us." 
 
 " Your number may be tenfold theirs, but such su- 
 
282 The Doomed City 
 
 periority avails nothing In view of their Impregnable 
 position. — As you see, O Csesar," he continued, pointing 
 first to the city, and then to a map that he carried, a 
 map drawn by the hand of Josephus, " Jerusalem occu- 
 pies the southern tongue of a rocky plateau; on the 
 east, on the west, on the south, its walls look down 
 upon ravines and valleys whose slopes are too steep 
 to be scaled by an army; it Is from this quarter only 
 that the attack can be made." 
 
 Titus recognized the fact at a glance. The city, 
 the real city — namely, the stronghold of Zion — was 
 assailable only from the north, but the way to It was 
 barred by huge ramparts. 
 
 Three gigantic lines of masonry were drawn east 
 and west across the plateau. 
 
 First, there was the wall directly facing them, called 
 by the Jews the Third Wall, as being the latest built. 
 
 This, when breached or surmounted, opened the way 
 into the northern suburb of Bezetha or New-town. 
 Marching through Bezetha, the Romans would come 
 to the Second or Middle Wall, which, when taken, would 
 admit them to Acra or the Lower GIty ; passing 
 through Acra, they would find themselves staring help- 
 lessly up at the scarped cliff of Mount Zion or the 
 Upper City, whose edge was surmounted by a wall so 
 lofty that the Titans themselves might have despaired 
 of scaling It. 
 
 But ere any attempt could be made upon Zion, It 
 would be necessary first to take the towering rock- 
 citadel of Antonia, and, secondly, the lofty temple- 
 fortress, otherwise while besieging Zion they would be 
 contlnuall}'^ exposed to a flank attack from these two 
 strongholds. 
 
 " You have to deal," said Tiberius Alexander, " not 
 with one city, but with five cities. A fivefold siege lies 
 before us." 
 
 As Titus glanced with the eye of a trained soldier 
 from point to point, and took in the nature of the de- 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 233 
 
 fenses, natural and artificial, he began to realize the 
 stupendous nature of the task imposed upon him. 
 
 Haughtily enthroned upon its mountain-rock, this 
 Oriental city with its girdling enciente of walls, towers 
 and bastions, seemed as if built with set purpose to 
 triumph over every device that could be brought against 
 it by the military science of the West. 
 
 There was no doubt about it : it was the strongest 
 CITY IN THE WORLD, and if adequately provisioned, and 
 defended with due care, was absolutely impregnable. 
 
 " And I have wagered Mucianus," said Titus grimly, 
 " that I'll take it within seven weeks." 
 
 Alexander gravely shook his head. 
 
 " Twice seven weeks will pass — yea, and three times 
 seven weeks — ere the eagles fly over Zion." 
 
 In the midst of this reconnoitering, a gate by the 
 Women's Tower opened, and the Zealots poured forth 
 in such numbers that the little Roman band, after hold- 
 ing their ground for a time, deemed it prudent to beat 
 a retreat. 
 
 Great was the delight of the Jews. Caesar himself 
 had been seen to fly ! It was the promise and presage 
 of more glorious victories. 
 
 Early next day the Roman army advanced to within 
 a mile of the northern wall of the city, and there began 
 the construction of two huge camps. 
 
 The forces of Titus consisted of four legions, the 
 fifth or Macedonia, the tenth or Fretens'is, the twelfth 
 or Fulminata (memorable for its flight under Cestius), 
 and the fifteenth or Apollinaris. 
 
 In imperial times the legion usually consisted of 
 6,000 men, all Roman citizens, none other being ad- 
 mitted to its proud ranks ; but as each legion was 
 always accompanied by an equal number of auxiliaries, 
 levied from the subject nations, together with 300 cav- 
 alry; and as several petty kings of the East (includ- 
 ing Agrippa) had joined in the expedition, each bring- 
 ing with him his own little army, the forces arrayed 
 
234 The Doomed City 
 
 against Jerusalem must be stated at a figure consider- 
 ably in excess of 50,000. 
 
 Flashing in the morning sunlight, the various squad- 
 rons of this vast host, horse and foot, heavy-armed 
 and light-armed, deployed into never-ending lines upon 
 the brow of Olivet and upon the descent of Scopus ; 
 and as the Jews gazed from their walls upon the long 
 array of eagles and standards bearing the letters 
 S.P.Q.R., they realized the full meaning of the ex- 
 pression " terrible as an army with banners." 
 
 As the battering-rams and other ponderous machines 
 used in sieging were mounted upon wheels, whose revo- 
 lution required a comparatively even surface, the first 
 work of the legionaries, after forming their camp, was 
 to level the ground between their lines and the foot 
 of the northern wall. 
 
 This fore-suburb, ere the Roman engineers set to 
 work, was a scene of sylvan beauty, consisting of groves 
 and watercourses, gardens and fair mansions. 
 
 Now all was ruthlessly swept away : the trees fell 
 before the ax ; the watercourses were destroyed ; the 
 houses demolished ; even the deep and shady glens were 
 no more, being filled up with the picturesque crags that 
 were wont to overshadow them. 
 
 While some of the troops labored at the rocky 
 ground with iron instruments, others were employed 
 in bringing up from the valley of Cedron countless 
 baskets laden with pebbles and earth ; these were used 
 in filling up the inequalities of the surface, the soldiers 
 stamping the materials firmly with their feet. 
 
 In spite of a cloud of missiles discharged at them 
 from the ramparts, in spite of the sudden and daring 
 sallies made by Simon and his men, the Romans con- 
 trived, in the course of a few days, to transform the 
 picturesque fore-suburb into a dreary, uniform level. 
 
 While the Roman operations were proceeding with- 
 out, the Jews within the city were preparing to cele- 
 brate the passover, memorable as being the last in 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 235 
 
 THEIE HISTORY as a nation ; memorable, too, for the 
 armed fray that accompanied it. 
 
 On the fourteenth of Nisan, Eleazar and his party 
 opened the gates of the upper temple to admit those 
 bringing the paschal lambs. The cautions previously 
 exercised by him to exclude the Zealots of the other 
 two factions seem to have been wanting on this occa- 
 sion. Members of John's party, with weapons con- 
 cealed beneath their garments, contrived to enter in 
 company with the multitude of foreign pilgrims, and 
 drawing together in a compact body, they suddenly 
 flung off their outer robes and appeared in the panoply 
 of war. At this sight Eleazar's faction flew to arms, 
 and a fierce melee took place around the golden house, 
 innocent pilgrim and guilty Zealot alike falling fast. 
 When the fray ended, John of Giscala was master of 
 all the temple. Eleazar having fallen, the survivors 
 of his party consented to be absorbed in that of the 
 victor ; and thus the three factions in the city were 
 now reduced to two, the Johanneans and the Simonians. 
 
 To these Johanneans Simon now made appeal. 
 
 Standing on the bridge that connected Mount Zion 
 with the temple-hill, he called for John, and when that 
 chief appeared he thus addressed him: 
 
 " Shall a house stand that is divided against itself.'' 
 Why do we fight each other, making fine sport for 
 the foe.'' We are, it seems, valiant against ourselves 
 only, content to let the city be taken by our love of 
 faction. Let us lay aside our enmity, and join in 
 opposing the common foe." 
 
 " Thou art a subtle knave, Simon," replied John. 
 " Thou desirest me and my forces to go with thee to 
 the Wall of Agrippa that thy men in my absence may 
 seize upon the temple, for all know of thy desire to 
 make thyself tyrant of the city. However, I will so 
 far assist thee that such of my men as are so minded 
 may go with thee, but as to myself and certain other, 
 we will remain behind to defend the temple." 
 
236 The Doomed City 
 
 Availing themselves of the permission thus given, 
 hundreds of John's men came forth from the temple 
 to join with the Simonians in the defense of the 
 city. 
 
 The Romans, having cleared the ground from all 
 obstructions, were now occupied in erecting opposite 
 the northern wall a series of lofty banks, upon which 
 to set the engines used in discharging missile-weapons, 
 for the higher the position of these engines the more 
 accurate and the more deadly their aim. 
 
 Each bank or agger was made of earth strength- 
 ened by beams of timber. During the erection of these 
 banks, the Zealots were not content to look idly on. 
 Preceded by a veritable rain of stones discharged from 
 the ramparts, they poured forth by hundreds, armed 
 with long poles terminating in iron hooks ; with these 
 they sought to pull apart the beams composing the 
 agger, with intent to bring down the whole mass. 
 
 In these sallies the Zealots came on with the rush 
 of a whirlwind, each man ready to sacrifice his life 
 provided only he could kill one of the enemy, or do 
 but the least damage to the agger. 
 
 Not for a moment, however, could they stay the 
 progress of the work. The Roman guard stationed 
 in front of the banks drove back every onset ; and at 
 last the Jews, despairing of accomplishing their object, 
 kept within their walls, and sallied forth no more. 
 
 Each embankment, when finished, presented a vertical 
 front to the city, but the other side was inclined at a 
 very low angle, in order to facilitate the mounting of 
 the military engines : and gaps were purposely left in 
 it to permit the passage of the battering-rams and 
 the movable towers. 
 
 The shrill reveille pealed through the Roman camp, 
 rousing the legionaries from their slumber. 
 
 Every man on waking turned his eyes towards the 
 tent of Titus, and every face gleamed with a grim 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 237 
 
 satisfaction at sight of the scarlet mantle hoisted above 
 it, the sign that the day was to be one of battle. 
 
 As the Roman host gazed upon the holy city rising 
 fair and stately in the golden light of an Eastern 
 dawn, they were fain to confess that it was a city worth 
 fighting for. 
 
 From its walls the tocsin of war was sounding in 
 the shape of a six-foot brazen gong, whose deep, sullen 
 tone reverberated monotonously on the morning air. 
 
 The whole northern rampart was alive with a multi- 
 tude of Zealot warriors moving to and fro, their shin- 
 ing armor obscured at times by faint columns of blue 
 smoke. 
 
 The Romans knew well what that smoke meant. 
 
 Behind those battlements burned fires, over which 
 were slung cauldrons hissing with scalding water, boil- 
 ing pitch, and molten lead ! 
 
 At sight of this smoke the Romans merely smiled; 
 but at sight of the military engines, disposed at due 
 intervals along the wall, they burned with secret rage, 
 being reminded of their tarnished honor, for these 
 engines represented a triumph over Romans, having 
 been captured, some from the camp of Cestius, and 
 others from the Tower of Antonia and the Praetorium 
 of Florus. 
 
 Moving everywhere along the ramparts, now giving 
 an order here, and now a caution there, was seen the 
 form of that brawny Titan, Simon the Black, the very 
 soul of battle, hatred of the Roman looking out from 
 his wild, dark eye. Over his armor he wore a wolf- 
 skin mantle with the shaggy side turned outwards, 
 a mantle that suggested to his followers the prophecy 
 (for he came of the "little" tribe), "Benjamin shall 
 ravin as a wolf." 
 
 Even those among the Romans that were most given 
 to the despising of Hebrew valor, were obliged to 
 admit that in Simon they had a warrior worthy of their 
 steel. 
 
238 The Doomed City 
 
 It was a lovely morning, giving promise of a sultry 
 noontide ; a dazzling sun shone from a sky of deepest 
 blue ; far away on the horizon hung a pall of pearly 
 white mist. 
 
 As a hush precedes the desert sandstorm, so upon 
 the two armies there lay a strange stillness. 
 
 It was a sublime and thrilling spectacle this, of two 
 nations facing each other in arras — nay, an act in a 
 Divine drama, the true significance of which was un- 
 derstood by none present, except by Crispus and the 
 very few that were of like faith with him. The struggle 
 was more than it appeared upon the surface ; it was 
 not merely the subjugation of a revolted city, but a 
 battle betwixt two religions ; the religions, not, as might 
 be thought, Judaism and Paganism, but Judaism and 
 Christianity. The legions of Titus, though they knew 
 it not, were truly soldiers of the Cross, continuing the 
 work to which they had been divinely pre-ordained — 
 the work of the Church! 
 
 For the Romans, by uniting the nations of the civil- 
 ized world under one government, by establishing a uni- 
 versal peace — the " Romana pax " that was the just 
 boast of their orators ; by clearing the sea of corsairs, 
 and the land from banditti; by linking all parts of 
 their empire with a series of splendid roads ; by diffus- 
 ing among their provinces a knowledge of the Greek 
 language; had created conditions such as had never 
 before existed in the world's history : conditions that 
 were absolutely essential, if the Church were to make 
 quick progress ; conditions that enabled the evangelist, 
 knowing one language only, to travel in safety and 
 preach the faith from the banks of the Euphrates to 
 the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 The Roman legionaries, paradoxical as it may sound, 
 were the coadjutors of the apostles. They were now 
 about to put the final touches to their work by de- 
 molishing the temple, whose further existence was an 
 obstacle to the free development of Christianity; and 
 
Preliminaries of a Great Siege 239 
 
 by acting as the sword of the Lord against those who 
 had cried, " His blood be on us and on our children." 
 
 A.D. TO was the necessary sequel of a.d. 29 ; and 
 he who refuses to see a Divine Judgment in the fall 
 of Jerusalem has yet to learn the elements of history. 
 
 Ignorant of the high mission assigned to him, Titus, 
 distinguished hy a purple mantle and by the splendor 
 of his gilded arms, had taken up his station upon the 
 central agger. Beside him, and clothed in a magnifi- 
 cent white robe, gold-embroidered, stood Theomantes, 
 the priest of Jupiter Caesarius, presiding at an altar 
 of unhewn stones, upon which there flamed a sacrificial 
 ox. Titus and the Romans in the immediate vicinity 
 of this altar were standing bareheaded in reverential 
 attitude. 
 
 The Zealots upon the wall, keenly attentive to this 
 religious ceremony, noticed that Theomantes, as he 
 stood with his arms raised in prayer to some deity, 
 kept his e^'es fixed throughout upon their holy temple. 
 
 A sudden suspicion fell upon them. They strained 
 their ears in the hope of catching his utterance, though 
 distance might well forbid that hope. Fortune favored 
 them, however. A breeze blowing from the north at 
 that moment wafted to their ears the word — Jehovah ! 
 — a word so sacred that it was seldom uttered even 
 by the Jews themselves, and never in the presence of 
 a Gentile. 
 
 How came this pagan priest to know the true name 
 of God, and why was he praying to Him.'' 
 
 Then the full meaning of the scene was borne in 
 upon them. It was the ceremony called by the Romans 
 the Evocation."' It was the custom of that people 
 at the beginning of a siege to invoke the tutelary deity 
 of the invested city, inviting him not to be made a 
 prisoner, but to come forth and take up his abode 
 among the divinities of the Roman Capitol. Without 
 such ceremony they would be fighting against the gods 
 — an impious deed ! 
 
240 The Doomed City 
 
 The ceremony, ludicrous or blasphemous, according 
 as one may view it, was at all events unnecessary on 
 the present occasion. The tutelary angels had quitted 
 the city, and Crispus was of those who had heard their 
 departing voice. 
 
 To the Jews upon the wall, the affair was as blas- 
 phemy. Jehovah was their own peculiar heritage ! 
 That the heathen should dare pray to Him, above all 
 that they should call upon Him to quit the place where 
 He had chosen to put His name forever, was a thing 
 not to be borne. 
 
 Calling for their most expert archer, they bade him 
 shoot down the impious Theomantes. 
 
 But the action was observed by the quick-eyed Rufus, 
 who interposed his shield between the priest and the 
 oncoming arrow. 
 
 A moment afterwards Titus tossed his baton high 
 in air. 
 
 At that sight — the signal for battle — there rolled 
 down the Roman lines a shout that seemed to shake 
 the very towers of the city, the thrilling war-cry of 
 "ROMA! ROMA!" and with that each man flew to 
 his appointed work. 
 
 The greatest siege in the world's history had begun ! 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE FIEST day's FIGHT 
 
 On the very edge of each agger there leaped up, as 
 
 if bj magic, a cloud of archers and slingers, who, set- 
 ting up iron screens in front of themselves, proceeded 
 to direct their missiles upon the defenders of the battle- 
 ments. 
 
 Expert as were these archers — Cretans all, a nation 
 famed from Homeric times in the use of the bow — they 
 were surpassed in accuracy of aim by the slingers. 
 These, natives of the Balearic Isles, had been trained 
 to their work from very childhood, when their daily 
 meal, set upon some high point, could not be obtained, 
 unless brought down by themselves with the sling. 
 Hence a force of Baleares formed an adjunct to every 
 Roman legion. Their missiles, consisting both of 
 stones and leaden plummets, were discharged by a 
 triple whirl of the sling; with a force so powerful that 
 headpiece, breastplate, and buckler afforded little pro- 
 tection ; with a motion so swift that the leaden plum- 
 met, glowing in the air, sometimes melted; with an aim 
 so tJ"ue that the slinger could not only hit the face 
 of a distant enemy, but could even hit whatever part 
 of the face he chose. Not infrequently the missile 
 bore some insulting inscription ; and Simon, picking 
 up a stone that had very nearly brained him, found it 
 marked with the message: " AEEAI — Take this!" 
 
 The slingers and archers were aided in their death- 
 dealing business by the workers of the catapults, ma- 
 chines which, framed somewhat upon the principle of 
 the medieval crossbow, discharged gigantic javelins and 
 beams headed with iron. 
 
 241 
 
242 The Doomed City 
 
 The Jews did not remain passive under this attack. 
 In the use of the bow and the sling they were almost 
 as well skilled as their opponents, and returned the fire 
 of the besiegers with a fire equally brisk. 
 
 The fray became more deadly as soon as the Romans 
 had got their balistse into action. 
 
 These were huge machines, whose working part con- 
 sisted of an arrangement of levers and ropes, which, 
 when forcibly drawn back and let go, produced a tre- 
 mendous recoil, sufficient to hurl ponderous stones to 
 a distance of three furlongs, and farther. 
 
 These stones were discharged mainly for the pur- 
 pose of carrying away the battlements, turrets and 
 parapet of the wall, so that, deprived of cover, the 
 defenders would be compelled to quit the ramparts, 
 since to remain there open and exposed would mean 
 certain death at the hands of the archers and slingers. 
 The withdrawal of the defenders would be the signal 
 for the escalade. 
 
 More than fifty of these balistae were now at work, 
 making terrible havoc, not only with battlement and 
 parapet, but also with the lives of the Jewish people. 
 Some of the stones hurled aloft exceeded three hundred 
 pounds in weight, and had force sufficient to kill six 
 men, if taken in file. Josephus describes how he saw 
 a man's head struck clean from his shoulders and car- 
 ried to a distance of three furlongs ! Anyone standing 
 within a yard of such stone as it swept past was 
 certain to be flung to earth by the accompanying rush 
 of air. 
 
 Such was the effect of the ponderous rocks that now 
 went whirling over the ramparts, fifteen or twenty at 
 a time, into the suburb of Bezetha, crashing through 
 the roof and wall of many a private dwelling, and 
 tumbling it into ruins amid the wild shrieking of its 
 hapless occupants. 
 
 To this artillery Simon sought to reply with the 
 captured Roman balists; but the Zealots, for lack of 
 
The First Day's Fight 243 
 
 skill and practice, bungled so miserably at the task 
 as to evoke the laughter of the enemy. 
 
 While this terrific fusillade was going on, a party of 
 Romans began to push forward a pluteus — a sort of 
 iron shed open at both ends and running upon wheels. 
 As it moved along, the Romans walked beneath its 
 roof, and were thus effectually screened against the 
 missiles showered at them from the battlements. 
 
 As soon as the pluteus touched the foot of the wall, 
 the party within, kneeling down upon the ground, set 
 to work vigorously with lever and crow, endeavoring to 
 loosen the lower courses of the masonry. 
 
 Stones and darts were powerless against a machine 
 of this kind. But Simon's fertile brain had devised a 
 plan for defeating Its operations. Liquid bitumen, in 
 immense quantities, was flung upon the pluteus, and 
 when all the ground beneath It and around it was flow- 
 ing with the liquid, lighted torches were thrown down. 
 In a flash the interior of the pluteus as well as the air 
 above and around became a flaming fire. With terrible 
 bowlings the miserable Romans, their hair, beard, and 
 garments alight, rushed forth Into the open, only to 
 be shot dead by the Jewish archers. 
 
 What Simon had done once he was likely to do again. 
 Titus, therefore, when Informed of this Incident gave 
 orders to keep the plutei in reserve and to push forward 
 the battering-rams. 
 
 One of these, by reason of Its hugeness, excited the 
 wonder. If not the fears, of the Zealots. 
 
 It was a wheeled tower, consisting of several stages, 
 the topmost one rising high above the city wall. 
 Through an opening in the lower story there projected 
 the gigantic brazen head of a ram, forming the fore- 
 part of a wooden beam, 120 feet In length, a beam 
 poised upon ropes, and of a weight so great as to 
 require the united strength of two hundred men to put 
 it in motion. The different stages in the tower were 
 for the use of archers, whose business it was to clear 
 
244 The Doomed City 
 
 the enemy from that part of the wall directly facing 
 the ram. A little turret at the top of the structure 
 afforded a coign of vantage for a sentinel to observe 
 and report to those below the doings of the besieged. 
 
 This structure, which was under the charge of Rufus, 
 bore the Greek name of Nico, or the Conqueror, for 
 although its powers had not yet been tested, it was 
 confidently believed that no wall, however strong, could 
 long withstand the repeated shocks of the ram. 
 
 As soon as this heavy machine was brought within 
 striking distance of the wall, two hundred brawny 
 legionaries, grasping a multiplicity of ropes, began 
 slowly to draw the gigantic beam as far back as it 
 would go ; then, at a given signal, every man simul- 
 taneously relinquished his hold, and the released beam, 
 darting forward with lightning speed, came with ter- 
 rific impact full tilt against the wall. 
 
 At that mighty stroke the masonry shivered from 
 parapet to foundation. But more appalling than the 
 shock itself was the thunder-boom accompanying it. 
 The sound ran through the length and breadth of the 
 city, terrifying Vashti in her distant home on Mount 
 Zion; it was echoed and re-echoed from all the hills 
 around; it filled the breasts of even the most stout- 
 hearted of the Zealots with fear ; while from every quar- 
 ter of Bezetha there came shrieks of terror from women 
 and children, for all who were not near the spot made 
 sure that the wall had fallen in, and that the enemy 
 were entering the breach. 
 
 Again that terrifying boom ! and yet again ! 
 
 Dreadful as was the sound, the agony of waiting 
 for it was even more dreadful. Some women, unable 
 to bear the strain, stopped their ears with their fingers ; 
 others fled to cellars and underground places to escape 
 from the terror. 
 
 The whole Roman army was now in working order; 
 forty thousand troops arrayed against the northern 
 wall, and not a man idle among them. 
 
The First Bay's Fight 245- 
 
 It was a terrific spectacle, both within and without 
 the city. The groaning of the wounded, and the shriek- 
 ing of the women ; the twanging of the catapults, and 
 the whizzing of darts and arrows ; the peculiar hum 
 of the swift-flying stones slung from the balistje; the 
 crash of falling masonry ; the shout of the combatants 
 hurling defiance at each other ; and, above all, the 
 thunder-boom of the brazen rams, as they smote against 
 the wall — all contributed to form a scene that tran- 
 scends the power of the pen to describe. 
 
 All in a moment there was on the part of the Jews 
 a simultaneous cessation of activity ; their archers 
 stopped firing; their engines ceased playing; the whole 
 force stood mute and motionless. A sight so surpris- 
 ing caused a temporary suspension of hostilities on 
 the part of the Romans, who were wondering whether 
 this Jewish attitude implied the wish to surrender. 
 
 The mystery was soon explained. 
 
 From the temple — that temple where priests were 
 falling dead or wounded from the stones cast by the 
 engines of the Tenth Legion, stationed upon Mount 
 Olivet, there came the piercing clangor of the silver 
 trumpets. It was the time of the morning sacrifice. 
 
 The trumpet-peal was followed by the lifting of every 
 Jewish sword, and along the whole length of the ram- 
 parts there rolled one sublime shout, a shout flung in 
 defiance at the polytheism of their opponents, a shout 
 expressive of the grandest truth ever proclaimed to 
 mankind : 
 
 " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 
 
 With that they flew to the fight with renewed ardor. 
 And now in the occasional lulls of the fray could be 
 heard a voice, far off at first, but drawing gradually 
 nearer, a voice that by the space of eight years had 
 never ceased its melancholy ditty: 
 
 " Woe, woe, to Jerusalem ! " 
 
 Along the rampart, winding In and out among the 
 
246 The Doomed City 
 
 ranks of the fighting Zealots, who received him with 
 black looks and angry murmurs, came the weird form 
 of Jesus, the son of Hanan, clad, not as was his wont 
 in a garment of camel's hair, but in a long robe of 
 white linen, such as might be used to enshroud the 
 dead. 
 
 " A voice from the East, a voice from the West, 
 a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house ! " 
 
 " Now, what doeth this madman here, putting fear 
 into the hearts of brave men? " muttered Simon, eying 
 the other darkly. But, as Jesus approached, there 
 was in his looks something so awe-inspiring that the 
 Zealot chief, who was minded to do the " madman " 
 hurt, lowered his weapon and let him pass on. 
 
 The wild figure, with its lifted arms outlined against 
 the sky, was plainly visible to the enemy. 
 
 Now, there prevailed in those days the belief that 
 it was possible for a soothsayer to paralyze the efforts 
 of a hostile army by the utterance of magical spells ; 
 and hence, the Romans being too far off to catch his 
 words, even if they had been able to understand his 
 Hebrew language, mistook him for a priest engaged in 
 the task of cursing them. 
 
 " His curses shall fall upon his own pate," muttered 
 an angry balistarius, directing his assistants to slew 
 the head of the machine round so as to bring its aim 
 to bear athwart the line of the moving figure. 
 
 " Woe to the city ! Woe to the people ! Woe to the 
 holy house ! Woe, woe, to myself also! " 
 
 Scarcely had this last utterance left his mouth when 
 the stone prepared from all eternity for the purpose, 
 smote him so that he fell to rise no more. 
 
 The Zealots gazed at the horribly mangled form in 
 fear and awe. This man, who had prophesied the 
 moment of his own doom, had prophesied likewise the 
 doom of the city ; since his word was true in the one 
 case, why should it not be true in the other.? 
 
 Leave musing for the night; the day is for action, 
 
The First Days Fight 247 
 
 and the Zealots flew to obey tlie orders of Simon, who 
 was growing somewhat concerned at the shaking of 
 the masonry caused by the strokes of the ram Nico. 
 
 He directed that gabions or huge sacks stuffed with 
 chaff, should be lowered in front of the ram in order 
 to weaken the effect of its blows. 
 
 But the simple device was defeated by one equally 
 simple. Projecting horizontally from each side of the 
 tower in which the ram hung were iron mantelets or 
 screens, under cover of which stood a number of Ro- 
 mans armed with long poles ending in sharp scythes, 
 and with these they severed the ropes from which the 
 gabion hung, and when the defenders substituted a 
 chain for the rope, the Romans fell upon the gabion 
 instead, so that through a score of rents the chaff 
 came pouring out, leaving the gabion to flap emptily 
 against the wall. 
 
 "Why this waste.'*" said Rufus sarcastically. 
 " They'll be glad of this chaff for food before the war 
 be over." 
 
 A third gabion was lowered. This time a soldier 
 bolder than his fellows, breaking cover, ran forward, 
 and with a lighted torch fired the lower end of the 
 gabion. Instantly there shot upwards a column of 
 blinding smoke and dazzling flame, whose heat drove 
 the holders of the gabion backwards ; in their confusion 
 they let go the chain, which thus fell into the hands 
 of the Romans, who punctuated their capture with an 
 extra loud boom of the ram. 
 
 " No more burnable stuff. Fill the sacks with earth," 
 said Simon. For a few moments he looked on, watch- 
 ing the destruction of gabion after gabion. His brow 
 frowning at first began gradually to clear. 
 
 " What will you say, Ananus," said he, turning to 
 one of his fifty captains, " if I prophesy that within 
 a little space the brazen head of yon ram shall be 
 hanging over the gate of the temple, an offering to 
 Jehovah.'' " 
 
248 The Doomed City 
 
 " If Simon says it, 'twill be so," replied the other, 
 who had unbounded faith in his chief. 
 
 " Tie one end of this rope round my waist," said 
 Simon ; " securely — for hereby hangs my life." 
 
 It was done. 
 
 " Now bring levers." 
 
 When they were brought Simon directed the atten- 
 tion of his followers to a block of masonry which formed 
 part of the battlement that directly overhung the head 
 of the charging ram. 
 
 " When I lift my hand heave the stone over, and 
 lower me with all speed." 
 
 Like a watchful lion waiting to swoop upon its 
 quarry stood Simon, his eye upon the ram, which at 
 that moment was being drawn back by four hundred 
 arms fresh to the task, for the Romans wisely worked 
 in relays and a new body of men had just been put on. 
 
 The released beam shot forward, humming through 
 the air. 
 
 Simon gave the signal, and the huge stone was in- 
 stantly levered over and fell plump upon the forepart 
 of the ram with such good effect that the brazen head 
 snapped clean off amid a mighty splintering of wood- 
 work, and lay on the ground beside the fallen stone. 
 
 But it lay there for a moment only. 
 
 A figure suspended at the end of a rope shot down 
 with lightning speed, grasped the great brazen head 
 in both arms, and was drawn up again ; and, almost 
 before the astonished Romans could realize what had 
 happened, there was Simon on the ramparts above 
 triumphantly holding aloft the trophy he had so dar- 
 ingly won. 
 
 " Simon, thou art a lion, and the son of a lion," 
 said Ananus admiringly. 
 
 A flood of curses broke from the Romans; the ram 
 was useless till the damage had been repaired, and as 
 this repairing could be effectively done only at a dis- 
 tance from the walls, there remained nothing for it 
 
The First Day's Fight 249 
 
 but to drag the machine away amid the mocking laugh- 
 ter of the Jews. 
 
 Simon now turned his attention to a terrible danger 
 approaching the wall in the shape of a turris ambu- 
 latoria or movable tower, seventy-five feet in height, 
 made of wood, mounted upon wheels, and provided with 
 a drawbridge by which when lowered the besiegers hoped 
 to leap upon the battlements. 
 
 This great tower was under the charge of Crispus. 
 
 It would go ill with the Zealots, as Simon well knew, 
 if Crispus and a body of well-disciplined Romans should 
 succeed in establishing themselves upon the ramparts. 
 
 Projecting from the rear of the tower, and at a 
 height of about four feet from the ground, were six 
 long beams, each provided with crossbars ; one hun- 
 dred and twenty men had their shoulders set hard 
 against these crossbars, but in spite of their efforts 
 the rate of progression was infinitely slow, owing to 
 the ponderous weight of the tower. 
 
 The Zealots made vigorous attempts to set the 
 structure on fire by means of flaming darts ; these were 
 wooden shafts, a cubit in length, the head being armed 
 with a triangular steel barb to which was affixed a lump 
 of bitumen or other combustible matter ; the dart, when 
 set alight, was hurled with great force into the side 
 of the tower ; wherever it fixed itself in the woodwork 
 little jets of flame spurted forth. 
 
 The interior of the tower presented at this moment 
 a scene of excitement. At every window of every story 
 were seen soldiers repelling the attack, some by dis- 
 charging javelins at the casters of the fiery darts, 
 others by pouring water upon the hissing flames, which 
 as fast as they died out in one part leaped to life in 
 another. 
 
 Crispus, moving from story to story, directed the 
 operations. 
 
 " Water, here ! " he cried, on seeing a dense volume 
 of smoke ascending from one side of the tower. 
 
250 The Doomed City 
 
 " The supply has run out," replied the decurion in 
 charge of the water department. 
 
 Had Crispus not left his pagan days behind him he 
 would have run the fellow through for his supposed 
 negligence. 
 
 " With six water-carts, and the Serpent's Pool but 
 a furlong distant, you dare to say ^ " 
 
 " The Serpent's Pool hath been so well drawn upon 
 by us and by others that it has become exhausted." 
 
 "Ha! sayest thou so.''" exclaimed Crispus, relenting 
 somewhat at this explanation. " Well, since water be 
 denied us, hang out the raw hides," he cried, for every 
 tower carried a supply of these to be used as a pro- 
 tection against fire. " And bring up sand and earth 
 to drop upon the flames." 
 
 By these means Crispus contrived, not indeed to 
 quench the fire, but to keep it somewhat under control. 
 
 As soon as the giant tower had been pushed to a 
 point sufficiently near for the lowering of the draw- 
 bridge, the toiling troops, letting go the beams, grasped 
 their weapons ; and, losing for the moment something 
 of their Roman discipline, scrambled pell-mell into the 
 tower, all eager to be foremost in the attack, for among 
 the Romans the soldier that was first to mount the ram- 
 parts of an enemy's city received — if he survived — the 
 gift of a Mural Crown, a prize that shed a glory over 
 the recipient to the end of his days. 
 
 The way out upon the drawbridge, when it should 
 be lowered, led from the fifth story ; it was into this 
 chamber, therefore, that the storming-party was now 
 crowding. The drawbridge, standing bolt upright be- 
 fore the doorway, acted as a screen, but when it fell 
 they would be facing a storm of arrows and javelins. 
 It was almost certain death to the men who should be 
 foremost to run out upon the drawbridge; yet, despite 
 the peril, each soldier was striving with his fellow for 
 the honor of being second, the first place being claimed 
 by Crispus himself. 
 
The First Dai/s Fight 251 
 
 " A Cestlus lost the city ; a Cestius shall recover it," 
 said he. " Stand by me," he continued, addressing the 
 aquilifer, " we'll plant the eagle on the ramparts, or 
 die in the attempt." 
 
 For the eagle, though no longer an object of wor- 
 ship with Crispus, was still sacred in his eyes as the 
 emblem of a glorious empire. 
 
 It was a thrilling moment. As they stood there in 
 a mass so dense that each could scarce lift his arms, 
 they could hear the never-ceasing thud-thud of the 
 fiery darts falling upon the outer walls. 
 
 At each side of the doorway, awaiting the signal to 
 lower, stood two brawny legionaries, their hands upon 
 the ropes that worked the drawbridge. 
 
 " All ready, men ? " said Crispus, with a glance at 
 the set faces behind him. 
 
 The question met with an eager response. 
 
 " Guard your faces well. Now ! " 
 
 Up went the ropes, and as they swirled fast over the 
 creaking pulleys, the upper end of the drawbridge 
 falling away from the tower began a rapid descent 
 upon the city wall. 
 
 The sight was seen from near and from far, and 
 both armies set up a simultaneous roar, the one in 
 dismay, the other in exultation, a roar so tremendous 
 as to drown even the thunder-boom of the battering- 
 rams. 
 
 Titus, who knew that Crispus was in charge of this 
 tower, slapped his thigh with a fierce joy. 
 
 " By the gods, Crispus hath opened a way into the 
 city ! " he cried. 
 
 Thousands on both sides paused in the fray to watch 
 the contest upon the drawbridge. Of what use was 
 it to continue the fight elsewhere, if once this part of 
 the wall should be seized and held by Crispus and his 
 band.'' 
 
 The fate of Bezetha at least, if not of all Jerusalem, 
 hung upon the issue of the next few moments. 
 
252 The Boomed City 
 
 As the drawbridge fell with a miglity thud upon 
 the ramparts, Crispus, sword in hand, and with buckler 
 held before his face, leaped out upon the shivering tim- 
 bers, followed by a crowd of warriors. 
 
 The sequel was appalling ! 
 
 They found themselves amid a blinding, whirling hur- 
 ricane of arrows and darts, javelins and stones, coming 
 from the front, from the left, from the right. Obedient 
 to Simon's orders every Jewish marksman, far and 
 near, from turret, battlement and loophole, shot thick 
 and fast at the devoted band upon the drawbridge. 
 In such numbers and with such fury did the missiles 
 smite upon helmet and breastplate, shield and greave, 
 that the little band were absolutely unable to advance ; 
 they staggered to and fro as though struck by light- 
 ning; they fell, dead and dying from the bridge. 
 
 Crispus, preserved from death by the superior tem- 
 per of his armor, took several wounds, nevertheless ; 
 three arrows were quivering in his sword-arm ; two 
 hung from the calf of his leg, though the fierce excite- 
 ment of the moment prevented him from feeling them. 
 
 For one bewildering moment he stood irresolute ; then, 
 gathering himself up for a mighty effort, he darted 
 forward all alone across the bridge. Twenty missiles 
 striking him at one and the same time, caused him to 
 reel like a drunken man. 
 
 Then came the end ! 
 
 Simon had not seen the advance of the ambulatory 
 tower without making due preparation for its recep- 
 tion. 
 
 The moment the drawbridge touched the battlement 
 there sprang up before it four of his strongest cap- 
 tains, each armed with a mighty ax ; and, while Simon 
 with the keen edge of his scimitar severed the ropes 
 by which the drawbridge had been lowered, his four 
 captains plied their axes with such good effect that 
 ere the Romans could come rushing across to prevent 
 it, the whole bridge, cut clean off from the battlement, 
 
The First Day's Fight 253 
 
 swung downwards, and its living freight were hurled 
 precipitately through forty feet of air to the rocky 
 ground below, where they lay a struggling, helpless 
 mound of heads, arms, and legs, which in the next 
 moment bristled all over with arrows shot at them 
 by the delighted Jewish archers. 
 
 " Bring on your next tower," cried Simon mock- 
 ingly, " and we'll deal with it in like fashion." 
 
 Among the few who contrived to limp painfully away 
 to a place beyond reach of the enemy's fire was Crispus, 
 bruised, dizzy, white-faced, with a dozen arrowheads 
 embedded in his flesh. 
 
 Sitting down, he proceeded to extract these barbs, 
 and, the means being at hand, he anointed his wounds 
 and bound them with linen swathings, in which task 
 he was engaged when Titus came up. 
 
 " Now, the gods be praised, you live. But you are 
 wounded ; there must be no more fighting for you to- 
 day. Hither, two of you ! Lay the noble Crispus upon 
 a buckler, and carry him back to camp." 
 
 But Crispus vowed he was not so hurt as to necessi- 
 tate his immediate removal. 
 
 " Mere flesh-wounds, though I confess I am some- 
 what dazed by my fall. Let me rest for an hour in 
 this cool shade, and I'll be ready for the fray again." 
 
 " Well, as thou wilt. Farewell awhile. I am begin- 
 ning to like this Simon ; he is a foe worth fighting." 
 
 Simon's admirable tactics seemed to have a discour- 
 aging eff'ect upon the legionaries. At any rate the 
 attack began to languish. The noontide sun was now 
 streaming directly upon the faces of the Romans, 
 dazzling the eyes of the archers and slingers, and mar- 
 ring the accuracy of their aim. The heat of the day, 
 the clouds of dust, the toil of war had produced among 
 the besiegers the agony of a raging thirst, a thirst 
 which they had no means of quenching. The posca 
 • — the water, sharpened with vinegar — which every sol- 
 dier was wont to carry with him in a leathern bottle, 
 
254 The Boomed City 
 
 had long since been drained to the last drop, and no 
 further supply was at hand. 
 
 Crispus, still faint and dazed, reclined against the 
 agger. 
 
 " O, for water ! " he murmured. 
 
 " There is none in all the host," remarked a soldier 
 standing by. " Men are offering a gold piece for a 
 cup of water." 
 
 " And the enemy have become aware of our want," 
 said a second soldier. " See ! they are holding up 
 vessels of water, and wastefully spilling it in mockery 
 at our distress." 
 
 Titus with a troubled face came up at that moment. 
 
 " We are in rueful strait," said he. " Our men are 
 fainting for lack of water. The Serpent's Pool is ex- 
 hausted; Cedron hath run dry. Our engineers cannot 
 sink a well, the rocky ground forbidding it. Where 
 are we to look for water.'' " 
 
 " There is a pool called Siloam, on the south 
 side of the city," replied Crispus. " It may not be 
 dry." 
 
 "Ha!" exclaimed Titus, with new hope. "But," 
 he added doubtfully, " whoever goes thither must pass 
 under the eastern wall exposed to the fire of the 
 enemy." 
 
 " But is not the Tenth Legion stationed on Olivet 
 ready to repel any sortie from that quarter? Give 
 me the water-carts and a convoy of two hundred horse- 
 men, and I'll engage to return with water enough for 
 the whole host." 
 
 " Take three hundred, and good fortune go with 
 you." 
 
 Ere many minutes were past there went clattering 
 down the Vale of Cedron a long train of wagons, whose 
 drivers were escorted by a detachment of mounted sol- 
 diers, three hundred strong. 
 
 High above their heads hummed and whizzed volleys 
 of stones and darts slung from Olivet by the balistse 
 
TJie First Day's Fight 255 
 
 and catapults of the Tenth Legion, who sought in this 
 way to protect the movements of the water-seekers. 
 
 Looking forth from the eastern wall, John of Gis- 
 cala and his Zealots caught sight of the Roman horse- 
 men, and vainly tried to stay their progress by flights 
 of arrows. 
 
 On dashed the convoy, past the olive grove of Geth- 
 semane, and now they were in the deepest part of the 
 Black Glen ; far above them on their right was the 
 temple, towering aloft in the sunlight to the height 
 of nearly five hundred feet ; on, past the wall of Ophel, 
 and, rounding its southern end, they swung westward. 
 Here, where the glen of Tyropseon opens out into the 
 Vale of Cedron, was a picturesque spot known from 
 of old as the King's Garden, and watered by a streamlet 
 from Siloam. 
 
 To his great joy, Crispus found that the Pool of 
 Siloam — a long, rectangular basin, excavated in the 
 solid rock for the reception of the outflow of a spring 
 — was full of cool, limpid water. 
 
 By a coincidence, too timely to be regarded as for- 
 tuitous, Siloam, whose waters had been " sealed " for 
 nearly four years, had started flowing again upon the 
 coming of the Roman army! '" To the Jews the Mes- 
 sianic fountain seemed to be playing the part of a 
 traitor. The water, so long withheld from them, was 
 now flowing for the enemy. What did it mean.'' they 
 darkly asked, failing to see in this acted parable that 
 the Divine kingdom was being taken from them and 
 given to the Gentiles. 
 
 The thirsting Roman band, springing from their 
 steeds, first refreshed themselves, and proceeded next 
 with all speed to the filhng of tlie water-carts. 
 
 When the Jews, who were looking on from the wall 
 of Ophel, reahzed the object of this sudden dash on 
 the part of the Romans, they gave vent to indignant 
 and wrathful cries. 
 
 What.'' Must the unclean and uncircumcized heathen 
 
256 The Boomed City 
 
 be permitted to carry away for his profane use the 
 water used in the sacred rites of the temple? In the 
 name of Elohim — no ! 
 
 Wide clanged the Fountain Gate, and out poured a 
 tumultuous crowd of fierce-shouting saber-brandishing 
 Zealots, led on by John of Giscala. 
 
 " To horse ! " sang out the Roman trumpet ; and 
 instantly the troops mounted and swung into line. 
 Crispus' question, "Shall we give them battle?" met 
 with an eager affirmative. Not a man among them but 
 thrilled with joy at the prospect of a hand-to-hand 
 engagement with the enemy. For many hours they 
 had been waging an unsatisfactory warfare against 
 flying missiles, but here was something more substan- 
 tial, something they could flesh their steel upon! 
 
 With the spirit of his fighting ancestors dancing in 
 his veins, Crispus cried, "Why wait we here? We'll 
 go to meet them. Charge! " 
 
 He put his steed to the gallop, and the whole three 
 hundred, knee to knee and sword in air, went racing 
 after him up the valley of Tyropaeon. 
 
 Faster and faster they whirled towards the foe, 
 gathering momentum with every yard. The thunder- 
 ing hoofs and flashing steel made a sight so nerve- 
 shaking that the crowd of onrushing Zealots came to 
 a dead halt. 
 
 " Stand fast ! " yelled John to his followers. 
 
 The next moment he was hurled to the earth, as the 
 head of the Roman column went crashing with irre- 
 sistible force into the midst of the Zealots. 
 
 The contest was short and sharp. John's men lacked 
 the fire of Simon's ; for a moment only they fought, 
 then turned tail and fled; and the delighted Romans 
 chased and slew up to the very gate of the city, all 
 but entering with the foe. 
 
 " John of Giscala hath escaped us," growled a cen- 
 turion, as he turned away from the gate at which he 
 had been savagely kicking. 
 
The First Day's Fight 257 
 
 " He is reserved for another day," answered Crispus. 
 
 Laughing over their easy victory the little band 
 galloped back to their water-carts, and, as they clat- 
 tered again up the valley of the Cedron, they cast gibes 
 at the discomfited Zealots upon the wall. 
 
 With the arrival of the water the thirsting Roman 
 army imbibed fresh energy, but though they toiled hard 
 till nightfall they failed to open a way into the city. 
 
 Thus ended the first day's fight. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 CIRCUMVALLATION 
 
 On the fourteenth day of the siege the repaired ram 
 Nico, or the Conqueror, justified its name by effecting 
 a breach in the northern wall ; and Simon, seeing his 
 position no longer tenable, fell back upon his second 
 line of defense. 
 
 This was the first great step in the siege. 
 
 The Romans, entering Bezetha on the fifteenth day, 
 proceeded to demolish the greater part of this suburb, 
 the demolition being necessary in order to clear the 
 way for the advance of the battering-train. 
 
 Nine days more, and the Romans had penetrated 
 the second wall, and were now masters of the suburb 
 of Acra, which they proceeded to treat in like fashion 
 with that of Bezetha. 
 
 This was the second great step in the siege. 
 
 " Bezetha taken in fifteen days, Acra in nine," exulted 
 Titus. " We are getting on." 
 
 Tiberius Alexander, to whom the remark was ad- 
 dressed, shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Mere outworks, Cassar. What we have done is 
 child's play compared with what remains to be done." 
 
 Titus began to be of the same opinion as he stood 
 amid the fast dismantling Acra, and surveyed a long 
 chain of defiant fortresses. 
 
 Before him as he looked southwards rose the rugged 
 escarpment of Mount Zion, forty feet high, its edge 
 surmounted by a lofty wall, whose circuit included 
 those magnificent towers, Hippicus, Phasaelus, and 
 Mariamne, each a citadel in itself. Above him, on his 
 
 258 
 
Circumvallation 259 
 
 left hand, soared the temple-fortress, and adjacent to 
 it the Turris Antonia, this last standing on a rock, 
 which rock was not only seventy-five feet high, but 
 had its perpendicular sides cased with smooth marble ! 
 
 After deliberating with his staff Titus resolved to 
 make a simultaneous attack on Mount Zion and on 
 Antonia. 
 
 But how to reach these strongholds elevated in mid- 
 air? 
 
 There was but one way, by the raising of banks — 
 a stupendous operation ! But the Romans were fa- 
 miliarized with such tasks, and, animated by the same 
 resolute spirit as their general, they set to work with 
 a fiery energy that nothing could daunt. Owing to 
 the scarcity of earth, timber and fascines were largely 
 used in the erection of these works, to such an extent 
 indeed, that not a tree remained within sight of Jeru- 
 salem. The sylvan beauty of the landscape vanished ; 
 the Jewish people, looking far and wide from the city 
 walls, could see around them nothing but a treeless 
 and desolate waste. On the seventeenth day a huge 
 embankment faced the northern side of Antonia, but 
 just when the engines planted upon it were beginning 
 to play, the Romans, to their consternation and dis- 
 may, found the whole mound slowly beginning to sink. 
 As the rate of subsidence varied in different parts, 
 chasms began to yawn, the rams and towers rolled this 
 way and that, crashing into each other with destructive 
 effect ; men found themselves entangled among the ma- 
 chines, overwhelmed with earth, suffocated with dust; a 
 prodigious quantity of smoke burst forth from the em- 
 bankment, followed by darting tongues of flame. It 
 was death to remain longer upon it, and the amazed 
 and affrighted Romans, running in all directions, 
 leaped from the mound. 
 
 The cause of it all soon became clear. John of 
 Giscala and his Zealot crew, toiling underground with 
 an energy almost superhuman, had driven a vast mine 
 
260 The Boomed City 
 
 beneath the Roman agger, a mine whose roof and sup- 
 ports were formed of timber, daubed with bitumen, 
 sulphur, and other combustibles. The ignition of these 
 supports caused the engulfing of the bank, and the 
 complete destruction of the engines. 
 
 " Seest thou what John hath wrought ? " cried 
 Simon to his followers. " Shall we be outdone by 
 him.?" 
 
 Now a similar bank was facing Zion, and two days 
 later, at eventide, just when the Romans had retired 
 to their camp, leaving the customary force to guard 
 this bank, the gates of Zion opened, and from each is- 
 sued a crowd of Zealots, every one carrying either a 
 lighted torch or a vessel flaming with combustibles, 
 and every one under a cherem or curse, not to return 
 till he had seen the Roman engines and the Roman bank 
 in a blaze. 
 
 Coming forth, not by hundreds, but by thousands, 
 they poured down the craggy descent like a flood, 
 wave upon wave, and swept up to the embankment; 
 some, fighting like fiends, impaled themselves upon the 
 points of the Roman spears, and so died ; others, equally 
 brave but more fortunate, broke through the guard, 
 scaled the embankment, and, running hither and thither, 
 set the engines alight, and finished the work of de- 
 struction by firing the embankment itself, so that by 
 the time Titus and the rest of the army came up, the 
 huge platform of earth and timber was a roaring sea 
 of unquenchable flame ! 
 
 Now, for the first time during the siege, the spirit of 
 despair fell upon Titus. He began to think with the 
 murmuring and superstitious legionaries that the fiery 
 comet which, in the shape of a sword, shed a red gleam 
 nightly over Jerusalem, was directing its malignant 
 influence not against the Jews but against the Romans. 
 
 His mood was shown by the letter directed jointly 
 to his father Vespasian and the Roman Senate ; the 
 dispatch omitted the customary formula: "I rejoice 
 
Circumvallation 261 
 
 if all is well with you and your children ; with myself 
 and the army all is well." 
 
 All was not well with him and the army. The tactics 
 of Simon and John had caused the entire disappear- 
 ance of his battering-train. 
 
 Was there no other course left him than to order 
 the Greek engineers of Ctesarea to construct a new set 
 of military machines, an order that would require sev- 
 eral weeks for its fulfillment.'' 
 
 Many and various were the suggestions put forth 
 at the council held in the tent of Titus. 
 
 The plan of massing the whole strength of the legions 
 against a selected part of the wall, and of continuing 
 the assault night and day with testudo and scaling- 
 ladder, regardless of the loss of life, till the place should 
 be finally stormed, was rejected as impracticable, as 
 was also the proposition to tunnel a way through the 
 rock into the heart of the city. 
 
 Tiberius Alexander rose to speak. 
 
 " By all means send to Caesarea for new engines," 
 said he. " In the meantime we'll turn the siege into 
 a blockade, and make famine our chief weapon. Food 
 within the city is already running short, even among 
 the Zealots themselves, so much so that, if the stories 
 of deserters be true, these same Zealots are robbing the 
 people of their bread, and torturing those whom they 
 suspect of concealing it. 
 
 " But if the city is to be effectually starved, we must 
 close up every avenue of access. Now, hitherto, we 
 have kept but an ill watch upon the western and south- 
 ern sides of the city, with the result that certain 
 merchants, despising the Roman power, and eager to 
 coin wealth out of Jewish necessities, are in the habit 
 of stealing nightly to the city to supply its wants. 
 Tyrians bring fish, and Egyptians corn ; Arabs pur- 
 vey dates, and the Nabataeans supplies of bitumen from 
 the Dead Sea, that fiery bitumen whose effects we know 
 so well. Unless these doings be stopped, the siege 
 
262 The Doomed City 
 
 will be prolonged Indefinitely. Now, my counsel is that 
 we encircle the city with a wall to be patrolled night 
 and day ; so shall we cut off the enemy from all out- 
 side help. 
 
 " And since the more mouths there are in the city 
 the more quickly will food vanish, do you, O Caesar, who 
 have hitherto dealt kindly with deserters, make it known 
 that henceforth crucifixion shall be the lot of those who 
 come to us for pity. 
 
 " In six weeks' time they will be eating each other, 
 and victory will be ours ; for we shall be contending, 
 not with strong men, but with gaunt and famished 
 weaklings, scarce able to lift spear or shield. 
 
 " Fasting is a part of their religion," this renegade 
 Hebrew concluded, with a sneer. " Let them be made 
 to keep such a fast as they never before kept in all 
 their history." 
 
 The counsel of Tiberius Alexander prevailed, as Cris- 
 pus knew that it would prevail, even before the prefect 
 had made an end of speaking. Vain was it for others 
 to propose a different plan, when, forty years pre- 
 viously, a Divine voice had said : " Thine enemies shall 
 cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around, 
 and keep thee in on every side" 
 
 The next day witnessed the beginning of the fatal 
 circuit. 
 
 Around the doomed city was drawn, over high hill 
 and down deep ravine, a double wall; one, the contra- 
 vallation, designed to repel sorties from the city ; the 
 other, the circumvallation, to repel attacks coming 
 from without. 
 
 Each of these Investing lines was defended on its 
 outer side by a deep trench, and at every third fur- 
 long rose a castellum or fort, the station of a garrison. 
 
 The whole of the army, 50,000 strong, was employed 
 upon the work, which was completed at the end of three 
 days; a marvelously quick feat, even for Romans, ac- 
 customed, as they were, to trenching and embanking. 
 
Circumvallation 263 
 
 The Zealots affected to view these operations with 
 unconcern, casting gibes at Titus, whenever he came 
 within earshot. 
 
 Some of these gibes had reference to Berenice, who 
 was known to be the object of his adoration. 
 
 " The fair one at Caesarea is lonely," they cried. 
 " The daughter of Agrippa looketh out at a window, 
 and crieth through the lattice, ' Why is his char- 
 iot so long in coming.'' why tarry the wheels of his 
 chariot.?'" 
 
 Other gibes were directed at Titus' plebeian origin. 
 
 " Thy father was once a horse-doctor," cried one. 
 "Why not return to the old trade, Titus? for plainly 
 thou art no warrior. Depart, seeing that thou canst 
 not take this city." 
 
 At this, Terentlus Rufus, growing fierce for the 
 honor of Csesar, lifted up a plow that by chance was 
 Ij'Ing near, and swore a memorable oath. 
 
 " Hear now the vow I make, O ye rebels ! With this 
 will I plow Zion as one ploweth a field ! " 
 
 A flight of arrows caused him to retreat, but he kept 
 to his plow. 
 
 " Take this to my tent," said he to a soldier, " and 
 there let it be till the day when I call for it. Terentlus 
 Rufus will keep his word." 
 
 On the first night after the completion of the invest- 
 ing lines Titus himself, accompanied by Crispus, went 
 the round of the watch. Often did the eyes of Crispus 
 turn towards the city, now sleeping peacefull}^ beneath 
 the light of the stars. The reduction of the place by 
 famine was doubtless justifiable from a military point 
 of view, but he could not help thinking of the fearful 
 anguish that would fill ten thousand homes ; above all, 
 he thought of Vashti. He pictured her, tormented by 
 all the agonies of slow starvation, dying by inches, 
 her sweet and graceful beauty all gone, a hollow-eyed 
 thing of skin and bone, with brain crazed for the 
 lack of food, and he scarcely a mile distant with bread 
 
264 The Boomed City 
 
 and to spare, yet unable to pass her so little as a 
 crust. 
 
 When the city should be taken, would she be living 
 or dead? It was a point which, strangely enough, had 
 not occurred to him before that, if living, she would 
 be, according to the rights of war as practiced in a 
 brutal age, a captive doomed to slavery. He resolved 
 there and then to claim her freedom from the only man 
 capable of granting it. 
 
 " When you take the city, Ca3sar, there is one whose 
 life and freedom I would fain crave." 
 
 " 'Tis granted, provided that the object of your re- 
 quest be not a descendant of David." 
 
 "Why that exception.'' " asked Crispus in great sur- 
 prise. 
 
 " The orders of my sire Vespasian are that I am 
 to make search for all that are of David's line with a 
 view to their extirpation." The Jew is convinced that 
 a descendant of this ancient royal house is destined 
 to attain universal empire, a belief which has given rise 
 to this present revolt ; therefore, destroy all that are 
 of David's line, and you extinguish this vain Jewish 
 dream." 
 
 How Crispus rejoiced in the thought that the saintly 
 bishop Simeon, and the remaining Desposyni — rela- 
 tives of the Master — were at that moment in distant 
 Pella ! 
 
 " She for whom I would make request," said he, " is 
 one Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus." 
 
 Titus gave a start of surprise. 
 
 " She to whom you gave the golden zone at Caesa- 
 rea.?" 
 
 " The same," replied Crispus, conjecturing that 
 Titus' knowledge of this incident was derived from 
 Berenice. 
 
 "What is this maiden to you?" asked Titus with a 
 keen glance. 
 
 " Much, seeing that but for her I should no longer 
 
Circumvallation 265 
 
 be living," replied Crispus, relating the circumstances 
 of his recovery from Eleazar's sword-thrust. 
 
 Titus seemed genuinely troubled. Crispus had dis- 
 tinguished himself so well in the siege that it was hard 
 to refuse him this favor. 
 
 " Gladly would I grant your request, but that it 
 comes too late. The Princess Berenice is desirous of 
 obtaining possession of that damsel." 
 
 Crispus at that moment looked more dazed than 
 when he fell from the drawbridge. 
 
 " Berenice ! " he murmured. *' What would she with 
 Vashti.?" 
 
 " The princess likes to have pretty and graceful 
 maidens about her. She made me promise that out of 
 the spoils of the city I would give her this Vashti." 
 
 "And you will.?" 
 
 Titus shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " She was not content with an oral promise. She 
 holds a parchment signed by my hand empowering her 
 to claim Vashti as her slave." 
 
 In Crispus' opinion it would be better, far better, 
 for Vashti to die of slow starvation than to fall into 
 the hands of the jealous Berenice, whose only object 
 in this enslavement was to gratify her spirit of re- 
 venge. 
 
 He said no more, knowing the uselessness of inter- 
 ceding, but he had quite made up his mind what he 
 would do ; and he could do it, too, in all good conscience. 
 
 " Let Caesar's parchment bond say what it will," said 
 he within himself. " I will save Vashti from the doom 
 intended for her, though it cost me ray life." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE DYING CITY 
 
 The gaunt specter of famine was stalking through 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 On the very first day of the siege the price of food 
 had mounted so high that a bushel of wheat could not 
 be had for less than a talent of gold/^ but as soon 
 as the Roman wall had cut off the Jews from all ex- 
 ternal supplies ten times ten talents could not purchase 
 even a handful of grain. 
 
 Then from ten thousand homes there rose up the 
 cry for bread ; but the heaven above was as brass ; the 
 God that had shed down manna upon their forefathers 
 remained cold to all the wild wailings in the syna- 
 gogues. 
 
 He who had laid up food for himself was not certain 
 of benefiting by his forethought, for the Zealots broke 
 into whatsoever house they pleased, and upon those 
 suspected of concealing food they inflicted torments 
 so horrible as to seem rather the invention of fiends 
 than of men. 
 
 Among those hitherto preserved from the visits of 
 the Zealots, though living in daily dread of such visits, 
 were Vashti and her mother. 
 
 The two dwelt all alone, since Miriam, in expectation 
 of famine, had dismissed her handmaids at the begin- 
 ning of the siege. 
 
 Vashti had never known a more unhappy time than 
 the present, and she had begun to doubt whether it 
 would not have been wiser to have followed the counsel 
 of the holy Simeon by escaping while it was possible 
 from the doomed city. 
 
 366 
 
The Dying City 267 
 
 It was not the gnawing pangs of hunger that dis- 
 tressed her so much as the knowledge that she had alto- 
 gether lost her mother's love. Miriam treated her with 
 an unkindliness that seemed to increase with each suc- 
 ceeding day. She was forever reproaching Vashti as 
 being a Christian and a lover of the Romans. 
 
 " But I love you, too, dear mother, more than all 
 the Christians, or would I have remained here with you, 
 when I might have retired safely to Pella?" 
 
 Her mother took no notice of this pertinent argu- 
 ment, but began to inveigh against Crispus, whose con- 
 spicuous valor during the siege had inspired the Jews 
 with a hatred almost equal to that felt for Titus him- 
 self. 
 
 " Why did you nurse him back to life.'' He is a 
 serpent repaying our kindness by doing all the hurt 
 he can to the holy city." 
 
 Not wishing to vex her mother, Vashti refrained from 
 argument, and went with aching heart to survey their 
 fast diminishing store of provisions. The slender stock 
 of meal, figs, and dried grapes would last but a few 
 days more, and then — — .'' 
 
 The two women contented themselves with a few 
 mouthfuls a day in order that little Arad might have 
 sufficient for his wants. He was now between five and 
 six years of age, and was idolized at least by his sister, 
 if not by his mother. The child could not help observ- 
 ing how little they ate. 
 
 " It is all through the Romans," answered his mother 
 fiercely, adding, say, ' God curse the Romans ! ' " 
 
 The little fellow repeated the words. 
 
 " Now you say it, Vashti," said he. 
 
 But Vashti, believing that the Romans were God's 
 ministers, tearfully shook her head, and this produced 
 a fresh outburst of wrath on the part of ^liriam, who 
 seemed to take an unholy pleasure in setting the child 
 against Vashti, saying so many bitter things that 
 Vashti withdrew weeping. 
 
268 The Boomed City 
 
 At last came the time of starvation. ' 
 
 For two days the women fasted, giving to Arad what 
 remained of their store ; and, as Miriam watched him 
 eating, there was in her eyes a look that Vashti did 
 not like to see, a look as if she were begrudging the 
 child its food. 
 
 On the third day he, too, had to fast. 
 
 His pitiful questionings and sobbings gave additional 
 pangs to Vashti's own anguish. But where was she 
 to look for relief.'' To solicit food from her friends 
 and neighbors would but provoke them to mocking 
 laughter, if indeed the power to laugh remained in 
 them. If they had food, would they part with it, 
 when such act would be but to hasten their own end.f^ 
 What was Arad to them? they would say. Had they 
 not dying children of their own.'* Why prolong Arad's 
 sufferings.? The quicker death came to him the better. 
 Such were the answers Vashti would receive, as she very 
 well knew. 
 
 As for Miriam, she had grown neglectful of the boy ; 
 faint and dizzy, she restlessly tottered with feeble step 
 from room to room, looking into every corner, probing 
 behind every piece of furniture, emptying every chest 
 of its contents, in the hope of lighting upon something 
 — anything — that could satisfy for a time the gnawing 
 pangs of hunger. But vain was her search. 
 
 The two women passed the third night foodless. 
 Arad cried himself to sleep. Vashti spent the dark 
 hours in a state between slumbering and waking ; when 
 she dreamed, it was of delicious banquets, from which 
 with a sudden start she would wake to the dreadful 
 realities of her position. 
 
 And now dawned the fourth day of her fast, and 
 Arad, waking again, set up his piteous cry for food, 
 a cry that went to the heart of Vashti. Must she sit 
 idly by, and watch the child die? 
 
 A sudden thought set all her nerves thrilling with 
 joy. Looking around and finding her mother absent, 
 
The Dying City 269 
 
 she knelt beside his pallet, and whispered to him, " Don't 
 cry, Arad. Lie still, and be good, and I'll bring you 
 something to eat." 
 
 Pacified somewhat by this announcement the little 
 fellow became quiet. 
 
 On passing into the next chamber Vashti saw her 
 mother crouching in a corner upon the floor, her head 
 bowed down upon her knees. She seemed, as if having 
 once sat down, to lack all power to rise again. As 
 Vashti drew near, Miriam feebly raised her head, and 
 stared in moody and dull despair at her daughter. She 
 made no inquiries as to Arad ; not a word passed her 
 lips ; she had reached the stage when speaking becomes 
 painful and irritating, the stage when all interest in 
 outward things ceases, the stage where one sits on the 
 ground silently brooding, waiting for the slow approach 
 of death. 
 
 Vashti's youthful frame contained more life and 
 energy than her mother's, but soon she, too, unable 
 to drag her limbs along, must sit, brooding, silent, 
 dying. 
 
 Vashti said nothing to her mother. W^hat could 
 she say.'' Cheering words would be but a mockery. 
 
 She climbed the stairway, and passed out upon the 
 roof. 
 
 A few weeks previously Arad had taken there a large 
 cake of bread with a view of amusing himself by toss- 
 ing crumbs up into the air in order to attract the 
 attention of pigeons and sparrows. For some reason 
 or other he had not carried out his purpose, and the 
 bread instead of being carried down again was placed 
 by him within a hollow under a tile to be reserved for 
 the sport of some other day. That day had never 
 come, however ; and there it had lain forgotten by 
 Vashti till this moment. Was it still there.'' she won- 
 dered. Yes, there it was, large enough to serve little 
 Arad for one meal. A great temptation came upon 
 Vashti to fix her teeth into it there and then, and gnaw 
 
270 The Doomed City 
 
 awaj till nothing remained; but the thought of Arad 
 controlled this selfish prompting. 
 
 The bread was as hard as iron, but a little soaking 
 in water would soon render it soft and palatable. 
 
 Concealing the precious fragment within her bosom, 
 Vashti descended the stairway, passing by her mother 
 again, who looked at her with the same listless, me- 
 chanical stare as before. Under that dreadful look 
 Vashti felt like a traitress. A struggle began in her 
 breast. Was it right to conceal this discovery from 
 her mother.'* Was she not entitled to a share of the 
 crust.'' Yes, if she would be content with a share, but 
 supposing in her fierce hunger she should seize upon 
 the whole.'* There was Vashti's fear. Affection bade 
 her choose between her mother and Arad, and the latter 
 prevailed. It went to her heart to leave her mother 
 dying there, but it would go to her heart still more 
 to see little Arad robbed of his last morsel by the 
 mother who bore him. 
 
 As Vashti entered the chamber the little fellow turned 
 his eyes eagerly upon her. 
 
 She stole to his pallet. 
 
 " See ! here is a large cake of bread ; but it is hard, 
 and must be softened before you can eat it." And 
 then, dreading lest her mother's ears should be caught 
 by these doings, she added in a whisper, " Hush ! do 
 not talk, darling. Lie still, and you shall have it soon." 
 
 Having rendered the bread eatable by moistening it 
 with water, tormented the while by a fearful longing 
 to devour it herself, she handed the whole to Arad. 
 
 There were many fathers among the besieging Ro- 
 mans outside, men of humane disposition, despite their 
 warlike calling. Could they have witnessed the joy 
 with which the little fellow swallowed the not very 
 palatable morsels, they would surely have loaded their 
 balistae, not with stones, but with loaves, and have 
 rained them upon the roof of Miriam's dwelling. 
 
 " Eat slowly," said Vashti, " or 'twill do you hurt." 
 
The Dying City 271 
 
 She had scarcely said this when a scream broke from 
 her. Between her and Arad there had suddenly 
 dropped a skinny hand, a hand that clutched greedily 
 at the bread, a hand belonging to the figure whom 
 Vashti had thought to be still crouching upon the floor 
 of the next apartment. 
 
 Arad, instinctively divining that he was about to 
 be robbed of his meal, crammed one end of the crust 
 into his mouth. 
 
 " Give it to me," shrieked Miriam, tugging at the 
 other end with such force as to drag the child from 
 off^ his pallet. 
 
 Arad hung with his teeth upon the crust ; it sud- 
 denly parted, and Miriam, securing her own piece, 
 swallowed it with a wolfish gusto dreadful to witness, 
 while Vashti looked on in fear and trembling. 
 
 " Oh, mother ! mother ! " she gasped. " How could 
 you do it .'^ " 
 
 Arad, frightened almost to death by his mother's 
 deed and look, clung to his sister, who strove to soothe 
 his grief. 
 
 " It is as I have suspected," said Miriam. " You are 
 hiding food from me to satisfy yourself and Arad, 
 while I, your mother, may starve." 
 
 " Not so, mother." 
 
 "Will you deny what mine eyes have seen.'' Show 
 me the way to your secret store." 
 
 " I have no secret store." 
 
 " Whence, then, did you obtain this bread.'' " 
 
 Vashti explained, but all to no purpose. Miriam 
 persisted in declaring that Vashti had secreted pro- 
 visions somewhere in the house, and announced her in- 
 tention of watching henceforth all her daughter's move- 
 ments. 
 
 Vashti, weak before, was now almost ready to col- 
 lapse under the shock of this rude encounter, but for 
 Arad's sake she bravely bore up. 
 
 Her indignation against her mother passed away 
 
272 The Boomed City 
 
 after a time, giving place to pity ; in taking Arad's 
 food Miriam had been doing only what she herself had 
 been terribly tempted to do. Though tormented within 
 by a gnawing pain that grew greater with each hour, 
 Vashti, hiding it all under a cheerful mien, sought 
 to make Arad forget his sorrows ; she brought out his 
 toys (for children had toys in those days as in these) 
 and played with him; she procured parchment, ink 
 and pens, and drew letters and objects and little pic- 
 tures for his diversion ; she told him simple stories and 
 sang some of the psalms known to him that he might 
 chime in with his little voice. Those psalms recalled 
 the happy twilight hours spent with Crispus, and she 
 sang with a quaver in her voice and tears welling from 
 her eyes, till at last she broke down entirely and sobbed 
 aloud. Seeing his sister cry, Arad naturally cried, 
 too ; and, the pangs of hunger asserting themselves, 
 he began his piteous wail for something to eat. 
 
 " Give us of your store," said Miriam. 
 
 " Mother, I have no store." 
 
 " Then, find us food," returned Miriam, raising her 
 voice to a shriek. " You see me and the child starving, 
 and yet you sit idly by doing nothing to prevent it. 
 Are we to die? I am too weak to stir abroad, but you 
 have strength left. There must be food somewhere in 
 the city. Go and find it. Take money, your jewels, 
 your golden zone. Buy — beg — steal, if need be, but 
 bring us food." 
 
 In Vashti's opinion Miriam's words were mere rav- 
 ing. Of what use was it to wander through the city 
 offering to buy food from a starving populace.'' He 
 who had bread, would he not keep it? 
 
 Suddenly she bethought herself of one with whom 
 she had always been a favorite, the benevolent Johanan 
 ben Zacchai, whose two daughters had been her life- 
 long friends. 
 
 She would go to their home in Ophel, and, if they 
 should be the happy possessors of food, beg a little 
 
The Dying City 273 
 
 of it for the sake of Arad. Kissing him passionately 
 she laid him down, and went forth on this dubious 
 errand. 
 
 The setting sun was tingeing with a golden glow the 
 higher parts of the city as Vashti unbarred the gate 
 of her dwelling, a gate that had not opened for many 
 weeks. 
 
 The first thing that impressed her was the strange 
 stillness that prevailed around, " a deep silence and a 
 kind of deadly night," to use the language of the con- 
 temporary historian. The street was empty ; every 
 house, like her own, was shut and barred. 
 
 Significant fact ! What silent tragedies, what scenes 
 of anguish, were taking place behind those closed doors 
 and latticed windows? 
 
 As she stepped out into the street her eye was caught 
 by a startling object. Hanging by a rope from a 
 hook fixed into an adjacent wall was a shriveled and 
 mummified corpse, that of a man, who, doubtless unable 
 longer to endure the agonies of slow starvation, had 
 chosen to hasten his end by suicide. The thought that 
 before her journey's end she was likely to see other 
 sights like this, or even more ghastly, almost drove 
 her within the house again, but her mother's wrath 
 and Arad's hunger spurred her on, and she walked away 
 as quickly as her weakness would let her. 
 
 A few paces, and she saw lying within the entrance 
 of a narrow archway the body of a woman but recently 
 dead, a woman with a frame emaciated by famine, the 
 skin tightly drawn over her bones, the veins on her 
 shriveled neck showing like sinews. Pillowed upon her 
 arm lay an infant whose hand convulsively grasped his 
 mother's withered breast, twisting it with his fingers, 
 and uttering feeble little cries of anger at finding him- 
 self deprived of sustenance. Pity for the mother, a 
 greater pity for the babe, put Vashti in a state of 
 hesitation. To leave the infant dying there was an 
 
274 The Boomed City 
 
 unnatural act ; on the other hand, where was the good 
 in taking it to her own home? Neither she nor her 
 mother had the means of preserving its Hfe. It might 
 as well die under the open sky as under a roof; and so, 
 steeling her heart, Vashti went slowly on. But she 
 got no further than the end of the street ; beginning 
 to feel like a murderess, she turned back, only to find 
 the infant breathing its last. 
 
 Leaving mother and babe Vashti went on her way, 
 seeing with a pitying heart other sights equally grim. 
 The Apocalypse, but recently written, had not yet come 
 to her knowledge, or she might have recalled the pas- 
 sage, " Their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the 
 great city.^' 
 
 She entered a silent square, seemingly empty, but a 
 second glance around showed her on its southern side 
 a group of human figures — perhaps twenty in all — 
 men, women, and children, clustered in various atti- 
 tudes upon the steps of the Royal Synagogue. They 
 took no notice of her approach, though her footsteps 
 sounded unnaturally loud in the strange stillness. 
 
 Vashti stopped short, absolutely appalled at their 
 aspect. Though terribly wasted herself, Vashti was 
 plump compared with these figures. With limbs attenu- 
 ated to those of a skeleton ; with eyes deep sunken 
 in their orbit; with cheek-bones projecting hideously; 
 with complexions darkened by famine, they looked like 
 weird beings from another world. More dreadful than 
 all was the look of unspeakable anguish stamped upon 
 their features ; it was the look of men who would ncA-^er 
 smile more in this world. They had come to this spot 
 because from it their beloved temple could be seen; 
 and they would fain die with their glazing eyes fixed 
 to the last upon the lofty golden pinnacles of the white 
 marble shrine that stood out in all its loveliness against 
 the calm blue sky of evening. 
 
 Dead and dying they lay, stretched athwart the 
 steps. " Those who were just going to die looked upon 
 
The Dying City 275 
 
 those that were gone to their rest before them with 
 dry eyes and open mouths." " 
 
 Suddenly a sound became audible ; distant at first, 
 it grew painfully loud, and at last, with a rattle and 
 a clang, a dozen armed Zealots, belonging to John's 
 party, came marching into the square, their well-pre- 
 served physique affording a striking contrast to the 
 ghastly group on the synagogue steps. Famine had 
 not yet laid its finger upon them. 
 
 Seemingl}' in the best of spirits they talked and 
 laughed in rude fashion, indifferent to the suffering 
 that met them at every point. As a matter of fact, 
 they had come out purposely to add to the city's suf- 
 ferings. Four of their number carried a small batter- 
 ing-ram, intended to force open the doors of such obsti- 
 nate citizens as were bent on keeping their own pro- 
 visions. 
 
 Vashti noticed that these Zealots were taking the 
 way that led past the synagogue. Not wishing to 
 attract their attention, she crept to the side of the 
 building, and hid herself behind a buttress, contriving 
 the while, however, to keep watch upon the approaching 
 group. 
 
 As they drew nearer she saw to her surprise that 
 the more youthful of them were dressed as women in 
 all the bravery of finely dyed garments and golden 
 anklets that tinkled as they walked ; their long, flowing 
 hair was decked with the suffa, a gauzy network, that, 
 attached to the headdress, hung down over the shoul- 
 ders as far as the waist ; red coloring glowed on their 
 cheeks, while their eyes, to make them appear larger 
 and more lustrous, were painted round with kohl, and 
 their eyebrows arched and darkened with the same 
 preparation. 
 
 Their appearance thrilled Vashti with a mysterious 
 and nameless horror ; she wondered what this feminine 
 garb should mean, not knowing in her innocence that 
 the temple had become, under John of Giscala, the 
 
276 The Doomed City 
 
 seat of infamies that caused the seer of Patmos to 
 brand the once holy city with a fearful name. 
 
 The Zealots in passing glanced at the silent throng, 
 whose dying anguish provoked only their savage mirth. 
 " More victims for the dead-cart," laughed one. 
 " Aha ! " he continued, stopping in his walk, and point- 
 ing to a ghastly stiffened figure lying supine upon the 
 stairs, " whom have we here.'' Asenath the harlot, as 
 I live. One can scarce recognize in her the one-time 
 favorite of old Ananias. How she stares ! Is she liv- 
 ing or dead.'' " 
 
 " Dead ! " replied another Zealot. 
 
 " I'll wager ten shekels she's living," cried he who 
 had spoken first. 
 
 " And I'll wager the same that she's dead," answered 
 the second. 
 
 " Good ! you hear," said the first, addressing the rest 
 as desiring them to be witnesses of the wager. 
 
 The Zealots had a way of their own — and for sport 
 often practiced it — of ascertaining whether a body were 
 dead. 
 
 Drawing his blade the first ruffian pulled aside the 
 woman's robe and pierced her breast with the point of 
 the weapon, an act followed by a faint moan, and a 
 slight writhing of the figure. 
 
 " Thou hast lost thy bet, Malchus," laughed the first 
 ruffian. " She's living." 
 
 " She's dead now, at any rate," answered the second ; 
 and, furious at losing the wager, he drew his sword 
 and stabbed the woman to the heart. 
 
 At this a dying man beside her spoke in hollow tones. 
 
 " In the name of God be merciful, and do the like 
 by me. Thrust me through that my anguish may have 
 an end." 
 
 " Thou wishest to die.? Then thou shalt live," re- 
 plied Malchus ; and, sheathing his blade, he moved off 
 with the rest of the Zealots, who laughed as though 
 the affair were a merry jest. 
 
The Dying City 277 
 
 When silence had descended upon the square again 
 Vashti crept fearfully forth, and, after hesitating 
 whether or not to return home, she resumed her slow 
 and trembling way to Ophel, and arrived without 
 further adventure at the house of Johanan ben Zacchai. 
 It was a humble dwelling situated in a street that, 
 like all others in the city, was as quiet as the tomb. 
 
 Vashti found the gate, as she expected, barred. 
 
 Before knocking she listened, and detected coming 
 from within a sound that caused her heart to leap with 
 hope, for it was a sound like that produced when corn 
 is ground between two millstones. 
 
 Even in her dazed and frightened state of mind 
 Vashti could not but think it imprudent to be grinding 
 corn within hearing of the street, a street that might 
 be traversed at any moment by ruffianly, food-seeking 
 Zealots. 
 
 The household of Johanan were evidently not without 
 grain ; surely they would spare her just a little from 
 their store? 
 
 She knocked at the gate, and the sound of the grind- 
 ing, if such it were, instantly ceased. 
 
 " They think I am a Zealot," she said with a wild 
 little laugh. 
 
 She knocked a second and a third time, but received 
 no reply ; she called out her name so loudly that those 
 within must have heard who the visitor was, but they 
 made no response. A dead silence prevailed within. 
 
 Vashti withdrew to the middle of the street, and 
 turned her despairing eyes towards the lattice over 
 the gateway. No friendly face looked down at her; no 
 face at all. 
 
 She turned sorrowfully away, but came again pres- 
 ently, and this she continued to do at intervals, beating 
 piteously upon the gate, but all to no purpose. 
 
 Then did hope die within her. If Johanan ben 
 Zacchai would not listen to the voice of a suppliant, 
 there was none other in the city that would. 
 
278 The Doomed City 
 
 Nothing remained for her but to return home ; but 
 how could she, empty-handed, face the despairing gaze 
 of her dying mother, the fearful, famishing eyes of 
 little Arad, who quite expected to see his sister come 
 back laden with food. 
 
 Loth to return home she wandered slowly and aim- 
 lessly through the streets and squares of the star-lit 
 city. 
 
 In the Xystus that faced the half-burned palace of 
 Agrippa she came upon a group of men, all bearing 
 the signet-mark of famine — the skeleton limbs, the dark 
 complexion, the sunken eyes of unnatural luster with 
 the scared look in them. 
 
 Leaning upon staves they were listening to one of 
 those self-deluded fanatics, so numerous at that time in 
 Jerusalem — fanatics whose dream no reverses could de- 
 stroy, the dream namely of a coming universal empire 
 for the Jews ; the darker and the more hopeless the 
 situation seemed, the more fervent and enthusiastic 
 became the faith of these false prophets, who did not 
 relinquish their hopes till they saw the temple sink 
 into everlasting night, and the plow drawn over the 
 soil where once the palace of Zion had stood, 
 
 Vashti paused for a moment to listen to his wild 
 harangue. 
 
 " Think you that Jehovah will let the place in which 
 He has chosen to put His name fall into the hands of 
 the uncircumcized heathen? Men, brethren, there is 
 no contradiction in the Divine nature, and therefore 
 He who decreed that the temple should be built can 
 never decree that it shall be destroyed. Take heart 
 and rejoice! The time foretold by the prophets is at 
 hand: the heavens shall open, and the Messiah shall 
 descend therefrom — yea ! it is but a matter of a few 
 hours now — to avenge His people. His feet shall stand 
 upon Olivet, and with the breath of His mouth will 
 He slay the host of Titus even as He slew the host of 
 Sennacherib." 
 
The Dying City 279 
 
 And so speciously did he argue by texts drawn from 
 the prophetical scriptures that his famishing auditors, 
 with scarcely strength to stand, became as hopeful as 
 the orator himself ; they forgot their present sufferings ; 
 their faces brightened, and they turned their glance 
 upward to the comet gleaming red in the sky, half- 
 expecting to see it launch forth fiery death at the 
 girdling hostile line that, " hushed in grim repose," 
 was patiently waiting the slow but certain doom of 
 the city. 
 
 With a sigh Vashti passed on, and coming to a 
 street corner beheld the emaciated figure of a man 
 kneeling, in his hand a drawn bow with an arrow fitted 
 thereto. Never had she seen eyes so fiercely wild, or 
 an expression so painfully eager and expectant. Fol- 
 lowing the direction of his glance she saw that he was 
 aiming at a pigeon which had just alighted upon the 
 ground only a few yards distant. " Food, food! Life, 
 life ! " was the thought that frenzied his brain. 
 
 But Vashti could see what he could not, namely, that 
 much nearer to the bird, and crouching down within a 
 gateway was the skeleton figure of a woman, whose man- 
 ner showed that shewas waiting to snatch the prize from 
 the archer. And so it proved. As the shaft flew true 
 to the mark the woman tottered feebly from her hid- 
 ing-place ; her eyes sparkled with wild glee ; she gave 
 a demoniacal chuckle as she pounced upon the slain 
 pigeon, and ghoul-like tore greedily at the raw flesh 
 with her teeth. 
 
 At that sight there broke from the man a cry of 
 surprise and despair, of ago\iy and rage, a cry horrible 
 yet pitiable to hear. " Thief ! bitch ! accursed ! " he 
 screamed. " Give me what is mine. Ah ! she would 
 devour it all ! In the name of God give me a mouthful, 
 a morsel, that I may live, and not die." 
 
 As the speaker lurched forward in the endeavor to 
 get at the thief his legs gave way beneath him, and 
 he fell heavily to the ground ; feebly struggling to his 
 
280 The Boomed City 
 
 feet he staggered on again with intent to wreak venge- 
 ance upon the spoiler. 
 
 Outraged nature did the work for him. 
 
 The eater gorging herself to the full, and being long 
 unused to the taking of so great an amount of suste- 
 nance, became suddenly convulsed, dropped to the 
 ground in horrible contortions, and there and then died, 
 her end being greeted with mocking laughter by the 
 weakling pursuer, who, seemingly undeterred by her 
 fate, knelt down, and plucking the remnant of the 
 bird from the dead woman's teeth began to gnaw it 
 with his own. 
 
 Vashti, shuddering, turned away, and retracing her 
 steps to Ophel, sought once more the house of Johanan 
 ben Zacchai. But she stopped aghast ere reaching it. 
 
 Its gate was wide open now, hanging wrecked upon 
 its hinges, with the battering-ram that had done the 
 work lying within the entrance. 
 
 From the house came the cries as of an old man in 
 pain. 
 
 " Give his limb another twist," cried a voice that 
 she recognized as that of Malchus the Zealot. " We'll 
 soon make the old graybeard tell where he has con- 
 cealed his corn." 
 
 At the same moment there broke forth from an upper 
 chamber the thrilling screams of Johanan's two daugh- 
 ters, painly calling upon their aged father to deliver 
 them from the hands of the lewd and laughing Zealots ; 
 for John's followers made it their boast that if there 
 were a virgin in any house they entered there would 
 be none there when they left. 
 
 With the blood about her heart congealing to ice 
 Vashti fled, lest a like fate should befall her; fled, not 
 knowing whither she went, not caring ; fled, till she 
 suddenly found herself facing a great black mass that 
 rose up into the starry night. It was the wall of 
 Zion, the huge rampart of masonry that lay between 
 the Romans and victory, that lay, alas ! betwixt herself 
 
The Dying City 281 
 
 and Crlspus. She was near the Valley Gate, whose ap- 
 proaches as she saw were guarded by a small party 
 of Zealots, while on the battlements above them slow- 
 pacing sentinels kept their watch. Hastily Vashti re- 
 treated within the shadows ere she should be seen. 
 
 By the gate stood Simon the Black. An unpleasant 
 odor, so palpable that one could almost taste it, hung 
 in the air ; and this was doubtless his reason for holding 
 in his hand a perfume box whose fragrance he inhaled 
 from time to time. 
 
 At intervals there came from beyond the city walls 
 weird, plaintive cries, mysterious voices as of human 
 creatures in pain ; the sounds, borne on the wings of 
 the night, seemed to come like arrows to the heart 
 of Vashti, thrilling her with an unknown fear. The 
 strange odor and the eerie sounds — what did they 
 mean? The apparent unconcern of the men about the 
 gate showed that to them at least these were familiar 
 things. 
 
 Conversing apart with Simon was a somewhat sad- 
 eyed man, by name Manneus, the scribe appointed to 
 take note of all the dead carried forth through the 
 Valley Gate ; for be it known that the bodies of the 
 dead as being like to create a plague if allowed to 
 remain in the city were collected at night by paid agents 
 of the Sanhedrim, thrown upon carts, and carried out 
 to be promiscuously flung, without funeral rites and 
 without burial, into the ravines that surrounded Jeru- 
 salem ; all which matters were as yet unknown to Vashti. 
 
 " How many, think you, up to yester even have been 
 borne forth from this gate? " asked Manneus of Simon. 
 
 " Twenty thousand, perhaps," replied the Zealot, 
 hazarding a guess. 
 
 " One hundred and fifteen thousand, eight hundred 
 and eighty," '" returned Manneus, consulting his tab- 
 lets. 
 
 Even Simon, little prone to emotion, was staggered 
 by these figures. 
 
282 The Boomed Ciiy 
 
 " Fire of Gehenna ! " he muttered. " And this is 
 but one gate ! How many from each of the other 
 gates? Our Jewish brethren from foreign lands whose 
 wish it is to be buried at Jerusalem seem to be having 
 their wish," he added grimly. " But, ah ! whom have 
 we here ? " 
 
 This last question was caused by the action of 
 Vashti, who, moved by some uncontrollable impulse, 
 came tremblingly forward, and addressed to him a piti- 
 ful plaint for bread. 
 
 " Bread.'' " repeated the Zealot. " Why comest thou 
 to me?" 
 
 " Because you are as a king in this city." 
 
 " Captain," said one of the Zealots, recognizing 
 Vashti, " this damsel is of the Nazarenes, who were 
 forever preaching the doom of the city. She is, more- 
 over, the ward of Josephus, that traitor, who is high 
 in the councils of the enemy." 
 
 " A Nazarene, true. Yet," answered Vashti, eager 
 to seize upon any argument that might influence the 
 Zealot chief in her favor, " yet did I not quit the city, 
 when the Nazarenes left it, but have remained behind 
 to share the fate of my fellow-citizens. In the name 
 of God," she continued, addressing Simon, " give me 
 bread. I ask not for myself, but for a dying child. 
 Give me but one loaf, and on the resurrection morning, 
 when all deeds will be brought to light, this shall be 
 counted to you for righteousness." 
 
 " You shall have a loaf," said Simon, moved strangely 
 by her words, " you shall have a basket ... a basket 
 filled with bread." The bewildered Vashti could 
 scarcely trust her hearing. " But ere you return home 
 you must eat a morsel yourself, or you will faint by 
 the way. Come with me." 
 
 Vashti, loth to go with him, yet not daring to re- 
 fuse, accompanied Simon to the tower adjacent to the 
 Valley Gate. Entering the first room that he came to, 
 the Zealot chief peremptorily ordered out of it three 
 
The Dying City 283 
 
 or four of his followers who were sitting there occu- 
 pied with dice and wine. 
 
 " Here," said he, addressing Vashti, when the men 
 had withdrawn, " here are six dried grapes, a fig, and 
 a morsel of bread. No more at present. Put a curb 
 upon your appetite, if you would live." 
 
 To Vashti's mind there was something selfish in eat- 
 ing while thousands of her fellow-citizens were dying 
 of want — doubly selfish, when she reflected that this 
 food had perhaps been wrung by violence from the 
 famishing people. Natural appetite, however, prevailed 
 over sentiment ; and with a strange feeling towards 
 Simon, a feeling compounded of gratitude and repul- 
 sion, Vashti began the slow eating of what was to her 
 a repast more delicious than that in the banquet-hall 
 of Florus, though her enjoyment was somewhat marred 
 by the unpleasant odor that seemed to cling around 
 everything in this vicinity. That she did not know its 
 cause seemed to surprise Simon. Perceiving that her 
 ignorance was real and not feigned, he rose, and said, 
 " Come with me, if you would learn." 
 
 Vashti began to regret her curiosity, being all- 
 anxious now to return home with the promised loaves. 
 Not wishing, however, to offend the Zealot she followed 
 him up a stone staircase, and through a doorway that 
 opened upon the ramparts. 
 
 Simon, first handing her his perfume box, bade her 
 look down over the battlements. 
 
 And Vashti looked. 
 
 It was a moonless night, but the sky was jeweled 
 with stars whose faint light was just sufficient to give 
 her a glimmering of Avhat lay below. It was the 
 light required for such a scene : the full blaze of the 
 noonday sun would have made it a horror too great to 
 be endured by human nerves. 
 
 " They shall look upon the carcasses of the m^n 
 that have transgressed against me! " 
 
 Vashti, peering down, could dimly see that the deep 
 
284 The Doomed City 
 
 and shadowy ravine of Hinnom — that ravine already 
 regarded In Hebrew theology as the type of hell — 
 was filled with the remains of the dead, who were to 
 be counted not by hundreds, but by tens of thousands. 
 The bodies lay, piled promiscuously, some clothed, 
 some naked, In every possible stage of decay, from that 
 of the newly dead to that of the whitened skeleton glim- 
 mering ghastly through the gloom. 
 
 The air that hung above and around the ravine was 
 tainted with an effluvium so gross as to be all but 
 palpable to the touch, and so loathsome that but for 
 the perfume box Vashtl would have sunk to the ground 
 overpowered. 
 
 More dreadful still, from every part of the gloom 
 came significant and horrid rustlings, intermingled with 
 sounds like to the tearing of flesh by some sharp Instru- 
 ment. 
 
 "Mark!" said Simon. 
 
 He flung over a stone; at Its sudden and startling 
 descent a black cloud of ravens and vultures, gorged 
 with human flesh, rose on the wing, high above the 
 battlements, their slow-sailing shadows darkening the 
 face of the sky. 
 
 Vashtl, as they passed, drew back with a shudder, 
 and as she did so, her eyes fell upon a sight still more 
 startling and awful. Now she knew the origin of the 
 weird and midnight cries ! 
 
 There, beyond the ravine, under the cold light of the 
 pitiless stars, were rows upon rows of crosses ; and to 
 every cross was nailed a naked human form ! 
 
 The number of these crosses was past all counting; 
 they circled the whole city, extending as far back as 
 the Roman wall, whose castellated outline was dimly 
 visible from the battlements. How many of the cruci- 
 fied victims were dead ; how many were bearing their 
 sufferings In heroic silence ; how many had reached the 
 sullen stupor that Is the Immediate precursor of death, 
 it was Impossible to tell. Vashtl might have thought 
 
The Dying City 285 
 
 all dead, but that every now and then sonic poor wretch, 
 now in this quarter and now in that, lifting his hitherto 
 bowed head would shiver convulsively, and would break 
 the stillness of the night by a long-drawn mournful 
 cry of pain, a cry that might have caused the coldest, 
 sternest nature to weep, but seemed to have no effect 
 upon Simon. 
 
 " In God's name, who are these? " gasped Vashti. 
 
 " Jewish deserters. It is thus that Titus receives 
 those that come to him from the city, nor do I pity 
 them. Let them die ; they deserve their doom. Mark," 
 he continued, " mark the ill-fortune that has attended 
 all who have deserted the holy cause ! In the early 
 days of the siege Titus was wont to receive such rene- 
 gades with favor, a favor, however, that proved the 
 doom of many, who, eating too freely of the food given 
 to them, burst, and so died." He paused, with a vin- 
 dictive smile, and then resumed. " They were succeeded 
 by other deserters, who, ere leaving the city, swallowed 
 gold pieces and precious stones, thinking to recover 
 them after they had passed the Roman lines. Fatal 
 avarice ! The secret became known to the Syrian and 
 Arabian allies deputed to take charge of these desert- 
 ers ; they slew them and cut open their bodies to get 
 at the treasures. In this way were two thousand of 
 them killed in one night." Again he smiled vindictively. 
 " At last Titus, growing stern, as he saw the little 
 progress made by his arms, sent to our walls a herald 
 to proclaim that he would receive no more deserters ; 
 let the whole body of the people come forth, or none. 
 Regardless of this decree, fresh parties made their way 
 to the Roman camp, to be sent back to the city, a 
 shrieking train of victims, with their hands lopped off." 
 Again that vindictive smile. " And now," added Simon, 
 pointing to the ghastly scene before them, " now he 
 hath taken to this way of dealing with them. They 
 are crucified to the number of froe hundred a day! " 
 
 The vengeance of history! 
 
286 The Doomed City 
 
 These were the men, and the sons of the men, who 
 forty years earher had cried " Crucify Him ! crucify 
 Him ! " And now they themselves were ci*ucified — some 
 on the very site of Golgotha itself! — in such numbers 
 that, in the language of Josephus, " room was wanting 
 for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies." 
 And the victims, if they but chose to look, could see 
 overhead in the sky the red gleam of the heavenly 
 sword. Stay ! was it the figure of a sword, or was it 
 not rather the likeness of a cross, intended to remind 
 them of the greatest and most awful tragedy in the 
 world's history? 
 
 Vashti's head swam with horror ; a mist obscured her 
 vision ; air and landscape seemed slowly turning to one 
 universal blood-red hue. Her wild wail went forth upon 
 the night air: 
 
 " O God, have mercy upon this hapless city ! " 
 
 It was past the sixth hour of the night when Vashti, 
 with her basket of bread upon her arm, reached home. 
 
 Closing and barring the gate behind her, she went 
 along the short passage, and crossed the little court. 
 
 Entering a chamber upon the ground floor she 
 paused for a moment and stood in the attitude of 
 listening. She had so expected to hear Arad's plaintive 
 cry for food that it was almost a disappointment to 
 find the house as silent as the tomb. Evidently Arad 
 
 was sleeping, unless indeed ! Her heart almost 
 
 stood still at the dread thought that suddenly smote 
 her. But no ! she was alarming herself without cause. 
 A two days' fast, though it might very much weaken 
 a child, would not kill him. Arad must be sleeping. 
 
 She smiled lovingly as she pictured his delight when 
 he should awake and see what his sister had brought 
 him. 
 
 If mother and son were sleeping it could not be other- 
 wise that the house should be without sound ; yet in the 
 prevailing stillness that hung about the place like a 
 tangible veil there was something so strange and op- 
 
The Dying City 287 
 
 pressive as to fill Vashti with vague fears. Her tread 
 on entering had sounded so hollow that she had paused, 
 almost fearing to take a second step. For the first 
 time in her life she feared the darkness. 
 
 Plucking up her courage, she moved through the 
 gloom towards the stairway that stood in one corner 
 of the room. When she was half-way across the floor 
 her foot touched some object; moved by curiosity she 
 stooped, and picking the thing up found it to be — 
 a long knife! 
 
 Now when Vashti had last gone through this room 
 there was no knife lying upon the floor; her sandal 
 had become loose upon this very spot ; she had knelt 
 to tie the string, and the knife, had it been lying there 
 at that time, could scarcely have failed to come within 
 the ken of her vision. Evidently someone must have 
 entered this room during her absence ; doubtless Miriam. 
 
 There was nothing strange in the fact that her 
 mother, if so minded, should leave the upper story and 
 descend to the court, yet Vashti could not help won- 
 dering why Miriam should have removed the knife from 
 its customary place upon the shelf, since it was the 
 one used only in the culinary operations, this room 
 being the kitchen of the little household. But that 
 existing circumstances forbade the hypothesis, the knife 
 might have been taken as evidence almost of the prepa- 
 ration of a meal. 
 
 As if expecting the darkness to furnish some clew 
 Vashti looked vacantly around, and there upon the 
 floor distant but a few feet, and scintillating through 
 the gloom, was a something that had the semblance of 
 an eye, an eye intently watching all her movements. 
 
 It stared at her a while, blinked, glittered again, 
 then the eyelid seemed to close, and there was darkness 
 where the thing had been, 
 
 Vashti gave a little insane laugh of relief, perceiv- 
 ing that what had frightened her was no eye at all, 
 but a faint point of light upon the hearth, the last 
 
288 The Boomed City 
 
 spark of some dying embers. It was clear that during 
 her absence a fire had been Icindled in this room, and 
 by whom, if not by her mother? and this fact when 
 taken with the knife would seem to point to the prepara- 
 tion of food. If so, by what means had Miriam become 
 so fortunate.'' After what Vashti had seen that night 
 it was scarcely credible that. Zealots excepted, there 
 could be anyone in this famishing city so well pro- 
 vided as to be capable of giving relief to others. Such 
 being the case, then, what was the meaning to be put 
 upon the fire and the knife.'' 
 
 Instead of hastening at once to her mother's room 
 Vashti lingered in this chamber, impressed somehow by 
 the belief that here was to be found the key to the 
 mystery. Though entirely ignorant as to its nature, 
 she nevertheless felt certain that she was on the verge 
 of some startling discovery, and she trembled all over. 
 
 Slowly she drew near the hearth ; over it the air still 
 hung warm. Her feet pressed upon some light yielding 
 material like cloth. Cloth it was, a little woollen gar- 
 ment belonging to Arad ; nay more, certain fringes 
 upon it told her that it was the little caftan he had 
 been wearing when she last parted from him. What 
 strange whim had induced her mother to deprive the 
 child of his one and only garment.'' Had it been ex- 
 changed for another? If so, it was not easy to see 
 the reason, or why the old one should have been brought 
 down, and left lying by the hearth. 
 
 Wondering whether there were anything else here 
 belonging to Arad she put forth her hands, and grasped 
 a little girdle and two sandals. 
 
 A moment she stood in bewilderment: then, as the 
 ghastly truth came rushing upon her mind, there broke 
 from her a cry so awful as to seem scarcely human ; the 
 fear of the thing caused her hair to bristle, and the 
 cold drops to start from every pore. 
 
 All the appalling tragedies she had seen that night 
 — what were they compared with this? 
 
The Dying City 289 
 
 She turned and ran up the staircase, her frenzy 
 of grief giving her a strength so great that armed 
 men could scarcely have had the power to stay her. 
 
 With a quick tread she entered the upper chamber. 
 It was dark, yet not quite dark: the light of the stars 
 seen through the open lattice sufficed to make the nearer 
 objects faintly visible. Miriam lay in the middle of 
 the apartment asleep upon her pallet. It was not to 
 her that Vashti first turned. Though knowing well 
 that she would not find him there, she nevertheless ran 
 at once to Arad's pallet. 
 
 It was empty ! 
 
 She flew to her mother's side, knelt, and peered shud- 
 deringly into the somnolent face, a face that wore at 
 this moment the dull heavy air as of one whose animal 
 wants are satisfied. Her mother actually sleeping, as 
 if this were merely some ordinary night ! sleeping, after 
 such a deed as hers ! Sleeping — she who ought never to 
 sleep again ! 
 
 There was little of the daughter left in Vashti as 
 she fiercely shook the slumbering woman by the shoul- 
 der. 
 
 And the soul of the unhappy Miriam starting from 
 blissful dreams to the dread reality of earthly things 
 awoke to hear sounding through the gloom of night a 
 voice that, like the voice of the accusing archangel, 
 addressed her with the awful question: 
 
 " WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ARAD.? " 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE RESCUE OF VASHTI 
 
 Tiberius Alexander, the apostate Jew, and Crispus, 
 with four legionaries attending on them, stood at the 
 foot of the city wall at the point where masonry, car- 
 ried aloft to an amazing height, supported the Colon- 
 nade of Solomon. 
 
 The night, bright and starry in its earlier part, had 
 now become clouded and dark, an event that seemed to 
 give satisfaction to Alexander. 
 
 " The darker the night, the more likely am I to 
 discover something," he observed, from which remark 
 it was clear to Crispus that Alexander had some special 
 reason for bringing him to this spot, a spot that was 
 a sore trial to the olfactory sense, owing to the effluvium 
 arising from the dead bodies in the ravine of Cedron. 
 
 Into that ravine Alexander wa§ now gazing. He 
 could quote the Hebrew prophets on occasion ; usually, 
 however, to ridicule them. 
 
 " ' Son of man,' " said he mockingly to Crispus, 
 " ' can these dry bones live.'* ' " 
 
 " My answer is that of the scribes whose teaching 
 you have deserted," retorted Crispus. " That which 
 was not, came into being; how much more, then, that 
 which has been already ? " 
 
 Tiberius Alexander might perhaps have replied to 
 this celebrated, rabbinical argument but that his atten- 
 tion was attracted at that moment by the sudden ap- 
 pearance of a light at a window in one of the castella 
 or forts on the Roman line of contravallation. 
 
 Three times did the light flash, and then it vanished. 
 
 290 
 
The Rescue of Fashti 291 
 
 " You saw it ? " said he to Crispus. " So, too, have 
 I seen it, on other nights than this. There can be no 
 doubt that it is a signal to the Jews in the city. We 
 have a traitor in our camp. By remaining here Ave 
 shall, if I err not, discover who he is. Keep we in 
 the shadow of this crag." 
 
 " Is not yon castellum the one in which King 
 Agrippa is quartered.'' " whispered Crispus. 
 
 " Thou hast said," replied Alexander. 
 
 For a long time the little party remained silent and 
 expectant. At last a sound was heard above their heads 
 like the clanking of metal against masonry, and look- 
 ing up they saw coming down through the darkness 
 a very large basket of strong wicker-work attached to 
 the end of an iron chain. It touched the ground and 
 there remained. 
 
 " Empty," remarked Alexander, taking a peep into 
 it. " It is as I suspected. This is lowered by the priests 
 for the reception of something to be put into it by the 
 man who signaled with the light. And here comes the 
 traitor himself." 
 
 As he spoke there came stealing along at the foot 
 of the city wall a man whose garb showed him to be 
 a soldier belonging to King Agrippa's troops. He was 
 leading a file of lambs attached to one another by a 
 cord. Having arrived at his destination the man was 
 about to lift one of the animals into the basket when 
 he stopped short in guilty confusion upon seeing Alex- 
 ander, who chose that very moment for making his 
 presence known. 
 
 " Are you not Sadas, the f reedman of the Princess 
 Berenice.'' " 
 
 The soldier admitted that he was. Then did Crispus 
 recognize in him the man who had denounced Vashti 
 in the Royal S^magogue. 
 
 " Ah ! that puts a different complexion on this affair, 
 which is not so grave as I had thought it. These 
 lambs, presumably from Bethlehem, none others being 
 
292 The Boomed City 
 
 permissible on the temple-altar, are sent by the Princess 
 Berenice in order that the morning and the evening 
 sacrifices may not cease for want of victims. Is it not 
 so, my Sadas? The supply above is running short, I 
 ween. Now I have a great regard for the princess, 
 but it seems to me that the fair lady's zeal for her 
 religion borders closely upon treason to us Romans. 
 It were foolish of us to permit sacrifices to Jehovah 
 here, after Theomantes hath so kindly invited him to 
 take up his dwelling in the Capitol. Therefore, as my 
 men, not to speak of myself, are very fond of roast 
 lamb, do you, Quintus, lead these animals to my tent, 
 and place this fellow under ward. To-morrow we'll in- 
 quire further into the matter." 
 
 The soldiers proceeded to do as bidden. 
 
 *' I would we had a dozen swine to put into this 
 basket," continued Alexander, giving it a contemptuous 
 kick. 
 
 At that moment the priests on the cloister above ob- 
 serving that the lambs were being taken back to the 
 Roman camp by a party of soldiers, saw that the affair 
 had somehow miscarried and began to haul up the 
 basket again. 
 
 While Tiberius Alexander followed close upon the 
 heels of the soldiers, Crispus lingered in the vicinity 
 of the walls, his mind tortured almost to madness at 
 the thought of what might be happening to Vashti in 
 this long and cruel process of starving the obstinate 
 city into submission. For all he knew to the contrary, 
 she might be lying at that very moment among the 
 festering horrors of the glen of Cedron, her body torn 
 by the beak and claw of obscene birds of prey, to be 
 seen no more by him till the resurrection morning, when 
 these " dry bones " would live again, to shame the doc- 
 trine of the mocking Alexander. 
 
 The air grew darker, so dark that a circle of a few 
 yards only was the limit of Crispus' vision; all beyond 
 was blackness. 
 
The Rescue of VasUi 293 
 
 An ideal night for the enemy if they were minded to 
 attack the Roman entrenchments ! 
 
 Scarcely had this thought occurred to Crispus when 
 he heard, or fancied he heard, a sound proceeding from 
 a point not many yards distant. He listened intently. 
 Footsteps, not loud, but quiet footsteps ; not of one 
 man but, so it seemed to Crispus, of three or four men, 
 all walking in a stealthy sort of way, as if wishing to 
 keep their movements a secret. They were coming 
 slowly through the darkness right towards the place 
 where he stood. In another moment they would be upon 
 him. 
 
 Romans on some errand of espial? or a party of Jew- 
 ish deserters.'' 
 
 Bracing his buckler upon his arm and drawing his 
 sword Crispus awaited their approach. 
 
 As the men — they were three in number — came into 
 view he bade them halt, which thej' did with surprising 
 promptitude. Questioning on the part of Crispus 
 elicited the fact that they were Jews, passover pilgrims 
 from Asia, detained by the war: appointed to guard a 
 portion of the wall in Ophel they had, through despair 
 of the city's salvation, resolved to desert; and so, 
 tying a rope to a battlement, they had let themselves 
 down. 
 
 The madness of these men ! Though the crucifixions 
 of Jewish fugitives amounted to five hundred a day, 
 the stream of defection from the city never ceased, 
 the deserters hoping, in spite of failure on the part 
 of their predecessors, to steal secretly through the Ro- 
 man lines, or, if need be, force a way at the sword's 
 point. 
 
 " How long is it since ye fled? " 
 
 " Less than the fourth part of an hour," replied one 
 whose name was Asaph. 
 
 " Is the rope still hanging there? " 
 
 " Surely. How could we, when on the ground, de- 
 tach it from the battlement?" 
 
294 The Boomed City 
 
 " Think you that your flight is known? " 
 
 " We purposely waited till the night-watch had gone 
 by, and left the moment afterwards ; therefore our flight 
 will not be discovered for some time yet." 
 
 " Is it yours to watch the same part of the wall 
 every night? " 
 
 " Till the next Sabbath." 
 
 These questions of Crispus were inspired by a daring 
 idea that had suddenly darted into his mind. 
 
 A rope hanging from the city wall at a part deserted 
 by its watchers ! 
 
 Why should he not enter the city by the same means 
 as that by which these men had left it? His object 
 in this enterprise was to find Vashti, and having found 
 her to bring her out of this city of death, and to put 
 her into some safe place of concealment, thereby de- 
 feating the wicked scheme of Berenice. But his plan, 
 as he rapidly conceived it, required the co-operation 
 of these three Jews, and there lay the difficulty: they 
 might refuse to join him, or, deceiving him by a pre- 
 tended assent, turn traitors at the very moment of his 
 seeming success. Nevertheless, desperate as the plan 
 was, he determined to take the risks. 
 
 " Hearken unto me, Asaph, and ye two," said Cris- 
 pus, adopting a Hebrew phraseology, to make his ad- 
 dress the more impressive. " As the Lord liveth, before 
 whom I stand, if ye attempt to pass the Roman lines 
 without me ye are dead men. But fear not, I will go 
 with you and save you. Yet will I not go with you 
 to-night, but to-morrow night. Ye must return, and 
 resume your post upon the wall, I will go with you, 
 not to betray the city, but to seek therein a damsel, 
 whose life I would save. 'Tis an easy matter for me 
 to mount the wall by the rope ye have left, but how 
 am I to return, unless the wall be held by those friendly 
 to me? Therefore ye must delay your flight by twenty- 
 four hours. To-morrow night about this time when 
 ye are again playing the part of sentinels I will come 
 
The Rescue of Vashti 295 
 
 to you bringing the damsel, and that hour shall be 
 the hour of your departure. 
 
 " Know that I am Crispus the Tribune, high in the 
 favor of Titus, and therefore capable of fulfilling my 
 word. Now, if ye will aid me in this, my soul's desire, 
 I will conduct you to the Roman camp, and send you 
 away in safety ; but if ye will not do this thing, then 
 go on your way alone to meet whatever doom befall 
 you. Now, delay not your answer, for the success of 
 niy scheme depends upon your speedy return to the 
 city." 
 
 The three men whispered together. They were not 
 long in coming to a decision. 
 
 " Swear in the name of the Lord that you will save 
 our soul alive," said Asaph, " and we will aid thee in 
 this matter." 
 
 Under the black sky the strange compact was made, 
 the three men taking Crispus to be a Hebrew proselyte, 
 a belief in which he did not undeceive them. 
 
 " Let us return at once," said Asaph, " ere our flight 
 be discovered." 
 
 Accompanied by his new-sworn allies Crispus began 
 the steep ascent of Ophel, climbing with all silence and 
 caution, and grateful to the darkness that hid them 
 from the view of the sentinel Zealots above. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of the ramparts they crept 
 along, Asaph leading the way, till a point was reached 
 where the semicircular base of a huge projecting tower 
 made an angle with the wall. Within this angle, and 
 scarcely discernible in the dark, hung a rope attached 
 to a battlement above. 
 
 "A good sign, this," said Crispus in a whisper. 
 " Had these battlements been visited in your absence 
 this rope would surely have been detected and drawn 
 up." 
 
 Clambering up hand over hand the three Jews 
 ascended the rope, and disappearing over the battle- 
 ments proceeded to haul up their new ally. 
 
296 The Boomed City 
 
 The portion of wall allotted to their care proved to 
 be about twenty yards in length, terminated at each 
 end by two circular towers — the tower in Siloam, and 
 " the tower that lieth out " — which effectually screened 
 them from the observation of the sentinels disposed 
 along the rest of the wall. 
 
 " Can you not bring the damsel here within the hour, 
 and so make an end of the matter this night? " asked 
 Asaph anxiously. 
 
 " Right gladly would I do so, but that I fear the 
 finding of her will be a work of time, and within an 
 hour from now day will be dawning. Can you hide 
 this, my crested helmet, or 'twill betray me.? and if 
 you can find me a cloak " 
 
 Asaph entered one of the towers and returned with 
 a Jewish cap, and with a gabardine, beneath which 
 Crispus found effectual concealment for his military 
 garb. 
 
 " At what hour of the night do you begin your 
 vigil.?" 
 
 " Ours is the third watch and lasts from the sixth 
 hour till the ninth." 
 
 " Look for me a little after the sixth hour. As 
 a sign that all is well fix a spear erect upon the middle 
 of the rampart. Unless I see it standing out clear 
 against the sky I will not draw near. And now fare- 
 well for a time. Keep to your oath, and it shall go 
 well with you." 
 
 As Crispus descended the stone stairway that led 
 to the ground he congratulated himself upon the ease 
 with which he had contrived to enter the city. Would 
 he be able, however, to quit it with similar ease? That 
 depended chiefly upon the fidelity of his new associates, 
 and since they could hardly betray him without betray- 
 ing themselves he felt somewhat assured. Turning from 
 the wall of Ophel he set off for the street of Millo on 
 Mount Zion. 
 
 When lying convalescent upon the roof of Miriam's 
 
The Rescue of VasJiti 297 
 
 dwelling Crispus had had ample leisure to study the 
 topography both of Ophel and Zion; this knowledge 
 stood him now in good stead, and though, owing to the 
 darkness, he once or twice missed his way, he finally 
 found himself in the gray light of dawn before the gate 
 of the house he sought. 
 
 He was about to knock at the gate when it suddenly 
 opened, and there appeared in the entrance the figure 
 of a young woman terribly emaciated by famine. She 
 was habited as if for a journey. 
 
 "Is Vashti, daughter of Hyrcanus, within .''" asked 
 Crispus. 
 
 The figure gave a smile. Such a smile ! One more 
 fearful and weird he had never seen. 
 
 " Don't you know me, Crispus ? " 
 
 He started, looked at her again, and could scarcely 
 recognize her, so fearfully had she changed from the 
 beautiful maiden of other days, 
 
 " Vashti, my poor girl, can this be you? " 
 
 To see her looking thus caused the tears to come 
 welling to his eyes. His weeping caused her likewise 
 to weep. Then ever mindful of others, rather than of 
 herself, she suddenly said, amid her tears : 
 
 " Crispus, what do you here in this city of your 
 enemies.'' Oh, if you should be discovered!" 
 
 "What do I here?" he repeated. "This is the 
 answer to that question," he continued, tenderly lifting 
 her hand that she might see how thin it was. " You 
 are slowly dying of starvation, and yet you ask what 
 do I here. I have come to snatch you from death by 
 carrying you away to the Roman camp." 
 
 Vashti looked at him with a fearful joy in her eyes. 
 
 " Oh! if you could! if you could! I was just going 
 to Simon of Gerasa to implore him to let me leave the 
 city " 
 
 " You shall not ask Simon's leave. That I have 
 entered the city safely, you can see for yourself. By 
 what means I have entered by that same means shall 
 
298 The Doomed Citij 
 
 you leave." He smiled cheerfully as he closed and 
 bai'l'ed the gate. " To-morrow about this time," he 
 added, " you shall be feasting in the Roman camp, 
 you, and your mother, and little Arad." 
 
 But at the mention of this last name Vashti wept 
 like one heartbroken. 
 
 " Arad," she said, " Arad — is — is " 
 
 Crispus guessed the cause of her emotion. 
 
 "What! is the poor little fellow dead.''" 
 
 " If you had but come yesterday ! " she sobbed. 
 " Oh ! if you had but come yesterday, my brother might 
 be living." 
 
 Seeing that she had scarcely strength to stand, Cris- 
 pus lifted her in his arms, and carried her into the 
 court. 
 
 " No, not that side ! " said she, shivering, as he was 
 about to enter the house by way of the room where 
 her dreadful discovery had taken place. " Not that 
 side ! " 
 
 So Crispus carried her to a chamber that opened 
 from a different part of the court, and producing the 
 leathern wallet carried by every Roman soldier, he drew 
 from it figs and bread and made her eat before he would 
 let her say another word. 
 
 When she had finished the simple repast she told 
 him the terrible story of a child slain by a famishing 
 mother to satisfy her appetite ; and Crispus listened, 
 knowing from deserters' tales that deeds equally dark 
 had been perpetrated in other households besides this. 
 
 " And because I have reproached her — was I wrong 
 in so doing.'' — my mother has cursed me, and has bidden 
 me leave her and go to my friends, the Romans. I 
 call her mother," she added, " for I cannot easily rid 
 myself of the familiar word." 
 
 " Is she not really your mother, then.'' " asked Cris- 
 pus, receiving the news with the same satisfaction that 
 iVashti herself had felt at the discovery. 
 
 " She has told me — and there was in her manner 
 
The Rescue of Vasliti 299 
 
 something that convinces me she is speaking the truth 
 — that I am her daughter by adoption only." 
 
 " And I beh'eve it," said Crispus emphatically, " if 
 only for this reason, that you are so different from her 
 in every way ; and you have another proof of it in 
 this, that your name does not appear in the public 
 genealogical rolls as the daughter of Hyrcanus. What 
 were Miriam's words to you? " 
 
 " When I cried, for I could not help crying it, 
 * Would to God you were not my mother ! ' she laughed 
 and said, ' You have your wish ; I am not your mother. 
 You were brought to me when you were a babe of 
 about twelve months by my husband Hyrcanus, who 
 found you one winter's night crying among the crags 
 of Mount Hermon, where you had been purposely left 
 to perish, and where, but for him, you would have 
 perished. That is all I know of your origin, save this, 
 that since there hath never been aught of the Jewess 
 in you, I doubt not that you come of Greekish parents 
 — nay, it would not surprise me to learn that your 
 mother was a Samaritan, and hence your perverse 
 nature.' " 
 
 A few years earlier the doubt that she was not of 
 the chosen race would have troubled Vashti, but now 
 baptized into a faith in which there is neither Greek 
 nor Jew, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bond 
 nor free, she viewed the question of her nationality as 
 a matter of no moment. 
 
 The two for a while talked of Miriam's revelation ; 
 and then, quitting this theme, Crispus proceeded to tell 
 Vashti of an event that he knew would interest her, 
 an event the most momentous in his life — namely, how, 
 during the time of his proscription, the Christians of 
 Pella had given him harboring, and how he had be- 
 come a catechumen, receiving instruction in the faith 
 from the holy bishop Simeon, and from others who had 
 seen the Lord. 
 
 " And when," concluded Crispus, " I learned that it 
 
300 The Boomed City 
 
 was Simeon who had baptized you, I would not let any 
 other perform that rite for me." 
 
 Night and day for nearly four years had Vashti 
 prayed for the conversion of Crispus, and now came 
 the sweet realization of her prayer ! His words seemed 
 to lift her from earth to heaven — but for a moment 
 only; like a swift, painful dart came the memory of 
 little Arad, and she wept. How happy would she now 
 be but for that black deed ! 
 
 Knowing the cause of her sadness, Crispus tried to 
 divert the course of her thoughts by talking of the way 
 in which he hoped to remove her from the city ; he 
 made her eat again ; and then, learning from her that 
 she had been out all the previous night, he bade her 
 sleep. So Vashti, compliant with his will, lay down 
 upon a divan, and though sweet oblivion was a long 
 time in coming, it came at last. 
 
 Miriam remained invisible throughout the day, a fact 
 for which Crispus felt extremely grateful, since it was 
 not at all unlikely that, if he were seen by her, she 
 might, in her hatred of Romans, raise an alarm, and 
 bring the Zealots upon him. 
 
 It was much past noon when Vashti awoke. She 
 smiled on learning how long she had slept ; but it was 
 a wan, sad smile ; Arad's end was ever present to her 
 memory. 
 
 That day was the longest Vashti had ever known, 
 but it came to an end in due course, and shortly before 
 the sixth hour of the night she got ready for her de- 
 parture. With tears in her eyes she took a last, linger- 
 ing look at the silent starlit court of the dwelling that 
 had been her home since childhood, knowing that she 
 would see the place no more ; the flaming torch and 
 the iron crow of the Roman were destined ere many 
 weeks had passed to bring this and ten thousand other 
 houses crashing to the ground. 
 
 The two closed the gate behind them, and made their 
 way through the dark streets. 
 
The Rescue of Vashti 301 
 
 As Vashti drew nigh to the great black wall of 
 Ophel, she looked up and saw a sight that made her 
 shudder. 
 
 Was she never to get away from the sight of 
 death? 
 
 There upon the battlements and standing out in 
 ghastly relief against the dark blue sky of night was 
 a line of lofty posts, twenty-one in number, to each of 
 which was nailed a naked human body ! 
 
 Pacing to and fro upon the rampart was the Jewish 
 trio, Asaph and his two comrades. 
 
 Having caught sight of the pre-arranged sign, the 
 spear set erect, Crispus, exercising a spirit of caution, 
 bade Vashti remain where she was while he went for- 
 ward to reconnoiter. 
 
 Having found all satisfactory, Asaph and his com- 
 panions receiving him with unfeigned joy, he returned 
 and assisted Vashti to mount the stairway ascending 
 to the battlements, where he threw off his Jewish gabar- 
 dine, and resumed his crested helmet. 
 
 "Who are these?" asked Vashti, shrinking at the 
 sight of the dead bodies. 
 
 " Matthias, alas ! the one-time high priest, his three 
 sons, and others of the priesthood. Accused by Simon 
 of corresponding with the Romans they were slain to- 
 day by Ananus,^^ the most savage of Simon's fifty 
 captains, and their bodies hung here on high for Titus 
 to see." 
 
 Of all the events that had occurred since the begin- 
 ning of the siege, there was in Crispus' opinion scarcely 
 any more mournful or more significant than this, the 
 death of Matthias, the last of the high priests — 
 for the irregularly chosen Phannias must be excluded 
 from the catalogue — stabbed by the hand of a brutal 
 ruffian, his body denied sepulture, and exposed naked 
 upon the ramparts of the holy city to become the prey 
 of the fowls of the air. 
 
 " No7i hunc, sed Barabbam! " had been the cry of 
 
302 The Boomed City 
 
 the chief priests. And this was how Barabbas had re- 
 warded them! 
 
 While thinking thus, Crispus made a sudden dash 
 forward, and then stood disappointedly peering down 
 the flight of steps. 
 
 ** What is amiss ? " asked Asaph, seeing excitement 
 written on Crispus' face. 
 
 " I saw a black shape rise, and run down these stairs.'* 
 
 As Crispus spoke, the deep silence of the night was 
 suddenly broken by the startling scream of a trumpet 
 coming from beneath the very part of the wall on which 
 he stood. It was the Jewish call to arms. 
 
 There was an immediate murmur of voices, swelling 
 into a babel of excited cries, accompanied by a sudden 
 blazing up of torches in all directions. By the ruddy 
 light the little party on the ramparts could see hun- 
 dreds of dark figures racing towards the wall of Ophel, 
 all in a tempest of Eastern fury. 
 
 " We are lost ! " gasped Vashti, her skin, darkened 
 by famine, becoming white now. 
 
 " Have no fear," responded Crispus cheerily ; and, 
 addressing the three Jews, he said in a rapid, staccato 
 utterance, " Make for the rope — lower the damsel first 
 — descend yourselves — when the last man is down blow 
 your trumpet — away ! " 
 
 With this, Crispus drew his blade ; and, taking his 
 station at the head of the steps, glared down like an 
 eagle upon the coming foe. 
 
 In the full belief that Crispus' end was at hand 
 Vashti would fain have stayed to die with him, but, 
 heeding not her protests, the three Jews whirled her 
 off her feet and ran like madmen towards the suspended 
 rope, their sole means of escape. It was woe to them 
 if they were caught ! 
 
 The torch-carrying, saber-brandishing multitude 
 halted at the foot of the steps, surprised to see but a 
 single armed Roman, surprised still more that that 
 Roman should be preparing to offer resistance. 
 
The Rescue of Vasliti 303 
 
 The stair at the head of which Crispus stood formed 
 the sole access to the battlements ; of narrow width 
 it did not permit two men to stand abreast ; and, more- 
 over, neither on the one side nor on the other was it 
 provided with a hand-rail. Strong therefore in his 
 position, Crispus felt that he could hold the foe in 
 play for a space of time sufficiently long to enable his 
 confederates to descend the wall ; after which it would 
 be a race between himself and the enemy as to which 
 would first reach the rope-encircled battlement. 
 
 "A Roman! How came he there.'*" exclaimed one. 
 
 " Asaph is playing the traitor," cried a second. " He 
 is admitting the enemy into the city." 
 
 " Why, 'tis Crispus the Tribune," said a third. 
 
 Crispus! 
 
 At the sound of that name, a man — the foremost 
 of the crowd — who had just put his foot upon the low- 
 est step, immediately withdrew it in favor of anyone 
 else that chose to mount. 
 
 Crispus, during the siege, had added to his former 
 fame gained by his defense of the Pra?torium of Florus ; 
 so quick of limb and eye, so deadly dexterous in fence 
 was he known to be, that it was the confident belief 
 of almost every Zealot present that the first of their 
 number to reach the topmost stair would be a dead 
 man the moment afterwards. Their state of liesitancy 
 was highly favorable to the escaping fugitives. A 
 quick, backward glance on the part of Crispus showed 
 him that the three Jews, having lowered Vashti, were 
 themselves preparing to descend. 
 
 " Way there ! " cried a powerful voice from among 
 the crowd. The throng parted, and a tall, red-bearded 
 figure, armed with sword and shield, mounted the lowest 
 stair and began a wary ascent. His example inspired 
 others to follow. 
 
 Crispus looked calmly down upon the first of the 
 ascending file. 
 
 "Who art thou?" he asked. 
 
304 The Doomed City 
 
 " Ananus, Simon's chief captain," was the proud 
 answer. 
 
 " Ah ! And are all Simon's captains as ugly as 
 thou?" 
 
 With a snarl of rage — for he knew himself to be ill- 
 favored, and nothing touched his vanity more than to 
 be reminded of the fact — the slayer of the last high 
 priest leaped fiercely up the stairs towards Crispus, 
 who, at that moment, caught the welcome peal of 
 Asaph's trumpet. 
 
 Then, to the amazement of the gazing crowd, Cris- 
 pus, stepping backwards, actually sheathed his sword. 
 
 They saw the reason a moment afterwards. 
 
 At his feet lay a huge post, similar to those upon 
 which Simon's crucified victims hung. Crispus lifted 
 this long beam in his arms, carefully adjusting its 
 balance ; and, as soon as Ananus appeared at the top 
 of the stairs, he sent the head of this improvised batter- 
 ing-ram full tilt into the Zealot's stomach with so tre- 
 mendous an impact that not only did Ananus fly back- 
 wards, gasping and helpless, but in his fall he also 
 carried with him the rest of the file that were coming 
 up behind. The indignant howls of the bruised crew 
 were as music to the ears of Crispus. Dropping the 
 log, he instantly turned and fled, an act that naturally 
 made the crowd below dash at once up the stairway in 
 pursuit. 
 
 But never did Grecian runner skim over the Olympic 
 stadium more fleetly than did the Roman Crispus along 
 that wall of Ophel. Ere the foremost of the Zealots 
 had come tumbling over the top stair, he had reached 
 the place where the rope hung, and, pausing for a 
 moment to fling a gesture of defiance at his pursuers, 
 he swung himself over the battlement, and made a rapid 
 hand-over-hand descent to the foot of the ramparts, 
 where stood the three Jews and the trembling Vashti. 
 
 "Are you hurt.''" she asked. 
 
 " No, but I warrant Ananus is," laughed Crispus. 
 
The Rescue of Fashti 305 
 
 " For some days to come he'll have no stomach for 
 the fight. And now, away ! See, they are opening a 
 gate on our left." 
 
 Lifting Vashti — how thin and light she was ! — he 
 sped down the slope of Ophcl with her, and succeeded 
 in safely reaching the Roman lines. 
 
 Determined to forestall any attempt on the part of 
 Titus to detain her he dispatched Vashti that same hour 
 of the night, under the care of two Christian soldiers, 
 to the saints that dwelt at Pella. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 CLOSING IN 
 
 The long blockade had failed to bring about the 
 surrender of the city ; and Titus was beginning to 
 grow weary of the delay ; in fancy he could hear the 
 patricians of Rome laughing at the plebeian-born gen- 
 eral, and declaring that a city taken by famine was 
 not a very brilliant way of inaugurating the new 
 dynasty of Flavian emperors. 
 
 So it came to pass that on the day following Vashti's 
 departure for Pella, the mighty Roman host at a word 
 from Titus roused itself to toil again like a giant 
 refreshed by a long sleep. 
 
 As the fortress Antonia was the key to the temple, 
 Titus began by raising opposite this fortress four huge 
 aggeres. 
 
 The construction of the former banks had cleared 
 all the timber from the immediate vicinity of Jerusa- 
 lem, so that the Romans were compelled to go farther 
 afield, and at the end of twenty-one days — the time 
 taken in raising these new aggeres — there was not a 
 tree left within ten miles of the city ! 
 
 Meanwhile, long teams of oxen, bellowing under the 
 lash, were toiling up the rugged pass of Beth-horon, 
 drawing endless files of wagons roped to each other, 
 upon which were mounted the new military machines, 
 huge and terrible, constructed by the Greek engineers 
 of Ca^sarea. 
 
 On the twenty-second day, the artillery (this word 
 is long anterior to the use of firearms) was placed in 
 position, and the legions, massing all their strength, 
 
 306 
 
Closing In 307 
 
 directed a fierce attack upon the northeiii wall of An- 
 tonia, the stronghold of John of Giscala. 
 
 Now this wall happened to stand upon that part 
 which had been undermined by John at the time when 
 the Romans made their former attack; and the hollow 
 ground, weakened by the shaking caused by the batter- 
 ing-rams, gave way during the first night, hurling 
 down a portion of the wall with all the sentinels upon it. 
 
 The Romans, startled from their sleep by the ap- 
 paHing crash and by the thrilling shrieks of the doomed 
 victims, knew not at first what had happened, but when 
 the morning light revealed the nature of the disaster, 
 they grasped their weapons, clambered over the ruins, 
 and poured through the breach. 
 
 But Antonia was not yet taken. John, exercising a 
 military foresight that moved his enemies to surprise, 
 if not to admiration, had previously raised a second 
 wall within. 
 
 As it was impossible to advance the engines through 
 the breach, the Romans, in order to overcome this new 
 barrier, were compelled to resort to other means. 
 
 Having failed to surmount it by boldly climbing up 
 in the very face of the enemy, they lay down at last 
 at the foot of the wall, and, forming a testudo, or 
 roof of shields, the}'^ sought to loosen with iron crows 
 the lower courses of the masonry, a process attended 
 with little hurt to the wall, but with considerable loss 
 of life to the Romans. 
 
 Now Crispus, having taken due note that a certain 
 part of this wall declined backwards, and that the 
 stones at this said part projected in such a manner 
 as to afford some slight foothold, resolved to attempt 
 a nocturnal surprise on his own account. At the dead 
 of night he assembled fifteen of his bravest troops, 
 including a trumpeter and an eagle-bearer. 
 
 Creeping forward with soundless tread, the little 
 band, favored by the gloom, gained the foot of the 
 wall unseen by the Jewish sentinels above. Then Cris- 
 
308 The Boomed City 
 
 pus silently and cautiously began thfe ascent ; his men 
 followed like a file of grim specters. One javelin hurled 
 from above would have sufficed to send the whole party 
 thundering down. No such disaster occurred, however. 
 Whether the sentinels were sleeping, or whether they 
 were keeping careless watch, is a matter that will never 
 be known: certain it is that the heroic sixteen safely 
 gained the top of the walL 
 
 A whispered word from Crispus, and then on the 
 still night air the trumpet rang out the call to arms ; 
 long, shrill, and piercing, the summons startled the 
 Romans from sleep ; it startled still more the Jewish 
 sentinels close at hand. Even now it would have been 
 a comparatively easy matter to repel the attack ; but, 
 as Crispus and his party, their lifted blades glinting 
 through the gloom, dashed forward with a mighty 
 shout, the Zealot sentinels, without waiting to ascer- 
 tain the number of their assailants, turned tail and 
 fled, fully convinced that the whole of the Roman army 
 was pouring over the battlements. 
 
 Their shouts awoke their fellows. Roused thus in 
 the dead of night the entire garrison became the vic- 
 tims of one of those panics which have been known to 
 fall sometimes upon even the hardiest veterans. From 
 above, from below, from every hall and chamber, there 
 came running wild-eyed Zealots, whose only object was 
 to save their lives ; in mad confusion they made for 
 the south side of the fortress, where lay the only avail- 
 able exit — a narrow causeway over the deep ravine 
 that separated Antonia from the temple. 
 
 Meantime, Titus and the rest of the Romans in the 
 camp, guided by the continuous pealing of the trum- 
 pet, hurried forward, scaled the wall, and found to their 
 surprise and delight that the enemy had vacated the 
 fortress without striking a blow. 
 
 Now the surrender of Antonia had opened the way 
 to the temple, and Crispus, thinking in one night and 
 by the same stroke, to capture both places was pur- 
 
Closing In 309 
 
 suing the retreating Zealots across the connecting 
 causeway. 
 
 But now the Zealots, cursing themselves for their 
 cowardly folly, turned and made a stand upon this same 
 causeway. 
 
 Then began a battle, perhaps the fiercest and bloodi- 
 est in the whole course of the siege. Spears and jave- 
 lins being useless, both sides drew their swords and 
 fought it out hand to hand. In the gloom of night 
 the troops of both parties were so intermingled that 
 no man knew where he was ; more often than not Roman 
 slew Roman, and Jew slew Jew. Crispus, stunned by 
 a blow on the head, was dragged forth from the fray 
 by a faithful legionary. 
 
 With the dawn Simon came to the aid of his Zealot 
 rival; and then indeed the fighting, and the shouting, 
 and the clangor, grew fiercer and louder than ever. 
 On that narrow viaduct there was no room either to 
 advance or retreat ; scores of the combatants were 
 forced over the parapet, and shrieking, fell, to be 
 dashed to pieces in the rocky ravine below. The pas- 
 sage became so crowded with dead that the living to 
 get at each other were obliged to mount upon piles 
 of bodies and of armor. 
 
 At last, when it became clear that the Romans could 
 make no headway, Titus, after ten hours of this fight- 
 ing, gave the signal for recall. 
 
 Thanks to Crispus, however, the great fortress of 
 Antonia was now in Roman hands, and as Simon be- 
 held the standard inscribed S.P.Q.R. floating proudly 
 again from its lofty battlements, he wept tears of 
 grief and rage, and cursed John to his face saying — • 
 somewhat unjustly — that none but a fool or a coward 
 or a traitor could have lost such a stronghold. 
 
 Later that same day Rufus and Crispus stood on 
 the battlements of Antonia ; and of all the Romans, who 
 more pleased than Rufus at finding himself once more 
 in his old familiar fortress? 
 
310 The Doomed City 
 
 The two, looking down from their lofty position, 
 watched the preparations that were being made for 
 the defense of the temple. The marble courts and 
 gilded pinnacles were assuming the appearance of a 
 warlike citadel. Thousands of Zealots, under the di- 
 rection of Simon and John, were hauling their huge 
 military engines over the tesselated pavement, till the 
 northern porticoes facing Antonia fairly bristled with 
 ballstae and catapults. The clang of arms and the 
 creaking of the machines, the shouting of men and 
 the ceaseless hurrying hither and thither, made a scene 
 difficult to reconcile with the belief that the place was 
 the house of God. 
 
 "What is the day of the month.?" asked Rufus, 
 suddenly. 
 
 " The seventeenth of July," replied Crispus. 
 
 " I venture to prophesy that in the years to come 
 the Jews — if there be any of them left after this war 
 — will keep this day as a day of mourning." 
 
 "Why so.?" 
 
 " The answer Is to be found there! " remarked Rufus, 
 pointing to the court of the priests. " It is the hour 
 of the evening sacrifice," he continued, glancing at a 
 sun-dial near by, " but where is the smoke ascending 
 from the altar.? 'Twas absent, too, this morning, so 
 I am told. The daily sacrifice hath ceased for lack of 
 victims. If I rightly foresee the fate of the temple, 
 they made their last sacrifice yester even." 
 
 To the mind of the pagan Rufus the matter was one 
 of little moment, but to Crispus, with his Christian 
 way of thinking, this cessation of a sacrifice that had 
 taken place twice a day for a space of thirteen hundred 
 years was full of a profound significance; he knew 
 that to the pious Hebrew, If not to the fighting Zealot, 
 it must appear an event as grave almost as a stoppage 
 in the progress of the universe, for had not the scribes 
 said, " The world was made for the sake of the temple," 
 and what was the temple without its sacrifices? 
 
Closing In 311 
 
 Titus, made aware of the event, sought to conciliate 
 the religious sentiment of the foe by a very remarkable 
 offer. 
 
 Josephus, covered by the shield of a legionary, 
 walked along the causeway ; and, halting in the middle, 
 lifted up his voice, and addressed the Jewish people in 
 the Hebrew tongue. 
 
 " Simon Bar-gioras and John of Giscala, hear now 
 the words of Titus Caesar. He hath a reverence for 
 your temple, and would fain save it from the destruc- 
 tion which ye, by converting it into a citadel, are 
 bringing upon it. If ye will remove your men of war, 
 he will meet you in battle at Mount Zion or in what- 
 ever place you choose ; he, too, will withdraw his arms 
 from the temple, leaving it sacred and inviolate. And 
 as a token of his good will towards you, he offers you 
 this day a gift of threescore rams that ye may continue 
 the daily sacrifice as heretofore." 
 
 "Ha! mark you that.?" said Rufus to Crispus. 
 " There speaks not Titus but Berenice." 
 
 There were among the Jewish people thousands that 
 would gladly have seen the war removed from the temple 
 and its precincts, but they were overawed by the Zeal- 
 ots, who, by the mouth of Simon, thus made answer: 
 
 " Titus, knowing that he cannot take the temple by 
 force of arms, whereof the fight of this morning is a 
 witness, speaks thus, hoping to lure us from our strong- 
 hold, that he may the more easily enter it. But in 
 vain is the net spread in the sight of the bird. His 
 threescore rams we will not take, for never shall it 
 be said that the sacrifices to the Eternal One have 
 become dependent upon the polluted offerings of an 
 uncircumcized heathen. And to him and to the whole 
 Roman empire do we offer an everlasting defiance. 
 Now, renegade, carry back in thy detestable Greek or 
 Latin the answer of Simon Bar-gioras." 
 
 This haughty reply, and especially its boastful note 
 as to the fight on the causeway, so provoked Titus that 
 
312 The Boomed City 
 
 he determined to make a second attempt that very 
 night. As the whole army were unable to join in the 
 assault owing to the narrowness of the approach, there 
 were picked out from each century the thirty bravest 
 and strongest men ; tribunes were appointed over each 
 thousand, and one Cerealis, an officer of rare valor, was 
 chosen to command the whole. In the great hall of 
 Antonia the storming party consecrated themselves, as 
 it were, to the work by offering, under the presidency 
 of Theomantes, a solemn sacrifice to Mars. 
 
 An hour before dawn Cerealis at the head of his 
 men, advanced over the causeway with swift silent tread, 
 but failed to effect a surprise. Simon, if not John, 
 was on the alert. Then began a battle similar in all 
 respects to that of the preceding night. After eight 
 hours of desperate fighting the Romans had not gained 
 a foot of ground, and the battle ceased, as it were, by 
 mutual consent. 
 
 Now no more could the Romans boast that, man for 
 man, they were superior to the Jews, when the picked 
 soldiers of their army, the very flower of the legions, 
 had suffered repulse at the hands of the Zealots. 
 
 The iron warriors, who had carried their eagles tri- 
 umphantly over all nations from the Euphrates to the 
 Atlantic, leaned moodily upon their spears, and stared 
 up with dark and sullen faces at the laughing Zealots, 
 who, clustering upon the roof of the northern cloisters, 
 pointed with their swords at the causeway and mock- 
 ingly asked the foe why they did not come into the 
 temple. 
 
 " Give counsel what we shall do," said Titus to Ti- 
 berius Alexander. 
 
 " Raze Antonia to the ground, and with the ma- 
 terials fill up this intervening glen so as to make a 
 broad level way, over which we may haul our engines 
 to batter the northern cloisters." 
 
 Titus without delay adopted this suggestion. 
 
 The Roman soldiers, burning to retrieve their tar- 
 
Closing In 313 
 
 nished honor, had no sooner received the new command 
 than they flew with ardor to its execution. All along 
 the sky-line, on every tower, turret and battlement, 
 were seen groups of men furnished with lever and crow, 
 by whose means blocks of masonry were lifted up to 
 be sent whirling and crashing into the valley below ; 
 far into the night the soldiers toiled by the ruddy 
 glare of a thousand torches, and as the mighty fortress 
 sank lower and lower so did the debris accumulated 
 in the valley rise higher and higher. 
 
 The Zealots no longer mocked, but looked on in 
 silent wonder at this display of almost superhuman 
 energy. There was something sublime in this demoli- 
 tion of a magnificent citadel merely for the purpose 
 of filling up a trench. 
 
 At last a broad and level way was successfully car- 
 ried across the ravine right up to the very foot of the 
 northern cloisters. 
 
 On the evening of the day that saw its completion 
 Crispus, walking meditatively upon the crest of Olivet, 
 came suddenly upon a figure standing solitary, silent, 
 motionless. It was the woman who was steadfastly 
 refusing to acknowledge herself as his wife, the Princess 
 Berenice. Not far off, in the background, stood two 
 attendants with a chariot. Evidently she had come 
 to take a look, perhaps her last look, at her native 
 city. 
 
 Crispus had leisure to observe her, for she was so 
 wrapped in contemplation that she did not hear his 
 tread. 
 
 Her face was pale, and anguish looked from her 
 eyes as she surveyed the ruin wrought by man against 
 his fellow-man. 
 
 The country, swept of all its timber to supply ma- 
 terials for the Roman banks and for camp fires, had 
 lost all its sylvan charm and beauty. 
 
 To this denudation must be added the ravages of the 
 Arabian and Syrian allies, who, haters of the Jews, 
 
314 The Boomed City 
 
 had diffused their devastating frenzy so far around 
 that, from the summit of Olivet, neither village nor 
 house, neither tower nor wall, could be seen to break 
 the dreary monotony of the landscape. So mournful 
 a change had passed over the country that in the strik- 
 ing language of Josephus, " Anyone that had pre- 
 viously known the place, coming on a sudden to it 
 now, would have failed to recognize it! " 
 
 It was a scene of utter desolation, a howling wilder- 
 ness, made more awful by the light of the setting sun, 
 which, half sunk below the horizon, shot a sinister red 
 glare athwart the melancholy waste. 
 
 In all the wide extent of landscape there was no 
 vestige of life or movement, save at one spot only, 
 where the grim and ever-narrowing circle of fire and 
 steel was slowly extinguishing the life of a once great 
 nation. 
 
 Berenice set her eyes upon the city, or rather upon 
 what was left of it. Was this the place that the 
 Psalmist had called, " The joy of the whole earth ".?* 
 
 Gone was the suburb of Bezetha! Gone was the 
 suburb of Acra ! Gone was the citadel of Antonia ! 
 Zion and Ophel remained, but woefully wrecked and 
 dilapidated ; and the temple — shorn, alas ! of its divine 
 sacrifies — still rose as fair as ever, its marble porticoes 
 and golden pinnacles dyed in the blood-red hues of 
 sunset. But how long would it stand ? Ah ! there was 
 her fear, and she pressed her hand to her throbbing 
 heart. 
 
 Turning suddenly she caught sight of Crispus, and 
 started. There was a proud trembling of her lip as 
 if she were trying to subdue some emotion — anger prob- 
 ably — that was rising to the surface. 
 
 " So it was you,'''' said she, taking no notice of his 
 greeting, " who prevented my weekly gift of rams 
 from reaching the temple? " 
 
 " Nay, it was Tiberius Alexander, though I freely 
 admit that his deed has my approval," 
 
Closing In 315 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 " The Law, princess, was but a shadow of things 
 to come. There is now no need for typical sacrifices 
 when the True Sacrifice has been offered, once and for 
 all. And since the Jew refuses to acknowledge the 
 temporal character of the Law, there is but one way 
 of teaching him the lesson — a stern and terrible 
 way ! " 
 
 It is doubtful whether Berenice, not being versed in 
 Pauline theology, quite comprehended the import of 
 these words ; at any rate, she did not reply to them. 
 
 " They tell me you are great at slaughter," she said, 
 with a sort of sneer, " and that, as being the first to 
 mount the battlements of Antonia, you have gained a 
 Mural Crown. And now, grown more bold, you seek 
 to take God himself captive." 
 
 " Princess, you talk as do the heathen. The Most 
 High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." 
 
 " Yet your master Paul was wont to worship in yon 
 edifice." 
 
 " I doubt whether he would do so to-day, were he 
 living, seeing that there is now no holiness in yon 
 temple. The spirit of true religion has fled from the 
 place. The high priest Phannias is a village rustic, 
 unlawfully chosen by lot, so ignorant that he knows 
 not how to perform the duties of his office. The temple 
 has become a slaughter-house, reeking with innocent 
 blood shed by the wicked Zealots, who have held therein 
 mock trials of the rich, condemning them to death that 
 they may seize upon their wealth. The place is no 
 longer a temple but a citadel. The holy vessels have 
 been melted down to form instruments of war. Assas- 
 sins pile their arms around the altar, and revelers 
 make themselves drunk in the Sanctuary. It were a 
 shame to speak of the things that have been done there. 
 John's men, tricked out in feminine garb, have imitated 
 the infamies of the guilty Cities of the Plain. And 
 you would bid us deal tenderly with this place, forsooth ! 
 
316 The Boomed City 
 
 Nay, verily, its stones cry out for the avenging, puri- 
 fying fire of heaven." 
 
 " Or the flaming torch of Crispus," sneered Berenice. 
 " You think to see the temple destroyed, but it shall 
 not be so. Titus has pledged me his solemn word to 
 preserve it." 
 
 " Titus may promise what he will ; he cannot over- 
 turn the counsels of the Most High." 
 
 " Whose instrument you deem yourself to be," re- 
 turned Berenice, disdainfully. " I know the secret 
 thought of your heart. A vision sent, not as you vainly 
 think by God, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, 
 is luring you on to a wicked deed. You have desired 
 to take part in the siege for this end only, that when 
 the attack on the temple shall begin you may be able 
 in the confusion to apply an incendiary torch. Do 
 so, and the act shall bring death upon her whom you 
 hold most dear." 
 
 " And who is that ? " asked Crispus quickly. 
 
 " Vashti, who, instead of being safe at Pella, as 
 you intended her to be, is a captive at my mercy — 
 my slave to do with as I list. Your act in bringing 
 her forth from Jerusalem has had this result only — 
 to deliver her into my hands the sooner." 
 
 Though Crispus tried to receive this startling news 
 with outward calmness, something of the fear felt by 
 him looked from his eyes, and drew a triumphant smile 
 from Berenice. 
 
 Mistress of Vashti, she was mistress of his action, 
 so she thought, and his action must be the sparing of 
 the temple. 
 
 " It was by accident I discovered that your Vashti 
 was at Pella. Armed with the written authority 
 granted me by Titus I immediately arrested my slave, 
 
 and conveyed her to — to " — No! she would keep 
 
 the name of the place a secret — " to where you will 
 not find her. Now, mark my words, Crispus Cestius 
 Gallus. If by your hand yon temple burns, so too 
 
Closing In 317 
 
 shall Vashti burn ; she shall die, shrieking in a flaming 
 vesture of pitch, even as the Christians died in the 
 gardens of Nero." 
 
 " Princess, if yours be the heart of a woman, I am 
 glad to possess the heart of a man." 
 
 Berenice laughed, a cold, hard laugh. 
 
 " I care not how vile I be in your sight so long 
 as I can but save the temple. Retire this night from 
 the army — Titus will permit it — have no more to do 
 with the siege, and I will set Vashti at liberty. What 
 is your answer.'' " 
 
 " This. Your threat supplies an additional argu- 
 ment for the destruction of the temple, since it is clear 
 that its dead ritual and external formalities have no 
 power to purify the heart or quicken the conscience. 
 As to your menace against Vashti, forget not that it 
 is written, ' Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 
 his blood be shed.' " 
 
 Berenice laughed scornfully. 
 
 " Who will venture to punish a princess and the 
 friend of Titus merely for putting her own slave to 
 death.?" 
 
 "The Christians." 
 
 " The Christians ! " repeated Berenice, disdainfully. 
 
 " I have said it, princess. If Vashti dies, you die 
 also. Trust not to the power of Titus to save you. 
 There are in yon army Christians who, in the execution 
 of what they deem to be right, fear neither kings nor 
 Caesars. You shall be secretly seized and carried off 
 to a conclave of Christians there to be judged of the 
 deed by your own Law, which has said: 'Eye for eye, 
 tooth for tooth, burning for burning ' ; Berenice's death 
 for Vashti's death. If you are found guilty, be sure 
 of this, princess, theifll not lack an executioner! " 
 
 As Berenice beheld the set, stern look on his face, 
 she had no need to ask who that executioner would be. 
 
 Without another word he turned and left her. 
 
 She had sought to frighten him, but it was she who 
 
318 The Boomed City 
 
 was the frightened one. She stood in fear and tremb- 
 ling, knowing that her threat instead of acting as 
 a deterrent had but made him the more resolved to 
 carry out his purpose. 
 
 Next day the toiling legions pushing forward their 
 military engines directed a fierce attack along the line 
 of cloisters — more than a thousand feet in length 
 — that formed the northern side of the great temple- 
 platform. 
 
 Now that the battle had reached the very seat of 
 their religion the Jews fought with a fury they had 
 never before shown ; the priests themselves were under 
 arms, rivaling the Zealots in deeds of valor; Simon, 
 with bare arm and flashing scimitar, was seen at every 
 point along the line, urging on to fresh exertions men 
 who required but little urging. 
 
 Let Jewish valor do what it would, however, it could 
 not prevail ; each day marked an advance on the part 
 of the Romans, who at last became masters of the 
 whole northern gallery, which they proceeded at once 
 to destroy by fire, ax, and crow, in order to facilitate 
 the advance of the battering-train. 
 
 The victors had now gained the summit of the lofty 
 temple-platform, a vast square open to the sky save 
 at the sides which were adorned with cloisters. In the 
 midst of this square towered the Sanctuary or temple 
 proper, a structure 360 feet in length and 270 in 
 breadth. Its exterior wall, formed of gigantic blocks 
 of marble, and nearly 40 feet in height, was pierced 
 by nine gateways, there being three upon each side 
 save the western, that side being without gates. 
 
 It was within this fortress — for such it was — that 
 the defeated Jews had taken refuge, and here they pre- 
 pared to make their final, and, as they believed, trium- 
 phal stand. 
 
 Strange and incredible fact! 
 
 In spite of their numerous defeats, hope was stronger 
 than ever in the breast of the Jews, who still dreamed 
 
Closing In 319 
 
 of seeing the scepter of empire transferred from the 
 Capitol to Zion. They were fully convinced that the 
 temple which God Himself had ordered to be built 
 could never be trodden by the foot of pagan conqueror. 
 The deity would be certain to work a miracle in their 
 favor ; at the least, something would happen to astonish 
 and disperse the enemy. And they talked of Sen- 
 nacherib and the burning simoon, but forgot Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and the Chaldeans. 
 
 And now the sacred precincts of the temple echoed 
 with the clang of horse-hoofs. Roman cavalry clat- 
 tered on the marble pavement of the Court of the Gen- 
 tiles, and with leveled spears swept round and round 
 the Sanctuary, driving in every sortie made from the 
 gates, and acting as a cover to the Roman infantry, 
 who, with tremendous toil and difficulty, were hauling 
 along a train of battering-rams. 
 
 The Sanctuary was surrounded by a low balustrade, 
 bearing tablets — one has survived to the present time — 
 inscribed in Greek and Latin letters with notices pro- 
 hibiting the Gentiles on pain of death from entering the 
 edifice — notices that evoked the mocking laughter of 
 the Roman soldiery as they set their engines in array 
 against the building. 
 
 The " middle wall of partition," which the Law had 
 set up betwixt Jew and Gentile, was now breaking down 
 in no figurative sense ! 
 
 The temple-platform had a circuit so ample as to 
 contain within it a synagogue, and it was from the 
 roof of this structure, as from a throne, that Titus 
 directed the military operations against the Sanc- 
 tuary. 
 
 It was not without an expectant thrill that the Jews 
 awaited Titus' signal for the assault, there being a 
 half belief among them that fire from heaven would 
 descend upon the impious band that first ventured to 
 swing a beam against the sacred wall of God's house; 
 and therefore something like a sigh of disappointment 
 
320 The Doomed City 
 
 went up when nothing marvelous followed upon the first 
 stroke of the ram. 
 
 Relying upon the strength of the masonry the Jews 
 did little fighting, content to watch amid laughter and 
 gibes the futile labors of the enemy. 
 
 For six days the battering-rams swung, and thun- 
 dered, and pounded against the walls of the Sanctuary ; 
 yet not a stone was pushed from its place, so marvel- 
 ously compacted was the masonry. 
 
 " Bring scaling-ladders and storm the walls ! " cried 
 Titus on the seventh day. 
 
 The legionaries, relinquishing the battering-rams, 
 flew to execute this new order. 
 
 The Jews made no resistance to the Romans while 
 mounting, but as soon as each man had reached the 
 top, they either hurled him down headlong or slew 
 him before he had time to cover himself with his 
 shield. 
 
 Now here, and now there, a ladder crowded with 
 ascending legionaries, would be toppled backwards and 
 the men dashed to pieces upon the marble pave- 
 ment. 
 
 The fierce shouts of the active combatants inter- 
 mingled with the cries and groans of the wounded and 
 the dying. 
 
 After two hours of this deadly game there came a 
 lull. Despairing of taking the place by escalade the 
 Romans withdrew to a distance, and stared up in 
 moody silence at the Zealots, who, brandishing their 
 weapons, shouted, " Ye cannot take this place ; it is the 
 abode of God." 
 
 The superstitious legionaries were beginning to think 
 the same. They no longer laughed at the words, " Let 
 no Gentile enter here on pain of death." The dead 
 and dying strewn around on the pavement were a sig- 
 nificant commentary on that interdict. 
 
 Vainly did the trumpets peal out a call to renew 
 the charge. Not a man would move. 
 
Closing In 321 
 
 Titus sought to stimulate their courage bj a new 
 expedient. Pointing to that part of the wall where 
 stood the Zealot chief, he shouted: 
 
 " Ten thousand gold pieces to the man who brings 
 me Simon's head." 
 
 No one seemed willing to earn this rich reward. 
 
 Simon laughed. 
 
 " Titus knows my value. Now to him who brings 
 me the head of Titus I shall give ten shekels only, it 
 not being worth more." 
 
 Suddenly a standard-bearer, darting forward, 
 mounted a ladder, and when three-fourths of the way 
 up, he deliberately flung the eagle into the midst of 
 the foe, crying as he waved his sword, " Romans, will 
 you see your standard taken by the enemy.'' Follow 
 me." 
 
 Lose an eagle.'' Never! 
 
 Amid a wild, shrill clangor of trumpets, the legion- 
 aries, with the flame of battle in their blood, swept 
 forward, wave upon wave, determined this time to 
 carry the fortress. But, alas ! for them, this attack 
 fared no better than the others. The bold standard- 
 bearer was struck down ; those following him were either 
 slain or repulsed; and the eagle remained in the hands 
 of the foe. 
 
 Simon viewed the idolatrous image with loatliing. 
 
 " An abomination brought into the place where it 
 ought not to be," said he. " Bring ax and hammer." 
 
 And with his own strong arm he hewed the golden 
 eagle to pieces, and cast them down at the feet of 
 the Romans contemptuouslv, crying : " Behold your 
 god ! " 
 
 If a yell could have brought down the walls of the 
 Sanctuary they would most assuredly have fallen at 
 that moment before the terrific yell of concentrated 
 hatred and fury that burst from the Romans, when 
 they beheld the destruction of what was to them not 
 merely a patriotic emblem but a darling object of wor- 
 
322 The Boomed City 
 
 ship, a worship far more real and fervent than they ever 
 paid to Jove or Mars ! 
 
 Simon's studied affront goaded Titus to a course 
 from which he had hitherto refrained. 
 
 " Fire the gates! " he cried. 
 
 To this command the legionaries responded with a 
 huge roar of delight. Vast quantities of timber were 
 quickly brought and piled high against the metal-plated 
 doors of the nine gateways. 
 
 Of these, the most splendid was the one facing the 
 east, and known as the Corinthian Gate, for, whereas, 
 the other doors were crusted all over with gold and 
 silver, the eastern door was a marvel of richly chased 
 Corinthian bronze. 
 
 It was Alexander, the wealthy Alabarch of Alexan- 
 dria, who had adorned the gate in this fashion ; and, 
 by a singular turn of destiny, it was his apostate son 
 Tiberius who wrought its destruction — a deed surpris- 
 ing to the Romans themselves, who could not but re- 
 gard it as an act of filial impiety. With buckler held 
 over his head to protect himself from the arrows that 
 came whizzing obliquely from above, the ex-procurator 
 of Judasa ascended the stately flight of fifteen stairs, 
 and, with his own hand, applied a lighted torch to the 
 pile of timber. 
 
 Nine huge fires were now smoking, and crackling, and 
 flaming, and roaring, at the nine gates of the temple. 
 As the metallic platings became red-hot the fire, car- 
 ried to the woodwork behind, began to consume the 
 entire gate. 
 
 The sight produced a strange and stupefying effect 
 upon the Jews, who had never thought such an event 
 to be possible ; at one stroke their courage seemed to 
 vanish ; they made no attempt to quench the flames, 
 but stood mute spectators of the scene. 
 
 It was Titus himself, who, not wishing the conflagra- 
 tion to extend too far, gave orders to fling water upon 
 the burning gates ; and when this had been done, the 
 
Closing In 323 
 
 besieged realized that their defense was all but at an 
 end; the charred timber of the doors would yield at 
 the first stroke of the battcring-rani, and the enemy 
 would enter by nine difTercnt ways. 
 
 " The day is far spent and the soldiers are faint," 
 said Titus. " We will defer our final attack till the 
 morrow." 
 
 With a view of cutting off the retreat of Simon 
 and John, who might seek during the night to make 
 their escape to Mount Zion, Titus caused a great part 
 of his army to camp round about in the cloisters of the 
 Court of the Gentiles. 
 
 Leaving Crispus and Rufus in charge of these forces 
 Titus retired to Antonia, or rather to a corner of it 
 that had been spared in the general demolition in order 
 to furnish a lodging for himself and his chief officers. 
 
 And here, that same night, there sat that memorable 
 council, assembled to decide the great question (as if 
 it were in their power to decide!) whether the Jewish 
 temple should be preserved or destroyed. 
 
 Tiberius Alexander was the first to speak; more 
 pagan than the pagans themselves he brought forward 
 several reasons, all tending to show that the existence 
 of the temple was a menace to the safety of the empire. 
 He ended with a religious argument: 
 
 " If you spare this edifice, O Caesar, the Jews w'ill 
 boast that their God has put His fear in your heart 
 and that you dare not destroy it. They will see in 
 your leniency both a proof of the divine origin of 
 their temple and an augury of its eternal existence; 
 its preservation will more than ever convince them that 
 they are the favorites of heaven, and are therefore 
 under no obligation to obey an earthly power. 
 
 " It must be ours to show that Jupiter of the Capitol 
 is supreme over Jehovah of Jerusalem. 
 
 " Two superstitions, equally fatal to the empire, de- 
 pend for their existence upon yon temple, that of the 
 Jews and that of the Christians!'' These two super- 
 
324 The Boomed City 
 
 stitions, although contrary to each other, have the same 
 origin : the Christians come from the Jews ; destroy 
 the root, and the shoot will quickly perish. Where- 
 fore," concluded he, with reminiscences of the psalms, 
 " my counsel is, ' Down with it ; down with it, even to 
 the ground ! ' " 
 
 But Titus, secretly moved by his infatuation for 
 Berenice, was, of course, disposed to take a milder 
 view. 
 
 " We ought not," said he, " from hatred of our 
 enemies to take revenge upon inanimate things. To 
 burn so vast and splendid a fabric is to do hurt to 
 ourselves, seeing that it is an ornament to our em- 
 
 „ 33 
 
 pire. 
 
 And, perceiving on which side of the question the 
 mind of their general lay a certain minority, who had 
 been disposed to favor the views of Alexander, dropped 
 their opposition. 
 
 " This, then, is our decree," said Titus solemnly, 
 " and let the whole army know it — the temple shall be 
 preserved." 
 
 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord 
 shall have them in derision ! 
 
 For scarcely had Titus made an end of speaking 
 when from without there came a cry, distant and faint ; 
 it was repeated in a louder key ; caught up by a thou- 
 sand tongues, alike by the startled Romans in the camp 
 and by the terrified Jews in the city, the wild tidings 
 came rolling louder, and ever louder, upon the night 
 air, to the mockery and confusion of the military coun- 
 cil: 
 
 " THE TEMPLE IS ON FIRE ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 " WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? " 
 
 Night, still and beautiful, rested upon the temple- 
 courts ; in the immeasurable depths of a purple sky 
 the stars were burning with the brilliancy peculiar to 
 southern latitudes. 
 
 The battle-toil of the day had given place to a 
 strange quiet; both sides seemed bent on taking rest 
 as a preparation for the greater struggle of the mor- 
 row. 
 
 No sound came from the Sanctuary; its unseen sen- 
 tinels moved with silent tread. 
 
 Within the circumjacent cloisters, and hidden by the 
 shadows, lay the Roman troops, sleeping on their arms, 
 yet ready at the first blast of the tmmpet to spring 
 into life and action. 
 
 Crispus and Rufus paced softly to and fro over the 
 pavement of the Court of the Gentiles, seldom, if ever, 
 removing their eyes from the Sanctuary, lest a sudden 
 rush on the part of the enemy should take their troops 
 by surprise. 
 
 Crispus was thinking of the fate of the Roman Capi- 
 tol which, nine months previously, in the civil war be- 
 tween the Vespasians and the Vitellians, had been 
 destroyed by fire. 
 
 Now the Capitol was the temple of sovereign Jupi- 
 ter, and hence its fall had sent a profound sensation 
 through the pagan world. It would be a fact more 
 significant still, if, within the same year and by similar 
 means, the great Jewish temple should fall. To minds 
 intent on studying the signs of the times, the two events 
 
 335 
 
326 The Doomed City 
 
 would seem as If foreshadowing the doom of two re- 
 ligions, that of heathendom, and that of Jewi*y. 
 
 And doomed they were ! They had played their pre- 
 paratory part in the history of human progress, and 
 were now to give place to a loftier and more spiritual 
 faith. 
 
 " Titus holds high council to-night," remarked Ru- 
 fus, suddenly breaking in upon Crispus' thoughts. 
 " He is for preserving the temple. Every man knows 
 why. He is moved by love for the new Cleopatra. She 
 and her brother Agrippa visited his quarters yester- 
 day, and remained there for some time. We can guess 
 what their talk was about. Now if this temple be per- 
 mitted to stand, we shall continue to have the annual 
 gatherings of treasonable Jews breathing defiance to 
 Roman rule. The result will be another war, and we 
 shall have all our work over again. And what a work 
 it has been ! Was there ever in all history a siege like 
 this.?" 
 
 " And it is by no means over yet," commented Cris- 
 pus. " All our previous work will appear but as child's 
 play when we come to deal with the taking of Zion." 
 
 " My fear, too," responded Rufus moodily. " This 
 stubborn people, refusing to see that they are beaten, 
 will go on fighting to the end. But as to this temple, 
 my opinion is that since the Jews choose to turn it into 
 a fortress it should be treated as such, and razed to 
 the ground. If I were Titus," he added emphatically, 
 " I would destroy both city and temple, exclude all 
 Jews from Judaea, and colonize it with Romans. Thus 
 only shall we have peace." 
 
 Crispus fell into a reverie. 
 
 He had, when a pagan, seen reasons to wish the 
 temple at an end, and now, as a Christian, he could add 
 to his reasons. 
 
 It was thus that he argued within himself. 
 
 The existence of the temple was a perpetual affront 
 to the living Christ, since its daily sacrifices were a 
 
'' Watchman, What of the Night? " 327 
 
 tacit denial of the great fact that the True Sacrifice 
 had been offered once and for all. With the death of 
 Christ Judaism had come to an end, but what Jew 
 would ever believe this until he saw that the God who 
 had ordered the temple to be built now permitted it 
 to be destroyed? Add to this, that the sure word of 
 prophecy had said that the Messiah would come while 
 the Second Temple was standing; if this — the Second 
 Temple — should fall, it would be a proof to the Jewish 
 nation that the Messiah had come — and gone ! — and 
 that those were wrong who looked for Him in the 
 future. 
 
 Another point worth noting: so long as the temple 
 stood — that temple in which the apostles themselves 
 were wont to meet for worship — so long would there 
 be on the part of Christianity a temptation to revert 
 to the precepts and rites of the Law. As a matter 
 of fact, in spite of all the writings and labors of Saint 
 Paul to the contrary, a hybrid belief, a Christianized 
 form of Judaism, the heresy called at a later day 
 Ebionism, was already in existence, threatening the 
 purity of the Church's faith. The development of 
 Christianity required that it should be freed from the 
 bondage of the Law, and how could that freedom be 
 more effectively attained than by the fall of the edifice, 
 which was, as it were, the actual embodiment of that 
 Law ? 
 
 Moreover, had not the Saviour said that some of 
 His own generation should not taste of death till they 
 had seen the fall of the temple? Forty years had 
 now passed since that utterance. If its fall were de- 
 layed much longer, would not the Saviour appear as 
 a false prophet? But, unless a miracle were going 
 to happen, must not the destruction of the temple be 
 brought about by human instrumentality? Why not 
 by his own? Was it impious to imagine that he was 
 the agent foreordained to carry out the Divine pur- 
 pose ? 
 
328 The Boomed City 
 
 He thought of the vision of the flaming torch, and 
 of the Divine voice, crying, " Burn! " and he doubted 
 no longer. 
 
 Rufus put the finishing touch to his determination 
 by a significant remark. 
 
 " Now if Titus could be persuaded to destroy the 
 temple, to-day would be an appropriate date for 
 it." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " By the Jewish calendar to-day is the ninth of the 
 month Ab. On this very day exactly 658 years ago 
 the Chaldeans burnt the first temple." 
 
 The very date seemed to be inviting him to the deed! 
 
 Scarcely had this thought passed through his mind 
 when Rufus exclaimed: 
 
 " Ah ! what light is that .'' By the gods, a sortie ! " 
 
 His remark was caused by the sight of an immense 
 body of Jews, who, having opened one of the half- 
 burned gates, were issuing noiselessly forth. 
 
 They were seen, however, not only by Crispus and 
 Rufus, but by the vigilant Roman sentinels. Instantly, 
 the shrill trumpet blast rang out the call to arms, and 
 the legionaries, starting from sleep, grasped their 
 weapons and stood ready for the conflict. 
 
 Heedless of the fact that they were discovered the 
 Jews poured down the steps of the gateway and raced 
 across the court towards the wooden synagogue, from 
 whose roof Titus had directed his operations against 
 the Sanctuary. They ran amid a blaze of light cast 
 by torches, the object of the Jews being evidently to 
 fire the synagogue in the hope of burning such of the 
 enemy as lay sleeping within. 
 
 They failed in their purpose, however. Both from 
 the nearer synagogue itself and from the more distant 
 cloisters, the Romans poured forth with clanging buck- 
 ler and flashing broadsword ; a desperate hand-to-hand 
 combat took place, lasting for a brief space only, in- 
 asmuch as the Zealots, seeing the number of their foes 
 
Moved i)\ ;i Divine impulse 
 
 Pajrc iH) 
 
" Watchman, What of the Night? " 329 
 
 increasing moment by moment, turned tail and fled, 
 pursued by the shouting, triumphant legionaries. 
 
 Crispus and Rufus, who had taken an active part 
 in the fray, joined also in the pursuit. 
 
 Suddenly, while Rufus ran on, Crispus stopped, at- 
 tracted by the sight of a flaming torch dropped prob- 
 ably by a flying Zealot. Moved by some unaccountable 
 prompting he picked it up, and as he did so he caught 
 sight of something above that sent a strange thrill 
 through him ; all unconsciously he had checked his foot- 
 steps beneath the golden window of the room Gazith, 
 that judgment-hall in which the Saviour of the world 
 had received His sentence of condemnation at the mouth 
 of the Sanhedrim. 
 
 Something light and cool stirred the hair of Crispus ; 
 it was a faint wind coming from the north, the very 
 direction required to carry the flames throughout the 
 building ! 
 
 Let others regard these things as mere coincidences ; 
 to Crispus they were signs that the hour, long pre- 
 destined, had come. 
 
 " Marcus," said he, stopping one of his own soldiers 
 who was running past at that moment, " lift me up to 
 yon window." 
 
 Without a word the man clasping his tribune's ankles, 
 reared him aloft, and set his feet upon his own shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 For a moment Crispus hesitated ; then, as the his- 
 torian of the event testifies, " moved by a Divine im- 
 pulse," he thrust the flambeau through the golden 
 lattices, and, having eff*ectively kindled the woodwork 
 of the interior, sprang to the ground again. 
 
 So little time had he taken that it was doubtful 
 whether any other Roman besides Marcus had witnessed 
 his act ; certain it was that none of the Zealots sus- 
 pected that there was kindling a fire whose flames were 
 destined to sweep the temple from end to end. 
 
 Crispus glanced at the gate from which the Zealots 
 
330 The Doomed City 
 
 had issued but a few minutes previously ; having re- 
 treated to it they were now endeavoring with might 
 and main to stay the entering of the Romans. 
 
 He turned his eyes again to the golden window, and 
 laughed to see that the light within was increasing in 
 brightness ; the whole room must soon be in a blaze, 
 and the hall that had once reverberated with the un- 
 just cry, " He is guilty of death," would be the first 
 of the temple-chambers to perish. 
 
 As yet no one either within or without the building 
 seemed to be aware of what was going on ; so much 
 the better! the fire would gain such a hold that human 
 efforts must fail to extinguish it. 
 
 The room above the hall Gazith was now burning, 
 burning with a hidden glow. Then, all in a moment, 
 with a snap and a crackle, there leaped skywards a 
 dazzling sheet of flame accompanied by a wave of 
 black smoke and a fierce shower of red sparks that, 
 carried by the northern wind, swept southwards over 
 the Sanctuary. 
 
 That startling glare, lighting up the dusk of night 
 with the sudden brightness of noontide, caused the 
 fighting at the gate to cease for a moment ; Roman 
 and Zealot alike turned their eyes to ascertain the 
 cause. 
 
 A moment afterwards there ran through the length 
 and breadth of the Sanctuary one thrilling simul- 
 taneous shout : 
 
 " The temple is on fire! " 
 
 By this time the whole Roman force that had lain 
 within the cloisters had gathered round the Sanctuary. 
 Their feeling was one of dismay, for the fire was de- 
 stroying their hopes of plunder. Behind those walls 
 there lay stores of wealth greater far than were ever 
 contained in the palace of the Csesars ; the gold and 
 silver utensils used in the sacrifices ; the rich oflTerings 
 — accumulations of centuries — made by pious Jews 
 throughout the world; the jeweled vestments of the 
 
" Watcliman, What of the Night? " 331 
 
 priests ; the hoards of costly spices ; the countless shek- 
 els plundered from the citizens by the Zealots. 
 
 For several days previously the Roman soldiery had 
 talked of little else but the temple-treasures with which 
 they were hoping to enrich themselves as a recompense 
 after their many weeks of toil. 
 
 And now must they lose their reward? 
 
 If they should wait till the morning, the time fixed 
 by Titus for the final assault upon the Sanctuary, the 
 riches would be consumed. Why tarry .'' 
 
 A moment they stood, irresolute, murmuring; then, 
 with a simultaneous shout, " On to the gold of the 
 temple ! " each soldier firmly grasping blade and shield, 
 and disregarding the remonstrations of his officer, 
 inished forward to whichever gate of the nine happened 
 to be nearest. 
 
 The Zealots, massed in dense bodies at each entrance, 
 fought with fanatical fury, animated by no other desire 
 than that of revenging themselves upon their enemies 
 and of perishing amid the blazing ruins of the temple. 
 
 Those Romans who attacked the great Corinthian 
 Gate were the first to fight their way in. Headed by 
 Terentius Rufus, who, finding himself unable to check 
 his men, determined to lead them, they entered the 
 quadrangle known as the Court of the Women, so 
 called because thus far women might enter to worship, 
 but not farther. 
 
 This court contained, among other things, the twelve 
 chests with funnel-shaped openings into which pious 
 Jews were wont to drop their free-will offerings. 
 
 While some of the Romans were breaking open these 
 treasury boxes and others were dispersing into the 
 chambers around in search of plunder, a third and more 
 numerous party, led by Rufus, continued the fight, 
 driving the Zealots before them across the Court of 
 the Women, and up the semicircular ascent of twelve 
 stairs that fronted the great brazen gate of Nicanor, 
 which led to the inner court, or Court of Israel. Twin- 
 
332 The Boomed City 
 
 ing around the sides and aboA'e the entablature of this 
 entrance was an object attractive to the eyes of plun- 
 derers — the celebrated vine whose branches, leaves, and 
 grape-clusters were all of pure gold. 
 
 " Close the gate ! " shouted Simon. 
 
 Vain the command! 
 
 Like some moving wall of bronze, buckler touching 
 buckler, the front rank of the legionaries pushed its 
 way forward inch by inch up the stairs and into the 
 interior court. 
 
 " Way there for Caesar ! " shouted Rufus as, stand- 
 ing on the topmost of the twelve stairs, he caught 
 sight of Titus, who, surrounded by his chief officers, 
 was seeking to clear a path through the throng of 
 surging, shouting Romans. 
 
 Consternation was written on the face of Titus. 
 Though not troubling to communicate the fact to his 
 council, he had pledged his word both to Berenice and 
 to Agrippa that the temple should be preserved ; and 
 now, to his confusion, there was fast spreading along 
 the northern cloister of the Sanctuary a fire that, un- 
 less immediately checked, would consume the whole 
 edifice. 
 
 Many of the soldiers, possessed by the frenzy for 
 destruction that is apt to come upon man at such wild 
 times, were helping to spread the conflagration by hurl- 
 ing lighted joists into the surrounding chambers and 
 cloisters. 
 
 Standing on the stairs of the Nicanor Gate so that 
 he might the more plainly be seen, Titus, shouting his 
 loudest and making signals with his hand, gave orders 
 to the soldiers to extinguish the fire. 
 
 But so great was the roaring of the flames and the 
 din of the combat that few could hear him, and those 
 that did affected not to understand, but went on with 
 the double work of carnage and plunder. 
 
 " 'Tis useless to restrain them," said Tiberius Alex- 
 ander. " They are drunk with delight at having come 
 
'' Watchman, What of the Night? " 333 
 
 as they think to the end of their labors. Discipline 
 is at an end for this night at least. The soldier will 
 acknowledge no master but his own will." 
 
 " Must we let the temple burn to the ground? " 
 asked Titus in despair. 
 
 Alexander shrugged his shoulders. Secretly he 
 was not at all displeased by the turn events were 
 taking. 
 
 " Let us try at least to save the Golden House," said 
 Titus, commanding his bodyguard to open a way for 
 him into the inner court. 
 
 The Sanctuary formed a series of terraces, and upon 
 the highest of all, within the Court of the Priests, stood 
 the world-famed Golden House — the shrine containing 
 the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies — now lovely in 
 the firelight and flashing with a splendor that dazzled 
 the eyes. 
 
 Driven from all other parts of the Sanctuary the 
 Zealots gathered about this golden shrine, determined 
 that it should not be profaned by the foot of the 
 heathen Gentile. 
 
 The triumphant Romans followed to the attack, and 
 a desperate fight ensued. 
 
 Sword in hand the furious Zealots fell by hundreds, 
 and at last Simon and John, seeing that all was lost, 
 massed the survivors at one point, and charging at 
 their head, succeeded in cutting their w^ay through the 
 Roman ranks out into the Court of the Gentiles, and 
 thence by the bridge that spanned the Tyropaeon they 
 made their way into the Upper City. 
 
 The flight of the Zealots was followed by a terrible 
 carnage around the great brazen altar of sacrifice, a 
 sort of truncated pyramid, forty-eight feet square at 
 the base, standing directly in front of the Golden 
 House. Hither, upon the first entering of the Romans, 
 had fled a helpless, trembling crowd of children, women, 
 and aged men, thinking that the sanctity of the spot 
 Fould stay the sword of the conqueror. 
 
334 The Doomed City 
 
 Vain hope ! 
 
 The foe, made cruel by the long duration of the 
 siege, stabbed and slew without distinction of age or 
 sex ; the bodies of the dead lay piled like hecatombs 
 upon the sacrificial altar ; upon the pavement around 
 the red blood spread in a quickly widening circle, till, 
 reaching the marble stairs, it rolled in sullen streams 
 into the courts below. 
 
 Though isolated groups of desperate Jews continued 
 here and there to fight Titus was now practically mas- 
 ter of the temple, but the victory gave him little pleas- 
 ure when he noticed the progress made by the fire, 
 which, fanned by the wind, had reached one end of the 
 northern cloister, and, having turned the angle, was 
 now fast advancing along the western cloister, and 
 would soon be on a line parallel with the western wall 
 of the Golden House ; true, a space separated the clois- 
 ter from the shrine, but the space was, perhaps, not too 
 wide for the flames to leap across ; already sparks and 
 fragments of fiery matter, floated by the wind, were 
 beginning to patter upon the fretted and pinnacled 
 roof. 
 
 Moved by Titus' look of despair, Alexander put forth 
 a suggestion. 
 
 " We can perhaps preserve it by drenching its roof 
 with water." 
 
 "But whence the water.'*" 
 
 " There is a draw-well on the southern side of the 
 Sanctuary." 
 
 Springing upon one of the many marble tables where 
 sacrificial victims were laid prior to their being offered 
 upon the brazen altar, Titus, trying to make his voice 
 heard above the noise of fire and vociferation, shouted 
 that the soldiers should bring water for the preserving 
 of the Golden House. 
 
 But none would put hand to the work, for the sides 
 and western end of this house were set about with 
 treasury vaults, and the fool who spent his time like 
 
" Watchman, What of the Night? " 335 
 
 a slave in fetching water would lose the chance of en- 
 riching himself. 
 
 " Urge them to the work, Liberalis ! " cried Titus, 
 addressing a centurion. " Threaten them ! Strike 
 them with your staff ! " 
 
 Liberalis did so, but all in vain ; respect for Caesar 
 gave way to the insatiable desire for plunder. 
 
 " Let us see the interior of the Golden House, ere 
 it perish forever," said Alexander. 
 
 Speaking thus, he led the way ; Titus and his staff 
 followed, walking ankle-deep in blood. 
 
 Entering the Propyleon, a magnificent porch with 
 wings on each hand extending far beyond the width 
 of the shrine, they stood before the great golden gate, 
 and found it barred from within. 
 
 " 'Twill require a battering-ram to force it," said 
 Titus, hesitating at such a measure. There came into 
 his mind tales told him by Berenice of Gentiles who 
 had fallen dead for profaning a place sacred to the 
 Jewish priesthood only. 
 
 " There is a little wicket at the side by which the 
 priest enters to unbar the door in the morning," said 
 Alexander. " The noble Agrippa will perhaps lead 
 the way.'' " he added, addressing that king, who stood 
 beside Titus. 
 
 But Agrippa declined the honor. 
 
 " Naj^, I'll give thee the precedency," he answered. 
 
 " Thy face is pale, Agrippa. Thou fearest," sneered 
 Alexander. 
 
 What no orthodox Jew durst do, and what even the 
 Roman hesitated at, was done by the apostate Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 Putting his shoulder to the little wicket he forced 
 it wide, passed boldly within, and, having first drawn 
 aside the Babylonian curtain, he unbarred the double 
 doors, and flung open the Holy Place to the profane 
 gaze of the Romans, who saw what they had never 
 before seen, what no man would ever see again. 
 
336 The Doomed City 
 
 A low murmur of admiration broke from Titus and 
 his staff at the beauty of the golden interior all radiant 
 in the wild light of the leaping flames. 
 
 On the right or north side was seen the golden table, 
 but without the twelve loaves of shewbread ; on the left 
 the seven-branched golden candlestick, unlighted; at 
 the far end rose the golden altar of incense, standing 
 in front of the solemn " veil," a curtain of linen finely 
 twined; in color an admirable mingling of blue, and 
 scarlet, and purple, and wrought in golden thread with 
 the figures of cherubim. 
 
 " Let these things be brought forth and kept against 
 the day of my triumph," said Titus. 
 
 Emboldened by the example of Alexander he passed 
 into the Holy Place and came to the veil that hung at 
 its far end. 
 
 This Alexander lifted, and Titus gazed with curious 
 eye upon the Holy of Holies, the place where the Shechi- 
 nah had once dwelt. But the Divine Presence had long 
 since departed ; the place was empty save for an oblong 
 stone upon which rested a golden ark with two golden 
 cherubim, one on each side, having their faces bent 
 downwards and their wings expanded. The stone itself 
 was not without interest, seeing that, in Hebrew 
 opinion, it marked the very center of the earth's sur- 
 face. 
 
 Directing that the ark and the cherubim, with the 
 other sacred furniture, should be carried to his own 
 quarters, Titus came forth again. 
 
 The imagination of Dante could scarcely conceive a 
 scene more wild and weird than that now taking 
 place. 
 
 A wind blowing from the north carried into the 
 temple-courts whirling clouds of smoke and intermittent 
 gusts of heat that came and went like the breath of a 
 fiery furnace. 
 
 Amid the roaring of the flames could be heard the 
 shrieks of victims cut off' from escape, intermingled 
 
''Watchman, What of the Night?'' 337 
 
 with the crackling of cedar roofs and the crash of fall- 
 ing masonry. 
 
 The shouting legionaries, fierce with the lust for 
 gold, were running hither and thither like madmen, 
 ransacking first this chamber and then that. Here and 
 there some priest, detected in hiding, would find him- 
 self surrounded by fierce-eyed soldiers, and with the 
 keen edge of a sword laid across his windpipe, he would 
 be addressed with the cry, " Show us gold, and you 
 shall live ! " And wild were scenes that occurred when 
 some new vault was discovered glittering with treasure, 
 the plunderers trampling each other down in their 
 eagerness to be first at the spoil. 
 
 On all sides were to be seen men carrying off vessels 
 of gold and silver, ingots of the same precious metals, 
 bags of shekels, jewel-hilted weapons, myrrhine vases, 
 caskets of ivory, ebony, and alabaster filled with spices, 
 ointments, and perfumes, costly vestments, and ten 
 thousand other objects of spoil. Never in all the world's 
 history did riches so vast fall to the lot of a conquer- 
 ing army as fell to those who plundered the temple — 
 riches that were destined within a week to send down 
 the price of gold in the markets of Syria to one-half 
 of its former value ! 
 
 The attention of Titus was attracted by two men 
 who were dragging along a heavy cedar chest which 
 they had just rescued from the flames; but on breaking 
 it open, they found within, not gold, as they had hoped, 
 but books merely — historic writings, temple records, 
 genealogical rolls, and the like. In their disappoint- 
 ment the two were about to set fire to the whole, but 
 were checked by Titus. 
 
 " Hold ! Let these be kept for Josephus. I doubt 
 not that he will esteem them more highly than gold. 
 Carry this chest to my tent." 
 
 But though Titus might save the sacred books of 
 the temple, the Golden House he could not save. 
 
 Unperceived by him a soldier, moved by a frenzy to 
 
338 The Boomed City 
 
 destroy, held a lighted torch between the hinges of the 
 golden door ; a flame sprang up which, from lack of 
 •water to quench it, spread rapidly over the whole, a 
 sight viewed with satisfaction by the soldiery. 
 
 " Where is now the God of the Jews ? " they cried. 
 
 Numerous figures, clad in priestly vestments, now 
 appeared upon the burning roof. 
 
 " Who are these? " asked Titus. 
 
 " Priests," replied Alexander, " forced by the heat 
 from the secret chambers, of which there are many 
 about the Golden House." 
 
 " Surrender, and your lives shall be spared," shouted 
 Titus. 
 
 But to this invitation the priests replied by a flood 
 of curses. Wrenching from the roof the gilded spikes, 
 with their leaden sockets, they hurled them as missiles 
 against the foe. 
 
 The eddying flames, the blinding smoke, the over- 
 powering heat, now forced Titus and every other Ro- 
 man, not only from the vicinity of the Golden House, 
 but from the Sanctuary itself; for the outer circle of 
 fire, having traversed both the western and eastern 
 cloisters, had now seized upon the southern side, threat- 
 ening to cut off the retreat of all who lingered within. 
 
 As there was still abundant pillage left, the soldiers 
 quitted the burning building with reluctance ; some 
 lingering too long were overtaken by the flames, and 
 did not quit it at all, while others by their scorched 
 clothing, singed eyebrows, and half-burnt beards 
 showed how narrowlj^ they had escaped death. 
 
 Withdrawing to a safe distance Titus and his staff 
 continued to watch the appalling spectacle, the like of 
 which they had not seen since the burning of Rome 
 by Nero. 
 
 " The whole summit of the hill blazed like a volcano. 
 One after another the buildings fell in with a tremen- 
 dous crash, and were swallowed up in the fiery abyss. 
 The roofs of cedar were like sheets of flame ; the gilded 
 
" Watchman, What of the Night? " 339 
 
 pinnacles shone like spikes of red light. The gate 
 towers sent up tall columns of flame and smoke." 
 
 But if it were an appalling spectacle to the Roman 
 what was it to the Jew? 
 
 All along the northern ramparts of Mount Zion was 
 gathered a vast multitude (for though myriads had 
 died of famine, there were still myriads left) — a count- 
 less host of gaunt, famishing specters, who looked fear- 
 fully into each other's eyes as if asking whether what 
 they saw could be real. 
 
 Miist they let go the great hope that had so long 
 sustained them.? During the space of four years, ever 
 since the outbreak of the war, they had lived in hope 
 of the immediate advent of the Messiah, who should 
 overturn the empire of the wicked Romans and estab- 
 lish a glorious kingdom for Israel. 
 
 And this was the end of it all — to know that the 
 fiery star in the sky had been but mocking them all 
 this time; to learn that their own Jehovah had taken 
 the side of the heathen enemy ! to see the temple, which 
 they had supposed eternal, sinking in the flames ! to 
 be so near the realization of the grandest of visions, 
 and to be forced to renounce it when their tutelary 
 angel had already partially withdrawn the cloud! to be 
 compelled to accept the soul-shaking alternative that 
 either their holy scriptures had lied in stating that the 
 Messiah should come during the time of the Second 
 Temple, or that He must have already appeared, only 
 to be rejected by them! to see all their bright hopes 
 vanish into space ! Was ever nation so fearfully de- 
 ceived as this nation? 
 
 They gazed again and again in doubt and bewilder- 
 ment; and when, at last, they were forced to realize 
 that the temple was actually blazing, and that angelic 
 powers would not descend from the skies to help them, 
 there pealed forth into the infinity of night long shrieks, 
 terrible in their pathos and despair ; the shrieks of a 
 dying nation ; shrieks so piercingly loud that they were 
 
340 The Boomed City 
 
 echoed and re-echoed from all the hills that surrounded 
 the city. 
 
 Slowly the leaping flames sank and died out, to be 
 followed here and there by intermittent flashes and flick- 
 erings ; and then, at last, the darkness of night fell 
 over the smoking, smoldering, blackened ruins. 
 
 Three centuries later the heathen emperor Julian, 
 resolving to show that Christ was a false prophet, 
 called upon the Jews to rebuild their temple. 
 
 The supernatural circumstances attending the defeat 
 of this project on the part of him, whose last, dying 
 cry was, " Thou hast conquered, O Galilasan ! " are 
 attested alike by pagan and by Christian writer. The 
 lesson of history is clear: the abolition of the 
 
 TEMPLE WAS THE ACT OF GOD ! 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 " JUD^A CAPTA ! " 
 
 Thus was the temple burnt, and when Titus learned 
 — for the matter was secretly reported to him — whose 
 was the hand that had kindled the first flame, he swore 
 by all his gods that Crispus should suffer death ; and, 
 in so resolving, he tried to think that he was actuated 
 by a spirit of justice, and not by the wish of removing 
 one who was a hindrance to his union with Berenice. 
 That princess had often spoken of Crispus' purpose as 
 touching the temple, but at her fears Titus had 
 laughed, never thinking that Crispus would so far 
 transcend all rules of military discipline as to dare to 
 fire a magnificent edifice without due orders from his 
 commander-in-chief. But Crispus had dared so to act, 
 and fiercely did Titus express his wrath to those of his 
 officers with whom he breakfasted next morning. 
 
 Tiberius Alexander tried to placate his angry chief. 
 
 "What command did Crispus disobey.'' He fired the 
 building ere he learned of your decree." 
 
 " Is Crispus, forsooth, commander-in-chief.'* By 
 whose orders did he act ? " 
 
 " By those of the immortal gods, I verily believe," 
 replied Alexander. " Josephus, whom you regard so 
 highly, will tell you that it is the Divine will that the 
 temple should perish. Crispus could not resist his 
 destiny. It was fated that he should so act." 
 
 " Very like. And 'twas fated, too, that I should 
 behead him." 
 
 Alexander's face darkened. 
 
 " By so treating the bravest soldier in your army 
 you will incense the legions to the verge of mutiny." 
 
 341 
 
342 The Boomed City 
 
 " Be that as It may," retorted Titus, frowning, for 
 he well knew that there was truth in what the other 
 had said. 
 
 " And you will lose my services, for I shall immedi- 
 ately return to Alexandria." 
 
 " And I shall resign my tribuneship," said Rufus. 
 
 " And I ! " — " And I ! " came from many others. 
 
 As he beheld the stern faces of his staff Titus saw 
 the imperative necessity of revoking his too hasty judg- 
 ment upon Crispus. He could not afford to lose his 
 bravest officers with that terrible stronghold of Zion — • 
 the goal of all his labors — still untaken. Moreover, 
 there Avas Vespasian to think of ; he would not be pleased 
 at the execution of one for whom he had always enter- 
 tained a fatherly affection. 
 
 " Summon Crispus to our presence," said he moodily, 
 addressing a centurion. 
 
 The messenger departed, and presently returned with 
 a grave face. Crispus, it seemed, had been carried 
 forth from the previous night's battle so slashed with 
 wounds that his recovery was a matter of doubt. 
 
 " He was endeavoring," stated the centurion, " to 
 save from slaughter an aged widow, named Miriam, who 
 had taken refuge at the altar — an action on his parb 
 that so incensed some of those Syrian allies who, if 
 Caesar will pardon me for saying it, are the curse of 
 our army, that they dared. to turn their arms against 
 him — a Roman tribune ! " 
 
 " By Castor, if he can point them out, they shall be 
 crucified ! " exclaimed Titus. " Well, since he cannot 
 come to me, I must go to him. O, fear not, brave cap- 
 tains," he added, observing their dubious looks, " my 
 resentment is over. You have my word for it that 
 Crispus shall come to no hurt through me." 
 
 So saying, he followed the centurion, and came to the 
 castellum, or fort, where upon a pallet lay Crispus, 
 swathed in bandages, and looking more dead than 
 alive. 
 
'"Judcea Capta!'* 343 
 
 The sight of the pallid figure disarmed all Titus' 
 anger, and in sympathetic tones he expressed his sorrow 
 at seeing Crispus in such state. 
 
 " It is better thus," said Crispus, believing his end 
 to be at hand. " Berenice will be free." 
 
 " Now by the gods ! " exclaimed Titus, his better 
 nature flashing out, " a plague on these women who set 
 friend and friend at variance. If Berenice is to be won 
 only at the cost of your life, may she never be won, 
 say I. But as to this matter, do you know that Bere- 
 nice denies that she was the veiled lady of Beth- 
 tamar.'' " 
 
 " But you do not believe her? " 
 
 Titus' silence would seem to show that he was of the 
 same opinion as Crispus. 
 
 He spoke a few more cheering words, and then took 
 his departure. Making his way to the ruins of the 
 temple, he was hailed with loud cries of " Ave, Im- 
 perator! " by the soldiery, who, assembled before the 
 blackened eastern gate, were offering incense and pray- 
 ers to the eagles, the gods that, in their superstitious 
 fancy, had given them the victory. 
 
 '^ ' Imperator ! ' " said Titus scornfully, recalling 
 their disobedience of the previous night. " Very much 
 imperator, when ye let the temple burn contrary to mv 
 will." 
 
 It was customary among the Roman troops to honor 
 the victorious general with a new title drawn from the 
 name of the people subdued by him — Scipio Africanus 
 and Metellus Creticus are cases in point — but when 
 some of the soldiery proceeded further to salute Titus 
 with the epithet " Judaicus," he sternly forbade them 
 to use an appellation that he knew would be a perpetual 
 reminder to Berenice of the fall of her nation. 
 
 Though the ordinary soldier was left to cure his 
 wounds as best he might, with the aid of his sympa- 
 thizing comrades, Titus himself was attended in this 
 campaign by a Greek physician, whom he now sent to 
 
344. The Boomed City 
 
 watch over Crispus, and great was the satisfaction 
 throughout the camp when it became known that the 
 state of the patient was such as to afford good ground 
 for hope. 
 
 A week later Titus, when paying a second visit to 
 Crispus, dwelt again on the subject of Berenice. 
 
 " No man," said he, " would risk his life, as you did, 
 in rescuing a damsel from a beleaguered city — you see 
 I know the story — unless he were madly enamored of 
 her. Since your heart is set, not upon Berenice but 
 upon this Vashti, what is to prevent you from repudiat- 
 ing the one and taking the other.? " 
 
 " Firstly, I have not said that my heart is set upon 
 Vashti ; secondly, even if it were so, my Christian creed 
 forbids me acting in the way your prescribe. With 
 Christians marriage is a perpetual obligation." 
 
 " Crispus, don't deny it ; you love this Vashti, and 
 yet you are going to allow your foolish religion — for 
 such must I call it — to stand in the way of your de- 
 sires. But I doubt whether you fully understand your 
 own creed. I have been conversing with some of your 
 faith, for it appears that you are not the only Chris- 
 tian in our army, and their saying is that if a wife 
 takes a lover, her husband is justified in obtaining a 
 divorce. It is Berenice's intention," added Titus 
 significantly, " to supply you with the grounds for 
 one." 
 
 In his pagan days Crispus would have readily availed 
 himself of this way of escaping from a union that was 
 hateful to him, but being no longer a pagan, he would 
 not consent to Berenice's doing evil that thereby good 
 might come to him, 
 
 " Csesar," said he, " I will be no party to this scheme, 
 which I look upon as an infamous one. Nay, more; if 
 you so act, I will have justice upon you. Forget not 
 the oath of your sire, Vespasian, that he would hang 
 the man who takes my wife from me, though that man 
 were his own son. Do this thing, and I will accuse 
 
" Jud(Ba Capiat" 345 
 
 you at the foot of the imperial throne, and demand that 
 he keep his word." 
 
 Titus laughed pleasantly. 
 
 " I'll take the risk," said he. 
 
 And with that he withdrew, bent on fulfilling his 
 purpose, as Crispus was equally bent on fulfilling 
 his. 
 
 Among others that visited Crispus during his illness 
 was Josephus, who, as intending to write a history of 
 the war, was naturally desirous of obtaining all the 
 information he could respecting the burning of the 
 temple. 
 
 Crispus complied with this request, but as he had 
 no particular desire for worldly fame, he added: 
 
 " Keep my name out of the history." 
 
 " Is it possible," smiled Josephus, " in view of your 
 great deeds ? " 
 
 " Quite possible. You can allude to me as ' a certain 
 captain tribune,' or ' one of the soldiers.' " And then, 
 turning to a matter of far more interest to liim than 
 future fame, he said, " Do you know that your ward 
 Vashti is a slave in the household of the Princess Bere- 
 nice? " 
 
 " Yea, I know it," said Josephus with a queer smile, 
 the meaning of which was not at all apparent to Cris- 
 pus, " and I am this day setting off for C^esarea, carry- 
 ing to the princess a letter from Titus enjoining her to 
 deal tenderly with my ward." 
 
 " That is good, but it would be better were he send- 
 ing an order that she must be set at liberty. However, 
 that will perhaps come in time," he continued, resolving 
 to petition Vespasian on behalf of Vashti. " But let 
 me not delay you. Go, and heaven prosper your mis- 
 sion." 
 
 Crispus had ordered that his bed should be placed 
 by a window from which he could watch the preparations 
 that were being made to storm Mount Zion, where the 
 implacable Zealots were making their last stand. With 
 
346 The Doomed City 
 
 the capture of that stronghold, the long siege would 
 be brought to an end. 
 
 Titus had offered, by the mouth of Josephus, to spare 
 the lives of all the insurgents on the condition of in- 
 stant surrender. But Simon and John still talked big. 
 Thej demanded a free passage for themselves and their 
 followers, together with their wives and children, prom- 
 ising to depart to some far-off spot in the wilderness. 
 Titus rejected these terms, and in his anger vowed to 
 slay every man, woman, and child, and to level the city 
 to the ground. 
 
 Then did Crispus rejoice that Vashti was delivered 
 from the possibility of such doom. 
 
 The Roman banks were completed in eighteen days, 
 and on the nineteenth morning Titus began his attack 
 upon the northern wall of Zion. 
 
 Even now it was within the power of the Zealots to 
 prolong the siege for many weeks in virtue of their 
 almost impregnable position in those three magnificent 
 fortresses, Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne. But 
 the steady and triumphant progress of the Roman arms 
 through the suburb of Bezetha and the suburb of Acra, 
 over the ruins of Antonia and the ruins of the temple, 
 had put a secret fear into the heart of the Zealots, 
 so that as soon as they heard the terrible rams swing- 
 ing and pounding against the walls of Zion they quitted 
 their fortifications, and fled. Some sought the cata- 
 combs with which the sub-soil of Jerusalem is every- 
 where honeycombed ; others, opening the southern gates, 
 made a wild and futile attempt to force the Roman 
 line of circumvallation. 
 
 With a fierce shouting that seemed to shake the very 
 towers, the triumphant legionaries poured over the 
 walls, and proceeded to carry fire and sword through 
 the length and breadth of the city. Enraged 
 by the long opposition of the Zealots, the Romans 
 made no distinction between the innocent and the 
 guilty, but wreaked upon all alike, man, woman, and 
 
"Judcea Capta!'* 347 
 
 child, the accumulated vengeance of a long term of 
 weeks. 
 
 The flames of night lit up wild scenes of carnage, 
 lust, and rapine, scenes that have scarcely any parallel 
 in history. One significant fact attests the extent of 
 the slaughter — the fires on the lower parts of Zion were 
 extinguished by the rivers of blood that poured down 
 from the higher! 
 
 The Romans only ceased from slaying when their 
 arms had become weary of striking ; the surviving Jews 
 — still to be counted by myriads — were driven like sheep 
 across the Tyropaeon bridge to the ruined cloisters of 
 the temple, where they were put under guard. Scores 
 of them, sullen and defiant to the last, refused to taste 
 food prepared by Gentile hands, and so died. 
 
 When Titus entered the city and beheld the massy 
 towers which the Zealots had so cravenly relinquished, 
 he was filled with wonder. 
 
 " Truly," he murmured, " unless the gods had put 
 it into the hearts of these men to flee, we should never 
 by our own strength have taken these towers." 
 
 But however much Titus may have thought himself 
 indebted to Divine power, he showed little of the Divine 
 in his treatment of the captive multitude, who, if the 
 figures of Josephus are to be trusted, amounted to 
 ninety-seven thousand ! 
 
 For many days a sorting process went on in the 
 temple-courts. Those who were convicted of having 
 borne arms against the Romans were executed at once. 
 Seven hundred others, the tallest and most handsome, 
 were set aside to grace the triumph of Titus. Of the 
 rest, those under seventeen years of age were sold into 
 slavery; all who had passed that age were either sent 
 in fetters to Egypt, there to work in the mines, or 
 were distributed among the provinces, to die in the 
 amphitheater by the sword of the gladiator or by the 
 fangs of wild beasts. As for the aged and infirm, 
 these, as being useless and unsaleable, were simply put 
 
348 The Doomed City 
 
 to death in cold blood. Thus were weeping families 
 parted to meet no more on earth ; never were such heart- 
 rending scenes as those that took place in the temple- 
 courts upon the closing days of September in the year 
 A.D. 70, and all under the sanction of the Caesar who 
 was called by his sycophantic contemporaries, " Amor 
 et delicicB generis humani — the love and darling of man- 
 kind!" 
 
 As Crispus heard the nightly wailings of the captive 
 multitude he longed for the day when the progress of 
 Christianity should temper warfare with a spirit more 
 humane and merciful. 
 
 Josephus received the privilege of setting free from 
 among the prisoners all his former friends, of whom he 
 must have possessed a remarkable number, seeing that, 
 after setting aside his father and mother, he con- 
 trived to liberate nearly two hundred more of the 
 throng. 
 
 There were two faces, however, he looked for in vain. 
 
 " What hath become of Simeon ben Gamaliel ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Slain at the taking of Zion," was the reply. 
 
 "And Johanan ben Zacchai.? " 
 
 That rabbi, it appeared, was now at Jamnia in 
 southern Judaea, having escaped from the holy city in 
 a very singular manner.'' Feigning to be dead, he 
 was placed in a coffin, which the Zealot sentinels at 
 the gate permitted to be carried forth for burial within 
 his father's sepulcher in the glen of Cedron. When 
 once outside the city Johanan made his way to the 
 Roman lines ; and being permitted to pass by the good 
 will of Crispus before whom he happened to be brought, 
 he retired to Jamnia. And here, in subsequent years, 
 he established the celebrated rabbinical school whose 
 teaching was destined ultimately to develop into that 
 strange system of Jewish scholasticism known as the 
 Talmud. 
 
 Titus ordered the city to be razed to the ground 
 
" Judcea Capta!" 349 
 
 with the exception of the three great towers — Hippicus, 
 Phasaelus, and Mariamne, These were spared partly 
 for the accommodation of a garrison to be stationed 
 there with a view of preventing any attempt at rebuild- 
 ing by the Jews, but mainly to demonstrate to posterity 
 what kind of a city it was that Roman valor had sub- 
 dued. 
 
 Terentius Rufus was appointed to superintend this 
 work of demolition, and his first care was to remove 
 Crispus to the splendid apartments in the tower Hippi- 
 cus, as being more conducive to the patient's recovery 
 than the close and squalid quarters of the castellum, in 
 which he had hitherto lain. 
 
 It was a matter of vexation to Titus that Simon 
 the Black and John of Giscala were not to be found 
 among the captive multitude. It turned out that the 
 two Zealot chiefs had taken refuge in the catacombs 
 beneath the city, and though the dauntless Simon con- 
 trived for a while to elude pursuit, John, reduced by 
 stress of famine, came forth from his hiding place to 
 meet, by a singular leniency on the part of the con- 
 queror, with the sentence of perpetual imprisonment. 
 
 And now, the Roman troops, having done the work 
 they had set out to do, broke up their camp and com- 
 menced a slow and stately march to Caesarea-by-the- 
 sea, leading with them a long train of melancholy cap- 
 tives, the remnants of a once great nation, together with 
 the spoils of the temple. 
 
 Terentius Rufus was left behind with the Legio Fre- 
 tensis — bricks stamped with the name of this legion 
 are still found in the sub-soil of Zion — and he pro- 
 ceeded to execute the work of demolition with a thor- 
 oughness that has made his memory forever hated by 
 the Jews. The Talmud has no more fearful curses 
 than those laid upon the head of him whom, with the 
 Oriental peculiarity for disfiguring Western names, it 
 miscalls Turnus Rufus. 
 
 Over the site of what had once been a splendid and 
 
850 The Doomed City 
 
 populous city he drew a plow in accordance with the 
 oath which he had sworn to the Jews. 
 
 "Where is now their God? " he laughed, in scornful 
 ignorance that his own action was a striking confirma- 
 tion to the truth of the Hebrew religion, for had 
 not the prophet written, " Zion shall he plowed as a 
 field "? 
 
 For the accommodation of the garrison, however, a 
 few houses were left standing upon the western side 
 of the city, and among them the celebrated Ccenacu- 
 lum^ or House of the Last Supper, destined in the 
 age of Constantine to be transformed into a Christian 
 church. 
 
 For more than a month that fugitive of the cata- 
 combs, Simon, continued to evade arrest. Attended 
 by a small but faithful band of miners and hewers of 
 stone, well provided with cutting tools, he had been 
 essaying the gigantic feat of boring his way through 
 the solid rock to a point that should be beyond the 
 ken of the Roman garrison, but the difficulty of the 
 work and the failure of provisions compelled him to 
 relinquish the enterprise. 
 
 He then took a singular step. 
 
 Assuming a white robe and a mantle of purple he 
 emerged unexpectedly from the ground in the very 
 place where the temple had stood, thinking perhaps 
 by this act to impress the Romans with the belief that 
 he was a new Messiah resuscitated from the dead. As 
 a matter of fact, the soldiers in the vicinity were not 
 a little awe-struck at sight of this strange apparition 
 rising from the ground. Their first amazement over, 
 they drew near, formed a circle round him, and de- 
 manded who he was. 
 
 But Simon declared that his name was not for vulgar 
 ears. 
 
 " Call your commandant," said he with a mysterious 
 air. 
 
 But when that commandant proved to be one well 
 
'' Judcea Capta!" 351 
 
 acquainted with the features and figure of Simon, the 
 Zealot chief saw that deception was at an end. 
 
 Rufus received him with a pitying smile. 
 
 " Simon, if thou art attempting to imitate the God 
 of my friend Crispus, thou art playing the part to 
 no purpose. I know thee to be mortal man. Thou art 
 my prisoner. This is a sorry ending for thee. Why 
 didst not thou, Roman fashion, fall on thy blade, and 
 so round off thy wild life.? " 
 
 " 'Tis forbidden by our law to slay one's self," re- 
 turned Simon. " Now tell me what will be my doom? " 
 
 " Titus hath already decreed it. With a rope round 
 thy neck thou wilt march through Rome in Caesar's 
 great triumphal procession that all the citizens may 
 see what manner of man it was that kept their soldiers 
 at bay so long. As thou walkest, attendant lictors will 
 beat thee with rods, for such is the custom. If it will 
 give thee any pleasure thou wilt see borne aloft before 
 thee the holy vessels of thy temple. But while these 
 will be carried on to the journey's end to be laid up 
 in the temple of Peace, thou, at a certain point in the 
 procession, wilt be led aside to the Tarpeian Rock, pre- 
 cipitated therefrom and slain. And a mighty shout 
 of joy will go up from the multitude, for it is not till 
 thy death has been announced that the sacrifices and 
 the feasting will begin. Now, I might pity thee, but 
 that the memory of the massacred Roman garrisons 
 hardens my heart." 
 
 *' Better to fall with Israel than to triumph with 
 Rome," retorted the Zealot. 
 
 Rufus had no further parley with his prisoner, but 
 dispatched him at once to Titus, who was then at 
 Csesarea. What must have been the feelings of Simon, 
 when he found himself journeying along the same road 
 as that on which he had gained his memorable victory 
 over Cestius.'' Verily, the fortune of war had indeed 
 changed ! 
 
 It was not till three months after the burning of 
 
852 The Doomed City 
 
 the temple that Crispus was strong enough to leave 
 his chamber in Hippicus, and walk with halting step 
 among the shapeless heaps of stones which represented 
 all that was left of the once proud city. 
 
 Accompanied by Rufus he ascended the temple-hill. 
 Its columns and cloisters, chambers and courts, had 
 vanished, but the Legio Fretensis with all their toil 
 had been unable to pull apart the masonry of the vast 
 basement on which the temple structures had rested. 
 
 It remained, and remains to this day, a part of it 
 forming the celebrated " Wailing-place " of the Jews. 
 
 Now as Crispus and Rufus stood there, they were 
 surprised to see a band of men and women, quiet and 
 orderly, ascending Mount Moriah from the Vale of 
 Cedron. 
 
 As they drew near, Crispus recognized in them his 
 friends of Pella. There was the saintly bishop Simeon, 
 who had baptized both him and Vashti ; and there, too, 
 were the two youthful grandsons of the apostle Jude, 
 destined on account of their Davidic descent to be 
 haled one day before the jealous tyrant Domitian, and 
 by him to be dismissed again as innocent and foolish 
 visionaries. 
 
 " Now, who be ye ? " asked Rufus, casting a suspi- 
 cious glance at the throng. 
 
 " We are natives of Jerusalem, who, four years ago, 
 quitted the city, rather than take up arms against the 
 Romans." 
 
 " That's a point in your favor." 
 
 " These," explained Crispus, " are the Christians who 
 befriended me during the time of my proscription by 
 Nero." 
 
 " And what would ye here ? " asked Rufus, address- 
 ing them. 
 
 " We seek to inhabit this place again, and to carry 
 on our worship as heretofore." 
 
 ** What ! Think ye that Titus has destroyed this city 
 aatrcly to see it built again ? " 
 
"Judaea Capta!" 353 
 
 *' Titus destroyed the city as being a center of Jew- 
 ish sedition," remarked Crispus. " But these persons 
 repudiate the Jewish rehgion. They are Christians 
 with no wish for an independent kingdom. Acknowledg- 
 ing the authority of Rome, they will be a hindrance 
 to rebellion, and a source of strength to us." 
 
 " Humph ! I doubt whether Titus will agree to their 
 settling here." 
 
 " His cousin, Flavins Clemens, would. Thou knowest 
 that he is a Christian." 
 
 " Flavius Clemens is not Cagsar." 
 
 " But his two sons may become Csesars, seeing that 
 Vespasian has nominated them as his heirs next after 
 Titus and Domitian, who, as you know, are both child- 
 less. You and I may yet live, Rufus, to see a Christian 
 Caesar on the throne, and a Caesar who will know how 
 to reward any favor shown to this little community 
 here." " 
 
 There was something in this argument, and Rufus 
 thought he might as well have an eye to the future. 
 To him, personally, it was a matter of indifference 
 whether the Christians remained or withdrew ; his only 
 wish was not to be embroiled with Titus. 
 
 "■ Christians," said Rufus meditatively. " Humph ! 
 well," he added, turning to Crispus, " since you warrant 
 them to be orderly, and innocent of any innovation 
 against Rome, let them, if they will, remain and build. 
 Titus hath not actually said aught to the contrary." 
 
 Thus had the saints returning from Fella good cause 
 to bless the day when they received among them the 
 heathen and proscribed fugitive Crispus ; for, thanks 
 to his good offices, they were permitted to remain, and 
 by their daily worship in the Caenaculum to carry on 
 the historic continuity of the Church of Jerusalem. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 JUSTICE THE AVENGER 
 
 It was a lovely sunny morning in April as Crispus 
 and Rufus strolled along the sands in the vicinity of 
 Caesarea-by-the-sea. 
 
 " Have you seen the new coin struck by Titus to 
 commemorate his conquest?" asked Rufus; and, being 
 answered in the negative, he drew forth a sesterce, and 
 exhibited it to the gaze of Crispus. 
 
 The obverse of the coin bore the laureated head of 
 Titus ; the reverse, a graceful palm-tree, at the foot of 
 which sat the weeping figure of a woman, emblematic 
 of Judaea; behind the palm stood Titus in a military 
 uniform, with his foot on a helmet, holding in his right 
 hand a lance, and in his left a sword. The words 
 JuD^A Capta formed the legend. 
 
 " This weeping figure is obviously intended as a por- 
 trait of Berenice," remarked Crispus in some surprise. 
 
 " Just so. 'Tis said that Titus, happening to see 
 Berenice sitting beneath a palm weeping, or pretending 
 to weep, for her country, was so struck by the sight 
 that he ordered the Master of the Mint at Caesarea to 
 immortalize her figure and attitude in the issue of com- 
 memorative coins." 
 
 " Did Berenice have aught to say on the matter? " 
 
 " She was not averse to it." 
 
 No ; doubtless it suited her taste for emotional dis- 
 play to see herself set forth to the Roman world in 
 the character of a devout patriot weeping for the fall 
 of her country. The hollowness both of her grief and 
 of her religion, in fact her entire lack of womanly feel- 
 
 354 
 
Justice the Avenger 355 
 
 ing, was shown by her presence at the games held at 
 Caesarea Philippi in honor of Domitian's birthday, 
 when she could calmly sit in the amphitheater there 
 and see 2,500 hapless Jews slaughtered, either in com- 
 bats with wild beasts, or in fighting with each other as 
 gladiators ; for Titus, prevented from sailing to Rome 
 by reason of the advanced season at which the war 
 ended — navigation being usually suspended during the 
 winter months — had spent his time in giving a series of 
 fetes in various cities of the East, fetes that were 
 seldom celebrated without the butchery of Jews in the 
 arena. 
 
 " Berenice has been with Titus at all these festivi- 
 ties," remarked Rufus. " She has become his mistress, 
 as I thought she would. So amorous are they that they 
 all but fondle each other in public. It is Antony and 
 Cleopatra over again. Will he marry her, I wonder? " 
 
 " Not till I have divorced her," responded Crispus, 
 quietly. 
 
 Rufus stared in amazement at this intimation of a 
 secret hitherto kept from him. Crispus proceeded to 
 tell the story of the wedding at Beth-tamar, giving 
 his reasons for supposing Berenice to be the veiled lady. 
 
 " The Princess Berenice your wife? " murmured Ru- 
 fus, scarcely able to credit the statement. " Humph ! 
 and when Caesar takes a man's wife, where shall the 
 man look for redress ? " 
 
 " He's welcome to her. She is my wife no longer. 
 I shall repudiate her." 
 
 " No, not yet," exclaimed Rufus, his face suddenly 
 lighting up with excitement. " You must not do so 
 just yet. You must delay your purpose for a while in 
 order to save Vashti." 
 
 " Ha ! what mean you ? How can the delay serve 
 Vashti?" 
 
 Rufus laughed with a sort of good-humored con- 
 tempt at what he conceived to be a sad lack of dis- 
 cernment on the part of Crispus, 
 
356 The Boomed City 
 
 " Was there any stipulation made at this marriage 
 that the wife was to retain the separate possession of 
 her property? " 
 
 " None." 
 
 " Then Vashti may be set free." 
 
 "How.P" asked Crispus eagerly. 
 
 " By you, of course. O, dullard ! All you have to 
 do now is to walk into the presence of Titus and Bere- 
 nice, and to say, ' Woman, you are my wife. The law 
 gives you to me, as doth also this document signed by 
 Vespasian.' Titus dare not oppose you, if you are deter- 
 mined to assert your legal rights. Then you lead the 
 proud princess home, by force if she will not come by 
 persuasion, and you address her thus : ' You are mine, 
 and all that you have is mine, including your household 
 slaves. Therefore, in the exercise of my lawful right, 
 I declare this maiden Vashti to be free.' That's the 
 plan you must adopt, Crispus. Afterwards, repudiate 
 her, if you will ; but — liberate Vashti first." 
 
 Crispus, with the fire of hope coursing through his 
 veins, resolved to follow the daring suggestion of 
 Rufus. 
 
 " The sooner this business be done, the better," said 
 he. 
 
 " There I agree with you. What more appropriate 
 time than to-morrow night when Berenice gives a grand 
 banquet in the Praetorium, that edifice being graciously 
 lent for the occasion by the new procurator, Antonius 
 Julianus, who, by the way, talks of writing a history " 
 of the war, thereby entering into rivalry with Josephus. 
 You and I are invited to this entertainment ; in truth, 
 if you are absent, Berenice will suffer sore disappoint- 
 ment, seeing that she hath prepared a little mortifica- 
 tion for you. She hath decreed that her slave Vashti 
 shall wait as cup-bearer upon the chief guests." 
 
 " May the intended humiliation fall upon Berenice's 
 own head ! " 
 
 " So say I. What hath our pretty Vashti done that 
 
Justice the Avenger 357 
 
 she should be thus shamed? I confess I am beginning 
 to dislike the princess, whom I once so much admired. 
 You must certainly put your plan into operation to- 
 morrow night. In the face of all the company claim 
 Berenice as your wife, and assert your authority over 
 her, to the confusion of Titus. She is desirous, so 'tis 
 said, of providing her guests with a rare entertainment ; 
 it's very likely she'll succeed." 
 
 Crispus, determined to adopt this scheme — ^he blinked 
 its difficulties — impatiently awaited the moment for 
 putting it into execution. 
 
 When the time fixed for the banquet drew near, 
 Crispus, assuming his whitest and handsomest toga, 
 with its broad purple border, went, accompanied by 
 Rufus, to that palace, still called, though its founder 
 had been seventy years dead, Herod's Praetorium. 
 
 Upon entering he found that the scene of the feast 
 was the same as that in which Florus had held his 
 banquet. 
 
 It was malice that made Berenice choose this hall; 
 the very place that had seen Vashti hailed as the queen 
 of beauty was now to see her degraded to the condition 
 of a slave, compelled to wait upon the princess whose 
 charms had been slighted by Crispus, while Crispus 
 himself was invited to look on and behold her humilia- 
 tion. 
 
 He smiled within himself. The sequel would show 
 whose was to be the humiliation. 
 
 The banquet-hall presented a brilliant scene, 
 thronged as it was with all the brave captains who had 
 taken part in the war, and with fair ladies whose richly 
 dyed robes afforded a perpetual feast of color. 
 
 Crispus and his companion arrived just as the guests 
 were preparing to take their places at the various 
 triclinia. 
 
 Berenice was there, moving with a proud and stately 
 step, and, as though she were already an empress, wear- 
 ing an Eastern diadem upon her dark hair. 
 
358 The Doomed City 
 
 By her side walked the laureled Titus, clad in im- 
 perial purple, and seemingly in excellent spirits, though 
 he suddenly started as he caught sight of Crispus, and 
 over his face came a guilty look which Rufus inter- 
 preted in his own way. 
 
 " Ashamed of himself at stealing his friend's wife. 
 Though he be Csesar, and my commander, I shall rejoice 
 if he meet by and by with deserved discomfiture." 
 
 Crispus and Rufus were allotted places next each 
 other, not, however, at the chief triclinium where were 
 Titus, Berenice, Agrippa, Alexander, and others, but 
 at an adjacent triclinium, an arrangement that suited 
 the two friends, who were thus enabled to talk with 
 more freedom than they could have enjoyed at Caesar's 
 table. 
 
 At the same triclinium with Crispus was Josephus, 
 who had his place next to the Roman. 
 
 " Do you know the humiliation intended for Vashti ? " 
 asked Crispus. 
 
 Josephus signified assent, adding: 
 
 " Aware that your presence here will save her, I can 
 await the issue with a serene mind." 
 
 " Rufus," whispered Crispus to his friend, " you have 
 been communicating our plan to Josephus." 
 
 But as Rufus gave an emphatic denial to this, Cris- 
 pus was not a little puzzled by the words of Josephus. 
 
 By the side of the historian sat a stately and ven- 
 erable dame. 
 
 " My mother," remarked Josephus, " and her pur- 
 pose in being here is the same as mine," he added 
 with a mysterious smile, " to obtain Vashti's freedom." 
 
 It seemed from this that Josephus, too, had some 
 plan for delivering his ward from Berenice's hands. 
 What was the nature of the plan, and was it likely to 
 succeed.'* But to all questioning Josephus remained 
 provokingly evasive, so that Crispus was fain to hold 
 his soul in patience. 
 
 It soon became clear, however, from the conversa- 
 
Justice the Avenger 359 
 
 tion of Josephus, that he was animated by a spirit of 
 bitter hostility to Berenice, caused by her patronage 
 of those amphitheatrical games in which Jews were piti- 
 lessly butchered. Titus, too, came in for a share of his 
 animadversions. 
 
 " He hath ordered that the didrachmas which every 
 adult Jew is accustomed to pay annually into the temple 
 treasury, shall now be paid into the temple of the 
 Capitoline Jupiter. You, as a Christian, can under- 
 stand the feeling of the Jew in this matter. And the 
 golden cherubim that overshadowed the mercy seat he 
 hath given to the heathen ; the sacred figures which none 
 but the high priest was permitted to see are now pro- 
 fanely placed as a trophy over the eastern gate of 
 Antioch, so that it is beginning to be known as the 
 Gate of the Cherubim. And nigh to it he hath dedi- 
 cated a chariot to the Moon, for the help which she 
 hath given him during the siege. The moon, for- 
 sooth ! " 
 
 The signal for the feast was now given, and richly 
 clad slaves, both male and female, moved to and fro, 
 attentive to the wants of the guests. 
 
 *' I do not see Vashti," whispered Crispus to Jo- 
 sephus. 
 
 " She will not enter till the drinking begins." 
 
 Gay conversation went on all around, but Crispus 
 took little or no part in it. Vashti ! Vashti ! was the 
 one thought of his mind. 
 
 At last repletion came to the guests ; both the heavier 
 and the lighter dishes were removed from the tables to 
 make way for the wines. 
 
 " And now, my lords," cried Berenice, addressing 
 those at her own triclinium, but speaking sufficiently 
 loud for Crispus to hear, " I have a rare vintage for 
 you, to be offered by a cup-bearer as graceful as Hebe 
 herself." 
 
 Among a crowd of wine-bearing slaves that now 
 entered the hall Crispus distinguished the form of 
 
360 The Boomed City 
 
 Vashti. Quickly the slaves spread themselves to right 
 and left, each going to his appointed place. 
 
 Of the thousand persons in the banquet-hall Crispus 
 saw but one only — the fair girl that was moving with 
 a light, graceful step towards the chief triclinium. 
 
 Vashti, but how different from her appearance when 
 last seen by him! The disfigurement wrought by the 
 famine had vanished; she was her own sweet self once 
 more. 
 
 The charming grace and beauty of her figure were 
 set off by a clinging robe of pure white silk, richly 
 embroidered with gold, and girt at the waist with a 
 broad, silver-sparkling zone. A necklace of pearls en- 
 circled her fair throat, and a wreath of violets rested 
 upon her golden ringlets. 
 
 She was the living picture of beauty ; from the crown 
 of her head to her dainty, gold-embroidered sandals 
 there was not a flaw to mar her radiant loveliness. 
 
 The eyes of Josephus' mother glistened with pleasure 
 at the success of the toilet for which she was responsible, 
 the good dame having resolved that Vashti should ap- 
 pear at her fairest before the guests. 
 
 As Vashti caught Crispus' look she gave him a smile 
 that sent the blood coursing like liquid fire through his 
 veins ; it was a smile that showed she had no fear ; a 
 smile that seemed to say she knew that he could and 
 would save her. Was she aware of his intentions? he 
 wondered, or was she reljnng upon the aid of Josephus ? 
 
 Berenice, with a sudden uneasiness at her heart, be- 
 gan all too late to wish that she had kept her slave 
 from appearing at this banquet, for Vashti's beauty 
 drew murmurs of admiration from the men, if not from 
 the women. 
 
 "Ye gods! who is this.?" said Tiberius Alexander. 
 *' I did not know, princess, that you had invited Venus 
 to be a guest." 
 
 " 'Tis only one of my slaves," replied Berenice, out- 
 yf&vdlj calm, inwardly thrilling with jealousy. 
 
Justice the Avenger 361 
 
 " A slave ! " said Alexander, with the light of ama- 
 tory desire leaping into his eyes. " I'll give you ten 
 thousand aurei for her — fifteen thousand," he added, 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " I would not take a hundred myriads," replied Bere- 
 nice, coldly. " She is not for sale." 
 
 At this moment the murmur of tongues ceased 
 throughout the hall. The guests, catching sight of 
 Berenice's dark face, became suddenly silent, desirous 
 of discovering what was amiss. 
 
 The princess rose to her feet, and angrily faced the 
 slave who was disobeying her on two points — she was 
 wearing a costume different from that enjoined her, 
 and she lacked the flagon of wine that it was her duty 
 to bear. 
 
 " By whose leave do you wear that dress ? " 
 
 " By my own," replied Vashti, with a sweet smile 
 that maddened the other. " Why should I consult 
 you, princess, as to what manner of raiment I must 
 wear.? " 
 
 It was a revelation to Crispus to hear the hitherto 
 submissive and gentle Vashti taking this bold stand, 
 and he loved her the more for it. There was no tremor 
 in her voice, nor did she shrink in the least from the 
 fierce gaze of the princess. Indeed, Vashti, in her 
 proud fearlessness, looked at that moment far more 
 of a princess than did Berenice. What wonderful power 
 was it that enabled her thus to brave a mistress who, 
 if she chose, could order her off to instant scourging? 
 
 " You dare speak thus to me? " exclaimed Berenice 
 amazedly. " O, I see. A freewoman all these years, 
 you cannot yet realize that you are a slave. I will 
 overlook your offense. Go ! Bring hither the flagon 
 of wine that you were bidden to pour out for my 
 guests." 
 
 But Vashti shook her pretty golden tresses, and cast 
 an arch smile at those reclining at Berenice's triclinium. 
 
 " Nay, verily, if they desire the wine let them wait 
 
362 The Boomed City 
 
 upon themselves ; or perhaps you, princess, will play the 
 part of cup-bearer." 
 
 Berenice stood completely dumfounded at these au- 
 dacious words from one who had hitherto behaved as 
 her submissive slave. The men looked on with smiles of 
 wonder and amusement ; the women were more disposed 
 to side with the princess. 
 
 " The slave claims to be a Christian," sneered 
 Agrippa to a fair lady by his side. 
 
 " That explains her insolence," replied his partner. 
 " I once had one of those creatures among my house- 
 hold, and know the trouble they give. Were I the 
 princess, I would whip the new religion out of her." 
 
 " The girl must be mad," exclaimed Berenice. " On 
 your knees and cry pardon, or " 
 
 Vashti turned disdainfully away. 
 
 " It has pleased me for a time to abide in your house 
 as a slave," said she. " It pleases me now to resume 
 my freedom. Give your commands to others. There 
 is but one person here who shall have my obedience, and 
 that is my lord Crispus." 
 
 She walked to where Crispus stood — for he had risen 
 to his feet — laid an appealing hand upon his arm, and 
 looked with trusting eyes into his. The supreme mo- 
 ment had come! But how was he to save her.'' His 
 plan had melted into thin air. It was all very well to 
 claim Berenice as his wife, but the cold conviction sud- 
 denly struck him that his claim was based not upon 
 proof, but upon conjecture merely. If Berenice chose 
 to deny his statement, as she undoubtedly would, how 
 could he make his word good ? He turned his eyes upon 
 Josephus, but that priest made no movement, uttered 
 no word. " Not yet," he seemed to be saying. 
 
 " Guards ! " cried Berenice, addressing some of her 
 own soldiers, who were stationed at intervals along the 
 wall of the banqueting chamber. " Drag yon girl 
 away, and bring whips hither. Since her defiance of 
 me is public, so, too, shall her scourging be." 
 
Justice the Avenger 363 
 
 Even these words did not disturb Vashti's serenity. 
 Her pitying smile, implying as it did that she was 
 secure from the threatened punishment, lashed Berenice 
 into a secret fur3\ 
 
 During all this time the greatest man at the feast, 
 Titus, had remained silent, looking on perplexed and 
 uneasy. The redemption of Vashti, though he had 
 often asked for it, was a favor Berenice would not 
 grant him. He was sorry for Crispus, and secretly 
 sympathized with the daring maid who was seeking to 
 assert her liberty, but under the influence of his passion 
 for Berenice he hesitated to do the right thing, namely, 
 to declare Vashti free. 
 
 As the soldiers came forward to execute Berenice's 
 command, Vashti turned to Titus and addressed him. 
 
 " Csesar, bid these men stay their hand till I have 
 spoken. I have that to say which will show the justice 
 of my cause." 
 
 At a sign from Titus the advancing guards paused. 
 
 " Say on," he commanded, hoping that Vashti might 
 somehow be able to furnish him with a plausible pretext 
 for delivering her from the power of Berenice. 
 
 Verily, Vashti seemed to be doing the work from 
 which Crispus shrank; for she began to address Titus 
 with a catechism very similar to what Crispus himself 
 would have employed had he carried out his plan as 
 originally intended. 
 
 " Have you forgotten, sire, a brief visit made by 
 you and my lord Crispus to a house called Beth-tamar 
 on a certain night more than four years ago.'' " 
 
 Titus started; he guessed what was coming, and 
 frowned. 
 
 " I have not forgotten it," said he, with a side glance 
 at Berenice, whose lip curved with the scornful smile 
 as of one who should say, " That silly story ! " 
 
 " You can testify that my lord Crispus wedded at 
 Beth-tamar a woman unknown to him? — unknown, be- 
 cause she was veiled and spake never a word." 
 
364 The Boomed City 
 
 This strange and romantic statement caused a mur- 
 mur of surprise and wonder to run around the banquet- 
 hall. 
 
 *' I can testify to that," said Titus, with the air of 
 one who would fain deny what he was affirming. 
 
 "Do you know the name of the woman .^ " 
 
 " I do not," replied Titus, with another side glance 
 at Berenice, which set some of the guests wondering as 
 to whether she were the mysterious bride. 
 
 At this point Berenice, with a gesture of impatience, 
 addressed Titus. 
 
 " What hath all this to do with the question of pun- 
 ishing an insolent slave?" 
 
 " Everything, as you will see," returned Vashti 
 quietly, continuing her questions to Titus. " Did not 
 Crispus give his bride a ring, saying that when the 
 unknown lady should come to him with the said ring 
 he would acknowledge her as his wife? " 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 Vashti, with eyes shining with love, and with a tender 
 smile that made her face the more beautiful, turned to 
 Crispus, and, withdrawing her hand from a fold of 
 her dress where it had lain concealed, she held it forth, 
 and there, sparkling on her finger, was the very ring 
 that he had given to his bride at Beth-tamar ! 
 
 Scarcely able to grasp the momentous truth Crispus 
 stood like one enchanted to stone, silently staring at 
 Vashti and her ring. To think that his marriage with 
 Berenice, the ugly black incubus that had so long op- 
 pressed him, was the mere figment of his own imagina- 
 tion ! that the sweet Christian maiden, whom he had 
 loved from the first hour of seeing her, should be his 
 wife, was a revelation so astounding that it was no 
 wonder that at first he could not give it credence. 
 
 Vashti gave a low, sweet laugh at his bewilderment. 
 
 " I am your wife, Crispus. Won't you protect me? " 
 
 Protect her? 
 
 He put his arm about her waist — a dozen men could 
 
Justice the Avenger 365 
 
 not have torn her from his grasp ! — and turned to face 
 Berenice, who for the moment was almost as much 
 bewildered and amazed as Crispus himself. 
 
 " Prettily acted ! " sneered she. " A scheme, artfully 
 preconcerted, for the purpose of robbing me of my 
 slave. But it shall not succeed. That Crispus wedded 
 someone at Beth-tamar we must believe, since Csesar 
 himself affirms it ; but I require something more than 
 this girl's word, ere I shall believe her to be the wife 
 of Crispus." 
 
 " I can confirm her statement," said Josephus, inter- 
 vening at this point, " since it was I who conducted 
 Vashti to Beth-tamar, and from behind a curtain saw 
 her wedded to the lord Crispus. And the woman who 
 attended Vashti during the ceremony was my mother, 
 who is here present to bear her testimony, if need be." 
 
 " And in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall 
 every word be established, princess," remarked Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 Berenice though striving to maintain a calm exterior, 
 was nevertheless full of a secret rage at finding her 
 intended victim slipping from her hands. 
 
 " What if she be the wife of Crispus .'' She is none 
 the less my slave." 
 
 "What? Rob a Roman noble of his wife.''" inter- 
 jected Alexander. " O, too bad!" 
 
 " At the time I made the gift I knew not that she 
 was the wife of Crispus," remarked Titus, not at all 
 displeased with the turn events were taking. 
 
 " That matters not," returned Berenice. " The gift, 
 if made in due legal form, as this was, can be revoked 
 neither by you nor by a court of law." 
 
 Crispus smiled pityingly at the baffled princess. 
 
 " I have here," said he, drawing forth a papyrus- 
 scroll, " a document that bears a date long anterior 
 to the time when Vashti was made a slave, a document 
 that threatens death to those who seek to take the 
 wife of Crispus from him. It bears the autograph sig- 
 
366 The Boomed City 
 
 nature of one whose authority not even Titus Caesar 
 himself will venture to dispute, for the signature is that 
 of his august sire, Flavins Vespasian." 
 
 " That is so," observed Tiberius Alexander, who had 
 drawn near, and was inspecting the document, " and, 
 therefore, it seems to me," he added, jocularly, "that 
 both Csesar and the princess, by enslaving the wife of 
 Crispus, have made themselves liable to the death pen- 
 alty. Doubtless Vespasian will pardon the offenders, 
 as they acted in ignorance. At any rate, Crispus is 
 entitled to lead away his wife; and may good fortune 
 attend him! The bravest man in the war has obtained 
 the fairest woman for his bride ; that is what I say, 
 and who will controvert it?" he added, looking round 
 upon the guests. 
 
 " None ! None ! " was the answer that came from 
 every side. Vashti's romantic story appealed to every 
 heart, save one; even those ladies who, a few minutes 
 before, had been most opposed to her, now joined in the 
 acclamations that greeted the happy pair thus 
 strangely reunited. 
 
 " Take me away," whispered Vashti. " Anywhere, 
 so that it be from here." 
 
 Crispus responded to her appeal. Drawing her arm 
 within his own, he passed smilingly from the hall amid 
 cries of " Long live the brave Crispus and his fair 
 bride!" 
 
 Miserable Berenice ! Her bitterness of spirit at that 
 moment received but little balm from Titus' gay whis- 
 per, " There is now no obstacle to our union," for she 
 had known all along that the obstacle had never existed 
 save in his own imagination. 
 
 In the moonlit gardens of the Praetorium Crispus and 
 Vashti, seated in the very same spot where they had 
 sat four years before, were holding a delightful con- 
 versation. 
 
 Vashti was reclining within his embrace, her little 
 
Justice the Avenger 367 
 
 hand resting within his. The early Christians were 
 very human ! 
 
 " And to think that during all this time you have 
 been my wife, and I knew it not. Why did you not 
 reveal the truth earlier ? " 
 
 " Because, like yourself, I was bound to secrecy for 
 three years." 
 
 " But that time limit had gone by when I rescued 
 you from Jerusalem." 
 
 " True," replied Vashti, the brightness of her face 
 becoming dimmed for a moment by that mournful remi- 
 niscence, " but was that a time to be talking love and 
 wedlock.'' I resolved to keep the secret till the siege 
 should be over." 
 
 " I am not sure that you were right in doing so. 
 The making it known Avould have saved you from the 
 hands of Berenice. Tell me, how has she used you.''" 
 
 " Not ill, though she would taunt me at times with 
 your name, and threaten to whip the Christianity out 
 of me." 
 
 " But why did you not set j'^ourself free earlier, by 
 sending me the ring.'' " 
 
 " Because she was always saying that she would give 
 a grand entertainment at which I should serve as a 
 slave while you should look helplessly on ; she seemed 
 to take such delight in the notion that I resolved to 
 await the coming of this feast ; it would furnish me with 
 an excellent opportunity of asserting my freedom and 
 of giving her a startling surprise." 
 
 " You have certainly succeeded in doing that, my 
 little wife." 
 
 " ^m I your wife, Crispus-f*" said Vashti gravely. 
 " Was not that ceremony at Beth-tamar somewhat 
 heathenish in character.'' " 
 
 " You speak truth, dearest. We must have the bless- 
 ing of the Church on our union. To-morrow we will 
 set out for Jerusalem, where the good bishop Simeon 
 shall join our hands." 
 
368 The Doomed City 
 
 At this point a centurion made his appearance with 
 a message to the effect that Titus desired the presence 
 of Crispus and his lady. 
 
 Responding, though with considerable reluctance, to 
 this summons, the two repaired to the Ivory Hall, where 
 they found Titus seated beside Berenice with Josephus 
 standing near. 
 
 " Be seated, noble Crispus and the lady Vashti." 
 
 Titus spoke with genuine affability ; as for Berenice 
 her disdainful air showed that the presence or the 
 absence of the pair was a matter alike of indifference 
 to her. 
 
 " I have asked Josephus," began Titus, when the 
 centurion had withdrawn, leaving the five together, " to 
 tell me the meaning of the strange business at Beth- 
 tamar. He is very urgent that you also should be 
 present to hear him. Hence my sending for you." 
 
 With that he nodded to the priest as a sign for him 
 to proceed. 
 
 " It may be, sire," began Josephus, " that what I 
 have to say will give sharp offense to one of my hear- 
 ers." Crispus guessed that Berenice was meant. 
 " Therefore, ere I begin, I must receive assurance from 
 you that the utterance shall not bring punishment upon 
 the utterer." 
 
 " Say what thou wilt ; abuse me, if it please thee ; 
 thy tongue shalt have free license to-night." 
 
 Assured thus, Josephus began. 
 
 " I have but lately returned, O Cssar, from a visit 
 to Pontus, where it was my fortune to meet with Zeno, 
 the secretary of the royal Polemo, and seemingly a 
 man well acquainted with the secrets of the late king. 
 It is partly from this Zeno, and partly from my own 
 knowledge, that I derive the materials for the story 
 I am about to relate." 
 
 At the mention of the names Polemo and Zeno, Bere- 
 nice, who had hitherto betrayed a languid indifference, 
 began to appear as if keenly interested. 
 
Justice the Avenger 369 
 
 " Many years ago — twenty-three, to give the exact 
 number — the Princess Berenice, then in her twentieth 
 year, married Polemo, king of Pontus, who, after two 
 years, repudiated her, for a reason the princess herself 
 knows." 
 
 Here Josephus ceased speaking, checked by Bere- 
 nice's haughty and indignant stare. 
 
 " Is it necessary to bring my name into your narra- 
 tion.? " 
 
 " Absohitely necessary." 
 
 " Then I will tell you the reason of our separation. 
 He did not repudiate me ; I left him of my own free 
 will, left him because, prior to our marriage, he, him- 
 self a proselyte, promised that he would do all in his 
 power to bring the people of Pontus over to Judaism. 
 He failed to redeem his word, however — nay, he actively 
 thwarted my attempts at proselytism, and so I left 
 him." 
 
 " Was there not a daughter born of this mar- 
 riage.'' " 
 
 Berenice's eyes flashed fire. 
 
 " I see plainly that your object is to prejudice me 
 in the eyes of Titus by recalling a deed of long ago. 
 What I did then I do not now regret." 
 
 " That is a strange thing to say of infanticide." 
 
 Berenice gave a cold hard laugh that caused Vashti 
 to shiver. 
 
 " The exposure of infants is a custom so common 
 among Romans that Titus will scarcely regard it as a 
 great crime." 
 
 " But our law, princess, regards it as murder." 
 
 " And I regard my deed as a justifiable one, for in 
 destroying the body of the infant I saved its soul. 
 Polemo, who had seceded from Judaism, and had grown 
 to hate both me and my religion, swore that he would 
 bring up the child in his own Hellenic faith, and would 
 teach it to hate the religion of its mother. I resolved 
 to save it from such fate, and took the only possible 
 
370 The Doomed City 
 
 way — I exposed it one winter's night among the snowy 
 crags of Hermon." 
 
 Vashti gave a faint little gasp — inaudible to Bere- 
 nice — and her heart almost ceased its beating. Not 
 even when coming home on that dreadful night to find 
 Arad gone forever did she feel more horror than she 
 felt at this moment. To learn that she was the daugh- 
 ter of a woman so unnatural as to expose her own 
 child to death! to learn that it was her own mother 
 who had been pursuing her with a malignant aim ! to 
 learn that she was a member of that Herodian house 
 that had never ceased persecuting Christianity from 
 its very beginning ! to know that her mother was at 
 that very moment living in open sin with the destroyer 
 of her country ! — all this rushed with her blood, nearly 
 causing her to shriek aloud. 
 
 Josephus continued his narration. 
 
 " The loss of the child — for he had loved it as the 
 apple of his eye — threw Polemo into a fever, which, so 
 it seems to me, crazed his brain, for it left him animated 
 by one passion only — a desire to be revenged upon the 
 woman who had wronged him." 
 
 " Thou liest," interjected Berenice, " for in due 
 course of time, he and I, as all men can testify, grew to 
 be great friends." 
 
 " You were deceived, princess. He masked his hatred 
 under a smiling guise the more effectually to conceal 
 his purpose. Now, mark the result of your deed! It 
 is true that it was decreed in the councils of the Most 
 High that the city and the temple should perish, but 
 the Most High makes use of human instruments to 
 work out His decrees ; and yours, princess, has been 
 the hand that has wrought the ruin of Israel." 
 
 There was in Josephus' manner something so solemn 
 and convincing, that all Berenice's hauteur and defiance 
 vanished, leaving her nearly as pale and trembling as 
 the daughter that was as yet unknown to her. 
 
 " How mean you.'' " she faltered. 
 
Justice the Avenger 3T1 
 
 " It was our common religion, so Polerao erroneously 
 argued, that had destroyed his child; he would there- 
 fore destroy our religion. 
 
 " Nothing was dearer to you, so you had once said 
 to him, than the holy city, and the holy temple ; he 
 resolved to bring destruction both upon that city and 
 upon that temple. 
 
 " How could he effect it? 
 
 " There was but one way ; the Jewish people must 
 be goaded into war, a war in which their capital must 
 sink in flames. 
 
 " This is the key to Polemo's frequent visits to 
 Judaea ; to his friendship with successive procurators — 
 Felix, Festus, Albinus. With these, however, he failed 
 to effect his purpose, but at last in Florus he found 
 the tool he wanted. While you, princess, were on one 
 side of that procurator, winning him to acts of clem- 
 ency, Polemo was on the other, urging him to deeds 
 of blood; all the provocative acts of Florus were due 
 to the secret, the wicked policy of the Pontic king." 
 
 These words caused a deepening of Vashti's horror. 
 To think that she was the daughter of a king so cold- 
 blooded as deliberately to plan the extirpation of a 
 Avhole nation, and all, so it seemed, on her account ! 
 
 At this point Titus inter\'ened. 
 
 " This secret history is doubtless interesting, but 
 what hath it to do with Beth-tamar.'' " 
 
 " I am coming to it, O Csesar. It chanced in course 
 of time that the Princess Berenice met my lord Crispus 
 at a banquet at Antioch and became enamored of him." 
 
 Berenice gave a scornful laugh ; but the statement 
 was true, and her laugh deceived no one. " Polemo 
 suspected this. Now, he had already in mind selected 
 the son of his friend, Cestius the Legate, to be his 
 successor in the sovereignty of Pontus, and it did not 
 suit his policy that Berenice should marry Crispus, and 
 thus again wear the crown that she had once despised. 
 He therefore resolved to thwart her aim. While think- 
 
372 The Doomed Cittj 
 
 ing how he might best succeed in this matter, he hap- 
 pened to pay a visit to Jerusalem, and there, by a 
 singular turn of destiny, he saw one day in the temple- 
 courts a maiden who immediately arrested his attention 
 from the marvelous resemblance she bore to his mother 
 Pythodoris in her youthful days. Avoiding the maiden 
 herself, he made inquiries of others, and learned that 
 her name was Vashti, and that she was the ward of 
 him who now addresses you. He sought me out with 
 eager questionings, and I was forced to admit that the 
 supposed daughter of Hyrcanus was in reality a found- 
 ling, nor were proofs wanting to convince him beyond 
 all doubt that in Vashti he had found his daughter 
 Athenais, long supposed by him to be dead." 
 
 A strange sound broke from Berenice ; amazement 
 caused her figure to stiffen into a rigid attitude; for 
 a few moments she sat thus, motionless and wordless ; 
 then slowly, mechanically, she turned her head and 
 looked at Vashti. And of all the looks that Vashti had 
 ever received none frightened her more than this ; it 
 was a look without a trace of maternal love — cold, dis- 
 dainful, cruel; a look that said, as plainly as words 
 could say, that she would never acknowledge the Naza- 
 rene apostate as a daughter of hers. 
 
 " Polemo, for reasons of his own, did not make him- 
 self known to his daughter. W^hether he now had any 
 affection for her whom, as a babe, he had idolized, it 
 is hard to say; one thing became clear to him; he saw 
 in the daughter an instrument for the humiliation of 
 the mother. If he could persuade Crispus to marry 
 Vashti, and to keep the matter hidden from the world, 
 the fond, enamored Berenice would be pursuing Crispus 
 for months in the vain endeavor to win him to her 
 arms, while he — Polemo — could look on in malicious 
 enjoyment, as knowing that her wiles were foredoomed 
 to failure. 
 
 " Such was Polemo's reason for keeping the wedding 
 a secret — a reason unknown to me at the time ; I have 
 
Justice the Avenger 373 
 
 learned it since from Zeno. Vashti, too, was required 
 to keep the matter hidden, even from her adopted 
 mother, Miriam. Vashti, being my ward, was com- 
 pelled to take for her husband the man of my choice, 
 and though she long resisted the notion of wedding a 
 heathen Roman, I overcame her scruples at last by 
 persuading her that her intended bridegroom was far 
 more virtuous than many a Jew. She therefore accom- 
 panied me by night to Beth-tamar, not knowing that 
 he who presided over these nuptials was her father, not 
 knowing his name even, nor that she had been destined 
 by him to wear the crown of a queen. 
 
 " All this was to come upon her later as a delightful 
 surprise. 
 
 " My story is all but finished. It was Polemo's in- 
 tention to stand beside Berenice either upon Mount 
 Olivet when the temple was burning, or at some palace 
 window in Rome when the triumphal procession was 
 sweeping past, carrying the sacred spoils of the temple 
 — to stand beside her and to tell her in fierce, exultant 
 tones that all this was his work ; he would watch her 
 agony ; she was to be the victim of his laughter, of his 
 mockery, of his scorn ! 
 
 " But this supreme and thrilling moment of revenge 
 — this triumph that he had so long worked for, was 
 not to be his ; he died ere the day of his vengeance 
 came. 
 
 " Caesar, my tale is said." 
 
 There was a long silence in that chamber after Jo- 
 sephus had finished his narration. 
 
 Titus looked at Berenice as if desiring her to say 
 something. 
 
 The breast of that princess was the seat of a wild 
 tumult of contending passions, but among them there 
 was neither pity nor love for her newly found daughter. 
 
 " It seems," said she, with a superbly disdainful air, 
 " it seems, if the story of Josephus be true, that I am 
 to be presented with a daughter, but I care not for 
 
374 The Doomed City 
 
 the gift. I should be a hypocrite were I to feign love 
 where love is not. No ; I cast her away in infancy that 
 thereby I might save her soul ; by becoming a Naza- 
 rene she has chosen to destroy her soul ; let her still 
 remain a castaway. Let her keep to her own path as 
 I shall keep to mine. I have no daughter ; that is my 
 answer to her." 
 
 Vashti was willing for reconcilement, but this cold 
 repudiation kept her dumb. With divine pity in her 
 eyes, she looked at her mother, and sighed. 
 
 Crispus made reply for her. 
 
 " Since such is your decision," said he, " we will not 
 seek to change It. Caesar, I salute you. Come, Vashti, 
 let us be going." 
 
 As the two arose to depart, Titus walked over to 
 them, as if not willing that Berenice should hear what 
 he had to say. 
 
 " My sire, Vespasian, knowing that you have been 
 disappointed in the expectation of the crown of Pontus, 
 has offered you the thing that Is most like it — ^namely, 
 the governorship of that province. Its people will 
 be delighted when they know that the wife of the new 
 governor is the granddaughter of the good queen 
 Pythodorls." 
 
 But Crispus had little desire for the honor ; he would 
 be more happy with Vashti In his beautiful villa among 
 the Sabine hills than in presiding over the destinies of 
 the Pontic people. While thinking thus, however, he 
 received from Vashti a wistful glance which seemed to 
 be urging him to accept the post. 
 
 " What, Vashti ? Ambitious that I should sit in a 
 curule chair? " 
 
 " Yes," wlilspered she, " for If Crispus be ruler of 
 Pontus there will always be one safe asylum for Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 "You speak wisely, little woman," replied he; and, 
 turning to Titus, he said, " Caesar, I accept the post 
 with all thankfulness." 
 
Justice the Avenger 375 
 
 Berenice watched the two as they quitted the Ivory 
 Hall. 
 
 She never saw them again ! 
 
 After a brief visit to Jerusalem, where bishop Simeon 
 joined the hands of the pair, Crispus, accompanied by 
 his bride, set out for his province of Pontus, there to 
 begin a long administration, whose wisdom and justice 
 were to win golden opinions from all men. 
 
 And Berenice? 
 
 The Roman senate and the Roman people soon made 
 short work of her dream of an imperial throne ! Their 
 anger at the thought of a Jewish empress was so fiercely 
 expressed that Titus, albeit with all reluctance, was 
 compelled to banish her from his presence.*" 
 
 Scorned by the Romans because she came of the 
 Jewish people ; scorned by the Jewish people because 
 she had allied herself with a Roman ; branded with de- 
 served infamy by the poet Juvenal ; " eating out her 
 heart over the ignominious ending of her splendid ambi- 
 tion, Berenice passed into a state of obscurity and 
 oblivion. History failing to record the time, the place, 
 or the manner of her death. 
 
NOTES 
 
 1 The Talmud. 
 
 2 Told by the heathen Plu- 
 
 tarch in his Cessation of 
 Oracles. 
 
 3 Josephus. — Vita 2. 
 
 4 Acts XXV. i6. 
 
 5 Greek Anthology. — I. 77. 
 
 6 Acts xxiii. 14. 
 
 7 Flaccus, pro-Consul of 
 
 Asia, for example. — 
 Cicero. Pro Flacco. 
 
 8 The ancient usage in the 
 
 Jerusalem synagogues of 
 anathematizing Christ and 
 the Christians is said by 
 some to have originated, 
 not with Simeon, but with 
 his father Gamaliel, a 
 statement scarcely recon- 
 cilable with Acts V. 38. 
 
 9 A saying of Simeon's, ac- 
 
 cording to the Talmud. 
 
 10 The Talmud. 
 
 11 Jos. — Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 3. 
 
 Tac— Hist. V. 13. Lvike 
 xxi. II. 
 
 12 Zech. xi. I was, according 
 
 to the Talmud, referred by 
 Johanan ben Zacchai to 
 this mysterious opening of 
 the temple doors. 
 
 13 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. ii. 15. 
 
 14 At this point Florus dis- 
 
 appears from history, and 
 therefore from these pages. 
 It is not known what be- 
 came of him. 
 
 15 Acts xxiii. 3. 
 
 16 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. n. 17, g. 
 
 17 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. v. 9, 4. 
 
 18 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. \\. 19,7. 
 
 19 So writes Hegesippus, an 
 
 historian almost contem- 
 porary with Bishop Sim- 
 eon. 
 
 20 Josephus actually applies 
 
 the Messianic prophecies to 
 Vespasian ! — Bell. Jud. vi. 
 5, 4- 
 
 21 Tacitus. — Hist. ii. 78. 
 
 22 Tacitus. — Hist. iv. 81, 
 
 23 Lucent caliganti reddidit 
 
 mundo — " he restored light 
 to a dark world," was said 
 of Vespasian. — ^Jortin — Ec- 
 cles. Hist. i. 4. 
 
 24 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. vi. 5,3. 
 
 25 It is singular that Josephus, 
 
 who has described the 
 siege in such detail, should 
 have omitted the ceremony 
 of the Evocation, which 
 must have taken place, un- 
 less the Romans departed 
 from all precedent. 
 
 26 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. v. 9, 4. 
 
 27 Eusebius. — Hist. Eccles. iii. 
 
 12. 
 
 28 More than £5,000 in English 
 
 currency. 
 
 29 Josephus. — Bell Jud. v. 12. 
 
 30 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. v. 13, 
 
 7- 
 
 31 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. v. 31, 
 
 I. 
 
 32 Sulpicius Severus (Chron. 
 
 xxx. 11), who is believed 
 by competent critics to be 
 quoting from a lost portion 
 of the History of Tacitus. 
 
 33 Josephus. — Bell. Jud. vi. 4, 
 
 3. 
 
 34 Dean Milman. — Hist, of 
 
 Jews. Book xvi. 
 
 35 The Talmud. 
 
 36 Such is the statement of 
 
 Epiphanius. 
 
 37 Such appears to be the be- 
 
 lief of Renan. — Antichrist, 
 xix. 
 
 38 Unfortunately for Crispus' 
 
 hopes, Domitian, on his ac- 
 cession, put Flavius Clem- 
 ens to death. The fate of 
 the two sons is unknown. 
 
 39 This history, £)? Judceis, has 
 
 unfortunately, not come 
 down to us. 
 
 40 " Berenicem ab urbe dimisit 
 
 invitus invitam." — Suet, in 
 Tit. vii. 
 
 41 Satire vi. 156. 
 
 376 
 
\ 
 
 JHE WHITE HOUSE 
 
 WhaelweiuscoiiJ 
 
 '^ SAN FRANCISCOy