by Anne Manning
CHAPTER VI.
THE SORROWS OF THE JEW.
When Cardinal Ippolito had taken leave, and the last glimpse of hisscarlet tippet had been seen as his little cavalcade wound out of sight,Giulia found her remaining guests very stale, flat, and unprofitable;and when they too had departed, she became exceedingly listless andpeevish; very much in the mood of little children in the nursery, whenthey weary their nurses with "I don't know what to do!"
To do Giulia justice, it must be admitted that this mood was nothabitual to her. Naturally sweet-tempered, and highly cultivated, shehad too many resources within herself to be accustomed to find her timehang heavy on her hands. She could sing, play, and paint; she wasskilful at her needle; she wrote very tolerable sonnets, andcorresponded with many of the most celebrated people of the day. She waspraised without insincerity by men whose names are still honoured amongus. And yet she was just now in that vapid frame when one exclaims--"Mandelighteth me not, nor woman either;" in that longing for some unknown,unattainable good which made St. Anselm say--"Libera me, Domine, a istomisero homine _meipso_!"
So she leant her head on her hand and shed a few tears: then, fancyingshe must be sickening of marsh miasma, she sent for Bar Hhasdai.
The physician, perceiving that there was nothing the matter with her,began to tell her, incidentally as it were, while he felt her pulse, ofthe grief of the Adimari family, whose son had been carried off byBarbarossa. The Duchess became interested in their sorrows, and forgother imaginary ailments. She consulted with him how she might consolethem and relieve other bereaved persons.
"Surely," said she, looking at his hand, "I have seen that ruby worn byCardinal Ippolito?"
"He gave it me but yesterday," said Bar Hhasdai, "in return for twomanuscripts of not half the value; whereon I sent him another reallyrare, and worthy of a place in the Vatican library."
"You were determined not to be outdone by him in generosity, it seems,"said Giulia. "He told me he had held a very interesting conversationwith you about your own people. Tell me, Bar Hhasdai, is it really truethat you Jews mingle the blood of a Christian child with your unleavenedbread at Passover time?"
"It is false, most scandalously false," replied Bar Hhasdai, "and onlyinvented by the Christians to colour their own outrages upon us. Youmight as well ask, if there were any truth in the old story of therebeing a magical brazen head in the castle of Tavora, which, on theapproach of any one of our race, would exclaim, 'A Jew is in Tavora!'and, on his departure, 'The Jew is now out of Tavora!' O lady! revoltingare the accusations that have been raised against us!--of our crucifyingchildren, drinking their blood, and burning their hearts to ashes.Sometimes our people have been tortured till their agonies have wrungfrom them false confessions, which afterwards have been disproved; as inthe case of the brothers Onkoa, who, in the reign of one of the Alonsos,were accused of stealing two of the king's golden vessels, and bytorture were induced to confess it, in consequence of which they werehanged. Yet, three days after, the vessels were found in the possessionof one of the king's own servants."
"I have always held torture," said Giulia, "to be a very uncertain aswell as cruel test."
"Alonso quoted what I have related, as a case in point," said BarHhasdai, "when certain Jews were accused of secreting the dead body of aChristian, which, after all, turned out to have been cast into the houseof one of them by his Christian debtor, who owed him a sum of money hehad no mind to repay. Thus have obloquy and contumely been heaped uponus, without our having the power to avenge ourselves; for the Lord hathforgotten His footstool in the day of His wrath."
"Who or what do you call His footstool?"
"In a general sense, the whole earth; but in a more particular one,Jerusalem."
"Since you admit that God has forgotten you, you must submit to yourjudicial punishment."
"Lady, it is hard! Easy to say, but hard to do. The only consolation isin knowing that a good time is coming, when we shall--when the Gentilesthemselves shall speed us to our city, even carrying us on theirshoulders."
"Do you really believe that?"
"_Literally!_" said Bar Hhasdai. "But I do not expect to live to seeit."
"You are yet young----"
"Ah, no! I am very old, and worn out with a life of trouble."
"Tell me the story of your life," said the Duchess, with interest. "Tellme how you came to leave Spain."
"Will you listen to me?" said Bar Hhasdai. "Then you shall hear. In themonth Abib, or, as you would say, in March, in the year 5052, oraccording to your reckoning 1492, a decree was passed that every Jewshould quit Arragon, Castile, and Granada, on pain of death andconfiscation. By a refinement in injustice, we were forbidden to takeout of the country plate, jewels, or coin: we must convert all ourpossessions into bills of exchange. As our enemies would not buy of ustill the last moment, and then at a prodigious discount, you mayconceive the way in which we were pillaged, often reduced to exchange agood house for an ass, or a field or vineyard for a few yards of cloth.
"When the royal proclamation was announced, Abarbanel the Jew happenedto be at court. He entered the king's presence, and cast himself beforehim on his face, exclaiming, 'Regard us, O king! Use not thy faithfulservants with so much cruelty! Exact from us everything we possess,rather than banish us from what has now become our country!' But it wasall in vain. At the king's right hand sat the queen, who was the Jews'enemy, and who urged him with an angry voice to carry through what hehad so happily commenced. We left no effort untried to obtain a reversalof the king's sentence; but without effect. Baptism was the onlyalternative. I am sorry to say, there were some who submitted to it,rather than forsake their homes. Home is dear; but it may be purchasedtoo dearly. More noble were those _eight hundred thousand_ Sephardim whoforsook house and hearth, garden, field, and vineyard, the synagoguesand the burial-places of their fathers, and, on foot and unarmed,collected together from every province, young and old, infants andwomen, noble examples of passive endurance, to go whither the Lordshould lead them! Of that number was I; and with God for our guide weset out----
"Do I tire you?"
"O no!----Go on."
"About twenty thousand of us took refuge in Portugal, where they wereadmitted, _pro tempore_, on payment of eight golden ducats per head:but, if they remained beyond a certain day, they were sentenced toslavery. The frontiers were lined with tax-gatherers, to exact thepoll-tax.
"The majority of us embarked at the different ports, where brutalship-masters exacted enormous sums for their passage, and, in manycases, burned or wrecked their vessels when at sea, escaping themselvesin their boats, and leaving the unhappy Jews to perish.
"The crew of the ship in which I, a young child, was, rose to murder us,for the sake, as they averred, of avenging the death of Christ; but aChristian merchant on board told them that Christ died to save men, notto destroy them. So they altered their purpose, stripped us, and set uson a barren coast, under a blazing sun, where they left us to perish. Wefound a spring of fresh water, at which we slaked our thirst; but foodwe had none. At night, some of our party were devoured by lions. Fivedays we remained in this wretched state: we were then picked up by thecrew of a passing ship, who tore up old sails to clothe us, gave usfood, and carried us to a port. The people of that place inquiredwhether they had brought us for sale. The ship-master nobly answered'No!' and delivered us to our brethren in the city, who gladlyreimbursed him for our expenses, and united with us in praying that hemight live to a good old age."
"You see there are some good Christians among us," interrupted theDuchess.
"Certainly," said the Jew. "But the majority of them were against us:nor did we experience any better treatment from the Moors. At Fez thegates were closed against the Jews, who, beneath a burning sun, couldfind nothing but grass to eat, and miserably perished. Many hundredchildren were sold into slavery. One mother was known to strike herexpiring child on the head with a stone, and then breathe her last onhis dead body. Two hundred widows dwelt to
gether in Barbary, labouringdiligently with their hands, and sharing all things in common. Many ofthese women had been separated from their husbands by cruelcircumstances, but knew not whether they were dead or alive. Apestilence broke out among the Jews, who filled nine caravels bound forNaples. On landing there the disease communicated itself to theinhabitants, and swept off twenty thousand of them. At Genoa, thecitizens met our people with bread in one hand and the crucifix in theother. Their choice lay between baptism and starvation."
"I cannot wonder," said the Duchess, after a pause, "that you areprejudiced against our religion, for you have seen it under falsecolours, but I hope the time will come when those prejudices may wearoff."
"I hope it may," said the physician, equivocally; and he changed thesubject.
The little Vespasiano Gonzaga, who, on the death of the Duke ofSabbionetta, came into Giulia's guardianship at eight years old, inafter times was very liberal to the Jews. He granted them a licence toestablish a Hebrew press at Sabbionetta, from which issued severaleditions of the Pentateuch, Psalter, and Hebrew commentaries.[7]
[7] Benj. Wiffen, _Introduction to Alfabeto Christiano_.