The Gladiators. A Tale of Rome and Judæa

by G. J. Whyte-Melville

  CHAPTER I

  A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF

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  The Feast of the Passover was at hand; the feast that was wont to call thechildren of Israel out of all parts of Syria to worship in the Holy City;the feast that had celebrated their deliverance from the relentless graspof Pharaoh: that was ordained to mark the fulfilment of prophecy in thedownfall of the chosen people, and their national extinction under theimperial might of Rome. Nevertheless, even this, the last Passover held inthat Temple of which Solomon was the founder, and in the destruction ofwhich, notwithstanding its sacred character, not one stone was permittedto remain upon another, had collected vast multitudes of the descendantsof Abraham from all parts of Judaea, Samaria, Galilee, Perea, and otherregions, to increase the sufferings of famine, and enhance the horrors ofa siege. True to the character of their religion, rigidly observant ofoutward ceremonies, and admitting no exemptions from the requirements ofthe law, they swarmed in thousands and tens of thousands to their devotedcity, round which even now Titus was drawing closer and closer the ironband of blockade, over which the Roman eagles were hovering, ere theyswooped down irresistible on their prey.

  There was the hush of coming destruction in the very stillness of theSyrian noon, as it glowed on the white carved pinnacles of the temple, andflashed from its golden roof. There was a menace in the tall blackcypresses, pointing as it were with warning gesture towards the sky. Therewas a loathsome reality of carnage about the frequent vulture, poised onhis wide wings over every open space, or flapping heavily away with loadedgorge and dripping beak, from his hideous meal. Jerusalem lay like someroyal lady in her death-pang; the fair face changed and livid in itsghastly beauty, the queenly brow warped beneath its diadem, and the wastedlimbs quivering with agony under their robe of scarlet and gold.

  Inside the walls, splendour and misery, unholy mirth and abject despair,the pomp of war and the pressure of starvation, were mingled in frightfulcontrast. Beneath the shadow of princely edifices dead bodies lay unburiedand uncared-for in the streets. Wherever was a foot or two of shelter fromthe sun, there some poor wretch seemed to have dragged himself to die.Marble pillars, lofty porches, white terraces, and luxuriant gardensdenoted the wealth of the city, and the pride of its inhabitants; yetsqualid figures crawling about, bent low towards the ground, soughteagerly here and there for every substance that could be converted intonourishment, and the absence of all offal and refuse on the pavementdenoted the sad scarcity even of such loathsome food.

  The city of Jerusalem, built upon two opposite hills, of which the plan ofthe streets running from top to bottom in each, and separated only by anarrow valley, exactly corresponded, was admirably adapted to purposes ofdefence. The higher hill, on which was situated the upper town and theholy Temple, might, from the very nature of its position, be consideredimpregnable; and even the lower offered on its outside so steep andprecipitous an ascent as to be almost inaccessible by regular troops. Inaddition to its natural strength, the city was further defended by wallsof enormous height and solidity, protected by large square towers, eachcapable of containing a formidable garrison, and supplied with reservoirsof water and all other necessaries of war. Herod the Great, who,notwithstanding his vices, his crimes, and his occasional fits of passionamounting to madness, possessed the qualities both of a statesman and asoldier, had not neglected the means at his disposal for the security ofhis capital. He had himself superintended the raising of one of thesewalls at great care and expense, and had added to it three lofty towers,which he named after his friend, his brother, and his ill-fated wife.(16)These were constructed of huge blocks of marble, fitted to each other withsuch nicety, and afterwards wrought out by the workman's hand with suchskill, that the whole edifice appeared to be cut from one gigantic mass ofstone. In the days, too, of that magnificent monarch, these towers werenothing less than palaces within, containing guest-chambers, banqueting-rooms, porticoes, nay, even fountains, gardens, and cisterns, with greatstore of precious stones, gold and silver vessels, and all the barbaricwealth of Judaea's fierce and powerful king. Defended by Herod, even aRoman army might have turned away discomfited from before Jerusalem.

  Agrippa, too, the first of that name, who was afterwards stricken with aloathsome disease, and "eaten of worms," like a mere mortal, while heaffected the attributes of a god, commenced a system of fortification tosurround the city, which would have laughed to scorn the efforts of anenemy; but the Jewish monarch was too dependent on his imperial master atRome to brave his suspicion by proceeding with it; and although a wall ofmagnificent design was begun, and even raised to a considerable height, itwas never finished in the stupendous proportions originally intended. TheJews, indeed, after the death of its founder, strengthened itconsiderably, and completed it for purposes of defence, but not to theextent by which Agrippa proposed to render the town impregnable.

  And even had Jerusalem been entered and invested by an enemy, the Temple,which was also the citadel of the place, had yet to be taken. Thismagnificent building, the very stronghold of the wealth and devotion ofJudaea, the very symbol of that nationality which was still so prized bythe posterity of Jacob, was situated on the summit of the higher hill,from which it looked down and commanded both the upper and lower cities.On three sides it was artificially fortified with extreme caution, whileon the fourth, it was so precipitous as to defy even the chances of asurprise. To possess the Temple was to hold the whole town as it were inhand; nor was its position less a matter of importance to the assailedthan its splendour rendered it an object of cupidity to the assailants.Every ornament of architecture was lavished upon its cloisters, itspillars, its porticoes, and its walls. Its outward gates even, accordingto their respective positions, were brass, silver, and gold; its beamswere of cedar, and other choice woods inlaid with the precious metal,which was also thickly spread over doorposts, candlesticks,cornices--everything that would admit of such costly decoration. Thefifteen steps that led from the Court of the Women to the great Corinthiangate, with its double doors of forty cubits high, were worth as manytalents of gold as they numbered.(17)

  To those who entered far enough to behold what was termed the InnerTemple, a sight was presented which dazzled eyes accustomed to thesplendour of the greatest monarchs on earth. Its whole front was coveredwith plates of beaten gold; vines bearing clusters of grapes the size of aman's finger, all of solid gold, were twined about and around its gates,of which the spikes were pointed sharp, that birds might not pollute themby perching there. Within were golden doors of fifty-five cubits inheight; and before this entrance hung the celebrated veil of the Temple.It consisted of a curtain embroidered with blue, fine linen, scarlet andpurple, signifying by mystical interpretation, a figure of the universe,wherein the flax typified earth; the blue, air; the scarlet, fire; and thepurple, water. Within this sumptuous shrine were contained thecandlestick, the table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense: the sevenlamps of the first denoting the seven planets of heaven; the twelve loaveson the second representing the circle of the zodiac and the year; whilethe thirteen sweet-smelling spices on the third, reminded men of the GreatGiver of all good things in the whole world. In the inmost part, again, ofthis Inner Temple was that sacred space, into which mortal eye might notlook, nor mortal step enter. Secluded, awful, invisible, divested of allmaterial object, it typified forcibly to the Jew the nature of thatspiritual worship which was taught him through Abraham and the Patriarchs,direct from heaven.

  All men, however, of all creeds and nations, might gaze upon the outwardfront of the Temple, and judge by the magnificence of the covering thecostly splendour of the shrine it contained. While a dome of pure whitemarble rose above it like a mountain of snow, the front itself of theTemple was overlaid with massive plates of gold, so that when it flashedin the sunrise men could no more look upon it than on the god of dayhimself. Far off in his camp, watching the beleaguered city, how often m
aythe Roman soldier have pondered in covetous admiration, speculating on thestrength of its defenders and the value of his prey!

  The Temple of Jerusalem then was celebrated through all the known earthfor its size, its splendour, and its untold wealth. The town, strong inits natural position and its artificial defences, garrisoned, moreover, bya fierce and warlike people, whose impetuous valour could be gauged by nocalculations of military experience, was justly esteemed so impregnable afortress, as might mock the attack of a Roman army even under such aleader as the son of Vespasian. Had it been assailed by none other thanthe enemy outside the walls, the Holy Place need never have beendesecrated and despoiled by the legions, the baffled eagles would havebeen driven westward, balked of their glorious prey. But here was a "housedivided against itself." The dissension within the walls was far moreterrible than the foe without. Blood flowed faster in the streets than onthe ramparts. Many causes originating in his past history, had combined toshake the loyalty and undermine the nationality of the Jew. Perhaps, forthe wisest purposes, it seems ordained that true religion should beespecially prone to schism. Humanity, however high its aspirations, cannotbe wholly refined from its earthly dross; and those who are the most inearnest are sometimes the most captious and unforgiving. While worship forhis Maker appears to be a natural instinct of man, it needed a teacherdirect from heaven to inculcate forbearance and brotherly love. The Jewswere sufficiently ill-disposed to those of their own faith, who differedwith them on unimportant points of doctrine, or minute observance ofoutward ceremonies; but where the heresy extended to fundamental tenets oftheir creed, they seemed to have hated each other honestly, rancorously,and mercilessly, as only brethren can.

  Now for many generations they have been divided into three principalsects, differing widely in belief, principle, and practice. These weredistinguished by the names of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Thefirst, as is well known, were rigid observers of the traditional law,handed down to them from their fathers, attaching fully as much importanceto its letter as to its spirit. With a vague belief in what is understoodby the term predestination, they yet allowed to mankind the choice betweengood and evil, confounding, perhaps, the foreknowledge of the Creator withthe freewill of the creature, and believed in the immortality of souls,and the doctrine of eternal punishment. Their failings seem to have beeninordinate religious pride, and undue exaltation of outward forms to theneglect of that which they symbolised; a grasping ambition of priestlypower, and an utter want of charity for those who differed in opinion withthemselves.

  The Sadducees, though professing belief in the Deity, argued an entireabsence of influence from above on the conduct of the human race. Limitingthe dispensation of reward and punishment to this world, they esteemed ita matter of choice with mankind to earn the one or incur the other; and asthey utterly ignored the life to come, were content to enjoy temporalblessings, and to deprecate physical evil alone. Though wanting a certaingenial philosophy on which the heathen prided himself, the Sadducee, bothin principles and practice, seems closely to have resembled the Epicureanof ancient Greece and Rome.

  But there was also a third sect which numbered many votaries throughoutJudaea, in whose tenets we discover several points of similarity with ourown, and whose ranks, it is not unfair to suppose, furnished numbers ofthe early converts to Christianity. These were the Essenes, a persuasionthat rejected pleasure as a positive evil, and with whom a community ofgoods was the prevailing and fundamental rule of the order. These men,while they affected celibacy, chose out the children of others to providefor and educate. While they neither bought nor sold, they never wanted thenecessaries of life, for each gave and received ungrudgingly, according tohis own and his neighbour's need. While they despised riches, theypractised a strict economy, appointing stewards to care for and dispensethat common patrimony which was raised by the joint subscription of all.Scattered over the whole country, in every city they were sure of findinga home, and none took on a journey either money, food, or raiment, becausehe was provided by his brethren with all he required wherever he stoppedto rest. Their piety, too, was exemplary. Before sunrise not a word wasspoken referring to earthly concerns, but public prayer was offered,imploring the blessing of light day by day before it came. Then theydispersed to their different handicrafts, by which they earned wages forthe general purse. Meeting together once more, they bathed in cold waterand sat down in white garments to their temperate meal, in which asufficiency and no more was provided for each person, and again separatedto labour till the evening, when they assembled for supper in the samemanner before going to rest.

  The vows taken by all who were admitted into their society, and that onlyafter a two years' probation, sufficiently indicated the purity andbenevolence of their code. These swore to observe piety towards God, andjustice towards men; to do no one an injury, either voluntarily or bycommand of others; to avoid the evil, and to aid the good; to obey legalauthority as coming from above; to love truth, and openly reprove a lie;to keep the hands clean from theft, and the heart from unfair gain;neither to conceal anything from their own sect, nor to discover theirsecrets to others, but to guard them with life; also to impart thesedoctrines to a proselyte literally and exactly as each had received themhimself. If one of the order committed any grievous sin, he was cast outof their society for a time; a sentence which implied starvation, as hehad previously sworn never to eat save in the presence of his brethren.When in the last stage of exhaustion he was received again, as havingsuffered a punishment commensurate with his crime, and which, by themaceration of the body, should purify and save the soul.

  With such tenets and such training, the Essenes were conspicuous for theirconfidence in danger, their endurance of privation, and their contempt fordeath. The flesh they despised as the mere corruptible covering of thespirit, that imperishable essence, of which the aspiration was everupwards, and which, when released from prison, in obedience to thedictates of its very nature, flew direct to heaven. Undoubtedly suchdoctrines as these, scattered here and there throughout the land,partially redeemed the Jewish character from the fierce unnatural stage offanaticism, to which it had arrived at the period of the Christianera--afforded, it may be, a leavening which preserved the whole people fromutter reprobation; and helped, perhaps, to smooth the way for thosepioneers, who carried the good tidings first heard beneath the star ofBethlehem, westward through the world.

  But at the period when Jerusalem lay beleaguered by Titus and his legions,three political parties raged within her walls, to whose furiousfanaticism her three religious sects could offer no comparison. The firstand most moderate of these, though men who scrupled not to enforce theiropinions with violence, had considerable influence with the great bulk ofthe populace, and were, indeed, more than either of the others, free fromselfish motives, and sincere in their desire for the common good. Theyaffected a great concern for the safety and credit of their religion,making no small outcry at the fact that certain stones and timber,provided formerly by Agrippa for the decoration of the Temple, had beendesecrated by being applied to the repair of the defences and theconstruction of engines of war. They observed, also, how the rivalry offaction, in which, nevertheless, they took a prominent part, devastatedthe city more than any efforts of the enemy; and they did not scruple toparalyse the energies of the besieged, by averring that the military ruleof the Romans, wise and temperate, though despotic, was preferable to thealternations of tyranny and anarchy under which they lived.

  This numerous party was especially displeasing to Eleazar, whose restlessforce of character and fanatical courage were impatient of any attempt atcapitulation, who was determined on resistance to the death, and the utterdestruction of the Holy City rather than its surrender. He was now livingin the element of storm and strife, which seemed most congenial to hisnature. No longer a foreign intriguer, disguised in poor attire, andhiding his head in a back street of Rome, the Jew seemed to put on freshvalour every day with his breastplate, and walked abroad in the streets ordi
rected operations from the ramparts; a mark for friend and foe, in hissplendid armour, with the port of a warrior, a patriarch and a king. Hewas avowedly at the head of a numerous section of the seditious, who hadadopted the title of Zealots; and who, affecting the warmest enthusiasm inthe cause of patriotism and religion, were utterly unscrupulous as to themeans by which they furthered their own objects and aggrandisement. Theirpractice was indeed much opposed to the principles they professed, and tothat zeal for religion from which they took their name. They had notscrupled to cast lots for the priesthood, and to confer the highest andholiest office of the nation on an illiterate rustic, whose only claim tothe sacerdotal dignity consisted in his relationship with one of thepontifical tribes. Oppression, insult, and rapine inflicted on theircountrymen, had rendered the very name of Zealot hateful to the mass ofthe people; but they numbered in their ranks many desperate and determinedmen, skilled in the use of arms, and ready to perpetrate any act ofviolence on friend or foe. In the hands of a bold unscrupulous leader,they were sharp and efficient weapons. As such Eleazar considered them,keeping them under his own control and fit for immediate use.

  The third of these factions, which was also perhaps the most numerous,excited the apprehensions of the more peaceably disposed no less than thehatred of the last-mentioned party who had put Eleazar at their head. Itwas led by a man distinguished alike for consummate duplicity and recklessdaring--John of Gischala, so called from a small town in Judaea, theinhabitants of which he had influenced to hold out against the Romans, andwhence he had himself escaped by a stratagem, redounding as much to theclemency of Titus as to his own dishonour.

  Gischala being inhabited by a rural and unwarlike population, unprovidedbesides with defences against regular troops, would have fallen an easyprey to the prince with his handful of horsemen, had it not been for thatdisposition to clemency which Titus, in common with other great warriors,seems to have indulged when occasion offered. Knowing that if the placewere carried by storm it would be impossible to restrain his soldiers fromputting the inhabitants to the sword, he rode in person within earshot ofthe wall, and exhorted the defenders to open their gates and trust to hisforbearance, a proposal to which John, who with his adherents completelyovermastered and dominated the population, took upon himself to reply. Hereminded the Roman commander that it was the Sabbath, a day on which notonly was it unlawful for the Jews to undertake any matters of war, policy,or business, but even to treat of such, and therefore they could not somuch as entertain the present proposals of peace; but that if the Romanswould give them four-and-twenty hours' respite, during which period theycould surround the city with their camp, so that none could escape fromit, the keys of the gate should be given up to him on the following day,when he might enter in triumph and take possession of the place. Tituswithdrew accordingly, probably for want of forage, to a village at somedistance, and John with his followers, accompanied by a multitude of womenand children, whom he afterwards abandoned, made his escape in the nightand fled to Jerusalem.

  After such a breach of faith, he could expect nothing from the clemency ofthe Roman general; so that John of Gischala, like many others of thebesieged, might be said to fight with a rope round his neck.

  Within the city there had now been a fierce struggle for power between theZealots under Eleazar, and the reckless party called by differentopprobrious terms, of which "Robbers" was the mildest, who followed thefortunes of John. The peaceful section, unable to make head against thesetwo, looked anxiously for the entrance of the eagles, many indeed of thewealthier deserting when practicable to the camp of the enemy. Meanwhilethe Romans pushed the siege vigorously. Their army now consisted ofVespasian's choicest legions, commanded by his son in person. Theirengines of war were numerous and powerful. Skilful, scientific, exact indiscipline, and unimpeachable in courage, they were gradually but surelyconverging, in all their strength, for one conclusive effort on thedevoted city. Already the second wall had been taken, retaken in adesperate struggle by the besieged, and once more stormed and carried bythe legions. Famine, too, with her cruel hand, was withering the strongestarms and chilling the bravest hearts in the city. It was time to forgetself-interest, faction, fanaticism, everything but the nationality ofJudaea, and the enemy at the gate.