The Gladiators. A Tale of Rome and Judæa

by G. J. Whyte-Melville

  CHAPTER XVI

  DAWN

  The day soon broke in earnest, cold and pale on the towers and pinnaclesof the Temple. The lofty dome that had been looming in the sky, grand andgrey and indistinct, like the mass of clouds that rolls away before thepure clear eye of morning, glowed with a flush of pink; and changed againto its own glittering white of polished marble, as its crest caught thefull beams of the rising sun. Ere long the golden roof was sparkling hereand there in points of fire, to blaze out at last in one dazzling sheet offlame; but still the Court of the Gentiles below was wrapped in gloom, andthe two bound figures in its darkest corner, turned their pale facesupward to greet the advent of another day--their last on earth.

  But their attention was soon recalled to the court itself; for through thedark recesses of the vaulted cloisters, was winding an ominous processionof those who had been their judges, and who now approached to seal thefiat of their doom. Clad in long dark robes, and headed by their "Nasi,"they paced slowly out, marching two by two with solemn step and sternunpitying mien: it was obvious that the Sanhedrim adhered strictly to thatarticle of their code, which enjoined them to perform justice withoutmercy. Gravely advancing with the same slow step, gradual and inevitableas time, they ranged themselves in a semicircle round the prisoners--thenhalted every man at the same moment; while all exclaimed as with onevoice, to notify their completion and their unanimity--

  "Here in the presence of the Lord!"

  Again a deathlike silence, intolerable, and apparently interminable to thecondemned. Even Calchas felt his heart burn with a keen sense of injusticeand a strange instinct of resistance; while Esca, rising to his fullheight, and in spite of his bonds, folding his brawny arms across hischest, frowned back at the pitiless assembly a defiance that seemed tochallenge them to do their worst. Matthias the son of Boethus then steppedforward from amongst his fellows; and addressed, according to custom, theyoungest member of the Sanhedrim.

  "Phineas Ben-Ezra. Hath the doom gone forth?"

  "It hath gone forth through the nation," answered Phineas, in deepsonorous tones. "To north and south, to east and west; to all the peopleof Judaea hath the inevitable decree been made manifest. The accuser hathspoken and prevailed. The accused have been judged and condemned. It iswell. Let the sentence be executed without delay!"

  "Phineas Ben-Ezra," interposed Matthias, "can the condemned put forth noplea for pardon or reprieve?"

  It was according to ancient custom that the Nasi should even at the lastmoment urge this merciful appeal--an appeal that never obtained a moment'srespite for the most innocent of sufferers. Ere Calchas or Esca could havesaid a word on their own behalf, Phineas took upon himself the establishedreply--

  "The voice of the Sanhedrim hath spoken! There is no plea; there is nopardon; there is no reprieve."

  Then Matthias raised both hands above his head, and spoke in low graveaccents--

  "For the accused, justice; for the offender, death. The Sanhedrim hathheard; the Sanhedrim hath judged; the Sanhedrim hath condemned. It iswritten, 'If a man be found guilty of blasphemy, let him be stoned withstones until he die!' Again I say unto you, Calchas Ben-Manahem, and you,Esca the Gentile, your blood be upon your own heads."

  Lowering his hands, the signal was at once answered by the inward rush ofsome score or two of vigorous young men, who had been in readiness outsidethe court. These were stripped to the waist, and had their loins girt.Some bore huge stones in their bare arms; others, loosening the pavementwith crow and pick-axe, stooped down and tore it up with a fierce andcruel energy, as though they had already been kept waiting too long. Theywere followers of John of Gischala, and their chief, though he took nopart in the proceeding, stood at their head. His first glance was one ofsavage triumph, which faded into no less savage disappointment, as he sawEleazar's place vacant in the assembly of judges--that warrior's dutiesagainst the enemy excusing his attendance on the occasion. John hadcounted on this critical moment for the utter discomfiture of his rival;but the latter, whose fortitude, strung as it had been to the highestpitch, could scarcely have carried him through such a trial as wasprepared for him, had escaped it by leading a chosen band of followers tothe post of danger, where the inner wall was weakest, and the breach solately made had been hastily and insufficiently repaired.

  John saw in this well-timed absence another triumph for his invincibleenemy. He turned away with a curse upon his lips, and ordered the youngmen to proceed at once in the execution of their ghastly duty. It seemedto him that he must not lose a moment in following his rival to the wall,yet he could not resist the brutal pleasure of witnessing that rival'sbrother lying defaced and mangled in the horrible death to which he hadbeen condemned. Already the stones were poised, the fierce brows knit, thebare arms raised, when even the savage executioners held their hands, andthe grim Sanhedrim glanced from one to another, half in uncertainty, halfin pity, at what they beheld. The figure of a woman darting from thegloomy cloister, rushed across the court to fall in Esca's arms with astrange wild cry, not quite a shout of triumph, not quite a shriek ofdespair; and the Briton looking down upon Mariamne, folded her head to hisbreast, with a murmur of manly tenderness that even such a moment couldnot repress, while he shielded her with his body from the threatenedmissiles, in mingled gentleness and defiance, as a wild animal turned tobay protects its young.

  She passed her hands across his brow with a fond impulsive caress. With awoman's instinct, too, of care and compassion, she gently stroked hiswrist where it had been chafed and galled by his bonds; then she smiled upin his face, a loving happy smile, and whispered, "My own, my dear one;they shall never part us. If I cannot save thee, I can die with thee; oh!so happy. Happier than I have ever been before in my life."

  It was a strange feeling for him to shrink from the beloved presence, toavoid the desired caress, to entreat his Mariamne to leave him; but thoughhis first impulse had been to clasp her in his arms, his blood ran cold tothink of the danger she was braving, the fate to which those tender limbs,that fair young delicate body, would too surely be exposed.

  "No, no," he said, "not so. You are too young, too beautiful to die.Mariamne, if you ever loved me--nay, as you love me, I charge you to leaveme now."

  She looked at Calchas, whom she had not yet seemed to recognise, and therewas a smile--yes! a smile on her face, while she stood forth between theprisoners, and fronted that whole assembly with dauntless forehead andbrave flashing eyes; her fair slight figure the one centre of allobservation, the one prominent object in the court.

  "Listen," she said, in clear sweet tones, that rang like music to the veryfarthest cloisters. "Listen all, and bear witness! Princes of the House ofJudah, elders and nobles, and priests and Levites of the nation! ye cannotshrink from your duty, ye cannot put off your sacred character. I appealto your own constitution and your own awful vow. Ye have sworn to obey thedictates of wisdom without favour; ye have sworn to fulfil the behests ofjustice without mercy. I charge ye to condemn me, Mariamne, the daughterof Eleazar Ben-Manahem, to be stoned with stones until I die; for that Itoo am one of those Nazarenes whom men call Christians. Yea, I triumph intheir belief, as I glory in their name. Ye need no evidence, for I condemnmyself out of my own mouth. Priests of my father's faith, here in its veryTemple I deny your holiness, I abjure your worship, I renounce your creed!This building that overshadows me shall testify to my denunciations. Itmay be that this very day it shall fall in upon you and cover you with itsruins. If these have spoken blasphemy, so have I; if these are offendersworthy of death, so am I. I bear witness against you! I defy you! I bidyou do your worst on those who are proud and happy to die for conscience'sake!"

  Her cheek glowed, her eye flashed, her very figure dilated as she shookher white hand aloft, and thus braved the assembled Sanhedrim with herdefiance. It was strange how like Eleazar she was at that moment, whilethe rich old blood of Manahem mounted in her veins; and the courage of herfathers, that
of yore had smitten the armed Philistine in the wilderness,and turned the fierce children of Moab in the very tide of conquest, nowblazed forth at the moment of danger in the fairest and gentlestdescendant of their line. Even her very tones thrilled to the heart ofCalchas, not so much for her own sake, as for that of the brother whom heso loved, and whose voice he seemed to hear in hers. Esca gazed on herwith a fond astonishment; and John of Gischala quailed where he stood, ashe thought of his noble enemy, and the hereditary courage he had done morewisely not to have driven to despair.

  But the tension of her nerves was too much for her woman's strength.Bravely she hurled her challenge in their very teeth; and then, shaking inevery limb, she leaned against the Briton's towering form, and hid herface once more on his breast.

  Even the Nasi was moved. Stern, rigid, and exacting, yet apart from hisoffice he too had human affections and human weaknesses. He had mournedfor more than one brave son, he had loved more than one dark-eyeddaughter. He would have spared her if he could, and he bit his lip hardunder the long white beard, in a vain effort to steady the quiver he couldnot control. He looked appealingly amongst his colleagues, and met many aneye that obviously sympathised with his tendency to mercy; but John ofGischala interposed, and cried out loudly for justice to be done withoutdelay.

  "Ye have heard her!" he exclaimed, with an assumption of holy and zealousindignation; "out of her own mouth she is condemned. What need ye moreproof or further deliberation? The doom has gone forth. I appeal to theSanhedrim that justice be done, in the name of our faith, our nation, ourTemple, and our Holy City, which such righteous acts as these may preserveeven now from the desolation that is threatening at the very gate!"

  With such an assembly, such an appeal admitted of no refusal. The Seventylooked from one to another and shook their heads, sorrowfully indeed, butwith knitted brows and grave stern faces that denoted no intention tospare. Already Phineas Ben-Ezra had given the accustomed signal; alreadythe young men appointed as executioners had closed round the doomed three,with huge blunt missiles poised, and prepared to launch them forth, whenanother interruption arrived to delay for a while the cruel sacrifice thata Jewish Sanhedrim dignified with the title of justice.

  A voice that had been often heard before, though never so wild andpiercing as at this moment, rang through the Court of the Gentiles, andseemed to wail among the very pinnacles of the Temple towering in themorning air above. It was a voice that struck to the hearts of all whoheard it--such a voice as terrifies men in their dreams; chilling theblood, and making the flesh creep with a vague yet unendurable horror, sothat when the pale sleeper wakes, he is drenched with the cold sweat ofmortal fear. A voice that seemed at once to threaten and to warn, to pityand to condemn; a voice of which the moan and the burden were everunbroken and the same--"Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the Holy City! Sin, andsorrow, and desolation! Woe to the Holy City! Woe to Jerusalem!"

  Naked, save for a fold of camel's hair around his loins, his coarse blacklocks matted and tangled, and mingled with the uncombed beard that reachedbelow his waist--his dark eyes gleaming with lurid fire, and his long leanarms tossing aloft with the wild gestures of insanity--a tall figurestalked into the middle of the court, and taking up its position beforethe Nasi of the Sanhedrim, began scattering around it on the floor theburning embers from a brazier it bore on its head; accompanying itsactions with the same mournful and prophetic cry. The young men pausedwith their arms up in act to hurl; the Nasi stood motionless andastonished; the Sanhedrim seemed paralysed with fear; and the Prophet ofWarning, if prophet indeed he were, proceeded with his chant of vengeanceand denunciation against his countrymen.

  "Woe to Jerusalem!" said he once more. "Woe to the Holy City! A voice fromthe East, a voice from the West, a voice from the four winds; a voiceagainst Jerusalem and the holy house; a voice against the bridegrooms andthe brides; and a voice against the whole people!"

  Then he turned aside and walked round the prisoners in a circle, stillcasting burning ashes on the floor. Matthias, like his colleagues, waspuzzled how to act. If this were a demoniac, he entertained for him anatural horror and aversion, enhanced by the belief he held, in commonwith his countrymen, that one possessed had the strength of a score of menin his single arm; but what if this should be a true prophet, inspireddirectly from heaven? The difficulty would then become far greater. Toendeavour to suppress him might provoke divine vengeance on the spot;whereas, to suffer his denunciations to go abroad amongst the people ashaving prevailed with the Great Council of the nation, would be to abandonthe inhabitants at once to despair, and to yield up all hope of offering asuccessful defence to the coming attack. From this dilemma the Nasi wasreleased by the last person on whom he could have counted for assistanceat such a time. Pointing to the prisoners with his wasted arm, the prophetdemanded their instant release, threatening divine vengeance on theSanhedrim if they refused; and then addressing the three with the samewild gestures and incoherent language, he bade them come forth from theirbonds, and join him in his work of prophecy through the length and breadthof the city.

  "I have power to bind," he exclaimed, "and power to loose! I command youto rend your bonds asunder! I command you to come forth, and join me, theProphet of Warning, in the cry that I am commissioned to cry aloud,without ceasing--'Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the Holy City! Woe toJerusalem!'"

  Then Calchas, stretching out his bound hands, rebuked him, calmly, mildly,solemnly, with the patience of a good and holy man--with the instinctivesuperiority of one who is standing on the verge of his open grave.

  "Wilt thou hinder God's work?" he said. "Wilt thou dare to suppress thetestimony we are here to give in His presence to-day? See! even this younggirl, weak indeed in body yet strong in faith, stands bold and unflinchingat her post! And thou, O man! what art thou, that thou shouldst think tocome between her and her glorious reward? Be still! be still! Be no morevexed by the unquiet spirit, but go in peace, or rather stay here in theCourt of the Gentiles, and bear witness to the truth, for which we are sothankful and so proud to die!"

  The prophet's eye wandered dreamily from the speaker's face to those ofthe surrounding listeners. His features worked as though he strove againstsome force within that he was powerless to resist; then his whole framecollapsed, as it were, into a helpless apathy, and placing his brazier onthe ground, he sat down beside it, rocking his body to and fro, while hemoaned out, as it seemed unconsciously, in a low and wailing voice, theburden of his accustomed chant.

  To many in the assembly that scene was often present in their after lives.When they opened their eyes to the light of morning they saw its glow oncemore on the bewildered faces of the Sanhedrim; on the displeasure, mingledwith wonder and admiration, that ruffled the austere brow of Matthias; onthe downward scowl that betrayed how shame and fear were torturing John ofGischala; on the clear-cut figures of the young men he had marshalled,girded and ready for their cruel office; on Esca's towering frame, haughtyand undaunted still; on Mariamne's drooping form, and pale patient face;above all, on the smile that illumined the countenance of Calchas,standing there in his bonds, so venerable, and meek, and happy, nowturning to encourage his companions in affliction, now raising his eyesthankfully to heaven, his whole form irradiated the while by a flood oflight, that seemed richer and more lustrous than the glow of the morningsun.

  But while the prophet, thus tranquillised and silenced by the rebuke hehad provoked, sat muttering and brooding amongst his dying embers on thefloor; while the Sanhedrim, with their Nasi, stood aghast; while John ofGischala gnawed his lip in impatient vindictive hatred; and the young mengathered closer round their victims, as the wolves gather in upon theirprey,--Mariamne raised her head from Esca's breast, and, pushing the hairback from her ears and temples, stood for an instant erect and motionless,with every faculty absorbed in the one sense of listening. Then she turnedher flashing eyes, lit up with great hope and triumph, yet not untinged bywistful mournful tenderness, upon the Briton's face, and sobbed in brokenaccents, between t
ears and laughter--

  "Saved! Saved! beloved. And by my hand, though lost to me!"

  Sharpened by intense affection, her ear alone had caught the distant noteof the Roman trumpets sounding for the assault.