CHAPTER IX
"--AS AN ARMY WITH BANNERS!"
Agrippa emerged at sunset from his apartment and descended to the firstfloor of the alabarch's mansion. The hall was vacant and each of thechambers opening off it was silent, so he wandered through the wholelength of the corridor, composedly as a master in his own house. Noone did he see until he reached the end of the hall, when thereappeared suddenly, as if materialized out of the gloom, the brownserving-woman. The olive-green of her immense eyes glittered in thelight of a reed taper she bore. She stepped aside to let him pass andproceeded to light the lamps.
Agrippa stopped to look at her, simply because she was lithe andunusual, but she continued without heeding him. On one of thelamp-bowls the palm-oil had run over and the reed ignited it; but withher bare hand the woman damped it and went her way with a running flameflickering out on the back of her hand.
"Perpol!" the prince exclaimed to himself as he rambled on. "No wonderthe phenix comes to Egypt to be born."
At the end of a corridor he passed through an open door into acolonnade fronting a court-garden of extraordinary beauty. It wascarpeted with sod, interlined with walks of white stone which led atevery divergence to a classic Roman exedra. The awning which usuallysheltered the inclosure from the sun had been rolled up and the coolingsky bent loftily over it. The inert summer airs were heavy with thescent of lotus, red lilies and spice roses which were massed in an ovalbed in the center.
At that moment he caught sight of an indolent figure, half sitting,half lying in one of the sections of the exedra.
He knew at first glance that it was not the alabarch's daughter, and,remembering that his last glance in the mirror after his servant haddone with him had shown him at his best, he moved without hesitationtoward the unknown.
As he approached she raised her eyes and coolly scrutinized him. Herface, thus lifted for inspection, showed him a woman in the latertwenties, and of that type which since the beginning could look menbetween the eyes. She was a Roman, but never in all the Empire wereother eyes so black and luminous, or hair so glossy, or cheek soradiant. Her face was an elongated oval, topping a long round neck,which broadened at the base into a sudden and exaggerated slope ofmarble-white shoulders. The low sweep of the bosom, the girdle justbeneath it, shortening the lithe waist, the slender hips, the long lazylimbs completed a perfect type, distinct and unlimited in its powers.
For a fraction of a second the two contemplated each other; perhapsonly long enough for each to confess to himself that he had met hislike. Then Agrippa came and sat down beside her, and she did not stirfrom her careless posture. So many, many of the kind had each met andknown that they could not be strangers.
"The alabarch should turn his prospective son-in-law into his garden ifhe would speed the marrying of his daughter," the prince observed.
"He hath the daughter, the garden, and the notion to dispose of her,"she answered, "but it is the son-in-law that is wanting."
"But in my long experience with womankind," he replied, "it would notseem improbable to believe that it is the lady and not the lover thatmakes the witchery of the garden a wasted thing. I have heard ofunwilling maids."
"Unwilling in directions," she replied with a smile, "and under certaininfluences. For if there were any to withstand my conviction, I amready to wager that there never lived a woman before whom all the worldof men could pass without making her choice."
"And perchance," he said promptly, "if there were any to withstand myconviction, I would wager that there never lived a man before whom theworld of women could pass without making his choice,--again and again!"
"Which declaration," she responded evenly, "publishes thee a marriedman; the single gallant declares only for one."
"O deft reasoning! it establishes thee a Roman. What dost thou here,in Alexandria where there is no court, no games, no senators, noCaesar--naught but riots and Jews?"
"Jews," she said, scanning a rounded arm to see if its rest on the backof the exedra had left a mark on it, "Jews are red-lipped, and eyedlike heifers. Sometimes brawn and force weary us in Rome; wherefore wego into Egypt or the East to seek silky and subtle devilishness."
Agrippa moved along the exedra and looked into her eyes. He saw therethat peculiar expression which he had expected to find. It was a setquestioning, one that runs the scale from appeal to demand--the askingeye, the sign of continual consciousness of the woman-self and hercharms.
"Why make the effort? Only tell us of the East that you want us andthe East will come to you."
"What? Oriental love-philters, simitars, poisoning, silks andmysticism in the shadow of the Fora and within sound of theSenate-chamber? No, my friend; we must hear the lapping of the Nile orthe flow of the Abana, behold camels and priests, and the far levelline of the desert, while we languish on bronze bosoms and breathemusks from oriental lips."
"It is not then the Jews," he objected. "They are a temperate, apassionless lot, that carry the Torah like hair-balances in theirhearts to discover if any deed they do weighs according to the Law.No, Jews are a straight people. Thou speakest of the--Arab!"
She turned her eyes toward him and measured his length, surveyed hisslender hands, and glanced at the warm brown of his complexion.
"So?" she asked with meaning. "An Arab?"
He continued to smile at her.
"And every Jew is thus minded?" she asked, observing later theunmistakable signs of Jewish blood in his profile.
"Unless he is tinctured with the lawlessness of Arabia."
"Ah!" She moved her fan idly and looked up at the sky.
"It is then, of a truth, the Arab, we seek," she added presently. "TheArab that knows no manners but his fathers' manners; who eats, drinks,loves, hates and conquers after his own fashion."
"Without having seen Jerusalem, or Rome?" he asked.
"Rome!" she repeated, looking at him again. "Yes, without having seenRome or Jerusalem or Alexandria."
Agrippa tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Then, it is good only for a time--for as long as the surfeit ofcivilization lasts--which lasts no longer the moment one realizes theArab is not devoted to the bath and that he counts his women among hiscattle!"
She laughed outright. "I remember thou didst indorse him not a momentsince! Wherefore the change?"
"Refinement in all things! To get it into an Arab, he has to bemodified by alien blood."
"A truce! I am in Alexandria; her poetic wickedness has not beenentirely exhausted. I--meet new, desirable things--daily!"
Her fan was between them as she spoke and he took the stick of it justabove where she held it and was putting it aside when the proconsul,resplendent in a tunic of white and purple, appeared in the colonnade.Beside him was Cypros in her Jewish matron's dress.
Agrippa put the fan out of the way and made his answer.
"Forget not that the East, whether Arab or Alexandrian, isintense--once won. It might harass thee, if thou weariest of it,before it wearies of thee--even to the extreme of pursuing thee toRome."
The proconsul and the princess approached. The deep-set eyes of theRoman wore a peculiarly satisfied look.
"Men seek for stray cattle in the fields of sweet grass, look for lostjewels in the wallets of thieves, and missing Herods in the company ofbeautiful women," he observed.
"It is good to have an established reputation, whether we be cattle orjewels or Herods," Agrippa laughed; "for, thou seest, we are disjointedand unsettled, seeing Flaccus now enduring a Jew, again attending alady.
"Again," said the beauty, "we mark the work of circumstances, which ledus into difference just now, O thou disputatious."
"Well said, Junia," the proconsul declared; "some ladies would makegallants out of the fiends! Know ye all one another?" the proconsulcontinued.
"Except my lovely neighbor," Agrippa replied.
"The Lady Junia, daughter of Euodus, who with her father hath beentransplanted here from Rome."
In the colonnade Lydia, the daughter, appeared and beside her a man, bycertain of the more obvious signs, of middle-age. But when he drewcloser the more obvious gave way to the indisputable testimony ofsmooth elastic skin, long lashes and strong, white, unworn teeth thatthe man was not yet thirty. He was a little above medium height,spare, yet well-built except for a slight lift in the shoulders,beardless, colorless, with straight dark hair, bound with a classicfillet. His general lack of tone brought into noticeable prominencethe amiability and luster of his fine brown eyes.
That he was a Jew was apparent no less by dress than by feature. HisJewish garments differed only in color and texture from those worn byhis fathers in Judea. The outer gown was of light green scantly shotwith points of gold.
The pair walked slowly as if unconscious of the presence of others, andthe attitude of the man, bending to look into Lydia's face as shewalked, was clearly more attentive than ordinary courtesy demanded.
"Approacheth Justin Classicus," said Flaccus. "In that garment helooks much like a chameleon that has strayed across an Attic meadow inspring."
"Behold, already the witchery of the garden!" Agrippa said softly toJunia.
"This," added the proconsul, introducing the new-comer, "is JustinClassicus, the latest fashion in philosophers, the most popular Jew inAlexandria."
Classicus bowed, glanced at Junia and again at Agrippa, and made aplace for Lydia on the exedra, so that he might sit on a taboret at herfeet.
"What news, good sir," Agrippa asked, "among the schools over theworld?"
"News?" Classicus repeated. "Nothing. Philo is silent; Petronius ismersed in affairs in Bithynia; Rome's gone a-frolicking, scholars andall, to Capri."
"Alas!" said Flaccus; "nothing happens now but scandal; even theancient miracles of divine visitations, phenixes, comets and monstershave ceased."
"But you say nothing of religion," said Classicus. "Yet possibly itfollows, now, in order."
"After monsters, phenixes and the rest," put in Agrippa.
"What is it?" Flaccus asked.
"Perchance thou hast heard," Classicus responded. "It issues out ofJudea, which adds to its interest, since we are accustomed to nothingbut sobriety from Palestine."
"What is it?" Flaccus insisted.
"A new Messiah!"
"Oh," Agrippa cried wearily, "a new Messiah! How many in the pastgeneration, Cypros? Ten, twenty, a hundred? Alas! Classicus, thatthou shouldst serve up as new something which every Jew hath expectedand discovered and rejected for the last three thousand years."
"O happy race!" Junia exclaimed; "which hath something to which to lookforward! But what is a Messiah?"
"A god," said Agrippa.
"The anointed king," Cypros corrected hastily, "of godly origin thatshall restore the Jews to dominion over the world!"
"_Mirabile dictu!_" Junia cried.
"Olympian Jove!" Flaccus exclaimed, smiting his muscular leg. "What atask, what an ambition, what an achievement! I behold Caesar's dudgeon.Go on, Classicus; though it be old to thy remarkable race, used toaspiring to the scope of Olympus, let us hear, who have never wished tobe more than Caesar!"
"It is not so much of the Messiah," Classicus responded, smiling, "ashis--school, if it may be so called. One of the followers appeared atthe Library some time ago, perchance as long as three years ago--anEgyptian of the upper classes, much traveled, and told such aremarkable tale of the Messiah's birth and death that he instantly lostcaste for truthfulness."
"Alas!" Lydia exclaimed in a tone of disappointment. "Why will theyinsist that the Messiah must be a miraculous creature, demeanored likethe pagan gods and proceeding through the uproar of tumbling satrapiesto the high place of Supreme Necromancer of the Universe!"
"Sweet Lydia!" Agrippa protested. "Roman hard-headedness hath turnedthee against our traditions!"
"But the Egyptian did not picture such a man," Classicus said verygently. "He went to the other extreme, so far that his hearers had tocontemplate an image of a carpenter's son, elected to a leadership overa horde of slaves and outcasts and visionary aristocrats; who taught adoctrine of submission, poverty and love, and who finally was crucifiedfor blasphemy during a popular uproar."
"It hath the recommendation of being different!" Lydia declaredfrankly. "Tell me more."
"There is no more."
"What! Is it dead?" she insisted. "Dead as all the others? Then itis different only in its inception."
"No," said Agrippa thoughtfully; "it is not dead, but dying hard. TheSanhedrim is punishing its followers in Jerusalem at present. Thourememberest, Cypros; Marsyas was charged with the apostasy."
"So material as to engage the Sanhedrim?" Lydia pursued.
"We hear," responded Classicus, "that Jerusalem and even Judea areunsafe for them, and numbers have appeared in the city of late--"
"Among us?" Lydia asked.
"No; in Rhacotis," replied Classicus; whereupon Flaccus raised aninquiring eye.
"Is that the sect that the prefect has been warned to observe?" hedemanded.
"Doubtless; it seems that their foremost fault is rebellion againstauthority," Classicus made answer. "So much for their doctrine ofsubmission."
"Tell us that," Lydia urged.
"Apostasy," Agrippa answered for Classicus, "flagrant apostasy; for theSanhedrim came out of the hall of judgment to stone an offender, forthe first time in seven years. I saw the execution; in fact, in a wayI was brought close to the circumstances by a friend of the apostatewho was attached to my household."
"Is he with thee?" Flaccus asked pointedly.
"No, we left him in Ptolemais. But the note of their presence inAlexandria must have been sounded early, directly they arrived, for Ideparted from Jerusalem the day following the first movement againstthe sect, and thence to Ptolemais and Alexandria with ordinarydespatch."
"They did not announce themselves," Flaccus replied. "Vitelliusannounced them. He wants an Essene who is believed to be among them."
Agrippa raised his head and looked straight at Flaccus. He rememberedthat he had betrayed Marsyas' refuge. Cypros drew in a breath of alarm.
"That was simply done, Flaccus," Agrippa remarked coolly.
The princess laid her hand on the ruddy flesh of the proconsul's arm.
"We have been frank with thee, my lord," she said, "and thou art anoble Roman--therefore a safe guardian of our unguarded words."
The others maintained a wondering silence. Flaccus smiled.
"Vitellius hath bidden me to look for him, adding with certain fervidembellishments that he hath sought everywhere but in Egypt and Hades.Vitellius is no diplomat. Whistling finds the lost hound sooner thansearch."
"But thou wilt not find him, noble Flaccus," Cypros besought in alowered tone. "Yield us thy promise that thou wilt not betray him!"
"My promise, lady! Indeed, I gave it in my heart a moment since. Hearit now. Alexandria is subject to thee. Let him come and be our ward."
"I shall depend on that," Agrippa said decidedly. "For I shalldespatch a servant for the man, the instant I can so do!"
"And yet," Cypros insisted, still distressed, "if Vitellius requireshim at thy hands, how shalt thou avoid giving him up?"
Flaccus smiled at her with softened eyes.
"O gentle lady, the day the young man should arrive, I shall set theprefect on the Nazarenes in Rhacotis. If he be not found, none withoutthis trustworthy circle shall have cause to believe that I am not inall conscience striving to help a brother proconsul run down afugitive."
"A shrewd strategy," Lydia said dryly, "but one rather costly for theNazarenes."
"The Nazarenes! Who wastes tears over them? Thine own straight peoplecondemn them, lady."
"An exhilarating recreation, indeed," she repeated as if to herself,"for the prefect, the rabble Alexandrians and the Nazarenes! O seekersof esthetic sport, that will be a rare occasion! Yield me thy promise,my Lord Agrippa, that thou wilt tell us the day the you
ng man arrives!"
Flaccus' face darkened for a moment, but at that moment the alabarchappeared in the colonnade.
"Here comes our host," said Agrippa. "Hast ordered the garlands,Lysimachus?"
"The feast is prepared," Lysimachus replied, and, turning to Flaccus,continued: "Thou shalt see, now, good sir, how Jews feast. In allthine experiences, thou hast never broken bread with a Jew."
"Not so!" Flaccus retorted, "for I was present at the Lady Cypros'wedding-feast!"
"Ho! Flaccus remembering a wedding-feast!" Agrippa laughed, as hearose, taking Junia's hand. "Mars, cherishing a confection!"
"Perchance," Cypros ventured, pleased and coloring, "if Mars'confections were more plentiful and the noble Flaccus' wedding-feastsless rare, they both might forget the one!"
"Never!" Flaccus declared, "though I were Hymen himself!"
As they proceeded toward the colonnade, Cypros drew closer to him.
"Thou canst not know what service thou hast done us by that promise,"she said. "It is more than the youth's security; it means my husband'ssuccess. For in this young man, we have found Fortune itself!"
The proconsul made no answer, for his gray-brown eyes flickeredsuddenly as if a candle had been moved close by them.
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