CHAPTER XXVI
THE ARM MADE BARE
Lydia went up on the housetop into the shade of the pavilion with thewriting her father had put into her hand, and drawing the hangings onthe east side of the pavilion to shut out the morning sun, sat down toread how Marsyas had revealed the evil tidings to the alabarch.
It was the first moment of rest she had had since the messenger hadarrived at daybreak with the letter which had flung Cypros intoparoxysms of suffering and desperation. Now that the unhappy princesshad yielded to the benign influence of a narcotic simple, Lydia hadtime for her own thoughts.
It was not the same Lydia that had danced on the Temple of Rannu.Spiritual change as infallibly marks the countenance as physicalchange. The last of the half-skeptical, half-philosophical tolerantequanimity was gone from her face; the self-reliance had beentransformed into a look of faith and believing, and a certaintranquillity, no less sweet and unshaken because it was sorrowful, noless patient because its hope was faint, made her forehead placid.
She read:
ROME, Kal. Jul. X, 790.
"TO THE MOST EXCELLENT ALABARCH, ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS, GOVERNOR OF THEJEWS OF ALEXANDRIA, GREETING:
"It is my grief to inform thee that at the command of Caesar, my lordand patron, Herod Agrippa, hath been confined in the Praetorian Campawaiting sentence for utterances pronounced treasonous to Caesar.
"Immediately after the prince's arrest, one of the ladies of Caesar'strain was stricken by an illness, resulting from the malarious airs ofthe Campagna, and the emperor ordered the immediate return to Capri.
"Inquiry among the emperor's ministers discloses the fact that he leftno explicit instructions concerning the execution of a sentence uponAgrippa. It is noted in Rome that, owing to the multiplicity of hisduties and the weariness of his mind, the emperor forgets readily, andis not pleased to be reminded of that which he hath forgotten toperform. Wherefore, if it please God to erase Agrippa from his mind,it shall be seen to, here in Rome, that no one recall the unfortunateprince to Caesar's attention.
"Canvass among the fellows of Agrippa conducted by certain powers inthe state reveals that the movement against the prince did not have itsinception in Rome; however, many were not unwilling to have it come topass because of the prince's aggressive political preferences. But nowthat he is at the edge of ruin, the insignificant activity in thecapital hath fallen inert; those who contributed to it are alarmed, forthe accomplishment of Agrippa's death will inevitably revert upon theheads of them who endangered him, should Caius Caligula be crowned.
"The movement against the prince, consummated by the charioteerEutychus, had its inception, as I have said, not in Rome. The manstole of his master's wardrobe and ran away. When he was apprehendedhe claimed that he had information against Agrippa which concerned thelife and welfare of Caesar. Piso, city prefect, bound the man and senthim to Tusculum, where, by the solicitations of Antonia, who wascommanded by Agrippa, the emperor heard the charioteer's charge.
"Thou and I know, good my lord, that Eutychus is too clumsy a villain,too much of a coward, to invent and push this bold work himself,without support. Wherefore, I and others are convinced that he musthave been inspired and aided by some secret and shrewd enemy outside ofRome. If the proconsul of Egypt is not yet informed of this disaster,do not trouble him with the information!
"It may assist thee to know that Eutychus, given ten stripes as earnestof Caesar's respect for him, and turned loose, eluded mine andCaligula's vengeance and immediately took ship for Alexandria. Expecthim in the Brucheum.
"Know this, also. If Caesar forget and Agrippa live on, this enemy willgrow restive and bestir himself again, wherefore it is the duty of themwho love the prince to watch for any coiling which prepares for thestroke.
"For thine own comfort and for the comfort of his unhappy princess, Iadd here, though in peril to the prince's benefactor and to myself,that Agrippa's prison discomforts are alleviated, and kind usagesecured him by the generous distribution of gold among them whosurround him. It is not a difficult matter to secure him comparativecomfort.
"Silas and I daily come to him with fresh clothing, and abundant food:he hath his own bedding and his daily bath. Through the influence ofthe praetorian prefect, obtained at great price by Antonia, none ispermitted to pronounce Agrippa's name outside the camp, on pain ofextreme punishment--a clever pretense at abhorring a traitor which aimsonly at his defense.
"Thy part is to quiet, within thy powers, any work in Alexandria whichmay lead to Caesar's remembering Agrippa.
"I have closed the prince's residence, dispersed his slaves among thefamilies of his friends, and with Silas I am living under the roof ofAntonia, in whose care I am permitted to receive letters. The LadyJunia is at Capri at my solicitation, pledged to do a woman's part inthe protection of Agrippa.
"May the God of our fathers arm thee. "Peace to thee and thine. "MARSYAS."
Lydia sighed and let the writing drop into her lap.
"I can not hope, my Marsyas," she said to herself, "if thou artschooled in the understanding of women by Junia!"
The Roman tincture was patent in the letter, but the Jewish manner,Jewish penetration, and the Essenic coldness were strong and unaltered.His well-beloved and unchanged hand had pressed all the surface of theparchment, but she did not lift it to her lips. There had been no wordbeyond the general greeting to her as the family of the alabarch, andproud, even in her sorrow and the new-found humility, she saved herendearments.
After a moment of further thought, she was aroused by the rattle ofwheels which came to an end before the porch of her father's house.She arose and going to the parapet looked over. Justin Classicus'chariot stood there. She caught the last flutter of his garments as hedisappeared under the roof of the porch.
She went back to her place and waited for a servant to announce theguest. But Classicus lingered. The alabarch was not like to betelling him the account of Agrippa's latest misfortune.
She put away Marsyas' letter and gazed at the Synagogue immersed in thegolden flood of Egyptian sunshine. She had not ceased to love it, norto attend it with all maiden fidelity since she had followed Jesus ofNazareth, but it seemed to love her less, to throw a shadow darker, butless benign, over her, as she approached its giant gates. Saul ofTarsus whom she had feared for Marsyas' sake was a hidden menace now inits great angles, a threat in its rituals, a brooding danger held uponly so long as she hid in deceit. She felt unutterably lonely andfriendless.
Presently Classicus came up unannounced. She knew at a glance that hehad learned from some source of Agrippa's misfortune, and wondered fora moment if her father had forgotten Marsyas' charge.
"Alexandria hath heard of Agrippa's disaster," he began, as he seatedhimself beside her, "and I came to offer my consolation and my aid."
Then Flaccus already had the news!
"I would thou couldst aid us, Justin. Not now is anything moreprecious than help, and nothing less possible."
"And to say lastly," he continued, looking into her face, "that Ideplore that haunted look in thine eyes, Lydia. What does it mean?"
"That I grow older, wiser, sadder--and less fortunate."
"Thou shouldst study the philosophy of the Nazarenes," he declared. "Ifind that much of their teaching, stripped of its frenzy and reduced tothe dignity of pure language, hath much comfort in it."
"Does it promise that sorrow will not come to them who espouse it?" sheasked, looking away.
"Nay, but it preaches universal love. Could I teach thee that, sorrowshould never approach thee or me henceforth!"
"I fear thou dost not understand them," she said dubiously.
"Not wholly," he admitted. "I have not yet been able to agree withthem, that I, Justin Classicus, scholar and Sadducee, should find it inmy heart to love a crook-back shepherd that speaks Aramaic, rejoices onconchs, relishes onions and is washed only when the rains wet him."
He smiled, and Justin Classicus' face w
as helped by a smile. Mirthpossessed him entirely, cast up a transitory flush in his cheeks andlighted torches in his eyes. But Lydia looked across the Alexandrianhousetops.
"Why dost thou seek this new philosophy, Justin?" she asked.
"To see if it be safe enough heresy to teach thee," he returned. "Ifit be, thou shall learn it, for in its creed of universal love, I putmine only hope that thou shalt come to love me!"
"Learn the universal love for thyself, Justin: learn to love theshepherd and thine enemy--learn it in all truth, and thou mayest becontent with that, and no more!"
"The Lord forbid!" he cried. "If that should come to pass, learningthis new philosophy, I pause, even now!"
"Enemy?" he repeated, after a little in a gentler tone. "Save anotherhath possessed thy heart, I have no enemy--the Nazarenes recommendingthat one leave them out of one's catalogue of fellows!"
"Canst thou not hold off thy hand, even from an enemy? Hath thy searchafter their philosophy taught thee so much?"
He looked at her face, and saw thereon something to follow.
"I can--be bought," he answered softly.
She remembered his part in the ambuscade the night of the Dance ofFlora, and her face paled a little.
"It is not the Nazarene way," she replied unreadily.
"Nay, but if the demand be great enough, any method must serve. ShallI name my price?" His voice was clear and illuminating.
She arose and moved over to one of the columns, and leaning against itgazed across toward the blue sparkle of the New Port. She felt thestrength of his fortification, the extent of his power over her. Notany of the many things she had hidden from all but Marsyas were unknownto him!
She turned to him with appeal in her eyes, but he laughed very softly,and wrapped the kerchief skilfully about his head. His composureterrified her. He held out his hand.
"Think," he said, "and to-morrow or the next to-morrow, but soon, thouwilt tell me. Meanwhile I shall tell thy father that I have spokenwith thee."
He took her fingers and kissed them.
"Farewell. And let the Nazarenes persuade thee, if I can not!"
A long time after she heard the wheels of his chariot roll away frombefore the alabarch's porch. Then with slow, weary steps she went downinto the house. She would seek out her father, and discover what toexpect from Flaccus and if disaster could be averted from the belovedhead of Marsyas and the unhappy Herod. Not until then would sheentertain the suggested sacrifice which Classicus had so deftlydemanded.
But when she reached the inner chamber, with the arch opening into thealabarch's presiding room, she saw within the proconsul.
She hesitated, surprised and alarmed, but presently her father, raisinghis eyes, saw her and signed to her to enter.
The proconsul stopped in the middle of a sentence to greet her, notfrom courtesy, but because she was a consideration. She took her placeon an ivory footstool at the foot of the alabarch's chair and seemed toefface herself.
Lysimachus trifled with a stick of wax and heard Flaccus to the end ofthe sentence. The old tone of assumed cordiality was gone. Flaccushad ascended again to the plane of a legate speaking with a Jew.
"So I shall pay thee thy five talents and release the lady, that shemay be sent to Rome," he concluded.
"The gossip of the lady's arrival in Rome would work havoc, sir. Shewould be there engaging Antonia's attention, which should be devotedwithout lapse, in other directions."
"The Herod's lady need not arrive with the blare of trumpets," was thecool retort, "and since thy talents are returned to thee, Lysimachus,thou art not asked to carry thy concern into Rome."
The thin cheeks of the alabarch grew pink and Lydia raised a pair ofsomber eyes to the proconsul's face.
"It is not a matter of my loan," the alabarch answered without a tremorin his melodious voice, "but it is that I held her in hostage in thebeginning."
"At my suggestion. Then thou canst release her at my suggestion--andif the loan sits roughly on thy conscience we shall call it a gift atthis late day."
"If it please thee, good sir, we have left the discussion of thetalents. It is the lady who concerns us now. I would be plain withthee; I should reproach myself did I let her proceed out of my house."
"Call the lady," Flaccus commanded. "We will lay the matter beforeher."
"She sleeps," Lydia said.
"I bring her more relief than sleep," was the blunt reply. "Bring herhither."
"On one promise," Lydia said.
"What?"
"That I and my servants alone shall accompany her to Rome."
Flaccus gazed straight at the alabarch's daughter. Lysimachus satwithout movement. He knew that his daughter had seen at once thatwhich he had instantly divined--that Flaccus had no intention ofsending Cypros to Rome.
"Bring the lady," Flaccus insisted, "and we shall lay our plansthereafter."
Lydia sat still; she knew Cypros' believing nature; that she would seenothing but a generous offer in the proconsul's intent; that to preventthe simple woman from consenting to destroy herself the whole villainyof the proconsul would have to be uncovered to her--doubtless beforeFlaccus, with unimaginable results. The alabarch looked down on hisdaughter's fair head, away from Flaccus' threatening gaze and waitedfor her answer.
"My lord," she said composedly, "we have complicated our associationswith thee and this unfortunate family long enough. Perchance we erred.At best it may no longer be maintained. Though the Lady Cypros isuninformed, I and others know why thou hast been tolerant of our peopleof late; what deed thou didst attempt in the passage back of Rannu'sTemple on the closing night of Flora's feast; what disaster overtookthee there; why Agrippa, now, is undone and what thou meanest in truthto do with his princess."
There was silence. Then the alabarch's hand dropped down on Lydia'scurls.
"Daughter, thou art weaponed with testimony new to thy father; thouhast kept thy arms concealed. Yet I will take them up, now." Heraised his eyes to Flaccus.
"Perchance thou wouldst explain to me my daughter's meaning?"
After a dangerous dilation of his gray-brown eyes, Flaccus seemed morethan ever composed.
"Is my favor worth aught to the Jews?" he asked.
"Jews," the alabarch replied, "do not purchase immunity at sacrifice ofthe honor of their women."
"I am not enraged, Alexander," was the reply. "I am only diverted.But the Herod under sentence of death and the Alexandrians loosed uponthe Regio Judaeorum, it seems that the Lady Herod will soon be without aprotector or a roof-tree. She had much better go--to Rome!"
He strode out of the presiding-room and into the street before thealabarch could conduct him to the door.
Lysimachus and his daughter looked at each other. Their thoughtsreached out and gathered in for contemplation all the details and theresults of the climax. Then the alabarch opened his arms to hisdaughter and she slipped down on his breast.
"Tell me what thou knowest against Flaccus, and why I have not learnedof this?" he urged.
It was a sore trial to Lydia's conscience to leave out her own part inthe story she told, but the alabarch was less attentive to the sourceof her information than to the information itself.
"I did not tell it sooner, because, in ignorance thou wouldst not beconstantly hiding from Flaccus a distaste, distrust and watchfulnessthat infallibly would have controlled thee hadst thou known his handswere red with the blood of a man of whom he spoke fair and whom hepretended to love, before the world!"
"What shall we do?" she asked after a long silence, for the press ofmany evils had stunned her resourcefulness.
"Tell the princess first," the alabarch responded.
"And then?"
"Fight! He can invent twenty excuses to take Cypros from me by law andagainst her will."
"Then we must hide her and speedily!"
The alabarch thrust his old waxen fingers into his white locks.
"Now who will imperil himself b
y giving her asylum?" he pondered.
Lydia looked up after a little thought.
"The Nazarenes," she ventured timidly.
"What! The apostates! The community is the most perilous spot inEgypt!"
"Here in Alexandria, of a truth," Lydia hurried on eagerly, "but thouknowest by report that they have spread abroad among rustics andshepherds as a running vine. Many are living about over the Delta.One of them will shelter her, I know. She will go when we have toldher what threatens, nor fail to flourish on their rough fare, since shehath made her bed by the roadways, and had her bread from the hands ofwayside mendicants!"
The alabarch arose and set her on her feet.
"Haste, then, Lydia; no time is to be lost!"
But before she reached the threshold of the archway she turned back andcame slowly to him, closer and closer, until she raised her arms andput them about his neck.
"Father!" she whispered, "we need have fear of Classicus."
The pallor on the old man's face quivered like the reflection of ashaken light.
"He is jealous," he answered, "of Marsyas! Hath he cause, my daughter?"
Lydia dropped her head on the alabarch's breast.
"Marsyas is an Essene!" she whispered, and the alabarch smoothed hercurls and was filled with pity.
Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians Page 26