by George Moore
Of what women will they possess themselves? a brother often asked. Not Jewish women, who would prefer to join themselves with Pharisees or Sadducees rather than with Essenes, and the converts, the brother continued, that might be made among the Gentile women from Mesopotamia and Arabia could not be counted upon to produce pious children, though the fathers that begot the children might be themselves of great piety. These words put the thought into another brother’s mind, that a woman is never faithful to one man, an abiding doctrine among the Essenes: and the group of three, Caleb, Eleazar and Benjamin, began to speak of the stirs and quarrels that these converts would provoke in the cenoby. For even amongst those who have renounced women, there are always a few that retain a longing for women in their heart, and the smouldering embers will burst into flame at the sight of woman. Is not that so, Benjamin? There is much truth in thy words, Caleb, Benjamin answered, and I would know if they partition off the women into an enclosure by themselves, and only take them out at a time judged to be the fruitfullest, for it is not lawful for us to experience pleasure, and as soon as the women are with child, the brethren we have left behind, I trust, withdraw from the company of their wives. Unless, said Eleazar, all the rules of our order be abolished. We did well to leave them, Caleb answered. And then, posing his small fat hands on the parapet, he said: women have ever been looked upon as man’s pleasure, and our pleasures are as wolves, and our virtues are as sheep, and as soon as pleasure breaks into the fold the sheep are torn and mangled. We’re better here with our virtues than they by the lake with their pleasures.
Trouble has begun amongst them already, Eleazar said, and Benjamin turned to ask him if he had gotten news of the brethren by the lake; and he answered that yesterday a shepherd told him that many brothers had left the settlement. We did well, Caleb said, to cherish our celibacy, and the price of living on this rock was not too high a price for it. But tell us what thou hast heard, Eleazar. Eleazar had heard that troubles were begun, but he hoped children would bring peace to all. But all women aren’t fruitful, Caleb said, and Benjamin was vexed with Eleazar because he hadn’t asked how many women were already quick. And they fell to talking scandal, putting forward reasons why some of the brethren should separate themselves from their wives.
Perhaps we shall never know the why and the wherefore, Eleazar said, it being against our rules to absent ourselves without permission from the cenoby, and if we were to break this rule, Hazael might refuse to receive us again. We should wander on the hills seeking grass and roots, for our oaths are that we take no food from strangers. Yet I’d give much to hear how our brethren, for they are our brethren, fare with their wives.
And when they met on the balcony, the elder members of the community, Hazael, Mathias, Saddoc and Manahem, like the younger members conferred together as to whether any good could come to those that had taken wives to themselves for their pleasure. Not for their pleasure, Hazael said, but that holiness may not pass out of the world for ever. But as holiness, Mathias was moved to remark, is of the mind, it cannot be affected by any custom we might impose upon our corporeal nature. Whereupon a disputation began in which Manahem urged upon Mathias that if he had made himself plain it would seem that his belief was that holiness was not dependent upon our acts; and if that be so, he asked, why do we live on this ledge of rock? To which question Mathias answered that the man whose mind is in order need not fear that he will fall into sin, for sin is but a disorder of the mind.
A debate followed regarding the relation of the mind to the body and of the body to the mind, and when all four were wearied of the old discussion, Saddoc said: is it right that we should concern ourselves with these things, asking which of the brothers have taken wives, and how they behave themselves to their wives? It seems to me that Saddoc is right, these matters don’t concern us who have no wives and who never will have. But, said Manahem, though this question has been decided so far as our bodies are concerned, are we not justified in considering marriage as philosophers may, no subject being alien to philosophy? Is not that so, Mathias? No subject is alien to philosophy, Mathias agreed, to which Saddoc replied: we could discuss this matter with profit if we knew which of the brothers had taken to himself a wife; but only rumours reach us here; and the brethren looked across the chasm, their thoughts crossing it easily and passing over the intervening hills down into the plains and over Jordan. We should no doubt be content, said Manahem, with our own beliefs, and abide in the choice that we have made without questioning it further, as Hazael has said. Yet it is hard to keep thoughts of the brethren we have left out of our minds. How are we, Hazael, to remain unmoved when rumours touching on the lives of those we have left behind reach us? Is it not merely natural that we should desire to hear how our brethren fare in married life? Dost think, Hazael, that those we left behind never ask each other how we fare in our celibacy? Man is the same all the world over inasmuch as he would like to hear he has avoided the pitfall his brother has fallen into. It is said, Manahem continued, that the elders yonder are disturbed now as to whether they too should take wives, though in the great disputation that we took part in, it was decided that marriage should be left to the younger and more fruitful. Wherefore, if it is said that trouble has come, Hazael answered, we should be sorry for our weak brethren, and if stories reach us, he continued, we should receive them with modesty: we should not go out to seek stories of the misfortunes of those who have not been as wise as we, and of all we should not wish to go down to Jordan to inquire out the truth of these stories; Caleb and Benjamin ask betimes for leave to visit them. Eleazar, too, has asked; but I have refused them always, knowing well whither their curiosity would lead them. Lest, Mathias interposed, they bring back the spirit and sense of women with them.
A flock of doves crossing over the chasm on quick wings put an end to the discourse, and as no more stories reached them who dwelt in the cavern above the Brook Kerith regarding the behaviour of the wives to their husbands and of the husbands towards their wives, the thoughts of the younger brethren reverted to Cæsar, and to the admiration of the ewes for his beauty. A year later, when Jesus came down from the hills, he was met with cries of: how fares it with Cæsar? Does he tire on the hills? When will the ewes begin to drop their lambs? A buzz of talk began at once in the cenoby when the news arrived that Cæsar’s lambs were appearing, but the brethren could not conceal their disappointment that they should look like the lambs they had seen before. We expected the finest lambs ever seen on these hills, they said, and thou hast no more word to say in praise of them than that they are good lambs. Jesus answered that in two months he would be better able to judge Cæsar’s lambs, and to choose amongst them some two or three that would continue the flock worthily. Which? the brethren asked, but Jesus said a choice would be but guess-work at present, none could pick out the making of a good ram till past the second month. Caleb marked one which he was sure would be chosen later, and Benjamin another, and Eleazar another; but when the time came for Jesus to choose, it was none of these that he chose, and on hearing of their mistakes, the brethren were disappointed, and thought no more of the flock, asking only casually for Cæsar, and forgetting to mourn his decease at the end of the fourth year; his successor coming to them without romantic story, the brethren were from henceforth satisfied to hear from time to time that the hills were free from robbers; that the shepherds had banded together in great wolf hunts; and that freed from their natural enemies, the wolves and robbers, the flock had increased in numbers beyond the memory of the oldest shepherd on the hills.
CHAP. XXVIII.
THE BRETHREN WAXED rich, and after their midday meal they talked of the exceeding good fortune that had been vouchsafed to them, dwelling on the matter so earnestly that a scruple sometimes rose up in their hearts. Did we do well to forgo all troubles? Do the selfish find favour in God’s sight? they were asking, when Caleb said: we have visitors to-day, and looking across the chasm they saw three men emerging from the shadow of the high rock. T
hey may be robbers, Benjamin cried, and we would do well to tell the brethren working along the terraces to pass the word down to him who stands by the bridge-head that he is to raise the bridge and refuse to lower it till the strangers speak to him of their intentions and convince him that they are peaceful. That is well said, Benjamin, Eleazar replied: Amos, who is standing by the fig-tree yonder, will pass on the word. They cried out to him and watched the warning being passed from Essene to Essene till it reached the brother standing by the bridge-head. He looked in the direction of the strangers coming down the path, and then in haste set himself to pull the ropes and press the levers whereby the bridge was raised and lowered. Now they are speaking across the brook to each other, Benjamin said: and the group on the balcony saw the bridge being let down for the strangers to cross over. It seems to me, Benjamin continued, Bartholomew might have spent more time inquiring out their intentions. But we are many and they are few, Caleb answered, and the Essenes on the balcony watched somewhat anxiously Bartholomew conducting the strangers back and forth through the terraces. Is not Bartholomew as trustworthy as any amongst us? Eleazar asked. It isn’t likely that he would mistake robbers for pilgrims; and as if Bartholomew divined the anxiety of those above him he called up the rocks that the visitors he was bringing were Essenes from the lake. Essenes from the lake! Caleb cried. Then we shall learn, Eleazar replied, which is preferable, celibacy or marriage. But we mustn’t speak at once to them of such matters. We must prepare food for them, which they will require after their long journey. Our president will be with you in a moment, Bartholomew said, addressing Shallum, a tall thin man, whose long neck, sloping shoulders and dark round eyes reminded his brethren of an ungainly bird. His companions, Shaphan and Eleakim, were of different appearances. Shaphan’s skull, smooth and glistening, rose, a great dome above a crumpled face; he moped like a sick monkey, dashing tears from his eyes continually, whereas Eleakim, a sprightly little fellow with half-closed eyes like a pig, agreed that Shallum should speak for them. Shallum began: we are, as you have already heard, from the great cenoby at the head of the lake and, therefore, I need not tell you the reason why you are here and why the residue are yonder, but will confine myself to the story of our flight from the lake to the brook. Honourable President and Brethren, it is known unto you that the division of our order was not brought about by any other reason than a dispute on both sides for the maintenance of the order. We know that, Hazael answered, and attribute no sinfulness to the brethren that differed from us. Our dream, Shallum continued, was to perpetuate holiness in this world, and our dream abides, for man is a reality only in his dreams; his acts are but a grotesque of his dream.
At these words the Essenes gathered close together, and with brightening eyes listened, for they interpreted these words to mean that the brethren by the lake had fallen headlong into unseasonable pleasures, whereof they were now reaping the fruit: no sweet one, if the fruit might be judged by the countenances of their visitors. As I have said, Shallum continued, it was with us as it has been with men always — our acts became a mockery of our dreams almost from the beginning, for when you left us we gave out that we were willing to receive women who would share our lives and with us perpetuate holiness. We gave out that we were willing to view all who came and consider their qualifications, and to take them as wives if they should satisfy us, that they would obey our rule and bear children; but the women that came in response to our advertisement, though seemingly of pious and honourable demeanour, were not satisfied with us. Our rule is, as you brethren know well, to wear the same smock till it be in rags, and never to ask for a new pair of sandals till the last pieces of the old pair have left our feet. We presented, therefore, no fair show before the women who came to us, and when our rule was told to them, they withdrew, dissatisfied with our appearances, with the food we ate, and the hours we kept, and of all with the rule that they should live apart from us, only keeping company with us at such times when women are believed to be most fruitful. Such was the first batch in brief; the second batch (they came in batches) pleaded that they could not be wives for us, it being that we were held in little esteem by the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and we were reproved by them for not sending animals for sacrifice to the Temple, a thing that we must do if we would have them live with us. But it being against our rule to send animals to the Temple for sacrifice, we bade them farewell and sent forth messengers into other lands, inviting the Gentiles to come to us to receive instruction in the Jewish religion, with promises to them that if our rule of life was agreeable to them, and they were exact in the appointments of all rites and ceremonies, we should be willing to marry them after their time of probationship was over. On this second advertisement, women came to us from Arabia and Mesopotamia, and though we did not approve of the fine garments they wore and the sweet perfumes that trailed after them, we liked these things, as all men do, with our senses; and our minds being filled with thoughts of the children that would continue the order of the Essenes, we spoke but little against the fine linen that these women brought and the perfumes they exhaled, whereby our ruin was consummated. Joazabdus, our president, himself fell into the temptation of woman’s beauty and was led into sinful acquiescence of a display of the images she had brought with her; for without a display of them on either side of the bridal bed she would not permit his embraces. She was of our religion in all else, having abjured her gods and goddesses at every other moment of the day and night; but licence of her body she could not grant except under the eyes of Astarte, and Joazabdus, being a weak man, allowed the images to remain. As soon as the news of these images spread, we went in deputation to our president to beg him to cast out the images from our midst, but he answered us: but one image remains — that of Astarte: none looks upon it but she, and if I cast out the image that she reverences she will go hence and with the fruit of my body within her body, and a saint may be lost to us. But we answered him that even as Jacob set up parti-coloured rods before the conceiving ewes that they might bear parti-coloured lambs, so to gaze in the marriage-bed upon the image of Astarte would surely stamp upon the children that might come the image of that demon. But he was not to be moved, whereupon we withdrew, saying to one another: we shall not move him out of his wickedness; and that was why we went to his brother Daddeus and asked him to accept the headship of the community in his brother’s place. And seeing that he was unwilling to set himself against his brother, we said: our God comes before all things, and here we have heathen goddesses in our midst; and the end of it was that Cozby, that was the Chaldean woman’s name, put poison into Daddeus’ food, thinking to establish her rule thereby, but as soon as the death of Daddeus became known many left the cenoby polluted in their eyes by heathenism and murder.
So it always falls out, Hazael cried, wine and women have lost the world many saints. Wine deceives the minds of those that drink it, and it exalts men above themselves, and leads them into acts that in any other moment they would shrink from, leaving them more stupid than the animals. Nor is the temptation of women less violent than that of wine. Women’s beauty is even more potent, for once a man perceives it he becomes as if blind to all other things; his reason deserts him, he broods upon it by day, and falls at last, as our brother has told us, into unseasonable pleasures, like Solomon himself, about whom many things are related, but not so far as I know that he became so intoxicated with women’s various beauty that he found his pleasure at last in his own humiliation. If Solomon did not, others have; for there is a story of a king that allowed his love of a certain queen to take so great a hold upon him that he asked her to come up the steps of his throne to strike him on the face, to take his crown from his head and set it upon her own. This was in his old age, and it is in old age that men fall under the unreasonable sway of women — he was once a wise man, so we should refrain from blame, and pity our brethren who have fallen headlong into the sway of these Chaldean and Arabian women. I might say much more on this subject, but words are useless, so deep
ly is the passion for women ingrained in the human heart. Proceed, therefore, Brother: we would hear the trouble that women have brought on thee, Brother Eleakim. At once all eyes were turned towards the little fellow whose wandering odours put into everybody’s mind thoughts of the great price he must have paid in bracelets and fine linen, but Eleakim told a different story — that he was sought for himself alone, too much so, for the Arabian woman that fell to his lot was not content with the chaste and reasonable intercourse suitable for the begetting of children, the reason for which they had met, but would practise with him heathen rites, and of a kind so terrible that one night he fled to his president to ask for counsel. But the president, who was absorbed in his own pleasures, drove him from his door, saying that every man must settle such questions with his wife. Hazael threw up his hands. Say no more, Brother Eleakim, thou didst well to leave that cenoby. We welcome thee, and having heard thee in brief we would now hear Brother Shaphan. At once all eyes were turned towards the short, thick, silent man, who had till now ventured into no words; and as they looked upon him their thoughts dwelt on the strange choice the curator had made when he chose Brother Shaphan for a husband; for though they were without knowledge of women, their sense told them that Brother Shaphan would not be pleasing to a woman. But Eleakim’s story had prepared them for every strange taste, and they waited eagerly for Shaphan. But Shaphan had not spoken many words when tears began to roll down his cheeks, and the brethren of the Brook Kerith bethought themselves that it might be a kindly act to avert their eyes from him till he recovered his composure; but as his grief continued they sought to comfort him, telling him that his troubles were now ended. He would not, however, lift his face from his hands at their entreaty, and his companions said that the intervals between his tears since he was married were never long. At these words Shaphan lifted his face from his hands and dashed some tears from his eyelids. He will tell us now, the brethren said to themselves, but he only uttered a few incoherent words, and his face sank back into his hands.