CHAPTER I
The morning after the bacchanalia in the saloon of the palace,the divan was covered with young patricians. Maxentius might come,and the city throng to receive him; the legion might descend fromMount Sulpius in glory of arms and armor; from Nymphaeum to Omphalusthere might be ceremonial splendors to shame the most notable everbefore seen or heard of in the gorgeous East; yet would the manycontinue to sleep ignominiously on the divan where they had fallenor been carelessly tumbled by the indifferent slaves; that theywould be able to take part in the reception that day was about aspossible as for the lay-figures in the studio of a modern artistto rise and go bonneted and plumed through the one, two, three ofa waltz.
Not all, however, who participated in the orgy were in the shamefulcondition. When dawn began to peer through the skylights of the saloon,Messala arose, and took the chaplet from his head, in sign that therevel was at end; then he gathered his robe about him, gave a lastlook at the scene, and, without a word, departed for his quarters.Cicero could not have retired with more gravity from a night-longsenatorial debate.
Three hours afterwards two couriers entered his room, and from hisown hand received each a despatch, sealed and in duplicate, andconsisting chiefly of a letter to Valerius Gratus, the procurator,still resident in Caesarea. The importance attached to the speedyand certain delivery of the paper may be inferred. One courierwas to proceed overland, the other by sea; both were to make theutmost haste.
It is of great concern now that the reader should be fully informedof the contents of the letter thus forwarded, and it is accordinglygiven:
"ANTIOCH, XII. Kal. Jul.
"Messala to Gratus.
"O my Midas!
"I pray thou take no offense at the address, seeing it is one oflove and gratitude, and an admission that thou art most fortunateamong men; seeing, also, that thy ears are as they were derivedfrom thy mother, only proportionate to thy matured condition.
"O my Midas!
"I have to relate to thee an astonishing event, which, though asyet somewhat in the field of conjecture, will, I doubt not,justify thy instant consideration.
"Allow me first to revive thy recollection. Remember, a good manyyears ago, a family of a prince of Jerusalem, incredibly ancient andvastly rich--by name Ben-Hur. If thy memory have a limp or ailmentof any kind, there is, if I mistake not, a wound on thy head whichmay help thee to a revival of the circumstance.
"Next, to arouse thy interest. In punishment of the attempt uponthy life--for dear repose of conscience, may all the gods forbidit should ever prove to have been an accident!--the family wereseized and summarily disposed of, and their property confiscated.And inasmuch, O my Midas! as the action had the approval of ourCaesar, who was as just as he was wise--be there flowers upon hisaltars forever!--there should be no shame in referring to thesums which were realized to us respectively from that source,for which it is not possible I can ever cease to be gratefulto thee, certainly not while I continue, as at present, in theuninterrupted enjoyment of the part which fell to me.
"In vindication of thy wisdom--a quality for which, as I am nowadvised, the son of Gordius, to whom I have boldly likened thee,was never distinguished among men or gods--I recall further thatthou didst make disposition of the family of Hur, both of us at thetime supposing the plan hit upon to be the most effective possiblefor the purposes in view, which were silence and delivery over toinevitable but natural death. Thou wilt remember what thou didstwith the mother and sister of the malefactor; yet, if now I yieldto a desire to learn whether they be living or dead, I know, fromknowing the amiability of thy nature, O my Gratus, that thou wiltpardon me as one scarcely less amiable than thyself.
"As more immediately essential to the present business, however,I take the liberty of inviting to thy remembrance that the actualcriminal was sent to the galleys a slave for life--so the preceptran; and it may serve to make the event which I am about to relatethe more astonishing by saying here that I saw and read the receiptfor his body delivered in course to the tribune commanding a galley.
"Thou mayst begin now to give me more especial heed, O my mostexcellent Phrygian!
"Referring to the limit of life at the oar, the outlaw thus justlydisposed of should be dead, or, better speaking, some one of thethree thousand Oceanides should have taken him to husband at leastfive years ago. And if thou wilt excuse a momentary weakness, O mostvirtuous and tender of men! inasmuch as I loved him in childhood,and also because he was very handsome--I used in much admiration tocall him my Ganymede--he ought in right to have fallen into the armsof the most beautiful daughter of the family. Of opinion, however,that he was certainly dead, I have lived quite five years in calmand innocent enjoyment of the fortune for which I am in a degreeindebted to him. I make the admission of indebtedness withoutintending it to diminish my obligation to thee.
"Now I am at the very point of interest.
"Last night, while acting as master of the feast for a party justfrom Rome--their extreme youth and inexperience appealed to mycompassion--I heard a singular story. Maxentius, the consul,as you know, comes to-day to conduct a campaign against theParthians. Of the ambitious who are to accompany him thereis one, a son of the late duumvir Quintus Arrius. I had occasionto inquire about him particularly. When Arrius set out in pursuitof the pirates, whose defeat gained him his final honors, he hadno family; when he returned from the expedition, he brought backwith him an heir. Now be thou composed as becomes the owner of somany talents in ready sestertii! The son and heir of whom I speakis he whom thou didst send to the galleys--the very Ben-Hur whoshould have died at his oar five years ago--returned now withfortune and rank, and possibly as a Roman citizen, to-- Well,thou art too firmly seated to be alarmed, but I, O my Midas! I amin danger--no need to tell thee of what. Who should know, if thoudost not?
"Sayst thou to all this, tut-tut?
"When Arrius, the father, by adoption, of this apparition from thearms of the most beautiful of the Oceanides (see above my opinionof what she should be), joined battle with the pirates, his vesselwas sunk, and but two of all her crew escaped drowning--Arriushimself and this one, his heir.
"The officers who took them from the plank on which they werefloating say the associate of the fortunate tribune was a youngman who, when lifted to the deck, was in the dress of a galleyslave.
"This should be convincing, to say least; but lest thou say tut-tutagain, I tell thee, O my Midas! that yesterday, by good chance--Ihave a vow to Fortune in consequence--I met the mysterious son ofArrius face to face; and I declare now that, though I did not thenrecognize him, he is the very Ben-Hur who was for years my playmate;the very Ben-Hur who, if he be a man, though of the commonest grade,must this very moment of my writing be thinking of vengeance--forso would I were I he--vengeance not to be satisfied short of life;vengeance for country, mother, sister, self, and--I say it last,though thou mayst think it would be first--for fortune lost.
"By this time, O good my benefactor and friend! my Gratus! inconsideration of thy sestertii in peril, their loss being theworst which could befall one of thy high estate--I quit callingthee after the foolish old King of Phrygia--by this time, I say(meaning after having read me so far), I have faith to believethou hast ceased saying tut-tut, and art ready to think whatought to be done in such emergency.
"It were vulgar to ask thee now what shall be done. Rather let mesay I am thy client; or, better yet, thou art my Ulysses whose partit is to give me sound direction.
"And I please myself thinking I see thee when this letter is putinto thy hand. I see thee read it once; thy countenance allgravity, and then again with a smile; then, hesitation ended,and thy judgment formed, it is this, or it is that; wisdom likeMercury's, promptitude like Caesar's.
"The sun is now fairly risen. An hour hence two messengers willdepart from my door, each with a sealed copy hereof; one of themwill go by land, the other by sea, so important do I regard it thatthou shouldst be early and particularly informed of the appearanceof our enemy in thi
s part of our Roman world.
"I will await thy answer here.
"Ben-Hur's going and coming will of course be regulated by hismaster, the consul, who, though he exert himself without rest dayand night, cannot get away under a month. Thou knowest what workit is to assemble and provide for an army destined to operate ina desolate, townless country.
"I saw the Jew yesterday in the Grove of Daphne; and if he be notthere now, he is certainly in the neighborhood, making it easyfor me to keep him in eye. Indeed, wert thou to ask me where heis now, I should say, with the most positive assurance, he isto be found at the old Orchard of Palms, under the tent of thetraitor Sheik Ilderim, who cannot long escape our strong hand.Be not surprised if Maxentius, as his first measure, places theArab on ship for forwarding to Rome.
"I am so particular about the whereabouts of the Jew becauseit will be important to thee, O illustrious! when thou comestto consider what is to be done; for already I know, and by theknowledge I flatter myself I am growing in wisdom, that in everyscheme involving human action there are three elements always tobe taken into account--time, place, and agency.
"If thou sayest this is the place, have thou then no hesitancy intrusting the business to thy most loving friend, who would be thyaptest scholar as well.
MESSALA."