CHAPTER VIII
Simonides looked up, none the less a master.
"Esther," he said, quietly, "the night is going fast; and, lest webecome too weary for that which is before us, let the refreshmentsbe brought."
She rang a bell. A servant answered with wine and bread, which shebore round.
"The understanding, good my master," continued Simonides, when allwere served, "is not perfect in my sight. Henceforth our lives willrun on together like rivers which have met and joined their waters.I think their flowing will be better if every cloud is blown fromthe sky above them. You left my door the other day with whatseemed a denial of the claims which I have just allowed in thebroadest terms; but it was not so, indeed it was not. Esther iswitness that I recognized you; and that I did not abandon you,let Malluch say."
"Malluch!" exclaimed Ben-Hur.
"One bound to a chair, like me, must have many hands far-reaching,if he would move the world from which he is so cruelly barred.I have many such, and Malluch is one of the best of them. And,sometimes"--he cast a grateful glance at the sheik--"sometimes Iborrow from others good of heart, like Ilderim the Generous--good andbrave. Let him say if I either denied or forgot you."
Ben-Hur looked at the Arab.
"This is he, good Ilderim, this is he who told you of me?"
Ilderim's eyes twinkled as he nodded his answer.
"How, O my master," said Simonides, "may we without trial tell whata man is? I knew you; I saw your father in you; but the kind ofman you were I did not know. There are people to whom fortune isa curse in disguise. Were you of them? I sent Malluch to find outfor me, and in the service he was my eyes and ears. Do not blamehim. He brought me report of you which was all good."
"I do not," said Ben-Hur, heartily. "There was wisdom in yourgoodness."
"The words are very pleasant to me," said the merchant, with feeling,"very pleasant. My fear of misunderstanding is laid. Let the riversrun on now as God may give them direction."
After an interval he continued:
"I am compelled now by truth. The weaver sits weaving, and, as theshuttle flies, the cloth increases, and the figures grow, and hedreams dreams meanwhile; so to my hands the fortune grew, and Iwondered at the increase, and asked myself about it many times.I could see a care not my own went with the enterprises I set going.The simooms which smote others on the desert jumped over the thingswhich were mine. The storms which heaped the seashore with wrecksdid but blow my ships the sooner into port. Strangest of all, I,so dependent upon others, fixed to a place like a dead thing, hadnever a loss by an agent--never. The elements stooped to serve me,and all my servants, in fact, were faithful."
"It is very strange," said Ben-Hur.
"So I said, and kept saying. Finally, O my master, finally I came tobe of your opinion--God was in it--and, like you, I asked, What canhis purpose be? Intelligence is never wasted; intelligence likeGod's never stirs except with design. I have held the questionin heart, lo! these many years, watching for an answer. I feltsure, if God were in it, some day, in his own good time, in hisown way, he would show me his purpose, making it clear as a whitedhouse upon a hill. And I believe he has done so."
Ben-Hur listened with every faculty intent.
"Many years ago, with my people--thy mother was with me, Esther,beautiful as morning over old Olivet--I sat by the wayside outnorth of Jerusalem, near the Tombs of the Kings, when three menpassed by riding great white camels, such as had never been seenin the Holy City. The men were strangers, and from far countries.The first one stopped and asked me a question. 'Where is he thatis born King of the Jews?' As if to allay my wonder, he went on tosay, 'We have seen his star in the east, and have come to worshiphim.' I could not understand, but followed them to the DamascusGate; and of every person they met on the way--of the guard at theGate, even--they asked the question. All who heard it were amazedlike me. In time I forgot the circumstance, though there was muchtalk of it as a presage of the Messiah. Alas, alas! What childrenwe are, even the wisest! When God walks the earth, his steps areoften centuries apart. You have seen Balthasar?"
"And heard him tell his story," said Ben-Hur.
"A miracle!--a very miracle!" cried Simonides. "As he told itto me, good my master, I seemed to hear the answer I had so longwaited; God's purpose burst upon me. Poor will the King be whenhe comes--poor and friendless; without following, without armies,without cities or castles; a kingdom to be set up, and Rome reducedand blotted out. See, see, O my master! thou flushed with strength,thou trained to arms, thou burdened with riches; behold the opportunitythe Lord hath sent thee! Shall not his purpose be thine? Could a man beborn to a more perfect glory?"
Simonides put his whole force in the appeal.
"But the kingdom, the kingdom!" Ben-Hur answered, eagerly."Balthasar says it is to be of souls."
The pride of the Jew was strong in Simonides, and therefore theslightly contemptuous curl of the lip with which he began his reply:
"Balthasar has been a witness of wonderful things--of miracles,O my master; and when he speaks of them, I bow with belief,for they are of sight and sound personal to him. But he is a sonof Mizraim, and not even a proselyte. Hardly may he be supposedto have special knowledge by virtue of which we must bow to himin a matter of God's dealing with our Israel. The prophets hadtheir light from Heaven directly, even as he had his--many to one,and Jehovah the same forever. I must believe the prophets.--Bringme the Torah, Esther."
He proceeded without waiting for her.
"May the testimony of a whole people be slighted, my master? Thoughyou travel from Tyre, which is by the sea in the north, to thecapital of Edom, which is in the desert south, you will not finda lisper of the Shema, an alms-giver in the Temple, or any one whohas ever eaten of the lamb of the Passover, to tell you the kingdomthe King is coming to build for us, the children of the covenant,is other than of this world, like our father David's. Now wheregot they the faith, ask you! We will see presently."
Esther here returned, bringing a number of rolls carefully envelopedin dark-brown linen lettered quaintly in gold.
"Keep them, daughter, to give to me as I call for them," the fathersaid, in the tender voice he always used in speaking to her,and continued his argument:
"It were long, good my master--too long, indeed--for me to repeatto you the names of the holy men who, in the providence of God,succeeded the prophets, only a little less favored than they--theseers who have written and the preachers who have taught since theCaptivity; the very wise who borrowed their lights from the lampof Malachi, the last of his line, and whose great names Hilleland Shammai never tired of repeating in the colleges. Will youask them of the kingdom? Thus, the Lord of the sheep in the Bookof Enoch--who is he? Who but the King of whom we are speaking? Athrone is set up for him; he smites the earth, and the other kingsare shaken from their thrones, and the scourges of Israel flunginto a cavern of fire flaming with pillars of fire. So also thesinger of the Psalms of Solomon--'Behold, O Lord, and raise upto Israel their king, the son of David, at the time thou knowest,O God, to rule Israel, thy children.... And he will bring thepeoples of the heathen under his yoke to serve him.... And heshall be a righteous king taught of God, ... for he shallrule all the earth by the word of his mouth forever.' And last,though not least, hear Ezra, the second Moses, in his visions ofthe night, and ask him who is the lion with human voice that saysto the eagle--which is Rome--'Thou hast loved liars, and overthrownthe cities of the industrious, and razed their walls, though they didthee no harm. Therefore, begone, that the earth may be refreshed,and recover itself, and hope in the justice and piety of him whomade her.' Whereat the eagle was seen no more. Surely, O my master,the testimony of these should be enough! But the way to the fountain'shead is open. Let us go up to it at once.--Some wine, Esther, and thenthe Torah."
"Dost thou believe the prophets, master?" he asked, after drinking."I know thou dost, for of such was the faith of all thy kindred.--Giveme, Esther, the book which hath in it the visions of Isaia
h."
He took one of the rolls which she had unwrapped for him, and read,"'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon themhath the light shined.... For unto us a child is born, unto usa son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder....Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be noend, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,and to establish it with judgment and with justice from hencefortheven forever.'--Believest thou the prophets, O my master?--Now,Esther, the word of the Lord that came to Micah."
She gave him the roll he asked.
"'But thou,'" he began reading--"'but thou, Bethlehem Ephrath,though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of theeshall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.'--Thiswas he, the very child Balthasar saw and worshipped in the cave.Believest thou the prophets, O my master?--Give me, Esther,the words of Jeremiah."
Receiving that roll, he read as before, "'Behold, the days come,saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch,and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment andjustice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israelshall dwell safely.' As a king he shall reign--as a king, O mymaster! Believest thou the prophets?--Now, daughter, the roll ofthe sayings of that son of Judah in whom there was no blemish."
She gave him the Book of Daniel.
"Hear, my master," he said: "'I saw in the night visions, and behold,one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven.... Andthere was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that allpeople, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion isan everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdomthat which shall not be destroyed.'--Believest thou the prophets,O my master?"
"It is enough. I believe," cried Ben-Hur.
"What then?" asked Simonides. "If the King come poor, will notmy master, of his abundance, give him help?"
"Help him? To the last shekel and the last breath. But why speakof his coming poor?"
"Give me, Esther, the word of the Lord as it came to Zechariah,"said Simonides.
She gave him one of the rolls.
"Hear how the King will enter Jerusalem." Then he read, "'Rejoicegreatly, O daughter of Zion.... Behold, thy King cometh untothee with justice and salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass,and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.'"
Ben-Hur looked away.
"What see you, O my master?"
"Rome!" he answered, gloomily--"Rome, and her legions. I havedwelt with them in their camps. I know them."
"Ah!" said Simonides. "Thou shalt be a master of legions for theKing, with millions to choose from."
"Millions!" cried Ben-Hur.
Simonides sat a moment thinking.
"The question of power should not trouble you," he next said.
Ben-Hur looked at him inquiringly.
"You were seeing the lowly King in the act of coming to his own,"Simonides answered--"seeing him on the right hand, as it were,and on the left the brassy legions of Caesar, and you were asking,What can he do?"
"It was my very thought."
"O my master!" Simonides continued. "You do not know how strongour Israel is. You think of him as a sorrowful old man weepingby the rivers of Babylon. But go up to Jerusalem next Passover,and stand on the Xystus or in the Street of Barter, and see himas he is. The promise of the Lord to father Jacob coming outof Padan-Aram was a law under which our people have not ceasedmultiplying--not even in captivity; they grew under foot of theEgyptian; the clench of the Roman has been but wholesome nurtureto them; now they are indeed 'a nation and a company of nations.'Nor that only, my master; in fact, to measure the strength ofIsrael--which is, in fact, measuring what the King can do--youshall not bide solely by the rule of natural increase, but addthereto the other--I mean the spread of the faith, which will carryyou to the far and near of the whole known earth. Further, the habitis, I know, to think and speak of Jerusalem as Israel, which maybe likened to our finding an embroidered shred, and holding itup as a magisterial robe of Caesar's. Jerusalem is but a stoneof the Temple, or the heart in the body. Turn from beholdingthe legions, strong though they be, and count the hosts of thefaithful waiting the old alarm, 'To your tents, O Israel!'--countthe many in Persia, children of those who chose not to return withthe returning; count the brethren who swarm the marts of Egyptand Farther Africa; count the Hebrew colonists eking profit inthe West--in Lodinum and the trade-courts of Spain; count thepure of blood and the proselytes in Greece and in the isles ofthe sea, and over in Pontus, and here in Antioch, and, for thatmatter, those of that city lying accursed in the shadow of theunclean walls of Rome herself; count the worshippers of the Lorddwelling in tents along the deserts next us, as well as in thedeserts beyond the Nile: and in the regions across the Caspian,and up in the old lands of Gog and Magog even, separate thosewho annually send gifts to the Holy Temple in acknowledgment ofGod--separate them, that they may be counted also. And when youhave done counting, lo! my master, a census of the sword handsthat await you; lo! a kingdom ready fashioned for him who is todo 'judgment and justice in the whole earth'--in Rome not lessthan in Zion. Have then the answer, What Israel can do, that canthe King."
The picture was fervently given.
Upon Ilderim it operated like the blowing of a trumpet. "Oh thatI had back my youth!" he cried, starting to his feet.
Ben-Hur sat still. The speech, he saw, was an invitation to devotehis life and fortune to the mysterious Being who was palpably asmuch the centre of a great hope with Simonides as with the devoutEgyptian. The idea, as we have seen, was not a new one, but had cometo him repeatedly; once while listening to Malluch in the Groveof Daphne; afterwards more distinctly while Balthasar was givinghis conception of what the kingdom was to be; still later, in thewalk through the old Orchard, it had risen almost, if not quite,into a resolve. At such times it had come and gone only an idea,attended with feelings more or less acute. Not so now. A masterhad it in charge, a master was working it up; already he had exaltedit into a _cause_ brilliant with possibilities and infinitely holy.The effect was as if a door theretofore unseen had suddenly openedflooding Ben-Hur with light, and admitting him to a service which hadbeen his one perfect dream--a service reaching far into the future,and rich with the rewards of duty done, and prizes to sweeten andsoothe his ambition. One touch more was needed.
"Let us concede all you say, O Simonides," said Ben-Hur--"thatthe King will come, and his kingdom be as Solomon's; say also I amready to give myself and all I have to him and his cause; yet more,say that I should do as was God's purpose in the ordering of my lifeand in your quick amassment of astonishing fortune; then what? Shallwe proceed like blind men building? Shall we wait till the Kingcomes? Or until he sends for me? You have age and experience onyour side. Answer."
Simonides answered at once.
"We have no choice; none. This letter"--he produced Messala'sdespatch as he spoke--"this letter is the signal for action.The alliance proposed between Messala and Gratus we are notstrong enough to resist; we have not the influence at Rome northe force here. They will kill you if we wait. How merciful theyare, look at me and judge."
He shuddered at the terrible recollection.
"O good my master," he continued, recovering himself; "how strongare you--in purpose, I mean?"
Ben-Hur did not understand him.
"I remember how pleasant the world was to me in my youth,"Simonides proceeded.
"Yet," said Ben-Hur, "you were capable of a great sacrifice."
"Yes; for love."
"Has not life other motives as strong?"
Simonides shook his head.
"There is ambition."
"Ambition is forbidden a son of Israel."
"What, then, of revenge?"
The spark dropped upon the inflammable passion; the man's eyesgleamed; his hands shook; he answered, quickly, "Revenge is aJew's of right; it is the law."
"A camel, even a dog, will remembe
r a wrong," cried Ilderim.
Directly Simonides picked up the broken thread of his thought.
"There is a work, a work for the King, which should be done inadvance of his coming. We may not doubt that Israel is to be hisright hand; but, alas! it is a hand of peace, without cunning inwar. Of the millions, there is not one trained band, not a captain.The mercenaries of the Herods I do not count, for they are kept tocrush us. The condition is as the Roman would have it; his policyhas fruited well for his tyranny; but the time of change is athand, when the shepherd shall put on armor, and take to spearand sword, and the feeding flocks be turned to fighting lions.Some one, my son, must have place next the King at his right hand.Who shall it be if not he who does this work well?"
Ben-Hur's face flushed at the prospect, though he said, "I see;but speak plainly. A deed to be done is one thing; how to do itis another."
Simonides sipped the wine Esther brought him, and replied,
"The sheik, and thou, my master, shall be principals, each with apart. I will remain here, carrying on as now, and watchful that thespring go not dry. Thou shalt betake thee to Jerusalem, and thenceto the wilderness, and begin numbering the fighting-men of Israel,and telling them into tens and hundreds, and choosing captains andtraining them, and in secret places hoarding arms, for which I shallkeep thee supplied. Commencing over in Perea, thou shalt go then toGalilee, whence it is but a step to Jerusalem. In Perea, the desertwill be at thy back, and Ilderim in reach of thy hand. He will keepthe roads, so that nothing shall pass without thy knowledge. He willhelp thee in many ways. Until the ripening time no one shall knowwhat is here contracted. Mine is but a servant's part. I have spokento Ilderim. What sayest thou?"
Ben-Hur looked at the sheik.
"It is as he says, son of Hur," the Arab responded. "I have givenmy word, and he is content with it; but thou shalt have my oath,binding me, and the ready hands of my tribe, and whatever serviceablething I have."
The three--Simonides, Ilderim, Esther--gazed at Ben-Hur fixedly.
"Every man," he answered, at first sadly, "has a cup of pleasurepoured for him, and soon or late it comes to his hand, and hetastes and drinks--every man but me. I see, Simonides, and thou,O generous sheik!--I see whither the proposal tends. If I accept,and enter upon the course, farewell peace, and the hopes whichcluster around it. The doors I might enter and the gates of quietlife will shut behind me, never to open again, for Rome keeps themall; and her outlawry will follow me, and her hunters; and in thetombs near cities and the dismal caverns of remotest hills, I musteat my crust and take my rest."
The speech was broken by a sob. All turned to Esther, who hid herface upon her father's shoulder.
"I did not think of you, Esther," said Simonides, gently, for hewas himself deeply moved.
"It is well enough, Simonides," said Ben-Hur. "A man bears ahard doom better, knowing there is pity for him. Let me go on."
They gave him ear again.
"I was about to say," he continued, "I have no choice, but takethe part you assign me; and as remaining here is to meet anignoble death, I will to the work at once."
"Shall we have writings?" asked Simonides, moved by his habit ofbusiness.
"I rest upon your word," said Ben-Hur.
"And I," Ilderim answered.
Thus simply was effected the treaty which was to alter Ben-Hur'slife. And almost immediately the latter added,
"It is done, then."
"May the God of Abraham help us!" Simonides exclaimed.
"One word now, my friends," Ben-Hur said, more cheerfully."By your leave, I will be my own until after the games. It is notprobable Messala will set peril on foot for me until he has giventhe procurator time to answer him; and that cannot be in less thanseven days from the despatch of his letter. The meeting him in theCircus is a pleasure I would buy at whatever risk."
Ilderim, well pleased, assented readily, and Simonides, intent onbusiness, added, "It is well; for look you, my master, the delay willgive me time to do you a good part. I understood you to speak of aninheritance derived from Arrius. Is it in property?"
"A villa near Misenum, and houses in Rome."
"I suggest, then, the sale of the property, and safe deposit ofthe proceeds. Give me an account of it, and I will have authoritiesdrawn, and despatch an agent on the mission forthwith. We willforestall the imperial robbers at least this once."
"You shall have the account to-morrow."
"Then, if there be nothing more, the work of the night is done,"said Simonides.
Ilderim combed his beard complacently, saying, "And well done."
"The bread and wine again, Esther. Sheik Ilderim will make ushappy by staying with us till to-morrow, or at his pleasure;and thou, my master--"
"Let the horses be brought," said Ben-Hur. "I will return to theOrchard. The enemy will not discover me if I go now, and"--he glancedat Ilderim--"the four will be glad to see me."
As the day dawned, he and Malluch dismounted at the door of thetent.