The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  HOPES AND FEARS.

  A few weeks after the conversation recorded in the last chapter, Ruth washearing her little boy repeat the Commandment when Seraiah came in,carrying in his hand an open letter.

  "There is news from Syria," he said.

  "And is it good or bad?" asked his wife.

  "That I can hardly say," was Seraiah's reply. At the same time hesignalled to his wife that she should take the child out of the room. Thesignal, however, was too late. The quick-witted little fellow had heardwhat had been said, and immediately jumped to the conclusion thatsomething had been heard about the boy-King. His mind was occupied, itmight almost be said, day and night with the thought of the young Eupator.He scarcely knew whether he hated or loved him; but the brilliant figureof the lad had caught his imagination. He lived, as imaginative childrenoften will, a sort of second life in thinking of him.

  "Oh! father," he now cried, "I am sure that you have something to tell meabout the boy-King. Is he coming here again? I should like to see him,though he did break his promise so shamefully."

  "My boy," said his father, "you will never see him again."

  "Oh! Why?"

  "He is dead. This letter tells me all about him."

  The boy burst into a passionate fit of tears, which all his mother'scaresses and attempts at consolation were for some time unable to stop.When the violence of his grief had spent itself he said--

  "Oh! father, tell me about him. Were they very cruel to him? And how didit happen? I thought that kings killed people, but I did not know that anyone could kill them."

  "Listen, my child, and I will try to explain it to you. The father ofEupator, the boy who is just dead, was not rightfully King. He came afterhis elder brother, and this elder brother had a son named Demetrius, whoought to have succeeded his father. But this son had been sent to Rome asa hostage."

  "What do you mean by a hostage, father?"

  "When you are going to trust some one about whom you do not feel quitesure, you take something from him that he values very much, and say, 'Youwill lose this unless you behave well.' So Demetrius's father gave his sonto the Romans to keep, and the Romans were sure that as long as they hadthe child his father would not do anything that they did not like. Well,as I told you, Demetrius was sent to Rome to be security for his father'sgood behaviour, and there he lived all the time that Antiochus, whom theycalled Epiphanes, was King. And when Epiphanes died Demetrius asked theRomans to let him go, that he might claim the kingdom which, he said,belonged to him and which his cousin Eupator was too young to be able togovern. But they would not let him go, and I have been told that Lysiasbribed some of the chief men among them, and these persuaded the rest. Atlast he got tired of waiting for leave, and he ran away from Rome withoutit, and landed at a place called Tripolis, not very far from Antioch, withonly twenty or thirty men with him. But as soon as ever the soldiers atAntioch heard of his coming, they declared that they would have him fortheir King."

  "But why?" put in Daniel.

  "Well, if they did not know much that was good about him, they knewnothing that was bad. Anyhow they all rose in his favour; and they seizedthe young King and Lysias the Governor and brought them to him, and askedhim what they should do with them. He would not say, 'Kill them,' for,after all, the little boy was his cousin, and had not done him any harm.And he did not like to say, 'Keep them alive,' for he was afraid that hiscousin might some day have his throne; so he only said to the soldiers,'Take care that they do not see my face.' So the soldiers--they were theyoung King's own guard--took him and killed him, and Lysias with him."

  When he had heard this the child allowed his mother to take him away. Hesaw that his father, usually so calm, was anxious and troubled, and, wisewith a wisdom beyond his years--the fruit of the troubled life which he andhis had been leading--would not ask him any more questions. But that night,when his mother came to give him the last kiss before he went to sleep, hehad many things to say to her. Poor little fellow! he had seen manyterrible sights, which all his parents' care could not keep from his eyes,and had heard of many more, and he could not help asking again, "Did theyhurt him very much?" and when she had comforted him as best she could onthis score, he showed that there was another trouble in his mind. "Oh!mother," he said, "do you remember that when he ordered the walls of thefortress to be pulled down, I prayed to God that he might be punished forbreaking his promise? and only the other day, when Joseph was talkingabout his coming back, I said--something in me seemed to make me say italmost without my knowing--'He shall fall by the sword in his own land.'And now he is punished, for he has fallen by the sword. Do you think thatGod listened to me, and did it because I said these things? But, mother, Idid not hate him very much; sometimes I used to think I loved him; and oh!it would be dreadful to think that I had anything to do with his beingkilled!"

  "My son," said Ruth, "do you remember what our father Abraham said, 'Shallnot the Judge of all the earth do right'?"

  "Yes, mother, I am sure that He will do right; and the King did deserve tobe punished. But perhaps his counsellors told him to do it; and I am surethat if I was told to do something that was wrong by people that I loved,I should be very likely to do it."

  When his mother came to see him some hours afterwards she found himasleep, but his pillow was wet with tears, and now and then a little sobshowed how deeply the trouble had entered into his little heart.

  There was trouble in older and wiser hearts than his. The Jews had hopedmuch from the boy-King. His bad faith in the matter of the Temple fortressthey had willingly put down to evil counsellors, and they could not forgetthat he had given them terms, good beyond all their hopes, when they werein the last extremity. The death of Lysias was a more serious loss. He wasthe pacificator; to his influence they ascribed the conciliatory policy ofthe young Antiochus. And now he was gone. Would his death be the signal ofa change? Would Demetrius go back to the ways of the mad Antiochus? or hadhe learnt prudence, if not mercy, from his sojourn among the Romans andthe bitter experience of an exile?

  Opinion was divided. Some hoped, some feared; but all were resolved thatthey would never give way, that they would defend to the last drop oftheir blood the freedom which they had won. Azariah, whose temper of mindhad gathered a certain gloom from the unhappy experiences of his life,took a desponding view of the situation. Micah, on the contrary, wascheerful, and he had some strong arguments to back him up.

  "Remember," he said to his brother-in-law one day, when the subject hadbeen discussed at some length between them, "that I have had opportunitiesfor forming a judgment which, happily for you, have not come in your way.I once saw much of these Greeks--I am ashamed to remember the time, butstill it would be folly not to make use of what I then learnt--and I amsure that that madman Antiochus did not represent what they really feel.You don't know how they despise all barbarians as they call them; and,despising them, they are disposed to let them alone. They don't want us toworship their gods; they think that we are not good enough. But Antiochuswas mad with pride and arrogance, and it is not likely that any one elseshould be found to follow his steps. We may have trouble; indeed I feelsure that we shall; but depend upon it there will not be another suchattempt as the madman made to stamp out our religion."

  And the tidings that soon after reached Jerusalem from Antioch seemed tojustify this forecast. There seemed to be trouble ahead, but it was nottrouble of the sort which had brought desolation upon the Holy City. Adeputation from that party among the Jews which affected Greek habits andGreek practices had been admitted to the presence of the new King. Theyhad accused Judas, the son of Mattathias, of having driven them from theirland, and of being an enemy to the sovereignty of the Greeks. Demetriushad listened to their representations, and had conferred the office ofhigh priest on Alcimus,(23) the leader of the malcontents, and hadpromised to send a force which would instal him in his office, and at thesame time take vengean
ce on Judas and the Chasidim. This force was to beunder the command of Bacchides, one of the most trusted of hiscounsellors.

  A high priest of the stamp of Menelaues--for such Alcimus was known tobe--would be anything but welcome. Probably it would be necessary to resisthim and his proceedings by force. Still things were not as bad as theymight have been. That King Demetrius should have appointed a high priestat all showed that he was not bent, as Epiphanes had been, on extirpatingthe Jewish faith. With such doubtful comfort as this assurance could givethey were compelled to be satisfied and to await the development ofevents.