The ensuing day was one of intense excitement in Tyre. At every open
space, on the walls, in the Great Square, at street corners, and
especially in the court of the temple, were priests haranguing the
people. Bands of Galli, the priests of Astarte, having set an image of
the goddess upon an ass, swarmed about it as it was drawn through the
streets, beating drums, blowing horns, cutting themselves with knives,
tearing out handfuls of their hair, and chanting--or rather howling--the
sentences of their wildest liturgy. Caught by the strange infection,
many private citizens openly renounced their secular vocations, and
joined the priesthood of Astarte.
Initiation into this order, according to an ancient custom, was
signalled by the candidate's breaking into a neighbor's house, where he
penetrated to the women's apartment, demanded a suit of female apparel,
and arrayed his nether members in this, leaving the shoulders bare. In
this mongrel attire the neophyte joined some roving band of Galli. The
dress was presumed to symbol a cruel rite by which the enthusiast had
made his priesthood more acceptable to the goddess.
Among the young men who appeared to have been especially filled with
the spirit of Astarte was Captain Hanno. He had stopped to listen to an
excited exhorter. Some invisible spell drew him closer and closer to the
speaker. His eyes became riveted upon the countenance of the priest, the
contortions of whose facial muscles he imitated. The orator changed from
speaking naturally to a singing rhythm, timing the variation of his
tones by a swinging motion of his body. In this he was closely followed
by the circle of priests about him. Captain Hanno wedged himself among
them. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, swaying now sideways, now
forward, now backward. With every motion the spell deepened. Louder and
louder they shouted, until shouts became shrieks. One after another fell
swooning to the ground. A priest grasped wildly at the blade of a sword
his comrade was waving, half severing his hand; but he did not heed the
pain. At a moment when physical exhaustion had produced a temporary lull
in the confusion, the priests recognized Hanno as a new-comer among
them. Instantly they cried:
"The stigma! Make the sacred stigma!"
They held towards him their knives. Hanno seized one of them, and dashed
the point through the fleshy part of his shoulder. The screeching grew
wilder as the priests saw this evidence of the power of their goddess.
Surely Egbalus's prediction was being verified, since the man who, of
all Tyre, next to the king, was noted for coolness and indifference to
religion, had become a convert! Suddenly breaking through the throng,
Hanno ran from street to street, followed by the priestly rabble. He
shook the gates of several houses which would not open to him. Up the
steep lanes he went, as if impelled by some fury. He dashed through the
gate of the house of Ahimelek, which flew open at his touch. In a few
moments he emerged. A woman's skirt, of richest texture, hung from his
waist and covered the upper portion of his legs, which protruded bare
and bleeding beneath. The blood still trickled from his shoulder and
smeared the garment. The Galli gathered about him. He broke out into
impassioned praise of Astarte, of Melkarth, of Moloch. In his ecstasy he
shouted every phrase that described divinity in the street speech of
Tyre. His celestial rage seemed inspired by the beams of Baal, which
were changed to molten fire, and poured through his veins. His eloquence
was prodigious. He clamored for more haste with the sacrifice. He
declared himself willing to be the victim. Then, abandoning the wildness
of gesticulation, he suddenly became rigid as a statue of porphyry, and
his face as red with the blood-flush of excitement. He swayed an
instant, then fell. The Galli caught him in their arms. They bore his
stiffened form on their shoulders to the temple.
Even Egbalus was astounded at such a tribute to his priestly astuteness
and power, and fairly croaked with delight as Hanno, returning to
consciousness, prostrated himself at the high priest's feet. The
addition to the priesthood of one who stood foremost among the Tyrians
for social rank and for naval prowess was an event to be appreciated
within the Temple of Baal.