THE RABBI FROM NAZARETH.
Lysias, the Greek, stood in a copse of thick bushes near the forest
border and looked out upon the plain, but not toward Gilboa. He had
been digging in the earth, as Ulric and Ben Ezra had digged in the
cave, but he had not been hiding treasure. He had but wrapped his
weapons and his armor in a woolen robe-cloth that he might conceal such
perilous evidence from inquiring officials of Rome or of any local
authority. Earth and flat stones and sods were over them now, and he
had made marks upon trees whereby he might find that place again if he
should at any future day will to do so. He now walked out beyond the
bushes with no trace upon him that he had been a warrior.
"Well was it for me," he said, "that I found such goodly raiment among
the spoils of the trireme. Fewer questions are asked of him who is
handsomely appareled. Soon I will procure me a beast and I will go with
all speed to Jerusalem. It is a city to which strangers come from all
the world, and he who escapeth into a multitude hideth himself in a
solitude."
The tunic which he wore was of silk and his robe was of embroidered
linen. Sandals were on his feet and his white turban was of a costly
silken fabric. If he had retained any weapon, it was now perfectly
concealed. To the eye of one who might chance to meet him he would
suggest beauty and riches and peace, and not at all an archer whose bow
had sent many messengers of death.
"Now must I be careful concerning robbers," he thought. "I have both
gold and jewels with me. But to all who ask my errand I shall be but a
scholar in the school of Gamaliel at Jerusalem, and therefore I may not
enter Samaria, but must pass on swiftly. The Romans themselves favor
all such scholars, and I shall have their protection. Their laws are
good and my time for smiting them again hath not come. But never will I
show mercy to a Roman."
Other things he said concerning the much-vaunted laws and justice of
the world's conquerors. Beyond a doubt they not only claimed much in
the way of righteousness, and also did many things righteously, but
behind this sternly formal justice of theirs, and but little concealed,
was a man holding out his hand for bribes, and near him was a place of
scourging and the sword of a ready executioner.
Nevertheless, Lysias walked on joyously. Soon he was in a highway, and
by it passed through hamlets. He looked inquiringly at all places as
he went, but he paused not for conversation with any whom he met or
greeted. At last he came to the open gate of a wall, behind which were
a goodly house and some outbuildings of stone. In the gateway stood an
old man, well appareled, and before him Lysias stood making reverent
obeisance, as to an elder.
"I am Simon Ben Assur," said the old man. "Who art thou, O Greek?"
"I am Lysias, the scholar, of the school of Gamaliel at Jerusalem," he
replied. "I have lost my beast, for he was worthless and he would go
no further. Hast thou a good ass for sale, that will travel swiftly?"
"I see that some one hath sent thee to me," replied Ben Assur. "Thou
knowest, therefore, that the beast is a swift one."
"Well with thee," said Lysias. "I would buy him but for thy
extortionate price. Wilt thou now give me an honest bidding, that I may
pay thee and take him away?"
"Ha!" said Ben Assur. "They told thee my price? There is more which
they did not tell thee. The ass is young and there is none swifter than
he. He is well trained. The saddle and the bridle are to be purchased
with him, as thou needest."
"One needeth them to ride withal," said Lysias. "But every beast hath
faults and thine is not worth, upon the market, the half of thy asking.
I will but look at him and pass on about my business."
Loudly laughed Simon then, looking keenly into the handsome face of the
Greek. He turned and spoke to some one within the inclosure, bidding
him bring the ass.
"O youth," he said, "I mind not that thou hast spoken with that evil
beast of a Samaritan. Arcas offereth that he will pay me for the ass
next Passover week; and I rejected him not, but told him that the price
must now be paid to me in five golden pieces. I will say to thee that
the pay days of Arcas never come, and wise men deal not at all with him
unless he giveth double security."
"I deal not with him," said Lysias, "but I will see thy beast."
And now a serving man led forth to the gate a large and well-shaped
animal, upon which were a fair saddle and bridle.
"Mount and try him," said Simon. "If thou canst ride at all, thou wilt
ascertain what is under thee; but an unskillful rider may wisely choose
another, for he is full of life."
Lysias sprang to the saddle and rode back and forth along the highway.
"He must be mine at any price," he thought, "for in his legs is my
safety."
"Wilt thou take thy good bargain, O Greek?" shouted Ben Assur as Lysias
returned.
"He is no good bargain at five pieces," said Lysias. "No ass is worth
so much. I will give thee one piece--"
"Thou art no Samaritan," interrupted the old Jew. "Thou art not Arcas,
to buy of me and afterward to rob me of my pay with false witnesses
before the magistrate's seat, proving that thou hast already paid me.
Hast thou not two pieces in thy hand? I will give thee a writing of
sale lest he be taken from thee in Samaria."
"Two I will give," said Lysias, after again galloping up and down the
road. "Make out thy bill of sale to Lysias, the scholar. I now return
speedily to Jerusalem."
"I think well of thee!" exclaimed Simon; afterward adding, "I pray thee
take my greeting to the great Rabbi Gamaliel. He knoweth me. I deal
fairly with thee. I am not ashamed to have thee show unto even him this
thy purchase."
Back into the house he went and he soon returned with a small square
parchment of a bill of sale. But the coins which he received were heavy
coins of Athens and he weighed them thoughtfully in his hand.
"Good youth," he said, "take thou now the counsel of thy elder. Carry
not too many of such as these with thee. Open not thy purse before
strangers. Thou art overwell appareled. Get thee as far as the gate
of a walled town having a garrison before the sun goeth down. Ride
fast and far that thou mayest be beyond any who might inquire of thee
concerning that which is now under thee. Thou hadst better not enter
Samaria."
"Fare thee well," said Lysias, urging the ass promptly. "I take thy
counsel."
"Well for him if he so doeth," muttered Ben Assur in the gateway,
"since Arcas claimeth the beast as already his own. I will myself now
depart for Damascus and the Samaritan devil may seek for his five
pieces where he will. I have beaten him."
The thought then in the mind of Lysias did not err greatly.
"Something is concealed from me as to this swift one," he said to
himself. "I have no business in Samaria that I should risk being robbed
and then imprisoned as a thief. But if I now meet a Roman patrol, no
officer will deem me a pirate coming ashore from a burning trireme with
a band of Saxons."
Therefore he blessed his gods for guiding him to the house of Ben
Assur, and he rode on in safety, but not as yet was there any safety
for the others who, like him, had escaped the sea and the fire. Far
behind him on Mount Carmel, in a place of few trees, an Ionian sailor
fell breathless upon the grass while beside him halted a Roman horseman.
"Get thee up!" he shouted. "Answer truly lest I slay thee! Where are
thy companions?"
"Slain by robbers in the armor of Saxons," responded the fallen man,
rising. "I will tell thee."
Another horseman came galloping to the side of the first and
legionaries on foot might be seen not far away. The wisdom of a
commander had sent a band of searchers to the side of Carmel toward the
plain rather than among the crags and forests.
Gaining his breath as he could, for he had been running swiftly, the
Ionian told all save that he claimed to have swam to the shore.
"Thou sawest but three of these Saxons?" said the officer at last. "I
had no knowledge of any such pirate trireme. The Saxons are to be the
scourge of the Middle Sea if Cæsar destroyeth them not."
More questions were put to the frightened Ionian, and then he was told:
"I will not slay thee. Thou wilt come with me to Samaria. Thy testimony
must go before the procurator that a fleet may cruise against these
rovers from the ocean stream. Thy companions that remain must be sought
out that they may confirm thee."
Calm and wise was this man, and he at once sent forward, also, swift
runners to ask here and there if anything had been seen of a band, or
of single men, of the Saxons who had escaped from the trireme.
Now the plain of Esdraelon is wide and the skirts of Carmel are long
and rugged. There were none who had seen Ulric the Jarl and his
vikings up to the hour when they walked out into the highway. By his
directions, as a prudent captain, they marched orderly, two and two, as
if they belonged to the auxiliary of some Roman legion and were going
by due authority.
"So," advised Ben Ezra, "no man less than a quaternion or a magistrate
will run the risk of asking thee a question. No man of the people may
demand the errand of a soldier lest harm come to him."
"The multitude hath paused," said Sigurd. "They gather around a man.
Let us go see."
Right and left parted the crowd as the Saxon column marched onward, but
it halted suddenly, the people closing around and behind it, curiously
staring, but not touching nor inquiring whence it came.
There was an open space on the broad highway, and five paces in front
of the jarl stood the man of whom Sigurd had spoken. He was of full
height and broad, but Ulric said in a low tone to Ben Ezra, in Latin:
"He looketh not altogether like a Jew. I have seen darker Saxons. I
think he is a jarl. Such as he might be a leader of men."
Proud was the bearing of Sigurd, the son of Thorolf, the sea king; high
and stern was the aspect of Ulric, the son of Odin; tall and powerful
men were all the other vikings; but not among them all was there one
with the dignity of this plainly dressed Jew rabbi, who stood there
unarmed and with only a turban on his head.
He spoke not now to the Saxons, but before him on the earth rolled and
wallowed one who seemed in agony. His eyes were starting from their
sockets and there was foam upon his lips. A shriek burst from him as
his convulsed limbs beat the earth.
"He hath a demon!" said Ben Ezra to Ulric. "The evil spirit teareth
him. There are many such. Let us see what this rabbi will do. I think
him a learned one. Only the learned may deal with demons."
"Come out of him!" commanded the princely man, stooping to touch the
demoniac.
On his face was a kindly smile, nevertheless, but they saw not his
eyes, for he was looking downward.
Wild was the shriek that came back, as if in a fiercer spasm of inward
pain, but a voice followed it, saying:
"I know thee, who thou art, thou Jesus of Nazareth! Thou holy one of
God!"
Again he said, "Come out of him!" and it was as if some unseen being
called out loudly in an unknown tongue and fled away.
Then arose from the ground the man in whom the evil spirit had been
dwelling, and he stood erect, unharmed, like other men.
"A great rabbi!" whispered Ben Ezra. "One of the learned, from
Jerusalem. Thou mayest not speak to him while he is healing."
"He that fled called him a son of Odin," replied Ulric. "He looketh
like one."
"He may be one of the gods of this land," muttered Wulf the Skater. "I
like him not. He commandeth evil spirits and they obey him. I am glad
the jarl is also a son of Odin."
"I am glad to have seen a god," replied Knud the Bear. "He is nobler
than other men. Let us see what he will do to that crippled one."
Bent and deformed, as if his arms and legs had little shape left them,
was this man whom his friends now half led, half carried, before this
rabbi of the Jews.
"Canst thou do anything for him?" asked one. "He hath been thus from
his birth."
No answer made the man Jesus, but he laid his hand upon the arm of the
crippled one.
"Odin!" exclaimed Ulric. "Look! He can stand upon his feet! He lifteth
his hands! Thou art right, Ben Ezra. It were evil for me to speak. The
cripple singeth! He is praising his god, and well he may."
"Go thou to the priest at Jerusalem," he heard the rabbi from Nazareth
say to each in turn of the men who had been cured. "See thou tell no
man."
"What meaneth he?" thought Ulric. "Have not all we seen with our own
eyes this which hath been done? I would I were healed of something,
then would I know what is this secret between them and their god. He
is a strong one. What will Ben Ezra now say about his Jehovah? I think
this may be a stronger god, for Jehovah doth not well guard the Jews
from the Romans."
But there stood the rabbi, Jesus, and he was saying many things to the
multitude. Clear was his voice and deep, and they who were not near him
needed not to lose a word that he was saying.
"I understand him not," muttered Sigurd. "I am glad to have seen him,
but he is not like our gods of the North. It is time we were marching,
O jarl."
"Haste then," added Ben Ezra. "This Jesus is a learned rabbi, and he
healeth, but the swords of the Romans are not far behind us."
"I would have speech with him before I go," said Ulric to Ben Ezra.
"What is this that he saith concerning unending life? Do we not all
die? Do we not all go to the gods? He is lying. It is not good for a
son of Odin to lie."
"Speak to him not," said Ben Ezra. "He is touching the sick. Never
before have I seen a rabbi like this."
"He is of the seed of David," said a short, dark man who stood near.
"He is the Christ that was to come. He is yet to be our King. I am one
of his disciples. I shall be a prince when he is crowned."
"Thou a prince?" said Ulric. "Thou lookest not like a captain of
warriors. What couldst thou do in a feast of swords?"
The short man shrank away chinking a small bag that was attached to his
belt, and his black eyes were glittering with anger.
"If I were a king," said Ulric, "I would find me better captains than
he. I like not his face. He loveth his bag too well. Come on, now!"
The order went to his Saxons, but at that moment he heard the rabbi
saying: "Let him sell all that he hath and come and follow me. So shall
he have treasure in the heavens."
"Where are they, Ben Ezra?" asked the jarl.
"No man knoweth," replied Ben Ezra. "I think they are above the sky. It
is the place of our people. Thou art a heathen and they have no part
with Israel."
"I go to Valhalla and to the city of Asgard," said Ulric. "To the city
of the gods. I want no treasure in any place of the Jews. Thou mayest
have thy heavens to thyself. Lead on!"
Nevertheless, Ulric strode forward and stood for a moment before the
rabbi looking him in the face.
"O thou of the sons of the gods," he said, "I also am of the line of
Odin. I think thou wouldst make a leader of men. I will fight for thee
if thou wilt."
"Thou art not far from the kingdom," said the rabbi, smiling
wonderfully. "Go thou thy way, for thou wilt see me again. Thou wilt
come unto me in the day in which I shall call thee."
"That will I!" exclaimed Ulric with an energy that was sudden. "But I
think thou wilt need all the Saxons if thou art to contend with Cæsar.
It will be a great battle when his legions meet thee. I have slain many
Romans already. I am thy man."
"Thou knowest not yet what thou art," replied the rabbi, "but the
Saxons also are my people. I shall send for them."
"That do thou," said Ulric; "and I, Ulric the Jarl, the son of Brander
the Brave, the son of Odin, I will lead them for thee, for I am a jarl
and a sea king. Fare thee well."
No answer made the rabbi, for he turned to speak to a woman in the
crowd, and Ulric turned to walk away with Ben Ezra.
"The Romans will slay him," said Ben Ezra. "Thou wert imprudent. I
wonder much. Can this be the Christ that is to come?"
"Who, then, is he?" asked Ulric, and as they went onward the Jew told
him many things that were hard to understand.
"It seemeth to me," said the jarl at last, "that thou speakest a saga
that Hilda of the hundred years told me in my childhood. Odin is to
return bringing the gods with him, and some say he hath returned
already and that he who saileth far enough to the eastward and
southward may find Asgard. I must see this city, Jerusalem, and its
temple, for now I do know that thy Jehovah is a god like Thor or Odin."
"He is the greatest of all gods," said Ben Ezra stoutly, "but this
rabbi cannot be the Christ. He is but a healer, and there have been
many who wrought cures and cast out demons."
"I would he had been with us in _The Sword_," replied Ulric, "in the
day when the evil spirit took possession of my vikings. But he could
have done nothing against the Nornir and the valkyrias. Even Odin could
not prevent their calling. It was the time for those men to die."
"I heard this demon that was cast out by the rabbi," said Ben Ezra,
"but I did not see him. I wonder what he is like?"
"I have heard that such are exceedingly wonderful," said Ulric. "They
are of many shapes, but none are beautiful. Some of them are strong and
the gods have to tie them up to trees lest they do mischief."
"So have I heard," said the Jew, "only the demons tied up by thy gods
are not like our own. We have many, and they seize men by night. They
serve the magicians."
"I would slay all magicians," said Ezra. "They interfere with the gods
too much. But I see the glint of spears away yonder. I trust there are
not too many of them."
They had marched far into Esdraelon and the night was falling. The men
were weary and their hearts were heavy.
"Be thou prudent," said Ben Ezra. "If this be a Roman patrol, smite
not, but let me have speech with their officer."
"We may not flee," replied the jarl. "Not only are we overworn, but
these are in part mounted men. Silence all! They come!"
The Saxons halted, leaning upon their spears, not knowing the purpose
of their jarl, but trusting him. On toward them rode but three, of whom
one wore a white cloak with a purple border.
"A Roman of high rank," said Ben Ezra. "Slay him not. The band is
strong."
Not loudly uttered was the hail of the Roman officer, reining his horse.
"I am Julius, the centurion of Tiberias," he said. "I know ye, who ye
are--the gladiators of Caius from Jerusalem for the games at Tiberias.
Ye have taken the wrong road. Who art thou, O Jew?"
"I am Ben Ezra, their interpreter," replied the Jew. "Were we not
forbidden to go by the way of Jezreel?"
The centurion laughed freely at that.
"Caius is careful of his wagers and would not have thy men seen by the
wrong eyes," he said, "but I have had fortune to beat his cunning by
this meeting. I will look well at them. They seem better than any that
may be now ready to contend with them."
"Study them well," said Ben Ezra, and the centurion rode slowly around
the motionless body of Saxons.
"Would I might slay him!" muttered Knud the Bear, but none heard.
"He is a fine mark!" whispered Wulf the Skater. "I could spear him off
his horse. But the jarl is cunning."
"Cease," said Tostig the Red. "The legionaries are twoscore and we are
weary."
"O thou," said Julius to Ulric, discovering that he was the captain,
"thou art a tall one."
"He understandeth Latin," said Ben Ezra. "He is not new, as are the
others."
"He looketh a tried swordsman," said Julius, for one soldier judgeth
easily another. "Saxon, thou wilt win sesterces at Tiberias, but thou
wilt lose some of thy company."
"Not unless ye have better swords than any we have met," replied Ulric.
"Truly!" exclaimed Julius, "this is a deep trick of Caius. He will get
no foolish wagers from me. But thou, O Saxon, thou wilt have a Numidian
lion to fight, and he is larger than any Syrian beast. What sayest thou
to that? Canst thou meet him?"
"Judge thou of that when thou seest him before me," said Ulric. "I
would gladly meet thy lion if he is a strong one."
"Hard fighters are the Saxons," said Julius. "I will give thy big
Hercules a tiger."
He pointed at Sigurd, and the sea king's face flushed hotly, but he was
silent.
"O Jew," said the centurion, "obey thou Caius lest thou get the
scourge. Enter not Jezreel. Show not thy gladiators to any. Tell not
any man that I have seen them and I will give thee ten sesterces. If
thou tellest, I will reward thee otherwise. Go on a little. Camp in the
old tower by the highway from Galilee. It hath now no garrison. Thy
Saxon wolves are guard enough against jackals and robbers."
"I obey thee, O noble Julius," said Ben Ezra. "Thou wilt answer for us
if we are inquired of concerning this tower?"
"I will acquit thee," replied the centurion, and he rode away followed
by his own company.
All that had been spoken was now interpreted to the Saxons, and it
seemed to them as if a good jest had been made of this Roman. They
were glad, also, of a sure camping place, and they marched on in the
twilight; but the Jew purchased for them two fat sheep and a skin of
wine at a place which they passed in going. Then came they to the empty
tower at the highway from Galilee, but when they halted Ben Ezra would
allow none to enter until he had kindled a flame and had made torches.
"These old towers are abodes of demons," he said, "and the rabbi Jesus
is not here to cast them out. This Julius may have played a trick upon
us, sending us to contend with evil spirits which have heretofore
driven all garrisons out of this place."
"Have thou thy will," said the jarl. "But a son of Odin careth not much
for demons."