THE LOST FOUND.
"Do you remember buying or selling a slave named Demetrius, a Jew?"
asked Isidorus of Ezra, the slave-dealer of Milan. He wasted no words in
circumlocution, for he knew that there was no use in trying to deceive
the keen-eyed Jewish dealer in his fellowman; and that his best chances
of success were in coming directly to the point.
"Selling a Jew? Oh, no! I never sell my own kinsmen. That's against our
law. It is like seething a kid in its mother's milk. I often ransom them
from pirates and set them free."
"But this Demetrius was a Christian Jew--a convert from Moses to Jesus,"
said the Greek.
"A Christian dog," cried Ezra with a wicked execration. "He was no Jew.
He had sold his birthright like Esau, and had no part nor lot with
Israel. Of course, I'd sell him if I got him--to the mines, or to the
galleys, or the field gang, to the hardest master I could find. But I
know naught about your Demetrius, who was he?"
"He was a Jew of Antioch," said Isidorus, "captured by Illyrian pirates
and sold in the slave market of Ravenna."
"That is a common tale," replied Ezra. "There are many such. How long
since this occurred?"
"'Tis now five years since he was last seen by her who seeks him, and
who will pay well for his recovery."
"Just my luck," grumbled the greedy Jew. "Some one else will gain the
prize. 'Tis not for me."
"Then you cannot help me in this quest?" said the Greek.
"How can I remember the scores and hundreds of Christian dogs that I
have bought and sold? Go ask these monks, they know more of the vermin
than I do."
Acting on this hint, Isidorus made his way to the Convent of San
Lorenzo, the ancient chapel of which still remains. Knocking at a
bronze-studded gateway he was admitted to a quadrangle surrounded by
cloisters or covered galleries upon which opened the doors of the
different apartments. It was more like a hospital and alms-house than
like what is now understood as a convent. It served as a sort of school
of theology, youthful acolytes and deacons being here trained for the
office and work of presbyters in the Church. Isidorus presented his
letter from Adauctus to the good Bishop Paulinus, and was most cordially
received.
"Right welcome art thou, my son," said the bishop, "bearing, as thou
dost, the commendation of the worthy Adauctus; and right glad shall we
be to promote thy search. I myself know naught that can throw light upon
it, inasmuch as I lived not at Milan, but was bishop of Nola at the time
of which thou speakest."
The scriptor, or secretary, of the convent was also consulted without
avail, no record being found in the annals of the house that gave any
hope of discovery.
"Come lunch with us in the refectory," said the bishop, "and I will ask
if any of the brethren know aught of this mystery."
The refectory was a large bare-looking room--its only furniture being a
long and solid table with a shorter one across the end for the bishop,
and presbyters, and visitors. Of this latter there were frequently
several, as such houses were the chief places for entertaining the
travelling clergy or even lay members of the Christian brotherhood. Upon
the walls were certain somewhat grim-looking frescoes, representing
Biblical scenes and characters like those in the Catacombs described in
chapter VIII. At one side of the room was a _bema_, or reading-desk, at
which one of the lectors a distinct ecclesiastical office,[30] with its
special ordination--read, while the brethren partook of their meals, the
lessons for the day from the Gospels and Epistles, as well as passages
from the writings of Clement, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and Origen. For
this usage the scarcity and high price of MS. books, and the desire to
improve every moment of time was deemed a sufficient ground.
After the meal--which was almost ascetic in its simplicity, consisting
chiefly of vegetable pottage, lentils, and bread was over, and the
reading ended, the bishop explained the cause of the presence among them
of a stranger from Rome.
"My brethren," he said in conclusion, "this is a common story. Many are
the victims of cruelty and wrong in this great empire. Be it ours, so
far as God may give us power, to succour the oppressed and redress their
wrongs."
As he sat down a venerable presbyter rose and said, "Father, five years
have I been under this hospitable roof, ransomed from bondage by your
predecessor in office. Five years have I mourned the loss of a son and
daughter, sold from my arms to I know not what cruel fate. It may be
that God is about to restore me my children, the flesh of my flesh. Hast
thou, stranger, any sign or token by which I may be assured of their
identity?"
"Of thy son I have no tidings; but know thou if this be a token of thy
daughter's rescue," and Isidorus exhibited the small cornelian _tessara_
of the fish of which we have spoken.
Eagerly the old man clasped it, and scanned the inscription, and
joyfully exclaimed, while tears of gladness flowed down his aged cheeks
and silvery beard, "Thank God, my child yet lives. I shall again behold
her before I die. See, here is her very name, 'Callirhoë, daughter of
Demetrius.' I carved it with my own hands one happy day in our dear home
in Damascus. God is good. I never hoped to see her again. Tell me,
stranger, is she, too, a slave?"
"Nay," said Isidorus with emotion, for even his careless nature was
touched with sympathy at the joy of the old man, "She is the freed woman
of the Empress Valeria, and high in favour, too, I should judge, from
the interest her august mistress showed in seeking for thee."
"_Benedic, anima mea, Domino,_" exclaimed the aged presbyter with
fervour. "_Et omnia, quæ intra me sunt, nomini sacro ejus_--Bless the
Lord, my soul: and all that is within me bless His holy name. He hath
heard my prayer. He hath answered my supplication."
The old man's story was soon told. He had been rescued from the slave
pen of Ezra, and employed in the service of the convent. His familiar
knowledge of Greek led to his appointment as instructor in that language
of the young acolytes and deacons who were in training for the office of
the ministry. At length his superior gifts and fervent piety led to his
own ordination as a presbyter of the Church of Milan.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[30] This office was possibly derived from the synagogue. As requiring
good scholarship it was one of much honour, and was even sought by
laymen. The Emperor Julian, in his youth, and his brother Gallus, were
readers in the Church of Nicomedia. Many epitaphs of readers occur in
the Catacombs.
[Illustration]