The Master of the Mint was overjoyed to celebrate the Messiah's
marriage under his own gilded roof. To the few who shook their heads
at the bride's past, Sabbataï made answer that the prophecies must be
fulfilled, and that he; too, had had visions in which he was
commanded, like the prophet Hosea, to marry an unchaste wife. And his
disciples saw that it was a great mystery, symbolizing what the Lord
had spoken through the mouth of Jeremiah: "Again I will build thee and
thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned
with thy tabrets and shall go forth in the dances of them that make
merry." So the festivities set in, and the Palace was filled with
laughter and dancing and merrymaking.
And Melisselda inaugurated the reign of joy. Her advent brought many
followers to Sabbataï. Thousands fell under the spell of her beauty,
her queenly carriage, gracious yet gay. A new spirit of romance was
born in ritual-ridden Israel. Men looked upon their wives
distastefully, and the wives caught something of her fire and bearing
and learnt the movement of abandon and the glance of passion. And so,
with a great following, enriched by the beauty of Melisselda and the
gold of the Master of the Mint, Sabbataï returned to redeem Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was intoxicated with joy: the prophecies of Elijah the
Tishbite, known on earth as Nathan of Gaza, were borne on wings of air
to the four corners of the world.
"To the Remnant of the Israelites," he wrote, "Peace without
end. Behold I go to meet the face of our Lord, whose majesty be
exalted, for he is the Sovereign of the King of Kings, whose
empire be enlarged. And now I come to make known unto you that
though ye have heard strange things of our Lord, yet let not
your hearts faint or fear, but rather fortify yourselves in your
Faith because all his actions are miraculous and secret, which
human understanding cannot comprehend, and who can penetrate
into the depth of them? In a brief time all things shall be
manifested to you clearly in their purity, and ye shall know and
consider and be instructed by the Inventor himself. Blessed is
he who can expect and arrive to the Salvation of the true
Messiah, who will speedily publish his Authority and Empire over
us now and for ever.
"NATHAN."
In the Holy City the aged Rabbis of the Sacred Colleges alone betrayed
misgivings, fearing that the fine would be annually renewed, and even
the wealth of Chelebi exhausted. Elsewhere, the Jewries were divided
into factions, that fought each other with texts, and set the Word
against the Word. This verse clearly proved the Messiah had come, and
that verse that the signs were not yet fulfilled; and had not Solomon,
the wise king, said that the fool gave belief at once to all
indifferently, while the wise man weighed and considered before
believing? Fiercely waged the battle of texts, and a comet appeared on
behalf of the believers. Demoniacles saw Sabbataï Zevi in heaven with
three crowns, one for Messiah, one for King, and one for Conqueror of
the Peoples. But the Jerusalem Rabbis remaining sceptical, Nathan
proclaimed in an ecstasy that she was no longer the sacred city, the
primacy had passed to Gaza. But Sabbataï was fain to show himself at
Smyrna, his native city, and hither he marched, preceded by apostles
who kindled the communities he was to pass through. Raphael, another
Greek beggar, rhapsodized interminably, and Bloch, a Cabalist from
Germany, a meek, simple soul, had frenzies of fiery inspiration.
Samuel Primo, the untiring secretary, scattered ceaseless letters and
mysterious manifestoes. But to none did Sabbataï himself claim to be
the Messiah--he commanded men not to speak of it till the hour should
come. Yet was his progress one long triumphal procession. At Aleppo
the Jews hastened to meet him with songs and dances; "the gates of joy
are opened," they wrote to Constantinople. At Smyrna itself the exile
was received with delirium, with cries of "_Messhiach!_ Messiah!"
which he would not acknowledge, but to which Melisselda responded with
seductive smiles. His aged father fell upon his neck.
"The souls depart," said Sabbataï, kissing him. "But they return."
He was brought before the Cadi, who demanded a miracle.
"Thou askest a miracle?" said Sabbataï scornfully. "Wouldst see a
pillar of fire?"
The Sabbatians who thronged the audience chamber uttered a cry and
covered their faces with their hands.
"Yea, we see, we see," they shouted; the word was passed to the dense
crowd surging without, and it swayed madly. Husbands ran home to tell
their wives and children, and when Sabbataï left the presence chamber
he was greeted with delirious acclamations.
And while Smyrna was thus seething, and its Jews were preparing
themselves by purification and prayer for the great day, a courier,
dark as a Moor with the sunburn of unresting travel, arrived in the
town with a letter from the Holy City. It was long before he could
obtain audience with Sabbataï, who, with his inmost disciples, was
celebrating a final fast, and meantime the populace was in a ferment
of curiosity, the messenger recounting how he had tramped for weeks
and weeks through the terrible heat to see the face of the Messiah and
kiss his feet and deliver the letter from the holy men of Jerusalem,
who were too poor to pay for his speedier journeying. But when at last
Sabbataï read the letter, his face lit up, though he gave no sign of
the contents. His disciples pressed for its publication, and, after
much excitement, Sabbataï consented that it should be read from the
_Al Memor_ of the synagogue. When they learned that it bore the homage
of repentant Jerusalem, their joy was tumultuous to the point of
tears. Sabbataï threw twenty silver crowns on a salver for the
messenger, and invited others to do the same, so that the happy envoy
could scarce stagger away with his reward.
Nevertheless Sabbataï still delayed to declare himself.
But at last the long silence drew to an end. The great year of 1666
was nigh, before many moons the New Year of the Christians would
dawn. Under the direction of Melisselda men were making sleeved robes
of white satin for the Messiah. And one day, thus arrayed in gleaming
white, at the head of a great procession walking two by two, Sabbataï
Zevi marched to the House of God.