CLAUDIA'S DREAM
After Pilate had left for the Judgment Hall and the soldiers and servants
had returned to their accustomed places, Claudia walked the length of the
room and back several times speaking to herself as she did so. "Before
the tribunal of the Jew hath the greatest one of them all been judged
guilty of sedition against their Law. Aye, but the gods be thanked those
cunning workers of darkness have not power to take his life. And
Pilate--ah, have I not Pilate's promise that of the Jew will he judge the
Jew? Glad I am that Pilate is to hear his voice and look upon his face.
One glance from those eyes--one word from those lips and Pilate will know
that all evil accusation be accusation only."
Then Claudia threw herself across the bed, but sleep did not come, so
after a time she arose, threw open the window and stood looking into the
indigo sky, spangled with stars, that hung over Jerusalem. From the
street beneath, the near call of a trumpet sounded which seemed to be
echoed by farther and fainter trumpet-calls, each telling the hour of the
passing night. When she lay down again she slept. Through the window at
the side of the bed the rich blue of the sky faded into gray and as this
was shot across with a thin streak of rosy pink the cry "_Staurosate_!
_Staurosate_!" came across the stillness of the yet unawakened morning.
With a start Claudia sprang up crying--"Whence cometh that cry, thin like
the howl of a lone wolf, and sharp like its fangs: 'Crucify him! Crucify
him?' Like the cry of a beast calling the pack, it soundeth. Pilate!"
She pressed her hands to her head and looked toward Pilate's empty couch.
"Ah--it cometh to me! At the third watch was Pilate called to the
Praetorium and hath not returned. A dream it hath been! Aye! It doth
come to me!" She drew back a pace and an expression of horror marked her
face as she cried, "It doth come to me! I see troops--swords--trembling
of the earth--thunder answered by earthquake--black clouds, like great
bats of death settling low--the rush of fire, like a cataclysm--and then
darkness! And then--and _then_--what see I?"
Claudia shaded her eyes with her hands and peered into the darkness of
the dream, the horror on her face deepening, and her breath coming swift
and hard. "What see I? In the darkness--the thick impenetrable darkness
dead to all light, I see the hands of Pilate--_and they drip with blood_!
And over against those crimson hands I see the pale face of the Jew. Ye
gods! It is a warning!"
For a moment she stood dazed with terror. Then she shouted to her maids,
"Margara! Zenobe! Hasten! Summon my eunuch. I must have speech with
Pilate!"
When the eunuch appeared, Claudia cried: "Ah, my scarred eunuch! Warning
hath been given me in a dream that all is not well at the Judgment Hall.
Ah, a dream--such a dream--a dream in which earth and air and sky and
water war and are not satisfied! A dream of fire and death and open
graves and darkness--and Pilate and the Jew," and Claudia shivered and
wrung her hands.
"If thou wouldst calm thyself, most noble mistress, and make known thy
great fear, thy servant might bring thee help," the eunuch said.
"Aye, my eunuch. Ere the midnight trumpet sounded was Pilate awakened by
request for soldiers from Antonio to arrest one seditious. Again before
dawn summoned they him to judge the Jew. And, oh, my eunuch--my
eunuch--that Jew is him whom thy soul loveth--him whose disciple thou art
to be!"
"Jesus of Nazareth?" the eunuch cried sharply.
"Yea, yea--the Jew!"
The eunuch raised his face toward heaven and lifting high his hands said
in the voice of one imploring, "God of the Jew, God of the Jew, hear and
deliver him from the hand of Rome."
"Hear thou the dream," said Claudia, stepping close to him. "At the
turning of the dawn came it to me. The shout of battle! The screams of
those pierced by spears! The groans of those trodden under the hoofs of
mad chargers! The curses of those tortured! And above the din did I
hear children's voices calling, 'Help--help!' and the voices of women
calling, 'Help! Help! In God's name, 'help!' and the voices of men
shouting, 'Help! Help! 'Cometh no help!' And no help came save the
Angel of Desolation with sweeping black wings! And, oh, my eunuch! Out
of the darkness and the desolation, I saw the hands of Pilate rising
scarlet with wet blood and over against them the pale face of the Jew!"
Before she had finished speaking with the eunuch, Claudia's cries for
help had drawn the household, and soldiers and servants crowded into the
room and filled the passageway as she brought fear and trembling to them
by her dramatic recital of her tragic dream.
"It is a dream--a dream! But in that dream, between my vision and the
darkness, passeth a purple robe, a crown of thorns, a lonely cross on a
far hillside, a white face drawn in agony and parched lips moving as to
moan! Then again the tumult and the carnage! Ah, see! Canst thou not
see? There are soldiers upon the city walls! There are balls of fire
flying in the gloom! There are stones crashing through the air--yea,
even the marble of the Temple of the Jews! Canst thou not see?
Aye--look! The Temple falleth! It is scattered until not one stone is
left upon another! And ever above the thunder-din cometh the cry, 'Help!
Help!' Famine do I see until mothers eat the tender flesh that hugs
their bosoms! And pestilence do I see until death hath devoured all
life! The Roman plow is driven over the Holy Place of the Jew and
scavengers of the desert revel in naked tombs! And here from this place
of abominations arise the hands of Pilate! Crimson like dye they are.
And there gathers from the gray and awful stillness, the pale face of the
Jew! Again--and yet again I see them!"
When Claudia had reached this part of her vision she screamed and covered
her eyes, and the soldiers and servants who had crowded about, drew back
in terror, their gaze transfixed.
Suddenly she cried, throwing her hands out to the eunuch: "I must have
speech with Pilate. Fly thou to the Judgment Seat! Let no door stop
thee! Let no guard stay thy feet! And when thou hast gained the ear of
Pilate, tell into it, 'Thus sayeth thy wife--have nothing to do with this
just man for I have this day suffered many things in a dream because of
him!' Thus shall it be that Claudia shall raise her voice to save the
hands of Pontius Pilate from the livid stain of innocent blood and the
pale face of the Jew from forever haunting the centuries."