Saul Of Tarsus Part 21

In the colonnade Lydia, the daughter, appeared and beside her a man, by certain of the more obvious signs, of middle-age. But when he drew closer the more obvious gave way to the indisputable testimony of smooth elastic skin, long lashes and strong, white, unworn teeth that the man was not yet thirty. He was a little above medium height, spare, yet well-built except for a slight lift in the shoulders, beardless, colorless, with straight dark hair, bound with a cla.s.sic fillet. His general lack of tone brought into noticeable prominence the amiability and l.u.s.ter of his fine brown eyes.

That he was a Jew was apparent no less by dress than by feature. His Jewish garments differed only in color and texture from those worn by his fathers in Judea. The outer gown was of light green scantly shot with points of gold.

The pair walked slowly as if unconscious of the presence of others, and the att.i.tude of the man, bending to look into Lydia's face as she walked, was clearly more attentive than ordinary courtesy demanded.

"Approacheth Justin Cla.s.sicus," said Flaccus. "In that garment he looks much like a chameleon that has strayed across an Attic meadow in spring."

"Behold, already the witchery of the garden!" Agrippa said softly to Junia.

"This," added the proconsul, introducing the new-comer, "is Justin Cla.s.sicus, the latest fas.h.i.+on in philosophers, the most popular Jew in Alexandria."

Cla.s.sicus bowed, glanced at Junia and again at Agrippa, and made a place for Lydia on the exedra, so that he might sit on a taboret at her feet.

"What news, good sir," Agrippa asked, "among the schools over the world?"

"News?" Cla.s.sicus repeated. "Nothing. Philo is silent; Petronius is mersed in affairs in Bithynia; Rome's gone a-frolicking, scholars and all, to Capri."

"Alas!" said Flaccus; "nothing happens now but scandal; even the ancient miracles of divine visitations, phenixes, comets and monsters have ceased."

"But you say nothing of religion," said Cla.s.sicus. "Yet possibly it follows, now, in order."

"After monsters, phenixes and the rest," put in Agrippa.

"What is it?" Flaccus asked.

"Perchance thou hast heard," Cla.s.sicus responded. "It issues out of Judea, which adds to its interest, since we are accustomed to nothing but sobriety from Palestine."

"What is it?" Flaccus insisted.

"A new Messiah!"

"Oh," Agrippa cried wearily, "a new Messiah! How many in the past generation, Cypros? Ten, twenty, a hundred? Alas! Cla.s.sicus, that thou shouldst serve up as new something which every Jew hath expected and discovered and rejected for the last three thousand years."

"O happy race!" Junia exclaimed; "which hath something to which to look forward! But what is a Messiah?"

"A G.o.d," said Agrippa.

"The anointed king," Cypros corrected hastily, "of G.o.dly origin that shall restore the Jews to dominion over the world!"

"_Mirabile dictu!_" Junia cried.

"Olympian Jove!" Flaccus exclaimed, smiting his muscular leg. "What a task, what an ambition, what an achievement! I behold Caesar's dudgeon.

Go on, Cla.s.sicus; though it be old to thy remarkable race, used to aspiring to the scope of Olympus, let us hear, who have never wished to be more than Caesar!"

"It is not so much of the Messiah," Cla.s.sicus responded, smiling, "as his--school, if it may be so called. One of the followers appeared at the Library some time ago, perchance as long as three years ago--an Egyptian of the upper cla.s.ses, much traveled, and told such a remarkable tale of the Messiah's birth and death that he instantly lost caste for truthfulness."

"Alas!" Lydia exclaimed in a tone of disappointment. "Why will they insist that the Messiah must be a miraculous creature, demeanored like the pagan G.o.ds and proceeding through the uproar of tumbling satrapies to the high place of Supreme Necromancer of the Universe!"

"Sweet Lydia!" Agrippa protested. "Roman hard-headedness hath turned thee against our traditions!"

"But the Egyptian did not picture such a man," Cla.s.sicus said very gently. "He went to the other extreme, so far that his hearers had to contemplate an image of a carpenter's son, elected to a leaders.h.i.+p over a horde of slaves and outcasts and visionary aristocrats; who taught a doctrine of submission, poverty and love, and who finally was crucified for blasphemy during a popular uproar."

"It hath the recommendation of being different!" Lydia declared frankly. "Tell me more."

"There is no more."

"What! Is it dead?" she insisted. "Dead as all the others? Then it is different only in its inception."

"No," said Agrippa thoughtfully; "it is not dead, but dying hard. The Sanhedrim is punis.h.i.+ng its followers in Jerusalem at present. Thou rememberest, Cypros; Marsyas was charged with the apostasy."

"So material as to engage the Sanhedrim?" Lydia pursued.

"We hear," responded Cla.s.sicus, "that Jerusalem and even Judea are unsafe for them, and numbers have appeared in the city of late--"

"Among us?" Lydia asked.

"No; in Rhacotis," replied Cla.s.sicus; whereupon Flaccus raised an inquiring eye.

"Is that the sect that the prefect has been warned to observe?" he demanded.

"Doubtless; it seems that their foremost fault is rebellion against authority," Cla.s.sicus made answer. "So much for their doctrine of submission."

"Tell us that," Lydia urged.

"Apostasy," Agrippa answered for Cla.s.sicus, "flagrant apostasy; for the Sanhedrim came out of the hall of judgment to stone an offender, for the first time in seven years. I saw the execution; in fact, in a way I was brought close to the circ.u.mstances by a friend of the apostate who was attached to my household."

"Is he with thee?" Flaccus asked pointedly.

"No, we left him in Ptolemais. But the note of their presence in Alexandria must have been sounded early, directly they arrived, for I departed from Jerusalem the day following the first movement against the sect, and thence to Ptolemais and Alexandria with ordinary despatch."

"They did not announce themselves," Flaccus replied. "Vitellius announced them. He wants an Essene who is believed to be among them."

Agrippa raised his head and looked straight at Flaccus. He remembered that he had betrayed Marsyas' refuge. Cypros drew in a breath of alarm.

"That was simply done, Flaccus," Agrippa remarked coolly.

The princess laid her hand on the ruddy flesh of the proconsul's arm.

"We have been frank with thee, my lord," she said, "and thou art a n.o.ble Roman--therefore a safe guardian of our unguarded words."

The others maintained a wondering silence. Flaccus smiled.

"Vitellius hath bidden me to look for him, adding with certain fervid embellishments that he hath sought everywhere but in Egypt and Hades.

Vitellius is no diplomat. Whistling finds the lost hound sooner than search."

"But thou wilt not find him, n.o.ble Flaccus," Cypros besought in a lowered tone. "Yield us thy promise that thou wilt not betray him!"

"My promise, lady! Indeed, I gave it in my heart a moment since. Hear it now. Alexandria is subject to thee. Let him come and be our ward."