In Both Worlds Part 15

"Yes-and a most unruly one. He was captured in the late war with the Abyssinians, and although very young, they say he was a superb soldier. I can well believe it. He has already pa.s.sed through several hands, and was quickly got rid of by them all, on account of his fierce and dangerous character."

I studied the young man's physiognomy carefully, but could discover no trace of ferocity about the features. He seemed to be about twenty years of age, and had a manly and dignified bearing as he stood there manacled and exposed to the public gaze. I read his secret at once. He was a brave and high-spirited youth, accustomed to freedom, war, and perhaps to the exercise of power; and he did not submit to his chains as quietly as his owners desired.

The slave-dealer must have divined the admiration with which I regarded him, for he added with a quiet sneer:

"His braveries are at an end now, for he has been bought for Drusus Hortensius."

"And who is Hortensius?"

"Have you lived in the desert, that you never heard of Hortensius?

Hortensius is the richest man in the world at present, and the greatest epicure in Rome. He imitates Lucullus, at least in pride and luxury. He makes suppers for his friends, of incalculable magnificence. His demand for nightingales' tongues has silenced half the bird-music in the world."

"Is Hortensius in the city?"

"In the city? No! He lives in Rome, which, he complains, is altogether too small for him. He has an agent in Alexandria, who has a standing order to send him about fifty refractory and incorrigible slaves every year."

"What does he want them for?"

"Want them for?" laughed the dealer. "Well, you must know that Hortensius has the greatest and rarest fish-ponds in the world. They are miracles of beauty. Hortensius is fond of fish as well as of nightingales' tongues.

But common fish do not tempt his august appet.i.te. Lucullus discovered, in the course of his epicurean studies, that fish fed upon human flesh have a remarkably fine flavor; and moreover that these aquatic cannibals have a special relish for the African species of the genus h.o.m.o."

"Wretch!" I muttered.

"Therefore," continued the trader, without noticing my indignation, "Hortensius, imitating Lucullus, has a negro slave cut into small pieces and thrown into his fish-ponds every week. His children are taken out by their nurses to witness this choice method of refining the pleasures of the table."

Anthony, for so they had re-named the brother of Ethopus, had picked up a good deal of Latin, in which language the dealer was speaking. He had listened intently and had caught the horrible meaning of his words. The disdainful and defiant look of the young soldier, contemplating the fate which awaited him, was a study for an artist.

"How can I save him from this cruel bondage, from this hideous death?"

"He was purchased yesterday and will be called for to-day, as the s.h.i.+p sails this evening."

"Will you cancel that bargain and sell him to me?" said I eagerly.

"Yes-for a grand consideration."

I reflected that I had drawn my last funds from my uncle's Egyptian agent.

Still, I might possibly borrow largely from him and wait a remittance. I named what I considered a liberal price. The trader coldly shook his head.

I added a third more to it, determined to sacrifice a year's travel in order to save Anthony from the fish-ponds of the luxurious Roman. The trader declined without hesitation. I could make no greater offer without consultation with my uncle, and that was impossible. My countenance fell in despair.

The brothers had watched our conversation with intense interest; and although they did not comprehend its full meaning, they saw that I had made a great effort to redeem Anthony and had failed. The face of Ethopus was full of grief, that of Anthony of sad resignation. Ethopus suddenly sprang up smiling, as if some great idea had illumined his mind. He tore open his robe, and producing a little bag from his bosom, he took out the precious stone which my uncle Beltrezzor had given him. He extended the brilliant gem to the trader with one hand and pointed to Anthony with the other.

"Oh do not take that," I exclaimed. "This poor fellow values that stone more than life itself. Nothing but the most intense affection could prompt him to such a sacrifice. He believes that stone has delivered him from the bondage of a terrible magician, and wears it over his heart as a protecting genius. Accept my offer instead, which is of greater money value than his gem."

This speech had a singular effect. The slave-dealer had no generosity, but boundless superst.i.tion. He either had an intense fear of magic himself, or he was in collusion with magicians. He immediately acceded to Ethopus'

offer, struck the chains from Anthony's arms and feet, and put the price of his slave smilingly into his pocket.

"I will replace him with that old fellow there, who would smoke his pipe as he is now doing if we were burying him alive. The agent of Hortensius counts heads and never looks into faces."

Anthony comprehended that an exorbitant price had been paid for his liberty, involving some great sacrifice on the part of Ethopus and he insisted on resuming his fetters, until I a.s.sured them both that the stone with such magical properties should be replaced by one similar, as soon as I could communicate with Beltrezzor.

Ethopus was now in a state of feverish anxiety to get aboard the Athenian vessel. The addition of Anthony to our company seemed to increase his fears and his sense of responsibility. I conveyed my baggage and my two servants to the s.h.i.+p, and put them in charge of the captain, while I returned into the city to finish my business and to make a few purchases.

When I reached the vessel again, Ethopus had disappeared! Anthony was in great distress, and the captain and sailors were highly excited. The story they told was a curious one. A tall, wild-looking man, fantastically dressed, came and sat down on the sh.o.r.e near the planks of the s.h.i.+p.

Busily engaged in carrying on the small freight which crowds in just before a vessel leaves, the sailors paid no attention to him.

This man was heard to make some very curious sounds, a kind of double whistle, a signal which he repeated at intervals with increasing vehemence and impatience. Ethopus then came slowly out of the vessel, reeling and groping like one blind or drunk. He advanced slowly toward the stranger and knelt at his feet. The poor fellow suddenly started up with a great shriek and endeavored to escape. Several of the sailors rushed forward to rescue him from the man who had seized him and was dragging him off. The magician, for such he was, drew a huge yellow serpent from his robe, and flourished it like a whip at his a.s.sailants. Some of the sailors declared also that a jet of blue flame darted from his bosom. Certain it is that by some magical trick he so terrified them that they fell back in awe, and he escaped with his victim through the crowd which was gathering.

Poor Anthony, who had never seen a s.h.i.+p before, was walking about the vessel in childlike wonder while this terrible abduction was taking place.

I was in the deepest distress. I took Anthony and the baggage back to my quarters. I remained a fortnight in Alexandria inst.i.tuting the most thorough search after our lost friend. It was all in vain. I sailed at last for Athens with a heavy, heavy heart, and a new servant, leaving the poor dumb eunuch in the clutches of Simon Magus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ornament]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ornament]

X.

_AT ATHENS._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Initial]

I lived at Athens a year, studying the philosophy and poetry of the Greeks. I longed to see my beautiful sisters and my good old uncle; but I cannot disguise the fact that I was greatly fascinated with Grecian life and manners. I frequently wished that I had been born a Greek and not a Jew, and that I could spend my days in sight of the marble-crowned Acropolis and the blue aegean Sea.

I taught Anthony to read and write, hoping that he would prove to be of superior mental calibre to his brother. But the result was the same. He surprised me at first by his brightness and afterward by his stupidity. He was more impetuous than Ethopus, and braver; but then his spirit had not been broken and subdued by contact with the magicians of Egypt, those subterranean devils who defied the a.s.saults of reason against their pretensions and the vigilance of government against their crimes. Ceasing to be a good soldier and incapable of becoming a philosopher, he proved an invaluable servant.

The letters from my sisters, who wrote alternately, were full of tenderness and piety. They continued to give glowing accounts of the power and progress of the teaching of John the Baptist. Martha quoted all the pa.s.sages in the prophets alluding to the forerunner of the Messiah, and Mary dwelt upon the influence of his doctrines and baptism upon the hearts and lives of the people. Mary perceived intuitively that the only valuable thing in a religion is the life which it induces one to lead. One day I received a letter from this enthusiastic young girl, which indicated that some great spiritual ferment was working in the land of Judea:

"DEAREST LAZARUS:

"The hunger and thirst of our souls will soon be satisfied. I have seen him with my own eyes-him, the Son of G.o.d, the Messiah. Oh what grace! what wisdom! what goodness! what power!

"Do not think I am dreaming! Some time ago John baptized a young man, whom he p.r.o.nounced by heavenly vision to be the Messiah, or as he styled him, the Lamb of G.o.d. This mysterious person disappeared from sight. It was rumored that he had retired into the wilderness, to undergo some terrible combat with the powers of h.e.l.l, preparatory to his great mission upon earth. Our hearts have been watching eagerly for his reappearance.

"After a while we heard that a great prophet had arisen in Galilee, who had astonished all men by the wonderful spirituality of his preaching. He had also exhibited miraculous power by turning water into wine at a marriage-feast in Cana. Perhaps this Jesus of Nazareth was the promised deliverer! But how could the ign.o.ble names of Nazareth and Galilee be connected with the Prince of the house of David?

"Not long afterward a strange incident occurred in the temple. The miracle-worker of Cana appeared, and a.s.suming extraordinary authority, as if the temple were his own house, he drove out all the traders and money-changers and idlers who have so long desecrated the holy place by the connivance of the corrupt and wicked priests. They would no doubt have destroyed him in their anger; but the people, and indeed the better cla.s.s of Pharisees also, applauded the courageous act of the man, who dared, single-handed, to vindicate the holiness of the Lord's house, and to scourge the profaners out of the sacred precincts.

"I was pondering over this incident, when our good and kind friend Nicodemus came in, and told us he had witnessed the scene himself, and that this Jesus of Nazareth was the same person whom he saw baptized by John in Jordan, at the time when John bare witness that he saw the Spirit of G.o.d descending upon him in the shape of a dove.