Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth

by Alfred John Church

  CHAPTER X.

  A PINCHBECK ALEXANDER.

  On arriving at the Macedonian capital, Cleanor made it his firstbusiness to call on the merchant to whom his remittance had been made.He had expected from the name, Hosius, to find in him a countryman ofhis own, and was not a little surprised to discover that he was a Jew.The old man, who bore his fourscore years very lightly, and was asshrewd and keen in business as he had ever been in his prime, was verycordial and hospitable. His house presented a very mean exterior to theobserver--the Jews had already begun to adopt this almost universalmethod of concealing their wealth--but it was really a large andsplendid mansion. Of this, however, Cleanor caught during his stay onlyrare and casual glimpses. His own quarters were in an annexe intendedfor the use of guests not of the Hebrew race. This was entirely distinctfrom the main building, and the service was performed by a separateestablishment of slaves.

  Hosius--this was the form into which the merchant's real name, _Hoshea_,had been changed--had much that was interesting to say to his guest. Hewas very frank about his own ways of thinking.

  "I am not very strict," he said; "I am content to be as one of thoseamong whom I live. I call myself Hosius. It is a name that is easier fortheir mouths to pronounce than my own. And Greek fashions and ways suitme well enough. But the younger generation is not content. My son Davidis all for strictness, and I am obliged to humour him for peace' sake athome. You see he was one of the 'Righteous,'[28] as they calledthemselves. He served under Judas the Hammer for three years and more;was with him when he fell at Elaim, and was left for dead on the field.It was he who made me build the guest-chamber where you are now. Beforethat I used to entertain my visitors in my own house. But he does notallow it; he would sooner starve than eat a meal with a Gentile, as hecalls all who are not of the People. I don't hold with all this myself.But he is a good young man, a great deal better than his worldly oldfather, and I don't like crossing him."

  It so happened that David was absent from home at the time, having goneto Jerusalem to be present at the Feast of Dedication, and to lookafter some family affairs for his father; his zeal did not in the leasthinder him from being an excellent man of business. Old Hosius tookadvantage of his absence to see more of his guest than it would havebeen possible otherwise. The young man's frankness and intelligencegreatly attracted him; and he, on the other hand, had much to say aboutmatters in which Cleanor was profoundly interested. The conversationoften turned on the deeds of those Jewish heroes the Maccabees. The oldmerchant, for all his show of cynicism and worldliness, was really proudof his countrymen. And he had wonderful stories to tell of endurance andcourage, of tenderly nurtured women bearing unheard-of agonies, motherswho saw all their children tortured to death before their eyes soonerthan break the law, and men who went calmly to certain death if theycould work thereby any deliverance for their country.

  These stories he would always introduce with something like an apology.He had heard them from his son. He was too old to be enthusiastic aboutanything, but still his young friend might like to hear them. Then, ashe told them, his eyes would kindle, and his voice thrill almost inspite of himself.

  "Listen to this;" this was one of his narratives; "we are forbidden toeat the flesh of swine. I daresay it seems very ridiculous to you,though, by the way, your own Pythagoras would not let his disciples eatbeans. Still a law is a law, and, whether it be wise or foolish, the manor woman who will die sooner than break it is a noble soul. KingAntiochus swore that he would not be mocked by a set of slaves--so thehound dared to speak of our people. What was good enough for him wasgood enough for them. If he chose to give them good food, they shouldeat it, law or no law.

  "He had a Jewish mother and her seven sons brought up before him, andtried to bend them to his will. The eldest of the seven stood up andspoke for his brothers. 'What you ask, O king, is against our law, andwe will die rather than do it.' Antiochus cried in his rage, 'Does hespeak thus to his master? Cut out the fellow's tongue.' Why should Itell you all the horrid story. They mangled him and burnt him cruellytill he died. They brought the second. 'Wilt thou eat?' shouted theking. 'I will not,' said he. And they dealt with him as they had dealtwith the first. So they did with them one after the other. And all thewhile those that were left, and the woman herself, exhorted each one tobear himself bravely, and to die sooner than yield. So it went on tillthere was but one left, the youngest of the seven. 'Hear, young man,'said the king to him. 'These six have died in their folly. Do you bewise. Eat of this food, which is surely one of the good things that thegods have given us, and I will promote you to honour.' And when the lad,for he was of but tender years, refused, the king turned to the motherseeking to persuade her that she might in turn persuade her son. After awhile she pretended to be convinced. 'I will persuade him, O king,' shesaid. But her persuasion was this: 'Have pity on me, my son; rememberthat I bare thee and nourished thee: endure therefore whatsoever thisbutcher may do, so that I may receive in the world to come all the sevenof you, and lose not one.' So he too endured and died. And after theseven had been slain before her eyes, the mother also was slain. Tellme," cried the old man, "did any Spartan mother of them all equal this?

  "Then, again, hear the tale of Eleazar, who was surnamed theBeast-slayer, what he did when Judas the Hammer fought the army of KingAntiochus at the House of Zachariah. The king had brought a score ofelephants with him. You know the beast if you come from Africa, and thathe is not so terrible as he looks, and is scarcely more apt to hurt hisfoes than his friends. But let me tell you that he who sees him for thefirst time without trembling is braver than most men. So it happenedthat our soldiers were not a little terrified at the sight. Then thisEleazar, who was brother to Judas, seeing that one of the beasts wasbigger than the rest, and more splendidly equipped, as if he carried theking himself, ran furiously into the company in which it was--for eachbeast had a company of soldiers round it--slaying right and left as heran till he came to the beast. The creature's breast and shoulders wereprotected with plates of brass, but his belly, as being out of reach,was left unguarded, and here it was that Eleazar dealt him a great blowwith his sword, and continued to strike him till the beast fell dead andcrushed this brave Jew in his fall."

  As for the young Greek, he was astonished to find that this fanaticaland superstitious people--for so he had always been accustomed to thinkof the Jews--could boast of warriors and statesmen quite equal to anythat his own nation had produced. Leonidas himself and his Three Hundredhad not shown a more desperate courage at Thermopylæ than JudasMaccabæus and his scanty band of followers had displayed at Elaim;Themistocles had not exhibited a more subtle and skilful statecraft thanJonathan. And while his admiration was extorted for the Jew, he wasequally constrained to despise the Greek. Antiochus the Splendid, as hecalled himself, the Crazy as every one outside the circle of courtsycophants and flatterers called him,[29] made but a very poor figureby the side of Judas the Hammer.

  Another highly disturbing fact for the young man was this. Where didthese patriots find allies? Not in any Greek kingdom--these were allbanded together against them,--but in Rome. It was to Rome that Judashad turned in his extremity, and in Rome that he found help. The oldman's son had acted as secretary to the embassy which Judas had sent onthis occasion, and had given his impressions of what he saw and heard ina letter to his father, which the old man now showed to his guest. Itran thus:

  _I am not persuaded that our chief has done well in seeking alliance with this heathen people, for has not the Lord our God commanded us to have no dealings with idolaters? How can we keep ourselves separate from them if they become our friends, and fight by our side in the battle? But this I will confess, that if it be lawful to have any nation from among the heathen for our friends, that nation is Rome. I had heard much of the things that these Romans have done, and how that there is not a nation in the world that has been able to stand up against them. The greatness of their achievements seemed to be beyond all belief;
but after what I have seen in Rome, there is nothing in them any longer incredible. They make kings and unmake them, but none of them puts a crown upon his own head, or clothes himself with purple. There is no royal palace in their city, but a Senate-house, in which three hundred and twenty men, every one of them fit to be a king, sit day by day taking counsel for the welfare of the people. Every year they choose two men to whom they commit the ordering of the state and the command of their armies. All obey these two without question, and there is neither envy nor emulation among them._

  But when Cleanor came to speak of the special purpose of his mission hefound the old man very reserved. "You want to see the Prince Andriscus,for that is the name by which some of us knew him, or Perseus, as we areto call him now, I understand. Well, I can give you an introduction tothe court, but that is all that I can do. And I would advise you not tobuild your hopes too much upon what you may see or hear now."

  The introduction was given, but it seemed impossible to get anyfurther. The king, as he called himself, was always too busy to give anaudience. But for all his being so busy, Cleanor never could make outthat anything was being done. There was no drilling of troops; there wasno gathering of stores. But there was a great deal of feasting, andthere were some fine performances at the theatres, not plays, for whichthe Macedonians did not care, but spectacles, on which, so gorgeous werethey, a vast amount of money must have been spent. The king found timeto see them, and though he was carried in a closed chariot, a method ofconveyance which Cleanor had always been taught to consider effeminate,no one could deny that his escort were magnificent men, and wore verysplendid armour.

  At last the Greek got his long-promised interview. The first sight ofthe prince or pretender, whatever we may call him, distinctly impressedhim. He had the advantage of one of those extraordinary personalresemblances that have often stood pretenders in good stead. His faceand figure recalled the image, made so familiar by statues, pictures,and coins, of the great Alexander, just as Alexander himself had seemedan impersonation of Achilles, so closely had he resembled thetraditional representations of the famous hero. A second and longer viewof the face did much to dispel the illusion. The chin was receding andweak; the full, sensual lips were parted in the way that commonlydenotes a want of resolution; the eyes were dull and shifty; habitualintemperance had already suffused the skin with a colour which a fewmore years would make disfiguring. When he spoke, his voice--and thereis no greater tell-tale than the voice--was rough and uncultured.

  Cleanor presented to the prince the letter of commendation with whichHasdrubal had furnished him. He glanced at it for a few moments, andthen tossed it to a secretary. The Greek had afterwards reason tobelieve that the Prince could not read, and that his sole literaryaccomplishment was a laboriously-executed signature. He asked a fewcommonplace questions about the progress of the siege of Carthage, andthe prospects of the future, but did not seem to listen to the answers.Then, seeming to weary of serious subjects, he turned to the morecongenial topics of amusement and sport. Some chance brought upCleanor's experiences in tunny-fishing, and the Prince was reallyroused.

  "I shall go," he said in a more determined manner than he had yet shown,"and have a try for them myself. See," he went on, turning to one of thechief officials of the court, "that you have everything ready for anexpedition on the day after to-morrow." The man bowed; he wasaccustomed to see these whims appear and disappear. "You shall come withme," he said to Cleanor. "Dine with me to-day, and we will talk itover."

  THE MACEDONIAN PRETENDER PERFORMS THE PYRRHIC DANCE.]

  But by dinner-time the whim was forgotten. The martial mood now had itsturn, a frequent incident in the Pretender's convivial hours. Arhapsodist, made up with no little skill to resemble the blind minstrelof the Odyssey, recited from the Iliad the valiant deeds of Achilles;and, later on in the evening, the Pretender himself performed, as wellas somewhat unsteady legs permitted him, the Pyrrhic dance. Cleanor leftthe hall in disgust, under cover of the thunders of applause with whichthis display was greeted. It enraged him to think how much time andtrouble he had wasted on this miserable mountebank. It was not from suchas he that any help could be gained to check the growing power of Rome.His disappointment was made all the keener by the tidings which awaitedhim on his return to his lodgings. His host put into his hands a missivewhich had just been brought for him. It was a despatch from Hasdrubal,and ran thus:

  _Hasdrubal to Cleanor, greeting._

  _I have heard this day from friends in Rome that it is already settled among the chief men of the tribes that Scipio is to be chosen Consul for the year to come. Some will object, but more for form's sake than in earnest, that he is below the proper age for the consul's office. But the people are wearied of incompetent men, and are determined to choose him who has, they say, the fate of Carthage for his inheritance. May Hercules avert the omen! Yet be sure both that this will be done, and that being done it will mean much. Return therefore with all possible speed. If you have found any friends for our country urge them to do what they can without delay. Never did we need help more, or are more ready to reward it. But, in any case, come back yourself. There is great work to be done, and great honour to be gained; nor is there anything which, if the gods favour our country, you may not hope for, or rather, demand. Farewell!_

  Cleanor had done nothing, though he might fairly say that he had foundnothing to do; and it was a relief to him to find that his course ofaction at last lay plainly before him. The two sides in the greatstruggle were closing in; he knew where his own place was, and that hecould not take it too soon. But it was no easy matter to discover how hewas to get there. Hasdrubal's despatch had taken nearly two months toreach him, for it had been sent off very soon after his own departurefrom Africa. It was now close upon the end of the year, and with the NewYear would come the election of consuls at Rome. Scipio, once put intopower, would not, he was sure, let the grass grow under his feet; hehimself, too, must lose no time if he was to serve Carthage to anypurpose. Fortunately, he had ample funds at his disposal. By the help ofHosius he found a fast-sailing pinnace, whose owner was willing for thehandsome consideration of ten minæ[30] to risk the perils of a wintervoyage. A brisk north-easter carried them to Corinth in three days. Itwas easy to get from Corinth to Patræ, for traffic went on, winter andsummer alike, in the landlocked Corinthian Gulf. There he was upon theregular route between the East and Italy, a route by which so muchindispensable business was done that it was never quite closed. At Patræhe found a Roman official, just appointed to the commissariat of thearmy at Carthage, who was on his way to Rome. He was expecting thearrival of a ship which was to touch for him, on its way from Ambraciato Brundisium.

  On its arrival, which took place next day, Cleanor went on board withhis new acquaintance, and arranged to travel with him to Italy. Heassumed the character of a student at Athens, leaving that city for atime on account of the troubles that seemed imminent in Greece. He knewenough of the place from his former residence to play the part withsuccess, and he had ascertained that there was no genuine student onboard.

  At Brundisium the party was met with the news that the prediction ofHasdrubal's Roman correspondent had been fulfilled--Scipio had beenelected consul for the year, with Africa for his province. Theirinformant described the scene as one of indescribable enthusiasm. Thetribes had simply refused to hear any other name. Candidates of creditand even of high reputation had been proposed, but it had been only indumb-show, the voices of their proposers being drowned in the continuousroar of "Scipio! Scipio!"

  A hasty meeting of the Senate had been called, and a resolution passedsuspending the law which fixed the qualifying age at forty-two. Soengrossed was the people with the election of their favourite that itwas not easy to induce them to give him a colleague. The assemblydismissed, Rome had given itself up to a frenzy of rejoicing, whichcould not have been greater if Carthage had already fallen. It was anabsolute
faith with every one that he was "born for the destruction ofCarthage", and such a faith has a way of working out its ownfulfilment.

  Cleanor was now in a very difficult position. The audacious thoughtpresented itself that he might engage himself in some capacity with theforces about to proceed from Italy, and, once arrived in Africa, take anopportunity of deserting. But the plan was not only perilous, for therewas a great risk of detection,--Scipio seemed to be one of those menwhose eyes are everywhere,--but it had a dishonourable look. But somestratagem would be necessary, and Cleanor's conscience did not forbidhim to employ it.

  A fortunate chance cleared his way. His fellow-passenger, thecommissariat officer, happened to remember that he had spoken of hisbeing on his way to Sicily, and asked him whether by chance he knewanything of the corn-market in that island. The Italian supply, on whichconsiderable demands were being made, would certainly fall short, andnothing could be got from Africa, exhausted as it was by the war.Cleanor, though hating to say the thing that was not, declared that hehad an uncle at Agrigentum who was engaged in the business, that he wason his way to his home, and would deliver any message which it would bea convenience to send.

  The Roman caught eagerly at the suggestion. He jotted down the number ofbushels of wheat which he should probably want, and the price which hewould be willing to give. The details of the business, methods oftransport, terms of payment, and other matters might be settled with theagent who represented Rome at Agrigentum. He also gave our hero what wasknown as a _diploma_, a word which we may represent in a way by"passport", but which really meant a great deal more. The bearer of itcould requisition horses and carriages, in short, any of the instrumentsof travel that belonged to the state. Without this it would hardly havebeen possible to proceed. A great campaign was about to begin, and everykind of conveyance was practically engaged.

  With this document in his hand Cleanor found everything open before him;he called on a merchant with whom, though not a kinsman, he had someacquaintance, and handed him the Roman's order. This done he made hisway as quickly as possible to the coast, where he was lucky enough tofind a small vessel in the coasting-trade that was just starting forAfrica. There is a humble commerce that, luckily for those that conductit, goes on through all the stress of war. This vessel was engaged init; and by its opportune help Cleanor, two days later, found himself inAfrica, and in two more had reached Carthage.

  FOOTNOTES:

  28: The _Chasidim_, who were the backbone of the patriot party of the Maccabees, the Pharisees of the time.

  29: It is impossible to give the play of words which we have in the Greek. _Epiphanes_, "Splendid", was the title which Antiochus assumed; _Epimanes_, "Crazy", was the nickname to which it was altered.

  30: About £40, if we reckon, as usual, by weight of bullion at the standard price.