Hebrew Heroes: A Tale Founded on Jewish History
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CHAPTER XXI.
THE MAIDEN'S TRIAL.
Before this gorgeous assembly--before this terrible king--stood,surrounded by guards, a trembling, shrinking girl, wrapping closer andcloser her linen veil around her slight form and drooping head.
"Tear off her veil!" said the king.
The command was instantly obeyed, and, like the painful glare ofnoonday to one brought suddenly out of darkness, the terrible splendourof the scene before her flashed upon Zarah. Her exquisite beauty, asher face now flushed crimson with shame at having to meet, without theprotection of a veil, so many gazing eyes, then turned pale fromoverwhelming fear, caused an involuntary murmur of admiration to burstfrom the throng.
"No Herculean task to bend this willow wand," observed Antiochus, evenhis hard stern countenance relaxing into a smile. "Bring her nearer."The guards obeyed. Zarah approached the king, but with timid,faltering steps; how different from the firm tread with which a captiveMaccabeus would have drawn nigh to the oppressor who might slay butnever subdue him!
"There is the altar of Jupiter Olympus--that of Venus would have beenmore appropriate to so fair a votary," said Antiochus, with an oath;"but it little matters which deity receives the homage, so that it beduly paid. Maiden, throw some grains of yon incense into the flame,bend the knee in worship, and I promise you," the king added, with alaugh, "a gay house and a gallant husband, pearls and goodly array, andall else that a young maid's heart can desire."
Zarah did not stir; she did not appear to have even understood or heardthe words of the king, only her lips were moving in agonized prayer.
Antiochus repeated more sternly his command to offer the incense.
"Oh, my God, help me; let me not be tried beyond what I can bear!" wasthe silent ejaculation which rose from the heart of the terror-strickengirl, as she slightly shook her bended head as her only reply.
"What! silent still," cried Antiochus, with displeasure. "Know younot, young mute, that we have workers of miracles here,"--he pointed tosome black African slaves who performed the office of executioners;"these are skilful to bring sounds, and those some of the shrillest,from lips the most closely sealed."
In terror Zarah raised her dark eyes and looked wildly around her, inthe vain hope of seeing some one, perhaps Lycidas himself, from whomshe might receive protection or pity. But there was not a singlecountenance amidst the gay throng of courtiers that promised anythingbut cold indifference to, if not cruel amusement in her sufferings orher degradation; unless, perhaps, that of Pollux formed an exception.Zarah's anxious gaze rested for a moment on his face with an imploringlook of entreaty, which might have touched a harder heart than his.
"I brook no more idle delay!" cried Antiochus; "as you love your life,do sacrifice at once to my god."
"I cannot--I dare not!" exclaimed the young maid. Faint as was herutterance of the words, they were heard distinctly, so great was thesilence which prevailed through the assembly in that marble hall.
The answer surprised Antiochus and his courtiers.
"Ha! there is some resistance in the willow-wand then, after all!"cried the king, half amused and half angry. "I warrant me tough boughsgrow on the tree from which that slender twig has sprung. Tell me,fair rebel," he continued, "your name and lineage, and the place ofyour birth."
Zarah had firmly resolved that, come what might, she would betray nofriend; above all, that she would never draw down the fire ofpersecution upon the house of Hadassah. In the midst of all the miserywhich she was enduring from personal fear, Zarah forgot not thisresolution.
"My name is Zarah; I was born in Bethsura; my father was called Abner,"faltered forth the young maid.
Pollux involuntarily started and gasped, as if every word had been alive coal dropped upon his bare breast. It was well for him then thatall eyes, even those of Lysimachus, were fixed at that moment on Zarah.
"Is your father living?" inquired the king, who, in the common name ofAbner, did not recognize the almost forgotten one previously borne by afavourite.
"I know not," was the reply.
"Was he not with you at the rebellious meeting?" asked AntiochusEpiphanes.
"No; I went with my uncle, who was slain: he was my only companionthither," said the trembling maiden, thankful to be able with truth tosay what would bring no person into peril.
There was a brief pause, to Zarah inexpressibly awful; then AntiochusEpiphanes, he who had looked on the dying agonies of Solomona and hersons, said in his stern voice of command, "I am not wont to bid thrice,and woe to those who presume to neglect my bidding. Throw incense onthat fire, or the consequences be upon your own head. Others haveexperienced ere this what it is to brave my displeasure and disobey mycommand."
Bewildered and terrified, Zarah suffered, as if scarcely conscious ofthe import of the act, a few grains of incense to be put into her hand,then, recovering her self-possession, she flung them from her with alook of aversion and horror.
"Ha! is it so?" thundered Antiochus; "if the incense go not into thefire, the hand that held it shall go. Executioners, do your work!"
Four of the fierce black slaves approached the young Hebrew maiden.She clasped her hands, and shrieked out, "Father, save me!" It was nomortal to whom she addressed that wild cry for help.
But the cry was answered by a mortal. Pollux, as if moved by anirresistible impulse, sprang forward, by a gesture of his hand arrestedthe movements of the executioners, and bent his knee before Epiphanes.
"The mighty king," he began, with a great effort to appear indifferentand at his ease; "the mighty king has spoken of magicians who haveskill to force out sounds from lips that are dumb. I dispute not thepower of yonder black magi, but I should deem one their superior in themysterious art who could bring songs rather than shrieks from a Hebrew;who could subdue the proud will rather than torture the body. Oh,illustrious monarch of the world, let me but for twenty-four hours trymy potent spells upon this young rebel, and I will answer for it withmy head that, before the twenty-four hours be past, she shall gladlyand cheerfully do sacrifice to any god in Olympus, feast on swine'sflesh, dance as a Bacchante, or drink wine, like Belshazzar of old, outof the vessels of the Temple. Try my powers, O king, and according tomy failure or success, so be the maiden's fate and mine!"
Antiochus hesitated; with a look of keen suspicion he regarded thekneeling courtier. Zarah watched the king's countenance withbreathless anxiety--a respite even of twenty-four hours seemed to thepoor captive so priceless a boon. Intense was her relief when sheheard the tyrant's reply to Pollux:--
"Twenty-four hours' delay you have asked, and I grant. It were anobler triumph to make a proselyte than to slay a victim. I myself, asyou well know, Pollux," continued the tyrant, with sarcastic emphasis,"won such a triumph myself. Take yonder obstinate Jewess, and workupon her your spells, whatever they may be; but hear my finaldecision," the king raised his hand and uttered a deep oath: "ifto-morrow you have failed in doing what you now undertake to perform,if the girl be obdurate still, the moment when she refuses to dosacrifice shall be your last upon earth--she shall go to the furnace,and her protector to the block."
And then, with an imperious gesture of command, Antiochus dismissed theassembly.