CHAPTER XIII
A TRUST FULFILLED
Marsyas came forth moodily convinced by Eleazar's words. No; it wasnot the method. Revenge would have to come through another medium thanthe Nazarenes. Stephen had told him before that the privilege oftaking vengeance had been removed from the followers of Jesus ofNazareth. At that time Marsyas had not believed it of the whole sect;but now he was not too much irritated to be convinced.
"Is there any doctrine too mad to get it followers?" he said.
"O brother," Eleazar said, with his chin on his breast, "it is a periodof change. The world wearies of its manner from time to time. Surfeitof good is not less common than surfeit of evil, but it is deadlier.Men tire of their gods as they do of their women, and thou, being aneremite and unfamiliar, may not know that death is much more desirablethan enforced toleration of satiety."
Marsyas heard; satiety was only a word to him and the rabbi'searnestness carried no conviction for him.
"It is the time for change; rest under old usages is no longerpossible. But Israel hath endured a long, long time in one habit."
"Give me thy meaning, Rabbi."
"Thou and I are good Jews, Marsyas, yet I can not say that of a suretyof any other man in Judea. I have come from Jerusalem, David's City,the rock of Israel, but the hosts of schism possess it from the Ophlasto the uttermost limits of Bezetha!"
"Rabbi!"
"I have seen; I have seen. Saul hath set for himself a task ofemptying the sea. In Jerusalem they come singing to torture and death,but armies of them go fleeing into the rest of Judea and all the world.And, hear me, thou true son of Israel, the pastor of the apostates weheard this night declared at least one truth. The Pharisee hathdiffused an influence; he hath scattered a pestilence."
Because it was a new charge against Saul, Marsyas accepted it.
"Is there no help against him?" he exclaimed.
"Marsyas, there stirreth a dread fear in me that he is the instrumentof the time. If not he, then another would have been called by thespirit of change--"
"There is no such extenuation in me!" Marsyas broke in.
"Might promises no allegiance to its ministers," the rabbi replied.
Marsyas recalled his history for evidence to corroborate this hope thatSaul's calamitous work might recoil upon him. From Prometheus toAugustus, the declaration was sustained. He lost sight of the rabbi'sactual concern. Saul covered his horizon; he could not know thatEleazar looked upon the Pharisee as only a detail in an immense stretchof grave possibilities.
The young man made no reply. A hope had been snatched from him thatnight before his sense could grasp its reality, but the disappointmenthad not weakened his intent. His hope, for the moment centered uponthe Nazarenes, turned again upon Agrippa. He did not permit himself tospeculate on the prince's possible failure.
At an intersecting street they parted, without further plan than thatthey should meet again.
But the next morning when Marsyas came with little spirit into thesunless counting-room, his first visitor was Agrippa's lugubrious oldcourier, Silas.
With a cry, Marsyas wrenched open the wicket and seized the old man'sshoulders.
"Dost thou bring good or evil news?" he cried, unable to wait on theslow servant's deliberate speech.
"Perchance either, or both," the courier answered, fumbling in thewallet for his written instructions. "Perchance that which thoualready knowest, and that which may be news. At least, I fetch thee aransom."
"God reward thee for thy fidelity," Marsyas replied, "and forget thysloth! Here, let me help thee to thy message."
He put away the servant's inflexible fingers and wrested the parchmentfrom the wallet. It was wrapped in silk and sealed with wax. It wasdirected to Marsyas. He ripped it open hastily and read:
"To Marsyas, the Essene, to whom Cypros the Herod would owe a greaterdebt, greeting and these:
"It hath come to us here in Alexandria that Vitellius pursues thee witha mind to punish thee for helping my lord away from his difficulty inJudea. The legate hath sent couriers broadcast over the Empire to seekthee out, but the noble Flaccus, Proconsul of Egypt, though forewarnedand required to deliver thee up, hath promised thee asylum inAlexandria. Wherefore, if it please God that thou art preserved untilmy servant Silas reaches thee, do thou return to this city, secretlyand with all speed.
"That thou care for thyself and that thy despatch be assured, I addfurther that there is much thou canst do for me. Delay not if the samegood heart which suffered for us in Ptolemais still beats within thee.
"Thy friend, "CYPROS."
Within were three notes of a talent each, signed by AlexanderLysimachus, the Alabarch of Alexandria. Six weeks before, they wouldhave been mere strips of parchment to Marsyas; to-day, with thecommercial knowledge of a steward, Caesar's gold would not havecommanded more respect in him. But he crushed them in his hand andturned his face, suddenly grown pale and tense, toward the east andJerusalem. They meant the beginning of the destruction of Saul!
Presently he signed to Silas to follow and led the way to old Peter,who sipped his wine in his sleeping apartment. On the way, they met aslave whom Marsyas despatched to the khan for Eleazar.
"But," objected Peter, with the querulousness of an old man, after thefirst flush of satisfaction over the return of his three talents, "Itook thee in hostage, young man, because I wanted thy service assteward, not because I wished to please Agrippa."
"But I have summoned my better to take my place," Marsyas assured him."Thou shall not be without an able steward, who will serve thee forhire."
And thus it was arranged when Eleazar arrived, that the rabbi shouldtake Marsyas' place as steward and Peter, grumbling, but no lessmollified, put on his cloak and repaired to the authorities to make theyoung Essene's manumission a matter of record.
By sunset all the negotiations were completed and Marsyas, with Silas,passed out into the twilight and proceeded toward the mole.
As they went, others were going; the freighter which was the first tosail for Alexandria bade fair to be crowded with passengers. Curiousthat so many wished to depart, Marsyas looked critically at the peopleas they moved toward the water-front. He saw that many of them hadbeen with him in the Nazarene meeting the night before. They wereobeying the command to move on.
Suddenly one of them, a young man in advance of two, old enough to behis parents, stopped and pointed with an outstretched arm.
Marsyas glanced in the direction the youth indicated.
The lower slopes of the immense western sky over the placid sea weredelicate with the pale shades of a clear, cold, spring sunset. Thepoint where the sun had sunk, alone glowed with a sparkling, goldenbrilliance. And set against that, far out in the bay, was a frail darkmast, crossed by a faint yard--a fragile crucifix sunk in a glory!
The elder man did not speak; the younger looked at the thing he haddiscovered, but as Marsyas hurried in agitation by the woman, he heardher speak softly:
"But it is bright--beyond!"
Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians Page 13
