CHAPTER XVII
THE GATE OF NICANOR
Another two hours went by, and the lengthening shadows cast through thestonework of the lattice told Miriam that the day was drawing to itsend. Suddenly the bolts were shot and the door opened.
"The time is at hand," she said to herself, and at the thought her heartbeat fast and her knees trembled, while a mist came before her eyes, sothat she could not see. When it passed she looked up, and there beforeher, very handsome and stately, though worn with war and hunger, stoodCaleb, sword in hand and clad in a breast plate dinted with many blows.At the sight, Miriam's courage came back to her; at least before him shewould show no fear.
"Are you sent to carry out my sentence?" she asked.
He bowed his head. "Yes, a while hence, when the sun sinks," he answeredbitterly. "That judge, Simeon, who ordered you to be searched, is a manwith a savage heart. He thought that I tried to save you from the wrathof the Sanhedrim; he thought that I----"
"Let be what he thought," interrupted Miriam, "and, friend Caleb, doyour office. When we were children together often you tied my hands andfeet with flowers, do you remember? Well, tie them now with cords, andmake an end."
"You are cruel," he said, wincing.
"Indeed! some might have thought that you are cruel. If, for instance,they had heard your words in that tower last night when you gave up myname to the Jews and linked it with another's."
"Oh! Miriam," he broke in in a pleading voice, "if I did this--andin truth I scarcely know what I did--it was because love and jealousymaddened me."
"Love? The love of the lion for the lamb! Jealousy? Why were youjealous? Because, having striven to murder Marcus--oh! I saw the fightand it was little better, for you smote him unawares, being fullyprepared when he was not--you feared lest I might have saved him fromyour fangs. Well, thanks be to God! I did save him, as I hope. And now,officer of the most merciful and learned Sanhedrim, do your duty."
"At least, Miriam," Caleb went on, humbly, for her bitter words, unjustas they were in part, seemed to crush him, "at least, I strove my bestfor you to-day--after I found time to think."
"Yes," she answered, "to think that other lions would get the lamb whichyou chance to desire for yourself."
"More," he continued, taking no note. "I have made a plan."
"A plan to do what?"
"To escape. If I give the signal on your way to the gate where I mustlead you, you will be rescued by certain friends of mine who will hideyou in a place of safety, while I, the officer, shall seem to be cutdown. Afterwards I can join you and under cover of the night, by a wayof which I know, we will fly together."
"Fly? Where to?"
"To the Romans, who will spare you because of what you didyesterday--and me also."
"Because of what _you_ did yesterday?"
"No--because you will say that I am your husband. It will not be true,but what of that?"
"What of it, indeed?" asked Miriam, "since it can always become true.But how is it that you, being one of the first of the Jewish warriors,are prepared to fly and ask the mercy of your foes? Is it because----"
"Spare to insult me, Miriam. You know well why it is. You know well thatI am no traitor, and that I do not fly for fear."
"Yes," she answered, in a changed tone, for his manly words touched her,"I know that."
"It is for you that I fly, for your sake I will eat this dirt and crownmyself with shame. I fly that for the second time I may save you."
"And in return you demand--what?"
"Yourself."
"That I will not give, Caleb. I reject your offer."
"I feared it," he answered huskily, "who am accustomed to such denials.Then I demand this, for know that if once you pass your word I may trustit: that you will not marry the Roman Marcus."
"I cannot marry the Roman Marcus any more than I can marry you, becauseneither of you are Christians, and as you know well it is laid uponme as a birth duty that I may take no man to husband who is not aChristian."
"For your sake, Miriam," he answered slowly, "I am prepared to bebaptised into your faith. Let this show you how much I love you."
"It does not show that you love the faith, Caleb, nor if you did love itcould I love you. Jew or Christian, I cannot be your wife."
He turned his face to the wall and for a while was silent. Then he spokeagain.
"Miriam, so be it. I will still save you. Go, and marry Marcus, ifyou can, only, if I live, I will kill him if I can, but that you needscarcely fear, for I do not think that I shall live."
She shook her head. "I will not go, who am weary of flights and hidings.Let God deal with me and Marcus and you as He pleases. Yet I thank you,and am sorry for the unkind words I spoke. Oh! Caleb, cannot you put meout of your mind? Are there not many fairer women who would be glad tolove you? Why do you waste your life upon me? Take your path and sufferme to take mine. Yet all this talk is foolishness, for both are likelyto be short."
"Yours, and that of Marcus the Roman, and my own are all one path,Miriam, and I seek no other. As a lad, I swore that I would never takeyou, except by your own wish, and to that oath I hold. Also, I sworethat if I could I would kill my rival, and to that oath I hold. If hekills me, you may wed him. If I kill him, you need not wed me unless youso desire. But this fight is to the death, yes, whether you live or die,it is still to the death as between me and him. Do you understand?"
"Your words are very plain, Caleb, but this is a strange hour to chooseto speak them, seeing that, for aught I know, Marcus is alreadydead, and that within some short time I shall be dead, and that deaththreatens you and all within this Temple."
"Yet we live, Miriam, and I believe that for none of the three of us isthe end at hand. Well, you will not fly, either with me or without me?"
"No, I will not fly."
"Then the time is here, and, having no choice, I must do my duty,leaving the rest to fate. If, perchance, I can rescue you afterwards, Iwill, but do not hope for such a thing."
"Caleb, I neither hope nor fear. Henceforth I struggle no more. I am inother hands than yours, or those of the Jews, and as They fashion theclay so shall it be shaped. Now, will you bind me?"
"I have no such command. Come forth if it pleases you, the officers waitwithout. Had you wished to be rescued, I should have taken the path onwhich my friends await us. Now we must go another."
"So be it," said Miriam, "but first give me that jar of water, for mythroat is parched."
He lifted it to her lips and she drank deeply. Then they went. Outsidethe cloister four men were waiting, two of them those doorkeepers whohad searched her in the morning, the others soldiers.
"You have been a long while with the pretty maid, master," said one ofthem to Caleb. "Have you been receiving confession of her sins?"
"I have been trying to receive confession of the hiding-place of theRoman, but the witch is obstinate," he answered, glaring angrily atMiriam.
"She will soon change her tune on the gateway, master, where the nightsare cold and the day is hot for those who have neither cloaks for theirbacks nor water for their stomachs. Come on, Blue Eyes, but first giveme that necklet of pearls, which may serve to buy a bit of bread or adrink of wine," and he thrust his filthy hand into her breast.
Next instant a sword flashed in the red light of the evening to fallfull on the ruffian's skull, and down he went dead or dying.
"Brute," said Caleb with an angry snarl, "go to seek bread and wine inGehenna. The maid is doomed to death, not to be plundered by such asyou. Come forward."
The companions of the fallen man stared at him. Then one laughed, fordeath was too common a sight to excite pity or surprise, and said:
"He was ever a greedy fellow. Let us hope that he has gone where thereis more to eat."
Then, preceded by Caleb, they marched through the long cloisters, passedan inner door, turned down more cloisters on the right, and, followingthe base of the great wall, came to its beautiful centre gate, Nicanor,that was ado
rned with gold and silver, and stood between the Court ofWomen and the Court of Israel. Over this gateway was a square building,fifty feet or more in height, containing store chambers and places wherethe priests kept their instruments of music. On its roof, which wasflat, were three columns of marble, terminated by gilded spikes. By thegate one of the Sanhedrim was waiting for them, that same relentlessjudge, Simeon, who had ordered Miriam to be searched.
"Has the woman confessed where she hid the Roman?" he asked of Caleb.
"No," he answered, "she says that she knows nothing of any Roman."
"Is it so, woman?"
"It is so, Rabbi."
"Bring her up," he went on sternly, and they passed through somestone chambers to a place where there was a staircase with a door ofcedar-wood. The judge unlocked it, locking it again behind them, andthey climbed the stairs till they came to another little door of stone,which, being opened, Miriam found herself on the roof of the gateway.They led her to the centre pillar, to which was fastened an iron chainabout ten feet in length. Here Simeon commanded that her hands shouldbe bound behind her, which was done. Then he brought out of his robe ascroll written in large letters, and tied it on to her breast. This wasthe writing on the scroll:
"Miriam, Nazarene and Traitress, is doomed here to die as God shallappoint, before the face of her friends, the Romans."
Then followed several signatures of members of the Sanhedrim, includingthat of her grandfather, Benoni, who had thus been forced to show thetriumph of patriotism over kinship.
This done the end of the chain was made fast round her middle andriveted with a hammer in such fashion that she could not possibly escapeits grip. Then all being finished the men prepared to leave. First,however, Simeon addressed her:
"Stay here, accursed traitress, till your bones fall piecemeal fromthat chain," he said, "stay, through storm and shine, through lightand darkness, while Roman and Jew alike make merry of your sufferings,which, if my voice had been listened to, would have been shorter, butmore cruel. Daughter of Satan, go back to Satan and let the Son of thecarpenter save you if he can."
"Spare to revile the maid," broke in Caleb furiously, "for curses arespears that fall on the heads of those that throw them."
"Had I my will," answered the Rabbi, "a spear should fall upon yourhead, insolent, who dare to rebuke your elders. Begone before me, and besure of this, that if you strive to return here it shall be for the lasttime. More is known about you, Caleb, then you think, and perhaps youalso would make friends among the Romans."
Caleb made no answer, for he knew the venom and power of this ZealotSimeon, who was the chosen friend and instrument of the savage John ofGischala. Only he looked at Miriam with sad eyes, and, muttering "Youwould have it so, I can do no more. Farewell," left her to her fate.
So there in the red light of the sunset, with her hands bound, a placardsetting out her shame upon her breast, and chained like a wild beastto the column of marble, Miriam was left alone. Walking as near to thelittle battlement as the length of her chain would allow, she lookeddown into the Court of Israel, where many of the Zealots had gathered tocatch sight of her. So soon as they saw her they yelled and hooted andcast a shower of stones, one of which struck her on the shoulder. With alittle cry of pain she ran back as far as she could reach on the furtherside of the pillar. Hence she could see the great Court of Women, whencethe Gate Nicanor was approached by fifteen steps forming the half of acircle and fashioned of white marble. This court now was nothing buta camp, for the outer Court of the Gentiles having been taken by theRomans, their battering rams were working at its walls.
Then the night fell, but brought no peace with it, for the rams smotecontinually, and since they were not strong enough to break through thehuge stones of the mighty wall, the Romans renewed their attempt to takethem by storm in the hours of darkness. But, indeed, it was no darkness,for the Jews lit fires upon the top of the wall, and by their lightdrove off the attacking Romans. Again and again, from her lofty perch,Miriam could see the scaling ladders appear above the crest of the wall.Then up them would come long lines of men, each holding a shield abovehis head. As the foremost of these scrambled on to the wall, the waitingJews rushed at them and cut them down with savage shouts, while otherJews seizing the rungs of the ladder, thrust it from the coping to fallwith its living load back into the ditch beneath. Once there were greatcries of joy, for two standard-bearers had come up the ladders carryingtheir ensigns with them. The men were overpowered and the ensignscaptured to be waved derisively at the Romans beneath, who answered theinsult with sullen roars of rage.
So things went on till at length the legionaries, wearing of thisdesperate fighting, took another counsel. Hitherto Titus had desired topreserve all the Temple, even to the outer courts and cloisters, but nowhe commanded that the gates, built of great beams of cedar and overlaidwith silver plates, should be fired. Through a storm of spears andarrows soldiers rushed up to them and thrust lighted brands into everyjoint and hinge. They caught, and presently the silver plates ran downtheir blazing surface in molten streams of metal. Nor was this all, forfrom the gates the fire spread to the cloisters on either side, nor didthe outworn Jews attempt to stay its ravages. They drew back sullenly,and seated in groups upon the paving of the Court of Women, watching thecircle of devouring flame creep slowly on. At length the sun rose. Nowthe Romans were labouring to extinguish the fire at the gateway, and tomake a road over the ruins by which they might advance. When it wasdone at last, with shouts of triumph the legionaries, commanded by Titushimself and accompanied by a body of horsemen, advanced into the Courtof Women. Back before them fled the Jews, pouring up the steps of theGate Nicanor, on the roof of which Miriam was chained to her pinnacle.But of her they took no note, none had time to think, or even to lookat a single girl bound there on high in punishment for some offence, ofwhich the most of them knew nothing. Only they manned the walls to rightand left, and held the gateway, but to the roof where Miriam was theydid not climb, because its parapet was too low to shelter them from thearrows of their assailants.
The Romans saw her, however, for she perceived that some of his officerswere pointing her out to a man on horseback, clad in splendid armour,over which fell a purple cloak, whom she took to be Titus himself. Alsoone of the soldiers shot an arrow at her which struck upon the spikedcolumn above her head and, rebounding, fell at her feet. Titus notedthis, for she saw the man brought before him, and by his gesturesgathered that the general was speaking to him angrily. After this nomore arrows were shot at her, and she understood that their curiositybeing stirred by the sight of a woman chained upon a gateway, they didnot wish to do her mischief.
Now the August sun shone out from a cloudless sky till the hot airdanced above the roofs of the Temple and the pavings of the courts, andthe thousands shut within their walls were glad to crowd into the shadowto shelter from its fiery beams. But Miriam could not escape themthus. In the morning and again in the afternoon she was able indeed, bycreeping round it, to take refuge in the narrow line of shade thrown bythe marble column to which she was made fast. At mid-day, however, itflung no shadow, so for all those dreadful hours she must pant in theburning heat without a drop of water to allay her thirst. Still she boreit till at length came evening and its cool.
That day the Romans made no attack, nor did the Jews attempt a sally.Only some of the lighter of the engines were brought into the Court ofWomen, whence they hurled their great stones and heavy darts into theCourt of Israel beyond. Miriam watched these missiles as they rushed byher, once or twice so close that the wind they made stirred her hair.The sight fascinated her and took her mind from her own sufferings.She could see the soldiers working at the levers and pulleys till thestrings of the catapult or the boards of the balista were drawn to theirplaces. Then the darts or the stones were set in the groove prepared toreceive it, a cord was pulled and the missile sped upon its way, makingan angry humming noise as it clove the air. At first it looked small;then approaching it grew large, to
become small again to her followingsight as its journey was accomplished. Sometimes, the stones, which didmore damage than the darts, fell upon the paving and bounded along it,marking their course by fragments of shattered marble and a cloud ofdust. At others, directed by an evil fate, they crashed into groupsof Jews, destroying all they touched. Wandering to and fro among thesepeople was that crazed man Jesus, the son of Annas, who had met themwith his wild prophetic cry as they entered into Jerusalem, and whoseill-omened voice Miriam had heard again before Marcus was taken at thefight in the Old Tower. To and fro he went, none hindering him, thoughmany thrust their fingers in their ears and looked aside as he passed,wailing forth: "Woe, woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the city and the Temple!"Of a sudden, as Miriam watched, he was still for a moment, then throwingup his arms, cried in a piercing voice, "Woe, woe to myself!" Before theecho of his words had died against the Temple walls, a great stone castfrom the Court of Women rushed upon him through the air and felled himto the earth. On it went with vast bounds, but Jesus, the son of Annas,lay still. Now, in the hour of the accomplishment of his prophecy, hispilgrimage was ended.
All the day the cloisters that surrounded the Court of Women burnedfiercely, but the Jews, whose heart was out of them, did not sallyforth, and the Romans made no attack upon the inner Court of Israel. Atlength the last rays of the setting sun struck upon the slopes of theMount of Olives, the white tents of the Roman camps, and the hundredsof crosses, each bearing its ghastly burden, that filled the Valley ofJehoshaphat and climbed up the mountain sides wherever space could befound for them to stand. Then over the tortured, famished city down fellthe welcome night. To none was it more welcome than to Miriam, for withit came a copious dew which seemed to condense upon the gilded spike ofher marble pillar, whence it trickled so continually, that by lickinga little channel in the marble, she was enabled, before it ceased, toallay the worst pangs of her thirst. This dew gathered upon her hair,bared neck and garments, so that through them also she seemed to takein moisture and renew her life. After this she slept a while, expectingalways to be awakened by some fresh conflict. But on that night nonetook place, the fight was for the morrow. Meanwhile there was peace.
Miriam dreamed in her uneasy sleep, and in this dream many visions cameto her. She saw this sacred hill of Moriah, whereon the Temple stood, asit had been in the beginning, a rugged spot clothed with ungrafted carobtrees and olives, and inhabited, not of men, but by wild boars and thehyaenas that preyed upon their young. Almost in its centre lay a hugeblack stone. To this stone came a man clad in the garb of the Arabs ofthe desert, and with him a little lad whom he bound upon the stone asthough to offer him in sacrifice. Then, as he was about to plunge aknife into his heart, a glory shone round the place, and a voice criedto him to hold his hand. That was a vision of the offering of Isaac. Itpassed, and there came another vision.
Again she saw the sacred height of Moriah, and lo! a Temple stood uponit, a splendid building, but not that which she knew, and in front ofthis Temple the same black rock. On the rock, where once the lad hadbeen bound, was an altar, and before the altar a glorious man cladin priestly robes, who offered sacrifice of lambs and oxen and in asonorous voice gave praise to Jehovah in the presence of a countlesshost of people. This she knew was the vision of Solomon the King.
It passed, and lo! by this same black rock stood another man, pale andeager-faced, with piercing eyes, who reproached the worshippers in theTemple because of the wickedness of their hearts, and drove them frombefore him with a scourge of cords. This she knew was a vision of Jesus,the Son of Mary, that Messiah Whom she worshipped, for as He drove outthe people He prophesied the desolation that should fall upon them, andas they fled they mocked Him.
The picture passed, and again she saw the black rock, but now it laybeneath a gilded dome and light fell upon it through painted windows.About it moved many priests whose worship was strange to her, and sothey seemed to move for ages. At length the doors of that dome wereburst open, and upon the priests rushed fair-faced, stately-looking men,clad in white mail and bearing upon their shields and breastplatesthe symbol of the Cross. They slaughtered the votaries of the strangeworship, and once more the rock was red with blood. Now they were gonein turn and other priests moved beneath the dome, but the Cross hadvanished thence, and its pinnacles were crowned with crescents.
That vision passed, and there came another of dim, undistinguishablehordes that tore down the crescents and slaughtered the ministers of thestrange faith, and gave the domed temple to the flames.
That vision passed, and once more the summit of Mount Moriah was as ithad been in the beginning: the wild olive and the wild fig flourishedamong its desolate terraces, the wild boar roamed beneath their shade,and there were none to hunt him. Only the sunlight and the moonlightstill beat upon the ancient Rock of Sacrifice.
That vision passed, and lo! around the rock, filling the Valley ofJehoshaphat and the valleys beyond, and the Mount of Olives and themountains above, yes, and the empty air between earth and sky, furtherthan the eye could reach, stood, rank upon rank, all the countlessmillion millions of mankind, all the millions that had been and were yetto be, gazing, every one of them, anxiously and in utter silence uponthe scarred and naked Rock of Sacrifice. Now upon the rock there grewa glory so bright that at the sight of it all the million of millionsabased their eyes. And from the glory pealed forth a voice of a trumpet,that seemed to say:
"This is the end and the beginning, all things are accomplished in theirorder, now is the day of Decision."
Then, in her dream, the sun turned red as blood and the stars seemedto fall and winds shook the world, and darkness covered it, and in thewinds and the darkness were voices, and standing upon the rock, its armsstretched east and west, a cross of fire, and filling the heavens abovethe cross, company upon company of angels. This last vision of judgmentpassed also and Miriam awoke again from her haunted, horror-begottensleep, to see the watch-fires of the Romans burning in the Court ofWomen before her, and from the Court of Israel behind her, where theywere herded like cattle in the slaughterer's yard, to hear the groans ofthe starving Jews who to-morrow were destined to the sword.
Pearl-Maiden: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem Page 22
