CHAPTER XVIII
THE DEATH-STRUGGLE OF ISRAEL
Now the light began to grow, but that morning no sun rose upon the sightof the thousands who waited for its coming. The whole heaven was darkwith a gray mist that seemed to drift up in billows from the sea,bringing with it a salt dampness. For this mist Miriam was thankful,since had the sun shone hotly she knew not how she would have livedthrough another day. Already she grew very weak, who had suffered somuch and eaten so little, and whose only drink had been the dew, but shefelt that while the mist hid the sun her life would bide with her.
To others also this mist was welcome. Under cover of it Caleb approachedthe gateway, and although he could not ascend it, as the doors werelocked and guarded, he cast on to its roof so cleverly, that it fellalmost at Miriam's feet, a linen bag in which was a leathern bottlecontaining wine and water, and with it a mouldy crust of bread,doubtless all that he could find, or buy, or steal. Kneeling down,Miriam loosed the string of the bag with her teeth and devoured thecrust of bread, again returning thanks that Caleb had been moved to thisthought. But from the bottle she could not drink, for her hands beingbound behind her, she was able neither to lift it nor to untie the thongthat made fast its neck. Therefore, as, notwithstanding the dew whichshe had lapped, she needed drink sorely and longed also for the use ofher hands to protect herself from the tormenting attacks of stinginggnats and carrion flies, she set herself to try to free them.
Now the gilt spike that crowned her pillar was made fast withangle-irons let into the marble and the edge of one of these ironsprojected somewhat and was rough. Looking at it the thought came intoMiriam's mind that it might serve to rub through the cord with which herhands were bound. So standing with her back to the pillar she began hertask, to find that it must be done little by little, since the awkwardmovement wearied her, moreover, her swollen arms chafing against themarble of the column became intolerably sore. Yet, although the painmade her weep, from time to time she persevered. But night fell beforethe frayed cord parted.
In the mist also the Romans came near to the gate, notwithstanding therisk, for they were very curious about her, and called to her askingwhy she was bound there. She replied in the Latin language, which wasunderstood by very few of the Jews, that it was because she had rescueda Roman from death. Before they could speak again those who questionedher were driven back by a shower of arrows discharged from the wall, butin the distance she thought that she saw one of them make report to anofficer, who on receipt of it seemed to give some orders.
Meanwhile, also under cover of the mist, the Jews were preparingthemselves for battle. To the number of over four thousand men theygathered silently in the Court of Israel. Then of a sudden the gateswere thrown open, and among them that of Nicanor. The trumpets blew asignal and out they poured into the Court of Women, driving in the Romanguards and outposts as sticks and straws are driven by a sudden flood.But the legionaries beyond were warned, and locking their shieldstogether stood firm, so that the Jews fell back from their iron line assuch a flood falls from an opposing rock. Yet they would not retreat,but fought furiously, killing many of the Romans, until at length Tituscharged on them at the head of a squadron of horse and drove them backheadlong through the gates. Then the Romans came on and put those whomthey had captured to the sword, but as yet they did not attempt thestorming of the gates. Only officers advanced as near to the wallas they dared and called to the Jews to surrender, saying that Titusdesired to preserve their Temple and to spare their lives. But the Jewsanswered them with insults, taunts, and mockery, and Miriam, listening,wondered what spirit had entered into these people and made them mad, sothat they chose death and destruction rather than peace and mercy. Thenshe remembered her strange visions of the night, and in them seemed tofind an answer.
Having repulsed this desperate sally the Roman officers set thousandsof men to work to attempt to extinguish the flaming cloisters, since,notwithstanding the answer of the Jews, Titus still desired to save theTemple. As for its defenders, beyond guarding the walls of the Courtof Israel, they did no more. Gathering in such places as were mostprotected from the darts and stones thrown by the engines, they crouchedupon the ground, some in sullen silence, some beating their breasts andrending their robes, while the women and children wailed in theirmisery and hunger, throwing dust upon their heads. The Gate of Nicanor,however, was still held by a strong guard, who suffered none to approachit, nor did any attempt to ascend to its roof. That Caleb still livedMiriam knew, for she had seen him, covered with dust and blood, drivenback by the charge of Roman horse up the steps of the gateway. This,indeed, he was one of the last to pass before it was closed and barredto keep out the pursuing Romans. After that she saw no more of him formany a month.
So that day also, the last of the long siege, wore away. At nightfallthe thick mist cleared, and for the last time the rich rays of sunsetshone upon the gleaming roof and burning pinnacles of the Temple andwere reflected from the dazzling whiteness of its walls. Never had itlooked more beautiful than it did in that twilight as it towered, stillperfect, above the black ruins of the desolated city. The clamour andshouting had died away, even the mourners had ceased their pitifulcries; except the guards, the Romans had withdrawn and were eating theirevening meal, while those who worked the terrible engines ceased fromtheir destroying toil. Peace, an ominous peace, brooded on the place,and everywhere, save for the flames that crackled among the cedar-woodbeams in the roofs of the cloisters, was deep silence, such as in tropiclands precedes the bursting of a cyclone. To Miriam who watched, itseemed as though in the midst of this unnatural quiet Jehovah waswithdrawing Himself from the house where His Spirit dwelt and from thepeople who worshipped Him with their lips, but rejected Him in theirhearts. Her tormented nerves shuddered with a fear that was not of thebody, as she stared upwards at the immense arch of the azure eveningsky, half expecting that her mortal eyes would catch some vision ofthe departing wings of the Angel of the Lord. But there she could seenothing except the shapes of hundreds of high-poised eagles. "Where thecarcase is there shall the eagles be gathered together," she muttered toherself, and remembering that these four birds were come to feast uponthe bones of the whole people of the Jews and upon her own, she shut hereyes and groaned.
Then the light died on the Temple towers and faded from the pale slopesof the mountains, and in place of the wheeling carrion birds brightstars shone out one by one upon the black mantle of the night.
Once again, setting her teeth because of the agony that the touch of themarble gave to her raw and swollen flesh, Miriam began to fret the cordswhich bound her wrists against the rough edge of the angle-iron. She wassure that it was nearly worn through, but oh! how could she endure theagony until it parted? Still she did endure, for at her feet lay thebottle, and burning thirst drove her to the deed. Suddenly her rewardcame, and she felt that her arms were free; yes, numbed, swollen andbleeding, they fell against her sides, wrenching the stiffened musclesof her shoulders back to their place in such a fashion that shewell-nigh fainted with the pain. Still they were free, and presently shewas able to lift them, and with the help of her teeth to loose the endsof the cord, so that the blood could run once more through her blackenedwrists and hands. Again she waited till some feeling had come back intoher fingers, which were numb and like to mortify. Then she knelt down,and drawing the leather bottle to her, held it between her palms, while,with her teeth, she undid its thong. The task was hard, for it was welltied, but at length the knots gave, and Miriam drank. So fearful washer thirst that she could have emptied the bottle at a draught, but thisshe, who had lived in the desert, was too wise to do, for she knew thatit might kill her. Also when that was gone there was no more. So shedrank half of it in slow sips, then tied the string as well as she wasable and set it down again.
Now the wine, although it was mixed with water, took hold of her who forso long had eaten nothing save a mouldy crust, so that strange soundsdrummed in her ears, and sinking down against the column she became
senseless for a while. She awoke again, feeling somewhat refreshed and,though her head seemed as though it did not belong to her, well ableto think. Her arms also were better and her fingers had recovered theirfeeling. If only she could loose that galling chain, she thought toherself, she might escape, for now death, however strong her faith, wasvery near and unlovely; also she suffered in many ways. To die andpass quick to Heaven--that would be well, but to perish by inches ofstarvation, heat, cold, and cramped limbs, with pains within and withoutand a swimming sickness of the head, ah! it was hard to bear. She knewthat even were she free she could not hope to descend the gateway byits staircase, since the doors were locked and barred, and if she passedthem it would be but to find herself among the Jews in the vaultedchambers beneath. But, so she thought, perhaps she could drop from theroof, which was not so very high, on to the paving in front of the firststair, and then, if she was unhurt, run or crawl to the Romans, whomight give her shelter.
So Miriam tried to undo the chain, only to find that as well might shehope to pull down the Gate Nicanor with her helpless hands. At thisdiscovery she wept, for now she grew weak. Well for Miriam was it thatshe could not have her wish, for certainly had she attempted todrop down from the gateway to the marble paving, or even on to thebattlements of the walls which ran up to it on either side, her boneswould have been shattered like the shell of an egg and she must haveperished miserably.
While she grieved thus, Miriam heard a stir in the Court of Israel, andby the dim starlight saw that men were gathering, to do what she knewnot. Presently, as she wondered, the great gates were opened very softlyand out poured the Jews upon their last sally. Miriam was witnessing thedeath-struggle of the nation of Israel. At the foot of the marble stepsthey divided, one-half of them rushing towards the cloister on theright, and the other to that upon the left. Their object, as it seemedto her, was to slay those Roman soldiers, who, by the command of Titus,were still engaged in fighting the flames that devoured these beautifulbuildings, and then to surprise the camp beyond. The scheme was such asa madman might have made, seeing that the Romans, warned by the sortieof the morning, had thrown up a wall across the lower part of the Courtof Women, and beyond that were protected by every safeguard known to thescience of ancient war. Also the moment that the first Jew set his footupon the staircase, watching sentries cried out in warning and trumpetsgave their call to arms.
Still, they reached the cloisters and killed a few Romans who had nottime to get away. Following those who fled, they came to the wall andbegan to try to force it, when suddenly on its crest and to the rearappeared thousands of those men whom they had hoped to destroy, everyone of them wakeful, armed and marshalled. The Jews hesitated, and, likea living stream of steel, the Roman ranks poured over the wall. Then, ofa sudden, terror seized those unhappy men, and, with a melancholy cry ofutter despair, they turned to flee back to the Court of Israel. But thistime the Romans were not content with driving them away, they came onwith them; some of them even reached the gate before them. Up the marblesteps poured friend and foe together; together they passed the opengate, in their mad rush sweeping away those who had stayed to guard it,and burst into the Court of Israel. Then leaving some to hold the gateand reinforced continually by fresh companies from the camps within andwithout the Temple courts, the Romans ran on towards the doors of theHoly House, cutting down the fugitives as they went. Now none attemptedto stand; there was no fight made; even the bravest of the Jewishwarriors, feeling that their hour was come and that Jehovah had desertedHis people, flung down their weapons and fled, some to escape to theUpper City, more to perish on the Roman spears.
A few attempted to take refuge in the Holy House itself, and after thesefollowed some Romans bearing torches in their hands. Miriam, watchingterrified from the roof of the Gate Nicanor, saw them go, the torchesfloating on the dusky air like points of wind-tossed fire. Then suddenlyfrom a certain window on the north side of the Temple sprang out a flameso bright that from where she stood upon the gate, Miriam could seeevery detail of the golden tracery. A soldier mounted on the shouldersof another and not knowing in his madness that he was a destroyingangel, had cast a torch into and fired the window. Up ran the bright,devouring flame spreading outwards like a fan, so that within some fewminutes all that side of the Temple was but a roaring furnace. Meanwhilethe Romans were pressing through the Gate Nicanor in an unending stream,till presently there was a cry of "Make way! Make way!"
Miriam looked down to see a man, bare-headed and with close-croppedhair, white-robed also and unarmoured, as though he had risen fromhis couch, riding on a great war-horse, an ivory wand in his hand andpreceded by an officer who bore the standard of the Roman Eagles. It wasTitus itself, who as he came shouted to the centurions to beat back thelegionaries and extinguish the fire. But who now could beat them back?As well might he have attempted to restrain the hosts of Gehenna burstto the upper earth. They were mad with the lust of blood and the lust ofplunder, and even to the voice of their dread lord they paid no heed.
New flames sprang up in other parts of the vast Temple. It was doomed.The golden doors were burst open and, attended by his officers, Tituspassed through them to view for the first and last time the home ofJehovah, God of the Jews. From chamber to chamber he passed, yes, eveninto the Holy of Holies itself, whence by his command were brought outthe golden candlesticks and the golden table of shrewbread, nor, sinceGod had deserted His habitation, did any harm come to him for that deed.
Now the Temple which for one thousand one hundred and thirty years hadstood upon the sacred summit of Mount Moriah, went upwards in a sheet offlame, itself the greatest of the sacrifices that had ever been offeredthere; while soldiers stripped it of its gold and ornaments, tossing thesacred vessels to each other and tearing down the silken curtains of theshrine. Nor were victims lacking to that sacrifice, for in their blindfury the Romans fell upon the people who were crowded in the Court ofIsrael, and slew them to the number of more than ten thousand, warriorand priest, citizen and woman and child together, till the court swarmwith blood and the Rock of Offering was black with the dead who hadtaken refuge there. Yet these did not perish quite unavenged, for manyof the Romans, their arms filled with priceless spoils of gold andsilver, the treasures of immemorial time, sank down overcome by theheat, and where they fell they died.
From the Court of Israel went up one mighty wail of those who sankbeneath the sword. From the thousands of the Romans went up a savageshout of triumph, the shout of those who put them to the sword. From themultitude of the Jews who watched this ruin from the Upper City wentup a ceaseless scream of utter agony, and dominating all, like theaccompaniment of some fearful music, rose the fierce, triumphant roar offire. In straight lines and jagged pinnacles the flames soared hundredsof feet into the still air, leaping higher and ever higher as the whitewalls and gilded roofs fell in, till all the Temple was but one giganticfurnace, near which none could bide save the dead, whose very garmentstook fire as they lay upon the ground. Never, was such a sight seenbefore; never, perhaps, will such a sight be seen again--one so awesome,yet so majestic.
Now every living being whom they could find was slain, and the Romansdrew back, bearing their spoil with them. But the remainder of the Jews,to the number of some thousands, escaped by the bridges, which theybroke down behind them, across the valley into the Upper City, whencethat piercing, sobbing wail echoed without cease. Miriam watched tillshe could bear the sight no longer. The glare blinded her, the heat ofthe incandescent furnace shrivelled her up, her white dress scorched andturned brown. She crouched behind the shelter of her pinnacle gaspingfor breath. She prayed that she might die, and could not. Now sheremembered the drink that remained in the leathern bottle, and swallowedit to the last drop. Then she crouched down again against the pillar,and lying thus her senses left her.
Pearl-Maiden: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem Page 23
