Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ

by Lew Wallace

  CHAPTER I

  The month to which we now come is July, the year that of our Lord29, and the place Antioch, then Queen of the East, and next toRome the strongest, if not the most populous, city in the world.

  There is an opinion that the extravagance and dissoluteness ofthe age had their origin in Rome, and spread thence throughoutthe empire; that the great cities but reflected the manners oftheir mistress on the Tiber. This may be doubted. The reactionof the conquest would seem to have been upon the morals of theconqueror. In Greece she found a spring of corruption; so alsoin Egypt; and the student, having exhausted the subject, will closethe books assured that the flow of the demoralizing river was fromthe East westwardly, and that this very city of Antioch, one of theoldest seats of Assyrian power and splendor, was a principal sourceof the deadly stream.

  A transport galley entered the mouth of the river Orontes from theblue waters of the sea. It was in the forenoon. The heat was great,yet all on board who could avail themselves of the privilege wereon deck--Ben-Hur among others.

  The five years had brought the young Jew to perfect manhood. Though therobe of white linen in which he was attired somewhat masked his form,his appearance was unusually attractive. For an hour and more he hadoccupied a seat in the shade of the sail, and in that time severalfellow-passengers of his own nationality had tried to engage himin conversation, but without avail. His replies to their questionshad been brief, though gravely courteous, and in the Latin tongue.The purity of his speech, his cultivated manners, his reticence,served to stimulate their curiosity the more. Such as observedhim closely were struck by an incongruity between his demeanor,which had the ease and grace of a patrician, and certain pointsof his person. Thus his arms were disproportionately long; andwhen, to steady himself against the motion of the vessel, he tookhold of anything near by, the size of his hands and their evidentpower compelled remark; so the wonder who and what he was mixedcontinually with a wish to know the particulars of his life.In other words, his air cannot be better described than as anotice--This man has a story to tell.

  The galley, in coming, had stopped at one of the ports of Cyprus,and picked up a Hebrew of most respectable appearance, quiet,reserved, paternal. Ben-Hur ventured to ask him some questions;the replies won his confidence, and resulted finally in anextended conversation.

  It chanced also that as the galley from Cyprus entered the receivingbay of the Orontes, two other vessels which had been sighted out inthe sea met it and passed into the river at the same time; and asthey did so both the strangers threw out small flags of brightestyellow. There was much conjecture as to the meaning of the signals.At length a passenger addressed himself to the respectable Hebrewfor information upon the subject.

  "Yes, I know the meaning of the flags," he replied; "they donot signify nationality--they are merely marks of ownership."

  "Has the owner many ships?"

  "He has."

  "You know him?"

  "I have dealt with him."

  The passengers looked at the speaker as if requesting him to goon. Ben-Hur listened with interest.

  "He lives in Antioch," the Hebrew continued, in his quiet way."That he is vastly rich has brought him into notice, and thetalk about him is not always kind. There used to be in Jerusalema prince of very ancient family named Hur."

  Judah strove to be composed, yet his heart beat quicker.

  "The prince was a merchant, with a genius for business. He seton foot many enterprises, some reaching far East, others West.In the great cities he had branch houses. The one in Antiochwas in charge of a man said by some to have been a family servantcalled Simonides, Greek in name, yet an Israelite. The master wasdrowned at sea. His business, however, went on, and was scarcelyless prosperous. After a while misfortune overtook the family.The prince's only son, nearly grown, tried to kill the procuratorGratus in one of the streets of Jerusalem. He failed by a narrowchance, and has not since been heard of. In fact, the Roman's ragetook in the whole house--not one of the name was left alive. Theirpalace was sealed up, and is now a rookery for pigeons; the estatewas confiscated; everything that could be traced to the ownershipof the Hurs was confiscated. The procurator cured his hurt with agolden salve."

  The passengers laughed.

  "You mean he kept the property," said one of them.

  "They say so," the Hebrew replied; "I am only telling a storyas I received it. And, to go on, Simonides, who had been theprince's agent here in Antioch, opened trade in a short time onhis own account, and in a space incredibly brief became the mastermerchant of the city. In imitation of his master, he sent caravansto India; and on the sea at present he has galleys enough to makea royal fleet. They say nothing goes amiss with him. His camels donot die, except of old age; his ships never founder; if he throw achip into the river, it will come back to him gold."

  "How long has he been going on thus?"

  "Not ten years."

  "He must have had a good start."

  "Yes, they say the procurator took only the prince's property readyat hand--his horses, cattle, houses, land, vessels, goods. The moneycould not be found, though there must have been vast sums of it.What became of it has been an unsolved mystery."

  "Not to me," said a passenger, with a sneer.

  "I understand you," the Hebrew answered. "Others have had youridea. That it furnished old Simonides his start is a common belief.The procurator is of that opinion--or he has been--for twice infive years he has caught the merchant, and put him to torture."

  Judah griped the rope he was holding with crushing force.

  "It is said," the narrator continued, "that there is not a soundbone in the man's body. The last time I saw him he sat in a chair,a shapeless cripple, propped against cushions."

  "So tortured!" exclaimed several listeners in a breath.

  "Disease could not have produced such a deformity. Still thesuffering made no impression upon him. All he had was his lawfully,and he was making lawful use of it--that was the most they wrungfrom him. Now, however, he is past persecution. He has a licenseto trade signed by Tiberius himself."

  "He paid roundly for it, I warrant."

  "These ships are his," the Hebrew continued, passing the remark."It is a custom among his sailors to salute each other upon meetingby throwing out yellow flags, sight of which is as much as to say,'We have had a fortunate voyage.'"

  The story ended there.

  When the transport was fairly in the channel of the river, Judahspoke to the Hebrew.

  "What was the name of the merchant's master?"

  "Ben-Hur, Prince of Jerusalem."

  "What became of the prince's family?"

  "The boy was sent to the galleys. I may say he is dead. One yearis the ordinary limit of life under that sentence. The widow anddaughter have not been heard of; those who know what became ofthem will not speak. They died doubtless in the cells of one ofthe castles which spot the waysides of Judea."

  Judah walked to the pilot's quarter. So absorbed was he in thoughtthat he scarcely noticed the shores of the river, which from seato city were surpassingly beautiful with orchards of all theSyrian fruits and vines, clustered about villas rich as thoseof Neapolis. No more did he observe the vessels passing in anendless fleet, nor hear the singing and shouting of the sailors,some in labor, some in merriment. The sky was full of sunlight,lying in hazy warmth upon the land and the water; nowhere exceptover his life was there a shadow.

  Once only he awoke to a momentary interest, and that was when someone pointed out the Grove of Daphne, discernible from a bend inthe river.