Part 26 (1/2)

”No,” John said earnestly, ”there would have been mourning. You may be sure that Vespasian would have avenged his blood upon all the people. It would have been a misfortune, indeed, had t.i.tus fallen.

It is well that it ended as it did.”

John was, however, far too weak to be able to accompany his band upon its rapid marches; and therefore, for a time, resigned its command to one of his captains. He determined to go, until his strength returned to him, to a small community of which he had heard as dwelling in an almost inaccessible valley on the sh.o.r.e of the Dead Sea. He was told that they took no part in the commotion of the times, and that they lived in such poverty that even the robbers of Simon had not cared to interfere with them. They practiced hospitality to strangers, and spent their lives in religious observances. As John had often heard from his father of this sect--which was at one time numerous in the land, but had been sorely persecuted by the priests and Pharisees--he determined to stop for a time among them, and learn somewhat of their doctrines.

Accompanied by Jonas, he made his way across the mountains to the valley where they dwelt. As wounded, and a stranger, he was received without question among them; and a little hut, similar to that in which they all lived, was placed at his disposal. These huts were ranged in a square, in the center of which stood a larger building, used as their synagogue. Here John remained nearly a month; and was greatly struck by their religious fervor, the simplicity and austerity of their lives, and the doctrines which they held. He learned that the more rigorous of the sect abstained, altogether, from the use of meat and wine; and that celibacy was strictly enjoined. Those who married did not separate themselves from the sect, but were considered as occupying an inferior position in it. Their food was of the simplest kind, and only sufficient to sustain life. The community raised the grain and vegetables necessary for their use.

But it was the religious doctrines which they held which most greatly surprised John. They attached no importance, whatever, to the ceremonial law of the Jewish Scriptures; maintaining, in the first place, that the Scriptures had a spiritual signification wholly apart from the literal meaning, alone understood by the world; and that this spiritual meaning could only be attained by those who, after long probation, were initiated into the inner mysteries of the sect.

In the second place, they held that the written law had been altogether superseded by the coming of the great prophet, Christ, who had been put to death by the Jewish priests. John learned that there were already large numbers of Jews who had accepted the doctrines taught by this Christ, although they did not all embrace the strict rules and modes of life of the ascetics. John was greatly struck with their doctrines, although he did not hear enough to do more than to dimly understand their meaning. He determined however that, if he went safely through the war, he would inquire further into these mysteries.

At the end of the four weeks, his strength being comparatively restored, he took his leave of the community, and rejoined his band.

Chapter 13: The Test Of Devotion.

Although John was able to join his companions, he was still far from strong; and was glad to have a valid excuse for handing over his command to his lieutenant, and returning home. The campaign was nearly over; and he could not have followed those rapid marches through the hills which enabled the band to appear, now on one side, now on the other of the Romans, and to keep them in a constant state of watchfulness.

At the same time, he was glad of the excuse to leave for, although he had declared to t.i.tus that he would fight again in defense of Jerusalem, he felt that, after the kind treatment he had met with, he could not take part in the daily skirmishes with the Romans.

Mounting a donkey, which was among the many animals captured in the attacks upon the Romans' baggage train, John bade adieu to his comrades; and with Jonas, now grown into a st.u.r.dy young fellow, started for home. He journeyed by the road to the west of Jerusalem, in order to avoid the bandits of Simon son of Gioras; who still scourged the neighborhood of Masada and Herodium, lying between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. He avoided all the towns in which there were Roman garrisons; for the bandages on his head would have shown, at once, that he had been engaged in fighting. He traveled slowly, and was six days before he arrived home.

”This time, my son, you have not come home unharmed,” Simon said.

”Truly you are a shadow of your former self.”

”I shall soon be strong again, father; and these are honorable scars, for I had them in single combat with t.i.tus, himself, in the valley between Hebron and Carmelia.”

”Then how is it that you live to tell the tale, my son?” Simon asked, while exclamations of wonder broke from Mary and Martha.

”Surely G.o.d did not deliver him into your hands?”

”I wish not to boast, father, and I have told the true story to none; but truly G.o.d did deliver him into my hands.”

”And he is dead?” Simon exclaimed.

”No, father, he lives, for I spared him.”

”Spared him!” Simon exclaimed. ”What, you did not avenge the miseries of our people upon the son of the oppressor?”

”No, father; and I rejoice that I did not for, had I done so, surely the Romans would have avenged his death upon all the land.

But I thought not of that, at the time. I was sore wounded, and bleeding, and my sense was well-nigh gone; but as I knelt upon him, and lifted my hand to slay him, a thought--surely sent by G.o.d, himself--came into my mind, and I said:

”'Swear by your G.o.ds that you will spare the Temple, or I slay you;' and he swore that, so far as lay in his power, he would spare the Temple.”

An exclamation of joy burst from his hearers, and Simon said:

”Verily, my son, G.o.d has raised you up as a deliverer of his Temple; not, as some hoped, by defeating our oppressors, but by binding one of their mightiest ones to do it no harm.”

”I pray, father, say naught of this to anyone. It is between ourselves, and t.i.tus, and the Lord; and I would not that any man should know of it. Moreover, t.i.tus behaved with the greatest generosity to me.