Part 38 (1/2)
The sight of Rome impressed him less than he had expected. Of its vastness he could form no opinion; but in strength, and beauty, it appeared to him inferior to Jerusalem. When he landed, he saw how many were the stately palaces and temples; but of the former none were more magnificent than that of Herod. Nor was there one of the temples to be compared, for a moment, with that which had so lately stood, the wonder and admiration of the world, upon Mount Moriah.
The centurion procured a commodious lodging for him and, finding that t.i.tus was still in Rome, accompanied him the next day to the palace. Upon saying that he was the bearer of a letter to t.i.tus, the centurion was shown into the inner apartments; John being left in the great antechamber, which was crowded with officers waiting to see t.i.tus, when he came out--to receive orders, pay their respects, or present pet.i.tions to him.
The centurion soon returned, and told John to follow him.
”t.i.tus was very pleased,” he whispered, ”when he read the letter I brought him; and begged me bring you, at once, to his presence.”
t.i.tus was alone in a small chamber, whose simplicity contrasted strangely with the magnificence of those through which he had pa.s.sed. He rose from a table at which he had been writing.
”Ah, my good friend,” he said, ”I am truly glad to see you! I made sure that you were dead. You were not among those who came out, and gave themselves up, or among those who were captured when the city was taken; for I had careful inquiry made, thinking it possible that you might have lost my ring, and been unable to obtain access to me; then, at last, I made sure that you had fallen. I am truly glad to see that it is not so.”
”I was marvellously preserved, then, as at Jotapata,” John said; ”and escaped, after the Temple had fallen, by a secret pa.s.sage leading out beyond the wall of circ.u.mvallation. As I made my way home, I fell into the hands of some slave dealers, who seized me and my companion--who is my adopted brother--and carried us away to Alexandria, where I was sold. As you had not yet returned to Rome, I thought it better not to produce your signet, which I had fortunately managed to conceal.
”When I heard that you had reached Rome, and had received your triumph, I produced the ring to my master Tibellus; and prayed him to send me and my companion here to you, in order that I might ask for liberty, and leave to return to my home. He treated me with the greatest kindness and, but that I had appealed to you, would of himself have set us free. It is for this, alone, that I have come here; to ask you to confirm the freedom he has given me, and to permit me to return to Galilee. Further, if you will give me your order that I and mine may live peacefully, without molestation from any, it would add to your favours.”
”I will do these, certainly,” t.i.tus said, ”and far more, if you will let me. I shall never forget that you saved my life; and believe me, I did my best to save the Temple, which was what I promised you. I did not say that I would save it, merely that I would do my best; but your obstinate countrymen insisted in bringing destruction upon it.”
”I know that you did all that was possible,” John said, ”and that the blame lies with them, and not with you, in any way. However, it was the will of G.o.d that it should be destroyed; and they were the instruments of his will, while they thought they were trying to preserve it.”
”But now,” t.i.tus said, ”you must let me do more for you. Have you ambition? I will push you forward to high position, and dignity. Do you care for wealth? I have the treasures of Rome in my gift. Would you serve in the army? Many of the Alexandrian Jews had high rank in the army of Anthony. Two of Cleopatra's best generals were your countrymen. I know your bravery, and your military talents, and will gladly push you forward.”
”I thank you, Caesar, for your offers,” John said, ”which far exceed my deserts; but I would rather pa.s.s my life as a tiller of the soil, in Galilee. The very name of a Jew, at present, is hateful in the ear of a Roman. All men who succeed by the favour of a great prince are hated. I should be still more so, as a Jew. I should be hated by my own countrymen, as well as yours, for they would regard me as a traitor. There would be no happiness in such a life. A thousand times better a home by the Lake of Galilee, with a wife and children.”
”If such be your determination, I will say nought against it,”
t.i.tus said; ”but remember, if at any time you tire of such a life, come to me and I will give you a post of high honour and dignity.
There are glorious opportunities for talent and uprightness in our distant dependencies--east and west--where there will be no prejudices against the name of a Jew.
”However, for the present let that be. Tomorrow I will have prepared for you an imperial order--to all Roman officers, civil and military, of Galilee and Judea--to treat you as the friend of t.i.tus; also the appointment as procurator of the district lying north of the river Hieromax, up to the boundary of Chorazin, for a distance of ten miles back from the lake. You will not refuse that office, for it will enable you to protect your country people from oppression, and to bring prosperity upon the whole district.
”Lastly, you will receive with the doc.u.ments a sum of money. I know that you will not use it on yourself, but it will be long before the land recovers from its wounds. There will be terrible misery and distress; and I should like to think that in the district, at least, of my friend, there are peace and contentment. Less than this Caesar cannot give to the man who spared his life.”
John thanked t.i.tus, most heartily, for his favours; which would, he saw, ensure his family and neighbours from the oppression and tyranny to which a conquered people are exposed, at the hands of a rough soldiery. t.i.tus ordered an apartment to be prepared for him, in the palace; and begged him to take up his abode there, until a vessel should be sailing for Casarea. Slaves were told off to attend upon him, and to escort him in the city; and everything was done to show the esteem and friends.h.i.+p in which t.i.tus held him.
t.i.tus had several interviews with him; and learned now, for the first time, that he was the John of Gamala who had so long and stoutly opposed the Romans.
”If I had known that,” t.i.tus said, with a smile, ”when you were in my hands, I do not think I should have let you go free; though your captivity would have been an honourable one. When you said that you would not promise to desist from opposing our arms, I thought that one man, more or less, in the ranks of the enemy would make little difference; but had I known that it was the redoubtable John of Gamala who was in my hands, I should hardly have thought myself justified in letting you go free.”
John, at the request of t.i.tus, gave him a sketch of the incidents of his life, and of the campaign.
”So you have already a lady love,” t.i.tus said, when he had finished. ”What shall I send her?
”Better nothing, at present,” he said, after a moment's thought and a smile, ”beyond yourself. That will be the best and most acceptable gift I could send her. Time, and your good report, may soften the feelings with which doubtless she, like all the rest of your countrywomen, must regard me; though the G.o.ds know I would gladly have spared Galilee, and Judea, from the ruin which has fallen upon them.”
In addition to the two doc.u.ments which he had promised him, t.i.tus thoughtfully gave him another, intended for the perusal of his own countrymen only. It was in the form of a letter, saying to John that he had appointed him procurator of the strip of territory bordering the Lake of Galilee on the east, not from any submission on his part, still less at his request; but solely as a proof of his admiration for the stubborn and determined manner in which he had fought throughout the war, the absence of any cruelty practised upon Romans who fell into his hands, of his esteem for his character, and as a remembrance of the occasion when they two had fought, hand to hand, alone in the valley going down from Hebron.
The gold was sent directly on board a s.h.i.+p. It was in a box, which required four strong men to lift. A centurion, with twenty men, was put on board the s.h.i.+p; with orders to land with John at Casarea, and to escort him to his own home, or as near as he might choose to take them. t.i.tus took a cordial leave of him, and expressed a hope that John would, some day, change his mind and accept his offer of a post; and that, at any rate, he hoped that he would, from time to time, come to Rome to see him.
The voyage to Caesarea was performed without accident.
”I shall look back at our visit to Rome as a dream,” Jonas said, one evening, as they sat together on the deck of the s.h.i.+p. ”To think that I, the goatherd of Jotapata, should have been living in the palace of Caesar, at Rome; with you, the friend of t.i.tus, himself! It seems marvellous; but I am weary of the crowded streets, of the noise, and bustle, and wealth and colour. I long to get rid of this dress, in which I feel as if I were acting a part in a play.