Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians. Elizabeth Miller
finger on his lip. The two sat silent until the sleeper fell again into total unconsciousness.
"Three hundred thousand drachmæ!" Marsyas repeated. "I, to get that!"
"I knew that the Essenic brotherhood have a common treasury and that they are believed to be rich. I thought that thou couldst persuade them to lend me the sum."
Marsyas shook his head. "They are poor, poor! Their fund is not contributed in great bulk, and the little they own must be expended in hospitality and in maintaining themselves. Their treasury would be enriched by the little I bring."
"O Fortune!" Agrippa groaned aloud. "I am undone and so art thou!"
Marsyas lapsed into thought, while the Herod looked at the solid door that stood between him and liberty. He had set the subject aside as profitless and was a little irritated when Marsyas spoke again.
"What hopes hast thou in Alexandria?"
"The alabarch, Alexander Lysimachus, is my friend. He is rich; I could borrow of him."
"Take thou my gold and go thither," Marsyas offered at once.
"It is not so easy as it sounds, for the sound of it is most generous and kindly. How am I to get out of Capito's clutches, here?"
Marsyas gazed straight at Agrippa with the set eyes of one plunged into deep speculation. Then he leaned toward the prince.
"Will this gold in all truth help thee to borrow more in Alexandria?"
"I know it!"
"And then what?"
"To Rome! To imperial favor! To suzerainty over Judea!"
Marsyas laid hold on the prince's arm.
"Thou art a Herod," he said intensely. "Ambition natively should be the very breath of thy nostrils. Yet swear to me that thou wilt aspire—aye, even desperately as thy grandsire! Swear to me that thou wilt not be content to be less than a king!"
At another time, Agrippa might have found amusement in the young man's earnestness, but the cause was now his own.
"Thou tongue of my desires!" he exclaimed. "I have sworn! Being a Herod, mine oaths are not idle. I have sworn!"
"Then, let us bargain together," Marsyas said rapidly. "I have told thee my story: thou heardest my vow to-night! For my fealty, yield me thy word! As I help thee into power, help me to revenge! Promise!"
"Promise! By the beard of Abraham, I will conquer or kill anything thou markest; yield thee my last crust, and carry thee upon my back, so thou help me to Alexandria!"
"Swear it!"
Agrippa raised his right hand and swore.
The legionary roused and growled at the two to be quiet. Marsyas fell back on the straw and lay still. Agrippa made signs and urged for more discussion, but the Essene, masterful in his silence, refused to speak. Presently the Herod lay down and slept from sheer inability to engage his mind to profit otherwise.
A little after dawn the following morning, the Essene and the Herod were conducted into the vestibule of Herod the Great, for a hearing before Vitellius and Herrenius Capito. But Marsyas' offense against a Roman citizen was held in abeyance; it was Agrippa's debt to Cæsar which engaged the attention of the judges.
Vitellius was in a precarious temper and Capito looked as grim as querulous old age may. Agrippa's nonchalance was only a surface air overlaying doubts and no little trepidation. But Marsyas, white and sternly intent, was the most resolute of the four.
Capito stirred in his chair and prepared to speak, but Vitellius cut in with a point-blank demand on the young Essene.
"Dost thou know this man?" he asked, indicating Agrippa.
"I do, lord," Marsyas answered, turning his somber eyes on the legate.
"He owes three hundred thousand drachmæ to Cæsar; he says that thou canst help him pay it; is it so?"
"It is, lord."
Agrippa's eyes were perfectly steady; it would not do to show amazement now.
"How?" was the next demand flung at the Essene.
"I can place him in the way of certain wealth," was the assured reply.
"How?"
"The noble Roman's pardon, but there are certain things an Essene may not divulge."
Agrippa's well-bred brows lifted. Was this evader and collected schemer the innocent Essene he had met on the slopes of Olivet the previous evening?
"Answer! Dost thou promise to provide the Herod with three hundred thousand drachmæ which shall be paid unto Cæsar's treasury?"
"I promise to place the prince where he will provide himself with three hundred thousand drachmæ. If he pay it not unto Cæsar, the fault shall be his, not mine."
"Will the Essenes do it?"
"It shall be done," Marsyas replied, his composure unshaken by the menace implied in the questioning.
"Capito, what thinkest thou?" Vitellius demanded.
The old collector shuffled his slippered feet, and his antique treble took on an argumentative tone.
"Cæsar wants his money, not a slave; I want the emperor's commendation, not his blame. But let us bind this young Jew to this."
Vitellius motioned to an orderly. "Send hither a notary; and let us take down this Jew's promise. Now, Herod, speak up. There are no rules of an order to bind you. Where shall you get this money?"
"Of two sources," Agrippa declared, unblushing. "From the young man himself and from the Essenes."
"If you had so many moneyers, why have you not paid your debt long ago?"
"I had not the indorsement of this young Essenic doctor to validate my note, O Vitellius," the Herod responded with equanimity.
The two Romans frowned; the clerk finished his transcription.
"Sign!" Vitellius ordered Marsyas threateningly.
Marsyas calmly wrote his name in Greek under the voucher. After him Agrippa signed the document.
"Now, listen," Vitellius began conclusively. "I believe neither of you. But for the fact that Cæsar would be burdened with a useless chattel I should let Capito foreclose upon you, Agrippa. But there is a chance that this rigid youth may be telling the truth; if he is not—" the legate closed his thin lips and let the menace of his hard eyes complete the sentence. Marsyas contemplated him, unmoved, undismayed, no less inflexible and determined.
"The punishment for his offense against you, Agrippa, is remitted. Get you gone. Capito! Follow them!"
Totally undisturbed by this sudden entanglement in a supposedly clear skein, Agrippa waved his hand and smiled.
"Many thanks, Vitellius," he said. "Would I could get my debts paid if only to deserve thy respect once more. But thy hospitality must be a little longer strained. The wolves of Jonathan wait without to lay hands on this young man. He must be passed the gates in disguise. I provided for that last night. Admit my servants, I pray thee."
"Have your way, Herod, and fortune go with you, curse you for a winsome knave," Vitellius growled.
Agrippa laughed, but there was no laughter in his eyes.
The two were led through a second hall instinct with barbaric splendors, to a small apartment where they were presently attended by two servants.
One was a slow, stolid Jew of middle-age, with stubbornness and honesty the chief characteristics of his face. The other would have won more interest from the casual observer. He was young, well-formed, but of uncertain nationality. His head was like a cocoanut set on its smaller end, and covered with thick, stiff, lusterless black hair, cut close and growing in a rounded point