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Written for the
Saturday Courier.
A TALE OF JERUSALEM.
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——
Intensos rigidam in frontem
ascendere canos
Passus erat. — LUCAN DE
CATONE.
A bristly bore. — TRANSLATION.
——
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 "Let us hurry to the walls," said Abel[[-]]Shittim to
Buzi-Ben[[-]]Levi and Simeon the Pharisee, on the tenth day of the
month
Thammuz, in the year of the world Three Thousand Nine Hundred and
Forty-one
— "let us hasten to the ramparts adjoining the gate of Benjamin, which
is in the city of David, and overlooking the camp of the uncircumcised,
for it is the last hour of the fourth watch, being sunrise, and the
idolaters,
in fulfilment of the promise of Pompey, should be waiting for us with
the
lambs for the sacrifices."
Simeon, Abel-Shittim, and
Buzi-Ben-Levi were the
Gizbarim, or sub-collectors of the offering in the holy city of
Jerusalem
— more correctly Jeruschalaim, which signifies, being interpreted, "the
possession of the inheritance of peace."
"Verily," replied the Pharisee, "let
us hasten —
for this generosity in the heathen is unwonted, and fickle-mindedness
has
ever been an attribute of the worshippers of Baal."
"That they are fickle-minded, and
treacherous is
as
true as the Pentateuch," said Buzi-Ben-Levi; "but that is only towards
the people of Adonai. When was it ever known that the Ammonites proved
wanting to their own interest? Methinks it is no great stretch of
generosity
to allow us lambs for the altar of the Lord, receiving in lieu thereof
thirty silver shekels per head."
"Thou forgettest, however, Ben-Levi,"
said
Abel-Shittim,
"that the Roman Pompey, who is now impiously besieging the city of the
Most High, has no assurance that we apply not the lambs thus purchased
for the altar to the sustenance of the body rather than of the spirit."
"By the five corners of my beard!"
shouted the
Pharisee,
who belonged to the sect called "the Dashers," (that little knot of
saints
whose manner of dashing, and lacerating the feet upon the pavement was
long a thorn and a reproach to less zealous devotees — a stumbling
block
to less gifted perambulators,) "By the five corners of that beard
which,
as a priest, I am forbidden to shave! Have we lived to see the day when
a blaspheming and idolatrous Roman upstart shall accuse us of
appropriating
to the appetites of the flesh the most holy and consecrated elements?
Have
we ——"
"Let us not question the motives of
the
Philistine,"
interrupted Abel-Shittim, "for to-day we profit for the first time by
his
avarice or his generosity: but rather let us hurry to the ramparts,
lest
offerings should be wanting for that altar, whose fire the rain cannot
put out, and whose pillar of smoke the winds cannot turn aside."
That part of the city to which our
worthy
Gizbarim
now hastened, and which bore the name of its architect, king David, was
esteemed the most strongly fortified district of Jerusalem, being
situated
on the steep and lofty hill of Zion. Here a broad, deep circumvallatory
trench, hewn from the solid rock, was defended by a wall of great
strength
erected upon its inner edge. This wall was beautified at regular
interspaces,
by square towers of white marble — the lowest sixty, and the highest
one
hundred and twenty cubits in height. But in the vicinity of the gate of
Benjamin, the wall arose by no means immediately from the
margin
of the fosse; on the contrary, between the level of the ditch and the
basement
of the rampart arose a perpendicular cliff of two hundred and fifty
cubits,
forming part of the precipitous Mount Moriah. So that when Simeon and
his
associates arrived on the summit of the tower called Adoni-Bezek, the
highest
of all the turrets round about Jerusalem, and the usual place of
conference
with the besieging army, they looked down upon the camp of the enemy
from
an eminence excelling by many feet that of the pyramid of Cheops, and
by
several, that of the Temple of Belus.
"Verily," sighed the Pharisee, as he
peered
dizzily
over the precipice, "the uncircumcised are as the sands by the
sea-shore,
as the locusts in the wilderness: and the valley of the king hath
become
the valley of Adommin."
"And yet," added Ben-Levi, "thou
can'st not point
me out a Philistine — no, not from the forest to the battlements — from
Aleph to Tau, who seemeth any bigger than the letter Jod."
"Lower away the basket with the
shekels of
silver!"
shouted a Roman soldier in a hoarse, rough voice, which seemed to issue
from the regions of Pluto; "lower away the basket with that accursed
coin
which hath broken the jaw of a noble Roman to pronounce! Is it thus you
evince your gratitude to our master Pompeius, who, in his
condescension,
has thought proper to listen to your idolatrous importunities? The god
Phœbus, who is a true god, and no barbarian, has been charioted for an
hour — and were you not to have been on the walls by sunrise?
Ædepol!
do you think that we, the conquerors of the world, have nothing better
to do than to stand waiting by the walls of every kennel to traffic
with
the dogs of the earth? Lower away, I say! and see that your trumpery be
just in weight, and bright in colour."
"El Elohim!" ejaculated the Pharisee,
as the
discordant
tones of the centurion rattled up the crags of the precipice, and
fainted
away against the temple — "El Elohim! Who is the god Phœbus? Whom doth
the blasphemer invoke? Thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi, who art read in the laws of
the Gentiles, and hast sojourned among those who dabble with the
Teraphim,
is it Nergal of whom the idolater speaketh? — or Ashimah? — or Nibhaz?
— or Tartak? — or Adramalech? — or Anamalech? — or Succoth-Benoth? — or
Dagon? — or Belial? — or Baal-Perith? — or Baal[[-]]Peor? — or
Baal-Zebub?"
"Verily it is neither — but beware
how thou
lettest
the rope slip too rapidly through thy fingers; for should the
wicker-work
chance to hang on the projection of yonder crag, there will be a woful
outpouring of the holy things of the sanctuary."
By the assistance of some
rudely-constructed
machinery,
the heavily-laden basket was now lowered carefully down among the
multitude;
and from the giddy pinnacle the Romans were seen crowding confusedly
around
it. But owing to the vast height and the prevalence of a fog, (which is
unusual at Jerusalem,) no distinct view of their operations could be
obtained.
A half hour had already elapsed.
"We shall be too late," sighed the
pharisee, as
at
the expiration of this period he looked over into the abyss — "We shall
be too late — we shall be turned out of office by the Katholim."
"No more," responded
Abel-Shittim, "shall
we
feast upon the fat of the land — no longer shall our beards be odorous
with frankincense — our loins girded up with fine linen from the
temple."
"Raca!" swore Ben-Levi, — "Raca! — do
they mean
to
defraud us of the purchase money! — or, Holy Moses! are they weighing
the
shekels of the tabernacle?"
"They have given the signal at last,"
roared the
pharisee. "Pull away, Abel-Shittim! — and thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi, pull
away!
for verily, the Philistines have still hold [[o]]f the basket, or the
Lord
hath softened their hearts to place therein a beast of good weight!"
And the Gizbarim pulled away, while
their burthen
swung heavily upwards through the still increasing mist.
"Booshoh he!" said Ben-Levi, as at
the conclusion
of an hour some object became indistinctly visible at the extremity of
the rope — "Vah! Climah he! for shame? — it is a ram from the thickets
of Engedi, and as rugged as the valley of Jehoshaphat."
"It is a firstling of the flock,"
said
Abel-Shittim;
"I know him by the bleating of his lips, and the innocent folding of
his
limbs. His eyes are more beautiful than the jewels of the pectoral, and
his flesh is like the honey of hebron."
"It is a fatted calf from the
pastures of
Bashan,"
said the Pharisee; "the heathen have dealt wonderfully with us. Let us
raise up our voices in a psalm — let us give thanks on the shawm and on
the psaltery — on the harp and the huggab — on the cythern, and on the
sackbut."
It was not until the basket had
arrived within a
few feet of the Gizbarim, that a low grunt betrayed to their
perception
a hog of no common size.
"Now El Emanu!" slowly, and with
upturned eyes
ejaculated
the trio, as releasing their hold, the emancipated porker fell headlong
among the Philistines. "El Emanu! God be with us! it is the unutterable
flesh!"
"Let me no longer" — said the Pharisee, "let me
no
longer be called Simeon, which signifieth 'he who hastens,' but
Boanerges,
'the son of thunder.' " |
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