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[page 97:]
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A TALE OF JERUSALEM.
| 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-Phittim 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 awaiting us with the lambs for the sacrifices."
Simeon, Abel-Phittim, and
Buzi-Ben-Levi were the
Gizbarim, or sub-collectors of the offering, in the holy city of
Jerusalem.
"Verily" — replied the Pharisee —
"let us hasten:
for this generosity in the heathen is unwonted; and [page 98:]
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"
— replied
Abel-Phittim
— "that the Roman Pompey, who is now impiously besieging the city of
the
Most High, has no assurity that we apply not the lambs thus purchased
for
the altar, to the sustenance of the body, rather than of the spirit."
"Now, 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
against
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 upstart of Rome shall
accuse us of appropriating to the appetites of the flesh the most holy
and consecrated elements? Have we lived to see the day when" —
"Let us not question the motives of
the
Philistine"
— interrupted Abel-Phittim — "for to-day we [page 99:]
profit for the first time by his avarice or by his generosity. But
rather
let us hurry to the ramparts, lest offerings should be wanting for that
altar whose fire the rains of heaven cannot extinguish — and whose
pillars
of smoke no tempest can 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
upon 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 adorned, at regular
interspaces,
by square towers of white marble — the lowest sixty — 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,
sprang up 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 loftiest of
all the turrets around 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 [page 100:]
as the sands by the sea-shore — as the locusts in the wilderness! The
valley
of The King hath become the valley of Adommin."
"And yet" — added Ben-Levi — "thou
canst not
point
me out a Philistine — no, not one — from Aleph to Tau — from the
wilderness
to the battlements — who seemeth any bigger than the letter Jod!"
"Lower away the basket with the
shekels of
silver!"
— here shouted a Roman soldier in a hoarse, rough voice, which appeared
to issue from the regions of Pluto — "lower away the basket with that
accursed
coin which it has 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 fit to listen to your idolatrous importunities? The god
Phoebus,
who is a true god, has been charioted for an hour — and were you not to
be on the ramparts by sunrise? Ædepol! do you think that we, the
conquerors of the world, have nothing better to do than 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 bright in color, and just
in
weight!"
"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 them who dabble
with
the Teraphim! — is it Nergal of whom the idolator [page 101:]
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,
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-Phittim —
"no more
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"
— cried the
Pharisee — "they have given the signal at last! — [page 102:]
pull away, Abel-Phittim! — and thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi, pull away! — for
verily
the Philistines have either still hold upon 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!" — as, at the conclusion
of an hour,
some object at the extremity of the rope became indistinctly visible —
"Booshoh he!" — was the exclamation which burst from the lips of
Ben-Levi.
"Booshoh he! — for shame! — it is a
ram from the
thickets of Engedi, and as rugged as the valley of Jehosaphat!"
"It is a firstling of the flock," —
said
Abel-Phittim
— "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 on 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. [page 103:]
"Now El Emanu!" — slowly, and with upturned eyes
ejaculated the trio, as, letting go their hold, the emancipated porker
tumbled headlong among the Philistines — "El Emanu! — God be with us! —
it is the unutterable flesh!" "Let me no longer,"
said the Pharisee, wrapping
his
cloak around him and departing within the city — "let me no longer be
called
Simeon, which signifieth, 'he who listens' — but rather Boanerges, 'the
son of Thunder.' " |
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