CHAPTER IV. JULIAN AT CESAREA TO NAOMI IN ROME. THE SABBATH.- ATTACK ON THE SYNAGOGUE. A SCENE OF HORROR. THE CHAMPION PHILIP FALLS.-ANNA'S VEN- THAT me. I keep my promise, my mother, and at `HAT morrow is past. Its sun has gone down in once tell you of its scenes and events. It was, as I have said, the Sabbath. In the household of Sameas the observances were as with those of the stricter sort in Rome, except that Philip was early abroad attending to the affairs committed to him. Anna and her mother repaired to the Synagogue. As they were departing, Anna turned to me, and said, "Will you not, Julian, go with us?" I said that I could not; my anxieties were too many to allow me to worship, and I did not choose to be present with my body alone. She said that my answer rebuked her, for she was sure she should think only of Philip. "If," said her mother, "you will not only think of Philip, but lift up your prayers for him, how, my child, could you be more devoutly employed?" "That is true," replied the daughter; "let us go, and pray for Philip and for Judea. Farewell, Julian, go not to the games." And with these words, the last which I heard from her, she turned away and moved in the direction of the Synagogue. Not long after their departure, I, too, sought the streets, uncertain whether to bend my way toward the Amphitheatre, or toward the Synagogue, which, whether I should enter it or not as a worshipper, certainly had all my thoughts. I was determined, as men ever are, by the multitude; and them I found all hurrying toward the Circus. The city seemed emptying in that direction, so great were the numbers of persons on foot and in chariots, on camels and on horses, many being from the country round about, who were thus hastening in the pursuit of pleasure. I, without will or purpose of my own, was borne along with the current. The expectations, as I conversed first with one and then with another of those who were going the same way, were great as to the entertainment to be afforded. "It was to be the great day of the games. It was announced," said they, " as I might see for myself on the corners of all the streets, that an hundred lions were to contend with one another, with other beasts, or with men. That was but a part of the show. There were other things greater yet. Pilate had never before, on his part, made so great provision for the amusement of the people. Old men said it brought to mind the days of Herod." But long before I reached the plain on the outskirts of the city, where stands the Circus, I turned round, and moved in another direction, giving myself up to my meditations, thinking now of you, my mother, then of my journey to Beth-Harem, and most of all, of Philip and his sister. So I kept on my way, I know not how long, till suddenly the sounds of our Sabbath music struck my ear. The streets were now still, and I paused and listened. The chant rose and fell with the gentle breeze that was stirring, and by its uncommon sweetness drew me on in the direction of the sound. I had walked but a few paces, when, leaving the narrow street in which I had been moving, I found myself to my surprise in front of the devoted Synagogue. I stood and leaned upon a broken wall, and again listened with more attention; for the voices of Anna and her mother I knew were mingling in the strain. But I had not stood listening long, ere another sound of a very different kind from an opposite quarter fell upon my ear the distant bling of many wheels, the trampling of horses, and the confused murmur which betokens the movement of a multitude. My apprehensions at once interpreted the meaning of the sound. It rapidly approached, and in a moment more a body of artisans, with their implements of labour, and massy engines for the levelling of walls, accompanied by a crowd of the populace and a small guard of Roman soldiers, came into view, and moved on toward the spot where I stood. At the same instant, as it were, the inhabitants of the street up which the army of destroyers were marching, the neighbouring streets, and the square inhabited almost wholly by Jews—became aware that the long threatened and overhanging evil was now at hand and about to fall, and poured forth to witness or to resist the desolation. As if by the power of magic a multitude now stood in the spaces, where but a moment before were but a few idlers like myself. The worshippers within the Synagogue, warned by messengers from without of the sacrilege about to be committed, we now saw descending the lofty steps in slow procession, bearing in their hands the books of the law. They fled not at the prospect of the approaching danger, but gathered around the walls of their ancient temple, as if by their presence alone, with their revered priests and elders at their head, they could avert the storm that had gathered over them, or touch with compa зion the hearts of the rude servants of irresistible power, now about to commence the work of destruction. That troop of slaves, with their implements-axes, saws, bars, and battering rams,—at the same time drew near, and spread themselves, as if without delay to begin their work, attempting to thrust back with violence the crowds which accumulated around them. But to this first and necessary work were these men unequal, for they had to contend not with the vile rabble that might have been found in the neighbourhood of a theatre or a market, but with women, and children, and aged men, the mothers, wives sisters of many of the chief citizens of Cæsarea, together with the priests and ministers of their worship. And the vere met, too, not by return of blows or violence of any sort, but with tears and entreaties, and importunate cries of deep distress, imploring them to withhold their hands, nor bury in ruins the venerable temple of their faith. The loud sound of wailing and lamentation, arising thus from the voices of the women, mingled in strange and mournful confusion with the rolling of the heavy wheels, the cries of those who managed the engines, the oaths and vociferations of the workmen, the shrill braying of the trumpets, and the hoarse commands of the Roman Centurion, as he essayed to preserve what order he could, hemmed in and oppressed by so great a crowd of human beings. Pilate had ordered that no assault whatever should be made upon the Jews, unless first assailed by them, and that indulgence should be shown to natural expressions of sorrow and indignation; but that open resistance should be punished without mercy. It happened soon, therefore, that the Centurion, not being permitted to resort to any measures of violence, found himself separated from the soldiers, and the soldiers from one another, by the irresistible pressure of the crowds. This was indeed of little consequence at first, because there were no signs of any other resistance being made, than that which proceeded from the weeping of the women and the passionate exclamations of the men. But as soon as the workmen had succeeded in planting their engines and raising their ladders, and were preparing to ply their various instruments of destruction, a scene of horror ensued, which, if that Centurion could have controlled his soldiers, might in some sort supposing any humanity to have dwelt in his bosom by his interposition have been prevented. For when, after having in the manner I have said, planted their engines in the proper position, and they were then for the first time about to ply them upon the walls, the Jews immediately around could no longer restrain themselves, but threw themselves, the women not less than the men, upon them, and clung madly to the wheels, to the beams, and even to the head itself of the rams, and also rushing in, placed themselves between the instruments and the walls, so that neither could the soldiers work the engines, nor, if they could, was it possible to do so without crushing vast numbers of the people that were upon them, around them, or lying prostrate before them. Such reverence and love was there among them for the place and the Object of their worship. But when neither by entreaty, nor by such force as they could use, was it possible to tear these miserable beings from their fatal grasp, and when every warning had been given them that there would no longer be any delay, then by the force of the artisans were the engines drawn back, and when they had been so held for a few moments, were let drive against the walls, and all those who had chosen so to devote themselves miserably perished. Shrieks of agony, cries of horror, and imprecations of divine vengeance at that filled the air. Yet it now availed not. The engines were quickly drawn back again, and again driven against the walls, destroying all who still were in their way. But when by the Jews who still possessed their reason, it was thus seen that no signs of devotion and no proofs of constancy could prevent the fated devastation, they then, as it were with one accord, determined that their wives and children should no longer be permitted to be either witnesses or sharers in what was further to ensue; and they were borne away, not without force, so full were they of the spirit which is ready to sacrifice itself in the service of its God, to the dwellings which bordered upon the space in which the Synagogue stood. Long before this I had with anxiety searched in the crowds for Anna and her mother, but in vain. But while I with others was engaged in this service of placing the women beyond the reach of danger, it was with the greatest joy that I discovered them already secure upon the roof of one of the loftiest dwellings. Now while this duty had been performing, the Romans, taking advantage of the temporary dispersion of the crowd, |