thy religion. Still he hangeth about the wine-shops, the women, still he squandereth—

But Simon gave Ardelio all the moneys which were hidden upon his person, and which Barabbas had not found upon him, and which was more than Simon had ever promised. And Ardelio went his way.

And Simon, turning yet again, beheld that the soldiers had parted the garments of the Lord among them, and that, above each thief was suspended a board whereon was written "f-u-r," while over the central cross another had been hung which, in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, ran: "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."

Then raged the Pharisees, with Parush at their head, and many chief priests also, crying: "King! He is not our King! Have we not said to Pilate, We have no king but Cæsar? And now hath Pilate mocked us so!"

Some of the chief priests ran, saying: "We will speak unto Pilate about this matter; for he ought to have said, not This is Jesus the King of the Jews, but that he said I am King of the Jews.'

But they that remained passed round about the cross of Jesus, wagging their heads and crying: "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross." And some of the scribes also jeered, "He saved others; himself he cannot save." Others still, "Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." And the hollow square was broken up, that they which railed might get nearer to the cross.

One of the malefactors which were hanged beside Jesus, railed upon Him also, saying: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." But the other (which was Dysmas) answering, rebuked him, saying: "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed justly; for we received the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.' And he said unto Jesus, after a time: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Jesus then: "Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'

Thought Simon, while he looked upon the crucifixion of both types of revenge: "Art thou, O Gentile, saved, while thou, Gestas, which art a child of Abraham, art thou still impenitent? And are my people forever to reject thee, O Jesus, even the chief priests and the very scribes and Pharisees ?"

But behold, there were those of the priests which had run unto Pilate, which now were coming back. They cried from a great distance, "The Governor saith, 'What I have written I have written.'"

And the air was filled with wild lamentations, shouts of hate, and execrations both upon Pilate and upon Jesus. But certain of the common people murmured, saying: "Surely the Man was Lord and God."

The multitude drew back yet further from the crosses, because they feared the priests and the scribes and Pharisees. But the soldiers sate beneath the crosses, shaking dice and swearing.

Then cometh Parush to Simon, and seeing compassion in that man's countenance, saith unto him: "Many there be in this multitude which believe on Jesus. Art thou also turned idolater?”

Simon said, trembling: "I am not an idolater."

But Parush said, "Yet I see thou hast at least a certain acquaintance with the Nazarene-hast borne His cross."

And Simon, even as that other Simon, surnamed Peter, on the night before had done, denied his Lord, saying: "Nay, but I know Him not at all, having merely heard of Him, and, as for bearing His cross, I have not borne it. By the gold that is in the Temple, I have borne it not at all."

Then declared Parush, "All the world did see thee. I believe thou art an idolater."

And Simon's heart was an-hardened with a sudden fear, lest indeed he should again have become an idolater. He murmured, "It was another man." But inwardly he thought: "I must settle this matter as about idolatry at my more leisure, for surely the Lord our God is but one. And yet I know not how this Jesus-”

And the Pharisee of Pharisees, even Parush, had gone his way, with contempt and threatenings in his stride. But certain of the women-Jesus's mother, and Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene these, together with the disciple named John, had come up close about the cross.

And Jesus, when he had seen them sobbing, said unto His mother: "Woman, behold thy son!" And unto the disciple, "Behold thy mother!"

And it was nearing the middle of the day, and the crowd waxed thicker over all the neighboring houses and hills. The chief priests and the scribes (with Parush at their head) railed on, with ever louder and more discordant voices. From time to time, in a lulling of the storm of cries, there burst forth again the sobs of the women round about the cross, or imprecations of the soldiers, or words of low compassion from the tremulous multitude.

Simon stood at a little distance from the cross in the way of Bethany, pondering both on Parush and on Jesus. "Had this man

come with a sword! I might indeed have believed on Jesus-had He come with a sword, had He come with a sword."

But he somehow felt also that, even in that case, he might not have changed. "Ah, Adonai, Adonai, thou hast made me what I am. Can a hill of marble (which is like to a Jew) of itself make any change within its being?"

He noticed that the shadow of the great cross, as it moved from the westward unto the east, had shortened and was drawing anigh unto him (as though it were the gnomon of an immense sundial) until at length it lay out straight and black and sharp before his straining vision-from the bloody feet of Jesus to his own. Was it merely a fancy, or did this shadow of the Great Contamination pause—as if the sun itself would have lingered upon the hour, have emphasized it utterly? To Simon it seemed that the shadow of the cross he had borne was pointing him out as Christ's crucifer unto all the world, unto all its unending generations.

A single name escaped the Cyrenian's lips-Jesus.

And later, he questioned again: "Who art thou, in fact, Jesus?'' Jesus, looking down upon the man, as if by way of answer, permitted this His crucifer to gaze within His soul. But what the bearer of Christ's cross beheld there, he would never believe, so long as he remained on earth.

And some of the soldiers shouted, as they drank their wine, being a-drunken: "Here's to thee, now, King of the Jews." Then again, among other matters: "Wilt thou not take a little vinegar on a sponge by way of drinking back to us? Here, thou Son of God!"

And a great darkness fell upon the earth, and silence thereafter, so that the multitude did hear the cry of the watchman in his room above the city gate: "The sixth hour: all is well."

And Simon believed that he saw Jesus, in the darkness, turn and look at the gathering stars. One after another considered He them, as if, time after time, He might have dwelt upon a many of them. And Simon began to think once more, as he had thought in the body of the Babylonia, on that saying of Anaxagoras, which saith that many of the stars are worlds like this one, and that they may perchance be inhabited by people of like passions with ourselves. Were there, then, Jews there? Priests? Any highest priest of all? Suffering? Sin? A necessary Savior?

CHAPTER XXVI

THE WINE HOUSE

Now, meanwhile, Ophidion had been faring to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, hating, listening, whispering, suggesting, setting into the great world currents of evil thought and all manner of misdeeds. Some of those currents are moving about until this day.

And he came, in his wanderings, to a wine-house which was in the lower city, a vile resort kept by a woman called Cupiditas. And Ophidion being desirous (for a time) of great forgetfulness from his own sins, entereth the shop.

There he seeth an idle companion, whom he knoweth well of late, Compotor, as well as Microtes and Aletis and Antipetros, and likewise other sons of mere tumult and harm. And there were also twain philosophers who sate in a corner apart.

The sons of tumult cried aloud, when they beheld Ophidion, "Hail to thee, Sarcogenes! Sarcogenes, all hail to thee!"-for Ophidion had changed his name (since he had become, for purposes of his own, a follower of Jesus) from "Ophidion" to "Sarcogenes," which is to say "One That is Born of the Flesh." "For," said he, "I would not be called 'a lesser serpent' any longer, the followers of Jesus objecting strangely to that appellation, and, as for the flesh, the flesh is good enough." In his heart, he thought that neither could any other man believe that there is harm at all in the flesh.

So he standeth within the entrance for a time (resembling, to one who looked not deeply, a great bright angel) gazing the company over to see if it were just to his liking, and what he might do with it. Then the sons of tumult cry again, "Hail to thee, Sarcogenes!" The man answered majestically, "Hail!"

And they were glad to be companioned by him, for they knew of his authority with Pontius Pilate, and, thereby, the Lord of All this World, even Cæsar.

So they made a great room for him at the table, and he, when he had gone and whispered to the keeper of the house, even Cupiditas, came and sate down with the sons of tumult.

They drank and drank again. And still again they drank. Then said Sarcogenes, picking up a goblet wherein were many dead flies: "I will bet any of you that in this cup there be either odd or even flies." Some said unto him, "Odd.”

He answered, "Even."

So they laid out their moneys, and counted the flies. And behold, the flies were even. And Sarcogenes took the money.

But then the great one said, "Yonder, on another table, is another cup, wherein also are flies. Let us once more bet, but, this time, twice the money.

They bet, and the flies were counted, and the money was that of Sarcogenes.

Then said the sons of tumult, "Let us bet again, that we may at length beat thee. Yonder are still more flies. And see, we will wager ten times more than that which we did wager last, and we will finally beat thee. And all shall carefully count the flies, that there shall be no mistake.'

Sarcogenes said, "Odd."

The flies were counted, and they were even. But just as the sons of tumult would have taken up the moneys, behold there came yet another fly, which dropped down upon the pile of flies, and, dying, was counted to his own gain by Sarcogenes.

See!

Then uprose Microtes, shouting: "Thou hast cheated! Thou art Beelzebub, the King of Flies! And the flies do obey thee, and die for thee!"

There came in the face of Sarcogenes a look both of amazement and horror. He beat the small one out of the wine-house, and, returning, sate down angrily at the table.

Then entered yet another man, a certain servitor of Sarcogenes, saying unto him: "Thou didst come before me hither."

"Yea," cried Sarcogenes, "and I will beat thee hence."

And so he did, with a dagger, giving him deep and grievous wounds.

And Sarcogenes went and stood in a corner apart, where a deep shadow was, and the other companions of the drinking counted flies for long in silence, or sate merely whispering.

But one of the twain philosophers saith (that he might break silence) "I hear that this man, Jesus, is being crucified." "Yea," saith the other, "even now he hangeth upon the cross. He saith that this is necessary to save men from sin."

"Sin!" cried the first philosopher. "Now what is sin?

There

is no such thing at all as sin, say I. It is only an invention of the Jews, sin. The Greeks know more than the Jews, and they know there is no such thing as sin. Besides, I can show this all to be true by philosophy and by all the learning of all the schools-Athens, Antioch, Alexandria-"

But a doctor who had just entered the wine-shop, brake in upon