eternal life, thou knowest I long have sought it. Also thou, even as all men-though ofttimes they realize not the fact.'

Said Cæsar, "I know."

Then said again Philautia, "There hath come to the palace in this very hour one that hath had a message from the farthest East. Even from the shore of the illimitable ocean, had he it. And he seeketh also this same life that we and all men seek. And he, from his messenger, hath learned that, even in this very Jew which is upon his trial, this Simon of Cyrene, abideth the secret we are seeking. 'Salvation is from the Jew,' saith he. Slay not him, therefore. Moreover, he is such a gainer of moneys unto thee as never in any wise could other mortal man become."

"As thou wouldest, O my heart," saith Cæsar. "Yet this one question I will ask him ere I release him—that is, for the day and hour-what thinketh he of Jesus?"

He said aloud to Simon, "Jew, I am half a notion I should release thee, at least for the nonce. Of course I ought to execute thee. But first say to me, This Jesus, this philosopher, this Jewish impostorbelievest thou on Him?"

Simon of Cyrene was again greatly torn-partly because, of late, and chiefly on account of Conatus, there had grown up in his soul an immense love of Christ, also because, in that very soul, he was still son of Abraham, loving Adonai mightily and over-fearful lest he should yet give in unto certain things. Also, he still dreaded Cæsar. He, therefore, lifting his arms to a level with his shoulders, and gazing across the peoples, cried aloud

"No, by God! Jesus was a great philosopher, but, to worship Him-that I consider idolatry.'

He looked out once again over all the Peoples, and in another direction, and again shouted: "No, by God! Jesus was a great philosopher, but, to worship Him-that I consider idolatry.”

And he looked yet once again across the earnest faces, and would again have shouted as before, but that he beheld, at only a little distance-Christopherus, whose eyes were full of shining tears for him, even Simon of Cyrene. Then Christopherus lowered his head, and, wrapping it up in his mantle, wept sore. Even as on that day when he and Simon had parted at the foot of the cross, so wept he again

now.

And, when the Jew beheld his friend, that he was as he had seen him on that last occasion, when both they twain had come forth out of the Mines of Wretchedness, and then afterwards had hotly parted,

behold! the body of Simon of Cyrene, which had standen as a mighty rock, was shaken by ague.

And a strange impulse ran again before his will, so that he once more shouted all at once, as if still another time the spirit of the Lord had taken hold upon him, so that the people who stood in Cæsar's hall of judgment were terrified utterly: "No, by the Ancient of Days! He was neither impostor, nor mere philosopher, but Shiloh, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God!"

Had it been his last word, he had pronounced it.

And when he had thus spoken, he groaned as he were indeed in mortal agony, and fell straight down at the foot of the column whereby he had standen.

And he leaped right up again, and parting the many people that ranked and filed before him, even as a husbandman parteth a field of standing wheat, he rushed forth out of the judgment hall, crying: "What is this that I have done? Oh what is this that I have done?" Even until he had reached his own

And no one durst oppose him. house, he was not opposed.

He rushed straight in, though Conatus would have stopped him but could not.

And when Conatus followed after, and found him in his zotheca, behold! his Master knew him not, but was like to a stranger pacing the familiar room.

And Conatus saw and heard the Master crying, "Eternal Justice blast you forever, O ye wicked! Perish the wolf-breed of the world, and only the sweet children of Abraham- When? Who is this? Have I not seen thee? Justice-Justice himself! Right glad am I to meet thee, thou clad in crimson. No soberer-There is blood upon thy hand, sirrah, hell in thine insane eye, death and eternal damnation-"

"Master! O Master!"

"Out, ass! Damnation! Death! Thou art Cæsar! Eternal crosses!"

"Master! Alas!"

"I fain would have Justice! Who is there? Why, there is Justice. Oh there he is. No, yonder. Yet, once again, he is here. Who art Why thou art Simon, Simon of Cyrene, he that bore the cross for Christ. Come hither, Simon. Sit thou upon that, sirrah. "Sirrah, I myself am Justice, and I will hold court this day. Poor injured Simon!"'

"Why dost thou weep, Master? And why dost thou know me not?"

"Alas, sirrah, I will do thee justice, though the world burst all asunder-which, belike it will when Simon of Cyrene shall have justice.-Quick! It is my head that bursts! Christopherus! Lampadephorus! Adonai!

"I thank thee. I thank thee that thou sawest the thing needful. The throat-it is still too tight. Sell caravans in Persia. Put camels in Cyrenaica, instead of horses! I am Cæsar. Simon-once againI-I try thy case- A sign! A sign, O Lord God! A sign from— Sit there. Now come all the world with lies against thee, who art—a Jew. Art thou not the husband of Amahnah? Deny it not. Fires, racks for the flesh! Adonai! Multitudes! The world! My thoughts seem living things with blood in them! Blood! Saved by blood! Who hindereth Justice? One on a cross? Who beareth the cross? Christ- No, Simon- No, it is the living Christ. A world of blood! Gentiles! Jews! Justice! Blood and justice! Saved! Lost! How carriest- No, no, no, no, no.-Give me an axe. Now follow me, thou Simon of Cyrene, and see what Justice doth."

He went raging, therefore, through his own house, knowing it not, about all the courts thereof, and brake his images, every one, but crying, at length: "The Christ, the Christ! Where is the image of Christ? Is there no image here of Jesus? What is the idolatry of idolatries? I will break that idol yet, and in the sight of all men. He ran out into the via and the Forum, so to the Basilica Julia, wherein he had that day been tried.

Mounting the place whereon he had aforetime stood, he shouted with all his might: "It is I, even Simon of Cyrene, Jew of Jews and son of Abraham among sons of Abraham. By the Eternal of Eternals, and the God of all the gods, I did surely lie upon my trial in this court this day. For Jesus is not the Christ, the Son of the living God, but a mamzer and a loathing, and a stench in the nostrils of righteousness forever."

He leaped down out of the place, wild, and crying again and yet again, even until he had reached his own domus: "What is this that I have done? Oh! what is this that I have done?"

But few there were that had stood at the time within the great basilica, for the Justitium, or legal holiday because of the Saturnalia, had set in. And these, because of the echoes which there were all round about among the gods in the hollow hall heard not, but said, the one unto another: "Hast thou distinguished the man's words? What was that which the Jew would say?"

CHAPTER XLVIII

IN PERIL OF GREAT CHANGES

Now, when Simon's trial was still fresh in the mind of him called Sarcogenes, that monster sate in a little wine-house of the city, a den disreputable. For so it suited this great, vile man to do. In such places he could hear about the conduct of the world as never a soul might learn of it in the courts of Cæsar. Furthermore, there was always a chance in such twilit spots, to put poison, here into one unsuspecting ear, there into another, which chances, elsewhere, he might not have had.

And Sarcogenes drank and drank again.

For he had come, in that hour, from the palace of Cæsar, wherein he had had conferences with the Lord of the World concerning the future worship which was to be accorded by the peoples to Cæsar's divinity. At this conference, the man Ophidion (for so now even he himself thought) had behaved badly. He had forgotten to flatter Cæsar, as the Ape of the Devil would have had himself to be flattered. This, the man that was born of the flesh told his own self plainly, was the direct consequence of the effect which Simon of Cyrene's speaking out upon the trial-speaking out, that is, both as about Jehovah and also as about Christ-had had upon even him, Sarcogenes, which was truly Ophidion, the lesser snake. Cæsar had said, "Thou, Sarcogenes, I consider as my friend. (Art thou not the master of the revels here?) Well, as friend and companion of thy Prince, thou art now confronted with this question, Whether thy Prince, even I, Cæsar, had better order and declare that, hereafter, all the sacrifices of all the world shall be made unto me, Cæsar, and in my name, and whether all the temples of all the world, save mine own only, should be abolished-or, at the very lightest, closed and again opened, but only in the name of Cæsar."

And Sarcogenes, because of the words of Simon of Cyrene, which still were sounding in his astonished ears, trembled and was afraid to say to Cæsar that which the Lord of All this World desired to hear. He advised therefore, instead: "Nay, Cæsar; I would not do this." Then had Cæsar's gorge risen, and his lips cursed the curse that was in his heart.

But Ophidion (finished courtier that he was) corrected himself, saying unto Cæsar: "Thou didst not let me say my say out. I meant to have added that it were better to teach the peoples that all the other gods than thou are merely thine attributes. For, first of all,

this is literally true. And, second, the peoples will not then be offended (as otherwise they must of a certainty be) by the abolition of all their aforetime gods, to whom indeed they are greatly attached. Thirdly, they will, in that gradual wise, come without any offense, and without any insurrection, to look upon thee as the one god only. Then, later, thou canst, if thou wilt, and devoid of any trouble, abolish all other gods but thyself only."

And Cæsar was merely pleased in part-greatly to Ophidion's marvelling, for he had not perceived that, of late, Cæsar had grown more and more jealous of his godhead.

And Cæsar had thundered, "Wast thou, fool, in any wise affected by the outspeaking of the Jew?"

Sarcogenes sware that not in any wise had he been touched or shapen thereby. Yet verily, as he said the words, he shuddered. This was seen of Cæsar, whose eyes became narrow with hate.

Then had Cæsar dismissed Sarcogenes, who had forthwith come down to this dim wine-shop.

Therefore, as he pondered, he drank, and drank yet again. For he wished to forget the mistakes he had just made with Cæsar, yet still more the words which were ringing, each hour the more strongly, in his ears, and which Simon had spoken in the Court of Cæsar before him, Ophidion, and before Cæsar himself, and before all the gods and the priests and the nations of the world.

In such manner he became foolish, and talked of flies. But remembering who he was, and that, if he became too talkative, he might, on a day, be obliged to explain unto Cæsar, he arose, and cursed, and paid his reckoning, and left the caupona.

The shadows of the city were lengthening over the seven hills. He said, "I, like Simon of Cyrene, am very lonely: I am truly a lonely man." Yet, as he entered his own house, he went not out among the servants, but into a secret chamber, where, being all by himself, he felt not quite so solitary as he would have done among his own servants.

And having arrived here, he cried in a sudden agony: "Oh God! Oh God! How cruel even to the sinner is a life of sin! I believe in thee, O Jesus, and I tremble. Pity thou me." He paced the secret apartment for a little while, with hand over heart, whispering: "Courage, courage! It will all soon be over, and thou shalt be thyself again." Then he apostrophized, "Ah, Simon of Cyrene, hadst thou not been a crypto-Jew, hadst not pretended to be a worshipper of Cæsar and of gods lesser than he, then mightest thou surely have known again thy true wife, Berith. Or even- But thou hast had