“Let him be thy slave,” answered the brethren, feeling confident in their innocence. But when the sacks were opened, and his cup was found in that of Benjamin, they said to their youngest brother, “Woe to thee! what hast thou done? Wast thou resolved to follow the example of thy lost brother, who stole his grandfather Laban’s idol, and his aunt’s girdle?” But as they had sworn to their father to restore Benjamin to him, they besought Joseph to take one of them in the place of Benjamin. But Joseph persisted that he would keep Benjamin. Then said Reuben to his brothers, “Go back to our father, and tell him all that has occurred; I, the eldest of you, who undertook on the security of my life to bring Benjamin home, must remain here till he himself calls me back, for he will see that we have stood hostages for a thief.”[425] Now Reuben had a fierce temper, and when he became furious, all the down or hair on his skin bristled and penetrated his clothes like needles; he pulled off his head-gear, and uttered a scream so terrible that all who heard it died of terror. This frenzy of Reuben’s could only be abated by one of the family of Jacob placing his hand upon him. Reuben went up to Joseph, and said, “O great one of Egypt, I am in a rage; and if I scream out, all who hear me will die of fright. Restore to me my brother, or I shall scream, and then thou and all the inhabitants of Egypt will perish.” Joseph knowing that Reuben spoke the truth, and seeing his hair bristling through his clothes like needle-points, and knowing also that if any one of the house of Jacob were to lay his hand on the body of Reuben, his force would pass away,--he said to Ephraim, his son, “Go softly, so that Reuben may not observe thee, and lay thine hand upon his shoulder that his anger may abate.” Ephraim did as he was bidden, and instantly the hairs of Reuben sank, and his fury passed away, and he felt that the power to scream was gone from him. Then Joseph said calmly, “I shall retain Benjamin, do what you will.” Reuben made an effort to scream, but it was unavailing. Then astonishment got hold of him, and he said to Joseph, “I think that there must be one of the family of Jacob in this house.”[426] Then Joseph ordered Benjamin to be chained. And when Judah saw this he roared like a lion, and his voice was so piercing, that Chuschim, the son of Dan, who was in Canaan, heard him, and began to roar also. And Judah drew his sword, and roared, and pursued the Egyptian soldiers sent to bind Benjamin, and the fear of him fell on them all, and they fell, and he smote them up to the gates of the king’s palace; and he roared again, and all the walls of Memphis rocked, and the earth shook, and Pharaoh was shaken off his throne and fell on his face, and the roar of Judah was heard four hundred miles off.