Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians
John Stuart Mill · en
"It is not all. When the two slaves then tried to fetch him by force,
they were attacked by him and the wine-shop keeper and others, and
obliged to flee for their lives. I besought Marsyas, then, to permit
me to inform the authorities and have him taken, but he opined that the
charioteer's insolence was new and sudden, wherefore full of meaning.
Seeing that it was Eutychus' intent to enrage thee, thou wast better
not enraged; to wash thy hands of him and bless the day that he
departed."
Agrippa yawned.
"To-morrow we shall search for him and have him taken. It is
improvident to have so much philosophy as Marsyas. But what had the
knave of a charioteer against me? It is Marsyas who hath enchanted
Drumah, and who took him by the throat in the alabarch's house. I
shall speak with Marsyas to-morrow."
He took himself with increasing effort up the stairs along the corridor
toward his rest. With the facility which characterized many of
Agrippa's troubles, the offender had already dropped out of his mind.
He had fenced with Caligula that morning, he had feasted with Macro
that night. At midday he had slighted Piso, the enemy of both.
Caligula had had him draw a sketch of Judea on the wax of the gymnasium
floor and designate the possessions of the old Herod; Macro, in his
cups, had asked confidentially if Caligula approved him. Altogether
the day had been filled with tokens presaging success. He smiled
sleepily, remembering Silas' extravagant concern over the robbery.
"Calamity is all in the mark on the scale of Fortune," he opined. "A
year ago to lose a handful of drachmae would have ruined me."
As he passed Marsyas' door, he stepped back suddenly and stopped. The
long curtain dragged on the floor at one side had given him an
interesting glimpse of the lighted interior. Within, Marsyas, seated
at a table, had at that moment flung away his stylus and dropped his
head on the writing. Almost immediately he sprang up, and, seizing the
parchment, thrust it into the blaze of the lamp at his hand.
Astonishment gathered on the Herod's face.
In the blaze the writing curled, the flame eating into the slow-burning
parchment, burned low, but surely, reaching toward the fingers that
grasped it. Presently Marsyas dropped it. Then the night-wind, rising
from the sea, swept in through the cancelli with a shriek, put out the
lamp instantly and swept the long dragging curtain against the Herod
standing in the dimly-illuminated corridor. He got out of sight
hurriedly.
After the first gust, the wind dropped, sending long streams of
impelling draft through cancelli, doorway and hall. Before it, along
the pavement, something came skittering out of Marsyas' cubiculum.
Agrippa looked at it. It was a roll of parchment, charred and crushed
by the tense grip of fingers.