FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106  
107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>   >|  
ear her. But I got the casket." "She will come here then!" Philadelphus exclaimed. "What of it! Amaryllis does not know her; no one else does. And I have her proofs--and her dowry!" After a silence in which she read the expression on his face, she rose and came near him with determination in her manner. "You will have the wisdom not to recognize her," she said, "lest I suddenly discover that you are not the Philadelphus I expected." He made rapid survey of her advantage over him, and submitted. "But there will be no need of waiting for such an issue," he fumed, after a silence. "I am here and not the Maccabee, whose crown you coveted. We shall get out of this perilous city." "So?" she said, lifting her finely penciled brows. "No, we shall not." "Why?" he stormed. "Because," she answered, "John of Gischala may yet be king of Judea--and John hath a queen's diadem for sale at two hundred talents--or a heart which I can have for nothing." There was malevolent and impotent silence in the andronitis of Amaryllis, the Greek. Chapter IX THE YOUNG TITUS They who stood on the wall by the Tower of Psephinos in Coenopolis of Jerusalem on a day in March, 70 A.D., saw prophecy fulfilled. Since the hour in which the Roman eagles had appeared above the horizon to the west in their circling over the rebellious province of Judea there had not been one day of peace. Then their coming had meant the approach of an enemy. But in a short time such implacable and fierce oppressors, with such genius for ferocity and bloodshed, had developed among the Jews' own factions that the miserable citizens had turned to the tyrant Rome for rescue. They who had risen against Florus and had driven him out would have willingly accepted him again in place of Simon bar Gioras and John of Gischala, before two years had elapsed. Now, their plight was so desperate that they clambered daily upon the walls of their unhappy city to look for the first glimpse of the approaching enemy, Titus, whom they had learned to call the Deliverer. Near noon of this day in March certain citizens on the wall beside Hippicus saw a flash down the road to the west beyond the Serpent's Pool near Herod's monuments. Again they saw it and again, until they observed that its appearance was rhythmic, striking through a soft colored cloud of Judean dust. Out of that yellow haze, rolling nearer, they saw now the glittering Roman standards emerge
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106  
107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

silence

 

Gischala

 

citizens

 
Amaryllis
 
Philadelphus
 

implacable

 
willingly
 

Florus

 

driven

 

genius


province
 

rebellious

 

Gioras

 

circling

 

ferocity

 
accepted
 

oppressors

 

miserable

 

approach

 
factions

coming

 
rescue
 

bloodshed

 

fierce

 

turned

 

tyrant

 

developed

 
observed
 

appearance

 

rhythmic


striking

 

Serpent

 

monuments

 

colored

 

nearer

 

glittering

 

standards

 

emerge

 

rolling

 

Judean


yellow

 

unhappy

 

clambered

 

desperate

 

elapsed

 

plight

 
glimpse
 

Hippicus

 

Deliverer

 

horizon