nd it made me free.
I said to him 'Corban,' and shook the dust of Bethsaida from my feet.

"I went out to look for mirth and love and joy and all that is pleasant
to the eyes and sweet to the taste. If a god made me, thought I, he
made me to live, and the pride of life was strong in my heart and in my
flesh. My vow was offered to that well-known god. I served him in
Jerusalem, in Alexandria, in Rome, for his altars are everywhere and
men worship him openly or in secret.

"My money and youth made me welcome to his followers, and I spent them
both freely as if they could never come to an end. I clothed myself in
purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. The wine of
Cyprus and the dishes of Egypt and Syria were on my table. My dwelling
was crowded with merry guests. They came for what I gave them. Their
faces were hungry and their soft touch was like the clinging of
leeches. To them I was nothing but money and youth; no longer a beast
of burden-a beast of pleasure. There was nothing in it.

"From the richest fare my heart went away empty, and after the wildest
banquet my soul fell drunk and solitary into sleep.

"Then I thought, Power is better than pleasure. If a man will feast and
revel let him do it with the great. They will favor him, and raise him
up for the service that he renders them. He will obtain place and
authority in the world and gain many friends. So I joined myself to
Herod."

When the sad shepherd spoke this name his listeners drew back front him
as if it were a defilement to hear it. They spat upon the ground and
cursed the Idumean who called himself their king.

"A slave!" Jotham cried, "a bloody tyrant and a slave from Edom! A fox,
a vile beast who devours his own children! God burn him in Gehenna."

The old Zadok picked up a stone and threw it into the darkness, saying
slowly, "I cast this stone on the grave of the Idumean, the blasphemer,
the defiler of the Temple! God send us soon the Deliverer, the Promised
One, the true King of Israel!" Ammiel made no sign, but went on with
his story.

"Herod used me well,-for his own purpose. He welcomed me to his palace
and his table, and gave me a place among his favorites. He was so much
my friend that he borrowed my money. There were many of the nobles of
Jerusalem with him, Sadducees, and proselytes from Rome and Asia, and
women from everywhere. The law of Israel was observed in the open
court, when the people were watching. But in the s