ecret feasts there
was no law but the will of Herod, and many deities were served but no
god was worshipped. There the captains and the princes of Rome
consorted with the high-priest and his sons by night; and there was
much coming and going by hidden ways. Everybody was a borrower or a
lender, a buyer or a seller of favors. It was a house of diligent
madness. There was nothing in it.

"In the midst of this whirling life a great need of love came upon me
and I wished to hold some one in my inmost heart.

"At a certain place in the city, within closed doors, I saw a young
slave-girl dancing. She was about fifteen years old, thin and supple;
she danced like a reed in the wind; but her eyes were weary as death,
and her white body was marked with bruises. She stumbled, and the men
laughed at her. She fell, and her mistress beat her, crying out that
she would fain be rid of such a heavy-footed slave. I paid the price
and took her to my dwelling.

"Her name was Tamar. She was a daughter of Lebanon. I robed her in silk
and broidered linen. I nourished her with tender care so that beauty
came upon her like the blossoming of an almond tree; she was a garden
enclosed, breathing spices. Her eyes were like doves behind her veil,
her lips were a thread of scarlet, her neck was a tower of ivory, and
her breasts were as two fawns which feed among the lilies. She was
whiter than milk, and more rosy than the flower of the peach, and her
dancing was like the flight of a bird among the branches. So I loved
her.

"She lay in my bosom as a clear stone that one has bought and polished
and set in fine gold at the end of a golden chain. Never was she glad
at my coming or sorry at my going. Never did she give me anything
except what I took from her. There was nothing in it.

"Now whether Herod knew of the jewel that I kept in my dwelling I
cannot tell. It was sure that he had his spies in all the city, and
himself walked the streets by night in a disguise. On a certain day he
sent for me, and had me into his secret chamber, professing great love
toward me and more confidence than in any man that lived. So I must go
to Rome for him, bearing a sealed letter and a private message to
Caesar. All my goods would be left safely in the hands of the king, my
friend, who would reward me double. There was a certain place of high
authority at Jerusalem which Caesar would gladly bestow on a Jew who
had done him a service. This mission would commend me