e them!"

When Claudia had reached this part of her vision she screamed and covered
her eyes, and the soldiers and servants who had crowded about, drew back
in terror, their gaze transfixed.

Suddenly she cried, throwing her hands out to the eunuch: "I must have
speech with Pilate. Fly thou to the Judgment Seat! Let no door stop
thee! Let no guard stay thy feet! And when thou hast gained the ear of
Pilate, tell into it, 'Thus sayeth thy wife--have nothing to do with this
just man for I have this day suffered many things in a dream because of
him!' Thus shall it be that Claudia shall raise her voice to save the
hands of Pontius Pilate from the livid stain of innocent blood and the
pale face of the Jew from forever haunting the centuries."

CHAPTER XXXI

KING OF THE JEWS

"Jove, but my eyes are tired! Since the third watch hath my service
been required, yet am I feverish to see the end of this matter. Look!
Yonder housetops are black with men, eager-eyed, and the streets are
swarmed with early risers running hither and thither like ants much
stirred up. When did ever the morning sun shine on such a scene?"

"Where is he now, this enemy of our Tiberius that hath thus stirred up
the populace?"

"To the barracks of the Tower of Antonio they have taken him for the
_flagellum horrible_."

"And will they be long in laying open the flesh of his back?"

"Nay, for twelve brawny armed and deaf to the cries of pity will lay on
the scourge. Soon will he be brought again before Pilate." The
speaker was a scribe in the palace of Herod the Great. With two Romans
visiting in Jerusalem, he stood on the steps of the Praetorium looking
out over the open court which united its two colossal wings.

"Didst thou see the mighty procession which heralded the new King?"
asked one of the visitors.

"Yea, by the gods it was a great outpouring! Peoples from all nations
of the earth were there to bear back the news that one had arisen to
take the throne of Caesar. And well hath the time been chosen for
revolt when the city is gorged with strangers, and the flower of Rome's
legions in Palestine, is called to Syria. Of him who betrayed the
Galilean revolutionist and hatched the plot for his deliverance, Rome
should make a divinity."

"A betrayer was there?"

"Yea, a betrayer and a plot else those pious dogs of the Sanhedrin had
not yet laid hands on him who stirred the people, for by day his
followers, who were many,