Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ

the doors of Ben-Hur's tents, and dismounting, asked to see hi

or they were of his Galileans, and t

et the Nazarene die. Rise, son of Judah, and go with us. The judgm

stared

all he could fo

before Pilate. Twice the Roman denied his guilt; twice he refused to give him over

answe

eople--'His blood be upo

his own kin! And if--ah, if he should indeed be the son of God, what shall

with resolution, and

gnal. "And bid Amrah send me fresh garments, and bring my sword! I

a cup of wine, and w

ou go first?" as

ect the

replied, throw

y a

er, I and my friend here are all that are

t?" and Ben-

kill

he Naz

ave sa

nowledge from the day he began his mission: it is imposed by a will higher than his; whose but the Lord's! If he is consenting, if he goes to it voluntarily, what shall another do?" Nor less did Ben-Hur see the failure of the scheme he had built upon the fidelity of the Galileans; their desertion, in fact, left nothing more of it. But how singular it should happen that morn

ethren; let us

oing south, like themselves. All the country n

hree friends rode thither, passing round southeast of Akra. In the valley below the Pool of Hezekiah, passage-way against t

n a river bank, watching a flood

the Jewish nationality as it was in the time of Christ. They were also written in anticipation of this hour and scene; so tha

t by, and the Jew of Egypt, and the Jew from the Rhine; in short, Jews from all East countries and all West countries, and all islands within commercial connection; they went by on foot, on horseback, on camels, in litters and chariots, and with an infinite variety of costumes, yet with the same marvellous similitude of featu

many, but the

eeks, Romans, Arabs, Syrians, Africans, Egyptians, Easterns. So that, studying the mass, it

d above the rustle of the mighty movement. Yet was there upon every countenance the look with which men make haste to see some dreadful sight, some sudden wreck, or ruin, or calamity

at towers, Ben-Hur heard, at first faint

oming now," said

he cry rang on over their heads, they looked at e

mbling, when Ben-Hur saw the servants of Simonides coming with their master in h

ng them. "If you are for Golgotha, stay until the procession passes;

east; rousing himself, he answered, "Speak to Baltha

n was lying within, his wan face so pinched as to appea

im?" he inqui

he must pass withi

vently. "Once more, once more! Oh,

trust their thoughts to each other; everything was uncertain, and nothing so much so as opinions. Balthasar d

before; and the shouting came nearer, shrill up in the air, ho

itterly; "that which c

boys, hooting and screaming, "The King of th

cloud of summer insects, and said, gravely, "When these come t

ext, marching in sturdy indifference, the gl

me the

ere tied before him. Back somewhere in the city he had fallen exhausted under the transverse beam of his cross, which, as a condemned person, custom required him to bear to the place of execution; now a countryman carried the burden in his stead. Four soldiers went with him as a guard against the mob, who sometimes, nevertheless, broke through, and struck him with sticks, and spit upon him. Yet no sound escaped him, neither remonstrance nor groan; nor did he look up until he was nearly in front of the house sheltering Ben-Hur

ns, son of Hur?" ask

tell thee be

faith

ut the

st, and this go

upon his breast. He had borne his part in Ben-Hur's labors well, and he

eded the Nazarene b

Ben-Hur asked o

to die with the Naz

from the Temple curtained him round about; and after him, in order, strode the sanhedrim, and a long array o

Hannas," said Ben-H

now know I that he who first goes yonder with the inscription about his neck is what the inscription proclaims him--KING OF THE JEWS. A common man, an impostor, a felon, was never thus waited upon. For look! Here are the nations--Jerusalem, Israel. H

s if himself awakening to his unusual displ

you, and let us begone. The

sther

ere, and they are we

omen in tears; one of them leaned upon the arm of a man of

st of all; she who leans upon his arm is Mary, the Mast

glistening eyes until the multi

not so. The talking was, for the most part, like that indulged by people at the seaside under the s

bareheaded wretches with naked arms and legs, hair and beard in uncombed mats, and each with one garment the color of clay; beasts with abysmal mouths, in outcry effective as lions calling each other across desert spaces. Some of them had swords; a greater number flourished spears and javelins; though the weapons of the many were staves and knotted clubs, and slings, for which latter selected stones were stored in scrips, and sometimes in sacks improvised from the foreskirts of their dirty tunics. Among the mass here and there appeared persons of high degree--scribes, elders, rabbis, Pharisees with broad frin

Balthasar was ready to proc

death as certain and almost as terrible as this one of the cross; the cooling drink he had at the well by Nazareth, and the divine expression of the face of him who gave it; the later goodness, the miracle of Palm-Sunday; and with these recollections, the thought of his present powerlessness to give back help for help or make return in kind stung him keenly, and he accused himself. He had not done all he might;

s caught his eye. He rushed thro

aid. "I would hav

n they were under shelter o

ow, and now is the time to strike with them. Go, look everywhere, and find our brethren, and tell them to meet me at the tree of

im respectfully,

ou?" he

of them

e into Jerusalem; we saw him in the Temple; he failed himself, and us, and Israel; at the Gate Beautiful he turned his back upon God and refused the throne of David. He is not King, and Galilee is not with him. He shall die the

onfusion fell upon him; he knew not how, though afterwards he attributed it to the Nazarene; for when the Nazarene was risen, he understood the death was necessary to faith in the resurrection, without which Christianity would be an empty husk. The co

for you," said Simon

walked with him. Like Balthasar and his friends, the Wise Men, the day