CHAPTER VI.
_The Learned Rabbi Zimri._
A SCORCHING sun, a blue and burning sky, on every side lofty ranges ofblack and barren mountains, dark ravines, deep caverns, unfathomablegorges! A solitary being moved in the distance. Faint and toiling, apilgrim slowly clambered up the steep and stony track.
The sultry hours moved on; the pilgrim at length gained the summit ofthe mountain, a small and rugged table-land, strewn with huge massesof loose and heated, rock. All around was desolation: no spring, noherbage; the bird and the insect were alike mute. Still it was thesummit: no loftier peaks frowned in the distance; the pilgrim stopped,and breathed with more facility, and a faint smile played over hislanguid and solemn countenance.
He rested a few minutes; he took from his wallet some locusts and wildhoney, and a small skin of water. His meal was short as well as simple.An ardent desire to reach his place of destination before nightfallurged him to proceed. He soon passed over the table-land, and commencedthe descent of the mountain. A straggling olive-tree occasionallyappeared, and then a group, and soon the groups swelled into a grove.His way wound through the grateful and unaccustomed shade. He emergedfrom the grove, and found that he had proceeded down more than halfthe side of the mountain. It ended precipitously in a dark and narrowravine, formed on the other side by an opposite mountain, the loftysteep of which was crested by a city gently rising on a gradual slope.
Nothing could be conceived more barren, wild, and terrible than thesurrounding scenery, unillumined by a single trace of culture. The citystood like the last gladiator in an amphitheatre of desolation.
It was surrounded by a lofty turreted wall, of an architecture to whichthe pilgrim was unaccustomed: gates with drawbridge and portcullis,square towers, and loopholes for the archer. Sentinels, clothed in steeland shining in the sunset, paced, at regular intervals, the cautiouswall, and on a lofty tower a standard waved, a snowy standard, with ared, red cross!
The Prince of the Captivity at length beheld the lost capital of hisfathers.[35]
A few months back, and such a spectacle would have called forth all thelatent passion of Alroy; but time and suffering, and sharp experience,had already somewhat curbed the fiery spirit of the Hebrew Prince. Hegazed upon Jerusalem, he beheld the City of David garrisoned by thepuissant warriors of Christendom, and threatened by the innumerablearmies of the Crescent. The two great divisions of the world seemedcontending for a prize, which he, a lonely wanderer, had crossed thedesert to rescue.
If his faith restrained him from doubting the possibility of hisenterprise, he was at least deeply conscious that the world was a verydifferent existence from what he had fancied amid the gardens ofHamadan and the rocks of Caucasus, and that if his purpose could beaccomplished, it could only be effected by one means. Calm, perhapssomewhat depressed, but full of pious humiliation, and not deserted byholy hope, he descended into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and so, slakinghis thirst at Siloah, and mounting the opposite height, David Alroyentered Jerusalem by the gate of Zion.[36]
He had been instructed that the quarter allotted to his people was nearthis entrance. He inquired the direction of the sentinel, who did notcondescend to answer him. An old man, in shabby robes, who was passing,beckoned to him.
'What want you, friend?' inquired Alroy.
'You were asking for the quarter of our people. You must be a stranger,indeed, in Jerusalem, to suppose that a Frank would speak to a Jew. Youwere lucky to get neither kicked nor cursed.'
'Kicked and cursed! Why, these dogs----'
'Hush! hush! for the love of God,' said his new companion, much alarmed.'Have you lent money to their captain that you speak thus? In Jerusalemour people speak only in a whisper.'
'No matter: the cure is not by words. Where is our quarter?'
'Was the like ever seen! Why, he speaks as if he were a Frank. I savehim from having his head broken by a gauntlet, and----'
'My friend, I am tired. Our quarter?'
'Whom may you want?'
'The Chief Rabbi.'
'You bear letters to him?'
'What is that to you?'
'Hush! hush! You do not know what Jerusalem is, young man. You must notthink of going on in this way. Where do you come from?'
'Bagdad.'
'Bagdad! Jerusalem is not Bagdad. A Turk is a brute, but a Christian isa demon.'
'But our quarter, our quarter?'
'Hush! you want the Chief Rabbi?'
'Ay! ay!'
'Rabbi Zimri?'
'It may be so. I neither know nor care.'
'Neither knows nor cares! This will never do; you must not go on in thisway at Jerusalem. You must not think of it.'
'Fellow, I see thou art a miserable prattler. Show me our quarter, and Iwill pay thee well, or be off.'
'Be off! Art thou a Hebrew? to say "be off" to any one. You come fromBagdad! I tell you what, go back to Bagdad. You will never do forJerusalem.'
'Your grizzled beard protects you. Old fool, I am a pilgrim justarrived, wearied beyond expression, and you keep me here listening toyour flat talk!'
'Flat talk! Why! what would you?'
'Lead me to the Rabbi Zimri, if that be his name.'
'If that be his name! Why, every one knows Rabbi Zimri, the Chief Rabbiof Jerusalem, the successor of Aaron. We have our temple yet, say whatthey like. A very learned doctor is Rabbi Zimri.'
'Wretched driveller. I am ashamed to lose my patience with such adotard.'
'Driveller! dotard! Why, who are you?'
'One you cannot comprehend. Without another word, lead me to yourchief.'
'Chief! you have not far to go. I know no one of the nation who holdshis head higher than I do here, and they call me Zimri.'
'What, the Chief Rabbi, that very learned doctor?'
'No less; I thought you had heard of him.'
'Let us forget the past, good Zimri. When great men play the incognito,they must sometimes hear rough phrases. It is the Caliph's lot as wellas yours. I am glad to make the acquaintance of so great a doctor.Though young, and roughly habited, I have seen the world a little, andmay offer next Sabbath in the synagogue more dirhems than you wouldperhaps suppose. Good and learned Zimri, I would be your guest.'
'A very worshipful young man! And he speaks low and soft now! But it waslucky I was at hand. Good, what's your name?'
'David.'
'A very honest name, good David. It was lucky I was at hand when youspoke to the sentinel, though. A Jew speak to a Frank, and a sentineltoo! Hah! hah! hah! that is good. How Rabbi Maimon will laugh! Faith itwas very lucky, now, was not it?'
'Indeed, most fortunate.'
'Well that is candid! Here! this way. 'Tis not far. We number few, sir,of our brethren here, but a better time will come, a better time willcome.'
'I think so. This is your door?'
'An humble one. Jerusalem is not Bagdad, but you are welcome.'
'King Pirgandicus[37] entered them,' said Rabbi Maimon, 'but no onesince.'
'And when did he live?' inquired Alroy. 'His reign is recorded in theTalmud,' answered Rabbi Zimri, 'but in the Talmud there are no dates.''A long while ago?' asked Alroy. 'Since the Captivity,' answered RabbiMaimon. 'I doubt that,' said Rabbi Zimri, 'or why should he be calledking?'
'Was he of the house of David?' said Alroy.
'Without doubt,' said Rabbi Maimon; 'he was one of our greatest kings,and conquered Julius Caesar.'[38]
'His kingdom was in the northernmost parts of Africa,' said Rabbi Zimri,'and exists to this day, if we could but find it.'
'Ay, truly,' added Rabbi Maimon, 'the sceptre has never departed out ofJudah; and he rode always upon a white elephant.'
'Covered with cloth of gold,' added Rabbi Zimri. 'And he visited theTombs of the Kings?'[39] inquired Alroy.
'Without doubt,' said Rabbi Maimon. 'The whole account is in theTalmud.'
'And no one can now find them?' 'No one,' replied Rabbi Zimri: 'but,according to that learned doctor, Moses Hall
evy, they are in a valley inthe mountains of Lebanon, which was sealed up by the Archangel Michael.'
'The illustrious Doctor Abarbanel, of Babylon,' said Rabbi Maimon,'gives one hundred and twenty reasons in his commentary on the Gemara toprove that they sunk under the earth at the taking of the Temple.'
'No one reasons like Abarbanel of Babylon,' said Rabbi Zimri.
'The great Rabbi Akiba, of Pundebita, has answered them all,' said RabbiMaimon, 'and holds that they were taken up to heaven.'
'And which is right?' inquired Rabbi Zimri.
'Neither,' said Rabbi Maimon.
'One hundred and twenty reasons are strong proof,' said Rabbi Zimri.
'The most learned and illustrious Doctor Aaron Mendola, of Granada,'said Rabbi Maimon, 'has shown that we must look for the Tombs of theKings in the south of Spain.'
'All that Mendola writes is worth attention,' said Rabbi Zimri.
'Rabbi Hillel,[40] of Samaria, is worth two Mendolas any day,' saidRabbi Maimon.
''Tis a most learned doctor,' said Rabbi Zimri; 'and what thinks he?'
'Hillel proves that there are two Tombs of the Kings,' said RabbiMaimon, 'and that neither of them are the right ones.'
'What a learned doctor!' exclaimed Rabbi Zimri.
'And very satisfactory,' remarked Alroy.
'These are high subjects,' continued Maimon, his blear eyes twinklingwith complacency. 'Your guest, Rabbi Zimri, must read the treatise ofthe learned Shimei, of Damascus, on "Effecting Impossibilities."'
'That is a work!' exclaimed Zimri.
'I never slept for three nights after reading that work,' said RabbiMaimon. 'It contains twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-sevenquotations from the Pentateuch, and not a single original observation.'
'There were giants in those days,' said Rabbi Zimri; 'we are childrennow.'
'The first chapter makes equal sense, read backward or forward,'continued Rabbi Maimon. 'Ichabod!' exclaimed Rabbi Zimri. 'And theinitial letter of every section is a cabalistical type of a king ofJudah.'
'The temple will yet be built,' said Rabbi Zimri. 'Ay, ay! that islearning!' exclaimed Rabbi Maimon; 'but what is the great treatise on"Effecting Impossibilities" to that profound, admirable, and----'
'Holy Rabbi!' said a youthful reader of the synagogue, who now entered,'the hour is at hand.'
'You don't say so! Learned Miamon, I must to the synagogue. I could sithere all day listening to you. Come, David, the people await us.'
Zimri and Alroy quitted the house, and proceeded along the narrow hillystreets to the chief temple of the Hebrews.
'It grieves the venerable Maimon much that he cannot join us,' saidRabbi Zimri. 'You have doubtless heard of him at Bagdad; a most learneddoctor.' Alroy bowed in silence.
'He bears his years well. You would hardly believe that he was mymaster.'
'I perceive that you inherit much of his erudition.'
'You are kind. If he have breathed one year, Rabbi Maimon will be ahundred and ten next Passover.'
'I doubt it not.'
'When he is gathered to his fathers, a great light will be extinguishedin Israel. You wanted to know something about the Tombs of the Kings; Itold you he was your man. How full he was! His mind, sir, is an egg.'
'A somewhat ancient one. I fear his guidance will hardly bring me theenviable fortune of King Pirgandicus.'
'Between ourselves, good David, talking of King Pirgandicus, I cannothelp fancying that the learned Maimon made a slight mistake. I holdPirgandicus was only a prince. It was after the Captivity, and I know noauthority for any of our rulers since the destruction assuming a highertitle. Clearly a prince, eh? But, though I would whisper it to noone but you, I think our worthy friend grows a little old. We shouldremember his years, sir. A hundred and ten next Passover. 'Tis a greatburden.'
'Ay! with his learning added, a very fearful burden indeed!'
'You have been a week in Jerusalem, and have not yet visited oursynagogue. It is not of cedar and ivory, but it is still a temple. Thisway. It is only a week that you have been here? Why, you look anotherman! I shall never forget our first meeting: you did not know me. Thatwas good, eh? And when I told you I was the chief Rabbi Zimri, how youchanged! You have quite regained your appetite. Ah! 'tis pleasant tomix once more with our own people. To the left. So! we must descend alittle. We hold our meetings in an ancient cemetery. You have a finertemple, I warrant me, in Bagdad. Jerusalem is not Bagdad. But this hasits conveniences. 'Tis safe, and we are not very rich, nor wish to seemso.'
A long passage brought them to a number of small, square, lowchambers[41] leading into each other. They were lighted by brass lamps,placed at intervals in vacant niches, that once held corpses, andwhich were now soiled by the smoky flame. Between two and threehundred individuals were assembled in these chambers, at first scarcelydistinguishable by those who descended from the broad daylight; butby degrees the eyesight became accustomed to the dim and vaporousatmosphere, and Al-roy recognised in the final and more illuminedchamber a high cedar cabinet, the type of the ark, and which held thesacred vessels and the sanctified copy of the law.
Standing in lines, with their heads mystically covered,[42] the forlornremnant of Israel, captives in their ancient city, avowed, in spite ofall their sufferings, their fidelity to their God, and, notwithstandingall the bitterness of hope delayed, their faith in the fulfilment of hispromises. Their simple service was completed, their prayers wereread, their responses made, their law exhibited, and their charitableofferings announced by their high priest. After the service, thevenerable Zimri, opening a volume of the Talmud, and fortified by theopinions of all those illustrious and learned doctors, the heroes ofhis erudite conversations with the aged Maimon, expounded the law to thecongregation of the people.[43]
'It is written,' said the Rabbi, '"Thou shalt have none other God butme." Now know ye what our father Abraham said when Nimrod ordered him toworship fire? "Why not water," answered Abraham, "which can put out fire?why not clouds, which can pour forth water? why not the winds, which canproduce clouds? why not God, which can create winds?"'
A murmur of approbation sounded throughout the congregation.
'Eliezer,' said Zimri, addressing himself to a young Rabbi, 'it iswritten, that he took a rib from Adam when he was asleep. Is God then arobber?'
The young Rabbi looked puzzled, and cast his eyes on the ground. Thecongregation was perplexed and a little alarmed.
'Is there no answer?' said Zimri.
'Rabbi,' said a stranger, a tall, swarthy African pilgrim, standing ina corner, and enveloped in a red mantle, over which a lamp threw aflickering light; 'Rabbi, some robbers broke into my house last night,and stole an earthen pipkin, but they left a golden vase in its stead.'
'It is well said; it is well said,' exclaimed the congregation. Theapplause was loud.
'Learned Zimri,' continued the African, 'it is written in the Gemara,that there was a youth in Jerusalem who fell in love with a beautifuldamsel, and she scorned him. And the youth was so stricken with hispassion that he could not speak; but when he beheld her, he looked ather imploringly, and she laughed. And one day the youth, not knowingwhat to do with himself, went out into the desert; and towards nighthe returned home, but the gates of the city were shut. And he went downinto the valley of Jehoshaphat, and entered the tomb of Absalom andslept;[44] and he dreamed a dream; and next morning he came into thecity smiling. And the maiden met him, and she said, "Is that thou; artthou a laugher?" and he answered, "Behold, yesterday being disconsolate,I went out of the city into the desert, and I returned home, andthe gates of the city were shut, and I went down into the valley ofJehoshaphat, and I entered the tomb of Absalom, and I slept, and Idreamed a dream, and ever since then I have laughed." And the damselsaid, "Tell me thy dream." And he answered and said, "I may not tell mydream only to my wife, for it regards her honour." And the maiden grewsad and curious, and said, "I am thy wife, tell me thy dream." Andstraightway they went and were married and ever after th
ey both laughed.Now, learned Zimri, what means this tale, an idle jest for a master ofthe law, yet it is written by the greatest doctor of the Captivity?'
'It passeth my comprehension,' said the chief Rabbi.
Rabbi Eliezer was silent; the congregation groaned.
'Now hear the interpretation,' said the African. 'The youth is ourpeople, and the damsel is our lost Sion, and the tomb of Absalom provesthat salvation can only come from the house of David. Dost thou hearthis, young man?' said the African, coming forward and laying his handon Alroy. 'I speak to thee, because I have observed a deep attention inthy conduct.'
The Prince of the Captivity started, and shot a glance at the darkvisage before him, but the glance read nothing. The upper part of thecountenance of the African was half concealed by masses of dark mattedhair, and the lower by his uncouth robes. A flashing eye was its onlycharacteristic, which darted forth like lightning out of a black cloud.
'Is my attention the only reason that induces you to address me?'inquired Alroy.
'Whoever gave all his reasons?' replied the African, with a laughingsneer.
'I seek not to learn them. Suffice it, stranger, that how much soeveryou may mean, as much I can understand.'
''Tis well. Learned Zimri, is this thy pupil? I congratulate thee.I will match him against the hopeful Eliezer.' So saying, the loftyAfrican stalked out of the chamber. The assembly also broke up. Alroywould willingly have immediately followed the African, and held somefurther and more private conversation with him; but some minuteselapsed, owing to the officious attentions of Zimri, before he couldescape; and, when he did, his search after the stranger was vain. Heinquired among the congregation, but none knew the African. He was noman's guest and no man's debtor, and apparently had never before beenseen.
The trumpet was sounding to close the gates, as Alroy passed the Zionentrance. The temptation was irresistible. He rushed out, and ran formore than one hundred yards without looking back, and when he did, hehad the satisfaction of ascertaining that he was fairly shut out for thenight. The sun had set, still the Mount of Olives was flushed with thereflection of his dying beams, but Jehoshaphat at its feet was in deepshadow.
He wandered among the mountains for some time, beholding Jerusalem froma hundred different points of view, and watching the single planets andclustering constellations that gradually burst into beauty, or gatheredinto light. At length, somewhat exhausted, he descended into the vale.The scanty rill of Siloah[45] looked like a thread of silver winding inthe moonlight. Some houseless wretches were slumbering under the archof its fountain. Several isolated tombs of considerable size[46] rose atthe base of Olivet, and the largest of these Alroy entered. Proceedingthrough a narrow passage, he entered a small square chamber. On eachside was an empty sarcophagus of granite, one with its lid broken.Between these the Prince of the Captivity laid his robe, and, wearied byhis ramble, soon soundly slept.
After some hours he woke. He fancied that he had been wakened by thesound of voices. The chamber was not quite dark. A straggling moonbeamfought its way through an open fretwork pattern in the top of the tomb,and just revealed the dim interior. Suddenly a voice spoke, a strangeand singular voice.
'Brother, brother, the sounds of the night begin.'
Another voice answered,
'Brother, brother, I hear them, too.'
'The woman in labour!'
'The thief at his craft!'
'The sentinel's challenge!'
'The murderer's step!'
'Oh! the merry sounds of the night!'
'Brother, brother, let us come forth and wander about the world.'
'We have seen all things. I'll lie here and listen to the baying hound.'Tis music for a tomb.'
'Choice and rare. You are idle. I like to sport in the starry air. Ourhours are few, they should be fair.'
'What shall we see, Heaven or Earth?' 'Hell for me, 'tis more amusing.''As for me, I am sick of Hades.' 'Let us visit Solomon!' 'In his unknownmetropolis?'
'That will be rare.'
'But where, oh! where?'
'Even a spirit cannot tell. But they say, but they say, I dare notwhisper what they say.'
'Who told you?'
'No one. I overheard an Afrite whispering to a female Ghoul he wanted toseduce.'
'Hah! hah! hah! hah! choice pair, choice pair! We are more ethereal.'
'She was a beauty in her way. Her eyes were luminous, though somewhatdank, and her cheek tinged with carnation caught from infant blood.'
'Oh! gay; oh! gay; what said they?'
'He was a deserter without leave from Solomon's body-guard. The trullwriggled the secret out.'
'Tell me, kind brother.'
'I'll show, not tell.'
'I pr'ythee tell me.'
'Well, then, well. In Genthesma's gloomy cave there is a river none hasreached, and you must sail, and you must sail---- Brother!'
'Ay.'
'Methinks I smell something too earthly.'
'What's that?'
'The breath of man.'
'Scent more fatal than the morning air! Away, away!'
In the range of mountains that lead from Olivet to the river Jordan isthe great cavern of Genthesma, a mighty excavation formed by thecombined and immemorial work of Nature and of Art; for on the highbasaltic columns are cut strange characters and unearthly forms,[47] andin many places the natural ornaments have been completed by the hands ofthe sculptor into symmetrical entablatures and fanciful capitals, thework, they say, of captive Dives and conquered Afrites for the greatking.
It was midnight; the cold full moon showered it brilliancy upon thisnarrow valley, shut in on all sides by black and barren mountains. Asingle being stood at the entrance of the cave.
It was Alroy. Desperate and determined, after listening to the spiritsin the tomb, he resolved to penetrate the mysteries of Genthesma. Hetook from his girdle a flint and steel, with which he lighted a torchand then he entered.
The cavern narrowed as he cautiously advanced, and soon he found himselfat the head of an evidently artificial gallery. A crowd of bats rushedforward and extinguished his torch [48] He leant down to relight it andin so doing observed that he had trod upon an artificial pavement.
The gallery was of great extent, with a gradual declination [49] Beingin a straight line with the mouth of the cavern, the moonlit scene waslong visible, but Alroy, on looking round, now perceived that theexterior was shut out by the eminence that he had left behind him. Thesides of the gallery were covered with strange and sculptured forms.
The Prince of the Captivity proceeded along this gallery for nearly twohours. A distant murmur of falling water, which might have beendistinguished nearly from the first, increased in sound as he advanced,and now, from the loud roar and dash at hand, he felt that he was on thebrink of some cataract. It as very dark. His heart trembled. He felthis footing ere he ventured to advance. The spray suddenly leapedforward and extinguished his torch.
His eminent danger filled him with terror, and he receded some paces,but in vain endeavoured to reillumine his torch, which was soaked withwater.
His courage deserted him. Energy and exertion seemed hopeless. He wasabout to deliver himself up to despair, when and expanding lustreattracted his attention in the opposing gloom.
A small and bright red cloud seemed sailing towards him. It opened,discharged from its bosom as silvery star, and dissolved again intodarkness. But the star remained, the silvery star, and threw a long lineof tremulous light upon the vast and raging rapid, which now, fleet andfoaming, revealed itself on all sides to the eye of Alroy.
The beautiful interposition in his favour re-animated the adventurouspilgrim. A dark shadow in the foreground, breaking the line of lightshed by the star upon the waters, attracted his attention. He advanced,regained his former footing, and more nearly examined it. It was a boat,and in the boat, mute and immovable, sat one of those vast, singular,and hidden forms which eh had observed sculptured on the walls of thegallery.
r /> David Alry, committing his fortunes to the God of Israel, leapt into theboat.
And at the same moment the Afrite, for it was one of those dreadbeings,[50] raised the oars, and the barque moved. The falling waterssuddenly parted in the long line of the star's reflection, and thebarque glided through their high and severed masses.
In this wise they proceeded for a few minutes, until they entered abeautiful and moonlit lake. In the distance was mountainous country.Alroy examined his companion with a feeling of curiosity not unmixedwith terror. It was remarkable that Alroy could never succeed in any wayin attracting his notice. The Afrite seemed totally unconscious of thepresence of his passenger. At length the boat reached the opposite shoreof the lake, and the Prince of the Captivity debarked.
He debarked at the head of an avenue of colossal lions of redgranite,[51] extending far as the eye could reach, and ascending theside of the mountain, which was cut into a flight of magnificentsteps. The easy ascent was in consequence soon accomplished, and Alroy,proceeding along the avenue of lions, soon gained the summit of themountain.
To his infinite astonishment he beheld Jerusalem. That strongly-markedlocality could not be mistaken: at his feet were Jehoshaphat, Kedron,Siloah; he stood upon Olivet; before him was Zion. But in all otherrespects, how different was the landscape from the one that he had gazedupon a few days back, for the first time! The surrounding hillssparkled with vineyards, and glowed with summer palaces, and voluptuouspavilions, and glorious gardens of pleasure. The city, extending allover Mount Sion, was encompassed with a wall of white marble, withbattlements of gold; a gorgeous mass of gates and pillars, and gardenedterraces; lofty piles of rarest materials, cedar, and ivory, andprecious stones; and costly columns of the richest workmanship and themost fanciful orders, capitals of the lotus and the palm, and flowingfriezes of the olive and the vine.
And in the front a mighty Temple rose, with inspiration in its veryform; a Temple so vast, so sumptuous, that there needed no priest totell us that no human hand planned that sublime magnificence!
'God of my fathers!' said Alroy, 'I am a poor, weak thing, and my lifehas been a life of dreams and visions, and I have sometimes thought mybrain lacked a sufficient master; where am I? Do I sleep or live? Am I aslumberer or a ghost? This trial is too much.' He sank down, and hidhis face in his hands: his over-exerted mind appeared to desert him: hewept.
Many minutes elapsed before Alroy grew composed. His wild bursts ofweeping sank into sobs, and the sobs died off into sighs. And at length,calm from exhaustion, he again looked up, and lo! the glorious city wasno more! Before him was a moon-lit plain, over which the avenue oflions still advanced, and appeared to terminate only in the mountainousdistance.
This limit the Prince of the Captivity at length reached, and stoodbefore a stupendous portal, cut out of the solid rock, four hundred feetin height, and supported by clusters of colossal Caryatides.[52] Uponthe portal were engraven some Hebrew characters, which upon examinationproved to be the same as those upon the talisman of Jabaster. And so,taking from his bosom that all-precious and long-cherished deposit,David Alroy, in obedience to his instructions, pressed the signetagainst the gigantic portal.
The portal opened with a crash of thunder louder than an earthquake.Pale, panting, and staggering, the Prince of the Captivity entered anillimitable hall, illumined by pendulous balls of glowing metal. On eachside of the hall, sitting on golden thrones, was ranged a line of kings,and, as the pilgrim entered, the monarchs rose, and took off theirdiadems, and waved them thrice, and thrice repeated, in solemn chorus,'All hail, Alroy! Hail to thee, brother king! Thy crown awaits thee!'
The Prince of the Captivity stood trembling, with his eyes fixed uponthe ground, and leaning breathless against a column. And when at lengthhe had a little recovered himself, and dared again to look up, he foundthat the monarchs were re-seated; and, from their still and vacantvisages, apparently unconscious of his presence. And this emboldenedhim, and so, staring alternately at each side of the hall, but with afirm, perhaps desperate step, Alroy advanced.
And he came to two thrones which were set apart from the others in themiddle of the hall. On one was seated a noble figure, far above thecommon stature, with arms folded and downcast eyes. His feet rested upona broken sword and a shivered sceptre, which told that he was a monarch,in spite of his discrowned head.
And on the opposite throne was a venerable personage, with a longflowing beard, and dressed in white raiment. His countenancewas beautiful, although ancient. Age had stolen on without itsimperfections, and time had only invested it with a sweet dignity andsolemn grace. The countenance of the king was upraised with a seraphicgaze, and, as he thus looked up on high, with eyes full of love, andthanksgiving, and praise, his consecrated fingers seemed to touch thetrembling wires of a golden harp.
And further on, and far above the rest, upon a throne that stretchedacross the hall, a most imperial presence straightway flashed upon thestartled vision of Alroy. Fifty steps of ivory, and each step guardedby golden lions,[53] led to a throne of jasper. A dazzling light blazedforth from the glittering diadem and radiant countenance of him who satupon the throne, one beautiful as a woman, but with the majesty of agod. And in one hand he held a seal, and in the other a sceptre.
And when Alroy had reached the foot of the throne, he stopped, and hisheart misgave him. And he prayed for some minutes in silent devotion,and, without daring to look up, he mounted the first step of the throne,and the second, and the third, and so on, with slow and faltering feet,until he reached the forty-ninth step.
The Prince of the Captivity raised his eyes. He stood before the monarchface to face. In vain Alroy attempted to attract his attention, or tofix his gaze. The large dark eyes, full of supernatural lustre, appearedcapable of piercing all things, and illuminating all things, but theyflashed on without shedding a ray upon Alroy.
Pale as a spectre, the pilgrim, whose pilgrimage seemed now on the pointof completion, stood cold and trembling before the object of all hisdesires and all his labours. But he thought of his country, his people,and his God; and, while his noiseless lips breathed the name of Jehovah,solemnly he put forth his arm, and with a gentle firmness grasped theunresisting sceptre of his great ancestor.
And, as he seized it, the whole scene vanished from his sight!
Hours or years might have passed away, so far as the sufferer wasconcerned, when Alroy again returned to self-consciousness. His eyesslowly opened, he cast around a vacant stare, he was lying in the cavernof Genthesma. The moon had set, but the morn had not broken. A singlestar glittered over the brow of the black mountains. He faintly movedhis limbs; he would have raised his hand to his bewildered brain, butfound that it grasped a sceptre. The memory of the past returned to him.He tried to rise, and found that he was reposing in the arms of a humanbeing. He turned his head; he met the anxious gaze of Jabaster!