VIII
When the young woman awoke, it was already full, clear day, and herfemale slaves stood and waited that they might help her dress.
She was very silent while she dressed, but finally she asked the slavewho arranged her hair, if her husband was up. She learned that he hadbeen called out to pass judgment on a criminal. "I should have liked totalk with him," said the young woman.
"Mistress," said the slave, "it will be difficult to do so during thetrial. We will let you know as soon as it is over."
She sat silent now until her toilet was completed. Then she asked: "Hasany among you heard of the Prophet of Nazareth?"
"The Prophet of Nazareth is a Jewish miracle performer," answered one ofthe slaves instantly.
"It is strange, Mistress, that you should ask after him to-day," saidanother slave. "It is just he whom the Jews have brought here to thepalace, to let him be tried by the Governor."
She bade them go at once and ascertain for what cause he was arraigned,and one of the slaves withdrew. When she returned she said: "They accusehim of wanting to make himself King over this land, and they entreat theGovernor to let him be crucified."
When the Governor's wife heard this, she grew terrified and said: "Imust speak with my husband, otherwise a terrible calamity will happenhere this day."
When the slaves said once again that this was impossible, she began toweep and shudder. And one among them was touched, so she said: "If youwill send a written message to the Governor, I will try and take it tohim."
Immediately she took a stylus and wrote a few words on a wax tablet, andthis was given to Pilate.
But him she did not meet alone the whole day; for when he had dismissedthe Jews, and the condemned man was taken to the place of execution, thehour for repast was come, and to this Pilate had invited a few of theRomans who visited Jerusalem at this season. They were the commander ofthe troops and a young instructor in oratory, and several othersbesides.
This repast was not very gay, for the Governor's wife sat all the whilesilent and dejected, and took no part in the conversation.
When the guests asked if she was ill or distraught, the Governorlaughingly related about the message she had sent him in the morning. Hechaffed her because she had believed that a Roman governor would lethimself be guided in his judgments by a woman's dreams.
She answered gently and sadly: "In truth, it was no dream, but a warningsent by the gods. You should at least have let the man live through thisone day."
They saw that she was seriously distressed. She would not be comforted,no matter how much the guests exerted themselves, by keeping up theconversation to make her forget these empty fancies.
But after a while one of them raised his head and exclaimed: "What isthis? Have we sat so long at table that the day is already gone?"
All looked up now, and they observed that a dim twilight settled downover nature. Above all, it was remarkable to see how the wholevariegated play of color which it spread over all creatures and objects,faded away slowly, so that all looked a uniform gray.
Like everything else, even their own faces lost their color. "Weactually look like the dead," said the young orator with a shudder. "Ourcheeks are gray and our lips black."
As this darkness grew more intense, the woman's fear increased. "Oh, myfriend!" she burst out at last. "Can't you perceive even now that theImmortals would warn you? They are incensed because you condemned a holyand innocent man. I am thinking that although he may already be on thecross, he is surely not dead yet. Let him be taken down from the cross!I would with mine own hands nurse his wounds. Only grant that he becalled back to life!"
But Pilate answered laughingly: "You are surely right in that this is asign from the gods. But they do not let the sun lose its luster becausea Jewish heretic has been condemned to the cross. On the contrary, wemay expect that important matters shall appear, which concern the wholekingdom. Who can tell how long old Tiberius----"
He did not finish the sentence, for the darkness had become so profoundhe could not see even the wine goblet standing in front of him. He brokeoff, therefore, to order the slaves to fetch some lamps instantly.
When it had become so light that he could see the faces of his guests,it was impossible for him not to notice the depression which had comeover them. "Mark you!" he said half-angrily to his wife. "Now it isapparent to me that you have succeeded with your dreams in driving awaythe joys of the table. But if it must needs be that you can not think ofanything else to-day, then let us hear what you have dreamed. Tell it usand we will try to interpret its meaning!"
For this the young wife was ready at once. And while she related visionafter vision, the guests grew more and more serious. They ceasedemptying their goblets, and they sat with brows knit. The only one whocontinued to laugh and to call the whole thing madness, was the Governorhimself.
When the narrative was ended, the young rhetorician said: "Truly, thisis something more than a dream, for I have seen this day not theEmperor, but his old friend Faustina, march into the city. Only itsurprises me that she has not already appeared in the Governor'spalace."
"There is actually a rumor abroad to the effect that the Emperor hasbeen stricken with a terrible illness," observed the leader of thetroops. "It also seems very possible to me that your wife's dream may bea god-sent warning."
"There's nothing incredible in this, that Tiberius has sent messengersafter the Prophet to summon him to his sick-bed," agreed the youngrhetorician.
The Commander turned with profound seriousness toward Pilate. "If theEmperor has actually taken it into his head to let this miracle-workerbe summoned, it were better for you and for all of us that he found himalive."
Pilate answered irritably: "Is it the darkness that has turned you intochildren? One would think that you had all been transformed intodream-interpreters and prophets."
But the courtier continued his argument: "It may not be impossible,perhaps, to save the man's life, if you sent a swift messenger."
"You want to make a laughing-stock of me," answered the Governor. "Tellme, what would become of law and order in this land, if they learnedthat the Governor pardoned a criminal because his wife has dreamed a baddream?"
"It is the truth, however, and not a dream, that I have seen Faustina inJerusalem," said the young orator.
"I shall take the responsibility of defending my actions before theEmperor," said Pilate. "He will understand that this visionary, who lethimself be misused by my soldiers without resistance, would not have hadthe power to help him."
As he was speaking, the house was shaken by a noise like a powerfulrolling thunder, and an earthquake shook the ground. The Governor'spalace stood intact, but during some minutes just after the earthquake,a terrific crash of crumbling houses and falling pillars was heard.
As soon as a human voice could make itself heard, the Governor called aslave.
"Run out to the place of execution and command in my name that theProphet of Nazareth shall be taken down from the cross!"
The slave hurried away. The guests filed from the dining-hall out on theperistyle, to be under the open sky in case the earthquake should berepeated. No one dared to utter a word, while they awaited the slave'sreturn.
He came back very shortly. He stopped before the Governor.
"You found him alive?" said he.
"Master, he was dead, and on the very second that he gave up the ghost,the earthquake occurred."
The words were hardly spoken when two loud knocks sounded against theouter gate. When these knocks were heard, they all staggered back andleaped up, as though it had been a new earthquake.
Immediately afterwards a slave came up.
"It is the noble Faustina and the Emperor's kinsman Sulpicius. They arecome to beg you help them find the Prophet from Nazareth."
A low murmur passed through the peristyle, and soft footfalls wereheard. When the Governor looked around, he noticed that his friends hadwithdrawn from him, as from one upon whom misfortune has fallen.
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Old Faustina had returned to Capri and had sought out the Emperor. Shetold him her story, and while she spoke she hardly dared look at him.During her absence the illness had made frightful ravages, and shethought to herself: "If there had been any pity among the Celestials,they would have let me die before being forced to tell this poor,tortured man that all hope is gone."
To her astonishment, Tiberius listened to her with the utmostindifference. When she related how the great miracle performer had beencrucified the same day that she had arrived in Jerusalem, and how nearshe had been to saving him, she began to weep under the weight of herfailure. But Tiberius only remarked: "You actually grieve over this? Ah,Faustina! A whole lifetime in Rome has not