The Coming of the King | Page 7

it not mutter even as our own?"
"Into the feast halls comes no mention of the populace. Yet it hath been
said they stand about trembling lest they starve because of the delay of
an Alexandrian corn ship. But what of the populace? Whether her
hordes be corn fed or not corn fed, Rome careth not. What souls have
these?"
"It is the naked virgins that possess souls," and Antipas showed his
pointed teeth a little more.
"Nay, it is the naked virgins that set souls on fire," Zador Ben Amon
corrected.

"Rome hath not all the naked virgins that do dance. Antipas hath had a
dance for his wife's sake." With this remark his sharp-toothed smile
gave way to laughter.
"Which wife?" Zador asked.
"Herodias, sister of Agrippa the Great. Her Salome danced until like
fire my blood chased itself into a fever. Then did I tell her to name her
price. And the price was none other than the head of John--John Baptist,
who for defiling the name of Antipas' wife had been put in a dungeon
under the castle of Machaerus. Antipas is not cursed with poverty. Yet
are there prices too great, for since the head of the brawler came
blinking on a platter, do the people declare he were Elias, and that he is
not dead but walks the dungeon by day and whither he will by night."
"Thou shouldst be a Sadducee and declare against a hereafter. They eat,
drink and be merry while the Pharisees speak darkly of a hereafter of
which they know nothing, and beget fear of ghosts."
"Yea, but in the hearts of the people great hope of a hereafter is ever
alive. This do the Pharisees know and teach."
"The Pharisees are hypocrites. But let us to business for it meaneth
more stores of gold to Antipas and Zador."
The Idumean leaned forward with his eyes on the Jew. "Speak on," he
said.
"There is a reason Rome ruleth the world. She knoweth how. In the
Senate are the laws made. By the sword of her vast army are they
enforced. And lest insurrection be plotted against the throne of the
Caesars, Rome hath a system of spies sufficient to hear a whisper in the
bowels of the earth. It hath not been so determined, but it is suspected
that there is some sort of a union of toilers. Such societies would be
like a worm in the heart to our profits, Antipas."
"Fear not such worms. Some wild dream is this--that those who toil
bind themselves together. Ever do cattle contend among themselves

and not unite."
"It hath been done. What hath been done by slaves and men, might be
done again. It hath not yet outlived the memory of man how the slaves
in the Laurian silver mines arose, killed their guards, took the citadel of
Sunium to sleep in, raided the armory for weapons and laid Attica
waste for a great season. Nor was it because they were not well
enslaved. Naked did their men and women toil under the lash. Yet they
became as one man and, at the word, rose as one man. And was it not in
Macedonia at the gold mines of Pangaetus that another bloody uprising
took place at vast cost to the gold industry because they rose as a man?
Suppose you, that the silversmiths, gold-gilders, pearl and ivory and
filigree workers should secretly band themselves together, hast thou
knowledge to compute the loss to my profit?"
Herod Antipas had covered his sharp teeth with his lip and was
listening intently to Zador Ben Amon.
"Would it mean naught to thee if in thine own province thy hewers of
stone and builders of ships, thy tent-makers and herdsmen and corn
growers should secretly unite and rise against thee?"
"Thy words sink deep," Antipas said, taking up his cup. Finding it
empty, he looked behind him. The stewart who had been standing there
had gone out. "More wine!" Antipas shouted. "And keep thee by the
cups," he gave order as the stewart came hastily in. Antipas and his
guest drank freely. Then the Jew spoke again.
"Here is Herod Antipas," he said, holding up his left hand and marking
its first finger with the stubby forefinger of his right hand. "And here is
Pilate, Procurator of Judea, and here is the High Priest of the House of
Annas. And the three have much gold. But between them hath Annas
the greater portion. From the tax on all the world getteth Pilate his.
From Galilean tax getteth Antipas his, but from the Temple getteth
Annas his through the hands of Caiaphas. The tribute money from all
the earth, the Sanctuary half shekel and the Temple Bazaars and
money-changers bring riches untold to Annas. Did