The Sad Shepherd | Page 6

walked the streets by night in a disguise. On a certain day he sent for
me, and had me into his secret chamber, professing great love toward
me and more confidence than in any man that lived. So I must go to
Rome for him, bearing a sealed letter and a private message to Caesar.
All my goods would be left safely in the hands of the king, my friend,
who would reward me double. There was a certain place of high
authority at Jerusalem which Caesar would gladly bestow on a Jew

who had done him a service. This mission would commend me to him.
It was a great occasion, suited to my powers. Thus Herod fed me with
fair promises, and I ran his errand. There was nothing in it.
"I stood before Caesar and gave him the letter. He read it and laughed,
saying that a prince with an incurable hunger is a servant of value to an
emperor. Then he asked me if there was nothing sent with the letter. I
answered that there was no gift, but a message for his private ear. He
drew me aside and I told him that Herod begged earnestly that his dear
son, Antipater, might be sent back in haste from Rome to Palestine, for
the king had great need of him.
"At this Caesar laughed again. 'To bury him, I suppose,' said he, 'with
his brothers, Alexander and Aristobulus! Truly, it is better to be
Herod's swine than his son. Tell the old fox he may catch his own prey.'
With this he turned from me and I withdrew unrewarded, to make my
way back, as best I could with an empty purse, to Palestine. I had seen
the Lord of the World. There was nothing in it.
"Selling my rings and bracelets I got passage in a trading ship for Joppa.
There I heard that the king was not in Jerusalem, at his Palace of the
Upper City, but had gone with his friends to make merry for a month
on the Mountain of the Little Paradise. On that hill-top over against us,
where the lights are flaring to-night, in the banquet-hall where couches
are spread for a hundred guests, I found Herod."
The listening shepherds spat upon the ground again, and Jotham
muttered, "May the worms that devour his flesh never die!" But Zadok
whispered, "We wait for the Lord's salvation to come out of Zion." And
the sad shepherd, looking with fixed eyes at the firelit mountain far
away, continued his story:
"The king lay on his ivory couch, and the sweat of his disease was
heavy upon him, for he was old, and his flesh was corrupted. But his
hair and his beard were dyed and perfumed and there was a wreath of
roses on his head. The hall was full of nobles and great men, the sons
of the high-priest were there, and the servants poured their wine in cups
of gold. There was a sound of soft music; and all the men were
watching a girl who danced in the middle of the hall; and the eyes of
Herod were fiery, like the eyes of a fox.
"The dancer was Tamar. She glistened like the snow on Lebanon, and
the redness of her was ruddier than a pomegranate, and her dancing was

like the coiling of white serpents. When the dance was ended her
attendants threw a veil of gauze over her and she lay among her
cushions, half covered with flowers, at the feet of the king.
"Through the sound of clapping hands and shouting, two slaves led me
behind the couch of Herod. His eyes narrowed as they fell upon me. I
told him the message of Caesar, making it soft, as if it were a word that
suffered him to catch his prey. He stroked his beard softly and his look
fell on Tamar. 'I have caught it,' he murmured; 'by all the gods, I have
always caught it. And my dear son, Antipater, is coming home of his
own will. I have lured him, he is mine.'
"Then a look of madness crossed his face and he sprang up, with
frothing lips, and struck at me. 'What is this,' he cried, 'a spy, a servant
of my false son, a traitor in my banquet-hall! Who are you?' I knelt
before him, protesting that he must know me; that I was his friend, his
messenger; that I had left all my goods in his hands; that the girl who
had danced for him was mine. At this his face changed again and he fell
back on his couch, shaken with horrible laughter. 'Yours!' he cried,
'when was she yours? What is yours? I know you now, poor madman.
You are Ammiel,