Zenobia | Page 5

The Queen yet weeps for him.'
'Jew,' said I, 'on thy word I purchase these. Although thy name is in no
good repute, yet thy face is honest, and I will trust thee so far.'

'The name of the unfortunate and the weak is never in repute,' said
Isaac, as he took my money and folded up the rings, his whole manner
suddenly changing. 'The Jew is now but a worm, writhing under the
heel of the proud Roman. Many a time has he, however, as thou well
knowest, turned upon his destroyer, and tasted the sweetness of a brief
revenge. Why should I speak of the massacres of Egypt, Cyrene, and
Syria in the days of Trajan? Let Rome beware! Small though we seem,
the day will yet arrive when the glory of Zion shall fill the whole
earth--and He shall come, before whom the mighty Emperor of Rome
shall tremble in his palaces.--This is what I say. Thanks to the great
Aurelian, that even a poor son of Abraham may speak his mind and not
lose his head. Here's old Isaac: who'll buy of old Isaac--rings--pins--and
razors,--who'll buy?'
And so singing, he turned away, and mixed with the passengers in the
other parts of the vessel. The wild glare of his eye, and deep,
suppressed tone of his voice, as he spoke of the condition and hopes of
his tribe, startled and moved me, and I would willingly have prolonged
a conversation with one of that singular people, about whom I really
know nothing, and with none of whom had I ever before come in
contact. When I see you again, I shall have much to tell you of him; for
during the rest of the voyage we were often thrown together, and, as
you will learn, he has become of essential service to me in the
prosecution of my objects.
No sooner had Isaac withdrawn from our company, than I embraced the
opportunity to address myself to the remarkable-looking person whom
I have already in part described.
'It is a great testimony,' I said, turning toward him, 'which these Jews
bear to their national religion. I much doubt if Romans, under similar
circumstances of oppression, would exhibit a constancy like theirs.
Their attachment too is to an invisible religion, as one may say, which
makes it the more remarkable. They have neither temples, altars,
victims, nor statues, nor any form of god or goddess, to which they pay
real or feigned adoration. Toward us they bear deep and
inextinguishable hate, for our religion not less than for our oppressions.

I never see a Jew threading our streets with busy steps, and his dark,
piercing eye, but I seem to see an assassin, who, with Caligula, wishes
the Roman people had but one neck, that he might exterminate the
whole race with a single blow. Toward you, however, who are so
nearly of his own faith, I suppose his sentiments are more kindly. The
Christian Roman, perhaps, he would spare.'
'Not so, I greatly fear,' replied the Christian. 'Nay, the Jew bears a
deeper hatred toward us than toward you, and would sooner sacrifice us;
for the reason, doubtless, that we are nearer him in faith than you; just
as our successful emperors have no sooner found themselves securely
seated, than they have first turned upon the members of their own
family, that from this, the most dangerous quarter, there should be no
fear of rival or usurper. The Jew holds the Christian--though in some
sort believing with him--as a rival--a usurper--a rebel; as one who
would substitute a novelty for the ancient creed of his people, and, in a
word, bring ruin upon the very existence of his tribe. His suspicions,
truly, are not without foundation; but they do not excuse the temper
with which he regards us. I cast no imputation upon the virtues of
friend Isaac, in what I say. The very spirit of universal love, I believe,
reigns in his soul. Would that all of his race were like him.'
'What you say is new and strange,' I replied. 'I may possibly bring
shame upon myself, by saying so, but it is true. I have been accustomed
to regard Christians and Jews as in effect one people; one, I mean, in
opinion and feeling. But in truth I know nothing. You are not ignorant
of the prejudice which exists toward both these races, on the part of the
Romans. I have yielded, with multitudes around me, to prevailing ideas,
taking no steps to learn their truth or error. Our writers, from Tacitus to
the base tools--for such they must have been--who lent themselves to
the purposes of the bigot Macrianus, and who filled the city with their
accounts of the Christians, have all agreed in representing