Dear and Glorious Physician (66 page)

Lucanus stretched himself wearily, and with pleasure. His friends regarded him with affection. Arieh said, “My home, which was my father’s, is humbler than this, but in a few days you must be my guest also.” His hand still held that of Lucanus, like a son. “I am not here to dally,” said Lucanus, but he smiled. “You must remember that I am no longer very young, and there is much for me to learn and to do.” Hilell studied him with concern.

“Once,” said Lucanus, “I was without hope. The world was utterly corrupt, and without God. I lived in bitterness and despair. But, as my brother Priscus has said to me, a Revelation has been given to man by God, and never will the world be the same again. Hope and joy have been bestowed upon it; a new age has arisen, full of portent. I am called upon to help it increase, and to bring the good tidings to all I meet.”

Hilell hesitated. “I have been to Joppa; I have seen Peter, one of the Christ’s Apostles, the foremost among them. He is a man of about thirty-four, impetuous and impatient and somewhat dogmatic. His speech is blunt and forthright. You must remember that he has had little or no contact with the Gentiles; he is a fisherman from Galilee, a countryman; he was a very devout Jew, of small learning about the world. Nevertheless, he is impressive, and full of fire. He is hiding in a small house in Joppa, and spends his time on the roof, gazing at the sea and praying.” Hilell hesitated again, then laughed a little. “When I arrived, he did not regard me kindly. For several days he would not see me, for he is suspicious. Then he reproached me in his Galilean tongue; I was a corrupt Jew, he said to my face. I was a familiar of Greeks and Romans and other abominable people. What did I know of the Holy Books? It was evident, he declared, looking at my clothing scornfully, that I lived for pleasure, and that it was very possible that the Commandments were only words to me. I was a man of wealth; how was it possible for me to understand the poor and the humble? The Lord did not come and die for such as I. His message would be incomprehensible to me. Nevertheless, after I had let him have his reproachful and contemptuous say, he listened to my own story, though he kept glancing meaningly at my rings and my silver sandals. He softened, finally; he remembered me as the rich man who spoke to the Lord. Then he began to weep, and said, ‘Why should I rebuke you, I who denied Him three times and fled when they took Him and crucified Him?’ ”

Hilell poured more wine for Lucanus. “Then in halting tones he continued. ‘When He returned to us, and abided with us, He told us that we must give the good tidings to all nations. I confess I was horrified. We are few, and we are Jews, and we are without money or friends. We are proscribed by the Roman procurator. What can the Gentiles understand of Him; what can we say to them? We do not know them! To us they have been abominations; the Law has declared we must stay apart and not be corrupted by the Gentiles. The uncircumcised are without the Law; they are unclean; their ways are not our ways. Weak and powerless, we must go among the strangers, with their idols and their vile gods and their unspeakable customs! We must tell them of our Messias, who we believed came only to His people. I came to Joppa not only to hide from the anger of the Romans, who declare us insurrectionists, but to pray and to try to understand. Each night I have stood on this roof and have pondered. And then I had visions. I must do as He has commanded, but still it is a sickness in my heart, and I shrink from the Gentile and all his works, and his cruelty and abominations’.”

Hilell smiled humorously. “Though I have never regarded the Gentiles with the loathing and terror of that humble and emphatic man, I understood. I spoke of you. I told him you had come to talk with him. You are a Greek, a heathen! You have worshiped false gods; you speak an alien tongue; you are not circumcised. Then he fell to weeping again, and reproached himself, confessing that he was again committing the sin of pride and rejection. He has consented to see you. Before I left him, he baptized me. He is not the gentlest of men, and you may find him crude and even insulting, and with the hard tongue of the countryman.

“I have also found two more Apostles, James and John, brothers, sons of one Zebedee, Galileans also. They are called Boanerges, sons of the thunderstorm, and that describes them exactly. They live without the wall; the Mother of Christ abides with them as their mother, for so God commanded. They are very young men, and possess a kind of fierceness and a fanatical dedication. There is even a hint of vengefulness about them. I have heard that they had desired that Christ bring down fire from heaven upon the Samaritan village which showed a disinclination to listen to Him. Even when rebuked by Him, they still breathed flames. They will not regard you kindly, though I have persuaded them to see you.”

Hilell sighed. “Even among the holy, even those who walked with Him and ate and slept with Him, and heard His words hourly, there is dissension. Some of them insist vehemently that before a man can become a Christian he must first be admitted to Judaism, and that he must be circumcised. These are the older men who cling ferociously to the Law of the ages. The younger men say it is not necessary; they have their own interpretations. The elder believe that when Christ spoke of the mission to the ‘cities of Israel’ He meant that literally. The younger firmly believe it means all men. Not only are they kept apart, in hiding, from the ban of Pontius Pilate, but they are kept apart by their opinions. I am very pessimistic.”

“I am not,” said Lucanus, firmly. “You must remember, my friends, that the Apostles are only men, and men differ. I will go to see Peter as soon as possible.”

A young girl glided into the hall, clad in a white palla, with a drift of gauze upon her head. She was about fifteen and extremely comely, with a ripe and graceful figure, fine dark eyes under narrow brows, a skin as white as snow, and a neck like a slender column. Her mouth was a rose; under the gauze on her small head flowed a mass of dark red curls and waves. She had a shy but coquettish expression, and was apparently conscious of her beauty. Hilell rose and took her hand.

“Ah, Leah,” said Hilell, fondly. He brought her to Lucanus, and said, “This is my sister, whom I have espoused to Arieh. Is he not fortunate?” He smiled at Leah with pride. Many jeweled bracelets tinkled on the girl’s wrists, and a heavy gemmed necklace encircled her throat, and her sandals were of silver. Lucanus was tenderly amused. Leah, though young and cherished, and guarded carefully, wore an air of much worldliness. She answered him softly in Greek, which she spoke with precision. Arieh stood beside her, his dark blue eyes shining with love. She affected to be unaware of him, though a blush was high on her wide cheekbones. She spoke to her brother with the arrogance of the young and pampered. “Why is not our guest in his chambers, resting? You are amiss, Hilell.”

“So I am,” he agreed. He clapped his hands, and the overseer came into the hall at once. “You will conduct the noble Lucanus to his chambers, Simon,” he said. He pondered a moment. “You will meet my wife at dinner. The children are in their beds. My parents,” and he hesitated, “will not join us, for they are old and have had a fever.”

Lucanus understood at once that the parents of Hilell did not approve of their son entertaining Gentiles and bringing them under this roof. He nodded gravely. “I trust their health is improving,” he said. He could not help adding with some mischief, “Would you like me to examine them, and, if necessary, prescribe for them?”

Hilell said with some hastiness, “Thank you, my dear friend! But I would not consider imposing upon you. Besides, they trust only our family physicians. One must humor the aged; they have their peculiarities.”

“They are very tiresome,” said Leah, pettishly. “They never speak to me without disapproval or reproaches. Do they think we live in the old days, when girls were secluded and kept apart, and dressed in an elderly fashion and hid their hair after they were married?” She tossed her pretty curls. “This is a modern world, and one must have modern ways, which are more agreeable and enlightened.”

Hilell laughed, and tugged one of her curls affectionately. “Remember to honor your parents, Leah,” he said. She pulled her curl away from him in exasperation. “It is all very well for you, my brother,” she said. “You have not had to spend the afternoon listening to admonitions, as I have. I am immodest; I am not versed in the laws of the prophets; I have no regard for the patriarchs; I am ignorant of pious customs; grave doubts have been expressed of me; I will be a wife such as a Roman, and my children will be neglected and will not be taught their holy duties. And as for your wife, Deborah, she is almost as bad, with her hidden hair and her downcast eyes and her silence in the presence of men! If you did not insist, she would not even appear at our table but would eat alone, humbly. To them all I am a Jezebel.”

“Run along, child,” said Hilell. “You have said enough.”

“You do not know how I suffer!” cried Leah, stamping her pretty little foot. “Besides, you are a man, and not a girl!”

“Your manners are deplorable,” said Hilell, becoming stern. “One understands that you are much abused, and we sympathize. You weary our guest.”

Leah scampered out of the hall, tossing her head. Hilell explained to Lucanus, in apology, “She is the child of my parents’ age, and has been coddled excessively. They have only themselves to blame. They delight in her beauty; they are only fearful for her soul. She will become a proper Jewish matron when she is married, and no doubt will reproach her own children and agonize over them.”

“She is a joy to my eyes,” said Arieh. “She has been instructing me in the Law, and sighs over my ignorance. She is the sweetest of women.”

When he was in his assigned chambers Lucanus looked about him with pleasure. He stepped out upon a balcony and looked over Jerusalem, shining with lanterns and torches. He washed his hands in scented water and took white napkins from a servant. Fresh fine clothing, of the whitest linen, had been tactfully prepared for him, and he removed his rough garments, which were dusty and travel-stained. He put his feet into sandals of the finest leather. He glanced at the rich bed longingly. From somewhere in the house he heard a distant harp and suspected that the gay music was evoked by Leah, defiantly. For some reason, hearing that dancing music, his heart lifted. It had an innocence, an affirmation. It believed in life, and embraced it eagerly.

A servant led him through luxurious rooms and then to the dining hall, where Hilell, Arieh, Leah, and Deborah, the wife of Hilell, awaited him. Deborah was a young, plump woman, dressed very modestly in a blue robe. A blue cloth covered her hair completely. Her arms and neck were hidden. Her round face reminded Lucanus of Aurelia, and her brown eyes, which rose swiftly once to his face and then were downcast, were lively in spite of her demeanor. A dimple wavered near her prim lips, and spoke of merriment which she doubtless reserved for her husband. She wore no jewelry. She seated herself at the foot of the lavish table near Leah; not once had she spoken. Leah glanced at her impatiently, then ignored her. The girl joined impudently in the conversation, disagreed, laughed, joked, and altogether behaved as a spoiled young beauty in the modern fashion. Deborah exuded disapproval, and Leah sniffed, and tossed her curls, and jangled her bracelets.

“You have an excellent cook,” said Lucanus, discovering himself hungry. The fish balls were spicy and succulent, the roast lamb juicy, the vegetables and salad well flavored. There were flaky cakes stuffed with raisins, dried plums, and dates covered with poppy seeds. The wine was Roman, and of the finest quality. Candles in silver candelabra shone on a white cloth in which silver threads glistened; the spoons and knives were heavily pierced and engraved, the golden goblets massive and encrusted with gems, the salt dishes also of gold, and encrusted, as were the plates.

“We live like peasants,” said Leah, discontentedly. “It is not that I desire that which is unclean. But I would prefer more elegance and variety. My best friend’s table is delightful.”

“Quiet, child,” said Hilell, automatically. “Lucanus, I wish, sometimes, that we still had the old customs and women were excluded from dining with men.”

“She is young,” said Arieh. He turned to his espoused wife and asked, gravely, “You have said I am ignorant, and it is so. Repeat to me some of Moses’ laws regarding temples and sacrifices.”

Leah lifted her head proudly, and in a severe voice began to instruct Arieh. Lucanus listened with fond amusement, and Arieh with an aspect of humility. Deborah did not speak, but once or twice Lucanus saw her dimple. The happiness of this young family affected Lucanus deeply. Listening to Leah and seeing her innocence and her pink cheeks and the flash of her eyes and the suppleness of her neck and bare arms, he thought of Rubria and Sara, the dead he loved with such tenderness, and he said to himself that in reality there was no age, no weariness, no pain, no despair, no parting, no death. The world and the planets, the countless suns, rang with immortal youth, and the constellations and the galaxies rejoiced in it. An exhilaration filled him. All he had ever loved was with him forever.

Before he fell asleep that night he heard the howling of the jackals without the gates, and it seemed to him that they were the voices crying in the wilderness and waiting for comfort, and for admittance among the company of the blessed.