Chapter V: Introduction: , by Charles Woodward Hutson (5)

Yet the third time the treasurer came, saying: "I dreamed a dream in which it seemed to me that worms devoured my whole right hand. Interpret me this dream."

Then Bar-Hedia mocked him, saying: "Go, look thou at the king's stores of silk entrusted to thy keeping; for worms have by this time destroyed them utterly."... And it was even as Bar-Hedia said.

Thereupon the king waxed wroth, and ordered the decapitation of the treasurer. But he, protesting, said: "Wherefore slay only me, since the Jew that was first aware of the presence of the worms, said nothing concerning it?"

So they brought in Bar-Hedia, and questioned him. But he mocked the treasurer, and said: "It was because thou wast too avaricious to pay me one zouz that the king's silk hath been destroyed."

Whereupon the Romans, being filled with fury, bent down the tops of two young cedar trees, one toward the other, and fastened them so with a rope. And they bound Bar-Hedia's right leg to one tree-top, and his left leg to the other; and thereafter severed the rope suddenly with a sword. And the two cedars, as suddenly leaping back to their natural positions, tore asunder the body of Bar-Hedia into equal parts, so that his entrails were spilled out, and even his skull, splitting into halves, emptied of its brain.

For the malediction of the great Rabba was upon him.

THE MOCKERS

...A tradition of Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, which is preserved
within the Treatise Sheviith of the "Talmud Yerushalmi."...
Is it not said in the Sanhedrin that there are four classes
who do not enter into the presence of the Holy One?--blessed
be He!--and among these four are scorners reckoned....

Concerning Rabbi Simon ben Yochai many marvelous things are narrated, both in that Talmud which is of Babylon and in that which is of Jerusalem. And of these things none are more wonderful than the tradition regarding the fashion after which he was wont to rebuke the impudence of mockers.

It was this same Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, who was persecuted by the Romans, because he had made little of their mighty works, saying that they had constructed roads only to move their wicked armies more rapidly, that they had builded bridges only to collect tolls, that they had erected aqueducts and baths for their own pleasure only, and had established markets for no other end than the sustenance of iniquity. For these words Rabbi Simon was condemned to die; wherefore he, together with his holy son, fled away, and they hid themselves in a cave. Therein they dwelt for twelve long years, so that their garments would have crumbled into dust had they not laid them aside saving only at the time of prayer; and they buried themselves up to their necks in the sand during their hours of slumber and of meditation. But within the cave the Lord created for them a heavenly carob-tree, which daily bore fruit for their nourishment; and the Holy One--blessed be He!--also created unending summer within the cave, lest they should be afflicted by cold. So they remained until the Prophet Elijah descended from heaven to tell them that the Emperor of the Romans had died the death of the idolatrous, and that there remained for them no peril in the world. But during those many years of meditation, the holiness of the Rabbi and of his son had become as the holiness of those who stand with faces wing-veiled about the throne of God; and the world had become unfitted for their sojourn. Coming forth from the cave, therefore, a fierce anger filled them at the sight of men ploughing and reaping in the fields; and they cried out against them, saying: "Lo! these people think only of the things of earth, and neglect the things of eternity."

Then were the lands and the people toiling thereupon utterly consumed by the fire of their eyes, even as Sodom and Gomorrah were blasted from the face of the earth. But the Bath-Kol--the Voice of the Holy One--rebuked them from heaven, saying: "What! have ye come forth only to destroy this world which I have made? Get ye back within the cavern!" And they returned into the cave for another twelve months--making in all thirteen years of sojourn therein--until the Bath-Kol spake again, and uttered their pardon, and bade them return into the world. All of which is written in the Treatise Shabbath of Seder Moed of the Talmud Babli.

Now in the Talmud Yerushalmi we are told that after Rabbi Simon ben Yochai had departed from the cave, he resolved to purify all the land of Tiberias. For while within the cave, his body had become sore smitten with ulcers, and the waters of Tiberias had healed them. Even as he had found purification in Tiberias, so also, he declared, should Tiberias find in him purification. And these things he said within the hearing of mockers, who feared his eyes, yet who among themselves laughed him to scorn.

But Rabbi Simon sat down before the city of Tiberias, and he took lupines, and cut up the lupines into atoms, and uttered over them words whereof no living man save himself knew the interpretation. (For the meaning of such words is seldom known by men, seeing that but few are known even by the Angels and the Demons.) Having done these things, the Rabbi arose and walked over the land, scattering the lupines about him as a sower scatters seed. And wherever the lupines fell, the bones of the dead arose from below and came to the surface of the ground, so that the people could take them away and bury them in a proper place. Thus was the ground purified, not only of the bones of the idolaters and the giants who erst dwelt in the place of promise, but likewise of the bones of all animals and living beings which had there died since the coming of Israel.

Now there was a certain wicked doubter, a Samaritan, who, desiring to bring confusion to Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, secretly buried an unclean corpse in a place already purified. And the Samaritan came cunningly to Rabbi Simon, saying "Me-thought thou didst purify such a spot in my field; yet is there an unclean body there--the body of a man. Surely thy wisdom hath failed thee, or may-hap thy magic hath some defect in it? Come thou with me!" So he took with him Rabbi Simon, and dug up the ground, and showed to him the unclean corpse, and laughed in his beard.

But Rabbi Simon, knowing by divine inspiration what had been done, fixed his eyes upon the wicked face of the man, and said: "Verily, such a one as thou deserveth not to dwell among the living, but rather to exchange places with the dead!" And no sooner had the words been uttered than the body of the dead man arose, and his flesh became pure, and the life returned to his eyes and his heart; while the wicked Samaritan became a filthy corpse, so that the worms came from his nostrils and his ears.

Yet, as he went upon his way, Rabbi Simon passed an inhabited tower without the city; and a voice from the upper chamber of the tower mocked him, crying aloud: "Hither cometh that Bar-Yochai, who thinketh himself able to purify Tiberias!" Now the mocker was himself a most learned man.

"I swear unto thee," answered Rabbi Simon--"I swear unto thee that Tiberias shall be made pure in spite of such as thou, and their mockings."

And even as the holy Rabbi spoke, the mocker who stood within the chamber of the tower utterly crumbled into a heap of bones; and from the bones a writhing smoke ascended--the smoke of the wrath of the Lord, as it is written: "The anger of the Lord shall smoke!"...

ESTHER'S CHOICE

A story of Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, which is related in the
holy Midrash Shir-Hasirim of the holy Midrashim.... Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is ONE!...

In those days there lived in Sidon, the mighty city, a certain holy Israelite possessing much wealth, and having the esteem of all who knew him, even among the Gentiles. In all Sidon there was no man who had so beautiful a wife; for the comeliness of her seemed like that of Sarah, whose loveliness illumined all the land of Egypt.

Yet for this rich one there was no happiness: the cry of the nursling had never been heard in his home, the sound of a child's voice had never made sunshine within his heart. And he heard voices of reproach betimes, saying: "Do not the Rabbis teach that if a man have lived ten years with his wife and have no issue, then he should divorce her, giving her the marriage portion prescribed by law; for he may not have been found worthy to have his race perpetuated by her?"... But there were others who spake reproach of the wife, believing that her beauty had made her proud, and that her reproach was but the punishment of vainglory.

And at last, one morning, Rabbi Simon ben Yochai was aware of two visitors within the ante-chamber of his dwelling, the richest merchant of Sidon and his wife, greeting the holy man with "Salem aleikoum!" The Rabbi looked not upon the woman's face, for to gaze even upon the heel of a woman is forbidden to holy men; yet he felt the sweetness of her presence pervading all the house like the incense of the flowers woven by the hands of the Angel of Prayer. And the Rabbi knew that she was weeping.

Then the husband arose and spake:

"Lo! is now more than a time of ten years since I was wedded to Esther, I being then twenty years of age, and desirous to obey the teaching that he who remaineth unmarried after twenty transgresseth daily against God. Esther, thou knowest, O Rabbi, was the sweetest maiden in Sidon; and to me she hath ever been a most loving and sweet wife, so that I could find no fault with her; neither is there any guile in her heart.

"I have since then become a rich Israelite; the men of Tyre know me, and the merchants of Carthage swear by my name. I have many ships, bearing me ivory and gold of Ophir and jewels of great worth from the East; I have vases of onyx and cups of emeralds curiously wrought, and chariots and horses--even so that no prince hath more than I. And this I owe to the blessing of the Holy One--blessed be He!--and to Esther, my wife, also, who is a wise and valiant woman, and cunning in advising.

"Yet, O Rabbi, gladly would I have given all my riches that I might obtain one son! that I might be known as a father in Israel. The Holy One--blessed be He!--hath not vouchsafed me this thing; so that I have thought me found unworthy to have children by so fair and good a woman. I pray thee, therefore, that thou wilt give legal enactment to a bill of separation; for I have resolved to give Esther a bill of divorcement, and a goodly marriage portion also, that the reproach may so depart from us in the sight of Israel."

And Rabbi Simon ben Yochai stroked thoughtfully the dim silver of his beard. A silence as of the Shechinah fell upon the three. Faintly, from afar, came floating to their ears the sea-like murmuring of Sidon's commerce.... Then spake the Rabbi; and Esther, looking at him, thought that his eyes smiled, although this holy man was never seen to smile with his lips. Yet it may be that his eyes smiled, seeing into their hearts: "My son, it would be a scandal in Israel to do as thou dost purpose, hastily and without becoming announcement; for men might imagine that Esther had not been a good wife, or thou a too exacting husband! It is not lawful to give cause for scorn. Therefore go to thy home, make ready a goodly feast, and invite thither all thy friends and the friends of thy wife, and those who were present at thy wedding, and speak to them as a good man to good men, and let them understand wherefore thou dost this thing, and that in Esther there is no fault. Then return to me on the morrow, and I will grant thee the bill."

So a great feast was given, and many guests came; among them, all who had attended the wedding of Esther, save, indeed, such as Azrael had led away by the hand. There was much good wine; the meats smoked upon platters of gold, and cups of onyx were placed at the elbow of each guest. And the husband spake lovingly to his wife in the presence of all, saying: "Esther, we have lived together lovingly many years; and if we must now separate, thou knowest it is not because I do not love thee, but only because it hath not pleased the Most Holy to bless us with children. And in token that I love thee and wish thee all good, know that I desire thee to take away from my house whatever thou desirest, whether it be gold or jewels beyond price."

So the wine went round, and the night passed in mirth and song, until the heads of the guests grew strangely heavy, and there came a buzzing in their ears as of innumerable bees, and their beards ceased to wag with laughter, and a deep sleep fell upon them.

Then Esther summoned her handmaids, and said to them: "Behold my husband sleeps heavily! I go to the house of my father; bear him thither also as he sleepeth."

And awaking in the morning the husband found himself in a strange chamber and in a strange house. But the sweetness of a woman's presence, and the ivory fingers that caressed his beard, and the softness of the knees that pillowed his head, and the glory of the dark eyes that looked into his own awakening,--these were not strange; for he knew that his head was resting in the lap of Esther. And bewildered with the grief-born dreams of the night, he cried out, "Woman, what hast thou done?"

Then, sweeter than the voice of doves among the fig-trees, came the voice of Esther: "Didst thou not bid me, husband, that I should choose and take away from thy house whatsoever I most desired? And I have chosen thee, and have brought thee hither, to my father's home,... loving thee more than all else in the world. Wilt thou drive me from thee now?" And he could not see her face for tears of love; yet he heard her voice speaking on--speaking the golden words of Ruth, which are so old yet so young to the hearts of all that love: "Whithersoever thou shalt go, I will also go; and whithersoever thou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. And the Angel of Death only may part us; for thou art all in all to me."...

And in the golden sunlight at the doorway suddenly stood, like a statue of Babylonian silver, the grand gray figure of Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, lifting his hands in benediction.

"Schmah Israel!--the Lord our God, who is One, bless ye with everlasting benediction! May your hearts be welded by love, as gold with gold by the cunning of goldsmiths! May the Lord, who coupleth and setteth the single in families, watch over ye! The Lord make this valiant woman even as Rachel and as Lia, who built up the house of Israel! And ye shall behold your children and your children's children in the House of the Lord!"

Even so the Lord blessed them; and Esther became as the fruitful vine, and they saw their children's children in Israel. Forasmuch as it is written: "He will regard the prayer of the destitute."

THE DISPUTE IN THE HALACHA

..Told of in the Book "Bava-Metzia; or, The Middle Gate" of
the Holy Shas.... The Lord loveth the gates that are marked
with the Halacha more than the synagogues and the schools.

Now, in those days there was a dispute between the Mishnic Doctors and Rabbi Eliezer concerning the legal cleanliness of a certain bake-oven, as is written in the Bava-Metzia of the Talmud. For while all the others held the oven to be unclean according to the Halacha, Rabbi Eliezer declared that it was clean; and all their arguments he overthrew, and all their objections he confuted, although they would not suffer themselves to be convinced. Then did Rabbi Eliezer at last summon a carob-tree to bear witness to his interpretation of the law; and the carob-tree uprooted itself, and rose in air with the clay trickling from its roots, and moved through air to the distance of four hundred yards, and replanted itself, trembling, in the soil.

But the Doctors of the Mishna, being used to marvelous things, were little moved; and they said: "We may not admit the testimony of a carob-tree. Shall a carob-tree discourse to us regarding the Halacha? Will a carob-tree teach us the law?"

Then said Rabbi Eliezer to the brook that muttered its unceasing prayer without: "Bear me witness, O thou running water!" And the rivulet changed the course of its current; its waters receded, and, flowing back to their fountain-head, left naked the pebbles of their bed to dry under the sun.

But the Disciples of the Sages still held to their first opinion, saying: "Shall a brook prattle to us of law? Shall we hearken to the voice of running water rather than to the voice of the Holy One--blessed be He!--and of His servant Moses?"

Then Rabbi Eliezer, lifting his eyes toward the walls above, bearing holy words written upon them, cried out: "Yet bear me witness also, ye consecrated walls, that I have decided aright in this matter!" And the walls quivered, bent inward, curved like a bellying sail in the moment of a changing wind, impended above the hands of the Rabbis, and would have fallen had not Rabbi Joshuah rebuked them, saying: "What is it to you if the Rabbis do wrangle in the Halacha? Would ye crush us? Be ye still!" So the walls, obeying Rabbi Joshuah, would not fall; but neither would they return to their former place, forasmuch as they obeyed Rabbi Eliezer also--so that they remain toppling even unto this day.

Then, seeing that their hearts were hardened against him even more than the stones of the building, Rabbi Eliezer cried out: "Let the Bath-Kol decide between us!" Whereupon the college shook to its foundation; and a Voice from heaven answered, saying: "What have ye to do with Rabbi Eliezer? for in all things the Halacha is even according to his decision!"

But Rabbi Joshuah stood upon his feet fearlessly in the midst, and said: "It is not lawful that even a Voice from heaven should be regarded by us. For Thou, O God, didst long ago write down in the law which Thou gavest upon Sinai, saying, 'Thou shalt follow the multitude.'" And they would not hearken unto Rabbi Eliezer; but they did excommunicate him, and did commit all his decisions regarding the law to be consumed with fire.

[Now some have it that Rabbi Nathan testified that the
Prophet Elijah declared unto him that God Himself was
deceived in this matter, and acknowledged error in His
decision, saying: "My children have vanquished me! my
children have prevailed against me!" But as we also know
that in punishment for the excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer
a third portion of all the barley and of the olives and of
the wheat in the whole world was smitten with blight, we may
well believe that Rabbi Eliezer was not in error.]

Now, while yet under sentence of excommunication, Rabbi Eliezer fell grievously ill; and the Rabbonim knew nothing of it. Yet such was his learning, that Rabbi Akiva and all the disciples of the latter came unto him to seek instruction.... Then Rabbi Eliezer, rising upon his elbow, asked them, "Wherefore came ye hither?"

"We came that we might learn the Halacha," answered Akiva.

"But wherefore came ye not sooner?"

And they answered, "Because we had not time."

Then Rabbi Eliezer, feeling wroth at the reply, said to them also: "Verily, if ye die a natural death, I shall marvel greatly. And as for thee, Akiva, thy death shall be the worst of all! It is well for thee that I do not give thee my malediction, seeing thou hast dared to say that one may not have time to learn the law!"

And Rabbi Eliezer, folding his arms upon his breast to die, continued: "Woe, woe is me! Woe unto these two arms of mine, that they are now even as two scrolls of the law rolled up, whereof the contents are hidden! Had ye waited upon me before, ye might have learned many strange things; and now my knowledge must perish with me! Much have I learned, and much have I taught, yet always without diminishing the knowledge of my Rabbis by even so much as the waters of the ocean might be diminished by the lapping of a dog!"...

And he continued to speak to them: "Now, over and above all those things, I did expound three thousand Halachoth in regard to the growing of Egyptian cucumbers; and yet none save only Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph ever asked me so much as one question regarding them!... We were walking on the road between the fields, when he asked me to instruct him regarding Egyptian cucumbers. Then I uttered but one word; and, behold! the fields forthwith became full of Egyptian cucumbers. He asked me concerning the gathering of them. I uttered but one word; and, lo! all the cucumbers did gather themselves into one place before me."...

And even as Rabbi Eliezer was thus speaking, his soul departed from him; and Rabbi Akiva with all his disciples mourned bitterly for him and for themselves, seeing they had indeed come too late to learn the law.

But the prediction of Rabbi Eliezer was fulfilled. ...For it came to pass, when Rabbi Akiva had become a most holy man, and marvelously learned, that the Romans forbade the teaching of the law in Israel; and Rabbi Akiva persisted in teaching it publicly to the people, saying: "If we suffer so much by the will of the Holy One--blessed be He!--while studying the law, how much indeed shall we suffer while neglecting it!"

So they led him out to execution, and tortured him with tortures unspeakable. Now it was just at that hour when the prayer must be said: "Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God is One."

And even while they were tearing his flesh with combs of iron, Rabbi Akiva uttered the holy words and died. And there came a mighty Voice from heaven, crying: "Blessed art thou, O Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word ONE left thy body together!"

RABBI YOCHANAN BEN ZACHAI

There is in Heaven a certain living creature which hath
letters upon its forehead. And by day these letters, which
are brighter than the sun, form the word TRUTH, whereby the
angels know that it is day. But when evening cometh, the
letters, self-changing, do shape themselves into the word
FAITH, whereby the angels know that the night cometh....

Now Hillel the Great, who gathered together the Sedarim of the Talmud, and who was also the teacher of that Jesus the Gentiles worship, had eighty other disciples who became holy men. Of these, thirty were indeed so holy that the Shechinah rested upon them even as upon Moses, so that their faces gave out light; and rays like beams of the sun streamed from their temples.

And of thirty others it is said their holiness was as the holiness of Joshua, the son of Nun, being worthy that the sun should stand still at their behest. And the remaining twenty, of whom the greatest was Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel, and the least of all Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai, were held to be only of middling worth. Yet there is now not one worthy to compare with the least of them, seeing that Rabbi Yochanan was holier than living man to-day.

For, humble as he was, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was deeply learned in the Scriptures--in the Mishna and the Gemara and the Midrashim--in the Kabbalah, the rules of Gematria, of Notricon, and of Temurah--in the five mystic alphabets, Atbash, Atbach, Albam, Aiakbechar, Tashrak--in legends and the lesser laws and the niceties--in the theories of the moon, in the language of angels and the whispering of palm-trees and the speech of demons. And if all the seas were ink, and all the reeds that shake by rivers were pens, and all the men of the earth were scribes, never could they write down all that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai had learned, nor even so much of it as he taught in his lifetime, which endured for the period of one hundred and twenty years. Yet he was the least of all the disciples of Hillel.

Of the years of his life the first forty he devoted to worldly things, especially to commerce, that he might earn enough to enable him to devote unto good works the remainder of the time allotted him. And the next forty years he devoted to study, becoming so learned that he was indeed accused of being a magician, as were also those Rabbis who, by combination of the letters of the Name Ineffable, did create living animals and fruits--as were also Rav Oshayah and Rav Chaneanah, who by study of the Book Yetzirah (which is the Book of Creation) did create for themselves a calf, and did eat thereof.

And the last forty years of his most holy life Rabbi Yochanan gave to teaching the people.

Now, as it is related in the Book Bava Bathra, in Seder Nezikin of the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai did upon one occasion explain before a vain disciple the words of the Prophet Isaiah. And so explaining he said: "The Most Holy--blessed be His name forever!--shall take precious stones and pearls, each measuring thirty cubits by thirty cubits, and shall cut and polish them till they measure twenty cubits by ten cubits each, and shall set them in the gates of Jerusalem."

Then the vain and foolish disciple, the son of Impudence, laughed loudly, and with mockery in his voice said: "What man hath ever seen an emerald or a diamond, a ruby or a pearl, even so large as the egg of a small bird? and wilt thou indeed tell us that there be jewels thirty cubits by thirty?" But Rabbi Yochanan returned no answer; and the disciple, mocking, departed.

Now, some days after these things happened, that wicked disciple went upon a voyage; for he was in commerce and a great driver of bargains, and known in many countries for his skill in bartering and his ability in finding objects of price. Now, while in his vessel, when the sailors slumbered, waiting to raise the anchor at dawn, it was given to that wicked disciple to see a great light below the waters. And looking down he saw mighty angels in the depths of the sea, quarrying monstrous diamonds and emeralds, and opening prodigious shells to obtain enormous pearls. And the eyes of the angels were fixed upon him, even as they worked below the water in that awful light. Then a dreadful fear came upon him, so that his knees smote one against another, and his teeth fell out; and in obedience to a power that moved his tongue against his will, he cried aloud: "For what are those diamonds and those mighty emeralds? For what are those monstrous pearls?" And a Voice answered him from the deep, "For the gates of Jerusalem!"

And having returned from his voyage, the disciple hastened with all speed to the place where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was teaching, and told him that which he had seen, and vowed that the words of Rabbi Yochanan should nevermore be doubted by him.

But the Rabbi, seeing into his heart, and beholding the blackness of the wickedness within it, answered in a voice of thunder: "Raca! hadst thou not seen them, thou wouldst even now mock the words of the sages!" And with a single glance of his eye he consumed that wicked disciple as a dry leaf is consumed by flame, reducing the carcass of his body to a heap of smoking ashes as though it had been smitten by the lightning of the Lord.

And the people marveled exceedingly. But Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai, paying no heed to the white ashes smoking at his feet, continued to explain unto his disciples the language of palm-trees and of demons.

A TRADITION OF TITUS

...Which is in the Book "Gittin" of the Talmud.... Before
Titus the world was like unto the eyeball of man; the ocean
being as the white, the world as the black, the pupil
thereof Jerusalem, and the image within the pupil the Temple
of the Lord....

Verily hath it been said, in Chullin of the Holy Shas, that "sixty iron mines are suspended in the sting of a gnat."

For in those days Titus--may his ears be made into sockets for the hinges of Gehenna to turn upon!--came from Rome with his idolaters, and laid siege to the Holy City, and destroyed it, and bore away the virgins into captivity. He who had not beheld Jerusalem before that day had not seen the glory of Israel.

There were three hundred and ninety-four synagogues, and three hundred and ninety-four courts of law, and the same number of academies for the youth.... When the gates of the temple were opened, the roar of their golden hinges was heard at the distance of eight Sabbath days' journey.... The Veil of the Holy of Holies was woven by eighty-two myriads of virgins; three hundred priests were needed to draw it, and three hundred to lave it when soiled. But Titus--be his name accursed forever!--wrapped up the sacred vessels in it, and, putting them in a ship, set sail for the city of Rome....

Scarcely had he departed beyond sight of the land when a great storm arose--the deeps made visible their darkness, the waves showed their teeth! And an exceeding great fear came upon the mariners, and they cried out, "It is the Elohim!"

But Titus, mocking, lifted his voice against Heaven, and the thunders, and the lightnings, and the mutterings of the sea, exclaiming: "Lo! this God of Jews hath no power save on water! Pharaoh He drowned; Sisera He drowned also; even now He seeketh to drown me with my legions! If He be mighty, and not afraid to strive with me on land, let Him rather await me on solid earth, and there see whether He be strong enough to prevail against me." (Now Sisera, indeed, was not drowned; but Titus, being ignorant and an idolater, spake falsely.)

Then burst forth a splendor of white fire from the darkness of the clouds; and deeper than the thunder a Voice answered unto him: "O thou wicked one, son of a wicked man and grandson of Esau the wicked, go thou ashore! Lo! I have a creature awaiting thee, which is but little and insignificant in my world; go thou and fight with it!"

And the tempest ceased.

So Titus and his legions landed after many days upon the shore of the land called Italy--the shore that vibrated forever to the sound of the mighty city of Rome, whereof the Voice was heard unto the four ends of the earth, and the din whereof deafened Rabbi Yehoshuah even at the distance of a hundred and twenty miles. For in Rome there were three hundred and sixty-five streets, and in each street three hundred and sixty-five palaces, and leading up to the pillared portico of each palace a marble flight of three hundred and sixty-five steps.

But no sooner had the Emperor Titus placed his foot upon the shore than there attacked him a gnat! And the gnat flew up his nostrils, and entered into his wicked brain, and gnawed it, and tortured him with unspeakable torture. And he could obtain no cessation of his anguish; neither was there any physician in Rome who could do aught to relieve him. So the gnat abode in his brain for seven years, and the face of Titus became, for everlasting pain, as the face of a man in hell.

Now, after Titus had vainly sacrificed unto all the obscene gods of the Romans, it came to pass that he heard one day, within a blacksmith's shop, the sound of the hammer descending upon the anvil; and the sound was grateful to his ears as the harping of David unto the hearing of Saul, and the anguish presently departed from him. Then, thinking unto himself, he exclaimed, "Lo! I have found relief"; and having offered sacrifices unto the Smith-god, he ordered the smith to be brought to his palace, together with anvils and hammers. And he paid the smith four zouzim a day--as money is reckoned in Israel--to hammer for him.

But the smith could not hammer unceasingly; and whenever he stopped the pain returned, and the gnat tormented exceedingly. So other smiths were sent for; and at last a Jewish smith, who was a slave. To him Titus would pay nothing, notwithstanding he had paid the Gentiles; for he said, "It is enough payment for thee to behold thy enemy suffer!"

Yet thirty days more; and no sound of hammers could lessen the agony of the gnawing of the gnat, and Titus knew that he must die.

Then he bade his family that they should burn his body after he was dead, and collect the ashes, and send out seven ships to scatter the ashes upon the waves of the Seven Seas, lest the God of Israel should resurrect his body at the Day of Judgment.

[But it is written in Midrash Kohelet, of the holy
Midrashim, that Hadrian--may his name be blotted out!--once
asked Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania, "From what shall the body
be reconstructed at the Last Day?" And the Rabbi answered,
"From Luz in the backbone." When Hadrian demanded proof, the
Rabbi took Luz, the little bone of the spine, and immersed
it in water, and it was not softened. He put it into the
fire, and it was not consumed. He put it into a mill, and it
could not be ground. He hammered it upon an anvil; but the
hammer was broken, and the anvil split asunder.

Therefore the desire of Titus shall not prevail; and the
Lord will surely reconstruct his body for punishment out of
Luz in the backbone!]

But before they burned the corpse of Titus they opened his skull and looked into his brain, that they might find the gnat.

Now the gnat was as big as a swallow, and weighed two selas, as weight is reckoned in Israel. And they found that its claws were of brass, and the jaws of its mouth were of iron!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(There are very fine English translations of the works marked with an asterisk.)

ALLEGORIES, RÉCITS, CONTES, etc, traduits de l'Arabe, du Persan, de l'Hindustani, et du Turc. Par M. Garcin de Tassy. Paris, 1876. (Includes "Bakawali.")

AMAROU. _Anthologie Érotique._ Texte sanscrit, traduction, notes, etc., par A. L. Apudy (Chézy). Paris, 1831.

AVADANAS (Les). _Contes et Apologues Indiens._ Traduits par M. Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1859.

BUDDHA (ROMANTIC LEGEND OF). Translated by Rev. Samuel Beal. London, 1875.

CONTES ÉGYPTIENS. Par G. Maspéro. Paris, 1882.

DHAMMAPADA (The). Translated from the Chinese by Rev. Samuel Beal, B.A. Boston, 1878.

*GITA-GOVINDA (Le), ET LE RITOU-SAKHARA. Traduits par Hippolyte Fauche. Paris, 1850.

*GULISTAN (Le), DE SADI. Traduit littéralement, par N. Semelet. Paris, 1834.

HINDOO PANTHEON (The). By Major Edward Moor. London, 1861.

*HITOPADÉSA (L'). Traduit par E. Lancereau. Paris, 1882.

JACOLLIOT. _Voyage aux Ruines de Golconde._ Paris, 1878.

JATAKA-TALES. Translated by T. W. Rhuys Davids. Vol. I. Boston, 1881.

KALEWALA. Traduction de Léouzon Le Duc. Paris, 1845.

MAHABHARATA (ONZE ÉPISODES DU). Traduit par Foucaux. Paris, 1862.

*MANTIC UTTAÏR. Traduit du Persan par M. Garcin de Tassy. Paris, 1863.

MYTHOLOGIE DES ESQUIMAUX. Par l'Abbé Morillot. Paris, 1874.

MYTHS AND SONGS or THE SOUTH PACIFIC. By Rev. W. W. Gill London, 1877.

PANCHATANTRA; OU, LES CINQ LIVRES. Traduit par E. Lancereau. Paris, 1871.

STENDAHL (De). _L'Amour._

*SACOUNTALA. Texte sanscrit, notes et traduction par Chézy. Paris, 1830.

TALMUD. _Le Talmud de Jerusalem._ Traduit par Moïse Schwab. Vols. I-VI. Paris, 1878-83.

TALMUDIC MISCELLANY (A). By Rev. L. P. Hers hon. Boston, 1882.

VETÁLAPANCHAVINSATÍ (HINDI VERSION OF THE). _Baitál Pachisi; or, The Twenty-five Tales of a Demon._ Translated by W. B. Barker. London, 1855.

FANTASTICS AND OTHER FANCIES

EDITED BY CHARLES WOODWARD HUTSON

There are tropical lilies which are venomous, but they are
more beautiful than the frail and icy-white lilies of the
North.
LAFCADIO HEARN