The effort to wipe out the disgrace of the two defeats and to restore the Greek supremacy was not long delayed; and when it was made, it was made with all the force which the lieutenants of Antiochus could command. The King himself was absent in Persia; but his vicegerent had carte blanche for the preparations which they were to make. Lysias, Governor of Syria, had collected forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse, and this force had been put under the command of Nicanor, Gorgias being his principal lieutenant. This time, it was intended, the work should be done thoroughly. This Jewish people, so obstinately troublesome, was to be absolutely extirpated. Not a single native inhabitant was to be left in Palestine, which was to be peopled in future by a more accommodating and manageable race.
This scheme, if it was to be carried out, would [pg 209]involve huge dealings in human flesh, and the slave-merchants of the sea-coast cities were, naturally, vastly interested in its success. Anxious to do the business as cheaply and effectively as possible, they formed what, in the language of modern commerce, would be called a “Syndicate,” and sent parties of dealers to follow the two armies, and act as their agents when the scheme should begin to come into practical working.
This was the occupation, then, of four repulsive-looking creatures who had obtained permission to follow the army of Nicanor, and whom we may see discussing a flagon of the best Chian wine—the trade was as profitable as it was odious—and canvassing the prospects of business.
“Well,” said one of the four, pursuing the narrative of an interview which he had just been having with Lysias, “we had a long debate about terms. The Governor was quite firm about one thing: there must be no picking and choosing. ‘No,’ he said, ‘either you buy them all, or they shall be put up in the open market.’ ‘But what,’ I said, ‘am I to do with the old and the weak?’ ‘And what am I to do with them?’ he answered. ‘No; you must buy them all or none.’ There I could not move him. He could not be bothered with detail. For so many prisoners, so many talents, half paid down, half six months credit. Old men and women at their last gasp, and new-born babes [pg 210]were all to be counted in. Those were his terms and I had to accept them, or we should not have come to an agreement.”
“That does not seem a good bargain,” interrupted another member of the company.
“Wait a moment,” said the first speaker, “till you hear the price. I think you will agree that there is no reason to complain. At first he wanted a talent[11] for every fifty. That of course was out of the question on the ‘take-all’ terms, and I told our friend so quite plainly. ‘No,’ I said, ‘a talent for every hundred is about the right price, and even then we may very well lose,’ which, you will allow, was sailing very near the wind indeed. Well, we had a long argument. First he would meet me half way. But I held out. You know they must have money. There is Antiochus—the ‘Glorious’ they call him—gone off to Persia on a wild goose chase after some treasures he has heard of. I’ll wager that he’ll spend more than he gets by a long way. I have friends at Court, and they tell me that the treasury is as empty as—well, we’ll say a wine jar, after our friend Nicias there has had it at his mouth for a minute. So I was firm. And at last—to make a long story short—we came to terms at a talent for ninety. And I can’t help thinking that it is not by any means a bad bargain.”
“And what are we to do with the worthless ones?” said one of the dealers. “Surely having to keep them will take all the shine off our profits.”
“Keeping them! Who talks about keeping them? We shall only have to bury them, and that does not cost very much. You have not been long in the trade, my good friend, and you don’t know how soon their food seems to disagree with the poor wretches whom we can’t sell.”
He smiled an evil smile, and the others burst out into a laugh, in which, however, the young man who “had not been long in the trade” did not join.
“And what becomes of all the money?” said one of the dealers, who had hitherto taken no part in the conversation.