"It is a dream—a dream! But in that dream, between my vision and the darkness, passeth a purple robe, a crown of thorns, a lonely cross on a far hillside, a white face drawn in agony and parched lips moving as to moan! Then again the tumult and the carnage! Ah, see! Canst thou not see? There are soldiers upon the city walls! There are balls of fire flying in the gloom! There are stones crashing through the air—yea, even the marble of the Temple of the Jews! Canst thou not see? Aye—look! The Temple falleth! It is scattered until not one stone is left upon another! And ever above the thunder-din cometh the cry, 'Help! Help!' Famine do I see until mothers eat the tender flesh that hugs their bosoms! And pestilence do I see until death hath devoured all life! The Roman plow is driven over the Holy Place of the Jew and scavengers of the desert revel in naked tombs! And here from this place of abominations arise the hands of Pilate! Crimson like dye they are. And there gathers from the gray and awful stillness, the pale face of the Jew! Again—and yet again I see them!"
When Claudia had reached this part of her vision she screamed and covered her eyes, and the soldiers and servants who had crowded about, drew back in terror, their gaze transfixed.
Suddenly she cried, throwing her hands out to the eunuch: "I must have speech with Pilate. Fly thou to the Judgment Seat! Let no door stop thee! Let no guard stay thy feet! And when thou hast gained the ear of Pilate, tell into it, 'Thus sayeth thy wife—have nothing to do with this just man for I have this day suffered many things in a dream because of him!' Thus shall it be that Claudia shall raise her voice to save the hands of Pontius Pilate from the livid stain of innocent blood and the pale face of the Jew from forever haunting the centuries."
CHAPTER XXXI
KING OF THE JEWS
"Jove, but my eyes are tired! Since the third watch hath my service been required, yet am I feverish to see the end of this matter. Look! Yonder housetops are black with men, eager-eyed, and the streets are swarmed with early risers running hither and thither like ants much stirred up. When did ever the morning sun shine on such a scene?"
"Where is he now, this enemy of our Tiberius that hath thus stirred up the populace?"
"To the barracks of the Tower of Antonio they have taken him for the flagellum horrible."
"And will they be long in laying open the flesh of his back?"
"Nay, for twelve brawny armed and deaf to the cries of pity will lay on the scourge. Soon will he be brought again before Pilate." The speaker was a scribe in the palace of Herod the Great. With two Romans visiting in Jerusalem, he stood on the steps of the Praetorium looking out over the open court which united its two colossal wings.