“My interference, I suppose,” said Aleph, “would hardly be considered prudent by most people; but I cannot but think that there is something better than prudence. Shall we never allow our hearts to speak and act without stopping to consider how our interests will be affected? Safety gained in that way seems to me hardly worth the having.”
“I think you are right,” said the other. “I am far from finding fault with what you have done. Under like circumstances I would have you do it again. Our first thought, no doubt, should be, What is highest and worthiest? If that is not prudence, it is something vastly better. But it is prudence, on the whole; for it will never do for a man to despise himself and offend Heaven. God governs. But we must wait for Him. A cloud is not always a calamity. A rough wind may help one toward the harbor sought. I know that these are your father’s views, and that he would be unwilling to have his son sacrifice, even magnanimity to any appearance of present advantage.”
“Have you any idea who Seti is?” inquired the young man after a moment.
“I have been trying,” answered the other, “to find in my memory something about him. I know that when I was here, the Egyptians as well as the Jews had an official head or alabarch of their own nation, who was the organ of communication between them and the Roman authorities. My impression is that the Egyptian alabarch was of Pharaonic family and a priest of the Serapeum. It may be that Seti is the man. I hope he is.”
“I confess,” said Aleph, “that the man has quite taken possession of me. It seems to me that I would be willing to venture almost anything on his thorough uprightness and even grandeur of character, although I have known him but such a short time. Did you notice what an aspect he turned on the Roman just after the blow? Had not the fellow been besotted, the surprised majesty of that look alone would have quelled him. But how is it possible for such a man to be a worshipper of brutes, and even to act as their priest?”
“That is not a question easily answered,” replied the Greek. “But probably Seti, like all superior Egyptian priests from time immemorial, believes in a religion for the few and another religion for the many. The doctrine of One God to be worshiped without sensible figures is for the few elect who are prepared for it; the lower classes in general are not prepared for it, but need to have the various divine attributes shadowed out to them in sensible forms; and as no forms that man can make are equal to even the familiar living creatures with their wonderful mysteries of internal structure, these are offered to assist the feeble thought of feeble men. Of course, this is all wrong; but it is a wrong imbedded in the traditions and prejudices of ages, and so not easily escaped from. Jehovah makes allowances for such people, whether their names be Socrates and Plato or Zoroaster and Seti. Aristotle says that some of our species have gold blended in their composition from the very beginning. Seti seems to me one of these.”
By this time the sun was below the west side of the khan, and the open court was quite in the shade. This brought out into it and the surrounding piazzas all the guests. It was a motley to see as well as to hear. Almost every nation seemed represented, almost every style of features and costume. There were Romans, Greeks, Phenicians, Egyptians, Persians, Arabs, and even a sprinkling of natives from Gaul, Spain, and other places. Such a variety of faces, dress, and, when one listened attentively, of speech! A drag-net of all seas was Nathan’s khan.
Aleph was all eyes and ears. The scene was full of novelty and interest to him. At length, turning to his companion, he said:
“This scene reminds me of what I have often heard you and my father say.”