“Did not Solomon pray even for the heathens,”[[152]] said Selumiel; “and will not the Messiah be the light of the heathens? Thou must not be implacable, if thou wishest to fulfil the law of the fathers. Was not Joseph reconciled to his brethren? did not David show mercy to Saul his enemy? did not Jehovah himself on Sinai command, ‘If thou seest the ox or the ass of thine enemy going astray thou shalt lead him back;’ and is not a heathen of more estimation than an ox or an ass?”
“Forgive Myron,” said Sulamith, fondly laying her head on his bosom, “forgive him, priest of Jehovah! Leave vengeance to him who hath declared that he will repay; and think what joy thou wouldest feel, if through thy means he became a proselyte of the gate.”
Helon’s former spirit revived, and he resolved that he would perform the heroic act to which he was called. The messenger was sent back to Myron, with permission to him to return. He soon made his appearance; for he had wandered near the confines of the city while uncertain of the issue of his embassy. He fell before the feet of his injured friend, clasped his knees, and supplicated forgiveness, with all the force of Grecian eloquence, and the emotion of sincere penitence and sorrow. Their reconciliation was soon accomplished. Sulamith had the delight of seeing her husband restored to the same peace and joy as in the first happy days of their union.
Myron was received again into the house, and, in the freedom of their renewed confidence, Helon informed him how much he was indebted for his return to the good offices of Sulamith. Myron, as the remembrance of the mischief which he had done began to be obliterated from his volatile mind, resumed his gaiety, and with it the hasty thoughtlessness which was his characteristic.
Helon had gone one day to the gate of the city alone; for Myron had never since his return accompanied him thither. It suddenly occurred to him that he had never duly expressed his gratitude to Sulamith, for her mediation in his favour, and he went straightway to the Armon, in the warmth of his feeling, without reflecting on what he was doing.
The citizens of Jericho, who sat in the gate, saw in the mean time that red mist gathering in the north-west, which is the usual prognostic of the approach of the pernicious wind of the east. This wind is felt in all its pestilential fury in the desert, where it sweeps over the surface, often to the height of a foot, destroying every thing which it encounters. It is there called [the simoom]. In Palestine its effects are not destructive to life, but in the highest degree oppressive and disagreeable. All the citizens of Jericho arose hastily from the gate, and hastened to their homes.
Helon, on his arrival at his home, went immediately to the Armon, to warn Sulamith of the approach of the simoom. At the door he met Myron, whose visit Sulamith had not received, but had warned him instantly to withdraw, if he would not bring ruin on himself and her.
Helon started with surprise and horror when he saw Myron in his Armon, which no foot of male, save his own, had ever trodden before. Wild jealousy and furious anger took possession of his mind, and agitated his whole frame. “Vile heathen,” he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, “is this thy return for my hospitality and friendship? Was it not enough that thou didst murder Elisama?”
Myron’s protestations of his innocence were unheard or unheeded in the whirlwind of Helon’s rage. His cries soon brought together the slaves of the house. Seizing Myron by the arm, he fiercely thrust him towards them, and they, laying hold of him, drove him with blows and curses from the house. Sulamith had hastened from the Armon, and endeavoured to calm her husband; but at the sight of her his fury burst forth more violently than ever, and thrusting her back into the Armon, he ran like one frantic through the streets of Jericho to find Selumiel, to whom he related what had happened. They returned together, Selumiel’s indignation scarcely less fierce than his own. Selumiel on entering went immediately to his daughter, and laying hold of her exclaimed, “Monster! am I then the father of an adulteress? Didst thou learn from thy mother or from me to break thy marriage vow with a godless heathen?” She had been sitting sobbing and in tears, her face hidden in the veil with which she had wrapped her head. At these words, however, uncovering herself and looking up at her father, she said with a firm voice, “I am innocent!”
Helon and Selumiel were yet more provoked by this assurance. “If thou art innocent,” said Selumiel, “thou shalt drink [the water of jealousy]. I will know that my daughter is pure, or if not, may all that the law has denounced against the adulteress light upon thee!” With these words he went forth to call the elders together, and Helon shut himself up in the Alijah. All the happiness of his life was fled; he wept, he complained, he inveighed against the heathens, against Sulamith, against himself. In the agony of his grief he threw himself on the ground, rent his clothes, and tore his hair. Then again he sat in fixed and moping silence, or opened his lips only to recite passages of Scripture, which describe the harlot and the adulteress. “Yes,” he exclaimed, “the Essenes are right, it is because they know the inconstancy of women that they have excluded them from their society. Unhappy Israel, what shall become of thee, when thy matrons are corrupt and thy wives give themselves up to folly! No wonder that the once holy people is fallen even below the heathens themselves.”