"Strike, Jew! I am Titus."
John was confused by the last blow he had received, but a thousand thoughts whirled in his brain. For an instant he grasped the knife more firmly, to slay the son of the chief enemy of his country; then the possibility of carrying him away a captive occurred to him, but he saw that this was out of the question. Then another thought dashed across his brain.
"Swear," he said, in Greek, for he was ignorant of Latin, "by your gods, to spare the Temple, or I will kill you."
There was a moment's hesitation. The knife was already descending, when Titus exclaimed, in the same language:
"I swear to do all in my power to save the Temple."
John's knife fell from his hand. He tried to rise to his feet; then everything seemed to swim round, and he fell, insensible. Titus rose to his feet. He was shaken by the fall; and he, too, had lost much blood. Panting from his exertions, he looked down upon his prostrate foe; and the generosity which was the prevailing feature of his character, except when excited in battle, mastered him.
"By Hercules," he exclaimed, "that is a gallant youth; though he is a Jew, and he has well-nigh made an end of me! What will Vespasian say, when he hears that I have been beaten in fair fight, and owe my life to the mercy of a Jew? How they think of their temple, these Jews! Why, I would not injure it, were it in my power to do so. Have not our emperors sent offerings there? Besides, we war not with the gods of the people we conquer.
"Ah, here come Plancus and the others! This will be a lesson to me not to trust myself, alone, among these mountains again. It is the first time I have done so, and it shall be the last."
A messenger had, in fact, arrived at Carmelia, with an order from Vespasian for him to go to Hebron--as he had a desire to speak with him--and ordering Plancus, a centurion, to follow with his troop, Titus had sprung on his horse, and ridden off at once.
The Romans were soon upon the spot, and were loud in exclamation of surprise and grief at seeing their commander covered with dust, and bleeding from several wounds, while his horse lay dead beside him. To their inquiries whether he was seriously wounded, Titus replied, lightly: