As the morning mists were being dissipated, and the Temple roof gilded by the first rays of the rising sun, Serenus and Amabel, well mounted on small but hardy steeds, passed out through the gate leading toward the seaport of Cæsarea. The mother was to follow in a few days in the company of a convenient caravan.
Passing forward at a single bound, over the months of hot persecution noted in the preceding chapter, during which Serenus and Amabel were far away, we rejoin Saulus and his band on the way to Damascus. The first stage of the journey was over the Roman road which led from Jerusalem to Cæsarea.
As the Judean sun climbed higher in the heavens, and poured out his fiery rays, they rode rapidly along the hill-country which forms the divide between the valley of the Jordan and the Mediterranean. At intervals from some elevated spot over which the route led, they would halt for a few moments, and cast a lingering look backward upon the now distant golden Temple roof, and the white towers and battlements which they had left far behind. Anon a far-searching glance to the westward [pg 236]would faintly disclose the deep blue of the Great Sea. Every foot of the way was rich in historic association to the Israelite, and every town and village consecrated by some event which formed a part of the national folk-lore.
The companions of Saulus proposed a rest of a few hours during the intense heat of the midday; but he refused to make more than a brief stop, barely permitting space to feed the animals and satisfy their own hunger. He was even impatient at the ordinary rate of progress, and was minded to hurry forward. The next morning they saw Mount Gerizim, “the Mount of Blessing,” towering up in the distance before them. Upon that bald, brown summit Moses had stationed the priests and Levites, to bless the Children of Israel when they passed over Jordan.
The route wound through the soft green fields which lie around the base of the mountain, and midday brought them to Shechem in Samaria, where they stopped for refreshment. On this hallowed ground Jacob had encamped and erected an altar, and here Joseph had been sent to seek his brethren. On this spot Joshua had gathered all the elders and judges of Israel, and they “presented themselves before God.”
Saulus was familiar with all this rich heritage of national history, so full of meaning to the Chosen People; but now it palled upon him, and seemed dim and distant.
Leaving the Roman road at this point, they took the Damascus route to the northeast, which was much more rough and difficult. Passing Mount Ebal and Mount Tabor, and skirting the beautiful Sea of Galilee, set [pg 237]like a gem amid the surrounding hills, they pressed on, until on the morning of the sixth day they found themselves not far from their journey’s end.
To the west, and parallel with the last stage of their journey, the lofty chain of the Antilibanus stretched itself, like a huge wall, northward and southward as far as the eye could reach. Crowning all, with serene dignity and cool and dazzling whiteness, snow-capped Hermon formed a strange contrast with the torrid Syrian wilderness which immediately surrounded them.
Two hours more, and now, in the far distance, there was dimly visible the “Eye of the East,”—beautiful Damascus. On they pressed, and it gradually enlarged. Now its white terraced roofs and cupolas began to resolve themselves, and assume shape and character. In what a mass of living green was the city embowered! Behold a great wide-stretching emerald oasis was in front, in striking contrast with the bare brown desert, within the confines of which they still lingered.
Soon they passed for a short distance over one of the spurs of the Antilibanus, and could look down and follow with the eye the courses of the long winding Pharpar and the “golden Abana,” as they transform the wilderness, and cause it to bud and blossom like the rose. What wonderful beauty!