At this point of our interesting conversation, I saw the noble-looking, gray-bearded Prince of Uz pass along the corridor, preceded by the page of the reception-room. Seeing me, he stopped and said with benignity and courtesy:
"Prince of Tyre, it is a pleasure for me to meet with you here! I am about to leave Egypt for Damascus, and learn from her majesty, the good queen, that you have a galley which goes in a few days from Pelusium to Tyre. I have come hither, knowing you to be a guest of my friend the high-priest, to ask permission to sail in her. I have but a small retinue, as my caravan has already gone through Arabia Deserta, on its way to Upper Syria. I take with me but my secretary, scribe, cup-bearer, armor-bearer, courier, and ten servants."
I assured the venerable prince that it would give me the greatest pleasure to surrender to him the cabin and state-chamber of your galley, my dear mother. And he will be the bearer of a letter from me presenting him to you. I have already spoken of him in my account of my first banquet with the queen. He is a prince, wise, good, virtuous, and greatly honored, not only for his wisdom, but for the patience, like a god's, with which he has endured the most wonderful sufferings. At one time he lost sons, daughters, servants, flocks, herds, houses, treasures, and health: yet he neither cursed the gods nor sought escape in death. In reward for his patience and endurance, the heavenly powers restored to him all things; and his name is now but another term for sacred submission to the divine decrees.
Having courteously thanked me for granting his wish, he looked closely at the Hebrew woman, and then said to her—
"Is it true that thy people worship the One God?"
"It is true, O prince!" she answered modestly.
"This is the true wisdom of life, to know the Almighty, and be admitted into the secrets of the Holy One! Behold! happy is the man who attaineth to this knowledge. The world gropes in darkness in the daytime, and stumbles in the noon-day as in the night, not seeing the pathway to God. Blessed art thou, O daughter of the wise Abram, the princely Isaac, the good Jacob—the three great Syrian princes of the East—in that thou knowest, thou and thy people, the traditions of thy fathers! Can a man by searching find out God? Can the priests by their wisdom find out the Almighty to perfection? Their light is darkness! but the sons of Israel Ben Abram have the knowledge of the Most High, and are wiser than Egypt!"
Miriam regarded the majestic old man with eyes expressive of wonder and joy. They seemed to ask: "Who art thou?" He understood their interrogating expression, and said:
"Daughter of Abram, offspring of wise kings, who walked with the One God, who found Him and came even unto His seat, when darkness covered the hearts of all men, I also worship GOD! I am of the family of the King Melchisedec, who knew Abram thy father! They both had knowledge of the mystery of the Divine Unity! They were friends, and worshipped God, the Almighty, when the understanding of men knew Him not and denied the God that is above, and the spirit of God who made them, and the breath of the Almighty that gave them life. Our God speaketh everywhere, yet man perceiveth it not, neither doth he know His voice! Touching the Almighty—who can find him out? The world lacketh wisdom, and is devoid of understanding, to bow down to the work of their own hands, and see not Him who laid the foundations of the earth, who hath stretched His line upon the heavens, and to whom all the morning stars sang together at their creation, and all the sons of God shouted for joy!"
The venerable Syrian uttered these words with an air of inspiration. His eyes were fixed inquiringly upon my face, as if he directed his speech to me alone.