Read The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 5 Page 2

A TALE OF JERUSALEM

Intensos rigidarn in frontern ascendere canos

Passus erat---- --Lucan--De Catone

----a bristly bore.

”LET us hurry to the walls,” said Abel-Phittim to Buzi-Ben-Levi andSimeon the Pharisee, on the tenth day of the month Thammuz, in the yearof the world three thousand nine hundred and forty-one--let us hastento the ramparts adjoining the gate of Benjamin, which is in the city ofDavid, and overlooking the camp of the uncircumcised; for it is thelast hour of the fourth watch, being sunrise; and the idolaters, infulfilment of the promise of Pompey, should be awaiting us with thelambs for the sacrifices.”

Simeon, Abel-Phittim, and Duzi-Ben-Levi were the Gizbarim, orsub-collectors of the offering, in the holy city of Jerusalem.

”Verily,” replied the Pharisee; ”let us hasten: for this generosityin the heathen is unwonted; and fickle-mindedness has ever been anattribute of the worshippers of Baal.”

”'That they are fickle-minded and treacherous is as true as thePentateuch,” said Buzi-Ben-Levi, ”but that is only toward the peopleof Adonai. When was it ever known that the Ammonites proved wanting totheir own interests? Methinks it is no great stretch of generosity toallow us lambs for the altar of the Lord, receiving in lieu thereofthirty silver shekels per head!”

”Thou forgettest, however, Ben-Levi,” replied Abel-Phittim, ”that theRoman Pompey, who is now impiously besieging the city of the Most High,has no assurity that we apply not the lambs thus purchased for thealtar, to the sustenance of the body, rather than of the spirit.”

”Now, by the five corners of my beard!” shouted the Pharisee, whobelonged to the sect called The Dashers (that little knot of saintswhose manner of _dashing _and lacerating the feet against thepavement was long a thorn and a reproach to less zealous devotees-astumbling-block to less gifted perambulators)--”by the five corners ofthat beard which, as a priest, I am forbidden to shave!-have we livedto see the day when a blaspheming and idolatrous upstart of Rome shallaccuse us of appropriating to the appetites of the flesh the most holyand consecrated elements? Have we lived to see the day when--”'

”Let us not question the motives of the Philistine,” interruptedAbel-Phittim' ”for to-day we profit for the first time by his avariceor by his generosity; but rather let us hurry to the ramparts, lestofferings should be wanting for that altar whose fire the rains ofheaven can not extinguish, and whose pillars of smoke no tempest canturn aside.”

That part of the city to which our worthy Gizbarim now hastened, andwhich bore the name of its architect, King David, was esteemed the moststrongly fortified district of Jerusalem; being situated upon the steepand lofty hill of Zion. Here, a broad, deep, circumvallatory trench,hewn from the solid rock, was defended by a wall of great strengtherected upon its inner edge. This wall was adorned, at regularinterspaces, by square towers of white marble; the lowest sixty, and thehighest one hundred and twenty cubits in height. But, in the vicinity ofthe gate of Benjamin, the wall arose by no means from the margin of thefosse. On the contrary, between the level of the ditch and the basementof the rampart sprang up a perpendicular cliff of two hundred and fiftycubits, forming part of the precipitous Mount Moriah. So that whenSimeon and his associates arrived on the summit of the tower calledAdoni-Bezek-the loftiest of all the turrets around about Jerusalem, andthe usual place of conference with the besieging army-they looked downupon the camp of the enemy from an eminence excelling by many feet thatof the Pyramid of Cheops, and, by several, that of the temple of Belus.

”Verily,” sighed the Pharisee, as he peered dizzily over the precipice,”the uncircumcised are as the sands by the seashore-as the locustsin the wilderness! The valley of the King hath become the valley ofAdommin.”

”And yet,” added Ben-Levi, ”thou canst not point me out a Philistine-no,not one-from Aleph to Tau-from the wilderness to the battlements--whoseemeth any bigger than the letter Jod!”

”Lower away the basket with the shekels of silver!” here shouted aRoman soldier in a hoarse, rough voice, which appeared to issue from theregions of Pluto--”lower away the basket with the accursed coin which ithas broken the jaw of a noble Roman to pronounce! Is it thus you evinceyour gratitude to our master Pompeius, who, in his condescension, hasthought fit to listen to your idolatrous importunities? The god Phoebus,who is a true god, has been charioted for an hour-and were you not tobe on the ramparts by sunrise? Aedepol! do you think that we, theconquerors of the world, have nothing better to do than stand waiting bythe walls of every kennel, to traffic with the dogs of the earth? Loweraway! I say--and see that your trumpery be bright in color and just inweight!”

”El Elohim!” ejaculated the Pharisee, as the discordant tones of thecenturion rattled up the crags of the precipice, and fainted awayagainst the temple--”El Elohim!--who is the god Phoebus?--whom doth theblasphemer invoke? Thou, Buzi-Ben-Levi! who art read in the laws ofthe Gentiles, and hast sojourned among them who dabble with theTeraphim!--is it Nergal of whom the idolater speaketh?---orAshimah?--or Nibhaz,--or Tartak?--or Adramalech?--or Anamalech?--orSuccoth-Benith?--or Dagon?--or Belial?--or Baal-Perith?--orBaal-Peor?--or Baal-Zebub?”

”Verily it is neither-but beware how thou lettest the rope slip toorapidly through thy fingers; for should the wicker-work chance to hangon the projection of Yonder crag, there will be a woful outpouring ofthe holy things of the sanctuary.”

By the assistance of some rudely constructed machinery, the heavilyladen basket was now carefully lowered down among the multitude; and,from the giddy pinnacle, the Romans were seen gathering confusedlyround it; but owing to the vast height and the prevalence of a fog, nodistinct view of their operations could be obtained.

Half an hour had already elapsed.

”We shall be too late!” sighed the Pharisee, as at the expiration ofthis period he looked over into the abyss-”we shall be too late! weshall be turned out of office by the Katholim.”

”No more,” responded Abel-Phittim---”no more shall we feast upon the fatof the land-no longer shall our beards be odorous with frankincense--ourloins girded up with fine linen from the Temple.”

”Racal” swore Ben-Levi, ”Racal do they mean to defraud us of thepurchase money? or, Holy Moses! are they weighing the shekels of thetabernacle?”

”They have given the signal at last!” cried the Pharisee-----”theyhave given the signal at last! pull away, Abel-Phittim!--and thou,Buzi-Ben-Levi, pull away!--for verily the Philistines have either stillhold upon the basket, or the Lord hath softened their hearts to placetherein a beast of good weight!” And the Gizbarim pulled away, whiletheir burden swung heavily upward through the still increasing mist.

”Booshoh he!”--as, at the conclusion of an hour, some object at theextremity of the rope became indistinctly visible--”Booshoh he!” was theexclamation which burst from the lips of Ben-Levi.

*****

”Booshoh he!--for shame!--it is a ram from the thickets of Engedi, and asrugged as the valley of jehosaphat!”

”It is a firstling of the flock,” said Abel-Phittim, ”I know him by thebleating of his lips, and the innocent folding of his limbs. His eyesare more beautiful than the jewels of the Pectoral, and his flesh islike the honey of Hebron.”

”It is a fatted calf from the pastures of Bashan,” said the Pharisee,”the heathen have dealt wonderfully with us----let us raise upour voices in a psalm--let us give thanks on the shawm and on thepsaltery-on the harp and on the huggab-on the cythern and on thesackbut!”

It was not until the basket had arrived within a few feet of theGizbarim that a low grunt betrayed to their perception a hog of nocommon size.

”Now El Emanu!” slowly and with upturned eyes ejaculated the trio, as,letting go their hold, the emancipated porker tumbled headlong among thePhilistines, ”El Emanu!-God be with us--it is _the unutterable flesh!”_