Читать книгу The Robber - Bertram Brooker - Страница 17

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The next morning, in the Maccabean palace, which Herod Antipas used as a residence when he came down to the feasts, there was more than the usual stir. Everyone in the king's household, from Chuza, the chief steward, to the lowest slave in the stables, had been hurrying hither and thither since daybreak. An arrival and a departure, both of consequence, had caused the lofty halls and corridors to echo with a ceaseless rumble of steps.

Elikah, governor of the king's fortress at Machaerus, had clattered into the courtyard during the night at the head of a hundred horsemen. No one but Chuza knew what had brought him.

Earlier, the mistress of the bedchamber had made it known that the princess Salome, the tetrarch's step-daughter, was to leave the following day for Joppa, to take ship for Rome.

This news had disturbed no one more than Herod Antipas himself. When Herodias had deserted Philip for him, two years before, he had insisted that Salome, his brother's child, should be left behind in Rome. But Herodias had brought her, nevertheless, and now she was sending her away again in haste.

In the two years Salome had grown from an awkward, spiteful child into a woman of sixteen, the age at which many girls were married, and her mother had learned that Antipas was seeking occasions to look upon her nakedness when she came from the bath. As a gift on the girl's birthday he had secretly given her a slave, an Abyssinian woman to teach her the lewd dances of her country. Herodias had confirmed these reports by torturing two of her women, and at once had determined to get Salome out of his sight.

Having raged against bringing the girl from Rome, Antipas was now in a fury at her mother's haste to be rid of her. On waking late in the morning, after a night of ugly dreams, his first thought was of the growing defiance of his wife. His lust for her daughter had given her a further weapon against him. She had become the tyrant in his household, and he began to fear that if he stood out against her, she would not hesitate to bring about his death. He had learned, too late, that she was a true grand-daughter of his father.

As soon as he opened his eyes his whole body began tingling with the sting of his resentment. He sat up in his great bed. Feeling himself thwarted and smothered, he gripped the heavy festooned curtains which closed him in and tore them down. The prolonged ripping sound made him shudder.

Flinging himself on his side, he struck at a brass gong beside the bed, but the sudden effort brought on a spasm of pain in his legs, and he sank back again, gasping. His lower limbs were afflicted with sores that constantly reminded him of the maladies which had brought his father to a hideous death.

At the sound of the gong a slave entered the bedchamber, halting at once to stare at the wreckage of the curtains. Antipas ordered him to send in Joheleth, his cup-bearer, Nashash, his barber, and Chuza, the chief steward. A stir of people around him helped to scatter the lingering horror of his nightmares, and took his mind from his pains.

Joheleth began preparing at the bedside the tetrarch's favourite cordial of wine, honey and the freshly pressed juice of pomegranates.

Nashash brought oils and dyes and new cloths to bind up his legs.

Chuza, who was longer in appearing, would distract his thoughts by discussing the audiences arranged for the day, the visitors expected, the pleasures that could be contrived for the evening.

The chief steward, a man of humble birth, had grown in the king's favour during one of his voyages to Rome, and had been set over the whole household on his return. But of late Antipas had begun to distrust him. It had come to his ears from Herodias that Joanna, Chuza's wife, had become a secret follower of Jesus of Nazareth. She was said to have aided his disciples with gifts of food and money.

Herodias resented Chuza's authority, and sought to bring him into disfavour by saying that he and his wife were supporting two men, Jesus in Galilee, and John in Perea, of the same kin, who were exhorting the people to look for a new kingdom.

When Chuza entered, the tetrarch threw him a suspicious glance. The man had lately assumed great dignity of bearing, attiring himself with extravagance. He was tall, with a thin head which thrust all his features forward into a sharp wedge of a face. His little black eyes were like those of a bird, continually darting glances from side to side. His beard, which was black and glossy, hung from his chin, like a pointed ornament of jet. There was an odour of spices about him. His bow, when he entered the tetrarch's presence, was a wonder of servile elegance.

By this time Nashash had bound up his master's legs and was dressing his coarse Edomite hair.

The tetrarch, reclining on a divan, took the cup from Joheleth and sipped it. Nashash leaned and dried the royal beard with a napkin.

"Who seeks audience with us this day?" Antipas demanded, with the air he had learned from his father.

"The governor of the fortress of Machaerus craves immediate attendance," said Chuza, his glance gliding from Joheleth to Nashash and back again to the eyes of the third Herod, which were shot with blood.

"Immediate? Elikah!" roared Antipas. "The fatted swine will be snoring till noonday."

"He arrived in the night, but roused himself with the sun, awaiting the king's pleasure."

"Pleasure! Does he believe we take pleasure in the sight of his cask of a belly?"

Chuza fingered his girdle nervously. "He has news of the Arabs who again threaten your majesty's province of Perea. They are burning villages, poisoning the wells, stealing the flocks and herds."

"What brings him across Jordan with such tidings?" scowled Antipas. "He should have set his pig's face eastward. What hinders him from driving these pillagers into the desert?"

"He has come to beg your majesty to make an appearance beyond Jordan with an army, so that the scum of Arabia will know that the king has not forgotten his province of Perea, but will pursue his enemies and punish them."

"By the hair of Esau!" raged Antipas, pushing Nashash away so that he dropped a cruse of oil on the stone floor where it smashed into fragments. "What has whitened the liver of the mighty man of Kanatha? Command him to saddle his horses and be gone before I have broken my fast, or as the Lord lives I will have his ears roasted as a treat for my dogs."

Chuza's thin nose wrinkled as though he had stared too long at the sun. "Who is the king's servant that he should carry my lord's wrath to the captain of the host?" he asked in a shaking voice.

"What? Do you tremble at a rumbling cask ... at a bladder blown up with wind?"

"I am but a steward," said Chuza, meekly, "whereas the mighty Elikah is governor of a province."

"Governor! Who calls him governor?"

"He speaks of 'my province of Perea,'" said Chuza, his little eyes glittering.

"Ah!" cried Antipas. "The fatted fool swells himself up with a governorship? You shall see me prick him, Chuza. You shall see him flatten like an empty wineskin. Let him stamp and fret until the evening. At meat tonight place him below Nashash at the table."

Chuza bowed very slowly. He could not trust himself to speak.

"Who else seeks audience with us?" said Antipas.

"Phanuel Ben-Phabi, chief of the scribes of the temple, awaits with a message from Annas, prince of the Sanhedrin."

"What does that son of a fox want with us, now?"

"The Council has determined to send two of their number into Galilee to question the prophet Jesus, a man of Nazareth, who preaches in your majesty's province. They have heard it said that he blasphemes against the law."

Antipas, who had let his head sink back with a sign to Nashash to continue the curling of his beard, sat up again and shot a searching look at Chuza.

"Have you yourself heard the words of this prophet?"

"I have not, my lord."

"But you have knowledge from others of how he speaks?"

Chuza fastened a steady glance on the hot iron in the hand of Nashash. "In the household of the king there is little talk of such a man," he said. "But tidings spread, and for that reason two councillors are being sent to learn the truth."

"Who are they?"

"Prince Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, a rabbi of the Pharisees."

The tetrarch's bloodshot eyes were suddenly glazed with fear. "The same who were sent to question John of Jordan?"

"The same, my lord."

"And what have I to do with this?"

"Prince Annas craves the king's hospitality for the two councillors in Tiberias, so that it may be known that they come, not only with the authority of the Sanhedrin, but also with royal sanction."

Antipas dropped back his head again and spoke into the air. "You may say to Phanuel Ben-Phabi that we shall welcome these councillors so long as they remain in our province of Galilee. The prince is an old friend. I know nothing of the other."

Chuza shuffled his feet noisily. "Who am I to carry the king's words to Phanuel Ben-Phabi? He is the chief of the scribes, and your servant is but a steward in my lord's house."

"He is a worm, and a son-in-law of a creeping fox. Do you tremble at worms?"

"I step aside so that I do not tread on them," said Chuza.

"Let him wait. I will speak with him. Who else desires our ear?"

"There is a man below from beyond Jordan. His name is Jeshua. He says he is a kinsman of John who baptizes at Bethabara."

Antipas flung Nashash aside and sprang to his feet, his eyes staring. But he began to groan at once with the pain in his legs and sank back again.

"By the cliffs of Carmel!" he cried. "This is of more consequence than a score of scribes and a caskful of governors. Why did you not speak of this earlier? What manner of man is he?"

"He is a fierce man and a mocker, my lord, and of great height and strength. I have not seen him but this much I know of him. The guards have kept him below, fearing he might attempt some evil."

Antipas was quaking. Only half of his beard was curled. Three of the seven ringlets he wore were finished on one side of his face. His swarthy skin had paled to a muddy yellow. He began chewing his lips, but immediately spat on his bed-garment, muttering curses at Nashash.

When he had recovered he said to the steward: "Have this man brought up and question him. See that he is well guarded."

He flung out his hand in a peevish sign of dismissal and Chuza bowed himself out.