"Didst thou not have a trial?" he asked, stopping suddenly.
"No!"
The Roman raised his head, surprised.
"No trial--no witnesses! Who passed judgment upon thee?"
Romans, it should be remembered, were at no time such lovers of
the law and its forms as in the ages of their decay.
"They bound me with cords, and dragged me to a vault in the Tower.
I saw no one. No one spoke to me. Next day soldiers took me to the
seaside. I have been a galley-slave ever since."
"What couldst thou have proven?"
"I was a boy, too young to be a conspirator. Gratus was a stranger
to me. If I had meant to kill him, that was not the time or the
place. He was riding in the midst of a legion, and it was broad
day. I could not have escaped. I was of a class most friendly
to Rome. My father had been distinguished for his services to
the emperor. We had a great estate to lose. Ruin was certain
to myself, my mother, my sister. I had no cause for malice,
while every consideration--property, family, life, conscience,
the Law--to a son of Israel as the breath of his nostrils--would
have stayed my hand, though the foul intent had been ever so strong.
I was not mad. Death was preferable to shame; and, believe me, I pray,
it is so yet."
"Who was with thee when the blow was struck?"
"I was on the house-top--my father's house. Tirzah was with me--
at my side--the soul of gentleness. Together we leaned over the
parapet to see the legion pass.
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