A tile gave way under my hand,
and fell upon Gratus. I thought I had killed him. Ah, what horror
I felt!"
"Where was thy mother?"
"In her chamber below."
"What became of her?"
Ben-Hur clenched his hands, and drew a breath like a gasp.
"I do not know. I saw them drag her away--that is all I know.
Out of the house they drove every living thing, even the dumb
cattle, and they sealed the gates. The purpose was that she
should not return. I, too, ask for her. Oh for one word! She,
at least, was innocent. I can forgive--but I pray thy pardon,
noble tribune! A slave like me should not talk of forgiveness
or of revenge. I am bound to an oar for life."
Arrius listened intently. He brought all his experience with slaves
to his aid. If the feeling shown in this instance were assumed, the
acting was perfect; on the other hand, if it were real, the Jew's
innocence might not be doubted; and if he were innocent, with what
blind fury the power had been exercised! A whole family blotted out
to atone an accident! The thought shocked him.
There is no wiser providence than that our occupations, however rude
or bloody, cannot wear us out morally; that such qualities as justice
and mercy, if they really possess us, continue to live on under them,
like flowers under the snow. The tribune could be inexorable, else he
had not been fit for the usages of his calling; he could also be just;
and to excite his sense of wrong was to put him in the way to right
the wrong.
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