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diff --git a/33444-h/33444-h.htm b/33444-h/33444-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a013d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/33444-h/33444-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3964 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sulamith: a Romance of Antiquity, by Alexandre Kuprin</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .poem { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .poem p { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + .poem p.i2 { margin-left: 1.5em; } + .quote { margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; } + .figure { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-indent: 0em; text-align: center; font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps; } + p.center { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + img { border: none!important; text-decoration: none!important; } + .dcap { display: none; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> +</head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sulamith: A Romance of Antiquity, by Alexandre Kuprin</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Sulamith: A Romance of Antiquity</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alexandre Kuprin</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Forbes-Felix</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: B. G. Guerney</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 16, 2010 [eBook #33444]<br /> +[Most recently updated: October 16, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SULAMITH: A ROMANCE OF ANTIQUITY ***</div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="376" height="600" +alt="(front cover)" /></a> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +<i>Printed in 18 point Caslon on Villon Antique Laid paper. 1500 numbered +copies were issued for subscribers, and type distributed after printing. +The illustrations were especially designed for this edition.</i> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<i>This is number</i> 1114 +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0001"></a> +<a href="images/plate-1.jpg"><img src="images/ill-1.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<h1>SULAMITH</h1> + +<h3><i>A Romance of Antiquity</i></h3> + +<h2 class="no-break"><i>By</i> ALEXANDRE KUPRIN</h2> + +<p class="center"> +Author of “<i>Yama</i>” (<i>The Pit</i>), etc. +</p> + +<h3> +<small><i>Translated from the Russian</i></small> +<br /> +By B. G. GUERNEY +</h3> + +<h3> +<small>with</small> +<br /> +<small><i>Eight full-page illustrations in color</i></small> +<br /> +<i>By</i> FORBES-FELIX +</h3> + +<p class="center"> +NEW YORK +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Privately Printed for Subscribers</i> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +MCMXXVIII +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/title.jpg"><img src="images/ill-title.jpg" width="250" height="400" +alt="(title page image)" /></a> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +Copyright by<br /> +NICHOLAS L. BROWN<br /> +<i>All Rights Reserved</i> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA +</p> + +<h4> +<i>AUTHOR’S DEDICATION:</i> +</h4> + +<p class="center"> +To Ivan Alexeievich Bunin +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">A. Kuprin</span> +</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%;"> +Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love <i>is</i> +strong as death; jealousy <i>is</i> cruel as the grave: the coals thereof +<i>are</i> coals of fire, <i>which hath</i> a most vehement flame.<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>THE SONG OF SONGS</i> +</p> + +<p class="quote" style="padding: .5em; border: 1px solid black; background-color: #c0c0c0;"> +<b>Transcriber’s Note:</b> This Table of Contents has been added for convenience; none +was present in the original, which contained only the List of Illustrations. +</p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0001">Chapter One</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0002">Chapter Two</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0003">Chapter Three</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0004">Chapter Four</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0005">Chapter Five</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0006">Chapter Six</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0007">Chapter Seven</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0008">Chapter Eight</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0009">Chapter Nine</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0010">Chapter Ten</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0011">Chapter Eleven</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2HCH0012">Chapter Twelve</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_NOTE">Notes by the Translator</a></span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0001">Plate One</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0002">Plate Two</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0003">Plate Three</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0004">Plate Four</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0005">Plate Five</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0006">Plate Six</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0007">Plate Seven</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#image-0008">Plate Eight</a></span></td></tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0001" id="h2HCH0001"></a>I.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-K.png" width="50" height="50" alt="K" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">K</span>ing Solomon had not yet attained middle age—forty-five; yet the fame +of his wisdom and comeliness, of the grandeur of his life and the pomp +of his court, had spread far beyond the limits of Palestine. In Assyria +and Phœnicia; in Lower and Upper Ægypt; from ancient Tabriz to Yemen +and from Ismar unto Persepolis; on the coast of the Black Sea and upon +the islands of the Mediterranean,—all uttered his name in wonder, for +there was none among the kings like unto him in all his days. +</p> + +<p> +In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come +out of Ægypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the +month of Zif,<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> did the +king undertake the erection of the great temple of the Lord in Mount Moriah, +and the building of his palace in Jerusalem. Fourscore thousand stonesquarers +and threescore and ten thousand that bare burthens wrought without cease in the +mountains, and in the outskirts of the city; while ten thousand hewers that cut +timber, out of a number of eight and thirty thousand, were sent each month, by +courses, to Lebanon, where they spent a month in labour so arduous that they +rested for two months thereafter. Thousands of men tied the cut trees into +flotes, and hundreds of seamen brought them by sea to Jaffa, where they were +fashioned by Tyrians, skilled to work at turning and carpentry. Only at the +rearing of the pyramids of Khephren, Khufu, and Mencheres, at Ghizeh, had such +an infinite multitude of labourers been used. +</p> + +<p> +Three thousand and six hundred officers oversaw the works; while Azariah, the +son of Nathan, was over the officers,—a cruel man and an active, +concerning whom had sprung up a rumour that he never slept, devoured by the +fire of an internal, incurable disease. As for the plans of the palace and the +temple; the drawings of the columns, the fore-court, and the brasen sea; the +designs for the windows; the ornaments of the walls and the thrones,—they +had all been created by the master builder Hiram-Abiah of Sidon, the son of a +worker in brass of the tribe of Naphtali. +</p> + +<p> +After seven years, in the month of Bul,<a href="#note-3" +name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> the temple of the Lord was completed; and +after thirteen years, the palace of the king also. For cedar logs out of +Lebanon, for cypress and olive boards, for almug, shittim, and tarshish woods, +for great stones, costly stones, and hewed and polished stones; for purple, +scarlet, and for byssin broidered in gold; for stuffs of blue wool; for ivory +and red-dyed rams’ skins; for iron, onyx, and the vast quantity of +marble; for precious stones; for the chains, the wreaths, the cords, the tongs, +the nets, the lavers, and the flowers and the lamps and the +candlesticks,—all, all of gold; for the hinges of gold for the doors, and +the nails of gold, weighing sixty shekels each; for the basons and platters of +beaten gold; for ornaments,—graven and in mosaic; for the images of +lions, cherubim, oxen, palms and pineapples, both hewn in stone and +molten,—for all these did Solomon give Hiram, King of Tyre, who bore the +same name as the master builder, twenty cities and hamlets in the land of +Galilee, and Hiram found the gift insignificant, with such splendour had been +built the temple of the Lord, and the palace of Solomon, and the little palace +at Millo for the king’s wife, the beautiful Queen Astis, daughter to +Shishak, Pharaoh of Ægypt; while the redwood which later went for the +balustrades and stairs of the galleries, for the musical instruments and for +the bindings of the sacred books, had been brought as a gift to Solomon by the +Queen of Sheba, the wise and beautiful Balkis, together with such a quantity of +aromatic incense, sweet smelling oils, and precious perfumes, as had never been +seen before in the land of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +With each year did the riches of the king increase. Thrice a year did his ships +return to harbour: the <i>Tarshish</i>, that sailed the Mediterranean, and the +<i>Hiram</i>, that sailed the Black Sea. They brought out of Africa ivory and +apes and peacocks and antelopes; richly adorned chariots out of Ægypt; live +tigers and lions, as well as animal pelts and furs, out of Mesopotamia; +snow-white steeds out of Cuth; gold dust out of Parvaam that came to six +hundred and threescore talents in one year; redwood, ebony and sandalwood out +of the land of Ophir; gay rugs of Asshur and Calah, of marvelous +designs,—the friendly gifts of King Tiglath-Pileser; artistic mosaic out +of Nineveh, Nimroud, and Sargon; wondrous figured stuffs out of Khatuar; +goblets of beaten gold out of Tyre; stained glass out of Sidon; and out of +Punt, which is near Bab-el-Medebu, those rare perfumes,—nard, aloes, +calamus, cinnamon, saffron, amber, musk, stacte, galbanum, Smyrna myrrh, and +frankincense,—for the possession of which the Ægyptian pharaohs had more +than once embarked upon bloody wars. +</p> + +<p> +As for silver, it was accounted of as common stone in the days of Solomon, and +redwood was of no more value than the common sycamores that grow in the low +plains in abundance. +</p> + +<p> +Pools of stone, lined with porphyry, and marble cisterns and cool fountains did +the king build, commanding the water to be conveyed from mountain springs that +plunged down into the Kidron’s torrent; while around the palace he +planted gardens and groves, and cultivated a vineyard in Baal-hamon. +</p> + +<p> +And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for mules and for the horses for his +chariots, and twelve thousand for his cavalry; barley also and straw for the +horses were brought daily from the provinces. Thirty measures of fine flour, +and threescore measures of other meal; an hundred baths of different wines; ten +fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and three hundred sheep, not +counting harts and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl,—all this, +passing through the hands of twelve officers, went daily for the table of +Solomon, as well as for his court, his retinue, and his guard. Threescore +warriors, out of a number of five hundred of the most stalwart and most valiant +in all his army, held watch by turns in the inner chambers of the palace. Five +hundred bucklers, covered with plates of gold, did the king command to be made +for his bodyguards. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0002" id="h2HCH0002"></a>II.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-W.png" width="50" height="50" alt="W" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">W</span>hatsoever the eyes of the king might desire, he kept +not from them; and withheld not his heart from any joy. Seven hundred wives had +the king, and three hundred concubines, without counting slaves and dancers. +And all of them did Solomon charm with his love, for God had endowed him with +such an inexhaustible strength of passion as was not given to ordinary men. He +loved the white-faced, black-eyed, red-lipped Hittites for their vivid but +momentary beauty, that bursts into blossom just as early and enchantingly, and +fades just as rapidly as the flower of the narcissus; the swarthy, tall, +vehement Philistines, with wiry, curly locks, who wore golden, tinkling armlets +upon their wrists, golden hoops upon their shoulders, and broad anklets, joined +by a thin little chain, upon both ankles; gentle, diminutive, lithe Ammorites +formed without a blemish, whose faithfulness and submissiveness in love had +passed into a proverb; women out of Assyria, who put their eyes in painting to +make them seem more elongated, and who ate out with acid blue stars upon their +foreheads and cheeks; well-schooled, gay and witty daughters of Sidon, who knew +well how to sing and dance, as well as to play upon harps, lutes and flutes, to +the accompaniment of tabours; xanthochroöus women of Ægypt, indefatigable in +love and insane in jealousy; voluputous Babylonians, whose entire body +underneath their raiment was as smooth as marble, because they eradicated the +hair upon it with a special paste; virgins of Baktria, who stained their nails +and hair a fiery-red colour, and wore wide, loose trowsers; silent, bashful +Moabites, whose magnificent breasts were cool on the sultriest nights of +summer; care-free and profligate Ammonites, with fiery hair, and flesh of such +whiteness that it glowed in the dark; frail, blue-eyed women with flaxen hair, +and skin of a delicate fragrance, who were brought from the north, through +Baalbec, and whose tongue was incomprehensible to all the dwellers in +Palestine. The king loved many daughters of Judæa and Israel besides. +</p> + +<p> +Also shared he his couch with Balkis-Mâkkedah, the Queen of Sheba, who had +surpassed all women on earth in beauty, wisdom, riches, and her diversified art +in passion; and with Abishag the Shunamite, who had warmed the old age of +David,—a kindly, quiet beauty, for whose sake Solomon had put to death +his elder brother Adonijah, at the hands of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. +</p> + +<p> +And also with the poor maiden of the vineyard, by the name of Sulamith, whom +alone among all women the king had loved with all his heart. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon made himself a litter of the best cedar wood, with pillars of silver, +with arm-rests of gold in the form of recumbent lions, with a covering of +purple Tyrian stuff, while the entire inner side of the covering was ornamented +with gold embroidery and with precious stones,—the love-gifts of the +women and virgins of Jerusalem. And when well-built black slaves bore Solomon +among his people on grand festal days, truly was the king glorious, like the +lilies that are in the Valley of Sharon! +</p> + +<p> +Pale was his face; his lips like unto a vivid thread of scarlet; his wavy locks +a bluish black, and in them—the adornment of wisdom—gleamed gray +hairs, like to the silver threads of mountain streams, falling down from the +dark crags of Hermon; gray hairs glistened in his dark beard also, curled, +after the custom of the kings of Assyria, in regular, small rows. +</p> + +<p> +As for the eyes of the king, they were dark, like the darkest agate, like the +heavens on a moonless night in summer; while his eye-lashes, that spread upward +and downward like arrows, resembled dark rays around dark stars. And there was +no man in all the universe who could bear the gaze of Solomon without casting +down his eyes. And the lightnings of wrath in the eyes of the king would +prostrate people to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +But there were moments of heartfelt merriment, when the king would grow +intoxicated with love, or wine, or the delight of power, or when he rejoiced +over words of wisdom or beauty, fitly spoken. Then his lashes would be softly +half-lowered, casting blue shadows upon his radiant face, and in the +king’s eyes would kindle the warm flames of a kindly, tender laughter, +just like the play of black diamonds; and whosoever might behold this smile was +ready to yield up body and soul for it—so indescribably beautiful was it. +The mere name of King Solomon, uttered aloud, stirred the hearts of women, like +the fragrance of spilt myrrh that recalls nights of love. +</p> + +<p> +The king’s hands were soft, white, warm and beautiful, like a +woman’s; but they held such an excess of life energy that, by the laying +on of his palms upon the temples of the sick, the king cured headaches, +convulsions, black melancholy, and demoniacal possession. Upon the index finger +of his left hand the king wore a gem of blood-red asteria that emitted six +pearl-coloured rays. Many centuries did this ring number, and upon the reverse +side of its stone was graven an inscription, in the tongue of an ancient, +vanished people: “All things pass away.” +</p> + +<p> +And so great was the sway of Solomon’s soul that even beasts submitted to +it; lions and tigers crawled at the feet of the king, rubbing their muzzles +against his knees, and licking his hands with their rough tongues, whenever he +entered their quarters. And he, whose heart found joy in the dazzling play of +precious stones, in the fragrance of sweet-smelling Ægyptian resins, in the +soft touch of light stuffs, in sweet music, in the exquisite taste of red, +sparkling wine playing in a chased Ninuanian chalice,—he also loved to +stroke the coarse manes of lions, the velvety backs of black panthers, and the +tender paws of young, speckled leopards; loved to hear the roar of wild beasts, +to see their powerful and superb movements, and to feel the hot feral odour of +their breath. +</p> + +<p> +Thus did Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, the historian of his days, depict King +Solomon. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0003" id="h2HCH0003"></a>III.</h2> + +<div style="float:left; margin-right: .3em;">“ </div> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-B.png" width="50" height="50" alt="B" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">B</span>ecause thou hast not asked for thyself long life; +neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine +enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, +I have done according to thy words; lo, I have given thee a wise and +understanding heart: so that there was none like thee before thee, neither +after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus spake God unto Solomon, and through His word did the king come to know the +structure of the universe and the working of the elements; to fathom the +beginning, end, and midst of all ages; to penetrate the mystery of the eternal, +wave-like and rotating recurrence of events; from the astronomers of Byblos, +Acre, Sargon, Borsippa and Nineveh did he learn to watch the yearly orbits of +the stars and the changes in their positions. He knew also the nature of all +animals and divined the feelings of beasts; he understood the source and +direction of winds, the different properties of plants, and the potency of +healing herbs. +</p> + +<p> +The designs in the heart of man are deep waters, but even them could the king +fathom. In the words and voice, in the eyes, in the motions of the hands, he +read the innermost mysteries of souls as plainly as the characters of an open +book. And because of that, from all ends of Palestine, there came to him a vast +multitude of people, imploring judgment, advice, help, the settlement of some +dispute, as well as the solving of incomprehensible portents and dreams. And +men would marvel at the profundity and finesse of Solomon’s answers. +</p> + +<p> +Three thousand proverbs did Solomon compose, and his songs were a thousand and +five. He dictated them to two skilled and rapid scribes: Elihoreph and Ahiah, +the sons of Shisha, and afterwards collated what both had written. Always did +he clothe his thoughts in choice expressions, for a word fitly spoken is like +an apple of gold in a bowl of translucent sardonyx;<a href="#note-4" +name="noteref-4"><small>4</small></a> and also for that the words of the wise +are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are +given from one Shepherd. “A word is a spark in the motion of the +heart,”—thus saith the king. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled +the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of the +Ægyptians. For he was above all men in wisdom; wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, +and Heman, and Chalcol, and Dardra, the sons of Mahol. But he was already +beginning to weary of the beauty of ordinary human wisdom, and no longer did it +have its former value in his eyes. With a restless and searching mind did he +thirst after that higher wisdom, which the Lord possessed in the beginning of +His way, before His works of old, set up from everlasting, from the beginning, +or ever the earth was; that wisdom which was His great artificer when He set a +compass upon the face of the deep. And Solomon found it not. +</p> + +<p> +The king mastered the teachings of the magi of Chaldæa and Nineveh; the science +of the astrologers of Abydos, Sais, and Memphis; the secrets of the Assyrian +sorcerers, mystagogues, and epopts, and of the fatidicæ of Baktria and +Persepolis; and he had become convinced that their knowledge was but the +knowledge of mortals. +</p> + +<p> +Also did he seek for wisdom in the occult rites of ancient pagan faiths, and +for that reason visited idol-temples and offered up oblations to the mighty +Baal-Lebanon, who was honoured under the name of Melkart,—the god of +creation and destruction, the patron of navigation in Tyre and +Sidon,—called Ammon in the Oasis of Sibakh, where his idol would nod his +head to indicate the routes to festal processions; called Bel by the Chaldæans, +and Moloch by the Canaanites. He also bowed down before his spouse,—the +dread and passionate Astarte, who bore in other temples the names of Ishtar, +Isaar, Baaltis, Ashera, Istar-Belet, and Atargatis. He libated holy oil and +burnt incense before Isis and Osiris of Ægypt,—sister and brother, joined +in wedlock while still in the womb of their mother and there conceiving the god +Horus; and before Derketo, the pisciform Tyrian goddess; and before Anubis of +the dog’s head, the god of embalming; and before the Babylonian Cannes; +and Dagon of the Philistines; and the Assyrian Abdenago; and Utsabu, the +Ninevehian idol; and the sombre Kybele; and Bel Marduk, the patron of +Babylon,—the god of the planet Jupiter; and the Chaldæan Or,—the +god of eternal fire; and the mystic Omorca, the first mother of the gods, whom +Bel had cloven in two parts, creating heaven and earth out of them, and out of +her head, men; and the king bowed down also before the goddess Anaïtis, in +whose honour the virgins of Phœnicia, Lydia, Armenia and Persia gave up their +bodies to passers-by, as a sacred offering, at the threshold of temples. +</p> + +<p> +But the king found in the pagan rites nought save drunkenness, night orgies, +lechery, incest, and lusts contrary to nature; and in their dogmas he perceived +vain discourse and deception. But he forbade none of his subjects to offer up +sacrifices to a favourite god, and he even built upon the Mount of Olives an +idol-temple for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, at the supplication of the +beautiful, pensive Ellaan, the Moabite, the then favorite wife of the king. One +thing only could not Solomon abide and pursued with death,—the bringing +of children in sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +And he saw in his seekings that that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth +beasts, even one thing befalleth them: as one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, +they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preëminence above a beast. And +the king understood, that in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth +knowledge increaseth sorrow. He also learned that even in laughter the heart is +sorrowful; and the end of mirth is heaviness. And so one morning he dictated to +Elihoreph and Ahiah: +</p> + +<p> +“‘All is vanity of vanities and vexation of +spirits’—thus saith Ecclesiastes.” +</p> + +<p> +But at that time the king did not yet know that God would soon send him a love +so tender and ardent, so devoted and beautiful,—more precious in itself +than riches, fame, and wisdom; more precious than life itself, for it values +not even life, nor hath fear of death. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0004" id="h2HCH0004"></a>IV.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-T.png" width="50" height="50" alt="T" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">T</span>he king had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, upon the +southern slope of Bath-El-Khav, to the south of the idol-temple of Moloch; +thither did the king love to withdraw in the hours of his great meditations. +Pomegranate,—olive,—and wild apple-trees, interspersed with cedars +and cypresses, bordered it on three sides upon the mountain, while on the +fourth it was fenced off from the road by a high stone wall. And other +vineyards, lying about, also belonged to Solomon; he let them out unto keepers, +each one for a thousand pieces of silver. +</p> + +<p> +Only with the dawn came to an end in the palace the magnificent feast which the +King of Israel was giving in honour of the emissaries of the King of Assyria, +the good Tiglath-Pileser. Despite his fatigue, Solomon could not fall asleep +this morn. Neither wine nor hippocras had befogged the stout heads of the +Assyrians, nor loosened their canny tongues. But the penetrating mind of the +wise king had already forestalled their plans, and was, in its turn, already +weaving a fine political net, wherein he would enmesh these proud men with +supercilious eyes and of flattering speech. Solomon would be able to preserve +the necessary amity with the potentate of Assyria, yet at the same time, for +the sake of his eternal friendship with Hiram of Tyre, would save from pillage +the latter’s kingdom, which, with its countless riches, hid in +subterranean vaults underneath narrow streets, had for a long time drawn the +covetous gazes of oriental sovereigns. +</p> + +<p> +And so at dawn Solomon had commanded himself to be borne to Mount Bath-El-Khav; +had left the litter far down the road, and is now seated alone upon a simple +wooden bench, above the vineyard, under the shade of the trees, still hiding in +their branches the dewy chill of night. The king has on a simple white mantle, +fastened at the right shoulder and at the left side by two Ægyptian clasps of +green gold, in the shape of curled crocodiles,—the symbol of the god +Sebekh. The hands of the king lie motionless upon his knees, while his eyes, +overshadowed by deep thought, unwinking, are directed toward the east, in the +direction of the Dead Sea,—there, where from the rounded summit of Anaze +the sun is rising in the flame of dawn. +</p> + +<p> +The morning wind is blowing from the east and spreads the fragrance of the +grape in blossom,—a delicate fragrance, like that of mignonette and +mulled wine. The dark cypresses sway their slender tops pompously and pour out +their resinous breath. The silvery-green leaves of the olives hurriedly +converse among themselves. +</p> + +<p> +But now Solomon arises and hearkens carefully. An endearing feminine voice, +clear and pure as this dewy morn, is singing somewhere not far off, beyond the +trees. The simple and tender motive runs on and on, of its own accord, like a +ringing rill in the mountains, repeating the five or six notes, always the +same. And its unpretentious, exquisite charm calls forth a smile in the eyes of +the touched king. +</p> + +<p> +Nearer and nearer sounds the voice. Now it is already here, alongside, behind +the spreading cedars, behind the dark verdure of the junipers. Then the king +cautiously parts the branches with his hands, quietly makes his way between the +prickly branches, and comes out upon an open place. +</p> + +<p> +Before him, beyond the low wall, rudely built of great yellow stones, the +vineyard spreads upward. A girl, in a light garment of blue, walks between the +rows of vines, bending down over something below, and again straightening up, +and she is singing. Her ruddy hair flames in the sun: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">The breath of the day is coolness, </p> +<p class="i2">And the shadows flee away. </p> +<p class="i2">Turn, my beloved, </p> +<p class="i2">And be thou like a roe or a young hart, </p> +<p class="i2">Within the clefts of the rocks.... </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Thus sings she, tying up the grapevines, and slowly descends, nearer and nearer +the stone wall behind which the king is standing. She is alone, none sees nor +hears her; the scent of the grapes in blossom, the joyous freshness of the +morning, and the warm blood in her heart are like wine unto her, and now the +words of the naïve little song are born spontaneously upon her lips and are +carried away by the wind, to be forgotten forever: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Take us the foxes, </p> +<p class="i2">The little foxes </p> +<p class="i2">That spoil the vines: </p> +<p class="i2">For our vines have tender grapes. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +In this manner does she reach the very wall, and, without noticing the king, +turns about and walks on, climbing the hill lightly, along the neighbouring row +of vines. Now her song sounds less distinctly: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">Make haste, my beloved, </p> +<p class="i2">And be thou like to a roe or a young hart </p> +<p class="i2">Upon the mountains of spices. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +But suddenly she grows silent and bends so low to the ground that she can not +be seen behind the vines. +</p> + +<p> +Then Solomon utters in a voice that caresses the ear: +</p> + +<p> +“Maiden, show me thy face; let me hear thy voice anew.” +</p> + +<p> +She straightens up quickly and turns her face to the king. A strong wind arises +at this second and flutters the light garment upon her, suddenly making it +cling tightly around her body and between her legs. And the king, for an +instant, until she turns her back to the wind, sees all of her beneath the +raiment, as though naked,—tall and graceful, in the vigorous bloom of +thirteen years; sees her little, round, firm breasts and the elevations of her +nipples, from which the cloth spreads out in rays; and the virginal abdomen, +round as a bason; and the deep line that divides her legs from the bottom to +the top, and there parts in two, toward the rounded hips. +</p> + +<p> +“For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance comely,” says Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +She draws nearer and gazes upon the king with trembling and with rapture. Her +swarthy and vivid face is inexpressibly beautiful. Her heavy, thick, dark-red +hair, into which she has stuck two flowers of the scarlet poppy, covers her +shoulders in countless resilient ringlets and spreads over her back, and, +transpierced by the rays of the sun, glows in flame, like aureate purple. A +necklace which she had made herself out of some red, dried berries, naïvely +winds twice about her long, dark, slender neck. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not notice thee!” she says gently, and her voice sounds like +the song of a flute. “Whence didst thou come?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou sangst so well, maiden!” +</p> + +<p> +She bashfully casts down her eyes and turns red, but beneath her long lashes +and in the corners of her lips trembles a secret smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou sangst of thy dear. He is as light as a roe, as a young hart upon +the mountains. For he is very fair, thy dear,—is not that the truth, +maiden?” +</p> + +<p> +Her laughter is ringing and musical, as though silver were falling upon a +golden platter. +</p> + +<p> +“I have no dear. It is but a song. I have yet had no dear....” +</p> + +<p> +For a minute they are silent, and intently, without smiling, gaze at each +other.... Birds loudly call one another among the trees. The maiden’s +bosom quickly rises and falls under the worn linen. +</p> + +<p> +“I do believe thee, beautiful one. Thou art so fair....” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou dost mock me. Behold, how black I am....” +</p> + +<p> +She lifts up her small, dark arms, and the broad sleeves lightly slide down +towards her shoulders, baring her elbows, that have such a slender and rounded +outline. +</p> + +<p> +And she says plaintively: +</p> + +<p> +“My brethren were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the +vineyard,—and now behold how the sun hath scorched me.” +</p> + +<p> +“O, nay, the sun hath made thee still more fair, thou fairest among +women. Lo, thou hast smiled,—and thy teeth are like white twin-lambs, +which come up from the washing, and none among them hath a blemish. Thy cheeks +are like the halves of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy lips are +scarlet,—yea, pleasant to gaze upon. As for thy hair ... Dost know what +thy hair is like? Hast thou ever beheld a flock of sheep come down from Mount +Gilead at eve? It covers all the mountain, from summit to foot, and from the +light of the evening glow and from the dust it seems even as ruddy and as wavy +as thy locks. Thine eyes are as deep as the two fishponds in Heshbon, by the +gate of Bath-rabbim. O, how fair art thou! Thy neck is straight and graceful, +like the tower of David!...” +</p> + +<p> +“Like the tower of David!” she repeats in rapture. +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, yea, thou fairest among women. A thousand bucklers hang upon the +tower of David, all shields of vanquished chieftains. Lo, I hang my shield also +upon thy tower....” +</p> + +<p> +“O, speak on, speak on....” +</p> + +<p> +“And when thou didst turn around in answer to my call, and the wind +arose, I did see beneath thy raiment thy two nipples and methought: Here be two +young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. This thy stature was +like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.” +</p> + +<p> +The girl cries out faintly, hides her face with her palms, and her bosom with +her elbows, and blushes so that even her ears and neck turn crimson. +</p> + +<p> +“And I saw thy hips. They are shapely, like a precious vase, the work of +the hands of a cunning workman. Take away thy hands, therefore, maiden. Show me +thy face.” +</p> + +<p> +She submissively let her hands drop. A deep, golden radiance glows from the +eyes of Solomon and casts a spell over her, makes her head dizzy, and in a +sweet, warm tremour streams over the skin of her body. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, who art thou?” she says slowly, in perplexity. +“Never have I seen any like to thee.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am a shepherd, my beauty. I graze my splendid flocks of white lambs +upon the mountains, where the green grass is pied with narcissi. Wilt thou not +come with me, unto my pasture?” +</p> + +<p> +But she quietly shakes her head: +</p> + +<p> +“Canst thou think that I will believe this? Thy face has not grown rough +from the wind, nor is it scorched by the sun, and thy hands are white. Thou +hast on a costly chiton, and the buckle upon it is worth the yearly rental that +my brothers bring for our vineyard to Adoniram, the king’s tax-gatherer. +Thou hast come from yonder, from beyond the wall. Thou art, surely, one of the +men near to the king? Meseems I saw thee once upon the day of a great festival; +I even remember running after thy chariot.” +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0002"></a> +<a href="images/plate-2.jpg"><img src="images/ill-2.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +“Thou hast guessed it, maiden. It is hard to be hid from thee. And +verily, why shouldst thou be a wanderer nigh the flocks of the shepherds? Yea, +I am one of the king’s retinue. I am the chief cook of the king. And thou +didst see me when I rode in the chariot of Ammi-nadib on the gala-day of +Passover. But why dost thou stand distant from me? Draw nearer, my sister! Sit +down here upon the stones of the wall and tell me something of thyself. Tell me +thy name.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sulamith,” she says. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Sulamith, why have thy brothers grown wroth with thee?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am ashamed to speak of it. They received moneys from the sale of their +wine, and sent me to the city to buy bread and goat-cheese. But I ...” +</p> + +<p> +“And thou didst lose the money?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, still worse....” +</p> + +<p> +She bends her head low and whispers: +</p> + +<p> +“Besides bread and cheese I bought a little of attar of roses,—oh, +so little!—from the Ægyptians in the old city.” +</p> + +<p> +“And thou didst keep this from thy brethren?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea....” +</p> + +<p> +And she utters in a barely audible voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Attar of roses hath so goodly a smell!” +</p> + +<p> +The king caressingly strokes her little rough hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, thou must be lonesome, all alone in thy vineyard?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, I work, I sing.... At noon food is brought me, and at evening one +of my brothers relieves me. At times I dig for the roots of the mandragora, +that look like little mannikins.... The Chaldæan merchants buy them from us. It +is said they make a sleeping potion out of them.... Tell me, is it true that +the berries of the mandragora help in love?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, Sulamith, only love can help in love. Tell me, hast thou a father +or a mother?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only a mother. My father died two years ago. My brethren are all older +than I,—they are from the first marriage; only my sister and I have +sprung from the second.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is thy sister as comely as thou?” +</p> + +<p> +“She is little. She is but nine.” +</p> + +<p> +The king laughs quietly, embraces Sulamith, draws her to him, and whispers into +her ear: +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore, she hath no such breast as thine? A breast as proud, as +warm?...” +</p> + +<p> +She is silent, burning with shame and happiness. Her eyes glow and grow dim, +with the mist of a happy smile over them. The king feels the riotous beating of +her heart within his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“The warmth of thy garments hath a goodlier smell than myrrh, than +nard,” he is saying, avidly touching her ear with his lips. “And +when thou breathest, the smell of thy nostrils is like that of apples unto me. +My sister, my beloved, thou hast ravished my heart with one glance of thy eyes, +with one chain of thy neck.” +</p> + +<p> +“O, gaze not upon me!” implores Sulamith. “Thine eyes stir +me.” +</p> + +<p> +But of her own accord she bends backward and lays her head upon Solomon’s +breast. Her lips glow over the gleaming teeth, her eyelids tremble with intense +desire. Solomon’s lips cling greedily to her enticing mouth. He feels the +flame of her lips and the slipperiness of her teeth, and the sweet moistness of +her tongue; and he is all consumed of an unbearable desire, such as he has +never yet known in his life. +</p> + +<p> +Thus passes one minute; then two. +</p> + +<p> +“What dost thou with me!” says Sulamith faintly, closing her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon passionately whispers near her very mouth: +</p> + +<p> +“Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under +thy tongue.... O, come away with me, speedily. Here, behind the wall, it is +dark and cool. None shall see us. The green is soft here underneath the +cedars.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, nay, leave me. I desire it not, I can not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sulamith ... thou dost desire it, thou dost desire it.... Come to me, my +sister, my beloved!” +</p> + +<p> +Some one’s steps resound below, upon the highway, below the wall of the +vineyard, but Solomon detains the frightened girl by her hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, quickly,—where dwellest thou? This night shall I come to +thee,” he is hurriedly saying. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, nay, nay ... I shall not tell thee this. Let me go. I shall not +tell thee.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall not let thee go, Sulamith, till thou dost tell.... My desire is +unto thee!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well, I shall tell thee.... But first promise not to come this +night.... Also, come thou not the following night ... nor the night after that +... My king! I charge thee by the roes and the hinds of the field, that thou +stir not up thy beloved till she please!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, I pledge thee this.... Where is thy dwelling, Sulamith?” +</p> + +<p> +“If on the way to the city thou dost pass over the Kidron, upon the +bridge above Siloam, thou shalt see our dwelling nigh the spring. There are no +other dwellings there.” +</p> + +<p> +“And which is thy window there, Sulamith?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why shouldst thou know this, beloved? O, gaze not thus upon me. Thy gaze +casts a spell over me.... Do not kiss me.... Beloved! Kiss me again....” +</p> + +<p> +“But which is thy window, my only one?” +</p> + +<p> +“The window on the south side. Ah, I must not tell thee this.... A small, +high window with a lattice.” +</p> + +<p> +“And doth the lattice open from within?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, it is a fixed window. But around the corner is a door. It leads +directly into the room where I sleep with my sister. But thou hast promised +me!... My sister sleeps lightly. O, how fair art thou, my beloved! Truly, hast +thou not promised?” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon quietly smoothes her hair and cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall come to thee this night,” he says insistently. “At +midnight I shall come. Thus, thus shall it be. I desire it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Beloved!” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay. Thou shalt await me. But have no fear, and put thy trust in me. I +shall cause thee no grief. I shall give thee such joy compared with which all +things upon earth are without significance. Now farewell. I hear them coming +after me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell, my beloved ... O, nay, go not yet! Tell me thy name,—I +know it not.” +</p> + +<p> +For a moment, as though undecided, he lowers his lashes, but immediately raises +them again. +</p> + +<p> +“The King and I have the same name. I am called Solomon. Farewell. I love +thee.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"></a>V.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-R.png" width="50" height="50" alt="R" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">R</span>adiant and joyous was Solomon upon this day, as he +sat upon his throne in the hall of the House at Lebanon and meted out justice +to the people who came before him. +</p> + +<p> +Forty columns, four in a row, supported the ceiling of the Hall of Judgment, +and they were all faced with cedar and terminated in capitals in the form of +lilies; the floor consisted of cypress boards, all of a piece; nor was the +stone upon the walls to be seen anywhere for the cedar finish, ornamented with +gold carving, shewing palms, pineapples, and cherubim. In the depth of the +hall, with its triple-tiered windows, six steps led up to the elevation of the +throne, and upon each step stood two bronze lions, one on each side. The throne +itself was of ivory with gold incrustation and with elbow-rests of gold, in the +form of recumbent lions. The high back of the throne was surmounted by a golden +disc. Curtains of violet and purple stuffs hung from the ceiling down to the +floor at the entrance to the hall, dividing off the entry, where between the +columns thronged the plaintiffs, supplicants, and witnesses, as well as the +accused and the criminals under a strong guard. +</p> + +<p> +The king had on a red chiton, while upon his head was a simple, narrow crown of +sixty beryls, set in gold. At his right hand stood the throne for his mother, +Bathsheba; but of late, owing to her declining years, she rarely showed herself +in the city. +</p> + +<p> +The Assyrian guests, with austere, black-bearded faces, were seated along the +walls upon benches of jasper; they had on garments of a light olive colour, +broidered at the edges with designs of red and white. While still at home, in +their native Assyria, they had heard so much of the justice of Solomon that +they tried to let no single word of his slip by, in order to tell later of the +judgment of the King of the Israelites. Among them sat the commanders of +Solomon’s armies, his ministers, the governors of his provinces, and his +courtiers. Here was Benaiah, at one time executioner to the king; the slayer of +Joab, Adonijah, and Shimei,—a short, corpulent old man, with a sparse, +long, gray beard; his faded, bluish eyes, rimmed by red lids that seemed turned +inside out, had a look of senile dullness; his mouth was open and moist, while +his fleshy, red lower lip drooped down impotently, and was slightly trembling. +Here also were Azariah, the son of Nathan,—a jaundiced, tall man, with a +lean, sickly face and dark rings under his eyes; and the good-natured, +absent-minded Jehoshaphat, historiographer; and Ahishar, who was over the court +of Solomon; and Zabud, who bore the high title of the King’s Friend; and +Ben-Abinadab, which had Taphath, the eldest daughter of Solomon, to wife; and +Ben-Geber, the officer over the region of Argob, which is in Bashan: to him +pertained threescore cities, surrounded by walls, with gates of brasen bars; +and Baanah, the son of Hushai, at one time famed for his skill in casting a +spear to the distance of thirty parasangs; and many others. Sixty warriors, +their helmets and shields gleaming, stood in a rank to the left of the throne +and the right; their head officer this day was the handsome Eliab, of the black +locks, son of Ahilud. +</p> + +<p> +The first to come before Solomon with his complaint was one Achior, a lapidary +by trade. Working in Bel of Phœnicia he had found a precious stone, had cut and +polished it, and had asked his friend Zachariah, who was setting out for +Jerusalem, to give the stone to his—Achior’s—wife. After some +time Achior also returned home. The first thing that he asked about upon +beholding his wife was the stone. But she was very much amazed at her +husband’s question, and repeated under oath that she had received no +stone of any sort. Whereupon Achior set out for an explanation to his friend +Zachariah, but he asseverated, and also to an oath, that he had, immediately +upon arrival, given the stone over as instructed. He even brought witnesses, +who affirmed having seen Zachariah give the stone in their presence to the wife +of Achior. +</p> + +<p> +And now all four,—Achior, Zachariah, and the two witnesses,—were +standing before the throne of the King of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon gazed into the eyes of each one in turn and said to the guard: +</p> + +<p> +“Lead each one to a separate chamber, and lock up each one apart.” +</p> + +<p> +And when this was done, he ordered four pieces of unbaked clay to be brought. +</p> + +<p> +“Let each one of them,” willed the king, “fashion out of clay +that form which the stone had.” +</p> + +<p> +After some time the moulds were ready. But one of the witnesses had made his +mould in the shape of a horse’s head, as precious stones were usually +fashioned; the other, in the shape of a sheep’s head; only two of +them—Achior and Zachariah—had their moulds alike, resembling in +form a woman’s breast. +</p> + +<p> +And the king spake: +</p> + +<p> +“Now it is evident even to one blind that the witnesses are bribed by +Zachariah. And so, let Zachariah return the stone to Achior, and together with +it pay him thirty shekels, of this city, of law costs, and give ten shekels to +the priests for the temple. As for the self-revealed witnesses, let them pay +into the treasury five shekels each for bearing false witness.” +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0003"></a> +<a href="images/plate-3.jpg"><img src="images/ill-3.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Three brothers then drew nigh to Solomon’s throne; they were at court +about an inheritance. Their father had told them before his death: “That +ye may not quarrel at division, I myself shall apportion ye in justice. When I +die, go beyond the knoll that is in the midst of the grove behind the house, +and dig therein. There shall ye find a box with three divisions: know, that the +topmost is for the eldest brother; the middle one for the second; the lowest +for the youngest.” And when, after his death, they had gone, and had done +as he had willed, they had found that the topmost division was filled to the +top with golden coins, whereas in the middle one were lying only common bones, +and in the lowest naught but pieces of wood. And so among the younger brothers +arose envy for the eldest, and enmity; and in the end their life had become so +unbearable that they decided to turn to the king for counsel and judgment. And +even here, standing before the throne, they could not refrain from mutual +recriminations and affronts. +</p> + +<p> +The king shook his head, heard them out, and spake: +</p> + +<p> +“Cease quarreling; a stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a +fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Your father was, it is plain to +see, a wise man and a just, and he has expressed his wishes in his testament +just as clearly as though it had been consummated before an hundred witnesses. +Is it possible that ye have not surmised at once, ye sorry brawlers, that to +the eldest brother he left all his moneys; to the second, all his cattle and +all his slaves; while to the youngest,—his house and plow-land? Depart, +therefore, in peace; and be no longer enemies among yourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +And the three brothers—but recently enemies—with beaming faces +bowed to the king’s feet and walked out of the Hall of Judgment arm in +arm. +</p> + +<p> +And the king decided also another suit at inheritance, begun three days ago. A +certain man, dying, had said that he was leaving all his goods to the worthier +of his two sons. But since neither one of them would consent to call himself +the worse one, they had therefore turned to the king. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon questioned them as to their pursuits, and, having heard them answer +that they were both hunters with the bow, he spake: +</p> + +<p> +“Return home. I shall order the corpse of your father to be stood up +against a tree. We shall first see which one of you shall hit his breast more +truly with an arrow, and then decide your suit.” +</p> + +<p> +Now both brothers had returned in the custody of a man sent by the king for +their surveillance. He it was whom the king questioned about the contest. +</p> + +<p> +“I have fulfilled all that thou hast commanded,” said his man. +“I stood the corpse of the old man against a tree, and gave each brother +his bow and arrows. The elder was the first to shoot. At a distance of an +hundred and twenty ells he hit just the place where, in a living man, the heart +beats.” +</p> + +<p> +“A splendid shot,” said Solomon. “And the younger?” +</p> + +<p> +“The younger ... Forgive me, O King,—I could not insist upon thy +command being fulfilled exactly.... The younger did make his string taut, but +suddenly lowered the bow to his feet, turned around, and said, weeping: +‘Nay, this I can not do.... I will not shoot at the corpse of my +father.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore, let the estate of his father belong to him,” decided +the king. “He has proven the worthier son. As for the elder, if he +desire, he may join the number of my bodyguards. I have need of such strong and +rapacious men, sure of hand and true of eye, and with a heart grown over with +wool.” +</p> + +<p> +Next three men came before the king. Carrying on a mutual traffic in +merchandise, they had amassed much money. And so, when the time had come for +them to journey to Jerusalem, they had sewn up the gold in a leathern belt and +had set out on their way. On the road they had spent a night in a forest, and, +for safe-keeping, had buried the belt in the ground. But when they awoke in the +morning, they found no belt in the place where they had put it. +</p> + +<p> +They all accused one another of the secret theft, and since all three seemed to +be men of exceeding cunning, and subtile of speech, the king therefore said +unto them: +</p> + +<p> +“Ere I decide your suit, hearken unto that which I shall relate to you. A +certain fair maiden promised her beloved, who was setting out upon a journey, +to await his return, and to yield her virginity to none save him. But, having +gone away, he within a short while married another maiden, in another city, and +she came to know of this. In the absence of her beloved, a wealthy and +kind-hearted youth in her city, a friend of her childhood, paid court to her. +Constrained by her parents she durst not, for shame and fear, tell him of her +pact, and took him to spouse. But when, at the conclusion of the marriage +feast, he led her to the bed-chamber, and would lay down with her, she began to +implore him: ‘Allow me to go to the city where my former beloved +dwelleth. Let him relieve me of my vow; then shall I return to thee, and do all +thy desire!’ And since the youth loved her exceedingly, he did agree to +her request, allowed her to go, and she went. On the way a robber fell upon +her, disheveled her, and was about to ravish her. But the maiden fell down on +her knees before him, and, in tears, implored him to spare her virtue, telling +the robber all that had befallen her, and her reason for travelling to a +strange city. And the robber, having heard her out, was so astounded by her +faithfulness to her word, and so touched by the goodness of her bridegroom, +that not only did he let the girl depart in peace, but also returned to her the +valuables he had taken. Now I ask you, who of all these three did best before +the countenance of God,—the maiden, the bridegroom, or the robber?” +</p> + +<p> +And one of the plaintiffs said that the maiden was the most worthy of praise, +for her steadfastness to her oath. Another marvelled at the great love of her +bridegroom; the third, however, found the action of the robber the most +magnanimous one. +</p> + +<p> +And the king said to the last: +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore, it is even thou who hast stolen the belt with the common +gold, for thou art by nature covetous, and dost desire that which is not +thine.” +</p> + +<p> +But this man, having given his travelling staff to one of his companions, +spake, raising his hands aloft as though for an oath: +</p> + +<p> +“I witness before Jehovah that the gold is not with me, but him!” +</p> + +<p> +The king smiled and commanded one of his warriors: +</p> + +<p> +“Take this man’s rod and break it in half.” +</p> + +<p> +And when the warrior had carried out Solomon’s order, gold coins poured +out upon the floor, for they had been concealed within the hollowed-out stick; +as for the thief, he, struck by the wisdom of the king, fell down before his +throne and confessed his misdeed. +</p> + +<p> +There also came into the House of Lebanon a woman, the poor widow of a +stone-cutter, and she spake: +</p> + +<p> +“I cry for justice, O King! For the last two dinarii left me I bought +flour, put it into this large earthen bowl, and started to carry it home. But a +strong wind suddenly arose and did scatter my flour. O wise king, who shall +bring back this my loss? I now have naught wherewith to feed my +children.” +</p> + +<p> +“When was this?” asked the king. +</p> + +<p> +“It happened this morning, at dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +And so Solomon commanded that there be summoned to him several merchants, whose +ships were to set out this day with merchandise for Phœnicia, by way of Jaffa. +And when, in alarm, they appeared in the Hall of Judgment, the king asked them: +</p> + +<p> +“Did ye pray God, or the gods, for a favourable wind for your +ships?” +</p> + +<p> +And they answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, O King. We did so. And our offerings were pleasing to God, for He +did send us a propitious wind.” +</p> + +<p> +“I rejoice on your account,” said Solomon. “But the same wind +has scattered a poor woman’s flour that she was carrying in a bowl. Do ye +not deem it just, if ye have to recompense her?” +</p> + +<p> +And they, made glad that the king had summoned them only for this, at once +filled the bowl by casting into it small and large silver coin. And when, with +tears, she began to thank the king, he smiled radiantly and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait, this is not yet all. This morning’s wind has bestowed joy +upon me as well, which I did not expect. And therefore, to the gifts of these +merchants, I shall add my kingly gift also.” +</p> + +<p> +And he commanded Adoniram, the treasurer, to put on top of the money of the +merchants enough gold coin to cover the silver entirely out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon desired to see none unhappy on this day. He distributed more rewards, +pensions, and gifts than he sometimes did within a whole year, and he pardoned +Ahimaaz, the governor of the land of Naphtali, against whom his wrath had +flamed before, because of his lawless levies; and he commuted the faults of +many who had transgressed the law, nor did he overlook any of the petitions of +his subjects,—save one. +</p> + +<p> +When the king was passing out from the House at Lebanon through the small +southern door, one in a garment of yellow leather stood up in his path,—a +squat, broad-shouldered man, darkly-ruddy and morose of face, with a black, +bushy beard, with a neck like a bull’s, and an austere gaze from +underneath shaggy, black eyebrows. This was the high priest of Moloch’s +temple. He uttered but one word in a supplicating voice: +</p> + +<p> +“King!...” +</p> + +<p> +In the bronze belly of his god were seven divisions: one for meal, another for +doves, the third for sheep, the fourth for rams, the fifth for calves, the +sixth for beeves; but the seventh, meant for living infants brought by their +mothers, had long stood empty at the interdict of the king. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon walked in silence past the priest, but the latter stretched out his +hands after him and exclaimed with supplication: +</p> + +<p> +“King! I adjure thee by thy joy!... Show me this kindness, O king, and I +shall reveal to thee what danger threatens thy life.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon made no reply; and the eyes of the priest, who had clenched his +powerful hands into fists, followed him to the exit with a ferocious glare. +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0004"></a> +<a href="images/plate-4.jpg"><img src="images/ill-4.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"></a>VI.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-A.png" width="50" height="50" alt="A" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">A</span>t nightfall Sulamith went to that spot in the old +city where, in long rows, stretched the shops of the moneychangers, usurers, +and dealers in sweet-smelling condiments. There she sold to a jeweller for +three drachmas and one dinar her only valuable,—her earrings for festal +days; of silver, in the form of rings, each with a little golden star. +</p> + +<p> +Then she paid a visit to a seller of perfumes. In the deep, dark, stone niche, +in the midst of jars with gray Arabian amber, packets of frankincense from +Lebanon, bunches of aromatic herbs, and phials with oils, was sitting an +Ægyptian, a castrate,—old, obese, wrinkled, immobile, all fragrant +himself; his legs tucked under him, and blinking his lazy eyes. He carefully +counted out of a Phœnician flask into a little clay flagon just as many drops +of myrrh as there were dinarii among all the moneys of Sulamith; and when he +had finished this task he said, gathering up with the stopper the remnant of +the oil around the neck of the bottle, and laughing slyly: +</p> + +<p> +“Swarthy maiden, beautiful maiden! When this day thy beloved shall kiss +thee between thy breasts and say: ‘How fragrant is thy body, O my +beloved!’—recall me at that moment. I have poured over three extra +drops for thee.” +</p> + +<p> +And so, when night had come, and the moon had risen over Siloam, blending the +blue whiteness of its houses with the black blueness of the shadows and the +dull green of the trees, Sulamith did arise from her humble couch of +goats’-wool and hearkened. All was quiet in the house. Her sister was +breathing evenly upon the floor, nigh the wall. Only outside, in the wayside +bushes, the cicadas chirped stridently and passionately; and the blood throbbed +noisily in her ears. The shadow of the window-lattice, etched by the light of +the moon, lay, sharp and oblique, upon the floor. +</p> + +<p> +Trembling with timidity, expectation, and happiness, Sulamith loosened her +garments, let them down to her feet, and, stepping over them, was left naked in +the middle of the room, facing the window, in the light of the moon falling +through the bars of the lattice. She poured the thick, sweet-smelling myrrh +upon her shoulders, upon her bosom, upon her abdomen; and, fearing to lose even +one precious drop, began to rub the oil over her legs, under her armpits, and +about her neck. And the smooth, slippery touch of her palms and elbows against +her body compelled her to shiver with sweet anticipation. And, smiling and +trembling, she gazed out of the window, where, beyond the lattice, two poplars +showed,—dark on one side, silvered on the other,—and whispered to +herself: +</p> + +<p> +“This is for thee, my love; this is for thee, my beloved. My beloved is +the chiefest among ten thousand, his head is as the most fine gold, his locks +are bushy, and black as a raven. His lips are most sweet; yea, he is all +desire. This is my beloved, and this is my brother, O daughters of +Jerusalem!...” +</p> + +<p> +And now, fragrant with myrrh, she lay down upon her couch. Her face is turned +toward the window; her hands, like a child, she has squeezed between her knees; +her heart fills the room with its loud beating. Much time passes. Scarce +closing her eyes, she is plunged into dozing, but her heart keeps vigil. As in +a dream, it seems to her that her dear is lying beside her. In a joyous fright +she casts off her drowsiness; she seeks her beloved near her on the couch, but +finds no one. The moon’s design upon the floor has crept nearer the wall, +is dwindled and more oblique. The cicadas are calling; the Brook of Kidron +babbles on monotonously; the doleful chant of a night watchman is heard in the +city. +</p> + +<p> +“What if he comes not to-day?” thinks Sulamith; “I did +implore him,—and what if he hath suddenly obeyed me?... I charge you, O +ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roses and lilies of the field: awake not love +till it come.... But now my love hath come to me. Make haste, my beloved! Thy +bride awaits thee. Make haste like to a young hart upon the mountains of +spices.” +</p> + +<p> +The sand crunches in the yard under light steps. And the soul of the maiden +deserts her. A cautious hand knocks at the window. A dark face shows on the +other side of the lattice. The low voice of her beloved is heard: +</p> + +<p> +“Open to me, my sister, my dove, my undefiled! For my head is filled with +dew.” +</p> + +<p> +But a charmed numbness has suddenly taken possession of Sulamith’s body. +She wants to rise, and can not; wants to move her hand, and can not. And, +without understanding what is taking place with her, she whispers, gazing +through the window: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, his locks are filled with the drops of the night! But I have put off +my chiton. How shall I put it on?” +</p> + +<p> +“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. The morn is nigh, flowers +appear on the earth, and the vines with the tender grape give a goodly smell; +the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is +heard from the mountains.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have washed my feet,” whispers Sulamith; “how shall I +defile them?” +</p> + +<p> +The dark head disappears from the window-lattice; the resounding steps pass +around the house and cease at the door. The beloved cautiously puts in his hand +by the hole of the door. His fingers can be heard groping for the inner bolt. +</p> + +<p> +Then does Sulamith rise up, pressing her palms hard against her breasts, and +whispers in affright: +</p> + +<p> +“My sister sleeps—I fear to awaken her.” +</p> + +<p> +She irresolutely dons her sandals, puts a light chiton upon her naked body, +throws a vail over it, and opens the door, leaving marks of myrrh upon the +handles of the lock. But there is no longer anyone upon the road that glimmers +whitely in its solitude between the dark bushes in the gray murk of morning. +The beloved had not waited, and was gone; not even his steps were to be heard. +The moon has dwindled and paled, and floats on high. In the east, above the +waves of the mountains, the sky is putting on a chilly pink before the dawn. In +the distance the walls and towers of Jerusalem glimmer whitely. +</p> + +<p> +“My beloved! King of my life!” Sulamith calls into the humid +darkness. “I am here. I await thee.... Return!” +</p> + +<p> +But none responds. +</p> + +<p> +“I will run upon the highway; I shall, I shall overtake my +beloved,” Sulamith says to herself. “I will go about the city in +the streets and in the broad ways; I will seek him whom my soul loveth. O that +thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breast of my mother! When I should +find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. I would +lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house. Thou wouldst instruct +me; I would cause thee to drink of the juice of my pomegranates. I charge you, +daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him I am smitten by +love.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus does she commune with herself, and with light, docile steps runs upon the +road toward the city. At the Dung Gates near the wall, two watchmen that had +gone about the city at night are sitting and dozing in the chill of the +morning. They awaken and stare with astonishment at the running girl. The +younger arises and blocks her way with outstretched arms. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay, stay, thou fair!” exclaims he with laughter. “Whither +so fast? Thou hast passed the night on the sly in the bed of thy dear and art +yet warm from his embraces; whereas we have been chilled through by the +dampness of the night. It would be but fair if thou wert to sit a while with +us.” +</p> + +<p> +The elder also arises and wants to embrace Sulamith. He does not laugh; he +breathes heavily, fast, and with wheezing; he is licking his blue lips with his +tongue. His face, made hideous by great scars of healed leprosy, seems +frightful in the pallid murk. He speaks in a voice hoarse and snuffling: +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, of a truth. What is thy beloved more than other men, sweet maiden! +Shut thy eyes, and thou canst not tell me apart from him. I am even better, +for, of a certainty, I am more experienced than he.” +</p> + +<p> +They clutch at her bosom, her shoulders, her arms and raiment. But Sulamith is +lithe and strong, and her body, anointed with oil, is slippery. She tears +herself away, leaving in the hands of the watchmen her outer vail, and runs +back still faster along the same road. She has experienced neither offense nor +fear,—she is all swallowed up in thoughts of Solomon. Passing by her +house, she sees the door out of which she had just gone still left open, a +gaping black quadrangle in the white wall. But she merely catches her breath, +shrinks within herself, like a young cat, and runs by on her tip-toes with +never a sound. +</p> + +<p> +She crosses the bridge of Kidron, avoids the outskirt of the village of Siloam, +and by a stony road gradually climbs the southern slope of Beth-El-Khav, into +her vineyard. Her brother is still sleeping among the vines, wrapped up in a +woolen blanket all wet from the dew. Sulamith rouses him, but he can not +awaken, enchained by the morning sleep of youth. +</p> + +<p> +As yesterday, the dawn is flaming over Anaze. A wind springs up. The fragrance +of the grape in blossom streams through the air. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall come away and look upon that place of the wall where my beloved +hath stood,” Sulamith is saying. “I shall feel with my hands the +stones that he hath touched; I shall kiss the ground beneath his feet.” +</p> + +<p> +She glides lightly between the vines. The dew falls from them, chilling her +feet and spattering her elbows. And now a joyous cry from Sulamith fills the +vineyard! The king is standing beyond the wall. With a radiant face he +stretches out his arms to meet her. +</p> + +<p> +More lightly than a bird Sulamith surmounts the enclosure, and, without words, +with a moan of happiness, entwines the king. +</p> + +<p> +Several minutes pass thus. Finally, tearing his lips away from her mouth, +Solomon speaks, enraptured, and his voice trembles: +</p> + +<p> +“Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair!” +</p> + +<p> +“O, how fair art thou, my beloved!” +</p> + +<p> +Tears of delight and gratefulness,—blessed tears,—sparkle upon +Sulamith’s pale and beautiful face. Languishing with love, she sinks to +the ground and whispers words of madness in a barely audible voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedars.... Kiss me with the +kisses of thy mouth—for thy love is better than wine....” +</p> + +<p> +After a brief space Sulamith is lying with her head upon Solomon’s +breast. His left arm is embracing her. +</p> + +<p> +Bending to her very ear, the king is whispering something to her; the king is +tenderly apologizing, and Sulamith reddens from his words and closes her eyes. +Then, with an inexpressibly lovely smile of confusion, she says: +</p> + +<p> +“My mother’s children made me the keeper of the vineyard.... But +mine own vineyard have I not kept.” +</p> + +<p> +But Solomon takes her little swarthy hand and presses it fervently to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou dost not regret this, Sulamith?” +</p> + +<p> +“O nay, my king, my beloved. I regret it not. Wert thou to arise this +minute and go from me, and were I condemned never to see thee after, I would to +the end of my life utter thy name with gratitude, Solomon!” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me one thing else, Sulamith.... Only, I beseech thee, speak the +truth, my undefiled.... Didst thou know who I am?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay,—even now I know it not. Methought.... But I am shamed to +confess it.... I fear thou wilt laugh at me.... They tell, that here, upon +Mount Beth-El-Khav, pagan gods do oft wander.... Many of them, it is said, are +beautiful.... And methought: art thou not Hor, the son of Osiris; or else some +other god?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, I am but a king, beloved. But here, upon this spot, I kiss thy dear +hand, scorched of the sun, and swear to thee that never yet—neither in +the time of first love longings, nor in the days of my glory—has my heart +flamed with such an insatiable desire as that which is awakened within me by +thy mere smile, by the mere touch of thy flaming locks,—the mere curve of +thy purple lips! Thou art comely as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains in the +temple of Solomon! Thy caresses intoxicate me. Behold thy breasts—they +are fragrant. Thy nipples are as wine!” +</p> + +<p> +“O, yea,—gaze, gaze upon me, beloved. Thy eyes arouse me! O, what +joy!—for thy desire is unto me,—me! Thy locks are scented. As a +bundle of myrrh thou dost lie betwixt my breasts!” +</p> + +<p> +Time ceases its current and closes over them in a solar cycle. Their bed is the +green; their roof is of cedars; and their walls are of cypresses. And the +banner over their tent is love. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0007" id="h2HCH0007"></a>VII.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-T.png" width="50" height="50" alt="T" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">T</span>he king had a pool in his palace,—an +octagonal, fresh pool of white marble. Steps of dark-green malachite ran down +to its bottom. A facing of Ægyptian jasper, snowy-white, with pink, barely +perceptible little veins, served as a frame for the pool. The best of ebony had +gone for the ornamentation of the walls. Four lions’ heads of pink +sardonyx cast forth the water in thin jets into the pool. Eight mirrors of +polished silver, the height of a man and of excellent Sydonian workmanship, +were set into the walls, between the slender columns of white. +</p> + +<p> +Before Sulamith was to enter the pool, young maid-servants poured aromatic +compounds into it, that made the water to turn white and blue and to play with +all the colours of a milky opal. The female slaves disrobing Sulamith gazed +with delight upon her body; and, when they had disrobed her, they led her up to +a mirror. Not a single blemish was there upon her beautiful body, made aureate +like a tawny, ripe fruit by the golden down of soft hair. And she, gazing upon +her naked self in the mirror, turned red and thought: +</p> + +<p> +“All this is for thee, my king!” +</p> + +<p> +She came out of the pool fresh, cool, and fragrant, covered with quivering +drops of water. The female slaves put upon her a short white tunic of the +finest Ægyptian linen, and a chiton of precious Sargonian byssin, of such a +refulgent golden colour that the garment seemed woven out of the rays of the +sun. They shod her feet in red sandals made from the skin of a young kid; they +dried her dark, flaming locks and bound them with strings of large black +pearls; and they adorned her arms with tinkling bracelets. +</p> + +<p> +In such array did she come before Solomon, and the king exclaimed joyously: +</p> + +<p> +“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as +the sun? O, Sulamith, thy beauty is more terrible than an army with flaunted +banners! Seven hundred wives have I known and three hundred concubines, and +virgins without number,—thou art but one, my fair! The queens shall +behold thee and extoll thee, and all women upon earth shall praise thee. O, +Sulamith, that day when thou wilt become my spouse and queen shall be the +happiest my heart has known.” +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon she walked up to the door of carved olive, and, pressing her cheek +against it, said: +</p> + +<p> +“I desire to be but thy slave, Solomon. Behold, I have put my ear to the +post of the door. I beseech thee,—in accordance with the law of Moses, +nail down my ear in witness of my voluntary bondage before thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Solomon did command to be brought out of his treasure house precious +pendants of deep-red carbuncles, fashioned to resemble elongated pears. He +himself put them upon the ears of Sulamith, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” +</p> + +<p> +And, taking Sulamith by the hand, the king brought her to the banqueting house, +where his companions and familiars were already awaiting him. +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0005"></a> +<a href="images/plate-5.jpg"><img src="images/ill-5.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0008" id="h2HCH0008"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-S.png" width="50" height="50" alt="S" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">S</span>even days had sped since Sulamith had stepped into +the palace of the king. Seven days had she and the king taken joyance in love, +yet could not be sated therewith. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon loved to adorn his beloved with precious things. “How beautiful +are thy little feet in sandals!” he would exclaim in rapture, and, +getting down on his knees before her, he would kiss each toe in turn, and put +upon them rings with stones so splendid and rare that their like was not to be +found even upon the ephod of a high-priest. Sulamith would listen, entranced, +whenever he discoursed upon the inner nature of stones, their magic properties +and secret significations. +</p> + +<p> +“Here is anthrax, the sacred stone from the land of Ophir,” the +king would say. “It is hot and moist. Behold, it is red, like blood, like +the evening glow, like the blown flower of the pomegranate, like thick wine +from the vineyards of En-gedi, like thy lips, my Sulamith, in the morning after +a night of love. This is the stone of love, wrath, and blood. Upon the hand of +a man languishing in a fever or made drunk by desire, it waxes warmer and glows +with a red flame. Put it upon thy hand, my beloved, and thou shalt see it +enkindle. If it be brayed to a powder and taken in water, it imparts a glow to +the face, allays the stomach, and maketh the soul to rejoice. He that weareth +it attaineth power over men. It is a curative for the heart, brain, and memory. +But it ought not be worn nigh children, for it doth arouse the passions of love +around it. +</p> + +<p> +“Here is a transparent stone, the colour of copper verdigris. In the land +of the Æthiopians, where it is gotten, it is called Mgnadis-Phza. It was given +me by the father of my wife, Queen Astis,—by Shishak, the Pharaoh of +Ægypt, into whose hands it came through a captive king. Thou seest,—it is +not beautiful; yet is its value beyond computation, for but four men on earth +possess the stone Mgnadis-Phza. It possesses the unusual property of attracting +silver to it, just like a covetous man that loveth the metal. I give it thee, +my beloved, for that thou are not covetous. +</p> + +<p> +“Gaze upon these sapphires, Sulamith. Some of them resemble in colour +corn-flowers among wheat; others, an autumn sky; others still, the sea in fine +weather. This is the stone of virginity,—chill and pure. During far and +difficult voyages it is placed in the mouth to allay thirst. It also cureth +leprosy and all malignant growths. It bestoweth clarity to thoughts. The +priests of Jupiter in Rome wear it upon the index finger. +</p> + +<p> +“The king of all stones is the stone Shamir. The Greeks name it +Adamas,—which signifieth, the invincible. It is the hardest of all +substances on earth and remains uninjured in the fiercest of fires. It is the +light of the sun, concentrated in the ground and cooled by time. Admire it, +Sulamith,—it playeth with all colours, but in itself remaineth +translucent, like a drop of water. It shineth in the darkness of night; but +loseth its radiance, even in the daytime, upon the hand of a murderer. The +Shamir is tied to the hand of a woman tortured in heavy travail with child; and +it is also put upon the left hand by warriors setting out for battle. He that +weareth the Shamir findeth favour with kings and hath no dread of evil spirits. +The Shamir driveth the mottled colour off the face, purifieth the breath, +giveth quiet slumber to lunaticks, and induceth a sweat curative of near +proximity to poison. The Shamir stones are male and female; buried deep in the +ground they are capable of multiplying. +</p> + +<p> +“The moonstone, pale and mild, like the shining of the moon,—it is +the stone of the Chaldæan and Babylonian magi. Before divination it is placed +under the tongue, and it imparts to them the gift of seeing the future. It hath +a strange tie with the moon, for during a new moon it groweth chill and shineth +more brightly. It is beneficial to woman during that year when from a child she +is becoming a woman. +</p> + +<p> +“Wear thou this ring with a smaragd constantly, my beloved, for the +smaragd is the favourite stone of Solomon, King of Israel. It is green, pure, +gay, tender, like grass in the spring of the year, and when one gazeth at it +for long the heart waxeth radiant; if thou wilt look upon it in the morning, +all the day shall hold no hardship of thee. I shall hang a smaragd over thy +night couch, my comely one; let it drive evil dreams away from thee; let it +lull the beating of thy heart, and divert black thoughts. Serpents and +scorpions come not nigh him that weareth a smaragd; but if a smaragd be held +before the eyes of a serpent, water shall flow from them, and continue flowing, +till it go blind. Pounded smaragd, together with camel’s milk, is given +an empoisoned man, that the poison may go off in transpiration; mixed with +attar of roses, smaragd cureth the bites of venomous reptiles; while ground +with saffron and applied to ailing eyes it eradicates night blindness. It also +helps in dysentery and the black cough that is incurable by any human +means.” +</p> + +<p> +The king also bestowed upon his beloved Lybian amethysts, whose colour +resembled early violets, that put forth in forests at the foot of the Lybian +mountains,—amethysts, possessed of the wondrous property of curbing wind, +mollifying wrath, preserving from intoxication, and helping at the trapping of +wild beasts; turquoise of Persepolis, that bringeth happiness in love, endeth +connubial quarrels, turneth away the wrath of kings, and is propitious in the +breaking and selling of horses; and cat’s-eye,—that guardeth the +property, reason, and health of its possessor; and the pale beryllion, +blue-green, like sea-water near shore,—a good travelling companion for +pilgrims and a remedy against cataract and leprosy; and the vari-coloured +agate: he that weareth it hath no dread of the evil machinations of enemies, +and avoideth the danger of being crushed in an earthquake; and the apple-green, +turbidly-pellucid onychion,—its master’s guardian from fire and +madness; and iaspis, that maketh beasts to tremble; and the black +swallow-stone, that endoweth with eloquence; and the eagle-stone, esteemed of +pregnant women,—eagles put it in their nests when the time comes for +their young to break out of their shells; and zaberzate out of Ophir, shining +like little suns; and yellow-aureate chrysolite,—the friend of merchants +and thieves; and sardonyx, beloved of kings and queens; and the crimson +ligurion: it is found, as all know, in the stomach of the lynx, whose sight is +so keen that it can see through walls,—and for that reason he that +weareth a ligurion is also noted for keen sight, and besides this it stoppeth +bleeding of the nose, and healeth all wounds, save wounds inflicted by stone or +iron. +</p> + +<p> +The king also put upon Sulamith’s neck carcanets of great price, of +pearls that had been dived for in the Persian Sea by his subjects; and the +pearls put on a living lustre and a soft colour from the warmth of her body. +And corals became redder upon her swarthy breast; and turquoise came to life +upon her fingers; and those baubles of yellow amber which were brought from far +northern seas, in gift to the king, by the doughty ship-masters of Hiram, King +of Tyre, emitted crackling sparks in her hands. +</p> + +<p> +With marigolds and lilies did Sulamith deck her couch, preparing it for the +night; and, reposing upon her breast, the king would say in the joyousness of +his heart: +</p> + +<p> +“Thou are like to the king’s decked, masted boat in the Land of +Ophir, O my beloved; a light, golden boat that floats, swaying, upon the sacred +river, among white fragrant blossoms.” +</p> <hr /> <p> +Thus did his first—and last—love come to Solomon, the greatest of +kings and wisest of sages. +</p> + +<p> +Many ages have passed since then. There have been kingdoms and kings, and of +them no trace has been left, as of a wind that has sped over a desert. There +have been prolonged, merciless wars, after which the names of the commanders +shone through the ages, like ensanguined stars; but time has effaced even the +very memory of them. +</p> + +<p> +But the love of the lowly maiden of the vineyard and the great king shall never +pass away nor be forgotten,—for love is strong as death; for every woman +who loves is a queen; for love is beautiful. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0009" id="h2HCH0009"></a>IX.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-S.png" width="50" height="50" alt="S" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">S</span>even days had sped since Solomon,—poet, sage, +and king,—had brought into his palace the lowly maiden he had met in the +vineyard at dawn. For seven days did the king take joyance in her love, nor +could be sated therewith. And a great joy irradiated his countenance, like to +the golden light of the sun. +</p> + +<p> +It was the time of light, warm, moonlit nights,—sweet nights of love.... +Upon a couch of tiger fells lay the naked Sulamith; and the king, sitting upon +the floor at her feet, filled his emerald goblet with the aureate wine of +Mauretus, and drank to the health of his beloved, rejoicing with all his heart, +and narrated to her the sage, strange legends of eld. And Sulamith’s hand +rested upon his head, stroking his wavy black hair. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, my king,” Sulamith had once asked, “is it not +wonderful that I fell in love with thee so instantly? I now call all things to +mind, and meseems I began belonging to thee from the very first moment, when I +had not yet had time to behold thee, but had merely heard thy voice. My heart +began to flutter and did open to meet thee, as a flower opens to the south wind +on a night in summer. How hast thou taken me so, my beloved?” +</p> + +<p> +And the king, quietly bending his head toward the soft knees of Sulamith, +smiled tenderly and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Thousands of women before thee, O my comely one, have put this question +to their beloveds, and hundreds of ages after thee will they be asking their +beloveds about this. There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, +four which I know not: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent +upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man +with a maid. This is not my wisdom, Sulamith,—these are the words of +Agur, son of Jakeh, heard from him by his disciples. But let us honour the +wisdom of others also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea,” said Sulamith pensively, “mayhap it is even true that +man shall never comprehend this. To-day, during the banquet, I wore a +sweet-smelling cluster of stacte upon my breast. But thou didst leave the +table, and my flowers ceased to give out their smell. Meseems, thou must be +beloved, O king, of women, and men, and beasts, and even of flowers. I oft +ponder, yet comprehend not: how can one love any other save thee?” +</p> + +<p> +“And any save thee, save thee, Sulamith! Every hour do I render thanks to +God for that He has set thee in my path.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember, I was sitting upon a stone of the wall, and thou didst put +thy hand on mine. Fire ran through my veins; my head was dizzied. I said within +me: Behold, there is my lord, my king, my beloved!” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember, Sulamith, how thou didst turn around to my call. Under the +thin raiment I saw thy body, thy beautiful body, that I love as I love God. I +love it,—covered with its golden down, as though the sun had left its +kiss upon it. Thou art graceful, like to a filly in the Pharaoh’s +chariot; thou art fair like the chariot of Ammi-nadib. Thy eyes are as two +doves, sitting by the rivers of waters.” +</p> + +<p> +“O, beloved, thy words stir me. Thy hand sears me sweetly. O, my king, +thy legs are as pillars of marble. Thy belly is like an heap of wheat, set +about with lilies.” +</p> + +<p> +Surrounded, irradiated, by the silent light of the moon, they forgot time and +place; and thus hours would pass, and they with wonder beheld the rosy dawn +peeping through the latticed windows of the chamber. +</p> + +<p> +Sulamith also said once: +</p> + +<p> +“Thou hast known, my beloved, wives and virgins without number, and they +were all the fairest women on earth. I become ashamed whenever I consider +myself,—a simple, unschooled girl,—and my poor body, scorched of +the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +But, touching her lips with his, the king would say, with infinite love and +gratefulness: +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art a queen, Sulamith! Thou wast born a true queen. Thou art brave +and generous in love. Seven hundred wives have I, and three hundred concubines, +and virgins without number have I known; but thou, my timid one, art my only +one,—thou fairest among women. I have found thee like as a diver in the +Gulf of Persia, that filleth a great number of baskets with barren shells and +pearls of little price, ere he get from the bed of the sea a pearl worthy a +king’s crown. My child, a man may love thousands of times, yet he loveth +but once. People without number think they love, yet only to two of them doth +God send love. And when thou didst yield thyself up to me among the cypresses, +under the rafters of cedars, upon the bed of green, I did with all my soul +render thanks to God, so gracious to me.” +</p> + +<p> +Sulamith also asked once: +</p> + +<p> +“I know that they all loved thee, for not to love thee is impossible. The +Queen of Sheba did come to thee from her domain. They say, that she was the +wisest and fairest of all women that had ever been on earth. As in a dream, I +recall her caravans. I know not why, but since my earliest childhood I have +been drawn to the chariots of the great. I was then perhaps seven, perhaps +eight. I remember the camels in golden harness, covered with caparisons of +purple, laden with heavy burthens; I remember the mules with the little bells +of gold between their ears; I remember the droll monkeys in silvern cages; and +the wondrous peacocks. There was a multitude of servants in garments of white +and blue, marching; they led tame tigers and panthers upon ribbands of red. I +was but eight then.” +</p> + +<p> +“O child, thou wert but eight then,” said Solomon with sadness. +</p> + +<p> +“Didst thou love her more than me, Solomon? Wilt tell me something of +her?” +</p> + +<p> +And the king told her all pertaining to this amazing woman. Having heard much +of the wisdom and beauty of the King of Israel, she had come to him from her +domain with rich gifts, desiring to prove his wisdom and subdue his heart. This +was a magnificent woman of forty, who was already beginning to fade. But +through secret, magic means she contrived to make her body, that was growing +flabby, seem graceful and supple, like a girl’s, while her face bore an +impress of an awesome, inhuman beauty. But her wisdom was ordinary wisdom, and +the petty wisdom of a woman to boot. +</p> + +<p> +Desiring to test the king with riddles, she at first sent to him fifty youths +of tenderest age, and fifty maidens. They were all so cunningly dressed that +the keenest eye could not have discerned their sex. “I shall call thee +wise, O King,” said Balkis, “if thou shalt tell me which of them is +woman, and which man.” +</p> + +<p> +But the king burst out laughing, and ordered that every he and she sent him be +brought a separate bason of silver, and a separate ewer of silver, for laving. +And whereas the boys bravely splashed in the water and cast it in handfuls at +their faces, drying their skin vigorously, the girls acted as women always do +at their ablutions. They lathered each hand gently and solicitously, bringing +it closely to their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +In so easy a manner did the king solve the first riddle of Balkis-Mâkkedah. +</p> + +<p> +Next she sent Solomon a large diamond, the size of a hazel nut. This stone had +a thin, exceedingly tortuous flaw, that perforated its entire body with a +narrow, intricate path. The task was to put a silken thread through the jewel. +And the wise king let into the opening a silk worm, which, having passed +through, left the finest of silken webs in its wake. +</p> + +<p> +Also, the beauteous Balkis sent King Solomon a precious goblet of carved +sardonyx, of magnificent workmanship. “This goblet shall be thine,” +she had commanded that the king be told, “if thou fillest it with +moisture taken neither from earth nor heaven.” And Solomon, having filled +the goblet with froth falling from the body of a fatigued steed, ordered it to +be carried to the queen. +</p> + +<p> +Many such hard questions did the queen put to Solomon, but could not belittle +his wisdom; nor with all her secret charms of love’s passion in the night +might she contrive to retain his love. And when she had finally palled upon the +king, he had cruelly, hurtfully made mock of her. +</p> + +<p> +Everybody knew that the Savvian queen never showed her lower extremities to +anyone, and for that reason wore a garment reaching to the ground. Even in the +hours of love caresses did she keep her legs closely covered with raiment. Many +strange and droll legends had sprung up on this account. +</p> + +<p> +Some averred, that the queen had legs like a goat, grown over with wool; others +swore, that instead of human feet she had webbed feet, like a goose. And they +even related how the mother of Balkis had once, after bathing, sat down upon +sand where just before a certain god, temporarily metamorphosed into a gander, +had left his seed, and that through this she had borne the beauteous Queen of +Sheba. +</p> + +<p> +And so Solomon one day commanded to be built, in one of his chambers, a +transparent floor of crystal, with an empty space beneath it, which was filled +with water and stocked with live fish. All this was done with such +extraordinary art that one not forewarned could never possibly notice the +glass, and would take an oath that a pool of clear, fresh water lay before him. +</p> + +<p> +And when all was in readiness, Solomon invited his regal guest to an interview. +Surrounded by all the pomp of her retinue, she paced through the chambers of +the House at Lebanon, and came up to the treacherous pool. At the other end of +it sat the king, resplendent with gold and precious stones, and with a +welcoming look in his dark eyes. The door opened before the queen, and she took +a step forward,—but cried out and.... +</p> + +<p> +Sulamith claps her palms and laughs, and her laughter is joyous and child-like. +</p> + +<p> +“She stoops and lifts up her raiment?” asks Sulamith. +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, my beloved, she acted as any among women would have acted. She +raised up the hem of her garment, and although this lasted for but a moment, +not only I but all my court saw that the beauteous Savvian Queen, +Balkis-Mâkkedah, had ordinary human legs, but crooked and grown over with +coarse hair. On the very next day she set off, without bidding me farewell, and +departed with her magnificent caravan. I had not meant to offend her. I sent +after her a trustworthy runner, whom I ordered to give to the queen a bundle of +a rare mountain herb,—the best means for the extirpation of hair upon the +body. But she returned to me the head of my emissary in a bag of costly +purple.” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon also told his beloved many things out of his life, which none other +among men and women knew, and which Sulamith carried with her into the grave. +He told her of the long and weary years of his wanderings, when, fleeing from +the wrath of his brethren, he was forced to hide under an assumed name in +foreign lands, enduring fearful poverty and privations. He told her how, in a +far-off, unknown country, while he was standing in the market place, in +expectation of being hired to work somewhere, the king’s cook had +approached him and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Stranger, help me carry this hamper of fish into the palace.” +</p> + +<p> +Through his wit, adroitness, and skilled demeanor, Solomon so pleased the +officers of the court, that in a short while he had made himself at home in the +palace, and when the head cook died he had taken his place. Further, Solomon +told of how the king’s only daughter,—a beautiful, ardent +maiden,—had fallen in love with the new cook and had confessed her love +to him; how they fled from the palace one night, and had been re-taken and +brought back; how Solomon had been condemned to die; and how, by a miracle, he +succeeded in escaping from the dungeon. +</p> + +<p> +Avidly did Sulamith listen to him, and, when he grew silent, amidst the +stillness of the night their lips joined, their arms entwined each other, and +breast touched breast. And when morning drew near, and Sulamith’s body +seemed a foamy pink, and the fatigue of love encircled her splendid eyes with +blue shadows, she would say with a tender smile: +</p> + +<p> +“Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick with +love.” +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0006"></a> +<a href="images/plate-6.jpg"><img src="images/ill-6.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0010" id="h2HCH0010"></a>X.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-I.png" width="50" height="50" alt="I" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">I</span>n the temple of Isis, upon Mount Beth-El-Khav, the +first part of the great mystery, to which the faithful of the lesser initiation +were admitted, was just over. The priest on duty,—an ancient elder in +white vestment, with shaven head, and neither moustache nor beard,—had +turned from the elevation of the altar toward the people, and pronounced in a +quiet, tired voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Dwell in peace, my sons and daughters. Wax perfect through deeds. Extoll +the name of the goddess. And may her blessings be over ye for ever and +aye.” +</p> + +<p> +He raised his hands on high over the people, in benediction. And immediately +all the initiates into the lesser rank of the mysteries prostrated themselves +on the floor, and then, arising, softly and in silence made their way to the +exit. +</p> + +<p> +To-day was the seventh day of the month Phamenoth, sacred to the mysteries of +Osiris and Isis. Since evening the solemn procession had thrice made the +circuit of the temple with lamps, palm-leaves, and amphoræ; with the occult +symbols of the gods and the sacred images of the Phallus. In the midst of the +procession, upon the shoulders of the priests and the minor prophets, was +reared the closed <i>naos</i> of costly wood, ornamented with pearl, ivory, and +gold. Therein dwelt the goddess herself,—She, The Invisible, The Bestower +of Fecundity, The Mysterious; Mother, Sister, and Wife of gods. +</p> + +<p> +The evil Seth had enticed his brother, the divine Osiris, to a feast; through +craftiness he made him to lie down in a magnificent sarcophagus, and, having +clapped down the lid over him, cast the sarcophagus with the body of the great +god into the Nile. Isis, who had just given birth to Horus, with yearning and +tears searches all the world over for the body of her spouse, and for long can +not find it. Finally, slaves inform her that the body had been borne out to sea +by the waves, and that it had been cast up at Byblos, where an enormous tree +had sprung up about it, enclosing within its trunk the body of the god and his +floating dwelling. The king of that domain had commanded a mighty column to be +made out of the enormous tree, not knowing that within it reposed the god +Osiris himself, the great bestower of life. Isis goes to Byblos; she arrives +there fatigued with sultriness, thirst, and the toilsome, stony road. She +liberates the sarcophagus out of the midst of the tree, carries it with her, +and buries it in the earth near the city wall. But Seth again secretly steals +away the body of Osiris, cuts it up into fourteen parts, and strews them over +all the towns and settlements of Upper and Lower Ægpyt. +</p> + +<p> +And again with great grief and lamentations Isis set out in search of the +sacred members of her spouse and brother. Her sister, the goddess Nephthys, and +the mighty Thoth, and the son of the goddess, the radiant Horus,—Horus of +the Horizon,—all join their plaints to her weeping. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the hidden meaning of the present procession in the first half of the +sacred service. Now, upon the departure of the common believers, and after a +short rest, the second part of the great mystery was about to be consummated. +In the temple were left only those initiated into the higher +degrees,—mystagogues, epopts, prophets and sacrificators. +</p> + +<p> +Boys in white vestments bore about, upon salvers of silver, flesh, bread, dried +fruits, and sweet wine of Pelusium. Others poured hippocras out of +narrow-necked Tyrian vessels,—a drink given in those days to condemned +criminals before execution, to arouse their manhood, but which also possessed +the great virtue of generating and sustaining in men the fire of a sacred +madness. +</p> + +<p> +At a sign from the priest on duty the boys withdrew. A priest who was also the +keeper of the gates locked all doors. Then he attentively made the rounds of +all those who remained, scrutinizing their faces and testing them with secret +words that constituted the pass-orders for this night. Two other priests drew a +silvern thurible upon wheels down the length of the temple and around each of +its columns. The temple filled with the blue, thick, heady, aromatic fumes of +incense, and through the layers of smoke grew barely visible the vari-coloured +flames of the lamp,—lamps made of translucent stones, lamps set in carved +gold and suspended from the ceiling upon long chains of silver. In the times of +eld this temple of Osiris and Isis was known for its small extent and its +poverty, and was hollowed out like a cavern in the heart of the mountain. A +narrow subterranean corridor led to it from without. But in the days of the +reign of Solomon, who had taken under his protection all religions save those +which permitted the offering of children in sacrifice, and thanks to the zeal +of Queen Astis, an Ægyptian born, the temple had expanded in depth and height, +and had become adorned with rich offerings. +</p> + +<p> +The former altar still remained inviolate in its primordial, austere +simplicity, together with a great number of small chambers surrounding it and +serving for the keeping of treasures, sacrificial objects, and priestly +appurtenances, as well as for special secret purposes during the most occult +mystic orgies. +</p> + +<p> +But then, the outer court was truly magnificent, with its pylons in honour of +the goddess Hathor, and with a four-sided colonnade of four and twenty columns. +The inner, subterranean, hypostylic hall for worshippers was built still more +magnificently. Its mosaic floor was all adorned with cunningly wrought images +of fishes, beasts, amphibians and reptiles; while the ceiling was overlaid with +blue lazure, and upon it shone a sun of gold, glowed a moon of silver, +innumerable stars twinkled, and birds soared upon outspread wings. The floor +was the earth, the ceiling the sky, and they were joined by round and +many-sided columns, like mighty tree trunks; and since all the columns were +surmounted by capitals in the form of the tender flowers of lotus or the +slender cylinders of the papyrus, the ceiling they supported did in reality +seem as light and æthereal as the sky. +</p> + +<p> +The walls to the height of a man were faced with plates of red granite, brought +at the desire of Queen Astis out of Thebes, where the local master workers +could impart to the granite a smoothness like that of a mirror, together with +an amazing polish. Higher, to the very ceiling, the walls, as well as the +columns, were gay with graven and limned images with the symbols of the gods of +both Ægypts. Here was Sebekh, honoured in Fayum in the form of a crocodile; and +Thoth, the god of the moon, depicted as an ibis in the city of Khmunu; and the +sun-god Horus, to whom a small idol-temple was consecrated in Edfu; and Bast of +Bubastis, in the form of a cat; Shu, the god of the air, as a lion; +Ptah,—an Apis; Hathor, the goddess of mirth,—a heifer; Anubis, the +god of embalming, with the head of a jackal; and Menthu out of Hermon; and the +Coptic Minu; and Neith of Sais, the goddess of the sky; and, finally, in the +form of a ram,—the dread god whose name was never uttered, and who was +called Khenti-Amentiu, which signifieth: The Dweller in the West. +</p> + +<p> +The half-dark altar reared above the entire temple, and the gold upon the walls +of the sanctuary that hid the images of Isis gleamed within its depths. Three +gates,—a large one in the middle, and two small ones flanking +it,—opened into the sanctuary. Before the middle one stood a small +sacrificial altar with a sacred stone knife of Æthiopian obsidian. Steps led up +to the altar, and upon them were disposed young priests and priestesses with +tympani and sistrums, with flutes and tabours. +</p> + +<p> +Queen Astis was reclining within a little, secret chamber. A small quadrangular +opening, artfully concealed by a large curtain, led directly to the altar, and +permitted one to follow all the details of the sacred service without betraying +one’s presence. A light, closely-fitting dress of linen gauze, interwoven +with silver, tightly enveloped the body of the queen, leaving the arms bare up +to the shoulders, and the legs half-way to the calf. Her skin gleamed pinkly +through the diaphanous material, and one could see the pure lines and +elevations of her graceful body, which, despite the queen’s age of +thirty, still had lost none of its litheness, beauty and freshness. Her hair, +stained a blue colour, was spread loosely over her shoulders and back, and was +adorned with innumerable little aromatic pomanders. Her face was much rouged +and whitened; while her eyes, finely outlined by kohl, seemed enormous and +glowed in the darkness, like those of some powerful beasts of the feline +species. A sacred uræus of gold hung down from her neck, separating the +half-bared breasts. +</p> + +<p> +Ever since Solomon had cooled toward Queen Astis, tired of her unbridled +sensuality, she, with all the ardour of southern love-passion, and with all the +jealousy of a woman scorned, had given herself up to those secret orgies of +perverted lust that constituted the highest cult of the castrates’ +service of Isis. She always showed herself surrounded by priests-castrates, +and, even now, as one of them fanned her head with measured strokes of a fan +made of peacock feathers, others were seated upon the floor drinking in the +beauty of the queen with eyes of insane bliss. Their nostrils were dilating and +quivering from the scent of her body wafted to them, and they sought with +trembling fingers to touch unperceived the hem of her light raiment, barely +stirring in the breeze. Their excessive, never satiated sensuousness spurred on +their imagination to its utmost limits. Their inventiveness in the pleasures of +Kybele and Ashera surpassed all human possibilities. And being jealous of the +queen toward one another, toward all men, women, and children—being +jealous of her own self—they adored her even more than Isis, and, loving +her, hated her as an inexhaustible, fiery fountain-head of delectable and cruel +sufferings. +</p> + +<p> +Dark, evil, fearful, and fascinating rumours were current about Queen Astis in +Jerusalem. The parents of beautiful boys and girls hid their children from her +gaze; men dreaded to utter her name upon the conjugal couch, as an omen of +defilement and disaster. But agitating, irresistible curiosity drew all souls +to her, and gave all bodies up into her power. They who had but once +experienced her ferocious, sanguinary caresses could nevermore forget her, and +became her lifelong, pitiful, spurned slaves. Ready, for a renewed possession +of her, to commit every sin, to endure every degradation and crime, they came +to resemble those unfortunates who, having once tasted of the bitter drink of +the poppy from the Land of Ophir,—the drink that bestoweth sweet +dreams,—will never more draw away from it, bowing down before it only and +honouring it alone, until exhaustion and madness cut short their life. +</p> + +<p> +The fan swayed slowly in the sultry air. In silent rapture the priests +contemplated their dread sovereign. But she seemed to have forgotten their +presence. Having moved the curtain slightly aside, she was ceaselessly gazing +across toward that part of the altar where at one time, out of the dark +fissures of the ancient curtains of beaten gold, was to be seen the beautiful, +radiant countenance of the king of Israel. Him alone did the spurned queen, the +cruel and lecherous Astis, love with all her flaming and depraved heart. His +glance of a fleeting moment, a kind word of his, the touch of his hand, did she +seek everywhere, and found not. Upon triumphal levees, court banquets, and upon +the days of judgment, did Solomon pay his respects, due a queen and the +daughter of a king; but his soul was not quick unto her. And the proud queen +would often command herself to be borne at set hours past the House at Lebanon, +to glimpse, even though afar and unnoticed, through the heavy stuffs of her +litter, the proud, unforgettably splendid visage of Solomon, in the midst of +the throng of courtiers. And long since her flaming love had grown so closely +joined to searing hatred that Astis herself was unable to tell them apart. +</p> + +<p> +In former days Solomon also had visited the temple of Isis on great festal +days, had brought the goddess offerings, and had even accepted the title of her +hierophant,—second after that of the Pharaoh of Ægypt. But the horrible +mysteries of “The Sanguine Sacrifice of Fecundation” had turned his +mind and heart from the service of the Mother of Gods. +</p> + +<p> +“He that is castrated through ignorance or by force, or through accident +or disease, is not abased before God,” the king hath said. “But woe +be unto him that doth maim himself with his own hand.” +</p> + +<p> +And now for a whole year his couch in the temple had remained vacant. And in +vain did the flaming eyes of the queen now gaze feverishly at the unstirred +hangings. +</p> + +<p> +In the meanwhile, the wine, hippocras, and the stupefying burnt perfumes were +already having a perceptible effect upon those gathered within the temple. +Cries, and laughter, and the ring of silver vessels falling upon the stone +floor came with greater frequency. The grand, mysterious moment of the +sanguinary sacrifice was approaching. Ecstasy was overcoming the faithful. +</p> + +<p> +With an abstracted gaze the queen surveyed the temple and the believers. Many +honoured and illustrious men of Solomon’s retinue and many of his +generals were here: Ben-Geber, ruler over the region of Argob; and Ahimaaz, who +had Basmath, the daughter of the king, to wife; and the witty Ben-Dekar; and +Zabud, who bore, in accordance with eastern customs, the high title of the +King’s Friend; and the brother of Solomon by the first marriage of +David,—Dalaiah, a debilitated, half-dead man, who had prematurely fallen +into idiocy through excesses and drinking. They were all—some through +faith, some through ulterior designs, others out of adulation, and still others +for lecherous purposes,—the adorants of Isis. +</p> + +<p> +And now the eyes of the queen rested, long and attentively, intent in thought, +on the comely, youthful face of Eliab, one of the officers of the king’s +bodyguards. +</p> + +<p> +The queen knew why his swarthy face was aflame with such a vivid colour, why +his eyes were directed with such passionate yearning hitherward, upon the +curtains, scarce stirring from the touch of the queen’s beautiful hands. +Once, almost in jest, submitting to a momentary caprice, she had made Eliab to +pass a whole night of felicity with her. In the morning she had let him depart, +but ever since, for many days running, she had beheld everywhere,—in the +palace, in the temple, in the streets,—two enamoured, submissive, +yearning eyes, that followed her entranced. +</p> + +<p> +The dark eyebrows of the queen contracted, and her green, elongated eyes +suddenly darkened from a fearful thought. With a barely perceptible motion of +her hand she ordered the castrate to lower the fan and said quietly: +</p> + +<p> +“Get hence, all of you. Hushai, thou shalt go and summon to me Eliab, the +officer of the king’s guard. Let him come alone.” +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0007"></a> +<a href="images/plate-7.jpg"><img src="images/ill-7.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0011" id="h2HCH0011"></a>XI.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-T.png" width="50" height="50" alt="T" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">T</span>en priests, in white vestments, maculated with red, +stepped out to the centre of the altar. Following them came two other priests, +clad in feminine garments. It was their duty to-day to represent Nephthys and +Isis, bewailing Osiris. Then out of the depths of the altar came one in a white +chiton, without a single ornament, and the eyes of all the men and women were +eagerly drawn to him. This was the very same desert anchorite who had undergone +a heavy trial of ten years’ wrestling with the flesh upon the mountains +of Lebanon, and was now to bring a great, voluntary bloody sacrifice to Isis. +His face, emaciated by hunger, wind-beaten and scorched, was stern and pallid, +the eyes austerely cast down; and a supernatural horror was wafted from him +upon the throng. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, the chief priest of the temple also made his appearance,—a +centenarian ancient, with a tiara upon his head, with a tiger skin upon his +shoulders, in an apron of brocaded samite adorned with the tails of jackals. +</p> + +<p> +Turning to the worshippers, he uttered in a senile voice, meek and tremulous: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Suton-di-hotpu.</i>” (“The king bringeth the +sacrifice.”) +</p> + +<p> +And then, turning around to the sacrificial altar, he took from the hands of an +acolyte a white dove with little red feet, cut off the bird’s head, took +the heart out of her breast, and sprinkled the sacrificial altar and the +consecrated knife with her blood. +</p> + +<p> +After a brief silence he proclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Let us weep for Osiris, the god of Atum, the Great On-Nefer-Hophra, the +god Ona!” +</p> + +<p> +Two castrates in female garments,—Isis and Nephthys,—at once +commenced the lamentation, in harmonious, high-pitched voices: +</p> + +<p> +“Return to thy dwelling, O beauteous youth! To behold thee is bliss. +</p> + +<p> +“Isis charges thee,—Isis, that was conceived in the one womb with +thee,—Isis, thy spouse and thy sister. +</p> + +<p> +“Show us thy countenance anew, radiant god. Here is Nephthys, thy sister. +She is deluged in her tears and plucks out her hair in her grief. +</p> + +<p> +“In a yearning like unto death do we seek after thy beauteous body. +Return to thy dwelling, Osiris!” +</p> + +<p> +Two other priests joined their voices to those of the first two. These were +Horus and Anubis lamenting for Osiris, and each time they concluded a stanza, +the chorus, disposed upon the steps of the staircase, repeated it to a solemn +and sad motif. +</p> + +<p> +Then with the same chant the elder priests brought out of the sanctuary the +statue of the goddess, no longer covered with the <i>naos</i>. A black mantle, +strewn over with golden stars, now enveloped the goddess from head to foot, +leaving visible only her silvern feet, entwined by a serpent, as well as, over +her head, a silvern disc, confined within the horns of a cow. And slowly, to +the tinkling of the censers and sistra, with mournful weeping, the procession +of the goddess Isis set out from the steps of the altar, down into the temple, +along its walls, and in and out between the columns. +</p> + +<p> +Thus did the goddess gather up the scattered members of her spouse, that she +might resuscitate him with the aid of Thoth and Anubis. +</p> + +<p> +“Glory to the city of Abydos, that preserved thy fair head, Osiris. +</p> + +<p> +“Glory to thee, city of Memphis, where we did find the right hand of the +great god,—the hand of war and protection. +</p> + +<p> +“And to thee also, O city of Sais, that didst harbour the left hand of +the radiant god,—the hand of justice. +</p> + +<p> +“And be thou blessed, city of Thebes, where the heart of On-Nefer-Hophra +did repose.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus did the goddess make the round of the entire temple, coming back to the +altar, and more and more passionate and loud did the singing of the chorus +become. A sacred exaltation was taking possession of the priests and those +praying. All the parts of the body of Osiris had Isis found, save +one,—the sacred Phallus, impregnating the maternal womb, creating new +life eternal. Now was approaching the grandest act in the mystery of Osiris and +Isis.... +</p> <hr /> <p> +“Is it thou, Eliab?” the queen asked the youth, who had quietly +entered the door. +</p> + +<p> +In the darkness near the couch he noiselessly sank at her feet and pressed to +his lips the hem of her raiment. And the queen felt him weeping with rapture, +shame, and desire. Lowering her hand upon his curly, tousled head, the queen +uttered: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, Eliab, all that thou knowest of the king and this girl of the +vineyard.” +</p> + +<p> +“How thou dost love him, O queen!” said Eliab with a bitter moan. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak!...” commanded Astis. +</p> + +<p> +“What can I tell thee, queen? My heart is rent by jealousy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak!” +</p> + +<p> +“Never yet has the king loved any as he loveth her. He doth not part from +her for an instant. His eyes shine with happiness. He lavishes favours and +gifts all about him. He, the Abimelech<a href="#note-5" +name="noteref-5"><small>5</small></a> and sage,—he, like a slave, lieth +at her feet and, like a dog, taketh not his eyes off her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak!” +</p> + +<p> +“O, how thou dost torture me, queen! And she ... she is all love, all +tenderness and caresses! She is meek and abashed, she sees and knows naught +save her love. She arouses wrath, envy, or jealousy in none....” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak!” furiously moaned out the queen, and, clutching with her +pliant fingers the black curls of Eliab, she pressed his head against her body, +scratching his face with the silver embroidery of her diaphanous chiton. +</p> <hr /> <p> +And in the meanwhile, at the altar, around the image of the goddess covered +with its black pall, the priests and priestesses were careering in a holy +frenzy, with shouts resembling barking, to the clashing of tympani and the +jarring strum of sistrums. +</p> + +<p> +Certain ones among them were flaying themselves with many-tailed whiplashes of +rhinoceros hide; others were inflicting long, slashing wounds upon their own +breasts and shoulders with short knives; others still were tearing their mouths +with their fingers, tearing at their ears, and excoriating their faces with +their nails. In the midst of this mad round-dance, at the very feet of the +goddess, with inconceivable rapidity the anchorite from the mountains of +Lebanon was whirling on one spot, in snowy-white, waving raiment. The head +priest alone remained motionless. In his hand he was holding the sacred +sacrificial knife of Æthiopian obsidian, ready to pass it over at the ultimate, +frightful moment. +</p> + +<p> +“The Phallus! The Phallus! The Phallus!” the maddened priests were +crying in an ecstasy. “Where is thy Phallus, O radiant god? Come, +fecundate the goddess! Her bosom languishes with desire! Her womb is like a +desert in the sultry months of summer!” +</p> + +<p> +And now a fearful, insane, piercing scream for an instant drowned all sound of +the chorus. The priests quickly parted, and all those in the temple beheld the +anchorite of Lebanon, utterly nude, horrible with his tall, gaunt, yellow body. +The high priest held out the knife to him. The temple grew unbearably still. +And he, quickly stooping, made some motion, straightened up, and with a wail of +pain and rapture suddenly cast at the feet of the goddess a formless, bloody +piece of flesh. +</p> + +<p> +He was tottering. The high priest carefully supported him, putting his arm +around his back; led him up to the image of Isis, painstakingly covered him +with the black pall, and left him thus for a few moments, in order that in +secret, unseen of the others, he might imprint his kiss upon the lips of the +impregnated goddess. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately thereafter he was laid upon a stretcher and borne from the altar. +The priest who kept the gates went outside the temple. He struck an enormous +copper disc with a wooden mallet, proclaiming to all the universe that the +great mystery of the fecundation of the goddess had been consummated. And the +high, singing sound of the copper floated away over Jerusalem.... +</p> + +<p> +Queen Astis, her body still quivering without cease, threw back Eliab’s +head. Her eyes were aflame with an intense, red fire. And she spake slowly, +word by word: +</p> + +<p> +“Eliab, wouldst have me make thee king over Judæa and Israel? Wouldst +thou be sovereign over all Syria and Mesopotamia, over Phœnicia and +Babylon?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, queen, I desire thee alone....” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, thou shalt be my lord. All my nights shall belong to thee. My every +word, my every glance, my every breath shall be thine. Thou knowest the +shibboleth. Thou shalt go this day into the palace and slay them. Thou shalt +slay them both! Thou shalt slay them both!” +</p> + +<p> +Eliab was fain to speak. But the queen drew him to her, and her burning lips +and tongue clung to his mouth. This lasted excruciatingly long. Then, suddenly +tearing the youth away from her, she said curtly and imperiously: +</p> + +<p> +“Go!” +</p> + +<p> +“I go,” answered Eliab, submissively. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2HCH0012" id="h2HCH0012"></a>XII.</h2> + +<p style="text-indent: -.5em;"> +<span style="float:left; margin-right: .75em;"> +<img src="images/cap-A.png" width="50" height="50" alt="A" /> +</span> +<span class="dcap">A</span>nd it was the seventh night of Solomon’s great +love. +</p> + +<p> +Strangely quiet and deeply tender were the caresses of the king and Sulamith on +this night. Some pensive melancholy, some cautious timidity, some distant +premonition, seemed to have cast a slight shadow over their words, their kisses +and embraces. +</p> + +<p> +Gazing through the window at the sky, where night was already vanquishing the +sinking flame of the evening, Sulamith let her eyes rest upon a bright, bluish +star that trembled meekly and tenderly. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that star called, my beloved?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +“That is the star Sopdit,” answered the king. “It is a sacred +star. Assyrian magi tell us that the souls of all men dwell upon it after the +death of the body.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dost thou believe it, my king?” +</p> + +<p> +Solomon made no reply. His right hand was under Sulamith’s head, and his +left did embrace her; and she felt his aromatic breath upon her,—upon her +hair, upon her temple. +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap we shall see each other there, my king, after we have +died?” asked Sulamith uneasily. +</p> + +<p> +The king again kept silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Give me some answer, beloved,” timidly implored Sulamith. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon the king said: +</p> + +<p> +“Brief is the life of man, but time is without end, and matter hath no +death. Man dieth and maketh the earth fertile with the corruption of his body; +the earth nourisheth the blade; the blade bringeth forth grain; man consumeth +bread, and feedeth his body therewith. Multitudes, and multitudes upon +multitudes, of ages shall pass; all things in the universe repeat +themselves,—men, beasts, stones, plants,—all repeat themselves. In +the multiform vortex of time and matter we, too, are repeated, my beloved. It +is just as true as that, if thou and I were to fill a large bag up to the top +with sea gravel, and were to cast therein but one precious +sapphire,—though we were to take pebbles out of the bag many, many times, +we still would, sooner or later, draw out the precious stone as well. Thou and +I will meet, Sulamith, nor shall we know each other; but our hearts, with +rapture and yearning, will strive to meet, for thou and I have already +met,—my meek, my fair Sulamith,—though we remember it not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, my king, nay! I remember. When thou didst stand beneath the window +and didst call to me: ‘My fair, come out, for my locks are filled with +the drops of the night!’ I knew thee, I remembered thee; and fear and joy +possessed my heart. Tell me, my king,—tell me, Solomon: if I were, say, +to die on the morrow, wouldst thou recall thy swarthy maiden of the vineyard, +thy Sulamith?” +</p> + +<p> +And the king, pressing her to his breast, whispered in emotion: +</p> + +<p> +“Never speak thus.... Speak not thus, O Sulamith! Thou art chosen of God, +thou art the veritable one, thou art the queen of my soul.... Death shall not +touch thee....” +</p> + +<p> +The strident sound of brass suddenly soared over Jerusalem. For long it +trembled mournfully and wavered in the air, and when it had grown silent its +quavering echoes still floated on for a long while. +</p> + +<p> +“This marks the ending of the mystery in the temple of Isis,” said +the king. +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid, my comely one,” whispered Sulamith. “A dark +terror has penetrated into my soul.... I do not want to die.... I have not yet +had time to enjoy my fill of thy embraces.... Embrace me.... Press me closer to +thee.... Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm!...” +</p> + +<p> +“Fear not death, Sulamith! For love is strong as death.... Drive sad +thoughts from thee.... Wouldst have me tell thee of the wars of David, of the +feasts and hunts of the Pharaoh Shishak? Wouldst hear one of those fairy tales +that come from the land of Ophir?... Wouldst have me tell thee of the wonders +of Bakramaditiah?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, my king. Thou dost know thyself that when I hearken to thee, my +heart doth expand from happiness! But I would ask a boon of thee....” +</p> + +<p> +“O Sulamith, all that thou dost desire! Ask my life of me,—I shall +render it up to thee with delight. I shall only regret having paid too small a +price for thy love.” +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0008"></a> +<a href="images/plate-8.jpg"><img src="images/ill-8.jpg" width="400" height="590" +alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Then Sulamith smiled in the darkness for happiness, and, entwining the king +with her arms, whispered in his ear: +</p> + +<p> +“I beseech thee, when the morning cometh let us go together there ... to +the vineyard.... There, where it is green, and the cypresses are, and the +cedars; where, nigh the stone wall, thou didst take my soul with thy hands.... +I beseech thee to do this, my beloved.... There will I give thee my loves +anew....” +</p> + +<p> +In a transport of delight the king kissed the lips of his love. +</p> + +<p> +But Sulamith suddenly raised herself up on the couch and hearkened. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, my child?... What hath frightened thee?” asked +Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay, my beloved.... Some one is coming hither.... Yea ... I hear +steps.” +</p> + +<p> +She became silent. And the stillness was such that they marked the beating of +their hearts. +</p> + +<p> +A slight rustling was heard beyond the door, and it was suddenly thrown ajar, +quickly and without a sound. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is there?” cried out Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +But Sulamith had already sprung up from the bed, and with one move dashed +toward the dark figure of a man with a gleaming sword in his hand. And +immediately, stricken through by a short, quick stroke, she fell down to the +floor with a faint cry, as though of wonder. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon shattered with his hand the screen of carnelian that shaded the light +of the night-lamp. He beheld Eliab, who was standing near the door, stooping a +little over the body of the girl, swaying like one in wine. The young warrior +raised his head under Solomon’s gaze, and, when his eyes met the +wrathful, awesome eyes of the king, he blanched and groaned. An expression of +despair and terror distorted his features. And suddenly, stooping, hiding his +face in his mantle, he began timidly, like a frightened jackal, to slink out of +the room. But the king stayed him, saying but three words: +</p> + +<p> +“Who compelled thee?” +</p> + +<p> +All a-tremble and with teeth chattering, with eyes grown white from fear, the +young warrior let drop dully: +</p> + +<p> +“Queen Astis....” +</p> + +<p> +“Get thee hence,” commanded Solomon. “Tell the guard on duty +to watch thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Soon people with lights commenced running through the innumerable rooms of the +palace. All the chambers were illuminated. The leeches came; the friends and +the military officers of the king gathered. +</p> + +<p> +The chief leech said: +</p> + +<p> +“King, neither science nor God will now avail. She will die the instant +we draw out the sword left in her breast.” +</p> + +<p> +But at this moment Sulamith came to and said with a calm smile: +</p> + +<p> +“I would drink.” +</p> + +<p> +And when she had drunk, her eyes rested with a tender, beautiful smile upon the +king, nor did she again take them away, the while he stood upon his knees +before her couch, all naked, even as she, without perceiving that his knees +were laved in her blood, nor that his hands were encrimsoned with the scarlet +of her blood. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, with difficulty, gazing upon her beloved and smiling gently, did the +beautiful Sulamith speak: +</p> + +<p> +“I thank thee, my king, for all things: for thy love, for thy beauty, for +thy wisdom, to which thou didst allow me to set my lips, as to a sweet well of +living waters. Let me to kiss thy hands; take them not away from my mouth till +such time when the last breath shall have fled from me. Never has there been, +nor ever shall there be, a woman happier than I. I thank thee, my king, my +beloved, my fair. Think ever and anon upon thy slave, upon thy Sulamith, +scorched of the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +And the king made answer to her, in a deep, slow voice: +</p> + +<p> +“As long as men and women shall love one another; as long as beauty of +soul and body shall be the best and sweetest dream in the universe,—so +long, I swear to thee, Sulamith, shall thy name be uttered through many ages +with emotion and gratefulness.” +</p> <hr /> <p> +Toward morning Sulamith ceased to be. +</p> + +<p> +Then did the king rise up, command the means for laving to be brought to him, +and, donning his most magnificent chiton of purple, broidered with golden +scarabæ, he placed upon his head a crown of blood-red rubies. After this he did +call Benaiah to him, and spake calmly: +</p> + +<p> +“Benaiah, thou shalt go and put Eliab to death.” +</p> + +<p> +But the old man covered his face with his hands and fell prostrate before the +king. +</p> + +<p> +“Eliab is my grandson, O King.” +</p> + +<p> +“Didst thou hear me, Benaiah?” +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me, O King,—threaten me not with thy wrath; command some +other to do this. Eliab, having come out of the palace, did run to the temple, +and caught hold on the horns of the altar. I am old, my death is nigh; I dare +not take upon my soul this two-fold crime.” +</p> + +<p> +But the king retorted: +</p> + +<p> +“Nevertheless, when I did instruct thee to put to death my brother +Adonijah, who had likewise caught hold on the sacred horns of the altar, didst +thou not hearken to me, Benaiah?” +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me! Spare me, King!” +</p> + +<p> +“Lift up thy face,” commanded Solomon. +</p> + +<p> +And when Benaiah did raise up his face, and beheld the king’s eyes, he +quickly rose up from the floor and obediently made his way to the exit. +</p> + +<p> +Then, turning to Ahishar, who was the seneschal, and over the household, he +commanded: +</p> + +<p> +“I do not want to give the queen up to death; let her live as she wishes, +and die when she wishes. But nevermore shall she behold my countenance. This +day, Ahishar, thou shalt fit out a caravan and escort the queen to the harbour +at Jaffa; and thence to Ægypt, to the Pharaoh Shishak. Now let all get +hence.” +</p> + +<p> +And, left alone face to face with the body of Sulamith, he long contemplated +her beautiful features. Her face was pale, and never had it been so fair during +her life. The half-parted lips that Solomon had been kissing but half an hour +ago were smiling enigmatically and beautifully; and her teeth, still humid, +gleamed very faintly from between them. +</p> + +<p> +For long did the king gaze upon his dead leman; then, he softly touched with +his fingers her brow, already losing the warmth of life, and with slow steps +withdrew from the chamber. +</p> + +<p> +Beyond the doors the high priest Azariah, son of Zadok, was awaiting him. +Approaching the king, he asked: +</p> + +<p> +“What shall we do with the body of this woman? It is now the +Sabbath.” +</p> + +<p> +And the king recalled how, many years ere this, his father had expired and lay +upon the sand, already beginning to decompose rapidly. Dogs, drawn by the scent +of carrion, were already prowling about with eyes glaring from hunger and +greediness. And, even as now, the high priest, a decrepit old man, the father +of Azariah, had then asked him: +</p> + +<p> +“Here lieth thy father; the dogs may rend his corpse.... What are we to +do? Honour the memory of the king and profane the Sabbath; or observe the +Sabbath but leave the corpse of thy father to be devoured of dogs?” +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Solomon made answer: +</p> + +<p> +“Leave him. A living dog is better than a dead lion.” +</p> + +<p> +And when now, after the words of the high priest, he did recall this, his heart +did contract from sadness and fear. +</p> + +<p> +Having made no answer to the high priest, he went on, into the Hall of +Judgment. +</p> + +<p> +As always of mornings, two of his scribes, Elihoreph and Ahiah, were already +reclining upon mats, one on either side of the throne, holding in readiness +their inks, reeds, and rolls of papyrus. Upon the king’s entrance they +arose and salaamed to the ground before him. And the king sat down upon his +throne of ivory with ornaments of gold, leant his elbow upon the back of a +golden lion, and, bowing his head upon his palm, commanded: +</p> + +<p> +“Write! +</p> + +<p> +“Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a ring upon thy hand; for love is +strong as death; jealousy is cruel as hell: the arrows thereof are arrows of +fire.” +</p> + +<p> +And, having kept a silence so prolonged that the scribes held their breath in +alarm, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“Leave me to myself.” +</p> + +<p> +And all day, till the first shadows of evening, did the king remain alone with +his thoughts; nor durst any enter the vast, empty Hall of Judgment. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Tamam Shud</i> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="h2H_NOTE" id="h2H_NOTE"></a>NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR</h2> + +<p class="foot"> +<a name="note-1"></a> +(<a href="#noteref-1">1</a>) +The Russian version of this passage reads: “... jealousy is cruel as the +grave: the arrows thereof are arrows of fire.” In this, I have been given +to understand, it adheres more closely than does the English Bible to the +original Hebrew. +</p> + +<p class="foot"> +<a name="note-2"></a> +(<a href="#noteref-2">2</a>) +“Which <i>is</i> the second month...” <i>I KINGS; vi:1</i>. +</p> + +<p class="foot"> +<a name="note-3"></a> +(<a href="#noteref-3">3</a>) +“Which <i>is</i> the eighth month...” <i>I KINGS; vi:38</i>. +</p> + +<p class="foot"> +<a name="note-4"></a> +(<a href="#noteref-4">4</a>) +“A word fitly spoken <i>is like</i> apples of gold in pictures of +silver.” <i>PROVERBS; xxv:11</i>. +</p> + +<p class="foot"> +<a name="note-5"></a> +(<a href="#noteref-5">5</a>) +Abimelech; <i>i. e.</i>, Father-King. +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a href="images/flyleaf.jpg"><img src="images/ill-fly.jpg" width="250" height="360" +alt="(flyleaf image)" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SULAMITH: A ROMANCE OF ANTIQUITY ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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