 | Judas Iscariot |  |
SCENE II.
The Chamber of the High Priest in the Temple of Jerusalem.Caiaphas, the High Priest, seated in his chair, discoursing with Priests and Elders, seated on the marble floor. Nicodemus reclines thoughtfully on one side.
Caia.
And from this city where we preach, and rule,
Yea, from the highest altar, do they flock;
From Idumæa, and beyond the banks
Of Jordan, flock they, and from Galilee—
From Dan to Beersheba!
1st Priest.
Of a verity
Their reason hath departed.
Caia.
Multitudes
From Tyre and Sidon like great floods pour down
To hear him preach!
1st Elder.
The arch-impostor Jesus
Hath also wrought strange cures.
Caia.
Praying and teaching!
And followed for these things, as though pure oil,
Honey, and wine, and spices, came alone
From rocky Nazareth! Out of barrenness
Unnatural fires are kindled in their minds.
2nd Elder.
Great miracles too!
Caia.
Deceptions of the eye!
Nico.
Truly he looketh with a wondrous look
Whose quietness is like unto a lake
Of unknown depth, which lieth in the shade,
Yet hath a gleam as from some hidden light.
Caia.
Not of his look I spake, but of the eye
Of dazzled multitudes, who thought they saw
Thousands of loaves and fishes.
Also thought
That they did eat thereof.
Caia.
As men in dreams,
Or with confounded senses, objects see,
Colours and forms which are not, and can taste
Water as wine;—but these things have an end.
1st Priest.
And this were good.
2nd Priest.
Would it were come!
Nico.
How end?
Caia.
How, but with death! Already have we sent
To lay hands on him.
Nico.
Have a care in this:
The people love him with exceeding love.
Caia.
And others are suspected—men of note—
Who follow him in secret.
1st Priest.
He hath lures
For every sort of bird—baits for all fish.
1st Elder.
Therefore take counsel with your officers
That they act prudently.
Enter Scribe and Two Pharisees.
1st Phar.
O, Caiaphas!
Hear a new miracle. The dead hath risen
Again—with wonders greater than before!
Caia.
Where?
1st Priest.
Who hath wrought this?
1st Phar.
Lazarus, who was dead,
After four days' entombment—yea, 'tis true—
Hath come to life, and in his grave-clothes prayed
In silence—lifting up his corded hands!
Scribe.
Rabbi, it is not lawful.
Caia.
Who hath done this?
1st Phar.
Jesus!
(Priests and Elders murmur.)
2nd Phar.
But the officers and men we sent
And all his dealings with the other world
Will trouble us no more.
Scribe.
The fishermen—
Sinners and publicans—loose women—children—
And all the multitudes who left the schools
Of Hillel and Schammai, halls, synagogues,
Even to the Rabboni turning a deaf ear,
Will then come back each to his proper house;
And wisdom, learning, law, the priests, and God,
Again find reverence.
Enter a Centurion and two other Officers.
1st Priest.
Lo! our officers!
1st Phar.
Are these the rough men who went forth in steel,
Spears in their hands, and with a savage joy
To do our bidding?
2nd Priest.
Come ye thus alone?
Nico.
Something hath moved them.
Caia.
Why have ye not brought him?
Centur.
Never man spake like this man.
1st Offi.
We stood with the rest to listen, and the air
grew silent before his words. Our spears slipped
through our hands upon the ground; our swords
were as shadows upon the wall.
Centur.
When he approached us, we stood aside to let
him pass, and no one dared lay hands upon him.
Caia.
Are ye also deceived!
Scribe.
Behold the ignorance of these fellows, how it
maketh their knees tremble.
2nd Phar.
Have any of the rulers, or of the pharisees
believed in his teaching and his miracles?
Scribe.
Verily this people who knoweth not the law, is
cursed. And Jesus is he who leadeth them astray
from it.
Nico.
Doth our law judge any man before it hear him,
and know what he doeth?
(Rising.)
Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and
look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet!
[Exeunt all but Caiaphas, Priests, and Pharisees.
1st Priest.
Truly these things are very strange.
2nd Priest.
And besides, damnable. He saith that he
is the Son of God, which we know to be false; and
he also saith that he is the Son of Man, which we
may well doubt, for the acts which he doeth are
like unto the works of a child of Beelzebub.
1st Phar.
He doeth what he listeth, and all the people
who come near him believe in him.
2nd Priest.
Yea, even the Pharisee Nicodemus believeth
in him.
1st Priest.
Our officers and soldiers stand aside to let
him pass, bowing their heads to the ground when
they should raise their hands to smite him down;
and peradventure some of the scribes and elders
shall soon come to hearken unto his preaching.
Caia.
All they who hearken to it are accursed. Have a
care. I know a Levite, a rich man of Bethoran,
who in his youth was a singer in the tabernacle,
and afterwards a player upon the ten-stringed oshur;
and now he is a follower of Jesus! Wherefore may
everlasting fires sing and roar around him, and his
ears hear the cries of many demons cursing him
evermore. Let all who have held offices in the
temple or the tabernacle take heed—yea, let them
be exceeding watchful that their feet trip not.
2nd Priest.
But the officers and soldiers, O Caiaphas,
were men of weak mind.
1st Phar.
Unlike unto those who have walked in sacred
places and been accustomed to hear the ancient law
of Moses and the Prophets.
1st Priest.
And the Levite of Bethoran was as one who
is deaf; wherefore his ears received no wisdom in
his youth.
2nd Priest.
Some other means must be devised whereby
Jesus shall be stopped in his preaching.
2nd Phar.
If we let him alone, all men will believe on
both our place and nation.
Caia.
Ye know nothing at all; nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not.
2nd Priest.
Thou sayest wisely, O Caiaphas; there is
nothing but his death that shall serve us.
1st Priest.
And peradventure this righteous suggestion
shall be accounted a prophecy by the nations who
live after us.
Caia.
I would that it were so; but the sword lingereth.
Enter Judas.
1st Priest.
Thou also art one of those who follow Jesus;
and comest thou here before the High Priest!
2nd Priest.
To kneel and to repent thee of thy back-sliding
art thou here, else were thy life in much
peril.
Judas.
I would seek the High Priest, having a troubled
mind.
Caia.
Speak, for there is mercy in the great temple to such
as repent them truly.
Judas.
I have bethought me—
[he hesitates]
and in the
night have I resolved to do it.
Caia.
On what hast thou resolved?
Judas.
(Hesitating.)
Concerning that which I had
thought.
Caia.
Hast thou left the teaching of Jesus?
Judas.
I have left him.
1st Priest.
Peradventure thou comest here to hearken
unto the words of the High Priest, and how he
teacheth?
2nd Priest.
And to note the difference between the
twain—yea between the High Priest, in his chamber,
and the homeless Nazarene.
(Judas maketh a sign of assent.)
3rd Priest.
Verily thou dost well in this.
[Judas turneth aside, resting his head in his hands.
Caia.
It is not the season, Judas, to speak with thee of
divine things,—of things derived from our holy law
into the world, with a spirit all unused to righteousness,
and with feet that have not trod in sacred
places.
2nd Priest.
And worse than this, thy spirit hath
hearkened unto the councils of devils, and thy
feet have followed in their track.
Caia.
(To Priest.)
Let be.
(To Judas.)
Somewhat, however,
art thou capable of understanding; and of
earthly things, therefore, must thou first hear from
the elders and scribes; for though the scribes sit
in Moses' seat, yet do they look down compassionately
upon such as need human knowledge, and the
sciences thereof.
1st Priest.
And they will teach thee with true words.
Caia.
The mighty plain, and the rough level of the earth
we inhabit, this shalt thou learn, and also of the
waters which flow all round about it, wherein it
floateth, and of the clouds and heavens which enclose
the waters. And your heart shall treasure up
these words.
2nd Priest.
(In a low voice.)
And your heart shall treasure
up these words.
Judas.
(Aside.)
Shall I turn back now that I am so far?
Caia.
Of the heavens themselves,—the great sun that
rolleth round about the earth; and the moon,
which is of like size and distance, but of like shape
once only in her period, and then dwindleth away
even unto an harvest sickle, which is understood by
the records; and of the multitudes of stars, which
are marvellous in their ways, and the slowness of
their growth,—all this shalt thou be taught.
Priests.
(In a low tone.)
And your heart shall treasure
up these words.
Caia.
Of the boundaries of the earth shalt thou hear, and
of foreign countries, yea from Sephar to Ophir,
from the rocks of Caucasus, and from the lands
beyond Tarshish which are the edges of the earth.
Priests.
And your heart shall treasure up these words.
Caia.
Also the arts of trading and of commerce mayst
thou be taught; and warned in good season against
was wisdom in Solomon, who encouraged this, is
no longer held good for the people.
Priests.
And your heart shall treasure up these words.
Caia.
Of fishing and of carpentry need I not speak, nor
peradventure of agriculture and the tending upon
sheep; neither shall I speak of the rocks and
metals underneath the earth,—of its sands, and its
sparkling darkness many cubits downwards, until
arriving on the burning confines of the abyss of
hell. But when thou shalt arrive at this knowledge,
then shall begin thy instruction in the
divine law.
Priests.
Let your heart—
Judas.
(Raising his head.)
I come, O Caiaphas, to betray
Jesus unto thee, yea to give him into your hands.
Caia.
It is good.
1st Priest.
Thou speakest wisely, and with a repentant
heart.
3rd Priest.
Thy words, O Caiaphas, have prevailed over
him; over the teaching of the Nazarene hast thou
prevailed.
2nd Priest.
(To Judas.)
But is thy repentance true;
or dost thou come to act cunningly with us?
Caia.
Can this be so?
2nd Priest.
Wherefore dost thou come to betray Jesus
unto punishment? Hath he offended thee? Hath
he taken the bag out of thy hands?
1st Priest.
Or art thou needy, and seekest thou a reward?
Judas.
Thou sayest rightly. I would have thirty pieces
of silver for my reward.
Caia.
Let them be counted out before him. His spirit is
humbled by my words so that he speaketh with a
discreet tongue.
[Judas stands aside at one of the windows while the thirty pieces are counted out.
Scene closes.
| Judas Iscariot | |