2. CHAPTER II.
ON THE ORONTES.
WHEN the city came into view, the passengers were on deck, eager
that nothing of the scene might escape them. The respectable Jew
already introduced to the reader was the principal spokesman.
"The river here runs to the west," he said, in the way of general
answer. "I remember when it washed the base of the walls; but as Roman
subjects we have lived in peace, and, as always happens in such times,
trade has had its will; now the whole river front is taken up with
wharves and docks. Yonder"-the speaker pointed southward-"is Mount
Casius, or, as these people love to call it, the Mountains of Orontes,
looking across to its brother Amnus in the north; and between them
lies the Plain of Antioch. Farther on are the Black Mountains,
whence the Ducts of the Kings bring the purest water to wash the
thirsty streets and people; yet they are forests in wilderness
state, dense, and full of birds and beasts."
"Where is the lake?" one asked.
"Over north there. You can take horse, if you wish to see it-or,
better, a boat, for a tributary connects it with the river."
"The Grove of Daphne!" he said, to a third inquirer. "Nobody can
describe it; only beware! It was begun by Apollo, and completed by
him. He prefers it to Olympus. People go there for one look-just one-and never come away. They have a saying which tells it all-'Better be
a worm and feed on the mulberries of Daphne than a king's guest.'"
"Then you advise me to stay away from it?"
"Not I! Go you will. Everybody goes, cynic philosopher, virile
boy, women, and priests-all go. So sure am I of what you will do that
I assume to advise you. Do not take quarters in the city-that will be
loss of time; but go at once to the village in the edge of the
grove. The way is through a garden, under the spray of fountains.
The lovers of the god and his Penaean maid built the town; and in
its porticos and paths and thousand retreats you will find
characters and habits and sweets and kinds elsewhere impossible. But
the wall of the city! there it is, the masterpiece of Xeraeus, the
master of mural architecture."
All eyes followed his pointing finger.
"This part was raised by order of the first of the Seleucidae. Three
hundred years have made it part of the rock it rests upon."
The defence justified the encomium. High, solid, and with many
bold angles, it curved southwardly out of view.
"On the top there are four hundred towers, each a reservoir of
water," the Hebrew continued. "Look now! Over the wall, tall as it is,
see in the distance two hills, which you may know as the rival
crests of Sulpius. The structure on the farthest one is the citadel,
garrisoned all the year round by a Roman legion. Opposite it this
way rises the Temple of Jupiter, and under that the front of the
legate's residence-a palace full of offices, and yet a fortress
against which a mob would dash harmlessly as a south wind."
At this point the sailors began taking in sail, whereupon the Hebrew
exclaimed, heartily, "See! you who hate the sea, and you who have
vows, get ready your curses and your prayers. The bridge yonder,
over which the road to Seleucia is carried, marks the limit of
navigation. What the ship unloads for further transit, the camel takes
up there. Above the bridge begins the island upon which Calinicus
built his new city, connecting it with five great viaducts so solid
time has made no impression upon them, nor floods nor earthquakes.
Of the main town, my friends, I have only to say you will be happier
all your lives for having seen it."
As he concluded, the ship turned and made slowly for her wharf under
the wall, bringing even more fairly to view the life with which the
river at that point was possessed. Finally, the lines were thrown, the
oars shipped, and the voyage was done. Then Ben-Hur sought the
respectable Hebrew.
"Let me trouble you a moment before saying farewell."
The man bowed assent.
"Your story of the merchant has made me curious to see him. You
called him Simonides?"
"Yes. He is a Jew with a Greek name."
"Where is he to be found?"
The acquaintance gave a sharp look before he answered-
"I may save you mortification. He is not a money-lender."
"Nor am I a money-borrower," said Ben-Hur, smiling at the other's
shrewdness.
The man raised his head and considered an instant.
"One would think," he then replied, "that the richest merchant in
Antioch would have a house for business corresponding to his wealth;
but if you would find him in the day, follow the river to yon
bridge, under which he quarters in a building that looks like a
buttress of the wall. Before the door there is an immense landing,
always covered with cargoes come and to go. The fleet that lies moored
there is his. You cannot fail to find him."
"I give you thanks."
"The peace of our fathers go with you."
"And with you."
With that they separated.
Two street-porters, loaded with his baggage, received Ben-Hur's
orders upon the wharf.
"To the citadel," he said; a direction which implied an official
military connection.
Two great streets, cutting each other at right angles, divided the
city into quarters. A curious and immense structure, called the
Nymphaeum, arose at the foot of the one running north and south.
When the porters turned south there, the new-comer, though fresh
from Rome, was amazed at the magnificence of the avenue. On the
right and left there were palaces, and between them extended
indefinitely double colonnades of marble, leaving separate ways for
footmen, beasts, and chariots; the whole under shade, and cooled by
fountains of incessant flow.
Ben-Hur was not in mood to enjoy the spectacle. The story of
Simonides haunted him. Arrived at the Omphalus-a monument of four
arches wide as the streets, superbly illustrated, and erected to
himself by Epiphanes, the eighth of the Seleucidae-he suddenly
changed his mind.
"I will not go to the citadel to-night," he said to the porters.
"Take me to the khan nearest the bridge on the road to Seleucia."
The party faced about, and in good time he was deposited in a public
house of primitive but ample construction, within stone's-throw of the
bridge under which old Simonides had his quarters. He lay upon the
house-top through the night. In his inner mind lived the thought,
"Now-now I will hear of home-and mother-and the dear little Tirzah.
If they are on earth, I will find them."