No More Learning

A sound like the rowing of galleys astern attracted Ben-Hur, and
the Astræa rocked as if in the midst of countering waves. The
idea of a fleet at hand broke upon him,-a fleet in maneuvre,-
forming probably for attack. His blood started with the fancy.


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LEWIS WALLACE
Another signal order came down from deck. The oars dipped,
and the galley started imperceptibly. No sound from without,
none from within, yet each man in the cabin instinctively poised
himself for a shock; the very ship seemed to catch the sense,
and hold its breath, and go crouched tiger-like.
In such a situation, time is inappreciable; so that Ben-Hur
could form no judgment of distance gone. At last there was a
sound of trumpets on deck, - full, clear, long-blown. The chief
beat the sounding-board until it rang; the rowers reached for-
ward full length, and deepening the dip of their cars, pulled
suddenly with all their united force. The galley, quivering in
every timber, answered with a leap. Other trumpets joined in
the clamor — all from the rear, none forward; — from the latter
quarter only a rising sound of voices in tumult heard briefly.
There was a mighty blow: the rowers in front of the chief's
platform reeled, some of them fell; the ship bounded back,
recovered, and rushed on more irresistibly than before. Shrill
and high arose the shrieks of men in terror; over the blare of
trumpets, and the grind and crash of the collision, they arose:
then under his feet, under the keel, pounding, rumbling, breaking
to pieces, drowning, Ben-Hur felt something overridden. The
men about him looked at each other afraid. A shout of triumph
from the deck, the beak of the Roman had won! But who
were they whom the sea had drunk? Of what tongue, from
what land were they?
No pause, no stay! Forward rushed the Astræa; and as it
went, some sailors ran down, and plunging the cotton balls into
the oil-tanks, tossed them dripping to comrades at the head of
the stairs: fire was to be added to other horrors of the combat.
Directly the galley heeled over so far that the oarsmen
the uppermost side with difficulty kept their benches. Again
the hearty Roman cheer, and with it despairing shrieks. An
opposing vessel, caught by the grappling-hooks of the great crane
swinging from the prow, was being lifted into the air that it
might be dropped and sunk.
The shouting increased on the right hand and on the left;
before, behind, swelled an indescribable clamor, . Occasionally
there was a crash, followed by sudden peals of fright, telling of
other ships ridden down, and their crews drowned in the vor-
texes.
on


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LEWIS WALLACE
15535
was
Nor was the fight all on one side. Now and then a Roman
in armor was borne down the hatchway, and laid bleeding, some-
times dying, on the floor.
Sometimes also puffs of smoke, blended with steam, and foul
with the scent of roasting human flesh, poured into the cabin,
turning the dimming light into yellow murk. Gasping for breath
the while, Ben-Hur knew they were passing through the cloud
of a ship on fire, and burning up with the rowers chained to the
benches.
The Astræa all this time in motion. Suddenly she
stopped. The oars forward were dashed from the hands of the
rowers, and the rowers from their benches. On deck, then, a
furious trampling, and on the sides a grinding of ships afoul of
each other. For the first time the beating of the gavel was lost
in the uproar.
Men sank on the floor in fear, or looked about
seeking a hiding-place. In the midst of the panic a body
plunged or was pitched headlong down the hatch way, falling
near Ben-Hur. He beheld the half-naked carcass, a
mass of
hair blackening the face, and under it a shield of bull-hide and
wicker-work,-a barbarian from the white-skinned nations of the
North whom death had robbed of plunder and revenge. How
came he there? An iron hand had snatched him from the
opposing deck — no, the Astræa had been boarded! The Romans
- ,
were fighting on their own deck ? A chill smote the young Jew:
Arrius was hard pressed, - he might be defending his own life.
If he should be slain! God of Abraham forfend! The hopes
and dreams so lately come, were they only hopes and dreams?
Mother and sister -house - home — Holy Land - was he not to
see them, after all ? The tumult thundered above him: he looked
around; in the cabin all was confusion: the rowers the
benches paralyzed; men running blindly hither and thither, only
the chief on his seat imperturbable, vainly beating the sounding-
board, and waiting the order of the tribune,- in the red murk
illustrating the matchless discipline which had won the world.
The example had a good effect upon Ben-Hur. He controlled
himself enough to think. Honor and duty bound the Roman
to the platform; but what had he to do with such motives then ?
The bench was a thing to run from; while if he were to die a
slave, who would be the better of the sacrifice? With him living
was duty, if not honor. His life belonged to his people. They
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15536
LEWIS WALLACE
arose before him never more real: he saw them, their arms
outstretched; he heard them imploring him. And he would go
to them. He started — stopped. Alas! a Roman judgment held
him in doom. While it endured, escape would be profitless. In
the wide, wide earth there was no place in which he would be
safe from the imperial demand; upon the land none, nor upon
the sea.
Whereas he required freedom according to the forms
of law, so only could he abide in Judea and execute the filial
purpose to which he would devote himself: in other land he
would not live. Dear God! How he had waited and watched
and prayed for such a release! And how it
And how it had been delayed !
But at last he had seen it in the promise of the tribune. What
else the great man's meaning? And if the benefactor so belated
should now be slain! The dead come not back to redeem the
pledges of the living. It should not be - Arrius should not die.
At least, better perish with him than survive a galley-slave.
Once more Ben-Hur looked around. Upon the roof of the
cabin the battle yet beat; against the sides the hostile vessels
yet crushed and grinded. On the benches, the slaves struggled
to tear loose from their chains, and finding their efforts vain,
howled like madmen; the guards had gone up-stairs: discipline
was out, panic in. No, the chief kept his chair, unchanged, calm
as ever-except the gavel, weaponless. Vainly with his clangor
he filled the lulls in the din. Ben-Hur gave him a last look,
then broke away, - not in flight, but to seek the tribune.
A very short space lay between him and the stairs of the
hatch way aft. ' He took it with a leap, and was half-way up the
steps — up far enough to catch a glimpse of the sky blood-red
with fire, of the ships alongside, of the sea covered with ships
and wrecks, of the fight closed in about the pilot's quarter, the
assailants many, the defenders few — when suddenly his foothold
was knocked away, and he pitched backward. The floor, when
he reached it, seemed to be lifting itself and breaking to pieces;
then in a twinkling, the whole after-part of the hull broke
asunder, and as if it had all the time been lying in wait, the
sea, hissing and foaming, leaped in, and all became darkness and
surging water to Ben-Hur.
It cannot be said that the young Jew helped himself in
this stress. Besides his usual strength, he had the indefinite extra
force which nature keeps in reserve for just such perils to life;
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LEWIS WALLACE
15537
yet the darkness, and the whirl and roar of water, stupefied him.
Even the holding his breath was involuntary.
The influx of the flood tossed him like a log forward into the
cabin, where he would have drowned but for the refluence of
the sinking motion. As it was, fathoms under the surface the
hollow mass vomited him forth, and he arose along with the
loosed débris, In the act of rising, he clutched something, and
held to it. The time he was under seemed an age longer than
it really was: at last he gained the top; with a great gasp he
filled his lungs afresh, and tossing the water from his hair and
eyes, climbed higher upon the plank he held, and looked about
him.
Death had pursued him closely under the waves; he found it
waiting for him when he was risen - waiting multiform.
Smoke lay upon the sea like a semi-transparent fog, through
which here and there shone cores of intense brilliance. A quick
intelligence told him that they were ships on fire. The battle
was yet on; nor could he say who was victor. Within the
radius of his vision now and then ships passed, shooting shadows
athwart lights. Out of the dun clouds farther on he caught the
crash of other ships colliding. The danger however was closer
at hand. When the Astræa went down, her deck, it will be recol-
lected, held her own crew, and the crews of the two galleys which
had attacked her at the same time, all of whom were ingulfed.
Many of them came to the surface together; and on the same
plank or support of whatever kind continued the combat, begun
possibly in the vortex fathoms down. Writhing and twisting in
deadly embrace, sometimes striking with sword or javelin, they
kept the sea around them in agitation, - at one place inky-black,
at another aflame with fiery reflections. With their struggles he
.
had nothing to do: they were all his enemies; not one of them
but would kill him for the plank upon which he floated. He
made haste to get away.
About that time he heard oars in quickest movement, and
beheld a galley coming down upon him. The tall prow seemed
doubly tall, and the red light playing upon its gilt and carving
gave it an appearance of snaky life. Under its foot the water
churned to flying foam.
He struck out, pushing the plank, which was very broad and
unmanageable. Seconds were precious— half a second might save
XXVI-972


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LEWIS WALLACE
or lose him. · In the crisis of the effort, up from the sea, within
arm's reach, a helmet shot like a gleam of gold. Next came
two hands with fingers extended, - large hands were they, and
strong, — their hold once fixed might not be loosed. Ben-Hur
swerved from them appalled. Up rose the helmet and the head
.
it incased; then two arms, which began to beat the water wildly;
the head turned back, and gave the face to the light. The
mouth gaping wide; the eyes open but sightless, and the blood-
less pallor of a drowning man, — never anything more ghastly!
Yet he gave a cry of joy at the sight; and as the face was
going under again, he caught the sufferer by the chain which
passed from the helmet beneath the chin, and drew him to the
plank.
The man was Arrius, the tribune.
For a while the water foamed and eddied violently about
Ben-Hur, taxing all his strength to hold to the support, and at
the same time to keep the Roman's head above the surface. The
galley had passed, leaving the two barely outside the stroke of
its oars.
Right through the floating men, over heads helmeted
as well as heads bare, she drove; in her wake nothing but the
sea sparkling with fire. A muffled crash, succeeded by a great
outcry, made the rescuer look again from his charge. A certain
savage pleasure touched his heart. The Astræa was avenged.
After that the battle moved on. Resistance turned to flight.
But who were the victors? Ben-Hur was sensible how much his
freedom and the life of the tribune depended upon that event.
He pushed the plank under the latter until it floated him, after
which all his care was to keep him there. The dawn came
slowly. He watched its growing hopefully, yet sometimes afraid.
Would it bring the Romans or the pirates ? If the pirates, his
charge was lost.
At last morning broke in full, the air without a breath. Off
to the left he saw the land, too far to think of attempting to
make it. Here and there men were adrift like himself. In spots
the sea was blackened by charred and sometimes smoking frag-
ments. A galley up a long way was lying to with a torn sail
hanging from the tilted yard, and the oars all idle. Still farther
away he could discern moving specks, which he thought might
be ships in flight or pursuit, or they might be white birds
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LEWIS WALLACE
15539
An hour passed thus. His anxiety increased. If relief came
.
not speedily, Arrius would die. Sometimes he seemed already
dead, he lay so still. He took the helmet off, and, then, with
greater difficulty, the cuirass; the heart he found fluttering. He
took hope at the sign, and held on. There was nothing to do
but wait, and after the manner of his people, pray.
The throes of recovery from drowning are more painful than
the drowning. These Arrius passed through; and at length, to
Ben-Hur's delight, reached the point of speech.
Gradually, from incoherent questions as to where he was, and
by whom and how he had been saved, he reverted to the battle.
The doubt of the victory stimulated his faculties' to full return, a
result aided not a little by a long rest such as could be had on
their frail support.
After a while he became talkative.
"Our rescue, I see, depends upon the result of the fight. I
see also what thou hast done for me. To speak fairly, thou hast
saved my life at the risk of thy own. I make the acknowledg.
ment broadly; and whatever cometh, thou hast my thanks. More
than that, if fortune doth but serve me kindly, and we get well
out of this peril, I will do thee such favor as becometh a Roman
who hath power and opportunity to prove his gratitude. Yet-
yet it is to be seen if, with thy good intent, thou hast really
done me a kindness: or rather, speaking to thy good will," — he
hesitated, -"I would exact of thee a promise to do me, in a cer-
tain event, the greatest favor one man can do another; and of
that let me have thy pledge now. "
“If the thing be not forbidden, I will do it,” Ben-Hur re-
plied.
Arrius rested again.
"Art thou indeed a son of Hur, the Jew ? ” he next asked.
“It is as I have said. ”
"I knew thy father
Judah drew himself nearer, for the tribune's voice was weak;
he drew nearer, and listened eagerly; at last he thought to hear
of home.
"I knew him, and loved him," Arrius continued.
There was another pause, during which something diverted
the speaker's thought.
"It cannot be,” he proceeded, “that thou, a son of his, hast
not heard of Cato and Brutus. They were very great men, and
»


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LEWIS WALLACE
(c
“I have prop-
never as great as in death. In their dying, they left this law:
A Roman may not survive his good fortune. Art thou listen.
ing? ”
“I hear. ”
" It is a custom of gentlemen in Rome to wear a ring. There
is one on my hand. Take it now. ”
He held the hand to Judah, who did as he asked.
"Now put it on thine own hand. ”
Ben-Hur did so.
« The trinket hath its uses,” said Arrius next.
erty and money. 'I am accounted rich even in Rome. I have
no family. Show the ring to my freedman, who hath control in
my absence: you will find him in a villa near Misenum. Tell
him how it came to thee, and ask anything, or all he may have:
he will not refuse the demand. If I live, I will do better by
thee. I will make thee free, and restore thee to thy home and
people; or thou mayst give thyself to the pursuit that pleaseth
thee most. Dost thou hear ? »
« I could not choose but hear. ”
«Then pledge me. By the gods --
Nay, good tribune, I am a Jew. ”
"By thy God, then, or in the form most sacred to those of
thy faith, pledge me to do what I tell thee now, and as I tell
thee: I am waiting; let me have thy promise. ”
“Noble Arrius, I am warned by thy manner to expect some-
thing of gravest concern. Tell me thy wish first.
"Wilt thou promise then ?
« That were to give the pledge, and - Blessed be the God of
• my fathers! yonder cometh a ship! ”
“In what direction ? »
From the north. ”
"Canst thou tell her nationality by outward signs ? »
My service hath been at the oars. ”
“Hath she a flag ? ”
“I cannot see one.
”
Arrius remained quiet some time, apparently in deep reflec-
tion.
“Does the ship hold this way yet ? ” he at length asked.
«Still this way. ”
« Look for the flag now. ”
(
(
(No.
>
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15541
(
(C
(
»
«She hath none. "
“Nor any other sign? ”
“She hath a sail set, and is of three banks, and cometh
swiftly,- that is all I can say of her. ”
"A Roman in triumph would have out many flags. She
must be an enemy.
Hear now,” said Arrius, becoming grave
again, “hear, while yet I may speak. If the galley be a pirate,
thy life is safe: they may not give thee freedom; they may put
thee to the oar again: but they will not kill thee. On the other
hand, I->
The tribune faltered.
"Perpol ! ” he continued resolutely. “I am too old to submit
to dishonor. In Rome, let them tell how Quintus Arrius, as
became a Roman tribune, went down with his ship in the midst
of the foe. This is what I would have thee do. If the galley
.
prove a pirate, push me from the plank and drown me. Dost
thou hear ? Swear thou wilt do it. ”
"I will not swear,” said Ben-Hur, firmly; “neither will I do
the deed. The Law, which is to me most binding, Otribune,
would make me answerable for thy life. Take back the ring” -
he took the seal from his finger; “take it back, and all thy
promises of favor in the event of delivery from this peril. The
judgment which sent me to the oar for life made me a slave,
yet I am not a slave; no more am I thy freedman. I am a son
of Israel, and this moment, at least, my own master. Take back
the ring. ”
Arrius remained passive.
« Thou wilt not ? " . Judah continued. “Not in anger, then,
nor in any despite, but to free myself from a hateful obligation,
I will give thy gift to the sea. See, O tribune!
He tossed the ring away. Arrius heard the splash where it
struck and sank, though he did not look.
“Thou hast done a foolish thing,” he said; "foolish for one
placed as thou art. I am not dependent upon thee for death.
Life is a thread I can break without thy help; and if I do, what
will become of thee? Men determined on death prefer it at the
hands of others, for the reason that the soul which Plato giveth
us is rebellious at the thought of self-destruction; that is all. If
the ship be a pirate, I will escape from the world. My mind is
fixed. I am a Roman. Success and honor are all in all. Yet I
(


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LEWIS WALLACE
>
would have served thee; thou wouldst not. The ring was the
only witness of my will available in this situation. We are both
lost. I will die regretting the victory and glory wrested from
me; thou wilt live to die a little later, mourning the pious duties
undone because of this folly. I pity thee. ”
Ben-Hur saw the consequences of his act more distinctly than
before, yet he did not falter.
"In the three years of my servitude, O tribune, thou wert
the first to look upon me kindly. No, no! There was another. ”
The voice dropped, the eyes became humid, and he saw plainly
as if it were then before him the face of the boy who helped
him to a drink by the old well at Nazareth. “At least,” he pro-
ceeded, “thou wert the first to ask me who I was: and if, when
I reached out and caught thee, blind and sinking the last time,
I too had thought of the many ways in which thou couldst be
useful to me in my wretchedness, still the act was not all selfish;
this I pray you to believe. Moreover, seeing as God giveth me
to now, the ends I dream of are to be wrought by fair means
alone. As a thing of conscience, I would rather die with thee
than be thy slayer. My mind is firmly set as thine: though thou
wert to offer me all Rome, O tribune, and it belonged to thee to
make the gift good, I would not kill thee. Thy Cato and Bru-
tus were as little children compared to the Hebrew whose law a
Jew must obey. ”
“But my request. Hast-
« Thy command would be of more weight, and that would not
move me. I have said. ”
Both became silent, waiting. Ben-Hur looked often at the
coming ship. Arrius rested with closed eyes, indifferent.
“Art thou sure she is an enemy ? ” Ben-Hur asked.
«I think so,” was the reply.
"She stops, and puts a boat over the side. ”
« Dost thou see her flag ? ”
“Is there no other sign by which she may be known if
Roman? ”
“If Roman, she hath a helmet over the mast's top. ”
«Then be of cheer,- I see the helmet. ”
Still Arrius was not assured.
"The men in the small boat are taking in the people afloat.
Pirates are not humane. ”
(
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15543
« They may need rowers,” Arrius replied; recurring possibly
to times when he had made rescues for the purpose.
Ben-Hur was very watchful of the actions of the strangers.
« The ship moves off," he said.
«Whither ?
“Over on our right there is a galley which I take to be de-
serted. The new-comer heads towards it. Now she is alongside.
Now she is sending men aboard. ”
Then Arrius opened his eyes and threw off his calm.
« Thank thou thy God,” he said to Ben-Hur, after a look at
the galleys, — "thank thou thy God, as I do my many gods. A
pirate would sink, not save, yon ship. By the act and the hel-
met on the mast I know a Roman. The victory is mine. For-
tune hath not deserted me. We are saved. Wave thy hand;
call to them; bring them quickly. I shall be duumvir-and
thou! I knew thy father, and loved him. He was a prince
indeed. He taught me a Jew was not a barbarian. I will
take thee with me. I will make thee my son. Give thy God
thanks, and call the sailors. Haste! The pursuit must be kept.
Not a robber shall escape.
Hasten them! ”
Judah raised himself upon the plank, and waved his hand,
and called with all his might; at last he drew the attention of
the sailors in the small boat, and they were speedily taken up.
Arrius was received on the galley with all the honors due a
hero so the favorite of Fortune. Upon a couch on the deck he
heard the particulars of the conclusion of the fight. When the
survivors afloat upon the water were all saved and the prize
secured, he spread his flag of commandant anew, and hurried
northward to rejoin the fleet and perfect the victory. In due
time the fifty vessels coming down the channel closed in upon
the fugitive pirates, and crushed them utterly: not one escaped.
To swell the tribune's glory, twenty galleys of the enemy were
captured.
Upon his return from the cruise, Arrius had warm welcome
on the mole at Misenum. The young man attending him very
early attracted the attention of his friends there; and to their
questions as to who he was, the tribune proceeded in the most
affectionate manner to tell the story of his rescue and introduce
the stranger, omitting carefully all that pertained to the latter's
previous history. At the end of the narrative he called Ben-Hur


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15544
LEWIS WALLACE
to him, and said, with a hand resting affectionately upon his
shoulder:
“Good friends, this is my son and heir, who, as he is to take
my property,- if it be the will of the gods that I leave any,-
shall be known to you by my name. I pray you all to love him
as you love me. ”
Speedily, as opportunity permitted, the adoption was formally
perfected. And in such manner the brave Roman kept his faith
with Ben-Hur, giving him happy introduction into the imperial
world. The month succeeding Arrius's return, the armilustrium
was celebrated with the utmost magnificence in the theatre of
Scaurus. One side of the structure was taken up with military
trophies; among which by far the most conspicuous and most
admired were twenty prows, complemented by their corresponding
aplustra, cut bodily from as many galleys; and over them, so as
to be legible to the eighty thousand spectators in the seats, was
this inscription:-
TAKEN FROM THE PIRATES IN THE GULF OF EURIPUS
BY
QUINTUS ARRIUS
DUUMVIR
THE CHARIOT RACE
From Ben-Hur. ) Copyright 1880, by Harper & Brothers
T"
He divine last touch in perfecting the beautiful is animation.
Can we accept the saying, then these latter days, so tame
in pastime and dull in sports, have scarcely anything to
compare to the spectacle offered by the six contestants. Let
the reader try to fancy it:- let him first look down upon the
arena, and see it glistening in its frame of dull-gray granite
walls: let him then, in this perfect field, see the chariots, light
of wheel, very graceful, and ornate as paint and burnishing can
make them — Messala's rich with ivory and gold: let him see the
drivers, erect and statuesque, undisturbed by the motion of the
cars, their limbs naked, and fresh and ruddy with the healthful
polish of the baths — in their right hands goads, suggestive of


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LEWIS WALLACE
15545
.
torture dreadful to the thought; in their left hands, held in
careful separation, and high that they may not interfere with
view of the steeds, the reins passing taut from the fore ends of
the carriage poles: let him see the fours, chosen for beauty as
well as speed: let him see them in magnificent action, their mas.
ters not more conscious of the situation and all that is asked and
hoped from them — their heads tossing, nostrils in play, now dis-
tent, now contracted; limbs too dainty for the sand which they
touch but to spurn; limbs slender, yet with impact crushing as
hammers; every muscle of the rounded bodies instinct with glo-
rious life, swelling, diminishing, justifying the world in taking
from them its ultimate measure of force: finally, along with
chariots, drivers, horses, let the reader see the accompanying
shadows fly:- and with such distinctness as the picture comes, he
may share the satisfaction and deeper pleasure of those to whom
it was a thrilling fact, not a feeble fancy. Every age has its
plenty of sorrows: Heaven help where there are no pleasures!
The competitors having started each on the shortest line for
the position next the wall, yielding would be like giving up
the race; and who dared yield ? It is not in common nature to
change a purpose in mid-career; and the cries of encouragement
from the balcony were indistinguishable and indescribable,- a roar
which had the same effect upon all the drivers.
The fours neared the rope together. Then the trumpeter by
the editor's side blew a signal vigorously. Twenty feet away it
was not heard. Seeing the action, however, the judges dropped
the rope,- and not an instant too soon, for the hoof of one of
Messala’s horses struck it as it fell. Nothing daunted, the Roman
shook out his long lash, loosed the reins, leaned forward, and with
a triumphant shout took the wall.
"Jove with us! Jove with us! ” yelled all the Roman faction,
in a frenzy of delight.
As Messala turned in, the bronze lion's head at the end of his
axle caught the fore-leg of the Athenian's right-hand trace-mate,
flinging the brute over against its yokefellow. Both staggered,
struggled, and lost their headway. The ushers had their will, at
least in part. The thousands held their breath with horror;
only up where the consul sat was there shouting.
"Jove with us ! » screamed Drusus frantically.
« He wins! Jove with us! ” answered his associates, seeing
Messala speed on.
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Tablet in hand, Sanballat turned to them; a crash from the
course below stopped his speech, and he could not but look that
way.
Messala having passed, the Corinthian was the only contestant
on the Athenian's right, and to that side the latter tried to turn
his broken four; and then, as ill-fortune would have it, the wheel
of the Byzantine, who was next on the left, struck the tail-piece
of his chariot, knocking his feet from under him. There was a
crash, a scream of rage and fear, and the unfortunate Cleanthes
fell under the hoofs of his own steeds: a terrible sight, against
which Esther covered her eyes.
On swept the Corinthian, on the Byzantine, on the Sidonian.
Sanballat looked for Ben-Hur, and turned again to Drusus
and his coterie.
“A hundred sestertii on the Jew! ” he cried.
« Taken! » answered Drusus.
"Another hundred on the Jew! ” shouted Sanballat.
Nobody appeared to hear him. He called again; the situa-
tion below was too absorbing, and they were too busy shouting,
“Messala! Messala! Jove with us! ”
When the Jewess ventured to look again, a party of workmen
were removing the horses and broken car; another party were
taking off the man himself; and every bench upon which there
was a Greek was vocal with execrations and prayers for venge-
Suddenly she dropped her hands: Ben-Hur, unhurt, was
to the front, coursing freely forward · along with the Roman!
Behind them, in a group, followed the Sidonian, the Corinthian,
and the Byzantine.
The race was on; the souls of the racers were in it; over
them bent the myriads.
»
ance.
was
When the dash for position began, Ben-Hur, as we have seen,
on the extreme left of the six. For a moment, like the
others, he was half blinded by the light in the arena; yet he
managed to catch sight of his antagonists and divine their pur-
pose. At Messala, who was more than an antagonist to him, he
gave one searching look. The air of passionless hauteur charac-
teristic of the fine patrician face was there as of old, and so was
the Italian beauty, which the helmet rather increased; but more
- it may have been a jealous fancy, or the effect of the brassy
shadow in which the features were at the moment cast, still the


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LEWIS WALLACE
15547
Israelite thought he saw the soul of the man as through a glass,
darkly,-cruel, cunning, desperate; not so excited as determined,
- a soul in a tension of watchfulness and fierce resolve.
In a time not longer than was required to turn to his four
again, Ben-Hur felt his own resolution harden to a like temper.
At whatever cost, at all hazards, he would humble this enemy!
Prize, friends, wagers, honor - everything that can be thought of
as a possible interest in the race was lost in the one deliberate
purpose. Regard for life even should not hold him back. Yet
there was no passion on his part; no blinding rush of heated
blood from heart to brain and back again; no impulse to fling
himself upon Fortune: he did not believe in Fortune; far other-
wise. He had his plan, and confiding in himself, he settled to the
task, never more observant, never more capable. The air about
him seemed aglow with a renewed and perfect transparency.
When not half-way across the arena, he saw that Messala's
rush would, if there was no collision, and the rope fell, give him
the wall; that the rope would fall, he ceased as soon to doubt:
and further, it came to him, a sudden flash-like insight, that Mes-
sala knew it was to be let drop at the last moment (prearrange-
ment with the editor could safely reach that point in the contest);
and it suggested, what more Roman-like than for the official to
lend himself to a countryman, who, besides being so popular, had
also so much at stake ? There could be no other accounting for
the confidence with which Messala pushed his four forward the
instant his competitors were prudentially checking their fours in
front of the obstruction, - no other except madness.
It is one thing to see a necessity, and another to act upon it.
Ben-Hur yielded the wall for the time.
The rope fell, and all the fours but his sprang into the course
under urgency of voice and lash. He drew head to the right,
and with all the speed of his Arabs, darted across the trails of
his opponents, the angle of movement being such as to lose the
least time and gain the greatest possible advance. So while
the spectators were shivering at the Athenian's mishap, and the
Sidonian, Byzantine, and Corinthian were striving, with such
skill as they possessed, to avoid involvement in the ruin, Ben-Hur
swept around and took the course neck and neck with Messala,
though on the outside. The marvelous skill shown in making
the change thus from the extreme left across to the right with-
out appreciable loss did not fail the sharp eyes upon the benches;
?


## p. 15548 (#502) ##########################################

15548
LEWIS WALLACE
the Circus seemed to rock and rock again with prolonged ap-
plause. Then Esther clasped her hands in glad surprise; then
Sanballat, smiling, offered his hundred sestertii a second time
without a taker; and then the Romans began to doubt, thinking
Messala might have found an equal, if not a master, and that in
an Israelite!
And now, racing together side by side, a narrow interval
between them, the two neared the second goal.
The pedestal of the three pillars there, viewed from the west,
was a stone wall in the form of a half-circle, around which the
course and opposite balcony were bent in exact parallelism. Mak-
ing this turn was considered in all respects the most telling test
of a charioteer; it was in fact the very feat in which Orestes
failed. As an involuntary admission of interest on the part of
the spectators, a hush fell over all the Circus; so that for the first
time in the race the rattle and clang of the cars plunging after
the tugging steeds were distinctly heard. Then, it would seem, ,
Messala observed Ben-Hur, and recognized him; and at once the
audacity of the man famed out in an astonishing manner.
"Down Eros, up Mars! ” he shouted, whirling his lash with
practiced hand; Down Eros, up Mars! ” he repeated, and caught
the well-doing Arabs of Ben-Hur a cut the like of which they
had never known.
The blow was in every quarter, and the amazement
was universal. The silence deepened; up on the benches behind
the consul the boldest held his breath, waiting for the outcome.