The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-16
A ROMAN LAWYER IN JERUSALEM.
First Century.

SaLpel these presents will be borne to you
BY Ilucius who is wearied with this place,
Stated with travel, looks upon the ElsC
As simply hateful-blazing, barren % pleaN
And lones again to find himself III holue'
After the tumut of its streets, i.s Trains
Of sIo,oe and clients aud its villas cool
XU;th ,oorI,Ie porticoes beside the sea,
And friends and banquets-more than all, its
This ,ife re9 seems blank and fat. He pants to
Ir &c vost circus all alive with heads
And onivering arms and floating robes-the
Thrilled by the roaring .fre6'jtus of men
THE sunlit awning heaving overhead,
Swollen and strained against its corded veins,
SmJ banning out its hem with loud report
iTbe wild beasts roaring from the pit below
The wilder crowd responding from above
With one long yell that sends the startled
blood
With thrill and sudden flush into the cheeks
A hundred trumpets screaming-the .duu
OF horses galloping across the sand
The clang of scabbards, the sharp clash of
steel
Live swords, that whirl circle of grey fire
Brass helmets flashing meath their streaming
hair
universal tumult-then hush
Worse than the tumult-all eyes straining
To the arenas pit-all lips set close
All muscles strained-and then that sudden
Ha5et?IThats Rome, says Lucius so it is
That is, tbs lis Rome-'ts not yours and
mine.
And yet, great Jupiter here at my side
He stands with face aside as if he saw
The games he thus describes, and says,
''That's life
Life life my friend, and this is simply
death!
just as he utters them. hrte these games,
And Lucius knows it, yet he will go on,
And all against my will he stirs my blood
So suspend my letter for while.
A walk has Gained mel begin again
Letting this last page, since it is written,
stand
Lucius is going: you will see him soon
In our great Forum, there with him will walk,
And hear him rail and raiye against the East.
stay behind-for these bare silences,
These hills that in the sunset melt and burn,
This proud, stern people, these dead seas and
lakes,
These sombre cedars, this intense still sky,
To me, oerwearied with Lifes s din and strain,
Are grateful as the solemn blank Of night
After the fierce days iITitant excess;
Besides, deep absorbing interest
Detains me here fills up my mind, and sways
My inmost thoughts-has got, as 'twere, a
grippe
Upon my very life, as strange as new.
scarcely know how well to speak of this,
Fearing your raillery at best-at worst
Even your contempt; yet, spite of all, speak
First do not deem me to have lost my head,
Sun-struck, as that man Paulus was at Rome.
No, am sane as ever, and my pulse
Beats even, with no fever in my blood.
And yet half incline to think his words,
Wild as they were, were not entirely wild.
Nay, shall 1 dare avow it? [ half tend
Here in this place, surrounded by these
men
Despite the jeering natural at first,
And then the pressure of my lifelong thought
Trained up against ito excuse his faith,
And half admit the Christus he thinks God
Is at the least, a most mysterious man.
Bear with me if l now avow so much;
When next we meet 1 will expose my mind
But now the subject L must scarcely touch.
How many time, while sauntering up an(
down
The forums space, or pausing meath the
shade
OF some grand temple, arch, or portico,
Have we discussed some knotty point of law
Some curious case, whose contradicting fact'
Looked Janus-faced to innocence and guilt.
see you now arresting me, to note
With quiet fervor and uplifted hand
Some subtle view or fact by me oerlooked,
And urging me, who always strain my poin
(Being too much, know, partisan),
To pause, and press not to the issue SO,
But more apart, with less impetuous zeal,
Survey as from an upper floor the facts.
need you now to rein me in, too quick
To ride a whim beyond the term of Truth,
For here case comes up to which in vain
seek the clue you could clear up my mind
But you are absent-so l send these notes.
The case is of one Judas, SiAons son,
Iscariot called-a Jew-and one of those
Who followed Christus, held by some god,
But deemed by others to have preached anC
taught
A superstition vile, of which one point
Was worship of an ass but this is false
Judas, his follower, all the sect declare,
Bought by bribe of thirty silver coins,
Basely betrayed his master unto death.
The question is,-Did Judas doing this,
Act from base motives and commit crime
Or, all things taken carefully in view,
Can he be justified in what he did?
Here on the spot surrounded by the men
Who acted in the DRAMA have sought
10 study out this strange and tragic case.
Many are dead-as Herod, Caiaphas,
And also Pilate-a most worthy man,
Under whose rule, but all without his fault,
And, as l fancy, all against his WILL
Christus was crucihed. This l regret:
his words with me would have the creates
weight
but Lyslas still is living, an old man,
The chief of the Centurions. whose report
Is to be trusted, as he saw and heard