The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-23

And Lucius knows it.. yet he Will go on,
And all against my will he sti1s my blood
30 suspend my letter for awhile.
a walk has Gained mel begin again
Letting this last page since it is written, stand.
Iucius is going you will see him soon
In cur great Forum, there with him will walk,
And hear him rail and rave against the East.
stay behind-for the bare silences.
These hills that In the sunset melt and burn,
These proud stern people. these dead seas and
These sombre cedars. this intense still sky,
To me, o'erwearied with lifes din and strain,
Are grateful as the solemn blank OF night
After the fierce days irritant excess:
Besides, o deep absorbing interest
Detains me here, fills up my mind. and sways
My Utmost thoughs-has got rs 'twere gf1pe
Upon my very life as strange as new.
Iscarcey know how well to speak of this.
Fearing your raillery Mt best--at worst
Even your contempt: yet. spite Of all, speak.
First do not deem me to have lost my head,
Sunstruck, as that man Paulus was at Rome.
No, / am sane as ever and my pulse
Beats even. with no fever, in my blood,
Wild ss they were. were not entirely wild
Nay, shall dare avow it2 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, O mysterious man.
Bear with me If | now ayow 50 much
When next we meet | will expose my mind,
But now the subject must ,arcely touch.
How many o time. while sauntering up and
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 contradicing facts
Looked Janus-faced to innocence and guilt.
With quiet fegvor and uplifted hand
Some subtle view or fact by me o erlooked.
And urging me, who always strain my point
lBeing too much. know. partsan,)
To pause and press not to issue SO.
Bl1t more apart with 1pss impptllnug zeal
Survey as from an upper floor the facts.
need you now to rein me in, too quick
To ride within beyond the term Of Truth,
For here O case comes up to which in vain
Iseek the clue: you could clear up my mind
& But you are abSent-so send these notes.
The case is one Judas. Simons son.
Iscariot Caled-a JeW--and one of those
Who followed Christus. held by some god,
But deemed by others to have preached and
A superslition vile, of which one point
Was Worship of an ass but this is falsel
Judas. his follower. all the sect declare.
Bought by q bride of thirty silver coins,
Basely betrayed his master unto death.
The question is. Did Judas. doing this.
Act from base motives and g; commit crime2
Or. all things taken carefully in view,
Can he be justified in what he did2
Here on the spot, surrounded by the mon
Who acted in The drama. / have sought
Tosudy out this strange and tragic case.
Many are dead-as Herod. Caiaphas.
Under whose rule. but all without his fault.
And. as fancy. all against s bis will,
His words with me would have the greatest
But Ltsias still Is living. an old man.
The chef of the centuIions whose report
lis to bt trusted, as he saw and heard,
Not ONE. but many time and oft this man.
His looS and bearing Lysias thus describes
Tall, sender, not erect, little bent;
Brows ,rched and dark; high ridged lofty
head
Thin temples, veined and delicate: large eyes.
Sad, veryserious, seeming as it were
TO look byond you, and whene'er he spoke
1llumine6by an inner lamping light
AT times, DO, cleaning with a strange wild fire
When tauned by the rabble in the streets;
AJewish ice, complexion pale but daI k:,
Thin. hignlft nos!rils auiyering constantly; %
veins;
His movements nervous; as he walked he
Scarcely p he'd the persons whom he passed.
/ And for tie most part gazed upon the ground.
''As for hb followers. knew them all
A strange mad set, and fill Of fances wild
John. Petr James-and Judas. best Of ali
All seema to me good men without otfense-
A little crzed. butwho is wholly sane2
They wen about and cured the sick and halt
And gay ,e. t, their money to the poor.
And all thir talk was charity and peace.
If Christu thought and said he was god,
Twas hamless madness not dess rving death.
What mosaroused the wealthy rabbits rage
Was that b set the poor against the rich,
And cried hat rich men all would 60 to hell,
And Wort OF all. roundy denounced the
With all thr rich phylacteries and robes
Said theywere hypocrtes who made long
And robbie poor widows and devoured their
And were sbest but whited sepulchres:.
And this it1as that brought him to the Cross
Those whbvent with him and believed in him
We're mosg dull. uneducated men.
Simple arihonest, dazed by what he did.
I'M m ~ IN
And all b cures they called miraculous.
They folwed him like sheep where'er he went
With feehgs mixed Of wonder. fear and love
Yesl ! s'pose they loved him, though they
Strickenith fear when we arrested him."
what !-all fledl" asked, Did none re-
main
Mot once said: "All left him to his fate
Not one eed own he was follower
Not one &c witness for him of them all.
Stopl Wn say not one of them mean
No one bJudas-Judas whom they call :,
The trait-who betrayed him to his death.
He rushe0to the council hall and cried
lis Observation-Disclosures is innocent"
And here lme to what OF all I've heard
Most touch mel for this my letter write.
Paulus. yo,now. had only for this man.
N This Judasords of scorn and hate.
Mark, noWae different view that Lys1as took!
When. urgey me, his story thus he told:
rome say udaS was base. vie man,
Who SOLD master for the meanest bribe:
others aRalnsist he was most right.
/ Giving to Ju.e one who merely sought
To overtnrohe church. subvert the law,
L And on its rs build himself throne.
/. knowing Jhs-and none better knew
l. caring non for Uhristu5 more than him.
But hating 1.-The simple truth will tell.
No man can Il ever told lie
am too OLD to begin. Besides,
The trutn is u, and let the truth be told.
Judas, say, ne of all the men
Who followedlristns Thought that he was
God.
Some feared Nor his power Of miracles:
Some were at1ed by sort of SPELL
Some foliowedl to hear his sweet clear voice
And gentle Spenp hearing with THAR aars