The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-08-06
SLAUGHTER OF THE oaLILEANs.
Pon:ius PLATE armed His Soldiers With
Club In De-isio,,

! Pontius Plate aimed His Soldiers With
! Club In De-ision.
1t was Pilates custom to come to
| his official residence-a kind of pal
ace for pablo misunderstanding all
feasts, and he was there that day,
but he was in very ugly frame of
mind Such men as Ben Nassur,
aided by zealots from other places,
were arousiDg their followers more
and more from hour to hour until
at last an angry multitude swarmed
around the gates of Pilates house,
oursing him in the name OF the law
and of the temple. They clamored
for the restitution of the treasures
taken from the priests, the cessation
of the aqueduct work, which the
fall of the tower so plainly declared
to be wicked, and they furiously de-
manded the removal of the temple
guards.
The Roman governor had not the
least idea of granting any of these
demands, and he determined to teach
the angry Galileans a lesson. He
sent to his camps for large num-.
Der of soldiers. They were not to
come in armor, but in ordinary cloth
ing, and were to be armed only with
clubs. Strong men can do great
deal of damage with heavy cudge!s,
but Pilates idea was to express in
this way his soldierly contempt for
a Jewish mob. His men were order
ed to surround It and to wait for
such commands as he might give
them.
Cyril's fear Of the rabbis and
priests grew stronger as he drew
near the temple. There was no other
place on earth, he believed, where a
sacrifice to God could be offered as
solemnly as upon the brazen gold
ornamented altar of. burnt Offering,
which he and his father were soon
to see.
Louder and louder grew the sounds
of he tumult in the open space be-
forethe governors palace, but Cyril
and his father could no longer hear
it, for they were now in the outer
court of the temple They advanced
toward the steps leading up to the
gorgeously gilded portals of the in
ner court. Here they were met by
"a Levite, to whom Ezra at once
handed the feeoy Offering which he
had brought and had so far carried
in his arms During several min
utes, however, there had been
strange sounds beyond the gate of
tho outer court, and they were fast
growing louder. Ezra and his son
would have paused to listen, but the
Levite led the way into the inner
court, and they followed. In mo-
ment moro Cyril could see the
smoking altar, the splendidly array
ed priests, the chanting Levites, the
swinging censers and all the grand
appliances of the tenNple worship.
Everything was splendid beyond his
imaginings, but he could not look
at it for more than a moment. Be-
hind him, surging through the gate
into the outer court, filling that space
and then pouring on into the inner
court, came a shouting, shrieking,
maddened multitude.
Pilates club men had been doing
their brutal work only too we'll, and,
If his soldiers carried clubs only.
other enemies of the Galileans-and
they We're many-had seized this op-
portunity, for steel blades were
among the pursuers. An
angry mob was now pitilessly smit-
ing down the Jews who had protest
cd so zealously for the temple and
the law.
They did not pause at the gate of
the inner court, but in a moment
more there were slain Galileans w.
ing among the bodies of the animals
prepared for sacrifice, and the re-
venge of PLATE upon those who had
upbraidod him was becoming terri
blew. y. Stoddard in st. Nicholas.