That they could do this was a great consolation to the two. They felt keenly the breaking up of their life in Rome, especially on its side of active benevolence. But it was something to know that it might be taken up elsewhere. They had, indeed, liberty of action in an uncommon degree. Aquila had made savings which, though not very large, would amply suffice for a time, and Priscilla was rich. As much of her property in Italy as could be sold without exciting suspicionand suspicion was an ever-present element in the atmosphere of Roman life, had been disposed of, and the proceeds had [99] been invested in safe quarters. Some had been lent to private traders; and here Aquila had had the advantage of that system of commercial intelligence which the Jews had brought to such perfection. Something like a gazette circulated among them, and a borrower whose name was unfavourably mentioned in it would only be wasting his time if he applied for a loan. More had been invested with municipalities, as ready then to borrow as they are now, in Greece, Asia Minor, Gaul and Spain. One loan, as we have seen, had been made to the city of Corinth. It had been arranged, my readers will remember, that the business should be concluded at that place, and this would have to be done either by Aquila himself or by some confidential agent. Corinth, therefore, was manifestly pointed out as a convenient choice, if a choice had to be made. What other interests would thus come into his life, Aquila did not so much as imagine. But the prospect of going there pleased him as much as any such prospect could please, when so many ties had to be broken, so many interests relinquished? It was the seat of a busy and prosperous trade, and as such appealed to his tastes. Possibly he traced a parallel between its fate and the fate of his own mother-city, Jerusalem. Both had been made utterly deso- [100] late, and both had recovered with marvellous celerity. On the whole, as he had to go, Corinth promised as well as any place outside his own land.
THE IMPERIAL PASS
[101] THE bulk of the exiles naturally chose the Ostian route. Then, as now, it was much cheaper to travel by sea than by land. The wheat ships, too, offered passages eastward at very cheap rates. They were the most commodious ships afloat, and they made the return voyage mostly in ballast, for the exports from Rome were commonly insignificant, and never, certainly, equivalent to the huge imports of wheat. There was, therefore, ample room for passengers, though the quarters provided for them would hardly have satisfied travellers accustomed to the luxuries of modern liners. Then they were largely owned, or chartered, by Jews, and their destination was in most cases Alexandria, the second capital of the Hebrew race. But it is with some of the few who took the more direct route by Brundisium, the chief point of departure for the eastward-bound, that we are at present concerned.
Raphael had called on Seneca and had made a [102] very favourable impression on the philosopher. The young Jew was a well educated man, and took a wide outlook on life; while, at the same time, the peculiarities of his birth and upbringing had left something highly distinctive on his character and bearing. It was the first time that Seneca had come in contact with a Jew of the better type, and the meeting interested him intensely as a student of human nature. Then, again, he was attracted in his character of a philosopher. Seneca was a Stoic in his belief, and a Stoic had more things in common with the Jew, as regarded God and the ordering of the world, than any other kind of thinker. Lastly Seneca was a great capitalist who had his investments all over the civilized world, and unless he has been very much belied, was somewhat fond of money, impoverishing the provinces, it was confidently asserted, by his usury. Anyhow he was greatly taken by the shrewdness and wide knowledge of the young Jew, in whom he recognized the acuteness and readiness of an expert in finance.
The conversation of course speedily turned to the subject which was the cause of Raphael’s visit.
“I was much concerned,” said Seneca, “to hear of your father’s condition. How is he going on?”
[103] “Wonderfully well, for an old man,” replied Raphael, “but the time is very short, and we are exceedingly anxious.”
“I can receive him here, where he would have every comfort of nursing and attendance. Any one whom he might desire to bring with him would be welcome. The authorities would make no objection. In fact the decree of banishment would be suspended as far as he and his party are concerned. So much I can promise; I have an assurance from the Empress that it shall be so. I understand, of course, that he must be waited upon by his own people. His attendants, therefore, would include any physician that may be in charge of him.”
“You are kindness itself, sir, but unfortunately the difficulty is not removed, and I am afraid is not removable. You seewell, my fatheris well, shall I say old-fashioned? He keeps rigidly to the Law, and the Law as it has been expounded and fortified by the ingenuity of generations of professional interpreters. As for myself I can’t hold with these ways. As long as we were in a country of our own they were all well, we could live as we pleased, and fix the conditions of life for ourselves. If a stranger did not choose to conform to them he could keep away. But that is changed. We are scattered all over the world, [104] and I venture to think it absurd that we should try to carry all these safeguards and prohibitions with us wherever we may go. The curious thingI know, sir, that you are interested in these mattersis that it is since this dispersion that these rules have been made so detailed and, if I may say it, impracticable. All this, however, is beside the mark just now. The fact is that my father would object as strongly to coming under the roof of a Gentile host, as he would to being attended by a Gentile nurse. And if he were to consent, which I may frankly say is impossible, then his attendants would object. No, I am at my wits’ end. He must travel, whatever his condition, for there is simply no place where he can stay. His own house, or indeed any Jewish house, is impossible, is it not, sir?”
“Yes,” said Seneca, after a moment’s thought, “I don’t think that any Jewish house could be exempted from the operation of the edict.”
“And it must be in a Jewish house that he stays, if he is to stay anywhere. That is my dilemma, and I don’t see any escape from it. He must go, and if he goes, I very much doubt whether he will live to see Brundisium.”
Seneca reflected. After a pause he said, “Well, as he must go, there is nothing to be done but to ease his going. Of course there will be a [105] considerable crush on the Brundisium road during the next ten days. Well, I will get a pass (Footnote: This pass, or diploma (a Latin or rather a Greek word, meaning a paper, or parchment, or tablet, folded in two), was a document issued by authority which entitled the bearer to be assisted on his journey in any way that he might require, with fresh horses, for instance, or convenient carriages. It bore the Emperor’s seal and was in theory issued by him, but certain great officials, among them the commander of the Praetorians, had the power of granting them.) for your father and you and such attendants as he will absolutely want. I should recommend you to send the others by the Ostia route. My friend Burrhus, who commands, as you know, the Praetorians, will, I am sure, oblige you in this matter. Your father, I suppose, does not object to using one of our public carriagesof course he will have it all to himself and his own people.”
“We are greatly obliged to you, sir,” said Raphael. “This makes our way as plain as it can be made.”
“One thing more,” Seneca went on, as his visitor rose to make his farewells. “You remember the lineone of the wise utterances of the Pythian priestess, if I remember right‘Fight thou with silver spears, and rule the world,’ but I dare say that your own wise men have said something of the same kind.”
[106] “Yes, indeed,” replied Raphael with a smile; “as the wise King has it, ‘A man’s gift maketh room for him;’ and room, I take it, is exactly what will be pretty scarce on the eastward road.”