The fact that at her age she had borne a child at all had attracted attention and there had been many neighbours present and practically every relative on both sides of the family except Mary, a cousin married to a carpenter in Nazareth, who was pregnant herself, and when Elisabeth said “John,” all the families had burst into protest. In neither family had there ever been a man of that name. Boys were always named for their fathers or some respected elderly relative or friend. Why John? everybody asked. But Elisabeth was adamant, the child must be named with the name which she had chosen. It seemed arbitrary and someone had suggested that Zacharias should be asked. They had made signs at him, assuming, as everybody always did, that a. dumb man must necessarily be deaf as well. Zacharias had written upon one of the prepared tablets which since his affliction he had always carried, and he had held it out to be read by the nearest literate person, who happened to be Elkanah; and what Elkanah had read out was, “His name is John.” Not should be, or will be, or even must be, just, “His name is John,” as though in another place the child had already been named.
So the alien-sounding name had been given, and that was no sooner done than Zacharias recovered his power of speech and burst into a chanting song, declaring that this child should go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. That was six months ago. Now there were men asking where the Messiah should be born. Elkanah had a great deal to think about… .
To the three waiting men Herod said :
“I have wise men in my household. I have consulted them and there is a general agreement that a. child of some importance may be born in Bethlehem.”
“South of here,” Melchior said, not asking a question, stating a fact.
“Thank you, we know now what road to ask for in leaving the city. That will help.”
His hands moved towards his sleeves, he was about to take hasty leave
when Herod said, “Wait,” and at the same time Caspar said:“Ask him my question!”
“This one,” Melchior said, past all patience, ‘would be a good companion were he dumb. Now before we can leave he must ask, how many unruly men live in the hills?”
Momentarily diverted by this inconsequent question, Herod said:
“Six hundred; debtors hiding from their creditors, men hiding from their wives.”
“Six hundred,” Melchior said to Caspar in the tongue they shared. And again he made the preliminary gesture of polite leave-taking.
“I wanted to ask you a favour,” Herod said.
“If this child is as important as you say…”
“Nothing that I could say would tell you how important,” Melchior said.
“And for that reason I must go.”
“Go,” Herod said, ‘go swiftly; search diligently; but when you have found him, come back and tell me where and in what condition you found him. Of such importance and born in my realm, it would be only right that I should make some sign of recognition. You will, in any case, be returning this way.”
Something in his speech struck Melchior as being very odd. If the man had his own soothsayers, or whatever they were, who could pinpoint the very place of birth for the child, why should he make that request? It didn’t make sense; and all his life Melchior had dealt with things which, properly regarded, did make sense. This man, he thought, consulted nobody; he looked at a map, came back and gave me a name within the right distance, and is now relying upon me to return and tell him where the star led me.. .. And the baby is not of his lineage, or he would not need to be told. Such a pity, the old man thought, looking at Herod with his study-dimmed eyes; I have never yet deceived anyone, even myself, but this man could be dangerous, and to him I must lie. He did it as evasively as he could. He said: “That is indeed little to ask in return for the help you have given us.” The sad truth was that once you came down from your tower you had to deal with people, and in their own currency. He had made what sounded like a promise, while privately determining that neither he nor either of the others would come back this way.
Then Herod, all unwittingly, confirmed Melchior’s worst suspicions. Anxious to ingratiate himself, he belatedly offered refreshments.
“Thank you, no!” Melchior said.
“We must be on our way.” Time was now more pressing than ever. If Herod had looked at a map, pinned one leg of the compass on Jerusalem and set the other leg at ten or twelve miles, he would already know roughly where that baby was. And Kings had enormous resources, men on horseback, men on foot…. Then why ask us to return? Oh, I see, because I know; I might be dangerous too…. “We thank you,” he said, making his bow.
“Come, we must go.”
Outside the brisk cold wind had cleared the clouds and their star shone, with a myriad others, lighting the night. Melchior said, “We must ride now as we have never ridden before.” Balthazar, very humbly, said, “The visit was not all wasted time. We know the place now.”
“We know what place he named,” Melchior snapped.
“I place no faith in that man. I shall go where the star leads; and by the shortest road.” He slapped his camel with a hand that trembled a little more than it had done.
Herod sat for a little time in the great silver chair in the room where never before had he been alone. He said, softly:
“Mariamne. Mariamne.” And when he felt, in that inexplicable way, that contact had been established, he said, “I thank you!” The danger had been so narrowly avoided. If he had sent that old man, with all his dangerous knowledge, away, to go blabbing about royal lineage and great destiny … If he hadn’t remembered, as willingly or unwillingly he remembered every word that Mariamne had ever said to him .. . what might have happened was horrible to contemplate. If that story had once reached, in however garbled a fashion, the ears of the
religiouspatriots amongst the Jews almost anything could have been expected. More than once during his reign Herod had seen what religious frenzy could do to a crowd. Unarmed, they had lain down in the streets and allowed themselves to be trampled to death in the attempt to hold up the progress of something obnoxious to their faith. Give them a fulfilled prophecy, a glimmer of hope in Jehovah’s direct intervention, and they would rise in full-scale revolt; and that would mean military action on the part of Rome, a proconsul established in Jerusalem, the end of Herod.
However, thanks to Mariamne that had been avoided. The child would be identified and, as soon as identified, slain. The three men would return, and once they had entered the Palace they would never leave it again. Herod, who had never shrunk from killing even his nearest and dearest when policy dictated such action, would think nothing of adding four more murders to his score. Killing was effective. Once, long ago, when he had seen Mark Antony falling under Cleopatra’s spell, he had advised him, “Kill her!” If that advice had been taken, how differently things would have turned out. He realised that he must not sit here, thanking Mariamne and inviting her approval of the way in which he had handled things; it would be injudicious to keep the priests waiting any longer.
So, ruthless and determined, Herod went in to his dinner. Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, pressing their camels hard, rode through the starry night, the old man turning every now and again to make certain that they were not being followed. In and around Bethlehem little children slept in their beds, or in their mothers’ arms.
twelve A ROMAN BARRACKS Half-mile By Balthazar’s reckonings—he had inquired in the city which gate of exit and which road to take, and how far to Bethlehem-they had done three-quarters of the last lap of their journey when Melchior, who had been constantly urging his camel, halted it and made a moaning noise, like an animal in distress.
“Are you ill?” Balthazar asked. It seemed likely to him that the old man’s frail body, so ill-fed and subject to such strain, might at last have given way.
“This is the wrong road,” Melchior said.
“Look!”
The star was now low in the sky, and did appear to be to the left of them, while the road ran straight ahead.
“But there is only the one road. I inquired most carefully. I asked in the city which gate, and at the gate I asked again. This is the road to Bethlehem and all we can do is to follow it and then turn left to seek the place indicated.”