Ben-Hur

A Tale of the Christ

Lew Wallace

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780486809274
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Altertumswissenschaften

Betrayed by his best friend and enslaved by the Romans, Judah Ben-Hur seeks revenge but instead finds redemption through his encounters with Jesus Christ. Generations have thrilled to the sacred destiny of the mighty charioteer Ben-Hur, whose enduring tale began as a bestselling 1880 novel that later inspired equally popular stage and film interpretations. Combining the appeal of a historical adventure with a heartfelt message of Christian love and compassion, the story blends the visceral excitement of a quest for vengeance with the spiritual thrill of forgiveness.
Author Lew Wallace?a Civil War general, politician, and diplomat?conducted meticulous research into the ancient world to bring a vivid immediacy tohis characters and settings, from life as a Roman galley slave, to the living death of exile, to a Jerusalem leper colony. The novel's countless admirers included President James A. Garfield, a former professor of literature, who told the author, "With this beautiful and reverent book you have lightened the burden of my daily life."

CHAPTER XLVII

The Start

ABOUT THREE O’CLOCK, speaking in modern style, the programme was concluded except the chariot-race. At once the vomitoria were thrown open, and all who could hastened to the portico outside where the restaurateurs had their quarters. Those who remained yawned, talked, gossiped, consulted their tablets, and, all distinctions else forgotten, merged into but two classes – the winners, who were happy, and the losers, who were glum and captious.

Now, however, a third class of spectators, composed of citizens who desired only to witness the chariot-race, availed themselves of the recess to come in and take their reserved seats; by so doing they thought to attract the least attention and give the least offence. Among these were Simonides and his party, whose places were in the vicinity of the main entrance on the north side, opposite the consul.

As the four stout servants carried the merchant in his chair up the aisle, curiosity was much excited. Presently someone called his name. Those about caught it and passed it on along the benches to the west; and there was hurried climbing on seats to get sight of the man about whom common report had coined and put in circulation a romance so mixed of good fortune and bad that the like had never been known or heard of before.

Ilderim was also recognised and warmly greeted; but nobody knew Balthasar or the two women who followed him closely veiled.

The people made way for the party respectfully, and the ushers seated them in easy speaking distance of each other down by the balustrade overlooking the arena. In providence of comfort, they sat upon cushions and had stools for foot-rests.

The women were Iras and Esther.

Upon being seated, the latter cast a frightened look over the Circus, and drew the veil closer about her face; while the Egyptian, letting her veil fall upon her shoulders, gave herself to view, and gazed at the scene with the seeming unconsciousness of being stared at, which, in a woman, is usually the result of long social habitude.

The newcomers generally were yet making their first examination of the great spectacle, beginning with the consul and his attendants, when some workmen ran in and commenced to stretch a chalked rope across the arena from balcony to balcony in front of the pillars of the first goal.

About the same time, also, six men came in through the Porta Pompæ and took post, one in front of each occupied stall; whereat there was a prolonged hum of voices in every quarter.

‘See, see! The green goes to number four on the right – the Athenian is there.’

‘And Messala – yes, he is in number two.’

‘The Corinthian – ’

‘Watch the white! See, he crosses over, he stops; number one it is -number one on the left.’

‘No, the black stops there, and the white at number two.’

‘So it is.’

These gate-keepers, it should be understood, were dressed in tunics coloured like those of the competing charioteers; so, when they took their stations, everybody knew the particular stall in which his favourite was that moment waiting.

‘Did you ever see Messala?’ the Egyptian asked Esther.

The Jewess shuddered as she answered no. If not her father’s enemy, the Roman was Ben-Hur’s.

‘He is beautiful as Apollo.’

As Iras spoke, her large eyes brightened and she shook her jewelled fan. Esther looked at her with the thought: ‘Is he, then, so much handsomer than Ben-Hur?’ Next moment she heard Ilderim say to her father: ‘Yes, his stall is number two on the left of the Porta Pompæ;’ and, thinking it was of Ben-Hur he spoke, her eyes turned that way. Taking but the briefest glance at the wattled face of the gate, she drew the veil close and muttered a little prayer.

Presently Sanballat came to the party.

‘I am just from the stalls, O sheik,’ he said, bowing gravely to Ilderim, who began combing his beard, while his eyes glittered with eager enquiry. ‘The horses are in perfect condition.’

Ilderim replied simply: ‘If they are beaten, I pray it be by some other than Messala.’

Turning then to Simonides, Sanballat drew out a tablet, saying: ‘I bring you also something of interest. I reported, you will remember, the wager concluded with Messala last night, and stated that I left another which, if taken, was to be delivered to me in writing today before the race began. Here it is.’

Simonides took the tablet and read the memorandum carefully.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘their emissary came to ask me if you had so much money with me. Keep the tablet close. If you lose you know where to come; if you win’ – his face knit hard – ‘if you win – ah, friend, see to it! See the enemy escape not; hold them to the last shekel. That is what they would with us.’

‘Trust me,’ replied the purveyor.

‘Will you not sit with us?’ asked Simonides.

‘You are very good,’ the other returned; ‘but if I leave the consul, young Rome yonder will boil over. Peace to you; peace to all.’

At length the recess came to an end.

The trumpeters blew a call at which the absentees rushed back to their places. At the same time, some attendants appeared in the arena, and, climbing upon the division wall, went to an entablature near the second goal at the west end, and placed upon it seven wooden balls; then returning to the first goal, upon an entablature there they set up seven other pieces of wood hewn to represent dolphins.

‘What shall they do with the balls and fishes, O sheik?’ asked Balthasar.

‘Hast thou never attended a race?’

‘Never before; and hardly know I why I am here.’

‘Well, they are to keep the count. At the end of each round run thou shalt see one ball and one fish taken down.’

The preparations were now complete, and presently a trumpeter in gaudy uniform arose by the editor, ready to blow the signal of commencement promptly at his order. Straightway the stir of the people and the hum of their conversation died away. Every face nearby, and every face in the lessening perspective, turned to the east, as all eyes settled upon the gates of the six stalls which shut in the competitors.

The unusual flush upon his face gave proof that even Simonides had caught the universal excitement. Ilderim pulled his beard fast and furious.

‘Look now for the Roman,’ said the fair Egyptian to Esther, who did not hear her, for, with close-drawn veil and beating heart, she sat watching for Ben-Hur.

The structure containing the stalls, it should be observed, was in form of the segment of a circle, retired on the right so that its central point was projected forward, and midway the course, on the starting side of the first goal. Every stall, consequently, was equally distant from the starting-line or chalked rope above mentioned.

The trumpet sounded short and sharp; whereupon the starters, one for each chariot, leaped down from behind the pillars of the goal, ready to give assistance if any of the fours proved unmanageable.

Again the trumpet blew, and simultaneously the gate-keepers threw the stalls open.

First appeared the mounted attendants of the charioteers, five in all, Ben-Hur having rejected the service. The chalked line was lowered to let them pass, then raised again. They were beautifully mounted, yet scarcely observed as they rode forward; for all the time the trampling of eager horses, and the voices of drivers scarcely less eager, were heard behind in the stalls, so that one might not look away an instant from the gaping doors.

The chalked line up again, the gate-keepers called their men, instantly the ushers on the balcony waved their hands, and shouted with all their strength, ‘Down! down!’

As well have whistled to stay a storm.

Forth from each stall, like missiles in a volley from so many great guns, rushed the six fours; and up the vast assemblage arose, electrified and irrepressible, and leaping upon the benches, filled the Circus and the air above it with yells and screams. This was the time for which they had so patiently waited! – this the moment of supreme interest treasured up in talk and dreams since the proclamation of the games!

‘He is come – there – look!’ cried Iras, pointing to Messala.

‘I see him,’ answered Esther, looking at Ben-Hur.

The veil was withdrawn. For an instant the little Jewess was brave. An idea of the joy there is in doing an heroic deed under the eyes of a multitude came to her, and she understood ever after how, at such times, the souls of men, in the frenzy of performance, laugh at death or forget it utterly.

The competitors were now under view from nearly every part of the Circus, yet the race was not begun; they had first to make the chalked line successfully.

The line was stretched for the purpose of equalising the start. If it were dashed upon, discomfiture of man and horses might be apprehended; on the other hand, to approach it timidly was to incur the hazard of being thrown behind in the beginning of the race; and that was certain forfeit of the great advantage always striven for – the position next the division wall on the inner line of the course.

This trial, its perils and consequences, the spectators knew thoroughly; and if the opinion of old Nestor, uttered what time he handed the reins to his son, were true –

It is not strength, but art, obtained the prize,

and to be swift is less than to be wise –

all on the benches might well look for warning of the winner to be now given, justifying the interest with which they breathlessly watched for the result.

The arena swam in a dazzle of light; yet each driver looked first for the rope, then for the coveted inner line. So, all six aiming at the same point and speeding furiously, a collision seemed inevitable; nor that merely. What if the umpire, at the last moment, dissatisfied with the start, should withhold the signal to drop the rope? Or if he should not give it in time!

The crossing was about two hundred and fifty feet in width. Quick the eye, steady the hand, unerring the judgement required. If now one look away! or his mind wander! or a rein slip!

Let the reader first look down upon the arena, and see it glistening in its frame of dull-grey granite walls, let him then, in this perfect field, see the chariots, light of wheel, very graceful, and ornate as paint and burnishing can make them – Messala’s rich with ivory and gold; let him see the drivers, erect and statuesque, undisturbed by the motion of the cars, their limbs naked, and fresh and ruddy with the healthful polish of the baths – in their right hands goads, in their left hands, held in careful separation, and high, that they may not interfere with view of the steeds, the reins passing taut from the fore ends of the carriage poles, let him see the fours, chosen for beauty as well as speed; let him see them in magnificent action, their masters not mo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Note
• Contents
• I In the Desert
• II The Three Strangers
• III Gaspar the Greek
• IV Melchior
• V Balthasar
• VI The Joppa Market
• VII The People of Jerusalem
• VIII Joseph and Mary
• IX At Bethlehem
• X The Ray from Heaven
• XI The Arrival of the Magi
• XII The Child Christ
• XIII Rome and Judea
• XIV Messala and Judah
• XV Judah’s Home
• XVI Judah’s Mother
• XVII The Accident
• XVIII The Prisoner
• XIX Quintus Arrius
• XX The Roman Galley
• XXI The Galley Slave
• XXII A Gleam of Hope
• XXIII The Sea-Fight
• XXIV Free and Adopted
• XXV At Antioch
• XXVI Disappointed
• XXVII The Story of Simonides
• XXVIII Exploring
• XXIX By the Fountain
• XXX Vengeance Planned
• XXXI The Orchard of Palms
• XXXII Malluch’s Report
• XXXIII A Roman Revel
• XXXIV In an Arab Home
• XXXV llderim’s Supper
• XXXVI Balthasar’s Teaching
• XXXVII Gratus Warned
• XXXVIII Preparation
• XXXIX The Letter Intercepted
• XL A Summons
• XLI Acknowledged
• XLII The Promised Kingdom
• XLIII Ben-Hur’s Decision
• XLIV The Programme
• XLV The Bets
• XLVI The Circus
• XLVII The Stari
• XLVIII An Invitation
• XLIX The Prisoners
• L The Lepers
• LI The Old Home
• LII A Trial of Love
• LIII Amrah’s Fidelity
• LIV The Champion
• LV The Herald
• LVI Immortality
• LVII An Evil Influence
• LVIII The Herald and his King
• LIX Anticipation
• LX Ben-Hur’s Relation
• LXI Glad Tidings
• LXII Healed
• LXIII To Jerusalem
• LXIV Disappointment
• LXV Near the End
• LXVI The End
• LXVII The Catacomb