The crowd that filled the tavern, now learning the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth, urged and pressed each other to go and meet the young master; mothers, who held their little infants in their arms, endeavored to arrive the first near Jesus, the infirm, resuming their crutches, begged their neighbors to open a pa.s.sage for them. Such was already the penetrating and charitable influence of the words of the son of Mary, that the strong moved aside to allow the mothers and the suffering to approach him.
Jane, Aurelia and her slave shared the general emotion; Genevieve especially, daughter, wife, and, perhaps, one day a mother of slaves, experienced an unusual beating of the heart at the sight of him who came, he said, to announce to the captives their deliverance, and set at liberty those who were crushed beneath their chains. At length Genevieve perceived him.
The son of Mary, the friend of little children, of poor mothers, of the suffering and of slaves, was habited like the other Israelites, his countrymen; he wore a robe of white cloth, secured round his waist by a leathern belt from which hung his purse or money-bag; a square mantle of blue depended from his shoulders.
His long chestnut hair, bright as new-coined gold, fell on each side of his pale face of an angelic sweetness; his lips and chin were half shaded by a slight beard, with golden reflections like his hair. His manner was cordial and familiar; he affectionately shook the hands of all that were tendered him.
He frequently stooped down to kiss some ragged little children who held the lappets of his robe, and, smiling ineffably, he said to those who surrounded him:
"Let the little children approach me."
Judas, a man with a sinister and deceptive countenance, and Simon, other disciples of Jesus, accompanied him and carried each of them a box, in which the son of Mary, after questioning each patient and attentively listening to his reply, took several medicaments which he gave to the infirm and to the women who came to consult his science, either for themselves or for their children.
Frequently, to the balsams and advice he distributed, Jesus added a gift of money, which he drew from the bag at his girdle; he so often dipped into this purse, that having a last time plunged in his hand, he smiled mournfully on finding the little pocket empty. So, after turning all manner of ways, he made a sign of touching regret, as if to show that he had nothing to give. Then, those whom he had a.s.sisted with his counsels, his balms, and his money, thanked him warmly; he said to them in his gentle voice:
""Tis Almighty G.o.d, the Father of us all, who is in Heaven, that you must thank, and not me--peace be with you."
"If your treasury of money is empty, friend, you have still an inexhaustible treasure, that of good words," said Banaias; for he had contrived to approach quite close to Jesus of Nazareth, and he contemplated him with a mixture of respect and emotion that made his ferocious traits forgotten.
"Yes," replied another; "tell us, Jesus, of things which we poor and humble can comprehend, the language of our holy and divine prophet, but often obscure to us poor people."
"Oh, yes; our good Jesus," added a pretty child, who had glided into the front rank, and held one flap of the robe of the young man of Nazareth, "recount to us one of those parables that delight us so much, and which we repeat to our mothers and brothers."
"No, no," said other voices; "before the parable, make one of your n.o.ble discourses against the wicked rich, the powerful and the proud."
But Mary"s son pointed with a smile to the little child who had first demanded a parable, and took him on his knees, after seating himself near a table; thus showing his love for infancy. Mary"s son seemed to say that this dear little one should be first satisfied in his desire.
All, then, grouped round Jesus; the children who loved him so sat down at his feet; Oliba and other courtezans also seated themselves on the ground in the Eastern fashion, embracing their knees with their hands, and their eyes fixed on the young man of Nazareth, in anxious expectation. Banaias, and several of his like, crowding behind the young man, recommended silence to the eager mult.i.tude. Others, lastly, more distant, such as Jane, Aurelia, and her slave Genevieve, formed a second rank by mounting on the benches. Jesus, still holding on his knee the little child, who with one of his tiny arms resting on the shoulder of the son of Mary, seemed suspended from his lips, commenced the following parable: "A man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father: "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." And the father divided his goods. A short time after, the youngest of the sons gathered together all he had and went into a distant country and dissipated his portion. And after he had spent all, a great famine arose in the land, and he began to be in want. He therefore went into service with an inhabitant of the country, who sent him into the fields to feed swine. There he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat, but no man gave unto him."
At these words of the parable the child which Mary"s son held upon his knees uttered a deep sigh, joining his little hands in a pitying manner.
Jesus continued:
"At length returning to himself, the prodigal son said, "How many servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish of hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him: father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." And he arose and went to his father; but when he was yet a great way off, his father perceived him, and moved with compa.s.sion, he ran to him and fell on his neck and kissed him.
"And his son said to him: "My father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, I am no more worthy to be called thy son."
"But the father said to his servants:
"Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."
"Oh! the kind father!" said the child on the knees of Jesus. Oh! the good and tender father, who pardons and embraces instead of scolding!"
Jesus smiled, kissed the child"s forehead, and continued:
"And they began to be merry. But the elder brother, who was in the field returned, and when he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
He therefore called one of the servants, and asked what all this meant.
The servant replied to him:
"Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath found him safe and sound;" which made the elder brother angry, and he would not go in; therefore his father came out and entreated him. But his son replied to him: "These many years have I served thee, neither have I at any time transgressed thy command; and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.
But as soon as this, thy son, who has squandered his living with harlots, is returned, thou hast had the fatted calf killed for him.""
"Oh! how wicked is the eldest son!" said the child; "he is jealous of his poor brother, who returns, however, very unhappy to the house. G.o.d will not love this jealous son; will he, my good Jesus?"
Mary"s son shook his head, as if to reply to the child that the Lord did not indeed love the jealous: he then continued,--
"But the father said to the son: "My son, thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine; it was fit that we should make merry and be glad; for this, thy brother, was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found.""
All who were present seemed moved to tears at this recital. Mary"s son having stopped to drink a gla.s.s of wine, which Judas, his disciple, poured out for him, Banaias, who had listened to him with profound attention, exclaimed: "Friend, do you know that this is very much my own history, and that of many others. For if, after my own first folly of youth, my father had imitated the father in your parable, and had tendered me his hand as a sign of pardon, instead of driving me from the house with his stick, I should be at this hour, perhaps, seated at my honest fireside, in the midst of my family; whereas, now my home is in the highway, misery my wife, and my children evil projects, sons of misery, that mother with the ferocious eye. Ah! why had I not for a father the man in the parable?"
"This indulgent father pardoned," replied Oliba the courtezan, "because he knew that G.o.d, having given youth to his creatures, sometimes abuse it; but those who, reviled, miserable and repentant, return humbly to demand the smallest place in the paternal mansion, these, far from being repulsed, ought they not to be received with pity?"
"I," said another, "would not give a grapestone for this elder brother, this man of wealth, so harsh, so coa.r.s.e, and so jealous, to whom virtue costs nothing."
Genevieve heard one of the two emissaries of the Pharisees say to his companion, "The Nazarene pretty well flatters the bad pa.s.sions of these vagabonds. Henceforth, every debauched idler who may quit the paternal mansion will think himself ent.i.tled to send his father to Beelzebub, if the father, wrongly advised, instead of killing the fatted calf, drives from him, as he ought, this villainous son, whom hunger alone brings back to the fold."
"Yes; and all the honest and prudent will pa.s.s for men of hard heart and jealous."
And the man resumed aloud, thinking that no one would know who it was that thus spoke: "Glory to thee, Jesus of Nazareth, glory to thee, the protector, the defender of us dissipaters and prost.i.tutes! It is folly to be wise and virtuous, since the fatted calf is to be killed for the most debauched."
Loud murmurs acknowledged these words of the emissary of the Pharisees; all turned round whence they had been p.r.o.nounced; threats were heard:
"Hence! away with these men of inexorable heart!"
"Oh! these men are without pity, without mercy, repentance does not touch them," said the courtezan Oliba; "these frozen bodies who cannot comprehend that with others the blood boils!"
"Let him who has thus spoken show himself," exclaimed Banaias, striking the table with his heavy, knotted stick in a threatening manner, "yes, let him show his virtuous face, the scrupulous! more severe than our friend of Nazareth, the brother of the poor, the afflicted, and the suffering, whom he supports, heals and consoles! By the eye of Jerobabel! I should like to look him in the face, this white lamb without spot, who comes here to bleat his virtues. Where is he, then, this immaculate lily of the valley of men? He must smell of good, like a real balm," added Banaias, opening his wide nostrils; "and by the nose of Malachi! I don"t smell at all this aroma of wisdom, this perfume of honesty, which ought to betray the choice odoriferous vase hidden amongst us poor sinners."
This pleasantry of Banaias made the auditory laugh excessively; and the one of the two emissaries who had thus attacked the words of Jesus, seemed in no hurry to gratify the desire of the redoubtable friend of the Nazarene; he feigned, on the contrary, as well as his companion, to search, like the rest of the audience, from whence the words had proceeded. The tumult was increasing, when the young Nazarene made a sign that he wished to speak; the tempest was appeased as if by enchantment; and replying to the reproach of being too indulgent to sinners, Jesus said with an accent of severe mildness: "Who amongst you possessing a hundred sheep, and losing one, would not leave in the plain the ninety-and-nine others, to go and seek that which is lost, until he had found it? When he has found it he brings it back with joy on his shoulders; and having returned to his house, he a.s.sembles his friends and neighbors, and says to them, "Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.""
"And I say unto you," added Mary"s son in a voice filled with grave and tender authority, "and I say unto you there shall be more joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth, than for the ninety-and-nine just men, who need no repentance."--These touching words of Jesus made a lively impression on the crowd; it applauded in words and gestures.--"Reply to that, my white lamb! my lilly without a stain!" said Banaias, addressing the invisible interpreter of the Nazarene.
"If you are not of the same opinion as my friend, approach and maintain your words."
"A grand merit, as Jesus says," observed another; "a grand merit for him who has neither hunger nor thirst, to be neither a glutton nor a drunkard!"
"Virtue is easy to her who has every thing," said the courtezan Oliba, "hunger and privation ruin more women than dissipation."
Suddenly there was a tumult amongst the crowd that filled the tavern, and the name of Magdalen was heard p.r.o.nounced.
"She is one of the creatures who make a traffic of their bodies," said Jane to Aurelia; "it is not misery that has thrown her, like so many others, into this degradation; but a first fault, followed by the desertion of him who seduced her, and whom she adored. Since then, despite the disorders of her life and the venality of her amours, Magdalen has proved that her heart is not entirely corrupted. The poor never beseech her in vain, and she has pa.s.sionately loved some men with a love as devoted as it was disinterested, sacrificing to them high priests, doctors of the law and rich seigneurs, who rivalled each other in their gifts; my husband, with others, was amongst the number of these magnificent lovers."
"He has expended upon Magdalen a great deal of money; she is so handsome," continued the young woman, with an indulgent smile. "He is one of those who have enriched her. They tell wonders about her house, or rather the palace she inhabits; her coffers are filled with the rarest stuffs and the most dazzling jewels. Vases of gold and silver, brought at great expense from Rome, Asia, and Greece, enc.u.mber her sideboards; the purple and silk from Tyre adorn the walls of her dwelling, and her attendants are as numerous as those of a princess."
"We, too, have in Italy and Roman Gaul, some of these creatures, whose insolent luxury insults the moderate fortune of many honest women,"
replied Aurelia. "But what can this Magdalen want with the young Nazarene?"
"No doubt she comes, like many of the same sort whom you see here, less rich than her, but not less degraded, to hear the words of Jesus; those gentle and tender words that penetrate the heart by the mercy they breathe, softens it, and makes it bring forth repentance."