Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/47

Rh says the young Greek, looking at the boxes rather than at the Cypriote. &quot;I am hungry. What hast thou for breakfast?&quot;

&quot;Fruits from the Pedius—genuine—such as the singers of Antioch take of mornings to restore the waste of their voices,&quot; the dealer answers, in a querulous nasal tone.

&quot; A fig, but not one of thy best, for the singers of Antioch!&quot; says the Greek. &quot;Thou art a worshipper of Aphrodite, and so am I, as the myrtle I wear proves; therefore I tell thee their voices have the chill of a Caspian wind. Seest thou this girdle?—a gift of the mighty Salome—&quot;

&quot;The king's sister!&quot; exclaims the Cypriote, with another salaam.

&quot;And of royal taste and divine judgment. And why not? She is more Greek than the king. But—my breakfast! Here is thy money—red coppers of Cyprus. Give me grapes, and—&quot;

&quot;Wilt thou not take the dates also?&quot;

&quot;No, I am not an Arab.&quot;

&quot;Nor figs?&quot;

&quot;That would be to make me a Jew. No, nothing but the grapes. Never waters mixed so sweetly as the blood of the Greek and the blood of the grape.&quot;

The singer in the grimed and seething market, with all his airs of the court, is a vision not easily shut out of mind by such as see him; as if for the purpose, however, a person follows him challenging all our wonder. He comes up the road slowly, his face towards the ground; at intervals he stops, crosses his hands upon his breast, lengthens his countenance, and turns his eyes towards heaven, as if about to break into prayer. Nowhere, except in Jerusalem, can such a character be found. On his forehead, attached to the band which keeps the mantle in place, projects a leathern case, square in form; another similar case is tied by a thong to the left arm; the borders of his robe are decorated with deep fringe; and by such signs—the phylacteries, the enlarged borders of the garment, and the savor of intense holiness pervading the whole man—we know him to be a Pharisee, one of an organization (in religion a sect, in politics a party) whose bigotry and power will shortly bring the world to grief.