Messala

“ First, happy childhood, when, loving and beloved, they played together. Then, manhood that brought a change in Messala, and the Roman’s inborn contempt of Jews asserted itself and broke the friendship. Then the bitter day, when, by the accidental falling of a loose tile, the Roman procurator was nearly killed, and he, Ben-Hur, was accused of willfully throwing the missile. One word from Messala would have saved the family from ruin, but the word was not spoken. Nay, more, it was Messala that urged on the Roman authorities and prevented even a fair trial of the case. ”

“ Messala answered, “among men.”
“Name him, name him!” they demanded.
“I will,” he said, the next lull. “He who to the perfection of Rome hath added the perfection of the East; who to the arm of conquest, which is Western, hath also the art needful to the enjoyment of dominion, which is Eastern.”
“Perpol! His best is a Roman, after all,” some one shouted; and there was a great laugh, and long clapping of hands—an admission that Messala had the advantage.
“In the East” he continued, “we have no gods, only Wine, Women, and Fortune, and the greatest of them is Fortune ”

“ And now, to make the turn, Messala began to draw in [815] his left-hand steeds. His spirit was high; the Roman genius was still present. On the pillars, [816] only six hundred feet away, were fame, fortune, promotion, and a triumph [817] ineffably sweetened by hate, [818] all in store for him! That moment Ben-Hur leaned forward over his Arabs and gave them the reins. ”

“ Messala, Gratus, Rome, and all the bitter, passionate memories connected with them, were as dead plagues—miasms of the earth above which he floated, far and safe, listening to singing stars.
The deeper darkness before the dawn was upon the waters, and all things going well with the Astroea, when a man, descending from the deck, walked swiftly to the platform where the tribune slept, and awoke him. Arrius arose, put on his helmet, sword, and shield, and went to the commander of the marines. ”

“ I saw yesterday that Messala was proud of his chariot, as he might be, for the best of Cæsar’s scarcely surpass it. Can you not make its display an excuse which will enable you to find if it be light or heavy? I would like to have its exact weight and measurements—and, Malluch, though you fail in all else, bring me exactly the height his axle stands above the ground. You understand, Malluch? I do not wish him to have any actual advantage of me. I do not care for his splendor; if I beat him, it will make his fall the harder, and my triumph the more complete. ”

“ Jove with us!” yelled all the Roman faction, in a frenzy of delight.
As Messala turned in, the bronze lion’s head at the end of his axle caught the fore-leg of the Athenian’s right-hand trace-mate, flinging the brute over against its yoke-fellow. Both staggered, struggled, and lost their headway. The ushers had their will at least in part. The thousands held their breath with horror; only up where the consul sat was there shouting.
“Jove with us!” screamed Drusus, frantically.
“He wins! Jove with us!” answered his associates, seeing Messala speed on. ”

“ Then, with a cunning touch [826] of the reins, Ben-Hur caught Messala’s fragile wheel with the iron-shod point of his axle and crushed [827] it. There was a crash loud enough to send a thrill through the circus, and out over [828] the course a spray of shining white and yellow flinders flew. Down on its right side toppled the bed of the Roman’s chariot. There was a rebound, as of the axle hitting the hard earth; another and another; then the car went to pieces, and Messala, entangled in the reins, pitched forward [829] headlong, and lay still, crushed, and bleeding, and crippled for life. ”

“ Messala! Jove with us!”
While the spectators were shivering at the Athenian’s mishap, and the Sidonian, Byzantine, and Corinthian were striving to avoid involvement in the ruin, Ben-Hur drew head to the right, [788] and, with all the speed of his Arabs, darted [789] across the trails of his opponents, and took the course [790] neck and neck with Messala, though on the outside. And now, racing together, side by side, a narrow interval between them, the two neared the second goal. Making the turn here was considered the most telling test of a charioteer. A hush [791] fell over the circus. ”

“ Three rounds were concluded; still Messala held the inside position; still Ben-Hur moved with him side by side; still the other competitors followed as before. The contest began to have the appearance of a double race, Messala and Ben-Hur in the first, the Corinthian, Sidonian, and Byzantine in the second. In the fifth round the Sidonian succeeded in getting a place outside Ben-Hur, but lost it directly. The sixth round was entered upon without change of relative position. Gradually the speed had been quickened; men and beasts seemed to know alike that the final crisis was near. ”

“ The duumvir left him vastly rich. He has a passion for arms, and thinks of nothing but war. Maxentius admitted him into his family, and he was to have taken ship with us, but we lost him at Ravenna. Nevertheless he arrived safely. We heard of him this morning. Perpol! Instead of coming to the palace or going to the citadel, he dropped his baggage at the khan, and hath disappeared again."
At the beginning of the speech Messala listened with polite indifference; as it proceeded, he became more attentive; at the conclusion, he took his hand from the dice-box, and called out, "Ho, my Caius! ”

“ The inhabitants, however, though clothed superbly, and glittering with rings and other ornaments of gold and silver, were immersed in the grossest ignorance, and addicted beyond credibility to every odious and revolting vice. From thence, after a short stay, he returned towards the coast, and arrived at Messa, a city surrounded by groves of palm-trees and richly-cultivated fields, and situated about a mile distant from the sea, close to which there was a mosque, the beams and rafters of which were formed of the bones of whales. ”

“ The rabble without a leader is harmless. Cut off the head of the monster, and there is neither might nor danger in the trunk. Put away Mesu, and the insurrection will subside utterly."
The priest paused and Meneptah stroked the polished coping of the panel before him with a nervous hand. There was complete silence for a moment, broken at last by the king.
"Mesu, though a Hebrew, an infidel and a malefactor, is a prince of the realm, my foster-brother—Neferari's favorite son. ”

“ In 1858 the chief of Msene was the Sultan Masanza. Both he and Funza, his brother, were hospitable and friendly to travellers, especially to the Arabs, who but a few years ago beat off with their armed slaves a large plundering party of the ferocious Watuta. This chief has considerable power, and the heads of many criminals elevated upon poles in front of his several villages show that he rules with a firm hand. He is never approached by a subject without the clapping of hands and the kneeling which in these lands are the honours paid to royalty. ”

“ He possessed great influence among those of his own tribe, which he exerted on the side of humanity. On the march, Messhawa repeatedly saved Johnson from the tortures which the other savages delighted to inflict, and the young captive saw some displays of generous exertion on the part of the chief which are worthy of a place in border history.
MESSHAWA.
The warriors painted themselves in the most frightful colors, and performed a war dance, with the usual accompaniments. ”

“ Should fortune declare against us, however, and he become victorious, why, even then, the fame of our deeds will sufficiently immortalize our names.” Mesli, by this letter, was induced to associate his fortunes with this notorious rebel, and secretly entered into compact with him.
These secret transactions, however, being made known to the commander-in-chief Murád Páshá, he, in order to prevent the junction of these two robbers, gave Mesli the government of a sanják on the condition of his not accompanying him in the war. ”

“ King M'tesa was himself not only a slave-trader but a slave-raider. He sent his fierce gangs of warriors out to raid a tribe away in the hills to the north. They would dash into a village, slay the men, and drag the boys and girls and women back to M'tesa as slaves. The bronze-skinned boy, Lugalama, was a young slave who had been captured on one of these bloodthirsty raids. And M'tesa, who often sent out his executioners to slay his own people by the hundred to please the dreaded and horrible god of small-pox, would also sell his people by the hundred to get guns for his soldiers. ”

“ This garden was destined for Melechsala, the only child spared to the Sultan of a numerous progeny. She was beautiful as the morning, and was the idol of his soul. It was to surprise her on her natal day that the Frankish garden was prepared, for Melechsala had amongst her slaves a Christian girl, to whom she was much attached, and from whose descriptions she had imbibed a taste for foreign fashions. In this alone she was faithful to the customs of the East: she had loved flowers from earliest childhood, and twisted graceful garlands full of poetry and meaning. ”

“ His subjects invaded Messenia to obtain redress. At first the struggle was of an indecisive character, but ultimately the Messenians were obliged to take refuge on the fortified mountain of Ithome, and all the rest of their country was overrun and conquered by their persistent enemies. After the war had lasted twenty years, the Messenian garrison was compelled to abandon Ithome, the fortifications of which were razed by the Spartans, and Messenia became part of the Lacedæmonian territory, —all its inhabitants who refused to submit being driven into exile. ”

“ If I sent Msalima, he would be kept ten years on the road. If I went to the lake Luta Nzige, God only knows when he would let me come back; and now, for once and for all, I wished to sacrifice my property, and leave the countries of black kings; for what Kamrasi had done, Mtesa had done likewise, detaining the two men I detached on a friendly mission, which made me fear to send any more and inquire after my guns, lest he should seize them likewise. I would stay no longer among such people. ”

“ Polyphontes
O Merope, the trouble on thy face
Tells me enough thou know'st the news which all
Messenia speaks! the prince, thy son, is dead.
Not from my lips should consolation fall;
To offer that, I come not; but to urge,
Even after news of this sad death, our league.
Yes, once again I come; I will not take
This morning's angry answer for thy last.
To the Messenian kingdom thou and I
Are the sole claimants left; what cause of strife
Lay in thy son is buried in his grave.
Most honourably I meant, I call the Gods [423]
To witness, offering him return and power ”

“ Hare saw in his falcon eyes the still gleam, the brooding fire, the mystical passion that haunted the eyes of Mescal.
“The slave without a tongue is a wolf. He scents the trails and the waters. Eschtah's eyes have grown old watching here, but he has seen no Indian who could follow Mescal's slave. Eschtah will lie there, but no Indian will know the path to the place of his sleep. Mescal's trail is lost in the sand. No man may find it. Eschtah's words are wisdom. ”

“ It is easier to watch a goddess at the bath than to penetrate the secrets of an Oriental Princess in the bedchamber of the Seraglio. It is therefore difficult for the historian to determine whether Melechsala left the Mushirumi which she had accepted of to wither on her dressing-table ”

“ The priesthood can kill Mesu," he said to Loi, "and it will do them no hurt. And thou, my father, canst countenance it and seem no worse than any other monarch that loved his throne. Thus ye will decapitate the monster. But there be creatures in the desert which, losing one head, grow another. Mesu is not of such exalted or supernatural villainy that they can not fill his place. Wilt thou execute Israel one by one as it raises up a leader against thee? Nay; and wilt thou play the barbarian and put two and a half million at once to the sword?" ”

“ Until the year 1838 they had their own independent kingdom that extended as far south as the western Makalakas, and a long way up the Uguay and Kwebu rivers. The kingdom was governed by “a great chief,” who made every sacrifice he could to come to reasonable terms with the encroaching Matabele. But the time came when the bloodthirsty Moselikatze, a very tiger amongst men, having ruined the Makalaka empire and half devoured the Mashonas, proceeded to annihilate the Manansas also. ”

“ By the Marutse and Mashonas the Matabele are held in just as much detestation as are the Mohammedan slave-dealers from the east coast by the natives of Central Africa. Although it is quite possible that with a party of Matabele servants I might have traversed the whole continent from south to north, any white man coming after me would have had to suffer for my exploit. Twice during the reign of Sekeletu on the central Zambesi the Matabele attempted to carry their incursions north of the river, but each time they failed. ”

“ Melechsala was the pride of the Sultan’s family; her brothers themselves were unremitting in attentions to her, and in efforts to outdo each other in affectionate regard. The grave Divan was frequently employed in considering what Prince, by means of her, might be connected, in the bonds of love, with the interest of the Egyptian state. This her royal father made his smallest care; he was solely and incessantly concerned to grant this darling of his heart her every wish, to keep her spirit always in a cheerful mood, that no cloud might overcast the serene horizon of her brow. ”