The color came and went in the face of the young Jew; for though but a youth, he penetrated the smooth mask of the Roman, and divined his treachery and cruelty.
Marcius again addressed himself to Rebecca.
"My fair Jewess! Thou shouldst thank the gods--or thy Hebrew Jehovah--for thy deliverance from the cold embrace of the Cydnus. We offer thee warmth and music and poetry and wine, and--be it so--love, whose cup we may gently quaff."
"O Roman citizen of Tarsus! I pray thee bid us to depart. We fear not the storm. The hearts of our father and mother will be made glad by our return. The Romans have honor! We will now go in peace."
With compressed lip and fiery blood coursing through every vein, Saulus bent his gaze upon the Roman, but was silent from the very intensity of his thoughts.
Marcius, heated by the wine which he had drunk with Leander, gradually became more harsh and pitiless.
"Doth the beautiful Jewess scorn the devotion of a patrician? Ah! The divinity of the son of Aphrodite is supreme! The Jewish life is poor and barren! The Roman is rich, and offers thee jewels and banquets, and slaves for thy service. Away with thine indifference, and join the revelry with me in yonder banquet-hall."
"Thou base and brutal Roman!" cried Saulus. "Thou uncircumcised heathen and idolater! The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will smite thee, and deliver us out of thy hand."
"Hebrew stripling of the house of Benoni! Thy tongue is sharp! Start not! I only ask thy sister in marriage. Think of an alliance with patrician blood! Remain in the palace with slaves to do thy bidding! We will train thee in all the graces of Greek and Roman art, poetry, and music."
Seeing at a glance that he had made no impression, he resumed in a sarcastic tone,--
"Thy body and that of the fair one will be vainly sought, far below, amid the drift-wood that will be thrown upon the shore by the swollen Cydnus. In such a tempest, all trace of the children of Benoni will be lost, _lost_, rash boy!"
Again assuming a blandness which but illy concealed the fierce passions which were burning behind it, he continued,--
"Foolish captives! To the knowledge of your tribe, the Jewess and her small brother have been swallowed up by the tempest, and so they will remain! Be it so. But I promise, if ye be willing captives, every luxury shall be heaped upon you. Consider well! The Roman builds his palace with massive walls."