The City of Delight

Julian of Ephesus, now the presumptive Philadelphus Maccabaeus, rode

up the broad brown bosom of a hill that had confronted him for miles

to the south, and the sun had sloped until its early spring rays

struck level from the west. At the summit, he drew up his horse

suddenly with a quick intaking of the breath.

Below him lay Jerusalem.

South and east the barren summits of brown hills shaped a depression

in which the city lay. North, clean-white and regular, the wall of

Agrippa was printed against the cold blue of the sky. Below on three

lesser mounts and overflowing the vales between was the goodliest city

in all Asia.

About it and through it climbed such walls, planted on such bold

natural escarpment, that made it the most inaccessible fortification

in the world. On its highest hill stood a vision of marble and gold--a

fortress in gemstone--the Temple. Behind it towered Roman Antonia.

Westward the Tyropean Bridge spanned a deep, populous ravine. The high

broad street upon which the giant causeway terminated was marked by

the solemn cenotaphs of Mariamne and Phaselis and ended against the

Tower of Hippicus--a vast and unflinching citadel of stone. Under the

shadow of this pile was the high place of the Herods; in sight was a

second Herodian palace. South was the open space of the great markets;

near the southernmost segment of the outer wall was the semicircular

Hippodrome.

Cut off from its neighbor by ancient walls were Ophlas,

overlooking Tophet and under the shadow of the Temple; Mount Zion

which the Lord had established, Akra of the valley, Moriah, the Holy

Hill, and Coenopolis or Bezetha which Agrippa I had walled. About the

immense outer fortifications crawled the shadowy valleys of Tophet, of

Brook Kedron and of Hinnom. Thickly scattered like fallen patches of

skies the pools of Siloam, Gihon, Shiloh, En-Rogel, the Great Pool,

the Serpent's Pool and the Dragon's Well reflected the color of the

mountain heavens. Between them wandered the blue threads of certain

aqueducts that supplied them. Everywhere rose the shafts of monuments

and memorials, old as the pride of Absalom, new as the folly of the

Herods; everywhere the aggressive paganism of Rome and Greece, which

would have paganized this monotheistic race out of very rancor against

its uprightness, violated with insolent beauty the hieratic severity

of the city's face. Rich, bold, strong, beautiful, Jerusalem was at

that hour, as viewed from the hill to the north, the perfection of

beauty and the joy of the whole earth.

For a moment ambition struggled nobly in the breast of the man that

overlooked it. Except for the obstacles he had placed in his own way

by his misdeeds, Julian of Ephesus at that moment might have become

great. But he had struck down his kinsman on the way, and such deeds

were remembered even in war-ridden Judea; he had come to Jerusalem

wearing his kinsman's name that he might despoil that kinsman's bride

of her dowry; a hundred other crimes of his commission stood in the

way to peace and success.