T

IX.

THE PASSING OF SIRO.

HE sun was within an hour of setting when Lazarus read the last portion of Martha's letter. .He read the closing lines twice before he grasped their full import. At his heartrending cry Amarias rushed in. The castle was soon in commotion. The steward was told to have ready at once the fleetest horse that could be procured. Lazarus, who intended to travel all night, and to start at once, took a hasty meal. He hoped, by not wasting a moment, to be fortunate enough to see his father alive. He could change horses on the journey. Zamlech, the bearer of the letter, was ready to accompany him, but he would not hear of this. Bedouin was already weary with his long journey. The young master insisted upon his sleeping at least one night at Magdala. He might, if he chose, start for Bethany in the morning, if sufficiently rested.

The

A few minutes later Lazarus was impatiently waiting in front of the castle. for his horse. Amarias soon came with two, saddled and caparisoned for the journey.

"Why hast thou brought two horses, good Amarias?" asked Lazarus.

"Because, my master, thou must not make this journey alone."

"Fear not for me, good friend," said Lazarus. "It is moonlight, and I will take the by-paths in those places known

to be infested with robber bands. Thy

years are many, and I will not put this burden on thee."

Amarias, however, insisted on accompanying his master's son.

"I should not be a faithful servant to my master, thy father, did I let his only son travel this long distance alone in the unsettled state of our land. Forbid me not, O sir. Time is precious. It would take several hours to collect and make ready the little band which came with thee. I go instead. If there be danger on the road, I share it with thee." In the midst of his grief Lazarus was touched by this devotion. He made no further objection. The steward could obtain relays of horses with more ease and with greater expedition than he himself could. Amarias knew all the khans on the road between Magdala and Jerusalem, and he was well known to many people. This would be an advantage should any misfortune overtake them; he was, also, a much better horseman than his young master, whose habits of life had hitherto precluded much exercise of this nature.

The two rode along at a rapid pace, for the most part keeping silence-Lazarus, because he was filled with anxiety for his father, the other out of respect for his grief. The only sound for many miles was the rhythmical beat of the horses' hoofs on the stone road leading: south which the Romans had constructed, the rattle of the chains of the animals' harness, the occasional cry of a flitting owl across their path, or the weird half-human laugh of the hyen.

skulking among the rocks by the wayside as the travelers hurried by.

The riders, fortunately, met with no delay during their long night journey, arriving at the village of Bethany just as the first crimson blush of dawn began to tinge the eastern sky. The travelers, whose approach the servants anxiously watched, were heard coming in the distance. Men were ready to take their horses the moment they arrived. Every room in the castle of Bethany was lighted.

"Is my father yet alive?" anxiously enquired Lazarus, as he dismounted. A servant answered:

"The master lives. He has made signs during the night that he wished for thy presence."

"May the God of Israel be praised," exclaimed the son of Siro, as he hastily entered the house. He did not wait for the usual ablutions, but ran at once to his father's room, where he expected to find him. He was not there. After his sudden attack he had been removed to the upper room, which was cooler and more pleasant. On his way thither he met his sister Martha. Her face was pale and pinched with grief; dark rings were around her eyes, tears on their fashes.

"I rejoice, my brother," she said, as she embraced him, "that thou hast come in time. He has asked for thee many times. I fear he has but a few hours to live. Come."

She led the way to the roof. The room was dimly lighted by a small silver hanging lamp, which threw but a feeble ray over the white hair and head of Siro. Mary stood at the side of the low settle, patiently fanning her father with a green palm leaf. When Lazarus entered the old merchant was sleeping lightly. The noise of footsteps aroused him. He opened his eyes, and recognized his son with a look of pleasure.

Feebly Siro moved his hand, which Lazarus took and covered with tears and

kisses. The dying man then raised it, and after gently stroking the kneeling youth's hair for a moment, let it rest on his head in benediction. He spoke feebly and with great difficulty. Lazarus caught the words "Keep the law of Israel-sisters- Eliziel -the Messiah."

Then articulation ceased. The lips moved, but no sound came from them. A moment later, with a sigh and a fluttering of the chest, the end came.

Grateful that he had reached his journey's end in time, the grief of Lazarus was tempered by this, and by the knowledge that he had received his father's last blessing.

When he saw that his parent had passed away, he restrained his grief sufficiently to exercise the privilege of the nearest of kin. According to the custom of the Jews ever since the time that "Joseph fell upon his father's face, weeping and kissing him," he at once arose, kissed his father's forehead, and reverently closed his eyes and mouth.

Having performed this act of natural piety, Lazarus for a few moments gave way to the impulse of overwhelming grief, mingling his wailings with those of Martha and Mary. The impetuous. younger sister, whose long hair now. hung round her like a veil, struck her hands together above her head and gave vent to a series of shrieks. Martha's first burst of sorrow was not so demonstrative, but none the less intense. After a short time the rest of the household were admitted to the death chamber and added their wailings to those of the bereaved family.

The arrangements for sepulture devolved on Lazarus. Owing to the great heat of Judea, corpses were generally buried on the day of death. In the case of a parent, the funeral ceremonies were sometimes delaved for twenty-four hours. The Levites of the nearest synagogue undertook the task of consigning the body to the grave.

Siro was well known in Jerusalem. His death was reported there within a short time after it occurred. Early in the day the professional mourners arrived. They were mostly women, prototypes of those of our own time, and who

"Let our their persons by the hour

To mimic sorrow when the heart's not sad." The lugubrious wailing of the hired mourners was accompanied by long and mournful notes on flutes and slender pipes, supposed to express, vicariously, the sorrow of the bereaved ones. Loud lamentations were kept up all the time the body remained unburied. The shrill notes of the keening women penetrated to every part of the castle.

many real

mourners

There were among the friends of Lazarus and his sisters.

Notwithstanding the instructions of the great Jewish Lawgiver: "You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the head," many of the poor whom Siro had befriended pulled out tufts of hair from their heads. Others scratched their faces until they bled. To accomplish this they used the nail of the left thumb, which, by many, was left long and untrimmed for occasions of this description.*

When the sickness was protracted and death expected for some time, the custom was observed of bringing ten witnesses into the room to be present at the last moment. This was not observed in the case of Siro, as his death had been so sudden that Lazarus had no time to collect his friends, even had he wished to do so.

When the male friends arrived at the castle they sat apart and mourned in silence. During the whole of the day

*This singular custom of cutting and disfiguring the face at the death of a relative or dear friend survives among the Montenigrin schismatic Greeks. The custom is also found to exist among the aboriginal Australians, and in Ethiopia and Abyssinia.

and the following night the women kept up their mournful plaint. The body, from the moment of death until interment, was not left alone, although the majority of the mourners did not congregate in the same room.

It was the duty of Lazarus to wash the body of his father. He then anointed it with sweet-smelling ointment. The Levites from the synagogue of Bethany assisted him in swathing it in linen cere-cloths. Each limb was wound around with linen separately. The hands and feet were bound. The head was wrapped around with a white linen cloth.

When the preparations for burial were completed thus far, the body was clothed in the costliest robe the dead man's wardrobe afforded. Some followed the custom of enrobing the body in white. Others used for their relatives the most

costly materials that could be purchased. Not unfrequently a crimson vesture and turban were used. In the course of time the providing of rich burial robes grew to be a great extravagance. The Rabbi Gamaliel, at a little later date than our story, brought about a reform with regard to expensive burial robes. He left an order, for example to others, to be buried in a plain linen tachrichin, or traveling costume. A cup of wine was emptied at burial feasts after that time in his honor.

Lazarus, being abundantly able to afford the luxury, and desirous of giving his father all the honor possible, clothed the body in a rich silken grey garment, with turban of the same color and material.

At about the hour of noon of the next day the body was placed on an open bier, and was ready to be conveyed to its last resting-place. The moment the funeral procession started sounds of intense mourning and lamentation arose. The women increased their cries, and wrung their hands or struck them together above their heads-a gesture of

extreme sorrow. The male mourners gave external manifestation of grief by striking the thigh and throwing dust upon the head.

The cave-sepulchre, where Eucharia, the wife of Siro, lay buried, was in a remote part of the garden at Bethany. When the distance between the house and the burial place was considerable, frequent stops were made to give the bearers relief. On these occasions short orations were delivered by special friends of the deceased, who eulogized his virtues and told of the troubles and the difficulties he had conquered during life.

As Siro was buried on his own property, the time taken by the procession was brief. Only one stop was made. When the bier had been let down from the shoulders of the bearers, the Sanhedrist, Nicodemus, as the nearest friend of the dead merchant, spoke to the mourning people of his many good qualities. The speech was brief, for the mourners soon began to move and sound their flutes and pipes. Mourners preceded the corpse in Judean funeral processions, and thus in some measure controlled the length of the funeral orations. In Galilee the corpse went first.

Siro's burial-place was a rock-hewn chamber about eight feet deep, eighteen or twenty feet long and ten feet high. The lower part of the far wall formed a shelf, or bench, on which the body was placed in a recumbent position. These resting-places for the dead were called. "kokim," or "loculi." As the corpse was borne to the door of the cave, many friends scattered sweet spices or pulverized aromatic gums over it. Others scattered flowers. When the body was finally laid in position in the tomb it was literally in a bed of spices and sweetsmelling blossoms.

Lazarus was desirous that all the traditions with regard to burial should be exactly observed. In compliance, therefore, with custom, the procession moved

from the house to the sepulchre with great rapidity. It was the common Jewish belief of that period that innumerable Shedim, or evil spirits, hovered about the corpse, desirous of attacking the soul, having the power to do so while the body remained uninterred. The place of burial was also determined by the belief that the unity of the family tribe continued after death. The bodies of those who desired to be united with their parents and family in Sheol must be buried in the family sepulchre.

As chief mourners, Lazarus, Martha and Mary stood nearest to the entrance of the cave, clad in sackcloth, of which custom prescribed the wearing for thirty days. Relatives and close friends wore this sign of mourning for seven days. This sackcloth was a coarse linen robe, worn quite straight, without folds or sleeves, and bound around the waist with a cord. The remainder of the mourners covered the lower part of the face with a cloth, which helped to muffle the voice and render their wailings more lugubrious.

At the actual moment of interment, many threw themselves on the ground in an apparent abandonment of grief, while their wailings and lamentations rose to the highest point. The professional mourners' "ulaleu! ulaleu!" similar to the "loo! loo! loo!" of the wail of the Turks in Palestine at the present day, arose at the burial of Siro in dirgelike monotony, forming a somewhat fantastic funeral accompaniment to the real grief of the bereaved family and their friends.

When the body had been placed in position in the cave, Lazarus and his sisters and their immediate friends bowed themselves down to the earth and prayed. This prayer and the recitation of Psalm ciii, as the procession wended its way back to the house, were the only semblances of a religious ceremony in the burial. The prayer was taken from the book of the Eighteen Benedictions.

It showed the strong Jewish belief in the general resurrection. For the benefit of the student of Jewish customs it is here transcribed:

"Thou, O Lord, art mighty forever; Thou quickenest the dead. Thou art strong to save; Thou sustaineth the living by Thy mercy; Thou quickenest the dead by Thy great compassion; Thou makest good Thy faithfulness to them that sleep in the dust; Thou art faithful to quicken the dead; blessed art Thou, O Lord, Who quickenest the dead."

When the men had prayed, several of them took up a sod and threw it behind them, saying: "Remember, O man, that dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return."

Others used a different formula: "They shall flourish out of the city like grass upon the earth," to indicate their belief that the body, though dead, should spring up again like grass.

As the stone door of the cave-tomb was about to be replaced, several of the near friends of the deceased approached the Levites who were conducting the ceremonies, and offered tear vases, to be placed by the side of the body of Siro. These lachrymatories were small phials of fine red earthenware, having long slim necks and holding less than half a pint of liquid. They were filled with the tears of the sorrowers, and were prized as memorials of grief for the departed.

A repetition of the wailing accompanied the return of the procession. Upon entering the house, the family and relatives of the dead man washed their hands and sat down to "the bread of the mourners," a meal consisting of bread, boiled eggs and lentils, served in earthenware dishes. According to custom, no fire was lighted, no cooking done for thirty days. It was a kindly and charitable custom for neighbors to bring in baked meats. After the meal the mourning continued until sundown, the

men and women going to different parts of the house.

Mary and Martha sat on a carpet on the floor in the midst of the women, who, at first, formed a large circle around the room near the walls. At stated periods all would rise and approach a step or two toward the sorrowing sisters, and sit down again, all the while observing silence. This action was repeated several times until all were close to the chief mourners, when, at a given signal, their grief would break forth into loud lamentations once more.

In another part of the house the men sat down, some to console Lazarus, some to weep, and others to meditate on death. The ceremony of rising and approaching, similar to that observed by the women, was observed, but no one opened his mouth to speak until Lazarus had first spoken. Less demonstrative, and altogether less formal than the women, the men evinced a more sincere and delicate appreciation of the grief of Lazarus. For several days after the burial some of the friends returned to mourn with the family.

According to unbroken custom, the son of Siro, among other things, was forbidden to shave his beard or cut his hair. Bathing or anointing the body. was prohibited, at least for seven days, although the bereaved one was permitted to take what would now be termed a shampoo of a mixture made of egg and wine. The washing of clothes, wearing of shoes, attending to any kind of business, or the study of the books of the law, were discontinued for the same period, during which time no one was supposed to uncover his head or give a salutation to another. For the seven days the phylacteries were not worn at the time of prayer. For a month, Lazarus and his sisters were not supposed to pay any attention to their hair, nor were they allowed to attend weddings, or go from one place to another.