people; after a lapse of six years, Herod's crime was held in vivid recollection. A war, having reference to the frontierline, broke out between the tetrarch and king Aretas of Arabia, the father of the repudiated woman, and Herod's troops were cut in pieces.

This disaster drew a cry from the conscience of the crowd: "It is God," they said, "who is avenging the murder of John the Baptist."

A tradition, preserved for us by St. Jerome, relates that Herodias, on receiving the bleeding head of her victim from the hands of her daughter, vindictively pierced with needles the tongue that had protested against her crime, and ordered that his body should be cast into the ravines of Machaerus to the dogs and the vultures. The disciples of the Prophet came and took the body to bury it, and they went and told Jesus what had happened.

Even if Herodias was happy, in her gratified hatred, the tetrarch remained sad and restless. The murder took possession of him, the thought of John haunted him. He was superstitious and yielding by nature, incapable of resolution, deceitful like all weak characters. He was terrified by his crime, but he felt no remorse. The renown of Jesus, which had hitherto been indifferent to him, now caused him fear. The apostles, dispersed through the towns and villages, had, no doubt, revived the eager prepossession of public opinion with regard to their Master.

Criticisms and discussions were never exhausted, and, as usual, prejudices led men's minds astray. It was plain that Jesus was a prophet, but what prophet? It was believed, at that time, by the people, and even by the schools, that the souls of the dead could return to the living. This strange belief was applied to Jesus: some said, "It is Elias," but others said, "It is one of the old prophets," and the adherents of John declared that John himself had risen from the dead.

All these popular reports reached the court of the tetrarch, where no doubt Jesus was also talked about. The name of John, associated with that of Jesus, troubled Herod's soul and he became perplexed. He knew not what to think, and, yielding to the superstition of the crowd, he said, This is John whom I beheaded, he is risen from the dead, and therefore he does mighty works; and Herod was afraid, and desired to see Jesus.

The Twelve returned from their first journey. They found their Master at Capernaum, and told him all they had done and taught.

But the multitude was now gathered to the place, men were constantly going in and out, and the house was crowded. Jesus and his disciples, says one of the Evangelists, had not even time to eat.1

He felt the need of close communion with his disciples, and wished to procure for them some days of silence and tranquillity. The news of the death of John was a sad foreboding of his own. The time was at hand to initiate them into the mystery of his sufferings.

He arose :

"Come apart into a desert place," he said to them, "and rest awhile."

He entered into a ship with his disciples and commanded them to cross the lake, and to row to the eastern shore, towards Bethsaida,

1 Mark vi. 3L.

CHAPTER IX.

THE MESSIANIC CRISIS IN GALILEE.

THE north-east shore of the Lake of Gennesareth, between the mouth of the Jordan and the Wady Djebarieh, is a fertile, wellwatered and verdant plain, known at the present day by the name of El Batihah. It describes a large triangle of which the lake forms the base, the Jordan and the mountains of Gaulonitis the two sides. Bethsaida-Julias, which must not be confused with Bethsaida in Galilee, was situated at the apex of this triangle, not far from the river, and half a league from the lake, on a little hill, which is a continuation of the higher hills of the Gaulonite range.1 All this district of Lower Gaulonitis, together with Auranitis, Batanaea, Ituraea, and Trachonitis, formed the tetrarchy of Philip the brother of Antipas. This prince had none of the evil genius of his family; he was gentle, upright, and peaceable in character, and resembled his father only in his love of the arts. From the time of his coronation he was engaged in building two towns, the one at the source of the Jordan, on the very site of the ancient Panias, which he called Caesarea, in honour of Caesar; and the other near the lake, not far from the little village of Bethsaida, which he called Julias, in honour of Julia, the daughter of Augustus.2

1 The situation of Bethsaida-Julias, at the precise spot we indicate, seems incontestable. It is clearly indicated by Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. 10, 7, and by Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. V. c. xv., § 15. Cf. Victor Guérin, Description de la Palestine, 3e partie, La Galilée, 1.

Antiq. xviii. 2, 1; Bell. Jud. ii. 9, 1 ; Antiq. xviii. 4, 6.

Nothing remains of the ancient town but the mount El-Tell on which it was built, and some scattered ruins ; it has disappeared like so many other cities of Palestine of the time of Jesus; its monuments of basalt are utterly ruined and the fragments of stone have been used to build Bedouins' huts. Parts of the lintels and pillars may still be traced in the bare walls of their miserable hovels. It is useless to look for the mausoleum of Philip, who wished to be buried in Julias; even the name of the tetrarch is forgotten, but the natives are familiar with that of Jesus, and they show a gigantic tree, near the spring of El-Tell, under the shade of whose mighty branches they say that the Messiah used to

rest.

It was towards this plain and the lonely hills in the neighbourhood of Bethsaida that Jesus wished to retreat with his disciples. The lake can be crossed from Capernaum to the shore of Lower Gaulonitis within an hour. It is probable that the ship which bore Jesus would make for land not far from the present site of Dukah.

His sudden departure was soon known in the town. The crowd, having seen the ships sail towards the mouth of the Jordan, followed the road, which skirts the lake, so as to rejoin the Prophet. Jesus, who directed his steps to the mountain as soon as he had landed, did not wait to see the people arrive. Men flocked to him from all the neighbouring towns; he had come to seek solitude, but, by his Father's will, a whole multitude was come to him. Their eagerness touched him, and he welcomed them all with kindness.

The enthusiastic regard of the people, which public men find so intoxicating, did not affect his calm; it neither elated nor troubled him. If by wise caution he sometimes mistrusted the populace, yet he always saw in them unhappy men whom he had come to save. He cast upon them looks full of compassion; he knew the troubles of their hearts, they seemed to him as sheep without a shepherd; and then he

would heal their infirmities and teach them. This solitary region seemed favourable to Jesus for the continuation of his apostolic work. He began to speak of the Kingdom of God, from the height of a hill to which he had withdrawn, followed by the crowd. In listening to him they forgot how the hours passed. The day was drawing in, the sun had disappeared behind the mountains of Galilee, and Jesus was still speaking. Twilight in the East is short, and night falls suddenly.

The apostles, feeling anxiety for the people, came to their Master and said: "This is a desert place, and it is already late send them away that they may go into the villages and hamlets round about and find shelter and food for themselves."

Jesus said to them: "I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting they will faint in the way; for divers of them came from far." "Give ye them to eat," he added quietly. This reply filled them with amazement. "What," said they, "shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread and give them to eat?" The power of their Master was evidently far from the thoughts of his disciples. Not one of them dreamed of telling him that he could provide for them all. He seemed, however, to wish to rouse their confidence in him.

"Philip," he cried, "whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"

But Philip replied like the others: "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little." Then, addressing himself to all, Jesus said: "How many loaves have ye? go and see."

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, enquired and said to him: "We have only five loaves and two fishes; but what are they among so many? There are more than five thousand men, not counting the women and children."