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 Dedication
To Helen the love of my life, faithful fan for over sixty years, whose loving
support still makes telling the story a joy.
JT

To my colleagues on the faculty of the School of Religion at Belmont University

MM
This page intentionally left blank
 CONTENTS

Bibliographical Abbreviations xiii

Maps xiv
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter 1 The Book and Those Who Study It 1

The Old Testament: What Is It? 2
How It Began 4
How It Developed 6
The Work of Scholars 8
Archaeology as a Tool for Understanding 15
Why Study the Old Testament? 18
Study Questions 21 • Endnotes 21

Chapter 2 The Geographical and Historical Settings for the Old Testament
Prior to 1200 B.C.E. 23
The Ancient Near East 24
Mesopotamia 24
Asia Minor 27
Africa 27
Syria-Phoenicia 28
Palestine 29
Study Questions 36 • Endnotes 36

Chapter 3 Israel Looks at the Beginnings 37

The Primeval Complex 38
The Ancestral Complex 47
Genesis in Retrospect 58
Study Questions 59 • Endnotes 59

Chapter 4 Israel Becomes a People 61

The Book of Israel’s Beginnings 63
Moses: Birth and Wilderness Years 64
Moses: The Struggle with the Pharaoh 67
The Exodus Event 71
Sinai and the Giving of the Law 75
After Mount Sinai 86
ix
x Contents

Themes in the Pentateuch 92

Study Questions 92 • Endnotes 93

Chapter 5 Israel Gains a Home: Joshua and Judges 95

Moving into the Promised Land 96
Continuing the Story of Occupation 104
Proposed Models for the Israelite Occupation of Canaan 114
Study Questions 116 • Endnotes 116

Chapter 6 The Beginning of the Monarchy: Samuel, Saul, and David 117
The Sources for the Story of the Israelite Kingdoms 118
The Story of Samuel 119
The Establishment of Saul’s Kingship (1020–1000 B.C.E.) 124
The Appearance of David 128
Samuel, Saul, and David: A Summary 133
David: King Over Judah 134
David: King Over All Israel 135
The Court History of David 137
Study Questions 143 • Endnotes 143

Chapter 7 The Division of the Monarchy I: The Reign of Solomon and the Story
of the Northern Kingdom 145
The Reign of Solomon 146
Approaching the Divided-Kingdom Story 155
The Division of the Kingdom 156
The Dynasty of Omri 158
Elijah’s Confrontations with Ahab and Jezebel 162
Jehu to Jereboam II (842–746 B.C.E.) 168
The Destruction of the Northern Kingdom 170
Study Questions 171 • Endnotes 172

Chapter 8 The Division of the Monarchy II: The Story of the Southern
Kingdom 173
Judah After the Division 174
Judah After the Destruction of Israel 177
Study Questions 186 • Endnotes 186

Chapter 9 The Exile and Restoration: Redefining Israel 187

After the Fall of Jerusalem 188
The Lives of the Survivors 194
The Changing International Situation (538–486 B.C.E.) 197
The Restored Community 199
 Contents xi

Ezra and Nehemiah 201

Study Questions 206 • Endnotes 206

Chapter 10 The Prophetic Literature I: An Introduction to Prophetic Literature

and the Book of Isaiah 208
An Introduction to Prophetic Literature 209
Introduction to the Book of Isaiah 210
A Survey of the Contents of the Book of Isaiah 212
Summary of Isaiah 232
Study Questions 233 • Endnotes 233

Chapter 11 The Prophetic Literature II: The Scrolls of

Jeremiah and Ezekiel 234
Introduction to the Book of Jeremiah 235
Survey of the Book of Jeremiah 236
Introduction to the Book of Ezekiel 252
Survey of the Book of Ezekiel 254
Study Questions 267 • Endnotes 268

Chapter 12 The Prophetic Literature III: The Book of the Twelve and
the Continuation of the Prophetic Tradition 269
Introduction to the Book of the Twelve 270
The Opening Sequence: Hosea, Joel, and Amos 271
Jerusalem and Nineveh: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum 284
Shifting the Focus to Babylon: Habakkuk and Zephaniah 289
The Prophets of Restoration: Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi 292
The End of Prophecy? 297
Study Questions 298 • Endnotes 299

Chapter 13 A Legacy of Israel: Wisdom Literature and Psalms 300

The Wisdom Literature 301
Psalms: Israel Sings Its Faith 320
Study Questions 332 • Endnotes 333

Chapter 14 The Time of Silence: Judah in Eclipse 334

The Historical Situation 335
The Festival Scrolls 337
The Maccabean Revolt 344
Geographical and Canonical Boundaries and
the Book of Daniel 345
Study Questions 350 • Endnotes 350
xii Contents

Chapter 15 Epilogue: The Continuing Story 352

Life in Jewish Communities 353
The Development of Sectarian Judaism 354
Literary Activity 356
Judaism’s Oral Tradition 359
A Closing Statement 359
Study Questions 360 • Endnotes 360

Glossary 361
For Further Study 370
Comprehensive Chronological Chart 375
Credits 378
Index 379
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS

AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary
ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library
ANE The Ancient Near East
ANET The Ancient Near East—An Anthology of Texts and Pictures
ARCH Archaeology
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BBC Broadman Bible Commentary
BR Bible Review
FOTL Forms of Old Testament Literature
HER Hermeneia
IB Interpreter’s Bible
IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
INT Interpretation
ITC International Theological Commentary
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JBQ Jewish Bible Quarterly
JBR Journal of Bible and Religion
LAI Library of Ancient Israel
LBC Layman’s Bible Commentary
LXX The Septuagint (the Greek Version of the Hebrew Bible)
KJV King James Version of the Bible
MBA Macmillan Bible Atlas
MCB Mercer Commentary on the Bible
MDB Mercer Dictionary of the Bible
NCBC New Century Bible Commentary
NEA Near Eastern Archaeology
NIB New Interpreter’s Bible
NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament
NJBC New Jerome Bible Commentary
NOAB New Oxford Annotated Bible
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
OBA Oxford Bible Atlas
OTL The Old Testament Library
TEV Today’s English Version, or Good News for Modern Man
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
xiii
 MAPS

Figure 1–3 Archaeological sites 20

Figure 2–1 This map of the ancient Near East illustrates the Fertile Crescent, which
extends from the Persian Gulf in the east to Canaan in the west 26
Figure 2–3 The highways of Palestine 31
Figure 4–2 The Exodus and Sinai 72
Figure 5–1 The division of the land (Josh. 13:1–19:51) 103
Figure 7–3 David’s kingdom and the united monarchy 151
Figure 7–7 Israel and Judah—850 B.C.E. 167
Figure 8–2 The Assyrian Empire 178
Figure 8–3 The Kingdom of Judah—seventh century B.C.E. 179
Figure 9–1 The Babylonian Empire—sixth century B.C.E. 188
Figure 9–4 The Persian Empire 198
Figure 14–2 Alexander’s empire 344

xiv
 PREFACE

The purpose of this textbook is to introduce students to the collection of literature from ancient
Israel that has, for Christian traditions, become the Old Testament. This task necessitates famil-
iarity with the content of the literature itself, an awareness of the basic framework of the history
and culture of the ancient Near East, and insight from the methods of reading ancient texts that
have been developed in contemporary scholarship.

WHAT’S NEW TO THIS EDITION?

• Expanded and enhanced study aids for students
• Synthetic literary treatments of each of the prophetic scrolls
• An uninterrupted treatment of the story line of the Israelite monarchy
• Expanded discussion of the influence of African cultures on ancient Israel
• Updated discussion of the influence of Diaspora Judaism on the formation of the canon
The preface to the eighth edition of The Old Testament Story made reference to the massive
shift that has taken place in the field of biblical studies over the last three decades. This shift has
two facets that are closely connected. First, the dominance of a historical framework has given
way to a more eclectic field of study in which literary approaches to the text continue to gain
prominence. Second, the chorus of voices that take part in academic and ecclesial conversations
about the Bible has become much more diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, geography, and eco-
nomics. Attention has been given to many of the effects of this shift in all of the new editions of
this book during that period. The revisions for the ninth edition, however, necessitate the first
major reorientation of material since the book’s inception. There are still fifteen chapters, and the
first five and last three chapters retain most of their previous structure, but chapters 6 through 12
have been significantly reorganized. The previous editions of this book told the story of the
Monarchy, the Exile, and the Restoration in these middle chapters and placed all of the material
related to the prophetic books within the framework of this story. In this edition, the discussion
of the prophetic books has been extracted and reorganized into its own set of chapters.

I. Developing Connections and Context

Chapter 1 explains what the Old Testament is and where it came from. It also describes some of
the ways that people have read these texts and how related areas of study contribute to our under-
standing. Chapter 2 describes the places, people, and cultures of the ancient Near East, from
which the cultural context of the Israelites arose and the place that serves as the setting for the
literature of the Old Testament.

II. Following the Essential Story

Chapters 3 through 9 follow the story of Israel from the primeval period through the work of
Ezra and Nehemiah. The continuous story told by the books of Genesis through II Kings moves
from creation to the Exile, with the development of Israelite monarchy as its high point. The con-
tent of these books, sometimes called the “Primary History,” will be the focus of these chapters,
with an examination of the contents of I and II Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah providing
another biblical perspective of this story.
xv
xvi Preface

III. Prophetic Responses to Israel’s Story

Chapters 10 through 12 treat the prophetic literature from a literary-canonical perspective. This
reorganization reflects the changes in the ways that this material is most commonly studied
today, a shift that has been taking place for more than twenty years and that has now reached a
level of accomplishment that needs to be reflected in an introductory textbook. This means that
those following the plan of the book will cover the entire narrative of the people of Israel as pre-
sented in the Old Testament before examining the final form of the prophetic literature, begin-
ning with the book of Isaiah, as a response to that entire story.

IV. Responses in Stories and Poems

Chapters 13 through 15 examine the parts of the Old Testament that do not fit precisely into one
chronological place in Israel’s story. Instead, they are artistic responses to the entirety of that
story, which often struggle with how to be a faithful Israelite in many different contexts. The
focus of Psalms is worship, while Proverbs is concerned with ordinary issues of daily life, and Job
and Ecclesiastes struggle with the pain and futility that often result from that activity. Books like
Ruth, Jonah, and Esther tell stories of foreigners in Israel and Israelites living in foreign places, as
the Old Testament moves away from its geographical center in Jerusalem. There has been a grow-
ing recognition that “exile and return” characterized the experience of only a minority of
Israelites during the sixth and fifth centuries. Numerically, far more Israelites either stayed
in Judah or fled to Egypt than were taken into captivity in Babylon. Thus, we have tried to add
emphasis on those other communities and their experience.
Two important milestones should be identified as the ninth edition of The Old Testament
Story moves toward publication. First, 2011 will mark thirty years of the publication of this text-
book. For all of us involved in the project through the years, it is most gratifying that this book
still finds a place within the conversation about the Bible and its role in our lives. Second, on a
grander scale, this year is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of
the Bible. The English translation of the Bible used as the primary basis for this textbook is the
New Revised Standard Version, a direct descendent in the family of translations initiated by the
King James Version. Despite its obvious limitations as a translated text of the Bible, the King
James Version is a great example of the twin processes of advancing biblical scholarship at its cut-
ting edge and using the results of that scholarship to make the biblical literature more accessible
to readers of all levels of experience. To the readers of this ninth edition of The Old Testament
Story, welcome to the conversation.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Nine editions and thirty years of use reflect a stunning record of achievement for this textbook.
This has only been possible because of the work and support of many people. I will always be
grateful to John Tullock and his family for the opportunity they have given me to continue this
project. The contributions of Beth Tullock Sizemore and David Tullock have been a great benefit
to this edition.
On behalf of John Tullock and myself, I want to thank the staff at Prentice Hall whose ded-
ication and hard work keep this project alive and growing. We are particularly grateful to Nicole
Conforti for her careful attention to the vast array of tasks that are involved in creating a new edi-
tion. We also wish to thank our colleagues past and present in the School of Religion at Belmont
University, where the combined tenures of John and myself now approach fifty years. These great
teachers and companions have been and are a constant source of inspiration and life. We also
gratefully acknowledge the reviewers of this edition: John Harris, East Texas Baptist University;
Jeff Tillman, Wayland Baptist University; Thomas Steele, LaGrange College; and Steven Godby,
Broward College–South Campus.
Portions of the Old Testament are quoted many times in this book. In a minority of cases,
they are acknowledged as my own translation, from the King James Version, or from The Bible in
Today’s English Version (© 1966, 1971, 1976). In all other cases, biblical quotations are taken from
The New Revised Standard Version (© 1989, by the division of Christian Education of the National
Council of Churches in the United States and are used by permission. All rights are reserved).

xvii
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CHAPTER

1 The Book and Those

Who Study It

Timeline
1200 B.C.E. First mention of Israel on the Merneptah Stele in Egypt
500 B.C.E. Approximate date for the completion of the final form of the Torah
200 B.C.E. Approximate date for the beginning of translation of the Hebrew
scriptures into Greek
100 C.E. Approximate date for the closing of the Hebrew canon
400 C.E. Approximate date of the copying of the Vatican and Alexandrian
Codices of the Septuagint
1000 C.E. Copying of the Leningrad Codex
1450 C.E. Invention of the printing press by Gutenburg and the production
of the first printed Bible
1535 C.E. First complete English translation of the Bible by Coverdale
1611 C.E. Completion of the King James Version of the Bible

Chapter Outline
I. The Old Testament: What Is It?
II. How It Began
III. How It Developed
IV. The Work of Scholars
V. Archaeology as a Tool for Understanding
VI. Why Study the Old Testament?

1
2 Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It

CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter serves as an introduction to the academic study of the Old Testament. The first task is
to define Old Testament, a task that becomes more difficult when we realize that different religious
communities understand and use this collection of literature in different ways. The next step is to
describe the process by which the Old Testament came into being, a task that can only be hypo-
thetical at many points because of a lack of evidence. The remainder of the chapter describes how
scholars of various types approach the Old Testament, by examining different methods of reading,
and how the historical study, including archaeology, is applied to the understanding of the text.

THE OLD TESTAMENT: WHAT IS IT?

Definition
The Old Testament is a set of texts that originated among the people who, at differing times in their
history, have been called Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews, and which became their sacred scriptures.
The Old Testament is actually a library of books, produced over a period of more than a thousand
years (1200–200 B.C.E.).1 This was the Bible that was known to Jesus, the Apostles, and members of
the early Christian church—especially in the period before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in
70 C.E., when the church was still viewed as another Jewish sect. After 70 C.E., the collection of
Christian writings (which began with some of Paul’s letters and the earliest of the Gospels) began to
be viewed as sacred. And thus having the status of scripture, Christians began to refer to the Hebrew
Bible as the Old Covenant or the Old Testament and their sacred writings as the New Covenant or
the New Testament. They took the term covenant from the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31–34).
“Tell me a story” is the frequent plea of a child. It is through stories that we transmit to our
children our values, our family traditions, and much of our view of life. So it has always been with
humankind, and so it was with ancient Israel. Its stories took many forms: the accounts of the
creation of the universe and of people, its legal system, the oracles of its prophets, the songs of its
singers, and the wisdom of its sages. All these are part of the Old Testament story.

The Literary Forms That Carry the Story2

NARRATIVE. In our culture, we normally expect narrative to be the means of communicating a
story. Thus, we are not surprised that much of the Old Testament is made up of narrative material.
Readers soon discover, however, that stories that come from a very different time and place follow
very different conventions. One of the most striking examples is the lack of descriptive language in
these stories. The most important human character in the Old Testament is Moses. He dominates
four large books, from Exodus to Deuteronomy, yet there is not a word about his physical appear-
ance. Readers are not told whether he is tall or short, large or small, or has blue eyes or brown. The
stories of the Old Testament have a density and economy about them that makes them significantly
different from most contemporary written stories. The story of Cain and Abel, in Genesis 4:1–16, is
one of the most powerful and influential stories in all of Western culture, yet it is slightly less than 200
words long in Hebrew and was translated to slightly less than 400 English words in the King James
Version of the Bible. John Steinbeck’s classic novel, East of Eden, is in many ways a modern retelling
of the Cain and Abel story, and in its most commonly published form is nearly 700 pages long.
The narratives in the Bible often make use of, or are supplemented by, other literary forms
such as laws, songs, genealogies, and lists. Yet these forms are woven into the narrative in such a
way that they become a vital part of it. Narrative is the principal literary vehicle from Genesis
through 2 Kings, in major portions of the prophetic books, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
 Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It 3

Jonah, and Haggai, and in the less familiar books of the Old Testament, such as 1 and 2
Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel, and Ruth.
What is unusual about all this is that narrative was not a common literary device in other sur-
viving literature from the ancient Near East. Outside of legal codes, most of what is known about its
gods, goddesses, legendary heroes, and kings is told in poetry. Poetry’s primary function is to impart
a sense of emotion and praise for its subject, while narrative serves to give the stories a sense of time
and place, to flesh out their characters, and to impart a sense of the flow of life to what is being told.
There are at least two stories in the Old Testament that are told twice, once in prose narra-
tive and once in poetry. The first is the crossing of the sea by the Israelites as they were pursued
through the wilderness by Pharaoh’s army, after their escape from slavery in Egypt. Exodus 14
tells the story in prose, then the Israelites, led by Moses, sing the “Song of the Sea” in Exodus 15,
which tells the story again in a different way. The powerful poetry of Judges 5 conveys the sense of
celebration for the LORD’s delivery of Israel by the hand of Deborah from a powerful enemy. This
“Song of Deborah” is preceded by a prose account of the same story in Judges 4.

LEGAL MATERIALS. The Old Testament contains numerous sets of laws, which have been
placed into the narrative of the exodus from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness.
Closer examination of these laws later will reveal that they seem to come from different times and
places, but their placement within a story provides a powerful and dynamic way of preserving
and presenting legal material.
POETRY. One would naturally expect Psalms and the Song of Songs to be poetry. What might
come as a surprise to those who have not used modern translations of the Bible is that large por-
tions of the books of the prophets are also in poetic form. The line between poetry and prose is not
always clear. They are perhaps better understood as two ends of a continuum rather than two dis-
tinct categories. The first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, is typically understood as prose, and is
printed that way, but careful reading of this text reveals that it has many of the qualities of poetry.

WISDOM LITERATURE. Although wisdom literature—Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes—is almost

entirely in poetic form, it is a special category because of its subject matter. It discusses matters of
everyday life in a way that is not closely connected to specific religious traditions and ponders dif-
ficult, philosophical questions about suffering and the meaning of existence. In structure, it
ranges from extended wisdom poems to one-line proverbs. Except for Chapters 1 through 2 and
42:7–16, Job is an extended poetic drama in the form of a dialogue between Job and his friends,
followed by two speeches by God. The book of Ecclesiastes is a mixture of prose and poetry.

The Crucial Event

As it stands now, the Old Testament starts at the beginning of all things—the Creation—but this
order is probably not how the story of Israel was first told. Throughout the Old Testament, the
one theme that continually appears is the Exodus. This was the supreme event in Israelite history.
Israel became a people through this event and those that followed. Thus, it is commemorated in
song, in story (Exodus to Deuteronomy), and in numerous references in Psalms (such as 66:6;
68:7–18; 78:11–55; 114; 135:8–12; and 136:10–22), as well as in other places in the Bible. A classic
summary of the Exodus story is found in Deuteronomy 26:5–9:
You shall make this response before the LORD your God: “A wandering Aramean was
my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and
there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us
harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God
4 Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It

of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our
oppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an out-
stretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he
brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
The Exodus event made Israel aware of itself as a people with common experiences that united
them. Just as a baby first notices its fingers and toes, leading to the awareness of itself as a person,
so Israel became aware of itself as a people. When the “Who am I?” question is answered, there in-
evitably follows the question, “Where did I come from?” The “Aramean” in Deuteronomy 26:5 is
Jacob, whom all Israelites came to understand as their ancestor.
When people begin to ask these kinds of questions, they begin to look at their history. So
Israel, in times of literary activity, had historians who gathered together the memories and tradi-
tions of the people and began to weave them into a story. In this story, they not only explained
their own origins in the Exodus, but also carried that explanation back through the patriarchs to
the origin of the human race and even to the universe itself. As the nation grew, the history was
expanded and revised, either in written or oral form. Then, when the tragedy of the Babylonian
Exile struck and it looked as though not only historical materials, but also the words of the
prophets, the wisdom materials, and the songs of the people might be lost, a concerted effort was
made to gather together and preserve the literary heritage.

HOW IT BEGAN
How did the Old Testament come to be written? Did someone just suddenly decide, “I’m going to
write the Old Testament”? Or was it a more complicated process?
To answer this question with certainty is impossible. A New Testament writer, for whom
the Old Testament was the Bible, spoke of how “Holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the
Spirit of God” (2 Pet. 1:21). Yet even that statement, setting forth the conviction that God was the
initiator of the process that led to the writing, also suggests that the development of the Old
Testament was an historical process. The following is a suggested scheme of how the Old
Testament may have been developed.

First the Event

Nothing happens without a cause; something must trigger it. The Old Testament grew out of the
events and circumstances of the life of the people of Israel. Although the Exodus and related
events served as the catalyst for the development of the sacred literature of the Israelites, many
events before and after that crucial event contributed to the material resources from which the
Old Testament was constructed.

Then the Story—the First Interpretation

First, things happened. The people to whom things happened told others about their experiences.
Just as every family has a fund of stories about various relatives, much of the Old Testament is
composed of stories that came from the oral tradition of the people who were to be known as
Israel. Not all the stories, however, were based on actual events. Some stories, known as
etiologies, for example, were created to answer “why” questions. Other stories, like Jotham’s fable
about the trees (Judg. 9:7–15), or Samson’s riddle (Judg. 14:14), were told to make a point. Telling
the stories over the centuries also had its effects on their nature and their subsequent interpreta-
tion. The study of how literary texts are interpreted is called hermeneutics.
 Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It 5

Then the Reinterpretation

When things happen to us, we interpret them in the light of existing circumstances. Later, how-
ever, as we look back, we may view a particular event in an entirely different way than we did
when it happened. Time and circumstances may have given us a different insight into its signifi-
cance for us. For instance, an event once seen as a disaster may later be looked on as something
very positive and meaningful for us.

Then the History—the Continuing Interpretation

The Old Testament grew from such hindsight. At some point in the life of Israel as a people,
someone, or a number of someones, looked back at the past and concluded that God had been at
work in the lives of the people—calling their ancestors out of paganism, making himself known
to them, leading them from the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys to Palestine and eventually
into Egypt and bondage. But even that bondage, a disaster by most normal standards, was God’s
way of preserving the Israelites as a people. God raised up a leader, Moses, and prepared him, as
the adopted son of the Egyptian princess and as a Midianite shepherd, for the difficult job of
leading a band of slaves and a mixed multitude of others into the Sinai desert, there to weld this
motley group into a people united in covenant to God.
Furthermore, God led them to a land—a land that had been promised to their ancestors,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After a long and difficult period, the land became theirs. But their
troubles were not over. After many years of struggle to achieve some kind of national unity, they
finally settled on a monarchy as the kind of government they would have. After a sputtering start
under Saul, the storytellers describe a remarkable growth during David’s time, when the nation
reached its greatest territorial limits, enabling it to withstand any challenge. Solomon gained the
fruits of his father’s success, enjoying a time of peace and great economic prosperity. Yet, he
sowed seeds of discontent that would come to full flower under his son Rehoboam, whose unwise
policies resulted in the kingdom’s splitting into two separate states.
For two centuries, the two parts of the once proud kingdom of David limped along—
sometimes as enemies, sometimes as allies. At times, in their periods of friendship, they com-
bined forces to bring a measure of prosperity to their people. But for most of the time, they were
like pawns, toyed with by the great powers of the time—Egypt and Assyria. Finally, in 721 B.C.E.,
Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was blotted out of existence by the Assyrian giant who destroyed
its cities and deported all that was left of its upper classes, replacing them with foreigners who
were to intermarry with the poor people left in the land, producing the Samaritans.
Judah, the Southern Kingdom, struggled on for just over a century, but it too fell, this time
to Babylonia, the nation that had succeeded Assyria as the terror of the Near East.
As had been the case with Israel, most of the members of Judah’s surviving leadership were
deported, but different factors were at work that allowed the people to keep their identity. The
prophets had warned that such an occurrence was likely if Judah persisted in its wrongdoing.
Seemingly, the stability of the government in the south gave the people a greater sense of unity,
aiding them in holding together in the time of national disaster. Then, too, the Babylonians seem
to have contributed to the situation by settling the people in communities in which they could
follow the advice of the prophet Jeremiah and live as normal a life as possible (Jer. 29).
In response to the trauma of the Exile and the threat of annihilation, Jewish scholars began
in earnest to collect and shape the literature of the people. Although history writing may have
begun earlier, the Exile gave the work a new sense of urgency. Along with the writing of history,
poetry was collected, the law was codified, and the words of the great prophets were arranged and
6 Chapter 1 • The Book and Those Who Study It

preserved. Much of the Old Testament as we now know it took shape during the Exile and imme-
diately afterward.
With the people now convinced of the importance of the preservation of their traditions,
the period following the Exile, while not a time of glory, was a time of collection, preservation,
and interpretation that reached its climax in the final canonization of the Old Testament early in
the Christian era.

HOW IT DEVELOPED
The Process
Did the process of forming the literature of the Old Testament begin during the Exile? The answer
most certainly is “No.” The development of the Old Testament may be compared to a river and its
tributaries. A river does not begin full sized. Rather, it is a combination of dozens of smaller
streams that have joined together to form the river. So it was with the Old Testament. Some will be
quick to point out that it began with God. Even so, God worked through human agents, and it is
the work of these human agents that is being discussed. The common belief that God directly dic-
tated the words of the Bible is called plenary verbal inspiration. This view is not assumed here.
The first tiny streams were the oral traditions: the poems of victory, the stories of the ances-
tors, and the memories of great events that were treasured, gathered, and passed on for many gener-
ations. These oral treasures were the means by which families preserved their values and their sense
of who they were. Not only did they remember heroes, they remembered villains as well. Both
played roles in events the community deemed important. Thus, the people preserved the stories—
from exalted stories, such as that of the call of the patriarch Abraham from the paganism of Ur of
the Chaldees, to less than exalted stories, such as the account of how Jacob outwitted both his
brother Esau and his father, Isaac, to secure the birthright and the blessing. The most frequently told
story of all, however, was that of God’s marvelous delivery of their ancestors during the flight from
Egypt. The storyteller was the teacher and the story was the medium through which he taught.
At shrines in which clans (extended families) gathered for worship, the stories were com-
bined into larger units to form cycles of tradition, each with its own distinctive point of view.
Finally, someone conceived the idea, through what religious people call inspiration, that the sto-
ries of God’s dealings with the people needed to be written down or put into a complete story so
that they could be preserved.

The Written Story

Exactly when the smaller streams of tradition were combined to form a connected story is a matter
of dispute. Scholars of a more conservative bent argue for a date as early as the time of Moses.
Others see the smaller streams of tradition continuing either in an oral or a written form until the
time of David and Solomon. They say it was during this period that the first attempts were made
to write a history of Israel. The process continued until the post-Exilic period and embraces not
only the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), or Torah, but also all the major historical
books: Joshua through 2 Kings, as well as 1,2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
According to this view, the stream of tradition that began with the Exodus stories was cho-
sen as the mainstream. To it were added the stories of the ancestors (people like Abraham, Sarah,
Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel) and the stories of the Creation. This edition of the history
of Israel (characterized by referring to God by the personal name YHWH and designated by scholars
by the letter J) was largely composed of materials from the southern part of Israel. It flowed on for
a hundred years or so, until it was joined by another stream of materials from the northern part of
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
be doing either if I aided to save a man who would murder him the
first opportunity? I always keep my word, Mardocchi."

"And so do I," answered Mardocchi, gloomily. "Sacchi and the rest

told all they knew to the Frenchman, out of fear for their pitiful lives,
and they saved themselves. I refused to tell anything, because I had
promised not, and they strung me up to the branch of a tree. But I
will promise you, Antonio, I will never raise my hand against the
young man. I shall hate him ever, but--"

"Let me think," said Antonio; and, after meditating for a moment,

he added, "there are ways of destroying him without raising your
hand against him: there is the cord. Listen to my resolution,
Mardocchi, and you know I will keep it: if you will promise me not to
take his life in any way--for I know you right well--I will help you, for
old companionship, to escape, and to join a noble lord in the
Romagna; but, if you do not promise, I will make sure of you by
other means. I have but to speak a word, and you are on the branch
of the mulberry-tree again--"

"Stop, stop!" said Mardocchi; "do not threaten me. I am weak--

sick--hardly yet alive, but I do not like threats. The crushed adder
bites. Let me think: I hate him," he continued, slowly, recovering
gradually from the excitement under which he had first spoken. "I
shall always hate him, but that is no reason I should kill him. I have
never promised to kill him--never even threatened to kill him. If I
had, I would do it or die; but I do not like death. I have tasted it,
and no man likes to eat of that dish twice. It is very bitter; and I
promise you in your own words, Antonio. But you likewise must
remember your promise to me."

"Did you ever know me fail?" said the other. "The first thing is to
get you well, the next to shave off that long beard and those wild
locks, and then, with a friar's gown and the cord of St. Francis, I will
warrant I get you in the train of one of these French lords. Can you
enact a friar, think you, Mardocchi?"
 "Oh, yes," said Mardocchi, with a bitter grin, "I can drink and
carouse all night, tell a coarse tale with a twinkling eye, laugh loud
at a small jest, and do foul services for a small reward, if it be to
save my life; but then I cannot speak these people's language,
Antonio."

"All the better--all the better," answered Antonio; "many of them

know a little Italian, and hard questions put in a foreign tongue, are
easily parried. It would be a good thing for one half of the world if it
did not understand what the other half said."

"But who is this good lord to whom you are going to send me?"
asked the man. "Is he a courtier or a soldier."

"A little of both," answered Antonio, "but more a man of counsel

than either. His name is Ramiro d'Orco."

"Ah! I have heard of him," said Mardocchi. "He puzzles the people
about the court. All men think that at heart he has vast ambition,
and yet none can tell you why he thinks so. All agree in that, though
some think he is a philosopher, some a simpleton."

"Well, well," answered Antonio, "the first thing is for you to

recover health and strength, the next to get you safely away, the
third to make you known to the Signor Ramiro. He is the sort of man
to suit your views. I know him well. He is rich, and, as you say,
ambitious. He is wise, too, in a certain way; and though he has not
yet found a path to the objects he aims at, he will find one in time,
or make one, even were he to hew it through his own flesh and
blood. He wants serviceable men about him, and that is the reason I
send you to him. If he rises, he will pull you up; if he falls, there is
no need he should pull you down with him. But we will converse
more to-morrow; to-day you have talked enough, perhaps too
much."

"But, Antonio, Antonio," said the other, eagerly catching his

sleeve, "you will tell no one that I am here?"
 "No one on earth," answered Antonio; and, bidding him farewell,
he left him.

The journey of Antonio back to the villa was somewhat longer

than it needed to have been. He took devious and circuitous paths,
and even turned back for a part of the way more than once. It was
not, however, that he fancied himself watched, or that he feared that
any one might discover where he had been; but his brain was very
busy, and he did not wish his thoughts interrupted till they had
reached certain conclusions from which they were distant when he
set out. He asked himself if he could really trust to Mardocchi's
word, knowing but too well how predominant the desire of revenge
is in every Italian heart. He half accused himself of folly in having
promised him so much; and though he was, in truth, a good and
sincere man, yet the common habits and feelings of his country
every now and then suggested that it would be easy to put an end
to all doubt and suspicion, if he saw cause, by the use of the Italian
panacea, the stiletto. "But yet," he said to himself, "it may be better
to take my chance of his good faith, and let him live. I never knew
him break his word, and by his means, perhaps, I may penetrate
some of Signor Ramiro's purposes in regard to young Lorenzo. I will
tie him down to some promise on that point too. He will need my
help yet in many ways; and though I will not set a man to betray his
master, yet I may well require him to warn his friends."

It was an age and a country in which men dealt peculiarly in

subtleties, so much so, indeed, that right and truth were often
refined away to nothing, especially in the higher and better educated
classes of society. The bravo, indeed, was often a more
straightforward and truthful man than the nobleman who employed
him. He would own frankly that he was committing a great sin; but
then he had faith in the Virgin, and she would obtain remission for
him. His employer would find a thousand reasons to justify the deed,
and would so pile up motives and necessities in self-defence that it
would seem almost doubtful which was most to be pitied, himself or
his victim. Antonio was by no means without this spirit of casuistry;
and though no man could cut through a long chain of pretences with
more trenchant wit than he could, in the case of another, yet he
might not unfrequently employ them in his own. He resolved,
therefore, not to engage Mardocchi to betray his master's secrets,
but only to reveal them when it was necessary that he, Antonio,
should know them. The difference, indeed, was very slight, but it
was sufficient to satisfy him.

Antonio's mind then naturally reverted to Ramiro d'Orco, and he

asked himself again and again what could be the motive which led a
man so famous for stoical hardness to show such tenderness and
consideration for Lorenzo Visconti. "It may be," he thought, "that
this grim old tyrant thinks it a splendid match for his daughter. But
then they say she has a magnificent fortune of her own--her dower
that of a princess. There must be some other end in view. She is a
glorious creature too, midway between Juno and Sappho. Well, we
must wait and watch. Heaven knows how it will all turn out.
Perhaps, after all, Ramiro has some scheme against one of the
princes of Romagna, in which he hopes to engage the King of France
through young Lorenzo's influence.--It is so, I think--it is so, surely.
He wants serviceable men, too, and asked me if I knew of any. Well,
I think I have fitted him with one at least, and he will owe me
something for the good turn. But I must hie homeward, and keep
these things to myself. No more interfering between Lorenzo and his
young love. He bore my warnings badly this morning: I must let
things take their course, and try to guide without opposing."

CHAPTER XIII.
 Milan had its attractions even for the gay court of France. It was a
devout and dissolute city; and we know how jovially, in some
countries and at some times, dissoluteness and devotion have
contrived to jog on together. Pastime and penitence, pleasure and
penance, alternated among the courtiers of Charles VIII. with very
agreeable variety; and it has been whispered that the young king
himself was not unwilling either to finger forbidden fruit, or to
express contrition afterward. At all events, he wasted many precious
days in the Lombard capital. Morning after morning, fresh
detachments of his army were sent forward to Pavia, till that city
might be considered in possession of his troops; but still the young
king lingered, and it was not till nine days after the events we have
recorded in the last two or three chapters that the main host of
France took its way southward.

How passed the intermediate time with those we have left in the
Villa de Rovera? It was very sweetly. We must not dwell upon it,
because it was so sweet; but a few words will tell all. Lorenzo almost
longed to remain an invalid, that there might be a fair excuse for
Leonora's tending; and Leonora feared to see him recover health
and strength too soon, lest the order to depart should hurry him
away.

Strange tales are told of the effects of Italian poisons in those

days, and doubtless much exaggeration mingles with all the
accounts we have received, but certain it is, that, though the youth
recovered steadily, each day gaining a little, yet his convalescence
was slow, and the subtle bane of Buondoni's sword was more or less
felt for many after days. Still no order to march arrived, but every
day, about noon, the good Lord de Vitry rode over, well attended,
from Pavia to inquire after the health of his young friend; and
although it is certain that Leonora could have given him more
minute accounts of Lorenzo's state, and the old Count de Rovera
could have furnished him with juster and more scientific views of
Lorenzo's progress towards recovery, it was always Bianca Maria he
first asked for. He speedily became a great favorite with the old
count nevertheless. There was something in his frank, soldier-like
bearing that pleased, and something in his ever merry conversation
that amused the old man, so that he began to wish the day far
distant when the noble Lord of Vitry would come no more.

Bianca Maria was very happy too, and she gave the rein to
happiness without fear. Neither she nor De Vitry ever dreamed that
he was making love. She thought herself too young to be the object
of passion, and he thought so too. He fancied he should like to have
a daughter just like herself, without the slightest change in thought
or look--he would not have had a word she said altered--he would
not have parted with one ringlet from her head; and she pictured to
herself how pleasant it would have been to have an elder brother
just like De Vitry.

At the house of the contadino all went on favourably likewise.

Antonio visited the place every day, till at length, one morning early,
he walked forth with a sandaled friar, who passed round the wall of
the podere with him, and mounted a mule which was held by a little
peasant-boy. Some ten minutes after, a troop of twenty French
lances rode slowly on towards Pavia, and the friar, by Antonio's
intercession, was permitted to join himself to the band. The
contadino and the contadino's wife were for once satisfied with the
same thing.

At length, however, the eventful day arrived when the King of

France commenced his march from Milan against Naples. Drum, and
trumpet, and pennon, and banderol, and long lines of glittering
lances, and gorgeous surcoats, and splendid suits of armour, passed
along the road within sight of the Villa Rovera, and though no
absolute order had arrived commanding Lorenzo to join his troop
and assume the command which had been bestowed upon him, yet,
as he gazed upon the passing host from the higher windows, he felt
that duty required him to linger no longer, and that the next day, at
the latest, he was bound to tear himself away from those who, in
the short space of a few weeks, had become so dear to him. He felt
sad; and yet there was something to a young and eager mind like
his, in the inspiring sight of military array, which had its consolatory
influence. He thought of acquiring glory and renown for Leonora's
sake, and returning to her with bright fame and a glorious name,
with a proud consciousness of courage and of skill in arms. "If we
must part--" he said to himself.

If they were to part! That was the consideration most painful, for
he had flattered himself every day with the hope that the promised
letter of Ramiro d'Orco would arrive, giving him authority to escort
his fair promised bride to join her father: and oh! how many
enchanted scenes had Fancy fabricated out of the vague shadows of
that expected journey! No letter had arrived; the army was on its
march; he could delay no longer; and the bitterness of
disappointment was added to the bitterness of anticipated
separation.

The last troopers of the main host of France disappeared; and

Leonora gazed in Lorenzo's eyes, knowing, divining what was
passing in his heart, as they stood, together, with Bianca Maria
gazing from the neighbouring window.

"You must go, Lorenzo," said the beautiful girl, "you must go, I
know it. Fear not to speak the words; Leonora would not keep you
from the path of fame and honour if she could. It will be very
terrible, but still you must go. I had hoped, indeed--"

"See! see!" cried Bianca Maria: "there are more horsemen

coming. It is the king himself and his court; I remember well the
array; and there is Count Ludovic, on the monarch's left."

Leonora and her lover turned to the window again, and saw the
royal train sweep on towards them. But suddenly the king drew in
his rein just opposite the gates. He did not dismount; but a
horseman dashed out from the escort, and rode into the court-yard
of the villa.
 "It is the order," said Lorenzo, in a low voice, "it is the order, and I
must run down to receive it."

The two lovely girls followed him quickly; for theirs was an age
when nature's impulses have not been curbed and disciplined,
restrained and checked, either by the iron rules of a factitious state
of society or the harder and more terrible shackles of experience. At
the bottom of the great staircase he found the old Count of Rovera
speaking with one of the king's officers, out of whose mouth he took
the words of the monarch's message, saying, as soon as he saw
Lorenzo, "His Majesty the King of France, my young cousin, desires
your presence without. He has not time to dismount, this noble
gentleman tells me, otherwise he would have honoured our poor
house by his presence."

Lorenzo hurried away unbonneted, and the count, looking with a

smile at his cousin and granddaughter, said gaily:

"Now would I wager this jewel against a fool's bauble that you
girls would give your ears to hear the conference. If so, take the rich
peaches Giovanozzo brought just now--one take them on the gold
salver, and let the other carry out a cup of our best wine to refresh
the monarch after his long ride."

But there is an innate modesty which requires no teaching of art,

and Leonora answered:

"I pray you excuse me, sir; they are all men there without, and
we should blush to obtrude ourselves upon the gaze of so many
eyes."

As she spoke a warm glow came upon the face of Bianca Maria,
but it was not her cousin's words that called it there. A shadow
darkened the doorway, and the sound of a step well-known to the
young girl's ear was heard, which brought the joyous blood from the
heart to the cheek in a moment.
 "I have stolen away," said De Vitry, "like a thief, and I have been
a thief, too, sweet ladies, and my noble lord. Just before I set out
from Pavia to meet the king, a courier came from Bologna; and,
good faith, when I found out what he carried, I made free to rob
him of his bags, not knowing who else might finger them. That letter
for you, my lord count--that for you, Signora Leonora; and here is
one also for Visconti, which I may as well trust to you also, very sure
you will deliver it safely."

"And none for me?" asked Blanche Marie, with a faint smile.

"None--only a message," said De Vitry, while the others busied

themselves with their letters they had received; and, as he spoke, he
drew the fair young girl aside, adding, "I must deliver it quickly, for I
must be back ere I am missed."

What he said to her in that low whisper, who shall tell? Her cheek
turned pale, and then glowed crimson red, and her knees shook,
and her lips quivered, so as to stop the words that struggled for
utterance, and yet there was joy in her eyes. It was as if he had
given her the key of some treasury in her own heart which
overwhelmed her with the first sight of the riches within.

"A soldier's love, a soldier's hand, a noble name, an honourable

name--that is all I have to offer," were the words of De Vitry. "I
know I am nearly old enough to be your father; but if you don't
mind that, I don't."

He paused a moment as if for an answer, while Blanche Marie

stood still trembling and silent; and, with a shade upon his broad,
frank brow, he was turning away, when she murmured:

"Stay! stay!" and, drawing the glove from her hand, she put it into
his.

"I will carry it into the cannon's mouth," he said, hiding it in his
scarf; and then he kissed her hand, and returned to the old count
and her fair cousin. "Lady, I must go," he said, taking Leonora's
gloved hand, and bending over it. "My lord the count, farewell. We
shall all meet again soon, I hope; and, in the meantime, you shall
hear no evil of De Vitry, unless some of those foul cannon shot carry
off his head. Adieu! adieu!"

In the meantime, Lorenzo had hurried forth, and stood by the

side of the king's horse. Charles gazed kindly at him, and inquired
after his health, while Ludovic the Moor bent his eyes upon him, but
without suffering the slightest shade of enmity to cross his face.

"How goes it with you, fair cousin?" asked the king: "think you
that you are able to ride on with the army towards Naples in a day
or two?"

"Quite able, sir," answered the young man; "to-morrow, if it

should be your Majesty's pleasure."

"Pale--pale," said the monarch, who seemed to have been

studying his countenance. "Is that with loss of blood, Lorenzo, or the
venom of the sword?"

"I lost little blood, sire," answered the young man; "but the
poison was very deadly, and required both skill and careful nursing
to bring me through with life."

"Now curses upon the foul heart and foul mind," exclaimed the
young king, "that first conceived so dastardly a wickedness as that
of smearing a good honest sword-blade with a deadly drug."

The face of Ludovic the Moor turned somewhat white, and his lip
curled.

"Your Majesty's curse," he said, "must go somewhat far back, and

somewhat low down; for the art was invented long ago, and the
man who invented it, if he is to be damned at all, is very well
damned by this time."
 "Well, then, my curse shall have greater extent, noble sir," replied
the king, frowning; "I will add--and curses be upon every one who
uses such dark treachery."

The regent did not reply, but there were very angry feelings in his
heart; and it is probable that nothing but the knowledge that the
dominions over which he ruled, and which he intended should soon
be his own in pure possession, were absolutely at the mercy of the
French king's soldiery, prevented him from seeking vengeance.
Indeed, nothing but fear can account for a man so unscrupulous
having endured the mortifications which Charles inflicted upon him
during the French stay in Lombardy; but it must be remembered
that not only were many of his towns and castles in possession of
the French, and others without any preparation for resistance, but
that his own person was every hour within reach of the French
swords, and that, though not quite a prisoner in his own court, he
might become so any moment, if he excited suspicion or gave
offence to the young monarch. He endured in silence then, and
treasured his vengeance for a future day.

An unpleasant pause succeeded; and then Charles, turning to

Lorenzo, continued the conversation, saying, "So you think yourself
quite ready to ride. Well, then, join us to-morrow at Pavia, Lorenzo.
Methinks no one, however high his station, will venture to assail you
when near our own person. Yet, as it is evident from what has
already happened, that some one in this land would fain remove you
to a better, you shall have a guard with you, and must not walk the
streets of Pavia unattended. Where is De Vitry? We will give orders
for a part of your troop in his company to join you here to-night."

"He has gone into the villa for a moment, sire," replied Lorenzo,
"for the purpose, I believe, of bidding adieu to the good old count,
as I presume your majesty marches on speedily."

"Nay, he will have plenty of time hereafter," said Charles; "I shall
not leave Pavia for some days. I have matters to inquire into; but, in
the mean time, I will give orders for the men to join you to-night;
and methinks a score of French lances will be sufficient to protect
you from any number of Buondonis who may be inclined or hired to
assassinate you."

There was an insulting tone of superiority in the young king's

voice and manner, which could not have been very sweet to the
Regent Ludovic, but he seemed still to pay no attention to the
monarch's words, gazing forward on the road without change of
countenance, as if busy with his own thoughts.

"Ah! here comes De Vitry," said the young king. "Mount, mount,
my lord marquis. Adieu, my fair cousin Lorenzo. I will give the
orders;" and, thus saying, he rode on.

Lorenzo saw the train depart and pass away, receiving many a
good-natured greeting from old friends in the king's suite as it filed
off along the road. When he returned to the vestibule of the villa
with a somewhat gloomy heart, he found the old Count of Rovera,
with the two young girl's, still there and apparently in earnest
conversation; but Leonora exclaimed, as soon as she saw him,
"When must you go, Lorenzo?"

"To-morrow," said the young man sadly.

"Oh, then you will have plenty of time," exclaimed Blanche Marie,
addressing her beautiful cousin.

"To do what?" asked Lorenzo.

"To get ready to go with you," answered Leonora, "if you will be
troubled with such a companion. Here is a letter for you from my
father which will probably explain all. I have had another from him,
telling me to come on with you, and join him at Bologna, if you have
a sufficient train to render our journey secure; but he says there is
little or no danger by the way."
 The old Count of Rovera shook his head with a disapproving look,
murmuring, "Mighty great danger on the way, I think. On my life, I
believe Ramiro is mad; but I must admonish the youth strictly before
he goes, and take care that she has plenty of women about her."

CHAPTER XIV.

"See, De Vitry, that a force of twenty lances be sent from Pavia to

our young cousin ere night," said the king; "that will be enough for
his protection, my lord regent, I presume?"

"More than enough, sire," replied Ludovic, somewhat sternly.

"Himself alone, with a few of his own servants, could pass quite
safely--except, indeed, in case of some sudden tumult."

"Which tumults are easily raised in this Italy of yours," replied the
young monarch. "It is therefore better he should have a French
pennon with him. Methinks, after our alliance, offensive and
defensive, no one will dare to attack that, my lord regent."

Ludovic bit his lip, but then he smiled grimly, saying, "Not unless
he should chance to encounter the forces of our dear cousin
Alphonso, King of Naples, coming to drive the poor Sforzas out of
Milan, and give your majesty some trouble in the plains of Lombardy.
They would not, methinks, show much reverence for a French
pennon, nor even for the banner of France itself."

"'Tis strange we have no news," said Charles, with a shadow on

his brow; "our last intelligence dates the 14th of last month, and
then the Neapolitan fleet were under full sail."

"It is possible that Prince Frederick, who commands his brother's

fleet, may have defeated the Duke of Orleans and landed in Tuscany,
sire," observed Ludovic; "in that case we shall hear nothing of the
enemy till we see him. May it not be better for me to summon all my
forces, and march with your majesty till we are assured the roads
are open? I can gather twenty thousand men together, from
different garrisons, in eight days, but I have only four thousand now
in Pavia."

The king seemed to hesitate; but just then De Vitry, who was
riding half a horse's length behind on the king's right, raised his
voice, saying bluntly, "Better wait decision till we are in the city, my
liege, and then I will tell your majesty why."

"Better wait till then, at all events," said the king, thoughtfully;
"but what is your reason, De Vitry?"

"Simply this, my liege," said the good soldier; "in the grey of the
morning there came in a courier from Bologna. He said he was
bound by his orders to stay in Pavia till your majesty arrived or sent.
But he had letters for you, sire, which he would show to no one; and
some private letters for the camp, which I took from him. They gave
no tidings, however, that I could learn."

"Did he give no intelligence himself?" asked Ludovic, eagerly.

"He was mightily cautious of committing himself, Sir Count,"

answered De Vitry, drily; "a most discreet and silent messenger, I
can assure you."

All parties fell into silence, and rode on for about half a mile at a
slow pace, when the count regent turned to the king, saying, "Here I
will spur on, so please you, sire. I would fain see that all is rightly
prepared to receive you royally. I have been obliged to trust that
care to others hitherto; but I would fain confirm the assurances
given me by my people, by my own eyesight." Charles bowed his
head with a somewhat doubtful look, and Ludovic instantly forced
his horse forward with great speed. Some twenty horsemen drew
out from the rest of the cavalcade and followed him, and Charles
turned his head toward De Vitry with an inquiring look.

"Let him go, sire--let him go," said De Vitry, in a low voice,
spurring up to the king's side; "he can do no harm. I have cared for
all that. I have so posted our men that he has no more power in
Pavia than an Indian has. Lucky that you sent me on as your
quarter-master some days before; for I had time to fix on all the
commanding spots; and as I passed the army this morning, I gave
the leaders instructions, and furnished them with guides to their
several quarters. But, what is more important still, if your majesty
will bend your ear for a moment, I drew from this courier, upon
promise that I would not deprive him of his largesse, but add
something on my own part, that the good Duke of Orleans, with his
little squadron, had contrived to drive back the whole Neapolitan
fleet into Naples. Had he had galleys enough he would have taken
half of them, and, perhaps, Prince Frederick into the bargain. As it
was, he could only take one galley and sink another. The news is
certain, sire; so Signor Ludovic's cunning scheme of joining his men
with yours must fail."

"Think you he meant mischief?" asked the young king, whose

face had gradually been lighted up as his gallant officer spoke.

"He meant to have the power of doing mischief or not as he

pleased," replied De Vitry; "with twenty thousand men, sire, while
you had certain enemies and uncertain friends before you, he might
have proved a dangerous comrade on the march whenever he chose
to turn traitor, which he will do, depend upon it, at the slightest
reverse. A man who can shut up his own nephew and ward, with the
poor lad's wife and child, in the castle of Pavia, and feed them all
three upon slow poison till there is no strength left in any of them,
cannot be well trusted, sire."
 "Has he done that," exclaimed the young king, with his cheek
flushing and his eyes all in a blaze; "has he done that?"

"I have it from the very best authority," replied the other. "I
cannot speak from my own knowledge; for they would not let me
into the castle; but I have been told so by those who know; and if
he were not afraid of letting you see what is going on in that dark
old fortress, why should he not assign you the magnificent rooms,
where so many Lombard kings and Roman emperors have sat, and
put the gates in possession of your troops? The house he has had
prepared for your majesty is fine enough; but it is but a citizen's
house, after all; and, depend upon it, there are things within the
walls of the castle he would not have you see with your own eyes."

"He shall find himself mistaken," said the young king--"he shall
find himself mistaken. I will see, and that at once. How many men
have we with us now, De Vitry?"

"Some four hundred, I should guess, sire," replied the officer;

"but there are a thousand more in the little guard-house square at
the gates, ready to escort your majesty to your dwelling."

"That is right! that is right!" said Charles, with a smile; "let us put
our horses to a quicker pace, good friend. We will be upon the
worthy regent's heels before he expects us."

In three-quarters of an hour, Charles and his escort had reached

the gates of Pavia. There was bustle and some disarray among the
Lombard soldiers on guard; for the monarch had appeared before he
was expected; but they hurried forth from the guard-houses to
salute him as he passed, and the French men-at-arms and soldiers in
the little square were up and arrayed in a minute. At the entrance of
the street leading from the Milan gate into the heart of the city--a
street which the reader may well remember, from its gloomy aspect,
specially if he have entered Pavia on a rainy day--a gallant party of
horsemen, dressed in the robes of peace, advanced to meet the King
of France, and, after due salutation, told him they had been sent by
the regent to conduct him to his dwelling.

"Good! We will follow you speedily," said the monarch; "but there
is one visit we have to pay first, which cannot be omitted. In kingly
courtesy and in kindred kindness we are bound to set foot to the
ground in Pavia, for the first time, at the dwelling of our young
cousin, the Duke Giovan Galeazzo. Lead on to the castle, De Vitry,
and let the whole train follow. We will then accompany these good
gentlemen to the dwelling prepared for us by the regent's kindness."

Some consternation was apparent among the retainers of the

Count Ludovic; they spoke together in whispers; but the young king
showed no inclination to wait for the conclusion of their deliberation,
and rode on, guided by De Vitry, merely saying to the Lombard
nobles, with a somewhat stern look, "Gentlemen, we hope for your
escort to the castle."

They did not dare to disobey an invitation which was so like a

command; and the whole cavalcade moved onward toward the
citadel, with the exception of one small page, who slunk away at the
first corner of a street they came to, and was no further seen. It was
not long ere the frowning barbican, with its drawbridge and
portcullis, appeared before the royal party; and Charles, turning to
the retainers, said, with a somewhat bitter smile, "Will you request
the warders to open the gates for the King of France, to visit his fair
cousin the duke? We must not summon them ourselves, having so
many armed men with us; for that might seem too peremptory."

There was a moment of doubt and hesitation, evidently, on the

part of the envoys. The men-at-arms nearest the king, who, with the
quick wit of Frenchmen, seemed to comprehend the whole situation
in a moment, grasped their lances more firmly; and the king's brow
began to darken at finding his orders disobeyed. Upon that moment
hung the fate of Pavia, and perhaps of Lombardy; but it ended by
one of the Lombard nobles riding forward and speaking to the officer
at the gates. Whether he heard or not the sound of horses' feet at a
gallop, I cannot tell, but certain it is that while he seemed to parley
with the soldiers, who were apparently unwilling to open the gates
even at his command, Ludovic the Moor, with two or three
attendants, dashed into the open space before the barbican, and
rode quickly to the front. He had had notice of the young monarch's
movements, and his part was decided in a moment.

"How now, sirrah!" he exclaimed, addressing the soldiers beneath

the gateway in a loud and angry tone, "do you keep the King of
France waiting before the gates like a lackey? Throw open the gates!
Down with the drawbridge! My lord king," he continued, with bated
breath, "I regret exceedingly that these men should have detained
you; but they are faithful fools, and take no orders but from me or
my dear nephew. Had your majesty hinted your intention, orders to
admit you instantly would have been long since given. I proposed to
introduce you to-morrow to the duke, with due ceremony; but you
are always determined to take your servants by surprise."

Charles coloured a little, and felt himself rebuked; but when the
regent sprang to the ground and would have held his stirrup, he
would not permit him, taking the arm of De Vitry, and bowing his
head courteously, but without reply. At the gates, De Vitry drew
back, suffering the king and Ludovic to pass on; but they had hardly
reached the second gates, when the archway of the barbican and
the drawbridge were taken possession of by the French soldiers,
who began gaily talking to the Italians, though the latter understood
not a word they said. The Lombard nobles looked sullen and
discontented; but they sat still on their horses, little accustomed to
the dashing impudence of the French, and not knowing well what
demeanour to assume toward men who came as their friends and
allies, but who so soon showed that they considered themselves
their masters.

In the mean time, each followed only by a page, the king and the
count regent walked on through several dim passages and lofty, ill-
lighted halls. Few attendants were observed about, and Ludovic took
notice of none of them till he reached a large and apparently more
modern saloon, where an old man, somewhat richly dressed, stood
at a door on the other side. Him he beckoned up, saying, "Tell my
dear nephew, Franconi, that I am bringing his Majesty the King of
France to visit him. This royal lord, considering the duke's ill health,
dispenses with the first visit. Will your majesty take a cup of wine
after your long ride? It will just give the old seneschal time to
announce your coming, lest such an unexpected honour should
agitate the poor boy too much."

"I thank you, my lord, I am not thirsty," answered the king, drily,
"and, for certain reasons given by my physicians, I drink but little
wine."

A slight and somewhat mocking smile passed over the hard

features of Ludovic, as if he suspected some fear in the mind of
Charles, and gloried, rather than felt shame, in an evil reputation.
Both remained silent; and in a few minutes the old man returned to
usher them into the presence of the young duke.

Oh! what a sad sight it was when the seneschal, now joined by
two inferior officers, threw open the door of a chamber at the end of
the adjacent corridor, and displayed to the eyes of Charles the faded
form of Giovan Galeazzo, the young Duke of Milan, stretched upon a
richly-ornamented bed, and covered with a dressing gown of cloth of
gold. The corpse of Inez de Castro seemed only the more ghastly
from the regal garments which decked her mouldering frame; and
the splendour of the apartment, the decoration of the bed, and the
glistening bedgown only gave additional wanness to the face of the
unhappy Duke of Milan. Once pre-eminently handsome, and with
features finely chiselled still, tall and perfectly formed, not yet
twenty years of age, he lay there a living skeleton. His cheek was
pale as ashes; his brow of marble whiteness; the thin but curling
locks of jet black hair falling wildly round his forehead; his lips hardly
tinted with red; and a preternatural light in his dark eyes, which
gave more terrible effect to the deathly pallor of his countenance.

A sweet, a wonderfully sweet smile played round his mouth when

he saw the young King of France; and he raised himself feebly on his
elbow to greet him as he approached.

"Welcome, my most noble lord, the king," he said in a weak voice;

"this is indeed most kind of your majesty to visit your poor cousin,
whom duty would have called to your feet long ago, had not sore
sickness kept him prisoner. But, alas! from this bed I cannot move--
never shall again, I fear."

Charles seated himself by the unhappy young man's side, and

kindly took his hand. They were first cousins; their age was nearly
the same, and well might the young monarch's bosom thrill with
compassion and sympathy for the unhappy duke.

"I grieve," said the king, "to see you so very ill, fair cousin; but I
trust you will be better soon, the heats of summer have probably
exhausted you, and----"

Giovan Galeazzo shook his head almost impatiently, and turned a

meaning look upon his uncle.

"Has this continued long?" asked the king.

"It began with my entrance into this accursed fortress," replied

the youth, "now some two years ago. It has been slow, but very,
very certain. Day by day, hour by hour, it has preyed upon me, till
there is not a sound part left."

"He fancies that the air disagrees with him," said Ludovic the
Moor, "but the physicians say it is not so; and we have had so many
tumults and insurrections in the land, that, for his own safety, it is
needful he should make his residence in some strong place."