A Tradition of Titus

A Tradition of Titus By Lafcadio Hearn © 2006 by http://www.HorrorMasters.com

Which is in the Book Gittin of the Talmud. . . . Before Titus the world was like unto the eyeball of man; the ocean being as the white, the world as the black, the pupil thereof Jerusalem, and the image within the pupil the Temple of the Lord. . . . Verily hath it been said, in Chullin of the Holy Shas, that “sixty iron mines are suspended in the sting of a gnat.” For in those days Titus—may his ears be made into sockets for the hinges of Gehenna to turn upon!—came from Rome with his idolaters, and laid siege to the Holy City, and destroyed it, and bore away the virgins into captivity. He who had not beheld Jerusalem before that day had not seen the glory of Israel. There were three hundred and ninety-four synagogues, and three hundred and ninety-four courts of law, and the same number of academies for the youth. . . . When the gates of the temple were opened, the roar of their golden hinges was heard at the distance of eight Sabbath days’ journey. . . . The Veil of the Holy of Holies was woven by eighty-two myriads of virgins; three hundred priests were needed to draw it, and three hundred to lave it when soiled. But Titus—be his name accursed forever!—wrapped up the sacred vessels in it, and, putting them in a ship, set sail for the city of Rome. . . . Scarcely had he departed beyond sight of the land when a great storm arose,—the deeps made visible their darkness, the waves showed their teeth! And an exceeding great fear came upon the mariners, and they cried out, “It is the Elohim!” But Titus, mocking, lifted his voice against Heaven, and the thunders, and the lightnings, and the mutterings of the sea, exclaiming: “Lo! this God of Jews hath no power save on water! Pharaoh he drowned; Sisera He drowned also; even now He seeketh to drown me with my legions! If He be mighty, and not afraid to strive with me on land, let Him rather await me on solid earth, and there see whether He be strong enough to prevail against me.” (Now Sisera, indeed, was not drowned; but Titus, being ignorant and an idolater, spake falsely.) Then burst forth a splendor of white lire from the darkness of the clouds; and deeper than the thunder a Voice answered unto him: “O thou wicked one, son of a wicked man and grandson of Esau the wicked, go thou ashore! Lo! I have a creature awaiting thee, which is but little and insignificant in my world; go thou and fight with it!” And the tempest ceased. So Titus and his legions landed after many days upon the shore of the land called Italy,—the shore that vibrated forever to the sound of the mighty city of Rome, whereof the Voice was heard unto the four ends of the earth, and the din whereof deafened Rabbi Yehoshuah even at the distance of a hundred and twenty miles. For in Rome there were three hundred and sixty-five streets, and in each street three hundred and sixty-five palaces, and leading up to the pillared portico of each palace a marble flight of three hundred and sixty-five steps. But no sooner had the Emperor Titus placed his foot upon the shore than there attacked him a gnat! And the gnat flew up his nostrils, and entered into his wicked brain, and gnawed it, and tortured him with unspeakable torture. And he could obtain no cessation of his anguish; neither

was there any physician in Rome who could do aught to relieve him. So the gnat abode in his brain for seven years, and the face of Titus became, for everlasting pain, as the face of a man in hell. *** Now, after Titus had vainly sacrificed unto all the obscene gods of the Romans, it came to pass that he heard one day, within a blacksmith’s shop, the sound of the hammer descending upon the anvil; and the sound was grateful to his ears as the harping of David unto the hearing of Saul, and the anguish presently departed from him. Then, thinking unto himself, he exclaimed, “Lo! I have found relief;” and having offered sacrifices unto the Smith-god, he ordered the smith to be brought to his palace, together with anvils and hammers. And he paid the smith four zouzim a day—as money is reckoned in Israel—to hammer for him. But the smith could not hammer unceasingly; and whenever he stopped the pain returned, and the gnat tormented exceedingly. So other smiths were sent for; and at last a Jewish smith, who was a slave. To him Titus would pay nothing, notwithstanding he had paid the Gentiles; for he said, “It is enough payment for thee to behold thy enemy suffer!” Yet thirty days more; and no sound of hammers could lessen the agony of the gnawing of the gnat, and Titus knew that he must die. Then he bade his family that they should burn his body after he was dead, and collect the ashes, and send out seven ships to scatter the ashes upon the waves of the Seven Seas, lest the God of Israel should resurrect his body at the Day of Judgment. #$%@#$ r 4255 rw;l%@E$% sdkj4234 fdjw 4454r $% 42! sre

© 2006 by http://www.HorrorMasters.com

*** [But it is written in Midrash Kohelet, of the holy Midrashim, that Hadrian—may his name be blotted out!—once asked Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania, “From what shall the body be reconstructed at the Last Day?” And the Rabbi answered, “From Luz in the backbone.” When Hadrian demanded proof, the Rabbi took Luz, the little bone of the spine, and immersed it in water, and it was not softened. He put it into the fire, and it was not consumed. He put it into a mill, and it could not be ground. He hammered it upon an anvil; but the hammer was broken, and the anvil split asunder. Therefore the desire of Titus shall not prevail; and the Lord will surely reconstruct his body for punishment out of Luz in the backbone!] *** But before they burned the corpse of Titus they opened his skull and looked into his brain, that they might find the gnat. Now the gnat was as big as a swallow, and weighed two selas, as weight is reckoned in Israel. And they found that its claws were of brass, and the jaws of its mouth were of iron!