not entirely
freed from its abstraction,

"In my house on the Nile, so close to the river that the
passers-by in boats see it and its reflection in the water
at the same time--in my house, a few weeks ago, I sat thinking.
A man thirty years old, I said to myself, should have his fields
of life all ploughed, and his planting well done; for after that
it is summer-time, with space scarce enough to ripen his sowing.
The Child, I said further, is now twenty-seven--his time to plant
must be at hand. I asked myself, as you here asked me, my son,
and answered by coming hither, as to a good resting-place close
by the land thy fathers had from God. Where else should he appear,
if not in Judea? In what city should he begin his work, if not in
Jerusalem? Who should be first to receive the blessings he is to
bring, if not the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in love,
at least, the children of the Lord? If I were bidden go seek him,
I would search well the hamlets and villages on the slopes of the
mountains of Judea and Galilee falling eastwardly into the valley
of the Jordan. He is there now. Standing in a door or on a hill-top,
only this evening he saw the sun set one day nearer the time when he
himself shall become the light of the world."

Balthasar ceased, with his hand raised and finger pointing as if
at Judea. All the listeners, even the dull servants outside the
divan, affected by his fervor, were startled as if by a majestic
presence suddenly apparent within the tent. Nor did the sensation
die away at once: of those at the table, each sat awhile thinking.
The spell was finally broken by Ben-Hur.

"I see, good Balthasar," he said, "that thou hast been much and
strangely favored. I see, also, that thou art a wise man indeed.
It is not in my power to tell how grateful I am for the things
thou hast told me. I am warned of the coming of great events,
and borrow somewhat from thy faith. Complete the obligation,
I pray thee, by telling further of the mission of him for whom
thou art waiting, and for whom from this night I too shall wait as
becomes a believing son of Judah. He is to be a Savior, thou saidst;
is he not to be King of the Jews also?"

"My son," said Balthasar, in his benignant way, "the mission is
yet a purpose in the bosom of God. All I think about it is wrung
from the words of the Voice in connection with the prayer to which
they were in answer. Shall we refer to them again?"

"Thou art the teacher."