any man or woman: it was I, it was I
more than any other who knew the secrets of the king's soul. My belief
is that Samuel brought the Terror on him. He never forgot that
dreadful day when Agag was murdered, and it was always before his eyes
that he was doomed, and that there was another man in the land, who was
to rule in his stead. I tried to appease him. I told him that life to
all of us is short, that in the grave there is forgetfulness, and bade
him drink wine, lie in my bosom, and shut out the morrow, but it was of
no avail. There was nothing to be dreaded in the thought that some one
would supplant him, and other men would have endured it in peace; but
it was the constant presence of the thought, the impossibility of
getting rid of it, which darkened the sun for him. Day after day,
night after night, this one thing was before him. It was as if he were
bound to a corpse, and ever dragged it after him. Higher than any of
the people from his shoulders and upwards, like a lion for courage, and
yet he would have fled even to Death from this thing, for he could not
face it. What a mockery is the strength of the strongest! A word from
the Lord can cause the greatest to grovel in the dust! It was thought
that music would help him, and they brought to him David, who was
skilled with the harp, and had moreover a ruddy, cheerful countenance.
Gay and light of heart was he, and as he sang and played the Terror
would sometimes loosen its hold, and Saul was himself again, but it
never left him for long.

Much has been made by Saul's enemies of his hatred of David. It came
in this way. Saul loved David, and made him a captain, and they went
out together to war against the Philistines. When they returned, the
women, smitten with his pretty face--they were always ready to go after
him, and he after them--sang aloud in the streets that Saul had slain
his thousands and David his ten thousands. The Terror was on Saul; he
believed David was Samuel's friend, and David and the Terror became
one. He eyed David from that day. He was not blameworthy. It was the
Evil Spirit from God, and the Evil Spirit put a fixed thought in his
mind, that if he could but remove David, the Terror would depart.
Although I hated the son of Jesse from the beginning, I made light of
my lord's dread of him, but who can reason against an Evil Spirit from
God; and while David was playing the second time, my lord cast a
javelin at him to kill him