GISCHALA OF GALILEE CHAPTER NINE- Page 2

THERE WAS GREAT excitement at the home of Rabbi Benjamin the day Hasham's coach arrived with a driver and attendants for Miriam on her journey. Hasham's servants received a gracious welcome and entered the home.

Saul and his friend, the ever-present Marcus, concentrated on examining the carriage, and were greatly impressed with the soft cushions, silk drapes, and all the appointments that go with the finest Carruca Dormitoria.

"I will travel this way when I am a successful lawyer," Marcus boasted.

That evening Saul grilled Phineas with questions about the trip they would make to Gischala.

"We will cross the Cilician Plains, and take the winding road through the Amanus Mountains. This road will lead to Antioch on the Orontes River. Miriam will be impressed with Antioch. It is the third largest city in the empire, and certainly the most beautiful. When we drive on the river road that passes the Groves of Daphne, I will have to watch that no one seizes her and retains her there." He smiled as he spoke, but not all listening caught the significance of his remark. The Daphne Groves at Antioch were famous for the beautiful girls that were stationed there to entertain the great number of visitors who came to these spacious garden-like woods, devoid of any moral restraint. "There is a large Jewish community in Antioch," Phineas continued with proper decorum. "Because your parents and grandparents are known to many, there will be a great reception awaiting her there."
"Tell me more about Esrom," Saul heard his sister Miriam say to Phineas.

"He is tall and handsome," Phineas replied. "His shoulders are as broad as Plato's, who received the nickname Plato when he won the wrestling title in the games at Corinth."

"And he is a faithful Jew?"

"He is faithful."

From that moment on Marcus was forgotten as Miriam began dreaming of the man God must surely have created to be her husband.