Ben Hur by Lew Wallace (best romance ebooks TXT) π

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Judah and Massala are close friends growing up, though one is Jewish and the other Roman. But when an accident happens after Massala returns from five years in Rome, Massala betrays his childhood friend and family. Judahβs mother and sister are taken away to prison, and he is sent to a galley-ship. Years later, Judah rescues a shipβs captain from drowning after a ship-to-ship battle, and the tribune adopts him in gratitude. Judah then devotes himself to learning as much as he can about being a warrior, in the hopes of leading an insurrection against Rome. He thinks heβs found the perfect leader in a young Nazarite, but is disappointed at the young manβs seeming lack of ambition.
Before writing Ben-Hur, Lew Wallace was best known for being a Major General in the American Civil War. After the war, a conversation with an atheist caused Wallace to take stock of how little he knew about his own religion. He launched into what would be years of research so that he could write with accuracy about first-century Israel. Although Judah Ben-Hur is the novelβs main character, the bookβs subtitle, βA Tale of the Christ,β reveals Wallaceβs real focus. Sales were only a trickle at the beginning, but it soon became a bestseller, and went on to become the best-selling novel of the nineteenth century. It has never been out of print, and to date has inspired two plays, a TV series, and five filmsβone of which, the 1959 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer epic, is considered to be one of the best films yet made.
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- Author: Lew Wallace
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βMalluch!β exclaimed Ben-Hur.
βOne bound to a chair, like me, must have many hands far-reaching, if he would move the world from which he is so cruelly barred. I have many such, and Malluch is one of the best of them. And, sometimesββ βhe cast a grateful glance at the sheikβ ββsometimes I borrow from others good of heart, like Ilderim the Generousβ βgood and brave. Let him say if I either denied or forgot you.β
Ben-Hur looked at the Arab.
βThis is he, good Ilderim, this is he who told you of me?β
Ilderimβs eyes twinkled as he nodded his answer.
βHow, O my master,β said Simonides, βmay we without trial tell what a man is? I knew you; I saw your father in you; but the kind of man you were I did not know. There are people to whom fortune is a curse in disguise. Were you of them? I sent Malluch to find out for me, and in the service he was my eyes and ears. Do not blame him. He brought me report of you which was all good.β
βI do not,β said Ben-Hur, heartily. βThere was wisdom in your goodness.β
βThe words are very pleasant to me,β said the merchant, with feeling, βvery pleasant. My fear of misunderstanding is laid. Let the rivers run on now as God may give them direction.β
After an interval he continued:
βI am compelled now by truth. The weaver sits weaving, and, as the shuttle flies, the cloth increases, and the figures grow, and he dreams dreams meanwhile; so to my hands the fortune grew, and I wondered at the increase, and asked myself about it many times. I could see a care not my own went with the enterprises I set going. The simooms which smote others on the desert jumped over the things which were mine. The storms which heaped the seashore with wrecks did but blow my ships the sooner into port. Strangest of all, I, so dependent upon others, fixed to a place like a dead thing, had never a loss by an agentβ βnever. The elements stooped to serve me, and all my servants, in fact, were faithful.β
βIt is very strange,β said Ben-Hur.
βSo I said, and kept saying. Finally, O my master, finally I came to be of your opinionβ βGod was in itβ βand, like you, I asked, What can his purpose be? Intelligence is never wasted; intelligence like Godβs never stirs except with design. I have held the question in heart, lo! these many years, watching for an answer. I felt sure, if God were in it, some day, in his own good time, in his own way, he would show me his purpose, making it clear as a whited house upon a hill. And I believe he has done so.β
Ben-Hur listened with every faculty intent.
βMany years ago, with my peopleβ βthy mother was with me, Esther, beautiful as morning over old Olivetβ βI sat by the wayside out north of Jerusalem, near the Tombs of the Kings, when three men passed by riding great white camels, such as had never been seen in the Holy City. The men were strangers, and from far countries. The first one stopped and asked me a question. βWhere is he that is born King of the Jews?β As if to allay my wonder, he went on to say, βWe have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him.β I could not understand, but followed them to the Damascus Gate; and of every person they met on the wayβ βof the guard at the Gate, evenβ βthey asked the question. All who heard it were amazed like me. In time I forgot the circumstance, though there was much talk of it as a presage of the Messiah. Alas, alas! What children we are, even the wisest! When God walks the earth, his steps are often centuries apart. You have seen Balthasar?β
βAnd heard him tell his story,β said Ben-Hur.
βA miracle!β βa very miracle!β cried Simonides. βAs he told it to me, good my master, I seemed to hear the answer I had so long waited; Godβs purpose burst upon me. Poor will the King be when he comesβ βpoor and friendless; without following, without armies, without cities or castles; a kingdom to be set up, and Rome reduced and blotted out. See, see, O my master! thou flushed with strength, thou trained to arms, thou burdened with riches; behold the opportunity the Lord hath sent thee! Shall not his purpose be thine? Could a man be born to a more perfect glory?β
Simonides put his whole force in the appeal.
βBut the kingdom, the kingdom!β Ben-Hur answered, eagerly. βBalthasar says it is to be of souls.β
The pride of the Jew was strong in Simonides, and therefore the slightly contemptuous curl of the lip with which he began his reply:
βBalthasar has been a witness of wonderful thingsβ βof miracles, O my master; and when he speaks of them, I bow with belief, for they are of sight and sound personal to him. But he is a son of Mizraim, and not even a proselyte. Hardly may he be supposed to have special knowledge by virtue of which we must bow to him in a matter of Godβs dealing with our Israel. The prophets had their light from Heaven directly, even as he had hisβ βmany to one, and Jehovah the same forever. I must believe the prophets.β βBring me the Torah, Esther.β
He proceeded without waiting for her.
βMay the testimony of a whole people be slighted, my master? Though you travel from Tyre, which is by the sea in the north, to the capital of
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