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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Such may have been the thought at the moment in his mind. He was standing with folded arms, looking upon the scene in the manner of a man debating with himself. Young, handsome, rich, but recently from the patrician circles of Roman society, it is easy to think of the world besetting him with appeals not to give more to onerous duty or ambition attended with outlawry and danger. We can even imagine the arguments with which he was pressed; the hopelessness of contention with Caesar; the uncertainty veiling everything connected with the King and his coming; the ease, honors, state, purchasable like goods in market; and, strongest of all, the sense newly acquired of home, with friends to make it delightful. Only those who have been wanderers long desolate can know the power there was in the latter appeal.
Let us add now, the worldβ βalways cunning enough of itself; always whispering to the weak, Stay, take thine ease; always presenting the sunny side of lifeβ βthe world was in this instance helped by Ben-Hurβs companion.
βWere you ever at Rome?β he asked.
βNo,β Esther replied.
βWould you like to go?β
βI think not.β
βWhy?β
βI am afraid of Rome,β she answered, with a perceptible tremor of the voice.
He looked at her thenβ βor rather down upon her, for at his side she appeared little more than a child. In the dim light he could not see her face distinctly; even the form was shadowy. But again he was reminded of Tirzah, and a sudden tenderness fell upon himβ βjust so the lost sister stood with him on the housetop the calamitous morning of the accident to Gratus. Poor Tirzah! Where was she now? Esther had the benefit of the feeling evoked. If not his sister, he could never look upon her as his servant; and that she was his servant in fact would make him always the more considerate and gentle towards her.
βI cannot think of Rome,β she continued, recovering her voice, and speaking in her quiet womanly wayβ ββI cannot think of Rome as a city of palaces and temples, and crowded with people; she is to me a monster which has possession of one of the beautiful lands, and lies there luring men to ruin and deathβ βa monster which it is not possible to resistβ βa ravenous beast gorging with blood. Whyβ ββ
She faltered, looked down, stopped.
βGo on,β said Ben-Hur, reassuringly.
She drew closer to him, looked up again, and said, βWhy must you make her your enemy? Why not rather make peace with her, and be at rest? You have had many ills, and borne them; you have survived the snares laid for you by foes. Sorrow has consumed your youth; is it well to give it the remainder of your days?β
The girlish face under his eyes seemed to come nearer and get whiter as the pleading went on; he stooped towards it, and asked, softly, βWhat would you have me do, Esther?β
She hesitated a moment, then asked, in return, βIs the property near Rome a residence?β
βYes.β
βAnd pretty?β
βIt is beautifulβ βa palace in the midst of gardens and shell-strewn walks; fountains without and within; statuary in the shady nooks; hills around covered with vines, and so high that Neapolis and Vesuvius are in sight, and the sea an expanse of purpling blue dotted with restless sails. Caesar has a country-seat nearby, but in Rome they say the old Arrian villa is the prettiest.β
βAnd the life there, is it quiet?β
βThere was never a summer day, never a moonlit night, more quiet, save when visitors come. Now that the old owner is gone, and I am here, there is nothing to break its silenceβ βnothing, unless it be the whispering of servants, or the whistling of happy birds, or the noise of fountains at play; it is changeless, except as day by day old flowers fade and fall, and new ones bud and bloom, and the sunlight gives place to the shadow of a passing cloud. The life, Esther, was all too quiet for me. It made me restless by keeping always present a feeling that I, who have so much to do, was dropping into idle habits, and tying myself with silken chains, and after a whileβ βand not a long while eitherβ βwould end with nothing done.β
She looked off over the river.
βWhy did you ask?β he said.
βGood my masterβ ββ
βNo, no, Estherβ βnot that. Call me friendβ βbrother, if you will; I am not your master, and will not be. Call me brother.β
He could not see the flush of pleasure which reddened her face, and the glow of the eyes that went out lost in the void above the river.
βI cannot understand,β she said, βthe nature which prefers the life you are going toβ βa life ofβ ββ
βOf violence, and it may be of blood,β he said, completing the sentence.
βYes,β she added, βthe nature which could prefer that life to such as might be in the beautiful villa.β
βEsther, you mistake. There is no preference. Alas! the Roman is not so kind. I am going of necessity. To stay here is to die; and if I go there, the end will be the sameβ βa poisoned cup, a bravoβs blow, or a judgeβs sentence obtained by perjury. Messala and the procurator Gratus are rich with plunder of my fatherβs estate, and it is more important to them to keep their gains now than was their getting in the first instance. A peaceable settlement is out of reach, because of the confession it would imply. And thenβ βthenβ βAh, Esther, if I could buy them, I do not know that I would. I do not believe peace possible to me; no, not even in the sleepy
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