A Tradition of Titus
By Lafcadio Hearn
© 2006 by http://www.HorrorMasters.com
Which is in the Book Gittin of the Talmud. . . . Before Titus the world was like unto the eyeball of
man; the ocean being as the white, the world as the black, the pupil thereof Jerusalem, and the
image within the pupil the Temple of the Lord. . . .
Verily hath it been said, in Chullin of the Holy Shas, that  sixty iron mines are suspended in the
sting of a gnat.
For in those days Titus may his ears be made into sockets for the hinges of Gehenna to turn
upon! came from Rome with his idolaters, and laid siege to the Holy City, and destroyed it, and
bore away the virgins into captivity. He who had not beheld Jerusalem before that day had not
seen the glory of Israel.
There were three hundred and ninety-four synagogues, and three hundred and ninety-four
courts of law, and the same number of academies for the youth. . . . When the gates of the temple
were opened, the roar of their golden hinges was heard at the distance of eight Sabbath days
journey. . . .
The Veil of the Holy of Holies was woven by eighty-two myriads of virgins; three hundred
priests were needed to draw it, and three hundred to lave it when soiled. But Titus be his name
accursed forever! wrapped up the sacred vessels in it, and, putting them in a ship, set sail for
the city of Rome. . . .
Scarcely had he departed beyond sight of the land when a great storm arose, the deeps made
visible their darkness, the waves showed their teeth! And an exceeding great fear came upon the
mariners, and they cried out,  It is the Elohim!
But Titus, mocking, lifted his voice against Heaven, and the thunders, and the lightnings, and
the mutterings of the sea, exclaiming:  Lo! this God of Jews hath no power save on water!
Pharaoh he drowned; Sisera He drowned also; even now He seeketh to drown me with my
legions! If He be mighty, and not afraid to strive with me on land, let Him rather await me on
solid earth, and there see whether He be strong enough to prevail against me. (Now Sisera,
indeed, was not drowned; but Titus, being ignorant and an idolater, spake falsely.)
Then burst forth a splendor of white lire from the darkness of the clouds; and deeper than the
thunder a Voice answered unto him:  O thou wicked one, son of a wicked man and grandson of
Esau the wicked, go thou ashore! Lo! I have a creature awaiting thee, which is but little and
insignificant in my world; go thou and fight with it!
And the tempest ceased.
So Titus and his legions landed after many days upon the shore of the land called Italy, the
shore that vibrated forever to the sound of the mighty city of Rome, whereof the Voice was heard
unto the four ends of the earth, and the din whereof deafened Rabbi Yehoshuah even at the
distance of a hundred and twenty miles. For in Rome there were three hundred and sixty-five
streets, and in each street three hundred and sixty-five palaces, and leading up to the pillared
portico of each palace a marble flight of three hundred and sixty-five steps.
But no sooner had the Emperor Titus placed his foot upon the shore than there attacked him a
gnat! And the gnat flew up his nostrils, and entered into his wicked brain, and gnawed it, and
tortured him with unspeakable torture. And he could obtain no cessation of his anguish; neither
was there any physician in Rome who could do aught to relieve him. So the gnat abode in his
brain for seven years, and the face of Titus became, for everlasting pain, as the face of a man in
hell.
* * *
Now, after Titus had vainly sacrificed unto all the obscene gods of the Romans, it came to pass
that he heard one day, within a blacksmith s shop, the sound of the hammer descending upon the
anvil; and the sound was grateful to his ears as the harping of David unto the hearing of Saul, and
the anguish presently departed from him. Then, thinking unto himself, he exclaimed,  Lo! I have
found relief; and having offered sacrifices unto the Smith-god, he ordered the smith to be
brought to his palace, together with anvils and hammers. And he paid the smith four zouzim a
day as money is reckoned in Israel to hammer for him.
But the smith could not hammer unceasingly; and whenever he stopped the pain returned, and
the gnat tormented exceedingly. So other smiths were sent for; and at last a Jewish smith, who
was a slave. To him Titus would pay nothing, notwithstanding he had paid the Gentiles; for he
said,  It is enough payment for thee to behold thy enemy suffer! #$%@#$ r 4255 rw;l%@E$% sdkj4234 fdjw 4454r $% 42! sre
Yet thirty days more; and no sound of hammers could lessen the agony of the gnawing of the
gnat, and Titus knew that he must die. © 2006 by http://www.HorrorMasters.com
Then he bade his family that they should burn his body after he was dead, and collect the
ashes, and send out seven ships to scatter the ashes upon the waves of the Seven Seas, lest the
God of Israel should resurrect his body at the Day of Judgment.
* * *
[But it is written in Midrash Kohelet, of the holy Midrashim, that Hadrian may his name be
blotted out! once asked Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania,  From what shall the body be
reconstructed at the Last Day? And the Rabbi answered,  From Luz in the backbone. When
Hadrian demanded proof, the Rabbi took Luz, the little bone of the spine, and immersed it in
water, and it was n softened. He put it into the fire, and it was not consumed. He put it into a
ot
mill, and it could not be ground. He hammered it upon an anvil; but the hammer was broken, and
the anvil split asunder.
Therefore the desire of Titus shall not prevail; and t Lord will surely reconstruct his body for
he
punishment out of Luz in the backbone!]
* * *
But before they burned the corpse of Titus they opened his skull and looked into his brain, that
they might find the gnat.
Now the gnat was as big as a swallow, and weighed two selas, as weight is reckoned in Israel.
And they found that its claws were of brass, and the jaws of its mouth were of iron!