asked me in a confidential breath.
" 'Should I be, my Lord? First of all I am with you, and second of all I am Hebrew. They are not my gods.'
"This struck him as hilarious and he began to laugh and laugh. I hadn't heard him laugh since he had become visible. 'That's a perfect Hebrew answer,' he said.
" 'Yes, I think so too,' I said. 'My Lord, would I offend them if I tried not to see them. Would you offend them if you banished them!'
" 'No, I am the great god here.' And he did make a decisive and angry and bold gesture, and the spirits turned pale and like smoke, even the angry angry Shamash, and they vanished. But what lingered was the dead, everywhere the restless dead. He opened his arms and he conveyed blessings on them. He began to talk in Sumerian, and he gave blessing after blessing, 'Return to your slumber, return to your rest in the Mother Earth, return to the peace of your graves, and to the safety of the memories of you in the hearts and minds of your children.'
"And thank God these dead people all went away. Of course he and I were standing there, plainly visible, and attracting much attention, this noble Lord who made extravagant gestures to people nobody could see, and this rich Hebrew overladen with jewelry, standing there like his page, or companion or whatever.
"But the dead did fade. My heart sank. I remembered the ghost of Samuel when he had been called forth by the Witch of Endor for King Saul. He had said, 'Why do you disturb my rest?' Oh, but the woe of this rest. I didn't want to be dead. I didn't. I didn't want to be dead. I reached out and clutched his hand. Marduk was of course stronger now, from having been seen for so long by so many. I don t have to tell you the cosmology, it's simple, he would grow stronger and stronger the more he appeared.
"I was confused, however, on every other score. For example. Why did he not let the priests bring him to life in gold and walk in gold, the god himself, about the city? Of course I'd never heard of any god doing that, but then I'd never met a god before Marduk. He read these thoughts for me. He still looked apprehensive.
" 'Azriel, first off the priests are not strong enough to make me solid and visible in gold. They cannot move the statue! They cannot make an image of me in gold as you can and then make it walk. They don't have the power. They don't have your gift. And even if they did, what would be my life? An endless New Year's Festival, surrounded by worshipers? I've seen gods fall for this! And in the end they have nothing, they belong to everyone who can touch their garments or their skin or their hair, and they flee into the fog, finally, screaming like the confused dead. No, such a thing I would only do if Babylon needed it of me, and Babylon does not. But Babylon needs something and soon, and you know why.'
" 'Cyrus the Persian,' I said. 'He draws closer every day. He'll sack Babylon. And . . . and . . .' I said. 'He will either slaughter my people with all the inhabitants or he will maybe let us stay.'
"Marduk put his arm around me and we walked bravely through the enormous crowd that had gathered to stare at us and our strange activities, and we went on into another great garden, one of my favorites where the musicians were always playing the harps. In fact, here the Hebrews played their music and the Hebrew men often gathered to dance. I hadn't meant to come to my people directly, but as it turned out it didn't matter. He said quite quickly,
" 'Azriel, I think we took the wrong turn.'
" 'Why, they won't notice us any more than anyone else. They see me with a rich man. I'm a merchant. I'll say I sold you your beautiful girdle of gold and these jewels.'
"He laughed at that, but he made us sit down together and we were once again whispering. 'What do you know about the Persians!' he asked me. 'What do you know about the cities that Cyrus conquers! What do you know?'
" 'Well, I know the lies the Persians spread, that Cyrus brings peace and