mighty works. "My mission," he says, "is not to command, but to
serve." So Judas becomes impatient and dissatisfied. The eager
enthusiasm of Peter and the tender devotion of John alike bore and
disgust him. So the emissaries of Caiaphas find him half-prepared for
their mission. He admits that he has made a mistake in joining his
fortunes to those of an unpractical and sorrowful prophet who lets
great opportunities slip from his grasp, and who wastes a fortune in
precious ointment with no more thought than if it had been water.
"There has of late been a coolness between him and me," he confesses.
"I am tired," he says, "of hoping and waiting, with nothing before me
except poverty, humiliation, perhaps even torture and the prison." He
is especially ill at ease when the Master speaks of his approaching
death. "If thou givest up thy life," he says, "what will become of
us?" And so Judas reasons with himself that he can afford to be
prudent. If his Master fail, then he must be a false prophet, and
there is no use in following him. If he succeed, as with his mighty
power he can hardly fail to do, then, says Judas, "I will throw myself
at his feet. He is such a good man; never have I seen him cast a
penitent away. But I fear to face the Master. His sharp look goes
through and through me. Still at the most I shall only tell the
priests where my Master is." And thus the good and bad impulses
struggle for the mastery, giving to this character the greatest tragic
interest. He visibly shrinks before the words of Christ, "One of you
shall betray me." In the High Council he cringes under the scorching
reproach of Nicodemus. "Dost thou not blush," Nicodemus says, "to sell
thy Lord and Master? This blood-money calls to heaven for revenge.
Some day it will burn hot in thine avarice-sunken soul."

But the High Priest says, "Come, Judas, take the silver, and be a man."
And when the thirty pieces are counted out to him, he cannot resist the