For the Temple | Page 5

compare with it, in the wrongheadedness
of its people and the violence of its seditions; and little can be hoped, as
far as I can see, so long as our good governor, Josephus, continues to
treat the malefactors so leniently. A score of times they have conspired
against his life and, as often, has he eluded them; for the Lord has been
ever with him. But each time, instead of punishing those who have
brought about these disorders, he lets them go free; trusting always that
they will repent them of their ways, although he sees that his kindness
is thrown away, and that they grow even bolder and more bitter against
him after each failure.
"All Galilee is with him. Whenever he gives the word, every man takes
up his arms and follows him and, did he but give the order, they would
level those proud towns Tiberias and Sepphoris to the ground, and tear
down stone by stone the stronghold of John of Gischala. But he will
suffer them to do nothing--not a hair of these traitors' heads is to be
touched; nor their property, to the value of a penny, be interfered with.
"I call such lenity culpable. The law ordains punishment for those who
disturb the people. We know what befell those who rebelled against
Moses. Josephus has the valor and the wisdom of King David; but it
were well if he had, like our great king, a Joab by his side, who would
smite down traitors and spare not."
"It is his only fault," Simon said. "What a change has taken place, since
he was sent hither from Jerusalem to take up our government! All
abuses have been repressed, extortion has been put down, taxes have
been lightened. We eat our bread in peace and comfort, and each man's
property is his own. Never was there such a change as he has wrought
and, were it not for John of Gischala, Justus the son of Piscus, and
Jesus the son of Sapphias, all would go quietly and well; but these men
are continually stirring up the people--who, in their folly, listen to
them--and conspiring to murder Josephus, and seize upon his
government."
"Already he has had, more than once, to reduce to submission Tiberias
and Sepphoris; happily without bloodshed for, when the people of these

cities saw that all Galilee was with Josephus, they opened their gates
and submitted themselves to his mercy. Truly, in Leviticus it is said:
"'Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy
people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'
"But Josephus carries this beyond reason. Seeing that his adversaries by
no means observe this law, he should remember that it is also said that
'He that taketh the sword shall fall by the sword,' and that the law lays
down punishments for the transgressors. Our judges and kings slew
those who troubled the land, and destroyed them utterly; and Josephus
does wrong to depart from their teaching."
"I know not where he could have learned such notions of mercy to his
enemies, and to the enemies of the land," Simon said. "He has been to
Rome, but it is not among the Romans that he will have found that it is
right to forgive those who rise up in rebellion."
"Yes, he was in Rome when he was twenty-six years old," Solomon
said. "He went thither to plead the cause of certain priests who had
been thrown into bonds, by Felix, and sent to Rome. It was a perilous
voyage, for his ship was wrecked in the Adriatic and, of six hundred
men who were on board, only eighty were picked up--after floating and
swimming all night--by a ship of Cyrene. He was not long in Rome for,
being introduced to Poppaea, the wife of Caesar, he used his interest
with her and obtained the release of those for whose sake he went there.
"No, if he gained these ideas from anyone, he learned them from one
Banus--an Ascetic, of the sect of the Essenes, who lived in the desert
with no other clothing than the bark and leaves of trees, and no other
food save that which grew wild. Josephus lived with him, in like
fashion, for three years and, doubtless, learned all that was in his heart.
Banus was a follower, they say, of that John whom Herod put to death;
and for ought I know, of that Jesus who was crucified, two years
afterwards, at Jerusalem, and in whom many people believed, and who
has many followers, to this day. I have conversed with some of them
and, from what they tell me, this Jesus taught doctrines similar to those
which Josephus practices; and which he may have learned from Banus,

without