The
wisdom of the Rabbis, their Monotheism and ethics, are all there." His
eyes were ablaze.
"You are very erudite, Philo Judaeus!" exclaimed his listener; "but, tell
me, is there no actual foundation for your Jewish god?" Hyzlo eagerly
awaited a reply, though he could not account for this curiosity.
"Yes," answered Philo, lightly, "there is, I freely acknowledge, a
slight foundation. Some years ago in Jerusalem they arrested a
poverty-stricken fanatic, the son of a Jewess. His father was said to
have been an indigent and aged carpenter. This Joshua, or Ieshua, was
driven out of Jerusalem, and he took refuge among a lot of poor
fishermen on Lake Gennesareth. There he joined a sect called the
Baptists, because their founder, a socialist named Ioakanaan, poured
water on the heads of the converted. Ieshua never married and was
suspected of idolatrous practices, which he had absorbed from hermits of
the Egyptian Thebaid. Josephus, a wise friend and companion of my youth,
wrote me these details. He said that Ieshua disappeared after his mad
attempt to take Jerusalem by storm, riding--as is depicted the Bona
Dea--on the back of a humble animal.
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