bear upon themselves clear token that they are but figures; but that
which has persuaded men most of all to interpret them according to
the letter, is that all the Jews alike, both those who observe the
Law and also the Christians, believe that Moses gave real bread from
heaven unto the ancient nation of the Jews, when wandering in a barren
wilderness. And to increase the wonder they add that on every seventh
day (which, as you know, is to them a day of rest whereon no work is
done) no bread came down, but a double supply on the sixth day; and
they say also that each was to gather no more than a prescribed measure
according to the number of his household, and if any gathered more,
it stank and became corrupt. Nay, and among these Christians (who are
firmly persuaded of the exact truth of all this ancient fable) I have
heard it said that this bread of Moses—or manna, as they call it—had
this marvellous virtue, that to several people it had several tastes,
according to that which each desired, so that to one it became as it
were flesh of kids, to another of sheep, to another grapes, to others
figs, and so on. Now believing that Moses wrought so great a portent,
these Christians are well nigh constrained to believe also that
Christus wrought no less; else were their Christus inferior to Moses.
“And indeed having of late turned over the histories of the Jews—for
they have been translated into Greek, though of a very barbarous and
corrupt dialect—and having there read of innumerable portents; the
sun and the moon stayed by human voice; asses made to speak with the
voices of men; rivers dried up by being smitten with a rod; city walls
cast down by the sound of trumpets; iron made to float; water brought
out from a rock; chasms caused to open in the earth; chariots of fire
wherein prophets ride aloft; pillars of fire to give light to the
faithful by night if there were no moon; flames of fire called down
from heaven by the word of a prophet to light his sacrificial fire or
to consume his enemies; I have been filled with amazement that there
are so few marvellous relations in the Tradition about Christus.
For example, the ancient books of the Jews contain two accounts how
prophets raised up them that were dead; but the Tradition has no such
relation except one concerning a little child who had but a few minutes
been pronounced dead, and in whom (doubtless) the life was not extinct.
Concerning this matter I myself heard a dispute between a Jewish Rabbi
and certain Christians; to whom the Rabbi affirmed that Christus must
needs be inferior to the prophet Elisha because Christus had only
raised up a little child whose breath had scarce departed from her
body, whereas Elisha, even when dead, by the mere holiness of his tomb
had given life unto a man that had been many hours dead, when he was
now being carried out for burial. Hereat the Christian was manifestly
at a stand. However, he made shift to reply that it was reported in the
church at Ephesus, that Christus had raised up a man that was dead,
and carried out to burial. But the Rabbi rejoined that, ‘even if that
were true, it would but prove that Christus was equal to Elisha, not
that he was superior; for if he had been superior he would have gone
beyond Elisha and have raised up some one that had been dead and buried
three or four days, for during three days the angel of life is still
present with a man, but on the fourth day he fleeth away.’ To this the
Christian had naught to reply, but growing angry he declared that Moses
and the Prophets testified concerning Christus that he was indeed the
Messiah; and ‘if the Jews would not believe Moses and the Prophets,
neither would they believe though one were raised from the dead.’ Thus
the conference broke up, but methinks the Christians were somewhat
perturbed in their inmost hearts that they had no relation to bring
forward of some dead man who had been raised from the tomb by Christus,
after he had been some days buried; and methinks, before many years,
some such relation as this is like to find a place in the traditions of
the sect, and I marvel that it has been delayed so long.
“Many other relations of portents (especially concerning the birth
and the manifestation of Christus) are current in the supplement—if
I may so term it—which is made by the talk and common speech of the
Christians, and diversely in diverse churches; but I know not if any
other portent be contained in the Tradition, except it be one, which
is as it were half way between the Tradition and the Supplement, not
of equal weight with the former, but more commonly reported than the
latter; and it is clearly a misunderstanding of an allegory. You must
know then that in the sacred books of the Jews it is customary to
speak of both men and nations as trees, either a vine, or a cedar, or
an oak, or an olive, or bramble, as the intent may be, to represent
severally fruitfulness, or protection, or strength, or prosperity, or
peace, or a malign disposition. It seems therefore that Christus was
wont to compare his own nation to a barren fruit-tree, and especially
to a fig-tree making a great show of leaves but bearing no fruit; and
on this theme he was wont to utter divers allegories; one, how the
gardener prayed the Lord of the orchard to spare the tree for three
years, but after the third year, if it were still barren, then to cut
it down; and a second allegory in a higher strain, how the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the tree which he had planted, and behold, it
had abundance of leaves, and he came to it seeking fruit and there was
none; and then he sent a spirit of destruction on the tree, commanding
that no fruit should henceforth grow on it, and the tree withered
beneath the breath of the Lord, and on the morrow it was dead even to
the roots. This allegory therefore, as it seems to me, the Christians,
mis-construing and supposing the Lord to be Christus himself (for they
commonly called him ‘Master,’ ‘Lord’), have imagined to be no allegory,
but fact, wrought by Christus himself upon an actual fig-tree; and some
even add the place where the deed was done, and other minute matters,
after the manner of the growth of such relations.
“I would gladly have added some words concerning the rising of Christus
from the dead, but the merchant by whom you will receive this, being
now about to set forth, and the messenger no longer able to wait, I
must defer what more I have to say to a second letter. Farewell.”
§ 8. OF THE RISING OF CHRISTUS FROM THE DEAD.
“ONESIMUS TO ARTEMIDORUS, HEALTH.
“The Tradition, as I have said before, is silent concerning the rising
of Christus from the dead; but in divers churches divers manifestations
are reported; concerning which I questioned Simeon, asking him whether
he himself had spoken with any that had seen Christus risen from the
dead. He said, ‘Yes, assuredly, with at least ten persons, of whom one
was Paulus, to whom Christus appeared ten years after his death.’ Then
I questioned him whether these men had touched Christus, or only seen
him. He made reply that they had seen him but not touched him. Then
I asked him how they that saw him knew that it was he indeed, and no
phantom, or perchance some evil spirit deceiving them. He made reply
that Christus had showed unto them his hands and feet, bearing the
wounds of the cross; and further, that phantoms appear not to many
assembled in one place, but only to solitary persons, whereas Christus
had appeared oftentimes to large numbers of his disciples. He said also
that it was currently reported that Christus had suffered one of his
followers, who doubted, to touch his side; and that he had eaten in the
presence of many; and that he had said ‘Handle me and see that I am
not a bodiless demon’; but all these things, he confessed, were not in
the Tradition. Also, in answer to my further questioning, he said that
no enemy of Christus had seen him after death, nor had any save those
that loved him most dearly; nor had any been converted to the side of
Christus by thus seeing him, save only one, namely that same Paulus,
about whom I have more than once made mention, who, about ten years
after the death of Christus, while grievously persecuting the church,
and after he had slain many of the Christians, had suddenly been
changed from an enemy to a friend, by seeing Christus and hearing words
from him.
“The sum of all seems to be that the body of Christus was not indeed
raised from the grave—for that were against all course of nature;
and besides, if it had been so, why was the Tradition silent on the
proofs of so great a wonder?—but that some kind of image or phantasm
of the mind represented him to his followers after his decease. And
musing often on the matter I have called to mind how many relations
are current of the apparitions of the deceased, and how they may be
explained according to nature. For after looking intently on the sun,
the eye, being closed, sees an image of the sun floating through
the air; and methinks in somewhat the same fashion those followers
of Christus who best loved him, and to whom he was as the sun and
brightness of life, suddenly finding themselves bereft of him and
in the darkness of sorrow, might perchance—even in the course of
nature—receive an image of him so imprinted on their minds that even
the eye itself might be enslaved to the mind’s desire, and be impressed
with the same image. Still the marvel is that it appeared not only to
many at once—which, if the influence were more than commonly powerful,
might possibly come to pass—but even to an enemy, namely Paulus, which
cannot be so easily explained. However, I have no other answer to this
riddle; and yet of late I have pondered for hours together on the
answer, wandering as it were in a labyrinth of questions and riddles
and problems, and sometimes catching a clue, and then losing it, and as
far as ever from the truth.
“But whatever be the answer, these Christians are of a certainty
rather deceived than deceiving others; for no one can have had to do
with them, as I have, without perceiving that they are altogether
devoted to virtue. And this indeed is a marvel of marvels, how this
Christus should have had the power to turn so many thousands of souls
to virtue, being many of them base and vile and given to all vice,
and most of them of the common sort with no natural magnanimity or
nobleness, and all, with few exceptions, unlearned and illiterate. Yet
even this ill-ordered and confused rabble, Christus hath been able so
to transmute and temper and purify that, out of so many thousands,
there is scarce one that would not be willing to lay down his life,
I say not merely for the name of Christus himself, but even for
his ‘brethren,’ as he calls them, that is to say, the cobblers and
water-carriers and camel-drivers who sit beside him in the synagogue.
“And this brings me to your last question, what it is in this religion
of Christus which naturally draws the common people to it? Now were I
to reply that it is the hope of blessedness or the dread of punishment
after death, you would reasonably rejoin that these hopes and fears are
held out by other religions, yet have little strength to prevent evil
doing. And were I to give as reason the great concord which binds all
these Christians together, you would no less reasonably ask me whence
comes this same concord? Lastly, were I to add (for this is indeed
one reason) that the common people are drawn by the power which these
Christians possess (although it is but in the course of nature) to cure
certain diseases suddenly by working on the imaginations of men, still
Artemidorus would be dissatisfied and would inquire, whence came this
power?
“Wherefore, although sorely perplexed and more perturbed than might
perhaps become a student of philosophy, I confess that I can allege
no other cause for the power of this Christian religion than Christus
himself, that is to say, some kind of influence arising from the memory
of Christus which he seems to have transmitted to his first disciples,
and they to others, and so on till at last a very great multitude is
infected with it, and seems likely to infect many more. Now if you
ask me what plan of philosophy I have discovered in the Tradition, or
what sayings of Christus lead me to attribute so great a power to his
influence, I must answer that as the Tradition is not written, I have
not been able to write down more than a few sentences of it, nor indeed
have I had leisure for this till now, for I gave all my mind at first
to the inquiry concerning the general tenor of the doctrine of the
Christians. Nevertheless some few sayings of Christus which I have set
down, ring again and again in my ears like some spell or incantation
not to be forgotten, as if they would almost persuade me contrary to
sense and reason that he was indeed a purifier of the human race.
“How greatly is the mind perplexed when it compares Christus with
other philosophers! Must we not suppose Socrates, must we not deem
Pythagoras, superior by far to this Christus? And yet who would die
for the name of Pythagoras or Socrates? Or perhaps the merit is not
in the man himself, but in some secret art which he has discovered,
or happened on, by chance, of uniting men together and implanting in
them the love of well-doing. Of such an art I sometimes think I have
discovered signs in those sayings of Christus which have come to my
knowledge. But when I have studied them more fully I will write to you
further on this matter. Farewell.”
§ 9. HOW ARTEMIDORUS BADE ME CEASE FROM FURTHER INQUIRY.
Being somewhat alarmed by my last letter (so he confessed to me
afterwards) lest I should not only permit Philemon to join himself to
the Christians, but also become a Christian myself, Artemidorus wrote
to me as follows, more vehemently than became a philosopher.
“ARTEMIDORUS TO ONESIMUS, HEALTH.
“If I bade you make further inquiry concerning the mad doctrines of
this mad leader of madmen, I do so no longer. He who converses with
lunatics more than is fit is in danger to become himself infected with
their insane delusions.
“Besides, what possibility is there that you should attain to the
truth? What aids have you, what instruments? There are none. No
witnesses, no written documents, no regard for truth, no power of
reasoning, no faculty of distinguishing things in the course of
nature from things against nature. Amid such a chaos you are fighting
against error with your hands tied. Cease then, I beseech you, from
your vain attempt to build where there is no foundation. But do your
utmost to induce the worthy Philemon to return home with all speed,
lest he be entangled in the cobweb of this imbecile superstition; and
lest perchance even Onesimus at last, by frequent converse with these
miracle-mongers and forgers, suffer his regard for truth to be so far
blunted that he himself may be tempted to gloss over and excuse their
impostures.”
§ 10. HOW I STUMBLED AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE DOOR AND WENT NOT IN.
I take shame to myself that I was not in any such danger as Artemidorus
supposed, of becoming a Christian at this time. Had I, indeed, been
enabled to pursue the study of the words of the Lord Jesus, perchance
having been thus led to know him I might have entered into the fold at
once and so have been spared much misery. But it was not so to be. For,
on the very day that I wrote the last letter to Artemidorus, it pleased
Philemon to set out suddenly for Jerusalem, nothing contenting him but
that we should visit the Christians, as he said, in the place which
was the centre and source of the sect. Now those disciples with whom
we conversed in the Holy City were of the straiter sect of the Jewish
Christians, all of them maintaining that it was fit to come into the
Church by first accepting the Law of Moses, and that the uncircumcised,
albeit Christians of a certain sort, were inferior in righteousness to
them that had received circumcision. And they spoke against Paulus and
all others that denied the need of circumcision, saying that Paulus was
no safe guide but a teacher of heresy.
In part the narrowness of these brethren, in part the newness of the
sights which I saw in Jerusalem, and in part also the fear that I
had, lest by becoming superstitious I should fall below the rank of a
philosopher and lose the esteem of Artemidorus, caused me to harden my
heart against the promptings of the Holy Spirit which would fain have
led me to the Lord Jesus. But, in spite of all my efforts, certain
of the words of the Lord (both then and for many months afterwards)
kept coming to my mind, and in particular these: “There is more joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine persons
that need no repentance,” and again, “Come unto me all ye that are
weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest;” and there were times
when these last words so fascinated me, and I felt so weary of myself
and such a longing for the peace which he could give me, that I went
near to calling aloud unto him “Verily I am weary and heavy-laden, I
will come unto thee, O Lord.” But the cares and pleasures of this world
choked the good seed so that I could hear no more of the sayings of the
Lord, and strove to forget such as I had heard. Hence it came to pass
that my next letter to Artemidorus (though I had not yet received his
message of warning) breathed not a syllable of any desire to become a
Christian.
“ONESIMUS TO ARTEMIDORUS, HEALTH.
“O for an hour of Antioch or Colossæ! Never before had I understood how
much of the joy of life we owe to the Muses till I came hither, where
the Muses are despised. Here are no temples (save one), no processions,
no dances, no games, no chariot races, no plays, no pictures, no
statues, no libraries; the very air breathes dullness and superstition.
If one brings a statue into these streets it is sacrilege; and they
shrink from our poems and songs, our literature and our very language,
as if it were a sin to be a Greek. And then the hideousness of their
temple, which during their festivals so reeks with the multitude of
slaughtered sheep and oxen that it resembles a kind of shambles! Never
may I again see a whole nation offering sacrifice as it were wholesale!
Even now I cannot forget the shrieks of so many ten thousands of
victims, and the reek of the burning fat and all the ill savor of so
many worshippers thus pressed together—and all this in a barbaric
building, with not so much as a single statue to adorn it, nothing but
eternal grape-clusters and stars and the like, all bedaubed with gold
in true eastern fashion for ostentation’s sake. Ostentation everywhere,
beauty nowhere! O for an hour of Colossæ or the pettiest Greek town in
Asia, to relieve the staleness of this Jerusalem, surely the weariest
and dullest of dull places!
“But I am like to forget the occasion which caused me to take up my
pen, and which indeed (together with the suddenness of the journey
hither) has for the time driven out of my mind all thought of the
Christians. You must know then that, ten days ago, I beheld for the
first time a battle, if battle it is to be called, where one side
kills and the other is killed. It was after this manner. Coming to
Jerusalem and having now accomplished about half of the journey
between the city and Jericho, we, being mounted on dromedaries,
overtook a great multitude of mixed folk journeying on foot, four
or five thousand or more, as I should judge, some with swords, some
with spears, some with bows, but not a few unarmed or bearing nothing
save pruning-hooks and mattocks. Making our way with much ado through
this motley multitude, (who would not have suffered us to pass, being
Greeks, had there not been with us certain priests that were going up
to the Temple,) we found that this rabble called itself an army, and
that they were following a certain prophet, whom I saw, but I did not
rightly understand his name; only thus much, that he was from Egypt,
and that, being able to work all wonders, he had promised them that
he would take Jerusalem and destroy the Romans in one day. And what
think you was the prophet’s plan? There is a mountain called Olivet on
the eastern side of Jerusalem. Hither the multitude was to journey,
and here to take their stand. Thereupon the prophet was to lift up
his hands in prayer; the walls of Jerusalem (even as the walls of
Jericho in old days were cast down by the sound of trumpets) were in
like manner to fall to the ground; and the faithful would rush in and
slay every Roman with the sword. Heard you ever the like, for simple
credulity and self-conceit? And then to listen to the babbling and
boasting of these illiterate peasants! What great things they would
do when they had smitten the Romans! How the prophecies should be
fulfilled, and how they would rule over the Gentiles and break them in
pieces like a potter’s vessel! How they would cut the throats of every
Samaritan, and destroy the temple in Gerizim, and be avenged on Edom!
Never, never before have I felt better content that the whole world is
under the firm and just dominion of Rome!
“However you shall hear how the Romans despatched this business
without much delay. Having gladly left these dangerous companions,
and hastening up the steep road, we had not gone twenty furlongs
before we met a squadron of Roman horse, blocking the road; but after
questioning us, they suffered us to pass up to a village named Bethany.
We soon came to a winding place in the road, which, being very high
up, commanded a view of all the road below. Thence looking down we saw
the helmets of the horsemen in an ambush, in a valley on the northern
side of the road, and we could hear the multitude (though we saw them
not by reason of the winding of the road) with psalms and shouts, and
without any order or discipline, coming up the hill; and soon their
vanguard (if vanguard it could be called where all was unguarded) would
have passed by the mouth of the valley so that the Romans could cleave
the rabble in two parts whenever it pleased them. Soon afterwards the
trumpet rang echoing through the hills, and anon we saw the helmets
and swords all flash together, and then such a crying for mercy, such
a shrieking and clamor, as made me stop my ears for horror; and we
hastily turned away towards Bethany. But we were still some furlongs
distant from the village when the Romans overtook us, their arms and
armor all dripping with blood, goading before them many hundreds of
captives fettered together; and on the morrow, near the western gate as
I went out of the city I counted no less than a hundred crosses.
“Most gladly do I again open this letter to add that we purpose with
all speed to leave Jerusalem, and to come to Ephesus. Hereto Philemon
is moved, not so much by the unquiet times here, as by a letter
announcing that Apphia is sick; for whose sake I am truly sorry, and
I beg you to join with the worthy Evagoras (whose zeal is greater
methinks than his knowledge in medicine) that she may be restored to
health; but for Philemon’s sake I rejoice, for assuredly a month’s
sojourning in Jerusalem would no less draw him to the Jews than it
would drive me from them.”
On the morrow we left Jerusalem and came to Cæsarea Stratonis; and then
to Sidon and so home, as I shall recount hereafter. And all this while
I remained still an unbeliever, outside the fold of the faithful.
But even so must it needs have been, O Lord. For to thee none draweth
nigh through weighing of probabilities, no, nor through belief in thy
mighty works, nor through trust in traditions concerning thy birth and
rising again; but it is through Love of thee and Trust in thee alone
that thou art embraced; for thou art Love, and by thee alone is the
heart of man made capable of thee. Wherefore it pleased thee in thy
mercy that I, in seeking to find thee should not find thee, to the
intent that afterwards in not finding thee I should find thee. For now,
I reasoned, I examined, I sought; yet I found not. But afterwards, I
reasoned not, I examined not, I sought not; yea, I fled from thee that
I might wander in the wilderness of sin; but even there didst thou meet
me and through thy love mine eyes were opened; and I could not choose
but know thee to be my true Shepherd, and when thou didst call me by
name I could not choose but come.
END OF THE THIRD BOOK.
THE FOURTH BOOK.
§ 1. HOW WE CAME TO ATHENS.