The Story of Mankind [43]
distance. Reports were being sent to the
Roman authorities in Caesarea that Pilatus had ``fallen a victim
to the teachings of the Nazarene.'' Petitions were being
circulated all through the city to have Pilatus recalled, because
he was an enemy of the Emperor. You know that our governors
have strict instructions to avoid an open break with
their foreign subjects. To save the country from civil war,
Pilatus finally sacrificed his prisoner, Joshua, who behaved
with great dignity and who forgave all those who hated him.
He was crucified amidst the howls and the laughter of the
Jerusalem mob.
That is what Joseph told me, with tears running down his
old cheeks. I gave him a gold piece when I left him, but he
refused it and asked me to hand it to one poorer than himself.
I also asked him a few questions about your friend Paul. He
had known him slightly. He seems to have been a tent maker
who gave up his profession that he might preach the words of
a loving and forgiving God, who was so very different from
that Jehovah of whom the Jewish priests are telling us all
the time. Afterwards, Paul appears to have travelled much
in Asia Minor and in Greece, telling the slaves that they were
all children of one loving Father and that happiness awaits all,
both rich and poor, who have tried to live honest lives and have
done good to those who were suffering and miserable.
I hope that I have answered your questions to your satisfaction.
The whole story seems very harmless to me as far as
the safety of the state is concerned. But then, we Romans
never have been able to understand the people of this province.
I am sorry that they have killed your friend Paul. I wish that
I were at home again, and I am, as ever,
Your dutiful nephew,
GLADIUS ENSA.
THE FALL OF ROME
THE TWILIGHT OF ROME
THE text-books of ancient History give the date 476 as the
year in which Rome fell, because in that year the last emperor
was driven off his throne. But Rome, which was not built in
a day, took a long time falling. The process was so slow and
so gradual that most Romans did not realise how their old
world was coming to an end. They complained about the unrest
of the times--they grumbled about the high prices of food
and about the low wages of the workmen--they cursed the
profiteers who had a monopoly of the grain and the wool and
the gold coin. Occasionally they rebelled against an unusually
rapacious governor. But the majority of the people during the
first four centuries of our era ate and drank (whatever their
purse allowed them to buy) and hated or loved (according to
their nature) and went to the theatre (whenever there was a
free show of fighting gladiators) or starved in the slums of the
big cities, utterly ignorant of the fact that their empire had
outlived its usefulness and was doomed to perish.
How could they realise the threatened danger? Rome
made a fine showing of outward glory. Well-paved roads connected
the different provinces, the imperial police were active
and showed little tenderness for highwaymen. The frontier
was closely guarded against the savage tribes who seemed to
be occupying the waste lands of northern Europe. The whole
world was paying tribute to the mighty city of Rome, and a
score of able men were working day and night to undo the
mistakes of the past and bring about a return to the happier
conditions of the early Republic.
But the underlying causes of the decay of the State, of
which I have told you in a former chapter, had not been
removed and reform therefore was impossible.
Rome was, first and last and all the time, a city-state as
Athens and Corinth had been city-states in ancient Hellas. It
had been able to dominate the Italian peninsula. But Rome
as the ruler of the entire civilised world was a political
impossibility and
Roman authorities in Caesarea that Pilatus had ``fallen a victim
to the teachings of the Nazarene.'' Petitions were being
circulated all through the city to have Pilatus recalled, because
he was an enemy of the Emperor. You know that our governors
have strict instructions to avoid an open break with
their foreign subjects. To save the country from civil war,
Pilatus finally sacrificed his prisoner, Joshua, who behaved
with great dignity and who forgave all those who hated him.
He was crucified amidst the howls and the laughter of the
Jerusalem mob.
That is what Joseph told me, with tears running down his
old cheeks. I gave him a gold piece when I left him, but he
refused it and asked me to hand it to one poorer than himself.
I also asked him a few questions about your friend Paul. He
had known him slightly. He seems to have been a tent maker
who gave up his profession that he might preach the words of
a loving and forgiving God, who was so very different from
that Jehovah of whom the Jewish priests are telling us all
the time. Afterwards, Paul appears to have travelled much
in Asia Minor and in Greece, telling the slaves that they were
all children of one loving Father and that happiness awaits all,
both rich and poor, who have tried to live honest lives and have
done good to those who were suffering and miserable.
I hope that I have answered your questions to your satisfaction.
The whole story seems very harmless to me as far as
the safety of the state is concerned. But then, we Romans
never have been able to understand the people of this province.
I am sorry that they have killed your friend Paul. I wish that
I were at home again, and I am, as ever,
Your dutiful nephew,
GLADIUS ENSA.
THE FALL OF ROME
THE TWILIGHT OF ROME
THE text-books of ancient History give the date 476 as the
year in which Rome fell, because in that year the last emperor
was driven off his throne. But Rome, which was not built in
a day, took a long time falling. The process was so slow and
so gradual that most Romans did not realise how their old
world was coming to an end. They complained about the unrest
of the times--they grumbled about the high prices of food
and about the low wages of the workmen--they cursed the
profiteers who had a monopoly of the grain and the wool and
the gold coin. Occasionally they rebelled against an unusually
rapacious governor. But the majority of the people during the
first four centuries of our era ate and drank (whatever their
purse allowed them to buy) and hated or loved (according to
their nature) and went to the theatre (whenever there was a
free show of fighting gladiators) or starved in the slums of the
big cities, utterly ignorant of the fact that their empire had
outlived its usefulness and was doomed to perish.
How could they realise the threatened danger? Rome
made a fine showing of outward glory. Well-paved roads connected
the different provinces, the imperial police were active
and showed little tenderness for highwaymen. The frontier
was closely guarded against the savage tribes who seemed to
be occupying the waste lands of northern Europe. The whole
world was paying tribute to the mighty city of Rome, and a
score of able men were working day and night to undo the
mistakes of the past and bring about a return to the happier
conditions of the early Republic.
But the underlying causes of the decay of the State, of
which I have told you in a former chapter, had not been
removed and reform therefore was impossible.
Rome was, first and last and all the time, a city-state as
Athens and Corinth had been city-states in ancient Hellas. It
had been able to dominate the Italian peninsula. But Rome
as the ruler of the entire civilised world was a political
impossibility and