Finally, so Joseph told me, Pilatus sent for
Joshua (that was the name of the Nazarene, but the Greeks
who live in this part of the world always refer to him as Jesus)
to examine him personally. He talked to him for several
hours. He asked him about the ``dangerous doctrines'' which
he was said to have preached on the shores of the sea of Galilee.
But Jesus answered that he never referred to politics. He was
not so much interested in the bodies of men as in Man's soul.
He wanted all people to regard their neighbours as their
brothers and to love one single God, who was the father of all
living beings.
Pilatus, who seems to have been well versed in the doctrines
of the Stoics and the other Greek philosophers, does not appear
to have discovered anything seditious in the talk of Jesus.
According to my informant he made another attempt to save
the life of the kindly prophet. He kept putting the execution
off. Meanwhile the Jewish people, lashed into fury by their
priests, got frantic with rage. There had been many riots in
Jerusalem before this and there were only a few Roman soldiers
within calling 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.
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