'Excuse me,' said I, 'but does Noah ever appear as Janus?'

'He--he--he!' said the Rabbi, 'he only appeared as Janus once--una vez
quando estuvo borracho; which means--'

'I understand,' said I; 'when he was . . . ' and I drew the side of my
right hand sharply across my left wrist.

'Are you one of our people?' said the Rabbi.

'No,' said I, 'I am one of the Goyim; but I am only half enlightened.
Why should Noah be Janus when he was in that state?'

'He--he--he! you must know that in Lasan akhades wine is janin.'

'In Armenian, kini,' said I; 'in Welsh, gwin; Latin, vinum; but do you
think that Janus and janin are one?'

'Do I think? Don't the commentators say so? Does not Master Leo
Abarbenel say so in his _Dialogues of Divine Love_?'

'But,' said I, 'I always thought that Janus was a god of the ancient
Romans, who stood in a temple open in time of war, and shut in time of
peace; he was represented with two faces, which--which--'

'He--he--he!' said the Rabbi, rising from his seat; 'he had two faces,
had he? And what did those two faces typify? You do not know; no, nor
did the Romans who carved him with two faces know why they did so; for
they were only half enlightened, like you and the rest of the Goyim. Yet
they were right in carving him with two faces looking from each
other--they were right, though they knew not why; there was a tradition
among them that the Janinoso had two faces, but they knew not that one
was for the world which was gone and the other for the world before
him--for the drowned world and for the present, as Master Leo Abarbenel
says in his _Dialogues of Divine Love_. He--he--he!' continued the
Rabbi, who had by this time advanced to the door, and, turning round,
waved the two forefingers of his right hand in our faces; 'the Goyims and
Epicouraiyim are clever men, they know how to make money better than we
of Israel. My good friend there is a clever man, I bring him money, he
never brought me any; _bueno_, I do not blame him, he knows much, very
much; but one thing there is my friend does not know, nor any of the
Epicureans, he does not know the sacred thing--he has never received the
gift of interpretation which God alone gives to the seed--he has his
gift, I have mine--he is satisfied, I don't blame him, _bueno_.'

And, with this last word in his mouth, he departed.

'Is that man a native of Spain?' I demanded.

'Not a native of Spain,' said the Armenian, 'though he is one of