. What
harm could one more god do me? Why might I not believe in him,--I who
do not believe overmuch in the old gods? I know with full certainty that
the Christians do not lie; and they say that he rose from the dead.
A man cannot rise from the dead. That Paul of Tarsus, who is a Roman
citizen, but who, as a Jew, knows the old Hebrew writings, told me that
the coming of Christ was promised by prophets for whole thousands of
years. All these are uncommon things, but does not the uncommon surround
us on every side? People have not ceased talking yet of Apollonius of
Tyana. Paul's statement that there is one God, not a whole assembly of
them, seems sound to me. Perhaps Seneca is of this opinion, and before
him many others. Christ lived, gave Himself to be crucified for the
salvation of the world, and rose from the dead. All this is perfectly
certain. I do not see, therefore, a reason why I should insist on an
opposite opinion, or why I should not rear to Him an altar, if I am
ready to rear one to Serapis, for instance. It would not be difficult
for me even to renounce other gods, for no reasoning mind believes in
them at present. But it seems that all this is not enough yet for
the Christians. It is not enough to honor Christ, one must also live
according to His teachings; and here thou art on the shore of a sea
which they command thee to wade through.

"If I promised to do so, they themselves would feel that the promise was
an empty sound of words. Paul told me so openly. Thou knowest how I love
Lygia, and knowest that there is nothing that I would not do for her.
Still, even at her wish, I cannot raise Soracte or Vesuvius on my
shoulders, or place Thrasymene Lake on the palm of my hand, or from
black make my eyes blue, like those of the Lygians. If she so desired, I
could have the wish, but the change does not lie in my power. I am not
a philosopher, but also I am not so dull as I have seemed, perhaps, more
than once to thee. I will state now the following: I know not how the
Christians order their own lives, but I know that where their religion
begins, Roman rule ends, Rome itself ends, our mode of life ends, the
distinction between conquered and conqueror, between rich and poor, lord
and slave, ends, government ends, Caesar ends, law and all the order
of the world ends; and in place of those appear Christ, with a certain
mercy not existent hitherto, and kindness, opposed to human and our
Roman instincts. It is true tha