is. But the point is also obscure. It is immaterial as well. The
Gospels were not written in Jerusalem but mainly in Rome, where
crucifixions were common, as they were, for that matter, throughout
the East, but where, too, all religions were acclimated and the
supernatural was at home.

Rome had witnessed the _tours de force_ of Apollonios of Tyana. Those
of Simon the Magician had also been beheld. Rome had seen, or, it may
be, thought she believed she had seen, Vespasian cure the halt and the
blind with a touch. The atmosphere then was charged with the
marvellous. The temples were filled with prodigies, with strange gods,
beckoning chimeras, credulous crowds.

There was something superior. Rome was the depository of the legends
and lore of the world. A haunt of the Muses, the sensual city was a
hermitage of philosophy as well. These things collectively represented
a great literary feast, of which not all the courses have descended to
us, though, as is not impossible, a lost dish or two, transmuted, by
the alchemy of faith, from dross into gold, the Gospels may perhaps
contain.

In that case there is cause for great thankfulness. Moreover, assuming
the transmutation, no impiety can be implied. It was as usual and as
indicated as were papyrus and the stylus. It is common to-day for a
poet, before spreading his own wings, to contemplate those of another.
Inspiration is infectious.

A page of verse, whether Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, or Latin,
was as useful then. Dante fed on the troubadours. They are lost and
forgot. He divinely stands greater than the tallest of them all. In a
measure the same may be true of those from whom the Gospels came. Yet
with a very notable difference. The _Divina Commedia_ was written for
all time. So too were the Gospels. But not intentionally. They were
written to prepare man for the immediate termination of the world.
With the most perfect propriety, therefore, anything serviceable could
have been utilized and probably was. The devout had but to lift their
eyes. In the words of Isaiah, there, before them, were the treasures
of nations; there were the camels and dromedaries bearing from every
side incense and gold; there were the sons of strangers to build up
their walls.

The sons were many, the treasures as great. Even otherwise there was
the Law, there too were the Prophets. Moses fasted for forty days.
Elisha performed a miracle of the loaves, if he did not that of the
fishes.