imself to the compelling story.

"It cannot be," responds the convincing John; "there have been too
many witnesses for that. We have seen the very wound made by the
spear of Longinus; we have heard his familiar voice; we have
received his blessing. Our number is our evidence; it cannot be
possible that all of us have been deceived. It is surely he, O
Roman soldier, unless the senses of the women and of ten honest men
are far astray. No other teacher of the East has ever come back
from the sepulcher. Look and see for yourself. Yonder is Joseph's
empty tomb. The Christus is himself the evidence."

What can Quintus do, in the face of such proof as this? He returns
to Scopus in wildest tumult. Little does he say to Aulus, his
chosen friend. The company of Longinus or the centurion he does
not seek. The time has come--as it comes to all--when he must
commune with himself, and make the decision confronting every soul
that has heard the resurrection story.

IV

CICERO OR CHRIST?

"The name of Jesus can still remove distractions from the minds of
men."--_Origen_.

Shall men believe in a future life because of Christ's return from
the grave? Is his established resurrection at Jerusalem the
climacteric proof for immortality? The problem is inescapable.
Every man is himself a judge; before every man the accumulated
evidence passes; for every man it is doomsday when he stands at the
point of decision.

In his sore perplexity Quintus says to himself that night, when he
has returned from his interview with the disciple John: "My soul is
like a traveler who halts at the point where two roads meet. Great
issues depend upon his choice. But while he hesitates may the
immortals, who watch over the destinies of men, guide his feet
aright."

Clearly defined are the alternatives before the Roman soldier. On
the one hand are his ancestral beliefs, long established and deeply
cherished by the nation. Nor does any man quickly toss aside the
faith of his fathers. If belief is waning in the primitive
mythologies, and if the social life of the Empire is moved by
unrest and despair, the problem is to find a greater satisfaction.
There have been spoken many beautiful words by the Roman scholars
which are sweet premonitions of immortality. Does not Quintus
remember that Cicero likens to heaven a port prepared, and prays
that he may sail thither with full-spread sails? And if the gifted
Cicero has just gone t