an government. Strangely enough our own intelligence
officers, who are usually well informed, appear to have heard nothing
about it, and when they investigated the matter they reported that
the carpenter was an excellent citizen and that there was no reason to
proceed against him. But the old-fashioned leaders of the Jewish
faith, according to Joseph, were much upset. They greatly disliked his
popularity with the masses of the poorer Hebrews. The "Nazarene" (so
they told Pilatus) had publicly claimed that a Greek or a Roman or even
a Philistine, who tried to live a decent and honourable life, was quite
as good as a Jew who spent his days studying the ancient laws of Moses.
Pilatus does not seem to have been impressed by this argument, but when
the crowds around the temple threatened to lynch Jesus, and kill all
his followers, he decided to take the carpenter into custody to save his
life.

He does not appear to have understood the real nature of the quarrel.
Whenever he asked the Jewish priests to explain their grievances, they
shouted "heresy" and "treason" and got terribly excited. 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