Loud murmurs acknowledged these words of the emissary of the Pharisees; all turned round whence they had been pronounced; threats were heard:
'Hence! away with these men of inexorable heart!'
'Oh! these men are without pity, without mercy, repentance does not touch them,' said the courtezan Oliba; 'these frozen bodies who cannot comprehend that with others the blood boils!'
'Let him who has thus spoken show himself,' exclaimed Banaias, striking the table with his heavy, knotted stick in a threatening manner, 'yes, let him show his virtuous face, the scrupulous! more severe than our friend of Nazareth, the brother of the poor, the afflicted, and the suffering, whom he supports, heals and consoles! By the eye of Jerobabel! I should like to look him in the face, this white lamb without spot, who comes here to bleat his virtues. Where is he, then, this immaculate lily of the valley of men? He must smell of good, like a real balm,' added Banaias, opening his wide nostrils; 'and by the nose of Malachi! I don't smell at all this aroma of wisdom, this perfume of honesty, which ought to betray the choice odoriferous vase hidden amongst us poor sinners.'
This pleasantry of Banaias made the auditory laugh excessively; and the one of the two emissaries who had thus attacked the words of Jesus, seemed in no hurry to gratify the desire of the redoubtable friend of the Nazarene; he feigned, on the contrary, as well as his companion, to search, like the rest of the audience, from whence the words had proceeded. The tumult was increasing, when the young Nazarene made a sign that he wished to speak; the tempest was appeased as if by enchantment; and replying to the reproach of being too indulgent to sinners, Jesus said with an accent of severe mildness: 'Who amongst you possessing a hundred sheep, and losing one, would not leave in the plain the ninety-and-nine others, to go and seek that which is lost, until he had found it? When he has found it he brings it back with joy on his shoulders; and having returned to his house, he assembles his friends and neighbors, and says to them, "Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost."'
'And I say unto you,' added Mary's son in a voice filled with grave and tender authority, 'and I say unto you there shall be more joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth, than for the ninety-and-nine just men, who need no repentance.'—These touching words of Jesus made a lively impression on the crowd; it applauded in words and gestures.—'Reply to that, my white lamb! my lilly without a stain!' said Banaias, addressing the invisible interpreter of the Nazarene.
'If you are not of the same opinion as my friend, approach and maintain your words.'
'A grand merit, as Jesus says,' observed another; 'a grand merit for him who has neither hunger nor thirst, to be neither a glutton nor a drunkard!'
'Virtue is easy to her who has every thing,' said the courtezan Oliba, 'hunger and privation ruin more women than dissipation.'
Suddenly there was a tumult amongst the crowd that filled the tavern, and the name of Magdalen was heard pronounced.