‘And how did Socrates die?’
‘He was poisoned by the Athenians with hemlock in their common prison.’
‘As a malefactor?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does it, then, prove him to be worthless that he, too, died the death of a felon? And are all philosophers fools for extending so much reverence to a poisoned criminal?’
‘I never thought of that,’ said Britannicus.
‘And are all the other stories about these Christians lies?’ he asked after a pause.
‘They are,’ said Pomponia. ‘Some day, perhaps, you shall judge for your own self.’
CHAPTER XI
‘A FOREIGN SUPERSTITION’
‘Quos, per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat.’—Tacitus, Ann. xv. 44.