“Dost thou make reference to the young Hebrew from Tarsus, of such fiery zeal, who was aforetime my disciple?”
“It is no other than he! Several passovers have passed since he went back to his native city to learn a trade, after the manner of our custom, and he hath abated none of the vehemence of his former life.”
“It now cometh to my remembrance how he and a band of his comrades set upon thee in the Lyceum, for which he was taken to the Tower by a centurion, and at thy intercession I persuaded his release. Knowest thou, hath he still the same mind?”
The events of a few years past coursed in quick succession through the memory of the young Hellenist, but he was not stirred by them.
“Nay! It hath come to pass that his persecution is now turned toward the followers of the prophet of Nazareth. It is noised abroad that straightway upon his return to Jerusalem, and since, he hath ceased not night or day to vex them sorely. He hath almost persuaded the Sanhedrin to give him authority to destroy them.”
“Hath he, then, forgotten his enmity toward thee, my young disciple?”
“I wot not fully, but am so persuaded. His exceeding [pg 105]wrath against the new sect of the Nazarene, peradventure, hath swallowed up his former enmity; and who knoweth, also, but it hath come to his ears that thou hast since made me thine helper, wherefore he might be more prudent.”
“He that waxeth wroth worketh out his own destruction,” uttered the Rabban in a rather reserved and oracular manner. “But what of the request of thine heart, which thou desirest to make known unto me?”
Serenus paused for a moment before making answer, for something seemed to stir him from the depths of his soul. He looked gravely but tenderly into the face of his master. He felt that a great crisis in his own life had come, which could not longer be put off. The accumulated forces of years, long pent up, had gradually gathered momentum until they must find utterance.
“Most worthy master! What thinkest thou of the prophet of Nazareth who was crucified?”