“‘What new thing is this?’ said Callippus. ‘I hear you have consorted with the Jews, and have been seen at their assembly.’
“‘True, my friend.’
“True! By Jupiter! what is the meaning of it? You do not mean to say that you are bitten by the mad dog?’
“‘I believe.’
“‘Oh, by God, that it should have come to this! Are you not ashamed to look him in the face?’ pointing to the Apollo statue. ‘Ah! the old prophecy is once more verified!—
“‘Tutemet a nobis iam quovis tempore vatum
terriloquis victus dictis desciscere quæres.’ [{2}]
But I must be prudent. I saw somebody watching your house on the other side of the street. If I am caught they will think I belong to the accursed sect too. Farewell.”
“The morning came, and about an hour after Charmides had risen two soldiers presented themselves. He was hurried away, brought before the judges, and examined. Some little pity was felt for him by two or three members of the court, as he was well known in Rome, and one of them condescended to argue with him and to ask him how he could become ensnared by a brutal superstition which affirmed, so it was said, the existence of devil-possessed pigs, and offered sacrifices to them.
“‘You,’ said he, ‘an artist and philosopher—if it be true that you are a pervert, you deserve a heavier punishment than the scum whom we have hitherto convicted.’
“‘For Christ and His Cross!’ cried Charmides.