"He is a dog!" growled the zealot. "His heathen master slew my father causelessly in the temple, mingling his blood with his sacrifice to Jehovah. I am of Galilee."
"I will ask thee, then," said his adviser, "sawest thou ever this Galilean prophet who cometh from Nazareth? It is said that he worketh many wonders."
"I have seen him," said the zealot, "and wonders he doth work. Hath any other rabbi raised the dead? Who else cleanseth a leper or openeth the eyes of the blind?"
"If thou liest not," was the surly response, "he is indeed one of the learned. I will hear his teachings when he cometh to Jerusalem to the Passover feast. But he will work no wonders here."
"Knowest thou that?" sneered the zealot. "But this thou knowest from the law, that it is not well for thee to speak evil of a rabbi. He who revileth one of the learned goeth to Gehenna."
"I reviled him not!" exclaimed the adviser, as if in sudden fear. "I am a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I am a keeper of the whole law. Verily I will hear thy rabbi when he speaketh. But beware thou of offending the procurator!"
"Messiah cometh!" said the Galilean fiercely. "He bringeth a sword! He will make his garments red in the blood of the heathen!"
"Let not the priests hear thee!" sharply responded the Pharisee. "To them only is given the discerning of such matters. Thou wilt yet be cast out of the synagogue."
The angry Galilean walked slowly away. "What know the Pharisees and the priests concerning Jesus of Nazareth?" he muttered. "I think of him that he is a more learned rabbi than any here in Jerusalem."
Now Lysias heard these men, and already had he learned from the Saxons in what manner their jarl had been healed of his hurts in Galilee.