The Pharisee put his plump white hands together.
"Thou touchest upon the perplexity, brother," he said, addressing himself to Lysimachus. "We are warned by the scribe of Saul of Tarsus, who leadeth the war against the heretics, that they are invidious workers of sedition; whisperers of false doctrines and pretenders of love and humility. They do not persuade the rich man nor the powerful man nor the learned man. They labor among the poor and the despised and the ignorant. Saul, himself, though first to be awakened to the peril of the heresy, did not dream how immense an evil he had attacked until he found the half of Jerusalem fleeing from him. Wherefore, brother, we may be built upon the sliding sands of an evil doctrine; the whole Regio Judæorum may be going astray after this apostasy ere the powers know it."
Lysimachus stroked his white beard and looked incredulous.
"The Jews of Alexandria will not tolerate a persecution," he said emphatically.
"So thou dost grasp the perplexity wholly," the Sadducee said. "What shall we do?" he turned to the proconsul.
"I am to advise, then?" Flaccus asked indifferently.
"Thou wilt not suffer them to lead our men-servants and our maid-servants and our artisans into heresy?" the Pharisee asked.
"We do not persecute in Alexandria, thou saidst," Flaccus observed.
"No," declared Lysimachus. "If all the Regio Judæorum were as we three, the apostates might come and go, strive their best and die of their own misdeeds, unincreased in number or in goods. But the clamoring voice of the mass--nay, even Cæsar hath harkened to it! Those that have not followed the Nazarenes demand that they be cut off from us. But we can not kill, and not even death daunts a Nazarene. Commend thyself, Flaccus, that thou didst call my brothers' mission a perplexity."
"So you have come formally to me with your people's plaint and expect me to solve a question that you yourselves can not solve," Flaccus said. "_Poena_! But you are a helpless lot! I shall pen the heretics in Rhacotis forthwith, and command them neither to visit nor to be visited! Is it enough?"
"I shall ferret them out," Lysimachus said.
"Thanks," the three observed at once. "Peace to all this house."
Flaccus waved his hand and the three passed out.