Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/197

Rh "Thou art, then, verily a Sadducee, like Annas thy father-in-law, and thy wife his daughter. Verily women have great power in this our day."

And his thoughts went back to his own wife, Claudia, who had stated her belief in Jesus and who dreamed so strangely.

"Yet I would ask thee further, noble Caiaphas, for of all our speech no certain thing hath come; neither whether this be the Christ, nor whom we shall release at the Feast of Passover. Answer me; if, as ye Sadducees believe, there be no resurrection, what profiteth a man to do good or evil? And why, then, fast ye? Surely 't is loss of time to be sad, if there be no ensuing good. If 't is true, let us waste no time; let us make merry, Caiaphas, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

Pilate laughed at his own words, in which there was a scornful ring. Then, lowering his voice, went on: "In truth, Caiaphas, hath it not a little truth, this saying of the Nazarene that hath upset thee so—That ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men, and ye neither go in yourselves nor suffer them that are entering to go in?"

"I am no Pharisee," said the High Priest angrily.

"How then art thou a ruler of Israel?" asked Pontius Pilate laughing; "for they were mostly chosen of the Pharisees; but methinks the world is upside down, for Judæa hath strange intruders that yet do rule her. We have the Idumæan Antipas and Philo and other Alexandrian Jews, and even Greeks; yet the Greeks and their influence are hated of the Jews. Thou art here to preach salvation to the