Their god was a horror, a
boor upon a mountain, wielding thunder and lightning. Aphrodite was
perhaps not all that could be wished, but she was divine compared
with the savage Jehovah. It was true that a recent Jewish sect
professed better things and recognised as their teacher a young
malefactor who was executed when Tiberius was emperor. So far,
however, as could be made out he was a poor crack-brained demagogue,
who dreamed of restoring a native kingdom in Palestine. What made
the Jews especially contemptible to culture was that they were
retrograde. They strove to put back the clock. There is only one
path, so culture affirmed, and that is the path opened by Aristotle,
the path of rational logical progress from what we already know to
something not now known, but which can be known. If our present
state is imperfect, it is because we do not know enough. Every
other road, excepting this, the king's highway, heads into a bog.
These Jews actually believed in miracles; they had no science, and
thought they could regenerate the world by hocus-pocus. They ought
to be suppressed by law, and, if necessary, put to death, for they
bred discontent.
"Nevertheless, Charmides decided to enter the hovel. He was in idle
mood, and he was curious to see for himself what the Jews were like.
He pushed open the door, and when he went in he found himself in a
low, mean room very dimly lighted and crowded with an odd medley of
Greeks, Romans, tolerably well-dressed persons, and slaves.
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