"Mannus the Pompeiian to a Greek On the Semitic Diety" 



The jews, like their neighbors the Phonicians and the Arabs, will not suffer their gods to rest
for a moment upon the wind. 

They are over-thoughtful of their deity, and over-observant of one another's prayer and
worship and sacrifice. 

While we Romans build marble temples to our gods, these people would discuss their god's
nature. When we are in 
ecstasy we sing and dance round the altars of Jupiter and Juno, of Mars and Venus; but they in
their rapture wear 
sackcloth and cover their heads with ashes -- and even lament the day that gave them birth. 

Amd Jesus, the man who revealed God as a being of joy, they tortured Him, and then put Him
to death. 

These people would not be happy with a happy god. They know only the gods of their pain. 

Even Jesus' friends and disciples who knew His mirth and heard His laughter, make an image
of His sorrow, and they worship that image. 

And in such worship they rise not to their deity; they only bring their deity down to
themselves. 

I believe however that this philosopher, Jesus, who was not unlike Socrates, will have power
over His race and mayhap over other races. 

For we are all creatures of sadness and of small doubts. And when a man says to us, "Let us
be joyous with the gods," we cannot but heed his voice. Strange that the pain of this man has
been fashioned into a rite. 

These people would discover another Adonis, a god slain in the forest, and they would
celebrate his slaying. It is a pity they heed not His laughter. 

But let us confess, as Roman to Greek. Do even we ourselves hear the laughter of Socrates in
the streets of Athens? Is it ever in us to forget the cup of hemlock, even at the theatre of
Dionysus? 

Do not rather our fathers still stop at the street corners to chat of troubles and to have a happy
moment remembering the doleful end of all our great men?