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?
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