made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius
indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.

The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor.
The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of
the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus
rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass's head, which he declared they
honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to
the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the
fact that that beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was
to be feared they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been
discovered in the Temple.

The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
Syrian lambs' tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.

To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
he recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened
small children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was
filled with disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their
brutal, stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus
refused to accompany him.