protected with heavy armour and ample shields. Their combat was to
last for twenty minutes by the sand-glass, when, unless they had shown
cowardice, those who were left alive of either party were to receive
their freedom. Indeed, by a kindly decree the King Agrippa, a man who
did not seek unnecessary bloodshed, contrary to custom, even the wounded
were to be spared, that is, if any would undertake the care of them.
Under these circumstances, since life is sweet, all had determined to
fight their best.

In another division of the great hall was collected a very different
company. There were not more than fifty or sixty of these, so the wide
arches of the surrounding cloisters gave them sufficient shelter and
even privacy. With the exception of eight or ten men, all of them old,
or well on in middle age, since the younger and more vigorous males had
been carefully drafted to serve as gladiators, this little band was
made of women and a few children. They belonged to the new sect called
Christians, the followers of one Jesus, who, according to report, was
crucified as a troublesome person by the governor, Pontius Pilate, a
Roman official, who in due course had been banished to Gaul, where he
was said to have committed suicide. In his day Pilate was unpopular
in Judæa, for he had taken the treasures of the Temple at Jerusalem to
build waterworks, causing a tumult in which many were killed. Now he
was almost forgotten, but very strangely, the fame of this crucified
demagogue, Jesus, seemed to grow, since there were many who made a kind
of god of him, preaching doctrines in his name that were contrary to the
law and offensive to every sect of the Jews.

Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Levites, priests, all called out against
them. All besought Agrippa that he would be rid of them, these apostates
who profaned the land and proclaimed in the ears of a nation awaiting