“No--a thousand times no!” shouted a voice of thunder, that echoed from the stone walls. “Tear me in pieces, but spare me so base a lie!” Titus Claudius staggered; he had to support himself by clinging to the altar. “My son, my son, what have you done?” he muttered in a husky voice. “What I had to do,” cried Quintus vehemently. “Lead me back to my cell, kill me--I die a Nazarene!” An unexampled tumult arose on this unexpected incident. Titus Claudius, with a faint scream, sank senseless into the arms of a temple-servant. The mob, who took up the young man’s words as a note of defiance, forgot all the respect due to the sanctuary, and pressed forward, shouting for prompt vengeance. Indeed any faith in the doctrines of the State religion survived in very few, it was Roman arrogance, which had taken the place of the old Roman pride, which demanded its rights. The crime, that Quintus had now committed, was contempt of the majesty of the people, an insult to the Roman name--a crime a thousand times more unpardonable than the folly of those poor wretches, who gathered in a catacomb to worship in secret round the cross. Norbanus tried in vain to restore order; even his nearest allies seemed paralyzed and helpless. Suddenly the voice of the Flamen was heard once more; he had recovered his self-possession, and was standing in an imperious attitude before the altar. “Stand back!” he exclaimed, clenching his fist over the heads of the mob as though he wielded the bolts of Jove. “What do you want? What do you fear? The law is immutable. Centurions of the guard, do your duty, as I do mine. Away with the Nazarene! Take him back to prison! And you, noisy simpletons, meditate in devout silence, till the priest shall have ended his sacred office.” A death-like stillness responded to this address. No one stirred; neither of the centurions ventured to obey the Flamen’s orders. “Why do you delay?” said Quintus to Norbanus. “The ground here burns under my feet. Take me away!” Norbanus and his subalterns quitted the temple with a saddened mien; Quintus walked slowly in their midst. Once he turned, and in a tone of anguish said: “Father--farewell!” “You no longer have a father,” said the high-priest averting his eyes, and he at once began the interrupted prayer and performed the service and sacrifice to the end. FOOTNOTES: [95] THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE PONTIFICES. The pontifices were a college of priests, that superintended the affairs of religion and worship on behalf of the government. Under Sulla they numbered fifteen; the emperors increased or diminished them according to their good pleasure. The chief of the pontifices, the _Pontifex Maximus_, was at the head of the college. Under the emperors the head of the government _eo ipso_ was also _Pontifex Maximus_. The oversight of the manner of worship was the special duty of the pontifices.