“There is no higher law than that of duty. You are a Roman. You are my son. Madman! As a Roman, you are breaking the laws of the country--as a son, you are breaking your father’s heart! What demon possesses you? What disease is this that has turned your brain? Does it charm your hopes more to bleed to death under the fangs of Libyan beasts, than to be clasped in the arms of your Cornelia? Does the air of the Tullianum please you better, than the perfumed atmosphere of your own rooms? You have everything, every single thing your heart can desire, and you must plunge into dark gulfs of crime, soil your soul with the foul mire of superstition--nay, call yourself the brother of vile slaves, of panders and corpse-carriers!” “I follow the light of truth,” replied Quintus. “You are wrong, father, in regarding the Nazarenes as mere vile rabble. It is not rank that makes the man, but character. Before the God of the Nazarenes there is no respect of persons, and it is just that which makes the doctrine of Christ so noble.” “Noble! Quintus--by all the gods, return to your right mind! A man of senatorial rank, a son of the house of Claudia, thinks the doctrine noble, which grants him equal rights with street-porters and executioners.[92] Such madness puts me beside myself. And what has all this to do with the salvation of your soul? Have you gone through the senseless farces, of which I have heard so much? Kissed the gallows,[93] and offered sacrifice before the miserable image of a crucified man? Have you lent ear to the fables, which superstition has woven round that execution on Golgotha? Alas! your silence is only too eloquent. These tricksters have entangled you with their wiles, till you have lost the power to free yourself from the net. Oh! I can quite understand, that it was well worth their while to entrap a Claudius. Your name outweighs a thousand lesser ones, and held aloft on their banner at the right moment, it might bring victory to the traitors! And do you not perceive all this? Does your keen eye fail to see through their treacherous game?” “Father, we can never understand each other. By all that is sacred....”