‘Of whom Jesus was one,’ said Tancred; ‘the descendant of King David as well as the Son of God. But through this last and greatest of their princes it was ordained that the inspired Hebrew mind should mould and govern the world. Through Jesus God spoke to the Gentiles, and not to the tribes of Israel only. That is the great worldly difference between Jesus and his inspired predecessors. Christianity is Judaism for the multitude, but still it is Judaism, and its development was the death-blow of the Pagan idolatry.’ ‘Gentiles,’ murmured Fakredeen; ‘Gentiles! you are a Gentile, Tancred?’ ‘Alas! I am,’ he answered, ‘sprung from a horde of Baltic pirates, who never were heard of during the greater annals of the world, a descent which I have been educated to believe was the greatest of honours. What we should have become, had not the Syro-Arabian creeds formed our minds, I dare not contemplate. Probably we should have perished in mutual destruction. However, though rude and modern Gentiles, unknown to the Apostles, we also were in time touched with the sacred symbol, and originally endowed with an organisation of a high class, for our ancestors wandered from Caucasus; we have become kings and princes.’ ‘What a droll thing is history,’ said Fakredeen. ‘Ah! if I were only acquainted with it, my education would be complete. Should you call me a Gentile?’ ‘I have great doubts whether such an appellation could be extended to the descendants of Ishmael. I always look upon you as a member of the sacred race. It is a great thing for any man; for you it may tend to empire.’ ‘Was Julius Cæsar a Gentile?’ ‘Unquestionably.’ ‘And Iskander?’ (Alexander of Macedon.) ‘No doubt; the two most illustrious Gentiles that ever existed, and representing the two great races on the shores of the Mediterranean, to which the apostolic views were first directed.’ ‘Well, their blood, though Gentile, led to empire,’ said Fakredeen.