“If it be treason to declare the will of God, then am I talking treason,” said Josephus. “Peace! I and the legions have sworn to uphold the throne of Vitellius.” “They took the oath with great reluctance, however,” observed Titus, “and are repenting of it. Their dissatisfaction grows from day to day.” “Their dissatisfaction shall not divert me from the path of duty.” “Seek not,” said Josephus, “to resist your destiny. Cæsar you will be, in spite of yourself. For so is it written in our sacred scriptures, that one arising in Judæa shall obtain the empire of the world.”[20] Crispus, in spite of the debt he owed Josephus, could not conceal his scorn at this amazing perversion of Messianic prophecy, a perversion that showed to what depth of sycophancy the soul of this priest and Pharisee could descend. That the sacred predictions of Isaiah should receive their fulfillment in the elevation of a heathen soldier to the throne of the Cæsars was to the Hebrew mind an interpretation so blasphemous that if Josephus had ventured to assert it among a circle of his own countrymen he would most assuredly have been torn to pieces. On the present occasion, however, he was safe from such a fate; and if he himself did not believe in his own statement what mattered, if the lie could but accomplish his purpose? “Rise,” said Vespasian sternly, for during all this time Josephus had been kneeling. The captive arose; and Vespasian, turning to his officers, asked in a tone of pleasantry: “How shall I punish this knave for urging me to treason?” Rufus answered him. “Give him his freedom on the day that you become Cæsar. If he hath prophesied truly his freedom is bound to come, and if not----” Vespasian slapped his thigh with a hearty laugh. “By Castor, a just sentence! As thou sayest, so shall it be.” A close observer might have detected in the “prophet’s” expression a certain uneasiness suggestive of the idea that he was by no means confident of the fulfillment of his words. “Retire,” said Vespasian, whose desire for Hebrew history had vanished. “I will hear thee no more to-night.” So Josephus departed; but when Titus began to comment upon his vaticination, Vespasian forbade him with so stern an air that Titus at once dropped the subject; and when, later, a centurion looked in to ask the watchword for the night, Vespasian wrote upon the tessera the word “FIDELITAS.” * * * * * The throne of the Cæsars! Despite Vespasian’s repudiation--a repudiation made at the time in all sincerity--it became evident within the space of a few days that the seed sown in his mind by Josephus was beginning to germinate.