On their way they encountered a company of youthful and richly-dressed Jews, who, basket on arm, in imitation of beggars, were soliciting alms by way of casting ridicule upon the procurator. “Give an obolus for Florus, he is so poor!” they whined in a mocking voice. “Woe to them if Florus gets to hear of it!” muttered Rufus. On arriving at the Turris Antonia he found that his centurions had taken all precautions for the safety of the fortress. Upon the roof of the cloisters facing the bridge that connected the fortress with the temple, the Italian Cohort was drawn up in all the glittering panoply of war, their silence and discipline presenting a striking contrast to the tumult and disorder that was raging not many yards distant. The temple-courts were filled with a crowd so numerous that it seemed as if the whole city must have assembled there. To the mind of Crispus with his Roman love of order there was something peculiarly repulsive in the spectacle before him. It was an Oriental mob, and like all Oriental mobs when inflamed with rage, its units behaved like frenzied demons. They spat towards the Romans; they tossed their garments; they shook their fists; they yelled out curses; they cast dust into the air. The wilder spirits among them took to flinging stones, the rattle of which, falling upon the brazen armor of the soldiery, was audible above the tumult of voices; of all which the superbly disciplined Roman troops took no more heed than a man takes of gnats on a summer eve. Rufus, advancing to the head of the stairs that descended to the temple-court, lifted his hand. The sign was perceived and understood, but it was some time ere the crowd quieted down to a listening mood. Standing upon the very place where, eight years previously, Saint Paul had addressed a raging mob, and speaking in the same language--the Syro-Chaldaic--Rufus sought to pacify the fears of the multitude. Florus, it seemed, had demanded seventeen talents to be taken from the Corban. He--Rufus--was not prepared to say that the Jews were wrong in resenting this demand; as the servant of Florus it was not his business to criticise the actions of his master, but the Jews were certainly wrong in their way of showing their disapproval. The lawful method was to dispatch an embassy to Florus to state why they considered the demand unreasonable. Let them do so without delay. If they were now assembling under the belief that he--Rufus--was going to invade their sanctuary for the purpose of seizing the seventeen talents they were in error; he had not received any such order from Florus, and till such order came he would be endangering his own head if he should venture to forestall the will of the procurator. They could, therefore, depart quietly to their homes in the full assurance that their treasures would remain untouched for that day, at least, and probably for several days to come. As to what might ultimately happen, well, it was not wise to anticipate evil.