"Was it not my father that
erected thy Temple?"
Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
family.
The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to
that of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon
the priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts,
rushed to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their
knives. He attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by
some of the Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and
made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius
indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor.
The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of
the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus
rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass's head, which he declared they
honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to
the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the
fact that that beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was
to be feared they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been
discovered in the Temple.
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