The colonel, whose name is Cornelius and who is also a brother of Emperor Augustus, says, ‘Much good may it do them! For I cannot tell You enough how this whole temple brood sits on my stomach. I tell You, dearest and most exalted Friend: the worst of the worst on the entire globe is a Jewish temple priest! Our quasi-Egyptian priests are bad, but here and there a little humanity still shows through. One hears little of any cruelty, and their business, with a few mystical exceptions, is to encourage humanity toward humaneness and martial courage.
But these fellows are hypocrites through and through! Outwardly they act so strict and devout, as though they carried nothing but sacks full of living gods; inwardly, by our mythology, they would be too wicked even for the lowest Tartarus. Truly, if our fabled three chief Furies, at whose hideousness everything is supposed to turn to stone with fear and terror, caught sight of such a Jerusalem temple fellow, even they themselves would in the end have to turn to diamond from excessive fear and dread. I tell You: to unravel once and for all this most maliciously entangled temple and its tangle of priests, a sharpest sword of the king of Macedonia must come into play as soon as possible, or the whole earth will soon be entangled in this most disastrous knot! O Friend, I could tell You things about these fellows that could give the whole earth a fever! But enough; be content with this for now. When You come to me, we will talk much about it together.’
I say, ‘Oh, leave that! I know the brood down to its lowest root fiber. But I have already chosen for this purpose a king of Macedonia from your stock in Rome; the prize shall be assigned to him of cutting apart this most densely tangled of all knots with a glowing sword. Yet first I still intend to do various things for the possible improvement of quite a few of them.’
The colonel says, ‘Do not do it! For if You too can die in the human way and manner (?), even if You are a true Son of God, they will know how to kill You. For as I tell You, not even a god is sure of his life before these fellows any longer! Believe me, dearest young Friend!’
I say, ‘Let us leave that! What the Father wills will happen. A breath from My mouth would suffice, and they would be no more. But such is not the Father’s will, and so we will leave them a while longer.’
The colonel says, ‘If these fellows behave in ten years as they do now, not many people will remain alive in Judea. If there were not a moderate man in their High Council, an enormous uproar would have arisen soon after You so boldly cleansed the temple of this vermin. But a truly honorable man named Nicodemus knew how to stand up to these fellows, who are now almost as numerous as the grass on the earth. It was enough to make one die laughing, how cleverly he made them understand that God had expressly allowed this cleansing of the temple so that His servants had to come into a great deal of money through it. For it was precisely the sellers, money changers and dove dealers who, apart from their small rent for space, never put an offering in God’s treasury, though they possessed the most money in all Jerusalem (!—?). Most agreed with this, and some said, “Well, let him come again with his magical power at the next feast; he can be useful!” But some who themselves carried on money changing in the temple as a sideline through trusted agents were naturally not very pleased with this wish. Nevertheless I guarantee You that the vermin will not harm a hair of Your head over a possible cleansing of the temple at a coming feast, for at the last one You helped them to a considerable sum. So if You should go to Jerusalem again on the same business, slip in quite secretly, or You will find the temple already cleansed of its own accord. For these merchants, money changers and livestock dealers have sent spies in every direction to watch You on Your journeys, as have those exceptionally wicked temple servants. Those I had arrested on the road were all fellows of that sort; I do not believe there were two honest ones among them!’
I say, ‘Well, I can do them that favor once more. But after that, be quite assured, no money changer or seller will conduct his business in the temple again! When I make My final entry into Jerusalem, I will once again have occasion to cleanse the temple as I cleansed it recently.’
After this assurance a squad leader comes and reports to the colonel that the troops are ready to march. The colonel now takes his leave of Me and reminds Me once more to be sure to visit him in Capernaum. After this the master of the house brings a good breakfast, and all the guests took part in it.