a Christian, and, according to Lucian, prominent among Christians:—
"He had thoroughly learned," says Lucian, "the wondrous philosophy of the Christians, having consorted in Palestine with their priests and scribes. What would you expect? He speedily showed that they were mere children in his hands; he was their prophet, the chief of their religious fraternity (θιασάρχης), the convener of their meetings (συναγωγεύς)—in short, everything to them. Some of their books he interpreted and elucidated; many of them he wrote himself. They regarded him as a god, made him their law-giver, and adopted him as their champion (προστάτην ἐπεγράφοντο)."
Here we may pause to observe that the mention of "priests and scribes" is suggestive of some confusion in Lucian's mind between Christianity and Judaism; while the alleged concern of Peregrinus, as interpreter or as author, with the Christian Scriptures looks like a statement derived from an anti-Christian, possibly a Jewish, source. With regard to the words describing the pre-eminence of Peregrinus among the Christians—θιασάρχης, συναγωγεύς, προστάτης—they are merely such terms as a pagan writer might naturally employ to describe leadership in a religious community of which the organisation was not accurately known to him. They do not warrant, for example, the inference which has been drawn from the word προστάτην that Peregrinus at one time held the office of Bishop. Then Lucian goes on to relate how Peregrinus was imprisoned by the Roman Governor of Syria, and how the Christians behaved on that occasion. They looked on his imprisonment as a common misfortune, and tried every means to
