456 LUCIAN
interest. In short, they are lavish of everything. And what is more, on the pretext of his impris- onment, many contributions of money from them came to Peregrinus at that time, and he made no lit- tle income out of it. Why, these poor wretches have persuaded themselves that they are going to be every whit immortal and live forever ; wherefore they both despise death and voluntarily devote themselves to it — the most of them. Moreover, their first law-giver persuaded them that they all are brethren one of an- other, when once they come out and reject the gods of the Greeks, and worship that crucified sophist, and live according to his requirements. Therefore they esteem all things alike as of small account, and regard their property as common, having received such ideas from others, without any adequate basis for their faith. If, then, any cheat came among them and a trickster able to manage things, in a very short time he got ever so rich, laughing in his sleeve at these unsophisticated folk.
