“Oh! Oh! My friend,” exclaimed the abbé in protest.
“A plebeian Jew in the midst of so many princes of the Church! Doesn’t it strike you as an absurdity?”
“No, not absurd at all.”
“The truth is that this religion of yours is Jewish meat with a Roman sauce.”
“And yours? What is yours?”
“Mine? I have not got past fetichism. I worship the golden calf. Like the majority of Catholics.”
“I don’t believe it.”
They looked back; they could see the dome of the great basilica shining in the sun; then, to one side, a little viaduct and a tower.
“What a wonderful bird you keep in this beautiful cage!” said Cæsar.
“What bird?” asked Preciozi.