He spoke so loudly that any passer-by might have caught up his words; and there was danger from Joseph’s servants, for they were now standing by his gate.  He looked round uneasily, and as Nicodemus showed no signs of taking leave of him, he thought it would be more prudent to ask him into the house, warning him, however, that he had no beautiful things to show him in the way of engraved weapons, swords from Damascus or daggers from Circassia.  It was not, however, to see beautiful weapons that Nicodemus inclined; only so far as they related to Jesus was he interested in arms; and he besought Joseph to tell him more of Jesus, whom he seemed to have already accepted as the leader of a revolt against the Romans.  But Joseph, who had begun to fear the young man, protested that Jesus’ Kingdom was not of this earth, thinking thereby to discredit Jesus in Nicodemus’ eyes.  Nicodemus was not to be put off so easily:  the Jews spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven so that they might gain the kingdom of earth.  A method not very remarkable for its success, Joseph interposed.  The Romans do otherwise, never thinking about the Kingdom of Heaven, but only of riches and vainglory, whereas Jesus, he said, says it is as hard for the rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as it would be for a sword to pass through the eye of a needle.  A sword through the eye of a needle, Nicodemus repeated, walking up and down the floor, stamping his lance as he went.  He is the leader we have been waiting for.  But it is not always thus that he speaks, Joseph interposed, I have heard him myself say:  it is as hard for a rich man to enter heaven as it would be for a cow to calve in a rook’s nest.  As he went to and fro Nicodemus muttered:  there is much to be said for this revision of his words.  Jesus wishes to reach the imagination of the poor that know not swords.  And he spoke for a long time of the indolence of the rich, of their gross pleasures and sensual indulgences.  But we must give them swords, he added under his breath, as if he were speaking for himself alone and did not wish Joseph to hear, and then, awaking from his reverie, he turned to his host:  tell me more of this remarkable man.  And Joseph, who was now a little amused at his guest’s extravagances, asked him if he knew the answer he had given to Antipas, who had invited him to his court in Tiberias in consequence of the renown of his miracles.  Wishing to witness some exhibition of his skill, Antipas seated himself in imperial fashion on his highest throne, and, drawing his finest embroideries about him, asked Jesus if he had seen anybody attired so beautifully before, to which Jesus, who stood between two soldiers, a beggar in rags, before the king, replied:  I have indeed; pheasants and peacocks, for nature apparelled them.  Neither Moses nor Elijah nor Jeremiah, Nicodemus declared, could have invented a reply more apt.  He asked Joseph if any further doubt lingered in his mind that Jesus was the prophet promised to the Jews.  How I envy thy intercourse with him, he cried.  How I envy thee, for thou art the friend of him that will overthrow the Romans.