I thank you for your letters and especially for your zeal in defending my interests against Pomponius Rufus. I warned him long ago that his new house, if built to that height, would interfere with my rights of light. The sly rascal has waited long enough to carry out his plans. Let him discover in the courts, my friend, how staunch a champion and how eloquent a counsel I possess in you.

I heard last week that an itinerant preacher had turned up in the hill-country south of Jerusalem. His name is John. As it appeared that he was causing a certain amount of excitement, and might cause more, I sent Joseph to Jerusalem on a mission of inquiry. I have given him authority, if he thinks it necessary, to seek out personally the source of the ferment and report what it amounts to. It may be nothing, but I ought to know.