Nathan the Wise

The Templar goes to a Lay Brother of the church to ask advice. He plans to have the Lay Brother ask the Patriarch, but then the Patriarch himself walks in. The Patriarch enters with much fanfare, and the Templar is not impressed, calling the Patriarch “rosy, fat, and amicable” to himself (97). The Patriarch notices the Templar, who tells him that he is seeking advice. He asks the Patriarch about a hypothetical situation in which a Jew brought up a Christian child as Jew. The Patriarch is appalled, and asks the Templar if the situation is hypothetical or real. He says that if a Jew had surreptitiously raised a Christian as a Jew in this way, the Jew would suffer the punishment of apostasy (burning at the stake).

The Templar asks if the person could be forgiven if there had been good intentions in raising the child this way, but the Patriarch says no, repeating that “The Jew shall burn” (100). They end the conversation with the Patriarch asking once more if the situation is only hypothetical, and the Templar insisting that it is.