PRO-CONSUL'S LETTER

Southland Times, Issue 18809, 30 April 1920, Page 3

PRO-CONSUL'S LETTER

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY IN ROME. PEN PORTRAIT OF SAVIOUR. (News by MaiLl ROME, February 15. From the dust of more than 1900 years a studious modern Roman has rescued a pen-portrait of Jesus Christ. It was drawn in one of the letters that Publius Lcntulus, who was a Roman Pro-Consul in Palestine and knew the Saviour in Nazareth, wrote to a friend in Italy. " There has appeared here a man of strange virtue," Publius Lentulus wrote. "His disciples call him The Son of God.’ He cures the sick and raises the dead to life. He is a very handsome man and worthy of all our attention. His hair is blond and covers his shoulders hi separate curls and is parted in the middle, after the fashion of the people of Nazareth. His forehead is smooth and rerene, without marks or wrinkles; his countenance is pink; his nose is well formed; his beard, of the same colour as his hair, is parted in the middle, “in his gaze k an expression of wisdom and of openness; his eyes are blue but shine terribly when he reproves people; but in conversation they are amiable. His observations are expressed with liveliness, although he always remains calm. Nobody has ever seen him laugh; but he often weeps. Of a good height and straight figure lie has very beautiful bands and arms. His manner of speaking is serious. He speaks but little, and is modest. In short, he is as handsome as a man may be. They call him Jesus, the Son of Mary.” Expert antiquarians and students of history pronounce the letters of Publius Lentulus to be entirely genuine. For centuries they were forgotten save by students of Latin and ancient Rome. The advent of Christ mils brought the letter quoted to the mind of an old professor here. He translated it into modem Italian and sent it to some of his learned friends as a historical curiosity. It seems to verify the belief that the Saviour had a fair complexion and light hair, as many old artists depicted Him.