ABSTRACT
The Bible, explained and codified by scholars who knew their Aristotle and, increasingly, their Plato made it possible for Christians to provoke laughter with a good conscience. Although living at the time of the early Church he wrote in good classical Greek. Some still think of him primarily as an anti-Christian scoffer. Lucian scoffs mainly at the gods of the pagan pantheon, but he does incidentally scoff also at the early Christians and their crucified Lord. In one of his most widely read works he turned his laughing attention on to the wilful self-immolation of a certain Peregrinus. Peregrinus had abandoned the philosophy of the Cynics so as to join the Christians and exploit their gullibility. When Peregrinus is thrown into gaol, the simpletons who follow him pour out money to help him. Those wretched Christians despise death; they even court imprisonment, persuaded that they are to become immortal.
