neighborhood of the Dead Sea and of
the Jordan. An abode in the desert of Judea was generally considered
as the preparation for great things, as a sort of "retreat" before
public acts. Jesus followed in this respect the example of others, and
passed forty days with no other companions than savage beasts,
maintaining a rigorous fast. The disciples speculated much concerning
this sojourn. The desert was popularly regarded as the residence of
demons.[1] There exist in the world few regions more desolate, more
abandoned by God, more shut out from life, than the rocky declivity
which forms the western shore of the Dead Sea. It was believed that
during the time which Jesus passed in this frightful country, he had
gone through terrible trials; that Satan had assailed him with his
illusions, or tempted him with seductive promises; that afterward, in
order to recompense him for his victory, the angels had come to
minister to him.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Tobit_ viii. 3; Luke xi. 24.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. iv. 1, and following; Mark i. 12, 13; Luke iv. 1,
and following. Certainly, the striking similarity that these
narratives present to the analogous legends of the _Vendidad_ (farg.
xix.) and of the _Lalitavistara_ (chap. xvii., xviii., xxi.) would
lead us to regard them only as myths. But the meagre and concise
narrative of Mark, which evidently represents on this point the
primitive compilation, leads us to suppose a real fact, which
furnished later the theme of legendary developments.]

It was probably in coming from the desert that Jesus learned of the
arrest of John the Baptist. He had no longer any reason to prolong his
stay in a country which was partly strange to him. Perhaps he feared
also being involved in the severities exercised toward John, and did
not wish to expose himself, at a time in which, seeing the little
celebrity he had, his death could in no way serve the progress of his
ideas. He regained Galilee,[1] his true home, ripened by an important
experience, and having, through contact with a great man, very
different from himself, acquired a consciousness of his own
originality.

[Footnote 1: Matt. iv. 12; Mark i. 14; Luke iv. 14; John iv. 3.]

On the whole, the influence of John had been more hurtful than useful
to Jesus. It checked his development; for everything leads us to
believe that he had, when he descended toward the Jordan, ideas
superior to those of John, and that it was by a sort of concession
that he