One night in 1764, the Cardinal De Rohan was hosting a dinner party. A group of about twenty three diners sat with the cardinal and shared pleasant conversation. One man in particular was dominating all the discourse that evening; the Count of St. Germain.
At one point during the night, the party was discussing the folly of choice that the crowds of Jerusalem chose Barabbas instead of our lord Jesus Christ. At this point the Count of St. Germain stopped eating and delared that he had known Pontius Pilate; "A good man." The guests stood aghast at the suggestion, but the Count merely kept talking. He described in great detail the house that Pontius lived in and the servants that he had. He could even recall the dishes that he supped upon when invited for dinner by Pontius himself.
The Cardinal was indeed skeptical, but somewhat enthralled by the Count's claims. He turned from his guests and spoke to none other than St. Germain's valet. He was a strikingly tall man, who was older looking than the Count. There was a certain air of honesty in his expression.
"My friend," said the Cardinal De Rohan. "I find it hard to believe what your master is telling us." He proclaimed, "Granted that he may fancy himself some sort of magician; and that perhaps even he can sythnesize gold from base metals. But that he is two thousand years old? Well, that is too much for one to believe." The guests all nodded in agreement. The count himself dabbed at the sides of his mouth with his serviette, hiding a somewhat obvious smirk. The Cardinal spoke once more; "Since you are the Count's valet, I assume that you were present at that dinner?"
"Oh, no, Monsignore," the valet answered ingenously. "I have been in M. le Comte's service for only four hundred years."
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