Anyone reading Pliny’s narrative with half an ear open for echoes of Josephus may hear at least a faint resonance: They … met … to bind themselves by oath … to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery … I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths. This school agrees in all other respects with the opinions of the Pharisees, except that they have a passion for liberty that is almost unconquerable, since they are convinced that God alone is their leader and master.31 Devoted pursuit of personal holiness, and the extravagant refusal to recognize any other master:
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