Fifth Gospel(45)
It was Pontius Pilate’s custom to come from Caesarea for the festivals and to spend his time ensconced in the praetorium where from a distance he could keep an eye on the festivities. He was always heavily guarded but the Sicarri figured that an uprising would cause him to send all available men to the streets and in the ensuing chaos a number of them could force their way into his palace and sink a dagger into his heart.
With Pilate dead, Rome would need to send a new prefect to Jerusalem and in the meantime there would be disorder and confusion -the food of revolution.
Such was the grand and auspicious plan.
Judas was disturbed by it.
It was fraught with traps but more importantly it did not fit with Judas’ own ideal. In his mind there still lived an image of the Messiah, which had become entangled with the likeness of Judas Maccabeus. This Messiah would be a great king and he would unite the glory of Rome with the wisdom of the Jews. Rome might even be persuaded to become the benefactor of such a transformation if it were to her benefit. Moreover, Pilate seemed to be a man of principles. He may have used Temple funds to build an aqueduct, but was Jerusalem not arid and dry? Did its population not cry out for water? Was there not a practical logic to using these funds, which often fell into the pockets of the corrupt priests, to quench the thirst of the people? Perhaps there was a way of preparing for the Messiah by stroking Roman pride?
He resolved that he would start by warning Pilate of the insurrection. The Roman would look favourably upon such a warning and consider its messenger a man he could trust. Trust, Judas reasoned, led to favour, and favour led to outcomes.
And so, in his mind he calculated his next move. He would take himself to the Procurator of Judea and beg an audience. He could not know that such an action was destined to bring about the realisation of his second betrayal.
21
PONTIUS PILATE
The moon filtered through the silk curtains and Pontius Pilate lay sleepless in his bed, watching it and listening to Claudia’s soft breathing in the oppressive airs of the night.
In the day she was calm and in the night she slept untroubled. The heat and disorder of this place did not bother her. Pilate, on the other hand, found that the climate of Jerusalem made his mind seek to stand still in the day and his thoughts to run leagues in the night.
But this night, something more prevented his sleep.
Sometime ago, on his arrival in Jerusalem and following Caesar’s orders he had his men erect standards bearing Caesar’s image on the walls of all prominent places, including the Hebrew Temple. Immediately a great uprising broke out, with thousands of people clamouring into the streets and into the Temple, inspired by the Zealots and their speeches. They had climbed the walls of the Temple to take down the standards, and his soldiers tried to stop them the priests stood in their way and offered their throats.
Pilate sighed now. His orders on his appointment had been clear – maintain peace in the province and do all that is necessary in this regard or else find yourself answering to a Caesar who likes to throw his enemies from cliffs into the sea!
To prevent an escalation of violence he had ordered the images taken down. Ah! These were a difficult people, beyond reasoning and common sense. In no other province had the Romans encountered such obstinacy, such militancy and extremity.
Afterwards, wishing to better know their mind he had invited the tetrarch of Galilee and the priests of the Sanhedrin to a feast. But his guests did not come, the high priest had been afraid of defilement, and Herod had feigned illness. The message could not have been clearer: The conquered people of Judea thought Rome beneath them and would always see themselves her enemies.
Afterwards his administration had passed through bloody times ending in the latest incident, which on such a night, with the swollen moon and the smell of death for company, weighed heavily on his mind.
Before coming to his bedchamber he had taken a lamp to his library to consult his favourite philosopher Cicero. Cicero expounded that some men were only guided by what provides comfort and happiness in life. Pilate had seen it in Rome, where those things that were good for the self were sought at the expense of what was moral and good. But his doings had never dictated by his own needs, only by the needs of the state, and these needs he had always regarded as good! However, since arriving in Palestine a change had worked its way into his thinking like a worm into an apple. Roman law was becoming more and more distasteful to him and he was beginning to think of it as something expedient and immoral. Such were the thoughts of the man in him.
The smell of his wife’s hair was comforting to him. He put a hand to her bare shoulder. Claudia Procula was beautiful and he loved her though their union had been arranged, as was everything else in his life. After all, the future of a man born to the equestrian class was laid out before him like a map divided into the provinces of youth, middle years and old age and his hope was to live long enough to follow these sign posts to that final destination.