Fifth Gospel(72)

A Roman citizen in the provinces had to endure the contempt and hidden hatred of the conquered peoples. However, nowhere was it seen more openly and plain to the eye than in Judea, where the Jews considered themselves the chosen ones, while all other men they deemed heretics, heathens and idolaters. Against this, she reminded herself: that Herod was disdained by his own people for not being a pure Jew, that his marriage to Herodias was unlawful, and that rumours abounded of his lust for his stepdaughter.

She turned her eyes to the priests. They also despised Rome but on principle only, for they had grown fat and wealthy on power and indulgences which had come to them through peace and the quelling of revolt. Having measured disdain against advantage they had found it wanting.

This group might be displeased at being forced to come to the house of an idolater, but neither Herod nor his priests would risk insulting a prefect of Caesar, at least not to his face.

To her mind, these were not real Jews, those she had, time and again, encountered in the streets of Jerusalem. For it was her habit to revel in the colour, the noise, and the smells of the places she lived whenever it pleased her, and she thought nothing of speaking with the local women in their own language, eating their food, and delighting in their children. After all, were women and children not the same in every place? Differences existed only in a man’s world. This was her first philosophy.

Her husband did not understand her adventurous nature, and often scolded her for her foolhardiness. She always listened and promised to be more cautious and yet the world, again and again, enticed her. In the end, her husband had ordered a man to follow her every move, which would have annoyed her had the centurion not provided her with entertainment. Having sensed that his eyes worked poorly, she toyed with him, hiding in the crowds, or in dark corners, deriving an unusual pleasure from the frustration and bewilderment of a hardened soldier over so small a thing as a woman’s whim. No, she did not take danger seriously, for she did not wish ill on any person, and it did not seem possible that ill would come to one who wished only good.

Ill attracts ill. This was her second philosophy.

During the meal, a mood of introspection descended over the group, and it was only some way into it that the conversation turned to the matter at hand, the occurrence during the Paschal week, which had so raised the ire of the priests and caused a stir among the Jews.

‘I want to know something of this man, Jesus. How can he so easily create havoc in my city?’ her husband asked.

Caiaphas’ face turned quizzical. ‘Why do you bother with an insignificant man like him? He is only a follower, not a leader…’

Her husband kept his tone polite, but she could tell that impatience lay beneath his words, ‘Insignificant? So insignificant that he can enter the Temple and threaten its priests and moneychangers? This would not happen in Rome, I assure you. Who is his leader?’

‘John the Baptist, the blasphemer!’ Ananias said, ‘But don’t be fooled, it is my estimation that this man from Nazareth may yet cause havoc for us.’

Her husband moved a cold eye to the other priest. ‘I repeat my question therefore, who is he?’

A shiver seemed to whisk through Caiaphas. Claudia realised the two priests were joined but in conflict, for beneath their common purpose there ran a longstanding quarrel of opinion.

‘When I mean he is insignificant,’ Caiaphas said, ‘it is because he is of the line of David…a descendant from David’s son, Nathan, and not from his other son, Solomon.’

Pontius paused, awaiting elucidation. When it did not come, he leaned forward and said, ‘Well? What does this mean, not from Solomon?’

Caiaphas was the model of paternal indulgence. ‘I beg your pardon, Governor,’ he said, ‘of course…how could you know? King David had two notable sons, Solomon and Nathan. You see, to Solomon he gave the kingdom, to Nathan, the priesthood.’

‘So?’ her husband said, looking from one priest to the other. ‘What of it?’

‘If Jesus of Nazareth had been born in Bethlehem, of the lineage of Solomon,’ Ananias said, ‘well, procurator, Caesar would have much to worry from such a man…for he might be the expected king…the Son of Man, destined to bring the Kingdom of God to Israel, and to resurrect its power!’

Her husband seemed puzzled. ‘So…this is your Messiah, the man from the line of Solomon?’

Herod turned from his task of enticing Salome with fruits, since something in the conversation had caught his attention. ‘Solomon…Nathan…The sun that falls on Israel breeds prophets like weeds, procurator! They spring up all over the place, telling of a Messiah who will come to put the poor in the place of rich, and the rich in place of poor; to topple kings and to bring about a consolation of all of Israel’s troubles. And if the Sicarri are to be believed, he will do it by taking for himself Caesar’s crown. But, as it is said, that he will come from Bethlehem you have nothing to fear from this man, Jesus of Nazareth. It is well known, no good has ever come out of Nazareth! In my opinion he is only a harmless madman!’ He flashed a condescending smile.