Rome's Lost Son(105)

It seemed to Vespasian that nothing could seethe with insurrection in the face of such harmony between man and nature. ‘How long before we have to fight to contain it, would you estimate, Felix?’

‘A few years, perhaps. This war in Armenia won’t help; if that drags on, things will speed up.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, the way that I understand it is that if Parthia resumes her hostilities next year then the following year we will organise a full-scale invasion. Quadratus will threaten Parthia’s borders whilst Corbulo will take at least two legions into Armenia plus the equivalent amount of auxiliaries. Where are those troops going to come from?’

‘Oh, I see.’

‘Exactly. I’ve got seven auxiliary cohorts here and I’ll probably lose three of them at least. What do I do? I can’t ease up on these people as they take kindness and understanding for weakness and then double their demands for exemptions for their filthy religion. Do you know that they are exempted from providing any auxiliary cohorts?’

‘Yes, I did.’

‘So my only option will be to make up for my paucity of troops by using those that I do have harder.’

‘Which will add to the resentment and provoke the locals into rebellion.’

‘As surely as if I’m nice to them and they perceive Rome as weakening her grip on Judaea.’

‘I see the dilemma.’

‘The only man who can rule the Jews is their messiah and the last man who claimed to be that was Herod Agrippa.’

‘Did he? I thought he was just their king.’

‘No, he tried to claim more than that; it was the year after you went to Britannia.’ Felix gestured to the terrace that they were standing on. ‘It was right here. He appeared wearing a silver cloak at about this time of day. The sun burned golden on it, just as it’s doing now; he shone like a god and the crowd hailed him as such despite the blasphemy in Jewish eyes. They wanted him to be their messiah and lead them away from Rome and he didn’t deny it. He betrayed his friend, Claudius. Anyway, as he proclaimed his divinity an owl, the bird of death, perched above his head and he immediately felt ill; five days later he was dead, eaten from the inside by worms, so they say. Claudius then returned Judaea to direct Roman rule so the Jews, instead of gaining their messiah, got a Roman procurator in his place. The majority of them are still awaiting their messiah; the King of the Jews who will defeat Rome as some believe or, as others say, the King of Judaea who will rule in Rome. It doesn’t really make any difference as it’s all palpable nonsense.’

‘I thought that this Yeshua was their messiah?’

‘Only to a handful of fanatics who used not to be able to agree with one another and spent the whole time stirring one part of the populace up against another; but now their influence is growing. Just before I was appointed they apparently had a meeting in Jerusalem; have you heard of Paulus of Tarsus?’

‘I’ve met the bastard.’

‘Well, you should have killed him.’

‘I know.’

‘Anyway, he’d been in Corinth in Achaea spreading his poison and offending the local Jews, who apprehended him in a scuffle and asked the Governor to deal with him.’

‘Gallio?’

‘Yes; but he couldn’t find anything wrong with upsetting the Jewish population so ruled in favour of Paulus and let him go.’

‘The idiot.’

‘I know. Paulus has arrived here in Judaea and has met with the other supporters of Yeshua and they seem to have sorted out their differences to a certain extent; at least that’s what my agents within the movement tell me. Apparently Yeshua’s brothers and nearly all of his closest associates have agreed that Paulus can take Yeshua’s message to the uncircumcised, as they call them; although they haven’t been able to agree on whether they should eat with non-Jews or at least with people who do not keep their dietary laws.’

‘If you’ve got agents within the movement, why don’t you use them to arrest the ringleaders? At least get Paulus.’

Felix looked at Vespasian with wistful regret. ‘I’ve got close to him once and I’ll keep trying. The trouble is that they move around and are very secretive but we have had a couple of successes; you passed one of them as you entered the city. But they’re still gaining strength all the time and now they’ve started to spread their poison further afield; it’s becoming clear that it’s wider than just the Jews.’

‘Yes, I know. Sabinus is having trouble with it in Macedonia and Thracia and it would seem that Izates, the King of Adiabene, is also a convert.’