The Painted Messiah (17 page)

Antipas, who probably should have understood he was making the prefect uncomfortable, pointed out that Pilate had avoided making any kind of judgment at all. Pilate turned his attention to Herodias, who drank with more care. He was quite certain she had never said anything she had not intended. 'As pleasant as the food and wine is I'm afraid I much prefer the gracious company of this evening.'

The compliment ought to have finished the matter, but Antipas clearly wanted to make his point, and his point was insult. 'It is useful to appreciate the differences in our cultures, Prefect, don't you think? It is not simply a matter of agriculture and climate, and how such affect the grape. The differences extend even to the way we choose to rule. I have heard the story, for instance, which I have every reason to believe is perfectly true, that you had, let us say, some difficulty with Jerusalem a few weeks ago. Is it so?'

'A prefect of Judaea has constant business with

Jerusalem, Tetrarch. I would hesitate referring to any that I have had so far as having difficulties.'

'My father dealt with nearly the same problem thirty years ago.'

'What problem is that?'

'The Jewish aversion to images. Don't imagine I am suggesting my father's method is superior to your own. I bring it up only to illustrate how the Oriental mind approaches a problem. My father, as you no doubt have heard, was a great friend and ally of Caesar Augustus. Like you, he took offence at Jerusalem's refusal to erect even the most modest of imperial emblems. After finishing the expansion and renovation of the second Temple of Solomon, he decided to place an eagle of pure gold on the outer gate of the Temple compound - the same image your armies place before every legion in the service of the empire.

'Naturally, as you no doubt did when you erected the
imago
standard over the great door of the palace, my father anticipated resistance from certain radical elements within the Jewish population. When they came to speak to him about it, however, he simply closed his door, and that was the end of the matter. Such was the nature of my father's character that none - none! - dared to provoke him with a demonstration.'

'As I recall,' Pilate countered, feeling as he did a regrettable flush of irritation creeping over his face, 'there was some trouble concerning that eagle, or am I mistaken?'

Antipas smiled as if he had anticipated his opponent. 'A great trouble! But not for Herod. You see when the priests learned that Herod lay on his deathbed, they chose to strike. The idea was sound enough. They understood Herod's successor to Judaea, my half- brother Archaelaus, must respond, but they gambled that the response would be measured, both because the protest had not occurred directly against him and because he might not yet feel secure in his power. Certain of the priests therefore arranged for two athletic young men to be lowered by ropes from the rooftop of the Temple while their companions occupied the attention of Herod's palace guard. It was quick work, the destruction of that eagle. By the time the troops arrived at the gate it was ruined.

'My father was in such a fury he came from his deathbed and met the criminals in his great hall. He wanted to know if these young men had no fear of him. They answered that their teachers had explained to them that God would grant them eternal life for the service of defending His Temple. Applying torture, Herod learned the names of these teachers and subsequently ordered the students tied to their teachers, that he might burn them simultaneously and so let them partake of the glories of Heaven together. He then ordered the first born of Judaea under a certain age to be caught and killed, for there was a rumor about that a maid had given birth to the Messiah, and he wanted to protect his line. When that was finished, when the streets were washed with blood I should say, he returned to his bed and died peacefully.'

'Do the Jews then believe in life after death - just as the Romans and Greeks do?' Procula asked. Perhaps, Pilate thought, she did not understand the insult Antipas had delivered. It didn't matter really. Antipas rankled at the irrelevance of her remark and lost some of his satisfaction.

Herodias smiled at the unconscious effect of the question and answered her. 'The Essenes believe in it as do the Zealots, who are not of any order but unite merely in the service of anarchy. The Pharisees remain ambiguous on the matter, Lady, as on all matters save the Law, while the Sadducees, whose families rule the Temple and own most of the businesses in the city, hold that this life is all that we have.'

'One might as well be an atheist,' Pilate answered, feeling some outrage at the notion of priests holding such a secular opinion. He knew atheists in Rome, but was himself an initiate of the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries, and therefore trusted that his eternal bliss after death was already arranged.

Antipas warmed to this new subject immediately. 'In my experience, Prefect, atheists make the best priests.'

'Are you then an atheist yourself?' Procula asked.

Herodias, perhaps observing the discomfort of her guests, or simply taking the opportunity of their discomfort, chided her husband gently with the answer she gave for him. 'My husband is an atheist only late at night when the gods sleep and he has drunk himself into oblivion. During the daytime and the early evening hours he honors every superstition known to humankind and even invents a few of his own. Otherwise, it seems to me, he would already have shown the courage of his convictions by arresting the prophet John for his open sedition.'

'The one they call the Baptist?' Procula asked.

'The very same. It is not as if he is difficult to find.

The man stands in the river Jordon every day at the same time and place.'

'I believe more Jews should follow his example,'
Pilate quipped. 'I for one cannot understand their aversion to bathing.'

'Do you want to know why he hesitates?' Herodias pressed, quite ignoring Pilate's joke. 'Silence!' Antipas roared.

The chatter in the hall ceased. As Herodias well knew, Antipas had intended his command for only his wife, but she pretended he had silenced the crowd so they could hear her speech, and continued in a fashion that no Roman wife would have dared. 'It is because he fears the man will place a spell upon him if he does. Now I ask you, can an atheist fear the curse of a holy man? Have you ever heard such a thing?'

'I fear no such thing! John is simply more dangerous as a martyr than he is wandering around in the desert like a fool.'

'Your father had no such scruples.'

'The times are different.'

'As are the men.' Seeing her husband had no response to this, Herodias smiled pleasantly at Procula. 'Antipas believes your husband brought himself trouble with the Jews when he refused to kill ten thousand of them. Isn't it so, Antipas?'

'I believe an opportunity was missed to set an example, but each man rules differently and for different ends, as I have said.'

Pilate reached for his wine cup, reminding himself that he was a guest this evening and that this man, no matter how overbearing his insult, enjoyed some kind of friendship with Tiberius. 'I was prepared for disobedience,' he answered, quoting his own letter to Sejanus, which he wrote the morning after the affair. 'Receiving none, nothing at all beyond prayers to their god that I might change my mind, I chose to reward those individuals who petitioned me in a perfectly legal manner rather than set an example of brutality. The difference between East and West, I suppose.'

'Do you mean to say, Prefect,' Herodias responded with a coyness Pilate found quite pleasant, all things considered, 'you did not fear the ghosts of ten thousand men?'

Pilate permitted himself a slight smile at his host's expense. He liked this woman far better than her husband! 'I confess, Lady, the thought did not cross my mind.'

The insult Herod Antipas delivered to him at the banquet stayed with Pilate much longer than it should have. Pilate tried to persuade himself that he was comfortable with his decision to show mercy. It angered him inordinately that Antipas, and certainly others, observed not his reasonableness but mistook it for an unwillingness to rule from a position of strength. He reminded himself what was obvious, that Antipas was insignificant, that Antipas was both brutal as an administrator and cowardly as a man. What mattered was the opinion of Tiberius, not the court gossip of a backwater tetrarchy run by a woman in all but name.

The emperor's opinion was waiting when he returned. Tiberius himself had sent the letter - not Sejanus. Pilate had not been sent to Judaea, he said, to create a war. He had been sent to maintain the peace and collect taxes. Agitating a hostile city made his work more difficult. On the other hand, having stirred resistance the emperor could not celebrate Pilate's choice to stand down without so much as a single arrest. The emperor regretted, he said, the unusual slowness of his response, but he had taken some effort to acquire an objective view before making his judgment.

The objective view was undoubtedly that of Antipas, Pilate decided after due consideration. Royalty must stick together despite whatever differences they held. In this instance it meant slapping down an equestrian. Well, it illustrated the importance of Antipas, if nothing else.

'Did you enjoy the company of Herodias?' Pilate asked his wife that evening as they dined alone in their quarters.

'I found her impertinent, sir. I would not speak to you in private as she spoke to her husband before us. I do not see how Antipas can stand it.'

'I should like it very much if the two of you became friends.'

Procula studied him from her reclining position at their dining table.

'She may learn good manners from you,' he said with a smile. 'In turn, you may discover a great many things of interest.'

'I am not sure what you want, sir.'

'One imagines Antipas is a coward at heart - like his brother Philip. Herodias, on the other hand, is not. If she sees an advantage, I believe she will take it.'

'My friendship?' Procula asked.

'It will cost you only the trouble of visiting her should she respond to your desire to learn about her country and the local language. I will send Cornelius and a century of men to escort you, so you need not worry for your safety.'

'Am I simply to become this woman's friend or is there something more you desire?'

'What Antipas tells Caesar about us is what he believes, Procula. So long as Antipas sees our purpose as essentially opposed to his own I am diminished. If, on the other hand, he perceives a friendship between you and Herodias and Herodias herself campaigns actively with her husband to see us more favorably, our appointment here will be the beginning of an illustrious career, not the end of a modest one. What I want from you is nothing beyond a genuine affection for a woman who can be of service to our interests.'

'Then I will write to her at once.'

Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee

Fall AD 26.

Procula's second visit to the court of Herod Antipas occurred in the city of Tiberias in the province of Galilee and lasted nearly two months. It occurred after an exchange of letters in which Procula expressed an interest in learning something of the language and culture of the Jews.

Herodias appeared skeptical at the beginning, as if she read all too clearly Pilate's motives, but when she discovered in Procula a young woman more eager to learn from her than to spy, she gradually set aside her suspicions, or perhaps, Procula realized, accepted them and looked for her own advantage in the friendship.

It was Herodias's opinion that nothing should ever be said within the palace that one did not want others to share with Antipas. She therefore suggested carriage rides followed by walks. On such occasions, Antipas's soldiers and Cornelius's guard would withdraw to a discreet distance allowing free and frank exchanges between the women - the only ones they dared.

'Here,' Herodias gestured happily toward the countryside one afternoon, a week or so after Procula's arrival, 'we can speak as freely as trust in our friendship allows.'

'I hope that means as freely as possible,' Procula answered.

Herodias considered the younger woman thoughtfully. By this point she knew a good deal about Procula's background, her life in Syria in the court of Germanicus, interrupted at his death, her return to Rome and subsequent marriage to Pilate at the age of fourteen.

'As we are speaking freely, perhaps you can tell me how the daughter of a senator and ward of a Prince came to marry an equestrian of no great distinction?'

'The emperor,' Procula answered as truthfully as she could, 'knew that I was in love. As the marriage was not against his own interests he allowed it.'

'In love! With Pilate?' Herodias laughed. She saw the plump, overbearing middle-aged bureaucrat and found Procula's statement improbable, but Herodias had not seen Pontius Pilate as she had - sitting on a black horse, a trim young tribune wearing the dashing black uniform of the palace guard.

'Pilate escorted the funeral procession of Germanicus from Brindisium to Rome - a journey of some thirty days.'

'And you became lovers along the way?'

'We never spoke.' Procula blushed suddenly, for those days were the most precious of her life, and she had never told anyone about them. 'Pilate managed to ride by my carriage each day, and we would look at each other. Once, he said to me, 'It is a long journey, is it not?' I was so excited I could not even answer him.'