To the Death (8 page)

A low rumble of assent greeted this remark. “He finds favour with Caesar and has Caesar's ear. Be not provoked but let us go to the Procurator in peace”. She paused and raised her hand in the direction of Ananus, eyes flushing with passion. “Your High Priest asks for Caesar's mercy for all of us. Let us hope the Procurator will hear our cry and these unhappy disputes are laid to rest”.

With Berenice and Ananus leading the way, the principal citizens and city counsellors and the huge crowd surged towards the Hippicus where Florus awaited them.

The cessation of violence annoyed the procurator, who was reaping handsome profits from it. He had hoped that it could be nurtured into a full scale revolt, which would make him even richer, so when Berenice approached the judgement seat he glanced coldly at the barefooted figure who knelt before him. “Excellency the people prostrate themselves before you. They pledge their loyalty to Caesar, to the Empire, and they acknowledge your sovereignty over them, as the Emperor's appointed representative. The people beg to return to your favour. They beg your forgiveness for any unintentional wrong. They humbly ask for your pardon and beg that peace be restored between us”.

“Madam, I await your brother so that I can present him with the bill for the outrages your people have committed - though what price I should set for loyal Roman soldiers, who were murdered defending the city against assassins, I don't know.” He raised his eyes to stare coldly at the silent crowd. “Ungrateful Jews”, he continued, “who spit on Roman peace, who fret and chafe at the Empire's just laws, who reject her gods and murder her soldiers, who kill each other in your lunatic sectarian squabbles, who dare demand peace without any consideration of reparations”. He smiled without warmth and continued “Perhaps the officials and priests with you would care to name a figure”.

Berenice swallowed hard to contain her anger. Ananus, seeing her discomfiture, approached the dais and dropping to his knees, head bowed, said “Excellency, reparations will be made to assuage any hurt that has been done, but tell us what we must do to find favour in your heart. We are truly sorry that events have conspired to turn your heart against us. Let us prove our loyalty. Tell us what we must do to return to your favour”.

With feigned reluctance Florus said “Very well. Tomorrow two
cohorts
arrive from Caesarea. Let the people go out to meet them and welcome them to the city with flowers and greetings. Let the people lead them into the city as friends and protectors, as fellow subjects of Rome. Let them pledge their loyalty to Rome, to the empire, and her soldiers”.

In spite of Berenice's protestations, for she was suspicious of the sudden change of heart, the High Priest agreed and said he would organise the reception.

At the back of the crowd Menahem listened to these affirmations of loyalty from the Jews with a satisfaction he didn't bother to conceal. Signalling to a number of his followers who were mingling with the crowd, he whispered instructions. “Call a meeting for tonight”.

Marcus, who had been somewhat perplexed by the Procurator's sudden generosity of spirit, was reassured when he received his orders in private. “Take half a dozen men and your best horses. Rendezvous tonight with the commander of the approaching
cohorts
. You'll carry orders that every man is to be instructed not to return the greetings of the Jews. These orders warn them that the Jews are only pretending to offer them a welcome. They are not to allow any Jew to approach them. They will be walking into a Jewish trap, for concealed amongst them are Sicarii. If they are insulted or provoked in any way, they are to defend themselves”.

Marcus assured the Procurator, that if any insult was offered to Roman soldiers, the perpetrators would be punished without mercy. With an anticipatory gleam in his eyes, the
tribune
hurried away to pick the men who would ride with him within the hour.

In Jerusalem a handful of men slipped through the dusk to an inn, where in a back room the red headed figure of Menahem Ben Judas and his most trusted followers were waiting for them. Menahem's red hair signalled a fiery and impetuous nature, prone to act on an impulse without too much regard for the consequences.

Nevertheless, the men who gathered round the table to share a simple meal had been with him a long time, trusting him implicitly. Many were related and shared ties of blood. His second in command, Eleazor Ben Jair, was his nephew.

The low roofed upstairs room ran the whole length of the building. Approached by a narrow staircase, it was guarded by a man sitting on an upturned box nursing a cup of wine. A cord, concealed by the staircase's handrail, ran from the bottom of the stair to the top, passing through a hole drilled into the door, terminating in a tiny bell. The cord at the bottom of the stairs was within six inches of the watcher's hand. It could be used to signal the conspirators, with nobody in the downstairs part of the building being any the wiser. Menahem Ben Judas rose from his chair and the chattering group became silent. “Brethren, the time has come. We attack Masada in ten days' time”.

These men had waited a long time for this moment. Many like their leader were Galilean; all of them shared a burning hatred of the Romans. A satisfied murmur rumbled around the room. Menahem continued “We have sworn members of our organisation in key positions in the fortress. They know what they have to do. They are patiently awaiting the order to strike. My nephew Eleazor Ben Jair, will take that order tomorrow morning, when he delivers supplies.” The moment was at hand. In the lamp light, eyes gleamed with satisfaction. These were hard men, who had sacrificed a lot to become freedom fighters. Many of them had suffered personally under Roman rule. Not just the imposition of taxes. In the struggle for freedom, they had lost family members, had their homes confiscated, their sons and daughters sold into slavery.

It had taken years of careful planning to infiltrate the civilian population who worked at the fortress. Many were slaves, who actually stayed in the fortress overnight. Other civilians were admitted to the fortress from time to time to deliver supplies. The Sicarii now had enough men inside the fortress who were not only sympathetic to their cause, they had been recruited into their organisation and acknowledged Menahem as their leader.

“With Masada taken, we divide our forces. Eleazor Ben Jair will assume command of the fortress and from there, will attack every town and village within a fifty miles radius”. He paused to sip from his goblet. “In Judaea all Roman garrisons are to be destroyed. Where the people fail to support us, their villages will be burnt to the ground; their inhabitants put to death”.

This last brought an uneasy shuffling of feet. They were used to assassinating fellow Jews for political purposes. Murder and torture were their everyday stock in trade. But putting whole Jewish communities to the sword?

Menahem pressed on relentlessly. “A Jew who supports Rome is as much your enemy as any Roman. Either can cause your death. Both keep you in poverty. Our fellow Jews are either for us or against us - there is no middle ground. My enemy's enemy is my friend”.

Along the length of the table fists pounded the table in agreement. Few doubted that some of them would die in the coming assault, but they were resolved. Freedom or death. They met their leader's eye; clenched fists were raised in salute. A slightly built rabbi, a young man who had spent his entire life as a scholar, asked the question which had formed in others' minds. “What follows Masada?”

“It will take time for the news to reach Rome and for Rome to respond”, was the answer. “In the meantime the Roman forces garrisoned throughout Palestine will hole up and keep to their barracks”.

Before Menahem could continue another voice was heard, “What about the legions in Syria, and the client Kings in the north who have sworn allegiance to Rome?”

Other excited voices joined in the questioning. Nazarius, a Judean who was a Levite in the Temple, ground out “What about fucking Florus, and that bastard Cestius? Both command many men and they are well armed and”, he added viciously, “what about the turncoat Agrippa and his cunt of a sister?”

Menahem laughed at the storm of questioning that had broken out, and banged on the table to bring them to order. “Within Masada is Herod's armoury, a vast collection of weapons. Enough to equip an army of thousands”. A thoughtful silence settled on the room. They had forgotten about this priceless cache. “I will arm those citizens of Jerusalem who will swear loyalty to our cause, and attack the city from within. We will lay siege to the Roman garrison the Antonia and kill every Jew who will not fight for his freedom”.

Joseph Ben Levi, an older man who had lost his entire family in the recent Roman action, intervened. “Hundreds of thousands of foreign Jews and their families are in the city for Passover. How will we care for them if we start a rebellion within the Holy City?”

“We won't” said Menahem. “Now is the time to sort the wheat from the chaff. Those who will take up a sword and fight for their freedom are martyrs for God. Those who won't are servants of Satan and must die”.

At this death sentence on fellow Jews, many of the men looked down at their plates, unsure of whether they should intervene or not. Menahem, knowing better than anybody what was to come, said. “We will take the Holy City and, with Masada, hold it. Our action will cause other nationalist groups to strike. John, the son of Levi of Gischala, will attack in Galilee, though more” he added knowingly “for his own benefit than the cause of Jewish freedom. However, he will kill Romans and we can kill him when it suits us”.

“Then there is Eleazar son of Ananias, leader of the Zealots,” interrupted Joseph Ben Levi. “He and his followers will fight to control the Temple and ultimately the Holy City, for they know this is where the nation's centre of power and wealth lies”.

Menahem nodded in agreement. “Eleazar and his Zealots are a problem. Initially we will offer an alliance. When this has served its purpose the Zealots, along with the Sadduccean priesthood, must die. We will rule the Temple, the City and Israel”.

Loud cheers greeted this, but a few cooler heads wondered who precisely would rule and how. Did Menahem see himself as both priest and king?

7

T
he
city's most influential Jews were making their way to the Temple in sombre mood to listen to what their High Priest had to say. They clustered in groups according to their class or profession. Protected by bodyguards, many of the nationalist leaders who were rivals for the people's support mingled with the steadily growing crowd.

A hum of conversation rose as men discussed the recent outbreaks of violence.

While they waited for the High Priest to appear, each man noted the other. Suspicion was everywhere. Nobody trusted the man they didn't know. The nationalists, as well as scanning the crowd in general, took a special note of their rivals, wondering if the time had come for an alliance against the common enemy, Rome.

Pharisees, whose religious doctrine distinguished them from the Sadducees, had swallowed their dislike of the High Priest who was a Sadducee, and turned out in numbers. They loathed the nationalists who stirred up fear and hatred with their sectarian murders. They dreaded a civil war that would pit Jew against Jew.

They had stared into the abyss that was war with Rome and recoiled in horror. Along with wealthy landowners and other citizens of influence, they came to represent the interest of the ordinary citizen as well as their own. War with Rome represented total disaster. Somehow it had to be averted.

There were a few among them who, though being Jews by birth, had little interest in religion. Who had decided, if there was a God, he took no interest in the affairs of men. They reasoned that men were born, lived and died like any other living thing, without rhyme or reason. They believed that ‘when you're dead you're done.' These atheists wisely concealed their views and went through the motions. They attended the Temple and brought their children up as Jews. To them being Jewish was an accident of birth.

Such a man was Samuel, who for the first time in his life had penetrated as far as the Temple's inner courts. Samuel, a wealthy landowner who lived in northern Galilee, had come to Jerusalem for the festival of
Passover
. His being in the city coincided with the High Priest making an appeal to prominent and influential Jews, to meet and discuss how law and order could be restored.

Samuel stared in open-mouthed wonder, first at the Corinthian gates themselves. Made of bronze, each door was forty-five feet high and twenty-two and a half feet wide that required teams of Temple priests to perform the opening and closing rituals. On each side of the gates, massive stone pillars supported twin sixty foot high fortified towers.

Samuel strolled through the gates which opened out onto a vast court, where the city's dignitaries where assembling. On the other side of the terrace he could see the walls and gates of the
court of the women
where a large crowd of women had gathered to hear what the High Priest had to say. Among them was Queen Berenice, frustrated at not being allowed to participate in the meeting.

With time in hand, Samuel turned east and made his way to the Sanctuary, to stare dry mouthed at its magnificence. Plated all over with sheets of gold and silver, its fifty feet wide doors soared seventy feet high.