King Jesus (Penguin Modern Classics) (23 page)

“What sort of reason do you mean ?”

“To be frank, I have no idea. I suspect a religious reason. These Jews are very queer people ; their cousins the Idumaeans are queerer still. Old Athenodorus would probably know. He comes from that part of the world and is something of an authority on Hebrew superstitions. My point is, that with Antipater and Herod Philip removed, Prince Archelaus becomes Herod’s successor, and if I know that stupid young man he will soon set the Jews by the ears. Embassies will arrive from Jerusalem, and counter-embassies, and there will be riots and breaches of the peace, and presently we shall have the satisfaction of deposing him and proclaiming Judaea a province under our direct control. With Antipater as king we could not hope for anything of the sort—he is as prudent as he is energetic—yet the longer the country retains its independence the more difficult it will be to secure its eventual conformation to the Imperial system. I have nothing against the Jews as a nation, but the Jews as a fanatic sect who make converts among Greeks and Syrians and Orientals and enrol them as spiritual sons of their ancestor Abraham are extraordinarily dangerous. I wonder whether you realize that not
only are three million Jews settled within Herod’s Palestinian territories, but nearly four million more of this energetic and thrifty race are dispersed throughout the rest of your dominions, and that of these Dispersed Jews only a million or so are of Palestinian ancestry : the rest are converts. If the sect continues to grow at the present rate it will soon swallow up all the ancient religious cults of Greece and Italy ; for to make a convert is esteemed a highly meritorious act in a Jew, and to become a convert is to benefit from the highly organized system of mutual assistance which Judaism offers. And the Jews are clever : they make converts only of the more intelligent and industrious type of foreigner. It is quite an honour to be enrolled as a Jew. There are no two ways about it : one day we shall have to smash the power of the Jerusalem Temple which focuses the loyalties and ambitions of all Jews everywhere. Meanwhile, shall I send for Athenodorus ?”

“Do so !”

Athenodorus of Tarsus was called from the Library. He sauntered in, smiling cheerfully, stroking his long white beard. He was one of the few people in the world who were never disconcerted by a sudden summons to the Imperial presence. He knew well who was the real ruler of the Empire and therefore saluted Livia a trifle more formally than he saluted Augustus, which pleased both of them.

“You have another literary or historical problem for me to sharpen my wits upon ?” he asked.

“Precisely, my good Athenodorus,” said Livia. “We wish you to adjudicate in a slight dispute between us.”

Madam, let me assure you at once : you are right!

Livia laughed. “As usual ?”

“As usual ; but doubtless the Emperor needs convincing.”

“Athenodorus, the case is this. A petty-king ruling within a few hundred miles of your beloved city has a son. He loves him, cherishes him, raises him to co-sovereignty with himself, then suddenly condemns him to death on a palpably false charge and asks our permission to execute him in whatever way he pleases. Now, why? Why ?”

Athenodorus rubbed his hooked nose. “You have withheld one or two important elements in the case. May I presume the prince in question to be an eldest or perhaps an only son ?”

“You may.”

“And the father is one of your subject allies, with an honorary Roman citizenship ?”

“He is.”

In that case, I suppose that either the Emperor or yourself believes that the King is a homicidal maniac ?”

“Yes, I must confess that this is what I believe,” said Augustus. “Unless perhaps he has good cause for putting his son to death, but has not ventured to try him on the real evidence for fear of incriminating some person whom he either wishes to shield or hesitates to offend.”

Athenodorus continued : But you, my Lady Livia, with feminine
intuition, suspect that the reason is to be found in some barbarous Eastern superstition ?”

Livia clapped her hands. “Athenodorus, what an intelligent man you are! I will give you that Hecataeus manuscript of mine that you have so long coveted.”

Athenodorus beamed. “Yes, Caesar, the Lady Livia is likely, as usual, to be right. As you know, Father Zeus himself once—according to the mystics at least—invested his son Dionysus with full power and glory for a short season, seating him upon his Olympian throne and putting thunderbolts in his hands, but then pitilessly destroyed him. The legend of Apollo and his son Phaethon is analogous ; and so is that of the Pelasgian Sun-god Daedalus and his son Icarus. For though the deaths of these two young men, both of whom were temporarily invested with royalty, are ascribed by the mythographers to their imprudence, it is difficult to exculpate the divine fathers, each of whom, as the Sun, was the direct cause of the accident. Hercules, too, as an archaic Sun-god, repeatedly killed his eldest son ; the mythographers pretend that he had fits of insanity. Not to be tedious, the royal investiture of an eldest or only son, followed by his sacrifice and incineration, is common form in the whole group of near-Eastern nations that claim Agenor, or his brother Belus, as their ancestor. I came across a reference to the same practice in the Jewish Scriptures the other day : an ancient King of Moab offered up his eldest son in this way to Belus. It is their way of propitiating the Sun-god during a religious crisis, either when the country as a whole is in danger or when the king has personally incurred the god’s displeasure. The history of Tarsus contains several instances. Well, then, this unnamed king happens to be an ally of yours and therefore cannot risk your displeasure by killing his son, who is a Roman citizen by birth, without sufficient cause. So he forges evidence of high treason and asks your permission to carry out the sentence in whatever way he pleases. Yet the killing of the eldest son is as stern a religious duty among this group of nations, which includes the Egyptians of the Delta, as circumcision and the avoidance of pork ; and this is a matter of plain religious logic.”

Augustus, a trifle vexed at the ease with which Athenodorus had solved the riddle, said : “Come now, learned one, you surely do not pretend that there is any logical connexion between the three religious aberrations you have just mentioned ?”

“I do, Caesar,” said Athenodorus. “The Egyptian god Set in the form of a wild boar tears his brother Osiris into pieces. Syrian Apollo does the same with Adonis. They are both Sun-gods. The boar is their sacred beast and must therefore not be eaten except on very special occasions. In Palestine and Syria generally, foreskins were formerly taken as trophies of battle and dedicated to the Sun-god, that is to say, the Sacred King, on the occasion of his marriage with the Moon-goddess, the Sacred Queen. And if the King fell sick his eldest son was circumcised by the Queen with a flint knife, to turn away the anger of Heaven—
as we read in the story of Moses the Hebrew and his son Gershom—from which derives the custom of circumcising all male infants on the eighth day after birth. This propitiatory rite is connected with the now happily abandoned one of butchering all first-born males, both animal and human, on that day. The number eight, as you know, expresses increase. Moreover, the foreskin—”

“We love you well,” said Livia graciously. “You have judged the case with admirable precision. But pray, no more antiquarian discussion of a topic which is hardly suitable for a lady’s ears.”

Athenodorus with an apologetic smile saluted and sauntered out again, hand to beard.

“So you see—” said Livia.

“My dear, it is very well, but we cannot allow an innocent man, and a capable cavalry officer too, with the makings of a first-class petty king, to die in this barbarous manner.”

“No ?” said Livia coolly. “What has become of your famous principle never on any occasion to interfere with the religious abnormalities of your subject allies so long as they cause no breach of the peace ?”

“It is odious to destroy one’s own child.”

“To do so for the good of the nation is a very praiseworthy act. Early Roman history bristles with examples of noble fathers who put their sons to death.”

“Their wicked sons.”

“How do we know that they were wicked? Perhaps the evidence was forged. In any case, my advice is : do not refuse Herod’s request unless you wish to find yourself with an awkward war on your hands. You can hardly afford a war, with the Treasury in its present state. I am sorry for Antipater, but what can we do? It is his fate. And I am sorry for Acme ; she will have to be executed in token of your goodwill towards Herod. Not that she will be much of a loss, the slut.”

So Livia had her way, as usual. But Augustus sighed and said : “A religious duty like circumcision or the avoidance of pork! By Hercules, it were better to be Herod’s pig than his eldest son !”

King Herod was sick. Becoming aware of a congestion in his bowels he consulted his physician Machaon, who confessed that he could do nothing but palliate the pain that it caused him, and that his end would not be an easy one.

Herod asked : “Have I a full year of life left to me ?”

Machaon answered : “I can promise you a full year if you submit to my tedious regimen, but I cannot promise more.”

“It is enough,” said Herod. That day he sent for craftsmen out of Egypt, who made him a great golden eagle of the sort called a griffon-vulture, sacred to the Sun. He had it fixed high above the East Gate of the Temple, where he dedicated it to Jehovah. Underneath he wrote the divine words spoken to Moses :

I bare you on eagle-wings and brought you unto myself.

It was calculated to stir up trouble, for though this was not the only text in the Pentateuch which identified Jehovah with an eagle, the god was never depicted in bird form, and the Roman military standards had made the eagle symbolical of foreign oppression ; besides, the Law of Moses forbade the making of any graven image whatsoever.

Herod’s son Prince Archelaus, now the heir-apparent, wished to secure the goodwill of the Sanhedrin. When the new High Priest came to him in tears and implored him to persuade his father to remove the eagle, he promised to do his best. He went to Herod in company with his brother Prince Philip—who is not to be confused with the studious Prince Herod Philip, grandson of Simon the High Priest—but they had hardly begun their plea when Herod stormed and raged at them, heaved himself from his chair, spat in their faces and buffeted them. They counted themselves lucky to escape with their lives. That same day Herod announced that he had again altered his Will. The names of Archelaus and Philip were blotted out, and Herod Antipas, his youngest son, was named as his successor.

When the High Priest informed the Sanhedrin that Herod would not remove the eagle, Judas son of Scpphorus, Matthias son of Margalothus and other patriotic Pharisees incited their disciples to remove it for him. The young men went to work with great boldness. Some of them climbed to the top of the gate in broad daylight and let themselves down with cords until they were on a level with the eagle, at which they hacked with axes and pruning-hooks. The rest, and with them the same party of young Zadokites that had stoned Zacharias, stood below with swords in their hands to prevent any attempt at interference with the work ; but just as the eagle came crashing down, Carmi the Captain of the Temple Guard came running up with a full company of Levites, reinforced by Celtic javelin-men from Hero’s Palace, and arrested the entire band, forty in all. Carmi brought them before Herod, who sat growling to himself like an old lion in his den. In a terrible voice he asked who had ordered them to cut down the eagle.

They answered humbly : “The Lord God, if it pleases your Majesty, through the mouth of his servant Moses.”

“You have committed a horrid sacrilege, and must all die instantly !”

A young Pharisee answered : “What is that to us? The soul is immortal, and for obeying the Law we shall be suitably rewarded after our bodies are laid in the grave.”

Herod roared : “Not so, for your carrion bodies will not be buried. They shall be burned—burned, do you hear?—and your ashes shall be scattered in an abominable place, from which there is neither resurrection nor hope of resurrection !”

Then Herod went up in his litter to the Court of the Gentiles, where he addressed a passionate speech to the mixed assembly, accusing the High Priest of instigating a rebellion ; it was expected that he would massacre the entire Sanhedrin without further delay. However, the High Priest came down from the Sanctuary dressed in mourning garments
and abased himself before Herod, pleading for mercy, and undertook to hand over to his vengeance every one of the elders who had prompted their disciples to this outrageous act.

Herod pretended to relent. He ordered the men who had merely stood guard to be stoned to death, and allowed their bodies to be decently buried ; only those who had cut down the eagle, together with the two Pharisee elders who had prompted the deed, and Reuben son of Abdiel as the instigator of the young. Zadokites, he burned alive in the court of his Palace and dedicated their bodies to the God of his fathers. Thus Zacharias was avenged. And on that very night, which was the thirteenth night of March, occurred an eclipse of the Moon, which both amazed and delighted Herod by its appositeness.

On the next day Prince Archelaus sent the King a message : “Father, you hate me, yet I love you and I have news for you of great importance. You will see that my heart yearns to be restored to your love.”

Herod sent for him.

Archelaus, weeping tears of pretended joy to see his father again, asked for a private audience.

Herod dismissed all but his deaf mutes and ordered him to speak briefly and to the point.

“Father, it happened at Bethlehem between two or three months ago. Everyone there is talking about it. In Bethlehem of Ephrath, I mean, not the Galilean Bethlehem.”

“
What
happened, rambler in words ?”

“A child was born, in the cave—in the cave called the Grotto of Tammuz. The people of Bethlehem say that it is the Child who has been prophesied.”