Saul of Tarsus: A Tale of the Early Christians

by Elizabeth Miller

  CHAPTER XXVII

  THE PROCONSUL'S DELIBERATIONS

  Before sunset that day, Flaccus had received two messages. One wasbrought by a Jewish slave. It read:

  "TO FLACCUS AVILLUS, PROCONSUL OF EGYPT, GREETING:

  "I have departed.

  "CYPROS."

  The other came by a Roman courier, who had landed an hour before fromone of the swift-going triremes which had left Ravenna three days laterthan the passenger boat that had brought Marsyas' tidings.

  The message also was written in a woman's hand and was no less enragingthan the other:

  "ROME, Kal. Jul. X, 790.

  "This bulletin to tell thee, O my raging corybant, that thy cause hathceased to prosper for the past three days. Mine own part was wellperformed as was thine other minion's, the bewitching Eutychus, butdesperate work hath been done which bids fair to upset thee and me andpreserve thine enemies.

  "First and above all things, thou wilt remember that it was not in thepact that I should do more than lead the Herod out of the path ofdomestic uprightness and hold off my hands. This hath been alreadydone, but the Parcae have grown weary of yielding thee favor, so read,here, following, disaster!

  "Herod and his friend, the Essene Marsyas, who had become a dangerousRoman, filled with a Jew's cunning and the boldness of a wolf-suckledRomulus, till misfortune cut him down--this same fallen Herod and hisfriend have dropped out of sight, except as Death may bare its arm andreach down to cut off the head of the one and the income of the other.This much in three days; but Rome hath taught herself to forget in atwinkling.

  "But Caesar hath been for many days troubled of a dream. He telleth itthus, in no more words, no fewer: 'I cast dice with Three; three grislyhags, and I lose, though the tesserae were cogged!' His collection ofsoothsayers, the completest in the world, offered as many readings asthere are numbers of them in the court. But Tiberius drew his lip andbared his teeth at them and called them pea-hens and cockchafers. EvenThrasullus, he lampooned--Thrasullus, whom once he feared.

  "Whereupon, the store of haruspices and augurs that feed uponsuperstitious Rome were brought in--only to furnish mirth for the courtand victims for Tiberius.

  "Then Macro, rummaging about in musty and alien-peopled corners of theImperial City, brought forth a wonder!

  "It--and would I could call the sex of the creature--came hither fromthe Orient. On that naked fact, Rome is left to build its biography,describe its looks and fathom its purpose. For it came before Caesar,and stood, a column in white--hooded, mummied, shawled, veiled inwhite! The court hath had spasms, since, fearing that it might havebeen a leper, but I say that there was no sick frame within thosecerements! It had the stature and brawn of a man, but it managed itsgarments with the skill of a woman. It came, heard Caesar's dream,plucked off a husk of its wrappings, produced pigment and stylus andwrote thereon.

  "Then it vanished quite away.

  "A hundred courtiers rushed upon the wrapping that it left, and Caesar,pallid even under his wrinkles, screamed to them to pursue the Thingand fetch it back. But it was gone; vanished into thin air.

  "Then Macro plucked up courage and, taking up the cloth, fetched it toCaesar to read.

  "And Caesar, ashamed to show fear in the face of his court, snatched thelinen away and read--to himself!

  "Now, whether the writing assured Tiberius that he was the comeliestmonarch on the earth, or unfolded this scheme which is to follow, noman knows. But that which was written contained persuasion whichworked on Caesar's mirth, for he smiled, as he hath not smiled sinceSejanus tasted death.

  "'Go forth and search out that soothsayer,' he commanded Macro, 'that Imay give him whatsoever thing he would have!' But Macro hath notdiscovered the soothsayer unto this day.

  "Meantime Caesar cleared his audience-chamber, but despatched a slave tobring me back to him.

  "And when I came I was bidden in whispers to take Caligula to thedeepest hidden villa on Capri, and entertain him until I was bidden toreturn.

  "An hour later, I met my father, the simple Euodus, who told me aftermany charges to keep it secret, that he had been bidden to fetch atdaybreak the coming morning, whichever prince, Caligula or Tiberius,who stood without the emperor's door to give him greeting.

  "And yet another hour later, the little Tiberius' tutor was summoned tothe imperial bed-chamber and came forth some minutes later with a faceas blank as a Tuscan sherd.

  "Now, though I saw not the cloth of revelation, nor heard the emperor'splans, I knew then, as I know now, that the mysterious soothsayer wrotethat the dream meant that Caesar and the Destinies should choose thecoming emperor, and bade him proceed by these means.

  "And I, dutiful lady to an engaging prince, took Caligula, nothingloath, and went privately into the interior of the island to that smallwasp-nest palace clinging to the side of the cruelest precipice inthese bad hills of Capri.

  "But in the night, while yet Caligula lingered at the board, becauseforsooth the slaves had carried me away first, there came the thunderof hoofs without, sentries and servants, asleep or drunken or afraid,fell right and left, flying feet rang upon the pavement, and before anycould resist, Caligula was snatched up, rushed out and away into thenight--and not any one saw the face of his abductor.

  "But when my father duly emerged from the emperor's bed-chamber therestood without, not little Tiberius, but Caligula, drenched as if he hadbeen soused in a horse-trough to sober him, with immense dazed eyes andtrembling like an aspen.

  "When he was led within, Caesar started up and glared at him withbaleful eyes.

  "'I was sent by a Dream,' Caligula whispered. 'What wilt thou have ofme?'

  "And Tiberius, struggling with an apoplexy, fell back and made noinstant answer. But presently he said,

  "'Perpol! I cogged the dice for myself, but it was the Destinies whothrew them! Oh, well, it was written, and had to come to pass!'

  "Where was the little Tiberius? Being assured that naught shouldprevent his election, he lingered for his breakfast. O fatal appetiteof lusty youth! He lost an empire by it. For Caesar, still afraid ofthe mysterious Thing from the Orient, ratified the choke of theDestinies.

  "But Caligula hath discovered the identity of the Dream that fetchedhim; which being very substantial and human stands in high favor withthe prince imperial. And so, through him as well as through theHerod's own claim on Caligula, Agrippa's hopes are brighter.

  "Wherefore thy campaign against the obstacle between thee and the makerof that twenty-year old wound in thy heart must be cautious, no longerovert, and above all things not of such nature as may recoil upon thee.Hear for once a woman's reason. If thou accomplish the Herod's end,remember that Caligula succeeds Tiberius and will not fail to visitvengeance on those who ruined his friend!

  "Be wise, be covert, be wary! If thou hast made mistakes, correctthem! Make no new enemies, and turn old ones into friends. I willhelp thee, here, in Rome, except to the point of exposing myself.

  "If thou wilt work, be rapid, for Caesar declines. We go hence as soonas he may be removed, to Misenum. But it is only animal flight fromdeath; he seems to turn like a wounded jackal and snap at his heels.Matters of state, beyond the satisfying of a multitude of grudges, areentirely given up to Macro. But daily the dullness on his brain shiftsa little, so that the light of recollection penetrates to it, and heremembers forgotten animosities. Herein lies thy hope. I will notsuggest Agrippa to him; Caligula would cut my throat before daybreak,for the eaves-dropping Macro would know what I did.

  "Calculate for thyself; get others to do thy work and to shoulder theperil.

  "Meanwhile Venus prosper thee, and may the Parcae repent.

  "JUNIA."

  "Oh, well I know that mummied mystery, that Dream, that unseenabductor!" Flaccus raged, gnawing his nails. "It is that villainEssene to whom I owe torture and death! He, to direct the imperialsuccession!"

  Then he fell to considering his obstacles. Caligula as prince imperia
land friend to the Herod would permit no persecution of the Jews. Thatmethod of coercing the alabarch had to be abandoned. Next, he re-readthe single line from Cypros. She had not gone to Rome; she had hiddenherself. That was what the line meant. They had told her, so shehated him. But he did not wince so much under her hate, as he ragedover his bafflement.

  Then he thought of Classicus, and with the thought his hope revived.Finally he sprang up, and, summoning slaves, scattered them broadcastover Alexandria in search of the philosopher.

  He would go to Rome! He would bear to Caesar an appeal from Flaccus tocommand the alabarch to produce Cypros, Herod Agrippa's wife, who hadbeen abducted.

  The plan unfolded itself so readily and so helpfully, that theproconsul's face grew radiant with anticipated triumph.

  In an hour, a slave returned with Justin Classicus.