by D. S.
Second Day of Saturn – III
Retainers and messengers of all sorts flooded him upon his return to the palace, but Pontius refused them all. Word had reached him that Jacobus had had no problem fetching the priestess and she was awaiting his arrival. A slave offered him a bowl of water just before he reached her chamber, and even though he was tempted to snap, the prefect stopped and washed his face and hands.
She was looking away from him when he entered. Jason had gotten her into full kit and was showing her how to tie off her bracers, tucking the strings carefully inside. Her body servant began to go into detail about how to make the greaves cooperate with her boots when Pontius circled around and drew the priestess in for a kiss.
She tasted wonderful. He had expected a hint of fear on her lips…instead; he found the woman he had taken to bed; the woman he was starting to love. He stepped back and realized he was stunned at how delicious she looked in armor that was meant to hide her femininity.
“Thank you, Jason,” he heard himself say. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Of course, Dominus.” He bowed. “I will see you at the stables, Domina Flaminica.”
Jason was scarcely out of the room before the prefect slammed the door and thrust Julia up against the wall.
“Holy Jupiter, are you beautiful!” He brushed aside the collar of her tunic and kissed the curve of her neck. “I don’t know why I ever let you go.”
When he’d had his fill of kisses, Pontius took Julia to bed. The frame had been moved out for a forum the month before and had yet to be returned, so a slave had put down a pallet scarcely big enough for the two of them. He tumbled her onto it, lifted her kilt, and laughed.
“What in the name of the gods is this?”
“My body servant said there was some concern about my ‘lady parts’ not being able to handle the rigor of horseback riding.”
Pontius fingered the softened linen wrapped around her hips and made a noise of pleasure when he found it easily came away. Without so much as a “by your leave”, the prefect parted Julia’s thighs and sought the sweet nectar below.
She closed her eyes. I can’t believe the cruelest man in Judea is pleasuring me! she thought. What’s more, I actually like it!
Julia gripped the sides of the pallet as the tension built and when Pontius was finished, he slid up over her breastplate and straddled her hips. He thrust several times, awkwardly, and was about to undo her armor when he saw her freeze.
“A thousand pardons, Imperial Priestess,” the other woman said in Greek. “I am Constantina, wife of the scribe Lucius.”
The prefect rolled off Julia, glaring. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Just wait!”
“My husband asked me to bring you word,” Constantina continued. “I hope I am not interrupting your private time.”
Julia made a gesture of dismissal. “The news you bring is good, I hope?”
“Unfortunately, the soldiers will only agree to a thirteen-day moratorium,” the other woman replied. “However, most of the apostles intend to leave this evening, after shabbat. Peter assures me that those who do not make it out before sunrise will leave before the end of the week.”
“What of Miriam?”
“Miriam gives great thanks to the Imperial Priestess of Judea and sends that she has taken sanctuary within the Temple of Isis,” Constantina announced. She smiled. “My husband let me take the message. Miriam says that she’ll avail herself of Lady Livia’s hospitality, until such time that things die down and she is able to seek a husband.”
“I don’t know much Greek,” the prefect said just then. “But I understand enough to know that my priestess has gotten herself into quite a bit of trouble.”
Pontius shot a look at Constantina. “Repeat yourself in Latin.”
She gave a helpless shrug and glanced at Julia. The priestess made a small gesture, to which Constantina nodded, turned back, and spoke in Aramaic.
“At the request of the Imperial Priestess, all the soldiers stationed within the province have agreed not to persecute the Jews for the next thirteen days. In turn, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth have promised to leave Judea; most by sunrise tomorrow, the others by the end of the week.”
The prefect’s face was inscrutable. “I know you discussed the Magdalene.”
“Of course, My Lord. Lady Julia had encouraged Miriam to seek asylum within the temple of Isis. I was relaying the Magdalene’s thanks and sharing that she may be married within the next eighteen months.”
“I have heard enough…Constantina, is it?”
She nodded.
“You are dismissed. If I see you again without sending for you or outside of the company of your husband, there will be grave consequences.”
She squeaked something that sounded like, “Yes, My Lord!” and scurried from the room.
Julia didn’t have to look at him to know that there was anger boiling under the surface.
“I was trying to rid you of the Jews at long last.”
Pontius rose, swept past her, and shouted into the hall. “Jacobus! Mikael! On the double!”
His bodyguard was first to skid into the room.
“Round up all the followers of this…Jesus Christ, but stay within the province. And make it clear that you will be stepping up patrols, so that they don’t think they can slip back over the border under the cover of darkness.”
Jacobus thumped his heart with a fist. “Yes, Dominus.”
“And send one of your men to arrest the scribe Lucius and his wife Constantina. Put them in prison…I will deal with them later.”
“Of course, Dominus.”
Jacobus swept away just as Mikel stepped up.
“How may I please you, Dominus Praefectus?”
“Clear the temple of Isis. Priestesses, guests, petitioners…I don’t care.
“Shall I flog them, Dominus?”
“Astute,” Pontius replied. “When you’ve finished, send them all to Gaul—or to Sardinia, if that ship leaves sooner. Regardless, they are not permitted to go to Rome.”
Mikel shot a look at Julia. “And this one, Dominus?”
“Don’t flog her. Put her on the fastest ship to Hibernia, before I change my mind and crucify her.”
Once her friend, Mikel grabbed the former Flaminica Imperialis around the wrist. “Let’s go, Domina.”
As the administrator led her away, Julia Severide glanced over her shoulder.
“I loved you…” he whispered.
Historical Notes
You’d probably have to be exceptionally brilliant—or know me really well—to realize that the characters in this novella are based on the depictions of the actors in Mark Burnett’s The Bible. Thus, in addition to the traditional historical notes, I’ll include a bit about each of the actors.
Yeshua ben Miriam is Hebrew for “Joshua, son of Mary”; Yeshua being a variation on Yehoshuah (also “Joshua”). There have been several quests by historians to discover what kind of man Yeshua was outside of the Bible, all of which have failed. Based on the third quest, we may assume that Yeshua was indeed a Jewish messiah who was also fond of making apocalyptic prophecies. In addition to being a harbinger of social change, Yeshua is thought to have been both a Cynic philosopher and a charismatic healer.
Diogo Morgado (17 January 1981) is best known in his native Portugal as a soap opera star. After he finished shooting The Bible, Diogo had two movies, a short and a television series waiting for him. He is the father of a four year old son and speaks fluent English, French and Spanish, in addition to Portuguese.
Pontius Pilatus was the Roman governor in charge of Judaea from 26 – 36 CE. Four years after the death of Yeshua, Pontius was recalled to Rome for acts of intolerable cruelty, the last of which was the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Samaritan pilgrims. His official cause of death is unknown, but the popular theory is suicide; another is exile.
Greg Hicks (27 May 1953) is far from suicide and exile. A six-year v
eteran of Great Britain’s Royal Shakespeare company, Greg has—at the time of this writing—recently finished a six-month run as the Elder Hamlet in Hamlet and three months in All’s Well that Ends Well, in which he played the King of France. When not at work, he is living at his new home in Madrid with his wife and daughter Olivia, who was born earlier this year. Greg’s two elder children are out in the world and pursuing the performing arts for themselves.
Drusilla Claudia Tiberii’s full, historical name is unknown. In fact, very little of her is mentioned in history or the bible, save for a passage in Timothy where she attempts to persuade her husband not to harm Yeshua.
Louise Delamere (1969) is a prolific actress, with five credits alone in 2013. A graduate of Glasgow’s Royal Academy of Scottish Music and Drama, Louise is a long-time friend of David Tennant’s, having shared a flat with him while in school. In 2007, Louise married Tony nominee Stephen Mangan and together they have a son, Harry.
Caiaphas was a Jewish high priest best known for plotting Yeshua’s death. During his time on the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas was a member of Bet Shammai, a zealot group known for their desire to kick the Romans out of Israel. Knowing that the prefect would not execute Yeshua over a simple charge of blasphemy, Caiaphas used his influence to prove to Pontius Pilatus that Yeshua ben Miriam was a threat to Roman rule and public safety in general.
Adrian Schiller (21 February 1964) is far better known to the British theatrical world than to the television and film scene. He has been in at least two different RSC productions and could be found performing in Regent’s Park of London earlier this century.
Mary Magdalene is at once the best and worst known woman of the Bible. Portrayed at different turns as being mentally ill, a prostitute and a Pagan priestess; the only certainty is that she was the most devout female follower of Yeshua, earning her the title “The Thirteen Apostle” in some circles. This devotion was repaid when Yeshua permitted her to be the first to see him after his resurrection.
Amber Rose Revah (24 June 1986) has already played a lesbian, a daughter of Saddam Hussein, a Jew and Mary Magdalene in her twenty-seven years of life, even having the privilege of appearing in From Paris with Love with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Currently, Amber can be seen in the British series What Remains as Vidya.
The Not-So-Historical Notes
Despite what he thought were explicit instructions, the prefect’s guards only managed to ensure that Julia was properly exiled. The rest of the priestesses were simply told to “Get out of Jerusalem. But don’t go anywhere near Rome.”
Aliyah made it onto a ship bound for Sardinia, but it somehow got diverted to Rome, where she was subsequently sold as a prostitute. She only made it a year and a half until her manus was sold to a wealthy patrician. During the following eight and a half years, the patrician’s constant rape caused Aliyah, a number of slaves and other dissenters to plot in the back streets and fornices. They were caught in 43 and Aliyah was executed for treason against the empire. She was only twenty-seven.
Aurelia was hoping to make it back to her native Egypt, but ended up onboard a ship in the same fleet as Aliyah, this one also diverting to Rome. Aurelia quickly found acceptance in a Temple of Hera, where she stayed until she renounced her vows in favor of marriage in 46. Sadly, Aurelia only lived for another six years and passed away during a pandemic at sixty-three.
Claudia was the only one who was successfully exiled to Sardinia, as Pontius Pilatus wished. She spent twenty-two years in slavery there and died in the summer of 55. She was forty-six.
Legend doesn’t tell us where Hadas landed. Instead, we learn that her healing skills were immediately put to work and she spent the next thirty years delivering babies and helping the sick and less fortunate. She passed away in 63, at age fifty-three.
Livia made it to Londinium, where she later married. It isn’t known what kind of life she led, only that she passed in her sleep in 72, at the age of sixty-seven.
Sabrina made it a mere seven months before her death. She had planned to start her life over again in Sicily, but she was mistaken for a member of the Sabine family and murdered by one of their rivals.
Tatiana arrived in Rome some three months after Aliyah and Aurelia. She, too, was sold as a prostitute, but the buyer of her manus was a kindly madam who allowed her ladies to keep all their tips. Seven years later, Tatiana bought her manumission and set up life as a shopkeeper. One of her former clients began to tutor her, but his wife thought they were having an affair. Rather than ruin his reputation as a politician, she arranged to have Tatiana poisoned. The fourth try was a success and Tatiana was thirty-three when she was finally assassinated in 45.
55 was a hard year for the former priestesses. Ziva traveled all the way to Greece, where it is said she became a priestess of Athena. However, she died in a chariot accident twenty-two years later at the age of fifty-three.
What happened to our heroine? That’s a story for another time.
Glossary
Ankh: the Egyptian symbol of life.
Aramaic: the language of Judea at the time Jesus was alive.
Asinæ: (Latin) “ass”.
Avia: (Latin) “grandmother”.
Bet Shammai: “House of Shammai”. One of the two primary schools of Judaist thought; the other being Bet Hillel.
Chiton: (Greek) a body-length tunic sewn all the way up to the arms and pinned at the shoulders. Most commonly worn by women.
Cubicularius: (Latin) “chamberlain”.
Domina: (Latin) “Lady”. Sometimes “madam” or “mistress of the household”.
Domina Templum: (Latin) “Lady of the Temple”.
Dominus: the masculine form of domina.
Dominus Praefectus: (Latin) “Lord Prefect”.
Domus: (Latin) “house”.
Duat: the Ancient Egyptian underworld.
Equestrian: the third highest Roman social class, supposedly based on money. Only the Senatorial and Imperial classes were higher.
Fibula: (Latin) “brooch”.[4]
Flaminica Imperialis: (Latin) “Imperial Priestess”.
Hoshana: Hebrew rendering of the Christian praise word “hosanna”.
Isis: Egyptian mother goddess revered the world over.
Lake Gennesaret: another name for the Sea of Galilee.
Latrinum: (Latin) “toilet”. Almost certainly the origin of the modern word “latrine”.
Maiden: lieutenant to the high priestess and usually the next in line for the role.
Manus: (Latin) “hand”. In ancient Rome, the manus was a form of ownership; a girl’s father kept her manus in childhood and it was given to her husband when they married. The term also applied to slaves—whoever had the manus owned the slave, which is why freeing a slave was called manumission.
Maudlin: (Yiddish) “sentimental”.
Night of Tears: (June 16) an ancient Egyptian holy day marking the time in which Isis was said to flood the Nile with her tears for her lost husband.
Palla: a long piece of material worn by Roman women as a mantle or cloak and pinned in place by one or more fibulae.
Passover: spring holy day that celebrates the Jews being freed from Egypt.
Per Medjat: (ancient Egyptian) “house of books”.
Puella: (Latin) “little girl”.
Sanhedrin: (Hebrew) “sitting together”. A religious judiciary made up of twenty-three men that often made up a sort of governing body of the Jews.
Sekhmet: the Egyptian goddess of war, who was depicted as having the head of a lion.
Stola: a long, pleated dress worn over a tunic; the feminine analogy to the toga.
Stultus: (Latin) “idiot”.
Subura: lower-class Roman neighborhood where Julius Caesar grew up.
Tetrarch: (Greek) a subordinate prince or the governor of one quarter of a territory.
Tiberias: a city on the western shore of Israel, established in 20 C.E. in honor of Emperor Tiberius.
Vestalis Maxima: (Lati
n) title of the chief Vestal; also Virgo Vestalis Maxima.
Acknowledgements
One of the hardest things about publishing independently is writing the acknowledgements. Not many people are involved, so the section is usually short; however, I inevitably feel like I forget someone I ought to be thanking. (You would think that by my fourth book, I would have this part down, but not so.)
Before I get started with Early One Morning, I’d like to solve a little mystery I created with Barefoot on the Couch. You’ll notice that there is a paragraph in the acknowledgements there that is completely in Spanish—it’s dedicated to the truly adorable Tim Hutton (“Timoteo”) and shares best wishes for his sons Noah (“Noé”) and Milo.
)O(
I’d like to start out by thanking Mark Burnett and Roma Downey for their tireless effort. If you haven’t seen their miniseries The Bible by the time you read this book, put it in your Netflix queue, rent it from your local library…whatever! Just don’t miss it…The Bible is not only a fantastic piece; it was partly the inspiration for this book.
I always thank Tana Siemaszko for being the best mother a girl could have…now I’d like to thank her for being the best editor, too. After so many nights discussing plot holes in the television shows we watch, I thought she’d be the perfect person to look over my manuscript.