‘They must be using the ox-hide screens to cover the men working on the walls,’ Titus said as he and Vespasian stood listening to what was clearly the sound of blocks of stone being shaped and then laid on the walls.
‘The devious bastard,’ Vespasian muttered. ‘He’s probably using the material from the burnt-out houses to raise the battlements. Those screens have to be at least ten feet high. Do you know what, Titus? I’m beginning to have a grudging respect for the man, even though he’s a disgusting fanatic. With just a few thousand men he’s held up a Roman army for more than half a month. The sooner we have your ram the better.’ Vespasian turned to go, having seen and heard enough. ‘Oh, and add another ten feet to the siege towers.’
The ram did indeed arrive early the following day, trundled to the siege lines on a series of carts, hauled by many oxen and with the men of the centuries sent to get it taking it in turns to lend their shoulders to the effort.
It was a tree of such girth, at least seven feet in diameter and fifty feet in length, that all stopped working as it passed to admire its magnitude and cheer its arrival, calling it their saviour, the colossus that had come to ease their toil and batter their enemies into submission.
‘That should do it,’ Magnus observed as the monster passed him and Vespasian by. ‘A few taps with that and in you go.’
‘You’re not coming then?’
‘There’ll be nothing in there worth having; my bet is they’ll kill all their women and children and then finish themselves off so there won’t be a lot of fun to be had. I can’t imagine that they’re swimming in gold or silver, seeing as it’s because we taxed them too much that they’re in there in the first place. No, I’ll sit it out, thank you.’
‘What do you think, Father?’ Titus asked, walking up to Vespasian, followed by a contubernium escorting two Jewish prisoners.
‘I think you’ll have a lot of trouble making a frame strong enough to support it as it swings and sturdy enough to roll it to the walls.’
‘We’ll manage, Father; in the meantime I think we’ve found out how they’re getting in and out undetected.’ Titus turned to the optio commanding the prisoner escort. ‘Bring them here.’
The two Jews were pushed forward, their hands tied behind their backs. Despite being brought before the man who was the arbiter of life and death for them, they showed no fear and held their heads high and looked with insolent directness into Vespasian’s eyes.
‘Tell the general, optio,’ Titus ordered.
‘We found them trying to sneak into the town along a gully on the far side, sir,’ the optio informed Vespasian. ‘It was shortly before dawn. We often patrol in this area and, recently, in the last ten days or so, we’ve been noticing that there seem to be the occasional sheep in there, leastways that’s what it looked like in the dark. Well, I never paid it no mind, seeing as we are very well supplied with pork here and I didn’t want to risk me or one of my lads breaking an ankle chasing a tough piece of meat over rocky ground—’
‘Yes, yes,’ Titus interjected. ‘Get on with it, man.’
‘Sorry, sir. Well, to cut a long story short, just before dawn this morning we saw a couple of sheep down in the gully again, I could just make them out, they were standing still. Anyway, one of the lads, Primus, here.’ He pointed to a young legionary, no more than a year in service, looking very proud to be brought to his general’s attention. ‘Well, Primus thought it would be a laugh to try and wake the things up so he lobs a stone at them. Now, this is where it got strange: he hits one, fair and square on the side, but the beast doesn’t move or even bleat, and I knew it wasn’t dead because it hadn’t been there when we patrolled past the gully an hour earlier. So I gets to thinking and become suspicious and I lead the lads down into the gully as fast as I can and would you believe it but—’
‘The sheep got up and ran on two feet?’ Vespasian said, finishing the sentence.
The optio looked disappointed. ‘Oh, so you’ve already heard the report, sir?’
‘No, optio, you just set the scene so well I could visualise it.’ He looked at the two prisoners. ‘Turn them around.’ Vespasian was not surprised to see fleeces stitched to their robes made of undyed wool. ‘What did you find on them, optio?’
‘This, sir.’ The optio handed him a scroll-case.
Vespasian opened the case and unrolled the scroll; it was written in Aramaic. ‘Take them away and lock them up; I may well need to question them once I’ve had this translated.’
As the optio turned to go, Vespasian asked: ‘How often have you noticed these sheep in the gully in the last days?’
‘I would say, every night at some point.’
‘Thank you, optio. Get some rest; I want you to show me this gully tonight.’
‘What do you think, Hormus?’ Vespasian asked as he and Caenis waited whilst his freedman studied the scroll.
‘I think it’s an appeal to Yosef not to surrender,’ Hormus said, putting the scroll down on Vespasian’s desk. ‘It’s not clear who it is from, although there is a line at the end which translates as: “Master of the Anointed.” But there is no name.’
‘Master of the Anointed?’ Caenis repeated. ‘That could be anyone in this country; they all seem to feel that they have some sort of religious position or standing. So what does it say?’
Hormus picked up the scroll again. ‘“We have known each other a long time and I feel that we have come to trust one another’s judgement. This is not an easy letter for me to write but I feel that for the sake of our people I must make this appeal to you. Do not lay down your arms and walk out of the gate as a member of my family has begged you to do. That person believes that Titus Flavius Vespasianus is a reasonable man, and if you were to appeal to him now, as they would have you do, they think that he would be merciful. I am not so sure, my father never trusted him, in fact Vespasian caused my father many difficulties during his life and proved himself to be a vicious enemy and I don’t believe that clemency is one of his faults. However, now that the rebellion is spreading, more than ever we need martyrs. I beg you, in the name of the Lord, hold out until the last and then, once the town falls, make sure that not one of our people comes out alive. I know you will think it easy for me to ask, I who am a hundred miles away and safe behind my walls; I whom Rome counts as a friend and therefore have no need to fear her wrath. But believe me when I say that, were our positions reversed, I would happily sacrifice my life for the cause”—’
Vespasian scoffed, interrupting Hormus. ‘That’s very easy to say when the positions quite evidently cannot be reversed. Whoever is the author is a disingenuous coward who wants other people to do his fighting for him. A friend of Rome with a member of his family who’s trying to make peace and a father who hated me; who could that be, I wonder?’
Caenis thought for a moment. ‘Master of the Anointed? Herod Agrippa was recently granted by Nero the right to nominate the chief priest in Jerusalem. He and his sister, Berenice, both tried to contain the rebellion in Jerusalem and only just managed to escape from the city with their lives last year. She could be the member of Herod’s family evidently still trying to make peace when Herod seems to have changed his mind.’
‘So it would seem,’ Vespasian agreed. ‘And his father, the first Herod Agrippa, had no reason to like me: I was, in part, responsible for him being thrown into prison by Tiberius and then, after Caligula released him, it was me who he blamed for having his grain stockpile in Alexandria confiscated. No, I can see that, in private, the younger Herod Agrippa would be very hostile to me, no matter what he professes to my face, especially since I’ve forbidden him to join this campaign. The question is: why is he now secretly supporting the rebellion having originally tried to quell it and then sent me troops to help fight it?’
‘I would have thought that was obvious,’ Caenis said. ‘He tried to stop the rebellion before it started because as ruler of his small tetrarchy based around Tiberias it served no purpose for him to see Judaea, to
his south, rebel against Rome. If it was successful then he would be seen as a collaborator, as Rome gave him his position, and would no doubt suffer the consequences; if the rebellion wasn’t successful, and that is the only acceptable outcome, then he would almost certainly find himself less independent as Rome strengthens her grip on the region.’
Vespasian grunted to show that he was following the logic of her argument.
‘So,’ Caenis continued, ‘once the rebellion started to spread up here into Galilee and into Herod’s tetrarchy he finds himself in a completely different situation: he is now the victim of the rebellion as he has been forced to flee his domain. He then sees how he could benefit himself by becoming a part of the solution to the problem, and the bigger the problem the bigger the solution needs to be.’
Vespasian put a hand to his forehead. ‘Oh, my love, that is so cynical.’
‘He’s a cynical person.’
Knowing the man, Vespasian could but agree. ‘Once the rebellion has been crushed, he’s going to offer Nero to govern Judaea in Rome’s name as a sop to the Jews so that they’ll feel that they are, at least, being subjugated by one of their own. To make the idea appealing to Nero, the rebellion has to be widespread and long so that the idea of it happening again is just so appalling from the financial point of view, a view very dear to Nero’s heart, that Herod Agrippa seems like a saviour and is completely acceptable as he is a Roman citizen anyway. This is all about how Herod Agrippa plans to get his father’s kingdom back.’
‘Precisely. So now he’s busy playing both sides: supplying troops to us to help tackle the rebels whilst imploring Yosef to fight to the last man so that the rebellion goes on as long as possible.’ Caenis looked back to Hormus. ‘Was there anything else in the letter?’
‘Just one more line: “And don’t forget; if our fortunes fade we can always look east.” That’s all.’
‘Look east?’ Vespasian said, not liking the sound of that at all. ‘Parthia? He wouldn’t try to bring Parthia into the rebellion, would he? That would be exchanging one master for another, and from a Jewish point of view Parthia would be the worse choice as it would guarantee war in this land until Rome had reclaimed it. We could never allow the Great King access to Our Sea again.’
Caenis shook her head. ‘No, my love, I don’t think he means that; he would never ask for Vologases’ help as he knows what the price would be. Hormus, is there another way to translate “fortune” from Aramaic?’
‘I suppose one could say “treasure”.’
‘There! You see, Vespasian, he’s talking about money. If they start needing more cash then they’ll look to the East; not so far as Parthia, but slightly closer to home. Who is between Judaea and Parthia?’
‘The Kingdom of the Nabatean Arabs,’ Vespasian replied, unconvinced. ‘But Malichus fights for us, and fights very well; why would he supply the rebellion with money?’
‘I suppose you’ll just have to ask him.’
The smile was broad and full of gleaming teeth as Malichus scratched his bush of a beard. ‘General, you have me at a severe disadvantage.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that, Malichus,’ Vespasian said, leaning across his desk and giving the Nabataean king an uncompromisingly stern look. ‘Perhaps you would care to explain what benefit you were trying to get from this severe disadvantage that you didn’t report to me?’
Malichus frowned with a pained expression and put his hands in the air as if it were all too trying. ‘General, I was not seeking a benefit just for myself, you must understand that; I was seeking an advantage for you as well, my friend.’
‘You were willing to support the rebels financially to help me fight them better, Malichus? Is that how it was?’
‘If necessary, of course; I’m your good friend.’
‘I can’t see how aiding my enemy makes you my good friend.’
‘I haven’t given them any aid – yet. I just agreed with Herod Agrippa that should he need a loan to pass on to the rebels then I would be willing to provide him with one. It seems a very straightforward arrangement; and would benefit you considerably.’
‘How?’
Malichus’ grin became even wider; he reached over the desk and patted Vespasian’s hand. ‘My friend, surely you don’t want the rebellion to be over before we’ve even got going. Jerusalem is rich, so rich; I know, I’ve been there. We’ve all heard the stories of the wealth that the Jews hoard for their god in his temple. Remember tell of how much Pompey Magnus removed when he was here over a hundred years ago. A hundred years, my friend! Imagine how it’s built up again in that time. No, if we allow the rebellion to peter out before we have a chance of taking Jerusalem as a spoil of war then we will miss the opportunity to become very wealthy men. And you, my friend, will be the wealthiest of us all. So what’s a small loan to Herod, should he need it, compared to all that wealth we stand to gain?’
Vespasian sat back in his chair trying to get his head around Malichus’ logic. ‘I see what you mean,’ he said after some reflection. ‘But prolonging the fight until we take Jerusalem will cost many Roman and Nabataean lives; not to mention the Jews.’
Malichus shrugged again as if it were of little import. ‘More lives will be lost if the rebellion finishes here. Do you think the Jews will meekly settle down again under Roman rule, even if Nero does make Herod Agrippa governor or client king?’ His eyes twinkled. ‘Yes, I know what Herod’s motives are and what his strategy is, that’s what makes it so enjoyable, pretending to be his friend covertly fighting against Rome when all the time it’s to help you become rich on Jewish gold – and me of course; I trust you shall give me the honour of sacking some part of the Temple complex?’
It was as much as Vespasian could do to keep a straight face and prevent himself from laughing. Malichus’ logic was faultless and he found himself admiring the king’s callous pursuit of riches. ‘Very well, Malichus, I’ll try to ensure that you get some considerable gain from Jerusalem, if it comes to that. Although, personally I think that if we do our job properly here and in a few other towns along the way, the carnage we’ll cause will make the people of Jerusalem less keen to risk the destruction of their city.’
‘Let’s hope not, general; the only logical conclusion to all this is the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple, otherwise this will happen again and again and again.’
‘Yes, well, we’ll see. As to Herod Agrippa, I want you to keep me informed of all contact that you have with him and I want to know as soon as he asks you for a loan, as I may veto it if I don’t think the circumstances are suitable.’
Malichus inclined his head in silent acquiescence.
‘In the meantime, I want to bring Herod here without him knowing for sure whether I am aware of his duplicity. I think that having him close to me and unsure of his position would be a satisfactory situation to have him in, rather than just reversing my previous decision and granting his request to join his troops and giving him no cause for concern.’
‘I completely agree, general,’ Malichus said, his voice rich with understanding. ‘May I make a suggestion as to how that may be achieved?’
‘Go on.’
‘I would surmise that the two messengers would not give away the identity of who sent them, even under the most rigorous questioning.’
‘I imagine you’re right.’
‘Therefore have them tortured, maybe have a few fingers clipped off or even a hand each, and then contrive it so that they can escape.’
Vespasian’s liking for Malichus grew as he saw the beauty of the scheme. ‘They’ll make their way back to Herod, who will know that his message has been intercepted but will think that I don’t know who sent it, as he has two mutilated messengers before him, both swearing that they said nothing, as proof of my ignorance.’
‘Exactly. Obviously he’ll kill them both, so they don’t become an embarrassing inconvenience, and then he’ll make his way to you to judge by your reception of him exactly what you k
now of his schemes.’
‘Which, my dear Malichus, is absolutely nothing.’
Malichus beamed, his face alight with pleasure. ‘He will be so relieved.’
*
The plaintive tewoo of an owl, somewhere above him, made Vespasian wonder whether it was a genuine bird call or if they had been spotted by watchers in the night. The moon, not yet a quarter full in its cycle, was intermittent, the night sky being flecked with fast-moving clouds, sailing on a warm breeze that grew with every passing hour. He sat, swathed in a dark cloak, hunched next to a rock, overlooking the gully where the optio had found his sheep. Magnus sat next to him with Castor and Pollux lying by his side, the models of well-behaved beasts. Behind them, lying flat on the ground, were the optio and his men, again wearing dark cloaks and divested of all metal equipment other than swords wrapped in cloth to prevent chinking and reflecting moonlight.
Conversation, for obvious reasons, had been forbidden, and, as they waited for what Vespasian hoped would be a messenger coming in or out, he cast his mind back to the interrogation of Herod’s two men. They had, he freely admitted, been exceptionally brave and endured the knife and the fire without divulging Herod’s name or, indeed, any other name in its place. They had, for the three hours they had endured, kept up a stream of muttering which, Hormus had informed him, was a recitation of the Jewish holy book.
It had not been until one of the men had died – a modification Vespasian had added to Malichus’ plan to better justify in Herod’s mind why the questioning had been suspended – that Vespasian had ordered the survivor, who, although hurt, had not been incapacitated, to be placed in the hospital tent, ostensibly so that his wounds would not get infected and he would be fit to resume questioning on the morrow. An hour after night had fallen he had disappeared from the hospital. Vespasian had been told by the centurion commanding the ‘guard’ that he had told his men in Greek to go and get something to eat as the man was too hurt to attempt going anywhere; he had slipped out of the camp disguised as an old man, his wounds making a stooped walk with a limp not a matter for serious acting. Vespasian had calculated that he should be expecting Herod Agrippa’s arrival in ten days.
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