IN THE SHADOW OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
“The Jews love freedom, and they will fight for it with their blood,” Marcus Aurelius told his military aide Flavius as the hexareme ship Oceanus, with troops on board, was plying the Mediterranean Sea, the new lake of the Roman Empire.
Marcus Aurelius was the newly designated chief centurion in Jerusalem. He was personally chosen by the Roman Emperor Caesar Tiberius, successor of Caesar Augustus. Marcus Aurelius was a former infantry soldier of Tiberius who was known for his bravery and boldness in battle. Tiberius always took him in his military campaigns, and often included him in surprise assaults against the enemy.
After the death of Caesar Augustus, the Roman Senate unanimously voted for Tiberius to be the new emperor, succeeding Caesar Augustus, Tiberius’ father-in-law. His mother, the beautiful Livia, married Augustus when the father of Tiberius died.
Tiberius was not the real choice of Emperor Augustus, who had no son as his heir apparent. But Livia influenced her husband to put Tiberius in the line of successors to the emperor.
One successor died after the other, by illnesses which were rumored to be caused by arsenic poison. And when Tiberius was already alone as the successor, Caesar Augustus also succumbed to illness and died.
Critics of the Empress Livia said that she did not shed a tear when her husband died. And she was so happy when her son Tiberius was proclaimed as the new emperor by the Roman Senate.
But Empress Livia’s court and friends said that the empress grieved much when Caesar Augustus died. They even said that Empress Livia had lost weight in the course of mourning. Of course, she was happy when her son Tiberius became Emperor of the Roman Empire, considered the most powerful person on earth in his time.
And when Tiberius became Emperor, he chose Marcus Aurelius as one of the palace guards.
Through the years of Tiberius’ rule, beginning in 14 A.D. when Emperor Augustus died, Marcus Aurelius slowly rose through the military ranks in the Emperor’s palace due to his trainings in infantry, cavalry tactics, and intelligence gathering. He was faithful to Tiberius. He would not hesitate to lay down his life for him.
Marcus Aurelius did not really want to become a soldier when he was growing up in Rome. He wanted to be a lawyer.
But his parents were poor. His father was a blacksmith, and his mother was a plain housekeeper. He had two siblings – the eldest was a girl, and the second was a boy. He was the youngest in the family.
He attended a preparatory school for boys. He was financially supported by his rich uncle. Later, he quit school and joined his father in his work as a blacksmith. A few years later, a boyhood friend who had joined the Roman infantry encouraged him to likewise join the army. He asked his father for permission, which the latter gave. After months of training in the Roman infantry, he was one of the graduates of the Roman infantry course who were recommended by their infantry trainer Picciu to join the army of Tribune Tiberius in his military campaigns.
Tiberius knew Picciu as an able trainer of the infantry. He accepted all of Picciu’s recommendees which included Marcus Aurelius.
Aurelius was twenty years old when he joined the army of Tribune Tiberius. At that time, the former never thought that the latter would become the emperor of the Roman Empire.
“We can easily defeat the Jewish rebels, Sir. We are stronger than those zealots,” Flavius told his master.
“Of course we can! The Roman army is the strongest army in the world. We can crush any rebellion anywhere in the inhabited world!” Marcus Aurelius said.
“Caesar Tiberius personally chose you to be the chief centurion in Jerusalem because of his confidence in you, Sir. The emperor knows that you can defeat that rebel Barabbas and his band of thieves!” Flavius told his master.
Marcus Aurelius laughed at his military aide and asked him, “Since when did you learn to flatter men, Flavius?”
Flavius was embarrassed at the question of his master.
“Sir, I’m not flattering you…” he sheepishly replied.
Marcus Aurelius nodded and smiled at him.
“I know Flavius… And I was just kidding you. I know what I am, who we are, and what we are capable of doing. We will crush Barabbas and his band of fanatics. Easily!” Marcus Aurelius confidently remarked.
“Barabbas is just a murderer and a thief, Sir! He and his band are just good in ambushing our troops and looting them. He is not a principled warrior like you or Caesar Tiberius, Sir!” Flavius said.
“We will crush him!” Marcus Aurelius said.
Flavius looked at his master and said, “When we confront Barabbas and his band of thieves, I will look for him and thrust my sword into his heart. My sword will penetrate into his heart in memory of the Roman soldiers and merchants he had looted and killed!”
Marcus Aurelius smiled at his aide and said, “Flavius… Don’t do that… Leave him to me… I want him alive… Understand?”
Flavius was surprised at the statement of his master. Doesn’t Barabbas deserve death?
“I want to present him to Pontius Pilate alive… I don’t want him to fall by the sword… Do you understand?”
“But Sir, he deserves to die!” Flavius stated.
“Barabbas will die! But not by the sword. He will die by crucifixion! I want Pontius Pilate to see the body of Barabbas slowly relished by vultures!”
THE LAST ROMANOV
“I thank the Lord that He gave us wonderful children,” the Empress said.
“Yes. And they are all that we really have now. I regret that it’s only now that I realize the importance of spending time with one’s children. It gives you fulfillment, happiness, peace of mind – things I hardly noticed before because I was preoccupied with the affairs of the state,” the Monarch said.
“I think the feeling is the same with me,” the Empress said.
“Now, I understand what my father said about children – that they are worth more than the wealth of the world.”
The Empress smiled, fighting back her tears.
The Monarch looked at her.
“The years run by so fast. I became Tsar in 1895, and now it’s 1918,” he said, thoughts of the past flooding his mind.
“We never thought we would grow old so easily,” the Empress said.
There was a brief silence between the Royal couple. After the lull, the Monarch asked her, “Aleksandra, do you recall how many times I have told you ‘I love you’?”
The Empress was amused. “Seven times?” she asked in jest.
The Monarch smiled.
“Nicholas, please tell me something. I wanted to ask you this before, but other things preoccupied my mind.”
“What about?” the Monarch asked.
“If you were to begin your adult life again, would you rather marry a full-blooded Russian?” the Empress asked.
The monarch’s reply was in the form of a question. “It’s like asking me if whether I regret my marriage with you, isn’t it?”
The Empress was silent.
“No. I’ll do it as before. I’ll still court and marry the young woman from Germany whose beauty has captivated my poor heart,” the Tsar said in earnestness.
The Empress smiled, happy to hear those endearing words she had longed for years now.
“The years have given us wrinkles. But they have not lessened the warmth of my love,” he said.
“Even if your adversaries have despised you for marrying a German relative?”
“You don’t love and marry a woman simply because she is a full-blooded Russian. I don’t think real love is like that,” the Tsar said.
“This race thing…”
“Love knows no race, it’s not bound by any flag or creed,” the Monarch said.
The Empress bit her lips.
“I love you, and I always will, until the last breath of my life,” the Tsar said.
Then he embraced his wife, and kissed her.
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Even The Grass Bleeds Page 22
