The mountain roads were beginning to fill with people – herdsmen driving cattle, children pulling donkeys and stablemen leading their horses. Those coming down from the hills beyond Machaerus disappeared from view behind the castle but others were coming up the ravine in front of them and could be seen arriving at the town and unloading their bags in the courtyards. These were servants arriving ahead of the Tetrarch's guests as well as his own men bringing provisions.
Suddenly at the far end of the terrace, to their left, they saw an Essene coming towards them,6 barefoot, dressed in a white robe, a man of strikingly ascetic appearance. Mannaeï rushed forward from the right, brandishing his sword.
‘Kill him!’ Herodias shouted.
‘Stop!’ cried the Tetrarch.
Mannaeï came to a halt and stood motionless. The Essene did likewise.
Then they both withdrew, walking backwards without taking their eyes off each other and disappearing down two separate staircases.
‘I know that man!’ said Herodias. ‘His name is Phanuel and he is trying to see Jokanaan. Keeping him alive is just madness!’
Antipas insisted that some day he might be of use. His attacks on Jerusalem were winning the other Jews over to them.
‘No!’ she replied. ‘The Jews will accept any ruler they are given. They are simply incapable of forming a country of their own!’ The most sensible thing to do with someone who raised their hopes about prophecies made in the time of Nehemiah7 was to get rid of him.
The Tetrarch's view was that there was no hurry. And as for Jokanaan being a danger to them, nothing could be further from the truth. He pretended to laugh.
‘Be quiet!’ said Herodias. And once again she told him how she had been humiliated when on her way to the balsam harvest in Gilead.
‘I saw people on the river-bank putting their clothes back on. There was a man standing on a little mound near them, declaiming something. All he wore was a camel skin around his loins and his hair stood out like a lion's mane. As soon as he saw me he spat out a stream of curses from the prophets. His eyes were ablaze, he ranted and raved and raised his hands aloft as if trying to call down thunder from the skies. It was impossible to get away. The wheels of my chariot were up to their axles in the sand. I could only move forward very slowly, covering myself with my cloak and with my blood running cold at the deluge of insults that rained down upon me.’
Jokanaan was making life unbearable for her. The soldiers who had seized and bound him had been given instructions to stab him if he tried to resist. But he had given himself up without a struggle. They had put snakes in his prison: the snakes had all died.
Herodias was furious that these ploys had failed. She still could not understand what he had against her or what he stood to gain. He had proclaimed his ideas to huge crowds of people; they had spread far and wide and were still circulating. Wherever she went she heard people talking of them; they filled the air. If she had had to defend herself against an army of legionaries she would have had the courage to do so, but this was a power more insidious than the sword, something intangible and quite extraordinary. She paced about the terrace, white with anger and unable to find words to express her frustration.
It had also occurred to her that the Tetrarch might give in to public opinion and decide to renounce her. If that happened, all would be lost. Ever since childhood she had dreamed of ruling over a great empire. This is what had prompted her to leave her first husband and marry this one, who she now thought had been deceiving her.
‘Much good it did me, marrying into your family!’ she said.
‘My family is as good as yours,’ said the Tetrarch blandly.
Herodias felt the blood of her ancestors, that noble line of kings and priests, boiling in her veins.
‘But your grandfather was a floor-sweeper in the temple at Askalon and the rest of your family were just shepherds, robbers or muleteers, a rabble, and in thrall to Judah since the time of King David! My ancestors have all beaten yours in battle! You were chased out of Hebron by the first of the Maccabees and forced to accept circumcision by Hyrcanus!’ Her voice shook with the contempt that the patrician bears the plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau. She accused him of being indifferent to insults, too tolerant towards the Pharisees who were betraying him and a coward in the face of his own people who detested her. ‘You detest me as much as they do, admit it! You would rather be back with that Arab girl who used to dance round the stones. Well, take her back! Go and live with her under her canvas roof! Eat the bread she bakes in the ashes! Drink her sour ewe's milk! Kiss her blue cheeks! Forget you ever knew me!’
The Tetrarch was no longer listening to her. He was looking down at the flat roof of a house on which he could see a young girl and an old woman. The woman was holding a parasol with a reed handle as long as a fishing rod. In the middle of the carpet a large travelling basket lay open, full to the brim with waistbands, veils and jewelled pendants. From time to time the girl would lean forward and brandish something from the contents of the basket in the air. She was dressed, as was usual for Roman girls, in a pleated tunic and a peplum with emerald tassels. Her hair was held back by blue ribbons and from time to time she put her hand up to it as if it were too heavy for her. The shadow from the parasol fell across her, half hiding her from view. Now and then Antipas caught brief glimpses of her delicate neck, the corner of an eye, the shape of a little mouth. But he could see the whole of her upper body from her hips to her neck, so lissom and supple as she leant forward and then straightened herself again. He waited for her to repeat the movement; his breathing quickened and his eyes lit up. Herodias stood watching him.
‘Who is that?’ he asked.
Herodias replied that she had no idea and walked away, her anger suddenly calmed.
A number of people were waiting under the colonnade to see the Tetrarch. There were some Galileans, the chief scribe, the steward of the pasture-lands, the chief administrator of the salt mines and a Babylonian Jew who was in charge of his cavalry. They all greeted him together. Antipas then disappeared towards the inner rooms.
Phanuel appeared round the corner of a corridor.
‘Ah, you again!’ said the Tetrarch. ‘I suppose you have come to see Jokanaan.’
‘And to see you too! I have something very important to tell you.’
He walked along behind him and followed him into a dimly lit room.
A little daylight found its way through a grill which ran the length of the wall just below the cornice. The walls were painted garnet-red, almost black. At the far end of the room there was a bed made of ebony with oxhide webbing. Above it hung a golden shield which gleamed like a sun.
Antipas walked across the room and lay down on the bed.
Phanuel remained standing. He raised his arm and, speaking as one inspired, said:
‘From time to time the Almighty sends us one of His sons. Jokanaan is one of them. If you maltreat him you will be punished.’
‘It is he who is persecuting me,’ exclaimed Antipas. ‘He asked me to do something which was impossible and ever since then he has made my life a misery. I was not hard on him to begin with. But he has sent men out from Machaerus who are spreading chaos throughout my provinces! Woe betide him! If he chooses to attack me, I must defend myself!’
‘Yes, his anger is too violent,’ said Phanuel. ‘But no matter, you must release him.’
‘One does not release wild beasts,’ said the Tetrarch.
‘Have no fear,’ replied the Essene. ‘He will go amongst the Arabs, the Gauls and the Scythians. He must take his message to the ends of the earth!’
Antipas seemed lost in a dream.
‘He possesses great power!… I cannot help liking him!’
‘Then why not let him go free!’
The Tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias and Mannaeï. He feared the unknown.
Phanuel tried to make him change his mind, promising that the Essenes would swear allegiance to the kings. His plans w
ould be sure of success, for everyone respected these poor men who defied torture, went about dressed in flax and read the future in the stars.
Antipas remembered something Phanuel had said a moment or so earlier.
‘You said there was something important you had to tell me.’
Just then a Negro rushed into the room, his body white with dust. He was gasping for breath and all he could say was:
‘Vitellius!’8
‘What? Is he coming?’
‘I have seen him. He will be here within three hours!’
The curtains in the corridors were shaken as if by the wind. The castle was filled with noise – the sounds of running feet, furniture being dragged about, silverware clattering to the floor. From the tops of the towers trumpets were being sounded to alert the slaves all over the castle.
2
A great crowd of people had gathered on the ramparts when Vitellius entered the courtyard. He was leaning on the arm of his interpreter and behind him there followed a huge red litter adorned with plumes and mirrors. He wore the toga, the laticlave9 and the laced boots of a consul and was surrounded by lictors.
The lictors walked up to the castle gate and set down their twelve fasces, bundles of rods bound together by a strap with an axe in the middle. At this, everyone trembled before the majesty of the Roman people.
The litter, which was being carried by eight men, came to a stop. Out of it stepped a youth with a fat paunch, a face covered in spots and strings of pearls on his fingers. He was offered a large cup of spiced wine. He drank it and asked for another.
The Tetrarch was grovelling at the knees of the Proconsul, explaining how upset he was that he had not learnt earlier that he was to be honoured with his presence. Had he known, he would have made proper arrangements to receive him along the way. The Vitellii were descended from the goddess Vitellia. The road that led from the Janiculum to the sea still bore their name. Their family could boast countless quaestorships and consulships and as for Lucius, who was now his guest, they owed him a debt of gratitude as conqueror of the Clites and father of the young Aulus, who might be said to be coming back to his homeland, since the East was the home of the gods. These effusive compliments were spoken in Latin. Vitellius listened to them impassively.
He replied by saying that no one could have brought greater glory to a nation than great King Herod.10 The Athenians had entrusted him with the supervision of the Olympic games. He had built temples in honour of Augustus. He had been patient, ingenious and redoutable and he had always remained loyal to the Caesars.
Between the columns with their bronze capitals they saw Herodias coming towards them. She moved forward like an empress, surrounded by women and eunuchs who carried burning incense on silver-gilt platters.
The Proconsul took three steps towards her and bowed his head in greeting.
‘What a blessing it is’, she exclaimed, ‘that Agrippa, the enemy of Tiberius, can now no longer harm us!’
Vitellius did not know what had happened but he sensed that Herodias was a dangerous woman. When Antipas began to insist that there was nothing he would not do for the Emperor, Vitellius interrupted him and said:
‘Even if you go behind someone else's back?’11
Vitellius had obtained hostages from the King of the Parthians but the Emperor had not realized this because Antipas, who had also been present at the negotiations, had sent the news off first in order to get himself noticed. This was why Vitellius disliked him so intensely and why he had been so slow in sending him assistance.
The Tetrarch muttered an excuse, but Aulus laughed and said:
‘Calm down. I will look after you!’
The Proconsul pretended not to hear this. The father's prospects depended upon his son's depravity. This flower from the gutters of Capri12 brought him so many advantages that he nurtured it carefully whilst at the same time treating it with caution because he knew it was poisonous.
There was a sudden commotion just outside the gate. A string of white mules was being led into the courtyard, ridden by men in priests' clothing. These were Sadducees and Pharisees who had all come to Machaerus with the same purpose in mind; the Sadducees wanted the office of High Priest to be conferred on them, whilst the Pharisees wanted to retain it for themselves. Their faces looked very serious, especially those of the Pharisees, who were hostile to Rome and the Tetrarch. The large borders of their tunics made it difficult for them to move among the crowd. Their tiaras were poised precariously on their foreheads above strips of vellum which had handwriting on them.
At almost the same moment a group of soldiers from the advance guard arrived. They had put their shields inside sacks to protect them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the Proconsul's lieutenant, accompanied by some publicans13 carrying wooden tablets held tightly under their arms.
Antipas introduced the principal members of his entourage: Tolmaï, Kanthera, Sehon, Ammonius of Alexandria who bought asphalt for him, Naaman the captain of his velites14 and Jacim the Babylonian.
Vitellius had noticed Mannaeï.
‘Who is that man over there?’
The Tetrarch explained with a gesture of his hand that he was the executioner.
Then he presented the Sadducees.
Jonathas, a short, loose-limbed man who spoke Greek, begged the master to honour them with a visit to Jerusalem. Vitellius said that he would probably be going there.
Eleazar, a man with a hooked nose and a long beard, appealed on behalf of the Pharisees for the return of the High Priest's cloak which the civil authorities held under lock and key in the Tower of Antonia.
Then the Galileans launched into a tirade against Pontius Pilate. Because some madman had gone hunting for King David's golden vases in a cave near Samaria, he had had some of the inhabitants killed. They all began speaking at once, Mannaeï more vociferously than the others. Vitellius promised them that the criminals would be punished.
There was a sudden clamour of angry voices opposite one of the colonnades, where the soldiers had hung their shields. The coverings had been removed and Caesar's effigy could be seen on the bosses. To the Jews this was a form of idolatry. Antipas went to remonstrate with them while Vitellius sat on a raised seat in the colonnade marvelling at their fury. Tiberius had done right to banish four hundred of them to Sardinia. But here in their own country their views could not be ignored and he ordered the shields to be removed.
Then they all crowded round the Proconsul begging him to remedy injustices and grant them privileges and alms. Clothes were being torn in the crush and slaves were hitting out right and left with sticks to clear some space. Those nearest the gate made their way out on to the road, only to meet others coming up in the other direction and to be driven back – two streams crossing each other in this jostling crowd of men, shut in by the surrounding walls.
Vitellius asked why there were so many people there. Antipas told him that it was because of the celebrations for his birthday and he pointed to his men leaning over the battlements and hoisting up huge baskets of meat, fruit, vegetables, antelopes and storks, great blue fish, grapes, watermelons and pomegranates piled up like pyramids. Aulus could not contain himself.15 He rushed off in the direction of the kitchens, impelled by the gluttony that was later to astonish the whole world.
As he went past one of the wine cellars he caught sight of some large cooking-pots that looked like breastplates. Vitellius came over to look at them and asked to be shown the underground chambers of the fortress.
These were hewn out of the rock with high vaulted ceilings supported here and there by pillars. The first contained a collection of old armour but the second was filled with pikes, their points protruding from bunches of feathers. The third looked as though it were lined with reed mats, being filled with thin arrows all stacked tightly together on their ends. The walls of the fourth chamber were covered with scimitar blades. In the middle of the fifth were rows of helmets, their curved crests making them look like an army of
red snakes. The sixth chamber housed quivers, the seventh greaves and the eighth armlets. In the remaining chambers there were forks, grappling hooks, ladders, ropes and even poles for the catapults and bells for the dromedaries' breastplates. Because the mountain grew broader at its base, hollowed out inside like a beehive, beneath these chambers there were a great many more, and even deeper than the ones above.
Vitellius, Phineas his interpreter and Sisenna the chief publican inspected all of them by the light of torches carried by three eunuchs.
In the darkness they made out some even grimmer objects devised by the barbarians: bludgeons studded with nails, poisoned javelins and iron pincers that looked like the jaws of a crocodile. In short, in Machaerus the Tetrarch had sufficient instruments of war for an army of forty thousand men.
He had gathered them together in case his enemies formed an alliance against him. However, the Proconsul might very easily imagine or assume that they were for fighting the Romans and so he tried to think of ways of justifying himself.
Perhaps he should say that these arms were not his, that many of them were used for defending themselves against marauders, that they were needed as protection against the Arabs or that they had all belonged to his father. And instead of walking behind the Proconsul he walked on quickly ahead. At one point he placed himself against the wall, spreading his arms and trying to hide it with his toga. But the top of a door could be seen above his head. Vitellius noticed it and wanted to know what was inside.
He was told that the only person who could open it was the Babylonian.
‘Then call the Babylonian!’ he ordered.
They waited for him to appear.
His father had come to Palestine from the banks of the Euphrates, offering his services to Herod the Great, along with five hundred horsemen, in defence of the eastern frontiers. When the kingdom was divided, Jacim had stayed with Philip and was now in the service of Antipas.
He arrived with a bow across his shoulders and carrying a whip. His bandy legs were bound round tightly with cords of different colours. He wore a sleeveless tunic which revealed his brawny arms and a fur cap which shaded his face. His beard was curled in ringlets.