ON THE WAY TO JUDAEA

Shipboard off Alexandria

We are at last within sight of Alexandria, my dear Seneca, and to-morrow we land. I shall spend a week meeting my staff, interviewing applicants for jobs (shoals of Greeks, of course), receiving deputations of loyal Jews, and talking to every one who can be useful to me. Then on to Caesarea which, as you know, is my head-quarters.

Here at Alexandria I am to meet Valerius Gratus, my predecessor as Procurator of Judaea, and if anyone can tell me how to solve the riddle of getting on with the Jews, he ought to be the man. Not that I shall not get on with them; I mean to, and I believe I shall. Valerius has stood them – or they have stood him, do you say? – for over ten years, so it can be done, though no one else has done it.*

*Valerius Gratus was Procurator of Judaea from A.D. 15 to A.D. 26.

I have been lucky, by the way, in engaging two of Valerius’s staff for myself. One is Marcius Rufus, his chief military officer and now mine, who has been on leave and is travelling back with me. The other, who is even more important, is his Secretary Alexander. He is a Jew, but one of those Jews that are half-Greek: Greek on the surface, and Jew at the bottom. You cannot do without them. It seems that you cannot get a real Jewish Jew to put himself at the service of a mere Roman governor, and if you could you would be little better off because he would not have the languages. And languages are needed, I assure you. There is one sort of Hebrew for their sacred writing, there is the Aramaic that they commonly talk, there is Greek for non-Jews and for all educated people, whether Jews or not, and there is Latin for the Roman Procurator and his staff if they don’t choose to use Greek. Alexander speaks them all, Alexander knows everything. I am told that the only person in this part of the world who is sharper than a Greek is a Greek-educated Jew. Congratulate me, therefore, on my Alexander. I rely on him to tell me what I do not know about my province of Judaea – which is almost everything. There are two persons, you see, whom I must not at any price offend: Caesar Imperator (whom the gods preserve)* and my Jew Alexander.

*The Emperor Tiberius, who reigned A.D. 14 to A.D. 36.

Marcius, on the other hand, is a Roman of the Romans. He despises all foreigners, especially Jews. He knows how inferior they are to Romans, and he has never got over the shock of discovering that the Jews are equally satisfied that the Romans are immeasurably inferior to themselves. I was telling him that I had promised to receive the addresses of loyal Jews in Alexandria. ‘Impossible!’ he said. ‘There aren’t any.’ The other day, when the sea was rough, a wave came over and struck me in the back, knocking me down. When I could get my breath, I said, ‘A treacherous blow!’ ‘We are on our way to Judaea,’ said Marcius.

Procula* is worried that we are to have only a week in Alexandria. She says that she will not have time to do the necessary shopping. My own opinion is that from that point of view a week is much too long. But it really is ridiculous that the Treasury should not make a special ‘furnishing grant’ or something of that kind to a man in my position. You know I shall have to keep up the palace of Herod** at Caesarea and another that he built for himself at Jerusalem and probably there’s a third of the same kind at Samaria. How in the world is a poor man going to maintain these enormous places? It was all very well for Herod. He was one of the richest men in the world and Judaea was only a small part of his kingdom. Valerius will be waiting for me here with an inventory of his private ‘fixtures’ in these palaces and there will be a pretty bill for me to pay. Besides, he is sure to take a great many things away with him, and I shall have to replace them. So you may imagine Procula spending a happy week among what she declares are the finest shops in the Empire – much better, she says, than those of Rome.

*Claudia Procula, Pilate’s wife.

**Herod the Great, whose reign was marked by the erection of palaces, temples and great public works of various descriptions.

You can see yourself how the whole affair has been mismanaged by Rome. When we decided that we must take over the government of Judaea because of the unruliness of the Jews, we should have annexed the whole country that Herod ruled from near Damascus to the Dead Sea and not have left his two sons in possession of large parts of it.* It’s an unfair tax on the Procurator of Judaea , who has to keep up the state of Herod on a fraction of his income. Well, some one will have to find the money, and there’s no one for it but the Jews. A Rome Procurator must not be worse housed than a semi-barbarous king like their Herod, must he? I tell Procula that if she wants rugs and tapestries, she should wait till she goes on a visit to Damascus or Antioch, but she only smiles at that; a rug in the hand is worth two in the desert to a woman any day. I say again, the Jews will have to pay. After all, it is a reasonable charge to impose on them and they can afford it. The Jews all over the world – and they are all over the world, you can’t get away from them anywhere – are sending money to Jerusalem all the time.**

*When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., the Romans allowed his territories to be divided between his sons Archelaus, Antipas and Philip, Judaea falling to Archelaus. In A.D. 6, however, they deposed Archelaus and placed Judaea in the hands of a Rome Procurator, but left the other territories still in the hands of Antipas and Philip.

** Pilate is thinking of the Temple-tribute’ which all Jews sent to Jerusalem each year. The Roman Governors in the provinces resented these contributions, but the central government at Rome upheld the Jews in sending them.

You would be astonished at the sight before me as I write – a perfect forest of masts. I did not think there were so many ships afloat. No wonder the Alexandrines say their city is the greatest commercial centre in the world. The Captain has just pointed out to me a whole fleet of big ships on one side of the harbour – the fleet that carries grain to our people in Italy. The grain-traffic, he tells me, is in the hands of – whom do you think? – of course, the Jews. He also confided to me that he liked the Jews better outside Judaea than in it. I shall see. At all events I rejoice that, though I might easily have had a more important province, when I am in Judaea I shall be governor, chief tax collector and commander-in-chief all in one.

I will write again before we leave for Caesarea.

POLICY TOWARDS THE JEWS
Alexandria

I found your letter waiting for me when I landed and I hasten to thank you for it. I count myself happy that you who are so busy and making for yourself so brilliant a name in the courts should have had the inclination and the time to write me a long letter of good wishes and advice. It was shrewd of you, too, my friend. ‘Pilate,’ you said to yourself, ‘the impulsive, headstrong Pilate, will not be able to argue with me; he will have to take my warnings on with him from Alexandria and chew upon them all the way to Caesarea.’ I will do that, I promise you, and whenever I do so I shall wonder again that one so young as you should be so wise.* The State is fortunate which can boast not only of Caesars but of Senecas to serve them, and I shall watch your progress with affectionate eagerness from my exile among the savages.

*Seneca was about thirty years of age at this time.

‘What,’ you will say, ‘savages! So that is all that my letter has accomplished, so that is the spirit in which you take up your task? The Jews are not savages.’ No, they are not; I seek but to provoke you. The Jews are highly civilized. They are intelligent and subtle, industrious and tenacious; they can split a hair with the most learned and steal a march with the most cunning. You need not be afraid; I shall not under-rate them.

But, you say, beware of their religion, for on that subject they are the most sensitive, the most prone to take offence, the most indomitable in resistance, of any people on this earth. And, you add, holding up a warning finger, ‘You know what Caesar wishes!’ I know. No commotions, no rebellions, taxes duly paid: that is what Caesar wishes. Yet you will not pretend that Caesar loves the Jews, at least in Rome. Precisely, says the wise Seneca: in Rome Caesar does not love the Jews any more than he does the Egyptians. They will not mix, they are a race apart, they will not do sacrifice to the Gods or to Caesar, and they claim all sorts of privileges. Caesar does not want such people in Rome, though they flock there more and more. They should stop in their own Judaea, then, and in their own Judaea – let them alone! Is not that the instruction? Have I not laid your letter well to heart? Believe me, I shall not interfere with their religion, their priests or their Temple. But I have heard – and have you, who know so much, not also heard? – that with a Jew religion comes very near to politics? What, pray, is a Roman Governor to do when religion becomes politics? I have heard that some of them will acknowledge no ruler except their God, not even Caesar. Not even Caesar, mark you! Let them beware. I do not think that Caesar will be lightly displeased with servants who are only concerned to secure respect for his authority. In religion the Jews may go their own way. In politics they shall go my way, the Roman way, or I will know the reason why.

To-morrow I meet Valerius in the morning, and in the afternoon a deputation of Alexandrine Jews, who wish to pay me their dutiful respects and (so their letter says) make representations to me about lightening of the burdens on their countrymen in Judaea. I shall be expected, I suppose, to show how much finer a fellow than Valerius I am by reducing the taxes.

The shopping campaign is already in full swing.

MEETING WITH HIS PREDECESSOR VALERIUS
Alexandria

My time has been so fully occupied that I am only now able to write to you, and we sail for Caesarea in a few hours. Every few minutes there is some interruption; but I will write this letter though I miss the ship.

There is one thing of great importance which I must say at once lest I forget it; the Jews can wait. You told me, you may remember, of a new wash which you had devised for your vine-plants – more efficacious against pests than any known to you, and you attributed to it the generous crop that you had last year. I have told my freedman Leon who manages my farm at Laurentum to write and ask you for the particulars, and I shall be grateful if you will give them to him. He is himself ingenious in all such experiments and omits no pains; you may be sure that you will not have the annoyance of finding that your advice has been sought by those who have not the wit or the will to make the best of it.

I have seen Valerius – a rubicund, jolly fellow, delighted at the prospect of going home. I wanted to ask about Judaea; he would scarcely talk of anything but Rome and chariot-racing, for which he has a passion. However, he told me enough about the furnishing of Herod’s palaces to make it clear that my worst fears are true. He says that Archelaus, when Caesar deposed him, sold the contents of the palaces as being his private property, and that consequently every governor since then has had to furnish anew or buy the ‘fixtures’ of his predecessor. ‘How can I pay so much,’ I said, ‘at the beginning of my term of office?’ ‘Borrow the money from the Jews,’ said Valerius, ‘and then increase their taxes in order to pay it back.’ ‘But,’ I replied, ‘I am just going to inform a Jewish deputation that out of respect and admiration for their race I intend graciously to remit a tenth part of the taxes.’ ‘Why not?’ said Valerius, ‘I did the same myself. But in six months you must restore the ten per cent. and in twelve months put another tenth on that.’ He told me also that I should by all means encourage the Jews who throng to Jerusalem from Asia and Africa at the time of the great festivals, especially the Passover. So long as Caesar maintains peace in the provinces, the Jews flourish. They travel in tens of thousands to Judaea, carrying their money with them. ‘Then is your chance,’ said he. ‘Make them pay a visitors’ tax when they enter, raise the customs duties on everything that is bought and sold while they are there, and put a specially heavy tax on all the momentoes that they carry away when they go back. They will grumble, but since they are departing to other provinces, that need not trouble you, and the Jews in Judaea, having helped to suck them dry, will take no further interest in them.’

I like Valerius: he knows what is helpful, and is practical.

I had meant to describe the Jewish deputation to you but, after all, that must wait. I shall have more leisure to do it adequately on the way to Caesarea. You may think of me, during the voyage, taking lessons on Judaea from Alexander. What kind of man is he, you ask. You know the sort of Jew that is aggressive, insistent, loud? He is the other sort. He is quiet, deferential, often obsequious – and, unless I am mistaken, as deep and disdainful of me and you, of Rome and Caesar as the noisiest of them all.

At present Alexander is engaged in a brisk flirtation with Acme, Procula’s Greek slave, a pretty girl. He has succeeded Marcius. Jew does not marry non-Jew, I believe, but outside marriage they are not particular.

INSTRUCTION FROM VALERIUS
Shipboard: On the way to Caesarea

The sea is only choppy and I must not grumble, but I am glad that it is a short voyage compared with that from Italy.

I had meant to tell you what Valerius said to me about Galilee. As you know, both Galilee and Peraea (which is east of Jerusalem on the far side of the river Jordan) are in possession of Antipas, son of the Herod who, by turning his coat skilfully during our civil wars, not only kept his kingdom but kept on adding to it. I complained to Valerius that these territories, but especially Galilee, ought to be under the Governor of Judaea. Common sense demands it. Galilee is Jewish, it is flourishing and rich, and Jerusalem is its national and historic capital. Its inhabitants look to Jerusalem as their sacred city and are always travelling to it. Would anyone in his senses dream of carving up a country into strips in such a way, and why should we tolerate it just because Herod had three sons for whom he wanted to provide? Valerius agreed with me at once. ‘There is more in it than that, too,’ he said, ‘as you may soon find out. The Galileans, like all the Jews, hate the Romans, and they are as independent and stiff-necked as can be. But when they want to make trouble, they come out of Galilee, where they can change nothing and achieve nothing, and make it in Judaea, which means Jerusalem. The last serious rising about twenty years ago, when we took over the country, was raised by a rascal called Judas who belonged to Galilee.* That was a real rebellion. The unfortunate Procurator of Judaea is not allowed by Caesar to have any rebellions, while at the same time he is prevented from dealing with the beginnings of seditions in Galilee even if he knows of them, because it is the kingdom of Antipas and he must not interfere.’ ‘Then we ought,’ I said, ‘to get rid of Antipas.’ Valerius smiled. ‘I have been waiting for ten years,’ he said, ‘and he has never given me a handle. You may take it that Antipas will not allow sedition to start in Galilee if he can help it, because he knows the Romans might seize the chance to absorb his kingdom into Judaea. He keeps on good terms with the Roman Governor of Syria and he has friends in Rome. Like his villainous old father, he flatters the Jews by observing their customs and he keeps himself in power by paying court to the Romans. All the Herods are the same. They know that if it were not for the Romans the Jews would have them out in no time, for the Jews love them little though they love the Romans less.’

*Judas of Gamala headed a revolt on the death of Herod in 4 B.C. and again in A.D. 6-7, when the Romans first imposed their formal scheme of taxation. It was from the party of Judas and Zaddok, a Pharisee, that the ‘Zealots’ arose whose implacable hostility led to the fatal revolt of the Jews against the Romans.

I asked Valerius how it was that if all the Jews detest the Romans equally, he had managed to keep things quiet for ten years. ‘It’s quite true,’ he said, ‘that they all hate us. There is scarcely one of them that would speak to us, let alone eat with us, if he could help it, but they do not all hate us in the same degree. There are some of them at Jerusalem who would sooner put up with the Romans than lose the power and position that they hold. Their noble priestly families – as arrogant a crew as can be found in Asia – ruled the whole country before the time of Herod. Herod destroyed their power and almost destroyed them. Now they have raised their heads again. We have given them back much of their authority, especially in regard to their religion, and, in order to keep it, they are ready to tolerate us. They do not want another Herod to sweep them aside and send them to the executioner. Nor do they like sedition – unless it were likely to be successful – for they know the power of Rome. They have no use for a Judas, whether from Galilee or anywhere else, who by raising a popular revolt may bring them into conflict with Rome and end their privileges. They make a bargain with Rome. “We hate you and despise you,” they say, “but on terms we can help you. Leave us alone and we will keep the country quiet for you.'”

You see, my friend, how quickly I am learning. I am to work with these priests at Jerusalem and look out for an opportunity which, I am not likely to get, of tripping up Antipas. Between you and Valerius and Secretary Alexander I shall soon be a statesman. All the same, I shall press for an increase in the garrison of Judaea. Four thousand men is not enough. I shall say, when I get the chance, that I need more troops to watch the frontiers of Galilee and Peraea.

I have not told you about the deputation after all, but I will write again before we land at Caesarea.

A JEWISH DEPUTATION AT ALEXANDRIA
Shipboard, near to Caesarea

Now at last I can describe the Jewish deputation. It was a bigger affair than I had expected, but then the Jews in Alexandria are much more important than I had supposed. There is a Jewish settlement which they say occupies nearly half the city; I know that on the day before the deputation came I drove and drove and always the people and the placards and the shop-signs were Jewish. Everywhere children and everywhere aged greybeards, grave or gesticulating, in the street. I have never seen so many old men. Do they ever die, I wonder? Or is it only than one notices them more, they are so different?

It had become known that I intended to receive some of their leading men and there was a great crowd in the square before the palace of the City Prefect, Junius Macrinus, with whom I was staying. You should have heard the uproar when the deputation appeared. The Jews, who were there in force, gave their countrymen an excited welcome, I suppose because they were going to admonish the prospective oppressor of Judaea. This provoked the mob (mostly Greeks), who began to hoot and then to hustle the Jews and finally to throw stones. The Jews resisted and I thought that there would be a riot. However, Junius, who is used to this sort of thing and was amused at my taking it so seriously, had a company of troops in readiness and they soon hurried the deputation indoors and cleared the square. Everything went like clockwork. Two men, I believe – both Greeks – were killed.

You would scarcely believe how much the Jews are disliked in this part of the world. The crowd called them ‘swine,’ ‘robbers’ and ‘blood-drinkers.’* Partly it is because they are arrogant and exclusive, but the Greeks cannot forgive them for beating them in trade. There is a saying in Alexandria that ‘an Egyptian could make money from a pyramid, a Greek from a stone, and a Jew from a grain of sand.’

*Apparently an allusion to the calumny of the ‘ritual murder’ of infants which has been brought against the Jews by their enemies from very ancient times.

Alexander, the secretary, had prepared me for the deputation. He hinted that he could write my speech, but I intend to make my own speeches. ‘The deputation,’ he said, ‘will be important: as a sign of respect to the new Procurator it will be headed by Philo and Alexander.’ He seemed to expect me to say something. ‘Oh yes,’ I said, ‘Philo and Alexander. I must remember their names.’ Junius was delighted. ‘I do not believe you have ever heard of either of them,’ he said. The secretary went on unmoved. ‘Philo has a certain reputation as a philosopher.’ ‘Why,’ said Junius, ‘he is the greatest living Jew. He is called “The Jewish Plato,” which infuriates the Greeks. I have never read a word of him, but I believe he has set out to prove that the Hebrew scriptures contain the whole of Greek philosophy.’ ‘Alexander,’ added the secretary, ‘is Philo’s brother, and is the leader of the Jews in commerce and finance as Philo is in letters.’ Junius added that Alexander was the recognized head of the Jewish community, enormously wealthy and ready to lend money on good security. I thought myself that I must take note of Alexander. Philo and Alexander were, in fact, the spokesmen of the party. I was brief and soldierly. ‘You have, I hear, a petition to make to me,’ was all I said when Junius presented them. Each of the pair had something to ask of me. They spoke quietly but, I need scarcely say, with complete assurance, as though equals to equals.

Philo spoke first, since he was to deal with religion. He began with compliments to Rome, to Caesar, and to me. He said that the Jews had always fought hard for their independence, but had never for long been able to preserve it. Always some great Power from the north or from the south had overcome them: Egypt, Assyria, the Greeks, the Syrian kings, and finally Rome. Nowadays they not only recognized that they could not hope to prevail against the might of Caesar, but they no longer desired to, for Caesar gave them peace and good government. I interrupted to say that there were constant complaints of some fellow springing up in Judaea – an itinerant preacher or a so-called patriot or a mere bandit – and he always ended by inciting the people against Rome. Philo rejoined that these were in any event ignorant, illiterate men who counted for little, and that the rulers at Jerusalem, supported by all that was best and most educated among the Jews, were satisfied to have things as they were, provided that they were left undisturbed in the exercise of their religion, and in this every Jew throughout the world was on their side. He went on to warn me, with professions of respect, that in Judaea the Jews would not abate one jot or tittle of their religious convictions. They had, he said, endured the extreme of persecution before, and, if need be, they would do so again. Antiochus of Syria had tortured and slain them by the thousand in his determination to force heathen customs upon them and to make them rather Greeks than Jews, but at the end they had defeated him.* Herod had sought to bribe them by the magnificence of his benefactions and by building them a Temple which was the wonder of the world, but when he set a golden eagle over the Temple Gate they had pulled it down, for neither the cross nor the stake had terrors for the God-fearing Jew.** He reminded me – not, he observed, that he thought it necessary – that the Jews, worshipping an invisible God, would accept no statue or image of living beings, and that even Herod had not placed his head on his own coins in Judaea.

*Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.) endeavoured to destroy Jewish religion and ‘Hellenize’ the Jews. The successful revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus marked the failure of his policy. Antiochus dedicated the Temple at Jerusalem to the Olympic Zeus and erected in it the pagan altar which is the ‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of in the Book of Daniel.

**Herod the Great’s policy towards the Jews was one of benevolent (and suspicious) contempt. He did not seek, like Antiochus, to ‘Hellenize’ them, but at the same time that he restored the Temple on the grandest scale in order to gratify them, he established a theatre and amphitheatre at Jerusalem whose pagan character was a constant offence to them.

I asked him bluntly whether he proposed that Caesar’s head should not be placed on his own coins within his own dominions; but he was too shrewd to be trapped by the question; he only hoped, he said, that I would respect the susceptibilities of the Jews in the ancient home of their race and their religion even as Caesar himself desired that they should be respected.

I asked him whether he was aware that in Rome Caesar had ordered that the Jews should abandon their special forms of worship on pain of being expelled from Italy or forced into the labour battalions of the army.* He replied that he knew this was so, but that whereas Caesar would not tolerate a distinctive race with special exclusive privileges in Rome, he was equally firm in allowing them the undisturbed enjoyment of their religious customs in their own home. He added pointedly that everybody knew this was the policy laid down by Caesar for his governors, and they were grateful for it both to him and to them. He ended with a petition: the instructions given me at Rome before I left – and Valerius too laid stress upon this – informed me that at Jerusalem the Roman Governor keeps the vestments of the High Priest in his custody. He only hand them over to the High Priest on the eve of the great festivals and he receives them back again when the festival is finished. It is a sign of authority to which Rome attaches great importance. The Jews, of course, resent it. Philo proposed that, since Judaea had behaved so well during Valerius’s term of office, I should restore the vestments to the High Priest. I answered coldly that the Jews must earn any concession by good behaviour shown to me, that I knew Caesar’s mind and should carry it out, and that I had every intention of allowing the Jews the full exercise of their religion, provided that they recognized in every proper manner the authority of Caesar. The question of the vestments, I said, was one which only Caesar could decide.**

*The Emperor Tiberius had enforced this measure seven years earlier – in A.D. 19.

**Herod the Great had kept the vestments in his own custody and the Romans continued the practice. When, in A.D. 36, Pilate was summoned to Rome to answer to the accusations of misgovernment that were made against him, the vestments were restored to the charge of the priests in the Temple.

I hope you will approve of this mild and cautious utterance. Religion is one thing; by all means let them have their religion. But when they say that their religious scruples forbid them to tolerate the symbols of the authority of Rome – a statue or an image or even an inscription – that is another matter altogether. I shall see about it. I do not think that Caesar will blame me for enforcing his authority.

I thought Philo would never stop. His brother, Alexander, I am glad to say, was briefer. He was full of the poverty of the Jews. He said there was an impression about that all Jews were rich, but it was a great mistake. Judaea was a poor country, a large part of it mountainous and barren. The really rich territory was Galilee – do I not know it! – but people thought Judaea was wealthy because of the contributions which Jews everywhere sent up to Jerusalem. This, however, was ‘Temple-money’ designed to maintain the services and the priests, and it could no more be touched than the jewels, given by pious benefactors – he himself, by the way, is one of these – which adorn the Temple itself! He urged me to create peace and contentment at the beginning of my governorship by a large remission of taxation. He spoke of my reference to troublesome agitators in Judaea and said that his own experience as a collector of taxes in Egypt was that the less people were taxed the less likely they were to listen to sedition. I said I would consider it. I could not tell him, – could I? – that a Governor never needs money so urgently as in his first year of office and that every Governor has an endless string of creditors at Rome. If it were not for his creditors, would any man consent to govern Jews? A most illiberal sentiment, you will say. So it is, so it is, but I cannot always be a Seneca. To think of the untold wealth that flows from every city of Asia and Africa and almost of Europe to Jerusalem, and I cannot so much as touch it! Nor, I assure you, will I attempt to.

Soon we shall be within sight of Caesarea. Procula is full of excitement about it: but then, she does not realize for how many years she may have to live in it.

ARRIVAL AT CAESAREA
In harbour, Caesarea

Congratulate me, my friend, for I have reached my ‘province.’ Wish me a quiet and uneventful term, without rebellion, droughts or tumults, so that I may earn promotion and in some higher post than this help to make history.

I have left Procula on deck. She is wildly excited. She expected, I believe, to find tents and savages, and here is a city which looks, she says, almost as good as Naples. Certainly there is nothing Jewish about its appearance. The first thing we saw, from many miles out, was a temple of white, gleaming marble high up on a hill. Then the outline of a great amphitheatre, also white. Next, as we came nearer, a tall, dark tower standing straight up, as it seemed, out of the water. We found that it was established on the end of a gigantic mole made of enormous blocks of stone. I have seen nothing so striking as this mole in Italy. It runs out crescent-shaped, from the southern end of the city towards the north; it is several times as broad as any of our roads, with towers upon it and arches where seamen may lodge. It projects so far towards the northern shore that it leaves only a narrow entrance from the open sea and within it is the haven of calm waters in which we now lie. The size of the stones is almost beyond belief, and how Herod contrived to get them here and have them hewn and plant them in position is more than I can understand. He must have searched all Asia and Africa for skilled engineers.

Before Herod built the harbour and called it after Caesar, the place was a mere roadstead, open and dangerous. Now the commerce of the whole country can flow through it and much comes here that used to go to Tyre, farther north. I hope still more will come that I may get the benefit of the customs duties!

As we approached the entrance, Marcius pointed out to me first one building and then another, and always he added, ‘Herod built it – Herod built them all.’ Truly he was a wonderful man, for this is only one of the cities that he created out of nothing, and wherever he built he never forgot to build to the glory of Caesar and of Rome. (The temple that I first saw is dedicated to Caesar.)

As I watched and listened to Marcius I exclaimed, ‘A great king, no wonder Caesar praised him!’* I was astonished to hear a harsh voice near me saying, ‘A great murderer!’ and there, if you please, was my humble Alexander, with a scowl on his face and a snarl in his voice, looking as though he hated (as I am sure he does) even the stones that Herod had set up.

*It was reported that the Emperor Augustus and his minister Agrippa had said that ‘the dominions of Herod were too little for the greatness of his soul.’

‘He was a Jew himself,’ I said, in order to tease Alexander. I knew that Herod was only a half-Jew, being of the race of Idumaeans, and I suppose that if there are any persons whom the Jews hate more than pure Romans and Greeks, it is people who are part-Jew like Idumaeans and Samaritans.**

**The Idumaeans, whose country lay south of Judaea, had been defeated in war and forcibly ‘Judaized’ by the Jewish ruler, John Hyrcanus I (135-105 B.C.).

‘He was no Jew,’ said Alexander curtly. ‘And he was the vilest murderer that ever came even from Idumaea.’

‘Whom did he murder?’ I asked. ‘I know he executed rebels somewhat freely, but I expect that most of them deserved no less. You mean the executions in his own family?’

‘Murders!’ said Alexander. (He is rather pertinacious.) ‘He put to death Hyrcanus, the aged grandfather of his wife Mariamne, and then her brother. He put to death her mother Alexandra. He put to death Mariamne herself and for that, by the justice of God, for he had a deep passion for her, he suffered the tortures of the damned. He put to death his own two sons by Mariamne and another son by another wife, who had set his mind against those two. He put to death -‘ and then he rolled off a long list. I cannot remember all of them – I have so much to think of – but I know there were two successive husbands of Herod’s own sister Salome among them. I asked Alexander what motive Herod had. Was it merely pleasure in killing?

‘No,’ he said, ‘the family of Hyrcanus was of the princely Jewish stock and Herod exterminated every member of it lest it should produce a rival to himself.’

‘At Rome they call that statesmanship,’ I said, I hope not indiscreetly.* I asked Marcius what was his view of Herod. He was thoughtful. ‘A great prince,’ he said. ‘He had large ideas about everything. Caesar Augustus was right when he said that Herod was big enough to rule both Syria and Egypt. He was the shrewdest man that Rome has had to deal with in these parts. He knew how to be useful to Rome and also how to use her. But at home he was a wild beast; he lived on blood.’

*Apparently an allusion (and a dangerous one) to the jealousy with which the Emperor Tiberius regarded all possible claimants to the Imperial power.

It is true enough. His own wife and his own sons! That takes some stomaching.

The streets are decorated in our honour, and we can hear the noise of the crowds assembling to greet our procession.

MEETING WITH CAIAPHAS
In the Palace of Herod, Caesarea

We are duly installed and I am hard at work. I sit from morning to night, studying reports from every quarter of Judaea, going into accounts, listening to petitions. I really believe that for the last twelve months Valerius must have saved up every difficult and disagreeable question for me to settle. There is no end to the disputes between Greeks and Jews, Samaritans and Jews, Idumaens and Jews, and Jews and Jews. All of them are described as important; there is a fine crop of trouble for me, however I decide them. I suppose that I shall do the same by my successor when my turn comes. My reception was fairly good, but the non-Jews were much more cordial than the Jews. The Jews in the streets were cool and unresponsive. Marcius says that Valerius has ruled them so gently that they see no reason to hope for much from me. ‘They will be more enthusiastic,’ he added, ‘about your successor.’

When I reached the palace I found the high officials gathered to welcome me: my own staff, representatives of the two Herods, and the High Priest from Jerusalem. The High Priest is one Joseph Caiaphas. He is a tall man, imposing in appearance, suave in manner and, I should say, of supple mind. I observed that his mere presence made a great impression on every one. There had been great discussion whether he would come to Caesarea or wait at Jerusalem until I paid my first visit there. Had he not come, I should certainly have taken it amiss, for it would have been a plain sign of hostility.

On the other hand, he came alone. No ex-High Priest, and there are several living, came with him. Especially, neither Annas nor any of his sons was there. This Annas and his sons, I should tell you, are the most powerful of the priestly families at Jerusalem. For years they have either held the highest offices or made it difficult for anyone else to hold them. Old Annas himself was High Priest when Valerius came here and Valerius found him impossible; he merely wants the protection of Rome so that he can go his own way in everything. Valerius transferred the office to a member of another family, but the experiment was a failure: then he appointed one of Annas’s sons, but that was like having the old man back again. Once more he appointed a rival priest and once more the rival was not strong enough. So he chose Caiaphas, who is Annas’s son-in-law, hoping that the ambitious crew would regard this as enough of prestige and influence for the family and that Caiphas would be willing and able to hold his own against them. It is not, do you think? A bad arrangement. Caiaphas keeps the peace with us and the office in the family; Annas and his sons stand a little farther off and hold the support of those who think Caiaphas is too subservient. At heart, all of them alike, office-holders and office-speakers, accept the Romans – for the present. The last thing that any of them wants is a clash with Rome that would destroy their own power.

Caiaphas, at the public ceremony, merely said, ‘The Jews greet the representative of Caesar.’ A chilly welcome, but afterwards, in private, he was more communicative. He told me that he regarded it as his duty to work with the Romans. He said that his people, as he hoped I knew, were passionately attached to their independence, but that he and the great Jewish families recognized that they could not struggle against Rome. He said that the thing that he always feared was a popular rising which he and his friends could not check in time. ‘This country,’ he said, ‘is very difficult to control. It is full of mountainous and desolate tracts in which evil-disposed or ambitious persons cannot be prevented from gathering together and from which they can sally out to make trouble in the towns.’ There had, after the death of Herod, been several instances of adventurers who gathered a band of people about them and actually set themselves up for King. One of them might be a mere bandit; another might be a political rebel against any sort of foreign rule; a third might presume to lay down the law about religion. In any event there was danger. The common people were extremely ignorant – I was amused to see the contempt with which he spoke of them – and any sort of leader with a gift of action or of speech meant to them some one who might restore the liberties which they had once enjoyed. ‘Besides,’ he said, speaking very quietly, ‘you have to remember that all Jews believe that some day – a distant day, I am afraid (this with a smile) – a deliverer will arise who will restore the ancient glories of our people.’ I do not pretend to understand their religion, but I gathered that the coming of this deliverer (Messiah he called him) would be incompatible with government by Rome, or by any other power. I must ask Alexander about this. The voice of Caiaphas was equable, almost casual, as he talked to me. I take it that he and his friends will support no rivals, be they Kings or Messiahs, who endanger their authority under Caesar’s governor.

I thanked Caiaphas and asked him where Annas was. He replied that Annas had a cold, and in any event seldom left home. He would present himself to me at Jerusalem. I said that Annas had several sons, one of whom had been High Priest.* He answered that it would not be seemly for them to come in the absence of their father. I imagine that the old man completely overshadows them.

*Eleazar, appointed by Valerius Gratus. In all five sons of Annas at one time or another held the office of High Priest. Annas himself was High Priest for nine years and Caiaphas for eleven.

Caiaphas and I understand each other, I think, but I shall need to watch him.

The position is extraordinary; I wish that you were here to study it. As I look out from the palace, I see below me this town which, apart from Jews, is full of Greeks, Egyptians and the rest. Away to the south is a strip of plain along the sea. Behind it are foothills and then, rising behind them, a barrier of mountains, bare and rugged, among which dwell the real Jews, stiff-necked and obstinate. They are surrounded by enemies – Samaritans to the north, Idumaeans to the south, Romans at the points of military vantage and Greeks everywhere, and they do not desire to have them other than enemies. The very troops, the auxiliaries, by which we hold them down, are recruited from these enemies on their own soil, for they themselves will not serve in the army and we – wrongly, as I think – exempt them. They shut themselves up in their Jerusalem and, still more, in their Temple, unchanging and, at heart, unyielding.

I have had no letter from you, my friend, since I came here. Take heed; I shall not write again until I hear from you.

if after reading everything posted above and you still doubt that the great igbos are Hebrews, then you are seriously dense!!!

the Pharisees and priests are our present-day igbo elite. the diaspora Jews ALWAYS come back to Israel yearly just as the igbos ALWAYS go home for Christmas and Easter. being aggressive, insistent and loud applies to both people. being stubborn and lacking fear of authority also applies to both people. beiy intelligent, business savvy, spread all over the world, rich and self-made describes both people to a tee.

we, both the igbos and Jews, are God's own people!!!

MONIKERREVEALER:
if after reading everything posted above and you still doubt that the great igbos are Hebrews, then you are seriously dense!!!

the Pharisees are our present igbo elite. the diaspora Jews ALWAYS come back to Israel yearly just as the igbos go home for Christmas to Easter. aggressive, insistent and loud applies to both people. stubborn and lacking fear of authority also applies to both people. intelligent, business savvy, spread all over the world, rich and self-made describes both people to a tee.

we are God's own people!!!

My brother, I never knew you were familiar with the iburu history of your people....you know, most igbos i've discussed this with always insist that the NRI kingdom is the Genesis of the igbos. Glad to know some still know the truth..As for those pale demons in that barren land masquerading as the descendants of the biblical iburus, you should know they are khazarians. They are not iburu and will never be. That wasteland in the middle east is not even the land of the true iburus. If you can find the Talmud and study it, you'll understand how devilish and wicked those people are.....their plan to enslave us hue-man(s), and take for themselves 2800 slaves each is well documented in the Talmud, or is it their demonic kabbalah rituals we should discourse?.....Please stop associating the children of light with such darkness. Bless you.

michaelkaroh:
My brother, I never knew you were familiar with the iburu history of your people....you know, most igbos i've discussed this with always insist that the NRI kingdom is the Genesis of the igbos. Glad to know some still know the truth..As for those pale demons in that barren land masquerading as the descendants of the biblical iburus, you should know they are khazarians. They are not iburu and will never be. That wasteland in the middle east is not even the land of the true iburus. If you can find the Talmud and study it, you'll understand how devilish and wicked those people are.....their plan to enslave us hue-man(s), and take for themselves 2800 slaves each is well documented in the Talmud, or is it their demonic kabbalah rituals we should discourse?.....Please stop associating the children of light with such darkness. Bless you.

when the Hebrews left Egypt, some mixed multitudes left with them!!!

the church has now become the New Israelite Nation!!!

that's why if you say you are a Christian, then you are my countryman!!!

it is our jobs as Christian to bring the people living in present day Israel to Christ by undeniable power and the Holy Ghost backing up our gospel message!!!

we MUST separate from zoogeria ASAP and have our great BIAFRA for us to then become the biggest contributors to the spread of the endtime gospel message on Earth!!!

MONIKERREVEALER:


when the Hebrews left Egypt, some mixed multitudes left with them!!!

the church has now become the New Israelite Nation!!!

that's why if you say you are a Christian, then you are my countryman!!!

it is our jobs as Christian to bring the people living in present day Israel to Christ by undeniable power and the Holy Ghost backing up our gospel message!!!

we MUST separate from zoogeria ASAP and have our great BIAFRA for us to then become the biggest contributors to the spread of the endtime gospel message on Earth!!!

There you are wrong again my friend, Israel is Israel and the church is the church....our people were enslaved and shipped to strange lands, they served their masters day and night without rest or pay, the British(cursed be they) ravaged our land and stole our collective wealth, Nigerians destroyed Biafra on orders of the British, American and Israeli governments....all these didn't happen to the church but iburus. I cringe when I see our people claim descent from those pale, Godless sub-humans...honestly, there is not a thing that can be done for them.....they blaspheme the name of our Lord chizor(Jesus) and hold themselves not guilty....surely they shall be punished. Imagine the first slave ship was owned by those "jews". I know Biafra will rise again but not as it was....She will rise in great power and be according to her old boundaries ie from the end of igbo land, encompassing the niger delta even to the ends of southern Cameroon....but as you know, the word of the most high never fails......He said in the book of ezekiel that He will gather the children from the four corners of the earth to the Holy Land again but in GREAT FURY....and by the happenings in the world.....I know He is already in action. ( killing of our people in southern Cameroon, killing of African Americans, carribean Americans, afror Brazilians, killing of igbos(python dance) killing of niger deltans(crocodile smile). The only thing we are required to do is to repent in dust and sackcloth, for the holy nation will come ONLY by repentance. Peace to you.

@OP, this makes an interesting read,

Keep them coming...if you're not done yet...
Cheers.

Saw something hilarious in that article;

"There's a saying in Alexandria, an Egyptian can make money from a pyramid, a Greek from a stone and a Jew from a grain of sand"

Couldn't stop laughing at this

michaelkaroh:
My brother, I never knew you were familiar with the iburu history of your people....you know, most igbos i've discussed this with always insist that the NRI kingdom is the Genesis of the igbos. Glad to know some still know the truth..As for those pale demons in that barren land masquerading as the descendants of the biblical iburus, you should know they are khazarians. They are not iburu and will never be. That wasteland in the middle east is not even the land of the true iburus. If you can find the Talmud and study it, you'll understand how devilish and wicked those people are.....their plan to enslave us hue-man(s), and take for themselves 2800 slaves each is well documented in the Talmud, or is it their demonic kabbalah rituals we should discourse?.....Please stop associating the children of light with such darkness. Bless you.

nwanne m, gee mu nti

I am a Christian extremist just the same as jubril is an islamist extremist

I have no other mission in this life than to prepare the earth for the return of Christ

I, in the course of my mission, cannot afford to have any "off limits" groups of people who are outside my mission field

thanks for your kind understanding...

and yes, Jesus (Chizor) is black (refined bronze)

These aren't actual letters of Pontius Pilate. They're from the book "Letters of Pontius Pilate", a fictional book published in 1928.

MONIKERREVEALER:


nwanne m, gee mu nti

I am a Christian extremist just the same as jubril is an islamist extremist

I have no other mission in this life than to prepare the earth for the return of Christ

I, in the course of my mission, cannot afford to have any "off limits" groups of people who are outside my mission field

thanks for your kind understanding...

Well said...May you find favour before God and man and may the most high strengthen you physically and spiritually for the work. Peace, my friend.