The problem was nominally a religious problem, which in this part of the world was the worst of problems. The citizens of Jannia, to show their zeal and desire to please Caesar, had raised an altar to him. The local Jews had regarded this as blasphemy. That this altar had been nowhere near their temple was irrelevant; a statue to a false God had been erected in the lands of the Jews, and that violated the Word of God. Accordingly a mob descended on the statue, tore it down, and smashed it to pieces. The local procurator, Herrenius Capito, had tried to punish those who tore down the statue, and for his troubles a riot had started.
When Gaius Caesar heard that this statue to him had been torn down, his response was simple. A large statue of him would be constructed and erected at the head of the Temple of Jerusalem. If the Jews tore that down, his legions would tear down the Temple, crucify the Sanhedrin, and erect a similar statue in the next biggest Temple. Opposition would be put to the sword; these wretched Jews would learn exactly who controlled Judea.
Petronius had tried to reason with the Jews; the Jews would not be reasoned with. The desecration of the Temple went past the point of no compromise. The Jews would all die rather than yield to such blasphemy. Petronius was clearly at his wits end; to kill an entire race was beyond him, but to defy the Princeps meant his own certain death. To Gaius, this situation was stupidity of the worst kind.
Gaius stood before the Tribunes, and it occurred to him that they would see him as little better than one of them. If they did, they gave no sign. They entered the tent, stood to attention, saluted, then stood at ease. Gaius calmly outlined the immediate aspect of the problem. The legion was to march towards Jerusalem, but not enter unless required. The Prefect in Caesarea was nominally charged with sorting out this problem, but it was unlikely that either Caesar or Governor Petronius seriously believed that he would.
The Tribunes nodded. They knew that Judea was neither large nor important, hence the Prefect would not have the necessary force. They would also know that the unrest in Antioch and concern over Parthia limited the assistance Governor Petronius could provide. He had sent one legion, and since the Cyrenaica was nearby, it could assist at Jerusalem.
He, Gaius, although formally the junior, was given overall command of both legions through Petronius' direct authority and was ordered to show imagination and attempt to settle this issue without excessive bloodshed. The reason, Petronius added, was because he felt that Gaius just might find a way out of this mess, while the other Legate certainly would not. Thus he, officially a Tribune, would command two Legions!
The first matter to be addressed was to move the legion to the vicinity of Jerusalem. He required a report on the logistics and sites for camping by noon, together with a list of any other matters that might provide difficulties. The greater problem of what to do when they arrived was his, however all suggestions on how to solve this problem other than by brute force would be welcomed, now or at any time.
Gaius dismissed the Tribunes, then began writing. He wrote a quick message back to Damascus, acknowledging the order and making some requests. He then began to write a further message to Claudius in Rome. He had written many of these, but this was the first one in which he requested Claudius to do something.
He outlined the problem, and stated that he had recommended to Petronius that he send a small delegation to Rome to plead with the Princeps. If Petronius did, he requested that Claudius meet them first, discuss the situation with Philo if he were available, advise them on protocol, and to try to make an appointment on what was likely to be a more propitious day, to make sure that they made a good impression. He sealed both the messages, and handed them to the messenger.
He sat back and drew a deep breath. This was the type of exercise that could make or break his career. The problem was, the results would be assessed by the highly erratic Gaius Caesar. He could mess up, and end up with a career boost, but equally he could be brilliant and then be sidelined. Such was life in the current Rome. What would the great Augustus have made of this?
He must forget the consequences. He drew himself up, smiled wryly as he put on his cloak of office, and strolled outside. He was still in command of a Legion, he had clear orders and a near impossible task before him. So he wanted a military career? Welcome to the army!
Chapter 38
Gaius was aware of the hatred of his presence as he looked up at the Temple of Jerusalem. Taking a statue from the base of the Mount to inside the temple would be quite an engineering exercise. The temple was huge, yet it seemed trivial compared with the massive stonework structure on which it, together with what seemed little better than a commercial centre, was built. The commerce puzzled Gaius; perhaps it told more than met the eye about these people. One interpretation was that this Mount protected the religion and the commerce had taken advantage of the protection. That view was simply nonsense. A trading spot can be set up anywhere as quickly as the goods could be assembled. No! The trade was there to be controlled and tithed by the priests.
Now, when Cristus had insisted that the temple was a place to pray he had challenged the priests and had been crucified to save the priests' tithes. The priests might take their religion very seriously, but they took their money very seriously too. They might be able to get Cristus crucified for threatening their cash supply, but the Roman army was a different matter. That might be a better approach to his current problem!
Gaius walked towards an official who was haranguing the steely-eyed Jonathon and raised his hand. The official immediately ceased talking, and bowed before Gaius. The priest remained impassive, and stood without any sign of subservience
Gaius looked at Jonathon, nodded, and said, "I would greatly appreciate it if you would sit with me under that tree over there, and have a quiet, private conversation."
Jonathon stared with animosity. "If you think you can bully me into. ."
"That is not my intention," Gaius remarked softly. "I wish to see if there is any way at all of resolving this issue to both our satisfactions."
"That, I doubt," Jonathon said, but he did begin to walk towards the tree. When the official tried to follow, a Centurion took him by the arm and held him back. Immediately soldiers stepped forward and began moving the people so that nobody was closer than fifty meters from the tree.
"So?" Jonathon stared at Gaius.
"It occurred to me," Gaius replied, "that if I were in your shoes, I would probably be angry. ."
"I am angry," came the cold reply.
". . and I might say something which could be construed as seditious. Now, if you were to say such things in front of witnesses, I would be forced to act, whereas this way if you can restrain yourself from shouting, we can overlook them."
"Very thoughtful," came the scowling remark. "You think you can talk me around."
"I hope we can find some sort of compromise," Gaius said.
"I doubt it," came the reply.
"You know the price of failure to compromise?"