Procula was unabashedly happy to learn that her husband had no plans to arrest Jesus’ followers. She fairly thrived on reports about what the disciples were doing.
But the distance from Jerusalem and the time since the Passover tended to blur for Pilate the inexplicable events which had once so troubled him. Perhaps the contagious religiosity of the city had temporarily addled his wits. From cool and dispassionate Caesarea, he wondered why he became so involved in the fate of one solitary and inscrutable Jew. But time was banishing it all from memory.
Then, as if in Hades’s own conspiracy to remind him, came a letter from the least-expected source Pilate could possibly imagine: Thrasyllus, Tiberius’s court astrologer on Capri.
Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus to Pontius Pilatus, greeting. If you are in health, it is well. I also and the princeps are well.
Seven years have passed since our fateful luncheon at The Grotto. At that time you promised me a small favor, Prefect, but it was never done. I refer to the star or comet which hovered over Judea almost forty years ago. You were to consult the priests in Jerusalem about it and report to me.
What reminded me to inquire about this was the strange celestial event which occurred in the afternoon of the Friday following the Calends of April. A great darkness moved across the horizon from the southeastern Mediterranean and blackened our sky for several hours. Since it seemed to approach from your direction and from Egypt, please consult any local astrologer for an explanation. The phenomenon has upset my astrological calculations ever since that time. The princeps is also concerned. May I hear from you before another seven years elapse? Farewell.
Pilate knew that the uncanny darkness at the time of the crucifixion had covered all of Palestine, but he was absolutely astounded that it had also penetrated as far as Rome.
He had always disliked Thrasyllus, and the astrologer knew it, which is why he carefully included the remark about the emperor sharing his concern. Whether it was true or not Pilate could not afford to guess, but it was common knowledge that Tiberius now spent much time on his astrological hobby in the uppermost of his lavish villas on Capri, where he had fashioned an occult observatory. Too, Thrasyllus’s granddaughter had married the new praetorian prefect Macro. The letter would have to be answered.
After consulting Caesarea’s one astrologer, Pilate replied to Thrasyllus, apologizing that he had not written sooner. Yes, he had learned a little about the star. Gratus, his predecessor, told him it had attracted some eastern magi to Jerusalem who were looking for a king of the Jews, but they had been referred to a nearby town instead. If he wanted more details, he could consult Gratus in Rome, since the Jerusalem priests remembered little of the event. As to the darkness, it had indeed engulfed Judea at the stated time, but the local astrologer simply could not explain it. An earth tremor had accompanied the darkness, but the event remained a total mystery.
Pilate thought of mentioning the coincidence of the darkness with the crucifixion of another “king of the Jews,” but he rejected the idea. With his astrologer’s mind, Thrasyllus would surely belabor the coincidence.
The question of whether he ought to submit to Tiberius a special, detailed report on the crucifixion of Jesus had occurred to Pilate. It would demonstrate both his obedience to the imperial directive that he honor Jewish laws, and also his loyalty in crucifying someone who dared call himself king while Tiberius lived. On the other hand, in his now-metaphysical frame of mind, the princeps might become unduly interested in a religious luminary who had called himself a son of God, and he might even criticize Pilate for condemning him. Conversely, in a paranoid twist, Tiberius might suspect a great eastern conspiracy against him and punish Pilate for not rounding up and crucifying the entire following of the would-be king, rather than just the ringleader. Better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Legally, of course, he would have to include some notice of Jesus’ execution in his official acta or annual report which he submitted to Tiberius. When he drew this up at the close of the year 33, the following extracts appeared in Pilate’s acta under the section entitled, “Judiciary Acts”:
…ages 38 and 41, respectively.
Both highway robbers, convicted of theft and murder perpetrated between Jericho and Jerusalem on March 26, A.V.C. 786. Accusatores: five eyewitnesses among Galilean pilgrims attending the Passover festival in Jerusalem. Tried on April 2; sentenced, crucified, and died on April 3, A.V.C. 786, in Jerusalem.
IESVS BAR-ABBAS, age 45
Son of a rabbi; resistance leader. Accused of murder and insurrection, but released prior to trial, as requested by the Great Sanhedrin and the citizens of Jerusalem by reason of the annual Passover amnesty, April 3, A.V.C. 786, in Jerusalem.
IESVS NAZARENVS, age 36
Galilean teacher, “prophet,” and pseudo-Messiah. Case was remanded to the jurisdiction of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who waived his authority and returned the defendant for Roman trial. Convicted of capital blasphemy by the Great Sanhedrin, with verdict endorsed by the prefect. Also convicted of constructive treason for claiming to be “Rex ludaeorum:” Accusatores: Joseph Caiaphas, high priest, and the Great Sanhedrin. Tried, sentenced, crucified, and died on April 3, A.V.C. 786, in Jerusalem.
During the early months of 34, domestic affairs seemed to be running smoothly in Palestine. Pilate’s truce with the Herodian tetrarchs was holding rather well, and there was no threatening correspondence from Rome. But death now staged a dramatic interruption in cutting down the popular tetrarch Philip, who had married his dancing niece Salome. Since Philip left no children, Herod Antipas was hoping the emperor might award his tetrarchy to him, which would double the lands under his control. But instead, Philip’s territory was attached to the province of Syria.
The time had come for Pilate to see if either his Syrian or Egyptian fences needed mending. To the north, the four Roman legions in Syria stood especially high in Tiberius’s favor, since they alone had not hung images of Sejanus among their military standards, and the emperor had rewarded them handsomely for this prudent gesture. The recently arrived commander of these now-elite forces, Pomponius Flaccus, represented a new quantum of power on Pilate’s horizon, since for the first time in his experience, Syria was not ruled by an absentee governor. He planned to pay Flaccus a visit during the spring of 35, but fate seemed to cherish a vacant post for Syria. Flaccus suddenly died before Pilate could make the trip.
On the southern frontier, he stayed in close touch with Avillius Flaccus, the prefect of Egypt, where the people were astir about a resurrection story of another kind. After a heroic absence of many centuries, the wondrous phoenix had been sighted again, that remarkable bird which supposedly lived hundreds of years, then died and virtually came to life again in its one offspring, which also lived for centuries. On a more serious level, Flaccus warned Pilate of possible anti-Roman developments among the peoples of the Near East. On a scouting trip up the Nile, he had discovered caches of contraband arms which were to be used in a planned insurrection. He could not know what the situation was in Judea, but he advised Pilate to be on his guard.
Yet, in pleasant contrast to the turmoil two years earlier, Judea seemed quite serene. In fact, Pilate had only one altercation with the Sanhedrin. It concerned a follower of Jesus named Stephen, whose brilliance in preaching the new faith had led to his trial for blasphemy before the Sanhedrin. His defense was so bold that he was pulled outside the walls of Jerusalem and stoned to death. When Pilate learned of it in Caesarea, he dispatched a caustic note to Caiaphas which protested the stoning as contrary to Roman law and warned against any such incidents in the future. Apologetically, the high priest promised he would try to prevent anything similar from happening again, though he did reserve the Sanhedrin’s right to counteract the growing movement of the Nazarene.