“What happened to Mucianus later on? He seems to have disappeared from Roman life entirely, leaving only his travelogue of Asia Minor.”
“That is a very good question, Athanasius, and you must find the answer, because the Dei has evolved considerably from Mucianus’s original three-fold purpose,” Cerberus explained. “The first purpose of the Dei was to establish a secret Praetorian to ensure the continuity of the Flavian dynasty. Until Vespasian, the Praetorian had been known to select rather than protect their Caesars, and dispose of them at will.
“The second purpose was to reverse the supply lines that Vespasian and Mucianus had established for the military during the Judean War and bring the spoils of the provinces back to Rome. Commerce, as you may have detected, is the heart of the organization, and the Dovilins were given a free hand with land in Cappadocia so long as they could also provide bodies.
“The third purpose, and most sinister, was to create a vast counter-insurgency to pacify the Church.”
Athanasius wasn’t sure he understood. “Pacify the Church?”
“The horrors of the Judean War and the fanaticism of the Jews at Masada frightened Vespasian,” Cerberus said. “He knew that wars fought with ideas are different than wars fought with spears. He worried that the Christian faith had become a virus after the destruction of the temple, leaping from Jews to Gentiles like some plague that could engulf the empire now that it was no longer ethno-centric. So he wanted to encourage a civil war within the Church between Jew and Gentile to further isolate Jews in Asia Minor. Then he wanted to use the Dei within the Praetorian in Rome to infiltrate the disciples of the apostle Paul who had taken root under Nero.”
Athanasius nodded. “So for thirty years the Dei was an imperial network to spy out and pacify the Church from within,” he said. “Until Domitian changed the game by using the Dei to assassinate Roman officials — his enemies — and publicly blame the Christians, pitting the Church against the State. Why?”
“The stars, of course,” Cerberus said. “Domitian’s birth chart proclaimed the date of his death. His father, brother and the rest of the Dei believe the stars are destiny, and therefore Domitian had none. I suspect he killed his father and then killed his brother, and has been killing anybody else who believes the prophecies.”
Back in Rome, Domitian was listening to his replacement for Caelus drone on about this moon and that sign. His name was Ascletario, and Ludlumus had dug him up from somewhere in Germania. He was fairly well-known around Rome and had moved up in prominence after Caelus’s demise. His specialty was interpreting signs and dreams, and already Domitian didn’t like what he was hearing inside the basilica at the Palace of the Flavians.
“I must stand by my previous assessments,” Ascletario concluded.
Domitian had summoned the astrologer after yet another spate of lightning strikes across Rome and the rest of the empire. So much so that he awakened from his sleep just the other night and cried out for all to hear, “Let him now strike whom he will!” That very night the capitol was struck by lightning, as was the temple of the Flavian family, and even the palace itself. Come morning the Praetorian had discovered that the tablet inscribed upon the base of his triumphal statue had been carried away by the violence of the storm.
As if that were not enough, the next night he dreamt that Minerva whom he worshipped above all else had declared to him that she could no longer protect him, because Jupiter had disarmed her, and that now he would have no sanctuary from the wrath of heaven.
Thus Domitian had hastily convened this audience with Ascletario to interpret these events and his own subsequent fate, especially in light of the impending date of September 18, which was little more than a month away.
“Tell me again what you think it all means, Ascletario,” Domitian demanded. “And where this all ends.”
“What it means is a change of government is coming soon to Rome,” Ascletario said. “Where it ends with you, Your Excellency, is in the beginning.”
The astrologer then produced Domitian’s own natal chart, as if Domitian hadn’t had it burned into his nighmares since childhood.
“As everyone, including your father Vespasian, has known, the moon and sun are in dangerous positions relative to Saturn and Mars. This has been fixed forever and cannot be changed.”
“Even by Caesar of Rome, the Lord and God of the universe?” Domitian demanded.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Tell me, then, you who claims to know the future,” Domitian said. “To what end do you think you should come yourself?”
Ascletario calmly replied, “I shall in a short time be torn to pieces by dogs.”
Domitian laughed. “No, Ascletario, you won’t be torn to pieces by dogs, because I will prevent that. But you will die today.” He nodded, and his Praetorian took position on either side of the astrologer. “Kill him, and then burn his corpse.”
Athanasius listened intently to everything Cerberus told him about the Dei, its origins with Vespasian, Dovilin and Mucianus, and its changing nature under Domitian. All of which made him consider the scions of Dovilin and Mucianus.
“Dovilin’s son, Vibius, is dead,” Athanasius told him, waiting for a reaction from Cerberus but seeing none. “So I don’t know where Dovilin goes from here.”
“I do,” said Cerberus, and removed a letter from beneath one of the blankets upon which he lay and handed it to him. He almost knocked his small oil lamp over in the process, which seemed to be an accident waiting to happen.
The letter was an elaborate invitation, the kind Athanasius used to receive back in Rome, hand-delivered by messengers in crisp white tunics and metal-studded belts.
You are invited to the Harvest Banquet at the Dovilin Vineyards on August 18 to celebrate the Harvest of wines and the work of the Lord’s Vineyard. You will not want to miss it.
Of the hundreds of Christian leaders the Lord’s Vineyard has discovered in its first 30 years, only a few are receiving this invitation. The most successful, experienced and highly placed believers in trade, military and government are invited to attend the tenth annual Harvest Banquet.
This invitation-only event is one of the most significant of its kind. Your life will change forever. So please mark your calendar and clear your itinerary for August 18.
The Dovilin Family Vineyard is one of the most beautiful locales in all of Asia. Outstanding musicians will lift your spirits to the stars. You will experience unforgettable fellowship in safe, secure surroundings with committed Christians.
You will meet God as never before.
The invitation listed what it called famous Christians who had attended previous Harvests, but Athanasius didn’t recognize any names and was unimpressed. Where was the name of strapping Narcissus on the list? Indeed, elitist nonsense of this sort was rare even in Rome.
“Domitian’s rule is more a meritocracy than the Church’s,” he told Cerberus, handing the invitation back.
But Cerberus refused it. “You’ll need it to get into the banquet.”
“I can’t go back there. She can’t go back there. We’re going to Rome, where the Dei will least expect us, and where Domitian is.”
“But you don’t know who the Dei is today,” Cerberus said. “Dovilin is the only one of the three still around, but he now takes orders from Vespasian’s son Domitian, and Domitian may still be taking orders from Mucianus’s son or successor the way he did when he was nominal Caesar in Rome thirty years ago. You must find out what has happened to the third line in the Dei trinity. That is key, Athanasius.”
Cerberus pressed his arm for emphasis.