Two weeks ago our brigade was sent to Jerusalem. There have been several
revolutions during the last century and there is not much left of the
old city. We have been here now for a month and to-morrow we shall
continue our march to Petra, where there has been trouble with some of
the Arab tribes. I shall use this evening to answer your questions, but
pray do not expect a detailed report.
I have talked with most of the older men in this city but few have been
able to give me any definite information. A few days ago a pedler came
to the camp. I bought some of his olives and I asked him whether he had
ever heard of the famous Messiah who was killed when he was young. He
said that he remembered it very clearly, because his father had taken
him to Golgotha (a hill just outside the city) to see the execution,
and to show him what became of the enemies of the laws of the people of
Judaea. He gave me the address of one Joseph, who had been a personal
friend of the Messiah and told me that I had better go and see him if I
wanted to know more.
This morning I went to call on Joseph. He was quite an old man. He had
been a fisherman on one of the fresh-water lakes. His memory was
clear, and from him at last I got a fairly definite account of what had
happened during the troublesome days before I was born.
Tiberius, our great and glorious emperor, was on the throne, and an
officer of the name of Pontius Pilatus was governor of Judaea and
Samaria. Joseph knew little about this Pilatus. He seemed to have been
an honest enough official who left a decent reputation as procurator of
the province. In the year 755 or 756 (Joseph had forgotten when) Pilatus
was called to Jerusalem on account of a riot. A certain young man (the
son of a carpenter of Nazareth) was said to be planning a revolution
against the Roman government. Strangely enough our own intelligence
officers, who are usually well informed, appear to have heard nothing
about it, and when they investigated the matter they reported that
the carpenter was an excellent citizen and that there was no reason to
proceed against him. But the old-fashioned leaders of the Jewish
faith, according to Joseph, were much upset. They greatly disliked his
popularity with the masses of the poorer Hebrews. The "Nazarene" (so
they told Pilatus) had publicly claimed that a Greek or a Roman or even
a Philistine, who tried to live a decent and honourable life, was quite
as good as a Jew who spent his days studying the ancient laws of Moses.
Pilatus does not seem to have been impressed by this argument, but when
the crowds around the temple threatened to lynch Jesus, and kill all
his followers, he decided to take the carpenter into custody to save his
life.
He does not appear to have understood the real nature of the quarrel.
Whenever he asked the Jewish priests to explain their grievances, they
shouted "heresy" and "treason" and got terribly excited. Finally,
so Joseph told me, Pilatus sent for Joshua (that was the name of the
Nazarene, but the Greeks who live in this part of the world always refer
to him as Jesus) to examine him personally. He talked to him for several
hours. He asked him about the "dangerous doctrines" which he was said
to have preached on the shores of the sea of Galilee. But Jesus answered
that he never referred to politics. He was not so much interested in
the bodies of men as in Man's soul. He wanted all people to regard their
neighbours as their brothers and to love one single God, who was the
father of all living beings.
Pilatus, who seems to have been well versed in the doctrines of the
Stoics and the other Greek philosophers, does not appear to have
discovered anything seditious in the talk of Jesus. According to
my informant he made another attempt to save the life of the kindly
prophet. He kept putting the execution off. Meanwhile the Jewish people,
lashed into fury by their priests, got frantic with rage. There had
been many riots in Jerusalem before this and there were only a few Roman
soldiers within calling distance. Reports were being sent to the
Roman authorities in Caesarea that Pilatus had "fallen a victim to the
teachings of the Nazarene." Petitions were being circulated all through
the city to have Pilatus recalled, because he was an enemy of the
Emperor. You know that our governors have strict instructions to avoid
an open break with their foreign subjects. To save the country from
civil war, Pilatus finally sacrificed his prisoner, Joshua, who behaved
with great dignity and who forgave all those who hated him. He was
crucified amidst the howls and the laughter of the Jerusalem mob.
That is what Joseph told me, with tears running down his old cheeks. I
gave him a gold piece when I left him, but he refused it and asked me
to hand it to one poorer than himself. I also asked him a few questions
about your friend Paul. He had known him slightly. He seems to have been
a tent maker who gave up his profession that he might preach the words
of a loving and forgiving God, who was so very different from that
Jehovah of whom the Jewish priests are telling us all the time.
Afterwards, Paul appears to have travelled much in Asia Minor and in
Greece, telling the slaves that they were all children of one loving
Father and that happiness awaits all, both rich and poor, who have tried
to live honest lives and have done good to those who were suffering and
miserable.
I hope that I have answered your questions to your satisfaction. The
whole story seems very harmless to me as far as the safety of the state
is concerned. But then, we Romans never have been able to understand the
people of this province. I am sorry that they have killed your friend
Paul. I wish that I were at home again, and I am, as ever,
Your dutiful nephew,
GLADIUS ENSA.