Domina Victrix

Chapter 45: 27 AD, Capri, Jerusalem, and Bay of Neapolis

Gemellus crouched behind a hedgerow in the outer gardens of the Villa Jovis, listening to the snarls and yaps of his cousin Caligula's pack of Molossan mastiffs coming closer. These giant animals were bred by the Roman Army to hunt runaway slaves, fugitives, criminals, and rebels, and used as attack dogs to guard their camps. They were not intended as pets. Fifteen-year-old Caligula was proud of his hunting pack and used his cousin, eight-year-old Tiberius Gemellus, as bait. It was one of many vicious games he enjoyed.

Gemellus ran along the ridge of bushes and turned a corner, realizing too late that it was a dead end. The dogs entered from a different lane and raced toward him, baying as they scented their prey. Terrified, Gemellus grabbed both hands full of the thorny bushes and heaved himself up, becoming entangled in the branches. He continued to wriggle his way up and into the bush, ignoring the thorns tearing his hands, arms, legs, and face. As the dogs bared their teeth and lunged at him, he burst into tears and wet himself.

"Gaius, call them off!" he begged, using Caligula's real name.

Caligula stood by laughing as the dogs rooted amid the bushes and Gemellus became more entangled in the branches. Gemellus began screaming in anger and terror, which only agitated the mastiffs more. Finally, Caligula whistled and the angry animals backed away. As a huntsman gathered them up, Caligula grasped Gemellus' ankle and wrenched him out of the bushes, dumping him on the ground. He kicked Gemellus in his ribcage as the younger boy lay sobbing and bleeding on the grass.

"You're just a whiny-baby!" he snapped and walked away.

"Gaius!" Gemellus called out.

There was no answer. Gemellus got up and wandered crying along the path he had taken, not wanting to encounter the dogs again but needing help. Thorns stuck to his tunic, skin, and hair. He had cuts and scrapes all over his body. He was aware Caligula was somewhere around but hiding from him. Pain and fear changed to fury and desperation.

"Stupid Caligula!" he shouted. "Mean Little Boot."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Caligula ducked from behind a statue of Mars beside the pathway. He grabbed Gemellus by the throat and raised him in the air by his neck, slamming him against the chest of the statue.

"I've told you never to call me that name!" Caligula shouted. "I hate it!"

Gemellus tried to kick at him as the air left his body and he began seeing stars. Caligula reached between his cousin's legs, grabbed him, and began squeezing and twisting. Tears poured down Gemellus' face. There were no adults he could call. No one would risk Caligula's wrath by interferring. Gemellus blacked out and Caligula tossed him under a tree, intending to tell Tiberius that Gemellus had climbed too high and fell off a broken tree limb. He went to look for Claudillus, who probably had his nose in a scroll or codex somewhere and was no fun at all.

.....

Pilate fumed as he rode along Jerusalem's Eastern Wall toward the Garden Gate leading into the Palace Complex. Jerusalem sat atop two hills surrounded by valleys and higher mountains. The Temple stood on Mount Moriah, encircled by colonnaded walls. On the northwest corner of the Temple complex was the Castrum Antonia, a fortress built in the Roman style by Great Herod and named for Herod's Roman benefactor, Mark Antony. During the Passover celebration, Cohors II would garrison this fortress and be able to police activities in the Temple area by monitoring the crowds in the main courtyard from the battlements of the Fortress towering over it.

While in Jerusalem, Pilate, his guards and entourage would occupy the Governor's Residence. This palace was set in lush gardens inside Jerusalem's second wall. It had an outdoor pavement with a bema used by the provincial governor when presiding over disputes among the local populace. The fact that it was outside the Palace and not connected to the Fortress took on added significance to a people who believed Rome's soldiers and representatives were a blight and insult to their god. Pilate's bile rose each time he thought of it. Rome kept its involvement in local affairs as minimal as posdible. Pilate's role and that of his men was to collect taxes, and conscripts as needed, and keep civil order. Antipas and the Sanhedrin, whatever that was, could have the rest. Pilate intended to stay out of their dispute about the high priest of their religion and to deal with the locals as little as possible.