Domina Victrix

Chapter 75: 33 AD, Jerusalem, Italy, Gaul

Eli Burrus watched the crowds thronging the Temple in the windup to Passover, praying nothing went wrong. Pilate had skipped last year's Passover, allowing Bolt to bring Cohors II down from Caesarea, and preside on the bema to hear appeals from the public. People felt comfortable approaching Bolt directly. He could be stern, but was never dismissive or rude. This year, they would have to put up with Pilate's scorn and contempt, and his preening over the aqueduct and sewage system.

The infrastructure around Jerusalem to connect the Gihon Spring and the ancient watercourse of Hezekiah's tunnel to pipes constructed by the Maccabeans and Herods was far from complete, but key links now existed between the Old City and the New City. Pilate had wanted to offer sacrifices to Julius Caesar and Divine Augustus to celebrate this milestone, but Tiberius forbade it. Instead, Pilate had celebrated the completion of his Tiberium in Caesarea with a sacrifice to Jupiter. It was days before the protests stopped. Miffed that his self-gratifying gesture had been ruined, Pilate was in a more sour mood than usual. Just what they needed.

He could hear Yeshua's name repeated among people in the crowds and Eli wished he did not come. Yeshua fulfilled all the hallmarks of being the true Messiah and Eli hoped he would reveal himself as such soon. But he also knew the uproar that would result when he did so. Both Herod and High Priest Caiaphas were seeking a means to arrest or kill Yeshua. They had also extended their wrath to a resident of Bethany named Lazarus, whom Yeshua had raised from the dead after four days entombed. Undeterred, Yeshua continued his preaching and Lazarus kept up his carpentry shop, telling all who would listen about his experience.

Eli heard a bugle from the ramparts of the Antonia. People around him looked nervously toward the Roman fort towering over the outer courtyard. Though they were keeping well back from the parapet, he recognized Julius Verus on the walkway. Cohors II was in town. The bugle sounded again.

"It's a watch change!" Eli called out. "Mind your business and let them alone! Watch change! Don't panic. If something happens, we'll handle it."

...

Verus walked down the row of men standing out of sight along the parapet of the Fortress. After years of dealing with idiots just out of basic, it was a relief working with older professionals who kept their opinioms about the whole situation to themselves and just did their jobs right the first time. He left the parapet and crossed paths with Tribune Marcellus Gallio, in charge of an expanded and reorganized Cohors III.

"How does it look over there?" Gallio asked.

"Crowded and noisy, but nothing out of the ordinary, Sir," Verus said.

"Good," Gallio said. "I'm off for the day. I'll be at home this afternoon and back tonight to receive the Governor and General Antonius."

"Yes, Sir," Verus said.

Gallio went to his quarters and changed out of his cuirass and belt. He kept his overtunic, but wound a sash around his waist, and pushed his dagger in its sheath into it. He put on a green civillian cloak. Looking as non-Roman as he could, he locked his door and left the fortess by the Tedi Gate. Bolt had made clear that no one was to provoke the populace and Gallio was happy to oblige. As he made his way through the ravine along Jerusalem's wall, he thought about his life and how he had ended up here.

Gallio was a grandson of Octavia Minor by her first husband, Claudius Marcellus. Octavia's four children by Marcellus were raised in part by Mark Antony. Gallio's oldest aunt, Marcella, married Antony's son Julius and was the mother of Senator Julius. His other aunt married the ill-fated Quintillius Varus and, after he died at Teutoburg, married Corvinus Messala, brother of Valerius and Severus. Meanwhile, his uncle Marcellus married Julia Augusta and died soon after, as did his son by her. Gallio's mother was Corvina Messalina, a half-sister of Valerillus, and he himself was married to Lepidilla, sister of Domitius and Lepida. Thus, he was Julio-Claudian, a Messala on his mother's side, a tail-end relation to several Antonys, and married into the family of Triumvir Lepidus. He entered the Garden Gate and crossed the royal parkland to the Messala home. Old Severus was sitting in his office.