Part 30 (1/2)
”Jesus did not steal?” Pilate's wife asked.
”No,” Pilate answered; ”it was Judas, the treasurer.”
”Who was this John?” I questioned. ”He was in trouble up Tiberias way and Antipas executed him.”
”Another one,” Miriam answered. ”He was born near Hebron. He was an enthusiast and a desert-dweller. Either he or his followers claimed that he was Elijah raised from the dead. Elijah, you see, was one of our old prophets.”
”Was he seditious?” I asked.
Pilate grinned and shook his head, then said:
”He fell out with Antipas over the matter of Herodias. John was a moralist. It is too long a story, but he paid for it with his head. No, there was nothing political in that affair.”
”It is also claimed by some that Jesus is the Son of David,” Miriam said.
”But it is absurd. n.o.body at Nazareth believes it. You see, his whole family, including his married sisters, lives there and is known to all of them. They are a simple folk, mere common people.”
”I wish it were as simple, the report of all this complexity that I must send to Tiberius,” Pilate grumbled. ”And now this fisherman is come to Jerusalem, the place is packed with pilgrims ripe for any trouble, and Hanan stirs and stirs the broth.”
”And before he is done he will have his way,” Miriam forecast. ”He has laid the task for you, and you will perform it.”
”Which is?” Pilate queried.
”The execution of this fisherman.”
Pilate shook his head stubbornly, but his wife cried out:
”No! No! It would be a shameful wrong. The man has done no evil. He has not offended against Rome.”
She looked beseechingly to Pilate, who continued to shake his head.
”Let them do their own beheading, as Antipas did,” he growled. ”The fisherman counts for nothing; but I shall be no catspaw to their schemes.
If they must destroy him, they must destroy him. That is their affair.”
”But you will not permit it,” cried Pilate's wife.
”A pretty time would I have explaining to Tiberius if I interfered,” was his reply.
”No matter what happens,” said Miriam, ”I can see you writing explanations, and soon; for Jesus is already come up to Jerusalem and a number of his fishermen with him.”
Pilate showed the irritation this information caused him.
”I have no interest in his movements,” he p.r.o.nounced. ”I hope never to see him.”
”Trust Hanan to find him for you,” Miriam replied, ”and to bring him to your gate.”
Pilate shrugged his shoulders, and there the talk ended. Pilate's wife, nervous and overwrought, must claim Miriam to her apartments, so that nothing remained for me but to go to bed and doze off to the buzz and murmur of the city of madmen.
Events moved rapidly. Over night the white heat of the city had scorched upon itself. By midday, when I rode forth with half a dozen of my men, the streets were packed, and more reluctant than ever were the folk to give way before me. If looks could kill I should have been a dead man that day. Openly they spat at sight of me, and, everywhere arose snarls and cries.