The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville (top 10 books of all time txt) 📕

for the door, nearly colliding with the legionary officer Marcellus, just coming in.

“Sire, I’m sorry to be late,” the officer said, adjusting his mantle and bowing. “But as you must know, ever since Rome’s annexation of Cappadocia the officer corps has been tremendously taxed to maintain order among the troops, what with the Parthians harrying us the entire length of the northern border. And now this affair with the praefectus Iudaeae Pontius Pilate …”

Marcellus ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair and shook his head. “Quite frankly, our officers fear that if we place Pilate on public trial as planned, civil unrest may rock the whole of the southern region. The man is a political hot coal. From the beginning his actions have been provocative. He’s looted Jewish temple funds, profaned the temple grounds and priestly garments, run an aqueduct through a Jewish cemetery. A few years back he actually crucified a popular Jewish preacher alongside some common criminals. It’s all Jew-baiting, which is insupportable in the chief administrator of a Roman province—and now this massacre in Samaria. Please understand that the officers are justified in their concern. It’s a terrible quandary. If the court finds Pilate guilty, the Jews will be emboldened by at last having scored a triumph over Rome. But if he’s found innocent of ordering the slaughter of those hundred-odd Samaritan Jews, then open riots can hardly be unexpected.”

“My dear Marcellus, believe me, I have made myself well acquainted with the facts of the case,” said the legate, motioning him to have a seat. “You might have spared us both a good deal of time and frustration by coming here when I first called for you, since I have already taken my decision. There’s little that can or need be done regarding Pilate’s past transgressions. But for this latest offense, Pilate will be sent to Rome and tried there.”

“Before the senate?” said Marcellus in amazement. “But how can that be? Pilate is subject to you, the imperial legate. He’s a provincial military governor.”

“And a member of the equestrian order,” Vitellius added. “He can therefore be tried before a military tribunal of his peers, and then receive his censure or his sentence from the Roman senate.”

Marcellus smiled broadly at this incredibly clever solution to a problem he’d believed until that moment was insurmountable. But then he realized that the tackman and the scribe were still with them in the room.

“You may leave us,” Vitellius told the tackman, who departed at once. To the scribe he said, “I want you to read to Officer Marcellus what I’ve given you so far of my communiqué to Capri.”

The scribe stood up and opened the scroll, and read aloud:

To: Tiberius Caesar

Emperor of Rome

at Capreae

From: Lucius Vitellius

Imperial Roman Legate

at Syrian Antioch

Revered Excellence—

This is to notify Your Excellence that upon my authority as colonial legate of Roman Syria I have hereby removed Pontius Pilate from his post as prefect of Judea, relieving him of all further duties in the eastern provinces of the empire. Due to the severity of charges and weight of evidence against Pilate and the heat of popular feeling toward him, I’ve ordered him back to Rome to stand trial before a military tribunal of the equestrian order, and to be censured as found suitable by the Roman senate. I am replacing the former prefect with one Marcellus, a long-serving senior officer of the third legion, whose record I think Your Excellence will find impeccable.

I attach the report of a one-month investigation, by our regional military board, of a complaint lodged with the legion by the Samaritan council at Shechem, charging Pilate with crimes against the civilian populace and some of its leaders. I believe this report will thoroughly justify and support the action I have taken.

I offer my prayers to the gods for Your Excellence’s continued health, and that of the imperial family. And I beg leave to send my warmest regards to my son Aulus, for whose sake I shall burn a cone of myrrh that he may continue to please Your Excellence as cupbearer, dancer, and companion to the other youths there on the isle of Capreae. I remain the devoted and grateful servant of the Roman Empire:

Lucius Vitellius, Imperial Legate, Syrian Antioch

Report of the Third Legion at Antioch

investigation of charges in the matter of:

The Council of Shechem, Samaria,

versus

Praefectus Iudaeae Pontius Pilate

A written complaint has been brought by the civilian council of Shechem against Pontius Pilate, Roman prefect of Judea, for ordering the violent repression last month resulting in the deaths of one hundred twenty-seven Samaritan civilians—men, women, and children—during a religious pilgrimage of more than four thousand to the Hebrews’ sacred mountain of Gerizim. The complaint further charges that prefect Pilate ordered the subsequent detention, torture, and execution of some of Samaria’s most prominent citizens, most of whom had earlier been arrested by his instruction at the site.

Samaria is the politically important central region of Roman Palestine separating the province of Roman Judea from the tetrarchy of Galilee governed by Herod Antipas. The chief city, Shechem, is situated between two important religious sites: Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. A long-standing hatred exists between the Judeans and the Samaritans. For centuries, the Samaritans alone have maintained an ancient form of Hebrew worship centered on Mount Gerizim, which includes reverence of the dove and the sacred oak tree. All Hebrews, including the Judeans, agree that Mount Gerizim is a holy site of importance in the history of their faith. It is called by them Tabbur Ha’ares, meaning the absolute geographical center of the land, the spot on which the four quarters turn, or what we would call the Axis Mundi.

By legend, certain sacramental vessels and other treasure from the first temple of King Solomon in Judea were removed during the destruction of the temple and buried there, and upon the Jews’ return from Egyptian bondage their spiritual leader Moses instructed that sacred relics be placed there from their first tabernacle built in the wilderness, including the well-known Ark