I pretended to look more closely at the girl, although it made me feel sick to do so.
“Tigellinus,” I said deliberately, “this girl looks like a Jewess.”
Tigellinus was appalled and gripped my arm.
“Don’t tell Poppaea, whatever you do,” he said. “How in all the names of the underworld could I tell a Jewish girl from an ordinary one? They’ve no signs of recognition on their bodies as the men have. But she was definitely a Christian. She wouldn’t denounce her madness, although I promised to let her go alive if she abandoned such superstitions. She must have been bewitched.”
Fortunately, after this dreadful incident Tigellinus decided to stop torturing his victims and had them brought back to life again so that they could go through with the punishment the Emperor meted out to them for arson. We went back to his own private interrogation room, where he was told that Senator Pudens Publicola, an old man of the Valerian family, had arrived together with an elderly Jew and was demanding loudly to speak to Tigellinus.
Tigellinus, unpleasantly surprised, scratched his head and looked helplessly at me.
“Pudens is a mild and silly old man,” he said. “What can he be angry with me about? Perhaps I’ve gone and arrested one of his clients by mistake. Stay here and help me, as you know about the Jews.”
Senator Pudens came in with his white old head trembling with rage. To my surprise, it was Cephas who was with him, his worn shepherd’s stave in his hand and his bearded face red with agitation. The third was a youth called Cletus, pale with fear, whom I had seen once before acting as interpreter for Cephas.
Tigellinus rose and began greeting Pudens respectfully, but the old man rushed up to him, aimed a kick at him with his purple boot and began abusing him.
“Tigellinus, you damned horse dealer, fornicator and pederast!” he shouted. “What do you think you’re up to? What are these false accusations against the Christians? How far do you think you can go with your insolence?”
Tigellinus humbly tried to explain that he never mixed his private life with his office of Praetorian Prefect. He was not the only pederast in Rome and he was not in the least ashamed that he had been a horse› breeder during the days of his exile.
“So stop insulting me, my dear Pudens,” he said. “Think of your dignity and that you are addressing me as a civil servant and not a private individual. If you have any charge to bring, I will listen with patience to your case.”
Cephas raised his arms and began to speak loudly in Aramaic without even looking in my direction, as if he had turned to a stranger in the same room. Tigellinus followed the direction of Cephas’ gaze.
“Who is this Jew?” he said. “And what is he saying and who is he talking to? I presume it is not sorcery, and that someone has seen to it that he has no magic charms or dangerous amulets.”
By pulling at Tigellinus’ arm, I managed to get him to listen to me.
“He’s the leader of the Christians,” I explained, “the famous Cephas. He’s supposed to have raised people from the dead and performed miracles which make Simon the magician. in his time seem like a beginner by comparison. He’s been under Senator Pudens’ protection ever since he cured the senator’s illness.”
Tigellinus stuck out two fingers like horns to ward off the evil spirits.
“He is a Jew,” he said firmly. “I’ll have nothing to do with him. Tell him to cease his sorcery and go away and take his magic stave with him. Otherwise I’ll be angry.”
Senator Pudens had by this time calmed down.
“The much respected Cephas,” he said, “has himself come to answer for all the accusations you have invented against the Christians. He asks that you release the others and take him instead. He is their shepherd. All the others, from the smallest to the greatest, are but his sheep.”
Tigellinus started back against the wall, his brown face turning pale and his lips trembling.
“Take him away,” he said uncertainly, “before I have him whipped. Tell him it would be best if he left the city altogether. On the Emperor’s orders, I am investigating the Christian conspiracy to destroy Rome. Fire-raisers have already confessed, but I must admit that many respectable Christians perhaps did not know about this terrible plan. Perhaps that old magician with his unpleasant stave did not know either.”
Pudens listened with his mouth open and the loose skin around his chin quivering. Then he shook his head.
“Everyone knows,” he said reproachfully, “that it was the Emperor himself who set fire to Rome to get the sites between Coelius and Esquiline for his mad building plans. But Nero is greatly mistaken if he thinks he can put the blame on innocent people. May he guard against the anger of the people if this becomes known.”
Tigellinus looked around in fear that the walls might be listening.
“You’re an old man, Pudens,” he then said warningly. “Your head is confused. Don’t even let such gossip pass your lips in jest. Or are you a Christian yourself and involved in it all through your muddleheaded-ness? Be careful. Your name is on the lists, though naturally I don’t put much store by such accusations. A member of the Senate can’t be a Christian.”
He tried to laugh but stared steadily at Cephas, starting every time Cephas made a movement. Pudens remembered his rank and position and realized he had gone too far.
“Well, perhaps there are fanatics and zealots among the Christians,” he said, “and even false prophets too. Perhaps a wolf has managed to get among them in sheep’s clothing. But Cephas will answer for them all at the public trial. I only hope he doesn’t, at the behest of the spirit, speak words which frighten Nero himself.”
Tigellinus also calmed down a little.
“I bear you no ill-will,” he said. “I’m always ready to meet people half way. But your Jewish magician cannot answer for others in this case. He has the same rights and special position as all the other cursed Jews. Nero has expressly forbidden me to drag the Jews into this, for not even Hercules himself would be able to tell the faithful Jews from the heretics in their Aegean stables. I think Rome would be a considerably better city without the Jews. But that is just my personal opinion and is neither here nor there. I must obey the Emperor.”
I briefly explained Tigellinus’ legal view to Cletus and he translated it for Cephas, whose face again began to turn red. At first Cephas tried to talk in a controlled manner but then he became so excited that he started thundering out his words. Cletus tried to interpret and I too intervened with my views and Pudens spoke according to his own lights, so that at one time we were all talking at once and no one could make out what the other was trying to say.
Finally Tigellinus raised both hands, as if fending us off, and demantled silence.
“Enough,” he said. “Out of respect for your white hairs, Pudens, and to win the favors of this powerful magician, I am willing to release ten or twenty, or shall we say a hundred Christians whom he may select himself. He can go out on to the parade ground and choose. I have too many Christians anyhow and shall be only too glad to be rid of some in a sensible way.”
But Cephas did not approve of this reasonable suggestion, although’ he gave it some thought. He stubbornly insisted that it was he who should be arrested and all the others set free. It was a senseless demand, but on thinking it over, I realized it was a wise one from his point of view. If he picked out one or two hundred people at his own discretion from that huge crowd, it would cause worse suspicion than ever among the Christians and at a moment when the spokesmen for the different sides had come to some measure of agreement.
Our negotiations reached deadlock, and finally, in spite of his fear of magic, Tigellinus lost patience when he saw that his authority was being undermined. He rushed out of the room and we could hear him barking out an order to the guards on duty to drive the presumptuous Jew out of the camp area with a scourge.
“But don’t use more violence than necessary,” he said, “and under no circumstances may you lay as much as a little finger on Senator Pudens. He is a Publicolian.”
But Tigellinus found it difficult to make the Praetorians obey, for some of them had heard Paul speak when they had been guarding him and had felt respect for the Christians ever since. Now they warned their friends, and Tigellinus could not make them take the responsibility, for he himself was horribly afraid of Cephas’ reputation for magic. Even the centurion in the Praetorium warned him seriously against touching such a holy man.
Finally Tigellinus was forced to promise a whole month’s extra pay to whoever would drive Cephas out of the camp and ensure he stayed outside the walls. In this way he managed to find five rough men who bolstered each other’s courage by saying that they did not fear the forces of the underworld. After tossing back a measure of wine each, they crowded into the interrogation room and began to drive Cephas out with rough lashes from their scourges.
Pudens could not interfere, for not even a senator has the right to countermand a military order. He could do
