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diff --git a/58967-0.txt b/58967-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6685925 --- /dev/null +++ b/58967-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,538 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58967 *** + + + + + + + +The Procurator of Judea + + +Anatole France (1844-1924) + + +Aelius Lamia, born in Italy of illustrious parents, had not yet +put off the patrician's white toga with the purple stripe when +he went to Athens to study philosophy there in the schools. +He afterwards set up in Rome and, in his house in the Exquiliae, +led the life of a voluptuary amid debauched youths. But, after +having been accused of being in an illegitimate relationship +with Lepida, the wife of a consul, Sulpicius Quirinus, and when +he was found guilty, he was exiled by Tiberius Caesar. He was +then in his twenty-fourth year. For the eighteen years his +exile lasted he wandered over Syria, Palestine, Cappadocia and +Armenia, staying for long periods in Antioch, Caesarea Maritima +and Jerusalem. When, after the death of Tiberius, Caius Julius +was raised to the imperial purple, Lamia was allowed to return +to Rome. He even recovered a part of his wealth. His woes had +made him wise. + +He avoided all dealings with free-born women, did not intrigue +for public office, kept away from marks of favour and lived +hidden in his house in the Exquiliae. Putting into writing +the noteworthy things he had seen in his far-off travels, he +was creating, he said, from his past sufferings, a diversion +for the hours he had these days at his disposal. In the midst +of these serene labours, and while he was assiduously thinking +on the works of Epicurus, he saw, with a modicum of surprise +and a certain amount of sadness, old age creeping up on him. +In his sixty-second year, tormented by a quite inconvenient cold, +he went to take the waters at Baiae. This shore, formerly dear +to common kingfishers, was at that time frequented by wealthy, +pleasure-seeking Romans. For a week Lamia had been living alone +and friendless in their brilliant company, when, one day, after +dinner, feeling fit, he took it into his head to climb the hills +which, covered with vines like devotees of Bacchus, overlook the +waves of the sea. + +Having reached the summit, he sat down at the side of a path +beneath a terebinth, and allowed his gaze to wander over the +beautiful landscape. On his left the Phlegraean Fields, pallid +and bare, stretched out as far as the ruins of Cumae. On his +right Cape Misenus dug its sharp spur into the Tyrrhenian Sea. +At his feet, to the west, the rich town of Baiae, hugging the +shoreline's graceful curve, displayed its gardens, its villas +peopled with statues, its porticos and its marble terraces on +the edge of the blue sea in which dolphins played. In front +of him, on the other side of the gulf, on the Campanian coast, +gilded by the sun that was already low in the sky, shone the +temples, crowned by the bay trees of the Pausilipon, and, on +the far horizon, Vesuvius spluttered and laughed. + +Lamia pulled from a fold of his toga a roll containing the +Treatise on Nature of Epicurus, stretched out on the ground +and started to read. But the cries of a slave warned him to +get up to make way for a litter that was coming up the narrow +path through the vines. As the open litter came nearer, +Lamia saw, stretched out on the cushions, a hugely fat old +man who, head in hand, looked out with an eye both sombre +and proud. His aquiline nose came down to his lips, made +tight by a prominent chin and powerful jaws. + +Right away, Lamia was sure he knew that face. He hesitated +though for a moment in putting a name to it. Then he all of +a sudden rushed to the litter in a transport of surprise and +joy: + +"Pontius Pilate!" he exclaimed. "Gods be praised. It has +been given to me to see you again!" + +The old man motioned to the slaves to stop and focused his +attention on the man now greeting him. + +"Pontius, my dear host," the latter continued. "Have twenty +years sufficed to make my hair white enough and my cheeks +sunken enough for you to no longer recognize your friend +Aelius Lamia?" + +On hearing this name, Pontius Pilate got down from the litter +in as sprightly a manner as the weariness due to his age and +the gravity of his bearing allowed him. And he twice hugged +Aelius Lamia. + +"It's certainly good to see you again," he said. "Alas, you +remind me of the old days, when I was procurator of Judea in +the province of Syria. I saw you for the first time thirty +years ago. It was in Caesarea where you came to drag out the +vexations of your exile. I was quite happy to mitigate them +somewhat, and you, out of friendship, Lamia, followed me to +that sad Jerusalem where the Jews filled me to the brim with +bitterness and disgust. You stayed as my guest and my +companion for more than ten years, and we both of us, talking +of Rome, consoled ourselves, you for your misfortunes, me for +my promotions." + +Lamia again embraced him. + +"That's not all, Pontius. You fail to recall that you used +in my favour your credit with Herod Antipas and opened your +purse to me liberally." + +"Don't even mention it," Pontius replied, "since, when you +were back in Rome, you sent me by one of your freed men a sum +of money that paid me off with interest." + +"I don't think I'm out of your debt for any amount of money, +Pontius. But tell me, have the gods granted what your heart +desired? Do you enjoy all the happiness that you deserve? +Speak to me of your family, your fortune, your health!" + +"I've retired to Sicily where I own lands that I cultivate and +sell the wheat. My eldest daughter, my very dear Pontia, now +a widow, lives with me and keeps house for me. Thanks be to +the gods, I have not lost the strength of my faculties or my +memory. But old age does not come without a long procession +of aches and pains. I suffer atrociously from gout. And you +see me at present seeking in the Phlegraean Fields a remedy for +my afflictions. This land that burns, from which, at night, +flames escape, exhales acrid vapours of sulphur which, so they +say, soothe pain and restore flexibility to joints and limbs. +That's what the doctors assure me of anyway." + +"May it be what you experience yourself, Pontius! But, gout +and insect bites notwithstanding, you hardly look as old as me, +though you are, in fact, ten years older. It's certain you've +retained more vigour than I ever had, and I'm glad to find you +still so robust. Why, dear heart, did you so prematurely reject +public office? Why, after you left your governorship in Judea, +did you live on your estates in Sicily in voluntary exile? Tell +me what you got up to from the moment that I ceased to be there +as a witness to your actions. You were preparing to put down a +Samaritan revolt when I left for Cappadocia, where I was hoping +to derive some profit from raising mules and horses. Since +then I haven't laid eyes on you. What was the success of that +expedition? Tell me about it. I'm interested in everything +that's happened to you." + +Pontius Pilate shook his head sadly. + +"A natural solicitude," he said, "and a feeling of duty led me +to perform my public functions not only diligently but with love +of them too. But hatred dogged me constantly. Intrigue and +slander broke my life while the sap was still rising and blasted +the fruit it should have made ripe. You've asked me about the +Samaritan revolt. Let's sit down on this mound. I can tell +you about it in just a few words. Those events are as fresh +in my mind today as if they had happened yesterday. A man of +the people, potently eloquent, as many are in Syria, persuaded +the Samaritans to take up arms and gather on Mount Gerizim, +which is held to be a holy place in this region, and he swore +to show them the sacred vessels that an eponymous hero, or +rather a local prophet by the name of Moses, had hidden there +back in the time of Evander and Aeneas, our founding father. +On the strength of this assurance the Samaritans revolted. +But, warned in time to stop them, I had the mountain occupied +by infantry detachments and positioned cavalry to keep watch +over approaches to it. These prudent measures were needed +urgently. Already the rebels were besieging the town of +Tyrathaba, to be found at the foot of Mount Gerizim. I +dispersed them easily and nipped the revolt in the bud. +Then, to make an example with a minimum of victims, I had the +revolt's leaders executed. But you know, Lamia, how dependent +I was on the goodwill of Proconsul Vitellius who governed the +province of Syria not for Rome but against Rome and thought +that the provinces of the Empire could be portioned out like +farms to tetrarchs. The principal men among the Samaritans +fell weeping with hatred of me at his feet. To hear them, +nothing was further from their mind than to disobey Caesar. +I had acted provocatively, and it was to resist my violent +attack on them that they had gathered about Tyrathaba. And +Vitellius heard their complaints and, entrusting the affairs +of Judea to his friend Marcellus, he ordered me to justify +how I had acted before the emperor. My heart heavy with +pain and resentment, I took to the sea. As I drew near to +the coast of Italy, Tiberius, worn out by age and the cares +of empire, died suddenly on Cape Misenus, the horn of which +you can see from here lengthening in the evening mist. I +pleaded my case to Caius, his successor, who was naturally +bright and was well acquainted with the affairs of Syria. +But marvel with me at this, Lamia, at how my misfortune +persisted till it brought about my downfall. Caius had +kept close to him in Rome the Jew Agrippa, his companion, +his childhood friend, whom he loved more than his life. +Agrippa looked with favour on Vitellius because Vitellius +was the enemy of Antipas, whom Agrippa hated most intensely. +The emperor sided with his Jewish friend and would not even +grant me an audience. I was forced to stay under a cloud +of undeserved disgrace. Swallowing my tears, nourished by +gall, I retired to my lands in Sicily where I should have +died of regret had my sweet Pontia not come to console her +father. I planted wheat and grew the fattest ears of it +in all the island. Today my life is done. Posterity will +judge between Vitellius and me." + +"Pontius," Lamia replied, "I'm convinced that you acted towards +the Samaritans to the best of your ability and in the sole +interest of Rome. But did you not on that occasion give in too +easily to that impetuous bravery that always dragged you into +things? You know that in Judea, even though younger than you +were and therefore more ardent, it often fell to me to enjoin +on you mildness and leniency." + +"Leniency to Jews!" cried Pontius Pilate. "Despite your having +lived among them, you know little of these enemies of the human +race. Both proud and base, combining ignominious cowardice with +invincible obstinacy, they undermine both love and hate. My way +of thinking, Lamia, is founded on the maxims of the divine +Augustus. Already, when I was appointed procurator of Judea, +the earth was majestically robed in the Pax Romana. Proconsuls +no longer got rich from the sack of provinces as they were seen +to do during our civil wars. I was careful only to use wisdom +and moderation. As the gods are my witnesses, I was only stiff +necked in holding back. What good did these benevolent thoughts +do me? You saw me, Lamia, at the beginning of my governorship, +when the first revolt broke out. Do I need to remind you of the +circumstances? The garrison in Caesarea had gone to take up its +winter quarters in Jerusalem. The legionaries carried on their +standards pictures of Caesar. These images gave offence to the +Jerusalemites who did not recognize the emperor's divinity, as +if, under orders to obey, it was not more honourable to obey a +god than a man. The nation's priests came before my tribunal +to ask me with haughty humility to have the standards removed +from the sacred precincts. I refused out of respect for the +divinity of Caesar and the majesty of the Empire. Then the +plebs, joining forces with the priests, raised their voices +threateningly round the praetorium. I ordered the soldiers +to form a phalanx in front of the Antonia Tower, and to go, +armed with sticks, like lictors, to disperse that insolent +crowd. But, oblivious to the blows, the Jews kept on begging +me and the most stubborn among them lay on the ground, held out +their throats and let themselves be beaten to death by the rods. +You then witnessed my humiliation, Lamia. On Vitellius's order, +I had to send the standards back to Caesarea. Surely that was +a shame that I did not deserve. Here, in full view of the +immortal gods, I swear that, during my governorship, I did not +offend once against justice and the laws. But I am old. My +enemies and all those who informed on me are dead. I shall +die unavenged. Who will defend my memory?" + +He groaned and stopped speaking. Lamia answered him: + +"It is wise not to place either fear or hope in an uncertain +future. What does it matter what men will think of us? Our +only witnesses and judges are ourselves. Rest assured, Pontius +Pilate, of the witness you yourself have borne to your virtue. +Be content with your own esteem and that of your friends. +Besides, peoples are not governed by gentleness alone. That +love of humanity philosophy counsels us to show has little to +do with the actions of public figures." + +"Let's talk about something else," said Pontius. "The sulphurous +vapours exhaled by the Phlegraean Fields are more efficacious when +they come up from a ground still made warm by the rays of the sun. +I'd better hurry. Goodbye! But, since I've found a friend, I want +to take advantage of this piece of luck. Aelius Lamia, do me the +honour of coming to take supper with me tomorrow. My house is to +be found on the sea shore, at the end of the town, going towards +Misenus. You will recognize it easily from the portico on which +you'll see a painting showing Orpheus among lions and tigers he is +charming with the sounds of his lyre. Till tomorrow, Lamia," he +said, climbing back in his litter. "Tomorrow we shall talk of Judea." + + + +The following day, at suppertime, Aelius Lamia went to the house +of Pontius Pilate. Two couches only awaited the supper guests. +The table, unobtrusive but decently laid, supported silver plates +in which had been prepared warblers in honey, thrushes, oysters +from Lake Lucrino and lampreys from Sicily. Pontius and Lamia +questioned each other as they ate about their infirmities whose +symptoms they described at length and they told each other of +various remedies which had been recommended to them. Then, +congratulating themselves on having been brought back together +again in Baiae, they vied with one another in praising the +beauty of this coastline and the mildness of the air one breathed +there. Lamia vaunted the grace of the courtesans who went by on +the beach, laden with gold and dragging behind them trains +embroidered by barbarians. But the old procurator deplored an +ostentatiousness that, for the sake of tawdry stones and spiders' +webs woven by hand, made Roman coinage circulate among foreign +peoples and even among enemies of the empire. They afterwards +came to talk about the great feats of civil engineering carried +out in the region, that huge bridge that Caius had had built +between Puteoli and Baiae, and the canals ordered dug by Augustus +to bring water from the sea to the lakes of Avernus and Lucrino. + +"I too," said Pontius with a sigh, "wanted to undertake great +public works. When I was given, for my sins, the governorship +of Judea, I traced the plan for an aqueduct two hundred stadia +long that was to have brought to Jerusalem an abundant supply of +pure water. Height of levels, capacity of modules, obliquity of +bronze containers for the pipes to be adjusted to, I had studied +everything and, in the opinion of the engineers, solved all the +problems myself. I prepared a statute to regulate the use of +the water, so that no one individual could make illegal use of +it. The architects and workers were ordered and I gave the +command to start the work. But, far from watching satisfied +that conduit was being erected which, on powerful arches, was +to bring health as well as water to their town, the people of +Jerusalem cried out in loud lamentations. Tumultuously, +accusing us of sacrilege and impiety, they attacked the +workers and scattered the foundation stones. Can you imagine +filthier barbarians, Lamia? Nevertheless Vitellius took their +part and I received the order to discontinue the work." + +"It's a big question," said Lamia, "as to whether one should make +people happy in spite of themselves." + +Pontius Pilate carried on regardless: + +"What madness to refuse an aqueduct! But everything Roman is +hateful to the Jews. We are for them impure beings and our very +presence is a profanity for them. You know they did not dare to +enter the praetorium for fear of defiling themselves and that I +had to hold court in an open air tribunal, upon that marble +pavement that you so often trod. They fear us and despise us. +Yet is not Rome the mother and the tutor of peoples who all, +ike children, rest and smile at her venerable breast? Our eagles +have carried peace and freedom to the limits of the known world. +Seeing only friends in those we vanquish, we leave to conquered +peoples and ensure their customs and their laws. Is it not only +since Pompey conquered it that Syria, formerly torn apart by a +multitude of warring kings, has begun to taste peace and plenty? +And even when Rome could sell its benefits for gold, has it +plundered the treasures that the temples of barbarians overflow +with? Has it looted that of the Great Mother Goddess in Galatia, +or that of Jupiter in Cappadocia and Cilicia, or that of the God +of the Jews in Jerusalem? Antioch, Palmyra, Apamea have all been +left alone despite their wealth, and, no longer afraid of the +incursions of desert Arabs, raise temples to the genius of Rome +and the divine Caesar. Only the Jews hate us and defy us. We +have to wrest the tribute from them, and they stubbornly refuse +to do military service." + + +"The Jews," replied Lamia, "are very attached to their ancient +customs. They suspected you, for no good reason, I agree, of +wanting to abolish their law and to change their habits. Let me +tell you, Pontius, that you did not always act in a way designed +to dispel their unfortunate error. You took pleasure, in spite +of yourself, in fuelling their anxieties, and I saw you more than +once fail to hide before them the contempt that their beliefs and +religious ceremonies inspired in you. You particularly annoyed +them by having the vestments and priestly adornments of the high +priest in the Antonia Tower guarded by your legionaries. You +must admit that, without having risen as we have to contemplate +divinity, the Jews still celebrate mysteries that are venerable +in their antiquity." + +Pontius Pilate shrugged his shoulders: + +"They do not," he said, "have exact knowledge of the nature of +the gods. They worship Jupiter, but without giving him a name +or face. They do not even venerate him in the form of a stone +as certain peoples do in Asia. They know nothing of Apollo, +Neptune, Mars, Pluto or of any goddess. I do believe however +that they once adored Venus. For even today women offer doves +as victims on the altar, and you know as I do that merchants +with stalls under the temple's porticos sell pairs of these +birds to be sacrificed. I was even told one day that a madman +had knocked over the stalls of these merchants with their cages. +The priests complained of it to me as a sacrilegious act. I +think that that custom of sacrificing turtle doves was set up +in honour of Venus. Why are you laughing, Lamia?" + +"I'm laughing," said Lamia, "at an amusing idea that, I don't +know how, has just gone through my mind. I dreamt that one day +the Jove of the Jews might come to Rome to persecute you. Why +not? Asia and Africa have already given us a great many gods. +We have seen temples erected in Rome in honour of Isis and the +barking jackal god Anubis. We find at crossroads and even in +quarries the Good Mother goddess of the Syrians, carried by an +ass. And did you not know that, in the princedom of Tiberius, +a young knight passed himself off as the horned Jupiter of the +Egyptians and obtained with this disguise the favours of an +illustrious lady, too virtuous to hold anything back from the +gods! Pray, Pontius, that the invisible God of the Jews does +not disembark one day in Ostia!" + +At the idea that a God could come from Judea, a brief smile +slid over the stern face of the procurator. Then he solemnly +made answer: + +"How would the Jews impose their holy law on outsiders when they +themselves tear one another apart to interpret that law? Split +up into twenty rival sects, you've seen them, Lamia, holding their +scrolls in public squares, insulting each other and pulling each +other's beards. You've seen them, on the top step of the temple's +crepidoma, ripping their grimy robes in grief around some wretch +in a prophetic trance. They cannot imagine a peaceful argument, +with a soul that's tranquil, about the numinous, which is veiled +nevertheless and full of uncertainty. The nature of the immortal +gods remains a mystery to us that we are unable to penetrate. +I do however think it wise to believe in divine providence. But +the Jews are devoid of philosophy and cannot tolerate a diversity +of opinions. On the contrary, they judge to be worthy of the +ultimate penalty those who express feelings on the subject of God +at odds with what their law states about Him. And as, since they +have been under Roman rule, the death sentences pronounced by +their courts can only be carried out with the approval of the +proconsul or the procurator they put constant pressure on Roman +magistrates to support their lethal decrees. They assail the +praetorium with their demands for capital punishment. A hundred +times I've seen them, thronging round me, rich and poor, clinging +to their priests, angrily laying siege to my ivory seat, pulling +at the folds of my toga and the thongs of my sandals, clamouring +for, demanding of me the death of some unfortunate whose crime +I was unable to discern and whom I could only hold to be as mad +as his accusers. What am I saying? A hundred times? It was +every day, every hour of the day. And yet I had to implement +their law as I did ours, since Rome had set me up not to destroy +but to support their customs, and I had power to pardon or to +punish over them. At first I tried to make them see reason, I +strove to save their wretched victims from punishment. But this +leniency on my part only annoyed them the more. They battened on +their prey beating with their wings and pecking with their beaks +like vultures. Their priests wrote to Caesar I was infringing +their law, and their petitions, backed up by Vitellius, made me +much frowned upon. How often the desire came to me to make, as +the Greeks say, both the accused and their judges food for the +crows! Don't think, Lamia, that I harbour feelings of rancour +and senile rage against this people who got the better of all +that was Roman and peaceable in me. But I can foresee all too +well the drastic action that they will oblige us to take with +them sooner or later. If we can't govern them, we'll have to +destroy them. Do not doubt that, ever rebellious, hatching +plots against us in their overheated souls, they will burst out +one day with a fury next to which the wrath of the Numidians +and the threat posed by the Parthians will be child's play. +They nurture in the shadow crazy hopes and madly conspire at +our downfall. How can it be otherwise, given they await, if +their prophets are to be believed, a prince of their bloodline +who will rule the world? We shall never overcome this people. +They need to be obliterated. We need to raze Jerusalem to the +ground. Perhaps, old as I am, it will be given to me to see +the day when its walls will fall, when flames will devour +its houses, when its inhabitants will be struck down by the +sword and salt will be strewn where the Temple once stood. +And on that day I shall at last be justified." + +Lamia endeavoured to put the conversation back on a more even +keel. + +"Pontius," he said, "I can easily explain to you both your old +resentments and your sinister premonitions. Certainly, what +you knew of the character of Jews did them no favours. But I, +who was curious about Jerusalem and mingled with the people, +was able to discover in these men hidden virtues, which were +kept concealed from you. I knew Jews full of gentleness, whose +simple habits and faithful hearts reminded me of what our poets +have to say about the old man of Ebalia. And your yourself, +Pontius, saw beaten to death by the rods of legionaries simple +men, who, without even saying their name, died for a cause they +thought just. Such men do not deserve our contempt. I talk +like this because it is fitting to keep measure and balance in +all things. But I'll admit I never felt much sympathy for Jewish +men. Jewish women, on the other hand, I liked a lot. I was young +then, and Syrian women played havoc with my senses. Their red +lips, their damp eyes, and their long gazes shining in the shade, +struck me to the marrow of my bones. Made up and painted, and +smelling of nard and myrrh, steeped in spices, their flesh is +rare and delightful." + +Pontius listened to these praises impatiently: + +"I wasn't a man to fall into the honey traps set by Jewesses," he +said, "and since you lead me to say it, Lamia, I never approved +of your lack of self-restraint. If I didn't emphasize enough to +you in days gone by that I held you to be very much at fault for +having seduced, back in Rome, the wife of a consul, I think it +was because you were then paying dearly for that crime. Marriage +is a sacred institution for patricians, one that Rome counts on. +As for slaves or foreign women, the relations you could strike up +with them would count for little were it not that your body gets +used to in them a shameful softness. You sacrificed too freely +to the goddess of crossroads, I must say, and what I find most +to blame in you, Lamia, is that you did not marry legitimately +and give children to Rome as every good citizen should do." + +But the man exiled by Tiberius was no longer listening to the old +magistrate. Having emptied his cup of its vinum Falernum, he was +smiling at some invisible picture. + +After a moment of silence, he continued in a very low voice that +gradually grew louder: + +"They dance so languorously, the women of Syria. I knew then +in Jerusalem a Jewess who, in a hovel, by the light of a small +smoky lamp, on a bad carpet, danced raising her arms to clash +her cymbals. Her back arched, her head thrown back and as if +dragged down by her heavy auburn hair, her eyes drowned in +voluptuousness, ardent and languishing, supple, she'd have made +Cleopatra herself pale with envy. I loved her barbaric dances, +her slightly husky and yet so sweet singing, the smell of her +incense, the semi-sleeping state she seemed to live in. I +followed her everywhere. I mixed in with the vile crowd of +soldiers, boatmen and publicans she was surrounded with. One +day she disappeared and I never saw her again. I looked for a +long time for her in doubtful alleyways and taverns. She was +harder for me to do without than Greek wine. A few months +after I had lost track of her, I learned, quite by chance, +that she had joined a small group of men and women who were +followers of a young Galilean miracle worker. He was called +Jesus, came from Nazareth, and was crucified, for what crime +I don't know. Do you remember that man, Pontius?" + +Pontius Pilate frowned, bringing his hand to his forehead like +someone who is trying to remember. Then, after a few moments of +silence, he murmured: + +"Jesus. Jesus. From Nazareth? No. I can't bring him to mind." + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Procurator of Judea, by Anatole France + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58967 *** |