Of Such Is The Kingdom, A Novel of Biblical Times in 3 parts

When are you going to stop letting people push you around?  And what about that no-good tyrant, Herod?”

Having finished, Pilate put down his utensils and reached for his wineglass. “What about him?  I haven’t heard a thing from him since that visit he paid us.  Hope I don’t either.  Anyway, I’m through listening to him, the old buzzard!”

Procla reached for her wineglass.  “Well, I’m glad to see your attitude hasn’t changed in that regard since his visit.”

“He called me a fool, didn’t he?  No one shall call me a fool and get away with it!”

Procla's  eyes lit up as she exclaimed:  “Now you’re talking!  But, what are you going to do about it?”

“I said I shall have his territory, and I shall!”

“Excellent!  That’s my Pilate talking!  But, how will you go about it?”

Pilate put his finger to his lips.  “Good question.  I can’t just take my troops and invade his territory.  Caesar might not like that, and I could end up with nothing.”

“True, true,” she said sadly. Then her eyes lightened again.  “But, speaking of Caesar, what if we write the old guy a letter?”

“I think I see what you mean.”  Pilate’s eyes also began to brighten.  

“We could write Caesar a letter about Herod.”

“--A letter telling him how bungling and inefficient Herod is getting.”

 He scratched his head. “He’s not really bungling and inefficient.  He’s just tyrannical.”

“So what?” she smiled broadly.  “How is Caesar to know?  Do you think he will come all the way from Rome to check?”

“And if he writes Herod--?”

“Of course, Herod would deny it.  Who would admit to being bungling and inefficient, even it were true?”

“So it would be his word against ours.”

“Unfortunately.”  Peocla scratched her head.  Then her eyes lit up more brightly than before. “--Unless we could manage to get several letters to Caesar from different people, citing actual cases.”

“You mean, forge letters?”

“An excellent idea!  I always said you had a good head on your shoulders, Pilate. Yes, and in fact, we wouldn’t have to send one from us at all.  After all, he’d be more likely to listen to the common people on such a matter, wouldn’t you think?”

“It seems like it,” he agreed. “But, how would we find out Caesar’s reaction?”

“That’s a good point.  I hadn’t thought of it.  Of course, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to send one from us, stating that we’d heard some general complaints and thought he should know.  That way we’d know by his reply to us what he plans to do about the matter.”

“Excellent thinking, Proclia, dear.”  He touched her on the shoulder.  “I’m sure you will do a fine job with the letters.”

“Well, I thought you would at least help.”

“Oh, I’m too busy and have too much on my mind with these cases.  No, I would think you could handle it quite well, my dear.  It’ll give you something to do while you’re waiting for me to come home every day.”

“Alright, dear, I’ll write the letters.”

“Good!  Shall we drink a toast to the success of our venture?”

“Great idea!  I’ll tell Dora to bring some more wine.”

As she got up to ring for the servant, he turned and glanced out of the window.  He noticed a pageboy coming toward the door.  “Oh dear, what could this be?  Probably another message from Herod – another one of his silly suggestions.”  By now, the page had reached the door.  Giving a few loud knocks, he entered.  “Well, boy, what is it?”

“A message from Herod, sir.”

“And what does that blubbering idiot want now?”

“He wishes to suggest sir, that, in order to meet the need for more revenue in the territory, you raise the temple tax.”

“Oh, he does, does he?  Well, you tell that fox to mind his own business.  The people are discontented enough without me raising any more taxes.  And besides, you can tell Herod he should stick to ruling Galilee and Perea. I’ll take care of Judea.  That’s what I’m here for. Tell him not to send me any more of his stupid suggestions.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the boy was leaving, Procla put her arm around Pilate.  “You really told him, that time! I’m proud of you, dear. I’m real proud of the way you handled that!”  She backed off and put one finger to her lip.  “--Although the idea of raising the tax was not really a bad idea.”  She walked toward him again smiling. “But you sure put that fox in his place!  Now if you could only be that firm with the people!”

Pilate was puzzled.  “Do you think I should tax the people more?”

She smiled.  “You know we could use the extra revenue. But, you have to do what you think is right, Pilate. Think about it, decide, and then don’t let anyone change you!  Be strong, my Pilate, be strong!”