Soldier of Rome: Rebellion in Judea (The Great Jewish Revolt, #1) by James Mace

Author:James Mace [Mace, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: James Mace
Published: 2016-12-30T23:00:00+00:00

T aricheae was an important strategic city for Josephus and the rebellion. Located north of Tiberias, on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee, it served as a local merchant and fishing port. It was also in need of repair work to its walls, and Josephus was spending a week assessing how to improve its defenses, while also recruiting men for both the local militia as well as his standing army.

It was at the large inn that the guardsmen who robbed poor Ptolemy found the governor-general. They made a great clamoring, all the while a large crowd gathered to see what the commotion was about. Josephus, along with twenty of his men, came out the front door and were surprised by what they saw.

“Behold!” the lead brigand said. “Treasures taken from the false king and his whore sister, as you requested.”

“As I requested?” Josephus asked, confused and not knowing of the stratagems John had wrought. He stepped onto the cart, where a chest was laid open. When he also saw the beaten and unconscious Ptolemy, his face broke into a scowl.

“You damnable fools!” he shouted. “You steal from our own people and bring further violence against fellow Jews!” He then snapped his fingers, and his men shoved the brigands aside and started taking the treasure into the inn.

“Here, we was promised a share of that,” one of the robbers protested.

“This is not yours to be had,” Josephus growled. “Not be off with you, lest you wish to face a sound whipping!”

There was a quiet pause as the gathered crowd looked on in confusion while Josephus’ soldiers took the plunder from the cart. Two of his men also took the unconscious servant and helped him inside.

“Here!” the lead thief said, pointing at Josephus accusingly. “He means to give it back to Agrippa and deny us our share!”

The men were quickly driven off by Josephus’ soldiers, but soon they were spreading discontent to the surrounding villages about how the governor-general was set to betray them. Among those most outraged was Jesus ben Sapphias, the governor of Tiberias. Angrily, he summoned his militia, as well as any men of arms within the region, and marched up the sea to Taricheae.

Two days after the incident, Josephus was awakened by a banging on his door from Yaakov.

“There’s a multitude outside that’s calling for your blood!” the young man said quickly.

“What?” Josephus was immediately out of bed and threw on his tunic.

“They say you stole from them, and that you intend to give back to King Agrippa that which you do not first steal for yourself.”

“Do they now?” Josephus asked, tightening his belt.

“And what’s worse is most of your bodyguard ran off.” Yaakov lamented. “It’s just me, Levi, and two of the lads.”

Josephus, surprisingly, did not seem taken aback by this. “If the mob is that large, I cannot exactly blame them,” he shrugged. “What is their makeup? Are they all from Taricheae?”

“No,” Yaakov replied, shaking his head. “I’d say about half are from Tiberias.”

“Tiberias...” Josephus said quietly, as his mind worked over a solution.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.