Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate: A Novel (32 page)

 47 

T
he villa hadn’t seemed to change in the ten years they had been in Judea. Waiting on the steps were Marcus, Rufina, and to Claudia’s joy and surprise, Medina!

Lucius, who had allowed Doros to ride with him the last few kilometers, let the boy slip down and then gave his horse to one of his soldiers. He helped Claudia out of the coach. Florian and Vitus stretched their legs after descending from the second coach.

Doros studied the house and, having grown up in a palace, frowned. “It isn’t very big is it, Mater?”

She laughed. “It is big enough for us, Doros. And it is our own home.”

Marcus bowed to Lucius. “Welcome home, Excellency. It has been a long time.”

“It is good to see you again, Marcos.” He looked around. “And where is Alba?”

Marcus hung his head. “She was very ill, Dominae. She died two weeks ago” He turned to Medina. “She is the one who nursed Alba in her last days.”

Lucius nodded to the older woman. “I have heard of you from my wife. I’m grateful for your kindness. Alba was my nurse as a boy.”

Claudia moved forward and embraced the former servant. “Oh
Medina, it is so good to see you.” Her voice caught in her throat. “Tell me about my grandmother.”

“Before she died, she asked me to send her love to you and was sorry not to be able to see her great-grandson.”

Claudia took a deep breath and let it out again. “I had hoped there was some way to see her in these intervening years, but she told me when I left not to hope for that. We were too far away.”

The coaches were unloaded and driven to a clearing near the stable. Lucius thanked his men for their service, saluting each one individually and dismissed them to return to the garrison in Rome.

Claudia, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the long journey, went up to the master suite with Hotep. As her maidservant prepared a bath, she sat down by a window that looked out over the orchard. Seeing the three figures, one tall, one slightly stooped, and a boy strolling among the trees, she felt at peace. It would be a good place for Doros to grow up.

They rested two days, but the third morning Claudia found Lucius gathering his trial documents as Vitus packed them in a pouch. It was 243 kilometers to Rome, a journey of three and a half days. Even then, Lucius and Vitus would have to ride hard to make it in that time. Lucius was fond of his horse and Claudia knew he could only demand so much of the animal in a day.

Vitus tactfully left the office and Lucius gathered her to his heart. “I’ve implored the gods for my favor, but Tiberius is unpredictable. I only hope I can prove that I did what any other prefect would have done in my place.”

“May the lies the Samaritan Council are telling be made known. You did what you had to do.”

“I have convinced you, beloved, but I pray the emperor sees it as you do.”

She felt the rapid beating of his heart and looking up into his face, saw his fear and uncertainty. “I will pray to the God I believe in for your safety also, my love.”

With an effort, he put her from him and picked up the pouch. “I must go. Vitus is bringing the horses around.”

Doros, seeing him leaving the villa, ran and was caught in his father’s arms.

“You must take care of your mother while I am gone, my son. She will need you.”

He patted the boy’s shoulder and with a last look at Claudia, mounted his horse.

Claudia held back her tears as she watched them ride away.

In the late afternoon at the beginning of the second week, the sound of hoofbeats on the road to the villa brought Claudia hurrying out to see Lucius and Vitus dismounting. He looked tired but elated and she ran into his arms.

“Your hearing before the emperor must have gone well.”

“There was no hearing. Come inside and I will tell you about it.” He gave the reins of his horse to Vitus, who led the horses to the stable.

Lucius led Claudia to his office and closed the door. Thankfully, at the moment, Doros was in the orchard with Marcus and his tutor.

Claudia turned to her husband in astonishment. “What did you mean, no trial?”

“On the way to Rome I learned that the emperor was staying in a villa at Misenum on the Bay of Naples. We rode there instead and I presented myself to the prefect, Naevius Sutorius Macro, and asked for an audience with the emperor. I was told the emperor had just died.”

“Oh, Lucius! He’s dead?”

“His nephew, Gaius, has been proclaimed emperor. He will be a popular emperor since he is of the line of Germanicus.” Lucius frowned. “A strange young man, tall and slender, but eyes that seem almost . . . vacant.”

“What about the hearing then?”

“Macro told me that more than likely there would not be a hearing
now, but he would speak with Caligula after he’s confirmed by the senate. I told him where we were and then went in to pay my respects to Tiberius as he was being prepared for a state funeral. As soon as I could, I rode back here.”

He leaned down and kissed her, and with a lighter step, went upstairs to bathe and dress.

Later, in the peace of the garden, Rome seemed far away. Yet Claudia knew they were within easy reach of the emperor. Lucius had a reprieve, but for how long? Her future and that of her husband hinged on word from Macro, and the clemency of a new emperor.

 48 

T
hree weeks had passed since arriving at the villa. Lucius was in his office, going over the scrolls he’d prepared for his audience with Tiberius. With each passing day, their hope grew that the matter would be dismissed or ignored.

Doros loved to walk in the orchard with Marcus when he could escape Florian and his lessons. It warmed her heart that Lucius was at last proud of his son, who seemed to be growing taller by the hour.

Claudia’s heart was joyful at being mistress of her own home at last, and the love between she and Lucius seemed to grow even more. Now she also had Medina, who to Claudia’s delight had also become a believer.

Caligula, or Gaius as he preferred to be called, lost no time in endearing himself to the Romans. He named the month of September after his father, Germanicus, and burned documents publicly that pertained to former legal suits. Of great interest to Lucius was Caligula’s recalling of many who had been exiled from Rome and dismissing indictments against those awaiting trial for offenses against Tiberius. Lucius felt good about the chances of his own case being dismissed.

Claudia and Lucius were invited to a lavish banquet for prominent equestrian families by the young emperor and traveled to Rome to attend.

Claudia dressed in her finest with her golden pendant with the ruby and gold earrings. She looked every inch the granddaughter of an emperor. Lucius told her later he’d thought her the most beautiful woman at the banquet.

Caligula acknowledged Lucius, and mentioned that he would like to speak to him about Judea sometime. His eyes had roved over Claudia in a way that made her uneasy. At one point he brushed her arm with his hand and smiled, his eyes filled with desire. Claudia ignored the subtle invitation and kept her voice and manner polite but distant. He turned away abruptly, joining another group. She was more than ready to leave and return to their villa.

Two months passed and there was no more word from the emperor. It was a warm afternoon in June when Claudia sat in the garden with Lucius. He spoke again of his father who was so often gone with the military and his mother more concerned with Roman society than with her son. From the time he was young he had striven to please his father and entered the Roman army as soon as he was old enough. He’d faced hours of backbreaking marches, gradually moving up in the ranks. He’d distinguished himself in the campaigns and yearned for a higher rank. One auspicious day, Sejanus, an old friend, and then prefect of Rome, sent for him.

“That Sejanus had suggested me as a husband for the emperor’s ward was almost unbelievable,” he told her, brushing a leaf from her hair as they walked in the orchard. “I was lost the moment I saw you. Any other woman I’d known before paled in your beauty. I felt the gods had favored me beyond belief to give you to me for my wife.”

“I thought you extremely handsome and was relieved that the man chosen for me was not old and bald!”

They laughed together. Love in an arranged marriage in Roman society was rare.

Today their time was interrupted by Vitus, who hurried toward them. “There is a messenger from the emperor. He says it is urgent.”

Claudia’s heart pounded in her chest. They hurried to the atrium to
meet the soldier who had obviously ridden hard from Rome. He saluted and handed Lucius a scroll. He unrolled it and began to read aloud:

“Lucius Pontius Pilate is hereby ordered to present himself to the Emperor, his Imperial Majesty, Gaius Caesar, at once to answer certain charges against him by the Council of Samaria.”

The
accusatores
had arrived.

Claudia suppressed a cry. His eyes sought hers and she saw the fear.

He rolled up the scroll. “So it has come. The emperor has summoned me.” He turned to the messenger. “Be refreshed and then return to Rome and tell the emperor I am on my way.”

The soldier saluted and Claudia called Medina, who led the messenger toward the kitchen.

Lucius took Claudia by the hand into his office and closed the door, then gathered her in his arms. She looked up at him. “I hoped, Lucius, I hoped and prayed that you would not be called to Rome by the emperor, at least not for a trial.”

He held her against him. “I shall need your prayers, to the God of the Hebrews, if that comforts you, for the audience with the emperor. He is young and perhaps will continue to be lenient in his first year of rule.” Shaking his head, he murmured, “I do not see how I am being called into question for doing my duty. Any other prefect would have acted as I did to put down an insurrection, and an armed one at that.”

“I shall pray every day that you are gone, my love.”

He released her and she hurried to the kitchen to tell Medina to prepare food for the men’s journey. Lucius called the waiting Vitus and they began to gather his papers and put them in packets.

Claudia went to find her son. Doros listened solemnly as his father explained he had to make a journey to Rome. The boy squared his shoulders. “I will look after Mater in your absence, Pater.”

Lucius put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I will count on that, Doros.”

The horses were brought and the staff of the villa came out to see them off. Lucius thought to go alone, but Vitus insisted that he was needed and wouldn’t be put off.

Claudia, standing bravely, would not show her emotions in front of the staff. She waved and returned to the villa. With the distance, it might be at least ten days before she could hope to see Lucius, or hear the outcome of the hearing.

That night, Claudia gathered together the small group of believers in her household, and they earnestly prayed for her husband’s journey and the outcome that could change their lives.