THE AUGUSTAN ERA CHAPTER FOUR- Page 2

FOR TWO YEARS, Benjamin courted Esther, the quiet and lovely daughter of a local Jewish timber dealer, Rabbi Azariah. They had often sat together talking of family, Rome, Tarsus, the new days of hope ahead.

Rabbi Azariah took a strong liking to the son of Ben-Lemuel. Finding that he was well able to provide for his daughter, he gladly agreed when Benjamin asked for her hand in marriage.

After the traditional ceremony at synagogue, they moved into Ben-Lemuel's house, rather than build another of their own. The old rabbi was delighted to have them around, now that Rebekah was gone. The house was certainly big enough for the sharing.

In all this climate of reform and new beginnings, however, a sour note began to sound for the city of Tarsus. As old Ben-Lemuel had predicted, Rome could not be trusted. First, the governor announced that Cilicia would no longer remain under the direct gaze of the Emperor. Instead, finding that other more troubled provinces needed his full attention, Augustus had delegated the rule of Cilicia to the Senate.

Not long after that, the Senate decided that Tarsus should be taxed. Not heavily, but taxed nonetheless. The privileged status of "free city" awarded by Antony was removed. The local people were thrown into crisis. They had been free of taxation for nearly fifteen years, and had liked it very much.

But the worst insult arrived in the form of the Senate's choice of governor; Boethus Nero Tullus, a secretive yet decisive Roman, who listened to no one but the advisors he brought with him from Italy. In no time he had the city reeling from the awful changes he instituted, as well as from the evil way that he governed.

Soon after his arrival a city elder challenged the governor's taxation advisors on a property evaluation. Without further ado, they simply confiscated his holdings and threw him into prison. When a riot erupted, Boethus summoned troops from the Roman garrison who ruthlessly killed several demonstrators and threatened to do the same to anyone who did not disperse immediately. The governor issued a stern warning that the new Rome would have no tolerance for riots of any kind, by order of Augustus himself.

When certain opportunistic Tarsians saw that the city elders were not going to mount an effective defense, they joined Boethus and formed a network of spies. To curry favor for themselves they began informing on disgruntled citizens. A number of good Tarsians who had the courage to send a complaint to the Senate were discovered, their communications destroyed, and they and their entire families simply disappeared without a trace.

A pall settled over the city. Fear and mistrust began to break down the openness so many had enjoyed with one another. Divisions and differences between Roman, Greek, Parthian and Jew were exploited by Boethus and his gang, and used to further divide the people. Roman citizenship seemed to be the only right this governor would not violate.

New teachers from Rome were brought in and ensconced at the local university. These strangers espoused values and traditions contrary to those of the population. The sons of Tarsus were being indoctrinated in the wanton philosophies of Rome.

Benjamin managed to hold onto his livelihood by paying the special "Jewish taxes" imposed on him for keeping the Sabbath, an essential working day in the eyes of Boethus. The governor announced to the city that Rome would tolerate only two religions in any province, the religion of Rome, and one local religion. He warned the citizens, however, that he alone could choose the religion he would tolerate. After observing the rites of Temples of Mithras and synagogues in the city, he would make a determination. In the meantime, any desecrating of a temple by a rival group would be met with immediate and pitiless reprisal.

This new level of intolerance caused the Jews to become nearly invisible in the community. They met at synagogue and in homes with little fanfare, trying to draw no attention to themselves. Benjamin could see that the time had come to keep his precious beliefs to himself. He began to dress more like a Greek, and to speak Greek without an accent.

Throughout the city, horror stories continued to grow. Boethus, surrounded constantly by his own body guards, modelled on the new Praetorian Guard that surrounded Augustus--- raided homes for his nighttime pleasures. Parents sought, often in vain, to keep his evil eye from falling on their fairest young sons. Husbands suffered in silence when he chose their wives. Some women yielded to his passions rather than have him confiscate their homes and possessions, or even worse, remove their husbands to prison or death on charges that were totally false. Boethus bragged that Augustus himself raided the bedrooms of Rome for his own pleasure. It was the new Roman way.

Despair followed his words as Tarsians settled in to endure their fate. Benjamin never took Esther to public places anymore, as his father had done with Rebekah, fearing that the spies would report her beauty to Boethus and he would one day knock on their door. The citizens of Tarsus, still unable to rise above the memory of Marcellus and his legions, could not yet find the strength or courage to resist this governor.

Thieves, murderers and pirates, displaced from raiding abroad, began to steal into the city and find lodging, pretending to great purposes. They found a certain comradery with the governor's troops on the street, gambling and selling the sins of the flesh. Dens of iniquity sprouted. Tarsus had become their kind of place.

At synagogue, and shuffling along the streets with his cane, Ben-Lemuel was often heard to mutter, "Trust God, God alone, God alone."