Chapter 9

David ben-Isaac

I was reassigned to the household of Attia so that I could monitor her actions and convey information to Aaron. I counted it rather bad luck, as none of the household had any interest in me sexually. I was too old for Servius Laellius, and the other servants in the wife’s household were as infected with the superstition of Chrestus as their mistress. I quickly learned that the Chrestoi disdained any sexual relations, and Attia had even stopped performing her duty to Servius. Naturally, this meant that his concubine was too busy for me as well.

I tried to get away and rub myself, but whenever the other servants caught me they would chastise me for being ‘enslaved to the flesh,’ and give me a lecture on ‘rebirth in the Spirit’ that rather cooled my ardor. On the other hand, they were accidentally providing me with useful intelligence. It turned out that Chrestus was actually Christos – the anointed one who was to restore the kingdom of the Jews. His real name had been Yoshua ben-Yosef, and he had been crucified by the prefect of Judaea under Tiberius. This proved that the Christoi were a threat to the peace of the Empire, and quite possibly the safety of the emperor, but we still needed more information. It appeared that Attia had caught the fever from her maidservants and it was spreading like a plague among the household servants of the senators. Aaron wanted to observe their rituals, and hopefully identify any other attendees who were in a position to cause harm.

It turned out that Attia was hosting the mysteries the day after each Jewish Sabbath. Her husband, away in the Senate or on other business at the time, suspected nothing. During the week, we drilled holes in the wall through which Aaron and I could observe the events. They began by reading a hymn aloud, full of subversion about Christos’ return, before getting to the meal. Contrary to the information we had received from informants who provided lurid second-hand tales of cannibalism, it consisted only of bread and wine, followed by more chanting.

Aaron recognized the wives of several prominent Jewish merchants and of the senator Marcus Pollio, but no Roman citizens, among the congregation, which seemed to consist mostly of slaves. Most of them would attract little attention if taken in and tried, but there was always the danger that one of them would reveal Attia’s involvement under torture or in an attempt to blackmail their way out of trouble. Aaron brought the problem directly to the emperor, who hosted me, Aaron, and Blandus in his private chambers.

“We can easily dispose of them with a slow-acting poison,” Aaron suggested, “If we slip it into the wine, they won’t feel the effects until they return to their houses. It will look like just your standard poisoning ring.”

“Except a poisoning ring that kills Attia will cause suspicion to fall on my wife. We need to keep her from drinking the wine.”

“If we tell her not to,” Blandus objected, “she might warn the others.”

“We shall need to pull her away by deception,” the emperor concluded.