‘As long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world’, Venerable BEDE

Jesus really suffered. For his enemies were serious about his fate. The atheists and the Buddhists were repulsed by the proceedings and the crucifixion of Christ Jesus. Even some Romans and many of the Jews were in chorus in admitting the unfairness of the trials of the King of the Jews.

To add to the ignominy of the deed, the accounts of the judgment rendered against Jesus upset greatly to madness equus Incitatus, the imperial horse of Caligula.

Lucius Vitellius the Elder was the youngest of four sons of quaestor Publius Vitellius and the only one that did not die through politics. Under Emperor Tiberius, he was Consul in 34 BC and Governor of Syria the subsequent year. He supported Emperor Caligula, and was a favorite of Emperor Claudius wife Empress Valeria Messalina who disliked Pontius Pilate.

Apart from being the key figure in the execution of Jesus, Pontius Pilate was the one behind the conspicuous displays of images of Emperor Tiberius in the temple, an act deemed offensive to the Jews.

The massacre of Samaritans was another crime that did not help out his fortune. All these grievous deeds supposedly to honor the name of Caesar Tiberius created a rift between Pontius Pilate and many people.

Consistent with his desire to make the delight of Caligula, the Jews and Empress Messalina, Lucius Vitellius went on to depose Pontius Pilate, the estranged procurator of Judea in 36 BC.

Now the deposed Roman legate without official position and banished to Gaul had enough time to ponder on his new life. That was a life without a palace filled with whores and a cohort of servants all ready at will. Unlike Quirinius Sulpicius Publius, the entry in Gaul of the fallen procurator was anything but glorious. Brought by the Legio XXI Papax, he was dropped afield with and was offered a small parcel of land to farm and a meager allowance of three hundred sesterces for his living.

Just as fortune will turn around, from a powerful man in the silkiest palace in Judea, he has become, in an irony of destiny, away from Rome and its politicking, a shadow of himself, simply forgotten. But his new status left him free to fully be a follower of Christ Jesus.

Pontius Pilate used to be a member of the Pythagoreans. The encounter with the King of the Jews has marked him profoundly and he later converted to become a staunch disciple of the son of David with the patronage of James the Greater, the apostle to Gaul.

The new disciple was christened Verus Christophorus as a sign of his second birth, his new life of total dedication to Christ’s message. The former Roman official had turned out to be a strong advocate of the INRI. He went on in the wake of the three magi who testified of the new born king to be the apostle of the Turks as living testimony of his metanoia. To depart frontally from his former state and to avoid being reminded of his past rather than averting any trouble from schemers, Verus Christophorus has gone forward to remove the mark of his idolatry.

For every high ranking Roman official, the mythical four-lettered SPQR -Senatvs PopvlvsQve Romanvs- is tattooed on the left side part of the chest with the sword. But now as a banished man, anybody who discovered him with that mark could slay him without prejudice to the Roman Empire.

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As long as Rome the Empire had a good administrator, she stood in majestic splendor. Thereafter, many corrupt leaders -an embarrassment to the civilized world- were allowed in and her pristine glory gradually faded away. The fall of Rome started when its destiny was entrusted to the weak authority of some incompetent fidgeting kinglets. The heyday of the glorious city is just a distant memory, swallowed up behind the shadow of civilizations.

Nobody ever imagined the city of Rome without her brilliant glory, her gladiatorial shows, and her wild beasts struggling with human bones in front of an ecstatic crowd all-too-willing. This is now a reminiscent mark of glory left by the various successive frivolous roman governments led by ill-inspired Caesars and short-sighted rulers.

‘Where have you gone, Rome, the Christendom; Rome, the cemetery of Christian saints and also the well for the blood of audacious Martyrs?’

She was and is still the capital of many curiosities. Great cradle of many human achievements, she brought about many great people, groundbreaking philosophers, many illustrious statesmen and now many religious syndicates not to mention the noxious Mafia.

The city of Rome has struggled through good and evil. She has seen Gaius Julius Caesar and Claudius Nero Caesar; Marcus “Tully” Cicero and Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonius; has nurtured democracy and tyranny; and Romanism and Barbarianism.

Rome is the city of consistories, of conclaves, of orators, senators, consuls, emperors maybe kings but importantly of popes -and of the Black popes. And has yet to see a green pope, future will tell.

No other city in the world had enjoyed such prestigious fate. It has been a Roman privilege, at least since things were put in their right place to host the Roman Pontiff -the Pope.

Rome had known three eras in her history. These are the era before the Emperor Octavian, the Emperor Octavian’s era and the post Octavian. It was a time when all ears listened to Rome and all eyes were contemplating her beauty. Many cities wanted their structure after the roman architecture and most people who deemed themselves of great worth vied covetously for roman residency.

In 6 BC, during the reign of Emperor Augustus Caesar, something happened. A roman equestrian turned consul with some patrician lining was appointed as Governor of Syria with extended jurisdiction over Judea. The anniversary of this event was to coincide with the year in which Rev J.H.,sj, was set to commence his regency some centuries later.

The Roman administrator had already made names in great battles at the satisfaction of the Emperor. The situation of unrest in Judea with its growing economic power was a great concern for the covetous Caesar.

A man of great punch, a military strategist was needed by the Emperor. That man, an evil genius, was found in no other than in the person of the bloodthirsty Publius Sulpicius Quirinius.

With much praises, he was commended by Herod Antipas, a dangerous opportunist and was commissioned into the office of Caesar’s legate. The tetrarch was a political sly man, who wanted to gain for himself an instrumental ally in his war against his brother Herod II, whom he resented much. The grievous loss he earlier incurred in his inheritance was not foreign to his opportunistic teaming up with strangers to get rid of his half-brother. He was much encouraged in his designs by the unexpected death of their notorious father, Herod the Great.

The way a commoner travels or a fellow without political weight travels is different from a journey of Caesar or his legate. And a powerful legate in the case of Publius Sulpicius Quirinus with a special assignment to fulfill could not leave his travel arrangement to chance. He could not afford to travel anyhow, Rome was at stake. Even travelling was part of the ritual of commencing up his official mission.

Thus he has the liberty to determine the more appropriate time and ways, as a great leader, to travel? He ought to choose a way that obliges all to see his glory and power. His enemies in stupor will give him more respect, while his friends may rejoice in having so powerful a protector and helping arm and the rest ‘to wander about this great man’.

To honor that tradition, the new Consul did not choose to travel by chance. He planned his missionary journey to mark the spirits in awe and admiration. He needed a mighty fleet to accompany him. His war vehicle was in the middle of a heavy guard of centurion.

He chose for that purpose a bright morning of the thirteenth day of the month of Sextilis- this month will be renamed August in honor of the divine Emperor to immortalize him-, he sailed off to his newly appointed post, the Roman province of Judea. In a great showy fashion that none but a Roman Pontiff could display, he moved towards his destiny. Sulpicius Publius Quirinius was the much feared man and the sole enforcer of the Roman law in the occupied territory.

Amid stern discipline the Heathen sailed for about thirty three days. During the journey no recriminations was heard. The ruthlessness of the captain of the ship was no foreign to that stillness. The smooth submission of the sailors many of whom were hardened soldiers with pirate hearts was just amazing compared to the usual rumpus on other ships sailing on the same waters.

Against the Roman military customs of having slaves as oarsmen to do the paddling, the Heathen had ordered his Roman crew to do the job. The slaves were used for the jobs that will not give them any opportunity to be mutineers. It was a must for the Roman crew to keep fit against the pirates at sea. As a military strategist of the first class, he was well aware that a crew of slaves that grew stronger could break loose if an occasion was rightly availed. A tougher Roman crew disciplined and obedient would not be of ‘no use’.

“You messed up with the discipline and you will be dancing with sharks or swimming with the mermaids,” he was once heard telling a troublesome sailor. Either cases were none to wish even to one’s worst enemy. In fact when the Heathen got mad at you, even the devil will be afraid to shelter you in Hell. Interestingly, apart from the only fact that he was a bloodthirsty fellow akin to Count Dracula, he was free from the other Roman vices. Many though suspected him of being a vampire. A rumor he wished happily to be true fact. In his regal duty as legate of Syria, Quirinius Publius Sulpicius was seconded by no one other than the nefarious Coponius.

Apart from being the Roman administrator, he had a role of a religious leader after the Roman pontiff. Besides, he was entrusted the crucial mission to assess the taxation value of Judea, a thriving province. This rich province was the target of all ambitious Roman civil servants and the nobility.

Judea will ensure great power to the Roman Administration under the outside threat of the Barbarians and the tumult of the Zealots from within. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, the Heathen for whom to kill was a spiritual exercise was only most ready to help out wherever needed. He was more than enthusiastic and happy with his novel mission.

He considered it a duty to give peace and prosperity to Rome. The newly appointed Roman Administrator was pitiless with the enemies of Rome or those who were considered as such. He desired greatly that the Romans who were ‘the good people’ did not have to worry because their enemies were let loose in the nature.

The Heathen wished that the Romans could happily sleep on their laurels because they feared no more danger from the other people who were considered barbarians and evil.

‘Bye Rome, Bye weekly orgies in the city of gods‘, he thought in his mind. ‘I am on my way to harvest more glory and power for myself over the bodies of these barbarians.’

In a sort of the review of the past, he was plunged back in his battlefields memories and saw again people crying all over the pitch covered with blood.

The horrific scenes were source of amusement for him because he was a man of horror, a blood-thirsty. Not that he was a vampyre but Count Dracula could hardly outmaneuver him in blood drinking playoffs. By defying YHWH, he was only equaled in ungodliness by Nimrod the lead architect of the unfinished Babel Tower project.

The heathen could only be seen as the one who really made his the Caesarean principles of strategic warfare and the art of ruthless leadership.

‘More haste, less speed in pursuing and tracking the enemy. And the leadership of a bold Commander is more desirable than a safer one.’

He used to say after his mentor that a war or a battle should not be begun under any circumstances, unless the hope of gain was clearly greater than the fear of loss; for he likened such as grasped at slight gains with no slight risk to those who fished with a golden hook, the loss of which, if it were carried off, could not be made good by any catch.

The Heathen was no fan of King Pyrrhus whom he hated for the battles won.