Domina Victrix

Chapter 87: 36 AD, Caesarea and Joppa

Flavius looked over the lists for the next quarterly honors. So many senior enlisted were retiring. He had offered evocatii to Cornelius, Verus, and Longinus, but all had declined, for different but understandable reasons. Verus had a lucrative business empire in two cities. With his father likely not long for the wold and Young Aulus still on active duty, he would need to manage the family's properties in Antioch and Caesarea, and move back and forth between the two cities. Cornelius did not need the money or the hassle. Another Scipio relative had died in Rome and he now had that inheritance, too. He was an investing partner with his brother-in-law with avenues open in Rome and possibly Alexandria or Massillia. Longinus' sight was going. He had to step away.

Flavius pushed the lists aside and pondered his own options. Unlike enlisted men, officers could resign at any time. He had thirteen years' service to his credit. He could move into the civil side, and work his way up the cursus honorum. He could start as a quaester, or financial officer, move up to aedile, or public works administrator, then on to praetor or magistrate. The only drawbacks were that these were elected offices. His family had the connections and monetary backing, but it was still a popularity contest and no guarantees. Victoria knocked and came into his office.

"What is it, Love?" she asked.

"Just thinking a few things over," he said.

"Retirement?"

"How did you guess?"

"I know Severus' health has you and Decius worried. Cornelius, Julius Verus, and Longinus are retiring."

"Without Bolt or I here, can you continue to work?"

"Valerius is still here," she said. "The Provincials just renewed my contract. I already have a private practice. So it's possible. On the other hand, Layla wants to open an academy for midwives back home."

"I wouldn't mind going back to Antioch," he said. "I could get a civil job. Father and Severillus want to develop our land on the River."

"I know he's complicated," she said, referring to Severus, Jr. "Why not just take that land outright. He's always wanted to buy you out. Tell him that's your price."

She could see that he was mulling.

"Anyway, the men are getting lax again and I'm seeing more rashes and sores that are just lack of basic cleanliness. And, we may have a disease outbreak from that cathouse across from the bakery."

.....

Cornelius changed into a civilian tunic and settled in for an afternoon to himself. Julia and the children had gone to see a traveling menagerie that was on display at the forum, and he was looking forward to some peace and quiet. He counted down the weeks until he could take his final salute on the parade ground and leave a good part of his life behind. He had come a long way from the day he approached Gaius Antonius in Rome, overwhelmed with his new inheritance. He now had several properties in Caesarea, as well as Joppa, Damascus, and Antioch.

He found a scroll of the book of Isaiah and another of Psalms, and several letters from Lucius. Both he and his old commander were convinced that Yeshua had been the Messiah. Cornelius looked through the scrolls, trying to find the passages Lucius referenced in both books. He had come far in his views on religion, from being a confirmed skeptic, then hostile, and now comfortable with the idea of believing in a God who cared about him and wanted to help. He would never be a Jew, but he believed Yahweh accepted him anyway. Belief in one god was a whole lot less complicated than trying to keep track of dozens of them. As he found the passages he was looking for in the scrolls, he opened his heart.

"I'm not a Jew but there must be a way to come to you, and only you," he said out loud.

As he spoke the words, he heard someone say his name. Years of traininng kicked in and he reached for his dagger. He had let nobody in the house and none of the servants would have addressed him so. A tall man in a long white robe but no wings stood in a pool of light in the atrium near where the lararium used to be. A shelf of houseplants and knicknacks stood there now. Cornelius put the dagger away. As he approached the man, he guessed what he was and came to attention.