The Eagle In The Sand Read Online Free PDF Page A

him. Before you take on your new task.’
    Cato froze for a moment, feeling a sick sense of inevitability rise up as he realised the Imperial Secretary had further plans for him.
    ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I thought Macro and I were waiting to be reassigned to a legion.’
    ‘Ah, well, the situation has changed. Rather, a new situation has emerged.’
    ‘Really?’ Cato smiled mirthlessly. ‘And what would that be?’
    ‘Those scrolls you recovered, I’ve been studying them closely for some time now, and I appear to have stumbled on to something quite interesting.’ He paused. ‘No. Not interesting. Frightening . . . As you might imagine, I concentrated on the prophecies relating to the immediate future, and I came across something that rather jarred my mind. You see, the seeds of the eventual downfall of Rome are being sown even now.’
    ‘Let me guess – a plague of tax collectors?’
    ‘Don’t be glib, Cato. Leave that to Macro – he’s better at it.’
    ‘But he’s not here.’
    ‘What a pity. Now if I might continue?’
    Cato shrugged. ‘Go on then.’
    Narcissus leaned forwards, clasped his palms together and propped up his chin as he began.’There was a passage in the scrolls which predicted that in the eighth century after the founding of Rome a great power would stir in the east. A new kingdom would be born that would destroy Rome utterly, and build a new capital on her ruins.’
    Cato sniffed with derision.’Every mad prophet on the streets of Rome is spouting that kind of prediction.’
    ‘Wait. It’s more specific than that. It said the new empire would rise out of Judaea.’
    ‘That’s nothing I haven’t heard scores of times before. Hardly a year goes by without the Judaeans discovering another great man to lead them to freedom from Rome. And if I’ve heard about these men, then you surely have.’
    ‘Granted. But there is a new sect amongst the Judaeans that has come to my attention. I’m having my agents investigate them even now. Seems they are followers of a man who claimed to be some kind of divinity. Or at least that’s what my agents say his followers are claiming now. I’m told that in reality he was the son of some rural craftsman. Jehoshua was the man’s name.’
    ‘Was? What happened to him?’
    ‘He was accused of inciting civil disorder by the high priests in Jerusalem. They insisted that he be put to death, but lacked the guts to do it themselves, so the procurator at the time had this Jehoshua executed. Trouble was that, like so many of these prophets, he was quite charismatic. So much so that his coterie have managed to attract a large following in the years since his death. Unlike most other Judaean sects, this one promises them some kind of glorious afterlife when they die and go into the shades.’ Narcissus smiled. ‘You can see the appeal.’
    ‘Perhaps,’ Cato muttered. ‘But it sounds like the usual religious quackery to me.’
    ‘I agree with you, young man. But that’s not stopping these people from finding new adherents.’
    ‘Why not just stamp them out? Proscribe their leaders?’
    ‘All in good time. If the need arises.’
    Cato laughed. ‘Are you saying these people are threatening to overthrow Rome?’
    ‘No. At least not yet. But we’re keeping an eye on them. If I judge them to be the threat identified by the scrolls then they will be . . . removed.’
    Cato reflected that it was typical of the man to talk in such euphemisms. For an instant he felt contempt, then with a sudden flash of insight he wondered if the Imperial Secretary could only carry out his work because of a euphemistic frame of mind. After all, the decisions that Narcissus made frequently resulted in deaths. Necessary deaths perhaps, but deaths all the same. Opponents of the Emperor consigned to oblivion at the stroke of a pen. How that must weigh on a man’s conscience. Far better for Narcissus to see them as a problem removed, rather than a string of