Voice in the Wind, pp. 127-131<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh boy. This week is a doozy!<\/p>\n Marcus found himself watching the young Jewess every time he was at home. He wondered what it was about her that fascinated him so much.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s the mojo, I\u2019m telling you. But there\u2019s more<\/em>.<\/p>\n She was devoted to his sister and seemed to sense Julia\u2019s every mood and need, seeing to her with gentle humility. Bithia had served Julia before Hadassah, but the Egyptian had no fondness for her. Julia was high-strung and difficult. Bithia obeyed<\/em>. This young Jewess served<\/em>.\u00a0Marcus could see it in the way she put her hand on Julia\u2019s shoulder when his sister was in one of her restless moods. He had never seen anyone but his mother touch Julia in that way. What was most amazing was that Hadassah\u2019s touch seemed to soothe his sister.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I think we may be a bit removed from Roman slavery. Reread the above, but sub in antebellum slavery. Imagine a book praising an African American slave girl for serving<\/em> her white mistress, selflessly, ceaselessly, and without asking anything in return. The other slaves obey<\/em>\u2014but this girl serves<\/em>. As Rivers writes\u2014and as evangelicals, given their tradition\u2019s\u00a0emphasis on selfless service, will read it\u2014this is high praise of Hadassah. But what, in our antebellum example, would this mean regarding the slave that runs away, making a bid for freedom? Does that make them selfish, caring more about themselves than about serving others (i.e. their masters)?<\/p>\n And, in case it needs repeating, this is a book where things happen. Hadassah\u00a0is able to influence and ultimately evangelize her owners. That is not realistic. For every one Hadassah, who actually accomplishes this, there would surely be hundreds of other girls starting out in her same position who serve and give and nothing happens except that the dishes get washed and hair gets done and clothes get properly put away in the Roman equivalent of closets.<\/p>\n There\u2019s this idea within evangelicalism that if you\u2019re quiet and gentle and kind and you serve, people will notice you and be drawn to you and want what you have. But sometimes\u2014and arguably more often\u2014when you\u2019re quiet and gentle and kind and you serve,\u00a0people will\u00a0just walk all over you.<\/p>\n Still, you can see why this book would be so attractive to so many evangelical girls of my generation\u2014it communicates that it doesn\u2019t matter who you are or where you\u2019re at, if you are sweet and kind and you serve quietly without asking for anything in return, everyone around you will notice and be affected by your mojo. They\u2019ll admire you and they\u2019ll want to know what it is you have that they don\u2019t. And boom presto, you\u2019ll gain both praise and converts\u2014the ultimate achievement within evangelicalism.<\/p>\n Except that real life doesn\u2019t always work that way.<\/p>\n At this point, we have a flash-back to the day Julia learned of her arranged marriage to Claudius Flaccus. This occurred after Hadassah had joined the household, but before Julia\u2019s conversation with Octavia in the previous chapter. And yes\u2014it was tumultuous.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t marry him! I won\u2019t! she screamed at their father the evening he had told her. \u201cYou can\u2019t make me! I\u2019ll run away! I\u2019ll kill myself!\u201d<\/p>\n Father slapped her across the face. He had never done such a thing before, and Marcus was too surprised to do anything but sit up form the couch and slam his goblet on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cDecimus!\u201d his mother gasped, clearly as shocked as he was that Father would do such a thing. Not that Julia didn\u2019t deserve it. Even so, to slap her in the face was unpardonable.<\/p>\n Julia stood in stunned silence, her hand pressed to her cheek. \u201cYou hit me,\u201d she said as though she couldn\u2019t believe it either. \u201cYou hit me!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will have none of your hysterics, Julia,\u201d their father said through his teeth, his face ashen. \u201cYou speak to me in that tone of voice, and I will slap you again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So now we can add domestic violence to our categorization of this household. And\u2014let\u2019s be very clear here\u2014forced child marriage. Julia is a young 15. Claudius Flaccus is 49.<\/p>\n Now clearly, this book is set in Rome, circa 70 AD. It\u2019s likely out of keeping with historical reality\u00a0that this is the first time Julia has been hit. It was also common for young teenage girls to be married to full-grown, mature adult men. The more interesting question becomes whether Rivers, looking back, approves of these things\u2014or whether she is only including them because of the periodization.<\/p>\n After some additional argument, Julia flees the room, and Phoebe sends Hadassah after her. Decimus walks out, leaving Marcus and his mother alone in the room. Marcus is upset.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had no right to strike her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe had the right of a father. Much of what is going wrong with the Empire has to do with fathers who have not disciplined their children. She had no right to speak to your father the way she did.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Phoebe is very clear\u2014she approves of the match, and of Decimus\u2019 behavior (i.e. slapping Julia). She also uses language, above, that is virtually identical to that used by many evangelicals today. Phoebe has already been established as a kind, gentle, gracious woman, in the mold of the ideal evangelical wife and mother today\u2014and she approves of this match, because it will settle Julia down, and prevent her from falling in with bad influences\u2014she chooses her friends unwisely, you see. This all will sound very familiar (and palatable) to the evangelical reader.<\/p>\n Ultimately frustrated with his mother, Marcus goes to see how Julia is doing. He peeks into her room to see Julia clutching Hadassah, who is stroking her and soothing her.<\/p>\n \u201cHow could my father think of marrying me off to that stretched old man?\u201d Julia whined, clutching the girl like a talisman.<\/p>\n \u201cYour father loves you, mistress. He desires only your good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And it goes on like that.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish Drusus were my father. Octavia can do anything she pleases.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes that kind of freedom doesn\u2019t come from love, my lady, but lack of care.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hadassah turns out to be very good at reciting platitudes. But there\u2019s a bigger issue here. Hadassah, our Christian heroine, is defending the marriage Decimus has arranged for Julia.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t understand, Hadassah. What can you know? Sometimes I feel I\u2019m more a slave than you are.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m reminded of Ivanka Trump\u2019s comments about how difficult her childhood was because she couldn\u2019t run a lemonade stand like other<\/em> children because she lived in a mansion rather than a regular neighborhood. Poor little rich girl<\/em>. But there is a point to be made here\u2014Julia isn\u2019t a slave in the same way Hadassah is, but in this society and at this time, women were for all practical purposes\u00a0owned<\/em> by the male relative in charge of them. What we\u2019re talking about here is a property transfer, from Decimus to Claudius Flaccus.<\/p>\n Hadassah soothes Julia by speaking in Hebrew.<\/p>\n Marcus rejoins his mother and they begin speaking, again, about the impending marriage. Marcus says he doesn\u2019t think Flaccus is a good match because he is \u201chardly exciting for a girl of Julia\u2019s temperament,\u201d but when Phoebe asks Marcus who he would match her with instead\u2014\u201cAntigonus, perhaps?\u201d\u2014he can\u2019t answer. I\u2019m still trying to get my handle on Marcus\u2014he thinks Flaccus is bad for Julia, but can\u2019t think of anyone<\/em> he thinks would be good for her?<\/p>\n And then Phoebe says this:<\/p>\n \u201cJulia needs maturity and stability in a husband. Those traits are not usually found in a younger man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA young girl wants things other than maturity and stability in a man, Mother,\u201d he said dryly.<\/p>\n \u201cA young girl with any common sense realizes that character rand intelligence far outlast charm and handsome features or build.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI doubt such wisdom will mollify Julia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the histrionics, Julia will bend to your father\u2019s decision and be the better for it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is likely not unlike what a Roman mother like Phoebe would have said at the time. But are we (as evangelical readers, since that is the audience) intended to agree with this interpretation? Again, we\u2019ve had Phoebe presented to us as meeting the evangelical checklist for good wife and mother, and Phoebe frequently says things that are word-for-word what modern evangelicals would say (such as above, about the lack of discipline of modern children). And now she\u2019s defending a marriage between a 15 year old girl and a 49 year old man.<\/p>\n At the very least, this has to be confusing to the evangelical teen girl reading Rivers\u2019 book\u2014and it was teen girls that made up its readership. I read it myself as an evangelical teen, multiple times.\u00a0At the time, I already thought arranged marriages romantic, and (as a homeschooled girl raised on quiverfull ideas) thought an age gap rather made sense. Julia\u2019s reluctance here confused me\u2014Flaccus was rich and connected and stable, after all\u2014although I understood her fear of sex. I don\u2019t remember anything more specific in my response, but I think it\u2019s worth asking what Rivers is communicating to her readers in the way she is writing Phoebe.<\/p>\n When Phoebe asks Marcus to use his influence, Marcus objects:<\/p>\n \u201cOh, no. Don\u2019t drag me into this. If I had any say, Julia would choose whom she pleases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But when Phoebe asks who she would choose, Marcus remembers the \u201cyoung rogue\u201d they encountered at the arena.\u00a0Clenching his jaw, he realizes that \u201cAll young girls were fools for handsome faces,\u201d his sister included. But he still objects to the match with Flaccus.<\/p>\n I\u2019m very confused by Marcus\u2019 response here. In fact, I think it is his actions I understand least. Decimus and Phoebe, I get that. I can even see Julia objecting, though she would have been raised to expect\u00a0an arranged marriage to an older man. What I don\u2019t understand is Marcus vacillation. It\u2019s as though he\u2019s not sure what he really wants. Perhaps he wants his sister to be happy, but he\u2019s afraid to let her take any risk in achieving that? He wants to maintain his family\u2019s honor. But realistically, would Marcus be so worried about this? Wouldn\u2019t he have simply been happy to have her properly married off to a stable, monied, and connected nobleman?<\/p>\n Perhaps others with more recent familiarity with various Roman texts can think of comparisons for this situations within history, or of historical brother\/sister relationships that might shed light on how this realistically would play out.<\/p>\n This section ends on this note:<\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019re very wrong, Marcus. You see, what you have not been told is that your father didn\u2019t go to Claudius Flaccus. He came to us. Claudius is in love with her.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n