Voice in the Wind, pp. 476-481<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What would you do if you gave your brother permission to marry your slave, and your slave told him no? For Julia, the answer is kill her<\/em>.<\/p>\n Julia, you see, overheard the whole conversation between Marcus and Hadassah.<\/p>\n A slave had turned down her brother! She felt his humiliation. She felt his rage. She shook with it.<\/p>\n Looking into the room, she saw Hadassah on her knees, bent over, weeping. Julia watched her coldly. She had never hated anyone so much in her life. Not her father, not Claudius, not Caius. No one.<\/p>\n She had been blind to what Hadassah was. Calabah had seen: \u201cShe\u2019s salt in your wounds.\u201d Primus had seen: \u201cShe\u2019s a thorn in your side.\u201d Only she had been fooled.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s rather curious that everyone cares so very much about a slave. I would have thought that what would have mattered to them would have been whether she carried out her duties. Did Romans usually spend so much time obsessing over individual slaves? I\u2019m honestly curious, now. I suppose my working assumption had been that they treated slaves more like interchangeable pieces of furniture, that their station meant they didn\u2019t engage with them on a personal level. But I could be wrong.<\/p>\n Julia has become something horrifying. I\u2019m not sure if we\u2019re to imagine that she\u2019s become this way because of Calabah and Primus\u2014they\u2019re the ones who have been egging her on here, against Hadassah\u2014or whether we\u2019re to believe she was always headed here, as a result of her self-centeredness. She wanted independence and freedom, but she has that. Now, it\u2019s like she\u2019s directing pent up rage and dissatisfaction with her situation at those who are in her power, those she can actually control.<\/p>\n Julia tells Primus that she told Marcus she wasn\u2019t ready to part with Hadassah yet. Then she tells Primus she\u2019s decided she does want to attend a party someone named Vitellius has held\u2014even though she \u201cloathes\u201d Vitellius\u2014and tells Primus that he\u2019ll \u201cenjoy the play as it unfolds.\u201d Julia, you see, has a reason for attending the party. And though she usually leaves Hadassah when going to one of Vitellius\u2019 parties, this time she takes her. Julia has a plan\u2014a plan to get Hadassah killed.<\/p>\n Once at the party:<\/p>\n Julia dipped her hands into the bowl of warm water that Hadassah held for her, and wondered how long it would be before Vitellius noticed the sash around her maid\u2019s small waist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Vitellius, you see, is an anti-semite. And that sash? It really does identify her as a Jew. It\u2019s how Atretes knew she was Jewish at a glance, apparently. Some quick googling suggests that, in the Middle Ages, in some Muslim-controlled areas Christians and Jews were required to wear distinctive clothing, and in some Christian-controlled areas Jews and Muslims were required to wear distinctive clothing. I can find nothing about a special Jew-signaling sash worn during the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n Vitellius comes over, and he is angry.<\/p>\n Vitellius ignored her flattery and stared with loathing at the striped sash around Hadassah\u2019s waist. \u201cOf what race is your slave?\u201d<\/p>\n Julia\u2019s eyes widened. \u201cJudean, my lord,\u201d she said and those nearby fell silent. Frowning,s he glanced around her in apparent innocence. \u201cIs something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJews murdered my only son. They besieged Antonia Tower and broke in to slaughter him and his men.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lots more anti-semitic talk, and then this:<\/p>\n Julia rose and placed her hand on his arm. \u201cHadassah isn\u2019t like those who took your son\u2019s life. She is loyal to me and to Rome.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think so? Perhaps you are too kind and naive to understand the treachery of her race. Have you tested her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTested her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDoes your maid worship at the temple of Artemis?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Julia said slowly, as though the admission caused her to think.<\/p>\n \u201cHas she burned incense to the emperor?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot publicly,\u201d Julia said, and Hadassah\u2019s heart sank at her words. As though sneaking her silent plea, Julia looked at her, and it was then Hadassah knew. Julia had brought her to this deliberately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hold up<\/em>.<\/p>\n It is my understanding that Jews were not required to sacrifice to the emperor. They were the one group exempt from that requirement, in fact. They were also allowed to be monotheistic\u2014they were not required to worship other gods. Indeed, Rome did not force any individual or group to worship gods they did not choose to worship\u2014the sole exception was sacrificing to the emperor, which was required of everyone except for Jews, who were exempt because it violated they dictates of their religion and their religion was an ancient and therefore respected one.<\/p>\n In short, this would not have happened. An individual Roman like Vitellius might have been angry at all Jews as a result of individual circumstance (losing his sons), but there wouldn\u2019t have been a way to \u201ctest\u201d whether a Jew was \u201cloyal\u201d or some such. It isn\u2019t as though Rivers is having Vitellius come up with this on his own. The \u201ctest\u201d is referred to as though it is a well-known thing.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing\u2014Christians were<\/em> required to sacrifice to the emperor. Because their religion was new, they were not granted the exemption Jews were. During persecutions of Christians (which were typically somewhat later than this period, and happened sporadically), sacrifices to the emperor were<\/em> used as a test. Rivers seems to be reading that onto Jews as well, because no one here\u2014not Primus, not Julia, not Vitellius\u2014has any suspicion that Hadassah is anything but a Jew.<\/p>\n So of course, at this point, Julia tells Vitellius he can test her however he likes. He has her stand in the middle of the room.<\/p>\n The emblems were brought in and placed before Hadassah. She knew she had only to proclaim Vespasian a god, light the reed, and put it to the incense as an offering to him, and her life would be spared.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But of course, she refuses.<\/p>\n Rivers attempts to show us what is going on inside Hadassah, but all she shows is Hadassah asking God to help her be strong, and quoting scriptures. We don\u2019t actually see her consider that this could be the end of her life, or think about what she is giving up, or make any sort of calculus at all. We don\u2019t see her think about the fact that death would mean rejoining her father, and her sister Leah. Brains do just freeze up sometimes, but we\u2019re seeing all of this filtered through Rivers\u2019 writing, so there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n \u201cStrike her,\u201d Vitellius said, and one of the guards struck her hard across the face.<\/p>\n \u201cVespasian, he is god,\u201d Julia said. \u201cSay it!\u201d<\/p>\n Hadassah stood silence.<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t I tell you?\u201d Vitellius said coldly.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019ll say it. I\u2019ll make her say it.\u201d Julia went to her and slapped her. \u201cSpeak the words. Speak them or die!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m suddenly curious. Would a Roman have gotten in trouble for doing this to a Jew, given that the Jews had an exemption from making sacrifices to the emperor? Of course, I don\u2019t think this is actually the case of a mistakenly given test. I think Rivers honestly didn\u2019t know that Jews were exempt from making sacrifices to the emperor. After all, everyone here is treating it as a matter of course that if Hadassah, a Jew, refuses to sacrifice to the emperor, she will be killed.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA Christian!\u201d someone whispered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019ve remarked on this before, but we\u2019re coming up on 80 AD, and most Romans still wouldn\u2019t have been familiar with Christianity. Rivers seems to think that everyone in Rome (and, now, in Ephesus) was familiar with Christianity, but this wasn\u2019t the case. After all, the empire was home to scores of religions and cults, and this one was still fairly new and marginal.<\/p>\n Julia struck her again. \u201cThe emperor is god.\u201d<\/p>\n Hadassah looked at Julia through a blur of tears, her face laced with pain, her heart breaking. \u201cOh, Julia, Julia,\u201d she said softly, wondering if this was how Jesus had felt when Judas kissed him.<\/p>\n The desire to avenge her brother\u2019s broken pride had set Julia on this path, but it was her own jealousy that made her erupt into violence. Uttering a feral scream of rage, Julia attached Hadassah. The guards stepped back as she beat the girl with her fists.<\/p>\n Hadassah took the blows with soft cries of pain, but made no effort to defend herself. Julia stopped when Hadassah was on the floor, unconscious. \u201cYou can have her, Vitellius,\u201d she said and kicked her in the side.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I forgot how violent this scene got.<\/p>\n I\u2019m curious, though, what message we\u2019re to take away from this. Julia isn\u2019t beating Hadassah because Hadassah is a Christian. She doesn\u2019t hate Hadassah because Hadassah is a Christian. She hates her because she is jealous, because everyone\u2014her mother, her father, her brother\u2014seemed to prefer Hadassah to her.<\/p>\n Somehow, that\u2019s not how I remember those passages<\/a>\u2014\u201cthe world will hate you, because they will be jealous of you.\u201d You know what this is? It\u2019s Christian wish fulfillment.<\/p>\n Growing up in an evangelical home, I believed that we had something special that the rest of the world couldn\u2019t help but notice. I craved Hadassah\u2019s mojo, her ability to make everyone turn and look again because there was just something about her that was special. I wanted people to want what I had. I wanted my faith to mean I was special\u2014noticeable.<\/p>\n Julia doesn\u2019t beat Hadassah because she is a Christian. She beats Hadassah because Hadassah\u2019s Christianity makes her special, and Julia can\u2019t stand feeling lesser than, less wanted or less desired than Hadassah, less loved. This is a very odd sort of persecution, and a very specific message for this book to send the teenage girls that made up its primary audience.<\/p>\n Yes, Hadassah is going to die for her faith\u2014but don\u2019t you want to be as desired<\/em> and wanted<\/em> as she is? Everyone in this book but Julia (and Calabah and Primus) loves<\/em> Hadassah. Wouldn\u2019t you like to stand out and be as memorable as Hadassah? Isn\u2019t this a bit of a self-centered motivation, though? Be a good Christian, and you\u2019ll be special<\/em> and everyone will want to be your friend!<\/p>\n This is just so fascinating, I may have to spend all day thinking about it.<\/p>\n Hadassah, of course, does not have all day.<\/p>\n \u201cHaul her up and take her to Elymas,\u201d Vitellius ordered, and the guards obeyed. \u201cHe pays five sesterces per victim for his lions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n