Free Claudius the God by Robert Graves Page B

reunited once more, and accompanied as usual by Silas, sailed to Egypt on their way to Bashan. At Alexandria they disembarked, to pay their respects to the Alabarch. Herod intended to enter the city with as little ostentation as possible, not wishing to be the cause of any disturbances between the Jews and Greeks; but the Jews were overjoyed at the visit of a Jewish king, and one so high in. the Emperor’s favour. They met him at the docks, many thousands strong, in holiday dress, crying ‘Hosanna, hosanna!’ and singing songs of rejoicing, and so escorted him to their quarter of the city, which is called ‘The Delta’. Herod did his best to calm popular enthusiasm, but Cypros found the contrast between this arrival in Alexandria and their former one so delightful that for her sake he let many extravagances go by. The Alexandrian. Greeks were angry and jealous. They dressed up in mock-royal state a well-known idiot of the city, or pretended idiot rather, Baba by name, who used to go begging around the principal squares and raising laughs and coppers by his clowning. They provided this Baba with a grotesque guard of soldiers armed with sausage swords, pork shields, and pig’s-head helmets and paraded him through ‘The Delta’. The crowd shouted Marin! Marin! which means King! King!’ They made a demonstration outside the Alabarch’s house and another outside the. house of his brother Philo. Herod visited two of the leading Greeks and lodged a protest. He said no more than, ‘I shall not forget to-day’s performance and I think that one day you’ll regret it.’
    From Alexandria Herod and Cypros continued their voyage to the port of Jaffa. From Jaffa they went to Jerusalem to visit their children, there and to stay in the Temple precincts as guests of the High Priest, with whom it was important for Herod to arrive at an understanding. He created an excellent impression by dedicating his iron prison-chain to the Jewish God, hanging it up on the wall of the Temple Treasury. Then they passed through Samaria and the borders of Galilee - without, however, sending any complimentary message to Antipas and Herodias - and so came to their new home at Caesarea Philippi, the lovely city-built by Philip as, his capital on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon. There they collected the accumulated revenues laid up for them since Philip’s death. Salome, Philip’s widow, made a set at Herod and tried all her most captivating arts on him, but it was no use. He told her: ‘You are certainly very good looking and very gracious and very witty; but you must remember the proverb: “Move into a new house, but take the old earth with you.” The only possible queen for Bashan is my dear Cypros.’
    You can imagine that when Herodias heard of Herod’s good fortune she was wild with jealousy. Cypros was now a Queen, while she herself was the wife of a mere Tetrarch. She tried to rouse Antipas into feeling the. same as she did; but Antipas, an indolent old man, was perfectly satisfied with his position; though he was only a Tetrarch, he was a very rich one and it was a matter of very little importance to him by what title or titles he was known. Herodias called him a pitiful fellow - how could he expect her to have any further respect for him? ‘To think,’ she said, ‘that my brother, Herod Agrippa, who came here not so long ago as a penniless refugee, dependent on your charity for the very bread that he ate, and then grossly insulted us and fled to Syria, and was hounded out of Syria for corruption, and was nearly arrested at Anthedon for debt, and then went to Rome and was imprisoned for treason to the Emperor - to think that a man with such a record, a spendthrift who has left a trail of unpaid bills behind him wherever he has gone, should now be a King and in a position to insult us! It is unbearable. I insist that you go to Rome at once and force the new Emperor to give you at least equal honours with Herod.’
    Antipas