Free The Testimonium by Lewis Ben Smith

nearly pornographic movie Caligula (Josh had never admitted to his father that he had watched that film in college), a rather sweet and harmless old recluse in Lloyd C. Douglas’ The Robe , and as a vindictive and calculating monster in Robert Graves’ I, Claudius . He wondered which of the fictitious portrayals came closest to the real character of actual Tiberius, and found himself hoping the new discoveries on Capri would shed some light on them. There was one passage he had always found curious: according to Tertullian, a Christian apologist who wrote around the end of the second century AD, Tiberius had apparently heard of and been impressed with the teachings of Jesus, and had supposedly suggested to the Roman Senate that Christianity be recognized as a legitimate religion throughout the Empire, even suggesting that a statue of Jesus be erected in the Roman pantheon. Josh thought that last bit was probably wishful thinking on Tertullian’s part, but he still found it fascinating to think that the Emperor of Rome might have actually heard about Jesus’ ministry only a few years after the Resurrection.
    Josh had finally gotten a few hours of light sleep before landing in London, and the flight from London to Naples had gone smoothly. He was tired and a bit jet-lagged, but eager to see what the fuss was about. At the airport he was met by a young Italian army lieutenant, who steered him toward a waiting helicopter. The sun had not yet set when Josh saw the ruins of the Villa Jovis coming into view. As the chopper closed in, he could make out the trailer housing the mobile lab, and in one of the stone walls near it, a tiny black dot that marked the entrance to the hidden chamber.
    Isabella waited on the ancient marble flooring that had come to double as a helo deck for the Villa Jovis. Dr. Guioccini stood next to her, his travel bag in hand. “I am leaving you and Rossini in charge,” he said. “If there are any problems with any of the team members, just let me know. Keep me updated on any finds you make, or any developments of importance. We hope to begin releasing this story to the press as soon as possible, but we want the information we release to be carefully controlled and double checked for accuracy. Let me know if the team has any further needs.”
    Sforza smiled back at him. “I will do so, sir,” she said. “Thank you for expediting everything so quickly. This has been a very exciting twenty-four hours!”
    Guioccini smiled back. “You have made a great discovery, Dr. Sforza. Moments like this are what every archeologist lives for. But as exciting as it is, remember procedure. The whole world will be reading your findings—and, more than likely, looking for an excuse to question them. We are in a cutthroat profession, so don’t give your critics any ammunition if you can help it!”
    He had to shout by the end of his declaration, for the helicopter was touching down in front of them. The cargo door slid back, and a tall, lanky, deeply tanned young man stepped out, carrying a heavy duffel bag. Shielding his head from the prop wash with one hand, he stepped forward, set down his duffel, and held out the other. “Dr. Guioccini, I presume?” he said.
    “You are correct, Dr. Parker. Welcome to the isle of Capri, and the Villa Jovis! This is Dr. Isabella Sforza, who will be supervising your work here.”
    Josh was taken aback by the vision in khakis that stood before him. Dr. Sforza was, without exaggeration, the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Josh was a bit awkward around girls, even though most women found him attractive, a fact he was largely unaware of. In high school he had been obsessed with preserving his virginity until he found the wife that God intended for him, and then during his college years, he had been so turned off by the casual promiscuity of many of his classmates—many of them professing Christians—that he had never gotten around to looking for that special person. Instead,