As we begin a new year, I am publishing a poem I began in 1991 and only completed this last year. A friend who is a poet inspired me to finish what I began long ago. Next week, the subject will be the wise men, so I thought that this post might introduce the subject matter.

Not two weeks ago, we all read these words,

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son” (Luke 2:1-7).

The poem is a meditation on what might Quirinius have thought if the Wise Men had stopped and visited him first. Happy New Year to all of you!! Chris

When Quirinius Was Governor of Syria

A bright day for traveling, but foreboding warns—

The transit of Magi may be a vile omen.

I sent them on to Herod, confident his fear and paranoia

Will unravel the mystery of a messianic child-king.

 

Octavian: Friendship did not send me here

To oversee an unpopular tax at your empire’s edge,

With Varus barely competent, and Herod “the Great,”

Your lap dog perched upon his throne by a razor’s edge.

 

With no legitimate claim to rule, only convenient friendship,

Force of arms, and a conniving mind, devious and twisted,

A man lacking any genuine principles or honor,

Herod rules because he flatters Rome and enlisted our aid.

 

We can trust Herod no further than our leash extends:

The Arabian revolt, and his actions then, shows

He will honor us, then another, then us again

If it serves his dark purpose or strategy.

 

Nicholas of Alexandria defended his most recent

Scheme—and if death does not interfere,

There will be another duplicity, another scheme,

Intrigue upon intrigue, until he lives no more.

 

Worse, his “people” loath and hate him, for his blood

Is only half Jewish, and that half open to question.

Therefore, this visit of Wise Men sparks my fear

That to overthrow this usurper may be Heaven’s plan.

 

(Not that this would be too cruel a fate—

That this Idumean upstart, a vassal king

Who treats his pigs better than wives or children

Should be replaced is not too terrible a thing.)

 

I warned our “friend” and “king” by a secret message,

Sent with the Star Followers from Chaldea far to the east,

Knowing full well Herod’s mad cruelty

Will cause the death of at least one small child.

 

These Median wanderers and their speculation

Concerning a Jewish King born in the Palestine, the home

Of Rome’s most stiff-necked subjects, easily moved to insurrection

Assures some child will die when Herod hears their reading of the stars.

 

Someday, I fear, Herod’s “friendship” notwithstanding,

We will raze their temple, disbursing Jews among the nations–

These Jews with their One God, making of them and example

Of our powers of domination and willingness to subdue revolt.

 

Octavian: I watch these Wise Men fade into the autumn sun

As I watch my life fade into that autumn which leads

All men to another world, deep beneath earth where Hades

Rules, and we are but slaves and shadows of the night.

 

My heart is desperate within me, and wishes it were not so,

But I see no place for light beyond this darkness we inhabit.

How could any light of Olympus follow this life of maintaining

An empire doomed to fall, only when we cannot know.

 

My career, our friendship, even this empire Rome created

And I serve, is founded on power, deceit, and force of arms.

I am honored for my defeat of the Homonadenses—

A victory no one will recall within a generation of my death.

 

I have served as commander, governor, tutor, counselor,

Friend of Caesar and loyal servant of Rome,

All this is but a cloud, a spider’s web of fate

My glory and honor will last no longer than my life.

 

All this for you, Octavian, Augustus, Son of Caesar (that

Child of ambition that broke our Republic and left

Us with this “empire,” vast, unstable, and expensive,

Certain to doom our ancient character though endless war).

 

Old friend, we are not the powers we think we are,

Only servants, I think, of silent powers of the air,

Powers we believe we control, but which in fact

Control us, and our destinies, and wish us death in the end.

 

No, I cannot write this to you old friend;

It would be my certain death now and not tomorrow.

Yet, how I wish I might write to you this word of my heart

That together we might find our way out of history’s trap.

 

Now, they are gone, these pilgrims, gone to seek a God/Man,

This anointed Messiah for which the Jews so anxiously wait.

Would it be, I wonder, such a bad thing if this King of Kings

Came in fact, and we all gave up our pride and bowed down?

 

Gone our wars, gone intrigue, gone the lies of diplomacy—

All that I have spent my life doing and achieving

Swallowed up in a victory of a King of Peace:

Foolishness, of course, but if true, then what?

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Notes:

1. I suppose this poem may have been inspired by some memory of T. S. Eliot’s poem, “Journey of the Magi.” It began in a November day of 1991 as I sat in the Union Theological Seminary library studying for final exams. It was cold and the leaves were swirling outside. Suddenly, I was overcome with the transience of empires. The first lines were written that day. About six or so years later, in Brownsville, Tennessee I worked on it again, recognizing that it needed much work. Recently, inspired by a friend, I began again. That day in Richmond, I did some research on the figure Quirinius, who Luke says was governor of Syria, when Jesus was born (Luke 2:1).
2. Pubilius Sulpicius Quirinius (51 B.C.- 21 A.D.) was a friend of Caesar Augustus. Born of an aristocratic family, he was a good administrator and daring military leader. Luke has been questioned as to the veracity of his account because Quirinius did not actually become governor until 6 A.D. However, he held official posts in the region from 10 B.C. until about 7 B.C., which puts him in the region at or about the time of Jesus’ birth. He was an excellent soldier, capable administrator, and friend of Caesar. Census’ were taken about every fourteen years, and scholars believe that one might have been taken in the year 8 B.C.—a time when Quirinius was present. His role during this period was probably that of an extraordinary legetate with Quinctilius Varus as the Governor, who was not as capable as Quirinius. Varus appears in the poem as a figure Quirinius does not think capable. Quirinius ended his political career during the reign of Tiberius and died a trusted advisor and friend to Caesar. I have completely made up the notion that the Wise Men met him in Syria, though the trade routes might have taken them in that way. I have also made up the notion that by this time, Quirinius was a world-weary servant who knows only too well the vagaries of history.
3. Herod the Great (74 B.C.-4 B.C.) was a friend of Octavian and the Roman government, to whom he owed his power. He was capable, brilliant, ambitious, and over time, cruel and mad. The title “Great” comes from his great building projects, which included the Second Temple, Caesarea Maritima, Masada, and Herodium, where he died. Herod was of both Jewish and Idumean descent. Because of this, he had no real claim to the Jewish throne and was hated by the Jews. He was viewed as a half-breed. His cruelty and murder of his wife, mother-in-law, and three sons caused Augustus to famously say, “It is better to be a pig in Herod’s household than a son.” Although Herod was a client king of Rome and generally loyal, he was not above minor challenges to Rome’s authority. One of these minor disloyalties is referenced in the poem.
4. The Magi were probably historically of Median origin. Babylon and the region of Chaldea were famous for its wise men. The Medes were a warlike people, but after their conquest by the Persians, the ceased to have military power, they turned to scholarship and wisdom. Thus, the term “Wise Men” is not entirely without foundation. These Magi studied the stars and believed in the powers of their astrology. They were sought after as advisors.
5. As Rome grew, it became increasingly unstable militarily and economically. The empire founded by Julius Caesar and solidified by Augustus Caesar ended the Roman Republic and the virtues of the early Roman State. It’s stable years did not last for long, and by 64 A.D. when Nero allowed the burning of Rome, it was on a long slide towards is fall, which is ordinarily placed around 410 A.D. The idea of the poem is that Quirinius could already see the problem with the Empire and its likely fall. Historically, this is probably not accurate, but poetically, it is sound. In any case, if he could have seen this future, he would have been correct.