Chapter 143: The Wedding
< 143. The Wedding >
Marcus heard a sound like a storm raging.
The weather was actually sunny, but even the pouring sunlight seemed like a violent downpour that hinted at trouble in his eyes.
From the royal garden, he could feel the vitality that filled the entire street despite the early morning.
As he quietly looked down at the city, Julia came over and sat next to him, handing him freshly baked bread and a warm drink.
The fruit drink with plenty of honey was not bad, but he still wanted to drink coffee in the morning, a frivolous thought that crossed his mind.
‘But if I do well, I’ll be able to drink morning coffee every day from next year.’
Marcus had even thought of leading the army himself and conquering the Abyssinian plateau if Pompey failed in his expedition.
Having started the morning refreshingly, Marcus got up from his seat and stretched.
He felt light as a feather, thinking that the problem he had been focusing on would end today.
As he and Julia were almost done with their breakfast, Arsinoe and Cleopatra came out to the garden.
Cleopatra scolded Arsinoe, who was yawning.
Arsinoe was about to yawn again as if to show off, but he stiffened when he saw Marcus.
“Uh… you came out early.”
He waved his hand awkwardly, trying to act natural, and gave an uneasy smile.
“Good morning. You also came out earlier than usual, princess.”
“He asked me to come and see him before the ceremony started. It’s annoying, but I can’t refuse when he asks me to.”
“If you really didn’t want to go, you would have made up some excuse and not gone.”
“…Well, I’ve already apologized for what happened in the past, and we might have to see each other for a long time, so I have to let it go.”
“That’s a wise decision. I talked to Publius last time, and it’s better to resolve any grudges that can be resolved among family members.”
Marcus took the opportunity to ask Cleopatra and Arsinoe if they could lift the ban on Berenice’s entry if they became pharaohs.
As expected, they immediately answered that they would do so.
After finishing their meal with a brief conversation, Cleopatra got up before leaving and glanced at Marcus.
“Aren’t you going to see Publius? If you are, you can wait a bit and go with us.”
“I have a lot of preparations to do, so I don’t think I’ll have time until much later.”
“Is that so? Then we’ll go ahead.”
Cleopatra got up from her seat.
Arsinoe also followed her with a reluctant face.
As they were about to leave the garden, Marcus stopped them for a moment.
“I’ve told the legionnaires to escort you two in case of any unforeseen circumstances. Please stay with them for today and don’t stray away from their side.”
“There are a lot of people gathered, so there might be some trouble, but why regular soldiers… Did you get any intelligence?”
“I heard that there might be some minor disturbances. It doesn’t seem like anything serious that could harm you two, but just in case.”
Marcus emphasized that it was a precautionary measure for safety.
He didn’t want to make them unnecessarily anxious.
Arsinoe trusted Marcus’s words absolutely and didn’t show much reaction.
Cleopatra frowned as if she didn’t understand, but soon nodded and followed Arsinoe.
When the two of them completely disappeared from his sight, Julia finally asked him in a worried tone.
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Of course. But just in case, you should stay with Cleopatra or Arsinoe after the wedding ceremony starts.”
“What about our kids?”
“I’ve assigned people to them. Septimus and Danae will be together. Octavius and Atia will also be with them.”
Marcus answered without hesitation and got up quickly.
Julia still looked at her beloved husband with an uneasy expression.
“It’s good to be confident, but when you are too confident, you might run into unexpected accidents. Remember that many powerful people have lost their lives due to arrogance and complacency.”
“I know. Actually, I don’t have the guts to be arrogant. Maybe it’s because of my timid nature, but I can’t stand it if I don’t prepare for anything.”
He said it half-jokingly, half-seriously, making Julia smile again.
“No one would believe you if you said you lacked courage.”
“I’m serious…”
“Yes, yes, then please keep being cautious as you are now.”
Marcus kissed Julia’s cheek and went back to his office to check the last details of today’s schedule.
Today’s wedding was especially nerve-wracking.
Publius and Berenice’s wedding followed the oldest form of marriage in Rome.
Roman marriages were generally divided into three types: confarreatio, coemptio, and usus.
In Marcus’s time, most people accepted coemptio as the most common form of marriage.
Confarreatio was too complicated and cumbersome, and more importantly, it was almost impossible to divorce legally.
This was especially true for weddings like this one, where guests came from all over the world.
To annul a marriage by confarreatio, all the participants of the wedding ceremony had to gather and perform the ritual again.
This was not feasible in any common sense.
That’s why confarreatio marriages tended to be regarded as an old custom even among the nobles.
Publius requested this confarreatio wedding from Marcus, and Marcus gladly accepted it.
“Brother, I think this is the least I can do to make Rome sincerely bless our marriage.”
“There’s no better marriage than this in terms of following the old tradition of Rome. But you know that it’s almost impossible to divorce legally in this case, right?”
“I won’t do anything like divorce. I’ll cherish and love her for the rest of my life.”
Publius vowed solemnly.
Marcus patted his brother’s shoulder lightly and went to prepare to greet the guests.
The provision that the bride and groom had to bring ten witnesses was not a problem at all.
There were hundreds of guests filling the venue, let alone ten.
They also paid attention to the seating arrangement, as there were many people of noble status participating.
First of all, the front seats were for the senators and pontiffs who came to certify the confarreatio marriage.
Behind them were the prominent nobles of the provinces and the ordinary knights who came from Rome.
Horshid and Intaphrenes were assigned to the front seats, excluding the senators.
Thanks to that, they could easily observe how the wedding ceremony proceeded.
Cato gave a congratulatory speech as a representative, and the pontiff of Juno declared the establishment of the ceremony, and finally the wedding began.
The first step of a Roman wedding ceremony was for the bride to leave her home and be led to the groom’s house.
In confarreatio, the bride’s father had to personally take her to the groom.
But Berenice was in a situation where her father could not attend the ceremony, so she changed the format a bit.
She wore a formal dress that Roman brides wore, and a tiara on her head that looked like what priestesses wore.
And she marched around Antioch’s downtown area with a large crowd, drawing enthusiastic cheers from the citizens.
A generous shower of silver coins followed wherever Berenice’s procession passed.
The whole city was bustling as if it was celebrating a renovation.
As the ecstatic cheers from the street reached his ears, Publius appeared in a purple toga with golden threads woven into it.
He looked dignified like a conqueror general, and sighs of admiration came from everywhere.
Following Publius, a kind of wedding cake called farreum libum showed up.
The farreum libum that Marcus had specially ordered to be made was ten times bigger than what the Roman nobles usually saw.
It was deliberately enlarged for propaganda and display purposes.
There were even sugar sculptures on top that made even the senators unable to take their eyes off.
Marcus enjoyed the people’s eyes mixed with admiration and awe with satisfaction.
Everything had gone perfectly so far.
‘But it’s about time to move.’
Marcus moved his feet toward where Horshid and Intaphrenes were sitting.
Many nobles stood up and greeted him.
Horshid also bowed his head politely with an unruffled expression, showing respect.
“Congratulations on hosting a successful wedding. This will surely enhance your power and ability even more.”
“The wedding is not over yet. I hope nothing goes wrong until then.”
“Surely nothing will happen in such a place.”
Intaphrenes nodded in agreement with Horshid’s words, shaking his head slightly.
“Anyone with a sane mind would know that causing trouble here is suicide.”
Marcus stared at their faces calmly, as if watching a fire across the river.
Just then, a soldier ran up hastily and reported in a low voice.
“Governor, I think you need to come out and see this.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Yes. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a riot or just some troublemakers…”
The soldier stuttered and couldn’t give a proper answer.
Cato came closer with a curious face.
“What’s going on?”
“It seems there was some minor trouble down there.”
“There are so many people gathered here, so accidents are bound to happen. Did they start fighting?”
The soldier couldn’t answer Cato’s question either.
Marcus gave an order instead of him.
“If you’re not sure whether you need to suppress it or not, then it’s not a riot. What exactly is going on that you want me to see for myself?”
“Yes. It looks like they’re Jews, but quite a large number of them have gathered and are chanting some strange slogans.”
“What kind of strange slogans? You have to speak clearly!”
Cato, who was annoyed by the situation, finally raised his voice.
On the other hand, Marcus, who was more curious than annoyed, rode his horse to the place where the soldier had told him.
Many people were gathered in the city, watching the people who were shouting loudly.
“That must be it.”
Cato’s voice, who followed Marcus, was full of displeasure.
“How dare they cause trouble at this time when they know that a sacred ceremony is being held. They should be locked up in prison right away…”
Cato, who was ranting, heard the slogan that the Jews were shouting and froze in his place with his mouth open.
The Jews who were crowded on the street saw Marcus and Cato and started to shout at them.
“It’s Governor Marcus! The Rex of the East, Governor Marcus is here!”
Rex was a Latin word that meant king.
It was the word that the senators hated and tabooed the most.
The word that meant oppression and tyranny flew like arrows toward Marcus.
“Hello, Rex! Congratulations on your brother’s wedding!”
“Great Rex! Praise the king of the East!”
“Rex! Rex! Rex!”
The Jews waved huge papyruses with Rex written on them and screamed loudly.
Anyone who was not a fool could tell that they were not saying such things out of respect.
Marcus smiled as he looked at the Jews who were making a fuss.
“You guys don’t seem to know my cognomen properly. Call me Crassus, or Mesopotamicus. There is no Rex in my name.”
“Marcus is the king of the East! We must honor him as Rex!”
The Jews ignored him and continued to shout loudly.
Cato trembled with anger and looked at Marcus.
“What are those crazy people talking about? What is Rex?”
“Calm down. It’s obvious that they are trying to insult me.”
“Then who is behind this ridiculous prank?”
The soldier who was guarding Marcus’s side cautiously reported.
“It’s not just here, but all over the city there are Jews shouting like that. But it’s ambiguous whether we should take it as an insult or a praise to you, so we can’t suppress them.”
“They’re pretty smart.”
Marcus still sneered at the noisy Jews.
The people of the East would not be impressed by the shout of Marcus being king.
Most of them already regarded him as such.
But not the people from Rome.
To them, king was a symbol of oppression and the worst taboo of dictatorship.
If such a sound came out all over the city, they would have to pay attention whether they liked it or not.
It was a much more effective move than simply causing a riot.
Of course, Cato did not care about what the Jews were shouting.
He was sure that it was a terrible slander and a worthless insult to call him a king, who was more loyal to the republic than anyone else.
“Marcus, we have to get rid of those trashy noises before they reach people’s ears.”
“Most people have already heard it. The senators who came here will also hear about it soon.”
“Hmm… Who are these bastards who are making such nonsense…”
“I told you before that I wiped out the remnants of the Hasmonean dynasty. It seems that there are still some followers left.”
Marcus ordered the soldier to disperse the Jews who were parroting Rex immediately.
He gave permission to use force if they did not comply.
Thanks to the soldiers who were already stationed all over the city, the Jews’ protest was suppressed in an instant.
Cato suspected that there might be populists behind them, but Marcus told him that it was not likely.
When Marcus returned to the banquet hall, the ceremony was in full swing.
He saw the high priest of Juno’s temple tying Publius and Berenice’s right hands with a red leather strap.
It was an important ritual that symbolized the union between husband and wife.
The marriage became effective after the strap was tied, according to common belief.
Marcus watched his brother and sister-in-law with a smile on his side as Horshid approached him.
“Did you take care of what you went for earlier?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t a big deal. I was worried that something serious had happened.”
“Hahaha, there wouldn’t be any fools who would cause trouble on this day.”
Marcus did not answer and just nodded briefly.
Meanwhile, the high priest gave a long speech about the sacred meaning and effect of confarreatio marriage.
The boring event was almost over when the centurion who had been ordered to suppress the Jews came up with a cautious step.
“Is everything done?”
“Yes. But there was an ominous document.”
“Ominous?”
“Yes. When we tried to suppress them, most of the Jews ran away screaming. But there was one who acted suspiciously, so we subdued him and found this document on him.”
Marcus received the papyrus from the centurion and burst into laughter as he read the contents.
<Rise up, people of Yahweh. It is unacceptable that a non-Jewish nation has received the anointing of the Lord. The current leaders of Judea have sold their faith to cooperate with Rome for their own power. Therefore, we have decided not to tolerate Marcus, the son of Satan, who defiles the name of Yahweh any longer. As the first step…>
The paper was full of worthless propaganda from beginning to end.
But it was a valuable document in that it revealed the general plan of the scheme.
“So they want to push me as king to the ears of all the Roman senators, and then at night they will write sentences condemning me all over Antioch, from the outskirts to the center? And if they get a chance, they will also bring down divine punishment on their corrupt brethren who sided with Rome… They really do all sorts of things.”
“I thought it was strange that they dispersed too easily during the day. Maybe they were planning to act more actively at night. If I had known this, I would have followed them and put them all in prison…”
“There’s no problem now that we know their plan in advance. What do you think we should do?”
“I think it would be best to deploy the army that is defending Antioch widely in the outskirts and form a surveillance network.”
Marcus slowly nodded at the centurion’s opinion.
He could not tolerate them writing graffiti on the walls of Antioch at night.
“But they are really petty and pathetic ways to cause trouble. It’s as if putting a stain on my face is their once-in-a-lifetime goal.”
Marcus shook his head and gave orders in a cold voice.
“I’ll leave only the minimum troops and focus on guarding the outskirts of the city. The guests might be anxious, so move as discreetly as possible.”
The centurion bowed once and ran out.
Marcus turned his back on Horshid and Intaphrenes and walked toward his family.
Horshid slowly tilted his glass of wine and moistened his dry lips with tension.
Intaphrenes turned his steps to where Hidarnes and the nobles he led were to check the plan for the last time.
The three people who were looking at different places had a cold light passing through their eyes.
< 143. Wedding > End
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