A Voice in the Wind

Enoch, an enslaved Jew sent to purchase laborers for his master, worries that he has spent too much on seven “pathetic and spiritless” Jewish captives when his master prefers Britons and Gauls. Yet he cannot resist the opportunity to save at least a few fellow Jews from certain death in the arena. He brings them to the home of his master, Decimus Valerian, who is skeptical of their worth, but Decimus’s wife Phoebe sees the frail Hadassah and wants to keep her as Julia’s personal attendant. After some initial resistance, Julia agrees and orders Hadassah to tidy her room. After questioning Hadassah about her family and homeland, she asks her new servant to tell her a story. Hadassah recounts the story of David and Goliath, a tale Julia finds captivating.

Over time, Hadassah learns to tend to Julia’s capricious whims. She observes the family with great interest, even feeling distress over Julia’s rapt attention to her friend Octavia’s “loose talk.” To Hadassah’s chagrin, Octavia “seemed proud to have lost [her virginity]” (120).

That night, Marcus, unable to sleep, strolls through the gardens and notices Hadassah praying in the shadows. She assures him she has permission to be outside the house at night. Marcus, while not physically attracted to her, is nevertheless drawn to her fear and vulnerability. He questions her about her faith, trying to understand her devotion to a god who, in his eyes, has clearly abandoned her. “We all serve someone or something, my lord” (124), she responds. Marcus, plagued by some unfulfilled longing, finds her beliefs intriguing but ultimately unsatisfactory. He allows her to return to the house. Hadassah, sensing his unrest, bids him peace.

Decimus and Julia argue over her arranged marriage to Claudius Flaccus, a wealthy intellectual, and she storms out of the room in tears. Hadassah, Marcus has observed, has an almost maternal ability to soothe his sister. While Marcus believes that Julia could never be happy with the older, staid Claudius, Phoebe disagrees. Julia, she argues, needs less excitement in her life, and Claudius will be a calming presence.

Eventually, Julia bends to her father’s will, and she and Claudius marry in the temple of Zeus. Claudius plans to live with her in his country estate outside of Rome, an arrangement that suits Decimus just fine; his daughter will be away from what he believes are corrupting influences. As Claudius and Julia are carried away to the wedding feast, Decimus reflects on his own marriage, which is still strong, and a worsening health condition he hasn’t told Phoebe about.

At the feast, Hadassah watches the servants prepare a diverse array of food. She is overwhelmed by the rich and unfamiliar scents. As she passes the food to the guests, Hadassah senses that Julia, despite her jovial demeanor, is unhappy. She prays for Julia, believing that God has delivered her to Hadassah for a reason. Meanwhile, Marcus, bored with Octavia’s flirtations, turns his attention to Hadassah, wishing for a moment he can escape the hypocrisy of forced happiness and sit quietly with her and listen to her stories. He feels strangely drawn to her, but he does not know why. Ever restless and wanting to build an even bigger fortune, Marcus chafes at his father’s fiscal conservatism. Furthermore, he feels a tug of melancholy knowing that Hadassah will be going away to live in Claudius’s country estate with Julia.

When the guests have gone, the cook urges Hadassah to eat, but, out of loyalty to Enoch and his strict adherence to Jewish dietary law, she refuses. She senses a deep unhappiness in the Valerian family, a spiritual longing that only an intimate knowledge of God can assuage, but she is too afraid to say anything.

That night, as Hadassah packs Julia’s belongings, Phoebe enters the room and asks Hadassah about her family. She sees in Hadassah a wisdom beyond her years and asks her to ’stand by my daughter in all circumstances” (146). Sensing this request is coming from God, Hadassah promises to do so.

Under Tharacus’s harsh training regimen, Atretes builds enough strength and stamina to survive in the arena and possibly earn his freedom. After a grueling run followed by a bath and massage, he returns to his cell where he is “rewarded” with a young woman, but afterward, he feels only emptiness and shame.

The next day, Tharacus and Atretes spar, but the contest becomes deadly when Atretes delivers a killing blow to the face of his trainer. The merchant, Scorpus, and an African man, Bato, observe the match, and immediately afterward, Atretes is chained and tossed in the back of a wagon. The African man is the head lanista (gladiator trainer) is Rome. Atretes is bound for the Empire’s capital city.

Six months into her marriage, Julia is moody and isolated, always looking for excuses to avoid Claudius’s company. Hadassah fears his patience will run out, and she tries to persuade Julia of Claudius’s virtues. Julia, however, is not moved, and she sends word to her husband that she is not feeling well. Claudius grows tired of trying to entertain his “childish and self-centered” (157) wife who is yet to conceive. He regrets his rash decision to marry, an attempt to replace his deceased wife, Helena. When he sees Julia and Hadassah walking in the gardens one morning, he is curious to know what they talk about. Julia responds, “Stories [of her people].” His interest piqued, Claudius desires to hear these stories as well. 

Marcus rides through the streets on his new Arabian stallion, reveling in his successful business ventures and planning a brief trip to Capua. He desires to escape Arria’s clinginess and Antigonus’s constant pleas for money. Marcus makes camp along the road, his mind crowded with thoughts concerning his many business responsibilities, his father’s dire warnings about the state of Rome, his sexual dalliances, and, most prominently, Hadassah.

When he reaches Capua, he pays a surprise visit to Julia who begs him to take her to the ludus, the gladiator training facility. When Marcus asks about her marriage, she implies that Hadassah has been having sexual relations with Claudius in her place—which is untrue—in an arrangement she is happy to continue but which rankles Marcus. Even in her absence, Hadassah exerts a pull on Marcus. Late that evening, Marcus hopes to find her praying in the garden, but a servant informs him that she is with Claudius in the library. Determined to intercede, he approaches the library, but rather than witnessing a sexual encounter, he finds Claudius and Hadassah discussing Christian theology. Seeing Marcus, Claudius dismisses Hadassah and welcomes him into the library, pouring them each a glass of wine. Marcus questions Claudius about his relationship with Hadassah, and he responds that it is purely academic. He is interested in the Jewish faith, and Hadassah has proven to be an exemplary source of information. He finds the faith fascinating but is perplexed that a supposedly merciful god could allow so many Jews to die and their holy city to be destroyed.

Julia is despondent when she finds out Atretes has been sent to Rome; she previously saw him training and longed to watch him fight). Hadassah hopes Julia will now turn her attention to Claudius, a lonely and lost man whom she hopes to save by sharing God’s word with him. Claudius treasures Hadassah’s presence even more than Julia’s, although he has sworn fidelity to his wife regardless of her coldness toward him. Feeling she has usurped her mistress’s position, Hadassah sees it as her duty to bring Julia and Claudius together.

Later, she beseeches Marcus to persuade Julia to pay more attention to Claudius, but Marcus believes he holds little sway with his sister. Marcus realizes that he wants Julia’s marriage to succeed not for her sake, but so that Claudius will spend less time with Hadassah. With a single command, Marcus could order her to his bed, but, sensing her vulnerability, he chooses not to.