Vivat Agnus Dei

  My Dearest Maximus, Your letter reached me as the spring rains fell upon Rome, and as I read your words, I felt as though I could hear your voice whispering across the seas. Frugi, our messenger, was greatly delayed. I am sure he will tell you about his travels when you read this. Nevertheless, I wish to share the parts which amazed me most in light of what you said in your letter. Frugi, who carries letters to and from Rome, for us and for our friends, he bears many parchments amid his travels and endeavors to do so by land lest he lose some of the parchments. As he began his journey the temple guards stopped him, fearful he was carrying communication between the Christians, whose leader they had just crucified. Not long after they had stopped him, they got word that the men who were supposed to watch the tomb of Jesus, in the night, while asleep missed the theft of his body. This delayed him longer because they thought to scrutinize our letters again lest they fail to see code ...

Cornelia, my dear wife, I always love writing back to Rome knowing that when this reaches you I can expect to hear from you once more. I am thankful I can read and write most soldiers are not so fortunate. Everything changed when the Emperor sent us with Pilate to control the Jews in Jerusalem. I feel more like an unpleasable parent to children who resent me than a soldier to citizens. Truly, in all my years as a soldier, I have never seen anything like this. Herod is every bit the puppet king the rumors claim he is. Indeed, we are the true servants of Caesar, but Herod seems to be more of a wealthy drunk than a King. My brother soldiers and I are well though, we long to come home. When I do my sweet Cornelia, we shall let our love grow once again. My dear Cornelia, make sure to be stern with our daughter in my absence so that she would still grow to be a great woman as you are.  I shall now tell you about how so much has changed in this culture. We have had the strangest few ...