Tales of Classical Perversion: Volume II: Tale #2: Objectives--Rough Draft

   By order of Empress and Domina Livia in the name of Autokrator Dominum Nostrum Princeps Imperator Caesar Augustus in the year 759, I hereby invest Annaus Iacobus-ben-Flavius as Lord High Priest of the Judeans, under the auspices of Governor Coponius. 

The objectives of Annaus are as follows: 

1. Build relations with assimilated Sadducees as countervailing force to Pharisee fanatics, with tax credits and housing inducements to greater observance of Jewish faith in Roman supervised ritual practice, involving more involved synagogue participation, more frequent temple tributes and sacrifices, and the cultivation of a rabbinate more amenable to secular influence that will moderate the more fanatical rulings of Pharisee rabbis like President Shammai, against whom the Holy Father Hillel's opposition is insufficient to be meaningful.

2. As Hillel and Shammai proved themselves incapable of being assassinated by Herod--Shammai having emerged unburnt from a stake, Hillel having walked off a crucifix--further attempts to assassinate them may encourage the perception of weakness in Rome's standing, therefore rather than assassination, they must be watched without cease and their ordinances countermanded vigilantly. 

Further Notes: 

1. A rumor has gripped the land that Herod died because Hillel stabbed him while Shammai held him down. Irregardless of this rumor's veracity, intelligence must propagate an alternate rumor into city speculation which elucidates the probable truth: that Herod died from overwhelming natural causes which long threatened his life. Rumor goes about Judea that Herod had frequent bouts of septicemia first acquired when Imperator Augustus demanded a blood oath, but surely Rome cannot be held responsible for the misfortunes of its colonized, and therefore mention of this rumor must be punishable by crucifixion. 

2. We must note an opportunity. At Herod's death he was found preserved in a vat of honey, as odd as that seems, even for Herod, we must therefore note a dissenting note from an analyst who believes that Herod died of murder. There is even one rumor that he died at his own hand. As unlikely as that is for a man of great self-possession, this rumor could in fact be encouraged, because it would cause a perception of weakness in a royal family that the entire Syrian governate agrees has grown far too unheedful of Rome's directives.