09 - Merlin in the Holy Land

When I came to Hierosylima I was disillusioned.I had met the most likeable men in the world, one an immature child, the other a mediocre common man.I had seen the emissaries of the kingdom of God torn between men of honorable purpose and fishers of the devil. In the holy land of Palaestina Prima I hoped to find answers and a new path.

In Hierosylima, at that time, Flavius Florentinus, the prefect of the diocese of Oriens, had gathered wise men and scholars from all over the world, and I discussed with many wise men the works of Plato and Aristotle, the teachings of the natural philosophers, the Pythagoreans and Stoics, talked with learned pagans as well as with Christians and Jews. But this world was far away from a rule of the philosophers or a Res Publica and nobody with whom I spoke pursued more such thoughts.

One morning Florentinus joined us, strangely agitated, and reported a disturbing dream: Florentinus was lying in his chamber holding his wife Hersilia in his arms when two flying snakes appeared on the horizon, two-headed, ugly and fire-breathing, setting the prefect's palace ablaze. One snake grabbed him with claws while the second one took Hersilia and dragged them both to the palace roof where they tore off their arms and legs and eight smaller snakes appeared, which took the limbs and carried them to the temple of Diana, where the people of the city had fled for safety, tore the limbs there, burned the bodies and the temple to ashes and scattered the ashes far and wide over the land where no city was left.

I recognized the truth in Florentinus' dream and before me spread the vision of a new faith and of four foreign-faith kings, neighbors of the Oriens, who would conquer the land and the children of its children after eight generations would be slain and their children would renounce the old faith and become knights of the new faith, respected and revered in all neighboring countries. Florentinus, who had once been a learned pagan, was baptized and became a devout Christian, but I, confused and bewildered, left the prefect's palace and wandered long and hard through the holy land. I went to Nazará and to the Lake Kineret, to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane and finally came to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where a man addressed me in whom I recognized my innkeeper in Massalia, Cartaphilus.This is what he said to me:

"He who seeks me shall find me, so it was written on the stone in Bycanthium.I realized the secret truth: Merlin and the stag are one! And yet you are not the man I expected, although you are quite similar to him in many ways, as far as I can see and remember. Once I knew a young man, Jehoshua Ben-Josef by name, the nephew of my friend Joseph of Ramatha the tin merchant and Sadducee and son of Joseph Ben-Jojakim the builder and his wife Miriam. He was an exceptional child and became an equally exceptional young man. But he caused unrest among the people, questioned the words of the priests, and was eventually crucified, accused of inciting the people to revolt. And it was I who, out of fear and anger of the priests, testified falsely against him when I was in Roman service, and it was I who refused him rest when he carried the cross to the Mount of Olives and wanted to rest at my door. And nothing in my life have I ever regretted more. I was not there when he died, but in my workshop making shoes and like a prediction or a curse it is that until today I make my shoes with which I can not stay longer than a few decades in one place, since I do not age since that day.Only late I found the truth in Jehoshua's words, let me baptize by a man named Ananias. My friend Joseph of Ramatha forgave me and I accompanied him on his travels.He built the tombs under this basilica.He stayed in prison for forty years until he was freed under Vespasian when Jehoshua appeared in a vision or physically and caused his release.First he went to Saráka where he founded a Christian community. Later he went to Britannia where he had already stayed on his earlier travels as a tin merchant and had built a synagogue of simple wattle and daub in which he was supported by his patrons the Britannian kings Abellios and Genillos who had converted to Judaism, which was continued after his death by his son Joseph and his protégés Petreus and Simeon. I was called Ahasverus in Sáraka, Mailocunos among the Britons, Buttadeus I was called by my enemies, Cartaphilus I was called by Jehoshua, but my true or original name was Mathataias.But who are you now?"

Who was I? Not Christ the Son of God.Just an imitation, begotten by a lowly servant, son of a fallen father who threw his inheritance and destiny to the wind and became as much an aimless wanderer as Mathathaias.And again I remembered my vision, the stone, the cauldron, the cup.... I saw the vision manifest before me. Christ had been in Britain, he had accompanied Joseph as a boy and had helped in the construction of the synagogue, when he thrust his thorny staff into the ground, he performed the miracle of making it blossom, as a sign for the Britannians, who planted it there and venerated it as a sacred tree, symbol of the world.What did he bring from Britain? What kept Joseph alive in the dungeon for forty years? What was it that Matathaias knew about, and whose image remained obscure to me?"

For a long time Matathaias thought and looked at me enigmatically.Then he told me aboutthat green stone, a gift from the Britannians to Joseph when they became Jews. A sacred cauldron of their ancient deities had been melted down by King Abellios, and Genillos had poured from it a copper chalice, at the bottom of which had lain the ancient Green Stone. When Jehoshua died, a Roman named Longinus pierced him with his spear.Joseph caught the remains of his sweat and blood in Jehoshua's chalice.He also took possession of the spear later, but he hid the chalice in a secret place.Doves had brought him manna so that he kept his strength. So it was a stone, and a chalice, and a cauldron, and they were one. And I recognized the green stone, for such my father had met on his forehead, only he had missed. I could see that it had been broken out of when it fell from the sky...it had fallen into the hands of lesser pagan deities who had used its powers for magical work.But where was the chalice with the stone now? I realized that Joseph had brought it back to his synagogue in Britannia.In Joseph's tomb in Glewotinco's castle, the chalice had been placed with him, and Mailocunis had prophesied that the island people would never lack rain and sky dew.An entrance to the ancient underworld had once been there, and when Joseph's thorn staff was implanted, a fountain of blood sprang from the earth.

But if Jesus' blood had cleansed the sacred stone and raised it to a pure and holy object, then my father too could one day be cleansed and redeemed.Then my destiny was no longer fixed.Then the new faith, future faith could one day come and become the religion of real philosopher kings, guided by wise men with my vision and knowledge.The stone in the chalice could conquer hunger and death and lead mankind into a new age and the kingdom of God would ultimately appear.

Mankind was not yet mature, nor were the most powerful men in the world ordinary weaklings. But one day such a philosopher-king might appear and establish a new, a true Rome. I decided to return to Britannia and make this task mine. I had found my destiny, I would create that man myself and form him according to my knowledge and will...