Abigail picked up her wine pitcher and moved around the room to refresh their cups as she answered. “Perhaps you should ask how more than one could do such things, Lord. Your gods–” She poured the fruit of the vine into his cup and glanced briefly into his face “–their powers are divided. You have Jove, with power over the heavens, Neptune over the sea, and Pluto over the underworld. The earth was available to them all. Juno, goddess over women. Apollo, the sun. Diana, the moon. Mars, war, and Cupid, love.”
She had moved to Apidius as she spoke and was at Lentulus’s elbow when she paused to shake her head. “If these gods were harmonious, perhaps it would be conceivable that they could keep the fabric of the universe from fraying. But their natures are more tempestuous than the sea. They disagree on everything. They imprisoned their own family, cuckold one another, and undermine the other gods for a bid at more power.” She was at Menelaus now and offered him a smile. “If your soldiers behaved that way, Lord, what would the legion look like?”
“Not like a legion.” Menelaus turned his grin toward Titus. “The woman has a point. If one being could have all the power of our gods, but without the multiplicity of wills, he would be much better able to control the world and all within it.”
“And Odysseus would not have been ten years returning to Ithaca,” Abigail added dryly.
Titus’s lips itched upward but did not break into a full smile. “I daresay your righteous god would not have made his way any easier than Menelaus’s did.”
Apidius had pursed his lips in thought. “Going back to a Son, then. How would this not make that multiplicity? If such a man was a man but with the powers of a god, how would that not make him another god?”
Abigail had to give a moment’s thought to that one and looked over at Jason to see if perhaps he wanted to handle it. But Jason looked at her as expectantly as the others, his mouth curved to show that he was enjoying the discussion. She put down her pitcher carefully to give herself time to think. “Perhaps it would help to think of God not as one thinks of a man,” she began. “Think of him as–Rome. Rome is an entity in itself, one thing bound together into a cohesive whole that lets it be called Rome. But there is also the Roman Empire. Corinth is not Rome. But it is under Roman control. If a map of the empire were drawn, it would include Corinth. Now, Corinth can act on its own interests, can indulge in the lives of its private citizens, and that makes it no more or less Roman. But if Corinth aligns itself with its capital, if it were ruled by a man whose will was dictated by the will of Caesar–well then, it would be but a limb of Rome, would it not? Separate, but part of the whole. Having its own wills, but choosing the greater good instead. A Son of my God would be like Corinth, I think. Individual, but inseparable. He would have the authority of Rome, let us say, without the location.”
Lentulus sent his eyes to his host, brows raised and impressed. “Jason, your woman is as articulate as our professor at the academy.”
Jason smiled. “You should hear her talk of Plato.”
It was Titus, this time, who maintained the serious subject. “So then this Son of the one God would have all of this God’s powers, a will of his own that he deliberately subjected to his Father’s, and a place of his own.” He shook his head. “Then if such a man ever existed, he would indeed be a threat to us. He would come and set up rule of the world with a snap of his fingers.”
But Abigail smiled. “Jehovah would not will that, though. The God of the Jews wants alone to reign in our hearts, and if he does that successfully, we will all treat each other with love and respect. There would be no need for a king, just a prophet to hear the words of God. So his Son would not come to rule nations. He would come to direct the people’s hearts back to the Father.”
Menelaus arched his brows. “So I suppose you think this Jesus is not threatening, then.”
Abigail shrugged. “I think I do not know who this man is. I can speak of a hypothetical Son and what he would necessarily be. But I will not ascribe that office to a man just because he teaches well. He may turn out to be a sophist rather than a philosopher.”
Laughter rang out again, and Abigail bowed out of the conversation under the guise of going to the kitchen to replenish the food. By the time she returned, talk was on other topics, and their eyes were back to assessing her very much as a woman and not at all as a source of knowledge.
Her goals of blending into the walls were impossible to meet.
Chapter Fourteen
“You made me proud today, Abigail.”
Abigail glanced over to where Jason was helping clear the room of the evidence of his friends.
He should not be doing such work, but he smiled into the scowl she sent him. “Romans tend to be a bit–arrogant. Sometimes I feel the need to assure them the other half of my heritage is every bit as admirable as theirs. You certainly did that today, proving the Hebrews can be as articulate as they can be beautiful.”