Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War by Thomas A. Timmes Read Free Book Online

Davood Farrid.  He was a 26 year old effete Persian with the quixotic mission to minimize the impact of the wartime defeat on Carthage.  He was known, inter alia , for his boring screeds on tolerance, forgiveness, and compromise.  Roman negotiators wondered how he managed to lift, must less point, his bony ring encrusted fingers at the maps and scrolls that defined the magnitude of the Carthaginian humiliation.  He attracted derision like cow dung draws flies and would temporize over every settlement issue.  His delaying tactic and utter pathos tended to wear down his counterparts into greater and greater compromise.
    Counter intuitively, his gaudy outward appearance and foppish behavior generally fooled most into believing he was an absolute simpleton and needed help to avoid execution upon his return to Carthage.  But in reality, his skill lay in actually getting people to like him despite their better judgment and to feel exceeding sorry for him and to want to help him.  It was a ridiculous strategy, but for a spy in the open, it worked.  That is, on all but Levi, who viewed Davood as treacherous and not to be trusted.
    Levi and Farrid were about the same age.  They first met while the war was winding down and took an instant dislike to each other.  Perhaps it was memories of events long since passed that caused this mutual animosity or maybe it was caused by Farrid’s shock at discovering a Jew in Rome.  Before the two stopped speaking altogether, Farrid explained to Levi that his Persian ancestors moved from Persia to Judea in 539 BC when Cyrus II, better known as Cyrus the Great, conquered the Babylonian Empire and freed the Jews from their 70 years of exile in Babylon.  Farrid’s ancestors returned with the Jews to Israel and confiscated the lands and property of those Jews who elected to remain in Babylon.  Farrid explained that a great amount of wealth was expended in making the land prosperous again and establishing standards suitable for Persian tastes.
    Farrid said that there was always some lingering animosity between the Jews and their new wealthy Persian neighbor.  However, there was no violence for the next 270 years.  Eventually, Hellenization and its accompanying intolerance for things Jewish caused conservative Jews to finally rise up in revolt and expel foreigners from Israel, including Farrid’s family.  Interestingly, this same Hellenization and whole scale rejection of Judaism caused Levi’s parents to set sail for Corinth and religious freedom.
    The ejected Farrids were now without a country, but were by no means destitute.  They immediately sought a new life in Carthage.  Their contribution to this growing economic powerhouse resulted in the appointment of Davood as Ambassador to Rome.  As is customary in that part of the world, Davood never forgot how the Jews treated his ancestors.  This memory generated an ingrained and long lasting attitude of hatred and desire for retribution against all things Jewish.  Levi immediately became the target of his acerbic tongue and nefarious intrigues.
    Ambassador Farrid remained in Rome for about a year after negotiating a settlement to the war and then returned to Carthage.  He remained Carthage’s permanent Ambassador to Rome and for the next 23 years of relative peace spent his time meddling in both capital cities despite the fact that he detested the inevitable sea sickness that accompanied each crossing of the Mediterranean.
     

Manius ~ Roman Legionaire
    Much to Manius’ great disappointment, the next 17 years were years of relative peace for the Roman Republic.  His earlier fear that he had missed his one chance to actually fight in a big battle was proving to be quite accurate.  Carthage was quiet, but there were consistent rumors that another war with them was inevitable.  The scattered tribes throughout the Italian peninsula were always in a state of insurrection, but were easily subdued by a show of force.  Like Carthage,