As Cato’s column of scouts trotted out of the fort there were already many parties of men hard at work, swinging their picks into the ground as they excavated small pits all round the fort. Under the glare of the sun it was exhausting work, but there was no question of rest breaks.These men were digging for their lives. Anything that would stem the tide of the approaching enemy might help to save them. So, with the single concession to comfort of their straw hats, the men swung their picks in the sweltering heat in a desperate effort to prepare for the attack in the short time still left to them.

The villagers of Heshaba were resting inside their houses when Cato and his men rode into the small square at the centre of the village. The man that Scrofa had ordered crucified still hung from his cross. Or at least, what now passed for the man. The sun had baked and desiccated his body so that it had visibly shrunk beneath the dried skin. Crows and other carrion had plucked at the most tender parts of his flesh and lidless, empty eye sockets stared out over the village. Cato ordered the column to dismount. He handed his reins to one of the scouts and ordered the men to water the horses and wait for him in the square. Then he walked into the nearest alley, approached a door and rapped on the frame. A moment later the door creaked open and an anxious male face peered out into the sun-washed street.

‘Find Miriam,’ Cato said in Greek.’Tell her Centurion Cato must speak to her on a matter of great urgency. I’ll be at the reservoir. Do you understand?’

The man nodded, and Cato turned away and strode up the hill, past the last few houses of the village, until he reached the shade of one of the dusty palms that grew beside the reservoir. There was less water in it than ever, a mere pool surrounded by cracked earth, and he wondered how any people could survive in this arid land. The god of the Judaeans, Yahweh, must be cruel indeed to subject his believers to such a harsh existence, thought Cato. There had to be a better life than this. Perhaps that was why these people were so intensely religious - out of the necessity of finding some kind of spiritual compensation for such a hard and unrewarding physical existence.

The soft crunch of gravel alerted him to Miriam’s approach and Cato quickly rose to his feet and bowed his head respectfully.

‘I was told that you wished to speak to me.’ Miriam smiled. ‘You don’t need to stand on my account, young man. Sit.’

Cato did as he was told and Miriam knelt down opposite him and made herself comfortable.

‘We’ve been told that Bannus is heading this way with an army. I came to warn you.’