Symeon chuckled. ‘As good? No, Murad is far better. Far tougher, and so are most of his men. Murad would have taken down all five of those riders before they had even got close to you.’ He spat on to the ground in disgust. ‘I only managed three.’

Macro glanced at Cato. ‘Only three. The man’s slipping.’

‘Please don’t mention it again,’ Symeon said quietly. ‘I’m ashamed enough as it is.’

‘Fair enough.’ Macro smiled. ‘Still, your son sounds like the kind of man the Empire could use. He’d make a fine auxiliary soldier. I wonder if he’s ever considered it.’

‘Why should he?’ Symeon seemed surprised by the suggestion. ‘Murad lives well enough as he is. Your Empire could not afford to pay him a tenth of what he earns from guarding the caravans.’

‘Oh,’ Macro responded with embarrassment. ‘Just a thought.’

The day wore on, much like the day before, and soon the heat was stifling. Far up the flat Jordan valley the air shimmered like quicksilver. They crossed the river late in the morning, at a point where it meandered between great clumps of reeds. There was a ford where the river ran across a wide bed of sand and pebbles and the horses kicked up a foam of white spray as they surged across. Glancing upriver Cato saw a large shelter on the far bank, thatched with palm leaves. In the shallows below the shelter stood a small crowd of people, gathered around a man who immersed each in turn.

Cato tugged Symeon’s arm and indicated the gathering. ‘What’s going on over there?’

Symeon glanced up. ‘That? A baptism.’

‘Baptism?’

‘Local tradition. Supposed to wash away the sins of the person being baptised. It’s popular with some of the sects. The Essenes, back at Qumran, for one.’

‘I meant to ask you about that,’ Cato said.’These sects. How many of them are there? What makes them different?’

Symeon laughed. ‘Less than you imagine, yet they seem to hate each other with a passion. Let me see . . . Best to start in Jerusalem. The main sects there are the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Maccabees. The Sadducees are the hardline traditionalists. They believe that the holy books represent the incontrovertible will of God.The Pharisees are a little more pragmatic and argue that the will of God can be interpreted through the holy books. The Maccabees, on the other hand, tend towards the hardline position. They hold that Judaeans are the chosen people who are destined to rule the world one day.’ He smiled at Cato. ‘So you can imagine how they feel about being ruled by Rome. They hate you even more than they hated Herod and his heirs.’

‘Why hate them?’

‘Because they were Idumaeans, and not descended from one of the original twelve tribes of the Hebrews.’