Reading Master and Margarita - 25

Chapter 25

How the Procurator Tried to Save Judas of Kiriath

Please have a look at the title of this chapter; we shall turn back to it in Chapter   26.

Bulgakov is at his best in these two chapters, I should emphasize. He doesn’t say things openly; he drops hints – through the body language of characters – and leaves it to the readers to understand his real intention. If the reader is very careful, he will catch the hint and get to the crux of problem; otherwise it will be a simple narration at another plane. This applies to the whole novel.

And so, we shall go very carefully and slowly.

The present chapter is continuation of the theme of Pontius Pilate – Yeshua Ha Nostri. I have already mentioned that the Pontius Pilate – Yeshua theme is spread over four chapters, namely, 2^nd, 16^th, 25^th and 26^th.

In chapter 2, Yeshua is sentenced to death; chapter 16th describes the execution of Yeshua and two robbers Dismas and Gestas. After the execution a storm lashes Yerushalem and everyone disappears from the scene leaving those who were executed on the cross. The downpour had flooded the lower city.

 

The action mentioned in these four chapters takes place in one single day. In the morning – Yeshua Ha Nostri is condemned to death; in the afternoon he is executed, and now before the sunset we see Pontius Pilate in his balcony. He is waiting for someone; he is feeling very uneasy; his eyes and face are swollen due to insomnia.

At last the long-awaited guest arrives. This was Aphranius, Chief of the secret service. Pilate had spoken to him in the morning in a dark room before announcing death sentence to Yeshua.

Let’s have a very careful look at Aphranius:

“The man who had come to Pilate was middle-aged, with a very pleasant, rounded and neat face and a fleshy mouth. His hair was of some indeterminate colour. Now, as it dried, it became lighter. It would be difficult to establish the man's nationality. The chief determinant of his face was perhaps its good-natured expression, which, however, was not in accord with his eyes, or, rather, not his eyes but the visitor's way of looking at his interlocutor. Ordinarily he kept his small eyes under his lowered, somewhat strange, as if slightly swollen eyelids. Then the slits of these eyes shone with an unspiteful slyness. It must be supposed that the procurator's guest had a propensity for humour. But occasionally, driving this glittering humour from the slits entirely, the procurator's present guest would open his eyelids wide and look at his interlocutor suddenly and point-blank, as if with the purpose of rapidly scrutinizing some inconspicuous spot on his interlocutor's nose. This lasted only an instant, after which the eyelids would lower again, the slits would narrow, and once again they would begin to shine with good-naturedness and sly intelligence.”

Aphranius was completely drenched when he came to the terrace. After he was given dry clothes and drinks the procurator started asking him about the execution, about the situation in Yerushalem:

 `And now I ask you to tell me about the execution,' said the procurator.

'What precisely interests the procurator?'

‘Were there any attempts on the part of the crowd to display rebelliousness? That is the main thing, of course.'

'None,' replied the guest.

'Very good. Did you personally establish that death took place?'

"The procurator may be certain of it.'

`And tell me ... were they given the drink before being hung on the posts?'

'Yes. But he,' here the guest closed his eyes, 'refused to drink it.'

'Who, precisely?' asked Pilate.

`Forgive me, Hegemon!' the guest exclaimed. `Did I not name him? Ha-Nozri!'

[this is contradicting the narration in chapter 16, where Ha-Nostri sucks the water soaked sponge that was brought to him on the tip of spear. The Holy Bible too mentions that Yeshua refused to drink water. Bulgakov thus again emphasizes that this is not the story from the Holy Bible but something else. ] 

'Madman!' said Pilate, grimacing for some reason. A little nerve began to twitch under his left eye. To die of sunburn! Why refuse what is offered by law! In what terms did he refuse it?'

'He said,' the guest answered, again closing his eyes, 'that he was grateful and laid no blame for the taking of his life.'

[Chapter 16 mentions that Yeshua lost his senses in the first hour of execution and that he was silent all the time. ]

'On whom?' Pilate asked in a hollow voice.

‘That he did not say, Hegemon...'

'Did he try to preach anything in the soldiers' presence?'

'No, Hegemon, he was not loquacious this time. The only thing he said was that among human vices he considered cowardice one of the first.'

[The Holy Bible has no mention of this ‘cowardice’. It was Bulgakov’s personal opinion in which he believed firmly. We shall see that in a later chapter Pilate returns to this word and tries to prove that he was not coward….but actually he was, as it was only out of fear for his own head that he pronounced Yeshua’s execution.]

‘This was said with regard to what?' the guest heard a suddenly cracked voice.

‘That was impossible to understand. He generally behaved himself strangely - as always, however.'

'What was this strangeness?'

'He kept trying to peer into the eyes of one or another of those around him, and kept smiling some sort of lost smile.'

'Nothing else?' asked the hoarse voice.

Nothing else.'

[Here too, a contradiction from chapter 16 is observed.]

Then Pontius Pilate asks about Judas. Let’s have a careful look:        

‘And so, the second question. It concerns this ... what's his name ... Judas of Kiriath.'

Here the guest sent the procurator his glance, and at once, as was his custom, extinguished it.

[This look of the guest will help us to decipher Pilate’s intention]

‘They say,' the procurator continued, lowering his voice, `that he supposedly got some money for receiving this madman so cordially?'

'Will get,' the head of the secret service quietly corrected Pilate.

'And is it a large sum?'

‘That no one can say, Hegemon.'

'Not even you?' said the hegemon, expressing praise by his amazement.

'Alas, not even I,' the guest calmly replied. "But he will get the money this evening that I do know. He is to be summoned tonight to the palace of Kaifa.'

'Ah, that greedy old man of Kiriath!' the procurator observed, smiling. 'He is an old man, isn't he?'

‘The procurator is never mistaken, but he is mistaken this time,' the guest replied courteously,' the man from Kiriath is a young man.'

'You don't say! Can you describe his character for me? A fanatic?'

'Oh, no, Procurator.'

'So. And anything else?''

'Very handsome.'

'What else? He has some passion, perhaps?'

'It is difficult to have such precise knowledge about everyone in this huge city, Procurator ...'

'Ah, no, no, Aphranius! Don't play down your merits.'

'He has one passion, Procurator.' The guest made a tiny pause. 'A passion for money.'

'And what is his occupation?'

Aphranius raised his eyes, thought, and replied:

'He works in the money-changing shop of one of his relatives.'

'Ah, so, so, so, so.' Here the procurator fell silent, looked around to be sure there was no one on the balcony, and then said quietly:

‘The thing is this - I have just received information that he is going to be killed tonight.'

This time the guest not only cast his glance at the procurator, but even held it briefly, and after that replied:

'You spoke too flatteringly of me, Procurator. In my opinion, I do not deserve your report. This information I do not have.'

'You deserve the highest reward,' the procurator replied. 'But there is such information.'

'May I be so bold as to ask who supplied it?'

`Permit me not to say for the time being, the more so as it is accidental, obscure and uncertain. But it is my duty to foresee everything. That is my job, and most of all I must trust my presentiment, for it has never yet deceived me. The information is that one of Ha-Nozri's secret friends, indignant at this money-changer's monstrous betrayal, is plotting with his accomplices to

kill him tonight, and to foist the money paid for the betrayal on the high priest, with a note:

"I return the cursed money."'

The head of the secret service cast no more of his unexpected glances at the hegemon, but went on listening to him, narrowing his eyes, as Pilate went on:

'Imagine, is it going to be pleasant for the high priest to receive such a gift on the night of the feast?'

[Aphranius looked intently at Pilate and understood that it was not premonition but an order to kill Judas. He will again make sure by repeating Pilate’s words as we shall see a little later.]

'Not only not pleasant,' the guest replied, smiling, 'but I believe, Procurator, that it will cause a very great scandal.'

'I am of the same opinion myself. And therefore I ask you to occupy yourself with this matter - that is, to take all measures to protect Judas of Kiriath.'

'The hegemon's order will be carried out,' said Aphranius, 'but I must reassure the hegemon:

the evil-doers' plot is very hard to bring off. Only think,' the guest looked over his shoulder as he spoke and went on, 'to track the man down, to kill him, and besides that to find out how much he got, and manage to return the money to Kaifa, and all that in one night? Tonight?'

`And none the less he will be killed tonight,' Pilate stubbornly repeated. `I have a presentiment, I tell you! Never once has it deceived me.' Here a spasm passed over the procurator's face, and he rubbed his hands briskly.

[Pilate rubbed his hands briskly; he had done the same after sentencing Yeshua to death. Here too he has sentenced Judas to death!]

'Understood,' the guest obediently replied, stood up, straightened out, and suddenly asked sternly:

'So they will kill him, Hegemon?'

[Aphranius wants to make sure whether Judas is really to be killed.]

'Yes,' answered Pilate, 'and all hope lies in your efficiency alone, which amazes everyone.'

[It implies that Aphranius is entrusted the task of killing Judas.]

'Ah, yes,' Pilate exclaimed softly, 'I completely forgot! I owe you something! ...'

The guest was amazed.

'Really, Procurator, you owe me nothing.'

'But of course! As I was riding into Yershalaim, remember, the crowd of beggars ... I wanted to throw them some money, but I didn't have any, and so I took it from you.'

'Oh, Procurator, it was a trifle!'

'One ought to remember trifles, too.' Here Pilate turned, picked up the cloak that lay on the chair behind him, took a leather bag from under it, and handed it to the guest. The man bowed, accepting it, and put the bag under his cloak.

'I expect a report on the burial,' said Pilate, 'and also on the matter to do with Judas of Kiriath, this same night, do you hear, Aphranius, this night. The convoy will have orders to awaken me the moment you appear. I'll be expecting you.'

So, though the title says that the Procurator tried to save Judas, actually he plotted Judas’ murder.

Let’s see how does it happen.