The Greatest Stories Ever... Retold

Artous, a centurion, had been stationed in Capernaum a couple of years ago.  It was not the kind of assignment that a Roman officer looked forward to.  In fact, it was considered a punishment of sorts.  In his case, he had run afoul of his former commander. 

His trouble began when he invited his commander, along with the other two centurions of his cohort, to have supper with him.  At first things went well, then, later in the evening things had gone downhill.  The wine had been flowing freely and the commander had drunk just a little too much.  Actually, the commander had drunk quite a bit too much.  His lack of restraint when he was drinking was well known by the officers in his command.  Artous had been concerned when he invited the commander to his house that the commander would get drunk and that there would be unfortunate consequences of the drunkenness.  He would have avoided the whole thing if he could have; however, tradition demanded that he offer the invitation. 

Artous had a servant who had been with him for many years.  Originally the servant had been a slave but over time the relationship had changed.  Artous and the servant had actually become friends.  Friendship with a servant was not smiled on in the Roman army.  However, the Roman army was not different from other groups where infractions would be ignored if a person was doing a good job.  Artous did his job well.  As a result there was little said about the relationship with his servant. 

Whenever Artous needed something done right, he could count on this servant to do it.  The servant was his “go to” man in any important household task or decision.  Because Artous wanted his most trusted man waiting on the commander, this servant was serving the wine on the night when things went sour.

Already quite drunk, the commander called for more wine.  He was reclining at a table and waving his goblet around like he was swatting flies.  In a voice more fit for giving commands in the heat of battle than for being a guest at dinner, the commander had demanded more wine from the servant.  Artous winced at the way the commander was treating his servant, but both he and the servant knew the way things were and he kept quiet.  As the servant started to bend over the commander to pour more wine the commander, waving his arm about, unaware or not caring that the servant was there, struck the servant, causing the wine to splash all over the commander’s tunic.

In actuality, the wine the servant spilled was just another spot among the many spots that the commander had already on his tunic, having spilled wine on himself several times as he tried to drink from a goblet that seemed to be moving about on its own.  However, that was not how the commander saw things.  He instantly became enraged at the incompetence of the servant.  If he had had a spear at hand he would probably have killed the servant then and there.  As it was he only had his dagger and he grabbed at it and took a swing.