Daniel has
lived under Roman oppression all his
life. Jews like himself are under Roman rule, and are
forced to abide by
confiscatory taxes and unfair laws that make them third-class citizens. While
young, Daniel did not fully understand these laws. However, he had them thrust upon him
long
before he was ready, when his father and uncle were killed:
"But my uncle had lost his head and tried to
fight his way out, and the soldiers
would not let him off. They said he would
go to the quarries to work off his debt.
[...]
So my father ... and four others hid in a cornfield and waited
till
the Romans started for the city with my uncle, and then they attacked. Of course they
were
all captured. ... They crucified all six of them, even my
uncle..."
(Speare,
, Google Books)
After this, Daniel
is sold into slavery to the
local blacksmith. Because of his losses and his adolescent feeling
that
unfairness should be fought against and beaten, he runs away and joins with Rosh, a
bandit
in the hills. For the next several years, Rosh instill a deeper and
deeper hatred of the Romans
in Daniel, knowing that he can manipulate Daniel
to lie and steal for him; Rosh knows that
Daniel is committed to the cause of
freeing Israel, and so reinforces Daniel's hate for his own
ends. It isn't
until Daniel meets Joel and Thacia, and experiences his own family life
again,
that his emotional health starts to improve.
href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Mzit9hqyTyAC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en">https://books.google.com/books?id=Mzit9hqyTyAC&printsec=f...
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