I have recently read The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. WOW!! What a wonderful book. It is truly a great story about getting to know what salvation is.
It also gives history about the time period that Jesus was alive. About the Roman Government and just different stuff. Cultures, customs, etc.
I would recommend it to everyone!!
Here is my report on it:
The story starts out in Rome with a man named Marcellus Gallio. He is the son of a Senator, therefore he is a Tribune.
Marcellus has just returned home from a banquet for the spoiled Prince Gaius. Gaius is Julia’s son, but not Tiberius’(the Emperor). Marcellus, while drunk at the banquet, insulted Gaius.
You get to know more about their family for awhile. Marcellus has a sister named Lucia, and she has a friend that is the granddaughter of Tiberius’ old girlfriend that is Tiberius’ favorite named Diana. Marcellus and Diana are in love with each other and promise one another.
Then Marcellus gets a letter from Gaius saying that he is to go to the post at Minoa. That is where they send men that they want to get rid of. So Marcellus and Demetrius, his personal slave, but more like friend, go to Minoa. When Diana hears this she decides to go to Tiberius and ask for Marcellus to get sent back home.
When Marcellus and Demetrius get to Minoa, Marcellus has to show the men there that he is in charge and earn their respect.
After he is there for awhile, they go to Jerusalem to help maintain order over the Jewish holiday, Passover. During their time there, there is a man that the Jewish leaders want dead, so Pilate sentences him to death, and appoints the company from Minoa to carry out the order.
Paulus, the second commander of Minoa, tells Marcellus of these orders and what they entitled, he tells Marcellus that he will want to be very drunk in order to perform this command.
They take this man, Jesus, to Golgotha to be crucified.
While he is dying on the cross, the soldiers gamble for his Robe. Marcellus wins it.
During this time, Demetrius was looking for Jesus trying to warn him of what they were going to do to him, but he was too late. So when he gets to the cross and sees him, he is sorrowful. When he sees Marcellus, he goes to him, and Marcellus gives him the Robe to take home.
After the crucifixion, the soldiers are invited to Pilate’s for a banquet.
While there the soldiers want to see the Robe and make Marcellus put it on. When he does he becomes mad. It makes him crazy. He tells Demetrius to destroy the Robe, but he keeps it as it gives him a sense of peace and love for all.
While they are still in Jerusalem, Marcellus is summoned home. They set back to Rome, but when they get there, Marcellus is still crazy, and his family is worried.
Senator Gallio calls Demetrius to his office to find out what happened. Demetrius tells him and they decided to send him to Athens. So that people don’t talk about him.
Demetrius takes Marcellus there and they are there for over half a year. Some adventures happen. They meet a Jewish cloth maker and Demetrius learns about Jesus.
One afternoon, Demetrius goes out for awhile and Marcellus finds the Robe while looking for his knife that Demetrius took for safe keeping. When he sees he is so scared. Then he touches it and is relieved of his present state of mind. He is calmed and healed. When Demetrius gets back and sees what happened, he is relieved. They get a summons from Tiberius to go back to Rome. It is delivered by Quintus, Gaius’ personal foot soldier who is only concerned with moving up in Gaius’ eyes.
Quintus insults the family that Marcellus is staying with and Demetrius beats him up because of it. Therefore Demetrius must leave. He decides he will go back to Jerusalem and learn more about Jesus and why he was so important.
Marcellus goes back to Rome and goes to Tiberius. When hearing the story of Marcellus’, he is interested and wants to know more. So he sends Marcellus back to Israel to learn about him.
Diana had interceded for Marcellus and told Tiberius that was who she wanted to marry.
So Marcellus goes and acts like a cloth merchant, but really searching for information on Jesus. He has many adventures. He meets back up with Demetrius, he witness Stephen being killed.
Then he goes home again when he has learned all he could. After he gets back and reports to Tiberius some of his learnings, he goes home to his family and Tiberius summons him again, then Tiberius dies. And Gaius is Emperor. He wants Diana. He also takes Demetrius, who had come back with Marcellus, and keeps him as his own.
Marcellus is sent home and on the way there, he jumps ship and comes to this little town of fruit pickers. He shares the gospel and the town is saved, he lives with the man in charge and takes care of his dealings. He lives there for awhile.
All the while, Diana is in danger. So Demetrius and Diana make a plan to escape. They jump the ledge and get to a boat and go away.
While they are in the boat and are searching for Marcellus, Gaius is killed.
They get to the town, where Marcellus is and Marcellus and Diana are married there.
They return to Rome, and now Caligula is Emperor. He is a mad, crazy man. He wants all the Christians dead.
Demetrius gets hurt and almost dies, but Peter the Apostle comes and heals him. Marcellus gets Demetrius away, and when Caligula hears that Marcellus is back, he brings him into custody and charges him with being a Christian.
When Marcellus is asked if he will renounce Jesus, and Marcellus says no, he condemns him to be killed.
Diana, who has been sitting at the table next to Caligula, hears this she stands up and says she wants to go with her husband, but Caligula didn’t charge her with anything, therefore he says no. So she gives him something to be charged with. She insults him and says that he should not be Emperor. So he sentences her.
That is the end.
I don’t know if they actually are killed or are saved, because I haven’t read the next book. But it was such a wonderful, exciting, awesome book. Please read it.
Well since I read the book and knew that there was a movie that was based on it, I had to see it and see if it would live up to the book. And just like every other movie that is based on a book, boy was I disappointed!! Pretty much the only thing they got right were the characters, and some of them weren’t even right!!
I sat there being disappointed, mad and upset that they didn’t do it right.
I couldn’t believe that Mr. Douglas would let them do that to his story. Just tear apart EVERYTHING and pretty much write their own version of what should happen.
I learned a lesson from this though. Watch the movie first, then read the book. The disappointment isn’t so great when it is done this way.
The movie was a good movie, but since I already knew how the story was supposed to be and it wasn’t that way, I didn’t like it.
There is a second book to “The Robe” entitled “The Big Fisherman”. I have not read it yet. There is also a second movie to “The Robe”, but it follows the movie, not the book.
Mr. Douglas did not give any studio rights to “The Big Fisherman” Therefore they couldn’t make a movie based on it. I think that he did that was because of what they did to the first movie.
The only movie I have seen that they followed the book exactly was “The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by Disney. That was almost word for word from the book.
I also found out that Mr. Douglas was born and grew up in the city that we live in!! How cool is that?? I was pretty excited when I found it out. He was a pastor and wrote another book about John the Baptist called "More than a Prophet".
Well I hope that is has excited you about reading “The Robe”. Just watch the movie first, or don’t watch it at all. You will be very disappointed if you do.
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