Interesting idea, Eriol! But there're practical difficulties. Many of the rebels will be young men, who won't have sons of a suitable age for crucifying. By the time the sons of rebels reach puberty, they're likely to have joined their fathers' bands. And this does nothing about the people who act like peace-loving citizens most of the time, but go out by night and conduct acts of sabotage or assults on occupying personnel.
Instead, let's enlist influential members of the community to help suppress rebellion, using the threat of crucifying their sons as a means of forcing them to assist us. Like—
"Let me explain why you've all been brought here today.
"There's been too much resistance to our authority here in this district. It needs to end, and we expect you, as some of the most influential and well-connected people in the district, to help us end it.
"So: Right now, ten young men, one from each of your families, are being taken to the capital. They'll be confined, but comfortably, and won't be ill-treated without cause. They're serving as hostages for the good behavior of the district.
"We've drawn up a list of all of their names, and I won't tell you the order. If there's a serious act of resistance, like sabotage or an attack on one of our personnel, then the person who's first on the list will be crucified. If there's a second act of resistance, then the second person on the list goes to the cross. And so forth...
"You've probably never seen an actual crucifixion, and most of what you know comes from religious literature and art. That means you've got some misconceptions about it. Let me tell you what actually happens.
"Your boy will be stripped naked in front of hundreds of jeering spectators—Jesus may have got a loincloth, but he won't. He'll be flung down on his back on the cross, and steel spikes like the one I'm holding here will be driven through his wrists and ankles, nailing him to the wood. His cross will then be planted upright, so all of his weight will be borne by those four nails. And he'll hang just like that, with no relief, until he dies, from a combination of heat stroke and dehydration and exhaustion.
"Crucifixion didn't seem all that bad for Jesus. On the pictures, he looks like he's suffering nothing worse than a moderately bad headache. He and the crucified thieves were able to have a pleasant little chat.
"That won't be the case with your boy. From the moment his cross is raised, he'll be screaming and crying and begging for mercy, at least until his throat and mouth are too parched to speak at all.
"Jesus died and was out of his pain within a few hours. Your boy won't be so lucky. It's unusual for someone on a cross to die in less than 24 hours, and your boys are all young and strong and healthy; they could easily last twice that long.
"So, if you care about your sons and brothers and nephews and cousins, try to keep them off those crosses. Make sure everybody in the community knows that it's a very bad idea to resist our authority and interfere with our operations.
"But, I hear you say, we can't stop every bad actor. That's true. But you can try to make sure that if someone has to be crucified, it won't be your boy.
"As I said, we've got a list with all of their names, and when we have to crucify someone, we crucify the one on the top of the list. That list order can be changed. Bring us the information we need to arrest a rebel or to stop an attack on us, and we'll move your boy to the bottom of the list, so he's last in line for crucifixion. Of course, if somebody else brings us information later, their hostage goes to the bottom and yours moves up a place—so you want to keep bringing us new information, to keep your boy from being pushed back up to the top of the list.
"Everything clear? Good. We hope that the misconduct ceases, so we can restore your boys to their families. Thanks for coming; and on your way out, take one of the nails from the basket by the door home with you, just to remind you of what's at stake."
"You've been so good and brave so far. You can take pride in that, but... I fear now I have to stretch and eventually split your nipples, I'm afraid. You ready?"
"Argh... I... I would prefer not but... is not that I have much choice, right? Oh gods, it's so painful and humiliating already, but... I think I can handle some nipple-pulling after all..."
