further unrest was triggered when an imperial slave named stephanus was robbed while travelling near beth-horon. troops sent by cumanus to arrest the leading men of the nearby villages began plundering the area. one of them, finding a copy of the torah, destroyed it in view of the villagers while shouting blasphemies. angered by this insult to god and to the jewish religion, a crowd of jews confronted cumanus at caesarea maritima, demanding that the guilty party should be punished. this time the governor acted decisively and ordered that the soldier responsible should be beheaded in front of his accusers, temporarily restoring the calm.