CHAPTER 1
ARCHELAUS MAKES A FUNERAL FEAST FOR THE PEOPLE, ON THE ACCOUNT OF HEROD. AFTER
WHICH A GREAT TUMULT IS RAISED BY THE MULTITUDE, AND HE SENDS THE SOLDIERS OUT
UPON THEM, WHO DESTROY ABOUT THREE THOUSAND OF THEM
1. Now the necessity which Archelaus was under of taking a journey to
Rome was the occasion of new disturbances; for when he had mourned for his father
seven days1 and had given a very expensive funeral
feast to the multitude, (which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of
the Jews, because they are forced to feast the multitude; for if any one omits
it, he is not esteemed a holy person,) he put on a white garment, and went up
to the temple, where the people accosted him with various acclamations. He also
spake kindly to the multitude from an elevated seat and a throne of gold, and
returned them thanks for the zeal they had shown about his father's funeral,
and the submission they had made to him, as if he were already settled in the
kingdom; but he told them withal, that he would not at present take upon him
either the authority of a king, or the names thereto belonging, until Caesar,
who is made lord of this whole affair by the testament, confirm the succession;
for that when the soldiers would have set the diadem on his head at Jericho,
he would not accept of it; but that he would make abundant requitals, not to
the soldiers only, but to the people, for their alacrity and good-will to him,
when the superior lords [the Romans] should have given him a complete title
to the kingdom; for that it should be his study to appear in all things better
than his father.
2. Upon this the multitude were pleased,
and presently made a trial of what he intended, by asking great things of him;
for some made a clamor that he would ease them in their taxes; others, that
he would take off the duties upon commodities; and some, that he would loose
those that were in prison; in all which cases he answered readily to their satisfaction,
in order to get the good-will of the multitude; after which he offered [the
proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his friends. And here it was that a great
many of those that desired innovations came in crowds towards the evening, and
began then to mourn on their own account, when the public mourning for the king
was over. These lamented those that were put to death by Herod, because they
had cut down the golden eagle that had been over the gate of the temple. Nor
was this mourning of a private nature, but the lamentations were very great,
the mourning solemn, and the weeping such as was loudly heard all over the city,
as being for those men who had perished for the laws of their country, and for
the temple. They cried out that a punishment ought to be inflicted for these
men upon those that were honored by Herod; and that, in the first place, the
man whom he had made high priest should be deprived; and that it was fit to
choose a person of greater piety and purity than he was.
3. At these clamors Archelaus was provoked,
but restrained himself from taking vengeance on the authors, on account of the
haste he was in of going to Rome, as fearing lest, upon his making war on the
multitude, such an action might detain him at home. Accordingly, he made trial
to quiet the innovators by persuasion, rather than by force, and sent his general
in a private way to them, and by him exhorted them to be quiet. But the seditious
threw stones at him, and drove him away, as he came into the temple, and before
he could say any thing to them. The like treatment they showed to others, who
came to them after him, many of which were sent by Archelaus, in order to reduce
them to sobriety, and these answered still on all occasions after a passionate
manner; and it openly appeared that they would not be quiet, if their numbers
were but considerable. And indeed, at the feast of unleavened bread, which was
now at hand, and is by the Jews called the Passover, and used to he celebrated
with a great number of sacrifices, an innumerable multitude of the people came
out of the country to worship; some of these stood in the temple bewailing the
rabbins [that had been put to death], and procured their sustenance by begging,
in order to support their sedition. At this Archelaus was affrighted, and privately
sent a tribune, with his cohort of soldiers, upon them, before the disease should
spread over the whole multitude, and gave orders that they should constrain
those that began the tumult, by force, to be quiet. At these the whole multitude
were irritated, and threw stones at many of the soldiers, and killed them; but
the tribune fled away wounded, and had much ado to escape so. After which they
betook themselves to their sacrifices, as if they had done no mischief; nor
did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without bloodshed;
so he sent his whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by the
way of the city, and the horsemen by the way of the plain, who, falling upon
them on the sudden, as they were offering their sacrifices, destroyed about
three thousand of them; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed upon the
adjoining mountains: these were followed by Archelaus's heralds, who commanded
every one to retire to their own homes, whither they all went, and left the
festival.
CHAPTER
2
ARCHELAUS GOES TO ROME WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF HIS KINDRED: HE IS THERE ACCUSED
BEFORE CAESAR BY ANTIPATER; BUT IS SUPERIOR TO HIS ACCUSERS IN JUDGMENT, BY
THE MEANS OF THAT DEFENCE WHICH NICOLAUS MADE FOR HIM
1. Archelaus went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his friends,
Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip, to be his steward
in the palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs. Salome went also along
with him with her sons, as did also the king's brethren and sons-in-law. These,
in appearance, went to give him all the assistance they were able, in order
to secure his succession, but in reality to accuse him for his breach of the
laws by what he had done at the temple.
2. But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabinus,
the procurator of Syria, met them; he was going up to Judea, to secure Herod's
effects; but Varus, [president of Syria,] who was come thither, restrained him
from going any farther. This Varus Archelaus had sent for, by the earnest entreaty
of Ptolemy. At this time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, neither went to
the citadels, nor did he shut up the treasuries where his father's money was
laid up, but promised that he would lie still, until Caesar should have taken
cognizance of the affair. So he abode at Cesarea; but as soon as those that
were his hindrance were gone, when Varus was gone to Antioch, and Archelaus
was sailed to Rome, he immediately went on to Jerusalem, and seized upon the
palace. And when he had called for the governors of the citadels, and the stewards
[of the king's private affairs], he tried to sift out the accounts of the money,
and to take possession of the citadels. But the governors of those citadels
were not unmindful of the commands laid upon them by Archelaus, and continued
to guard them, and said the custody of them rather belonged to Caesar than to
Archelaus.
3. In the mean time, Antipas went also to
Rome, to strive for the kingdom, and to insist that the former testament, wherein
he was named to be king, was valid before the latter testament. Salome had also
promised to assist him, as had many of Archelaus's kindred, who sailed along
with Archelaus himself also. He also carried along with him his mother, and
Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, who seemed one of great weight, on account
of the great trust Herod put in him, he having been one of his most honored
friends. However, Antipas depended chiefly upon Ireneus, the orator; upon whose
authority he had rejected such as advised him to yield to Archelaus, because
he was his elder brother, and because the second testament gave the kingdom
to him. The inclinations also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated him, were
removed to Antipas, when they came to Rome; although in the first place every
one rather desired to live under their own laws [without a king], and to be
under a Roman governor; but if they should fail in that point, these desired
that Antipas might be their king.
4. Sabinus did also afford these his assistance
to the same purpose by letters he sent, wherein he accused Archelaus before
Caesar, and highly commended Antipas. Salome also, and those with her, put the
crimes which they accused Archelaus of in order, and put them into Caesar's
hands; and after they had done that, Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his
claim, and, by Ptolemy, sent in his father's ring, and his father's accounts.
And when Caesar had maturely weighed by himself what both had to allege for
themselves, as also had considered of the great burden of the kingdom, and largeness
of the revenues, and withal the number of the children Herod had left behind
him, and had moreover read the letters he had received from Varus and Sabinus
on this occasion, he assembled the principal persons among the Romans together,
(in which assembly Caius, the son of Agrippa, and his daughter Julias, but by
himself adopted for his own son, sat in the first seat,) and gave the pleaders
leave to speak.
5. Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater,
(who of all Archelaus's antagonists was the shrewdest pleader,) and accused
him in the following speech: that Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom,
but that in deeds he had long exercised royal authority, and so did but insult
Caesar in desiring to be now heard on that account, since he had not staid for
his determination about the succession, and since he had suborned certain persons,
after Herod's death, to move for putting the diadem upon his head; since he
had set himself down in the throne, and given answers as a king, and altered
the disposition of the army, and granted to some higher dignities; that he had
also complied in all things with the people in the requests they had made to
him as to their king, and had also dismissed those that had been put into bonds
by his father for most important reasons. Now, after all this, he desires the
shadow of that royal authority, whose substance he had already seized to himself,
and so hath made Caesar lord, not of things, but of words. He also reproached
him further, that his mourning for his father was only pretended, while he put
on a sad countenance in the day time, but drank to great excess in the night;
from which behavior, he said, the late disturbance among the multitude came,
while they had an indignation thereat. And indeed the purport of his whole discourse
was to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple,
which multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the midst
of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number of dead bodies
heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war, that should come upon
them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have heaped together. And
he added, that it was the foresight his father had of that his barbarity which
made him never give him any hopes of the kingdom, but when his mind was more
infirm than his body, and he was not able to reason soundly, and did not well
know what was the character of that son, whom in his second testament he made
his successor; and this was done by him at a time when he had no complaints
to make of him whom he had named before, when he was sound in body, and when
his mind was free from all passion. That, however, if any one should suppose
Herod's judgment, when he was sick, was superior to that at another time, yet
had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his actions,
which were contrary to the law, and to its disadvantage. Or what sort of a king
will this man be, when he hath obtained the government from Caesar, who hath
slain so many before he hath obtained it!
6. When Antipater had spoken largely to
this purpose, and had produced a great number of Archelaus's kindred as witnesses,
to prove every part of the accusation, he ended his discourse. Then stood up
Nicolaus to plead for Archelaus. He alleged that the slaughter in the temple
could not be avoided; that those that were slain were become enemies not to
Archelaus's kingdom, only, but to Caesar, who was to determine about him. He
also demonstrated that Archelaus's accusers had advised him to perpetrate other
things of which he might have been accused. But he insisted that the latter
testament should, for this reason, above all others, be esteemed valid, because
Herod had therein appointed Caesar to be the person who should confirm the succession;
for he who showed such prudence as to recede from his own power, and yield it
up to the lord of the world, cannot be supposed mistaken in his judgment about
him that was to be his heir; and he that so well knew whom to choose for arbitrator
of the succession could not be unacquainted with him whom he chose for his successor.
7. When Nicolaus had gone through all he
had to say, Archelaus came, and fell down before Caesar's knees, without any
noise;—upon which he raised him up, after a very obliging manner, and declared
that truly he was worthy to succeed his father. However, he still made no firm
determination in his case; but when he had dismissed those assessors that had
been with him that day, he deliberated by himself about the allegations which
he had heard, whether it were fit to constitute any of those named in the testaments
for Herod's successor, or whether the government should be parted among all
his posterity, and this because of the number of those that seemed to stand
in need of support therefrom.
CHAPTER
3
THE JEWS FIGHT A GREAT BATTLE WITH SABINUS'S SOLDIERS, AND A GREAT DESTRUCTION
IS MADE AT JERUSALEM
1. Now before Caesar had determined any thing about these affairs, Malthace,
Archelaus's mother, fell sick and died. Letters also were brought out of Syria
from Varus, about a revolt of the Jews. This was foreseen by Varus, who accordingly,
after Archelaus was sailed, went up to Jerusalem to restrain the promoters of
the sedition, since it was manifest that the nation would not he at rest; so
he left one of those legions which he brought with him out of Syria in the city,
and went himself to Antioch. But Sabinus came, after he was gone, and gave them
an occasion of making innovations; for he compelled the keepers of the citadels
to deliver them up to him, and made a bitter search after the king's money,
as depending not only on the soldiers which were left by Varus, but on the multitude
of his own servants, all which he armed and used as the instruments of his covetousness.
Now when that feast, which was observed after seven weeks, and which the Jews
called Pentecost, (i.e., the 50th day,) was at hand, its name being taken from
the number of the days [after the Passover], the people got together, but not
on account of the accustomed Divine worship, but of the indignation they had
[at the present state of affairs]. Wherefore an immense multitude ran together,
out of Galilee, and Idumea, and Jericho, and Perea, that was beyond Jordan;
but the people that naturally belonged to Judea itself were above the rest,
both in number, and in the alacrity of the men. So they distributed themselves
into three parts, and pitched their camps in three places; one at the north
side of the temple, another at the south side, by the hippodrome, and the third
part were at the palace on the west. So they lay round about the Romans on every
side, and besieged them.
2. Now Sabinus was affrighted, both at their
multitude, and at their courage, and sent messengers to Varus continually, and
besought him to come to his succor quickly; for that if he delayed, his legion
would be cut to pieces. As for Sabinus himself, he got up to the highest tower
of the fortress, which was called Phasaelus; it is of the same name with Herod's
brother, who was destroyed by the Parthians; and then he made signs to the soldiers
of that legion to attack the enemy; for his astonishment was so great, that
he durst not go down to his own men. Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed upon,
and leaped out into the temple, and fought a terrible battle with the Jews;
in which, while there were none over their heads to distress them, they were
too hard for them, by their skill, and the others' want of skill, in war; but
when once many of the Jews had gotten up to the top of the cloisters, and threw
their darts downwards, upon the heads of the Romans, there were a great many
of them destroyed. Nor was it easy to avenge themselves upon those that threw
their weapons from on high, nor was it more easy for them to sustain those who
came to fight them hand to hand.
3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely
afflicted by both these circumstances, they set fire to the cloisters, which
were works to be admired, both on account of their magnitude and costliness.
Whereupon those that were above them were presently encompassed with the flame,
and many of them perished therein; as many of them also were destroyed by the
enemy, who came suddenly upon them; some of them also threw themselves down
from the walls backward, and some there were who, from the desperate condition
they were in, prevented the fire, by killing themselves with their own swords;
but so many of them as crept out from the walls, and came upon the Romans, were
easily mastered by them, by reason of the astonishment they were under; until
at last some of the Jews being destroyed, and others dispersed by the terror
they were in, the soldiers fell upon the treasure of God, which w now deserted,
and plundered about four hundred talents, Of which sum Sabinus got together
all that was not carried away by the soldiers.
4. However, this destruction of the works
[about the temple], and of the men, occasioned a much greater number, and those
of a more warlike sort, to get together, to oppose the Romans. These encompassed
the palace round, and threatened to deploy all that were in it, unless they
went their ways quickly; for they promised that Sabinus should come to no harm,
if he would go out with his legion. There were also a great many of the king's
party who deserted the Romans, and assisted the Jews; yet did the most warlike
body of them all, who were three thousand of the men of Sebaste, go over to
the Romans. Rufus also, and Gratus, their captains, did the same, (Gratus having
the foot of the king's party under him, and Rufus the horse,) each of whom,
even without the forces under them, were of great weight, on account of their
strength and wisdom, which turn the scales in war. Now the Jews in the siege,
and tried to break down walls of the fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and
his party, that they should go their ways, and not prove a hindrance to them,
now they hoped, after a long time, to recover that ancient liberty which their
forefathers had enjoyed. Sabinus indeed was well contented to get out of the
danger he was in, but he distrusted the assurances the Jews gave him, and suspected
such gentle treatment was but a bait laid as a snare for them: this consideration,
together with the hopes he had of succor from Varus, made him bear the siege
still longer.
CHAPTER
4
HEROD'S VETERAN SOLDIERS BECOME TUMULTUOUS. THE ROBBERIES OF JUDAS. SIMON AND
ATHRONGEUS TAKE THE NAME OF KING UPON THEM
1. At this time there were great disturbances in the country, and that
in many places; and the opportunity that now offered itself induced a great
many to set up for kings. And indeed in Idumea two thousand of Herod's veteran
soldiers got together, and armed and fought against those of the king's party;
against whom Achiabus, the king's first cousin, fought, and that out of some
of the places that were the most strongly fortified; but so as to avoid a direct
conflict with them in the plains. In Sepphoris also, a city of Galilee, there
was one Judas (the son of that arch-robber Hezekias, who formerly overran the
country, and had been subdued by king Herod); this man got no small multitude
together, and brake open the place where the royal armor was laid up, and armed
those about him, and attacked those that were so earnest to gain the dominion.
2. In Perea also, Simon, one of the servants
to the king, relying upon the handsome appearance and tallness of his body,
put a diadem upon his own head also; he also went about with a company of robbers
that he had gotten together, and burnt down the royal palace that was at Jericho,
and many other costly edifices besides, and procured himself very easily spoils
by rapine, as snatching them out of the fire. And he had soon burnt down all
the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of the foot of the king's party, had
not taken the Trachonite archers, and the most warlike of Sebaste, and met the
man. His footmen were slain in the battle in abundance; Gratus also cut to pieces
Simon himself, as he was flying along a strait valley, when he gave him an oblique
stroke upon his neck, as he ran away, and brake it. The royal palaces that were
near Jordan at Betharamptha, were also burnt down by some other of the seditious
that came out of Perea.
3. At this time it was that a certain shepherd
ventured to set himself up for a king; he was called Athrongeus. It was his
strength of body that made him expect such a dignity, as well as his soul, which
despised death; and besides these qualifications, he had four brethren like
himself. He put a troop of armed men under each of these his brethren, and made
use of them as his generals and commanders, when he made his incursions, while
he did himself act like a king, and meddled only with the more important affairs;
and at this time he put a diadem about his head, and continued after that to
overrun the country for no little time with his brethren, and became their leader
in killing both the Romans and those of the king's party; nor did any Jew escape
him, if any gain could accrue to him thereby. He once ventured to encompass
a whole troop of Romans at Emmaus, who were carrying corn and weapons to their
legion; his men therefore shot their arrows and darts, and thereby slew their
centurion Arius, and forty of the stoutest of his men, while the rest of them,
who were in danger of the same fate, upon the coming of Gratus, with those of
Sebaste, to their assistance, escaped. And when these men had thus served both
their own countrymen and foreigners, and that through this whole war, three
of them were, after some time, subdued; the eldest by Archelaus, the two next
by falling into the hands of Gratus and Ptolemeus; but the fourth delivered
himself up to Archelaus, upon his giving him his right hand for his security.
However, this their end was not till afterward, while at present they filled
all Judea with a piratic war.
CHAPTER
5
VARUS COMPOSES THE TUMULTS IN JUDEA, AND CRUCIFIES ABOUT TWO THOUSAND OF THE
SEDITIOUS
1. Upon Varus's reception of the letters that were written by Sabinus
and the captains, he could not avoid being afraid for the whole legion [he had
left there]. So he made haste to their relief, and took with him the other two
legions, with the four troops of horsemen to them belonging, and marched to
Ptolemais—having given orders for the auxiliaries that were sent by the kings
and governors of cities to meet him there. Moreover, he received from the people
of Berytus, as he passed through their city, fifteen hundred armed men. Now
as soon as the other body of auxiliaries were come to Ptolemais, as well as
Aretas the Arabian, (who, out of the hatred he bore to Herod, brought a great
army of horse and foot,) Varus sent a part of his army presently to Galilee,
which lay near to Ptolemais, and Caius, one of his friends, for their captain.
This Caius put those that met him to flight, and took the city Sepphoris, and
burnt it, and made slaves of its inhabitants; but as for Varus himself, he marched
to Samaria with his whole army, where he did not meddle with the city itself,
because he found that it had made no commotion during these troubles, but pitched
his camp about a certain village which was called Aras. It belonged to Ptolemy,
and on that account was plundered by the Arabians, who were very angry even
at Herod's friends also. He thence marched on to the village Sampho, another
fortified place, which they plundered, as they had done the other. As they carried
off all the money they lighted upon belonging to the public revenues, all was
now full of fire and blood-shed, and nothing could resist the plunders of the
Arabians. Emmaus was also burnt, upon the flight of its inhabitants, and this
at the command of Varus, out of his rage at the slaughter of those that were
about Arias.
2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, and
as soon as he was but seen by the Jews, he made their camps disperse themselves;
they also went away, and fled up and down the country. But the citizens received
him, and cleared themselves of having any hand in this revolt, and said that
they had raised no commotions, but had only been forced to admit the multitude,
because of the festival, and that they were rather besieged together with the
Romans, than assisted those that had revolted. There had before this met him
Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and Gratus, together with Rufus, who
led those of Sebaste, as well as the king's army: there also met him those of
the Roman legion, armed after their accustomed manner; for as to Sabinus, he
durst not come into Varus's sight, but was gone out of the city before this,
to the sea-side. But Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against
those that had been the authors of this commotion, and as they caught great
numbers of them, those that appeared to have been the least concerned in these
tumults he put into custody, but such as were the most guilty he crucified;
these were in number about two thousand.
3. He was also informed that there continued
in Idumea ten thousand men still in arms; but when he found that the Arabians
did not act like auxiliaries, but managed the war according to their own passions,
and did mischief to the country otherwise than he intended, and this out of
their hatred to Herod, he sent them away, but made haste, with his own legions,
to march against those that had revolted; but these, by the advice of Achiabus,
delivered themselves up to him before it came to a battle. Then did Varus forgive
the multitude their offenses, but sent their captains to Caesar to be examined
by him. Now Caesar forgave the rest, but gave orders that certain of the king's
relations (for some of those that were among them were Herod's kinsmen) should
be put to death, because they had engaged in a war against a king of their own
family. When therefore Varus had settled matters at Jerusalem after this manner,
and had left the former legion there as a garrison, he returned to Antioch.
CHAPTER
6
THE JEWS GREATLY COMPLAIN OF ARCHELAUS, AND DESIRE THAT THEY MAY BE MADE SUBJECT
TO ROMAN GOVERNORS. BUT WHEN CAESAR HAD HEARD WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY, HE DISTRIBUTED
HEROD'S DOMINIONS AMONG HIS SONS, ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PLEASURE
1. But now came another accusation from the Jews against Archelaus at
Rome, which he was to answer to. It was made by those ambassadors who, before
the revolt, had come, by Varus's permission, to plead for the liberty of their
country; those that came were fifty in number, but there were more than eight
thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported them. And when Caesar had assembled
a council of the principal Romans in Apollo's2 temple,
that was in the palace, (this was what he had himself built and adorned, at
a vast expense,) the multitude of the Jews stood with the ambassadors, and on
the other side stood Archelaus, with his friends; but as for the kindred of
Archelaus, they stood on neither side; for to stand on Archelaus's side, their
hatred to him, and envy at him, would not give them leave, while yet they were
afraid to be seen by Caesar with his accusers. Besides these, there were present
Archelaus's brother Philip, being sent thither beforehand, out of kindness by
Varus, for two reasons: the one was this, that he might be assisting to Archelaus;
and the other was this, that in case Caesar should make a distribution of what
Herod possessed among his posterity, he might obtain some share of it.
2. And now, upon the permission that was
given the accusers to speak, they, in the first place, went over Herod's breaches
of their law, and said that be was not a king, but the most barbarous of all
tyrants, and that they had found him to be such by the sufferings they underwent
from him; that when a very great number had been slain by him, those that were
left had endured such miseries, that they called those that were dead happy
men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his subjects, but entire cities,
and had done much harm to the cities of his own country, while he adorned those
that belonged to foreigners; and he shed the blood of Jews, in order to do kindnesses
to those people that were out of their bounds; that he had filled the nation
full of poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness and
those laws which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in short, the Jews had borne
more calamities from Herod, in a few years, than had their forefathers during
all that interval of time that had passed since they had come out of Babylon,
and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes:3 that,
however, the nation was come to so low a condition, by being inured to hardships,
that they submitted to his successor of their own accord, though he brought
them into bitter slavery; that accordingly they readily called Archelaus, though
he was the son of so great a tyrant, king, after the decease of his father,
and joined with him in mourning for the death of Herod, and in wishing him good
success in that his succession; while yet this Archelaus, lest he should be
in danger of not being thought the genuine son of Herod, began his reign with
the murder of three thousand citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many
bloody sacrifices to God for his government, and to fill the temple with the
like number of dead bodies at that festival: that, however, those that were
left after so many miseries, had just reason to consider now at last the calamities
they had undergone, and to oppose themselves, like soldiers in war, to receive
those stripes upon their faces [but not upon their backs, as hitherto]. Whereupon
they prayed that the Romans would have compassion upon the [poor] remains of
Judea, and not expose what was left of them to such as barbarously tore them
to pieces, and that they would join their country to Syria, and administer the
government by their own commanders, whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated
that those who are now under the calumny of seditious persons, and lovers of
war, know how to bear governors that are set over them, if they be but tolerable
ones. So the Jews concluded their accusation with this request. Then rose up
Nicolaus, and confuted the accusations which were brought against the kings,
and himself accused the Jewish nation, as hard to be ruled, and as naturally
disobedient to kings. He also reproached all those kinsmen of Archelaus who
had left him, and were gone over to his accusers.
3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides,
dissolved the assembly for that time; but a few days afterward, he gave the
one half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by the name of ethnarch, and promised
to make him king also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy of that dignity.
But as to the other half, he divided it into two tetrarchies, and gave them
to two other sons of Herod, the one of them to Philip, and the other to that
Antipas who contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this last was Perea
and Galilee, with a revenue of two hundred talents; but Batanea, and Trachonitis,
and Auranitis, and certain parts of Zeno's house about Jamnia, with a revenue
of a hundred talents, were made subject to Philip; while Idumea, and all Judea,
and Samaria were parts of the ethnarchy of Archelaus, although Samaria was eased
of one quarter of its taxes, out of regard to their not having revolted with
the rest of the nation. He also made subject to him the following cities, viz.,
Strato's Tower, and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem; but as to the Grecian
cities, Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from the kingdom, and
added them to Syria. Now the revenue of the country that was given to Archelaus
was four hundred talents. Salome also, besides what the king had left her in
his testaments, was now made mistress of Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis.
Caesar did moreover bestow upon her the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which
she got together a revenue of sixty talents; but he put her house under the
ethnarchy of Archelaus. And for the rest of Herod's offspring, they received
what was bequeathed to them in his testaments; but, besides that, Caesar granted
to Herod's two virgin daughters five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver,
and gave them in marriage to the sons of Pheroras: but after this family distribution,
he gave between them what had been bequeathed to him by Herod, which was a thousand
talents, reserving to himself only some inconsiderable presents, in honor of
the deceased.
CHAPTER
7
THE HISTORY OF THE SPURIOUS ALEXANDER. ARCHELAUS IS BANISHED, AND GLAPHYRA DIES,
AFTER WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN TO BOTH OF THEM HAD BEEN SHOWN THEM IN DREAMS
1. In the meantime, there was a man, who was by birth a Jew, but brought
up at Sidon with one of the Roman freed-men, who falsely pretended, on account
of the resemblance of their countenances, that he was that Alexander who was
slain by Herod. This man came to Rome, in hopes of not being detected. He had
one who was his assistant, of his own nation, and who knew all the affairs of
the kingdom, and instructed him to say how those that were sent to kill him
and Aristobulus had pity upon them, and stole them away, by putting bodies that
were like theirs in their places. This man deceived the Jews that were at Crete,
and got a great deal of money of them for traveling in splendor; and thence
sailed to Melos, where he was thought so certainly genuine, that he got a great
deal more money, and prevailed with those that had treated him to sail along
with him to Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia, [Puteoli,] and got very large
presents from the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted by his father's friends
as if he were a king; nay, the resemblance in his countenance procured him so
much credit, that those who had seen Alexander, and had known him very well,
would take their oaths that he was the very same person. Accordingly, the whole
body of the Jews that were at Rome ran out in crowds to see him, and an innumerable
multitude there was which stood in the narrow places through which he was carried;
for those of Melos were so far distracted, that they carried him in a sedan,
and maintained a royal attendance for him at their own proper charges.
2. But Caesar, who knew perfectly well the
lineaments of Alexander's face, because he had been accused by Herod before
him, discerned the fallacy in his countenance, even before he saw the man. However,
he suffered the agreeable fame that went of him to have some weight with him,
and sent Celadus, one who well knew Alexander, and ordered him to bring the
young man to him. But when Caesar saw him, he immediately discerned a difference
in his countenance; and when he had discovered that his whole body was of a
more robust texture, and like that of a slave, he understood the whole was a
contrivance. But the impudence of what he said greatly provoked him to be angry
at him; for when he was asked about Aristobulus, he said that he was also preserved
alive, and was left on purpose in Cyprus, for fear of treachery, because it
would be harder for plotters to get them both into their power while they were
separate. Then did Caesar take him by himself privately, and said to him, "I
will give thee thy life, if thou wilt discover who it was that persuaded thee
to forge such stories." So he said that he would discover him, and followed
Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who abused the resemblance of his face to get
money; for that he had received more presents in every city than ever Alexander
did when he was alive. Caesar laughed at the contrivance, and put this spurious
Alexander among his rowers, on account of the strength of his body, but ordered
him that persuaded him to be put to death. But for the people of Melos, they
had been sufficiently punished for their folly, by the expenses they had been
at on his account.
3. And now Archelaus took possession of
his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews only, but the Samaritans also, barbarously;
and this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him. Whereupon they
both of them sent ambassadors against him to Caesar; and in the ninth year of
his government he was banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul, and his effects were
put into Caesar's treasury. But the report goes, that before he was sent for
by Caesar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn, full and large, but devoured
by oxen. When, therefore, he had sent for the diviners, and some of the Chaldeans,
and inquired of them what they thought it portended; and when one of them had
one interpretation, and another had another, Simon, one of the sect of Essens,
said that he thought the ears of corn denoted years, and the oxen denoted a
mutation of things, because by their ploughing they made an alteration of the
country. That therefore he should reign as many years as there were ears of
corn; and after he had passed through various alterations of fortune, should
die. Now five days after Archelaus had heard this interpretation he was called
to his trial.
4. I cannot also but think it worthy to
be recorded what dream Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia,
had, who had at first been wife to Alexander, who was the brother of Archelaus,
concerning whom we have been discoursing. This Alexander was the son of Herod
the king, by whom he was put to death, as we have already related. This Glaphyra
was married, after his death, to Juba, king of Libya; and, after his death,
was returned home, and lived a widow with her father. Then it was that Archelaus,
the ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply in love with her, that he divorced
Mariamne, who was then his wife, and married her. When, therefore, she was come
into Judea, and had been there for a little while, she thought she saw Alexander
stand by her, and that he said to her; "Thy marriage with the king of Libya
might have been sufficient for thee; but thou wast not contented with him, but
art returned again to my family, to a third husband; and him, thou impudent
woman, hast thou chosen for thine husband, who is my brother. However, I shall
not overlook the injury thou hast offered me; I shall [soon] have thee again,
whether thou wilt or no." Now Glaphyra hardly survived the narration of this
dream of hers two days.
CHAPTER
8
ARCHELAUS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO A [ROMAN] PROVINCE. THE SEDITION OF JUDAS
OF GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS OF THE JEWS
1. And now Archelaus's part of Judea was reduced into a province, and
Coponius, one of the equestrian order among the Romans, was sent as a procurator,
having the power of [life and] death put into his hands by Caesar. Under his
administration it was that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed
with his countrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they would endure
to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their
lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at
all like the rest of those their leaders.
2. For there are three philosophical sects
among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the
second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline,
are called Essens. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater
affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essens reject pleasures
as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be
virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they
are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and
form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness
of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard
against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them
preserve their fidelity to one man.
3. These men are despisers of riches, and
so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found
among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those
who come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order,—insomuch
that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches,
but every one's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions;
and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren. They think
that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be anointed without his own
approbation, it is wiped off his body; for they think to be sweaty is a good
thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments. They also have stewards
appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them have no
separate business for any, but what is for the uses of them all.
4. They have no one certain city, but many
of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from other places,
what they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go
in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted
with them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they travel
into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with them, for fear
of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one appointed
particularly to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries
for them. But the habit and management of their bodies is such as children use
who are in fear of their masters. Nor do they allow of the change of or of shoes
till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either buy or
sell any thing to one another; but every one of them gives what he hath to him
that wanteth it, and receives from him again in lieu of it what may be convenient
for himself; and although there be no requital made, they are fully allowed
to take what they want of whomsoever they please.
5. And as for their piety towards God, it
is very extraordinary; for before sun-rising they speak not a word about profane
matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers,
as if they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them
are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein they
are skilled, in which they labor with great diligence till the fifth hour. After
which they assemble themselves together again into one place; and when they
have clothed themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold
water. And after this purification is over, they every one meet together in
an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another
sect to enter; while they go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as
into a certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves down; upon which the
baker lays them loaves in order; the cook also brings a single plate of one
sort of food, and sets it before every one of them; but a priest says grace
before meat; and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace
be said. The same priest, when he hath dined, says grace again after meat; and
when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows their
food upon them; after which they lay aside their [white] garments, and betake
themselves to their labors again till the evening; then they return home to
supper, after the same manner; and if there be any strangers there, they sit
down with them. Nor is there ever any clamor or disturbance to pollute their
house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn; which silence thus
kept in their house appears to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the
cause of which is that perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled
measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly
sufficient for them.
6. And truly, as for other things, they
do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators; only these two
things are done among them at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist
those that want it, and to show mercy; for they are permitted of their own accord
to afford succor to such as deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and to
bestow food on those that are in distress; but they cannot give any thing to
their kindred without the curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner,
and restrain their passion. They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers
of peace; whatsoever they say also is firmer than an oath; but swearing is avoided
by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury;4 for
they say that he who cannot be believed without [swearing by] God is already
condemned. They also take great pains in studying the writings of the ancients,
and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of their soul and body;
and they inquire after such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers.
7. But now if any one hath a mind to come
over to their sect, he is not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the
same method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded;
and they give him also a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned girdle, and the
white garment. And when he hath given evidence, during that time, that he can
observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and is
made a partaker of the waters of purification; yet is he not even now admitted
to live with them; for after this demonstration of his fortitude, his temper
is tried two more years; and if he appear to be worthy, they then admit him
into their society. And before he is allowed to touch their common food, he
is obliged to take tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercise
piety towards God, and then that he will observe justice towards men, and that
he will do no harm to any one, either of his own accord, or by the command of
others; that he will always hate the wicked, and be assistant to the righteous;
that he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority,
because no one obtains the government without God's assistance; and that if
he be in authority, he will at no time whatever abuse his authority, nor endeavor
to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other finery; that he
will be perpetually a lover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those
that tell lies; that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from
unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his
own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though anyone
should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to
communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them
himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve the books
belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels5
[or messengers]. These are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes to
themselves.
8. But for those that are caught in any
heinous sins, they cast them out of their society; and he who is thus separated
from them does often die after a miserable manner; for as he is bound by the
oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been engaged in, he is not at
liberty to partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is forced
to eat grass, and to famish his body with hunger, till he perish; for which
reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp, out
of compassion to them, as thinking the miseries they have endured till they
came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment for the sins they
had been guilty of.
9. But in the judgments they exercise they
are most accurate and just, nor do they pass sentence by the votes of a court
that is fewer than a hundred. And as to what is once determined by that number,
it is unalterable. What they most of all honor, after God himself, is the name
of their legislator [Moses], whom if any one blaspheme he is punished capitally.
They also think it a good thing to obey their elders, and the major part. Accordingly,
if ten of them be sitting together, no one of them will speak while the other
nine are against it. They also avoid spitting in the midst of them, or on the
right side. Moreover, they are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting
from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get their food ready
the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but
they will not remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon. Nay,
on other days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a paddle (which kind of
hatchet is given them when they are first admitted among them); and covering
themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront the Divine rays
of light, they ease themselves into that pit, after which they put the earth
that was dug out again into the pit; and even this they do only in the more
lonely places, which they choose out for this purpose; and although this easement
of the body be natural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after
it, as if it were a defilement to them.
10. Now after the time of their preparatory
trial is over, they are parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors
inferior to the seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by the juniors,
they must wash themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves with the company
of a foreigner. They are long-lived also, insomuch that many of them live above
a hundred years, by means of the simplicity of their diet; nay, as I think,
by means of the regular course of life they observe also. They contemn the miseries
of life, and are above pain, by the generosity of their mind. And as for death,
if it will be for their glory, they esteem it better than living always; and
indeed our war with the Romans gave abundant evidence what great souls they
had in their trials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, burnt
and torn to pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments of torment, that
they might be forced either to blaspheme their legislator, or to eat what was
forbidden them, yet could they not be made to do either of them, no, nor once
to flatter their tormentors, or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their very
pains, and laughed those to scorn who inflicted the torments upon them, and
resigned up their souls with great alacrity, as expecting to receive them again.
11. For their doctrine is this: that bodies
are corruptible, and that the matter they are made of is not permanent; but
that the souls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come out of
the most subtile air, and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which
they are drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are set free
from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice
and mount upward. And this is like the opinions of the Greeks, that good souls
have their habitations beyond the ocean, in a region that is neither oppressed
with storms of rain or snow, or with intense heat, but that this place is such
as is refreshed by the gentle breathing of a west wind, that is perpetually
blowing from the ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous
den, full of never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeks seem to me to
have followed the same notion, when they allot the islands of the blessed to
their brave men, whom they call heroes and demi-gods; and to the souls of the
wicked, the region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their fables relate that
certain persons, such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus, are
punished; which is built on this first supposition, that souls are immortal;
and thence are those exhortations to virtue and dehortations from wickedness
collected; whereby good men are bettered in the conduct of their life by the
hope they have of reward after their death; and whereby the vehement inclinations
of bad men to vice are restrained, by the fear and expectation they are in,
that although they should lie concealed in this life, they should suffer immortal
punishment after their death. These are the Divine doctrines of the Essens6
about the soul, which lay an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste
of their philosophy.
12. There are also those among them who
undertake to foretell things to come,7 by reading
the holy books, and using several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually
conversant in the discourses of the prophets; and it is but seldom that they
miss in their predictions.
13. Moreover, there is another order of
Essens, who agree with the rest as to their way of living, and customs, and
laws, but differ from them in the point of marriage, as thinking that by not
marrying they cut off the principal part of human life, which is the prospect
of succession; nay, rather, that if all men should be of the same opinion, the
whole race of mankind would fail. However, they try their spouses for three
years; and if they find that they have their natural purgations thrice, as trials
that they are likely to be fruitful, they then actually marry them. But they
do not use to accompany with their wives when they are with child, as a demonstration
that they do not many out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of posterity.
Now the women go into the baths with some of their garments on, as the men do
with somewhat girded about them. And these are the customs of this order of
Essens.
14. But then as to the two other orders
at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skilful in
the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe
all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is
right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does
co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that
the souls8 of good men only are removed into other
bodies,—but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment. But
the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely,
and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil;
and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice,
and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as
they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the
soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are
friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for
the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some
degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is
as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say
concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.
CHAPTER
9
THE DEATH OF SALOME. THE CITIES WHICH HEROD AND PHILIP BUILT. PILATE OCCASIONS
DISTURBANCES. TIBERIUS PUTS AGRIPPA INTO BONDS, BUT CAIUS FREES HIM FROM THEM
AND MAKES HIM KING. HEROD ANTIPAS IS BANISHED
1. And now as the ethnarchy of Archelaus was fallen into a Roman province,
the other sons of Herod, Philip, and that Herod who was called Antipas, each
of them took upon them the administration of their own tetrarchies; for when
Salome died, she bequeathed to Julia, the wife of Augustus, both her toparchy,
and Jamnia, as also her plantation of palm trees that were in Phasaelis.9
But when the Roman empire was translated to Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon
the death of Augustus, who had reigned fifty-seven years, six months, and two
days, both Herod and Philip continued in their tetrarchies; and the latter of
them built the city Cesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of
Paneas; as also the city Julias, in the lower Gaulonitis. Herod also built the
city Tiberius in Galilee, and in Perea [beyond Jordan] another that was also
called Julias.
2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator
into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar that are called
ensigns into Jerusalem. This excited a very among great tumult among the Jews
when it was day; for those that were near them were astonished at the sight
of them, as indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws
do not permit any sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay, besides the
indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast number
of people came running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to
Cesarea, and besought him to carry those ensigns out of Jerusalem, and to preserve
them their ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate's denial of their request,
they fell down prostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture
for five days and as many nights.
3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal,
in the open market-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give
them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all
by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band of soldiers
stood round about the Jews in three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation
at that unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them that they should be cut in
pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar's images, and gave intimation to the
soldiers to draw their naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal,
fell down in vast numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried
out that they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their law should be transgressed.
Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their prodigious superstition, and
gave order that the ensigns should be presently carried out of Jerusalem.
4. After this he raised another disturbance,
by expending that sacred treasure which is called Corban10
upon aqueducts, whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundred furlongs.
At this the multitude had indignation; and when Pilate was come to Jerusalem,
they came about his tribunal, and made a clamor at it. Now when he was apprised
aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor with
the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the habits of private
men, and not indeed to use their swords, but with their staves to beat those
that made the clamor. He then gave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he
had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them perished
by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death
by themselves; by which means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of
those that were slain, and held their peace.
5. In the mean time Agrippa, the son of
that Aristobulus who had been slain by his father Herod, came to Tiberius, to
accuse Herod the tetrarch; who not admitting of his accusation, he staid at
Rome, and cultivated a friendship with others of the men of note, but principally
with Caius the son of Germanicus, who was then but a private person. Now this
Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted Caius; and as he was very complaisant to
him on several other accounts, he at length stretched out his hands, and openly
wished that Tiberius might die, and that he might quickly see him emperor of
the world. This was told to Tiberius by one of Agrippa's domestics, who thereupon
was very angry, and ordered Agrippa to be bound, and had him very ill-treated
in the prison for six months, until Tiberius died, after he had reigned twenty-two
years, six months, and three days.
6. But when Caius was made Caesar, he released
Agrippa from his bonds, and made him king of Philip's tetrarchy, who was now
dead; but when Agrippa had arrived at that degree of dignity, he inflamed the
ambitious desires of Herod the tetrarch, who was chiefly induced to hope for
the royal authority by his wife Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth,
and told him that it was only because he would not sail to Caesar that he was
destitute of that great dignity; for since Caesar had made Agrippa a king, from
a private person, much more would he advance him from a tetrarch to that dignity.
These arguments prevailed with Herod, so that he came to Caius, by whom he was
punished for his ambition, by being banished into Spain; for Agrippa followed
him, in order to accuse him; to whom also Caius gave his tetrarchy, by way of
addition. So Herod died in Spain, whither his wife had followed him.
CHAPTER
10
CAIUS COMMANDS THAT HIS STATUE SHOULD BE SET UP IN THE TEMPLE ITSELF; AND WHAT
PETRONIUS DID THEREUPON
1. Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at,
as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut
off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his
impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem,
to place his statues in the temple,11 and commanded
him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that
opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity: but God concerned
himself with these his commands. However, Petronius marched out of Antioch into
Judea, with three legions, and many Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the Jews,
some of them could not believe the stories that spake of a war; but those that
did believe them were in the utmost distress how to defend themselves, and the
terror diffused itself presently through them all; for the army was already
come to Ptolemais.
2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of
Galilee, built in the great plain. It is encompassed with mountains: that on
the east side, sixty furlongs off, belongs to Galilee; but that on the south
belongs to Carmel, which is distant from it a hundred and twenty furlongs; and
that on the north is the highest of them all, and is called by the people of
the country, The Ladder of the Tyrians, which is at the distance of a hundred
furlongs. The very small river Belus12 runs by it,
at the distance of two furlongs; near which there is Memnon's monument,13
and hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, which deserves admiration;
for the place is round and hollow, and affords such sand as glass is made of;
which place, when it hath been emptied by the many ships there loaded, it is
filled again by the winds, which bring into it, as it were on purpose, that
sand which lay remote, and was no more than bare common sand, while this mine
presently turns it into glassy sand. And what is to me still more wonderful,
that glassy sand which is superfluous, and is once removed out of the place,
becomes bare common sand again. And this is the nature of the place we are speaking
of.
3. But now the Jews got together in great
numbers with their wives and children into that plain that was by Ptolemais,
and made supplication to Petronius, first for their laws, and, in the next place,
for themselves. So he was prevailed upon by the multitude of the supplicants,
and by their supplications, and left his army and the statues at Ptolemais,
and then went forward into Galilee, and called together the multitude and all
the men of note to Tiberias, and showed them the power of the Romans, and the
threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved that their petition was unreasonable,
because while all the nations in subjection to them had placed the images of
Caesar in their several cities, among the rest of their gods, for them alone
to oppose it, was almost like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to
Caesar.
4. And when they insisted on their law,
and the custom of their country, and how it was not only not permitted them
to make either an image of God, or indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable
part of their country, much less in the temple itself, Petronius replied, "And
am not I also," said he, "bound to keep the law of my own lord? For if I transgress
it, and spare you, it is but just that I perish; while he that sent me, and
not I, will commence a war against you; for I am under command as well as you."
Hereupon the whole multitude cried out that they were ready to suffer for their
law. Petronius then quieted them, and said to them, "Will you then make war
against Caesar?" The Jews said, "We offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar,
and for the Roman people"; but that if he would place the images among them,
he must first sacrifice the whole Jewish nation; and that they were ready to
expose themselves, together with their children and wives, to be slain. At this
Petronius was astonished, and pitied them, on account of the inexpressible sense
of religion the men were under, and that courage of theirs which made them ready
to die for it; so they were dismissed without success.
5. But on the following days he got together
the men of power privately, and the multitude publicly, and sometimes he used
persuasions to them, and sometimes he gave them his advice; but he chiefly made
use of threatenings to them, and insisted upon the power of the Romans, and
the anger of Caius; and besides, upon the necessity he was himself under [to
do as he was enjoined]. But as they could be no way prevailed upon, and he saw
that the country was in danger of lying without tillage; (for it was about seed
time that the multitude continued for fifty days together idle;) so he at last
got them together, and told them that it was best for him to run some hazard
himself; "for either, by the Divine assistance, I shall prevail with Caesar,
and shall myself escape the danger as well as you, which will he matter of joy
to us both; or, in case Caesar continue in his rage, I will be ready to expose
my own life for such a great number as you are." Whereupon he dismissed the
multitude, who prayed greatly for his prosperity; and he took the army out of
Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch; from whence he presently sent an epistle
to Caesar, and informed him of the irruption he had made into Judea, and of
the supplications of the nation; and that unless he had a mind to lose both
the country and the men in it, he must permit them to keep their law, and must
countermand his former injunction. Caius answered that epistle in a violent-way,
and threatened to have Petronius put to death for his being so tardy in the
execution of what he had commanded. But it happened that those who brought Caius's
epistle were tossed by a storm, and were detained on the sea for three months,
while others that brought the news of Caius's death had a good voyage. Accordingly,
Petronius received the epistle concerning Caius seven and twenty days before
he received that which was against himself.
CHAPTER
11
CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF CLAUDIUS, AND THE REIGN OF AGRIPPA. CONCERNING
THE DEATH OF AGRIPPA AND OF HEROD, AND WHAT CHILDREN THEY BOTH LEFT BEHIND THEM
1. Now when Caius had reigned three year's and eight months, and had been
slain by treachery, Claudius was hurried away by the armies that were at Rome
to take the government upon him; but the senate, upon the reference of the consuls,
Sentis Saturninus, and Pomponius Secundus, gave orders to the three regiments
of soldiers that staid with them to keep the city quiet, and went up into the
capitol in great numbers, and resolved to oppose Claudius by force, on account
of the barbarous treatment they had met with from Caius; and they determined
either to settle the nation under an aristocracy, as they had of old been governed,
or at least to choose by vote such a one for emperor as might be worthy of it.
2. Now it happened that at this time Agrippa
sojourned at Rome, and that both the senate called him to consult with them,
and at the same time Claudius sent for him out of the camp, that he might be
serviceable to him, as he should have occasion for his service. So he, perceiving
that Claudius was in effect made Caesar already, went to him, who sent him as
an ambassador to the senate, to let them know what his intentions were: that,
in the first place, it was without his seeking that he was hurried away by the
soldiers; moreover, that he thought it was not just to desert those soldiers
in such their zeal for him, and that if he should do so, his own fortune would
be in uncertainty; for that it was a dangerous case to have been once called
to the empire. He added further, that he would administer the government as
a good prince, and not like a tyrant; for that he would be satisfied with the
honor of being called emperor, but would, in every one of his actions, permit
them all to give him their advice; for that although he had not been by nature
for moderation, yet would the death of Caius afford him a sufficient demonstration
how soberly he ought to act in that station.
3. This message was delivered by Agrippa;
to which the senate replied, that since they had an army, and the wisest counsels
on their side, they would not endure a voluntary slavery. And when Claudius
heard what answer the senate had made, he sent Agrippa to them again, with the
following message: that he could not bear the thoughts of betraying them that
had given their oaths to be true to him; and that he saw he must fight, though
unwillingly, against such as he had no mind to fight; that, however, [if it
must come to that,] it was proper to choose a place without the city for the
war, because it was not agreeable to piety to pollute the temples of their own
city with the blood of their own countrymen, and this only on occasion of their
imprudent conduct. And when Agrippa had heard this message, he delivered it
to the senators.
4. In the mean time, one of the soldiers
belonging to the senate drew his sword, and cried out, "O my fellow soldiers,
what is the meaning of this choice of ours, to kill our brethren, and to use
violence to our kindred that are with Claudius? while we may have him for our
emperor whom no one can blame, and who hath so many just reasons [to lay claim
to the government]; and this with regard to those against whom we are going
to fight." When he had said this, he marched through the whole senate, and carried
all the soldiers along with him. Upon which all the patricians were immediately
in a great fright at their being thus deserted. But still, because there appeared
no other way whither they could turn themselves for deliverance, they made haste
the same way with the soldiers, and went to Claudius. But those that had the
greatest luck in flattering the good fortune of Claudius betimes met them before
the walls with their naked swords, and there was reason to fear that those that
came first might have been in danger, before Claudius could know what violence
the soldiers were going to offer them, had not Agrippa ran before, and told
him what a dangerous thing they were going about, and that unless he restrained
the violence of these men, who were in a fit of madness against the patricians,
he would lose those on whose account it was most desirable to rule, and would
be emperor over a desert.
5. When Claudius heard this, he restrained
the violence of the soldiery, and received the senate into the camp, and treated
them after an obliging manner, and went out with them presently to offer their
thank-offerings to God, which were proper upon, his first coming to the empire.
Moreover, he bestowed on Agrippa his whole paternal kingdom immediately, and
added to it, besides those countries that had been given by Augustus to Herod,
Trachonitis and Auranitis, and still besides these, that kingdom which was called
the kingdom of Lysanius. This gift he declared to the people by a decree, but
ordered the magistrates to have the donation engraved on tables of brass, and
to be set up in the capitol. He bestowed on his brother Herod, who was also
his son-in-law, by marrying [his daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of Chalcis.
6. So now riches flowed in to Agrippa by
his enjoyment of so large a dominion; nor did he abuse the money he had on small
matters, but he began to encompass Jerusalem with such a wall, which, had it
been brought to perfection, had made it impracticable for the Romans to take
it by siege; but his death, which happened at Cesarea, before he had raised
the walls to their due height, prevented him. He had then reigned three years,
as he had governed his tetrarchies three other years. He left behind him three
daughters, born to him by Cypros, Bernice, Mariamne, and Drusilla, and a son
born of the same mother, whose name was Agrippa: he was left a very young child,
so that Claudius made the country a Roman province, and sent Cuspius Fadus to
be its procurator, and after him Tiberius Alexander, who, making no alterations
of the ancient laws, kept the nation in tranquillity. Now after this, Herod
the king of Chalcis died, and left behind him two sons, born to him of his brother's
daughter Bernice; their names were Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus. [He also left
behind him] Aristobulus, whom he had by his former wife Mariamne. There was
besides another brother of his that died a private person, his name was also
Aristobulus, who left behind him a daughter, whose name was Jotape: and these,
as I have formerly said, were the children of Aristobulus the son of Herod,
which Aristobulus and Alexander were born to Herod by Mariamne, and were slain
by him. But as for Alexander's posterity, they reigned in Armenia.
CHAPTER
12
MANY TUMULTS UNDER CUMANUS, WHICH WERE COMPOSED BY QUADRATUS. FELIX IS PROCURATOR
OF JUDEA. AGRIPPA IS ADVANCED FROM CHALCIS TO A GREATER KINGDOM
1. Now after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa,
the son of Agrippa, over his uncle's kingdom, while Cumanus took upon him the
office of procurator of the rest, which was a Roman province, and therein he
succeeded Alexander; under which Cumanus began the troubles, and the Jews' ruin
came on; for when the multitude were come together to Jerusalem, to the feast
of unleavened bread, and a Roman cohort stood over the cloisters of the temple,
(for they always were armed, and kept guard at the festivals, to prevent any
innovation which the multitude thus gathered together might make,) one of the
soldiers pulled back his garment, and cowering down after an indecent manner,
turned his breech to the Jews, and spake such words as you might expect upon
such a posture. At this the whole multitude had indignation, and made a clamor
to Cumanus, that he would punish the soldier; while the rasher part of the youth,
and such as were naturally the most tumultuous, fell to fighting, and caught
up stones, and threw them at the soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest
all the people should make an assault upon him, and sent to call for more armed
men, who, when they came in great numbers into the cloisters, the Jews were
in a very great consternation; and being beaten out of the temple, they ran
into the city; and the violence with which they crowded to get out was so great,
that they trod upon each other, and squeezed one another, till ten thousand
of them were killed, insomuch that this feast became the cause of mourning to
the whole nation, and every family lamented their own relations.
2. Now there followed after this another
calamity, which arose from a tumult made by robbers; for at the public road
at Beth-horen, one Stephen, a servant of Caesar, carried some furniture, which
the robbers fell upon and seized. Upon this Cumanus sent men to go round about
to the neighboring villages, and to bring their inhabitants to him bound, as
laying it to their charge that they had not pursued after the thieves, and caught
them. Now here it was that a certain soldier, finding the sacred book of the
law, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the fire.14
Hereupon the Jews were in great disorder, as if their whole country were in
a flame, and assembled themselves so many of them by their zeal for their religion,
as by an engine, and ran together with united clamor to Cesarea, to Cumanus,
and made supplication to him that he would not overlook this man, who had offered
such an affront to God, and to his law; but punish him for what he had done.
Accordingly, he, perceiving that the multitude would not be quiet unless they
had a comfortable answer from him, gave order that the soldier should be brought,
and drawn through those that required to have him punished, to execution, which
being done, the Jews went their ways.
3. After this there happened a fight between
the Galileans and the Samaritans; it happened at a village called Geman, which
is situate in the great plain of Samaria; where, as a great number of Jews were
going up to Jerusalem to the feast [of tabernacles,] a certain Galilean was
slain; and besides, a vast number of people ran together out of Galilee, in
order to fight with the Samaritans. But the principal men among them came to
Cumanus, and besought him that, before the evil became incurable, he would come
into Galilee, and bring the authors of this murder to punishment; for that there
was no other way to make the multitude separate without coming to blows. However,
Cumanus postponed their supplications to the other affairs he was then about,
and sent the petitioners away without success.
4. But when the affair of this murder came
to be told at Jerusalem, it put the multitude into disorder, and they left the
feast; and without any generals to conduct them, they marched with great violence
to Samaria; nor would they be ruled by any of the magistrates that were set
over them, but they were managed by one Eleazar, the son of Dineus, and by Alexander,
in these their thievish and seditious attempts. These men fell upon those that
were ill the neighborhood of the Acrabatene toparchy, and slew them, without
sparing any age, and set the villages on fire.
5. But Cumanus took one troop of horsemen,
called the troop of Sebaste, out of Cesarea, and came to the assistance of those
that were spoiled; he also seized upon a great number of those that followed
Eleazar, and slew more of them. And as for the rest of the multitude of those
that went so zealously to fight with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem
ran out clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and begged of
them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge themselves upon the
Samaritans they should provoke the Romans to come against Jerusalem; to have
compassion upon their country and temple, their children and their wives, and
not bring the utmost dangers of destruction upon them, in order to avenge themselves
upon one Galilean only. The Jews complied with these persuasions of theirs,
and dispersed themselves; but still there were a great number who betook themselves
to robbing, in hopes of impunity; and rapines and insurrections of the bolder
sort happened over the whole country. And the men of power among the Samaritans
came to Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus,15 the president
of Syria, and desired that they that had laid waste the country might be punished:
the great men also of the Jews, and Jonathan the son of Ananus the high priest,
came thither, and said that the Samaritans were the beginners of the disturbance,
on account of that murder they had committed; and that Cumanus had given occasion
to what had happened, by his unwillingness to punish the original authors of
that murder.
6. But Quadratus put both parties off for
that time, and told them, that when he should come to those places, he would
make a diligent inquiry after every circumstance. After which he went to Cesarea,
and crucified all those whom Cumanus had taken alive; and when from thence he
was come to the city Lydda, he heard the affair of the Samaritans, and sent
for eighteen of the Jews, whom he had learned to have been concerned in that
fight, and beheaded them; but he sent two others of those that were of the greatest
power among them, and both Jonathan and Ananias, the high priests, as also Artanus
the son of this Ananias, and certain others that were eminent among the Jews,
to Caesar; as he did in like manner by the most illustrious of the Samaritans.
He also ordered that Cumanus [the procurator] and Celer the tribune should sail
to Rome, in order to give an account of what had been done to Caesar. When he
had finished these matters, he went up from Lydda to Jerusalem, and finding
the multitude celebrating their feast of unleavened bread without any tumult,
he returned to Antioch.
7. Now when Caesar at Rome had heard what
Cumanus and the Samaritans had to say, (where it was done in the hearing of
Agrippa, who zealously espoused the cause of the Jews, as in like manner many
of the great men stood by Cumanus,) he condemned the Samaritans, and commanded
that three of the most powerful men among them should be put to death; he banished
Cumanus, and sent Celer bound to Jerusalem, to be delivered over to the Jews
to be tormented; that he should be drawn round the city, and then beheaded.
8. After this Caesar sent Felix,16 the brother of
Pallas, to be procurator of Galilee, and Samaria, and Perea, and removed Agrippa
from Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for he gave him the tetrarchy which had
belonged to Philip, which contained Batanae, Trachonitis, and Gaulonitis: he
added to it the kingdom of Lysanias, and that province [Abilene] which Varus
had governed. But Claudius himself, when he had administered the government
thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days, died, and left Nero to be his
successor in the empire, whom he had adopted by his wife Agrippina's delusions,
in order to be his successor, although he had a son of his own, whose name was
Britannicus, by Messalina his former wife, and a daughter whose name was Octavia,
whom he had married to Nero; he had also another daughter by Petina, whose name
was Antonia.
CHAPTER
13
NERO ADDS FOUR CITIES TO AGRIPPA'S KINGDOM; BUT THE OTHER PARTS OF JUDEA WERE
UNDER FELIX. THE DISTURBANCES WHICH WERE RAISED BY THE SICARII, THE MAGICIANS,
AND AN EGYPTIAN FALSE PROPHET. THE JEWS AND SYRIANS HAVE A CONTEST AT CESAREA
1. Now as to the many things in which Nero acted like a madman, out of
the extravagant degree of the felicity and riches which he enjoyed, and by that
means used his good fortune to the injury of others; and after what manner he
slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself
to others that were most nearly related to him; and how, at last, he was so
distracted that he became an actor in the scenes, and upon the theatre,—I omit
to say any more about them, because there are writers enough upon those subjects
everywhere; but I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in which the
Jews were concerned.
2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of
the lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus, Herod's17 son,
and he added to Agrippa's kingdom four cities, with the toparchies to them belonging;
I mean Abila, and that Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and Tiberias
of Galilee; but over the rest of Judea he made Felix procurator. This Felix
took Eleazar the arch-robber, and many that were with him, alive, when they
had ravaged the country for twenty years together, and sent them to Rome; but
as to the number of the robbers whom he caused to be crucified, and of those
who were caught among them, and whom he brought to punishment, they were a multitude
not to be enumerated.
3. When the country was purged of these,
there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii,
who slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly
at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed
daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their
enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that
had indignation against them; by which means they appeared persons of such reputation,
that they could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by them
was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while
the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity
itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so
men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at
a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust
them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves,
they were slain. Such was the celerity of the plotters against them, and so
cunning was their contrivance.
4. There was also another body of wicked
men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their
intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these
murderers. These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretence
of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the
government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went
before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them
the signals of liberty. But Felix thought this procedure was to be the beginning
of a revolt; so he sent some horsemen and footmen both armed, who destroyed
a great number of them.
5. But there was an Egyptian false prophet
that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended
to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded
by him; these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was
called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from
that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people,
he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that
were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met
him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack
upon them, insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with
a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either
destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every
one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.
6. Now when these were quieted, it happened,
as it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject to an inflammation;
for a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews
to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty, inflicting death on those
that continued in obedience to the Roman government, and saying, that such as
willingly chose slavery ought to be forced from such their desired inclinations;
for they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down
the country, and plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves,
and set the villages on fire; and this till all Judea was filled with the effects
of their madness. And thus the flame was every day more and more blown up, till
it came to a direct war.
7. There was also another disturbance at
Cesarea,—those Jews who were mixed with the Syrians that lived there rising
a tumult against them. The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and said
that he who built it was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The Syrians confessed also
that its builder was a Jew; but they still said, however, that the city was
a Grecian city; for that he who set up statues and temples in it could not design
it for Jews. On which account both parties had a contest with one another; and
this contest increased so much, that it came at last to arms, and the bolder
sort of them marched out to fight; for the elders of the Jews were not able
to put a stop to their own people that were disposed to be tumultuous, and the
Greeks thought it a shame for them to be overcome by the Jews. Now these Jews
exceeded the others in riches and strength of body; but the Grecian part had
the advantage of assistance from the soldiery; for the greatest part of the
Roman garrison was raised out of Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian
part, they were ready to assist it. However, the governors of the city were
concerned to keep all quiet, and whenever they caught those that were most for
fighting on either side, they punished them with stripes and bands. Yet did
not the sufferings of those that were caught affright the remainder, or make
them desist; but they were still more and more exasperated, and deeper engaged
in the sedition. And as Felix came once into the market-place, and commanded
the Jews, when they had beaten the Syrians, to go their ways, and threatened
them if they would not, and they would not obey him, he sent his soldiers out
upon them, and slew a great many of them, upon which it fell out that what they
had was plundered. And as the sedition still continued, he chose out the most
eminent men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero, to argue about their several
privileges.
CHAPTER
14
FESTUS SUCCEEDS FELIX, WHO IS SUCCEEDED BY ALBINUS, AS HE IS BY FLORUS; WHO,
BY THE BARBARITY OF HIS GOVERNMENT, FORCES THE JEWS INTO THE WAR
1. Now it was that Festus succeeded Felix as procurator, and made it his
business to correct those that made disturbances in the country. So he caught
the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of them. But then
Albinus, who succeeded Festus, did not execute his office as the other had done;
nor was there any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in
it. Accordingly, he did not only, in his political capacity, steal and plunder
every one's substance, nor did he only burden the whole nation with taxes, but
he permitted the relations of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been
laid there, either by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators,
to redeem them for money; and no body remained in the prisons as a malefactor
but he who gave him nothing. At this time it was that the enterprises of the
seditious at Jerusalem were very formidable; the principal men among them purchasing
leave of Albinus to go on with their seditious practices; while that part of
the people who delighted in disturbances joined themselves to such as had fellowship
with Albinus; and every one of these wicked wretches were encompassed with his
own band of robbers, while he himself, like an arch-robber, or a tyrant, made
a figure among his company, and abused his authority over those about him, in
order to plunder those that lived quietly. The effect of which was this, that
those who lost their goods were forced to hold their peace, when they had reason
to show great indignation at what they had suffered; but those who had escaped
were forced to flatter him that deserved to be punished, out of the fear they
were in of suffering equally with the others. Upon the whole, nobody durst speak
their minds, but tyranny was generally tolerated; and at this time were those
seeds sown which brought the city to destruction.
2. And although such was the character of
Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus,18 who succeeded him,
demonstrate him to have been a most excellent person, upon the comparison; for
the former did the greatest part of his rogueries in private, and with a sort
of dissimulation; but Gessius did his unjust actions to the harm of the nation
after a pompous manner; and as though he had been sent as an executioner to
punish condemned malefactors, he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexation;
where the case was really pitiable, he was most barbarous, and in things of
the greatest turpitude he was most impudent. Nor could any one outdo him in
disguising the truth; nor could any one contrive more subtle ways of deceit
than he did. He indeed thought it but a petty offense to get money out of single
persons; so he spoiled whole cities, and ruined entire bodies of men at once,
and did almost publicly proclaim it all the country over, that they had liberty
given them to turn robbers, upon this condition, that he might go shares with
them in the spoils they got. Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the
occasion that entire toparchies were brought to desolation, and a great many
of the people left their own country, and fled into foreign provinces.
3. And truly, while Cestius Gallus was president
of the province of Syria, nobody durst do so much as send an embassage to him
against Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of the
feast of unleavened bread, the people came about him not fewer in number than
three millions:19 these besought him to commiserate
the calamities of their nation, and cried out upon Florus as the bane of their
country. But as he was present, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their words.
However, Cestius, when he had quieted the multitude, and had assured them that
he would take care that Florus should hereafter treat them in a more gentle
manner, returned to Antioch. Florus also conducted him as far as Cesarea, and
deluded him, though he had at that very time the purpose of showing his anger
at the nation, and procuring a war upon them, by which means alone it was that
he supposed he might conceal his enormities; for he expected that if the peace
continued, he should have the Jews for his accusers before Caesar; but that
if he could procure them to make a revolt, he should divert their laying lesser
crimes to his charge, by a misery that was so much greater; he therefore did
every day augment their calamities, in order to induce them to a rebellion.
4. Now at this time it happened that the
Grecians at Cesarea had been too hard for the Jews, and had obtained of Nero
the government of the city, and had brought the judicial determination: at the
same time began the war, in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, and the seventeenth
of the reign of Agrippa, in the month of Artemissus [Jyar]. Now the occasion
of this war was by no means proportionable to those heavy calamities which it
brought upon us. For the Jews that dwelt at Cesarea had a synagogue near the
place, whose owner was a certain Cesarean Greek: the Jews had endeavored frequently
to have purchased the possession of the place, and had offered many times its
value for its price; but as the owner overlooked their offers, so did he raise
other buildings upon the place, in way of affront to them, and made working-shops
of them, and left them but a narrow passage, and such as was very troublesome
for them to go along to their synagogue. Whereupon the warmer part of the Jewish
youth went hastily to the workmen, and forbade them to build there; but as Florus
would not permit them to use force, the great men of the Jews, with John the
publican, being in the utmost distress what to do, persuaded Florus, with the
offer of eight talents, to hinder the work. He then, being intent upon nothing
but getting money, promised he would do for them all they desired of him, and
then went away from Cesarea to Sebaste, and left the sedition to take its full
course, as if he had sold a license to the Jews to fight it out.
5. Now on the next day, which was the seventh
day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain
man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with
the bottom upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds.20
This thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were
affronted, and the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and moderate part
of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their governors again, while
the seditious part, and such as were in the fervor of their youth, were vehemently
inflamed to fight. The seditious also among the Gentiles of Cesarea stood ready
for the same purpose; for they had, by agreement, sent the man to sacrifice
beforehand [as ready to support him;] so that it soon came to blows. Hereupon
Jucundus, the master of the horse, who was ordered to prevent the fight, came
thither, and took away the earthen vessel, and endeavored to put a stop to the
sedition; but when he was overcome by the violence of the people of Cesarea,
the Jews caught up their books of the law, and retired to Narbata, which was
a place to them belonging, distant from Cesarea sixty furlongs. But John, and
twelve of the principal men with him, went to Florus, to Sebaste, and made a
lamentable complaint of their case, and besought him to help them; and with
all possible decency, put him in mind of the eight talents they had given him;
but he had the men seized upon, and put in prison, and accused them for carrying
the books of the law out of Cesarea.
6. Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem,
although they took this matter very ill, yet did they restrain their passion;
but Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a
flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and
pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this the people were in confusion immediately,
and ran together to the temple, with prodigious clamors, and called upon Caesar
by name, and besought him to free them from the tyranny of Florus. Some also
of the seditious cried out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon
him, and carried a basket about, and begged some spills of money for him, as
for one that was destitute of possessions, and in a miserable condition. Yet
was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged, and
provoked to get still more; and instead of coming to Cesarea, as he ought to
have done, and quenching the flame of war, which was beginning thence, and so
taking away the occasion of any disturbances, on which account it was that he
had received a reward [of eight talents], he marched hastily with an army of
horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms
of the Romans, and might, by his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the
city into subjection.
7. But the people were desirous of making
Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met his soldiers with acclamations, and put
themselves in order to receive him very submissively. But he sent Capito, a
centurion, beforehand, with fifty soldiers, to bid them go back, and not now
make a show of receiving him in an obliging manner, whom they had so foully
reproached before; and said that it was incumbent on them, in case they had
generous souls, and were free speakers, to jest upon him to his face, and appear
to be lovers of liberty, not only in words, but with their weapons also. With
this message was the multitude amazed; and upon the coming of Capito's horsemen
into the midst of them, they were dispersed before they could salute Florus,
or manifest their submissive behavior to him. Accordingly, they retired to their
own houses, and spent that night in fear and confusion of face.
8. Now at this time Florus took up his quarters
at the palace; and on the next day he had his tribunal set before it, and sat
upon it, when the high priests, and the men of power, and those of the greatest
eminence in the city, came all before that tribunal; upon which Florus commanded
them to deliver up to him those that had reproached him, and told them that
they should themselves partake of the vengeance to them belonging, if they did
not produce the criminals; but these demonstrated that the people were peaceably
disposed, and they begged forgiveness for those that had spoken amiss; for that
it was no wonder at all that in so great a multitude there should be some more
daring than they ought to be, and, by reason of their younger age, foolish also;
and that it was impossible to distinguish those that offended from the rest,
while every one was sorry for what he had done, and denied it out of fear of
what would follow: that he ought, however, to provide for the peace of the nation,
and to take such counsels as might preserve the city for the Romans, and rather
for the sake of a great number of innocent people to forgive a few that were
guilty, than for the sake of a few of the wicked to put so large and good a
body of men into disorder.
9. Florus was more provoked at this, and
called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder that which was called the Upper
Market Place, and to slay such as they met with. So the soldiers, taking this
exhortation of their commander in a sense agreeable to their desire of gain,
did not only plunder the place they were sent to, but forcing themselves into
every house, they slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled along the narrow
lanes, and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and no method of plunder
was omitted; they also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them before
Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly,
the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives and
children, (for they did not spare even the infants themselves,) was about three
thousand and six hundred. And what made this calamity the heavier was this new
method of Roman barbarity; for Florus ventured then to do what no one had done
before, that is, to have men of the equestrian order whipped,21
and nailed to the cross before his tribunal; who, although they were by birth
Jews, yet were they of Roman dignity notwithstanding.
CHAPTER
15
CONCERNING BERNICE'S PETITION TO FLORUS, TO SPARE THE JEWS, BUT IN VAIN; AS
ALSO HOW, AFTER THE SEDITIOUS FLAME WAS QUENCHED, IT WAS KINDLED AGAIN BY FLORUS
1. About this very time king Agrippa was going to Alexandria, to congratulate
Alexander upon his having obtained the government of Egypt from Nero; but as
his sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem, and saw the wicked practices of the
soldiers, she was sorely affected at it, and frequently sent the masters of
her horse and her guards to Florus, and begged of him to leave off these slaughters;
but he would not comply with her request, nor have any regard either to the
multitude of those already slain, or to the nobility of her that interceded,
but only to the advantage he should make by this plundering; nay, this violence
of the soldiers brake out to such a degree of madness, that it spent itself
on the queen herself; for they did not only torment and destroy those whom they
had caught under her very eyes, but indeed had killed herself also, unless she
had prevented them by flying to the palace, and had staid there all night with
her guards, which she had about her for fear of an insult from the soldiers.
Now she dwelt then at Jerusalem, in order to perform a vow22
which she had made to God; for it is usual with those that had been either afflicted
with a distemper, or with any other distresses, to make vows; and for thirty
days before they are to offer their sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and to
shave the hair of their head. Which things Bernice was now performing, and stood
barefoot before Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to spare the Jews]. Yet
could she neither have any reverence paid to her, nor could she escape without
some danger of being slain herself.
2. This happened upon the sixteenth day
of the month Artemissus [Jyar]. Now, on the next day, the multitude, who were
in a great agony, ran together to the Upper Market Place, and made the loudest
lamentations for those that had perished; and the greatest part of the cries
were such as reflected on Florus; at which the men of power were affrighted,
together with the high priests, and rent their garments, and fell down before
each of them, and besought them to leave off, and not to provoke Florus to some
incurable procedure, besides what they had already suffered. Accordingly, the
multitude complied immediately, out of reverence to those that had desired it
of them, and out of the hope they had that Florus would do them no more injuries.
3. So Florus was troubled that the disturbances
were over, and endeavored to kindle that flame again, and sent for the high
priests, with the other eminent persons, and said the only demonstration that
the people would not make any other innovations should be this, that they must
go out and meet the soldiers that were ascending from Cesarea, whence two cohorts
were coming; and while these men were exhorting the multitude so to do, he sent
beforehand, and gave directions to the centurions of the cohorts, that they
should give notice to those that were under them not to return the Jews' salutations;
and that if they made any reply to his disadvantage, they should make use of
their weapons. Now the high priests assembled the multitude in the temple, and
desired them to go and meet the Romans, and to salute the cohorts very civilly,
before their miserable case should become incurable. Now the seditious part
would not comply with these persuasions; but the consideration of those that
had been destroyed made them incline to those that were the boldest for action.
4. At this time it was that every priest,
and every servant of God, brought out the holy vessels, and the ornamental garments
wherein they used to minister in sacred things. The harpers also, and the singers
of hymns, came out with their instruments of music, and fell down before the
multitude, and begged of them that they would preserve those holy ornaments
to them, and not provoke the Romans to carry off those sacred treasures. You
might also see then the high priests themselves, with dust sprinkled in great
plenty upon their heads, with bosoms deprived of any covering but what was rent;
these besought every one of the eminent men by name, and the multitude in common,
that they would not for a small offense betray their country to those that were
desirous to have it laid waste; saying, "What benefit will it bring to the soldiers
to have a salutation from the Jews? or what amendment of your affairs will it
bring you, if you do not now go out to meet them? and that if they saluted them
civilly, all handle would be cut off from Florus to begin a war; that they should
thereby gain their country, and freedom from all further sufferings; and that,
besides, it would be a sign of great want of command of themselves, if they
should yield to a few seditious persons, while it was fitter for them who were
so great a people to force the others to act soberly."
5. By these persuasions, which they used
to the multitude and to the seditious, they restrained some by threatenings,
and others by the reverence that was paid them. After this they led them out,
and they met the soldiers quietly, and after a composed manner, and when they
were come up with them, they saluted them; but when they made no answer, the
seditious exclaimed against Florus, which was the signal given for falling upon
them. The soldiers therefore encompassed them presently, and struck them with
their clubs; and as they fled away, the horsemen trampled them down, so that
a great many fell down dead by the strokes of the Romans, and more by their
own violence in crushing one another. Now there was a terrible crowding about
the gates, and while every body was making haste to get before another, the
flight of them all was retarded, and a terrible destruction there was among
those that fell down, for they were suffocated, an broken to pieces by the multitude
of those that were uppermost; nor could any of them be distinguished by his
relations in order to the care of his funeral; the soldiers also who beat them,
fell upon those whom they overtook, without showing them any mercy, and thrust
the multitude through the place called Bezetha,23
as they forced their way, in order to get in and seize upon the temple, and
the tower Antonia. Florus also being desirous to get those places into his possession,
brought such as were with him out of the king's palace, and would have compelled
them to get as far as the citadel [Antonia]; but his attempt failed, for the
people immediately turned back upon him, and stopped the violence of his attempt;
and as they stood upon the tops of their houses, they threw their darts at the
Romans, who, as they were sorely galled thereby, because those weapons came
from above, and they were not able to make a passage through the multitude,
which stopped up the narrow passages, they retired to the camp which was at
the palace.
6. But for the seditious, they were afraid
lest Florus should come again, and get possession of the temple, through Antonia;
so they got immediately upon those cloisters of the temple that joined to Antonia,
and cut them down. This cooled the avarice of Florus; for whereas he was eager
to obtain the treasures of God [in the temple], and on that account was desirous
of getting into Antonia, as soon as the cloisters were broken down, he left
off his attempt; he then sent for the high priests and the sanhedrim, and told
them that he was indeed himself going out of the city, but that he would leave
them as large a garrison as they should desire. Hereupon they promised that
they would make no innovations, in case he would leave them one band; but not
that which had fought with the Jews, because the multitude bore ill-will against
that band on account of what they had suffered from it; so he changed the band
as they desired, and, with the rest of his forces, returned to Cesarea.
CHAPTER
16
CESTIUS SENDS NEOPOLITANUS THE TRIBUNE TO SEE IN WHAT CONDITION THE AFFAIRS
OF THE JEWS WERE. AGRIPPA MAKES A SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE OF THE JEWS, THAT HE
MAY DIVERT THEM FROM THEIR INTENTIONS OF MAKING WAR WITH THE ROMANS
1. However, Florus contrived another way to oblige the Jews to begin the
war, and sent to Cestius, and accused the Jews falsely of revolting [from the
Roman government], and imputed the beginning of the former fight to them, and
pretended they had been the authors of that disturbance, wherein they were only
the sufferers. Yet were not the governors of Jerusalem silent upon this occasion,
but did themselves write to Cestius, as did Bernice also, about the illegal
practices of which Florus had been guilty against the city; who, upon reading
both accounts, consulted with his captains [what he should do]. Now some of
them thought it best for Cestius to go up with his army, either to punish the
revolt, if it was real, or to settle the Roman affairs on a surer foundation,
if the Jews continued quiet under them; but he thought it best himself to send
one of his intimate friends beforehand, to see the state of affairs, and to
give him a faithful account of the intentions of the Jews. Accordingly, he sent
one of his tribunes, whose name was Neopolitanus, who met with king Agrippa
as he was returning from Alexandria, at Jamnia, and told him who it was that
sent him, and on what errands he was sent.
2. And here it was that the high priests,
and men of power among the Jews, as well as the sanhedrim, came to congratulate
the king [upon his safe return]; and after they had paid him their respects,
they lamented their own calamities, and related to him what barbarous treatment
they had met with from Florus. At which barbarity Agrippa had great indignation,
but transferred, after a subtle manner, his anger towards those Jews whom he
really pitied, that he might beat down their high thoughts of themselves, and
would have them believe that they had not been so unjustly treated, in order
to dissuade them from avenging themselves. So these great men, as of better
understanding than the rest, and desirous of peace, because of the possessions
they had, understood that this rebuke which the king gave them was intended
for their good; but as to the people, they came sixty furlongs out of Jerusalem,
and congratulated both Agrippa and Neopolitanus; but the wives of those that
had been slain came running first of all and lamenting. The people also, when
they heard their mourning, fell into lamentations also, and besought Agrippa
to assist them: they also cried out to Neopolitanus, and complained of the many
miseries they had endured under Florus; and they showed them, when they were
come into the city, how the market-place was made desolate, and the houses plundered.
They then persuaded Neopolitanus, by the means of Agrippa, that he would walk
round the city, with only one servant, as far as Siloam, that he might inform
himself that the Jews submitted to all the rest of the Romans, and were only
displeased at Florus, by reason of his exceeding barbarity to them. So he walked
round, and had sufficient experience of the good temper the people were in,
and then went up to the temple, where he called the multitude together, and
highly commended them for their fidelity to the Romans, and earnestly exhorted
them to keep the peace; and having performed such parts of Divine worship at
the temple as he was allowed to do, he returned to Cestius.
3. But as for the multitude of the Jews,
they addressed themselves to the king, and to the high priests, and desired
they might have leave to send ambassadors to Nero against Florus, and not by
their silence afford a suspicion that they had been the occasions of such great
slaughters as had been made, and were disposed to revolt, alleging that they
should seem to have been the first beginners of the war, if they did not prevent
the report by showing who it was that began it; and it appeared openly that
they would not be quiet, if any body should hinder them from sending such an
embassage. But Agrippa, although he thought it too dangerous a thing for them
to appoint men to go as the accusers of Florus, yet did he not think it fit
for him to overlook them, as they were in a disposition for war. He therefore
called the multitude together into a large gallery, and placed his sister Bernice
in the house of the Asamoneans, that she might be seen by them, (which house
was over the gallery, at the passage to the upper city, where the bridge joined
the temple to the gallery,) and spake to them as follows:—
4. 24 "Had I perceived
that you were all zealously disposed to go to war with the Romans, and that
the purer and more sincere part of the people did not propose to live in peace,
I had not come out to you, nor been so bold as to give you counsel; for all
discourses that tend to persuade men to do what they ought to do are superfluous,
when the hearers are agreed to do the contrary. But because some are earnest
to go to war because they are young, and without experience of the miseries
it brings, and because some are for it out of an unreasonable expectation of
regaining their liberty, and because others hope to get by it, and are therefore
earnestly bent upon it, that in the confusion of your affairs they may gain
what belongs to those that are too weak to resist them, I have thought proper
to get you all together, and to say to you what I think to be for your advantage;
that so the former may grow wiser, and change their minds, and that the best
men may come to no harm by the ill conduct of some others. And let not any one
be tumultuous against me, in case what they hear me say do not please them;
for as to those that admit of no cure, but are resolved upon a revolt, it will
still be in their power to retain the same sentiments after my exhortation is
over; but still my discourse will fall to the ground, even with a relation to
those that have a mind to hear me, unless you will all keep silence. I am well
aware that many make a tragical exclamation concerning the injuries that have
been offered you by your procurators, and concerning the glorious advantages
of liberty; but before I begin the inquiry, who you are that must go to war,
and who they are against whom you must fight, I shall first separate those pretences
that are by some connected together; for if you aim at avenging yourselves on
those that have done you injury, why do you pretend this to be a war for recovering
your liberty? but if you think all servitude intolerable, to what purpose serve
your complai