\ \M $B 2T0 T37

^H

30) •!

fcl

a!?«;Ehi> !fi?fc

3HHH

riJ oP
ctimente

TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY DOCUMENTS

General Editors: W. O. E. OESTERLEY, D.D.
G. H. BOX, D.D.

SERIES II

HELLENISTIC-JEWISH TEXTS

SELECTIONS FROM
JOSEPHUS

SELECTIONS FROM
JOSEPHUS

TRANSLATED BY

H. St. J. THACKERAY, M.A

LONDON :

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE

NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1919

7H-

IN PIAM MEMORIAM
PATRIS CARISSIMI

•

«• • . .

• ■ • . •

6

CONTENTS

PAOK

Introduction ...*.... 9

Selections 33

I. • AUTOBIOGRAPHY x

(1) The Boy among the Doctors. His Education

(V.) 33

(2) A Shipwreck on the Voyage to Rome. Eve of

the War (V.) 34

(3) Thr J/: a/si/ War and its Reception. Criticism

of a Rival Historian (Justus) (V.) . . 35

(4) After the War. Josephus as Roman Citizen (V.) 37

II. SPECIMENS OF AMPLIFICATION OF THE
BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

(5) Moses, the Infant Prodigy, introduced to

Pharaoh (^4. II) 40

(6) Exorcism in the Name of Solomon (A. VIII) . 41

(7) MlCAIAH AND ZEDEKIAH PROPHESY BEFORE AHAB

(,4. VIII) 42

III. THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

(8) Loss of Jewish Independence. Palestinian

Settlement under Pompey (A. XIV) . . 45

(9) Division of the Country into Five Districts

by Gabinius (B.I) 47

(10) Settlement under Julius Oesar (A. XIV) . 47

IV. HEROD THE GREAT

(11) The Youth Herod frees Galilee from the

Brigands [A. XIV) 48

(12) Herod on his Trial before the Sanhedrin

{A. XIV) 48

(13) Herod and Cassius. Murder of Antipater,

Herod's Father (A. XIV) .... 51

1 See also §§ (38), (43), (44), (46), (48).
v

449868

vi CONTENTS

PAGE

(14) Antony makes Herod and Phasael Tetrarchs

of Judaea (A. XIV) 52

(15) How Herod won his Kingdom (A. XIV) . . 53

(16) How Herod made his Peace with Augustus

(after the Battle of Actium) (B. I) .55

(17) Herod and Mariamne (B. I) . . . . 56

(18) Extension of Herod's Realm. His Popularity

with Augustus and Agrippa (A. XV) . . 57

(19) The Historian's Reading of Herod's Character

(A. XVI) 58

(20) Reflections on the Tragic Fate of Herod's

Sons (A. XVI) 60

(21) Herod's Dying Provision for a National

Mourning (A. XVII) . . . .63

V. ARCHELAUS AND PILATE

(22) Archelaus in Quest of a Kingdom (A. XVII) 66

(23) Archelaus Deposed and his Territory added

to the Roman Province of Syria (A. XVII) 71

(24) The Revolt of Judas "in the days of the

enrolment" under Quirinius (A. XVIII) . 72

(25) Pilate offends Jewish susceptibilities in the

MATTER OF (i) THE EMPEROR'S BUSTS, (ii) THE

Corban money {A. XVIII) .... 74

[(26) Jesus Christ {A. XVIII)] 76

(27) Tiberius expels all Jews from Rome (A. XVIII) 76

(28) Pilate sent to Rome for Trial (A. XVIII) . 77

VI. THE LATER HERODS

(29) Herod the Tetrarch : his Marriage with

Herodias and Murder of John the Baptist

(A. XVIII) 79

(30) How Herod Agrippa became King, and Herod

the Tetrarch lost his Tetrarchy (A. XVIII) 81

(31) Petronius and the Statue of Gaius (A. XVI II) 84

(32) Herod Agrippa's Kingdom enlarged by

Claudius {A. XIX) 88

(33) Death of Herod Agrippa (A. XIX) ... 88

(34) The Story of King Izates and his mother

Helena (A. XX) 90

CONTENTS vii

PACE

(35) The Fate of the Impostor Theudas and of

the Sons of Judas the Galilean (A. XX) . 93

(36) Agrippa II, Felix, and Drusilla {A. XX) . 94

(37) The Death of James, "the Lord's Brother"

(A. XX) 95

VII. SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR

(38) Introduction to the Jewish War (B. I) . .98

(39) Seeds of the War sown under the last of

the Procurators. Rise of the Sicarii (B. II) 102

(40) The Immediate Cause of the War. Abrogation

of Sacrifices for the Emperor (B. II) . 107

(41) Initial Jewish Success. Rout of a Roman

Army in the Defiles of Beth-Horon (B. II) iio

(42) Jerusalem before the Siege (B. II) . .118

(43) The Fall of Jotapata. Josephus taken

Prisoner {B. Ill) 119

(44) Reception at Jerusalem of the News of the

Fall of Jotapata (B. Ill) . . . .128

(45) Murder of the High Priest Ananus ; also of

Zacharias after a mock trial (B. IV) . .129

(46) How Josephus was Liberated (B. IV) . . 133

(47) A Roman Reverse inspires false Confidence

(B.V) 134

(48) Cessation of the Daily Sacrifice. Josephus

appeals to the Jews (B. VI) . . . .135

(49) Conflagration of the Temple {B. VI) . .137

(50) Portents and Oracles (B. VI) .... 141

(51) The Last Scene. Capture of the Upper City.

Jerusalem in Flames (B. VI) . . . 145

(52) The Spoils from the Temple in the Triumphal

Procession in Rome (B. VII) . . . 147

VIII. THE JEWISH SECTS

(53) The Three Sects and their Views on Fate

and Free- Will {A. XIII) . . . .148

(54) The Essenes, with a note on Pharisees and

Sadducees (B. II) ..... . 148

(55) Another Account of the Three Sects — and a

Fourth (A. XVIII) . . . . . .158

viii CONTENTS

PAGE

(56) Why John Hyrcanus went over from the

Pharisees to the Sadducees (A. XIII) . 161

(57) "Conciliate the Pharisees" — Alexander's

dying advice to alexandra (a. xiii) . . 164

(58) How the Pharisees rose to power under

Queen Alexandra (B. I) . . . .166

(59) Herod exempts Pharisees and Essenes from

the Oath of Allegiance. The Essene
Prophet Menahem (A. XV) .... 167

(60) The Pharisees refuse to take the Oath of

Allegiance (another account) (A. XVII) . 168

IX. JEWISH THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND
CUSTOMS

(61) Some Aspects of Jewish Theology. Moses as

Religious Educator (Ap. II) . . .170

(62) A Future Life — for the Law-abiding (Ap. II) 173

(63) The Jewish Scriptures and their Preservation

(Ap.l) 174

(64) Universal Imitation of our Laws the sincerest

FLATTERY (Ap. II) . . . .177

(65) The Oath "Corban" (Ap. I) . . . 179

Appendix of Additional Notes .... 180

Table of Dates 204

Index 207

ABBREVIATIONS

The Jewish Antiquities . . . . Ant. or A.

The Jewish War (Bellum Judaicum) . B.J. or B.

The Treatise Against Apion . . . Ap.

The Life Vita or V.

Schiirer, Jewish People in the Time 0/ \ jpj-Q

Jesus Christ . . . . . /

circa ("about" of dates) . . . c.

References, e.g. Ant. XVII. 6.5 f. (171-181). The figures 6.5 f.
refer to the older division, found in all editions (Niese's
included), of the books into sections (6 or vi) and sub-
sections (5 and following subsection). The bracketed
figures ( 1 71-18 1) indicate the smaller divisions first
introduced by Niese.

SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS

INTRODUCTION

Life

Josephus, son of Matthias the priest, and on His
mother's side claiming descent from the royal Hasmo-
na^an house— or Flavius Josephus, to give him the name
which he adopted out of gratitude to his Imperial patrons
— was born in the first year of the Emperor Caligula,
a.d. 37-38. St. Paul's conversion had probably taken
place a few years earlier.1 His life of upwards of sixty
years falls into two nearly equal parts, spent respectively
in Palestine and in Rome. The Palestinian portion,
again, is sharply divided into the pre-war period (to
a.d. 65), of which we know comparatively little, and
the great four years' war (a.d. 66-70), of which we know
a great deal.

Of his precocious youth, when, if we may believe him,
Rabbis flocked to hear the wisdom of the boy of four-
teen; how he himself two years later "did eagerly
frequent Doctor and Saint," making trial successively
of the three sects of his nation, and ending his educa-
tion by three years passed as an ascetic with a hermit in
the wilderness ; how on his return to Jerusalem at the
age of nineteen he joined the popular and influential
party of the Pharisees j of the one outstanding incident

1 Dated variously as a.d. 30 (Ilainack), 33 (Ramsay), 34 (Light-
foot), and 35-6 (C. H. Turner, Hastings' D.B., art. " Chronology ").

9

io«, INTRODUCTION

of his ear]yw manhood;' <his visit to Rome at the age of
twsnty-si*— oX all these things we may read in his own
words.1 Although he finally threw in his lot with the
Pharisees, we may judge from the three years' stay with
Ban(n)us, the specially full account which he gives of
the Essenes,2 and other indications, that the tenets and
communistic life of that order left a lasting impression.
If we may again attempt a synchronism with events in
the life of St. Paul, we may say that the Rabbis were
listening to the boy about the time of the first Council of
the Church at Jerusalem, he was receiving his schooling
during the third missionary journey, and his return to
Jerusalem nearly coincided with the arrest of the Apostle
in that city.

The journey to Rome (a.d. 63-4), like St. Paul's a few
years earlier, began with a shipwreck. Its nominal pur-
pose was to plead the cause of certain priests who had
been sent by Felix to Italy for trial. Chronology 3 will
hardly permit us to accept the suggestion of Edersheim 4
to connect St. Paul's liberation with the mission of
Josephus ; but he cannot have failed, during his stay in
the city on the eve of the Neronian persecution, to be-
come acquainted, if not with the work of the Apostle, at
least with the existence of the Christian community.
Through the influence of Poppaea, the mistress and
afterwards wife of Nero, who coquetted with Judaism
(Josephus's words imply that she was a proselyte), he
was successful in obtaining the release of the priests
and returned to Judaea laden with presents. Besides the
expressed object, was there any ulterior motive in this
visit to the capital ? Edersheim suggests that, foreseeing
the trend of events, Josephus was already fired with the

1 §§(l)and(2). » §(54).

3 Close of the Acts A.D. 59 (Harnack), 61 (Turner), 62 (Ramsay),
63 (Lightfoot).

* Diet. Christ. Biog.

LIFE ii

ambition of becoming the intermediary between Rome
and his nation. •

At any rate, his visit had impressed him with a
sense of Rome's invincible power; and on his return
to Judaja, where he found the Jews drifting towards re-
volt and everything pointing to the immediate outbreak
of war, he at first tried to pacify the war-party, but in
vain. The turbulent state of the country at length in-
duced Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, to advance
against Jerusalem. With the disastrous rout of his army
in the defiles of Beth-Horon towards the end of a.d. 66,
following upon his unexpected withdrawal from the gates
of the metropolis,1 it was realized that the irrevocable
step had been taken, and all preparations were made for
the impending war.

Josephus, then but twenty-nine years of age, was en-
trusted with the command of Galilee. The reason for
the selection of the young priest for so important a post,
for which, notwithstanding his frequent assertions of his
skill and strategy, he seems to have been ill-qualified, is ob-
scure. The history of the sequel fills the greater part of the
Life, but it is not very easy to follow the course of events
and to read the motives of the leaders at Jerusalem and
the conflicting aims of the various cities of Galilee, which
Josephus found in a divided state. His first steps were
to fortify the principal places, to reform the army on the
Roman model by appointing subordinate officers, and to
set up a council of seventy of the principal Galilaeans to
try cases and to act as hostages for the loyalty of the
district. But his efforts to enforce discipline and to
secure the allegiance of the Galilaeans were unavailing.
He had many opponents, in particular John of Gischala,
who afterwards played an important part in the siege of
Jerusalem. The spring of a.d. 67 was chiefly spent by
1 §(40.

12 INTRODUCTION

Josephus in civil strife and in avoiding plots against his
life. „ He was suspected, perhaps justly, of harbouring
designs of betraying the country to Rome ; he may have
hoped to stave off war by some form of compromise.
At length John succeeded in inducing the Jerusalem
leaders to supersede Josephus, and an embassy was sent
to relieve him of his command. He, however, refused
to accept the order, and obtained letters from the capital
reinstating him. Meanwhile, Vespasian was advancing
upon Galilee from Antioch. On the fall of Gadara
Josephus was at first inclined to surrender and wrote to
Jerusalem for instructions, but finally resolved to stand a
siege in the fortified town of Jotapata.

Of the forty-seven days' siege of Jotapata and the various
machinations and counter-machinations of the belligerents
Josephus has given us a graphic account in the third book
of the Jewish War. The story of its fall (July, a.d. 67)
and of the sequel — the capture of the general, after a
narrow escape, through a ruse, from death at the hands
of his compatriots, and his prophecy of Vespasian's rise
to power — will be found in the text.1

" By the end of a.d. 67," I quote from what I have
written elsewhere, " the whole of northern Palestine was
in the hands of the Romans. Only Jerusalem, where a
bloody civil war was raging, remained to be taken. But
its capture was delayed by the events of a.d. 68, which
drew the attention of the generals to the west. News
came first of the death of Nero, which took place in June,
and then, in rapid succession, of the accession of Galba,
Otho and Vitellius. In July, A.d. 69, Vespasian's legions
took the law into their own hands, and proclaimed him
emperor. One of his first acts as emperor was to liberate
Josephus, whose prophecy had now come true.2 . . .
[Josephus] now accompanied the emperor to Alexandria,
1 § (43). 2 § (46).

LIFE 13

and from there was sent hack with Titus to take part in
the siege of Jerusalem. . . . [His] services as interpreter
and intercessor were more than once requisitioned by
Titus ; 1 on one occasion he was hit by a stone, and
barely escaped capture and death at the hands of his
countrymen. He was, he tells us, at this time between
two fires ; for, while bitterly hated by the Jews, he was
suspected by the Romans of treachery whenever they
met with a reverse."2

For his life in Rome, where he witnessed (with what
feelings we are left to imagine) the triumphal procession
of the two emperors,3 and for the various privileges be-
stowed on him by Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, we
may refer to his own narrative.4 Awarded the rights of
Roman citizenship, he was also among the first to be
placed on the " civil list " newly instituted by Vespasian.5
He was still pursued by Jewish hatred ; among his op-
ponents he names in particular Justus, a rival historian
of the war, and Jonathan, the leader of a revolt in Cyrene,
who accused him of complicity in his designs ; but with
his unfailing tact he succeeded in retaining the favour of
the Flavian emperors and defeating his enemies. He
appears to have survived into the second century, since
he outlived Agrippa II,6 whose death is placed by
Photius in a.d. 100. Eusebius (If. E. III. 9) tells us
that our author was honoured by the erection of his
statue in Rome, and that his works were placed in the
public library. He was married at least four times ; 7
one wife deserted him, another he divorced. 1

1 See e. g. § (48). 2 Hastings' D.B., Ext. 462 b.

3 §(52). 4§(4).

6 " Primus e fisco Latinis Graccisque rhetoribus annua centena
constituit," Suet. Vesp. 18.

6 § (3). 7 Three of his wives are mentioned in § (4).

i4 INTRODUCTION

Works

During the leisure of his life in Rome Josephus com-
posed the four works which, owing largely, no doubt, to
their popularity with early Christian writers, have sur-
vived entire : the Jewish War (7 books), the Jewish
Antiquities (20 books), the Life and the treatise Against
Apion (2 books). There is no adequate ground for
thinking that he published anything further.

(i) The Jewish War. This, the earliest of the works,
was, in its present Greek form, finished in the latter half
of Vespasian's reign, between a.d. 75 and 79. It cannot
be earlier than a.d. 75, because it mentions the com-
pletion of the temple of Pax (B.J. VII. 158), which was
dedicated in that year ; it had, moreover, been preceded
by other histories of the war. The Greek, as the author
tells us,1 is a translation, made for the use of the learned
Roman world at large, of a first draft, written in his
native Aramaic for the benefit of a smaller circle of
readers in upper (or inland) Syria. The Aramaic has
not survived. The Greek — for which assistance was
obtained, "employing certain collaborateurs with a view
to the Greek style " are his words, c. Ap. I. 50 — shows
no sign of its Semitic parentage and probably amounted to
practically a new work. It is unlikely, e.g., that the first
draft contained the summary sketch of Jewish history
from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, which occupies
Books I and II of the Greek. The work seems to have
been issued in parts.2 Copies were presented to Ves-
pasian and Titus and other Romans who had taken part
in the war, and sold to Herod Agrippa II and other
learned Jews (c. Ap. I. 51). Titus himself affixed his
imprimatur. A long correspondence on the work passed

1 §(38).

2 § (3)> Agrippa writes, " Send me the remaining volumes."

WORKS . 15

between the author and his friend, Agrippa ; two speci-
mens of the king's letters, in rather slipshod Greek, are
quoted.1

Books I and II give a rapid sketch (expanded in the
.-////.) of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem
by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 h.c.) down to the defeat
of Cestius Gallus in a.d. 66 and the preparations for the
war. Book III narrates the coming of Vespasian and
Titus, the siege of Jotapata and the fighting in Galilee ;
Book IV the close of the Galilaean campaign, the fac-
tions in Jerusalem, the advance of Vespasian upon the
city and his return to Rome on being elected emperor by
his army ; Book V describes the city and Temple, the
investment by Titus and the capture of the first and
second walls ; Book VI the horrors of the famine, the
taking of the fortress of Antonia, followed by the burn-
ing of the Temple and the capture and destruction of
the city ; Book VII the return of Titus to Rome, the
triumphal procession and the capture of the last strong-
holds of the Jewish fanatics.

(ii) 'YYit Jewish Antiquities. In this, his magnum opus,
Josephus undertook to write the history of his nation
from the creation to the outbreak of the Jewish War.
He tells us of his misgivings in entering on so large a
task, the toil which it involved, and how it was only
through the encouragement of his patron Epaphroditus
(to whom Ant., the Life and the Apion treatise are all
dedicated) that it was finally completed in the thirteenth
year of Domitian's reign and the fifty-sixth of his own
life, a.d. 93-94 {Ant. I. 6 ff.; XX. 267). The work towards
the close shows some marks of weariness. The title
('IovSaiVcT/ 'ApxaioAoyia) and the division into twenty books
were doubtless derived from the great Roman history
(l Fo) fxa'Cio] ' ApxcuoXojLa) of Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
1 § (3)-

16 INTRODUCTION

In Books I-X the narrative closely follows the Biblical
account down to the Babylonian captivity ; XI carries on
the story to Alexander the Great; XII to the death of
Judas Maccabaeus (161 B.C.); XIII contains the history
of the Hasmonsean house to the death of Queen Alex-
andra (67 b.c); XIV the intervention of Pompey and
the Romans and the accession of Herod the Great
(37 B.C.), whose reign (37-4 b.c.) fills XV, XVI and
the first half of XVII ; the rest of XVII comprises the
reign of Archelaus (4 B.C. to a.d. 6) ; XVIII, XIX and
XX cover the remainder of the period of the Gospels
and the Acts, including notices of Quirinius, Pilate,
Tiberius, Herod the Tetrarch, and the two later Herods ;
the greater part of XIX is occupied with a full, but
irrelevant, account of the assassination of the emperor
Gaius and the accession of Claudius (a.d. 41) ; XX
summarizes the events to the outbreak of the war (a.d. 66).

As regards the historian's authorities for the first half
of his work, the main source was the Greek Bible (" the
Septuagint "), occasional use being made of the Hebrew.
This was supplemented by (1) legends and commentary,
drawn, in part at least, from Rabbinic tradition (Hag-
gadah and Halachah) ; (2) Hellenistic reproductions of the
Biblical history by Alexandrians such as Demetrius and
Artapanus ; (3) secular historians and non-Biblical docu-
ments such as Berosus, the annals of Tyre, etc. The
number of authorities named under this last head is con-
siderable, but it is probable that many of them were
known to Josephus only through the great Universal
History of Nicolas of Damascus, the friend of Herod
the Great and Augustus, to which he is largely indebted
throughout the whole of Ant. For the centuries follow-
ing the Captivity his authorities are unfortunately scanty
and of little value. From the Captivity to Antiochus
Epiphanes his main sources are the LXX books of

WORKS 17

1 Esdras and Esther, some legends of Alexander the
Great, the Letter of Aristcas, 1 Maccabees and (occasion-
ally) Polybius. From this point he relies largely on two
lost Universal Histories of Augustan writers, Strabo and
Nicolas of Damascus. The latter was undoubtedly his
chief authority for the very full account of the reign of
Herod the Great, though he does not accept all his state-
ments without question, and appears to have had access
to some less eulogistic history of that monarch. Mention
is once made of the " Memoirs of King Herod " (XV,
174). With the accession of Archelaus the history, un-
fortunately for the student of the N.T., again becomes
meagre, expanding into greater fullness when the reign
of Agrippa I is reached. With regard to him Josephus
would obtain information from his son, Agrippa II, and
for the events leading up to the war he could draw on
his own recollections. The account of the assassination
of Gaius, which is of primary importance for the Roman
historian, was thought by Mommsen to be derived from
the work of Cluvius Rufus, a witness of the events which
immediately preceded it. Besides these authorities Jose-
phus had access to priestly records (he notes the succession
of high priests throughout the narrative) and to impor-
tant decrees concerning privileges granted on various
occasions to Jews resident in Asia and elsewhere.

(iii) The Life was written as a sequel to the Antiquities,
to which it is appended in the MSS. A promise of such
an appendix is made at the end of Ant. (XX. 266) ; and
the Life closes with a dedication of the whole history to
Epaphroditus, the patron named in the exordium to the
larger work. But the Life seems to have been an after-
thought, added only after an interval of some six or seven
years, since it is implied that Agrippa II is already dead,1
and his death is said to have occurred in a.d. 100.

1 § (3).
B

1 8 INTRODUCTION

The immediate occasion for its production was the
appearance of a rival history of the Jewish War by Justus
of Tiberias, in which the writer accused Josephus of
being the real cause of the war with Rome. "The
appearance of Justus's work, with its damaging criticisms,
was likely to endanger the secure position which Josephus
had won for himself at Rome, and the earlier historian
of the war felt bound to defend himself. The Life, then,
by no means answers to its name. It is not a complete
autobiography, but simply an apologetic statement as to
the actions of Josephus as commander in Galilee, to
which have been added a few details as to the earlier and
later events of his life, by way of prologue and epilogue." x
The defence, in which Josephus attempts to pose as
friendly to the Romans, while he has to admit the part
which he took in organizing the Jewish forces to oppose
them, is extremely weak ; and che work, which is
characterized by inordinate self-praise, is the least satis-
factory of the historian's writings.

(iv) The treatise Against Apion (in two books) is, on
the other hand, the most pleasing of our author's works,
showing a well-designed plan, great literary skill, and a
more genuine patriotism, a warmer and more impassioned
zeal for his country's religion, than we find elsewhere.
The title (not the author's) is, like that of the Life, unsuit-
able, Apion not being mentioned until Book II is reached.
Older titles were : " On the Antiquity of the Jews " (not
sufficiently distinctive), and "Against the Greeks." It is
designed as a reply to criticisms on the Antiquities and a
refutation of current attacks upon, and groundless pre-
judices against, the Jewish nation; it is, in short, an
Apology for Judaism with a demonstration of the antiquity
of the race. It gives an interesting insight into the anti-
Semitism of the first century. Apion is merely one
1 Hastings' D.B., Ext. 466 £

WORKS 19

representative of Israel's enemies; a grammarian and
interpreter of Homer, he is best known as the leader of
the embassy to Caligula in a.d. 38, which brought accu-
sations against the Jewish residents in Alexandria, and
was opposed by a counter-embassy of Alexandrian Jews,
headed by Philo. Josephus challenges the extreme
antiquity claimed for the Greeks ; accounts for the
silence of Greek writers with regard to Jewish history ;
cites evidence for the antiquity of his ration from
Egyptian, Phoenician, Babylonian and Greek sources ;
refutes the malignant and absurd accusations of the
anti-Semites ; and concludes with an able and eloquent
defence of the lawgiver and his code,1 contrasting his
conception of God with the immoral ideas current among
the Greeks. The numerous quotations from lost writings
give the work a special value. Its date must be later
than a.d. 93 (the date of Ant), but whether written
before or after the Life is uncertain.

Two further works, as he tells us at the end of Ant.,
were projected by Josephus, viz. : (r) A summary
sketch of the war and the subsequent history of his
nation down to a.d. 93-4; (2) "A work in four books
concerning God and His being and concerning the Laws,
why some actions are permitted to us by them and others
are forbidden." It is unlikely that either was ever com-
pleted. But the work on " Customs and Causes," as he
elsewhere calls it, appears, from the mention of the four
books and from scattered allusions in the Antiquities to
its intended contents, to have already taken shape in his
mind, and was perhaps begun. The failure to carry out
this scheme is regrettable.

From the repeated occurrence, usually with reference
to the Seleucid dynasty or Parthian affairs, of the phrase
" as we have shown elsewhere," Josephus might appear
1 §(61).

2o INTRODUCTION

to have written a monograph on Syrian history. But the
variations on the phrase, "as has been shown elsewhere"
{lit. "in others") and (twice) " ... by others" make
it probable that the use of the first person, where it
occurs, has been carelessly taken over from one of his
authorities.

The fourth book of Maccabees (in vol. iii. of Dr. Swete's
LXX) appears in the older editions of Josephus, but has
no claim to have come from his pen.

The Man and the Historian. Importance of
his Work1

The personal character of Josephus and his credibility
as a historian have been often impugned, more especially
by his own compatriots. Edersheim's article in the
Dictionary of Christian Biography (where our author
finds himself in strange company), while not lacking in
appreciation of his merits, displays some of this rancour,
though not in its more virulent form. He has been
denounced as traitor and renegade, as a flatterer of the
Romans and one whose statements must always be
regarded with suspicion.

His character is somewhat of an enigma. We may
grant that it is not one to arouse any feeling of keen
admiration. He was no ardent patriot, like Judas Macca-
baeus, no missionary in a great cause to which he was ready
to devote his whole heart and soul and to sacrifice his
life. His three years' sojourn in the wilderness was not,
like the visit to Arabia of an older contemporary, the
prelude to a life-work of strenuous and unremitting toil
ending in imprisonment and martyrdom. His faults are

1 I have in this section made considerable use of the essay, "On
the Personal Character and Credibility of Josephus," prefixed to
Dr. Traill's translation of the Jewish War — a very judicious
estimate.

CHARACTER 21

patent ; and among them we should rank first an
inordinate egotism and a concern, above all other
considerations, for his personal interests. His life was
constantly in danger; like St. Paul, he encountered
perils in the sea, perils from his own countrymen, perils
from the Gentiles ; but his instinct for self-preservation,
aided by ready tact and resourcefulness, carried him
safely through the most desperate situations. In his
account of the shipwreck 1 we read that " I and certain
others, about eighty in all [out of a crew of six hundred],
outstripped the others and were taken on board." There
is no thought of the unfortunate swimmers who were left
behind; nothing corresponding to the Apostle's words
of encouragement in similar circumstances, and to his
biographer's joy in recording that "all escaped safe to
the land." In Galilee, before the siege of Jotapata,
he narrates with evident self-satisfaction the various
stratagems by which he outwitted his enemies who
plotted against his life. During the siege he meditated
flight; "Josephus, dissembling his anxiety for his own
safety, said that it was for their sakes that he proposed
to retire " — such is his own naive statement of his reply to
the remonstrances of the besieged citizens (B.J, III. 7.
15 f. [197]). Then there is the final scene in the cave ;
we cannot but admire the dexterity with which he eluded
death at the hands of his fellow-prisoners and the
vividness of his description ; but by what ruse ("should
one say by fortune or by the providence of God ? " are
his own words) he managed to be, with one companion,
the last survivor in the drawing of the lots, remains a
mystery.2 Later, as Roman prisoner and Roman citizen,
he always steered a safe course and retained the favour
of a succession of imperial patrons. He was, it seems, a
man of the world with a thoroughly secular disposition.
1 § (2). 2 § (43).

22 INTRODUCTION

What was his real attitude to Judaism ? Though he
devoted the latter part of his life to writing the history of
his nation and a very able defence of their religion, we
may doubt whether he was profoundly affected by their
beliefs. Traill finds something " unnational " in the first
act of his life, when he " looked around him upon the
sects and factions of his times . . . with a philosophic,
supercilious independence."1 Though we need not,
perhaps, go so far as this, nor blame him for what
appears to have been a genuine quest of truth, we may
allow that he was a cosmopolitan, alienated in many
ways from his own nation, and that there was a lack of
depth and sincerity in his adherence to Jewish dogmas.

With this must be considered his attitude to Chris-
tianity. If we set aside the one brief "testimony" to
Jesus Christ, which must be rejected as an interpolation,2
we are left with the story of the death of James, " the
brother of Jesus who was called Christ,"3 and the
reference to the murder of John the Baptist,4 as the sole
allusions to the Founder of Christianity and the move-
ment which prepared the way for it. This glaring
omission cannot be other than deliberate. Josephus
had every opportunity of acquainting himself with the
events of the life of Christ and of his followers ; certainly
he did not lack the curiosity to investigate the facts, and
he must surely have watched with interest the fortunes
and rapid spread of the rising sect which, even in St.
Paul's lifetime, had gained a footing in " Caesar's house-
hold."5 The Apostle's words with reference to an
intimate friend of Josephus might have been said of the
historian himself: "I am persuaded that none of these
things is hidden from him ; for this hath not been done
in a corner." 6 Yet there is this silence. He does not

1 Op. cit. p. 6. 2 § (26) with Appendix, Note II. 3 § (37).
4 § (29). 6 Phil. iv. 22. 6 Acts xxvi. 26,

CHARACTER 23

attack Christianity ; be simply ignores it. And, with
our knowledge of the character of Josephus, the reason
is not far to seek. He studiously avoids a topic to
which, in the circumstances of the time, it would have
been dangerous to allude. " Not only was he informed
on these subjects ; he was far too well informed of what
the Christians had already and recently suffered . . .
not to be on his guard against the imprudence of giving
any testimony in their favour which might implicate
himself in their misfortunes."1

To the same motive must be attributed the historian's
reticence on the subject of a Messiah. The words
addressed to the serpent : " It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel," 2 occasion no allusion to a
future deliverer, nor yet the prophecies of Balaam ;
Jacob's blessing is omitted ; the oracle which foretold
the coming of a world-ruler out of Judaea is interpreted
of Vespasian.3 On the other hand, there are a few
passages which suggest that Josephus did not regard the
fulfilment of prophecy as closed with the destruction of
Jerusalem, and that he may have entertained a belief in
a Messianic era involving the downfall of Rome, of which
he dared not speak openly. On Balaam he writes {Ant.
IV. 6. 5 [125]): " From the accomplishment of all these
things in accordance with his prediction one may con-
jecture what will happen in the future " ; and again, in
the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream {Ant. X.
10. 4 [210]) : " Daniel also showed the king the meaning
of the stone, but I have not thought proper to relate this,
my duty being to describe past, not future, events," while
curious enquirers are referred to the prophetical book.

In his public life as statesman and general Josephus
scarcely deserves the hard names of traitor and renegade.
Involved in early manhood in the rush of events arising

1 Traill, op. cit., p. 19. 2 Gen. iii. 15. 3 § (50).

24 INTRODUCTION

out of a popular movement which had long been
gathering force, with which he did not sympathize,
which he could not stem and vainly tried to direct,
realizing from the first the hopelessness of combating the
Roman legions, and anxious to find some means of
compromise by which to save his country from ruin,
he nevertheless accepted the post with which he was
entrusted, and threw himself into the task of organizing,
to the best of his ability, the defences of Galilee, so long
as resistance was possible; while he devoted the
energies of his later life, when his position might have
tempted him to disown his nation, to writing its history
and defending his countrymen against the slanders of a
malignant world.

On the position of Josephus as a historian, widely
different opinions have been held, from that of Jerome
who extolled him as a " Greek Livy," to the criticisms of
some modern writers who have accused him of bias and
gross misrepresentation.

The apologetic nature of the Antiquities is self-evident.
The author's purpose was to represent his maligned
nation in the best light to Greek readers, "to break
down, if possible, the wall of partition that had hitherto
secluded the Hebrew race from the communion and cut
them off from the sympathies of mankind,'' to "plead the
cause of the injured Jew at the bar of the world" (Traill).
This object has occasioned the suppression of some
(though not all) of the less creditable incidents in the
Biblical narrative. With a view to attractiveness the
narrative is diversified by legendary additions culled from
various sources, while occasionally, it must be admitted,
the author seems to have added minor details of his own
invention (see below on the imitation of Thucydides).
Granted some blemishes of this kind, there remains no

THE HISTORIAN 25

very serious charge against the writer of Ant. That
work is, on the whole, a skilful compilation, its value
varying with that of the authorities consulted, while the
criticisms passed on some of them show that these were
not always used without discrimination.1 He professes
in several passages to have a high ideal of a historian's
duty, and, speaking generally, one may allow that he
so far comes up to it as to deserve a fairly high, if not a
foremost, place among the historians of antiquity.

As the historian of the Jewish War, Josephus comes
before us with the highest credentials. Holding command
in Galilee in its opening stages and behind the Roman
lines throughout the siege of Jerusalem, he was exception-
ally well qualified for this task, and must have relied
mainly on his own recollections and the notes which
he made at the time {c. Ap. I. 49). Deserters kept him
informed of events within the city (ib.). He seems also
to have had access to the emperor's memoirs (Life 358).
He submitted the books as they were finished to Herod
Agrippa and the completed work to Vespasian and Titus,
and from them and others received testimonials to his
accuracy (c. Ap. I. 50 ft'., Life 361 ff.).2 We may there-
fore unhesitatingly accept the general trustworthiness of
his account. Exception should, perhaps, be made for a
tendency to exaggeration, e.g. in the matter of numbers,
and for some, though not a marked, bias for extolling
the achievements and clemency of the Roman generals.
His statement that Titus desired to spare the Temple 3
runs counter to that of another historian (Sulpicius
Severus), who asserts that the destruction received his
sanction; the Jewish historian was, at any rate, in a
better position to know the facts.

Besides the authorities whom he names in the Antiqui-

1 See, e.g., the historian's reading of Herod's character, § (19),

2 §(3). 3§(49).

26 INTRODUCTION

ties, Josephus, who devoted much attention to style, made
a special study of the great masters. The use which he
has made of his chief model forms an interesting study.
Was it Dionysius of Halicarnassus (to whom, as we saw,
he owed the title and arrangement of his Ant.) and
his essays on the style of Thucydides that first introduced
him to the historian of the Peloponnesian War ? Or did
he trace a likeness to himself in the great Athenian?
Widely different as were the characters of the two men,
there were points of similarity in their careers. Like
Josephus, Thucydides combined the duties of general
and historian of the great war; like him he failed as
a military commander (IV. 104 fT.), and through his con-
sequent exile was enabled to associate with the enemy
and to view the war from the standpoint of both belliger-
ents (V. 26).1 However that may be (and it is to the
credit of our author that he does not suggest the com-
parison), there is a marked imitation of the style of
Thucydides in portions of the A?itiquities, especially in
Books XVII-XIX, which possess peculiarities of their
own. The imitation is seen in the recurrent use of some
striking phrase, and occasionally in the bold attempt to
reproduce the difficult and involved style characteristic
of parts of Thucydides. One instance of a borrowed
phrase must suffice. In his account of the plague of
Athens, Thucydides writes, " When they were afraid to
visit one another, the sufferers died in their solitude . . .
or if they ventured they perished, especially those who
aspired to heroism." 2 The phrase in italics has taken the
fancy of Josephus, who employs it repeatedly.3 But
imitation did not stop at the diction. The narrative

1 Cf. § (38), first paragraph.

2 oi aperrjs ti /j.eTairoioviJi.€Voi, II. 51 (Jowett's translation).

■ 3 e.g. in §§ (31) p. 86, and (55) p. 160, "professedly virtuous,
persons" ; cf. also § (21) p. 65.

IMPORTANCE OF HIS WORK 27

of incidents in the history of Israel has been heightened,
it seems, by touches from the account of the siege of
Platsea and the Sicilian expedition; this last exploit in
particular has aroused the emulation of our author.1

Beside this indebtedness to former historians, Josephus
doubtless derived inspiration from the literary circle of
living authors by whom he was surrounded in Rome.
The account of the assassination of Caligula was, as
stated, possibly derived from Cluvius Rufus; and it is
interesting to reflect that our author must have known
a writer just rising to fame, the historian of the Emperors,
who has also left us a brief account of the Jewish War,
Cornelius Tacitus.

The high literary standard attained by the historian,
writing in a language which he acquired with difficulty,
and the power of vivid and dramatic description, evident
in many brilliant passages, are in the circumstances very
remarkable.

Every allowance being made for our author's defects,
the importance of his work is unquestionable. His
writings bridge the gulf between sacred and profane
literature ; they bring the Jewish nation out of its isolation
into the main current of world history. The task which
he set himself could only be accomplished by a Jew, and
few Jews possessed the requisite qualifications of a wide
outlook and an intimate knowledge of the world and of
Greek literature. His detachment from his nation and
other characteristics which may appear as deficiencies in
the man are not without their advantages for the historian.

For the O.T. period we may consult him as a store-
house of Rabbinical and Alexandrian lore, though his
acquaintance with Palestinian tradition is considered by

1 See Druner, Untersuchungen iiber Josephus (Marburg, 1896),
pp. 1-34.

28 INTRODUCTION

experts x to have been as superficial as, judged by his
interpretation of proper names, was his knowledge of
Hebrew. But it is only when we come down to about
the last century before our era and to the N.T. period
itself that his evidence acquires supreme importance.
Here he gives us the background of Jewish and world
history in the time of our Lord and the infant Church ;
without his labours such a work as Schiirer's Jewish
People in the titne of Jesus Christ could not have been
written. Some figures which in the N.T. are little more
than names become clothed with life ; side-lights are cast
on others with which we are more familiar. We may
follow in detail the story, told with all the moving pathos
of Greek tragedy, of the rise of Herod the Great to the
height of his fame and of the nemesis which blasted his
domestic happiness. We have full and lifelike portraits
of Roman governors and generals, comparable with the
slighter sketches in the Gospels and Acts; on the one
hand we may read of the causes of the unpopularity of
Pilate 2 and of his successors, the last of the procurators,
whose corrupt administration and shameless peculation
precipitated the war,3 on the other of high-minded
governors like Petronius,4 claiming kinship with similar
noble characters in the N.T.

Among other such illustrations of the N.T. which will
be found in the selected passages below the following
may be noted. Herod's dying provision to secure him-
self a national mourning exhibits the cruelty of the
murderer of the innocents.5 In illustration of St. Luke's
account of the infancy (ii. i ff.) we may read the full story
of an enrolment under Quirinius ; 6 also of the revolt of
Judas to which it gave rise and of the later insurrection
of Theudas, both of which are mentioned in Gamaliel's

* e.g. Edersheim, 2 §§ (25), (28), 3 § ^

L 4§(30. 5§(2i). 6§(24).

ILLUSTRATION OF N.T. 29

speech in the Sanhedrin (Acts v. 36 f.).1 In the full
account of the succession of Archelaus we may discover
the historical event which suggested our Lord's parable
of the nobleman travelling to a far country (Luke xix.
12 ff.).2 We have independent narratives, partly incon-
sistent with those in the N.T., of the marriage of Herod
the Tetrarch with Herodias 3 and of the death of Herod
Agrippa I.4 In a beautiful story we read of a royal lady
who, like Paul and Barnabas, brought relief to famine-
stricken Jerusalem in the days of Claudius.5 The
expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Tiberius forms
a precedent for the similar action of Claudius (Acts xviii.
2).6 With the later scenes in St. Paul's life we may
compare what is told us of Felix and Festus,7 and again
of Agrippa II and the marriage of Felix and Drusilla ;
while the account of the Cypriot magician and his influ-
ence over Felix strangely resembles that of Elymas and
Sergius Paulus (Acts xiii. 6 ft.).8 We may read, more-
over, of the death of James "the Lord's brother";9 of
the use of the word "Corban" (Mark vii. 11) as an
oath ; 10 of the tenets of the Jewish sects (in more than
one passage),11 and how the Pharisees acquired their
power a century before the time of Christ;12 we have
a detailed account of the Jewish treatment in the first
century of a case of demoniacal possession ; 13 and, last
but not least, we find in the scenes from the Jewish War
the fulfilment of our Lord's predictions of the fate of
Jerusalem.

Other alleged connexions between Josephus and the
N.T. are open to serious question. Few will be inclined
to follow Wellhausen, who finds in the murder of
Zacharias son of Baris (or Bariscaeus or Baruch) 14 the

1 §§ (24), (35). 2§(22). *§(29). 4§(33).

6 §(34). 6§(27). 7 § (39). 8 §(36).

9 §(37). 10§(65). n§§(53)ff- 12 §(58).

13 § (6). 14 § (45), with Appendix, Note V.

30 INTRODUCTION

incident referred to in our Lord's words about " the blood
of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye " slew between
the sanctuary and the altar" (Matt, xxiii. 35). Many
critics have maintained that there is a direct literary con-
nexion between the Jewish historian and St. Luke,
whose writings (not unnaturally, since he alone of the
Evangelists composed a "second treatise") furnish the
majority of the parallels. There is very little probability
in the suggestion1 that Josephus, in his description of
himself in boyhood being consulted by the Rabbis, was
influenced by Luke ii. 46 f. There is more to be said
for the theory that St. Luke had made a cursory perusal
of parts of the Atitiquities and had been thereby led,
in at least one instance, into serious error ; reasons for
rejecting this view will be found elsewhere.2

Texts and Translations

The literature on Josephus is immense. It will suffice
here to mention two standard editions of the Greek text
and two English translations.

Older editions have been practically supplanted by
the great critical edition of B. Niese in seven volumes,
including a full critical apparatus and introductions on
the MSS (Berlin 1887-1895). It cannot be said that
Niese has established a final text ; he seems to err in
placing too great reliance on a single class of MSS, with
the result that the true reading is often to be found in
the notes rather than in the text. In his editio minor
without critical apparatus (1888-1895) some corrections
of the errors of the MSS have been introduced. On
the basis of the older work of Bekker (1855) and
with assistance from Niese, a handy edition has been
issued in the Teubner series of classical authors by

1 Quoted by Edersheim, Diet. Christ. Biog. III. 442 a, note.

2 See Appendix, Note IV.

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS 31

S. A. Naber (6 vols., Leipzig, 1 888-1 896). Niese's
larger edition is indispensable to the student, but that
of Naber forms a useful auxiliary and check upon it.
Notwithstanding Niese's work, much remains to be done
in establishing the text on a firm basis. In many difficult
passages all MSS seem to have gone astray and we are
left to conjectural emendation ; there are also occasional
small lacuinc.

In English Josephus is best known through the trans-
lation of William Whiston, first published nearly two
centuries ago (1736). A revision of Whiston was pro-
duced by the Rev. A. R. Shilleto in Bohn's Standard
Library, with brief topographical notes by Sir C. W.
Wilson (5 vols., London, G. Bell, 1889-1890). The
revised Whiston is the most serviceable rendering of the
complete works available. Whiston has many merits,
but he had not access to a good text, his rendering is
often at fault and he had little regard for style; while
Shilleto's revision, which appeared inopportunely just
before the two modern editions of the Greek text,
unfortunately leaves much to be desired.

Of a very different character is the admirable transla-
tion of the Jewish War and the Life made by the Rev.
Dr. R. Traill and edited, after his death, with notes by
Isaac Taylor (London, 1862). Dr. Traill fell a victim
to his exertions in relieving his parishioners during the
Irish famine of 1846-7, and the version which he con-
templated of the remaining works never appeared. In
his translation, which combines faithfulness to the original
with a fastidious regard for English style, Traill went far
towards accomplishing for Josephus what Jowett did for
Thucydides.

My procedure in the following selections has been first
to produce a version of my own, and then carefully to
revise it with the help of both Shilleto's Whiston and

32 INTRODUCTION

Traill. In several instances I had the satisfaction of
finding that my rendering practically agreed with Traill's,
but I have not scrupled elsewhere to avail myself of
happy turns of expression where, as often, he had the
advantage of me. Josephus, with his feeling for good
style and the pains which he took to acquire it, deserves
and demands much care in translation. While in parts
of his work his Greek is simple and easy, passages, on the
other hand, where he gives his reflections on the char-
acter, or estimates the motives, of his dramatis personce,1
in the involved manner of Thucydides, are extraordinarily
difficult both to understand and to reproduce in readable
English.

I have selected the passages most relevant to Christian
origins and New Testament study, neglecting almost
entirely the first twelve books of the Antiquities.

For further literature reference may be made to the
articles in the Dictionary of Christian Biography (Eders-
heim), the Jewish Encyclopcedia (S. Krauss), Hastings'
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church (von Dobschiitz),
Hastings' Bible Dictionary, Extra Volume (Thackeray),
and to Schiirer's Jewish People in the time of Christ
(E.T.), div. i. vol. i. pp. 77-110.

I have to acknowledge my gratitude to my sister-in-
law, Miss Harriette G. Orr, for her kind assistance in the
compilation of the Index.
July 191 9.

1 E.g. §§(19) and (20).

I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY

(i) The Boy among the Doctors. His Education

I was brought up with Matthias, my own brother by
both parents, and made great progress in my education,
gaining a reputation for an excellent memory and under-
standing. While still a mere boy, about fourteen years a.d. 51-2
old, I won universal applause for my love of letters ;
insomuch that the chief priests and the leading men of
the city used constantly to meet in order to obtain from
me more accurate information on some particular in our
legal institutions. At about the age of sixteen I deter- a. d. 53-4
mined to gain personal experience of the several sects
into which our nation is divided. These, as I1 have
frequently mentioned, are three in number — the first that
of the Pharisees, the second that of the Sadducees, and
the third that of the Essenes. I thought that, after a
thorough investigation, I should be in a position to select
the best. So I submitted myself to hard training and
laborious exercises and passed through the three courses.
Not content, however, with the experience thus gained,
on hearing of one named Bannus, who dwelt in the
wilderness, wearing only such raiment as trees provided,
feeding on such things as grew of themselves, and using
frequent ablutions of cold water, by day and night, for
purity's sake, I became his ardent disciple. With him
I lived for three years and, having accomplished my

1 Lit. "we." For the various descriptions of the Jewish sects
see§§(53)-(55)-

C 33

34 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (2)

56-7 purpose, returned to the city. Being now in my nine-
teenth year I began to govern my life by the rules of the
Pharisees, a sect which is akin to that which the Greeks
call the Stoic school. — Vita 2 (8-12).

(2) A Shipwreck on the Voyage to Rome. The Eve of
the War

Josephus meets witK the same fate as St. Paul within a few years
of the event so graphically described in Acts xxvii.

Soon after I had completed my twenty-sixth year it fell
to my lot to go up to Rome for a reason which I will
proceed to relate. At the time when Felix was procu-
rator of Judaea, certain priests of my acquaintance, very
excellent men, were on a slight and trifling charge sent
by him in bonds to Rome to render an account to
Caesar.1 I was anxious to discover some means of de-
livering these men, more especially as I learnt that, even
in affliction, they had not forgotten the pious practices of
religion, but supported themselves on figs and nuts. I
reached Rome after being in great jeopardy at sea. For
our ship foundered in the midst of the sea of Adria, and
our crew of some six hundred souls had to swim all that
night. About daybreak, through God's good providence,
we sighted a ship of Cyrene, and I and certain others,
about eighty in all, outstripped the others and were taken
on board. Landing safely at Dicaearchia, which the Italians
call Puteoli, I became on friendly terms with Aliturus, an
actor who was a special favourite of Nero and of Jewish
origin. Through him I became known to Poppaea,
Caesar's wife, and took the earliest opportunity of solicit-
ing her aid to secure the liberation of the priests. In
addition to this kind service, I received large gifts from
Poppaea, and so returned to my own country.
1 Nero.

(3) AUTOBIOGRAPHY 35

There I found revolutionary movements already on
foot, and that many were building high hopes on the
prospect of revolt from Rome. I accordingly endea-
voured to repress these promoters of sedition and to
bring them over to another frame of mind. I urged
them to picture to themselves the nation on which they
were about to make war, and to remember that they were
inferior to the Romans, not only in military skill, but in
good fortune j and I warned them not thus recklessly
and with such utter madness to expose their country,1
their families and themselves to the direst perils. With
such words I earnestly and insistently sought to dissuade
them from their purpose, foreseeing that the end of the
war would be most disastrous for us. But my efforts
were unavailing j the madness of desperation was far too
strong for me. — Vita 3-4 (13-19).

(3) The " Jewish War " and its Reception. Criticism of a
rival Historian (Justus)

I cannot but wonder at your impudence in daring to
assert that your narrative is to be preferred to that of all
who have written on this subject, when you neither knew
what happened in Galilee — for you were then at Berytus2
with the king3 — nor acquainted yourself with4 all that the
Romans endured or inflicted upon us at the siege of
Jotapata ; nor was it in your power to ascertain the part
which I myself played in the siege, since all possible
informants perished in that conflict. Perhaps, however,
you will say that you have accurately narrated the events
which took place at Jerusalem. How, pray, can that be,
seeing that neither were you a combatant nor had you
perused the Memoirs of Caesar, as is abundantly proved

1 Lit. "countries." 2 Beirut. s Herod Agrippa II.

4 The word is that rendered in St. Luke's preface (i. 3) "traced
the course of (all things)."

36 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (3)

by your contradictory account ? But, if you are so confi-
dent that your history excels all others, why did you not
publish it. in the lifetime of the Emperors Vespasian and
Titus, who conducted the war, and while King Agrippa
and all his family, persons thoroughly conversant with
Hellenic culture, were still among us? You had it
written twenty years ago, and might then have obtained
the evidence of eyewitnesses to your accuracy. But not
until now, when those persons are no longer with us and
you think you cannot be confuted, have you ventured to
publish it.

/ had no such apprehensions concerning my work.
No ; I presented the volumes to the Emperors them-
selves, when the events had hardly passed out of sight,
conscious as I was that I had preserved the true story.
I expected to receive testimony to my accuracy and was
not disappointed. To many others also I immediately
presented my History, some of whom had taken part in
the war, such as King Agrippa and some of his relatives.
Indeed, so anxious was the Emperor Titus that my
volumes should be the sole authority from which the
world should learn the facts, that he affixed his own
signature to them and gave orders for their publication ;
while King Agrippa wrote1 sixty- two letters testifying to
the truth of the record. Two of these I subjoin, from
which you may, if you will, learn the nature of his
communications : —

" King Agrippa to dearest Josephus greeting. I
have perused the book with the greatest pleasure.
You seem to me to have written with much greater
care and accuracy than any who have dealt with
the subject. Send me the remaining volumes.
Farewell."

1 Or "has left in writing."

(4) AUTOBIOGRAPHY 37

" King Agrippa to dearest Josephus greeting.
From what you have written you appear to stand
in no need of instruction, to enable us all to learn
(everything from you) from the beginning.1 But
when you meet me, I will myself instruct you in
many things of which you are ignorant."2 — Vita 65
(357-366).

(4) After the War. Josephus as Roman Citizen

After the siege of Jotapata I was in the hands of the a.d. 67
Romans and was kept under guard, while receiving every
attention. Vespasian showed in many ways the honour
in which he held me, and it was by his command that I
married one of the women taken captive at Cresarea, a
virgin and a native of that place. She did not, however,
remain long with me, for she left me on my obtaining
my release and accompanying Vespasian to Alexandria.
There I married again. From Alexandria I was sent
with Titus to the siege of Jerusalem, where my life was a.d. 70
frequently in danger, both from the Jews, who were eager
to get me into their hands, to gratify their revenge, and
from the Romans, who attributed every reverse to some
treachery on my part, and were constantly and clamor-
ously demanding of the Emperor that he should punish
me as their betrayer. Titus Caesar, however, knowing
well the varying fortunes of war, repressed by his silence
the soldiers' outbursts against me.

Again, when at last Jerusalem was on the point of
being carried by assault, Titus C?esar repeatedly urged
me to take whatever I would from the wreck of my
country, stating that I had his permission. And I, now

1 The king's alleged "culture" here fails him; (he Greek is
vulgar and obscure. For y^as oAovs, "us all," perhaps we should
read Tfixas oXus, " us completely."

1 Or "not generally known."

38 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (4)

that my native place had fallen, having nothing more
precious to take and preserve as a solace for my personal
misfortunes, made request to Titus for the freedom of
some of my countrymen ; I also received by his gracious
favour a gift of sacred books.1 Not long after I made
petition for my brother and fifty friends, and my request
was granted. Again, by permission of Titus, I entered
the Temple, where a great multitude of captive women
and children had been imprisoned, and liberated all the
friends and acquaintances whom I recognized, in number
about a hundred and ninety j I took no ransom for their
release and restored them to2 their former fortune.
Once more, when I was sent by Titus Caesar with Cere-
alius and a thousand horse to a village called Tekoa, to
prospect whether it was a suitable place for an entrenched
camp, and on my return saw many prisoners who had
been crucified and recognized three of my acquaintances
among them, I was cut to the heart and came and told
Titus with tears what I had seen. He gave orders
immediately that they should be taken down and receive
the most careful treatment. Two of them died in the
physicians' hands ; the third survived.

When Titus had quelled the disturbances in Judaea,
conjecturing that the lands which I held at Jerusalem
would be unprofitable to me, because a Roman garrison
was to be quartered there, he gave me another parcel of
ground in the plain. On his departure for Rome, he
took me with him on board, treating me with every
mark of respect. On our arrival in Rome, I met with
great consideration from Vespasian. He gave me a
lodging in the house which he had occupied before he
came to the throne ; he honoured me with the privilege
of Roman citizenship; and he assigned me a pension.

1 Or " the sacred books."

a Meaning uncertain ; Traill, " paying that compliment to.'

(4) AUTOBIOGRAPHY 39

He continued to honour me up to the time of his
departure from this life, without any abatement in his
kindness towards me. . . . Vespasian also presented me
with a considerable tract of land in Judoea.

About this time I divorced my wife, being displeased
at her behaviour. She had borne me three children, of
whom two died ; one, whom I named Hyrcanus, is still
alive. Afterwards I married a woman of Jewish extraction
who had settled in Crete. She came of very distinguished
parents, indeed the most notable people in that country.
In character she surpassed many of her sex, as her
subsequent life showed. By her I had two sons, Justus
the elder, and then Simonides, surnamed Agrippa. Such
is my domestic history.

The treatment which I received from the Emperors
continued unaltered. On Vespasian's decease Titus, who a.d. 79
succeeded to the empire, showed the same esteem for
me as did his father, and never credited the accusations
to which I was constantly subjected. Domitian sue- a.d. 81
ceeded Titus and added to my honours. He punished
my Jewish accusers, and for a similar offence gave orders
for the punishment of a slave who was a eunuch and my
son's tutor. He also exempted my property in Judaea
from taxation — a mark of the highest honour to the
privileged individual. Moreover, Domitia, Caesar's wife,
never ceased conferring favours upon me.

Such are the events of my whole life ; from them let
others judge as they will of my character. — Vita 75-76
(414-430).

For further autobiographical details see below, §§ (38), (43), (44),
(46), (48).

II. SPECIMENS OF AMPLIFICATION OF
THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

(5) Moses, the Infant Prodigy, introduced to Pharaoh

For Moses' beauty, cf. Acts vii. 20. The name of Pharaoh's
daughter, Thermuthis, occurs also in the Book of Jubilees (xlvii. 5,
Tharmuth) ; elsewhere she is called Bithiah (cf. I Chron. iv. 18).
For Rabbinical parallels, see art. "Moses" in the Jewish
Encyclopaedia.

When he was three years old, God added wondrously
to his stature ; and there was no one so lost to an
appreciation of beauty as, on seeing Moses, not to be
amazed at his comeliness. It often happened that
persons meeting him as he was carried along the road,
attracted by the child's appearance, turned round and,
leaving their pursuits, gave themselves up to gazing at
him. Such boyish charm, so remarkable and perfect as
his, held the onlookers spellbound.

Such was Moses when Thermuthis, who was not
blessed with offspring of her own, adopted him as her
son. Now on one occasion she brought him to her father
and showed him to him, and told him how, in case it
was God's will that she should have no child of her own,
she had made provision for a successor, by bringing up
a boy of divine beauty and noble spirit, and by what a
miracle she had received him from the bounteous river.
"And I thought," she added, "to make him my child
and the heir to your kingdom."

With these words she laid the babe in her father's
arms ; and he took him and hugged him to his breast,

40

(6) AMPLIFICATION OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE 41

and, to please his daughter, affectionately placed his
diadem upon his head. But Moses, in mere childishness,
tore it off and dashed it to the ground and trampled
upon it.

The incident was thought ominous, portending ill to
the kingdom. The sacred scribe, who had foretold that
the child's birth would cause the humiliation of the
Egyptian Empire, witnessed the scene and rushed forward
to kill him, with an alarming cry. "This, O king,"
so he cried, " is that child of whom God told us that
if we kill him we need fear nothing. By his action1
in trampling on (the symbol of) thy sovereignty Land
treading the diadem under foot 2j, he bears out my pre-
diction. Kill him, then, and at one stroke relieve the
Egyptians of their fear of him and deprive the Hebrews
of the confident hopes which he inspires."

But Thermuthis was too quick for him and snatched
the child away. The king, too, was reluctant to slay
him, being inclined to mercy by God, whose providence
watched over Moses' life. Great care was accordingly
devoted to his upbringing; the Hebrews resting high
hopes upon him for their future, while the Egyptians
viewed his education with suspicion. — Ant. II. 9. 6 f.
(230-237).

(6) Exorcism in the name of Solomon

11 By whom do your sons cast them out?"

God also enabled Solomon, for man's benefit and cure,
to learn the art of encountering devils. He both com-
posed charms for the alleviation of diseases and also left
behind him certain methods of exorcism, by which the
poor prisoners 3 may expel the devils so that they never
return.

1 Text emended. * Perhaps a gloss (omit Latin VS.).

3 Lit. "persons bound in" ; cf. Luke xiii. 16.

42 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (7)

This treatment even to this day is of the greatest
efficacy among the Jews. I have myself witnessed one
of my countrymen, a certain Eleazar, in the presence of
Vespasian and his sons and some tribunes and a crowd
of soldiers of other ranks, releasing x (from their bondage)
persons who were possessed by these2 devils. The
mode of treatment was as follows. To the demoniac's
nose he applied his ring which held beneath the seal a
root obtained in accordance with Solomon's prescription,
and then as the man smelt it he drew the devil out
through his nostrils. The patient at once fell down and
Eleazar adjured the devil never to return into him again,
using Solomon's name and reciting the incantations
which that monarch composed. Moreover, in his desire
to convince the bystanders and to prove that he really
possessed this power, Eleazar used to place a little in
front of the demoniac a cup or basin 3 full of water, with
a command to the devil on his exit from the man to
overturn these vessels and so to let the spectators know
that he had left him. On this taking place, the skill
and wisdom of Solomon were clearly established. —
Ant. VIII. 2. 5 (45-49)-

(7) Micaiah and Zedekiah prophesy before Ahab

Cf. 1 Kings xxii. With the alleged discrepancy between pro-
phecies of Elijah and Micaiah, cf. Jos. Ant. X. 7. 2 (106 f.) for
seeming inconsistency between Jeremiah and Ezekiel which led
King Zedekiah to disbelieve both.

So Ahab summoned his own prophets, in number
about four hundred, and bade them enquire of God
whether, if he led his forces against Ader,4 He would
grant him victory and enable him to overthrow the city 5

1 The same word as in Luke xiii. 12 ("art loosed").

2 Text doubtful. 3 Lit. "foot-ba'h."

4 i.e. Ben-hadad, in the LXX "the son of (H)ader."

5 Ramoth-gilead.

(7) AMPLIFICATION OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE 43

which was his objective in going to war. The prophets
advised him to undertake the expedition, assuring him
that he would defeat the Syrian (king) and get him into
his power as on the former occasion. But Jehoshaphat
understood from their words that they were false prophets,
and asked Ahab whether there was some other prophet
of God besides, that they might obtain more accurate
information about the issue. Ahab replied that there
was such a man, but that he hated him because he
prophesied evil and had foretold that he would be
defeated and slain by the Syrian (king). " I have him
now in ward," he said, " and his name is Micaiah, the
son of Omblaiah." * However, as Jehoshaphat urged
that he should be produced, Ahab sent a eunuch to
fetch Micaiah.

The eunuch explained to him on the road how all the
other prophets had foretold that the king would be
victorious ; to which he replied that it was impossible
for him to give a false report of God's word, but he
would speak whatever God should tell him concerning
the king. So when he came before Ahab, and had been
adjured by him to tell him the truth, he said that God
had shown him the Israelites in flight, pursued by the
Syrians and scattered by them to the mountains like
flocks that had lost their shepherds. He added that
it was revealed to him that they would return to their
homes in peace, but he, and he only, would fall in the
battle.

When Micaiah had thus spoken, Ahab said to Jehos-
haphat, " See, I told you but now of this fellow's disposi-
tion towards me and how he predicted for me nothing
but the worst."

Micaiah replied that Ahab ought to listen to all that
God foretold, and that the false prophets were inciting
1 Imlah.

44 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (7)

him to make this war, hoping that he would be victorious,
whereas he was destined to fall in the battle.

This caused the king to reflect ; but Zedekiah, one of
the false prophets, approached and advised him to pay
no heed to Micaiah. " There is," he said, " no truth in
his words, as I can prove from a prophecy of one who
could read the future better than this fellow, I mean
Elijah. Elijah foretold that dogs would lick up your
blood in the field of Naboth, as they had licked the
blood of Naboth who for your sake was stoned to death
by the people.1 Clearly, then, this fellow is a liar, when
he contradicts a prophet greater than himself, by assert-
ing that you will die at a distance of three days' journey
from that spot. But you shall all learn whether he speaks
the truth and possesses the power of the divine spirit.
The instant I strike him, let him injure my hand, as
Jadaus withered king Jeroboam's right hand when he
wished to arrest him.2 You have heard, I presume, that
that actually happened."

So he struck Micaiah, and, when no harm happened
to him, Ahab took courage and was ready to lead his
army against the king of Syria. Fate, I suppose, was
winning the day and causing the false prophets to appear
more plausible than the true, that so she might find a
handle to bring about his end. — Ant. VIII. 15. 4
(401-439).

1 I Kings xxi. 19.

2 I Kings xiii. 4. The name Jadaus (or, as the Latin has, Jadon)
is unscriptural.

III. THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

(8) Loss of Jewish Independence. Palestinian Settlement
under Pompey

The quarrels between the brothers Aristobulus II and Hyr-
canus II bring about the intervention of Rome in Palestinian affairs.
Pompey takes Jerusalem, and Syria becomes a Roman province. 63 B.C.
See Map 40 in the Hist. Atlas of Holy Land of G. A. Smith and
J. G. Bartholomew.

The sanctuary, which hitherto had been inaccessible
and screened from view, suffered gross outrage. Pompey,
with several of his staff, penetrated into the inner court
and saw things which it was unlawful for any save the
high priests to behold. There stood the golden table,
and the holy candlestick,1 and the cups for libations, and
a mass of spices ; 2 besides these, in the treasury was the
sacred money amounting to two thousand talents. Yet
Pompey out of piety touched none of these, acting here
again in a manner worthy of his noble nature.

On the following day he gave orders to those in charge
of the Temple to cleanse the precincts and to offer to
God the offerings prescribed by the Law. The high priest-
hood he restored to Hyrcanus, in gratitude for his other
services and chiefly because he had restrained the Jews
of the country from taking up arms for Aristobulus.
Those who had been responsible for the war were be-
headed; Faustus and all who had gallantly scaled the
wall received at his hands the appropriate rewards of
valour.

1 Or "lampstand." 2 Another reading has "silver vessels."

45

46 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (8)

Jerusalem he made tributary to Rome, and the cities
of Ccele-Syria which had in times past been subdued by
the inhabitants (of the metropolis) were taken from them
and placed under a governor * appointed by himself; and
the whole nation, whose power had until then been greatly
increasing, was strictly confined within its own bounds.
He rebuilt Gadara, which had recently been destroyed,2
to gratify his freedman Demetrius who was a Gadarene.
The other cities — Hippos, Scythopolis, Pella, Dium,
Samaria, also Marisa, Azotus, Jamnia and Arethusa — he
restored to their inhabitants. These, as well as the
cities which had been* razed, were all in the interior
of the country. On the sea-board Gaza, Joppa, Dora
and Strata's Tower — afterwards magnificently rebuilt by
Herod and embellished with harbours and temples under
the new name of Csesarea — all these were liberated by
Pompey and attached to the province (of Syria).

Jerusalem owed this calamity to the quarrels of Hyr-
canus and Aristobulus. We lost our liberty and became
subject to the Romans ; we were forced to give back to
the Syrians the territory which we had taken from them
by our arms. Moreover, within a short period the
Romans exacted from us over ten thousand talents.
The kingship, formerly a privilege bestowed on those
who were high priests by right of birth, now passed into
plebeian hands j 3 of this wre shall speak in due course.

Pompey then handed over Ccele-Syria with the rest of
Syria,4 from the river Euphrates to Egypt, to Scaurus,
leaving him two Roman legions, and departed for Cilicia
en route for Rome. He took with him Aristobulus as a
prisoner with his children. — Ant. XIV. 4. 4f. (71-79).

1 Or "prsetor."

2 By the Jews {B.J. parallel passage).

3 The Heiodian family (Iduma^ans).

4 Text (as read by Niese) doubtful.

(10) THE COMING OF THE ROMANS 47

(9) Division of the Country into Five Districts by Gabinius

Gabinius completes Pompcy's work in the settlement of the
province of Syria.

After this Gabinius reinstated Hyrcanus in Jerusalem c. 57 b.c.
and committed to him the custody of the Temple. The
civil administration he reconstituted under the form of
an aristocracy. He divided the whole nation into five
unions j l one of these he attached to Jerusalem, another
to Gadara, the third had Amathus as its centre of govern-
ment, the fourth was allotted to Jericho, the fifth to
Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. The Jews welcomed their
release from the rule of an individual and were from that
time forward governed by an aristocracy. — B.J. I. 8. 5
(l69f.fi

( 1 o) Settlement under Julius Ccesar

In due course Caesar concluded the war2 and set sail 47 "-c
for Syria. There he confirmed the appointment of
Hyrcanus to the high priesthood, while he bestowed
high honours on Antipater — the privilege of Roman
citizenship with exemption from taxation everywhere. . . .

Caesar then appointed Hyrcanus high priest and
Antipater civil governor, allowing him to select his own
title. Antipater leaving the decision to him, Caesar made
him viceroy3 of Judaea. He further permitted Hyr-
canus, at his request, to rebuild the walls of the capital,4
which had lain in ruins since their demolition by Pompey.
He sent instructions to the consuls at Rome that a
record of these decisions should be placed in the
Capitol.— ^«A XIV. 8. 3, 5 (137, 143 t>

1 Or "sessions," "conventions" (<rvvo5oi). "He appointed
five councils (or "assemblies," avvehpia) and distributed the nation
into as many portions." — Ant. (parallel passage).

2 In Egypt, where Antipater had rendered him yeoman service.

3 Or "procurator" {iitiTponos).

4 Lit. "fatherland."

IV. HEROD THE GREAT

(n) The Youth Herod frees Galilee from the Brigands

Antipater, when he saw that Hyrcanus was of an
inert and sluggish disposition, put his eldest son Phasael
in command of Jerusalem and the surrounding district,
and committed Galilee to his second son, Herod, then a
mere stripling; he was but fifteen1 years old. Still his
youth was no hindrance to him, and, being a lad of high
spirit, he at once met with an opportunity for the display
of his quality. Finding that one Ezekias, the captain of
a band of brigands, with a large horde, was overrunning
the adjoining parts of Syria, he caught him and put him
to death with many of his confederates. This achieve-
ment of his won him the warmest affection of the Syrians;
he had purged their country of this nest of robbers of
which they were longing to be rid. They would sing
his praises for this feat throughout their villages and
cities, acclaiming him as one who had brought them
peace and the secure enjoyment of their possessions.
This action, moreover, brought him to the notice of
Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great Caesar and now
governor of Syria. — Ant. XIV. 9. 2 (158-160).

(12) Herod on his Trial before the Sanhedrin

But the principal Jews, when they saw Antipater and
his sons growing so great through the good-will of the
nation and the revenues which they derived from Judaea

1 So the MSS ; probably we should read " twenty-five." See
Schurer, Jewish People, I. I. 383, n. 29.

48

(ia) HEROD THE GREAT 49

and from the wealth of llyrcanus, became ill-disposed
to him. For Antipater had made an alliance with the
Roman Emperors and had induced Hyrcanus to send
them money ; he then appropriated this money and
despatched it as a gift from himself and not from
Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus, when the matter came to his
ears, was indifferent. Not so the Jewish leaders. The
sight of Herod — violent, audacious and hankering after
autocratic power1 — filled them with alarm. So they
approached Hyrcanus and now openly accused Antipater.
" How much longer," they said, " will you remain un-
moved by what is happening? Do you not see that
Antipater and his sons have girded themselves with the
ruler's power, leaving you but the barren name of king ?
Mark these things and do not expect to escape peril by
carelessness for yourself and your kingdom. Antipater
and his sons are no longer stewards of your realm — do
not deceive yourself with that thought — but openly and
confessedly despots. One son, Herod, by killing Eze-
kias,2 with many of his followers, has transgressed our
law, which forbids the slaying of any man, even a male-
factor, unless he has first been condemned to this penalty
by the Sanhedrin. Yet Herod took it upon him to
do this without your authority."

This speech had its effect upon Hyrcanus. His in-
dignation was further roused by the mothers of Herod's
victims, who continued day by day in the Temple to
petition the king and the people to bring Herod to
judgement before the Sanhedrin for his actions. Thus
instigated, Hyrcanus summoned Herod to trial upon the
charges laid against him. He came. His father had
advised him to meet his judges not as a private indi-
vidual but with a bodyguard to protect him, after securing
his position in Galilee in the manner that seemed most

1 Lit. "tytanny." 2 See§(n).

D

5o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (12)

to his own advantage. He set his affairs in order ac-
cordingly, and with an escort just sufficient for his
journey, so as neither to intimidate Hyrcanus by ap-
pearing with a larger body, nor yet to be quite exposed
and unprotected, went to his trial.

However, Sextus, the governor of Syria, sent writtci
instructions to Hyrcanus to acquit Herod, adding threats
in the event of his disregarding them. This letter of
Sextus gave Hyrcanus a handle for delivering Herod'
unscathed from the Sanhedrin, for he 1 loved him as his
own son.

Herod, as he stood in the Sanhedrin with his body-
guard round him, overawed them all, and none of those
who before his arrival had been maligning him, now
dared to accuse him. There was deep silence and
perplexity how to proceed.

In this critical situation one Sameas, a man whose
upright character made him superior to fear, rose up and
said : " Fellow-councillors and King, I know of none,
nor, I suppose, can you name any, of those who in times
past have been summoned before you, who appeared in
such guise as this. Every one, of whatever rank, enter-
ing this council-chamber on his trial, comes with an air
of humility and the appearance of one in fear and
craving your mercy, with his hair long and in black
raiment. But this most worthy Herod, a defendant on
trial for murder, when summoned to answer so grave a
charge, stands here in purple array, with well-trimmed
hair adorning his head, and with armed men around
him, ready, if we condemn him in accordance with the
law, to kill us and to save himself in defiance of justice.
Yet it is not Herod I would blame for such conduct, if
he puts his own interests above the laws, but you and
the King for giving him so great licence. Be assured,

1 Apparently Hyrcanus, though Sextus might be the subject.

(i3) HEROD THErGREAT 51

however, I call God Almighty to witness, that this man,
whom, to gratify Hyrcanus, you now desire to acquit,
will one day punish both you and your King."

And his words came true. For Herod, on inheriting
lis kingdom, slew all those who were in the Sanhedrin,
(tnd Hyrcanus with them, Sameas alone excepted. For
he had a high regard for Sameas on account of his
upright character and because, when the city was after-
wards besieged by Herod and Sossius, he advised the 37 ».c.
people to admit Herod, telling them that for their sins
they could not escape him. — Ant. XIV. 9. 3 f . (163-
176).

(13) Herod and Cassius. Murder of Antipater, Herod's
Father

After the death of Julius Cresar, when civil war was impending, 44. B.C.
Cassius came to Syria and exacted heavy taxes, in the collection of
which he was assisted by Antipater and his sons. Malichus had
plotted against Antipater ; Antipater had pardoned him, and had
also saved his life when he was in danger from the Romans.

In saving Malichus, however, Antipater, as the event <• 43 «-c
proved, had saved his own murderer. For Cassius and
Murcus1 collected an army and entrusted the entire
charge of it to Herod, appointing him to the command
of Coele-Syria with a fleet and a force of horse and foot.
They promised, moreover, to make him King of Judnea
after the war, which had already broken out, against
Antony and the young Caesar.2 Malichus was then more
in terror than ever of Antipater, and endeavoured to put
him out of the way.3 So he bribed the butler of Hyr-
canus, at whose house the two were being entertained,

1 The governor of Syria.

2 Octavius, the future Kmperor Augustus.

3 Cf. B.J. I. 226: "It was his son's power and expectations
which brought about Antipater's end. For Malichus was afraid of
these," etc.

52 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (t4)

and had him poisoned. With his armed men he was
able to keep the city quiet.

When Herod and Phasael heard of the plot against
their father and were indignant at it, Malichus, as on the
former occasion, denied any part in it, and professed
that he had not been murdered. Such was the end of
Antipater, a man pre-eminent for his piety, justice and
patriotism. Of the two sons, Herod at once resolved to
lead his army against Malichus and avenge his father;
Phasael, the elder, preferred to defeat him by resort to
craft, for fear they should seem guilty of provoking civil
war. So he accepted Malichus' defence, feigning belief
in his innocence in the matter of Antipater's death, and
arranged a splendid funeral for his father. — Ant. XIV.
ii. 4 (280-284). '

( 1 4) Antony makes Herod and Phasael Tetrarchs of
Judaa

See the Historical Atlas of Smith and Bartholomew, Map 41.

42 b.c. After the death of Cassius at Philippi, the victors de-
parted, Caesar going to Italy, Antony to Asia. Embassies

41 b.c from the various states waited upon Antony in Bithynia,
and among them came the Jewish leaders, who accused
Phasael and Herod of usurping the government and
leaving to Hyrcanus merely titular honours. Herod
thereupon appeared and by large bribes so wrought
upon Antony that he refused his adversaries a hearing.
So for the time being these enemies were dispersed.
But on a later occasion a hundred Jewish officials
approached Antony, now a slave to his passion for
Cleopatra, at Daphne beside Antioch, and, putting for-
ward the most eminent and eloquent of their number,
laid accusations against the brothers. The defence
was undertaken by Messala, Hyrcanus supporting him

(i5) heroi) tin-; ckiat 53

because of his marriage connexion with Herod. After
hearing l><>th parties, Antony enquired of Hyrcanus who
was the best qualified ruler. Hyrcanus pronouncing in
favour of Herod and his brother, Antony was delighted,
because he had formerly been their father's guest, and
had been hospitably entertained by Antipatei when he
accompanied Gabinius on his Judsean campaign. So he 57 -55 B«c
made the brothers tetrarchs and entrusted them with the
administration of the whole of Judaea. — Ant. XIV. 12.
4 f. (242-244).

(15) How Herod won his Kingdom

Ik rod, forced to flee from Palestine by a great invasion of 40 B.C.
Parthians, who reinstate Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, as King of
Judrca, arrives a suppliant at Rome in mid-winter.

Antony commiserated the reversal of Herod's fate. The
trite reflection arose in his mind that even those in the
highest rank are at the mercy of fortune. He was moved
partly by the memory of Antipater's hospitality,1 partly by
Herod's promise, as on a former occasion when he was
made tetrarch, to give him money if he were made king.
But his main incentive to assist Herod in his suit was
animosity towards Antigonus, whom he regarded as a
promoter of sedition and an enemy of the Roman
people.

Caesar 2 was even more ready to meet Herod's claim and
to further his ends because of the part which Antipater
had played in his father's campaigns in Egypt and
his hospitality and undeviating loyalty; the desire to
gratify Antony, who was a warm admirer of Herod, was
a further motive.

The senate was accordingly summoned, and Messala,
followed by Atratinus, introduced Herod and rehearsed
his father's services and reminded the assembly of the
1 Cf. § (14). 2 Octavius.

54 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (15)

good- will which Herod himself had always borne to
the Roman people. At the same time they denounced
Antigonus and proved him to be an enemy, not merely
from his former antagonism to them, but because he
had now been guilty of indignity to the Roman people
in accepting his rulership at Parthian hands. At this
the senate was exasperated. Antony also came forward
and advised them that it was expedient for the war
with Parthia that Herod should be king. This met
with unanimous approval and a decree was passed
accordingly.

The clearest evidence of Antony's regard for Herod
was afforded not merely by his obtaining for him the
kingdom for which he had not looked, but by his pro-
curing this unexpected honour so expeditiously that he
was enabled to leave Italy within the space of seven
days. For Herod had not come to the capital to ask
the kingship for himself. He did not suppose that the
Romans, whose custom was to confer such a privilege on
members of the royal family, would grant it to him. He
had come to ask for it for his wife's brother Alexander,
the grandson on his father's side of Aristobulus, on his
mother's of Hyrcanus. How this youth was afterwards
put to death by Herod will be told in due course.

When the senate was dissolved, Antony and Caesar
left the senate-house to offer sacrifice and to deposit a
copy of the decree in the Capitol. Herod was between
them, and the consuls and other magistrates led the
way. Antony celebrated the king's accession-day by
a festival. Thus did Herod obtain his kingdom in
the 184th Olympiad, under the consulship of Gnaeus
Domitius Calvinus (for the second time) and Gaius
Asinius Pollio.— Ant. XIV. 14. 4 f . (381-389).

(..'.) HEROD THE GREAT 55

(16) How Herod made his peace with Augustus {after the
Battle of Actium)

Herod was soon filled with anxiety about the security
of his position. He was Antony's friend, and Antony
had been defeated by Caesar1 at Actium. His fears, 31 B-c.
however, proved worse than his fate ; for Caesar con-
sidered his victory to be incomplete so long as Herod
remained Antony's ally. The king resolved to confront 3° B-c-
the danger and set sail for Rhodes, where Caesar was
then stationed. He presented himself before him with-
out a diadem, a commoner in dress and demeanour,
but with the spirit of a king. His speech was direct j
he told the truth without reserve.

" I was made king by Antony," he said, " and I acknow-
ledge, Caesar, that I have in all things devoted my
services to him. Nor will I shrink from saying that,
had not the Arabians detained me,2 you would assuredly
have found me in arms at his side.3 I sent him, how-
ever, such auxiliary troops as I could and many thousand
measures of corn ; 4 nor even after his defeat at Actium
did I desert my benefactor. When no longer useful as
an ally, I became his best counsellor; I told him the
one remedy for his disasters — the death of Cleopatra.
Would he but kill her, I promised him money, walls to
protect him, an army, and myself as his brother in arms
in the war against you. But his ears, it seems, were
stopped by his infatuation for Cleopatra and by God
who has graciously given you the victory. I share
Antony's defeat and with his downfall lay down my

1 Octavius.

2 Herod was engaged in fighting the Arabians at the time of
the battle of Aciium.

3 Reading axupurrov with Havercamp ; MSS evx&pKrrov,
"grateful" (? = "willingly").

4 Lit. " many ten thousands of corn."

56 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (17)

diadem. I am come to you resting my hope of safety
upon my integrity, anticipating that the subject of
enquiry will be not whose friend, but how loyal a friend,
I have been."

To this Caesar replied: "Nay, be assured of your
safety, and reign henceforth more securely than before.
So staunch a champion of the claims of friendship
deserves to be ruler over many subjects. Endeavour
to remain as loyal to those who have been more
fortunate, since I, too, entertain the most brilliant hopes
for your high spirit. Antony, however, did well in
obeying Cleopatra's behests rather than yours; for
through his folly we have gained you. But you take
the lead, it seems, in acts of beneficence ; for 1 Quintus
Didius1 writes to me that you have sent him a force
to assist him against the gladiators. I therefore now
confirm your kingdom to you by decree ; and hereafter I
shall endeavour to do you some further service, that you
may not feel the loss of Antony."

Having thus graciously addressed the king, he placed
the diadem on his head, and signalized the grant by a
decree, containing many generous expressions in eulogy
of the monarch. — B.J. I. 20. 1 ff. (386-393).

(17) Herod and Mart amne

But Fortune, in revenge for his successes in the field,
visited Herod with troubles at home ; his ill-fated career
originated with a woman to whom he was passionately
attached. . . .

On the eve of his departure abroad he committed his
wife 2 to the care of Joseph, his sister Salome's husband,
with private injunctions to kill her, should Antony kill

1 Conjectural emendation (Hudson), cf. Dio Cassius, 51. 7, and
the parallel passage, Ant. XV. 195.
* Mariamne (Mapidfi/xr}).

(i8) HEROD THE GREAT 57

him. He could trust Joseph ; the ties which united
them made him a true friend. Joseph, out of no malice
but from a desire to convince her of the love which the
king bore her, since even in death he could not endure
to be separated from her, betrayed the secret. When
Herod, on his return, in familiar intercourse was pro- c. 29 B.
testing with many oaths his affection for her and that
he had never (so) loved any other woman, "A fine
exhibition you gave," she replied, "of your love for
me l by your orders to Joseph to put me to death ! "
He was beside himself, the moment he heard the
secret was out. Joseph, he exclaimed, would never
have disclosed his orders, had he not seduced her ; and,
frenzied with passion, he leapt from the bed and paced
the palace to and fro in his distraction. His sister
Salome, seizing this opportunity to slander Mariamne,
confirmed his suspicion of Joseph. Mad with ungovern-
able jealousy, he ordered that both should instantly be
put to death. But remorse followed hard upon rage;
his wrath subsided, his love revived. So consuming,
indeed, was the flame of his passionate desire that he
believed she was not dead and in his affliction would
address her as though she were alive ; until time taught
him the reality of his loss, when his grief was as profound
as the love he had for her while she was alive. — B.J,
I. 22 (431, 441-444).

( 1 8) Extension of Herod's Realm. His Popularity with
Augustus and Agrippa

For Palestine under Herod see the Hist. Atlas of Smith and
Bartholomew, Map 42.

When Herod was engaged on these enterprises2 and 27 b.c.
had already completed the rebuilding of the city of

1 Lit. "for us." '

2 The building of Caesarea. ar^d its harbour, etc.

58 ' SELECTIONS FROM JOSPEHUS (19)

Sebaste,1 he resolved to send his sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus, to Rome, to have audience of Caesar.2 On
their arrival at the capital they were given lodging in the
house of Pollio, one who was very assiduous in culti-
vating Herod's friendship; permission was also given
them to lodge in the palace of the Emperor, who gave
the lads the most kindly reception. The Emperor,
moreover, empowered Herod to bequeath his kingdom
to any of his children at his discretion ; and added to his
realm the district of Trachonitis,3 Batanaea and Auranitis,
which he gave him for the following reason. . . .

Here follows a description of Herod's subjugation of Zenodorus
and the robber bands in Trachonitis.

So Caesar bestowed upon Herod the territory of
Zenodorus, an extensive region lying between Trachonitis
and Galilee (and embracing) Ulatha and Paneas4 and
the neighbouring country. He attached it 5 to the
province of Syria, but instructed the provincial governors
to do nothing without obtaining Herod's approval.

In short, he reached such a height of prosperity that,
whereas the burden of government of the vast Roman
Empire rested upon two men, first Caesar, and then (as
Caesar's favourite) Agrippa, Caesar preferred no one to
Herod after Agrippa, and Agrippa made Herod his chief
friend after Caesar.— Ant. XV. 10. 1 and 3 (342 f. j 360 f.).

(19) The Historian's Reading of Herod's Character

It is usual to remark with astonishment on the incon-
sistency of Herod's character. When we have regard to
his munificent actions and the benefits which he con-

1 Herod's new name for Samaria. 2 Augustus.

3 Lit. "Trachon." The three districts correspond approximately
to Bashan of the O.T.

4 Ulatha and Paneas N. and N.E. of the Waters of Merom.

6 Text (Niese) uncertain. Most MSS "him"; lit. "mixed hjm
with (? = " put him on a level with ") the governors of Syria. ''

(,,,) HEROD THE GREAT 59

(erred on the world at large, even one who is not among
his warm admirers l cannot deny that he was by nature
supremely beneficent. If, on the other hand, one looks
at the penalties inflicted and the wrongs done by him to
his subjects and nearest relations, and takes note of his
harsh and unrelenting disposition, one will be forced to
the conclusion that he was of a brutal nature and an
alien to all humanity.2 Hence the common opinion that
his character was, as it were, a compound of conflicting
and antagonistic elements.

I do not share this opinion ; my view is that both
these sides of his character had one and the same cause.
He was ambitious, indeed an abject slave to that passion ;
and where there appeared any promise of posthumous
fame or present reputation, he might even attain mag-
nanimity. But, since his expenditure outran his means,
necessity drove him to be cruel to his subjects. His
lavish bounty to his beneficiaries forced him to procure
his supplies by criminal methods 3 from his victims. He
was conscious that his subjects hated him for the wrongs
which he did them, but found it no easy matter to atone
for his sins without loss to his exchequer. Instead he
fought his opponents, converting even their disaffection
into a source of revenue. As for his nearest and dearest,
if any one omitted to address him in obsequious language
and to display a subservient attitude, or was suspected of
plotting against the realm, he was incapable of self-
control and punished relatives and friends alike, one after
another, as though they were open enemies; to such

1 Most MSS read : " even those who were less (or least) honoured
(by him)."

2 Lit. "moderation."

3 The Greek is difficult and the sense a little obscure. The
phrase, kolkwv -KofHOT^v (lit. "provider of evils," ?" purveyor of
misfortunes to his victims"), seems to be a reminiscence of Thuc.
VIII. 48.

60 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (20)

crimes was he driven by his desire that honour should be
paid to himself alone.

I find confirmation for my belief that this passion was
the key to his character in the manner in which he con-
ferred his honours on C?esar and Agrippa and the rest of
his friends. He looked for a return in kind of the service
which he paid to his superiors ; his gifts were the most
excellent he could conceive, but the way in which he
gave them revealed his desire to receive the like.

The Jewish nation, however, is by its law alienated
from all such things ; its training has taught it to prefer
righteousness to the pursuit of glory. For this reason it
was out of favour with Herod, because it was incapable
of flattering the king's vanity by erecting images or shrines
or by any such practices. This, I think, explains at once
the crimes of which he was guilty against his relatives
and advisers and his benefactions to foreigners and those
outside his family. — Ant. XVI. 5. 4 (150-159).

(20) Reflections on the Tragic Fate of Herod's Sons

A quarrel extending over many years between Herod and his sons,
Alexander and Aristobulus, after a reconciliation had been effected
first by Augustus and then by others, ends in his putting them
to death on the charge of treason.

Alexander and Aristobulus were then, by their father's
orders, removed to Sebaste x and there strangled. Their
bodies were conveyed by night to Alexandrium,2 where
their mother's father3 and most of their ancestors lay
buried.

Now some, perhaps, may not find it strange that a long
cherished hatred should grow so great as to surpass all
bounds and overpower the natural affections. Yet the
apportionment of the guilt for so grave a crime may well

1 The rebuilt city of Samaria. 2 A fortress in Judaea.

8 An elder Alexander.

(2o) HEROD THE GREAT 61

give pause for reflection. Should it be laid to the charge
of the youths that they drove their father to extremities 1
and by long and persistent recalcitrance paved the way
for their own ruin ? Or was the father himself the culprit
— without feelings and so extravagant in his lust for
dominion and fame that he was prepared to sacrifice
any one 2 to ensure unquestioning obedience to his every
whim ? Or, again, was it Fortune— Fortune whose power
is mightier than any considerate thought,3 so that we
believe that human actions are foreordained by her by an
inevitable necessity, and we call her Destiny, because
we think that nothing happens of which she is not the
ultimate cause?

It will suffice, I think,4 merely to propound this last
view as an alternative to the other.5 We do not thereby
deprive ourselves6 of all free-will nor disclaim responsi-
bility for acting in this way or that in matters which long
before our time have been elsewhere philosophically
treated in the Law.

As between the two other alternatives, one might
censure the lads, in that, with youthful impetuosity and
princely insolence, they tolerated calumnies upon their
father, and were no fair critics of the actions of his life.7
Malicious in their suspicions, and intemperate in speech,
they were on both grounds an easy prey to the flattering
informers who lay in wait for them.

As for the father, his impious treatment of his sons

1 Text doubtful.

2 Reading, with Niese, irapaXairTeov, "thought that none should
be left (alive)." MSS irapaX-tiirTfov, which Whiston renders "would
take no one into partnership with him."

3 Or perhaps "is superior to all wise calculation."

4 Adopting the conjecture.. is vofiil(a> for ws pelfa- The text and
meaning of this difficult passage are uncertain.

5 The doctrine of Free-will.

6 Or perhaps ". . . to the other, (under which) we do not deprive
ourselves."

7 Or "of the actions which he took to protect his life."

62 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (20)

seems to admit of no extenuation. With no clear
evidence of a plot, with no proof of any preparations for
an attempt on his life, he had the heart to slay his own
flesh and blood. Men of the noblest presence, the
darlings of all outside the family, proficient in their
pursuits, whether hunting or military exercises or dis-
course on everyday topics — they had all these gifts, in
particular Alexander, the elder of the two. Granted that
he had actually found them guilty, it would have been
punishment enough to confine them in prison or to
Danish them from the realm, without taking their lives ;
he had the sure shield of the power of the Roman
Empire x to secure him from assault and violence. But
to kill them out of hand to gratify an overmastering
passion was a clear case of impiety beyond measure ; this
appalling crime was, moreover, the act of an old man.
The long struggle and procrastination cannot be urged in
his excuse. That a man taken by surprise should in
a fit of excitement commit some monstrous crime, though
distressing, is an event of common occurrence. But this
deliberate and leisurely procedure — often to take the
deed in hand and as often to postpone it, and then at last
to undertake it and carry it through — that was the work
of a murderous mind, rooted in depravity.

He displayed the same character in the sequel, when
he did not stay his hand even from those whom he held
dearest of the remaining members of his family.2 In
their case the justice of the sentence created less sympathy
for the victims, but the barbarity was the same as was
shown in his refusal of mercy to the others. — Ant. XVI.
11. 7 f. (394-404).

1 The Romano, potestas.

2 With special reference to Antipater, Herod's heir and afterwards
his victim.

(2i) HEROD THE GREAT 63

(21) Herod's Dying Provision for a National Mourning

With this passage we reach the N.T. period. The grim story of
an intended massacre, happily in this case averted, alt.. ids a parallel
to the Gospel story of the minder of the innocents.

Now, although his sufferings seemed beyond human 411c.
endurance, he did not despair of recovery. He sent for
physicians, and consented to try every remedy which
they prescribed. He crossed over the river Jordan, and
surrendered himself to treatment in the hot springs at
Callirrhoe. These waters, besides their general remedial
properties, are fit to drink ; they debouch into the so-
called Bituminous Y Lake. Here, the physicians deciding
that a higher temperature was needed, he was placed in
a vat of oil. To this treatment he appeared to have
succumbed, but when his attendants fell to lamentation,
he rallied, and now abandoning all hope of recovery,
gave orders that every soldier should be paid fifty
pieces of silver ; 2 he made further large bequests to
their commanding officers and to his personal friends.
Returning to Jericho, he had an attack of black bile,
which rendered him so savage with all the world 3 that,
although now nearing his end, he contrived the scheme
which I proceed to describe.

By his orders, the principal men from every quarter of
the entire Jewish nation waited upon him.s They came
in large numbers, as the summons was to the nation and
was universally obeyed, death being the penalty for
disregard of the injunctions. For the king was mad with
rage against all alike, whether innocent or suspected of
guilt. He then locked them all up in the hippodrome,
and sent for his sister Salome and her husband Alexas.

1 Asphaltophoros (elsewhere Asphaltitis), i.e. the Dead Sea.
8 Gr. "drachmae." The drachma was nearly the equivalent of
the Lat. denarius, in value a little less than the modern " franc."
8 Or "in all his actions."

64 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (21)

He told them that his bodily sufferings were now so
great that death could not be far off. Death could be
borne, and came to all as a welcome guest ; but what
grieved him most was the thought that he would lack
the lamentations and miss the mourning usually accorded
to a king. He was not blind to the feelings of the Jews,
and knew what relief and intense delight his death would
bring them,1 because, even in his lifetime, they were
always ready to rebel and to treat his projects with
contumely. " It is therefore your task," he proceeded,
"to resolve2 to afford me some alleviation of this
particular pain. If you do not refuse your consent to
my wishes, I shall receive a great funeral, such as no
king ever had before me, and a heartfelt national
lamentation for my sport and delectation. When, there-
fore, you see that I have given up the ghost, let the
troops be drawn up round the hippodrome, still unaware
of my death — the news must not be published to the
world till you have done this — and the order given to
shoot down the prisoners within with their javelins. If
you kill them all in this manner, you will without fail
do me a double favour. You will execute my dying
injunctions; you will also get me the honour of a
memorable mourning."

Such was the charge which, with tears and supplication
and appeals to the loyalty due to a kinsman and their
faith in God, he laid upon them, and bade them preserve
him from dishonour. And they promised not to fail
him.

From these final injunctions even a friendly critic of
the king's former actions, who attributed his treatment

1 In the parallel passage {B.J. I. 660), " I know that the Jews
will observe my death as a feast-day." It has been thought that a
festival on the second of the month Shebnt, of which the occasion
is unrecorded, may have commemorated Herod's death.

2 Lit. " give your vote."

(2i) HEROD THE GREAT 65

of his family to self-preservation, might read the mind of
the man and see how destitute it was of every spark of
humanity ; since on the very verge of his exit from life
he could lay his plans for throwing the whole nation into
mourning and desolation for their nearest and dearest.
For his orders were to butcher one out of every house-
hold, men who had done him no wrong and were not
accused on any other ground ; and these orders were
given at an hour when persons with any pretensions to
virtue commonly lay aside their rancour, even towards
those whom they justly regard as enemies. — Ant. XVII.
6. 5 f. (171-181).

V. ARCHELAUS AND PILATE

(22) Archelaus in Quest of a Kingdom

"A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for
himself a kingdom and to return . . . But his citizens hated him,
and sent an ambassage after him, saying, We will not that this
man reign over us. And it came to pass, when he was come back
again, having received the kingdom . . . Howbeit these mine
enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring
hither, and slay them before me" (Luke xix. 12 ff.).

"There is little doubt that" this parable "was suggested by
contemporary history. The remarkable feature of the opposing
embassy makes the reference to Archelaus highly probable ; and
Jericho, which he had enriched with buildings, would suggest his
case as an illustration " (Plummer). The fact that Archelaus
came back with only a provisional promise of kingship does not
detract from the probability.

Herod's death was the signal for a national outbreak against his
successor. A riot took place at Passover, and Archelaus left for
Rome to have his title confirmed (Cf. the Hist. Alias previously
cited, Map 43).

Archelaus then issued a proclamation that all should
withdraw to their homes. So they abandoned the feast
and departed, for fear of worse evils, although in their
ignorant way they had shown boldness enough.1

Archelaus then went down to the sea-board with his
mother ; he took with him also his friends Nicolaus,2
Ptolemy and Ptolla.3 He committed the entire charge
of his family and realm to his brother Philip. There
also sailed with him Salome, Herod's sister, with her
children, and many of his relations ; ostensibly to assist

1 Or, perhaps, "Their lack of discipline, although they were
bold enough (counselled prudence)."

a Nicolas of Damascus, minister and historian of Herod the Great.
3 Var. led. " and many (others) " {iroWovs) ; in B.J. Poplas.
66

(22) ARCHELAUS 67

Archelaus to obtain his kingdom, but in reality intending
to oppose him, and in particular to protest loudly against
his proceedings in the Temple. -A nt. XVII. 9. 3 (218-
220).

After the departure of Archelaus, Sabinus, the procurator of
Jud.r 1, trica to got possession of Herod's treasures in the Temple.

A Rival Claimant to the Kingdom

About this time Antipas, another of Herod's sons,
also set sail for Rome, to make a rival claim to the
throne, to which he was instigated to aspire by Salome's
promises. He claimed that he had a much better right
than Archelaus to the succession, in virtue of his nomina-
tion as king in Herod's former will, which, in his opinion,
had greater validity than the later codicils. He took with
him his mother and the brother of Nicolaus, Ptolemy,
one of Herod's most honoured friends, and now a staunch
champion of Antipas. But the man who more than any
other prompted him to think of claiming the throne
was Irenaeus, a professional speaker, who on account of
his reputation for ability had been entrusted with the
administration of the realm. Thus supported, Antipas
declined to listen to those who advised him to make way
for Archelaus as the elder son and the one who had been
declared king in their father's later will.

When Antipas reached Rome, his relatives went over
to him in a body ; not for love of Antipas, but from
hatred of Archelaus. What they really desired was to be
free and placed under a Roman governor ; but, if any-
thing prevented this, they thought Antipas would serve
their ends better than Archelaus, and • therefore lent him
their aid in his suit. Another of Archelaus's accusers
was Sabinus in a letter addressed to Caesar.1 — Ant.
XVII. 9. 4 (224-227).

1 Augustus.

68 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (22)

Augustus holds a council and hears both sides; Antipater, son
of Salome, undertaking the prosecution, Nicolaus the defence, of
Archelaus. \

Here Nicolaus ended his harangue. Archelaus then
fell on his knees before Caesar,1 who graciously raised
him up and declared that he was very worthy of the
kingdom ; he showed, moreover, that he was strongly
inclined 2 to act only in accordance with the tenor of the
will and in the interests of Archelaus. Nothing, how-
ever, was decided which could afford Archelaus any sure
ground for confidence; and on the dismissal of the
assembly, the Emperor privately considered whether he
should confirm the kingdom to Archelaus or should
divide it between the whole Herodian family, as they all
stood much in need of assistance.

However, before any final settlement was reached on
these matters, Malthace, the mother of Archelaus, fell ill
and died, and letters arrived from Varus, the governor
of Syria, announcing a revolt of the Jews. For, after
Archelaus had sailed, the whole nation was in an uproar.
— Ant. XVII. 9. 7-10. 1 (248-251).

Passover had been the occasion of the former riot ; this new
insurrection broke out at Pentecost. At this feast the Jews laid
siege to the Roman force in Jerusalem under Sabinus, who had
plundered the Temple treasury. During the fighting the porticoes
of the Temple were burnt down. Simultaneously various claimants
to the kingdom appeared in Judaea. The revolt was quelled by
Varus, who relieved Sabinus and crucified two thousand of the
Jewish ringleaders.

A Jewish Embassy to Rome asks for Autonomy

Meanwhile at Rome fresh troubles for Archelaus were
arising out of the following circumstances. An embassy
of Jews came to Rome to petition for autonomy, the
nation having secured the sanction of Varus to the

1 Augustus.

1 Reading fronty (conj. Niese). With MS reading rpoir^v, "had
been strongly moved " by Nicolaus's arguments.

(22) ARCHELAUS 69

mission. The ambassadors appointed by the resolution
of the nation numbered fifty ; these were joined by
upwards of eight thousand of the Jews in Rome. Caesar '
summoned his friends and the leading Romans to a
meeting in the temple of Apollo, which he had founded
at great expense, and thither came the envoys with their
crowd of local compatriots, and Archelaus with his
friends. As for King Herod's numerous relatives, their
hatred of Archelaus would not allow them to range
themselves on his side, while they shrunk from voting
with the embassy against him, supposing that a show of
alacrity in opposing one of their own family would bring
them into disgrace with Caesar.

A newcomer had now arrived from Syria, namely
Philip. He came at the instigation of Varus, primarily
to advocate the cause of his brother, who was a great
friend of Varus ; but there was the further motive that,
in the event of any revolutionary change in the govern-
ment of the kingdom — a change which Varus suspected
would take the form of a partition, because so many
were bent on autonomy — Philip should not be behind-
hand in winning some portion for himself. — Ant. XVII.
11. 1 (299-303).

The deputation then present their indictment of Herod's tyranny.

The sum of their request was that they might be rid
of the kingship and other such forms of government and
be added to Syria and made subject to the authority of
the (Roman) governors who were sent to that province ;
if they were given milder rulers to preside over them,
it would then be apparent whether or no they were
really seditious persons who made a special study of
revolutions. — Ant. XVII. 11. 2 (314).

Nicolaus once more vindicates Herod and Archelaus.
1 Augustus.

7o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (22)

The Emperor's Decision

Caesar, after hearing the case, dissolved the assembly.
His decision was given a few days later. He made
Archelaus, not king, but ethnarch of half the district
which had been subject to Herod, and promised him
the reward of regal rank, if he displayed capacity for
kingship. The other half he divided into two portions x
which he presented to two other of Herod's sons, namely
Philip and Antipas, the latter of whom had been the
rival claimant with his brother Archelaus to the undivided
monarchy. Peraea and Galilee, producing an annual
revenue of two hundred talents, were made subject to
Antipas. Batanaea with Trachonitis 2 and Auranitis and
a certain portion of the so-called estate 3 of Zenodorus
went to Philip and brought him in a hundred talents.
Idumaea, Judaea and Samaria became tributary to Arche-
laus. The last-named district had a quarter of its taxes
remitted by Imperial decree, the abatement being a
reward for its having taken no part in the national
revolt. The cities which were tributary to Archelaus
were Strato's Tower4 and Sebaste5 with Joppa and
Jerusalem ; the Greek cities Gaza, Gadara and Hippos
were detached from his jurisdiction by the Emperor and
added to Syria. The annual revenue which accrued to
Archelaus from the dominion which he inherited was
six hundred talents.

Such were the portions of their father's realm which
came to Herod's sons. Salome, besides the legacy
assigned to her in her brother's will — namely Jamnia,
Azotus, Phasaelis, and five hundred thousand (drachmas) 6
of coined silver — was presented by Caesar with the royal

1 "Two tetrarchies," B.J. (parallel pass.).

2 Gr. "Trachon." 3 Gr. "house."
4 Csesarea. 6 Samaria.

6 The unit is omitted in the Gr.

(23) ARCHELAUS 71

palace at Ascalon. Her annual revenue from all sources
was sixty talents ; her residence was within the domain
of Archelaus. Th.e other relatives of the (deceased)
king received the legacies named in the will. To each
of his two unmarried daughters, beside what their father
left them, Caesar presented two hundred and fifty thou-
sand (drachmas)1 of coined silver and gave them in
marriage to the sons of Pheroras. He further bestowed
all that had been bequeathed to himself, amounting to
fifteen hundred talents, upon the king's children, re-
serving only a few vessels, which pleased him not so
much for their intrinsic value as because they served
as memorials of the king. — Ant. XVII. 11. 4 f. (317-323).

(23) Archelaus Deposed and his Territory added to the
Roman Province of Syria

Now in the tenth year of Archelaus's rule, the leading a.d. 6
men of Judaea and Samaria, impatient of his cruel and
tyrannical conduct, laid an accusation against him before
Caesar ; 2 they did so with greater confidence, knowing
that he had violated the Emperor's injunctions to be
lenient in his dealings with his subjects. On hearing
the accusation Caesar was indignant and sent for the
agent of Archelaus's affairs in Rome, whose name also
was Archelaus, and, disdaining to write to Archelaus,
said to him, "Take ship at once and bring him to us
without delay." The agent accordingly embarked forth-
with, reached Judaea, found Archelaus feasting with his
friends, communicated Caesar's will and hurried him off.
On his arrival, Caesar, after hearing his defence in the
presence of certain of his accusers, sent him into banish-
ment, appointing Vienne, a city of Gaul, as his place of
exile, and confiscated his property. . . .

1 The unit is omitted in the Gr. * Augustus.

72 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (24)

The district which had been tributary to Archelaus
was annexed x to the province of Syria, and Quirinius,
a man of consular rank, was sent by Caesar to take a
valuation of the property in Syria and to sell the personal
estate2 of Archelaus. — Ant. XVII. 13. 2, 5 (342-344,
355)-

(24) The Revolt of Judas "in the days of the enrolment"
under Quirinius

"After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the
enrolment and drew away people after him " (Acts v. 37). Josephus
here narrates the story of the revolt in the year a.d. 6, to which
Gamaliel alludes in his speech in the Sanhedrin as reported in the
Acts. See Appendix, Note I, for the relation of this enrolment to
"the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria"
(Luke ii. 2) ; also Note IV (" Theudas and Judas").

Now Quirinius, a Roman senator, and one who had
held all the subordinate offices, passing through each
grade3 until he reached the consulate, and a man of
high reputation on other grounds, came with a small
retinue to Syria, being sent by Caesar4 as judicial ad-
ministrator of the nation and assessor of the national
property. With him was sent Coponius, a man of
equestrian rank, as governor of the Jews with supreme
powers. Quirinius also visited Judaea, now an appanage
of the province of Syria, to take a valuation of the Jews'
property and to sell the estate of Archelaus.

The Jews, although they were indignant when they
first heard of the proposed enrolments, under the in-
fluence of the high priest Joazar, son of Boethus,
condescended to desist from further opposition ; they
yielded to his advice and, without more scruple, set
about valuing their estates. But one Judas, a Gaulanite,

1 Or perhaps "the district of A. was annexed and made tribu-
tary."

2 Gr. "house." 3 The so-called decursits honor inn.
4 Augustus.

(24) QUIRINIUS 73

from a city called Gamala,1 with a confederate, Zadok
a Pharisee, was for rushing into revolt. They asserted
that the valuation meant nothing less than the intro-
duction of downright slavery,2 and exhorted the nation
to rally in defence of their liberty. "If," they said, " our
possessions are devoted to the common weal, success
may be ours ; if, after all, we are robbed of this asset,
we shall win honour and a reputation for magnanimity.
God, who looks for man's co-operation to achieve His
purposes, will be much more ready to assist us, if we
do not shirk the toil entailed by the great cause which
we have at heart."

Their words found willing hearers, and the daring
enterprise3 made great strides. Indeed, every form of
disaster took its origin from these men ; the infection
which they brought into the nation passes description.

Josephus proceeds to trace all the horrors of the Jewish War,
culminating in the burning of the Temple, to "the fourth sect"
(or " philosophy") introduced by Judas and Zadok, i. e. the sect of
the Zealots. Then follows a digression on the Jewish sects, see
§ (55), below.

Quirinius had now disposed of Archelaus's estate and
the census registrations were ended. This census took
place in the thirty-seventh year after C?esar's4 victory
over Antony at Actium. Joazar the high priest became 31 b.c
the victim of popular opposition, and Quirinius deprived
him of his honourable post, and appointed Ananus, son
of Sethi, in his place.

Herod and Philip now took over their respective
tetrarchies and entered on office. Herod built walls

1 On the east of the Sea of Galilee. In B.J. (parallel pass.) he
is called " a Galiloean " as in Acts v. 37.

2 Modelled on Thuc. I. 122, "defeat means nothing but down-
right slavery" (Jowett ; speech of the Corinthians urging Sparta to
take up arms against Athens).

3 Sj Niese (liri&oA),); MSS "plot" (4iri0ov\h).
* i. e. Augustus.

74 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (25)

for the city of Sepphoris — the chief ornament of all
Galilee — and called it Autocratoris ; x another city, Beth-
aramphtha, he enclosed in the same way and called it
Julias after the name of the Emperor's consort.2 Philip
restored Paneas at the sources of the Jordan and re-
named it Caesarea;3 he also promoted the village of
Bethsaida on the Lake of Gennesaret to the rank of a
city, increasing its population4 and general opulence,
and gave it the name of the Emperor's daughter Julia. —
Ant. XVIII. 1. 1 and 2. 1 (1-6, 26-28).

(25) Pilate offends Jewish susceptibilities in the matter
of (i) the Emperor's busts, (ii) the Corban money

ad. 26 Now Pilate, the governor 5 of Judaea, having occasion
to transfer a (Roman) army from Caesarea into winter
quarters in Jerusalem, conceived the idea of annulling
Jewish legislation by bringing within the city walls the
Emperor's busts which were attached to the standards ;
whereas the very making of images is forbidden us by
the Law.6 For this reason former governors used to
make their entry into the city with standards from which
these ornaments were absent. Pilate was the first to
bring the images into Jerusalem and erect them there.
This was done without the knowledge of the citizens
because the army entered by night. As soon as they
knew of it, they came in crowds to Caesarea, and for
many days petitioned for the removal of the images.
Pilate stood firm, because to comply would be 7 tanta-
mount to high treason against Caesar, and on the sixth

1 i.e. "Imperial" (city). 2 Julia.

3 Caesarea Philippi (Matt. xvi. 13; Mark viii. 27).

4 Or, perhaps, "because of its large population."

5 Tiyefikv : more exactly " procurator," as in B.J. parallel pass.
(iwfrpoiros).

6 Ex. xx. 4 ; Deut. iv. 16, etc.

7 Or "their request was."

(25) PILATE 75

day, the Jews still persisting in their entreaties, he placed
an armed force under cover and came in person to the
judgement-seat ; this had been set up in the race-course,
where he had the soldiers concealed Mn ambush. When
the Jews once more presented their petition, at a given
signal he had a cordon of soldiers round them and
threatened to punish them with instant death if they did
not desist from their uproar and depart to their homes.
Thereupon they flung themselves on their faces and
bared their necks and said that they would gladly
welcome death rather than venture to transgress the
wise ordinances a of their laws. Pilate marvelled at
their obstinacy in the observance of their laws, and
forthwith had the images taken back from Jerusalem to
Caesarea.

On another occasion he expended the consecrated
funds 3 on the construction of (an aqueduct for) con-
veying water to Jerusalem, bringing it from a distance of
two hundred furlongs.4 The Jews were dissatisfied with
his action in this matter, and many thousands 5 of them
assembled and raised an outcry against him, requiring
him to abandon his project ; some, as is the way of a
mob, even proceeded to rail at and insult the man.
Pilate thereupon dressed a large body of soldiers in
Jewish garb, under which they carried clubs, and
stationed them where they could surround the Jews,
whom he then ordered to retire. When these began to
revile him, he gave the soldiers the prearranged signal ;
and they laid about them with a severity much greater
than Pilate had ordered, punishing indiscriminately those
who had taken part in the riot and those who had not.

1 Conj. Niese ; MSS " which concealed the soldiers."
8 Gr. "wisdom."

3 " the sacred treasure called corban " (or " corbon "), B.J.

4 Gr. ardSta. B.J. has "400 (v./. 300) furlongs."

5 Gr. "myriads.v'

76 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (27)

(The Jews resisted with no lack of spirit) 1 ; and so,
caught, as they were, unarmed by assailants equipped
for the purpose, many of them fell and were left to die
on the spot, while others escaped with wounds. Thus
ended the insurrection — Ant. XVIII. 3. 1 f. (55-62).

[(26) Jesus Christ2
Now about this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if
indeed he should be called a man. For he was a doer
of marvellous acts, a teacher of such men as receive
the truth with pleasure ; and he won over to himself
many Jews and many also of the Greek nation. He was
the Christ.3 And when, on the indictment of the
principal men among us, Pilate had sentenced him to
the cross, yet did not those who had loved him at the
first cease (to do so) ; for he appeared to them alive
again on the third day, as the divine prophets had
declared — these and ten thousand other wonderful things
— concerning him. And even now the race 4 of
Christians, so named from him, is not extinct. — Ant.
XVIII. 3. 3 (63 f.)]-

(27) Tiberius expels all Jews from Rome

A precedent for the similar action of Claudius, which brought
Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth (Acts xviii. 2). Suetonius alludes
to this order of Tiberius : '*■ He repressed foreign religious cere-
monies— Egyptian and Jewish rites — compelling their devotees to
b"rn their sacred vestments with all their paraphernalia. Under
pretext of their military oath, he distributed the younger Jews over
provinces with an insalubrious climate; others of the same race, or
followers of kindred religions, he removed fr»m the city, under
penalty for disobedience of servitude for life " (Tiberius, § 36).

I revert to the story, which I promised to tell, of what
befell the Jews in Rome at this time.

1 With the MS reading ol 5' ; with Niese's conjecture ou5' we
should translate, in the previous sentence, "indiscriminately and
relentlessly," and omit the bracketed words.

2 On the authenticity of this passage see Appendix, Note II.
a Or " the Messiah." 4 Or " tribe " {<pv\ov).

(28) PILATE 77

A Jew, who was a thorough rascal, had been driven
from his country by an accusation of transgressing certain
laws and by fear of consequent punishment. He was
then living in Rome, where he professed to expound the
inner meaning x of the laws of Moses, and took into
partnership three men with character! exactly resembling
his own. Fulvia, a lady of rank and a proselyte to
Judaism, became their disciple, and was induced by
them to send a present of purple (cloth) and gold to the
Temple at Jerusalem. Having obtained possession of
these articles, they appropriated them to their own use
to defray their private expenses ; 2 which in fact was
the original object of their request. Fulvia lodged a
complaint with her husband Saturninus ; he reported
the matter to Tiberius, his friend ; and Tiberius ordered
the whole Jewish (colony) to quit Rome. The consuls
enlisted four thousand of them and drafted them to the
island of Sardinia, inflicting penalties on a very large
number who refused military service in deference to
their ancestral laws. Thus, through the wickedness of
four men, were the Jews expelled from the city. — Ant.
XVIII. 3. 4 f. (80-84).

(28) Pilate Sent to Rome for Trial

An impostor promises to show the Samaritans the sacred vessels
buried by Moses under Mount Gerizim. Crowds assemble at a
village, Tirathana, at the foot of the mountain, to make the ascent.

Pilate, however, forestalled their ascent by despatching a.d. 36
a force of cavalry and heavy-armed infantry, who
attacked the multitude assembled in readiness in the
village, and in the ensuing engagement killed some,
routed others, and took a large number of prisoners.
The chief prisoners and the most influential of the
fugitives were put to death by Pilate.

1 Gr. "wisdom." 2 Text a little uncertain.

78 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (28)

When the tumult was quelled, the Samaritan council
approached Vitellius, the governor of Syria, of consular
rank, with accusations against Pilate for his butchery of
the victims. They said that the object of the expedition
to Tirathana was not revolt from Rome, but to seek
refuge from Pilate's insolence. Vitellius thereupon sent
Marcellus, a friend of his, to take over the administration
of Judaea, and ordered Pilate to depart for Rome, to
render his account to the Emperor of the charges
brought against him by the Samaritans. Pilate, accord-
ingly— after ten years' residence in Judaea — went in haste
to Rome on the instructions of Vitellius, which he must
a.d. 37 needs obey. But before he reached Rome, Tiberius was
no more.— Ant. XVIII. 4. 1 f. (87-89.)

Josephus proceeds to tell how Vitellius went up to Jerusalem and
pacified the Jews by restoring to them the custody of the high
priest's vestments, recently in Roman hands. Also how he
deposed the high priest "Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas." Thus the
three responsible authorities for the trial of our Lord — the Emperor,
Pilate and Caiaphas — quit the scene simultaneously. After the
next extract, we pass from the period of the Gospel history to the
period covered by the Acts.

VI. THE LATER HERODS

(29) Herod the Tetrarch : his Marriage with Herodias
and Murder of John the Baptist l

Now about this time a quarrel arose between Aretas
king of Petra 2 and Herod on the following ground.
Herod the Tetrarch married the daughter of Aretas and
had now lived with her a long time. On the eve of a
journey to Rome he lodged in the house of Herod, his
half-brother on the father's side ; the mother of this
Herod was the daughter of Simon the high priest.
There he fell in love with Herodias his brother's wife
(she was the daughter of their brother Aristobulus and
sister of Agrippa the Great 3) and had the effrontery to
propose marriage. She met his advances and a compact
was made that she should leave her home and come to
him on his return from Rome ; it was part of the
compact that he should divorce the daughter of Aretas.
The agreement settled, he set sail for Rome. On his
return, after discharging his commission in that city,
his wife, who had got wind of the compact with
Herodias, bade her husband, who was still unaware that
she knew all, send her away to Machaerus — on the
frontier between the dominions of Aretas and Herod —
without revealing her intentions. Herod, accordingly,
let her go, not suspecting that the poor woman had any
inkling of the plot. She, however, had long since sent

1 See Appendix, Note II T. * Or "(Arabia) Petroea."

3 Herod Agrippa I.

79

8o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (29)

word to Machserus, which at that time x was subject to
her father, and so found that the general in command 2
there had everything in readiness for her (intended)
journey. No sooner, therefore, had she arrived (at
Machaerus) than she was off again into Arabia, escorted
by one general after another in turn, and so reached her
father post haste and told him of Herod's intentions.

Aretas seized this occasion for hostilities and also for
raising the question of frontiers in the region of Gamala \ 3
the two belligerents mustered their armies and opened
war, sending their generals as their representatives in the
field. A battle took place in which the whole of Herod's
army was cut to pieces as the result of the defection of
a contingent from Philip's tetrarchy which enlisted with
Herod's forces and then deserted. Herod reported the
matter to Tiberius, who was indignant at the aggression
of Aretas and wrote instructions to Vitellius to go to war
with him and either to take him alive and bring him a
prisoner to Rome or to kill him and send him his head.
Such were the injunctions of Tiberius to the governor of
Syria.

Some of the Jews, however, regarded the destruction
of Herod's army as the work of God, who thus exacted
very just retribution for John, surnamed the Baptist,
Herod's victim. John was a good man who bade the
Jews first cultivate virtue by justice4 towards each other
and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism ; for
immersion,5 he said, would only appear acceptable to
God if practised, not as an expiation for specific offences,

1 Slight emendation (t6tc) of the MS reading t<£ re (" and to
him who was subject . . .").

2 Or "governor."

3 Possibly a lacuna-in the text.

4 Or "righteousness."

5 Gr. pdirriais ; in the previous clause fiairTKr/i6s.

(30) THE LATER IIKRODS s,

but for the purification of the body, when the soul had
been already thoroughly cleansed by righteousness.

Now when all men 1 listened to his words with the
greatest delight and flocked to him, Herod feared that
the powerful influence which he exercised over men's
minds — for they seemed ready for any action which he
advised — might lead to some form of revolt. He there-
fore decided to put him to death before any revolution
arose through him. To forestall events appeared far
better policy than a belated repentance when plunged
in the turmoil of an insurrection. And so, through
Herod's suspicions, John was sent as a prisoner to
Machnerus, the fortress already mentioned, and there
put to death. The Jews supposed that the destruction
of Herod's army was the penalty expressly inflicted upon
him by God to avenge John. . . .

The following extract supplies the name of "the daughter of
Ilerodias" who appears in Mark vi. 22 flf.

Now Herodias their sister married Herod, the son of
Herod the Great by Mariamne the daughter of Simon
the high priest. They had a daughter Salome, after
whose birth Herodias, in defiance of our country's laws,
married Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee and half-brother
of her husband, during the lifetime of her husband, whom
she divorced. Her daughter Salome married Philip, the
Tetrarch of Trachonitis and son of Herod. — Ant. XVIII.
5. 1 f., 4 (109-119, 136 f.).

(30) How Herod Agrippa became King and Herod the
Tetrarch lost his Tetrarchy

The story of Herod Agrippa's rise to power is dramatic. Brought
up at Rome with Drusus, the son of Tiberius, he squandered his
money in extravagant living. Returning a penniless prodigal to
Palestine and on the verge of suicide, he was patronized by Herod

1 Text uncertain ; MSS "the rest."

82 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (30)

the Tetrarch and his wife Herodias. Becoming involved in fresh
difficulties, he borrowed money for his passage and returned to
Rome. There he paid court to the future Emperor Gaius (Caligula),
was arrested by Tiberius for treason, and spent the last six months
of Tiberius's reign in prison.

Tiberius survived his appointment of Gaius as his
successor only a few days, and then died after a reign
of twenty-two years, five months and three days. Gaius
was the fourth of the Emperors. The Romans, on
learning of the death of Tiberius, rejoiced at the good
news, but could not bring themselves to believe it ; not
because they did not desire it, for they would have given
large sums of money for confirmation of the report, but
from fear that, if the news proved false and they exhibited
their joy prematurely, they would be slanderously accused
and lose their lives. For no other Roman ever treated
the patrician class so cruelly as did Tiberius. Quick to
take offence and relentless in action against any who,
even without reason, had incurred his hatred, he was
savage with all whom he sentenced, and imposed the
death penalty for the slightest offences. And so, while
the rumour of his death found ready listeners, they were
restrained from indulging their satisfaction to the full
by dread of the ills which they foresaw if their hopes
proved false.

Now Marsyas, Agrippa's freed man, on hearing of
Tiberius's death, ran in haste to tell Agrippa the good
news. He found him just going out to the bath, and
beckoning to him, said in the Hebrew tongue, "The
lion is dead." At once grasping his meaning and over-
come with joy at the tidings, he replied, " All my blessings
be upon you for all your services and for this welcome
news ! Only may your words prove true ! " The cen-
turion, who kept guard over Agrippa, when he saw in
what haste Marsyas came and how delighted Agrippa
was with his message, suspected some startling intelli-

(30) THE LATER HER01 >S 83

gence * and asked them what was tlie subject of their
conversation. For a while they prevaricated, but, as
he insisted, Agrippa, who was now on friendly terms
with him, told him outright. The centurion joined with
them in welcoming the news, because it was to Agrippa's
advantage, and invited him to dinner. But as they were
feasting and drinking merrily, there came one who said
that Tiberius was alive and would return in a few days
to the city. At this announcement the centurion was
sorely perplexed, because he had been guilty of a capital
offence both in sharing his table with a prisoner and in
rejoicing at the news of the Emperor's death. He pushed
Agrippa from his seat and said : " Do you think to cheat
me with tins lying story of the Emperor's death and that
you are not going to answer for it with your own head ? "
With these words he ordered that Agrippa, whose chains
he had loosed, should be bound again, and kept him
under stricter guard than before. In this wretched
condition Agrippa passed that night.

But on the morrow the rumour increased, and it was
confidently affirmed throughout the city that Tiberius
was dead ; men now had the courage to speak of it
openly, some even offered sacrifices. Letters also came
from Gaius, one to the Senate announcing Tiberius's
death and his own accession, and another to Piso, the
city warden, to the same effect, and accompanied by
orders for the removal of Agrippa from the camp to the
house in wrhich he was lodging before his imprisonment.
Henceforth Agrippa lived in security ; he was still under
watch and ward, but enjoyed considerable freedom.2

But when Gaius reached Rome with the corpse of

1 Or, possibly, "suspected the use of a strange language," viz.
Hebrew.

2 Cf. Acts xxiv. 23, where the same word foeaii (R.V. "indul-
gence") occurs; Moulton-Milligan ( Vocab. of Gr. Test.) suggest
"a kind of libera custodial

84 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (31)

Tiberius, after giving it a costly funeral in accordance
with the laws of his country, he was anxious to set
Agrippa at liberty that very day. Antonia,1 however,
restrained him, not out of any ill-will to the prisoner, but
with an eye to propriety on the part of Gaius ; she feared
he would produce the impression of welcoming the
decease of Tiberius if he were instantly to release one
of his prisoners. Not many days elapsed, however, before
Gaius sent to his house to fetch him, had his hair cut
and his raiment changed, and then set the diadem on
his head and appointed him king over Philip's 2 tetrarchy j
he also conferred upon him the tetrarchy of Lysanias.
In exchange for his iron chain he gave him a golden
one of the same weight. . . .

Herod the Tetrarch is instigated by his wife Herodias to emulate
Agrippa and go in quest of similar fortune to Rome. The result
was disastrous. He was found guilty of conspiracy and sent into
exile, Herodias sharing his fate. It will suffice to quote the end of
the story.

.... Herod admitted that he had the arms in his
armoury; he could not do otherwise as the facts were
there to confute him. Gaius, accordingly, accepting this
as proof of the accusation of conspiracy, deprived him
of his tetrarchy, which he added to Agrippa's kingdom ;
he also presented the latter with Herod's wealth. He
further punished Herod by banishing him for life, appoint-
ing Lugdunum,3 a city of Gaul, as his place of abode. —
Ant. XVIII. 6. 10-7. 2 (224-252).

(31) Petronius and the Statue of Gaius

The crisis produced by the mad order of the Emperor Gaius
(Caligula) to have his statue erected in the Temple at Jerusalem
nearly precipitated a Jewish war. Some have seen an allusion to

1 The grandmother of Gaius and wife of Drusus, the brother of
Tiberius.

2 Philip had recently died. 8 Lyons.

(.;>) PETRONIUS 85

this incident in St. Paul's description «»i " the man <>f sin" (2 Then
ii. 4, "so that he situ-tli in the temple of God, setting himself forth
as(Jod"); "hut though the sacrilegious conduct of Caligula . . .
may haw influenced the writer's language in v. 4, the real n><>ts of
the conception lie elsewhere*1 (Milligan, V'/iess., p. 164).

The favourable portrait given of the Roman governor, who
placed in a very difficult position, may he compared with rimilai
portraits in St. Luke's writings.

Gaius, indignant at being thus slighted by the Jews ,. a.i>.
and by them alone, sent Petronius to Syria as his lieu- 40-41
tenant, to take over the governorship of Vitellius, with
instructions to advance into Judrea with a large force and
to erect his statue in the temple of God. The order was
in any case to be executed ; if they admitted the statue
without demur, well and good ; if they showed them-
selves recalcitrant, he was to overcome their resistance by
resort to arms. . . .

At Ptolemais Petronius was met by crowds of petitioners who
stubbornly refused to submit. Similar scenes were repeated at
Tiberias for forty critical days in the agricultural year, during which
all sowing operations were neglected. The multitude were sup-
ported by Aristobulus, brother of Herod Agrippa, and other leading
men. Petronius, moved by this unanimous national protest, decided
to lay the case before the Emperor.

Such was the request which Aristobulus and his fol-
lowers made to Petronius. Petronius, on his side, was
influenced partly by the importunity of Aristobulus and
the leaders, who, considering the great issues at stake,
left no stone unturned to press their suit, partly by the
spectacle of the stubborn and solid front presented by
the Jewish opposition. He shrank from the thought of
putting to death, as the instrument of Gaius's madness,
such myriads of men, solely on the ground of their
reverence of God, and of spending the rest of his life
in remorse.1 It was far better, he thought, to .write to
Gaius (and inform him of) their desperate determination.2

1 Lit. "with bad hope."

2 The text is uncertain in this and the next sentence. Probably
some words have fallen out.

86 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (31)

The Emperor might be enraged with him for not having
executed his orders at once ; again, he might conceivably
convince him. If Gaius still adhered to his original mad
resolution, he (Petronius) would then make war on the
Jews without further delay. But if, after all, his anger
was partly directed against himself, to die for so vast a
multitude of one's fellow-creatures was honourable in
the eyes of those who aspired to heroism.1 He decided
accordingly to give way to the appeal. ...

Petronius informs the petitioners of his intention to write to
Gaius.

After this speech Petronius dismissed the assembled
Jews, bidding those in authority to see that agricultural
operations were resumed and to conciliate the people
with hopes of a successful issue. But now, while he was
doing his best to cheer the multitude, God made known
to Petronius His presence 2 and assistance in furthering
the whole scheme. For no sooner had he ended his
address to the Jews than God forthwith sent a great rain.
This was contrary to general expectation, as the morning
of that day had been fine and the sky showed no sign of a
shower ; moreover, the whole year had been subject to
such drought as to make men despair of any rainfall even
when they saw the heavens overcast. So, when now at
length there came a great downpour, contrary to experi-
ence and to all expectation, the Jews had hopes of
Petronius's success in his petition on their behalf, while
Petronius was astounded when he saw God's evident care
for the Jews, and how He had given so signal a manifesta-
tion of Himself as to leave even those who had intended to
defy Him openly no possibility of contradiction. . . .

1 The phrase, "those with pretensions to virtue," is borrowed
fiom Thuc. II. 51. I adopt Jowett's rendering.

2 So the Epitome and Latin VS. {irapova lav) ; the Gr. MSS have
" frankness " (irapp7]<riav).

(3i) PETRONIUS 87

Meanwhile, in Rome, Cains' friend, Herod Agrippa, bad pre-
vailed on tin- Emperor to desist from his purpose. ( raim thereupon
counter-ordered liis previous instructions, but <.n receipt <>l Petronius'i
appeal wrote him an angry letter, advising bim, in view of his dis-
regard of orders, " to judge for himself what course In- should take,"
/. <-. to commit suicide.

Such was the letter which Gaius wrote to Petronius ;
but it did not reach him in the Emperor's lifetime, the
messengers entrusted with it having so slow a passage
that before it arrived Petronius received other letters January
which told him that Gaius was dead. God, as the event ' ' 4
proved, was not to forget the risks which Petronius had
run on behalf of the Jews and His own honour, but was
to pay him his reward by removing Gaius, in indignation
at his daring action in claiming divine worship for himself.
Petronius, moreover, was supported 1 by the good-will of
Rome and of all the magistrates, in particular the most
eminent senators, because Gaius had treated them with
unmitigated severity.

The Emperor died not long after writing to Petronius
the letter which was intended to be his death-warrant.
The cause of his death and the manner of the plot I shall
relate in the course of my work. Petronius received first
the letter announcing the death of Gaius, and shortly after-
wards the other with the order to put himself to death.
He was delighted at the happy coincidence of Gaius's end
and marvelled at the providence of God, who instantly
and without delay gave him his reward for his regard for
the Temple and for his assistance to the Jews in their hour
of danger. Thus easily, in a way which none would have
conjectured, did Petronius escape the peril of death. —
Ant. XVIII. 8. 2, etc. (261, 276-8, 284-6, 305-9).

1 Text doubtful.

88 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (33)

(32) Herod Agrippa' s Kingdom enlarged by Claudius
Cf. Map 44 in the Historical Alias above cited.

a i). 41 Claudius lost no time in discharging all suspected

units of the forces. He then issued a decree, in which
he confirmed to Agrippa the kingdom which he had
received from Gaius and highly commended the king.
Moreover, he added to his realm all the territory over
which his grandfather Herod had reigned, namely Judaea
and Samaria.1 Beside these districts, which he restored
to him as his hereditary due, he added from his own do-
main Abila, which had once belonged to Lysanias,2 and all
the mountain region of Lebanon. He ratified these
gifts by a solemn treaty with Agrippa in the middle of
the forum in the city of Rome.— Ant. XIX. 5. 1 (274 f.).

(33) Death of Herod Agrippa

This should be compared with the account in Acts xii. 19-23.
St. Luke differs from Josephus in representing the scene as a court of
judgement, instead of a theatre.

Agrippa had completed the third year of his reign over
44 (all)3 Judaea when he came to the city of Caesarea,
formerly called Strata's Tower. There he exhibited
spectacles in Caesar's honour, at a festival which he
had instituted 4 to commemorate the preservation of the
Emperor's life, and a great multitude of the provincial
magistrates and men of rank was assembled for the
occasion.

On the second day of the performance he entered the
theatre at daybreak, arrayed in a wonderfully woven robe
made entirely of silver ; whereupon the silver, caught by
the first rays of the sun, was lit up and glittered in a

1 B.J. (parallel passage) adds " Trachonitis and Auranitis."

2 Killed c. 34 B.C.; Lysanias of Abilene (Luke iii. 1.) was probably
a descendant. 3 Lat. VS. omits.

4 With a slight emendation of the text of the MSS (iirurTT}<Td/xei>os
for iirHTrdfievos).

(33) THE LATER HERODS 89

marvellous manner, with dazzling Hashes that struck terror
and awe into the onlookers. His flatterers straightway,
from one quarter and another, raised cries, which even
to him seemed ill-omened, calling him a god and adding,
" O be gracious ! If hitherto we have feared thee as a
man, from henceforth we own thee as of more than
mortal nature." The king neither rebuked them nor
rejected their impious adulation ; but not long after he
looked up and saw the owl sitting on a rope above his
head, and at once recognized the former bringer of good
tidings as now the messenger of ill.1 Pangs pierced his
heart ; a spasm of pain with violent onset shot straight
to 2 his stomach. Leaping up 3 he addressed his friends :
" I, your god, even now receive orders to quit this life ;
destiny at the instant confutes those lying voices which
this moment filled my ears ; I, whom you called im-
mortal, am already being led off to die. But I must
accept such fate as it has pleased God to send me ; for
my 4 life has been no ignoble one, but passed in blissful
splendour."

As he spoke these words intense pain prostrated him.
He was quickly carried into the palace, and a report
ran through the assembly that his death was certainly
imminent. At once the multitude, including women
and children, according to their national custom sat in 5
sackcloth and besought God for the king's life, and the

1 The reference is to an incident in the earlier life of Agrippa,
when a prisoner at Rome under Tiberius. A fellow-prisoner, a
German, seeing an owl sitting on a tree against which Agrippa was
leaning, had foretold his rise to power, adding a warning: "Re-
member when you see this bird again, you will have* but five days
to live" (Ant. XVIII. 6. 7). Eusebius, in citing the present passage
(H.E. II. 10), omits the words "the owl" and "on a rope,"
writing " saw an ^//^v/ sitting above his head," no doubt under thQ
influence of Acts xii. 23 (&yye\os Kvplov).

2 Reading Trpoaiduaev.

3 Many MSS have " looking up " {avaQeuowv for avaQopwv)^

4 Lit. "our." V * Lit. "on,"

9o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (34)

whole scene was one of wailing and lamentation. The
king himself, who lay in a chamber above, as he looked
down and saw them falling on their faces, could not
restrain his tears. For five days he was racked con-
tinuously by abdominal pains, and so departed this life
in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the seventh of his
a.d. 37-4° reign. He reigned four years under Gaius Caesar, during
a.d. 40-1 three of them over Philip's tetrarchy, while in the fourth
a.d. 41-44 he took over that of Herod l as well ; and three more
years under the Emperor Claudius Caesar, having Judaea,
Samaria and Caesarea added to his former realm. — Ant.
XIX. 8. 2 (343-35')-

(34) The Story of King hates and his mother Helena

The pleasing story of the conversion to Judaism of Helena,
Queen of Adiabene (in the upper Tigris region), and her son Izates
in two particulars illustrates the narrative of the Acts. The famine
at Jerusalem which was the occasion of the charitable services of
the Queen was that "which came to pass in the days of Claudius "
(a.d. 41-54), and led the Antiochene Christians to send similar
relief by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (Acts xi. 28-30). Again,
it is inteiesting to rtad of the conflicting opinions of Jewish Rabbis
as to the necessity for circumcision in a proselyte to Judaism. The
same question, with relation to converts to Christianity, was soon
to come to the front in the councils of the infant church (Acts xv. ).

Izates, on hearing that his mother found such great
delight in the Jewish observances, was eager on his
part to become a convert to that religion ; and, sup-
posing that he could not be a thorough Jew unless he
were circumcised, he was prepared to take the necessary
action. His mother, however, on learning his intention,
tried to prevent him, and told him that he would bring
himself into peril. He was a king and would create
great ill-will among his subjects, when they learnt of his
devotion to customs that were strange and alien to them ;
they would never tolerate a Jew as their king. Thus
she spoke, trying by every means to dissuade him from
1 Antipas.

(34) IZATES AND HELENA 91

his purpose ; and he referred for counsel on her words
to Ananias.1 Ananias took the mother's side and
threatened to leave Izates if he did not obey her.2 He
said he feared that, if the matter became public, he
would run the risk of being punished himself as the
responsible party who had instructed the king in un-
seemly practices. He added that, if he was fully deter-
mined to follow3 the Jews' ancestral customs, he might
worship God4 even without being circumcised ; worship
was more essential than circumcision ; and God Himself
would forgive him because the omission of the act was
due to necessity and fear of his subjects. So for the
time the king was persuaded. But he had not alto-
gether relinquished his desire, when there came, later
on, another Jew from Galilee, named Eleazar, with a
reputation for the strictest observance of the customs of
his fathers, and prevailed on him to do the deed. For,
on entering to salute the king, Eleazar found him read-
ing the Law of Moses, and said : " In your ignorance,
O king, you are sinning grievously against the laws and
thereby against God. It behoves you not merely to
read them but even more to do what they command.
How long will you remain uncircumcised ? If you have
not yet read the law concerning this matter, read it
now, that you may know what impiety is yours."

On hearing this speech the king delayed no longer ;
he withdrew to another room, summoned his physician,
carried out the injunctions, and sent for his mother and
his instructor Ananias and announced that he had done
the deed. And they were at once filled with dismay
and fear beyond measure, lest the king should be
convicted of the deed and risk the loss of his kingdom

1 His Jewish mentor. 2 Text doubtful.

8 Perhaps "was determined to follow ... in their entirety."

4 Lit. "the divinity."

92 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (34)

(since his subjects would not endure a devotee of foreign
customs as their ruler), and they themselves should be
in jeopardy as responsible for his action. However, as
the sequel showed, God was to prevent their fears from
being realized. Great perils, indeed, befell Izates and
his children, but God delivered them, providing a way
out of their extremities to salvation, thereby showing
that those who look to Him and believe in Him only
do not lose the fruit of their piety. But we shall tell
this story hereafter.

Now Helena the Queen-mother, seeing the kingdom
at peace and her son blessed and envied of all men,
even by those of other nations, because the providence
of God was upon him, had a desire to visit the city of
Jerusalem, to do reverence to the Temple of God that
was renowned among all men and to offer sacrifices of
thanksgiving. So she entreated her son's permission;
and he very willingly consented to his mother's request,
and made large preparations for her sending off and
gave her abundance of money ; and she went down to
the city of Jerusalem, her son accompanying her a good
way.

Now her arrival was very timely to them of Jerusalem ;
for, as their city at that time was oppressed by a famine
and many of the inhabitants were perishing for lack of
means to buy food,1 Queen Helena sent some of her
retinue to Alexandria to purchase corn at a great price,
and others to Cyprus to bring a cargo of dried figs.
Then, when they had returned with all speed bringing
their purchases, she distributed food to the destitute. By
this beneficent act she has left to our whole nation the
highest remembrance of herself. Her son Izates, like-
wise, on hearing of the famine, sent large sums of money
1 Lit, ''lack of expenses,"

(35) THEUDAS 93

to the chief of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. — Ant. XX.
2. 4 f. (38-53).

(35) The Fate of the Impostor Theudas, and of the Sons
of Judas the Galilcean

For the relation of this passage to Acts v. 36 f., where Theudas
and Judas occur in juxtaposition, see Appendix, Note IV.

Now when Fadus was procurator of Judaea, a certain a.d. 44-(?)
impostor named Theudas persuaded the mass of the
rabble to take their belongings with them and follow
him to the river Jordan ; for he said that he was a
prophet and would by a word of command divide the
river and afford them an easy passage ; * and by these
words he deceived many. Fadus, however, did not allow
them to reap the benefit of their folly. He despatched
against them a troop of horse which fell upon them
unexpectedly and slew many and took many of them
prisoners. They caught Theudas himself alive, cut off his
head and carried it to Jerusalem. This was what befell
the Jews under the procuratorship of Cuspius Fadus.

Tiberius Alexander came as successor to Fadus. He A-D- (?)-48
was the son of that Alexander who was Alabarch2 in
Alexandria, and was by birth and wealth the foremost
man of his time in that city. The father excelled the
son, moveover, in his pious worship of God ; for the
latter did not hold fast to his hereditary religion. It
was under his governorship that the great famine befell
Judaea, when Queen Helena purchased corn from Egypt at .
a great price and distributed it to the starving population,
as I have already narrated.3

1 Like an Elijah redivivus.

1 "The office of alabarch, probably chief collector of customs on
the Arabian side of the Nile, was repeatedly held by wealthy Jews "
(Schurer, J. P. T. C. II. 2. 280). Alexander was the brother of
Philo the philosopher.

8 See § (34).

94 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (36)

It was now, too, that there were brought up (for
trial) * the sons of that Judas of Galilee who induced
the people to revolt from the Romans when Quirinius
was engaged in the assessment of Judaea, as we have
narrated in a previous book.2 Alexander gave orders
that (the sons of Judas named) James and Simon should
be crucified. — Ant. XX. 5. 1 f. (97-102).

(36) Agrippa II, Felix and Drusilla

All three characters appear in the Acts. Agrippa II (the son of
Agrippa I) with his sister Bernice and Festus, the Roman governor,
listened to St. Paul's defence at Ca>sarea (Acts xxv. xxvi.). Felix,
the predecessor of Festus, with Drusilla his wife had a private
interview with the Apostle ; the circumstances of their marriage
described below throw light on the governor's terror "as" Paul
"reasoned of righteousness and temperance and the judgement to
come" (Acts xxiv. 24 f.).

The influence exercised by the Cypriot sorcerer, Atomos, over the
Roman governor, finds a curious parallel in the relations of Elymas
and Sergius Paulus (Acts xiii. 6ff.). The Jewish magician there
too resides in Cyprus, and in the "Western" text bears a name
strangely similar to that of the friend of Felix (¥.T[o]i[xas , Etoemas,
id. xiii. 8, cod. D).

The Emperor then sent Claudius Felix, the brother
of Pallas,3 to take over the administration of Judaea.
Moreover, when he had now completed the twelfth year
of his reign, he bestowed upon Agrippa the tetrarchy of
Philip and (the region of) Batanaea, adding also Tra-
chonitis, together with the former tetrarchy of Lysanias,
namely Abella.4 At the same time he deprived him of
the kingdom of Chalcis,5 which he had held for four
years.

After receiving this award from Caesar,6 Agrippa gave
his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of Emesa,7

1 Another reading, "were put to death." 2 See § (24).

3 A freedman and favourite of the Emperor Claudius and a man
of great influence.

4 Cf. § (32) and Luke iii. 1, " Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene."

5 A petty kingdom in the Lebanon district.

6 i.e. Claudius. 7 In northern Syria (mod. Horns).

(37) DEATH OF JAMES 95

on his consenting to be circumcised. Kpiphanes, son of
King Antiochus, had declined the marriage from reluc-
tance to adopt Jewish practices, although he had
previously promised her father that he would do so. . . .
The marriage of Drusilla and Azizus was, however,
not long afterwards broken off on the following ground.
Drusilla was the most beautiful of women, and Felix,
while procurator of JucLwi, saw and fell in love with her.
He accordingly sent to her one of his friends named
Atomos,1 a Jew born in Cyprus, who pretended to be a
magician, and tried to persuade her to desert her husband
and marry him, promising to make her happy2 if she
did not reject him. And she, because she was unhappy
in her life 3 and desired to escape from her sister Bere-
nice's envy of her beauty, . . . 4 was prevailed upon
to transgress the laws of her race and to marry Felix.
By him she bore a son whom she called Agrippa. —
Ant. XX. 7. if. (137-143).

(37) The Death of James, " the Lord's Brother "

A description of the death by stoning, after a perfunctory trial by
the Sanhedrin, of James "the brother of Jesus who was called
Christ," the head of the early Church in Jerusalem (Acts xv. ;
Gal. i. 19).

An alternative melodramatic account of the martyrdom of James
— in which he is represented as hurled down from the " pinnacle "
of the Temple, stoned, and finally despatched by a fuller's club — is
given by Hegesippus (quoted by Euseb. H. E. II. 23).

The account of Josephus seems much the more trustworthy of the
two, and there appears to be no reason for questioning its authenticity.
As Lightfoot writes, "This notice ... is probable in itself (which
the account of Hegesippus is not), and is such as Josephus might be

1 Some MSS read " Simon."

2 We can hardly miss the Roman's jest on his name : " make a
Felix of her."

s Lit. "faring ill"; Whiston's rendering, "acted wickedly," is
scarcely possible.

4 A line of corrupt and unintelligible text follows in Niese's MSS.
The older editions read "for she was constantly being ill-treated by
her because of her beauty."

96 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (37)

expected to write if he alluded to the matter at all. ... On the
other hand, if the passage had been a Christian interpolation, the
notice of James would have been more laudatory" (Galatians,
ed. 10, p. 366, n. 2).

On the other hand, a passage quoted by Eusebius {loc. cit.) as
from Josephus, ascribing the miseries of the siege of Jerusalem to
divine vengeance for the murder of James the Just, does not occur
in his extant works and is probably spurious.

On hearing of the death of Festus, Caesar1 sent Albinus
to Jud?ea as governor. King (Agrippa) at the same time
deprived Joseph of* the high priesthood and appointed
the son of Ananus, also named Ananus, as his successor.
The elder Ananus, they say, was exceptionally fortunate ;
he had five sons, all of whom became God's high priests,
their father having previously enjoyed the same privilege
for a very long period ; an experience without parallel in
the history of our high priests.

The younger Ananus, who now, as I 2 said, took over
the office, was a rash man and extraordinarily audacious ;
he belonged to the sect of the Sadducees, who, as I2
have already explained, are more ruthless than all other
Jews when they sit in judgement. Such was the char-
acter of this Ananus, who, thinking that a favourable
opportunity now presented itself — Festus being dead and
Albinus still on the road — summoned the judicial court
of the Sanhedrin, brought before it the brother of Jesus
who was called Christ — James was his name — with some
others, and after accusing them of transgressing the law,
delivered them over to be stoned to death. This action
aroused the indignation of all citizens with the highest
reputation for moderation and strict observance of the
laws ; and they sent a secret message to King (Agrippa),
petitioning him to restrain Ananus, who had been wrong
in what he had done already, from similar proceedings
in future. Some of them, moreover, went to meet

1 Nero. 2 Lit " we."

(37) DEATH OF JAMES 97

Albinus on his road from Alexandria and explained that
it was illegal for Ananus to convene a meeting of the
Sanhedrin without his consent. Albinus was persuaded
by their arguments and wrote an angry letter to Ananus
threatening to punish him. King Agrippa, on his side,
for this action deposed Ananus from the high priest-
hood, when he had held office but three months, and
appointed Jesus, son of Damnrcus, in his place. — Ant.
XX. 9, 1 (197-203).

VII. SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR

(38) Introduction to " The Jewish War "

a.d. 66-70 The war of the Jews against the Romans — the greatest
not only of the wars of our own time, but well-nigh of
all that ever broke out between cities or nations, so
far as accounts have reached us — has not lacked its his-
torians. Of these, some, having taken no part in the
action, have collected from hearsay futile and contradic-
tory stories which they have then edited in a rhetorical
style; while others, who witnessed the events, have, either
from flattery of the Romans or from dislike of the Jews,
misrepresented the facts, their writings exhibiting alter-
nately invective and encomium, but nowhere historical
accuracy. In these circumstances, I — Josephus, son of
Matthias,1 a native of Jerusalem, of the priestly order,
who at the opening of the war myself fought against the
Romans and in the sequel was perforce an onlooker —
propose to provide the subjects of the Roman Empire
with a narrative of the facts, by translating into Greek
the account which some while since I composed in my
vernacular tongue 2 and sent to the natives of upper
Syria.3

I spoke of this upheaval as one of the greatest mag-
nitude. The Romans had their own internal disorders.
The Jewish revolutionary party, whose numbers and

1 Many MSS add "by birth a Hebrew."

2 Aramaic. The Greek, which bears no marks of translation,
must, in all probability, have been practically a new work.

8 Lit. "the upper barbarians."
98

(38) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 99

fortunes were at their zenith, seized the occasion of the
turbulent times for insurrection. As a result of these
vast disturbances the whole of the Eastern Empire was
in the balance ; the insurgents were fired with hopes of
its acquisition, their opponents feared its loss. For the
Jews hoped that all their fellow-countrymen beyond
the Euphrates would join with them in revolt ; while
the Romans, on their side, were occupied with their
neighbours the Gauls, and the Celts were in motion.
Nero's death, moreover, brought universal confusion ; June
many were induced by this opportunity to aspire to the A'D'
sovereignty, and a change which might make their
fortune was after the heart of the soldiery.

I thought it monstrous, therefore, to allow the truth
in affairs of such moment to go astray, and that, while
Parthians and Babylonians and the most remote tribes
of Arabia with our countrymen beyond the Euphrates
and the inhabitants of Adiabene1 had, through my
assiduity, been accurately informed as to the origin of
the war, the various phases of calamity through which
it passed and its conclusion, the Greeks and such Romans
as were not engaged in the contest should remain in
ignorance of these matters, with flattering or fictitious
narratives as their only guide.

Though the writers in question presume to give their
works the title of histories, yet throughout these, apart
from the utter lack of sound information, they seem, in
my opinion, to miss their own mark. They desire to
represent the Romans as a great nation, and yet they
continually depreciate and disparage the actions of the
Jews. But I fail to see how the conquerors of a puny
people deserve to be accounted great. Again, these
writers respect neither the long duration of the war, nor
the vast numbers of the Roman army that it engaged,
1 In the upper Tigris region.

ioo SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (38)

nor the prestige of the generals, who, after such herculean
labours unHer the walls of Jerusalem, are, I suppose, of
no repute in these writers' eyes, if' their achievement is to
be underestimated.

I have no intention of rivalling those who extol the
Roman power by exaggerating the deeds of my com-
patriots. I shall narrate accurately the actions of both
combatants ; while making allowance for the tempera-
ment (of the speaker) in the speeches arising out of the
action 1 and giving my personal sympathies scope to
bewail my country's misfortunes. For, that it owed its
ruin to civil strife, and that it was the Jewish tyrants
who drew down upon the Temple the unwilling hands
of the Romans and the conflagration, is attested by
Titus Caesar himself who sacked the city; throughout
the war he commiserated the populace who were at the
mercy of the revolutionary cliques, and often of his own
accord deferred the capture of the city and by protracting
the siege gave the culprits time for repentance. Should,
however, any critic censure me for my strictures upon
the tyrants or their bands of marauders or for my lamen-
tations over my country's misfortunes, I ask his indul-
gence for a compassion which falls outside an historian's
province. For of all the cities under Roman rule it was
the lot of ours to attain to the highest felicity and to fall
to the lowest depths of calamity. Indeed, in my opinion,
the misfortunes of all nations since the world began are
slight in comparison with those of the Jews ; and, since
the blame lay with no foreign nation, it was impossible
to restrain one's condolence. Should, however, any
critic be too austere for pity, let him assign the actions
to the history, the lamentations to the historian.

1 Such, or "giving the rein to personal feeling in the speeches
(h6yoi)," I take to be the meaning. Traill, "introducing into
the detail reflections on the events" ; Whiston, "only I shall suit
my language to my feelings as to the affairs I describe."

(38) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 101

I, on my side, might justly censure those erudite Greek
writers, who, living in times of such stirring actions as by
comparison reduce to insignificance the wars of antiquity,
yet sit in judgement on these current events and revile
those who make them their special study — authors whose
principles they lack, even if they have the advantage of
them in literary skill. They take as their themes the
Assyrian and Median empires, as if the narratives of
the ancient historians were inadequate, although these
modern writers are their inferiors no less in literary
power than in judgement. The ancient historians set
themselves severally to write the history of their own
times, a task in which their connexion with the events
added lucidity to their record ; while mendacity brought
an author into disgrace with readers who knew the facts.

The truth is that the work of committing to writing
events which have not1 previously been recorded and of
commending to posterity the history of one's own time
is one which merits praise and acknowledgment. The
industrious writer is not one who merely remodels the
scheme and arrangement of another's work, but one who,
besides having fresh materials, gives the body of his
history a framework of his own.

For myself, at the cost of much money and severe
labour, I, a foreigner, present to Greeks and Romans
this memorial of great achievements. As for the native
(Greek) writers, where personal profit or a lawsuit is
concerned, their mouths are at once agape and their
tongues loosed; but in the matter of history, where
veracity and laborious collection of the facts are essential,
they are mute, leaving to inferior and ill-informed writers
the task of describing the exploits of rulers. Let me2 at
least hold historical truth in honour, since by the Greeks
it is disregarded. . . . — B.J. I. 1-5 (1-16).

1 The negative is omitted by most MSS. 2 Lit. "us."

io2 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (39)

(39) Seeds of the War sown wider the last of the
Procurators. Rise of the Sicarii

Felix

After this Claudius sent out Felix, the brother of
Pallas,1 as procurator of Judaea, Samaria, Galilee and
Peraea. Agrippa he transferred from Chalcis to a larger
kingdom, assigning to him Philip's former province,
namely Batanaea, Trachonitis and Gaulanitis ; to this he
added the kingdom of Lysanias and the province2 which
had belonged to Varus. After holding the imperial
office for thirteen years, eight months and twenty days,
a n. 54 Claudius died, leaving Nero as his successor in the
government. . . .

Nero annexed to Agrippa's kingdom four cities with
their districts,3 namely, Abila, Julias in Peraea, and in
Galilee Tarichaea and Tiberias. He appointed Felix to
be procurator of the rest of Judaea. Felix took prisoner
Eleazar, the arch-brigand who for twenty years had
ravaged the country, with many of his associates, and
sent them for trial to Rome. Of the brigands whom he
crucified, and of the common people who were detected
of complicity with them and punished by him, the
number was incalculable.

Rise of the Sicarii

But, while the country was thus cleared of these pests,
a new species of banditti was springing up in Jerusalem,
the so-called Sicarii* who committed murders in
broad daylight in the heart of the city. The festivals
were their special seasons, when they would mingle with
the crowd, carrying short daggers concealed under their

1 Cf. with this whole paragraph § (36).

2 MSS "tetrarchy." 3 Lit. "with the toparchies."
4 "Assassins," from Lat. sica, "a dagger."

(39) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 103

clothing, with which they stabbed any with whom
they were at enmity. Then, when they fell, the
murderers joined in the cries of indignation and, through
this plausible behaviour, were never discovered. The
first to be assassinated by them was Jonathan the high
priest ; after his death there were numerous daily
murders. The panic created was more alarming than
the calamity itself; every one, as on the battlefield,
hourly expecting death. Men kept watch at a distance
on their enemies and would not trust even their friends
when they approached. Yet, with their suspicions aroused
and on their guard, they were slain ; so swift were the
conspirators and so crafty in eluding detection.

Troubled State of the Country

Besides these there arose another body of villains,
with purer hands but more impious intentions, who no
less than the assassins ruined the peace of the city.
Deceivers and impostors, under the pretence of divine
inspiration fostering revolutionary changes, they per-
suaded the multitude to act like madmen, and led them
out into the desert under the belief that God would there
give them tokens of deliverance. Against them Felix,
regarding this as but the preliminary to insurrection,
sent a body of horse and foot 1 and put a large number
to the sword.2

A still worse blow was dealt at the Jews by the
Egyptian false prophet. A charlatan, who had gained
for himself the reputation of a prophet, this man
collected about thirty thousand of his dupes, entered
the country and led his force round from the desert to
the mount called Olivet. From there he proposed to
force an entrance into Jerusalem and, after overpowering

1 Lit. "heavy-armed infantry " (hoplites).

2 Cf. the similar fate of Theudas, § (35).

104 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (39)

the Roman garrison and the people, to act as despot
with the aid of his bodyguard of lancers who were to
pour in with him. His attack was anticipated by Felix,
who went to meet him with the Roman forces,1 the
whole population joining him in the defence ; with the
result that in the ensuing engagement, while the Egyptian
escaped with a few of his followers, most of his force
were killed or taken prisoners. The remainder were
dispersed, and got away one by one to their homes.

No sooner were these disorders reduced than, as in a
diseased frame, the fever broke out again in another
quarter. The impostors and brigands, banding together,
induced many to revolt, encouraging them to assert their
independence, and threatening to kill any who submitted
to Roman rule and to use violence to tear from their
allegiance any who still chose voluntary servitude. Dis-
tributing themselves in companies throughout the
country, they looted the houses of the wealthy, murdered
their owners, and set the villages on fire ; and so spread
the infection of their madness throughout all Judaea.

While this war was daily being fanned into flame,
another disturbance occurred at Caesarea,2 where the
Jewish portion of the population rose against the
Syrians. They claimed that the city was theirs on the
ground that its founder, King Herod, was a Jew. Their
opponents admitted the Jewish origin of its (second)
founder, but maintained that the city itself belonged to
the Greeks, since Herod would never have erected the
statues and temples which he placed there had he
intended it for Jews. . . . The quarrel still continuing,
Felix selected the notables from either party and sent
them as a deputation to Nero to argue the merits of the
case.

1 Lit. "heavy-armed infantry" (hoplites).

2 St. Paul was probably a prisoner there at this time.

(39) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 105

Festus a.i). 60 62

Festus, who succeeded Felix as procurator, proceeded
to attack the principal plague of the country ; he
captured large numbers of the brigands and put not a
few to death.

Albinus a.i>. 62 64

The administration of Albinus, who followed Festus,
was of another order ; there was no form of villainy which
he omitted to practise. Not only did he, in his official
capacity, steal and plunder private property and burden
the whole nation with imposts, but he accepted ransoms
from their relatives on behalf of persons who had been
imprisoned for robbery by the local councils or by former
procurators ; and none was left in gaol as a malefactor
save those who failed to pay the price.

At this period a fresh stimulus was given to the
revolutionary party in Jerusalem, the influential men
among their number securing from Albinus, by means
of bribes, immunity for their seditious practices ; while
the section of the populace which could never remain
quiet joined hands with the governor's accomplices.
Individual scoundrels had around them each his own
band of followers, among whom they figured conspicu-
ously like brigand-chiefs or tyrants, employing their
bodyguard to plunder peaceable citizens. The outcome
was that the victims of robbery kept their grievances, of
which they had every reason to complain, to themselves,
while those who escaped cringed to one who deserved
punishment, through fear of suffering the same fate. In
short, none could now speak his mind, with tyrants on
every side ; and from this date were sown in the city the
seeds of its impending fall.

106 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (39)

Gessius Florus

Such was the character of Albinus, but his successor,
Gessius Florus, made him appear by comparison a
paragon of virtue. The crimes of Albinus were, for the
most part, perpetrated in secret and with dissimulation ;
Gessius, on the contrary, ostentatiously paraded his law-
less treatment of the nation, and, as though he had been
sent as hangman of condemned criminals, committed
every kind of robbery and outrage. In cases which
called for compassion he was cruel beyond measure ; in
dealing with shameful conduct,1 he was utterly devoid of
shame. No man ever poured greater contempt 2 on
truth or contrived more subtle methods of villainy. To
make gain out of individuals seemed beneath him : he
stripped whole cities, ruined entire populations, and
almost went the length of proclaiming throughout the
country that all were at liberty to rob on condition that
he received his share of the spoils. Certainly his avarice
brought desolation upon all districts,3 and caused many
to desert their ancestral homes and seek refuge in foreign
provinces.

So long as Cestius Gallus was in Syria discharging his
provincial administrative duties, none dared to send a
deputation to him to complain of Florus ; but when he
visited Jerusalem on the eve of the feast of unleavened
bread, the people crowded around him to no less a
number than three millions, imploring him to have
compassion on the calamities of the nation, and loudly
denouncing Florus as the ruin of the country. Florus,
who was present at Cestius's side, scoffed at their outcry.
Cestius, however, when he had quieted the excitement

1 Or "in disgraceful things."

* Lit. "unbelief." Traill, "In smotheiing .' (Whiston, "dis-
guising ") the truth none was more successful."

3 T i*- '*ol1 lV»» tnnorplitAC • c/-\m<» 1VTQQ rpon

(4o) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 107

of the crowd, pledged himself to secure for them greatt 1
moderation on the part of Florus in future, and so
returned to Antioch.

Florus escorted him as far as Csesarea, pla*ying upon
his credulity, and already contemplating the prospect of
war with the nation — his only hope of covering up his
own enormities. For, if the peace were kept, he
expected to have the Jews accusing him before Cresar ;
whereas, could he bring about their revolt, he would by
means of the larger calamity divert attention from the
less. In order, therefore, to produce an outbreak of the
nation, he daily added to their sufferings. — B.J. II.
12. 8-14. 3 (247-283).

(40) The Immediate Cause of the War — Abrogation of
Sacrifices for the Emperor

Meanwhile, some of the prime instigators of hostilities Summer
banded together and made an assault on a fortress called
Masada ; l and having gained possession of it by
stratagem, they slew the Roman guards and put a
garrison of their own in their place.

Another incident occurred at the same time in the
Temple. Eleazar, son of Ananias the high priest, a very
daring youth, being then in command,2 persuaded those
who officiated in the Temple services to accept no gift or
sacrifice from a foreigner. This action laid the foundation
of the war with the Romans ; for they thereby abrogated
the sacrifice on behalf of that nation and the Emperor.3
And, though the chief priests and the men of note
earnestly besought them not to abandon the customary
offering for their rulers, they were obdurate. Their

1 On the west coast of the Dead Sea.

* *. e. " captain of the Temple " ; cf. Acts iv. I, etc.

3 Other MSS, omitting "and" {ical, which would easily drop out
before Kaiaapos), read "the sacrifice of Caesar on behalf of that
nation."

108 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (40)

numbers gave them great confidence, supported as they
were by the stalwarts of the revolutionary party ; but the
determining influence was their high opinion of their
captain Eleazar.

Thereupon the men of weight assembled with the
chief priests and the notable Pharisees and, in the belief
that they were now involved in irreparable calamities,
deliberated on the state of public affairs. Deciding to
try the effect of persuasion on the revolutionaries, they
called the people together before the brazen gate which
opened into the inner Temple and faced eastward. And,
first, they expressed severe indignation at the audacity of
this revolt and at the men who were bringing upon their
country so serious a war. They then proceeded to
expose the absurdity of the alleged pretext. Their fore-
fathers, they said, had adorned the sanctuary mainly
from the contributions of foreigners and had always
accepted the gifts of external nations ; not only had they
never taken the sacrilegious step of forbidding any one
to offer sacrifice, but they had set up around the Temple
the dedicatory offerings which were still to be seen and
had remained there for so long a time. But those who
were now provoking the arms of the Romans and
courting war with such antagonists were introducing
some novel and strange religion,1 and, in addition to
the danger incurred, would lay the city open to the
charge of impiety, if Jews alone were to allow no alien
the right of sacrifice or worship. Should such a law be
introduced in the case of any private individual, they
would be indignant as at an act of deliberate inhumanity ;
yet they made light of putting the Romans and Csesar out-
side the pale. It was to be feared, however, that, once
they rejected the sacrifices for the Romans, they might

1 Or, possibly, " were making an innovation in the worship of
foreigners."

(4o) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 109

not be allowed to offer sacrifice even for themselves, and
that their city would be placed outside the pale of the
empire, unless, with a speedy return to discretion, they
restored the sacrifices and made amends for the insult
before the report reached the ears of those whom they
had insulted.

In the course of this speech they brought forward the
priestly experts on the national customs, who explained
how all their ancestors had accepted the sacrifices of
aliens.

But not one of the revolutionary party would listen to
their words,1 which met with no better response even
from the officiating ministers, who thus helped to sow
the seeds of war.1 Thereupon, the leading men, per-
ceiving that it was now beyond their power to suppress
the insurrection and that they would be the first to suffer
from the Roman peril, took steps to exonerate them-
selves from blame. They accordingly despatched two
deputations, one to Florus, headed by Simon son of
Ananias, and another to Agrippa, of which the most
eminent members were the king's relatives, Saul,
Antipas and Costobar. They besought them both to
come up to the city with an armed force and to nip the
rebellion in the bud before repression became impossible.
To Florus the news was a wonderful godsend,2 and,
determined as he was to fan the flame of war, he gave
the emissaries no reply. Agrippa, on the other hand,
was solicitous alike for the rebels and for the nation
against which their hostilities were directed ; he was
anxious that the Romans should not lose the Jews nor
the Jews their Temple and mother city ; and was, more-
over, aware that the disturbance would not conduce to

1 The text of this clause is doubtful. I read irpoariaav, "chimed
in" (with Naber; MSS irpoaltoav or irpoarieaav) and \tirovpyol
(other MSS KyorpiKol, "the brigands").

* Or (reading rb before Scivbv) " the dire news was a godsend."

no SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (41)

his own interests. He accordingly despatched to the
aid of the people three thousand horse from Auranitis,
Batan?ea and Trachonitis, under Darius as cavalry
commander and Philip, son of Jacimus, as general.

Encouraged by these reinforcements, the leading men
with the chief priests and all such of the populace as
were in favour of peace occupied the upper city. The
lower city and the Temple were in the hands of the
insurgents. — B.J. II. 17. 2-5 (408-422).

(41) Initial Jewish success. Rout of a Roman Army in
the Defiles of Beth-Horon

The humiliating Roman defeat in this first stage of the war here
described recalls a rather similar incident at the Caudine Forks in
the early wars with the Samnites.

Cestius Advances from Antioch

The Jews being now everywhere up in arms, Cestius l
decided to remain inactive no longer. He accordingly
left Antioch and advanced upon Ptolemais. His force
consisted of the twelfth legion in full strength, two
thousand picked men from each of the other legions, six
cohorts of infantry and four squadrons of cavalry,
besides the allied forces furnished by the kings ; of these
Antiochus supplied two thousand horse and three
thousand foot, all archers, Agrippa an equal number of
foot and rather less than two thousand horse, Sohemus
following with four thousand, of which a third part were
cavalry and the rest archers. In addition, numerous
auxiliaries were collected from the towns ; they lacked
the training of the regulars, but made good any defi-
ciency in technical skill by their zeal and their detestation
of the Jews. Agrippa himself accompanied Cestius on
the route as guide and adviser. . . .

1 Governor of Syria.

(4i) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR ...

Galilee surrenders to Cestius, almost without a blow; Toppft,
attacked by land and sea, is captured and burnt ; and the Roman
arms are everywhere successful.

From Antipatris Cestius advanced to Lydda and found
the city deserted, for the population had gone up en October
masse to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Fifty
persons who showed themselves he put to the sword, and
after burning down the town resumed his march ; and,
ascending through Beth-Horon, pitched his camp at a
place called Gibeon,1 fifty furlongs2 distant from
Jerusalem.

A Jewish Successful Charge outside Jerusalem

The Jews, seeing the war at length approaching their
mother city, abandoned the feast and rushed to arms ;
and, relying largely on their numbers, sprang in disorder
and with loud cries into the fray. It was the Sabbath
which they regarded with peculiar reverence,3 but they
paid no thought to that seventh day of rest. But the same
passion which shook them out of their piety brought
them victory in the battle. With such fury, at any rate,
did they fall upon the Romans that they broke and
passed through their ranks, killing as they went ; and had
not the cavalry, with a body of infantry which was not so
hard pressed as the rest, disengaged and wheeled round
to the relief of the broken line,4 Cestius and his whole
army would have been in jeopardy. The Roman killed
were five hundred and fifteen (four hundred infantry and
the rest cavalry) ; the Jews lost but two and twenty. . . .
When their frontal attack was thus held up, the Jews
retired to the city. But Simon, son of Gioras, fell upon
the rear of the Romans as they withdrew to Beth-Horon,

1 Gr. "Gabao." * Gr. "stades."

8 Falling within the week of the Feast of Tabernacles.
4 Some MSS insert a negative, " the part of the line which had
not yet given way."

ii2 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (41)

and cut up a large part of their rear-guard, carrying off
many of the baggage mules, which he brought with him
into the city. Cestius continuing to hold his ground for
three days, the Jews seized the heights and kept guard
on the passes, clearly not intending to remain inactive,
should the Romans begin to move.

Fruitless Attempt to Parley with the Jews
At this juncture, Agrippa, perceiving that, with the
enemy in such countless numbers in possession of the
surrounding mountains, even a Roman army was in a
perilous position, decided to try the effect of parley with
the Jews. He hoped either to prevail on all to abandon
hostilities, or at least to detach from their opponents
those who did not share the views of the war party. So
he sent the two of his men who were best known to
them, Borcaeus x and Phcebus, with an offer of a treaty
on the part of Cestius and of free pardon from the
Romans for their misdoings, on condition that they would
lay down their arms and go over to them. The in-
surgents, fearing that the prospect of an amnesty would
induce the whole multitude to go over to Agrippa, made
a murderous assault upon his emissaries. Phcebus they
slew before he had uttered a syllable ; Borcaeus 1 was
wounded but succeeded in escaping. Such of the
people as indignantly protested at their action they
assailed with stones and clubs and drove into the town.

Cestius Occupies the Suburb Bezetha
Cestius, seeing that these internal dissensions offered
a favourable opportunity for attack, brought up his whole
force, routed the enemy, and pursued them to Jerusalem.
Encamping on the (hill) called Scopus, distant seven
furlongs2 from the city, for three days he made no

1 Or "Borcius." 2 Gr. "stacks."

(4i) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 113

attempt upon it, expecting that the inhabitants might
possibly show signs of surrender ; in the meantime he
sent out many of his soldiers to the surrounding villages
for foraging purposes. On the fourth day, the thirtieth of < fctober
the month Hyperberetrcus, he deployed his forces and A,D* ™
led them within 1 the city.

The people were under the thumb of the revolutionary
party, and the latter, overawed by the orderly discipline of
the Romans, abandoned some of the suburbs and retired
into the inner city and the Temple. Cestius, on gaining
entry, set fire to the district known as Bezetha 2 and the
New City and the so-called Timber Market ; he then
proceeded to the upper city and encamped opposite the
royal palace. Had he, at that particular moment,
chosen to force his way within the walls, he would have
captured the city forthwith, and the war would have
been over. But Tyrannius Priscus, the camp-com-
mander, with most of the cavalry officers, being bribed
by Florus, diverted him from the attempt. Hence it
came about that the war was so long protracted and the
Jews drained the cup of irretrievable disaster.

Attack on Jerusalem

Meanwhile many of the notable citizens, at the
instance of Ananus, son of Jonathan, sent an invitation
to Cestius, promising to open the gates to him. These
overtures, however, partly in scorn and resentment,
partly because he did not wholly credit them, he hesi-
tated to accept, until the insurgents, discovering the
treason, dragged down Ananus and his confederates
from the wall and drove them, with showers of stones,
into their houses. Then, taking up their stations in

1 Perhaps "up to."

1 At the N.E. corner of the city Other MSS " Bethesda "
Niese, " Betheza," as elsewhere in Josephus.
H

ii4 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (41)

detachments, they hurled their missiles from the towers
upon the enemy who were assailing the wall. So for five
days the Romans pressed their attack on all sides without
success, till on the sixth Cestius led a large force of
picked men with the archers to an assault on the north
side of the Temple. The Jews from the portico warded
it off, and time after time repulsed those who had
reached the wall, but at length, overpowered by the hail
of missiles, gave way. The front rank of the Romans
then planted their shields against the wall, those behind
them planted other shields upon the first, and the rest
did in like manner, forming a screen which they, call
" the tortoise," 1 from which the missiles, as they fell,
glanced off harmlessly, while the soldiers writh immunity
undermined the wall and prepared to set fire to the gate
of the Temple.

A terrible panic now seized the insurgents, many of
whom were already slinking out of the city in the belief
that it was on the verge of capture. The populace there-
upon took heart again, and the more the miscreants gave
ground, the nearer did the others approach the gates,
ready to open them and welcome Cestius as a benefactor.
Had he but persisted for a while with the siege, he would
have forthwith taken the city. But I suppose that on
account of those wicked men God, already regarding
even the sanctuary with aversion, ordained that that day
should not see the end of the war.

Unexpected Withdrawal of Cestius, Pursued by the Jews

At any rate, Cestius, perceiving neither the desperate
condition of the besieged nor the temper of the populace,
suddenly recalled his troops, and, without having sus-
tained any reverse, abandoned his hopes 2 and, contrary

1 Testudo-

2 Or "shattered (lit. " condemned") their hopes (of success)."

(4i) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 115

to all calculation, retired from the city. On this unex-
pected retreat, the brigands, plucking up courage, sallied
out upon his rear and killed a considerable number both
of horse and foot.

That night Cestius passed at his camp on (Mount)
Scopus. The following day, continuing his retreat he
provoked the enemy to further pursuit ; hanging upon
his heels they cut up his rear, and getting round him on
either side of his route poured their missiles on his flanks.
The rear ranks did not dare to round upon their assail-
ants behind them, supposing that they were pursued by
an innumerable host ; nor did they attempt to beat off
those who were pressing their flanks, being heavily armed
themselves and afraid of opening out their ranks, while
the Jews, as they saw, were light armed and could readily
dash in among them. The result was that they suffered
heavily, without any retaliation upon the enemy. So all
along the route the blows rained upon them and they
kept dropping out of the ranks and falling, until at length,
after numerous casualties, including Priscus, the general
of the sixth legion, and Longinus a tribune,1 and ^Emilius
Jucundus, a squadron commander, and with the loss of
most of their baggage, with difficulty they reached their
former camp at Gibeon.2 Here Cestius halted for two
days, uncertain what course to pursue ; but, on the third,
seeing the enemy's strength greatly increased and all the
surrounding country swarming with Jews, he decided that
the delay had been detrimental to him and, if further
prolonged, would but increase the number of his foes.

Scene in the Pass of Beth-Horon

To accelerate the retreat, he issued orders to abandon

all impedimenta. So the mules, asses and all the beasts

of burthen were killed, excepting those that carried

1 Gr. "chiliarch." % Gr. "Gabao."

n6 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (41)

missiles and engines of war ; these they clung to, both
for their own use and especially from fear that they might
fall into Jewish hands and be employed against them-
selves. He then led his army on towards Beth-Horon.
In the open their movements were less harassed by the
Jews, but, once the Romans became involved in the
denies on the descent, one contingent of the enemy went
ahead of them and blocked their exit, another drove the
rearmost down into the ravine, while the main body lined
up in extended order above the gorge and covered the
phalanx with their missiles. Here, powerless as were the
infantry to protect themselves, the cavalry were in even
greater jeopardy. To advance in order down the road
under the hail of darts was impossible, while the charge
up the steep slopes was impracticable for horse. On
either side were precipices and ravines, down which they
slipped and were hurled headlong. None had room for
flight, none had any plan of defence. In their utter
helplessness they gave vent to groans and the wailings of
despair, which were answered by the war-whoop and
shouts of the Jews, exultant and mad with rage. Cestius
and his whole army would have been well-nigh anni-
hilated : had not night intervened, under cover of which
the Romans escaped to Beth-Horon.2 The Jews mean-
while occupied all the surrounding district and kept
guard against their egress.

Flight of Cestius

Cestius, now despairing of open retreat, took measures
for flight; and, selecting about four hundred of his
bravest men, stationed them upon the roofs, with orders
to shout out the watchwords 3 of the camp-sentinels, that

1 Or "taken prisoners."

2 Beth-Horon the Lower at the foot of the pass.

3 Another reading, "upon the fortresses, with orders to go up
and erect the standards."

(4i ) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 117

the Jews might think that the whole army was still on the
spot. He himself with the remainder then stealthily
advanced another thirty furlongs. At daybreak the
Jews, discovering that the enemy's night quarters were
deserted, charged the four hundred who had deluded
them, quickly shot them down with their spears, and
started in pursuit of Cestius.

He had gained much upon them during the night,
and, when day came, quickened the pace still more ; the
men in consternation and terror abandoning the siege
engines, catapults and most of the other machines, which
the Jews then captured and afterwards employed against
those who had relinquished them. The Jews continued
the pursuit as far as Antipatris, and then, failing to over-
take the Romans, turned and carried off the machines,
plundered the corpses, collected the booty which had
been left behind, and, with songs of triumph, retraced
their steps to the capital. Their own losses had been
quite inconsiderable; of the Romans and their allies
they had slain five thousand three hundred infantry and
of cavalry four hundred and four score.1 This action
took place on the eighth of the month Dius in the twelfth November
year of Nero's reign. A,D- 66

Cestius Reports to Nero

After this catastrophe of Cestius many distinguished
Jews left the city as swimmers djesert a sinking ship.
For example, the brothers Costobar and Saul with Philip,
son of Jacimus, King Agrippa's camp-commander,
escaped from the city and joined Cestius. . . . Cestius,
at their request, despatched Saul and his party to Nero
in Achaia, to inform him of their own difficulties and
also to lay the blame for the war on Florus. For he

1 Another reading, "380."

nS SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (42)

hoped by exciting resentment against Florus to lessen
the danger to himself. . . .

Jewish Preparations for War

The Jews who had pursued Cestius, on their return to
Jerusalem, partly by force, partly by persuasion, brought
over to their side such pro-Romans as still remained;
and, assembling in the Temple, appointed several
generals to conduct the war. Joseph, son of Gorion,
and Ananus the high priest were elected to the supreme
control of affairs in the city, with a special charge to
repair the city walls. As for Eleazar, son of Simon, not-
withstanding that he had in his hands the Roman spoils
with the money taken from Cestius, as well as much of
the public treasure, they did not entrust him with office,
because they saw him to be aiming at despotic power,
and that his subordinate Zealots acted the part of his
bodyguard. Gradually, however, financial needs and
the intrigues of Eleazar so far prevailed upon the people
that they ended by submitting in all matters to his
authority. — B.J. II. 18. 9-20. 3 (499-565).

(42) Jerusalem before the Siege

Spring The disturbances in Galilee were thus quelled ; and,

a.d. 67 desisting from civil strife, the Jews directed their atten-
tion to preparations against the Romans. In Jerusalem
Ananus the high priest and those of the leading men who
were not pro-Romans busied themselves with the repair
of the walls and the accumulation of engines of war. In
every quarter of the city missiles and suits of armour
were being forged j masses of young men were under-
* going a desultory training ; and the whole scene was one
of confusion. On the other side, the dejection of the
moderate party was profound; and many foresaw and

(43) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 119

openly lamented the impending disasters. There were
also omens, which to the friends of peace boded ill, while
those who had kindled the war readily invented favour-
able interpretations for them ; l and the city before the
coming of the Romans wore the appearance of a place
doomed to destruction. Ananus, indeed, was anxious
gradually to desist from warlike preparations and to bend
the revolutionaries and the infatuated Zealots, as they
were called, to a more salutary policy ; but their violence
was too much for him. The sequel of our narrative
will show the fate which befell him.2 — B.J. II. 22. 1

(647-651).

(43) The Fall of Jotapata. Josephus taken Prisoner.

Capture of the Town through Information of a Jewish
Deserter

The defenders of Jotapata were still holding out and a.d 67
beyond all expectation enduring their miseries, when on
the forty-seventh day (of the siege) the earthworks of the
Romans overtopped the wall. That same day a deserter
reported to Vespasian the reduced numbers and strength
of the defence, and that, worn out with perpetual watch-
ing and continuous fighting, they would be unable longer
to resist a vigorous assault3 and might be taken by
stratagem, if the attempt were made. He stated that
about the last watch (of the night) — an hour when they
expected some respite from their sufferings and when
tired frames succumb most readily to morning slumber
— the sentinels used to drop asleep ; that was the hour
when he advised the Romans to attack.

Vespasian, knowing the Jews' loyalty to each other
and their contempt of chastisement, viewed the deserter

1 Cf. §(50^. " See §(45)-.

3 Or possibly "could no longer endure the strain, even under
compulsion. "

i2o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (43)

with suspicion. On a former occasion a man of Jota-
pata who had been taken prisoner held out under every
variety of torture, and, without uttering a word about
the besieged to his enemies who were trying him by fire,
was crucified, smiling at death. Probability, however,
lent credit to the traitor ; and so, thinking that the man
might be speaking the truth and that even a trap, if it
were one, was not likely to lead to any serious reverse,
Vespasian ordered him into custody and made ready his
army for the capture of the city.

At the hour named they advanced in silence to the
walls. The first to mount them was Titus, with one of
the tribunes,1 Domitius Sabinus, at the head of a few
men of the fifteenth legion.2 Having cut down the
sentries they entered the city in silence, and were fol-
lowed by Sextus Calvarius, a tribune,1 and Placidus with
the troops under their command. The citadel had been
taken and the enemy were moving to and fro in the
heart of the town, before the vanquished inhabitants,
though it was now broad daylight, were aware of the
capture. Most of them, worn out with fatigue, had
fallen fast asleep, while a thick mist, which happened
at the time to envelop the city, obscured the vision of
those who started up. Not until the whole army had
poured in, were they fully roused only to realize their
misery ; the discovery that they were being slain was the
first assurance of their capture.

Remembering what they had borne during the siege,
the Romans showed no compassion or pity for any one,
but thrust the people down the steep descent from the
citadel in a general massacre. And here the difficulty
of the ground deprived those still able to fight of the
means of defence. Crushed in the narrow alleys and

1 Gr. "chiliarch(s)."

2 MSS " of the fifth and tenth legion " {sic).

(43) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 131

slipping down the declivity, they were overwhelmed by
the wave of war that streamed from the citadel. The
situation drove many even of Josephus's picked men to
suicide. Perceiving that they could not kill a single
Roman, they at least forestalled death at Roman hands,
and, huddled together at the outskirts of the city, put
an end to themselves. . . .

On that day the Romans slew all who showed them-
selves; on the ensuing days they searched the hiding-
places and went in pursuit of such as had fled to the
mines and caverns, sparing none, whatever their age,
save infants and women. The prisoners thus collected
were twelve hundred ; the number of those killed at the
time of the capture and in the previous conflicts was
computed at forty thousand. Vespasian ordered the
city to be razed, and burnt all its forts to the ground.
Thus was Jotapata taken in the thirteenth year of the

reign of Nero, on the new moon of Panemus. July

A.i). 67

Josephus's Hiding-place Discovered

A search for Josephus was then instituted by the
Romans, instigated both by their own resentment and
by the earnest wish of their general, since his capture
would constitute a turning-point in the war. So the
bodies of the slain and the men in hiding l were closely
examined. Now Josephus, when the city was on the
point of being taken, had, with the aid of some divine
providence, stolen out of the enemy's midst and leapt
into a deep pit, giving access on one side to a broad
cavern, invisible to those above. There he found forty
persons of distinction in hiding, with a supply of pro-
visions sufficient to last for a considerable time. During
the day he lay hid, the enemy occupying every quarter

1 Another reading, " the secret recesses of the cityN'*

T22 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (43)

of the city, but at night he would come up and look for
some loophole for escape and reconnoitre the sentries ;
but, finding every spot guarded on his account and no
means of eluding detection, he descended again into the
cave. So for two days he continued in hiding. On
the third, his secret was betrayed by a woman of the
party, who was captured, whereupon Vespasian at once
in eager haste despatched two tribunes,1 Paulinus and
Gallicanus, with orders to offer Josephus security 2 and
to exhort him to come up.

Josephus Parleys with the Roman Officers

So they came and urged him, giving pledges that his
life would not be endangered. Their persuasion, how-
ever, was unavailing. His suspicions were based »ot on
the natural clemency of those who invited him, but on
the penalties which so active an opponent was likely to
incur; and the presentiment that he was being sum-
moned to punishment persisted, until Vespasian sent
a third tribune,1 Nicanor, known to, and formerly an
intimate associate of, Josephus. He, on his arrival,
dwelt on the innate generosity of the Romans to those
whom they had once subdued,3 assuring him that his
valour made him an object rather of admiration, than of
hatred, to the commanding officers, and that the general
was anxious to bring him up from his retreat, not for
punishment — that he could inflict though he refused to
come forth — but from a desire to save a brave man.
He added that Vespasian, had he intended to entrap
him, would never have sent a friend as his emissary,
using the noblest of relationships as a cloak for the
basest — friendship as a mask for perfidy ; nor would he

1 Gr. "chiliarch(s)." 2 Lit. " right hands."

3 Cf. " Romane, memento . . . Parcere subjectis." — Virg. AL11*
VI, 851 ff.

(45) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAP 123

himself have consented to come in order to deceive a
friend.

While Josephus was still hesitating even at Nicanor's
persuasions, the soldiers in their rage made a rush to
set the cave on fire, but were restrained by the officer,1
who was anxious to take the Jewish leader alive. And
as Nicanor urgently pressed his proposals, Josephus
heard the threats of the hostile crowd ; and there came
back into his mind those nightly dreams, in which God
had foretold to him the impending fate of the Jews and
the destinies of the Roman sovereigns. As an inter-
preter of dreams he had the capacity of extracting a
coherent meaning from the ambiguous utterances of the
Deity ; 2 a priest himself and of priestly descent, he was,
moreover, not ignorant of the prophecies in the sacred
books. At that hour he was inspired to read their
meaning, and, recalling the dreadful images of his recent
dreams, he offered up a secret prayer to God. " Since
it pleases Thee" (so it ran), "who didst create the
Jewish nation, that it should now sink into the dust,
and fortune has wholly passed to the Romans, and since
Thou hast made choice of my spirit to announce the
things that are to come, I willingly surrender to the
Romans and consent to live ; but I appeal to Thee to
witness that I go as no traitor, but as Thy minister."

Josephus 's Life Threatened by his. Men

With these words he was about to surrender to Nicanor.
But when the Jews who had sought refuge along with
him understood that Josephus was yielding to entreaty,
they came round him in a body, crying out, " Ah ! well
might the laws of our fathers groan aloud and God
Himself, who implanted in Jewish breasts souls that

1 Gr. "polemarch."

* Did he claim kinship with his namesake Joseph ?

i24 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (43)

make light of death, hide His face for- shame ! Is life
so dear to you, Josephus, that you will endure to see the
light in slavery? How soon have you forgotten your-
self ! How many have you persuaded to die for liberty !
False, then, was that reputation for bravery, false that
renown for sagacity, if you look for security from those
against whom you have fought so bitterly or deign to
accept the gift of your life at their hands, even were it
sure. Nay, if the fortune of the Romans has cast over
you some strange forgetfulness of yourself, the care of
our country's honour devolves on us. We will lend you
a right hand and sword. If you die of your own free
will, you shall die as general of the Jews ; if involun-
tarily, as a traitor." With these words they pointed
their swords at him and threatened to kill him if he
surrendered to the Romans.

Josephus, fearing an assault, and holding that it would
be a betrayal of God's commands, should he die before
delivering his message, began to reason with them philo-
sophically upon the emergency.1 . . .

There follows a rhetorical speech, which one can hardly believe
that Josephus's companions would have tolerated, on the iniquity of
suicide. One sentence will suffice.

" Know you not that they who depart this life in the
order of nature and repay the loan which they received
from God, when the Giver is pleased to recover it, enjoy
eternal renown ; that their houses and families are secure ;
that their souls remain unspotted and attentive to prayer,
being allotted the most holy place in heaven, from
whence, in the revolution of the ages, they again find
a new habitation in saintly bodies ; 2 while the souls of
those who have laid mad hands upon themselves are

1 Or, perhaps, "began, in his straits, to reason . . . philo-
sophically."

2 The doctrine of metet?ipsychosis.

(43) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR

received into the darkest region l of the underworld,2
and God, who is their father, visits upon the children
their father's outrageous actions ? " 3 . . .

With many such words did Josephus attempt to deter
them from self-slaughter. But desperation stopped their
ears, for they had long since devoted themselves to
death ; and, infuriated with him, they rushed upon him
from every side, sword in hand, upbraiding him as a
coward, and one and all manifestly prepared at once
to strike. But he, addressing one by name, fixing his
general's eye of command upon another, clasping the
hand of a third, and shaming a fourth by entreaty,
distracted as he was by conflicting passions at this
critical moment, yet succeeded in staving off the blades
of all, always turning, like a wild beast surrounded
(by the hunters), upon his last assailant. Even in his
extremities, they still held their general in reverence ;
their hands were paralyzed, their daggers glanced aside,
and many, in the act of thrusting at him, of their own
impulse dropped their swords.

The Drawing of the Lots

But, in his straits, his resource did not forsake him.
Trusting to the guardianship of God, he put his life to
the hazard, and said : "Since you are determined to die,
come, let us commit our mutual slaughter to the lot ; let
him who draws the first lot fall by the hand of him who
comes next ; so shall fate take her course through the
whole number. But let not each be laid low by his own
hand ;4 it would be unjust that, when the rest were gone,
any should repent and escape." This proposal appeared

1 Or "a darker region." » Gr. " Hades."

3 Text ("those who did violence to their fathers") corrupt. I
read ras tuv vartpajv vfipeis.

4 Traill, "be thrown on his own resolution" (lit. "lie on his own
right hand").

126 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (43)

to them a fair one ; 1 his advice was taken, and he drew
lots with the rest. The winner of the first lot bared his
throat to the next, in the assurance that his general was
forthwith to share his fate ; for death with Josephus they
thought sweeter than life. He, however, (should one
say by fortune or by the providence of God ?) was left
with one other ; and, anxious neither to be condemned
by the lot nor, should he be left to the last, to stain his
hand with the blood of a fellow countryman, he persuaded
him also, on a pledge given, to remain alive.

Josephus before the Romans

Having thus survived both the war with the Romans
and that with his own friends, Josephus was brought by
Nicanor into Vespasian's presence. The Romans all
flocked to see him, and from the multitude crowding
around the general arose a hubbub of discordant voices :
some exulting at his capture, some threatening, some
forcing their way to obtain a nearer view. Those further
off clamoured for the punishment of the enemy, while
those close beside him were touched by the recollection
of his exploits and filled with astonishment at the change
in his condition. Of the officers there was not one who,
whatever his past resentment, did not then relent at the
sight of him.

Titus in particular was moved exceedingly 2 by the
fortitude of Josephus under misfortunes and by pity for
his youth. As he recalled the combatant of yesterday
and saw him now a prisoner in his enemy's hands, he
was led to reflect on the power of fortune, the quick
turn of the scale in war and the instability of human
affairs. He, therefore, brought over many at the time

1 Or "to be made in good faith."

2 Another reading, "through his own virtuous disposition" (e£
aperris for i^aiperus).

(43) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 127

to share his commiseration of Josephus, and by his
intercession with his father was mainly instrumental in
saving his life. Vespasian, however, ordered him to be
guarded with every precaution, intending shortly to send
him to Nero.

Josephus tells Vespasian's Fortune

On hearing this, Josephus said that he desired private
speech with him. Vespasian having ordered all to with-
draw except his son Titus and two of his friends, the
prisoner thus addressed him : " You suppose, Vespasian,
that in the person of Josephus you have taken a mere
captive ; but I come to you as a messenger of greater
destinies. Had I not been sent on this errand by God,
I knew the law of the Jews and how it becomes a general
to die. To Nero do you send me? Why then? Will
those who succeed Nero before your accession continue ? s
You, Vespasian, are Caesar and Emperor — you and this
your son. Bind me now yet more securely and keep me
for (trial by) yourself. For you, Caesar, are master not
of me only, but of land and sea and the whole human
race. And I — I deserve to be reserved for punishment
in even stricter custody,2 if I dare to trifle with the words
of God."

To this speech Vespasian, at the moment, seemed to
attach little credit, supposing it to be an ingenious device
of Josephus to save his life. Gradually, however, he
was led to believe it, since God was already turning his
thoughts to the imperial office3 and by other tokens
foreshadowing the throne. He found, moreover, that

1 Text and meaning doubtful. The reference is apparently to
the short reigns of Galba, Otho and Vitellius ; but, as Niese sug-
gests, we expect a sentence to precede, predicting the impending
death of Nero.

2 In the underworld apparently.

8 Another reading, "had already raised him to pov\er."

i28 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (44)

Josephus had proved a veracious prophet in other matters.
For, one of the two friends in attendance at the private
interview having expressed his surprise that he had not
predicted the fall of Jotapata to its inhabitants nor his
own captivity, if his present words were not a nonsensical
invention to avert the indignation which he had aroused,
Josephus replied that he had foretold to the people of
Jotapata that their city would be captured after forty-
seven days and that he himself would be taken alive by
the Romans.

Vespasian, having privately questioned the prisoners
on these statements and found them true, then began
to credit those concerning himself. He did not, however,
exempt Josephus from custody or bonds, though he
presented him with raiment and other precious posses-
sions, and continued to treat him with kindness and
attention, Titus contributing much to these complimentary
honours. — B.J. III. 7. 33-8. 9 (316-408).

(44) Reception at Jerusalem of the News of the Fall of
Jotapata

When news of the fate of Jotapata reached Jerusalem,
the magnitude of the calamity and the absence of any
eyewitness of the events reported at first induced general
incredulity. For not one had escaped to tell the tale ;
Rumour, own sister to Black Tidings,1 came as her own
herald of the city's capture. Little by little, however,
the truth found its way through the adjacent districts,
and the fact was now regarded by all as established
beyond doubt. But the facts were embroidered by
fiction ; thus Josephus was reported to have fallen when
the city was taken. This intelligence filled Jerusalem
with the deepest sorrow. In every household and family

1 Cf. Virg. jEn. IV, 173 ff.

(45) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 129

there was mourning of the relatives for their own lost
ones; but the lamentation for the commander was
national. Some mourned for their former guests, others
for relatives, others for friends, but all alike for Josephus.
Thus for thirty days the lamentations in the city were
incessant, and many flute-players were hired, who used to
take the lead in their dirges.1

But when the true story of what had happened at
Jotapata was in time disclosed, and the reported death
of Josephus was found to be a fabrication, and it became
known that he was alive and in Roman hands and being
treated by the commanding officers with a respect beyond
the common lot of a prisoner, the demonstrations of
anger at his escaping alive were as loud as the former
expressions of affection when he was believed to be dead.
Some abused him as a coward, others as a traitor ; and
the city was filled with indignation and imprecations upon
his devoted head.

They were exasperated, moreover, by their reverses,
and their failures added fuel to the flames. A defeat,
which with the wise induces precaution and care to
provide against similar misfortunes, but goaded them on
to further disasters ; and the end of one calamity was
always the beginning of the next. At any rate, the desire
for vengeance on Josephus, now in the enemy's ranks,
impelled them to fiercer assaults upon the Romans. Such
was the uproar that now prevailed in Jerusalem. — B.J.
III. 9. 5 f. (432-442).

(45) Murder of the High Priest Ananus ; also of Zacharias
after a mock trial

The Idumseans had been summoned by the Zealots to aid them
against the party of Ananus, and had with difficulty gained entrance
to Jerusalem during a thunderstorm at night. After massacring

1 Cf. Matt. ix. 23.

13© SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (45)

their Jewish enemies these "children of Edom in the day of Jeru-
salem " subsequently repented of their adventure and withdrew from
the city. For Zacharias see Appendix, Note V.

Winter The fury of the Idumseans being still unsatiated, they

turned (from the Temple) to the city, looting every house
and killing all who fell in their way. But, thinking their
energies wasted on the common people, they went in
search of the chief priests. The main body rushed to
attack them, and they were soon caught and slain. Then,
standing over their dead bodies, they scoffed at Ananus
for his patronage of the people and at Jesus for the
address which he had delivered from the wall. They
actually went so far in their impiety as to cast out the
corpses without burial, although the Jews are so careful
about funeral rites that even malefactors who have been
sentenced to crucifixion are taken down and buried before
sunset.1

I do not think I shall be wrong in saying that the
capture of the city began with the death of Ananus ; and
that the overthrow of the walls and the downfall of the
Jewish state dated from the day on which the Jews
beheld their high priest, the captain of their salvation,
butchered in the heart of Jerusalem.

A man in all ways venerable and in integrity unsur-
passed, Ananus, with all the distinction of his birth, his
rank and the honours to which he had attained, yet
delighted to treat the very humblest as his equals.
Unrivalled in his love of liberty and an admirer of
democracy, he on all occasions put the public welfare
above his private interests. To maintain peace was his
supreme object. He knew that the Roman power was
irresistible; but, when driven to provide for a state of
war, endeavoured to secure that, if the Jews would not
break off hostilities, the struggle should at least be

1 Cf. Deut. xxi. 22 f. ; John xix. 31.

(45) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR i3I

skilfully conducted. In a word, had Ananus lived, they
would undoubtedly either have come to terms — for he
was an effective speaker, whose words carried weight
with the people, and was already gaining control over
those who thwarted him — or else, had hostilities con-
tinued, they would, under such a general, have greatly
retarded the victory of the Romans.

With him was linked Jesus, who, though not compar-
able with Ananus, excelled the rest of his contemporaries.

It was, I suppose, because God had, for its pollutions,
condemned the city to destruction and desired to purge
the sanctuary by fire, that He thus cut off those who clung
to it with such tender affection. So they who but lately
were clad in the sacred vestments, had led the cere-
monies of world-wide significance'1 and were reverenced
by visitors to the city from every quarter of the earth,
were now seen cast out naked, to be devoured by dogs
and beasts of prey. Virtue herself, I think, groaned
over these men's fate, lamenting that she should have
been so completely defeated by Vice. Such, then, was
the end of Ananus and Jesus.

Having disposed of them, the Zealots with the mass of
the Idumaeans fell upon and butchered the people as
though they had been a herd of unclean animals. . . .

The Mock Trial and Murder of Zacharias

Having now come to loathe indiscriminate massacre,
the Zealots instituted mock trials and courts of justice.
They had determined to put to death Zacharias, son of
Baris,2 one of the most eminent of the citizens. His
pronounced hatred of wrongdoing and love of liberty

1 Lit. "cosmical," meaning either "open to the whole world"
or perhaps " emblematic of the mundane system " (Traill) ; cf. Jos.
Ant. III. 6. 4(123) ; 7. 7 (the Tabernacle a symbol of the universe),
with Westcott's note on Heb. ix 1.

2 According to other MSS " Bariscseus" or " Baruch."

1 32 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (45)

exasperated them, and, as he was also rich, they had the
double prospect of plundering his property and of getting
rid of a powerful and dangerous opponent. So they
issued a peremptory summons to seventy of the leading
citizens to appear in the Temple, assigning to them, as
in a play, the role^ without the authority, of judges ; and
accused Zacharias of betraying the state to the Romans
and of holding treasonable communications with Ves-
pasian. They adduced no evidence or proof in support
of these charges ; but declared that they were fully
convinced of his guilt themselves and claimed this as
sufficient guarantee that the accusation was true.

Perceiving that no hope of escape was left him, as he
had been treacherously summoned not to a court of
justice but to prison, Zacharias did not allow despair
of life to rob him of liberty of speech. He rose and
ridiculed the probability of the accusation, and in few
words quashed the charges laid against him. Then,
rounding upon his accusers, he went over all their
enormities in order, and bitterly lamented the confusion
of public affairs. The Zealots were in an uproar and
could scarce refrain from drawing their swords, although
anxious to play out their part in the farce of a trial to the
close, and desirous, moreover, to test whether the judges
would put considerations of justice above their own
peril.

The seventy, preferring to die with the defendant
rather than be held answerable for his destruction,
brought in a unanimous verdict in his favour. The
Zealots raised an outcry at his acquittal, and were all
indignant with the judges for not understanding that the
authority entrusted to them was a mere pretence. Two
of the most daring of them then set upon Zacharias and
slew him in the midst of the Temple ; and addressing
him as he lay with jeering words, "There you have our

(46) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR [33

verdict as well and a surer release," 1 forthwith cast him
out of the Temple into the ravine below. Then they
insolently struck the judges with the backs of their
swords and drove them from the precincts ; their sole
reason for sparing their lives was that they might dis-
perse through the city and proclaim to all the servitude
to which they were reduced. — B.J. IV. 5. 2-4 (314-326 ;
334-344)-

(46) How Josephus was Liberated

Now that fortune was everywhere furthering his wishes Probably
and that circumstances had in large measure conspired in Sum™er
his favour, the thoughtarose in Vespasian's mind that divine
providence had played a part in his rise to sovereignty
and that some just destiny had laid the empire of the
world upon his shoulders. Among many other omens,
which had everywhere foreshadowed his imperial office,
he recalled the expressions of Josephus, who had ventured
to address him as emperor while Nero was still alive.
He was shocked to think that the man was still a
prisoner in his hands, and summoning Mucianus with
his other generals and personal friends, he first reminded
them of his doughty deeds and how much trouble he
had given them at Jotapata ; and then referred to his
predictions, which at the time he himself had suspected of
being the fabrications of fear, but which time and the
course of events had proved to be divine. " It is dis-
graceful," he said, " that one who foretold my elevation
to power and was a minister of the voice of God should
still rank as a captive and endure a prisoner's fate " ; and
calling for Josephus, he ordered him to be liberated.

The officers from this requital of a foreigner were led
to augur brilliant honours for themselves. But Titus,
who was beside his father, said, "Justice demands,

1 The Gr. word (anSAvais) means both "acquittal" and " death."

i34 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (47)

father, that, with his bonds, the disgrace should also be
removed from Josephus. If, instead of loosing, we sever
his chains, he will be as though he had never been in
bonds at all." This is the usual custom when a man
has been unjustly chained. Vespasian approving, an
attendant came forward and severed the chain with an
axe. Thus Josephus won his freedom x as the reward of
his divination, and his power of insight into the future
was no longer discredited. — B.J. IV. 10. 7 (622-629).

(47) A Roman Reverse Inspires false Confidence

Thus, after gaining possession of the second wall, were
the Romans ejected. The spirits of the war party in the
city, elated at their success, rose to a high pitch ; they
thought that the Romans would never again venture into
the city, or that, if they did, they themselves would
prove invincible. For God was blinding their minds
because of their transgressions ; and they perceived
neither how the forces still left to the Romans far out-
numbered those which had been expelled nor the stealthy
approach of famine. It was still possible to feed upon the
public miseries and to drink of the city's life-blood ; but
honest men had long since felt the pinch of want, and
many were already failing for lack of necessaries. The
factions, on the other hand, considered the -destruction
of the people to be a relief to themselves; they main-
tained that only those should be preserved who were
enemies to peace and determined to devote their lives to
resisting the Romans ; the crowds of their opponents
they regarded as a mere encumbrance 2 and their gradual
extinction a cause for satisfaction. Such were their feel-
ings towards those within the walls. As for their external
foes, having blocked and walled up the breach with their

1 Lit. "civic rights."

2 Another reading, "as mere barbarians."

(48) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 135

own bodies, they attempted to beat off the Romans who
were once more attempting to break through.

For three days they maintained a stubborn defence
and held their ground ; but on the fourth, unable to
withstand a gallant assault of Titus, they were compelled
to fall back as before. Titus, once more master of the
wall, immediately razed the whole of the northern por-
tion ; and, placing garrisons in the towers on the south
side, made preparations to attack the third wall. — B.J.
V. 8. 2 (342-347).

(48) Cessation of the Daily Sacrifice. Josephus appeals
to the Jews

Titus now ordered the troops at his disposal to raze
the foundations of Antonia1 and to prepare an easy
ascent (to the Temple) for his whole army. On the
seventeenth of Panemus, having heard that on that day July
the so-called continual sacrifice 2 had ceased to be offered A,D' 7°
to God from lack of men and that the people were in
consequence terribly despondent, he put Josephus for-
ward with instructions to repeat to John3 the same
message as before ; namely " that if he was the slave of
a depraved love of fighting, it was open to him to come
out with as many men as he chose and carry on the war,
without involving the city and the sanctuary in his own
ruin ; but that he should no longer pollute the Holy
Place nor sin against God ; and that he would be per-
mitted to perform the interrupted sacrifices through the
ministry of any Jews he might select."

Josephus, in order that his words might be listened to 4

1 The tower or " castle " adjoining the Temple from the stairs of
which St. Paul delivered the speech recorded in Acts xxii.

2 The daily, morning and evening, sacrifice (4fB€\ext<T^s : Heb.
Tamid) ; cf. Numb, xxviii. 6.

3 John of Gischala

4 Many MSS insert "standing" ("standing where he might be
heard," etc.).

136 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (48)

not by John only but by the multitude, delivered Caesar's
message in Hebrew,1 with earnest appeals to them "to
spare their country, to disperse the flames that were
already licking 2 the sanctuary and to restore to God the
customary expiations."3 This address was received by
the people with dejection and silence ; the tyrant,4 on the
contrary, after many invectives and imprecations upon
Josephus, ended by saying that "he could never fear
capture, since the city was God's."

At this Josephus cried aloud : —

" Pure indeed have you kept it for God ! The Holy
Place too remains undenled ! No impiety are you guilty
of against your looked-for Ally and He receives His
customary sacrifices ! Most impious wretch, should any
one deprive you of your daily food, you would consider
him an enemy ; and do you hope to have God for your
ally in the war, whom you have bereft of His everlasting
ceremonial? And do you impute these sins to the
Romans, who, to this day, are concerned for our laws
and are trying to force you to restore to God those
sacrifices which you have interrupted ? Who would not
bewail and lament for the city at this amazing transposi-
tion, when aliens and enemies rectify your impiety, while
you, a Jew, nurtured in our laws, treat them with
greater cruelty even than your foes ?

" Yet, be sure, John, it is no disgrace to repent of
misdeeds, even at the last; and, if you desire to save
your country, you have a noble example set before you
in Jeconiah, king of the Jews. He, when in the old
days the Babylonian led out his army on his account, of
his own free will left the city before it was taken, and
with his family endured voluntary captivity, rather than
deliver up these holy places to the enemy and suffer the

1 i.e. Aramaic. Cf. Acts xxi. 40; xxii. 2 2 Lit. "tasting."

3 The Gr. word strictly means " offerings to the dead."

4 John of Gischala.

(49) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 137

house of God to be set on fire.1 For this he is com-
memorated in sacred story by all Jews, and memory,
flowing ever fresh from age to age, transmits his undying
fame to after generations. A noble example, John, even
were jt dangerous to follow ; but I can warrant you even
pardon from the Romans. Remember, too, that I who
exhort you am your compatriot, that I who make this
promise am a Jew ; and it is right that you should con-
sider who is your counsellor and of what country he
comes. For I pray that I may never live to be so
abject a captive as to abjure my race or to forget the
traditions of my forefathers.

1 ' Once again you are indignant and shout your abuse
at me ; and indeed I deserve even harsher treatment for
offering advice in fate's despite and for struggling to save
those whom God has condemned. Who is ignorant of
the records of the ancient prophets and of that oracle
which threatens this poor city and is now on the eve of
fulfilment ? They foretold that it would be taken when
one should begin to slaughter his own countrymen. And
is not the city and the whole Temple too filled with
the corpses of your fellow-citizens ? God it is then, God
Himself, who with the Romans is bringing the fire to
purge His Temple and desolation upon a city so laden
with pollutions." — BJ.N\. 2. 1 (93-110).

(49) Conflagration of the Temple

" There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall
not be thrown down."

Titus, to protect his forces, had ordered the gates of the outer
court to be set on fire, and from the gates the fire extended to the
porticoes. But, after a council of war, it was decided that the
main fabric — the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies — must be
saved; Titus urging that "if it were burnt, the Romans would be
the losers ; if preserved, it would be an ornament of his Empire."
His attempts to check the spread of the conflagration proved,
however, unavailing.

1 Amplification of 2 K. xxiv. 12 ; cf. Ant. x. 7. I (100).

138 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (49)

Throughout that day fatigue and consternation checked
the Jews from attacking; but, on the following day,
about the second hour, with recruited strength and
renewed courage, they sallied out through the eastern
gate and charged the guards of the outer court of the
Temple.

The Romans stubbornly met their charge and, forming
a screen in front with their shields, closed up their ranks
like a wall. It was evident, however, that they would
not long be able to hold together, overpowered as they
were by the number and elan of their assailants. Caesar,
who from the (tower of) Antonia was watching the serene,
anticipating the breaking of the line, came to their
rescue with his picked cavalry. The Jews could not
withstand their onset; the foremost fell and the main
body retreated. Yet whenever the Romans retired the
Jews returned to the attack, only to fall back once more
when the Romans wheeled round ; until, about the fifth
hour of the day, the Jews were overpowered and shut up
in the inner court of the Temple.

Titus then withdrew to Antonia, with the determination
on the following day, about dawn, to attack with his
whole force and invest the Temple. But God, it seems,
had long since sentenced that building to the flames ;
and now in the revolution of the years had come round
the fated day, the tenth of the month Lous, on which it
had once before been burnt by the king of Babylon.
Those flames, however, owed their origin and cause to
God's own people.1 For, on the withdrawal of Titus,
the insurgents, after a brief respite, again attacked the
Romans, and an engagement ensued between the (Jewish)
guards of the sanctuary and the (Romans) who were
endeavouring to extinguish the fire in the inner court.

1 Or "to the people whose own the Temple was."

(49) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 139

The latter routed the Jews and pursued them right up
to 1 the sanctuary.

At this moment, one of the soldiers, without waiting
for orders and with no horror of so dread a deed, but
moved by some supernatural impulse, snatched a brand
from the burning timber 2 and, hoisted up by one of his
comrades, flung the fiery missile through a golden
window,3 which gave access on the north side to the
chambers surrounding the sanctuary. As the flame shot
up, a cry, such as the calamity demanded, arose from the
Jews, who rushed to the rescue, lost to all thought of
self-preservation, all husbanding of strength, now that
the object of all their past vigilance was gone.

Titus was resting in his tent after the engagement,
when a messenger rushed in with the tidings. Starting
up just as he was, he ran to the Temple to arrest the
conflagration, followed by all his generals, while in
their train came the excited legionaries, with the
clamour and confused noise arising from the move-
ment in irregular order of so large an army. Caesar,
both by word of mouth and by a wave of his hand,
signalled to the combatants to extinguish the fire ; but
they neither heard his shouts, drowned in the louder
din which filled their ears, nor, distracted as they were
by the fever of battle or rage, did they heed his beckon-
ing hand. The impetuosity of the legionaries, when
they joined the fray, neither exhortation nor threat
could restrain ; passion was for all the one officer in
command. Crushed together about the entrances,
many were trampled down by their companions ; while
many, stumbling on the still hot and smouldering
ruins of the porticoes, suffered the same fate as the

1 Or "into." 2 Text uncertain.

* Or " a small golden door."

i4o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (49)

vanquished.1 As they came nearer the sanctuary they
pretended not even to hear Caesar's orders and shouted
to those in front of them to throw in the firebrands.

The (Jewish) insurgents were now powerless to rescue
(the Temple). On all sides was carnage and flight.
Most of the slain were civilians, a weak and unarmed
mob, each butchered where he was caught. Around
the altar a pile of corpses was accumulating; down
the sanctuary steps flowed a stream of blood ; and down
the same decline slid the bodies of the victims killed
above.

Caesar, finding himself unable to restrain the im-
petuosity of his frenzied soldiers and that the fire was
gaining the mastery, passed with his generals within
the building and beheld the holy place of the sanctuary
and all that it contained — things far exceeding the
reports current among foreigners and not inferior to
their proud reputation among our own nation. As the
flames had nowhere yet penetrated to the interior, but
were consuming the outbuildings of the sanctuary,
Titus, rightly supposing that the structure might still
be preserved, rushed out and endeavoured by personal
appeals to induce the soldiers to quench the fire; at
the same time directing Liberalius, a centurion of his
bodyguard of lancers, to restrain, by resort to clubs,
any who disobeyed orders. But their respect for Caesar
and their fear of the officer who .was endeavouring to
check them were overpowered by their rage, their hatred
of the Jews and the lust of battle, an even mightier
master. Most of them were further stimulated by the
hope of plunder, believing that the interior was full

1 Possibly there is an allusion to the burning of the porticoes in
the riots at the time of the accession of Archelaus, when many
Jews perished in the flames {Ant. XVII. 10. 2).

(5o) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 141

of money and actually seeing that all the surroundings
were made of gold.

Moreover, when Cajsar rushed out to restrain the
soldiers, even one of those who had entered with him
baulked his purpose by thrusting a firebrand, in the
darkness,1 into the sockets of the gate. At once a
flame shot up from the interior, whereupon Caesar
and his generals withdrew, and there was none left to
prevent those on the outside from kindling a blaze.
Thus, then, against Caesar's wishes, was the sanctuary
set on fire.

Deeply as one must mourn for the most marvellous
edifice which we have ever seen or heard of, whether
we consider its structure, its magnitude, the richness of
every detail or the reputation of its Holy Places,2 yet
may we draw very great consolation from the thought
that there is no escape from Fate, for works of art and
places any more than for living beings. And one may
well marvel at the exactness of the cycle of Destiny ;
for, as I said, she waited until the very month and the
very day on which in bygone times the Temple had
been burnt by the Babylonians. — B.J. VI. 4. 4-8
(244-268).

(50) Portents and Oracles 3

Thus it happened that the wretched people were
deluded at that time by charlatans and pretended
messengers of God ; 4 while they paid no heed to or
discredited the manifest portents that foretold the com-
ing desolation, but, as if thunderstruck and bereft of
eyes and mind, disregarded God's plain proclamations

1 Text doubtful. 2 i. e. the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

3 Cf. Appendix, Note VI.

4 The "tyrants" had encouraged optimistic false prophets in
order to prevent desertion to the Romans.

142 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (50)

(of disaster). So it was when a star, resembling a sword,
stood over the city, and a comet which continued for
a year. So again when, before the revolt and the out-
break of war, at the time when the people were assem-
bling for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the eighth
of the month Xanthicus,1 at the ninth hour of the
night, so brilliant a light shone round the altar and the
sanctuary that it seemed to be broad daylight ; and this
continued for half an hour. By the inexperienced this
was regarded as a good omen, but by the sacred scribes
it was at once interpreted in accordance with after
events.

At that same feast a cow that had been led by some
one 2 to the sacrifice gave birth to a lamb in the midst
of the Temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the
inner court, which it took twenty men to close with
difficulty at even — it was of brass and very massive,
and was secured by bars shod with iron, and had bolts
which were sunk to a great depth into a threshold con-
sisting of a solid block of stone — this gate was observed
at the sixth hour of the night to have opened of its own
accord. The watchmen of the Temple ran and reported
the matter to the captain,3 and he came up and with
difficulty succeeded in shutting it. This again to the
uninitiated seemed the best of omens, as they supposed
that God had opened to them the gate of blessings ; but
the learned understood that the security of the Temple
was dissolving of its own accord and that the opening
of the gate indicated a present to the enemy, interpret-
ing the portent in their own minds4 as a symbol of
desolation.

Again, not many days after the festival, on the twenty-

1 March-April.

2 Eusebius {H.E. III. 8) reads "by the High Priest."

3 Cf. Acts iv. 1 ; v. 24. 4 Or "among themselves."

(5o) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 143

first of the month Artemisium,1 there appeared a
phenomenon so miraculous as to surpass belief. In-
deed, what I am about to relate might well, I suppose,
be regarded as fictitious, were it not for the narratives
of eyewitnesses and for the subsequent calamities which
deserved to be so signalized. In all parts of the
country before sunset chariots were observed in the
air and armed battalions rushing through the clouds
and closing in round the cities. Also, at the feast
which is called Pentecost, the priests on entering the
inner court of the Temple by night, as their custom
was, for the discharge of their ministrations, reported
that they first became aware of a movement and a re-
sounding noise and afterwards heard a voice as of a
crowd, "We are departing hence."2

But a further portent was even more alarming. Four
years before the war, when the city was enjoying pro-
found peace and prosperity, there came to the feast at
which it is the custom of all Jews to erect tabernacles
to God,3 one Jesus, son of Ananias, a rude peasant, who
suddenly began to cry out in the Temple, "A voice
from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the
four winds ; a voice against Jerusalem and the sanctuary,
a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against
all the people." Day and night he went about all the
alleys with this cry on his lips. Some of the leading
citizens, incensed at the fellow's ill-omened words, laid
hands on him and severely chastised him. But he,
without uttering a word on his own behalf or for the
private ear of those who smote him, continued his cries
as before. Thereupon, the rulers, supposing, as was

1 April-May.

2 So all the Gr. MSS (cf. Tac. Hist. v. 13, maior hum and vox
excedere deos). The Lat. version, wilh two other authorities, reads,
" Let us depart hence."

3 The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth).

144 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (50)

indeed the case, that the man was under some super-
natural impulse, brought him before the Roman governor,
where, although flayed to the bone with scourges, he
neither begged for mercy nor shed a tear, but, merely
introducing the most mournful of variations into his
ejaculation, responded to each stroke with "Woe to
Jerusalem ! " When Albinus, the governor, asked him
who and whence he was and why he uttered these
words, he made no reply whatever to his questions, but
never ceased reiterating his dirge over the city, until
Albinus pronounced him a maniac and let him go.

During all that period up to the outbreak of war he
neither approached nor was seen talking to any of the
citizens, but, as if it were a prayer on which he had
pondered, daily repeated his lament, " Woe to Jeru-
salem ! " He neither cursed any of those who beat him
day after day nor blessed those who offered him food ;
to all that melancholy and ominous refrain was his one
reply. At the festivals his cries were loudest. So for
seven years and five months he continued his wail, his
voice never flagging nor his strength exhausted, until
during the siege, after witnessing the verification of his
presage, he ceased. For, while going his round on the
wall, shouting in piercing tones " Woe once more to
the city and to the people and to the Temple," as he
added a last word, "And woe to myself also," a stone
shot from the military engine x struck and killed him
instantaneously. So with those ominous words still on
his lips he passed away.

If we reflect on these things, we shall find that God

shows care for men, and by all kinds of premonitory

signs indicates to His people the means of salvation,

and that they owe their destruction to folly and calami-

1 irerpop6\os, the Lat. ballista, a kind of large catapult.

(Si) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 145

ties of their own choosing. For example, the Jews,
after the demolition of the (tower of) Antonia, reduced
the Temple to a square, although they had it recorded
in their oracles that the city and the sanctuary would
be taken when the Temple should become four-square.
But what more than all else incited them to the war
was an ambiguous oracle, likewise found in their sacred
writings, to the effect that about that time some one
from their country should become ruler of the world.
This they understood to mean some one of their own
race, and many of their wise men went astray in their
interpretation of it. The oracle, however, in reality
signified the sovereignty of Vespasian, who was pro-
claimed Emperor on Jewish soil.

For all that, it is impossible for men to avoid Fate,
even though they foresee it. For some of these portents,
then, the Jews found agreeable meanings, others they
treated with contempt, until the ruin of their country
and their own destruction convicted them of their folly.
-B.J. VI. 5.3 f. (288-315).

(51) The Last Scene. Capture of the Upper City.
Jerusalem in Flames

"Turn vero omne mihi visum considere in ignes. . . ."

The Romans, now masters of the walls, planted their September
standards on the towers, and with clapping of hands and A-D- 7°
jubilation raised the song of triumph in honour of their
victory. They had found the end of the war a much
lighter task than the beginning ; indeed, they could
hardly believe that they had surmounted the last wall
without bloodshed, and were truly1 at a loss on finding
no enemy in sight.

Pouring into the alleys, sword in hand, they massacred

1 Some MSS read '* unusually" (<xt)0o>s for a\r)0u>s).
K

146 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (51)

indiscriminately all whom they met and burnt over their
heads the houses of those who had taken refuge within.
Often in the course of their raids, on entering the houses
for loot, they would find whole families of dead bodies
and the rooms filled with the victims of the famine, and
then, shuddering at the sight, would retire empty-handed.
Yet, while they pitied those who had thus perished, they
had no similar feelings for the living, but, running every
one through that fell in their way, they choked the alleys
with corpses and deluged the whole city with blood,
insomuch that the flames of many of the burning build-
ings were extinguished by the gory stream. Towards
evening they ceased slaughtering, but when night fell the
fire gained the mastery, and the dawn of the eighth day
September of the month Gorpiaeus broke upon Jerusalem in flames ;
a city which had suffered such calamities in the siege,
that, had she from her first foundation enjoyed an equal
share of blessings, she would have been thought wholly
enviable ; and undeserving, moreover, of these great mis-
fortunes on all other grounds, save that she produced so
evil a generation as that which caused her overthrow.

Of all the strong defences of the city those which
chiefly aroused the admiration of Titus, on his entry,
were the towers, which the tyrants, in their infatuation,
had abandoned. Indeed, when he beheld their solid
lofty mass, the magnitude of each block of stone and
the accuracy of the joinings, and saw how great was their
breadth, how vast their height, " We have indeed," he
exclaimed, " had God on our side in the battle. God it
was who ejected the Jews from these strongholds ; for
what power have human hands or engines against these
towers ? " He made many similar observations to his
friends on that occasion, and also liberated all who had
been imprisoned by the tyrants and left in the forts.

(52) SCENES FROM THE JEWISH WAR 147

And when, at a later period, he demolished the rest of
the city and razed the walls, he left these towers as a
memorial of his attendant fortune, to whose co-operation
he owed his conquest of defences which defied assault. —
B.J. VI. 8. 5-9. 1 (403-413)-

(52) The Spoils from the Temple in the Triumphal
Procession in Rome

The Jewish spoils — the table of shew-bread, incense-cups and
trumpets — as borne in the procession still figure on the Arch of Titus
in Rome ; a representation e.g. in Driver's Exodus (Camb. Bible),
P- 273-

The rest of the spoils borne (in procession) were not
systematically assorted ; but conspicuous above all stood
out those captured from the Temple at Jerusalem.
These consisted of a golden table,1 many talents in
weight, and a lampstand,2 likewise made of gold, con-
structed on a different pattern from those which we use
in ordinary life. Affixed to a pedestal was a central
shaft, from which there extended slender branches,
arranged trident-fashion, a wrought lamp being attached
to the extremity of each branch. There were seven of
these lamps, indicating the honour paid to that number
among the Jews. After these, and last of all the spoils,
was carried a copy of the Jewish Law. — B.J. VII. 5. 5
(148-150).

1 The table of shew-brcad. 2 Or "candlestick."

VIII. THE JEWISH SECTS

(53) The Three Sects and their Views on Fate and
Free-Will

This account occurs in the histoiy of the Maccabsean period.
The saying of R. Aqiba {Pirqe Aboth, III. 24) may be quoted in
illustration of this passage: " Everything is foreseen ; and free-will
is given," where Predestination and Free-will are set side by side, as
if not irreconcilable.

145 bc At this time there were three sects of Jews, holding
different opinions about human actions; the first was
called the sect of the Pharisees, the second that of the
Sadducees, and the third that of the Essenes.

The Pharisees assert that some, but not all, events are
the work of Fate, and some are under our own control,
to be or not to be. The followers of the Essenes affirm
that Fate is all-powerful, and that nothing befalls men
except in accordance with her decree. The Sadducees
abolish Fate, maintaining that there is no such thing,
that the events of human life are not dependent upon
her, and that all things fall within our own control ; so
that it is we who are responsible for our blessings and
bring our misfortunes on ourselves by our own thought-
lessness.— Ant. XIII. 5. 9 (1 71-173).

(54) The Essenes, with a note on Pharisees and Sadducees

Jewish philosophy takes three forms. The followers
of the first school are called Pharisees, of the second
Sadducees, of the third Essenes.

(54) THE JEWISH SECTS 149

The Essenes : their Asceticism, Simplicity of Life and
Community of Goods

A studied gravity l is the distinguishing characteristic
of the Essenes. Of Jewish birth, they show a greater
attachment to each other than do the other sects. They
shun pleasures as a vice and regard temperance and the
control of the passions as a special virtue. Marriage
they disdain, but they adopt other men's children, while
yet pliable and docile, and regard them as their kin and
mould them in accordance with their own principles.
They do not wholly condemn wedlock and the continu-
ance thereby of the human race, but guard against
women's wantonness, being persuaded that none of the
sex keeps her plighted troth to one man.

Riches they despise, and their community of goods is
a wonderful arrangement j you will not find one among
them distinguished by greater opulence than another.
They have a law that new members on admission to the
sect shall confiscate their property to the order, with the
result that you will nowhere see either abject poverty or
inordinate wealth ; the individual's possessions join the
common stock and all the brotherhood enjoy a single
patrimony.

Oil they consider defiling, and any one who accidentally
comes in contact with it scours his person ; for they
make a point of keeping a dry skin and of always being
dressed in white.

They elect overseers of the common property,2 and all
their officials for various purposes are chosen3 by the
whole body.

They occupy no one city ; each city has its own settle-
ment. On the arrival of any of the sect from elsewhere,

1 Or "solemnity" or "sanctity."

2 Or " of the affairs of the community." 3 Text doubtful.

150 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (54)

all the resources of the community are put at their dis-
posal, just as if they were their own ; and they enter the
houses of men whom they have never seen before as
though they were their most intimate friends. Conse-
quently, they carry nothing whatever with them on their
journeys, except arms as a protection against brigands.
In every city of the order there is one expressly appointed
to attend to strangers, who provides them with raiment
and other necessaries.

In their dress and general appearance they resemble
boys who are schooled under a rigorous system.1 They
do not change their garments or shoes until they are
torn to shreds or worn threadbare with age.

There is no buying or selling among themselves, but
each gives what he has to any in need and receives from
him in exchange something useful to himself; they are
also freely permitted to accept whatever they choose
without making any return.

Their Prayers to the Sun. The Refectory

In religious matters 2 their piety is unique. Before the
sun is up they utter no word on mundane matters, but
offer to him certain prayers, which have been handed
down from their forefathers, as though entreating him to
rise. They are then dismissed by the overseers to the
various crafts in which they are severally proficient and
are strenuously occupied until the fifth hour, when they
again assemble in one place and, girding themselves with
linen cloths, so equipped bathe their bodies in cold
water. After this purification, they collect in a private
apartment which none of the uninitiated is permitted to
enter, and so, pure and by themselves, repair to the
Refectory, as to some sacred shrine. When they have

1 Lit- " with fear." 2 Lit. " towards the deity."

(54) THE JEWISH SECTS 151

taken their scats in silence, the baker serves out the
loaves to them in order, and the cook sets before each a
single vessel of one kind of food. Before meat the. priest
says a grace, and none may partake until after the prayer.
When breakfast l is ended, he pronounces a further
grace; thus at the beginning and at the close they do
homage to God as the bountiful giver of life.2 Then
laying aside their raiment, as holy (vestments), they again
betake themselves to their labours until the evening. On
their return they sup in like manner, and any guests who
may have arrived sit down with them. No clamour or
disturbance ever pollutes their dwelling ; conversation
takes place in turn, each man making way for his neigh-
bour. To persons outside the silence of those within
appears like some awful mystery ; it is in fact due to
their continuous sobriety and to the limitation of their
allotted portions of meat and drink to the demands of
nature.

In all other matters they do nothing without orders
from the overseers ; two things only are left to individual
discretion, the rendering of assistance and compassion.
Members may of their own motion help the deserving,
when in need,3 and proffer food to the destitute; but
presents to relatives are prohibited, without leave from
the managers.

Just in their control 4 of resentment, they restrain their
wrath ; they are champions of 5 fidelity and very ministers
of peace. Any word of theirs has more force than an
oath ; swearing they avoid, regarding it as worse than
perjury, for they say that the thing which 6 is not believed
without (an appeal to) God stands condemned already.

1 Most MSS "his breakfast."

2 Other MSS "sustenance."

8 Or " when they ask an alms."

4 Or "display"; lit. "just stewards" or "dispensers."

5 Or " leaders in." 6 MSS "the person who."

152 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (54)

Their Studies

They display an extraordinary interest in the writings
of the ancients, singling out in particular those which
make for the welfare of soul and body ; through these
they make investigations into medicinal roots x and the
properties of stones,2 useful in the treatment of diseases.3

Admission to the Order. The Novice's Probation and Oath

A candidate anxious to join their sect is not immedi-
ately admitted. For one year, during which he remains
outside the fraternity, they prescribe for him their own
rule of life, presenting him with a small hatchet, the fore-
mentioned loin-cloth and white raiment. Having given
proof of his continence during this probationary period,
he is brought into closer touch with the rule and is
allowed to share the purer kind of holy water, but is not
yet received into the life of the community. For, after
this exhibition of endurance, his character is tested for
two years more, and only then, if found worthy, is he
enrolled in the society.

But, before he may touch the common food, he is
made to swear tremendous oaths4: — first that he will
practise piety towards God,5 next that he will observe
justice towards men ; that he will wrong none whether of
his own mind or under another's orders ; that he will for
ever hate the unjust and fight the battle of the just; that
he will for ever keep faith with all men, especially with

1 Or "roots that act as charms."

2 i. e. probably, charms or amulets.

3 On this paragraph see Lightfoot, Co/osst'ans,8 p. 89 f. note.
Lightfoot, connecting the passage with Ant. VIII. 2. 5, § (6) above,
regards the "writings" as Solomonian books and the Essenes as
primarily dealers in charms, rather than physicians.

4 The inconsistency of this with the attitude of the sect towards
swearing as recorded in a previous paragraph is remarkable.

6 Lit. "the Divinity."

(54) THE JEWISH SECTS 153

the powers that be, since no ruler attains his office save
by the will of God ; * that, should he himself bear rule,
he will never abuse his authority nor, either in dress or by
other outward marks of superiority, outshine his subjects;
to be ever a lover of truth and to make it his aim to
convict liars ; to keep his hands from stealing and his
soul pure from impious gain ; to conceal nothing from
the members of the sect and to report none of their
secrets to others, even though threatened with death.
He swears, moreover, not to communicate any of their
doctrines to any one otherwise than as he himself received
them ; to abstain from robbery ; and in like manner care-
fully to preserve the books of their sect and the names of
the angels. Such are the oaths by which they secure
their proselytes.

Expulsion from the Order

Those who are convicted of2 serious crimes they expel
from the order ; and the ejected individual often comes
to a most miserable end. For, being bound by their
oaths and usages, he is not at liberty to partake of other
men's food, and so falls to eating grass and wastes away
and dies of starvation. This has led them in compassion
to receive many back in the last stage of exhaustion,
deeming that torments which have brought them to the
verge of death are a sufficient penalty for their misdoings.

Their Law-courts, Reverence for Moses, Sabbatarianism, etc.

They are just and scrupulously careful in their trial of
cases, never passing sentence in a court of less than
a hundred members ; the decision thus reached is irre-
vocable. After God they hold most in awe the name of
their lawgiver, any blasphemer of whom is punished with
death.

1 Cf. Rom. xiii. 1. 2^Or "detected, in,"

154 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (54)

It is a point of honour with them to obey their elders,
and a majority ; for instance, if ten sit together, one will
not speak if the nine desire silence.

They are careful not to spit into the midst of the
company or to the right, and are stricter than all Jews in
abstaining from work on the seventh day; for not only
do they prepare their food on the day before, to avoid
kindling a fire on that one, but they do not venture
to remove any vessel or even to go to stool.

On other days they dig a trench a foot deep with the
skalis x — such is the purpose of the hatchet which they
present to new members on admission 2 — and wrapping
their mantle about them, that they may not offend the
rays of the deity,3 sit above it. They then replace the
excavated soil in the trench. For this purpose they
select the more retired spots. And though this secretion
of bodily impurity is a natural function, they make it
a rule to wash themselves after it, as if defiled.

The Four Grades of Essenes — their Endurance of
Persecution

They are divided, according to the duration of their
discipline, into four grades ; 4 and so far are the junior
members inferior to the seniors, that the latter, if but
touched by the former, bathe themselves, as though they
had been polluted by contact with an alien.

1 Usual meaning "a hoe" ; Lightfoot tr. "spade."

2 See p. 152 above.

8 i. e. the sun-god, to whom they pray (see above and cf. Lightfoot,
Col., p. 85 note 2).

4 As Lightfoot {Col. 363, note) points out, the passage must be
read in connexion with the account of the admission to the order
(above). A comparison shows that the two year period there
mentioned comprises "the period spent in the second and third
grades, each extending over a year. After passing through these
three stages in three successive years, he enters upon the fourth ar.d
highest grade, thus becoming a perfect member."

(54) THE JEWISH SECTS 155

They live to a great age most of them to upwards of
a century — in consequence, I imagine, of the simplicity
of, and their moderation in, their diet.1 They make
light of danger, and conquer pain by their resolute will;
death, if it come with honour, they consider better than
immortality. The war with the Romans tried their souls
through and through by every variety of test. Racked
and twisted, burnt and broken, and made to pass through
every instrument of torture, to induce them to blaspheme
their lawgiver or to eat some forbidden thing, they
refused to yield to either demand, nor ever once did
they cringe to their tormentors or shed a tear. Smiling
in their agonies, and with gentle derision of the ministers
of their tortures, they cheerfully resigned their souls,
confident that they would receive them back again.

Their Belief in the Immortality of the Soul

For it is a fixed belief of theirs that bodies are
corruptible, and the matter of which they are made has
no permanence, but that souls continue for ever immortal.
Emanating from the finest ether, these souls become
entangled, as it were, in the prison-house of the body, to
which they are dragged down by some magical 2 spell ;
but when once they are released from the bonds of the
flesh, then, as though liberated from a long servitude,
they rejoice and are borne aloft. For the good souls —
and here they are of the same mind as the sons of
Greece — they maintain that there is reserved a habitation
beyond the ocean, in a place which is not oppressed by
rain or snow or heat, but is refreshed by the ever-gentle
breath of the west wind coming in from ocean ; while to

1 Or, perhaps, " the simplicity of their mode of life and their
regular habits."

2 <pv<TiKos here apparently used of the occult laws of nature (v.
Liddell -Scott Lex.).

156 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (54)

the base they allot a murky and tempestuous dungeon,
big with never-ending punishments.

The Greeks, I imagine, had the same conception when
they set apart the Islands of the Blessed for their brave
men, whom they call heroes and demigods, and the
Region of the Impious for the souls of the wicked down
in Hades, where, as their mythologists tell, certain
persons are undergoing punishment, such as Sisyphus,
Tantalus, Ixion, and Tityus.1 Their aim was first to
establish the premiss that souls are immortal, and
secondly to promote virtue and to deter from vice ; for
the good are made better in their lifetime by the hope of
being rewarded even after death, and the impetuous
passions of the wicked are restrained by fear and the
expectation that, even though they escape detection
while alive, they will undergo never-ending punishment
after their decease.

Through these theological views of theirs concerning
the soul the Essenes irresistibly attract all who have
once tasted their philosophy.

Essene Prophets

There are some among them who profess to foretell
the future, being versed from their early years in holy
books, various 2 forms of purification and apophthegms
of prophets ; and seldom, if ever, do they err in their
predictions.3

1 Lit. "the Sisyphuses," etc.

2 Or " superior," "special."

3 For these Essene fortune-tellers, see Lightfoot, Col. 89, note 1
("We may conjecture that with the Essenes this acquisition was
connected with magic or astrology. At all events it is not treated
as a direct inspiration "), and the instance of Menahem, § (59),
below.

(54) THE JEWISH SECTS 157

Essene Schismatics who Allow Marriage

There is yet another order of Essenes, who, while at
one with the rest in their mode of life, customs and
regulations, differ from them in their views on marriage.
They think that those who decline to marry cut off the
chief function of life— that of transmitting it — and further-
more that, were all to adopt the same view, the whole
race would very quickly die out. They give their wives,
however, a three years' probation, and only marry them
after they have thrice undergone purification, in proof of
fecundity. They have no intercourse with them during
pregnancy, thus showing that their motive in marrying is
not self-indulgence but the procreation of children. In
the bath the women wear a dress, the men a loin-cloth.
Such are the usages of this order.

The Pharisees and Sadducees

Of the two first-named schools, the Pharisees have the
reputation of being the most accurate expositors of the
laws, and owe to this * their position as the leading sect.
They attribute everything to Fate and God ; yet they
admit that to act rightly or otherwise rests for the most
part with men, though in each action Fate is an
auxiliary.2 Every soul, they maintain, is imperishable,
but the soul of the good alone passes into another body,
while the souls of the wicked suffer eternal punishment.

The Sadducees, the second of the orders, do away
with Fate altogether, and remove God beyond, not
merely the commission, but the very sight, of evil. They
maintain that good and evil lie open to men's choice
and that it rests with every man's will whether he
embraces the one or the other. As for the permanence

1 Meaning a little uncertain.
1 i.e. "co-operates."

158 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (55)

of the soul, penalties in the underworld1 and rewards,
they will have none of them.

The Pharisees are affectionate to each other, and
cultivate harmonious relations with the community. The
Sadducees, even to one another, are rather boorish in
their behaviour, and in their intercourse with their
fellows are as harsh as with aliens.

Such is what I have to say on the Jewish philosophical
schools. — B.J. II. 8. 2-14 (119-166).

(55) Another Account of the Three Sects — and a Fourth

This account, which follows the story of Quirinius and the revolt
of Judas, § (24), seems to he taken from the special source on which
Josephus draws largely in the last books of the Antiquities. The
style is difficult, and the text in places uncertain.

Among the hereditary institutions of the Jews, dating
from quite ancient times, were the three schools of
philosophy : the school of the Essenes, that of the
Sadducees, and, thirdly, that of the Pharisees so called.
Although 1 2 have spoken about them in the second
book of the Jewish War,3 I will briefly touch on them
here.

The Pharisees

The Pharisees practise simplicity of life, and give way
to no self-indulgence. They take as their guiding motive
certain traditional principles which their school 4 has
tested and approved, and consider it a matter of the
first importance to observe the doctrines which it has
deliberately dictated. They show respect and deference
to those who have gone before them, nor have they the

1 Gr. " Hades." 2 Gr. "we." 3 § (54).

4 6\6yos. Whiston, "follow the guidance of reason" ; but 6 A.
must, it seems, have the same meaning as in the corresponding
opening sentences in the paragraphs on Sadducees and Essenes, (?)
" doctrine " or " tenets."

(55) THE JEWISH SECTS 159

effrontery to dispute any proposition which they have
introduced.1 While maintaining that all events are the
work of Fate, they do not deprive man of free-will in his
actions/ since (as they hold) it has pleased God that the
decision should rest 2 both with Fate's council-chamber
and with the human will whether a man takes the side of
virtue or of vice. They believe that souls have immortal
power, and that beneath the earth punishments and
awards await those who, during life, have made a practice
of vice or virtue : to the former is assigned everlasting
imprisonment, the latter are granted facilities to live
again.3 By these doctrines they have gained a very great
influence over the masses, and all religious ceremonies in
the matter of prayers 4 and the offering of sacrifices are
performed according to their directions. Such high
testimony do the cities bear to their character, regarding
them, both in their manner of life and in their utterances,
as patterns of perfection.

The Sadducees

The Sadducees hold that the soul perishes with the
body. They make no pretence of observing any rules
whatever except the laws; indeed, they count it meri-
torious to dispute with the doctors of their school.
Their tenets have but few adherents ; but these are
persons of the highest reputation. They have hardly
any effect on practical life ; for whenever any of their
number accept office, they, reluctantly indeed, but of
necessity, become converts to the Pharisaic creed, because
otherwise they would not be tolerated by the masses.

1 Text doubtful.

2 Another reading (Kpciaiv for npioiv), "that there should be a
ble. id between . . ."

3 Cf. §(43), p. 124. * Or "vows."

i6o SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (55)

The Essenes

The characteristic of the Essene creed is that all
things are left in God's hands. They hold that souls
are immortal, and that the rewards x of righteousness are
a prize worth a battle. Although they send dedicatory
offerings to the Temple, their rites of purification when
sacrificing are peculiar ; they are consequently excluded
from the precincts of the national shrine 2 and offer their
sacrifices apart. In other ways they are most estimable
men, whose whole energy is devoted to agriculture. In
this particular they deserve more admiration than all
professedly virtuous persons, because a habit which has
never prevailed, even for a while, in any nation, whether
Greek or barbarian, has been with them a long-established
and uninterrupted custom. Their goods are in common,
and the rich man enjoys no more of his possessions than
he who owns nothing at all j this rule is followed by a
body of men numbering over four thousand. Marriage
and slavery they abjure, the latter as tending to promote
injustice, the former as giving occasion for discord ; they
live by themselves and minister to each other's needs.
They elect good men to act as receivers of their revenues
and of the produce of the soil, and priests as bakers and
cooks. Their manner of life bears the closest resemblance
in all points to that of the Dacian tribe known as the
Polistae.3

1 Lit. "revenue."

2 Lit. " the common precincts." Wliiston, " the common court
of the Temple."

8 iroXiarais {i.e. "Founders" or "Colonisers"), Scaliger's
emendation of the MS reading irAeiarots ; cf. the allusion in
Strabo 296 to a Thracian tribe who live without wives and are
called Founders (Krla-rai).

(56) THE JEWISH SECTS 161

The Zealots

A fourth school was founded by Judas the GaliKxan.1
While they agree in all other respects with the Pharisees,
its disciples have an ineradicable2 passion for liberty,
and take God for their only leader and lord. In their
determination to call no man lord, they make light of
enduring death in all manner of forms, and of penalties
inflicted on their kinsmen and friends. Since, however,
most of my readers have witnessed their unflinching
endurance under such tortures, I need not dwell further
upon it. My fear is not that anything which I might say
of them will be thought incredible, but, on the contrary,
that the narrative may fail to do justice to the fortitude
with which they meet the agony of pain. It was the
madness of this party which was the beginning of
the afflictions of our nation, when Gessius Florus, the a.d. 64-
governor, by wanton abuse of his authority, drove them
in desperation into revolt from Rome.3

Such are the various" schools of Jewish philosophy. —
Ant. XVIII. 1. 2-6(11-25).

(56) Why John Hyrcanus went over from the Pharisees to 135-105
the Sadducees B,c'

John Hyrcanus I was the son and successor, in the offices of high
priest and prince, of Simon the Maccabee.

These successes of Hyrcanus, however, aroused the
envy of the Jews. His bitterest enemies were the
Pharisees, one of the Jewish sects, as we have already
stated, whose influence with the populace is such that a
word from them against king or high priest meets with
instant belief.

1 Cf. § (24).

2 Perhaps, with a slight transposition of letters, " invincible "
(Bekker).

1 Cf. § (39).

L

i62 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (56)

Hyrcanus had been their disciple and was greatly
beloved by them. Having on one occasion invited them
to a banquet and hospitably entertained them, and seeing
them in high good humour, he began to say to them
that they knew how anxious he was to live righteously,
and how in all his actions he strove to please God and
them (for the Pharisees are a school of philosophers) ;
but he besought them, if ever they saw him erring and
deviating from the right way, to bring him back into it
and correct him. His guests declaring that there was
no virtue which he lacked, he was pleased with their
commendation.

But one of them, named Eleazar, an ill-natured man
who delighted in faction, remarked, " As you have asked
us to tell you the truth and desire to be righteous,
renounce the high priesthood and be content to be ruler
of the people." And when Hyrcanus enquired of him
the reason why he should lay down the office of high
priest, he replied, "Because we are informed by the
elders that your mother was a captive in the reign of
Antiochus Epiphanes." 1 The story was false, and Hyr-
canus was exasperated with the man, and all the
Pharisees were greatly indignant.

A certain Jonathan,2 however, an intimate friend of
Hyrcanus and a follower of the sect of the Sadducees
(whose doctrines are the reverse of those of the
Pharisees), asserted that Eleazar's slanderous words had
the unanimous approval of the whole body of Pharisees,
and that this would be manifest if he asked them what
punishment he deserved for what he had said. Hyr-
canus, accordingly, asked the Pharisees what penalty
they thought appropriate, expecting to prove3 by the

1 Cf. § (63), p. 175. a Another reading "John."

* Or, according to another reading, "to be convinced."

(56) THE JEWISH SECTS 163

measure of the sentence which they pronounced that
the libel had not received their approval. They replied,
"Stripes and imprisonment." The taunt did not seem
to merit capital punishment ; the more so as the Pharisees
are naturally lenient in the matter of penalties. Hyr-
canus was greatly incensed at this answer, supposing that
the man's abusive language had met with their appro-
bation. His exasperation was increased in particular by
Jonathan, who so worked upon him as to induce him to
desert the Pharisees and join the Sadducean party : he
also persuaded him to abolish the practices which the
Pharisees had ordained for the people, and to punish
any who observed them. To this cause he and his sons
owed their unpopularity with the multitude.

Of this more hereafter. Here I would merely explain
that the Pharisees had delivered to the people certain
customary practices, handed down by their forefathers
and not recorded in the laws of Moses, and for that
reason rejected by the Sadducees, who maintain that
only what is written (in Scripture) should be held
binding, and that customs based on ancestral traditions
should not be observed. On these matters the two
parties had great debates and differences. The Sad-
ducees are influential only with the wealthy and have no
following among the populace ; the Pharisees have the
masses on their side. But of these two sects and of the
Essenes I have given a precise account in the second book
of my Jewish {War).1— Ant. XIII. 10. 5 f. (288-298),

1 See §(54).

i64 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (57)

(57) " Conciliate the Pharisees " — Alexander's dying advice
to Alexandra

Alexander Janrmeus(of the Hasmoruean dynasty ; reigned 104-78
B.C.), on his last campaign, lies dying during the siege of Ragaba,
near Gerasa on the east of Jordan.

The Queen, seeing him to be near his end and now-
past hope of recovery, wept and lamented for her
impending desolation and poured out her grief for
herself and her children. " To whom are you thus
leaving me," so she spoke to him, " and our children
who need others to help them, knowing as you do the
ill-will which the nation bears you ? "

Alexander advised her, if she wished to secure both
the throne and their children, to comply with his
suggestions. She was to conceal his death from the
soldiers until she had taken the town.1 She was then to
enter Jerusalem in triumph after her victory and to
concede a measure of authority to the Pharisees ; for
they would commend her for the honour paid them and
dispose the nation in her favour. The Pharisees, he
told her, had great influence with the Jews (and could
use it) to the injury of any who hated them, or to the
advantage of those who were on friendly terms with
them ; above all they had the confidence of the common
people in any harsh criticism which they might pro-
nounce on others, even though prompted by mere
malice ; the offence which he himself had given to the
nation arose from his insulting the Pharisees. " Do you
accordingly," he said, " when you reach Jerusalem, send
for such of them as are factious,2 display my dead body,
and with absolute sincerity allow them to use me as they
will, whether they prefer to do despite to my corpse by

1 Ragaba.

2 Conj. Niese ; MSS " send for their soldiers."

(57) THE JEWISH SECTS 165

refusing it burial in revenge for all they have suffered
from me, or to gratify their anger by any other form of
outrage to it. Promise them, moreover, that you will
take no action in the exercise of your royal authority
without consulting them. If you thus address them, /
shall obtain a more splendid funeral from them than I
should have had from you — for with the power to misuse
my dead body they will lack the will — and you will be
secure in your rule." With this advice to his wife, he
died, having reigned seven and twenty years and lived
one and fifty.1

Alexandra took the fortress and, in accordance with
her husband's suggestions, had a colloquy with the
Pharisees, leaving the disposal of the corpse and of the
affairs of the kingdom entirely in their hands, and so
pacified their anger against Alexander and won their
good-will and friendship for herself. The Pharisees then
went and harangued the multitude, rehearsing Alex-
ander's achievements, and telling them that they had
lost a righteous king ; and by their encomiums elicited
from the people such lamentation and dejection on his
behalf that they gave him a more splendid funeral than
to any of the kings that had been before him.

Alexander left two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus,
but he bequeathed the kingdom to Alexandra. Of the
sons, Hyrcanus was a weak administrator and preferred
a quiet life ; the younger, Aristobulus, was a man of
action and courage. Their mother was beloved of the
multitude because she appeared to take her husband's
errors to heart.

Hyrcanus she appointed high priest, because he was
the elder, but still more on account of his temperamental
inaction. She allowed the Pharisees complete freedom,

1 Another reading, "fifty years save one."

166 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (58)

and ordered the people to obey their behests. She also
reinstated the customs which the Pharisees had intro-
duced in accordance with ancestral tradition and her
father-in-law, Hyrcanus, had abrogated.1 She was thus
nominally Queen, but the real power was in the hands
of the Pharisees. — Ant. XIII. 15. 5-16. 2 (399-409)

(58) How the Pharisees rose to Power under Queen
Alexandra

A supplement to the final paragraph in the preceding section.

Beside Alexandra, and growing as she grew,2 arose the
Pharisees, a body of Jews with the reputation of excel-
ling the rest of their nation in the observances of religion,
and as exact exponents of the laws. To them, being
herself devoutly religious, she listened with too great
deference ; while they, gradually taking advantage of an
ingenuous woman, became at length the real adminis-
trators of the state, at liberty to banish and to recall, to
loose and to bind, whom they would. In short, the
enjoyments of royal authority were theirs; its expenses
and burthens fell to Alexandra. She proved, however,
to be a wonderful administrator of large affairs of state,
and, by continual additions to her levies, doubled her
(home) army, besides collecting a considerable body of
foreign troops ; so that she not only strengthened her
own nation, but became a formidable foe to foreign
potentates. Thus she ruled the nation, and the Pharisees
ruled her. — B.J. I. 5. 2 (110-112).

1 Cf. § (56).s

2 Reading avrrjs; lit. "grew up beside into her power" (like
suckers round a tree). With the reading aurfj, " Beside A. there
rose to power ..."

(59) THE JEWISH SECTS 167

(59) Herod the Great exempts Pharisees and Essenes from
the Oath of Allegiance. The Essene Prophet Menahem

Most of Herod's subjects, either from obsequiousness c. 37 »-c.
or fear, yielded to his demands ; x those who showed
a bolder front and took offence at the compulsory
order, he found one means or other of putting out
of the way. He endeavoured to persuade Pollio the
Pharisee and Sameas and most of their disciples to take
the oath with the rest ; but they refused, and the respect
in which Pollio was held secured them from sharing the
penalty of the other objectors.

Exemption from this order was further extended to the
Essaeans,2 as we call one of our sects, who resemble in
their manner of life the Grecian school of Pythagoras.
Elsewhere I shall give a more detailed account of them ; 3
here the reason may be told why Herod held them in
such honour and esteem as possessed of supernatural
powers. The narrative, while illustrating the high opinion
which this class enjoyed, will not be out of place in an
historical work.

There was a certain Essene named Menahem,4 who
was reputed not only to lead a blameless life but to have
been gifted by God with a knowledge of future events.
This man, seeing Herod as a lad on his way to school,
addressed him as king of the Jews. Herod, supposing
that he spoke in ignorance or in jest, reminded him that
he was only a commoner. But Menahem, with a quiet
smile, clapped him on the backside and said, " For all
that, be sure you will be king and will have a prosperous
reign ;5 for God finds you worthy of it. And remember

1 By taking the oath of allegiance to him.

2 Jos. uses this form and "Essenes" interchangeably.

3 Cf. §(54). * Gr. " Maneemus" (throughout).
6 Text doubtful. Perhaps "will begin happily."

168 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (60)

the blows you received from Menahem, and let them be
a symbol to you of the changes of fortune. It were best
to reflect on such things, even though you were to be a
lover of righteousness, of piety to God and equity to your
subjects. But I, knowing all, know that such will not be
your character. You will surpass all men in good for-
tune and will win undying renown, but will be forgetful
of piety and justice. God, however, will not be un-
mindful of these sins and at the close of your life the
wrath which they merit will be remembered against you."
Herod at the time paid little heed to this prediction
of eminence to which his hopes did not aspire ; but when
he had by gradual stages risen to the throne and pros-
perity, and was at the height of his power, he sent for
Menahem and asked him how long he would reign.
Menahem would not reveal all. He held his peace, but
on being further asked merely whether he would reign as
much as ten years, " Yes," he replied, " twenty ; nay,
thirty," but fixed no term for the allotted period. With
this answer Herod was content, gave Menahem his hand
and dismissed him, and from that time forward continued
to hold all the Essenes in honour. — Ant. XV. 10. 4 f.
(369-378).

(60) The Pharisees refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance
(another account).

37 b.c. Now there was one section of the Jews that prided
themselves on their strict observance of inherited tradi-
tions and professed (to know) the laws x in which the Deity
takes delight.2 They had obtained complete control over

1 Lit. "laid claim to the laws." But the text is doubtful.
Others read, "... observance of the laws of their fathers, and
pretended that the Deity took delight in them (the Pharisees)."

2 Cf. Rom. ii. 18 ("knowest the will").

(6o) THE JEWISH SECTS 169

the women-folk.1 They were called Pharisees, and showed
foresight in resisting an all-powerful monarch 2 and
temerity in proceeding to open hostility and opposition.

For instance, when the whole Jewish nation took the
oath of allegiance to Caesar and to the king's government,
these men, to the number of. upwards of six thousand,
refused to swear. The king imposed a money penalty,
whereupon the wife of Pheroras 3 paid the fine on their
behalf. In requital for this service of hers the Pharisees,
who through divine inspiration were endowed with the
gift of foreknowledge, foretold that God had decreed the
downfall from power of Herod and his family, and the
transfer of the kingdom to her and Pheroras and their
children. These words, coming to the knowledge of
Salome,4 were reported to the king, who was further in-
formed that the Pharisees were corrupting some of his
courtiers. The king thereupon put the principal offenders
among the Pharisees to death together with the eunuch
Bagoas and one Carus, the most famous beauty of his
time and a royal favourite. He also killed all the members
of his household who were implicated in 5 the Pharisees' 6
prediction. Bagoas had been led by them to believe
that he would be called the father and benefactor of the
king whose rise they foretold ; that monarch, they said,
would be omnipotent and would enable Bagoas to marry
and beget children of his own. — Ant. XVII. 2. 4 (41-45).

1 That is, apparently, the women of Herod's family. The word
denotes the harem of a prince.

* Text and meaning doubtful.

* Herod's bro:her. * Herod's sister.

5 Or "had associated themselves with."

6 Gr. " Pharisee's."

IX. JEWISH THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND
CUSTOMS

(61) Some Aspects of Jewish Theology. Moses as Religious
Educator

Our Polity a Theocracy

There is endless variety in the details of the customs
and laws which prevail in the world at large. [To give
but a summary enumeration :J x some peoples have en-
trusted the supreme power of government to monarchies,
others to oligarchies, yet others to the masses. Our
lawgiver, however, was attracted by none of these forms
of polity, but gave to his constitution the form of what —
if a forced expression be permitted — may be termed a
"theocracy," ascribing the sovereignty and majesty to
God. To Him he persuaded all to look, as the Author
of all blessings, both those which are common to all man-
kind, and those which they had won for themselves by
prayer in their utmost adversities. He convinced them
that no single action, no secret thought, could be hid
from Him. I^e represented Him as One, uncreated2 and
immutable to all eternity j 3 in beauty surpassing all mortal
comeliness, made known to us by His power, although
the nature of His real being 4 passes knowledge.

1 These words occur only in Eusebius's citation (Prcep. Ev. VIII.
8), not in the MSS of Josephus.

2 Or, according to another reading, "unbegotten."

3 Lit. " to time everlasting."

4 Or "essence."

170

(61) THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS 171

A Religion for the Many, not (like Greek philosophy) for
the Few

That the wisest of the Greeks learnt to adopt these
conceptions of God from principles with which Moses
supplied them, I am not now concerned to urge; but
they have borne abundant witness to the excellence of
these doctrines, and to their consonance with the nature
and majesty of God. In fact, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras,
Plato, the Stoics who succeeded him, and indeed nearly
all the philosophers appear to have held similar views
concerning the nature of God. These, however, addressed
their philosophy to the few, and did not venture to
divulge the true doctrine x to the masses who were pre-
possessed by (other) opinions ; whereas our lawgiver, by
making practice square with precept, not only convinced
his own contemporaries, but so firmly implanted this
belief concerning God in their descendants to all future
generations that it cannot be moved. The cause (of his
success) was that he far surpassed (other legislators) in
promoting the good of all men to all time by his scheme
of legislation ; for he did not make religion a department
of virtue, but the various virtues — I mean, justice, temper-
ance, fortitude, and mutual harmony in all things between
the members of the community2 — departments of re-
ligion. Religion governs all our actions and studies and
speech ; none of these things did our lawgiver leave
unexamined 3 or indeterminate.

1 Lit. " the truth of the doctrine."

* The four cardinal virtues of the Platonic School, except that
Harmony (avfKpotvia) here replaces the usual Wisdom (<pp6vr]ais).

* The Greek word is that* used in Socrates' famous saying, " The
life which is unexamined is not worth living" (Plato, Apology 38A).

i72 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (61)

The Two Methods of Education Combined by Moses

All schemes of education and moral training fall into
two categories ; instruction is imparted in the one case
by precept, in the other by practical exercising of the
character. All other legislators, following their divergent
opinions, selected the particular method which each pre-
ferred and neglected the other. Thus the Lacedaemonians
and Cretans employed practical, not verbal, training ;
whereas the Athenians and nearly all the rest of the
Greeks made laws enjoining what actions might or might
not be performed, but neglected to familiarize the people
with them by putting them into practice.

Our legislator, on the other hand, took great care to
combine both systems. He did not leave practical
training in morals without a written code ; x nor did he
permit the letter of the law to remain inoperative. Start-
ing from the very beginning with the food of which we
partake from infancy and the private life 2 of the home,
he left nothing, however insignificant, to the discretion
and caprice of the individual. What meats a man should
abstain from, and what he may enjoy ; with what persons
he should associate ; what period should be devoted
respectively to strenuous labour and to rest ; 3 — for all
this our leader made the law the standard and rule, that
we might live under it as under a father and master 4 and
be guilty of no sin through wilfulness or ignorance.

All Jews Know their Law, which is Read Every Week

For ignorance he left no pretext. He proved5 the
Law to be the most excellent and necessary form of

1 Lit. "dumb." 2 Or "diet."

3 Lit. " and concerning strenuous application to labours and
contrariwise rest."

4 Cf. Gal. iii. 24, "the law hath been our tutor."
6 Or " appointed."

(62) THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS 173

instruction, ordaining, not that it should be heard once
for all or twice or on several occasions, but that every
week men should desert their other occupations and
assemble to listen to the Law and to obtain a thorough
and accurate knowledge of it ; a practice which all other
legislators seem to have neglected.1

Indeed, most men, so far from living in accordance
with their own laws, hardly know what they are. Only
when they have done wrong do they learn from others
that they have transgressed the law. Even those of
them who hold the highest and most important offices
admit their ignorance ; for they employ professional legal
experts as assessors and leave them in charge of the
administration of affairs. But, should any one of our
nation be questioned about the laws, he would repeat
them all more readily than his own name. The result,
then, of our thorough grounding in the laws from the
time when we first had any sensations whatever, is that
we have them as it were engraven on our souls. A trans-
gressor is a rarity and to elude punishment by entreaty
an impossibility. — c. Ap. II. 16-18 (164-178).

(62) A Future Life — for the Law-abiding

With us the death penalty is imposed for most offences,
for instance, if a man commit adultery. . . . Even fraud
in such matters as weights or measures, or injustice and
deceit in trade, or purloining another man's property or
laying hands on what one did not deposit — all such
crimes have punishments attached to them which are
not on the same scale as with other nations, but more
severe. For example, the mere intention of doing wrong

1 For the Rabbinical tradition that Moses introduced the custom
of the public reading of the Law on Festivals and Sabbaths, see an
art. by Dr. Buchler in the Jewish Quart. Review, V. 420 (1893).

174 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (63)

to one's parents or of impiety against God is followed
by instant death.

For those, on the other hand, who live in accordance with
our laws the prize is not silver or gold, no crown of wild
olive * or of parsley 2 with any such public proclamation
(as attends those awards). No ; each individual, relying
on the witness of his own conscience and the lawgiver's
prophecy, which is confirmed by the sure testimony of
God, is firmly persuaded that to those who observe the
laws and, if they must needs die for them, willingly meet
death,3 God has granted a renewed existence and in the
revolution (of the ages)4 the gift of a better life. I
should have hesitated to write thus, had not the facts
made all men aware that many of our countrymen have
on many occasions ere now preferred to brave all manner
of suffering rather than to utter a single word against the
Law.5 — c. Ap. II. 30 (215-219).

(63) The Jewish Scriptures and their Preservation

The Writers and Custodians of the Records

That our forefathers took no less, not to say even
greater, care than the nations I have mentioned 6 in the
keeping of their records — a task which they assigned to
their chief priests and prophets — and that down to our
own times these records have been, and if I may venture
to say so, will continue to be, preserved with scrupulous
accuracy, I will endeavour briefly to demonstrate.

1 As in the Olympic games.

2 As in the Isthmian and Nemean games.

3 Text doubtful.

4 4k TrepiTponris should, perhaps, be read in the light of the kin-
dred passage, B.J. III. 374 (§ (43), p. 124 above), 4k ■nepirpoirris
alwvuy. Or translate simply "in exchange," "in turn."

6 Cf. § (54), p. 155 above.

6 i. e. Egyptians, Babylonians, Chaldseans and Phoenicians, as
opposed to the Greeks, who neglected to keep records of antiquity.

(63) THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS 175

Selection of the Custodians. Scrutiny of Priestly
Marriages and Genealogies

Not only did our ancestors in the first instance set
over this business men of the highest character, devoted
to the service of God, but they took precautions to
ensure that the priests' lineage should be kept unadul-
terated and pure. A member of the priestly order must
marry a woman of his own race, without regard to her
wealth or other distinctions ; but he must investigate her
pedigree, obtaining the genealogy from the archives 1 and
producing a number of witnesses. And this practice of
ours is not confined to the home country of Judaea, but
wherever there is a Jewish colony,2 there too a strict
account is kept by the priests of their marriages; I
allude to the Jews in Egypt and Babylon and other parts
of the world in which any of the priestly order are living
in dispersion. A statement is drawn up by them and
sent to Jerusalem, showing the names of the bride and
her father and more remote ancestors together with the
names of the witnesses. In the not infrequent event of
war, for instance when our country was invaded by 170-168
Antiochus Epiphanes, by Pompey the Great, by Quin- *?*c*
tilius Varus, and above all in our own times, the surviving 4 B.c.*
priests compile fresh records from the older documents;3 A-D- 66~
they also pass scrutiny upon the remaining women and
disallow marriage with any who have been taken captive,
suspecting them of having had frequent intercourse with
foreigners. But the most convincing proof of our accu-
racy in this matter is that our records contain the names
of our high priests with the succession from father to son
for the last two thousand years. And whoever violates

1 Reading apxeteov. MSS " from the ancients " (apxaluv).

1 Or "college of priests."

3 Or, perhaps, "from the archives" {apxeiwv).

176 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (63)

any of the above rules is forbidden to minister at the
altars or to take any other part in divine worship.

The Twenty-two Boohs of Scripture

The task of writing (our national history) is thus one
which cannot be capriciously undertaken by all alike;
and there is no discrepancy in the records. No ; the
prophets alone (had this privilege), obtaining their know-
ledge of the most remote and ancient history through
the inspiration which they owed to God, and committing
to writing a faithful account of the events of their own
time just as they occurred. From this it naturally, ^>r
rather necessarily, follows that we 1 do not possess vast
numbers2 of inconsistent books, conflicting with each
other. Our books, those to which we justly pin our
faith,3 are but two and twenty, and contain the record
of all time.4

Of these, five are the books of Moses, comprising the
laws and the traditional history from the birth of man
down to the death of the lawgiver. This period falls
only a little short of three thousand years. From the
death of Moses to the (death)5 of Artaxerxes,6 who
succeeded Xerxes as King of Persia, the prophets subse-
quent to Moses wrote the history of the events of their
own times in thirteen books. The remaining four books
contain hymns to God and precepts for (the conduct of)
human life.

From Artaxerxes to our own time the complete history

1 Unlike the Greeks. 2 Lit. "tens of thousands."

3 Eusebius reads, "which are justly believed to be divine."

4 See on this and the following paragraph Appendix, Note
VII.

5 The earlier editions insert apxvs ("till the reign of . . ."), not
f>und in Niese's MS. Perhaps we should read simply "until
Artaxerxes" (/le'xp's for fiexp1 tt?s).

6 In Jos. Artaxerxes = Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther {Ant.
XI. 6. 1 [184]) ; Xerxes = Artaxerxes of Ezra-Nehemiah.

(64) THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS 177

has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of
equal credit with the earlier records, because of the
failure of the exact succession of the prophets.

Jewish Veneration of their Scriptures

We have given practical proof of the spirit in which
we treat l our own Scriptures. For, although such long
ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to
add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable ; and it is an
instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to
regard them as the decrees 2 of God, to abide by them,
and, if need be, cheerfully to die for them. Time and
again ere now the sight has been witnessed of prisoners
enduring tortures and death in every form in the theatres,
rather than utter a single word against the laws and the
allied documents. — c. Ap. I. 6-8 (29-43).

(64) Universal Imitation of our Laws the sincerest
flattery

Now, since Time is reckoned in all cases the surest
test of worth,3 I would call Time to witness to the
excellence of our lawgiver and of the doctrine which he
has delivered to us concerning God. An infinity of
time has passed (since Moses) by comparison with the
ages in which other lawgivers lived ; yet it will be found
that throughout the whole of that period not merely
have our laws stood the test of our own use, but they
have to an ever-increasing extent instilled an emulation
of them into the world at large.4

Our earliest imitators were the Greek philosophers,

1 Gr. (as quoted by Eusebius) "approach." The MSS of Jos.
read " we have trusted."
3 Or "doctrines."

3 Or "the surest of all tests" (lit. "assayers").

4 The text of this sentence is uncertain. I adopt Niese's
conjecture.

M

i/8 SELECTIONS FROM JOSEPHUS (64)

who, though ostensibly observing the laws of their own
countries, yet in their conduct1 and philosophy were
Moses' disciples, holding similar views about God, and
inculcating simplicity of life and participation 2 between
man and man. But that is not all. The masses have
long since shown a keen desire to adopt our religious
observances, and there is not one city, Greek [or
barbarian, nor a single nation,3] to which our custom
of abstaining from work on the seventh day has not
spread, and where the fasts and the lighting of lamps
and many of our prohibitions in the matter of food are
not observed. Moreover, they attempt to imitate our
harmonious relations with each other, the charitable
distribution of our possessions, our devoted labour in
the crafts, our endurance under persecution on behalf
of our laws. The greatest miracle of all is that our Law
holds out no seductive bait of sensual pleasure, but has
exercised this influence through its own inherent merits ;
and, as God has permeated the universe, so the Law has
found its way among all mankind. Let each man reflect
for himself on his own country and his own household,
and he will not discredit what I say. It follows, then,
that either we must convict the whole world of deliberate
depravity in their eager desire to adopt the bad laws of
a foreign country in preference to the good laws of their
own, or else our accusers must give up their grudge
against us. In honouring our own legislator and putting
our trust in his prophetical utterances concerning God,
we do not make any arrogant claim justifying such odium.
Indeed, were we not ourselves aware of the excellence
of our laws, assuredly4 we should have been impelled

1 Perhaps weshould read " their writings " (Niese).

2 Or "friendly communion."

? Niese reads "nor a single barbarian race."
4 Reading irdvrcos (with Niese).

(6s) THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS 179

to pride ourselves upon them by the multitude of their
admirers. — c. Ap. II. 38 f. (279-286).

(65) The Oath "Corban"

Cf. Mark vii. II.

In ancient times various cities were acquainted with
the existence of our nation, and to some of these many
of our customs have now found their way and here and
there been thought worthy of imitation. This is apparent
from a passage in the work of Theophrastus on Laws,
where he says that the laws of the Tyrians prohibit the
use of foreign oaths, in enumerating which he includes
among others the oath called " Corban." Now this oath
will be found in no other nation except the Jews, and,
translated from the Hebrew, one may interpret it as
meaning "God's gift."1— c. Ap. I. 22 (166 f.).

1 Elsewhere {Ant. IV. 4. 4 [73]) Jos., like Mark, renders simply,
and correctly, "a gift."

APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

I. Note on § (24). Quirinius

P. Sulpicius Quirinius, a native of Lanuvium, was
consul in 12 B.C.; some years later was sent on an
expedition against the Homonadenses, a mountain tribe
in Cilicia, and was awarded a triumph for his successes ;
accompanied Gaius Caesar, grandson of Augustus, to the
East in a.d. 2 as his tutor ; and in a.d. 6 was appointed
Governor of Syria as legatus of the Emperor, and in that
capacity took over Judaea on the deposition of Archelaus,
and made the valuation of the newly-annexed district
here described by Josephus. Towards the end of his
life he caused some scandal at Rome by the divorce
of his wife Lepida, whom he accused of attempting to
poison him. He remained in favour with Tiberius, who,
on his death about a.d. 21, secured him a public funeral.
A mutilated inscription found near Tivoli (Tibur) seems
to prove that he was twice governor of Syria. (Tacitus
Ann. III. 48 and 22; Suet. Tib. 49 ; art. in Encyd. Bibh).

This is not the place to discuss the formidable diffi-
culties arising from St. Luke's reference (ii. 1 ff.) to "the
decree from Caesar Augustus " and "the first enrolment
made when Quirinius was governor of Syria." These are
set out in full in Schiirer's Jewish People in the time
of Jesus Christ, i. 2, pp. 105-143; on the other side
should be read Sir W. M. Ramsay's Was Christ born at
Bethlehem? (1898). It has been held that St. Luke is
guilty of an anachronism in making the birth of Christ

180

I. QUIRINIUS 181

contemporary with the well-known enrolment under Qui-
rinius (Acts v. 37), which took place ten years after the
death of Herod, and that other features in his account,
which lacks external support, render the whole narrative
incredible. Those who argue that the Evangelist is guilty
of such gross error must at least admit that he had not
read the last books of the Antiquities of Josephus (see
Note IV below). But it is difficult to believe that a
historian generally so careful has erred in this way. Since
Schiirer's indictment was written, Ramsay has adduced
important new evidence from the papyri, proving that in
Egypt from the time of Augustus a periodic census or
"enrolment by household." took place every fourteen
years ; he has further given reason for thinking that this
system applied to other provinces and dependencies of
the Roman Empire, and that Judrea under Herod was
not exempt, although a concession was made to local
prejudice in the manner of the enrolment; he concludes
that the " first " enrolment under Quirinius and the birth
of Christ fell in the year 6 b.c. He has not quite re-
moved all difficulties. In particular, it seems impossible
to find room within the lifetime of Herod for the first
governorship of Quirinius, unless the r^y^ovia mentioned
by St. Luke refers to his appointment as a special lieutenant
of Augustus to conduct the war against the Homona-
denses, while Quintilius Varus administered the ordinary
affairs of Syria. But why in that case does St. Luke
connect the census with the military commander Quirinius,
rather than with Varus ?

182 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

IT. Note on § (26). The alleged witness to Jesus
Christ

Recent literature : —
{a) For the authenticity of the whole section.

F. C. Burkitt in Thcologisch Tijdschrift, Leiden, 191 3,

pp. 135 ff.
A. Harnack in Intemat. Monatsschrift fiir Wissenschaft
und Technik, 1913, pp. 1037 ff. (I have, unfortunately,
been unable to see this, and only know it through Norden's
rejoinder, which seems conclusive.)

(b) For partial interpolation.

Th. Reinach in Revue des Etudes Juives, torn, xxxv, 1897,
pp. I ff.

P. Corrsen in Zeitschrift fiir die N.T. Wissenschaft, 19 14,
pp. H4ff, Die Zeugnisse des Tacitus u. Pseudo Joseph us
iiber Christus (thinks the interpolation has probably re-
placed a genuine statement of Josephus about Christ).

(c) Against the authenticity of the whole section.

E. Norden in Neue Jahrbikher fiir das klassische Altertum,
vol. xxxi, 1913, pp. 637 ff., Josephus u. Tacitus iiber
Jesus Christus und eine messianische Prophetic.

E. Schurer, Hist, of Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ,
1898, I. 2, pp. 143 ff. (where the older literature is
quoted).
(d) For the passages in the Slavonic version of ihe B.J.

A. Berendts in Texte und Untersuchungen, N. F., Bd. XIV,

1906.

In this much debated passage Josephus appears to
speak of Jesus Christ as one of more than mortal nature,
as a wonder-worker and a teacher of men who receive
" the truth " with pleasure, and as gaining many adherents
among Jews and Greeks. Then comes the explicit state-
ment, "This was the Christ." The writer proceeds to
mention His crucifixion by Pilate " on the indictment of
our principal men," His resurrection and appearance to
His followers on the third day, and the survival at the
time of writing of " the tribe " of Christians who took
their name from Him.

The passage largely accounts for the high esteem in
which Josephus was held by Patristic writers. . Since the
revival of learning the question of its authenticity has
been the subject of keen controversy. Until recently

IT. JESUS CHRIST 183

few scholars of weight have ventured to maintain that
the paragraph as it stands can have been penned by
the Jewish historian ; the point on which opinions have
diverged has been whether the whole is an interpolation
or whether a genuine brief statement of Josephus about
Christ has been expanded and emended by a Christian
hand. In recent years the question has been reopened
in two ways, by the conversion of two authorities of the
first rank to the rejected view and by the discovery of
new materials. Professor Burkitt in this country and
(following him with a little hesitation) Harnack in Ger-
many have pronounced in favour of the genuineness of
the passage. The existence has also been brought to
light of other passages in the Slavonic version of the
Jewish War relating to John the Baptist, Christ and the
early Christians. The Slavonic matter may be treated
independently ; it has no attestation in the Greek MSS,
and, whatever its origin, lacks the authority with which
the present passage comes before us. Harnack has been
answered in a* masterly article by one of his own country-
men (Norden), and, notwithstanding the weight attaching
to the names of its recent supporters, the arguments
against the authenticity of the passage (at least in its
present form) appear overwhelming. The really decisive
factors in the problem must be sought rather in the rele-
vance of the passage to its context and in the style than
in any subjective considerations as to what Josephus
could or could not have written.

External evidence

The passage, it is true, stands in all our MSS, but this
tells us little, since the oldest of them (Niese's P) is not
earlier than the ninth or tenth century. Eusebius quotes
it {H.E. i. n, cf. Dem. Ev. iii. 3. 105 f.), thus attesting
its existence in the fourth century. On the other hand,
it is practically certain that Origen in the preceding

184 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

century did not find it in his text. He knows the
allusions to John the Baptist in the same book of the
Antiquities (§ 29) and to James the Lord's brother in
the twentieth book (§ 37), but of any mention of Christ
he has no word. Nor are we confined to this argu-
mentum e sikntio ; his language makes it impossible to
suppose that he found the statement " This was the
Christ." "The wonder is," he writes, "that, though he
(Josephus) did not admit our Jesus to be Christ, he
none the less gave his witness to so much righteousness
in James" (Comm. in Matt. x. 17); and again (writing
on John the Baptist) " although he (Josephus) disbelieved
in Jesus as Christ" (c. Cels. i. 47). The passage about
James as cited by Origen differs, indeed, from the
normal text ; according to Origen, Josephus regarded
the destruction of the Temple as a punishment for the
murder. Prof. Burkitt thinks that Origen may have
" mixed up in his commonplace book the account of
Ananus' murder of James and the remarks of Josephus
on Ananus' own murder " (§ 45) ; but it is difficult to
believe, as the Professor appears to suggest, that his
familiarity with the Antiquities was so slight that he
could have missed the statement in XVIII. 63 f. and
written as he did if it stood in his text. The real
importance of Origen's evidence is that it seems to
supply the date when our passage was interpolated by
a Christian reader, viz. towards the end of the third
century, between the age of Origen and that of Eusebius.

Internal evidence

(1) Context. — The latest advocates of the authenticity
of the statement have judged it on its merits, apart
from its context, from which it cannot be isolated. As
Norden has convincingly shown, it breaks the thread
of the narrative, the framework of which at this point
consists of a series of "tumults" or "disturbances"

II. JESUS CHRIST 185

(Oopvffoi). This framework seems to have been taken
over from an older authority, and so mechanically that
disturbances which occurred at different dates are treated
as contemporaneous. We have : —

First Oopvpos (XVI II. 55-59). — Pilate introduces the
Emperor's busts into Jerusalem and threatens the Jewish
petitioners with death "if they did not desist from
turbulence " (6opv/3e7v 58).

Second Oopvpos (60-62). — Pilate appropriates the Cor-
ban money for building purposes. His soldiers over-
power the insurgents (tovs Oopvftovvras 62), "and so the
sedition (o-rao-is) was quelled." (See § 25 of the translation
for these two 66pvj3oi).

[Here (63-64) comes the passage about Christ.]

Third Oopvftos (65-84). — Two scandalous events at
Rome leading respectively to the crucifixion of the priests
of Isis and to the banishment of the Jews (for the
second of these see §27). These paragraphs open with
the words " Now about the same time another calamity
disturbed (iOopvpci) the Jews."

Fourth dopvftos (85-87) in Samaria, introduced by the
words "The Samaritan race also was not exempt from
disturbance " (0opv/?os), while the next paragraph begins
" When the disturbance (Oopvftov) was put down."

It will be seen that this scheme is interrupted by the
Christian irepiKoirr). The opening of 65 connects the
third "disturbance" directly with the second (62).
The mention of Pilate naturally led the interpolator to
insert his statement at this point ; but the structure of
the original narrative leaves no room for it.

(2) Style. — Notwithstanding its brevity (it comprises
only three sentences in Niese's text) the paragraph is
long enough to betray in its language the hand of the
forger. The style is not quite so "neutral" as Harnack
suggests.

Here, again, regard must be had \§ the immediate

186 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

surroundings. The style of Josephus is variable, now
easy and flowing, now extraordinarily difficult. The
testimony to Christ is imbedded in a portion of the
Antiquities (XVII. i-XIX. 275) which contains some of
the hardest Greek in our author. The language through-
out this group of nearly three books is distinguished by
some well-marked characteristics, eg. a large use of
periphrastic expressions. The simple verb is replaced
by the combination of the nomen actoris in -t>}s with
KaOicrTaaOaL, yiyveaOat, etvai Or the like (thus KptTrjs el at
= Kpiv€iv XIX. 217); jay] a.7r7]XXay/x€vo<s with inf. {ibid.
"not incapable," " competent ") is a similar mannerism
of constant occurrence in these books and is based on
Thuc. I. 138. XpfjaOaL is used with extraordinary fre-
quency in periphrases. Other peculiarities are the use
of the neuter participle with article as an abstract noun
(Thucydidean), of ovScv (/x^Sei/) eis avaj3o\a<; for "quickly"
(after Thuc. VII. 15), and of o-n-oaos (100 examples in
these books) for otros in other parts of Josephus. The
departure from the author's normal practice extends to
the spelling ; the double o- (of Thucydides) in words like
Trpaao-eiv in these books replaces as a rule the so-called
" Attic " tt employed elsewhere in the Antiquities. Imita-
tion of Thucydides, found sporadically in other parts, here
reaches its climax. This practice largely accounts for
the cumbrous phrases and involved periods prevalent in
these books. The style is artificial and imitative and
does not lend itself readily to imitation by another.
The sources of this portion of the work are mainly, if
not entirely, Roman, notably the narrative of the
accession and (at quite disproportionate length) the
death (XIX. I. 275) of Caligula; and I can only account
for the phenomena by supposing that the author here
handed over entirely to one of his literary collaboratews
or awcpyoL (cp. Ap. I. 50), who had hitherto rendered

II. JESUS CHRIST .87

only occasional aid, the task of translating his Latin
authorities. On the accession of Claudius, when the
centre of interest shifts from Rome to Palestine, the
normal style is resumed (at XIX. 276).

Now, the mannerisms of Ant. XVII-X1X. 275 recur
with wearisome iteration ; it is rare to find a sentence
which does not contain one or more of them. Thus in
the paragraphs immediately preceding the passage about
Christ we find three examples of periphrasis with xpw^ai
(58, 60, 62); in the paragraph which follows two ex-
amples of ovk airaXkacro-tcrOaL (65, 68). But the passage
itself contains none of the really distinctive features ;
one phrase alone (rjBovrj hixecrOat) gives us pause. The
following details may be noticed.

"A doer of wonderful works." In compiling a Greek index to
Ant. XVI.-XX. I have not noticed another instance of 7rop<£So|os.

"Men who receive the truth with pleasure." "The truth"
(Ta\7]dii). The crasis is in the style of Jos., but the phrase is again
unexampled, at least in this portion. On the other hand, " to
receive with pleasure" {ySovfi 5e'xe<r0aO recurs in XVIII. 6, 59,
70, 236, 333 ; XIX. 127, 185 and similar phrases {rihovri <f>4p€iv,
XapS <p4p€tv or Se'xec&u) elsewhere in this portion of the work. I
account for this, with Norden, by supposing that " the interpolator
knew his author." He knew him just well enough to employ the
crasis in raAridrj and a phrase which he found twice in the immediate
context (59, 70).

"The Greeks" {rod 'EAAt}pikov). The neut. may be paralleled
by B.J. II. 268, but is not uncommon outside Josephus.

"Our principal men." Norden notes that, whereas "the first"
or "principal men" {oi irpwroi) is frequent in Ant. XX. (2, 6,
53, 119, 123, 135, etc.), it never has the personal note ("our")
attached to it.

"Those who first loved (him)." 'Ayatrav in Jos., never, accord-
ing to Norden, has the Christian meaning of "love," but only its
classical sense of "be content" ; an instance occurs in the previous
paragraph (60, cp. 242).

"On the third day." The phrase {rpirriv Ti/xepav exuv) W again
unexampled in Jos. ; the N.T. yields the nearest parallel (Lk. xxiv.
21, rpirriv ravrrfv rifxepav &yei).

"Alive again" {waAiv (dv). Jos. writes elsewhere of a future
life ava&iovv {Ant. XVIII. 14) and ycveardai re naAiv koX fiiov
aucivco Aoifielv {A/>. II. 218) ; he does not use £rjv or £a>^ in this
connexion.

N

1 88 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

"And to this very day" (et'y err t€ vvv). The phrase is foreign
to Jos., who commonly writes <eti koX vvv, occasionally koX ficxpl
rod vvv and the like, never els en (Norden).

Jos. is scrupulous in avoiding a harsh hiatus — the juxtaposition of
unelided vowels at the end of one word and the beginning of the
next. The interpolator writes raK^drj correctly, but, as Norden
notes, he has in these few lines introduced three glaring examples
of hiatus : 'EXKtjvikov eTrrjydyeTO, o~ravp(p iirLT€Tifj.r]K6ros, Tliharov

OVK.

(3) Contents. — Our decision must rest primarily upon
the arguments already adduced from context and style.
But the whole tone of the passage suggests a Christian
hand. It is the eulogy of a devotee masquerading under
the mantle of the Jewish historian, rather than what we
should expect, the bare chronicle, if not the bitter in-
vective, of the priestly historian himself. " If one should
call him a man " ; " this was the Christ." Could Jose-
phus have so written? Even Jerome found this last
phrase incomprehensible on such lips and altered it in
his translation to " credebatur esse Christus " (De vir. ill.
13). Prof. Burkitt ventures to uphold the authenticity even
of these words. The passage, he argues, was penned at
a time when Christianity had not yet become a formidable
foe to Judaism, and was intended as an answer to Jewish
expostulations on the subject of the coming of Messiah.
This is how he paraphrases it : " Yes, the Christ was to
come and indeed did come. That very estimable person
who met with his death some time ago was the Christ.
As in the case of so many other personages in our
divinely chosen nation, there were some wonders and
prodigies told about him. Even now there are some
who revere him. They are good harmless folk like their
master. But they are quite unimportant and no danger
to the State ; when you hear of ' Christ ' it is no future
Hannibal or Spartacus, but a good man who is dead
and gone " (loc. cit. p. 140 f.). The reader must be
left to estimate the value of this interpretation of the

II. JESUS CHRIST 189

historian's character and language in the light of the
other evidence.

The theory of partial interpolation, held by those who
reject the obviously Christian phrases but believe that
Josephus made some statement about Christ, is unsatis-
factory. In so far as it is supported by any solid argu-
ments, it is based partly on the few phrases for which
parallels can be found in his writings, partly on the
assumption that the other mention of " Jesus who was
called Christ " (Ant. XX. 200) implies a fuller statement
elsewhere. But the elimination of all that is suggestive
of Christian origin leaves practically nothing behind.
We may well follow Norden in declining to discuss what
he calls the "transcendental" question whether the in-
terpolation may have ousted a genuine statement of the
historian about Christ, now lost beyond recovery ; merely
adding that the argument that the paragraph interrupts
the sequence of the narrative is an argument for its
spuriousness as a whole.

In connexion with the passage in Ant., the very curious
additional matter in the Slavonic version of the Jewish
War (edited with a German translation by Berendts,
v. supra) must be briefly mentioned.

Of the eight passages the first three relate to the
Baptist. (1) A description of "the savage" (Wilder)
and his baptism, of his being brought before Archelaus
and how Simon the Essene disputed with him ; (2) his
interpretation of a dream of Herod Philip ; (3) his re-
buke of Herod (Antipas) for marrying Herodias his
brother Philip's wife after the latter's death (" for thou
dost not raise up seed to thy brother, but gratifyest thy
fleshly lusts and committest adultery, since he has left
four children "), and his abstinence, even from unleavened
bread at the Passover season. Then follows (4) a

190 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

description of Christ, beginning in the same way as our
passage, "At that time there arose a man, if it is right
to call him a man," but with much greater detail : his
miracles wrought by a mere word (this is twice repeated);
the current belief that he was " the first lawgiver risen
from the dead " ; his resort to the Mount of Olives j his
150 disciples (Knechten) ; and how Pilate, whose dying
wife he had healed, released him upon the first hearing,
but was subsequently induced by a bribe of thirty talents
from the Jews (a curious distortion of the Gospel story !)
to deliver him to them for crucifixion. No. (5) tells
of the persecution and dispersion of the early Christians,
who were drawn from the lower classes, shoemakers and
labourers ; (6) of an additional inscription round the
outer wall of the Holy Place (cp. B.J. V. 5. 2 [193 f.]),
"Jesus did not reign as King; he was crucified by the
Jews because he announced the destruction of the city
and the desolation of the Temple"; (7) of the rending
of the veil of the Temple and current views upon
Christ's resurrection, "Some report that he rose from
the dead, others that he was stolen by his friends. I
know not which are right. . . ." ; (8) of the oracle con-
cerning the world-ruler who was to come from Judaea
(see § 50 in the translations), "Some understood that it
referred to Herod, others to the crucified wonder-worker
Jesus, others to Vespasian."

The actual MSS containing these extraordinary pas-
sages are not earlier than the fifteenth century; the
translation can be dated back to the thirteenth century
at latest. The earlier history of the additions is lost in
obscurity ; they have left no trace in the extant Greek
MSS. Berendts boldly maintains their authenticity, be-
lieving them to be fragments of the original Aramaic
edition of the Jewish War written for Syrian readers
(§ 38), which were eliminated when the later Greek

III. THE HUSBAND OF HERODIAS 191

version, addressed to a wider and more critical circle,
was produced. This daring theory has met with little
support ; but the origin of the passages remains a mystery,
no final solution of which is possible pending the publi-
cation of a complete text from the Russian MSS. The
remarkable facts about them are their Jewish appearance,
their independence (in part) of the Gospel narrative and
the impression which they make of being derived from
oral tradition. Parallels to a few of the statements (the
bribery of Pilate, the healing "by a word") occur in the
Christian apocryphal Epistle of Tiberius to Pilate (ed.
M. R. James in Texts and Studies, vol. V. p. 78, 1899) ;
compare also the apocryphal Acts of Pilate (Tischendorf,
Evangelia Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1853, p. 292), where
Joseph of Arimathaea, addressing the body of Christ,
uses the words "if it be right to call thee a man,"
recalling the phrase common to the fourth Slavonic
passage and the "testimony" in the Antiquities.

III. Note on § (29). The First Husband of
Herodias

Josephus calls the injured husband simply Herod. The
first two Gospels give him the name Philip (" Herodias
his brother Philip's wife," Matt. xiv. 3, Mark vi. 17).
The name stands in all the MSS in Mark ; in Matthew
it is omitted by the "Western text" (cod. D and Latin
versions); in Luke (iii. 19) it is absent from all the
best MSS and in those which insert it is undoubtedly
an interpolation from the other Gospels. It is clear
from Josephus that the first husband of Herodias was
not Philip the Tetrarch, but his half-brother who paid
the penalty for his mother's complicity in a plot by
having his name removed from Herod's will, and lived
as a private individual, apparently in Jerusalem (cf. B.J.

192 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

I. 30. 7 [600]). Either then Herod the Great had two
sons named Philip (1) by Mariamne II (daughter of
Simon the High Priest), the husband of Herodias, and
(2) by Cleopatra, Philip the Tetrarch, who married
Salome the daughter of Herodias ; or, more probably,
the name Philip in the first two Gospels is a primitive
error, due to confusion between the husband and the
son-in-law of Herodias. That two sons should have
borne the name Philip is improbable j no argument can
be drawn from the appropriation of the dynastic or
family name Herod by more than one member of the
family. The omission of the name Philip by St. Luke,
who shows special acquaintance with the Herodian
court, is very significant. The confusion with Philip
the Tetrarch appears elsewhere, notably in the eccentric
account of the Baptist's denunciation of the second
marriage of Herodias in the Slavonic version of the
Jewish War (Note II above).

IV. Note on § (35). Theudas and Judas

This passage has been often quoted as convincing
proof that St. Luke had read the Antiquities of Josephus,
or at least the twentieth book. On this view the date
of the Acts must be brought down to the close of the
first century. The Evangelist is at the same time accused
of the grossest carelessness.

Gamaliel in his speech in the Sanhedrin adduces two
instances of insurrectionary movements which came to
nought in the chronological order: (1) Theudas, (2)
Judas of Galilee (Acts v. 36 f.).

The date when Gamaliel is represented as speaking
must have been some time in the early "thirties." The
revolt of Theudas, according to Josephus, occurred in
the procuratorship of Cuspius Fadus (about 44-46 a.d.),

IV. THEUDAS AND JUDAS 193

at least ten years later. The revolt of Judas in "the
days of the enrolment " was in 6 a.d. Thus the events
appear to have been transposed in the speech and one of
them to have been still in the womb of the future!

The error, if it is one, is commonly explained as due
to a cursory reading and inaccurate recollection on the
part of the Evangelist of the passage in the Antiquities
which alludes to the fate first of Theudas and then of
the sons of Judas under the procuratorship of Tiberius
Alexander (about 46-48 a.d.), the latter notice leading
to a brief mention of their father. This view has been
supported by Burkitt (Gospel History and its transmission,
pp. 106 ff.), Krenkel (Josephus and Lucas), Schmiedel
(art. in Encycl. Bibl.) and many German commentators.
It has been rejected, among others, by Schiirer, Blass,
Harnack (Date of the Acts and the Synoptic Gospels,
p. 115), Stanton (Gospels as Historical Documents, pt.
II, p. 272), and most recently by Prof. C. C. Torrey
(Composition and date of Acts, Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 1916). Cf. also an art. on "St. Luke
and Josephus," by the Rev. J. W. Hunkin, in the Church
Quarterly Review for April 19 19, pp. 89-108.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there has
been error on the part of some one responsible for
putting the speech into the mouth of Gamaliel. The
attempts which have been made to remove the apparent
anachronism are unconvincing. Either an earlier un-
known Theudas is postulated (but one would expect the
person named by Gamaliel along with the notorious
Judas to have been of sufficient importance to be
mentioned by Josephus) ; or the mistake as to the date
of Theudas is shifted to Josephus ; or the name Theudas
is regarded as a Christian interpolation in the Antiquities
(Blass).

But that the passage in Acts is to be explained by

N

t94 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

a casual perusal of Josephus by St. Luke is highly
improbable for the following reasons : —

(i) St. Luke gives the number of the followers of
Theudas as "about four hundred"; Josephus writes
"most of the common people." Clearly St. Luke had
access to some source other than Josephus.

(2) The carelessness attributed to St. Luke in the
supposed use of Josephus is not what we should expect
from the professions of the writer of the prologue to
the third Gospel and from the handling of his sources
in the earlier work.

(3) If there has been error, it is older than St. Luke
and goes back to his authority. Torrey in the above-
mentioned work seems to have proved conclusively that
Acts i-xv is based on an Aramaic source, to which St.
Luke was "singularly faithful." "He disliked to alter,
even slightly, the document in his hands, even where
he believed its statements to be mistaken, and where
he found himself obliged to contradict them " (p. 40).
On the alleged use of Josephus in Acts v., after referring
to the horror which must have been aroused in Judaea by
the crucifixion of the sons of the insurgent Judas, he
adds : " Any history dealing with this period would have
been pretty certain to mention Theudas and Judas at this
point, and in this order, although the revolt under Judas
really happened much earlier. From some history of
the kind, in which the facts were not clearly stated,
the author of Luke's Aramaic source obtained his wrong
impression of the order of events " (p. 7 1 ).

V. Note on § (45). The Blood of Zacharias

This incident is of interest to the N.T. student
because of the suggestion, made long ago and recently
revived by Wellhausen, to identify the Zacharias of

V. ZACH ARIAS 195

Josephus with the " Zachariah son of Barachiah " of
Matt, xxiii. 35. "Son of Barachiah" is a well-known
crux in that passage, but, pace VVellhausen, there is little
or no doubt that our Lord there referred to the murder
of Zechariah son of Jehoiada described in 2 Chron.
xx iv. 1 9 ff.

The theory of Wellhausen and others evades the
difficulty of an apparent confusion in Matthew between
the pre-exilic prophet and the prophet of the Restoration,
but introduces far greater difficulties. The text of
Josephus just fails to supply the desired evidence. The
name of the father of the Zacharias of Josephus resembles,
but, it will be observed, only resembles, the Bapaxtas
of the N.T. There is a variety of readings, but
Bapto-KCLios (LM'"K) has the appearance of being what
Josephus wrote or at least the nearest approximation in
the MSS to the original name. Bapeis of most MSS is a
corruption of this. The reading "Baruch" (the nearest
approach to "Barachias") is doubtless a correction;
it occurs only in cod. C which in other instances re-
places an unfamiliar by a Biblical name (Niese, vol. VI,
p. xxxix), and as an alternative to M Bariscaeus " in
cod. M.

Again, it may be urged in support of this theory that
the two murders mentioned in Matthew are cited as the
first and last of a series, and that as that of Abel was
the first recorded in Biblical history, so that of Zachariah
ben Bariscaeus was the last outstanding murder of a
Jew by his own countrymen before the Fall of Jerusalem,
which is the culminating event in the mind of the Speaker
in Matt, xxiii. The contemporaneous murder of Ananus
is regarded by Josephus as the beginning of the end.

The obvious difficulty of this identification is that
in the mouth of our Lord the words must be pro-
phetical, whereas the past tense is used in both reports

j96 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

of the words ("whom ye slew" Matt., "who perished"
Luke xi. 51).

The passage in Matthew and the parallel passage in
Luke are both derived from an older source, an early col-
lection of the Sayings of Jesus (commonly called " Q ") ;
and behind that again apparently lies a still older source,
an apocryphal Wisdom book from which Christ is
quoting ("Therefore also said the Wisdom of God,"
Luke xi. 49). Luke does not insert the words "son
of Barachiah," and it is therefore doubtful whether they
stood in Q; Harnack {Sayings of Jesus, p. 104) con-
cludes that they did not. But that they belong to the
original text of the first Gospel and are not a later
interpolation there seems no reason to doubt. If the
error originated with the Evangelist himself, we may
compare the rather similar confusion ("Jeremiah" for
" Zechariah ") in Matt, xxvii. 9 ; if, as seems more
probable, he has taken it over from Jewish tradition,
it is natural to find such influence in this particular
Gospel.

The three persons bearing the name of Zacharias who
come primarily x into the question are : —

(1) Z. ben Jehoiada, murdered in the first Temple
(2 Chron. xxiv.).

(2) Z. ben Berechiah ben Iddo, the prophet of the
Restoration (Zech. i. 1).

(3) Z. ben Bariscaeus, murdered in Herod's Temple
(Josephus).

There is every reason for identifying the Zacharias
referred to by our Lord with the first of these, whether
we look at the original text of Chronicles or at the
Jewish Haggadah which grew up round it

(i) With the words of Christ, or of the personified

1 Tradition also connects Z. ben Jeberechiah (Isa. viii. 2) and
Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, with the N.T. passage.

V. ZACHARTAS 197

Wisdom in the work from which He quotes, " I send
unto you prophets" (Luke "I will send unto them
prophets") compare 2 Chron. xxiv. 19, "Yet he sent
prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord."

(ii) With St. Luke's twice repeated " may (shall) be
required of this generation " (xi. 50 f.) cp. the dying
words of Zechariah, "The Lord look upon it and
require it," as also Abel's blood "crying from the
ground " (Gen. iv. 10).

(iii) Turning to Jewish tradition, we find that legend
has been active in connexion with the murder in the
Temple of a pre-exilic Zachariah who can be no other
than the son of Jehoiada. And it is noteworthy that
the two points dwelt on are just those which appear in
the N.T. passage, viz. (a) the exact spot in the Temple
where the murder occurred (cp. the precise localisation
" between the sanctuary and the altar ") and (b) the
crying out of the blood from the ground for vengeance,
like that of Abel, and the terrible expiation required to
still it. " R. Johanan said," we read,1 " ' Eighty thousand
of the flower of the priesthood were slain on account of
the blood of Zachariah.' R. Judan asked R. Aha ' Where
did they kill Zachariah ? In the Court of the Women or
in the Court of Israel ? ' • He answered, ' Neither in the
Court of the Women nor in the Court of Israel, but in
the Court of the Priests.' " The legend goes on to tell
how the murder was rendered more heinous by being
committed on a sabbath and that the Day of Atone-
ment, and how Nebuzaradan when he entered the
Temple saw the prophet's blood welling up from the
floor, and of the holocaust of priests which hardly availed
to quench the stream.

1 Translated from 71/., Taonith iv. 5, by G. F. Moore in the
Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. xxvi. (1906), pp.
317 ff; cf. Lightfoot Horn Hebraicce on Matt. /. c.

198 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

(iv) Furthermore, there is evidence to show that the
Rabbis, like the author of the first Gospel, confused or,
disregarding chronology, identified the pre-exilic victim
with Zechariah the prophet of the Restoration. The
Targum on Lam. ii. 20 (" Shall the priest and the
prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord ? ") runs,
" Is it also fit that they should slay a priest and prophet
in the Temple of the Lord, as ye slew Zacharias the son
of Iddo ... in the house of the Sanctuary, on the day
of Expiation?" (Lightfoot I.e.). The Midrash (tr.
Wiinsche) interprets the same passage of Lam. of
Zechariah son of Jehoiada.

(v) What is the intended series or line of which
Zechariah is the last representative? Abel is naturally
the first, but, chronologically, Z. ben Jehoiada was not
the last prophet whose murder is recorded in the O.T. ;
Uriah (Jer. xxvi. 20 ff.) was later. The usual explanation
that his murder stands last in the arrangement of the
Hebrew Bible with Chronicles at the end is unsatis-
factory ; the books of the O.T. still circulated separately
in the first century of our era. Moore's answer is " It is
not because the death of Z. was the last crime of the
kind in Jewish history that it is named in the Gospel,
but because it was in popular legend the typical example
of the sacrilegious murder of a righteous man, a prophet
of God, and of the appalling expiation God exacted for
it." But the identification of the victim with the prophet
of the Restoration suggests another answer. Zechariah
ben Berechiah did in fact stand chronologically at the
end of the prophets ; as Josephus writes (§ 63), the
succession failed after Artaxerxes (i. e. Ahasuerus). The
context in Matthew relates to the ancient prophets ; the
later generation that built the prophets' tombs is set over
against that of the forefathers who murdered them. That
the final instance of such murder should be drawn from

VI. PORTENTS AND ORACLES 199

recent (to say nothing of future) history would be inap-
propriate. The son of Barisc&US was no prophet or priest
and "as a layman would have no business in the part of
the court between the temple and the altar " (Moore).

For the opposite view see Wellhausen Einleitung in
die drei ersten Evangelien, ed. 2 ( 1 9 1 1 ), pp. 1 1 8 fF. His main
points are that Chronicles was a learned, not a popular,
book and not likely to have been known to or quoted by
Christ (but Christ is apparently quoting at second hand
from one of those apocryphal books which were essentially
popular), and that the rabbinical legend is in its origin
unconnected with the story in Chronicles and really an
echo (Nachklang) of the episode in Josephus, the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans having here, as
elsewhere, been confused with the earlier destruction by
the Babylonians.

VI. Note on § (50). Portents and Oracles

With this passage should be compared the following
allusions in Roman writers : —

Tacitus Hist. V. 13. " Portents had occurred j but that
nation, at once a prey to superstition and an enemy of
religious rites, regards it wrong to avert such omens by
sacrifices or votive offerings. There were visions of
armies joining battle in the heavens with armour glowing
red,1 and the Temple in an instant was all lit up with
fire from the clouds. The doors of the sanctuary opened
of a sudden and there was heard a voice of superhuman
strength saying that the gods were departing, and at the
same moment a mighty commotion of departing beings.
Yet few saw a fearful meaning in these things. Many
were firmly persuaded that their ancient priestly lore
contained a prediction that at that very time the East

1 After Virg. &n. VIII. 528 f.

200 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

was to wax strong and persons proceeding from Judasa
were to become masters of the world. This enigmatic
utterance had foretold of Vespasian and Titus, but the
common people, with the usual ambition of humanity,
read it as predicting this high destiny for themselves,
and even disaster failed to bring home to them its true
meaning."

Suet. Vesp. 4. " An ancient and rooted belief had
spread throughout the whole of the East that persons
proceeding from Judaea were destined at that time to
become masters of the world. The prophecy, as after
events proved, had reference to the Roman Emperor,
but the Jews appropriated it to themselves and plunged
into revolt."

For interesting discussions on Josephus and Tacitus
and the (Messianic) prophecy the reader is referred to
the articles by Norden and Corrsen mentioned at the
head of Note II.

VII. Note on § (63). The Twenty-two Books of
Scripture

This passage is important in connexion with the history
of the O.T. canon. The language of Josephus implies
that the canon had long since been closed, the test of
canonicity being antiquity. Nothing written later than
Artaxerxes (#. e. Ahasuerus) has full credentials. The
mention of Artaxerxes must refer to the book of Esther,
which Josephus thus regards as the latest addition to the
collection. The statement differs in some respects from
what is believed to be the oldest Palestinian tradition,
but there is no reason to doubt that the unnamed 22
books are other than those comprised in the modern
Hebrew Bible.

(1) The number 22 as the total of the books of Scripture

VII. THE TWENTY-TWO BOOKS 201

is here met with for the first time, but reappears as the
dominant reckoning in early Eastern Church writers
(Melito, Origen, etc.), who connect it with the 22 letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. As these writers were in touch
with Palestinian tradition and Melito expressly states
that he derived his information from the East (ap. Eus.
H.E. IV. 26), it seems that this reckoning had the
support of at least one section of the synagogue. The
normal tradition, however, made the total 24, a number
which first appears in a work almost contemporary with
the Contra Apionem, 2 Esdras (or the Apocalypse of
Ezra) xiv. 45 (Oriental text). The smaller number was
reached by treating Ruth and Lamentations as supple-
ments respectively to Judges and Jeremiah. The
arrangement in 24 books possibly arose in Babylonia.1

It is uncertain which of these two reckonings is the
older, but in favour of the priority of the number 24 it
may be said that (i) the equation with the number of
Hebrew letters is artificial and therefore likely to be late,
although as Josephus does not allude to this it may be
an after refinement; (ii) it is easier to understand the
subsequent attachment of Ruth and Lamentations to
prophetical books with which their contents or supposed
authorship connected them than how, having once gained
admission among the Prophets, they could afterwards be
relegated to the lower category of "Writings," in which
they now stand.

A third and later arrangement names 27 books, a
number arrived at by dividing the double books, while
the parallelism with the Hebrew alphabet is retained by
reckoning separately the "final" forms of those letters
which possessed them. Jerome in his preface to the
Books of Samuel and Kings shows acquaintance with
all three systems.

1 Fiirst {Kanon des A.T.), p. 4.

202 APPENDIX OF ADDITIONAL NOTES

(2) Josephus presents a tripartite arrangement {$ + 13
+ 4 books), but not the normal one (5 + 8 + n: Law,
Prophets, Writings). His third group is reduced to 4
by the transference to the " Prophets " of a number of
books commonly included in the u Writings." The
normal arrangement, which reflects the stages in the
formation of the canon and places, e. g., Daniel in the
third group because of the late date at which it gained
admission, is clearly the more ancient. Josephus as a
Greek historian writing for Greek readers neglects this
and follows the example of the translators of the Greek
Bible in grouping all the historical and prophetical
books together. A close parallel to his third class
("hymns to God and practical precepts for men") may
be found in the description of the sacred books of the
Therapeutae in Egypt in the De Vita Contemplativa
ascribed to Philo, " Laws and oracles delivered by
prophets and hymns and the other {works) by which know-
ledge and piety are promoted and perfected " (ed. Conybeare

P. 61).

(3) The constituent books doubtless here, as with the
Christian writers who name 22 as the total and enumerate
the books (cp. Origen in Eus. HE. VI. 25), coincide
with the normal Hebrew canon. Dr. Ryle {Canon 0]
O.T. p. 165 f.) concludes that the 13 books of the
Prophets are probably (1) Joshua, (2) Judges + Ruth, (3)
Sam., (4) Kings, (5) Chron., (6) Ezra + Nehemiah, (7)
Esther, (8) Job, (9) Isaiah, (10) Jeremiah + Lamentations
(11) Ezekiel, (12) Minor Prophets, (13) Daniel; while
the group of four will comprise (1) Psalms with (2) Song
of Songs, constituting the "hymns," and (3) Proverbs
with (4) Ecclesiastes, the " practical precepts." The view
of Gratz that Josephus omitted Ecclesiastes and the Song
of Songs, as not having yet been admitted to the canon,
has not met with acceptance.

VII. THE TWENTY-TWO BOOKS 203

(4) The canon here laid down has not governed the
historian's practice. He does not scruple to draw upon
apocryphal books like 1 Maccabees, nor does he hint
that the authorities used in the latter part of the
Ajitiquities, for the period subsequent to " Artaxerxes,"
are less trustworthy than the rest ; he implies, on the
contrary, that the whole work is in accordance with
" the holy books " (cp. Ant. I. 17 ; XX. 261).

The reader may consult in particular the works on the
Canon of the O.T. by Ryle (pp. 160-66) and Buhl and
the article " Bible Canon " in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

TABLE OF DATES

The figures in brackets refer to the numbered translations.

B.C.

Judaea and Syria.

Rome.

135

John Hybcanus I (56)

IO4

Aristobulus I

I03

Alexander Jann^eus (57)

76

Queen Alexandra (57) (58)

67

Aristobulus II

63

Pompey takes Jerusalem and
Syria becomes a Roman
province (8)

63-4O

Hyrcanus II a Roman vassal

c- 57

Gabinius divides Palestine into
five districts (9)

48

Battle of Pharsalia
Defeat of Pom-
pey by J. Caesar

47

Palestinian settlement under
J. Caesar (10)

c. 46

Antipater and Herod in power.
Trial of Herod (12)

44

Death of J. Caesar

c 43

Cassius in Syria. Herod made
governor of Ccele-Syria (13)

42

Battle of Philippi.

Defeat of Brutus
and Cassius by
Antony and Oc-
tavian

4i

Antony appoints , Herod and
Phasael tetrarchs of Judaea

(14)
Invasion of Palestine by the

40

Parthians. Flight of Herod

to Rome (15)

40-37

Antigonus

204

TABLE OF DATES

205

37

37-4
3i

30

29
23

c. 7
4

AD.

6

6/7

14
26-36

37
41
44

c. 46

50-100
54

52-60
60-62
62-64
64-66
66

Jud.ca and Syria.

Jerusalem captured l>y Herod

and Sosius.
EIbrod 1 iik Gkzat

Herod's kingdom confirmed by

Augustus (16)
Execution of Maiiamne (17)
Trachonitis etc. added to

Herod's kingdom (18)
Execution of Alexander and

Aristobulus (20)
Death of Herod
His kingdom divided between
Archelaus (b.c. 4-

A.D. 6)

H.<J. 4-N

4-A.D. L2)

Philip (b.c

34)

and Antipas (b.c. 4- 1
a.d. 39) J

Judoea annexed to the province
of Syria under procurators

(23)

Census of Quirinius and revolt
of Judas (24)

Pontius Pilate procurator (25)

(28)
Herod Agrippa I. (30)

Death of Herod Agrippa I. (33)

(Famine in Judiea (34)
Crucifixion of sons of Judas

Herod Agrippa II. (3) (36)

Procurators —

Felix (36) \

Festus L/-.M

Albinus p39>

Gessius Florus J
Outbreak of war with Rome
Cessation of daily offering for
the Emperor (40)

ROMS.

Hat tie of Actium.
Defeat of Antony
by Augustus

Tiberius

Caligula (31)
Claudius (32)

Nero

206

TABLE OF DATES

A.D

Jud^a and Syria.

Rome.

66 Oct.

Defeat of Cestius Gallus near

Beth-Horon (41)
Josephus in command of Galilee

67 spring

Advance of Vespasian from
Antioch

July

Capture of Jotapata (43)

67-68 winter

Civil war in Jerusalem (45)

68 Tune

Campaign interrupted through

death of Nero

68-69

Galba, Otho,

VlTELLIUS

69 July

Vespasian pro-
claimed Emperor

70 April

Titus lays siege to Jerusalem

July

Cessation of Temple sacrifices

(48)'
Capture and burning of Temple

(49)
Capture of the whole city (51)

Aug.

Sept.

79

Titus

81-96

Domitian

INDEX

Abel, 195, 197

Al>ella, Abila, 88, 94, 102

Aciium, battle of, 55, 73

Acts, 90, 107 »., 192 ft.

Ader = Ben-hadad, 42

Adiabene, 90, 99

Agrippa, M., 57 f., 60

son of Felix and Drusilla,

95
Herod Agrippa. See

Herod
Ahab, 42 ft".

Albinus, 96 f., 105, 144
Alexander the Alabarch, 93

brother-in-law of Herod,

54

Jannaeus, 164

son of Herod, 58, 60

, Tiberius, 93, 193

Alexandra, 164 ft".

Alexandria, 92, 97

Alexandrium, 60

Alexas, 63

Aliturus, 34

Alphabet, the Hebrew, and the

books of Scripture, 201
Amathus, 47
Ananias, 91

high priest, 107

Ananus I, high priest, 73, 96
II, high priest, 96 f.

Ill, high priest, 118 f.,

130 f., 184, 195

son of Jonathan, 113

Anaxagoras, 171
Antigonus, 53 f.
Antioch, 107, no
Antiochus, no

Epiphanes, 162

Antipas, 109

Antipater, father of Herod, 47 ft,

51 ff.

son of Herod, 62

nephew of Herod, 68

Antipatris, in, 117

Anti-Semitism, 18 f.
Antonia, 84

Tower of, 135, 138, J 45

Antony, 51 f., 55 f.

Apiou, Against ', 18 f.

Aqiba R., 148

Aqueduct, 75

Arabia, 80, 99

Arabians, 55

Aramaic original of B. /., 14, 98

speech in, 136

Archelaus, 16, 29, 66 ff., 140 «.,

189
Arethusa, 46
Aris/eas, Letter of, 17
Aiistobulus II, 45 f., 165

son of Herod, 58, 60

brother of Herod Agrippa I,

85
Artaxerxes = Ahasuerus, 176,

198, 200
Artemisium, month of, 143
Ascalon, 71
Asphaltitis, Asphaltophorus

( = Dead Sea), 63
Athenian laws, 172
Athens, plague of, 26
Atomos, 95
Atratinus, 53
Augustus (Octavius, Caesar), 51,

53 f-, 55 f-, 57f.,6o, 68 ff.
Auranitis, 58, 70, 88«., no
Autocratoris (= Sepphoris), 74
Azizus, 94 f.
Azotus, 46, 70

Babylonians, 99 ; Babylonian
and Roman destruction of
Jerusalem confused, 199

Bagoas, 169

Bannus, 10, 33

Baptism, John's, 80 f.

Barachiah, Berechiah, 195 ft".

Baiis, Bariscaeus, Baruch, 131,
195 ff.

207

208

INDEX

Batanaea, 58, 70, 94, 102, no

Berendts, A., i89f.

Berenice, 95

Berytus, 35

Betharamphtha, 74

Beth-Horon, III, 116

Bethsaida, 74

Bezetha, 113

Blass, F., 193

Books (the) Sacred, 123, 145

Borcaeus, 112

Brigands, 102, 104 f., 150

Burial, Jewish care for, 130

Burkitt, F. C, 183, 188, 193

Caesar, Julius, 47

, Sextus, 48, 50

Caesarea (Strato's Tower), 46,
57 n., 74 f., 88, 90, 104

Philippi, 74

Caligula (=Gaius), i6f., 19,

27, 82-7, 90, 186
Callirrhoe, 63
Calvarius, Sextus, 120
Calvinus, 54
Candlestick, seven-branched, 45,

147

Captain of Temple. See Temple

Carus, 169

Cassius, 51 f.

Catapult, 117, 144 n.

Caudine Forks, no

Census, periodic in Egypt, 181

Cerealius, 38

Cestius Gallus, II, 15, 106 f.,

iioff.
Chalcis, 94, 102
Christians and Christianity, 10,

22 f., 76, 182 ff.
Chronicles, 195, 198 (as last

book in the Heb. Bible)
Circumcision, 90 f., 95
"Civil List" of Vespasian, 13
Claudius, Emperor, 76, 88, 90,

102
Claudius Felix. See Felix
Cleopatra, 52, 55f.

wife of Herod the Great,

192
Cluvius Rufus, 17, 27

Ccele-Syria, 46, 51
Collaborateurs of Josephus, 14,

186
Coponius, 72.
Corban, an oath, 29, 179 ; sacred

treasure, 75 n.
Corrsen, P., 182, 200
Costobar, 109, 117
Crasis, 187
Crete, 39
Crucifixion, 38, 6S, 102, 130,

185
Custodia, libera, 83 n.
Customs and Causes, projected

work, 19
Cyprus, 92, 95

Dacians, 160

Daphne, 52

Darius, no

Demetrius of Gadara, 46

Demoniacal possession, 41 f.

Destiny, 61. Cp. Fate

Dicaearchia(= Puteoli), 34

Didius, Quintus, 56

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 15,

26
Dium, 46

Dius, month of, 117
Domitia, 39
Domitian, 39
Domitius Sabinus, 120
Dora, 46
Drusilla, 29, 94 f.
Drusus, 81

Education, the two systems of,

172
Egyptian false prophet, 103 f.
Eleazar, 42, 91

the brigand, 102

Captain of the Temple,

107

a Pharisee, 162

son of Simon, 118

Elijah, 44
Elymas, 29, 94
Epaphroditus, 15, 17
Esdras II, 20 1
Essenes, 33, 148-60

INDEX

209

Esther, 200

Fusebius, 89 >:., 96, I83

Exorcism, 41 1.
EzekiM, 48 1.

Ezekiel, 42

Fadus, ( 'u.spius, 93, 192
Famine at Jerusalem, 92 f.
Fasts, Jewish, observed l>y

aliens, 178
Fate, 141, 145, ^8, 157, 159-

Cp. Destiny
Faust us, 45

Feast of Unleavened Bread,

106, 142

of Passover, 66, 189

of Pentecost, 68, 143

of Tabernacles, III, 143

commemorating Herod's

death, 64 n.
Felix, Claudius, 10, 29, 34,

94 f., 102 flf.
Festus, 29, 105

Florus, Gessius, io6f., 109, 161
Flute- players as mourners, 129
Fortune, 61, 126
Free-will, 61, 148, 159
Fulvia, 77
Future Life, 124, 159, 174.

Cp. Immortality

Gabinius, 47, 53

Gadara, 46, 47, 70

Gaius. See Caligula

Galilee, 11, 48 f., 70, 102

Gallicanus, 122

Gamala, 73, 80

Gamaliel, 28. 192 f.

Games : Isthmian, Nemean,

Olympic, 174/*.
Gaulanitis, 102
Gaza, 46, 70
Gennesaret, Lake of, 74
Gerizim, Mount, 77
Gibeon, III, 115
Gorpioeus, month of, 146
Gospels, primitive error in, 192
Gratz, 202

Greek philosophy, 171
O

Hades, 125, 156, 1 58
Haggadah, Jewish, 196 fl*.
Harnack, A., 183, 193, 196

ippns, 95
Helena, 90 ff.
Herod the Great, i6f, 28,48-

65, 66-71,104,167-9,190
Antipas (the Tctrarch)

29,67,70,73^.79^,189

Philip. See Philip

husband of Kerodias, 79,

191 f.
Agrippa I, 17, 29, 79, 87,

88-90
Agrippa II, 13-15, 17, 25,

29, 36 f-, 94, 96 f-, 102,

109 f., 112
Herodias, 29, 79, 81 f., 189,

191 f.
Hiatus, avoidance of, 188
Hippos, 46, 70
Historians, ancient, contrasted

with contemporary, 101
Hyperberetseus, month of, 113
Hyrcanus I, i6iff., 166

II, 45-54

son of Josephus, 39

Idumaea, 70; Idumaeans, 129 ff.
Images, making of, 74
Immortality of Soul, 155-9
Innocents, murder of the, 28,

63.
Inspiration, 176

Interpolation, Christian in Jo-
sephus, 182 ff.
Iremeus, 67

Islands of the Blessed, 156
Ixion, 156
Izates, 90 ff.

Jadaus (Jadon), 44

James, the brother of Jesus, 22,

29, 95 f.
Jamnia, 46, 70
Jeconiah, king, 136
Jehoiada, 195 ff.
Jehoshaphat, 43
Jeremiah, 42

210

INDEX

Jericho, 47, 63, 66
Jeroboam, 44
Jerome, 24, 188, 201
Jesus Christ, 22, 76, 182 ff.

son of Ananias, 143 f.

son of Damnreus, high

priest, 97, i3of.

Jewish Antiquities, 15 ff., 24 f. ;
Books XVII-XIX, peculiari-
ties of style in, 26, 186; Roman
sources of, 186

Jewish War, 14 f., 25, 35 ff.,
98 tf. ; Aramaic original of,
14, 98, 190 f. ; Slavonic version
of, 183, 189 ff., 192

Jews in Rome, 69, 76 f. ; in
Egypt and Babylon, 175

, persecution of, 177 f.

Joazar, high priest, 72

John the Baptist, 22, 80 f., 189

of Gischala, 11, 135 if.

Jonathan, high priest, 103

a Sadducee, 162 f.

Joppa, 46, in

Joseph, the patriarch, 123 f.

of Arimathaea, 191

brother-in-law of Herod,

56 f-

son of Gorion, 118

high priest, 96

Josephus, life of, 9 ff. ; works,
14 ff. ; authorities, 16 f, 25 f. ;
character, 20 ff. ; attitude to
Judaism, 22 ; to Chris-
tianity, 22 f., 188 f . ; as his-
torian, 24 ff. ; importance of,

27 f. ; as illustrating N.T.,

28 ff. ; autobiography of, 33 ff. ;
style, i86ff.

Jotapala, 12, 21, 35, 37, 119 ff.,

"8 f., 133
Jubilees, Book of, 40
Judaea, 70 ff., 78, 88, 90, 96,

102
Judas the Gaulanite or Gali-

la;an, 72 f, 161., 192 ff.; sons

of, 94, 193 f.
Julias, 102.

Justus, historian, 13, 18, 35
son of Josephus, 390

Lacedaemonians, 172

Law, the Jewish, 61, 74 f., 77,

91, 147, 163, 174, 176 ff.

weekly reading of, 172 f.

Lebanon, 88

Liberal ius, 140

Life, the, of josephus, 17 f.

Lightfoot, Bishop, 152;/., 154?*.

156;*.

John, 197 ;/.

Lots, drawing of, 125 f.
Lous, month of, 138
Lugdunum (Lyons), 84
Luke, St., 30, 66, 85, 88, 180 f.,

187, 191 f., 192 ff., 196 f.
Lydda, m
Lysanias, 84, 88, 94, 102

Maccabees, Fourth Book of, 20

Maduerus, 79 ff.

Malichus, 51 f.

Malthace, 68

"Man of Sin," 85

Marcellus, 78

Mariamne, 56 f.

II, 192

Marisa, 46

Marsyas, 82

Masada, 107

Matthias, brother of Josephus,

33

father of Josephus, 98

Melito, 201

Menahem, the Essene, 167 f.

Messala, 52 f.

Messiah, reticence of Josephus

on, 23
Micaiah, 42 ff.

Midrash on Lamentations, 198
Military Service, refusal of, 77
Miracles wrought by a word,

190 f.
Months, Artemisium, 143 ;

Dius, 117; Gorpiseus, 146;

Lous, 138; Panemus, 121,

135 ; Xanthicus, 142
Moore, G. F., I97ff.
Moses, 40 f., 77, 153, 170 ff.

Cp. Law

index

211

Mucianus, 133
Marcos, 51

Naber, S. A., 31

Nebuzaradan, 197

Nero, 34, 99, 102, 104, 127

New City, 113

Nicanor, 122 f., 126

Nicolafu s of Damascus, 16 f.,

66 n., 67 f.
Niese, B., 30 f.
Norden, E., 1 82-9, 200

Olivet, Mount, 103, 190
Omblaiah (Imlah), 43
Omens, 119, 133, 141 ff.
Oracles, 137, 145, 190, 199
Origen, 183 f., 201
Owl, bird of ill omen, 89

Pallas, 94, 102

Paneas, 58, 74

Panemus, month of, 121, 135

Parable of Nobleman, 29, 66

Parthians, 19, 53 f., 99

Passover. See Feast

Patrician class, 82

Paul, St., 9f., 20-2, 29, 34,
85, 90, 135 n. ; Pauline
Epistles quoted, I53«.,i68«.,
1 72 n.

Paulinus, 122

Pax, Temple of, 14

Pella, 46

Pentecost. See Feast

Peraea, 70, 102

Periphrasis, i86f.

Petronius, 28, 84 ff.

Pharaoh, 40 f.

Pharisees, 33 f., 108, 148, 157—
9, 161-9

Phasael, 48, 52

Phasaelis, 70

Pheroras, 71, 169

Philip the Tetrarch, 66, 69 f.,
73 f., 80 f., 90, 189, 191 f.

son of Jacimus, no, 117

Philippi, 52

Philo, 190 ; De Vita Contem-
pt at iva, 202

Phoebus, 112

Pilate, 28, 74-8, 185, 190
(bribery of), 191 (Epistle of
Tiberius to P. and Acts of P.)

Piso, S3

Placidot, 120

Plato, 171

Pollio, ( iaius Asiniiis, 54

a I)harisee,,i67

Pompey, 44-7, 175
Poppa-a, 10, 34
Portents, 141 ff., 199
Procurators, last of the, 102 ff.
Prophecy, 127 f. (of Josephus) ;

156 (of Essenes) ; 167 f. (of

Menahem)
Pro- Romans, 118
Ptolemais, 85, no
Ptolemy, 66 f.
Ptolla, 66
Pythagoras, 171

Quirinius, 72 f., 94, 180 f.

Ragaba, 164

Rainfall, providential, 86

Ramsay, Sir W. M., 180

Rhodes, 55

Roman citizenship, 38, 47

Ryle, Dr., 202 f.

Sabbath, III, 154, 178
Sabinus, 67 f.

Sacrifices for Emperor abro-
gated, 107 ff. ; daily, aban-
doned, 135
Sadducees, 3^ 96, 148, 157—

9, 161-63
Salome, sister of Herod, 57
63 f., 66, 70, 169

daughter of Herodias, 81,

192
Samaria, city of (Sebaste), 46,
58, 60, 70

district of, 70 f., 88, 90

102
Samaritans, 77 f.
Sameas, 50 f., 167
Sanhedrin, 48 ff., 95 ff.
Sardinia, 77

212

INDEX

Saturninus, 77

Saul, relative of Herod Agrippa

II, 109, 117
Sayings of Jesus, 196
Scaurus, 46

Schmiedel, P. W., 193
Schiirer, E., 180, 193
Scopus, Mount, 112, 115
Scriptures, the Jewish, 174 ff. ;

the number of books, 176,

200 ff. Cp. Books, the Sacred
Scythopolis, 46
Sebaste. See Samaria
Sects, Jewish, 148 ff.
Selucid Dynasty, 19
Sepphoris, 47, 74
Sergius Paulus, 29, 94
Shewbread, table of, 45, 147
Sic arii, 102 f.
Simon, son of Ananias, 109

son of Gioras, 1 1 1

the Essene, 189

the high priest, 79, 81

Simonides Agrippa, son of Jo-

sephus, 39
Socrates, 171 //.
Sohemus, no
Solomon, 41 f. ; Solomonian

books, 152 n.
Sossius, 51

Speeches in B.J., 100
Stanton, V. H., 193
Stoics, 34, 171
Strabo, 17
Strato's Tower (= Caesarea), 46,

70, 88
Suetonius, 76, 200
Suicide, 121, I24f.
Sulpicius Severus, 25

Tabernacle, symbol of universe,

131 n.
Tacitus, 27, 143 n., 199 f.
Tantalus, 156
Tarichsea, 102

Targum on Lamentations, 198
Taxation, exemption from, 39, 47
Tekoa, 38
Temple 38, 45, 47, 49, 68, 77,

85, 92, 95 no. "3f-i Il8>

132 f., 135-45, 196 ff.; Baby-
lonian destruction of, 138, 141 ;
captain of, 107 f., 142; gate
of, 142 ; gifts from foreigners
to, 107 f. ; Holy Place(s) of,
45, 140 f. ; inscription in, 190;
veil of, 190

Test udo, 114W.

Theocracy, 170

Theology, Jewish, i7off.

Theophrastus, 179

Therapeutse, sacred books of the,
202

Thermuthis, 40 f.

Theudas, 93, 103 «., 192 ff.

Thucydides, imitation of, 24,
26 f., 32, 73n., 86 n., 186

Tiberias, 85, 102

Tiberius, 29, 76 f, 80, 82

Alexander. See Alexander

Timber Market, 1 13

Tirathana, 77 f.

Titus, 13 ff., 25, 36 ff., 100, 120,
126 ff., 133, 135, 138 ff.,
146

Arch of, 147

Tityus 156

Torrey, C. C, 193 f.

Towers of Jerusalem, 146 f.

Trachonitis, 58, 70, 88^., 94,
102, no

Traill, Dr. R., 20«., 23, 24, 31

Tyrannius Priscus, 113

Tyrians, Laws of the, 179

Ulatha, 58
Uriah, 198

Varus, Quintilius, Governor of
Syria, 68 f., 175, 181

tetrarchy of, 102

Vespasian, 12-15, 25, 36-9, 42,

119-28, 133 f., 145, 190
Vestments, high priest's, 78^.,

131
Vienne, 71

Virgil, 122 «., 128 n., 199 n.
Virtues, four cardinal, 171 n.
Vitellius, Governor of Syria, 78,

80,85

INDEX 213

\\ rllhausen, J., 194 ff. Zacharias or Zechariah (various),

Whistoo, W., 31 194 flf.

Wisdom book, apocryphal, 196 Zadok, 73

Zealots, sect of, 73, n8f.t 131 f.,
Xanthicus, month of, 142 161

Xerxes, 176 Zedekiah, king, 42

false prophet, 44

Zacharias, son of Haris(aeus), Zenodorus, 58, 70
29 f., 131 f., 194 ff.

Printed in Great Britain by
Richard <~,lay & Sons, Limited.

BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. i,
AND BUNGAY. SUFFOLK.

::
::
::
::
::

11

^« IF\ C rV..

I BOOKS FOR

STUDENTS I

K

x x

X

R

Translations of Early Documents

A Series of texts important for the study of Christian
origins. Under the Joint Editorship of the Rev.
W. O. E. Oesterley, D.D., and the Rev. Canon
G. H. Box, M.A.

The object of this Series is to provide short, cheap, and handy
textbooks for students, either working by themselves or in
classes. The aim is to furnish in translations important
texts unencumbered by commentary or elaborate notes, which
can be had in larger works.

EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES.

The Times Literary Supplement says : " These Jewish Apocalypses
have a direct relation to the thought and religious ideals which con-
fronted primitive Christianity in Palestine, and not only for their own
sakes, but for their influence on the New Testament and Apostolic
Christianity they deserve careful attention. Handbooks at once so
scholarly and so readable will be welcomed by all interested in
Christian origins."

The Church Quarterly Review says : " To the theological student
who is anxious to know something of the circumstances and thought
of the time during which Christianity grew up, and of the Jewish
environment of the teaching of our Lord and the Apostles, there is
no class of books more valuable than the later Jewish Apocrypha."

The Church Times says: "The names of the Editors are a
guarantee of trustworthy and expert scholarship, and their work
has been admirably performed."

The Tablet says: "A valuable series . . . well brought out and
should prove useful to students."

Catholic Book Notes says : " The SP.C.K. is to be congratulated
on its various series of cheap and useful books for students."

Translations of Early Documents

FIRST SERIES— Palestinian=Jewish and
Cognate Texts (Pre = Rabbinic)

1. Jewish Documents in the Time of Ezra

Translated from the Aramaic by A. E. Cowley, Litt.D.,
Sub-Librarian of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
4s. 6d. net.

2. The Wisdom of Ben-Sira (Ecclesiasticus)

By the Rev. W. O. E. Oesterley, D.D., Vicar of
St. Alban's, Bedford Park, W.; Examining Chaplain to
the Bishop of London. 2s. 6d. net.

3. The Book of Enoch

By the Rev. R. H. Charles, D.D., Canon of West-
minster. 2S. 6d. net.

4. The Book of Jubilees

By the Rev. Canon Charles. 4s. net.

5. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

By the Rev. Canon Charles. 2s. 6d. net.

6. The Odes and Psalms of Solomon

By the Rev. G. H. Box, M.A., Rector of Sutton,
Beds., Hon. Canon of St. Albans.

7. The Ascension of Isaiah

By the Rev. Canon Charles. Together with No. 10
in one volume. 4s. 6d. net.

8. The Apocalypse of Ezra (ii. Esdras)

By the Rev. Canon Box. 2s. 6d. net.

9. The Apocalypse of Baruch

By the Rev. Canon Charles. Together with No. 12
in one volume. 2s. 6d. net.

10. The Apocalypse of Abraham

By the Rev. Canon Box. Together with No. 7 in
one volume. 4s. 6d. net.

11. The Testaments of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob

By the Rev. Canon Box and S. Gazei.i i .

12. The Assumption of Moses

By Rev. W . J. Ferrar, M.A., Vicar of Holy Trinity,
East Finchley. With No. 9 in one volume. 2s. 6d. net.

13. The Biblical Antiquities of Philo

By M. R. James, Litt.D., F.B.A., Hon. Litt.D.,
Dublin, Hon. LL.D., St. Andrews, Provost of King's
College, Cambridge. 8s. 6d. net.

14. Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament

By M. R. James, Litt.D.

SECOND SERIES— Hellenistic=Jewish Texts

1. The Wisdom of Solomon

By the Rev. Dr. Oesterley. 2s. 6d. net.

2. The Sibylline Oracles (Books iii-v)

By the Rev. H. N. Bate, M.A., Vicar of Christ
Church, Lancaster Gate, W. j Examining Chaplain to
the Bishop of London. 3s. 6d. net.

3. The Letter of Aristeas

By H. St. John Thackeray, M.A., King's College,
Cambridge. 2s. 6d. net.

4. Selections from Philo

By J. H. A. Hart, M.A.

5. Selections from Josephus

By H. St. J. Thackeray, M.A.

6. The Third and Fourth Books
of Maccabees

By the Rev. C. W. Emmet, B.D., Vicar of West
Hendred, Berks. 3s. 6d. net.

7. The Book of Joseph and Asenath

Translated from the Greek text (for the first time in
English) by E. W. Brooks. 2s. 6d. net.

THIRD SERIES— Palestinian=Jewish and
Cognate Texts (Rabbinic)

*1. Pirqe Aboth. By the Rev. Dr. Oesterley.

*2. Berakhoth. By the Rev. A. Lukyn Williams, D.D.

*3. Yoma. By the Rev. Canon Box.

*4. Shabbath. By the Rev. Dr. Oesterley.

*5. Sanhedrin. By the Rev. H. Danby. 6s. net.

*6. Kimhi's Commentary on the Psalms
(Book I, Selections). By the Rev. R. G. Finch,
B.D. 7* 6d. net.

7. Tamid 11. Megilla

8. Aboda Zara 12. Sukka

9. Middoth 13. Taanith

10. Sopherim 14. Megillath Taanith

* It is proposed to publish these texts first by way of experiment. If
the Series should so far prove successful the others will follow.

Jewish Literature and Christian Origins :
Vol. I. The Apocalyptic Literature.
,, II. A Short Survey of the Literature of
Rabbinical Judaism.

By the Revs. Dr. Oesterley and Canon Box.

Jewish Uncanonical Writings : A Popular Intro-
duction. By the Rev. W. J. Ferrar. 3s. net.

Handbooks of Christian Literature

The Early Christian Books. By the Rev. w. J.

Ferrar, M.A. y. 6d. net.

The Eucharistic Office of the Book of
Common Prayer. By the Rev. Leslie Wright,
M.A., B.D. 3*. bd. net.

The Inspiration and Authority of Holy
Scripture. By the Rev. G. D. Barry, B.D.
45. 6d. net.

The Letters of St. Augustine. By the Rev. w. J.
Sparrow-Simpson, D.D.

Translations of Christian Literature

A NUMBER of translations from the Fathers have already
been published by the S.P.C.K. under the title "Early
Church Classics." It is now proposed to enlarge this series
to include texts which are neither "early" nor necessarily
" classics." The divisions at present proposed are given below.
Volumes belonging to the original series are marked with an
asterisk.

The Month says : "The cheap and useful series."
The Church Times says : "The splendid series."

SERIES I.— GREEK TEXTS.

St. Dionysius the Areopagite : The Divine Names and

the Mystical Theology. By C. E. Rolt.
The Library of Photius. By J. H Freese. In 6 Vols.
The Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes. By T. W.

Crafer, D.D.
*The Epistle of St. Clement, Bishop of Rome. By the

Rt. Rev. J. A. F. Gregg, D.D. is. 3d. net.
*Clement of Alexandria: Who is the Rich Man that

is being saved ? By P. M. Barnard, B.D. is. 3d. net.
*St. Chrysostom: On the Priesthood. By T. A. Moxon.

2S. net.
*The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles. By C. Bigg,

D.D. is. 3d. net.
*The Epistle to Diognetus. By the Rt. Rev. L. B.

Radford, D.D. is. 6d. net.
St. Dionysius of Alexandria. By C. L. Feltoe, D.D.

3*. 6d. net.
*The Epistle of the Gallican Churches: Lugdunum

and Vienna. With an Appendix containing Tertullian's

Address to Martyrs and the Passion of St. Perpetua. By

T. H. Bindley, D.D. is. 3d. net.
*St. Gregory of Nyssa: The Catechetical Oration.

By the Ven. J. H. Srawley, D.D. 2s. net.
*St. Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of St. Macrina. By

W. K. Lowther Clarke, B.D. is. 3d. net.
^Gregory Thaumaturgus (Origen the Teacher): the

Address of Gregory to Origen, with Origen's

Letter to Gregory. By W. Metcalfe, B.D. 1*. 6d. net.
*The Shepherd of Hermas. By C. Taylor, D.D. 2 vols.

2S. each net.

SERIES I.— GREEK TEXTS (continued).

The Epistles of St. Ignatius. By the Ven. J. H.

Srawley, D.D. 3s. 6d. net.
*St. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies. By F. R. M.

Hitchcock, D.D. 2 vols. 2s. each net.
Palladium : The Lausiac History. By W. K. Lowther
Clarke, B.D. 55. net.
*St. Polycarp. By B. Jackson, ij-. 3d. net.

SERIES II.— LATIN TEXTS.

Tertullian's Treatises concerning Prayer, concerning
Baptism. By A. Souter, Litt.D. 3s. net.

Tertullian against Praxeas. By A. Souter, Litt.D.

Novatian on the Trinity. By H. Moore.

*St. Augustine : The City of God. By F. R. M. Hitch-
cock, D.D. is. 6d. net.

*St. Cyprian : The Lord's Prayer. By T. H. Bindley,
D.D. is. 6d. net.
Minucius Felix: The Octavius. By J. H. Freese.
35. 6d. net.

^Tertullian: On the Testimony of the Soul and On
the Prescription of Heretics. By T. H. Bindley,
D.D. 2S. net.

*St. Vincent of Lerins : The Commonitory. By T. H.
Bindley, D.D. 2s. net.

SERIES III.— LITURGICAL TEXTS.

Edited by C. L. FELTOE, D.D.

St. Ambrose: On the Mysteries and on the Sacra-
ments. By T. Thompson, B.D., and J. H. Srawley,
D.D. 4s. 6d. net.

*The Apostolic Constitution and Cognate Documents,
with special reference to their Liturgical elements.
By De Lacy O'Leary, D.D. is, 3d. net.

*The Liturgy of the Eighth Book of the Apostolic
Constitution, commonly called the Clementine
Liturgy. By R. H. Cresswell. is. 6d. net.
The Pilgrimage of Etheria. By M. L. McClure. 6s. net.

*Bishop Sarapion's Prayer=Book. By the Rt. Rev. J.
Wordsworth, D.D. is. 6d. net.

{Other series in contemplation)

Helps for Students of History

Edited by
C JOHNSON, M.A., and J. P.WHITNEY, D.D., D.C.L.

The American Historical Review says : " A most useful little series
of pamphlets.''

The Times Educational Supplement says: "These little volumes
by well-known specialists should be in the hands oi' serloui students
of history."

i. Episcopal Registers of England and Wales. By

R. C. Fowler, B.A., F.S.A. 6d. net.

2. Municipal Records. By F. J. C. Hearnshaw, M.A.

6d. net.

3. Medieval Reckonings of Time. By Reginald L.

Poole, LL.D., Litt.D. 6d. net.

4. The Public Record Office. By C. Johnson, M.A. 6d. net.

5. The Care of Documents. By C. Johnson, M.A. 6d. net.

6. The Logic of History. By C. G. Crump. Sd. net.

7. Documents in the Public Record Office, Dublin.

By R. H. Murray, Litt.D. Sd. net.

8. The French Wars of Religion. By Arthur A. Tilley,

M.A. 6d. net.

By Sir A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A.

9. The Period of Congresses — I. Introductory. Sd. net.

10. The Period of Congresses— II. Vienna and the

Second Peace of Paris. is, net.

11. The Period of Congresses— III. Aix-la-Chapelle

to Verona, is. net.
Nos. 9, 10, and 11 in one volume, cloth, 3.?. 6d. net.

12. Securities of Peace: A Retrospect (1848- 19 14).

Paper, 2s. net ; cloth, p. net.

13. The French Renaissance. By A. A. Tilley, M.A.

Sd. net.

14. Hints on the Study of English Economic History.

By Archdeacon W. Cunningham, D.D., F.B.A., F.S.A.

Sd. net.

15. Parish History and Records. By A. Hamilton

Thompson, M.A., F.S.A. Sd. net.

16. A Short Introduction to the Study of Colonial

History. By A. P. Newton, M.A., D.Lit. 6d. net.

Texts for Students

General Editors: CAROLINE A. J. SKEEL, D.Lit.; H. J. WHITE, D.D.;
J. P. WHITNEY, D.D., D.C.L.

The English Historical Review says : " A new series which deserves
mention . . . every number is the work of a scholar of acknowledged
competence."

Catholic Book Notes says : " The S.P.C.K. has rendered a service
to Education ... It is to be hoped that these texts will find their
way into our colleges : they will give a new meaning to Latin and
history."

i. Select Passages from Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius,
Dio Cassius, illustrative of Christianity in the First
Century. Arranged by H. J. White, D.D. Paper
cover, 3d. net.

2. Selections from Matthew Paris. By C. A. J. Skeel,

D.Lit. Paper cover, gd. net.

3. Selections from Giraldus Cambrensis. By C. A. J.

Skeel, D.Lit. Paper cover, gd. net.

4. Libri Sancti Patricii. The Latin Writings of St.

Patrick, etc. Edited by Newport J. D. White, D.D.
Paper cover, 6d. net.

5. A Translation of the Latin Writings of St. Patrick.

By Newport J. D. White, D.D. Paper cover, 6d. net.

6. Selections from the Vulgate. Paper cover, gd. net.

7. The Epistle of St. Clement of Rome. Paper cover,

6d. net.

8. Select Extracts from Chronicles and Records re=

lating to English Towns in the Middle Ages.

Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary, by
F. J. C. Hearnshaw, M.A., LL.D. Paper cover, gd. net.

9. The Inscription on the Stele of Mesa. Commonly

called the Moabite Stone. The text in Moabite and
Hebrew, with translation by the Rev. H. F. B. Compston,
M.A. Paper cover, 6d. net.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
LONDON : 6 ST. MARTIN'S PLACE, W.C. 2

NEW YORK : THE macmillan company

5-7- 19- ]

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OP 25 CENTS

WILL .NCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOUR™

oCeRoueD T° $,-°° °N THE «V™ SS

AHHMiH-

i

Maj'50JG

i

,

— 260cf'5GK

REC'D LD

^~~~^-

-^TTT

^

30Efcffl$ttf

LD 21-l00m-

v-'V^W I

"■S^ 449868

UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORN1A LIBRARY

li Hi P

ii i a in f if

ras!ii:fiur.u|ji»iti»iiprtli mi
: HUM ! UJiHJi"! ! i,! H !»

" : : JlWV Hi vi

Hfflilli.!!]!ij!!!ii!;iiii!j

ililiiJi liijilillsj! iiisiiiiij