Doig's Biblical Chronology  . Exact Dating of the Exodus and Birth and Crucifixion of Jesus

.

Index to Josephus

The Wars Of The Jews - Book II

CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF SIXTY-NINE YEARS
FROM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NERO

CHAPTER 1

ARCHELAUS MAKES A FUNERAL FEAST FOR THE PEOPLE, ON THE ACCOUNT OF HEROD. AFTER
 WHICH A GREAT TUMULT IS RAISED BY THE MULTITUDE AND HE SENDS THE SOLDIERS OUT
 UPON THEM, WHO DESTROY ABOUT THREE THOUSAND OF THEM

1. NOW the necessity which Archelaus was under of taking a journey to Rome was the occasion of new disturbances; for when he had mourned for his father seven days, (1) and had given a very expensive funeral feast to the multitude, (which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of the Jews, because they are forced to feast the multitude; for if any one omits it, he is not esteemed a holy person,) he put on a white garment, and went up to the temple, where the people accosted him with various acclamations. He also spake kindly to the multitude from an elevated seat and a throne of gold, and returned them thanks for the zeal they had shown about his father's funeral, and the submission they had made to him, as if he were already settled in the kingdom; but he told them withal, that he would not at present take upon him either the authority of a king, or the names thereto belonging, until Caesar, who is made lord of this whole affair by the testament, confirm the succession; for that when the soldiers would have set the diadem on his head at Jericho, he would not accept of it; but that he would make abundant requitals, not to the soldiers only, but to the people, for their alacrity and good-will to him, when the superior lords [the Romans] should have given him a complete title to the kingdom; for that it should be his study to appear in all things better than his father.

2. Upon this the multitude were pleased, and presently made a trial of what he intended, by asking great things of him; for some
made a clamor that he would ease them in their taxes; others, that he would take off the duties upon commodities; and some,
that he would loose those that were in prison; in all which cases he answered readily to their satisfaction, in order to get the
good-will of the multitude; after which he offered [the proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his friends. And here it was that a
great many of those that desired innovations came in crowds towards the evening, and began then to mourn on their own
account, when the public mourning for the king was over. These lamented those that were put to death by Herod, because they
had cut down the golden eagle that had been over the gate of the temple. Nor was this mourning of a private nature, but the
lamentations were very great, the mourning solemn, and the weeping such as was loudly heard all over the city, as being for
those men who had perished for the laws of their country, and for the temple. They cried out that a punishment ought to be
inflicted for these men upon those that were honored by Herod; and that, in the first place, the man whom he had made high
priest should be deprived; and that it was fit to choose a person of greater piety and purity than he was.

3. At these clamors Archelaus was provoked, but restrained himself from taking vengeance on the authors, on account of the
haste he was in of going to Rome, as fearing lest, upon his making war on the multitude, such an action might detain him at
home. Accordingly, he made trial to quiet the innovators by persuasion, rather than by force, and sent his general in a private
way to them, and by him exhorted them to be quiet. But the seditious threw stones at him, and drove him away, as he came into
the temple, and before he could say any thing to them. The like treatment they showed to others, who came to them after him,
many of which were sent by Archelaus, in order to reduce them to sobriety, and these answered still on all occasions after a
passionate manner; and it openly appeared that they would not be quiet, if their numbers were but considerable. And indeed, at
the feast of unleavened bread, which was now at hand, and is by the Jews called the Passover, and used to he celebrated with
a great number of sacrifices, an innumerable multitude of the people came out of the country to worship; some of these stood in
the temple bewailing the Rabbins [that had been put to death], and procured their sustenance by begging, in order to support
their sedition. At this Archclaus was aftrighted, and privately sent a tribune, with his cohort of soldiers, upon them, before the
disease should spread over the whole multitude, and gave orders that they should constrain those that began the tumult, by
force, to be quiet. At these the whole multitude were irritated, and threw stones at many of the soldiers, and killed them; but the
tribune fled away wounded, and had much ado to escape so. After which they betook themselves to their sacrifices, as if they
had done no mischief; nor did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without bloodshed; so he sent his
whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by the way of the city, and the horsemen by the way of the plain, who,
falling upon them on the sudden, as they were offering their sacrifices, destroyed about three thousand of them; but the rest of
the multitude were dispersed upon the adjoining mountains: these were followed by Archelaus's heralds, who commanded
every one to retire to their own homes, whither they all went, and left the festival.

                                        CHAPTER 2.

  ARCHELAUS GOES TO ROME WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF HIS KINDRED. HE IS THERE ACCUSED
   BEFORE CAESAR BY ANTIPATER; BUT IS SUPERIOR TO HIS ACCUSERS IN JUDGMENT BY THE
                  MEANS OF THAT DEFENSE WHICH NICOLAUS MADE FOR HIM.

1. ARCHELAUS went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left
behind him Philip, to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs. Salome went also along with him
with her sons, as did also the king's brethren and sons-in-law. These, in appearance, went to give him all the assistance they
were able, in order to secure his succession, but in reality to accuse him for his breach of the laws by what he had done at the
temple.

2. But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabinus, the procurator of Syria, met them; he was going up to Judea, to secure Herod's
effects; but Varus, [president of Syria,] who was come thither, restrained him from going any farther. This Varus Archelaus had
sent for, by the earnest entreaty of Ptolemy. At this time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, neither went to the citadels, nor did
he shut up the treasuries where his father's money was laid up, but promised that he would lie still, until Caesar should have
taken cognizance of the affair. So he abode at Cesarea; but as soon as those that were his hinderance were gone, when Varus
was gone to Antioch, and Archclaus was sailed to Rome, he immediately went on to Jerusalem, and seized upon the palace.
And when he had called for the governors of the citadels, and the stewards [of the king's private affairs], he tried to sift out the
accounts of the money, and to take possession of the citadels. But the governors of those citadels were not unmindful of the
commands laid upon them by Archelaus, and continued to guard them, and said the custody of them rather belonged to Caesar
than to Archelaus.

3. In the mean time, Antipas went also to Rome, to strive for the kingdom, and to insist that the former testament, wherein he
was named to be king, was valid before the latter testament. Salome had also promised to assist him, as had many of
Archelaus's kindred, who sailed along with Archelaus himself also. He also carried along with him his mother, and Ptolemy, the
brother of Nicolaus, who seemed one of great weight, on account of the great trust Herod put in him, he having been one of his
most honored friends. However, Antipas depended chiefly upon Ireneus, the orator; upon whose authority he had rejected
such as advised him to yield to Archelaus, because he was his elder brother, and because the second testament gave the
kingdom to him. The inclinations also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated him, were removed to Antipas, when they came to
Rome; although in the first place every one rather desired to live under their own laws [without a king], and to be under a
Roman governor; but if they should fail in that point, these desired that Antipas might be their king.

4. Sabinus did also afford these his assistance to the same purpose by letters he sent, wherein he accused Archelaus before
Caesar, and highly commended Antipas. Salome also, and those with her, put the crimes which they accused Archelaus of in
order, and put them into Caesar's hands; and after they had done that, Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his claim, and, by
Ptolemy, sent in his father's ring, and his father's accounts. And when Caesar had maturely weighed by himself what both had to
allege for themselves, as also had considered of the great burden of the kingdom, and largeness of the revenues, and withal the
number of the children Herod had left behind him, and had moreover read the letters he had received from Varus and Sabinus
on this occasion, he assembled the principal persons among the Romans together, (in which assembly Caius, the son of
Agrippa, and his daughter Julias, but by himself adopted for his own son, sat in the first seat,) and gave the pleaders leave to
speak.

5. Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater, (who of all Archelaus's antagonists was the shrewdest pleader,) and accused him in
the following speech: That Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom, but that in deeds he had long exercised royal
authority, and so did but insult Caesar in desiring to be now heard on that account, since he had not staid for his determination
about the succession, and since he had suborned certain persons, after Herod's death, to move for putting the diadem upon his
head; since he had set himself down in the throne, and given answers as a king, and altered the disposition of the army, and
granted to some higher dignities; that he had also complied in all things with the people in the requests they had made to him as
to their king, and had also dismissed those that had been put into bonds by his father for most important reasons. Now, after all
this, he desires the shadow of that royal authority, whose substance he had already seized to himself, and so hath made Caesar
lord, not of things, but of words. He also reproached him further, that his mourning for his father was only pretended, while he
put on a sad countenance in the day time, but drank to great excess in the night; from which behavior, he said, the late
disturbance among the multitude came, while they had an indignation thereat. And indeed the purport of his whole discourse
was to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple, which multitude came to the festival, but were
barbarously slain in the midst of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number of dead bodies heaped together
in the temple, as even a foreign war, that should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have heaped
together. And he added, that it was the foresight his father had of that his barbarity which made him never give him any hopes
of the kingdom, but when his mind was more infirm than his body, and he was not able to reason soundly, and did not well
know what was the character of that son, whom in his second testament he made his successor; and this was done by him at a
time when he had no complaints to make of him whom he had named before, when he was sound in body, and when his mind
was free from all passion. That, however, if any one should suppose Herod's judgment, when he was sick, was superior to that
at another time, yet had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his actions, which were contrary to the
law, and to its disadvantage. Or what sort of a king will this man be, when he hath obtained the government from Caesar, who
hath slain so many before he hath obtained it!

6. When Antipater had spoken largely to this purpose, and had produced a great number of Archelaus's kindred as witnesses,
to prove every part of the accusation, he ended his discourse. Then stood up Nicolaus to plead for Archelaus. He alleged that
the slaughter in the temple could not be avoided; that those that were slain were become enemies not to Archelaus's kingdom,
only, but to Caesar, who was to determine about him. He also demonstrated that Archelaus's accusers had advised him to
perpetrate other things of which he might have been accused. But he insisted that the latter testament should, for this reason,
above all others, be esteemed valid, because Herod had therein appointed Caesar to be the person who should confirm the
succession; for he who showed such prudence as to recede from his own power, and yield it up to the lord of the world,
cannot be supposed mistaken in his judgment about him that was to be his heir; and he that so well knew whom to choose for
arbitrator of the succession could not be unacquainted with him whom he chose for his successor.

7. When Nicolaus had gone through all he had to say, Archelaus came, and fell down before Caesar's knees, without any
noise; - upon which he raised him up, after a very obliging manner, and declared that truly he was worthy to succeed his father.
However, he still made no firm determination in his case; but when he had dismissed those assessors that had been with him
that day, he deliberated by himself about the allegations which he had heard, whether it were fit to constitute any of those
named in the testaments for Herod's successor, or whether the government should be parted among all his posterity, and this
because of the number of those that seemed to stand in need of support therefrom.

                                        CHAPTER 3.

  THE JEWS FIGHT A GREAT BATTLE WITH SABINUS'S SOLDIERS, AND A GREAT DESTRUCTION IS
                                     MADE AT JERUSALEM.

1. NOW before Caesar had determined any thing about these affairs, Malthace, Arehelaus's mother, fell sick and died. Letters
also were brought out of Syria from Varus, about a revolt of the Jews. This was foreseen by Varus, who accordingly, after
Archelaus was sailed, went up to Jerusalem to restrain the promoters of the sedition, since it was manifest that the nation would
not he at rest; so he left one of those legions which he brought with him out of Syria in the city, and went himself to Antioch. But
Sabinus came, after he was gone, and gave them an occasion of making innovations; for he compelled the keepers of the
citadels to deliver them up to him, and made a bitter search after the king's money, as depending not only on the soldiers which
were left by Varus, but on the multitude of his own servants, all which he armed and used as the instruments of his
covetousness. Now when that feast, which was observed after seven weeks, and which the Jews called Pentecost, (i. e. the
50th day,) was at hand, its name being taken from the number of the days [after the passover], the people got together, but not
on account of the accustomed Divine worship, but of the indignation they had ['at the present state of affairs']. Wherefore an
immense multitude ran together, out of Galilee, and Idumea, and Jericho, and Perea, that was beyond Jordan; but the people
that naturally belonged to Judea itself were above the rest, both in number, and in the alacrity of the men. So they distributed
themselves into three parts, and pitched their camps in three places; one at the north side of the temple, another at the south
side, by the Hippodrome, and the third part were at the palace on the west. So they lay round about the Romans on every side,
and besieged them.

2. Now Sabinus was aftrighted, both at their multitude, and at their courage, and sent messengers to Varus continually, and
besought him to come to his succor quickly; for that if he delayed, his legion would be cut to pieces. As for Sabinus himself, he
got up to the highest tower of the fortress, which was called Phasaelus; it is of the same name with Herod's brother, who was
destroyed by the Parthians; and then he made signs to the soldiers of that legion to attack the enemy; for his astonishment was
so great, that he durst not go down to his own men. Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed upon, and leaped out into the
temple, and fought a terrible battle with the Jews; in which, while there were none over their heads to distress them, they were
too hard for them, by their skill, and the others' want of skill, in war; but when once many of the Jews had gotten up to the top
of the cloisters, and threw their darts downwards, upon the heads of the Romans, there were a great many of them destroyed.
Nor was it easy to avenge themselves upon those that threw their weapons from on high, nor was it more easy for them to
sustain those who came to fight them hand to hand.

3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely afflicted by both these circumstances, they set fire to the cloisters, which were
works to be admired, both on account of their magnitude and costliness. Whereupon those that were above them were
presently encompassed with the flame, and many of them perished therein; as many of them also were destroyed by the enemy,
who came suddenly upon them; some of them also threw themselves down from the walls backward, and some there were
who, from the desperate condition they were in, prevented the fire, by killing themselves with their own swords; but so many of
them as crept out from the walls, and came upon the Romans, were easily mastere by them, by reason of the astonishment they
were under; until at last some of the Jews being destroyed, and others dispersed by the terror they were in, the soldiers fell
upon the treasure of God, which w now deserted, and plundered about four hundred talents, Of which sum Sabinus got
together all that was not carried away by the soldiers.

4. However, this destruction of the works [about the temple], and of the men, occasioned a much greater number, and those of
a more warlike sort, to get together, to oppose the Romans. These encompassed the palace round, and threatened to deploy
all that were in it, unless they went their ways quickly; for they promised that Sabinus should come to no harm, if he would go
out with his legion. There were also a great many of the king's party who deserted the Romans, and assisted the Jews; yet did
the most warlike body of them all, who were three thousand of the men of Sebaste, go over to the Romans. Rufus also, and
Gratus, their captains, did the same, (Gratus having the foot of the king's party under him, and Rufus the horse,) each of whom,
even without the forces under them, were of great weight, on account of their strength and wisdom, which turn the scales in
war. Now the Jews in the siege, and tried to break down walls of the fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and his party, that they
should go their ways, and not prove a hinderance to them, now they hoped, after a long time, to recover that ancient liberty
which their forefathers had enjoyed. Sabinus indeed was well contented to get out of the danger he was in, but he distrusted the
assurances the Jews gave him, and suspected such gentle treatment was but a bait laid as a snare for them: this consideration,
together with the hopes he had of succor from Varus, made him bear the siege still longer.

                                        CHAPTER 4.

  HEROD'S VETERAN SOLDIERS BECOME TUMULTUOUS. THE ROBBERIES OF JUDAS. SIMON AND
                      ATHRONOEUS TAKE THE NAME OF KING UPON THEM.

1. AT this time there were great disturbances in the country, and that in many places; and the opportunity that now offered itself
induced a great many to set up for kings. And indeed in Idumea two thousand of Herod's veteran soldiers got together, and
armed and fought against those of the king's party; against whom Achiabus, the king's first cousin, fought, and that out of some
of the places that were the most strongly fortified; but so as to avoid a direct conflict with them in the plains. In Sepphoris also,
a city of Galilee, there was one Judas (the son of that arch-robber Hezekias, who formerly overran the country, and had been
subdued by king Herod); this man got no small multitude together, and brake open the place where the royal armor was laid
up, and armed those about him, and attacked those that were so earnest to gain the dominion.

2. In Perea also, Simon, one of the servants to the king, relying upon the handsome appearance and tallness of his body, put a
diadem upon his own head also; he also went about with a company of robbers that he had gotten together, and burnt down
the royal palace that was at Jericho, and many other costly edifices besides, and procured himself very easily spoils by rapine,
as snatching them out of the fire. And he had soon burnt down all the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of the foot of the king's
party, had not taken the Trachonite archers, and the most warlike of Sebaste, and met the man. His footmen were slain in the
battle in abundance; Gratus also cut to pieces Simon himself, as he was flying along a strait valley, when he gave him an oblique
stroke upon his neck, as he ran away, and brake it. The royal palaces that were near Jordan at Betharamptha were also burnt
down by some other of the seditious that came out of Perea.

3. At this time it was that a certain shepherd ventured to set himself up for a king; he was called Athrongeus. It was his strength
of body that made him expect such a dignity, as well as his soul, which despised death; and besides these qualifications, he had
four brethren like himself. He put a troop of armed men under each of these his brethren, and made use of them as his generals
and commanders, when he made his incursions, while he did himself act like a king, and meddled only with the more important
affairs; and at this time he put a diadem about his head, and continued after that to overrun the country for no little time with his
brethren, and became their leader in killing both the Romans and those of the king's party; nor did any Jew escape him, if any
gain could accrue to him thereby. He once ventured to encompass a whole troop of Romans at Emmaus, who were carrying
corn and weapons to their legion; his men therefore shot their arrows and darts, and thereby slew their centurion Arius, and
forty of the stoutest of his men, while the rest of them, who were in danger of the same fate, upon the coming of Gratus, with
those of Sebaste, to their assistance, escaped. And when these men had thus served both their own countrymen and foreigners,
and that through this whole war, three of them were, after some time, subdued; the eldest by Archelaus, the two next by falling
into the hands of Gratus and Ptolemeus; but the fourth delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon his giving him his right hand for
his security. However, this their end was not till afterward, while at present they filled all Judea with a piratic war.

                                        CHAPTER 5.

   VARUS COMPOSES THE TUMULTS IN JUDEA AND CRUCIFIES ABOUT TWO THOUSAND OF THE
                                          SEDITIOUS.

1. UPON Varus's reception of the letters that were written by Sabinus and the captains, he could not avoid being afraid for the
whole legion [he had left there]. So he made haste to their relief, and took with him the other two legions, with the four troops
of horsemen to them belonging, and marched to Ptolenlais; having given orders for the auxiliaries that were sent by the kings
and governors of cities to meet him there. Moreover, he received from the people of Berytus, as he passed through their city,
fifteen hundred armed men. Now as soon as the other body of auxiliaries were come to Ptolemais, as well as Aretas the
Arabian, (who, out of the hatred he bore to Herod, brought a great army of horse and foot,) Varus sent a part of his army
presently to Galilee, which lay near to Ptolemais, and Caius, one of his friends, for their captain. This Caius put those that met
him to flight, and took the city Sepphoris, and burnt it, and made slaves of its inhabitants; but as for Varus himself, he marched
to Samaria with his whole army, where he did not meddle with the city itself, because he found that it had made no commotion
during these troubles, but pitched his camp about a certain village which was called Aras. It belonged to Ptolemy, and on that
account was plundered by the Arabians, who were very angry even at Herod's friends also. He thence marched on to the
village Sampho, another fortified place, which they plundered, as they had done the other. As they carried off all the money
they lighted upon belonging to the public revenues, all was now full of fire and blood-shed, and nothing could resist the plunders
of the Arabians. Emnaus was also burnt, upon the flight of its inhabitants, and this at the command of Varus, out of his rage at
the slaughter of those that were about Arias.

2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, and as soon as he was but seen by the Jews, he made their camps disperse themselves;
they also went away, and fled up and down the country. But the citizens received him, and cleared themselves of having any
hand in this revolt, and said that they had raised no commotions, but had only been forced to admit the multitude, because of
the festival, and that they were rather besieged together with the Romans, than assisted those that had revolted. There had
before this met him Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and Gratus, together with Rufus, who led those of Sebaste, as well as
the king's army: there also met him those of the Roman legion, armed after their accustomed manner; for as to Sabinus, he durst
not come into Varus's sight, but was gone out of the city before this, to the sea-side. But Varus sent a part of his army into the
country, against those that had been the authors of this commotion, and as they caught great numbers of them, those that
appeared to have been the least concerned in these tumults he put into custody, but such as were the most guilty he crucified;
these were in number about two thousand.

3. He was also informed that there continued in Idumea ten thousand men still in arms; but when he found that the Arabians did
not act like auxiliaries, but managed the war according to their own passions, and did mischief to the country otherwise than he
intended, and this out of their hatred to Herod, he sent them away, but made haste, with his own legions, to march against those
that had revolted; but these, by the advice of Achiabus, delivered themselves up to him before it came to a battle. Then did
Varus forgive the multitude their offenses, but sent their captains to Caesar to be examined by him. Now Caesar forgave the
rest, but gave orders that certain of the king's relations (for some of those that were among them were Herod's kinsmen) should
be put to death, because they had engaged in a war against a king of their own family. When therefore Varus had settled
matters at Jerusalem after this manner, and had left the former legion there as a garrison, he returned to Antioch.

                                        CHAPTER 6.

 THE JEWS GREATLY COMPLAIN OF ARCHELAUS AND DESIRE THAT THEY MAY BE MADE SUBJECT
     TO ROMAN GOVERNORS. BUT WHEN CAESAR HAD HEARD WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY, HE
   DISTRIBUTED HEROD'S DOMINIONS AMONG HIS SONS ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PLEASURE.

1. BUT now came another accusation from the Jews against Archelaus at Rome, which he was to answer to. It was made by
those ambassadors who, before the revolt, had come, by Varus's permission, to plead for the liberty of their country; those that
came were fifty in number, but there were more than eight thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported them. And when
Caesar had assembled a council of the principal Romans in Apollo's (2) temple, that was in the palace, (this was what he had
himself built and adorned, at a vast expense,) the multitude of the Jews stood with the ambassadors, and on the other side
stood Archelaus, with his friends; but as for the kindred of Archelaus, they stood on neither side; for to stand on Archelaus's
side, their hatred to him, and envy at him, would not give them leave, while yet they were afraid to be seen by Caesar with his
accusers. Besides these, there were present Archelaus's brother Philip, being sent thither beforehand, out of kindness by Varus,
for two reasons: the one was this, that he might be assisting to Archelaus; and the other was this, that in case Caesar should
make a distribution of what Herod possessed among his posterity, he might obtain some share of it.

2. And now, upon the permission that was given the accusers to speak, they, in the first place, went over Herod's breaches of
their law, and said that be was not a king, but the most barbarous of all tyrants, and that they had found him to be such by the
sufferings they underwent from him; that when a very great number had been slain by him, those that were left had endured such
miseries, that they called those that were dead happy men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his subjects, but entire
cities, and had done much harm to the cities of his own country, while he adorned those that belonged to foreigners; and he
shed the blood of Jews, in order to do kindnesses to those people that were out of their bounds; that he had filled the nation full
of poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness and those laws which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in short,
the Jews had borne more calamities from Herod, in a few years, than had their forefathers during all that interval of time that
had passed since they had come out of Babylon, and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes (3) that, however, the nation was
come to so low a condition, by being inured to hardships, that they submitted to his successor of their own accord, though he
brought them into bitter slavery; that accordingly they readily called Archelaus, though he was the son of so great a tyrant, king,
after the decease of his father, and joined with him in mourning for the death of Herod, and in wishing him good success in that
his succession; while yet this Archelaus, lest he should be in danger of not being thought the genuine son of Herod, began his
reign with the murder of three thousand citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacrifices to God for his
government, and to fill the temple with the like number of dead bodies at that festival: that, however, those that were left after so
many miseries, had just reason to consider now at last the calamities they had undergone, and to oppose themselves, like
soldiers in war, to receive those stripes upon their faces [but not upon their backs, as hitherto]. Whereupon they prayed that the
Romans would have compassion upon the [poor] remains of Judea, and not expose what was left of them to such as
barbarously tore them to pieces, and that they would join their country to Syria, and administer the government by their own
commanders, whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated that those who are now under the calumny of seditious persons, and
lovers of war, know how to bear governors that are set over them, if they be but tolerable ones. So the Jews concluded their
accusation with this request. Then rose up Nicolaus, and confuted the accusations which were brought against the kings, and
himself accused the Jewish nation, as hard to be ruled, and as naturally disobedient to kings. He also reproached all those
kinsmen of Archelaus who had left him, and were gone over to his accusers.

3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides, dissolved the assembly for that time; but a few days afterward, he gave the one
half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by the name of Ethnarch, and promised to make him king also afterward, if he rendered
himself worthy of that dignity. But as to the other half, he divided it into two tetrarchies, and gave them to two other sons of
Herod, the one of them to Philip, and the other to that Antipas who contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this last was
Perea and Galilee, with a revenue of two hundred talents; but Batanea, and Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and certain parts of
Zeno's house about Jamnia, with a revenue of a hundred talents, were made subject to Philip; while Idumea, and all Judea, and
Samaria were parts of the ethnarchy of Archelaus, although Samaria was eased of one quarter of its taxes, out of regard to their
not having revolted with the rest of the nation. He also made subject to him the following cities, viz. Strato's Tower, and
Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem; but as to the Grecian cities, Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from the
kingdom, and added them to Syria. Now the revenue of the country that was given to Archelaus was four hundred talents.
Salome also, besides what the king had left her in his testaments, was now made mistress of Jamnia, and Ashdod, and
Phasaelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon her the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which she got together a revenue of sixty
talents; but he put her house under the ethnarchy of Archelaus. And for the rest of Herod's offspring, they received what was
bequeathed to them in his testaments; but, besides that, Caesar granted to Herod's two virgin daughters five hundred thousand
[drachmae] of silver, and gave them in marriage to the sons of Pheroras: but after this family distribution, he gave between them
what had been bequeathed to him by Herod, which was a thousand talents, reserving to himself only some inconsiderable
presents, in honor of the deceased.

                                        CHAPTER 7.

  THE HISTORY OF THE SPURIOUS ALEXANDER. ARCHELAUS IS BANISHED AND GLAPHYRA DIES,
    AFTER WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN TO BOTH OF THEM HAD BEEN SHOWED THEM IN DREAMS.

1. In the meantime, there was a man, who was by birth a Jew, but brought up at Sidon with one of the Roman freed-men, who
falsely pretended, on account of the resemblance of their countenances, that he was that Alexander who was slain by Herod.
This man came to Rome, in hopes of not being detected. He had one who was his assistant, of his own nation, and who knew
all the affairs of the kingdom, and instructed him to say how those that were sent to kill him and Aristobulus had pity upon them,
and stole them away, by putting bodies that were like theirs in their places. This man deceived the Jews that were at Crete, and
got a great deal of money of them for traveling in splendor; and thence sailed to Melos, where he was thought so certainly
genuine, that he got a great deal more money, and prevailed with those that had treated him to sail along with him to Rome. So
he landed at Dicearchia, [Puteoli,] and got very large presents from the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted by his
father's friends as if he were a king; nay, the resemblance in his countenance procured him so much credit, that those who had
seen Alexander, and had known him very well, would take their oaths that he was the very same person. Accordingly, the
whole body of the Jews that were at Rome ran out in crowds to see him, and an innumerable multitude there was which stood
in the narrow places through which he was carried; for those of Melos were so far distracted, that they carried him in a sedan,
and maintained a royal attendance for him at their own proper charges.

2. But Caesar, who knew perfectly well the lineaments of Alexander's face, because he had been accused by Herod before
him, discerned the fallacy in his countenance, even before he saw the man. However, he suffered the agreeable fame that went
of him to have some weight with him, and sent Celadus, one who well knew Alexander, and ordered him to bring the young
man to him. But when Caesar saw him, he immediately discerned a difference in his countenance; and when he had discovered
that his whole body was of a more robust texture, and like that of a slave, he understood the whole was a contrivance. But the
impudence of what he said greatly provoked him to be angry at him; for when he was asked about Aristobulus, he said that he
was also preserved alive, and was left on purpose in Cyprus, for fear of treachery, because it would be harder for plotters to
get them both into their power while they were separate. Then did Caesar take him by himself privately, and said to him, "I will
give thee thy life, if thou wilt discover who it was that persuaded thee to forge such stories." So he said that he would discover
him, and followed Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who abused the resemblance of his face to get money; for that he had
received more presents in every city than ever Alexander did when he was alive. Caesar laughed at the contrivance, and put
this spurious Alexander among his rowers, on account of the strength of his body, but ordered him that persuaded him to be put
to death. But for the people of Melos, they had been sufficiently punished for their folly, by the expenses they had been at on
his account.

3. And now Archelaus took possession of his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews only, but the Samaritans also, barbarously; and
this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him. Whereupon they both of them sent ambassadors against him to Caesar;
and in the ninth year of his government he was banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul, and his effects were put into Caesar's
treasury. But the report goes, that before he was sent for by Caesar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn, full and large, but
devoured by oxen. When, therefore, he had sent for the diviners, and some of the Chaldeans, and inquired of them what they
thought it portended; and when one of them had one interpretation, and another had another, Simon, one of the sect of Essens,
said that he thought the ears of corn denoted years, and the oxen denoted a mutation of things, because by their ploughing they
made an alteration of the country. That therefore he should reign as many years as there were ears of corn; and after he had
passed through various alterations of fortune, should die. Now five days after Archelaus had heard this interpretation he was
called to his trial.

4. I cannot also but think it worthy to be recorded what dream Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, had,
who had at first been wife to Alexander, who was the brother of Archelaus, concerning whom we have been discoursing. This
Alexander was the son of Herod the king, by whom he was put to death, as we have already related. This Glaphyra was
married, after his death, to Juba, king of Libya; and, after his death, was returned home, and lived a widow with her father.
Then it was that Archelaus, the ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply in love with her, that he divorced Mariamne, who was then
his wife, ,and married her. When, therefore, she was come into Judea, and had been there for a little while, she thought she saw
Alexander stand by her, and that he said to her; "Thy marriage with the king of Libya might have been sufficient for thee; but
thou wast not contented with him, but art returned again to my family, to a third husband; and him, thou impudent woman, hast
thou chosen for thine husband, who is my brother. However, I shall not overlook the injury thou hast offered me; I shall [soon]
have thee again, whether thou wilt or no." Now Glaphyra hardly survived the narration of this dream of hers two days.

                                        CHAPTER 8.

ARCHELAUS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO A [ROMAN] PROVINCE. THE SEDITION OF JUDAS OF
                                  GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS.

1. AND now Archelaus's part of Judea was reduced into a province, and Coponius, one of the equestrian order among the
Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of [life and] death put into his hands by Caesar. Under his administration it
was that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed with his countrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they
would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a
peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders.

2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second,
the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essens. These last are Jews by birth, and
seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essens reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem
continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children,
while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own
manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard
against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man.

3. These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found
among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them must let what they have be
common to the whole order, - insomuch that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches, but every
one's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the
brethren. They think that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be anointed without his own approbation, it is wiped off his
body; for they think to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments. They also have stewards
appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them have no separate business for any, but what is for the
uses of them all.

4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from other places, what
they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been
ever so long acquainted with them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they travel into remote parts,
though still they take their weapons with them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one
appointed particularly to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. But the habit and
management of their bodies is such as children use who are in fear of their masters. Nor do they allow of the change of or of
shoes till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either buy or sell any thing to one another; but every one of
them gives what he hath to him that wanteth it, and receives from him again in lieu of it what may be convenient for himself; and
although there be no requital made, they are fully allowed to take what they want of whomsoever they please.

5. And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before sun-rising they speak not a word about profane
matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising.
After this every one of them are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which
they labor with great diligence till the fifth hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one place; and when
they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over, they
every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another sect to enter; while they
go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves down; upon which the
baker lays them loaves in order; the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food, and sets it before every one of them;
but a priest says grace before meat; and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace be said. The same priest,
when he hath dined, says grace again after meat; and when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows
their food upon them; after which they lay aside their [white] garments, and betake themselves to their labors again till the
evening; then they return home to supper, after the same manner; and if there be any strangers there, they sit down with them.
Nor is there ever any clamor or disturbance to pollute their house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn; which
silence thus kept in their house appears to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the cause of which is that perpetual
sobriety they exercise, and the same settled measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly
sufficient for them.

6. And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators; only these two things are
done among them at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist those that want it, and to show mercy; for they are permitted
of their own accord to afford succor to such as deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and to bestow food on those that are
in distress; but they cannot give any thing to their kindred without the curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner,
and restrain their passion. They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; whatsoever they say also is firmer than
an oath; but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury (4) for they say that he who cannot be
believed without [swearing by] God is already condemned. They also take great pains in studying the writings of the ancients,
and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of their soul and body; and they inquire after such roots and medicinal
stones as may cure their distempers.

7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, he is not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same
method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded'; and they give him also a small hatchet, and the
fore-mentioned girdle, and the white garment. And when he hath given evidence, during that time, that he can observe their
continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of purification; yet is he not even
now admitted to live with them; for after this demonstration of his fortitude, his temper is tried two more years; and if he appear
to be worthy, they then admit him into their society. And before he is allowed to touch their common food, he is obliged to take
tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercise piety towards God, and then that he will observe justice towards men,
and that he will do no harm to any one, either of his own accord, or by the command of others; that he will always hate the
wicked, and be assistant to the righteous; that he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority, because
no one obtains the government without God's assistance; and that if he be in authority, he will at no time whatever abuse his
authority, nor endeavor to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other finery; that he will be perpetually a lover of
truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies; that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from
unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to
others, no, not though anyone should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to communicate their
doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve
the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels (5) [or messengers]. These are the oaths by which they secure
their proselytes to themselves.

8. But for those that are caught in any heinous sins, they cast them out of their society; and he who is thus separated from them
does often die after a miserable manner; for as he is bound by the oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been engaged
in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to famish his body
with hunger, till he perish; for which reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp, out of compassion
to them, as thinking the miseries they have endured till they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment for the
sins they had been guilty of.

9. But in the judgments they exercise they are most accurate and just, nor do they pass sentence by the votes of a court that is
fewer than a hundred. And as to what is once determined by that number, it is unalterable. What they most of all honor, after
God himself, is the name of their legislator [Moses], whom if any one blaspheme he is punished capitally. They also think it a
good thing to obey their elders, and the major part. Accordingly, if ten of them be sitting together, no one of them will speak
while the other nine are against it. They also avoid spitting in the midst of them, or on the right side. Moreover, they are stricter
than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get their food ready the day before,
that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool
thereon. Nay, on other days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them when they are
first admitted among them); and covering themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront the Divine rays of light,
they ease themselves into that pit, after which they put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and even this they do only in
the more lonely places, which they choose out for this purpose; and although this easement of the body be natural, yet it is a
rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a defilement to them.

10. Now after the time of their preparatory trial is over, they are parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors inferior to
the seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by the juniors, they must wash themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves
with the company of a foreigner. They are long-lived also, insomuch that many of them live above a hundred years, by means of
the simplicity of their diet; nay, as I think, by means of the regular course of life they observe also. They contemn the miseries of
life, and are above pain, by the generosity of their mind. And as for death, if it will be for their glory, they esteem it better than
living always; and indeed our war with the Romans gave abundant evidence what great souls they had in their trials, wherein,
although they were tortured and distorted, burnt and torn to pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments of torment, that
they might be forced either to blaspheme their legislator, or to eat what was forbidden them, yet could they not be made to do
either of them, no, nor once to flatter their tormentors, or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their very pains, and laughed those
to scorn who inflicted the torments upon them, and resigned up their souls with great alacrity, as expecting to receive them
again.

11. For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that the
souls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come out of the most subtile air, and are united to their bodies as to
prisons, into which they are drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are set free from the bonds of the flesh,
they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice and mount upward. And this is like the opinions of the Greeks, that good
souls have their habitations beyond the ocean, in a region that is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow, or with intense
heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by the gentle breathing of a west wind, that is perpetually blowing from the
ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeks
seem to me to have followed the same notion, when they allot the islands of the blessed to their brave men, whom they call
heroes and demi-gods; and to the souls of the wicked, the region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their fables relate that certain
persons, such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus, are punished; which is built on this first supposition, that souls
are immortal; and thence are those exhortations to virtue and dehortations from wickedness collected; whereby good men are
bettered in the conduct of their life by the hope they have of reward after their death; and whereby the vehement inclinations of
bad men to vice are restrained, by the fear and expectation they are in, that although they should lie concealed in this life, they
should suffer immortal punishment after their death. These are the Divine doctrines of the Essens (6) about the soul, which lay
an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste of their philosophy.

12. There are also those among them who undertake to foretell things to come, (7) by reading the holy books, and using
several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually conversant in the discourses of the prophets; and it is but seldom that they
miss in their predictions.

13. Moreover, there is another order of Essens, (8) who agree with the rest as to their way of living, and customs, and laws,
but differ from them in the point of marriage, as thinking that by not marrying they cut off the principal part of human life, which
is the prospect of succession; nay, rather, that if all men should be of the same opinion, the whole race of mankind would fail.
However, they try their spouses for three years; and if they find that they have their natural purgations thrice, as trials that they
are likely to be fruitful, they then actually marry them. But they do not use to accompany with their wives when they are with
child, as a demonstration that they do not many out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of posterity. Now the women go into
the baths with some of their garments on, as the men do with somewhat girded about them. And these are the customs of this
order of Essens.

14. But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact
explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that
to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say
that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, - but that the souls of bad
men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate
entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or
what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please.
They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the
Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the
Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as
barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.

                                        CHAPTER 9.

    THE DEATH OF SALOME. THE CITIES WHICH HEROD AND PHILIP BUILT. PILATE OCCASIONS
 DISTURBANCES. TIBERIUS PUTS AGRIPPA INTO BONDS BUT CAIUS FREES HIM FROM THEM, AND
                        MAKES HIM KING. HEROD ANTIPAS IS BANISHED.

1. AND now as the ethnarchy of Archelaus was fallen into a Roman province, the other sons of Herod, Philip, and that Herod
who was called Antipas, each of them took upon them the administration of their own tetrarchies; for when Salome died, she
bequeathed to Julia, the wife of Augustus, both her toparchy, and Jamriga, as also her plantation of palm trees that were in
Phasaelis. But when the Roman empire was translated to Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon the death of Augustus, who had
reigned fifty-seven years, six months, and two days, both Herod and Philip continued in their tetrarchies; and the latter of them
built the city Cesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas; as also the city Julias, in the lower Gaulonitis.
Herod also built the city Tiberius in Galilee, and in Perea [beyond Jordan] another that was also called Julias.

2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar that are called ensigns
into Jerusalem. This excited a very among great tumult among the Jews when it was day; for those that were near them were
astonished at the sight of them, as indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws do not permit any sort of
image to be brought into the city. Nay, besides the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast
number of people came running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those
ensigns out of Jerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate's denial of their request, they fell (9)
down prostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture for five days and as many nights.

3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the open market-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give
them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their
weapons; so the band of soldiers stood round about the Jews in three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation at
that unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them that they should be cut in pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar's images,
and gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell down in vast
numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried out that they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their law
should be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their prodigious superstition, and gave order that the ensigns
should be presently carried out of Jerusalem.

4. After this he raised another disturbance, by expending that sacred treasure which is called Corban (10) upon aqueducts,
whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundred furlongs. At this the multitude had indignation; and when Pilate
was come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and made a clamor at it. Now when he was apprized aforehand of this
disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the
habits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords, but with their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then
gave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them
perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves; by which means the
multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and held their peace.

5. In the mean time Agrippa, the son of that Aristobulus who had been slain by his father Herod, came to Tiberius, to accuse
Herod the tetrarch; who not admitting of his accusation, he staid at Rome, and cultivated a friendship with others of the men of
note, but principally with Caius the son of Germanicus, who was then but a private person. Now this Agrippa, at a certain time,
feasted Caius; and as he was very complaisant to him on several other accounts, he at length stretched out his hands, and
openly wished that Tiberius might die, and that he might quickly see him emperor of the world. This was told to Tiberius by one
of Agrippa's domestics, who thereupon was very angry, and ordered Agrippa to be bound, and had him very ill-treated in the
prison for six months, until Tiberius died, after he had reigned twenty-two years, six months, and three days.

6. But when Caius was made Caesar, he released Agrippa from his bonds, and made him king of Philip's tetrarchy, who was
now dead; but when Agrippa had arrived at that degree of dignity, he inflamed the ambitious desires of Herod the tetrarch, who
was chiefly induced to hope for the royal authority by his wife Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth, and told him that it
was only because he would not sail to Caesar that he was destitute of that great dignity; for since Caesar had made Agrippa a
king, from a private person, much mole would he advance him from a tetrarch to that dignity. These arguments prevailed with
Herod, so that he came to Caius, by whom he was punished for his ambition, by being banished into Spain; for Agrippa
followed him, in order to accuse him; to whom also Caius gave his tetrarchy, by way of addition. So Herod died in Spain,
whither his wife had followed him.

                                       CHAPTER 10.

   CAIUS COMMANDS THAT HIS STATUE SHOULD BE SET UP IN THE TEMPLE ITSELF; AND WHAT
                                 PETRONIUS DID THEREUPON.

1. NOW Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so
called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews.
Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, (11) and commanded him that, in
case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity:
but God concerned himself with these his commands. However, Petronius marched out of Antioch into Judea, with three
legions, and many Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the Jews, some of them could not believe the stories that spake of a war; but
those that did believe them were in the utmost distress how to defend themselves, and the terror diffused itself presently through
them all; for the army was already come to Ptolemais.

2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of Galilee, built in the great plain. It is encompassed with mountains: that on the east side,
sixty furlongs off, belongs to Galilee; but that on the south belongs to Carmel, which is distant from it a hundred and twenty
furlongs; and that on the north is the highest of them all, and is called by the people of the country, The Ladder of the Tyrians,
which is at the distance of a hundred furlongs. The very small river Belus (12) runs by it, at the distance of two furlongs; near
which there is Menmon's monument, (13) and hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, which deserves admiration;
for the place is round and hollow, and affords such sand as glass is made of; which place, when it hath been emptied by the
many ships there loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring into it, as it were on purpose, that sand which lay remote,
and was no more than bare common sand, while this mine presently turns it into glassy sand. And what is to me still more
wonderful, that glassy sand which is superfluous, and is once removed out of the place, becomes bare common sand again.
And this is the nature of the place we are speaking of.

3. But now the Jews got together in great numbers with their wives and children into that plain that was by Ptolemais, and made
supplication to Petronius, first for their laws, and, in the next place, for themselves. So he was prevailed upon by the multitude
of the supplicants, and by their supplications, and left his army and the statues at Ptolemais, and then went forward into Galilee,
and called together the multitude and all the men of note to Tiberias, and showed them the power of the Romans, and the
threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved that their petition was unreasonable, because while all the nations in subjection
to them had placed the images of Caesar in their several cities, among the rest of their gods, for them alone to oppose it, was
almost like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to Caesar.

4. And when they insisted on their law, and the custom of their country, and how it was not only not permitted them to make
either an image of God, or indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable part of their country, much less in the temple itself,
Petronius replied, "And am not I also," said he, "bound to keep the law of my own lord? For if I transgress it, and spare you, it
is but just that I perish; while he that sent me, and not I, will commence a war against you; for I am under command as well as
you." Hereupon the whole multitude cried out that they were ready to suffer for their law. Petronius then quieted them, and said
to them, "Will you then make war against Caesar?" The Jews said, "We offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar, and for the
Roman people;" but that if he would place the images among them, he must first sacrifice the whole Jewish nation; and that they
were ready to expose themselves, together with their children and wives, to be slain. At this Petronius was astonished, and
pitied them, on account of the inexpressible sense of religion the men were under, and that courage of theirs which made them
ready to die for it; so they were dismissed without success.

5. But on the following days he got together the men of power privately, and the multitude publicly, and sometimes he used
persuasions to them, and sometimes he gave them his advice; but he chiefly made use of threatenings to them, and insisted upon
the power of the Romans, and the anger of Caius; and besides, upon the necessity he was himself under [to do as he was
enjoined]. But as they could be no way prevailed upon, and he saw that the country was in danger of lying without tillage; (for it
was about seed time that the multitude continued for fifty days together idle;) so he at last got them together, and told them that
it was best for him to run some hazard himself; "for either, by the Divine assistance, I shall prevail with Caesar, and shall myself
escape the danger as well as you, which will he matter of joy to us both; or, in case Caesar continue in his rage, I will be ready
to expose my own life for such a great number as you are." Whereupon he dismissed the multitude, who prayed greatly for his
prosperity; and he took the army out of Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch; from whence he presently sent an epistle to
Caesar, and informed him of the irruption he had made into Judea, and of the supplications of the nation; and that unless he had
a mind to lose both the country and the men in it, he must permit them to keep their law, and must countermand his former
injunction. Caius answered that epistle in a violent-way, and threatened to have Petronius put to death for his being so tardy in
the execution of what he had commanded. But it happened that those who brought Caius's epistle were tossed by a storm, and
were detained on the sea for three months, while others that brought the news of Caius's death had a good voyage.
Accordingly, Petronins received the epistle concerning Caius seven and twenty days before he received that which was against
himself.

                                       CHAPTER 11.

   CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF CLAUDIUS, AND THE REIGN OF AGRIPPA. CONCERNING
    THE DEATHS OF AGRIPPA AND OF HEROD AND WHAT CHILDREN THEY BOTH LEFT BEHIND
                                             THEM.

1. NOW when Caius had reigned three year's and eight months, and had been slain by treachery, Claudius was hurried away
by the armies that were at Rome to take the government upon him; but the senate, upon the reference of the consuls, Sentis
Saturninns, and Pomponins Secundus, gave orders to the three regiments of soldiers that staid with them to keep the city quiet,
and went up into the capitol in great numbers, and resolved to oppose Claudius by force, on account of the barbarous
treatment they had met with from Caius; and they determined either to settle the nation under an aristocracy, as they had of old
been governed, or at least to choose by vote such a one for emperor as might be worthy of it.

2. Now it happened that at this time Agrippa sojourned at Rome, and that both the senate called him to consult with them, and
at the same time Claudius sent for him out of the camp, that he might be serviceable to him, as he should have occasion for his
service. So he, perceiving that Claudius was in effect made Caesar already, went to him, who sent him as an ambassador to the
senate, to let them know what his intentions were: that, in the first place, it was without his seeking that he was hurried away by
the soldiers; moreover, that he thought it was not just to desert those soldiers in such their zeal for him, and that if he should do
so, his own fortune would be in uncertainty; for that it was a dangerous case to have been once called to the empire. He added
further, that he would administer the government as a good prince, and not like a tyrant; for that he would be satisfied with the
honor of being called emperor, but would, in every one of his actions, permit them all to give him their advice; for that although
he had not been by nature for moderation, yet would the death of Caius afford him a sufficient demonstration how soberly he
ought to act in that station.

3. This message was delivered by Agrippa; to which the senate replied, that since they had an army, and the wisest counsels on
their side, they would not endure a voluntary slavery. And when Claudius heard what answer the senate had made, he sent
Agrippa to them again, with the following message: That he could not bear the thoughts of betraying them that had given their
oaths to be true to him; and that he saw he must fight, though unwillingly, against such as he had no mind to fight; that, however,
[if it must come to that,] it was proper to choose a place without the city for the war, because it was not agreeable to piety to
pollute the temples of their own city with the blood of their own countrymen, and this only on occasion of their imprudent
conduct. And when Agrippa had heard this message, he delivered it to the senators.

4. In the mean time, one of the soldiers belonging to the senate drew his sword, and cried out, "O my fellow soldiers, what is
the meaning of this choice of ours, to kill our brethren, and to use violence to our kindred that are with Claudius? while we may
have him for our emperor whom no one can blame, and who hath so many just reasons [to lay claim to the government]; and
this with regard to those against whom we are going to fight." When he had said this, he marched through the whole senate, and
carried all the soldiers along with him. Upon which all the patricians were immediately in a great fright at their being thus
deserted. But still, because there appeared no other way whither they could turn themselves for deliverance, they made haste
the same way with the soldiers, and went to Claudius. But those that had the greatest luck in flattering the good fortune of
Claudius betimes met them before the walls with their naked swords, and there was reason to fear that those that came first
might have been in danger, before Claudius could know what violence the soldiers were going to offer them, had not Agrippa
ran before, and told him what a dangerous thing they were going about, and that unless he restrained the violence of these men,
who were in a fit of madness against the patricians, he would lose those on whose account it was most desirable to rule, and
would be emperor over a desert.

5. When Claudius heard this, he restrained the violence of the soldiery, and received the senate into the camp, and treated them
after an obliging manner, and went out with them presently to offer their thank-offerings to God, which were proper upon, his
first coming to the empire. Moreover, he bestowed on Agrippa his whole paternal kingdom immediately, and added to it,
besides those countries that had been given by Augustus to Herod, Trachonitis and Auranitis, and still besides these, that
kingdom which was called the kingdom of Lysanius. This gift he declared to the people by a decree, but ordered the
magistrates to have the donation engraved on tables of brass, and to be set up in the capitol. He bestowed on his brother
Herod, who was also his son-in-law, by marrying [his daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of Chalcis.

6. So now riches flowed in to Agrippa by his enjoyment of so large a dominion; nor did he abuse the money he had on small
matters, but he began to encompass Jerusalem with such a wall, which, had it been brought to perfection, had made it
impracticable for the Romans to take it by siege; but his death, which happened at Cesarea, before he had raised the walls to
their due height, prevented him. He had then reigned three years, as he had governed his tetrarchies three other years. He left
behind him three daughters, born to him by Cypros, Bernice, Mariamne, and Drusilla, and a son born of the same mother,
whose name was Agrippa: he was left a very young child, so that Claudius made the country a Roman province, and sent
Cuspius Fadus to be its procurator, and after him Tiberius Alexander, who, making no alterations of the ancient laws, kept the
nation in tranquillity. Now after this, Herod the king of Chalcis died, and left behind him two sons, born to him of his brother's
daughter Bernice; their names were Bernie Janus and Hyrcanus. [He also left behind him] Aristobulus, whom he had by his
former wife Mariamne. There was besides another brother of his that died a private person, his name was also Aristobulus,
who left behind him a daughter, whose name was Jotape: and these, as I have formerly said, were the children of Aristobulus
the son of Herod, which Aristobulus and Alexander were born to Herod by Mariamne, and were slain by him. But as for
Alexander's posterity, they reigned in Armenia.

                                       CHAPTER 12.

     MANY TUMULTS UNDER CUMANUS, WHICH WERE COMPOSED BY QUADRATUS. FELIX IS
   PROCURATOR OF JUDEA. AGRIPPA IS ADVANCED FROM CHALCIS TO A GREATER KINGDOM.

1 NOW after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, over his uncle's kingdom, while
Cumanus took upon him the office of procurator of the rest, which was a Roman province, and therein he succeeded
Alexander; under which Cureanus began the troubles, and the Jews' ruin came on; for when the multitude were come together
to Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread, and a Roman cohort stood over the cloisters of the temple, (for they always
were armed, and kept guard at the festivals, to prevent any innovation which the multitude thus gathered together might make,)
one of the soldiers pulled back his garment, and cowering down after an indecent manner, turned his breech to the Jews, and
spake such words as you might expect upon such a posture. At this the whole multitude had indignation, and made a clamor to
Cumanus, that he would punish the soldier; while the rasher part of the youth, and such as were naturally the most tumultuous,
fell to fighting, and caught up stones, and threw them at the soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest all the people should
make an assault upon him, and sent to call for more armed men, who, when they came in great numbers into the cloisters, the
Jews were in a very great consternation; and being beaten out of the temple, they ran into the city; and the violence with which
they crowded to get out was so great, that they trod upon each other, and squeezed one another, till ten thousand of them were
killed, insomuch that this feast became the cause of mourning to the whole nation, and every family lamented their own relations.

2. Now there followed after this another calamity, which arose from a tumult made by robbers; for at the public road at
Beth-boron, one Stephen, a servant of Caesar, carried some furniture, which the robbers fell upon and seized. Upon this
Cureanus sent men to go round about to the neighboring villages, and to bring their inhabitants to him bound, as laying it to their
charge that they had not pursued after the thieves, and caught them. Now here it was that a certain soldier, finding the sacred
book of the law, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the fire. (14) Hereupon the Jews were in great disorder, as if their whole
country were in a flame, and assembled themselves so many of them by their zeal for their religion, as by an engine, and ran
together with united clamor to Cesarea, to Cumanus, and made supplication to him that he would not overlook this man, who
had offered such an affront to God, and to his law; but punish him for what he had done. Accordingly, he, perceiving that the
multitude would not be quiet unless they had a comfortable answer from him, gave order that the soldier should be brought, and
drawn through those that required to have him punished, to execution, which being done, the Jews went their ways.

3. After this there happened a fight between the Galileans and the Samaritans; it happened at a village called Geman, which is
situate in the great plain of Samaria; where, as a great number of Jews were going up to Jerusalem to the feast [of tabernacles,]
a certain Galilean was slain; and besides, a vast number of people ran together out of Galilee, in order to fight with the
Samaritans. But the principal men among them came to Cumanus, and besought him that, before the evil became incurable, he
would come into Galilee, and bring the authors of this murder to punishment; for that there was no other way to make the
multitude separate without coming to blows. However, Cumanus postponed their supplications to the other affairs he was then
about, and sent the petitioners away without success.

4. But when the affair of this murder came to be told at Jerusalem, it put the multitude into disorder, and they left the feast; and
without any generals to conduct them, they marched with great violence to Samaria; nor would they be ruled by any of the
magistrates that were set over them, but they were managed by one Eleazar, the son of Dineus, and by Alexander, in these their
thievish and seditious attempts. These men fell upon those that were ill the neighborhood of the Acrabatene toparchy, and slew
them, without sparing any age, and set the villages on fire.

5. But Cumanus took one troop of horsemen, called the troop of Sebaste, out of Cesarea, and came to the assistance of those
that were spoiled; he also seized upon a great number of those that followed Eleazar, and slew more of them. And as for the
rest of the multitude of those that went so zealously to fight with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem ran out clothed with
sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and begged of them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge themselves
upon the Samaritans they should provoke the Romans to come against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon their country and
temple, their children and their wives, and not bring the utmost dangers of destruction upon them, in order to avenge themselves
upon one Galilean only. The Jews complied with these persuasions of theirs, and dispersed themselves; but still there were a
great number who betook themselves to robbing, in hopes of impunity; and rapines and insurrections of the bolder sort
happened over the whole country. And the men of power among the Samaritans came to Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus, (15)
the president of Syria, and desired that they that had laid waste the country might be punished: the great men also of the Jews,
and Jonathan the son of Ananus the high priest, came thither, and said that the Samaritans were the beginners of the
disturbance, on account of that murder they had committed; and that Cumanus had given occasion to what had happened, by
his unwillingness to punish the original authors of that murder.

6. But Quadratus put both parties off for that time, and told them, that when he should come to those places, he would make a
diligent inquiry after every circumstance. After which he went to Cesarea, and crucified all those whom Cumanus had taken
alive; and when from thence he was come to the city Lydda, he heard the affair of the Samaritans, and sent for eighteen of the
Jews, whom he had learned to have been concerned in that fight, and beheaded them; but he sent two others of those that were
of the greatest power among them, and both Jonathan and Ananias, the high priests, as also Artanus the son of this Ananias,
and certain others that were eminent among the Jews, to Caesar; as he did in like manner by the most illustrious of the
Samaritans. He also ordered that Cureanus [the procurator] and Celer the tribune should sail to Rome, in order to give an
account of what had been done to Caesar. When he had finished these matters, he went up from Lydda to Jerusalem, and
finding the multitude celebrating their feast of unleavened bread without any tumult, he returned to Antioch.

7. Now when Caesar at Rome had heard what Cumanus and the Samaritans had to say, (where it was done in the hearing of
Agrippa, who zealously espoused the cause of the Jews, as in like manner many of the great men stood by Cumanus,) he
condemned the Samaritans, and commanded that three of the most powerful men among them should be put to death; he
banished Cumanus, and sent Color bound to Jerusalem, to be delivered over to the Jews to be tormented; that he should be
drawn round the city, and then beheaded.

8. After this Caesar sent Felix, (16) the brother of Pallas, to be procurator of Galilee, and Samaria, and Perea, and removed
Agrippa from Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for he gave him the tetrarchy which had belonged to Philip, which contained
Batanae, Trachonitis, and Gaulonitis: he added to it the kingdom of Lysanias, and that province [Abilene] which Varus had
governed. But Claudius himself, when he had administered the government thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days, died,
and left Nero to be his successor in the empire, whom he had adopted by his Wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be his
successor, although he had a son of his own, whose name was Britannicus, by Messalina his former wife, and a daughter whose
name was Octavia, whom he had married to Nero; he had also another daughter by Petina, whose name was Antonia.

                                       CHAPTER 13.

   NERO ADDS FOUR CITIES TO AGRIPPAS KINGDOM; BUT THE OTHER PARTS OF JUDEA WERE
 UNDER FELIX. THE DISTURBANCES WHICH WERE RAISED BY THE SICARII THE MAGICIANS AND
     AN EGYPTIAN FALSE PROPHET. THE JEWS AND SYRIANS HAVE A CONTEST AT CESAREA.

1. NOW as to the many things in which Nero acted like a madman, out of the extravagant degree of the felicity and riches
which he enjoyed, and by that means used his good fortune to the injury of others; and after what manner he slew his brother,
and wife, and mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself to others that were most nearly related to him; and how, at last, he
was so distracted that he became an actor in the scenes, and upon the theater, - I omit to say any more about them, because
there are writers enough upon those subjects every where; but I shall turn myself to those actions of his time in which the Jews
were concerned.

2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom of the Lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus, Herod's son, (17) and he added to
Agrippa's kingdom four cities, with the toparchies to them belonging; I mean Abila, and that Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea
also, and Tiberias of Galilee; but over the rest of Judea he made Felix procurator. This Felix took Eleazar the arch-robber, and
many that were with him, alive, when they had ravaged the country for twenty years together, and sent them to Rome; but as to
the number of the robbers whom he caused to be crucified, and of those who were caught among them, and whom he brought
to punishment, they were a multitude not to be enumerated.

3. When the country was purged of these, there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who
slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among
the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when
any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means they appeared
persons of such reputation, that they could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the
high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than
the calamity itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before
them, and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any
longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celerity of the plotters
against them, and so cunning was their contrivance.

4. There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their
intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers. These were such men as deceived and
deluded the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the government;
and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God
would there show them the signals of liberty. But Felix thought this procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt; so he sent
some horsemen and footmen both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.

5. But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended
to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him; these he led round about from the
wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place;
and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of
those guards of his that were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman
soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran
away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of
the multitude were dispersed every one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.

6. Now when these were quieted, it happened, as it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject to an inflammation;
for a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their
liberty, inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to the Roman government, and saying, that such as willingly chose
slavery ought to be forced from such their desired inclinations; for they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait
up and down the country, and plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages on fire;
and this till all Judea was filled with the effects of their madness. And thus the flame was every day more and more blown up, till
it came to a direct war.

7. There was also another disturbance at Cesarea, - those Jews who were mixed with the Syrians that lived there rising a tumult
against them. The Jews pretended that the city was theirs, and said that he who built it was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The
Syrians confessed also that its builder was a Jew; but they still said, however, that the city was a Grecian city; for that he who
set up statues and temples in it could not design it for Jews. On which account both parties had a contest with one another; and
this contest increased so much, that it came at last to arms, and the bolder sort of them marched out to fight; for the elders of
the Jews were not able to put a stop to their own people that were disposed to be tumultuous, and the Greeks thought it a
shame for them to be overcome by the Jews. Now these Jews exceeded the others in riches and strength of body; but the
Grecian part had the advantage of assistance from the soldiery; for the greatest part of the Roman garrison was raised out of
Syria; and being thus related to the Syrian part, they were ready to assist it. However, the governors of the city were concerned
to keep all quiet, and whenever they caught those that were most for fighting on either side, they punished them with stripes and
bands. Yet did not the sufferings of those that were caught affright the remainder, or make them desist; but they were still more
and more exasperated, and deeper engaged in the sedition. And as Felix came once into the market-place, and commanded
the Jews, when they had beaten the Syrians, to go their ways, and threatened them if they would not, and they would not obey
him, he sent his soldiers out upon them, and slew a great many of them, upon which it fell out that what they had was plundered.
And as the sedition still continued, he chose out the most eminent men on both sides as ambassadors to Nero, to argue about
their several privileges.

                                       CHAPTER 14.

   FESTUS SUCCEEDS FELIX WHO IS SUCCEEDED BY ALBINUS AS HE IS BY FLORUS; WHO BY THE
              BARBARITY OF HIS GOVERNMENT FORCES THE JEWS INTO THE WAR.

1. NOW it was that Festus succeeded Felix as procurator, and made it his business to correct those that made disturbances in
the country. So he caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of them. But then Albinus, who
succeeded Festus, did not execute his office as the other had done; nor was there any sort of wickedness that could be named
but he had a hand in it. Accordingly, he did not only, in his political capacity, steal and plunder every one's substance, nor did
he only burden the whole nation with taxes, but he permitted the relations of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been
laid there, either by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators, to redeem them for money; and no body remained in
the prisons as a malefactor but he who gave him nothing. At this time it was that the enterprises of the seditious at Jerusalem
were very formidable; the principal men among them purchasing leave of Albinus to go on with their seditious practices; while
that part of the people who delighted in disturbances joined themselves to such as had fellowship with Albinus; and every one
of these wicked wretches were encompassed with his own band of robbers, while he himself, like an arch-robber, or a tyrant,
made a figure among his company, and abused his authority over those about him, in order to plunder those that lived quietly.
The effect of which was this, that those who lost their goods were forced to hold their peace, when they had reason to show
great indignation at what they had suffered; but those who had escaped were forced to flatter him that deserved to be punished,
out of the fear they were in of suffering equally with the others. Upon the Whole, nobody durst speak their minds, but tyranny
was generally tolerated; and at this time were those seeds sown which brought the city to destruction.

2. And although such was the character of Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus (18) who succeeded him, demonstrate him to have
been a most excellent person, upon the comparison; for the former did the greatest part of his rogueries in private, and with a
sort of dissimulation; but Gessius did his unjust actions to the harm of the nation after a pompons manner; and as though he had
been sent as an executioner to punish condemned malefactors, he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexation; where the case was
really pitiable, he was most barbarous, and in things of the greatest turpitude he was most impudent. Nor could any one outdo
him in disguising the truth; nor could any one contrive more subtle ways of deceit than he did. He indeed thought it but a petty
offense to get money out of single persons; so he spoiled whole cities, and ruined entire bodies of men at once, and did almost
publicly proclaim it all the country over, that they had liberty given them to turn robbers, upon this condition, that he might go
shares with them in the spoils they got. Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the occasion that entire toparchies were
brought to desolation, and a great many of the people left their own country, and fled into foreign provinces.

3. And truly, while Cestius Gallus was president of the province of Syria, nobody durst do so much as send an embassage to
him against Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of the feast of unleavened bread, the people came
about him not fewer in number than three millions (19) these besought him to commiserate the calamities of their nation, and
cried out upon Florus as the bane of their country. But as he was present, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their words.
However, Cestius, when he had quieted the multitude, and had assured them that he would take care that Florus should
hereafter treat them in a more gentle manner, returned to Antioch. Florus also conducted him as far as Cesarea, and deluded
him, though he had at that very time the purpose of showing his anger at the nation, and procuring a war upon them, by which
means alone it was that he supposed he might conceal his enormities; for he expected that if the peace continued, he should
have the Jews for his accusers before Caesar; but that if he could procure them to make a revolt, he should divert their laying
lesser crimes to his charge, by a misery that was so much greater; he therefore did every day augment their calamities, in order
to induce them to a rebellion.

4. Now at this time it happened that the Grecians at Cesarea had been too hard for the Jews, and had obtained of Nero the
government of the city, and had brought the judicial determination: at the same time began the war, in the twelfth year of the
reign of Nero, and the seventeenth of the reign of Agrippa, in the month of Artemisins [Jyar.] Now the occasion of this war was
by no means proportionable to those heavy calamities which it brought upon us. For the Jews that dwelt at Cesarea had a
synagogue near the place, whose owner was a certain Cesarean Greek: the Jews had endeavored frequently to have purchased
the possession of the place, and had offered many times its value for its price; but as the owner overlooked their offers, so did
he raise other buildings upon the place, in way of affront to them, and made working-shops of them, and left them but a narrow
passage, and such as was very troublesome for them to go along to their synagogue. Whereupon the warmer part of the Jewish
youth went hastily to the workmen, and forbade them to build there; but as Florus would not permit them to use force, the great
men of the Jews, with John the publican, being in the utmost distress what to do, persuaded Florus, with the offer of eight
talents, to hinder the work. He then, being intent upon nothing but getting money, promised he would do for them all they
desired of him, and then went away from Cesarea to Sebaste, and left the sedition to take its full course, as if he had sold a
license to the Jews to fight it out.

5. Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a
certain man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom upward, at the entrance of that
synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were affronted, and
the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and moderate part of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their
governors again, while the seditious part, and such as were in the fervor of their youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight. The
seditions also among the Gentiles of Cesarea stood ready for the same purpose; for they had, by agreement, sent the man to
sacrifice beforehand [as ready to support him;] so that it soon came to blows. Hereupon Jucundus, the master of the horse,
who was ordered to prevent the fight, came thither, and took away the earthen vessel, and endeavored to put a stop to the
sedition; but when (20) he was overcome by the violence of the people of Cesarea, the Jews caught up their books of the law,
and retired to Narbata, which was a place to them belonging, distant from Cesarea sixty furlongs. But John, and twelve of the
principal men with him, went to Florus, to Sebaste, and made a lamentable complaint of their case, and besought him to help
them; and with all possible decency, put him in mind of the eight talents they had given him; but he had the men seized upon,
and put in prison, and accused them for carrying the books of the law out of Cesarea.

6. Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this matter very ill, yet did they restrain their passion; but Florus
acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the
sacred treasure, and pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this the people were in confusion immediately, and ran together to
the temple, with prodigious clamors, and called upon Caesar by name, and besought him to free them from the tyranny of
Florus. Some also of the seditious cried out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and carried a basket
about, and begged some spills of money for him, as for one that was destitute of possessions, and in a miserable condition. Yet
was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged, and provoked to get still more; and instead of
coming to Cesarea, as he ought to have done, and quenching the flame of war, which was beginning thence, and so taking away
the occasion of any disturbances, on which account it was that he had received a reward [of eight talents], he marched hastily
with an army of horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and might, by
his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.

7. But the people were desirous of making Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met his soldiers with acclamations, and put
themselves in order to receive him very submissively. But he sent Capito, a centurion, beforehand, with fifty soldiers, to bid
them go back, and not now make a show of receiving him in an obliging manner, whom they had so foully reproached before;
and said that it was incumbent on them, in case they had generous souls, and were free speakers, to jest upon him to his face,
and appear to be lovers of liberty, not only in words, but with their weapons also. With this message was the multitude amazed;
and upon the coming of Capito's horsemen into the midst of them, they were dispersed before they could salute Florus, or
manifest their submissive behavior to him. Accordingly, they retired to their own houses, and spent that night in fear and
confusion of face.

8. Now at this time Florus took up his quarters at the palace; and on the next day he had his tribunal set before it, and sat upon
it, when the high priests, and the men of power, and those of the greatest eminence in the city, came all before that tribunal;
upon which Florus commanded them to deliver up to him those that had reproached him, and told them that they should
themselves partake of the vengeance to them belonging, if they did not produce the criminals; but these demonstrated that the
people were peaceably disposed, and they begged forgiveness for those that had spoken amiss; for that it was no wonder at all
that in so great a multitude there should be some more daring than they ought to be, and, by reason of their younger age, foolish
also; and that it was impossible to distinguish those that offended from the rest, while every one was sorry for what he had
done, and denied it out of fear of what would follow: that he ought, however, to provide for the peace of the nation, and to take
such counsels as might preserve the city for the Romans, and rather for the sake of a great number of innocent people to forgive
a few that were guilty, than for the sake of a few of the wicked to put so large and good a body of men into disorder.

9. Florus was more provoked at this, and called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder that which was called the Upper
Market-place, and to slay such as they met with. So the soldiers, taking this exhortation of their commander in a sense
agreeable to their desire of gain, did not only plunder the place they were sent to, but forcing themselves into every house, they
slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled along the narrow lanes, and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and no method of
plunder was omitted; they also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with
stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly, the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives and children,
(for they did not spare even the infants themselves,) was about three thousand and six hundred. And what made this calamity
the heavier was this new method of Roman barbarity; for Florus ventured then to do what no one had done before, that is, to
have men of the equestrian order whipped (21) and nailed to the cross before his tribunal; who, although they were by birth
Jews, yet were they of Roman dignity notwithstanding.

                                       CHAPTER 15.

   CONCERNING BERNICE'S PETITION TO FLORUS, TO SPARE THE JEWS, BUT IN VAIN; AS ALSO
    HOW, AFTER THE SEDITIOUS FLAME WAS QUENCHED, IT WAS KINDLED AGAIN BY FLORUS.

1. ABOUT this very time king Agrippa was going to Alexandria, to congratulate Alexander upon his having obtained the
government of Egypt from Nero; but as his sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem, and saw the wicked practices of the soldiers,
she was sorely affected at it, and frequently sent the masters of her horse and her guards to Florus, and begged of him to leave
off these slaughters; but he would not comply with her request, nor have any regard either to the multitude of those already
slain, or to the nobility of her that interceded, but only to the advantage he should make by this plundering; nay, this violence of
the soldiers brake out to such a degree of madness, that it spent itself on the queen herself; for they did not only torment and
destroy those whom they had caught under her very eyes, but indeed had killed herself also, unless she had prevented them by
flying to the palace, and had staid there all night with her guards, which she had about her for fear of an insult from the soldiers.
Now she dwelt then at Jerusalem, in order to perform a vow (22) which she had made to God; for it is usual with those that
had been either afflicted with a distemper, or with any other distresses, to make vows; and for thirty days before they are to
offer their sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and to shave the hair of their head. Which things Bernice was now performing, and
stood barefoot before Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to spare the Jews]. Yet could she neither have any reverence paid to
her, nor could she escape without some danger of being slain herself.

2. This happened upon the sixteenth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar]. Now, on the next day, the multitude, who were in a
great agony, ran together to the Upper Market-place, and made the loudest lamentations for those that had perished; and the
greatest part of the cries were such as reflected on Florus; at which the men of power were aftrighted, together with the high
priests, and rent their garments, and fell down before each of them, and besought them to leave off, and not to provoke Florus
to some incurable procedure, besides what they had already suffered. Accordingly, the multitude complied immediately, out of
reverence to those that had desired it of them, and out of the hope they had that Florus would do them no more injuries.

3. So Florus was troubled that the disturbances were over, and endeavored to kindle that flame again, and sent for the high
priests, with the other eminent persons, and said the only demonstration that the people would not make any other innovations
should be this, that they must go out and meet the soldiers that were ascending from Cesarea, whence two cohorts were
coming; and while these men were exhorting the multitude so to do, he sent beforehand, and gave directions to the centurions of
the cohorts, that they should give notice to those that were under them not to return the Jews' salutations; and that if they made
any reply to his disadvantage, they should make use of their weapons. Now the high priests assembled the multitude in the
temple, and desired them to go and meet the Romans, and to salute the cohorts very civilly, before their miserable case should
become incurable. Now the seditious part would not comply with these persuasions; but the consideration of those that had
been destroyed made them incline to those that were the boldest for action.

4. At this time it was that every priest, and every servant of God, brought out the holy vessels, and the ornamental garments
wherein they used to minister in sacred things. The harpers also, and the singers of hymns, came out with their instruments of
music, and fell down before the multitude, and begged of them that they would preserve those holy ornaments to them, and not
provoke the Romans to carry off those sacred treasures. You might also see then the high priests themselves, with dust
sprinkled in great plenty upon their heads, with bosoms deprived of any covering but what was rent; these besought every one
of the eminent men by name, and the multitude in common, that they would not for a small offense betray their country to those
that were desirous to have it laid waste; saying, "What benefit will it bring to the soldiers to have a salutation from the Jews? or
what amendment of your affairs will it bring you, if you do not now go out to meet them? and that if they saluted them civilly, all
handle would be cut off from Florus to begin a war; that they should thereby gain their country, and freedom from all further
sufferings; and that, besides, it would be a sign of great want of command of themselves, if they should yield to a few seditious
persons, while it was fitter for them who were so great a people to force the others to act soberly."

5. By these persuasions, which they used to the multitude and to the seditious, they restrained some by threatenings, and others
by the reverence that was paid them. After this they led them out, and they met the soldiers quietly, and after a composed
manner, and when they were come up with them, they saluted them; but when they made no answer, the seditious exclaimed
against Florus, which was the signal given for falling upon them. The soldiers therefore encompassed them presently, and struck
them with their clubs; and as they fled away, the horsemen trampled them down, so that a great many fell down dead by the
strokes of the Romans, and more by their own violence in crushing one another. Now there was a terrible crowding about the
gates, and while every body was making haste to get before another, the flight of them all was retarded, and a terrible
destruction there was among those that fell down, for they were suffocated, an broken to pieces by the multitude of those that
were uppermost; nor could any of them be distinguished by his relations in order to the care of his funeral; the soldiers also who
beat them, fell upon those whom they overtook, without showing them any mercy, and thrust the multitude through the place
called Bezetha, (23) as they forced their way, in order to get in and seize upon the temple, and the tower Antonia. Florus also
being desirous to get those places into his possession, brought such as were with him out of the king's palace, and would have
compelled them to get as far as the citadel [Antonia;] but his attempt failed, for the people immediately turned back upon him,
and stopped the violence of his attempt; and as they stood upon the tops of their houses, they threw their darts at the Romans,
who, as they were sorely galled thereby, because those weapons came from above, and they were not able to make a passage
through the multitude, which stopped up the narrow passages, they retired to the camp which was at the palace.

6. But for the seditious, they were afraid lest Florus should come again, and get possession of the temple, through Antonia; so
they got immediately upon those cloisters of the temple that joined to Antonia, and cut them down. This cooled the avarice of
Florus; for whereas he was eager to obtain the treasures of God [in the temple], and on that account was desirous of getting
into Antonia, as soon as the cloisters were broken down, he left off his attempt; he then sent for the high priests and the
sanhedrim, and told them that he was indeed himself going