Flavius Josephus
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS
From Fadus The Procurator To Florus.
Containing The Interval Of Twenty-Two Years.
CHAPTER 1.
A Sedition Of The Philadelphians Against The Jews; And Also Concerning The Vestments
Of The High Priest.
1. Upon the death of king Agrippa, which we have related in the foregoing book,
Claudius Caesar sent Cassius Longinus as successor to Marcus, out of regard to the
memory of king Agrippa, who had often desired of him by letters, while be was alive,
that he would not suffer Marcus to be any longer president of Syria. But Fadus,
as soon as he was come procurator into Judea, found quarrelsome doings between the
Jews that dwelt in Perea, and the people of Philadelphia, about their borders, at
a village called Mia, that was filled with men of a warlike temper; for the Jews
of Perea had taken up arms without the consent of their principal men, and had destroyed
many of the Philadelphians. When Fadus was informed of this procedure, it provoked
him very much that they had not left the determination of the matter to him, if
they thought that the Philadelphians had done them any wrong, but had rashly taken
up arms against them. So he seized upon three of their principal men, who were also
the causes of this sedition, and ordered them to be bound, and afterwards had one
of them slain, whose name was Hannibal; and he banished the other two, Areram and
Eleazar. Tholomy also, the arch robber, was, after some time, brought to him bound,
and slain, but not till he had done a world of mischief to Idumea and the Arabians.
And indeed, from that time, Judea was cleared of robberies by the care and providence
of Fadus. He also at this time sent for the high priests and the principal citizens
of Jerusalem, and this at the command of the emperor, and admonished them that they
should lay up the long garment and the sacred vestment, which it is customary for
nobody but the high priest to wear, in the tower of Antonia, that it might be under
the power of the Romans, as it had been formerly. Now the Jews durst not contradict
what he had said, but desired Fadus, however, and Longinus, (which last was come
to Jerusalem, and had brought a great army with him, out of a fear that the [rigid]
injunctions of Fadus should force the Jews to rebel,) that they might, in the first
place, have leave to send ambassadors to Caesar, to petition him that they may have
the holy vestments under their own power; and that, in the next place, they would
tarry till they knew what answer Claudius would give to that their request. So they
replied, that they would give them leave to send their ambassadors, provided they
would give them their sons as pledges [for their peaceable behavior]. And when they
had agreed so to do, and had given them the pledges they desired, the ambassadors
were sent accordingly. But when, upon their coming to Rome, Agrippa, junior, the
son of the deceased, understood the reason why they came, (for he dwelt with Claudius
Caesar, as we said before,) he besought Caesar to grant the Jews their request about
the holy vestments, and to send a message to Fadus accordingly.
2. Hereupon Claudius called for the ambassadors; and told them that he granted
their request; and bade them to return their thanks to Agrippa for this favor, which
had been bestowed on them upon his entreaty. And besides these answers of his, he
sent the following letter by them: “Claudius Caesar Germanicus, tribune of the people
the fifth time, and designed consul the fourth time, and imperator the tenth time,
the father of his country, to the magistrates, senate, and people, and the whole
nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting. Upon the presentation of your ambassadors
to me by Agrippa, my friend, whom I have brought up, and have now with me, and who
is a person of very great piety, who are come to give me thanks for the care I have
taken of your nation, and to entreat me, in an earnest and obliging manner, that
they may have the holy vestments, with the crown belonging to them, under their
power, – I grant their request, as that excellent person Vitellius, who is very
dear to me, had done before me. And I have complied with your desire, in the first
place, out of regard to that piety which I profess, and because I would have every
one worship God according to the laws of their own country; and this I do also because
I shall hereby highly gratify king Herod, and Agrippa, junior, whose sacred regards
to me, and earnest good-will to you, I am well acquainted with, and with whom I
have the greatest friendship, and whom I highly esteem, and look on as persons of
the best character. Now I have written about these affairs to Cuspius Fadus, my
procurator. The names of those that brought me your letter are Cornelius, the son
of Cero, Trypho, the son of Theudio, Dorotheus, the son of Nathaniel, and John,
the son of Jotre. This letter is dated before the fourth of the calends of July,
when Ruffis and Pompeius Sylvanus are consuls.”
3. Herod also, the brother of the deceased Agrippa, who was then possessed of
the royal authority over Chalcis, petitioned Claudius Caesar for the authority over
the temple, and the money of the sacred treasure, and the choice of the high priests,
and obtained all that he petitioned for. So that after that time this authority
continued among all his descendants till the end of the war Accordingly, Herod removed
the last high priest, called Cimtheras, and bestowed that dignity on his successor
Joseph, the son of Cantos.
CHAPTER 2.
How Helena The Queen Of Adiabene And Her Son Izates, Embraced The Jewish Religion;
And How Helena Supplied The Poor With Corn, When There Was A Great Famine At Jerusalem.
1. About this time it was that Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates,
changed their course of life, and embraced the Jewish customs, and this on the occasion
following: Monobazus, the king of Adiabene, who had also the name of Bazeus, fell
in love with his sister Helena, and took her to be his wife, and begat her with
child. But as he was in bed with her one night, he laid his hand upon his wife’s
belly, and fell asleep, and seemed to hear a voice, which bid him take his hand
off his wife’s belly, and not hurt the infant that was therein, which, by God’s
providence, would be safely born, and have a happy end. This voice put him into
disorder; so he awaked immediately, and told the story to his wife; and when his
son was born, he called him Izates. He had indeed Monobazus, his elder brother,
by Helena also, as he had other sons by other wives besides. Yet did he openly place
all his affections on this his only begotten son Izates, which was the origin of
that envy which his other brethren, by the same father, bore to him; while on this
account they hated him more and more, and were all under great affliction that their
father should prefer Izates before them. Now although their father was very sensible
of these their passions, yet did he forgive them, as not indulging those passions
out of an ill disposition, but out of a desire each of them had to be beloved by
their father. However, he sent Izates, with many presents, to Abennerig, the king
of Charax-Spasini, and that out of the great dread he was in about him, lest he
should come to some misfortune by the hatred his brethren bore him; and he committed
his son’s preservation to him. Upon which Abennerig gladly received the young man,
and had a great affection for him, and married him to his own daughter, whose name
was Samacha: he also bestowed a country upon him, from which he received large revenues.
2. But when Monobazus was grown old, and saw that he had but a little time to
live, he had a mind to come to the sight of his son before he died. So he sent for
him, and embraced him after the most affectionate manner, and bestowed on him the
country called Carra; it was a soil that bare amomum in great plenty: there are
also in it the remains of that ark, wherein it is related that Noah escaped the
deluge, and where they are still shown to such as are desirous to see them. Accordingly,
Izates abode in that country until his father’s death. But the very day that Monobazus
died, queen Helena sent for all the grandees, and governors of the kingdom, and
for those that had the armies committed to their command; and when they were come,
she made the following speech to them: “I believe you are not unacquainted that
my husband was desirous Izates should succeed him in the government, and thought
him worthy so to do. However, I wait your determination; for happy is he who receives
a kingdom, not from a single person only, but from the willing suffrages of a great
many.” This she said, in order to try those that were invited, and to discover their
sentiments. Upon the hearing of which, they first of all paid their homage to the
queen, as their custom was, and then they said that they confirmed the king’s determination,
and would submit to it; and they rejoiced that Izates’s father had preferred him
before the rest of his brethren, as being agreeable to all their wishes: but that
they were desirous first of all to slay his brethren and kinsmen, that so the government
might come securely to Izates; because if they were once destroyed, all that fear
would be over which might arise from their hatred and envy to him. Helena replied
to this, that she returned them her thanks for their kindness to herself and to
Izates; but desired that they would however defer the execution of this slaughter
of Izates’s brethren till he should be there himself, and give his approbation to
it. So since these men had not prevailed with her, when they advised her to slay
them, they exhorted her at least to keep them in bonds till he should come, and
that for their own security; they also gave her counsel to set up some one whom
she could put the greatest trust in, as a governor of the kingdom in the mean time.
So queen Helena complied with this counsel of theirs, and set up Monobazus, the
eldest son, to be king, and put the diadem upon his head, and gave him his father’s
ring, with its signet; as also the ornament which they call Sampser, and exhorted
him to administer the affairs of the kingdom till his brother should come; who came
suddenly upon hearing that his father was dead, and succeeded his brother Monobazus,
who resigned up the government to him.
3. Now, during the time Izates abode at Charax-Spasini, a certain Jewish merchant,
whose name was Ananias, got among the women that belonged to the king, and taught
them to worship God according to the Jewish religion. He, moreover, by their means,
became known to Izates, and persuaded him, in like manner, to embrace that religion;
he also, at the earnest entreaty of Izates, accompanied him when he was sent for
by his father to come to Adiabene; it also happened that Helena, about the same
time, was instructed by a certain other Jew and went over to them. But when Izates
had taken the kingdom, and was come to Adiabene, and there saw his brethren and
other kinsmen in bonds, he was displeased at it; and as he thought it an instance
of impiety either to slay or imprison them, but still thought it a hazardous thing
for to let them have their liberty, with the remembrance of the injuries that had
been offered them, he sent some of them and their children for hostages to Rome,
to Claudius Caesar, and sent the others to Artabanus, the king of Parthia, with
the like intentions.
4. And when he perceived that his mother was highly pleased with the Jewish customs,
he made haste to change, and to embrace them entirely; and as he supposed that he
could not he thoroughly a Jew unless he were circumcised, he was ready to have it
done. But when his mother understood what he was about, she endeavored to hinder
him from doing it, and said to him that this thing would bring him into danger;
and that, as he was a king, he would thereby bring himself into great odium among
his subjects, when they should understand that he was so fond of rites that were
to them strange and foreign; and that they would never bear to be ruled over by
a Jew. This it was that she said to him, and for the present persuaded him to forbear.
And when he had related what she had said to Ananias, he confirmed what his mother
had said; and when he had also threatened to leave him, unless he complied with
him, he went away from him, and said that he was afraid lest such an action being
once become public to all, he should himself be in danger of punishment for having
been the occasion of it, and having been the king’s instructor in actions that were
of ill reputation; and he said that he might worship God without being circumcised,
even though he did resolve to follow the Jewish law entirely, which worship of God
was of a superior nature to circumcision. He added, that God would forgive him,
though he did not perform the operation, while it was omitted out of necessity,
and for fear of his subjects. So the king at that time complied with these persuasions
of Ananias. But afterwards, as he had not quite left off his desire of doing this
thing, a certain other Jew that came out of Galilee, whose name was Eleazar, and
who was esteemed very skillful in the learning of his country, persuaded him to
do the thing; for as he entered into his palace to salute him, and found him reading
the law of Moses, he said to him, “Thou dost not consider, O king! that thou unjustly
breakest the principal of those laws, and art injurious to God himself, [by omitting
to be circumcised]; for thou oughtest not only to read them, but chiefly to practice
what they enjoin thee. How long wilt thou continue uncircumcised? But if thou hast
not yet read the law about circumcision, and dost not know how great impiety thou
art guilty of by neglecting it, read it now.” When the king had heard what he said,
he delayed the thing no longer, but retired to another room, and sent for a surgeon,
and did what he was commanded to do. He then sent for his mother, and Ananias his
tutor, and informed them that he had done the thing; upon which they were presently
struck with astonishment and fear, and that to a great degree, lest the thing should
be openly discovered and censured, and the king should hazard the loss of his kingdom,
while his subjects would not bear to be governed by a man who was so zealous in
another religion; and lest they should themselves run some hazard, because they
would be supposed the occasion of his so doing. But it was God himself who hindered
what they feared from taking effect; for he preserved both Izates himself and his
sons when they fell into many dangers, and procured their deliverance when it seemed
to be impossible, and demonstrated thereby that the fruit of piety does not perish
as to those that have regard to him, and fix their faith upon him only. But these
events we shall relate hereafter.
5. But as to Helena, the king’s mother, when she saw that the affairs of Izates’s
kingdom were in peace, and that her son was a happy man, and admired among all men,
and even among foreigners, by the means of God’s providence over him, she had a
mind to go to the city of Jerusalem, in order to worship at that temple of God which
was so very famous among all men, and to offer her thank-offerings there. So she
desired her son to give her leave to go thither; upon which he gave his consent
to what she desired very willingly, and made great preparations for her dismission,
and gave her a great deal of money, and she went down to the city Jerusalem, her
son conducting her on her journey a great way. Now her coming was of very great
advantage to the people of Jerusalem; for whereas a famine did oppress them at that
time, and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food withal,
queen Helena sent some of her servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great quantity
of corn, and others of them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo of dried figs. And as soon
as they were come back, and had brought those provisions, which was done very quickly,
she distributed food to those that were in want of it, and left a most excellent
memorial behind her of this benefaction, which she bestowed on our whole nation.
And when her son Izates was informed of this famine, he sent great sums of money
to the principal men in Jerusalem. However, what favors this queen and king conferred
upon our city Jerusalem shall be further related hereafter.
CHAPTER 3.
HOW ARTABANUS, THE KING OF PARTHIA OUT OF FEAR OF THE SECRET CONTRIVANCES OF
HIS SUBJECTS AGAINST HIM, WENT TO IZATES, AND WAS BY HIM REINSTATED IN HIS GOVERNMENT;
AS ALSO HOW BARDANES HIS SON DENOUNCED WAR AGAINST IZATES.
1. But now Artabanus, king of the Parthians perceiving that the governors of
the provinces had framed a plot against him, did not think it safe for him to continue
among them; but resolved to go to Izates, in hopes of finding some way for his preservation
by his means, and, if possible, for his return to his own dominions. So he came
to Izates, and brought a thousand of his kindred and servants with him, and met
him upon the road, while he well knew Izates, but Izates did not know him. When
Artabanus stood near him, and, in the first place, worshipped him, according to
the custom, he then said to him, “O king! do not thou overlook me thy servant, nor
do thou proudly reject the suit I make thee; for as I am reduced to a low estate,
by the change of fortune, and of a king am become a private man, I stand in need
of thy assistance. Have regard, therefore, unto the uncertainty of fortune, and
esteem the care thou shalt take of me to he taken of thyself also; for if I be neglected,
and my subjects go off unpunished, many other subjects will become the more insolent
towards other kings also.” And this speech Artabanus made with tears in his eyes,
and with a dejected countenance. Now as soon as Izates heard Artabanus’s name, and
saw him stand as a supplicant before him, he leaped down from his horse immediately,
and said to him, “Take courage, O king! nor be disturbed at thy present calamity,
as if it were incurable; for the change of thy sad condition shall be sudden; for
thou shalt find me to be more thy friend and thy assistant than thy hopes can promise
thee; for I will either re-establish thee in the kingdom of Parthia, or lose my
own.”
2. When he had said this, he set Artabanus upon his horse, and followed him on
foot, in honor of a king whom he owned as greater than himself; which, when Artabanus
saw, he was very uneasy at it, and sware by his present fortune and honor that he
would get down from his horse, unless Izates would get upon his horse again, and
go before him. So he complied with his desire, and leaped upon his horse; and when
he had brought him to his royal palace, he showed him all sorts of respect when
they sat together, and he gave him the upper place at festivals also, as regarding
not his present fortune, but his former dignity, and that upon this consideration
also, that the changes of fortune are common to all men. He also wrote to the Parthians,
to persuade them to receive Artabanus again; and gave them his right hand and his
faith, that he should forget what was past and done, and that he would undertake
for this as a mediator between them. Now the Parthians did not themselves refuse
to receive him again, but pleaded that it was not now in their power so to do, because
they had committed the government to another person, who had accepted of it, and
whose name was Cinnamus; and that they were afraid lest a civil war should arise
on this account. When Cinnamus understood their intentions, he wrote to Artabanus
himself, for he had been brought up by him, and was of a nature good and gentle
also, and desired him to put confidence in him, and to come and take his own dominions
again. Accordingly, Artabanus trusted him, and returned home; when Cinnamus met
him, worshipped him, and saluted him as a king, and took the diadem off his own
head, and put it on the head of Artabanus.
3. And thus was Artahanus restored to his kingdom again by the means of Izates,
when he had lost it by the means of the grandees of the kingdom. Nor was he unmindful
of the benefits he had conferred upon him, but rewarded him with such honors as
were of the greatest esteem among them; for he gave him leave to wear his tiara
upright, and to sleep upon a golden bed, which are privileges and marks of honor
peculiar to the kings of Parthia. He also cut off a large and fruitful country from
the king of Armenia, and bestowed it upon him. The name of the country is Nisibis,
wherein the Macedonians had formerly built that city which they called Antioch of
Mygodonla. And these were the honors that were paid Izates by the king of the Parthians.
4. But in no long time Artabanus died, and left his kingdom to his son Bardanes.
Now this Bardanes came to Izates, and would have persuaded him to join him with
his army, and to assist him in the war he was preparing to make with the Romans;
but he could not prevail with him. For Izates so well knew the strength and good
fortune of the Romans, that he took Bardanes to attempt what was impossible to be
done; and having besides sent his sons, five in number, and they but young also,
to learn accurately the language of our nation, together with our learning, as well
as he had sent his mother to worship at our temple, as I have said already, was
the more backward to a compliance; and restrained Bardanes, telling him perpetually
of the great armies and famous actions of the Romans, and thought thereby to terrify
him, and desired thereby to hinder him from that expedition. But the Parthian king
was provoked at this his behavior, and denounced war immediately against Izates.
Yet did he gain no advantage by this war, because God cut off all his hopes therein;
for the Parthians perceiving Bardanes’s intentions, and how he had determined to
make war with the Romans, slew him, and gave his kingdom to his brother Gotarzes.
He also, in no long time, perished by a plot made against him, and Vologases, his
brother, succeeded him, who committed two of his provinces to two of his brothers
by the same father; that of the Medes to the elder, Pacorus; and Armenia to the
younger, Tiridates.
CHAPTER 4.
How Izates Was Betrayed By His Own Subjects, And Fought Against By The Arabians
And How Izates, By The Providence Of God, Was Delivered Out Of Their Hands.
1. Now when the king’s brother, Monobazus, and his other kindred, saw how Izates,
by his piety to God, was become greatly esteemed by all men, they also had a desire
to leave the religion of their country, and to embrace the customs of the Jews;
but that act of theirs was discovered by Izates’s subjects. Whereupon the grandees
were much displeased, and could not contain their anger at them; but had an intention,
when they should find a proper opportunity, to inflict a punishment upon them. Accordingly,
they wrote to Abia, king of the Arabians, and promised him great sums of money,
if he would make an expedition against their king; and they further promised him,
that, on the first onset, they would desert their king, because they were desirous
to punish him, by reason of the hatred he had to their religious worship; then they
obliged themselves, by oaths, to be faithful to each other, and desired that he
would make haste in this design. The king of Arabia complied with their desires,
and brought a great army into the field, and marched against Izates; and, in the
beginning of the first onset, and before they came to a close fight, those Handees,
as if they had a panic terror upon them, all deserted Izates, as they had agreed
to do, and, turning their backs upon their enemies, ran away. Yet was not Izates
dismayed at this; but when he understood that the grandees had betrayed him, he
also retired into his camp, and made inquiry into the matter; and as soon as he
knew who they were that made this conspiracy with the king of Arabia, he cut off
those that were found guilty; and renewing the fight on the next day, he slew the
greatest part of his enemies, and forced all the rest to betake themselves to flight.
He also pursued their king, and drove him into a fortress called Arsamus, and following
on the siege vigorously, he took that fortress. And when he had plundered it of
all the prey that was in it, which was not small, he returned to Adiabene; yet did
not he take Abia alive, because, when he found himself encompassed on every side,
he slew himself.
2. But although the grandees of Adiabene had failed in their first attempt, as
being delivered up by God into their king’s hands, yet would they not even then
be quiet, but wrote again to Vologases, who was then king of Parthia, and desired
that he would kill Izates, and set over them some other potentate, who should be
of a Parthian family; for they said that they hated their own king for abrogating
the laws of their forefathers, and embracing foreign customs. When the king of Parthia
heard this, he boldly made war upon Izates; and as he had no just pretense for this
war, he sent to him, and demanded back those honorable privileges which had been
bestowed on him by his father, and threatened, on his refusal, to make war upon
him. Upon hearing of this, Izates was under no small trouble of mind, as thinking
it would be a reproach upon him to appear to resign those privileges that had been
bestowed upon him out of cowardice; yet because he knew, that though the king of
Parthia should receive back those honors, yet would he not be quiet, he resolved
to commit himself to God, his Protector, in the present danger he was in of his
life; and as he esteemed him to be his principal assistant, he intrusted his children
and his wives to a very strong fortress, and laid up his corn in his citadels, and
set the hay and the grass on fire. And when he had thus put things in order, as
well as he could, he awaited the coming of the enemy. And when the king of Parthia
was come, with a great army of footmen and horsemen, which he did sooner than was
expected, (for he marched in great haste,) and had cast up a bank at the river that
parted Adiabene from Media, – Izates also pitched his camp not far off, having with
him six thousand horsemen. But there came a messenger to Izates, sent by the king
of Parthia, who told him how large his dominions were, as reaching from the river
Euphrates to Bactria, and enumerated that king’s subjects; he also threatened him
that he should be punished, as a person ungrateful to his lords; and said that the
God whom he worshipped could not deliver him out of the king’s hands. When the messenger
had delivered this his message, Izates replied that he knew the king of Parthia’s
power was much greater than his own; but that he knew also that God was much more
powerful than all men. And when he had returned him this answer, he betook himself
to make supplication to God, and threw himself upon the ground, and put ashes upon
his head, in testimony of his confusion, and fasted, together with his wives and
children. Then he called upon God, and said, “O Lord and Governor, if I have not
in vain committed myself to thy goodness, but have justly determined that thou only
art the Lord and principal of all beings, come now to my assistance, and defend
me from my enemies, not only on my own account, but on account of their insolent
behavior with regard to thy power, while they have not feared to lift up their proud
and arrogant tongue against thee.” Thus did he lament and bemoan himself, with tears
in his eyes; whereupon God heard his prayer. And immediately that very night Vologases
received letters, the contents of which were these, that a great band of Dahe and
Sacse, despising him, now he was gone so long a journey from home, had made an expedition,
and laid Parthis waste; so that he [was forced to] retire back, without doing any
thing. And thus it was that Izates escaped the threatenings of the Parthians, by
the providence of God.
3. It was not long ere Izates died, when he had completed fifty-five years of
his life, and had ruled his kingdom twenty-four years. He left behind him twenty-four
sons and twenty-four daughters. However, he gave order that his brother Monobazus
should succeed in the government, thereby requiting him, because, while he was himself
absent after their father’s death, he had faithfully preserved the government for
him. But when Helena, his mother, heard of her son’s death, she was in great heaviness,
as was but natural, upon her loss of such a most dutiful son; yet was it a comfort
to her that she heard the succession came to her eldest son. Accordingly, she went
to him in haste; and when she was come into Adiabene, she did not long outlive her
son Izates. But Monobazus sent her bones, as well as those of Izates, his brother,
to Jerusalem, and gave order that they should be buried at the pyramids which their
mother had erected; they were three in number, and distant no more than three furlongs
from the city Jerusalem. But for the actions of Monobazus the king, which he did
during the rest of his life. we will relate them hereafter.-
CHAPTER 5.
Concerning Theudas And The Sons Of Judas The Galilean; As Also What Calamity
Fell Upon The Jews On The Day Of The Passover.
1. Now it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain magician,
whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects
with them, and follow him to the river Jordan; for he told them he was a prophet,
and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy
passage over it; and many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit
them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out
against them; who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them, and took many
of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, and carried it
to Jerusalem. This was what befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus’s government.
2. Then came Tiberius Alexander as successor to Fadus; he was the son of Alexander
the alabarch of Alexandria, which Alexander was a principal person among all his
contemporaries, both for his family and wealth: he was also more eminent for his
piety than this his son Alexander, for he did not continue in the religion of his
country. Under these procurators that great famine happened in Judea, in which queen
Helena bought corn in Egypt at a great expense, and distributed it to those that
were in want, as I have related already. And besides this, the sons of Judas of
Galilee were now slain; I mean of that Judas who caused the people to revolt, when
Cyrenius came to take an account of the estates of the Jews, as we have showed in
a foregoing book. The names of those sons were James and Simon, whom Alexander commanded
to be crucified. But now Herod, king of Chalcis, removed Joseph, the son of Camydus,
from the high priesthood, and made Ananias, the son of Nebedeu, his successor. And
now it was that Cumanus came as successor to Tiberius Alexander; as also that Herod,
brother of Agrippa the great king, departed this life, in the eighth year of the
reign of Claudius Caesar. He left behind him three sons; Aristobulus, whom he had
by his first wife, with Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus, both whom he had by Bernice his
brother’s daughter. But Claudius Caesar bestowed his dominions on Agrippa, junior.
3. Now while the Jewish affairs were under the administration of Cureanus, there
happened a great tumult at the city of Jerusalem, and many of the Jews perished
therein. But I shall first explain the occasion whence it was derived. When that
feast which is called the passover was at hand, at which time our custom is to use
unleavened bread, and a great multitude was gathered together from all parts to
that feast, Cumanus was afraid lest some attempt of innovation should then be made
by them; so he ordered that one regiment of the army should take their arms, and
stand in the temple cloisters, to repress any attempts of innovation, if perchance
any such should begin; and this was no more than what the former procurators of
Judea did at such festivals. But on the fourth day of the feast, a certain soldier
let down his breeches, and exposed his privy members to the multitude, which put
those that saw him into a furious rage, and made them cry out that this impious
action was not done to approach them, but God himself; nay, some of them reproached
Cumanus, and pretended that the soldier was set on by him, which, when Cumanus heard,
he was also himself not a little provoked at such reproaches laid upon him; yet
did he exhort them to leave off such seditious attempts, and not to raise a tumult
at the festival. But when he could not induce them to be quiet for they still went
on in their reproaches to him, he gave order that the whole army should take their
entire armor, and come to Antonia, which was a fortress, as we have said already,
which overlooked the temple; but when the multitude saw the soldiers there, they
were affrighted at them, and ran away hastily; but as the passages out were but
narrow, and as they thought their enemies followed them, they were crowded together
in their flight, and a great number were pressed to death in those narrow passages;
nor indeed was the number fewer than twenty thousand that perished in this tumult.
So instead of a festival, they had at last a mournful day of it; and they all of
them forgot their prayers and sacrifices, and betook themselves to lamentation and
weeping; so great an affliction did the impudent obsceneness of a single soldier
bring upon them.
4. Now before this their first mourning was over, another mischief befell them
also; for some of those that raised the foregoing tumult, when they were traveling
along the public road, about a hundred furlongs from the city, robbed Stephanus,
a servant of Caesar, as he was journeying, and plundered him of all that he had
with him; which things when Cureanus heard of, he sent soldiers immediately, and
ordered them to plunder the neighboring villages, and to bring the most eminent
persons among them in bonds to him. Now as this devastation was making, one of the
soldiers seized the laws of Moses that lay in one of those villages, and brought
them out before the eyes of all present, and tore them to pieces; and this was done
with reproachful language, and much scurrility; which things when the Jews heard
of, they ran together, and that in great numbers, and came down to Cesarea, where
Cumanus then was, and besought him that he would avenge, not themselves, but God
himself, whose laws had been affronted; for that they could not bear to live any
longer, if the laws of their forefathers must be affronted after this manner. Accordingly
Cumanus, out of fear lest the multitude should go into a sedition, and by the advice
of his friends also, took care that the soldier who had offered the affront to the
laws should be beheaded, and thereby put a stop to the sedition which was ready
to be kindled a second time.
CHAPTER 6.
How There Happened A Quarrel Between The Jews And The Samaritans; And How Claudius
Put An End To Their Differences.
1. Now there arose a quarrel between the Samaritans and the Jews on the occasion
following: It was the custom of the Galileans, when they came to the holy city at
the festivals, to take their journeys through the country of the Samaritans; and
at this time there lay, in the road they took, a village that was called Ginea,
which was situated in the limits of Samaria and the great plain, where certain persons
thereto belonging fought with the Galileans, and killed a great many of them. But
when the principal of the Galileans were informed of what had been done, they came
to Cumanus, and desired him to avenge the murder of those that were killed; but
he was induced by the Samaritans, with money, to do nothing in the matter; upon
which the Galileans were much displeased, and persuaded the multitude of the Jews
to betake themselves to arms, and to regain their liberty, saying that slavery was
in itself a bitter thing, but that when it was joined with direct injuries, it was
perfectly intolerable, And when their principal men endeavored to pacify them, and
promised to endeavor to persuade Cureanus to avenge those that were killed, they
would not hearken to them, but took their weapons, and entreated the assistance
of Eleazar, the son of Dineus, a robber, who had many years made his abode in the
mountains, with which assistance they plundered many villages of the Samaritans.
When Cumanus heard of this action of theirs, he took the band of Sebaste, with four
regiments of footmen, and armed the Samaritans, and marched out against the Jews,
and caught them, and slew many of them, and took a great number of them alive; whereupon
those that were the most eminent persons at Jerusalem, and that both in regard to
the respect that was paid them, and the families they were of, as soon as they saw
to what a height things were gone, put on sackcloth, and heaped ashes upon their
heads, and by all possible means besought the seditious, and persuaded them that
they would set before their eyes the utter subversion of their country, the conflagration
of their temple, and the slavery of themselves, their wives, and children, which
would be the consequences of what they were doing; and would alter their minds,
would cast away their weapons, and for the future be quiet, and return to their
own homes. These persuasions of theirs prevailed upon them. So the people dispersed
themselves, and the robbers went away again to their places of strength; and after
this time all Judea was overrun with robberies.
2. But the principal of the Samaritans went to Ummidius Quadratus, the president
of Syria, who at that time was at Tyre, and accused the Jews of setting their villages
on fire, and plundering them; and said withal, that they were not so much displeased
at what they had suffered, as they were at the contempt thereby showed the Romans;
while if they had received any injury, they ought to have made them the judges of
what had been done, and not presently to make such devastation, as if they had not
the Romans for their governors; on which account they came to him, in order to obtain
that vengeance they wanted. This was the accusation which the Samaritans brought
against the Jews. But the Jews affirmed that the Samaritans were the authors of
this tumult and fighting, and that, in the first place, Cumanus had been corrupted
by their gifts, and passed over the murder of those that were slain in silence;
– which allegations when Quadratus heard, he put off the hearing of the cause, and
promised that he would give sentence when he should come into Judea, and should
have a more exact knowledge of the truth of that matter. So these men went away
without success. Yet was it not long ere Quadratus came to Samaria, where, upon
hearing the cause, he supposed that the Samaritans were the authors of that disturbance.
But when he was informed that certain of the Jews were making innovations, he ordered
those to be crucified whom Cumanus had taken captives. From whence he came to a
certain village called Lydda, which was not less than a city in largeness, and there
heard the Samaritan cause a second time before his tribunal, and there learned from
a certain Samaritan that one of the chief of the Jews, whose name was Dortus, and
some other innovators with him, four in number, persuaded the multitude to a revolt
from the Romans; whom Quadratus ordered to be put to death: but still he sent away
Ananias the high priest, and Ananus the commander [of the temple], in bonds to Rome,
to give an account of what they had done to Claudius Caesar. He also ordered the
principal men, both of the Samaritans and of the Jews, as also Cumanus the procurator,
and Ceier the tribune, to go to Italy to the emperor, that he might hear their cause,
and determine their differences one with another. But he came again to the city
of Jerusalem, out of his fear that the multitude of the Jews should attempt some
innovations; but he found the city in a peaceable state, and celebrating one of
the usual festivals of their country to God. So he believed that they would not
attempt any innovations, and left them at the celebration of the festival, and returned
to Antioch.
3. Now Cumanus, and the principal of the Samaritans, who were sent to Rome, had
a day appointed them by the emperor whereon they were to have pleaded their cause
about the quarrels they had one with another. But now Caesar’s freed-men and his
friends were very zealous on the behalf of Cumanus and the Samaritans; and they
had prevailed over the Jews, unless Agrippa, junior, who was then at Rome, had seen
the principal of the Jews hard set, and had earnestly entreated Agrippina, the emperor’s
wife, to persuade her husband to hear the cause, so as was agreeable to his justice,
and to condemn those to be punished who were really the authors of this revolt from
the Roman government: – whereupon Claudius was so well disposed beforehand, that
when he had heard the cause, and found that the Samaritans had been the ringleaders
in those mischievous doings, he gave order that those who came up to him should
be slain, and that Cureanus should be banished. He also gave order that Celer the
tribune should be carried back to Jerusalem, and should be drawn through the city
in the sight of all the people, and then should be slain.
CHAPTER 7.
Felix Is Made Procurator Of Judea; As Also Concerning Agrippa, Junior And His
Sisters.
1. So Claudius sent Felix, the brother of Pallas, to take care of the affairs
of Judea; and when he had already completed the twelfth year of his reign, he bestowed
upon Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip and Batanea, and added thereto Trachonites,
with Abila; which last had been the tetrarchy of Lysanias; but he took from him
Chalcis, when he had been governor thereof four years. And when Agrippa had received
these countries as the gift of Caesar, he gave his sister Drusilla in marriage to
Azizus, king of Emesa, upon his consent to be circumcised; for Epiphanes, the son
of king Antiochus, had refused to marry her, because, after he had promised her
father formerly to come over to the Jewish religion, he would not now perform that
promise. He also gave Mariamne in marriage to Archelaus, the son of Helcias, to
whom she had formerly been betrothed by Agrippa her father; from which marriage
was derived a daughter, whose name was Bernice.
2. But for the marriage of Drusilla with Azizus, it was in no long time afterward
dissolved upon the following occasion: While Felix was procurator of Judea, he saw
this Drusilla, and fell in love with her; for she did indeed exceed all other women
in beauty; and he sent to her a person whose name was Simon one of his friends;
a Jew he was, and by birth a Cypriot, and one who pretended to be a magician, and
endeavored to persuade her to forsake her present husband, and marry him; and promised,
that if she would not refuse him, he would make her a happy woman. Accordingly she
acted ill, and because she was desirous to avoid her sister Bernice’s envy, for
she was very ill treated by her on account of her beauty, was prevailed upon to
transgress the laws of her forefathers, and to marry Felix; and when he had had
a son by her, he named him Agrippa. But after what manner that young man, with his
wife, perished at the conflagration of the mountain Vesuvius, in the days of Titus
Caesar, shall be related hereafter.
3. But as for Bernice, she lived a widow a long while after the death of Herod
[king of Chalcis], who was both her husband and her uncle; but when the report went
that she had criminal conversation with her brother, [Agrippa, junior,] she persuaded
Poleme, who was king of Cilicia, to be circumcised, and to marry her, as supposing
that by this means she should prove those calumnies upon her to be false; and Poleme
was prevailed upon, and that chiefly on account of her riches. Yet did not this
matrimony endure long; but Bernice left Poleme, and, as was said, with impure intentions.
So he forsook at once this matrimony, and the Jewish religion; and, at the same
time, Mariamne put away Archclaus, and was married to Demetrius, the principal man
among the Alexandrian Jews, both for his family and his wealth; and indeed he was
then their alabarch. So she named her son whom she had by him Agrippinus. But of
all these particulars we shall hereafter treat more exactly.
CHAPTER 8.
After What Manner Upon The Death Of Claudius, Nero Succeeded In The Government;
As Also What Barbarous Things He Did. Concerning The Robbers, Murderers And Impostors,
That Arose While Felix And Festus Were Procurators Of Judea.
1. Now Claudius Caesar died when he had reigned thirteen years, eight months,
and twenty days; and a report went about that he was poisoned by his wife Agrippina.
Her father was Germanicus, the brother of Caesar. Her husband was Domitius Aenobarbus,
one of the most illustrious persons that was in the city of Rome; after whose death,
and her long continuance in widowhood, Claudius took her to wife. She brought along
with her a son, Domtitus, of the same name with his father. He had before this slain
his wife Messalina, out of jealousy, by whom he had his children Britannicus and
Octavia; their eldest sister was Antonia, whom he had by Pelina his first wife.
He also married Octavia to Nero; for that was the name that Caesar gave him afterward,
upon his adopting him for his son.
2. But now Agrippina was afraid, lest, when Britannicus should come to man’s
estate, he should succeed his father in the government, and desired to seize upon
the principality beforehand for her own son [Nero]; upon which the report went that
she thence compassed the death of Claudius. Accordingly, she sent Burrhus, the general
of the army, immediately, and with him the tribunes, and such also of the freed-men
as were of the greatest authority, to bring Nero away into the camp, and to salute
him emperor. And when Nero had thus obtained the government, he got Britannicus
to be so poisoned, that the multitude should not perceive it; although he publicly
put his own mother to death not long afterward, making her this requital, not only
for being born of her, but for bringing it so about by her contrivances that he
obtained the Roman empire. He also slew Octavia his own wife, and many other illustrious
persons, under this pretense, that they plotted against him.
3. But I omit any further discourse about these affairs; for there have been
a great many who have composed the history of Nero; some of which have departed
from the truth of facts out of favor, as having received benefits from him; while
others, out of hatred to him, and the great ill-will which they bare him, have so
impudently raved against him with their lies, that they justly deserve to be condemned.
Nor do I wonder at such as have told lies of Nero, since they have not in their
writings preserved the truth of history as to those facts that were earlier than
his time, even when the actors could have no way incurred their hatred, since those
writers lived a long time after them. But as to those that have no regard to truth,
they may write as they please; for in that they take delight: but as to ourselves,
who have made truth our direct aim, we shall briefly touch upon what only belongs
remotely to this undertaking, but shall relate what hath happened to us Jews with
great accuracy, and shall not grudge our pains in giving an account both of the
calamities we have suffered, and of the crimes we have been guilty of. I will now
therefore return to the relation of our own affairs.
4. For in the first year of the reign of Nero, upon the death of Azizus, king
of Emesa, Soemus, his brother, succeeded in his kingdom, and Aristobulus, the son
of Herod, king of Chalcis, was intrusted by Nero with the government of the Lesser
Armenia. Caesar also bestowed on Agrippa a certain part of Galilee, Tiberias, and
Tarichae, and ordered them to submit to his jurisdiction. He gave him also Julias,
a city of Perea, with fourteen villages that lay about it.
5. Now as for the affairs of the Jews, they grew worse and worse continually,
for the country was again filled with robbers and impostors, who deluded the multitude.
Yet did Felix catch and put to death many of those impostors every day, together
with the robbers. He also caught Eleazar, the son of Dineas, who had gotten together
a company of robbers; and this he did by treachery; for he gave him assurance that
he should suffer no harm, and thereby persuaded him to come to him; but when he
came, he bound him, and sent him to Rome. Felix also bore an ill-will to Jonathan,
the high priest, because he frequently gave him admonitions about governing the
Jewish affairs better than he did, lest he should himself have complaints made of
him by the multitude, since he it was who had desired Caesar to send him as procurator
of Judea. So Felix contrived a method whereby he might get rid of him, now he was
become so continually troublesome to him; for such continual admonitions are grievous
to those who are disposed to act unjustly. Wherefore Felix persuaded one of Jonathan’s
most faithful friends, a citizen of Jerusalem, whose name was Doras, to bring the
robbers upon Jonathan, in order to kill him; and this he did by promising to give
him a great deal of money for so doing. Doras complied with the proposal, and contrived
matters so, that the robbers might murder him after the following manner: Certain
of those robbers went up to the city, as if they were going to worship God, while
they had daggers under their garments, and by thus mingling themselves among the
multitude they slew Jonathan and as this murder was never avenged, the robbers went
up with the greatest security at the festivals after this time; and having weapons
concealed in like manner as before, and mingling themselves among the multitude,
they slew certain of their own enemies, and were subservient to other men for money;
and slew others, not only in remote parts of the city, but in the temple itself
also; for they had the boldness to murder men there, without thinking of the impiety
of which they were guilty. And this seems to me to have been the reason why God,
out of his hatred of these men’s wickedness, rejected our city; and as for the temple,
he no longer esteemed it sufficiently pure for him to inhabit therein, but brought
the Romans upon us, and threw a fire upon the city to purge it; and brought upon
us, our wives, and children, slavery, as desirous to make us wiser by our calamities.
6. These works, that were done by the robbers, filled the city with all sorts
of impiety. And now these impostors and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow
them into the wilderness, and pretended that they would exhibit manifest wonders
and signs, that should be performed by the providence of God. And many that were
prevailed on by them suffered the punishments of their folly; for Felix brought
them back, and then punished them. Moreover, there came out of Egypt about this
time to Jerusalem one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the
common people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives, as it was called, which
lay over against the city, and at the distance of five furlongs. He said further,
that he would show them from hence how, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would
fall down; and he promised them that he would procure them an entrance into the
city through those walls, when they were fallen down. Now when Felix was informed
of these things, he ordered his soldiers to take their weapons, and came against
them with a great number of horsemen and footmen from Jerusalem, and attacked the
Egyptian and the people that were with him. He also slew four hundred of them, and
took two hundred alive. But the Egyptian himself escaped out of the fight, but did
not appear any more. And again the robbers stirred up the people to make war with
the Romans, and said they ought not to obey them at all; and when any persons would
not comply with them, they set fire to their villages, and plundered them.
7. And now it was that a great sedition arose between the Jews that inhabited
Cesarea, and the Syrians who dwelt there also, concerning their equal right to the
privileges belonging to citizens; for the Jews claimed the pre-eminence, because
Herod their king was the builder of Cesarea, and because he was by birth a Jew.
Now the Syrians did not deny what was alleged about Herod; but they said that Cesarea
was formerly called Strato’s Tower, and that then there was not one Jewish inhabitant.
When the presidents of that country heard of these disorders, they caught the authors
of them on both sides, and tormented them with stripes, and by that means put a
stop to the disturbance for a time. But the Jewish citizens depending on their wealth,
and on that account despising the Syrians, reproached them again, and hoped to provoke
them by such reproaches. However, the Syrians, though they were inferior in wealth,
yet valuing themselves highly on this account, that the greatest part of the Roman
soldiers that were there were either of Cesarea or Sebaste, they also for some time
used reproachful language to the Jews also; and thus it was, till at length they
came to throwing stones at one another, and several were wounded, and fell on both
sides, though still the Jews were the conquerors. But when Felix saw that this quarrel
was become a kind of war, he came upon them on the sudden, and desired the Jews
to desist; and when they refused so to do, he armed his soldiers, and sent them
out upon them, and slew many of them, and took more of them alive, and permitted
his soldiers to plunder some of the houses of the citizens, which were full of riches.
Now those Jews that were more moderate, and of principal dignity among them, were
afraid of themselves, and desired of Felix that he would sound a retreat to his
soldiers, and spare them for the future, and afford them room for repentance for
what they had done; and Felix was prevailed upon to do so.
8. About this time king Agrippa gave the high priesthood to Ismael, who was the
son of Fabi. And now arose a sedition between the high priests and the principal
men of the multitude of Jerusalem; each of which got them a company of the boldest
sort of men, and of those that loved innovations about them, and became leaders
to them; and when they struggled together, they did it by casting reproachful words
against one another, and by throwing stones also. And there was nobody to reprove
them; but these disorders were done after a licentious manner in the city, as if
it had no government over it. And such was the impudence and boldness that had seized
on the high priests, that they had the hardiness to send their servants into the
threshing-floors, to take away those tithes that were due to the priests, insomuch
that it so fell out that the poorest sort of the priests died for want. To this
degree did the violence of the seditious prevail over all right and justice.
9. Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix by Nero, the principal
of the Jewish inhabitants of Cesarea went up to Rome to accuse Felix; and he had
certainly been brought to punishment, unless Nero had yielded to the importunate
solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at that time had in the greatest honor
by him. Two of the principal Syrians in Cesarea persuaded Burrhus, who was Nero’s
tutor, and secretary for his Greek epistles, by giving him a great sum of money,
to disannul that equality of the Jewish privileges of citizens which they hitherto
enjoyed. So Burrhus, by his solicitations, obtained leave of the emperor that an
epistle should be written to that purpose. This epistle became the occasion of the
following miseries that befell our nation; for when the Jews of Cesarea were informed
of the contents of this epistle to the Syrians, they were more disorderly than before,
till a war was kindled.
10. Upon Festus’s coming into Judea, it happened that Judea was afflicted by
the robbers, while all the villages were set on fire, and plundered by them. And
then it was that the sicarii, as they were called, who were robbers, grew numerous.
They made use of small swords, not much different in length from the Persian acinacae,
but somewhat crooked, and like the Roman sicae, [or sickles,] as they were called;
and from these weapons these robbers got their denomination; and with these weapons
they slew a great many; for they mingled themselves among the multitude at their
festivals, when they were come up in crowds from all parts to the city to worship
God, as we said before, and easily slew those that they had a mind to slay. They
also came frequently upon the villages belonging to their enemies, with their weapons,
and plundered them, and set them on fire. So Festus sent forces, both horsemen and
footmen, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised
them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under, if they would but
follow him as far as the wilderness. Accordingly, those forces that were sent destroyed
both him that had deluded them, and those that were his followers also.
11. About the same time king Agrippa built himself a very large dining-room in
the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. Now this palace had been erected
of old by the children of Asamoneus. and was situate upon an elevation, and afforded
a most delightful prospect to those that had a mind to take a view of the city,
which prospect was desired by the king; and there he could lie down, and eat, and
thence observe what was done in the temple; which thing, when the chief men of Jerusalem
saw they were very much displeased at it; for it was not agreeable to the institutions
of our country or law that what was done in the temple should be viewed by others,
especially what belonged to the sacrifices. They therefore erected a wall upon the
uppermost building which belonged to the inner court of the temple towards the west,
which wall when it was built, did not only intercept the prospect of the dining-room
in the palace, but also of the western cloisters that belonged to the outer court
of the temple also, where it was that the Romans kept guards for the temple at the
festivals. At these doings both king Agrippa, and principally Festus the procurator,
were much displeased; and Festus ordered them to pull the wall down again: but the
Jews petitioned him to give them leave to send an embassage about this matter to
Nero; for they said they could not endure to live if any part of the temple should
be demolished; and when Festus had given them leave so to do, they sent ten of their
principal men to Nero, as also Ismael the high priest, and Helcias, the keeper of
the sacred treasure. And when Nero had heard what they had to say, he not only forgave
them what they had already done, but also gave them leave to let the wall they had
built stand. This was granted them in order to gratify Poppea, Nero’s wife, who
was a religious woman, and had requested these favors of Nero, and who gave order
to the ten ambassadors to go their way home; but retained Helcias and Ismael as
hostages with herself. As soon as the king heard this news, he gave the high priesthood
to Joseph, who was called Cabi, the son of Simon, formerly high priest.
CHAPTER 9.
Concerning Albinus Under Whose Procuratorship James Was Slain; As Also What Edifices
Were Built By Agrippa.
1. And now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea,
as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed
the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called
Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man;
for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and
who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened
to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told
you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent;
he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders,
above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus
was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise
his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled
the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called
Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and
when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered
them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens,
and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was
done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that
he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified;
nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria,
and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a sanhedrim without
his consent. Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger
to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had
done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled
but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest.
2. Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his
endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this by destroying
many of the Sicarii. But as for the high priest, Ananias he increased in glory every
day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens
in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated
the friendship of Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents;
he also had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest
sort of the people, and went to the thrashing-floors, and took away the tithes that
belonged to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from beating such as would
not give these tithes to them. So the other high priests acted in the like manner,
as did those his servants, without any one being able to prohibit them; so that
[some of the] priests, that of old were wont to be supported with those tithes,
died for want of food.
3. But now the Sicarii went into the city by night, just before the festival,
which was now at hand, and took the scribe belonging to the governor of the temple,
whose name was Eleazar, who was the son of Ananus [Ananias] the high priest, and
bound him, and carried him away with them; after which they sent to Ananias, and
said that they would send the scribe to him, if he would persuade Albinus to release
ten of those prisoners which he had caught of their party; so Ananias was plainly
forced to persuade Albinus, and gained his request of him. This was the beginning
of greater calamities; for the robbers perpetually contrived to catch some of Ananiass
servants; and when they had taken them alive, they would not let them go, till they
thereby recovered some of their own Sicarii. And as they were again become no small
number, they grew bold, and were a great affliction to the whole country.
4. About this time it was that king Agrippa built Cesarea Philippi larger than
it was before, and, in honor of Nero, named it Neronlas. And when he had built a
theater at Berytus, with vast expenses, he bestowed on them shows, to be exhibited
every year, and spent therein many ten thousand [drachmae]; he also gave the people
a largess of corn, and distributed oil among them, and adorned the entire city with
statues of his own donation, and with original images made by ancient hands; nay,
he almost transferred all that was most ornamental in his own kingdom thither. This
made him more than ordinarily hated by his subjects, because he took those things
away that belonged to them to adorn a foreign city. And now Jesus, the son of Gamaliel,
became the successor of Jesus, the son of Damneus, in the high priesthood, which
the king had taken from the other; on which account a sedition arose between the
high priests, with regard to one another; for they got together bodies of the boldest
sort of the people, and frequently came, from reproaches, to throwing of stones
at each other. But Ananias was too hard for the rest, by his riches, which enabled
him to gain those that were most ready to receive. Costobarus also, and Saulus,
did themselves get together a multitude of wicked wretches, and this because they
were of the royal family; and so they obtained favor among them, because of their
kindred to Agrippa; but still they used violence with the people, and were very
ready to plunder those that were weaker than themselves. And from that time it principally
came to pass that our city was greatly disordered, and that all things grew worse
and worse among us.
5. But when Albinus heard that Gessius Florus was coming to succeed him, he was
desirous to appear to do somewhat that might be grateful to the people of Jerusalem;
so he brought out all those prisoners who seemed to him to be most plainly worthy
of death, and ordered them to be put to death accordingly. But as to those who had
been put into prison on some trifling occasions, he took money of them, and dismissed
them; by which means the prisons were indeed emptied, but the country was filled
with robbers.
6. Now as many of the Levites, which is a tribe of ours, as were singers of hymns,
persuaded the king to assemble a sanhedrim, and to give them leave to wear linen
garments, as well as the priests for they said that this would be a work worthy
the times of his government, that he might have a memorial of such a novelty, as
being his doing. Nor did they fail of obtaining their desire; for the king, with
the suffrages of those that came into the sanhedrim, granted the singers of hymns
this privilege, that they might lay aside their former garments, and wear such a
linen one as they desired; and as a part of this tribe ministered in the temple,
he also permitted them to learn those hymns as they had besought him for. Now all
this was contrary to the laws of our country, which, whenever they have been transgressed,
we have never been able to avoid the punishment of such transgressions.
7. And now it was that the temple was finished. So when the people saw that the
workmen were unemployed, who were above eighteen thousand and that they, receiving
no wages, were in want because they had earned their bread by their labors about
the temple; and while they were unwilling to keep by them the treasures that were
there deposited, out of fear of [their being carried away by] the Romans; and while
they had a regard to the making provision for the workmen; they had a mind to expend
these treasures upon them; for if any one of them did but labor for a single hour,
he received his pay immediately; so they persuaded him to rebuild the eastern cloisters.
These cloisters belonged to the outer court, and were situated in a deep valley,
and had walls that reached four hundred cubits [in length], and were built of square
and very white stones, the length of each of which stones was twenty cubits, and
their height six cubits. This was the work of king Solomon, who first of all built
the entire temple. But king Agrippa, who had the care of the temple committed to
him by Claudius Caesar, considering that it is easy to demolish any building, but
hard to build it up again, and that it was particularly hard to do it to these cloisters,
which would require a considerable time, and great sums of money, he denied the
petitioners their request about that matter; but he did not obstruct them when they
desired the city might be paved with white stone. He also deprived Jesus, the son
of Gamaliel, of the high priesthood, and gave it to Matthias, the son of Theophilus,
under whom the Jews’ war with the Romans took its beginning.
CHAPTER 10.
An Enumeration Of The High Priests.
1. And now I think it proper and agreeable to this history to give an account
of our high priests; how they began, who those are which are capable of that dignity,
and how many of them there had been at the end of the war. In the first place, therefore,
history informs us that Aaron, the brother of Moses, officiated to God as a high
priest, and that, after his death, his sons succeeded him immediately; and that
this dignity hath been continued down from them all to their posterity. Whence it
is a custom of our country, that no one should take the high priesthood of God but
he who is of the blood of Aaron, while every one that is of another stock, though
he were a king, can never obtain that high priesthood. Accordingly, the number of
all the high priests from Aaron, of whom we have spoken already, as of the first
of them, until Phanas, who was made high priest during the war by the seditious,
was eighty-three; of whom thirteen officiated as high priests in the wilderness,
from the days of Moses, while the tabernacle was standing, until the people came
into Judea, when king Solomon erected the temple to God; for at the first they held
the high priesthood till the end of their life, although afterward they had successors
while they were alive. Now these thirteen, who were the descendants of two of the
sons of Aaron, received this dignity by succession, one after another; for their
form of government was an aristocracy, and after that a monarchy, and in the third
place the government was regal Now the number of years during the rule of these
thirteen, from the day when our fathers departed out of Egypt, under Moses their
leader, until the building of that temple which king Solomon erected at Jerusalem,
were six hundred and twelve. After those thirteen high priests, eighteen took the
high priesthood at Jerusalem, one m succession to another, from the days of king
Solomon, until Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made an expedition against that
city, and burnt the temple, and removed our nation into Babylon, and then took Josadek,
the high priest, captive; the times of these high priests were four hundred and
sixty-six years, six months, and ten days, while the Jews were still under the regal
government. But after the term of seventy years’ captivity under the Babylonians,
Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the Jews from Babylon to their own land again, and gave
them leave to rebuild their temple; at which time Jesus, the son of Josadek, took
the high priesthood over the captives when they were returned home. Now he and his
posterity, who were in all fifteen, until king Antiochus Eupator, were under a democratical
government for four hundred and fourteen years; and then the forementioned Antiochus,
and Lysias the general of his army, deprived Onias, who was also called Menelaus,
of the high priesthood, and slew him at Berea; and driving away the son [of Onias
the third], put Jaeimus into the place of the high priest, one that was indeed of
the stock of Aaron, but not of that family of Onias. On which account Onias, who
was the nephew of Onias that was dead, and bore the same name with his father, came
into Egypt, and got into the friendship of Ptolemy Philometor, and Cleopatra his
wife, and persuaded them to make him the high priest of that temple which he built
to God in the prefecture of Heliopolis, and this in imitation of that at Jerusalem;
but as for that temple which was built in Egypt, we have spoken of it frequently
already. Now when Jacimus had retained the priesthood three years, he died, and
there was no one that succeeded him, but the city continued seven years without
a high priest. But then the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus, who had the government
of the nation conferred upon them, when they had beaten the Macedonians in war,
appointed Jonathan to be their high priest, who ruled over them seven years. And
when he had been slain by the treacherous contrivance of Trypho, as we have related
some where, Simon his brother took the high priesthood; and when he was destroyed
at a feast by the treachery of his son-in-law, his own son, whose name was Hyrcanus,
succeeded him, after he had held the high priesthood one year longer than his brother.
This Hyrcanus enjoyed that dignity thirty years, and died an old man, leaving the
succession to Judas, who was also called Aristobulus, whose brother Alexander was
his heir; which Judas died of a sore distemper, after he had kept the priesthood,
together with the royal authority; for this Judas was the first that put on his
head a diadem for one year. And when Alexander had been both king and high priest
twenty-seven years, he departed this life, and permitted his wife Alexandra to appoint
him that should he high priest; so she gave the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, but
retained the kingdom herself nine years, and then departed this life. The like duration
[and no longer] did her son Hyrcanus enjoy the high priesthood; for after her death
his brother Aristobulus fought against him, and beat him, and deprived him of his
principality; and he did himself both reign, and perform the office of high priest
to God. But when he had reigned three years, and as many months, Pompey came upon
him, and not only took the city of Jerusalem by force, but put him and his children
in bonds, and sent them to Rome. He also restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus,
and made him governor of the nation, but forbade him to wear a diadem. This Hyrcanus
ruled, besides his first nine years, twenty-four years more, when Barzapharnes and
Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, passed over Euphrates, and fought with Hyrcanus,
and took him alive, and made Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, king; and when he
had reigned three years and three months, Sosius and Herod besieged him, and took
him, when Antony had him brought to Antioch, and slain there. Herod was then made
king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint high priests out of the family of
Asamoneus; but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent families, but barely
of those that were priests, excepting that he gave that dignity to Aristobulus;
for when he had made this Aristobulus, the grandson of that Hyrcanus who was then
taken by the Parthians, and had taken his sister Mariarmne to wife, he thereby aimed
to win the good-will of the people, who had a kind remembrance of Hyrcanus [his
grandfather]. Yet did he afterward, out of his fear lest they should all bend their
inclinations to Aristobulus, put him to death, and that by contriving how to have
him suffocated as he was swimming at Jericho, as we have already related that matter;
but after this man he never intrusted the priesthood to the posterity of the sons
of Asamoneus. Archelaus also, Herod’s son, did like his father in the appointment
of the high priests, as did the Romans also, who took the government over the Jews
into their hands afterward. Accordingly, the number of the high priests, from the
days of Herod until the day when Titus took the temple and the City, and burnt them,
were in all twenty-eight; the time also that belonged to them was a hundred and
seven years. Some of these were the political governors of the people under the
reign of Herod, and under the reign of Archelaus his son, although, after their
death, the government became an aristocracy, and the high priests were intrusted
with a dominion over the nation. And thus much may suffice to be said concerning
our high priests.
CHAPTER 11.
Concerning Florus The Procurator, Who Necessitated The Jews To Take Up Arms Against
The Romans. The Conclusion.
1. Now Gessius Florus, who was sent as successor to Albinus by Nero, filled Judea
with abundance of miseries. He was by birth of the city of Clazomene, and brought
along with him his wife Cleopatra, (by whose friendship with Poppea, Nero’s wife,
he obtained this government,) who was no way different from him in wickedness. This
Florus was so wicked, and so violent in the use of his authority, that the Jews
took Albinus to have been [comparatively] their benefactor; so excessive were the
mischiefs that he brought upon them. For Albinus concealed his wickedness, and was
careful that it might not be discovered to all men; but Gessius Florus, as though
he bad been sent on purpose to show his crimes to every body, made a pompous ostentation
of them to our nation, as never omitting any sort of violence, nor any unjust sort
of punishment; for he was not to be moved by pity, and never was satisfied with
any degree of gain that came in his way; nor had he any more regard to great than
to small acquisitions, but became a partner with the robbers themselves. For a great
many fell then into that practice without fear, as having him for their security,
and depending on him, that he would save them harmless in their particular robberies;
so that there were no bounds set to the nation’s miseries; but the unhappy Jews,
when they were not able to bear the devastations which the robbers made among them,
were all under a necessity of leaving their own habitations, and of flying away,
as hoping to dwell more easily any where else in the world among foreigners [than
in their own country]. And what need I say any more upon this head? since it was
this Florus who necessitated us to take up arms against the Romans, while we thought
it better to be destroyed at once, than by little and little. Now this war began
in the second year of the government of Florus, and the twelfth year of the reign
of Nero. But then what actions we were forced to do, or what miseries we were enabled
to suffer, may be accurately known by such as will peruse those books which I have
written about the Jewish war.
2. I shall now, therefore, make an end here of my Antiquities; after the conclusion
of which events, I began to write that account of the war; and these Antiquities
contain what hath been delivered down to us from the original creation of man, until
the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, as to what hath befallen the Jews, as well
in Egypt as in Syria and in Palestine, and what we have suffered from the Assyrians
and Babylonians, and what afflictions the Persians and Macedonians, and after them
the Romans, have brought upon us; for I think I may say that I have composed this
history with sufficient accuracy in all things. I have attempted to enumerate those
high priests that we have had during the interval of two thousand years; I have
also carried down the succession of our kings, and related their actions, and political
administration, without [considerable] errors, as also the power of our monarchs;
and all according to what is written in our sacred books; for this it was that I
promised to do in the beginning of this history. And I am so bold as to say, now
I have so completely perfected the work I proposed to myself to do, that no other
person, whether he were a Jew or foreigner, had he ever so great an inclination
to it, could so accurately deliver these accounts to the Greeks as is done in these
books. For those of my own nation freely acknowledge that I far exceed them in the
learning belonging to Jews; I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the
learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language, although
I have so long accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce
Greek with sufficient exactness; for our nation does not encourage those that learn
the languages of many nations, and so adorn their discourses with the smoothness
of their periods; because they look upon this sort of accomplishment as common,
not only to all sorts of free-men, but to as many of the servants as please to learn
them. But they give him the testimony of being a wise man who is fully acquainted
with our laws, and is able to interpret their meaning; on which account, as there
have been many who have done their endeavors with great patience to obtain this
learning, there have yet hardly been so many as two or three that have succeeded
therein, who were immediately well rewarded for their pains.
3. And now it will not be perhaps an invidious thing, if I treat briefly of my
own family, and of the actions of my own life while there are still living such
as can either prove what I say to be false, or can attest that it is true; with
which accounts I shall put an end to these Antiquities, which are contained in twenty
books, and sixty thousand verses. And if God permit me, I will briefly run over
this war, and to add what befell them further to that very day, the 13th of Domitian,
or A.D. 03, is not, that I have observed, taken distinct notice of by any one; nor
do we ever again, with what befell us therein to this very day, which is the thirteenth
year of the reign of Caesar Domitian, and the fifty-sixth year of my own life. I
have also an intention to write three books concerning our Jewish opinions about
God and his essence, and about our laws; why, according to them, some things are
permitted us to do, and others are prohibited.
END
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