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but Petronius did not receive it while Caius was alive, that ship which carried it, sailing so slow, that other letters came to Petronius before this, by which he understood that Caius was dead; for God would not forget the dangers Petronius had undertaken on account of the Jews and of his own honour. But when he had taken Caius away, out of his indignation of what he had so insolently attempted in assuming to himself divine worship, both Rome and all that dominion conspired with Petronius, especially those that were of the senatorian order, to give Caius his due reward, because he had been unmercifully severe to them; for he died not long after he had written to Petronius that epistle which threatened him with death. But as for the occasion of his death, and the nature of the plot against him, I shall relate them in the progress of this narration. Now that epistle, which informed Petronius of Caius's death, came first, and a little af ter ward came that which commanded him to kill himself with his own hands. Whereupon he rejoiced at this coincidence as to the death of Caius, and admired God's providence, who without the least delay, and immediately, gave him a reward for the regard he had to the temple, and the assistance he afforded the Jews for voiding the dangers they were in. And by this means Petronius escaped that danger of death, which he could not foresee.

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CHAP. IX.

What befell the Jews that were in Babylon, on occasion of Asineus and Anileus, two brethren.

1. A VERY sad calamity now befell the Jews that were in Mesopotamia, and especially those that dwelt in Babylonia. Inferior it was to none of the calamities which had gone before, and came together with a great slaughter of them, and that greater than any upon record before; concerning all which I shall speak accurately, and shall explain the occasions whence these miseries came upon them. There was a city in Babylonia, called Neerda; not only a very populous one, but one that had a good and a large territory about it, and, besides its other advantages, full of men also. It was besides not easily to be assaulted by enemies, from the river Euphrates's encompassing it all around, and from the walls that were built about it. There was also the city Nisibis,

situate on the same current of the river. For which reason the Jews, depending on the natural strength of these places, deposited in them that half shekel which every one, by the eustom of our country, offers unto God, as well as they did other things devoted to him, for they made use of these cities as a treasury, whence, at a proper time they were transmitted to Jerusalem; and many ten thousand men undertook the carriage of those donations, out of fear of the ravages of the Parthians, to whom the Babylonians were then subject. Now there were two men, Asineus and Anileus, of the city Neerda by birth, and brethren to one another. They were destitute of a father, and their mother put them to learn the art of weaving curtains, it not being esteemed a disgrace among them for men to be weavers of cloth. Now, he that taught them that art, and was set over them, complained that they came too late to their work, and punished them with stripes; but they took this just punishment as an affront, and carried off all the weapons which were kept in that house, which were not a few, and went into a certain place where was a partition of rivers, and was a place haturally very fit for the feeding of cattle, and for preserving such fruits as were usually laid up against winter. The poorest sort of the young men also resorted to them, whom they armed with the weapons they had gotten, and became their captains; and nothing hindered them from being their leaders into mischief; for, as soon as they were become invincible, and had built them a citadel, they sent to such as fed cattle, and ordered them to pay them so much tribute out of them as might be sufficient for their maintenance, proposing also that they would be their friends if they would submit to them, and that they would defend them from all their other enemies on every side, but that they would kill the cattle of those that refused to obey them. So they hearkened to their proposals, (for they could do nothing else,) and sent them as many sheep as were required of them; whereby their forces grew greater, and they became lords over all they pleased, because they marched suddenly, and did them a mischief; insomuch that every body who had to do with them, chose to pay them respect, and they became formidable to such as came to assault them, till the report about them came to the ears of the king of Parthia himself.

2. But when the governor of Babylonia understood this, and had a mind to put a stop to them before they grew

greater, and before greater mischiefs should arise from them, he got together as great an army as he could, both of Parthians and Babylonians, and marched against them, thinking to attack them, and destroy them before any one could carry them the news that he had got an army together. He then encamped at a lake, and lay still; but on the next day (it was the Sabbath, which is among the Jews a day of rest from all sorts of work,) he supposed that the enemy would not dare to fight him thereon, but that he should take them and carry them away prisoners without fighting. He, therefore, proceeded gradually, and thought to fall upon them on the sudden. Now, Asineus was sitting with the rest, and their weapons lay by them; upon which he said, "Sirs, I hear a neighing of horses; not of such as are feeding, but such as have men on their backs; I also hear such a noise of their bridles, that I am afraid that some enemies are com ing upon us to encompass us round. However, let somebody go to look about, and make report of what reality there is in the present state of things; and may what I have said prove a false alarm." And, when he had said this, some of them went out to spy out what was the matter, and they came again immediately, and said to him, that "neither hast thou been mistaken in telling us what our enemies were doing, nor will those enemies permit us to be injurious to people any longer. We are caught by their intrigues like brute beasts, and there is a large body of cavalry marching upon us, while we are destitute of hands to defend ourselves withall, because we are restrained from doing it by the prohibition of our law, which obliges us to rest [on this day."] But Asineus did not by any means agree with the opinion of his spy as to what was to be done, but thought it more agreeable to the law to pluck up their spirits in this necessity they were fallen into, and break their law by avenging themselves, although they should die in the action, than, by doing nothing, to please their enemies in submitting to be slain by them. Accordingly, he took up his weapons, and infused courage into those that were with him to act as courageously

*'Evencov, is here, and in very many other places of Josephus, immediately at hand and is to be so expounded 2 Thess. ii. 2. when some falsely pretended, that St. Paul had said, either by word of mouth, or by an epistle, or by both, that the day of Christ (evesXE) was immediately at hand; for still St. Paul did then plainly think that day not very many years future.

as himself. So they fell upon their enemies, and slew a great many of them, because they despised them, and came as to a certain victory, and put the rest to flight.

3. But when the news of this fight came to the king of Parthia, he was surprised at the boldness of these brethren, and was desirous to see them, and speak with them. He, therefore, sent the most trusty of all his guards to say thus to them, "That king Artabanus, although he hath been unjustly treated by you, who have made an attempt against his government, yet hath he more regard to your courageous behaviour, than to the anger he bears to you, and hath sent me to give you his right hand,* and security, and he permits you to come to him safely, and without any violence upon the road, and he wants to have you address yourselves to him as his friends, without meaning any guile or deceit to you. He also promises to make you presents, and to pay you those respects which will make an addition of his power to your courage, and thereby be of advantage to you." Yet did Asineus himself put off his journey thither, but sent his brother Anileus with all such presents as he could procure. So he went, and was admitted to the king's presence; and, when Artabanus saw Anileus coming alone, he inquired into the reason why Asineus avoided to come along with him; and when he understood that he was afraid, and staid by the lake, he took an oath by the gods of his country, that he would do them no harm, if they came to him upon the assurances he gave them, and gave him his right hand. This is of the greatest force there with all these barbarians, and affords a firm security to those who converse with them; for none of them will deceive you, when once they have given you their right hands, nor will any one doubt of their fidelity when that is once given, even though they were before suspected of injustice. When Artabanus had done this, he sent away Anileus to persuade his brother to come to him. Now this the king did, because he wanted to curb his own governors of provinces by the courage of these Jewish brethren, lest they should make a league with

*The joining of the right hands was esteemed among the Persians [and Parthians] in particular, a most inviolable obligation to fidelity; as Dr. Hudson here observes, and refers to the commentary on Justin, B. xi. ch. xv. for its confirmation. We often meet with the like use of it in Josephus.

+ See the above note.

them; for they were ready for a revolt, and were disposed to rebel had they been sent on an expedition against them. He was also afraid, lest, when he was engaged in a war, in order to subdue those governors of provinces that had revolted, the party of Asineus, and those in Babylonia, should be augmented, and either make war upon him, when they should hear of that revolt, or if they should be disappointed in that case, they would not fail of doing farther mischief to him.

4. When the king had these intentions, he sent away Anileus, and Anileus prevailed on his brother [to come to the king] when he had related to him the king's good-will and the oath that he had taken. Accordingly, they made haste to go to Artabanus, who received them, when they were come, with pleasure, and admired Asineus's courage in the actions he had done, and this because he was a little man to see to, and at first sight appeared contemptible also, and such as one might deem a person of no value at all. He also said to his friends, how upon the comparison, he showed his soul to be, in all respects, superior to his body; and when, as they were drinking together, he once showed Asineus to Abdagases, one of the generals of his army, and told him his name, and described the great courage he was of in war, and Abdagases had desired leave to kill him, and thereby to inflict on him a punishment for those injuries he had done to the Parthian government, the king replied, “I will never give thee leave to kill a man who hath depended on my faith, especially not after I have sent him my right hand, and endeavoured to gain his belief by oaths made by the gods. But, if thou beest a truly warlike man, thou standest not in need of my perjury. Go thou then, and avenge the Parthian government; attack this man, when he is returned back, and conquer him by the forces that are under thy command, without my privity." Hereupon the king called for Asineus, and said to him, "It is time for thee, O thou young man, to return home, and not to provoke the indignation of my generals in this place any farther, lest they attempt to murder thee, and that without my approbation. I commit to thee the country of Babylonia in trust, that it may, by thy care, be preserved free from robbers, and from other mischiefs. I have kept my faith inviolable to thee, and that not in trifling affairs, but in those that concerned thy safety, and do, therefore, deserve thou shouldst be kind to

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