1 should make men believe that he received the death of Tiberius with pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had bound immediately. However there did not many days pass ere hé sent for him to his house, and had him shaved, and made him change his raiment, after which he put a diadem upon his head, and appointed him to be king of the tetrarchy of Philip. He also gave him the tetrarchy of Lysanias,* and changed his iron chain for a golden one of equal weight. He also sent Marullus to be procurator of Judea. 11. Now in the second year of the reign of Caius Cæsar, Agrippa desired leave to be given him to sail home, and settle the affairs of his government, and he promised to return again, when he had put the rest in order, as it ought to be put. So upon the emperor's permission, he came into his own country, and appeared to them all unexpectedly as a king, and thereby demonstrated to the men that saw him, the power of fortune, when they compared his former poverty with his present happy affluence; so some called him an happy man, and others could not well believe that things were so much changed with him for the better. How Herod the tetrarch was banished. $ 1. BUT Herodias, Agrippa's sister, who now lived as wife to that Herod who was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, took this authority of her brother in an envious manner, particularly when she saw that he had a greater dignity bestowed on him than her husband had; since when he ran away, it was because he was in a way of dignity, and of great good fortune. She was therefore grieved, and much displeased at so great a mutation of his affairs, and chiefly when she saw him marching among the multitude with the usual ensigns of royal authority, she was not able to conceal how miserable she was, by reason of the envy she had towards him; but she excited her husband, and desired him that he would sail to Rome, to court honours equal to his : for she said, That" she "could not bear to live any longer, while Agrippa, the son "of that Aristobulus who was condemned to die by his fa"ther, one that came to her husband in such extreme poverty, that the necessaries of life were forced to be entirely "supplied him day by day; and when he fled away from "his creditors by sea, he now returned a king; while he was 66 *Although Caius now promised to give Agrippa the tetrarchy of Lysanias, yet was it not all actually conferred upon him till the reign of Claudius, as we learn Antiq. B. XIX. ch. v. sect. 1. Vol. III. "himself the son of a king, and while the near relation he "bare to royal authority, called upon him to gain the like "dignity, he sat still, and was contented with a privater life. "But then, Herod, although thou was formerly not concern"ed to be in a lower condition than thy father, from whom "thou wast derived, had been; yet do thou now seek after "the dignity which thy kinsman hath attained to; and do "not thou bear this contempt, that a man who admired thy "riches, should be in greater honour than thyself, nor suffer "his poverty to shew itself able to purchase greater things "than our abundance, nor do thou esteem it other than a "shameful thing to be inferior to one who, the other day, "lived upon thy charity. But let us go to Rome, and let us spare no pains nor expences, either of silver or gold, "since they cannot be kept for any better use, than for the "obtaining of a kingdom." 2. But for Herod, he opposed her request at this time, out of the love of ease, and having a suspicion of the trouble he should have at Rome; so he tried to instruct her better. But the more she saw him draw back, the more she pressed him to it, and desired him to leave no stone unturned in order to be king and at last she left not off till she engaged him, whether he would or not, to be of her sentiments, because he could no otherwise avoid her importunity. So he got all things ready, after as sumptuous a manner as he was able, and spared for nothing, and went up to Rome, and took Herodias along with him. But Agrippa when he was made sensible of their intentions and preparations, he also prepared to go thither; and as soon as he heard they set sail, he sent Fortunatus, one of his freed-men to Rome, to carry presents to the emperor, and letters against Herod, and to give Caius a particular account of those matters, if he should have an opportunity. This man followed Herod so quick, and had so prosperous a voyage, and came so little after Herod, that while Herod was with Caius he came himself, and delivered his letters; for they both sailed to Dicearchia, and found Caius at Baiæ, which is itself a little city of Campania, at the distance of about five furlongs from Dicearchia. There are in that place royal palaces, with sumptuous apartments, every emperor still endeavouring to out-do his predecessor's magnificence: the place also affords warm baths, that spring out of the ground of their own accord, which are of advantage for the recovery of the health of those that make use of them, and besides, they minister to men's luxury also. Now Caius saluted Herod, for he first met with him, and then looked upon the letters which Agrippa had sent him, and which were written in order to accuse Herod; wherein he accused him, that he had been in confederacy with Sejanus, against Tiberius's government, and that he was now confederate with Artabanus, the king of Parthia, in opposition to the government of Caius; as a demonstration of which he alledged, that he had armour sufficient for seventy thousand men ready in his armoury. Caius was moved at this information, and asked Herod whether what was said about the armour was true; and when he confessed there was such armour there, for he could not deny the same, the truth of it being notorious, Caius took that to be a sufficient proof of the accusation, that he intended to revolt. So he took away from him his tetrarchy, and gave it by way of addition to Agrippa's kingdom; he also gave Herod's money to Agrippa, and, by way of punishment, awarded him a perpetual banishment, and appointed Lyons, a city of Gaul, to be his place of habitation. But when he was informed that Herodias was Agrippa's sister, he made her a present of what money was her own, and told her, that it was her brother who prevented her being put under "the same calamity with her husband." But she made this reply; Thou, indeed, O emperor, actest after a magnifi"cent manner, and as becomes thyself in what thou offerest 66 me; but the kindness which I have for my husband hin"ders me from partaking of the favour of thy gift; for it is "not just, that I, who have been made a partner in his pros"perity, should forsake him in his misfortunes." Hereupon Caius was angry at her, and sent her with Herod into banishment, and gave her estate to Agrippa. And thus did God punish Herodias for her envy at her brother, and Herod also for giving ear to the vain discourses of a woman. Now Caius managed public affairs with great magnanimity, during the first and second year of his reign, and behaved himself with such moderation, that he gained the good-will of the Romans themselves, and of his other subjects. But in process of time he went beyond the bounds of human nature, in his conceit of himself, and by reason of the vastness of his dominions, made himself a god, and took upon himself to act in all things to the reproach of the Deity itself. CHAP. VIII. Concerning the ambassage of the Jews to Caius; and how Caius sent Petronius into Syria to make war against the Jews, unless they would receive his statue. § 1. THERE was now a tumult arisen at Alexandria, be tween the Jewish inhabitants and the Greeks; and three † ambassadors were chosen out of each party that were at variance, who came to Caius. Now one of these ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion, who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and among other things that he said, he charged them with neglecting the honours that belonged to Cæsar; for that while all who were subject to the Roman empire built altars and temples to Caius, and in other regards universally received him as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonourable thing for them to erect statues in honour of him, as well as to swear by his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Caius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be; but Philo, the principal of the Jewish ambassage, a man eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexander the alabarch, and one not unskilful in philosophy, was ready to betake himself to make his defence against those accusations; but Caius prohibited him, and bid him be gone : he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about to do them some very great mischief. So Philo being thus affronted went out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that "they should be of good courage, since *This is a most remarkable chapter, as containing such instances of the interposition of Providence, as have been always very rare among the other idolatrous nations, but of old very many among the posterity of Abraham, the worshippers of the true God; nor do these seem much inferior to those in the Old Testament, which are the more remarkable, because, among all their other follies and vices, the Jews were not at this time idolaters; and the deliverances here mentioned were done in order to prevent their relapse into that idolatry. + Josephus here assures us, that the ambassadors from Alexandria to Caius, were on each part no more than three in number, for the Jews, and for the Gentiles, which are but six in all whereas Philo, who was the principal ambassador from the Jews, as Josephus here confesses, (as was Apion for the Gentiles), says, the Jews ambassadors were themselves no fewer than five, towards the end of his legation to Caius; which, if there be no mistake in the copies, must be supposed the truth; nor, in that case, would Josephus have contradicted so authentic a witness, had he seen that account of Philo's, which that he ever did, does not appear. This Alexander, the alabarch, or governor of the Jews at Alexandria, and brother to Philo, is supposed by bishop Pearson, in Act. Apost. p. 41, 42. to be the same with that Alexander who is mentioned by St. Luke, as of the kindred of the high-priests, Acts iv. 6. "Caius's words indeed shewed anger at them, but in reality "had already set God against himself." 2. Hereupon Caius, taking it very heinously that he should be thus despised by the Jews alone, sent Petronius to be president of Syria, and successor in the government to Vitellius, and gave him order to make an invasion into Judea, with a great body of troops, and if they would admit of his statue willingly, to erect it in the temple of God; but if they were obstinate, to conquer them by war, and then to do it. Accordingly Petronius took the government of Syria, and made haste to obey Cæsar's epistle. He got together as great a number of auxiliaries as he possibly could, and took with him two legions of the Roman army, and came to Ptolemais, and there wintered, as intending to set about the war in the spring. He also wrote word to Caius what he had resolved to do, who commended him for his alacrity, and ordered him to go on, and to make war with them, in case they would not obey his commands. But there came many ten thousands of the Jews to Petronius to Ptolemais, to offer their petitions to him, that "he would not compel them to transgress and violate the law of their forefathers; but if, said they, thou art entirely resolved to bring this statue, and "erect it, do thou first kill us, and then do what thou hast "resolved on; for while we are alive, we cannot permit such "things as are forbidden us to be done by the authority "of our legislator, and by our forefathers determination, that "such prohibitions are instances of virtue." But Petronius was angry at them, and said, "If indeed I were myself em"peror, and were at liberty to follow my own inclination, and "then had designed to act thus, these your words would be justly spoken to me; but now Cæsar hath sent to me, I am un"der the utmost necessity of being subservient to his decrees, "because a disobedience to them will bring upon me inevit"able destruction." Then the Jews replied, "Since there"fore thou art so disposed, O Petronius, that thou wilt not "disobey Caius's epistles, neither will we transgress the com"mands of our law; and as we depend upon the excellency "of our laws, and by the labours of our ancestors, have con"tinued hitherto without suffering them to be transgressed, 66 we dare not by any means suffer ourselves to be so timorous as to transgress those laws out of the fear of death, "which God hath determined are for our advantage (and if we fall into misfortunes, we will bear them in order to preserve our laws, as knowing, that those who expose them"selves to dangers, have good hope of escaping them, because God will stand on our side, when out of regard to "him we undergo afflictions, and sustain the uncertain turns is 66 |