Part 6
Now in the tenth year of Archelaus’s rule, [Sidenote: A.D. 6] the leading men of Judæa and Samaria, impatient of his cruel and tyrannical conduct, laid an accusation against him before Cæsar;[152] they did so with greater confidence, knowing that he had violated the Emperor’s injunctions to be lenient in his dealings with his subjects. On hearing the accusation Cæsar was indignant and sent for the agent of Archelaus’s affairs in Rome, whose name also was Archelaus, and, disdaining to write to Archelaus, said to him, “Take ship at once and bring him to us without delay.” The agent accordingly embarked forthwith, reached Judæa, found Archelaus feasting with his friends, communicated Cæsar’s will and hurried him off. On his arrival, Cæsar, after hearing his defence in the presence of certain of his accusers, sent him into banishment, appointing Vienne, a city of Gaul, as his place of exile, and confiscated his property....
The district which had been tributary to Archelaus was annexed[153] to the province of Syria, and Quirinius, a man of consular rank, was sent by Cæsar to take a valuation of the property in Syria and to sell the personal estate[154] of Archelaus.—_Ant._ XVII. 13. 2, 5 (342-344, 355).
Footnote 152:
Augustus.
Footnote 153:
Or perhaps “the district of A. was annexed and made tributary.”
Footnote 154:
Gr. “house.”
(24) The Revolt of Judas “in the days of the enrolment” under Quirinius
“After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrolment and drew away people after him” (Acts v. 37). Josephus here narrates the story of the revolt in the year A.D. 6, to which Gamaliel alludes in his speech in the Sanhedrin as reported in the Acts. See Appendix, Note I, for the relation of this enrolment to “the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke ii. 2); also Note IV (“Theudas and Judas”).
[Sidenote: A.D. 6-7]
Now Quirinius, a Roman senator, and one who had held all the subordinate offices, passing through each grade[155] until he reached the consulate, and a man of high reputation on other grounds, came with a small retinue to Syria, being sent by Cæsar[156] as judicial administrator of the nation and assessor of the national property. With him was sent Coponius, a man of equestrian rank, as governor of the Jews with supreme powers. Quirinius also visited Judæa, now an appanage of the province of Syria, to take a valuation of the Jews’ property and to sell the estate of Archelaus.
The Jews, although they were indignant when they first heard of the proposed enrolments, under the influence of the high priest Joazar, son of Boethus, condescended to desist from further opposition; they yielded to his advice and, without more scruple, set about valuing their estates. But one Judas, a Gaulanite, from a city called Gamala,[157] with a confederate, Zadok a Pharisee, was for rushing into revolt. They asserted that the valuation meant nothing less than the introduction of downright slavery,[158] and exhorted the nation to rally in defence of their liberty. “If,” they said, “our possessions are devoted to the common weal, success may be ours; if, after all, we are robbed of this asset, we shall win honour and a reputation for magnanimity. God, who looks for man’s co-operation to achieve His purposes, will be much more ready to assist us, if we do not shirk the toil entailed by the great cause which we have at heart.”
Their words found willing hearers, and the daring enterprise[159] made great strides. Indeed, every form of disaster took its origin from these men; the infection which they brought into the nation passes description.
Josephus proceeds to trace all the horrors of the Jewish War, culminating in the burning of the Temple, to “the fourth sect” (or “philosophy”) introduced by Judas and Zadok, _i. e._ the sect of the Zealots. Then follows a digression on the Jewish sects, see § (55), below.
Quirinius had now disposed of Archelaus’s estate and the census registrations were ended. This census took place in the thirty-seventh year after Cæsar’s[160] victory over Antony at Actium. [Sidenote: 31 B.C.] Joazar the high priest became the victim of popular opposition, and Quirinius deprived him of his honourable post, and appointed Ananus, son of Sethi, in his place.
Herod and Philip now took over their respective tetrarchies and entered on office. Herod built walls for the city of Sepphoris—the chief ornament of all Galilee—and called it Autocratoris;[161] another city, Betharamphtha, he enclosed in the same way and called it Julias after the name of the Emperor’s consort.[162] Philip restored Paneas at the sources of the Jordan and renamed it Cæsarea;[163] he also promoted the village of Bethsaida on the Lake of Gennesaret to the rank of a city, increasing its population[164] and general opulence, and gave it the name of the Emperor’s daughter Julia.—_Ant._ XVIII. 1. 1 and 2. 1 (1-6, 26-28).
Footnote 155:
The so-called _decursus honorum_.
Footnote 156:
Augustus.
Footnote 157:
On the east of the Sea of Galilee. In _B.J._ (parallel pass.) he is called “a Galilæan” as in Acts v. 37.
Footnote 158:
Modelled on Thuc. I. 122, “defeat means nothing but downright slavery” (Jowett; speech of the Corinthians urging Sparta to take up arms against Athens).
Footnote 159:
So Niese (ἐπιβολὴ); MSS “plot” (ἐπιβουλὴ).
Footnote 160:
_i. e._ Augustus.
Footnote 161:
_i.e._ “Imperial” (city).
Footnote 162:
Julia.
Footnote 163:
Cæsarea Philippi (Matt. xvi. 13; Mark viii. 27).
Footnote 164:
Or, perhaps, “because of its large population.”
(25) Pilate offends Jewish susceptibilities in the matter of (i) the Emperor’s busts, (ii) the Corban money
Now Pilate, the governor[165] of Judæa, having occasion to transfer [Sidenote: _c._ A.D. 26] a (Roman) army from Cæsarea into winter quarters in Jerusalem, conceived the idea of annulling Jewish legislation by bringing within the city walls the Emperor’s busts which were attached to the standards; whereas the very making of images is forbidden us by the Law.[166] For this reason former governors used to make their entry into the city with standards from which these ornaments were absent. Pilate was the first to bring the images into Jerusalem and erect them there. This was done without the knowledge of the citizens because the army entered by night. As soon as they knew of it, they came in crowds to Cæsarea, and for many days petitioned for the removal of the images. Pilate stood firm, because to comply would be[167] tantamount to high treason against Cæsar, and on the sixth day, the Jews still persisting in their entreaties, he placed an armed force under cover and came in person to the judgement-seat; this had been set up in the race-course, where he had the soldiers concealed[168] in ambush. When the Jews once more presented their petition, at a given signal he had a cordon of soldiers round them and threatened to punish them with instant death if they did not desist from their uproar and depart to their homes. Thereupon they flung themselves on their faces and bared their necks and said that they would gladly welcome death rather than venture to transgress the wise ordinances[169] of their laws. Pilate marvelled at their obstinacy in the observance of their laws, and forthwith had the images taken back from Jerusalem to Cæsarea.
On another occasion he expended the consecrated funds[170] on the construction of (an aqueduct for) conveying water to Jerusalem, bringing it from a distance of two hundred furlongs.[171] The Jews were dissatisfied with his action in this matter, and many thousands[172] of them assembled and raised an outcry against him, requiring him to abandon his project; some, as is the way of a mob, even proceeded to rail at and insult the man. Pilate thereupon dressed a large body of soldiers in Jewish garb, under which they carried clubs, and stationed them where they could surround the Jews, whom he then ordered to retire. When these began to revile him, he gave the soldiers the prearranged signal; and they laid about them with a severity much greater than Pilate had ordered, punishing indiscriminately those who had taken part in the riot and those who had not. (The Jews resisted with no lack of spirit)[173]; and so, caught, as they were, unarmed by assailants equipped for the purpose, many of them fell and were left to die on the spot, while others escaped with wounds. Thus ended the insurrection.—_Ant._ XVIII. 3. 1 f. (55-62).
Footnote 165:
ἡγεμὼν: more exactly “procurator,” as in _B.J._ parallel pass. (ἐπίτροπος).
Footnote 166:
Ex. xx. 4; Deut. iv. 16, etc.
Footnote 167:
Or “their request was.”
Footnote 168:
Conj. Niese; MSS “which concealed the soldiers.”
Footnote 169:
Gr. “wisdom.”
Footnote 170:
“the sacred treasure called corban” (or “corbon”), _B.J._
Footnote 171:
Gr. στάδια. _B.J._ has “400 (_v.l._ 300) furlongs.”
Footnote 172:
Gr. “myriads.”
Footnote 173:
With the MS reading οἱ δ᾽; with Niese’s conjecture οὐδ᾽ we should translate, in the previous sentence, “indiscriminately and relentlessly,” and omit the bracketed words.
(26) Jesus Christ[174]
Now about this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed he should be called a man. For he was a doer of marvellous acts, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure; and he won over to himself many Jews and many also of the Greek nation. He was the Christ.[175] And when, on the indictment of the principal men among us, Pilate had sentenced him to the cross, yet did not those who had loved him at the first cease (to do so); for he appeared to them alive again on the third day, as the divine prophets had declared—these and ten thousand other wonderful things—concerning him. And even now the race[176] of Christians, so named from him, is not extinct.—_Ant._ XVIII. 3. 3 (63 f.).
Footnote 174:
On the authenticity of this passage see Appendix, Note II.
Footnote 175:
Or “the Messiah.”
Footnote 176:
Or “tribe” (φῦλον).
(27) Tiberius expels all Jews from Rome
A precedent for the similar action of Claudius, which brought Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth (Acts xviii. 2). Suetonius alludes to this order of Tiberius: “He repressed foreign religious ceremonies—Egyptian and Jewish rites—compelling their devotees to burn their sacred vestments with all their paraphernalia. Under pretext of their military oath, he distributed the younger Jews over provinces with an insalubrious climate; others of the same race, or followers of kindred religions, he removed from the city, under penalty for disobedience of servitude for life” (Tiberius, § 36).
I revert to the story, which I promised to tell, of what befell the Jews in Rome at this time.
A Jew, who was a thorough rascal, had been driven from his country by an accusation of transgressing certain laws and by fear of consequent punishment. He was then living in Rome, where he professed to expound the inner meaning[177] of the laws of Moses, and took into partnership three men with characters exactly resembling his own. Fulvia, a lady of rank and a proselyte to Judaism, became their disciple, and was induced by them to send a present of purple (cloth) and gold to the Temple at Jerusalem. Having obtained possession of these articles, they appropriated them to their own use to defray their private expenses;[178] which in fact was the original object of their request. Fulvia lodged a complaint with her husband Saturninus; he reported the matter to Tiberius, his friend; and Tiberius ordered the whole Jewish (colony) to quit Rome. The consuls enlisted four thousand of them and drafted them to the island of Sardinia, inflicting penalties on a very large number who refused military service in deference to their ancestral laws. Thus, through the wickedness of four men, were the Jews expelled from the city.—_Ant._ XVIII. 3. 4 f. (80-84).
Footnote 177:
Gr. “wisdom.”
Footnote 178:
Text a little uncertain.
(28) Pilate Sent to Rome for Trial
An impostor promises to show the Samaritans the sacred vessels buried by Moses under Mount Gerizim. Crowds assemble at a village, Tirathana, at the foot of the mountain, to make the ascent.
[Sidenote: A.D. 36]
Pilate, however, forestalled their ascent by despatching a force of cavalry and heavy-armed infantry, who attacked the multitude assembled in readiness in the village, and in the ensuing engagement killed some, routed others, and took a large number of prisoners. The chief prisoners and the most influential of the fugitives were put to death by Pilate.
When the tumult was quelled, the Samaritan council approached Vitellius, the governor of Syria, of consular rank, with accusations against Pilate for his butchery of the victims. They said that the object of the expedition to Tirathana was not revolt from Rome, but to seek refuge from Pilate’s insolence. Vitellius thereupon sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take over the administration of Judæa, and ordered Pilate to depart for Rome, to render his account to the Emperor of the charges brought against him by the Samaritans. Pilate, accordingly—after ten years’ residence in Judæa—went in haste to Rome on the instructions of Vitellius, which he must needs obey. [Sidenote: A.D. 37] But before he reached Rome, Tiberius was no more.—_Ant._ XVIII. 4. 1 f. (87-89.)
Josephus proceeds to tell how Vitellius went up to Jerusalem and pacified the Jews by restoring to them the custody of the high priest’s vestments, recently in Roman hands. Also how he deposed the high priest “Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas.” Thus the three responsible authorities for the trial of our Lord—the Emperor, Pilate and Caiaphas—quit the scene simultaneously. After the next extract, we pass from the period of the Gospel history to the period covered by the Acts.
VI. THE LATER HERODS
(29) Herod the Tetrarch: his Marriage with Herodias and Murder of John the Baptist[179]
Now about this time a quarrel arose between Aretas king of Petra[180] and Herod on the following ground. Herod the Tetrarch married the daughter of Aretas and had now lived with her a long time. On the eve of a journey to Rome he lodged in the house of Herod, his half-brother on the father’s side; the mother of this Herod was the daughter of Simon the high priest. There he fell in love with Herodias his brother’s wife (she was the daughter of their brother Aristobulus and sister of Agrippa the Great[181]) and had the effrontery to propose marriage. She met his advances and a compact was made that she should leave her home and come to him on his return from Rome; it was part of the compact that he should divorce the daughter of Aretas. The agreement settled, he set sail for Rome. On his return, after discharging his commission in that city, his wife, who had got wind of the compact with Herodias, bade her husband, who was still unaware that she knew all, send her away to Machærus—on the frontier between the dominions of Aretas and Herod—without revealing her intentions. Herod, accordingly, let her go, not suspecting that the poor woman had any inkling of the plot. She, however, had long since sent word to Machærus, which at that time[182] was subject to her father, and so found that the general in command[183] there had everything in readiness for her (intended) journey. No sooner, therefore, had she arrived (at Machærus) than she was off again into Arabia, escorted by one general after another in turn, and so reached her father post haste and told him of Herod’s intentions.
Aretas seized this occasion for hostilities and also for raising the question of frontiers in the region of Gamala;[184] the two belligerents mustered their armies and opened war, sending their generals as their representatives in the field. A battle took place in which the whole of Herod’s army was cut to pieces as the result of the defection of a contingent from Philip’s tetrarchy which enlisted with Herod’s forces and then deserted. Herod reported the matter to Tiberius, who was indignant at the aggression of Aretas and wrote instructions to Vitellius to go to war with him and either to take him alive and bring him a prisoner to Rome or to kill him and send him his head. Such were the injunctions of Tiberius to the governor of Syria.
* * * * *
Some of the Jews, however, regarded the destruction of Herod’s army as the work of God, who thus exacted very just retribution for John, surnamed the Baptist, Herod’s victim. John was a good man who bade the Jews first cultivate virtue by justice[185] towards each other and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for immersion,[186] he said, would only appear acceptable to God if practised, not as an expiation for specific offences, but for the purification of the body, when the soul had been already thoroughly cleansed by righteousness. Now when all men[187] listened to his words with the greatest delight and flocked to him, Herod feared that the powerful influence which he exercised over men’s minds—for they seemed ready for any action which he advised—might lead to some form of revolt. He therefore decided to put him to death before any revolution arose through him. To forestall events appeared far better policy than a belated repentance when plunged in the turmoil of an insurrection. And so, through Herod’s suspicions, John was sent as a prisoner to Machærus, the fortress already mentioned, and there put to death. The Jews supposed that the destruction of Herod’s army was the penalty expressly inflicted upon him by God to avenge John....
The following extract supplies the name of “the daughter of Herodias” who appears in Mark vi. 22 ff.
Now Herodias their sister married Herod, the son of Herod the Great by Mariamne the daughter of Simon the high priest. They had a daughter Salome, after whose birth Herodias, in defiance of our country’s laws, married Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee and half-brother of her husband, during the lifetime of her husband, whom she divorced. Her daughter Salome married Philip, the Tetrarch of Trachonitis and son of Herod.—_Ant._ XVIII. 5. 1 f., 4 (109-119, 136 f.).
Footnote 179:
See Appendix, Note III.
Footnote 180:
Or “(Arabia) Petræa.”
Footnote 181:
Herod Agrippa I.
Footnote 182:
Slight emendation (τότε) of the MS reading τῷ τε (“and to him who was subject...”).
Footnote 183:
Or “governor.”
Footnote 184:
Possibly a lacuna in the text.
Footnote 185:
Or “righteousness.”
Footnote 186:
Gr. βάπτισις; in the previous clause βαπτισμός.
Footnote 187:
Text uncertain; MSS “the rest.”
(30) How Herod Agrippa became King and Herod the Tetrarch lost his Tetrarchy
The story of Herod Agrippa’s rise to power is dramatic. Brought up at Rome with Drusus, the son of Tiberius, he squandered his money in extravagant living. Returning a penniless prodigal to Palestine and on the verge of suicide, he was patronized by Herod the Tetrarch and his wife Herodias. Becoming involved in fresh difficulties, he borrowed money for his passage and returned to Rome. There he paid court to the future Emperor Gaius (Caligula), was arrested by Tiberius for treason, and spent the last six months of Tiberius’s reign in prison.
Tiberius survived his appointment of Gaius as his successor only a few days, [Sidenote: A.D. 37] and then died after a reign of twenty-two years, five months and three days. Gaius was the fourth of the Emperors. The Romans, on learning of the death of Tiberius, rejoiced at the good news, but could not bring themselves to believe it; not because they did not desire it, for they would have given large sums of money for confirmation of the report, but from fear that, if the news proved false and they exhibited their joy prematurely, they would be slanderously accused and lose their lives. For no other Roman ever treated the patrician class so cruelly as did Tiberius. Quick to take offence and relentless in action against any who, even without reason, had incurred his hatred, he was savage with all whom he sentenced, and imposed the death penalty for the slightest offences. And so, while the rumour of his death found ready listeners, they were restrained from indulging their satisfaction to the full by dread of the ills which they foresaw if their hopes proved false.
Now Marsyas, Agrippa’s freedman, on hearing of Tiberius’s death, ran in haste to tell Agrippa the good news. He found him just going out to the bath, and beckoning to him, said in the Hebrew tongue, “The lion is dead.” At once grasping his meaning and overcome with joy at the tidings, he replied, “All my blessings be upon you for all your services and for this welcome news! Only may your words prove true!” The centurion, who kept guard over Agrippa, when he saw in what haste Marsyas came and how delighted Agrippa was with his message, suspected some startling intelligence[188] and asked them what was the subject of their conversation. For a while they prevaricated, but, as he insisted, Agrippa, who was now on friendly terms with him, told him outright. The centurion joined with them in welcoming the news, because it was to Agrippa’s advantage, and invited him to dinner. But as they were feasting and drinking merrily, there came one who said that Tiberius was alive and would return in a few days to the city. At this announcement the centurion was sorely perplexed, because he had been guilty of a capital offence both in sharing his table with a prisoner and in rejoicing at the news of the Emperor’s death. He pushed Agrippa from his seat and said: “Do you think to cheat me with this lying story of the Emperor’s death and that you are not going to answer for it with your own head?” With these words he ordered that Agrippa, whose chains he had loosed, should be bound again, and kept him under stricter guard than before. In this wretched condition Agrippa passed that night.
But on the morrow the rumour increased, and it was confidently affirmed throughout the city that Tiberius was dead; men now had the courage to speak of it openly, some even offered sacrifices. Letters also came from Gaius, one to the Senate announcing Tiberius’s death and his own accession, and another to Piso, the city warden, to the same effect, and accompanied by orders for the removal of Agrippa from the camp to the house in which he was lodging before his imprisonment. Henceforth Agrippa lived in security; he was still under watch and ward, but enjoyed considerable freedom.[189]
But when Gaius reached Rome with the corpse of Tiberius, after giving it a costly funeral in accordance with the laws of his country, he was anxious to set Agrippa at liberty that very day. Antonia,[190] however, restrained him, not out of any ill-will to the prisoner, but with an eye to propriety on the part of Gaius; she feared he would produce the impression of welcoming the decease of Tiberius if he were instantly to release one of his prisoners. Not many days elapsed, however, before Gaius sent to his house to fetch him, had his hair cut and his raiment changed, and then set the diadem on his head and appointed him king over Philip’s[191] tetrarchy; he also conferred upon him the tetrarchy of Lysanias. In exchange for his iron chain he gave him a golden one of the same weight....
Herod the Tetrarch is instigated by his wife Herodias to emulate Agrippa and go in quest of similar fortune to Rome. The result was disastrous. He was found guilty of conspiracy and sent into exile, Herodias sharing his fate. It will suffice to quote the end of the story.