conferred the Jewish government on Agrippa, appointing him king over the tetrarchy both of Philip and Lysanias. To these, not long after, he adds also the tetrarchy of Herod, after having inflicted the punishment of perpetual exile upon Herod, together with his wife Herodias, for their numerous crimes. This was the Herod who was concerned in the passion of our Saviour. Josephus bears testimony to these facts. During the reign of this emperor, Philo became noted, a man most distinguished for his learning, not only among very many of our own, but of those that came from abroad. As to his origin, he was a descendant of the Hebrews, inferior to none at Alexandria in point of dignity of family and birth. As to the divine Scriptures, and the learning of his country, how greatly and extensively he laboured, his work speaks for itself. And how well skilled in philosophy and the liberal studies of foreign countries, there is no necessity to say, since, as he was a zealous follower of the sect of Plato and Pythagoras, he is said to have surpassed all of his contemporaries. CHAPTER V. PHILO WAS SENT ON AN EMBASSY TO CAIUS, IN BEHALF OF THE JEWS. THIS author has given us an account of the sufferings of the Jews in the reign of Caius, in five books. He there also relates the madness of Caius, who called himself a god, and was guilty of innumerable oppressions in the exercise of his power. He mentions the miseries of the Jews under him, and the embassy which he himself performed when sent to the city of Rome, in behalf of his countrymen at Alexandria; how that when he pleaded before Caius, for the laws and institutions of his ancestors, he received nothing but laughter and derision in return, and had well nigh incurred the risk of his life. Josephus also mentions these things in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, in these words: "A sedition having also arisen between the Jews dwelling at Alexandria and the Greeks, three chosen deputies were sent from each of the factions, and these appeared before Caius. One of the Alexandrian deputies was Apion, who uttered many slanders against the Jews; among other things, saying, that they treated the honours of Cesar with contempt, that whilst all others, as many as were subject to the Roman empire, erected altars and temples to Caius, and in other respects regarded him as a god, they alone considered it disgraceful to raise statues to his honour, and to swear by his name. Apion having thus uttered many and severe charges by which he hoped that Caius would be roused, as was very probable, Philo, the chief of the Jewish embassy, a man illustrious in every respect, being the brother of Alexander, the Alabarch, and not unskilled in philosophy, was well prepared to enter upon a defence against these charges. But he was precluded from this by Caius, who ordered him straightway to be gone, and as he was very much incensed, it was very evident that he was meditating some great evil against them. Philo departed, covered with insult, and told the Jews that were with him, they had good reason to console themselves, that although Caius was enraged at them, he was already in fact challenging God against himself." Thus far Josephus. And Philo himself, in the embassy which he describes, details the particulars of what was then done to him, with great accuracy. Passing by the greatest part of these, I shall only state those by which it will be made manifest to the reader, that these things happened to the Jews forthwith, and at no distant period, on account of that which they dared to perpetrate against Christ. First, then, he relates, that in the reign of Tiberius, at Rome, Sejanus, who was then in great favour with Tiberius, had made every effort utterly to destroy the whole nation of the Jews, and that in Judea Pontius Pilate, under whom * Alabarch. The Alabarch was the chief magistrate among the Jews at Alexandria. the crimes were committed against our Saviour, having attempted something contrary to what was lawful among the Jews respecting the temple at Jerusalem, which was then yet standing, excited them to the greatest tumults. CHAPTER VI. WHAT EVILS OVERWHELMED THE JEWS, AFTER THEIR AFTER the death of Tiberius, Caius having received the government, besides many other innumerable acts of tyranny against many, did not a little afflict the whole nation of the Jews particularly. We may soon learn this, from the declaration of the same author, in which he writes as follows: "So great was the caprice of Caius in his conduct towards all, but especially towards the nation of the Jews. As he was excessively hostile to these, he appropriated their places of worship to himself in all the cities, beginning with those at Alexandria, filling them with his images and statues. For having permitted it when others erected them of their own accord, he now began to erect them by absolute command. But the temple in the holy city, which had been left untouched as yet, and been endowed with privileges as an inviolable asylum, he changed and transformed into a temple of his own, that it should be publicly called the temple of Caius the younger, the visible Jupiter," (επιφανους Διος.) Many other and almost indescribable calamities, the same author relates, as happening to the Jews of Alexandria, during the reign of the aforesaid emperor, in his second book, to which he gave the title, 'On the Virtues.' Josephus also agrees with him, who likewise intimates that the calamities of the whole nation took their rise from the times of Pilate, and the crimes against our Saviour. Let us hear then, what he also says in the second book of the Jewish War. "Pilate being sent by Tiberius as procurator of Judea, at night carried the covered images of Cæsar into the temple; these are called ensigns.* The following day, this excited the greatest disturbance among the Jews. For they that were near, were confounded at the sight, as a contemptuous prostitution of their legal institutions; for they do not allow any image to be set up in their city." Comparing these accounts with the writings of the evangelists, you will perceive, that it was not long before that exclamation came upon them, which they uttered under the same Pilate, and by which they cried again and again that they had no other king but Cesar. After this, the same historian records, that forthwith another calamity overtook them, in these words: "But after these things, he (i.e. Pilate,) excited another tumult, by expending the public treasure which is called Corban, in the construction of an aqueduct. This extended nearly three hundred stadia, (furlongs, i.e. from the city.) The multitude were sorely grieved at it; and when Pilate came to Jerusalem, they surrounded the tribunal, and began to cry out against him. But having anticipated a tumult, he had placed his armed soldiers amongst the multitude, disguised under the same dress with the rest of the people, and having commanded them not to use their swords, but to strike the turbulent with clubs, he gave them a signal from the tribunal. The Jews being thus beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, many also in their flight were trodden to death by their own countrymen. The multitude thus overawed by the misfortune of the slain, held their peace." The same writer mentions innumerable other commotions that were raised in Jerusalem beside these; showing that from that time tumults, and wars, and plots of mischief, one after another, never ceased in the city and all Judea, until, last of all, the siege of Vespasian overwhelmed them. Thus, then, the divine justice overtook the Jews in this way, for their crimes against Christ. Σημαῖαι, CHAPTER VII. HOW PILATE DESTROYED HIMSELF. It is proper, also, to observe, how it is asserted that this same Pilate, who was governor at our Saviour's crucifixion, in the reign of Caius, whose times we are recording, fell into such calamities that he was forced to become his own murderer, and the avenger of his own wickedness. Divine justice, it seems, did not long protract his punishment. This is stated by those Greek historians, who have recorded the Olympiads in order, together with the transactions of the times. CHAPTER VIII. THE FAMINE THAT HAPPENED IN THE REIGN OF CLAUDIUS. CAIUS, however, had not reigned four years, when he was succeeded by Claudius, in the sovereignty of the empire. In his reign there was a famine that prevailed over the whole world; an event, indeed, which has been handed down by historians far removed from our sentiments; and by which the prediction of the prophet Agabus, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, respecting the impending famine over the whole world, received its fulfilment. Luke, however, in the Acts, after stating the famine in the time of Claudius, and after recording how by means of Paul and Barnabas, the brethren at Antioch had sent to those of Judea, according to the ability of each one, also adds the following.. CHAPTER IX. THE MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLE JAMES. "ABOUT this time, (it is manifest he means the reign of Claudius,) Herod the king prepared to afflict some of the church. But he slew James, the brother of John, with the sword." Of this James, Clement adds a narrative worthy of note, in the seventh book of his Institutions, evidently recording it according to the tradition E |