Read the _Antiquities of the Jews_, by Flavius Josephus,[367] in
twenty books. He begins with the Mosaic cosmogony, and although
his account agrees in the main with that generally accepted, he
sometimes differs. The work ends with the war between the Jews and
Romans, at the time when Agrippa,[368] son of the great Agrippa,[369]
who deprived Jesus, son of Gamaliel, of the high priesthood, and
bestowed it upon Matthias, son of Theophilus, was king of the Jews.
Antiochus[370] and his general Lysias were the first to introduce a
bold innovation in reference to the tenure of the high priesthood.
They removed Onias named Menelaus from that office, put him to death,
and deprived his son of the right of succession, appointing in his
place Alcimus called Iacimus, of the tribe of Aaron, but belonging to
a different family. Before this it had been the law from the time of
Aaron that the high priest should hold office for life, and that the
son should succeed the father. But when Alcimus died, after having
been high priest for three years, the office remained in abeyance for
seven years. After Matthias and his sons of the Asmonean family were
entrusted with the leadership of the Jewish people, and made war on
the Macedonians, Jonathan was appointed high priest. To this family
also belonged Judas, who was called Aristobulus, who first placed
the diadem on his head, thus filling the office of both high priest
and king. A year later he died, and left his brother Alexander his
successor in the kingdom and priesthood, who held these dignities
for twenty-seven years. From this time the kingship and priesthood
combined remained in the Asmonean family until the time of Hyrcanus,
whom Pompey, after the conquest of Jerusalem, deprived of his
kingdom, but allowed him to hold the office of high priest. After
thirty-three years he was taken prisoner by the Parthian generals
Barzapharnes and Pacorus, who appointed as king Antigonus, the son of
the brother of Aristobulus. After Antigonus had reigned three years
and three months, the Roman general Sosius and Herod the First, the
son of Antipater, a priest of Ascalon, and of Cypris the Arabian,
overthrew him, and took him to Antioch, where he was put to death by
Antony. This was the end of the Asmonean dynasty, and Herod was made
king of the Jews by the Romans. He bestowed the high priesthood upon
any one without distinction, setting an example for his successors
to follow. As stated above, the author, in his twenty books,
beginning from the creation of the world, goes down to the beginning
of the last war between the Jews and the Romans, at the time when
Agrippa, son of Agrippa, had been appointed king of the Jews by the
Romans and Gessius Florus[371] had succeeded Albinus as governor of
Judaea. The Jews, unable to endure Florus’s wickedness and cruelty,
revolted, thinking it better to perish at once together in freedom
than gradually and in slavery. It was in the second year of Florus’s
governorship and the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, that the war
broke out, with which the history of Josephus ends. Of his style we
have already spoken.
Josephus was by birth a Jew and a priest, belonging to a family
descended from a long line of priests on the father’s side. On the
mother’s side he was of royal blood, for the children of Asmoneus,
from whom her family was derived, had for a long time held both
the high priesthood and the rank of king. His father’s name was
Matthias. He was born in the first year of the reign of the emperor
Gaius,[372] and from boyhood was an earnest student. In his sixteenth
year, he began to devote his attention to the three sects of the
Jews, and conscientiously examined them, so that after having tried
them all he might be able to choose the best. These sects are the
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Having gone through them all,
he retired into the wilderness, living there for three years with
a man[373] who led a solitary and ascetic life. This man’s clothes
were made of the leaves of trees, his food consisted of natural
herbs and fruit, and he bathed frequently both by night and day, to
keep himself chaste. When he was nineteen, Josephus returned to the
city and joined the sect of the Pharisees, which is said to resemble
the sect called Stoic among the Greeks. In his thirtieth year, he
was sent by the people of Jerusalem to investigate the condition of
affairs in Galilee, where there was great confusion and things were
in a very unsettled state. He was then appointed commander-in-chief
of Galilee, and showed himself an efficient administrator. He
successfully escaped plots of different kinds laid against him by his
political rivals, and by showing a spirit of moderation in dealing
with his enemies often brought them over to his side. Having taken up
arms against the Romans against his will, after a brave resistance
at Iotapata he was taken prisoner by Vespasian, who treated him
kindly at the time and still more so after he became emperor. Not
only Vespasian, but his sons and successors, Titus and Domitian,
entertained the highest regard for him; the Roman citizenship was
bestowed upon him, and he became very wealthy. He finished his
_History_ in the fifty-sixth year of his age, in the thirteenth year
of the reign of Domitian.