AGRIPPA I. HEROD II.
Character of Agrippa--Envy of the Alexandrian Greeks towards
the Judæans--Anti-Judæan Literature--Apion--Measures
against the Judæans in Alexandria--Flaccus--Judæan Embassy
to Rome--Philo--Caligula's Decision against the Judæan
Embassy--Caligula orders his Statue to be placed in the
Temple--The Death of Caligula relieves the Judæans--Agrippa's
Advance under Claudius--His Reign--Gamaliel the Elder and his
Administration--Death of Agrippa--Herod II--The False Messiah,
Theudas--Death of Herod II.
37.49 C. E.
After the murder of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, when the Senate
indulged for the moment in the sweet dream of regaining its liberty,
Rome could have had no forebodings that an enemy was born to her in
Jerusalem, in the half-fledged Christian community, which would in
time to come displace her authority, trample upon her gods, shatter
her power, and bring about a gradual decadence, ending in complete
decay. An idea, conceived and brought forth by one of Judæan birth and
developed by a despised class of society, was to tread the power and
glory of Rome in the dust. The third Roman Emperor, Caius Caligula
Germanicus, was himself instrumental in delivering up to national
contempt the Roman deities, in a sense the corner-stone of the Roman
Empire. The throne of the Cæsars had been alternately in the power of
men actuated by cruel cowardice and strange frenzy. None of the nations
tributary to Rome suffered more deeply from this continual change in
her masters than did the Judæans. Every change in the great offices of
state affected Judæa, at times favorably, but more often unfavorably.
The first years of Caligula's reign appeared to be auspicious for
Judæa. Caligula specially distinguished one of the Judæan princes,
Agrippa, with marks of his favor, thus holding out the prospect of a
milder rule. But it was soon evident that this kindness, this good-will
and favor, were but momentary caprices, to be followed by others of a
far different and of a terrible character, which threw the Judæans of
the Roman Empire into a state of fear and terror.
Agrippa (born 10 B. C. E., died 44 C. E.) was the son of the prince
Aristobulus who had been assassinated by Herod, and grandson of the
Hasmonæan princess Mariamne; thus in his veins ran the blood of the
Hasmonæans and Idumæans, and these two hostile elements appeared to
fight for the mastery over his actions, until at last the nobler was
victorious. Educated in Rome, in the companionship of Drusus, the son
of Tiberius, the Herodian element in Agrippa was the first to develop.
As a Roman courtier, intent upon purchasing Roman favor, he dissipated
his fortune and fell into debt. Forced to quit Rome for Judæa, after
the death of his friend Drusus, he was reduced to such distress that
he, who was accustomed to live with the Cæsars, had to hide in a remote
part of Idumæa. It was then that he contemplated suicide. But his
high-spirited wife, Cypros, who was resolved to save him from despair,
appealed to his sister Herodias, Princess of Galilee, for instant
help. And it was through the influence of Antipas, the husband of
this princess, that Agrippa was appointed overseer of the markets of
Tiberias. Impatient of this dependent condition, he suddenly resigned
this office and became courtier to Flaccus, governor of Syria. From
this very doubtful position he was driven by the jealousy of his own
brother Aristobulus. Seemingly abandoned by all his friends, Agrippa
determined upon once more trying his fortune in Rome. The richest and
most distinguished Judæans of the Alexandrian community, the Alabarch,
Alexander Lysimachus, with whom he had taken refuge, provided him with
the necessary means for his journey. This noblest Judæan of his age,
guardian of the property of the young Antonia, the daughter of the
triumvir, had evidently rendered such services to the imperial family
that he had been adopted into it, and was allowed to add their names to
his own--Tiberius Julius Alexander, son of Lysimachus. He possessed,
without doubt, the fine Greek culture of his age, for his brother Philo
was a man of the most exquisite taste in Greek letters. But none the
less did the Alabarch Alexander cling warmly to his people and to his
Temple. Resolved to save Agrippa from ruin, but distrustful of his
extravagant character, he insisted that his wife Cypros should become
hostage for him.
A new life of adventure now commenced in Rome for Agrippa. He was met
on the Isle of Capri by the Emperor Tiberius, who, in remembrance
of Agrippa's close connection with the son he had lost, received
him most kindly. But upon hearing of the enormous sum of money that
Agrippa still owed to the Roman treasury, Tiberius allowed him to fall
into disgrace. He was saved, however, by his patroness Antonia, the
sister-in-law of the emperor, who maintained a friendly remembrance
of Agrippa's mother Berenice. By her mediation he was raised to new
honors, and became the trusted friend of the heir to the throne, Caius
Caligula. But, as though Agrippa were destined to be the toy of every
caprice of fortune, he was soon torn from his intercourse with the
future emperor and thrown into prison. In order to flatter Caligula,
Agrippa once expressed the wish, "Would that Tiberius would soon expire
and leave his throne to one worthier of it." This was repeated by a
slave to the emperor, and Agrippa expiated his heedlessness by an
imprisonment of six months, from which the death of Tiberius at last
set him free (37).
With the accession to the throne of his friend and patron, Caligula,
his star rose upon the horizon. When the young emperor opened the
prison-door to Agrippa he presented him with a golden chain, in
exchange for the iron one that he had been forced to wear on his
account, and placed the royal diadem upon his head, giving him the
principality of Philip, that had fallen to the Empire of Rome. By
decree of the Roman Senate he also received the title of Prætor. So
devoted was Caligula to Agrippa that, during the first year of his
reign, the Roman emperor would not hear of his quitting Rome, and when
at length Agrippa was permitted to take possession of his own kingdom,
he had to give his solemn promise that he would soon return to his
imperial friend.
When Agrippa made his entry into Judæa as monarch and favorite of the
Roman emperor, poor and deeply in debt though he had been when he left
it, his wonderful change of fortune excited the envy of his sister
Herodias. Stung by ambition, she implored of her husband also to repair
to Rome and to obtain from the generous young emperor at least another
kingdom. Once more the painful want of family affection, common to all
the Herodians, was brought to light in all its baseness. Alarmed that
Antipas might succeed in winning Caligula's favor, or indignant at
the envious feelings betrayed by his sister, Agrippa accused Antipas
before the emperor of treachery to the Roman Empire. The unfortunate
Antipas was instantly deprived of his principality and banished to
Lyons, whither he was followed by his faithful and true-hearted wife.
Herod's last son, Herod Antipas, and his granddaughter, Herodias,
died in exile. Agrippa, by imperial favor, became the heir of his
brother-in-law, and the provinces of Galilee and Peræa were added to
his other possessions.
The favor evinced by Caligula towards Agrippa, which might naturally
be extended to the Judæan people, awakened the envy of the heathens,
and brought the hatred of the Alexandrian Greeks to a crisis. Indeed,
the whole of the Roman Empire harbored secret and public enemies of the
Judæans. Hatred of their race and of their creed was intensified by a
lurking fear that this despised yet proud nation might one day attain
to supreme power. But the hostile feeling against the Judæans reached
its climax amongst the restless, sarcastic and pleasure-loving Greek
inhabitants of Alexandria. They looked unfavorably upon the industry
and prosperity of their Judæan neighbors, by whom they were surpassed
in both these respects, and whom they did not excel even in artistic
and philosophical attainments. These feelings of hatred dated from
the time when the Egyptian queen entrusted Judæan generals with the
management of the foreign affairs of her country, and they increased
in intensity when the Roman emperors placed more confidence in the
reliable Judæans than in the frivolous Greeks. Slanderous writers
nourished this hatred, and in their endeavors to throw contempt upon
the Judæans they falsified the history of which the Judæans were justly
proud.
The Stoic philosopher Posidonius circulated false legends about the
origin and the nature of the divine worship of the Judæans, which
legends had been originally invented by the courtiers of Antiochus
Epiphanes. The disgraceful story of the worship of an ass in the Temple
of Jerusalem, besides other tales as untrue and absurd, added to the
assertion that the Judæans hated all Gentiles, found ready belief in
a younger, contemporary writer, Apollonius Malo, with whom Posidonius
had become acquainted in the island of Rhodes, and by whom they were
widely circulated. Malo gave a new account of the history of the Judæan
exodus, which he declared was occasioned by some enormity on the
part of the Judæans; he described Moses as a criminal, and the Mosaic
Law as containing the most abominable precepts. He declared that the
Judæans were atheists, that they hated mankind in general; he accused
them of alternate acts of cowardice and temerity, and maintained that
they were the most uncultured people amongst the barbarians, and could
not lay claim to the invention of any one thing which had benefited
humanity. It was from these two Rhodian authors that the spiteful and
venom-tongued Cicero culled his unworthy attack upon the Judæan race
and the Judæan Law. In this respect he differed from Julius Cæsar, who,
in spite of his associations with Posidonius and Malo, was entirely
free from all prejudice against the Judæans.
The Alexandrian Greeks devoured these calumnies with avidity,
exaggerated them, and gave them still wider circulation. Only three
Greek authors mentioned the Judæans favorably--Alexander Polyhistor,
Nicolaus of Damascus, the confidant of Herod, and, lastly, Strabo,
the most remarkable geographer of ancient times, who devoted a fine
passage in his geographical and historical work to Judaism. Although
he mentions the Judæans as having originated from Egypt, he does not
repeat the legend that their expulsion was occasioned by some fault of
their own. Far otherwise he explains the Exodus, affirming that the
Egyptian mode of life, with its unworthy idolatry, had driven Moses
and his followers from the shores of the Nile. He writes in praise of
the Mosaic teaching relative to the unity of God, as opposed to the
Egyptian plurality of deities, and of the spiritual, imageless worship
of the Judæans in contrast to the animal worship of the Egyptians, and
to the investing of the divinity with a human form among the Greeks.
"How can any sensible man," he exclaims, "dare make an image of the
Heavenly King?" Widely opposed to the calumniators of Judaism, Strabo
teaches that the Mosaic Law was the great mainstay of righteousness,
for it holds out the divine blessing to all those whose lives are pure.
For some time after the death of their great lawgiver, Strabo maintains
that the Judæans acted in conformity with the Law, doing right and
fearing God. Of the sanctuary in Jerusalem he speaks with veneration,
for, although the Judæan kings were often faithless to the Law of Moses
and to their subjects, yet the capital of the Judæans was invested with
its own dignity, and the people, far from looking upon it as the seat
of despotism, revered and honored it as the Temple of God.
One author exceeded all the other hostile writers in the outrageous
nature of his calumnies; this was the Egyptian Apion, who was filled
with burning envy at the prosperous condition of the Judæans. He
gave a new and exaggerated account of all the old stories of his
predecessors, and gained the ear of the credulous multitude by the
readiness and fluency of his pen. Apion was one of those charlatans
whose conduct is based on the assumption that the world wishes to be
deceived, and therefore it shall be deceived. As expounder of the
Homeric songs, he traveled through Greece and Asia Minor, and invented
legends so flattering to the early Greeks that he became the hero of
their descendants. He declared that he had witnessed most things of
which he wrote, or that he had been instructed in them by the most
reliable people; and even affirmed that Homer's shade had appeared to
him, and had divulged which Grecian town had given birth to the oldest
of Greek bards, but that he dared not publish that secret. On account
of his intense vanity he was called the trumpet of his own fame, for
he assured the Alexandrians that they were fortunate in being able to
claim him as a citizen. It is not astonishing that so unscrupulous a
man should have made use of the hatred they bore to the Judæans to do
the latter all the injury in his power.
But the hostility of the Alexandrians, based on envy and religious
and racial antipathy, was suppressed under the reign of Augustus and
Tiberius, when the imperial governors of Egypt sternly reprimanded all
those who might have become disturbers of the peace. Affairs changed,
however, when Caligula came to the throne, for the Alexandrians
were then aware that the governor Flaccus, who had been a friend of
Tiberius, was unfavorably looked upon by his successor, who was ready
to lend a willing ear to any accusation against him. Flaccus, afraid of
drawing the attention of the revengeful emperor upon himself, was cowed
into submission by the Alexandrians, and became a mere tool in their
hands. At the news of Agrippa's accession to the throne, they were
filled with burning envy, and the delight of the Alexandrian Judæans,
with whom Agrippa came into contact through the Alabarch Alexander,
only incensed them still more and roused them to action.
Two most abject beings were the originators and leaders of this
anti-Judæan demonstration; a venal clerk of the court of justice,
Isidorus, who was called by the popular wits, the Pen of Blood, because
his pettifoggery had robbed many of their life, and Lampo, one of those
unprincipled profligates that are brought forth by a burning climate
and an immoral city. These two agitators ruled, on the one hand, the
weak and helpless governor, and, on the other, they led the dregs of
the people, who were prepared to give vent to their feelings of hatred
towards the Judæans upon a sign from their leaders.
Unfortunately, Agrippa, whose change of fortune had been an offense in
the eyes of the Alexandrians, touched at their capital upon his return
from Rome to Judæa (July, 38), and his presence roused the enemies
of the Judæans to fresh conspiracies. These began with a farce, but
ended for the Judæans in terrible earnest. At first Agrippa and his
race were insultingly jeered at. A harmless fool, Carabas, was tricked
out in a crown of papyrus and a cloak of plaited rushes; a whip was
given him for a scepter, and he was placed on an eminence for a throne,
where he was saluted by all passers-by as Marin (which, in the Chaldaic
tongue, denotes "our master"). This was followed by the excitable mob's
rushing at the dawn of the next day into the synagogues, carrying
with them busts of the emperor, with the pretext of dedicating these
places of worship to Caligula. In addition to this, at the importunate
instance of the conspirators, the governor, Flaccus, was induced to
withdraw from the Judæan inhabitants of Alexandria what they had held
so gratefully from the first emperors--the right of citizenship. This
was a terrible blow to the Judæans of Alexandria, proud as they were of
their privileges, and justly entitled to the credit of having enriched
this metropolis by their learning, their wealth, their love of art and
their spirit of commerce equally with the Greeks. They were cruelly
driven out of the principal parts of the city of Alexandria, and were
forced to congregate in the Delta, or harbor of the town. The mob,
greedy for spoil, dashed into the deserted houses and work-shops, and
plundered, destroyed and annihilated what had been gathered together by
the industry of centuries.
After committing these acts of depredation, the infuriated Alexandrians
surrounded the Delta, under the idea that the unfortunate Judæans
would be driven to open resistance by the pangs of hunger or by the
suffocating heat they were enduring in their close confinement. When
at last the scarcity of provisions impelled some of the besieged to
venture out of their miserable quarters, they were cruelly ill-treated
by the enemy, tortured, and either burnt alive or crucified. This
state of things lasted for a month. The governor went so far as to
arrest thirty-eight members of the Great Council, to throw them into
prison and publicly to scourge them. Even the female sex was not
spared. If any maidens or women crossed the enemy's path they were
offered pig's flesh as food, and upon their refusing to eat it they
were cruelly tortured. Not satisfied with all these barbarities,
Flaccus ordered his soldiers to search the houses of the Judæans for
any weapons that might be concealed there, and they were told to
leave not even the chambers of modest maidens unsearched. This reign
of terror continued until the middle of September. At that time an
imperial envoy appeared to depose Flaccus and to summon him to Rome,
not on account of his abominable conduct towards the Judæans, but
because he was hated by the emperor. His sentence was exile and he was
eventually killed.
The emperor alone could have settled the vexed question as to whether
the Judæans had the right of equal citizenship with the Greeks in
Alexandria; but he was then in Germany or in Gaul celebrating childish
triumphs, or in Britain gathering shells on the seashore. When he
returned to Rome (August, 40) with the absurd idea of allowing himself
to be worshiped as a god, and of raising temples and statues to
his own honor, the heathen Greeks justly imagined that their cause
against the Judæans was won. They restored the imperial statues in
the Alexandrian synagogues, convinced that in the face of so great a
sacrilege the Judæans would rebel and thereby arouse the emperor's
wrath. This was actually the cause of a fresh disturbance, for the
new governor of Alexandria took part against the Judæans, courting
in this way the imperial favor. He insisted that the unhappy people
should show divine honors to the images of the emperor, and when they
refused on the ground that such an act was contrary to their Law, he
forbade their observance of the Sabbath day. In the following words he
addressed the most distinguished of their race: "How would it be if
you were suddenly overwhelmed by a host of enemies, or by a tremendous
inundation, or by a raging fire; if famine, pestilence or an earthquake
were to overtake you upon the Sabbath day? Would you sit idly in your
synagogues, reading the Law and expounding difficult passages? Would
you not rather think of the safety of parents and children, of your
property and possessions, would you not fight for your lives? Now
behold, if you do not obey my commands, I will be all that to you,
the invasion of the enemy, the terrible inundation, the raging fire,
famine, pestilence, earthquake, the visible embodiment of relentless
fate." But neither the rich nor the poor allowed themselves to be
coerced by these words; they remained true to their faith, and prepared
to undergo any penalties that might be inflicted upon them. Some few
appear to have embraced paganism out of fear or from worldly motives.
The Judæan philosopher, Philo, gives some account of the renegades of
his time and his community, whom he designates as frivolous, immoral,
and utterly unworthy. Amongst them may be mentioned the son of the
Alabarch Alexander, Tiberius Julius Alexander, who forsook Judaism, and
was consequently raised to high honors in the Roman State.
Meanwhile, the Judæans determined upon pleading their cause before
the emperor. Three men (who were specially adapted for their mission)
were selected to be sent as envoys to Rome. One of these, the Judæan
philosopher, Philo, was so far distinguished through birth, social
standing, profound culture, and brilliant eloquence, that no better
pleader for the cause of justice could have been found. Through the
medium of his powerful writings Philo has so largely influenced not
only his contemporaries but also those who came after him, both within
and without the Judæan community, that the scanty accounts of his
life must not be passed over. As brother of the Alabarch Alexander,
Philo belonged to the most distinguished and wealthy family of the
Alexandrian community. He received in his youth the usual education
which all well-born parents held as necessary for their sons. Possessed
of unquenchable love for learning, he obtained complete mastery over
his studies. His taste for metaphysical research was developed at a
very early age, and he devoted himself to it untiringly for a time,
taking delight in that alone. He affirms enthusiastically that he had
no desire for honors, wealth, or material pleasures, so long as he
could revel in ethereal realms, in company with the heavenly bodies. He
belonged to the few elect who do not creep on the earth's surface, but
who free themselves from all earthly bondage in the sublime flight of
thought. He rejoiced in being exempt from cares and occupations. But
though he gloried in philosophy, Judaism, which he termed the "true
wisdom," was still dearer to his heart. When he gathered the beautiful
blossoms of Grecian learning, it was to twine them into a garland with
which to adorn Judaism. Philo had been leading the retired life of a
student for some time, when, as he bitterly remarked, an event drew him
unmercifully into the whirlpool of political troubles: the miserable
condition of his people had probably disturbed his contemplative life.
In later years he looked back with longing upon his former occupation,
and lamented that practical life had obscured his vision for
intellectual things, and had materially interfered with his range of
thought; but he consoled himself with the knowledge that in undisturbed
hours he was still able to lift his mind to noble objects. Philo's
philosophical researches not only furnished food for his intellect,
but helped to inspire him with true nobility of character, developing
in him a nature that regarded all acts of human folly, vulgarity, and
vice as so many enigmas which he could not solve.
His wife, who was justly proud of him, emulated him in the simplicity
of her life. When asked by some of her brilliantly attired friends why
she, who was so rich, should disdain to wear gold ornaments, she is
said to have answered, "The virtue of the husband is adornment enough
for the wife." Philo's contemporaries were never weary of praising
his style; so forcibly indeed did it remind them of Plato's beautiful
diction that they would observe, "Plato writes like Philo, or Philo
like Plato." Philo's principal aim was to harmonize the spirit of
Judaism with that of the philosophy of the age, or, more rightly
speaking, to show that Judaism is the truest philosophy. And this was
not merely to be an intellectual exercise, but to him it was a sacred
mission. He was so completely absorbed in these ideas that, as he
relates of himself, he often fell into trances, when he fancied that
revelations were vouchsafed to him which he could not have grasped at
ordinary times.
This was the man who was to present himself before the emperor, as
the representative of the Alexandrian Judæan community. The heathen
Alexandrians also sent a deputation, headed by Apion, to which also
belonged the venom-tongued Isidorus. Not only were the envoys concerned
with the privileges of the community they represented, but they
were pledged to raise their voices against the cruel persecution of
their race. For the first time in history were Judaism and Paganism
confronted in the lists, each of them being represented by men of Greek
culture and learning. Had the two forms of faith and civilization
been judged by their exponents, the decision for Judaism would not
have been doubtful. Philo, dignified and earnest, seemed in himself
to embody faithful search after truth, and the purest moral idealism;
whilst Apion, frivolous and sarcastic, was the very incarnation
of smooth-tongued vainglory, and bore the stamp of the vanity and
self-conceit of fallen Greece. But the outcome of this contest remains
doubtful. Caligula was too passionate a partisan to be a just umpire.
He hated the Judæans because they would not recognize and worship
him as their deity, and his hatred was fanned by two contemptible
creatures, whom he had dragged from the mire and had attached to
himself--the Egyptian Helicon and Apelles of Ascalon.
The Judæan envoys were hardly permitted to speak when they were
admitted to the imperial presence, and Caligula's first word was one
of jarring reproof: "So you are the despisers of God, who will not
recognize me as the deity, but who prefer worshiping a nameless one,
whilst all my other subjects have accepted me as their god." The Judæan
envoys declared that they had offered up three successive offerings
in honor of Caligula: the first upon his accession to the throne; the
second upon his recovery from a severe illness; and the third after his
so-called victory over the Teutons. "That may be," answered Caligula,
"but the offerings were made _for me_ and _not to me_; for such I do
not care. And how is it," he continued, awakening the ribald merriment
of his pagan audience, "how is it that you do not eat pig's flesh,
and upon what grounds do you hold your right of equality with the
Alexandrians?" Without waiting for a reply, he turned his attention
to something else. Later on when he dismissed the Judæan envoys, he
remarked that they seemed less wicked than stupid in not being willing
to acknowledge his divinity.
Whilst the unfortunate ambassadors were vainly seeking to gain ground
with the emperor, they were suddenly overwhelmed with tidings that
struck terror into their hearts. One of their own race burst into their
presence, exclaiming, amidst uncontrollable sobs, that the Temple in
the holy city had been profaned by Caligula. For not only were the
imperial statues to be erected in the synagogues, but also in the
Temple of Jerusalem. The governor of Syria, Petronius, had received
orders to enter Judæa with his legions and to turn the Sanctuary into a
pagan temple. It is easy to conceive the mortal anguish of the Judæan
nation when these orders became known to them. On the eve of the Feast
of Tabernacles a messenger appeared in Jerusalem, who converted this
feast of rejoicing into mourning. Petronius and his legions were at
Accho, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but, as the rainy season was at
hand, and as obstinate resistance was expected, the Roman commander
resolved to await the spring before commencing active operations.
Thousands of Judæans hastened to appear before Petronius, declaring
that they would rather suffer the penalty of death than allow their
Temple to be desecrated. Petronius, perplexed as to how he should carry
out this mad scheme of Caligula's, consulted the members of the Royal
Council, entreating of them to influence the people in his favor. But
the Judæan aristocracy, and even Agrippa's own brother Aristobulus,
held with the people. Petronius then sent a true statement of the case
to the emperor, hoping that he might be induced to abandon his scheme.
Meanwhile he pacified the people by telling them that nothing could be
effected until fresh edicts arrived from Rome, and begged of them to
return to their agricultural duties, and thus to avert the possibility
of a year of famine.
But before Petronius' letter was in the hands of the emperor,
Caligula's intentions had been frustrated by Agrippa. The Judæan
king had acquired so extraordinary an influence over Caligula that
the Romans called him and Antiochus of Commagene, his teachers in
tyranny. Agrippa, who was living at that time near the person of
the emperor, could not have been indifferent to the desecration of
the Temple, but he was too accomplished a courtier openly to oppose
this imperial caprice. On the contrary, he seemed dead to the cry of
anguish that arose from his people, and only occupied in preparing,
with the most lavish expenditure, a magnificent feast for the emperor
and his favorites. But under this garb of indifference he was really
working for his people's cause. Caligula, flattered by the attentions
that were lavished upon him, bade Agrippa demand a boon, which should
be instantly granted. His astonishment was indeed boundless when the
Judæan monarch begged for the repeal of the imperial edict concerning
images. He had little thought that his refined courtier would prove so
unselfish a man, so pious, and so thoroughly independent of the will of
the emperor. Cunning as he was, Caligula was helplessly entrapped, for
he could not retract his pledged word. Thus he was forced to write to
Petronius annulling his former decree. Meanwhile he received Petronius'
letter, in which the governor detailed what difficulties he would
encounter, were he to attempt to execute the orders of his master. More
than this was not required to lash Caligula's passionate and excitable
nature into a fury. A new and stringent order was given to proceed
with the introduction of the statues into the Temple of Jerusalem.
But before this order, terrible to the Judæans and full of danger to
Petronius himself, had arrived in Jerusalem, it was announced that the
insane Caligula had met with his death at the hands of the Prætorian
Tribune Chereas (24 Jan., 41). These tidings came to Jerusalem on the
22d of Shebat (March, 41), and the day was afterwards celebrated as one
of great rejoicing.
Caligula's successor upon the throne of the Cæsars was Claudius, a
learned pedant and a fool. He owed his crown to chance, and to the
diplomacy of King Agrippa, who had induced the reluctant Senate to
accept the choice of the Prætorians. Rome must indeed have fallen low
when a somewhat insignificant Judæan prince was allowed to speak in the
Senate House, and, in some measure, to have influence in the choice
of her ruler. Claudius was not ungrateful to his ally; he lauded him
before the assembled Senate, raised him to the dignity of consul, and
made him king of all Palestine, for Judæa and Samaria were incorporated
with the monarchy.
As a remembrance of these events, the emperor ordered an inscription
to be engraved on tablets of bronze, in pedantic imitation of the
classical age, and coins to be struck, bearing on one side two clasped
hands, with these words, "Friendship and comradeship of King Agrippa
with the Senate and the Roman people." On the other side was the
emperor between two figures, and the inscription: "King Agrippa, friend
of the emperor." The kingdom of Judæa had thus recovered its full
extent; indeed, it had acquired even a greater area than it possessed
formerly under the Hasmonæans and Herod I.
Herod II., brother and son-in-law of King Agrippa, received from
Claudius the rank of Prætor, and was made prince of Chalcis, in
Lebanon. The Alexandrian Judæans greatly benefited by the new order
of things which was brought about in the vast Roman Empire by the
death of Caligula. The emperor Claudius freed the Alabarch Alexander,
with whom he was on friendly terms, from the imprisonment into which
his predecessor had thrown him, and settled the disputes of the
Alexandrians in favor of the Judæans. Caligula's prejudice against that
unfortunate community had developed their independence, and their
strength was far from being broken. Their rights and privileges were
fully re-established by an edict of the new emperor, and they were
placed on an equal footing with the Greek inhabitants of Egypt. The
dignity of the Alabarch was restored by the emperor, and this was most
important to the Judæans, for it assured them of the leadership of one
of their own race, and made them independent of the Roman officials. It
was during this reign that Philo gave the wealth of his learning to a
wide circle of readers, and was instrumental in bringing Judæan-Greek
culture to its zenith. Claudius extended his goodwill to the Judæans of
the entire Roman Empire, granting them complete religious freedom, and
protecting them from the interference of the pagans.
When Agrippa, laden with honors, left Rome for Judæa to take possession
of his kingdom, his subjects remarked that some great change was
manifest in him, and that the stirring revolution in Rome, by which
a headstrong emperor had been dethroned in favor of a weak one, had
deeply impressed their own monarch. The frivolous Agrippa returned
an earnest-minded man; the courtier had given place to the patriot;
the pleasure-loving prince to the conscientious monarch, who was
fully aware of what he owed his nation. The Herodian nature had, in
fact, been entirely subdued by the Hasmonæan. For the last time,
Judæa enjoyed under his reign a short span of undisturbed happiness;
and his subjects, won by his generous affection, which even risked
forfeiting the good will of Rome in their cause, repaid him with
untiring devotion, the bitterest enemies of his scepter becoming his
ardent supporters. Historians do not weary of praising Agrippa's loving
adherence to Judaism; it seemed as if he were endeavoring to rebuild
what had been cast down by Herod. He mixed freely with the people
when they carried the first fruits into the Temple, and bore his own
offering of fruit or grain to the Sanctuary. He re-established the
old law that obliged the king to read the book of Deuteronomy in the
Court of the Temple at the close of each year of release. Facing the
congregation, Agrippa performed this act for the first time in the
autumn of the year 42, and when he came to the verse, "From amongst
your brethren shall you choose a king," he burst into a passion of
tears, for he was painfully aware of his Idumæan descent, and knew that
he was unworthy of being a king of Judæa. But the assembled multitude,
and even the Pharisees, exclaimed with enthusiasm: "Thou art our
brother; thou art our brother!"
Agrippa's careful government made itself felt throughout the entire
community. Without doubt the Synhedrion, under the presidency of
Gamaliel I. (ha-Zaken, the elder), the worthy grandson of Hillel, was
permitted to take the management of home affairs into its own hands.
The presidency acquired greater importance under Gamaliel than it
had enjoyed before; for the Synhedrion, modeled upon the political
constitution of the country, partook somewhat of a monarchical
character. The consent of the president was required for the
interpolation of a leap year, and all letters or mandates addressed
to near or distant communities were sent in his name. The formulæ of
these letters, which have in some instances been handed down to us, are
extremely interesting, both in contents and form, for they prove that
all Judæan communities, as well as their representatives, acknowledged
the supreme authority of the Synhedrion. Gamaliel would address a
foreign community through the pen of his accomplished secretary,
Jochanan, in these terms: "To our brethren in Upper and Lower Galilee,
greeting: We make known to you that the time has arrived for the
ingathering of the tithes of your olive yards." "To our brethren, the
exiles in Babylon, Media, Greece (Ionia), and to all other exiles,
greeting: We make known to you that as in this season the lambs are
still very small, and the doves have not yet their full-grown wings,
the spring being very backward this season, it pleases me and my
colleagues to prolong the year by thirty days."
Many excellent laws emanated from Gamaliel; they were principally
directed against the abuses that had crept in, or were aimed at
promoting the welfare of the whole community. It was the true spirit of
Hillel that pervaded the laws framed by Gamaliel for the intercourse
between the Judæans and the heathens. The heathen poor were permitted
to glean the fields in the wake of the reapers, and were treated
exactly like the Judæan poor, and the pagans were given the peace
greetings upon their own festivals when they were following their
own rites. The poor in all towns of mixed population received equal
treatment; they were helped in time of distress, their sick were
nursed, their dead were honorably treated, their sorrowing ones were
comforted, whether they were pagans or Judæans. In these ordinances, so
full of kindly feeling towards the heathen, the influence of Agrippa
is plainly visible. Rome and Judæa had for the moment laid aside their
mutual antipathy, and their intercourse was characterized by love and
forbearance. The generosity of the emperor towards the Judæans went so
far that he severely punished some thoughtless Greek youths in the town
of Dora for attempting to introduce his statues into the synagogues.
The governor Petronius was ordered to be strict in the prevention of
such desecration.
Agrippa had inherited from his grandfather Herod the wish to be popular
among the Greeks. As Herod had sent presents to Athens and other Greek
and Ionian towns, so his grandson conferred a great benefit upon the
degenerate city, once mother of the arts, a benefit which her citizens
did not easily forget. He also showered favors upon the inhabitants
of Cæsarea, the city that Herod had raised as a rival of Jerusalem,
and upon the Greeks of the seaboard Sebaste, who lived in their own
special quarter. These recipients of his benefits exerted themselves to
give proofs of their gratitude. The people of Sebaste raised statues
to his three daughters, and struck coins in his honor, bearing the
inscription--"To the great king Agrippa, friend of the emperor." The
last years of this monarch's reign were happy for his nation, both
within and without the kingdom of Judæa. They were like the rosy
flush in the evening sky that precedes, not the dawn of day, but the
blackness of night. In some respects they call to mind the reign of
King Josiah in the earlier history of the nation, when the kingdom
enjoyed tranquillity at home and independence abroad, with no dearth of
intellectual activity.
Philo visited Jerusalem during Agrippa's reign, and was able to take
part in the people's joy at the revocation of Caligula's edicts. Never
before had the first fruits been carried into the Temple with greater
solemnity or with more heartfelt rejoicing. To the bright strains of
musical instruments the people streamed into the Sanctuary with their
offerings, where they were received by the most distinguished of their
race. A psalm was then chanted, which described how the worshipers had
passed from sorrow into gladness.
It was at this time that a great queen, followed by her numerous
retinue, arrived in Jerusalem, she having renounced paganism for
Judaism, thus filling to the brim the cup of gladness of the once
persecuted but now honored race.
The happy era of Agrippa's reign was, however, not to be of long
duration. Although he had gained the complete confidence of the
emperor, the Roman dignitaries looked upon him with suspicion,
and beheld in each step made by the Judæan king some traces of
disaffection; and they were not far wrong. For, however much Agrippa
might coquet with Rome, he was yet determined to make Judæa capable
of resisting that great power, should an encounter, which he deemed
inevitable, occur between the two. His people should not be dependent
upon the caprice of one individual. Thus he resolved to strengthen
Jerusalem. He chose for this purpose the suburb of Bezetha, to the
northeast of the city, and there he ordered powerful fortifications
to be built. They were to constitute a defense for the fortress of
Antonia, which lay between Bezetha and Jerusalem. He applied to Rome
for the necessary permission, which was readily granted by Claudius,
who could deny him nothing, and the Roman favorites who would have
opposed him were silenced by gifts. The fortifications were commenced,
but their completion was interrupted by the governor of Syria, Vibius
Marsus. He saw through Agrippa's scheme, plainly told the emperor of
the dangers that would surely menace Rome if Jerusalem could safely
set her at defiance, and succeeded in wringing from Claudius the
revocation of his permission. Agrippa was forced to obey, not being in
the position to openly offer resistance. But at heart he determined
upon weakening the Roman sway in Judæa. To attain these ends, he
allied himself secretly with those princes with whom he was connected
by marriage or on terms of friendly relationship, and invited them to
a conference at Tiberias, under the pretext of meeting for general
amusement and relaxation. There came at his call to the Galilean
capital Antiochus, king of Commagene, whose son Epiphanes was affianced
to Agrippa's youngest daughter; Samsigeranus, king of Emesa, whose
daughter Jatape was married to Agrippa's brother Aristobulus; then
Cotys, king of Armenia Minor, Polemon, prince of Cilicia, and lastly,
Herod, Agrippa's brother, prince of Chalcis. All these princes owed
their positions to Agrippa, and were therefore liable to lose them
at the accession of the next emperor or at the instigation of some
influential person at the court of Claudius. But Marsus, suspicious of
this understanding between so many rulers, and distrustful of the cause
that brought them together, suddenly presented himself in their midst,
and, with the ancient Roman bluntness, bade them return each man to his
own city. So tremendous was the power of Rome, that at one word from
an underling of the emperor the meeting was annulled. But the energy
and perseverance of Agrippa would probably have spared Judæa from any
possible humiliation, and assured her future safety, had his life been
prolonged; he met, however, with an unexpected death at the age of
fifty-four. Judæa's star sank with that monarch, who died, like Josiah,
the last great king of the pre-exilian age, a quarter of a century
before the destruction of his State.
It soon became evident that the Greek inhabitants of Palestine had but
dissembled their true feelings in regard to King Agrippa. Forgetful of
that monarch's benefits, the Syrians and Greeks of the city of Cæsarea,
and of the seaboard of Sebaste, solaced themselves by heaping abuse
upon his memory, and by offering up thank-offerings to Charon for his
death. The Roman soldiery quartered in those towns made common cause
with the Greeks, and carried the statues of Agrippa's daughters into
brothels.
Claudius was not indifferent to the insults offered to his dead
friend's memory. He was, on the contrary, anxious to raise Agrippa's
son, Agrippa II., to the throne of Judæa. But in this he was opposed by
his two all-powerful favorites, Pallas and Narcissus, on the plea of
the prince's youth (he was seventeen years of age), and Judæa was thus
allowed to sink once more into a Roman province.
However, out of affection and respect to the dead king, the emperor
gave the Judæan governor Cuspius Fadus a somewhat independent position
in regard to the Syrian governor Vibius Marsus, who had always been
hostile to Agrippa and the Judæans. It was his soldiery who had
insulted the memory of the Judæan monarch, and for this cowardly
action they were to be punished and exiled to Pontus. They managed,
however, to extort a pardon from the emperor, and remained in Judæa,
a circumstance which contributed not a little to excite the bitterest
feelings of the national party, which they fully returned. They could
ill control their hatred of the Judæans, stinging the latter into
retaliation. Companies of freebooters under daring leaders prepared, as
after the death of Herod, to free their country from the yoke of Rome.
But Fadus was prepared for this rising. It was his desire to strengthen
the Roman rule in Judæa, and to give it the same importance that it had
had before the reign of Agrippa; and to this end he attempted to keep
the selection of the high priest and the sacred robes in his own hands.
But in this he met resistance both in the person of the high priest and
at the hands of Agrippa's brother, Herod II.
Jerusalem was so greatly excited by these proceedings that not
only did the governor Fadus appear within the city, but he was
accompanied by Caius Cassius Longinus at the head of his troops.
Herod and his brother Aristobulus begged for a truce of hostilities,
as they were anxious to send envoys to Rome. This they were allowed
to do, only on the condition that they surrendered themselves as
hostages for the preservation of peace. Having willingly complied,
an embassy, consisting of four men--Cornelius, Tryphon, Dorotheus,
and John--started for Rome. When they arrived in that city they
were introduced to the emperor by the young Agrippa. Claudius, still
faithful to his old affection for the Herodians, granted the Judæans
full right to follow their own laws, and gave Herod permission to
choose the high priest of the Sanctuary. Taking instant advantage of
this permission, Herod raised Joseph, of the house of Camith, to the
high priesthood in the place of Elionai, his brother's choice. To a
certain extent Herod II. may be regarded as king of Judæa, but he
exerted no influence upon the course of political events. All legal
power was vested in the hands of the governor; the Synhedrion lost,
under the sway of his successor, the power which it had regained under
Agrippa.
Fadus was confronted with a rising of another nature during his
governorship. A certain Theudas appeared as prophet or messiah, and was
followed by four hundred disciples, for the messianic redemption was
quickly growing into a necessity for the nation. To give proof of his
power he declared that he would divide the waters of the Jordan, and
would lead his followers safe across the bed of the river. But when his
band of disciples approached the riverside, carrying with them much of
their worldly possessions, they were confronted by a troop of Fadus's
cavalry soldiers, who slew some, made others prisoners, and decapitated
their leader.
Shortly after these events Fadus was recalled from Jerusalem, and his
place was taken by Tiberius Julius Alexander, son of the Alabarch
Alexander, nephew of the Judæan philosopher Philo. Tiberius, who had
espoused paganism, bore already the dignity of a Roman knight. The
Emperor believed doubtless that in naming a Judæan of a distinguished
house as governor over the land, he was giving proof of his
friendliness to the nation. He did not imagine that their sensitive
natures would be violently opposed to the fact of being governed by a
renegade. The people seem indeed to have been most uncomfortable under
the rule of Tiberius; the zealots lifted up their heads and excited
an insurrection. They were led by Jacob and Simon and the sons of the
zealot Judah, but no details of this revolt are extant. To judge by the
severity of the sentence passed upon the ringleaders by the governor,
it must have been of a grave character, for the two brothers suffered
crucifixion, the most degrading form of capital punishment amongst
the Romans. Tiberius Alexander remained only two years at his post.
He was afterwards named governor of Egypt, and exercised considerable
influence in the choice of the emperor.
Herod II., king of Chalcis, titular king of Judæa, died at this time
(48), and with him the third generation of Herodians sank into the
grave.