XXI. While repeating these things over and over again and writhing with his agony, he awaited the end of his destiny, and his uninterrupted sorrow agitated, and disturbed, and over- turned his soul. But Caius, being a man of an inhuman nature and insatiable in his revenge, did not, as some persons do, let go those who had been once punished, but raged against them without end, and was continually contriving some new and terrible suffering for them; and, above all men, he hated Flaccus to such a degree, that he suspected all who bore the same name, from his detestation of the very appellation; and he often repented that he had condemned him to banishment and not to death, and though he had a great respect for Lepidus who had interceded for him, he blamed him, so that he was kept in a state of great alarm from fear of punishment VOL. IV. H 98 PHILO JUDjEUS.
impending over him, for he feared lest, as was very likely, he, because he had been the cause of another person having been visited by a lighter punishment, might himself have a more severe one inflicted upon him.
Therefore, as no one any longer ventured to say a word by way of deprecating the anger of the emperor, he gave loose to his fury, which was now implacable and unrestrained, and which, though it ought to have been mitigated by time, was rather increased by it, just as recurring diseases are in the body when a relapse takes place, for all such relapses are more grievous than the original attacks.
They say that on one occasion Caius, being awake at night, began to turn his mind to the magistrates and officers who were in banishment, and who in name indeed were looked upon as unfortunate, but who in reality had now thus acquired a life free from trouble, and truly tranquil and free. And he gave a new name to this banishment, calling it an emigration, " For," said he, " it is only a kind of emigration the banishment of these men, inasmuch as they have all the necessaries of life in abundance, and are able to live in tran- quillity, and stability, and peace. But it is an absurdity for them to be living in luxury, enjoying peace, and indulging in all the pleasures of a philosophical life."
Then he commanded the most eminent of these men, and those who were of the highest rank and reputation, to be put to death, giving a regular list of their names, at the head of which list was Flaccus. And when the men arrived at Andros, who had been commanded to put him to death, Flaccus happened, just at that moment, to be coming from his farm into the city, and they, on their way up from the port, met him, and while yet at a distance they perceived and recognised one another; at which he, perceiving in a moment the object for which they were come (for every man's soul is very prophetic, especially of such as are in misfortune), turn- ing out of the road, fled and ran away over the rough ground, forgetting, perhaps, that Andros was an island and not the con- tinent. And what is the use of speed in an island which the sea washes all round? for one of two things must of necessity happen, either that if the fugitive advances further he must be carried into the sea, or else arrested when he has reached the farthest boundary. Therefore, in a comparison of evils, destruc- ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 99 tion by land must be preferable to destruction by sea, since nature has made the land more closely akin to man, and to all terrestrial animals, not only while they are alive, but even after they are dead, in order that the same element may receive both their primary generation and their last dis- solution.
The officers therefore pursued him without stopping to take breath and arrested him; and then immediately some of them dug a ditch, and the others dragged him on by force in spite of all his resistance and crying out and struggling, by which means his whole body was wounded like that of beasts that are despatched with a number of wounds; for he, turning round them and clinging to his executioners, who were hin- dered in their aims which they took at him with their swords, and who thus struck him with oblique blows, was the cause of his own sufferings being more severe; for he was in conse- quence mutilated and cut about the hands, and feet, and head, and breast, and sides, so that he was mangled like a victim, and thus he fell, justice righteously inflicting on his own body wounds equal in number to the murders of the Jews whom he had unlawfully put to death.
And the whole place flowed with blood which was shed from his numerous veins, which were cut in every part of his body, and which poured forth blood as from a fountain. And when the corpse was dragged into the trench which had been dug, the greater part of the limbs separated from the body, the sinews by which the whole of the body is kept together being all cut through.
Such was the end of Flaccus, who suffered thus, being made the most manifest evidence that the qation of the Jews is not left destitute of the providential assistance of God.
A TEEATISE THE VIRTUES AND ON THE OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. ADDRESSED TO CAIUS.
I. How long shall we, who are aged men, still be like children, being indeed as to our bodies gray -headed through the length of time that we have lived, but as to our souls utterly H 2 100 PHILO JUD^US.
infantine through our want of sense and sensibility, looking upon that which is the most unstable of all things, namely, fortune, as most invariable, and that which is of all things in the world the most steadfast, namely, nature, as utterly un- trustworthy? For, like people playing at draughts, we make changes, altering the position of actions, and considering the things which are the result of fortune as more durable than those which result from nature, and the things which proceed in accordance with nature as less stable than those which are the result of chance. And the reason of all this is, that we form our judgment of present events without paying any prudential attention to the future, being influenced by the erroneous guidance of our outward senses instead of the secret operations of the intellect; for the things which are openly conspicuous and before our hands so as to be taken up by them, are com- prehended by our eyes, but our reasoning power outstrips them, hastening onwards to what is invisible and future; but never- theless, we obscure the vision of our reason, though it is far more acute than those bodily powers of sight which are exercised by the eyes, some of us confusing it by indulgence in wine and satiety, and others by that greatest of all evils, namely, ignorance.
Nevertheless, the existing opportunity and the many and important propositions which arise to be decided on at the present time, even if some people should be incredulous that the Deity exercises a providential foresight with regard to human affairs, and especially on behalf of a nation which ad- dresses its supplications to him, which belongs especially to the lather and sovereign of the universe, and the great cause of all tilings; and these propositions are sufficient to persuade them of this truth.* And this nation of suppliants is in the Chaldaic language called Israel, but when the name is translated into the Greek language it is called, "the seeing nation;" which appellation appears to me to be the most honourable of all things in the world, whether private or public; for if the sight of elders, or instructors, or rulers, or parents, excites those who behold them to reverence and orderly conduct, and to an admiration of and desire for a life of moderation and temperance, how great a bulwark of virtue and excellence must we not expect * There seems some corruption in the text here.
ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 101 to find in those souls which, after having investigated the nature of every created thing, have learnt to contemplate the uncreated and Divine Being, the first good of all, the one beautiful, and happy, and glorious, and blessed being; better, if one is to tell the plain truth, than the good itself; more beautiful than the beautiful itself; more happy than happiness itself; more blessed than blessedness itself; and, in short, if anything else in the world is so, more perfect than any one of the above-mentioned things.
For reason cannot make such advances as to attain to a thorough comprehension of God, who can neither be touched nor handled; but it withdraws from and falls short of such a height, being unable to employ appropriate language as a step towards the manifestation (I will not say of the living God, for even if the whole heaven were to become endowed with articulate voice, it would not be furnished with felicitous and appropriate expressions to do justice to such a subject); but even of his subordinate powers, those, for instance, by which he created the world and by which he reigns over it as its king, and by which he foresees the future, and all his other beneficent, and chastising, and corrective powers. Unless, indeed, we ought to class his correction among his beneficent powers, not only because such a display is a portion of his laws and ordi- nances (for law is made up of two things, the honour of the good, and the chastisement of the wicked), but also because punishment reproves, and very often even corrects, and ame- liorates those who have done wrong; and if it fails to do so with respect to them, at all events it does so to those who are near the offenders thus punished; for the punishment of others makes most men better, for fear lest they themselves should suffer the same things.
II. For who — when he saw Caius, after the death of Tiberius Caesar, assuming the sovereignty of the whole world in a condition free from all sedition, and regulated by and obedient to admirable laws, and adapted to unanimity and harmony in all its parts, east and west, south and north; the barbarian na- tions being in harmony with the Greeks, and the Greeks with the barbarians, and the soldiers with the body of private citizens, and the citizens with the military; so that they all partook of and enjoyed one common universal peace — could fail to marvel at and be amazed at his extraordinary and unspeakable good 102 PHILO JDD^US.
fortune, since he had thus succeeded to a ready-made inherit- ance of all good things, collected together as it were in one heap, namely, to numerous and vast treasures of money, and silver and gold, some in bullion, and some in coined money, and some again being devoted to articles of luxury, in drinking cups and other vessels, which are made for display and magnificence; and also countless hosts of troops, infantry, and cavalry, and naval forces, and revenues which were sup- plied in a never-ending stream as from a fountain; and the sovereignty of the most numerous, and most valuable, and im- portant portions of the habitable world, which in fact one may fairly call the whole world, being not only all that is bounded by the two rivers, the Euphrates and the Rhine; the one of which confines Germany and all the more uncivilised nations; and the Euphrates, on the other hand, bridles Parthia and the nations of the Sarmatians and Scythians, which are not less barbarous and uncivilised than the Germanic tribes; but, even as I said before, all the world, from the rising to the setting sun, all the land in short on this side of the Ocean and beyond the Ocean, at which all the Roman people and all Italy rejoiced, and even all the Asiatic and European nations.
For as tiiey had never yet all together admired any emperor who had ever existed at that time, not expecting to have in future the possession, and use, and enjoyment of all private and public good things, but thinking that they actually had them already as a sort of superfluity of prosperity which hap- piness was waiting to fill to the brim: accordingly now there was nothing else to be seen in any city, but altars, and victims, and sacrifices, and men clothed in white garments, aud crowned with garlands, and wearing cheerful countenances, and display- ing their joy by the brightness of their looks, and festivals, and assemblies, and musical contests, and horse-races, and revels, and feasts lasting the whole night long, with the music of the flute and of the lyre, and rejoicings, and holidays, and truces, and every kind of pleasure addressed to every one of the senses.
On this occasion the rich were not better off than the poor, nor the men of high rank than the lowly, nor the creditors than the debtors, nor the masters than the slaves, since the occasion gave equal privileges and communities to all men, so that the age of Saturn, which is so celebrated by the poets ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 103 was no longer looked upon as a fiction and a fable,* on account of the universal prosperity and happiness which reigned every where, and the absence of all grief and fear, and the daily and nightly exhibitions of joy and festivity through- out every house and throughout the whole people, which lasted continually without any interruption during the first seven months of his reign.
But in the eighth month a severe disease attacked Caius who had changed the manner of his living which was a little while before, while Tiberius was alive, very simple and on that account more wholesome than one of great sumptuousness and luxury; for he began to indulge in abundance of strong wine and eating of rich dishes, and in the abundaut license of insatiable desires and great insolence, and in the unseasonable use of hot baths, and emetics, and then again in wine-bibbing and drunkenness, and returning gluttony, and in lust after boys and women, and in everything else which tends to destroy both soul and body, and all the bonds which unite and strengthen the two; for the rewards of temperance are health and strength, and the wages of intemperance are weakness and disease which bring a man near to death.
III. Accordingly, when the news was spread abroad that he was sick while the weather was still suitable for navigation (for it was the beginning of the autumn, which is the last season during which nautical men can safely take voyages, and during which in consequence they all return from the foreign marts in every quarter to their own native ports and harbours of refuge, especially all who exercise a prudent care not to be compelled to pass the winter in a foreign country); they, for- saking their former life of delicateness and luxury, now wore mournful faces, and every house and every city became full of depression and melancholy, their grief being now equal to and counterbalancing the joy which they experienced a short time before. For every portion of the habitable world was diseased in his sickness, feeling affected with a more terrible disease * The golden age was said to have existed during the reign of Saturn upon earth. So Tibullus says — Quam bene vivebant Saturno rege, priusquam Tellus in longas est patefacta vias. And Virgil — Aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnua ageb^t.
104 PHILO JUD£m than that which was oppressing Caius; for his sickness was that of the body alone, but the universal malady which was oppressing all men every where was one which attacked the vigour of their souls, their peace, their hopes, their parti- cipation in and enjoyment of all good things; for men began to remember how numerous and how great are the evils which spring from anarchy, famine, and war, and the destruction of trees, and devastations, and deprivation of lands, and plunder- ing of money, and the intolerable fear of slavery and death, which no one can relieve, all which evils appeared to admit of but one remedy, namely the recovery of Caius.
Accordingly when his disease began to abate, in a very short time even the men who were living on the very confines of the empire heard of it and rejoiced, for nothing is swifter than report,* and immediately every city was full of suspense and expectation, being continually eager for better news, until at length his perfect recovery was announced by fresh arrivals, at which news they again returned to their original cheerful- ness, each thinking the health of Caius to be his own salvation; and this feeling pervaded every continent and every island, for no one can recollect so great and general a joy affecting any one country or any one nation, at the good health or pros- perity of their governor, as now pervaded the whole of the habitable world at the recovery of Caius, and at his being able to resume the exercise of his power and having completely got rid of his sickness.
For they all rejoiced, from ignorance of the truth, like men who are now for the first time beginning to exchange a wand- ering and uncivilised mode of life for a social and civilised system, and instead of dwelling in desert places, and the open air, and the mountain districts, to live in walled cities, and instead of living without any governor, or protector, or lawgiver, to be now established under the care of a governor to be a sort of shepherd and leader of a more domesticated flock; for the human mind is apt to be blind towards the perception of what is really expedient and beneficial for it, being influenced rather by conjecture and notions of probability than by real knowledge.
IV. At all events it was not long before Caius — who was * So Virgil says — Faina malum quo non aliud velociua ullum.— Mn. iv. 174.
ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 105 now looked upon as a saviour and benefactor, and who was expected to shower down some fresh and everlasting springs of benefits upon all Asia and Europe, so as to endow the inhabit- ants with inalienable happiness and prosperity, both separately to each individual and generally to the whole state — began, as the proverb has it, at home, and changed into a ferocity of disposition, or, I should rather say, displayed the savageness which he had previously overshadowed by pretence and hypocrisy; for he put to death his cousin who had been left as the partner of his kingdom, and who was in fact a more natural successor to it than he himself; for he himself was only Tibe- rius's grandson by adoption, but the other was so by blood; arguing as a pretext that he had detected him in plotting against him, though his very age was a sufficient refutation of any such accusation; for the unhappy victim was only just emerging from boyhood, and beginning to rank among the youths. And, as some persons say, if Tiberius had lived a short time longer, Caius would have been made away with, as he began to be looked upon by him with unalterable suspicion, and the genuine grandson of Tiberius would have been named the future emperor, and the inheritor of his paternal kingdom.
But Tiberius was carried off by fate, before he could bring his designs to their completion; and Caius thought that he should be able to escape all evil report which might arise from his transgressing the principles of justice with respect to his partner by outwitting him. And the contrivance which he adopted was of the following character. Having assembled all the chief magistrates, he said: " I am desirous that he who is my cousin by birth and my brother in affection, in accord- ance with the instruction of Tiberius who is now dead, shall be a partner with me in my absolute authority. But you your- selves perceive that he is as yet a mere child, and that he is in need of masters, and teachers, and guardians; since what can be a more desirable blessing for me than that my one mind and one body shall not be loaded with so great a weight of the cares of government, but for me to have some one who may be able to lighten and alleviate them by sharing them? I, therefore," said he: " passing over and being superior to all tutors, and masters, and guardians, register myself as his father, and him as my son."
V. With these words he deceived both those who were JO 3 PHILO JUDJEUS.
present and the youth himself; for his proposal was a mere bait, his intention being not to invest him with the power which he expected, but to deprive him of even that which he already had, according to the law affecting co-heirs and partners; and accordingly now he plotted against him with absolute fearlessness, having no regard for nor fear of any one; for by the laws of the Romans the most complete and absolute authority over the son belongs to the father, besides the fact of Caius having the imperial authority which was wholly irrespon- sible, since no one could either venture or had any power to demand an account from him of any thing whatever that he might do.
Accordingly, looking upon this youth to be like a thirds-man in the games, he proceeded to overthrow him, feeling no com- passion, either for the fact of his having been brought up with him, or his being so nearly related to him, or for his age, but having no idea of sparing this miserable youth, doomed to an early death; his own partner in the government, his co-heir, who had formerly been expected to be all but the absolute emperor, by reason of his being the nearest relation to Tiberius; for when their fathers are dead, the grandsons are usually looked upon by their grandfathers as standing in the position of sons.
It is said moreover, that this youth, being ordered to slay himself with his own hands, while a centurion and a captain of a thousand were standing by (who had been expressly com- manded to take no part in the horrid deed, since it was not lawful for the descendants of the emperors to be put to death by any one else; for Caius remembered the laws amid his lawless acts, and had some regard for piety in all his impious deeds, imitating as well as he could the nature of truth); he, not knowing how to kill himself, for he had never seen any one else put to death, and had never had any practice in fighting with weapons, which is the usual exercise and course of instruction for children who are being educated with a view to become leaders and rulers, on account of the wars which they may have to conduct, at first exhorted those officers who had come to him to put him to death themselves, stretching out his neck; but when they did not dare to do so, he himself taking the sword inquired in his ignorance and want of experience what was the most mortal place, in order that by ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 107 a well-directed blow he might cut short his miserable life; and they, like instructors in misery, led him on his way, and pointed out to him the part into which he was to thrust his sword; and he, having thus learnt his first aud last lesson, became himself, miserable that he was, his own murderer under compulsion.
VI. But when this first and greatest undertaking had been accomplished by Caius, there being no longer left any one who had any connexion with the supreme authority, to whom any one who bore him ill-will, and who was suspected by him, could possibly turn his eyes; he now, in the second place, proceeded to compass the death of Macro, a man who had co- operated with him in every thing relating to the empire, not only after he had been appointed emperor, for it is a character- istic of flattery to court those who are in a state of prosperity, but who had previously assisted him in his measures for securing that authority.
For Tiberius, who was a man of very profound prudence, and the most able of all the men of his court at perceiving the hidden intentions of any man, and who was as pre-eminent in intelligence and acuteness as he was in good fortune, did very often look with suspicion upon Caius as being evil disposed towards all the house of Claudius, and as being related to him only on the mother's side,* and he feared for his grandson, lest he, being left a mere child, should be put to death by him. And he judged him, moreover, very little fitted for an authority of such magnitude, both on account of the unsociable- ness and ferocity of his nature, and the inequality of his temper; for he was continually giving way to the most frantic and most inconsistent moods, not preserving any consistency either in his words or in his actions; all which Macro studied with all his strength at every opportunity, pacifying the suspi- cions of Tiberius and all the prejudices with which he perceived that his mind was inflamed against Caius by reason of his ceaseless fear and anxiety for his grandson.
For he represented to him, that Caius was a person of a good and obedient disposition, and one who entertained the greatest affection for his cousin, so that out of his exceeding regard for him he would be willing even to abandon the government and to yield it up to him by himself, but that * Caligula was the son of Germanicus and Agrippina.
108 PHILO JDDiEDS.
excessive modesty was anything but advantageous to many persons, in consequence of which Caius, who was of a most guileless and single-minded disposition, was looked upon by many as crafty and designing.
And when he could not persuade him, by all the arguments drawn from probabilities which he advanced, he brought for- ward that which rested upon specific agreements, adding, " I myself will be his security, I who deserve to have confidence placed in me, inasmuch as I have given sufficient proof that I myself am individually a friend to Caesar, and a friend to Tiberius, since it was I who carried into execution, your in- tentions respecting the downfall of Sejanus.
And, in short, he was very assiduous, and energetic, and comprehensive in his praises of Caius, if, indeed, one may speak of speeches in defence of a man as equivalent to pane- gyrics on him, which were rather addressed to the doing away with the unfavourable impressions and suspicions, excited by obscure and indistinct hints and accusations. In short, all the things which any one could say on behalf of any brother or legitimate child, such and more too did Macro say to Tiberius in behalf of Caius. And the cause of this was accord- ing to the report which obtain d among the generality of people, not only that Macro had, on the other hand, been greatly courted by him, as one who had the greatest, or, indeed, all the power under the empire; but also that Macro's wife was favourable to him, for a reason which ought not to be mentioned, and she every day urged on, and encouraged, and entreated her husband to omit no exertion of his zeal and energy on behalf of the young man. And a wife is a very powerful engine to divert or to persuade the mind of her hus- band, especially if she be one of an amorous temperament, for because of her own consciousness she becomes more given to flattery.