So that all those who stood around congratulated us as if we had already carried our point, and so did all those of our own people, who are influenced by superficial appearances. But I myself, who was accounted to be possessed of superior prudence, both on account of my age and my education, and general information, was less sanguine in respect of the matters at which the others were so greatly delighted. " For why," said I, after pondering the matter deeply in my own heart, " why, when there have been such numbers of ambassadors, who have come, one may almost say, from every corner of the globe, did he say on that occasion that he would hear what we had to say, and no one eise? What could have been his meaning? for he was not ignorant that we were Jews, who would have been quite content at not being treated worse than the others; but to expect to be looked upon as worthy to receive especial privileges and precedence, by a master who was of a different nation and a young man and an absolute monarch, would have seemed like insanity. But it would seem that he was showing civility to the whole district of the Alexandrians, to which he was thus giving a privilege, when promising to give his decision speedily; unless, indeed, disregarding the character ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 141 I "of a fair and impartial hearer, he was intending to be a fellow suitor with our adversaries and an enemy of ours, instead of behaving like a judge."
XXIX. Having these ideas in my mind, I resisted the sanguine hopes of the others, and had no rest in my mind day or night. But while I was thus giving way to de- spondency and lamenting over my ignorance of the future (for it was not safe to postpone matters), on a sudden another most grievous and unexpected calamity fell upon us, bringing danger not on one section of the Jews only, but on all the nation together. For we had come from Eome to Dicaearchia attending upon Caius; and he had gone down to the sea-side and was remaining near the gulf, having left for a while his own palaces, which were numerous and superbly furnished. And while we were anxiously considering his intentions, for we were continually expecting to be sum- moned, a man arrived, with blood-shot eyes, and looking very much troubled, out of breath and palpitating, and leading us away to a little distance from the rest (for there were several persons near), he said, " Have you heard the news?" And then when he was about to tell us what it was he stopped, because of the abundance of tears that rose up to choke his utterance. And beginning again, he was a second and a third time stopped in the same manner. And we, seeing this, were much alarmed and agitated by suspense, and entreated him to tell us what the circumstance was on account of which he said that he had come; for he could not have come merely to weep before so many witnesses. " If, then," said we, "you have any real cause for tears, do not keep your grief to yourself; we have been long ago well accustomed to misfortune."
And he with difficulty, sobbing aloud, and in a broken voice, spoke as follows: " Our temple is destroyed! Caius has ordered a colossal statue of himself to be erected in the holy of holies, having his own name inscribed upon it with the title of Jupiter!" And while we were all struck dumb with astonishment and terror at what he had told us, and stood still deprived of all motion (for we stood there mute and in despair, ready to fall to the groud with fear and sorrow, the very muscles of our bodies being deprived of all strength by the news which we had heard); others arrived 142 PHILO JVDMUB.
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bearing the same sad tale. And then we all retired and shut ourselves up together and bewailed our individual and common miseries, and went through every circumstance that our minds could conceive, for a man in misfortune is a most loquacious animal, wrestling as we might with our misery. And we said to one another, " "We have sailed hither in the middle of winter, in order that we might not be all involved in violation of the law and in misfortunes proceeding from it, without being aware what a winter of misery was await- ing us on shore, far more grievous than any storm at sea. For of the one nature is the cause, which has divided the seasons of the year and arranged them in due order, but nature is a thing which exerts a saving power; but the other storm is caused by a man who cherishes no ideas such as become a man, but is a young man, and a promoter of all kinds of innovation, being invested with irresponsible power over all the world.
" And youth, when combined with absolute power and yielding to irresistible and unrestrained passion, is an invincible evil. And will it be allowed to us to approach him or to open our mouth on the subject of the synagogues before this in suiter of our holy and glorious temple? For it is quite evident that he will pay no regard whatever to things of less importance and which are held in inferior estimation, when he behaves with insolence and contempt towards our most beautiful and renowned temple, which is respected by all the east and by all the west, and regarded like the sun which shines everywhere. And even if we were allowed free access to him, what else could we expect but an inexorable sentence of death? But be it so; we will perish, For, indeed, a glorious death in defence of and for the sake of the preservation of our laws, is a kind of life.
" But, indeed, if no advantage is derived from our death, would it not be insanity to perish in addition to what we now have to endure, and this too, while we appear to be ambas- sadors, so that the calamity appears rather to affect those who have sent us than those who remain? Not but what those of our fellow countrymen who are by nature most inclined to detest all wickedness, will accuse us of impiety, as if we, in the extremity of dangers, when our whole country was tossed about and threatened, were remembering ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 143 some private interests of our own out of selfishness. For it is necessary that small things must yield to great ones, and that private objects must yield to the general interests; since, when they are destroyed, there is an end of the con- stitution and of the nation. For how can it be holy or lawful for us to struggle in any other manner, pointing out that we are citizens of Alexandria, over whom a danger is now impending, that namely, of the utter destruction of the general constitution of the Jewish nation; for in the de- struction of the temple there is reason to fear that this man, so fond of innovation and willing to dare the most audacious actions, will also order the general name of our whole nation to be abolished.
" If, therefore, both the objects on account of which we were sent are overthrown, perhaps some one will say, What then, did they not know that they had to negotiate for a safe return? But I would reply to such a man, You either have not the genuine feelings of a nobly born man, or else you "were not educated like one, and have never been trained in the knowledge of the sacred scriptures; for men who are truly noble are full of hope, and the laws too implant good hopes in all those who do not study them superficially but with all their hearts. Perhaps these things are meant as a trial of the existing generation to see how they are inclined towards virtue, and whether they have been taught to bear evils with resolute and firm minds, without yielding at the first moment; all human considerations then are discarded, and let them be discarded, but let an imperishable hope and trust in God the Saviour remain in our souls, as he has often preserved our nation amid inextricable difficulties and distresses."
XXX. These were the sort of things which we said, be- wailing at the same time our unexpected calamities, and yet also encouraging one another with the hope of a change to a more tranquil and peaceful state of things. And after a little consideration and delay, we said to those who had brought us this doleful news, " Why sit ye here quietly, having just kindled sparks of eagerness in our ears by which we are set on fire and rendered all in a blaze, when you ought rather to add to what you have told us an account of the causes which have operated on Caius."
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And they replied, " You know the principal and primary cause of all; for that indeed is universally known to all men. He desires to be considered a god; and he conceives that the Jews alone are likely to be disobedient; and that there- fore he cannot possibly inflict a greater evil or injury upon them than by defacing and insulting the holy dignity of their temple; for report prevails that it is the most beau- tiful of all the temples in the world, inasmuch as it is continually receiving fresh accessions of ornament and has been for an infinite period of time, a never-ending and boundless expense being lavished on it. And as he is a very contentious and quarrelsome man, he thinks of appropriating this edifice wholly to himself. And he is excited now on this subject to a much greater degree than before by a letter whicli Capito has sent to him.
" Capito is the collector of the imperial revenues in Judaea, and on some account or other he is very hostile to the nations of the country; for having come thither a poor man, and having amassed enormous riches of every imagin- able description by plunder and extortion, he has now become afraid lest some accusation may be brought against him, and on this account he has contrived a design by which he may repel any such impeachment, namely, by calumni- ating those whom he has injured; and a circumstance which we will now mention, has given him some pretext for car- rying out his design.
" There is a city called Jamnia; one of the most populous cities in all Judaea, which is inhabited by a promiscuous multitude, the greatest number of whom are Jews; but there are also some persons of other tribes from the neigh- bouring nations who have settled there to their own destruction, who are in a manner sojourners among the original native citizens, and who cause them a great deal of trouble, and who do them a great deal of injury, as they are continually violating some of the ancestral national customs of the Jews. These men hearing from travellers who visit the city how exceedingly eager and earnest Caius is about is own deification, and how disposed he is to look unfavour- ably upon the whole race of Judaea, thinking that they have now an admirable opportunity for attacking them them- selves, have erected an extemporaneous altar of the most ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 145 contemptible materials, having made clay into bricks for the sole purpose of plotting against their fellow citizens; for they knew well that they would never endure to see their customs transgressed; as was indeed the case.
" For when the Jews saw what they had done, and were very indignant at the holiness and sanctity and beauty of the sacred place being thus obscured and defaced, they col- lected together and destroyed the altar; so the sojourners immediately went to Capito who was in reality the contriver of the whole affair; and he, thinking that he had made a most lucky hit, which he had been seeking for a long time, writes to Caius dilating on the matter and exaggerating it enormously; and he, when he had read the letter, ordered a colossal statue gilt all over, much more costly and much more magnificent than the rich altar which had been erected in Jamnia, by way of insult to be set up in.the temple of the metropolis, having for his most excellent and sagacious counsellors Helicon, that man of noble birth, a chattering slave, a perfect scum of the earth, and a fellow of the name of Apelles, a tragic actor, who when in the first bloom of youth, as they say, made a market of his beauty, and when he was past the freshness of youth went on the stage; and in fact all those who go on the stage selling themselves to the spectators, and to the theatres, are not lovers of temperance and modesty, but rather of the most extreme shamelessness and indecency.
" On this account Apelles was taken into the rank of a fellow counsellor of the emperor, that Caius might have an adviser with whom he might indulge in mocking jests, and with whom he might sing, passing over all considerations of the general welfare of the state, as if everything in every quarter of the globe was enjoying profound peace and tran- quillity under the laws.
" Therefore Helicon, this scorpion-like slave, discharged all his Egyptian venom against the Jews; and Apelles his Ascalonite poison, for he was a native of Ascalon; and between the people of Ascalon and the inhabitants of the holy land, the Jews, there is an irreconcileable and never- ending hostility although they are bordering nations."
When we heard this we were wounded in our souls at every word he said and at every name he mentioned; but VOL. IV. L 46 PHILO JUDjEUS.
those admirable advisers of admirable actions a little while afterwards met with the fit reward of their impiety, the one bein<r bound by Caius with iron chains for other causes, and beiii" put to the torture and to the rack after periods of relief as is the case with people affected with intermittent diseases; and Helicon was put to death by Claudius Ger- manicus Ca3sar, for other wicked actions, that, like a mad- man as he was, he had committed; but these occurrences took place at a later date. m XXXI. And the letter respecting the erection oi the statue was written not in plain terms, but with as much caution and prudence as possible, taking every measure which could tend to security; for he commands Petronius, the lieutenant and governor of all Syria, to whom indeed he wrote the letter, to lead half the army which was on the Euphrates, to guard against any passage of that river by any of the eastern kings or nations, into Judsea as an escort to the statue; not in order to honour its erection with any especial pomp, but to chastise with death any attempt that might be made to hinder it.
What sayest thou, O master? Are you making war upon us because you anticipate that we will not endure such indignity, but that we will fight on behalf of our laws, and die in defence of our national customs? For you cannot possibly have been ignorant of what was likely to result from your attempt to introduce these innovations respecting our temple; but having previously learnt with perfect accuracy what was likely to happen as well as if it had already taken place, and knowing the future as thoroughly as if it were actually present, you commanded your general to bring up an army in order that the statue when erected might be consecrated by the first sacrifice offered to it, being of a most polluted kind, stained with the blood of miserable men aud women.
Accordingly Petronius, when he had read what he was commanded to do in this letter, was in great perplexity, not being able to resist the orders sent to him out ot fear, for he heard that the emperor's wrath was implacable not only against those who did not do what they were commanded to do, but who did not do it in a moment; and on the other hand, he did not see how it was easy to perform them, for ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 147 he knew that the Jews would willingly, if it were possible, endure ten thousand deaths instead of one, rather than submit to see any forbidden thing perpetrated with respect to their religion; for all men are eager to preserve their own customs and laws, and the Jewish nation above all others; for looking upon their laws as oracles directly given to them by God himself, and having been instructed in this doctrine from their very earliest infancy they bear in their souls the images of the commandments contained in these laws as sacred; and secondly, as they continually behold the visible shapes and forms of them, they admire and venerate them in their minds and they admit such foreigners as are disposed to honour and worship them, to do so no less than their own native fellow citizens.
But all who attempt to violate their laws, or to turn them into ridicule, they detest as their bitterest enemies, and they look upon each separate one of the commandments with such awe and reverence that, whether one ought to call it the invariable good fortune or the happiness of the nation, they have never been guilty of the violation of even the most insignificant of them; but above all other obser- vances their zeal for their holy temple is the most predomi- nant, and vehement, and universal feeling throughout the whole nation; and the greatest proof of this is that death is inexorably pronounced against all those who enter into the inner circuit of the sacred precincts (for they admit all men from every country into the exterior circuit), unless he be one of their own nation by blood.
Petronius, having regard to these considerations, was very reluctant to attempt what he was commanded to do, con- sidering what a great and wicked piece of daring he should be committing, and invoking all the deliberative powers of his soul as to a council, he inquired into the opinion of each of them, and he found every faculty of his mind agreeing that he should change nothing of these observances and customs which had been hallowed from the beginning of the world; in the first place because of the natural principles of justice and piety by which they were dictated, and secondly because of the danger which threatened any attempt at innovation upon them, not only from God, but also from the people who would be insulted by such conduct. He also L 2 148 PHILO JDDjEUS.
gave a thought to the circumstances of the natiou itself, to its exceeding populousness, so that it was not contained as every other nation was by the circuit of the one region which was allotted to it for itself, but so that, I may almost sav, it had spread over the whole face of the earth; for it is diffused throughout every continent, and over every island, so that everywhere it appears but little inferior in number to the original native population of the country.
Was it not, then, a most perilous undertaking to draw upon himself such innumerable multitudes of enemies? And was there not danger of allies and friends from all quarters arriving to their assistance? It would be a result of very formidable danger and difficulty, besides the fact that the inhabitants of Judaea are infinite in numbers, and a nation of great stature and personal strength, and of great courage and spirit, and men who are willing to die in defence of their national customs and laws with unshrinking bravery, so that some of those who calumniate them say that their courage (as indeed is perfectly true) is beyond that of any barbarian nation, being the spirit of free and nobly born men.
And the state of all the nations which lie beyond the Euphrates added to his alarm; for he was aware that Baby- lon and many others of the satrapies of the east were occu- pied by the* Jews, knowing this not merely by report but likewise by personal experience; for every year sacred mes- sengers are sent to convey large amounts of gold and silver to the temple, which has been collected from all the subor- dinate governments, travelling over rugged, and difficult, and almost impassable roads, which they look upon as level and easy inasmuch as they serve to conduct them to piety.
Therefore, being exceedingly alarmed, as was very natural, lest if they heard of the unprecedented design ot erecting this colossal statue in the temple, they might on a sudden direct their march that way and surround him, some on one side and some on the other, so as to hem him in completely, and co-operating with and joining one another might treat the enemv who would be thus enclosed in the midst of them with terrible severity, he hesitated long, attaching great weight to all these considerations.
Then again he was drawn in the opposite direction by considerations of a contrary character, saying to himself, ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 149 " This is the command of one who is my master and a young man, and of one who judges everything which he wishes to have done to be expedient and becoming, and who is resolved that everything which he has once decided on shall be at once performed even though it may be the most injurious measure possible and full of all. contention and insolence; and now having passed beyond all human nature he has actually recorded himself to be God; and great danger of my life impends over me whether I oppose him or whether I comply with his commands; if I comply with them the result will very probably be war, and one that perhaps may be attended with doubtful success and which will be far from turning out as it is expected to do; and if I oppose him I shall then be exposed to the open and implacable hatred of Caius."
And with this opinion of his, many of those Eomans who were joined with him in the administration of the affairs of Syria coincided," knowing that the anger of Caius and the punishments which he would inflict would come upon them first as being accomplices in the disobedience to the injunc- tions which he had sent; but at last when it arrived the fashion of the statue afforded them a pretext for delay dur- ing which they might have time for a more deliberate con- sideration of the matter; for they did not send any man from Home (as it appears to me because the providence of God overruled the matter in this way, who thus invisibly stayed the hand of these wicked doers), nor did he command the most skilful man or him who was accounted so in Syria to manage the matter, since while he was pressing on this lawless action with all speed a war was suddenly kindled.
Therefore having now opportunity to consider what course would be most advantageous (for when great events sud- denly come altogether, they break down and perplex the mind), he commanded the statue to be made in some one of the bordering regions. Therefore Petronius, sending for the most skilful and renowned artists in Phoenicia, gave them the materials requisite for the making of the statue; and they took them to Sidon, and there proceeded to make it.
He also sent for the magistrates of the Jews and the priests and rulers of the people, both to announce to them the commands which he had received from Caius and also to 150 PHILO JUDiEUS.
counsel them to submit cheerfully to the commands which had been imposed by their master, and to give due considera- tion to the dangers before their eyes; for that the most war- like of the military powers in Syria were all ready, and would soon cover all the country with dead bodies; for he thought that if he could previously weaken their resolution he would be able by their means to work upon all the rest of the mul- titude and to persuade them not to oppose the will of the emperor; but, as was natural, he was wholly disappointed in his expectations-; for it is said indeed that they were amazed at his first words, and that at first they were utterly over- whelmed by his announcement of their real danger and misery, and that they stood speechless and poured forth a ceaseless abundance of tears as if from a fountain, tearing their beards and the hair of their head, and saying, " We who were formerly very fortunate, have now advanced through many events to an exceeding old age that we might at last behold what no one of our ancestors ever saw. With what eyes can we endure to look upon these things? Let them rather be torn out, and let our miserable lives and our afflicted existence be put an end to, before we behold such an evil as this, such an intolerable spectacle which it is impious to hear of or to conceive."
XXXII. In this way did they bewail their fate; but when the inhabitants of the holy city and of all the region round about heard of the design which was in agitation, they all arrayed themselves together as if at a concerted signal, their common misery having given them the word, and went forth in a body, and leaving their cities and their villages and their houses empty, they hastened with one accord into Phoenicia, for Petronius happened to be in that country at the moment. And when some of the guards of Petronius saw a countless multitude hastening towards them they ran to their general to bring him the news, and to warn him to take precautions, as they expected war; and while they were relating to him what they had seen, he was still without any guards; and the multitude of the Jews suddenly coming upon him like a cloud, occupied the whole of Phoenicia, and caused great consternation among the Phoenicians who thus beheld the enormous population of the nation; and at first so great an outcry was raised, accom- ON THE VIRTUES AND OFFICE OF AMBASSADORS. 151